Sokka and who?! Attack of the Avatar shipwars!

[sincere]

I can't write fic for Avatar, but damn if I can't invent pairings and make them plausible in three minutes or less.

kay_willow: Okay, crack pairing formation time:
kay_willow: Sokka and Mai.
maladaptive: ....that one pains me a bit
kay_willow: Why?
maladaptive: Just. I can't imagine Sokka not punching her. XD
kay_willow: XD
kay_willow: While that would please me
maladaptive: throttling her while going "aaaaah!" in the way he does.
kay_willow: I posit in my imaginary space that he is such a relentless dork that he might make her laugh.
kay_willow: Which would make her ten times more bearable, if she displayed such a hint of humanity.
maladaptive: .....that would be awesome.
kay_willow: She could deliver the same cute lines that Zuko could ("I'm never happy.") and could beat up anyone other than her who dared make fun of him.
maladaptive: ....how do you do that. XD
maladaptive: how do you make this sound good.
maladaptive: ♥

On a bemused note, I went to a forum just for kicks and found such bashing of Zuko/Katara from not only Aang/Katara fans but also other fans that I felt like it was getting actively unfair treatment -- that I had wondered if this would be a Bleachesque pairing war, where Ichigo/Orihime is often actively derided despite just enjoying their happy corner of the internet, and I would feel morally obliged to be on the side of the nice people who were under attack.

...then I saw a Zuko/Katara fan enter the thread with such unmitigated fail ("If you don't like my pairings, I don't like you as a person!") that I promptly felt better (well, except to feel ashamed for liking her pairings, Zuko/Katara and Toph/Aang). At least it's not undeserved treatment. :D

Frankly, all the shippers are batshit. Learn to share, guys. I like both Zuko/Katara and Aang/Katara, and since all the shippers are batshit crazy, I'll just go on enjoying my happy place.

Comments

[unite.livejournal.com]

I'm just happy in my corner of Sokka love.

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

I couldn't even justify a Sokka shipwar. I mean, I'm sure they exist, but only because people are stupid. I kind of ship Sokka/the ladiez. Like, all of them. Yue? Suki? Ty Lee? Azula? Katara? Sounds good, baby!

Another excerpt from my conversation with maladaptive is that everyone deserves more Sokka.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I have not dared seek any fanstuff about Avatar at all, because I am afraid of what I might find.

Also, I keep forgetting I have this icon and Sokka needs more love.

[slayerofgod.livejournal.com]

I've always felt that the main ship war in Avatar kinda eerily parelled the one in Bleach, i.e. hugely popular ship(Zutara/IchiRuki) puts down smaller ship(Kataang/IchiHime). The difference comes in the way the smaller ship reacts. Aang/Katara fans tend to fight back with ferocity, while as you pointed out, IchiHime fans shrug it off and go back to their corner of fandom to ship in peace.

Anyway, among all the other things that were awesome, Mai rocked the house in Boiling Rock. I didn't have a problem with her before, but she jumped up the awesome scale hugely in part 2. I especially love when she and Zuko stare at each other through the prison door. The emotion in her eyes says it all.

Also: "I love Zuko more than I fear you."

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

Sokka is so much awesomer than the entire rest of the cast that I sometimes don't understand why the main shipwar isn't about him. XD

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

I'm consciously aware that people ship Zuko/Katara in vast, ridiculous numbers, but it always seems to me that I see far more people complaining about Zuko/Katara than people who ship it -- although, again, my perspective is skewed because I've never actually gone into the fandom before this random dip which was a conscious attempt to locate and mock the shipwar. XD But I was kind of shocked to see the vehemence about it.

Of course, in the context of loser fans who insist with foam at the mouth that their pairing is going to be canon, they hate everyone who dislikes their pairing, SUCK IT, no wonder the entirety of the fandom is annoyed at them -- especially when their pairing isn't canon.

I just really don't understand shipwars. XD When I prefer one ship (e.g. Bleach) I think the other side is fail, and when I ship both sides (e.g. Avatar) I think everyone involved is fail. I need better shipwars. :( Or else, you know, civilized fandoms.

I've never liked Mai or Zuko/Mai; I think she's an okay idea with terrible execution all around, e.g. her attitude and voice acting turn me off immensely, but I feel like I could've liked it if it had only been slightly tweaked, and her romance with Zuko was utterly mangled even though before it actually happened I thought it could be kind of cute.

But I developed a lot of respect for her in Boiling Rock. XD Betraying Azula for Zuko's sake took massive spine and I appreciate her for actually finding enough non-apathy in her heart to take a stand about something. I still don't really care for her, but I dislike her much less, and I dislike Zuko/Mai a lot less because, SHOCK, they had a meaningful moment that told me how they felt without any on-screen making out.

SEE, AVATAR CREATORS? You can develop a relationship without it involving someone's tongue down another person's throat. El grosso. :(

[v-voltaire.livejournal.com]

Avatar pairings are dumb.

Except for Jet/Zuko (aka "Jet Li"), which is the most canon and therefore awesome pairing of the series. Proof:

1. Jet stalked Zuko.

2. Zuko stole Jet's haircut.

QED: all other pairings pale in comparison and the fighting between Zuko/Katara and Aang/Katara come from their deep down insecurity that they'll never be as awesome or canon as Jet/Zuko.

And they are right.

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

That hurts me because I saw someone saying that earlier. :\ Please tell me all Jet/Zuko "fandom" is one giant prank that the "fans" are pulling against the rest of the fandom.

[v-voltaire.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, the vast vast majority of Jet/Zuko fans ship it because it is hilarious (and/or hot), not because we have any belief that it was intended to be a pairing in any sense of the word ever, EVER.

This makes it doubly superior to any other pairing, wut

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

That is definitely as good a reason to ship anything as I've ever heard. XD (Well, the "hot" part is pretty standard, but the "IT WOULD BE HILARIOUS" is A+.)

[slayerofgod.livejournal.com]

Of course, in the context of loser fans who insist with foam at the mouth that their pairing is going to be canon, they hate everyone who dislikes their pairing, SUCK IT, no wonder the entirety of the fandom is annoyed at them -- especially when their pairing isn't canon.

That sums it up pretty well I'd say. A pairing becoming hugely popular despite having next to no canon backing happens fairly regularly in fandom(Leon/Claire and Takato/Ruki to name two), but Zutara fans take it a step further. As you said, a lot of them have this kind of hate on for anyone who doesn't follow their views on the subject, which then inspires fail in the opposite camp, which then annoys the original group of shippers. Ship wars: total circle jerks.

Regarding Zuko/Mai, despite the fact that they didn't animate the date comic thing(they really should have), I really liked it in the beginning. Mai's making fun of Zuko's endless anguish and the subsequent episode where the creators were obviously parodying every teenager who's ever said something stupid on a date were endlessly hilarious. I think the problem arose when they didn't move it beyond that. The occurances in Boiling Rock part 2 really should have happened a bunch of episodes earlier.

Avatar tends to have a problem with pacing, alas. D:

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

(Wow, Leon/Claire?) I used to have a private beliefs doctrine: A pairing can be either weird or popular, but if it's both? Then I'm going to get annoyed. Like, I don't mind that Zack/Cloud has a huge following, that's normal. And I don't mind that some people ship Zack/Reno. But if the entire FF7 fandom up and starts shipping Zack/Reno, I'm going to go -- what the fuck is wrong with you people? XD

Zuko/Katara isn't so weird that I think I could really apply it to this situation: there's hardly evidence for them, but at least they meet and interact and have some sort of investment in each other, which I still don't see for Sokka re: Toph, for instance, and Sokka/Toph is huge by my sight. But it reminds me of that.

No ship should get so full of itself that it can't tolerate other ships. Ever. :\ I'm the only member of fandom that thinks this way, but -- we can all live in fucking harmony, you know. Diversity is love.

My problem with Zuko/Mai is -- well, maybe if they had animated that date thing it would have helped; it didn't convince me when I went back and read it after the fact. (Also, it was mean to that cute girl in Ba Sing Se who I really thought was cute with Zuko.) But they did introduce it apparently out of nowhere, and it was a brick to the face. They never started dating; they just were dating, making out randomly on screen at every conceivable opportunity, and I was supposed to buy that this was a real relationship.

I find intimacy on screen very awkward unless there's a whole pile of emotion to back it up. When Sokka kisses Suki for the first time, that's okay, there's a pile of emotion there, development that came throughout the episode. It is a delicate, impassioned moment. It was the same with Aang and Katara's first kiss. Zuko and Mai were often randomly tonguing each other and it was disgusting -- not because I didn't like the pairing (I think I'd feel the same way if Sokka suddenly started slobbering all over Ty Lee's face at every conceivable opportunity, and I think they'd be really cute) but because public physical intimacy is kind of gross. I don't want to watch it, it's embarrassing. I kept wincing and shouting at them to get a fucking room, I don't want to watch that. It's like when people neck right next to me at the DMV. Stop that. You're making me fucking uncomfortable.

So yes, it was a huuuuge problem for me that it came out of nowhere and blindsided me with crass teenage mouth-groping. But if I felt like there was real depth to their relationship -- if they'd ever given me moments where Zuko looked at her and just smiled to himself, or where Mai softens a little in spite of herself, or where Mai stands up for him to Azula, I could've tolerated a little more necking before I started finding it gross. XD

An outsider's perspective

[voicing.livejournal.com]

Coming from someone who doesn't watch the show, I see way more Zutara bashing than I do praising. After some thinking, I came to this conclusion:

Zutara + brats * Kataang + twats = THEY ALL SUCK

Makes me happy I never got into the show. Fosters was bad enough.

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much my thought. I like Avatar fine enough, but I'm not inclined to get into the fandom, for which I am profoundly glad. Bleach is bad enough; in Avatar fandom, everyone is painful. XD

[voicing.livejournal.com]

Yup. Not as bad as Avatar by a longshot, admittedly, but the Wilt/Frankie (who have had even less interaction than from what I've seen of Zuko/Katara) fans are elitist. Very elitist.

They just skim the surface. The stupidity went beyond pairings when I was in the fandom. I mention a lot of them here (http://ccmars.livejournal.com/tag/fosters). (They're on the friends only posts. Sorry, folks.)

The sad thing is, when it started it was the most mature fandom out there. By the time I left it, people were either elitist snobs or had the IQ of -2, without a middle ground.

It has been a while since I last treaded in there, so hopefully they have calmed down a little. Seeing that the show is still going on, however, I'm not holding my breath and I don't intend to find out either.

[kay-willow.livejournal.com]

The idea of shipwars in Foster's breaks my heart. :( Wilt is awesome but -- shipwars!

You'd think if any fandom could attract sane, happy fans, who just enjoy playing with the source material... Oh well. I, I'm an idealist. XD

[slayerofgod.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Leon/Claire. In-between the releases of RE2 and 4, that pairing dominated the fandom. The really upsetting part about it is that it had more to do with Claire having tons of fangirls who hated Ada than anything else. Hell, one fic I read stated it outright, with Leon coming to the sudden conclusion that Ada was a total bitch as opposed to Claire, who was awesome and kickass.

Farbeit for me to begrudge someone not liking a character for legitimate reasons, but projecting said bias onto the characters themselves is a bit much.

[voicing.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, pairings are serious business in Fosters. Most everything is, actually.

Wilt is my favorite character, but GOD HIS FANS. DX Frankie's fans are probably just as bad (Craig McKracken knows all this too, and he sort of made fun of this in Good Wilt Hunting).

And god-forbid you like slash. Even the mere mention of homosexuality would get you flamed. I wouldn't have had much of a problem with this (I despise most of the slash pairings for Fosters, save for one that only two other people ship) if the flames hadn't crossed into homophobia, assumptions and anime bashing. That's right. In one thread on Never Forgotten, there were people blaming anime for the invention of slash!

[nadat.livejournal.com]

Thanks to that IM conversation I'm now highly amused by the thought of Sokka/Mai. :D

I don't want to get into the shipping mess that is the Avatar fandom. It's insane. But there is one ship that I will stick with to the end: Iroh/tea.

[haruomi.livejournal.com]

...That's probably why so many of us are content with our happy little corner of the internet. I know I do, anyway, because shipping wars are frightening things.

And, just like real wars, there's never a true victor.

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

Sokka improves everything.

[kumagoro-usagi.livejournal.com]

I don't ship anything in Avatar thus the shipping wars really confuse me. I watch it for the humour and the story, sometimes shipping seems to take over both of those things. :/

[libekory.livejournal.com]

You don't know me but hi Resident Evil~.

'Shipping babble goes here: I'll start by saying that you can pair pretty much any set of Resident Evil protagonists and I'll accept that. Jill/Chris, Leon/Claire, sure. Heck, you could reasonably pair any survivors of Raccoon City. We're talking about two people who just survived a huge ordeal together, and there's going to be an adrenaline rush and a lot of relief that they're still alive. Makeouts are one of those things that reaffirm life. So, have at it.

But from the standpoint of actual 'shipping -- as in, "I love the relationship between Characters A and B" -- pairing off the two main characters of the first few RE games is just silly. Because Main Male and Main Female never actually interact that much.

I mean, in both the case of Claire/Leon and Jill/Chris, our heroes march off in separate directions. They have very few conversations. The relationship just isn't ever that well-developed. (The obvious exception here is Billy/Rebecca, because the "tag" system of RE0 meant that, for once, our protagonists were pretty much always in the same room, fighting together.)

And then, of course... side characters. Jill winds up spending most of her game with Barry, Chris with Rebecca. Claire has more meaningful conversations with Sherry's mom than she does with Leon, and Leon... well, Leon had Ada.

I really liked Ada, even then -- and yeah, I'll admit I liked her even more because she was so obviously using Leon, at least at first, and that was something female characters weren't really allowed to do.

And then you get to RE4, and although Leon's clearly pretty much unaware of it, you can kind of tell (and "Separate Ways" makes it very clear) that Ada's saving his ass, repeatedly. That is also really unusual, especially because Leon never really realizes and so is never forced to apologize for -- I don't know -- failing at guy or something.

All in all, their relationship has always interested me, always seemed so remarkable and nifty. 100x deeper and more interesting than anything you could conceivably claim is going on between Leon and Claire, who spent their time together (and much of her next game) pretty fixated on her brother and finding him again. Not romantic.

...and, yeah. Preaching to the choir, I'm sure. (I also like Leon/Ashley. It's just too cute.)

*Purposely uses this icon*

[slayerofgod.livejournal.com]

I do so know you. You posted that awesome Ichigo/Orihime essay a ways back. <3

Preaching to the choir yes, but still appreciated. I myself always liked Ada, mostly because she reversed the typical bad guy/good girl romance stereotype of the day. Doing what she did in a video game at the time was revolutionary.

Separate Ways made me really happy in general. Not just because it really showed how much Ada cares about him, but because it gave so many little insights into her character just by examining objects.

I too am feeling Leon/Ashley. Her overtime line at the end of the game was just hysterical.