#zutara mention

[stupidsexpotflanders]

001 ship meme -> azulaang

when I started shipping it if I did: When watching some S3 episodes.

my thoughts: I do like them,but I'm more of a low-key shipper.

What makes me happy about them: Meta written by fans.

What makes me sad about them: Not much.

things done in fanfic that annoys me: I usually don't read fics with AtLA ships.

things I look for in fanfic: -

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Katara to have a fling with Zuko,and Aang to date around. I mean,he's a charming sweetheart.

My happily ever after for them: More or less what happened in TLoK,but with better writing. The idea of them rebuilding stuff after the war and dealing with personal issues while keeping an united front is what I wanted for Kataang.

who is the big spoon/little spoon: They switch depending on the mood.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: Figuring out fun,banal uses for their bending,specially when relating to their cultures(Aang and Katara were victims of genocide after all)

[pineapple-frenzy]

Book 2 au: sparring sessions and short hair katara

They like to have sparring sessions in order to keep their bending skills sharp. They allow themselves to go all out and not hold back at all cause they know if anyone got hurt, Katara could just heal them

But anyways, wouldn't it be kinda funny if Zuko accidentally burned Katara's hair tho? Aofkqldkkajfjd

The "I think we can save the hairloops" line is from @linnoya-writes thank you for that!! :>>

[asocial-skye]

man, all you zutara guys are way better at this shipping thing than me. i read through like ninety different metas about the symbolism of the colors associated between the two, the fact that the two of them are the emotional story arc of ATLA, and how their romance falls more into the canon themes of the franchise.....

and then i'm here like, he took lightning for her and she was aang's mom in an episode. i'm sold.

[xabura]

Bryke confirming that Katara loves Aang like a "babysitter" or a "little brother" is fucking killing me. Kataang shippers are always screaming about how if you think Kataang have a sibling-like dynamic then you are delusional but even the creators viewed their bond like that.

[demaparbat-hp]

Progress

[kittenfangirl20]

I am always going to say this, Katara is amazing and she deserved better. I love her so much and I will always defend her.

[gh-0-stcup]

One thing that's incredibly annoying about the A:TLA fandom is how nearly every. single. well thought out piece of Zutara analysis is inevitably invaded by people who are massively condescending and allergic to media analysis in general.

If you don't like Zutara, that's fine - but why are you watching 2-4 hour long videos on why they would have been a good pairing if all you have to contribute is, "They weren't canon/you're delusional/they sucked/get over it lol".

It's very frustrating to pop into a fandom space and try to spectate on some thoughtful discussions, just to have it overrun by people being rude.

[longing-for-rain]

You know, I actually really didn’t mind kataang/Aang at first, but over the years, one thing that always stood out to me was the way that the same people who mocked and bashed Katara’s character were so defensive over kataang.

It’s less prevalent now than it was pre-2020, but people used to relentlessly mock Katara for mentioning her mother, call her rude and bossy, and that she was the most annoying character. You can still see it on platforms like Reddit and YouTube with predominately male user bases; they are much more mask off.

It couldn’t be more obvious how these people view Katara. To them, Aang deserves her because he’s the hero and he wants her. That’s as deep as it goes. What matters to her is irrelevant and the show and fans of that ship make it obvious with their behavior. This new wave of kataang fans pretending they love Katara is a very recent phenomenon and all the old fans know it.

[the-badger-mole]

If you were to expand on southern water tribe culture, what sort of traditions would the people have?

I've written a few traditions into my fics. Off the top of my head, here are a few:

All the Things That Are and Will Be

The death rites of the SWT don't involved burial in the ground. Instead a the body is washed and prepped by the family, and the body is laid to rest under stones piled around and over top the body. The ceremony involves a song commemorating the deceased for becoming one of the ancestors.

Traditional

To mark engagements in the SWT, the potential husband presents his intended with tools and supplies that will be useful to her in married life. This is usually sewing needles, knives, beads and furs, but the intended bride is allowed to make special requests. For Katara, this included fancy pens, new waterskins for formal and everyday use, and a crown. In With the Changing of the Tide, she also made special requests for a talking mirror and the skin of a camel seal. The potential husband also presents his intended's family with furs, skins and tools, and also, he joins the men in the family on a hunt for what will become the engagement party meal.

Uncharted Waters

In the SWT, villagers will gather frequently to share stories about a lot of things. Sometimes they're historical accounts. Sometime they're folk tales. Sometimes they're about how they got their various scars, like Katara tells Zuko in chapter 8.

Summer Bloom

When a SWT girl has her first period, there's a celebration among the women. They go into the mountains to the thermal springs and have what essentially amounts to a spa weekend. There she has a formal introduction to the "polar bees and otter penguins", the older women share their advice on dealing with period symptom, and there's a feast. The girl is welcomed into womanhood with gifts of needles, knives, combs and beads.

Some traditions I've been thinking about, but haven't actually written down yet: Siblings share a sleep cot until they're old enough to complain about it. When that happens, the family homes get bigger to accommodate more sleeping space.

There's a strong musical tradition within the tribe. Their instruments are limited. They have a drum, a hand drum, and a pipe for their major instruments, but they mostly sing. The SWT goes on to popularize acapella in the ATLA world.

The Southern Water Tribe is made up of several small villages lead by locally selected chiefs who then come together to choose one overall representative for all the villages. Hakoda is the third nonconsecutive member of his family chosen as the head chief, and Sokka is chosen after him. After Sokka, the next chief comes from an unrelated family and a different village entirely.

[zukosdualdao]

the wild thing about the whole “zuko&katara are great friends by the end of the show, but they shouldn’t be romantically together because it would be inherently abusive” crowd is like. okay well if you really believe that (which to be clear, i do not, but for the sake of logic), then they shouldn’t be friends either because friends are just as capable of being abusive as romantic partners. we literally see this with azula’s treatment of mai and ty lee.

and like. i DON’T agree katara and zuko shouldn’t be friends by the end, but come on, at least be consistent.

[theotterpenguin]

the way that (usually male) k//ataang shippers obsess over aang’s height… why are you so concerned about zutara shippers supposedly self-inserting like please the call is coming from inside the house

[glowingtoad]

Zutara critique but it progressively gets worse

It’s not my thing but I can see the appeal

Personally I don’t get it at all but whatever it’s not gonna ruin my day

It’s not canon tho

But what about poor Aang?

I dunno it’s seems kind of questionable to me

Zuko and Katara would only fight and be miserable together they hate each other

After all what he did Aang earned Katara

Zutara is only liked by girls who are hot for Zuko and use Katara as a self-insert

Zutara is a racist and misogynistic ship

Zuko is an oppressor and colonizer to Katara Note: this does not apply to Sokka and Zukka is a good ship actually

Zutara is a racist and fetishistic ship and anyone who likes it approves of awful heinous misdeeds

Zutara shippers deserve to be *insert awful heinous misdeed* 

Bonus:

AlL wOmEn WhO sHiP zUtArA wIlL hAvE dOoMeD rElAtIoNsHiPs

[rennelelorren]

I really happy to see the talk about bethroal necklace, that Katara made for Zuko.

But also...

Am I the only one who think that Zuko would take the necklace and wear it for half of a year thinking it was just really cool present from Katara (until Sokka informed it is not that) bc in his mind he couldn't connect that this is indeed bethroal necklace and Katara want him this way?

[iamumbra195]

I hate when people talk about Ashler like it’s inconceivable to ship them.

They’ll be like “Oh, they had so much beef, they’re barely even friends.” Genuinely asking here, have you even read the webtoon if you think that?

Tyler had issues with practically everyone at the beginning, hell, most of the kids didn’t even like each other. Ben, Aiden, Ashlyn, and Logan all thought he was a jerk and he was acting like one because he was trying to protect himself and Taylor and the whole situation was stressful as hell. That’s why his character development is so good. Even Ashlyn remarks that he’s being less of a jerk in one chapter and Taylor says that he's begun to see the others as real friends, maybe even family.

They all eventually became allies and then friends, including Ashlyn and Tyler. Sure, they like to throw some sarcastic remarks at each other but that’s just their sense of humour and part of the appeal of their friendship. Same with Aiden and Tyler, they insult each other all the time but the insults that were originally meant to hurt are now used affectionately.

He gave Ashlyn a nickname guys. He gave a jokey nickname to cheer her up because she felt terrible about the fact that she had to leave him behind while he got terribly hurt, while he died. She literally started crying out of guilt and being overwhelmed by the whole situation. She cares about him and he cares about her and the whole gang cares about each other, which is why there are so many ships in the fandom to begin with.

So stop acting like anyone who ships Ashler is stupid and stop saying ‘they’re like siblings’ on every post about them. We know it’s probably not gonna be canon, hell, Red herself said romance isn’t the focus of the webtoon at all.

I don’t even like shipping in general but the TikTok fandom keeps pissing me off. Stop acting like everyone has to ship the same things as you and stop commenting shit like ‘cute edit but I wish it was Aidlyn’ or ‘They’re just friends, they act like siblings’. Like yeah, they’re not canon but you’d have to be blind if you couldn’t see why some people ship it. Stop shitting on people’s ships and let them have their fun, we all know they’re not canon.

NONE OF THEM ARE.

Anyway, that’s the end of my rant. Sorry, I keep getting Ashler hate every time I search it up on TikTok. It’s so stupid and annoying, let people ship who they want in peace and stop undermining Ashlyn and Tyler's canon friendship and character development to shit on people’s ships. It’s an insult to the characters and your ability to read between the lines.

Live, Laugh, Love Ashler.

[hanadoesstuffwrong]

Can't really be surprised that I'm so diehard for zutara when this movie essentially deep-fried my brain as a child

[ekwolfwriter-blog]

WIP Zutara Challenge: Mom and Dad are Fighting again

So, I think what would be really cute is seeing more moments with them unintentionally acting like mom and dad of the group and then after a little spat, people would tease them about it.

But to be honest, their kind of fighting always feels like they would have political talks and how to solve it before either sparring it out or talking about it calmly and mostly in private as I don't think they like to bring others into their conflicts if they can avoid it. Toph being the only one that could tell is good too, but honestly, their fighting would definitely be more like spats.

Thankfully, a friend of mine suggested something that could be cute to expand upon another time: Having the Steam babies listening to their parents having a fight/ sparring match while the blade babies (Suki/ Sokka kids) are listening. And the steamies are not even phased by it.

The oldest one is sipping tea waiting for the inevitable question, while the middle kid/ twins are waiting to tease about their parents fighting (I feel they would be good with twins) while their youngest would be worried, but the older one is already quick to answer: 'Mom and Dad do this as a means of letting off steam and to encourage the other playfully. They are not actually fighting fighting."

then one of them is like "Can we go see them?"

And the oldest one slams their tea cup down and is like "How about we go find Grand Uncle Iroh. He can explain better" knowing all too well the last time they accidentally walked in on checking their parents fights went.

Just for fun, might work on it another time, but hopefully will have more to come soon.