Meme, stolen from heartequals

[terajk]

Ask me....


1 - Your current OTP.
2 - A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind.
3 - A pairing you have never liked and probably never will.
4 - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.
5 - Have you added anything stupid/cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what?
6 - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?
7 - Do you remember your first OTP? If so who was in it?
8 - Do you prefer characters from real action series or anime series?
9 - Has the internet caused you to stop liking any fandoms? If so, which and why?
10 - Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr your social network sites.
11 - How do you feel about the other people in your current fandom?
12 - Your favorite fanartist/author gives you one request. What do you ask for?
13 - Your favorite fanart or fanartist.
14 - Your favorite fanfiction or fanauthor.
15 - Choose a song at random. Which OTP does it remind you of?
16 - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).
17 - A ship you’ve abandoned and why.
18 - A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships.
19 - Show us an example of your personal headcanon.
20 - Do you remember what your first fanwork was?
21 - Self-rec: What's your favorite fanwork you've created?
22 - Are you one of those fans who can’t watch anything without shipping?
23 - 5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms.
24 - 3 OTPs from 3 different fandoms.
25 - A fandom you’re in but have no ships from.
26 - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go.

Comments

[gemais]

21

[esmenet]

4, 16, and/or 23?

[heartequals]

18 and 12!

[terajk]

I may have to answer these one at a time.

A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

Ryouga/Ukyo. What I remember about their relationship in the manga is: 1) Ryouga does something stupid (including stuff related to his disability), 2) Ukyo yells at him and beats him with her cutting board, 3) Ryouga doesn’t defend himself because she’s a girl and he doesn’t fight girls.

Something some Ryouga/Ukyo shippers point out is that in one of the OVAs Ranma comments how Ryouga and Ukyo fight “just like me and Akane.” If I remembered them fighting just like Ranma and Akane--or Ranma and Ryouga, for that matter--I could ship them! Those fights are even! (I suspect my problem is that I’m more familiar with the manga than the anime, honestly.)

Also, local Ukyo still has Feelings about the three-legged race thing. They aren’t good.

In terms of “ships I’d like but cannot write because of idiosyncratic headcanony reasons,” Azula/Katara ALL THE WAY. (And not just because I have a hard time writing Katara.) They’re both ‘very similar people on opposite sides’ (in different ways than Azula and Toph are), but local Katara isn’t going to forgive the FUCKING GENOCICDE (especially when the fucking genocide is only “sorry” because her stupid father didn’t take her with him, because if she were there the Fire Nation would’ve won the war--local Azula processing that her dad hurt her is a SLOOOOOOW and idiosyncratic process. One that involves a lot of fantasized murder.).
Also, local Azula associates Katara with this huge knot of trauma. Winning the Agni Kai is only a small part of it, but probably the easiest for Azula to admit. While Azula was struggling to understand the power of love (which she’d heretofore thought was really stupid and pointless, but which allows Zuko to control Mai in ways she cannot) Katara and Zuko show up at the capitol. And then Azula recognizes that Zuko is attached to Katara somehow and she’s like: “Hey, wait! I can use your mysterious power of love against you, Zuzu and KILL THIS ASSHOLE, because my friends abandoned me for you because of your stupid power and I am hurt but if she’s dead you will be DESTROYED. So fuck you and your love bullshit.”

Except, that doesn’t happen. What happens is that Zuko picks this fucking peasant stranger over her (abandoning her for, like, a third time, after being banished and then joining the Avatar) and Katara uses her love of Zuko to kick Azula’s ass. Then she uses it to undo Azula’s awesome display of power (by healing him), and they both prove once and for all that there’s a power that Zuko wields expertly which Azula knows nothing about.

And, because local Azula can still manipulate and control Zuko better than she can anyone else, he cannot abandon her for good, which is why she puts up with his stupid friends and also his repeated abandonment of her in the palace while he does Firelordly things, because even though being abandoned over and over again is really hard, at least he will come back. But Azula doesn’t even have any fucked-up attachment to Katara, and so can associate her with/blame her for traumatic things that Zuko actually did. (To be honest, local Katara is doing this a bit too, since she is angry that Zuko let Azula live in the palace rather than throwing her in prison.)