i respectfully object to your analogy, sir

[timepiececlock]

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.

Comments

[irrel.livejournal.com]

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!

[mathkid.livejournal.com]

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.)

[quaggy]

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.

[faoiltiamatani.livejournal.com]

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.

[gojira007.livejournal.com]

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.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

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.