#I'm also convinced ozai is able to bend blue fire if he wants to but he chooses not to to conserve energy

[aangarchy]

Azula is not the most powerful firebender in atla

Now before you shoot me in the kneecaps for saying something so controversial, hear me out

Azula is a fantastic bender. She's a prodigy, learning at a very young age and being able to bend blue fire despite the extra effort it takes. She's mastered lightning at 14, a skill that's considered quite rare. She also uses her acrobatic skills she learned from Ty Lee to her advantage to make her even better, swifter, lighter on her feet, not needing to be steady in order to bend like other firebenders. BUT:

There are arguably two benders in the show better than her. Ozai and Iroh. Iroh isn't that hard to explain; he invented new skills by observing other bending forms, something that can only make someone more powerful. He is also able to spit fire from his mouth without being roided up from the comet (the only firebender we know of to do it w/o the comet's help). He's also a master lightning bender, and was able to keep more than a dozen Dai Li plus Azula at bay long enough for Katara to escape the crystal catacombs.

Ozai does not have a lot of screentime compared to Iroh and Azula. We only ever see him in flashbacks or sitting down on his little throne. We see him fight twice, once against Zuko and once against Aang. The fight with Aang he was roided up by the comet yes, but he still portrayed amazing skill. Lightning, propelling himself with only fire, spitting fire etc. But it's the earlier fight with Zuko where things get interesting. Ozai was able to tell when the eclipse ended by merely closing his eyes and focusing on the sun. He sensed it. Even Azula needed a cue to understand the eclipse was done: "oh sounds like firebending's back on!" Furthermore, Ozai immediately fired lightning at Zuko, and not only did he manage to do that without having to 'charge' first, he shot it out of both hands, which is something neither Azula nor Iroh can do (or at least we've never seen them do it, Azula has always had to charge her lightning and only uses one hand to shoot it, same for Iroh)

Honestly while Ozai has definitely looked like a chump in the show, I'm not sure Azula or Iroh could take him in a one v one. That might be one of the reasons his rule was never challenged, because nobody dared to take him on. I feel like the fandom underestimates him bc we only saw him fight twice and he lost both times (once bc Zuko's unknown skill took him by surprise and once bc Aang's avatar state eventually overpowered him).