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zukka-fic-recs · 1 year

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Hello! I am totally new to reading Zukka and would love some recommendations. If you've already done this, please feel free to just link to another post! I would love a few recs of what you consider to be "must-reads". I'm open to any length or rating (although I tend to read rated E), I would just love to start with a few that are phenomenal :)

Hi stavro!

Welcome to the wonderful world of Zukka fics!

Here's a Zukka starter pack for you, I limited it to 10 fics to stop it from getting too unwieldy, but it was really difficult to keep it so short tbh, so if you want more lmk!

Zukka Must-Reads

Blue by blacklipscurse

Available on Ao3, Complete (Part 1), Teen, Slowburn, Canon-Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Blue Spirit Zuko, Secret Indentities, Ba Sing Se, Angst, H/C, Homophobia, Physical Disability, Humour / Humor

Wordcount: 192,682

This fic is a whole damn phenomenon in this fandom and it's phenomenal to match! The way the characters are written really draws you in. It's a very emotive fic and I truly cannot emphasise how funny blacklipscurse's writing is, I laughed a lot. Especially at Zuko, and sometimes Sokka. 😅 There is a sequel but it's a WIP and Blue can stand alone. :)

absence of heat, excess of destiny by theycallmesuperboy / @baegarrick

Available on Ao3, Complete, Gen, Canon-Compliant, Alternate Universe - Soulmate, AU - Soulmate-Identifying Marks

Wordcount: 4,336

Absolute classic, and I love soulmate fics so for me this is top tier.

Real Slow by surveycorpsjean (Ao3) / zanimez (Tumblr)

Available on Ao3, Complete, Mature, Post-Canon, Fluff, Smut, H/C, Angst, Ambassador Sokka

Wordcount: 21,490

The way their relationship gently unfurls in this is very satisfying. Highly recommend!

Hallowed by HairCrescendo / @sword-and-stars

Available on Ao3, Complete, Explicit, Smut, Fluff

Wordcount: 4,615

Smouldering smut and fluffy feelings. I'd recommend all of HairCrescendo's work tbh, they're a fantastic writer and they have about a dozen more Explicit works. ;)

three words that become hard to say (I and love and you) by overcomeeithlongingfora_girl / @overcomewithlongingfora-girl

Available on Ao3, Complete, Explicit, Smut, Praise Kink, Subdrop, Domdrop, Light BDSM

Wordcount: 2,977

This fic is hothotHOT, and yet also so sweet and emotional it makes my heart hurt. Bring a fan and some tissues.

Courtesan by lesbianophelia / @mendontprotectyou

Available on Ao3, Complete, Explicit, Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Light Praise Kink

Wordcount: 2,200

So scrumptious I just want to eat it. Prepare to feel things. 🔥

For Peace and Zuko by BeersForQueers / @omgbeersforqueers

Available on Ao3, Complete, Explicit, Slowburn, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Future Fic, Canon-Divergence

Wordcount: 43,277

Speaking of classics, honestly you could read anything and everything by BeersForQueers and I would recommend doing so! They're a longtime member of the fandom. They were there for this ship when it needed it most (I want you to know that I just blew a kiss to the sky). Having said that, For Peace and Zuko is one of my absolute favourites. The sequel Ice Cave makes for a lovely epilogue.

when the prison doors are opened by alternatedoom

Available on Ao3, Complete, Explicit, Underage, Sickfic, Angst, H/C, Voyeurism, Animal Killed for Food, FWB, Imprisonment, Dub-Con

Wordcount: 164,648

I don't know if this counts as slowburn given... ahem, the progression of things. On the emotional front, perhaps. Their relationship development is messy in a delicious way, really twists you around into such wonderful spirals... Idek if I'm making any sense, that's what this fic does to my mental capacity! Every character interaction is just so so good and the way the tension gets ratcheted up and then unwound is captivating. I could gush about this fic all day, but instead I'll just leave it at: it's really, really good and you should read it.

In the Soft Light by CSHfic and VSfic

Available on Ao3, Complete, Teen, Slowburn, Pining, Canon-Divergence, Alternate Universe - War Ended Early, Angst, H/C, Firelord Azulon, Miscommunication, Pining, Underage Drinking, AU - Moon Spirit Sokka, side Bakoda, Sickfic, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Bed-Sharing

Wordcount: 83,904

Some of my absolute favourite authors in this fandom and all of their work is fantastic quality. In terms of spot-on characterisation, wonderful descriptions, plenty of humour to balance out the angst... Their writing is masterful, and this is one of my favourites of their fics. They have more mature/explicit works as well. ;) (Side-note: I absolutely adore Zuko in this fic).

(do you take this jerk to be) your one and only by jatersade

Available on Ao3, Complete, Teen, Slowburn, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Arranged Marriage, Bed-Sharing, Misunderstandings, Pining, AU - Royalty, Alternate Universe - 100 Year War Ended Early, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse

Wordcount: 55,846

I love the arranged marriage trope and I love it when authors play around with the gang's status as the children of royalty and world leaders, and this fic does all of that so well. Jatersade's pacing and the quality of their charecterisarion really elevates this fic.

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I wanted to keep this list to complete fics, but I do have to mention feels like we only go backwards by oldpotatoe, because although it's a WIP it is iconic.

Also, a personal favourite of mine that has been discontinued (but didn't end on a cliffhanger or anything) is invisible string by wilteddaisy (taotu). I have it saved to my phone as a PDF for when I need a comfort read, that's how much I love it.

#zukka fic rec #zukka fic recs #atla #sokka/zuko #zukka #zuko/sokka #Zukka starter pack #Zukka must-reads #Zukka classics #This is just a short list I know this isn't all the Zukka classics #I can already think of so many that aren't on this #But have mercy even putting this together took me hours 😭#Good thing I missed my flight and had to take a 4 hour bus so I had the time to compose this huh 😅#Maybe my psychiatrist was right about me having adhd...#Anyway if you'll excuse me I have some rereading to do!#There are some recs in the notes too now 💕

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wilcze-kudly · 1 month

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Is Toph the only character in the Avatar gang and series to have a last name?

She is the only gaang member to have an explicitly mentioned last name, to my knowledge. However I think last names are more common in the atlaverse than most people assume.

Most aliases the Gaang use have surnames (the fire family and the Pippinpaddleopsicopolis family). I also don't think it's an "only rich people have surnames" type of thing, since Hiroshi Sato and Varrick both came from humble beginnings. Zhu Li also has a surname. Jargala Omo, a criminal, also has a surname.

I could imagine Aang and the Water Tribe siblings not having surnames not using their potential surnames since their names carry no weight in the Earth Kingdom. Also Aang's entire culture got wiped out, his full legal identification probably doesn't matter that much anymore. Similarly, Suki comes from a rather isolated village. Unlike Toph where her family line directly influences the plot several times. As for Zuko, I can see his family line having a surname but being widely known by their royal titles, as we don't always refer to for example irl british royalty by their surnames.

I have a few headcanons for Mako and Bolin's surname because I needed it for a wip I'm writing. My assumption is that they hadn't gone by their family's last name in a long time and may not fully identify with it, ergo them not introducing themselves with it.

Asami's family name is important due to their wealth and resources and, similairly to Toph, her family name is a big part of the plot.

Korra's the goddamn Avatar, so who gives a fuck abot last names here, she's pretty damn recognisable.

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sokkastyles · 2 months

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I feel like there's this kind of... Schrodinger's Aang problem, both in the show and the fandom, that gets to me because Aang is simultaneously presented to be so wide beyond his years, yet the argument that he's a twelve year old kid is trotted out constantly to defend and absolve him of any possible wrongdoing. He's supposedly wise and worldly enough at twelve to preach to Katara about forgiving her mother's killer, but he's also twelve and therefore too young to understand not, yknow, kissing Katara without her consent or blaming a fictional portrayal of her on her. (Obviously both things are examples of Aang just blowing past Katara's emotional and physical boundaries, I don't think it's talked about much how Katara never actually asks Aang for any advice about going to confront Yon Rha, he just comes out swinging, but the show and KA/wider fandom don't treat it that way). Do you think if Aang was written to be even a little older, say Katara's age, this would happen so much, even if the writing stayed the same? Defense of the EiP kiss, for eg, is already awful, but often relies on the "he's just twelve so its 'not that bad'" excuse.

I do think if Aang were older, or more physically imposing, people would recognize these things as Aang disrespecting Katara's boundaries, yes. We have this image that men who behave that way look a certain way and are threatening to women in ways that are easily identifiable. For example, the stereotype of the big angry man or the scary rapist hiding in the bushes, when in reality, most assaults are committed by someone the person already knows, a friend or a boyfriend. Just look at the "Nice Guy" belief and the way it manifests itself in KA vs Zutara discourse. Zuko is the scary bad boy who isn't good for Katara and probably an abuser, while Aang can't possibly hurt Katara because he's "just a kid" and "so nice." The problem is that this kind of rhetoric is entirely manipulative and incredibly coercive, and Aang hurts Katara by the very premise that he's so innocent and wise that she's not allowed to feel hurt by him, and if she does, it must be because there is something wrong with her. That idea, that Katara just doesn't know what is actually good for her and what she wants, and needs Aang to tell her, is implicitly presented in the show both in Ember Island Players and The Southern Raiders. And both episodes use Zuko as the underlying threat that is leading Katara away from good guy Aang.

#zutara #antikataang #the discourse

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rickktish · 8 months

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A list of mutable batfam headcanons that live inside my brain:

Steph deserves to be 6’ minimum, preferably 6’1” or 2”

Bruce is constantly trying to balance his need to be at the same eye level or above the people he’s intimidating vs his need to do his funky little gargoyle crouch. His favorite thing about the GCPD roof is that it has lots of surfaces he can crouch on and still meet or look down at Gordon’s eye level

Tim and Damian suffer from “too similar to get along” disease and must either become best friends or despise each other until the end of time

Babs prefers light, natural toned makeup. Steph prefers pops of color and decent amounts of jewelry when she can get away with it. Cass prefers jewelry and no makeup at all

Jason’s comfort meals are all variations on soup served with bread for dipping

Jason is of the opinion that Fitzwilliam Darcy is an ass at the beginning of the book and it’s a good thing he decided to change himself so he could take his place as Best Fictional Man Ever. Dick, who read the book in order to be able to connect with Jason better, is of the opinion that Fitzwilliam Darcy has done nothing wrong ever and only needed to work on his social skills, meaning that it’s his improved ability to communicate that makes him worthy of Elizabeth Bennet at the end. Neither of them wants to listen to Tim’s analysis of what this says about their relationships with Bruce

Duke has never engaged in non-Alfred approved chaos. This is not because Duke seeks Alfred’s approval, but rather because their senses of humor are in perfect alignment and Alfred is always pleased to discover that he approves of Duke’s particular instances of chaos even after the fact

Damian never had stuffed animals growing up, but after being corrupted by Dick’s influence he can no longer sleep without a minimum of one in his bed

Damian collects posters and articulable action figures. His favorite ones are the ones that can stand on their own, which he uses for posing practice in his drawings. His favorite figure is of one of the characters in Cheese Vikings who has a zuko-esque backstory and a secret propensity for gardening

Dick always buys the most beat up box of cereal at the grocery store because he feels bad for them

Cass loves not only ballet, but other works by classical composers as well. She will unironically listen to the local classical station, and can identify the Borodin String Quartet by the sound of their instruments alone

Tim and Bruce watch and read Gray Ghost media in all its various forms and discuss it together as a bonding activity

Alfred and Jason’s shared birthday is usually celebrated with them making each other cakes, meaning that everyone gets to enjoy not one but two cakes for the day

Jason specializes in cheesecake above all other cakes, though he did make Damian a black forest cake for his birthday once right after he’d finished playing Portal

Literally everyone is surprised when they learn that Damian plays video games. No one has ever once looked at him and thought “yeah, i bet that kid plays console games” and he’s actually really insecure about it, but he also refuses to wear any kind of merch outside the house. He owns dozens of gaming and anime T-shirts but refuses to be seen as anything but completely neutral outside his own territory

Most of the bats wear drug-detecting nail polish at all times, though the base and reactive colors vary by the bat in question

Bruce and Dick have both had therapists straightup quit on them and are therefore reluctant to go back to therapy ever again

Duke’s favorite book is Walden Pond

Alfred read Lord of the Rings aloud to Bruce when he was a kid

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punkeropercyjackson · 2 months

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My 2000s/2010s kid medias wisdom:

Azula deserved a redemption arc and Ty Lee is the girl who got shafted by not being Zuko's love interest

The Soul Society is a military state and Ichigo was a good person for never joining it and Orihime was the best Bleach character

Sasuke was right and Kishimito made him an extremist as ableist victim blaming propaganda and Sakura and Hinata are equally good

Ben 10,including the sequels,is better than Danny Phantom

Flynn Ryder was a creep and a dickhead who didn't deserve Rapunzel

Hiccup was trans but so was Astrid,only transfem instead

Teen Titans is a beyond good show but the influence it's had on DC's comics is bad and Young Justice Animated should've never existed

The Hunger Games and Chronicles of Narnia derserve better than to be grouped in with Harry Potter because Thg is an anti-bigotry story rather than liberal bs and you can actually pull 'Death of the Author' with the problematic elements of Tcon because C.S Lewis is actually dead

Adventure Time is an almost perfect show and so're it's comics and sequel miniseries' and you can't pull 'It's bad because it got too serious in later seasons!!!' as a fact because that was the point,that it was trying to be different from most kids cartoons and it not being your thing dosen't mean it's not good writing

Winx Club,W.i.t.c.h,Totally Spies,The Powerpuff Girls,Kim Possible and MLP are feminist even if they have their flaws and they're brought in a girly packaging because they're meant to be heroes for little girls

Johnny Test is fine and y'all are weird fow visceral your reaction to it was

Percy Jackson and the Olympians dropped the ball by having Percy end up with Annabeth because they're 'destined to' since the point of Percy's story is that he never gets to choose what they actually want and they should've either ended up with Rachel or stayed single to work on character development and healing,Luke never actually cared about other demigods and was only using them as ammo against the gods because if he actually cared he wouldn't have abused them,Toa should've instead been a third Percy series of them destroying Olympus' corruption because they've had enough of the gods and replacing it with an actual good societal system and Percy is a super cool autistic Team Parent who'd be femme and kidcore if Rick bothered to develop their interests

Star Vs The Forces of Evil should've made trans Marco and autistic Star canon,endgamed them with Tom and Janna instead of eachother,made Jackie an mc and done none of that 'no magic' shit

Gravity Falls,We Bare Bears and Undertale/Deltarune's icon status are well-deserved

Craig of the Creek only gets ignored because it's a black show that's good

And She Ra and the Princesses of Power is called cringe nonstop because it's fanbase is largely wlw and trans women who're loud and proud with their queerness and the creator at the time of it's airing identified as a nonbinary lesbian and people hate female queerness while hyping up male kinds that play into stereotypes(Stiles and Derek from Teen Wolf,Magnus and Alec from The Mortal Instruments,the Shiro/Keith discourse,the Boyfriends Webtoon,Marauder's Era even being a thing,etc.Note that i am not calling Stevenson female but rather saying he knows what lesbophobic experiences are)

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circlique · 1 year

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Color Theory in ATLA: Part 1

Let’s talk colors! ATLA is a colorful show! It’s pretty obvious at first glance that each element and thus each nation has a color association. But how else does ATLA use color narratively? Today I’m gonna be doing a little analysis at two levels: surface and narrative. This post will cover the visual, surface level.

By the way, this is actually a propaganda post for @multicolor-fandom-tournament, where you should totally go vote for ATLA in the final. As much as I love Pokemon, I wanna see someone else win a poll for once. Give ATLA some love. Anyway, let’s get started.

For individual characters, there is some pretty obvious color coding/representation going on that is notable. For instance, Ty Lee wears pink and is girly with a bubbly personality. Mai wears dark red and black and tends to be gloomy and serious. Zuko wears red and is often prone to passionate, angry outbursts. Aang wears yellow and tends to be cheery and positive. Sokka, for all his cool collectedness, wears blue. Toph is represented by green and is first introduced as a vision in a swamp, where there are themes of connectedness, growth, and new beginnings. These are all fairly obvious and surface level, so I’m not going to go into them too much.

Beyond individual characters, each nation gets its own color. This is fairly straightforward. Fire is red, air is orange/yellow, water is blue, earth is green. People from each nation wear their nation’s color for the most part, leaving us with recognizable character designs that easily allow us to discern any particular character’s origin.

There are a few other interesting cases where specific colors are reserved for specific things, such as purple, which is only worn by royalty, Princess Yue, and gold, which is used in small accents in the Fire Nation, but larger usages seem to be reserved for the royalty there as well.

However, throughout ATLA and some of the extended material such as the comics and Legend of Korra, the colors a person wears has been further used to show their multiculturalism, and sometimes detachment from culture altogether. In ATLA, there is a travailing music troupe that wears a variety of colors, presumably due to their travels necessitating the need to replace worn out garments with whatever colors are available. In the comics, there is a plot line about conflict arising in the former Fire Nation colonies, where people have been raised in a mix of Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom culture. Some of the people there wear both red and green.

Later on in Legend of Korra, we see that while Republic City is multicultural, many of the people there don’t identify super strongly with any one nation. After all, many of the people there have never lived anywhere but Republic City. As a result, a lot of the Republic City characters such as Mako and Bolin wear more muted colors such as gray. Although their outfits still have accents in their respective bending colors, their outfits reflect their heritage to a place that does not strongly emphasize any one nation’s colors over the others. Notably, Amon and his chiblockers wear gray too, because their entire deal is equality among benders and nonbenders.

Another thing that is heavily color coded in ATLA is eye color. Each nation has a corresponding eye color too. For fire it’s gold/amber, air is gray, water is blue, and earth is green and brown. Eye color is so heavily color coded that it even picks up some narrative importance. When Azula takes over Ba Sing Se, she, Ty Lee, and Mai disguise themselves as Kyoshi Warriors. Katara runs up to then to warn them of the coup, but realizes something is wrong when Azula’s pretty Fire Nation amber eyes flash in the light.

Eye color is used like this in a few other places too. In the Kyoshi novels, there is a character who goes undercover who must disguise his eye color to avoid being discovered. In the Yangchen novel, there is a character from and island in the Mo Ce Sea (which is roughly in the middle of the map) who describes how her home became so cut off from any one nation that she didn’t feel allegiance to any of them. Her eyes are specifically described as hazel/brown, which can be found in all four nations.

Eye color is so heavily nation-coded that it has spawned plenty of fan theories and arguments. Suki, for instance, has green eyes in some art and blue in others. Fans argue about what her eye color actually is, with some suggesting blue-eyes Suki may have Water Tribe heritage due to Kyoshi Island’s proximity to the Southern Water Tribe, and others suggesting it was just an animation error and that they were actually supposed to be green. Another example is Ty Lee, who is a nonbender but has gray eyes, causing many people to speculate she has Air Nomad ancestry. Notably, Zaheer ALSO has gray eyes and later gains the ability to airbend, so the popular theory is that he and Ty Lee may be the descendants of airbenders who survived the initial attack and hid amongst the four nations.

Indeed, different eye color is used to show people with mixed heritage, a notable example being Asami, who has green eyes but is descended from Fire Nationals who settled in the colonies in the Earth Kingdom.

And there you have it! Those are the surface-level uses of color in ATLA. Next time we'll talk more about color theory and narrative usage of color symbolism.

#avatar #atla #avatar the last airbender #tlok #legend of korra #aang #katara #sokka #toph #zuko #suki #ty lee #asami

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thebakingqueen5 · 2 years

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queer atla headcanons

aka me, a bisexual nonbinary mass of flesh, testing my gaydar

Aang: pansexual, goes by he/they, assumes everyone is pan unless given an indication otherwise, audibly gasped when Tenzin came out as straight, constantly argues with Katara over which flag (bi or pan) is prettier

Katara: bisexual and demisexual, she/her, came out to Aang while they were engaged by saying "Aang... I like boys and girls" and to this day has not gotten over the fact that he responded, "yeah ofc, doesn't everyone?", only identifies as bi because she doesn't like the pan flag's yellow

Sokka: bisexual, Zuko was his bi awakening, deals with some internalized biphobia poor bby but works through it eventually, bonded a lot with Katara over their sexuality crises

Suki: they/she but still considers themself cis, aggressively bisexual and poly-questioning, takes offense to being called an ally, she and Sokka facepainted each other's cheeks with the bi flag for their first pride parade and it is still one of their most cherished memories <3

Toph: goes by she/they mainly, doesn't care a ton about labels but identifies as ace and pan, knows every gay bar in the United Republic and drags Sokka to them often (Suki highly encourages this), uses neopronouns when they feel like it

Zuko: bisexual, so so so much internalized homophobia from the Fire Nation but he also works through it, comes out to Mai first after a few months of internal and her response is just "cool," had a gender crisis for a while there but is 99% sure he is cis... probably

Mai: queer but doesn't want to put a specific label on it, Ty Lee sees auras but Mai sees Gay^TM and is as a result never surprised when ppl come out, holes herself up in the palace every pride month (bc Zuko did declare it to be a thing after the war) bc of all the colors

Azula: thought she was bi at first but realizes she was a lesbian in denial when she gets the healing arc she deserved, calls everyone into the royal meeting room to say, "I am a lesbian" and the resounding response is "Yes aren't you and Ty Lee dating???", also takes offense to be calling an ally after she accepts her sexuality, spirits help you if you make a bigoted comment in her presence bc she is the embodiment of queer wrath

Ty Lee: lesbian, goes by she/her but is fine with any pronouns, claims to have a gaydar through auras but everyone knows that Mai helps her out, helps Azula come to terms with her sexuality and they are the most adorable gfs after Azula's healing arc,talks to Bosco abt her girl problems (and he is always very understanding)

feel free to disagree or agree with me but these are just my personal opinions and takes on each of the characters!

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classialaas · 2 years

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ATLA Fandom Survey 2022: Results

For those that are visually impaired or just don’t like graphs, here is a doc with all of the percentages and numbers on the following charts

I got 800 responses exactly! Here are the overall results (ID in alt text):

Under the cut is more detailed, summarized stats. Aka what really matters because these badly made graphs can’t tell us that much.

I’ll be making individual analyses that are Even More Detailed of the most popular answers, so check back if you’re interested.

Something pretty uplifting to see is that very, very few people said they outright didn’t like the show’s writing. It’s why I didn’t bother to make a graph on the question of whether or not people were happy with the show’s writing. There might be a lot of squabbles that happens in this fandom but at least we can all fall back on a shared love for this show. Love doesn’t mean lacking criticism, of course.

Shipping Stats

I’ll do this first since i know that’s what a lot of you are here for, lol!! To no one’s surprise, zutara and zukka dominated the charts in every way. They just can’t leave people’s minds.

Zutaras were quite uniform in this survey. If you like zutara, there is a strong chance you identify as female, specifically an 82% chance (big chance!). The most common age range is 24-30 years old, but 18-23 is close behind. There is a significant number of people between 31-40. The most common sexualities are split almost halfway between bisexual and straight. There is also an even split between favorite characters of Zuko and Katara. The majority are happy with sukka as a canon pairing, but not kataang or maiko. As everyone and their mothers expected, the most disliked pairing is kataang. The majority only accept the original show as being canon.

Kataang shipper’s stats were similar to zutaras, and yet so different. It’s only slightly younger, the majority being 18-23, but only a slightly larger number of teenagers. The majority identify as female, but was a more significant number of male and non-binary respondents than zutaras. Their favorite character is largely Aang and least favorite is largely Azula. A staggering amount are (understandably) happy with the show’s canon pairings. Taking up the mantle of zutara’s long-run rival, zutara is their least favorite pairing. The majority of them accept any material overseen by bryke to be canon.

Where zutaras and kataangs had very consistent stats, zukka shippers are much more of a mixed bag. This is a young fanbase, with the majority being 18-23, but a large amount also indicated they are under 18. The majority of zukka shippers are LGBT+. Zuko was largely the most popular character, with Sokka only receiving half the votes that Zuko did. The majority of them are happy with all three canon pairings. Zukkas don’t like problematic ships, with zucest being the most disliked pairing, and zukaang being the third most disliked. The second most disliked was the rival ship zutara. The majority of them take all ATLA-verse material as canon.

Zukaang shippers are like zukkas in that they are also a mixed bag in terms of demographics. The majority are LGBT+. Another young fanbase, lot of them are young adults, with the majority being 18-23. Aang once again gets a spotlight as the favorite character. An equal amount dislike zukka and zutara respectively. The majority only take the original ATLA show as being canon.

Sukka shippers are so diverse that I barely have anything to say. That is what I have to say. The only ones that stand out is that the majority of respondents are female and between 18-24. There is the one other person that’s 51-60 in this bunch! The majority like Sokka the most. A lot dislike Jet, but Zhao is still the king of least favorites here.

Maiko shippers are only united in some areas. The age ranges wildly, with the majority being 24-30, but there is a good number of other age ranges, including the sole respondent that is 51-60. A staggering majority identify as female and/or straight, but bisexual maiko shippers are not far behind. Maikos love Mai, with the majority choosing her as a favorite, but a lot of them don’t like Jet. Just like kataangs, most are happy with the canon pairings. Zutara is the least favorite, but zukka is not far behind. The fan base is split in what they consider to be canon.

Some more popular pairings were tyzula, tokka, sokkla, jetko, and mailee. None had enough responses to get solid metrics, but here are some stats that stand out. Tyzula respondents were mostly lesbians!! 🎉 🎉🎉 Most jetko respondents were non-binary. Sokkla respondents really don’t like Iroh and had higher than average male respondents.

The majority of people who selected “I don’t ship” identified as male and/or straight. Toph and Iroh are the most popular in this bunch, while there is no shared ground on a least favorite. The majority don’t have a least favorite ship, but zutara was not far behind. They are mostly happy with the show’s canon pairings and writing, and take anything overseen by bryke as canon.

Character Stats

I’m so glad I let people insert options for their least favorite characters. Some honorable mentions: The old man who snitched on Haru, Haru’s mustache, the mayor in Avatar Day, Aunt Wu, the circus master that abused Appa, Hahn, Sparky Sparky Boom Man, Kiyi, the two tribes in The Great Divide, Kei Lo, and Meng. Some of the responses had very lavish insults attached to them.

The demographics of Zuko fans are similar to that of the overall survey, likely due to the fact that there were so many respondents that chose him as their favorite, with one exception being that there were more respondents than average that identify as asexual. Zuko fans, understandably, really don’t like Zhao and Ozai. Most shippers that have Zuko as one half of their pairing select Zuko as their favorite rather than the other half, such as Mai or Sokka.

I don’t have anything interesting to say about Katara fans as they were essentially a 1:1 reflection of the zutara stats.

Sokka fans are young, a large majority of them being under 18. The majority are also, unsurprisingly, zukka shippers, and the stats reflect as such. More respondents than average selected Jet as their least favorite character.

Toph fans were largely diverse in demographics, reflecting the stats of the overall survey, but with significantly more respondents that are under 18. The favorite pairings was close between zukka, tokka, kataang, and people that don’t ship. Toph fans are generally happy with the overall franchise.

Other observations:

One of my mini hypotheses was confirmed: A whole lot more people picked zucest as their least favorite pairing instead of zukaang after I added it to the list of options, despite there always being an option to type it in. I’m talking a staggering number.

At around 230 responses, I added zucest to the list of options. My personal theory on that is that anyone that doesn’t have a strong personal opinion about one specific ship will instead choose the most “problematic” of the bunch, zukaang because of the age gap and zucest because of the, well, ‘cest. That’s not to say that there weren’t people that didn’t pick zukaang after zucest was added and vice versa, but the difference in numbers was immediate.

A similar thing added to Ozai: a whole lot more people voted for the local Phoenix King after I included him into the list of options. Whatever was on the list of options was crucial to what the final number will be, and I’ll keep this in mind next time I do this.

I did put a lot of the question answers on shuffle, so that the listed answers are always in a random order. Hopefully that mitigated whatever tf that one thing I learned about in my research class where people have a bias to select the first option. Something-bias.

A few people admitted to not having seen the show and were only relying on information they got from fandom. Not judging, but that did make me curious about how common that is…

Final Notes

By this time next year, the new live action show will likely have already started to release. The movie will be on its way, and new graphic novels are coming along quickly. Old fans and new watchers of the original series will still be around. Needless to say, this fandom is NOT going anywhere.

I’m planning on doing this next year, and I’ll continue to tinker with the survey I made, adding new questions. I got some good suggestions on things to add, too. How much things have changed by next year will be an interesting question to answer.

#edit; PLEASE don’t start discourse on this post LMFAO #that’s not what this is about!!!!#atla #avatar the last airbender #aang #zuko #sokka #katara #toph beifong #suki #zutara #zukka #kataang #maiko #zukaang #fandom stats

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empressgeekt · 5 months

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Fic Series Idea - "There is no Escape Once Cradled in the Bat's Cape" Saga, or Gotham had just as much as an adoption problem as their champion.

Buckle up people this is going to be a long one...

Okay, So I've been looking in to Batman crossovers, and I've noticed that there is a large majority of MLB, DP, and Spider-Man ofr the crossovers. However, I have also found a very small percentage of cross-dimensional adoption fics, with Zuko from ATLA and Keith VLD, two dark angsty boys who definitely need the love of the batfam.

So, I'm planning out a multipart (At least on AO3) Saga, where, we can watch Zuko Keith, And Jet from ATLA get sucked up by Gotham, whom is a manifestation of darkness, insanity, and empathy and stands as the spirit in control of the land that both Gotham and Buldhaven would be eventually be built (much like Agni is for the fire nation).

1) The first installment would be Zuko's origin in the Batfamily.

After Agni can't stand to watch the soft hearted price suffer through his fate again, the deity of the sun calls a meeting with Gotham, begging sanctuary for the boy. After some rather harsh words, Gotham agrees, and swipes up Zuko right out of the Royal infirmary, mere hours after the Agni Kai. All While Iroh watches in horror. Left in the Prince's place is a single scroll, written in the language of spirits, the only part that Iroh can understand, is that in order to find his nephew he had to restore the honor to his nation and aid in the champion of the four nations, for that is a the only way that Iroh will ever find Zuko again. So, Iroh starts his quest for the Avatar.

On Zuko's end, Gotham dropped the prince in an alleyway, and lured a Robin!Jason to his location. Upon discovering a child laying in a dumpster with half of his face charred black, Jason phones Bruce and Zuko is taken to the Batcave. Even though the young prince is underneath the care of the incredibly skilled and patient Doc. Tompkins, Zuko quickly falls victim to infection, and his condition is touch and go for days. Bruce would go through all the identifying tests he can think of, but none of them even give a name to the dying kid in a quest room upstairs. The batman is honestly at a loss of what to do with the child. He can find no living family, no ID, no documents, no name. There's no where he can send the child, The foster system is out of the question, even if Zuko survives, he's be horribly scarred and likely disabled, not to mention even at 12 he'd be too old to good chances of getting adopted. All signs point to Bruce most likely becoming a father of three. Jason is fine with the idea of Zuko Staying. He's 15 at this point, old enough to be a good big brother.

Though things become a whole lot more complicated when Zuko is conscious enough to start talking...And he can't understand a lick of English...Our dramatic sparky boy, wakes up to an unknown world, in a utterly luxurious house, with people who are too pale to be water-tribe but have blue eyes, and wear weird robes. Zuko figures he was banished to this place, but he doesn't know what for, or what he can do to regain his honor, and these people are being so nice and gentle with him. Cue, confusion and panic.

Jason starts teaching Zuko English once he's conscious enough. The two grow closer, even if Zuko only grows more confused by learning. Once his bandages are removed, poor little prince ends up having a break down after seeing his reflection, one that Bruce walks in on. Que Overprotective BatDad, learning from a Zuko with Broken English skills, what, or who, gave the boy his scar. And yep, This kid was Bruce's now.

Zuko continues to heal, and eventually the holidays roll by. With the holidays came Dick Grayson, whom while still a hothead is trying to make a truce with Bruce for the sake of Jason, well, lets just say someone for got to tell him about the 12-year-old now living with them. Dick's temper gets the better of him and Zuko Get's spoked accidentally firebending at the Original robin. No one was hurt but Zuko still ran off, disappearing into the labyrinth of the manor. This situation is eventually resolved, and Zuko learns about the Batman, as Bruce offers to ask around the super community, and still very young Justice League, if there are other pyropaths who can help Zuko with learning control. Zuko doesn't want to at the moment as He's still getting used to everything else.

Eventually, Bruce makes Zuko his foster kid and with the help of the faked paper trail, gets him in school. He does well in math, as it is a universal (mulitversal lol) language, but Struggles with the other subjects, due to the language barrier and the fact that he's only ever had private tutors before. Everything is going well...

Then April rolls around. Jason and Bruce's relationship becomes strained, and eventually Jason learns about Shelia haywood, and goes looking for her. Jason says goodbye to Zuko before he leaves, and that he'll be bring a mom for them when he comes back. But everyone knows what happened. And instead of his brother Zuko gets a coffin. (sorry)

Months pass. Bruce trains Zuko, Just to make sure that his current youngest can protect himself, as Zuko refuses to put on the robin costume. Dick ends up spending more time at the manor, really trying to mend bridges after the tragedy. They live in this odd fog of grief, until one tiny Timothy Drake breaks into batcave with a resume and powerpoint explaining the need for a robin and offering himself to the position. Dick and Bruce pretty much go, "We can't just ignore this." because this kid is clearly being neglected. Tim is trained for Robin, wanting to follow in his hero's footsteps, and Zuko eventually decides to dawn his own cowl, as the Blue Spirit, because he can't let another Robin Die. that's where the first book ends.

2) second's installment is Keith's origin story.

Gotham after Zuko, starts to keep an eye out for souls they believe would thrive underneath their champion's care, even in worlds beyond their own. Gotham comes across one Keith Kogane, and right before Keith rams his fighter into the force shield at the end of season four, it isn't Lotor that comes to his rescue. Instead Gotham plucks the boy right out of the pilot seat and the pod still goes flying into the shield.

Keith is dumbed into an abandoned building, right in front of one on the run Cassandra Cain. Our angry little halfbred cupcake, has no idea, why a smoky person named Gotham has saved his life, or how they teleported him back to earth, but once he learns that this silent yet super sweet girl is being hunted by assassins, but he's not going to leave her alone. Besides she had seen him in his Blade uniform, and something is off with him. His fingers and jaw began to itch and ache, the odd vocal ticks he used to have as a kid come back with a vengeance, and his eyes water at night and whenever he looks at a light.

The two teenagers continue to travel, keeping out of sight from assassins and bonding. Keith for once has to be the talking one in a conversation, and Cass can obviously keep a secret, so keith doesn't hide anything from her. Besides once his teeth fall out and fangs grow in their place, his fingers bleed from growing a second set of retractable claws, and he gains a third eye lid, he can't really hide his mixed blood. Keith, talks, and starts to teach Cass how to read once he realized that she couldn't.

Eventually Keith learns about the city of Gotham, and feels a pull to go there. Once they are on route to the city the assassins, and stalkers get more and more intense, almost like they didn't want Keith and Cass to go there. This just makes Keith more determined. As the people after them won't want to follow them anymore if they were inside to Gotham territory. Sadly keith was wrong, the Assassins did follow them into the city, but now they were there to kill no capture, during the attack Batman, Robin and Blue Spirit show up.

At the end of the Keith finally has the pent up breakdown that has been right at his heels since the start of the story. Shouting about how his life doesn't make sense anymore, every since that smoky Gotham person snatched him, and Zuko goes, "you met Gotham?"

In the end, Bruce takes in both Keith and Cass, because both are sad traumatizes dark haired orphan even if both are legal adults his CAD (Compulsive Adoption Disorder) demands he keeps them, and while they don't know the motives of this Gotham Spirit, they create the code "Rapunzel". If any member of the family calls that code, it means that Gotham had dropped off another soul. Keith and Cass, become vigilantes. Cass is Black Bat, and with some modifications to his blade suit, Keith becomes Blade Bat.

3) Third installment! Jet's inclusion!

This one opens with Gotham watching over Jet while he dies from internal bleeding, and then the dark spirit vanishes away to make a deal with a certain other spirit...

Next thing Jet knows he's waking up in a Lazarus Pit. A woman with long dark hair and bright otherworldly green eyes, or as we know Talia Al Gaul, is pulling him out of it. She claims Jet as her own, even if Jet can't understand a word of what she is saying or what is happening.

Jason is also confused as to where Talia has found this frizzy-haired kid or why they were put in the pit or why Talia was training them with him. Once more Jason starts to teach a younger teen to speak in English, while Talia teaches, Jet Arabic and League speak. Jet struggles with Pit Rage, its even worse for him then with Jason. Mostly because Jet is much more frustrated with his situation. The sixteen-year-old wants to go home, he wants his troupe, the family he made after tragedy, he doesn't want to be here in this place, with a creepy woman who told him to all her mother, and a bunch of guys with way too many swords.

Jason is usually the one who has to deal with Jet's Rage, as Talia made them share a bedroom, and his big-brother instincts are slowly kicking in having been long dormant, it doesn't help that Jet is the age that Zuko would be if Jason had stayed at the manor. However, just as Jason is starting to connect with Jet, things go horribly wrong.

And here is where I'm going to take very heavy inspiration from the fic, "Jason and the Three Terrors", by, Cdephiki. I highly recommend this piece.

Talia runs into the boys' room in the middle of the night, waking them and telling them to pack. Ra's is getting to close to her plans and she doesn't want him to interfere with her children any longer. So, she gathers up Jason, Jet, Damian, Mara, and Athanasia and they flee into the mountains. Sadly though, Deathstroke catches up with them, and Talia is killed, leaving the Children to escape on their own. Jason and Jet have to navigate caring for three young children while running across Europe and Asia, meeting check point Talia had set up to help them disappear. At one of them Talia has left the Red Hood gear and helmet, and a nameless suit for Jet.

Eventually the League catches up with them, and they are forced to return to Gotham, (and on the plane ride, Jet learns that he gets Air-sick). Jason manages to get them a small apartment in Crime Alley, and they set up. He isn't comfortable with bring in the children into Bruce's care with the Joker still Alive, and Red Hood protector of Crime Alley is born, only this time he has a partner. His own dark reflection of Robin. Jet becomes White Hawk. The children are safe, Jason is cleaning up his home, Jet is more and more stable by the day. Things are good.

Until Ra's makes a reappearance. Assassins raids their apartment, and Jason and Jet are forces to run with the children in tow. Batman, Nightwing, robin (tim), Black Bat, Blade Bat, Spoiler and Blue Spirit intervene, thinking that Jet and Jason are kidnapping their own siblings. They get into a small scuffle, Until Ra's himself makes and appearance, with a bout a team of twenty assassins behind him. Once learning that Ra's wants the children and their connection to himself, Bruce completely forgets any ill will with Hood and Hawk and fights beside them in the presedeing brawl between the Assassins and bats.

Jason is run through during the chaos, and the bats retreat to the cave. for treatment. Bruce doesn't think twice about taking five children in at once, and he isn't about to be a deadbeat to his two bio children. Sure, Ra's will still be trying to hunt them down, but the Assassin's were beaten back for now. All is well..

Until Zuko takes his mask off...and Jet sees his golden eyes...

PTSD and Pit go into over drive and suddenly Zuko trying to die at the hands of Jet's blade. Keith, Bruce, Cass, Dick, and Tim, all jump into action holding Jet back. All of the younger kids are confused and on edge. The situation gets so bad that Bruce has to put Jet in a separate room, to keep the kids from killing each other, and to allow Thompkins to do her work and Save Jason.

Jason is stabilized (still knocked out), and Bruce takes control of the situation. He talks to the younger children first, getting their names and ensuring them that they'll be safe here. Alfred would make rooms for them, but everyone just wants to be by Jason's beside at the moment. Zuko approaches Bruce before, he leaves to speak with Jet, explaining what happened behind the attack. Zuko learned because Jet had slipped into Earth Kingdom Language during the attack, and Zuko recognized it, and all that Jet rambled about. Bruce reassures Zuko that he isn't at fault for Jet's trauma; he would've been a child during it after all. Then goes to speak to know a not Pit flooded, but still pissed off Jet.

They have a very informative discussion regarding, the differences between, vengeance and Justice, and Jet is of course emotionally adopted.

Later after Bruce, Dick, Zuko, and Jason reconcile and reunite. Zuko seeks out Jet, and apologizes for the fire nation's actions. There's little Zuko can do and what he has done isn't much, but he wants peace in his home, and him and Jet fighting would stop that. Jet Agrees to be civil, but they would never be family. Zuko is fine with that.

The next will either be the fourth or fifth installment, because I might do a self-indulgent, Jason/OFC fic in between these, but that remains to be seen....

4) Fourth/fifth Installment - Thomas Wayne, Flashpoint Batman

Gotham is watching one of the flashpoint time lines, watching crumble and shatter. For while Thomas was a good substitute, he would never achieve the full potential of the proper champion, forming an unstable reality. Only this time they don't allow Thomas (and maybe Martha I'm still 50/50 on whether she survives) to perish with in his reality. Gotham offers a second chance at family, or Thomas can go the way of his dopplegangers.

I think we all know which choice he takes...

There's nothing that groundbreaking that happens in this installment, just Thomas reconnecting with Alfred and Bruce, meeting the children and bruce's fiance (I ship BatCat and the relationship will be subtly developed on the side of the series). Thomas hangs up the cowl and works a more support team roll in the family, Tompkins isn't always available after all, and someone has to help Alfred watch the little ones who are either benched, injured, or not patrol ready.

5) Fifth/Sixth installment - Batman Beyond

Yep Terry is getting on this crazy train-wreck of the family, not just him though...Dana, Max, and Matt get swooped up too.

Once more Gotham is watching as a Beyond timeline is slowly breaking apart. The city is crumbling from non-stop earth quakes, satellites are zapping everything and Terry barely has had the time to rescue his loved ones from the chaos. Max was ready to go when he came for her. Dana needed more convincing, and Terry had to take his mask off to get her to come with him. Matt and Ms. Mcginnis....Terry only managed to get Matt out of the house, before the place went up in smoke.

The cave was the only place he could take them, but the batmoblie is shot out of the sky, just as they enter Wayne property. Terry yells at everyone to run into the manor, telling them to get to the cave through the clock, before confronting the one that shot them down. Blight (I think that's Powers' name), whom is supposed to be dead (fic taking place like mid season three) leaps out and he and Terry clash. During the fight, Terry's cowl get pulled down, and his suit is punctured. Blight eventually gets the upper hand to terry having already been injured in the crash, pick the teenager up by his neck and flinging him across the battlefield. Gotham steps in by this point, killing Blight by devoring him slowly with a swarm of supernatural bats. Terry makes a break for it running inside the manor.

Inside Old Man Wayne, explains what's happening, the timeline is breaking down, and there isn't anything the can to to stop it. Gotham appears in the cave, and Wayne recognizes them. He asks Gotham to spare the children, Gotham agrees after all Wayne has served as her faithful champion for decades, its time they pay him back. Terry tries to argue that he should saved too. Wayne disagrees, saying that he has sins to pay for and he doesn't have long anyway. After a farewell, Gotham, takes Terry, Max, Matt, Dana, and Ace, whirling them away to another more stable dimension.

The group lands in crime ally, in an ally (heh). It's late at night, and cold out. Terry barely makes it a few steps before the adrenaline wares off, and he collapses. Dana stays with him, while Max, Matt, and Ace go looking for help. Long story, short, they get jumped, but Red Hood and White Hawk don't allow kids to get hurt in their ally. Max sees the bat on Hood's uniform, and asks if he knows batman. Hood said he's bat adjacent. And Max grabs his arm and starts to drag him to where Terry and Dana are. Hood is so confused by this action he just freezes, but he's running full speed once he hears Matt say his brother's hurt.

They pretty quickly deduce that Terry's outfit is not a costume, and they call a code Rapunzel. Bruce rushes over to the scene, and after determining that Terry is stable. Takes, them back to the cave (Red Hood and White Hawk riding behind them on Hood's cycle). Bruce gets the run-down of what happened from Terry, during the ride, though Bruce does try to tell him it can weight until after he's seen a doc. Kid doesn't listen, only continues to talk until he's hit with a wave of nausea.

Once at the cave, Terry is handed off to Thomas, and Bruce takes care of the minor cuts and bruises the others have. Max takes up the role of explaining everything, as she was closest to the batman beyond team, other then terry...Then Thomas comes running out ordering everyone to take a decontamination shower. Jet and Jason take Matt while Cass (who was in the cave) took the girls into the respective locker rooms. Thomas diagnoses Terry with acute radiation sickness.

The rest of this fic would be terry slowly recovering and the others adjusting. Matt would be coming to terms with his mother's death, and getting close to his new siblings, especially Damian, Athansia, and Mara as they are the closest in age. Max meets Oracle, begins to train underneath her. Dana, feels out of control and after talking with Selina agrees to get training so she can protect herself. It would end, with the whole family playing rooftop tag on Terry's first patrol.

The next two installments

they would pretty much be follow ups to Zuko/Keiths realities and how they plan on getting their angsty boys back.

Iroh, would get Aang to translate the scroll that Gotham left behind, and a very reluctant John Constantine, sends the Gaang to Gotham.

On Keith's side, Lance and Matt are really ticked off by Shiro (kuron) behavior, and this leads to them digging to find out what is really going on. Red contacts lance through his dreams and tells him that Keith is still alive, and Black is waiting for him. This only furthers Lance and Matt to push forward, Krolia joins them after learning about the name of the former Red Paladin and leaves her mission to go find her son. Eventually they get the real Shiro back, and all he wants to see Keith. The search continues....

Well that's all the planning I have. I did play around with the Idea of Mirabel from Encanto getting picked by Gotham but I'm not sure if it would work. What do you think? is this a good idea to dive deeper into.

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 7 months

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I like ur takes and I just wanted to share some stuff from another side. I watched spop as I was in my teen years, incredibly sheltered, queer, and lashing out because I was also dealing with abusive family dynamics. So… yeah I shipped it. I idealized it. And I heavily identified with Catra. But unlike with Zuko(who I also identify with) Catra didn’t change.

Every time she’d travel to a new part of the world I thought omg her moment is coming! Escape!! But she’d just get into a slap fight with Adora and then go back to the Horde. It was so strange it felt like every other character was in a story progression show and Catra was the villain of an episodic show until s5

And s5 was…. Weird. I don’t understand how Catra has a change of heart by getting more hurt by Horde Prime. She was getting hurt the whole series??? I still cried and was elated at the series finale but only bc I wanted an Adora who’d forgive me and love me and say I wasn’t bad. And I think a lot of people are like that.

Everything about the way Catra is framed points to her redemption even in the first episode… but it just makes me feel insulted now. To me as a survivor… it’s like they waved a magic wand and killed off the abuser and gave Catra a gf and that was supposed to fix it. It doesn’t work like that. My abuser died and it made things WORSE for a while (I think it would especially damage someone like Adora since Shadow Weaver “sacrificed” herself and therefore can’t be bad ever) . And I’m not looking for hyper realism in a Princess cartoon but at the time I watched it I couldn’t have really used yknow ?? Some guidance??? Something that wasn’t a fantasy lala ending that once the initial high wore off left me feeling confused and hollow. There is nothing in spop that teaches you how to get that kind of happy ending. Especially if you’re Catra who just says I love you and is suddenly resurrecting ponytail Jesus. To the me who identified with her, it was mostly about wanting to FEEL redeemed through her. FEELING strong and badass and GOOD and like things would be okay even if I was never a princess type. The actual result was feeling like I would never attain a happy ending of any sort because Catra’s didn’t feel real and her “arc” had no footsteps to follow in. How do you make a kids show and not teach good lessons??? Idk the show bad no matter who you identified with was my whole point.

At least I had/have zuko.

Also shipping zuko x sokka x suki is based I do too lmao.

first off, i'm so sorry about all the trauma you went through. i hope you are healing now, and thank you for sharing your story.

secondly, i think this is what a lot of fans felt. i can understand that people relate to catra. hell, even i relate to her a little. i know what it's like to be considered useless and weak, and to desperately want validation from a parent. i get it. when i say i dislike catra, it's not because she's a traumatized child or even because she adopted many of the toxic habits that shadow weaver portrayed. it's that she faced no consequences for any of this.

as much as spop tried to be mature, in the end, it was really childish. s5 got rid of all the complexity and just went "everyone deserves forgiveness", ignoring all of the glaring issues it had yet to solve. the protagonists forgave catra because the writers wanted them to, not because that's how it would have went down in real life.

most spop critics aren't heartless monsters who despise abuse victims, they are people who relate to either catra or adora. and they just want to see a better representation of abuse victims.

it would have been much more fulfilling and satisfying to have catra and adora take some time explore themselves and heal from their trauma, separated from each other. this kind of relationship is harmful for both of them. as long as adora is with catra, she'll continue blaming herself and putting pressure on herself, feeling as if she was responsible for everyone's problems. and as long as catra stays with adora, she'll continue deflecting her issues and being envious of adora. they needed time away from each other, but spop chose to invalidate trauma instead.

it's a pity that spop was one of the very few representation we had, at the time it came out, so people genuinely believe that c//a is a healthy ship, because they don't have many other examples to compare it to. i'm glad there are more and more queer shows coming out lately, and most of them seem to portray healthy relationships.

#btw ponytail jesus made me cACKLE #we should all be grateful for zuko #best redemption arc fr #spop critical #spop #spop salt #spop discourse #spop criticism #anti catradora #she ra #anti catra #abuse tw #tw abuse #tw trauma

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likeadragonfruit · 1 year

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By now, I’ve done in depth ship stat surveys for several ATLA characters. While it would’ve been nice to do one for every major character, I thought of another way to wrap this series of posts: figuring out which ATLA ships added the most works to AO3 in 2022.

Methods

At the beginning of the year, I took a survey of 353 ATLA ships on AO3 for works added or updated between 01/01/2022 and 12/31/2022. Of those 353 ships, 215 added or updated at least one work in 2022.

I also identified the number of ATLA added or updated in 2022 overall: 6,703.

Results

26: Lu Ten/Yue (36 works or 0.537% of 2022 works)

Lu Ten’s largest ship for 2022

Yue’s second and third largest ship for 2022 (tie)

Also 26: Suki/Yue (36 works or 0.537% of 2022 works)

Suki’s third largest ship for 2022

Yue’s second and third largest ship for 2022 (tie)

24: Hakoda/Kya (40 works or 0.597% of 2022 works)

Hakoda’s second largest ship for 2022

Kya’s largest ship for 2022

23: Jet/Katara (44 works or 0.656% of 2022 works)

Jet’s second largest ship for 2022

22: Suki/Zuko: (50 works or 0.746% of 2022 works)

Suki’s second largest ship for 2022

21: Jin/Zuko: (54 works or 0.806% of 2022 works)

Jin’s largest ship for 2022

20: Bato/Hakoda (61 works or 0.91% of 2022 works)

Bato’s largest ship for 2022

Hakoda’s largest ship for 2022

19: Azula/Mai (65 works or 0.97% of 2022 works)

Mai’s third largest ship for 2022

18: Kyoshi/Rangi (74 works or 1.104% of 2022 works)

Kyoshi’s largest ship for 2022

Rangi’s largest ship for 2022

17: Aang/Azula (77 works or 1.149% of 2022 works)

16: Ozai/Ursa (91 works or 1.358% of 2022 works)

Ozai’s largest ship for 2022

Ursa’s largest ship for 2022

15: Aang/Zuko (95 works or 1.417% of 2022 works)

Third largest M/M ship for 2022

14: Aang/Toph (98 works or 1.462% of 2022 works)

Toph’s largest ship for 2022 (tie)

Also 14: Sokka/Toph (98 works or 1.462% of 2022 works)

Toph’s largest ship for 2022 (tie)

12: Azula/Sokka (108 works or 1.611 % of 2022 works)

11: Azula/Zuko (113 works or 1.686% of 2022 works)

Azula’s third largest ship for 2022

10: Sokka/Yue (116 works or 1.731% of 2022 works)

Yue’s largest ship for 2022

Sokka’s third largest ship for 2022

9: Azula/Katara (124 works or 1.85% of 2022 works)

Azula’s second largest ship for 2022

Katara’s third largest ship for 2022

Third largest F/F ship for 2022

8: Jet/Zuko (131 works or 1.954% of 2022 works)

Jet’s largest ship for 2022

Second largest M/M ship for 2022

7: Mai/Ty Lee (182 works or 2.715% of 2022 works)

Mai’s second largest ship for 2022

Ty Lee’s second largest ship for 2022

Second largest F/F ship for 2022

6: Azula/Ty Lee (240 works or 3.58% of 2022 works)

Azula’s largest ship for 2022

Ty Lee’s largest ship for 2022

Largest F/F ship for 2022

5: Mai/Zuko (387 works or 5.774% of 2022 works)

Mai’s largest ship for 2022

Zuko’s third largest ship for 2022

4: Sokka/Suki (567 works or 8.459% of 2022 works)

Suki’s largest ship for 2022

Sokka’s second largest ship for 2022

Third largest M/F ship for 2022

3: Aang/Katara (753 works or 11.234% of 2022 works)

Aang’s largest ship for 2022

Katara’s second largest ship for 2022

Second largest M/F ship for 2022

2: Sokka/Zuko (1,030 works or 15.366 % of 2022 works)

Sokka’s largest ship for 2022

Zuko’s second largest ship for 2022

Largest M/M ship for 2022

1: Katara/Zuko (1,138 works or 16.977% of 2022 works)

Katara’s largest ship for 2022

Zuko’s largest ship for 2022

Largest M/F ship for 2022

And a bonus, here’s a pie chart of the top 10 ships of this list, relative to each other

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sailor-hufflepuff · 1 year

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I’ve been musing more on my villain binge. As a teenager, I DID NOT GET why so many people liked villains. I wanted a knight in shining armor, treat me right, get along with my mama boy in real life, so why would I want something different for the fictional heroines I lived vicariously through?

Zutara was my first “villain ship”, although I would have passionately argued at the time that Zuko wasn’t a villain, he was an antagonist - not evil, but a child soldier who had been brainwashed into believing he was truly helping the world.

I found the similarities between him and Katara fascinating. The loss of their mothers, their love for their nations, the absolute conviction in doing what they believe is right… the way that, even fighting, they were equals.

Fast forward a few years to Loki. How an abused child desperate for attention did something half prank, half sincere attempt to protect his people from Thor’s wildly unprepared rule spun out of control in ways beyond his ability to handle. The psychotic break that came from his discovery of his true parentage in the worst possible way. I myself had a mental breakdown when I was seventeen when I discovered the truth of my own birth, so that struck me especially hard.

Then in “The Avengers” he was so OBVIOUSLY not in control. The blue eyes. The rote recitation. The signs of torture. The way his “master plan” involved being as obvious a target for the heroes as possible. This was not a villain, this was a victim desperately trying to mitigate the damage he was being forced to do.

Kylo Ren - Ben Solo - took me a while. I was pretty unsympathetic with him at first; I don’t care if your parents fought a lot when you were a kid, that’s no reason to turn into a Nazi. And then it was revealed exactly what Snoke did to him - he’d been hearing voices in his head SINCE UTERO. He could sense everyone’s thoughts and feelings and knew that they were afraid of him, but was too little to know why. He found out that he was the grandson of the second greatest evil thr galaxy had ever known - and that his family had lied to him about it. (See above mental breakdown at 17). And then his parents sent him away, his uncle tried to kill him, and in the ensuing fight everyone he knew turned on him. Where else could he go, but to the voice in his head promising safety?

Once again, this is not a villain. This is a victim, trapped in a nightmare, being used as a tool by a madman to cause harm, and suffering for it

Finally, the Darkling. I’ve written on this topic before, and so have so many other better skilled than I, so I’ll keep it simple. I don’t understand how we are supposed to view the leader of an oppressed minority, trying to prevent the genocide of his people, as a bad guy. Especially when he’s spent the past seven hundred years trying to do things the peaceful way, only to fail again and again and again. What choices did he really have? His actions were acts of war, and arguably caused the least loss of life possible.

So now, I see posts decrying women who ship villains. They say we’re supporting abuse. They say we’re taken in by a pretty face. They say that we’re just rebellious teenage girls, and when we grow up we’ll know better.

My experience was the opposite. As a teenager I was so obsessed with black and white morality, with being a good person, that I couldn’t see the nuances. I couldn’t see that often, the villains were right. I had no grace for those whose lives gave them few choices.

There are still villains I don’t like. Most, actually. Those who kill or hurt for fun. Those in it for their own power and gain. Those who take their pain and lash out against the universe with no cause. Bullies. I don’t like them. I don’t ship them. But I don’t judge people who do, because I don’t know what story they’re seeing. What traumatic event their identifying with. What injustice the villain is trying to correct that they have to deal with in their everyday lives.

We come to fiction for different reasons. Maybe we want a way to explore our pain. Maybe we’re looking for an escape from a dark world. Maybe we feel powerless, and want to live vicariously through someone powerful. Maybe we’ve suffered, and want to see a world where abusers are punished. Maybe we just want to look at pretty people.

All are equally valid. All should be respected. There is a place for all of us in this wonderful online world of fandom, and no one should EVER be belittled for what they like in fiction.

Because you know what? Fiction is first and foremost ENTERTAINMENT, and sometimes the villains have the best stories.

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