“If there was one thing to be said about the citizens of Republic City, it would be that everyone adored Avatar Aang.
Katara had always thought that he’d seemed nice enough; she’d never met him personally, but he was always present at town hall meetings, or throwing festivals, or making TV appearances. She’d been in his proximity a few times, but only just close enough to hear the clear sound of his laugh, or to feel a gust of wind as he crafted air scooters for eager children. Whenever out in public, he was almost never seen without a gaggle of people hovering about. It was as though he had his own gravitational pull—people just seemed to flock to him, like flowers that unconsciously turned to face the sun.”
Kataang having such 'nonlinear' relationship progress is one of my fave things about them.
Like I love how they're friends, how they have romantic moments and don't immediately change each other's persception of the other. Like I get tired of mainstream media romances having a very predictable linear plot with set "phases". I like Kataang's slow progression, i like the romance and friendship blurring, I like that after they kiss in the Cave of two Lovers they don't immediately become a couple. I like how the world around them stalls their romance.
I've decided to compile all my metas and longer posts into a list I'll pin to my blog, for easy access and for anyone who wants to go back and sift through my pretentious soapbox ramblings.
List of metas under the cut:
The Last Airbender
✨️Aang
The Avatar State as a Panic Attack
✨️Katara
Aang as a McGuffin?
Aang's biases and comparison to Szeto
Katara's fear of loss and how it impacts her relationship with Aang Part 1
Katara's fear of loss and how it impacts her relationship with Aang Part 2
The Desert is one of Katara's strongest episodes
How Hama impacted Katara
Katara's parentification in the Runaway
Katara's forced maturity in the fandom
Katara's childishness is important
✨️Kataang defense squad Activities
Kataang through the female gaze
Kaatang's nonlinear development
The symbolism in Kataang
The Avatar State's place in Kataang
Anti Kaatang/Pro Zutara hypocrisies
✨️ Defending Jetara as well
✨️Toph
Toph's story is a tragedy, actually
Toph's relationship with her father
Toph's reaction to Ba Sing Se and its rules
An extremely reluctant defence of cop Toph
✨️Zuko
Zuko's connections to the characters around him and why it's not all Katara
Zuko wasn't the good guy in B1 (and that's ok)
Talking about Zuko's scar as a burn victim
✨️Miscellaneous ramblings
Mai's trauma
The Fire Nation's misogyny p1
The Fire Nation's misogyny p2
Across the Isle- Fire Nationals connecting with the victims of their nation
The Legend of Korra
✨️Weilin Propaganda:
Weilin Propaganda part 1
Weilin Propaganda part 2
✨️Bolin
Bolin's fawning trauma response
Bolin's lack of agency and his potential role as a weapon
Why Bolin stayed with Kuvira as long as he did
✨️Suyin, my pookie
Adding context to Suyin's 'flaws'
Suyin's Coping Mechanism- Zaofu and family
Suyin is NOT a narcissist
The tragism of Suyin
✨️Lin Beifong haterisms:
How Fanon Lin affects other characters
Lin's tumultuous relationship with Korra
✨️Opal is Queen
Opal hot takes
Opal's seperation from the Beifongs
✨️ Thoughts on Huan
✨️Beifong Boogaloo
The Beifongs as superfeelers
Critiscisms of the Old Wounds episode
Strange structure of Suyin and Lin's feud
Baby Beifongs appreciation post
✨️Amon
The flaws of Amon's ideology
Amon's character driven story
✨️Prince Wu appreciation
✨️Miscellaneous
Lin and Suyin paralleling Mako and Bolin
Mako and his relation to his family
Convergence Airbenders adapting to airbender culture
Tlok's Usamericanism in B4
Texts inbetween tlok and atla
Katara and Sokka paralleling Bolin and Mako
Lavabenders paralleling each other
Azula vs Zuko and Kuvira in the matter of redemption
i feel like something anti-kataang people don't get is like,, one of the reasons people ship kataang is because of the depth of katara's feelings toward aang. like aang's feelings are not unrequited.
i'll say that again: aang's feelings are not unrequited.
legitimately when i write kataang fanfiction (or daydream about writing it lmao) it's 99% of the time from katara's pov because her love towards aang is so powerful, so rich, so overwhelming, and i love exploring their relationship through her eyes. idk i just feel like some anti-kataangers simplify their relationship to "oh aang had a childish crush on her katara never saw him in a romantic light!!" and completely disregard how much they've been through together (see: all of canon), how much katara appreciates the way aang supports her time and time again even when he's worried about her (see: painted lady; TSR), how much katara supports and comforts aang in return (see: after appa was stolen; letting zuko join the gaang largely because aang trusted him even though she did not), the constant demonstrations of how katara feels that aang brings her hope and that she needs him (see: the "you bring hope" bit; "doesn't he know how much we need him, too?"), how katara had a blushy blushy crush phase with aang just as much as he did with her (see: "what if we kissed?"), the way katara clearly reciprocates aang's interest in her but saw him die once and just can't risk seeing it again not with the war (see: epiphany at the end of the fortuneteller; how relieved she is when aang comes back to life after azula kills him; how she took care of him for weeks making sure he stayed alive; returning his kiss before the invasion; EIP), how much katara loves that aang brought freedom and fun back into her life (see: penguin sledding), the fact that katara is attracted to aang and flirts with him (see: the dance), how katara is the one that chooses to initiate the kiss with aang that closes the series, and literally just how katara is in love with aang as much as he's in love in with her. the blatant oversimplification of their relationship as a one-sided crush from aang that was "rushed" to make them get together and "satisfy" shippers is just so frustrating when it's so clear how much katara loves aang, too
Thinking back to the good early days before my skin grew back when people could shake their heads at me and say "masks are a government conspiracy" and instead of navigating the bullshit like a normal person I could pull mine down and say "I have chemical burns on my face"
