Tophang Stone Mansion II READY FOR ARCHIVE

[taiyo *on limited hiatus*]

lunauc said:

thepower06 said:

Seems like you guys need something to do for real, so I am going to try something here:

I want each of you Taangs to tell me what is so special about Taang, no one liners please. Create a productive paragraph, it can be short. I am going to provide a rebuttal against each of your beliefs, and by your response determine how worthy you guys are. Fair enough?

Prove our worthiness? Kataang's get Karmas for purely biased and fluffy simplistic posts and I need to justify my beliefs?! Rediculous!

So anyway... Thanks Power. It would have taken a hell of a lot longer to get to this second Mansion without you dropping in with question like this to up the post rate. ;D Out of curteousy I'll answer, though I'll mostly be repeating myself gratuitously.

For me, Taang is special because it is the "other path". Frankly Kataang never appealed to me. I saw it coming from episode one, and it just seemed an obligatory formulaic kiddy love story. I knew it was going to happen, and no matter how boring their scenes together were I put up with it. After all, even if there was no worthwhile love story to the show at least the fight scenes and mystical aspects were still entertaining. But I didn't have any kind of emotional investment in the heroes. Much like the Austin Power movies, the villains, Iroh and Zuko, were much more interesting. The Aang Gang were just kind of the pawns moving with this very cliche "Chosen One" story with a few fun jokes thrown in here and there. But then, The Swamp rolled around. All you get is a minute or so of airtime of Aang chasing a mysterious girl through a swamp. And while it seems completely random and pointless, it hooked my attention. I was really curious who this unexplained ghost girl was supposed to be, but I really didn't consider it something which would break up the inevitability of Kataang. That is until The Blind Bandit, when we actually meet the mystery girl, and lo and behold, she's a spunky, tough little tomboy who can earthbend anyone into the next century. She was the absolute opposite of the carbon-copy nurturing beauty mary-sue that was Katara. Cocky, arrogant and petty, she even drew Aang into childish antics at the dinner table, and their moonlit garden walk did catch my eye, though I still couldn't think that this was a sign of the Kataang mold cracking. After all, your average writer in a show like this sets up the hero and heroine lovers from the beginning, so they follow a pre-planned path to the romantic outcome everyone expects. It's a sort of emotional placebo, allowing the viewer to feel,"Things always work out in the end." Even if most of the time it's just because the writer is too lazy to write a tangent into the tale or is worried to risk the commercialized relationship they're producers already have the T-shirts and posters printed up for.

As nice as the simplistic sense of satisfaction of a foretold happy ending is, I've long been bored with writers who take the easy way through things and never explore other possibilities of their characters feelings just because it goes against the time tested formulas they know will get them paid. A good deal of the problem with the dumbing down of this country is the fact that the heros in our books, shows and movies we watch as children never learn anything in the end. They go through a harsh journey, fight the bad guy, save the day and win the girl of their prepubescent dreams, and yet they're still motivated purely by their idealized, romanticized views of the world. And the ignorance of your average viewer implants them with these skewed notions, which is why so many twits consider Romeo and Juliet an epic love story rather than the warning of the foolish ways of young love it was meant as.

Bitter Work is what got my hopes up. It showed the dichotomy between Katara, being very nurturing and worrying over Toph's harsh regiment, and Toph, pushing Aang's limits and believing he'd succeed. The way Katara said to go gentle on him and treat Aang the way she treats him was priceless. It was a moment when she was actually proven wrong. In comes this edgy new girl who meshes up with Aang as an opposing persona with core commonalities to their backgrounds and their situation, and she's just right. Then The Desert slaps me right in the face. They fight, they get distant, and they never seem to come back near eachother. We got a very brief view of a possibility before the writers up and rip the "other girl" aside and toss on an unexplained crush on Sokka to kind of anchor her away from a chance with Aang. That sounds silly, but through out the end of season two it really did seem to me like the writers were taking an "easy out" to keep their canon ship unrivaled, and if that is the case I have so much hate mail to send. But that aside, there is still the possibility that with the introduction of philosophical beliefs of enlightenment and very mature ideas of detatchment from earthly desire, may, just maybe this wouldn't be another pointless "boy meets girl, boy fights villain, boy saves the world, girl goes all mushy for him" story. For once it would be nice if the hero learned something about life and love beyond crushes and one shot tightly wrapped sugary packages.

Toph and Aang offer a chance to learn from one another as friends, as opposed to the very one directional routine of Kataang, where she's the older wiser one leading him to the right path, or what she feels is the right path. The twelve year old prodigies are on even ground. Both know what it is to be treated differently for their abilities. They understand what it is to be risen up for your value, but dragged down by the wants of others, and both have a history of running away from their problems. I'm sorry, but I never saw Katara as a source of strength for Aang. She was more like a crutch, someone he could lean on rather than standing on his own. Toph and Aang though, I could see them kind of pushing one another toward their responsibilities, the same way they fought back and forth at the dinner table in Blind Bandit they could spur one another on. By believing in him to relize his strength, rather than holding his hand along the way and expecting him to let go when he's ready as Katara seems to do, Toph could aid his developement, detatched yet grounded. And he could help her realize that just because her parents are afraid for her safety doesn't mean that they can't learn to believe in her. Heck, how do you not believe in a girl who helped the Avatar save the world?

Basically, I just prefer the emotional developement the ship would mean for the two characters as they could learn from one another and grow out of their childish ways at their own relaxed pace. Kataang seems like brain numbing, dull fluff, and Soph isn't even that poignant So, I ship Taang. Though I'd rather not see them get romantic with their relationship for at least a couple of years yet.

Dang, lunauc. The man said a paragraph not a well written essay! *karmas*

[paintedrose]

Yeah, karma for you lunauc!!! I completely agree with you. In my opinion, Kataang was so...boring. Which is kinda sad coming from me, because I love the little romantic scenes in these kind of shows. Usually I like the friends turned bf/gf thing, but this is was too much. I'm sorry to any supporters of the Kataang pairing, but that's just my opinion.

Toph and Aang are so different, yet that's what's so great about the ship. Yin and Yang if you will. lol it adds spice to the otherwise boring group.

[yiceman]

That was awesome lunauc. You now have 2 out of the 3 karmas I've ever given out. My question is, why is everyone so convinced Toph has a crush on Sokka? I don't think a "you saved my life" kiss on the cheek is proof. I'd french kiss a goat if it saved me from drowning. And her holding his arm on Appa? She didn't want to plummet to her death ;p

[Power]

lunauc: You couldnt resist adding your Kataang rebuttal in this could you?

paintedrose: I can see the opposites of Taang that intrigue you into this ship, but now your adding Yin and Yang factor in this? why?

[lunauc]

thepower06 said:

lunauc: You couldnt resist adding your Kataang rebuttal in this could you?

Nope. After all, Taang is what spared me the boredom of Kataang. I don't spite those who do ship Kataang, Soph, or any ship they dang well please. It just doesn't appeal to me. And please, don't tell me that was your Grand Rebuttal.

EDIT: Oh, and Yiceman, I just meant that it seems like they're insinuating a crush on Sokka. I can't say if that really is what they're doing though. I can only hope it isn't.

[Power]

I havent even warmed up yet lunauc. Very thought provoking post though. The boredom of Kataang you say? Let me hold my laugh here for a second. I find Aang and Toph pretty independent of one another, so I dont know how much emotional bonding they can muster up.

[Karma Monster]

lunauc said:

thepower06 said:

Seems like you guys need something to do for real, so I am going to try something here:

I want each of you Taangs to tell me what is so special about Taang, no one liners please. Create a productive paragraph, it can be short. I am going to provide a rebuttal against each of your beliefs, and by your response determine how worthy you guys are. Fair enough?

Prove our worthiness? Kataang's get Karmas for purely biased and fluffy simplistic posts and I need to justify my beliefs?! Rediculous!

So anyway... Thanks Power. It would have taken a hell of a lot longer to get to this second Mansion without you dropping in with question like this to up the post rate. ;D Out of curteousy I'll answer, though I'll mostly be repeating myself gratuitously.

For me, Taang is special because it is the "other path". Frankly Kataang never appealed to me. I saw it coming from episode one, and it just seemed an obligatory formulaic kiddy love story. I knew it was going to happen, and no matter how boring their scenes together were I put up with it. After all, even if there was no worthwhile love story to the show at least the fight scenes and mystical aspects were still entertaining. But I didn't have any kind of emotional investment in the heroes. Much like the Austin Power movies, the villains, Iroh and Zuko, were much more interesting. The Aang Gang were just kind of the pawns moving with this very cliche "Chosen One" story with a few fun jokes thrown in here and there. But then, The Swamp rolled around. All you get is a minute or so of airtime of Aang chasing a mysterious girl through a swamp. And while it seems completely random and pointless, it hooked my attention. I was really curious who this unexplained ghost girl was supposed to be, but I really didn't consider it something which would break up the inevitability of Kataang. That is until The Blind Bandit, when we actually meet the mystery girl, and lo and behold, she's a spunky, tough little tomboy who can earthbend anyone into the next century. She was the absolute opposite of the carbon-copy nurturing beauty mary-sue that was Katara. Cocky, arrogant and petty, she even drew Aang into childish antics at the dinner table, and their moonlit garden walk did catch my eye, though I still couldn't think that this was a sign of the Kataang mold cracking. After all, your average writer in a show like this sets up the hero and heroine lovers from the beginning, so they follow a pre-planned path to the romantic outcome everyone expects. It's a sort of emotional placebo, allowing the viewer to feel,"Things always work out in the end." Even if most of the time it's just because the writer is too lazy to write a tangent into the tale or is worried to risk the commercialized relationship they're producers already have the T-shirts and posters printed up for.

As nice as the simplistic sense of satisfaction of a foretold happy ending is, I've long been bored with writers who take the easy way through things and never explore other possibilities of their characters feelings just because it goes against the time tested formulas they know will get them paid. A good deal of the problem with the dumbing down of this country is the fact that the heros in our books, shows and movies we watch as children never learn anything in the end. They go through a harsh journey, fight the bad guy, save the day and win the girl of their prepubescent dreams, and yet they're still motivated purely by their idealized, romanticized views of the world. And the ignorance of your average viewer implants them with these skewed notions, which is why so many twits consider Romeo and Juliet an epic love story rather than the warning of the foolish ways of young love it was meant as.

Bitter Work is what got my hopes up. It showed the dichotomy between Katara, being very nurturing and worrying over Toph's harsh regiment, and Toph, pushing Aang's limits and believing he'd succeed. The way Katara said to go gentle on him and treat Aang the way she treats him was priceless. It was a moment when she was actually proven wrong. In comes this edgy new girl who meshes up with Aang as an opposing persona with core commonalities to their backgrounds and their situation, and she's just right. Then The Desert slaps me right in the face. They fight, they get distant, and they never seem to come back near eachother. We got a very brief view of a possibility before the writers up and rip the "other girl" aside and toss on an unexplained crush on Sokka to kind of anchor her away from a chance with Aang. That sounds silly, but through out the end of season two it really did seem to me like the writers were taking an "easy out" to keep their canon ship unrivaled, and if that is the case I have so much hate mail to send. But that aside, there is still the possibility that with the introduction of philosophical beliefs of enlightenment and very mature ideas of detatchment from earthly desire, may, just maybe this wouldn't be another pointless "boy meets girl, boy fights villain, boy saves the world, girl goes all mushy for him" story. For once it would be nice if the hero learned something about life and love beyond crushes and one shot tightly wrapped sugary packages.

Toph and Aang offer a chance to learn from one another as friends, as opposed to the very one directional routine of Kataang, where she's the older wiser one leading him to the right path, or what she feels is the right path. The twelve year old prodigies are on even ground. Both know what it is to be treated differently for their abilities. They understand what it is to be risen up for your value, but dragged down by the wants of others, and both have a history of running away from their problems. I'm sorry, but I never saw Katara as a source of strength for Aang. She was more like a crutch, someone he could lean on rather than standing on his own. Toph and Aang though, I could see them kind of pushing one another toward their responsibilities, the same way they fought back and forth at the dinner table in Blind Bandit they could spur one another on. By believing in him to relize his strength, rather than holding his hand along the way and expecting him to let go when he's ready as Katara seems to do, Toph could aid his developement, detatched yet grounded. And he could help her realize that just because her parents are afraid for her safety doesn't mean that they can't learn to believe in her. Heck, how do you not believe in a girl who helped the Avatar save the world?

Basically, I just prefer the emotional developement the ship would mean for the two characters as they could learn from one another and grow out of their childish ways at their own relaxed pace. Kataang seems like brain numbing, dull fluff, and Soph isn't even that poignant So, I ship Taang. Though I'd rather not see them get romantic with their relationship for at least a couple of years yet.

Nice speech Lunauc! and welcome painted rose!
power-Toph and Aang are very similar even if they don't realize it.
They could really become close if they tried.There personalities balance eachother.Once they realize that they could really become close.

[lunauc]

thepower06 said:

I havent even warmed up yet lunauc. Very thought provoking post though. The boredom of Kataang you say? Let me hold my laugh here for a second. I find Aang and Toph pretty independent of one another, so I dont know how much emotional bonding they can muster up.

That's basing your views purely on the canon material provided. It's easy to do that with Kataang, which is in your face crushing. Ships like Taang have to depend on our views of the personalities of the characters and how they would interact if the writers gave them the air time to work it out. Basically, we know better than the writers.

[Karma Monster]

Hey Power have you ever heard anyone say that fanon rocks just as hard as canon. Its bacause
you can do anything you want with it. Thats what so special about taang.

[Power]

@bittersugar: but then again, aren't you the same one hoping for some canon Taang evidence?

[Amira]

bittersugar101 said:

Hey Power have you ever heard anyone say that fanon rocks just as hard as canon. Its bacause
you can do anything you want with it. Thats what so special about taang.

Which is why with a good imagination, any Kataanger will tell you that the ship can be just as passionate and dramatic as any of the "fanon" ships. I personally ship older Aang and Katara, which right now is "fanon."

[Karma Monster]

^ I've always thought kataang is canon.

power-Yes but I'm just saying how canon ships should not be questioned.

[taiyo *on limited hiatus*]

^I'm with her. It's obvious that Aang likes Katara and Katara likes him. You guys got your shipping. All you have to do is soak it in with joy. Fanon shippers can either speculate for the fun of it or write fanfiction. Just because we ship something that's not gonna happen doesn't mean we be miserable. That's where imagination comes in and we have a good time shipping.

[Power]

And we will indulge in that imagination with you guys, whether if it by offering challenges or responding to a comment made about our ship.

[taiyo *on limited hiatus*]

You're not mad, are ya? I wasn't tryin' to bash.
@bittersugar: Fanon rocks as hard as canon. Did you get that from me or someone else?"