#this isnt ship hate btw i love them both and i love the very touching and sweet dynamic they could have

[mal3vol3nt]

This is kinda a long read. But I wanna ask your opinion on this. I see this one post saying Zutara is a purely female fantasy and that’s why so many people hate it. Basically saying it was made for girls, by girls, it has everything a girl wants in a relationship and “When people attack the idea of Zutara, this is fundamentally what they're attacking-women and girls wanting better for themselves in a relationship.”

Now I am just a man. But I think this argument especially the latter part is such a reach and a cope. I don’t see how shipping a fanon ship is some big feminist thing. There are women I know who love Kataang (and if you ask me most of what they’re describing Zutara is actually Kataang in disguise) and there are some guys who like Zutara (which is perfectly fine as long as you don’t write a slave-fic about it like this one guy.

Call me insensitive, but it seems like this guy has some weird victim complex.

Here’s the link BTW:

https://www.tumblr.com/longing-for-rain/753424994905800704/this-isnt-a-question-about-whether-or-not-zutara?source=share

i agree with you anon. i think it’s very silly that these people think a fandom ship is the peak of activism/feminism. such a claim, dare i say, reeks of white feminism, especially when you take into account that the ship they’re claiming is “so feminist” is a relationship between a canonical colonizer and a victim of genocide

the things the op of that zutara post listed are all very westernized “issues” that they claim shipping zutara is supposedly fighting against while also praising western standards, such as saying that zutara is for the girls who want to be with a man they’re attracted to, directly saying that aang is unattractive because he doesn’t fit western beauty standards whereas zuko does. as well as saying zutara is for the girls who want passion in their relationships, directly saying that zuko’s hot-headedness and western masculine qualities are hotter than aang’s pacifism and him being a monk. this claim is also pretty on par with how zutaras sexualize the relationship between zuko and katara, which i don’t even want to get into for obvious reasons. needless to say, i think all of these claims are very very stupid and so obviously come from someone who gravitates towards the racism of the show. sorry not sorry

these claims also come from someone who twists aang’s character so that they feel more justified in hating him, and who twist katara and zuko’s characters so their ship works better. because at no point in the show does it ever feel like katara is changing herself to be with aang, as if she would ever do that (i can tell this is a southern raiders argument—i swear these people misread and latch onto everything). at no point in the show does it ever feel like katara is unattracted to aang, especially since she’s the one who initiates both the first and the last kiss between them, is constantly touching him, and gives him kisses on the cheek in a way she doesn’t do with any one else (she also audibly gasps when she first sees his tattoos in episode 1, which could be read as just her being shocked because she’s never seen airbender tattoos before, but considering the fact her crush on him develops quickly by the beginning of book 2 and she marries him, i wouldn’t be surprised if she also liked the way they looked). all claims that fall back on katara forcing herself to be with aang for whatever reason are projection because 1) katara would never do that. she is not the kind of girl to force herself into any position that doesn’t make her happy, and we see her actively set boundaries with aang in canon, so she is obviously comfortable making her wants known, and 2) katara clearly doesn’t see things through the same lens as her so-called fans. just because you had a crush on zuko doesn’t mean that katara should too, and just because aang isn’t your type doesn’t mean he can’t be her type. yall are projecting onto her

the whole “zutara is for the girls” and “kataang is the male gaze” is so stupid because no, that’s not how that shit works and is a take that is so very american/western that i fail to take it seriously. and yes, i know atla is a western-created show with a western-intended audience, but the characters in the show aren’t and i feel it’s important to acknowledge that

now, i’m a girl (or a woman i should say, 19 years old lmao). and i live in a very patriarchal society and have dealt with sexist standards being forced onto me from my latino culture and family my whole life. it didn’t, however, take long for me to realize that i was unhappy with that way of life and have actively detached myself from it, instead gravitating towards fighting for and recognizing my freedom to choose. this is a freedom i believe all women should have, and i have dedicated myself to learning of the injustices women go through all over the world and do my best to fight against them from where i live. i detest the patriarchy and all things created that demean women or force them into any one role. i am also a lesbian who hardly ever thinks of men lmao. yet miraculously, i am a kataang shipper. according to these zutara stans, im a misogynist who prioritizes male pleasure and happiness. yet from what i know of myself, that’s not at all true. i couldn’t give less of a fuck about patriarchal standards and actively avoid them in the media i consume as much as i can. but i think kataang is cute and i turn away from the thought of zutara, so either one of two things are true:

kataang is for the girls and zutara is the male-gaze

or fictional character shipping has fuck all to do with activism and the kind of person you are in real life

i’m gonna go out on a limb and say number 2 is correct. whether you’re a zutara shipper or a kataang shipper, i don’t think that’s an instant tell of the kind of person you are in your real life. it’s not an actual tell of what you value and yall look ridiculous trying to paint one ship as better than the other on an innate moral level

at the end of the day, this is fandom shipping. you can be a horrible person who engages in shipping content and still be a horrible person at the end of the day regardless of which ship suits your fancy. cause it doesn’t fucking matter. neither of the ships are morally superior to the other in any way that has importance in the real world. yall need to get offline i swear

now personally, i think kataang is an infinitely better ship than zutara for many reasons that i have discussed before, so yall will never catch me saying kataang and zutara are equal in any other context but this one lmao

also saying any colonizer x colonized ship is superior will never be taken seriously by me. you can enjoy those kind of ships all you want, but they’ll never be my cup of tea and that doesn’t make me or anyone else anti-feminist or whatever the fuck insult zks throw out. i just prefer my ships to be between people who haven’t wiped out the other person’s race

[urlocalnonbinarybastardwrites]

Haii, this is my first time doing this so sorry if I'm awkward. <//3 hope ur doing okay btw, boo. Make sure to take care of yourself ^_^

Uh I wanted to request the ship thingy with the outsiders. I'm gay so I have a preference for guys lol

Appearance : i'm pale, like REALLY pale cause i'm irish. i have auburn hair that Is in a short wolfcut / foxcut. My hair is wavy. I have kinda sleepy eyes that are hazel & I have light eye bags. I'm transmasc (he/it). I'm 5'3 :,). I usually wear makeup, mascara, lipgloss and pink eyeshadow :3. I usually wear pinks, greens, whites & light blues. I dress very feminine because I like feeling pretty ^_^. I usually wear sundresses, skirts, sweaters, tank tops & jeans sometimes. I have very light freckles that are only rlly dark by my eyes. I REFUSE to EVER have chapped lips. I wear glasses.

Personality : I perfer to stay quiet & polite around people I don't really know. But once I get comfortable I just blurt out whatever I'm thinking. I have a habit of jst saying animal facts or facts that I've recently learned. I try my best to be sweet and kind but ofc I have my mood swings that make me moody / sassy. I love just talking about random things no matter how dumb or deep. I hate to be caught not being dressed up or pretty. I only let people I'm really close to see me without makeup. Uhhh I love perfume and smelling good. I'm really scared of dogs. I'm very clingy and love spending time with people though I do need breaks from people or else I go non-verbal. I'm very stubborn. My love language is physical touch & acts of service. ^_^ I have a habit of staring and zoning out. I like drawing stuff for my friends and giving it to them.

General likes / Hobbies : I LOVEEE pink and green, their my fav colors. I love dressing up and doing my makeup. I actually collect taxidermy. I like reading novels. I'm not a big fan of horror but I do like the occasional physiological horror :3. I both knit & crochet. I also do gardening. I like planting flowers specifically. I love anything that's pink, glittery or just pretty in general. I also like photography so people can enjoy the world with me!! I like analyzing writing & poems. I also paint & draw. My fav animal is bunnies & Cats. I'm a gemini. Uhh I can't think of anything else..

Uhh I hope this is enough 😓 lmk if it isnt!! 🫶🏻

Your Outsiders Ship:Darry Curtis

Thank you!!!

Ok so: first things first I think that he would love the way that you dress, he would love your feminine outfits and I think you could introduce him to a whole different range of gender expression that he didn’t even know it was possible because you know let’s be for real. He’s a very traditional guy and I feel like he would be kind of a shock to him at first, but that shock quickly turns into admiration. he appreciates a lot of aspects around your personality like how your quiet around people that you don’t know and you’re extremely polite. I think you would find that attractive and also find it way more attractive whenever you get more comfortable with him into the fact where you can over share your special interests, which is an overhearing to him because he loves hearing about it. I just think he would also really like you because you seem like a kind person, he thinks your mood swings are really funny and whenever you’re sassy with him, he also finds it pretty amusing unless he’s in an annoyed mood, but I feel like he would have enough sense to not you know be sassy with him whenever he’s annoyed or anything like that so I feel like you guys would have a low conflict relationship and I don’t know I could just see you guys being really cute together

[lesbianziyal]

bashir x garak is good in my head and literally nowhere else.

[budugaapologist]

my honest opinions of the ac games (theres only 4 good ones)

AC1: you cant pay me money to play this i do not care dude nothing in this interests me because of the mechanics in it. the only things i like from this game are maria and malik and calling altaïr altaïqueer other than that i dont give a shit.

AC2: not good. hype not deserved. combat system sucks as well as the parkour and thats like the selling point of the games.

Brotherhood: same as above; not good/hype not deserved. stalking isnt sexy btw.

Revelations: the only ezihoe game i "liked" but even then i just really hate ezio, id rather play as sofia.

Chronicles: i dont have a desire to play them though i do consider the china one. only problem is guess what fucking bitch is in it.

AC3: as an american the main story is the most boring thing ever. running around in the homestead and frontier is the only part that is good. the naval combat is dog shit.

Liberation: i cannot tell you what happens in the story. i have played this maybe four times. i dont remember anything but the beginning and end. it was fun to explore but the audio in the game is just bad. i think this would be cool as like a pixel game.

AC4 Black Flag: i still have dreams about this game. the story is very good and all of the side characters aside from burgess and cockram have their own rememberable characteristics. graphically its beautiful ecen on ps3 and with some really unconventionally attractive characters. the side content isnt overwhelming and the hacking is a nice change of pace from battling ships and taking forts. its genuinely super well balanced and edward is a relatable character. i would prefer more equality with the clothing on the male/female assassins since. well. either make them both whores or both prudes. but other than that its a great game, the naval combat isnt hard it just takes a few battles to practice. also you can play this game without any other prior ac experience, i know this because i did and i loved it on the first play through. ever since then every other ac game is disappointing aside from Syndicate and Origins.

Freedom Cry: if you so much as try to argue that this isnt worth playing i'll kill you. if you play r*gue and dont consider playing this i genuinely believe you are racist. playing AC4 i think that FC is mandatory after it. this is the only expansion i condone spending money on. im not spoiling anything. play the fucking game.

R*gue: its racist. i said what i said.

Unity: you know when pretty people have no personality? okay but now make that a game. i will reblog gifsets of this game but no. i will not play it again. also?? theyre not even french theyre british you tellin me a canadian company couldnt get french VAs?

Syndicate: literally so easy so stupid i love it. i feel so good at video games when i play it. i recommend it to people a lot because its "inclusive" (i feel more indian people wouldve been nice. also a lot of the women are just evie 2) and its easy to relate to either jacob or evie. the story isnt that great but its fun to follow along with anyway and the side content isnt super overwhelming. i love how gross they made london look its a great touch.

Origins: i also recommend this one. basically i only recommend AC4, FC, Syndicate, and Origins. i find the drama of this one real good, its a revenge story that is compelling especially if you have a kid or have dealt with child loss. the second game to ever make me shocked after a death (first was ac4 with thatch). i also love the fights with the gods and i really love the african biome and i think its super overlooked in media, i think more rpg games set in african-esque areas would be cool. honestly the only thing that keeps me from playing this game over is i always get busy halfway through a playthrough. also that one elephant mission terrified me. i think about kensa and khaliset and taharqa and shadya a lot.

Odyssey: when it comes down to it this game is boring. idk what you want me to say its really boring. lgbt cash grab. way overhyped, its not that interesting and theres just too much in the game. it suffers from prioritizing quantity over quality. sure theres some great lines in the game and a few okay characters but a lot of if not all the characters are one dimensional and bland, as well as the movements and facial expressions. i think the ac franchise shouldve been wrapped up in origins, this wouldve worked better alone.

Valhalla: ugh where to begin... i couldnt even get halfway through this game. this is just Skyrim without the dragons and todd howard. and what is Skyrim without todd? boring and uneventful, apparently. why on earth are we able to change history so much in a game franchise that was originally about reliving history? just make the main character a woman if theyre supposed to be one, like in odyssey, the "having an option to be a man" is so fucking stupid. if being a female character makes AAA games unsellable riddle me Horizon Zero Dawn and Tomb Raider. this should have been a spin off game or a stand alone project.

anyway, those are my thoughts. no, i will not being playing any new ac games. at this point the only ac games i dont have blocked in my tag sections are black flag, liberation, origins, and syndicate (and unity but thats because i do enjoy looking at it. pretty but no personality, like i said).

if youve never played an AC game before, the only ones you should play if youre interested are black flag, freedom cry, syndicate, and origins, in that order or with syndicate first, though seeing as freedom cry and origins are very heavy games having a stupid one in the middle can help balance the anger and tears.

for those that have played ac games, obviously this is my opinion and you may have other opinions, but i dont honestly care, no arguing that 'actually blah blah is a good game' on this post im not gonna listen, make your own post ♡. im pretty fed up with most of the stuff that comes out of the franchise anyway.

at the end of the day, play what you want and dont ;) pirate the four ac games i recommend if you are interested in them that would be sooo bad haha ;).

[tricewithaz]

yes zoyalai at the beach please!!

love the enthusiasm

(gonna mesh the last one too cause i think it applies)

So listen zoya has never been to an actual beach. shes been at harbors and ports and ships, a couple of cliffs, but never.... a beach. and Nikolai just cant accept this fact so he takes her to a beach in kerch while theyre there. its weirdly tranquil considering how hectic ketterdam is.

its not even that hot but nikolai just kinda takes half of his clothes off and zoya is kind of like ????????????

But its sweet really, when he takes off his boots and vest and pulls the hem of his pants up and just kind of gets into the water??? Zoya canr help but watch in silence cause he truly seems to be at home. He rubs water onto his hair and neck and just walks around, its lowkey calming.

She follows his example, puts her hair up and gets rid of her stockings and boots and gets into the water too. her skirt gets wet and she hates it.

and all she does its exclaim "ITS COLD" and nikolai cant do anything but laugh. He isnt used to this zoya and ots endearing, cause shes shrinking into her self and trying to walk in the water and just by the expression on her face he can tell that she hates the texture of sand.

She picks up her dress to walk on the water, and lowkey looks like a little duck

She touches seaweed. She screams. He cackles.

Its a bit chilly but zoya thinks the breeze is nice. plus it messes up nikolais hair and shirt so thats a plus.

and he looks almost boyish, like this is the best day in the life of small nikolai lantsov. theres a huge smile on his face and his cheeks and nose get a bit sunburn. Its not the first time shes seen him like that, its standard for him whenever hes in a ship, but she admires it regardless.

She uses her powers to hit him in the butt with water. he acts offended. she acts clueless. Ofc he takes his revenge and splshes her up to her waist. and then she just.... provokes a wave and soaks him whole and yes she looks at his soaked shirt for a bit too long

at some point she gives up and lets her skirt fall and it floats and she looks like a flower ✨

she walks into the water a lot and trips when she reaches that ome dip that gets deeper than before, her heart gets to her throat for a moment there. Nikolai picks her up and prevents her from falling keeping her close to his chest but not without laughing at her "it has to get deeper at some point zoya the entire ocean is like that and it just gers deeper and deeper and deeper" and hes nonchalant about it but all hes doing is freaking the both of them out more and more

textures at the beach are 🤢 and zoya is constantly screaming WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT specially when the things touching her feet are alive and sentient

They fight and wrestle Nikolai just picks zoya up and throws her into the water. she makes him dive in too. clothes and all

underwater her hair looks like a halo ✨✨✨

But they just laugh a lot while splashing each other to the point their stomachs hurt and all.

They need to get out of water at some point but they stay at the shore, sOAKED, they get full of sand and zoya hATES it so MUCH she complains a LOT and frowns and Nikolai all but looks at her with the biggest smile on his face.

they sit at the shore and build sand castles with shells and all

in fact they just kind of build the entire os alta palace and discuss everhthing like Real Architects™

When the tides come in and destroy a bit they get all fussy about it, like little kids

btw zoyas hair gets super frizzy and a lot of curls fall on her face despite her trying to keep her hair up with a hairstick. she kinda hates it cause its difficult to manage and it tangles but nikolai thinks she looks gorgeous.

while building castles he talks to her about his childhood summers at the beach. For once she doesnt comment on how he talks too much or anything, and for once he isnt snarky. He talks about his fond memories with a soft voice and sparkly eyes and she just listens in silence, with a small smile cause shell store this memory forever, as well as the other thousands of good memories she gets in her twenties. Suddenly she kind lf loves the beach.

He thinks hell talk about this afternoon too, to his children and his other friends and hell talk about how zoya much zoya complained and hated the sea. Hell keep how her curls framed her face and how she stared into the sea for himself tho.

Oh, as evening approaches she isnt frowning, in fact her expression seems quite tranquil and she smiles. Nikolai thinks that she doesnt do it often cause if she did everyone around them would faint at the sight

when the sun starts setting it reflects into his eyes and makes his hair more golden than usual and he looks so warm.

But when the setting sun frames her neck and her cheekboke nikolai understands for a minute the concept of saints.

They leave the sand palace there and the next day when other families come into the beach theyre so impressed ejejrbje

they get waffles and eat them at the wall that separates the streets from the beach observing the sunset and the sea at night. And the breeze is so nice, zoya thinks she could stay here forever. they both wish they could just live there, together

They walk the shore together hand in hand, chat a bit in the night. the reflection of the moon in the sea, in her eyes, will always be slmething he links to zoya. Her hand is cold and soft, and his is firm and warm, a big contrast to the water at her feet but its a contrast she likes.

They return a lot after the first time the go together to the beach, and zoya just kind of.... naps in the sand

Back at the embassy Nikolai brushes zoyas hair cause she just fucking hates it and she just cant deal with this rn

And her hair smells like seawater and he just kinf of combusts

The next day her skin looks a bit darker and glowier and her hair is a bit frizzy.... well you know how he feels about it.

its just a very nice experience for both of them