fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #1290 ]

⌈ Secret Post #1290 ⌋

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

101.

__________________________________________________

102.

__________________________________________________

103.

__________________________________________________

104.

__________________________________________________

105.

__________________________________________________

106.

__________________________________________________

107.

__________________________________________________

108.

__________________________________________________

109.

__________________________________________________

110.

__________________________________________________

111.

__________________________________________________

112.

__________________________________________________

113.

__________________________________________________

114.

__________________________________________________

115.

__________________________________________________

116.

__________________________________________________

117.

__________________________________________________

118.

__________________________________________________

119.

__________________________________________________

120.

__________________________________________________

121.

__________________________________________________

122.

__________________________________________________

123.

__________________________________________________

124.

__________________________________________________

125.

__________________________________________________

126.

__________________________________________________

127.

__________________________________________________

128.

__________________________________________________

129.

__________________________________________________

130.

__________________________________________________

131.

__________________________________________________

132.

__________________________________________________

133.

__________________________________________________

134.

__________________________________________________

135.

__________________________________________________

136.

__________________________________________________

137.

__________________________________________________

138.

__________________________________________________

139.

__________________________________________________

140.

__________________________________________________

141.

__________________________________________________

142.

__________________________________________________

143.

__________________________________________________

144.

__________________________________________________

145.

__________________________________________________

146.

__________________________________________________

147.

__________________________________________________

148.

__________________________________________________

149.

__________________________________________________

150.

__________________________________________________

151.

__________________________________________________

152.

__________________________________________________

153.

__________________________________________________

154.

__________________________________________________

155.

__________________________________________________

156.

__________________________________________________

157.

__________________________________________________

158.

__________________________________________________

159.

__________________________________________________

160.

__________________________________________________

161.

__________________________________________________

162.

__________________________________________________

163.

__________________________________________________

164.

__________________________________________________

165.

__________________________________________________

166.

__________________________________________________

167.

__________________________________________________

168.

__________________________________________________

169.

__________________________________________________

170.

__________________________________________________

171.

__________________________________________________

172.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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."

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Past memories?

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.

this, forever.

[ SECRET POST #1290 ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject