I knew there was a reason I was dating you

[ljwrites]

Spoken with the boyfriend over a plate of delicious firewood-baked pizza:

Me: Speaking of Avatar, did you know Toph and Azula were originally going to be boys?
BF: (cringes) Gah, no!
Me: Eh? What?
BF: Those two as boys, ew. The less sweaty guys in a show, the better.
Me: Yeah, I heard Nickelodeon had DiMartino and Konietzko change it.
BF: Praise Nick!
Me: (suspicious) But as for your, um, preference, shouldn't the logical conclusion be that your favorite genre is  harem?
BF: (big grin)

I guess that explains why he likes Y: The Last Man so much, though that comic is about as vicious a subversion of the harem trope as you can get. If more young guys thought along those lines, there would be no concerns about the marketability of awesome female characters.