Bryke’s insecurities of Zutara, even though they already made Kat/ang canon!
Zutara shippers: Look! Zuko pushed Suki to save Katara from the rubble. Katara is literally his priority. Bryke: Oh, hell no. I’m gonna make Zuko save Toph in a similar way so you guys will shut up about it.
Zutara shippers: Zuko literally jumped in front of lightning to save Katara, and then Katara healed him. And the nuance, the slow motion, that’s so romantic! Bryke: Romantic?! Fine, I’ll just erase his burn scar and act like that scene never happened. Oh, but Aang’s scar has to stay, though, just to remind you that the spirit water that almost healed Zuko's scar ended up bringing Aang back to life.
Zutara shippers: The strength of Zutara's chemistry is in their narrative buildup and character growth. They went from enemies to trust to betrayal, and finally resolved their conflict with "But, I'm ready to forgive you." That makes their hug deeper than a kiss. Bryke: Well, Aang and Katara don’t have a narrative that deep, and they didn’t even resolve the non-consensual kiss conflict. But... I'll just make them kiss. Look, they're gonna kiss again, and again, and again.
Zutara shippers: After Katara forgives Zuko, they get so close. Katara comforts Zuko before he meets Iroh, and Zuko only trusts Katara to help him facing Azula. Bryke: Woah, that’s a threat to our canon. Okay, we need to cut down their interactions drastically. Plus, they won't even meet in TLOK. No sharing the same frame for them!
And then canon shippers confidently said that Bryke did all this because Zutara shippers antagonized them as creators, and that personal grudge made them refuse to give Zutara any fanservice.
But keeping characters in-character shouldn’t just be about fanservice, right?
Zutara shippers questioning where Zuko's scar or why Zuko and Katara barely interact is completely valid because it's a core part of the plot, not just begging for fanservice.
Pretending their scenes never happened just because the writers hate Zutara and the shippers would ruins the development they made themselves.
