Zutara Week

Jul 7, 200820 min read

Deviation Actions

Published: Jul 7, 2008

2K Views

Ahh yes, Zutara...
The name is echoing through the silent halls of the usually crowded "Fanart" gallery this week. Where Narutards, Bleachers, and FF-Fiends usually press shoulder to shoulder with each other, comparing and arguing ships, crack, and exchange theories on final canon, they all fall silent as one group of people take their place on the altar this week.

Avatards.

Namely, Zutarians.

Avatar: The Last Airbender had humble beginnings. An animated "kids" show airing on Nick on Friday nights would usually stand no chance between the giants of both anime and cartoons. With Megalithic shows like Naruto consuming the very souls of fans, an American-written, Nickelodeon-based cartoon should have been easily stampeded over in the fandom universe and struggled to make it past it's first season.

Ohh how that statement rings wrong.

Nearing the epic two-hour finale of it's third and final season "Book 3: Fire" Avatar (or AtLA as it's referred to by adoring fans) has roped in hundreds of thousands, if not millions of watchers, ranging from age 3-60. An impressive feat for a "kid's" show about a 12 year old saving the world. In fact, if you ask any of the fans you may wander by and ask them why they enjoy a kid's show so much, their response (after correcting you that it is NOT just a kid's show,) will most likely point to the fantastic story arcs lovingly written out by creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino, or maybe it's the stunning martial arts animations, or even just for one favorite character. Most however, will find a way to include their favorite "ship."

8 out of 10 times, that ship will be "Zutara."

As a rival of this monstrous beast, a "Kataanger," even I cannot help but take a few shocked steps back and admire what the fandom has done.

A search on DeviantART will show you that there are approximately 18,000 deviations tagged with "Zutara" compared to a simple 5,500 "Kataang." Considering "Kataang" is supposed to be the main ship of the show... Those numbers are breath-taking to say the least.
As the finale approaches only two men really know the final outcome of the shipping wars... But not matter who the victor is, Zutara will leave an imprint on the face of fandom for a long time to come.

The pinnacle of this fan-based community,

Zutara Week.

What started out as a simple conversation between trishna87, AnimantX, and GreenifyME proposing they all do something special for their ship for the finale, has rolled down the mountain, gaining speed and dislodging rocks along the way and caused a metaphorical avalanche in the community.

A few friends joined in the festivities, then a few more, and word flew from mouth to mouth, and Zutara Week was born.

Every day, participants must submit a piece of fanart, be it art, writing, pictures, or even AMVs!
Each day has a specific prompt, a subject to tie all of the Zutarians and their work together.

The prompts are:
JULY 7: Denim
JULY 8: Electrifying
JULY 9: Smug
JULY 10: Manipulative
JULY 11: Mythology
JULY 12: Stare
JULY 13: Pinch

Now... here's the awe-inspiring part...

The Participants are:

THE ORIGINAL PARTICIPANTS:

ARTISTS:

WRITERS:

,

PHOTOGRAPHERS:

AMV ARTISTS:

Yeah... I know... Wow...

Sometimes, I sit back... and I just can't help but applaud what the efforts of a few hyper fangirls can accomplish...

The lovely trishna87 is putting together the collection for Zutara Week, of all the entries for all of us.
It is located here: <a href="trishna87.deviantart.com/favou…>Zutara Week Submissions

Zutara, I salute you from the deck of my rival ship.
It was an amazing fight, with shots thrown between us and the tide of battle changing rapidly...

May the best ship win...

Canon or Fanon, Who Cares?

Zutara, you have shown the fan-world just what a fandom is capable of.