#It’s kind of interesting to see how people view zuko

[ssreeder]

AHHHHH sssreeeedy,

this chapter made me so emotional!!! i can‘t deny I love some zukka cuddles and sweetness but I really enjoyed the more confrontational scenes and the angst. It’s nice that they’re finally being honest and actually talking

I can’t wait for next chapter!!!!! byebyeee:)

They needed to have a confrontation where zuko was able to put his foot down and find his voice. He’s been such a floater recently just vibing and going through things without really engaging in anything so it’s kind of nice to see sokka pull an emotional reaction out of him. Zuko will talk a LOT more next chapter I think the damn thing is 75% zuko haha so I guess get ready for that haha. thanks for the ask <333

[geegers22]

I’ve seen lots of conversation on here about Zutara shippers opinions on aang and mai and i thought I’d give my point of view.

I want to start by saying that I think there should be more of a distinction between disliking a character because they are a bad person and disliking a character because they are written badly. With that being said, I can confidently say that, with the material of the main ATLA show, I dislike Aang and Mai because they are badly written characters. Meaning, if their arcs were properly finished, I would have no problems with them. This brings me to another topic of how I don’t really ‘hate’ characters who are bad people if they’re well written but that’s a conversation for another post.

I need to point out that I didn’t start disliking Aang and Mai until they had their arcs undermined when Kataang and Maiko became canon. With the arcs they were going on, they had so much potential to be really interesting and I enjoyed their personalities.

When it comes to Aang, I had no problem with him as a character until season 3 part 2 when I started to realize that his world view (which is flawed based solely on the fact that he is young and there is no way he’s going to have a nuanced pov) was not going to be challenged. Aang should have had to give up katara. Aang should not have just had everything handed to him with the lion turtle and the pointy rock.

Then there’s the southern raiders which I would argue, if Aang’s arc had been completed, would not illicit as many conversations and arguments about it as it currently has. Because his actions in that episode make sense (Sokkas don’t really but again-that’s another story) because he’s a kid. This episode should have been a big decider of his change in worldview. The problem is that the creators decided his flaws didn’t exist and that he was perfect. (At 12 years old?!?!?)

Then there’s Mai. She’s a much smaller character but that doesn’t mean she deserves less of an arc. Mai is a character whose personality I love! (I’m all for gloomy depressed women!) There’s two ways Mai’s character could have developed, and I think both options are great, the problem is that Bryke decided to go in neither direction.

On the one hand, Mai could have been a representation of unlearning the propaganda she was taught in the fire nation throughout her whole life. I think this direction would make Maiko more believable, although I still don’t think they are a good couple because their personalities create a toxic dynamic and Mai’s story with Zuko is meant to represent that toxicity.

The second option would be to have her views not change, like we see in the show, and have her not get back together with Zuko. This is the more interesting path in my opinion because it’s more realistic. I don’t think the problem with Mai’s arc lies with her personal views of the fire nation, more so with her relationship with Zuko. As we have it in the show, Mai’s views don’t change. Therefor, it doesn’t make sense for her character or for Zuko’s for them to get back together like nothing ever happened.

When it comes down to it. Both Aang and Mai had their arcs sabotaged because the creators rejected Zutara. Even without Zuko and Katara getting together these were the wrong decisions. Both characters had potential to be well written, but in the end, the creators chose the path didn’t allow that to happen because they just couldn’t kill their darling. (Kataang)

Sorry for rambling, this is kind of just my take on the whole “Zutara shippers hate Aang and Mai” take.

[akiizayoi4869]

Azula In The Spirit Temple

So, I read the comic yesterday. And while I was confused about it at first, like I'm sure many people were, talking with some friends about it made me come to a conclusion. This comic was a reset button. That's why we didn't get anything new about Azula, and why what we actually did get was something that every Azula fan has known and has been saying for years now about her character. But this comic wasn't just for us. It was for the entire fandom as a whole. And as we all know, much of the fandom doesn't share our thoughts when it comes to her.

I'm not going to talk about the beginning of the comic since that part didn't interest me at all. What I want to talk about is when Azula is inside of the temple. A lot of interesting stuff happens there.

The first part being this. We see what happened when Azula firebended for the first time. We see how Ursa is afraid for Azula and not of her, because she knows what this means for Azula going forward. To Azula, however, she can't tell if Ursa was afraid for her or of her thanks to the fact that the relationship between them was never really good. Also, I need to make one thing clear before I move on: that turtle duck isn't real, it's a toy. I know that people are going to use and say that it proves that Azula is a psycho, but please use your brains for a minute. If it was actually real, do you really think the damn thing would be still? It would have been writhing around in pain and screeching to the high heavens. Not to mention that Ursa's reaction would have been very different. Heck, the entire scene would have played out differently.

Next up we have this part:

After so many years, the writers finally made what every Azula fan has been saying for years canon: that Azula was indeed abused by Ozai, Ursa's neglect hurt her deeply, and that both of these things played no small part in how she eventually turned out. We see Azula coming to terms with the fact that Ozai abused her, and that Ursa failed to protect her from him because she was so focused on Zuko that the way Ozai was with Azula seemed almost natural to Ursa. It didn't register that it was full on abuse. What really interested me about this scene was how Azula says that if Ursa has just allowed Zuko to be killed, she would have been able to stay and protect her. Is this fucked up? Yes. But it makes sense that Azula would think like that. In her pov, everyone left her for Zuko. Everyone wanted to protect him, but nobody felt like she needed protection too.

We get some scenes with Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko as well:

These scenes show us how Azula feels about the betrayal at the Boiling Rock, as well as how she viewed her friendship with Mai and Ty Lee overall. It also shows us the harsh truths that Azula has internalized about herself: that her treatment of them wasn't ok, and that her overall attitude towards others in general is a problem. Ty Lee sort of says that to Azula, albeit in a kind way, which is reminiscent of how Ty Lee actually is. She tells Azula what she wants to hear. Mai, though? She straight up tells Azula the truth, very bluntly at that. Holds no punches at all. Mai tells Azula what she needs to hear, whether she likes it or not. Then the spirit takes the form of Zuko, who proceeds to tell her that everything that ever happened to Azula is her fault, and that nobody is responsible for her but herself. At first, this came across as victim blaming to me by the writers, which made me mad. But when I thought about it some more, I realized that that's not what this scene was. The spirit doesn't know anything about Azula. It's just showing her what she's thinking. It created a play of her innermost thoughts. So when you think about it like that, you come to one conclusion: Azula blames herself for her abuse, and how her life turned out. Which is actually common with abuse victims. They can acknowledge that they were abused, while at the same time simultaneously blaming themselves for it. Because the person who abused them loved them, right? So if they felt the need to harm them, obviously it's the victims fault for doing something wrong.

Then we get to the part where she's "offered" a chance at redemption:

Now, I know that there's going to be idiots who will look at this and go "See?! She had her chance at redemption but rejected it! Proof that she's evil!" but was it really "redemption"? Think about it. Like I said earlier, what the spirit was showing Azula was what she's been thinking for who knows how long. What it offered her was basically a false reality that it created where she could be happy. In other words, it wasn't real. Things would still be the same for her in the real world. And if you know that something is fake, are you going to take it? No. Not to mention, the damn thing tried to kill her😭. So is it really any wonder that she said "yeah no fuck you and your redemption offer" and blasted it full of lightning?

Azula escapes from the temple and eventually finds the rest of the Kemurikage in the end, but she ultimately decides to leave them alone, saying that they are unworthy of her leadership.

All in all, this comic wasn't bad and I actually like it. Now, as for why I say that it's a reset on her character? Because certain things from the previous comics that were centered around Azula aren't mentioned. One topic in particular, something that you would think would have been mentioned considering how much it hurt Azula in The Search.

Ursa choosing to forget about her and Zuko. Abandoning them to they're abuser.

When we see the spirit version of Ursa and Azula says what she does to her, nothing about that is ever mentioned. And if Azula was supposed to be unloading her grievances to Ursa, why wasn't this mentioned?

In the beginning, when they fight Ty Lee, Ty Lee says "Fire Lord Zuko is tired of your mischief, Azula!" which can honestly mean a number of things. The kidnapping incident from Smoke and Shadow doesn't get spoken about here either. Which brings me to my next point: Kiyi is nowhere to be found in this. Considering that Azula saw her as a replacement daughter for Ursa, we should have seen her at some point. Not to mention that Azula kidnapped her. And if the spirit was supposed to be showing her all of her past misdeeds and that she was wrong for them? I'm pretty sure that kidnapping a bunch of kids would have been pretty high on the list.

So going by all of that, I think it's pretty safe to say that the writers are trying to move away from Yang's writing, particularly with Azula, considering how much his portrayal of her is hated, especially in The Search. And in a time where more and more people are vocal about how things are shown in media, especially sensitive topics like mental health? It's no wonder that they would want to move away from that. And I mean really, this is what we've been asking them to do for a long time now. To retcon the Yang comics because he ruined every character, and if they want to redeem Azula, his writing of her would make it incredibly hard to do so. This comic I feel is a start to said retcons. With that being said though, I can understand why people are disappointed. The marketing for it made it seem like we were getting something else, and not this. For the Azula fans who've been waiting for 15 years basically for the writers to release some quality Azula content, I can see why this would be a let down.

[evilprincesss]

what iroh should have been, and how it would've impacted zuko and azula's arcs

in terms of canon atla, aside from my criticisms of the orientalism woven into the show's fabric, its pattern of telling not showing, the tumor-like presence of filler episodes that don't do enough as character studies or dynamic studies (mostly in book 3; in book 1 i'm more forgiving of these since atla was still finding its groove), and my issues with zuko's redemption arc not challenging his political beliefs in a meaningful way, the thing that i would consider its biggest failure writing-wise is the fact that iroh is not intentionally portrayed as a morally gray character.

the thing about iroh is that he is a longtime war criminal. they try to soft retcon some of that in book 3 by making his nickname "the dragon of the west" about him pretending to have hunted the dragons into extinction and by making him a part of the white lotus, but this to me is not only grievously boring but also a waste of his character.

i understand why the idea of iroh as little more than zuko's loving, wise, and kooky uncle makes people happy. it means zuko gets to have a father figure who loves him unconditionally and makes him feel safe. that's a lovely concept! but not a very interesting one in terms of the narrative, nor is it one congruent with iroh's initial characterization.

think of the absolute contempt and terror he struck into those earthbenders who tried to arrest him in book 1. think of the fact that he besieged ba sing se for 600 days straight well into his adulthood (his age is unclear, but i'd presume he's somewhere in his mid to late 50s throughout atla, so he would at youngest in his 40s when he lead the siege of ba sing se). think of the fact that iroh only changed his mind about his very active part in the war as a grown man once his son was killed. think of the fact that iroh spent 3 years with zuko in exile without ever once actively making a real effort to help zuko unlearn the fire nation propaganda he was indoctrinated with from birth or to truly help him understand that ozai abused him. think of the fact that the white lotus didn't really do much of anything throughout the war to end it.

what picture do these facts paint? is it really that of a reformed war criminal? no, not really.

iroh loves zuko unconditionally. he is patient and kind and loving with zuko. i don't think there's much, if any, room to argue with that. i am not denying that to zuko, iroh is a loving, wise, and kooky uncle.

however, i am saying that iroh is multifaceted. he is zuko's loving, wise, and kooky uncle, and he is also a war criminal who, despite the show telling us has reformed his ways, is not shown to have done so in any meaningful way. he does not do much to help zuko to unlearn imperialist propaganda, does not do much to discourage zuko from trying to capture the avatar, and does not do much at all to end the war.

this makes for an incredibly interesting and dynamic character! this is a character who believes that his personal kindness absolves him of his heinous political misdeeds. that is why he does not do anything meaningful to challenge imperialism where he sees it. that is why he is also a kind, loving man. he's hugely flawed, but he also has virtues that make you want him to overcome his flaws! there is so much room for him to develop whether its negatively or positively, and there is so much that can be done with the relationships he has, especially his relationship with zuko! furthermore, this is the summation of what the canon material overall most strongly presents us with.

but it's not how the narrative wants us to view iroh, so it's not how the narrative treats him.

instead, we are told that iroh is a reformed war criminal (and later even the notion that he was in the wrong for his military service to the fire nation is soft retconned) who is now nothing but a loving and supportive uncle to zuko. he's unfailingly kind to both zuko and the gaang, ty lee lets slip that she actually rather likes him despite azula's contempt of him to show us that ty lee is an antivillain who will be redeemed (despite her political beliefs never being actually challenged in a meaningful way), and really the only people iroh is unkind to or who dislike him are azula and ozai to highlight to the audience that they are villains.

this makes for an incredibly static character who essentially only exists to love zuko and act as his moral tether despite the fact that iroh never actually challenges zuko's political beliefs. iroh does not need to grow or develop within the narrative atla tells us exists. he has already done his self-reflection and repented for his behavior. he is a figure of moral authority. while this makes him feel safe and good to viewers who accept what atla tells them without question, in addition to not aligning with what's actually shown, it also makes him insanely bland from a narrative perspective.

but what if atla intentionally portrayed him as morally gray? what if they leaned into his shortcomings?

here's the thing about if iroh is intentionally portrayed as morally gray: zuko's redemption arc improves drastically, and azula's is given a much better opportunity to begin.

hear me out. if iroh is morally gray, then he is not solely there to show zuko what real, unconditional love looks like so that zuko can replace his abusive father with a loving father figure, giving him the strength to do the right thing and join the gaang. i'm not saying iroh no longer serves this function in the narrative; i'm saying that now that iroh does this, and his failure to meaningfully repent for his war crimes and to challenge imperialism creates conflict with zuko. you see, if iroh is morally gray, then his failure to challenge zuko's political beliefs (i.e. imperialism is good) is something that zuko is forced to reckon with throughout his redemption arc.

this would mean that zuko is finally actually challenged in his political beliefs as opposed to simply accepting that people are afraid of him because he is a destructive firebender/the prince and thus representative of the harm they have endured throughout the war. furthermore, it means that zuko has to go against a father figure who has treated him well, so his redemption is no longer a matter rooted in kindness but in moral conviction. zuko doesn't have to lose his love for iroh to do this; in fact, that would be a very boring way to portray this. it is far more interesting if zuko has the internal conflict of both loving his uncle and condemning him politically as he struggles to do the right thing in spite of that love.

the idea of zuko managing to grow beyond iroh and do the right thing even though it is hard, even though it means not only going against ozai's malice but also iroh's complicty, is one that would round zuko's arc out better.

it's also one that would open up the gates for an azula redemption arc a lot more than what canon does (although canon azula is still redeemable).

if zuko outgrows iroh enough to challenge his inaction, then he has outgrown iroh enough to start to really see his flaws.

one of zuko's main flaws in canon is that he has a very black and white way of thinking. this is a hugely defining flaw for him. it's why he struggled to accept that ozai abused him, why he struggled to see that his pursuit of the avatar and thus the war as a whole was wrong, why he got physically ill when he was confronted with the fact that he was harming people, etc.

but if zuko starts to see that iroh's inaction as a flaw despite the fact that iroh loves him so sincerely and is so kind to most everyone, then he can start to break this black and white thinking. like ozai, iroh is no longer on a pedestal in zuko's mind. this would lead to the unearthing of more of iroh's flaws.

in conjunction with the fact that zuko has now seen proof of azula's pain (her psychotic break in the last agni kai), this means that zuko can start to place blame where its due with people over her pain.

i am under no delusions about the state of zuko's relationship with azula in canon. i've expanded on my thoughts about the love between them here if you'd like to see them, but i can sum it up as so: while azula cares about zuko in her own deeply screwed up way, zuko doesn't really care about azula because he is shortsighted and struggles to empathize with her or even see a need to.

however, seeing proof that azula has been harmed too means that zuko would finally see a reason she is worthy of his empathy. the first, most obvious, and easiest to identify (for zuko) perpetrator is, of course, ozai. like with the war, ozai is clearly malicious. now that zuko has admitted and accepted that his father was abusive to him, it is much easier for him to admit that their father is responsible for azula's pain too. this much i believe is likely in canon as well.

the next person for zuko to look to, which can only happen if zuko has opened his eyes, is iroh. like with the war post 600 day siege, iroh was not malicious in his treatment of azula, but he was still complicit. iroh may not have abused azula, but he did neglect her entirely. he did not give her a chance to ever be anything but what ozai told her she should be. he did not show her love and compassion the way he did zuko. furthermore, he not only failed to encourage zuko to ever try doing so, he actively discouraged him from attempting to.

to be clear: i don't think zuko should be a mentor figure to azula during her redemption. like azula, he's just a kid. he's still growing and learning himself. he also doesn't really understand her at all, even if he has realized that she was hurt too. he doesn't understand how she was, and he's going to have to spend a lot of time reconciling the way their father's abuse colored his perception of her with how she actually is. furthermore, their relationship is complicated and full of pain for them both, so relying too heavily on it to help azula recover and redeem herself would end badly if we're being realistic.

but zuko seeing that azula was abused by their father and seeing that their uncle's failure to ever give her a chance to understand real love is crucial to him realizing that the asylum is not somewhere that gives her a real shot at recovery and redemption.

whether or not azula takes that shot when it's given to her is a more complicated story that would involve both zuko and azula having to reflect more wholly and honestly on ursa than i think either of them ever have before as well as some likely very painful conversations challenging the way she, like all other fire nation citizens, was indoctrinated, but do you see how interesting treating iroh as the morally gray character he is could be?

even if you don't want to see a redeemed azula (i personally do, but the possibility of her rejecting the idea of redemption is also quite fascinating and tragic in this context), zuko's arc and the commentary made about redemption and second chances overall are made so much more interesting and nuanced by this simple choice.

[sokkastyles]

I feel like one of the reasons Kataang kind of lands weirdly in canon and one of the reasons some people did not connect with it as much is because the Kataang romance mostly happens from Aang's point of view. We get a lot of moments where we see what Aang thinks of her romantically, but we don't really see Katara's point of view up until season 3 episode 2 where she looks visibly jealous of Aang dancing with another girl. That moment did feel like it came out of nowhere though, because we don't see her feel like that in any of the previous episodes (Cave of two lovers doesn't count, because Katara was enamored with the idea of Oma and Shu's romance, she liked the idea of love but it didn't necessarily have anything to do with Aang). Compare that to Zuko and Katara, who also aren't romantically linked in the show, but we do get a lot of interactions between them and we get to see what they both think of each other and how that changes in each season. The mutualness in their dynamic made me think that Zuko and Katara were supposed to end up together, I mean they literally have a pivotal moment together at the climax of each season finale. I really wonder what we would have gotten if Aaron Ehasz and his wife Elizabeth got to write Zutara as a fully realized pairing. I'm not even against the idea of Kataang, but I would have written it differently. And also Zutara appeals to me more.

Yeah, the reason why Katara's jealousy feels like it came out of nowhere is because it's another example of the romance not being written with Katara's feelings in mind. Katara idealizing the Oma and Shu story or being jealous of Aang flirting with other girls still doesn't tell us how Katara feels about Aang as a person or how her relationship with him would be. It just tells us that she's a fourteen year old girl who is interested in romance and Aang happens to be there in front of her at the moment. When she actually talks to Aang about her feelings, they often argue. See also the Cave of Two Lovers when Katara got angry when Aang didn't live up to her romantic ideal, or when Katara got upset at Aang flirting with his fanclub because again, he did not live up to her romantic ideal.

Katara and Zuko's relationship feels much more grounded because when they actually talk about how they feel about each other, they are able to work out an understanding and end up closer. And if romance were to happen, it would come after friendship and mutual understanding.

Which is in stark contrast to Aang and Katara idealizing each other but having fundamental disagreements when they actually talk about their feelings.

[ilikepjo24]

A key point in Azula's potential redemption...

I have talked before about how I think that humiliating and torturing Azula in the name of redemption is ineffective, unfair, cruel, barbaric, inhumane, monsterous, ect...

I go into detail about why I think that in this post, check it out if you're interested.

It has come to my attention that people believe that Azula should be abused cause Zuko also got abused and the pain and humiliation changed him. In this post I will explain why that wouldn't work for Azula.

Mainly, it's because Zuko didn't just get abused. He got abused by Ozai. And that's a major detail, because it affects what Zuko thought of that abuse.

In Fire Nation, the Fire Lord is treated like some kind of god and everyone accepts it. People suffer due to bad economy (war and all) but it's okay because it's the Firelord's will send the Firelord knows best. Zuko being abused by said Firelord is what taught him that no, the Firelord isn't always good, he abuses his fucking kids, the Firelord can go fuck himself.

Zuko hated the fact that he was being abused and therefore to an extend hated Ozai for abusing him. That hatred is what made him able to view Ozai as an imperfect, non-godly being, that could be wrong in same cases and then helped Zuko realize that he was wrong about the war.

Zuko's hatred of Ozai's abuse is basically what triggered his redemption. That method worked for him. But it wouldn't work for Azula. And here's why.

Ozai is now out of the picture.

That's it. That's the reason why. That single detail is why the idea that Azula must suffer for redemption is logically impossible. Allow me to compare the situations:

Zuko was abused / Azula could be abused

Zuko hated his abuser / Azula will hate her abuser

Zuko wanted to destroy his abuser / Azula will want to destroy her abuser

Zuko's abuser was Ozai / Azula's abuser would be the Gaang and the peaceful society

Zuko hated Ozai / Azula will hate the Gaang and the newfound peace

Zuko helped ruin Ozai / Azula will try to ruin the whole world

Azula's redemption arc isn't happening during the war or by a character we know is bad. Especially if we say it's for the sake of redemption. Logically, the people that would want to see her redeemed would be Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, Aang and potentially the rest of the Gaang.

So while Zuko's abuse made him hate a person that should have been hated, Azula's abused will make her hate people that shouldn't.

Zuko's abuse happened by Ozai and it made him Ozai.

If Azula gets abused, it will be by the good guys and it will make her hate the good guys.

Zuko's abuse was done by evil and made him turn towards good, which caused a redemption arc.

If Azula gets abused for the sake of a redemption arc by good, it'll make her hate both the idea of redemption and good in general.

You could argue that Zuko's abuse made him good but Azula's abuse would just make her more evil and that kind of defeats the purpose of doing it for the sake of redemption

Which is why humiliating/abusing- I'm sorry, "humbling" Azula wouldn't work for her the same way it did for Zuko, it'd have the opposite effect.

Thus proven.

And kudos to @hello-nichya-here for being one of the reasons I was inspired to write this post in the first place!

[kitty-kei]

Fiery Familiarity - Prologue

hey y’all! i haven’t written anything in a couple years, so please be kind if my writing isn’t the best. this is going to be a multiple part series about secret firebender reader and their adventures with the gaang (and eventually zuko), so let me know if you’re interested in the premise. words: ~ 1.1k

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

When you were younger, things seemed so much easier. Before all the weight of the world came crashing down. Growing up a noble in the fire nation had its perks, especially when your father was one of Fire Lord Ozai’s commanders. You spent a lot of time visiting the palace. While your father sat in what you thought were boring meetings, you got to run around and explore. Fire Lady Ursa was always so kind to you, it was hard not to enjoy your time there.

“Now, remember to be gentle, Zuko,” you heard a voice saying to the young prince. You peeked out from behind a pillar, watching as Lady Ursa knelt with Prince Zuko. They were crouched in front of a pond, though you couldn’t quite see what they were doing.

You crept a little closer, trying to lean forward enough to catch a glimpse. This, however, only ended in you stumbling over yourself. You whined quietly, causing Ursa and Zuko to turn at the sound. You scrambled to your feet, bowing to them with an apology. No matter how kind she was, Lady Ursa was still a ruler of the fire nation.

“No need to apologize, my dear.” Ursa hummed, giving you a smile. She looked down at Zuko, giving an almost teasing grin. “Zuko, is there something you’d like to ask your friend?”

Zuko’s head whipped up to glare at his mother, a flushed pout on his face. He grumbled something before turning to you, eyes not quite meeting yours. “Would you like to feed the turtle ducks with us?”

Your eyes lit up, “okay!” You ran to sit beside Zuko, smiling when he handed you half of his loaf of bread. You sat side by side, chatting and laughing happily as you watched the turtle ducks paddle their little feet to get the bread. You were both so caught up that you failed to notice the way Lady Ursa’s smile faded as she watched as the commanders came out of the meeting.

“Come now children, I believe the meeting is over. It would be best if your friend gets back to their father. Run along now my dear, I’m sure you can feed the turtle ducks together again some other day.” Ursa placed a hand on your back, gently nudging you in the direction of your waiting father.

You heard Ursa’s voice whispering before Zuko spoke, “b-bye Y/n. I hope to see you again soon.” His head dipped in a polite nod, a shy smile on his face.

You let out a giggle at his awkward disposition, giving a wide wave as you ran toward your father. You couldn’t hide your smile as you walked toward the palace entrance. You threw one last look over your shoulder, watching as a flushed Zuko said something to his mother before he disappeared from view.

The next time you were at the palace, it wasn’t as pleasant as the last few times. You’d been busy feeding turtle ducks, practicing firebending, and running through the yards with Zuko. This time, the meeting was going to run into the late hours of the night, so Lady Ursa offered to let you stay in one of the spare rooms of the palace. Your father gratefully accepted, urging you to behave yourself and not cause trouble any trouble. You promised you would, taking your time to run and explore the palace. You had never truly realized how huge it was.

You took extra care to avoid Azula and her “friends.” Truth be told, you’d never been much of a fan, you saw the way she treated others and how little she seemed to value the life of other beings. Plus, you loved the turtle ducks too much to respect her after you saw the way she threw things at them.

You ran through room after room, giggling to yourself as you looked at all the stuffy old people in the portrait room. You made faces, mocking them as you rushed to the next room. You hadn’t realized where you were until you stumbled into a small alcove. You could hear voices coming from just beyond the wall.

“There’s an Earth village here, they have abundant coal mines. If we were to take over their village, we could use those mines to power our ships, Fire Lord Ozai.”

Another man chimed in, “they have earthbenders at the ready, but they are no match for the might of your armies. If you would allow me, Fire Lord, I would be honored to lead our warriors to victory for you.”

You heard murmured agreement before the Fire Lord’s booming voice reached you. “Very well, Commander Takei. You will lead our troops to overpower their forces and take control of their village. I will leave it in your capable hands.”

You could hear the grin in his voice when the commander spoke, “Should they resist, we will cut them down like the scum they are. Any who survive will be put to work in those very mines.”

You had heard enough. How could your father just sit back and agree to this? All those people… They were going to be killed, cut down and enslaved just for their resources? Why couldn’t they just ask to share them, or at least make a deal? Your father had always refused to tell you what he did during those meetings. You had heard stories of the war and what the fire nation had done to the other nations. You never liked them, you thought they were just dramatics meant to entertain the children and reinforce how powerful the nation was.

You could feel yourself beginning to panic, fear clawing its way up your throat as you stumbled through the halls. You had to find your room, you had to get out of here. You couldn’t stay with people who would do things like this. You loved your father, but you couldn’t stand by and watch this happen.

As soon as you reached your room, you began packing your bag. You shoved as much as you could into it, realizing you’d need food if you were going to make it anywhere. You waited until dark before you crept into the kitchen, packing a small bag of food. Just enough that they wouldn’t notice, but it would at least last you a few days. You tucked it into your belt, peeking out the door. You began to sneak out but caught sight of someone.

It was Zuko, you could only assume he was out for a midnight snack. You could tell he saw you, even with his eyes bleary from sleep. They widened slightly, and you ducked down another hall. Just before you left, you heard a voice call out.

“Y/n?”

You couldn’t help the tears that fell as you rushed out into the night.

[zbeez-outlet]

This is my (unasked for) review and critique of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I’m not expecting much of a response, I just have so much to say and no one to talk about it with. I’m putting it here so it doesn’t fester in my brain and it’s my blog, I can talk about whatever I want.

I am going to divide it into two major sections, the first being a review of the show as a stand alone, the second being a comparison to the source material. Each section will have smaller headers so I can stay on topic and organized, I’m going to try really hard not to obnoxiously rant or flood my review with unsupported opinions. I have a lot to say, but I want to make sure I articulate myself well and don’t fall into venting without reason. If you see me doing that, please let me know.

I want it to be made clear now that these are my thoughts on the show, I’m not forcing anyone to think the same as I do or insulting anyone for having different views than me. I also want people to know that this is an extensive detailed review, I’m going to be covering a lot of very broad and very narrow topics. I’m not trying to nitpick inconsequential details, this review is supposed to focus on important and fundemental aspects of the show. I will be harsh, but I’m going to try not to be unreasonable.

This is going to be extremely long. If you’re not interested in reading it all, I completely understand and I’m going to include my initial rating and a summary of why I gave it that rating here.

My overall rating of the show: 4/10

Review Summary: While the visual effects and environments were for the most part really great, the quality of writing fell behind drastically in comparison. There were major issues with characterization, consistency, and plot development that will pose a challenge in future seasons. The dialogue was often dry and overly expository, it allowed no room for nuance, subtlety, or complexity because they’re constantly telling us what everyone is doing, thinking, and feeling. The acting was mostly subpar, but I think that was because the writing suffered so greatly rather than through major lack of talent or skill from the actors. The pacing was abysmal, 8 episodes was never going to be enough time to tell this story. For me, it has a very surface level amount of entertainment but as soon as you try to look a little closer, try to answer questions or search for any depth, the quality drops entirely.

Extensive in depth review below. Because I’m not watching the show as I’m writing this, please let me know if I’m misremembering any major details so that I can correct myself if/when needed.

Sorry in advance for how obnoxiously long this is, I tried to give clear headers so you can bounce around any specific topics that interest you.

NETFLIX ATLA as a Stand Alone Show

In this section, I will not be making any comparisons or references to previous Avatar content. I will do my best to strictly speak on what Netflix gave us and its quality in different categories.

Costumes/Makeup

Overall, I thought the design of the costumes and styling was really solid. They felt really unique and representative of the different cultures, which is always appreciated. There was an issue for me though that took me out of the show sometimes. Nothing looked lived in. There was no dirt, stains, wrinkles, or wear and tear of any kind and the colors were so bright. The actors sometimes looked like they were doing a theater play or dressing up for Halloween, not living in a struggling world at war. Overall, costuming and makeup was really good, just throw some dirt on there!

Yue’s wig was terrible, I think we can all agree.

I do have a gripe with Zuko’s design though. His scar looks like a bruise or an eye infection, not a gruesome burn scar. I know I’m not the first person to say this, and I’ll keep saying it until they listen. It needs texture, it needs to be larger, and for the love of god shave his eyebrow.

Environments and Locations

I thought the locations looked great, especially the artful cgi on the wide shots of places like the Southern Air Temple, the Fire Nation and their ships, and Omashu. Good cinematography and just really well done work as a whole. There’s a few times when the backgrounds during scenes looked more like stage sets than lived in cities or villages, but it was rarely anything so drastic it harmed the show for me. I really liked the amount of background clutter and knickknacks that helped with realism and there was always a lot of people that helped these places feel populated. Zuko’s room on his ship especially was so cool, it told so much of his story without ever needing explanation. Having a collection of avatar artifacts and plastering his walls with drawings, research, theories, maps, and plans was genius. I loved that they included animals, once again it helps with immersion and realism, and it would be really easy to just not include them for simplicity sake. Especially the funky animal hybrids, I hope to see more going forward! The use of ice, wood, furs, and bone for the Southern Water Tribe was so good. The massive rib cage for the community hut in the tribe was fantastic. I could go on for a long time. For me, the settings were probably the best part of the season.

Bending Graphics

The strongest elements of bending visually were air and fire. They really captured the movements of each, the fluidity and speed of air bending, and the aggression and passion of fire bending. Earth bending looked okay, the actors did a pretty good job of making it look heavy, but overall it felt like it was moving too slowly to me. I think the scene at the beginning of the first episode was the best example of earth bending. The fight with Bumi was very underwhelming for me.

Water bending looked terrible almost the whole time. The way the water physically looked was pretty good, but there was absolutely no weight behind it. Every time Katara hit someone with water, it splashed with the force of a Nerf water gun. The movements were slow, clunky, and so nonthreatening I probably wouldn’t have tried to dodge a single one of her attacks. Her battle with Pakku was one of the most boring battles I’ve ever seen. There was no haste or desperation in either participant. I’m hoping they’ll figure out how to do this better in the future. The ice was decent though.

As a whole, the fight choreography looked pretty good. Certainly moves I could never do. There were times when characters were completely cgi to account for difficult or impossible moves and it was really obvious. Aang in particular looked very wonky when he was fully cgi during his Avatar State moments or when he was flying around like his introduction scene. So passable but definitely room for improvement, I think the artists who work on these aspects of shows and films are very impressive.

Dialogue

The dialogue is 80% exposition, 19% repetitive conversations about responsibility and duty, and 1% misplaced poorly written humor. It’s unnatural, it’s dry, it doesn’t allow for any nuance, and there’s no room for character growth or connection when they have to waste all their words on making sure the plot is on track.

When the introduction of your main character is him looking directly into the camera and telling us the kind of person he is, there’s a dialogue problem. When so much happens off screen that you have to have characters talk to fill in plot holes because there’s just not enough time to tell the story, there’s a dialogue problem. When you put intentional pauses around bad jokes for people to laugh, there’s a dialogue problem. When characters have to say over and over that they’re family but they don’t feel like family in the slightest, there’s a dialogue and characterization problem. I’m not going to script the bad examples, I don’t have the time or patience for that, but I was very unimpressed. It felt like the first draft of a script to me.

And I dare anyone, of legal drinking age of course, to take a shot every time a character says the words responsibility or duty. I swear the floor and ceiling will switch before you reach episode 3. If characters have to keep shoving their responsibilities down our throats without actually doing anything to solve them, there’s a dialogue, characterization, and plot problem.

Also one of my biggest pet peeves with a series is when the first episode or movie ends with a line like “It’s only the beginning” and then plays crazily dramatic music. But that’s a personal preference, not an actual issue.

Acting

First and foremost, I have nothing against any of these actors. I’m sure they’re perfectly wonderful people and they deserve opportunities to prove themselves. My goal here is not to shame or insult or belittle any actor on this show. That being said, none of their performances were perfect and I do have critiques. This is not meant to be a personal attack on any of them or on anyone who enjoyed their performances.

I think the dialogue and overall writing really worked against the potential these actors had. I don’t know how involved the director was in the filming process or helping them with their performances, but there were definitely some failures here.

The strongest performances to me were Sokka, Iroh, Lieutenant Jee, and the Earth bender that threatened Iroh when he was captured (I couldn’t find his name, but he had an unprecedentedly good performance). By far the best was Jee, I felt his emotion more than any other character on the show and would love to see a lot more of him. Sokka balanced well enough with what he was given, but he also had the most character opportunity (which I’ll get into in the next section). Iroh I think filled the mentor roll pretty well, the writing for him leaned a little to close to fortune cookie, but he did feel wise and powerful when he needed to be, mostly. For a comedian though, his humor fell really flat to me, I wish they had given Paul Sun-Hyung Lee some freedom to improv, I think he would’ve done a good job if he could play with the character.

Katara and Azula were awful (so was Mai, but she didn’t get a lot of screen time so I’m not going to focus on her). Katara was so dull and emotionless for the majority of her role, her delivery felt so unnatural. Again, I think the writing was an obstacle, but I felt no connection from Katara at all. And certainly not between her and any of the other characters, which is a major problem for one of the main cast. Her and Sokka felt like strangers half the time, like they were getting to know each other as much as we were getting to know them. I swear Azula’s actress was reading off a teleprompter the entire time, she was somehow robotic and overacted at the same time (I’m sorry, I know that’s harsh, but she just isn’t a good actress, at least not in this).

Zuko had some really solid moments, his scenes with Iroh in particular were great, but overall I didn’t love him. A lot of people seem to be upset at his “tantrums” but honestly I think they fit the character well, though there was one or two too many. He’s an extremely troubled teenager estranged from his family and home, tantrums make sense. Again, I think the dialogue really got in the way of his potential and I don’t think he pushed his acting range enough. Almost every actor needed to show more emotion in one way or another.

Aang has some of the best moments and some of the worst. I have a lot of respect for young child actors, especially ones taking on the challenge of such a massive beloved character or franchise. It’s a lot of pressure for someone still growing up and learning how to be his own person. He handled the few childlike moments Aang was given so so well, he has the brightest little smile and playful attitude. The disconnect came with his more serious moments, he’d get these long monologues and, like Azula, sometimes seemed like he was reading off a teleprompter. I do think it’s a character he’ll grow into really nicely though as long as the writing lends itself to that.

It’s very important to remember that the director signs off on everything. Every performance, every scene, every script (that is also signed off by the lead writer). If something is off, it is not strictly the actors’ faults and should never be treated as such. Do the actors need more experience? Sure, but they more importantly need better direction, scripts, and support from the crew than what they’ve gotten. I’ve seen interviews with the main cast and they all seem wonderful with a lot of potential, particularly the actor for Aang, so clearly the director and lead writer are the ones that are slacking.

Characterization (of the main cast)

Aang

He goes through no change or character development from the beginning to the end of this season.

His water bending training hasn’t even started and he has no further control of the avatar state, so power wise he’s remained completely stagnant.

He constantly says how important Sokka and Katara are, because they’re his “friends”, but there’s been no bonding or development of their relationships. If they didn’t tell us so often, I wouldn’t even think they knew each other beyond first day of school ice breakers.

His most profound moment was his conversation with Gyatso in the spirit world, which I actually really liked. I think he really needed support from someone who knew him before. The home being deserted when Aang goes back to see him definitely hurt.

It feels like this show really really wants us to hate this 12 year old boy. Every adult or authority figure is constantly yelling or berating Aang for something he didn’t even do, it was an accident he didn’t come home and got frozen in ice. Especially from the avatar spirits who should know for a fact he didn’t purposefully run from his responsibilities. The tone is all off and I’m not sure the writers understand what they wrote.

Aang’s biggest mental hurdle will continue to be his guilt for disappearing, which he didn’t even do on purpose so the guilt is unjustified, at least the amount others are thrusting on him.

He looks confident at the end of the season, but I don’t buy it because he hasn’t earned it, there was nothing that he did or said that showed why he would feel so confident when he hasn’t learned anything and he hasn’t proven himself capable beyond getting possessed by the right spirits.

His reaction and aftermath to the death of his entire culture was very underwhelming. His grief sent him into the Avatar state and then he mutters a bland apology and the others are mad at him for falling apart when he’s literally lost everything and everyone he’s ever known. It’s something that needs to be handled far more delicately and it’s not.

As the titular character, it kinda sucks how sidelined his character development has been.

Sokka

If I had no knowledge of this series going into it, I might assume Sokka is the main character because he has the most developmental moments in the season and is easily the most well written character.

Physically handing over the protection of his tribe, while small, was a profound moment for him because he was not only going against his father’s orders, it was the first step to realizing he could be something more than a fishing boy from the south. Which is pretty much his whole emotional arc.

With Suki, he was able to prove himself as someone willing to learn and better himself as a warrior. He learned too fast considering it felt like they were only there for a day maybe, but they were on a time crunch with pacing.

In Omashu, Sokka found that his hobby for invention shows he has a talent for engineering and being a tactician. These are pretty important traits that make him a well rounded character.

By the end of the season, he’s gone through pretty profound loss and change to become the beginnings of a leader.

He was kind of supposed to be comic relief as well, but honestly to me it was done as a sloppy afterthought and almost none of the humor landed. Not just with him, but with most comedic moments.

Katara

I’m sorry, I’m about to rip this poor girl to shreds, the writing for her was awful.

She has absolutely no personality beyond the thousand yard stare she gets every time her mom comes up. Every emotion she has is weak and downplayed by exposition, she’s mostly passive and has almost no effect on the characters around her (besides Jet sort of? And I guess Pokku during the most boring fight of the show).

She adds almost nothing to the team besides being a water bender. It’s literally her only characteristic beyond dead mother.

Speaking of water bending, she did absolutely nothing to earn the title of master and no one can convince me otherwise.

She learned six moves from a scroll, trained off screen so we have to take her word for it, made one move that she copied from another bender, and never once had a single second of instruction from an actual master. Getting that title when she’s done nothing to earn it is crazy.

Teaching herself with no support or guidance is not empowering like the writers seem to think it is. It’s just lazy and so unrealistic it’s laughable. She doesn’t have any of the training necessary to be considered a master.

Also I just really dislike how every obstacle for her to be a better water bender is a mental one, first with Aang and then with Jet. Like yes, clearly emotional state matters, but it’s still a physical discipline that requires technique and training of which she’s had none of besides pictures in the scroll.

The fact she was so dismissive and disrespectful of healing bothers me too when it’s a very valuable practice. She didn’t stay for that training either, so how is she going to use the oasis water in the future? Oh wait, Katara’s “a natural” which is just so infuriating because she’s barely struggled to learn a thing the whole season. As soon as she’s in a good mood, her bending works just fine. That’s not how learning or mastering a discipline should work.

Sorry, I know I’m getting into ranting, I’m backing off. It’s just such poor character work for someone so important to the story.

Zuko

Episode 6, “Masks”, was by far the best episode and largely because of Zuko’s character work. Outside of that episode, he’s pretty consistently narrow minded and angry which doesn’t offer him a lot of depth. But it’s all packed into “Masks”.

I loved that the 41st division was his crew as it was physical proof of his sacrifice and compassion for life. Obviously his scar is also proof, but seeing the people he saved alive hits different. And the fact that he didn’t try to take any credit is very modest and honorable for him.

However, I wish he had chosen to make the 41st his crew rather than it being forced on him as an additional punishment to his banishment. I think if he had made that choice, it would have showed even stronger resolve.

His moment with Aang in the shed after rescuing him as the Blue Spirit was very well done and showed how hard it’s going to be for him to overcome his father’s influence.

Lu Ten’s funeral was a wonderful moment meant to build on Zuko’s relationship with Uncle Iroh, it was quite beautiful.

Unfortunately, outside of the moments I mentioned, there wasn’t much other opportunity for character growth because it had to be so exposition heavy.

Although he did choose to go after his Uncle instead of the Avatar in Omashu and that’s an important value in family that Zuko has.

I do appreciate that they cemented his ideals around honest and honorable glory, but it did get a little preachy and repetitive.

I think overall he has a lot of potential for growth in future seasons.

Pacing

Whoever thought 8 episodes was enough to tell this story is extremely delusional. Having more minutes does not equal having more time, 8 episodes offers no wiggle room for such an expansive story no matter how long they are. I’m so sick of production companies thinking it’s okay to so heavily compress storytelling, let your characters breathe and give them some time to develop. It’s one thing when it’s something like Queen’s Gambit (which is fantastic, if you haven’t watched it you should!) that only focuses on one person vs Avatar which is balancing four or five main characters, extensive world building, and complicated plots. It’s something that needs time, but is instead rushed so drastically there’s barely any time to comprehend one conflict or character before another one is expositing in your face. Netflix is one of the biggest offenders of this, but HBO does the same. The Last of Us could have used an extra episode or two for Joel and Ellie’s relationship to solidify more (I’m not going to get into TLOU though, so please don’t come for me for this opinion, it’s not the focus and if you want a more extensive review of that, let me know). It feels like writers think characterization and development just happens and they don’t have to take the time to actually write it in.

With 2-4 more episodes, they could have had the time to really explore the things they needed to without overloading on exposition. Ask yourself how much time did you feel like passed between episode one and eight? Did it feel like the few months it was supposed to be? To me it felt like maybe two-three weeks, and that’s not the fault of watching it so quickly. There’s never any indication of how much time passes, which is its own issue, but also ultimately confuses audiences if they have to guess.

Every interaction and conflict is rushed, why are these writers so scared to take their time? If Netflix isn’t offering more episodes, then you need to adjust your writing to compensate, not condense everything like a sardine can and then act surprised when it’s a structural problem. It’s a fundamental issue that affected the entire potential of the show.

Plot

Aang should have, at the very least, started mastering water bending. It’s stated several times in the season that he needs to in order to fully become the avatar and be powerful enough to end the war. That is the overarching plot that is integral to the story. And yet he doesn’t bend a single drop of water the entire show until he’s forced to after being possessed by the vengeful ocean spirit (and when Kyoshi also possesses him, but again that wasn’t him, that was the avatar state). Because of the time skips that’ll have to happen between seasons, he’ll probably do most, if not all, of his water bending training off screen. Which is, say it with me, bad writing!

They kept hinting at the comet but never outright said what it would do or when it would arrive. Not giving any kind of timeline for the biggest conflict of the show is really worrisome for their future plans. I understand they have to allow a certain amount of time flexibility to account for the younger actors aging, especially Aang, which I completely understand and respect. That’s why time skips will happen. But to not give any kind of timeline shows really poor planning.

Also, please tell me if I’m misremembering or if I somehow missed it during my watch through, but I’m pretty sure Team Avatar still doesn’t even know about the comet, what it means, or when it’s coming. That’s a pretty big thing to overlook when it’s the catalyst for the Fire Nation’s power.

The fact that the show kicked off with the genocide of the Airbenders, who are all conveniently in the same spot, and Aang just happened to escape it because he essentially went for a walk to clear his head and got caught in a storm that came out of no where is way too coincidental for believable circumstances. It’s, louder for those in the back, bad writing!

They had four years to plan this all out, I don’t understand why it all seems so unfinished and thrown together with pieces from different jigsaw puzzles!

Comparisons to Source Material

In this section, I will be comparing the Netflix adaptation of ATLA to the original animated series. This will be about things that stuck out most to me as consistencies, changes, and valuable moments in each rendition of the story.

Consistencies

Writing-wise, obviously they got a lot of the big plot points down, and I’m not going to list them all. If you’ve watched both, you know what they are. Pretty much the essentials…sort of. The great divide even got a shoutout which I thought was funny.

I mentioned above how “Masks” was by far the best episode of the Netflix season, well it’s not a coincidence that it also has the most parallels and consistencies with the episodes it was based on (“Storm” and “Blue Spirit” which are also arguably the best episodes of Book One). I was going to be so mad if they took away the Blue Spirit part of Zuko’s character, but clearly it’s a fan favorite and for the most part I think they did it justice.

I loved that they kept in a lot of the hybrid animals, at least in dialogue if we didn’t actually get to see them. It would have been a really easy thing to just get rid of for simplicity sake. I hope we get to see some more CGI versions of these animals because the ostrich horse looked really good. Momo and Appa for the most part looked good, sometimes a little wonky but nothing crazy, I just wish they had more screen time. They don’t feel like characters yet, just a pet and a vehicle (essentially).

I was really pleasantly surprised to see Hei Bai, I was honestly expecting them to scrap him. He looked really cool too. I do wish we could have seen him turn back into a panda when Aang helped him, but overall I’m just glad we got him at all.

I didn’t love what they used him for, but Kho was visually amazing and everything I hoped for. Absolutely terrifying, will haunt my nightmares again.

June was also a pleasant surprise, I hadn’t looked too deep into the cast list and wasn’t sure if she’d be included. I did think it was a little weird she was flirting with Iroh vs the other way around (like what was the point of that? just take out the flirting entirely if you’re going to be weird about it) but overall she’s pretty much one to one the same and I still liked her a lot. Nala should have been a little more anteater/mole-like instead of wolfish but overall not bad at all.

We got the Cabbage Man. They teased him a little a first, but we got him.

My Favorite Moments from the Netflix Version that Change or Expand on the Original

I sang its praises above, but again Lu Ten’s funeral scene was just so beautiful and really built on Iroh’s fatherly affection for Zuko. I know it’s mostly a replacement for the leaves from the vine scene in “Tales of Ba Sing Se” because they’re never going to be able to fit in that episode. So it’s nice that they deemed it a moment worth capturing in a different way.

I’m not going to reiterate exactly what I said above so go see Zuko’s characterization again if you need to, but making the 41st division his crew members was a constructive choice that I liked a lot.

I don’t know why but just the idea of Gyatso sticking around in the spirit world to be able to speak to Aang one last time hit me so hard. I absolutely loved it as an addition to building their relationship. Aang always deserved a goodbye, and even though this wasn’t exactly that, it was what Aang needed to cope with his immense loss and the pressure he was under.

When Iroh was arrested by the guards of Omashu and being taken to the pit, he had a really intense but moving interaction with one of the earth bending soldiers. I think it was such a good way to portray war and perspectives from both sides. The soldier rightfully and angrily blamed Iroh for his brother who died at the siege of Ba Sing Se, which Iroh was responsible for. He accused Iroh of being evil, of having never gone through loss, which we as viewers know isn’t true, but he doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t defend himself. Doesn’t reveal his own loss to get even. He takes the abuse and the blame and just utters that enough people have been hurt. Great performances all around, really solid writing. I wish more of the show had followed this example.

That lady hitting Zuko with a brush to stop him from attacking Aang, a child, in Omashu’s marketplace. That was one of the funniest scenes in the whole show. Bring her back!

“Everything I need is on this boat.” - ‘nuff said.

Major Character Differences (I’ll try to keep this concise)

Aang

He lost the majority of his lightheartedness which made him so lovable in the first place. He does a lot of monologues and speeches to intense music now. He’s still 12 guys, let him swim with giant elephant koi and dress up as Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Third to get into Omashu!

I really don’t like that they changed him actively running from his title and responsibilities to just going for a jaunt with Appa to clear his head. That removes so much depth, guilt, and fear that he should have. In the original, it was his choice to run away with the intention of hiding and never coming back, in the Netflix version, it was an accident he never came home. That’s a massive character change.

People called him a coward, but he literally isn’t when it was a very coincidental accident that forced him into the ice in the first place rather than his choice to actively run from his destiny. He’s yelled at and screamed at and insulted constantly, even by people who are meant to help him, when he didn’t even do what they’re accusing him of. He didn’t deliberately run away, he accidentally got caught in a storm. And he just takes all of that guilt and blame and anger from everyone when he genuinely did nothing wrong.

Getting rid of his crush on Katara is a problem, but I’ll get into that more later.

I don’t care why they think they did it, but making Aang agree with Pakku in any respect about not letting Katara train or fight was so extremely disrespectful to both characters.

His reaction to losing his people was way underdeveloped, they gave him no time to grieve. And the fact that Katara doesn’t help him out of his initial Avatar State spiral is so damaging to the friendship they’re supposed to have. Their friendship always came first, let them interact and build that relationship!

Sokka

His small sexism arc that everyone is up in arms about. Do I think it should have been included? Yes. Is it the end all be all of his character? No, like I mentioned above, he got the most character moments in the show. But it was really important in its own way. I saw someone say, “Sokka may not be misogynistic, but Netflix’s ATLA adaptation certainly is.” And they’re right.

What I really didn’t like was what they did with his relationship with his father and ice dodging. Sokka had a great relationship with Hakoda built on trust, mutual admiration, similar tactical mindsets, and strength of character. He passed his ice dodging test with Bato with flying colors. There’s no reason to completely flip those dynamics, there’s already enough other conflicts to explore without giving Sokka daddy issues he didn’t have in the first place. Whoever made that choice was projecting hard.

Hakoda eventually trusts Sokka to lead the invasion in Book 3, but none of that exists here and it doesn’t feel like there’s a path yet to lead to that. (I have a lot to say about the invasion later)

They have Sokka take over a very paternal role with Katara instead of her being maternal, and he is constantly very overbearing, patronizing, and talking down to her as if she has no (or does not deserve a) mind or agency of her own. They (as in the writers) are acting like the age difference between them is 10 years instead of 1-2 years.

Also taking out the very important moment when Sokka was the one who saved an entire Fire Nation village from Jet was just wrong. Not only was it an important stepping stone towards leadership and diplomacy for Sokka, but it also showed that even on the “bad side” of the war, there are innocent people who deserve protecting.

Sokka wasn’t nearly as funny as he should have been.

Katara

Everything about her was wrong, scrap it and try again.

She had none of the passion she should have had. Katara gets mad, she yells and insults and waves her arms around to make her point. She gets jealous and petty. But she’s also so unbelievably kind and caring, she’s the only reason any of them take proper care of themselves. She’s lighthearted and fun when she can be, she plays and laughs and cares so incredibly deeply.

Katara inspires people in a way none of the other characters can, although Aang does learn a lot from her in that regard. She’s incredibly hardworking, loyal, and dedicated to those she loves. And yes, she feels immense pain and sadness for her mother, but that’s not all she is.

LA Katara felt like a hollow shell 90% of the time used for exposition, 5% mom trauma, and 5% sort of emotional. The writing just didn’t lend itself to complexity, flaws, or character depth.

She’s one of the first well written and well rounded female characters a lot of us encountered as kids and they stripped her of everything that made her who she is. Someone for young girls to look up to. It’s shameful.

For some reason they made her explicitly and directly responsible for her mother’s death, which is a very strange and damaging change to make that I don’t think they totally understand the difference of from the original.

They took away all of her maternal behavior, which just tells us what they think of maternal behavior, that it’s a weak trait for a leading character and not worth exploring in a person that had to take that role in her family and village as a whole at such a young age. It’s like the writers thought that Katara being motherly was problematic and sexist, which is a mindset that is itself problematic and sexist.

They’ve essentially turned bending into a magic that relies solely on emotional and mental stability instead of a martial arts form requiring discipline and training. I don’t even think the writers realize they’ve done this, which in and of itself is a massive issue.

Although I will say the water whip on the flaming arrow was a good use of water bending, it just didn’t feel earned to me.

For as much as they focused on her mom, they never once brought up Katara’s necklace?? They took out Pokku’s connection to Gran Gran and never mentioned anything about betrothal necklaces. There’s just so many changes they made, large and small, that feel pointless or contradictory to the source material for no reason.

Zuko

Frankly, so early into Zuko’s character arc, there isn’t a lot of difference here. Most of his development starts in Book 2. I do like the animated version a lot better, though. I am biased, but I also think that even though they hit on almost all the same points, the original just handled it with far more nuance, care, and time. With the Netflix version being so rushed, any payoffs we had just didn’t feel totally earned.

I do think it was a big shame that they had Iroh kill Zhao instead of allowing Zuko’s attempt to save him from the ocean spirit. It’s a pretty important character moment that shows how Zuko wants to help people, save people, if he can regardless of how they’ve treated him. They can make this point again if they do “Zuko Alone”, but I’m honestly really scared they’ll cut it.

Having Zuko fight back during the Agni Kai against his father in the flash back was way out of character and takes away from the severity of the punishment and the trauma of the abuse. He was a 13 year old child terrified of not just disappointing his father, but of suffering harm from the one person he should trust most. And Ozai convinces him he deserves it, so there’s no world where he would have fought back in that scene. And it changes the meaning from a father violently burning a child that has surrendered and begs for forgiveness to a soldier winning a one-on-one battle against another soldier and branding his victory, no matter how dishonorable it is.

Also, at this point, Zuko is an amateur fire bender with barely any experience or progress in his training. Him getting the high ground over Ozai for even a second is ridiculous and diminishes Ozai’s skill level. It could be argued Ozai did it on purpose to give Zuko an opportunity to prove himself as ruthless as Ozai wants him to be, but that completely goes against the precedent set by Ozai that he hates being questioned or otherwise made to look weak in front of anyone. I think I understand what they were going for, but honestly it came off as an opportunity to show off the actor’s fighting skills rather than holding the weight it should for the story.

I DO like that Zuko has a war journal (*diary*) about the avatar, history, and essentially a map of his journey. I DON’T like that Team Avatar uses it as an expository tool and excuse to not properly explore the world and learn things for themselves or through other people.

I don’t think Zuko said the word “honor” once, but please correct me if I’m wrong.

Iroh

Similar to Zuko, they hit a lot of the same surface level points with a few misses here and there.

They didn’t show us Iroh’s connection to the spirit world, they just told us right before the battle at the North Pole and we’re supposed to believe it, which we do because we’ve seen the original, but that was kind of lame. (Not including Roku’s dragon was also lame, but I digress).

They expanded on his past in a few different ways which I did like a lot and mentioned above.

The Netflix version comes off more preachy and gimmicky to me than wise, which is disappointing. I think the actor could have done amazingly with the right script.

They didn’t show him redirecting lightning, which is arguably one of the most valuable skills in the entire show and extremely important for the finale for both Aang and Zuko.

And just like Sokka, he was not nearly funny enough.

Bumi

His characterization was all backwards and wrong and I hated it.

Visually, his makeup and design was pretty good, but that’s the extent of any positives with the Netflix version.

Bumi would absolutely never ever ever have made a joke about the genocide that took Aang’s entire people. That was disgusting and disrespectful to Bumi and Aang.

He was never mad at Aang for disappearing, he was actually extremely understanding and only hoping to teach Aang further about his duties as the avatar. He quite literally welcomed him back with open arms.

The way he treated others, especially his servants, was appalling and borderline cruel.

He never stepped down from protecting his people or became complacent in a way that put them in danger, Omashu was thriving beautifully under his care. When he surrendered to the Fire Nation in Book 2, it was the best way to protect his people without bloodshed and he knew he’d eventually get their home back. He was literally waiting for the Solar Eclipse to do it (which I’ll touch more on later).

This also means that by having Bumi actively fight and lose, instead of surrendering with neutral jing, he won’t be able to realistically give Aang the advice that is supposed to lead him to Toph. Wait and Listen.

I did appreciate the lesson he was trying to convey to Aang about the difficult choices that wartime forces on us, especially leadership (like who gets what food or medicine), but they did it all wrong.

Shame on the writers for what they did to Bumi’s character, I could write an entire essay on everything they screwed up just with Bumi.

Suki

They made her into a lovesick day dreamer instead of the strong warrior and leader she was meant to be. She’s going to go off to war, don’t diminish her strength. Her being a fighter should be the forefront of her character, not a lonely girl pining for a boy and dreaming about the big world.

Her and Sokka’s relationship should have been built up over time, their kiss was so misplaced. When not much time passes before Sokka falls for Yue, it makes him seem like a player.

And that moment Suki’s staring at him shirtless is cringy and yucky, they’re teenagers. Don’t do that.

We’ll see how she is when she shows up again…I actually liked the actress quite a bit, but her writing wasn’t good. That seems to be a theme here though.

I do wish her hair was still auburn instead of black, that’s personal preference though.

Gyatso

They did him so dirty with his death, it was anticlimactic with none of the power or savagery that was implied in the original. His skeleton was literally surrounded by dead Fire Nation soldiers, I wanted to see that dangerous potential on screen and am very disappointed not to get it given how explicitly they wanted to show the genocide of the airbenders.

Jet

Jet’s vendetta is specifically against the Fire Nation. On some level I do believe he would resort to violence against a traitor giving the Fire Nation information, but I don’t think he ever would have put Tao or other innocent (non-Fire Nation) bystanders at such great risk. Maybe that’s splitting hairs though since in the original he was prepared to drown an entire village, of Fire Nation people specifically, as a whole he felt pretty consistent.

I just don’t like Netflix smashing so many plots and characters together, they deserve room to breathe in their own stories.

I hate that he was the catalyst for Katara’s bending training though, instead of her own hard work and practice or training with actual masters. Jet knows nothing about bending or how it works. It’s another instance of stripping Katara of her skill and work ethic.

Yue

As a personal preference, I hate that they made Yue a water bender. She has part of the spirit of the moon in her, so logically I understand where they’re coming from giving her those abilities. But she’s not a water bender! The spirit was working to keep her alive, not to give her powers she shouldn’t have had in the first place.

She’s a princess dedicated to her people and wanting to learn how to lead but also buckling under the pressure of expectations, particularly around her arranged marriage. I saw none of that in the Netflix adaptation, except that she likes to make desserts when she’s stressed, so there’s that I guess. It’s just still missing the depth, but again they don’t have time to really explore these topics.

They make a point with Pokku about the role of women in the Northern Water Tribe and yet somehow Yue is allowed to just call off her arranged marriage. That’s a pretty distinct cultural contradiction. It just shows me the writers don’t know how to portray misogyny as a narrative tool or how to do consistent world building.

Her wig looked awful.

They should have used what happened to Momo (which ouch, that wasn’t necessary) as an opportunity for Katara to prove that she knows how to heal, because she hasn’t done it yet and she’s supposed to bring Aang back from the dead in Book 2.

Azula

I appreciated her introduction scene where she exposes a coup against her father while undercover. It was a little cheesy with her reveal, but it does establish her character decently well early on. And the cover she chose, dead brother and mother, is really interesting narratively.

The writers for Netflix went off about how they didn’t want to portray sexism, through Sokka specifically, but then they stripped the main female leads of most of their agency (Katara, Suki, and Azula all fit this category, I’m worried what they’ll do to Toph).

Azula has almost none of the arrogance that she should have, certainly none of the calm calculated intensity that made her so fearsome and intimidating. Azula should be scary, and she’s definitely not here. She just came off as such a brat with a twitchy face and prone to tantrums.

Her fire isn’t blue, that bothers me a lot. Blue fire is hotter than red fire, it’s supposed to be an indication of not only her fire bending strength but also her temperament. Plus it’s supposed to help us differentiate between their powers when she’s fighting Zuko.

Lightning bending requires so much skill, precision, power, and focus. I don’t believe for a second Netflix’s Azula should actually be able to do it. She was only able to do it because she was mad, and that’s not how it’s supposed to work.

She definitely didn’t earn being able to overpower Bumi and takeover Omashu. Although granted it feels like they nerfed a lot of Bumi’s power, he certainly doesn’t feel like one of the most powerful earth benders in the world.

Ozai had originally sent her out to collect Zuko and Iroh, not to lead an army in a battle against one of the greatest (or what should be one of the greatest) strongholds in the Earth Kingdom. It’s unrealistic and silly. And it’s not like Bumi gave up like he did in the original, he literally said “We’ll be ready to fight” when he revealed that the Fire Nation was headed their way.

Ozai treating her like a nuisance is also way out of character. He’s supposed to feed into her ego and inflating all of her more dangerous traits because he sees them as powerful and necessary for the future leader he expects Azula to be. Zuko should be the disappointing son with no faith or support from Ozai, and Azula the gifted prodigy given every opportunity and surpassing Zuko in Ozai’s eyes. As Zuko said, “He used to say Azula was born lucky, I was lucky to be born.” Somehow that dynamic has almost completely switched and Azula suffered the most from it.

She’s very miscast, the actress was awful. I’m sorry, but not sorry enough not to say it.

Ozai

Ozai should despise Zuko, he’s far more terrifying that way. It’s way more compelling watching a son that’s been so manipulated by his traumas try to win the affections of his father that don’t even exist than the same daddy issues we see in almost every movie or show where the son is trying to live up to his father’s expectations unhappily. Ozai should have no expectations for Zuko, that’s the difference. He sent Zuko on a mission he wouldn’t come back from on purpose, to get rid of him.

That’s terrifying, how disconnected he can be from his son. Trying to make Ozai more human or sympathetic by making him care for Zuko takes away from the monster he’s supposed to be as a villain. They’re not making him more complex, they’re making him more generic.

I just kind of generally don’t like that they’ve revealed so much about him and Azula in Book 1 because part of the well written structure of avatar is that the “villains” escalate from season to season, going from Zuko to Azula to Ozai as the main antagonists. I’d rather they had kept that structure and given more time to better plot and character development.

Plus revealing him so early took away a lot of his intimidation factor for me. Mystery and intrigue is good you guys! You don’t always have to lay all your cards on the table right away.

And at the end when Ozai more or less says that the attack on the Northern Water Tribe was a distraction to take Omashu makes zero sense to me. Not only is it an arbitrary copy of what Sozin said in the beginning about attacking the Earth Kingdom as a distraction for killing all of the air benders (which is also stupid), but thematically and structurally it doesn’t make any sense. The timeline doesn’t add up at all, not that they gave us any indications of timeline. And at this point in the war, the different nations, tribes, and kingdoms are so segregated that the Water Tribe probably wouldn’t have gone to help Omashu in the first place, certainly not in time.

Also I refuse to ignore the blatant contradiction they put in Zuko’s scar story. Zuko is punished extremely severely for INDIRECTLY insulting Ozai, when he’d literally been asked what he thought of the war plans, but when Iroh DIRECTLY questioned Ozai in front of the entire court and spectators (interrupting the Agni Kai, a sacred type of battle in the Fire Nation), there’s no punishment at all. I really don’t understand what the writers are doing with the amount of contradictions.

Roku

Botched, I hated what they did to Roku.

Trying to make him funny? That, right away, ruined his character entirely. I won’t ever be able to take him seriously. He would never make jokes when Aang is desperately looking for guidance and understanding. He’s not a funny silly character, it’s like the writers forgot to add in some levity and chose literally the worst character to force humor onto.

Roku is one of the coolest and wisest characters in the series with some of the most badass scenes and they took away all of them. The future of his portrayal does not look bright.

Kyoshi

Now, I love Kyoshi as much as the next person, but she got way too much screen time.

Not only did they give Roku’s badass possession moment in the Fire Nation Temple to her for absolutely no reason on Kyoshi Island, but they made her the leading influence of Aang’s spiritual journey (he’s constantly trying to reconcile with the advice she gave him) which makes zero sense.

The hundred year war is the consequence of Roku’s legacy and mistakes, it has literally nothing to do with Kyoshi. Roku should be the one mentoring Aang spiritually and guiding him through the remnants of his choices as the Avatar.

Giving her weird future vision for the attack on the North Pole was really weird and made no sense to me, and completely shifted Aang’s motivations from learning water bending (which he never does even once) to warning the Northern Water Tribe, which they end up not even needing him to do because they’re already prepared to fight. Just a convoluted mess narratively.

She isn’t supposed to be that agro of a character, she’s pragmatic and diplomatic. They based her off the memes far more than her source material and it shows.

Making Kyoshi so much more prominent feels like such an insincere thing to do for the sake of “girl boss strong female characters hoorah” that ultimately hurts the writing.

Kuruk

I don’t really know why they decided to give Kuruk so much screen time when it should have been given to Roku or any other character for some development, but I would say it was a decent portrayal. Just an unnecessary one.

They actually used book material for him, which is surprising given the changes they made, but it was specifically for the “spirit killing knife” which was stupid and no one can convince me otherwise.

Having spiritual conversations with so many of the past Avatar’s this early on feels like they’re going to be removing, or at least drastically changing, the Lion Turtle scene in the finale which has me very concerned.

Egregious and Potentially Detrimental Changes from the Original

Removing Jeong Jeong and Aang’s First Experience with Fire Bending

Aang’s terror of fire after hurting Katara when he got too confident is vital for his development. It’s the main reason he eventually accepts Zuko as his fire bending teacher because they both struggle with having hurt people and wanting to fix their mistakes.

This was also supposed to be Katara’s first use of healing, which again I think is something really important for us to actually see she can do. Because all they’ve said is she’s “a natural” just like everything else and that’s such bad storytelling.

Jeong Jeong is a member of the White Lotus and a really important factor in Iroh’s endeavor to take back Ba Sing Se in the finale. Could they do it without him? I guess, but it’s really disrespectful to me to just not include him.

Taking him out will affect plots all the way in season 3.

Not only that, but Jeong Jeong is a valuable example of someone born on the wrong side of the war wanting to make a difference and change his ways. It’s realistic nuance for war!

What Seeing Wan Shi Tong in the Spirit World Means to Me, the Implications for the Library, and Consequences

Wan Shi Tong, similar to Tui and La (the moon and ocean spirits), came to the physical world with the express purpose of bettering humanity. He made the personal sacrifice of staying away from the spirit world so that the human race would have access to his vast and wonderful knowledge. He couldn’t go back and forth between the physical world and the spirit world because he had to be there to keep the Library standing in the physical world in the first place, it can’t stay there without him. The fact that he’s in the spirit world, to me, means that the library may not be in the physical world at all.

Other indications that his library isn’t in the physical world are that Zhao didn’t get his knowledge of Tui and La from the library, he got it from ancient Fire Nation scrolls and records instead (which doesn’t make a lot of sense), and the sun dial that Sokka would have used to discover the solar eclipse and begin the plan for the invasion is now located in the Fire Nation instead. How is Sokka going to learn about the Day of Black Sun now for the invasion? (There’s a lot of setup for the invasion that they’ve screwed up and I’ll talk about it more in a couple other sections).

So assuming we’re no longer going to have the library, there’s a lot of follow-up implications and consequences. This means that we won’t have Appa’s kidnapping which causes a few problems.

One, Appa’s kidnapping directly leads to Jet’s death, the only major on screen death (or injury that leads to death) in the entire show. I guess you could also count Combustion Man, but Jet’s was infinitely more emotional and important to the story.

Two, Appa’s kidnapping and subsequent rescue is vital for proving to the Earth King that Long Feng is a traitor and the Dai Lee has been compromised. This leads to the Earth King trusting Team Avatar’s word implicitly about the Kyoshi Warriors which allows Azula to infiltrate, learn about the invasion plans, capture Katara, and ultimately “kill” Aang at the end of Book 2. Can the writers work around this? Probably. Do I trust them to? No.

Three, protecting Appa is how the Kyoshi Warriors get overpowered by Azula in the first place and Azula is able to infiltrate the Earth Kingdom in disguise. It’s how Suki is captured and ends up at The Boiling Rock prison.

Four, Zuko being the one to let Appa go is a massive character moment as he struggles to let go of the burdens that Ozai pushed onto him to capture the avatar at all cost to others and himself. It leads to his “metamorphosis” as Iroh calls it, leads to him giving up the Blue Spirit identity, and is what makes his later betrayal so painful. Plus, Appa likes him now which is a stepping stone later for Aang to trust him when Zuko wants to switch sides.

And five, Appa’s brief stop with the guru as he’s trying to get back to Aang leads to how Aang gets any instruction on controlling the avatar state. Which also leads to his “death” at the end of Book 2 when he tries to reopen his chakras like he was taught during the fight with Azula. Again, do I think there’s a workaround here? Yeah, but I don’t think they’ll do it well.

Where’s Haru and What it Means for the Future

Removing the “Imprisoned” storyline takes away Katara’s first and one of her most important moments of being an inspirational leader, learning how to speak up for others, and how to make connections with people outside her culture. But they’ve already stripped Katara of so much of her depth, I’m not surprised they took it out.

The more important issue is that Haru, his father, and their people (all Earth Benders) that she helped rescue were very prominent foot soldiers for the invasion in Book 3. Where are they going to get alliances to build an army against the Fire Nation now? My bet is either they won’t, which is concerning for many reasons, or it’ll happen between seasons off screen which is a massive writing problem! Vital events and plot points happening off screen shows extremely poor planning.

Indications of Removing the Swamp and More Poor Planning for the Invasion (are they cutting it out?)

I’ve pretty much convinced myself that the writers are cutting the invasion out of the plot. I’ve listed many reasons above why I think that’s the direction they’re going, but the last straw was when Sokka and Katara were in the spirit world.

I’m almost 100% sure they’re getting rid of “the Swamp”.

When Sokka and Katara are in the spirit world, they are confronted by their worst memories and most difficult emotional obstacles the same way they had been in the original when they were in the swamp. It wouldn’t make any sense to do that again, so they’re probably getting rid of the swamp entirely.

Which means Team Avatar will never encounter the Swamp Water Benders, which then means they lose even more foot soldiers and allies for the invasion. That’s two major allies that just won’t be involved. Between the potential changes to the Library, the lack of allies, and the fact that Hakoda has no trust in Sokka as a warrior, I don’t see how they’re going to realistically be able to do the invasion. If they do, I’ll be shocked and skeptical of how they manage it.

And as another personal pet peeve, taking out the swamp also removes another facet of water bending, being able to control plants by the water in them (which additionally leads into blood bending).

Other Changes That Really Bothered Me

Exposing the Genocide of Aang’s People and the Comet in Episode One

While I did appreciate (to a degree) getting to see the attack on the air benders and how the fall of the Air Nomads happened, I really don’t like that it’s the first thing we see. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s okay and often more beneficial not to reveal everything right away! I much preferred getting bits and pieces as we went along to put together the whole puzzle and have the time to process each new facet of the war. Giving it to us all at once and as the first thing we see takes away so much intricate story telling.

I really didn’t like that all of the air nomads were in the same place for the attack, that’s so unrealistic that they had to create an arbitrary festival to make it happen.

Originally, the Fire Nation attacks all four Air Temples with the power of the comet to back them up for the initial attack. It shouldn’t take one night where they’re all conveniently in the same place (except Aang) and kill them all, it should take one night to deal them such a severe blow that finishing them off over the next few years is easy. Because of course some would get away and were hunted down, that’s how war realistically works.

Removing Aang’s Crush on Katara and What it Means

Oooooh this bothers me for so many reasons, but I’ll try not to be too crazy about it.

I don’t know why they got rid of it completely, unless they’re just waiting until Aang and the actor are a little older for it to be more appropriate. But with what they did with the “Cave of Two Lovers”, I think they’re scrapping the love between Aang and Katara entirely.

Which they haven’t done anything to help them bond at all as friends in the first place except like two moments of bending instructions from Aang and a lot of dialogue about how they’re family. Aang and Sokka have had way more bonding moments together, I can believe they’re friends at least.

One of the biggest issues will be, if they somehow manage to trick Netflix into letting them adapt Korra as well, Aang and Katara’s kids and grandkids are fundamental to the plot there. But that’s getting way ahead of ourselves, let’s just focus on ATLA.

Aang’s feelings for Katara are very important, particularly for being the sole reason he stops trying to master the avatar state, only to attempt it again later to protect her, and then he ends up “dead” for it. He admits to loving her out right in those episodes.

The thing about Avatar is almost every detail is valuable in some way and dominos into a larger plot point. Their love for each other isn’t a major focal point of the show but it does matter, I just really hope they’re not planning on changing love interests.

Moving Anything from Other Seasons into Season One

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this, but bringing anything from other seasons into season one when you already have such limited time is really irritating because that time would have been better spent on actual character development or including more vital points from season one.

Changing Lore

Aang accidentally bringing both Sokka and Katara into the spirit world with him just because they were in close proximity is ridiculous. He shouldn’t be able to do that. It makes much more sense that they’d be stolen by Hei Bai than piggybacking off Aang when neither of them are spiritually inclined.

Making Avatar shrines the only way for Aang to access his previous avatar is so limiting and irritating, he gets better at it as he becomes more spiritually connected to the avatar state (like in the ocean during the first episode of Book 3 when Aang contacts Roku, or on the Lion Turtle when Aang contacts four past Avatars). Also they completely contradict this rule letter in the season when Aang sees Avatar Kuruk for a few seconds just outside in the Northern Water Tribe. Like they specifically said it, and then completely contradicts themselves, that’s a pretty big consistency error when it’s a change they made.

They removed any significances of the solstices. Once again, giving us no timeline or indication of time passing in the world.

The reason Roku is able to control Aang’s body and powers as much as he can in the Fire Nation Temple is because of the winter solstice when the veil between spirit and physical world is thinnest. But now any Avatar can do it as long as Aang connects with them at their shrine. Kyoshi should not have been to do that to him and it replaced Roku’s very profound moment at the temple.

I don’t like that they said Tui and La are only in physical form one night a year (I think that’s what Zhao said, or something about an ice moon, whatever), and then that night just happened to be near. I can’t think of a single reason why they would make that change. There’s just too many convenient coincidences happening in this version of the story. Tui and La specifically gave up their spiritual forms for vulnerable physical forms for a reason, learn the lore!

The special spirit killing knife was stupid. I don’t know if it’s in the novels and I missed it or if the writers (more likely) came up with it, but it’s seems like really convenient and silly lore that actively contradicts a lot of what was originally set up about the spirits. And added a lot of unnecessary exposition that didn’t even tell us how Zhao got it.

In another similar vein, the MacGuffin of the statue of the many faces goddess spirit that Aang took from Roku’s artifacts to save Katara and Sokka from Kho was just so weird to me. He just eats people now? What happened to him stealing faces if you show an emotion? That was what made him so terrifying, and it was just another moment they stole from Aang and showcasing his potential. It wasn’t his negotiation skills or his self control that saved his friends, but a very convenient object just sitting on a shelf waiting for him.

None of their lore changes made sense or had a purpose to me other than to arbitrarily be different from the source material.

Mature ≠ Graphic

The writers said repeatedly in interviews and articles that they wanted this live action adaptation to essentially be a more mature version. They even likened their vision to be something similar enough to appeal to Game of Thrones fans, which to me was a massive red flag going into the show. Please, do not mix up maturity and graphic violence.

The only thing more “mature” about the live action is that we actually see people being burned alive and killed throughout the season. The original has far more mature writing because of how delicately and intricately it handles very serious concepts. The Netflix writers either do not trust audiences to pick up on subtle and complex ideas, do not trust the actors to portray subtle and complex ideas, or they do not know how to write subtle and complex ideas. Or some combination of the three. Everything is exposition, which I’ve said so many times before, but I will keep saying it until they learn not shove plot right in our faces with no nuance.

The writers simply think they’ve created something more mature because it’s sometimes violent and not a cartoon, which isn’t how that works.

It’s not mature, it’s graphic. Know the difference and you’ll be a better writer for it!

Humor

Yes the humor in the original leans a little more childish, but you don’t solve that by stripping the humor entirely in the adaptation! Almost any attempt at humor, to me, felt like an after thought and was mostly misplaced in a scene (like with Roku, I’ll never get over that). Just overall lost a lot of the whimsy. I understand that animation lends itself to way more expressive, cartoonish, and childish humor, but there’s plenty of funny live-action films and shows. Why did it have to take such a back seat? Again, that’s not a sign of maturity, it’s a sign of a very surface level understanding of how writing works and of what the original ATLA had to offer.

What Was The Point and What Could They Have Done Instead (imo)?

Being brutally honest here, I really don’t think there was any point to making this live action adaptation, especially with the limitations they put on themselves. I think it was, overall, a waste of money and resources. In theory, it was really exciting to have the opportunity to see the world come to life. And in a lot of ways I think they accomplished that between the location designs, costumes, respectful and accurate casting, and environments. I just think that was their main focus, making it look right, that the writing took an unfortunate back seat that made the whole show suffer.

There are two directions I think they could have taken instead.

One, I think they should have planned for six seasons. Every book of the original has a roughly mid season event that could act as really solid season finales. They would be able to stretch out the story and not compress or rush their writing so much. It would be structured more like this:

Season 1 Finale - The Winter Solstice and Discovery of Sozin’s Comet

Season 2 Finale - The Siege of the North

Season 3 Finale - Getting to Ba Sing Se and The Drill

Season 4 Finale - Aang’s “Death”

Season 5 Finale - The Day of Black Sun Invasion

Season 6 Finale - Sozin’s Comet and Confronting the Fire Lord

I understand that doing this doubles the length, and subsequently the cost of the show, which is a big ask. But I also think if they don’t have the resources to do it right in the first place, then they shouldn’t have done it at all. Is it better than the 2010 version we got from Shyamalan? Of course, but please allow yourself to have higher standards than literally scraping by the bottom of the barrel of quality.

I don’t expect anyone to have as in depth opinions or critiques as me, and I don’t begrudge anyone for enjoying the show or even liking some of the changes! But I will say that we all, no matter how critical a viewer you are, deserve better than mediocre quality.

The second direction I think they could have taken, and I really think they should have, is to write something completely original within the world setting of Avatar. There are quite literally dozens of avatars that existed before Aang that have no story yet! They had an opportunity to write some original that actually fits into the 8 episode limit they had while also further expanding on the history and world we all love so much.

I just think the audience, that mostly consists of fans of the original, would have been far more accepting and open to an original story rather than a middling attempt at retelling a story that’s already so beloved.

If you made it this far, I am extremely impressed and also worried for your health! This was mostly me needing to get all of these thoughts and critiques out of my head without ranting to friends and family that have no idea what I’m talking about and would get annoyed.

Anyway, that is my very extensive review that nobody asked for! If you need clarification or further analysis on anything I said, or if there’s something I missed that’s a critique for you on the live action, or if there’s anything you disagree with that I’ve said, please let me know in the comments below! But be nice, I will block anyone being mean about people opinions or thoughts. This is an open friendly space, I won’t tolerate bullying.

Thank you for probably far too much of your time!

[shadowjinx626]

I want to talk about this page really quick.

I find it wonderful that King Kuei only wants to get rid of the colonies for the sake of his citizens. It showed how he deeply cares about his people.

Which sort makes a good foil for Zuko, who not only is ruling a nation that hates him, but also has to fix the damage his nation caused. Zuko is so focus on restoring the peace for the other nations that he doesn't see how it could negatively affect his own people.

Specifically the colonies.

This makes sense for him to do when you considered his journey.

In The Storm episode, Zuko was very vocal about what was right for the Fire Nation.

"If I'm going to rule this nation one day, don't you think I need to start learning as much as I can?"

"You can't sacrifice an entire division like that! Those soldiers love and defend our nation! How can you betray them?"

"Please, Father. I only had the Fire Nation's best interest at heart. I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!"

Since he was thirteen, Zuko cared for the Fire Nation. He wanted to do was best for them. But that attitude for his nation led him to an Agni Kai against Ozai. There he was punished for refusing to fight against his own father.

Despite this though, Zuko still cares deeply for his nation. After all he wouldn't say this in The Blue Spirit:

How, Uncle? With Zhao's resources, it's just a matter of time before he captures the Avatar. My honor, my throne, my country, I'm about to lose them all.

But then his journey in season 2 happens and he gets a bigger picture of how the war truly is.

He meets Song. Who was burned by a firebender from the Fire Nation. He meets Lee and his family. Who had to deal with bullies taking advantage of the village, that needed protection from the Fire Nation, and whose family member fighting in the war against the Fire Nation. He meets Jet. Who seems alright at first, but hated Zuko so much once Jet finds out he was Fire Nation. He meets refugees. People who are in terrible situations thanks to a war against the Fire Nation started.

These people shows him how Fire Nation negatively affected them and how they view the very nation he cared for and taught was a great nation.

Which leads to Zuko's speech to Ozai in The Day of Black Sun Part 2:

"No, I've learned everything! And I've had to learn it on my own! Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And somehow, the War was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was. The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation. They don't see our greatness. They hate us! And we deserve it! We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it with an era of peace and kindness."

This does not mean he hates his nation however, just that his views of his nation that he cared about is different now. And that's a good thing if he wants to right the wrongs, he, his family, and his nation did to the rest of the world.

So when Iroh says this to Zuko when it comes to ruling the Fire Nation:

"You restored your own honor, and only you can restore the honor of the Fire Nation."

He of course takes it seriously. Despite his insecurities, Zuko made it his mission to bring back the honor his nation lost by doing what he did to right his own wrongs. Working with the other nations and the Avatar.

So if the Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes, and the Avatar want things to be separate, to be how it was before the war, then he'll do what is necessary. That's the trouble with this type of thinking though, things can't go back to the way they were. Especially not after 100 years culture built upon the war.

It also would make matters difficult when you remember one Zuko's flaws: he tends to be extreme with what he does. And sometimes that extreme attitude can cause others (and himself) to get hurt in the process. Even if it's not intentional.

On the contrary to Zuko, Aang was the one to acknowledges how this movement will cause disruption towards other people's lives. Though just like Zuko, who has flaws, Aang's also has flaws. He sometimes cannot see the full extent of how certain actions can hurt others.

In the show, we never see Zuko interacting with the citizens from the colonies, and Aang only went to one in the first season. So their views about the colonies is rather nonexistent or limited. It makes sense they be nonchalant about removing the colonies for the sake of peace and restoration.

[friedchickenluver]

cw: atla rant

honestly dni w me if u support/tolerate any type of zuko slander/hate/bashing and this is just an in general thing. i really hate it when i go to social media of any kind expecting to enjoy my favorite characters and end up with very distorted/biased views on him.

I love Zuko as a character, he is so complex, and beautifully written as an individual, and I could go on and on all day about him. I’m no shipper of “zukka” “maiko” “zutara” or “zukaang”, and I think it’s honestly wild at how this fanbase is so obsessed with who zuko ends up with, like it has to be some form of projection at this point.

Zuko isn’t ugly or any less attractive because of his scar. Zuko isn’t a terrible firebender, and will somehow never get better at it. Zuko gave life a second chance and proved that anyone truly can change despite their past. Zuko is interesting and valid. Zuko does love his sister, and Azula loves him. Just because he is so often advertised, doesn’t mean he’s any less valid in his abuse or his arc as an individual. Zuko does fuck up, and he always will because that’s what humans do. At the end of the day, Zuko still is just as much as a child like any of the other main characters are and doesn’t deserve to be treated like he’s a full ass adult and understands everything about and in life. Zuko is popular but not overrated.

like im so tired of trying to say this, yes atla is deep, but some opinions on here are just plain fucking stupid and delusional. people cant go one second without degrading another good character when defending a more “underrated” one. It’s a phenomenon that happens with zuko and azula, they both deserve to be happy, but some azula stans make it seem like it was zuko’s fault for everything. or they just bluntly say zuko is nothing compared to her, or how they couldn’t live as normal siblings once more when she redeems herself.

l check accounts, and if i see that u support any of this, u WILL be blocked. I’m serious about this. This blog is a safe space for atla/LOK characters of all. Except ozai.

[peony-pearl]

"someone PLEASE dare me to talk about the writing of Ursa's story from the comics"

This is your sign, child. Tell me all you've got

BLESS YOU!!!!!!!!

A bit of a foreword to anyone reading: I am going to be speaking about the writing of Ursa's trials from the comics in a critical light in the ways that her story was chosen to be written this way. If you find any kind of comfort or catharsis in her story, this post may not be for you. I am not here to be an anti, I am here to look at changes made to a character that I think could have been a lot more interesting if she had been allowed to keep her original backstory.

That being said:

Ursa's story of being plucked out of a happy home to marry 'the bad guy' could be interesting!

My problem with it is the inconsistencies it creates in it's own narrative... and the fact that it's such painful woobification of a woman who was willing to commit a high crime to save her son in the way that her circumstances create an issue where she is nothing but a martyr. It also continues the whole 'good lineage vs bad lineage' idea that completely undermines the power of Zuko's arc.

Ursa, in the comics, is presented to us as this bright eyed hopeful actress, in love with a man named Ikem when Azulon rolls up with Ozai, unlike some earlier lore where she was born into royalty and was the perfect match for Ozai. Now she's subjected to a wretched life which I can only imagine they put her through to make her completely sympathetic, because otherwise she would have been just like the rest of the royal family - EVIL.

Which I really hate that train of thought, but this is a family friendly show and as good as atla does with it's good vs evil nuances, I often remember I have to cut it some slack... but then I get a bit more frustrated because of the whole 'just because it's family friendly means they can simplify things' which I also don't care for but again... eh. I can't be too picky at times. (I was also raised on Gargoyles which did a great job on showing villains in sympathetic moments and heroes having big major flaws so I'm already a little biased)

Regardless; completely rewriting Ursa's backstory to the point that we no longer see her view of the war (or Ikem's! So they're good people!! We promise!) just comes off as almost manipulative and middle-school fanfiction-y. Ursa is a good person to sympathize with because she's being forced into these situations :C

And as such, she's a good person because of Roku!! And so Zuko is a good person because his mom loved him so much!!

And such, they don't have to show any changes on Ursa's part. No moral failings, no her and Zuko butting heads once they reunite to show how much he's grown... his morals come from her and Roku, because Avatar lineage = good.

And that grinds my gears so hard because then just like Ursa, that's robbing Zuko of his autonomy to make bad choices.

When Iroh tells Zuko in The Avatar and the Fire Lord that his legacy is the good and evil within him, it sucks because Zuko's legacy should solely be his own choices (I have my own issues with Zuko's view of the crown). Not the bloodline within him that he can't control. THAT'S A MAJOR POINT OF THE SHOW. People aren't born evil.

and yet Ursa is GOOD because she is Roku's GRANDDAUGHTER. That's really it. Yes, I can understand that she was raised in the moral compass left behind by him. But Ozai is only really good/charming to Ursa right up until their wedding when suddenly he's just EVIL and he's like 'you're MINE now hehehehe' like there's no in between, you just have to show Ursa in this miserable predicament which then also doesn't allow for any interesting development in our Ozai, aka previous big bad which could have been him following his father's orders to marry some woman and maybe he legitimately TRIED to make things work because NO ONE IS BORN EVIL. Ozai is such a shadow of Zuko that he would try to appease his father, and he might take this marriage on in the hopes that it would start building a bridge between them.

And we're not even getting into the fact that we don't learn that Ursa is the Avatar's granddaughter until the final season, JUST IN TIME for Zuko to learn this while he's locked in his self loathing and is utterly directionless. Again, this takes away the importance of his own choices. The boy who started the series completely devoted to returning home, willing to put himself and others through constant danger and misery just to appease his father is given a free ride card of 'oh you're actually good on the inside! Just do the good thing!'

Because he's Ursa's son, the woman who didn't want to marry Ozai because he was so so awful that his bloodline is OBVIOUSLY why Azula is the way she is (ugh).

Like this could work in more fairytale/simpler story settings but atla has gone so far out of it's way to continue to say 'no one is born evil' and 'people can change'; but when it comes down to it, they're really restricting the moral compass.

In the end, Ursa is good and suffered. Ozai is BAD because VILLAIN. (which yes he is but... ugh).

I don't know if I've made sense. I had a more cohesive idea when I wrote those tags but this is more or less my views of Comic!Ursa.

I don't hate her. But I hate that they just kind of shoved her on the misery train and kind of went 'wow that sucks right? This makes you want to see Zuko find her right?'

And then he does and all is well. Because Ursa is a GOOD WOMAN unlike that EVIL OZAI.

[seasideoranges]

❤: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

❤: Which character do you think is the most egregiously mischaracterized by the fandom?

Ask Game! OKAY SO I know this is asking for one specific character, buuuut I'm going to go through more than one character haha. To start;

Toph!

I was just talking about Toph in a server a couple of days ago, and I feel like people mischaracterize her a lot, but I kinda don't blame them! Toph is kind of a tricky character to write! But I read so many fics that just boil her down to "tough girl who doesn't take shit and bullies everyone" and like, yes, there is some truth to that, but she is also so much more! She's soft, she listens, she's genuinely a kind, good friend, despite her rough demeanor! There's a reason Sokka opens up for the first time about his mother with Toph.

Azula!

I adore Azula to bits, I love her, I want to see her get better and get another chance, but man, I hate how people lately have been woobifying the crap out of her lately (this happens to Iroh and Zuko too!!). I seen an argument on TikTok that Azula had a right to mortally wound Aang because it was SELF DEFENSE?! I thought OP was joking, but uh, nope, they were completely serious haha. You can't say you love 'problematic' characters only to try and make them 'unproblematic' as possible!

Aang!

I noticed that there's some people that hate Aang with a passion, so much so, that they'll try to paint him out as this sexist, abusive person/partner/father, and it bugs the hell out of me. Kind of makes me laugh a little too, seeing how powerful the haterism is towards this fictional 12 year old boy. This discourse especially gets worse when TLOK gets thrown into the mix and people try to paint him as a 'deadbeat' father, and some even try to compare him to Ozai?? It grosses me out, and the 'deadbeat' part is far from the truth! Words have meaning and weight to them, people!

Sokka!

Had to throw my fav in here of course. Here's the thing, people will either characterize Sokka as being nothing more than a dumb jokester, or they'll acknowledge that he's smart, but completely forget that he's incredibly grump, sarcastic, and skeptical which can lead him to be borderline cynical, especially in S1! There's also the whole "Sokka didn't really love his mom" discourse and, not to sound dramatic, but it makes me want to rip my hair out LMAO. I personally think that Sokka is one of the most interesting characters in ATLA and it kinda sucks seeing people gloss over him so much.

URSA!

Now this might be my most controversial take lmao. Before I start, I'm not saying Ursa was a perfect parent, and I wont be talking about the comics in this part, just strictly the show. But at this point, I almost feel like an Ursa defender because people greatly misinterpret her character and try to paint her to be just as bad as Ozai, especially when Azula is thrown into the mix. I'm sorry y'all, but I don't agree with the "Ursa was a 'boy' mom and favorited Zuko and abused Azula" takes. I don't think this was the case at all, and her relationship with Azula is so much more complex than that. People tend to forget that A) This was all Ozai's doing, he saw Azula as a weapon and put a wedge between her and the rest of her family (specifically Zuko and Ursa) and B) Ursa was also abused. She was an abused woman, trapped in a horrible situation, and wasn't left with a lot of great options or freedom.

Anyways I could talk about this all day with pretty much the rest of the Gaang, but I'll try and keep this from getting too long haha! AND AS ALWAYS, I don't want any discourse! I am always open for discussion! I love reading other peoples takes and I am always willing to change my views!

[frumfrumfroo]

I get tired of Zuko being brought up as the archetypal redemption arc (I get why people on the pro-redemption side do it, because he's a cultural touchstone for many people when we're kind of in dearth of villain redemptions, contrary to popular belief). But it's interesting how he lacks many of the elements I find engaging about redemption arcs, partly as a consequence of it being a children's show - Zuko can safely be redeemed because his daddy is the true baddie, so we still have the archetypal 'hero defeats villain' story; Zuko doesn't have a romance, and you can argue he's a villain protagonist in many ways, so the absolute product of his arc is kind of discrete; Azula (though apparently she was intended to be redeemed) still functions as a baddie for him to take down, so it's not like nonviolence is embedded in the narrative (which is what I personally find powerful) - and so on.

If I may add to your post, I definitely agree with you that it's a product of the current cultural/media climate, and comparisons to Zuko tend to not be productive. The anatomy of the fallout is little to do with the emotional arc or verisimilitude of the character's development, and so changing that isn't going to change anything. There are also elements like, Zuko gets to be the 'one' contrastive character who did it correctly - emotionally unbound in the story (his major redeeming relationship is with his uncle, even) - and for many people in the current discourse, from a time of childhood idealism. If I were to psychoanalyse these people, Kylo Ren, for instance, is so uncomfortable as a product of teenage narrative cynicism, maybe even worse because the Sequel Trilogy unearthed the OT. Zuko functions sort of like 'the one female character written correctly' which people bandy about to silence discussions of female character criticism or the presence of female characters, despite the fact this is an extremely limiting and antihumanistic approach (for black characters, for black female characters, for disabled characters, and so on - we want a variety). It's like how the 1:4 ratio of women to men is considered 'even'.

But I would go so far to say that why Zuko fails as a point of comparison is that many elements I view as powerful, moving, and challenging in redemption arcs are simply not there. This makes him feel safer. If Zuko is the 'limit', then you can suppress the discussion surrounding villain redemption arcs this way. Because romance isn't a feature, nonviolence isn't a conclusive feature, Azula can't be redeemed (she's truly crazy and evil), so redemption is a 'yea high' bar of disappointment. This is why I am tired of Zuko as a point of comparison bandied by the anti-redemption crowd, both because it stymies storytelling (there is no limit on what sorts of stories deserve to be told) but because it's actually kind of... not the same thing as what we're talking about. It doesn't go far enough. It barely does at all (and in anime, the villain redemptions tend to go pretty far, so what Avatar was playing off of was, well, playing it safe).

I also think it would be a different story if they had gone for Zuko/Katara with a female POV, but I don't really believe that both of those things were ever the intention. There's not really room for it in the Aang Show where the girl is a prize. But I'm not sure that many would meditate on it with such content if romance were involved at all. Hell, even now there are people who insist that Vader's redemption wasn't one at all because it commits too much - and that's why I think Zuko as an example persists.

I can't speak on the actual content because I was never in the fandom and haven't seen the show, but I'm sure you're right. I also think it's largely to do with these people having seen Zuko's arc when they were younger and it being 'grandfathered in'. As we see with some of the antis in sw fandom being totally fine with anidala or thinking Anakin is a sympathetic and tragic character, but lose their shit at the suggestion Ben is intended the same way despite being a far, far less demanding example. Even though anidala actually was an abusive relationship and reylo is not. etc.

Because they grew up with it and have already accepted the story's conclusion, they retrofit the 'good' and 'hero' labels and are thus fine with Anakin's redemption. The label is more important than any action he could take, because these people are working from an indelible label-based 'morality'. It's a form of Protagonist Centred Morality.

And I'm confident the same is true of A:TLAB.

And yes, there's also the fact that it's apparently an extremely tame and not very challenging redemption, because it's a show for little kids and thus Zuko doesn't kill anyone or do anything that violent. And again, I haven't seen it, but I get the impression he was always at least a bit sympathetic? So you never saw him as a simple and unrepentant villain. I could be wrong about that idk.

It is an extremely annoying thing that people still trot this out as the 'one acceptable redemption arc for all fiction ever', but that attitude has nothing to do with the writing of his arc or his character and everything to do with the people saying this and the circumstances under which they were exposed to him. And it's a self-fulfilling prophecy at this point because he's been given the pass, so even people coming to the show later already have permission to like him and won't respond to him the way they would otherwise.

The anti echo chamber will keep perpetuating this.

[noperopesaredope]

Ramblings About Ep. 1 of the New ATLA Adaptation

Okay, so the other day, I watched the first episode of the new live-action ATLA adaptation (only episode 1, I haven't seen the rest and don't really plan to), and I felt like I should probably share my thoughts (a large part of this is just me hyper-analyzing story-structure stuff).

I'm not quite sure how to feel about the fact that they started before the Air Nomad genocide and at the start of the war, but I kinda like it. It is a major change from the OG show and affects the flow of it, but it's not a terrible decision, and is actually kind of interesting. It also adds something very interesting to the viewing experience and perspective of the show's story.

On the one hand, starting with Sokka and Katara added a bit of mysticality to Aang's appearance as an airbender. We start with the knowledge that airbenders are rare/unfamiliar to a lot of people now, and the idea that they haven't been seen for 100 years is less of a surprise. But that makes Aang all the more surprising. He is a mystery, someone only heard of in stories. It makes airbenders as a whole a more grand reveal.

"The Storm" is also an excellent episode, and makes our perspective on Aang change in an interesting way. We start out viewing him from Katara and Sokka's perspective. He is a silly kid who is slightly mysterious, but is also the savior people have been waiting for for generations. But then the episode "The Storm" comes, and we see a whole new side to him. He goes from "goofy kid" to a really tragic character.

Imagine if we were first introduced to Katara when she was a kid and before her mother died, then saw the Southern Water Tribe raid. Or if we were introduced to Zuko starting at the meeting where he yells at the general, then see the Agni Kai with his father. The emotional impact of both those events would be very different, and out perspectives on those characters would be very different.

Instead of seeing Katara as a motherly and kindhearted, yet inexperienced young girl, then slowly realizing there is a lot more under the surface that she is hiding from everyone, we would start out seeing her as a tragic character who is hiding a great loss. Instead of seeing Zuko as some asshole prince, then learning his backstory after establishing him as an asshole, we would start out on his side and see his downward spiral from there. Our expectations for who they are as characters would be completely different, because our introductions and starting points would be completely different.

But the fact that those would be different doesn't mean that those would be inherently bad. Just a different way of telling a story. It gives the viewer a completely different perspective of the character as a whole despite telling all the same events. Telling the events in a different order changes the viewing experience drastically, but it doesn't mean either method is wrong.

The fact that we start out with the war makes for an interesting plot-twist for those who haven't seen the original show and know nothing about it. When we start out with the war and the Air Nomads, it makes airbenders feel like a part of the norm. They are not quite as mysterious, and are much more familiar to the audience. When we learn of the war, that obviously becomes the point of interest for us. However, if you go in completely blind, you may expect for the plot to partially be about stopping the war before it starts, or preventing the Air Nomads from getting attacked. Your expectations for what will happen in the show are completely different.

We see the Air Nomads as a natural part of the world, and our starting perspective/main introduction to the world (the first two scenes before that are a bit to vague to be used as proper introductions to the world, while the Air Nomads are a bit more solid). They are the norm, and while we likely don't expect to stay with the Air Nomads forever, we likely expect them to remain a part of the world. They are essentially "home" to us, the same way the Southern Water Tribe felt like "home" in the original, even though we were only there for two episodes.

They are still home to our main characters and the starting setting, and thus, us. It is the familiar since it is the strongest point of introduction to the world. So every new location introduced after that will feel unfamiliar, while the starting location will not. This is the case with the Air Nomads. Everything outside of them feels unfamiliar because they are not our starting point of reference. So when the Air Nomad genocide occurs, it is a lot more shocking and upsetting.

Imagine if, in the original show, the reason Katara and Sokka had to leave with Aang wasn't just because they were helping him, but because Zuko and the firebenders burned down the entire village after beating Sokka in the duel. This killed everyone inside, and left Katara and Sokka homeless, with nowhere else to go. It would be a whole new degree of horrifying.

Going back to the point on the Air Nomad genocide and the airbenders in general. We were introduced to Monk Gyatso early on, not as a mysterious mentor we hear about secondhand or in flashbacks, but as one of the major characters who we know a bit more personally. Maybe we expect him to die, but not exactly like this. And more importantly, we don't expect for all the other airbenders to die (unless you guessed based on the title of the show).

These were our main characters. This isn't supposed to happen. And yet, it does. We can understand the anguish that Aang feels, because we lose our main point of reference at the same time he does. Monk Gyatso's death also has a tiny bit more impact and feels more like, say, Obi-wan's death. While I think his death-reveal was a bit more emotional in the original, that's because the acting and music and directing was better. If those elements stayed the same, then I think his death would likely be even more emotional than the original (I will touch on this more later). He is our starting point not just for Aang, but for the viewer as well. He feels like our mentor rather than "Aang's old teacher." He is not a past-tense or flashback, but a present tense character who is killed off.

This all puts us into Aang's shoes a bit better, and we experience the loss alongside him. It feels less like seeing a loved one grieve and hearing about the one's they lost secondhand, and more like grieving with them. But that's not the only thing we experience alongside Aang, or the big value of starting before the timeskip.

Remember how I brought up plot-twists? Well, this is the other interesting advantage of starting with the beginning of the war and the Air Nomads. First, we have already experienced the loss and tragedy of the Air Nomad genocide. While Aang doesn't know about it until a bit later, we are still essentially grieving the loss alongside him.

But not only did we not expect the Air Nomads to all get killed off, we definitely did not expect a 100 year timeskip. And the best part (which I was hoping they would do as soon as I realized they were starting with the Air Nomads) is that they don't actually tell us until they tell Aang. We get a period of time where we don't realize that that much time has passed. We are likely expecting it to take place soon after the Air Nomad genocide, and that it will be a recent event. At most, it could be a couple of years or so. Maybe even just a year. They've been at war, but not for that long.

We can even assume for a bit that maybe this small village is just so remote that they've never met other benders before, or at least airbenders. Maybe they heard about the genocide, and didn't expect there to be survivors, but it would still be relatively recent. We think that they are in the same period as us, and maybe not the same exact situation, but generally a similar international one. We expect Aang to still be in his time. The framing is actually perfect for this. Sure, there will be a few moments that will feel...off...but everything can be excused.

So when they reveal that actually, this is a 100 year timeskip, it is worldshaking. Imagine that in most other shows. A character gets knocked out and is found in a new location by a few other characters, and things seem mostly normal. But then they throw us and the character a curveball by revealing that they've been missing/unconscious for 100 years and everything has completely changed. That's absolutely wack.

I will admit, based on how things were set up, I was a little disappointed with the payoff of the "plot-twist". The most interesting part of starting at the beginning of the war before the genocide is that the 100 year timeskip becomes much more shocking. We are mainly seeing things from Aang's perspective, so the shock of this revelation should be just as impactful for us as it is for him.

But it doesn't feel like a big enough moment. It feels a little rushed over. I think this is due to the same problems as Monk Gyatso's death. The music/sound design, direction, and acting aren't as good and don't have the same punch to them, thus taking away the impact of what should be a powerful moment. I think it was an interesting idea, but the payoff kinda defeated the point.

~~~~~

While going to the air temple makes sense in terms of character logic, I feel like the story-structure automatically took away the impact of Aang discovering Gyatso's body. Yes, as I've been saying, I kinda like them starting with the Air Nomads and then showing the genocide, but since they changed the story structure and emotional beats, it changes what scenes are and aren't necessary.

The episode "The Southern Air Temple" is very specific in how it tells its story, and the buildup to discovering Gyatso's body really only fits with the original episode. I think that maybe this could have worked if Aang coming back to the Air Temple was its own episode like in the original show and it took place a few episodes after episode 1. Like, we've already been on one or two adventures with Aang, Katara, and Sokka, and while they aren't besties yet, they are still beginning to establish a bond. We also see Aang still being at least slightly hopeful about there still being other airbenders around, which could be pretty sad since we already know that they're gone and it hasn't hit him yet.

Then, there is an episode where he is wandering around the Air Temple like in the original, and there is an intense tension throughout the episode as he gets closer and closer to Gyatso's body. We know Gyatso's dead, but Aang doesn't. We know that him seeing Gyatso's body is inevitable, but there is still a lot of tension in waiting for the inevitable. So it could be a really heartbreaking episode, because we know exactly what's going to happen, but we can't stop it.

So when he finally discovers Gyatso's body, it's like a gutpunch. And that's when the OG scene plays. The fact that it's a few episodes later also adds an impact to Katara's line about her and Sokka being Aang's new family. We experienced the loss of Aang's old family, and then we realize that the water tribe siblings have become Aang's new family. It makes it more heartwarming. Yes, Aang has lost, but he has also found.

~~~~~

I will admit, despite the controversy, Sokka's actor is pretty good. Maybe that's just because the movie lowered my expectations by a lot, but he was the most entertaining character. I laughed at a few of his jokes, and he was fun.

I do see people's problems with the sexism being taken away. The first episode works well enough without the sexism, and introduces a new, pretty interesting arc for Sokka (being a teenager expected to lead when he's not ready. That was slightly the case in the OG, but it more focused on other elements of this) which slightly parallel's Aang's arc of responsibility and putting expectations on kids/teens that they shouldn't have to handle. But Sokka's sexism arc was already pretty interesting and unique, and his toxic masculinity made his arc very intriguing. His character was very fun to look at through that lens, and slightly played into the idea of expectations.

I'm also unsure how this will work for the rest of the series. I mean, Kyoshi Island. What will they do with that? Legitimately. What is there to do? That was half the point of that episode, and it was awesome.

~~~~~

People were right when they said the special effects looked great, way cooler and cleaner than the movie. The opening scene with the earthbender is a great example of how to adapt bending into a live action form that captures the spirit of bending and does it service. It feels just as grand as in the original show. While I know the the bending moves in the OG were based on real martial arts, it can be hard to recognize just how natural the movements looked in relation to bending when watching a cartoon. But the live action bending made me realize and appreciate the way the elements actually flowed with the movements. They didn't felt random, they felt like there was legitimate physics to it.

I still have one problem with the airbending, though. I know Aang is the Avatar and a prodigy, but he was basically flying at multiple points, specifically when he was first introduced. I feel like he should only be able to do stuff like that with either his glider or when he's in the Avatar state. I was really getting into the episode and was slightly enjoying his introduction, but then he started floating down way too slowly without anything to fully support him (like a glider or even parachute), and it immediately broke my immersion and suspension of disbelief.

Despite being a show about people with either hyperspecific telekinesis or pyrokinesis, as I mentioned above, ATLA feels surprisingly realistic and grounded in its magic system, and bending feels natural with a physics of its own. I don't actually have to suspend my disbelief too hard, because though it can't happen in the real world, it doesn't feel unbelievable. Aang gliding around without a glider or other device to help carry him? Far less believable. Also, where's the airscooter? That made more sense for Aang and felt a lot less weird, and was more in-character. It's also very fun to watch and I'd look to see him do it. Give us back the airscooter.

So bending in the show still has a few minor flaws, and we're only on Episode 1.

~~~~~

Now, obviously, I do have some criticisms. I just like to get the positives out of the way first (though even then, I did mention a few negatives). The main problem that immediately stood out to me (and even my ever optimistic mom) is that the acting felt really stiff most of the time. That was one of the major problems with some of the emotional scenes I mentioned, like Aang finding out how long he'd been in the iceberg, or him discovering Monk Gyatso's body. I think everyone has probably already mentioned it, but I still felt the need to mention it. I respect the actors and feel bad saying this, but the acting lowkey ruined a lot of the first episode for me.

Like, do these characters feel anything ever? I get subtly in acting, but for characters like Aang, he often wears his heart on his sleeve and is very expressive. I actually wouldn't mind at least a little bit of exaggeration, at least for Aang. And while I said Sokka was okay, he could be a little bit better, and like Aang, he could be a little more exaggerated. Like when he's frustrated or annoyed (or most anything really), he seems like the type to have big, physical reactions. He talks with his hands and does things like throwing them up in the air in exasperation. He lets out big groans as he slouches and throws his head back. He's a silly guy, even when he is trying to act tough and serious. Basically get the most naturally funny guy you know and cast him as Sokka.

Katara, like in the movie, basically felt like she wasn't even there, or was standing around all the time. At this point, it feels like nobody will be able to capture the essence of the OG Katara, or they don't know how to. I saw a post recently that mentioned that Katara is actually a pretty angry person sometimes, and while she is very sweet and caring, she is a 14 y/o girl who is prone to outbursts and moments of pettiness. I actually like her best when she is yelling at people and getting annoyed and emotional. She is very flawed and more than just the motherly caretaker.

It feels like they need to add more emotional Katara, and not just the kind who cries. A Katara who is still a teen girl at the end of the day and has childish behaviors like the others. She will have moments of emotional immaturity. She will get overeager and impulsive (like when she stole the water scroll). She will be playful and silly. She will be angry and protective in a way that makes her reckless. She will make poor decisions. She will become strong and badass. She is so many things.

And yet, it feels like she is never given the spotlight, attention, and variety she deserves in these adaptations. Sorry for rambling about Katara, I just have so many Thoughts™ on her.

~~~~~

I don't have too much else to say, but there is one moment that unintentionally made me giggle, and I need to mention it. In the final few minutes of the episode (possible part of the final shot or something), Zuko runs over to his desk and starts furiously painting something on a piece of paper. He pins it to the wall in front of him, and it is a very shitty ink painting of Aang. And I find it so funny for some reason? I think it was because he was painting with such passion and intensity like it was the most important thing in the world, only for it to be contrasted by a poorly drawn scribble.

~~~~~

Anyways, that's all I have in my brain rn (or at least all that I care about enough to say anything about). These were just random, slightly disconnected ramblings rather than a properly written review, but I hope you related to them anyways or at least think they are interesting.

[phoeeling]

those posts about Azula and Zuko’s relationship by @zuko-always-lies and @wingsfreedom respectively got me thinking about the fire hazards. one pointed out what makes Zuko seem like he doesn’t care about Azula, and one pointed out what does. And it brought me to a conclusion.

Zuko parrots what other people’s opinions on Azula are. (Almost all of the time)

When we see Zuko’s first flashback in Zuko Alone, he’s hanging out with his mom by the pond. He says “Hey, mom, wanna see how Azula feeds Turtleducks?”

Zuko says this like he finds it genuinely funny and interesting. He views it positively. Now, Zuko immediately fails at mimicking her— as soon as the bread hits the Turtleduck, Zuko’s expression is shocked and horrified. That wasn’t supposed to happen, and he’s scolded by Ursa for it.

“Zuko, why would you do that?”

Ursa doesn’t assume it’s an accident. Ursa— and I’m trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, really— has a low opinion of Azula. She isn’t able to separate her trauma regarding Ozai (even if we ignore the comics, absolutely nothing isn’t traumatic about being married to a man willing to kill your children) from Azula very effectively.

Ursa has outright questioned “what is wrong with that child” in earshot of Zuko and Azula, to the point that the former actually remembers her saying it, and her Nickelodeon bio confirmed Zuko as her favourite.

While Zuko is processing, Turtleduck resurfaces and it’s mother attacks him. The rest of that part isn’t particularly relevant, what’s relevant is what comes after. It transitions to Azula “playing” with her friends.

“Mom, can you make Zuko play with us? We need equal teams to play a game.”

Zuko, who previously seemed to have a more positive opinion on Azula earlier that day, responds kind of aggressively with “I am not cartwheeling.

Azula points out cartwheeling isn’t a game, especially one that wouldn’t need teams.

“I don’t care. I don’t want to play with you.”

Zuko, just that morning, had no problem with Azula and no reason to, and is now acting needlessly aggressive toward her. Zuko internalized Ursa’s opinion of Azula even without Ursa outwardly expressing her negative feelings, and it further paints what we see of those flashbacks. He even joins Ursa in scolding Azula for her comment about if Iroh died.

The next flashback is awhile after, and Zuko’s personal opinion doesn’t seem to be altered to fit the bias of anyone else around him: Zuko is playing a tag-like game with Azula, and the two are laughing and smiling.

The scene after that, it’s unclear when it takes place. How much longer after. It appears to be late in the day, like sunset-ish. Zuko is fine hanging out with Azula until she insults him, and then he gets defensive. (Also note: when the two of them are spying on the meeting, as Zuko runs away, Azula actually turns to check on him as he runs away.)

Next scene when Zuko is lying in bed. Azula is sing-songy and mocks him about what she heard. Now, despite this— and I note— Azula suggests Zuko to flee the country.

“I’m only telling you for your own good. I know! Maybe you can find a good Earth Kingdom family to adopt you.”

In all technicality, what Azula is suggesting is treason and I think that might make her treasonous by suggesting it. She’s telling him to go against the Fire Lord’s orders— that would potentially further Ozai in gaining the crown, which is what really matters here— and telling him to live. All she’d have to do is say nothing and Zuko would be gone and she’d be heir.

(Not only that, but when Ursa asks Azula what was going on, Azula tells her everything.)

The next notable scene: when Azula tells Zuko no one knows where [Ursa] is and that Azulon is dead, Zuko says it’s not funny and she’s sick, which is probably the best instance of him parroting Ursa’s opinions.

Zuko also later ends up parroting Iroh’s opinion of Azula. We know Iroh doesn’t have a very high opinion of Azula— despite the fact Iroh isn’t looking at her during the Agni Kai, he remembers her as smiling. She also looks no different than her current appearance, which suggests Iroh doesn’t really see her as a child.

Iroh is immediately hostile towards Azula when all she’s said is hello, screwing up his expression. (Zuko’s screws up his expression too, but he’s made angrier expressions at Iroh.)

After the guard slips that it was a lie, then Zuko gets angry at Azula for an actual reason— and during the Chase, he wants to fight her. But when he’s talking to Iroh, he seems genuinely unsure on how to feel about Azula. “I know, she’s my sister and I should try to get along with her.”

Now, one thing to note— Ursa doesn’t directly say this from what we see. The closet she does is agree with Azula that it’s important for brothers and sisters to spend time together. Which means that he’s likely either parroting that sentiment from Azula, or that’s an original thought.

Iroh reinforces that Zuko should feel negatively towards Azula. “She’s crazy and she needs to go down.”

(Iroh should be in the right by saying that, should being the key word. She shot fire at him. But she only had to do that because he prevented her from fleeing the scene in the first place, meaning she had to come up with an alternate escape plan. She had already attempted to flee from battle semi-peacefully because she was outnumbered, meaning he outright risked his niece’s safety for no reason.)

When Zuko’s in the Fire Nation, he’s mostly neutral-positive on Azula. There’s no negative outside opinions altering his view on Azula, and that’s when they get along the most. Despite the fact Zuko is incredibly grumpy throughout all of S3. He’s still very Zuko about it, but he doesn’t hate her.

When he joins the Gaang, his opinion on Azula gets negative again. He seems neutral-sad when she nearly falls to her death and resigned when she survives, and says to Katara in Sozin’s Comet: “How would you like to help me put Azula in her place?”

When Sokka asks if he left behind anyone he cares about, he doesn’t say Azula: because Zuko can’t tell if he cares about Azula.

When Suki says “This is a rematch I’ve been waiting for”, Zuko literally parrots her. Suki has a reason to want a rematch— Zuko doesn’t. He hasn’t lost a battle to Azula, because he hasn’t been in a battle with Azula that actually resulted with either of them winning.

To summarize: Azula knows her and Zuko’s sibling relationship is wrong and wants to repair it. Zuko knows his and Azula’s sibling relationship is wrong and doesn’t know what the right is, so he mimics what everyone else thinks [about Azula].

And everyone is getting in-between them reconciling and building a health relationship. Ozai intentionally, Ursa unintentionally and Iroh somehow both intentional and unintentionally.

[escapism-from-the-real-world]

Saw some alta fanart from @ash-and-starlight about Zuko and Aang being ink buddies (because they both had tattoos in the art) and the way Aang’s tattos were drawn were really cool and I feel had a lot more significance to them than the solid color blocking they did in the show.

Completely understand why they drew his and the monks with solid blue arrows, drawing complex patterns over and over again while also depicting motion us hard as fuck, but I think it’s a really interesting concept to think about how the airbenders had unique tattoos that all, while all looking like arrows as we see in the show, showed the individual and their personality/what they may have done to earn their tattoos

The monks are/ seem like the kind of people who value community and friendship and respect in a way that they connect themselves to each other through their arrow tattoos while acknowledging that people are unique and have their own sense of style, humor, behavior, and ways of showing love or any emotion really.

I think it’s something that could really expand upon what we already know about Aang and the monks and how they viewed each other, their community, themselves, and even the world around them (since some may take inspiration for their tattoos from other peoples/friends/environments they’ve met and been apart of)

Idk, it’s a fun headcanon