DISCLAIMER: This is not a judgement of the quality, value, or merits of any of the fics on this list. It's just me being curious about what's popular with the A:TLA fandom on AO3. I was genuinely surprised at some of the results!
Observations and analysis under the cut:
TL:DR, the fandom fucking loves putting Zuko into Situations.
Methodology: I'm including all fics from the first page of results from the most kudos'd, commented, hits, and bookmarks tagged under the Avatar: The Last Airbender (cartoon, 2005) tag on ao3. I am deliberately not including any larger multifandom flash fiction or drabble collections because I don't think they're super relevant. This ended up including 38 fics in total.
I put all the fics into one single spreadsheet in order to compare the differences between fics that are really high on the kudos count but not the hit count, or what has a lot of comments but fewer hits. Basically, I'm throwing a lot of things together to observe what gets engagement and looking at patterns that emerge!
Top 5 most popular fics by hit count:
Salvage - MuffinLance
Fractures - EvieNyx
Embers- Vathara
Towards the Sun - MuffinLance
The Art Of Burning - hella1975
Max: 1,407,170 (Salvage -MuffinLance)
Min: 78,168 (Risking it all - Sreeder)
Average: 349,442
Top 5 most popular fics by kudos count:
Salvage - MuffinLance
The Family You Choose - TunaFishChris
where the stars do not take sides - WitchofEndor
Fractures - EvieNyx
The beginning of a new and brighter birth - aloneintherain
Max: 59,947 (Salvage - MuffinLance)
Min: 3293 (Risking it all - Sreeder)
Average: 19,868
Top 5 most popular fics by number of comments:
The Art Of Burning - hella1975
Salvage - MuffinLance
Fractures - EvieNyx
Towards the Sun - MuffinLance
War Games - Lovely_Elbow_Leech
Max: 13,469 (The Art Of Burning - hella1975)
Min: 358 (Hallowed - Haircrescendo)
Average: 3634
Top 5 most popular fics by number of bookmarks:
absence of heat, excess of destiny - theycallmesuperboy
Salvage - MuffinLance
where the stars do not take sides - WitchofEndor
The Family You Choose - TunaFishChris
The beginning of a new and brighter birth - aloneintherain
Max: 150,317 (absence of heat - theycallmesuperboy)
Min: 430 (Risking it all - Sreeder)
Average: 9297
Highest kudos/hit ratio: Safety First - Haircrescendo (20.36%)
Lowest kudos/hit ratio: My Heart Burns For You - alwaysZutarian (0.89%)
Average kudos/hit ratio: 8.25%
Fic Ratings:
G: 9
T: 18
M: 6
E: 2
Unrated: 3
Popular authors (people who showed up more than once):
Aloneintherain (3)
Haircrescendo (5)
MuffinLance (4)
WitchofEndor (2)
Characters:
Literally all of these fics are Zuko-centric. Not all of them are Zuko-pov but every. single. one. focuses on Zuko as a main character. At least one of the following tags is on every single fic in this list: "The Gaang & Zuko", "Zuko & Zuko's Crew", "Zuko & Iroh" "Zuko & Azula" and "Zuko & [insert gaang member here]"
Relationships:
Ok this is what actually shocked me the most. I fully expected to see more Kataang, Zutara, etc in the top rated fics, but NO! Only 21 out of the 38 fics had any relationship slash tag, and of those, 20/21 were Sokka/Zuko (shoutout to My Heart Burns For You as the token Zutara fic to make it into this list). I did NOT realize Zukka was so popular! Now I'm super curious about what it would be like to run these numbers on FF.net because I know so much A:tla fanfic was written before ao3 existed and most hasn't been cross-posted, and Zukka wasn't a popular ship until more recently.
Other random observations:
There seems to be a pretty even split between post-canon firelord Zuko fics and canon-divergent "Zuko joins the Gaang early" fics.
Only one modern au as far as I could tell! (shoutout to "The Good Vanilla")
We all seem to love a Dadkoda fic
There is a very strong correlation between one-shots and a high kudos/hit ratio.
Seemingly no correlation between word count and number of kudos. The top kudos'd stories were mostly under 10k words, while all the other catergories were dominated by fics in the 100k+ word count.
I didn't really see much correlation between hits, kudos, and comments overall.
There were LOTS of fics that only showed up in one category, which was really interesting! I figured each list would look pretty much the same, and there were several fics that did show up on the front page of every category (Salvage definitely sweeps the board for overall most popular fic), but there was a lot of variation between each list! Some fics had TONS of hits but very few comments, some had truly wild kudos/hit ratios, some were just massively bookmarked.
Thank you for indulging in my nerdiness, and feel free to tell me what I missed or anything you're curious about!
Update: I did it again, this time with Legend of Zelda
A Statistical Analysis of Popular Fanfiction in the Legend of Zelda Fandom on AO3
I like numbers and stats and for some unfathomable reason
Midoriya squints at him. “Is that juice?”
“Yes,” Toshinori says too quickly.
“You’re not supposed to drink alcohol,” Midoriya says, not fooled even for a second.
“I’ve decided that I’m no longer going to define myself by what I can’t do,” Toshinori says imperiously, and then throws up blood on Midoriya’s shoes.
Izuku and Toshinori (chp. 1)
who lives, who dies, who tells your story by aloneintherain (AO3)
Boku no Hero Academia – Teen
#Post Canon #Future Fic #Post Graduation #References to Depression #Fluff #Hurt/Comfort #Memoir writing #Social Media #Parental Yagi Toshinori
Penguin Random House @penguinrandom
It’s alright, now! Why? Because All Might’s autobiography is here! “All Might: The Price and Principle of Peace” is now available!
[Image: The book cover: the title emblazoned over a photograph of All Might’s last triumph. Toshinori’s fist is held aloft, his tattered cape billowing out behind him. With the helicopter spotlights focused on him and the photograph’s exposure turned up high, he looks angelic.]
I am like the biggest sucker for time travel fics.
I have this perfect headcanon for a BNHA scenario where lil hero-student Midoriya and Todoroki are hit by a quirk that sends them into the future, and literally the best plan to keep them safe is to send them to Hero Con because they’ll blend into the crowd while also getting the plus of a relaxing break from the stress of the League.
You get these videos and pictures and scenes throughout the day of Convention goers meeting them and freaking out about their perfect replica suits from such-and-such-a year.
Midoriya freaks out over quirks and spends the whole time gushing while Todoroki is standing there holding some ice creams that they’ve bought and re-freezing Midoriya’s every time it starts to melt because he’s so distracted. Midoriya finally notices after like twenty minutes and gets all flustered and flattered and excited because Todoroki is using his quirk in another helpful, nuanced way.
Videos of Midoriya getting excited and pulling Todoroki along behind him when he notices a booth that has merchandise for their friends.
Todoroki pointing out all the Deku cosplayers and Midoriya crying.
Convention goers being like “I love your dedication to the cosplay. You’re even talking to each other like they did when they were 15. Using formal names and everything”
“Oh my gosh, can you do the Polarize face?”
“Can you do an impression of Deku when—”
*noticing Todoroki with the icecream* “Oh you even have a quirk like Polarize, that’s so cool!”
About Midoriya: “does he have an illusion quirk? Is that why your makeup is so good? Or an analysis quirk? Or is his quirk just, like, tears?”
Midoriya getting a Polarize hoodie (after reassurances that it’s ok to spend money) to wear over his uniform with the credit card that Older Todoroki gave them for the day.
Their older classmates popping in and around the convention to surprise them and keep an eye on them and check in.
Someone trying to tell Midoriya that his costume is off somehow because “Deku didn’t wear his braces like that back in 2XXX”
Midoriya wearing himself out and drifting off in his hoodie, leaning on Todoroki’s warm side while Todoroki gives him a piggyback through the convention hall.
The quirk wearing off and sending them home, only for them to forget what happened, but leaving them feeling refreshed and happy.
Random convention goers who met them being upset that the two of them didn’t win the costume competition, only to find out that they Actually Were Deku and Polarize.
Illustration for aloneintherain (here on tumblr)’s fic When the dead are all living. Its title in my notes is “disaster Peter“, and I feel that tells you all it should about it.
Plus a couple crops of the background. (art here on AO3)
This is a fill for @buckybarnesbingo ‘s square: “bodyguard“
“You’re not the only strong one around here, Chat,” Marinette said. She looked a little winded, but she wasn’t struggling to hold him up.
This close up, he could see the freckles on the bridge of her nose. He could see how that smug smile lit up her eyes. He could feel the strain of her arms—and wow, okay, he really wasn’t the only person around here with muscles.
Six times Marinette carried Adrien (plus one time he carried her).
Din crossed the room in three strides and swept his kid into his arms, pressing in his little face into the hollow of his throat. Grogu babbled frantically up at him. His clawed hands scrambled for Din’s shirt, trying to latch onto him even though his wrists were handcuffed together.
“I’m here,” Din said, voice shaking. “I’m here, Grogu. Buir is here.”
Summary: Somehow, Peter continues to run into a dangerous, homeless man around New York. Somehow, Peter avoids being killed. Somehow, they become something like friends. (Peter and Bucky’s unlikely friendship, following Bucky's road to recovery).
My thoughts: This fic is so, so precious to me. I’ve always loved me some good Peter Parker Befriends Other Heroes of the Marvel Universe fics, and that describes this story to a tee. Written prior to Peter’s actual debut into the MCU, this Peter Parker is more like either Tobey Maguire’s or Andrew Garfield’s version of Peter, both in personality and because he’s quite a bit older than actual MCU Spidey, but regardless, it’s a super fun time. Bucky is still homeless and wandering through New York, unsure of how human he is and how much of HYDRA’s weapon still remains, super traumatized and super not getting the help he needs, and their first couple of meetings are less than ideal ways to strike up a friendship. But Peter’s kind, determined nature shines through even here, and their relationship is so lovely. Peter might not be a trained therapist, but he would never leave a man to suffer through panic attacks alone. It’s so sweet. Also I gotta tell ya, the brief mentions of Peter working with/befriending other Marvel characters like Daredevil and Deadpool offscreen are just *chef’s kiss*.
Bucky Barnes Recovering, Identity Issues, peter continues to regret everything, mentions of torture, peter is an embarrassing human being, bucky is remembering how to be a human being, Friendship, Peter & Bucky is platonic, Winter Soldier Trial, Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Hurt/Comfort, Bucky Barnes Returns, Recovery, Identity Reveal
(Please feel free to REBLOG as a signal boost for this author and this story if you enjoyed it!)
