#single momtara

[comradekatara]

They're blind if they don't see that about Sokka! Like. The other three kids would blatantly waste DAYS at a time, despite their very tight time limit, on whatever random bullshit captures their fancy. They literally planned vacations and even he got caught up in it but like......it's absolutely herding cats. You even see this problem in miniature, with Toph having to constantly hound Aang into earthhbending training. They're all flighty n distractible ish and avoidant in their own ways but Aang is very much the worst and yet also the most prioritised member who overrules Sokka regularly "for fun".

yeah I mean i was just so confused by that response bc it was such a bad faith misreading of what I had actually said, and also just a blatantly incorrect reading of the text??? I think a large swath of this fandom has a very surface level interpretation of the show (which is understandable, most people are not as invested in understanding the nuances of this show while still enjoying it, thats perfectly fine) while also just cherry picking the parts they like/latch onto and distorting the parts they found less compelling to suit whatever narrative they’ve crafted for themselves. which I suppose is their prerogative as audience members, but it’s frustrating to me as someone who thinks analytic work should always stem from understanding the text as holistically and completely as possible. normally I try to ignore such misinterpretations, since if I didn’t I would literally get no sleep, and yknow, I have a life. but i could see people’s tags in my activity feed turning this argument into a moral issue in which my very character was attacked (someone literally said “comradekatara and their followers are bs” which makes it sound like im running a cult or smth. yikes) and so I felt the need to clarify and defend myself in a way that I usually don’t when angry zutarapilled weirdos go on and on about how evil I am lmfao

anyway, to your point, sokka is absolutely herding cats. he is constantly trying to get them to be as economical with their time and stay as safe as possible, and they just straight up refuse to listen to him. I see people make arguments that sokka “wasted time on kyoshi island” by training with suki, but a) I don’t think receiving formal training for like the first time in his life is a waste of time and b) aang was clearly the one who insisted on staying there, sokka would’ve left whenever, but aang really liked it there, and considering this was right after he discovered that his entire people had been wiped out, it’s not exactly like sokka and katara can be like “no more fun for you!” the only other instances i can think of of sokka wasting their time is in “the ember island players” when he makes them all go spend two hours watching a play that they absolutely loathe. in fairness, I think sokka and suki should’ve realized that their friends (besides toph) would not enjoy such an event, but the episode would be way less effective if it had been just them watching it, so for metatextual reasons I’ll let it slide. (and fwiw, sokka’s training with piandao took two, three days at most, so it clearly wasn’t smth that interfered with the schedule.)

so yeah, my original point about sokka herding cats seems pretty obvious to me considering how many detours aang and katara constantly insist on taking (and arguably toph too, but she’s generally less resistant to sokka’s ideas). but then that person had to go and act like I said something I didn’t, and then add on a bunch of incorrect analysis to boot. truly, genuinely, weird behavior. the “momtara who does all the work and singlehandedly raised these children including sokka and has never once had fun in her life because she is struggling under the weight of being the most mature & reasonable fourteen year old girl who ever lived (and also that’s why this one spoiled prince who can’t even hammer a single nail would be such a good boyfriend for her because he loves doing dishes and is so emotionally intelligent & articulate)” koolaid is strong I guess.

[tiny-katara]

hi cilla! i’d love to know your thoughts on 7 & 30 <3

aahhh hi again <3

7. What's your favorite Zutara moment from the show?

i would say the final agni kai bc it just gets me every single time and i am weak and it makes me sob, but... something about the crystal catacombs is just reaaaallllyyyy good. you can just feel their connection hanging around in the air when you watch it, or i can at least. the way that katara just took that plunge is just crazy??? like girl what are you thinking??? i love it. i also love the way zuko reaches out for once and the fact that katara is on the receiving end??? brilliant.

i know that sokka and katara went through the same thing since they both lost their mom, but i've mentioned before that it's not the literal same thing since their mother died because of katara. at least that's how katara sees it. if katara wasn't a waterbender, her mother would still be alive. sokka lost his mother because of an attack on his village. both are horrible and completely valid, but they would definitely be processing that experience differently. which leads me to claim that zuko's loss of his mother is more similar to katara's than sokka's is to katara. it sounds kind of stupid, but zuko's mother left to protect him and katara's for her. they both fully understand sacrifice as a result (not to say the others don't, but you know what i mean). this all builds up to the final agni kai where zuko sacrifices himself for katara and it's just extra impactful because they've established that they both understand exactly how much a sacrifice costs everyone involved and zuko does it anyway. that's just art.

30. If you could rewrite one episode of A:TLA, which would it be?

this is a tricky one and i think the obvious answer is the final episode but!!! i kind of want to say ember island players.

just as a warning, i am a huge sucker for slice of life episodes. that being said... i would kill for momtara and dadko trying to round up the kids for the play. like the chaos. aang and toph are trying to smuggle snacks in and zuko is trying to desperately convince them not to because "it'll bring attention to us and we have enough pilfered money from my dad to buy them anyway!!!" and sokka gets involved and is like "it's the principle zuko, the principle." katara is also trying to reason with the three and suki is just fighting to keep a straight face. it's a mess and it's beautiful. we can even have a nice little "i am so glad i forgave you/so glad we're friends" zutara moment. everyone wins. except kata*ng but i hate kata*ng so i win.

i would also remove the part where aang gets irritated about being played by a woman bc it's stupid. give me toph making jokes about it and getting more and more desperate as aang laughs along and has 0 issues with it. that's infinitely better.

also the sexualization of katara just bugs me. it's played of a joke rather than concerning. that needs to go. it's so disrespectful to women in general, and especially so to women of color. no one needs that. regular teen katara who just flirts with boys but is still doing her stupid speeches. i find that normalish and acceptable. later she is upset about the speeches and zuko is like "but... they're actually good when you do them" and she blushes or something-- subtle stuff.

sokka is the same. he needs no changing. except!!! he and suki get to actually have a conversation about yue and they come to an understanding and suki is like "wow your type really is women who are sooooo much cooler than you" at the end to lighten the mood and bring them closer :)

zuko and toph get their moment. they deserve it and it's cute.

aang does run off but it's bc he's scared (the thing he really should've been worried about since he low key died in ba sing se lol). he and katara talk and she's like "we're all here for you aang" and they hug-- NO KISS!! the stupid non-con kiss is gone, deleted, non-existent. everyone is happy and if they're not we need to have a long talk about consent.

play ends the same bc propaganda and then we have a similar scene of everyone leaving and complaining. suki gets more lines. it's just what she deserves.

and that's a somewhat outlined idea of my more wholesome ember island players before everything falls apart and the world is ending.