So I Wanna Preface By Saying I'm Really Enjoying The Netflix Series. There Are Things That I Think Original

So I wanna preface by saying I'm really enjoying the Netflix series. There are things that I think original the show did better (Zuko's outburst during the war council meeting, Katara freeing Aang because she lost her shit at Sokka), some I think the new show did better (having Zhao lead the attack on Kyoshi, all the expanded scenes with Zuko and Iroh, and especially having Zuko's crew be the 41st division), and some I don't particularly feel that strongly about that were just different (the restructuring of a lot of the season one plot points and Zuko actually fighting Ozai). However I think the only two things I actively dislike about the new show is the removal of Zuko and Zhao's Agni Kai and the way they changed Ozai's character to actually care about Zuko.

The fight with Zhao after his complete lack of respect for Zuko is one of the best moments of season one and is what initially establishes Zuko as a character that is more than meets the eye. As for Ozai, in the original show, the thing that makes him work as an actually solid villain isn't the fact that he's a badass dictator or anything like that it's the fact that he honest to god does not give two fucks about either of his children. He's an abusive piece of shit who publicly mutilates his son in front of hundreds of people and sent him on a wild goose chase to get rid of the child he viewed as a disappointment. The live action has stripped all of that away. He's still a shitty father but underneath that is someone who in his own fucked up way cares about Zuko. And that actively makes him a lesser character. He's little more than a standard issue evil dictator here and the fact that he scars Zuko seems like is was done more out of necessity for Zuko's backstory. If Zuko didn't need to have the scar I honestly wouldn't be able to see the live action version of Ozai doing it

This rule applies to all things. You should be able to compliment one thing without insulting another. I can give you plenty of reasons for why Invincible is a great show and I can do it without bringing up the faults of Marvel and DC

I've said it before, I'll say it again: if you can't promote your preferred TTRPG without dissing D&D, then maybe your TTRPG isn't actually that good.

Certainly I'll never buy it.

Oh god that fucking Lion Turtle.

Seriously if there is one part of ATLA I hate more than any other it's energybending. It's such a fucking cop out and it's imo made worse by the fact that it wasn't even an issue that needed resolving to begin with. I mean Avatar is a kids show like you said. I was never expecting Aang to beat Ozai to death with his stick. Firebenders have been shown to have been locked up before. Why would this be any different? But then the show makes a big deal about the morality of killing this guy and hey I'm not opposed to a good ol' fashioned moral dilemma. It can make for some great character drama when everyone is telling Aang to make the hard call. Does Aang stick to his guns despite the risk or does he betray his culture and kill Ozai. That's interesting and definitely not something I'm opposed to. What I am opposed to is answering that question stupidly.

Energybending robs Aang of his agency in the choice to kill Ozai or not. It's no longer a difficult decision to betray everything Aang believes in for the sake of the world or to risk everything but stay true to what he believes is right. He just gets a free pass, an easy answer, which realistically isn't gonna solve the problem since Ozai's biggest strength is his political clout whether he's a bender or not. Just look at Napoleon. Man had a strong enough political influence that when he came back from an island not too far from France, he immediately came back to support from his allies. Ozai's continued breathing, bender or not, will cause problems for Zuko. The fact that this deus ex machina allows Aang to bypass a complex moral dilemma while also completely failing to solve anything will never not annoy and frustrate me. If there is one thing I hope the live action gets rid of (aside from Kataang the way is in the show) it's energybending

I honestly don't really like spiritual water as part of the plot in book 2.

This is an extremely obvious deus ex machina for the resurrection of Aang, which was introduced into the plot in an extremely ridiculous way. Seriously, saying that Aang could die while in the avatar state IN THE SAME EPISODE where you showed the resurrection holy water is extremely stupid. This very powerfully spoils the ending of the season, while destroying any sense of danger. Why should I worry about Aang if I know that Katara will resurrect him with some fancy water?

It would be better if this water didn't exist and only its healing abilities were in Katara’s hands. After Jet's death, we wouldn't know if the healing would work on Aang, since he could very well die. Maybe at that moment the full moon will rise, enhancing Katara's abilities, and she will save Aang by combining her powers and the spirit of the Moon. I mean, is it really necessary for this to have a deus ex machina that ruins the whole drama and provides clear guarantees of salvation? To be honest, this is just meh.

Beyond that, the obvious purpose of this dull water limits Katara as a healer. Famous question: Why didn't she use it when Jet died? At least they would introduce some restrictions for it, for example, that the healing properties of this water are revealed only during the full moon. And they say Katara couldn’t use it for a reason.

But it turns out that she forgot about this shit until the moment of plot necessity, which makes Jet's death mediocre.

There is another scene where this water is present: the dialogue between Zuko and Katara in the catacombs. And you know what's the funniest thing? If you cut out the information about spiritual water, the meaning of the conversation will not change at all:

- Maybe you could be free of it.

- What?

- I have healing abilities.

- It's a scar, it can't be healed.

- I don't know if it would work, but...

Actually, it got even better, because Katara needs to rely on her own strength to heal Zuko. And she wants to try not because she has magic water that she doesn’t know what to do with, but because she can at least try to help.

But the point isn't even that, but how smooth the dialogue remains if you cut out a fairly large piece of text from it.

This leads to my theory that this spiritual water was introduced after the script for the season was written. Like the authors didn’t know how to heal Aang at the end, so they introduced this stupidity at the beginning, and then in the scene in the catacombs, to remind the viewer that this shit even exists. Otherwise, I cannot explain why without this water what is happening becomes more logical

Reblog and put your rare pair in the tags/comments! I want to see the depths people will go to create, for the most random two characters in the most obscure media.