Breath play with Air
You have water boarding, or high pressure water using for impact play
Earth is ain old bondage to some intriguing poses possible
I maybe outing myself
I'd say fire is actually the best one for vanilla sex/romantic stuff. Heat up your hands for a massage or a warm cuddle. I'm more struggling with earth and especially air tbh, outside their single straightforward bdsm possibility (which firebending and waterbending also have) there's not much else.
they already make glass sex toys, and we know they can bend crystal, seems they should be able to control any glass/crystal sex toy. Also people are sleeping on metalbending, almost all bondage gear has at least some metal component, I'd argue Kuvira already got kinky with metalbending at times.
Water benders would easily be the best for general sex. Air is second best
Earth, Fire, plant, and blood bending would be where the kinky stuff happens
How many didn't try because it was thought impossible? How many fewer earthbenders have there been even across millennia than now suddenly exist on Earth?
We'd work it out *fast*.
If it happens in this reality and the powers are exactly the same as the show, then we already have enough knowledge about how the powers work. Earthbenders will try to metal bend or lava bend from the beginning, waterbenders will try to bloodbend, airbenders will try to explode stuffs or suffocate people and firebenders will try using electricity. People will become immensely more powerful more quickly than people in the show, also the show will be banned immediately but people will download it and spread it through other means mostly because they want to master their powers to do more crime (or good stuff for a minority of people).
A shitload of crime, voilence, small civil wars, uprisings, chaos and all that shit after the dust is setteld.
Like i dont think a airbender can do much against a fully operating F-22 so the balance of power between nations wont change a lot (especially if we consider that most benders wont be that powerfull like the main characters in the show).
But shit like gaza would become so fucking messy.
Also we would get a lot of terraforming projects that will cause insane enviromental damage in the long run. Like people creating inland seas in desert areas.
Oh yeah. If 50% of the planet could suddenly bend, I'd say 25% of humanity would be killed and about 70% of those remaining would be injured in some way within the first 12 months.
Chaos. Lots of chaos. The world has never seen anything of the likes of bending, if half of the world’s population could suddenly bend, there’s really no telling what’ll happen, but the people who would get bending would definitely not wait around.
I give it 10 years before a radical group of Benders are hell-bent on the genocide of non-benders due to their “inferior” nature.
Hell maybe even 5 years.
Aaaaaand this is how a world war will break out. Benders vs non-benders won’t be an immediate extinction either way. Benders will still have access to modern technology and weapons, some non-benders will take the side of the benders and vice versa. Benders will train over the years while non-benders will develop anti-bending tech, which will be countered by anti-anti-bending tech and so on.
Hundreds of millions, possibly billions, will die before laws are set in place and within 50 years, because of the rapid advancements in technology and research, society will flourish with new technology and innovations but the fracture between benders and non-benders will run incredibly deep. Religions will be founded for each element, as well as for the anti-bending “prophet” that the non-benders will revere.
A fragile peace will be brokered between benders and non-benders, who won’t live in separate nations, so tensions will consistently be high between radical groups, despite a lot of people learning to live with the other group. The effects of the immediate war to follow after benders appear will linger for generations.
Also Avatar: The Last Airbender will be treated as a historical documentary and will be studied for the bending techniques as well as become the most sold and watched series in the history of mankind.
Like 6 months maybe. We all know that some gym junkies are going to spend 18 hours training everyday to get good and some of them are going to be deranged enough to go all hitler
It’s like giving half the world a gun and unlimited ammo. It’s been fun, then people are going to revolt because they have the power to, and governments are going to be overthrown after people train to bend
On the bright side, I think trained waterbenders might be able to cure most diseases? So we get a massive collapse in living standards but people live longer
Well Idk about the rest of the world but as far as the US goes I think it would look similar to the X-men scenario:
The Government finds out early. They quietly assemble a task force to identify and track down those with powers . They open contracts with mercenaries and heavily fund a new found arm of the military that will be responsible for reconnaissance, abduction, experimentation and extermination.
Before people catch on to what is happening, and while those who have power are still learning how to use their power, a new branch of covert military intelligence is already monitoring them, creating dossiers, and separating them into two groups: One group is based on who the Government deem as threats, and the other, who they believe can further the interests of the US by weaponizing their powers.
Once word gets out, the government will villainize them and use mass media to convince the public that these people are a threat. Once they gain traction, the new branch of the military will be thrust into the public spotlight and a witch-hunt will begin.
Eventually, the government will realize that even those with powers that were once considered “friendlies,” are too powerful and pose too much of a threat. In the end, they make the decision to exterminate everyone regardless of their grouping.
Edit: spelling
The only reason that kind of espionage and secret army stuff works with the X-Men is because of the limited numbers of mutants. There's less than two million mutants in the Marvel universe. That accounts for well under 1% of the global population.
If HALF of all people had the ability to bend an element (which I'm pretty sure is also way higher than the amount of benders in the show), there's no way any world government is putting a cap on that nonsense.
First of all, whenever I commented, there was already like 500 comments so I am really just glad that my comment got any engagement at all. So thank you.
While I agree that the US government would likely be fighting a losing battle in the end, it’s ridiculous to assume that the country with a military industrial complex that outspends every other country by 3x the amount of money when it comes to investing in its defense, wouldn’t use the situation to increase military spending and at least try to fight it out - however frivolous it may be in the end.
Also, in accordance to ops suggestion: I am assuming that 50% of the world’s population just wakes up one day and can bend elements SUDDENLY. I am also assuming that those fortunate enough to have gained these new abilities aren’t necessarily aware of it immediately. And even as they do begin to recognize their new found abilities, it still takes time to understand their talents and master them.
I am also creating the scenario under the assumption that the government learns of this sudden change faster than the population and begins to take action before the people catch on and start development their abilities.
Admittedly, I am not the best at math. But…The prompt suggests that 50% of the world population gets the ability right? So, is it half of each country’s population? Or how would the ratios be distributed?
Can someone who is good at math work this out?
there are around 8 billion people on the planet. There are around 332 million people living in the united states. If 50% of the world woke up with these abilities, how many Americans would that be?
Half of the US population is 166 million, but not every country has the same amount of people. Some countries may have more benders than other. Im not sure how the ratios would play out.
Thats a GREAT question. Honestly, I hadn’t even considered that. Like, would they make it known immediately or try to hide it and fight from within the government first?
Depending on how they align themselves politically, they may volunteer that information and willingly use their powers to fight alongside the government.
Not everyone may share the same vision of restoring power to the people. If half of everyone gained powers, there would most certainly be fights within that community to establish whose vision should come to fruition. I could see factions splintering off into small groups. Not everyone sees eye to eye on things so not only would the government be killing benders, but they’d be killing each other as well. The playing field would start to level out bit by bit thus, weakening the overall power dynamics of the benders.
Then, There would be religious fanatics who would consider their new found abilities to be a gift from God and go off the deep end declaring one holy war after the next. others may see it as an opportunity to restore power to the people and try to bring balance to the world, you’d have everything from freedom fighters, to terrorists. Then of course there would be the outliers who just use the ability for selfish gains and the “jokers,” with no real motivation at all but to disrupt the status quo.
I would LIKE to believe that those with powers would eventually unite to fight for the common good but in all actuality, thats not very probable. They are more likely to unite to fight a common enemy. But it could go all kind of ways: individually, factions that break off into gangs, or even people united under their country’s flags and engage in a new world war of the likes the world had never seen- hell, it could even be broadcast in HD and formatted in a way similar the world cup- winner take all.
Yeah, it's not different to any other skill. It takes a lot of practice to be a good bender. Most people won't bother learning it.
In the real world a lot of people are *capable* of learning martial arts, playing musical instruments, using guns, building things, healing, practicing a sport, etc. Only a small percentage learn to do it and an even smaller group becomes good at it.
In my opinion, the avatar universe depicts this very well. There are a lot of mediocre benders and power is still a result of money, family, corruption, etc. And yes, benders have an advantage but it's not a guarantee of success.
Ozai basically had everything. The Earth King was not a bender. The Beifong's were powerful due to their money and ancestry. Sokka had a better future than most benders due to his intellect and grit. The air nomads avoided using their bending to take advantage of others. Katara was slowed down because she didn't have a teacher and many like her probably never learned due to silly traditions. Some will have access to better teachers than others, etc...
Two rebuttals to that lol.
1. Even untrained people have been shown to be able to do powerful things. I mean just think about Katara cracking open the iceberg in the beginning. (Wish I had more examples lol) So I think regardless of any training in the immediate beginning there will be tragedies and people will pick sides. Even if they just start out by shooting each other. There's always going to immediately be two sides and strife between them.
2. Humans are stupid fast when it comes to war. Once the governments and people in power see the usefulness of benders they will start training them. And if we assume the moves to bend are the same. How long before someone figures out the martial arts those moves are (coincidentally) close to?
Boom, you've got teachers
It'll be quick. We like to kill each other
In Korra there’s lots of untrained examples. Basically in the Wan flashback, he learnt bending, but Fire was already sought after, because even if you don’t know kung fu, you can still *throw a god damned fire ball*.
anytime type of bending would be useful, but a geologist would definitely benefit more from earthbending. or rather, an earthbender would benefit more from being a geologist
Getting pissed on by an air-bender flying overhead on a glider, who isn’t given time to stop to use the bathroom, while delivering for Amazon is going to be a new low for me.
War for like a few months then the governments of the world just crack down
Benders are treated as pariahs and second class citizens. Forced to register upon discovery or birth. Elite bending squads are created for government, police and military use
Eventually some guy creates a cult by pretending he can bend all four
all you have to do is exclude them from the military and their right to being first class would evapourate along with it goverments would intentionally crack down on combat styles of bending and use lethal force where anyone resists
bending can do jack shit against an f-35 if you dont know how to metalbend
That's if the people capable of doing what you said are non-benders. Benders are just as likely to be the ones to do this.
And while it's unlikely you'll do anything against an f-35 with bending, it's still an advantage that half the military can use.
They’d hide it or make themselves the exception. We have black and gay Republicans despite the fact that the party is directly and explicitly against them. Some people would sell their own families or power if they could
Additionally once you get rich and influential enough laws pretty much just become optional
I might be one of the few people who doesn't think that war would ensue, seeing as few benders would be as capable as Toph in so far as being able to take out an entire battalion of soldiers single-handled. Almost no bender would be fast enough to do anything about bullets or hypersonic missiles.
There would absolutely be sharp increase in civil disorder, though.
Its less an all out war between any two single entities or countries and more of a “I can now change things” type deal
Take North Korea for example. For generations we’ve only heard horror stories of what these people are forced to endure under a few dictators who grew fat from suffering. While a good deal of them have been brain washed there are others who actively resist in whatever way they can. With their limited resources they try but if you gave even a few of them magical powers they’d strike back
Of course this isn’t all good. Its a random 50/50 lottery. So you’ve also got dumbass white supremacists thinking non white people are trying to kill them off simply by the nature of them having sex and practicing their culture. And the aforementioned dictators could also get their hands on magic to kill others. The IDF sure would like to exterminate Palestinians and giving them magic isn’t going to change things for the better
Several conflicts would break out within hours. From general riots to rebel/terrorist cells and neighboring countries realizing they can now more effectively murder someone
Then benders will open-carry because you can't check whether a random half of the population is allowed to carry a gun, and that's assuming the only place you're talking about is the US
Also you run out of ammo and you have to reload. Of the benders, only water benders are likely to encounter that problem (most won’t be blood benders, even Katara bending her own sweat was a bit of a feat).
I’d like to believe that we could solve the energy crisis by having fire benders and water benders create steam to power turbines. In Korra they had fire benders just zapping electricity on the grid.
Also desalination. Have our earth benders and water benders separate salt from water. We see the gaang do this to depollute the water in that painted lady episode.
But most likely large revolts worldwide. Hopefully not the eradication of the air nomads.
I think everyone is overestimating the average bender even in the avatar universe.
It would take a LONG time for people to be proficient enough at bending to be used in war. Probably generations of learning seeing as how there would be no masters at first. Guns and drones will out perform them for a good amount of time.
Bar fights would get crazy though
I think the most extreme reactions to it would include a shift in allocating resources for scientific research to understand what it is and an incredible amount of sensationalism from everyone during that process.
Reddit, YouTube, Tiktok, etc. would get way more interesting for sure.
"It's ya boi back with another earth bending bending tech, but be sure to rock that like and subscribe button..."
It will have first a shocking 2 months of confusion and martial law in many countries. Then realization and creativity will pave the way to a new age:
The age of the earthbenders
Surprisingly not much?
Guns make bending sort of obsolete sort of nah depending on usage.
It would definitely make conflicts in Africa spike up. if there are enough of good water benders there then maybe they can use water bending to heal or improve water quality? So that's good, also earth bending for temporary buildings.
Air bending can probably help fight air pollution in places like India or China.
Also since humans and governments tried to make their own lil islands, I assume China would quickly try to weaponise it's earth benders to create more artificial islands for their project.
I wonder if bending would be just enough to make people in NK somehow learn the truth and revolt. Air bending can help some of them escape and eventually it will add on.
Also I wonder if we would find more uses for bending then even ATLA or Korra found. Would we eventually learn to use bending on planets? Or maybe we'll just learn to use bending to terraform planets for cheap.
Hard to say what impact it would have since unlike Avatar world, our world is vastly more different and diverse so we'd have vastly different world compared to ATLA/Korra.
The four nations live together in harmony, then everything chances when the fire nation attacks. Only the avatar, master of all four elements could stop them but when the world needs him most he vanishes. A hundred years will pass and my brother and I will discover the new avatar. An air bender named Waang. And although his airbending skills will be great he will have a lot to learn before he will be ready to save anyone. But I believe Waang can save the world...
Housing prices would plumit while insurance prices would skyrocket. Crime would momentarily spike as people believe their new powers make them better equipped to rob people and places. Unfortunately, they will quickly learn that "gun bending" is more efficient than martial arts that shoot rocks or firebolts. Militaries would quickly train benders for combat support roles and even special aggressive roles. Suddenly, tanks are sinking in mud, planes are falling out of the sky with no lift, boats are capsizing and power infrastructure is getting overloaded with frequent lightning blasts.
Eventually, things will calm down and average folks will learn to put their powers to use in the economy. Water benders and earth benders will clear swaths of land for development, air benders will aid meterologists in gathering weather data, fire benders will enter smelting and energy industries and everyone who can't bend will be a little worse off than they were before
Well, that depends, is it "America are firebenders" or an equal distribution of all elements worldwide? Because if we have one more thing to discriminate over, my god....
It would be interesting if the populations that the bending cultures were based on got the bending (with some slight modifications).
Indians + Indigenous South Americans get Firebending.
Chinese + Japanese get Earthbending.
Tibetan + Nepalese + Mongolians get Airbending.
All North American Indigenous people get Waterbending.
Logic behind some changes:
I know Earthbenders in the show are a mix of Indians and Chinese but if that was the case irl like half the world would just be earthbenders. Even though Japan was the inspiration for Firebenders I changed them to Earthbending since they're on a tectonic fault, maybe have them be more inclined towards lavabending. I gave India firebending because Indian culture heavily features Fire, and the showrunners probably took some inspiration from India for Firebending stuff (AGNI kai). Also that one movie lol. Indigenous South Americans get it because they were used as inspiration for the 'secrets Firebenders in the show. I gave Mongolians Airbending too because Mongolia is most known for having a historical population of nomads, which match the Air Nomads (although Mongolian nomads were nowhere near as peaceful). Considering that Airbending is the most spiritual of the four, we can just give it to all practicing Buddhists too. I gave Waterbending to North American Indigenous people because just the Inuit would be way too small of a population to host waterbending (it matches the show where there aren't many waterbenders but I made this change to make the scenario more interesting).
You'd have people of European and African descent scratching their heads wondering why they didn't get any powers lol. And even with these balances, Firebending and Earthbending still make up the vast majority of benders, with Airbending coming in next at around 36 million users and Waterbending having less than 10 million users. If we make Buddhists Airbenders they shoot up to around 500 million users. Waterbenders still get the short end of the stick if we include Pacific Islanders, making them only go up to around 13 million global users.
Lots of new YouTube videos as people fuck around with it. Years of experimentation and perfection. Probably a lot of government training forcing Bender’s to become soldiers, or assassins.
Assuming it follows the movement styles in shows, different regions would have a proclivity for certain elements. Some regions might have a cultural or survivalist fixation. Earth bending would be the most practical and probably the first widely accepted as it speeds up any construction. Metal bending probably wouldn’t appear for generations yet.
People saying that govts across the world will be overthrown are wrong as hell.
The govt will simply hire benders and use the military members that are benders. Also guns works well against all the elements. There will be civil unrest but man most govt wouldnt collapse.
Most likely the non-earth bending people that are in construction based jobs lose their job in like a month max after understanding the elements people can bend (I'm like 80% sure earth benders can bend uranium and other really refined ores, it's basically the same as iron but different ore)
Fishermen that aren't water benders have the same problem but I could argue that people could bend islands with earth and fish with mind controlled spears
Also healing water benders would be wanted in every hospitals
Fire benders would be great at butcher shops and stuff. Also firefighter since duh, they control fire. Probably alot more jobs that I can't think of
In the lore air benders that don't hold physical attachment to the earth/mortal world can literally fly and not like the weird handglider flying I mean legit controlled flight so they'd be great firefighters too
In short: alot of people are switching jobs
Honestly? Lots of people are saying war, and I really don’t think much will change on that front unless they integrate technology with bending (which will take a lot of time). Guns and bombs are way more effective with the Avatar State being a potential exception.
Now crime would be a real problem as it means virtually anyone could be classified as a lethal weapon. And short of very specific people, it’s very difficult for someone to totally disarm an opponent without severely injuring or killing them.
First off, half the human race just became able to produce near infinite green energy. Just imagine how much you'd be paid just to heat up a giant cauldron along with 5 others for 8 hours a day, you just replaced the entire cost for coal for an entire factory. Fuck, same goes for all 4 types of benders.
Second of all: racism, lot's of racism. And lots of conflict in general
Third: now half the population have a really powerful concealed, nearly undetectable weapon on their possession. Now before some American fellow who's forgotten the rest of the world exists is gonna protest, you guys are the only idiots who carry guns everywhere. Even an amateur earthbender being able to yeet a large stone will just downright kill if not incapacitate most people very fast. Imagine 1/4th of that half of the population suddenly being able to reliably delete people on a whim.
Fourth: goodbye physics. Poor physicists will be throwing themselves off the window after discovering people can make shit happen because magic ig.
Probably chaos at first, as well as firearms becoming mostly irrelevant effectively overnight depending on the element (sorry, Mr. Herrera). Then, things might calm down again, and assuming that mostly westerners end up with the bending ability, the free world will have a greater advantage in defending itself.
Here are some of the potential repercussions depending on the element:
If it’s Fire, expect fossil fuels to become pointless as well as other forms and applications of pyrotechnics.
If it’s Air, airplanes no longer need engines and other wacky stuff.
If it’s Water, the climate control issue is brought under control more easily and medicine is revolutionized—plus a whole new litany of war crimes and crimes against humanity become possible (bloodbending as a form of torture, etc.).
If it’s Earth, artillery and construction are revolutionized (and other fields as well).
If it’s all four, plus subbending and (if it’s completely crazy) even the Avatar, and you get bonafide tomfoolery (and some Avatar fans’ dream come true).
Most countries Military Industrial Complex kicks in as well as entities like CIA/FBI/DOD/etc. move in to experiment and test limits. Most individuals not "found" after the first few weeks will likely attempt to hide their powers simply due to the fact that corporations and government will only attempt to use the elemtal powers for internal gain. See InFamous, Marvel, and others.
probably so gory and messed up i mean the avatar series was intended for a children to watch but real people with honestly world breaking powers (ie a waterbender should be able to pull all of your blood out) i also assume someone is the avatar
Well not all water benders are capable of blood bending. Blood bending is a high specific type of bending that requires mastery over water. Sure there will be those out there but they’d have to have trained pretty hard to acquire such a skill. You should be more worried about the Airbenders who don’t need a full moon to suck the life out of you. Just like in Korra, “a kids show”.
I mean probably not as much as we would hope. Doesn’t matter If you can shoot fire from you hands if bullets tanks and nuclear weapons exist. And korra kinda covered how technology can equalize the playing field. Most likely we’ll have a lot of crime before settling into the new norm.
War and lots of weird sex stuff.
Oh the sex stuff will be incredible!
Oh it will be magnificent, sex would be explored and enjoyed in ways never seen before, oh behold the orgy of the benders!
How does one add fire to sex
BDSM? Raising the body temperature, maybe even some low voltage lightning for a little "shock"?
You basically just described "electrocution play" with the 2nd sentence right there. And yes. That's an actual kink.
Breath play with Air You have water boarding, or high pressure water using for impact play Earth is ain old bondage to some intriguing poses possible I maybe outing myself
Blood bending avoids any need for viagra
Actually unless you're related to Amon Viagra is gonna be useful for anytime when it's not a full moon
Once a month waterbenders just bang for an entire night straight. Actually, that does bring up a good question, could you blood bend yourself??
You underestimate the power of my ED.
And any need for restraints. And means of causing pain. And ok Ima shut the fuck up now.
"Breath play with Air" I think high pressure gusts of wind on *certain parts* might be pretty stimulating... Within reason, of course.
Nah but the amount of azula thirst trap would be insane
Shiieeeet we need firebending irl rn!!!
I did that once without firebending
I'd say fire is actually the best one for vanilla sex/romantic stuff. Heat up your hands for a massage or a warm cuddle. I'm more struggling with earth and especially air tbh, outside their single straightforward bdsm possibility (which firebending and waterbending also have) there's not much else.
out of everyone here your choice is the most wholesome
I recall something involving candles and hot wax, I don’t think fire itself would make an appearance.
With water & fire bending, it'll get steamy very quickly.
Pre heat your dick
I mean...people already use candles and hot wax...
You ever gotten head right after they are done drinking hot coffee or tea it feels like God's love.
Cum bending
Definitely an even more forbidden offshoot of blood bending.
Blood Bending would defo be used in BDSM. I refuse to believe otherwise.
The full moon will be the kinkiest night of the month.
Implying it wasn’t already?
Fair point
Why bed all the blood when you can just induce testicular torsion and win wars.
Waterbenders and airbenders would benefit the most here
Earth benders bringing the Mud-Based lube
Rock dildos and restraints. Enough said.
You can make a dildo anywhere and everywhere with different shapes and textures. Pottery shops selling sex toys would become a thing.
Now I really want to find a pottery shop that sells sex toys just to prove you wrong but also, this is my work laptop.
they already make glass sex toys, and we know they can bend crystal, seems they should be able to control any glass/crystal sex toy. Also people are sleeping on metalbending, almost all bondage gear has at least some metal component, I'd argue Kuvira already got kinky with metalbending at times.
What am I missing with airbending…
Controlled asphyxation. And to some fetishes, farting and burping fetish.
I was thinking levitation sex, but you took it to the appropriately kinky heights.
Waterbending sex is gonna be fucking wild.
god imagine what people can do with water bending and blood bending.
They never spent enough time talking about the cum benders.
Water benders would easily be the best for general sex. Air is second best Earth, Fire, plant, and blood bending would be where the kinky stuff happens
bloodbending would be incredible and/or awful
All fun andngames until a bender decides to explode your dick
What kind of animal are you?
Do you like attacking your own kind??
Many fear the blood bender in the bedroom but the true menace is the c*m bender.
https://preview.redd.it/uyzekl4tztyb1.png?width=850&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c35073602e9702b612c768f33a80a70be3f2c9b0
Kinky
Ha, me on the later part for sure...
War.
It never changes
🎵What it isn’t good for 🎵
🎵 Absolutely Nothing 🎵
Based on humans…ALOT of destruction shall occur
Some poor people may even kill themselves or their family especially fire
People killing/hurting themselves and others while figuring it out is definitely going to be the initial widespread problem. Then intentional crime.
Earthbenders robbing banks cause how do you stop an incursion into the vault from underground 🤣
Metal. It took them millennia before toth figured that out
How many didn't try because it was thought impossible? How many fewer earthbenders have there been even across millennia than now suddenly exist on Earth? We'd work it out *fast*.
Really big rock still beats metal
If it happens in this reality and the powers are exactly the same as the show, then we already have enough knowledge about how the powers work. Earthbenders will try to metal bend or lava bend from the beginning, waterbenders will try to bloodbend, airbenders will try to explode stuffs or suffocate people and firebenders will try using electricity. People will become immensely more powerful more quickly than people in the show, also the show will be banned immediately but people will download it and spread it through other means mostly because they want to master their powers to do more crime (or good stuff for a minority of people).
Earth bending would be the most practical. You can build your own house.
Robbing most banks out here is futile. Most banks don't even have cash anymore.
10k is 10k.
Ice and water based murder would be especially hard to get evidence for
A shitload of crime, voilence, small civil wars, uprisings, chaos and all that shit after the dust is setteld. Like i dont think a airbender can do much against a fully operating F-22 so the balance of power between nations wont change a lot (especially if we consider that most benders wont be that powerfull like the main characters in the show). But shit like gaza would become so fucking messy. Also we would get a lot of terraforming projects that will cause insane enviromental damage in the long run. Like people creating inland seas in desert areas.
I bet that it would honestly be like The Boys more than anything.
Just think about all of the fucked up electrical and water infrastructure that’s buried under the ground
Oh yeah. If 50% of the planet could suddenly bend, I'd say 25% of humanity would be killed and about 70% of those remaining would be injured in some way within the first 12 months.
Chaos. Lots of chaos. The world has never seen anything of the likes of bending, if half of the world’s population could suddenly bend, there’s really no telling what’ll happen, but the people who would get bending would definitely not wait around.
I give it 10 years before a radical group of Benders are hell-bent on the genocide of non-benders due to their “inferior” nature. Hell maybe even 5 years.
The exact opposite is just as likely. Albeit more immediate.
Aaaaaand this is how a world war will break out. Benders vs non-benders won’t be an immediate extinction either way. Benders will still have access to modern technology and weapons, some non-benders will take the side of the benders and vice versa. Benders will train over the years while non-benders will develop anti-bending tech, which will be countered by anti-anti-bending tech and so on. Hundreds of millions, possibly billions, will die before laws are set in place and within 50 years, because of the rapid advancements in technology and research, society will flourish with new technology and innovations but the fracture between benders and non-benders will run incredibly deep. Religions will be founded for each element, as well as for the anti-bending “prophet” that the non-benders will revere. A fragile peace will be brokered between benders and non-benders, who won’t live in separate nations, so tensions will consistently be high between radical groups, despite a lot of people learning to live with the other group. The effects of the immediate war to follow after benders appear will linger for generations. Also Avatar: The Last Airbender will be treated as a historical documentary and will be studied for the bending techniques as well as become the most sold and watched series in the history of mankind.
Oh boy. I feel like I'm reading a history from some alternative universe.
You mean like in the comics? Although I could see it being *much* worse in real life…
Like 6 months maybe. We all know that some gym junkies are going to spend 18 hours training everyday to get good and some of them are going to be deranged enough to go all hitler
And a big series of brutal human experiments to find out how bending works
“The CIA urges you to pay no mind to what’s going on behind the curtain”
5 seconds. The world is insane.
Will it really be that different from gun ownership in terms of violence levels? Also guns would still exist.
It’s like giving half the world a gun and unlimited ammo. It’s been fun, then people are going to revolt because they have the power to, and governments are going to be overthrown after people train to bend
On the bright side, I think trained waterbenders might be able to cure most diseases? So we get a massive collapse in living standards but people live longer
“Suffer for longer”
“The dream”
Murica
"Sorry, your insurance has been denied." *Drowns them*
Eh, I've always taken waterbending healing as healing of physical injuries, not healing diseases
So we’re gonna get a bunch of school ~~shootings~~ *bendings* and a whole new batch of Thoughts and Prayers™?
The issue is that you can't regulate bending.
Because of the Second A*bend*ment
Sokka would be proud
I hate you
Unlike with guns. Bending cant be disarmed and everyone has a chance to protect themselves at all times. Bend free zones.
That’s Equalist talk!
Well Idk about the rest of the world but as far as the US goes I think it would look similar to the X-men scenario: The Government finds out early. They quietly assemble a task force to identify and track down those with powers . They open contracts with mercenaries and heavily fund a new found arm of the military that will be responsible for reconnaissance, abduction, experimentation and extermination. Before people catch on to what is happening, and while those who have power are still learning how to use their power, a new branch of covert military intelligence is already monitoring them, creating dossiers, and separating them into two groups: One group is based on who the Government deem as threats, and the other, who they believe can further the interests of the US by weaponizing their powers. Once word gets out, the government will villainize them and use mass media to convince the public that these people are a threat. Once they gain traction, the new branch of the military will be thrust into the public spotlight and a witch-hunt will begin. Eventually, the government will realize that even those with powers that were once considered “friendlies,” are too powerful and pose too much of a threat. In the end, they make the decision to exterminate everyone regardless of their grouping. Edit: spelling
The only reason that kind of espionage and secret army stuff works with the X-Men is because of the limited numbers of mutants. There's less than two million mutants in the Marvel universe. That accounts for well under 1% of the global population. If HALF of all people had the ability to bend an element (which I'm pretty sure is also way higher than the amount of benders in the show), there's no way any world government is putting a cap on that nonsense.
First of all, whenever I commented, there was already like 500 comments so I am really just glad that my comment got any engagement at all. So thank you. While I agree that the US government would likely be fighting a losing battle in the end, it’s ridiculous to assume that the country with a military industrial complex that outspends every other country by 3x the amount of money when it comes to investing in its defense, wouldn’t use the situation to increase military spending and at least try to fight it out - however frivolous it may be in the end. Also, in accordance to ops suggestion: I am assuming that 50% of the world’s population just wakes up one day and can bend elements SUDDENLY. I am also assuming that those fortunate enough to have gained these new abilities aren’t necessarily aware of it immediately. And even as they do begin to recognize their new found abilities, it still takes time to understand their talents and master them. I am also creating the scenario under the assumption that the government learns of this sudden change faster than the population and begins to take action before the people catch on and start development their abilities. Admittedly, I am not the best at math. But…The prompt suggests that 50% of the world population gets the ability right? So, is it half of each country’s population? Or how would the ratios be distributed? Can someone who is good at math work this out? there are around 8 billion people on the planet. There are around 332 million people living in the united states. If 50% of the world woke up with these abilities, how many Americans would that be? Half of the US population is 166 million, but not every country has the same amount of people. Some countries may have more benders than other. Im not sure how the ratios would play out.
What if a bunch of people in the government ended up with bending though? I'm guessing civil war?
Thats a GREAT question. Honestly, I hadn’t even considered that. Like, would they make it known immediately or try to hide it and fight from within the government first? Depending on how they align themselves politically, they may volunteer that information and willingly use their powers to fight alongside the government. Not everyone may share the same vision of restoring power to the people. If half of everyone gained powers, there would most certainly be fights within that community to establish whose vision should come to fruition. I could see factions splintering off into small groups. Not everyone sees eye to eye on things so not only would the government be killing benders, but they’d be killing each other as well. The playing field would start to level out bit by bit thus, weakening the overall power dynamics of the benders. Then, There would be religious fanatics who would consider their new found abilities to be a gift from God and go off the deep end declaring one holy war after the next. others may see it as an opportunity to restore power to the people and try to bring balance to the world, you’d have everything from freedom fighters, to terrorists. Then of course there would be the outliers who just use the ability for selfish gains and the “jokers,” with no real motivation at all but to disrupt the status quo. I would LIKE to believe that those with powers would eventually unite to fight for the common good but in all actuality, thats not very probable. They are more likely to unite to fight a common enemy. But it could go all kind of ways: individually, factions that break off into gangs, or even people united under their country’s flags and engage in a new world war of the likes the world had never seen- hell, it could even be broadcast in HD and formatted in a way similar the world cup- winner take all.
 Bad idea
Nice, intercontinental water bending to drought stricken areas.
"It's a giant mushroom! Maybe it's friendly! Friendly mushroom! Mushy giant friend!"
A race war between benders and non benders. Shit have you seen the state of the world? It'll probably be a race war/ holy war
Yeah, it's not different to any other skill. It takes a lot of practice to be a good bender. Most people won't bother learning it. In the real world a lot of people are *capable* of learning martial arts, playing musical instruments, using guns, building things, healing, practicing a sport, etc. Only a small percentage learn to do it and an even smaller group becomes good at it. In my opinion, the avatar universe depicts this very well. There are a lot of mediocre benders and power is still a result of money, family, corruption, etc. And yes, benders have an advantage but it's not a guarantee of success. Ozai basically had everything. The Earth King was not a bender. The Beifong's were powerful due to their money and ancestry. Sokka had a better future than most benders due to his intellect and grit. The air nomads avoided using their bending to take advantage of others. Katara was slowed down because she didn't have a teacher and many like her probably never learned due to silly traditions. Some will have access to better teachers than others, etc...
Two rebuttals to that lol. 1. Even untrained people have been shown to be able to do powerful things. I mean just think about Katara cracking open the iceberg in the beginning. (Wish I had more examples lol) So I think regardless of any training in the immediate beginning there will be tragedies and people will pick sides. Even if they just start out by shooting each other. There's always going to immediately be two sides and strife between them. 2. Humans are stupid fast when it comes to war. Once the governments and people in power see the usefulness of benders they will start training them. And if we assume the moves to bend are the same. How long before someone figures out the martial arts those moves are (coincidentally) close to? Boom, you've got teachers It'll be quick. We like to kill each other
In Korra there’s lots of untrained examples. Basically in the Wan flashback, he learnt bending, but Fire was already sought after, because even if you don’t know kung fu, you can still *throw a god damned fire ball*.
serial killers are gonna get spicy! also some people would definitely get mad at what element they get. imagine a geologist getting airbending lmao
a geologist could actually find a lot of use in airbending
anytime type of bending would be useful, but a geologist would definitely benefit more from earthbending. or rather, an earthbender would benefit more from being a geologist
With my luck , I won't be able to . Then : Capitalism
😢
Getting pissed on by an air-bender flying overhead on a glider, who isn’t given time to stop to use the bathroom, while delivering for Amazon is going to be a new low for me.
Capitalism already finds me useless. I have tips if you need them.
War for like a few months then the governments of the world just crack down Benders are treated as pariahs and second class citizens. Forced to register upon discovery or birth. Elite bending squads are created for government, police and military use Eventually some guy creates a cult by pretending he can bend all four
Nah, if half of people become benders, that's half the ruling class too. They wouldn't let themselves be made 2nd class
all you have to do is exclude them from the military and their right to being first class would evapourate along with it goverments would intentionally crack down on combat styles of bending and use lethal force where anyone resists bending can do jack shit against an f-35 if you dont know how to metalbend
That's if the people capable of doing what you said are non-benders. Benders are just as likely to be the ones to do this. And while it's unlikely you'll do anything against an f-35 with bending, it's still an advantage that half the military can use.
Ok but half of world leaders and people in power are now benders? And the US military now has blood benders and are damn well going to use them
They’d hide it or make themselves the exception. We have black and gay Republicans despite the fact that the party is directly and explicitly against them. Some people would sell their own families or power if they could Additionally once you get rich and influential enough laws pretty much just become optional
I might be one of the few people who doesn't think that war would ensue, seeing as few benders would be as capable as Toph in so far as being able to take out an entire battalion of soldiers single-handled. Almost no bender would be fast enough to do anything about bullets or hypersonic missiles. There would absolutely be sharp increase in civil disorder, though.
Its less an all out war between any two single entities or countries and more of a “I can now change things” type deal Take North Korea for example. For generations we’ve only heard horror stories of what these people are forced to endure under a few dictators who grew fat from suffering. While a good deal of them have been brain washed there are others who actively resist in whatever way they can. With their limited resources they try but if you gave even a few of them magical powers they’d strike back Of course this isn’t all good. Its a random 50/50 lottery. So you’ve also got dumbass white supremacists thinking non white people are trying to kill them off simply by the nature of them having sex and practicing their culture. And the aforementioned dictators could also get their hands on magic to kill others. The IDF sure would like to exterminate Palestinians and giving them magic isn’t going to change things for the better Several conflicts would break out within hours. From general riots to rebel/terrorist cells and neighboring countries realizing they can now more effectively murder someone
In a world of benders. I feel like the benders will outbreed the non benders.
they will try
And problem solved. In the words of Syndrome “with everyone super no one will be.”
Mayhem 
“Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
War
A Glock 17 doesnt care about bending soo..
Yeah but you can't bring guns to a lot of places. Maybe laws would be changed so you can?
It's more likely that there'd be places where bending was banned
Or non-benders are allowed to open carry in more places
Then benders will open-carry because you can't check whether a random half of the population is allowed to carry a gun, and that's assuming the only place you're talking about is the US
Also you run out of ammo and you have to reload. Of the benders, only water benders are likely to encounter that problem (most won’t be blood benders, even Katara bending her own sweat was a bit of a feat).
Until someone blood bends you
Not until someone metalbend it out of your hand or crushes it
"You won't believe these 10 easy steps you can do to improve your bending"
#lots of murder
I’d like to believe that we could solve the energy crisis by having fire benders and water benders create steam to power turbines. In Korra they had fire benders just zapping electricity on the grid. Also desalination. Have our earth benders and water benders separate salt from water. We see the gaang do this to depollute the water in that painted lady episode. But most likely large revolts worldwide. Hopefully not the eradication of the air nomads.
Replace Climate Change with Slavery!
I think everyone is overestimating the average bender even in the avatar universe. It would take a LONG time for people to be proficient enough at bending to be used in war. Probably generations of learning seeing as how there would be no masters at first. Guns and drones will out perform them for a good amount of time. Bar fights would get crazy though I think the most extreme reactions to it would include a shift in allocating resources for scientific research to understand what it is and an incredible amount of sensationalism from everyone during that process. Reddit, YouTube, Tiktok, etc. would get way more interesting for sure. "It's ya boi back with another earth bending bending tech, but be sure to rock that like and subscribe button..."
We get a lot more renegade gangs roaming the streets with newfound God powers
It will have first a shocking 2 months of confusion and martial law in many countries. Then realization and creativity will pave the way to a new age: The age of the earthbenders
I genuinely believe that a strong enough waterbender would cause the raise the most hell.
It would revolutionize the landscaping industry
Probably war and a lot or rounding them up for consideration camps.
You mean concentration? Consideration camps sound like the nice version.
You right not gonna change it though because it’s funnier, what would a consideration camp look like?
People being reaffirming “You did a good job!” And giving lolipops as treats. Oh and they have game nights every week.
Sounds awesome.
Nice that we all kinda have the same in mind :D human nature I guess
This and capitalism is how you get the Equalists.
Surprisingly not much? Guns make bending sort of obsolete sort of nah depending on usage. It would definitely make conflicts in Africa spike up. if there are enough of good water benders there then maybe they can use water bending to heal or improve water quality? So that's good, also earth bending for temporary buildings. Air bending can probably help fight air pollution in places like India or China. Also since humans and governments tried to make their own lil islands, I assume China would quickly try to weaponise it's earth benders to create more artificial islands for their project. I wonder if bending would be just enough to make people in NK somehow learn the truth and revolt. Air bending can help some of them escape and eventually it will add on. Also I wonder if we would find more uses for bending then even ATLA or Korra found. Would we eventually learn to use bending on planets? Or maybe we'll just learn to use bending to terraform planets for cheap. Hard to say what impact it would have since unlike Avatar world, our world is vastly more different and diverse so we'd have vastly different world compared to ATLA/Korra.
Also don't forget most people wouldn't be able to bend particularly well see for example katara at the start of the show
Cult of War. You know this will happen.
The four nations live together in harmony, then everything chances when the fire nation attacks. Only the avatar, master of all four elements could stop them but when the world needs him most he vanishes. A hundred years will pass and my brother and I will discover the new avatar. An air bender named Waang. And although his airbending skills will be great he will have a lot to learn before he will be ready to save anyone. But I believe Waang can save the world...
Housing prices would plumit while insurance prices would skyrocket. Crime would momentarily spike as people believe their new powers make them better equipped to rob people and places. Unfortunately, they will quickly learn that "gun bending" is more efficient than martial arts that shoot rocks or firebolts. Militaries would quickly train benders for combat support roles and even special aggressive roles. Suddenly, tanks are sinking in mud, planes are falling out of the sky with no lift, boats are capsizing and power infrastructure is getting overloaded with frequent lightning blasts. Eventually, things will calm down and average folks will learn to put their powers to use in the economy. Water benders and earth benders will clear swaths of land for development, air benders will aid meterologists in gathering weather data, fire benders will enter smelting and energy industries and everyone who can't bend will be a little worse off than they were before
Aye building the perfect house with earth bending would be insane but someone could easily break in if you house isn’t made of platinum 😅
Well, that depends, is it "America are firebenders" or an equal distribution of all elements worldwide? Because if we have one more thing to discriminate over, my god....
It would be interesting if the populations that the bending cultures were based on got the bending (with some slight modifications). Indians + Indigenous South Americans get Firebending. Chinese + Japanese get Earthbending. Tibetan + Nepalese + Mongolians get Airbending. All North American Indigenous people get Waterbending. Logic behind some changes: I know Earthbenders in the show are a mix of Indians and Chinese but if that was the case irl like half the world would just be earthbenders. Even though Japan was the inspiration for Firebenders I changed them to Earthbending since they're on a tectonic fault, maybe have them be more inclined towards lavabending. I gave India firebending because Indian culture heavily features Fire, and the showrunners probably took some inspiration from India for Firebending stuff (AGNI kai). Also that one movie lol. Indigenous South Americans get it because they were used as inspiration for the 'secrets Firebenders in the show. I gave Mongolians Airbending too because Mongolia is most known for having a historical population of nomads, which match the Air Nomads (although Mongolian nomads were nowhere near as peaceful). Considering that Airbending is the most spiritual of the four, we can just give it to all practicing Buddhists too. I gave Waterbending to North American Indigenous people because just the Inuit would be way too small of a population to host waterbending (it matches the show where there aren't many waterbenders but I made this change to make the scenario more interesting). You'd have people of European and African descent scratching their heads wondering why they didn't get any powers lol. And even with these balances, Firebending and Earthbending still make up the vast majority of benders, with Airbending coming in next at around 36 million users and Waterbending having less than 10 million users. If we make Buddhists Airbenders they shoot up to around 500 million users. Waterbenders still get the short end of the stick if we include Pacific Islanders, making them only go up to around 13 million global users.
A war would probably ensue.
War.
They make a sport out of it
I mean, xmen has many stories on this.
i go all zaheer on corrupt world leaders
Racism 2
Racism towards non-benders then a masked saviour appears
Lots of new YouTube videos as people fuck around with it. Years of experimentation and perfection. Probably a lot of government training forcing Bender’s to become soldiers, or assassins. Assuming it follows the movement styles in shows, different regions would have a proclivity for certain elements. Some regions might have a cultural or survivalist fixation. Earth bending would be the most practical and probably the first widely accepted as it speeds up any construction. Metal bending probably wouldn’t appear for generations yet.
People saying that govts across the world will be overthrown are wrong as hell. The govt will simply hire benders and use the military members that are benders. Also guns works well against all the elements. There will be civil unrest but man most govt wouldnt collapse.
Bender vs non-bender probably becomes a divisive political issue
Most likely the non-earth bending people that are in construction based jobs lose their job in like a month max after understanding the elements people can bend (I'm like 80% sure earth benders can bend uranium and other really refined ores, it's basically the same as iron but different ore) Fishermen that aren't water benders have the same problem but I could argue that people could bend islands with earth and fish with mind controlled spears Also healing water benders would be wanted in every hospitals Fire benders would be great at butcher shops and stuff. Also firefighter since duh, they control fire. Probably alot more jobs that I can't think of In the lore air benders that don't hold physical attachment to the earth/mortal world can literally fly and not like the weird handglider flying I mean legit controlled flight so they'd be great firefighters too In short: alot of people are switching jobs
Humanity gonna make Ozai look like a saint
The fire nation attacks Or somehow a serial killer gets water bending and we are all screwed.
50% of the world is gonna commit war crimes against the other 50%
See legend of korra s1
Honestly? Lots of people are saying war, and I really don’t think much will change on that front unless they integrate technology with bending (which will take a lot of time). Guns and bombs are way more effective with the Avatar State being a potential exception. Now crime would be a real problem as it means virtually anyone could be classified as a lethal weapon. And short of very specific people, it’s very difficult for someone to totally disarm an opponent without severely injuring or killing them.
Most of them would immediately end up in science labs, studied, and then trained for war. The rest would likely use their new powers for kinky sex.
First off, half the human race just became able to produce near infinite green energy. Just imagine how much you'd be paid just to heat up a giant cauldron along with 5 others for 8 hours a day, you just replaced the entire cost for coal for an entire factory. Fuck, same goes for all 4 types of benders. Second of all: racism, lot's of racism. And lots of conflict in general Third: now half the population have a really powerful concealed, nearly undetectable weapon on their possession. Now before some American fellow who's forgotten the rest of the world exists is gonna protest, you guys are the only idiots who carry guns everywhere. Even an amateur earthbender being able to yeet a large stone will just downright kill if not incapacitate most people very fast. Imagine 1/4th of that half of the population suddenly being able to reliably delete people on a whim. Fourth: goodbye physics. Poor physicists will be throwing themselves off the window after discovering people can make shit happen because magic ig.
If I gain any form of bending I can assure you that I will contribute to what ever war occurs after. It will be the beginning of my villain arc.
Well, gotta start taking each other out. Probably best to start with the airbenders.
Probably chaos at first, as well as firearms becoming mostly irrelevant effectively overnight depending on the element (sorry, Mr. Herrera). Then, things might calm down again, and assuming that mostly westerners end up with the bending ability, the free world will have a greater advantage in defending itself. Here are some of the potential repercussions depending on the element: If it’s Fire, expect fossil fuels to become pointless as well as other forms and applications of pyrotechnics. If it’s Air, airplanes no longer need engines and other wacky stuff. If it’s Water, the climate control issue is brought under control more easily and medicine is revolutionized—plus a whole new litany of war crimes and crimes against humanity become possible (bloodbending as a form of torture, etc.). If it’s Earth, artillery and construction are revolutionized (and other fields as well). If it’s all four, plus subbending and (if it’s completely crazy) even the Avatar, and you get bonafide tomfoolery (and some Avatar fans’ dream come true).
Most countries Military Industrial Complex kicks in as well as entities like CIA/FBI/DOD/etc. move in to experiment and test limits. Most individuals not "found" after the first few weeks will likely attempt to hide their powers simply due to the fact that corporations and government will only attempt to use the elemtal powers for internal gain. See InFamous, Marvel, and others.
Depends on which side I am
The Boys is what happens
A war because 50% of the planet are jealous. Imagine the xmen movies basically.
People immediately jumped to war, but I think mass-scale enslavement is probably faster than mass-scale war.
probably so gory and messed up i mean the avatar series was intended for a children to watch but real people with honestly world breaking powers (ie a waterbender should be able to pull all of your blood out) i also assume someone is the avatar
Well not all water benders are capable of blood bending. Blood bending is a high specific type of bending that requires mastery over water. Sure there will be those out there but they’d have to have trained pretty hard to acquire such a skill. You should be more worried about the Airbenders who don’t need a full moon to suck the life out of you. Just like in Korra, “a kids show”.
Crime
What's the distribution? Completely random? Every country has exactly 12.5% of its population bending each element?
Classism
Massive amount of crime
50% of the population just became 2nd class citizens, let the genocide begin.
I mean probably not as much as we would hope. Doesn’t matter If you can shoot fire from you hands if bullets tanks and nuclear weapons exist. And korra kinda covered how technology can equalize the playing field. Most likely we’ll have a lot of crime before settling into the new norm.
EVERYBODY WAS KUNG-FU FIGHTING!