#anti kaatang

[billsbae]

honesty nothing makes me more laugh than kaatang stans on tiktok crying cause some people don't ship katara with aang (unfortunately i'm on anti zutara side of tiktok and i don't know how to get away)

[wilcze-kudly]

I do find it annoying how a lot of Zutara fans tweak the character's stories, personalities and even the timelines to suit their own needs.

Once again, there's nothing wrong with fanon and headcanons, however if looking through the lense of canon, you're objectively wrong.

I ended up stumbling on a post from a Zutara shipper. (At this point I'm regretfully considering not following the tags for Zuko or Katara because I get way too much Zutara content lol) I'm not replying directly to her because I don't want this to turn into an argument, and I know she doesn't take criticism very well.

Ok, So let's break this down.

The character who was first out of the group to trust Zuko?

I'm quite sure this is referring to the scene in Ba Sing Se's caves. And yes, that is a very important scene. I think it's a very important scene preceeding Zuko's 'relapse'. It shows how he's matured during his time in Ba Sing Se and therefore it serves to add to our dismay when he joins Azula. I adore the fact that Zuko's journey to redemption is not linear, it certainly adds a lot to the character and shows us how his trauma affected him.

It's also a horrific moment for Katara. To have her worldview on Zuko and firebenders as a whole challenged, and then for it to go blowing up in her face. It rips open old wounds of her childhood. It refreshes her resentment of Zuko and the Fire Nation as a whole. It parallels the death of her mother when Aang dies due to Azula's lighting and she is unable to do anything about it. It places her back in that spot of helplessness. Even though she's grown up, even though she's a master waterbender, she still comes a hair's breadth to losing one of the most important people in her life.

No wonder she hated Zuko so much after this.

It's an important moment for both characters, but I wouldn't say it is that in a romantic sense. It's a sweet, hopeful moment that then turns absolutely horrific and visceral for both parties.

I could argue that there are other characters who could be given the title of 'first to trust Zuko'. Funnily, Appa being one of them lol.

But other characters trusting Zuko dovetails nicely into the next point.

The character who emotionally connects to Zuko?

Well, technically, I'd argue that most members of the Gaang connect emotionally on one level or another with him?

But I'd argue that Aang is the person Zuko connected with the most. Aang is Zuko's parallel. Aang is the first person to reach out to Zuko. Aang is the person who showed mercy to Zuko, multiple times. Aang is the person who valued Zuko's life, the life of someone whose whole life goal is to capture him.

This was also an incredibly important moment to Zuko. This is the thing he brings up when trying to convince the Gaang to let him join.

Zuko: Why aren't you saying anything? You once said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me.

The character Zuko feels safest letting his guard down around?

It's Mai. Love her or hate her, her relationship with Zuko is incredibly important to him. Maiko isn't my favourite Zuko ship, in full honesty. But even platonically, Mai and Zuko are one another's reprieve from their respective shitty lives.

People often talk about Katara touching Zuko's scar while discussing healing his scar, however one could argue that she did so as a medical examination. Mai touching Zuko's scar is a casual thing, neither of them really make a big deal of it and that's the beauty of it.

I'm mainly talking out of my own personal experience, as someone with a huge amount of burn scars, but there is a world of difference between someone inspecting my scars like Katara did and simply accepting them as a part of me, like Mai does for Zuko.

With Mai, Zuko isn't the scarred banished prince, Ozai's son or Azula's brother. He's just Zuko. And they speak freely with one another, arguing like real people do. Often, being comfortable having arguments is actually a sign of being comfortable with one another.

The character who helps Zuko heal from his trauma?

Once again, this is a bit of a flawed question. By the end of the show, Zuko isn't even fully healed, in my opinion. He has made leaps and bounds on the road to recovery, but when he will truly heal if ever is yet to be seen.

Zuko's journey to recovery includes plenty of people. This includes Iroh, Aang, Song and Jin. People who show him the error of his coping mechanism. Who challenge his worldview, who coax him out of the his shell of pain and anger.

The character known for showing most compassion to others?

Yes, Katara's compassion is a huge part of her character. Her need to help and protect those who cannot do that for themselves cannot be understated.

But Aang's compassion for others and all beings is just as great, if not greater than Katara's. Compassion and nonviolence are huge parts of his culture and his own philosophy.

Aang: Wait, we can't just leave him here. Sokka: Sure we can. Let's go. Aang :No, if we leave him he'll die. Aang airbends himself off Appa and retrieves Zuko, bringing him to Appa. Sokka: [Sarcastically.] Yeah, this makes a lot of sense. Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us.

Friendly reminder that Aang could've absolutely wrecked Ozai, but held back because his own moral compass was so powerful. Hell, he was friendly and nice to Azula, the woman who literally killed him.

This is why Aang and Katara work so well together. They're both incredibly compassionate people who will immediately jump in to help others in need. Like they did during the Painted Lady, destroying the factiry together.

The character who primarily bears the burden of having to step up into a parental role?

I think "parental role" is an incredibly vague term. There's a lot of things that go into a "parental role". Katara plays a stereotypically "maternal" role, while someone who plays a "paternal" one would probably be Sokka.

Katara deals with very "homemaking" tasks like sewing and cooking, etc. And Sokka often takes on the role of leader, hunter, gatherer and also protector, despite being a nonbender.

This coincides nicely with their core childhood traumas. The loss of Katara's mother impacted her greatly, leading her to have to step up into a motherly role. While Sokka was clearly heavily traumatised by his father departing and the crushing responsibility of having to care for his entire village.

Sexism also probably played a part in this dichotomy.

The character who represses their emotions to be strong for others?

I'd argue that this could apply to all the members of the Gaang in some capacity.

Aang's pain is something most of us will never experience and cannot hope to understand. The complete horrific destruction of his culture and home followed him through the entire show. He was entitled to his grief and rage, yet he supressed it. We see during Appa's kidnapping, how easy it would be for Aang to rage, to let himself be destructive. And yet, he wakes up every day and chooses to smile and goof off, because his friends need someone to remind them how to be children.

Sokka puts on a very impressive bravado, despite having a lot of insecurities. However, as the oldest member of the Gaang (pre Zuko) he puts on a facade of the confident and unbothered older brother. Even if he's the butt of almost every joke, he still keeps that demeanour up, letting it slip only a few times.

I'd actually argue that Toph is the person whom this label fits best. While we know Toph as witty, callous and strong, we have to remember that she kept up the facade of her parents' good, helpless little blind girl for no reason other than her mother and father's comfort. She actually hides a lot of her hurt, covering it up with a prickly exterior.

I want to do longer think pieces about Toph and Katara so apologies if this isn't complete.

I'm actually baffled by the idea of Katara repressing her emotions. She's actually quite straightforward and open about her feelings. She yells and feels a lot of emotions and lets them be heard. She gets angry and sad. She's actually kinda bitchy sometimes and that's honestly why I love her so much.

The whole inciting incident of the show was her getting so pissed off she somehow pulls a giant iceberg from the bottom of the sea.

She is anything but repressed.

She is angry.

She's angry at the fire nation, at Sokka, at her father, at men, and with good right to be so.

This is what makes her an amazing character and one who broke the mould of a lot of female characters at the time. Her anger and unrestrained emotions rang true with a lot of watchers at the time. I'm not sure why this is being taken away from her rather than celebrated.

I reiterate the point I made at the beginning of this post: there is nothing wrong with headcanons and fanon interpretations for one's enjoyment. I do find it a bit odd when it changes a character too much (because then, why not just create an oc?) but it's all in good fun. However, you shouldn't push that onto other people and how they perceive canon and you certainly shouldn't use it to take away from other characters. It's a very unfair way of entering discourse.

[thequeenofshebasays]

Remember kids, despite whatever the live action does: Katara isn’t required to fall in love with Aang. And it’s weird folks auto assume that… like… no??? She doesn’t belong to him… and he isn’t required to have some love interest. Stop thinking that.

[angee444]

Me: posts a cute Zutara drawing that I took part of my time to make because I enjoy the ship☺️

Salty ahh Kaatang anons:

[theyarerealtome]

Avatar tla - first watch brain dump 2/2

Carried on from here.

Zuko

You angsty, disaster mess. 

Like I said, I went in knowing his backstory/eventual redemption, so that’s coloured my perception.

That said, it’s fascinating how….careful the writers are with him? Like right from the start there have been lines he hasn’t crossed and they’ve limited his proper *villainous actions* (e.g. not killing anyone, keeping to him promise not to massacre the Water Tribe when he captures Aang).

I went in thinking he was the Big Bad, but he really isn’t??? In s1 it’s Zhao and in s2 it’s Azula.

Half his conflict isn’t even with the Gaang, it’s with his own people. 

And the show was so quick to establish he’s surprisingly….good compared to most of the Fire Nation nobles?? Like, as early as episode 3 you have the Zhao/Zuko fight and Zuko fighting honourably while Zhao screws him over.

And that’s all before you hear his backstory, and that he started out wanting to protect people

Then he keeps sort-of teaming up with the Gaang against the Fire Nation – as the Blue Spirit, against Azula etc.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s still this self-absorbed teenager with serious anger management issues 

And Aang, Katara & Sokka have also suffered & aren’t running around hunting people down like he is - he’s done damage & Zuko needs to realise that. It’s a redemption arc, not that he’s been a hero the whole time. 

But it’s not a “oh this villainous character is popular, let’s forget all the bad stuff he did & he can join the team.” He’s laid out to be a lighter shade of grey from the beginning with his own story that isn’t all about defeating the heroes

 Iroh

Ok, I know everyone loves Iroh – and he is hilarious and such a good Dad to Zuko.

And he obviously isn’t committed to the Fire Nation party line, and initially seems blasé about the war.

But…idk

Bc it turns out he was involved in the war previously?? As a general who attacked the Earth Kingdom and was responsible for what hundreds or thousands of deaths??

Maybe he’s changed since then – but he did help attack the Northern Water Tribe?? And enables Zuko to capture Aang’s body?? He doesn’t turn on Zhao until he kills the moon spirit.

Idk, he’s played as this loveable old guy, but as a member of the royal family he is complicit in the Fire Nations actions. He’s not some foot soldier – he’s smart and had power, and you’ve got to wonder why he didn’t try & change things

But we’ll see. Either way he’s a great character.

 Aang/Katara

Not sure this deserves it’s own section, but I’m just not into it sorry 

It’s not that they’re not close or the writers haven’t developed their relationship (they’ve been hitting us over the head with it since ep 1).

The pair just feel so much more like a sister/brother relationship. (Or even a parent-kid thing which is uh, not what you want in a romance).

Like their whole dynamic is Katara mothering Aang, supporting Aang, teaching, counselling, calming him. Aang obviously has his crush but I don’t see that Katara feels the same way. (Apart from her fortune telling her she’ll end up with a great bender).

Idk it doesn’t feel very equal and I want Katara to have a relationship where she doesn’t have to be Team Mum and always the caretaker

 Also the maturity between an 11 yo boy & 14 yo girl is just…massive. Just like…no.

It’s not even that I’m shipping Zuko/Katara (they’ve haven’t interacted that much yet, though their s1 finale fight scene was incredible). If anything I was shipping Haru/Katara

But I know it’s inevitable so not much point bitching really.

 Basically the show is as good as everyone told me and I am hooked.

[incorrectlumityquotes]

Maybe I'm being dumb and tired but I don't get that last anti-kaatang post.

Aang kissed Katara twice in the show without her consent. First on The Day of Black Sun and then in The Ember Island Players. And that’s because in The Ember Island Players she just finished telling him that she was confused and didn’t want to engage in a romantic relationship during the war.

I was never cool with it, but some people seem to be.

[bathroom-sand]

This is to be like anti - kaatang but like the Fortune teller was like "You will have great romance, he will be a powerful bender" But like what was so great as in epic about Kaatang? It just felt like a crush that worked out *cough*becauseofthewriterswantingkataratobeaprize*cough* but what did they go through that helped them realize different parts of eachother? What did they go through together that focused on them? Zutara tho?, a good chunk of their character arch's have to do with eachother

I don’t think that Katara and Aang were really romantic in any capacity. Again it was a motherly relationship at worst and at best it was a young kid having a crush on the cool older girl. Aang had a whole plot on letting go of Katara that was tossed out the window because the series was ending. Aang grew as a person when he gave up on having a romantic relationship with Katara. I wish they kept that because it made Aang more interesting than to go back on it, especially because later on it was Aang who pursued her again.

Katara and Zuko learned and grew from each other, probably to do with such an emphasis on opposing forces and balance. Fire and water are the polar opposites of each other. It was natural for the writing to show them developing because of each other, learning the benefits of the opposening elements. It also made the two have a very developed relationship where they were seen as equals. In addition to that they were both the parental roles within the group.

I just think Zutara had the two as equals to each other the whole time where as Aang and Katara don’t really have that, as evident in the future when Katara is considered just the Avatar’s Wife. I think Zutara gives Katara more agency as a character. It placed her next to Zuko who complimented her character more.

I still think Aang and Katara grew and learned from each other, but it was in the same way every main character did. What made Zutara different was that it was a balancing of elements another reason I love Aang and Toph but I digress

[itsmoonpeaches]

Can you let me know where blissful ignorance is? Do you not at all interact? Asking sincerely. The top post in the kataang tag is a zut@ra post that says they feel sorry for Kataangers and then lists all this anti-Aang bullshit. I had to block the three Kaatangers that engaged seriously with it. I also want peace and quiet, but where is that to be found where even in supposed safe spaced, Zuta@ras are up my ass?

I do not interact with fandom discourse. Meaning, I almost never (there are very few exceptions) comment on things relating to that. I might reblog or like something, but I don’t say things. 

I have been in this particular fandom for very long, and I used to be more involved in that regard. I do not do it anymore. Fandom discourse tends to fuel an annoyance and an anger deep within someone that ends up becoming a ball of stress and eventually leads them to want to leave a fandom. Sometimes, it makes someone associate a thing they love (i.e. a book, show, game, movie etc.) with negative things. I have left a fandom before because of the negativity that I saw within it. I don’t want that for myself when it comes to Avatar which is a show that is close to my heart, so I stopped and I do not interact. Meta is something I’ll always love, but that’s not fandom discourse. 

I won’t comment on the rest of what you have said here, but I might suggest that blocking tags might be helpful. You can also not look through ship tags which are breeding grounds for negativity and fights. If you want to look through specifically wholesome K@taang content, try looking through the #kataangtag.

[yexy-ackerbondjaegers]

I hate zutara because the shippers are obnoxious assholes who write long ass essays about why kataang is problematic and why aang is horrible

Hi there anon! I hope you’re having a good day.  Yes, I ship Zutara- I’m a sucker for opposite attract ships like ice and fire, sun and moon, that sort of thing.  Although you hate Zutara I feel your pain- that’s the one thing that ruins ships for me when others bring such hate to the opposite ship and so on. It does suck and we end up just lamely offending each other, which is also not okay. I’m usually  not active in the Zutara tag on tumblr that much because I skip lots of post and just automatically click on  cute fan art I like, so I haven’t really seen many anti essay post but I’m sure they’re there. 

But as one strong Zutara shipper I will say this Aang is not horrible!  Anyone who says Aang is horrible to validate Zutara is just being salty and wrong. Aang and Katara are not horrible either. They  are cute and they lived happily and even though I don‘t ship Kaatang, I don’t think it’s right to bad talk them by saying Aang is horrible for Katara or that their relationship was awful- it clearly wasn’t. They lived happily and had kids and that’s cute.  

I feel like everyone is free to ship who they want.  I simply love Zuko with Katara and think they would’ve made an awesome couple and storyline!  But to each their own! :D That’s my two cents. :) 

[angee444]

we wont leave until you ship kataang

You guyssss this is a really boring blog y’all should probably just go and I don’t know mind y’all business 💀✋🏽.

Frsss tho reconsider 🤺🤺.