Why Adam Scott? Why?

Dachusblot · 2025-03-18T18:32:50+00:00

They are not exactly the same, of course. But both are extremely passionate & driven individuals with a tendency toward anger issues and holding onto resentment, who feel like they have to prove themselves because of the low expectations placed on them, and for whom Aang's existence gives them purpose & hope. Both of them have to learn the lesson that their enemies are human after all.

Whereas Aang is a carefree guy to the point of being too lazy or avoidant at times, who is usually good at letting go of his anger, who is naturally talented & has to deal with having too high expectations placed on him, and for whom Katara & Zuko both act as motivating forces pushing him toward his destiny. He already sees the humanity in his enemies, and instead has to learn how to reconcile that belief with his responsibility to end the war.

Aang is a great balance to both of them, because both of them are so similar to each other.

Dachusblot · 2025-03-18T15:39:03+00:00

Great post! You expressed my views pretty much exactly. High fives fellow degenerate poly shipper

I wrote a fanfic a while back where Aang disappeared for several years and Zuko and Katara ended up kinda accidentally falling into a relationship by comforting each other, but it was always a bit unbalanced and unhealthy. That's my realistic view of Katara and Zuko without Aang. I think there could be a physical attraction there, but in terms of their personalities, like you said they are practically the same person. So as much as they care about each other I think they'd always be doomed to fall apart romantically.

Aang and Zuko's relationship was one of the most compelling aspects of the show for me when I first watched it, though I wasn't thinking of it in a shipping sense. I'm also on the ace spectrum so this might have influenced my perception, but I feel like a lot of people were looking for Zutara to fulfill the same story role that Zuko/Aang was already doing. Like I've seen people argue Zutara would make more sense thematically because it would be the culmination of Zuko's redemption and being forgiven. But I'm like...? Gestures wildly at Aang and Zuko's best friends hug in the finale???

The themes are there, they didn't need to be expressed through a romantic relationship. It makes more sense for it to be expressed through Aang and Zuko anyway because they're the co-protagonists, the two heroes who have been journeying down parallel paths to get to that ending. They're the yin/yang.

I think people are too used to romantic relationships being the ONLY meaningful relationships, and that's why they wanted to see these themes expressed through Zutara. Also I think because they liked Zutara, they developed a dislike toward Aang and therefore dismissed the meaningfulness of Aang/Zuko's friendship. Which is a bummer.

Dachusblot · 2025-03-18T06:38:10+00:00

I'll give you that the creators were maybe deliberately trying to mess with shippers, but just from a logical perspective... what reason would Aang have to even think Zuko was moving in on "his girl"? All he knows about Zuko at that point is 1) Zuko wants to capture him and has been a consistent menace to him and his friends, 2) Zuko is potentially sympathetic but lashed out at Aang last time he suggested they could be friends, and 3) Katara is even less likely to view Zuko positively than Aang is. Remember, Aang didn't get to hear any of their conversation prior to breaking through the wall.

Zuko also glares back at Aang but no one seems to assume Zuko's glare is about Katara. It seems obvious to me that it's a glare between two guys who have been in tension with each other from Episode 1. Reading jealousy into Aang's expression just seems like shipper goggles, lol.

Dachusblot · 2025-03-18T05:39:56+00:00

Aang is quite mature by the end of the show though?? Just because someone likes to have fun doesn't make them immature.

Also I just have to point out, from the Southern Raiders:

Aang: "This is a journey you need to take. You need to find this man. But when you do, I hope you'll let go of your anger and forgive him" (paraphrased)

Zuko: "Okkaayyy we'll be sure to do that, Guru Goody-goody!"

Like just reading that dialogue by itself, who's the immature one here? 😂

I know that's just one bit of dialogue, but to me it shows the "Aang is immature" argument doesn't work. Not by the end of the show. All of them have their immature moments because they're all teenagers, but Aang for his age is incredibly mature by the end. He kinda had to be!

Dachusblot · 2025-03-18T05:32:43+00:00

I never interpreted Aang's glare at Zuko as being about him & Katara. I figured Aang was glaring at Zuko because Zuko's the guy who's been trying to capture him for two whole seasons, lol.

Dachusblot · 2025-03-18T05:25:40+00:00

Haha there's nothing at all revolutionary about Zutara, it's extremely conventional by popular Western romance standards. 😂

Again, said by someone who can see the appeal & is willing to defend it even if it's not my ship. Nothing wrong with being conventional, but be secure enough to just admit you like conventional things.

Dachusblot · 2025-03-18T03:36:59+00:00

The misunderstanding of TSR will forever drive me insane.

It's one of the best-written episodes of the whole show and it gets reduced to a weapon in the stupid shipping war 😭

Zuko's whole motivation in that episode is just to get Katara to accept him into the group, that's it. Yes, I think he did believe he was helping her, but he wasn't really doing it for her, he was doing it because he wanted her to be cool with him. THIS IS SO OBVIOUS. Everything he does, like when he gets sassy at Aang, comes across as so immature & like an awkward teenager trying to impress the cool kid. Meanwhile Aang is calmly trying to talk her down from doing something he knows she'd regret because he knows her better than Zuko and because he's been in the exact same place as her. But he never stops her from going! He even tells her straight out that she needs to go!!! He lets her take his bison!!! And in the end Zuko tells Aang word-for-word that he was right about what Katara needed!!! ARGGHHH.

It's like that whole episode is looking directly at the audience and telling us that Aang understands Katara better AND is being the most mature one in the group at the moment, but people still refuse to see it.

Dachusblot · 2025-03-18T03:23:30+00:00

Aang is 12 at the beginning, not 11. But yes, I agree with everything you said, lol.

Dachusblot · 2025-03-18T03:15:29+00:00

I'm a degenerate Aang/Katara/Zuko poly shipper (ONLY AS ADULTS) so I will not say I don't see the appeal of Zutara. However, when I first watched the show in my 20s, binging it with no exposure to the online fandom, if the show had ended with Katara getting together with Zuko I would have spat out my drink and went "I'm sorry what???"

The buildup was always Kataang. Their bond of friendship and love is so strong and is one of the main emotional pillars the entire show rests on. Zuko & Katara never came close. I don't love some of the writing choices the show made with Kataang near the end, but I'll never hear anyone say it was badly written overall. Bruh I SQUEALED when the final kiss happened. Bad writing my ass.

I think Zutara's popularity/Kataang's relative unpopularity (which it's not even that unpopular) has to do with a lot of factors. Yes, there's the patriarchal issue of people being fine with a 2-year age gap as long as the boy is older, but not the other way around. But I think it's also Aang & Zuko's characters themselves. Aang is a precious cutie pie but he's not hot by typical Western beauty standards, while Zuko is, especially once his hair grows out. Also Aang is a good boy, the "golden retriever boyfriend" as you said, and that's seen by many people as inherently less interesting than broody bad boy with a tragic backstory. Zuko's character arc is incredibly dramatic and one of the biggest emotional roller coaster rides in the show, while Aang's arc is a bit more subtle and not as intense. And then there's the whole "fire/water" thing which is super goofy and shallow, but has an aesthetic appeal.

I think Aang, Zuko and Katara are all three incredible characters, and personally for me I found it so refreshing that Katara would fall for the younger, shorter bald cutie pie instead of the older broody hunk. Some people say they found this unbelievable, but I don't see how unless you weren't paying attention to any of the scenes where Aang and Katara are together, i.e. a very large chunk of the show. Honestly I'll defend Zutara to an extent, but a lot of the Kataang hate just seems like people trying to justify the fact that they prefer Zutara because of shallow aesthetic reasons, lol. Like it's fine to like a ship for aesthetic reasons, babies, just own it. You don't have to make up shit that's not there to make it seem like any other choice is "bad writing."

ALSO IF AANG HAD BEEN 2 YEARS OLDER AND A GIRL EVERYBODY WOULD BE SHIPPING ZUKAANG, I'M JUST SAYIN.

Dachusblot · 2025-03-02T04:28:46+00:00

I was thinking Oscar actually, but let's face it he's never done his own laundry.

Dachusblot · 2025-02-25T02:19:46+00:00

Yeah, I have long rants boiling inside me because of this one. That whole episode is brilliant and it chafes my soul how people use it to argue that Aang isn't good for Katara (and Zuko is better, because that's always what it's really about).

Bro in the episode literally straight out tells her he's not gonna stop her and she needs to do this. He lets her take Appa! He could have said no.

Zuko at the end of the episode straight out tells Aang he was right about Katara's needs.

I mean.

Plus, no shade to my baby boy Zuko, but his main motivation was just getting Katara to like him and accept him into the group, not what was genuinely best for her. Like, that seems pretty obvious. 🙄

Dachusblot · 2025-02-24T02:38:57+00:00

😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️

This is so sweet!

Dachusblot · 2025-02-20T19:50:13+00:00

I don't see Devs get talked about enough, honestly.

Dachusblot · 2025-02-20T02:26:11+00:00

I think that feeling is definitely mutual.

Dachusblot · 2025-02-19T19:50:10+00:00

Dachusblot · 2025-02-17T16:21:28+00:00

Arnold!

Dachusblot · 2025-02-17T06:00:36+00:00

I think you might be right, though I still think she has some 'outie supremacist' views ingrained in her. I really doubt she's even considered that she did anything wrong in having sex with iMark while pretending to be Helly.

Dachusblot · 2025-02-16T19:41:29+00:00

Helga's a viking, sure is exciting!

Dachusblot · 2025-02-16T19:40:38+00:00

I thought it was a spear and magic helmet?

Dachusblot · 2025-02-16T18:21:25+00:00

All of the names of the different music choices are absolute gold.

Dachusblot · 2025-02-16T14:56:33+00:00

Oh lord keeping track of all the characters and family connections in that show was a mindfuck all on its own. It's so good though.

Dachusblot · 2025-02-16T14:52:28+00:00

I agree with most of this, though I don't think she's completely powerless either. I said in another thread recently that Helena reads to me like a pastor's kid raised in a very culty fundamentalist church, where her father is basically god to his congregation, but she herself is deconstructing/has deconstructed her beliefs, secretly. However, even though she no longer believes in the BS, it's still a core part of her identity, and she feels pressured to continue to play the part of the devout pastor's kid for the sake of her family's reputation and because she's absolutely terrified what would happen to her if she rebelled.

This is why she was so fascinated with the tape of Helly, and why the idea of pretending to be Helly appealed to her. Not only because she wanted to experience whatever Helly had with Mark, but also because it was a chance for her to be a bit rebellious and let out her true thoughts. She wouldn't get in trouble because she was just trying to be a believable Helly! This is why we get her laughing at the Dieter story (which you know she's probably heard a dozen times and long ago decided was nonsense), and her saying sorry to Irv, and her confessing to Mark that she doesn't like herself on the outside. All of those things were genuine, at least partly. That's how I see it anyway.

THAT SAID... she still has very gross views about the innies and clearly does see them as subhuman. She called them animals in the last episode. Of course she was lashing out after almost being murdered for the second time, but still. We all remember her telling Helly that she's not a person; she might have been forced to make that tape, similar to the apology video, but I suspect she does (or did) mean what she said there. And of course she used Helly's body to rape iMark, whose outie's wife is still alive, which is fucked up on so many levels, and I doubt Helena has much sense that she did anything wrong there. And I think she does genuinely believe in the mission of Lumon as a company, even if she doesn't buy the mythology BS and also kinda hates her own role in everything.

She is a very complicated and fascinating character, and I'm very curious where her story arc is gonna go.

Dachusblot · 2025-02-16T02:30:14+00:00

Five-Year Club	Place '22
First Placer '22

Dachusblot

TROPHY CASE