#especially aang

[lilith-91]

Katara is so REAL for this :D

#avatar the last airbender #atla #katara #aang #kataang #She's dating the equivalent of a god in their world #damn right she must let everyone know he's taken LMAO #especially with aang's fangirls 😭

[xabura]

These shots remind me of Dante Basco's and Mae Whitman's headcanons that one of the greatest obstacles to Zuko and Katara getting together would be their fear of hurting Aang's feelings, since they both respect him so much.

#zutara #why do these three keep forming triangles in scenes lol #zk already got drama because they come from enemy nations but it's even better if you add in aangst #especially since aang doesn't even belong in the same time period as them

[yourhighness6]

Me, screaming into the void: I DON'T HATE MAI I JUST FEEL LIKE SHE NEEDED MORE DEVELOPMENT OUTSIDE OF ZUKO AND HER ARC SHOULDN'T REVOLVE AROUND HER LOVE INTEREST

Also me, still screaming into the void: I DON'T HATE AANG I JUST QUESTION WHETHER HIS ROMANTIC INTEREST IN KATARA BRINGS OUT THE BEST SIDES OF HIM AND FEEL AS THOUGH HE AND HIS DEVELOPMENT IS NOT ABOVE NECESSARY CRITICISM

#why do antis think I hate either of them the moment I question their development and the writing choices bryke made for them #they're good characters I just want them to live up to their full potential #a lot of their actions in season 3 especially revolving around romance were counter intuitive to their arcs made them come off as jerks #it got to the point of character assassination istg #anti maiko #anti kataang #mai #aang #criticism is not hate #aang critical #anti bryke #this doesn't have anything to do with zutara but tagging for exposure #zutara

[lovegrowsart]

it's pretty wild to me that people don't see that aang running off to save katara in CoD is his luke in empire strikes back moment, where he runs headlong into his want and attachment and he's narratively punished for doing so and not learning his lesson - aang runs after katara despite guru pathik's warning, like luke runs after leia and han from yoda on dagobah despite yoda's warning; similarly, as a result, things go to hell in ba sing se like they do on bespin - aang enters the avatar state before he's ready and gets killed, and ba sing se falls to the fire nation, luke fights vader before he's ready, loses a hand, and symbolically commits suicide after vader tells him he's luke's father.

the difference between their character arcs is that george lucas and co. actually went thru with luke's hero's journey and understood the fundamental difference between attachment and love, whereas I don't think bryke understood this difference and then dropped this from aang's arc pretty much completely and replaced it with aang digging in his heels into his want and attachment and he gets rewarded with energy bending from a lion turtle, the avatar state from a random pointy rock, and his forever girl from the self-indulgent white men that couldn't bring themselves to give their hero a compelling character arc that meant he might not have gotten everything he wanted at the end.

#the wasted potential of aang's arc gets to me so bad #the narrative and thematic set up is entirely there and they just shove it in the bin lmao #it especially irks as someone raised buddhist and dealing with writers that invoke these themes out of a fascination #with the religion and philosophy but then a complete unwillingess to actually commit to what those themes require of the character arcs #anyway sorry to say it #but zuko's arc does a better job embodying buddhist themes than aang's does in the end #despite all misappropriated aesthetics to the contrary #aang critical #but its really the writing like i LIKE aang i love his potential i hate how self indulgently he's written by the end of the show #atla critical #meta* #holly talks bs #also yes it would've been better narratively for aang katara zuko to the go the way of luke leia han #even if katara couldn't have been revealed as aang's surprise secret twin lmao #the thematic conceit of the triangle is the same in that luke and aang get over their infatuation with the first pretty girl he sees #and becomes the hero he needs to be #meanwhile hanleia and zutara are saving each other and being cool and kissing #anyway

[the-badger-mole]

Fic Snippet!

“Are you out of your mind?” Zuko rushed across the courtyard and bore down on Aang with an intense, almost palpable fury. “Do you know how badly you could’ve hurt her?”

“I was just…I didn’t mean to-“ Aang stammered.

“Fire is not a toy!” Zuko bellowed at him. He turned to Katara, examining her for injuries. “Are you okay?”

“I’m alright,” she assured him, her voice shaking. “I’m fine.” She was trembling visibly, and there were singe marks on her clothes, but she otherwise seemed unharmed. Zuko turned back to Aang, how was looking down at his feet in shame.

“What were you thinking?” Zuko demanded.

“I don’t know,” Aang mumbled, kicking at the ground. “I was…mad.”

“About what?” Zuko was absolutely bewildered. “What could Katara possibly have done that you thought it was a good idea to do that?”

“Nothing,” Aang admitted sullenly. He didn’t say anything after that. Zuko glowered at him, took a few deep breaths to quell his own anger.

“You’re going to clean this mess up,” he said gesturing to the torn up stones, dirt and cooling lava. “Then you’re going to do 100 fire squats. Then you’re going to work on your forms for an hour. And I don’t want to see so much as a curl of smoke out of you. You’re not responsible enough for fire. Understood?” 

“What? That’s not-“ Aang’s protests died on his lips when he saw Zuko’s expression.  He huffed, kicked at stone, and finally nodded.

“Get started,” Zuko ordered through clenched teeth. He turned back to Katara, who was watching the exchange. She was still shaking a bit. Zuko draped his arm protectively around her back and guided her away. He glanced back once more at Aang, and almost rolled his eyes when he saw the younger boy still moping at the ground. It was hard sometimes to reconcile the awesome might and eminence of the Avatar with the reality of Aang, the child.

“I’ll be back,” he warned Aang. “Have this mess cleaned up. And don’t even think about asking Toph to help.” 

I know canonically, the Lava Fissure Incident takes place while Zuko and Sokka are rescuing Hakoda, but I wanted to have Zuko see and react to it. Personally, I think it was another accidentally accurate depiction of how unready Aang is to be the Avatar. And it is also another incident that the narrative decides not to call Aang out for, so the chances of him growing from it are...well, we all know how things turned out in LoK.

#atla #anti aang #anti kataang #zutara #dadko is dadding #aang is a trash avatar #it would make for an interesting story if bryke would just admit he's a bad avatar and steered into it #aang by the end of atla could either have a growth arc #or a villain origin #i think villain origin is the more interesteing choice #especially with how they wrote aang in the post series canon #but growth would still make a good story

[comradekatara]

my thing with katang is that i simply cannot understand or accept the logic of patriarchal marriage rituals and so the monogamous nuclear family structure that they present us with as their supposed ideal within the text is just not for me. but i understand the logic of weird lesbians very well, so ideally i conceive of their relationship in those terms, within that framework, and then it makes perfect sense to me. like the gaang will be hanging out and katara leans over to give aang a kiss and sokka is just like “um. didn’t you guys break up” and katara’s like “what why would you think that” and sokka’s like “bc a couple weeks ago u came up to me and said ‘we broke up :|” and katara’s like “oh so just because we broke up means that i can’t give my best friend in the whole world a little kissy what are you the kissing police” and sokka’s like “FINE. WHATEVER. I DON’T CARE AS LONG AS AANG IS SATISFIED WITH THIS ARRANGEMENT” (he is). but also sokka loves taking advantage of their technical status as “exes” to refer to aang as “my sister’s ex bf” as often as he possibly can. so it actually works out for everyone

#they’re best friends they’re in love they’re exes they’re in a situationship they’re coparenting a beautiful baby lesbian waterbender #they’re in an open relationship they’re long distance they go on vacation for at least a month every year for the rest of their lives #they’re soulmates . #katara #aang&katara #sokka #I also love referring to my friend who dated my best friend in college as ‘my best friends ex boyfriend’ just because I find it funny #it’s objectively funny #especially as a way to refer to the avatar

[only-lonely-www]

So basically ATLA brain rot has hit me like a truck

#atla #avatar the last airbender #zuko #toph beifong #what happened was I was forced to watch the live action #which is actually pretty good if you get past the first few episodes #and if you don’t have someone in your ear telling you it’s awful the whole time #first episode is definitely the weakest and that’s 50% gran gran’s fault #aang and katara are also pretty flat but whatever #sokka’s good and zuko’s fantastic actually #they did goof on a few things but overall I think it’s a fun time #just don’t expect it to be as good as the cartoon and you’ll be okay #ANYWAY it got me missing toph #so i rewatched the blind bandit episode #and then wound up watching the entirety of books 2 & 3 in a few days #and now I’m brain rotted #which is especially weird considering when I first watched it I was like #yeah that was good! and then never thought about it again #i dunno what changed but i need help it’s taking over my life #wanted to draw Sokka too but he looks hard to draw #and i had enough trouble with these two #maybe someday #sorry for rambling in the tags goodbye

[audhd-nightwing]

listen. usually i’m all about saying ‘fuck canon’ and doing whatever i want, yk?

but like. kataang is just SO GOOD !! THEYRE SO CUTE AND THEY BUILD UP THE RELATIONSHIP THROUGHOUT THE SEASONS AND THEYRE JUST PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER!!!

they are like percabeth-level soulmates. my favs fr

#zukka fans 🤝 kataang fans #¡this venn diagram is a circle! #kataang #atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #they’re so freaking adorable #MY KIDS <33 #ppl who hate on kataang/aang in general are actually bonkers #no hate to zutara shippers but that is NOTT for me no sir #zukka and kataang >>> zutara #i will not hate on zutara. however. i don’t like it thats just my personal opinion #i do give my love to maiko shippers tho #i prefer zukka but maiko can be cute #what am i even doing anymore #these are just my opinions on atla ships now #might make an actual post of this just for fun later #ok but soulmate aus especially??? #‘will you go penguin-sledding with me?’ is sooo cute #as first words

[somewhereincairparavel]

isnt it sadly ironic that Jet spent most of his life hating the fire nation and feeling threatened by them but then died to a random brainwashing earthbender inside the supposedly 'safest city in the world'?

#I didn't care for his character much but I did feel for the dude #His death did make me shed some tears :( especially when toph said “he's lying” after he said he'd be okay :(( #atla #avatar the last airbender #aang #avatar aang #atla sokka #atla azula #atla zuko #atla jet #jet #jet atla #ba sing se

[punkeropercyjackson]

Everytime a fandom ableist insists two characters who have tons of romantic chemistry have a siblings or parent and child dynamic because one of them is very blatantly autistic-coded and they think that means they're too immature and therefore 'not good enough' for their love interest,i gain a new headcanon of my ships where one is an age regressor to cope with their trauma and the other is their caregiver

#really though we need to normalize this dynamic-it's nothing like dd*lg but stupid assholes will be stupid assholes #so we should help ageres see they're not gross for dating their cgs-especially because trauma agere can include *that* kind of trauma #kataang #ichihime #todomomo #punkflower #flutterdash #timsteph #rwby rosegarden #bumbleby #aang #katara #orihime inoue #ichigo kurosaki #momo yaoyorozu #todoroki shouto #miles morales #hobie brown #fluttershy #rainbow dash #stephanie brown #tim drake #rwby ruby rose #oscar pine #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #fandom agere #autistic girl summer #ableism #summerposting

[sapphic-agent]

The ATLA Renaissance was actually so unhinged.

What do you mean Zutara's a colonizer ship and Zukka somehow isn't? What do you mean Katara's the worst member of the Gaang? What do you mean Aang was right in TSR? What do you mean Sokka's the most developed character??

I, for one, do not miss this era of the fandom

#anti atla fandom #anti atla renaissance #zutara friendly #sokka critical #aang critical #katara deserved better #idk who needs to hear this but you're not a progressive hero for hating zutara #ESPECIALLY if you ship zukka #do you not understand how stupid you sound #i'm not even a zutara shipper but holy shit

[zibus]

I dont care about shipping wars or if you prefer a different pairing. Just genuinely curious about the general fan opinion here.

Would love for as many people to see this as possible and to hear your defenses in the tags.

#i feel the romance feels forced especially from the perspective of Katara #but recently i've seen people who like it #so was wondering how other people feel #atla #avatar the last airbender #katara #aang #kataang #i havent seen kora so maybe that would affect my feelings but just based on the og show

[writingtot]

tales of ba sing se is one of my favorite episodes (of television in general tbh), and it’s just proof that sometimes filler episodes are 100% necessary.

let’s stop with these 8 episode shows. they’re too rushed and the pacing is awful 80% of the time anyway. why are we so afraid of filler?? it’s so important for delving into the actual personalities of the characters instead of just seeing how they act when completing some harrowing quest.

i want to see how they react to a girls day or to an awkward first date. give me all the fun superfluous details that we would never see otherwise. i love filler episodes so much!!!

#especially when the writing is as good as it is in atla #atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar: the last airbender #tales of ba sing se #zuko #sokka #katara #toph #aang #iroh

[hometownangels]

behind the scenes to a house party

#zuko #aang #atla fanart #atla #zuko fanart #aang fanart #li.art #i was having fun with this especially trying to decide on their fits #the ref is a svt photo ^^

[viola-cola]

I know it's been said a million times in a million ways but sometimes I just.... Zuko.

Just imagine it. You're sixteen. And you're just a kid. And you've been running for a long time. And now, somehow, you're looking into the eyes of a kid you used to want to conquer and you're teaching him how to kill your father. Because you have to. Because maybe the kid is just thirteen, but he hasn't been a kid in a long, long time. Like you've never been a kid. Like you can't be a kid when you're running.

But he's just a kid. And the kid is only thirteen, and he says he doesn't have to kill your father, but he has to kill your father. So you teach him. Knowing that you were thirteen once. Knowing that you were thirteen and you knelt beneath your father, and you couldn't move against him either. Knowing that you couldn't comprehend it, even after the flesh stopped dripping from your face. Knowing that you were a coward then, and that you are a coward now, and that you couldn't kill your father. So you have to teach the kid to kill your father.

So you teach the kid to hate your father--knowing what the rage has done to you, and what he hasn't done to him yet. Knowing that you could never hate your father the way that the kid should. Knowing that the kid won't be like you, because he can't be like you. Because you can't let anyone else kneel there and take it like you knelt there and took it. Because you have to. You can't let him be like you, so you teach him to be like you, and you teach him how to kill your father. Like you couldn't.

And then he doesn't. And then he won't. And then your father is kneeling beneath the kid, cowering under his hands, and the kid doesn't even burn him. Because the kid is not your father. And the kid is not cruel. Because the kid is too much like you. Because the kid is thirteen, and you were right when you were thirteen, too. And your father was wrong. And you never needed to kill your father.

Because you're sixteen. And you're just a kid.

#the parallels get to me #especially the final image of ozai kneeling under aangs hands #as he finally stops him nonviolently #atla #zuko #aang #ozai #atla meta

[comradekatara]

the question i'm wondering now is whether suki, mai and ty lee ever get to visit the south pole, and how they're received there (especially by sokka and katara)

yes!!!! I think they would all kind of just invite themselves, except for ty lee, who is invited by aang, which katara thoroughly resents because she does not want that terrifying girl in her home, where she lives.

one day suki’s just like “so when are you gonna introduce me to your family” to which sokka is like “you’ve already met my dad and you know katara really well at this point???” and suki’s like “okay well when are you going to introduce me as your GIRLFRIEND” which sokka thinks is insane because she’s constantly asserting that she doesn’t subscribe to the valorization of the family or romantic relationships, and now she wants him to formally introduce her to his grandmother??? but he’s like okay. whatever. so he takes her to the south pole (it’s like 5 mins away from kyoshi island via air travel) and she adores his family and they adore her. and she gets really into learning about their culture, which they are more than eager to teach her, and she has a blast.

mai invites herself to the south pole when she and sokka are living together in ba sing se, because sokka gets a letter from hakoda telling him that kanna is sick so he should come home as quickly as possible just in case, and even though he doesn’t ask her to, mai is just like “of course im coming with you. i long to penguin sled.” and then katara gets really pissed and she’s like “why is she here” and sokka’s like “trust me i didn’t actually invite her.” and then katara writes a really emphatic letter to zuko complaining that mai is totally monopolizing her time with her family while she heals her gran gran (mai is just standing silently in the corner) and then zuko is like “what?!? your gran gran is sick and you didn’t tell me!!?!?!” so then he comes to the south pole and then he does actually monopolize all the attention with his drama. but i digress.

there’s another time that suki and ty lee come to the south pole to have a slumber party with katara (this is after katara has slightly relaxed her opinion of ty lee) while sokka mai and toph are off having fun elsewhere (and no suki isn’t bitter that toph didn’t invite her, after all they’ve been through together, no why would you even say that) and they play truth or dare, and suki (thinking she’s being generous) dares katara to kiss ty lee, and katara looks so repulsed by the prospect of kissing the most beautiful girl suki has ever seen, like she was asked to lick a wet slug, that suki just cracks up. anyway i think katara would host a lot of slumber parties, and this is simply one of many. but those are all the examples i could think of off the top of my head.

#10000dandelions #asks #suki #ty lee #katara #mai #sokka #zuko #aang #sokkaxsuki #mai&sokka #katara&zuko #katara&suki #katara&tylee #postwargaang #can you tell I’ve never given this any thought before at ALL….. #gaang in the south pole is so dear to me . just like in general #katara sleepovers aang taking his friends penguin sledding …. kanna forming very judgmental opinions of everyone #mai going to the south pole is especially dear to my heart tho bc i truly do think she would love snow and wintertime just in general #girl was not made for a tropical clime . she wears pants to the beach #Nyway.