#its fourteen years later guys

It is 2022, and somehow I’m still getting Avatar: the Last Airbender shipping nonsense on my dashboard.

It is 2022, and there are still people arguing adamantly and passionately about the comparative morality of a sixteen year old and a twelve year old and how this is completely representative as to which of them should end up with the fourteen year old girl at some point when they reach adulthood.

It is 2022, FOURTEEN YEARS after A:TLA ended.  That is longer than Aang has been alive.  That is Katara’s whole lifespan.  Zuko would be two fucking years old.  And people are still obsessed over the implicit sex lives of children.

Honestly, I don’t care who you ship.  I don’t care if you take Korra as canon or not.  But I will always think it’s really fucking bizarre when people will bend over backward to attack a literal twelve year old, and insist that his alleged immaturity, selfishness, and lack of ability to be a good partner (because, hello, he is TWELVE), is some kind of reflection of who he’ll be as an adult.  As opposed to being TWELVE YEARS OLD.

I genuinely believe sometimes that shipping can warp the fannish brain, and Avatar: the Last Airbender is my exhibit A.

It’s so absurd.  Taking Korra out of the equation, just looking at Avatar itself, we’re at least five to ten years before romance, sex, or marriage is likely on the table.  That’s a long fucking time.  People change and grow and relationships change and grow.  Anything could happen.  Any pairing is perfectly plausible. Heck, they could even decide to marry someone they meet *gasp* AS AN ADULT.  You never know!

The fictional twelve year old isn’t your enemy.  He’s only as much of an obstacle to your pairing as you want him to be.

And maybe we don’t need to be obsessing quite so hard about the sex lives of child characters?*

(* I know, I know, that part is like asking the Earth not to be round.  Alas.)