timepiececlock | i respectfully object to your analogy, sir

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i respectfully object to your analogy, sir

Dear fandom at large and fandom wank and ATLA fandom in particular,

Stop comparing Zutarians to Harmonians. Please stop, for me. I never liked that pairing. And if we're going to be compared to rabid delusional fans, I'd much rather be compared to Spuffy fans. Or Doctor/Rose fans. Because I like those ships better, and I've been called nasty things as a member of those as well.

It's kind of a shallow request, I know, but humor me here. Hell, "SPUFFY" is shorter to type and easier to spell than "HARMONIAN" anyway.

-Rashaka

P.S. And really, we Zutarians haven't earned it. Compared to the three fandoms above, we are tiny, and so is our wank. Which I'm okay with. Although we are apparently big enough to get a voice actor to make a little tribute video to us, which is still pretty freaking funny. See previous post.

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I actually believe that the Harmonian comparison is quite accurate. Spuffy and Doctor/Rose shippers were not dissed by their own creators, in fact they kinda shipped it (Love you, Joss <3). Harmonians on the other hand were insulted publicly. I don't care how delusional they were (like us XD), it was uncalled for.

BTW, we're neither cute, nor tiny!

I guess it depends on what people say when they make the comparison. In terms of foreshadowing and pairings not panning out, yes, it works in a generic way. But its also saying that all zutarians felt betrayed, and I don't think that's true at all. I would say only a small fraction felt "betrayed" by the creators whereas for most it ended the way we expected since the season began.

The reason I mentioned Spuffy isn't just because it's been a big fandom with proudly "obnoxious" fangirls, it's because for several seasons it *wasn't* canon and most things were based on reading into the foreshadowing and extensive ship theories. As well as being an enemies pairing rather than a prior-friends pairing.

In terms of behavior and wank and fandom size I don't think the analogy works well at all, though, because HP just dwarfs most other fandoms in sheer size and mass and output, especially in pairings wank. So any hard-core ship fandom whose pairing didn't work out gets compared to them.

The tiny thing was my Bad Wolf reference, but you just trumped it.

You are right that as a pairing we have more in common with Spuffy than we'll ever have with H/Hr (Thank God *cough*) but I understand how awful it feels to have the creator(s) of the story you love tell you your ship is never going to happen and you're crazy for thinking it could (even in fanfic).

Maybe I just don't identify much with that feeling. I was more puzzled than hurt by that reaction from creators, and even then I was surprised not at the fact that they had no intentions of it, but the fact that they were surprised we did. Still, it was more mild confusion for me than feeling hurt or indignation. And I think indignation is what a lot of people associate with HP ships like H/Hr. But, again, this is my own feelings on the matter, not necessarily others'.

Hell, if you have to pick a Harry Potter ship, we're totally Draco/Hermione. Enemies-ship, laughed at by the creator, inexplicably popular despite near zero canon evidence...

(I think a lot of us *are* Spuffy and/or Doctor/Rose shippers, but of course, those ships actually happened.)

I think that more than Draco/Hermione, we're Draco/Ginny. The hero's girl and the enemy, not to mention the angry brother. But then again... maybe I think that because I ship it...

I can't believe you just called Katara "the hero's girl"! ::slaps your wrist::

According to Bryke, she is XD

Every time I get reminded of that I throw up a little in my mouth. It does not taste like chicken.

I'm sorry D:

I didn't know he ever said that until just now, but I agree. How incredibly offensive of him.

Bryke is a name-combo of two people, not one. I don't know if it was said by them or not, but it was presented that way in the last line of the novelization of the series finale, and it's been the general attitude of the whole way Aang/Katara was presented, especially in season 3, that Aang is the hero and the hero gets the girl he wants.

I was very annoyed by that because I think Aang/Katara is a cute pairing without diminishing Katara to being "The Girl". The "prize"-like way the series handled her and Aang's relationship in the finale really irritated the fuck out of me. I liked them as a pairing so much more in season 1 and 2 than in the end of the series.

Man, why do names always have to be smushed together. It's irritating. And confusing because clearly I don't spend enough time in the Avatar fandom, but anyway. I agree, turning Katara into a prize for the hero is lame.

Though, to be honest, I never cared for Aang/Katara as a ship. The idea of it bored me and I never felt that the development in any of the seasons really highlighted Katara's feelings for Aang that well. It always felt to me that she responded to him the way she did because she was the main female character and he was the Hero. And the main female character is supposed to have feelings for the Hero. Though I do think season 3 was the worst about that, I did feel it in the first two seaons, too. I thought maybe it was just me, though, because the ship bored me. But if the writers actually viewed Katara that way, then uh. Maybe it wasn't.

And I say that as someone who doesn't really ship anyone in the series, so it's not like I dislike it because I like other ships with those characters more.

...Well, okay, I kind of ship Toph/Sokka but that's beside the point.

I have a soft spot for Toph/Sokka. I really like Suki as a character and I believe that she loves Sokka--probably more than Sokka loves her (because Sokka's kind of immature), so I kind of default ship them. But I love that Toph has a crush on Sokka, and I feel like there's a strong basis there for something in the future, when they're older and if Sokka somehow never married Suki. But of all the characters, it's easiest for me to picture Sokka and Suki getting married and popping out kids, so it's kind of hard to actively ship them with other people.

Sokka/Suki was probably my favorite canon ship, since I generally felt that it was made clear what each character saw in the other. But Toph/Sokka tickles me because I think they'd be awesome together and have fun and hilarious adventures. All the characters are still kids, so I kind of refuse to believe that the ships the canon ended with HAVE to be relationships the characters remain in forever. It's plausible, of course, but not necessary. They could just as easily grow out of the relationships as they get older. And...that's where fic comes in. XD

I remember in the play re-cap episode the play people said something about Katara being "The Avatar's Girl" and then a cut to Aang nodding meaningfully.

Which squicked me the hell out, to be honest.

What amuses me is that Draco/ANYONE is inexplicably popular with zero canon evidence. The same can be said for H/D and G/D.

I see the whole Harmonian/Zutara comparison because of the creator's disdain for the ship. But the main difference is that the Harry/Hermione became a dirty word because zealots took over the ship, forcing most of the more gentle, analytical fans to hide their preference. (Personally, I always tend to ship best friends. Zuko/Katara are something of anomaly for me... of course, they became more of a best friend ship towards the end, which totally delighted me.)

It's not to say that Zutara doesn't have its crazies. That we do. But for the most part, the analytical (dare I say "normal"?) fans keep control of the ship's helm, making it something most people don't mind being affiliated with. Actually, I think the Zutara fandom handled itself in an exemplary fashion and should be taught in school as the textbook way an OTP fandom should act. Harmonians, on the other hand, are like that saying "if you can't be a good role model, you can be a terrible example." It's almost like Zutarians looked at the Harmonians and collectively said "Yeah, we're not going THERE."

All of this is just a long winded way of saying, I don't blame you for not liking the comparison.

I was a H/Hr fan (I never used the "Harmonian" description because it seemed to be linked to crazies). The difference for me, however, is that I found I didn't like how HP was going and simply stopped reading it. Well, I do admit to being very irritated with JKR for the "need to reread the books" and "delusional" things, because those are still your fans, you know. But with Avatar, I didn't have any expectation for Zutara to happen, so I didn't stop enjoying the show itself, even if I am not satisfied with the ending.

I stopped having real expectations for ATLA pairings in season 2, so I can't identify with that betrayed feeling either. About the only thing that I *did* expect that didn't happen was that I expected it to be less romantic overall.

Oh man, me too. I was taken aback by all the making out that suddenly popped up, haha. I actually wanted there to be less romance.

When it comes to shipping, "Harry Potter" is one of the only fandoms I have no real preferences for; I dislike the way the books handled Ginny/Harry, but that's about where it ends. So I don't see much in the way of a comparison other than the creator dislikes it and the idea that others actually believe in it, but considering the strong reaction such a connection gets, I suppose it's an understandable one to make.

Ugh, totally with you. I suppose my problem with it (or one of them, anyway) is that Zutara actually has...chemistry? Or at least, I think it's a lot easier to think there is Zutara potential than it is to see Harmonian potential, and a lot easier for a lot longer...but then, I have never never never EVER understood Harmonians, and being identified with them rankles my deeply Ron/Hermione shipper soul.

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i respectfully object to your analogy, sir

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