funnily enough people love shipping toph and kanto as if kanto's whole "obsessed with how strong/cool toph is" gimmick was not taang's dynamic first.
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funnily enough people love shipping toph and kanto as if kanto's whole "obsessed with how strong/cool toph is" gimmick was not taang's dynamic first.

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people who hate zutara because he betrayed her trust while shipping zukka make me laugh. do you really think sokka would be with someone who hurt his sister irreparably? like, yall think so little of sokka (bc of hypocrisy) when he’s been shown to be hella protective over katara.
idc what people ship but these type of conversations over shipping differences need to stop.
telling a native person their indigenous background doesn’t matter bc “they’re american first”
invalidating Black “americans” who have went though centuries of unspeakable horrors and dehumanization that is still ongoing. i was “born in america” because my ancestors were fucking stolen.
i find it hilarious when antis say that zukkas and zutophs and jetkos are the only ones who "do zuko ships right" and "don't make them assimilate" bc where tf do you think zukkas got the idea of sokka being a SWT ambassador from?? lmao
Confirmation Bias in the ATLA fandom
Stating the obvious first, of course, it is fine that people don't ship or like Zutara as a ship. I don't think i've ever ran into a zutara shipper who has even implied that antis should ship it, or that antis are stupid if they do not.
However, it needs to be said that some zutara antis operate from confirmation bias and hypocrisy.
starting with the confirmation bias, there is this assumption that all zutara shippers envision headcanons the same way. To the extent, i've personally participated in conversations with individuals who claimed that 80% of the time, zutara shippers only talk about them in the FN with Katara as FireLady, which is a huge assumption to make especially for a fandom that you aren't a part of. (For example, I don't claim to know what any ship fanart of fandoms I'm not in looks like because I don't regularly engage with their content.)
it honestly feels like zutara antis intentionally go searching for and amplify zutara takes that confirm their feelings that zutara shippers are incapable of morality and undeserving of basic respect to the effect of "see what those horrible fans are doing! i knew they were all bad people!" Essentially, seeking to get more people to be antis, which is why zks have said that this is ship policing. going into ship tags to "convince zks about how stupid they are" or seeing it as your mission to stop people from shipping it is not the unbothered persona that people think it is. like, saying "idc what you ship" and then saying "but zutara is X dynamic" doesn't mean that the last part of that sentence goes away or that you are tolerant of people having different shipping opinions than you.
besides that, there's the very hypocritical assumption that zutara shippers should answer for the "sins" of other zutara shippers (from 1000 years ago) and sweeping generalizations about how zutaras think. for example, it is (beyond my understanding) "reasonable" to send hate to zk shippers because "zks in the past said this" or "zks mischaracterize aang." in no other IRL scenario does it make sense to assume all people who share one commonality think or feel the same way. for example, as a Black person, I do not and should not be seen to represent opinions for all Black individuals. also, people having a different read on fictional characters should not be a hall pass to be intentionally antagonistic to them. like there is no way that there should be viral twitter posts about how ppl are shocked that zutara shippers are capable of being pro palestine because of ship preference. that kind of sentiment is freely shared and supported because so many antis engage in confirmation bias unchecked.
this generalization and hypocrisy extends to colonizer/colonized conversations. as a BIPOC, i will never tell another BIPOC how they should feel about this argument because their lived experiences and perspectives are different than mine. however, i believe sweeping statements like "zutaras support colonization" are inappropriate--especially when stated by people who ship (or are fine with people who do ship) zukka, zutoph, jetko, etc. it feels dismissive of not just the people in fandom (someone recently said that BIPOC zk shippers are lost or seeking "oppressor" approval/affection which is NOT something you should say to someone irl) but also the characters. a few weeks ago, someone said that jetko was fine bc "jet didn't have colonization as bad as katara" and that "jet has more power than katara and an army" (note: i do ship jetko as well). additionally, for the past few years, i've seen some zukkas imply that sokka wasn't as affected by their mom's passing/didn't have as much trauma, so that's why zukka would be more permissable. i've even recently had someone imply that the difference in how the colonizer/colonized argument is discussed wrt zutara and zukka is because zukkas "aren't as loud" about their ship not being canon (despite the fact that ofc this presumes that all zks wanted zk to be canon). when these comments are leveraged, it feels less about the actual issues at hand and more about disdain for a group of shippers themselves. none of the arguments for why these biases/criticisms are disproportionate make sense (i.e. discussions of this argument should include all ships).
in general, i just wish that people didn't come into conversations with knee-jerk preconceived biases about their character/morality. i don't ship kataang or maiko, but idc if people do, and i'm mutuals with people who do. i don't think all kas or maikos should answer for strange things said by a person in their fandom. i think fandom culture needs to shift away from generalization and back to viewing people as their individual self.

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And by zuko having something to gain by switching sides (romantic love in this case) his redemption arc isnt as impactful, he had EVERYTHING to loose and nothing to gain when he joined the gaang which is why it was so effective.
this type of argument from antis is so annoying because it doesn't even make sense. katara isn't zuko's "something to gain" and it feels like a poor attempt to give zutara a similar level of "trophy" as the "hero gets the girl" trope. zuko switched sides because of his own change in heart. this is a quote from the day of Black sun:
No, I've learned everything! And I've had to learn it on my own! Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. People around the world are terrified of the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it! We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness.
this is not "i'm joining team avatar because i think katara is attractive and i want to be with her."
zuko and katara's relationship (canonically friends) is not predicated on obligation, so this anti argument doesn't make sense. in TSR, he asks what he can do to make it up to her and she gives him an IMPOSSIBLE task -- effectively saying that she will never forgive him. He isn't "gaining" anything because he had to earn her friendship/respect; it's why he was so shocked when she hugged him at the end of TSR. although, there is a ship that does have obligation written into it canonically - (nodding at "avatar's girl for example), but we never hear y'all antis bring ts up.
a potential romantic!zutara relationship would come after his redemption arc; and it doesn't make sense to retroactively trivialize the growth that he went through to get to that place.
also these arguments always feel disingenious because you would never catch these antis saying that zukka would erase zuko's redemption arc. like, we can't even keep consistency.
What if I said the sudden hate and vitriol towards zutara in recent years is linked to the rise in conservatism… stay with me now… I can’t help but notice it because of the arguments I see such as “Water Tribe & Fire Nation can never be together… it’s way better that Mai & Zuko are married as they are both Fire Nation” or “It’s fine that Katara is a stay at home mom & healer… it doesn’t matter that she doesn’t play a pivotal role, go on to do anything great after the war…”
Hot take: Aang hate is forced atp
Some of yall talk about a kid like he's the devil or sum
I actually don't see the screenshot saying Aang's the devil.
What I see is:
1) Implying he will go into the Avatar State if a girl doesn't return his affections (already implied by the show)
2) Implying that he values Katara as only a potential girlfriend and not as a friend (already implied by the show)
Disclaimer: this is long, badly explained, and I repeat myself. If something comes off as agressive, please tell me, this was not my intention.
"If I hadn't blocked my chakra, I'd probably be in the Avatar State right now!"
Out of context, it could sound like Aang is upset about Katara and that he's saying he'd enter the Avatar State if a girl doesn't return his feelings. The problem is that in context, it's more than that.
First, in The Ember Players episode, Aang was already upset with the play before the whole "the Avatar?, he's like a brother to me" scene, because he disliked the way he was portrayed. But then, in addition the play also brings up his uncertainty about Katara's feelings, so he leaves. What I mean to say here it's that his response to Katara with the "I'd probably be in the avatar state" it's not just because the play implies that his feelings are unrequited.
If someone wants to argue the line is awkward or that the writers shouldn't have put it like that, that's fair criticism, not saying the oposite.
"We kissed at the invasion, and I thought we were gonna be together."
You say that it would imply that Aang only values Katara as a potential girlfriend.
But for me, it shows that: Aang has romantic feelings for Katara, he wished that the Invasion kiss could mean they were moving toward a relationship, and he wants clarification because he's confused.
But none of that inherently means he doesn't value her friendship. Aang having feelings for Katara doesn't automatically means that he can't consider her a friend, platonic love and romantic love can coexist.
You can absolutely criticize the way Aang handles the conversation in that episode, (especially the kiss at the end when Katara told her she was confused) That's a valid and common criticism, even among people who like Aang. But "he wants clarification about their romantic status" and "he only sees her as a potential girlfriend" are two completely different claims.
But more importantly
My post was about people who constantly villainize Aang, and I accompanied it with an image of someone saying that Aang is a 'nice guy', which implies that his kindness isn't sincere and that his behavior towards Katara has just ulterior motives.
Aang does have flaws, but saying that he's secretly a "nice guy? For me a "nice guy" refers to someone who fakes kindness (to girls most of the time) just in hope to have a romantic relationship with a girl. It's someone who believes kindness entitles him to romance and only acts this way to people he considers potential partners.
But Aang is a sincerely kind character, he sees good in people, even showing empathy to enemies, which can become a character flaw.
He does gets frustrated, insecure at times, and handles some situations poorly and I don't say people can't criticize him, but my point was that there are people who interpret all his mistakes in the worst way possible and conclude that he'sa bad person.
Again, this is a fandom, so people should have the right to criticize the characters of pieces of media. But I feel like Aang gets a lot of hate for a lot less then other characters, like the same standards are not applied to him. His flaws are exaggerated and then presented as his sole character instead of being just a part of his character.
That's why I made the og post. And my comment "Some of yall talk about a kid like he's the devil or sum" was not meant to come off as a way to excuse all his actions and errors because he's a kid. It wasn't meant to argue that Aang is a flawless character, it was more of a sort of vent post because i don't understand why some fandom interpretations portray Aang in a such negative way, with takes that are like "Aang is a 'nice guy' who only sees Katara as a prize." or the "Aang just used Katara to have children"
I think it's good that you've changed your tune, but your original post did NOT come across as a reasonable counter argument and did not get across that you think people are allowed to critique Aang, it came across as a hate post. You screenshot a post that made a valid critique and then stated that that person was saying Aang was the devil.
I also will push back against your arguments because Katara not returning his feelings WAS a huge part of why he hated the play. Throughout it, he reacts angrily whenever the play implies that Katara does not love him, not just in one scene, and nods when the Zuko actor says that Katara is "the Avatar's girl." That definitely implies the entitlement you've described above associated with the Nice Guy.
It's also wrong to say Nice Guys are faking being nice and therefore Aang can't be one. A lot of guys like this actually believe they are genuinely being nice and that is what makes them believe they deserve a girl's love. While it is true that this behavior is anything but nice, it is counter productive to focus on how nice the guy is, because the point is that niceness does not earn you access to a woman's body, and as we established, Aang DOES think that Katara should be his. Aang DOES nod at the statement that Katara is "the Avatar's girl." Aang DOES get angry when the play implies that he is happy with being just friends with Katara. Aang DOES demand to know when Katara will be his girlfriend and kisses her without her consent when she does not give him the answer he wants.
So I think the screenshot is pretty accurate, and behavior like this deserves to be criticized. Aang may believe he is genuinely a nice guy, but he doesn't really value Katara's friendship and his behavior hurts her when she doesn't become his girlfriend because he wants her to.
Think about this from Katara's perspective. A guy that you thought was your friend makes it clear to you that your friendship is not enough for him and interrogates you asking why you aren't his girlfriend, and blames you for the things an oversexed actress onstage does. Then your friend kisses you without your consent and violates your stated boundary. Doesn't seem very nice, does it?
It's also not very nice to make hate posts about zutara shippers, screenshot their posts, say that their opinions are forced and that they're calling a character the devil, and then say that your "intention" was not to come off as aggressive. Yes it was. You just thought it was okay to dehumanize and attack people for criticizing a fictional character.
to add onto what sokkastyles has beautifully said, we also can't ignore the influence of the adult male creators as well as other scenes in the show. specifically the scene where the prisoners tell aang verbatim that he is a nice guy and that katara will come around. the best way for the show to prove that aang was okay with being "just friends" with katara would've been after EIP (and an apology), but of course, instead, the narrative thinks it's enough to just have katara initiate the finale kiss with no dialogue.
Book 3 | That painful moment when we saw Zuko and Katara reach for the other from their POV *sob*
I just realized something, you see, I love the fact that Zuko jumped in front of lightning for Katara cause it shows how Zuko is as a person, not because of the implication of Zutara or whatever. Yes, it’s a beautiful scene, and it shows how strong their friendship has grown. It shows Zuko’s selflessness. But let’s say it wasn’t Katara, like maybe it was Toph or Sokka or even Suki, will Zuko do the same? A 100% yes. He’d do it without thinking, because that’s just how Zuko is.
You know what’s the best part about the Agni Kai that screams ZUTARA? It’s these; Zuko reaching out for Katara even with all the pain he’s in and Katara reaching for him in desperation even with Azula on the offensive.
From a storytelling/storyboarding perspective, these frames show that they were each other’s priorities even in the midst of the chaos.
the way zuko’s hand is shaking from the pain but he’s still reaching out to her. katara’s hand coated in water ….. ofc it’s to fight against azula- but also? you just know she wanted to heal him right then and there …. oh my zutara☹️
i feel like her hand was coated bc she saw he was hurt and *forgot* azula was there and that there was a whole agni kai going on bc wanted to immediately get to him. her hand doesn’t look like it’s preparing to waterbend but then she has to cause azula snaps her back to reality. 😅
Looking (dis)honorably

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That zk-anti person saw this and was inspired #sarcasm.
Oh, you know, these stupid victims of colonialism who live in fantasies. Because if you don't agree with me it means you are stupid.
To jump on USA as a Russian is certainly a choice. Russia is an imperialistic country with a long story of colonialism and with all that entails. And at the same time it's not only slavs who participate in Russian war aggressions, so this argument about minorities of colour also works here. You really think you know american politics so well that you decide to use USA as an example? I'm not an american, btw.
Yes, are we sure it is appropriate to equate (equate, not compare) absolutely real events with fictional? Do you have at least a bit of respect for these people? This is not a fucking cartoon.
Remember, this person wants you to take them seriously. Anti-coloniser made-up slur.
Yeah, a canon story about slav/inuit or brit/inuit e-t-l and not a hypothetical love story between people of fictional (heavily inspired but still fictional) ethnicities when? Ah yes, such stories exist and unlike Zutara they are harmful in many ways, you just don't want to pay attention.
This person tried to be so woke she ended up looking stupid. Because this is stupid, ignorant and disrespectful behaviour. And i know she is an indigenous woman, but i'm also an indigenous woman. Fictional things are not real. Don't try to educate somebody when you don't even have basic common sense and empathy.
I stayed off that post when someone sent it to me because there were some poc zutara shippers who felt they brought up some valuable points, but given the recent behavior of zutara antis I can say that I knew this would happen, because it always does. You jest, but this is an example of the kinds of posts that empower people like zutaranti. The rhetoric in this post is also directly accusing poc zutara shippers of being some kind of race traitors, which, again, is meant to encourage bullying, not meant to protect poc.
Also, yeah, people who use "ash-maker" like they're performing activism by using a fake slur against fantasy people is very hard to take seriously. And also tone deaf, since they're using it as the equivalent to like, cracker, when Zuko is Asian. There are real slurs that are used in the real world for people who look like Zuko, but there's nothing progressive about using them.
You see, it's not about a ship war, but i'll make a post about colonialism in regards to shipping still. Because why make a post about sometimes very questionable writing of the show which is canon when there is a whole non-canon ship (which is perceived very differently by different people). And we will focus not on calling out harmful rhetoric in general, but on Zutarians specifically. We will focus more on fictional suffering than real people. But it's not about ship wars, no.
Also, Zutara kills :(
thank you for sharing your perspectives @half-phantom-hiyori
i was one of the people who responded to this post, and got accused of trivializing things to ship wars and also told that i shouldn't speak because i am american, despite the fact that i am BLACK first (and only tbh). i made a separate post about it, but reading their post back, i'm even more uncomfortable, and not in a "need to learn your privilege" sort of way. though, i was told that i should leave my comment up to "be an example" to other people.
@sokkastyles is exactly right - this is the kind of thing that emboldened zutaranti to make these real world associations, which according to zutaranti's private DMs, "would be good slander."
to say "Crown Prince of KKK" and to immediately dismiss anything *I* said as a Black person (from the race/ethnic group that what historically targeted by the KKK) is unfathomable. to talk to *me* about "something that kills" as if that's not also what my people face (and have faced) for centuries.
also i just vehemently oppose the concept of portraying BIPOC who ship zk as "lost" or somehow wanting to validate their humanity to a "shadowy oppressor." blind generalizations are harmfully reductive in and of themselves, period, but it is entirely possible that someone just has a different perspective on a pairing. doesn't have to be more complicated than that. i find it offensive to even imply that zks IRL would be vying for the attention of yts or other oppressors, and if anyone knew me IRL, they'd know that that's the last thing i'd do.
as @half-phantom-hiyori mentioned, i also commented about how these conversations should (but never do) extend to zkka and zkang. i was told that it's "different." and recently, there was a post on twitter where a jtko shipper claimed that jet's colonization was "not nearly as bad" as katara's. and not only is it false, but it is strange to create a trauma ranking system to justify shipping. also it completely invalidates jet's trauma (which is something zkkas do too when they claim that sokka would be "fine" dating zuko even though he and katara have the same mother.
but even this part, "welcoming subjugated group into the imperial economic structures with the purpose of neutering resistance" does not describe fanon or even canon zutara at all. by the end of the series, "the resistance" has won. katara and aang are his friends and zuko is actively contributing to pushing the nations forward. he isn't silencing them. and i'll never read the comics, but i know that zuko even makes a failsafe by asking aang to k!ll him if he ever goes too far.
if it were to fit that analogy, it would have to be something like "zuko joined the group to manipulate them (lying that he was going to be their "inside guy") before taking his place on the throne with Ozai. some time later, he brings katara and aang there under false pretenses to think that he was 'on their side' and makes *some* small changes to gain their trust (all the while, continuing control of the earth kingdom + planning to take over the WT)."
it's 2 AM and i'm thinking about the cognitive dissonance of antis saying that zutara's (hypothetical) romantic relationship would uphold a harmful oppressed dynamic while being fine with their friendship.
i feel like part of this stems from people perceiving friendship/platonic love as "less intense/less committed" than romantic relationships, which... feels a bit patriarchial and heteronormative to me. IRL it can be very common for friendships to outlast romantic partners. friendship is deeply intimate and informed by mutual trust and respect. but also, these takes seem to assume that there is a limit to katara's forgiveness or that her forgiveness was not actually genuine. it's predicated on fan assumption that katara and zuko's friendship would dim over time. however, katara isn't just tolerating zuko nor does she seem to have residual discomfort with his presence.
when katara looks at zuko, imo, it is not likely that she sees Ozai/his nation. she likely sees her friend who almost died for her and the one she thinks is stiff/humorless and tries to get to "lighten up."
It's kinda their thing
lol…that acc finally being held accountable …….still doesn’t erase all the weeks of vile, horrid, racist/misogynistic dogpiling and harassment towards zks…..still doesn’t change the fact that thousands of kas supported her behavior and enabled her through constantly acting like her henchmen and just…. happily joining in her echo chambers….downright supported her racist behavior until it was undeniable and in-the-face then reducing it to “ship wars” or “both sides did too much” or “let’s not be as bad as zks now” ……..u all move so weird……. can’t apologize for shit without stumbling to save face
Wasn't Jet's entire family murdered by the fire nation?????
It's time to admit that you just hate women.
Like when you're okay with shipping Zuko with every person who has been oppressed by the fire nation EXCEPT the person he actually worked to make amends to and was forgiven by, there is something amiss.

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Onward by xcgirl08
mailee content in 2025…. god is real