#i love katara so much... truly one of my fave characters of all time even tho i hadnt drawn her much until recently

[tuiyla]

not a top 5/top 10 ask, but it's still a ranking question: you said before that Katara, Santana, Marceline, Korra and Asami are your top 5 favorite characters of all time and that Korrasami, Bubbline, Brittana, Hollstein and Catradora are your top 5 ships of all time. How would you rank the characters that are part of your OTPs but didn't make it into the list of faves of all time (Brittany, PB, Carmilla, Laura, Catra and Adora)?

(Can you tell that I've been binge reading your blog? 🙈)

Well first off I'm honoured you'd be binging my blog, hope you had fun! Second, fun question let's get into it.

Hard to choose between Hollstein and PB, they're so similar in terms of appreciation in my mind. In fact, one of the great essays that never was is a Bubbline and Hollstein comparison post. "Of Nerds and Vampires," ah yes, posts that will always just be half-finished word docs on my desktop. But all that said, Hollstein are so equally matched to me they have to be following each other and I can't bear to put PB third because I've come to love her so much. So:

Bonnibel Bubblegum - She wins out because she's SO different from what people first expect of her and I just love her in all her tyrannical glory. A much, much more complex character than many give her credit for and I adore the moral grey area she lives in. Definition of women can be war criminals too.

Laura Hollis - It feels kinda strange to rank her above Carmilla as Carmilla is basically just My Type as a character and I did start the series preferring her. But Laura grows on you and she's just so damn endearing in all her naïvety and relentless optimism. I just find characters who stay kind and compassionate no matter what so damn compelling. Being nice is a superpower.

Carmilla Karnstein - Do not worry Carmilla isn’t far behind. She’s the OG lesbian vampire, what else is there to say. Well, lots, from tragic backstories to moral ambiguity to a desire, despite all that, to be good in some way. Even if that goodness only relates to connections with others, but I mean what is ‘good’ if not what we do for each other. Very Character. Much Vampire.

Brittany S Pierce - I feel there’s a clear distinction between the top three and bottom three here but I still very much like the bottom three. I think ranking Britt here above Catradora is just me being in my Glee brainrot era because I do find the other two more well-developed and compelling characters. But just in terms of how I feel right now and because I’m actively in the Glee fandom but haven’t rewatched She-Ra in a long while, I’ll say Britt. My love for her is reignited literally any time I watch a scene she’s in. Precious unicorn.

Adora - Again I feel like I “should” rank the more morally grey character first because that’s more my type but Adora called to me. Differently than PB or Laura did, more in the Korra way. If Bubbline and Hollstein are parallel versions then Korrasami... well their parallel is Supercorp, but Adora is a different universe and hero’s journey version of Korra. You know, I never used to go hard for protagonists before Korra but here I am with Adora now as well. She’s Anxiety™ and martyr complex and truly just has so much baggage but she gets her happy ending and I love her journey.

Catra - I do have a slight not like other girls bias against Catra, I must confess. By which I mean that after a certain point a character gets so popular that even if you see the appeal you kind of get turned off, which I’ll call the Zuko Syndrome. Both because he’s the first example in my fandom experience and because, well, I think there are other similarities with these two. But for real Catra is a super super complex character and I’m nothing if not a lover of messed up female characters. Catra is so deeply flawed in a way that I instinctively turn away from because it hits too close to home but also am drawn to because the story is so... kind to her. I do think her redemption is done well in a sense that it’s not like she faces no consequences but she’s also allowed to heal and move forward, exemplifying what’s so beautiful about SPOP. Frankly I don’t think audiences deserved a ch like Catra, from some Discourse I’ve witnessed, but I also think SPOP teaches us that it’s not about what we deserve.

[chocomd]

ATLA rewatch thoughts, Book 1 (eps 15, 16)

I really, truly love the episodes where Aang acts on his emotions, even when doing so is unwise. (Same for Katara, as well as Zuko later on, when his redemption arc is well underway.) These instances give his character a lot of depth because they reveal his vulnerability, fears, and desires in a way that’s impossible to do otherwise. And if you know me, I love digging deep into what makes a character tick 😌

15) Bato of the Water Tribe: There are so many things going on in this episode! This also happens to be one of my faves from Book 1. Ahhh I love Sokka’s arc here!! “Being a man is knowing where you're needed the most.” The flashbacks of Sokka missing his dad and feeling left behind and left out when the older boys and men go off to war. 🥺😭 Then the Gaang runs into Bato, who fills Hakoda’s shoes in taking Sokka ice dodging, the Water Tribe rite of passage for men. Sokka longs to see his dad so much that he gets angry at Aang for hiding the map (and rightfully so). But when he hears the howl of a wolf that was separated from the pack, he realizes where he’s needed the most - which is at Aang’s side in his journey to learn the elements. Sokka isn’t just Aang’s family - Aang is his family, too 🥺 And yes!!! Sokka finally understands what Hakoda said about what it means to be a man!

And now, the main reason I love this episode so much...for the first time, we see Aang struggle with being an outsider in a world where he doesn’t belong. Without Sokka and Katara, Aang is utterly alone. When the Water Tribe siblings and Bato reunite, they are so excited to see each other since all of them have been separated from the rest of the tribe, that they unintentionally ignore Aang. He tries to be understanding and happy for them, but he’s also a kid who just lost his home and his entire people. Maybe the Water Tribe characters could be more welcoming and inclusive to Aang, but they’re understandably too caught up in their own emotions of missing their home and each other. Aang’s grief and fear of being really, truly alone rise up so desperately strong that he hides the map to Hakoda’s location, and he lies about it until his conscience won’t allow him to hide the truth anymore. Did Aang mess up? For sure. Was he terrified of losing the only people in the world who were family to him? Absolutely. I genuinely love this episode for this insight into Aang’s profound sense of loneliness and loss.

Ok now for some not-so-heavy thoughts...omg June is so cool??? Also the fight scenes with Aang vs Zuko and Appa vs shirshu were so much fun!! (Appa fighting!!! Yeah don’t mess with a sky bison mhmm)

16) The Deserter: So much of this episode was about patience, discipline, and restraint vs impatience, recklessness, and looking for shortcuts. You see this contrast in Jeong Jeong vs Zhao, but also in Jeong Jeong vs Aang. The main point of this episode seems to be that firebending (and learning things that are worth learning) must be mastered through discipline and hard work, but I think there’s more to it than that. Discipline and restraint are important, and that’s the lesson that Aang needs to learn at this point in his journey, But he needs something beyond that to truly master firebending. That’s because Jeong Jeong is part of the generation that has destroyed so much of the world with fire in the FN’s mission of conquest. He can only see fire as a force of destruction that requires great restraint to properly control. But ultimately, that isn’t the lesson that Aang needs to learn. He needs to learn from a teacher who sees fire as more than just a dangerous, all-consuming force - the original firebenders, the dragons themselves (and from Zuko, who learns this truth together with Aang). But he doesn’t know this yet, of course. So as awesome as Jeong Jeong is, he is not the right firebending teacher for Aang.

Aang gets a lot of criticism in this episode for being reckless with fire and accidentally burning Katara. I see him as a kid who is excited and impatient to learn something new, because finding a firebending teacher who actually will teach him is a one-in-a-million opportunity (and because he’s on a timeline). Aang is also someone who sees fire much differently from the rest of the world. He comes from a world with no war, where fire was not a force of destruction and death. He doesn’t have the same fear or caution of fire that we see in Katara, Sokka, and Jeong Jeong. At this point, he still sees firebending as something he can do cool tricks with - until he loses control and burns Katara. Now the full weight of what firebending means in this world hangs heavy on his conscience, to the point where he can barely summon a flame until he learns the true meaning of firebending in Book 3.

By the way, Jeong Jeong is freaking amazing and I loved the scene with Roku and Aang is such a smartass 😂

[chase2452]

waterbending master katara

[whattheheehaw]

Hi can I vent to you, feel free to ignore this if you want but Have you noticed how there are a lot of zkka shippers who are all for s0kka and/or zuk0 being bi until it comes to them being with women? Deadass I feel some people only make s0kka bi just so he can be with z0k0 but just...ignore his attraction to women. Not to mention the utter hypocrisy zkka shippers have with ztara ,It's the biphobia and misogyny for me

Yeah, I’ve definitely noticed the biphobia and the misogyny in the newer Zukka shippers. 

A lot of people don’t know this, but when I was new to the A:TLA fandom, I used to spend some time lurking in the Zukka tag, liking posts here and there. I thought the ship was cute (still do) and I liked the content that was in the tag. I loved seeing bi Zuko and bi Sokka headcanons and I loved the fact that Zukka shippers called them bicons. However, some of the same people that claimed Zukka was “bi rights” didn’t share that same energy when Zuko and/or Sokka were paired with women. I started to see more takes that claimed Maiko and Sukka were both results of compulsory heterosexuality, and not a reflection of the boys’ bisexuality. 

Why can’t Zuko and Sokka love and date women? If they’re bi, that means that they’re attracted to both men and women. Using comphet as a reason why a certain ship doesn’t work out, especially when you headcanon the character(s) in that ship to be bi, just reeks of biphobia. Sokka and Zuko were both shown to initiate and enjoy kissing and hugging their girlfriends. They were even implied to have sex with their girlfriends. So why, for the love of God, is this part of their lives described as “compulsory heterosexuality”? I would say that if you’re just going to label Zuko’s and Sokka’s het relationships as “comphet”, just go ahead and headcanon them as gay, however, that would also completely disregard their romantic feelings for their girlfriends in those het relationships. Either way, the treatment of het relationships by the Zukka fandom makes me uncomfortable.

This was the first major red flag I ever received from the Zukka fandom and their perception of bisexuals in heterosexual relationships. And I feel like this mentality is also a reflection of what many people believe about bisexuals as well.

The next red flag I got from the Zukka fandom was a post which contained a “Zuko would fight anyone that called him straight or bi” headcanon. Like, no? Just, please God no. That headcanon itself is biphobia wrapped up in a pretty little bow, and the fact that that post got so many reblogs and likes left a very bad taste in my mouth. Zuko would never attack someone for getting his sexuality wrong? And I don’t even understand why being mistaken as bi or straight is necessarily a bad thing? I mean, if someone made an honest mistake and got my sexuality wrong, I would just politely correct them about it. And I honestly don’t think that sexuality is a huge part of either Zuko’s or Sokka’s personalities if I’m being honest, so I don’t understand why either of them would get offended to the point of attacking someone over it. 

Also, it’s quite concerning that a decent portion of the Zukka fandom consists of members of the LGBTQ+ community and come up with these biphobic headcanons, but that’s a discussion for another time.

Another thing that I observed about the Zukka fandom was their complete disrespect towards the female characters in A:TLA, namely Katara. A notable member of the Zukka fandom came up with the headcanon that “Katara is homophobic” as a “joke”. And I just don’t think that’s funny. That’s like if I shipped Katara and Azula and called either Zuko or Sokka homophobic. Nobody would be laughing, and I would get canceled. 

Katara is one of the most supporting and accepting characters in the show. Sure, she was hostile at first to Zuko but that was only because his betrayal of her trust created a personal grudge between them. And even though some people use the “Katara is a homophobe” headcanon as a joke, it doesn’t help anyone. Society should progress past the point of viewing homophobia as funny if it truly wants to become anti homophobic and more accepting and supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. 

Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that a portion of the Zukka fandom has this headcanon so that Katara won’t be able to interfere in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship. Since Zutara was—is—the most popular Zuko ship for over 10 years, I guess some Zukka shippers felt like they needed to make up some reason for why Zutara wouldn’t work out, or even be close as friends.

In addition, I think that when the Zukka fandom gets criticized and called out on this misogynistic behavior, they like to cling to Suki and call her their favorite character and an icon, etc. to prove that they don’t hate women. Some Zukka shippers even started adding Suki to their ship, creating Zukki. However, since Zukki is usually a by-product of Zukka, this ship almost always ends up being Zukka and Suki instead of Zuko, Sokka, and Suki in an equal and balanced relationship. And while there isn’t anything wrong with stanning Suki and calling her your fave (I mean, who wouldn’t?) I do find it a strange choice considering that she doesn’t have much characterization within the show. Perhaps it’s because people can take Suki’s character and mold it into whatever they want? I don’t know.

But anyways, this ask is getting long and if you want to read more of my thoughts about misogyny in the Zukka fandom (i.e. the homophobic!Katara headcanon and the swapping of Sokka for Katara in some Zukka content), you can read this post here.

[firelxdykatara]

I've read your thoughts on the noncon kiss between K/ataang (and I agree 100%), so I was wondering what your thoughts were on when Damon kept on trying to kiss Elena even after she rejected him?? (Also, I'm genuinely asking! I actually ship Delena, but this has just always bothered me.)

I suppose the simplest answer to this question is ‘I hold vampires with dodgy morals who began the show as villains to a different standard than I hold the heroic protagonist of a kid’s show’--because the fact of the matter is, Damon began the show as a villain. (And, not that it makes much of a difference, but I genuinely do not remember Damon trying to kiss Elena again after finding out that she was wearing vervain in the third episode--with the exception of the first episode of season 2, which was absolutely a horrible moment and I’ve never denied that. So where did he ‘[keep] on trying’? Genuine question, bc it’s been a while since I saw the early seasons of the show so I could be forgetting something.) Damon was unequivocally a villain and a monster in the beginning of the show, and his road to become a good man was long and not at all linear, and he was never going to be the Hero, because that’s just not who he is. (Which is ok, because not all good people have to be.)

The way the EIP kiss is presented, with absolutely nothing bridging the gap between that and Katara making out with Aang in the finale, it makes it seem like she figured out her feelings for him because he crossed her boundaries, rather than coming to that conclusion because she actually had romantic feelings for him and had worked through them on her own time. Aang makes his feelings her problem, without even asking her how she actually feels about him, and reveals that he assumed they would be in a relationship by now (because of the last time he kissed her without her consent, something that he phrases as mutual when it very much was not). This is especially an issue because it’s a children’s show, and this could very well be some of the target demographic’s first concept of consent in a romantic relationship--so the fact that there wasn’t even an attempt to point out that what Aang did was wrong and why, nevermind allow Katara to actually work through her feelings on screen, is a big problem, and when this gets brushed under the rug by Aang/Kataang fans it seriously bothers me.

By contrast, Elena was able to work through her feelings for Damon on her own time. He killed her brother at the beginning of season 2, unquestionably one of his worst actions in the entire show, and he had an arc where he began to realize that he actually cared about what he’d done--he actually cared about her, and was in love with her--and did everything he could to make it up to her. Crucially, though, he never actually made his feelings her problem, once he came to terms with them. He told her that he was in love with her, but then he compelled her to forget it so that she wouldn’t be burdened with that knowledge--and he backed the hell off. He didn’t even ask for her to forgive him until he was literally dying. And he accepted when she said that she still needed time--time he didn’t have--and didn’t actually push the issue until he was so delirious from the werewolf venom and in the middle of vivid hallucinations that he couldn’t control himself.

Elena kissed Damon at the end of season 2, thinking he was going to die--this was 100% initiated by her and unprompted by him, and it was her saying both ‘I forgive you’ and ‘goodbye’, because she thought he was about to die. (And he would have if Katherine hadn’t shown up with Klaus’ blood.) The next time they kissed, you could actually compare it to the Kataang surprise kisses--because when Damon kissed Elena in 3x10 it was unprompted (though she held the kiss and did not react negatively to it, unlike Katara who looked upset at the pre-invasion kiss and got angry at the EIP one)--but the important difference here is that Elena herself phrases it as a mutual kiss later on when she is talking to Stefan and wants to be open with him.

And the real crux of the matter here is, Elena’s feelings are always front and center in her relationship with Damon. She initiates most of their pre-relationship kisses--2x22, 3x19 (where she nearly fucking jumped his bones lmfao), 4x7--and the one where she didn’t is a kiss a kiss she describes as mutual, and as something she needs to confess to her ex-boyfriend to keep all her cards on the table. (Actually, I just went back to refresh my memory, and she doesn’t just say ‘we kissed’, like Damon said to Bonnie the next day. She says ‘There’s something I have to tell you. And it’s not because I feel guilty that it happened, it’s because I feel guilty that you don’t know. I kissed Damon.’ And then Stefan goes on to punch Damon because of it, because that doesn’t have any gross implications at all, but I’m not gonna go into that bc this isn’t an ‘I hate Stefan Salvatore’ rant. Yet.)

Elena chooses who she wants to say goodbye to in the season 3 finale. Elena chooses who she wants to be with in the beginning of season 4 (because, whatever she felt for Damon [and she owns those feelings and admits to them multiple times without prompting], she never had closure with Stefan, and she needed that before she was able to truly move on), and she chooses who she wants to spend the rest of her existence with after that.

Elena’s choice is crucial in her relationship with Damon, in a way that Katara’s never is with Aang. And I’m not trying to pretend that there aren’t a lot of elements to Damon and Elena’s relationship that aren’t questionable (he’s a 172-year-old vampire with a lot of murders in his past and a history of being a monster pre-redemption, and she’s an 18-year-old girl when they start dating), but again the difference there is that I have different standards for a) enemies-to-lovers relationships vs friends-to-lovers where they are on the same side from the start, and b) vampires vs Kid Heroes, so I’m going to have different expectations going in, and am probably going to react with more distaste to actions in one that might be comparatively tame, but still read very differently in different contexts.

It’s 100% understandable to have a line in the sand re: sexual violence/rape, but there are still vast differences in what is considered ‘par for the course’ in a show like TVD vs one like ATLA. In TVD, compelling humans is normal, and almost every vampire has had sex with humans under compulsion, so when this is brought out as some mark against Damon and only Damon, it makes me wonder why some fans hold him to a completely different standard than literally every other vampire on the show (possible exceptions being the ones who get turned during the show--although Caroline compelled Matt to forget she was a vampire and then continued her relationship with him sooooooo). Not liking TVD because it has issues with sexual violence/how consent is addressed when half the cast can take away the other half’s free will? Very valid. Not liking Damon, specifically, for these reasons when stanning characters like Stefan, Katherine, or.... p much any other vampire on the show???? Not so valid. 

Annnnd I’ll get off my soapbox now lmfao. I still have A Lot To Say apparently, and some day I’m gonna get into why the TVD fandom has such a weird relationship w the show’s issues with consent (like why Stefan and Katherine stans will call Damon a rapist while ignoring that their faves are also rapists by the very same metric), but I think that’s a bit beyond the scope of this ask.

[guileheroine]

atla rewatch thoughts

because i’d regret it if i didn’t write it down, here’s my thoughts upon rewatch off the top of my head! 

always interesting to see what new things come to the fore when revisiting something as an adult, especially when Something is excellent

this is my #1 fav show c: 

this show is so good! 

it’s not just character-oriented, which is the single most important factor in me giving a shit, but it has 2 things i think i value the most in a plot, overarching cohesion/consistency, and breathing room

book 2 was always my fave, but i have a newer appreciation for book 3 and i’d put them equal now (as i think most people do?)

AANG! i love him. he is so special. he is an absolute joy to watch, a character that just glimmers with understated complexity, humour, heart, cleverness, strength, tragedy, integrity. an icoooon. and just unique from a meta perspective- had a great discussion about how there are truly no protagonists in popular western media like him - there’s things about his characterisation, his arc that i’ve always appreciated deeply that i didn’t rly have the tools to articulate until this time around 

by the same token, i can better pinpoint my issues with a lot of fandom reception of him (in particular, though this applies to all the characters) (touched on one aspect here)

i love the entire gaang but my unpopular onion is that ehhh... suki isn’t really part of the gaang? i mean she literally has her own gang give them some credit (real talk this is because she’s a static character compared to them whose inner life we aren’t privy to, though there’s nothing wrong with that)

atla gives effortless dimension to its secondary characters, and this applies to azula but not i think to the degree it should given her narrative agency, role as zuko’s foil, and the complexity of her whole... complex. she’s the one character that is slightly close to being a caricature imo, and we don’t see Into her early as we should because it’s cooler when she’s #slick. i’d love to have had a bit more of her. 

if i could change anything else about the ending, i’d give zuko prince wu’s abdication ending from lok

aside from that, the show has such a deft, sustained, multidimensional treatment of imperialism and colonialism that truly sets it apart within the genre and beyond 

also the first thing that ever caught my attention about atla is how asian the aesthetics are and i will always love that! i don’t know how americans ever executed this galaxy brained concept but i’m so glad a massively popular anglophone cultural product that speaks directly to us, can belong to us, before white people exists (#representationmatters and all that, but it’s altogether more liberating if your entire fantasy world is noneuro and no one even has to exist in relation to hegemonic whiteness. utopic!)

i happily drink that delicious pan-asian soup, but if you asked, i’d say i wish we saw more explicitly south asian characters given how much the show borrows from indosphere culture/religion (including but not limited to the titular concept)

could take it or leave it when i first watched it, but as an adult who knows they can just not like stuff, and whose tolerance for perfunctory het is at an all time low: i don’t like maiko. like all atla ships, there’s potential, but my instinctual read as i watch is that as they are, they’re bringing out the worse aspects of each other (in zuko’s case, the malaise that characterises his whole personal/moral quandary after returning home is usually on display in scenes with mai, whether that just makes maiko a victim or circumstance or not)

the show is def a product of its time wrt heteronormativity, regardless of how queerable it is to those interested. this is something i’m interested to see change in the live action, because i think it will have to change! 

i still think it would be equally poignant and tighter without most of the overt romance, and i continue to not be hot on the ending scene

kataang shines bright regardless. no amount of clumsiness on that front can elide how pivotal, touching, and enjoyable their actual dynamic is. they’re the emotional bedrock of the whole show 

zutara tasty, but i’m always like (to quote zuko) ‘where’s the rest of it?’ when i jump into the show after the fandom 

zukaang manifesto time! this is undeniably the non-canon ship with the most TEXTUAL juice. their mirrored journey is my favourite throughline of the show and it’s arguably the throughline with zuko as the deuteragonist and their convergence/shared destiny being the key to the war’s end. that’s not coming from a shipping lens (it was true before i ever really shipped them), but this particular flavour of narrative basis adds real magic to shipping. when there’s no difference between what you appreciate intellectually and indulgently in a narrative and they just compound each other endlessly..... eliteeee 

related, can’t stop thinking abt how roku’s homosexuality started the war 

i preferred when toph/sokka/suki instead of sokka/suki/zuko was the go-to gaang ot3 but what i really want to see is zutaraang supremacy 

aang, zuko and katara are the show’s tentpoles, especially emotionally. they each foil the other two so well - in their personalities, and esp for zutara/zukaang, on a wider thematic level. and they’re such well articulated characters that it’s easy to extrapolate that to the three-way dynamic. it’s probably most (in)famously on display in 3.16 but there’s a deeelicious little moment in 3.18 when aang leaves distraught and zuko is the one to stop katara from immediately going after him. the #dynamics that were simmering, whew. 

i think mai/ty lee is getting the generic uwu soft girls treatment that is the bane of all popular femslash ships (same way zukka’s getting the generic dudeslash treatment) because azula makes tyzula a little too spicy. however i would like to see more tyzula, especially of the spicy variety

i wish there was someone in this show i could thirst over. hakoda is sort of a dilf? 

[zuzuslastbraincell]

Katara!

KATARA KATARA KATARA

why I like them

oh god where do i even start. katara just contains so many multitudes - she's sweet and feminine and caring and attentive but she's never reduced to just that, she's never just 'the girl', she's also allowed to get mad, to be petty, to laugh at her brother, to be headstrong and stubborn, to express vulnerability, to cry and to laugh, to make ridiculous facial expressions and *be* very expressive. she's dealing with a lot of trauma not simply from the loss of her mother but that loss represents also how her tribe have been decimated by the fire nation, how she's the last waterbender, how all this pressure exists on her shoulders (but also pride, but also determination, to bring it back) and that is expressed subtly throughout the series with the same depth and love that male characters are afforded with regard to their respective traumatic experiences. and despite all this she never tries to stop making the world good? She's always pushing for change, she's always wanting to make things better, she's relentless and doesn't give up when it comes to her vision for a better world... she has such a big heart. and that coexists with a deep anger in her, and deep hurt. Not to make an ocean metaphor so early on but she's as deadly and deep as the ocean but she chooses to be kind and warm and that's so powerful.

why i don't

honnestly while katara's instincts to mother people are a sad symptom of how she was forced to grow up to soon and automaically asigns herself a role of emotional responsibility she has mixed feelings about, i know that if katara tried to mother me, i would be annoyed. but that sounds more like a me problem.

favourite episode

oh it's either the episode where she beats the fucking shit out of pakku or it's the southern raiders. the first one because it's so gratifying to see how she's grown and developed as a bender and really come into her own. the second because... god i love how *messy* the southern raiders is, and it really taps into what i love about katara - she's flawed, she runs off on an ill-thought out revenge mission with zuko, she's got a great capability for darkness as she quite seriously considers murdering a man she has every right to loathe and to kill - but she chooses against it, in the end. it would not be right for her, if not him. she chooses what's right for her in the end.

favourite season

I'm gonna be a wee bit controversial and say book 1 had the best conception of katara's arc from student to master and really saw her grow and flourish, from someone yelling at her brother' oafish prejudice to a real master, that really solidified her as an idealist and presented that as the strength that is, that showed her struggling with petty jealousy of aang's progress and had her stumble in ways that made her character comeplling and interesting - like what an introduction to her character! book 2 had some fantastic moments but i can't think of anything particularly remarkable about hee character arc - largely because it tied into aang's romantic arc i think at this point. book 3 had some absolutely fantastic moments (scam queens katara and toph!! painted lady!! southern raiders!! the final agni kai) that really shone but also book 3 lays a lot of groundwork for fanon i hate (e.g. katara as the mom friend - wish that headcanon would die tbh)

favourite line

fuck there's a lot of good ones but my underrated fave is when sokka says he's kissed a girl before but she's never met her and katara says 'Who? Gran-gran? I've met gran-gran' and it's bruuutaaall

but my favourite serious line is 'I will never ever give up on people who need me'. powerful.

favourite outfit

water tribe anything!! and i actually think her book one/book two braids are her best hair. underrated katara hair. personally she looks just adorable in her parka in the flashback to when she was like. eight.

OTP

katara/personal fulfilment

katara/happiness

katara/fulfilling her goals and dreams

katara/loving minor background character who is never named

there's some ships i like in AU situations - yuetara is actually one i lov, especially with waterbender yue, i just love the whole sea/moon thing as well as katara and yue rebelling in loud/quiet ways, being girlfriends who refuse to have their lives defined by the expectations of older men, who have a great sense of duty towards their nations and won’t let gendered expectations stop them.

and most of you know i like the messy drama of katara/azula in a lighter AU situation where they're like, school or academic rivals, and the legacy of imperialism isn’t quite so personal (and azula makes better choices, obviously), but it’s not as much as i “ship” them as i just find the potential dynamic interesting, they’re both driven by a sense of duty for their home, it’s just that means *very* different things depending if you’re SWT or FN.

none of them are OTPs though - they’re more just fun thought experiments

brotp

katara & sokka - absolutely love their sibling dynamic its amazing. both have been impacted negatively by the shit in their lives and are not always dealing with it in functional ways but theyre there for each other, through thick and thin, always have each other's backs, they roast each other and bicker and sometimes make stupid decisions and sometimes lash out but at the end of the day their love pulls through, they’re able to work past those conflicts.

katara & aang - honestly while i feel kataang was just so poorly executed in the show (listen guys I just can’t after ember island players, i know that was a bad episode, but i can’t) & i cant imagine katara wanting to leave the south pole after the war for long spells (it would have to be long distance love, lots of profound and heartfelt letters and occasional visits, if anything, but i dont know if that’s what katara wants or needs? so maybe it wouldn’t pan out?), but regardless, i really do think these two had a life-changing friendship where each really represented hope for each other, that's at the core of it, they both truly believe in each other, and inspired each other. katara & aang good.

a headcanon

chief katara anyone?? chief katara?!?! 

oh oh OH i also think that katara, while primarily a combat bender during the war, actually takes to healing a lot more after the show and gets proper healing training at some point with the help of a trained medical expert and maybe yugoda. tbh i feel like the show was a bit dismissive of healing as an ability - i feel like having that is *extremely* useful in any combat situation, you always have a medic on hand - but i understand why katara, who wanted to be recognised as powerful regardless of her gender, and wanted to hold herself in a fight alongside sokka & aang, pushed for combat waterbending training because that is what 'powerful' looks like to her in the moment. obviously katara is capable of incredible healing feats (see: saving aang) but i think given we see her as a healer in lok (not a decision i necessarily disagree with) would mean a shift in focus. i think katara actually comes to realise she likes healing a great deal, but really she excels in all aspects of waterbending and is the south’s most respected master who helped rejuvenate southern style waterbending  

unpopular opinion

the main reason people think katara is straight is because we see her have very few meaningful interactions with other girls outside of toph. ATLA as a show is a bit romance obsessed, and very heteronormative in that regard, and so interactions with minor characters almost always line up with a potential crush for sokka or katara, and later, zuko (suki, haru, jet, yue, song, jin....). we rarely see katara build friendships with other girls and it’s such a damn shame.

(anyway bi katara for life)

a wish

the version of the puppetmaster we saw was actually fire nation propaganda, i feel like katara would have felt deep compassion for a prisoner of war and after maybe some clashes, would have agreed to help smuggle her out of the fire nation and secure passage home for hama, and tried to assure her that she still has a place there. the treatment of hama in that episode was awful (but also hama was written to be almost cartoonishly evil, very much an evil witch in her cottage in the spooky woods? like the whole horror movie / spooky story opening was such a big tell) and tbh i reject the thesis that we saw ‘katara’s dark potential’ in that episode completely, or that bloodbending as a power is inherently dark, or katara’s use of it to stop hama ‘corrupted’ her. I feel like katara might feel this way as a teenager perhaps but with time (she can be a little black and white at times), and especially with more training as a healer, i think she might realise that’s not the case, she’ll realise that she was right to try and oppose hama, her elder (she was lashing out rather than really trying to oppose the fire nation), and it wasn’t a betrayal of her or her beliefs, but also her use of bloodbending wasn’t wrong or evil inherently at all? and maybe she’d find ways to use it for healing purposes? anyway my wish is that, i like the idea that they meet again, speak about their differences, reconcile a little / come to an understanding, and katara learns more from hama again

an oh-god-please-don't-ever-happen

anything where katara’s character is reduced to a comforter or a healing device for a man and his trauma. particularly zuko. (they don’t have that dynamic in canon thankfully, zuko would never, zuko respects her too much)

5 words to describe them:

idealistic, hard-working, powerful, headstrong, kind

my nickname for them:

chief. or comrade. :^)

[greatfay]

atla for the ask meme, again! and some unpopular opinions thrown in maybe? mwah

my all-time ultimate fave character: 

Prince Zuko. The angst, the drama, the stream of terrible choices, the hair (all four phases of it), and of course, the redemption. Zuko fucked me up as a kid. He set the bar so high for redemption arcs, and still to this day I’ve yet to see someone live up to it. STILL. Actually maybe Minya in Laini Taylor’s Strange the Dreamer, where the only truly evil characters are long-dead before the story starts. But Zuko really set the bar. He just tries SO hard, the way they handled his character was celestial.

a character I didn’t used to like but now do:

Azula. Don’t drag me but obviously the first time I saw Azula, I was, what, 10? I actually think my timeline was off, in my Harry Potter post I said something about Book 2 coming out when I was 10 , I think I was 11. Anyway, the first time I saw Azula I was just like fuck she’s scary, and throughout book 2 she compounded this point by being fucking scary, so I didn’t like her because she’s The Bad Guy.

But then my brain grew in and now I’m like “she’s the most psychologically complex character I’ve ever seen in my life” and I literally love her. I could write an essay on how she’s not a sociopath at all, she’s got a Machiavellian type-A personality but she’s not a sociopath (which I think strips a lot of complexity from her character), she’s very much a product of her environment and it’s a fascinating examination of Nurture vs. Nature when you compare her and Zuko.

She turns defense into offense, look at that. She never loses ground in a fight.

a character I used to like but now don’t:

Hmm... I don’t think my opinion has changed on any of them tbh. They’re well-rounded, likable characters. Oh there’s one, Master Pakku! As a kid I was like oh he sucks cuz he’s sexist, then he trains Katara and I’m like ok he’s cool. But then?? I grew up and realized this man enforces this same societal bullshit, he just made an exception for Katara because he had a hard-on for her grandma so it’s some Snape bullshit lmao. So he’s the only I started to like and stopped liking.

a character I’m indifferent about:

Suki. She’s often depicted (in media and out) as a part of Team Avatar, despite appearing in only 4 episodes. FOUR. I really like her character, mostly because she’s a great example of a character playing important roles who doesn’t need a big character arc or development or even flaws. Think about it: Suki doesn’t have character flaws. She’s noble, honest but not naive, clever, a good leader, she doesn’t have flaws, she’s there to be there, and that’s perfectly fine. Wish I knew more about her tbh, like where is she by the timeline of Legend of Korra.

a character who deserved better:

Suki, lmao. Because she doesn’t appear a lot. And Ursa I guess, because I read Smoke & Fire and her arc with her daughter rejecting her face is so weird to meeeeee. It’s such a weird element.

a ship I’ve never been able to get into:

Zukaang. One’s a middle-schooler and the other is a high school junior, ew lmao. Zukka as well because idk, by the time these two interact without anyone else, other ships have cropped up and taken hold. Also Tyzula because Azula is cruel to her (but she’s also one of the few people she shows genuine affection toward without performing).

a ship I’ve never been able to get over:

None. I’m fine with most of the canon pairings but not head over heels. Maybe Sokka/Yue? That was sad.

a cute, low-key ship:

Zuko and his honor.

an unpopular ship but I still enjoyed it:

None tbh!

a ship that was totally wrong and never should have happened:

Ursa/Ozai lmao. Poor Ursa.

my favourite storyline/moment:

All of the tension from several gd episodes that led up to the Crystal Cave climax of Book 2. Runner up is Katara’s revenge arc. Bro... she stopped the rain. And I loved the look of awe on Zuko’s face like “thank GOD I switched sides.”

a storyline that never should have been written:

None?? ATLA is a near-perfect story. The ending is the most controversial part but I’m old enough now that I get it. I guess energy bending could’ve been hinted at way earlier, like maybe by the Guru guy, but I’m cool with the ending.

my first thoughts on the show:

Great show, love it, I wanna be an airbender, wtf was that ending.

my thoughts now:

Great show, love it, I wanna be an airbender, ohhhh of course the 12-year-old wasn’t going to murder a man on a children’s show lmao I get it now. And that’s that.

Ask me about a tv series/movie/franchise/book!

[lucacangettathisass]

‘There’s just nothing inside you, nothing at all.’

The Southern Raiders Episode And Kataang Zutara Katara

so a few years ago (i wanna say 2014? smthn like that) @irresistible-revolution mentioned wanting to write a meta about the southern raiders episode of atla and how it’s really about katara and not kataang or zutara. i’ve just finished the episode and i have my own thoughts on that so i’ve decided to get them out and dedicate the following meta/word vomit to her.

(also @gameofdooweeoo since u seem to enjoy my word vomits and @mythaelogy since u asked for content. i know it isnt the meta i was talking about, but hopefully this can tide u over until then.)

spoilers ahead obvi.

so, i think we can all agree that atla is a far more mature show than what is usually aimed at children. from the themes of war, imperialism, lost innocence, and compassion and the lack thereof (still working on that meta, gonna finish the show before i really knuckle down and get started on it), among many others, it’s safe to say that it’s an incredibly mature show, and an episode that best exemplifies that is ‘the southern raiders’.

quick recap: when they were still children, katara and sokka’s mother, kya, was killed during a raid on the southern water tribe to find waterbenders (the show only has katara and sokka say their mother was taken from them which implies imprisonment, which did happen to previous benders, but it’s far more heavily implied that she actually died. kinda weird how they kept that ambiguous considering all the other stuff that was included but eh.), and the raid was lead by yohn ra. years later, after joining the gaang, zuko offers katara, who still harbours hatred and anger towards yohn ra, a chance at revenge and closure. now, here’s where some of the shipping wars and conflicts arise.

full disclosure, i ship both of these ships and have done for years, so i never really focused on that aspect of the episode, however i can see why other people did.

i don’t involve myself in shipping discourse, but from what i’ve seen there are some zutara shippers (as well as non shippers) who say that zuko is helping katara deal with her emotions, while aang invalidates them. i would like to respectfully disagree.

in this point in time, zuko is still dealing with his own intense emotional trauma and learning to let go of his anger as well as trying to get katara to like and trust him, and he sees this as a way to accomplish the latter. he was raised in an environment that encouraged aggression and violence, and no doubt getting revenge would’ve been part of that. and i don’t just mean his homelife/childhood, but we’ve seen how society in the fire nation is also geared towards violence (as is typical of imperialist, warmongering nations, but that’s a meta for another day), so it would make sense for him to jump to that as a course of action. i also believe he’s living his own revenge fantasy vicariously through katara, he was unable to save his mother as a child, and perhaps sees this as a way to make up for that (even though he was, y’know, a child). this is not to say that zuko’s thinking was inherently wrong. his thinking and view of the world had been so thoroughly warped by that stage, that to him, getting an eye for an eye was more than fair for katara. he may have changed sides, but it takes far more than that to undo such intense cultural conditioning. his feelings and opinion on how katara should deal with her grief are every bit as valid as aang’s.

another moment for disclosure; i 100% agree with aang in this instance, no question. revenge is all well and good, but an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind and whatnot. one of the biggest messages of atla is how violence begets violence and that breaking that cycle is the only way forward (this will be further discussed in that ‘atla and compassion’ meta), and aang has shown this attitude throughout the series. despite the fact that he’s literally the most powerful bender in the world, aang has consistently shown to value non violent approaches to conflicts, as he was taught by the monks (who, as we all know, were based off buddhist monks). and when he tells katara he understands what she’s going through, he means it. don’t forget, he’s the last airbender, the lone survivor of a genocide. when he went to the southern air temple and saw the destruction, he was enraged and went into the avatar state over it. he carries that weight and anger and loss and grief with him every day, the same way katara carries hers. he knows this pain, knows it all too well, and he doesn’t want it to drag katara down. she’s a lively, vibrant, compassionate soul, which he (and myself and i’m sure many others) loves, choosing to exact revenge on someone, however ‘deserving’ of it they may be, could easily twist that. if she does it then, what’s stopping her from doing it again and again and again? and what’s to stop anyone else from trying to exact revenge on her? the cycle continues, the wheel spins, and nothing is changed. in the end he does concede that this is something she needs to do and accepts that, although not without some trepidation, because it’s about her and her feelings. and he’s right.

now for katara.

here’s the thing about katara: as a character, she truly is one of a kind. she’s a young woman (of colour) who is shown to be kind, loving, compassionate, friendly, and brave, all the good things a person should aspire to be. but the writers don’t try to kid themselves or us into believing that that’s all she is. she’s also ruthless, can hold a grudge like nobody’s business (obvi as a grudge is the catalyst for this episode), and possess a temper that is honestly rarely seen in a female character (ur fave could never, as the kids say). and that side of her is on full display this episode. the writers never once make katara seem ridiculous or vindictive or petty for holding onto this anger, they are totally honest about it. sometimes even kind, sweet people we love and hold dear to us are capable of extreme hate and violence, and we need to reconcile that. and we also need to deal with our grief and anger in our own ways.

the loss of her mother is significant to katara in ways that are different to sokka. this is not to say that losing his mother didn’t affect sokka, of course it did, but it was different for them both. katara had become the mother to both her and sokka (sokka himself said in ‘the runaway’ that when he tries to picture his mother’s face, he sees katara), which is a huge responsibility. there was of course gran gran and hakoda, but sokka’s comment is very revealing. katara and sokka lost more than their mother that day, they lost their innocence, and katara specifically lost her chance at girlhood. she had to, or at least felt like she had to, step up and replace her mother, a responsibility that was no doubt kicked up a notch once hakoda left for war (possibly another reason why she resented hakoda for leaving? discuss.). after all gran gran was an old woman, expecting her to care for two children, one of which was their tribe’s last waterbender, is somewhat unrealistic. and while there is a feeling that everyone in the southern water tribe would’ve pitched in and raised all the kids together, katara still felt the need to become the new mother (and considering sokka’s pre-series sexism, it’s unlikely he was a big help), while not knowing what to do. sure she would’ve learned from gran gran and the other women, but there’s more to motherhood, self imposed or not, than just tasks. there’s being an emotional support, a voice of reason, an example of bravery. being all of these things is taxing on an adult, nevermind a heavily traumatized child. yohn ra made katara grow up too fast. he ripped her girlhood away from her. it’s only fair she rips what’s left of his life from him.

when we meet yohn ra, he is far from the fierce raider commander from the flashbacks. he’s now an old man, living with his (implied to be abusive) mother, and tending to a garden. while he still displays some skill at firebending, it’s clear that he’s no match for zuko and katara, who in a previous scene expressed a willingness to bloodbend despite her reservations about it in ‘the puppet master’ (a prime example of just how fierce she can be). katara is able to stop some of the rain, creating a dome of cover for the three of them, after revealing that she was the last waterbender in the southern water tribe, not her mother. she creates a flurry of sharp icicles, all of which look like they could easily impale yohn ra, and throws them at him.

and then she stops. she calls off the attack.

yohn ra takes the opportunity to try and placate katara, admitting that what he did was wrong (was he sincere or just trying to save his ass? discuss.) and beg for mercy, offering up his own mother’s life (an eye for an eye). katara says that before, she couldn’t imagine why someone would do something like take away a person’s mother. and she says that she’s understands now.

‘there’s nothing inside you, nothing at all. you’re pathetic and sad and empty.’

it’s something that i’m sure many victims/survivors wish they could say to the people who traumatized them. you did this horrible thing to me, nothing you do or say can undo it or untraumatize me. you’re pathetic, sad, empty. you’re nothing. for katara, it’s no doubt a cathartic moment. throughout the years, despite not knowing his name, yohn ra was the monster that lurked under her bed. the shadows that seemed to move on dark nights. the nightmares that chased away pleasant dreams and sleep.

yohn ra cries, begging for mercy.

and katara grants it.

she tells him that as much as she hates him, she can’t do it. she can’t bring herself to take a life the way he did. yohn ra may be pathetic and sad and empty, but she is not. she has her family, her friends, her promise to aang to help him defeat ozai and end the war. a war that took her mother and brought her to that moment. she has things and people to live for and love, she has happiness and joy, she has fulfillment. she is not yohn ra. she will not act like she is.

i haven’t read any interviews/discussions from the writers on the episode that talk about why katara spared yohn ra instead of killing him. perhaps it was to help foreshadow aang’s show of mercy to ozai. maybe it was to keep katara’s status as a heroine and not have her ‘go over to the dark side’ so to speak. i don’t know, and to be perfectly honest, i don’t really care (death of the author babey!!!!!!). for me, this episode was about katara growing as a person, learning that exacting violence on someone for the violence they exacted on u (whether directly or indirectly) is never good and will not lead to a sustainable society. to kill yohn ra, despite the things he’s done, would solve nothing. her mother is still dead. she is never getting her girlhood back. and she would never be able to undo killing yohn ra. by sparing yohn ra, she showed the kind of grace and mercy that many real world adults are unable to show, and that’s extremely powerful. i can only imagine the kind of strength that goes into that kind of restraint.

she hasn’t forgiven him. perhaps, despite aang’s hopes, she never will. but she can learn to let the anger and grief go, and fill herself with other things, like forgiveness for zuko, and love for aang.

she will not be nothing. or pathetic. or sad. or empty.

she will not be him.

[lovebeyondmeasure]

J - U - L - I - E - T (Also I'm aware you already answered E, and I'm interested in your answer for question H) :)

I’ll answer things twice, as long as they lend themselves to be re-answered!

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

Oh, uh, Stargate SG-1? My mom watched it, because my mom has watched every. single. space. exploration. show. ever, and I thought of it more in terms of her until I saw people still out here shipping and ficcing for it. Fandoms be out there, yo!

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

Joan Watson (Elementary) - Joan ain’t here for your shit. Joan’s here to gets things DONE. And at the same time, she is such a deep well of compassion and care and anger and grace. And she dresses incredibly. So much to love.

Steve Rogers (Captain America) - If I’m not crying about his sense of justice and right in the face of a world that doesn’t respect him, it’s not me, it’s my evil clone, shoot immediately. Steve is SO COMMITTED TO HIS IDEALS, even when they don’t benefit him, even when they HURT him, he is SO STRONG AND SUFFERS SO MUCH, SOMEONE HELP MY SON, PLEASE

Sansa Stark (Game of Thrones) - I have watched sporadic episodes of the show, and never read the books. Regardless, I stan for Sansa Stark, because she was just a silly girl who got caught up in the game of thrones, watched her father die in front of her and knew it was her own fault, was beaten, was married off again and again, and instead of laying down and dying she TOOK IT AND TURNED HERSELF INTO A FUCKING WINNER. SANSA HAS BROUGHT DOWN THREE OF THE SHOW’S MOST HATED VILLAINS. SANSA STARK IS THE HEIR TO WINTERFELL. SANSA STARK IS THE QUEEN IN THE NORTH, BITCHES. People hate her because she was a silly girl? WHO’S SILLY NOW.

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

Oh. Hmm. Let’s go with Tony Stark as a character I’m actively neutral about. I don’t hate him, but I don’t stan for him, either. He’s really and truly trying his best. He wants to protect the world, and even if he’s not always going about it the best way, he has incredibly good intentions. Like, this man’s heart is too goddamn big, he’s trying to fit the entire planet in there, and that’s not feasible, dude. But he’s fucking trying, and I respect him for it.

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

Oh, for sure, for sure. The Sh*rlock fandom turned me off the show before Moff@t and G@tiss did. Frankly, FUCK Supern@tural. It’s garbage and I stand by that. It should have died long ago. And I’m sorry to report that I will probably Never watch The 1oo, mainly because of all the ship wars and nonsense I’ve seen (and blocked) on my dash. There are others, but those are the ones that immediately spring to mind. And if you blog about these things, know I have them blacklisted and don’t care, as long as things are tagged.

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

Oh, I mostly go in for TV shows! I have Netflix and Hulu, so I tend to just drop right into them. I also enjoy movie fandoms, obviously, and books to some extent. Not as much, though, because most book fandoms congregate around books I... uh... don’t like that much? Sorry. I’m currently active in the Cormoran Strike, Harry Potter, and Six of Crows fandoms, and two of those have TV/Movie adaptations. But mostly I go in for TV shows!

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

Oh shit. Oh fuck. Yes. Absolutely. What fandom? Which characters?

Uh, the Leverage ot3 is a til-death-do-we-part headcanon. Harry Potter as desi and Hermione as black. Kaz gifted Inej with at least some of her knives. Steve Rogers is bisexual. Zuko and Katara ARE IN LOVE.

FIGHT ME

[ spell your name in my inbox and i’ll talk fandom with you ]