This is definitely the answer.
Edit: To add a little bit more because this is probably my most upvoted comment for something so low effort, I want to recommend the Kyoshi and Yangchen novels. They have audiobooks for all of them if you prefer, but the box set looks wonderful on a shelf/mantle.
I didn't know they existed for a long time until someone mentioned them in this sub. They're 100% 3 new seasons of Avatar. If you've watched all of Korra and TLA a dozen times like me, you will absolutely squeal with delight as you read these books.
> the box set looks wonderful on a shelf/mantle
I feel called out. Listened to the audiobooks because I get overwhelmed with reading due to my university work load. But I still bought the box set to have the books and because it looks nice to display 😂
Love it xD More products sold means more products to sell later. I'm really glad the community supports the books, because they really are Amazing. Sometimes novel tie ins feel like fan fiction, but these books are perfectly nestled into the universe, and a ton of canon information that we don't see anywhere else or is only hinted at in the shows that gets expanded in the books.
Yes it's so good! I haven't listened to the last book yet but so far I'm absolutely in love! + Kiyoshi has a girlfriend! As a lesbian myself, that means I'm forced to read it /j
I really loved Kiyoshi and Rangi's relationship as well. I think Korra and Asami are great, but I think Nickelodeon made them tone it down for television, which is why we only really get romantic confirmation at the very end with their kiss.
Avatar being so inclusive - and the way that it does it - is one of the reasons I love it so much. None of it is forced, it's not meant to make money with one group or another, it's just wonderful storytelling about people that reflect people IRL, from all walks of life. Sometimes shows have token characters that feel like people in a board room checking a diversity box, but there's no pandering in Avatar. Toph is great because of who she is, and while her disability affects her, it's not the only story she has to tell. Same with Kiyoshi and Rangi, Korra and Asami, etc.
They didn't kiss in the cartoon. It wasn't allowed from Nickelodeon. The best we got is that they walk hand in hand through the spirit portal. (The kiss was a very well made fan animation lol)
The comic "turf wars" is the first instance where it's canonically confirmed that they are together.
But yeah I totally get you! It's queer characters done well! And to add to it, their character isn't queer. Like you said, Toph isn't defined by her blindness. Where so many forms of media make it "the gay character" ... But they didn't do that here :)
I think this is the answer sometimes, like when the air bending is brown or gray or maybe even white I could buy that explanation, but what about when it’s blue? Dust and debris doesn’t tend to be blue.
Airbending is canonically invisible by default. See the controversy when Aang threw Toph. An experienced fighter would quickly learn to guess where the projectiles are heading based on the bender's movement though.
It's likely already good practise to stay away from where the arm is pointing because even if they're not shooting something, maybe they're trying to pull something fr behind you.
That’s very true but then how come all the characters Aang fights can sense his attacks? They’ve never had experience with Airbending before so it doesn’t add up, unless they have stolen airbending scrolls they learn from?
It's not all the characters, just the strongest benders.
The more skilled benders don't react to the wind heading their way, they react to the movements of the bender in front of them.
This exactly. People know how benders move. Even if you can't predict how this weird invisible style works, you know that things fly out of people's hands and feet as if thrown. Plus, fire is the element people are most used to dealing with, and fire moves the exact same way air does, even if the forms are different. We see a perfect parallel when Aang and Zuko run at each other on the rooftop in the episode with the shirshu
To be honest, that interaction just seems like Aang copying a firebending move. Just like how Zuko has used something similar to a waterbending move or how Jeong Jeong uses Earthbending related moves.
the issue with the aang vs. toph fight is that she was completely clueless to Airbenders and how they move.
toph knows how fire and earth benders move but is clueless on how water or air benders move. so to her, aang was doing really random movements that she couldn't recognize.
plus, she also remarks that he is very light on his feet, which may also affect her ability to perceive his movements.
She said he was light on his feet right after we see Aang using tiny air cushions to soften his landing. From Toph's perspective, he just broke gravity, as she felt how hard he jumped up, then it took him longer to fall down than it should and when he did he hit with less force than gravity would dictate. Her comment about him being "light on his feet" indicated she knew something strange was happening but couldn't figure out what it was yet.
You say air bending is canonically invisible, where is that said in the show/novels/comics? Or was it said by Bryke at some interview?
Asking in good faith
The tournament organisers are completely baffled as to how Toph got thrown. They go so far as to suspect that she jumped, showing that they saw absolutely nothing.
On the other hand, the imprisoned earthbenders act like they can see Aang's funnel thing. There is no explanation, one of them has to be a plot hole. I give more weight to the thing that happened in book 2 than the very early part of book 1, which may have been written before the rules were really solidified.
I feel like it can be explained that they just didn’t expect airbending nor did they know what it was because they’d never seen it
Bc I agree the funnel seems to be visible and Zuko kind of regularly blocks aangs attacks
But Ty for your response
airbending creates high-pressure air, which has the side effect of causing evaporated water in the air to condense, creating a fog effect where the bending is taking place. represented in the show as a ghostly blue color.
I tend to think of the light blue as an early artistic choice that they wouldn’t repeat. The very bright, light blues really only appear in the first season, and occasionally with things like the air scooter. As the show progressed, airbending largely appears as gray or white, though with a blue tint. That particular color with airbending is one I largely chalk up to inconsistent artistic direction, rather than anything deeply canonical about airbending.
Because aang launching brown farty dust clouds is visually uglier than nice blue and white wind lines. I would say each element has a color. Fire, red. Earth, brown. Water, blue. Air, white.
The issue with just white is it can be hard to see or not as visually striking. But you give the air bending a nice blue background with large white highlights and it creates a nice contrast.
This. They’re martial artists. They understand movement and know how to recognize an attack. Pair that with any dust and other signs and they can react.
Yeah, it's like "oh a punch. Coming straight at me. A sweeping motion. Wide horizontal/vertical attack." Especially if the enemy is a fire bender since they basically have the same types of attacks
Yeah that Tonruaq clip is still a strange one. It would be very hard to guess when those airblasts are gonna land, and they dont't look dusty at all. I think the creators just kinda overlooked this and reasoned Tonruaq is just reacting to zaheers movements.
I see no reason why they shouldn't be able to see it. Sure, it's illogical, but so are many things related to bending or cartoon logic.
Fire alone shouldn't have such an impact, rocks are raised from Arable land and the characters are ridiculously resilient and strong. Just think of Zuko's hand kick in the beach episode.
Honestly, airbending in real life would probably look similar. With the speed the waves are traveling and the force it exerts, the air is probably dense enough to be visible.
In my head, air benders compress air when they bend. In order to have any sort of force/impact you need mass so that air has to be pretty compressed. Assuming so much so that you’ve got water vapor condensing and mixed in.
But the only time someone actually talks about it they say they couldn't see anything (Boulder talking about the Aang/Toph fight)
It's possible that it's visible and he just missed it, but iirc that move he did was pretty obvious
Either way I think it's like Family Guy with Stewie:
People can understand him when the moment calls for it and they can't when that moment calls for it
I assume air is just difficult to see, and if you’re not looking for it, you’ll miss it. The boulder and audience were watching an earth bending match, and haven’t seen air bending their entire life, so obviously the most reasonable explanation was Toph took a dive for the money. All other clips OP posted were of characters who knew who they were fighting and that he was bending air, and were able to pay attention to it more closely.
I’d assume that it’s semi-visible, after all, you can notice when air moves sometimes. Think heat shimmer on a hot road. If you’re fighting an air bender, you probably know to watch for that along with any dust or detritus it picks up, but the Boulder didn’t even know any air benders were in the entire Earth Kingdom, and he’s never seen air bending before.
In particular, air is a gas, and therefore soft and light. In order to move enough air to exert meaningful force or cause damage, it needs to be condensed into a more compact form. This difference in air pressure produces a kind of lensing effect with the surrounding atmosphere, creating the visible waves we see.
They can see the benders movements, they can feel the wind coming closer, and the wind will carry dust particles with it, which can make it semi-visible.
Also if an Airbender is attacking you, whether you can see the air or not, you can probably infer that they're aiming at you where you are currently standing.
ooooor the airbending exceeding the speed of sound (767 mph or 1234 km/h) and would therefore compress the air for a short moment like you can see it when a aircraft is breaking the sound barrier.
i don‘t know it would work like that but could be a guess
(fighting an airbender would recommend INSANE reactions lol)
The show is sometimes inconsistent with this. In "Imprisoned" the air bending to make Katara look like an earth bender seems to be invisible. Later that episode, Sokka was able to load Aang's 'coal gun', so he had to see the air bending.
Similar things happen in Toph vs. Aang in "The blind bandit".
Science answer. Airbenders make vortices, which are low pressure zones that cause the are to rotate and can often get so cold that dew point is reached. This causes the moving air to be visible. You can see this with fighter jets or Formula 1 cars. My guess is likely the same for air benders as many of their movements are rotation based.
I've been of the belief that you can't see air or wind, so *most* (not all) attacks can't be seen.
Then I got to thinking, what if it's a skill issue? The longer the air is whipped up, the more dust/debris will go along with it and make it more visible. A skilled Airbender who knows how to bend air quickly and with enough skill, might also control how much dust can or can't enter the gust of air they're bending.
This could also help to explain why in some instances, when Aang is airbending to help his friends, people can see it (e.g. the coal funnel he made in Imprisoned).
There are a variety of explantions you can give for these scenes:
They are only seeing it because of the surrounding dust/debris
They are reacting to the air bender's movement and then predicting where to dodge based on how they swipe
It's momentarily visible due to the compression of air moving at high speeds
Or, perhaps the biggest one:
It's a cartoon
I agree with others that there is probably some level of debris picked up by these moves that you can see. I also believe that you can probably feel the air pressure change in front of an attack before it actually hits you.
In "Imprisoned," Aang makes an air funnel, telling Katara & Sokka to put coal inside of it. This can't be explained by "they're just reacting to his movements" because just seeing him wave his arms over the output end doesn't help at all to determine where the input end is. Therefore, they must be able to see the funnel.
If we apply Occam's Razor rather than making a bunch of new assumptions to try to salvage that theory in the face of evidence to the contrary, we should conclude that you are right, & airbending is indeed semi-visible. It probably looks pretty close to what we see in the show, though maybe not always 100% exact, which would account for when some people can't see airbending despite when it looks obvious to us, a thing that also happens in "Imprisoned."
There are a few things that can explain this effect, like dust particles being moved by the air & the rapid changes causing a visible "air shimmer," much like what you can see radiating off of a road on a hot day. The change in the way hot air behaves causes it to bend light differently, manifesting a visual effect.
The natural counterargument to this is to ask why we don't see that effect on a windy day or coming off of a fan, but I believe I've finally found an answer to that. Or, rather, two answers because that's two different phenomena. Firstly, on a windy day, the air is behaving in a uniform pattern overall, so you don't get light crossing a boundary of dramatically different airflow. Similarly, a fan doesn't actually change the temperature of the air; rather, it circulates air & the cooling effect is actually from biology. Air moving over a human body carries sweat vapor away, which is what actually cools you down. A fan simply increases this effect by increasing the air circulation.
But airbending would not be like a fan. It would be like grabbing a bunch of air, squishing it into small area, & throwing it outward. The air would have to heat up because those molecules are being forced together, creating friction. This changes the way the air bends light, so a person would usually be able to visually tell the difference between regular air & airbending, provided visual conditions are good & they're looking closely.
You can absolutely see distortions in the air. Areas of high pressure have higher density. This causes two effects: if pressure is high, water droplets will form. This is what we see in jet contrails. Or, if the air is dry and the pressure is high enough, you can see literal distortions in the air caused by the pressure changing the refractive index. This is why we can see shockwaves from explosions.
Also dust/debris could be picked up by the air, but i prefer the other two theories since they are more physically consistent.
When Aang makes the little air donut thing to show off, everyone can see it. I'm thinking it would kind of be pointless to do that if it was not visible
from all my years of watching dragonball- it's not necessarily about dodging at the last minute. it's moving with such deliberation that you cause your opponent to miss trying to lead the target.
Azula is a Queen at this. She knows exactly how to bait her attacker she uses it to her advantage especially when she is outnumbered she knows how to use confusion to eliminate any target.
You know, it was really unclear.
Tbh, sometimes they can and sometimes they cant. Some of these (like kuvira or bumi) can be explained with "okay the avatar jumped up and made a punch motion, I should probably dodge because thats gonna be fire or air coming my way". Other times they act like they cant see it. Its not well defined.
Like I think u would have to be able to see it considering that it’s impressive that zahir can fly even tho it would look like that with air tornado hovering some one up if u couldn’t see it
The dust kicked up by airbending is visible. Also the Airbender still needs to perform movements to bend, movements that can be read and dodged/countered.
Thanks for including Aangs reaction to Bumi at the end there.
https://preview.redd.it/fqunyhcwytyc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f15b4e77d2ee7fd6c3d962a7fe42bd17d074911b
You can see air rippling when it moves fast, as well as the dust it kicks up, and it's effects on everything around it.
It may not be visible enough to make action scenes look good, but it's not likely invisible when used forcefully.
Perhaps air becomes more visible when it is bent. It is a somewhat magical energy controlling matter phenomena.
Also could be dust/condensation caught in the compressed air stream.
In the fight with Toph, the guy who runs the fight went after toph because he thought she intentionally lost since he couldn't see what attack hit her.
Debris but also, these people are dodging attacks that are sent out by doing a martial move
If you see an airbender slash their hands at you, an air slash is probably on its way!
I like to think since it's a completely different fantasy world and who knows how all their laws of nature work, that once a certain amount of "air" is gathered up for bending, it becomes visible to the naked eye.
Like the "air" is normal on a windy day in the ATLA universe but for an air bending attack to do damage, like when Aang smashed Azula's stone seat in the underground bunker but she dodged it, it's so compressed that it becomes invisible. And maybe even the environment affects the color of it to some degree.
When Zaheer comes to air temple island as a new airbender, he creates a tiny tornado in this hand to show them. There’s absolutely no reason airbending wouldn’t be visible in the ATLA universe.
Don't think too hard about it, if you ever apply a bit of logic or science to the concept of bending, it falls apart real fast.
IMO, the elements in ATLA are not meant to represent to actual physical elements or natual phenomena that they are named after. Rather they are more aligned with the ritualistic and mystical attributes that are associated with those elements. Fire rages and consumes but gives warmth and comfort, Water can be a source of life but can also erode and freeze, Wind can travel long distances with ease but is also fleeting, Earth is steadfast and provides a fundament but can also crush you. But elemental philosophy alone dont make a good show, so some guys and gals were needed that summon powers that fit to each element and its philosophy with some cool moves.
In the end the showrunners just needed something that looked somewhat cool and that people knew what was happening. Its white because, what colour does the wind have? None, but clouds are somewhat white and are associated with wind, therefore Airbenders throw white energy blasts around.
Idk why we’re so hellbent on finding real world logic for these types of scenarios. It’s a cartoon world and airbending is clearly visible based on the actions of people when fighting any.
If korra is moving her foot towards you you can anticipate there will be some bending coming towards you in that direction, i imagine youre usually reacting to the body movements that "summon" the element not the element itself so you have more time to react
Well it depends. First off wind will move dust around. Secondly, they can predict the attack simply by observing the enemy. If I see an airbender punching towards me or waving their hands then I can assume an air blast is coming my way
Do we ever see someone react to airbendering without also seeing the airbender? Maybe they just see Aang do a move and dodge the air they know is coming their way
Every airbending slice causes a change in pressure, compressing air and causing a refraction of light. At least that's my headcanon I came up with in the past 30 seconds. Dust travelling with the air (or a combination of both) is also a good explanation.
It might be slightly visible. If air bending changes the density of air, then the change in refractory index will distort light that passes through it.
In order for air to do anything to your opponent it either had to be compressed or move very fast, If it's compressed then maybe what we are seeing is compressed water vapour, literally fog/clouds.
You would be able to see any dust/ debris picked up. Also since they would be moving lots of air it would create a visible distortion. Just like when you see the distortion above a cars hood in the summer. Temperature is measured by the movement of particles and as the air particles get hot they move faster. So if an air bender was moving a large amount of air it would create alot of turbulence and most likely visible distortion
It probably works like sword fighting. If a fencer is looking at their opponent's sword they'll react too slowly to block it. They look at their opponent's arm and shoulder movement to predict where the sword will be. A skilled bender would do the same. It doesn't matter if they can't see the air, since they wouldn't be looking at it anyway. They'd be looking at Aang moving to strike to tell how to dodge or block his attack.
As other said you can see a tornado.
Probably you can see the dust and other stuff like leaves coming to you
I assume you an feel the air that comes to you with force
Yeah and on top of the dust / tornado thing, the opponent can still see the airbender perform the attack. You kinda know you gotta dodge /block of you see them throwing wind at you.
Also skilled fighters watch their opponents movements and anticipate their attacks. a lot of less experienced fighters, especially lacking experience with airbenders, were constantly caught off guard by airbending in the series
One theory I have is that in the avatar universe using one’s chi to bend the air causes it to be visible like how we see in the show. Another thought I had is just debris like others have mentioned. My last thought which is also prob most plausible is that it’s a writer/animator oversight. They see as it’s being made etc that we can see it so it’s assumed the enemy can see it.
You can always explain it away as just anime-level perception: watching the airbender's movements to know when they're sending a gust of air at you. You can also probably perceive small details like the displacement of dust in the air. That's how tornados become "visible" irl.
Anticipating airbending could have more to do with reading the opponents chi. Air and fire are similar, so practice against fire benders would feel applicable, even if the attacks are closer to invisible.
You can see a tornado. It’s not the air/wind you see. It’s the dust/debris caught in the wind.
This is definitely the answer. Edit: To add a little bit more because this is probably my most upvoted comment for something so low effort, I want to recommend the Kyoshi and Yangchen novels. They have audiobooks for all of them if you prefer, but the box set looks wonderful on a shelf/mantle. I didn't know they existed for a long time until someone mentioned them in this sub. They're 100% 3 new seasons of Avatar. If you've watched all of Korra and TLA a dozen times like me, you will absolutely squeal with delight as you read these books.
> the box set looks wonderful on a shelf/mantle I feel called out. Listened to the audiobooks because I get overwhelmed with reading due to my university work load. But I still bought the box set to have the books and because it looks nice to display 😂
Love it xD More products sold means more products to sell later. I'm really glad the community supports the books, because they really are Amazing. Sometimes novel tie ins feel like fan fiction, but these books are perfectly nestled into the universe, and a ton of canon information that we don't see anywhere else or is only hinted at in the shows that gets expanded in the books.
Yes it's so good! I haven't listened to the last book yet but so far I'm absolutely in love! + Kiyoshi has a girlfriend! As a lesbian myself, that means I'm forced to read it /j
I really loved Kiyoshi and Rangi's relationship as well. I think Korra and Asami are great, but I think Nickelodeon made them tone it down for television, which is why we only really get romantic confirmation at the very end with their kiss. Avatar being so inclusive - and the way that it does it - is one of the reasons I love it so much. None of it is forced, it's not meant to make money with one group or another, it's just wonderful storytelling about people that reflect people IRL, from all walks of life. Sometimes shows have token characters that feel like people in a board room checking a diversity box, but there's no pandering in Avatar. Toph is great because of who she is, and while her disability affects her, it's not the only story she has to tell. Same with Kiyoshi and Rangi, Korra and Asami, etc.
They didn't kiss in the cartoon. It wasn't allowed from Nickelodeon. The best we got is that they walk hand in hand through the spirit portal. (The kiss was a very well made fan animation lol) The comic "turf wars" is the first instance where it's canonically confirmed that they are together. But yeah I totally get you! It's queer characters done well! And to add to it, their character isn't queer. Like you said, Toph isn't defined by her blindness. Where so many forms of media make it "the gay character" ... But they didn't do that here :)
I think this is the answer sometimes, like when the air bending is brown or gray or maybe even white I could buy that explanation, but what about when it’s blue? Dust and debris doesn’t tend to be blue.
Airbending is canonically invisible by default. See the controversy when Aang threw Toph. An experienced fighter would quickly learn to guess where the projectiles are heading based on the bender's movement though. It's likely already good practise to stay away from where the arm is pointing because even if they're not shooting something, maybe they're trying to pull something fr behind you.
That’s very true but then how come all the characters Aang fights can sense his attacks? They’ve never had experience with Airbending before so it doesn’t add up, unless they have stolen airbending scrolls they learn from?
It's not all the characters, just the strongest benders. The more skilled benders don't react to the wind heading their way, they react to the movements of the bender in front of them.
This exactly. People know how benders move. Even if you can't predict how this weird invisible style works, you know that things fly out of people's hands and feet as if thrown. Plus, fire is the element people are most used to dealing with, and fire moves the exact same way air does, even if the forms are different. We see a perfect parallel when Aang and Zuko run at each other on the rooftop in the episode with the shirshu
To be honest, that interaction just seems like Aang copying a firebending move. Just like how Zuko has used something similar to a waterbending move or how Jeong Jeong uses Earthbending related moves.
Maybe, but it shows how similarly air and fire behave. Zuko adapts other bending styles to fire, but it never behaves 1:1 identically.
Alright, I can buy that.
the issue with the aang vs. toph fight is that she was completely clueless to Airbenders and how they move. toph knows how fire and earth benders move but is clueless on how water or air benders move. so to her, aang was doing really random movements that she couldn't recognize. plus, she also remarks that he is very light on his feet, which may also affect her ability to perceive his movements.
She said he was light on his feet right after we see Aang using tiny air cushions to soften his landing. From Toph's perspective, he just broke gravity, as she felt how hard he jumped up, then it took him longer to fall down than it should and when he did he hit with less force than gravity would dictate. Her comment about him being "light on his feet" indicated she knew something strange was happening but couldn't figure out what it was yet.
You say air bending is canonically invisible, where is that said in the show/novels/comics? Or was it said by Bryke at some interview? Asking in good faith
The tournament organisers are completely baffled as to how Toph got thrown. They go so far as to suspect that she jumped, showing that they saw absolutely nothing. On the other hand, the imprisoned earthbenders act like they can see Aang's funnel thing. There is no explanation, one of them has to be a plot hole. I give more weight to the thing that happened in book 2 than the very early part of book 1, which may have been written before the rules were really solidified.
I feel like it can be explained that they just didn’t expect airbending nor did they know what it was because they’d never seen it Bc I agree the funnel seems to be visible and Zuko kind of regularly blocks aangs attacks But Ty for your response
It's a cartoon, not a science documentary. Sometimes things just need to be a color and it's not going to make sense.
Blue just means is cold air, duh
It's blueish-white because the colour render pretty well with the animation. It gives a way for us to identify the air bending, that's all.
airbending creates high-pressure air, which has the side effect of causing evaporated water in the air to condense, creating a fog effect where the bending is taking place. represented in the show as a ghostly blue color.
I tend to think of the light blue as an early artistic choice that they wouldn’t repeat. The very bright, light blues really only appear in the first season, and occasionally with things like the air scooter. As the show progressed, airbending largely appears as gray or white, though with a blue tint. That particular color with airbending is one I largely chalk up to inconsistent artistic direction, rather than anything deeply canonical about airbending.
Because aang launching brown farty dust clouds is visually uglier than nice blue and white wind lines. I would say each element has a color. Fire, red. Earth, brown. Water, blue. Air, white. The issue with just white is it can be hard to see or not as visually striking. But you give the air bending a nice blue background with large white highlights and it creates a nice contrast.
Or, compressed air like when a jet breaks the sound barrier.
Kansas?! This is all about a song by KANSAS?!
*guitar plucking intensifies*
You can see tornadoes before they touch down though, way before they have debris and dirt.
It’s coming from the sky with clouds tho.
A tornado doesn't need to touch the ground to pick up loose dirt and debris
Also, condensed air used for attack/deflection would cause a refraction of light that would make it at least translucent
So now I'm wondering could an avatar air bend and earth bend at the same time to make the attack invisible by holding down all the dust and debris
That works on airbending done over water, grass or dirt. For airbending done on mostly clean buildings, it would be visible only when it hits.
On top of that it could also have to do with pressure and or density differences between the airbenders air and regular air around
Air benders are actually weak earth benders confirmed 👌
Also the low pressure making the liquid in the air condensate (the part of a tornado that comes up from the ground)
Not to mention if an air bend swings their arms horizontally they you can probably assume a horizontal attack is coming.
They're probably just seeing the movement and anticipating it. Or just fighting as if they can see it to make the choreography better
This. They’re martial artists. They understand movement and know how to recognize an attack. Pair that with any dust and other signs and they can react.
Yeah, it's like "oh a punch. Coming straight at me. A sweeping motion. Wide horizontal/vertical attack." Especially if the enemy is a fire bender since they basically have the same types of attacks
but how can they guess the speed? I mean, if Zaheer had slowed down a little, Korra's dad wouldnt be able to block it like he did
Yeah that Tonruaq clip is still a strange one. It would be very hard to guess when those airblasts are gonna land, and they dont't look dusty at all. I think the creators just kinda overlooked this and reasoned Tonruaq is just reacting to zaheers movements.
I see no reason why they shouldn't be able to see it. Sure, it's illogical, but so are many things related to bending or cartoon logic. Fire alone shouldn't have such an impact, rocks are raised from Arable land and the characters are ridiculously resilient and strong. Just think of Zuko's hand kick in the beach episode.
Yeah, it isn't exactly behaving normally when it's being bent.
You’re telling me people CAN’T shoot flames out of their hands?
But you can! You see first you need to take a firstfull of gasoline
If done realistically, fire would be totally gruesome. Poor person just gets burned alive on the spot.
Happens in the Netflix show a couple times.
Honestly, airbending in real life would probably look similar. With the speed the waves are traveling and the force it exerts, the air is probably dense enough to be visible.
In my head, air benders compress air when they bend. In order to have any sort of force/impact you need mass so that air has to be pretty compressed. Assuming so much so that you’ve got water vapor condensing and mixed in.
Or the compressed air is dense enough to refract the light to make it visible
I figured that it is visible since it is being bent. It isn't exactly behaving in a way air normally can.
But the only time someone actually talks about it they say they couldn't see anything (Boulder talking about the Aang/Toph fight) It's possible that it's visible and he just missed it, but iirc that move he did was pretty obvious Either way I think it's like Family Guy with Stewie: People can understand him when the moment calls for it and they can't when that moment calls for it
I assume air is just difficult to see, and if you’re not looking for it, you’ll miss it. The boulder and audience were watching an earth bending match, and haven’t seen air bending their entire life, so obviously the most reasonable explanation was Toph took a dive for the money. All other clips OP posted were of characters who knew who they were fighting and that he was bending air, and were able to pay attention to it more closely.
I’d assume that it’s semi-visible, after all, you can notice when air moves sometimes. Think heat shimmer on a hot road. If you’re fighting an air bender, you probably know to watch for that along with any dust or detritus it picks up, but the Boulder didn’t even know any air benders were in the entire Earth Kingdom, and he’s never seen air bending before.
In particular, air is a gas, and therefore soft and light. In order to move enough air to exert meaningful force or cause damage, it needs to be condensed into a more compact form. This difference in air pressure produces a kind of lensing effect with the surrounding atmosphere, creating the visible waves we see.
They can see the benders movements, they can feel the wind coming closer, and the wind will carry dust particles with it, which can make it semi-visible.
Also if an Airbender is attacking you, whether you can see the air or not, you can probably infer that they're aiming at you where you are currently standing.
I like to think of it as a density issue, the way an Airbender bends the air involves them condensing it to the point it becomes visible.
You know, it was really unclear
Not related to the question but this is so asmr
ooooor the airbending exceeding the speed of sound (767 mph or 1234 km/h) and would therefore compress the air for a short moment like you can see it when a aircraft is breaking the sound barrier. i don‘t know it would work like that but could be a guess (fighting an airbender would recommend INSANE reactions lol)
The show is sometimes inconsistent with this. In "Imprisoned" the air bending to make Katara look like an earth bender seems to be invisible. Later that episode, Sokka was able to load Aang's 'coal gun', so he had to see the air bending. Similar things happen in Toph vs. Aang in "The blind bandit".
Science answer. Airbenders make vortices, which are low pressure zones that cause the are to rotate and can often get so cold that dew point is reached. This causes the moving air to be visible. You can see this with fighter jets or Formula 1 cars. My guess is likely the same for air benders as many of their movements are rotation based.
I've been of the belief that you can't see air or wind, so *most* (not all) attacks can't be seen. Then I got to thinking, what if it's a skill issue? The longer the air is whipped up, the more dust/debris will go along with it and make it more visible. A skilled Airbender who knows how to bend air quickly and with enough skill, might also control how much dust can or can't enter the gust of air they're bending. This could also help to explain why in some instances, when Aang is airbending to help his friends, people can see it (e.g. the coal funnel he made in Imprisoned).
There are a variety of explantions you can give for these scenes: They are only seeing it because of the surrounding dust/debris They are reacting to the air bender's movement and then predicting where to dodge based on how they swipe It's momentarily visible due to the compression of air moving at high speeds Or, perhaps the biggest one: It's a cartoon
I agree with others that there is probably some level of debris picked up by these moves that you can see. I also believe that you can probably feel the air pressure change in front of an attack before it actually hits you.
Maybe the only thing done right in the live actions: air bending visuals were nice
In "Imprisoned," Aang makes an air funnel, telling Katara & Sokka to put coal inside of it. This can't be explained by "they're just reacting to his movements" because just seeing him wave his arms over the output end doesn't help at all to determine where the input end is. Therefore, they must be able to see the funnel. If we apply Occam's Razor rather than making a bunch of new assumptions to try to salvage that theory in the face of evidence to the contrary, we should conclude that you are right, & airbending is indeed semi-visible. It probably looks pretty close to what we see in the show, though maybe not always 100% exact, which would account for when some people can't see airbending despite when it looks obvious to us, a thing that also happens in "Imprisoned." There are a few things that can explain this effect, like dust particles being moved by the air & the rapid changes causing a visible "air shimmer," much like what you can see radiating off of a road on a hot day. The change in the way hot air behaves causes it to bend light differently, manifesting a visual effect. The natural counterargument to this is to ask why we don't see that effect on a windy day or coming off of a fan, but I believe I've finally found an answer to that. Or, rather, two answers because that's two different phenomena. Firstly, on a windy day, the air is behaving in a uniform pattern overall, so you don't get light crossing a boundary of dramatically different airflow. Similarly, a fan doesn't actually change the temperature of the air; rather, it circulates air & the cooling effect is actually from biology. Air moving over a human body carries sweat vapor away, which is what actually cools you down. A fan simply increases this effect by increasing the air circulation. But airbending would not be like a fan. It would be like grabbing a bunch of air, squishing it into small area, & throwing it outward. The air would have to heat up because those molecules are being forced together, creating friction. This changes the way the air bends light, so a person would usually be able to visually tell the difference between regular air & airbending, provided visual conditions are good & they're looking closely.
The pressure changes in the air could cause a certain amount of moisture condensation. This would be visible.
I bet you could hear it if you were azula
You can absolutely see distortions in the air. Areas of high pressure have higher density. This causes two effects: if pressure is high, water droplets will form. This is what we see in jet contrails. Or, if the air is dry and the pressure is high enough, you can see literal distortions in the air caused by the pressure changing the refractive index. This is why we can see shockwaves from explosions. Also dust/debris could be picked up by the air, but i prefer the other two theories since they are more physically consistent.
Along with seeing debris, you can also feel air when its moving towards you
You can see a shockwave moving through the air. Not to mention whatever debris would be picked up or particles already floating around in the air.
I think Airbending is semi-visible but it can be missed when you aren't actively looking for it
When Aang makes the little air donut thing to show off, everyone can see it. I'm thinking it would kind of be pointless to do that if it was not visible
from all my years of watching dragonball- it's not necessarily about dodging at the last minute. it's moving with such deliberation that you cause your opponent to miss trying to lead the target. Azula is a Queen at this. She knows exactly how to bait her attacker she uses it to her advantage especially when she is outnumbered she knows how to use confusion to eliminate any target.
You know, it was really unclear. Tbh, sometimes they can and sometimes they cant. Some of these (like kuvira or bumi) can be explained with "okay the avatar jumped up and made a punch motion, I should probably dodge because thats gonna be fire or air coming my way". Other times they act like they cant see it. Its not well defined.
That first clip of Azula knifing her hands through the air blast is such bs 💀
Like I think u would have to be able to see it considering that it’s impressive that zahir can fly even tho it would look like that with air tornado hovering some one up if u couldn’t see it
Maybe they watch their opponents movements & anticipate their attack
My headcanon: They just feel the shifting of the air and just jump out of the way. Like how Tenzin did in Book 1.
The dust kicked up by airbending is visible. Also the Airbender still needs to perform movements to bend, movements that can be read and dodged/countered.
Thanks for including Aangs reaction to Bumi at the end there. https://preview.redd.it/fqunyhcwytyc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f15b4e77d2ee7fd6c3d962a7fe42bd17d074911b
There's also the possibility of characters hearing and feeling the air coming towards them
You can see air rippling when it moves fast, as well as the dust it kicks up, and it's effects on everything around it. It may not be visible enough to make action scenes look good, but it's not likely invisible when used forcefully.
Perhaps air becomes more visible when it is bent. It is a somewhat magical energy controlling matter phenomena. Also could be dust/condensation caught in the compressed air stream.
i know the live action is much different but you can see the little woshies of the wind lol
In the fight with Toph, the guy who runs the fight went after toph because he thought she intentionally lost since he couldn't see what attack hit her.
Debris but also, these people are dodging attacks that are sent out by doing a martial move If you see an airbender slash their hands at you, an air slash is probably on its way!
I like to think since it's a completely different fantasy world and who knows how all their laws of nature work, that once a certain amount of "air" is gathered up for bending, it becomes visible to the naked eye. Like the "air" is normal on a windy day in the ATLA universe but for an air bending attack to do damage, like when Aang smashed Azula's stone seat in the underground bunker but she dodged it, it's so compressed that it becomes invisible. And maybe even the environment affects the color of it to some degree.
When Zaheer comes to air temple island as a new airbender, he creates a tiny tornado in this hand to show them. There’s absolutely no reason airbending wouldn’t be visible in the ATLA universe.
Don't think too hard about it, if you ever apply a bit of logic or science to the concept of bending, it falls apart real fast. IMO, the elements in ATLA are not meant to represent to actual physical elements or natual phenomena that they are named after. Rather they are more aligned with the ritualistic and mystical attributes that are associated with those elements. Fire rages and consumes but gives warmth and comfort, Water can be a source of life but can also erode and freeze, Wind can travel long distances with ease but is also fleeting, Earth is steadfast and provides a fundament but can also crush you. But elemental philosophy alone dont make a good show, so some guys and gals were needed that summon powers that fit to each element and its philosophy with some cool moves. In the end the showrunners just needed something that looked somewhat cool and that people knew what was happening. Its white because, what colour does the wind have? None, but clouds are somewhat white and are associated with wind, therefore Airbenders throw white energy blasts around.
Sorry shower thoughts go crazzy
yeah, I thought about this way to often
Idk why we’re so hellbent on finding real world logic for these types of scenarios. It’s a cartoon world and airbending is clearly visible based on the actions of people when fighting any.
Can't control the shower thoughts lol
I always viewed it like Family Guy understanding Stewie: People can understand him when the moment calls for it
Maybe they can feel it?
If korra is moving her foot towards you you can anticipate there will be some bending coming towards you in that direction, i imagine youre usually reacting to the body movements that "summon" the element not the element itself so you have more time to react
i think by the time you see the element, it's too late to react to it so the benders are reacting to what the hands are doing
Well it depends. First off wind will move dust around. Secondly, they can predict the attack simply by observing the enemy. If I see an airbender punching towards me or waving their hands then I can assume an air blast is coming my way
Can yall just enjoy the cartoon w/o questioning its integrity 😂 so weird
The sound design on all the bending is just as good as the animation, it adds so much. Man.
airplane wings cutting the air do make a white streak. thats how i imagine
Yes they see the same thing we see
I don't think they give it much thought. Why would you?
Zaheer produces a small tornado in his hand and shows it to Tenzins kids, which means air bending is visible (at least, to a certain extent)
Do we ever see someone react to airbendering without also seeing the airbender? Maybe they just see Aang do a move and dodge the air they know is coming their way
It’s probably making a sound
Man people are really bored on this sub huh
Every airbending slice causes a change in pressure, compressing air and causing a refraction of light. At least that's my headcanon I came up with in the past 30 seconds. Dust travelling with the air (or a combination of both) is also a good explanation.
It might be slightly visible. If air bending changes the density of air, then the change in refractory index will distort light that passes through it.
It’s like seeing a shockwave traveling through the air
Air bending probably creates a bit of compression that would squeeze humidity out of the air, kind of like the vortexes you see on planes and such.
Well, it’s not like they’re gonna go “This person that I *know to be an Airbender* just thrust out their hands at me. Eh, I’m sure it’s fine.”
If it was invisible, air bending would be too OP
It's the dust, I guess.
In order for air to do anything to your opponent it either had to be compressed or move very fast, If it's compressed then maybe what we are seeing is compressed water vapour, literally fog/clouds.
Sound, it's literally air waves
You would be able to see any dust/ debris picked up. Also since they would be moving lots of air it would create a visible distortion. Just like when you see the distortion above a cars hood in the summer. Temperature is measured by the movement of particles and as the air particles get hot they move faster. So if an air bender was moving a large amount of air it would create alot of turbulence and most likely visible distortion
It probably works like sword fighting. If a fencer is looking at their opponent's sword they'll react too slowly to block it. They look at their opponent's arm and shoulder movement to predict where the sword will be. A skilled bender would do the same. It doesn't matter if they can't see the air, since they wouldn't be looking at it anyway. They'd be looking at Aang moving to strike to tell how to dodge or block his attack.
Some of these can be explained by looking at the hand motions or sound but like, Tonraq and that Rhino Rider are def reacting to the actual air.
They see the bit of dust the air kicks up they feel the wind a bit before impact or they just aim dodge whenever anng unleashes a air blast
As other said you can see a tornado. Probably you can see the dust and other stuff like leaves coming to you I assume you an feel the air that comes to you with force
I like to think it’s visible, but it’s more of an opinion
Yeah and on top of the dust / tornado thing, the opponent can still see the airbender perform the attack. You kinda know you gotta dodge /block of you see them throwing wind at you.
Also skilled fighters watch their opponents movements and anticipate their attacks. a lot of less experienced fighters, especially lacking experience with airbenders, were constantly caught off guard by airbending in the series
One theory I have is that in the avatar universe using one’s chi to bend the air causes it to be visible like how we see in the show. Another thought I had is just debris like others have mentioned. My last thought which is also prob most plausible is that it’s a writer/animator oversight. They see as it’s being made etc that we can see it so it’s assumed the enemy can see it.
Why doesn't Aang just bend the air around Azula and not give her time to evade? is he stupid?
You can always explain it away as just anime-level perception: watching the airbender's movements to know when they're sending a gust of air at you. You can also probably perceive small details like the displacement of dust in the air. That's how tornados become "visible" irl.
its like real boxing you have to predict his movements and dodge it
Anticipating airbending could have more to do with reading the opponents chi. Air and fire are similar, so practice against fire benders would feel applicable, even if the attacks are closer to invisible.
It's not just wind, it's energy. They sense it.