#bryke i get why u left

[hello-yue-here]

if anyone else saw the post saying that katara was gonna be 16 and sokka was gonna be 14 in the live action here is my take:

im pissed ab this.

and no, it’s not because its most likely being done so they can make zutara a couple. i dont care about that. i have nothing against zutara. i may not ship it myself but if you ship it good for you. ive seen cute fanart and cute fanfics for zutara that ive really enjoyed. i like zutara. not my favorites but i dont dislike them. just wanted to make that clear. that isnt what im mad about here.

im pissed because its gonna ruin katara and sokka’s characters.

by making katara older there is not a doubt in my mind that they will make her more “motherly” seeing as she will likely be responsible for taking care of sokka and aang. there has already been way too many issues in this fandom with stereotypes of katara being reduced to “just the mom friend” and nothing else. in my opinion many of the mom friend stereotypes that have been pushed onto katara in fanon has led to a lot of sexism towards katara and this will inevitably end up forcing the mother role onto her even more and thats just a no no for me. katara literally fights sexism in the NWT, plz dont force her to be a 16 year old girl forced to care for her brother and the avatar because she is older than them. katara deserves more than being forced into a motherly role for aang and sokka. again this is just my take on what i think will happen if katara is made to be the older sibling. i could be wrong. but i would really hate to see this happen because i know itll result in more sexism towards katara and i would really hate to see that.

and now sokka. a major part of sokkas character comes from the fact that he is an extremely protective older brother. because he is the OLDER brother he feels the need to be the man if the tribe. he is very responsible and very serious. this all stems from the fact that he is OLDER. he even says that he is the leader because of it. sokka pretty much IS the leader because he keeps these younger kids on track as an older brother. his insecurities largely stem from the fact that his little sister is a prodigy bender and he is not. there was literally a whole episode about it. and being an older brother w a prodigy sibling mirrors zuko and azula PERFECTLY and that parrallel is one of the most compelling things about atla!!! that will all be flushed down the drain. sure you can still have sexist sokka getting his butt whooped by suki without him being the older brother, sure sokka would likely still be insecure of his status as a nonbender without being the older brother, but in my opinion it would be much less compelling that way seeing as it stems from his status as. an. older. brother. his status as the older brother is also part of the reason why his relationship with hakoda is so interesting as well. his father left him behind to be the man of the tribe because he was older. he wants to make his father proud by proving that he can be a man. his healthyrelationship woth hakoda also DIRECTLY parrallels to zukos horrible relationship with ozai. WHICH IS ALSO AN EXTREMELY COMPELLING PART OF ATLA. sokka just wants to make his father proud by proving that he CAN protect katara. without this, his protectiveness is gone, leaving his protectiveness over Yue in the northern tribe and his protectiveness of suki at serpents pass and his protectiveness of toph on the airship rooted in nothing. sokka is protective BECAUSE he is the older brother. sokka as the younger sibling will reduce him to nothing more than comedic relief and strip him of much of the traits that make him an amazing three dimensional character.

all in all you dont have to agree with me. im not one of the writers. i cant confirm that mom friend katara and comedic relief sokka are what will result in the live action show due to the age swap. but i am very very very very VERY confident that that is what the characters we know and love will be reduced to should this occur. just my thoughts. just my opinion. (if you disagree thats okay but plz be respectful i tried v hard to be respectful when writing this as well)

tl;dr while it may seem inconsequential to change the ages of sokka and katara their roles and older brother and younger sister help shape their characters and changing that just to make zutara canon (even tho i have nothing against zutara. zutara stans please do not attack me ur ship is cute i swear.) it will also change the dynamic of the show we know and love and i am too attached to their original character arcs to be happy with this change.

have a lovely day everyone. go drink some tea and read a fluffy fic and distract urself from another live action atla disaster.

:)

EDIT: keep in mind the age swap isnt like totally confirmed yet so this could all end up being for nothing but yk still wanted to put my thoughts out there🥰 now if you will excuse me im going to write a college essay and then some fanfic cuz why not

EDIT TWO: pretty sure its fake. im sorry for how long this is. false alarm everyone! i think! i hope!

EDIT THREE: i ship zutara now lol. i still stand by this post tho. not happy ab the character age swaps.

[cobraonthecob]

Do u think that Elizabeth Welch would've loved to get Makorra back together?

I've always loved the idea of her going all out when she learns what Bryke did to both shows (especially TLOK)

I just imagine Dante Basco & Mae Whitman being super excited to have Zutara & Makorra interactions.

I think she'd definitely lean into Makorra being Reverse Zutara (Mako being more like Katara & Korra being more like Zuko) Southern Raiders style three part episode focused on Mako finding his parents killer.

Sooo much Batman vibes. Republic City is his Gotham. Funny he parallels Dick Grayson

Both were cops at one point. Though Bryke only made him a cop cuz they clearly didn't know wtf to do with him.. he would've been better in a more Batman role where he works with the police NOT for them. Especially since we see the brothers have a rehearsed act when dealing with cops that we see in Book 1.

Mako is a phenomenal detective and has Bruce Wayne copy backstory. So why not just make The Batman of Republic City. The only differences between his backstory and Bruce's is that Mako has a sibling that he parents at the age of 8 which parallels Katara of course. And that his parents were killed by a firebender.

Which REALLY traumatized him even more since he's a firebender. To add on to the angst, he has to use firebending to provide for his brother and survive. As we saw in Book 1, he was usually left with no money and tells Bolin he'll find a way make it work like he always does. Good grief give this man a break (of course Bryke don't cuz they're TRASH)

Best Boy Mako deserved better

Judging from the way Elizabeth Welch wrote, I'm going to go off on a limb and assume that she'd put just as much love in nuance in Mako as she did for Zuko, and if the story went in the direction for a Makorra endgame, I think she would do as such. She and her ex-husband were very much 'listen to your characters' and see how things go for characters, and let the characters play off each other rather than forcing things together or having characters kiss the other without their consent.

Please note that this is all speculation based off of a pattern of her writing from a sample size of one show.

and yeah, mako deserved so much better from the writers and the fandom, considering that he was named after Iroh's voice actor

[firelxdykatara]

The "Aang is younger than Katara" complaint is total bullshit. Don't u know relationships involving guys with older girls isn't weird? I've had relationships with older girls, Shakespeare's wife was 4 years older than him, and Padme Amidala was a whopping 5 years older than Anakin Skywalker. Katara is a person who doesn't think age and looks matters, it's all about the developing feelings when it comes to Aang. Remember that.

God, what is with you people lately?

The problem isn’t that Aang is younger than Katara. The age gap is the same, in terms of pure length of time, as the one between Katara and Zuko, with which I obviously have no issue. (And, before anyone else comes at me, while I personally think it’s an added element to the ship that makes it weird for me personally, I don’t care if anyone else ships Kataang, and Aang’s age is pretty far down on the list of reasons why I do not like his romantic relationship with Katara.) But the fact is that Aang isn’t even a teenager yet. He hasn’t even hit puberty yet.

He is a prepubescent child. He’s the equivalent of a seventh-grader, while Katara would be a high school freshman, and speaking as someone who used to be a high school girl, I found it a whole hell of a lot more weird and kinda icky when anyone in my grade was interested in a middleschooler, than another high school-aged kid. When I was a Freshman, I saw middleschoolers as babies--when I was a Junior, I thought Freshman were hit or miss on maturity, but plenty of them seemed to have grown out of the baby-ish middleschool mindsets I was So Far Beyond.

Furthermore, Aang and Katara had radically different childhoods and life experiences. Aang never knew war and hardship until he came out of the ice. Katara grew up during a time of war, and lost her mother at such a young age that she couldn’t really deal with it until she was much older, because she almost instantly felt like she needed to step into the empty space her mother left behind. She was forced to grow up far too quickly, and Aang didn’t have to grow up at all until he suddenly woke up in a world at war. And that is not to downplay the trauma he felt of suddenly waking up to find his entire people and culture dead and gone and nearly forgotten--but he was still very much a child in a way that Katara was not, and, in fact, in a way that caused Katara to treat him like he was her own.

Whether or not you find anything weird about their specific age gap, the fact remains that Katara acted in a very motherly fashion towards Aang for 90% of the show--to the point where it’s heavily lampshaded in book 3, especially in an episode where she pretends to be his literal mother. One of the most powerful shots of the entire series is Katara holding Aang in the famous Pieta pose, one of the most recognizable depictions of motherly love in the world. (If Kataang was really ‘in the DNA of the show’ and endgame from the start, you’d think they would’ve toned down on the mother/son vibes just a little.)

However, I will say that you’ve kind of hit on something which is far more prominent on my list of reasons why I Do Not Ship kataang and never have: ‘it’s all about the developing feelings when it comes to Aang.’ When it comes to Aang. Because Katara’s feelings are never once considered, elaborated on, or developed. Because there are maybe three separate instances in the show that you can point at and say ‘see! she feels it too!’ except that after each of these moments their relationship goes right back to the status quo, and there’s never any indication that her feelings have changed or grown in any way. Because he kissed her without her consent twice--the first time, she looked away and frowned (which was an alteration mandated by Bryke--Giancarlo Volpe originally had her smiling, because he thought, reasonably, that it would be a good way to show Katara’s feelings for Aang if she looked visibly happy with the kiss), looking distinctly unhappy, and then she seemed to completely forget about it until Aang brought it up right before the second kiss, after which she was angry. And that was the last one-on-one scene they had before Katara was making out with him on the balcony--the realization that she actually had romantic feelings for him and the resolution of her confusion and anger towards their last kiss??? all of it happened entirely off-screen, just so the prepubescent child could get his Big Damn Kiss.

Katara’s feelings simply do not matter to Kataang’s development in the show. Aang loved her, Aang refused to give up his attachment to her, and Aang saved the day and ‘won’, so he got her. And that is far more worrisome than the fact that he was two years younger than his crush.

[marsreds]

so. i’m watching atla with a friend (her for the first time) and we just started book 3 and man, i literally got whiplash watching “the headband”.

i mean the characters are almost completely unrecognisable?

like, since when is katara shy???!!? like, have we watched the same show up till now? the girl that made a speech to a prison-full of earthbenders, and when they ignored her was kinda sad and then MADE ANOTHER ONE!?!?!?!?? like i can’t watch that part w/o a pillow to bury my face into from second-hand embarrassment and the girl’s like, oh yeah well, if at first u don’t succeed... and ur trying to tell me that that girl would have trouble dancing in front of a crowd?!?!!?!? or how abt that time when she publicly called out and challenged a waterbending master?? knowing that she’s not actually gonna win??!!?!?? i’m supposed to believe that a girl like that would play with her hair and blush bc “I don't know, Aang. These shoes aren't really right for dancing, and I-I'm not sure that I know how to- “

?!?!!?!?!?!?!!???

i mean?? seriously, were we watching the same show?? who is this?? bc it’s not katara

and then, and then, aang wants to be normal??!? like that??! now??! an episode ago he was traumatised by the fact that he failed as an avatar! like, what??! it literally set back his character development a hundred years?? not to mention that he was, you know, an episode ago, a far more mature character? i mean i’m not saying that he should’ve lost all playfulness et all, but considering where “the awakening“ left the poor boy at, wouldn’t have it made a lot more sense to, idk, show us aang gradually getting his cheerful disposition back? (kind of like how he got hope back during “the serpent’s pass”?) and before anyone says, no that didn’t happen at the end of “the awakening”,  “the awakening” was, or at least should’ve been only the very beginning of his recovery.

shockingly, someone who was, u kno, actually fucking dead, should spend more than one episode getting back on his feet. they basically glossed over any and all inner turmoil and completely and utterly removed any shred of self-awareness and self-reflection that aang spent ~two seasons developing.

like??? why would u do that?? who thought that that was a good idea?? who?!??!?!

and, ofc, the coup de grâce*: zuko.

like, i think my friend said it best: “it’s like they took everything that made him interesting and likeable and inverted it“.

gone is the awkward, introspective, compassionate, troubled person. instead we get.. i don’t even know??

like, u expect me to believe that the boy who either got so freaked out over the fact that a girl he likes is gonna kiss him that he shoved a coupon in her face, or misread the mood so badly that he thought that that was the right time to do that, that a boy like that would be that comfortable in a situation like a sunset picnic? or u kno making out? at all, let alone with an audience. or at all capable of any kind of sweet talk? even the badly written kind?

and, and, and, are u telling me that the boy who couldn’t even bear to watch zhao, a man who actively and repeatedly tried to kill him, die, that a boy like that would send an assassin after an actual child? and one that repeatedly saved his life at that?(and, tbh, i’ve got a whole different meta on how bryke absolutely do not get that the very core of zuko’s character is a staggering amount of compassion and empathy and that his actual true conflict comes from the fact that a person like that was born as the future head of a war machine and how his actual triumph was supposed to be the fact that after a lifetime of brainwashing he still, still remained like that.) u actually expect me to believe that? pfft, sure bryke.

and, like, tbh, i’m not even gonna get into the whole visiting-iroh-in-prison-and-yelling-at-him thing.

except i will. a little.**

here’s the thing: while there isn’t any situation or scene that directly contradicts zuko’s behaviour towards iroh, a great part of zuko’s value system is based around filial piety.

seriously. look at the way he talks the one time he actually goes into the whole honour thing:

zuko: “Three years ago today, I was banished. I lost it all. I want it back. I want the Avatar, I want my honor, my throne. I want my father not to think I'm worthless.”

it was never about honour for honour’s sake or whatever. it was always about ozai:

ozai: You will fight for your honor. zuko: I meant you no disrespect. I am your loyal son.

and the zuko we saw in seasons 1 & 2, and in “the awakening” (and then again briefly in “the day of the black sun pt. 2” and “the old masters” a.k.a. ehasz’s zuko) the zuko who’s first words after their great triumph in ba sing se are “i betrayed uncle“, the introspective, compassionate zuko, the zuko who understood, since at least “the siege of the north pt. 2″, that iroh “thinks of [zuko] as [his] own” THAT zuko?

i doubt he’d ever get past looking at the tower for the guilt and shame.

*except not really, bc there’s nothing merciful about this, and there’s still like, 19 episodes of this flip-flopping characterisation nonsense.

**using only what we were shown up until this point in the narrative. meaning i’m not gonna use zuko’s speech to ozai to make my point.

[seyaryminamoto]

You ship zutara? :)

Um, nope, but I also don’t have any problem with the ship. I’m basically neutral to it, and I’m absolutely neutral to the Zutara vs. Kataang ship wars too. I see issues and virtues to both ships, though I tend to use Kataang in my stories because it’s very much easier to establish, Zutara takes more time and needs more attention, heh… (plus it does feel kinda weird to have Sokka and Azula and then Zuko and Katara too in the same story, I know some people do it but it’s still kinda odd to me).

Anyways, if you want a full breakdown of what I think of Zutara:

The pros: a lot of what I say to the favor of my beloved OTP can be said for Zutara too. Water and fire, lots in common but still some differences between them where they can influence each other (namely, Katara’s morality may not be perfect but it’s definitely better than Zuko’s, so he can learn a bit from her), they have enough interactions and their friendship develops relatively nicely through the show despite Katara’s grudge on him was pretty strong. I do agree on the notion that the ideas of balance are more clear in Zutara than in Kataang, since we’re talking about directly opposite elements.

The show also emphasized they were a good team, such as in that battle against Melon Lord, making them fight back to back. It was cool for them to do that. They could learn a lot of things from each other, whether as friends or as lovers. 

The cons: THEY TEAMED UP TO TAKE DOWN MY GIRL!!! U-Uh, okay, seriously now…

Katara has a very big problem when it comes to Zuko making mistakes. Realistically speaking, this guy literally tries to help her commit murder to earn her forgiveness… and that’s not exactly pretty. I know there’s a lot of interpretations from Zutara shippers for this situation, most of them say that Zuko allows Katara to make her own decisions and won’t impose his ideas on her… but he was a-okay with the idea of her killing someone if it meant she’d like him a little better. And that’s not very nice (yes, Yon Rha was human garbage but that’s not the point: point is redeemed Zuko shouldn’t be so comfortable with the idea of murder, should he?). 

Basically, for Zutara to work well and not be messy, Zuko’s moral compass needs a major upgrade and he needs to… not let her walk over him. And Katara would need to not latch onto every mistake Zuko makes because if she does this, oh boy, they’re just going to argue for hours on end…

Namely, I think the main problem I see is that they’re both so very emotionally oriented people that they’re likely to make mistakes and get a little too caught up with their feelings. Unless they get a lot more grounded in their older years, the emotional problems they have won’t help their relationship much and might hinder it instead.

My opinion regarding controversial Zutara matters: I don’t see how Bumi II could ever be a Zutara baby and tbh I don’t think wanting your ship to be canon should be that important, but that may just be me. Back when I first got here, nobody ever even suggested this theory. Zutara fans were much like myself, making their own stuff and fawning over their ship without bothering over what was canon anymore. Frankly, why would they need canon so much when their ship is literally the most popular one in the fandom? If I don’t need it and 85% of the fandom doesn’t even know my ship exists, why would they? They’re solid enough outside of canon. They should just write their fics and make their own Zutara babies. It’d be better than to turn a goofball like Bumi, who’s not a lot like either Zuko or Katara, into a Zutara baby. Right?

About the Zutara vs. Kataang controversy, as I said, I’m neutral to it. That being said, claiming Zutara was going to be canon all along and that Kataang was forced, damn near shoehorned… okay, I can see the argument for how they forced Kataang in how Aang’s crush is constantly established and reminded to the audience while Katara’s feelings for Aang aren’t revealed as blatantly, but precisely because you can see Aang has feelings for Katara, you KNOW, since day 1, that Kataang is a possibility too. Fact of the matter is, I think Bryke set up the show so that they could go in either direction, Zutara or Kataang, depending on what struck their fancy. I don’t think one was favored over the other at the early stages, especially not when Kataang are shown hugging frequently, or kissing, through the whole show. Zutara get less physical moments, they are very impactful of course, but it’s still less of them (no Katara kissing his cheek out of gratefulness, for instance). Weighing all the evidence, I come to the conclusion that they could indeed have taken the Zutara route if a few things were different, but I don’t think Zutara was the only way to go, and that they went Kataang as a last minute decision after suddenly scrapping an idea for ATLA book 4.

I also think Zuko and Katara’s friendship deserves more credit. Especially in the comics, where they seldom even speak to each other? I mean, ffs, why? Do Bryke and Yang think that if they were to exchange more than 2 dialogues their fans would claim they’re canon? Uh, just, no. Part of what sucks about Katara in the comics is that she’s left with nearly no important relationships other than with Aang and Sokka. She barely interacts with Zuko, doesn’t get a lot of time with Toph either, she’s usually just all over Aang or bickering with Sokka. Why? Why so afraid of writing Zuko and Katara as friends? Fact is, they were fine as friends in Book 3′s last leg. Katara’s goddamn sass came back briefly just because of him, after having gone missing somewhere back in Book 2. Why not make the most of it? Oh, well, I know why. We’re talking about Yang, after all.

Anyways… I think that sums it up? Also, I have no personal issues with anyone who ships Zutara, not on the basis of them shipping Zutara or anything else. I personally am no fan of either Zuko or Katara (which is probably why I am totally neutral to the ship), but I won’t condemn anyone who likes Zutara… my only problems are with them trying to claim Bumi as theirs when it’s so counterproductive to do so, and how aggressive they can get about how they should have been canon. There’s a huge armada of non-canon ships and I personally am a happy crew-member of one crack ship with very little odds for canon, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Shipping should be about loving dynamics and basking in the way two characters play off each other, not in who got to canon island (especially when, uh, all of Avatar’s canon ships have a fuckton of writing problems, like, sometimes I thank the universe for Sokkla being non-canon because I just know they wouldn’t have written them properly…?). So I say ignore anyone who tries to bash your ship for being non-canon, because really, people who think you should only ship canon need to start exercising their imagination a bit more.