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adriancatrin · 1 year

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the difference between The Painted Lady and Sokka’s Master—what makes one so much more iconic than the other—is that The Painted Lady may as well be Imprisoned (season one), just done-up in Fire Nation attire. we learn nothing new about katara in that ep that we didn’t know from season one. and The Desert in season two CEMENTED katara as the heart of the group in a way that wasn’t even necessary to try to do again in season three.

Sokka’s Master, on the other hand, gives us a whole new look at sokka. Imprisoned and The Warriors of Kyoshi (in season one) are katara and sokka eps respectively, meant to give us a look into their characters and acquaint ourselves with them. season two is incredible because it assumes we already know the characters, and it lets us sit in them and enjoy the ride for amazing arcs through Story, above all else. but early season three brings back the Character episodes. the Headband, Painted Lady, Sokka’s Master, the Runaway (and as a bonus, unlike season one, we also get The Beach for the FN team). each main character gets their own re-establishing ep. great, cool, whatever—what about Sokka’s Master tho?

shhh patience lol i’m getting there. Painted Lady shows that katara is the same, she still cares about the lil guy(s), despite all else, just like she did in Imprisoned. she can’t leave desperate people behind.

but in The Warriors of Kyoshi, sokka thought he was the Shit, and had to have it proved to him that that wasn’t the case (god bless u suki). in Sokka’s Master, however, it’s the exact opposite. his arc at that point brought him to having nearly no faith in himself. Warriors of Kyoshi was about bringing sokka down to earth (being A MAN💪🏽 isn’t the end all be all), and Sokka’s Master is about bringing him back up (what does it mean to be a man? 🌈). it’s obviously a huge shame that the invasion ended up sitting him right back down again in his insecurities. but i imagine if Sokka’s Master had never happened, he wouldn’t have been able to bounce back post-Boiling-Rock, regardless of whether or not he’d successfully broken his dad (and suki) out. he needed the foundation of self-confidence to beat away the doubts later.

anyways, point is.. at least personally the Painted Lady ep has never stuck out to me as special, whereas Sokka’s Master is one of my fave eps of the show. and that’s not because i have it out for katara or anything and held sokka in especially high regard (Sokka’s Master is largely WHY i now hold sokka in high regard—but The Desert ep put katara in just as high a regard in my book, along w probs a dozen other eps that showcase her unique character). Sokka’s Master stands out because it shows us a new part of sokka, but the Painted Lady doesn’t show us anything new about katara. in a show that’s ultimately rather short, episodes that seem like clones the way Painted Lady & Imprisoned do end up feeling lackluster. idk. this isn’t to say i dislike the Painted Lady, i just wanted to get my thoughts out

#atla #katara #sokka #i really wanna stress that this isn’t katara hate #cuz i know a lot of ppl hate katara i guess #i absolutely adore her she’s amazing #but the painted lady feels like a Slog on rewatched #*rewatches #it’s just my—#thoughts #avatar the last airbender #atla meta #avatar meta #have i mentioned how much i LOVE the desert ep? i definitely have but holy shit #what a way to bring back heart and soul katara #literally everyone’s strengths are lost INCLUDING KATARAS WATERBENDING #but her waterbending has never been the most important part of her character #it’s her drive and her passion and her inherent ability to love and empathize #and that’s why she’s the one to pull everyone together and get them Out #ugh #such a good fuxking ep jesus christ #ugh i’m drunk #who woulda guessed #not like that’s all the time or anything pffff #any other zukka alcoholics out there ? ahhhahaha slap me and shut me up i swear

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zukoshotleafjuice · 4 months

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and if i say that aang and katara's romance overshadowed aang and katara's relationship, would that make any sense to anyone other than me?

people are so used to viewing this show solely through a shipping lens (a flaw that is almost entirely the fault of the creators) that it hardly leaves space for examining the frankly incredible katara-aang interpersonal dynamic. like, for katara, aang is almost akin to a god. especially in the beginning, for her he symbolizes hope and love and admiration and he is almost larger-than-life. a child and a god. she will protect him and rely on him because through him suddenly, suddenly there's a chance that maybe her mother's sacrifice wasn't for nothing. maybe if she can help aang, love aang, then kya dying was worth it. and for aang, too, katara is his whole world. sokka too, of course, but katara's are the first eyes he saw when he woke up a hundred years after everyone he loved had vanished. it's her that keeps him grounded when he's overwhelmed with grief that he doesn't even know how to begin to process, because it's almost impossible for a child's mind to comprehend the scale of loss he's experienced. he loses his family, and she becomes his whole world. yes, he is saving the world for the sake of the world, but really he's saving the world for katara.

idk. upon rewatch, it's almost like love isn't really enough to capture what these two have going on. it's sheer devotion. it's a strange amalgamation of worship and adoration and mutual deification. it's fucking fascinating and regardless of whether you ship them romantically personally i don't, really , the relationship is so so profound. the depth of their love for each other is really on another level.

romance is secondary to what katara and aang have. they're each other's person first.

#no matter WHAT you ship katara and aang are each other's person! they adore each other!#atla #avatar the last airbender #kataang #ish?#katara #aang

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magnetic-rose · 2 months

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man as i'm rewatching all of a:tla i really want to make a post about what are (imo at least) common misconceptions about the show and characters.

like a very common one that i see parroted way too often is "katara is too mature/motherly and babies aang," with the implication that her romantic love for him makes no sense.

but i'm more than halfway done with s1 and i think the fandom forgets that katara is a 14 year old girl. she's not a young woman, she's a child. and often times she's mischievous and funny and childish. she's usually right there WITH aang participating in his shenanigans. she even creates her own shenanigans. the show spells it out for the audience in episode one where katara and aang are penguin sliding and she says "i haven't done this since i was a kid" and aang replies "but you are a kid." one of the reasons she was so mad at sokka and gran gran for kicking aang out of the village was because "he brought laughter back."

and that's why they work and that's why she falls for him. he brings levity back to her life. he allows her to be a goofy, silly kid. they often support each other's little games. she cheers on him when he's riding the giant koi fish (until she gets distracted). they play in the river. she wears the necklace he makes her. he wears the goofy hat she makes. he goes along with her fortune-telling obsession.

and if anything, sokka is usually the voice of reason between them, trying to reel aang and katara in. and yet sokka gets the fandom reputation as the chaotic fun guy and katara gets the reputation as the "mom" who's telling people off. she's aang's biggest partner in crime and yet fandom treats her like the exasperated mom friend.

#katara #aang #atla #avatar #it also bothers me that people will talk about katara and treat her as way older than she actually is #and those same people tend to baby the hell out of the male characters #she is only 2 years older than aang she is a kid #kataang #not the point of the post but might as well tag it

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old-people-like-avatar · 2 months

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Netflix Avatar the Last Airbender S1 - Overall Thoughts [SPOILERS]

I am a longtime fan of Avatar the Last Airbender. I did not watch it in its original 2005 run, but I discovered it in around 2010 after my good friend R.S. recommended it to me. It's been my #1 favorite TV show ever since and I have rewatched it more times than I can count. I was cautiously optimistic about NATLA.

Now, having watched the whole first season of NATLA, and looking at the season as a whole, I think the best word to describe it is uneven. I can't say that I loved it, and I can't say that I hated it. But there were things I really liked about it and things that really did not work for me. Overall, I enjoyed watching it -- if only to dissect what did and did not work about the adaptation -- and would want to watch more.

WHAT WORKED

Everything to do with Zuko and Iroh. I found myself going back through just to rewatch all of the Zuko and Iroh-related scenes. I thought Dallas Liu really nailed Zuko -- from tantrums about his journal being stolen to incredible action sequences to the boyish vulnerability of worrying about the laces on his gauntlets. He took an iconic character and made him his own. NATLA added some incredible scenes and lines to my favorite duo: Lu Ten's funeral (coupled with orchestral version of "Leaves from the Vine"); Zuko's first war council; Iroh choosing to go with Zuko on the boat; the 41st Division; Iroh putting a blanket on Zuko. And I liked that NATLA emphasized that Iroh needed Zuko in the wake of Lu Ten's death as much as Zuko needed Iroh after his mother left.

Daniel Dae Kim's interpretation of Ozai. Ozai in ATLA is kind of one-dimensional. Daniel Dae Kim's Ozai adds a deeper layer to him in that he genuinely seems to think he's doing legitimate parenting -- even going so far as to visit Zuko after burning his face and remarking, glibly, that he'll recover ("but he'll never heal," says Iroh). It adds an even more monstrous angle to his cruelty because Kim's Ozai seems to think he's doing it for his children's own good. This post perfectly encapsulates my feelings about why I thought the agni kai between Ozai and Zuko was an excellent addition to NATLA.

Zuko/Aang. These two bonding over goat hair brushes was the scene I never knew I needed. The way Aang managed to wrest a little smile out of Zuko in that scene before Zuko blew up at him for criticizing the Fire Lord? And the way that tied into the "Compassion is a sign of weakness" scene from the agni kai? Great character work.

WHAT DID NOT WORK

Dialogue. I already observed at length my dissatisfaction with the clunky, exposition-dumping dialogue in my episode-by-episode writeups. It certainly wasn't as bad as the Movie-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named, but . . . there was no art or subtlety to it, and no trust in the audience. A disappointment.

The GAang did not feel like family. The lack of breathing room in the 8-episode season meant that all of the "filler" episodes that fleshed out the relationships between Aang, Katara, and Sokka were sacrificed. I am not saying NATLA needed to recapture each of the filler episodes. But they needed to build the foundational bonds between the main trio with showing not telling and they really didn't. They separated them for big chunks of 2 episodes. And, really, they just felt like traveling companions. That took all of the emotional heft out of, well, everything related to Aang, Katara, and Sokka. I mean, frankly, the kid actors did a better job establishing the "family" dynamic just by being themselves in their press interviews than the show did with the characters.

Aang did not run away from responsibility. I am not one of those people that's just mad that the show wasn't exactly like the cartoon. No. What I mean is, even putting aside the cartoon, even if you just look at NATLA itself: their own themes were undercut by never showing Aang actually running away from responsibility. Each avatar seemed to be berating Aang for doing something he was never actually shown to be doing.

Katara. I really don't think this one is on the actress. Katara felt like a fundamentally different character from ATLA's Katara. It's not to say an adaption is not allowed to have their own interpretation of a character, but... I just did not understand NATLA Katara. There was no passion, no rage, no overbearing nurturing. She was... I don't know what she was. Traumatized, yes, but nothing grew out of that trauma? Meek, until the plot demanded that she suddenly become a waterbending master without any guidance other than a waterbending scroll? The "younger sister"? More than any of the main characters, I'm not sure what NATLA was trying to say about Katara at all. And, as a result, I'm afraid the word to describe it might be uninteresting. And given that she is the heart and soul of Team Avatar, this one was really tough.

Despite the fact that a lot of NATLA did not work for me, I still enjoyed it because the things that did work for me, well, really worked. So. I'm here for all of the Zuko/Iroh scenes!

#avatar the last airbender #atla #a:tla #avatar: the last airbender #netflix atla #natla #netflix avatar #live action avatar

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darklinaforever · 11 months

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I'm rewatching Avatar the last airbender, and it's crazy how maternal Katara is with Aang. He actually called her "Mom" at one point?! OK, that's comedic for the show and supporting Katara acting like a mother when she's too young, but getting Aang to say "mom" specifically? Help... Also, Katara is way more mature than Aang overall. I had forgotten how offbeat they were... And then Mai who doesn't really understand Zuko... Yes, sorry but for me Kataang and Maiko are not relationships that should have ended together. I'm at the episode where Zuko and Sokka broke Suki out of prison. Do I really find it impressive that Mai said to Azula, "I love Zuko more than I'm afraid of you." Uh... I'm sorry, but when was Mai ever afraid of Azula? Whenever she disagreed with Azula, Mai would not obey her. What happened with Zuko is nothing out of the ordinary. I still remember that unlike the other, Azula didn't need to scare Mai so that she agreed to join her group to hunt down Aang. Afraid of Azula? Let me laugh. It's so forced as a statement to make us swallow Maiko down our throats.

#avatar the last airbender #avatar : the last airbender #zuko #anti kataang #anti maiko #katara x zuko #zuko x katara #katara and zuko #zuko and katara #zutara #atla #mai #aang #azula #katara #sokka #suki

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biconickyoshi · 2 months

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Okay y’all… I was very critical of eps 3 & 4 (especially 4) of NAtLA. Then all of a sudden eps 5 & 6 kinda slapped me in the face with how much better the show suddenly got.

Spoiler-free thoughts first:

Zuko, Iroh, and Aang have cemented themselves as the best parts about this adaptation - which is really funny considering I’m currently writing a longfic AU where Zuko and Iroh discover Aang in the iceberg right after Zuko is banished at age 13 and end up becoming the first members of the Gaang (albeit reluctantly at first lol). Episode 6: “Masks” (the Blue Spirit adaptation) was so good, I’d venture to say that it actually improved and fleshed out some things from the original series.

Episode 5: “Spirited Away”, while not as good as E6, was not as bad as I heard people say it was going to be. I think that the changes they did make didn’t bother me nearly as much as the changes they made in the last episode, and it was actually entertaining.

There were several scenes that made me cry in both of these episodes (moreso in episode 6, which I’ll get into further down in the spoiler section). These are the scenes that I feel like really tapped into the heart of the original show rather than feeling like a soulless remake.

Now for my in-depth thoughts (INCLUDES SPOILERS):

EP 5: “Spirited Away”

- Staring out, I was bummed because I had just rewatched the first two eps of the original animated series lol.

- It was an interesting choice to have all three members of the Gaang get stuck in the Spirit World, but I think it worked.

- Wan Shi Tong just showing up randomly was a bit unnecessary, but I suppose it will be kinda interesting to see him again in S2 since he’s already met the Gaang

- Hei Bai plays a much smaller role in these eps, but I strangely didn’t mind that either?

- Seeing Katara’s last memory with her mom was devastating, especially the fact that she had to witness her death and hide in the igloo with Kya’s charred body :(( she definitely has severe PTSD.

- Even Sokka’s memory made me tear up a bit

- Koh being the villain and a soul-eater or whatever was a bit of an odd choice, but I guess I can see why they did it. I do prefer him just being an asshole who steals ppl’s faces lol

- Appreciated the Fog of Lost Souls reference from the LoK lore

- Aang reuniting with Gyatso made me cry. I know some people didn’t like him being in the Spirit World, but I really liked it. Also, the fact that Gyatso was the first person to tell Aang that it wasn’t his fault the Air Nomads died, and that if he had been there he would have died too? THANK YOU! My poor boy has been berated enough for “abandoning” the world.

- We got some interesting lore about the afterlife for humans from Gyatso and Aang’s convo, which we’ve never gotten in AtLA media before. Idk if it’s just for Air Nomads, but Aang mentions that Gyatso stayed behind instead of “seeking enlightenment”. I know that the end goal in Buddhism is to reincarnate until you eventually achieve nirvana, so I wonder if that’s what they were alluding to (I’m not an expert on religions so pls correct me if I’m wrong)

- Oh yeah, I forgot June is here lmao. As a queer person I loved her (bc beautiful goth woman) but I didn’t like the weird choice to make her hit on Iroh - I guess to contrast the Iroh being creepy towards her thing in the OG series. I wish they would have just had them interact normally tbh, no weird “flirting”

EP 6: “Masks”

- Here we go y’all. The best episode in the show so far and probably the best the show is gonna get this season. I’m still pretty shocked at how good this one was.

- I think the decision to include flashbacks to Zuko’s Agni Kai was a good decision here. It felt like an appropriate episode for them and the flashbacks were very well done.

- In general, Dallas is doing a phenomenal job at portraying a Zuko who is angry and aggressive, yes, but also so very sweet and compassionate at his core. I love when little inklings of his true self shine through.

- Roku was… not what I expected. He was very much more of a lighthearted and jokey person… I didn’t hate it, it was just unexpected lol. I wonder if they did that to contrast him with Kyoshi. Which, speaking of, I’m glad Roku clarified that Aang doesn’t just need to be a merciless warrior (and that he didn’t berate Aang for “abandoning” the world like she did). But I still am annoyed about the mischaracterization of Kyoshi in general.

- RIP Shyu :/

- Thought it was kind of strange how June captures Aang at Roku’s temple lol. Like how did she get on and off the island??

- Zhao continues to feel like a completely different character to me lmao. I think this version is pretty funny, but it’s so weird to see Zhao being portrayed as so goofy and incompetent when he was such an intimidating force and the main villain of Book 1 in the OG series. Just a weird direction they went with his character.

- The Yuyan archers look cool as fuck. 10/10 no notes

- Still not sure how I feel about Azula already being this insecure and jealous of Zuko. I think it makes her feel a bit more realistically like a child, but the whole point of Azula’s character is that she is really good at maintaining this cool and calm persona on the surface, which she uses to scare and manipulate people. I can see her maybe getting to a point later on to where she hardens herself into that though. We’ll see.

- Baby Zuko asking Iroh how he looks and his little smile 😭😭😭😭 I had a physical “aww” reaction to that. THAT’S MY SON (me and Iroh shouting in unison)

- War Room scene was handled very well. No complaints. I like how Ozai tried to test Zuko with battle strategies.

- Blue Spirit break out scene was extremely close to the original, and it was really good. They adapted it almost shot for shot with all the important parts.

- Here’s probably my favorite part of the episode: Zuko and Aang’s talk inside the abandoned house after they escape from Pohuai!!!!!! Gahhhh I could gush about this scene all day. I love how they expanded it to be an actual friendly conversation between Aang and Zuko. Like we get to see Zuko’s true self coming through - the sweet, kind boy we know he is. Zuko and Aang just have such great chemistry as well, wayyy more than Aang has with either Sokka or Katara. Like I adored them bonding over painting and caligraphy!!! I think this is the best acting we’ve seen from Gordon so far, and Dallas did a phenomenal job switching back to that hurt, angry version of himself (of course a trauma response). And the fact that Aang said “sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you” when he blocked Zuko’s firebending attack??? My sweet boy 😭

- The final flashback to the Agni Kai was really well done too. I’d already heard Zuko fights back, which I wasn’t sure I’d like, but I actually didn’t mind it. I really liked that they showed Zuko’s hesitation whenever he did actually have an opening, and that was what angered Ozai the most - Zuko showing compassion, “weakness”. Daniel Dae Kim is of course doing a phenomenal job (no surprises there), and I really liked that Iroh actually attempted to stop Ozai at one point. It also looked like young Azula had tears in her eyes, which I again actually liked because it humanizes her.

- I loved that Aang was still there when Zuko woke up on the boat 😭 he wanted to make sure he was okay!! I full on started crying when we got the “do you think we could have been friends too?” lines from him. Again, Gordon killed it. I love how you can tell that Aang knows Zuko has been hurt and that’s why he acts the way he does. He doesn’t blame him for any of it. 10/10

- the last flashback to Zuko in his bed recovering from the burn… god the tears just kept flowing. I really liked the choice to have Ozai almost give Zuko a chance to like… idk understand why he did what he did, and how compassion is “weak”?? And then Zuko’s response to give people a chance 😭😭😭 as if I couldn’t love him any more!!! And then of course Ozai gets pissed. But seeing baby Zuko just cry in his bed UGH I’m dehydrated at this point

- Of course I can’t finish this review without mentioning the 41st division. What an incredible way to expand upon the source material by making them Zuko’s crew!!! It shows just how much Zuko truly cares about others and it moved me so much (once again to tears).

I don’t have high hopes for the last two episodes, but honestly, if this is what the live action can be, it gives me a bit of hope (at least for future seasons). I really think that Dallas, Gordon, Paul, and Daniel were the stars of this ep and are a big part of what made it so good.

#atla #natla #netflix atla spoilers #natla spoilers #atla live action #avatar the last airbender netflix #avatar the last airbender #atla netflix #atla meta #natla meta #zuko #aang #iroh #ozai #zukaang

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oneatlatime · 5 months

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The Tales of Ba Sing Se PART 2

The Tale of Zuko

Maybe I should make a Zuko's Stupid Faces post.

Zuko and Iroh's whole dynamic in one frame.

This girl is cute. Total girl next door type. She does have fairly horrible taste in men, but she's also very cute.

I just want to take a minute to point out a VERY important distinction. Zuko is not going out on a date. Zuko is not taking a girl out on a date. A girl is taking Zuko out on a date. She's got that arm in a death grip. Not only is that a clever reversal of the usual hetero dynamic, but I'm convinced it's the only way Zuko would ever get any action, so it's also in character.

I know Zuko's social skills are non-existent, but apart from the blow up at the waiter he is actually trying. He's failing, but I have to give him points for trying.

The way this girl's voice actress says "You juggled" made my ears very happy. And the beleaguered "yes. I juggled." is equally good.

Zuko! Tell her you did sword stuff! That's something you can actually do!

It gives me hope that someone so steeped in the most toxic parts of the Fire Nation, for so long, can STILL be so bad at lying, but it would certainly be a handy skill right about now.

I take it back. This girl does have good taste in men. Zuko's such a softie when it counts. He still sucks at being normal, but he just risked his identity because the girl he didn't even plan to go out with was a little bit sad.

This girl is the best.

Ha! He kissed her back! He Did! I saw that!

I take back what I took back. Zuko's evil again. He made my new favourite girl droop.

I love that Iroh's waiting up for him while making it look like he isn't waiting up for him. How many times on their ship, when Zuko was out Blue Spiriting, do you think Iroh found a reason to be randomly sat on the deck at 3 am?

Character development baby! Can you really call yourself loyal to the fire nation if you admit to having a good time on a date with an Earth Kingdom girl?

The Tale of Momo

Pretty.

That was a FILTHY bait and switch. For one shining moment, I had Appa back.

They should take that to June.

Not Appa.

Also not Appa.

I did not have 'Momo gets gaslit' on my Avatar Bingo card. Nor did I have 'interspecies animal friendship angst.'

Are these cat things the raccoons of the Avatar universe? Or the squirrels? Urban scroungers?

I love the idea that this guy just grabs the closest squirrel, sticks a hat on it, and expects it to dance. He got lucky with Momo.

I thought they were taking the animals to the pound, but this is very much a butcher. Which means that in Ba Sing Se, they eat varmint. Stay away from the hot dog carts.

That's very effective Simglish.

Thank god for thumbs.

Aw they're friends! This has Aristocats vibes, when O'Malley and the girl cat are getting together near the end.

And one final Fuck You, because god forbid Momo's tale ends on a happy note.

I'm guessing that's an Appa print, but couldn't it also be a platypus bear?

Something about the cats standing vigil over Momo's grief gets to me.

Final thoughts

I'll go through each of these stories individually, but first some general comments.

Last episode was kind of intense, and definitely ended on a downer (not that this one didn't), so it was a good call to at least start this episode off on something a bit gentler.

I was really impressed with the soundtrack throughout. Apart from the Tale of Momo where it's the animal noises that are front and centre, the music is doing a lot of work in every story, the strings especially. The strings are doing emotional work, plot stuff, and even humour. Seriously, next time you rewatch this episode, pay attention to the strings. These shorts are actually very light on dialogue (apart from Sokka's), but they don't feel that way because the music is doing the talking.

I'm assuming that this all took place over three days at least, since Iroh, Zuko, and Momo's tales seem to end on different evenings. So I don't think calling this episode 'day in the life' is accurate. My bad. It also occurs to me that this kind of episode format would be a great way of showing time has passed. If they had had an episode like this in the Northern Water Tribe - after Katara beat the crap out of Poophead but before the Fire Nation attacked - I would have liked the pacing of the whole finale arc better.

On to the stories!

The Tale of Toph and Katara

It might be because I didn't understand what this episode was doing yet, but this one didn't do much for me. It was good to see Toph have a moment of self-doubt, but I never would have assumed, based on her previous behaviour, that her appearance was her proverbial weak spot. Katara did a really good job at building her back up, and she was delightfully (and appropriately) understated for once. When she's reassuring Aang of something (especially in Season 1) Katara tends to got from 0 to 60 very quickly, so it was nice to see her be reassuring in a quiet, non-steamrolling way. Is this Katara character development? Apart from the fact that Toph quite literally got her eyeballs sanded, nothing much in this episode stuck out to me. Except those bitchy voices. Those were like knives in my brain.

The Tale of Iroh

So many questions! Is Lu Ten buried in Ba Sing Se? How is that grave not defaced yet? How did Iroh get a copy of his son's picture? They lost everything at the North Pole, right? Did he ask the people who got him their passports for a picture of his son too? Does Zuko know/remember that it's his cousin's birthday? If so, why isn't he there offering Iroh the world's most awkward hug? Given the fact that Iroh spent the whole day helping people, including a very misguided youth, and given that Iroh says something along the lines of "if only I could have helped you [his son]" does this imply that Lu Ten was going through a crisis at the time of his death? Was he misguided like the wannabe mugger? Is Zuko not the first Fire Nation Prince that Iroh has had to guide through an identity/existential crisis? Is Zuko going to be the first time Iroh succeeds at guiding a Fire Nation prince through an identity/existential crisis? Does Iroh live in perpetual fear of failing Zuko the way he seems to believe he failed his son? Am I reading too much into this?

To be quite honest, this story would have hit me harder if I had remembered going into it that Iroh had a son. Lu Ten takes being a textual ghost to a whole new level. Also the 'In honor of Mako' text confused me. And worried me a little.

The Tale of Aang

I liked this one! Aang can't help Appa at the moment, but he can help all the Appa stand ins who aren't fortunate enough to have an Aang to help them. Aang is a nice little boy! Of course he'd free a bunch of animals without thinking about the consequences and the epic pile of platypus bear dung he's just landed the zookeeper in with the Dai Li. I liked the animal designs. I liked the earthbending. I liked the Siamese cat representation. I loved cabbage man. I think that, if Appa could have known, he would have approved. I also think that I'm once again reading too much into this. it was nominally a fun fluff piece elaborating on a established emotional conflict (Appa missing), which gave it just enough weight to be slightly more than a fluff piece.

The Tale of Sokka

I am entirely serious when I say that 'poetry bouncer' is my favourite joke so far in the WHOLE show. I love absurdity played entirely earnestly. It's fridge funny too. The longer I contemplate the implications, the funnier it gets. What past event required a poetry bouncer be introduced? He's not there to protect the students or the teacher; he's here to reinforce the structure of the Haiku by force. Was he hired by the concept of Haiku? Is Haiku taken so seriously in Ba Sing Se that he's needed to break up cat fights between students? There is a rich well of haiku-related hijinks just hinted at by his presence, and I want to know more.

Sokka is so often his own worst enemy that it makes sense that he's taken out by his own hubris. That fortune teller lady was absolutely a crook, but she did one hell of an accurate cold read on Sokka.

The Tale of Zuko

Credits tell me that the girl's name is Jin. I would like to congratulate the creators of Avatar for managing to illustrate romantic interest so palpably without resorting to heart eyes and steam whistle noises. Nothing wrong with those; I'm just impressed by how much of Jin's interest in Zuko you can feel. Also, she'd better be more than a single episode character, because I need more of this sweetheart. She's a real contender for displacing Toph as my favourite girl in the cast.

To be fair to Zuko, he did make Jin droop (UNFORGIVABLE), but it was also the right call. He can't date her honestly. It IS complicated. And I don't think any Earth Kingdom girl (worth dating) would knowingly go out with Fire Nation royalty. Jin wanted Lee the Tea Boy. Try as he might, Zuko can't stop being Zuko. I would argue that he shouldn't stop being Zuko. His flashback mom told him not to forget who he was, so I'd also argue that the narrative doesn't want Zuko to stop being Zuko either. I guess it's a case of right girl, wrong time. It looks like she's cool with him being a firebender, but firebending and being the Fire Lord's son are not the same magnitude of hurdle to dating. Maybe when the war's over they can hook up again.

The Tale of Momo

I think this qualifies as cruelty to the audience. I got the impression that this story was crafted borderline maliciously, to make the viewers suffer angst dump after angst dump.

I liked seeing things from Momo's perspective. I loved the animal noises, which really got across a shocking amount of emotion. Those, combined with body language, were as effective as any spoken script. These cartoon people really know how to use their medium.

It absolutely kills me that Momo is missing Appa, and since he doesn't understand human speech, he can't even be comforted by knowing that his humans are actively looking for him. If you've ever seen one of your pets missing another of your pets in real life, you know there's nothing worse than the helplessness that comes with not being able to explain or magically summon their friend back from the kennel, or the vet, or the dead. All you can do is give them hugs. I'm glad that Momo got a street cat support group at the end of the episode, but the animal grief at the beginning was hard to get through. It's sweet to have confirmation that Momo sees Appa as family, but surely they could have showed that to us in a way that doesn't make me need to hug the stuffing out of my own pets?

Final Final Thoughts for real this time

This episode wrings you out a little. Fully a third of the stories are about Appa, despite him not being there. At least half are about missing someone who isn't there. At least half are bittersweet.

I liked this episode format. I hope they use it again next season. Only Toph and Katara's tale felt too short to me. The rest did such a good job at drawing me in, that when I went back to check timestamps I was surprised by how short these stories are.

I'm going to go eat too much chocolate.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #the tales of ba sing se

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wilcze-kudly · 1 month

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I really want to see your post about how Katara is forcefully matured by the fandom, please!

Ok, while I wasn't ready to make that post in earnest, and frankly never might be, here's some of my cursory thoughts on the topic. I'd gladly talk about it in detail more but also ✨️fear✨️

So, let's get the obvious out of the way. Katara is a 14 year old. A child, barely a teen. In fact, the entirety of the gaang is made up of children.

Now, I haven't been fully active in the atla fandom in quite some time, mostly lurking on the peripheries, because the fandom is a shitshow. One of the reasons being the fact that most fans cannot, for the life of them handle the Gaang's inherent childishness.

This isn't just a Katara problem. Other than her, Aang suffers the most for the egregious crime of being a 12 year old survivor of a genocide. Suki is, of course, mainly ignored. The interpretations of Toph can vary wildly, from her being horrifically matured to being dissmissed as a chaotic, rude child. Zuko and Sokka's immature moments are looked at more permissively, being an angsty boi™️ and a goofy goober respectively.

I do find it odd that Aang doesn't get the "boys will be boys" pass, but ok, we'll blame it on him being... bald? a nice boy? not concerned with his own masculinity?

As for Katara, her maturity is treated like... a given. She's the mom of the group, the proverbial love interest, the feminist icon, the badass fighter, the trailblazer filled with feminine rage. The trophy wife to Aang, the (Lore Olympus style) Persephone to Zuko's Hades.

And true, she is, or at least can be, a lot of these things.

However she is, first and foremost, a child. This fact is presented to us on a silver platter in the first episode, when her and Aang are penguin sledding.

Katara : I haven't done this since I was a kid!

Aang: You still are a kid!

Katara is a child forced to mature. Her circumstances forced her to try to fill her mother's place and to fight for those who couldn't do so themselves. The fandom brands her as a mom friend. Sees her purely as an icon of empowerment. Or worse, degrades her character to being a love interest.

(im talking about both sides of the kataang/zutara debate. I have my biases, but I'm sure there are kataangers who treat her like this as well. I simply have encountered very few of them.)

Her story, while yes, has many themes of female empowerment is in huge part, a tragedy. The tragedy of a young girl forced to grow up much too soon.

Sadly, this is rarely spoken about. It's not spoken about directly and therefore a lot of the fandom doesn't see this. (Or simply doesn't want to see it)

This is not to say that Katara's more mature aspects should be dismissed or buried. She displays a lot of maturity for her age, to the point of being able to go toe to toe both intellectually and physically with the (admittedly usually incompetent) adults of the show. Additionally, she evolves as a character through the durtation of the show.

But a huge chunk of her maturity being forced and therefore unhealthy is a key aspect of her character.

I think what upsets me the most is that while the critiquing the idea of Katara being treated as the mom of the group in fanon is becoming more and more common, the treatment of her as something akin to a YA protagonist is on the rise.

Both these interpretations are so insulting to the character of Katara, what is wrong with you people?

I'm currently rewatching atla with a focus on Katara as a character (while also trying to give zutara a chance I am doing my best guys) and her childishness is an integral part of her. It's sad to see her treated as an adult by the fandom. And honestly unsettling, especially with how much of like a child she acts.

I wanna finish my rewatch before I give my full ramble on the topic. I also wanna look more into the many different opinions people in the atla fandom have on Katara's treatment by the show. Though even trying to skim the surfce was like injecting lemon juice directly into my tear ducts. Also I really, really don't wanna get sent death threats again.

I want to give the topic of Katara my full attention. However I don't think I'll ever make this post, actually. The atla fandom is a rabid horrid pack of creatures and I'm not sure if I wanna engage with all that.The post would probably bash a lot of things considered key arguments for Zutara, since, looking at Zutara through a child's doesn't exactly scream 'romance' and do I really want that on my blog?

Katara's role as a child isn't valued as much as her role as a woman and I just don't want to deal with people calling me mean names for talking about a little girl being traumatised.

I'd be glad to have a discussion but I made this blog mainly to have fun and enjoy a piece of media I like. I met some truly amazing people whom I can have really great discussions with, even if we don't agree. I don't want to jeopardise that by being a pretentious dick on a soapbox.

Call this and the last few posts I made on Katara me testing the waters.

#am i still choosing violence and gonna regret this later #probably #pro katara #<this hashtag is ridiculous btw. we are forcefully climbing the mountain of moral highground huh #katara #atla #avatar: the last airbender #the last airbender #avatar the last airbender #avatar #zuko #toph #aang #sokka #suki #pro aang

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flowersadida · 2 months

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I watched the Netflix series and I liked it.

Is it different from the original? Yes, but does that make it worse? Personally I wouldn't say that.

And all because what is important is not how clearly the story develops in the footsteps of the original, but how logical it is within the given rules of the series.

Shyamalan's film was bad not because it didn't retell the cartoon, but because it was extremely illogical and stuffy (for example, the earthbender prison in the ravine was extremely stupid). Here the given rules were followed, so I think the adaptation was a success.

Did they change any characters or character arcs? If it fits into the events, the experienced backstory, and also creates new arcs, then everything is fine.

Is Katara not as fierce as in the original? But that doesn't mean she's not a character at all. I saw the growth from a frightened girl into a strong warrior, and it fit into story.

Is Sokka not sexist? But he learned to understand what it is like to be a real warrior and what is necessary for this.

Aang isn't making jokes at every turn? But he's a child in a world of war, which is merciless to everyone, including him.

For every change, we're offered an alternative that creates a logical progression for each character with a beginning, middle, and end to the arc. Does this completely change the character? Well, do you need absolutely the same thing that was in the cartoon?

If you want a specific reading of the story, then rewatch the original, it's not a problem. However, the Netflix series gives us something that many adaptations don't have - a different look at the same events. We were encouraged to look at characters and events from a different angle, and I personally loved that angle.

I consider this a competent adaptation, because all the elements of the original worked in the folded mechanism of the new interpretation.

Are there any errors in it? Of course, at the very least, the narrative and conversations into the camera remind me of Shyamalan’s technique, and this sometimes hurts the ears. Some actors sometimes don't finish their performances, and I also didn't really like the piling up of subplots in Omashu, etc.

But here's the thing, having cons doesn't make the show bad. Every adaptation has imperfections, this is quite normal. And to forget about the pros because of the cons is quite pessimistic, especially since the series didn't deserve such condemnation. There's too much effort involved to turn a blind eye to them.

I advise you to take this as fan fiction. And, as for me, this is an extremely well-developed fanfic that can tell the same story in a new way.

#atla #natla #atla netflix #netflix #katara #sokka #aang #atla live action

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bylightofdawn · 4 months

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So stuff I've discovered in my second full rewatch of Avatar: the Last Airbender. Note it's prolly been 10+ maybe even 15 years since I fully rewatched the show and my tastes have changed, as have I as a person. I used to be all about the Zutarra lifestyle back in the day. I was so disappointed they were cowards and didn't give us that delightfully spicy couple as canon. I didn't mind Kataang and thought it was cute but it didn't really do much for me.

I still see the appeal of it but uh...I've kinda shifted to Zukka hardcore but with a caveat. I don't want teenage Zukka with them constantly butting heads and arguing. I want like 10-15 years post-canon Zukka who are older and more mature and still fucking idiots. I want a disgusting amount of pining and suffering in silence. Them going through multiple relationships that just don't work out for some reason or another. It's because they aren't Zuko or Sokka but neither want to admit it to themselves.

And then they get their shit together and everyone around them is like "FUCKING FINALLY. OH MY GOD"

I've also come out of this re-watch with a burning love for Hakoda/Bato because oh my gawd long-term friends who slowly realize even through tragedy and heartbreak, they can still find happiness and maybe the one you wanted all along was right there in front of you the whole time? asgjdhglkdhgkljdhgljkdhfljkashflkjdshx that's fucking kryptonite for yours truly.

Give me middle-aged people pining and finding love for the second time in their lives.

#el watches #avatar the last airbender #the many and varied complexities of atla shipping #zukka #hakoda/bato #no clue if they have a ship name #I'm also lowkey nervous to add ship tags to this cause I lived through the age of atla shipwank and ship wars #and if you come at me in the tags I will just block you and move on with my life #ain't no one got time for that bs

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flameohotwife · 7 months

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So I always thought the canon pairings in AtLA had good writing/development but all the Aang and Mai bashing has made me decide to rewatch the series because shippers of a certain other ship called them "abusive" and Aang sexist. But honestly, I love how Mai calls Zuko out on his jealousy and possessive behavior in "The Beach" and Aang is always supportive of Katara's dreams, even refusing to be trained by Pakku because he's sexist to Katara. I like that Sukka teaches kids watching the show to treat women with respect but also Kataang and Maiko in the examples I mentioned above are also good examples of feminist moments in the show too.

YES! Anon, say it louder for the people in the back! There are so so SO many amazing feminist moments in this show and honestly I loved watching it with my kids (multiple times, haha) for that reason. I don't remember growing up with media that showed SO may instances of how girls/women could stand up for themselves in those types of situations. I love how Katara stood up to Pakku (with Aang's support! His little "Go, Katara!" makes me smile every time) and also how she CONSTANTLY takes boys on in fights, from pirates and Rough Rhinos to the taunting kids that subsequently get frozen where they stand ("oh, a girl has her ways") and anyone who insults Aang. How SHE is the one to defeat Azula in the end. How the WHOLE SHOW starts with her rant against Sokka's sexism. How Suki finally put's Sokka in his place. How Toph had to be played by "a really BUFF guy" in EIP because the Fire Nation couldn't admit to being bested by a tiny, 12-year-old girl. How Mai won't let Zuko treat her like a possession with no agency of her own. How she is the one to save HIM in the end at Boiling Rock (how's that for a damsel in distress?). How Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee are trusted by the Fire Lord to perform tasks even the highest generals can't achieve. How the show is relentlessly turning sexist stereotypes on their heads and making viewers question what they think they know.

Beyond the feminism (which you all probably already know I adore so much), I love that each of the leading boys has learning experiences wrt less-than-ideal behaviors towards girls/women, because in real life boys (and girls, too!) are GOING to make mistakes as they're learning and it's important to show how they can move beyond those mistakes and not forever be defined by them. Zuko learns not to be a possessive asshat like he is in The Beach (at least, we don't see him act that way towards Mai again--he might as well have broken up with her via text and not given her the option to follow him to the "good side," but he never acts possessive again. Baby steps). Aang learns he can't just solve their relationship problems by kissing Katara when she's confused. He gives her space and she clearly thinks he's learned from it by the end (really, by the next episode). Sokka learns not to be sexist and that sometimes girls are going to be stronger/better fighters than he is AND THAT'S OKAY. Good, even! It doesn't make him "less of a man" or anything like that, and we don't hear those sexist ideas come out of his mouth again. ALL of these make great talking points for parents watching the show with their kids, too.

Kids make mistakes. They lean on stereotypes or prior experiences and sometimes that bites them in the butt. AtLA shows that we can teach kids hard lessons. Not only can we fight back against injustice but we can improve ourselves when we've been the ones to mess up. And I really think that's something special.

Thanks for sending in your thoughts, anon! You're so right.

#kataang #maiko #sukka #kataangtag #atla gaang #atla feminism #anon #asks #i know everyone hates EIP but honestly it's my kids' favorite episode and i LOVE the conversations it generates

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comradekatara · 6 months

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hello! I’m rewatching atla atm, and I’m on the s1 finale. I was wondering if you’ve ever imagined what an extra northern water tribe ep could look like? personally I feel like they could’ve easily scrapped the great divide and added another ep to this mini arc, after the ep where katara slays paku. I’m just not sure what the conflict would be. a sokka ep would be great, maybe some of his warrior training & socializing with the average nwt man. the way this could contribute to sokka & masculinity & protection I would Die. ofc more time with yue. but anyway, I’m interested in your thoughts

oh this SUCH a good question!! the nwt is my favorite mini-arc in the show (yue being the absolute scene-stealer that she is) and i have always secretly wanted an extra episode set there, whether by removing “the great divide” (objectively bad episode apart from the aang lying stuff which is great) or by simply adding one extra episode to s1 at no cost.

if i could rework those episodes as self indulgently as possible, i would make “the waterbending master” more katara (and kanna) focused and then make the extra episode more sokka (and yue) focused. yue could still be introduced to us and sokka in that episode, but time spent on sokka’s subplot could instead be afforded to flashbacks of kanna in the nwt. we only get very limited glimpses of kanna, in flashbacks or otherwise, and i think seeing more of her, especially in an episode that sheds so much illuminating light onto her character & thematic role as she informs katara, would have been really cool to see. kanna as a child, giggling with baby yugoda as she would later do with hama. kanna at age 16, looking like a slightly older katara, hesitating over her marriage to a younger pakku, ultimately making a difficult choice. katara’s arc in that episode wouldn’t change (i mean, it’s already so perfect), but for the audience, seeing kanna would help contextualize that chiasmus and further move us.

a common criticism i see from detractors of sokka/yue’s relationship is that it feels too rushed, and i agree to an extent, but we also know that they did develop a sincere friendship during the timeskip between “the waterbending master” and “the siege of the north.” we simply do not know for how long that timeskip actually lasted. we can assume that it was a not insignificant amount of time, considering that katara basically mastered waterbending in that interim, but we never actually see that friendship develop, so to some, it can feel cliched and insincere (because they simply do not understand the power of uhaul lesbianism). so on a very self-indulgent level, i would love to see more of sokka and yue’s relationship development, since we are only privy to the most essential beats (which, granted, we can extrapolate from, but im being selfish rn shut up).

an episode where sokka and yue (both separately and together) comprise the a and b plots (and the c plot can be katara and aang adorable training montage) would be really nice to see, especially, as you said, wrt the gender politics of the nwt. it would be cool to see yue directly interact with arnook and/or hahn to provide a starker contrast between the burdens placed on her as a girl/daughter/wife/princess versus how sokka treats her (because that implication is already crucial, but framing it more overtly would be nice). and then seeing sokka in the throes of his “warrior training” being like “i don’t think any of these dudes have ever actually seen battle…” and having to deal with the tension of being denigrated and disrespected as a southerner, but also clearly having more experience than them and being frustrated by their myopia (realizing that not too long ago, he also had no experience, and oh god is that what he sounded like??????? yes.) .. and then of course sokka and yue together, flirting as “just friends” (over pai sho perhaps????) and being in their own little totally platonic rom com world. but sokka and yue’s relationship is obviously very thematically significant on top of just being lovely and adorable, so using that extra space to explore their parallel commitments to their (patriarchal) Duty, the burdens and expectations placed on them, and how it reflects their societies and the role colonialism plays in shaping them. would love to see it!!!!

#dejaentends #asks #katara #kanna #kanna&katara #sokka #yue #sokkaxyue #<- butch/femme uhaulers. to me #YEAHHH BABYYYYYY #this is exactly what is rotating in my mind at all times HOW DID YOU KNOWWWWW #if I wrote fanfiction btw. it would be this

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femme-malewife · 1 year

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I was rewatching the Southern Raiders so I can re-evaluate how I can write Zuko and Katara’s dynamic and honestly, I forgot how angry this episode makes me. I forgot how angry I get when I remember how people genuinely wished harm upon Katara as a character because of her rightful frustration.

Hers and Sokka’s mother was killed, and it’s only Katara who wants closure. Because Sokka, many episodes ago (”The Runaway”), stated that whenever he thinks about his mother, he can’t remember her face, he can only think of Katara’s. This means that he was able to get over her death, because he had someone who was there who took on all of their mother’s responsibilities.

Katara, meanwhile, had no one. She, an 8 year old girl, took on the cooking, cleaning, sewing, acting as a mother to her older brother, and always looked out for everyone in the gaang by the age of 14. And when does she ever get a “thank you” or anything? Hell, in the episode “The Desert”, she’s the only one who focuses on getting everyone out. Aang is sulking (and she’s still supportive of him), Toph can’t “see” properly and is down, and Sokka is drunk off of cactus juice.

Yet Katara was treated like shit in the episode. She not once got onto Aang for taking his frustration out on anyone, yet he screamed at her “What are you doing?!” when he yelled that he was doing his best.

Also, Water Tribes have major gender roles, and it shows us explicitly that Sokka is closer to their dad than Katara is (not to say Katara doesn’t love him of course, but Katara even lets Sokka go see Hakoda while she stayed behind in Ba Sing Se) and Katara was obviously closer with her mother.

So, pray tell, why no one except Zuko supported Katara? Why did Aang compare losing an animal and losing his culture to Katara losing her mother? None of these are the same. For one, Appa was still alive, and two, a mother is something irreplaceable. Katara losing her mother is what shaped her into who she is today, and Aang got over the loss of his culture because the plot needed him to.

For all that Katara has done for the group, one would assume that they would support her. But no- Sokka told her “she was my mother too, but Aang might be right” (which, again, I point out that Sokka was able to process and get over his grief, while Katara never had a true outlet for hers. She was able to talk about it, but that’s not the same as processing grief), and Aang got all preachy, showing he didn’t trust her not to kill him, despite supposedly “loving her” and being her “best friend”.

The lack of empathy and sympathy from Aang and Sokka is honestly infuriating. And the fandom is only worse.

Did yall also forget Katara is literally 14 years old? Can you seriously tell me that you would be emotionally stable if you were 8, lost a parent you were close with, and found out you can get closure by finding that parent’s killer after they literally reshaped your entire childhood? Everyone processes trauma differently, and it’s especially hard on a teenager.

People literally have more sympathy for Sokka losing Yue, a girl he knew for, what, two days max? Than Katara losing her mother.

The Katara lost her mother memes were never funny. And the hatred for Katara specifically for this episode is really old, tiring, and hypocritical.

#zutara #atla salt

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geotheraider · 2 months

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ATLA Live Action Thoughts

Well hello there! After letting the events and creative choices of the Live Action ATLA show absorb for about 24 hours after finishing the series, I think it's time to put my thoughts to the page.

Yes, that was a mouthful of a sentence. Sorry about that.

To start things off, I loved it! Did I love every single part? Not exactly, but the creative choices and how everything was weaved together? YES! It felt exactly like a fairly well-put-together fanfiction for me. It incorporated loved pieces of the show while warping them slightly to fit within the creator's vision.

Now, we all like lists right? I know I do, so let's do some listing.

The Good:

The CGI for the fights was pretty well awesome alongside the choreography for the scenes. While some fights lacked a bit of depth (Katara vs Pakku) and certainly could have had more oomph with more length, I can still appreciate them for what they are.

To add to that, the bending looked freaking awesome! The earthbending had a signature ..crunch to it, water flowed, fire was punchy (though had one small bit to be desired - I'll address this later) and air was flighty.

The CGI creatures were great IMO. Momo was a little gremlin, which fits him perfectly. He was still cute in spite of his gremlinosity. Appa - I absolutely loved him. I think he's as good as he could possibly look in the media. He's still a ten-ton flying monstrosity of a bison, and he's perfect. He's fluffy. He's Appa. OSTRITCH HORSES! They were awesome and looked like living dinosaurs - nuff said.

The acting and line delivery, while rougher in the early episodes flourished as each episode went onward and the kids got more comfortable/experienced. You could really tell they were giving it their all, and I applaud them! Awesome work on their part!

Storytelling - the combination of different episode topics together flowed rather well! I really enjoyed them putting together the things they did.

And now for a bit of a read more for spoilers.

The storytelling was rather well done, especially things like adding Omashu, Jet and the freedom fighters, and the Mechanist (as well as the cave of the two lovers) together. Overall, it played well, and I'd like to think it was a good approach NOTE: This is from someone who is actively adapting the series in my own fanfic, and I can see aspects of that approach in the adaptation. I love to see it!

Ozai playing his children against each other is probably one of my favorite aspects of the entire thing! He's a manipulator in this version, which if they were going to have him on-screen rather than the ominous shadow emperor, then I think this was probably the only choice. I loved it.

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The not good not bad:

Nudging the story in a darker direction was a choice. I know I just spoke at length about how I liked the creative choices and I'm not sure how I feel about this one. As someone who's throwing a lot of trauma at the characters in his fanfic, It can be a lot. To have that on screen is difficult since it can end up hiding characters' sense of being if not handled correctly.

Katara - in the animated show - always a go-getter, filled with righteous anger, not backing down, and strong-willed Katara - in the live-action show - fairly timid, but slowly growing over time into her strength of will. I wasn't a fan of the vision of Katara early in the season, but by the finale, it was starting to feel like her. (I still wish her fight with Pakku was better)

The family of Aang, Katara, and Sokka - I've seen quite a few posts talking about how they don't feel like a family in the live-action. In the animated show, after rewatching it recently, I feel like they didn't really grow toward a family unit until after the North Pole. They were good friends traveling together. Yes we had the line from the Southern Air Temple of 'We're your family now' but I don't think I truly felt it until season 2. Don't get me wrong, they were close, but I didn't get those true bonded feels until S2.

Iroh felt like Iroh half the time, and the other half, I'm not sure who he felt like, but it wasn't in a bad way? Like, we explored a different part of him. With his first interaction with Aang, we even saw him as the reluctant Fire Nation general. As he still was at that point. I can appreciate the change and don't mind it a ton.

Bumi. I think I've decided that Bumi was where Katara's righteous anger went. He doesn't immediately forgive Aang for disappearing, and then reappearing. Bumi has fought a war for a hundred years and has had to deal with ALL THAT for a hundred years. To say he'd be prickly is an understatement. Honestly? He has no reason to forgive Aang. I don't mind this change - though he could've toned down the dickishness IMO.

Katara's bending progression: In each episode of the show she improved both in skill and strength, when finally she fought Pakku, she used self-developed techniques. Those are the traits of a master bender. While we don't get to see her training with Pakku, or demonstrating that she truly has mastery over the element, we get shown that she has indeed grown immensely. A few extra training scenes would've gone a long way, especially with Aang.

Speaking of Aang. Aang had no water-bending training along the way north :( I would've liked to see that, but it's not a deal-breaker.

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The bad/meh- Let me preface this by saying I still love the show. There were a few moments that were lacking though (and one that was meh throughout):

The firebending, while amazing in almost EVERY SINGLE ASPECT, was lacking in one. FIREBLASTS AND FIREBALLS ARE SHOT FROM THE FIST, NOT GATHERED IN YOUR HAND LIKE CHI BLASTS. Sorry.

Katara. Where were your responses in some of those interactions? You sat there and listened (which in some cases is a good thing for someone expressing their emotions) but didn't respond when you could have/should have! I feel like we missed a bit of her character when we lost some of her in those. It's not enough to be a truly detracting piece of the show, but I should say that I wasn't a fan of that choice.

Roku was a bit...too unserious. He was the serious avatar in ATLA (in terms of brooding and wanting to help guide Aang.) He...got the Bumi jokes. That was an odd choice. I hope they revisit him in the future and he is able to redeem that aspect.

At the end, during the scene at the North where Aang gives himself over to the ocean spirit, I didn't really like the idea that the avatar was lost to the spirit. I also didn't like the "I need you" from Katara. Not from a shipping perspective, but from a character perspective. In the animated show, Katara spent a lot of effort showing that Aang is her hope for a better world. In the live-action, that wasn't there, so that line seemed out of place.

Hmm, four negative points. I'm sure there were more, but none are springing to mind at the moment, so perhaps I'll edit this later.

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Final thoughts.

I need to stress that the likeability of the show hinges heavily on how you approach it. If you approached the live-action hoping for a perfect retelling of the ATLA story, then you are going to be severely disappointed. If you instead approach it for what it is - an adaptation of the story, with nudges events in one way or another, and includes new approaches, then you'll love it. I went in expecting a fanfiction type of show, and I think I got more than expected. The kids gave this thing their all, and it shows! Everyone showed improvement through the episodes and by the end really fell into their roles.

I certainly hope the future has another (2) season(s) lined up because I'd love to see what twists and turns we're in for.

Oh yeah, and scarf. I liked the scarf scene. There is no shipping bait in Omashu.

#atla #geotheraider writes #avatar the last airbender #natla review #natla positive #natla spoilers #zuko #katara #aang #sokka

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