#like Sukka is so perfect

[fandomestuff]

I've seen many people shit on the live action atla ((as we should this is such a bad adaptation and honestly a mid show in itself)) but I haven't really seen people talk stuff about Sokka and Suki

And I want to point out a couple of things that I absolutely hated about what they did to them in live action.

1. The kiss

I hate that they made them kiss at the end of the episode. I hate it so much. Like yes, in the original they both clearly had feelings for each other (especially that later Suki talks about losing sb very important to her, who we know was Sokka), but they weren't rushed like that.

In the original they both grow so much between their meetings. Sokka finally gets together with a girl (not the first girl he meets that's his age, like Suki), kisses sb for the first time, travels the world, meets new people and in general matures.

We don't know much about what Suki is doing during that time, but we know she finally does sth that helps people during war, sth that she said was important to her. She can finally put her skills in leadership to greater use and she feels great about it. She also matures during that time and we know that she still thinks about Sokka and misses him.

Them kissing immediately makes their relationship so much more bland and just... flat.

2. If they make all three seasons, we will probably not get the most iconic line of the show...

Because now Sokka's first girlfriend is technically Suki...

3. The whole scene with Suki teaching Sokka

I cannot empathise enough how important Sokka's sexism is in their relationship. It's something that Suki fixes in him, something she manages to show him... by absolutely kicking his ass. In live action... the fight scene next to those melons was a joke not a fight scene if I can be honest. Idk if it's the writing or the choreography or the actors but it looks so fake and just so bad 💀 And she attacked him while he was still "stretching"??? Suki would never.

What is this 💀💀

But the most important scene, and the one I hate the most in live action, is the one where Suki teaches him a very sacred and traditional and important to Suki and to her culture way of fighting.

In the original, Suki highlights that no man should learn their art and only after Sokka begs Suki to teach him does she agree.

But not without a very important piece that was fully missing from live action which baffles me so much.

The entire armor, the dress and make up.

Not only is it incredibly important to upholding the traditions and keeping the cultural aspect important, but the beautiful, might I add, outfit gives us the depth of Kyoshi Warriors that is just missing from the live action.

"The silk thread symbolizes the brave blood that flows through our veins. The gold insignia represents the honor of the warrior's heart."

It's beautiful. It's meaningful for both of them. It's important. And it's also a way for Suki to mess with Sokka which we love and stan.

I ALSO DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY SUKI TOOK OFF HER MAKE UP FOR THE ALMOST KISS AND THE KISS. It's not like being a Kyoshi Warrior is sth that's bothering her. NO. She's incredibly proud of it!! So. why. take. an. important. part. of. it. away. for. some. stupid. kiss.

WHY NOT GO THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION?? Instead of her taking off her make up for the romantic scene why not just... put make up on Sokka... honestly what's more romantic than putting make up on your crush.

They could have made such a beautiful and intimate scene between these two.

Them sitting in front of each other. Suki putting on Sokka's make up, while either talking about herself or about how important this whole set up is for her and her culture. I wouldn't mind it then because it would give their relationship some depth instead of "omg he's so pretty" "omg she's so pretty." *kiss*

But no. Instead they kissed right next to a group of people (including Suki's mother which just makes is so much more weird) after Suki said sth about Sokka showing her a bit of the world.

And I hate it so much.

It takes away the part where Suki teaches Sokka something very important, something that changes his personality, helps with his arc to Sokka "showing her a bit of the world". How?? With what?? It's not like he took her away from the Island itself or introduced her to his culture. No. He just... showed up and kissed her.

Great writing.

And don't get me starter on the "I'm not just a warrior. I'm a Kyoshi Warrior" line. It's a good line. It really is. But it would be better if the producers actually focused on Suki being a Kyoshi Warrior and not just a girl that has a crush on Sokka.

And while it's compared to "I'm a warrior. But I'm a girl too"... gods I... ughhhhhhh

So yeah. I hated it. I hated the show. All I have to say is:

They ruined my favourite couple. They ruined many great characters. They completely missed the point of the original story.

[atla-suki]

been thinking about this post i made again and i think i'm gonna start pushing the "sokka and yue were never actually in love, they just liked the idea of what each other represented" agenda. who's with me?

i say this in the absolute nicest way, but yue definitely liked sokka sooo much more than he liked her. he was like 'oh cool a pretty girl let me talk to her' and she was like 'omg this is the person to save me from the clutches of a patriarchal society and an arranged marriage omg omg'. that is not balanced.

anyway i don't have anything against yuekka but like people who say stuff about her being jealous of suki or sokka never moving on from her... first of all suki is a real human second of all she has SO much more in common with sokka than yue ever could. third of all sokka was stuck on the fact yue DIED not the fact he lost a girl he liked. and i think yue knew that as well.

[prying-pandora666]

What Your Ship Says About You

It’s so interesting how certain ship fandoms behave relative to their characters.

Zutara fans are deeply passionate and ready to fight at any moment. They don’t care what canon (authority) says, they’ll fight them too. They also have very creative souls and explore possibilities that others wouldn’t have even considered. However they can be hotheaded and their passion can turn to aggression. Just like Zuko and Katara.

Kataang fans are more peaceful usually, content to bask in the zen of being canon. But if you drag them into a fight, they’ll bring the fury like they’re in the Avatar State! They strive to find coherency for the canon couple and accept what they cannot change rather than fight a fruitless battle. Just like Aang and Katara.

Ty Zula fans are fierce and sometimes they say things that don’t make sense to others because it’s based on “vibes” (auras). But if you insult them, they’ll come at you with the full force of their collective might. Just like Ty Lee and Azula.

Toko/Zutoph fans don’t care about the rules and are happy to enjoy their ship without feeling the need to defend it as canon. They’ll hit you over the head with their love for the ship in their memes or stealthily lure you in with fanart. Under their rash surface though, there’s some heartbreaking and vulnerable metas. Just like Toph and Zuko.

Zukka fans are just fun. Although sometimes there’s the occasion where they slip into taking themselves too seriously, and need to remember they have nothing to prove. They’re fine the way they are even if it’s not canon. Just like Zuko and Sokka.

Sukka fans are lovely and I haven’t ever seen them start fights with anyone, and yet Bryke continues to do them dirty and neglect them, even going so far as to imply this ship has broken up. Just like Suki and Sokka.

Maiko fans handle criticisms with smug dismissal and apathy a lot of the time, but set them off and you’ll see another side. It has ardent defenders but most of it seems like a defensive reaction against much more stable ships. Just like Mai and Zuko.

Taang fans are myths of epic proportion. Can’t tell if they never existed or if they simply vanished. Just like Toph and Aang.

Tokka fans are fun and most people will get along with them. But if you’re one of the few to get on their nerves or find them annoying? You’re gonna have a bad time. Just like Toph and Sokka.

Sokkla fans are tactical. They don’t usually get in fights for the ship, they just slowly lower your defenses with beautiful fan art. Sneaking in past your walls, once they’re in they’ll bring the receipts with their metas and brainwash you to their side. Just like Sokka and Azula.

Ty Suki fans are perfect and correct and deserve a giant gay island all to themselves and their girlfriends. Just like Ty Lee and Suki.

[hikaaa-bi]

whenever someone says they dislike huntlow, the usual comeback from toxic huntlow fans is that “you're a misogynist and you don't want to see the woman in a relationship being stronger”. so i want to address this issue today. is huntlow bad only because willow is stronger than hunter and isn't a damsel in distress?

in my opinion, absolutely not. that's not the case. i myself am a fan of subverted tropes and relationships where the woman isn't just a passive damsel with no personality. i like seeing independent women and i like seeing men being vulnerable for once.

to demonstrate my point on why huntlow doesn't pull off this trope well, let me compare it to a ship with a similar dynamic: sokka and suki from avatar the last airbender.

let's go through each of the reasons why sukka works as a ship where huntlow fails.

1. Does it make sense for the characters?

the first question here is: do the roles of the strong independent woman and weaker man suit these characters?

sokka was introduced as.. just a guy. he was a regular teenager who wasn't trained in combat. he could fight well enough if he wanted to and being the only man in a village full of mostly children and elders, he was the best warrior in his village (if we are even to believe his claims in s1, that is).

suki, on the other hand, was a trained warrior. she had spent her whole life training in combat and fighting to continue kyoshi's legacy. in her very first appearance, suki is confirmed to be a skilled warrior who is much stronger than sokka.

this setup makes perfect sense. it wouldn't come as a surprise later on that suki is stronger or a better fighter than sokka, and would have to rescue him or help him out in a moment of crisis.

now let's come to huntlow. in s2, hunter is introduced as the emperor's right-hand man who is young but powerful. while most of his intimidation factor came from his artificial staff, it was clear that he was not an amateur and had decent combat skills.

this assumption is only solidified when we see him go head to head with amity, only losing because 1. he was using a new staff 2. he was sleep deprived and 3. he was in an extremely erratic emotional state.

willow, on the other hand, was the sokka in this relationship. she was a regular teenager who grew up in a normal family and went to a regular magic high school.

she was certainly incredibly skilled in plant magic but she was not a trained child soldier like hunter. she had a lot of potential to be a good fighter but she had only recieved the education that every other student had recieved. not to mention, most of her stronger magic came from her emotional outbursts.

so.. does the whole girlboss-malewife dynamic work with huntlow? no. it really doesn't. even if willow trained and grew as a witch, there's no reason why she should be stronger and more skilled in combat than hunter, who had to pass seemingly impossible trials in order to qualify as the golden guard. especially since after the first half of s2, hunter was not only weaker than willow but just weak in general.

i get it, he doesn't have natural magic like the others. but he was still shown to be a very competent fighter. he was also shown to be cunning and strategic, being able to find a way out of any situation if he wanted to. but after joining the hexsquad, he is dumbed down to willow's shy and pathetic boyfriend, who doesn't really do much on his own.

2. are they in character when in a relationship?

when writing a relationship, this is really important. if you write a relationship where one or both characters have to act wildly out of character to make sense for the relationship to happen, those characters are not compatible. it's like when your friend acts uncomfortably different around their crush or partner.

let's start with sokka and suki.

sokka is goofy, cynical and quick-witted, with or without suki. his relationship with suki doesn't drastically change his character, but it does improve it. suki helps sokka change his misogynistic worldviews and respect women, but apart from that necessary improvement, sokka is still the same. he is not out of character when he is with suki.

as for suki herself, we don't see a lot of her away from sokka but it's still safe to assume that she is being herself around sokka. she is not forced into a new role in order to be in a relationship with sokka. the times we do see her on her own, she is pretty much the same rational, independent and nonchalant person that she is around sokka.

and yet, both of them have incredible chemistry and very clearly care for each other. it's not one-sided and it doesn't feel unnatural.

but huntlow?

hunter is introduced as a sarcastic and bratty but deeply traumatized teenager. he is quick to start a banter with whoever he is with, he tends to talk too much, and he generally has a nonchalant attitude to cover up with trauma.

but with willow? hunter is not just shy or awkward around her, he is a completely different person. i can understand that being attracted to a person can make you act strangely sometimes. but with hunter, that awkwardness never fades away. he is always blushing around her, he is often portrayed as pathetic and helpless, and constantly needing willow's support and guidance.

as for willow, she is introduced as this insecure and good-natured teenager. after her confrontation with amity, willow is pushed to the back for a while. all we know about her at that time is that she's the supportive mom friend of the group. she builds her confidence after a while but she is still shown as a kind person who doesn't use force on someone else, unless necessary.

but with hunter? willow is suddenly not just confident but also dominant and forceful. she basically snatches him from the sky and drags him to the ground, just to invite him to her flyer derby team. hunter is practically terrified at this point, but it's played off as a fun cute-meet. later, when hunter wants to leave the team for understandable reasons, instead of respecting his wishes, willow once again forces him to join her again.

i wouldn't call willow toxic or abusive, because she isn't. but i would say that she didn't respect hunter's boundaries in the slightest. she doesn't treat anyone else the way she treats hunter. she's not exactly mean to him but she also does not seem to respect him as an individual. again, she is written wildly out of character just so that she could fulfil the role of the “powerful girlboss” in the relationship. and it doesn't help that a dominant and forceful figure is the last thing hunter needs, considering how he was controlled and abused by his uncle his whole life.

3. Equality

it is my opinion that in a relationship, both individuals should play an important role. and they should balance each other out, instead of clashing with each other. it doesn't necessarily have to be an “opposites attract” situation, they just need to have qualities that brings a balance to the relationship.

in sokka's and suki's relationship, we've already established that suki is the brawn. she's the trained warrior and her agility, skill and speed are her strengths. sokka, on the other hand, is the brains. suki is still a rational and smart person but sokka is the strategist, the “idea guy”.

here, there's a balance. neither sokka nor suki are weak or incompetent, they're just skilled in different areas.

but when it comes to huntlow, willow is the brawn while hunter.. does close to nothing. after meeting willow, he's basically useless. the most impactful thing he does is stand up against belos in “Thanks to Them” and rescue willow from a short fall in the next episode. otherwise, he is mostly pushed to the back despite, again, having a personality and his own strengths prior to meeting willow. the problem here isn't that hunter shouldn't be weak or vulnerable, but rather that he is forced into the damsel role when it goes against his original character.

4. Screentime, interaction and development

one thing that huntlow and sukka had in common is neither ship had too much screentime together. suki wasn't officially part of the gaang until s3 and before that, she just gets two interactions with sokka. but these interactions were used to their fullest potential.

when they first meet each other, sokka and suki do not get along well. sokka was convinced that women aren't good warriors and his pride is hurt by the fact that suki is stronger than him, while suki is understandably put off by sokka's misogynistic and condescending attitude. after he tries to teach her how to fight and is consequently defeated by her, sokka rethinks his worldview. he goes back to suki and asks her to teach him how to fight, apologizing and admitting his mistake. suki agrees to teach him and through this, they bond. it is revealed at the end of the episode that both sokka and suki may or may not have a thing for each other. afterwards, sokka has to leave and suki has to stay behind.

their next meeting is a lot more brief but even here, we see a clear demonstration of their dynamic. sokka is overjoyed to see suki but he still hasn't moved on from yue, so when suki confesses to him and tries to initiate a kiss, sokka rejects her. suki apologizes to him later for what happened, and sokka kisses her as a confirmation that he has now moved on and likes her back. we see a clear respect of boundaries and personal choices from both sides.

finally, after suki is captured by azula, sokka frees her and they are reunited again until the end. at this point, they're basically a couple. there's no more awkward blushing or stuttering; they're just a pair of teenagers who are in love with each other. they have a bit of playful banter and they're very casual and comfortable around each other.

suki was originally supposed to be a one-time character so it's incredible that they pulled off on the best ships in atla with her and sokka. their chemistry was undeniable from the beginning, and the writers knew how to expand on it.

now let's come to huntlow. hunter and willow meet each other for the first time in the s2b episode ‘Any Sport in a Storm’. willow is looking for candidates to join her flyer derby team and she sees hunter flying on his palisman. completely unprovoked, the willow who normally never attacked or forced something on people for no reason, decides that the best way to scout this random guy she doesn't know is by encasing him in vines and dragging him to the ground, destroying the concrete in the process. this may have been portrayed as something of a slapstick comedy, but that kind of humor never stuck with me.

after willow explains herself to hunter, he agrees to join her team, thinking it would be an easy way to recruit students into the emperor's coven. fast forward, they get a few members to their group.

hunter notices that all of these members are visibly slacking off and gets discouraged. he turns to leave and willow stops him in his tracks. when she tells him to give them a chance, hunter ‘opens up’ to her a little, by telling her that he had to earn chances, especially as a “half a witch”. this comes out of nowhere because we never see hunter being referred to as half a witch by anyone prior to this. there were certainly characters who disliked him, like lilith and kikimora, but they called him names like “golden brat”. in fact, it's not even clear if anyone other than hunter and belos knows that he has no magic. the whole half a witch line was added so that hunter and willow would have something in common.

willow, instead of reasoning with hunter or respecting his choice to leave, drags him to the ground once again and seemingly teleports him back to the flyer derby team. while this may not have been done with malicious intent, it was still another instance of willow invading hunter's boundaries and forcing him to do something.

hunter is convinced that the team is, in fact, competent. he plays the game with them and has fun doing it. after getting the team captured to join the emperor's coven and saving them from darius, the episode ends with darius turning out to be the good guy and hunter getting a penstagram (or whatever they call it, i forgot).

after this, the huntlow scenes are very scarce. we barely see them interact, especially not alone with each other. in the next episode, we see willow standing up for hunter and hunter blushing and recognizing that the fake willow isn't willow. while this would be sweet for an already established couple, since hunter and willow barely had a bond at this point, it just comes off as hunter being observant. which is somewhat in character for him.

afterwards, there's just a sprinkle of this ship, most of it consisting of hunter being shy and nervous around willow. and willow treating him like she treats everyone else. there's no sign of willow liking hunter back until literally the episode before the finale. where, instead of focusing on hunter's recent trauma with being possessed by his abusive parent and losing his best friend, the show decides to focus on willow's issues instead. of course willow deserves her own arc, but she already got it back in s1. there was no reason to give her ANOTHER issue to work on, just so that hunter can comfort her and give her a reason to like him back.

overall, it was really forced and these two characters never had the kind of natural chemistry that sokka and suki did. their interactions were either awkward or surface-level wholesome. we get exactly two (2) episodes where they interact properly and even that isn't done well. it just feels like these characters were pushed into a ship dynamic that they didn't naturally fit into.

[the-badger-mole]

do u have any headcanons about the gaang’s kids? like who they would be closest to in the gaang offspring? or which parent they would prefer or career?

I don't have a ton of thoughts about who the Gaang's kids would be. I'm honestly not super interested in them. But I have thought about who the Gaang would be as parents.

Zutara and Sukka would be the top tier of parents. They would be family movie quality parents. The type of parents that in certain stories would have to be killed off in order to give the protagonist an angsty backstory to overcome because having a functional, loving family isn't interesting enough...😒That's not to say they would be perfect parents, but they would try very hard, be very loving and apologize when necessary, because they respect their kids as much as they love them.

Suki and Sokka would be sports parents. They would take their kids out and teach them to hunt, boat, ski, snowboard, martial arts and generally let them get into dirt and trouble. There would be a lot of broken bones and bloody scrapes among their kids, but they would have the best stories about how they got them.

Katara and Zuko would be more protective. It would be a struggle for them not to be too protective. They would also take their kids out and teach them how to fight both with weapons and bending, but they would be very serious about safety. Zuko would spend a year on sword safety and maintenance before he let any of his kids even touch a real sword, and Katara would be on standby to heal any ouchies or booboos. At the same time, they would also do their best not to make their kids scared to take risks. It's a delicate balancing act, and they wouldn't always succeed, but their kids feel safe and loved, and that's really all Zuko and Katara want.

Toph...I have a really hard time believing she ever planned on having kids, so I go back and forth about her being childfree her entire life, or her having Lin and Suyin and being a Lorelei Gilmore type mother (only way less girly). It's a bumpy road, and she messes up...a lot, but she loves her girls and is there for them....And also she doesn't disappear into a swamp and go no contact with them.

I have a really hard time picturing Aang as anything but a terrible father. I see him with multiple baby mamas. He'd be a weekend fun dad who only sees his kids occasionally. He bails as often as he shows up, and when he does show up, he takes the kids to places he thinks they should enjoy without actually talking to them about it. Once his kids reach adulthood, it's pretty much on them to maintain the relationship or let it die. He has one or two kids who he sees frequently, but only because they reach out to him and he considers them friends.

[vaselinegurl]

sukka has got to be probably one of my favorite ships from the ATLA fandom, like they are SO. STINKIN. CUTE.

One of my favorite scenes has got to be when they’re trying to escape the Boiling Lake prison for the second time and everyone’s wondering how to kidnap and hold the warden hostage, only for the big man to tell sokka “his girlfriend is on it”

And suddenly they’re just racing to the top, out of breath, only to find suki pushing the warden to the wall with his hands tied behind his back and gagged and Hakoda is like “damn that is one girl” and SOKKA IS JUST MELTINGGG! EEEEEEEEEEK.

THEY’RE SO PERFECT

[ecoterrorist-katara]

Korrasami isn't perfect and it's not one of my favorites, but it will always be better than Kataang for me. They didn't have to dumb down or regress Korra or Asami's characters to make it work, their ending leaves a lot more room for growth and relationship development than Kataang does, and Asami wasn't presented as Korra's prize for being the hero. They both get to keep their autonomy.

It also doesn't feel one-sided. It feels like two women who are not only coming to terms with their sexuality, but also relatively new feelings for one another and exploring that together. I wish more people understood that

AGREED. Just because they’re both canon ships doesn’t mean they’re alike. I mean Korra had gone through some serious shit and had been held responsible for her actions way more than Aang ever was, so Korrasami was never going to have that “Perfect Avatar and Doting Girlfriend” dynamic. Unlike Aang, Korra was narratively not rewarded for liking someone and acting like she’s entitled to them just because she’s the Avatar. Unlike Aang, Korra actually undergoes an evolution in how she interacts with her love interest’s parental trauma and learns to be a better friend. Neither Korra nor Asami pushed for a relationship or tried to win the other over, even though they realized their feelings way before they got together. Like you said, it feels a lot more mutual. Imo, Korrasami was better written than Ka/taang even though it had way less development, because — probably due to 2010s Nick censorship — they couldn’t resort to will-they won’t-they romance tropes that send conflicting messages about what the characters want and what is good for them. Most of their romantic development had to be platonic in nature, and Bryke are much better at writing meaningful platonic relationships than romantic ones, so this worked out in Korrasami’s favour.

In some ways, Korrasami actually reminds me a little bit of Sukka. Like Suki, Asami is super competent, super gorgeous, and didn’t need to compromise herself for this relationship, though she did have to teach some lessons to her eventual partner. Asami was never set up as a deuteragonist (unlike Katara) and I don’t mind her narrative weight being tied to that of her love interest, especially since — as previously stated — much of that romantic development was platonic.

[wilcze-kudly]

Asking the azula=shaman theory, because I find it very unlikely. They don't have similar features at all.

I'll agree with you there. Other than surface level similarities, like eye colour and perhaps hairstyle, there isn't much to definitively tie these two characters together.

I could make an argument that people age in different ways and Azula wears a lot of makeup, so her face may not be as angular as it seems in most of her appearances. But it would be somewhat of a stretch at best

Though the idea of Azula being the shaman got stuck in my head and the more I think about it, the more of a perfect conclusion to Azula's story it feels.

It would, of course mean that Azula mellowed out and became "good" in her later years, which I am still advocating adamantly for an Azula redemption arc.

But it goes further than that.

Of course, the idea of Azula saving the next Avatar after the one she literally killed for a bit is wonderfully poetic. It also touches on an idea I like of Azula potentially gaining a connection to Roku. Roku appeared to Jeong Jeong, why not to his angsty great granddaughter? I think it would be interesting, especially since I think he could actually get through to her.

The firebending healing thing is also bery interesting. Most people catch Katara and Azula being parallels in the show. Why would they stop being that as they age? I think it's very Azula to hear of Katara being a master healer and going "ok. Bet." and learning to work with chi through her bending as well.

It's also a sweet metaphor, as I've spoken a little about the symbolism of Katara embracing healing in her old age. Azula doing something similar would be absolutely wonderful. Both Katara and Azula were young women forced to fight in a war by circumstances bigger than them, so them finally experiencing peace and healing and expressing that through their bending is beautiful.

The shaman having raising Sky Bisons is also a cute full circle type thing to the part of Appa's Lost Days where Azula scares him. It also goes deeper, with it being a symbolic attempt at restoring at least a semblance of what her ancestors destroyed.

So, you can see why I'm partial to this theory, despite it not having many actual footholds. The Shaman is implied to be older then Azula, and you yourself have said that not all their features match.

Similarly to my "Baatar Sr is a Sukka kid" theory, this isn't something I believe, or even see as likeely in canon. However, I think it's neat and a cool story the more you think about it. I love trying to come up with ideas on how she got to becoming a shaman and the spiritual endeavour that would take.I think that, in my mind, it would be an almost perfect ending for Azula.

To be completely honest, I just want Azula to have a proper redemption and for her to see some healing.

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 1

Propaganda Under Cut

Katara

Katara is constantly mistreated by the fans in favor of the Zukka ship (Zuko × Sokka.) They make her out to be mean, homophobic, and completely out of character just to add drama to the Zukka ship. In reality, Katara is very compassionate, and would never act that way toward anyone. 

Zutara was a popular ship but when zukka got popular over covid during the atla renaissance there were a million posts about how zutara was problematic while zukka was perfect usually for racist reasons. Meanwhile katara and sokka are siblings so it didn't even make sense. They did not have to be so illogically rude to her to ship zukka and it was weird

Katara is FANTASTIC I fucking love her to pieces she is so cool and yet the entirety of the ATLA fandom treats her like garbage because she “talks about her mom dying too much” (even though she BARELY does & also was parentified from a young age due to her mother’s death) and, of course, because she’s a more feminine women when compared to her counterparts. Even in the show itself she’s mistreated: she’s ALWAYS shown cooking for the rest of the gaang, doing their laundry, any ‘womanly’ task. She ends up with the guy who kissed her twice without her consent & who she never showed any real attraction to and apparently (despite being a badass warrior-doctor!!!) after the show ended she just… settled down in the South Pole and had a bunch of kids and never did anything else. She didn’t even get a statue :( Anyways during the ATLA renaissance, despite Zutara actually not being canon, people felt that Katara threatened the sanctity of the new almost entirely baseless yaoi ship, Zukka. Unfortunately for them, due to the fact that Katara and Sokka are siblings, the usual anti-Zutara arguments didn’t work as well. So they resorted to just… slaughtering her character. If she was lucky, they’d just make Katara a background character, wingwoman, &or throw her together with her canon love interest. If she was unlucky they’d do anything from make her homophobic (??) to killing her off! Fuck’s sake, she never even got a token spare-the-pairs wlw ship! Sorry for getting so heated, that whole debacle made me FUMING MAD.

Suki

she is a kickass warrior and she is so so beautiful and kind and outstanding in every way but gets thrown in the trash frequently because people love the gays (zuko and sokka)(I like them but you cannot remove suki from the equation she is integral)

My girl is a whole fucking badass warrior, who has an equally bad ass warrior boyfriend, who gets completely ignored and disregarded by the Sukka or whatever the Zuko/Sokka fandom is called. They could a done a cool poly thing but nah, fully forget about my girl's existence. Mad disrespectful 

a great warrior and leads a group of women warriors at kyoshi island. intelligent but empathetic. wields a fan. a tough feminist and is ALSO part of the atla GAANG @ fandom and also dear god please stop sidelining/ignoring her/forgetting/killing her @ fandom) and she deserves better in the narrative too.

[chocomd]

ATLA Live Action Final Thoughts

So I'll start by saying that I went into this show with zero expectations (including the expectation for it to be any good at all) and focused more on questions like: How is the acting? Does the writing make sense? Is the story decent? Do we have emotional scenes?

I didn't care about sticking to the og ATLA's ships, lore, or any of the details really. Even changes to the characters were fine with me. But the most important question of all is: Does it work?

The answer:

No.

There are lots of well thought out NATLA critical reviews out there, so I'll try to keep this short. NATLA tweaked a lot of things, tried take elements of the og and make them subversive, changed the themes, completely nerfed Katara, watered down almost everyone else...and I could go on and on. But essentially, NATLA was a "remix" that stayed too close to the original in that the changes they made felt like empty imitations and clumsy efforts to improve on the og. They really should have created a completely different story while keeping maybe a handful of elements of the og. And even if they changed core traits of the characters, that would be fine. It just has to work...and it didn't.

So some main points:

The acting was terrible to ok for the most part. Overall stiff and stilted with almost nonexistent chemistry. Sokka, Jet, Ozai, and June (😍) were the standout actors. Katara had one facial expression and one tone of voice 95% of the time.

Ships I actually enjoyed: Sukka, turnip Jetara, sokka x hahn (hakka? sahn?) and ZUKAANG

The writing often contradicted itself and there was very little emotional resonance or depth. So many lines and moments felt unearned, or simply didn't make sense.

Telling. SO MUCH TELLING. The constant exposition killed so much in this show. I groaned almost every time an actor opened their mouth.

Katara. Why was she in this story again?

The only time the show felt fresh and interesting was the spirit world segment with visions and flashbacks in episode 5...the one time they took ideas from og ATLA and truly remixed them and it was actually decent to good.

The Blue Spirit episode (ep 6) was amazing (relatively speaking lol), and I think it's because Bryke co-wrote this episode AND it was pretty faithful to the og AND the Pohuai Stronghold fight was incredible AND the Zukaang was even more deliciously Zukaang.

The overall plot did not feel cohesive and felt like a disjointed imitation of og ATLA.

Even if I wasn't familiar with the og, I would not have enjoyed this show because it's not good or interesting TV. One person I was watching with (who didn't see the og) left the room because "this is so bad" and "the acting is really stilted."

In the end, I'm not surprised by any of this. Animated stories usually suffer when they're translated into live action, because animation typically has much more emotional and dramatic range. And while og ATLA isn't perfect, it very nearly is because even its imperfections still manage to work in the bigger scheme of the story. Adaptations of og ATLA are pretty much doomed to fail, unless they completely rewrite the ATLA story (and I do mean completely).

Do I regret watching NATLA? That's a hard question to answer. There's no way I was watching this on my own, so I got to enjoy the unhinged company of my friends. If nothing else, watching NATLA made me want more og ATLA and sucked me back into ATLA fandom again.

[atla-confessions]

More a/b/o ATLA stuff because that ramble I made like a few days ago or something wasn’t enough to stop me from thinking about this stupid thing 😭 Sorry if this makes no sense I’m incredibly tired

Firstly, in that ramble I said healthy pups in ATLA present after their twelfth birthday. HOWEVER, I didn’t mention that in some cases, a pup can present earlier than their twelfth birthday due to harsh stress which causes a hormonal imbalance; the spirits assign your second gender earlier than expected so that it can balance your system out again. The earliest a pup can present is ten and a half.

With this said, I believe that Sokka and Katara all presented earlier than expected. In my AU, Hakoda left when Katara was ten and a half and Sokka was eleven years old and. A few months later (around 2 or 3 months) Sokka presented early due to having the weight of his entire tribe on his shoulders. Katara also presented early from a similar reason at eleven years and seven months old.

I know that with this logic, Toph and Aang probably would have presented earlier as well, but Toph was already twelve when they first met her and I don’t know much about her home life, other than the fact it was restrictive. Aang encased himself in ice when he was twelve and from the flashbacks we see about his past, he wasn’t very stressed (not to say he wasn’t stressed at all, of course).

I’m not sure about Azula or Zuko. Azula prides herself on being perfect and honestly? I think she would present the day she turned twelve, right on the perfect dot. Zuko had to deal with the trouble of his father’s… everything, and his mother’s disappearance. I don’t know for certain whether I believe he presented early or not but if he did present early, it was most likely when he was eleven and a half. Again, not sure.

Unfortunately there’s little to no information about Suki’s past (that I know of) so I can’t be for sure about anything nor can I truly talk about her without doubting myself 🙁.

OOH another thing. (If it’s not obvious I just type what comes to my head.) There was definitely a lot of conflict between Sokka and Katara when she presented as an Alpha; it wasn’t easy for either of them and they got into a lot of fights the first few months of her presentation, as newly-presented Alphas are a lot more emotional and angrier until they mellow out. Add a moody, angry Katara with a moody, sensitive Sokka (who is still somewhat new to being an Omega and is also stewing in self-hatred 24/7) and you get Chaos. And angst, lots of angst.

Right. In this AU, Sokka struggles with embracing his Omega side, hating himself for being a ‘weak babymaker’ or something else horribly rude. Because he hates himself for being an Omega, he lashes out at others and exclaims his dislike towards Omegas publicly (much to Katara’s and everyone else’s nerves). He’s not the only one who struggles with his second gender, however. Katara has problems with her own Alpha-like tendencies, much like Zuko.

(I don’t know if it’s obvious but I mostly think about Sokka and Katara with this AU; Sokka’s my favorite character and I love sibling bonding and angst!! *pats Katara and Sokka* these bad boys can fit so much pain in them!)

Anyways. Yeah, I mostly feel like there would be a lot of fights between the water siblings. These fights would be where most of Katara’s issues with being an Alpha and some of Sokka’s issues with being an Omega would come from; they’d both do things they regret. Katara would probably be aggressive without thinking and Sokka would not be able to argue back due to his mind going into ‘Panic! Stay safe from angry and scary ass Alpha!’ mode.

Anyways more than JUST Katara and Sokka. The GAANG!!

The Gaang are all definitely Pack. Like absolutely family-core (save for Kataang and Sukka, or Zukka if that tickles your pickle or whatever the phrase is).

I feel like Katara was very protective over everyone, especially in the first season when it was just her, Sokka, and Aang. She doesn’t see Sokka as weaker or anything, but her mind just can’t calm down unless she knows her brother is safe. Sokka is just as protective though, but shows it in a different way. The only other time Katara was protective to the point it was downright crazy was when Zuko joined. Another Alpha around, a potential threat? Katara would go crazy, scenting everyone to make sure Zuko understood that if he hurt any of them, she’d kill him.

I think Zuko would make sure not to upset Katara in any way, staying away from the others and making himself appear smaller and kinder so that she wouldn’t get the wrong idea.

I think Sokka would be especially protective over Toph and Aang, since they’re both pups (well, until months after the end of the war).

Ok that’s all I’m about to fall asleep. I’ll probs write more lol 😭 Still obsessed with this stupid a/b/o au thing UGH!

X

[eponastory]

I like that you like Zukka. Tell me what other ships you ship and why.

Well, obviously Zutara and Sukka.

But this may not be popular opinion since it's not in my story and probably wont be, but I can get behind Sokkla. It's the same concept of fire and water like Zutara and Zukka, but honestly it presents a dynamic that is more challenging.

Sokkla is more of a guilty pleasure ship for me than anything.

And since you are asking me my go to ships, I might as well answer the least favorite ships and why as well.

Azulaang: NOPE! This one is messy because Aang is Passive/Amiable and Azula is Assertive/Analytical. Assertive/Analytical people cannot mesh well with other people because they want/need control to feel stable about themselves. They are the boss. There is no compromise. It is also in Aang's character to be the one to 'fix' a person or a scenario. This is the type of relationship that is actually pretty toxic and is next to Narcissist level of toxic. Azula is a mirror of Ozai only she's female in the way of Social Styles. Any of her relationships will be toxic (as evidenced by how she treats Mai and Ty Lee) unless she learns to accept that perfection is impossible and she can overcome her trauma. So having Aang in a relationship with a person like Azula is just not going to work.

Kat*ang: I have my problems with this relationship by how it is framed from Aang's perspective and not Katara's. The non-consensual kisses do it for me too since that is considered SA in some circles and I have experienced things like that. Those things affected me deeply to where I have problems to this day that I'm just now able to talk about. It was a no go for me then, its still a no go for me now. I have gone over my dislike for the pairing before in greater detail, its no secret. Katara was absolutely reserved to Bryke's baby boy because they are silly men.

Maiko: I've done a whole post on this before. It boils down to dismissiveness and lack of communication in their relationship... which can be fixed but they both thought it was better just to break it off. Well, Mai did, and you know what... that's fine. They will probably work better as friends.

Taang: Toph and Aang have a sibling like relationship. if it went romantic, she'd also wipe the floor with his ass for being a jealous idiot.

What is the ship name for Zuko x Toph? : that should tell you what you need to know there. They are siblings too... and he still owes her a badass field trip.

Aangko? IDK: no. just no. that's.... ew. Especially when that would be considered grooming in some circles. I dated a guy who was a secret pedo... it's just no... hell to the no. I mean, you do you, but it's a Negatory Ghost Rider. Do not past Go, Do not collect $200, Do not get out of Jail free.

okay now that I've got all of that out of the way. I'm only tagging certain things for this because I don't feel like being swamped by the antis for having personal opinions about a ship. Some of these ships are fine for other people and that's okay. We all have our things, I'm not going to judge. It's obvious as to who actually judges people for their ships. It's not me.

[creampuffqueen]

the post got a couple likes so here’s my itty bitty spicy sukka fic lol

“Suki, please,” Sokka whines, hips arching as Suki lowers herself on top of him torturously slowly, feeling every inch of him on her way down.

She’s been doing this for probably ten minutes now, and Sokka doesn’t know how much longer he can last.

The Kyoshi warrior just smirks, then her perfect pink lips part in a luxurious moan as her body presses flush to his. “Not yet, Sokka.”

When she leans forward to kiss him Sokka barely contains his pitiful whine. “Please, Suki, I’m so close.”

Suki just laughs, then braces her hands on his chest to lift herself up, starting the torture all over again. “You know the drill. Ladies first.”

[fanfic-lover-girl]

When Shipping Does Not Matter

Shipping wars can be annoying. As a kid, I never cared about ships. But even some media that I have come to enjoy as an older teen or adult are perfectly fine without shipping. Here is my list:

Danny Phantom - Sam is cool but I hardly cared about DannyxSam (although I have found arguments for DannyxValerie to be very intriguing). Danny's friendships, ghost lore and his identity reveal and how it impacted his relationship with his family were WAY more interesting.

Law & Order: SVU - I was there for the crime drama. Olivia and Elliot should be friends. Romance between these two is not necessary.

Star Wars - I literally got into SW because of Vader/Anakin & Luke's family drama. I couldn't care less about Han/Leia. And even Anidala is only interesting to me because of Anakin. I like Padme but I don't care much for her as an independent character.

Justice League/Batman Media - I admit that I enjoy some fics where Bruce/Talia raise Damian together as a family. And I have read some Superbat and Wonderbat fics but I quickly lost interest. I like JL for their friendship and their family bonds (give me Jason & Bruce angst and I will read that for HOURS).

Xiaolin Showdown - I know Raimundo and Kimiko had obvious crushes on each other but that was always a background thing for me. I like focusing more on the lore and Raimundo's character. I love Rai so much. Easily the best character in the show.

Teen Titans - Robin/Starfire are great but like Raikim, it is just background for me. Was never super into Beast Boy's relationships either.

Yugioh - I admit that most of my romantic fics in Yugioh were slash :). But I think for the most part the pairings in Yugioh are fine. You won't find me looking up posts about Yugioh ships. Romance is not a big deal in Yugioh anyway. I will say that Joey/Mai is one of the best Yugioh ships. Mai deserved better. Most Yugioh girls deserved better.

Dragonball series - The canon ships are fine. I enjoy wholesome family-centered fics but I hardly care about shipping in dbz. The only canon ship that's truly interesting in DBZ is VegetaxBulma because of how it shapes Vegeta's arc.

Avatar the Last Airbender *** - I am putting asterisks here because I feel strongly about Zutara. But that love was mostly inspired by fanfiction and reflection after watching the show. Watching the show as a kid, the story was perfect without shipping. In fact, the romance was the worst part and could have been removed entirely. The only ship that is arguably necessary is Sukka and even that relationship could have been platonic and Sokka's arc would be the same. Shipping for me only becomes important post-series. Literally all my post-series ATLA fics were Zutara lol. I can't recall ever reading a post-series Kataang fic. And this was before I really became sour on Kataang. I don't think I ever read a Kataang fanfic period. Maybe the Zutara fanfics are just better??

There are probably others but these are my main ones. What other shows do people think are great without shipping involved?

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

what do you think about posts like this? I have seen such thoughts several times in different versions. Contrary to popular belief that the ZK are obsessed with the idea of being a canon, they are glad that zutara is not a canon, because "all canonical couples fucked up", and they would not want to trust bryks something so precious to them as zutara.

https://www.tumblr.com/burst-of-iridescent/728377977200656384

Some zutarians might SAY they don't mind that they weren't canon, and sometimes I even do believe SOME of them. But the overwhelming majority is just lying. There's a reason they still share fake interviews and conspiracy theories "explaining" how their ship was meant to be canon but was screwed over at the last second.

It's the equivalent of going "I never liked you anyway" when your crush turns you down. They thought they'd be canon, they weren't, so they lashed out.

And, personally, as someone who likes Sukka: HAHAHAHAHA, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? "Only ship that wasn't mishandled?" Are you insane? They got together only for Suki to immediately leave, Sokka flirted with Ty Lee in the meantime, and after having Azula lie to imply Suki was being tortured in prison Sokka is furious and demands to know where she is... only to then completely forget about her and only save her from the Boiling Rock out of dumb luck because he had gone there in the hopes of saving his dad and ONLY his dad.

Like I said, I ship them, they are really fucking cute, but the fact that large portions of the fandom (not just Zutarians) talks about them like they were the perfect romance, especially when compared to the other canon ships, is another proof for me that half of these people have either never rewatched the show since it first came out or always watch it with the nostalgia goggles on. I honestly think Sukka is tied with Yuekka as the worst developed of the canon romances, with the sole difference being that I can see Yuekka lasting, while I wouldn't be surprised if Sokka and Suki eventually broke up after awhile since they have the habit splitting up way too much for way too long.

I wouldn't be surprised if Zutarians latched onto it solely because the starting point of that ship was Suki teaching Sokka not to be sexist. Considering they love claiming "Zutara is the feminist ship" they probably see liking Sukka as a way to solidify their bullshit claim of "I only like feminist ships", and thus indirectly dunking on Maiko and specially Kataang.

[daretolovemyrambling]

fandoms and ships you can expect me reblogging and tagging often (just adding this so I don't seem like a bot lol. My fandoms are all over the place):

#meta

#text post

#gif

#art

#fanart

#fanfiction

—–-

shows

marvel:

#xmcu

#agents of shield

#daredevil

#jessica jones

#punisher

#wandavision

#tfatws

#moon knight

& more

#ms marvel

#agent carter

anime/manga:

#bnha

#yoi

#kny

#dungeon meshi

#frieren

#apothecary diaries

#monster

#kill la kill

#spy x family

#dcmk

#mystery to iunakare

#the promised neverland

#to your eternity

#The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All

& more

cartoons:

#the owl house

#amphibia

#gravity falls

#Infinity train

#steven universe

#arcane

#Into the Spiderverse

#atla

#tlok

& more

kdrama (and manwha):

#beyond evil

#the devil judge

#mouse

#the guest

#children of nobody

#nobody knows

#my perfect stranger

#inspector koo

#moving

#strangers from hell

& more

other movies/shows:

#stranger things

#supernatural

#the boys

#alien stage

#the legend of zelda & linked universe

#animal crossing

#pokemon

#marble hornets

#everymanhybrid

#hannibal

#dead boy detectives

#school spirits

#criminal minds

& more

ships

marvel:

#stucky

#cherik

#wandavision

#dousy

#fitzsimmons

#cartinelli

#mattfoggy

#danbeau

anime/manga:

#dabihawks

#victuuri

#renkaza

#farcille

#ryumako

#twiyor

#shinran

#heizuha

#akam

#hirorei

#hakukai

#aokai

#sonoran

#seraran

#kazuran

#ayamitsu

cartoons:

#lumity

#raeda

#sashannarcy

#mabifica

#steda

#zukka

#sukka

#maizulee

#korrasami

kdrama:

#jwds

#gahan

#ykky

#mjjw

other movies/shows:

#byler

#lumax

#elmax

#ronance

#jancy

#stoncy

#stonathan

#steddie

#destiel

#denny

#saileen

#sabriel

#midam

#dorlie

#mizisua

#ivantill

#zelink

#malink

#marink

#midlink

#sidlink

#midzel

#jaytim

#jaylex

#hannigram

#chedwin

#palasaki

#jemily