#jetlee

Honestly, I think the name is pretty much the high-point of the ship.

I suppose there's storytelling potential in any Jet/FirePerson ship, with him torn between racism and love. Just stick him next to an attractive FirePerson with a big personality and there's not a lot of work you have to do to sell it audiences. However, it's a bit harder to justify the FirePerson in question being attracted to Jet in turn. Zuko certainly wasn't into the guy, and I can't think of any reason why Azula, Mai, or Ty Lee would be. Jet does have a certain charisma, but even Katara got over him pretty quickly one she saw his true nature. We kinda just have to rely on a kind of completely irrational love-at-first-sight thing to sell it.

However, if we don't care about making any sense and simultaneously enjoy Looney Tunes cartoons, I think it would be a lot of fun to do a Pepe Le Pew thing with Ty Lee as Pepe who doesn't realize Jet is a Fire-hating terrorist and Jet plays the pursued guy who doesn't want anything to do with attractive Fire Nation people. Ty Lee has the kind of oblivious romantic sparkly-vision that would make that kind of thing work, while I don't think any of the other FirePersons do. So that could be a fun little unique scenario for them. And then in the end it turns out Ty Lee knew the whole time he was a terrorist and she was manipulating him to either neutralize him or get some kind of information out of him or something.

Alternatively, Jet could be Wile E. Coyote and Ty Lee is the Fire Nation Roadrunner he's trying to kill. And then in the end when he can't beat her, he decides to marry her.

Practicing backlighting, featuring a whole mess of ATLA ships.

Here's one answer:

Jet/Ty Lee, JetLee, my beloved dumpster fire of a ship. My love for this ship stems for an overabundant adoration for these characters; to me, they're both an endless supply of angst potential, of which I am a sucker for. Jet is intelligent, brash, and with a moral compass that may not point north but directs him to protecting that which he cares about by whatever means necessary. Ty Lee is guarded but warm, valuing her individuality and being liked over nearly everything else. She's Fire Nation; he hates the Fire Nation. The two of them as a pair seems so unlikely; how could Jet ever grow to have feelings for someone who is the very thing he hates more than anything? And that is exactly what I like about them! Figuring out how they could meet, how they would react to each other, how Jet reacts once he finds out who Ty Lee is, how Ty Lee adjusts to being with someone whose attention is divided and gets hyper focused on tasks and goals. They're fun to show the flirty banter, they're fun when they argue, and they're fun to draw the angst out of. And that's why I ship Jet/Ty Lee. Why do you ship your favorites?

What's your favorite rare pair?

[ID: a pencil drawing of Jet and Ty Lee, holding hands as they walk through an autumn forest. Both wear winter clothes, and they are smiling at each other. The wind blows their clothes, hair, and the leaves on the trees. End ID]

ATLA rarepairs, huh? Glad you asked!

Toko is my absolute favorite (I'm actually working on another oneshot for them right now).

Also, I do love me some Aang rarepairs-- IMHO, Aang is clearly the most shippable character in the show. My favorites are Yuaang, Maiaang, Azulaang, and Sukaang. (I've never been able to get into Ty Laang or Taang.)

Hoo boy. Here we go.

The problem is, there are pairs I enjoy writing, pairs I enjoy reading, and pairs I enjoy specifically because there is someone I love reading who writes this pair phenomenally or just throws their whole heart into it. There are also different levels of enjoyment, from "will die for them" to "will read if I come across it" to "appreciate it exists" to "like it better than other pairs." So this is an inexact science at best. I'll do what I can.

Foaming at the mouth thinking of them, it's canon:

June x Colonel Mongke Lin Beifong x Lightning Bolt Zolt Toph Beifong x Satoru Tahno x Ginger

Favorite crack ships:

Ursa x The Boulder Wing Beifong x Hasook Hiroshi Sato x Firelord Izumi

Rare ships I love for the drama/asthetic/sheer comedic or tragic potential:

Korra x Amon Korra x Tarrlok Tahno x Korra Bolin x Korra (so basically all the Korra ships go here I see) Jet x Ty Lee Lin Beifong x Bumi Mako x Kuvira Tahno x Prince Wu Baatar Jr x Eska Iroh II x Kuvira

Rare ships I love because a talented creator made something amazing and now I can't help but ship it: Zhao x Ty Lee Zhao x Yue Jet x Yue Toph Beifong x Kanto Wan x Korra Mai x Piandao Mako x Iroh II Mako x Jinora Mako x Lin Beifong Korra x Kuvira Toph x Aang Sokka x Azula Ikki x Huan Beifong Lt. Jee x Ursa Lu Ten x Yue Smellerbee x Longshot Amon's Lieutenant x Daw

This. I like this. I guess technically these fit more alongside the idea of "sword and planet" or "sword and stars", but eh. It's close enough.

The "Freedom Fighters" are a group of smugglers/bounty hunters, mostly doing good with a little bit of bad. They travel the galaxy aboard their ship, the Gaipan, just trying to pick up the pieces of themselves they left behind in the "War in Heaven" between the Firestar Empire and the Terran Kingdom that tore the galaxy apart when they were kids.

Jet is the snarky, wise-cracking captain, Longshot his taciturn second in command and pilot. Smellerbee is the weapons and demolitions expert, Pipsqueak the cook - complete with the eyepatch and prosthetic hand, because every sci-fi ship needs to follow Treasure Planet's example and have a funky cook with a weird hand - and the Duke is a much-younger thief that Pipsqueak adopted during the War. Sneers, meanwhile, is the ship's supremely grumpy A.I. who just kind of shows up when he feels like it.

They have a pet space whale. Well, they it a pet, but they're not really sure what it actually does - it just kinda follows them around, system to system, and they don't really know why. They even asked Jet's ex, Katara, an expert in interstellar life, and all she could do was shrug, because it mystified her, too. (Its name is Whale, per suggestion from The Duke.)

Longshot and Smellerbee have a tendency to, uh, disappear for several hours at a time. The Duke always wonders why, and Pipsqueak and Jet find it hilarious that the kid hasn't figured out that they're dating yet. (It's not that The Duke is pretending to be stupid as a joke - he seriously just hasn't figured it out, and no one is sure how he hasn't.)

Jet is madly in love with an expert hacker and martial artist from a rival crew named Ty Lee. This usually ends up causing the Gaipan to lose out on contracts, mostly by accident because she and Jet end up getting stuck in ridiculous situations together, and both the rest of the Freedom Fighters and Dangerous Ladies have to take time to find them and get them out of their sticky situation. It's gotten so bad that there's a betting pool between the crews on how long it takes them to end up stuck.