#avatar the last airbender season 3 was a trainwreck

[empressofthesunslittlecorner]

A rant about Aang and Byrke

WARNING NOT KATAANG FRIENDLY

CONTINUE WITH PRECAUTION

Hello my loves!

Here I'm with a new blog entry.

This time we will talk about Kataang, Aang and Byrke.

Since I'm writing a FanFic where Aang is paired with an OC, I thought I could tell you why I prefer Aang with OCs instead of Katara.

Just to be clear.

I like Aang.

I love Katara and would for this girl sell my liver.

But them together as a pair...please no!

Kataang is one of my NOTPs.

In my Let's Talk about Zutara post I pretty much said why I can't stand this pairing.

One is the age and maturity gap.

What does a 14-year-old want with a 12-year-old? It's just creepy, no matter the gender and it would have been better if they got together at like 22 and 20.

Even if I think Zutara is superior, I could grimly accept Kataang.

Second Aang and Katara are the worst version of their self together.

I haven't read the comics, but what I saw on Tumblr and on Legend of Korra was enough to make me angry.

Katara was reduce to Aang price, girlfriend, housewife and mother of his children.

The warrior girl we all loved, who never turned her back on people who needed her, became in the name of love (and Byrke) a shadow of herself.

Our real Katara would smack this wishy-washy version of herself to kingdom come!

Then we have Aang. The boy clearly turns into a Nice GuyTM when it's about Katara.

He kissed her TWICE, TWICE, without her consent and never said sorry for this.

He thinks he deserves her love because he is the Avatar (the hero) and that's how it be.

Till Season 2 Aang wasn't that worse about Katara, a lot of plotpoints pointed out that Aang obsession, I'm not calling it love, on Katara was not good.

He replaced the love for his people with Katara.

Erm, that's not healthy at all.

What Aang expierendec was traumatic, he is the sole suriver of a genocide, but he can't shove all his love for his people to Katara.

How can only one person hold this standards?

It's impossible.

Katara is a bandaid on a ripped arm.

A bandaid isn't going to fix Aang trauma.

He needed to really face it and accept it and let Katara go.

Guru Pathik told him he to let Katara go, but I don't think it was meant to say, don't love that girl anymore.

No, it was more like: you clearly are obsessed with her and think if she loves you all your hurt will go away, but this isn't the case!

Aang could still love Katara, he just needed to stop to put her on a pestal!

Then we know what happens, he let's her go, seems to get the Avatar State, but turn it down because Katara is in danger and he must save her.

Alright, we all would run to our loved one if they are in danger, but Aang, you are the Avatar.

The Avatar is the peacekeeper of this world.

Sadly he can't put his own desires forward, he has do to what was for the world right!

In the Crystal Catabombs he realizes this.

So he let's go of Katara to get the Avatar State and then gets shot down by Azula.

Then when the first episode of season 3 rolls around, you get the feeling that Aang learnend his lesson.

Because he was selfish, he lost his greatest eapan.

He needed to be better.

Only...after the first episode season 3 was really...bad.

I can't say it better.

If you compare it to the other two seasons...season 3 has mayor problems.

A lot of plotpoints get forgotten, Aang didn't learn from his mistakes, he acts entitled for Katara love and he gets his Avatar State back thanks to Deus-Ex-Machine Rock and even finds a way to handle Ozai thanks to Deus-Ex-Machine Lion Turtle.

How, HOW, did the creators look at this and want a golly what an awesome final?

It was not!

It was rushend and not earnend!

Because Aang is a selfinsert from Bryek.

They statet once in an interview that Kataang was reflection how they had a crush on their babysitter, who of course didn't wanted them and would go out with the "bad boy".

The bad boy here in question is Zuko, which is hilarious since Zuko is the most awkward dork.

So they wanted to create a story were the young hero gets the hot older girl.

No normal 14-year-old girl would date a 12-year-old and if she did call the police on her ass!

Avatar was only amazing because of writers like Aaron Ehasz, who turned Toph, who was supposed to be a boy and a love rival for Aang, into this badass girl who didn't let her disabilty stop her to become the greatest earthbender and inventer of metalbening in the world.

They truned Iroh into thee loveable and wise uncle and not like Byrke wanted into a spy for Ozai.

Also Azula was supposed to be a boy too, but she became the female villain we all loved and wish we would see in other media's too!

A lot of writer wanted also Zutara to happen and not Kataang.

If I remember right season 3 was so rushed and lacking because the movie-who-shall-not-be-named was in production and Bryke wanted the series to end before it.

A lot of concept were thrown out the window for it.

The writers wanted to make even a season 4, where Aang would even find other airbenders, but noooooooooooooooo we can't give Aang the healing he deserves, we must live out a fantasy trough this boy.

Looking at you Bryke.

Anyways we got, what we got and I'm so not happy about it.

Zutara should be canon and Aang should have found a girl who loved really, who was his equal and who didn't needed to be a broodmare for the air nomads, becasue there where still air nomads around.

Here we get back to my preference to ship Aang with OCs. Since I'm a big fan of the theoretical season four we would have gotten, it's only naturel to imagine own characters, since no canon characters exist for it.

I would have loved to see Aang with a descendant of Air Nomads. She learning from him, he learning from her, cute!

But let's be real if Aang is writing good he could work with a lot of characters.

Even canon ones like On Ji. I found her really cute with him.

The only thing I want for Aang partner is that the girl doesn't get reduced to a broodmare.

So the airbenders have always to come back/stop from hiding.

IT'S NOT THE COMPLICATED!

BUT WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!

WE LIVE IN THE DARK TIMELINE!

AVATAR COULD HAVE BEEN THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY CARTOON EVER, BUT NOOOOOO TWO MEN HAD TO MAKE THEIR WEIRD FANTASY REALITY AND DIDN'T LISTEN TO THEIR TEAM OF WRITER WHO WERE LIKE, FAM THAT'S NARRAVTIVLY SPEACKING HUGE STEPS BACKWARDS!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

Yeah, I think you all guessed how much I hate Bryke.

Fricking pricks!

Also, people who make fun of their own fans because they ship a pairing themselves not like are the worst!

That shows have much respect they have for their fans.

Zero.

They just wanted to live out their fantasy and be done.

Again, fricking pricks!

So for now, that's from me, I needed to get it out of my chest.

Till next time my loves!

[therussohousehold]

S3 Sucks Big Time And I’m Tired Of It.

Hi y’all. Next chapter’s well underway! In the meantime, there’s something I need to get off my chest, and this platform seems like the perfect place to do it.

SVTFOE season 3 has been the worst possible direction that the show could have taken. Out of all possible scenarios, the only way it could possibly get any worse is if all the problems that have been created in the past dozen episodes were, from here on out, totally ignored as the show tries to backpedal its way out of this conundrum.

The season’s complete trainwreck of petty drama, plot regression, character devolvement, and tonal problems is so complex and varied that it’s almost impressive, because of all the parts that seem like mistakes, the most glaring issues seem to be deliberate choices by the writers.

This starts at the beginning of S3 with the Battle for Mewni, and continues on through the season, to the point that there isn’t an episode in which it’s not present. Let me go ahead and dive in here, and just explain some of the myriad of things that are wrong with what’s been produced thus far.

Tone - mistakes and choices.

Right from the beginning of the Battle of Mewni, all of the show’s tonal problems are thrown up into your face, over and over again.

The purpose of story tone is to help the story retain focus, both in the direction you’re heading, and in helping your viewers know what to expect from the show. It informs the actions of the characters, and helps you to understand how to feel about certain things that happen. There are a lot of great examples of how this works in modern cartoons.

Most appropriately, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teen Titans, and Gravity Falls are all very obvious examples of this. Each series’ tone is constant and lets you know what to expect from every episode, and more relevantly, features a mix of serious, character-driven narrative progression, while also allowing room for each series to tell jokes, show off the lighthearted interactions between characters, and have those personal moments of heart and meaning that mean everything when forging a bond between yourself and the characters you’re watching.

SVTFOE has always had problems with tone, from the introduction of Toffee onwards. Toffee himself is a perfect reflection of what the problem with the show always has been. He’s a character that wants to be serious, with real meaning and consequence, but the show itself is very goofy and lighthearted, and only in his presence is there any sort of continuity for the first two seasons.

This problem is thrown into overdrive with Battle For Mewni, which creates a world-shattering conflict that the show just isn’t prepared to handle in any capacity. The conflict itself is world-ending stakes, with Toffee’s plans finally coming to fruition - not only is the kingdom of Mewni in shambles, but he’s draining all the magic from the multiverse.

Despite this, though, the show’s goofy tone and ridiculous antics sabotage this more serious, tension-filled plot, over and over again. This continues until the parts that actually have tension, like Star drowning in the magic dimension, Toffee’s return and death, Ludo’s transformation into a horrible dictator, are not only undermined, but actually feel completely out of place in the context of the show.

One minute the show is telling you how funny and ridiculous it is, like with the parts that show River trying to run the kingdom, or anything involving the dungeons or Marco’s “vigilante pranks,” and the next minute, it’s demanding you sit up and watch, because world-ending consequence is crashing down in a manner completely unprecedented.

This problem continues into the season, long after Toffee’s death, with the conflict between the goofy elements of the show, and the more serious angle of princess that Star obviously wants to become.

First, it should be noted that the writers did at this point FINALLY make a conscious choice about the tone of the season/series - they did it when Marco arrived on Mewni in “Lint Catcher.” It happens in the most jarring way possible.

The series until this point has been all about lighthearted choices and fun adventures, so you’re led to believe that when he gets there, you’re going to see an emotional reunion, a return to the status quo, and a setup for next week’s fun antics. The setup feels as though the show is saying “okay, we’re going to do what we did before, but on Mewni now.”

Instead, it’s apparent immediately that Marco’s made a huge mistake. He burns the bridges he has left on Earth. Meanwhile on Mewni, Star’s not so much excited or even happy to see him, as she immediately seems as interested as possible in making sure he isn’t around for reasons that are never actually directly stated.

This is the tone that the series sticks to for nearly the rest of the season - Star being selfish and emotionally distant while Marco acts as a third wheel - and as far as a conscious choice for tone goes...

WHY???

This is the first issue because it’s really the underlying problem behind why I don’t enjoy S3 at all. It’s not written to be enjoyable. The tone of the show is “mistakes which have no resolution,” or perhaps “actions have consequences,” but unlike, say, Adventure Time, which shares this theme BUT is drowning in interesting side-plots and settings to draw focus (since “adventure” is also a primary theme of the series), that tone is taken and crammed down your throat at every opportunity.

That’s not to say it’s consistent, though. The show attempts to break through this tone on multiple occasions, with the immediately following episodes, Trial By Squire, Princess Turdina, and Starfari attempting to show that no, this is not the way things will go.

Despite this, though, the tone is so present in Star’s more serious attitude, in her dynamic with Marco, and in his own actions (and continuing, progressively worse series of mistakes) that I’m left wondering “what the heck am I supposed to be feeling right now?” Trial By Squire, like the other Quest Buy episodes, is excellent, but in no way am I prepared to invest myself back into Marco and Star’s relationship when they themselves have turned it on its head in ways we aren’t even seeing yet. The theme of the season is “consequence” but nothing actually seems to have consequence. You just feel bad after watching, because somehow you’re more aware of what the characters should be going through than the characters themselves.

Plot - how to story.

Like with tone, SVTFOE has always struggled with plot. One minute you’re getting a lore-packed episode like St. Olga’s, or a compelling character narrative like in the episodes preceding The Battle For Mewni, and the next you’re getting completely disconnected adventures like the Quest Buy episodes, Interdimensional Field Trip, etc. etc.

Up until now, though, the show has always done a pretty good job on both ends. Some of the filler episodes are annoying (Fetch/Star on Wheels will forever remain “the block that should never have been produced”) and some of the plot-driven episodes don’t always land (Baby is great, but also the most out-of-place episode in S2, IMO) but generally speaking, things have always tied together in the end. If not that, then it’s at least fun to watch.

So then S3 starts out by killing the antagonist and central conflict before we even see them emerge, and then continues onwards as if it still has a reason to do so. Then it introduces a theme that is like nails on a chalkboard for trying to build something to be around and watch. Talk about shooting yourself in the feet!

Throughout S3 so far, we’re given a bunch of characters that are changing radically, but no reason for their change, and no motivation to get them to show that development. Star is trying to change into a more down-to-earth, serious princess, but it’s not until Starfari, nearly a third of the way into the season, that we’re even given a glimpse of a conflict which suits this mindset.

Meanwhile, Marco’s trying to come to terms with who he wants to be in life, but whether he was on Earth or on Mewni, post Sophomore Slump, the series itself would not have been affected at all. It’s like he’s totally isolated from everything that’s going on around him, and any time he tries to have an impact or take control, things blow up in his face.

Eclipsa is introduced as a full character to show off a moral grey area and try to influence Star into her “do what you want” lifestyle, but there’s no catalyst to show this change at all, and as a result she, too, could be completely cut from the season to literally no effect.

This is not how you do plot. It’s not how you do a story, and it lends itself to the theme of the show, because now in addition to “mistakes without resolution,” and “actions have consequence,” (via Star’s attitude), the entire season thus far has had a running theme of “pointlessness.” The only conflicts which you’re driven to care about at all are those between characters, but even those are so poorly managed and difficult to understand that you just want the series to tell you what it’s trying to do, already.

Killing off Toffee was, in my opinion, the biggest waste of a character that I can think of in recent memory. It’d be like if Aang defeated the fire lord at the end of book 2, or Bill Cipher showing up and being beaten halfway through Gravity Falls.

I expected the show would at least provide a reason for the defeat so we could move on - like a “now that he’s gone, we can do this other thing that we really want to show” approach, but that just hasn’t happened. These characters still have so much growth to go through, the story still has so much to tell, but we’re just missing any driving force behind the plot, and as a result, the only really interesting bits of the series (the relationships like what are shown in Lava Lake Beach and the story development like in Deep Dive and Monster Bash) fall extremely flat while you wait for a reason for their existence.

Characters - unjustifiable and unlikable

Okay, so we’re seeing a running theme: inconsistency. The show likes to jump around with plot. It likes to have a few different themes. And up until now it’s liked to jump around with characters, too.

But this season actually introduced some consistent characterization for Star and Marco, with Star being the more selfish and serious version of herself, and Marco being a walking pile of bad life choices and personality shortcomings.

So, again, we’ve got a conscious choice by the writers that makes NO SENSE.

That is to say, we’ve now got consistent characters and they’re awful.

The biggest thing that you need from a character in any show is a WHY and a HOW.

The WHY is the reasoning behind their existence and character from an out-of-show perspective. It creates a relateable backdrop/canvas for the character to act on. Zuko’s struggles with honor, family, and his own duality are is WHY. We understand who he is and WHY he acts the way he does, and as a result, despite him making some terrible choices and being full of angsty late-teen drama (”nobody understands me mom! I mean, uncle!”) we still sympathize and know where he’s coming from.

Then there’s the HOW, which is the reasoning behind their actions WITHIN the show. Zuko’s driving force is to capture the Avatar, which is HOW that out-of-show WHY backdrop manifests. All of his problems come to a head and he’s created a simple narrative solution: if he can just capture the avatar, things will get better. Despite his antagonism, we understand him and appreciate who he is, even if we don’t want him to succeed. The problem with S3 is that it creates a problem that the series never really had before. The characters were never particularly consistent or driven, and when they are (like Star in Storm the Castle) the motivation was adequate. Star wants to get her best friend back. As soon as the stakes are raised from a character perspective - as soon as Star and Marco become consistent and show signs of a progression path - the show falls apart, because we’re not given any justification for it at all. The WHY and HOW behind Star’s actions in S3 is a total enigma, because the show never actually tells us her line of reasoning. The best I can come up with is that she feels the need to be more responsible following the problems her previous actions caused, but there’s been nothing in the season that requires that attitude at all. The actual stakes behind what’s going on in the series as a whole are actually lower than they’ve ever been, so why is she now choosing to be serious? She has no WHY because we don’t know WHY she’s acting that way, and she has no HOW because we don’t know HOW that new backdrop is guiding her actions. The result is this character that’s just designed to be unlikable. Star in S3 has treated her friends like crap, has been emotionally distant, difficult to understand, selfish, and irresponsible, all of which is now superimposed on a character we don’t understand. She was most of those things when she was bubbly and goofy, too, but we understood it! She just didn’t understand responsibility, and more importantly, she learned after her mistakes. Most importantly, the show did not ever demand us analyze her actions. S1 and 2 are stuffed full of apologies, emotional connections, trials and triumphs, and problems with solutions as she comes to terms with the idea. We don’t have any of that now, though, we’ve just got all the problems with none of the solutions. Likewise with Marco. You can understand his motivations a little bit better despite them never really being said at all (the WHY is that dude’s seriously misguided on what he wants out of life), but the HOW is still totally missing. He just stumbles about, not really learning anything or trying to understand why his life’s so messed up at all, and as a result, I just feel sorry for him. By the time his surprise party blows up in his face in the holiday special, I just want to reach into the show and tell him to stop trying. He doesn’t seem to be aware of what he’s doing, most of the time, and completely ignores the consequences of his actions. We understand WHY he’s so misguided, but we don’t understand HOW he’s continuing to act that way. So here we are. We’ve got a season with unlikable characters, no central conflict, and a depressing, scattered theme. This brings me to my final point.

Bullshit Drama - conflict vs. adolescence

In the absence of the villain, we’re left with the ultimate in adolescent, petty drama, as all these characters without understandable motivations or conquests scurry about, trying to find a way to make the show compelling while also maintaining the awful tone that this season’s chosen.

So we’ve got petty drama. Character dynamics without weight. Arguments with no meaning. A bunch of relationships which are built around a poorly-constructed love-triangle which is both completely unwarranted (this coming DESPITE me being a fan of Tom, this season) and unprecedented in the series as a whole.

The writers’ apparent obsessive need to use this BS “Dramabox” mechanic in place of any real plot or direction informs the entire season. Everything is building up to further defining the completely fucked-up relationship that Star and Marco now have, to creating conflicts between characters that could be solved with some half-decent communication, to backpedaling character growth (poor Tom, he’s tried so hard) in the interest of producing something that you can gossip about in a schoolyard.

The thing is, you can do drama without resulting to this. It’s one of the reasons you have an antagonist. As the plot drives the characters together into new situations, they won’t be comfortable with it, or with themselves as they’re tested. They’ll chafe as they adjust, and ultimately, come out as better people in the end. The subtle conflicts between Dipper and Robbie, or Grunkle Stan, the disagreements between Toph and Katara, Starfire’s bubbly surface or Beast Boy’s nonsensical nature compared to Raven’s dark, down-to-earth personality... these are all examples of well written character drama. Two informed characters trying to adjust to one another as they’re pushed forward by circumstance.

But instead we’re left with pointless adolescent bullshit. The kind that gets nowhere, it’s just something to talk about. “Did you see how annoyed Star was with Marco?” or “God, look at how bad a friend X is to friend Y, they’re just awful...” It’s schoolyard gossip and it completely disgusts me.

The most frustrating thing is, Eclipsa’s still a character in this show. She is the person to tell Star to get her shit together. Like, oh, maybe instead of running away and buying your feelings for your friend, you should confront them? Maybe there should be a balance between having fun and being serious? These are both things that a real person, particularly a mentor, would say in a real conversation, especially around the circumstances of S3. But that would be too easy, and kill the only motivation that the show has left to crawl forward!

So instead we’re gonna sit here and watch Marco fight with Tom over Star, for some contrived, bullshit reason. Because there’s nothing better for them to do.

Overall, this show has just about run its course for me. It reminds me of my short stint with the Walking Dead, where over time I gradually just... stopped caring. I’ve told myself I’ll see through another few episodes, and I’m going to continue writing my story regardless, but there’s a point where I just can’t be bothered anymore, and I think it’s approaching fast.

[mazarinrouge]

Let’s Read The Promise: Part 1

Everyone hears that the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics are bad. And they super fucking are. I tried to give it a chance, and I found that The Promise is probably the worst of them that I’ve skimmed. The Search is eh. But OHHH MANNN The Promise. It’s perhaps one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever read, and is in general a complete trainwreck. I’m not posting each page as an image because that’s tedious and you can go look them up on your own, but there will be some snippets here and there. Without further ado, a play by play of ATLA: The Promise.

In brief, this comic is about Aang and Zuko working together to remove the Fire Nation’s colonies and their culture from the Earth Kingdom shore. Surprisingly, it handles this sort of situation in a really dumb way. /s You would think Aang and Zuko together would be able to come to some reasonable conclusions, but you know. I’ll get to that later. It opens with the same intro from the shows narrated by Katara, except this time it’s different. Because it’s after the war and all.

But I believed Aang could save the world. And you know what? I was right. With the help of his friends, Aang defeated Fire Lord Ozai and ended the hundred year war. Zuko, Ozai’s son and our ally, became the new Fire Lord. Together, with Earth King Kuei, Aang and Zuko promised to restore the four nations to harmony.

Except didn’t he run away to travel the world with his bear? If he did go back to Ba Sing Se after the war, we’d have to assume he didn’t die out in the wilderness or get captured at any point in time. We’d also have to assume that the people saw him and just LET him back into power, despite being the puppet for the Dai Li. And do the Dai Li still exist? They do in Korra, but I can’t see them here. Inconsistencies, oh well, who cares?

There are about eight fire nation colonies on the shore. Zuko decides to help Kuei “remove those colonies by doing whatever it takes”. This is very vague and already sounds like a bad idea. Cough cough. Sokka names the movement to remove them the Harmony Restoration Movement while Toph suddenly learns Invisibility Bending.

Then they go to Iroh’s shop cause why not. And we suddenly travel ~back in time~ to the Season 3 finale and see Katara and Aang smooching. Which apparently Sokka steps in on. It feels sort of like a sitcom. And Sokka’s like blehhh kissing! Katara and Sokka fight about it and you can really feel the tension in their dialogue. Gotta give mad credit to the writers here. /s/s/s/s

Then they’re on their way to a festival right after the war ended, and it’s going to be great it’s got fireworks and everything and

Oh my god. This is the angstiest thing I have ever seen. First off, why would Zuko be asking Aang this? Why not ask Katara? She clearly hated you (lol). Aang’s whole thing was how much he didn’t want to kill Ozai. Even IF Zuko started “becoming” his father, how would he expect Aang to be the one to murder him?

I also understand this is a natural emotion for people. Like, if you had an abusive father you probably wouldn’t want to turn out like him. But I imagine it’s somewhat different if your father and all his fathers before him committed mass genocide. If you’re raised to think that’s pretty wrong, hell, he even thought it intrinsically as a lil boy, then you probably won’t kill a lot of people. I don’t know just food for thought .And as an added fact, all the Fire Lords had their dads alive when they were conditioned to kill everyone. So I really don’t think Zuko would make any decisions as bad as his father’s. Maybe bad decisions, he’s hotheaded, but he’s not a murder. He wouldn’t even touch Zhao because it reminded him TOO MUCH of what Zuko’s dad did to him. It just seems out of character. But not as out of character as Aang KILLING Zuko.

Katara seems to be cool with it, though.

It timeskips to a year later and we see that Zuko is worried about rebel Fire Nation peoples to try to assassinate him. This I can agree with. There would have to be some people who oppose Ozai’s imprisonment. And it’s very sudden for a 16-17-ish year old boy to become your new ruler. He wakes up one night thinking someone will assassinate him, and guess what he was right. And would you guess who it is???

A teenage girl! Got to keep all the cast the same age. Wouldn’t want a hired hitman or anything. This teenage girl is so rebellious. She came all the way from the west coast of the Earth Kingdom to kill Zuko. She’s from the oldest Fire Nation colony and she’s here to take revenge, because apparently....the Restoration Movement is going to destroy all the colonies?

There was never any indication as to what this “movement” would consist of until now besides “remove them”. I didn’t imagine removing them would mean removing the culture or the people? You see, the rational thing to do would be to remove the government so the Earth Kingdom could control the land. There could be an intermingling of cultures and it may be interesting, but definitely not bothersome. That’s why some of France looks like Germany. They moved in and then the land went back to France and now they just all hang out there. There’s no concrete explanation to the reader of what this movement does. So really I still can’t say it would really destroy all the buildings and evac. all the people but Hell. It might.

Isn’t vague writing cool?

So Zuko sends this girl back to her home colony in cuffs. Her dad finds her and it turns out her dad is the mayor. Now I can understand their trouble. He may worry he might not have any position of power in the colony anymore, but hey, that might not happen. It’d be ridiculous to install an Earth Kingdom specific mayor, maybe even a little racist? It could happen though, so you understand your distress--

except NO! It’s not about that at all. Apparently the Restoration Movement is now Confirmed to Remove All Fire Nation People. Great. This went downhill fast.

Then this guy says hey your father wouldn’t be proud of your actions and Zuko attacks him.

Sheesh.

Then it cuts to Aang forcibly removing everyone from their homes and putting them into a new and confusing country. Cool. But suddenly when they get there a soldier tells them that they all need to leave! Because Zuko has stopped supporting the Restoration Movement! So that means that all Fire Nation Colonials are barred from entering the country??????

??????????????????????????????????????????

I don’t think i have to even explain why this is one of the worst ideas ever. Why forcibly remove or never allow in? Why not the middleground? The gray area? That whole part of the damn original show that was toted around so gloriously. How extremes are bad and not everything should be taken far this way or the other. But whatever. Fuck the show. Let’s do this instead.

It cuts to Toph’s metalbending academy and we learn that Zuko has holed himself up in Yu Dao. No one is allowed in or out. Toph says he’s becoming like Ozai. Aang is meditating and talking to Roku, who thinks Aang will be a good guy if he kills Zuko. This could just be a dumb rehash of the show where none of the other Avatars give Aang the answers he wants. Maybe the Lion Turtle will come back too and give Aang some Complacency Bending to fix Zuko.

I like this though. Aang is set on his own motivations and protecting Zuko as his friend. He’s not even looking Roku in the eye. Their worldviews are so different. Neat.

They arrive at Yu Dao to confront Zuko. The walls are barred and Aang and Katara decide to go in themselves, scaling up the wall to get past the gaurds. This comic site has custom annotations like old Youtube videos by the way, and I just thought I’d show you this.

Typically the rule with pet names is if your partner says one you don’t immediately say it back. But OK. I guess ‘babe’ was too adult for the demographic. I just can’t see these two really using pet names at all. Like Aang would respect his girlfriend so much he’d probably be happy enough just getting to say her real name so often.

We also learn here when he gets inside the walls that “Flameo, Hotman” is actually spelled “Flamio Hotmen”. I cannot accept this.

Aang enters and bows to the General and they start attacking him and Katara.

If they’re both trespassers why are they only attacking Aang and not Katara? How is Aang that close to the fire and he’s not got a Zuko burn yet? These important questions and more brought to you by me.

lol

Katara gets fed up with these people burning Aang and does a Dr. Crocker-esque panel by panel of her saying

“Stop. Trying. To. Set. My.

Reminds me of something else....something....even more awkward to say while attacking people....hm...

“Stay away from my dad’s ex-girlfriend!”

Oh well. I must have forgotten what it was. (coughKorraDoesntExistcough)

Then Zuko comes in and grabs Katara in a weird and compromising position. She says stop you’re hurting me oh no. And Zuko says not until you stop hurting my guards. Which she didn’t really hurt any of them. She demobilized them like Aang would, but they’re all still ok. She did throw ice shards, like pointy ones, Not sure what happened to that poor guy.

Aang gets mad at Zuko and they start fighting. Aang tries to talk to him while they are fighting and it’s kind of like a Naruto battle. And then....

God dammit.

But it’s ok because Katara does what she always does and just walks inside Aang’s killer air puncture ball no problem and touches his face to bring him out of the Avatar State. Which is sweet and I always like it when she did that. But how did she get inside the Aang ball?

Then Zuko says ok fine we can all calm down and talk. By the way, Zuko is growing incredibly weird cheekbones here. I think it’s a part of Bryke’s direction, because if you look at Korra almost every single male (except Bolin) has killer cheekbones. Like really really skinny face cheekbones. And now Zuko has them here.

Maybe they’re trying to represent Zuko becoming his father. Because Ozai had cheekbones too. But how does one get cheekbones like this in a year? Earlier in the comics, he didn’t have a face like this. He looks like a little skeleton man. Maybe it’s supposed to portray his aging due to stress like Lincoln or something. But man. It just doesn’t look like Zuko anymore. It looks like cheekbonko. That’s his new name.

Zuko had a change of heart after talking to the family in Yu Dao he met.

(gee maybe you should let the government be in control of the towns but let the people stay there because it is an old colony. Or let the colony stay so long as they don’t harass the Earth people. Or set up a joint government sort of thing with a council to rule these specific colony towns. Or anything but this dumb plot. ALSO LOOK AT ZUKO’S WEIRDASS HEXAGON FACE CHEEKBONES FUKC)

Also Katara doesn’t say anything she just stands there looking sad and confused. But just to make sure she does say something she says maybe Yu Dao should be the exception and only they can stay. Why is no one smart in this universe. But anyway, she decides to have another meeting with the Earth king.

It cuts to Zuko. The Kyoshi Warriors are his new bodygaurds. He gets up in the night to get water, but really he goes to see his father and DUN DUN DUN.

Well that was anticlimactic. Just seventy pages of UGH....THIS IS SO INFURIATING. But you know that’s fine.

This has been Part 1 of The Promise.

My predictions are Aang will not kill Zuko. (hes in the other comics) And they will remove everyone from their homes. Everyone will be happy despite that fact and Aang will get a kiss from his ‘sweetie’ the end.

But who knows?