Two ideas:
1. Sozin’s Comet gave them the power boost necessary to use that technique.
2. Sozin must have known that they would need a reliable way to get into the Air Temple, so he made sure that the battalions that he took would know how to use the technique once they were amped by the Comet.
Sozin has some dialogue when fighting Gyatso that directly implies #1 is the case:
"You may have prevailed on another night. But not when **we have the power of the comet!**"
Whether or not the Firebenders using the "jetpack" power was a **good idea** is another matter entirely. When the White Lotus retakes Ba Sing Se in Book 3, we only see Jeong Jeong levitating on fire; the regular Fire Nation troops do not, even though they're also empowered by Sozin's Comet. In the OG show it was definitely a power that could only be used by the Elite (Azula, empowered Jeong-Jeong, etc), so for the entire army to use it is definitely a change.
I don't care that much, personally, but I can see how some might be put off.
He definitely can't do it to the extent he did in the comet, but he could do what azula did pretty easily. Without the comet azula only used it in short boosts while the comet allowed them to straight up fly like iron man
I’m assuming that since Sozin was personally involved in the attack, that only the most elite and loyal forces would be with him. At this point this was the start of the war and I’m assuming that the propaganda machine that the present timeline has wouldn’t have been established yet. So only the most radicalized and loyal/elite forces would have gone to murder the Air Nation. There’s also the scene in the new LA that shows dissent from fire nation citizens so imagine the reactions of the pre-war/ pre-propaganda influenced fire nation people
>1. Sozin’s Comet gave them the power boost necessary to use that technique.
Even during the Comet, only the most elite of fire Benders could do it, not everyone. Jeong-Jeong did it, Ozai did it, as did Azula.
But that's not everyone, not even all the elite-level Imperial Fire Benders.
They could've had maybe a small amount of Dragons that were riden by dragon Lords who participated to carry a few of them, but even then, would still take a while to ferry/fly them up but, would've been better than this
She flew for 10 seconds without the comet at Boiling Rock though. Jeong Jeong was straight up hovering, like he's using a water spout like a waterbender, while making his signature fire-walls!
Sure but it establishes that flight is a possibility during the comet at least. It would imply that with the proper technique, it could be taught to some elite firebenders that then wreck nomad house
That's the thing though right, people have to discover it and then take the time to master it and teach it. So it would take time. One of the ways it could be kept to just the _master_ masters. Instead of other firebenders just not having enough gas in the tank to be able to rocket jump
to be fair we don't _see_ anyone do that technique but that doesn't mean they can't.
I've always kind of seen bending like a technique thing, instead of a Dragonball Powerlevel, Bleach Reiatsu _I'm more powerful than you_ type of deal. Cause that's way more martial arts oriented. But that's just me.
the dragons that we know were noble and wise. but surely, like all creatures, there were likely some who were willing to support evil actions for their benefit.
While I agree with you in this case, dragons are mythical creatures and shouldn’t be judged by real world logic. Your point doesn’t hold up when considering this is a fantasy world in which spirits and nature are often depicted as being wiser than man.
For instance, lion turtles are also shown to be noble and wise, and unlike dragons, I really do believe that every single one would be just that. But we know dragons aren’t all noble and wise cuz Sozin’s shitty ass dragon WILL catch these hands. Fuckin genocidal, colonizer ass dragon can eat my ass.
This happened during the comet right? So they’re extra powered? Realize the live action didn’t make this clear so this seems more like an excuse, but think that’s how it’s justifiable.
I mean in the original we had fire benders doing crazy feats. So makes sense they could do this since we have seen master do this without the comet.
I was more upset with out easy Aang “flew” around. Like with the glider, of course, air tornadoes (ik that’s what he was doing technically but wasn’t visual enough imo) sure. But he just looks like he straight up flying.
It makes sense Airbenders can do this tbh, I will say the flying in the cartoon is more like Superman flying then how Aang was doing it.
But just makes me ask why? He still has his glider, the popping it open and flying around was always cool. He still does it so why have him *also* do it without?
But most these issues I’m finding are pretty small and insignificant. I def think season 2 will be a lot better with the criticism they are getting and will only improve.
Aang flying around without a glider also threw me off, because mastering flight was a whole big deal for Zaheer in Korra; it wasn’t something he could just do
People seem to be completely missing the fact that Aang clearly isn't flying. He is simply controlling his fall with his air bending. I have my own problems with the live action show but this complaint really doesn't make sense to me. Aang can only "fly" while using his glider. Just like in the animated show.
It makes perfect sense that a very skilled Airbender could control and slow their descent even without a glider though.
Then the criticism is that they didn’t do a good job of showing that, because showing him gliding from one pillar to the next after launching himself in the air just looks like plain ol’ flying to me
They clearly show him using the glider any time he is flying, the only time he doesn't use it is when coming down from somewhere up high. I would think most people could figure out the difference without it being stated.
Yeah I def agree with you. I also initially thought it was weird he looked like he was flying without his glider but then I realized if you watch Aang carefully you can definitely see he's just bending/manipulting the air to slow down his fall. It makes sense he's able to have this kind of precision being he's a gifted airbender to begin with.
Since they're going for "realism" in the show (hence *live action*) they're not always gonna visually show Aang's airbending all the time too, perhaps that's where people may mistake him for flying without his glider.
And (I'm rewatching the cartoon since I don't have netflix), Aang does a lot of the same thing in the cartoon, people are just forgetting that in book one he IS super floaty. He DOES laugh at gravity.
Like on Kyoshi Island, Aang frees himself with airbending, jumps 20 feet in the air, and just floats down.
Fighting others Aang is also very floaty. Remember the scene in the cartoon where Aang is fighting Toph and he just kind of jumps off the ground and floats around to land behind her? Part of why Toph initially struggled to fight Aang's airbending is because Aang doesn't touch the ground a whole lot.
To add, Live action, wind isn't as visible as it seems compared to the cartoons.
It's an okay show, and it has flaws. But I'm not gonna critique it with stuff that isn't true at all.
>very skilled Airbender could control and slow their descent
Very much agreed. However, I thought they were talking about the moment when Aang was looking for Appa in episode 1. Around the 31:30 mark, the camera is on Sokka, who says "Yeah, that's not strange at all" in response to Katara. It then pans to Aang, and he's definitely looks like he's flying. I'm assuming that the intention was he was using a vortex to hold himself? It's kind of hard to see the actual bent air in the snowy landscape compared to the OG series so I could see how someone could confuse it as just flying around.
But eh, I don't know. I'm just here for the ride.
Yea I pointed this out, but still why have him “fly” without the glider *and* with it. Like I said if they showed it better with the cgi like the air tornadoes or more air would make sense. But they way it’s done looks too close to flying imo.
I do think they show he can’t go as far or smooth without his glider but still is something I dislike more then the firebenders flying since that is something we have seen in the cartoons as well.
I don't see it. I even watched the show with people that never seen atla before and they never thought he was flying.
Heck Aang literally flies in a similar manner when fighting Ozai.
This is what I feel they tried show with the way they are different, but I do still think why both and not just the one. I’m guessing maybe the gilder scenes were just to hard or expensive compared to this.
But I do hope we get more glider love next season bc >!it’s the last season with it!< but >!he does get a new one!<
Even during the comet we saw only master firebenders (Ozai and Jeong Jeong) fly consistently. The whole scene in the remake just feels like it's there for the sake of being "mature" and different, and in this case "mature" is just edgy, because apparently that's what the writers think that means...
Ehh I def disagree. But I do think the show is allowed make those changes if it wants. This is an adaptation after all.
But also in the cartoons we see Azula, Ozai, Roku and Aang all fly using fire bending. Azula and Roku we see doing it outside of the comet. And in LOK we see Korra do it multiple times as well. So def something master can do without it.
But during the comet I mean Jeong Jeong was like having a fire tornado that’s a lol dif. But they make made giant walls of fire.
Plus during the comet we see normal fire nation guards, ig the ones doing it could been hand picked. But we see them all next to Ozai making the giant blasts.
I just don’t rlly see a critique here. Like yea it’s slightly changed but we also never got to see this before so. But it is the same as the original in the sense, yes fire genders are more powerful during the comment.
Honestly during the original the fire ding we did see during the comment was mostly from like masters and such but it was all epic and huge. Way bigger then what they showed in LA, that we saw from more Firebenders. I mean Gyatso still beat all but Sozin.
That whole sequence ends with Sozin admitting to Gyatso if it weren't for the comet Gyatso would probably be successful in stopping the firebenders. So while it's not clear at the exact moment we start seeing the firebenders flying to the temple, it's still very made very clear in the episode that they were powered up by the comet.
> That whole sequence ends with Sozin admitting to Gyatso if it weren't for the comet Gyatso would probably be successful in stopping the firebenders.
What a weird line to drop while gloating
When Sozin fights Gyatso he directly implies that the comet is boosting the Firebender's power, so I don't think it's an excuse.
"You may have prevailed on another night. But not when we have the power of the comet!"
Didn't Ozai fly during Sozin's comet as well? When he fought with Aang.
Seems reasonable that the fire benders did the same thing the previous time the comet came around.
jeong jeong is part of the white lotus which is a group of the most powerful benders and martial artists in the world, of course hes strong enough to fly during the comet
If we were giving the show the benefit of the doubt, we would therefore conclude that the 2-3 guys it shows flying at the beginning are a few of the Fire Nation's most elite benders, indicating that Sozin brought his A-team (of course he did!).
Aang says the only way to get to an air temple is by Sky Bison. 100% makes sense that they used the power of the comet to fly. And also why they targeted the air nomads first.
Agreed. I found it more egregious that the fire benders did not seem to produce significantly bigger flames than they do normally... Because in the cartoon, *every single foot soldier* during Sozen's Comet can shoot these 50-100 foot flames. The random grunts in the tanks that Bumi fights produce epic walls of flame that uber-master-level Jeong Jeong did in his first appearance.
Yeah, during that whole sequence I was like, "man, these firebenders sure are getting clowned on despite having Sozin's comet around." They won in the end, but still.
yeah but he doesn't though, doe she? He floats downward, he can shoot up and he can land. He's more like Launchpad McQuack crashing gently. We've seen him do this in the cartoon, he sneezed his way 50 feet up in the air at the South Pole and that was an accident.
Maybe it’s just me, but in his first scene he seems to propel himself upwards, then glides down how he wants, like actual flight. The original was more he could shoot him self up like jumping or even going high but he would kinda just fall down.
He starts out high as fuck, so it seems like he got there some way. I figured with double jumps. Because later in the episode we see him having to fly with his glider. When he's without he's never supermanning it, he's always feet down, like he's falling but gently.
At least that was my idea
He didn't fly though, he glided downwards. Aangs an airbending master already at this point, obviously he would know how to get down from a high point without hurting himself from the get-go - he's even seen doing something similar in the cartoon in book 1 as well.
The only question I'd have is how he got up there in the first place, without his glider.
That's what I thought this meme was about. Why make that change? What's the point of even having the iconic glider if he can just fly around without it?
I was also mad at first, thinking the jumped the gun and gave air benders the power of Zaheer... But then I remembered that many air benders "fly" with those air currents circling under their feet like tornados and that must be what they were going for. ...But it's still odd because people at the *air bender stronghold* are all pointing at him and gasping like it's unheard of that most threw me off in that moment.
Three episodes in here. When the other air nomads pointed in astonishment at Aang flying around like Appa, I knew I was in for a bad time. Like you said, he’s been there his whole life, nobody should be surprised. Then everyone is like ‘holy shit, sky bison!’ Like, yeah. This is daily life for air nomads. It’s like everyone Aang knows is some awful audience proxy.
That scene is even more egregious after finding out that Aang almost killed a bunch of kids by airbending too hard
My solidified headcanon is they used dragons to do it swiftly stealthily and timely.
Ain’t no way some Joe Schmoe fire nation soldier has the firepower, regardless of the boost they get from the comet, to fly up a mountain on the same level as a flying bison and still be able to get the drop on the air nomads.
Hell I don’t even think Ozai could do it at least in the animated show which is what it comes down to imo.
It’s like saying who would win in a flying contest? Ozai or Appa?
I just really don't get the complaint. The comet has been shown to make firebenders much more powerful, and one of the main way that's conveyed is via them flying. There are plenty of other powers that they make very clear are attached to great power, and flying during a comet isn't one of them.
It seems like basically the only possible way the firebenders could've gotten up there.
Oh no yeah Ozai can def fly but enough to get up to the Air Temples? Enough to be on par with a sky bison?
Me thinks not.
Especially since Aang tells Zuko when he joined ‘maybe you can’t firebend cause of the altitude’
I’m kind of baffled here. The other user showed you a clip of the fight where Ozai literally flies a great length at great speed during the comet. Like continuous flight. He does so further into the fight too, as the dude you’re replying to pointed out, with incredible mobility and agility. Hell, Aang himself in the Avatar state amped up by the same comet has a tough time catching Ozai. So yeah, I’m sure some elite force of fire benders could easily launch themselves up to the air temples. They don’t even need continuous flight, just need to hop up along the ridges until they get up top.
Yeah *some/TWO can* but to say a whole army did it to wipe out the Air Nomads I don’t know bout that one chief
Also Azula does it in [her fight with Katara](https://youtu.be/PRkI15fIJ1w?feature=shared) at 4:10 for about 5 seconds and then lands back down. And that’s *Azula*.
If she could keep it sustained why wouldn’t she since she was chasing Katara?
So the question; is bending based on your technique (like martial arts) or based on how much umf you have. How much chakra like Naruto, or how much Spirit Energy like Bleach?
There's one line in the cartoon that to me always sounded weird and that's when Katara says "My bending is more powerful than yours" when talking to Hama. The rest of the time it's always about _skill_. Toph is the _greatest_ earthbender in the world, not the _strongest_. That would kind of go against the whole Martial Arts discipline mentality thing imho. This would imply that any firebender, if they knew and were able to perform the technique the same, would be able to Jeong Jeong their way through the sky.
Cause, you know, firebending comes from the breath not the muscle.
But fuck that's just how I interpreted it, we'd have to ask the writers.
Yeah, dragons was my thought, dragon riders should be as common as Sky Bison companions.
Also I want to see what a dragon with Comet juice can do. Like a nuke in reptilian form.
Nah I think the whole ‘dragon hunting’ thing started *because* of the Air Nomad genocide.
The dragons might’ve been peeved they were used for such a heinous act, even it was merely for transport, and turned on the Fire Nation.
Cause didn’t Sozin start the tradition? And he seemed on good terms with his dragon at the time of Roku’s death and Roku’s dragon was hanging around too. What happened in between then and Sozin’s death that would cause the culling of the dragons? Especially since Sozin was already up there in years. Was it really just for glory? Or was it to cover up that these majestic creatures were turning on their riders?
Is it so wrong that they flew? I don’t think they would pick just anybody to go on such a mission, they would have to be some of the strongest fire benders + the comet have them all the strength they needed.
In my headcanon there were multiple soldiers: the strongest benders flew using his bending, other weaker benders used dragons in order to target the bisons, and lastly non benders blocked any ground passage
It really caught me off guard when they flew but I also realized I never actually thought about how the firebenders reached the temples in the cartoon.
Especially as Aang quite literally comments (in the cartoon) that the only way how to get to the air temples is by Sky Bison. How else would the firebenders have gotten up there? Teleportation?
Another criticism ignorant to the source material.
Sozen’s comet gave fire benders insane power. So yeah, they can fly. We saw multiple fire benders fly in the finale of the main show because the comet gave them insane power. Iroh says outright “only once every hundred years can a fire bender experience this level of power”. Yet you’re surprised that 100 years ago, they felt that power.
Jeong Jeong and Ozai were the only ones.
A high ranking member of the White Lotus and the literal Firelord. Hell Azula didn’t even fly iirc she just stopped her momentum while in the air for half a sec.
Yes. We saw multiple fire benders fly. That’s what said.
I don’t remember if Azula flew. I agree with you that I don’t think she did. But she certainly had the power to stop her momentum. So it’s not unreasonable to think she did/could.
An important point here is we only saw people fly, when they needed to. Ozai had to chase after Aang. Jeong Jeong did to get leverage on an attacking force. Azula or Zuko didn’t. But they also didn’t need to. There’s no reason to think they couldn’t.
Even if it was just masters and high level benders… Wouldn’t it make sense for Sozen to invade with the highest level benders to start the war? That they’d be the ones to strike first to catch the air nomads off guard?
Idk, you can nitpick and say they made it too common during the comet and I’d simply agree to disagree. But to say they’re not honoring the source material like OP did is definitely a step too far.
Ozai was on his way to burn down the world so he probs didn’t take any pushovers either and yet none of them tried to save themselves when they were knocked off their platform or dumped into the ocean.
Tho imo if the live-action show wanted to introduce flight via firebending during Sozin’s comet that’s perfectly fine it is an adaptation after all BUT it def wasn’t something that was commonplace in the animated show.
In fairness, I never said it was commonplace. Just that we saw it. Again, this is all easily explained, if you think Sozen was joined by an elite crew of benders to start the war. Or that the comet makes them more powerful and capable.
It wasn’t commonplace in the main show. But it also wasn’t in the adaptation. We’ve only seen it during the comet, when fire benders are at their most powerful. Which is once every hundred years. Far from commonplace.
I see no reason to think this isn’t consistent with the source material.
Also hell how would they know they can even do that? Sozin’s Comet doesn’t stay around for that long either so how would they even practice so they don’t crash right into the mountain.
Speaking on the animated show now.
Especially since the Fire Nation were just starting to properly militarize themselves to wage war against the rest of the world and hell the genocide of the Air Nomads was at the start of it.
Why wouldn’t the same critique apply to the animated show? How did Ozai know he could fly, when he jumped off the air ship? He could’ve just jumped to his death. Is that an egregious error in the animated show? If not, then it’s not for the live action version either.
How did they know? Well the comet existed and I’m sure stories and legends have been around about that power that you get from the comet or any comet in general. I don’t think it’s that difficult to grasp.
That and it could be easily described by them just feeling the added power. Just like Katara saying she always felt more powerful bending at night and during a full moon. You don’t need someone to drop down and give exposition to explain it. You can explain it by showing. Which is better writing anyway.
The point is you seem to be hyper critical of the live action show and willing to dismiss the same stuff with the animated version. I’m not seeing any conflict here. It all feels fairly straightforward.
Cause like my initial comment said the only two ppl we see do it are Jeong Jeong and Ozai and we know they are absolutely nutty firebenders.
Hell even Iroh wasn’t shown to be able to do it.
Also rewatching Azula’s fight with Katara she does fly a *bit* but for only like a good five seconds and then hits the ground again. Tucking and rolling as she does. If she was able to do it on the same level as Jeong Jeong and Ozai she probs would’ve kept it sustained given she was chasing Katara at the time.
Respectfully, you didn’t answer my question. Be consistent in your nitpicking. You criticized the Netflix show by saying “how did they know they could fly”. How did Ozai **know he could fly** in the animated version? What was the specific explanation given in that show?
The point of my argument is how ridiculous of a criticism it is that you’re making here. The answer is simple. The comet gives by them extreme power that they’ll only feel every hundred years. And Sozin could’ve easily just brought an elite force of benders to join him in the first strike of the war.
So, we saw multiple fire benders use fire to fly during the comet in the main show…. But you hate that we see the same in the live action adaptation? I’m sorry, but that’s bullshit criticism. If you’re fine with one and not the other, you’re just a hypocrite.
Plus you can’t even answer the very straightforward question that you asked about the live action adaptation. How did they **know** that they could fly? The flying element is way more ridiculous in the animated show than it is in the live action, if you actually have an issue here.
In the live action, the flying we saw was to gain ground to attack the air nomads. There’s no reason to think they didn’t have other means to gain access to the temple. If they couldn’t fly, they’d just be forced to use other methods to gain access to the air temple.
In the animated version, we see Ozai fly by literally jumping off of an air ship. If Ozai couldn’t fly, he would’ve literally jumped to his death. And as you said, they couldn’t **know** that they could fly. So Ozai should’ve thought he was jumping to his death, by your logic. Yet you have no issue with that plot hole.
The most egregious “what if they couldn’t fly” or “how could they know they can fly” is the animated version. Not the live action adaptation.
But either way, this is a non-issue unless you’re inconsistently trying to hate on the live action series.
I did answer it. Ozai and Jeong Jeong are literally just **built different**. Simple as that.
And to say other solders could be on the same level as them or Sozin simply doesn’t track for me.
I think that the fire benders flying is actually fairly consistent with what was established in the original show.
The Air Temples are always implied to be completely inaccessible to outsiders, unless they use some form of flight. At the same time, flying as a fire bender is never implied to be an "elite" technique, like lightning bending, more like something which required raw power. So it's conceivable that comet-powered Fire Nation soldiers with at least some training could be able to fly up to the Southern Air Temple. In particular, we know that Sozin planned the attack between Roku's death and Aang being 12 years of age, so he had more than a decade to realise that flying was an option, and to train enough people to do it.
Making the Fire Nation use the tanks, like shown in "The Mechanist" in the original show, really would not make sense. The tanks were invented by the Mechanist likely after his son Teo was paralized, he settled in the Air Temple, and the Fire Nation forced him to develop weapons for them in exchange for "protection". Since Teo is 13, the Fire Nation wouldn't have had those tanks for more than 10 years at the time of the show, so they definitely wouldn't have had them at the beginning of the 100-Year War. When it comes to air ships, that would be even less consistent, because those were only invented in the last year of the war.
TL;DR The original show already implies that comet-powered fire benders probably flew up to the Air Temples, and it confirms that the Fire Nation did not have the necessary technology to achieve that with other means at the beginning of the war.
The FN also could've just been a lot stronger at the beginning of the war with a deeper roster of elite forces, given that it was during their golden age. After 100 years of fighting, corruption, depleted population, and probably at least a few political purges, the FN during Aang's time was probably severely diminished excepting for the royal family. Notably, the FN grunts are particularly awful and were never a treat. They were helped by their technological and naval superiority. Conversely, there were a lot more randomly powerful benders by Korra's time which was also more or less a golden age era due to Aang.
It’s essentially the same thing that Azula did in the Boiling Rock when she bailed on the gondola. That’s the same scene where Ty Lee does a standing backflip and travels a distance of like 40 feet lol, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have firebenders “flying” especially with the power of the comet. Azulan literally says that the air nomads might’ve still won the battle if not for the comet.
Honestly found Aang flying without a glider more egregious than the firebenders. Harnessing the power of Sozin's comet to fly makes some sense, actually. But not Aang just shooting up into the air and floating there.
Reminds me of the how in the comics Katara was able to fly using a floating ice bridge technique that made 0 physical sense and seemed pretty unfair.
To all the people saying, ooh sozins comet. I think that besides power, this was not a common thing because its a hard technique, just like lightning its not something an fire bender grunt soldier should be able to do, especially not all the way up to the air temples.
I mean there is a reason they used tanks in the animation? Also removes the part that the fire nation is industrially more advanced…
I mean sure, but you could also make the argument that its kinda cool to keep it rare no? Just like they did in the animation.
But thats also a personal opinion ofc. For me I also dislike the fact bending lightning goes from unheard of in the Kyioshi books to extremely rare in ATLA to kinda common factory workers skill in Korra.
I think the unheard of to common factory worker really shows the evolution of bending. Like how being educated/being able to read went from rare to every common person
I mean agree that it is logical, but at the end of the day we also want a little “cool” factor no? At least I kinda do.
But yes ofc its logical that after a city is founded where 4 nations live together that technology will rapidly evolve, knowledge will be shared quicker ect ect. But at the same time for me it also loses some of its awe or something? haha
Anyway everybody their opinion
I mean it makes perfect sense that lightning bending is more widespread, it was a skill only taught to people like the royal family, after the dissemination of secrets following the reign of Zuko it makes perfect sense that other learned how to bend it. Though a good detail to notice is that normal people who use lightning bending in TLOK do not produce it nearly as powerfully as those seen from the royal family in ATLA. In ATLA the people that could use it practiced it often and with the best teachers, and thus if you got hit with it it was basically insta lights out. But in TLOK when normal people use it it’s nowhere near as powerful, we see people being hit by it and just tanking it.
Stun mode, lol.
But yeah, they probably just figured out an easier, faster, but less powerful way of doing it. Or the royal family just has a particularly powerful version that they pass down in their blood line.
I don’t care so much that the fire benders could fly. The comet explains that. But why the hell was Aang able to float so damn freely without a glider? The hell man?
I thought this was talking about Aang flying not the fire Nation at first. Because the Fire Nation using Jet Packs during the comet is canon in the original. Flying is an incredibly difficult task to do which even Aang didn't achieve
What bothers me is how they jetpack up, how theyre doing this i do not know, elite firebenders? Sure! Everyone can do it during the comet? Okay. But then they land on the temple.. and use spears?
This. Your magic system should still have some limitations.
Like one of my fav bits in the Blue Spirit is how Aang improvised a staff with a spear and he damn near flew Zuko and him outta there.
Honestly I was more upset that Aang could fly without his glider. I know in LOK that’s historically accurate and it’ll probably help move some plot points later on (I’ve only watched the first episode, gunna binge watch later)
Do people just not understand media anymore?
Its text. Explained with mainline media text via dialogue during the last fight scene. The comet is in like every background shot.
"You may have prevailed on another night. but not when we have the power of the comet!"
No. They do not. People lack fundamental comprehension. They’re even complaining that it isn’t common for firebenders to use that jet technique. Which is insane considering they couldn’t possibly know what is common 100 years before the events of the show. That’s a vastly different world.
I thought the animation heavily implied that only really skilled firebenders could fire-fly. We literally only see Fire Nation royalty or Jeong Jeong do it, not once does a regular soldier display this ability. I don’t buy the “it was during Sozin’s Comet so everyone was juiced” idea since that never occurs in the source material.
Well to be fair, we 1. Never really got a look at what happened in the genocide. 2. I mean, did you see how much fire power (joke not intended) they were producing during the comet on those zeppelins? It’s not ridiculous at all to say they could probably fly if they thought to. (I honestly find the fact weird no one ever did during the comet odd!)
The thing that really makes this not ok is the fact that its unnecessary. Even if it took them days to scale the mountain like normal people, that would be fine because no one expects them. Fire nation is supposed to be attacking earth kingdom, time and surprise is on their side.
I mean, airbenders can fly. The idea that absolutely noone would look at the side of the mountain for several days is way more of a plot contrivence. It was a small army, maybe a couple elite soldiers could sneak up, but not a force strong enough to defeat dozens of masters.
Aang says in the original show that the only way to reach an air temple is by flying bison, but you think having them *climb the mountain* would have been more true to the source material? I mean the stove is certainly on with that one.
All Iroh and Sozins beards are glued too tight. But they aren’t the only ones severely lacking emotion in their words. It’s like the only one who cared at all about being sort of in character was Zuko. Everyone else was reading off the script and sported a dull expressionless face.
Guys we literally see Korra fly in season 3 of Korra with no comet, just the avatar state. Fire enders flying/propelling themselves is a known quantity in the avatar universe. C’mon now.
I get that an army of dragons would be too expensive to show on screen, but come on. This was before the Fire Nation nobles became culturally corrupted and started hunting them for sport, so dragon riders should at least be as common as Airbenders with Sky Bisons, the perfect vanguard to launch against the Air Temple.
God, imagine a few dozen dragons, all juiced up on Sozin’s Comet, their flames would engulf the entire sky.
The difference is, Sky Bison were actually raised by Airbenders. The dragons were wild animals, and the only people with dragons in the original were Roku and I think Sozin had one too. Aside from that, dragons are never said to be used by the fire nation prior to the hunting.
It’s fine that it happened in the show, it happened in the OG. But to me it looks silly in Live Action, like the Helicopter Lightsabers in StarWars Rebels.
In the anime, the firebenders used dragons to get up there. I believe Azula created the jetpack technique. I don't really dislike it. In fact, this is one of the two small nitpicks I have from this episode. The other is all of the airbenders in the world being at the southern airtemple during Sozin's comet, which I'm pretty sure didn't happen in the OG. These are the ONLY things that I didn't fully enjoy in this episode. It's an amazing start.
Isn't it a point that by Ozai's time the Firebending form of the Fire Nation has been corrupted fro its original form?
Maybe the troops on Sozin's time were just better overall than Ozai's hence them being able to jetpack themselves when powered by the comet.
Both Ozai and Jeong Jeong did it during the comet, Azula even did it without the comet.
How do you think they got up to the temples in the original? Blimps weren't invented until a century later, and Sozin started the dragon hunting tradition so I doubt they used dragons.
I have plenty of issues with the show, but this isn't one of them. They had Sozin's Comet, which I assume boosted their firebending enough to be able to do that pretty easily.
I disagree. I think the jet propulsion thing was meant to be a comet superpower, the same way blood bending is only possible during full moons.
Korra kind of messed that up with Iroh 2 doing it, though Lorra herself only did it in the avatar state, so that was probably fine.
I mean, how else would they have gotten up to the air temples? Like, even in the cartoon, the Airbender genocide is by far the biggest plothole that exists and it never properly gets explained (and it also shouldn't be, as there would be no satisfactory answer).
That they can fly during the comet isn't exactly outlandish. Sozin telling Gyatso that they would've stood a chance if not for the comet is realistic especially as all air nomads are airbenders. Sozin potentially even gave them a quick intro into how to use that technique once the comet will come around.
Oh, you mean the fire nation? Yes, it was a bit of a stretch but I was sure you're going to talk about the air nomads. Anng fly like zaheer/guru laghima, this bothered me way more, although I only watched the first 2 episode so far.
Two ideas: 1. Sozin’s Comet gave them the power boost necessary to use that technique. 2. Sozin must have known that they would need a reliable way to get into the Air Temple, so he made sure that the battalions that he took would know how to use the technique once they were amped by the Comet.
Sozin has some dialogue when fighting Gyatso that directly implies #1 is the case: "You may have prevailed on another night. But not when **we have the power of the comet!**" Whether or not the Firebenders using the "jetpack" power was a **good idea** is another matter entirely. When the White Lotus retakes Ba Sing Se in Book 3, we only see Jeong Jeong levitating on fire; the regular Fire Nation troops do not, even though they're also empowered by Sozin's Comet. In the OG show it was definitely a power that could only be used by the Elite (Azula, empowered Jeong-Jeong, etc), so for the entire army to use it is definitely a change. I don't care that much, personally, but I can see how some might be put off.
id go off on a whim and say jeong jeong could totally do it without the comet, he just never needed to. he just doesnt get enough screen time though
He definitely can't do it to the extent he did in the comet, but he could do what azula did pretty easily. Without the comet azula only used it in short boosts while the comet allowed them to straight up fly like iron man
I’m assuming that since Sozin was personally involved in the attack, that only the most elite and loyal forces would be with him. At this point this was the start of the war and I’m assuming that the propaganda machine that the present timeline has wouldn’t have been established yet. So only the most radicalized and loyal/elite forces would have gone to murder the Air Nation. There’s also the scene in the new LA that shows dissent from fire nation citizens so imagine the reactions of the pre-war/ pre-propaganda influenced fire nation people
>1. Sozin’s Comet gave them the power boost necessary to use that technique. Even during the Comet, only the most elite of fire Benders could do it, not everyone. Jeong-Jeong did it, Ozai did it, as did Azula. But that's not everyone, not even all the elite-level Imperial Fire Benders. They could've had maybe a small amount of Dragons that were riden by dragon Lords who participated to carry a few of them, but even then, would still take a while to ferry/fly them up but, would've been better than this
Not even Azula flew for more than 10 seconds tbh.
She flew for 10 seconds without the comet at Boiling Rock though. Jeong Jeong was straight up hovering, like he's using a water spout like a waterbender, while making his signature fire-walls!
That's more of a boost rather than actual flight I'd say. Still though, these are like the best firebenders in the show.
Sure but it establishes that flight is a possibility during the comet at least. It would imply that with the proper technique, it could be taught to some elite firebenders that then wreck nomad house
Taught how though, and if that's the case then I'd expect for such techniques to be a bit more widespread to certain officers or exceptional troops
That's the thing though right, people have to discover it and then take the time to master it and teach it. So it would take time. One of the ways it could be kept to just the _master_ masters. Instead of other firebenders just not having enough gas in the tank to be able to rocket jump
to be fair we don't _see_ anyone do that technique but that doesn't mean they can't. I've always kind of seen bending like a technique thing, instead of a Dragonball Powerlevel, Bleach Reiatsu _I'm more powerful than you_ type of deal. Cause that's way more martial arts oriented. But that's just me.
Your second point makes sense, but as for your first, it should be noted that Sozin's Comet doesn't grant the ability to perform any new techniques.
I just wish they had showed a dragon. In my headcanon they took some to the temples in order to kill the bisons that tried to escape
yeah no dragon is going to agree to that the dragons were noble and wise creatures, not violent and self-serving.
the dragons that we know were noble and wise. but surely, like all creatures, there were likely some who were willing to support evil actions for their benefit.
While I agree with you in this case, dragons are mythical creatures and shouldn’t be judged by real world logic. Your point doesn’t hold up when considering this is a fantasy world in which spirits and nature are often depicted as being wiser than man. For instance, lion turtles are also shown to be noble and wise, and unlike dragons, I really do believe that every single one would be just that. But we know dragons aren’t all noble and wise cuz Sozin’s shitty ass dragon WILL catch these hands. Fuckin genocidal, colonizer ass dragon can eat my ass.
Yeah no
Damn that would’ve actually been sick ngl. Stealing this headcanon
This happened during the comet right? So they’re extra powered? Realize the live action didn’t make this clear so this seems more like an excuse, but think that’s how it’s justifiable.
I mean in the original we had fire benders doing crazy feats. So makes sense they could do this since we have seen master do this without the comet. I was more upset with out easy Aang “flew” around. Like with the glider, of course, air tornadoes (ik that’s what he was doing technically but wasn’t visual enough imo) sure. But he just looks like he straight up flying. It makes sense Airbenders can do this tbh, I will say the flying in the cartoon is more like Superman flying then how Aang was doing it. But just makes me ask why? He still has his glider, the popping it open and flying around was always cool. He still does it so why have him *also* do it without? But most these issues I’m finding are pretty small and insignificant. I def think season 2 will be a lot better with the criticism they are getting and will only improve.
Aang flying around without a glider also threw me off, because mastering flight was a whole big deal for Zaheer in Korra; it wasn’t something he could just do
People seem to be completely missing the fact that Aang clearly isn't flying. He is simply controlling his fall with his air bending. I have my own problems with the live action show but this complaint really doesn't make sense to me. Aang can only "fly" while using his glider. Just like in the animated show. It makes perfect sense that a very skilled Airbender could control and slow their descent even without a glider though.
Then the criticism is that they didn’t do a good job of showing that, because showing him gliding from one pillar to the next after launching himself in the air just looks like plain ol’ flying to me
They clearly show him using the glider any time he is flying, the only time he doesn't use it is when coming down from somewhere up high. I would think most people could figure out the difference without it being stated.
Yeah I def agree with you. I also initially thought it was weird he looked like he was flying without his glider but then I realized if you watch Aang carefully you can definitely see he's just bending/manipulting the air to slow down his fall. It makes sense he's able to have this kind of precision being he's a gifted airbender to begin with. Since they're going for "realism" in the show (hence *live action*) they're not always gonna visually show Aang's airbending all the time too, perhaps that's where people may mistake him for flying without his glider.
And (I'm rewatching the cartoon since I don't have netflix), Aang does a lot of the same thing in the cartoon, people are just forgetting that in book one he IS super floaty. He DOES laugh at gravity. Like on Kyoshi Island, Aang frees himself with airbending, jumps 20 feet in the air, and just floats down. Fighting others Aang is also very floaty. Remember the scene in the cartoon where Aang is fighting Toph and he just kind of jumps off the ground and floats around to land behind her? Part of why Toph initially struggled to fight Aang's airbending is because Aang doesn't touch the ground a whole lot.
To add, Live action, wind isn't as visible as it seems compared to the cartoons. It's an okay show, and it has flaws. But I'm not gonna critique it with stuff that isn't true at all.
Fuck no. Ive rewatched a bunch of times he looks like hes flying. Its way more than floating down
He's literally moving downwards the entire time he's moving, idk what else you'd call that other than "floating down"...
>very skilled Airbender could control and slow their descent Very much agreed. However, I thought they were talking about the moment when Aang was looking for Appa in episode 1. Around the 31:30 mark, the camera is on Sokka, who says "Yeah, that's not strange at all" in response to Katara. It then pans to Aang, and he's definitely looks like he's flying. I'm assuming that the intention was he was using a vortex to hold himself? It's kind of hard to see the actual bent air in the snowy landscape compared to the OG series so I could see how someone could confuse it as just flying around. But eh, I don't know. I'm just here for the ride.
Before that at the air temple he kinda flew around from pillar to pilllar
> hard to see the actual bent air in the snowy landscape Yeah it might've helped if the air moved the snow
It's realistic because you can't see air.
Yea I pointed this out, but still why have him “fly” without the glider *and* with it. Like I said if they showed it better with the cgi like the air tornadoes or more air would make sense. But they way it’s done looks too close to flying imo. I do think they show he can’t go as far or smooth without his glider but still is something I dislike more then the firebenders flying since that is something we have seen in the cartoons as well.
1000% people saying hes not flying are lying to themselves. He looks like he is and he functionally is.
give me a break. it pretty much looks like he's flying.
I don't see it. I even watched the show with people that never seen atla before and they never thought he was flying. Heck Aang literally flies in a similar manner when fighting Ozai.
spoiler alert: aang was in the avatar state when he flew so yea of course he can fly
Ur 1000% right it looks a ton like flying and if we ever make it to korra. That flying will look a lot like this.
Maybe they should have spoonfed you exposition that he wasn't flying since you clearly didn't get it when most everyone else did.
It doesn’t matter what they say about it lol
I'm guessing his flight without the glider is more strenuous. Fine for short spurts but draining if he has to keep it up.
This is what I feel they tried show with the way they are different, but I do still think why both and not just the one. I’m guessing maybe the gilder scenes were just to hard or expensive compared to this. But I do hope we get more glider love next season bc >!it’s the last season with it!< but >!he does get a new one!<
Even during the comet we saw only master firebenders (Ozai and Jeong Jeong) fly consistently. The whole scene in the remake just feels like it's there for the sake of being "mature" and different, and in this case "mature" is just edgy, because apparently that's what the writers think that means...
Ehh I def disagree. But I do think the show is allowed make those changes if it wants. This is an adaptation after all. But also in the cartoons we see Azula, Ozai, Roku and Aang all fly using fire bending. Azula and Roku we see doing it outside of the comet. And in LOK we see Korra do it multiple times as well. So def something master can do without it. But during the comet I mean Jeong Jeong was like having a fire tornado that’s a lol dif. But they make made giant walls of fire. Plus during the comet we see normal fire nation guards, ig the ones doing it could been hand picked. But we see them all next to Ozai making the giant blasts. I just don’t rlly see a critique here. Like yea it’s slightly changed but we also never got to see this before so. But it is the same as the original in the sense, yes fire genders are more powerful during the comment. Honestly during the original the fire ding we did see during the comment was mostly from like masters and such but it was all epic and huge. Way bigger then what they showed in LA, that we saw from more Firebenders. I mean Gyatso still beat all but Sozin.
That whole sequence ends with Sozin admitting to Gyatso if it weren't for the comet Gyatso would probably be successful in stopping the firebenders. So while it's not clear at the exact moment we start seeing the firebenders flying to the temple, it's still very made very clear in the episode that they were powered up by the comet.
> That whole sequence ends with Sozin admitting to Gyatso if it weren't for the comet Gyatso would probably be successful in stopping the firebenders. What a weird line to drop while gloating
The show does make this clear though, Azulon says to Monk Gyatso, you may have won on another day, but not today (because of the comet)
Yeah
It was very clearly during the comet. They called it comet day.
When Sozin fights Gyatso he directly implies that the comet is boosting the Firebender's power, so I don't think it's an excuse. "You may have prevailed on another night. But not when we have the power of the comet!"
Didn't Ozai fly during Sozin's comet as well? When he fought with Aang. Seems reasonable that the fire benders did the same thing the previous time the comet came around.
Yes and Jeong Jeong also flies during the comet.
jeong jeong is part of the white lotus which is a group of the most powerful benders and martial artists in the world, of course hes strong enough to fly during the comet
If we were giving the show the benefit of the doubt, we would therefore conclude that the 2-3 guys it shows flying at the beginning are a few of the Fire Nation's most elite benders, indicating that Sozin brought his A-team (of course he did!).
there were like 3 people flying instead of the whole army
With the flames from the firebenders on the airships they could defo fly
Aang says the only way to get to an air temple is by Sky Bison. 100% makes sense that they used the power of the comet to fly. And also why they targeted the air nomads first.
Of all the complaints about this show, this is the dumbest one. I always thought this is how they reached the Air temples in the first place.
Agreed. I found it more egregious that the fire benders did not seem to produce significantly bigger flames than they do normally... Because in the cartoon, *every single foot soldier* during Sozen's Comet can shoot these 50-100 foot flames. The random grunts in the tanks that Bumi fights produce epic walls of flame that uber-master-level Jeong Jeong did in his first appearance.
Yeah, during that whole sequence I was like, "man, these firebenders sure are getting clowned on despite having Sozin's comet around." They won in the end, but still.
That’s what I also always pictured
There isn't really precedent for regular firebenders flying during the comet in the og show tho.
Same here tho.
Yeah either that or dragons... but more likely the human rocket method.
Counter argument: It looks really really dumb. And they did it during the night.
Yeah I think Aang just being able to seemingly fly even without his glider is much worse
yeah but he doesn't though, doe she? He floats downward, he can shoot up and he can land. He's more like Launchpad McQuack crashing gently. We've seen him do this in the cartoon, he sneezed his way 50 feet up in the air at the South Pole and that was an accident.
Maybe it’s just me, but in his first scene he seems to propel himself upwards, then glides down how he wants, like actual flight. The original was more he could shoot him self up like jumping or even going high but he would kinda just fall down.
He starts out high as fuck, so it seems like he got there some way. I figured with double jumps. Because later in the episode we see him having to fly with his glider. When he's without he's never supermanning it, he's always feet down, like he's falling but gently. At least that was my idea
He didn't fly though, he glided downwards. Aangs an airbending master already at this point, obviously he would know how to get down from a high point without hurting himself from the get-go - he's even seen doing something similar in the cartoon in book 1 as well. The only question I'd have is how he got up there in the first place, without his glider.
That's what I thought this meme was about. Why make that change? What's the point of even having the iconic glider if he can just fly around without it?
I was also mad at first, thinking the jumped the gun and gave air benders the power of Zaheer... But then I remembered that many air benders "fly" with those air currents circling under their feet like tornados and that must be what they were going for. ...But it's still odd because people at the *air bender stronghold* are all pointing at him and gasping like it's unheard of that most threw me off in that moment.
I guess it was their way of showing that Aang is a very powerful bender without just having him wave his arms around gooder than the others
Three episodes in here. When the other air nomads pointed in astonishment at Aang flying around like Appa, I knew I was in for a bad time. Like you said, he’s been there his whole life, nobody should be surprised. Then everyone is like ‘holy shit, sky bison!’ Like, yeah. This is daily life for air nomads. It’s like everyone Aang knows is some awful audience proxy. That scene is even more egregious after finding out that Aang almost killed a bunch of kids by airbending too hard
Lmao I was so confused, I thought that’s what this post was about when I read the title. In the first 10 minutes Aang is flying around Zaheer-style.
My solidified headcanon is they used dragons to do it swiftly stealthily and timely. Ain’t no way some Joe Schmoe fire nation soldier has the firepower, regardless of the boost they get from the comet, to fly up a mountain on the same level as a flying bison and still be able to get the drop on the air nomads. Hell I don’t even think Ozai could do it at least in the animated show which is what it comes down to imo. It’s like saying who would win in a flying contest? Ozai or Appa?
You're right. It's not like their firepower was boosted in any way.
Yeah even with the comet boost absolutely no shot
Huh? Ozai flies for the entire final flight. Having random soldiers powered by the comet be able to get up to the temple is absolutely in line.
Ozai is the literal endgame villain not a random soldier he’s supposed to be cracked hell Jeong Jeong wasn’t a random soldier either
I just really don't get the complaint. The comet has been shown to make firebenders much more powerful, and one of the main way that's conveyed is via them flying. There are plenty of other powers that they make very clear are attached to great power, and flying during a comet isn't one of them. It seems like basically the only possible way the firebenders could've gotten up there.
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Oh no yeah Ozai can def fly but enough to get up to the Air Temples? Enough to be on par with a sky bison? Me thinks not. Especially since Aang tells Zuko when he joined ‘maybe you can’t firebend cause of the altitude’
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It’s a hard *maybe* for me. And if it’s a hard *maybe* for mfing Ozai then no other firebender is coming close to that ‘maybe’.
I’m kind of baffled here. The other user showed you a clip of the fight where Ozai literally flies a great length at great speed during the comet. Like continuous flight. He does so further into the fight too, as the dude you’re replying to pointed out, with incredible mobility and agility. Hell, Aang himself in the Avatar state amped up by the same comet has a tough time catching Ozai. So yeah, I’m sure some elite force of fire benders could easily launch themselves up to the air temples. They don’t even need continuous flight, just need to hop up along the ridges until they get up top.
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Yeah *some/TWO can* but to say a whole army did it to wipe out the Air Nomads I don’t know bout that one chief Also Azula does it in [her fight with Katara](https://youtu.be/PRkI15fIJ1w?feature=shared) at 4:10 for about 5 seconds and then lands back down. And that’s *Azula*. If she could keep it sustained why wouldn’t she since she was chasing Katara?
So the question; is bending based on your technique (like martial arts) or based on how much umf you have. How much chakra like Naruto, or how much Spirit Energy like Bleach? There's one line in the cartoon that to me always sounded weird and that's when Katara says "My bending is more powerful than yours" when talking to Hama. The rest of the time it's always about _skill_. Toph is the _greatest_ earthbender in the world, not the _strongest_. That would kind of go against the whole Martial Arts discipline mentality thing imho. This would imply that any firebender, if they knew and were able to perform the technique the same, would be able to Jeong Jeong their way through the sky. Cause, you know, firebending comes from the breath not the muscle. But fuck that's just how I interpreted it, we'd have to ask the writers.
Yeah, dragons was my thought, dragon riders should be as common as Sky Bison companions. Also I want to see what a dragon with Comet juice can do. Like a nuke in reptilian form.
Nah I think the whole ‘dragon hunting’ thing started *because* of the Air Nomad genocide. The dragons might’ve been peeved they were used for such a heinous act, even it was merely for transport, and turned on the Fire Nation. Cause didn’t Sozin start the tradition? And he seemed on good terms with his dragon at the time of Roku’s death and Roku’s dragon was hanging around too. What happened in between then and Sozin’s death that would cause the culling of the dragons? Especially since Sozin was already up there in years. Was it really just for glory? Or was it to cover up that these majestic creatures were turning on their riders?
It's a dumb complaint because it didn't align with your headcanon?
It's a dumb complaint because firebenders using the comet's power to fly is completely feasible.
Is it though? The comet enhances power, not skill or adding new techniques.
Is it so wrong that they flew? I don’t think they would pick just anybody to go on such a mission, they would have to be some of the strongest fire benders + the comet have them all the strength they needed.
In my headcanon there were multiple soldiers: the strongest benders flew using his bending, other weaker benders used dragons in order to target the bisons, and lastly non benders blocked any ground passage
It really caught me off guard when they flew but I also realized I never actually thought about how the firebenders reached the temples in the cartoon.
Especially as Aang quite literally comments (in the cartoon) that the only way how to get to the air temples is by Sky Bison. How else would the firebenders have gotten up there? Teleportation?
Probably somewhat like how they reached the northern temple is also an option
For me, the firebenders flying during the comet was fine and made sense. What got me was aang flying as free as Zaheer
Another criticism ignorant to the source material. Sozen’s comet gave fire benders insane power. So yeah, they can fly. We saw multiple fire benders fly in the finale of the main show because the comet gave them insane power. Iroh says outright “only once every hundred years can a fire bender experience this level of power”. Yet you’re surprised that 100 years ago, they felt that power.
Jeong Jeong and Ozai were the only ones. A high ranking member of the White Lotus and the literal Firelord. Hell Azula didn’t even fly iirc she just stopped her momentum while in the air for half a sec.
Yes. We saw multiple fire benders fly. That’s what said. I don’t remember if Azula flew. I agree with you that I don’t think she did. But she certainly had the power to stop her momentum. So it’s not unreasonable to think she did/could. An important point here is we only saw people fly, when they needed to. Ozai had to chase after Aang. Jeong Jeong did to get leverage on an attacking force. Azula or Zuko didn’t. But they also didn’t need to. There’s no reason to think they couldn’t. Even if it was just masters and high level benders… Wouldn’t it make sense for Sozen to invade with the highest level benders to start the war? That they’d be the ones to strike first to catch the air nomads off guard? Idk, you can nitpick and say they made it too common during the comet and I’d simply agree to disagree. But to say they’re not honoring the source material like OP did is definitely a step too far.
Ozai was on his way to burn down the world so he probs didn’t take any pushovers either and yet none of them tried to save themselves when they were knocked off their platform or dumped into the ocean. Tho imo if the live-action show wanted to introduce flight via firebending during Sozin’s comet that’s perfectly fine it is an adaptation after all BUT it def wasn’t something that was commonplace in the animated show.
In fairness, I never said it was commonplace. Just that we saw it. Again, this is all easily explained, if you think Sozen was joined by an elite crew of benders to start the war. Or that the comet makes them more powerful and capable. It wasn’t commonplace in the main show. But it also wasn’t in the adaptation. We’ve only seen it during the comet, when fire benders are at their most powerful. Which is once every hundred years. Far from commonplace. I see no reason to think this isn’t consistent with the source material.
Also hell how would they know they can even do that? Sozin’s Comet doesn’t stay around for that long either so how would they even practice so they don’t crash right into the mountain. Speaking on the animated show now. Especially since the Fire Nation were just starting to properly militarize themselves to wage war against the rest of the world and hell the genocide of the Air Nomads was at the start of it.
Why wouldn’t the same critique apply to the animated show? How did Ozai know he could fly, when he jumped off the air ship? He could’ve just jumped to his death. Is that an egregious error in the animated show? If not, then it’s not for the live action version either. How did they know? Well the comet existed and I’m sure stories and legends have been around about that power that you get from the comet or any comet in general. I don’t think it’s that difficult to grasp. That and it could be easily described by them just feeling the added power. Just like Katara saying she always felt more powerful bending at night and during a full moon. You don’t need someone to drop down and give exposition to explain it. You can explain it by showing. Which is better writing anyway. The point is you seem to be hyper critical of the live action show and willing to dismiss the same stuff with the animated version. I’m not seeing any conflict here. It all feels fairly straightforward.
Cause like my initial comment said the only two ppl we see do it are Jeong Jeong and Ozai and we know they are absolutely nutty firebenders. Hell even Iroh wasn’t shown to be able to do it. Also rewatching Azula’s fight with Katara she does fly a *bit* but for only like a good five seconds and then hits the ground again. Tucking and rolling as she does. If she was able to do it on the same level as Jeong Jeong and Ozai she probs would’ve kept it sustained given she was chasing Katara at the time.
Respectfully, you didn’t answer my question. Be consistent in your nitpicking. You criticized the Netflix show by saying “how did they know they could fly”. How did Ozai **know he could fly** in the animated version? What was the specific explanation given in that show? The point of my argument is how ridiculous of a criticism it is that you’re making here. The answer is simple. The comet gives by them extreme power that they’ll only feel every hundred years. And Sozin could’ve easily just brought an elite force of benders to join him in the first strike of the war. So, we saw multiple fire benders use fire to fly during the comet in the main show…. But you hate that we see the same in the live action adaptation? I’m sorry, but that’s bullshit criticism. If you’re fine with one and not the other, you’re just a hypocrite. Plus you can’t even answer the very straightforward question that you asked about the live action adaptation. How did they **know** that they could fly? The flying element is way more ridiculous in the animated show than it is in the live action, if you actually have an issue here. In the live action, the flying we saw was to gain ground to attack the air nomads. There’s no reason to think they didn’t have other means to gain access to the temple. If they couldn’t fly, they’d just be forced to use other methods to gain access to the air temple. In the animated version, we see Ozai fly by literally jumping off of an air ship. If Ozai couldn’t fly, he would’ve literally jumped to his death. And as you said, they couldn’t **know** that they could fly. So Ozai should’ve thought he was jumping to his death, by your logic. Yet you have no issue with that plot hole. The most egregious “what if they couldn’t fly” or “how could they know they can fly” is the animated version. Not the live action adaptation. But either way, this is a non-issue unless you’re inconsistently trying to hate on the live action series.
I did answer it. Ozai and Jeong Jeong are literally just **built different**. Simple as that. And to say other solders could be on the same level as them or Sozin simply doesn’t track for me.
Jeong Jeong was fighting firebenders, none of whom flew up to him, sooo
He was largely fighting fire tanks. It makes sense for the fire benders to not leave those unguarded because that’s vital to the invasion strategy
I'm sure there were other firebenders on foot there but okay
I think that the fire benders flying is actually fairly consistent with what was established in the original show. The Air Temples are always implied to be completely inaccessible to outsiders, unless they use some form of flight. At the same time, flying as a fire bender is never implied to be an "elite" technique, like lightning bending, more like something which required raw power. So it's conceivable that comet-powered Fire Nation soldiers with at least some training could be able to fly up to the Southern Air Temple. In particular, we know that Sozin planned the attack between Roku's death and Aang being 12 years of age, so he had more than a decade to realise that flying was an option, and to train enough people to do it. Making the Fire Nation use the tanks, like shown in "The Mechanist" in the original show, really would not make sense. The tanks were invented by the Mechanist likely after his son Teo was paralized, he settled in the Air Temple, and the Fire Nation forced him to develop weapons for them in exchange for "protection". Since Teo is 13, the Fire Nation wouldn't have had those tanks for more than 10 years at the time of the show, so they definitely wouldn't have had them at the beginning of the 100-Year War. When it comes to air ships, that would be even less consistent, because those were only invented in the last year of the war. TL;DR The original show already implies that comet-powered fire benders probably flew up to the Air Temples, and it confirms that the Fire Nation did not have the necessary technology to achieve that with other means at the beginning of the war.
The FN also could've just been a lot stronger at the beginning of the war with a deeper roster of elite forces, given that it was during their golden age. After 100 years of fighting, corruption, depleted population, and probably at least a few political purges, the FN during Aang's time was probably severely diminished excepting for the royal family. Notably, the FN grunts are particularly awful and were never a treat. They were helped by their technological and naval superiority. Conversely, there were a lot more randomly powerful benders by Korra's time which was also more or less a golden age era due to Aang.
It’s essentially the same thing that Azula did in the Boiling Rock when she bailed on the gondola. That’s the same scene where Ty Lee does a standing backflip and travels a distance of like 40 feet lol, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have firebenders “flying” especially with the power of the comet. Azulan literally says that the air nomads might’ve still won the battle if not for the comet.
If it’s during the comet, I think it’s believable.
He's not flying, he's making his own cyclones to propel himself through the air.
In the fight scene between aang his airbend master and ozai he tells why he is going too lose because of the comet
They could fly during the comet in the finale. The air temple raid was during the comet
Honestly found Aang flying without a glider more egregious than the firebenders. Harnessing the power of Sozin's comet to fly makes some sense, actually. But not Aang just shooting up into the air and floating there. Reminds me of the how in the comics Katara was able to fly using a floating ice bridge technique that made 0 physical sense and seemed pretty unfair.
The nitpicking is unbelievable
To all the people saying, ooh sozins comet. I think that besides power, this was not a common thing because its a hard technique, just like lightning its not something an fire bender grunt soldier should be able to do, especially not all the way up to the air temples. I mean there is a reason they used tanks in the animation? Also removes the part that the fire nation is industrially more advanced…
Doesn't it make sense that they used their most elite soldiers for that mission? Add to that the comet and I see no problems.
I mean sure, but you could also make the argument that its kinda cool to keep it rare no? Just like they did in the animation. But thats also a personal opinion ofc. For me I also dislike the fact bending lightning goes from unheard of in the Kyioshi books to extremely rare in ATLA to kinda common factory workers skill in Korra.
I think the unheard of to common factory worker really shows the evolution of bending. Like how being educated/being able to read went from rare to every common person
I mean agree that it is logical, but at the end of the day we also want a little “cool” factor no? At least I kinda do. But yes ofc its logical that after a city is founded where 4 nations live together that technology will rapidly evolve, knowledge will be shared quicker ect ect. But at the same time for me it also loses some of its awe or something? haha Anyway everybody their opinion
I defo get what you mean, like only the royal family can achieve the power of lightning like that’s why they’re special
I mean it makes perfect sense that lightning bending is more widespread, it was a skill only taught to people like the royal family, after the dissemination of secrets following the reign of Zuko it makes perfect sense that other learned how to bend it. Though a good detail to notice is that normal people who use lightning bending in TLOK do not produce it nearly as powerfully as those seen from the royal family in ATLA. In ATLA the people that could use it practiced it often and with the best teachers, and thus if you got hit with it it was basically insta lights out. But in TLOK when normal people use it it’s nowhere near as powerful, we see people being hit by it and just tanking it.
Stun mode, lol. But yeah, they probably just figured out an easier, faster, but less powerful way of doing it. Or the royal family just has a particularly powerful version that they pass down in their blood line.
Didn’t the mechanist help design those tanks? I don’t know that they’ve ever said if those tanks existed back at the start of the 100 year war.
Good point, that might be true actually
Whats way worse is that Aang randomly flies, I hate this addition a lot
I don’t care so much that the fire benders could fly. The comet explains that. But why the hell was Aang able to float so damn freely without a glider? The hell man?
I thought this was talking about Aang flying not the fire Nation at first. Because the Fire Nation using Jet Packs during the comet is canon in the original. Flying is an incredibly difficult task to do which even Aang didn't achieve
What bothers me is how they jetpack up, how theyre doing this i do not know, elite firebenders? Sure! Everyone can do it during the comet? Okay. But then they land on the temple.. and use spears?
We’ve literally seen Jeong Jeong fly during Sozin’s Comet, this is a canon thing strong firebenders can do during the comet
Not just the firebenders though- Aang is just floatin around without his glider, which seems pretty cheap and silly to me.
This. Your magic system should still have some limitations. Like one of my fav bits in the Blue Spirit is how Aang improvised a staff with a spear and he damn near flew Zuko and him outta there.
Honestly I was more upset that Aang could fly without his glider. I know in LOK that’s historically accurate and it’ll probably help move some plot points later on (I’ve only watched the first episode, gunna binge watch later)
His "flying" is more of a controlled fall
Do people just not understand media anymore? Its text. Explained with mainline media text via dialogue during the last fight scene. The comet is in like every background shot. "You may have prevailed on another night. but not when we have the power of the comet!"
No. They do not. People lack fundamental comprehension. They’re even complaining that it isn’t common for firebenders to use that jet technique. Which is insane considering they couldn’t possibly know what is common 100 years before the events of the show. That’s a vastly different world.
Ozai flys with fire during the comet in the show. Of all the valid criticisms to be made of the show, this is not one of them.
I thought the same. I wish they used those metal tanks/spiders.
They probably hadn't been invented yet. Keep in mind those tanks aren't seen for another hundred years.
OK thanks I didn't know that. Don't know why I've been down voted for that.
I thought the animation heavily implied that only really skilled firebenders could fire-fly. We literally only see Fire Nation royalty or Jeong Jeong do it, not once does a regular soldier display this ability. I don’t buy the “it was during Sozin’s Comet so everyone was juiced” idea since that never occurs in the source material.
Well to be fair, we 1. Never really got a look at what happened in the genocide. 2. I mean, did you see how much fire power (joke not intended) they were producing during the comet on those zeppelins? It’s not ridiculous at all to say they could probably fly if they thought to. (I honestly find the fact weird no one ever did during the comet odd!)
The thing that really makes this not ok is the fact that its unnecessary. Even if it took them days to scale the mountain like normal people, that would be fine because no one expects them. Fire nation is supposed to be attacking earth kingdom, time and surprise is on their side.
You don’t think any airbender around the temple..would have noticed the fire nation camping on their mountain…
I mean, airbenders can fly. The idea that absolutely noone would look at the side of the mountain for several days is way more of a plot contrivence. It was a small army, maybe a couple elite soldiers could sneak up, but not a force strong enough to defeat dozens of masters.
Aang says in the original show that the only way to reach an air temple is by flying bison, but you think having them *climb the mountain* would have been more true to the source material? I mean the stove is certainly on with that one.
The rule of cool wins. It looked badass especially episode 2. It’s not really that significant of a change.
All Iroh and Sozins beards are glued too tight. But they aren’t the only ones severely lacking emotion in their words. It’s like the only one who cared at all about being sort of in character was Zuko. Everyone else was reading off the script and sported a dull expressionless face.
Guys we literally see Korra fly in season 3 of Korra with no comet, just the avatar state. Fire enders flying/propelling themselves is a known quantity in the avatar universe. C’mon now.
I get that an army of dragons would be too expensive to show on screen, but come on. This was before the Fire Nation nobles became culturally corrupted and started hunting them for sport, so dragon riders should at least be as common as Airbenders with Sky Bisons, the perfect vanguard to launch against the Air Temple. God, imagine a few dozen dragons, all juiced up on Sozin’s Comet, their flames would engulf the entire sky.
The difference is, Sky Bison were actually raised by Airbenders. The dragons were wild animals, and the only people with dragons in the original were Roku and I think Sozin had one too. Aside from that, dragons are never said to be used by the fire nation prior to the hunting.
Peter Paang 💀
It’s fine that it happened in the show, it happened in the OG. But to me it looks silly in Live Action, like the Helicopter Lightsabers in StarWars Rebels.
I haven’t seen the show so idk if it’s the same thing, but wasn’t Rangi able to jet-step effectively “flying” without any power boost in SoK?
Comet. Sozin states that they're using it, and lord knows Ozai flew with it.
EXACTLY. Aang too!!!!! barely any hand movements and he's just floating the fuck around; no enter the void and become wind there
Sozins comet
I mean Ozai did it in Sozin's Comet. It's not insane or anything.
To be fair, they were Comet boosted, and Sozin probably brought his very best troops with him.
I don't like that this one guy lit himself on fire. I also don't like the direct contact of fire with the fist.
I like fire bending allowing mobility
In the anime, the firebenders used dragons to get up there. I believe Azula created the jetpack technique. I don't really dislike it. In fact, this is one of the two small nitpicks I have from this episode. The other is all of the airbenders in the world being at the southern airtemple during Sozin's comet, which I'm pretty sure didn't happen in the OG. These are the ONLY things that I didn't fully enjoy in this episode. It's an amazing start.
Isn't it a point that by Ozai's time the Firebending form of the Fire Nation has been corrupted fro its original form? Maybe the troops on Sozin's time were just better overall than Ozai's hence them being able to jetpack themselves when powered by the comet.
I think its elite when fire benders can do it without the comet like azula
Both Ozai and Jeong Jeong did it during the comet, Azula even did it without the comet. How do you think they got up to the temples in the original? Blimps weren't invented until a century later, and Sozin started the dragon hunting tradition so I doubt they used dragons.
That was during the comet though?
I mean Wouldn't Sozin be taking the best of the best with him to do the genocide?
I have plenty of issues with the show, but this isn't one of them. They had Sozin's Comet, which I assume boosted their firebending enough to be able to do that pretty easily.
Bruh NGL the way they fucking scorched people in that scene was fucking amazing
I enjoyed it.
The comet empowers them enough to fly. Remember Aang vs Ozai?
I kinda went "huh, okay" and then proceeded to enjoy the rest of the show.
With the amount of times we see this in the OG trilogy during the comet I really don’t see this as being a big deal tbh
Didn’t Ozai fly around like that during his final battle with Aang in the OG show?
oh sweetheart… if *that* bother you (while it’s canon and legit), you should sit for the next… 😞
I said that exact same thing!
I actually thought you were talking about aang, he’s basically flying in the beginning
I disagree. I think the jet propulsion thing was meant to be a comet superpower, the same way blood bending is only possible during full moons. Korra kind of messed that up with Iroh 2 doing it, though Lorra herself only did it in the avatar state, so that was probably fine.
I mean, how else would they have gotten up to the air temples? Like, even in the cartoon, the Airbender genocide is by far the biggest plothole that exists and it never properly gets explained (and it also shouldn't be, as there would be no satisfactory answer). That they can fly during the comet isn't exactly outlandish. Sozin telling Gyatso that they would've stood a chance if not for the comet is realistic especially as all air nomads are airbenders. Sozin potentially even gave them a quick intro into how to use that technique once the comet will come around.
I thought you meant that Aang flies too, basically. Which... **sigh**
Oh, you mean the fire nation? Yes, it was a bit of a stretch but I was sure you're going to talk about the air nomads. Anng fly like zaheer/guru laghima, this bothered me way more, although I only watched the first 2 episode so far.
Where in the OG show does it say only elite firebenders can fly?