Mercedes

Pensuave ;)

[madelynhernandezart]

@zutaraweek Day 2: Counterpart

Based roughly on a uh heated discussion/misunderstanding with my boyfriend many many moons ago during the infancy of our relationship lol

[opheliaaesque]

zks: well i think aang was really immature for snapping at katara - who’s also a genocide survivor despite her trauma constantly being sidelined to emphasize her boyfriend - like that -

kas & bryke simultaneously: he’s HOT and RIPPED and TALL and katara LITERALLY invested in bitcoin and she is SO dickmatized because HE’S SO HOT so it literally doesn’t matter and he’s HOT and can’t you see HES JUST A BOY ???????????

[opheliaaesque]

apparently! it’s okay that he’s forever a manchild because he has broad shoulders and rippling muscles! discourse ended guys!

[mewcedes]

If Aang acted like the avatar he’s supposed to be, then there would be way less Zutara stans - just saying.

I only dislike Kataang because the boy never grew up! Never had anything to do with looks. It had to do with respecting Katara as a person and not a surrogate parent.

Thanks Bryke for keeping up with traditions.

[zutarasluvr]

cuddly/huggy zutara

[nocturnalmug]

The heir's escape

Toph: "Got any space for me?"

Aang: "Always."

inspired by something I'm working on for "the flying boar's rebirth"

My two favorite runaways back at it again.

[mewcedes]

“Two favourite runaways”

I love it 🥰

[janadoesstuffwrong]

Do I think Zuko and Katara are going to be in a romantic relationship at the end? No.

But do I think Katara and Aang are going to be in one instead? Also no.

Open-ended finale for the win!!!

[mewcedes]

Group hug ending!!!!!!!

Honestly better than pairing people up at ages 12 and 14.

(please say yes please say yes)

[bluebellss1]

I always found it suss how in the avatar finale, right after Zuko takes that lightning bolt for Katara the characters are just instantly separated. They quickly shove Zuko’s irrelevant goth girlfriend back in the frame and Zuko’s like “wow lol I forgot you were in the prison my bad” and she comes and threatens him to never leave her again and they kiss and it’s like….ok? Then Katara just takes A/ang to the rooftop and kisses him even though her last interactions with him were him throwing tantrums and forcing kisses on her. So she’s automatically forgiven him and decided she accepts his advances? Why? What was her thought process? Or was it not shown because she was just being presented as a trophy? And Zuko and Katara don’t get to have any closure or talk about what happened because their natural chemistry overwhelms the awkward and forced kisses the other pairings had lol

[tooth317]

I think after Aang got over his crush on Katara he would be the biggest Zutara shipper. He’d be a wing man for both of them, Zuko’s best man at their wedding, uncle Aang to their kid. I think he’d love them together.

[mewcedes]

Aang would be a better uncle than father!

Not sorry, canon proved it.

[sokkastyles]

"But Gyatso was only talking about spreading his teachings! How dare you say that a victim of genocide and colonialism is condoning those things!"

Here's the thing, friends: Gyatso is not real. The Air Nomads are not real. Nor is the Fire Nation, Roku, the Avatar, none of them are real.

But the ideas used to justify imperialism and oppression ARE real, and it's a testament to how the quality of the writing has dropped post-series that the same franchise that produced "the Reckoning of Roku" and had Gyatso speak unironically about "going abroad and spreading their teachings" to "backwards" people also produced this:

The second is probably one of the best and most thematically meaningful speeches in the series about how people are not immune to xenophobia and toxic nationalism.

The first is actually being used in the text to support centrism. And then says nothing meaningful about pacifism and decides to focus on veganism instead, as if those were the same thing.

[archives468833]

The series uses pacifism as a cover-up for their liberalism and centrism. They used the Air nomads as a way to make their liberal politics look more "enlightened."

[qiimuna]

Aang pissed me off so badly in the movie.

I love my son to death but GOD did Bryke make him unbearable in the film.

"You don't understand!-" He decides to say to his WIFE who is ANOTHER genocide survivor. In fact , argue with the wall, I'd say Katara has a heavier weight to carry compared to Aang because she SAW her people get genocided right in front of her. Unlike Aang who ran away and only found out 100 years later that all his people are gone. Bryke had a shining opportunity to make them bond over the fact they are the 'only' ones of their kind left, but no, you can't expect much from two dudes who are so weird over Katara.

Oh but I guess it's fine! Aang literally just got them all killed and nearly go to the other side, but at least Katara was able to save the day with healing! You know, like EVERY OTHER TIME. It's okay gang! Katara loves Aang enough to forgive him, despite the fact he didn't say SHIT (ANYTIME TO ASK FOR FORGIVENESS BESIDES WHEN HE ACCIDENTALLY BURNT HER HANDS,) because Katara will save the day and Aang's problems like every other time!

Ahhahahahaaaaaaa!

AAAAAAHHH

[mewcedes]

So whack, like if you support their relationship, how can you support him dismissing her lived experience over and over again?

And then Katara just forgets it all happens, doesn’t address his mistakes at all ever and everyone gets to move on.

Could you imagine if Katara did anything like that? Oh the humanity!

[y0uri]

like/reblog if you save

[turtleduckzuko]

Zuko: *makes everyone tea*

Zuko: *awkwardly tries to juggle*

Zuko: *fire bends in the earth kingdom to cheer a girl up*

Zuko: *only remembers the punch line of a joke*

Zuko: *talks to a frog in perpetration for a social encounter*

Zuko: *impersonates his uncle to somehow get wisdom*

Zuko: *tries to be encouraging and ends up coming up with ‘silver sandwich’”

People: OoOoo Zuko is a bad boy

[stargirl-judooz]

Oh yes. Pure evil.

[septembre-songstress]

it’s a new day. things are looking up, uncle

[stargirl-judooz]

Perfection 🥰

[strawberrymilkyumyum]

and if katara was my wife?? I’d be doing all of the chores for her and never making her lift a finger unless she wanted to. Sea prunes for dinner every night. I’d laugh at all of her jokes. I’d give her new water skins and learn how to braid her hair the way she likes it. I would never make her feel left out with her own friends. I’d listen when she wanted to talk about her mother. I’d ask about her. I would do everything for her. I wouldn’t run away when things got hard. She’d get the love she deserves.

[mxadrian779]

[oxyintelligent]

This is what I mean when I say that ATLA ended up being liberal propaganda, despite the show using the aesthetics of revolution.

“you guys know that murder is like....a bad thing....right? especially for a 14 year old? you guys know that revenge murder isn't a healthy strategy?” They are saying this about a genocide survivor seeking retribution against the genocidal colonizer who burned her mother alive. The show forces the audience to root for said genocidal colonizer to be forgiven because that’s what the main character advocates for.

This is because liberals believe that the oppressed can’t ever retaliate against their oppressor, they have to fight back peacefully and without causing any damage. An oppressed person wanting to use revolutionary violence is immediately labelled as “revenge” and demonized.

I’m going to be very forward, in a time where the biggest superpower in the world is funding a genocide, it’s dangerous to approach media that deals with themes of imperialism through this liberal reductionism.

[sokkastyles]

All this is very true, but the post is also just ridiculous for trying to lecture fans of a fantasy show about how "murder is bad."

And "especially for a fourteen year old," like, whaaaat?

Aside from the issue of labelling trying to seek justice for genocide as "murder," whether or not murder is wrong has absolutely nothing to do with age. It doesn't become "especially bad" depending on how young someone is. Either it's murder, and therefore always wrong, or it's a justified form of killing that can be okay in certain circumstances.

Also, Katara is not a real fourteen year old. She can bend the elements. She's a martial arts master. She's fighting in a war and travelling by herself with only other children for company. She's a character in a cartoon show and nobody blinks an eye at her doing adult things. I actually think that if there are conditions on whether murder is "especially bad," I think murder should be more okay for Katara to commit.

Also, I said some of this in my reply to that post, but what makes Aang an unhealthy and controlling partner isn't the fantasy context in which this even occurs, or even the political context mentioned above. It's that Aang is immediately dismissive when Katara brings up the idea of getting justice and closure, immediately assumes the worst, and when Katara comes back and is not an unhealthy mess or forever corrupted, and her relationship with Zuko becomes the most wholesome it has ever been, Aang automatically assumes it was because Katara did what he thought she should do, and she angrily tells him that he is wrong. And then immediately in the following episodes becomes even closer to Zuko and distant from Aang, who continues to be an ass to her.

[emletish-fish]

It's interesting looking at this as a much older viewer.

This episode has caused so much meta and discourse precisely because it has such a black and white view of an exceptionally complex issue. Bryke even said that in their opinion Aang is meant to be the shoulder angel and Zuko the shoulder devil, as if the quest for justice and closure was inherently bad.

Unless the character embodies a Ghandi style approach to non-violence, as Aang does - they immediately get whacked with the problematic/villian stick. Jet and Hama are both so villanised for their actions.

It's implied that the Fire Nation village is Jet and the Freedom fighters old hometown that was forcibly and violently ethnically cleansed and then settled by the Fire Nation. Only the youngest kids survived this ethnic cleansing and fled to the forest. All the adults they grew up with were murdered and their home stolen. No wonder they want to rid the valley of the Fire Nation.

Hama thought her people were exterminated and she was the last surviving southern water bender.

Katara, our lady of constant maternal duty, kindness and care to all people, tireless caretaker and defender of the downtrodden, is immediately labelled vengeful and hysterical by the narrative for expressing a desire for justice.

I think ATLA is a wonderful show but it's definitely a product of its time. Early 2000s America had a very strong view on oppressed people, and that definitely colours how rebellion is characterised in this series.

[lady-iskra]

Bryke even said that in their opinion Aang is meant to be the shoulder angel and Zuko the shoulder devil, as if the quest for justice and closure was inherently bad.

Ugh... the jaw-clenching every time I read their takes on the characters. I read this specific interview with them and Elizabeth Welsh, who wrote TSR (can't find it anymore, unfortunately), and she retorted that no one was supposed to be "the devil" or "the angel". Zuko gave her a chance for closure, and Katara made her own choice and wasn't influenced by anyone.

This screenshotted take annoys me so much. Why is it that every time I see a TSR take in the ATLA main fandoms or from some K@taangers, it's about who of the boys was a good influence on Katara or a bad one? Never about Katara herself, that she made the decision on her own? That reeks of misogyny and often unfortunately internalized misogyny. All this so that Aang can be the big hero of this story, when it's actually the one time it's just about Katara. Not her helping anyone or raising her voice for justice: Just about her, and she deserves that.

Very telling that when it comes to TSR discourse, certain individuals also make Aang out to be "the wise angel" and Zuko the one who "pushes or manipulates her, but in the end admits Aang was right", when the episode itself tells us that Aang was unfair to Katara and even admits later that she needs this and Katara herself says that she'll never forgive this man.

[catsith21]

That take really gets to me too. This episode was supposed to be all about Katara’s agency, and her decisions that she made along her journey. She didn’t choose to spare her mother’s murder because of anything any of the boys told her that episode. She made it because of her own moral compass.

That take, stripes all three characters of their nuances and looks at them through a limited black and white lens. And that is so aggravating.

[lady-iskra]

Yes! Why can't she have her own agency? Why is she either pushed or manipulated (nonsense, btw) if people don't like what she is doing, or she listened to the other oh-so-wise boy? Why can't she just have her own agency, especially if the episode made it very clear that she didn't listen to anyone? And she sure didn't listen to Zuko who just opened some doors for her, and, other than that, stood aside. So, there was nothing she could be influenced by.

I am not even against Aang telling Katara that he is worried or that he is giving advice for this journey, I think this is a very natural thing to do as a friend. But the way he did so was very unfair, to put it nicely.

When I first watched the episode, I wasn't a shipper. But I already loved Katara so much and thought, "Oh, now she finally gets the chance to face the man who caused her severe trauma." As for Zuko: He gave her a chance to do so because he wanted to make up for what he did. What he also LITERALLY says. As for Aang: He was unfair to her, but learned his lesson by the end of the episode when Katara told him that she'll never forgive this man. So, when I read some of the takes in the fandom from Aang stans and Zutara antis, I was baffled how someone is able to misread an episode with such a clear message just so this one boy can be proven as right all along and the wisest of them all?

Perhaps I should finally stop giving it too much thought. Fandom can be insane. But, yeah, it's of course Zutara shippers who are misreading the episode. I haven't seen one Zutara shipper who added something into the episode or left things out to make the message a lot different. People of course can have different takes or opinions on one episode, but if you have to re-write it in your mind, then it is fanfiction at this point.

[azuremart]

My favorite headcanon is Kaya spent way too much time with Uncle Zuko and it shows.

She was definitely taking notes from him. From the hairstyle to the facial expressions (and I’ve gathered plenty of screenshot proof). 😄

The new art of young Kaya II from her solo comic, along with the leaked footage from the upcoming "The Legend of Aang" movie, has officially convinced me of one incredibly precious detail.

Have you noticed Kaya’s hairstyle? Look closely at those loose side-bangs and the way her hair is framed. Now look at Uncle Zuko.

This is now my official headcanon: Zuko, our favorite dutiful 'girl dad', used to braid young Kaya's hair when she was a kid because it was the only hairstyle he actually knew how to do by himself!

He probably just learned a simple, practical style that also happened to be traditional in the Fire Nation, and little Kaya loved it so much that she decided to stick with it.

Young Kaya to Elder Kaya: Consistently pulls her hair back and leaves those long side-bangs. This is pure Zuko (or even young Azula) aesthetic. It is a very distinct fashion marker of the Fire Nation.

It’s so interesting how Kaya completely avoids traditional Water Tribe hairstyles for some reason. Water Tribe hair is always all about intricate braids, elaborate twists, ponytails, and a bunch of authentic accessories like blue beads, ribbons or hair wraps.

This isn't a traditional Water Tribe style at all. It is uniquely Uncle Zuko's style. He was the closest family friend, and this detail basically screams that he was that "cool uncle" who spent a lot of time babysitting the kids.

Uncle Zuko hairstyle… and fighting style.

The facial expression identity between these two characters just amuses me so much😅:

I just can't stop comparing screenshots of these two. I have no idea how much time Zuko spent with this family for their daughter to completely pick up his facial expressions.

Either that, or I have a very serious question for Katara.😏

[mewcedes]

Ok love it!

I would also add that if it’s not from Zuko and Alta spending time together, then Katara and Zuko’s similarities are shining through

[alrightzuko]