#pro-zutara

[wishingforatypewriter]

Ship and let ship always, but I did have to let my fwb know that this is a zutara household before we avatar and chill.

[scuttleboat]

Zutara aka Katara-Zuko community on Livejournal

I used to be a mod on here when the show was airing (as @rashaka).

I read recently that Livejournal may be soon taken down entirely as a platform. It hasn't been itself in 15 years but I will be sad to lose all of the fandom content that existed there through the 2000s. Zutara fandom was a huge part of my fandom experience and I have a soft place in my heart for it.

If anyone wants a time capsule, look at this ship community and go back to the dates when the show was airing. See what people thought about the ships, the showrunners, the fandom.

Some highlights

Episode discussion: Cossroads of Destiny

Episode discussion: The Southern Raiders

Episode discussion: Ember Island Players

Episode discussion: Sozin's Comet

rec: large rec lists

fan-fiction

On a related note, you may enjoy the ATLA tag for the ship-manfiesto community, which has two Zutara manifestos and some for the other major pairings as well.

For reference, here's the tags on the katar_zuko community:

⚠️: Do not download anything from the ads on this site. Livejournal has been compromised as a platform owned by the Russian government for years now.

In that regard, some posts are likely gone/lost/deleted. Many of the links to videos or art no longer work. This is not a full snapshot of the community, but it can give insight into how ephemeral fanworks are when they live primarily in social media platforms. The internet is not forever after all.

[kachuusha]

I may be a bit biased but most of the most ridiculous takes I've seen on TSR come from anti zutaras. most of these takes revolve around painting zuko as the devil's advocate who "manipulated katara into taking revenge" when the whole time, zuko never even said about what katara should or should not do? the other two were telling katara how she should feel, what's right, what's wrong, accusing her of murder when what katara needed in TSR was to find the answer HERSELF once she locates yonrha. she does not need others yapping in her ear about what's morally correct, how she should deal with her trauma, or how she should grieve? only katara herself is gonna be able to answer that.

[xoangel-dust]

Am I the only one who's tired of being baited when it comes to Zutara?? Like they've given us more than what the cartoon has, even including the paintedspirit into their story and gave them way more interactions in season 2 of which yes I am very grateful for of course.

Not to mention being called delusional for even thinking ZK could possibly become canon in this and yet again being harassed for it. I'll always love ZK of course but to be baited ALL the time it's extremely frustrating and having to deal with the mocking too is exhausting.

[sweet-holic]

I have been a Zutara shipper for years and I will die on that hill.

But dude I acknowledge she has ended up with Aang and got kids together is canon, I ain't gonna change the canon.

I simply don't care.

I'm not hating on Aang or any other character I love ATLA.

It is just that kataang is so uncomfortable for me to watch and I understand why until years later because I myself was for a while the principal caretaker of my brothers and others around me, so I always could see myself in Katara mothering everyone except Zuko, so she and Aang just feel like siblings to me.

Of course there are 100 or so more reasons why I love Zutara better.

But the fact that Byrke, and actual fck adult, is the greatest Zutara hater is so pathetic, because he's not a kataang shipper, he's a Zutara hater only, if he likes so much his ship then made it good, but he only focus on destabilise Zutara as an angry little gremlin, because the Zutara arguments are just that strong.

Even if not romantic Katara and Zuko have a great relationship and companionship, a development as characters based on their interaction, the highest pinpoint of why Zuko is one of the best redemption examples ever was highlighted by him taking a lightning for Katara, the person he has to make the most amends to. If Byrke has to erase all that completely is because he absolutely fear it.

Honestly he has 20 years to show in a movie why your canon ship was the best ever for what it last because it was also canon that Aang died young, and he achieved exactly the contrary.

[colduaire]

#sameenergy

[thevictorianghost]

They put Katara in the corner

Okay so story time.

Forgive me, this is ramble-y! But I have a lot of... Thoughts(tm).

I re-watched ATLA this summer with my parents. It was the first time I was watching it with them, I watched it on my own when it ran on TV as a kid (in translated form at the time, because I didn’t speak English back then) and re-watched it in English as an adult last year with my best friend.

All right. So this re-watch with my parents. I skipped what I consider to be filler episodes (as my Dad has trouble understanding English, he prefers plot-relevant episodes, and I obliged because I dislike some of those episodes). I especially skipped episodes like The Fortune Teller, The Great Divide, The Beach and The Headband, amongst a few others (we didn’t skip a lot because ATLA has A LOT of great episodes!). I still explained what was happening in them and why they WEREN’T relevant to the plot.

(BTW as soon as I said “the Fortune Teller says Katara will find a husband in a very powerful bender”, my Dad was like “she’s gonna end up with the Avatar, obviously”, but my Mom immediately went “nah, nah, nah, just watch, she’s gonna end up with the Fire Nation guy, what’s his name again?” I love my Mom.)

As soon as the series ended I started to rant about Kat/aang and Mai/ko not making any sense. My Dad was so mad that M/ai and Zuko ended up together. I actually got to have an hour-long conversation with him about how Sozin’s Comet was disappointing, how it regressed A/ang’s character development and how Zuko and Katara SHOULD have ended up together. While he wasn’t that convinced during Season 1 (his favourite character was A/ang back then, but as the series progressed he told me the heart of the show was with Iroh and Zuko, especially in Seasons 2 and 3), now he ships Zutara.

Though she liked Zutara better, my Mom was... okay with Kat/aang and Ma/iko. She said “if they’re happy then we should be happy for them!”

Until I showed her this panel from the comics.

(Image description: Aang is surrounded by fangirls who compliment him on his show of airbending while Katara sits in the corner, forgotten.)

My Mom looked at the panel and then she told me, without missing a beat:

“Nobody puts Baby in the corner.”

Dirty Dancing is one of her favourite movies, of course.

That’s when it hit me. That’s exactly what Bry/ke did with Katara in the comics. They did what Baby’s father tried to do to Baby in Dirty Dancing.

(Image description: A screencap of Dirty Dancing where Johnny watches as Baby sits in a corner at a table, next to her father). There is light blue text badly written by me. An arrow points at “Baby in the corner” and another points at Johnny “The “dark and brooky boy who doesn’t care about her.””).

Except he does care about her.

(Image description: Zuko and Katara hugging in the episode The Southern Raiders)

(Image description: Johnny and Baby hold each other on a stage after he’s taken her out of the corner. They’re about to dance the final, most iconic dance sequence in the entire movie.)

So here’s my point. I’m so sad that Bry/ke took one look at Zutara and said “No way, kids! It wouldn’t have worked, it’s just dark and intriguing!”

The father in Dirty Dancing/Bry/ke wanted a perfect little girl who stayed silent and sat in the corner.

Who obeyed (”I shouldn’t have doubted Mike and Bryan!” anyone??)

Who didn’t speak her mind, who didn’t “dance with the wrong sort” (as in Zuko and Katara’s friendship never really being mentioned again and them never sharing any screentime in LOK).

At the end of ATLA, Bry/ke basically said: A/ang and Katara belong together so she’s going to follow him around like a puppy, not have a personality of her own, and sit in the corner to watch.

They put Katara in the corner.

(Also thank you to @araeph​ because I found the comic picture thanks to your Katara, Consumed by Destiny: The Promise!)

[xoangel-dust]

Zuko: is worried about going back home to his abusive father and is trying to tell this to his girlfriend.

Mai: shuts him down and says she only asked if he was cold. Tells him he is betraying his country for wanting to fight against his abusive and evil father who plans on killing hundreds of innocent people. Threatens him to not break up with her again.

Mai/Maiko stan:Maiko isn't abusive!1!1!1! Zutara is abusive because he tied her to a tree and she threatened him to not hurt Aang1!1!1!1! Katara clearly hates Zuko!1!1!1!