#aang salt

[ceruleanwhore]

Aang As a Father, in Response to LoK

⚠️CAUTION⚠️

This post is full of Aang and kataang hate. If you like Aang and/or ship kataang in any capacity, scroll on for the sake of your mental and emotional wellbeing. Thank you!

When Avatar: Legend of Korra came out, I remember there being tons of discussion around how much Aang sucked as a father and how surprised everyone was, even some of us who never really liked him as a character. However, I’ve been thinking about it today, and the conclusion I’ve reached is that not only is it not surprising that Aang was not a very good parent, but it was inevitable. The one thing I disagree on that I’ll get to at some point in here is how he sucked at parenting in canon as opposed to how I think he was set up to fail at it given the direction he was headed with his canon characterization.

I’d like to start by getting into that characterization and discussing some of the elements of Aang’s canon personality that I think are relevant. In the series, yes, as we all know and as Aang stans love to point out ad nauseum, he’s just a mere bitty child, but we can also see some of his flaws that, even in his 12-year-old self, have some serious consequences at times. Canon Aang is a messy cocktail of toxic positivity, selfishness, avoidant tendencies, impulsivity, and a dangerous lack of emotional control. He does things like casually throw away the fate of the whole world over his god-given right to have a crush on a girl and then, in the next season, compare that same girl’s experience of losing her mother to his radically different experience of losing his pet for a couple weeks as he tells her to get over it. He also has a tendency to go into the freaking avatar state when he’s upset about something and cause serious damage to everything around him until Mommy calms him down. Even when he doesn’t go into the avatar state, he does things like verbally abuse his friends and abandon them in the desert when Appa goes missing.

All of this is completely relevant to who a hypothetical adult Aang would be and what he’d be like because, all throughout the series, there is never any accountability from Aang. He literally never takes responsibility for the things he does and makes amends or even just apologizes in a meaningful way because he never has to — the narrative makes sure of that. That’s the key part of Aang’s flaws, that Bryke genuinely thought they made a perfect good guy and had nary a crumb of self awareness that they accidentally made him a raging asshole who is constantly being rewarded for his shitty behavior. Even when he’s clearly in the wrong, like with the Bato situation in s1, they somehow turn it around so yeah, I guess he fesses up and apologizes but, at the end of the episode, Sokka and Katara are apologizing to him and there’s no lasting consequences for the shitty thing he did. Because of this crucial element of the story and Aang’s character, it is very likely that he’d go his whole life being a dickhead while continuing to never have consequences for that and somehow managing to maintain his friendships and relationship with Katara.

I want to kind of go through these one at a time, starting with the lack of accountability. Since Aang is the avatar, literally no one in the whole world of atla actually has authority over him, at least once he’s an adult. His peers are his equals but, even though Katara, Toph, and Zuko taught him his bending, they don’t really have any tangible authority over him as his teachers. Combine that with the fact that none of Aang’s friends really ever criticize him or hold him accountable for his actions and it becomes very clear that, as a father, he will never actually be held accountable for being a bad parent. What goes with this is that he also won’t be open to advice because he assumes he always knows best and the narrative also supports and rewards that. Between the two, he’s set up so that when he inevitably turns out to be a lousy father, there will be nothing anyone can say (assuming they would even say anything at all) to help him improve.

With this in mind, let’s start into the actual character flaws that, as concluded above, won’t be corrected at any point, starting with the toxic positivity. One of Aang’s most recognizable characteristics is his bright, cheery disposition which can be a good thing but also leads to him being very dismissive of anyone else’s problems or negative emotions. As a parent, he would never take his children’s problems seriously and would simply brush them off and tell his kids to practice detachment and just let go of whatever is bothering them, regardless of how serious the issue is or how much it matters to the kid. This will teach the kids both not to even try to bring their problems to at least one of their parents and also that any problem they have is actually inconsequential, so even when they do have really big, serious issues in life, they won’t be able to recognize it as such and get whatever help they might need. It also will convey to them that their own father just doesn’t really care about them, at least not enough to engage with them in any capacity about anything serious.

Next up is Aang’s selfishness. Throughout atla, we see time and time again that Aang struggles greatly with prioritizing literally anyone else over his own comfort and desires. He was more than willing to sacrifice the whole world for his ability to avoid having to engage in conflict and then, in season 2, he showed that he was 100% willing to sacrifice the whole world for his crush on Katara. It’s not just that he tends to thoughtlessly give into his impulses and desires without giving thought to how it affects others, it’s also that, because of who he is, that has the potential to cause immense damage and he still doesn’t care. As a father, he would always put himself before his wife and his children. He would treat Katara at least as badly and unfairly as he did in canon and his children would have the lovely experience of watching that and also growing up in a household where their wants and needs don’t really matter to their own father.

Another key factor when it comes to Aang’s personality is his avoidant tendencies. We see multiple times throughout the series just how far he’ll go to avoid doing things he doesn’t want to do, like preventing the world from complete destruction. In his household, I imagine he’d want no part of any of the real, ‘messy’ aspects of parenthood and would just have Katara do all those things. Anything to do with the mess of child care (changing diapers, cleaning up spit up, any sort of wound care for scraped knees, etc.), conflict resolution between quarreling siblings, or correction of misbehavior would fall to her. He, like plenty of real men, would only want to do the cute, fun parts of parenthood, like taking the kids to Disney, while making Mom the ‘bad guy’ who has to do all the real work. 

Then there’s also the impulsivity. Aang tends to get these ideas of things he wants to do and then, without any further thought, just goes and does them. This can be pretty harmless when it’s something like wanting to go penguin sledding and then going off and doing it but, as we’ve seen, there’s plenty of times where it isn’t, like when he hides Hakoda’s correspondence from Katara and Sokka in s1 because he’s feeling pissy. In parenthood, I think this is where we ended up with the unfair treatment showed in LoK because it’s his impulsivity driving it, but I don’t actually think he’d be out here treating his kids differently based on bending abilities, I think they’d all be pretty equally getting the short end of the stick from him. 

The way I see his impulsivity coming out with his family is either with grabbing the kids to go do something on a whim (like riding the elephant koi) or going off on his own or with Katara on some spur of the moment trip that leaves their kids alone or drags them away from home for weeks at a time with no notice. If they’d leave the kids alone while going off without them, that could lead to trauma around neglect and abandonment while, if they take the kids with them, the kids get stuck being dragged along and then ignored while Aang goes off to do all the stuff he’s there for that the kids weren’t really ever supposed to actually be part of. I think that, with stuff like this, the avoidance, and the toxic positivity, he’d think that he’s setting himself up to be the cool, fun dad with Katara being made out to be the ‘bad guy’ when, in truth, he’s out here fucking up his children and they’re going to know and hate him for it in the end.

The last part is the matter of his inability to regulate his emotions. It’s bad enough for anyone to have to sit there and watch as the same toxic positivity dickhead then struggles with anger issues he never even so much as apologizes for, but for his kids, I’m sure it’s unbearable. My dad has struggled with anger issues my whole life, as have I, but we take responsibility and we’ve both spent over two decades working on ourselves, trying to get better. Aang would never do that in any capacity. For his children, they’d get this environment where they can never be upset at all because it bothers Dad but then Dad can fly off into the fucking avatar state as soon as he’s even mildly inconvenienced. This model of ‘you being upset is just a little inconvenience you need to get over but when Dad’s upset it’s a huge deal and he’s actually allowed to be upset’ would be downright infuriating to live with and would definitely contribute to their children’s childhood trauma. It’s not just that you’re not allowed to be upset, it’s also that you always have to be walking on eggshells trying not to set this guy off.

Another thing I would add to this last point is something I learned from my family that I think is relevant here. My dad genuinely thought he was totally normal and didn’t have any anger issues until my brother and I were born, and he also was always really great with other people’s kids and never had problems there until he was working on the railroad with two babies at home. Yes, we’ve already seen Aang’s anger issues in canon, but I would also speculate that his mood and stuff would get worse once Tenzin’s born. This could either lead to him being absent for most of the kids’ early childhoods as he’d just avoid being around them if they’re triggering him or his anger issues could get worse and more prevalent once there’s kids in the mix. Either would be detrimental to his children’s mental health.

So I guess my point here is that LoK having it so Aang’s whole issue with fatherhood is that he treated his kids unequally doesn’t really cover the ways in which he’s set up to be a terrible father. I really don’t think favortism would even be an issue (I think all 3 kids would get dragged around to air nomad stuff, not just Tenzin) but Lord knows there’s other issues to be considered here. As a father, Aang would be selfish, impulsive, dismissive, thoughtless, and hypocritical as well as probably struggling with completely unchecked anger issues. His children would have trauma because of him and they would hate him, but not because he would leave two behind while dragging the eldest around on vacations. The cherry on top of the shit sundae of Aang’s fatherhood is that he would have no self awareness whatsoever as all of this would go unchecked by his wife and friends, so he would genuinely believe that he’s a good, fun, loving father all the way up to the moment of his death.

#anti aang #aang critical #aang slander #aang salt #atla #avatar #avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #a:tla #avatar meta #atla meta

[dragynkeep]

i don't really understand the argument that aang should've killed ozai. n1. from a realistic pov, its a kids show, it's not gonna be game of thrones. but from a writing perspective he is the last air nomad, not just the last airbender. being a nomad is different to being an airbender as its the cultural aspect of it- aang carries the weight of being the last of both. he doesn't want to kill ozai because the monks believe all life is sacred, and by killing ozai, there will be no nomads left, as he felt he would've abandoned his culture.

i don't know what would've happened if he hadn't discovered a way to remove ozais bending, but i do know that it literally doesn't matter if he killed him or not. ozai loses either way, he suffers either way. the people of the other nations, including the ones from the air temples who were murdered, still get their justice because he is still being held to what he did and punished. arguably, being stripped of his bending and locked in a cell to rot is more of a punishment than death. and also, then zuko becomes fire lord. meaning if he wants, he could have ozai executed and nobody could do anything about it. the end circumstances were the same either way. aang not killing ozai was not bad, the people still got their justice, arguably more because ozai was sentenced to suffer like he inflicted on them.

the entire issue with this is twofold in that aang is not only responsible for himself & without the magical lion turtles, the earth kingdom would've been destroyed.

"we don't know what would've happened if he hadn't discovered a way to remove ozai's bending" but we do, ozai was in the process of it. ozai would've razed the earth kingdom to the ground in pursuit of his new world & continued further on with mass genocides & oppressions of non fire nation folk as he blatantly said on screen. he was doing this while aang was still quibbling with his nonviolence ethos.

& the nonviolence isn't even reflective of the air nomads in the show: we literally see in the first book that monk gyatso murked at least 20 - 30 fire nation soldiers in order to preserve his own life & the life of other air nomads fleeing.

& monk gyatso isn't the only airbender nomad to choose violence as a defensive measure, avatar yangchen also does. she straight up tells aang that while he has these cultural ethos, he isn't just responsible for himself anymore. he is responsible for the entire world & with that comes having to make hard choices even if he doesn't personally agree with them because that's his job.

here we see aang being confronted with the fact that his idealized caricature of his own culture is not the truthful representation through both monk gyatso & yangchen setting it straight: the air nomads were not devoted, peaceful spirits willing to follow a non violence ethos straight to their death, they would protect themselves. aang is responsible for protecting the world, even when he's confronted with that he accepts it.

it's only through sheer bullshittery that we get the lion turtles who show him the ability to remove bending — which then came with it's own host of ethical issues further in the series so it's not like this is a null harm issue — & even then it took a specific plot rock to the back to get him to put this into action. aang was losing, he was going to die & it's delusional to think that him following his non violence ethos to his death at the expense of a kingdom dependent on him is the "correct" choice.

especially because we've also seen aang kill before in self defense. while in the avatar spirit yes but what was to stop him from doing the same to ozai while in that same avatar spirit state. this whole devotion to a bastardization of a marginalized culture irl written by white men who have never had to face a racialized violence as the basis of aang's decision "not to kill" is borderline insulting.

also in respect to "this isn't game of thrones": people have died on screen. even as early as book 1 we were featuring on screen deaths & if a child affected by the brutality of war like jet can die violently on screen, then so can the imperialistic, genocidal dictator hellbent on again, burning an entire kingdom & not stopping there.

this whole argument hinges on the plot saving aang's ass by not letting him make that hard decision, instead offering up a last moment's holy grace which was never foreshadowed & ended up only hurting aang as a character. especially when not killing ozai only left the world in further instability as cults & secret factions devoted to wanting him to return as fire lord sprung up in the wake of zuko's coronation & put the fire nation in further turmoil when it was incredibly sensitive post war. so aang didn't even help in that regard & only caused further harm instead of helping.

#atla #atla critical #atla salt #aang #aang critical #aang salt #ais.txt #answered

[the-badger-mole]

Just found your blog and your anti aang tag and i am loving it. I was in my teens when i tried to watch atla but i never could get past the first episodes because of aang. He was so annoying and unsympathetic from the get go. His behaviour was just so jarring after this big narration about the war and the avatar being the only hope. Like i get it, he is still a kid but it is possible to write not annoying kids.

Welcome to the Aang-Salt section of the fandom! Our margaritas are rimmed with extra salt. For me, the issue isn't that he's a kid with selfish tendencies and and an imperfect understanding of the world around him; it's the fact that his worst traits are treated like virtues in the narrative, or just flat out ignored. I cannot stand him, and it is my pleasure to take him down at any provided opportunity.

#atla #anti aang #aang salt #he really is one of the worst protagonists of any show i've ever watched #i'm including ted mosby #THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!

[missejasmine]

Anytime I hear the argument “Aang taught Katara how to be a kid again” or some variation of that, I get so frustrated because... no? He really didn’t lol??

The one instance we’re shown of Aang “teaching” Katara how to act/have fun like a kid is at the very start of the show when he takes her penguin sledding. Katara had fun, that’s great. And then immediately afterwards shit hits the fan and there’s not really any kid-like fun that Aang shows Katara ,and that they both participate in, for the rest of the show other than their dance in the Footloose episode......... in season 3.

That’s not to say that Katara doesn’t have fun for the entirety of atla in-between those 2 instances. But Aang is not the source of those moments of levity for Katara nor is he responsible for it. Instead Aang becomes yet another thing for Katara to be responsible for. Another mouth to feed. Another person to clean up after. Another brother to take care of.

It also, imo, does Katara an extreme disservice by implying that she has no idea how to have fun anymore. You think Katara wouldn’t love to be able to practice her bending everyday without interruption? To have time for herself? To travel and see the world and everything it has to offer?? If it weren’t for the war and taking care of her family after her mother’s death, and her father and the other men left, I have no doubt she’d be doing all of those things. Katara knows how to have fun (even if it’d be a different version of fun than the rest of the gaang’s), she just doesn’t have the time to have it.

What’s more, I don’t think Katara would want to act or be treated like a kid. Even when it comes to having fun. She liked the penguin sledding, but every other time Aang is shown having juvenile fun and taking off to act like the kid he is, Katara is shown to be less than impressed. Because Katara is not a little kid anymore, she’s a teenager, and she can never go back to being a little kid.

Katara didn’t need to be shown how to act like a kid again, nor did she need to be taught how to have fun. She already knew how to do those things, it was the circumstances surrounding her home life that prevented her from enjoying her childhood. What she needed was not to have to take on such heavy responsibilities at such a young age while also having to deal with the trauma of losing her mother and the ever-looming threat of the war.

And what she didn’t need was to become the primary caretaker of a 12-year-old child who would eventually become her husband. 😒

#Katara #eldest daughter syndrome #anti kataang #aang salt #atla meta #my meta #this is my first published meta #and its me complaining about something #very on brand for me tbh #this has probably already been said #but i finally had the motivation to right and post my own feelings #don't get used to this #atla fandom salt #atla discourse

[dylanaz]

Unrequited love/Possession trope

I have always had some hatred towards, “I’ve seen that person first and that person is mine” kind of thinking. Both in fiction and in real life, because it happens a lot in both. Some friends literally have some rules over it. Like... Um, you have no say over someone’s feelings and emotions?

That’s why K/ataang kind of rubbed me in the wrong way from the beginning. A/ang started having a crush on Katara right away from the first episode and he tries to win her love throughout the three books?

There’s nothing wrong with an  unrequited love trope. And there’s nothing wrong with wishing your crush would feel the same like you do, because even if it’s so stupid and I absolutely mourn over the loss of a relationship that never happened and sometimes cry while writing a poem. *laughs nervously*

But there’s a line which you can’t cross when you’re liking/loving someone and that’s actually crossing their boundaries and pushing them to like you or branding them as yours. Yeah, you may or may not feel jealous, because it’s normal for all of us to wish we were the receiving end of the attention. 

That doesn’t change the fact that you STILL have no right to think of someone as your property and act as if you own them even if they’ve never said anything about that silent “agreement”. Don’t do anything that the other person doesn’t agree with or feel comfortable with. 

That comes off as creepy and women avoid that kind of guys at all costs. It’s not something that the others approve of. 

Now, let’s talk about a love that is not possessive. 

It’s a love that doesn’t need to be forced. It’s unconditional despite of the consequences. It doesn’t blindly label someone. It wishes the best for the person they love even if they suffer through seeing their loved ones going for someone else. It is one of the purest form of love. And we just kind of want to wrap those people in blankets and pet them, okay? *sobbing* So cute. And they deserve the best. *wipes tears*

And lastly, you know what would’ve been really great? If A/ang got over Katara. And he realized that he was being pushy and possessive towards her. And actually started seeing his worth more, instead of trying to understand why Katara wasn’t choosing her already. And apologized for his actions, because he understood how bad she would’ve felt about it. And I would’ve been so down for K/ataang if they did have that level of proper buildup of respect and unconditional love. 

Oh my. Just imagining this happening is making me feel all giddy, BECAUSE I FOOKING LOVE PEOPLE WHO REPECT OTHERS’ FEELINGS AND BE OKAY WITH HOW OTHERS FEEL ABOUT THEM AND NOT MAKE A FUSS ABOUT IT BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEIR OWN SELF-WORTH AND THEY KNOW THAT THEY DESERVE SOMEONE WHO LOVES THEM LIKE THEY LOVE THAT PERSON. A/ang deserves more. He deserved a proper development.  

#Aang salt #not really #but it's a fooking wasted potential #and I'm sobbing inside because I'm down for that version of any guy honestly #Is it a big deal to want to be treated like how every person should be treated? #zutara #because that's the only side of Tumblr I'm comfortable with posting something about ATLA

[moneneki]

For Day 3: Movie/TV Show AU (these AU prompts were the most challenging for me, I must admit) of the @avatar-wtf-weekend, I bring the continuation of an existing fic.

Clepsydra, chapter 4 Rating: M Pairing: Kya II/Zuko Summary: As the Avatar's daughter, Kya has had an… interesting life. The events go from painful to ecstatic, and everything in between, all of them leaving a mark on her. Though sometimes, it's not the days of big events, but the mornings after.

Slowburn (extremely so)... and fair warning about canon!Aang salt.

#avatar wtf weekend #Kya II/Zuko #moneneki #aang salt

[sad-endings-suck]

some of you are too angry at fictional children

#and it shows #like bffr #go touch grass #atla fandom critical #avatar: the last airbender #atla #atla meta #aang #katara #zuko #avatar the last airbender #zutara #avatar aang #atla aang #atla katara #atla zuko #prince zuko #fire lord zuko #master katara #atla meme #atla fandom problems #atla fandom salt #kataang critical #zutarian critical

[longing-for-rain]

what exactly is Aang's toxic masculinity that you're talking about? there are no examples of such behavior on his part in the show. he is not an ideal person, he is a child who sometimes behaved incorrectly, just like all the other children in the show (Katara, Toph, Sokka), and this is normal.

in addition, we see how he regrets some of his wrong actions and gets better, while Zuko does not regret his toxic behavior, doesn't apologize and doesn't face the consequences of his behavior (racist jokes about Aang, demands that Katara forgive him as if he has the right to her forgiveness, an attack on Aang to "teach him a lesson" and many other things).

Hi anon, thanks for the ask! This is a very good illustration of what I was talking about in this post when I mentioned that I feel toxic men are overlooked more often for appearing “nice” than they are for being conventionally attractive.

No examples of toxic behavior in the show? What do you call this then?

I know what I (and the law) call it:

But you see, he’s “nice” right? This is just a misbehaved child, as you put it? Yah, no. He knew better and still did it because he was possessive; this whole interaction started because he was jealous that an actress playing Katara was interested in men other than him. And the show proceeded to frame the situation in a way that made Aang sympathetic, despite being the aggressor and the one behaving irrationally. How much more “toxically masculine” can you get than that? But he put on a flower crown once so we’re supposed to think he’s a soft uwu feminine boi (even though he was absolutely enraged that a female actress played him).

I also find it very interesting that you describe Katara and Sokka as “children” while Zuko is omitted from that list despite being the same age. Are you admitting you agree he’s more mature, or are you admitting that you hold him to different standards?

But, anyways. You asked about toxic behavior on Aang’s part, which I’ll get further into now that the most egregious example is out of the way.

Let’s break down what you consider unforgivably toxic behavior on Zuko’s part and compare it to Aang’s behavior in similar situations.

1. “Racist” jokes

I’m guessing this is made with reference to the “Air Temple preschool” comment. How exactly is this racist? In context, Aang is the one trying to force his beliefs on others, and Zuko makes this comment to a) tell him to back off and b) point out that Aang is, in fact, a child who doesn’t have any business telling Katara how to feel.

This point is particularly interesting to me, because it implies that the simple fact that Zuko doesn’t agree with the philosophy of Aang’s culture makes him racist. By this logic, Aang is also racist against Katara’s culture, because he clearly disagrees with her philosophy and is openly telling her that his culture is morally virtuous over hers. And well. That’s even more believable considering Aang’s previous reactions to Water Tribe culture.

Ah, yes. Playing with a cultural artifact like it’s a toy because you were upset about not being the center of attention for once, and telling everyone how disgusting you think cultural food is, what great ways to show the supposed love of your life how much you respect her culture!

I know your response to this point would be something like “uwu but he’s a kid he didn’t knowww” ok well. The same logic can be applied to any alleged “racism” on Zuko’s part.

2. “Demanding” forgiveness

Zuko: What can I do to make it up to you?

Ah, yes. How demanding of him. He’s clearly so self-centered and only thinking about his own values and agenda here.

It’s not like he…

…told his friend how she’s allowed to process her grief and try to impose his own morals…

…or demanded to know if his crush liked him back, wouldn’t accept “no” as an answer, and forced a kiss on her…

…or told an abuse victim he was wrong to want to kill his abusive father for trying to commit a genocide…

…oh, um. Yeah. Sorry, but after actually watching the show it’s very clear to me which character doesn’t seem to regret or see the flaws in any of his actions at the end of the show, which is when all of these examples took place.

3. Training in the finale

“Attacking Aang to teach him a lesson” … wow, that’s a very dishonest way of phrasing that situation. I’m impressed, I have to say. I’ve seen lots of dumb takes from Aang stans over the years but this is a new one.

Well, luckily I actually watched the scene in context, so my reaction was the same as all the other characters’ reactions in canon when they learned the context behind this “attack”:

They agree with him. Yeah. Obviously, when nobody is taking training seriously when the world is about to literally go up in flames, you might need to do something to get their attention.

“But it was dangerous!” you might argue. Well… yeah. When magic and bending is in the equation, training in the Avatar universe has been shown to be somewhat dangerous at times. As an example, from this very same episode, Toph very nearly smashed Sokka with a giant flaming rock. That was way closer to hurting someone than Zuko was in this incident. If you’re going to fault characters for making their training exercises too dangerous, I guess Toph is mega cancelled.

Now back to Aang. What was his reaction in this situation? How did he react to the end of the world being days away? He ran away with absolutely no plan. Just like he did at the very beginning of the show.

I mean, think about it. This is a critical flaw (and toxic trait) in Aang that is literally never addressed, because he starts and ends the show the exact same way: he’s faced with a problem, he runs away from it, then he’s saved by an in-universe equivalent of an Act of God. Wowie, such great character development. Not fixing your core flaw and having a mythical plot device materialize into existence to solve your problems for you. Aang’s whole arc is a big blah, because the writing fails to address any of his flaws or have him meaningfully question any of his values.

Meanwhile, Zuko has consistently been a fan favorite because he’s the opposite. His flaws are meaningfully addressed, he does admit he’s wrong and fix his flaws, and his character shows a critically acclaimed change throughout the show. His arc is written so well that despite being a cartoon character, Zuko is widely considered the poster child for a good redemption arc across all forms of media.

So anyways, miss me with the double standards… there is a reason why Zuko is the fan favorite, and it’s not just his abs 🔥

#fandom salt #meta #zuko #katara #aang critical #canon critical #atla #zutara #anti kataang #ask #anon

[jasontoddssuper]

You can definitely tell that Katara is indigenous,that Aang is of a lesser known type of asian descent(tibetan)and that Zuko is east asian.Because the fandom constantly adultifies and sexualizes Katara despite her being 14 and makes fun of her for taking her trauma seriously,calls Aang ugly,erases his positive traits to make him look like a regressive bigot and minimizes the fact that he's a direct victim of race based violence and infantalize Zuko to pretend he dosen't have flaws due to wanting to date him,make him 'the braincell' to an objectively smarter darker skinned character(Sokka)and calls his country feminist even though they're literally colonizers.Sounds about white

#katara #aang #zuko #pro katara #katars deserves better #pro aang #aang defense squad #atla geekery #i'm black tag #letters from summer #sokka #zukka #pro sokka #sokka deserves better #t4t zukka #zukka fandom salt #kataang #pro kataang #kataang defense squad #pop post 🌟

[coccinelle-et-chaton]

sincerely asking the natla haters to tag their salt.

Beyond the fact you literally can just. Not engage with the remake. You are entitled to your own opinion, but don't force-feed your hate to the rest of us who actually want to enjoy it, please.

Most of us watching are tired millennials with soul-draining 9 to 5s who can barely make ends meet. Let. Us. Have. This.

#like the choice of complaining about a literal tv show when WWIII is literally brewing outside is.... bold. to put it gently #please tag your salt. #atla #natla #avatar netflix #netflix atla #avatar the last airbender #aang #zuko #katara #sokka #avatar remake #atla la #live action atla #natla salt #atla netflix salt #atla salt

[yourhighness6]

Quite honestly I have to say that I actually really like Aang. Him being a happy-go-lucky, sweet kid is extremely important to the story, as bringing back a sense of fun to the people who have been experiencing war for so long is basically his narrative purpose. There's a purpose behind his personality, just as there should be in any narrative. However, I think anyone who engages critically with media has to aknowledge that he makes some bad decisions, especially when it comes to his treatment of Katara at the end of season three. Although I would personally argue that this is sexist writing and not congruent with the Aang we have seen for the entirety of the show leading up to DoBS (although people are also right when they point out the amount of emotional labor his position as the grand hero of the story and as a rather immature kiddo put on Katara), these are still mistakes that the character canonically makes. His treatment of Katara in previous seasons is still toxic behavior that I would argue is actually congruent with his character. The mistakes he makes throughout the series in other areas, such as hiding their father's location from Sokka and Katara, are canon decisions the character makes that are also definitely congruent with his character. But for whatever reason, a lot of the fandom refuses to recognize this. Most Aang/ Kat@ang stans put Aang on a pedestal and argue that nothing he's done throughout the series is exactly wrong. Nothing was wrong in his treatment of Katara, and if it is, he's naturally extremely sorry about it and should be forgiven despite the fact that we see no expression of guilt or remorse from him for, what I believe is the most glaring example, the EIP noncon kiss. So again, to restate, I don't hate Aang. I've never hated Aang. I like Aang. But unfortunately, because of the fandom representation of him, I have no interest in engaging in fan content about him. I have no interest in talking about the good things he does or the great decisions he makes outside of his decision not to kill Ozai, which, although greatly contested in the fandom, I completely agree with because of the narrative significance of Aang choosing to stick to his beliefs and the overarching theme of mercy, which we also see built up in many previous episodes such as TSR. Aang is the character that I would argue has been corrupted the most by the fandom. He's either viciously hated or hoisted into a position of perfection and frankly, I can deal with neither. Aang is a good character, but we should be able to have conversations critical of his actions. Aang is an extremely flawed and relatively underdeveloped character, but he is by no means evil incarnate, and I just wish that more people could recognize that both of those statements should and do coexist.

#atla #aang #aang critical #anti kataang #technically #anti bryke #fandom salt #anti aang stans #anti kataang stans

[i-d-e-g-a-f]

i already have so many gripes with the original show and how they handle aang’s character arc and his relationship with katara/how they disserviced her by putting her in that relationship and i don’t trust netflix to fix ANY of that in the slightest, in fact i think they’ll probably make things i actually like about the original even worse and the actors are so young too oh my god Kiawentiio get behind me and it’s gonna be another horde of new fans rehashing the same tired old discourse i cannot do this again helpppp

#i’m fucking tweaking rn man #here comes a new wave of perfomative activism #atla fandom critical #atla fandom salt #anti kataang #i noticed an uptick in zutara/kataang discourse recently but i didn’t realize it was bc the show is coming out tdy 😭 #i cannot do this again i cannot relive another renaissance where zutara shippers are demonized for existence #i cannot deal with people shitting on katara for no reason again and people selectively ignoring zuko’s character arc when it’s convenient #for their argument and ppl acting like i summoned satan himself when i critique the aang #atla discourse #i don’t even try to engage in discourse it’s just always recommended to me no matter what i do and i’m just so tired of it

[the-badger-mole]

Which of your Zutara fics would you say is the saltiest towards Aang? I’m in the mood for some wonderful Zutara with lots of Aang bashing on the side, please!

I actually don't think I'm as hard on Aang in my fics as I am in my meta. Mostly because he's not a central figure in most of them. My Tumblr fics are where I play out his worst traits the most, but for my official fics, the Aang-saltiest ones are probably Down the Road, With the Changing of the Tides, and AITA. My series Ashes gets kind of Aang-saltish, but he has a growth arc there.

#atla #ask the badger mole #zutara #anti aang #aang salt #THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!

[theweeklydiscourse]

It’s a bit funny when ATLA fans who are so deeply attached to the show blame the fandom for the problematic elements of the actual text. They’ll say: “You missed EVERY message that the writers included! I can’t believe that you’re unable to understand the deliberate messages woven into the show!” And then the “message” in question will be a flaw they noticed in the text, an unresolved narrative issue, or an instance of the writers’ biases seeping through the story.

I just wish that certain fans would consider the idea that perhaps the writers were not as all-knowing as they thought they were and that those gaps manifested in the story. Blaming fandom for misinterpreting the story (according to your own interpretation of it) is so ridiculous and indicative of the reluctance to critique a beloved childhood show. ATLA was ahead of it’s time in a number of ways, but we have to stop acting like it is beyond reproach.

#sometimes your nostalgic childhood show isn’t as woke as you remember and might be problematic in certain areas #it’s not the fandom’s fault that we are engaging with the text that was presented to us. Some people’s issues with the fandom are really #just issues with the text itself. Like with Zuko’s supposed *mocking of Aang’s dead culture* They’ll complain that fans never address that #but if it is truly an instance in the story that you find insensitive #shouldn’t you take it up with the text? considering that the text is the thing that left it unresolved? #why is the fandom your priority when it comes to criticism? It sounds like the issue lies in the way the story was written as opposed to fan #reception of it #avatar the last airbender #anti bryke #atla fandom discourse #atla fandom salt #atla fandom critical #pro zutara #pro zuko #atla discourse #atla #fandom discourse

[nono-bunny]

When Eric Coleman, someone who worked closely on ATLA since its inception, understands that the biggest and most satisfying "hero's journey" of the show isn't even the hero's, I feel like that's kind of a clear indication not only of success with Zuko's character, but of failure with Aang's

I feel like as much as I came to hate Aang, I more than anyone would have been delighted to see him emerge triumphant after facing his issues, addressing them, and using what he learns to move on- but the one who ends up perfectly embodying that spirit of learning and growing from your mistakes is instead Zuko, while Aang sits on his ass, does jack-all, and gets all the credit! Aang NEVER grows as a person, both throughout the course of the show and through everything we know of him after it, and in perfect ironic contrast Zuko is ALWAYS growing, always working hard, always striving to do the right thing...

Like! I LOVE ATLA, I do! But it was NEVER because of Aang, and always because of the people around him. Even in the very beginning, I feel like I'm infinitely more interested in watching Sokka and Katara interact with each other and their tribe than I am with anything to do with him, and that's a problem!

When your main character only ever strives to be comic relief when the narrative needs him to be the hero, and he refuses to answer the call at every turn and has to be strong armed into doing his job both by other characters in universe and by the writers every time they need him to do his job... It's not good!!! He never gets past that!! He always has to have someone shove him towards being the hero, and his "reluctant hero" thing never stops! They previously talked about how sometimes the world needs the "reluctant hero", but that's like? A character archetype they should grow out of, that's the whole thing! They gain experience and confidence in themselves and their abilities, they become invested in the main conflicted and want to help resolve it, but??? Aang literally never does! He gets set up to start changing with Guru Pathik, his flightiness is addressed as an AWFUL thing by the other characters, but all of that flies out the window over and over and over again! He gets handed so many great scenarios where he SHOULD have chosen to step up, SHOULD have chosen to do the right thing, and he always chooses NOT to- because it's easier, because he knows others have grown used to picking up his slack... Because he ultimately doesn't care about anyone other than himself and his own self interests and his public image- those are canonical (even if not outright spoken like his flightiness) character flaws of his, and they're a great starting point for a hero to grow from.... But he never does, even when gives SO many perfect chances to, so he kinda just remains forever stuck as an asshole, entitled, brat.

#avatar the last airbender #atla #braving the elements #anti aang #atla salt

[starlight-bread-blog]

I've seen my fair share of Aang slander in my time in the zk fandom. I respect their opinion obviously, but every time without fail, I think:

The pictures below are of a very dangerous individual. He's morally bankrupt, bigoted and sources suggest he is, in fact, the Antichrist, bringing armageddon upon us. One might feel tempted to look away, to avoid witnessing this evil, but I wish to remind you, you need to be well informed – careful, to be exact – you need to know what he looks like.

#public enemy number 1 ladies and gentlemen #and the in-betweens #avatar aang #atla aang #aang my beloved #aang #the gaang #atla gaang #avatar gaang #gaang #team avatar #atla fandom #atla fandom problems #atla fandom critical #atla fandom salt #atla #a:tla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar #avatar the last airbender #pro aang