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#same goes for a lot of katara ‘fans’
comradekatara · 2 years
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ugh okay i get that toph is a) extremely powerful and b) rejects traditional gender roles but she is NOT a brute. her whole deal is that her earthbending technique isn’t like the mainstream approach of using sheer force to attack. the reason she beats the boulder so easily isn’t because she’s physically stronger than him (she very obviously is not!) but because she waits and she listens. that’s the whole reason aang decides to recruit her as his teacher. because she is uniquely creative, perceptive, thoughtful, patient, and intelligent. she enjoys fighting and she’s really, really good at it, she’s sassy, she’s forthright, and she delights in being kind of disgusting in a way she wasn’t allowed to be growing up, but she’s also empathetic, understanding, and vulnerable. by ignoring that you are doing a huge disservice to what makes her character so incredible in the first place. thank you
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ripley-stark · 1 month
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i do find it endlessly interesting (and frustrating) that there is a certain hierarchy of audience-palatable personalities for women characters. this goes in and out of style as generations and trends pass, but the most popular characters tend to be very external. this mostly manifests in snarkiness or some sort of fighting/violent skill (princess leia, rey, daenerys targaryen, arya stark, katniss everdeen, ellen ripley, harley quinn etc).
and there is a subset of downright dark characters like dani ardor, amma crellin, annie graham, and amy dunne who can become popular but are reduced to one controversial moment in a layered arc. these characters either become a coquette girlboss or a bad influence because silly silly women don't understand that it's bad to kill people in real life.
of course all are subject to a lot of hate and double standards, especially from men. and in pop culture these figures are relatively new, so it makes sense that women flock to them. but it's also telling that audiences are even more fickle with characters who are more emotionally and morally complex. characters such as shiv roy, sansa stark, cersei lannister, alicent hightower, and skyler white all have hardcore fans but nowhere near the same number as the aforementioned, and/or their fans feel the need to discuss them with much more caveats.
this issue compounds when it comes to woc (katara, yennefer, sydney adamu), who will generally be hated regardless of their overarching personality type. kind and soft-spoken characters become "boring" and snarky characters are "annoying" or "aggressive." in order for a fictional woman to have huge success with an audience they must at the minimum be white and, following that, very physical (rey, arya, katniss, ellen) or proselytizing (daenerys, barbie, annie, amy) in the way they affect the plot. people are less interested in the minds of characters, which is true for everyone but especially for women. people just do not have the patience to sympathize with women when their motivations and actions aren't completely obvious
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theotterpenguin · 6 days
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there’s a post floating around here claiming that sokka is the only person keeping the atla kids alive and it very much reminded me of how the labor that women perform is often undervalued and overlooked. (and this post is not meant to be targeted towards op at all, but rather is speaking towards a general trend that i’ve noticed in the atla fandom)
i recently rewatched atla and it’s surprised me that the fandom interpretation is that only sokka is worried about the group’s lack of food/money, particularly in book 1, because katara worries over the exact same things and is usually the one backing up sokka. in “the warriors of kyoshi,” sokka reminds aang that they need to make it to the northern water tribe soon and stop making pitstops, and katara agrees with him. when they stop at kyoshi island, katara reminds aang multiple times that it’s risky to stay in one place for too long. in “the waterbending scroll,” sokka worries over how little money they have left after aang wastes money on a bison whistle, so katara takes charge of keeping track of the money instead, and she also reminds aang that they need to practice waterbending, not focus on having fun. in “the storm,” katara realizes they’re out of food and says they need to go to the market, then sokka gets a job so they’ll have more money for food. in “the king of omashu” and “the deserter,” sokka worries that aang will be discovered, and katara agrees so she suggests that they wear disguises. in “the cave of two lovers,” sokka says they need to focus on getting to omashu without getting sidetracked, and katara agrees. in “avatar day,” sokka and katara buy food/supplies together while aang waits for them. 
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despite sokka being seen as the pragmatic sibling, both katara and sokka are pretty united in their practicality and trying to keep their mission on track. katara only makes exceptions on a couple occasions when she values standing up against injustice even more than sticking to the plan, such as freeing the imprisoned earthbenders or helping the fire nation village as the painted lady. and the way that i've seen people use katara’s passion for social justice as a way to argue that she’s “irresponsible” seems a bit disingenuous considering that she sees it as a moral duty to help people in need (and let alone everything else she does on the day-to-day to help the group).
(“the library” is in fact the only episode in the entire show that i can remember where katara disagrees with sokka and says there’s no harm in having some fun in their downtime. and as soon as sokka finds out about the existence of the library he’s also fine with taking a break from their mission lol. despite what the fandom thinks, it’s not the norm).
and while there’s a lot of focus on sokka’s mapping/planning skills, there’s also so much that katara does so much behind the scenes that isn’t as explicitly acknowledged. “the chase” tells us that katara, aang, and sokka all contribute pretty equally to setting up their camp while traveling. in “jet” they all help pack up camp, in “the great divide” sokka sets up their tent, katara collects firewood, and aang gathers food. and yet even though they all seem to contribute pretty equally to setting up camp, we are shown so many scenes of katara doing extra chores while the others are preoccupied with something else. in “the southern air temple,” katara packs up their supplies while sokka is sleeping, then again packs up everything while sokka’s eating the food momo gave him. “the warriors of kyoshi” episode implies katara is the only one mending everyone’s clothes, and while sokka is getting his ass kicked training with the kyoshi warriors and aang is entertaining his fan girls, katara is shopping for food and supplies.
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in “the painted lady,” the group all goes shopping for food together, but it’s katara who cooks dinner for everyone (shown twice in this episode). in “the runaway,” katara’s at camp cooking for everyone while they’re off tricking a gambler to make more money. sokka, aang, and toph buy food/supplies, then leave them with katara to sort out while they go have fun in the village (and sokka gets to buy his messenger hawk). and katara’s the one seen as a “buzzkill” for worrying about their safety. this pattern continues in “the western air temple” and “the firebending masters” where we see katara cooking and serving food to the group, but there aren’t scenes of them doing other chores.
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and of course, “the desert” is an entire episode dedicated to katara keeping the group alive. and that’s not even to mention the countless amount of emotional support that she gives to her friends, often putting other people’s needs above her own. sure, katara might not be the person with the map or the master plan, but that doesn’t mean her contributions are any less important.
sokka’s character arc involves growing into a strong leader and strategist, so it makes sense that the fandom often likes to focus on the moments that go into building this arc, the moments where he does take the lead and is responsible. but for katara? it’s just something required of her and of most female characters. taking on extra responsibilities is something to be admired in men, but just expected of women. 
and to be clear, i’m not saying that sokka is not responsible, he definitely is. i just find it interesting that some parts of this fandom have a skewed perception of katara’s role in the group, often claiming her to be the “irresponsible” or “immature” sibling while poor, exhausted Dad!Sokka™ is the only one keeping these silly kids alive. sokka and katara both had to grow up too fast, they’re both kids who are very mature for their age and took on adult responsibilities far too young (though in different ways). acknowledging the sacrifices katara made and the labor she took on to take care of others isn’t diminishing sokka’s character arc, it’s something he even admits in the show himself. and i love their relationship because even with such a complicated family dynamic, it’s so clear how much they love and support each other.
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tzilatza · 1 month
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NATLA Review - spoilers
Woke up today still feeling annoyed after finished the Netflix ATLA remake last night, and I think I've figured out the core reason.
It's the fact that: If they had held truer to the original source material, we could have had a truly great show. I disagree with those calling it a complete disaster. The acting was good, great in some cases. The effects were very well done, the bending looked about as good as it can in a live action media. The scenery was lovely.
But what happened in the writer's room?! The way they just reveal all the back stories up front EVERY TIME is honestly insulting to the audience. It's like they're so terrified that smartphone culture has made the public so accustomed to instant gratification that they have no faith we will stick around and keep watching if they make us wait for anything.
They're also clearly terrified of complexity. One of my biggest gripes with this remake is Jet's story. They completely took out his plans to murder a whole town of innocents in order to get a few enemy soldiers. Now, Jet isn't my favorite character, but his story is so important. Because it is real. The world is full of people who have been so brought down by injustice that they lose their sense of right and wrong, and we need to see that on screen. If Jet is too complex for them, how will they handle Ba Sing Se in the second season.
This goes along the same lines as removing Sokka's sexist moments. They felt they had to do it to make him more 'likable.' Yet the writers themselves went full sexist on Katara's character. They've taken out so much of her spark, her righteous and justified anger, and they've done it because even in 2024, people expect women to be more passive to be palatable. Enough people have already commented on them removing Aang's choice to run away. Heaven forbid the main character not be an absolute paragon. Did y'all notice that they even made Hahn likable? Hahn?! What reason do you have for making Hahn likable Netflix?! His role in the narrative is to be an example of toxic masculinity that is clearly the bad choice compared to Sokka who has learned and grown out of his own.
Don't even get me started with what they're doing with the fire nation family, I'm not ready to tackle that. In general, I have no problem with Azula getting a little more backstory and humanizing, but why season 1? Throwing in all these extra scenes just sacrifices screen-time where they could've actually fleshed out the real season one plots instead of rushing through things at breakneck pace. (ex: Aang escaping Zuko's ship in about 2 minutes flat)
At the end of the day, the scenes I most enjoyed were those that held true to the original like the Blue Spirit sequences. They could've easily done more of this, held onto the important plot points and even more important character complexity, while maturing it for an adult audience. I'm not disagreeing with every change they made. Go ahead and take out the silly Nickelodeon gags, add cussing and more realistic violence to get your mainstream viewers. Go ahead. They could've easily made a darker more mature version of the show and still held onto all the old fans in my opinion. But claiming that you're making a 'more mature' version and then removing the complexity and subtlety because they didn't think viewers could handle it...
What makes me most sad is that there are a lot of people who will experience ATLA for the first time through this show. There are a lot of adults who are not willing to watch original ATLA because they refuse to acknowledge an animated series can be anything other than a kid's show. Those people will watch this and think it's the real deal, and that just makes me sad.
If you've read this far, a very sincere thank you for listening to my rant. If you're an OG fan who enjoyed it, I have no problem with you. It was a fun watch, I was just hoping for more. If you are a new viewer who has never seen ATLA before, I sincerely want to hear your opinions. Is it a great show to someone who isn't holding it against the context of the original? And do you plan to watch the original now?
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enchantedreader · 1 year
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Why People Hate Momtara/Dadko
I was in the Momtara/Dadko tag and I was surprised how many people are disgusted by it. But I have a theory on why it bothers some people.
It’s a tag that references the fact that both Katara and Zuko act as the Gaang’s kind-of-parents in the show. But it also points out the glaringly obvious difference in emotional maturity in the group. I think that when people start to acknowledge this difference, it might make shipping either Katara or Zuko with the other members of the Gaang feel kind of gross.
Because Aang and Toph both act very much like children (they’re like 11, so I get it) but, despite the fact that Katara is only 3 years older than Aang, she is MILES ahead of him in terms of emotional maturity. Aang deals with his emotions similarly to someone of his own age, like when Katara yells at him in the Waterbending Scroll and he immediately starts getting teary. That’s a normal reaction for a child, but Katara never yells at him again and shoves her own feelings aside for the better of the group (The Western Air Temple). She is constantly having to calm him down when he gets angry or goes into the Avatar State and always supports him emotionally (despite getting none of that back from Aang). On top of that, Aang doesn’t take responsibilities regarding the domestic chores, so it really makes Katara seem like more of a mother or older sister. 
I also know that people ship Zukka (I don’t, but I know it’s popular) and, while Sokka acts close to his actual age, Zuko has a bitterness to him that came because of his banishment. Zuko even said in The Beach (S3 E5) that he doesn’t deal with the same problems that normal teenagers have. His trauma made him into someone who doesn’t see himself as a normal teen and we see how Iroh’s influence shaped Zuko whenever he is doing something good. Think about how he interacted with Lee (Zuko Alone) or the emotional maturity he shows when he apologizes to the Gaang (Western Air Temple) or when Katara blames him for her mother’s death (The Southern Raiders).
I just thought about that because it would make sense why it seems to disgust people. Because it’s seen as cute or a way for Katara and Zuko to support each other for a lot of Zutara fans (I’m not making a blanket statement, but there is a reason why it’s popular with a lot of us). 
Just a theory.
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turboacek-blog · 15 days
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Zutara and Kataang: my thoughts
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Basically Zutara is the enemy to lovers ship
Kataang is the friendship to lover ship
Combine with other things like opposites attract, and love at first site and so on
With the Netflix adaptation stirring things up for this old ship rivalry just wanted to share some general thoughts
General thoughts as you can go anywhere for Zutara hints or why KatAang was actually good and don't need to analyze every moment
Enemies to Lovers
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Disclaimer: I dislike the enemies to lover trope. It’s one of those things I genuinely don’t understand why they would like each other in most cases, as the cases I do like it it’s more like they’re the two friends that don’t gel as well like Sam and Freddie in iCarly not actual enemies on opposing sides of war, but I don’t feel this about Zutara due to Zuko
I brought up the ship tropes before as I think this shows more of the discourse amongst the fans
There’s a ton of people that love the enemies to lovers trope whether it be actual enemies or just the two friends that don’t get along that well and can argue/fight often
As people think things like opposite attracts or that when characters fight and argue and etc it shows their chemistry and potentially (sexual) tension of the two
And this isn’t every enemies to lovers ship but some people are genuinely more into the bad boy or bad girl or bad person, more than then opposite of good boy/girl/person
From appearance wise, some see dark and edgy > simple and clean, personality wise with crazy > generic heroic, to the story aspect as the dark story of the enemy can be more interesting then the normal story of the hero a lot of the time due to complexity and writing quality
Friends to lovers
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On the flip side
Friendship to lovers is the ship that covers the exact opposite of enemies to lovers
As some believe you’re supposed to be with someone similar to you in morals, ethics, spiritually, emotionally, etc
And a way some people find that is through their friends / people in mutual interest group (sports, church, clubs, and so on)
It’s why there are tropes of the person finally realizing their best friend was the one or childhood friend were their perfect match
Let alone some people just like it more when people seem to enjoy being around each other in peace vs the opposite of fighting and arguing a lot
Aang-Katara-Zuko shipping stuff
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So even after all that I do think some understand that and that isn't the cause of the divide for some
and their disagreements become more of a personal thing or how times have changed since the showed aired back in the early 2000s whether socially or just the fan themselves growing up
Like for example as I've seen this a lot, if you’re a girl it can be hard to put yourself in the place of Katara a 14 year old girl (which would be that 9th grader in high school range) being attracted to a 12 years old (essentially a 7th grader middle schooler (Aang) ) especially when that same girl was attracted to seemingly 16 year olds (11th graders before (Haru and Jet))
But I do think it’s not as cut and dry as a teen being attracted to a person two years younger as unbelievable as some also say that's a pretty shallow reason and people write those people off
Some think Aang is cringe for all his especially early attempts at flirting with Katara. Which not nonly ties into the age thing but the whole sometimes being persistent is bad and harassment which is more and more true as the years goes on as a lot of shows back then had that element of boy tries repeatedly and gets rejected repeatedly then eventually “wore her down”
And on the flipside Zuko harmed that group for a long time and even if unjustified Katara saw him as the representation of her hatred for a period which can have its own downsides when compared to things like abuse and not racism exactly but hating that whole nation almost (there’s a word but I can’t think of it)
They both have things against them
Some aspects just don't appear the same to different people
Like a popular example is the fortune teller episode
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Where Katara only thinks of Aang as potential person for her when a fortune teller foresees it
The intention is this cosmic supernatural aspect saying these two are meant for each other
Destiny
Like on one hand Destiny can be super romantic like this person was destined for me, like this is my perfect match, they were made for me
On the other it can feel like you have no agency, like this is the only person for me? Am I just destined to be with this one person I might have never looked at in that way, am I allowed not to choose them?
Some people like that Katara realized Aang was a potential match via this supernatural aspect
Some hate it as it feels like Katara didn't come to become attracted to Aang naturally
On screen vs potential possibilities
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Like it was kinda obvious Aang and Katara would end up together despite the distractions from guys like Jet. So the series being written that they naturally have more moments which leads to them being the ship makes sense
So whenever Katara kisses Aang cheek is just evidence that this clearly the ship
Vs
Even more than Aang and Zuko at times, Katara and Zuko are parallels so they're interactions even if on opposite sides can also be seen as evidence
But I think this on-screen and potential aspect is mostly on the Zutara side because of how the show went, which gives them more what-ifs
Like Zutara has a lot of what ifs like what if Zuko joined them in Ba sing se? Some genuinely think that would of kicked of Zutara for real
Let alone other aspects that I think people mostly like for story potential like if Katara marries Zuko she becomes the Queen of the fire nation which has a lot of story potential
It doesn't even have to be Zutara alone, can say if they did go Zutara for the writing back in Book 2 they could of easily wrote Taang (Toph and Aang) to be Aangs ship
As just minor example but Toph just being attracted to Aang and not Sokka from a writing viewpoint would make people like them as people like Tokka (Toph x Sokka) for similar reasons
Basically the show was building up to Aang x Katara and if they diverted from that there would be a decent amount of disappointed if literally all that changed was that at the end Katara kissed Zuko
But I think when people see the potential chemistry and interactions of different pairs not just Zutara but people like Sokka with Toph or maybe Katara should of just got with Haru they would have liked it if they wrote around those ships vs the KatAang one
Zutara thoughts
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My quick thoughts on zutara is that for me…
I think this is more of a I like Zuko and Katara as characters but not necessarily together
Like I think if the show would of had Zuko with Ty Lee and not Mai people would feel different since Ty Lee is so loved while Mai seems more of an acquired taste and people might not like Zuko with Mai
Like I like Mai but her and Zuko together weren’t handled the best to me, even in the comics they broke up for a period where with Ty Lee at least she would be generally more well liked due to personality differences
Plus people really don’t like how they handled some of the more cringey moments of KatAang which is basically all on Aang which I’ll save for later
So when their main ships are not perfect I see the logic of putting them together along with all the other stuff I mentioned before
I however think what Zuko did while eventually forgiven by Katara doesn’t make him the best option for her but for Zuko Katara is lowkey the best option if we can’t put him with a Ty Lee or somebody like that
As Katara even if not with Aang I could put with someone like Haru or a hypothetically alive Jet whereas if Zuko isn’t with Mai he has the one off characters like the ba sing se girl (I forget her name, the one he went on an actual date with) but no one that comes back making Katara his next option it seems
KatAang thoughts
I don’t mind all the cringey stuff Aang has done lol
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I think people really don’t like the kiss during the play as it’s one of those he kissed her without permission moments that gets people riled up as there are definitely examples and instances where it’s not ok irl and in media
But not even including the time the show came out in which definitely is a different time culturally than now
He kissed her before and didn’t have the same reaction and he’s 12/13 they’re allowed to make these mistakes
Plus even though she was confused and doesn’t outwardly say it all the time like Aang does, Katara did like Aang at this point at least that’s how I read it.
So it’s not like he kissed a girl that didn’t like him. Aang to me was basically asking her to be his girlfriend and she’s like maybe after the WAR, whereas he took it as doubt and tried to reassure her. To me it’s two people that like each other but are prioritizing different things as Aang just wants Katara and Katara wants this war over with
And could go on but all their cringey moments aren’t bad worse thing is how realistic some of it can be lol
I think the whole love at first sight and destiny and all that is take it or leave it though
As I know some people don’t believe in love at first sight or just don’t like that trope and that’s admittedly the basis of this ship
I think while they eventually worked up to it well I can see to some their beginning are just as shaky narratively as Zutara
Also Aang doesn’t really have another ship tbh, like someone pointed out that the only person Aang called pretty was Katara and the Painted Lady who was Katara lol
Like if they would have actually played into Ming from that fortune teller village, Toph the only other character his age or even someone like Ty Lee I can see an argument to not make Katara his main ship
Conclusion
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I think the KatAang ship is harmless especially given their ages, the show release time period and just general point of the ship narratively therefore I think it’s a good ship
But I won’t lie and say especially earlier on that Zutara, Taang, and other possibilities wouldn’t have made some good if not even better stories depending how it was written just off potential
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Note
Bryke was in the Podcasts Braving Element book fire, and one the most interesting in that conversation was Bryke say Kataang relationship in Book fire was their favorite and Basco he is vibing for Maiko, but he say the headband episode is technically filler, it means is not canon that episode? What you think?
"Filler" was an anime term, about episodes that existed solely to give the manga they were adapting extra time to get more content for them to adapt. The filler episodes are canon (to the anime versions at least), but they don't move the plot forward, so if you skip them you don't miss anything important.
Eventually the term stopped being used solely for anime - and some idiots started using it to mean "bad episode", but the actual meaning is still the same: the episode can be skipped without the audience being confused. Only now these episodes exist not to catch up with a source material (in Avatar's case there wasn't one in the first place since it was an original series, not an adaptation) but rather as a "breather" episode, that can be more light-hearted, or character-driven instead of plot-driven.
To give an Avatar exemple: "Tales of Ba Sing Se" is filler, but it's still canon. It does not, in any way, further the Dai Li plot the previous episode had established - but we get focus on the characters, their personalities, dynamics, and THE tear-jerker that is Iroh singing to both honor his son and express his grief over his death. We already knew Lu Ten was dead and Iroh was grieving, but this episode gives it further depth.
Even if "The Headband" was filler, it'd still be canon - and so would be the dance with Katara clearly being into Aang.
And I personally do NOT consider "The Headband" filler. It furthers the whole theme of the season and the series ("How do you rebuild a world consumed by war? Through kindness"), we (and more importantly, the protagonist) get a deeper look into the indoctrination the people of the Fire Nation are subjected to, and more importantly, it is the episode in which we are introduced to Combustion man - ya know, the assassin that will try to kill the Gaang? The secondary villain of half the season? The one that is Zuko's attempt to resolve the problem of "The Avatar is supposed to be dead" that the previous episode introduced? Aka it is connected both to the aftermath of the Ba Sing Se plot and the "Zuko goes from villain to ally of the good guys" plot?
You CAN'T skip this episode without being confused as to who the fuck is that guy chasing the Gaang and who sent him after them. You'd have to wait until his last appearance, in which Zuko confronts him, for you to realize what the villain's deal was, meaning that PLOT would only become coherent after it was basically resolved.
It furthers the plot, therefore it isn't filler. It's just not ALL about the plot. By that logic, nearly every episode of season one is filler. The Beach is filler. Well over half the fucking show is filler if we're only counting episodes that have BIG, plot-twisting events as "important" episodes. Bryke need to stop parroting fandom nonsense to gain points.
As for Dante Basco being all excited about Maiko despite being a big zutara fan, that does not surprise me. He has ALWAYS said he liked their romance, and that Mai is the kind of girl he'd try getting with in real life.
Once again, the epic "power struggle" between Zutara fans and the evil dark lords Bryan and Mike is only in the fandom's weird minds. They weren't always kind to shippers, but the simple fact that they're so chill with Dante, and lots of other people, including writersn who went on his podcast and said everything from "I don't really care for Zutara, but I think could have worked" to "It's one of my OTPs" shows that this "Bryke VS Zutara" war is VERY one-sided and exists solely because people can't accept that, no, the writers are not throwing away their entire plan just to please you.
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davidtheab8 · 2 months
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Zuko Is OVERRATED
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I'll admit, I used to like him a lot, but he was never really favorite character of the series, no, that award goes to Aang, he has a very charismatic personality, he is very altruistic, and honestly has a much better arc than Zuko, but as I dived into the fandom a lot more, I realized something, Zuko has gotta have the most toxic, immature, idiotic fanbase in the world, it's even worse than Katara's misandrist Mary Sue fans, and that's saying a lot! It's because of his insane popularity that makes me question why does everything in the fandom have to be about him nowadays, his popularity should have faded away over a decade ago, but for some reason, his fans keep popping up and keep ranting about his arc being "one of the best in all media", but what does Aang get? Nothing but slander about his flaws, despite the fact that flaws are what makes a person and/or character: human, Aang constantly is treated like some sort of dumb idiot, just because "DuRr He SmilEs AlOt", When he's honestly the more realistic character out of the two, while Aang may smile a lot, that doesn't mean he smiles all the time, he also feels other emotions, like sadness, fear, empathy, and even anger, which baffles me as to why many people interpret Aang as smiling like an idiot all the time, but Zuko on the other hand frowns most of the time and spends his time whining, when he hasn't gone through anything that Team Avatar or the Gaang have experienced, and that's not very relatable, and while I do see how some people can relate to Zuko, WHY DOES EVERYONE RELATE TO HIM!?!?!? I haven't met anyone that has gone a day without smiling, but Zuko just seems to frown all the time. And the elephant in the room: his character arc. His arc could be somewhat interesting, though a bit too melodramatic, but because he frowns most of the time (as mentioned above), his development feels non-existent, because even after he got what he wanted this whole time, he's still the same melodramatic, obnoxious, pretentious, whiny emo he was in the series "DuRr BuT gEnE lUeN yAnG rUiNeD eVeRyThInG iN tHe CoMiCs, AnD bRyKe StOpPeD cArInG aFtEr ThE fIrSt AvAtAr". WHEN HE WAS LIKE THIS THE WHOLE DAMN TIME!!! And although I never watched legend of Korra, I bet you a million bucks he's still whining about his past like a huge crybaby, (and I do like the Gene Luen Yang Comics, but can people please stop saying it ruined the franchise, sure the writing wasn't as strong as the series' but I didn't mind it because I never put the original series on a pedestal like most people and found them to have an excellent art style, decent writing, the humor is pretty neat, and the characters are still as lovable, I consider them a serviceable sequel to the series and they aren't as bad as people say they are) but can people stop making a series called "AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER" all about this emo please stop, it's annoying.
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aanglican · 1 month
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ok here’s my initial review of natla, no spoilers
began roughly with the pilot episode (“aang”) thanks to the excessive exposition and choppy pacing - i’m guessing this was done for new viewers unfamiliar with the story already - though it quickly finds its feet with the next episode (“warriors”)
there were a lot of changes - some baffling, some pleasant. the more baffling parts pertain to certain spirits whereas the more pleasant ones pertain to characters. there is a lot of cutting and pasting of characters and plotlines from different episodes into one in episodes 3 (“omashu”) and 4 (“into the dark”) but i think they were done quite seamlessly for the most part. there are also reveals/expansions that i absolutely loved.
the series suffers from what i’ll call the netflix syndrome: not having enough episodes. please, i beg we return to the older model of american television a bit. the need becomes most obvious towards the last two episodes (“the north” & “legends”) and i would have enjoyed to see some more time pass on screen, with a bit of breathing room in between events. let things simmer!
i wish the storytelling and dialogue were more often subtle than not. i enjoy the bubbling-beneath-the-surface energy that daniel dae kim and the writers gave to ozai and his relationship with his children and i wish they would have done the same for most of the series, especially with katara. the constant flashbacks to her past experiences started to feel overexposed really fast and seeing those events play out for the first time in real time instead would have packed a bigger, heavier punch.
this is a very hit-or-miss show; this applies to most aspects of it from acting to CGI to choreography to dialogue. kiawentiio is the weakest out of the big four and may come off as slightly stiff compared to dallas and ian. gordon is great though he does have some expected childishness in his acting here and there but it’s all very tolerable. some green screens were very obvious especially in episode five (“spirited away”) and some bending effects are better than others, i.e., air and fire > water and earth. some of the choreo for the latter two could be better and the consequences more explosive. the dialogue balances humor and seriousness fairly well but the preachy quality of a few lines are meh.
the aesthetic of the series does itself well though it is very recognizably a netflix show and my own personal tastes would have liked it filmed a different way. i’ve said this before: avatar would have looked wonderful and most at home if it looked like a wuxia film à la house of flying daggers (2004), hero (2004), or crouching tiger hidden dragon (2000). i’m not the biggest fan of the lighting, camera angles, and color grading but they’re not terrible.
stand out performances for me (outside of aang) are zuko, sokka, suki, azula, ozai, kyoshi, and zhao in the finale.
all in all, i’m giving it a 6.8 or 7 out of 10. i really think the low episode count hindered it though there are a lot of things i enjoyed & plenty of potential for a next season. i am not so sure if we are getting a next season or two but if we will, i want more than 10 episodes at the very least. i was prepared for a number of changes but i didn’t expect that much, so maybe once the jarring feeling goes away then i’d be able to appreciate the series more.
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Have Some Meta Thoughts I'm Having About Avatar and That One Time Toph and Katara Went to the Spa and Why I Actually Don't Hate It
Because this is my blog and I do what want *nods firmly to self*
Still gonna put it under a cut though because it's gonna get long
Okay, so, I'm rewatching Avatar right now just for fun, and I just got to Tales of Ba Sing Se, and now I'm having a lot of thoughts about this plotline. Normally I'm not a huge fan of the "girls day out at the spa because we're surrounded by boys all the time and need to do some girly things" kind of plotline. Instinctually, I prefer the way Amphibia did it when Anne tries to take Polly to the spa, where Polly still isn't a fan of the spa by the end of the episode and it's revealed the two boys, Sprig and Hop Pop, like the spa a lot more. But I actually really like the way Avatar did this plotline in Tales of Ba Sing Se, enough that other than the obvious Iroh choice, it's my favorite of the stories in the episodes, and I'm gonna go over why.
First of all, and I think this helps a lot overall, Avatar has a lot of episodes where it goes into the idea of girls not having to like all girly things and that they can fight and kick ass at it too. No one who tries to put down Toph or Katara because they're girls (or for any other reason for that matter) is going to last very long. That's actually proven near the end of the mini story when they mess up those girls who make fun of them, and that helps it too.
But I actually really like the spa parts, even more than the "beat up the jerks" part. I like that Toph ends up enjoying it, despite being unsure at first. I like that Katara is okay with Toph's own way of messing around and having fun, like when she makes the alien face by earthbending the mud. I like that they both use their bending to relax in a sauna. And I actually really like that at the end, Toph says she had fun and is enjoying feeling girly. Because actually, I've had those days too.
In case whoever's reading this doesn't know, I identify as what I tend to call a nonbinary woman. I feel fully like a nonbinary person and fully like a woman at the same time, most of the time. (Don't ask me how that works, I don't fully understand it either, it's just how I feel.) I didn't feel super connected to my "girl" identity growing up. I actually look pride in being a "tomboy" a lot of the time. But I still had days where, for one reason or another, I wanted to lean into it. Times when I was a kid and wanted to wear a dress just for the heck of it, or paint my nails, or wear something sparkly and pink. Sometimes the novelty of it was fun, or I wanted to feel connected to that "girl" part of myself that felt either out of reach or unimportant most of the time.
And for that reason, I see a lot of myself in Toph in this story. She comes across to me as wanting to connect with her oft-intentionally-neglected femininity, and I like that that's something she gets to do without being any less of a badass or any less Toph. That's a mistake made by a lot of people who write strong female characters, making the character look down on femininity as a whole. But to parrot what's said by Suki a season earlier, Toph is a badass, but she's a girl too. She can be both.
The other part I really like is how Katara comforts her after they get rid of the jerkish assholes who just want to put them both down. Katara starts with "Those girls don't know what they're talking about," and then Toph responds that one of the good things about being blind is that she's never worried about appearances and doesn't care what she looks like and isn't looking for anyone's approval. But despite that, it's obvious to both Katara the audience that it did get to her. Because of course it did! When you're cautiously exploring a neglected (intentionally or not) part of your identity, that's often a vulnerable place to be in. And if someone then insults you for that very thing you're exploring, it hurts like a bitch.
But Katara doesn't acknowledge her tears or keep going with how wrong the girls were, she instead turns it back on Toph's strong points: "That's what I really admire about you, Toph. You're so strong, and confident." She turns it onto things that they both know Toph is, and tells Toph she admires that about her. And then to top it all off, she validates the things that Toph was enjoying before: "And I know it doesn't matter, but... you're really pretty."
Honestly, that line makes me tear up every time. Because that's Katara validating the very thing that Toph was insecure about. Toph's "I don't care what I look like and I can be confident in that," responded to with, "I admire that about you, and also, if you ever do want to feel pretty, know that you are." And the inner little girl me just melts.
I love this plotline because it doesn't move away from Katara and Toph's characters to let them be stereotypically girly, it explores how Katara and Toph would be stereotypically girly, and then validates them in being allowed to do that.
And I'm really glad I got this episode as a kid, because now on days that I do feel like painting my nails or wearing a dress, I can go into it knowing that it doesn't take away from me in any way. And that's just a really nice, really validating message to hear. And I'm glad Avatar took the time to say it.
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On Whitewashing the Fire Nation
I've already talked about some of the problems with whitewashing various Fire Nation characters in my past posts. In particular with Ursa in regards to the comics, and how Azula got an unfair treatment compared to everyone else.
The thing is...Ursa was not an isolated incident. In fact, I would go so far to say that almost all of the Fire Nation characters (sans Azula of course), gets off easy in the narrative. At least in comparison to the victims of their campaigns of conquest during the Hundred Year War.
Now again, this was present in the original show. After all, the Earth Kingdom soldiers that went after Iroh were portrayed in a negative light while Jet and Hama were ultimately portrayed as antagonists for lashing out against the Fire Nation (ultimately in destructive ways but still). And again, this was mitigated by the Fire Nation being the ultimate bad guys and having needed to be taken down.
The problem comes along the moment when the Fire Nation become the good guys...and not a whole lot about their behavior changes.
I'm gonna be using images from the comics so...get those goggles on.
As mentioned before in various posts, the comics seem to take a belief that colonialism isn't inherently bad, and that progress supersedes tradition and whatnot. Case in point:
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He says things are better in the colonies...despite seeing a citizen in Earth Kingdom garb shine the shoes of an old Fire Nation citizen.
Now there have been a lot of discourse and posts about the pro-colonialism on display in the comics so I'm not going to go into much depth there. What I am gonna go in depth though...is Zuko. I will admit I am not the biggest fan so feel free to take my opinions with a grain of salt.
I feel Zuko's character has regressed to his Book 1 self without the narrative actually calling him out on his bullcrap. Aside from his colonial attitudes, he does a lot of the same shit he did in the beginning: being hungry for the throne, hotheaded, picking fights, and overall just making things worse. Yet because he's now a "good guy", none of these actions are called out on.
Hell, in *North and South*, he shows up in this:
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Yeah! That's not gonna cause problems for a people who got raided and brought to the edge of extinction!
Oh! And when somebody rightfully questions Zuko on why the hell he's even there and calls him an Ash-maker (an apt title since Zuko did raid Katara's village and ash became a feared substance following the raids)?
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Zuko is able to get away with shit he pulled in Book 1 because he's on the "good side" now. And anyone who's against him is automatically treated as being a bad guy or at the very least in the wrong.
To be fair, it's not like Zuko can't regress. That is obvious. The problem comes when he's not called out on any of his shit. Which of course includes:
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No I won't let him live that down. Ever.
Also let's talk about Azula for a minute.
In stark contrast, Azula's demonization often goes hand in hand with this whitewashing. Aside from Zuko of course, almost every character from the Fire Nation hates Azula's guts and think she's some kind of bogeyman out to get them. Since Azula is our designated villain here, that means that whoever hates her is automatically a good guy or at least treated better by the narrative.
There's just one little problem with that.
None of the characters who hate on Azula automically look better. In fact, I'd argue it makes them look even worse.
Take Mai and Ty Lee for example:
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They just flat out admitted that they were fake friends to Azula. Even though she genuinely enjoyed their company in the series proper, otherwise their betrayal wouldn't have affected her so damn much.
Not to mention this is a piss poor attempt to garner sympathy since even if they didn't like Azula, they sure as hell didn't mind going along with her to cause trouble in the Earth Kingdom and conquer Ba Sing Se.
Hell, Mai was raring to go without much convincing:
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As for Ty Lee...did you see her face when she was ambushing Katara?
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Yeah, I call bullshit on their attempts to whitewash those two.
Then we get to Ukano. Ukano...you know this asshole:
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The guy who canonically was in control of an occupied territory by the Fire Nation, the guy who canonically was responsible for Mai's terrible upbringing and made her feel like a doll, the same guy who wanted to put Ozai back on the throne...STILL GETS TREATED WITH MORE SYMPATHY THAN THE LITERAL CHILD SOLDIER!!!!!!!
...clears throat...
I'm sorry, but you cannot have Ukano pull all that shit and have him be sympathetic when he's against Azula.
And the same goes for the rest of the Fire Nation characters. Azula is a scapegoat to try and make them look better, but it fails since it seems like they're trying to dodge responsibility instead of improving themselves. And they STILL haven't changed meaningfully at all from the series proper. Meaning they still have that Fire Nation colonialist and imperialistic attitude yet somehow they're the good guys.
In the process of whitewashing and playing the blame game, the writers made the Fire Nation look holier-than-thou and thus utterly despicable. Like they never needed to change outside of having Zuko as a ruler. Sorry, but that's not how it works people. Especially since these guys are the ones in power while Azula is labelled a terrorist despite not pulling any of the crap mentioned above.
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burst-of-iridescent · 6 months
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in relation to the ask you got about zutara loosing popularity—i say this as someone who’s been a zk stan for almost ten years now, but the ship was never that popular outside of fandom culture you can find on tumblr, twitter, old forums, fanfic sites, etc. i joined an atla facebook group some years ago and had to leave because of the totally unwarranted hatred people had for zutara. honesty, i think some people underestimate the huge impact atla had and still has on non-fandom people. everyone loves it. the ‘normie’ fanbase is made up for a solid % of cishet men who are indeed misogynistic and homophobic, and not because they don’t ship zutara so they must be bad. i mean, have you seen all the hatred characters like katara and korra get for simply being humans with flaws? that’s mostly cishet men talking. zukka also is massively popular on twitter, tumblr and ao3, and that is because this specific fandom culture is known for not really caring about canon—yet i read some nasty stuff about them. i personally am not a fan of the ship but certainly not because they’re gay. but a lot of ‘normie’ atla stan’s are dudebros who can’t stomach the fact that a beloved male character of theirs can be gay.
fandoms might seem huge from the inside, but it’s a small group as opposed to the many people that consume a piece of media and then just… move on. that’s the reality with every big non-canon ship, not only zk. spend a day in the hp fandom and you may end up thinking everyone is crazy about drarry, dramione and wolfstar—but casual watchers don’t care about any of those, and though i don’t know the numbers, youtube is a huge platform, so i think it’s safe to assume that casual watchers outnumber fandom people.
yep, i agree. i've only been in zutara fandom since early 2021, but having been in a variety of different fandoms since 2013, there is a really major difference between how fandom works and general audience works for the same media property. it's just a natural consequence of the significant disparity in interest and passion.
and like you said, it's also extremely difficult for zutara fandom to exist in fandom spaces outside of tumblr. i've never been on facebook, but that sounds like an awful experience, and sadly unsurprising. instagram, tiktok and reddit in particular are just horribly toxic cesspits that love to hate on zutara and zutara shippers at any opportunity, and though i'm not on twitter, i've seen enough of the drama that goes down there to know it's probably not much better. tumblr is pretty much the safest space for zk fandom (which is saying a lot, given the levels of hate and harassment here alone) so obviously polls conducted on sites with a low presence of zk fandom are going to be skewed against zutara.
that's why i don't really care how well we do in polls or how popular we are. i would ship zutara even if it was just me, myself and i against the world lmao. having this wonderful community that is constantly creating and collaborating and enjoying the ship together is just a lovely bonus.
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comradekatara · 1 year
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I think where people get caught up on the healing/blood bending dichotomy is that we see healing with water bending as taking a glob of water and moving it over the skin until the burn goes away, using it to direct energy in the body, while they think of blood bending as some thing more internal somehow and I’m sure someone would think it’s easier to directly bend the blood and force it to clot then to take a glob of water and press it against the wound and somehow make the blood stop… I think it would’ve been neat if we had more time devoted to katara getting instruction in the art of healing, to learn some more technical details about it, because people really seem to ignore healing as an art form and then try to reinvent it through blood bending, when in reality it’s just forcing the water in someone’s body to move around thus forcing the body to move.
Maybe Aang should have gotten some time to learn healing while Katara was mastering more advanced forms, but idk. Sorry this is a bit rambly.
we see some of how healing works when katara enter's yugoda's classroom. once you realize that healing isn't just about treating surface wounds but also manipulating chi paths in the body, it becomes a lot clearer that healers are already using the techniques people think katara "banned" when she said no one should bloodbend.
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katara: it's wrong to violate someone’s autonomy in this way that is akin to rape or torture
fans for some reason: omg she hates surgeons!!!!!!
also yes i definitely agree that it was weird for aang to never express interest in learning healing. i've said it before but i can't find where so i'll just say it again now. healing is one of the coolest powers ever and i don't understand why anyone with the potential to do it wouldn't want to do it?? it's not that aang believes in the gendered binary between healing and fighting that the northern water tribe does, so i can only chalk it up to his naivete, and imagine that as he gets older he learns healing from katara, as anyone with a shred of common sense would.
Hot take: Hama wasnt “right” exactly but she shouldnt be imprisoned again. She should be home with her people. She should be with Kanna , not living her twilight years in a firenation prisoncell. She should be pardoned or some shit idk. If we take her age and The conditions of the other victims in her flashback to the logical conclusion , she is likely the sole survivor of a concentration camp for the SWT benders. Its fucking abysmal. IDK what it would take but its so cruel her current status.
yeah i've said this before too. i like to think that instead of being reimprisoned or executed she manages to escape, and after the war katara finds her and sends her to the south pole to live out her final years there.
I like the great divide because I like the sibling arguing part over something that is kind of ridiculous, Katara and Saka are not part of these groups and neither has any particular reason to believe one over the other but they both pick a side and go whole hog, and as someone with a sibling with about the same age gap as those two that felt pretty realistic.
i mean katara and sokka fight over trivial shit all the time, that much is true, but the argument itself makes no sense. not only would katara not care about getting rained on, seeing as she is a literal waterbender, but the zhangs and the gan jins have the stupidest fucking "conflict" like this show that is otherwise wonderfully nuanced presents the most simplistic two dimensional plotline ever, and also expects us to believe in the process that katara is prim and proper and prepared and sokka is messy and spontaneous or whatever not only is that blatantly untrue it's just straight up bad writing it's a bad episode and you guys need to stop trying to justify it. that said aang's first ever conflict resolution as the avatar being a straight up lie is pretty funny.
Sorry for spaming ur inbox i am full of thoughts atm
i can see that
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erisenyo · 20 days
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9, 13, 16, 25 🫡 godspeed
9. worst part of canon
The Great Divide lol? Jk, I generally like canon a lot, actually! I think it is such an amazing framework to play around in. But I do wish they had grounded the Southern and Northern Water Tribes in research/real-life cultural roots to the same degree as they did for the other nations. From what I've seen from circumpolar fans, it seems like it's more of a stereotypical and surface-level referencing vs the attention to detail given to the Fire and Earth and Air cultures. I wish canon had built that out more fully and deeply (or at least, built the North out if there was a theme being threaded around cultural loss due to the impacts of war).
13. worst blorboficiation
I feel like awkward turtleduck Zuko is the easy answer here...so I'm going to say Katara. I really like her, for her anger and her heart and her sense of justice and her sense of care and her dorkiness and hunger to learn. It feels like a lot of times she's boiled down to 'group mom' with no other layers, or to a girl boss/girl power fantasy that doesn't actually engage with her trauma and responses to it, or her ssensse of justice. She's a really great, complex, human character and I hate to see her filed down to just the one facet that lets her slot into the background of someone else's story.
(Which is maybe like the opposite of blorboification, to be put into the background lol? De-blorbified haha?)
16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)
I see a lot of headcanons/characterizations of Zuko as incredibly anxious, frequently to the point of paralysis and distress and needing rescue, and it's one of those things that feels totally divorced from his actual canon characterization to me. He is all action in canon. He throws himself at every problem face-first and he'll figure it out on the way. He has a big emotionally painful revelation that he was raised with lies and he goes to yell at his dad and point swords at him about it. He has an identity crisis so he does some vigilante stuff. A more experienced, older firebender gets in his face so he challenges him to a duel--three times.
He is not paralyzed by anxiety. He is a perpetual motion machine. He broods, he doesn't ruminate, and there is a difference.
25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing
Oh man lol. Ignoring all the purity wank stuff (which. what a big thing to ignore.), how about when we complain about how other shippers are rude and mischaracterize us and come at the Zukkas, when we don't come for them. Which just goes to show how uniquely terrible and rude and awful and wicked and ignorant and mean those other shippers are, and how they don't know anything about canon either, and also their ship is stupid and racist and phobic and--
But don't worry, we don't come at other shippers.
(For the choose violence ask game!)
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the-badger-mole · 1 year
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What are some interesting little individual quirks you headcanon the Gaang to have? And what about stuff that the couples might find endearing about their partner (or even annoying sometimes?)
What are some interesting little individual quirks you headcanon the Gaang to have?
Starting with my most to least favorites:
Katara: She hums to herself when she's working or focusing on something. Usually just softly under her breath. She doesn't do it consciously most of the time, but sometimes she makes up songs about whatever task or problem she's working on. She's actually a pretty good singer, too.
Zuko: He is a leg jiggler. When he is in a heightened emotional state, like if he's anxious or excited or nervous, he jiggles his leg. He learns to keep stoic when something is affecting him, but one thing he can never quite get a handle on is his jiggle leg.
Sokka: He cannot keep his feelings to himself. If he's happy, he's happy dance happy, if he's annoyed, he has a hair pin trigger, if he's mildly inconvenienced, it's the worst thing in the world to ever happen. The only emotion he's not overly loud or expressive of is anger. He can be...scary when he's really angry.
Toph: She likes flowers. It's something she mostly keeps to herself when she's younger because she thinks it's embarrassingly girly, but she likes flowers because it's something that sighted people can enjoy that she can, too. She'll never be able to appreciate the vibrant colors or shapes of the flowers, but she loves the smells they give off. Her favorite flower is the lilac (or whatever the in-universe hybrid would be) because the scent is so strong.
Suki: She has a very dark sense of humor. Not in a mean way, but she jokes about things that most people don't find particularly funny. Death, battle, war, crying babies, etc. It's always obvious that she's joking, though.
Aang: He likes coming up with weird food combinations (along the lines of chocolate on french fries). He doesn't cook, but he's always combining things that don't go together. A lot of the times it's an inedible mess that only he can consume (like the time he put pickle brine on a custard tart), but sometimes he comes up with a truly inspired combination (like chili spiced sesame oil on fruit).
And what about stuff that the couples might find endearing about their partner (or even annoying sometimes?)
I only ship Zutara and Sukka, so here goes
Katara: Loves the way Zuko seeks out physical affection when they're alone. He can get under foot in a way that a lot of other people would find annoying (sniffing her neck when she's sewing, wrapping his arms around her waist when she's cooking), but he backs off with no issue in the rare instances when she wants/needs space.
She finds it a bit less endearing that he likes to play in her hair when he wakes up in the morning. At sunrise. A couple of hours before Katara even wants to think about getting out of bed.
Zuko: He loves when Katara hums when she works. Sometimes, if he knows the song, he'll hum along with her, or he'll make lyric suggestions to her made up songs.
He is not a fan of her habit of saving little odds and ends, like chipped tea cups or empty containers that can be upcycled. She keeps them neat and organized, but they take up unnecessary space, and she almost never actually gets around to finding new purposes for those things.
Suki: She loves how expressive he is when he's happy. She finds his good moods contagious and it's impossible for her to be grumpy when he is in a good mood.
She hates how sloppy he can be. He cleans, but only on his schedule, and in between, he'll leave discarded clothes and plates lying around. He won't leave spills or mud, but Suki has tripped over his shoes one too many times.
Sokka: Loves the way Suki says whatever's on her mind. He thinks they have the same sense of humor (they don't, but they find each other funny).
He hates the way she jumps into drill sergeant mode when she's impatient. When she loses her temper about him leaving something around, she talks to him like one of her soldiers. It is a bigger issue at the start of their relationship, but they learn to do better with each other and it's less of a problem as time goes on.
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ineffabildaddy · 4 months
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@celestialcrowley tagged me in an in-depth bio thing (thank u!!!) so here's some stuff about me:
real name: samuel's my full first name so let's say that?
nickname & nickname origins: sam!!! the only people who call me samuel are a couple of my friends when they sort of pretend to scold me, ha. or if they're singing little freak by harry styles but the line is "little freak, samuel" instead of "little freak, jezebel" (i have a tattoo of the words 'little freak' because of how much i love that song. i also am one i guess)
a couple people i know who are lotr fans call me samwise but i haven't read or watched lotr yet so i'm reluctant to accept this as a nickname hehe
sammi is what my sister and my very closest friends call me. if someone i'm not close to calls me that, my sister vetoes lol
ao3: sinchester
social media/s: i have all of the big ones but they're all personal accounts so</3
state country: i'm from the uk. always lived in london, it's the one true love of my life (and it's a character in good omens in its own right, fight me). i will answer ur state question in another way by saying that i usually visit the us once a year (usually for gigs and to see friends) and my last trip was to ny
pets: none</333 my grandparents have two lovely german sheps and a black cat which are my most precious loves though
hobbies: i like reading (fantasy, romance, twentieth-century poetry and nineteenth-century fiction mostly), writing (prose, screenplay and very bad poetry), live music/following tours, vinyl records, tea, whiskey, sitcoms, romcoms, and american traditional tattoos, among other things
personality: i have the most warped and harsh sense of self so i asked my best friend amy to describe my personality. this is what she said:
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brb gonna go cry now
favourite holiday: christmas because i love christmas music of the easy listening jazz persuasion, and also because i love a lot of christmas films
favourite food: mac and cheese, bao buns, strawberries
favourite dessert: potentially cheesecake?
favourite colour: baby blue<3
favourite quote/s: "i am an unspeakable of the oscar wilde sort" / "not a southern pansy, the southern pansy", and in the same vein... "i'm not a big fat panda, i'm the big fat panda" / "there are heroes in the seaweed, there are children in the morning, they are leaning out for love and they will lean that way forever"
favourite book/s: call me by your name (sue me), good omens, the fables series, pride and prejudice (cliched i know sorry, i have read all of austen's work but it's her most popular for a reason), the scott pilgrim series, the spud series, the princess bride
favourite tv shows: good omens, avatar: the last airbender, peep show, supernatural (reluctantly), bob's burgers, arrested development, ghosts, yonderland. it's only just come out of course but honorary mention goes to scott pilgrim takes off
favourite film/s: shrek is my favourite of all time. it's just got everything. trust me, i went to film school (i actually did tho). then we've also got the nightmare before christmas, ferris bueller's day off, scott pilgrim, submarine, clueless, deadpool, the princess bride
favourite character/s: sam winchester, aziraphale, crowley, katara, sokka, jack and sally, kitty (ghosts), lucille bluth, envy adams, wallace wells
favourite actor/s: i've always found this a really difficult one to answer but i'll just say mae whitman because she's been in 3 of my favourite things ever and slayed all of them (avatar: the last airbender, arrested development and scott pilgrim)
favourite song/s: my favourite songs of all time are probably...
a certain romance - arctic monkeys
happiness/the gondola man - elliott smith
i used to be someone - kevin devine
i need some sleep - eels (shrek 2 teehee)
the way i loved you - taylor swift
let's call the whole thing off - louis armstrong and ella fitzgerald
that old feeling - frank sinatra (prefer his earliest version of this song to any other versions but i like ella's rendition too)
favourite music genre/s: i listen to pockets of all different guitar music, some pop and some jazz
favourite podcast/s: braving the elements, which is the official podcast for avatar: the last airbender and the avatarverse in general (hosted by the actor of zuko and the actor of korra!!!)
have you ever met a celebrity: oh god, erm... i've met so many musicians and actors (mostly actors that are less well-known) but i'll just mention the most famous ones. on purpose (some of whom i now regret lol): dua lipa, halsey, frank iero, brendon urie, jared padalecki, jensen ackles, jinkx monsoon (and loads of other drag race queens, but she's my favourite). by accident as they've come into my work: matt berry (i died), rob delaney, a couple of actors from sex education, sharon rooney (i actually bumped into her on the way to work oops). people i see around my local area or my area of work but haven't met: graham coxon from blur, peter capaldi, olly alexander. i know i've forgotten people but they'll come back to me hah - living in north london and working in central london means you do tend to see famous people sometimes
have you ever been to a concert: not sure exactly how many but my estimate is 200+. one band i've seen 37 times alone... but yeah, i follow two tours a year on average and then i'll go to gigs as a one-off for artists i don't commit as hard to lmao
do you collect anything: vinyl and soft toys! i also like to have lots of different interesting teas in my cupboard
do you have any idols: not sure i could call anyone i like an idol of mine but i naturally want to be neil gaiman when i grow up. i also would absolutely love to be as good at words as leonard cohen was. i guess taylor swift because i love her more than almost any other musician and have done since i was 8 years old but... she's a person at the end of the day (and a billionaire which is questionable)
is there a real life friend you can be completely yourself with: i feel i can be entirely myself around @icanbeurangle, among a few other people from different parts of my life. the person who wrote my little personality bio above, along with our mutual friend, and then a couple of friends i've known since school. i've also got friends who started off as internet friends but are now irl friends (the uk is a small place) who come under this category uwu
where would you love to travel to: off the top of my head, new zealand and mexico. i'd also like to see more of wales (i only went once or twice as a small child)
random fact about yourself: i'm an identical twin? it doesn't feel random at all but yeah haha
if you made it this far without falling asleep, well done!!! thank u so much for reading, i hope u didn't bore u to tears<3 i've missed out a couple questions where i addressed them already in a previous answer
no pressure tags (but i want to read up on u all!!!): @raining-stars-somewhere-else @sad-chaos-goblin @crowleyslvt @indigovigilance @icanbeurangle @bowtiepastabitch @genderqueer-hippie
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