[ SECRET POST #1290 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1290 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 108 secrets from Secret Submission Post #184.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 2 3 4 5 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 3 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[andromeda3116.livejournal.com]

That's actually one of the problems I have with it. It seems like Bryke thought Kataang was perfectly developed and perfect and wonderful and flawless, when it really... wasn't. I'm not saying Zutara was better (in fact, I'm quite happy with it not being, since it's so much more fun in fanon) but Kataang was terribly-developed, at least from Katara's end -- I ended up with the impression that she resigned herself to being Aang's prize for defeating Ozai and that sits all kinds of wrong with me. I wouldn't have an issue with it if it seemed like she was romantically interested in him before the last five minutes of the finale, you know?

Although, really, the romance was the worst part of the show.

[(Anonymous)]

I wished it had just been pure action, no romantic interests or whatever. It all felt really awkward to watch for some reason, unlike romance in other shows.

And you are right, Katara seemed to settle. She never actually showed any affection for Aang outside of being like a brother or best friend. I guess the logic behind it is that "Oh, he loves me. So I guess I have to love him back or else he will be sad."

[kitty-wake.livejournal.com]

Maybe it was awkward because Aang's still 12 at the end - 13 at the most - and 12-year-old boys aren't generally into girls yet (or are they now? Last time I was around 12-year-old boys, I was also 12).

And to 14-year-old girls, 12-year-old boys are very much in the ersatz-younger-brother mould if they're friends. If they were ten years older, I could buy... well, I could buy some level of sexual attraction, at least.

[ginzai.livejournal.com]

Your thoughts make perfect sense to me. The issue I had with Kataang was entirely about the lack of reciprocation on Katara's part until the final scene of the final episode.

That sideways, shadowed look she has on her face after the first kiss combined with her discomfort and frustration in EIP heavily suggested to me that she wasn't ready for any sort of relationship with Aang just yet. It was pretty jarring to see her suddenly have romantic feelings for him without any real development.

She'd flirted with him a time or two, but I remember being 14 and being flattered and a bit flirty with the crush a younger friend had on me, even as it eventually made me uncomfortable when he tried to escalate things. Maybe I'm projecting a bit too much into things, but a combination of flattery and discomfort seems to be the norm among girls of that age when they're pursued by younger boys.

Like you, I could buy Katara at 24 and Aang at 22 much more readily. Or even Katara at 18 and Aang at 16, for that matter. The canon set up just didn't really work for me.

Then again, I prefer to think of all the Avatar kids as being in puppy love. Sokka and Suki are the only ones to escape that and that's just because it seemed pretty blatant that they were doing a bit more than just holding hands. And canon ships aside, I'm perfectly fine with thinking that they were together then, but probably broke up later on. And maybe got back together after they grew up, who knows?

[kitty-wake.livejournal.com]

Yes. Katara seems to care for Aang a lot - but I don't recall her doing very much for him that she wouldn't do for Sokka, or even, by the end, Zuko. Not that she treats them all the same, of course, but there's nothing particularly romantic about her relationship with Aang. Aren't all the shipping scenes from his point of view, anyway?

I totally agree with your experience of having a younger friend with a crush on you. I've never experienced that - well, I didn't when I was fourteen - but I can't easily imagine a girl that age thinking "Mmm, boyfriend material" about a twelve-year-old. (Still less can I imagine a twelve-year-old boy dreaming of sweet, chaste love.) If they'd just given the ending teashop scene a few years, I'd have been fine.

Mmm... to the last point, I've got no issue with Zuko and Mai, or Sokka and Suki. They're a bit older and I bought the chemistry (and I totally loved Mai saving the jerk who dumped her. Mai is awesome, and no-one will tell me differently). Also the thought of them having sex doesn't skeeve me out.

[ginzai.livejournal.com]

I think Katara certainly does love Aang, but it did always feel very motherly to me, rather than romantic. I think there were a couple of hints on her side; she looked surprised but not displeased to realize that Aang was a strong bender in that episode with the prophesy, and she did have some hooded eyes going on in the episode where she and Aang danced. However, it felt far more like minor flirtations from Katara's side, compared to an actual crush from Aang.

And having been that 14 year old with a 12 year friend with a crush, it's fun to flirt back a bit. 14 years do a lot of experimenting and there was something weirdly safe about it with him, since I had so little experience with flirting in general and there wasn't really a risk of rejection. It was only when it started to seem like it was getting real that I grew uncomfortable and started to withdraw.

Which, coincidentally, is what I see Katara doing after Aang kisses her for the first time. I can't think of any of those low-key flirty moments between them after that, not until Aang demands to know what their status is and she rejects him.

I've got issues with the Harry Potter epilogue, so I'm glad that they didn't do the same sort of finalized ending here. That said, the dynamics between a slightly older couple would make more sense to me than what we had in canon, particularly since the development on Katara's side was so shallow. Had they been a bit older to begin with, or if Katara's love was better developed, I'd have been fine with things.

Oh, I love Mai! I'm a bit less crazy about Zuko/Mai because of the lack of development there as well (and okay, I'll admit it - I don't usually care for the whole "childhood friends, adult lovers" thing) but I thought their potential was epic, especially in the second half of the season. Oddly enough, I grew to really appreciate the pairing after they broke up. I don't hold with Mai bashing, no sir.

It's not a matter them having sex though; it's the perception I had from them in the first half of the third season. They screamed awkward first teenage romance to me in most of their early scenes together. I like them better after they got back together, but there was so little there of that that it's hard for me to completely shake the earlier image.

Out of the canon pairings though, Maiko is actually my favorite. They're the one who still feels like puppy love but with the most potential to turn into something else.

[victorianvulgar.livejournal.com]

THIS.

ACCURATE.

If they had been only a few years older, Kataang would have made a lot more sense. I just find it hard to believe that Katara, at the age of 14, would be choosing Aang over Zuko. I ship neither Kataang or Zutara, but even with the smooches at the end of book 3 and the implied LOVE THAT IS A FOREVER LOVE between Katara an Aang, I still find Zuko/Katara far more plausible. Coming at it from a psychological standpoint as opposed to a storytelling standpoint.

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe it was awkward because Aang's still 12 at the end - 13 at the most - and 12-year-old boys aren't generally into girls yet

I have the same problem. Aang hasn't even started puberty yet - that makes it hard to take his pure love for Katara seriously. Don't get me wrong, I think they have a cute relationship, but the romantic aspect felt a little forced.

[kitty-wake.livejournal.com]

Not to mention, where would he have got the idea for this big romantic love? Boy was brought up by monks, and IIRC there's not a single young female airbender in his flashbacks, and I don't think they'd have been much into romance novels in the Air Temples, and... well, just like you say, he's still prepubescent and somewhat childlike in many ways.

[horridporrid.livejournal.com]

Past memories?

[kitty-wake.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes... I feel like an idiot now. I keep forgetting he's got access to about three zillion past lives, almost all of which would have involved romance.

[zenity.livejournal.com]

this, forever.

[turtleyurtle1.livejournal.com]

Katara had some passing/passive moments with Aang (I guess the dance/when she was training him) but honestly, after she backed off in Ember Island players, there needed to be a "through words" resolution to that, and not just her staring at him and being all "Whelp, he's the Avatar now, cool."

I've discussed it with fellow Zutarians over and over, and all I can come up with is: Season three needed to be much longer than it was. It's possible that Zutara would've never developed enough in an elongated season three, but Zuko in general needed more interaction with the Gaang as a whole. (Not to mention- how the hell did mai/ty lee get out, and we could've found Ursa ;;) but with a lengthier season three, we could've gotten more development in BOTH relationships- from Katara's perspective. We could've seen her resolve that issue during EIP/DoBS of kissing, and maybe figured out (without having to assume) that she wasn't just mommying him. (Even the VA pointed out she "mothers him" and then tacked on that she probably had a small crush on him, but those two don't mix well for me- and it came off in the show like we had to assume one was the other.)

I liked Z/K in fanon (because fanon had all the time in the world to develop it) but I also liked the Z/k dynamic in canon, because all the interactions were taken from Katara's side. Katara was the one who had been threatened by him, who had been bested, and then beat him, and then was left alone to judge him in CRoD. (And later again the last to accept him in WAT.) It was always Katara's reaction to Zuko's evolving character that mattered most- which probably led me to prefer it.

But IA. The romance was the worst part except maybe Sokka/Suki xD;

[verschreibsel.livejournal.com]

I agree. It just went way too fast. Aang's crush was mentioned enough for it to be believable but Katara's sight was lacking.
They should have just left it and stuck to the developed couples (Suki/Sokka Zuko/Mai etc.)

[pyrobaby.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I pretty much agree.

I mean I have a wide strike zone myself, but after all the crushing on Jet she did earlier in the series, having her suddenly be romantically interested in the 12-year-old boy she seemed to think of like a little brother the whole show felt weird to me. When I was a 14 year old girl, all the girls in my class wanted older boys. I think half the class were dating guys in high school or college. If they were even like 2-3 years older it wouldn't have bothered me nearly as much, I think.

Honestly though I would've preferred no pairings and just using the time saved for Toph to do more awesome shit or something.