BananaBreadCaramel

Professional online yapper woc, 26

[pokidokieships]

What if I said the sudden hate and vitriol towards zutara in recent years is linked to the rise in conservatism… stay with me now… I can’t help but notice it because of the arguments I see such as “Water Tribe & Fire Nation can never be together… it’s way better that Mai & Zuko are married as they are both Fire Nation” or “It’s fine that Katara is a stay at home mom & healer… it doesn’t matter that she doesn’t play a pivotal role, go on to do anything great after the war…”

[bananabreadcaramel-4]

Lost a lot of posts I made in the past 🤦🏾‍♀️. Managed to recover them through the internet archives. Some of the text might be outdated. Anyways, here is a post I made a couple of years ago:

This might be a bit of a stretch but Ive noticed that Sahed seems to be the wearing a joker themed mask.

I believe this to be an intentional character design. According to this Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(playing_card)), the Joker (the playing card) tends to be illustrated as a jester; a professional joker or ‘fool’ at a medieval court, that looks like something like this:

"The Joker can be a very beneficial card or a bad card to have. In Euchre (a card game) it is often used to represent the highest trump. In Gin Rummy it is wild. However, in the children's game of Old Maid, a solitary Joker represents the Old Maid, the card to be avoided."

This could symbolise the unpredictable nature of saheds character and how we, as fans, cant tell if he will turn out to be another antagonist or an ally to julia.

Also, "The Joker is often compared to "(the) Fool" in the Tarot or Tarock decks. They share many similarities both in appearance and in play function."

According to The Fool's Tarot card, it could have two interpretations depending on if the card is upright or reversed. I found this one article (https://astrotalk.com/tarot/the-fool) that is a bit long but here is a small summary:

Upright The Fool card is usually considered a positive tarot card as it indicates new beginnings.

"Moreover, it also signifies the infinite potential and innocence of the person when he is about to start his life. If The Fool card appears in your tarot card reading, it shall mean that you are about to start a new and exciting adventure in your life. This adventure would bring you new leanings along and demands a leap of faith in the process which is in front of you. But, with that, it promises you firmly new experiences."

Could this possibly hint at where the story will take him as a character? Freedom from the circus and a fresh start? Would that make him the embodiment of that card?

Anyways, "The Fool in a reversed situation definitely means new beginnings. However, you shall jump into decisions foolishly, without thinking. Your decisions would be reluctant, and you would be too impulsive to take them." You shall run into the most dangerous things without fear and see yourself sometimes in situations that shall affect you negatively in the long run."

The riot plan from episode 28 seems very risky and could potentially go wrong. I think that since this is the beginning of the story, that saheds character leans more on the reverse The Fool card before eventually switching over to the upright The Fool card (no, I am totally not obsessed with this webcomic).

[bananabreadcaramel-4]

Kind of late to becoming a proper part of the atla fandom, and more specifically a zutara stand. With the things going on within the fandom, it had me reflect on how I became a hardcore zutara shipper.

I watched the show as a child but felt neutral about the canon ships at the time. Came to rewatch the show a couple of months ago after being inspired by natla clips. Absolutely loved it, it was great. However, I was definitely not a fan of aang kissing katara multiple times without consent, and went online to see if anyone else had talked about it. And thats when I came across the whole zutara concept. Ngl I had not even considered them as a potential ship but after reading some of the arguments for the ship, it totally made sense. I'm not going to go too much into it since it has been covered extensively by other fans but narrative-wise, themes and simply being on the same level of maturity. Not to mention the banger fan arts and fics.

I rarely get so fixated on a piece of media but this ship has had me on a chokehold for the last couple of months. Super happy that I rediscovered atla.

[rustycottoncandy]

Plot twist: Yerik is secretly a Bethedian spy and that's why he's always seen so close to Amalia

/j (unless???????)

[rifari2037]

Honestly, I'm so disappointed and annoyed with the narrative that the only way to restore the air bender is Aang and Katara to have an air bender child.

That's not hope, it's more like putting the burden on Katara, who doesn't actually have any responsibility for the extinction of the air benders.

Moreover, the narrative forces Katara to kill off her leadership and fighter persona, then choose a domestic role. The domestic role is not a bad thing, though, but Katara has more potential.

And I feel like the narrative that "Katara is the hope for bringing back air benders" seems pointless after Korra miraculously brings them back more than Katara ever could, making Katara's sacrifice feel unnecessary.

Turning random people into air benders is a very shallow way to resolve such a complex and spiritual conflict.

There is an alternative:

Aang rediscovers his civilization. They were hidden far away, too far from human reach and too afraid to return to their temples. After a hundred years of war, they had forgotten much of their culture.

And Aang, the 'last air bender' who knew the pristine culture of the air nomads, taught his people how they once lived.

This is a more spiritual narrative. Aang will have a crucial role in rebuilding his civilization, rather than ending up as a father who favours his air bender son.

As for Katara, I don't think she's the type that would say, "I'm tired of fighting. After the war is over, I want to live in peace," while watching her former teammates continue to fight, even in their old age.

She deserves better. And that's why I like the narrative of the Water Tribe Ambassador and Fire Lady Katara. I myself usually using the title 'First Lady Katara'.

Anti-Zutara said, "Katara wouldn't want to live in the palace that once oppressed her."

But to me, this is the most elegant way for Katara to fight the system from within. She wouldn't be Zuko's shadow; she would stand on her own. She, with her abilities, would prove that a chief's daughter from a struggling village become the leader of the nation that once oppressed them.

Katara leading the Fire Nation isn't a betrayal of her roots, it's the ultimate triumph over her oppressors.

I can imagine Katara standing up to help her people, both in the Fire Nation and the Water Tribe, and she has the authority and every right to do so.

And, if the writers had to minimising or even eliminating Zuko and Katara's interactions (because their narrative was too strong compared to canon), in this alternative, Zuko and Katara could still there alongside Aang to rebuild his civilization and built a new city where Katara finally had her own statue.

And the story ended with a happy ending for all the characters.

[bananabreadcaramel-4]

This is what the avatar 2026 movie could have been about, aang rediscovering the air nomad civilization. Kind of wish the writers took their time working on the storyline for both the movie and lok.

[toshj13]

HEADCANON

To the older Fire Nation Royal Palace Staff who remained post-war, Fire Lord Zuko is strange.

He demands to be in the room for every one of his children's births (he demands for Izumi; when Ryu, Kenoa, and Yua come along, the Palace medical staff let him in without argument), cries tears of joy each time, and never once asks about whether they have the "spark" of a firebender in them. He and the Fire Lady/Lady of the Waves use no wet nurses throughout any of their pregnancies, and rarely use nannies/babysitters. It is not uncommon to see a baby strapped to the Fire Lord's chest during a meeting with the council or visiting dignitaries (nor is it uncommon for a sleep-deprived, disheveled Fire Lady/Lady of the Waves to barge into those meetings to "steal" their baby back).

When his council petitions for him to name one of the twins as his successor instead of Izumi, simply because they are male and firebenders, he reminds them that #1 he indeed shares DNA with the former Fire Lord, #2 they were more than willing to name his sister Fire Lord despite him being the firstborn, male, AND a firebender, and most importantly #3 his eldest daughter is more than capable as any man or bender to sit on the throne (plus he's DONE with the Fire Nation tradition of pitting siblings against one another).

He's canceled/postponed council meetings in favor of attending events at his children's schools. When the Fire Lady/Lady of the Waves travels for work, the Fire Lord mopes around the Palace until she returns (the kids tease him about it; Katara teases he's her fifth child in that regard, but finds it endearing all the same). The entire family always visits the Northern and Southern Water Tribe together, whether for vacation or diplomatic reasons (when they visit the Earth Kingdom, specifically Ba Sing Se, the kids basically live in the Jasmine Dragon with Iroh for the entirety of the visit; Iroh collects them from the Palace the moment he hears Zuko's arrived, the one time Zuko didn't bring them -- about 9months after Yua was born -- Iroh banned him from entering the shop until he brought his grandchildren/great nieces and nephews).

Fire Lord Zuko's children respect him; they do NOT fear him. He is their father first, Fire Lord second. He loves his children openly, and they do the same: running to greet him at the docks when he returns from a diplomatic mission or waiting eagerly outside of his council meetings or following him around like a trail of turlteducks; kissing or hugging the scarred side of his face even before they learn of its origins; calling him 'PaPa' instead of 'Father ' or 'Sir'. The Fire Lord personally taught his eldest dual broadswords, personally trained his sons in firebending, and even taught his waterbending daughter some firebending moves to translate into her bending style. When Izumi learns hair braiding, he is her more than willing guinea pig and proudly wears his sometimes lopsided braids around the Palace for the day (when Yua learns, his hair is constantly interwoven with hair ribbons, and if she's aware of the land of origin of a visiting dignitary beforehand, Zuko wears their colors instead of the usual red or purple). He sheds a tear at each of his kids' weddings (all except Ryu get married; no one knows who cries harder at Kenoa's wedding, Zuko or the father of the bride)

[important-cat-pics]

[ieatratsyummy]

They could never make me hate you, complex female character whose reaction to trauma was not pretty and digestible like how people think it should be.

[cloakedlizard]

Aang didn't give Katara her childhood back, he helped steal it from her

I've seen a lot of takes about this recently going over how Katara is super serious and Aang being silly and goofy allows her to relax and be a kid again, when it's quite literally the exact opposite. She is forced into a more serious, maternal role prematurely because she feels she has no choice but to take care of Aang because he is irresponsible in a situation where him being irresponsible has disastrous and fatal consequences attached.

(I also have a problem with a lot of takes I've seen blaming both Katara and the audience for parentifying her: nope, that's intentionally included in the text. It was woven into the very foundation of the Kataang relationship. See beneath the cut.)

Katara stepped up in the absence of her mother and took on all sorts of adult roles for the other children both in the Southern Water Tribe and in the group. And people blame her for this, as if it's her fault for taking on these responsibilities, saying she could stop at any time and that no one is asking her to do these things. But if she stops, it doesn't get done and the stakes for things not getting done include the world ending and more people dying.

They will go without clothes, without food, without shelter, without emotional support (which for Aang means remaining in the Avatar state and actively endangering people!). She keeps the group moving forward, keeps them on track. Literally if she stops, the world ends because she's the one primarily concerned with Aang's training while he wants to play. It was a constant struggle for her to get him to do even the bare minimum of his responsibilities; he remains resisting training even until the very end of the show. Who knows how quickly he would have stopped if she wasn't there the entire time pushing him along?

That isn't him letting her have fun and act like a kid, that is him burdening her with more responsibilities because HE wants to act like a kid in a situation where they don't have the space to. Katara doesn't need to shirk responsibility and mess around, she needs HELP. She needs someone to take some of these necessary chores off her back. She needs freedom from being the one who is just assumed to take all these things on.

Yes, she is a kid. She shouldn't have to deal with this. But because she's responsible and moral, she won't just stop and let everyone suffer because of it. Every time she blows off chores to "be a kid" having fun with Aang, she has more work to do afterwards because no one else will have done the work in her absence. That isn't freeing, it's stressful.

It's also why him putting her on a pedestal and doing meaningless displays for her affections are not signs of real love. Real love is not distracting someone from work you put on their back in a way that makes their life harder, it's finding out what actually would make their life easier and doing that. Which for Katara would be helping her with work that was his to begin with: doing it without being asked, without expecting praise, without needing her to hold his hand through it. Doing it because it is his responsibility to begin with.

People often bring up that he was willing to give up the Avatar state for her. But I submit to you: that wasn't for her, it was for him. He doesn't want responsibility, he wants Katara. And he's willing to subject her to living in a world he no longer can save (a world where her loved ones will suffer and die) to hold onto his one-sided infatuation/attachment to her. Again, this wasn't a gesture of love, it was selfish. He didn't consider how it would affect or negatively impact Katara or if it's even something she'd want (it's not!), just how it would affect him. Just like he doesn't consider how she feels about him back and only worries about how he will feel if she doesn't like him back as if it's the only important factor in their relationship.

Aang doesn't give her back her childhood. He takes it away. She has to be the adult so that he doesn't have to. He gets to be a kid because she's taking care of everything else for him like a mother. Katara was forced to marry a guy she'd always have to be carrying in terms of both domestic labor and emotional labor because that's the dynamic they intentionally wrote. Carrying the weight of a whole other person in a relationship and having to fix all their problems like that is not sustainable and is an abusive dynamic. Love is selfless; it isn't benefitting from the toil of your partner nor doing whatever you want to their detriment.

That's why Zuko joining the group having learned the value behind this kind of labor is so important. He is the only other character shown to take up some of these responsibilities consistently: without being told, without expecting praise, without having his hand held. He packs, serves food, is strict and disciplined about enforcing training onto Aang. He is also the only one who allows Katara to process her negative emotions, another burden that she lifts from others but only Zuko helps her heal from. Katara acts way more like a teenager in front of him than she ever did around the others, teasing him and coming across way lighter. Because with him picking up the slack, she actually has the room and freedom to relax because she has less to worry about.

(How the relationship was characterized and the problems with it under the cut:)

And yes, this dynamic was intentional. Doing everything for him and taking care of him like a mother: intentional. Her feeling obligated to keep performing all this extra labor for him because he's the Avatar and she literally needs him because the world will end if he's not on track: intentional. Him distracting her instead of helping her with burdens placed on her by taking care of him: intentional. Him never actually becoming responsible and helping her pick up the slack: intentional.

This dynamic is intentionally written for Katara to be his supportive mother-girlfriend who does everything for him while he's just goofing around. Because it's a male fantasy. It doesn't matter how draining and frustrating it is for Katara, it just matters that she's eternally devoted to Aang and takes care of all his needs.

Also, it's super creepy that they even knowingly draw attention to the huge power imbalance between them forcing her into an oppressive role like this in that she thinks she has to do this for him because he's the Avatar. That should be considered a huge foundational problem in this dynamic, and it's instead glossed over as if it's a character flaw on Katara's part for Aang to feel insecure about... When Aang actively enables her to believe this all the times he shirks responsibility or puts them in danger when he's in the Avatar state and needs her to prod him back on track. Every time he runs away and leaves them in mortal danger. These all reinforce the power imbalance in their dynamic. Without Katara being forced into this role, again, the world could easily end: the Avatar would not train, or would go into an uncontrolled murderous Avatar state frenzy, etc.

Does she really have a choice here? If the alternative is putting the world at risk?

[nochillleftwelovebeingunhinged]

a tidbit i have always love is how the ❝evil❞ fire nation was allowed to be more egalitarian than the supposed ❝good❞ nations WT and EK when it came to women, being seen as heirs and warriors, be it the crown princess, noble elites or the lowest of footsoldier.

It will always be a missed opportunity to not have Katara, and Toph and Suki –who had to overcome their nations' sexism to be warriors and leaders and viewed the Fire Nation as the embodiment of all evil– react to the reality that women have a higher standing in the FN than their own nations. It would have been another perfect fissure to the illusion of black and white, evil and good the way its almost exclusively depicted in children show.

I would have loved a scene where Katara would acknowledged, maybe even be envious that Azula was allowed, downright groomed to exploit her potential to the fullest (of course as an agent for FN imperialism under her father) whereas she had to crawl her way to the top, cross the globe, still doing all the ❝womanly❞ chores, had to literally challenge Pakku to be the expectation and be taught in her birthright.

+ a scene in which zuko being absolutely dumbfounded at the concept of sexism when he had Azula as sister AND their father's favoirte child + her NON BENDING girlfriends being the most prolific fighters to content is low-key hilarious. 🤣 Like imagine he gets informed how Sokka used to think of women and talk to Katara– his brain would legitimately short circuit (especially after seeing her bloodbend–) 💀

[dragonfoxandfound]

Kataang shipper: The way some of you so called Katara "fans" are talking about her and disrespecting core aspects of her character just to try and force her into your #girlboss self insert stereotype is pissing me off. Y'all are hiding behind feminism when you're actually being not only anti feminist, but misogynistic as hell.

"I can't believe Katara does all that badass fighting in the movie only to be known as JUST a healer by the world! Healing is lame and not worthy of respect!"

So no one has said that 'healing is lame and not worthy of respect' In fact Katara's healing abilities have been portrayed as powerful feats by Zutara fic writers for over a decade. Nothing that Katara does with bending in the film is groundbreaking or even new to us.

But let's start with why Zutara shippers are upset at Katara 'only' being a healer.

Why?

Well so many KA's seem to forget about The Waterbending Master and what Katara went through simply to get trained in the first place.

How Katara reacted to starting training as a healer:

How she was demeaned for demanding fair treatment and training for Aang:

How she was essentially told to get back in the kitchen:

How her skills were ignored because of sexism:

And the fact that demanding fair treatment for women and her right to fight was literally in her blood:

And let me reiterate, Katara literally says:

Because just like Sokka she is Hakoda's child and fighting is also in her blood.

The discourse behind Katara being only known for healing isn't 'just to try and force her into your #girlboss self insert stereotype' it's because her character's wishes for herself are completely ignored.

So yes, Zutara shippers are upset that Katara is only known as a healer when from season 1 it was made abundantly clear that Katara wanted to be a warrior and by Imprisoned and The Painted Lady she would willingly go to extremes to help others.

Unfortunately none of that showed up in LOK and the recent comics and Zutara shippers were loud about it.

But Bryke fixed it in the film, shouldn't you be happy?

No, because taking her agency like that shouldn't have happened in the first place. Katara was a role model for a lot of girls, the diminishing of character like that in LOK and the comics was a pretty bad blow. And unfortunately all of Bryke's poorly executed retcons feel like hastily placed band aids for quick and easy appeasement instead of an actual correction.

It's not that deep

But it is. Like Katara, Kya and Kanna, I'm a WOC with a legacy of women who have defied sexist customs and fought oppression behind me.

I'd be pretty pissed if my mother was only ever known for birthing me when she pulled a Kanna and moved countries to dodge an arranged marriage but didn’t stop there and fought her way into a male dominated field in the 90's and now owns and runs a business in said field.(Guess who also now works in that same male dominated field and got the position sexism and misogyny barred her mom from?)

And I'm not the only one who Katara's character resonates with to this degree. So yea, people are upset about all those parts of Katara essentially being downplayed or worse, erased.

It's funny how this upset is blamed on shipping when at its core it's actually about how Katara's character is treated post series and that claim ignores fans who also feel this way about Katara and don't ship zutara. It's also pretty toxic to claim that fans who see Katara as a role model are simply self inserting for romantic gratification.

This is already pretty long so I'll address the whole claim that zk's think 'healing is lame' in a part 2.

[zutara]

Credit: not raynna on TikTok

And yet they still have the audacity to accuse this fandom and this ship as being shallow!

[bananabreadcaramel-4]

Something I've been thinking a lot about is that the background characters in marionetta typically remain nameless for several chapters before a very late reveal. Take theo, serena and yarah as examples. This makes it kind of hard writing a fanfic about them, as I would be interested in writing a fic about jathar and his nameless friends.