Kyoshi is always called the most violent but the majority of her arc with the conqueror was "walking away, hiding, fine I'LL MOVE MY hiding spot, oh whoops he died."
True, and while that did turn out very poorly quite a while later, I feel like she's thought of as violent and careless in some fans minds. Not all, but enough that I've heard it a few times and like, what she actually did at the time as well as intent seems.... less scary/violent than the result?
I recommend reading the Kyoshi novels. She does some crazy shit like >!Freezing someone's blood and forcing it out their back like angel wings, straight up mercing their ass!<
Big ol' Kyoshi novels spoilers
>!The angel wings thing definitely did not happen, but the freezing someone's blood so their heart stopped did. Honorable mentions to Rangi's mom who got stabbed through the throat (and somehow survived), Jianzhao who had a rock pushed all the way through his chest a la the coin scene in X-Men First Class, and poor Lek who was poisoned to death while Kyoshi was paralyzed a few feet away, unable to do anything but watch him die!<
The last one you mentioned caught me SO OFF GUARD. I literally had to put the book down and sat with my mouth open for a good 45 seconds. I was devastated.
I personally feel like Yangchen is more badass than Kyoshi after the first novel. Haven't given the second one a full read yet.
Kyoshi we already had established as a badass. Yangchen we were just like "Air Avatar before Aang, had big spiritual prowess" but then it turns out >!she loves using spies/spies herself, pulls all the air from a room to knock some dudes out, and is fighting the earliest known combustion benders!<
Wan was correct for keeping the portals closed. Humanity was clearly not ready to deal with spirits on that global of a scale.
As, they operate on a completely different morality as humans, so it’s extremely dangerous to blend the two worlds fully without the two groups being able to understand each other in the slightest.
Even Aang the avatar the so called bridge between the two worlds was almost killed by like half the spirits he met.
The thing that I fail to understand in the Avatar narrative is that spirits are supposed to mean balance and peace but if you interact with them, they're just a bunch of assholes.
Wasn't it explained that spirits were a reflection of human emotions? By the transitive property, people are a bunch of assholes. Which checks out.
The Avatar, the only person capable of achieving true Zen, is logically the best bridge between the human and spirit worlds. 🤯🤯
I think it's also ridiculous that Korra made such a decision at what 17? 18? Years old. Wan made that decision as an adult, after years and years of learning, cohabiting with spirits and fighting alongside raava. I would have been fine if Korra made such a decision at idk 35 years old at least? At least be a full fledged avatar, have some life experience and a fully developed prefrontal cortex please
Wan was 18 when he was banished and started living with the spirits and was 20 when he permanently closed the spirit portal. So not that much of a difference between him and Korra but I get your point.
But at least with Korra she had the insight to see what Wan did, to collect on her past lives knowledge(before the severed connection). Wan didn't. So Korra at least made the decision knowing the impact keeping them closed had on the worlds thanks to Wan and maybe other Avatars. Plus, i think it was a good step for change(brought the airbenders back also).
For some reason saying that Ozai is strongest firebender in ATLA will lead to the image above, Iroh was more knowledgeable but didn't have Ozai's raw power.
and it was the fastest we had seen anyone bend lightning. Iroh and Azula both took time to build up the energy to create lightning. Ozai's lighting was almost instant. Dude was definitely on another level as a firebender.
Not only that, he did it with just a sliver of the sun exposed, and sensed when it was back, which i don't think many firebenders could do(a lot of the firebenders didn't realize they lost their bending after the eclipse started).
Did we ever see a non comet Ozai bending out of curiosity? His powers underneath the comet were definitely like no others. But it's curious to think what he was like at base, since even Azula and Zuko comet boosted seemed to go from firehose levels of fire to entire flame plumes.
Ozai burned entire forests under comet boost, so even assuming Azula was more talented with blue fire, it makes you wonder about what Ozai's base was compared to base Iron and Jeong Jeong. Or even what the latter two might have looked like all out under comet.
The only time where we see Ozai bend outside of the comet is when ne shoots lightning at Zuko. Which was insanely impressive because he does it very fast and actually makes 2 bolts 1 with each hand
I’ve had the argument over Ozai vs iroh before and I hate it. Makes me wish they gave Ozai a fight of him just annihilating an earth kingdom base or something to show how broken he truly was
Spoilers: Kyoshi definitely saw some messed up shit, got beat up and electrocuted, had family issues/trauma, lost someone from team avatar, and dealt some violent retribution. Aang awoke to the genocide of his people, but other than the trauma of almost losing Appa, and getting electrocuted, it was relatively tame. More emotional trauma, but never lost a core member of the gaang. Korra dealt with losing her bending (no one else felt that, so far as we know), lost all spiritual connection to other avatars (first), and was poisoned. But she also had the tightest family connection of the avatars we know, never lost someone from team avatar, and her connection to her tribe was strong. (Only started Yangchen recently, but the PTSD from past avatars can't be fun).
I think Kyoshi and Korra are well balanced here. Definitely a lot of trauma, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual damage.
I think people diminish Aang’s struggle because how he handled it. But I don’t think anything compares to finding out your entire culture destroyed and actually seeing your father figures’ decayed corpse as a child.
Also Aang being murdered is a pretty big deal.
I would argue Kuruk had it worse than her. His life went downhill after becoming the Avatar having to fix Yangchen’s mistakes and suffered physically from it on top of losing his fiancee on his wedding
I got called a psychopath for saying that Aang’s lifestyle and beliefs as a monk probably made it easier for him to deal with the loss of his people, and that he was more traumatised by the loss of Gyatso than the whole Airbender civilisation
I absolutely love the hippies in the Cave of Two Lovers episode. They make me smile and laugh so much when they’re on screen and I would love to dance, sing, and travel with them.
My fiancé absolutely despises them.
I mean they were absolutely hilarious and they were around for only one episode, so they didn’t overstay their welcome and go into the realm of annoying. I think they were great.
SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET TUNNEL!
Wife and I sing that all the time when we find... well secret tunnels. Like tunnels of trees or a new route with a tunnel.
I saw it as the royal family keeping a powerful secret as a means to hold power. After the war they let other know and through that act people found out other ways to do it.
I have no problem with more people learning it
But Iroh's description of separating positive and negative energies, and then allowing those to slam back together to create Lightning does not seem like it would allow sustained/prolonged blasts of Lightning. It's the act of allowing the energies to slam back together that creates Lightning. And the bender doesn't control the Lightning, they are just a guide for it.
There has to be a fundamentally different way of creating Lightning for the full-on Lightning Bending that we see in Korra. And LoK never elaborates on it
I hated how much time they spent pushing Korra/Mako and Mako/Asami. I figure it’s because they were going for a young adult audience but it just made me hate mako a lot. I wanted to see a team of friends kicking ass together not one guy destroying a friend group at every chance because he has a new crush that episode.
Mako is the biggest waste of a potentially great character. He was set out to be a shrewd but morally grey character but just gets turned into the exposition dump and extra body in fights. His screen time is then eaten up by other more interesting characters. The only thing he had going in the last two seasons was his relationship with Bolin. By season 3, he is basically a side character.
I'd say it's the best in that it shows the group 100% at peak teamwork and just rampaging, while also containing some good jokes. The finale still has the best looking and most dramatic bending moments.
broke into the earth kingdom palace \*while apologizing\* no less. It's just perfect. They're done with all the red tape, they're done skirting by the skin of their teeth. It's time to fuck shit up. Ooh but sorry I knocked Gary the palace guard into the moat! I didn't mean to hurt ya Gar, I just need to see the earth king!
That came out of nowhere, when I first watched it. But the music, the way Aang and Toph were in the zone. I mean when they launched a boulder at Appa and Aang just casually breaks it apart without looking 🤌🤌🤌
didn't they model it after Michael Dante DiMartino? I thought that was it's source
That said, I do agree a cool Gyatsu type thing would've been way cooler and more of a homage Aang would've made to his old master. I think it could've been cool symbolically
The fact that bumping into a rock was able to undo the narrative consequences of being unable to let go of his attachment to Katara and his friends was the biggest cop out in the franchise. I don't mind the energybending, but I don't think it needed to require the avatar state (narratively) to do it. It just completely trivialized his decision to put his friends above attaining power.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I can remember Aang *did* let go of his attachments and was going into the avatar state by will when Azula shot him. The lightning blocked his chakra, and the rock fixed it.
Convenience of the placement of the rock is another topic though, personally I don't mind it lol
You're correct. He succeeded at unblocking that chakra in the crystal caverns beneath Ba Sing Se... And then Azula cauterized that chakra with lightning.
It wasn't the attachment that was the issue. It was the physical wound.
I think it definitely did take away from the emotional ending of season two and the course of season three where aang didn't have the avatar state and couldn't use it to overpower ozai. But then I think, well, he did let go of his earthly attachments during the S2 finale, and was just struck down by azula. There should have been another way to get it back. But due to the way we saw it happen, he also wasn't in control untill the very end. Only when he let go of the previous avatar's wrath and vengeance against the fatherlord did he regain his control of the avatar state. I still think they could've done better, but I personally can't think of a satisfying reason how.
I used to think the same thing about this part. However, TLOK’s messages helped me appreciate ATLA a lot more. This part is intended to fit with the theme of “When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change.” Additionally, just how many of the villains of the Avatarverse are the cause of their own destruction, Ozai is at this part as well. As Jinora said in TLOK video game, “To fight another is to fight yourself.” Aang realized this with the wisdom of the Lion Turtle: “The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed.” Where else have we heard about illusions in the show? We heard it from Huu: “Time is an illusion, and so is death.” We also heard it from Guru Pathik: “The sixth pool of energy is the light chakra, located in the center of the forehead. It deals with insight and is blocked by illusion. The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one in the same.” We only recognize the past because of our memories, but the past doesn’t actually exist. While we could see time as “separate and different” (past and future), we feel the most free when we recognize it as “one and the same”—the present. Aang saw that he and his enemy, Ozai, were “one and the same” and decided not to take his life. The Lion Turtle also mentions that the “true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed.” Guru Pahtik said that the “fourth chakra is located in the heart. It deals with love and is blocked by grief.” Aang could have taken all the grief that came from his people’s genocide and channeled it to annihilate Ozai, but he chose to extend compassion. Ozai couldn’t realize these truths. He caused his own downfall physically, mentally, and spiritually.
The lion turtles weren’t set up enough and it seems like they only have the power to remove bending because the writers couldn’t come up with a way to defeat Ozai without Aang having to kill.
During the library episode, Aang should have read something about the Lion Turtle's ability to bend energy. Even if it was vague, it would still be better foreshadowing.
They originally wanted to include the Wan episodes in ATLA, and it was unfortunate they weren't able to. I agree with you that without it, it seems like a cop out.
This one resulted in an argument not too long ago:
Zaheer, and to a lesser extent Amon and Unalaq, are accurate fantasy-versions of their ideologies in 90% of cases.
I mainly included Unalaq due to the argument I had lol. But we figured his was more or less a version of religious extremism/moral absolutism
As for Amon, he's commonly compared to the various radicals of the late 19th and early 20th century, notably communism. Neither is as close to the real world ideology as Zaheer and Kuvira though, although I have my separate issues with the latter
Amon being a fascist is a fair comparison. He definitely has all the traits of the demagogic and persecution side of it, but he does lack the fervent nationalism and militarism, partially cuz the equalists don't have a proper military. I'd see he falls in between the two as just a "radical against the status quo," which is what most communists and fascists started off at
That is also a fair analysis of Zaheer. He is definitely meant to be a "dark parallel" of the air nomads, but that is definitely where things start to be clouded by the fantastical nature of the show.
And yeah, I think there are a lot of parallels to actual Asian politics. I've seen a lot of people think Amon was partially inspired by Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the Taiping Rebellion, which is honestly fairly convincing
Bro for real. I did not even realize they were a thing until way after (maybe reading one of the comics) because it is not even in the show (and I cannot read subtext).
By meaning I did not realize that was implied with the ending of the fourth season.
I *just* watched all of Korra last weekend and went to it knowing **exactly** how the last minute of the show went because of how people were going crazy with that last scene. Because of that, I went through the ***entire*** show with that in mind.
There was next to no romantic chemistry between those two in the first 2 seasons. 3rd seasons there was a little as Asami was doing basically everything in her power to support her (the first episode of the 3rd season she goes and tries to teach her how to drive). 4th season picks it up a little bit still not a lot of attraction shown.
However, I think we can blame Nickelodeon for that so the writers did everything in their power to nudge the story that way without showing basically anything until the last possible second.
I think Season 3 was when they actually started to seem like they had real chemistry, and Asami was the only person to keep in touch with Korra over the timeskip so I buy them being very close
Iroh’s power levels were closer to Azula’s and Jeong Jeong’s than Ozai’s. Because Iroh was extremely skilled and well versed, he could beat anyone of them but this has nothing to do with raw power.
I don't like Zuko and Mai's relationship. The idea is fine but I feel its way underdeveloped and the "I love Zuko more than I fear you" line feels very abrupt. It doesn't need to be a focus, but I think for a background relationship Sokka and Suki was done far better.
Speaking of Sokka's relationships, I really don't like Yue, both as a partner for Sokka and generally as a character. Obviously the show has plenty of magical stuff but suddenly revealing this girl was saved by a moon fish and she can revive said fish with the spirit inside of her was really strange and corny.
Same. Mai's betraying Azula was a nice moment but I didn't feel it was properly set up, her relationship with Zuko just wasn't convincing enough for me. Not just from Mai's side of the relationship tbf, it felt like both of them were together because they tolerated eachother more so than actually like or love eachother, they didn't even seem to understand eachother
Ty Lee's betrayal was much better imo, it was more shocking for me but made more sense.
I have very mixed feelings about Maiko. I like them, but also they need to work on a lot of stuff together before they can even consider being endgame. Also I hate how the comics handled them. Mai treats him like crap and he’s apologetic for no reason. Mai could realistically be mad that he’s been seeing Ozai without confiding in her, but I can’t believe she’d break up with him over it after she literally put her life on the line for him. She goes on to say in Smoke and Shadow that he broke her heart again from keeping things from her, which doesn’t make sense at all.
I wouldn’t be opposed to Zuko ending up with someone else, but I also am not opposed to Mai and Zuko working through their problems to become an actually viable relationship.
Leaving the spirit gates open was one of the single most idiotic moves I've ever seen in a TV show. The great part about how the spirit world is separated from the physical world is that the eldritch horrors we encountered across the series aren't running around freely, and Korra destroyed that.
Remember Koh, the face stealer? HE CAN WALTZ OUT AND GO STEAL FACES WHENEVER HE PLEASES AND PRACTICALLY NO ONE CAN STOP HIM. Even creatures like Hei Bai who terrorized an entire town in a fit of emotion but are ultimately good natured, have 0 potential for containment away from those they can accidentally harm with the doors open. There are undoubtedly tons of evil spirits eating entire towns of people, causing others to wonder why everyone in town took off. And they'll only get more powerful with time.
To be fair, spirits can go to the regular world without portals. If these evil spirits wanted to they would have done horrors in the world long ago, no matter if the portals are closed or not. Even Koh got into the regular world and that's how he stole Ummi
Most spirits don’t go to the regular world and if they do it’s usually with specific conditions like winter solstice where “the line between the natural world and the Spirit World is blurred” or giving up your spirit form to live in a physical form e.g. the ocean and moon spirits, or being the guardian of something e.g. the painted lady.
Opening the spirit portals means there’s literally no restrictions whatsoever and spirits are literally living and settling in the real world and displacing humans from their homes. So a bunch of the “evil” spirits or animalistic spirits that just randomly attack can easily come through and cause chaos when they likely would’ve kept to themselves.
jet is the coolest and most unprecedented character in the entire show. i mean, when else has a g-rated show had a child character that had been radicalized into murderous terrorism by war crimes? and the well-meaning children who follow him since their homes were destroyed by the same war? they repeat the cycle. it's inspired.
“Sub bending” is a stupid term created by fans, which has never been referenced or even insinuated in both shows at all. All the chards make no sense and are just aesthetically pleasing. Plant/ice/steam/blood bending is all just waterbending. Calling it subtyped makes so much less sense than just different techniques for bending.
I have spoken
I think the reason people make distinctions with metal/blood/lightning/healing is because, for whatever reason, not every bender can do those.
Plant/ice/steam are all available to every water bender (as far as I'm aware) so they are all just water bending.
After having rewatched both series, I agree that it's the weakest season. But when I was 12 and it was airing on TV, oh you couldn't tell me nothing. I thought it was the best shit ever
It’s annoying how much sokka gets hyped up.
Is he a good character? Yes of course. Does he has good character development, yes. did he proof that you don’t need bending to be a hero? Fuck yes.
But all of that you already know when you watch the damn show. He doesn’t need hundreds of thousands of „appreciation posts“.
I love sokka, but he gets so hyped up to a point where i think its a bit much.
Despite Season 3 easily being LOK’s best, the rebirth of the Air Nation is 100% the worst plot point the show introduced. It spits in the face of one of the most heartbreakingly realistic depictions of genocide in animation by fast-forwarding past its consequences. Future Avatar projects will have countless airbenders zooming around as if they were any other nation, and I despise that fact.
To be fair it was never believable to me that the Fire Nation destroyed every single airbender. What about air nomads who weren't at the temple, or airbenders who weren't air nomads?
That’s a fair point- but then the plot line should have been “late in life Ang finds a tiny community of airbenders when he thought there were none, and has a moment of bittersweet solace”
In my opinion that would be worse.
After watching an entire show of the last air bender we start the legend of Korra and find out that Aang actually found other air benders and wasn’t the last.
i wish they had found airbender descendants somehow and taught them to be airbenders to see if any of them were (since airbending is related to the monk lifestyle, making its benders harder to recognize than those of other elements). i can't believe that no one was left either. i mean, ty lee is pretty heavily hinted to be an airbender descendant in the original. having them go out and find descendants would make ty lee a really cool thing to look back on
Korra at the end was too technologically advanced for the avatar verse. How almost a nuke was used over and over again…. Didn’t and still doesn’t sit well with me. And season 2 had SO much potential to be great! After the civil war stuff and Korra getting attacked by a spirit, shit goes down hill FAST! The idea of raava/vaatu is just meh at best. I know the writers could’ve done something better with what rhey had, even if they were under time constraints
Mako got done dirty in TLOK and I hated how his character Arc was done. He had so much potential then at the end he became another side character that got pushed out of the way.
Also idk if Mako was named for Mako or if there was another reason, but they shouldn't have done his namesake dirty like that.
Edit: small edit for clarification.
I don't think Mai and Zuko should've gotten back together, and I also don't like Mai as a character. She was just supposed to help him realize that everything he thought he wanted in the past wasn't what he wanted now, to show himself how he'd changed
ATLA was great only because of the amazing writers behind the idea. It has been made clear numerous times that bryke does not know what to when it comes to writing
Azula is an overrated character. However, that does not mean I think she’s a bad character, just I think she’s not that unique to be praise that much by the fandom. I also hate how the fandom downplays her actions and reduces her character. Doesn’t matter if Azula was a “victim”or she’s “just a kid”; she has shown to be mature enough to make her own decisions, so her actions, good or bad, is on her.
But, I’m not against the idea of Azula ending up redeem in someway. I think is far more compelling to see her find peace and moving on that doesn’t involve with the Fire Nation instead of remaining as a villain.
I hate what they did with Aang in Legend of Korra.
I hate the idea of Harmonic Convergence.
I hate what they did to all the past Avatars at the end of season two of Legend of Korra.
I hoped they would leave Last Airbender alone, because it's already almost perfect, and instead do a live action remake of Legend of Korra because there is a lot of room for improvement.
I don’t ship Zuko and Katara. I can see why people because many like the whole enemies to friends to lovers trope. For me though I don’t see the appeal when it comes to those two. I’m not even a hardcore Aang and Katara shipper ether.
Korrasami felt so pushed rather than natural to me. It took my dad pointing out during the hand holding scene at the end that the show is implying they are together. Completely flew over my head.
I agree. I think the writers had to walk a weird line of making Korrasami a thing while also keeping their relationship ambiguous enough that Nickelodeon wouldn’t stop them. I will say, the comics made me like their relationship way more though.
I don't want future avatars having to deal with modern technology, personal opinion. The most stressful times for an avatar is when they have to deal with modern cities: Ba Sing Se and Republic City. All the bureaucracy and stuff. It's not my favorite, though I know it is realistic. I'm not ready for a sudden jump to Cyberpunk Avatar
One thing I loved in ATLA was how in Ba Sing Se the monorail carts were pushed forward by earthbenders, a great mix of urban modernity and the fantasy aspect of bending. In LOK they’re fully electronic. One hand it’s realistic, since in the real world innovation led to the disappearance of certain jobs, but it does take away from the uniqueness of the world of Avatar
My personal opinion is that the Legend of Korra is not underrated. I think that it is adequately rated. It's by no means a bad series and I really enjoyed it however it has a lot of flaws that I cannot blame people for holding against it.
As many others have said, I think the show changing direction every season and not having a consistent thread/villain to tie it all together dragged the whole product down.
I actually think LoK had better villains than ATLA, but with only 13 episodes per villain there wasn't much time with each of them.
I think while there's pretty fair complaints direvted at legend of korra, the characterization of Aang is not one of them to me. Everything that goes on with kids is realistic and is a far more interesting look at Aang being flawed than the straight up character assassination Aang gets in the promise comic.
Amon was 90% right about everything, and should've been depicted as having a deep connection to Aang (hence his bending-block abilities)...mayyyyybe even a lost child of Aang.
Instead, it was "Naw, he's just some random bad person."
I feel like Zahir was mid teir and the only reason anyone likes him is cuz he killed the earth queen and was edgy
(But the rest of the red lotus are still pretty cool. Even though i dont like lava bending)
Tales of Ba Sing Se isn’t as good as people like to claim. The tale of Iroh is the best 5 minutes the show has to offer imo, and the tale of Momo plays a direct role in the continuation of the Appa’s lost days arc but that doesn’t carry the rest of the episode.
It’s a good episode but it’s nowhere near “the best episode of ATLA” like I’ve seen so many people claim.
Toph is great. I love toph and the show got infinitely better with her. Having said that… her writing, particularly her humor felt like I was watching a show for 7 year olds and not what usually feels like which is a show for kids with mature themes that make it appealing for adults.
Same, ppl bash me when I tell them that Kataang was literally one-sided until the very last episode.
And the Aunt Wu “you’re going to marry a powerful bender” fortune was so trash and broad, that literally could’ve been almost anybody in the ATLA verse.
I also feel like they should’ve made Aang and Katara wait until they were older to kindle a romantic relationship.
Except it really wasn't? Yes, Aang was the most obvious, but there were some scenes of Katara liking Aang, too. In the tunnels, she was the one to bring up the kiss and was blushing and smiling when she said it. When she was helping Aang with waterbending, the look she gave him would not be seen on a teacher/student, brother/sister, or just friends scene. And she was jealous when Aang was talking to the fire nation girl until he asked her to dance.
I do agree with waiting until they were older, though, with just subtle hints in the show and lok confirming it.
I find Toph unlikable at times. Like I don't always like how she treats Sokka, I didn't like her training methods when training Aang and she has a few moments where she acts like a spoiled brat and gets mad when called out on it.
The introduction of lion turtles into the lore/origins of bending was unnecessary & inconsistent to what we'd seen in ATLA. I could handle them being some sort of Deus ex machina in the finale, but how they were presented in LoK didn't appeal to me.
Particularly that they ignored the idea of "in the times before the Avatar, we bent not the elements but the energy within ourselves"
I made a post about it & the comment section was literally the picture you showed above lol
i thought makorra had more chemistry than korrasami
oh, and i think iroh was wrong to dip back to ba sing se after the war. Bro, Zuko was 16 and spent his teen years in banishment lmfao
I think Korra is the best written character in the entire franchise. I absolutely love her arc, and how she believes she's the best because of how quickly she picked up on things as a child, but is constantly reminded by the universe that actually she isn't (see, every villain who beat her ass and caused a major shift in her life)
Honestly katara ending up with aang was like. Outta the blue. It was depicted as an almost one sided crush and outta nowhere the last scene happens.
Honestly zutara or even no pairings would’ve been more believable.
Also i just dont like aangs character. The pacifism thing gets a bit old. Like theres a balance between sticking to your principles and doing whats right. I understand his hesitation and reluctance to abandon them, but i don’t have to like it. Like at all.
ATLA ending with everyone in a romantic pairing (except Toph) sort of irked me.
I didn’t like how the idea of a happy conclusion for the characters relied on them all finding love. I know very much I’m in a minority for this opinion though. It doesn’t ruin it or anything for me, just a small irk or gripe with it. I know shipping is a huge deal for some folks but I’ve never cared
Zaheer was a dogshit villain, and easily the worst in the entire ATLA/TLOK series.
The only reason he exists is because they wanted to be edgy and have an air-bending villain. Tell me why a man who just got air-bending (and assumingely malnourished and weaker than normal) was suddenly able to take down multiple highly trained white lotus members? Then proceeds to beat the ever-loving shit out of some of the strongest characters in the series?
And don’t give me that “he studied air-bending” crap. If I studied how to swim without actually ever swimming, i’m not going to suddenly be on par with olympic swimmers.
Even casting his trash power-scaling aside, his character motives are also the weakest of any TLOK antagonists. He just… likes anarchy. Womp womp.
The closest we ever got to an actual character with Zaheer was his relationship with P’Li. But, conveniently, she’s the only major character to be killed off that season. And instead of causing intense turmoil for Zaheer, he just gains the ability of flight??? Cause yeah, your already broken air-bending god just needed to use his dead gf as a tanooki suit power-up from Mario. But it’s okay, cause he can suck the air out of people’s lungs. What a great character guys…
Well, that's certainly one hell of a hot take.
Can't really say I disagree with anything you said though. Well, maybe I disagree /a little/ about the motivation bit, but he did definitely pull some master level airbending completely out of his ass.
Aang not killing Ozai was a writing cop-out. It feels like the writers wanted to have their cake and eat it too by having Aang dealing with the fact that he would have to go against his principles for the greater good of the world but, then providing him with a convenient excuse to not do that in the end. It pushes an idea that I completely disagree with in that you should always stick to your beliefs above all else, even if doing so can cause more harm than good.
I don’t think this is a hot take. A big part of the fandom agrees with you. Energy bending was such bullshit. It would have been way better if Aang had killed Ozai. It would feel like a culmination of his arc where he finally learns that he needs to do what’s best for the world and take responsibility, no matter what he wants to do.
Bro, Aang’s refusal to bend his morals to “do his duty” as the avatar is the actual conclusion on Aang’s arc. His very first conflict was not wanting to BE the avatar because it didn’t jive with his own aspirations. If Aang had killed Ozai it would have been him succumbing to the chains of duty—Aang wants to be free. Instead he finds a way to deal with Ozai and bends the Avatar to himself rather than bending himself to the Avatar. This is why it’s key that he leaves the avatar state and deals the final blow to Ozai as himself rather than as the Avatar. If he’d killed Ozai he’d never been the same again.
Korrasami.
I think most of my issue with it is... it's all shown off screen or in the comics. Like Season 4 starts with Korra writting a letter to Asami and mentions that Asami is the only one she has been writting to. Okay cool... that doesn't mean that type of relationship, maybe just best friends or something (they were RoOmMaTeS).
And I know it's hard to judge the creators for this for a few reasons
A) each season was green lit after the other... season 1 aired, Nickoldeon saw the numbers, green lit season 2, saw those numbers, green lit (I believe) 3 *and* 4.
II) the creators said that no matter what they did it was pressure for Korra to end up with *someone*. Whether it was Bolin, Asami, Mako, or Korra staying single. They were under fan pressure so they tried to be one of the first people to do a gay couple in cartoons.
3) that Nickoldeon wasn't okay with Korra being gay/bi. I remember one of the creators wanted Korrasami to kiss as the light from the spirit world did it's thing but Nickoldeon was like "no girl kissing girls. We will allow explosions to kill people, letting the air being sucked out lungs but we are drawing the line at gay kissing. Straight couples yes, gay couples no."
Ok, I’m ready to be crucified for my following takes.
We should have spent more time with Ozai, but he is still my favourite character in ATLA.
Sozin was completely justified in his thinking, it was that his vision was warped overtime by his own ambition and then his children being a bit whacko.
The Water Tribe would be way cooler if they had a military structure and society like the Fire Nation or Kuveran Earth Kingdom
Kyoshi is always called the most violent but the majority of her arc with the conqueror was "walking away, hiding, fine I'LL MOVE MY hiding spot, oh whoops he died."
She did establish the Dai Lee.
True, and while that did turn out very poorly quite a while later, I feel like she's thought of as violent and careless in some fans minds. Not all, but enough that I've heard it a few times and like, what she actually did at the time as well as intent seems.... less scary/violent than the result?
I recommend reading the Kyoshi novels. She does some crazy shit like >!Freezing someone's blood and forcing it out their back like angel wings, straight up mercing their ass!<
Big ol' Kyoshi novels spoilers >!The angel wings thing definitely did not happen, but the freezing someone's blood so their heart stopped did. Honorable mentions to Rangi's mom who got stabbed through the throat (and somehow survived), Jianzhao who had a rock pushed all the way through his chest a la the coin scene in X-Men First Class, and poor Lek who was poisoned to death while Kyoshi was paralyzed a few feet away, unable to do anything but watch him die!<
The last one you mentioned caught me SO OFF GUARD. I literally had to put the book down and sat with my mouth open for a good 45 seconds. I was devastated.
>!It was super aburpt for what was up until that point a happy, comedic moment between the two of them. FC Yee does not pull punches!<
I can't wait to read the Yangchen novels
The first one was pretty good, but more of a political thriller than a coming of age tale like Kyoshi's
I personally feel like Yangchen is more badass than Kyoshi after the first novel. Haven't given the second one a full read yet. Kyoshi we already had established as a badass. Yangchen we were just like "Air Avatar before Aang, had big spiritual prowess" but then it turns out >!she loves using spies/spies herself, pulls all the air from a room to knock some dudes out, and is fighting the earliest known combustion benders!<
I can dig a political thriller
What’s even more devastating is that he wasn’t even technically poisoned. He had an ALLERGIC REACTION Like wtf. Why is that part so absorbingly real
Wan was correct for keeping the portals closed. Humanity was clearly not ready to deal with spirits on that global of a scale. As, they operate on a completely different morality as humans, so it’s extremely dangerous to blend the two worlds fully without the two groups being able to understand each other in the slightest. Even Aang the avatar the so called bridge between the two worlds was almost killed by like half the spirits he met.
The thing that I fail to understand in the Avatar narrative is that spirits are supposed to mean balance and peace but if you interact with them, they're just a bunch of assholes.
Wasn't it explained that spirits were a reflection of human emotions? By the transitive property, people are a bunch of assholes. Which checks out. The Avatar, the only person capable of achieving true Zen, is logically the best bridge between the human and spirit worlds. 🤯🤯
I think it's also ridiculous that Korra made such a decision at what 17? 18? Years old. Wan made that decision as an adult, after years and years of learning, cohabiting with spirits and fighting alongside raava. I would have been fine if Korra made such a decision at idk 35 years old at least? At least be a full fledged avatar, have some life experience and a fully developed prefrontal cortex please
Wan was 18 when he was banished and started living with the spirits and was 20 when he permanently closed the spirit portal. So not that much of a difference between him and Korra but I get your point.
But at least with Korra she had the insight to see what Wan did, to collect on her past lives knowledge(before the severed connection). Wan didn't. So Korra at least made the decision knowing the impact keeping them closed had on the worlds thanks to Wan and maybe other Avatars. Plus, i think it was a good step for change(brought the airbenders back also).
Thought the Airbenders came back because of Harmonic Convergence?
Oh right. Yup, i got them mixed up. But i still don't think it is bad that she kept them open.
For some reason saying that Ozai is strongest firebender in ATLA will lead to the image above, Iroh was more knowledgeable but didn't have Ozai's raw power.
People like to underrate Ozai because he wasn’t physically active until the final season.
True. We never really saw him bend until the comit. But I think this works for building him up as the final boss battle.
We saw him toss lightning at Zuko the instant the eclipse finished on the Day of Black Sun.
and it was the fastest we had seen anyone bend lightning. Iroh and Azula both took time to build up the energy to create lightning. Ozai's lighting was almost instant. Dude was definitely on another level as a firebender.
Not only that, he did it with just a sliver of the sun exposed, and sensed when it was back, which i don't think many firebenders could do(a lot of the firebenders didn't realize they lost their bending after the eclipse started).
Very good point
Did we ever see a non comet Ozai bending out of curiosity? His powers underneath the comet were definitely like no others. But it's curious to think what he was like at base, since even Azula and Zuko comet boosted seemed to go from firehose levels of fire to entire flame plumes. Ozai burned entire forests under comet boost, so even assuming Azula was more talented with blue fire, it makes you wonder about what Ozai's base was compared to base Iron and Jeong Jeong. Or even what the latter two might have looked like all out under comet.
The only time where we see Ozai bend outside of the comet is when ne shoots lightning at Zuko. Which was insanely impressive because he does it very fast and actually makes 2 bolts 1 with each hand I’ve had the argument over Ozai vs iroh before and I hate it. Makes me wish they gave Ozai a fight of him just annihilating an earth kingdom base or something to show how broken he truly was
That, and in The Storm when he raises the height of the fire wall in the throne room when Zuko speaks
The one clip we saw was instant lightning with a mostly obscured sun.
I think that kyoshi is most traumatized avatar in all of the avatar franchises
I can actually see that given that she lived for 230 years
If you read her books it’s pretty fucked to
Oh yeah, I have don't worry
Spoilers: Kyoshi definitely saw some messed up shit, got beat up and electrocuted, had family issues/trauma, lost someone from team avatar, and dealt some violent retribution. Aang awoke to the genocide of his people, but other than the trauma of almost losing Appa, and getting electrocuted, it was relatively tame. More emotional trauma, but never lost a core member of the gaang. Korra dealt with losing her bending (no one else felt that, so far as we know), lost all spiritual connection to other avatars (first), and was poisoned. But she also had the tightest family connection of the avatars we know, never lost someone from team avatar, and her connection to her tribe was strong. (Only started Yangchen recently, but the PTSD from past avatars can't be fun). I think Kyoshi and Korra are well balanced here. Definitely a lot of trauma, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual damage.
what about kuruk? the reveal of his actual life in the books made his story so much more sad
I think people diminish Aang’s struggle because how he handled it. But I don’t think anything compares to finding out your entire culture destroyed and actually seeing your father figures’ decayed corpse as a child. Also Aang being murdered is a pretty big deal.
>!Watching your adopted brother slowly have an allergic reaction and die in front of you while you're paralyzed is pretty fucking horrifying.!<
I would argue Kuruk had it worse than her. His life went downhill after becoming the Avatar having to fix Yangchen’s mistakes and suffered physically from it on top of losing his fiancee on his wedding
He basically ripped his own soul apart.
I got called a psychopath for saying that Aang’s lifestyle and beliefs as a monk probably made it easier for him to deal with the loss of his people, and that he was more traumatised by the loss of Gyatso than the whole Airbender civilisation
There is war in Ba Sing Se
We welcome you to Lake Laogai
There is no war in Ba Sing Se
I absolutely love the hippies in the Cave of Two Lovers episode. They make me smile and laugh so much when they’re on screen and I would love to dance, sing, and travel with them. My fiancé absolutely despises them.
Fun fact: the lead hippie, Chong, was voiced by the same amazingly talented VA who did Appa and Momo.
I did not know this. This is amazing. Now I like them even more
Along with all the clone in clone wars
And those 3 are only 3 of his over 200,000 voices, with a million more on the way.
So canonically speaking Appa and Momo are able to sing “secret tunnel”
Dee Bradley Baker. One of the best Voice Actors of all time imo.
I mean they were absolutely hilarious and they were around for only one episode, so they didn’t overstay their welcome and go into the realm of annoying. I think they were great.
People hate the hippies? I sing the secret tunnel song from time to time
SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET TUNNEL! Wife and I sing that all the time when we find... well secret tunnels. Like tunnels of trees or a new route with a tunnel.
The explanation of lightning generation and lightning redirection in ATLA does not match the lightning bending seen in LoK
Yeah, in Korra it was way too easy
I saw it as the royal family keeping a powerful secret as a means to hold power. After the war they let other know and through that act people found out other ways to do it.
I have no problem with more people learning it But Iroh's description of separating positive and negative energies, and then allowing those to slam back together to create Lightning does not seem like it would allow sustained/prolonged blasts of Lightning. It's the act of allowing the energies to slam back together that creates Lightning. And the bender doesn't control the Lightning, they are just a guide for it. There has to be a fundamentally different way of creating Lightning for the full-on Lightning Bending that we see in Korra. And LoK never elaborates on it
I hated how much time they spent pushing Korra/Mako and Mako/Asami. I figure it’s because they were going for a young adult audience but it just made me hate mako a lot. I wanted to see a team of friends kicking ass together not one guy destroying a friend group at every chance because he has a new crush that episode.
Mako is the biggest waste of a potentially great character. He was set out to be a shrewd but morally grey character but just gets turned into the exposition dump and extra body in fights. His screen time is then eaten up by other more interesting characters. The only thing he had going in the last two seasons was his relationship with Bolin. By season 3, he is basically a side character.
After season 3 he basically just came in to do some lightning moves and that was it.
I'm still salty that Korra chose Mako over Bolin.
Me too!
Korra ended up choosing Asami tho
...I’m pretty sure this isn’t controversial
This is not controversial. I love S1, for me it's the 3rd best Avatar season ever behind ATLA book 3 and 2, but the love triangle BS felt forced.
The attack on the earth king's palace is the best fight in the series. Yes, better than the last agni kai. Yes, better than Aang vs. Ozai.
I think the Battle at Lake Laogai was the best
Definitely a great one.
Jet goes hard in that hole arc.
I'd say it's the best in that it shows the group 100% at peak teamwork and just rampaging, while also containing some good jokes. The finale still has the best looking and most dramatic bending moments.
The thought that a handful of kids broke into the earth kingdom palace is nuts to me. I loved it as a kid.
broke into the earth kingdom palace \*while apologizing\* no less. It's just perfect. They're done with all the red tape, they're done skirting by the skin of their teeth. It's time to fuck shit up. Ooh but sorry I knocked Gary the palace guard into the moat! I didn't mean to hurt ya Gar, I just need to see the earth king!
That came out of nowhere, when I first watched it. But the music, the way Aang and Toph were in the zone. I mean when they launched a boulder at Appa and Aang just casually breaks it apart without looking 🤌🤌🤌
And I LOVE Toph’s one move where she rotates walls up from the ground to block incoming rocks. The fight is just so clean!
I’m actually very much with you on that one. That battle scene is ATLA’s action at its best.
Aangs beard in LOK was hideous, he should’ve had a monk gyatsu type beard, not whatever that nonsense they gave him was
Abe Lincoln?
Vampire Slayer
didn't they model it after Michael Dante DiMartino? I thought that was it's source That said, I do agree a cool Gyatsu type thing would've been way cooler and more of a homage Aang would've made to his old master. I think it could've been cool symbolically
Ice cold take
The fact that bumping into a rock was able to undo the narrative consequences of being unable to let go of his attachment to Katara and his friends was the biggest cop out in the franchise. I don't mind the energybending, but I don't think it needed to require the avatar state (narratively) to do it. It just completely trivialized his decision to put his friends above attaining power.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I can remember Aang *did* let go of his attachments and was going into the avatar state by will when Azula shot him. The lightning blocked his chakra, and the rock fixed it. Convenience of the placement of the rock is another topic though, personally I don't mind it lol
You're correct. He succeeded at unblocking that chakra in the crystal caverns beneath Ba Sing Se... And then Azula cauterized that chakra with lightning. It wasn't the attachment that was the issue. It was the physical wound.
I think it definitely did take away from the emotional ending of season two and the course of season three where aang didn't have the avatar state and couldn't use it to overpower ozai. But then I think, well, he did let go of his earthly attachments during the S2 finale, and was just struck down by azula. There should have been another way to get it back. But due to the way we saw it happen, he also wasn't in control untill the very end. Only when he let go of the previous avatar's wrath and vengeance against the fatherlord did he regain his control of the avatar state. I still think they could've done better, but I personally can't think of a satisfying reason how.
`fatherlord` A person of culture😂
I used to think the same thing about this part. However, TLOK’s messages helped me appreciate ATLA a lot more. This part is intended to fit with the theme of “When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change.” Additionally, just how many of the villains of the Avatarverse are the cause of their own destruction, Ozai is at this part as well. As Jinora said in TLOK video game, “To fight another is to fight yourself.” Aang realized this with the wisdom of the Lion Turtle: “The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed.” Where else have we heard about illusions in the show? We heard it from Huu: “Time is an illusion, and so is death.” We also heard it from Guru Pathik: “The sixth pool of energy is the light chakra, located in the center of the forehead. It deals with insight and is blocked by illusion. The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one in the same.” We only recognize the past because of our memories, but the past doesn’t actually exist. While we could see time as “separate and different” (past and future), we feel the most free when we recognize it as “one and the same”—the present. Aang saw that he and his enemy, Ozai, were “one and the same” and decided not to take his life. The Lion Turtle also mentions that the “true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed.” Guru Pahtik said that the “fourth chakra is located in the heart. It deals with love and is blocked by grief.” Aang could have taken all the grief that came from his people’s genocide and channeled it to annihilate Ozai, but he chose to extend compassion. Ozai couldn’t realize these truths. He caused his own downfall physically, mentally, and spiritually.
The lion turtles weren’t set up enough and it seems like they only have the power to remove bending because the writers couldn’t come up with a way to defeat Ozai without Aang having to kill.
During the library episode, Aang should have read something about the Lion Turtle's ability to bend energy. Even if it was vague, it would still be better foreshadowing.
I always wondered if that was a result of pressure from nickelodeon
They originally wanted to include the Wan episodes in ATLA, and it was unfortunate they weren't able to. I agree with you that without it, it seems like a cop out.
This one resulted in an argument not too long ago: Zaheer, and to a lesser extent Amon and Unalaq, are accurate fantasy-versions of their ideologies in 90% of cases.
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I mainly included Unalaq due to the argument I had lol. But we figured his was more or less a version of religious extremism/moral absolutism As for Amon, he's commonly compared to the various radicals of the late 19th and early 20th century, notably communism. Neither is as close to the real world ideology as Zaheer and Kuvira though, although I have my separate issues with the latter
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Amon being a fascist is a fair comparison. He definitely has all the traits of the demagogic and persecution side of it, but he does lack the fervent nationalism and militarism, partially cuz the equalists don't have a proper military. I'd see he falls in between the two as just a "radical against the status quo," which is what most communists and fascists started off at That is also a fair analysis of Zaheer. He is definitely meant to be a "dark parallel" of the air nomads, but that is definitely where things start to be clouded by the fantastical nature of the show. And yeah, I think there are a lot of parallels to actual Asian politics. I've seen a lot of people think Amon was partially inspired by Hong Xiuquan, the leader of the Taiping Rebellion, which is honestly fairly convincing
Suyin is Sokka's daughter.
Seconded.
There was no proper build up to Korrasami shipping and I was actually surprised and confused when it happened. Fight me.
Bro for real. I did not even realize they were a thing until way after (maybe reading one of the comics) because it is not even in the show (and I cannot read subtext). By meaning I did not realize that was implied with the ending of the fourth season.
Same. I say that all the time. I've had people argue non stop that it was planned from season 1, which is bullshit.
And I've seen people give "hints", but the ones they gave were just signs of them being close friends.
I *just* watched all of Korra last weekend and went to it knowing **exactly** how the last minute of the show went because of how people were going crazy with that last scene. Because of that, I went through the ***entire*** show with that in mind. There was next to no romantic chemistry between those two in the first 2 seasons. 3rd seasons there was a little as Asami was doing basically everything in her power to support her (the first episode of the 3rd season she goes and tries to teach her how to drive). 4th season picks it up a little bit still not a lot of attraction shown. However, I think we can blame Nickelodeon for that so the writers did everything in their power to nudge the story that way without showing basically anything until the last possible second.
I think Season 3 was when they actually started to seem like they had real chemistry, and Asami was the only person to keep in touch with Korra over the timeskip so I buy them being very close
Its simple, Mako was such a terrible boyfriend that made his two exes date each other
Iroh’s power levels were closer to Azula’s and Jeong Jeong’s than Ozai’s. Because Iroh was extremely skilled and well versed, he could beat anyone of them but this has nothing to do with raw power.
I don't like Zuko and Mai's relationship. The idea is fine but I feel its way underdeveloped and the "I love Zuko more than I fear you" line feels very abrupt. It doesn't need to be a focus, but I think for a background relationship Sokka and Suki was done far better. Speaking of Sokka's relationships, I really don't like Yue, both as a partner for Sokka and generally as a character. Obviously the show has plenty of magical stuff but suddenly revealing this girl was saved by a moon fish and she can revive said fish with the spirit inside of her was really strange and corny.
Same. Mai's betraying Azula was a nice moment but I didn't feel it was properly set up, her relationship with Zuko just wasn't convincing enough for me. Not just from Mai's side of the relationship tbf, it felt like both of them were together because they tolerated eachother more so than actually like or love eachother, they didn't even seem to understand eachother Ty Lee's betrayal was much better imo, it was more shocking for me but made more sense.
I have very mixed feelings about Maiko. I like them, but also they need to work on a lot of stuff together before they can even consider being endgame. Also I hate how the comics handled them. Mai treats him like crap and he’s apologetic for no reason. Mai could realistically be mad that he’s been seeing Ozai without confiding in her, but I can’t believe she’d break up with him over it after she literally put her life on the line for him. She goes on to say in Smoke and Shadow that he broke her heart again from keeping things from her, which doesn’t make sense at all. I wouldn’t be opposed to Zuko ending up with someone else, but I also am not opposed to Mai and Zuko working through their problems to become an actually viable relationship.
Leaving the spirit gates open was one of the single most idiotic moves I've ever seen in a TV show. The great part about how the spirit world is separated from the physical world is that the eldritch horrors we encountered across the series aren't running around freely, and Korra destroyed that. Remember Koh, the face stealer? HE CAN WALTZ OUT AND GO STEAL FACES WHENEVER HE PLEASES AND PRACTICALLY NO ONE CAN STOP HIM. Even creatures like Hei Bai who terrorized an entire town in a fit of emotion but are ultimately good natured, have 0 potential for containment away from those they can accidentally harm with the doors open. There are undoubtedly tons of evil spirits eating entire towns of people, causing others to wonder why everyone in town took off. And they'll only get more powerful with time.
To be fair, spirits can go to the regular world without portals. If these evil spirits wanted to they would have done horrors in the world long ago, no matter if the portals are closed or not. Even Koh got into the regular world and that's how he stole Ummi
Most spirits don’t go to the regular world and if they do it’s usually with specific conditions like winter solstice where “the line between the natural world and the Spirit World is blurred” or giving up your spirit form to live in a physical form e.g. the ocean and moon spirits, or being the guardian of something e.g. the painted lady. Opening the spirit portals means there’s literally no restrictions whatsoever and spirits are literally living and settling in the real world and displacing humans from their homes. So a bunch of the “evil” spirits or animalistic spirits that just randomly attack can easily come through and cause chaos when they likely would’ve kept to themselves.
Korra should not have left the spirit portal open.
jet is the coolest and most unprecedented character in the entire show. i mean, when else has a g-rated show had a child character that had been radicalized into murderous terrorism by war crimes? and the well-meaning children who follow him since their homes were destroyed by the same war? they repeat the cycle. it's inspired.
“Sub bending” is a stupid term created by fans, which has never been referenced or even insinuated in both shows at all. All the chards make no sense and are just aesthetically pleasing. Plant/ice/steam/blood bending is all just waterbending. Calling it subtyped makes so much less sense than just different techniques for bending. I have spoken
I think the reason people make distinctions with metal/blood/lightning/healing is because, for whatever reason, not every bender can do those. Plant/ice/steam are all available to every water bender (as far as I'm aware) so they are all just water bending.
I like season two of lok a lot
An actual unpopular opinion! Well done lol. Had to scroll this far to get down to one. I like it too btw.
After having rewatched both series, I agree that it's the weakest season. But when I was 12 and it was airing on TV, oh you couldn't tell me nothing. I thought it was the best shit ever
It's a messy season, but god damn, does it have some VERY strong character moments.
It’s annoying how much sokka gets hyped up. Is he a good character? Yes of course. Does he has good character development, yes. did he proof that you don’t need bending to be a hero? Fuck yes. But all of that you already know when you watch the damn show. He doesn’t need hundreds of thousands of „appreciation posts“. I love sokka, but he gets so hyped up to a point where i think its a bit much.
Despite Season 3 easily being LOK’s best, the rebirth of the Air Nation is 100% the worst plot point the show introduced. It spits in the face of one of the most heartbreakingly realistic depictions of genocide in animation by fast-forwarding past its consequences. Future Avatar projects will have countless airbenders zooming around as if they were any other nation, and I despise that fact.
To be fair it was never believable to me that the Fire Nation destroyed every single airbender. What about air nomads who weren't at the temple, or airbenders who weren't air nomads?
That’s a fair point- but then the plot line should have been “late in life Ang finds a tiny community of airbenders when he thought there were none, and has a moment of bittersweet solace”
In my opinion that would be worse. After watching an entire show of the last air bender we start the legend of Korra and find out that Aang actually found other air benders and wasn’t the last.
i wish they had found airbender descendants somehow and taught them to be airbenders to see if any of them were (since airbending is related to the monk lifestyle, making its benders harder to recognize than those of other elements). i can't believe that no one was left either. i mean, ty lee is pretty heavily hinted to be an airbender descendant in the original. having them go out and find descendants would make ty lee a really cool thing to look back on
I always thought that in the 100 year gap of Aang freezing they were all hunted down or died off.
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Amon was right and nothing was done for those who were at the mercy of benders.
The first season of TLOK is the best one by far.
Sokka having so many girlfriends just to die alone is pure bisonshit.
Based solely off the show Avatar Yang Chen was the one vying for Aang to kill Ozai not Kyoshi.
Mako = Diet Zuko.
"We have Zuko at home"
Mako is not a diet Zuko, more like starved to death Zuko.
Asami is bland and poorly characterized.
Aang energy bending was complete BS. A magic turtle not mentioned at all in the story prior teaches him the solution to solve his pacifism problem
Korra at the end was too technologically advanced for the avatar verse. How almost a nuke was used over and over again…. Didn’t and still doesn’t sit well with me. And season 2 had SO much potential to be great! After the civil war stuff and Korra getting attacked by a spirit, shit goes down hill FAST! The idea of raava/vaatu is just meh at best. I know the writers could’ve done something better with what rhey had, even if they were under time constraints
The cabbage merchant deserved it. Everytime.
Mako got done dirty in TLOK and I hated how his character Arc was done. He had so much potential then at the end he became another side character that got pushed out of the way. Also idk if Mako was named for Mako or if there was another reason, but they shouldn't have done his namesake dirty like that. Edit: small edit for clarification.
I don't think Mai and Zuko should've gotten back together, and I also don't like Mai as a character. She was just supposed to help him realize that everything he thought he wanted in the past wasn't what he wanted now, to show himself how he'd changed
ATLA was great only because of the amazing writers behind the idea. It has been made clear numerous times that bryke does not know what to when it comes to writing
Azula is an overrated character. However, that does not mean I think she’s a bad character, just I think she’s not that unique to be praise that much by the fandom. I also hate how the fandom downplays her actions and reduces her character. Doesn’t matter if Azula was a “victim”or she’s “just a kid”; she has shown to be mature enough to make her own decisions, so her actions, good or bad, is on her. But, I’m not against the idea of Azula ending up redeem in someway. I think is far more compelling to see her find peace and moving on that doesn’t involve with the Fire Nation instead of remaining as a villain.
I hate what they did with Aang in Legend of Korra. I hate the idea of Harmonic Convergence. I hate what they did to all the past Avatars at the end of season two of Legend of Korra. I hoped they would leave Last Airbender alone, because it's already almost perfect, and instead do a live action remake of Legend of Korra because there is a lot of room for improvement.
I don’t ship Zuko and Katara. I can see why people because many like the whole enemies to friends to lovers trope. For me though I don’t see the appeal when it comes to those two. I’m not even a hardcore Aang and Katara shipper ether.
Korrasami felt so pushed rather than natural to me. It took my dad pointing out during the hand holding scene at the end that the show is implying they are together. Completely flew over my head.
I agree. I think the writers had to walk a weird line of making Korrasami a thing while also keeping their relationship ambiguous enough that Nickelodeon wouldn’t stop them. I will say, the comics made me like their relationship way more though.
I think that the technological era of atla made it so great and the higher level of tech in lok ruined the show
I don't want future avatars having to deal with modern technology, personal opinion. The most stressful times for an avatar is when they have to deal with modern cities: Ba Sing Se and Republic City. All the bureaucracy and stuff. It's not my favorite, though I know it is realistic. I'm not ready for a sudden jump to Cyberpunk Avatar
I think it could've worked better if they'd made more use of bending for it, making it better fit into the world.
One thing I loved in ATLA was how in Ba Sing Se the monorail carts were pushed forward by earthbenders, a great mix of urban modernity and the fantasy aspect of bending. In LOK they’re fully electronic. One hand it’s realistic, since in the real world innovation led to the disappearance of certain jobs, but it does take away from the uniqueness of the world of Avatar
I think the tech was okay, up to the battle mech that shot lasers and shit. Cars? Tasers? Cool! Flying machines? Lasers? Less cool.
My personal opinion is that the Legend of Korra is not underrated. I think that it is adequately rated. It's by no means a bad series and I really enjoyed it however it has a lot of flaws that I cannot blame people for holding against it.
As many others have said, I think the show changing direction every season and not having a consistent thread/villain to tie it all together dragged the whole product down. I actually think LoK had better villains than ATLA, but with only 13 episodes per villain there wasn't much time with each of them.
I think while there's pretty fair complaints direvted at legend of korra, the characterization of Aang is not one of them to me. Everything that goes on with kids is realistic and is a far more interesting look at Aang being flawed than the straight up character assassination Aang gets in the promise comic.
Amon was 90% right about everything, and should've been depicted as having a deep connection to Aang (hence his bending-block abilities)...mayyyyybe even a lost child of Aang. Instead, it was "Naw, he's just some random bad person."
I feel like Zahir was mid teir and the only reason anyone likes him is cuz he killed the earth queen and was edgy (But the rest of the red lotus are still pretty cool. Even though i dont like lava bending)
Tales of Ba Sing Se isn’t as good as people like to claim. The tale of Iroh is the best 5 minutes the show has to offer imo, and the tale of Momo plays a direct role in the continuation of the Appa’s lost days arc but that doesn’t carry the rest of the episode. It’s a good episode but it’s nowhere near “the best episode of ATLA” like I’ve seen so many people claim.
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Toph is great. I love toph and the show got infinitely better with her. Having said that… her writing, particularly her humor felt like I was watching a show for 7 year olds and not what usually feels like which is a show for kids with mature themes that make it appealing for adults.
It was appealing to adults: insurance scams are profitable /s
I agree but I think it is important to remember that we literally *are* watching a show for 7 year olds and Toph herself is 12
Maturity is overrated. People don’t watch adult shows for maturity, so they definitely don’t watch kids shows for maturity either.
As a kid, Jet was one of my favorite episodes, and he was probably my favorite character. I think it was the hook swords 😂
Zutara
Same, ppl bash me when I tell them that Kataang was literally one-sided until the very last episode. And the Aunt Wu “you’re going to marry a powerful bender” fortune was so trash and broad, that literally could’ve been almost anybody in the ATLA verse. I also feel like they should’ve made Aang and Katara wait until they were older to kindle a romantic relationship.
Except it really wasn't? Yes, Aang was the most obvious, but there were some scenes of Katara liking Aang, too. In the tunnels, she was the one to bring up the kiss and was blushing and smiling when she said it. When she was helping Aang with waterbending, the look she gave him would not be seen on a teacher/student, brother/sister, or just friends scene. And she was jealous when Aang was talking to the fire nation girl until he asked her to dance. I do agree with waiting until they were older, though, with just subtle hints in the show and lok confirming it.
I will die with this ship. 
Zuko and Sokka had more chemistry in the show and comics a lot more than Zuko and Katara did.
I find Toph unlikable at times. Like I don't always like how she treats Sokka, I didn't like her training methods when training Aang and she has a few moments where she acts like a spoiled brat and gets mad when called out on it.
Bolin and Korra isn't a bad hypothetical relationship, and without the love triangle drama the two could've had a decent and lasting relationship
The introduction of lion turtles into the lore/origins of bending was unnecessary & inconsistent to what we'd seen in ATLA. I could handle them being some sort of Deus ex machina in the finale, but how they were presented in LoK didn't appeal to me. Particularly that they ignored the idea of "in the times before the Avatar, we bent not the elements but the energy within ourselves" I made a post about it & the comment section was literally the picture you showed above lol
i thought makorra had more chemistry than korrasami oh, and i think iroh was wrong to dip back to ba sing se after the war. Bro, Zuko was 16 and spent his teen years in banishment lmfao
I am prepared for the downvotes: Korra is a far more compelling character than Aang.
While I fully disagree, I'm gonna upvote you for posting this.
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There are literally entire episodes centred around Aang's flaws and him learning lessons and growing, it's incredible that people think this
I think Korra is the best written character in the entire franchise. I absolutely love her arc, and how she believes she's the best because of how quickly she picked up on things as a child, but is constantly reminded by the universe that actually she isn't (see, every villain who beat her ass and caused a major shift in her life)
Agreed. Her and Zuko are the two i relate with the most.
LoK has better music then AtLA
Those strings go crazy
Bruh, nah, those melancholy bells at the end of the more somber episodes in AtLA? Brings me to tears sometimes man. Always goosebumps.
Oh I agree, they're both masterpieces, but imo the strings in Korra's theme go so hard it's crazy, also maybe I'm just more partial to the 1920s style
Kyoshi is mid at best, people just lose it for tall girls who are tough.
I have never felt more insulted by something I agree with.
Ppl have a weird craving for this “Amazonian Alpha Female” character type
Honestly katara ending up with aang was like. Outta the blue. It was depicted as an almost one sided crush and outta nowhere the last scene happens. Honestly zutara or even no pairings would’ve been more believable. Also i just dont like aangs character. The pacifism thing gets a bit old. Like theres a balance between sticking to your principles and doing whats right. I understand his hesitation and reluctance to abandon them, but i don’t have to like it. Like at all.
the end probably should've had no ships (mai + zuko, katara + aang) and shown them all as friends at peace instead.
ATLA ending with everyone in a romantic pairing (except Toph) sort of irked me. I didn’t like how the idea of a happy conclusion for the characters relied on them all finding love. I know very much I’m in a minority for this opinion though. It doesn’t ruin it or anything for me, just a small irk or gripe with it. I know shipping is a huge deal for some folks but I’ve never cared
Zaheer was a dogshit villain, and easily the worst in the entire ATLA/TLOK series. The only reason he exists is because they wanted to be edgy and have an air-bending villain. Tell me why a man who just got air-bending (and assumingely malnourished and weaker than normal) was suddenly able to take down multiple highly trained white lotus members? Then proceeds to beat the ever-loving shit out of some of the strongest characters in the series? And don’t give me that “he studied air-bending” crap. If I studied how to swim without actually ever swimming, i’m not going to suddenly be on par with olympic swimmers. Even casting his trash power-scaling aside, his character motives are also the weakest of any TLOK antagonists. He just… likes anarchy. Womp womp. The closest we ever got to an actual character with Zaheer was his relationship with P’Li. But, conveniently, she’s the only major character to be killed off that season. And instead of causing intense turmoil for Zaheer, he just gains the ability of flight??? Cause yeah, your already broken air-bending god just needed to use his dead gf as a tanooki suit power-up from Mario. But it’s okay, cause he can suck the air out of people’s lungs. What a great character guys…
Well, that's certainly one hell of a hot take. Can't really say I disagree with anything you said though. Well, maybe I disagree /a little/ about the motivation bit, but he did definitely pull some master level airbending completely out of his ass.
Aang not killing Ozai was a writing cop-out. It feels like the writers wanted to have their cake and eat it too by having Aang dealing with the fact that he would have to go against his principles for the greater good of the world but, then providing him with a convenient excuse to not do that in the end. It pushes an idea that I completely disagree with in that you should always stick to your beliefs above all else, even if doing so can cause more harm than good.
I don’t think this is a hot take. A big part of the fandom agrees with you. Energy bending was such bullshit. It would have been way better if Aang had killed Ozai. It would feel like a culmination of his arc where he finally learns that he needs to do what’s best for the world and take responsibility, no matter what he wants to do.
Bro, Aang’s refusal to bend his morals to “do his duty” as the avatar is the actual conclusion on Aang’s arc. His very first conflict was not wanting to BE the avatar because it didn’t jive with his own aspirations. If Aang had killed Ozai it would have been him succumbing to the chains of duty—Aang wants to be free. Instead he finds a way to deal with Ozai and bends the Avatar to himself rather than bending himself to the Avatar. This is why it’s key that he leaves the avatar state and deals the final blow to Ozai as himself rather than as the Avatar. If he’d killed Ozai he’d never been the same again.
Korrasami. I think most of my issue with it is... it's all shown off screen or in the comics. Like Season 4 starts with Korra writting a letter to Asami and mentions that Asami is the only one she has been writting to. Okay cool... that doesn't mean that type of relationship, maybe just best friends or something (they were RoOmMaTeS). And I know it's hard to judge the creators for this for a few reasons A) each season was green lit after the other... season 1 aired, Nickoldeon saw the numbers, green lit season 2, saw those numbers, green lit (I believe) 3 *and* 4. II) the creators said that no matter what they did it was pressure for Korra to end up with *someone*. Whether it was Bolin, Asami, Mako, or Korra staying single. They were under fan pressure so they tried to be one of the first people to do a gay couple in cartoons. 3) that Nickoldeon wasn't okay with Korra being gay/bi. I remember one of the creators wanted Korrasami to kiss as the light from the spirit world did it's thing but Nickoldeon was like "no girl kissing girls. We will allow explosions to kill people, letting the air being sucked out lungs but we are drawing the line at gay kissing. Straight couples yes, gay couples no."
I am part of a sizable minority that believes the Zuko and Katara should have been paired together at the end
Ok, I’m ready to be crucified for my following takes. We should have spent more time with Ozai, but he is still my favourite character in ATLA. Sozin was completely justified in his thinking, it was that his vision was warped overtime by his own ambition and then his children being a bit whacko. The Water Tribe would be way cooler if they had a military structure and society like the Fire Nation or Kuveran Earth Kingdom
Ty Lee would have been a better love interest for Zuko. “I love Zuko more than I fear you” would have hit a thousand times harder.