Avatar 3x08-3x11

[oyceter]

Whoa! That was much plot!

Anyway, I loved the puppetmaster episode, which was truly creepy. I wish the show had done more with the medical stuff you could do with bloodbending (strokes! heart attacks! clots! gah!) and less with the puppetry, but I guess that's what fic is for ;).

I'm a bit amused by both Aang and Sokka's crises of confidence; do Toph and Katara get any later?

I was also wondering how they were going to wrap up the eclipse storyline; I couldn't really see the show going into peacebuilding and treaty-making, alas. I sort of wish they had... Oh well! I loved all the action, even though I didn't pay as much attention during the big fight scenes. Am less enthusiastic about Katara/Aang, but oh well.

The Sokka and Toph show continues to be awesome, though I think of them in a non-shippy way. It's the age differences! Two years aren't very big later on, but when you're teenagers, it feels pretty big! Maybe it is less big to them because they travel together and aren't in school. But yes, every time Sokka was like, "Toph! What would we do without you?" I cheered in agreement.

I also loved Azula's manipulation and the fact that she had the foresight to bring earth benders from Ba Sing Se. It was also really cool seeing old one-offs from previous episodes, even though I didn't remember most of them. I especially liked seeing the swamp benders again, given kintail's commentary.

Speaking of which, how exactly is the bending distributed? Via nationality? Race? And if so, what do they do with expats, or multiracial people? My pet idea is that the Avatar must be multiracial; I doubt it's supported on the show, but that would be cool.

And! OMG! Iroh breaks out of prison! Awesome! Zuko SWITCHES SIDES! Zuko, I mock your emo at times, but you have earned a lot more respect from me now. If only you developed a sense of humor...

On a totally shallow level, I am going to miss everyone's red outfits.

But anyway! Zuko! Switches sides! And goes off in an airship to find Aang! This is going to be soooo interesting!

Comments

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Even though I love Sokka & Toph's interactions, I can't think of them as a ship either. I like her little crush on him but Sokka is completely oblivious while he angsts over the fact that his girlfriends tend to meet unfortunate needs. Though I still hold out hope that Suki is still alive! I know Mike & Bryan have to be very discreet about (not) showing deaths on-screen (Zhao and Jet) but I still have hope! Especially since it turned out that Ursa was still alive.

It took me a long time to warm up to Katara/Aang. While I've never been a fan of Zuko/Katara at all, I never really got Katara/Aang either until this S3. Even so, I'm still not into them the way I am in Zuko/Mai but I'd be lying if I didn't expect that this was the direction the show was heading.

I am totally looking forward to seeing more of Iroh as bad ass general. Not that he wasn't always bad ass but he's been kind of quiet about it.

[oyceter]

I'm having a hard time shipping anyone with Toph or Aang! I think it's because even though they're older in canon, to my eyes, they look about 7 or 8.

I know Mike & Bryan have to be very discreet about (not) showing deaths on-screen

Oh, I didn't know that! I should check out the DVDs and binge on extras some time too.

I totally think the show is going Katara/Aang (I mean, these episodes make it obvious, if nothing else), and theoretically I don't have anything against them. I think my brain just flips out a little because contrary to canon, I keep thinking Katara is 14 or so and Aang is 8. I suspect I will be better with it once Aang gets a growth spurt or something.

Well, my other objection is just that it'd be nice to see Katara not romantically connected to anyone, but oh well.

Zuko/Katara? Er. I sort of see it thanks to the S2 finale, but um.... (Judging from this, I don't want to get into Avatar fandom, do I?).

IROH! Always awesome.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

It's a Nick restriction, I'm pretty sure. I'm surprised Avatar is able to show as much as they do, honestly.

Zuko/Katara? Er. I sort of see it thanks to the S2 finale, but um.... (Judging from this, I don't want to get into Avatar fandom, do I?).

I... I think I envy you for your innocence. :o! In my experience, the Zuko/Katara component is huge and very vocal. So you can imagine their reaction to the Zuko and Mai revelations.

[oyceter]

Ok, have been catching up on your past Avatar entries, and the Zuko/Katara ship has been around prior to S2 finale, hasn't it? Color me boggled. Oh fandom, how I do not miss you and your shipping wars!

I, um, didn't like Zuko/Mai that much either, but part of that is because I completely forgot she had a crush on him since childhood. Now it seems much less out of the blue! Oh, the problems of mainlining a show while knitting lace...

I dunno... mostly I just don't like the romances in Avatar because my brain keeps going "Too young! Too young!" even though they are all teenagers. Well, that and the fact that I tend to go for gen in general.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Zuko/Katara has actually been around since S1. I know. It makes no sense to me either.

Prior to S3, I actually preferred gen and no shipping in Avatar for the most part too. I was seekritly Zuko/Mai during S2 but since I knew only, like, 2 other people who liked them too, I kept that to myself and chalked it up to my oddball shipping tendencies. So I kind of sat on the sidelines and laughed at the Zuko/Katara and Aang/Katara shipping wars because it was like a train wreck.

But then the S3 trailer premiered at SDCC and I discovered my oddball ship might not be so oddball at all. Of course most people would have been happy with this turn of events. I was just plain baffled, confused, and convinced that it would end in tragedy and Mai would die at the hands of Azula.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

The Zuko/Katara ship was basically born out of the "I'll save you from the pirates" scene in "The Waterbending Scroll". I'm rather fond of Zutara even if it has to be done AU because enemies who are drawn to each other (and SEXY FIGHTING SCENES) is one of my pet tropes, but I have no problem with Katara/Aang or Zuko/Mai as I'm a multishipper at heart. Sadly, though, some Zutarans are...less flexible in their attitudes, so the loud crazy minority has given the ship a somewhat bad name.

[oyceter]

Oh man, I should really rewatch the first two seasons. I binged on them over four days while knitting something really complicated, so I don't actually remember that much of it.

sorry for the splurge of replies

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

::outing myself::

For me, I didn't think of it ever until episode 1x14, with fortune teller's prediction that Katara would marry a powerful bender. Even though there was no logical reason why that couldn't mean Aang or Random WaterTriber #27, for some reason my brain jumped to the only other significant male bending character of similar age-group. Then I forgot about the notion until the season 1 finale, when they fought in the ice. Then for me it was the "unpopular enemies = hot" trope. I went into it with the sense of fun that comes from shipping an unconventional and unlikely pairing, but given Zuko's gradual arc toward goodness (saw that coming from the beginning) it makes the AU ideas easier, because we the audience know He's Not All That Bad. Just very foolish.

Actually, I thought the season 2 finale made the pairing idea more interesting, but a lot of the fans of the ship thought it was a bad thing. I was more like, "What? Now they hate each other again and they have unresolved issues! This is awesome! I can totally fic this!"

Re: sorry for the splurge of replies

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

*to add


Coincidentally, Katara's gradual steps toward being darker as a warrior (season 2 finale, Puppetmaster) make the idea of shipping them even easier. Not because she's any less good, but because it makes me think that after the bloodbending she could have a better understanding of the personal moral cost of war, and what lengths people will go to. It's sad because Katara is such a compassionate person, but it's something she has to learn to accept about herself. Her determination means she'll use all the weapons at her disposal but her compassion means she'll punish herself for it. I think that although she'll be really angry at Zuko for the stuff in the catacombs after her attempt at reaching out, but when she eventually forgives him after they join up, she'd ultimately understand him better this season than she would have last season.

I like their dynamic on a purely camaraderie/companion-in-war/friendship level as well as a fanon potential romantic one. If you see episodes 12 or 13, you get to see some fo their interaction and its pretty cool whether you ship them or not. I just love both the characters, and after Aang, Katara is the person in the gang that Zuko has had the most encounters with.


Zuko + Toph = OTFriendship. It will be so, I believe it.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

I kind of dug the Zuko/Mai relationship if only because the writers just accepted it and ran with it S3. Plus the fucking quote of the lifetime of "You're so beautiful when you're hating everything".

[oyceter]

This is true! The relationship makes a thousand times more sense now that I know they had crushes on each other in childhood. I had totally forgotten that and so was sort of confused when it showed up in S3.