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#Also is that Katara in Fire Nation armor???
demaparbat-hp · 3 months
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lilbagdermole · 11 months
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It's common knowledge that Zuko and Aang, throughout the duration of ATLA, are a mirror of one another; a reflection of each other - not necessarily opposites but parallels.
So whilst I was analyzing the finale of the show, I noticed a really interesting parallel between our two protagonists:
Zuko was close to dying in his final confrontation with Azula and what pulled him back up, what saved him from dying was water. More necessarily Katara's healing abilities - but nonetheless, his opposing element saved his life.
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On the other hand, Aang throughout his harrowing fight against Ozai utilizes Earthbending time and time again to save himself, techniques that we've come to associate with Toph (rock armor and seismic sense). And to access the Avatar State, that had since been blocked, Earth had been the ultimate catalyst to unlocking his Seventh Chakra.
And if we take into consideration what Guru Pathik told Aang - to unlock the Seventh Chakra he would have to let go of Katara. In a sense, this could have been a visual representation of how Aang lets go of his love for Katara, and how Toph (Earth) could take up that role.
Earth, his opposing Element, saves his life.
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It's also interesting that our protagonists' conclusions and destinies are integrally tied to the aforementioned girls. Destiny and Fate are two major themes in ATLA, alonside the moral lesson shared to us by Uncle Iroh about the unity of the four elements and how each element can learn and grow from the other.
Zuko's destiny to bring honor to Fire Nation whilst also challenging his conflicting natures (Sozin vs. Roku; Ozai/Azula vs. Iroh) would have never come into fruition had it not been for Katara. Katara was the first person (other than his Uncle) to show him genuine compassion and humanity, she was the first person to glimpse into his true, kind and gentle nature. Additionally, had she not fought alongside Zuko to defeat Azula and save his life, he would have never been able to step up to the Throne and fulfill his destiny. Thus Katara is linked and bound to Zuko's destiny.
Aang's destiny was to restore peace to the world and end The One Hundred Year War. The Aang we meet during Book One - is timid and soft, a strong bender and with limitless potential, but he lacked the confidence, the back-bone, the grounding to step-up to his duties as the Avatar and defeat Ozai. Katara coddled him and never challenged him to look beyond himself. It's only after meeting Toph does Aang begin to confront his opponents with a different viewpoint, he gains a certain matureness in himself and suddenly we see him step up into his role and responsibilities. Toph's Earthbending not only saves him from death but it also gave him the strength to face his destiny. Thus, Toph is linked and bound to Aang's destiny.
It would have tied a lot of unexplored themes as well as provide a more satisfying conclusion (Aang entering the Avatar State because he followed through with Guru Pathik's lessons instead of pointy rock triggers it) and it would have been cohesive with the narrative thematic of ATLA.
I'm still astonished at how badly Bryke fumbled the bag with their romantic sub-plots. 🗿
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comradekatara · 12 days
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Genuinely asking—what changes would you make to the adult gaang designs? :)
this is such a fun question thank u for enabling me. i mean i draw them as adults sometimes so also check out my /oldergaang tag if u want visuals (altho i also change my designs a lot because my art is nothing if not inconsistent) but if i was just going with like standard character designs like if i could redesign that hideous “old friends” poster for example…
aang: get rid of that fucking. chinstrap. don’t give him white man features because what the hell is that. and let him wear his off the shoulder monk robes from book 3 because he was slaying with that fit. actually the way aang is drawn in imbalance is basically perfect i would retain that design into adulthood. thank u peter wartman for all that u do….
katara: i don’t mind the older katara design (from the little we see of it) but it’s also not nearly as cunty and slayful as i would like. katara is genuinely interested in fashion and loves experimenting with clothes and hair and makeup, i refuse to believe that as she ages and has more resources to tailor her style to her own personal tastes she wouldn’t get a little funky with it. like she kind of just looks boring and uninspired in her older design, and that’s unacceptable to me because she should be hot. adult katara should be the hottest woman you have ever seen in your life. and she should be buff, also. shredded, even.
toph: any signifiers of copness are obviously unacceptable to me. but even more that than, it’s very important to me that older toph is distinctly butch. i think she would cut her hair the second she realizes that there is no reconciliation to be found with her parents and that there is no reason to adhere to those confucian values. and she would wear a lot of sleeveless outfits (sort of like the shirt korra wears in “korra alone”) to show off her biceps and also space bracelet (spacelet) that is her prized possession forever. and she’s just kind of a hot hippie butch legend . period.
zuko: in the old friends poster he literally looks like a lizard so just like. no. wtf. and i like his long hair in theory but i don’t like that it’s styled after ozai and not ursa, i think his hair would be shwoopier and frame his face more. and his robes should be less spiky and militaristic and more designed for comfort because that’s what makes him feel most like his true authentic self and he deserves that. also weird for a guy who is trying to demilitarize the fire nation to wear an armor-adjacent type of outfit. so mainly he’d just look softer and more like his mom.
sokka: i hate buff goatee whitewashed sokka that is some kind of demon. lok did so little with him and yet said so much (all of it egregiously wrong, ofc). sokka would be fairly tall (although not as tall as aang) and have defined muscle but in a sinewy, lanky way. and despite always having enough to eat he’d still look somewhat malnourished just because he’s constantly overworked and exhausted and never takes care of himself. and his ponytail would be longer but he’d still shave the sides. and the older he gets the darker his clothes get until he basically just wears black all the time because at some point he realizes that it’s more advantageous to remain culturally ambiguous if he’s gonna be a cosmopolitan. and he wears glasses (which were a gift from kuei). and sometimes he uses a cane because he didn’t sufficiently take care of his broken leg after the war ended and now he’s paying the price for it. and his cane has a blade inside too, but he rarely ever even pulls out the blade because he can incapacitate someone with just a wooden stick anyway. so he looks like if a nerd was a shadow was about to collapse at any given moment was secretly ruling the entire world. and he’s not in any sort of front-facing position of power whatsoever but he’s actually pulling all the strings from behind the scenes, and it’s exhausting. his eyebags are visible from outer space.
suki: i don’t even think there is a “canon” adult suki character design besides her in her kyoshi warrior armor and makeup but to me casual suki just starts dressing more like sokka. like the loose baggy sleeveless shirts (except in a lighter shade of blue bc kyoshi island colors) and tight pants and boots. it’s a very dykey look already and they’re basically girlfriend twins so their styles would merge even more than it already has within the show itself. like sometimes people think that sokka and suki are siblings because they dress so similarly and give off such a similar vibe and they’re just like “but we’re literally different ethnicities??? and also we are currently making out????”
okay bonus round bc i can’t just neglect them
azula: she cuts her hair really short and as an adult leaves it to shoulder length for the most part because that’s more comfortable for her. like zuko, she also starts dressing for comfort, and for a period in her late teens stops wearing makeup altogether. she gets back into wearing makeup as an adult, but she stops caring about whether or not she leaves the house with lipstick on, and it becomes more about the process for her than the result. she’s comfy and cute and dykey.
mai: sokka is her lesbian style icon so after her first haircut that was inspired by toph’s haircut to piss off her parents, she gets an undercut and starts wearing her hair in a ponytail like sokka. as she gets older she also gets more confident in her body and doesn’t feel like she needs to wear baggy long-sleeved clothing at all times or she’ll die. and she isn’t rail thin as an adult either because she starts letting herself eat more than a single grain of rice at a time. also, she gets a sword.
ty lee: she becomes a kyoshi warrior so she starts incorporating more blues and greens into her wardrobe, but also more oranges and yellows after she embraces her air nomad heritage. and she just dresses very colorfully and has a vast rotation of different cute little outfits. and i think she’d also experiment with different hairstyles once she has the freedom to define herself outside of the aesthetics expected of her. she looks beautiful always
haru: he finally shaves that thang
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ultfreakme · 2 months
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Thoughts on Jessie Gender's video on NATLA
I really admire Jessie Gender's videos usually, she's the one whom I usually go to to see videos on gender and queerness in media. I like her stuff a lot and respect their work.
But the NATLA video left me going "no, wait, that's not what happened" a lot. I can't summarize the video, I suggest people go watch it if they want to know but I disagree with practically everything for the most part.
I'm not anybody on the internet. But what I do have is a lifetime of growing up on ATLA, a degree in Sociology and English Literature, coming from a culture that ATLA is based on, studying about colonial rule, researching the cultures ATLA is based on in my spare time and a love for the original. Does that establish some legitimacy? If for some reason you feel like you need to go hate on Jessie for this, DON'T. DO NOT. This is me just critiquing because I think the video content was biased and I want to honestly engage with the points made because everyone has a tendency to demonize the adaption without looking at it on its own merit. With that said:
Point 1: Sokka's sexism is taken out to make the show more palatable and his arc in the Kyoshi Island episode undermines Suki to prop up Sokka.
She says that Sokka's sexism and him addressing it is a show-long arc, and him deconstructing that is him fighting against the colonial sexism of the Fire Nation.
Sokka's sexism is explicitly dealt with in one episode. He's shown to be overtly sexist in the first 4 and never again except for little comments here and there that every other character makes as well and goes unaddressed. His sexism is not because of the Fire Nation- FN is very inclusive of women as warriors. Sokka's sexism is an anomaly because no one but him cares that Katara isn't just sitting home mending clothes(Bato, Hakoda, none of the men on the ship they are on in S3 say a word and she takes off to join Aang in the Fire Nation islands).
If Sokka's sexism is not systematic to the Southern Water Tribe or caused by the Fire Nation, what kind of commentary on sexism is this?
She also says Suki is played down and demured to give Sokka confidence when she's teaching him, taking away her arc as she pines for the new boy who she likes because he's shirtless. Sokka's throughout the episode shows insecurity and a more subtle form of sexism where he's trying ton prove he's as good as her. He's trying to show off his strength to her, and failing miserably and when he realizes she bested him, he walks away. He goes into it assuming he's better than her but walks away realizing shit she is GOOD. Then he goes to her dojo to observe the practice and follows along, Suki invites him in seeing him fucking up the forms outside and teaches him.
Suki falls for a tackle Sokka does in the og and live action. In the OG, it's shown as Sokka ACTUALLY being better. In the live action? He isn't. One lesson doesn't make him better, she transitions from actually teaching him to kinda flirting until she completely stops. She's not weakening herself for him, both of them are expressing romantic interest. How did Sokka, a boy who that morning was defeated by them, get better than SUKI in a spar she put genuine effort in? I think that's frankly more sexist than the live action take.
Additionally, Suki was meant to be a one-off character meant to teach Sokka that sexism is bad. She existed entirely to serve Sokka's character arc and had no independent motivation in season 1. In the live action, we see her talk about wanting to go into the world, and see her growing motivation through Aang's presence of wanting to not just protect Kyoshi Island, but the world. She became what she is only in season 2 and 3. Sokka's sexism arc didn't even pan out well because he never addressed the issue with Katara after that episode, the first and most affected victim of his sexism.
Sokka wearing the armor in the original, is a joke. Aang calls their uniform a dress while laughing (it's not, like it's not even constructed like one, the bottoms are loose pants called Hakama). He isn't put into the uniform to show solidarity, it's a joke, and we are meant to be laughing at Sokka for the most part. Queer fans have reclaimed and redefined that scene to be like drag, but that wasn't the original intention of the show because we get jokes on Aang's masculinity which never actively get refuted from Toph in season 2. Katara of all people points out Sokka wearing a poinytail in a demeaning manner multiple times, a supposedly girly hairstyle. If the original wanted to honor Sokka embracing gender fluidity, they wouldn't consistently mock him for being choosy about buying a bag and wearing a ponytail(which in-universe has cultural importance to him).
All signs of 'femininity' in Sokka are played for laughs in the rest of the show(down to the scene where he draws a rainbow, and his master Piandao simply rolls his eyes).
Sokka is also never once shown as a better warrior in the live action- his story is the opposite. Sokka yearns here to be an engineer, a scientist tinkering away with new inventions. His father Hakoda and the SWT discourages this because there is no value in that for them. Value is shown for them to come from physical strength, which Sokka NEVER has in live action season 1(him having biceps and being shirtless is not a glorification of strength). He's good, but he's nothing special. His true highlight is in his intellect and the show implies pretty well that Sokka doesn't need to be physically strong or a warrior to fight back against oppression.
That's his defining line in the show teasers "you do not need to be a warrior, to be a hero."
Point 2: The sexism arc isn't replaced by anything more nuanced.
It is! It's replaced by the biases against bending. Sokka discourages Katara from bending because the Fire Nation attacked the SWT to eliminate waterbenders. Both Katara and Sokka hold fear for waterbending, a part of their own culture, specifically because of the Fire Nation's hegemony and hierarchical beliefs. Waterbending = preservation of culture and Katara says these exact words in episode 1. Sokka stopping her is him being under the colonial hegemony of the FN because waterbending is what brought Fire Nation soldiers to their shores to kill their mom. That's the new arc and it has follow through to the end. Instead of Sokka telling Katara to kick ass because he isn't sexist anymore, the live action Sokka says it because he's embraced waterbending and his own culture now through seeing Katara grow and letting her choose for herself what's best for her (instead of smothering in his faux warrior persona, which they literally discuss when stuck in the cave). This arc is exclusive to the show, there's no comment on the cultural significance and erasure of waterbending in the original.
It's made more explicit in Katara's arc, where she needs to get past the fear the Fire Nation has put in her of the dangers of her own bending, and embrace that her people wanted to protect it (Kya sacrificing herself, Gran-Gran hiding the waterbending scroll).
Point 3: Showing the genocide of the Air Nomads is disrespectful
In the original, the Air Nomads are nothing but a memory. At all times. We never see the influence of the Air Nomad culture on Aang, or see them alive and thriving at any point. We see them fight back on the live action, and the actual genocide is a few short minutes, interspersed with Aang sinking. It's not a lingering process and it shows the abilities of Air Nomads. Jessie says this is purely aesthetic and to be cool, but there are significant moments that happen here.
Establishing the powers of Air Benders- this is the first and last time we'll get to see Air Bending on this scale and this shows what they can do
There's a scene where two air nomads nod to one another, and the air nomad switches from defensive to an extremely offensive move. It shows that this isn't typical for the Air Nomads, and that they are being pushed to their limits
This is a festival, they were defending themselves and it's important to show that the Air Nomads didn't just go silently without a fight and were ambushed on an important day.
To show the Fire Nation's cruelty and the extent of their power during the comet specifically.
To give weight to WHY everyone Aang runs into is so critical and hateful of the fact that he was gone, and to also show why Aang never refutes them and the weight of what he's lost (and also that even if he were there, he couldn't have done anything)
It's not just to be cool, it's honestly not cool to watch and taking Gordon Cormier, a child's quote to say that's what everyone's impression is, is disingenuous despite the disclaimer given. The kids' quotes always get taken out of context. Reviewers and Avatar fans who went to the premiere were disturbed overall by the violence. They did not think of the Fire Nation as "cool", they saw the Air Nomads like that. Like don't we want people to think of the Air Nomads in a positive light for fighting back?
Their culture gets little to no expansion in the original, and whatever Aang has left of them is actually slowly stripped away in the original.
Aang is made to okay the destruction and modification of the Northern Air Temple when destruction is shown as wrong during his rage and grief in the Southern Air Temple. The new settlers have used the gliders of Air Nomads to device weapons that fly, which were then sold to the Fire Nation. The Mechanist and his people continue this and create more weapons to fight the war in the temples(albeit this time agaisnt the fire nation but the cycle of violence continues using devices and cultures of a peaceful people). A once-peaceful place, is now a center for war innovation and Aang is told to accept this because he must let go of the past to look to the future.
The above, in comparison to Aang simply saying "I should let go of the past and look to the future" is FAR more disrespectful of Aang's culture and past. The live action keeps Gyatso's memory a constant companion to Aang, he is terrified of letting go of the past and it hinders him from simply living.
Point 4: Violence is shown as good and the cycle of violence is perpetuated.
She says Kyoshi demanding Aang to fight back and hit hard is showing that Aang needs to embrace strength and power. That everyone telling him to fight and be alone means strength is given importance, and that the same is shown when Zuko says "sometimes the weak can become strong, sometime you just have to give them a chance."
Kyoshi is wrong. She is willfully portrayed as powerful, but harsh. Roku(though his screentime was small) disagrees with her and tells Aang to find his own way of fighting and that is ultimately what Aang follows.
Kyoshi doesn't come off as correct, she's demanding and harsh, unforgiving. Aang initially lets her take over because he is scared of the power he holds and she promises she can control it to help others. Aang doesn't want power(he literally says 'I don't want these powers'). In the finale, he gives in to the ocean spirit and does what Kyoshi asks; save everyone, even if it costs his own life. But it is shown as a tragedy. Katara calls back for him and tells him he shouldn't have to sacrifice himself, that he has a place in this world as he is no matter what others tell him and he listens to THAT. He says he will save the world not alone, but with his friends, in the memory of the Air Nomads to ensure it never happens again.
Physical strength is only a priority to Katara's character. Sokka doesn't fight in the end, he's begging Yue to not sacrifice herself and is protecting her. He's not some macho man. Aang is also not embracing power.
Zuko says that line not to show that he can grow stronger, but that people should get second chances. He's a hurt kid wishing his father had the compassion to let him grow. But he doesn't and Zuko walks away from it thinking physical strength and bending prowess is important, crushing his compassion. That line on a meta level isn't even about physical strength. It's about mental fortitude and character, and the strength to be compassionate.
Jet was mentioned as being portrayed as more wrong, but in the original he was ready to sink a village of innocents. in the live action he genuinely helped Katara with her waterbending and was justified in wanting to kill the mechanist(who collaborated with the fire nation) and King Bumi (who is neutral, incompetent and has let the Fire Nation run rampant in the city). He's more sympathetic here because he's doing it with a concrete reason, and he didn't even manipulate Katara the way he did in the original. She was genuinely charmed by him.
A big problem I had with Jessie's video was putting in clips from some right-wing channel between critique of NATLA....which....why? Huh? And these were used to say NATLA is leaning into fascist tendencies and smoothing out any critique of colonialism when it really isn't. I think NATLA is very explicitly saying the same message as the original. Not in the same way, but it is. The show actively engages audiences and the characters in discussions of cultural erasure and the problems of valuing power(the latter especially through Zuko and Azula).
There are million issues with the live action (Sokka's casting, ableism in Zuko's burn scar, the writing issues, pacing issues, the lack of screen time for Aang and focus on the Fire family). The ones Jessie Gender discussed though, are not it.
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theduckeminence · 10 months
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Y’all ever just think about how characters from atla would sound and be viewed as from a historical standpoint? Can you imagine how freaking hilarious yet interesting that would be?
Like imagine you’re reading a textbook and you get to the era of the 100 Year War and you read about notable figures from the dynasties between Firelord Sozin, to Azulon, and then to Ozai, only to see a photo in the textbook depicting the theatrical and hella dramatic armor Ozai wore when he attempted to burn down the Earth Kingdom?
Or the fact that King Bumi is probably known to be the most longest living and insane kings to ever rule in the world and the more you learn about this guy, the more crazier and out of pocket you can imagine him being?
How about the idea of how some of our beloved female characters being portrayed in history as being the most badass characters to exist—especially at a young age? Can you imagine what it would be like to read or watch a video on how Azula took over Ba Sing Sa? How Toph created metal bending? How Katara upstarted rebellions and movements in the name of justice and rights?
Yet can you imagine the idea of how some of these characters can be severely underrated and overlooked due to their lack of story? For instance, characters like Princess Yue, Jet, Hama—can you imagine how their stories would be told and framed? Yue being seen as a tragedy? Jet also being both a tragedy and a young war hero? Hama being seen as both a “bad guy” in history for hurting many, yet simultaneously sympathized for what she has gone through? Can y’all imagine that?
Can you also imagine how Zhao would be known as the biggest loser in Fire Nation history? So much so that chances are some schools in the FN may as well refuse to speak about him? That’s both sad and hilarious—
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sweet-evie · 1 month
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No, but think about putting SaShiSu in an Avatar: The Last Airbender AU... 🥴
Waterbender!Gojo, Waterbender Healer!Ieiri and Firebender!Geto Imagines😭 Hear me out!
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They go on adventures together, get in trouble together.
Plus, if SatoSugu friendship blossoms into romance, it's so Romeo and Juliet-coded ✨💖
I like the idea of the three of them being childhood best friends.
Imagine this takes place during peace time, and there's no war (YET), and it's just the four nations being normal.
So Satoru, Shoko, and Suguru definitely met as children during an official visit to each other's country or something.
Suguru Geto is Fire Nation nobility who knows a thing or two about manipulating body heat and more...
🔥 Listen... It's the bun istg... Because why does his hairstyle remind me of Ozai, lowkey?
🔥 He's a talented firebender, martial artist, and adept scholar.
🔥 His mom and dad are political figures and I imagine his mom is a lady-in-waiting to the Fire Lord's wife, while Suguru's father actually sits in the Fire Lord's council. The man is an admiral in the Fire Lord's navy.
🔥 Suguru would be a nerd about Wan Shi Tong's library. 🦉
🔥 Suguru would be good at war strategy. It comes from his obsession with Pai Sho.
🔥 You know, his uncle may or may not rope him into joining the Order of the White Lotus at some point in his life.
🔥 Suguru in RED Fire Nation armor~ 🥹🥴🤤
🔥 Also, if I was skilled in photoshop, I will not be above photoshopping Suguru's head on top of Ozai's body. As in, I just need that image of Suguru Geto as a Fire Lord. 😩
Shoko Ieiri is a talented and renowned waterbender for her healing prowess and knowledge in human anatomy.
💧 She is from the Northern Water Tribe, like Gojo, and was raised alongside Satoru, so they're basically siblings.
💧 Her knowledge of human anatomy is unmatched. As in, yes, there are skilled waterbending healers, but Shoko is iconic because she goes beyond practicing healing on human mannequins. Our girl does autopsies and often ponders how the human body works. She's a legit doctor, okay?
💧 She practiced healing on Satoru a lot while they were growing up too, because Satoru acquired plenty of scrapes and bruises and dislocated bones through the years. He was a rambunctious child who had way too much power in his menace-causing hands. (more on Satoru later).
💧 What Satoru lacks in healing prowess, Shoko makes up for in buckets and buckets.
💧 Shoko is a decent waterbender in combat, but she would really rather her two friends do most of the fighting.
💧 Not like Satoru or Suguru would let her on the field that much anyway. She's too valuable to risk. Shoko knows it and plays that up to her advantage A LOT.
💧 Aside from escaping the arranged marriage her parents set up for her, Shoko eagerly ran away from home with Satoru at 18 in pursuit of scholars who eagerly studied human anatomy like her.
💧 Shoko is interested in how the other nations tend to their wounded and sick when they can't find a waterbending healer.
Satoru Gojo is blessed by the spirit of the moon and the ocean.
🌊🌕 He is literally Yue 2.0, but better! Still the Honored One in any universe. 😍 The white hair and blue eyes... Need I say more?
🌊🌕 Okay, so... I'm thinking... Satoru Gojo in ATLA universe is just like his JJK counterpart. He was highly favored by the spirits from the moment he was born.
🌊🌕 His parents look like typical Northern Water Tribe people. Dark-haired. Satoru is the only one in the family who is pale and white-haired.
🌊🌕 He's a Prince, of course... Prince Satoru of the Northern Water Tribe sounds hell'a good.
🌊🌕 He grew up sheltered, he's a waterbending prodigy, and he's still a menace.
🌊🌕 Gojo is also definitely a blood-bender, but I like to think he learns that skillset later on in their adventures or something (kind'a like how Katara learned it, but with less guilt). Also, Choso definitely taught him right?
🌊🌕 Satoru does not know how to heal other people. It's one of his greatest flaws. He can heal himself just fine, but using water to seek out illness and heal it for other people? Yeah... He sucks at that... (Not different from JJK in other words, where Gojo can't output Reverse Cursed Technique to heal other people. He only knows how to use RCT on himself).
Their Adventure Backstory...
➼ At 18, Satoru starts to get antsy about seeing the world and whatnot. He's sick of the family politics and the arranged marriages about to be shoved down his throat.
➼ Shoko is in the same boat. If the arranged marriages are suffocating for a prince, it's even worse for a talented young woman of noble birth.
➼ Shoko's situation is what pushes Satoru to say "Fuck it!" and run away from home.
➼ So against their parents' wishes, these 2 reckless teenagers devise a plan to run away for a much needed world tour. Satoru's reasoning is that they won't be gone forever... He and Shoko will come back eventually.
➼ First destination in mind: the Fire Nation... to see Suguru and rope him into their grand plans, of course!
➼ Satoru and Shoko steal a ship from the Water Tribe fleet and go on their merry way. (I like to think they got there fast because Satoru was manipulating the water underneath the ship to propel them faster to where they need to go).
➼ By the time they reach the Fire Nation, word has already spread of the Northern Water Tribe's runaway Prince.
➼ Shoko thinks Satoru is being stupid, but hey, according to Satoru, "What can my parents do about it at this point?"
➼ Sure, Satoru is a highly valued individual that could fetch a high price if kidnapped by pirates (he's a Prince, after all), but he's also an insanely powerful waterbender and combatant. I'm sure he'd say something like, "I don't need my bending to win."
➼ Satoru and Shoko make it to the Fire Nation unscathed, meet up with Suguru, and convince him to come along on a grand adventure.
➼ They switch out the Water Tribe ship for something a little more discreet from Suguru's own father's fleet. (Side-eye the kiddies using their parents' resources carelessly to do whatever they want. 😆 They're nepo-babies... all 3 of them.)
➼ I like to think Suguru's parents don't mind though. His mom, in particular, thinks it's a good idea for Suguru to go out and see the world and shit.
➼ Where are they going? Satoru didn't actually know.
➼ Suguru suggests a visit to the legendary knowledge spirit's library, since he's a nerd about that, but also, Shoko wants to see if she can find anything that indulges her curiosity. So that's where they're headed first.
➼ It would be a cute idea for a coming-of-age story... where SaShiSu grow up through the experiences they've had and they realize they have responsibilities to attend to or something.
➼ Because as much as they would want to, there's no such thing as traveling the world as nomads forever. Satoru is a Prince, and Shoko and Suguru are of noble birth. They have stuff to do...
➼ OR... OR... OR.... They're 3 stupid teenagers who ran away from home right on the brink of a war happening. Like, they had no idea conflict was rising, so shit hits the fan and Suguru just receives word from his father via messenger hawk, telling him to come home because there is a war.
It's embarrassing how I'm thinking about their combat prowess + the trouble the three of them get into too...
➼ Gojo and Geto enhance each other's combat. They're so in sync.
➼ Of course, they started out pretty rough... Water vs Fire and all that.. But as they train together more and inevitably encounter situations where they had to fight their way out, they learn to work together and be so in sync.
➼ Watching them fight each other, or fight alongside one another is a treat. It's like a dance -- a perfectly choreographed movement of legs and limbs.
➼ Suguru's fire can burn hot enough to evaporate water. It burns hot enough to destroy tightly packed walls of stone. He is not a stranger to carrying out executions on the most heinous criminals in the Boiling Rock, so yes, Suguru has burned a man alive and/or electrocuted a criminal in prison in the name of justice.
➼ Satoru is the perfect support to Suguru when Suguru launches a lightning attack.
➼ At some point in their adventures, Suguru pointed out how Satoru could try sucking moisture out of plants or draw water from the air and Satoru figures it out.
➼ I like to think Shoko put the idea of bloodbending in Satoru's head. It was a hypothetical thought that led to Satoru actually trying to figure it out and eventually running into someone who does that.
➼ It all started with Shoko randomly saying, "Hey, did you know that water takes up 3/4 of the human body?" as they sat around their campfire one night.
➼ Also... something something shenanigans happen where Satoru keeps waterbending boiling water out of a pot to fling at something -- the little shit that he is.
➼ After they left the Northern Water Tribe, Satoru has become Shoko's impromptu combat waterbending teacher.
➼ Shoko always complains about it during training days because Satoru HAS NO CHILL. He's also banking on the fact that Shoko can heal herself, so he finds little use in holding back.
➼ Shoko and Satoru have definitely pulled water-based pranks on Suguru multiple times. This is gross, but.... piss-bending. Satoru did it once as a prank. 🤢🤮
➼ On a brighter note, Satoru definitely makes silly water sculptures/giant puppets in the middle of the ocean for his and his companions' begrudging entertainment. Suguru and Shoko roll their eyes at it, but honestly, it's kinda cute when a water serpent or a water squid rises out of the sea to greet their ship once in a while. Yeah, it scares the shit out of ocean wildlife and maybe nearby ships and such, but at least Satoru is having fun. 🥴😁 (the unhinged wittle baby)
➼ Shoko thinks the Moon and the Ocean Spirits regret blessing the Prince when he was born. Suguru agrees...
➼ But hey, they make each other proud in their own ways.
➼ Shoko once stalled their trip and stayed in a remote fishing town for a week to heal the sick, and Satoru and Suguru were there as her assistants. (Satoru was complaining about the poor amenities and Suguru had to remind him all over again that though he was raised in a noble household, it was his duty to protect and care for those who cannot do that for themselves).
➼ Satoru once helped mediate a political issue that was severely affecting several neighboring towns in the Earth Kingdom.
➼ Suguru cracked a criminal case that was unsolved for months in a town in the Fire Nation, and was personally responsible for delivering the serial killer to the Boiling Rock. (Satoru saw the boiling lake and definitely played around with it, much to the chagrin of Suguru and Suguru's uncle).
Side note for my peeps who are familiar with ATLA lore:
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You know how they say no prisoner has ever escaped the Boiling Rock? Suguru told Satoru and Shoko about that, and Satoru definitely bets that he could do it.
Prince Satoru argues it's only because, "None of you waterbend."
They're visitors to the high security prison, but it doesn't stop Satoru from doing dumb stuff, like sneaking out without alerting the guards.
To prove his point, Satoru did what Sokka and Zuko did to escape the Boiling Rock: Use a cooler as a boat.
So in the dead of night, Suguru, Satoru, and Shoko do it, and Satoru successfully ferries the three of them across the Boiling Lake.
Afterwards, Suguru's like, "You've proven your point, Satoru. Let's head back."
Satoru is laughing and flashing his friends that cheesy, cocky grin he's known for and brags, "'No one escapes the Boiling Rock, highest security Fire Nation prison' my ass. All you needed was a waterbender!"
Shoko rolls her eyes at her friend's antics and speaks to him in a matter-of-fact voice, "Sure, but it wouldn't make sense for waterbenders to be kept here anyways or to be stuffed in coolers as punishments. It's meant to hold a firebender, not for people from the Water Tribe... and especially not for you."
Suguru is smirking at them both, "Theoretically speaking, precautions would be in place to prevent you from bending water. So that means pumping dry air and probably suspending your hands and feet before you're given anything to drink."
Shoko was nodding. "It'll take more than getting stuffed in a cooler for you to escape actually, so this little plot proves nothing, Satoru."
They got caught regardless because they lingered on the edge of the Boiling Lake on the opposite end of the island for far too long, and a watchman saw them and alerted Suguru's uncle.
Needless to say, SaShiSu were thoroughly scolded when they made it back to the prison.
Satoru's paying for damages to one of the dismantled coolers that were used as boats.
➼ I seriously need to stop, but yo...
Somebody please write a JJK X ATLA AU for real... 🙏
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i'm not a zvtara shipper in any significant way, but sometimes i can't help but see aang as slightly hypocritical. i get that he managed to let go of katara in CoD, but i don't understand how exactly he let go of her but was still super into her in all of s3. what does "you need to let her go" even means? also, i get that he doesn't want to kill ozai at the end of the series, but what about the times he hurt people in ways that would result in deadly injuries? (i don't hold the end of S1 against him since he was being used as vessel by the ocean spirit, i'm mostly talking about the avalanche he caused on the northern air temple episode)
When Aang leaves the Guru, despite knowing he won't master the Avatar State at all if he left at that point, he did it because he literally ahd a vision of Katara being in danger. When he is letting go of his attachment in that season finale, he gives one last glance at Katara, who is in the middle of a battle, because he knows that the only way to truly help her would be to trust that she will be okay and focus on preventing the Fire Nation from winning.
On the episode "The Awakening", when Aang is panicking and wanting to reveal to the world that he is alive and fight the Fire Lord without a plan, he goes alone. On the day of the eclipse, he kisses Katara, but they go their separate ways in the battle, instead of him being close by in case she needs him.
The "learn to let her go" thing has NEVER been about him no longer being allowed to be in love with her, or even a close friend, and it was never a fully black and white issue either - that's why we see IROH, the guy who lost his son because he chose his quest for power over thinking as parent and thus keeping him away from the battlefield, telling Aang that he is right to choose love above everything. Why we have Katara be the one to literally bring Aang back from the dead. Why the Guru himself explicitly uses Aang's love for Katara as a way to make him strong enough to deal with the grief of losing his people, and why he says "Learn to let her go" not "Forget about her" (there's a reason the cliche of all cliche lines is "If you love someone, set them free" - attachment existing, by itself, it's not a bad thing, but holding onto it ALL the time can get toxic).
Hakoda let his children go when left to fight in the war, doesn't mean he no longer cares or shouldn't care. Iroh let Zuko go in book 3 because at that point he had understood that his nephew needed to follow his own path, doesn't mean he no longer cared or shouldn't have cared anymore. Why is Aang the only one being held to an absurd standard of "If you understood that you can't always be with the people you care about because you got other responsibilities besides just being their friend, that means you're supposed to never want them around even when that wouldn't negatively affect anything"?
As for Aang's supposed "fatal victims" - this is a cartoon that operates on cartoon physics. The Omashu slide/mail system on episode 5 should have left the heroes permanently paralyzed from waist/neck down, assuming they didn't full on die because the human body simply can't survive a fall like that. Firebenders don't burn themselves when practically holding the flame they're generating, nor when they literally breathe fire. We've seen some of the bad guys survive falling down from an airship and hitting the ocean, in full armor, and be completely unharmed.
The show had casualties - but it was always highlighted a fatal injury instead of glossing over it. There's a reason the showrunners were surprised fans ever thought there was even the slightest chance Jet had not died. In a world where people survive absurd stuff, the show suddenly changing the tune to go "Actually this one screwed over some people" is the ONE way to know there actually was a death, and these situations are still the exception, not the rule.
"Oh but Nichya, it was an avalanche!" yes, much like the one in Mulan - a cartoon that is famous for going "Ya know what, the bad guys didn't die despite being buried in the snow long enough that all the good guys left, and only after a major plot event." It's almost like animation does that kind of stuff all the time...
You can't apply real world logic/physics to a cartoon, and it's very weird that the fandom only feels like doing so in the explicit attempt to create a reason to hate on Aang because they don't like that a pacifist remained a pacifist.
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tiredlylaughing · 2 months
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An analysis/rant about netflix's ATLA episode 1
who is that guy ?????
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oh he's dead now ig it doesn't matter
the people in the intro were giving uncanny
i like the costumes, they're cute, i like zuko's crew especially. and i like that everyone on the ship is wearing armor except for iroh
aang's airbending bordered on flying waaay too many times
loooove gordon cormier, he's such a great aang
interesting choice to have them know about the comet right from the beginning ? i mean i guess it works to set up the end earlier on. i do actually think i like that it was originally something the air nomads celebrated and it got stolen from them by the fire nation
my biggest pet peeve continues to be how much they just say the things meant to be showed or explored later on. zuko wastes a scene info dumping to his uncle about things he already knows just so the audience is caught up, gran gran spits out all the avatar lore suddenly, aang gives an entire monologue about being the avatar before he runs away when his thoughts should absolutely not be that clear about it yet.
appa crying ;(((((((( my day was ruined
i'm about to be very predictable but i think it's so stupid that aang wasn't even trying to run away after finding out he's the avatar. they left out what feels like an entire part of his arc and now he feels more like a vessel of information rather than an actual person with feelings
i hate the glowy eyes when they firebend lol
i like that they left in katara being a bad bender at the start instead of just making her a girlboss
no penguin sledding FUCKKK WHAT'S EVEN THE POINT ANYMORE
dallas liu sounds so much like zuko to me. like, his voice is so different but it just sounds like zuko
fire fucking shot what the hell
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aang's nightmares make no sense when we just saw what happened barely a minute ago, it's fine if that's how they wanted to set up his past but it doesn't feel like these things happened 100 years ago at all. the nightmares could've come in later or never at all.
i love that aang and katara still got their bonding moment, even if it was different from the original
didn't get a boomerang scene. so fucking sad
the conversation between iroh and aang was cool👍
NO MOTHERFUCKING YIP YIP ?????? IS THIS WHAT THE WORLD HAS COME TO
anyway, zuko was such a weirdo <3 love that <33 now for the serious opinions
it bothers me SO much that this guy is so old, like what's the purpose of sokka then ?? if the rest of the men in the tribe aren't literal toddlers ??
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sure sokka was the protector but this guy existing means he wasn't ever that alone in that role. it makes who he was a lot more superficial. sure, you can argue some of the people of the southern water tribe believed the role was superficial, or just not that important, but to sokka it was who he was and what shaped him. i'm guessing they probably did this because it was kind of insane to leave the entire tribe alone without sokka there to protect them. but to me that was always the point. sokka didn't want to leave, but he understood that leaving them alone was for a greater good that would ultimately mean all of their safety. he was able to leave because he knew, in a way, he was still doing everything he could to protect them. now he just gets to walk away without any worries, leaving behind a role that was apparently not even that important to him ?? also !! it does feel a bit sexist on the creators' part to think that surely those women couldn't have survived on their own, they need whoever has some testosterone to protect them. that's literally what hakoda did and what caused sokka to have wrong ideals (wether or not hakoda did it with these intentions or not). so. the showrunners just did that to another character but without punishing it this time.
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finished a:tla netflix
here are some thoughts (idk, they might be controversial)
Things I liked:
Avatar itself is so good that even a bad adaptation is enjoyable, and i really enjoyed seeing the avatar world in live-action style, especially Omashu !!!
Ian Ousley was born to play Sokka idc what anybody else says, idc about the butchered character arc, or the personality changes or any of that, Ian Ousley is the live-action Sokka we deserve and he ate every scene (except one, which i WILL be mentioning later)
Like seriously Sokka has never given such big bro energy before and i'm living for it, Ian looks like Sokka, sounds like Sokka, and imo carried the show a bit.
I love a good long episode, none of this percy jackson 30 minute nonsense.
Fire Nation costumes HIT - like some of the other costumes were lacking but the fire nation uniforms and armor ? amazing.
They kept so much of the original music !!!
Honestly the bending was pretty good. i fully expected it to suck and be super cringey but there were really only a few moments of cringe for me.
Lieutenant Jee!!! best character!!! best casting!!! amazing, 10/10.
Like seriously though Omashu looked amazing, Agna Q'ela looked amazing, the southern air temple looked AMAZING.
Hahn was cute, i liked Hahn.
Blue Spirit accuracy omg i am so glad they stuck so closely to the original blue spirit storyline.
Gran gran was giving, ngl.
Again, Ian Ousley as Sokka. Show stopping.
Things I didn't like (sorry, the list is long):
sorry, gordon cormier did not do Aang justice. maybe it was the writing? idk, either way, Aang was not Aang-ing and he was honestly boring ? also i'm pretty sure Gordon is age-accurate (?) but if i had to guess his age with no prior knowledge i would guess 9. maybe 10. idk. i get that Aang is a kid but idkkkkkk I was just disappointed ig.
KATARA. ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. DON'T EVEN ASK, WE ALL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. Like, i never even liked Katara that much in the og show but dang, they ruined her.
besides katara, Iroh seemed the least character accurate to me. like, in the very first scene in the og show when Zuko is practicing his firebending iroh gets on his case for doing it wrong or whatever and he def has some attitude about it. like, Iroh isn't all chill all the time, let him have some attitude. also where was the wisdom? I felt a bit like i was watching endgame Thor - like iroh was kind of a joke? idk, i couldn't take his character seriously. the actor fell flat for me. bland. didn't sound like iroh, didn't really look like him. writing was weird.
THE PART WHERE THEY HEAL MOMO IN THE POND AND AND AND SOKKA - HUGS HIM ???? LIKE THAT ???? WHAT DID I JUST WITNESS ???? IM CRYING IT WAS SO CRINGE LIKE WHY DID I HAVE TO WATCH THAT WHAT WAS THE POINT
Maybe it was just me but Zhao's actor delivered all his lines like jokes with no punchlines. and he also was not remotely intimidating.
SORRY DANIEL DAE KIM I LOVE YOU BUT no. he didn't do Ozai justice (but really, who could possibly stand up to the performance of mark hamil?)
it wasn't funny. straight up. the whole show. just. not funny.
idk maybe i'm just a nitpicky bitch but none of the performances really hit except Ian's. that's my biggest complaint. they can change what they want (it is an "adaptation" after all) but none of the actors felt right. ig dallas liu wasn't bad ? ian ousley was great, but that's about it.
butchered bumi storyline. no thank you. i will be pretending that didn't happen.
i really just wanted to see live action sokka in kyoshi warrior makeup tbh.
ALSO STRAIGHT UP WHY DID EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER HAVE TO TALK ABOUT HOW SOKKA WASN'T A WARRIOR ??? LIKE YEAH VALIDATE HIS ENGINEERING PASSION AND WHATNOT BUT HE IS A WARRIOR? THAT IS PART OF HIS CHARACTER ? AN IMPORTANT PART ? THAT CARRIES HIS ARC TO THE VERY END OF THE SHOW ? LIKE HE IS A WARRIOR? A NON-BENDING WARRIOR ? idk man don't @ me i stan warrior sokka, it's literally a big part of the show, his growth from child to warrior, his training with piandao, his training with the kyoshi warriors, etc etc. like, it's important.
i feel like they took the wisdom and hard-hitting lines right out of the show. "youre just a child." "well, youre just a teenager." etc etc.
idk. it was fine overall. i watched it. i enjoyed it. i wish it could've been better-acted and more faithful to the original but you win some you lose some.
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innocentimouto · 2 years
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Anyone else notice how the show is not only reluctant to explore the Water Tribes, but also tends to paint them negatively?
It’s in the way they spent majority of the first book in the Earth Kingdom and spent only three episodes in the North which was their goal the whole season. Or the way Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom have random characters speak to the Gaang along the way whereas only necessary Water Tribe members get lines.
It’s in the way Roku formed close bonds with all his teachers except his waterbending teacher. He was close friends with Gyatso. He describes his earthbending teacher affectionately, even though his character may difficult. Roku beats him but maintains respect by serving him tea.
With his waterbending teacher, there’s nothing there at all. No connection, no story. There’s disrespect at best.
I don’t think growing distaste between nations is an excuse because the show as a whole does this.
None of the boys Katara trained against could have been given lines or some character? None of them could have befriended her or spoken to her? None of the waterbending girls there could speak to Katara?
They had the time to speak to two earthbending boys in Toph’s debut episode. And that could have easily been cut out.
Hahn. I don’t think the show intended for people to hate him as much as the fandom does when he’s remembered.
Hahn said maybe one sexist comment. It’s an arranged marriage, a political one. It’s only done for the “perks”. You’re not marrying out of love, not that it’s impossible to fall in love. The way Hahn said it does sound majorly disrespectful to Yue, and bringing up other girls also seems in bad taste, but really, he’s an arrogant guy bragging about how he’s got the most profitable marriage that one can have in the North.
Also Sokka has said many more sexist comments than Hahn has. The difference is that he had time to unlearn it and that he wasn’t in a relationship while he was sexist. Remember how he spoke to Suki at first, brushing off her training and armor and weapons as a “dance lesson”? You can’t convince me he wouldn’t make kitchen jokes or be really unpleasant to watch in a relationship then.
Hahn dies? Or something. We never find out. I find his character funny and wish he was explored more.
Kuruk is the only Avatar besides Roku who’s painted as someone who was lazy in the show. None of the others have a mistake highlighted.
I didn’t watch Korra, but I’ve seen some of the characters and I guess it’s worse there.
The NWT doesn’t join for the Invasion. You’d think Sokka would ask for their help and that waterbenders would be able to get places faster than regular boats. The NWT never shows up again, in fact.
The swamp benders show up, but they’re more country American than anything close to the Water Tribes.
The Northern Water Tribe is the one who gets the sexism card, while the Fire Nation gets to have female soldiers and act like that doesn’t make them sexist. Sokka is glaringly sexist while Zuko and Iroh aren’t. Or at least the show acts like they aren’t.
Aang never learns to heal. For someone who doesn’t eat meat, or claims to never kill, you’d think healing would be important to him.
Katara is the last known Southern waterbender and this is never brought up later. None of her tribe are proud of her, neither Sokka or Hakoda. Her only moment of acknowledging her responsibility of maintaining Southern waterbending is with Hama.
Hama.
Katara stealing the waterbending scroll is not given the weight of it being important to her culture.
Katara barely does anything in the Invasion until the end. 
The Gaang goes to many places or has many scenes with one off characters that are either Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation and that aren’t entirely necessary for the plot. It would be easy to switch some scenes out for more Water Tribe.
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My general consensus on the live action Avatar: the Last Airbender series is that I liked it, I liked it a lot the more I think about it. There are things I didn’t like, but there are things I loved, and a couple things I think were improvements on the animated series.
That being said, spoilers ahead, so tread carefully friends.
My first concern was how they were going to cram twenty episodes into eight. And I am happy to report that they managed this BEAUTIFULLY. The storytelling was my favorite part of the live action. While things were rushed in some places and compressed, they told a cohesive story that took things that shouldn’t necessarily go together and made them work. Where the animated series used chapters, these are episodes. It's strange, but it works.
Episode 1 Aang covers: The Boy in the Iceberg, The Avatar Returns, The Southern Air Temple, and half of the Storm
Episode 2 Warriors covers: A bit of the Southern Air Temple and The Warriors of Kyoshi
Episode 3 Omashu covers: The King of Omashu, Jet, The Northern Air Temple
Episode 4 Into the Dark covers: The King of Omashu, Jet, The Northern Air Temple, and weirdly the Book 2 Episode The Cave of Two Lovers
Episode 5 Spirited Away covers: The Spirit World, Avatar Roku, and has elements borrowed from Siege of the North
Episode 6 Masks covers: Bato of the Water Tribe and The Blue Spirit
Episode 7 The North covers: The Waterbending Master and Siege of the North
Episode 8 Legends covers: Siege of the North, and includes elements from the Book 2 episodes The Avatar State and The Cave of Two Lovers.
Look, if you’d told me they were sticking Jet, the Mechanist, and Teo in Omashu, I would have been horrified. It was probably my favorite episode.
We also got some original content. Azula has a storyline set in the Fire Nation and we see a whole lot of Ozai. While I’m not fond of adding content when other canon things had to be cut for time, I was a big fan of this. It makes Azula much more interesting, and Ozai was probably the best casting in the whole show. There are also references to elements from The Search comics and the Kyoshi novels.
Zuko has what is arguably one of the best character arcs I’ve ever seen. I wrote an essay on his journey for an AP English class my senior year of high school. The live action show made it better. I wouldn’t have thought that was possible. But the emotion this kid had was phenomenal, and they added pieces to his story and rounded things out. We get to see Ozai banish him instead of hearing Iroh tell the crew about it. (Show, don’t tell, first rule of storytelling!) We get to see more why this matters to him. We get to see how he spent the time searching for the Avatar, three whole years instead of two like in the cartoon. Aang swipes a notebook of Zuko’s where he’s been studying the history of the Avatar, so Aang gets a look into Zuko, and he understands him a little better. Zuko is probably the world’s leading expert on the Avatar, and he can draw! The poor kid probably needed a hobby, let’s be real. His crew even gets some backstory.
They chose to take out Sokka’s sexism, which I feel was a mistake because that character growth was so important. He went from “There’s no way a bunch of girls took us down!” to “My girlfriend is a better warrior than I am!” And that’s so cool because hey, if you were raised with some incorrect beliefs, you can learn and you can grow and change! And that is an important message! But Sokka was still the best written of our three good guys and stole pretty much every scene he was in. He’s not the sarcasm and meat guy anymore. In fact, there’s almost no sarcasm and honestly I don’t remember much in the way of meat.
The costume design was fantastic, oddly with the exception of Aang, Katara, and Sokka. Frankly, I’ve seen better cosplays. But I love how much of everything else they got right design wise. Suki’s makeup was perfection, the Firebender helmets were accurate, and Jet’s armor was an exact replica.
Katara’s fight with Pakku was almost a shot for shot recreation. Some of the positioning was reversed, but we even got the ice disc almost taking his head off.
Somehow they made Yue’s fiance likable? I wasn’t prepared for that. 
Cabbage Merchant. Amazing. 10/10. No notes.
Avatar Roku’s temple has a shrine to all past Avatars, with collected relics. I really need someone to get some high quality screenshots on that so I can pour over it. The temple also somehow replaces the Spirit Library from Book 2, and Wan Shi Tong showed up in the Spirit World.
This show managed to tell a fantastic story. It’s easy to focus on the bad and the things that made me angry, but honestly I liked so much more than I didn’t. 
Now it wasn’t perfect, and I’ll admit to that. I spent a lot of my day yelling like Harrison Ford in The Force Awakens, “THAT’S NOT HOW BENDING WORKS!” Aang can fly without his glider, except when he can’t for plot reasons. Ozai can set someone on fire just by touching them. People aren’t wet after Katara hits them. Aang puts out fires by throwing air at them rather than draining the air from the fire.
The CGI is rough in some places and flawless in others. Appa and Momo were not… loveable. Nyla? The Shirshu? Looked like she was a real creature. The bending effects were pretty solid all the way through.
Aang, Katara, and Iroh all felt super flat to me. If you take a drink every time Aang says “save the world” or “I’m the Avatar”, you will have an Appa sized hangover. There’s nothing fun loving about Aang. Katara is just sort of… there. She’s not passionate. She’s not driven. She’s not even particularly powerful. We only got like two hope speeches. Sokka got more funny lines than that and he barely got any funny lines. Iroh isn’t cunning. His silly old man act is just that, an act, at least most of the time in the cartoon. He’s not silly in this, but he’s also not the Dragon of the West of legend.
They erased Zhao’s backstory in that he already knew Zuko and Iroh. He was there the day Zuko got his scar in the cartoon, and yet in this he’s a “nobody in the Southern Seas”. It makes him both less interesting and less of a threat, so his whole “Moonslayer” speech is really weak. Also, this man can’t project to save his life when addressing his troops.
I would really like to know who picked these fonts and send them back to design school.
My biggest complaint is that there is no build up and no pay off. Everything is revealed from the very beginning. We see Sozin’s Comet in the very first episode in a flashback, and Gran Gran talks about it as soon as Aang wakes up as she reveals he’s the Avatar. We don’t get to learn that Appa is a flying bison and then see him fly, he just zooms on up. (Yet we don’t get a “Yip yip! Until like episode four.) Aang recognizes Bumi almost immediately, and he’s not a clever old man or a mad genius. He’s just a bitter old asshole. Katara sees her mom die in a flashback, and she knows her mom said she was the last Waterbender so there goes that big season three storyline. We meet Kyoshi in the second episode, and even Kuruk by the last. There’s no foreshadowing, no promise of things to come, because it’s all just handed to us from the start. 
The season does end really well, I will give them that. It sets it up perfectly so we can dive right in on the next season, skipping the first two filler episodes because we’ve already covered them. I’m really looking forward to Book Two. I like the pieces we’ve got in play and the story blocks where they are. Whenever we get it.
I hope it's sooner than 2026.
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Highlighted Posts - Fandom Topics
For some explanation, see serious topics post.
Avatar the Last Airbender / Legend of Korra:
Aang, forgiveness and violence in The Southern Raiders (meta).
Aang’s (lack of a) character arc (meta) + same response, posted independently from the original chain post with a bit of revisions (meta).
Avatar, violence and last second anti-killing rhetoric (meta).
The actual advice the past Avatars gave Aang (meta).
Aang vs. Ozai final battle and Star Wars influences (meta).
The Great Divide is good actually (meta).
Aang being rewarded by the universe? (meta).
Third season Scorched Earth plan out of left field (meta).
Bloodbending and Energybending (meta).
Katara didn't have a “plot armor” in the final battle with Azula, she's the epitome of a warrior (meta).
Katara and non-lethal battle winning (meta/joke).
Katara didn’t beat Pakku (meta).
Katara didn’t choose Aang “over” Zuko (meta).
Anastasia!Zutara AU (headcanon).
Mai and Zuko, what should have been (meta).
Mai happily joined Azula to hunt Zuko (meta).
Kanna and Pakku... why??? (meta/joke).
Gender equality in the Fire Nation and WW2 equivalents (meta).
Legend of Korra, the status quo and the institution of the Avatar (meta).
Making Korra’s dad chief is just… awful (meta).
Harry Potter:
The Malfoys didn’t have a redemption in canon (meta).
Michael Gambon is great, you guys are just mean (meta).
Snape, Dumbledore and the Defence against the Dark Arts (meta/joke).
No thanks, I don’t need a young Snape movie (joke).
What Harry’s reaction to his name being pulled from the Goblet should have been (joke).
The Tri-Wizard tournament has no rules (meta).
Star Wars:
Star wars and Pirates of the Caribbean are the same story (meta).
Kylo Ren and redemption in the Star Wars universe and Hollywood [tlj post] (meta).
DC:
so... does Superman have an appendix? (joke).
Why Selina Kyle never goes to Arkham (joke).
The Scorpion King/Wonder Woman comparison (joke).
Marvel:
Infinity War and the horror of the snap (meta).
Who’s the avengers’ designer? (joke).
Black Panther and The Lion King similarities regarding women (meta).
Shipping in the MCU (joke).
Antman and family (joke).
Pirates of the Caribbeans:
Elizabeth and Will’s relationship is the heart of the movies (meta).
The best things about PotC (meta).
Disney:
I sort of wrote a one-shot about the bimbettes from Beauty and the Beast (fanfiction).
Belle in the Hunchback of Notre Dame (meta).
Del Toro, monstrosity and Beauty and the Beast (meta).
Inner Workings is amazing (meta).
Frozen’s Anna and Hans (joke).
Quasimodo is awesome (meta).
Around the world with Captain Phoebus (joke).
Pocahontas’ ending is subversive as fuck (joke/meta).
Hercules didn’t know who Hades was (joke).
Other:
Bullshit “feminist” retelling and Mad Max Fury Road (joke/meta).
“Feminist” retellings explanation (analysis).
She-Ra and the inherently good protagonist (meta).
I hate the ending of She-Ra (meta).
Once upon a Time, Regina and redemption (two diverging threads of the same post) (meta): First and Second.
Ross Geller isn’t that bad, you guys are just mean. Or: The unbelievable cruelty of what Carol did to Ross (meta).
Bella Swan and Hermione Granger comparisons are bullshit (meta).
Twilight and depression (meta).
New Moon reread comments (meta).
The Good Place is the greatest show in history. But also I have thoughts (meta).
The single most beautiful Geralt and Jeskier art ever made [The Witcher] (fanart).
Dimitri wanted to find the real Anastasia all along in hopes that she survived the revolution [Anastasia 1997] (meta).
Godzilla, Pacific Rim and Hollywood: between grim-dark and camp (meta).
Wednesday Addams and the usurpation of the summer camp for rich white kids (meta).
Debbie Jellinsky is the best [The Addams Family Values] (joke).
Achilles and Patroclus sitting in an urn. K.I.S.S.I.N.G. (joke).
Of course the Jewish women are the witches in Oz the Great and Powerful… (joke/meta).
Bird Box and mental illness (meta).
My problems with Carmen San Diego (meta).
Ice Princess and teenage movie tropes. Or: They're lesbians Harold (meta/joke).
Lord of the Rings life goals (joke).
The School of Good and Evil and that little bit of antisemitism… (joke).
Game of Thrones / House of the Dragon genetics are weird (joke).
Why wouldn’t I keep talking about old fandoms? (joke/analysis).
I hate Barbie. Sorry. (meta).
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peony-pearl · 8 months
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I've been slowly collecting atla figurines from the current main brands that are making them (even going on secondhand sites considering purchasing from the old Mattel line... I want that Zhao figure!!) and I can easily say all the toy lines need more ladies.
We have 3 figures of Katara from Book 1, 3 of Toph in her normal outfit, and 2 Azula, both in her armor and one of them is her Agni Kai appearance. We could use more Suki, Smellerbee, Mai and Ty Lee, as well as S2 or Fire Nation Katara (or Painted Lady Katara!) and Fire Nation Toph and Suki, as well as Book 2 Azula.
I would also love to see more other characters! I'm not a huge fan of the BST AXN line, but they have a Jet figure and a figure of Sokka in war paint which I'm really excited about. While I'm not on board with some of their figurine appearances, they have branched out a bit in characters, and I'm hoping this brand will give us more character variety. Not only do I hope they'll give us more ladies, but I'd love to see more Ozai, and Long Feng and a new Zhao, and perhaps even the White Lotus lads and Hakoda. (I also just received the Cosmic Energy Aang and the paint on him is GORGEOUS. I mean, yeah he's coated in 1 color so it makes painting easy (except for his arrows) but it's this metallic shade of purple and black that is beautiful.)
I really applaud McFarlane for making some beasts! They sell an Appa and a Komodo Rhino, and I'd love to see more of Avatar's beasts as a line of nice figures.
I'd also love to see a Kyoshi and Roku and a Yangchen; there are so many possibilities for figures that I hope get visited eventually.
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comradekatara · 4 days
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Hello, how would you rank the gaang+fire ladies in a best sense of style to worst of sense of style?
oooh fun! wait, is this modern au or not?? just in case, i’ll do both…
toph is the worst, obviously. she has no sense of style whatsoever. she does have her little pom pom opera headband, which is very cute, and honestly her fire nation fit is the cutest one (sorry katara), but i don’t think she actually gives a shit about any of that, she just happens to slay regardless because she can’t not slay. in modern au she mostly wears large shirts and sweatpants and flip flops, and yet somehow she still looks remarkably good “dressed like a slob” (katara’s words) because she is simply beautiful enough to pull it off.
i don’t think zuko has a bad sense of style, i actually think a lot of his outfits are genuinely cute (i esp love his one tank top in book 1 that’s such a look imo), but like toph, he also isn’t really putting effort in, so it’s not so much a “sense of style” as it is in his nature to serve cunt. in modern au he actively tries to spice up his wardrobe (with katara’s help), but then he never actually wears any of the stuff they bought together because he needs his emotional support favorite cardigan and/or black turtleneck. he can pull it off because he looks cute and cozy, but no is mistaking him for an expert in fashion any time soon.
i always wonder how aang found those monk’s robes in book 3, whether he made them himself, and if so, with which fabrics. so in that sense, he’s actually a diy style icon. but in modern au, he literally dresses like roman roy in the finale, walmart boys’ color block t shirt, so i’m docking points even though, again, he does look adorable and it is a Look in its own right. the light up heelys also add or dock points depending on who you ask.
from book 2 onward, sokka has a nice, simple outfit that is a good cut and a good color without being remotely flashy or complicated, and he accessorizes with weapons, which are both practical and spice up his outfit. “like toph, he also doesn’t give a shit about his looks, it’s just a coincidence that he looks good,” one could argue. but i think he knew what he was doing with that sleeveless top. and besides, he was excited by the fact that his bag matched his belt. in modern au, sokka doesn’t give a shit about style until adulthood, because he and katara just focus on their respective domains and thus katara has the monopoly on fashion, but then he starts figuring out his gender and sexuality and the world of fashion opens up for him. that said, his idea of going crazy is like, wearing a couple rings, so he’s still towards the middle bottom of this list.
azula doesn’t really have a sense of personal style, she just wears what she thinks looks best for her circumstances, and since her goal is to intimidate, she happens to slay. but if she was like, a farmer, she would not be bothering with the winged eyeliner and red lipstick and perfect hair, because that is a product of her environment rather than an internally motivated mode of self-expression. so in modern au, she trades shoulder spikes for shoulder pads, and knee high boots for tastefully high heels, but the effect is the same. respect me, fear me, take me seriously in my navy blue blazer.
suki never really gets to pick her own outfits unless you count the fire nation crop top, which is cute but obviously wouldn’t be her first pick in garb. that said, the kyoshi warrior armor obviously goes so hard and she looks great in it, so she’s a style icon just for that. in modern au, she dresses in a way that is deceptively simple but knows that it makes her look really hot to her target demographic (dykes and sokka). she generally just opts for flannel and cargo shorts, but on days where she’s on a mission, she’ll wear a short sleeved loose button up with half the sleeves undone, some necklaces, and no bra. and she’s a hero for that.
mai’s outfit is actually my favorite in the entire show (like, i would wear it), but there’s something kind of cutesy about her hair style that i feel like was probably imposed on her by her mother. like don’t get me wrong, it still looks good on her, but i can’t see her actually caring to maintain something so elaborate without the presence of external pressures. i can picture modern au mai’s sense of style so perfectly, though. soft flared pants, in a silky fabric; turtleneck tank tops; leather jackets: dark peacoats; dyke boots to stomp around in; mostly in various shades of dark red, dark blue, and black. she keeps it simple and classy, and has the freedom to experiment with hair styles more as well. when she’s alone, everyone is envious of her effortlessly chic steez, and yet, when she is with ty lee, everyone’s like “awww it’s cute that ty lee lets that kind of schlubby girl hang around her.”
ty lee puts effort into her appearance for the purposes of attracting specific results. she knows she’s beautiful, of course, but she also wants to be beautiful in a cute way, harmless and inviting. pink is less threatening than red, showing skin makes her seem vulnerable and desirable, her braid is simultaneously perfect and kind of messy. in modern au, ty lee would similarly be attuned to the cultivation of her aesthetic for a similar purpose. she wouldn’t just wear whatever she felt like, but rather would have an extremely curated wardrobe of outfits that all adhere to the same theme of making her look impossibly beautiful but in a cute and harmless way. idk man. there’s something wrong with her, i think, but also that thing might just be patriarchy.
katara is the only character who canonically takes an interest in fashion for the sake of fashion (iirc), and so that immediately elevates her in my opinion. she clearly cares a not insignificant amount about her appearance, and takes pride in looking good (as she should, because she’s beautiful). i love the idea that she got her book 2 outfit in the northern water tribe and was so excited about getting a new fit that she literally wore it the entire season even though it was springtime and she was sweating buckets. she’s so excited about dressing up in ba sing se, or when they steal clothes in the fire nation, or when she gets to take kyoshi’s clothing in “avatar day,” or when she goes to the spa with toph, or when she’s telling aunt wu about her skincare routine. it matters to her! and i think that as she gets older, and more resources are available, she gets to expand and experiment with her wardrobe more, and that’s really fun for her. and in modern au, she’d also love fashion of course, and would have a lot of opinions on how to participate in fashion ethically. her wardrobe would be kind of all over the place because it’s mostly thrifted, but she’d put so much effort into curating an outfit every day before she leaves the house, and she can go weeks if not months without repeating an outfit, not because she has an unlimited wardrobe, but because she’s really clever and thoughtful when it comes to what she pairs together on any given day. and she sometimes makes her own clothing, or modifies thrifted pieces, and that somehow looks great on her too. my point is, she wins in a landslide.
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flameohotwife · 1 year
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Here’s something I’d love to see you write:
Aang & Katara taking their child/children to the southern air temple so they can learn more about that side of their heritage.
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Old Halls, New Life (rated G)
The air was eerily still as they climbed down off of Appa, setting foot on the stone balcony of the Southern Air Temple for the first time since the war. Katara hardly dared to breathe, lest she disturb the quiet. Aang’s face was unreadable. He stood still as the statue of Gyatso that she knew was just out of sight, staring blankly ahead. Katara bent the sweat off her palms and wondered if he was trying to mentally prepare himself for the carnage that was still to come. She wasn’t sure either of them would ever be ready. 
A lifetime later, Aang finally turned his face to her, and her heart broke at the sadness and guilt that were heavy in his eyes. He offered a small smile and held his hand out to her. She took it, walking towards the front door of the temple, hoping he couldn’t feel her own nerves. He had put off his own healing for so long, for the sake of healing the whole world. He needed her to be the strong one, right now.
The moment seemed too heavy for words, so she squeezed his hand as they approached Gyatso’s statue. He returned the squeeze just before releasing her hand to bow to his old master. Katara mirrored his action, offering her own respects to the man who had been Aang’s biggest support in his old life. When he moved forward to airbend the lock and pushed open the heavy wooden door, it looked just like it had the last time they were there. 
Katara had always felt a sense of awe at the Avatar, but now, knowing Aang the way she did, having spent the better part of a year fighting a war alongside him and another year trying to restore peace… Now the Hall of Avatars hit her even harder. Each of these men and women had had a life. They had loved, and been loved. They had fought battles and kept the balance of the world, but they had also been human and felt the full depth of that human experience. They had laughed and felt loss and suffered illness… 
Thinking of Aang’s statue in this very hall—sometime hopefully long, long in the future—she wondered what future generations would say about him. She wondered who had loved and lost these Avatars of old. How they had reconciled the Avatar’s humanity and their Spiritual duty. 
After a moment of respect, and, Katara suspected, seeking wisdom from his past lives, Aang led Katara through the curtains he had found Gyatso’s body behind the first time they were there. She struggled not to gasp at the number of Fire Nation skeletons that littered the ground around Gyatso, shocking red armor still firmly in place, and she squeezed Aang’s hand again to remind him that he wasn’t alone. No matter how hard the task that lay ahead of them, she was always and forever by his side.
She saw Aang press his eyes shut. He squeezed her hand back in thanks, but tears still leaked down his cheeks and his chin was trembling. A year or two ago, she might have feared him slipping into the Avatar State, but now she just pulled him into a hug and they fell to their knees on the ground together.
“I miss them,” Aang croaked out some time later, once the wracking sobs subsided. “I miss them so much.”
Katara rubbed his back and kissed the tip of the arrow on his head, completely lost for words. What could she even say? She knew how deep the pain of missing her mother was, and she was just one person. Aang had lost everyone and everything.
“Thank you for coming here with me,” he mumbled into her shoulder. “I don’t know if I could have done this alone. The temple is so full of memories.”
“Share them with me?” she asked, hesitant but hopeful. Aang had shared many things about his people, but they were all more general ideals, histories, ceremonies, and occasional anecdotes. He didn’t often share his personal memories. It was like talking about them would force him to remember. That they had been real—that they had lived and that they had died horrible, unfair deaths.
But this time, Aang did share. Over the next days and weeks as he and Katara cleaned the temple to prepare it for the Acolytes, he shared many memories. When they carefully removed the skeletons near the airball court, he told Katara about a particularly competitive game of airball which had caused multiple injuries to him and his friends. When they cleaned the kitchens, he told her about the time he and his friends had stolen a bunch of fruit pies and hid them in the elder monk’s beds, earning them all extra chores for a month. When they scrubbed ash stains out of the classrooms, he told her how hard it had been to be the youngest in his levels; how he missed his friends when they’d advanced him over and over again. 
As they carried skeleton after skeleton out of the tallest towers, he told her how bittersweet his tattoo ceremony had been. How excited he was to see his parents and his friends from the other temples and how proud he had been, but also how different he felt and how it was the beginning of him being ostracized from his friends. How much weight he already felt on his shoulders after that ceremony. How much heavier it had gotten since.
Aang shared his memories, and it brought so much life back to these empty halls. Katara smiled every time she walked into the kitchen now, picturing a small gaggle of seven-year-old boys sneaking out with their arms full of pie when the bakers weren’t looking. 
“I know they’d be proud of you,” she said one morning while she was cooking breakfast. Aang had been silently chopping up moonpeaches beside her to make a pie of his own, still trying to perfect the “gooey center” Gyatso was always so good at. He looked up at her, startled, and almost dropped the knife. 
“I know I’ve told you before,” she went on, “but the way you were able to end the war without taking Ozai’s life, and the way you’ve been bringing peace to all the nations over the years since the war ended… sharing your culture with the Air Acolytes and helping the world restore balance… I just know they would be so proud of you.”
Aang smiled sadly.
“I know you’ll always miss them too, but… they’re not gone. They live on in your stories. In this place. In the mischief you and Toph and Sokka get into all the time…” Aang looked affronted and she shoved his shoulder playfully. “Yes, I know you’re not just ‘going to the market’ when the three of you are gone for hours and only come home with a handful of vegetables and some mysterious sacks that clank.”
Aang full-on laughed then, possibly his first real laugh since they had arrived at the temple. He set the knife down and hid his face sheepishly behind his hands, leaning on his elbows on the counter.
“And one day,” Katara continued, blushing vibrantly, “they’ll live on in the next generation. In our kids. In the lessons you’ll teach them and the trouble you’ll get into together and the values you instill. Your people aren’t gone forever, Aang. I promise you that.”
Aang’s head snapped up to look at her so fast, and his face was filled with so many different emotions, but before she could truly look at him and figure out what he was thinking, he surged forward and kissed her.
Kissing Aang had always been one of her favorite things to do, but she had held back from kissing him on this trip, unsure of whether he wanted that sort of intimacy during such a difficult time. She had offered many kisses to his head or his cheek, and innumerable hugs where she had clung to him, and he to her, but hadn’t kissed his lips since before they left Cranefish Town.
Now, though, as his lips moved fervently against hers, it seemed obvious that this was exactly what he needed, and she melted into him. He wove his hands into her hair—it always made her smile that he seemed to love her hair so much when he had none—and she clung to his back, eliciting a happy sigh from him.
The smell of their breakfast beginning to burn to the bottom of the pot startled them away from each other. Katara nervously tucked her hair back behind her ears as she stirred the rice mixture, but she could feel Aang still staring at her. When she scooped their breakfast into bowls and offered one to him, he was grinning besottedly. She couldn’t help but smile back.
“Thank you, Katara,” he said, pecking her on the cheek. “Thank you for helping me keep my people alive, and for reminding me that they never really left. I know their love lives on, but now their memory will, too, every time I tell their story.”
“I love you, Aang,” she said. “I hope that wasn’t too much… I just…” 
“It was perfect,” Aang interrupted, placing a warm hand on hers and smiling. “It was exactly what I needed to hear.”
Read more on ao3
So, this turned out to be a doozy. What you see here is just the first of four ficlets which I combined into one fic, because I couldn't help myself. And this doesn't even cover what you actually asked for yet haha, but the rest will :) It's too long for tumblr so you can read the whole thing on ao3. I didn't do as much research as I probably should have for this, but there's a lot packed in here. I hope you enjoy the parenting segments, friend!
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sharenadraculea · 2 months
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And last, but not least, Episode 8!
I can‘t say this enough, but the fire nation ships look so good! Especially the whole assembled fleet! And Irohs armor! Also they allready have hot air balloons!
I also love the contrast of the watertibe beeing armed with bone-spears and the fire nation with steamships and siege weaponry. Also Yue beeing told that if something happens to her dad, she has to take over. Also Lion Turtles are allready mentioned! I also like the idea of Tui and La only appearing in the mortal world once a year. And Zhao beeing like „I‘ll only kill the moon.“
And Momo saving that little girl. Also the spirit oesis is so beautifull! I like that they allready establish that the water from there is super powerfull. And Zuko and Katara fighting! It is great.
Th red moon effect looks pretty good! Also Aang nearly saving the moon spirit and then the moon just vanishing! As well as the effect of all waterbending just not working anymore, the ship just ramming through the wall, the cities destruction… it‘s great! Also the black, white and fire coloreffect looks great! Also just the battle in general! It‘s so good!
I like it beeing more Aangs own idea to fuse with the ocean-spirit. An damn, does the fusion look good! I‘ve been so hyped for this moment! And it is so good! Not sure how to feel about Zuko throwing Zhao of the bridge… it makes sense in the moment, but still. Also what Zhao says about Zuko beeing only motivation for Azula might actually be true.
I quite like Katara trying to wake Aang up (also hehe, Vengefull Spirit) and failing. Also her sacrifice beeing only Yues idea. And sokka just pleading for her not to do it… It‘s all just so heartbreaking!
And the aftermaths of the battle… the young waterbenders Katara was supposed to lead and Hahn dying, I might have cried a litte… I just hope Zukos crew made it out alive too…
I also love the ending with Omashu beeing conquered and Azula in armor with helmet looks so good! And of course the comets return beeing revealed!
Definetly my favorite Episode so far!
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