#implied zukka that is. because it’s funny

[kiki-strike]

Some more fake ATLA tweets

[bisexuallsokka]

would you be willing to summarize the poll drama for us that doesn't use twitter? :>

GLADLY

okay okay so someone started a best atla ship tournament poll on twitter and in the first round zukka was losing to ty.zula but members of zukka nation started hearing about it and posting the link to vote so it started spreading pretty fast and zukka slowly started to bridge the gap and then the final result was that zukka won and because they got so many votes people were implying that zukka stans were paying bots for more votes when really. i was keeping a close eye on it all day and i never noticed it have a big enough jump for bots to make sense. we simply just awoke zukka nation for more reinforcements. but i digress.

anyway, the rounds continued and zukka kept winning (and not by like a HUGE margin but always by enough to come out on top) and each round kept putting them against a wlw ship (rip i’m sorry mailee) but anyway all the zukka antis were FURIOUS and saying that if you voted for zukka you are misogynistic and lesbophobic which was just so funny to me considering the insane number of sapphics in zukka nation but whatever.

anyway these antis were begging people to vote against zukka but it simply did not work (especially when the poll had them go against two wlw ships and so they split the vote) and they were also saying how people who vote for zukka are just fetishizing mlm ships and all this insane stuff

so so so many of them are zootaras so two days ago one of the rounds was z.tara against kataang and it was insane because all the other polls were getting like 2,000 votes and the final number of votes for this one was over 8,000 so CLEARLY both sides were using votes to get more votes for their side and eventually kataang won and then a lot of people were acting like kataang nation was the only one using bots

and then kataang went against sukka yesterday and and all the people who are anti zukka and pro ztara were all rooting for sukka because they thought they could defeat zukka but kataang ended up winning

anyway now it’s between kataang and zukka and everyone who doesn’t like those ships are acting like zukka/kataang nation spent hundreds of dollars on votes, hate women, and are actively committing hate crimes against lesbians

and ITS SOOO FUNNY. i’ve been having the time of my life it’s so entertaining they’re getting so invested in a fucking. twitter poll. and they’re just making it toooo fucking easy to mess with them. low hanging fruit and all that.

[zukka-fic-recs]

Zukka WIP Fic Recs

The following fics have all been updated in March 2022, and I am thoroughly enjoying all of them. ❤️

Burning Bright by @erisenyo

Available on Ao3, WIP, Series, Explicit, Canon Divergent, Canon Typical Violence and Child Abuse, Underage Sex, BDSM Undertones, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Wordcount: 769,467

Zuko and Sokka write letters to one another and form a connection. Doesn't stray extremely far from canon, but enough to keep things interesting. A lot of very sweet moments and also many very hot and steamy ones (guaranteed to make you fan yourself while smiling until your cheeks hurt!). The way the author writes relationships - both romantic and otherwise - is super compelling, and this series is really driven by excellent character development.

All's Fair by @lovelyelbowleech

Available on Ao3, WIP, Series, Mature, Canon Divergent, Canon Typical Violence and Child Abuse, Torture, Zuko/Zhao (Non-con), PTSD

Wordcount: 233,750

Zhao survives the attack on the North and takes Sokka and Zuko as prisoners on his ship. This one is quite dark at times and there's a lot of wump, but the slow build of the relationship between the boys is great and it's not lacking in comfort! A lot of badassery in this one, and there are some great funny moments too - I love the way the author portrays the characters. A great blend of hurt/comfort and extremely well-written!

Chained by blueeyedarcher

Available on Ao3, WIP, Explicit, Canon AU - No Bending, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Allusions to Torture, Allusions to Suicide, Major Character Death (not the GAang - so far)

Wordcount: 358,478

Sokka takes Zuko (a Fire Nation spy) back to the Southern Water Tribe as a PoW. Not quite as dark as the summary and tags might imply. Many sweet moments. There are other AUs of the fic within the series, such as a shapeshifter AU, which is also very good. (Also: Pirate Queen Yue - need I say more?)

I would also recommend this author's other works!

Spirit's Tether by Spheral3

Available on Ao3, WIP, Gen, Canon AU - Soulmates, Slowburn

Wordcount: 259,011

Mostly canon compliant - except Sokka and Zuko are soulmates, which does change some things! Again, many sweet moments (there are themes in what I enjoy reading haha), and it's friends to enemies to lovers!

There's Bound To Be A Ghost At The Back Of Your Closet by anactualforrealadult

Available on Ao3, WIP, Gen, Modern AU, Dadkoda, kid!fic, Trans!Zuko, Allusions to Prostitution (not Zukka)

Wordcount: 31,799

Zuko raises Kiyi, with some help. Starts when Zuko is a teen and progresses from there. I love Dadkoda and Dad!Zukka fics, and this is a wonderful combination of both!

How You See Me by @mysticpandora

Available on Ao3, WIP, Explicit, Canon Divergent, Canon AU - A/B/O Dynamics, MPreg, Slowburn, Major Character Death (not the GAang - so far)

Wordcount: 117,566

Alpha!Sokka and Omega!Zuko. Zuko ends up injured and stuck in the Southern Water Tribe, and is helped by Sokka and his family. There are some very cute pets in this one, and Sokka works hard to make Zuko comfortable and win his affections. I know ABO isn't for everyone, but if it floats your boat then I think you'll enjoy this fic. And the Air Nomads haven't all been wiped out in this fic, which is lovely to see.

While Mighty Oaks Do Fall by @witchofendor

Available on Ao3, WIP, Teen, Fire Sage Zuko, Zuko joins the GAang early, Canon Divergent

Wordcount: 115,020

Ozai sent Zuko to become a fire sage when he was a kid, and now canon events are happening with that backdrop. This is funny and heart-warming, really tugs at my heartstrings. Extremely well-written and the author creates a depth to the world-building that is very compelling to read.

Guidance Extended Universe by jovialJuggernaut / @jovialjuggernaut-draws

Available on Ao3, WIP, Teen, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Divergent

Wordcount: 269,795

This fic doesn't stray extremely far from canon, but Zuko and Sokka were guided by a spirit to one and other when they were kids because they're soulmates. This does change events somewhat. Also, some Jet in this which is fun!

2 Bros on an Island by HawksEyes /@thehawks-eyes

Available on Ao3, WIP, Mature, Slowburn, Canon Divergent, Homophobia, Torture, Drug Use, Allusions to Sexual Assault/Rape/Non-con, Allusions to Prostitution (this does not happen to Zukka)

Wordcount: 134,016

Zuko and Sokka are stranded on a desert island together pre-canon up until canon events. Then canon events progress, with some divergence. Also, Mava the iguana parrot is a hoot!

I have also really been enjoying this author's other works!

hold in, hold on by argentoswan

Available on Ao3, Mature, Modern AU, College/University, Eating Disorder, Minor Character Death

Wordcount: 69,806

Sokka is raising Katara, who is 6 years old in this. He's really struggling, but is starting to accept help from his friends. Quite a bit of angst, but also sweet moments and this author is an excellent writer.

Would recommend this author's other works as well!

Leaving It All Behind by Sreeder

Available on Ao3, WIP, Mature, Canon Divergent, Canon Typical Violence and Child Abuse, Torture, Prison, Zuko/Zhao (Non-con), PTSD

Wordcount: 259,817

Zhao survives the attack on the North and takes Sokka prisoner. Zuko has been Zhao's prisoner since before Sokka was captured. They are both in a prison camp as a result. A lot of angst in this one, but Zuko and Sokka's relationship is so great it makes my heart hurt. Also, Jet is around!

[firelxdykatara]

gods, ok, apparently i’m not done.

atla fandom? we need to have a chat.

(....ok that made me sound pretentious as fuck. and maybe i am, but this needs to be said, cause i’m getting....real, real tired of a Certain Corner of this fandom and as a result, this is gonna be a discourse-heavy post so feel free to scroll past if that’s not your bag. as always, my salt posts all carry the catch-all #salt for ts tag, which you’re free to blacklist/filter at your leisure. i’m Very Annoyed at the moment, which will probably come through in the following post, so just. yknow. be prepared for that. or ignore it, that’s perfectly valid too.)

under a cut bc i do care for my followers and their sanity i swear lmao

there’s a real serious issue in this fandom with not understanding what queer terminology actually means or implies, especially when applied to a fictional narrative.

i’m specifically talking about ‘coding’, here. (if i were in a more meme-y mood, i might have said ‘the atla fandom found out about the term “gay-coding” and haven’t shut up since’.)

to the people who say ‘zuko is gay-coded’, i have this to say: you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means. because he isn’t. i’m sorry, but he’s not! and the fact that this is such a prevalent claim in this fandom is distressing, bc it says to me that none of y’all know what gay-coding is or when and how to apply it! please, i’m begging you, go and look up these terms and what they mean and when they should be used before actually trying to plug them into your critical analysis, because when you misuse them and then call other people delusional for disagreeing with you it casts a pall over the entire fandom and is, i think, the root of some of the worst toxicity this fandom has to offer.

and the thing is, there are cases where gay-coding would apply--for instance, a couple series that are famous for queerbaiting their audience by coding their main characters as being attracted to one another (sometimes even despite their openly stated sexualities) come to mind, but those shows bare no similarities at all to atla and how zuko was written and portrayed! (and it would be funny, if it weren’t so obnoxious and infuriatingly wide-spread throughout the fandom, because the only queer couple we actually seen on-screen in either show wasn’t even queer-coded in any respect, and they’re canonically bi! [yes, i’m shading korrasami, or more accurately i’m shading bryke for refusing to give ka the build-up and development they deserved].)

this absolutely isn’t to say that headcanoning zuko as gay is a bad thing or invalid in any respect. (although the tendency for zukka shippers to do this specifically to keep zuko away from katara and/or invalidate his canon relationship/attraction to girls is more than a little eyebrow raising. especially since sokka is usually allowed to be bi, bc fans have no problem letting sukka stay in the background bc it’s no real threat, while jetko shippers are happy to have both boys be bi. [possibly bc katara is less a threat to jetko bc jetkotara is every bit as valid as any single ship between the three, but zukka can’t exactly let katara join in, and if the potential exists for zuko to be attracted to her then canon giving them the far deeper emotional bond becomes a threat to zukka’s existence? idk for sure--you be the judge.]) i prefer to hc zuko as bi (and always have, long before the atla renaissance), bc i don’t think zuko being attracted to boys is outside the realm of possibility, and it isn’t a threat to my ship since zuko&katara had a deep and emotional bond in canon that is very easy to develop further into something that becomes explicitly romantic--but the headcanon itself isn’t really the problem (although what it’s often in service to can be).

it’s the strange insistence that this is the only way to read his character, bc he was coded that way and so anyone who doesn’t see it must be too straight to understand--and i really shouldn’t have to say why and how that is so incredibly fucking insulting. (the ‘hetero lenses’ comment wasn’t cute when it came from bryke six years ago, and the same sentiment being repackaged and delivered by zukka shippers ain’t cute now.)

calling zuko gay-coded not only demonstrates ignorance as to what the term actually means, and how to usefully apply it in critical analysis, but also validates the frankly bullshit insertion of institutionalized homophobia in the world of atla where it was neither needed, nor wanted, nor ever hinted at in canon. as a queer woman i’m still infuriated by one fucking comic panel shoving institutionalized and systemic homophobia into a world where it was entirely unnecessary (and doing this in the first installment of the franchise showcasing a queer relationship??? making korra and asami worried about ‘coming out’ when they could have just gone on to have cute adventures together and tell people ‘hey we’re dating’ and have everyone else be ‘that’s awesome =DDD’ [because it is, in fact, possible to just have a world without homophobia i promise!!!!!] double yikes, i’m still pissed at bryke about it), and i doubly hate that ‘zuko is gay coded’ has become so widespread that ‘ozai hates him bc he’s gay’ has become a staple in that part of the fandom.

not only does making zuko gay and implying (or outright stating) that ozai hated and abused him because of it completely undermine zuko’s character arc by making his abuse about his sexuality rather than ozai’s toxic pride and anger at seeing himself reflected in his ‘weak’ son, but it comes very close to outright stating that abuse and trauma are inherently gay experiences, and they aren’t!!! they really aren’t, i promise!!!

abuse and trauma narratives exist outside of ‘my dad hates me because i’m gay’. and, quite frankly, there are MORE THAN ENOUGH queer trauma narratives out in the world. we do not need to start trying to retroactively make them canon in a series where they didn’t exist! if you’re gay and see yourself in zuko and project your own experiences on him, that’s understandable and valid. that does not make zuko gay-coded. and honestly, the insistence that he is makes very little sense to me, because you’re essentially trying to give the show credit for work you put into interpreting the characters! why would you want to do that? why not own your own headcanons and take credit for them, rather than insisting they are canon and everyone else is wrong for not seeing them??? like, i’ve said before that i’ve always headcanoned zuko (and katara) as bi, and even support it with my interpretations of evidence from the show, but the difference between ‘i think zuko is bi’ and ‘zuko is definitely gay-coded’ is that i know that bi zuko is my interpretation of canon, and that it is work i’m putting into the show that wasn’t actually intended by the creators/writers, no matter how much sexual tension i read into the jetko swordfight.

and like, zuko’s character arc doesn’t actually parallel a queer one all that well to begin with. it’s easy enough to do the work and twist it sideways just enough to make the general points fit, but the fact is, zuko’s arc is not one of self-discovery. it’s not one of coming to understand something fundamental about himself that he can’t change, that he was hated for, and coming out to his father in a dramatic confrontation where he shows that he understands himself and doesn’t need his father’s acceptance to be fulfilled.

zuko’s arc is actually one of trauma and healing. and those can (and often are--like i said, there are more than enough queer trauma narratives in the world, atla really doesn’t need to be one of them) be part of queer narratives, for sure! but they aren’t uniquely queer. and zuko’s confrontation with ozai during the eclipse doesn’t read like a ‘coming out’ at all. (yes, i’ve seen that post. yes, i rolled my eyes and moved on, bc unlike some people, i’m capable of not clowning on correctly tagged posts i disagree with.) zuko is specifically confronting ozai over his abuse, because his arc wasn’t about discovering anything fundamental about himself (and therefore realizing that ozai was hating him for something he couldn’t change)--it was about realizing that he was not at fault for the way his father treated him. it was also about realizing that the fire nation was broken and corrupt at its core, and that his father was an aspect of that he needed to break away from so that he could help the world begin to heal.

he says it himself:

Zuko: No, I've learned everything! And I've had to learn it on my own! Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it! We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness.

making this about zuko being gay and rejecting ozai’s homophobia, rather than zuko learning fundamental truths about the world and about his home and about how there was something deeply wrong with his nation that needed to be fixed in order for the world to heal (and, no, ‘homophobia’ is not the answer to ‘what is wrong with the fire nation’, i’m still fucking pissed at bryke about that), misses the entire point of his character arc. this is the culmination of zuko realizing that he should never have had to earn his father’s love, because that should have been unconditional from the start. this is zuko realizing that he was not at fault for his father’s abuse--that speaking out of turn in a war meeting in no way justified fighting a duel with a child.

is that first realization (that a parent’s love should be unconditional, and if it isn’t, then that is the parent’s fault and not the child’s) something that queer kids in homophobic households/families can relate to? of course it is. but it’s also something that every other abused kid, straight kids and even queer kids who were abused for other reasons before they even knew they were anything other than cishet, can relate to as well. in that respect, it is not a uniquely queer experience, nor is it a uniquely queer story, and zuko not being attracted to girls (which is what a lot of it seems to boil down to, at the end of the day--cutting down zuko’s potential ships so that only zukka and a few far more niche ships are left standing) is not necessary to his character arc. nor does it particularly make sense.

(and before anyone brings up his date with jin--a) he enjoyed it when she kissed him, and b) he was a traumatized, abused child going out on a first date. of course he was fucking awkward. have you ever met a teenage boy????)

anyway, uh, that was a lot of words, so have a tl;dr: zuko is not gay-coded. there is nothing uniquely gay (or even uniquely queer) about his character arc or characterization, and he was certainly not coded gay in an attempt to sneak a queer character past the censors. if anyone involved with atla was gonna try that, it would’ve been in lok, and as established, they didn’t even manage to queer-code the actual queer relationship before the last few minutes of the final episode. headcanoning zuko as gay is absolutely fine (though if it’s only done to keep him away from female characters he may otherwise be attracted to, that smells more like misogyny than anything else), but insisting that this reading is the only one that makes sense, and anyone who doesn’t agree must be straight (hello, queer woman here making this insanely long thinkpiece) is very much not.

ship what you like, but stop trying to invalidate other ships and other interpretations of characters just to make your ship seem more plausible. it’s really not a good look.

[hello-yue-here]

thank you @chiptrillino for tagging me in a wip game!

not quite sure what the rules are but based off of your AMAZING POST OF ART WIPS (check it out here yall chip is so talented) ive decided to just share some parts of my writing wips that i rlly like because i cannot draw whatsoever lmao

enjoy some lil snippets hehe

from heart don't stand a chance:

"Zuko couldn’t get over her eyes. She was looking past the camera towards the man who took it. Zuko could see clear as day the love she held for Sokka in her gaze.

It was a perfect moment that Sokka had captured. No wonder held it with him at all times. If someone had looked at Zuko like that, he’d never want to see anything again.

As he took in the photograph, Sokka sat next to him in silence. His hand was clutching the ring around his neck again in his fist, pressing it close to his mouth as he peered over Zuko’s shoulder to look. Zuko turned to him to compliment the picture and saw a sad fondness lingering in his eyes."

this is a scene i wrote a while ago thats gonna appear in a much later chapter. but yeah. more yue angst for you guys im so sorry.

from i love you (and that's all i really know):

"Mister Sokka," a little voice wishpered in his ear as he felt tiny pokes on his cheek, "Wake up Mister Sokka."

"Good morning to you too Izumi," Sokka responded wearily as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He looked towards the little girl who was standing on her tippy toes to see over the edge of the bed and poke his face until he rose.

She smiled at him once she realized he was awake.

"Can we have pancakes?" She asked shyly, hiding her mouth just below the edge of the bed as she looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

That look was going to be dangerous for him later on, he could aready tell.

"Sure thing, Izumi, just let me sleep for five more minutes, mkay?" He asked as he shut his eyes again. He was exhausted from last nights events, and the sun had barely risen. How did Zuko do this?"

this is a scene from the next chapter of this fic. so much sokka and izumi bonding you guys are gonna explode hehehe.

from cherry (the mailee fic i wont shut up about that is now a whopping 19 pages):

"Mai never had to guess with Ty Lee. She always knew when Ty Lee was happy about something because she would use an obnoxious amount of exclamation points. She would send gifs of people or cartoons making outlandish expressions whenever she wanted to react to Mai’s text with a specific facial expression. Sometimes Ty Lee would even send voice memos whenever her thoughts became too long, or she got too excited about a story that her fingers couldn’t type as fast as she could speak."

hehe i love mailee.

from yours (the mailee sorority fic that i promise i did not forget about):

"Mai lifted her head off the pillow again and met Zuko’s eyes. She studied his impassive expression, trying to figure out if he was joking or not. He did seem like he missed Mai and Azula, so maybe he did really just want to catch up with them.

But Mai wasn’t going to give up a golden opportunity like this.

“Tell us everything about the boy toy as well and you’ve got yourself a deal,” Mai said.

Zuko rolled his eyes and sighed, “Ugh, fine. And his name is Sokka by the way.”

“Nuance. You also have to wake up Azula.”

“No chance in hell,” Zuko scoffed, “You’re the roommate and her fellow ‘pong princess,’ wake-up duty is all yours.”

“If she murders me, it’s your fault. She’s a bitch when she’s hungover.”

“Whatever you say, Mai,” Zuko grinned before returning back to his phone."

i have decided that zuko is a little shit for this fic and no one can stop me.

from Where'd All the Time Go? (the yuekka fic that i have severe writers block with that i also promis i have not forgotten about):

"“Sokka I really think you need to take a moment and-”

“I am fine Aang, I don’t have time for a feelings talk right now. Right now I need to find the fucking chief of this damn place.” His words came out harsher than he meant, but he didn’t have the time to dwell on that.

Before Sokka could run off again to continue his search, a hand grabbed his arm. One of Arnook’s advisors, Malina, had started dragging him towards the podium.

“Do you not realize how late you are for this Sokka? The ceremony was supposed to begin with your speech nearly an hour ago-” she hissed at him as she pulled him along through the crowd.

“Malina I’m sorry but I really need to speak with Arnook it is urgent-”

“This damn speech of yours is what’s urgent right now Sokka, you can speak with Arnook later but the guests are getting antsy so you need to give your speech right. Now.”

“But-”

“Now.”

Maline shoved Sokka towards the podium and suddenly all eyes were on him. Every guest in attendance had their focus solely on Sokka."

homeboy is stressed in this scene. things are slowly going to shit in this chapter. i promise i will update this before the end of the year. i swear. im so sorry.

from a currently untitled jetko/sukka boiling rock fic:

"“Oh good, you survived after all,” She said in a mocking tone.

Jet didn’t answer. He knew anything he said would be used against him. He didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know what was happening. But he would be damned if he showed that weakness in front of the fire nation.

“I was told you were more talkative than this,” the girl mused. There was something familiar about her, “my informants were very detailed when discussing your little teashop romance.”

I knew it. Jet snarled in his mind, That bastard betrayed me."

i want this fic to be a little darker but idk how good i am at writing darker fics because i love fluff and humor too much. this could be good angst practice for me.

from a toph and sokka fic that i wrote a while back to help me cope w some shit that i dont know if ill ever post:

"“Sokka? Are you still there?” Toph asked, the slightest hint of concern began to slip into their voice

“Tell me a story,” he was trembling. Despite all of his efforts to sound calm, he knew his voice came out trembling and scratchy and pathetic-

“Is everything okay? You don’t sound too hot,” Toph said through the phone.

Breathe, Sokka, breathe. You don’t want them to be worried, you just need to calm down.

“Please, Toph, I just,” he said through shaky breaths that weren’t nearly deep enough for him to be getting enough oxygen, “I just need a distraction. I just need to hear your voice okay?”"

nonbinary toph anyone?

from a 10 things i hate about you kataang and zukka au:

"“What? Something on my face?” the guy asked deadpanned. He rubbed at his scar as if he were wiping off a smudge of mustard, and Aang’s face went pale.

“Stop scaring the sophomores Zuko, this one’s new. He won’t get your… humor… just yet,” Ms. Wu said as she waved Aang off again.

“I’m hurt that you’d imply I’m not funny, Wu. I’m hilarious,” the senior, Zuko, said as he walked past Aang.

Aang let out a sigh of relief knowing that this Zuko guy didn’t seem all that offended by his awkwardness, and darted out of the room."

zuko is a little shit part 2. the amount of sarcasm i have dripping off of heath ledger zuko is glorious. let zuko be a little shit. i havent added to this in months but when i finish some of my other wips i cant wait to get back to this.

i have more wips and drafts saved but none of them have anything juicy or funny or interesting yet because all of them are like less than three pages so far

but yeah, heres a good chunk of sneaky peakys from my wips!

I hope you liked them!

anyone who wants to do this can totally go for it. imma tag @ambykinns @lumities and @flowers-inthepieshop (only if you all want too!!) because this was fun :)

[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.

[ariadnedelia]

Literally I know I’m a small blog with like. One popular zukka post but this has to be said

The white members of the tlh gang, specifically Matthew and Anna, for all that they are meant to be the ‘good white people’ for accepting cordelia into their circle, have not done a full scale analysis of their pre-conceived notions of race, their position in shadowhunter society as white people, and how they benefit british colonialism and white privilege.

No one come on this post with a comment about the times because if queer acceptance can exist, guess what? So can anti-racism and the conscious effort to unlearn prejudice.

I’m bringing this up because I’m becoming increasingly frustrated about Ariadne’s whitewashing/adoption by a family that was an authority figurehead in the society of a country actively colonizing her people, and the way Alastair’s internalized racism was treating as an angsty plot point, but apparently not worthy of telling from his point of view or making him an obvious Chief of Angst(tm) the way Matthew’s was, trivializing the inter-generational trauma of real people as compared to mythical creatures, and the overall way racism is briefly addressed as angst for a character of colour, but ultimately pushed to the background to make way for discussions of oppression against imaginary species, which I get is supposed to be a reference to real oppression, but it’s a poor one, and it’s not necessary when we can point to several instaces of racism among the Shadowhunter community,

I’ll start with the example that was, for me, the most obvious: Anna.

I’m aware that microaggressions like this were common, but as Cordelia’s reaction shows, they were still offensive- and again, given the high amount of queer acceptance, at least within this character group, and honestly the very fact that racism is bad and anti-racists existed, I will be judging EVERY white characters perception of race the way I would were this the modern day.

This is immediately brushed over and never addressed again, like Anna didn’t just admit to having prejudiced pre-conceived notions about non-white ethnicities? Microaggressions, prejudices and harmful pre-conceived notions of race aren’t one a million. If you have one, you most likely have another. The books treatment of Anna’s prejudice as at best, an honest mistake, and at worst, funny and quirky, implies racism is just a minor bump in the road you can quickly skip over- but considering whose writing this, it’s not surprising. 

THEN, shortly after discovering Alistair dyes his hair due to internalized racism:

WHAT?! THE FUCK?!

WHAT KIND OF RESPONSE IS THIS TO FINDING OUT SOMEONE WAS ON THE RECEIVING END OF RACISM?! HOW DO YOU SEE SOMEONE’S GENERATIONAL TRAUMA AND LIKEN IT TO BEING MADE FUN OF FOR BEING SMALL AS A CHILD?! IT’S LIKE IF ZUKO SAID ‘THAT’S ROUGH BUDDY’ TO SOKKA EXPLAINING HOW THE FIRE NATION MURDERED HIS MOM?!

And the way she cut off from what I guess we’re supposed to believe was a passionate speech challenging white supremacy and instead settled on refusing to sympathize with the pain of the person of colour? What the FUCK? I’m not justifying ANY of Alastair’s actions, but I literally Do Not Care what a person of colour did to you; if you see them on the receiving end of racist treatment, you empathize, because not doing so implies non-whites have to EARN not receiving racism.

I’d finally like to address Anna’s handling of Ariadne explaining her proposal.

I want to make it clear that out lesbians are not obligated to stay in relationships that are treated like a dirty secret, and Ariadne’s attempt to distract Anna from the situation, and honestly, her overall treatment of the engagement, was poor. However, Anna’s inability to understand why Ariadne may not be in the position to deny social cues sheds light on her white privilege and shows she doesn’t, fundamentally, understand what it must be like for Ariadne to be completely removed from her culture, in a white society where her proximity to whiteness ad adherence to white culture is the sole judge of whether she is worthy of occupying the same space as them- and henceforth makes no effort to try.

Anna fails to grasp that as a visible dark skinned girl, Ariadne is expected to live up to higher standards or expectations or she will not be accepted. Despite the time they were in, queerness was a option for Anna because she was white. It decidedly wasn’t for Ariadne. This is the typical failure of whiteness to acknowledge its privilege- not realising that being part of a generally ostracised race means you have to fight ten times harder to be just as good as a white person.

Anna doesn’t understand this, and she does’t make any effort to. I understand that resources on anti-racism were generally limited, but I’m going to take a leap of faith and assume Anna could do the math on her own and realize what it meant to be in three oppressed groups. 

So, on three occasions, Anna has displayed ignorance, prejudice, and a general lack of knowledge or a real attempt to study her white privilege. And I love her character! I really do. But we can’t gloss over this. Even if she isn’t throwing around slurs and refusing to talk to Cordelia because she’s brown, she’s still displayed a limited understanding of her white privilege and treated  her ignorance towards race as funny and quirky, and refused to sympathize with a man of colour- while not even knowing what he did to deserve to be antagonized.

I’m so tired at this point, but I’d like to go on record and say Oscar’s white supremacy was public knowledge even then, due to lack of criticism. Matthew’s continuous and uncritical support and admiration of him points to him not considering racism serious enough to denounce support of someone.(Also, the fact that Anna latched onto the first white feature she could find and decided that was the highlight of Ariadne’s looks? And how not once in the ENTIRE series can anyone be bothered to even give a shitty, ‘sorry we’re colonizing your country’? Writing Ariadne to be ADOPTED BY HER OPPRESSORS?)

Anyway, it was 1903. The tlh gang are probably SUPER ignorant of their place in the social hierarchy, their white privilege and their pre-conceived notions of race, and that is why I am now taking all white tlh characters with a pinch of salt.

[itwouldbeajoytobringyoutea]

Zukka RWRB AU

Alright y’all, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. (This means literally only @firebenderlesbian and @beemami.) While watching ATLA for the first time not long after reading Red, White, and Royal Blue — I want to say, oh — six times, I had a galaxy-brain moment and thus, this AU was born.

Basic character breakdown...

Zuko = Henry

Sokka = Alex

Katara = June

Suki = Nora

Toph = Bea

Aang = Pez

Azula = Philip (lol)

Ozai = Queen Mary

Ursa = Arthur

Hakoda = Ellen

The real shit...

Zuko is the crown prince of the Fire Nation, and has grown up around his shitty father, Fire Lord Ozai, his younger sister, Azula, his best friend / fellow royal person, Toph, and his other best friend / random diplomatic tie, Aang. (How does the Avatar becomes friends with Zuko? Why isn’t he killed by the Fire Nation? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )  He’s known he’s gay forever, but his father and sister have tacitly kept him in the closet. 

Sokka, big-shot-but-not-technically-royal of the Southern Water Tribe has two friends: his sister, and his ex-girlfriend. (Do not ask me Sokka and Suki met!) 

Zuko and Sokka meet when they’re, like, 18 at some diplomacy thing. Zuko instantly falls in love, while Sokka instantly fall in hate (because Zuko says something petty and Sokka is a dramatic bitch). Cue three-ish years of one-sided pining and one-sided hatred. 

Then there’s a Big Thing hosted by the Fire Nation (Azula’s wedding?? Who would marry Azula, though, let’s be real.) that Sokka, Katara, and Suki all attend. Bullshit ensues, Sokka accidentally causes a scene, and Hakoda is pissed. So, he sends Sokka back to the Fire Nation to patch up appearances with Zuko / the Fire Nation / Ozai (whomst we do not yet know is a Motherfucker™). They spend some time together and actually talk, and Sokka realizes that Zuko isn’t, you know, a stuck-up product of inbreeding who probably jerks off to photos of himself. (Woof.)  Zuko suffers the whole time because like Sokka is hot? And funny? And smart? And talking to him??? Of course, Zuko is desperately awkward.

Once Sokka goes back to the Southern Water Tribe, they start writing to each other to keep up the ruse (nothing incriminating in these letters, oh no, not yet). 

After months of long-distance flirting, Zuko visits the Southern Water Tribe for an Event and kisses Sokka before fleeing and ghosting him.

Cue Sokka’s bi panic. He always thought he was straight? Like he loved being with Suki? But Zuko? Kissed him? Basically this super bi-acting character has his bi-awakening to the surprise of absolutely no one. Suki is there to tell him he’s fucking bi guide him through it all. “Still waters, deep dicking.” is obviously still a line.

Zuko comes back to the Southern Water Tribe for an Event, Sokka confronts him, they make out, they bang it out, etc. 

Zuko and Sokka start sending letters (coded this time) and meeting up to make out, etc. Sokka is desperately trying to not catch feelings without realizing he is desperately trying to not catch feelings.

Somewhere in all this, Zuko tells Sokka about his whole family’s deal — Ozai being an abusive, awful person, Azula trying to meet Ozai’s expectations and becoming shitty in the process, his mom dying, etc. Sokka wants to kill Ozai with his bare hands.  

Katara confronts Sokka about fucking the crown prince of the Fire Nation, which means that now Katara, Suki, Aang, and Toph know. (Who are Cash, Amy, and Shaan in this AU, you ask? No fucking clue.) 

The Super Six all go out somewhere (maybe in the Earth Nation?) for a night of drinking and debauchery!!! Zuko absolutely does some sexy karaoke. 

(Maybe there’s some drama with Water Tribe politics? IDK, this AU is pretty light on the political part of RWRB.)

Sokka tells his dad about his relationship with Zuko, and Hakoda is happy for him but does nearly herniate himself.

More sexy times, more sexy coded letters.

Zuko visits the Southern Water Tribe, meets Hakoda, and hangs with Katara and Suki. Sokka realizes he’s in love, but Zuko runs away before he can tell him. :(

After being ghosted, Sokka follows Zuko back to the Fire Nation, where he declares his love. “I fucking love you, okay? You don’t make it fucking easy. But I’m in love with you.” still stands. 

Zuko takes Sokka to his favorite place in the Fire Nation (What is this? No idea!), info dumps about his passions, and Sokka falls even more in love with him.

Some level of Zuko and Sokka’s relationship is leaked, leading to Katara to imply that she’s the one dating Zuko. It helps, but it sucks. 

Not long later, their whole relationship is revealed, as their decoded letters show. They both freak the fuck out, but Hakoda supports Sokka and his relationship. Suki figures out that Ozai is the one that decoded and leaked the letters, because he wants to publicly shame/discredit Zuko.

Team Water Tribe heads to the Fire Nation in order to get a meeting with Ozai. Ozai’s plan backfires, because it turns out the world shows overwhelming love and support for Zuko and Sokka. Some kind of hand-waving happens where Aang strips Ozai of his power (and/or kills him, I want Ozai dead) and Azula abdicates (perhaps because she realizes she’s real fucked up and wants nothing to do with the Fire Nation for the rest of her life), so Zuko is now the Fire Lord!

While all this was happening, Katara and Aang start dating, and Suki and Toph either become BFFs or start dating, whatever you prefer.

Zuko and Sokka because the power couple of the Four Nations and everything is good and gay in the world!!!

There’s another version of this AU that aligns much more closely with RWRB, but I love the world building on the Avatar universe so I decided to do it this way instead. 

***

Edit: Y’all, @llamora is writing this AU and I’m helping! She’s posted the first chapter already here. Please read, kudos, comment, and subscribe!

[zuzuslastbraincell]

1. The Tale of Sokka is the best part of Tales of Ba Sing Se (and the Tale of Iroh is nowhere near as sad as the Tale of Momo)

2. The Beach is undeniably the funniest episode of all of ATLA (and yes, this includes Ember Island Players).

3. Appa > Naga, but Pabu > Momo.

4. Zukka is an overrated pairing.

5. Iroh clearly lost his mind after Lu Ten died, hence his questionable decisions surrounding Zuko and Zuko's path.

1. ... disagree on both parts, sorry :(. I love the tale of Sokka, it’s underrated from that set, but the tale of Zuko and his very awkward date is my personal fave. I also personally find it really hard to relate/empathise to animal stuff on an emotional level (didn’t grow up with animals/pets at all), even if I understand why it hurts aang (& momo) so much on a logical level and sympathise. Iroh’s tale just hits me harder, sorry :(

2. Oh, hard agree. The Beach is like, maybe in my top 3 episodes outside of finales? Ember Island Players isn’t as funny as people think, largely because half the humour is derived from mocking fan interpretations which are kinda grating, often, to see shown on-screen, even when they’re being mocked (also the ship drama in that episode is v. annoying ngl).

3. Momo > Pabu > Naga = Appa. That said, they’re all amazing, obviously.

4. 100% agree. Tbh, with this much exposure and popularity at the moment, it’s hard not to be overrated.

5. I mean, depends on exactly what you mean by “lost his mind”, or what “questionable decisions” you are referring to, but yeah, I think this is honestly implied subtext, that Iroh had the toughest time dealing with Lu Ten’s death, and that’s why he never challenged Ozai for the throne even when it was very blatantly taken from him. Just was a bit of a shambles, mentally, I imagine he was probably depressed for quite a time. I think that’s why he largely occupies a passive role before S2 starts.