Avatar, Book One

[rekall]

So I finally finished the first season of Avatar tonight. I would have finished earlier but I would read about stuff on wikipedia and then skip ahead to those episodes, lol.

I'm enjoying it so far, although it was a little weird at first seeing Aang only able to use Airbending and Katara only having minor Waterbending skills. Turns out the few episodes I managed to see before were all from the last season when Aang had learned everything except for Firebending.

'The Siege of the North, Part 2' was probably my favourite episode from the season. The music and animation during the Ocean Spirit attack were pretty stunning (not as stunning as the final but still pretty cool). My second favourite was 'The Blue Spirit' since I like Zuko and I like Zuko working together with Aang. Third would probably be 'The Warriors of Kyoshi' simply because Suki and the rest of the girls are so cool.


I want to give Aang a hug. Especially during the episode where Katara and Sokka were reunited with Bato. It broke my heart when he thought that Katara and Sokka were going to leave him (and when they did). I'll never understand why some fans like bashing the kid (which after the final there was a lot of).

Zuko is a dork. Not as dorky as later on but there were still plenty of times when I laughed at him. Of course with that hair cut I'm not sure just how I can take him seriously. Shaved bald with just a pony-tail is lulz. I thought it was awesome though when he was the Blue Spirit. I actually disliked the fact that he was revealed as the Blue Spirit so soon, I thought more could be done with that, especially later on in the series when Zuko starts doubting his choice to be with the Fire Nation.

Appa is &hearts . Yeah I love the big guy. I'm not looking forward the episodes when he goes missing. It's bad enough knowing what happens, I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have spoilers.

Since my favourite pairing doesn't show up in this season, I think I'll talk about Aang/Katara. I remember when the final aired there were a lot of surprises that it ended up canon (instead of Zuko/Katara). I'm now wondering if those fans were either blind or just completely skipped the first season. Because it's quite obvious that Aang likes Katara. There's an entire episode devoted to how much he likes her (and I think everyone but Katara and Sokka noticed).

Iroh is fucking awesome. &hearts

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think most criticism of Aang conveniently forgets that he's a 12 year old who woke up to a world 100 years different from what he knew, and with his entire people dead.

Zuko/Katara has always struck me as a crackship that people took seriously because the main girl had to have a love interest, and they couldn't fathom it being the 12 year old, and they were left with Zuko and her brother. I knew about the shipping going in and watched the first 2 seasons closely together, and kept wondering how that could be a ship, much less a huge ship. (I mean, look at their interactions in s1...attacking her village, stealing her friend, and her attacking his ship to get him back, and then his taking her hostage to get Aang...s2 isn't much better.)

They're (Zuko and Katara) my favorite characters in the show, but I got more and more confused by the fandom's obsession with the pairing as I watched.

Out of curiosity, what is your favorite pairing? I'm fond of Suki/Sokka, but I suspect I'll really like the major pairing that shows up in s3 once I watch it.

And Iroh is love.

[rekallthegreat.livejournal.com]

That's exactly it about Aang. He's 12; a twelve-year-old who found out he was the Avatar four years too soon, who ran away when he learned he was going to be sent away from his home, and not only that but there's the 100 years on top of that so everyone he knew is dead, places he knew are gone (the Air Temples) plus he feels responsible for the war that happened during those 100 years. I feel sorry for him.

Yeah, I don't get Zuko/Katara either. I mean if fans want to ship it, that's fine but there's this huge obsession with the pairing and I'm not sure where it comes from.

Suki/Sokka is my second favourite pairing. My favourite is Zuko/Mai.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The thing about the Avatar fandom is that it's really, really good at forgetting that the target audience is 12 year olds. In many ways, Aang is the most complex and sympathetic character, but he's written for 12 year olds, not 20-30-somethings. Because the show has a lot of appeal to adults, the fandom forgets and ignores that it's still a kids' show, and is written for kids, and they hold that against the show and against Aang.

In complete honesty, fanon shipping baffles me in general. People are going to do what they want and I don't particularly care, but I just wish that so much of it didn't seem to come from "my favorite/the hot one should get to bang the lead" and paranoia towards most female characters. (When I start ranting about shipping and fandom, it's usually because I've stumbles across rounds of thinly disguised "being female automatically makes a character weaker and less interesting, and being male makes a character better and more worthy of having flaws overlooked and excused.")

I started getting interested in Avatar just before s3 started. I knew about the Aang/Katara/Zuko thing, but then a promo of Mai and Zuko kissing came out and suddenly the internet was swamped with how horrible Mai was and how she'd be the worst girlfriend ever and how much they hated the pairing. Before they showed up as a couple. And I'd never even heard of Mai before that. (Naturally, she ended up my favorite of the characters introduced in s2.)

[rekallthegreat.livejournal.com]

I don't mind fanon shipping. I think it can be fun to explore various relationships that don't have time to develop in canon for whatever reason. The problem though is that some a lot of fans get ridiculous over it; especially if one half of the pairing (or both) has a canon love interest. That canon love interest always ends up getting bashed (ex, Zuko/Katara fans love bashing Mai). It's stupid. There's no reason to bash a perfectly good character because she (and to a lesser extent 'he') "gets in the way" of your OTP.

I've heard about Mai hate and I just don't understand it. Mai is awesome.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I probably wouldn't mind fanon shipping if it remembered that it was fanon, instead of the fans hunting and hunting for support, no matter how much the text directly contradicts it, and then subtly or blatantly taking it out the character 'in the way." I'd also mind it a lot less if it didn't focus on a "better" or "more interesting" option for a paired male. The rare occasions that doesn't happen, I'm fine with it. The thing is, though, that most people will deny that they do that, because they're absolutely convinced that if they like the idea,the author clearly supports it, whether they realize it or not, and they deny that they look for things to hold against the person in the way.

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

When people bash Aang my soul dies.

re: Aang/Katara. God I compare the ship to SyaSaku and F/K in terms of SO CANON IT BURNS WTF FANDOM

[rekallthegreat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's one of those SO DAMN OBVIOUS pairings.

He's still crushing on her during the Ember Island episode when they go watch the play on their adventure so I know this isn't just a minor thing that he eventually gets over.