#tylokka

I am not sure if its a manipulation tactic cause the ultimate pocket guide acknowledges the ship saying (ty lee was quite taken by sokka), also ty lee did not really say something about using boys for lack of attention she just explained why she joined the circus, it was mai who offended her by telling her she wants 10 boyfriends

Oh, I don't think the show deliberately made that implication. (If nothing else, I don't think the Mike and the Bryan are that subtle about teasing or bashing ships. I mean, they're still making Zutara-bashing jokes in 2026 Anno Domini.) But the treatment of Ty Lee in Book Fire comes together to discourage audiences from thinking there was much to her flirtations with Sokka.

As for 'The Beach,' I wasn't thinking of the confession scene at the end of the episode. I was thinking of how Ty Lee flirts with the boys on the beach in the first act to get them to be her servants, and then when they all try to get her to pick one to commit to, she beats them up and runs away. And her flirting lessons to Azula do, as the princess herself points out, take a very shallow and manipulative tack. It casts doubt on her flirtations with Sokka, literally the only other guy she flirts with in the entire series.

And 'The Beach' left a huge impression on audiences when it comes to the Dangerous Ladies, especially Ty Lee. I mean, we wouldn't even know she has sisters without that episode.

Keep in mind, I'm not trying to bash Ty Lokka. I enjoy it. I've written it.

I'm just pointing out how aspects of AtLA itself came together to push people away from the ship in the post-finale periods where the long-term fandom trends calcify. Whether Ty Lee was actually manipulating Sokka, according to the creators' intent, doesn't matter. It's how audiences perceive the character dynamic. And the one and only interaction between Sokka and Ty Lee in all of the final season is in the last few minutes of the finale itself, where Sokka sees Ty Lee, brandishes his crutch at her like a weapon, and then Ty Lee proceeds to hug two girls and they all give giant grins.

That's how you convince audiences that a girl is a lesbian without actually saying she's a lesbian. XD And that's the final impression audiences get of Ty Lokka!

It's unfortunate, because I personally love the idea of Sokka being hopelessly attracted to a girl whose behavior is almost precisely calibrated to maximally annoy him while said girl is actually smarter and more manipulative than she lets on. But I can see why AtLA fans look at other possibilities for shipping those characters.

Why are you acting like this is something new? they already had tension in many encounters in season 2, and its acknowledged as "semi-canon"

In Book 2 Katara and Zuko just don't really interact until the very end. And sure, they get the spirit water scene, but Katara also has fairly similar scenes, revolving around her mother's death making her feel empathy for a boy, with Aang, Haru, and Jet.

This leaves just The Southern Raiders and the series finale, and to be honest, going on a revenge mission to murder while being consumed with tough, negative emotions is not a very romantic occasion. That just leaves the series finale, which ends with Kataang.

And in all of the show, there are zero scenes implying Katara or Zuko are attracted to each other.

Let's look at ships which have or had more setup.

Maiko-we get two scenes showing Mai crushing on Zuko before they get together (plus a whole semi-canon comic showing them dating!).

Kataang. Not only do we get numerous scenes of Aang crushing on Katara, we also get at least three scenes of Katara showing interest in Aang before they get together. Not to mention the whole Oma and Shu story was included to tease Kataang.

Sokka/Ty Lee. We have several scenes of her thirsting after him, and it's pretty clear he'd be interested in it if it weren't for Suki.

Aang/On Ji. They actually danced together!

Tyzula. We have a whole scene of them faking hitting on each other.

Zutara lacks all of that.

I'm fine with the ship, but it wasn't really set up in canon, any more than, say, Aang/Zuko or Jet/Zuko were.

What if, during their hunt for the Gaang, Ozai's Angels manage to capture Sokka and keep him prisoner?

And Ty Lee flirts even harder with him now that she can spend all her time with him.

How would things develop between the two of them?

Hey anon—thanks for the ask!

This is a great scenario lol…and I’ve actually had thoughts about it before. Here are some more!

After capturing him, Azula proposes that they take turns watching the prisoner throughout the night. She can tell already that Sokka is an especially wily Water Tribesman, so one of them will need to keep an eye on him while the others sleep—and Ty Lee giddily offers to take the first shift. But instead of waking up Mai a few hours later, Ty Lee takes the other two shifts and spends all night flirting with Sokka. She asks him lots of questions:

Where’s he from? How cold is it down there? Does he have a girlfriend? What’s his favorite color? Is he seeing anyone? What’s his favorite food? Is he single? If he could be any animal in the whole wide world, what would it be? Does he have a type [of girl that he likes]? Would he like to see her do a handstand? How about the splits? Has he ever thought about dating a Fire Nation girl with grey eyes and a long braid and a very very pink aura?

Sokka quickly realizes two things: one—not everything about the Fire Nation is evil and terrible and warmongery (and maybe this girl isn’t a total angel given that she’s a willing accomplice of Princess Zappy but to be fair he’d never thought about dating a Fire Nation girl with grey eyes and a long braid and a very very pink aura (whatever that means) before being captured and now he is); two—escaping is going to be much easier than he previously assumed.

Eventually Sokka drifts off to sleep. Feeling pretty tired herself, she falls asleep too, cuddling up to him (to make sure he can’t escape, of course). In the morning, Azula is predictably displeased—but Ty Lee points out that she managed to keep track of the prisoner all night long, ensuring Azula could get all the beauty sleep she needs; she says that she’d be happy to watch him day and night. Azula considers this an acceptable offer—but makes Ty Lee promise not to fall asleep again while watching him.

Naturally, this invites a question which leaves Sokka and Mai raising their eyebrows: When is Ty Lee supposed to sleep? For her part, Azula plans to maximize her royal beauty sleep while also teaching Ty Lee a number of lessons—one of those lessons being ‘don’t consort with the enemy’—but she underestimates just how much Ty Lee wants to…ahem…consort…with this particular enemy.

Ty Lee starts pulling all-nighter after all-nighter, doing cartwheels and handstands to keep herself awake so she can talk to Sokka. Despite the frequent yawning, they chat and flirt late into the night. Sokka tells her about his home, his family, how he ended up traveling with the Avatar, his favorite kinds of cured meat, etc. (He also starts dishing out the dad jokes and puns, which leave Ty Lee rolling—regardless of how funny they actually are.) She shares her childhood angst as one of seven identical septuplets (she assures him that she’s the best of the bunch), how she got into acrobatics and joined the circus, her friendship with Azula and Mai, the fact that she’s never kissed a boy before and wouldn’t it be amazing if her first kiss was with a super duper cute guy with dreamy blue eyes and a big smile and nice muscles but only if he wants to because he’s technically her prisoner and he can say no if he doesn’t but—

(They kiss. A lot. And they aren’t always quiet. Azula and Mai can attest to that much.)

On night four, Sokka ends up telling her about his first girlfriend. Ty Lee sobs hysterically—partly because a princess sacrificing herself to save the world is the most tragic story she’s ever heard and partly because she’s afraid she can never measure up to an ethereal white-haired moon spirit princess and partly because she’s delirious from lack of sleep.

(She and Sokka canoodle some more and she feels better.)

Ty Lee makes the most of her responsibility as his full-time warden. Because Azula doesn’t trust the prisoner with sharp implements, someone has to feed him; Ty Lee volunteers. Because Azula doesn’t want their mission slowed down, someone needs to share their mongoose lizard with the prisoner; Ty Lee volunteers. Because Azula doesn’t want the prisoner out of sight, someone has to watch him while he bathes in the river; Ty Lee volunteers (and, although she’s not much of a natural multitasker, she takes the opportunity to bathe at the same time—for the sake of convenience, of course).

This gives her a lot of quality time with Sokka—to the point where the lines between them blur (Ty Lee forgets to keep his wrists tied and Sokka misses a few chances to escape)—but the lack of sleep takes its toll. While the Dangerous Ladies are riding their mongoose lizards cross-country, Ty Lee starts to doze off in the saddle. Sokka, sitting behind her with his wrists tied, starts to notice them lagging behind Princess Zappy and Knife Girl…but he isn’t going to look a gift ostrich horse in the mouth. By the time Ty Lee is snoring, slumping back against him, the other two are out of sight—so he wiggles out of his bindings and takes the reins to steer them onto a different course. He tethers the mongoose lizard to a tree, gets his boomerang out of the saddlebag, leans her comfortably up against the tree and covers her with a blanket, and scribbles a parting note which he leaves in her lap.

(Ty Lee gets the best seventeen-straight hours of sleep in her entire life. She dreams of snowy fields and igloos and a wintery wedding and a handsome Water Tribe husband and lots and lots of blue-eyed babies and—)

Unfortunately, she wakes to Azula standing over her, chewing her out for losing the prisoner. After getting past the initial disorientation, Ty Lee breaks down in tears: first because her idyllic dream was just a dream, then because Azula is mad at her, and finally—worst of all—because Sokka left her. They saddle up and resume tracking the Avatar. As they start off, Mai discreetly hands Ty Lee the note from Sokka, explaining that if Azula saw it, she’d probably burn it. Following a fourth round of sobbing—happy tears this time—Ty Lee tucks the note into her top for safe keeping, to have it by her heart until she sees Sokka again.