#mostly of my success in making a Lunar Charm that weaponized bone growth that consistently was in the top list of Lunar Charms on that site

[paragonrobits]

I hate to be the one to tell you but Dragon-blooded Exalted have existed since Exalted 1st ed, predating AtLA by a few years

I am aware of that; i was reading the sourcebooks (though not actually playing the game, because that indicates social interactions and that is simply not acceptable in the slightest) since around the time they were published. That was a time of my life when my living situation was EXTREMELY unstable so I can't put specific dates or years, but I do clearly remember going out of my way to obtain the 1st Lunars Edition book, and I had the Ruins of Rathess book and read it for years and years to the point that a lot of its details are permanently burned into my brain.

I was in the original Exalted Compendium before that site went belly up! I've been into this setting for a long time, and I certainly was in it long before i even became of Avatar The Last Airbender (I think I only started paying attention to that series around Book 3, though this had more to do with me having no access to cable networks and unable to watch it or learn about it except by word of mouth). I've been in this so long that the prospect of placing more importance on Outcastes as sources of Dragon-Blooded characters is genuinely a game changer for me since so much of my understanding of the characters is rooted in the Dynasts and their spotlight in the setting.

My specific reasons for making the point I did that I believe you're referring to amounts to two things:

When people describe a fantasy setting where some people have incredible powers to manipulate the elements in various ways, they are going to think of Avatar. Not because they have anything in common (the Dragon-Blooded's focus on metaphorical applications of an element being very dissimilar to AtLA's style), but because AtLA is THE series of elemental superpowers for a lot of people, and it has very heavily influenced culture and elemental powers since.

And honestly, this is the important one and the reason I brought it up at all, without me even thinking about 1st Edition or Exalted predating AtLA; in 3rd Edition Avatar the Last Airbender is specifically brought up as a thematic inspiration for Dragon-Blooded characters. Depending on your feelings for 3rd Edition that might be a point AGAINST using AtLA but either way, it's still right there.