Thoughts on Avatar character/pairings

[sincere]

Spoilers through The Beach, at which point I failed at finding episode 3x06 anywhere, so I had nothing better to do than jot down opinions.


Aang/Katara: Yeah, canon. They're cute, and sometimes adorable. It was a little bizarre at first because it kind of came and went during the first season, but it's more consistent now and thus more believable. Also, I've liked the older girl dynamic for years and years.

Aang/Toph?: I kind of like this. She kicks his ass.

Sokka/Toph?: I think she's crushing on him, but I don't know. I think I'd prefer Sokka/Suki. Not that I can blame Toph, I mean -- he is pretty awesome. But I don't want him to be with someone who would ruthlessly batter him down every time he was feeling awesome. :(

Iroh/Toph?: I'd go for it. ladycrysiana, I'm glad to see i'm not the only one who had bad thoughts.

Zuko/Katara: As of The Beach, these fans are kind of reaching, although I find the pairing slightly more interesting than Aang/Katara. (They're just both so -- nice? Zuko and Katara have a less complacent dynamic.) I think I would've thought about it even without knowing fans of it existed, which is kind of telling.

Zuko/Mai: Oh god, please stop. I don't want to see them touching or kissing or anything. I mean -- why? Because he's expected to? Because they were before? Because she doesn't make him put forth any special effort? Because they brood the same way all the damn time? Is he really turned on by the girl who is bored by everything and just sits in one place all the time making occasional monotone commentary? This had no development, no introduction, no basis in anything but one flashback where she blushed over him when she was like, eight. And then it was just there the moment the third season started and stuck like a leech. My squick at this pairing is probably partially compounded because

Mai: She puts me to sleep. I really could do without her. I think even Azula could do without her. I mean, when has she ever even made an effort to do something for Azula's sake? No, it's always, "I'm not doing that, ew," or, "That's too much work, sigh," or, "Just take the bear and let Azula's captives escape, I don't care." Get off your lazy ass. If only your mom had compounded your mother issues by slapping you senseless more often.

Zuko should go back and find that nice girl in Ba Sing Se, and Azula and Ty Lee will be just fine on their own. Speaking of,

Azula/Ty Lee: That'd be shiny. They suit each other, in the sense that Ty Lee can take Azula's poison and even admires her for it and isn't hurt by it -- unless she IS, in which case Azula is quickly sorry -- and their relationship has been interesting from word one, which is more than I can say for Azula and Mai.

Azula/Zuko: This would be nothing but cruelty. Cruelty and incest. I'd enjoy it way too much.

Iroh: Is the awesomest thing ever, but everyone knows that already. Except Zuko. But that boy ain't that bright, you know?

Um, I can't think of anything else I wanted to comment on.

Comments

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

I kind of saw Zuko/Mai coming from a mile away, and it made me sad. I actually kind of like Mai, but in the sense of "there will be so much awesome stuff they can do with her" that they never did. She's always bland and bored, and she doesn't kick ass often enough for me to really forgive her for it. Though I freaking love her voice. Okay, I love almost all the voices in the show. It's been ages since I've seen American anything with voice acting that splendiferous.

Aang/Katara is very standard, and that's why I'm just not a fan of it. It's the expected pairing (protagonist always ends up with opposite gendered person in the party).

Sokka/Suki is awesome, though. I love them.

Of course, Avatar doesn't really tweak my ship-dar very much. If anything, I'm more peevish about the ships the creators put forth than see any for myself. Possibly because Aang is, y'know, twelve, and Zuko/Mai is about as interesting as watching paint dry. Maybe that's why I only really seem to like Sokka and Suki together. They feel like they have a much more... adult-ish relationship, in that teenaged sort of way.

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

I don't SHIP anything, really, but I'm also not really fannishly motivated, which I think might partially explain that. But I agree that I have a problem believing in true love or -- really relationships when you're twelve and you have a crush on an older girl. I mean, there's not much there beyond admiration, awkwardness, and maybe a little cuddling? Their relationship isn't very mature. It's very first-crush. Whereas Sokka and Suki are less "first-crush" and more "want to be with you, admire you," etc.

I think in mastering the Avatar state, Aang kind of convinced me that maybe she's more than just a "first-crush", but I don't think he has the perspective to think of it that way. Maybe it is something big, but right now he's just a kid, so he's only aware of it as a "first-crush", which limits it into this improbable little relationship. If any of that makes sense.

Mai could have been amusing or interesting, and I kept waiting for her to be either, but she just didn't. She's only there to balance out Ty Lee's perkiness by being completely and utterly disinterested in every single thing. Just kill yourself.

I admit I wasn't exactly surprised that it was canon: the moment you saw that she had a crush on him I got the idea that if he went back home, she'd be the metaphorical girl waiting there. But I was surprised at -- A) the way it became canon, out of nowhere and already at the make-out stage, B) the fact that they both seemed so sappy about one another without actually having had any meaningful interactions, and C) the fact that it had absolutely no impact on her as a character. It didn't make her happy to be with her alleged crush. She was just the same completely and utterly disinterested in every single thing SHELL, only now with someone to make out with instead of sitting by herself.

Seriously lame.

[lady-zip.livejournal.com]

.... Azula/TyLee was the only good thing about this episode. Everything else about The Beach can pretty much die in a fire. -_-

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

I could've sworn everyone loved it, so I'm surprised to hear you say that. XD Maybe it was just "YAY BAD GUYS HAVE FUN EPISODE" or something.

I'd personally have gone for Azula/Ty Lee before this episode too, but I liked the element I hadn't seen before where Azula actually hurt her and evidently felt bad.

[lady-zip.livejournal.com]

The way Mai/Zuko has been presented is horrible. There is back story for it ... in the Avatar magazine that not everyone got a hold of, and even that doesn't have much exposition on it. -_-

I'm more disappointed in the shabby presentation of their couple than in anything in else in season three frankly. It makes me upset. Had Maiko been done well I probably would really REALLY have enjoyed it... but now I'm only barely warming up to it halfway through the season because it's been so cobbled together and shitty.

*SIGH*

... thankfully after the Beach the episodes mostly get better. <3

[lady-zip.livejournal.com]

I HATED the Beach. It was SO out of character and stupid and weird! God! >_<

Azula's social stumbling made me headdesk so hard.

I mean, I LIKE that they're attempting to illustrate that she can't ever really be a 'normal girl', but that 'sharp outfit' comment?

Like... C'MON! She's a princess for god's sake! As if she would not have been raised to know how to have some basic social skills like 'how to compliment a person you want to coddle/impress'?

And please don't get me started on that little campfire chat. As if Zuko and Azula trust each other enough to actually vent about their insecurities in one another's presence? These siblings were TRYING TO KILL EACH OTHER for all of season two, Zuko is STILL being blackmailed by Azula NOW... and he's just going to sit there and hand her emotional ammunition about him because of 'TEH MAGIK OF TEH ISLAAAAAND'?

.....

*sporks out soul*

*SIGH*

I don't know, maybe I'm just anal or something, but it just felt SO OOC to me and I kept wanting to punch something. -__-


..... Thankfully every episode after the Beach is pretty much awesome, Episode 6 notably so. =)



(I have eps 6 through 9 by the by, I can upload them to a fileshare service or something for you if you can't find the torrents.)

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

Seriously. Azula was like someone raised by wolves more than a princess. And Mai throwing a fit because she didn't like Zuko's behavior is like -- slkgdlgj

Part of me was all, "Aww, it's nice to see the siblings getting along," but more I was thinking "Wait, did he totally forget that everything he just got back is in danger now because of Azula's games? Don't tell her your innermost fears, jackass! She feeds off of them."

I'll hunt down 3x06 some more when I get home, and if I can't find it, I'll pester you. :3

[lady-zip.livejournal.com]

*HUGS* Gawd, I'm so glad someone else thought what I did about Azula and Zuko! @_@

Heheh, okays! <33

[alba-aulbath.livejournal.com]

RE: The Beach

The only thing I benefited from this episode was Azula/Ty Lee. For realsies.

I already wanked about its crap in my journal, but. It does feel like a lot of the ships in the show just don't float mah boat; I don't enjoy Katara/Aang or Katara/Zuko. I'm way more interested in Aang/Toph and Sokka/every girl because he's that damned slick. And ever since he showed up, I liked the idea of Katara/Haru.

But that's just me. v(._.)v And I'm actually much more interested in the non-romantic relationships. And heck, that might be why I'm so opposed to Katara/Aang; they feel like family more than romance, you know?

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

A lot of the main gang feel like family to me. I leer at Azula/Zuko a little up there, but that's a special circumstance; I could never ever pair Katara and Sokka, and I feel the same way about either of them with Toph and I definitely felt that way about them with Aang, although I feel less so about it now. They all get along in that easy, amiable, quarreling sibling sort of way. Part of the reason why I first was interested in Aang/Toph is because they didn't have that family dynamic with each other: she doesn't feel like his mom or his sister, ever, and Katara does some of the time. I think Katara gets like that with most everyone, but it's still a little jarring.

Sokka/every girl is true story. He takes a lot of abuse in the gang, but other girls see him as the awesome yet dorky charmer he is.

Now I will go back and read that LJ entry.

[terrykun.livejournal.com]

Incorrect. Hamel was raised by wolves.

*evil* Azula was raised by serpents.

[terrykun.livejournal.com]

Firstly, my scans. Let me show you them.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v365/terry3906/scans_daily/Avatar%20magazine/

Zuko and Mai has had me firmly disinterested from it's first present-day introduction. *waves my Zutara flag in defiance of the latest episodes*
You get major points for wanting him to go back to Ba Sing Se and see Jin again. ^_^
Is it just me, or did she totally pull his arm against her boobs when they walked off from the tea house?

Sokka/Toph is adorable, and would be a delight to watch, but I ship him with Suki so hard. I also laughed my ass off at his defense of the moon spirit.
"Lunar goodness!"

Aang and Katara is cliched (one of the hazards of the show being on a 'children's network) and much more oedipal than I like my pairings. Also, boring.

Toph and Aang I have no problems with.

Azula and Zuko is there to make us feel very bad and naughty. That is all.

My big reaction to The Beach (that went on for days afterwards) was "I can't believe she made Ty Lee cry!"
And also "No means no!" in regard to Ty Lee immobilizing all of her suitors.

I'm sure I'll have more to say once my brain is not depleted of it's beloved caffeine.

[hauntedreality.livejournal.com]

As for your pairing thoughts. I'm right there with you. I don't think I'd disagree with anything. They are all young, so my brain is doing that "no, don't pair them!" thing, but ignoring my brain, I'm with you.

I don't mind Mai as long as she is a minor side character. When they feature her more they need to make her more interesting! So, I don't really disagree there either. Heh. And Iroh is uber love!

Try avatar_episodes.