Avatar: The Last Airbender / The Legend of Korra -

[biscuitscilia]

To this day I still think Mako was a peace offering to all the crazy Zutara fans pissed that their ship never happened. It's not surprising that the moment shipping was introduced to Korra the quality dropped like a rock.

Nearly 20 years and they're still seething. I didn't even know Zutara was a massively popular thing until I visited the fan forums for the first time in 2009 and I read a certain web comic.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

Nearly 20 years and they're still seething. I didn't even know Zutara was a massively popular thing until I visited the fan forums for the first time in 2009 and I read a certain web comic.

I remember having a conversation in one of the threads in /co/ years ago about how Zutara isn't more than a fetish thing for some fans. You know... Katara is "ugly" and Zuko is "beautiful". She's good and he's bad... something probably only women can feel & understand but in my case feels so off.
The thing about TLOK which concerns me the most is if Mako is actually written by that focus... holy shit, and i thought the piece of shit was written by being only a nuisance or plot device, like that Bolin's pet or the same Jinora in S2.

 

[starborn427614]

I remember having a conversation in one of the threads in /co/ years ago about how Zutara isn't more than a fetish thing for some fans. You know... Katara is "ugly" and Zuko is "beautiful". She's good and he's bad... something probably only women can feel & understand but in my case feels so off.
The thing about TLOK which concerns me the most is if Mako is actually written by that focus... holy shit, and i thought the piece of shit was written by being only a nuisance or plot device, like that Bolin's pet or the same Jinora in S2.

LOK would unironically have been better if it was just Korra, Asami and Bolin. They fit the same tropes as the original gang and Mako is just there doing nothing but occasionally reminding the audience that him and Bolin's parents are dead anyway.

 

[Chilson]

LOK would unironically have been better if it was just Korra, Asami and Bolin. They fit the same tropes as the original gang and Mako is just there doing nothing but occasionally reminding the audience that him and Bolin's parents are dead.

LOK would have been better if it was only Tenzin flipping everyone the bird for four seasons.

 

[Muttnik]

My friends and I have a game we play of ranking each LOK by how awful/useless to the plot they are. More often than not, it often results in multiple ties and stalls.

 

[One Man Bland]

LOK would unironically have been better if it was just Korra, Asami and Bolin. They fit the same tropes as the original gang and Mako is just there doing nothing but occasionally reminding the audience that him and Bolin's parents are dead anyway.

I saw someone who made an interesting point that Mako had a lot going for him that could’ve made him have a strong arc, namely that his backstory does mean he fills a similar role to Katara where he had to grow up before he was ready due to a tragedy for the sake of his brother, and that could’ve lended well to a lot of what was going on in the first few seasons of Korra especially. But alas, I don’t think much thought was given to him outside of "love interest" so when that didn’t work out he had no purpose.

 

[Ravana]

Should've been Lin Bei Fong cop show

 

[Mr. ShadowCreek]

Lately it seems that Zutara has been getting replaced by Zuko/Sokka. At least on Archive of our own.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

Lately it seems that Zutara has been getting replaced by Zuko/Sokka. At least on Archive of our own.

Damn it those fujoshis.

Heh, probably this is from 2006.

 

[Super Sad Smile]

All i hope is that this will be at least 3 E;R videos worth of entertainment

 

[ABE LINN COHN]

All i hope is that this will be at least 3 E;R videos worth of entertainment

The only good thing to come out of modern media

 

[RumblyTumbly]

Nearly 20 years and they're still seething. I didn't even know Zutara was a massively popular thing until I visited the fan forums for the first time in 2009 and I read a certain web comic.

The Zutara shippers are the main reason I am happy I didn't get into the show until two years after it had concluded.

Had I known the fanbase was that awful, I would have never given the show a chance, like Steven Universe.

 

[biscuitscilia]

The Zutara shippers are the main reason I am happy I didn't get into the show until two years after it had concluded.

Had I known the fanbase was that awful, I would have never given the show a chance, like Steven Universe.

I'm glad I grew up with it without the internet; no spoilers, no rumors, no shipping, no retarded fanbase. Experiencing the story for the first time was magical and I even remember the commercials for it when it was airing. Definitely one of the comfiest shows I watched.

 

[Thiletonomics]

The Zutara shippers are the main reason I am happy I didn't get into the show until two years after it had concluded.

Had I known the fanbase was that awful, I would have never given the show a chance, like Steven Universe.

In hindsight, I do wonder how insane Zutara shippers were (or are, given the recent rumors about the live-action show), compared to other insane shipping fandoms, i.e. Reylo shippers.

 

[Zero Day Defense]

In hindsight, I do wonder how insane Zutara shippers were (or are, given the recent rumors about the live-action show), compared to other insane shipping fandoms, i.e. Reylo shippers.

If they're not the same people, they're certainly cut from the same cloth.

 

[One Man Bland]

In hindsight, I do wonder how insane Zutara shippers were (or are, given the recent rumors about the live-action show), compared to other insane shipping fandoms, i.e. Reylo shippers.

I mentioned this in the Militant Shippers thread, but in all honestly in my experience the entirety of ATLA’s shipping scene is a cesspool, not just the Zutaratards.

On the one end you get the Zutara people who seriously need to repeat the MST3K mantra to themselves every once in awhile and many are total conspiracy theorists; then on the other end you got the canon shippers who tend to be either autistic waifufags for Katara, or the kind of SJWs who say insane shit like how anyone who even casually ships Zutara deserves to be abused (or my personal favorite being that it’s abuse apologism since Zuko’s totally an abusive boyfriend, but it’s okay for Mai to date him because "she can take it") because any pairings with Zuko are white supremacy, and send death threats to Zuko’s voice actor Dante Basco over this shipping bullshit. Then there’s the recent influx of Gen Z yaoifags who tend to be a combination of the worst parts of both of the former.

Just avoid anything to do with any shipping and ATLA is my advice. For whatever reason this franchise turns people into frothing morons the second romance is brought up.

 

[Pokemonquistador2]

I mentioned this in the Militant Shippers thread, but in all honestly in my experience the entirety of ATLA’s shipping scene is a cesspool, not just the Zutaratards.

On the one end you get the Zutara people who seriously need to repeat the MST3K mantra to themselves every once in awhile and many are total conspiracy theorists; then on the other end you got the canon shippers who tend to be either autistic waifufags for Katara, or the kind of SJWs who say insane shit like how anyone who even casually ships Zutara deserves to be abused (or my personal favorite being that it’s abuse apologism since Zuko’s totally an abusive boyfriend, but it’s okay for Mai to date him because "she can take it") because any pairings with Zuko are white supremacy, and send death threats to Zuko’s voice actor Dante Basco over this shipping bullshit. Then there’s the recent influx of Gen Z yaoifags who tend to be a combination of the worst parts of both of the former.

Just avoid anything to do with any shipping and ATLA is my advice. For whatever reason this franchise turns people into frothing morons the second romance is brought up.

My personal theory is that the people who froth the most are those who are too ugly for RL relationships and have to vicariously live through the cartoon characters they identify with. They also really love the compassionate white mage/ bad boy villain slash pairing. (See: Reylo from Star Wars.) My guess as to why that is is because it combines and idealized version of the female viewer (Mary Sueish, virtuous, and widely loved,) with the most exciting and attractive member of the cast - the handsome, imperious villain who just needs a dose of good lovin' to become an anti-heroic good guy.

 

[Übertroon]

My personal theory is that the people who froth the most are those who are too ugly for RL relationships and have to vicariously live through the cartoon characters they identify with. They also really love the compassionate white mage/ bad boy villain slash pairing. (See: Reylo from Star Wars.) My guess as to why that is is because it combines and idealized version of the female viewer (Mary Sueish, virtuous, and widely loved,) with the most exciting and attractive member of the cast - the handsome, imperious villain who just needs a dose of good lovin' to become an anti-heroic good guy.

It's not just appearance, there's a noticeable gender difference. Men don't really care about canon and will just play with hypotheticals to themselves. Usually when you encounter fanatic shippers they tend to be women. If a fan become angry because the canon doesn't correspond with their headcanon it's usually a woman. Now that's not to say men can't be autistic about lore, the most autistic arguments about lore on the internet are usually guys, but for some reason girls get really invested into fictional relationships and popular opinion regarding relationships.

 

[One Man Bland]

My personal theory is that the people who froth the most are those who are too ugly for RL relationships and have to vicariously live through the cartoon characters they identify with. They also really love the compassionate white mage/ bad boy villain slash pairing. (See: Reylo from Star Wars.) My guess as to why that is is because it combines and idealized version of the female viewer (Mary Sueish, virtuous, and widely loved,) with the most exciting and attractive member of the cast - the handsome, imperious villain who just needs a dose of good lovin' to become an anti-heroic good guy.

That’s part of it, but I think the real answer is even simpler: Katara and Zuko’s canon character growth mostly involves Zuko listening to what she has to say and either empathizing with her or taking initiative trying to help fix things - the same dynamic that’s made a lot of classic romances like Pride & Prejudice widely popular. A good listener is already an extremely appealing trait to most women, so when you combine that with the "jerk who secretly has a heart of gold" traits, it’s easy to see the appeal from their perspective. Comparatively. Aang’s primary reasons for liking Katara seem to begin and end with her being pretty, and with Katara the show often implies that the virtue of Aang being the Avatar should be enough for her to be interested rather than his personality or anything he’s done for her personally. It’s not exactly take rocket science to figure out why the girls watching didn’t exactly flock to that.

Though the Zutaratards I don’t get are the ones who will list off the reasons why they felt the canon romances were badly written, but then go "and that’s why everything would’ve been fixed if they made MY ship canon instead!" Like seriously, what makes you think it’d be anything other than MaKorra 1.0? If anything, they should be glad it’s not canon because it probably wouldn’t have been anything like what they imagine given how badly the comics and Korra fumbled their romantic subplots.

It’s also why I’ll laugh my fucking ass off if the Netflix remake decides to do anything Zutara related. The collective implosion of fangirl tears from all sides will be glorious.

 

[RumblyTumbly]

Just avoid anything to do with any shipping and ATLA is my advice. For whatever reason this franchise turns people into frothing morons the second romance is brought up.

Silly me. I watch stuff for action, adventure, likable characters, and everything coming to a satisfying conclusion and shipping has never been a major motivator for me to watch anything.

I must be crazy.