#basically if you've seen avatar it is very much like bending

[pellelavellan]

Pelle's Magic part 10,000

I am sure I have made posts about this before but never too late to talk about it again.

Pelle carries a staff, but it is not his. It is his mother's and he doesn't use it really. He carries it for sentimental reasons like a sign that his mother is still with him even if she is no longer among the living. The staff he carries is very clearly not his own as it is too short for him because his mother was shorter than him. He has actually never used a staff and for the entirety of his life has actually never owned one of his own as he did not see any reason to have one. Deshanna never argued with him about this as it was his magic and he was free to feel it and use it however he felt best.

Ever since he was very young, Pelle has felt a deep connection to all of nature be it the flora, fauna, other people, and the spirits that coexist with it all beyond the veil. As a toddler and young child he had little to no control of it and so Deshanna had a charm crafted to protect him until he had some autonomy of his magic and understanding of all the elements that held it all together.

He discovered healing first when he was six years old. His people took notice of this when the small animals they had caught in snares began escaping. Pelle had been healing them, feeling a deep sense of empathy towards the fear they felt caught in traps and the pain their injured bodies endured. He was taught not to do this as to not cause a shortage of food, but to this day he has never been able to stomach eating an animal because of this unique experience he has with the animals the hunters catch to feed them. He had the luxury to be picky about this in a permanent settlement when there were options of crops grown.

For the majority of his childhood and early teens his magic remained unchanged as he became familiar with it. By the age of ten he had an understanding that he could manipulate the world around him be it encouraging a dying plant to find new life, cause fire to spring from the wick of a candle or a pile of wood, and repair the flesh of injured animals and fellow elves. He had an unspoken bond between the animals the clan kept, but also the dangerous animals in the woods like the wolves and the bears. They did not attack him, and he soon found he could approach them and touch them without disturbing them. Additionally, much to the detriment of his friends he could sense their emotions even if he could not read their minds. It was a blessing when times were good, and a curse when he could feel the hatred that radiated off of the humans that meant them harm.

All of these reasons Pelle relied on to justify his refusal of a staff. To him, the sense of touch was invaluable to his magic. He needed to feel the swell of life beneath his fingertips, he enjoyed it. With magic that was so firmly established upon a connection to other living things, it made perfect sense to him that he ought to honor that with his own body and as a result has never once used to a staff to direct his magic, but his hands.

When he was sixteen he learned something new about himself. It was in a moment of desperation, and he will never forget the first time he used his magic to take a life both because it forever changed the way he and everyone else viewed him and his magic. In the moment he had simply summoned a scrap of destroyed wood from a damaged building to bend to his will and hurled it into his assailant, but it was this accident that not only saved his life but also told him that he not only felt the world around him so intensely, but it recognized him as a part of it as well.

It took him years to master the new power he had discovered, but with time he learned to use not just his hands but his entire body to harness the world around him. At his current age of 23 in Inquisition he can only manifest this ability with the wilderness, and while he has some control of certain forms of stone he is ultimately at a disadvantage when surrounded by man-made materials.

That being said, he has on more than one occasion terrified a human by entrapping them a prison of tree roots he summoned by digging his heels into the ground, and allowing the trees to become his arms to fight enemies for him that he could not best on his own. He's never been particularly tall or strong, and has always been the smallest of his peers at home. His method of magic is meant to keep people away rather than inflict harm, but if he must the wrath of the trees is powerful and not to be trifled with.

[tuiyla]

Not sure if you spoke about this yet and if so, sorry for asking . I just really always enjoyed your thoughts on avatar. Would love to know your thoughts on all the sneak peaks that we’ve seen so far like the trailers and everything. Also your thoughts on the changes made to sokkas character. I don’t know if you heard but it apparently they want to get rid of some of his early Scenes because of his sexism. Also just recently they are changing some things about Katarina because I guess they don’t think some of her personality will translate well in live action.

Oh hey! Sorry it's been so long, sorry I've basically disappeared off tumblr. But I still love Avatar of course and warms my heart to hear people like it when I talk about it.

Sigh, the live action. I'm going to watch it when it comes out tomorrow, of course, and I remember being cautiously optimistic when it was first announced. But between Bryke leaving and the info we've been getting, idk. Visually, it looks really solid. The CGI is a bit too plasticky at times for how much it allegedly costs but the costumes are great, the cast seemed good from the beginning and bending itself, I have to say, looks sick.

But these are just aesthetics. Sure, the infamous movie didn't even get that right but being faithful to and respecting the source material is a lot more than just looking great in live action. Since you've sent this ask, more interviews have come out where they talk about changes made to not only Sokka's character but pretty much everyone's. Aang is less of a goofy kid escaping responsibility. I fear the larger presence of Ozai and Azula will make Zuko too sympathetic too early. Not to mention, apparently he's more so doing what he's doing to win the war not to regain his honour? A rumour I've heard.

I haven't heard much about changes made to Katara but, being Katara's no. 1 fan forever and always I'm sure I wouldn't be happy with any changes haha. With her my main fear is just making her less significant, missing the point of her being a sort of POV character and deuteragonist, and missing important beats such as Imprisoned and The Waterbending Scroll. Some variation of especially the latter may appear but come on, it's 8 episodes trying to tell the story of 20. Unfortunately, Book 1 Water is by faaaar the hardest Avatar book to adapt to modern and live action TV and even though the episode list seems solid, it's those quieter ch centric episodes that will suffer the consequences. That's where Katara thrives. Jet is included so I wonder how they'll handle that crucial storyline and it sets in motion a TON for Katara that all culminates, of course, in her magnum opus The Southern Raiders. I just don't see them doing it justice.

I'll inevitably be at least a little more active with the premier of this show and will share thoughts; idk about a proper review but might vent here or there. I'd love to share thoughts on particular topics people are interested in haha. But until then, on this last day before the Fire Nation attacks and everything changes, I will say this. I think the things they've said so far about character changes are misguided. Sokka's sexism isn't a bug storytelling-wise, it's a feature. It's called character development, look it up, Albert Kim. Now, I'll have to admit that his sexism and the larger gender politics of the Water Tribes is actually an aspect of the show, one of the very few aspects that I think could use quite a bit of improvement, so I wouldn't be against the Netflix show doing this differently. But if they do just omit it that's a grave error. Despite the flashy visuals it doesn't bode well so far, but we'll see. I'll watch it as soon as I get home from work and then probs rewatch the original then rewatch the Netflix one. Oh, the Avatar megafan in me awakens. Btw guys lol I never even updated y'all, I went to the London concert of the soundtrack and it was doooope.

Also Suki looks super cute I'm ready to simp.

[ly0nstea]

I'm trying to come up with some kind of logical solution for the seasons and topography of avatar

I came across an interview here from bryke, i know its not new info and its from 2007 but ive already committed to tea alchemy so, i thought id say fuck it and just make up my own rules for the world.

I also think its useful to go back to old interviews, seen as bryke have basically full control over avatar studios, a lot of their thoughts are probably going to pop up in future canon.

One thing that stuck out to me was a qoute from bryan, "Five years ago Mike and I talked about that. A lot of what you see wraps around to the other side of the round globe. The map you see is one of those distorted maps to make round appear flat. I think we had talked that a lot of the other hemisphere is water…is ocean. What else might be over there…who knows…" playing around with another 4 nations could be very interesting, though its very hard to think of elements that exclude the main 4 seen as, you know, the whole point of the 4 elements as a concept is that theyre the basic components for everything.

Its known that the air nomads were all benders, but bryan calls attention to the fact that air nomads are all benders but the least population, while the highest population earth kingdom have the lowest % of benders, you could postulate a limit, like elves in dnd have a finite number of souls, could there be an upper limit to the bender population per element?

They also say, "I think if you've gone through puberty and not found any bending abilities, you're probably not going to find them" meaning a child could theoretically get to the ages of 11, 12, even into their teens and only discover their bending abilities.

Bryan also confirms that Ozai didnt spend his life in the palace and the fire lord is very hands on "Ozai is not like some kind of palace dweller. We will say that. I'm not sure how much he's ventured out into the world, but he's not like the Earth King where he's isolated. The Fire Nation is a little more 'hands on'. It's not uncommon that you will have to fight or duel for political or military positions or purposes. There's a big difference. I think in the Fire Nation, unlike in Ba Sing Se, if there's a prince who's 30 years old, he's probably fought pretty intensely a few times. Had to prove his worth. Not unlike Japanese Samurai in their day. They had to make a name for themselves, they had to have some fame. Fire Nation, like a lot of other militaristic cultures throughout history, has warriors who have to prove themselves either through some battle, test of martial skill, or duel. Fire Nation's a little more aggressive like that. Ozai's not sitting around eating Bon Bon's in the palace, he's working out."

They also basically confrim that azula chose mai and ty lee specifically because she sees them as equals "They wouldn't be as good as her, so why would she keep these other, lesser, firebenders around? So we decided that she would have basically picked out two people who had certain skills that she did not have. Ty Lee with her acrobatics and Mai with her super pin-point accuracy and quick draw skills."

Its also canonical that when Toph gets chi blocked she is fully blind

[jediuser]

Nick Games review: Avatar: The Last Airbender PS2

Pros:

Solid use of the Avatar license

Well-implemented RPG upgrade system

Cons:

Combat is shallow and repetitive

No co-op

Side quests are a waste of time

Loads of tedious fetch quests

Only eight hours long at best

Avatar: The Last Airbender is perhaps Nickelodeon's most beloved property, and it's easy to see why. In an era where most children's entertainment consists of lighthearted, comedic slice-of-life shows like Spongebob Squarepants, Avatar did something daring by actually giving us an ambitious serialized story rich with lore and character development. Needless to say, the risk paid off. With how beloved the property was, it was only a matter of time before video games hit the market. The series certainly seems perfect for one, with a main character who can fly, create tornados, and just jump around and kick ass. Can the first video game do it justice, or is it just hot air?

If you've seen the cartoon, you know the basic story. The world is split into four nations that correspond to an element they 'bend' - Fire, Water, Earth, Air - and the main protagonist, Aang, is the Avatar, the hero tasked with mastering all four elements and saving the world from the threat of the Fire Nation, which wiped out his people one hundred years prior and is now waging war on the remaining two nations. But the plot of this particular game doesn't directly follow the events of the show and is actually an original story set between the first and second seasons. In this game, Aang now has to combat a group of machines that have been wreaking havoc in an effort to take down the Fire Nation and help Aang put an end to the war. I don't know why Aang feels the need to stop the mastermind behind the attacks when they clearly have the same end goal in mind, but as a filler side-story, it does its job well enough. At the very least, the show's humor and characterizations are readily apparent, though the writing isn't as strong.

Avatar's gameplay is an isometric action-RPG in the vein of games like Baldur's Gate, complete with character upgrades and equippable items. You have four characters to choose from- Aang, the Avatar who can bend air, Katara, the group's water bender and healer, Sokka, an oafish non-bender who wields a boomerang, and Haru, an earth bender who was a one-off character in the show but was made a part of the group here, presumably to have a playable earth bender in the game (this started development well before Toph was introduced). Sadly, aside from Katara's ability to heal, they all feel roughly the same, so once you find a favorite character, there's not much incentive to switch. The only time you'll actually need to make use of the unique abilities of a particular character is when you come across parts of the environment where one of them will make use of his abilities to either unveil a hidden item or open a path using their particular bending, leading to their 'focus move,' a button pressing minigame. It's tolerable enough the first few times you do it, but by the end of the game you'll have gotten weary of it. Oh, and there's also some rudimentary stealth, where characters can hide using a button to become invisible for a short period of time (yeah, as far as I know, no one can do this in the show).

For most of the game, you're wandering around a centralized hub world either completing story-related quests or accepting tasks from the NPCs scattered around town. The tasks you undertake are of the typical 'find x number of items' or 'defeat x number of enemies' or the much less mundane 'go to this point, find something, then bring it back here.' Even the story-related quests tend to follow a fairly predictable pattern of fetching items and bringing them back to the quest-giver. So, whether you decide to follow the main story or deviate from the beaten path, much of the game will be spent running back and forth doing menial tasks. It's not like the rewards for taking the time to complete these quests make a huge difference, anyway. Usually you'll be given either currency or material to make items, but since you'll probably come across plenty of these anyway, you'll find that these monotonous tasks simply aren't worth your time. If you simply rush through without completing these quests, you can complete the story in under six hours, although even if you do complete them, it should reach the eight-to-ten hour mark, which still isn't great for an action-RPG.

With the quests being as mundane as they are, it's up to the combat to maintain players' interest, and unfortunately, it doesn't do much to pick up the slack. This is due mostly to its mind-numbing repetition. In each chapter, you'll spend most of your time fighting the same enemies over and over again, and given there's only one button for basic attacks, most combat encounters will be spent mashing the attack button. The three computer-controlled characters won't offer much assistance, simply using special moves over and over, and enemies will simply lunge at you, or shoot projectiles a few times before stopping so you can get your hits in. Combat is simply a matter of rushing in and taking your shots before running back out to regenerate health and chi, which is essentially the energy required to use special moves. Not helping is the shoddy hit detection that saps away most of the satisfaction of slapping enemies. It's a crapshoot whether or not attacks will connect at all, and when they do it rarely feels like you've dealt your enemies a major blow. Boss fights sadly don't do much to break up the monotony. All of them follow a simplistic formula of dodging attacks until the painfully obvious weak point arrives. What's really baffling is the lack of any sort of co-op, especially considering you've got three allies at your side most of the time. As we've seen in countless brawlers, even the most basic fighting is a bit more fun when you're fighting alongside friends.

To the game's credit, though, there's actually a fairly intuitive upgrade system in place. As you level up, you learn new bending moves, and earn points for upgrading your basic attacks and special moves. The game allocates these upgrades automatically, but you can set it to be controlled manually if you like, and these special moves are the game's saving grace, adding an element of flexibility the combat otherwise lacks. They range from basic super attacks, like a blast of air that sends opponents flying, to more tactical moves built around immobilizing and disorienting opponents. There's actually a fair bit of strategizing deciding which moves you want to take in to battle, and which ones you want to upgrade the fastest. Not to mention, they actually have a fair bit more impact than your standard attacks, which makes them feel more satisfying to use. The downside is that it takes only a few levels before all four moves are unlocked. Once you find your favorite move, you'll likely use it over and over every time you fight.

Visually, Avatar is also fairly unimpressive. The game makes use of cel-shading to better resemble its animated counterparts, which looks fine during gameplay, but not so much for cutscenes, which suffer from some truly janky facial animations that make them hard to look at. The environments are decently varied, with the bustling city of Omashu serving as a highlight, but for every visually appealing area, there's another one that looks bland and empty, with jagged geometry and a lack of activity. Animations during combat are usually okay, but aside from a nice slow motion effect that occasionally triggers when you complete a combo, you'll see the same few canned animations over and over. Sound-wise, the quality also varies. As mentioned, the voice actors reprise their roles from the show, and while the dialogue isn't as well written as in the show, they do a more than capable job, though hearing them spout the same lines over and over when getting hit is bound to get on your nerves. The music is also taken from the show, although there's a strange mixing issue where it sometimes sounds like it's coming from a radio. Otherwise, it generally stays in the background and adds to the ambience, although it's not especially memorable.

Avatar is one of the better Nicktoon-based games out there, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't disappointing. It's a shame, since the framework for a really good action-RPG set in the Avatar universe is certainly there. But the game simply doesn't capitalize on its potential, instead settling for being a merely average, somewhat dull brawler attached to a great license. At the very least, it adapts its source material well enough that fans won't regret spending a few hours with it, and hopefully later games can improve upon the solid foundation laid by this one.

Gameplay: 6

Graphics: 6

Sound: 6

Value: 6

Overall:***(3/5)

[hklnvgl]

Imagine the characters from the Marauders' Era in the Avatar universe!!! What is their background and bending? (You can also include other HP characters if you'd like.) You've got the best headcanons, dearie!

Well, I had never thought about it but this is a crossover that surely has potential! I'm basing my headcanons on the personalities and the cultural aspects of each nation, not on plot points from either canon (basically because the Fire Nation is in no aspect alike Slytherin house, if you know what I mean).

Sirius is from an old, noble Earth Kingdom family that traditionally trades and cheats everyone. That's why nobody really likes them but you'll wish to associate with them if you want to do business.

Lily's the first bender ever in a family of wealthy Fire Nation established in the Earth Kingdom colonies. All Petunia ever wished for life was for people to forget she was Fire Nation, because she never wanted to go back there, where it was terribly hot.

They travel the Earth Kingdom quite a lot and they get invited to dinner at the Black's mansion whenever they're in town.

Lily and Sirius couldn't stand each other at first, but one night when Petunia asked for their help in fooling the adults so that she could go to this fancy Earth Kingdom party (there she met Vernon, a boring Earth Kingdom merchant who did not mind she was Fire Nation before proposing, as she was indeed from a very wealthy family), Sirius convinces Lily to help him leave.

So they set out to see the world, and they head out north because that's where no one expects them to go.

On the way, they meet Peter Petrigrew, who they instantly despise and leave behind.

They also meet this kind guy (Remus), who they think is not a bender but who talks like he was an airbender in another life (airbenders are not extinct, they are just rare and living in their mountains and not interacting with the rest of the world much). Think about this old monk guru fellow from the Avatar series—that's Remus.

Remus joins them because he has nothing better to do and because it helps them not fight every day when Sirius refuses to cook anything arguing Lily is the firebender and therefore the most suitable person to roast stuff.

Nearing the coast, they meet Severus, who is a waterbender but who looks like Fire Nation (Lily suspects his parents were mixed or something. She doesn't care, but his little village seems to, so they let him tag along).

Sirius and Severus don't really get along, but Remus says it's useful having a waterbender in the team. Remus' opinions lose their weight a little when it turns out he was a werewolf all along and had failed to mention it.

They survive the night with luck and help from their bending and after a very heated discussion in the morning Sirius suggests going to the North Pole to look for a healer.

James is the best healer waterbender in there, so it's who they go to asking for help with Remus' problem. He doesn't help at first because he doesn't like Severus' manners in asking, and because he thinks he can trade his experience for a date with Lily.

Lily, of course, melts the ice-flowers he sent her and refuses to look at him until he's seen Remus.

It takes them some time and mediation on Lily and Remus' part, but after a while James and Severus manage to work together to develop a method of helping Remus during his transformations, so that they're not so painful.

I was going to leave it here, but I can't take out of my mind the idea that Harry would make a damn wonderful airbender, what with his pacifist world view (and, if we take Avatar's canon, he is a great candidate because, well, Harry's family is dead).

Feel free to add your own thoughts!

[seyaryminamoto]

Hiiiiii - read your Iroh and Ursa metas, loved them. Might I ask if you've any equally Hot Takes on the fandom's favorite punching bags - The Great Divide and Avatar Day?

Uuuuh well.

If the hot take is expected to be “they’re GREAT episodes!”, I… I’m afraid I’ll disappoint :’D I dislike them both, but who knows? Maybe my reasons for disliking them are different than other people’s?

My problem with The Great Divide is a little personal: that was the first episode I ever watched of ATLA, and if only I’d caught another one, anything slightly more plot-relevant than that, I might have become a fan of the show much sooner. I watched it, found certain things entertaining, others not so much, and concluded ATLA was a “monster of the week” show masquerading as a show with a plot. Which… made it less interesting to me, by mere logic. I was also very much a teenager back then, and while I still had decent instincts as far as storytelling was concerned, they weren’t as polished as they are now. So I didn’t really see much of ATLA worth my while in The Great Divide, and so, from a personal point of view, it’s not at all amongst my favorite episodes.

Upon rewatching the show in full, I was more forgiving of the Great Divide, not only because I understood the show’s dynamics better, but because ATLA actually has other episodes that, while featuring occasional relevant information and characters, could also feature not-so-relevant developments later on. So it’s not just Avatar Day and the Great Divide: the Fortuneteller, while a pretty liked episode, is honestly about as lacking in plot-heavy developments as those two are. Yet most people like that one :’) why’s that? Shippy reasons? Weeeell…

The truth is, if you ask me, that the Great Divide and Avatar Day and the Fortuneteller are episodes that allow the plot to slow down. This wasn’t so good in the early stages of Book 1, where slowing the plot too much actually made you forget there was a plot altogether… but when you watch the show as a whole, those moments of less tension, featuring Aang resolving problems and saving lives of completely ordinary people, were actually pretty good for what they were. That, in particular, is something I missed in Book 3: Team Avatar minus Zuko certainly do their best to help common people here and there through the first half of Book 3, but Zuko never does (and then when Zuko joins them, they never really do that again). What would I give for an episode where Zuko actually had to reason with the harm the war has caused not only to the Earth Kingdom, but to his own people… frankly, that oversight from the writing department is still absolutely absurd to me.

So, my problem with the Great Divide and Avatar Day isn’t that they weren’t plot relevant. My initial problem with the Great Divide, like I said earlier, was personal. But there’s also the feeling that not enough growth for the main characters takes place in these episodes: Aang resolved the Great Divide’s problem in the goofiest way he could. It was funny, creative and helpful, and kind of unexpected for your kind-hearted hero to lie to deal with a problem… though it also makes the situation more complex because of that, since he’s doing something ethically incorrect to establish peace between warring tribes. He did an objectively bad thing… for good purposes. So… it’s complicated, but it’s cool. It’s not half-bad as a concept that the show could explore. 

Nonetheless, you can’t feel a HUGE, PALPABLE CHANGE in the relationship between Sokka and Katara after this episode. You really don’t. They spend the bulk of the episode at odds with each other, and they set aside their problems later… but everything they do, post-Great Divide, really doesn’t look like they learned a lot from their clashing, such as how to see things from each other’s POV or being more fair with each other… I, at least, don’t feel much of a change. No idea if other people see it differently, but they continue to clash pretty wildly later on, particularly in Book 3. So, did they learn something at all? If not… then the episode does end up feeling rather pointless because it doesn’t feel like the characters really are impacted by what happened in it, right?

And that, beyond anything else, is what makes these sorts of episodes feel like filler content: The Ember Island Players WAS filler content, absolutely, but you have scenes such as Zuko talking to Toph about Iroh, or Aang and Katara’s catastrophic rejected kiss, and it feels like SOMETHING happened in the episode even if in general it didn’t do anything plot-heavy. But aside from these small scenes that offer characters a chance to make at least a little progress (whether forward or backwards…), you even get a chance to see how the Fire Nation views the war, how they see themselves, how they see their Fire Lord. Even there, the show is giving you information that helps in the worldbuilding of the show. This is absent in The Great Divide, where the two warring tribes are never seen or heard of again, and they’re not exactly relevant because of that. Do they add some diversity to what we ought to perceive of the Earth Kingdom? Yes. Is it useful for anyone other than the rare fic writer who decides to use these characters for something? (never really seen it but I bet it has happened) Honestly, no.

Now, Avatar Day is annoying to me for another personal reason, even if it connects with some of what I said above: I HATE the way Sokka is characterized in this episode. I have more than enough qualms with how he’s characterized for many episodes in Book 2, but this one takes the cake.

Sokka is usually sharper than everyone else, helpful, resourceful, even when no one is really acknowledging it. Often he’s the voice of reason, the one who figures out what’s going on (such as in the Cave of Two Lovers, where he realizes the tunnels are changing, just to name one thing), but Avatar Day decided to feature him obsessing with acting as an investigator, and he kept stopping Katara from making the big reveals because HE had to do it, and she just rolled her eyes at him all along (from the get-go too, since she goads him into investigating by spurring his ego and yet she still is shown visibly annoyed when he starts raving about how he figured out the seal jerky thing back in the Water Tribe). All of this is to make Sokka a punchline of the “Katara is the smart one” joke that doesn’t even work when you take the rest of the show into account :’) so… this particular thing will ALWAYS rub me the wrong way with Avatar Day.

From this episode, I do like that Aang has to deal with people who hate him because he’s the Avatar. I always complained about how LOK basically had everyone swooning and adoring Korra even if they hated her, everyone constantly in awe of her prowess and talent, and those who DIDN’T like her were constantly shown as unreasonable jerks, such as the kid who throws that snowball at her, and we’re supposed to feel bad when she calls Korra the worst Avatar ever :’) we are REALLY expected to feel bad and to dislike the kid… when we literally watched Aang dealing with a mob that sentenced him to boil in oil for his past life’s crimes, and who burned effigies in his image. Right. A spiteful little kid is so very harmful, so heartbreaking, so jarring. Wow.

What I like about Avatars dealing with people disliking them, be it for solid reasons or for stupid ones, is that it feels REAL. Because it makes sense that people wouldn’t have an unanymous opinion of the Avatar as the savior of all the world, it makes sense that there’d be people who are jerks because they don’t like him on principle (or lack thereof). It’s normal, natural, completely common in human beings to just see something popular and go “MEEEEH I’VE SEEN BETTER”. And that’s what Avatar Day gave me, as far as worldbuilding is concerned.

As for more worldbuilding, Avatar Day certainly offered more insight on Kyoshi, but while most people found that fascinating and the insight in question absolutely wonderful because oh woooow she bends LAVA, I found it damning instead. If you need to know why… feel free to read this post (seeing as you like my controversial opinions you might even enjoy the whole thing x’D). While there’s some new novels now about Kyoshi that shed more light on who she was and how she did the things she did, I have certain gripes with some of the ideas I’ve heard those novels bring up. All in all, though, they shouldn’t change what canon brings forward with Kyoshi’s behavior with Chin: just in case you didn’t read that ask, I’ll say that my problem isn’t that she killed Chin, if anything, my problem is that she only killed him when he only had two places left to conquer. 

She wouldn’t sit passively while he took her home. Because, uh, that’s the only place the almighty Avatar had to defend, I suppose. 

Basically, Chin pulled a Kuvira with no opposition because the Avatar apparently didn’t care to involve herself in this particular problem until he was knocking on her door. Seriously? Best Avatar ever? Oookay then…

So, my favorite Gaang member, turned into a bad joke and unable to tell he’s been turned into a joke + the birth of a fandom-wide circlejerk around a character because she bent lava, nevermind the implications of her disregard for a tyrant’s conquest until it reached her doorstep + the worst point of Zuko’s theft spree = I don’t like this episode :’)

Avatar Day’s only redeeming quality for me, like I said, is Chin Village’s Avatar-hating ways, but ONLY as a concept. Even so, I wish they’d tackled that particular matter far more seriously than they did, because sure, Chin Village’s villagers were damn stupid, but hating the Avatar because she killed someone they idolized wasn’t exactly a far-fetched motivation. Where you’d think this could even serve as a sort of parallel between Zuko and Aang, where they both find themselves as the new heirs of their respective, long legacies, legacies full of people who did good and bad things, and the ones being held accountable for those bad things are THEM, however unfair it might be…? The show just turned the whole damn thing into a joke. And that’s just a real waste of screentime. I’m not against ATLA’s comedic episodes at all, not as a concept, and I really like the show’s humor in general… but this episode absolutely could have used less of it, especially when offering an opportunity for Aang to actually find out that his past lives aren’t at all as idealistic and righteous as he might have thought they were, or, at the very least, he could have reflected on the fact that they didn’t necessarily share his principles and beliefs. But nope. Missed opportunity, right there.

In short… I suppose people dislike Avatar Day because of similar reasons why I do, I can’t say for sure. I assume people dislike the Great Divide for its filler-nature and general irrelevance to the show, and that’s pretty reasonable? But in my opinion, the problem with so-called filler content is that it ought to be used to expand on characters, to further develop them, they should be a chance to slow down and offer introspection during a brief chance that opens up when heavy plots give the viewers, and the characters, a chance to pause and breathe for a while. Both Avatar Day and the Great Divide fail at this particular wishful standard I impose on fillers, though. And that, along with my personal reasons, is why they’d be part of my personal “least liked episodes of ATLA” list, if I were to make one. It isn’t to say there aren’t a few redeeming qualities in both episodes, I hope I made that clear… but that’s not enough to offset the negatives in this case.

Also, I brought up the Fortuneteller too as an example for a filler episode that actually doesn’t achieve much, same as these two don’t. I actually enjoy this episode quite a bit? The animation is really good and smooth here. But that’s neither here nor there :’) 

The Fortuneteller certainly emphasized Aang’s crush on Katara, it also expanded on Katara’s character by showing how she’s so quick to believe fortunetelling, as opposed to Sokka, who absolutely doesn’t believe any of it. This generated a ridiculous but fun dynamic between the three characters through the episode, and it added Meng to the mix as well by featuring her as the girl Sokka misunderstands Aang is pining over. There’s a lot of silly comedy, but it’s in a much nicer way (in my opinion) than the one presented by Avatar Day, especially as it emphasizes elements of the character’s personalities: Sokka’s unwillingness to believe in spiritual nonsense, DESPITE he has already been caught up in Spirit World shenanigans, Aang’s hopeless pining over Katara and Aunt Wu’s encouragement for him to find his own destiny instead of being trapped by whatever she told him, and Katara’s obsession with asking Aunt Wu about EVERYTHING in her life up until the point where she finds herself considering that the super powerful bender she’ll marry could be Aang.

In general, this episode does handle its filler qualities as best as possible. But, and this is a problem I’ve seen brought up by other people before, it’s also an episode that features Katara pondering maybe Aang could be her one true love… only for the next episode to absolutely forsake that plotline and go for a wholly different subject. Which is, of course, fine… the problem is, we could’ve had Katara treating Aang slightly differently if she found herself thinking of him in a new light. That she didn’t treat him visibly differently, if anything, makes it look like right after her “He really is a powerful bender…” reveal, she just went “NAAAAAH, no way it would be him” and just decided to push aside all romantic possibilities with Aang until the Cave of Two Lovers. Which, considering Kataang is the endgame couple, is honestly another fumble by the writing department, as following up on this development would have easily silenced all those detractors of the ship who have interpreted the whole show under the tried and tired guise of “but she’s just mothering hiiiiiim!”.

One great thing about romance is watching it grow steadily, gradually… and when you have such big moments you ought to follow up on them, to a fault. It didn’t even have to be acknowledged in any massive ways, but it could have been acknowledged by featuring Katara wearing the necklace Aang weaved for her during later episodes, or something like that. But… there’s nothing palpable. Nothing serious. And this isn’t to say Kataang is lesser for it, but it would have been greater if the next episode had addressed the pending elephant in the room instead of going around it and pretending it didn’t exist at all.

So, while the filler in ATLA in general is better than the frequent fillers from anime, for instance, or than fillers in certain liveaction TV shows… it’s not quite perfect, let alone is it always top-tier writing that, while slowing down the plot, allows proper character introspection and growth. I really do like the Fortuneteller, as usual Aang’s work to help of those who need him is probably my favorite thing about his character and it shows in spades in this episode. The comedy is really great here, and I love the way Sokka is portrayed here… as opposed to how he’s portrayed in the Great Divide and Avatar Day, where not only does it feel like he didn’t grow at all, it also feels like he’s reduced to slapstick comedy with zero respect for his character. So… yeah. I don’t really like those two episodes, not out of any genuine disliking of fillers for what they can be, but because, as far as chances to slow down plot and developments go, both Avatar Day and The Great Divide really didn’t do it the way I would’ve wanted them to.