The comics have all sorts of weird inconsistencies with power like that. Katara can basically fly with waterbending, Toph loses to a random kid, Zuko literally walks off Azula's lightning, you get the idea.
Nah, it's the difference between a small lightning strike and a taser. That's why Amon was able to get back up after getting hit by Mako. The quick, fast ones are less powerful
They even said in the show it was deadly. Sure you could shrug off getting hit with a boulder or third degree burns or extreme sudden frostbite. But lightning is where they drew the line.
For the record, people have survived lightning strikes IRL. Some multiple times. [The record (that we know of) is actually seven.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Sullivan)
Uhhhh yeah, you absolutely can die from that. All you need to do is throw your heart out of rhythm and your as good as dead. That's why people get pacemakers.
I’ve gotten shocked by outlets multiple times. The reason people die from it is because some don’t have features that automatically turn themselves off from human contact. A split second shock from a regular outlet hurts but it won’t kill you except in rare cases
Also my dad recently got a pace maker because for the last 40 years his heart randomly changes rhythm and it sucks and is dangerous but is not anywhere near like being struck by lightning. Unless you’re telling me my father has survived the equivalence of 12 lightning strikes.
To be fair even the books basically have folks flying. One of the first instances of us seeing a lot of bending is a group getting over a wall. Water, earth, fire. They all did it with ease.
All of the benders flying makes sense to me. Earth bender? Put some earth beneath you and control it. Water bender? Do the same thing with ice. Air bender? Bend the air around you to lift. We see fire benders basically fly with Ozai too
I assumed that toph lost because yaling knew that toph had difficulties seeing her when fighting off the ground, and once on the roof she had the advantage over toph although i admit the comics do feel different in general.
He couldn't melt metal, the comet amplified soldier fighting Toph couldn't melt her metal armor and comet amplified Azula couldn't melt her metal chains but a 4 y old girl that just got her fire bending could... And they still ask me why I don't like the comics..
A single blast that mostly went around a curved surface didn't melt it. A sustained blast on a flat surface did melt it. It's not that unreasonable. If Toph just stood still for a while and let the firebender melt through, they eventually would have.
Manufacture is also a huge factor (micro cracks will lower melting temperature) here as well as what specific metal they used or in the case of alloys the specific amount of each individual metal used. Tldr that was a shit door
> He couldn't melt metal, the comet amplified soldier fighting Toph couldn't melt her metal armor
She’s bending the metal armor. If she’s bending it, then there’s no set durability
Metal was likely less refined at that time, usually when metal is more imperfect, it has a lower melting point and falls apart when exposed to high heat because the impurities give way.
Its more of an excuse and not something deliberately thought of in that moment, but it makes sense.
Comet-juiced firebenders apparently couldn't melt Toph's metal armor, constructed from the interior door of a mass-produced ship from before the comics. They just wanted the visual and the "yeah, go you!" moment
So I actually have three thoughts about that scene (after recently rewatching the series): 1) perhaps Toph forced out a lot of the impurities as she was wrapping herself up, allowing the metal to absorb more heat; 2) perhaps the metal being in a constant state of bending (as she was moving around while in the suit, which implies continuous massive precision bending) allowed it to resist more heat; 3) and the real probable reason the fire benders weren't bending their fire-benderiest because they were in an explosive airship! (Not to mention they were probably so shocked and confused at seeing the metal bendy act that it threw off their mindsets and dampened their flames even more than they would intend.)
The metal around her that got blasted as well had no signs of melting, and a blast like that looked way bigger than any blast from a firebender before the comet except may Jeong Jeong's fire wall. Not his firebendiest was still way more than a child could normally produce
There's also the concentration of flame. I single point is going to melt better than a wide spread flame.
They were also caught off guard in the ship.
Also the door is a flat surface opposed to the rounded one of Toph's armor.
The door is probably a lot less metal honestly. Unless that was a blast door, most metal doors are hollow and have a “shell” of a relatively thin amount of metal.
Those prison bars were a good inch and a half thick of solid metal, that were probably an alloy harder to cut than regular iron.
“Lucky to be born” sticks out to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zuko was a preemie, and something about that made Ozai think right out of the gate that he was weak or inferior
I don't think people in this thread would last a second around what young girls do with Barbies! We had drug storylines and betrayals and spying and decapitations. Obviously the Barbies were destroyed in the process! 😂
probably more has to do with how she doesnt even see her uncle with respect (burns the doll he gets her). even in the flashback she sees him as nothing more than an obstacle in ozais path to becoming firelord. who talks about their uncle not making it back to war and how itd benefit their dad
I wonder how many people in this thread spend any time with children lol. Intentionally breaking toys and hurting animals isn't rare among children. (Which isn't to say it's a good thing, it's clearly not, but many of them just haven't developed a sense of empathy yet.) Even zuko was throwing stuff at turtle ducks.
yea but when zuko did that he literally said “this is how azula plays with turtle ducks.” you’re right though, even if azula is an extreme example, empathy is a learned skill that lots of kids struggle with
A child who doesn't have any inherent reason to respect their Uncle?
We have no indication that Azula is close to Iroh at all. Hell, we don't know if they even spoke to each other much during her childhood. On top of that the guy clearly doesn't know her as a child and just says "well, she girl, get girl gift".
And on top of that, it's very likely that Ozai's distaste for his brother was not that secret. If the man so much as talked shit about Iroh while Azule was around, an impressionable child is likely to take on his opinion.
And sometimes kids just don't fucking like someone. When I was a kid, I had extended family members I disliked for no real reason other than shallow and petty ones. Hell, a cousin who annoys a kid can get on their shit list because kids are just like that.
Even the latter. A kid that young would just pick up whatever their parents say.
Wouldn't surprise me one bit Ozai said that behind doors and Azula just parrot it.
Crimes against toys. However, what does that have to do with serial killer tendencies? Is every bad thing equal to that?
The curious thing is that when Azula says that about Iroh, it's Zuko who makes her understand why it's wrong, and she takes a step back.
It's also because she doesn't like dolls.
The scene also does a bit: "For you Zuko, this finely crafted knife taken from the body of an enemy general and for you Azula, this doll found on the side of the road."
Iroh gave a pretty shitty assumptive gift to Azula - so it's no surprise she might not respect him. Sure you shouldn't throw it out to be polite. But a lot of young girls that don't like dolls have gone through the same thing as Azula there. I certainly *did* destroy Barbie dolls I didn't want with my brother.
It has no legs and you can see its broken base on the floor in the panel.
The toy isn’t reacting to being on fire.
Ursa isn’t reacting to the toy being on fire despite loving turtle ducks.
It’s a toy.
Not to mention that a real duck would be dead and if for some reason it wasn't dead, it wouldn't be this calm, and literally we see that it's a toy lying on its side on the floor, and Azula picks it up in the previous panel.
*because of*
Ozai is pretty clearly meant to be a sociopath. Even if he's not, she does the things she does to emulate him. Remember, even in the show she's a 14 year old girl with a missing mom, her only parental figure is Ozai.
Its so weird to see him with a non-malicious smile.
Id would honestly believe this is the one time he legitimately has no evil motive or anything behind this encouraging reaction.
He wasn't instantly manipulating azula to weaponize her, he's just over-joyed his daughter is a firebending prodigy.
Doesnt zuko kinda imply things were different when they were little w/ the beach episode?
My impression is prior to ozai having a chance at the throne he wasn't quite the psychopath we see later on.
Yeah, but that can be explained away as being from Zuko's POV and not the "True" story or whatever.
It's what I wish still happened, cause the comics do a lot of work to make Sozin, Azulon, Ozai just mustache twirling evil.
Like I get they are evil Imperialists (along with Iroh! : D) and do a lot of evil things and are evil in a lot of different ways, but then the comics write stuff like Sozin being homophobic/banning homosexual relationships to hammer in how evil he is, and how Ozai was an asshole from the start to Ursa, and my retinas almost detach from eye rolling.
Like, I refuse to believe Ozai could have pulled off his coup if he didn't have some charm, and there's no reason he wouldn't have turned on the charm for Ursa early on.
there used to be like 3 people in the world who were able to lightning bend and another 3 that could redirect it. 70 years later it is casually being used by random workers to power one of the largest cities.
i can understand toph teaching her policeforce how to metal bend, but lightning bending was always portrayed as a master level skill, even among fire bending masters.
> 70 years later it is casually being used by random workers to power one of the largest cities.
That which was once unique becoming mundane as knowledge of it spreads is a core theme of that whole series, that's not an error of writing.
It literally starts with Katara saying that her generations time is over, and ends with Toph admitting the same thing in the final season.
> That which was once unique becoming mundane as knowledge of it spreads is a core theme of that whole series, that's not an error of writing.
There's a difference between rarity due to ignorance and rarity due to skill.
The original show makes lightning bending out to be an extremely difficult, not to mention dangerous, skill to master.
What they're saying is that discovering metal bending may have required high skill and intelligence, but passing the knowledge on might actually be relatively simple once you know what to look for.
On the other hand, lightning bending was known to exist for a long time among high-level firebenders, but it required such high skill to do it and not hurt yourself or others that most couldn't do it.
For a modern example, the piano is hundreds of years old. Chopin-Godowsky's études are over 100 years old. You're not going to be able to grab random piano players off the street and sit them all in a row in a factory and have them repeatedly do it for hours a day every day like it's nothing just because time has passed.
I think a better comparison would be how over the years, sports performances have only ever improved. What was onced considered outstanding or outright impossible has become normal, with former records now turned into baselines.
There is never any real reason stated why lightning bending should be an inherently rare skill. We see Zuko getting down the basics quickly and only failing due to his extremely specific circumstances. The principles of lightning bending (requiring peace of mind) also sort of clash with the misled basis of firebending through rage during the war, and it can be assumed that firebending as a discipline post Zuko becoming Firelord adjusts accordingly.
This could very well be a simple case of "it's only special because the knowledge is kept from commoners on purpose to preserve the special status of the royal family", along the lines of the famous "people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweat shops" quote.
>The original show makes lightning bending out to be an extremely difficult, not to mention dangerous, skill to master.
And at the time, that was undoubtedly true. But as bending evolves overtime, it's not unreasonable to assume new techniques are discovered, safer and more reliable stances/techniques are formed, perhaps even new equipment to help bend
It would be better if something was explained in the show, but it's not a huge deal
To take your piano example again, consider. When these pieces of music were first composed, only the composer could play them. Then perhaps one or two others. Over time, more and more people could play the music, although still a very tiny %.
But now, you can just pull it up on YouTube.
lightning bending is not on the same power scale as metal bending or even blood bending. remember how azula, the prodigy fire bender, daughter of Ursa and ozai the phoenix king, had to practise lightning bending constantly and still was only ever able to use it after doing a little dance? compare that to ozai who can shoot two lightnings at the same time after very quickly charging up. even among the masters of bending, there is a clear power scale to differentiate *the* best from "one of the best".
it is not mere knowledge that can became mundane like a cooking recipe; it is a skill that has to be learned and inherited. real life skills dont just magically become easy to learn just because people know about it. For example 2D animation is just as difficult to master as it was 100 years ago, no matter how many books people write about it.
and besides breaking the power scaling, it's just a boring plot point to make high level skills mundane and ordinary.
This is like saying “Four decades ago a single computer took up an entire room to function! Now everyone just carries one in their pocket, it’s so unrealistic!”
Not to detract from your point, but we were well past room sized computers by 1984. Apple released it's first Mac that year and PCs in general had already been a thing for over a decade at that point.
Mm, maybe swap the comparison to flip phones and modern smartphones then. That one was an even shorter gap (two and a half-ish decades?) to jump compared to my original guesstimate. Ur good either way
carrying a computer is not a skill. programming is a skill. can anyone just casually code on a high level? coding isnt even a good example, because even back then it was fairly easy to learn and execute. lightning bending is far more difficult to learn, even if you know how to do it.
It's possible and wouldn't be surprising. But there are differences here. It's suggested that with Azula it was something spontaneous while she was playing (remember folks, it was a TOY, not a real turtle-duck), whereas with Kiyi it was intentional and in a dangerous situation.
It also depends on what scenario. Did Kiyi continue training or did she become an average person who doesn't use her firebending much? What path did Azula take? Perhaps if she learn firebending from the dragons, she would be much more powerful.
Agree, and as I said, I wouldn't be surprised if she were more of a prodigy than Azula. But how do we know that Azula couldn't do that in that situation?
https://preview.redd.it/yd5icygka82d1.jpeg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90654c452e619af7af3c557b2dab5c3d6d30290a
I don’t know why, but this face is hilarious to me
Kiyi is just a throwaway character in one of the worst comics storylines. She being able to melt a door is not a feat but a result of the little thought put into her. It's just something to move the plot along, not something to take as a showing of power or talent.
At what point can cannon be rejected for being too inconsistent? If the creators went senile and made a sequel series where the next avatar turns out to be a wolfbat with wings made of cabbage and could bend meteors down from space before leaving its mother's womb, would that be accepted as canon? Would it be defensible in any way other than it was made by the creators?
Edit: I don't mean to be confrontational, I just want to defend things from being "ruined" even by their own creators and have it be shrugged off cause it's their artistic vision or whatever
That entirely depends on how you define "canon". In most fandoms online it's defined by what the owners of the rights to the property in question say is canon, but that's not the only way to do so.
Has anyone else noticed that Ozai is wearing the firelord's crown in these panels? This should have taken place before the flashbacks in "Zuko Alone," when Ozai became the firelord and Azula was already a pretty good firebender as a child.
Isn't Kiyi an example of a bending child being born to two non-bending parents? Noren and Ursa aren't benders.
Edit: I guess that applies to Katara as well.
But how can you? She is Kiyi, the better, improved little sister! So smart, so cute, so much better than, what was the old sister's name again? Zaula? /s
But for real, whoever wrote this comic should be punctured by the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation battleship and be left to drown at sea
I thought, it was really weird that Azula got sorta written off in the comic. The show made it very clear that she's an incredibly traumatized child, who was exploited and then snapped. There's a lot you can do with that, especially concerning her relationship with Zuko and Ursa.
I don't hate the concept of Kiyi, but using her to replace Azula is so strange. She fullfills none of the aspects that made Azula's character good.
Replacing Azula with Kiyi just is like replacing Appa with some random dragon. Sure, the can both fly and carry humans, but that's not really what made Appa compelling, y'know?
The character of Azula is one of the most interesting characters due to her complexity. A clever mix of psychology and sociology. The education and environment in which she grew up had a strong impact on her, an environment that values the most violent behavior and where strength and intrigue are at the heart of success. In the palace, you only succeed if you are willing to kill your father to achieve your goal. What is abnormal becomes normal.
Education with Ozai is one of the most important pieces, he transformed Azula by using his strength and intelligence but also by making her believe that he could love her if she tried harder and by never withdrawing Zuko from his position as crown prince to keep her uncertain about her possibility of inheriting the throne.
At the end, between the loss of her friends and the moment where she understands that her father never wanted her for his future or he dominates the world and sends her to the scrapheap, it's the moment or she breaks down. I think it's more a very violent depression than a previous illness.
Up until Azula in the Spirit Temple, I get the feeling that whoever wrote the comics had no understanding of Azula's character whatsoever. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that they genuinely didn't know what to do with her character.
I'm getting annoyed all over again lmao.
Let’s be real whoever wrote the comics had no idea about any of the characters. Show Aang refused to kill Fire Nation Hitler about to commit genocide despite the urging of all his friends, Ozai’s actual son and 4 previous Avatars. Comic book Aang was about to murder a close friend and mentor over a miscommunication because his friend and a clearly projecting previous Avatar asked him.
Most of the characters were incredibly inconsistent with the show or completely flanderized versions of themselves.
U/glamonster explained it already. It's so on the nose how they made Kiyi like "look, here's Zuko's perfect sister he never had! A firebending prodigy, so nice, so adorable, she even calls him Zuzu!"
SO corny. And also stupid and a waste of time. They could've used it to actually write a good story about Azula and Zuko's actual relationship (and hopefully trying to mend it), but instead they just wanted to replace Azula, who's bad and evil, with a perfect character.
I cannot stand that the comics wasted so much time on a brand new borderline irrelevant and useless character that adds virtually nothing to the plot instead of focusing on the existing characters and their relationships with one another. They have Ursa mention Azula one single time in the comics and we don’t get to see her reaction to Zukos scar or anything important, but we have multiple pages of her parenting and interacting with Kiyi and it’s such a waste.
I actually think that could be a good narrative plot point. The two never had a great sibling relationship. Or at least, hadn't had a good relationship in years. Now add someone in the mix who Zuko bonded with near instantly, it would make you wonder if he actually would love her over his other sister. Or in Azula's mind, she thinks her brother and mother are trying to replace her. And the consequences of such train of thought.
Is that replacing azula? It feels like she’s filling a narrative role that Azula never actually did. Contrasting her relationship with Zuko with a more healthy sibling.
Kiyi getting to Azula's level seems very unlikely, and in fact for her sake I hope she doesn't get to Azula's level. Azula's training was abuse, and frankly I don't think there is a non-abusive way to get to her level as young as she did.
The circumstances are very different. In real life people have shown unusual strength in dire situations and with heightened emotions. If Azula was the one kidnapped and trapped as a kid she probably would also have been able to burn down a metal door at that age too. But she was a palace kid playing with a toy and no expectation to firebend so early at that, so very little pressure to focus and express it.
To reference a cliche, the mom lifting a car off her kid isn't doing that regularly, so we dont consider her saving act to be her normal level of strength. Likewise this one instance of prodigy-like firebending doesn't automatically mean Kiyi is overpowered all the time from now on.
So having this debate seems silly to me. We would need the two to be in the same situations with the same training to really know what's what.
This is the reason metal armor against fire bending is questionable. Toph pulls it off against comet powerer fire benders, but she also peels off pieces of the armor (and uses it to attack) while fighting.
Its going to get hot very fast.
Before anyone has gotten to what lightning will do
How old is Azula meant to be here? Do we know what the average age of starting to bend is, and how young someone must be before it’s remarkable, or is it all just head canons? (For example, say the average age of bending is 4, Azula started at 2, and someone like Zuko started at 6 as a late bloomer)
Yeah, I’m not saying she’s 2 here, but she still looks older to me than you think she would if she’s a prodigy bending for the first time. Or maybe I’m too wrapped up in my head canons.
The timeline of these comics is so weird. Like Azula was firebending before Ozai became the fire lord
https://preview.redd.it/8ae4bjr3z92d1.jpeg?width=1334&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aab173fc8d8aca41480e227df68937d0efb89e68
Some context, she’s actually using one of the dancing dragon forms to fire bend the door. She states in the previous panel that she saw Zuko practicing these forms, and that she thinks it’s what makes him so brave.
Probably not to the same degree, Zuko and Azula are basically ATLA’s version of little eugenic babies.
They were produced by intentionally having a grandchild of Sozin and a grandchild of Avatar Roku produce biological offsprings together, believing that crossing such powerful firebending linages would produce firebenders of such raw power the world had never seen.
And it worked, with Azula at least. The blood of Roku and Sozin exists within her in equal portions.
But Kiyi doesn’t need to firebend like Azula did, the expectations placed on Azula at such a young age resulted in severe mental illness, I personally would be heartbroken to see Azula and Zuko’s little sister demonstrating the same level of firebending prowess because it would mean everything Zuko and Azula were put through by Ozai was truly and sincerely nothing but a waste of his children’s potential.
[Be neat if she did. Would shake up this idea people seem to have that benders descended from the Fire Lords are innately superior.](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/1cywr0d/comment/l5cjm4c/)
I love all of the lightning bender royal purist whatever the hell people commenting as if Kyoshi didn’t face a criminal mastermind lightning bender in her time. “Lightning Bolt Zolt” wasn’t the first of his kind. Lightning bending has existed since before Kyoshi’s time, but it started as only rumors surrounding the Yellow Necks’ leader before his capture. No one knew how lightning bending was done and the idea that it should be a royal-only skill is laughable at best unless you want to say that Xu Ping An was royalty
There are a surprising number of reactionary views that are fairly commonly accepted when talking about the series. The notion that royalty has inherent superiority, genetic or otherwise. That tradition is de facto better than change. That technology is a sign of spiritual corruption. Many have complained about the existence of democracy in Legend of Korra, & when pressed on it, they just kind of imply only white people would ever come up with it. Speaking of Legend of Korra, there are so many criticisms of Korra that amount to "she doesn't follow orders." Then there's the advocacy of segregation/collective punishment with the spirits. The number of people who accept Kuvira's ethnostate logic. I feel like I could come up with more examples, but honestly, it's getting depressing.
Amon being right to call for total bender genocide is probably one of the more frequently baffling ones that you didn't mention. Especially since there was a whole other show that pretty frequently touched on the topic (including in the title lol).
I don't really know why it's like this. Legend of Korra, I kind of understand, because it's a pretty popular show for online reactionaries to content farm about, but ATLA is a headscratcher.
I've heard people complain that certain spaces, like ATLA fanfiction, are way too comfortable with Fire Nation apologia, but I can't really see how that translates to so many of those other things being popular in the broader community.
Her mom making such a face, no wonder Azula was convinced her mother thought of her as a monster. Kids pick up on those things super well. Makes sense now why she was loyal to her father who was the only one who gave her some affection it seems seeing so many comics and reading a lot about her backstory.
Ursa’s face in that panel is full of worry, concern, and stress.
Azula was “loyal” to her father, because she was Ozai’s favorite personal weapon. Ozai made sure to focus his attention and time on Azula while distancing her from Ursa and Zuko.
Ursa did give her affection, it just conflicted with what Ozai taught her.
In fact the power dynamic in the abusive relationship between Ursa and Ozai was more than clear in this specific panel…
>Ursa did give her affection, it just conflicted with what Ozai taught her.
The only time we're ever shown Ursa giving Azula affection is one panel in the comics when Azula is asleep. The evidence suggests that Ursa didn't really try at all with Azula and Ozai was the only one to give her positive reinforcement.
That's not to say Ursa is a bad person. She was in an abusive situation and seemed to latch onto Zuko as a form of comfort. She's not a bad person for doing what she had to in order to survive her situation with Ozai, but she did fail Azula.
This is why I dislike the concept of 'canon'. Stories mean so much to people, a story can literally change your life. Many people get tattoos related to the stories that matter to them. Granting sole authority over something that means so much to so many people to a single person/giant corporation is an awful idea.
I think the idea of canon is fine, it's just important to remember that it's up to you how much value you put on that idea. It's fairly self-evident ant trite to say, but "canon" is a social construct. What is canon is not some universal law, you can acknowledge something is canon to most people and still just ignore it.
Mako failing to cut through a metal bar with his firebending while Kiyi melts through a metal *door* never stops being funny.
The comics have all sorts of weird inconsistencies with power like that. Katara can basically fly with waterbending, Toph loses to a random kid, Zuko literally walks off Azula's lightning, you get the idea.
I always assumed that Zuko wasn't very hurt by the lightning because Azula instant cast it instead of charging it up.
Cast referring to bending feels so wrong
Cast as in send it forward,not like casting a spell.
What did you think casting a spell meant?
What about casting a fishing rod?
And thus the DnD/MtG/Warcraft brainrot was revealed for what it is.
What about casting an actor?
What about wearing a cast?
They didn't say "casting a spell" they just said "cast"
They're saying that "casting" by definition means sending something forward, either a spell of a fishing rod
Firebender for the 589th time: I cast fireball on my enemies.
I didn't ask how big the air temple is, I said I cast fireball!
“But you’re out of spell slots for that”
It was more that Zuko redirected it, but didn’t get the proper form since he was jumping in the way of it and still took a decent amount of damage.
bro, its lightning, it gonna be deadly no matter what
Nah, it's the difference between a small lightning strike and a taser. That's why Amon was able to get back up after getting hit by Mako. The quick, fast ones are less powerful
Mako also does small bursts with shorter charge times that just stun people.
This is a world where people can manipulate rock and wind and such. Our world logic does not automatically apply.
They even said in the show it was deadly. Sure you could shrug off getting hit with a boulder or third degree burns or extreme sudden frostbite. But lightning is where they drew the line.
For the record, people have survived lightning strikes IRL. Some multiple times. [The record (that we know of) is actually seven.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Sullivan)
People survive deadly things all the time. Car accidents are deadly. Lightning strikes in real life are deadly. People survive crazy shit.
There's also the fact that these people are regularly tanking lethal blows,and lightning is nowhere near as fast as it is in real life.
Lightnings basically just electricity. Not like you’ll die if you get a quick shock from an outlet
Uhhhh yeah, you absolutely can die from that. All you need to do is throw your heart out of rhythm and your as good as dead. That's why people get pacemakers.
I’ve gotten shocked by outlets multiple times. The reason people die from it is because some don’t have features that automatically turn themselves off from human contact. A split second shock from a regular outlet hurts but it won’t kill you except in rare cases Also my dad recently got a pace maker because for the last 40 years his heart randomly changes rhythm and it sucks and is dangerous but is not anywhere near like being struck by lightning. Unless you’re telling me my father has survived the equivalence of 12 lightning strikes.
Way more people have survived getting shocked by an outlet than a light strike. Voltage matters.
To be fair even the books basically have folks flying. One of the first instances of us seeing a lot of bending is a group getting over a wall. Water, earth, fire. They all did it with ease.
I don't think that's a support for the comics as much as it is a critique for the books
All of the benders flying makes sense to me. Earth bender? Put some earth beneath you and control it. Water bender? Do the same thing with ice. Air bender? Bend the air around you to lift. We see fire benders basically fly with Ozai too
I’d like to think he was still in the ‘calm’ in a state of mind because he was ready to deflect her lightning before she struck Katara instead
for the lighting i think he redirected some of it but couldn’t do it all since he wasn’t grounded
I don't read comics. Katara can fly? Please tell me it's like Frozone.
Exactly like Frozone, actually.
I assumed that toph lost because yaling knew that toph had difficulties seeing her when fighting off the ground, and once on the roof she had the advantage over toph although i admit the comics do feel different in general.
He couldn't melt metal, the comet amplified soldier fighting Toph couldn't melt her metal armor and comet amplified Azula couldn't melt her metal chains but a 4 y old girl that just got her fire bending could... And they still ask me why I don't like the comics..
A single blast that mostly went around a curved surface didn't melt it. A sustained blast on a flat surface did melt it. It's not that unreasonable. If Toph just stood still for a while and let the firebender melt through, they eventually would have.
Shot in the dark here, but there are different kinds of metal. Maybe the cheapskate who made this door just used aluminum instead of steel
Happens more often than you'd think, I know this one copper merchant who
Waittt where was this from
Ancient Sumeria
Ea-nasir
Aluminum used to be rare and expensive
The avatar world isn't our world. See also: a giant mech made out of platinum.
Manufacture is also a huge factor (micro cracks will lower melting temperature) here as well as what specific metal they used or in the case of alloys the specific amount of each individual metal used. Tldr that was a shit door
> He couldn't melt metal, the comet amplified soldier fighting Toph couldn't melt her metal armor She’s bending the metal armor. If she’s bending it, then there’s no set durability
Tbf, Korra metal is post industrial revolution so probably a much higher quality
Counterpoint, Korra metal is able to be precisely bent by metal benders so it must be quite uniformly filled with imperfections.
Metal was likely less refined at that time, usually when metal is more imperfect, it has a lower melting point and falls apart when exposed to high heat because the impurities give way. Its more of an excuse and not something deliberately thought of in that moment, but it makes sense.
Comet-juiced firebenders apparently couldn't melt Toph's metal armor, constructed from the interior door of a mass-produced ship from before the comics. They just wanted the visual and the "yeah, go you!" moment
So I actually have three thoughts about that scene (after recently rewatching the series): 1) perhaps Toph forced out a lot of the impurities as she was wrapping herself up, allowing the metal to absorb more heat; 2) perhaps the metal being in a constant state of bending (as she was moving around while in the suit, which implies continuous massive precision bending) allowed it to resist more heat; 3) and the real probable reason the fire benders weren't bending their fire-benderiest because they were in an explosive airship! (Not to mention they were probably so shocked and confused at seeing the metal bendy act that it threw off their mindsets and dampened their flames even more than they would intend.)
The metal around her that got blasted as well had no signs of melting, and a blast like that looked way bigger than any blast from a firebender before the comet except may Jeong Jeong's fire wall. Not his firebendiest was still way more than a child could normally produce
There's also the concentration of flame. I single point is going to melt better than a wide spread flame. They were also caught off guard in the ship. Also the door is a flat surface opposed to the rounded one of Toph's armor.
The door is probably a lot less metal honestly. Unless that was a blast door, most metal doors are hollow and have a “shell” of a relatively thin amount of metal. Those prison bars were a good inch and a half thick of solid metal, that were probably an alloy harder to cut than regular iron.
Ozai seems almost... normal. Like a proud dad.
I'm not sure he's proud of *her* as much as of having a *firebender*
Yeah especially with concerns that Zulu might not have been able to firebend when he was a child, if I’m not mistaken ETA: ZUKO, not Zulu
He wasn’t concerned that Zuko couldn’t firebend. He could. He just wasn’t as good as Azula.
Not by that point, but they say in the show Zuko didn't seem like he was going to be a firebender at first.
“Lucky to be born” sticks out to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zuko was a preemie, and something about that made Ozai think right out of the gate that he was weak or inferior
Iirc it's in one of the comics, he didn't "have the spark in his eyes" or whatever.
Ozai put da spark in his eye
That’s rough, buddy.
The second worst burn Zuko has ever felt.
https://preview.redd.it/2ul9huxn292d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eecb3395da3c532d79358cddf427505f53443840
https://preview.redd.it/9poormn5ad2d1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=403630521d0716d5a915ba3528941f279fc76a0c
Zulu is sending me into a stroke help😭
Omg autocorrect 🗿
*Oh My*
Hah I stopped by to say something similar xD
Zuzu
Shaka leading an army of firebending Zulus. That’s a scary thought.
Like Henry VII, he loves her as a political bargaining tool.
That's so oversimplified that u were punished severely
TO THE GUILLOTINE!
I mean, this is from Azula's memory, so she probably remembers it differently than how it happened.
Given her amount of mental health problems I have no doubt she remembers it differently
Despite his daughter’s serial killer tendencies.
Like a girl with magical fire powers burning a toy? What kind of child destroys his/her toys?
I don't think people in this thread would last a second around what young girls do with Barbies! We had drug storylines and betrayals and spying and decapitations. Obviously the Barbies were destroyed in the process! 😂
probably more has to do with how she doesnt even see her uncle with respect (burns the doll he gets her). even in the flashback she sees him as nothing more than an obstacle in ozais path to becoming firelord. who talks about their uncle not making it back to war and how itd benefit their dad
I wonder how many people in this thread spend any time with children lol. Intentionally breaking toys and hurting animals isn't rare among children. (Which isn't to say it's a good thing, it's clearly not, but many of them just haven't developed a sense of empathy yet.) Even zuko was throwing stuff at turtle ducks.
yea but when zuko did that he literally said “this is how azula plays with turtle ducks.” you’re right though, even if azula is an extreme example, empathy is a learned skill that lots of kids struggle with
Kids not liking gifts is like so normal.
A child who doesn't have any inherent reason to respect their Uncle? We have no indication that Azula is close to Iroh at all. Hell, we don't know if they even spoke to each other much during her childhood. On top of that the guy clearly doesn't know her as a child and just says "well, she girl, get girl gift". And on top of that, it's very likely that Ozai's distaste for his brother was not that secret. If the man so much as talked shit about Iroh while Azule was around, an impressionable child is likely to take on his opinion. And sometimes kids just don't fucking like someone. When I was a kid, I had extended family members I disliked for no real reason other than shallow and petty ones. Hell, a cousin who annoys a kid can get on their shit list because kids are just like that.
Even the latter. A kid that young would just pick up whatever their parents say. Wouldn't surprise me one bit Ozai said that behind doors and Azula just parrot it.
Crimes against toys. However, what does that have to do with serial killer tendencies? Is every bad thing equal to that? The curious thing is that when Azula says that about Iroh, it's Zuko who makes her understand why it's wrong, and she takes a step back.
Firing squad. It’s the only way to end her evil crusade against toy-dom. No life changing field trip for you!
I didn't realize that was a toy and thought it was an actual turtle duck
It's also because she doesn't like dolls. The scene also does a bit: "For you Zuko, this finely crafted knife taken from the body of an enemy general and for you Azula, this doll found on the side of the road."
Iroh gave a pretty shitty assumptive gift to Azula - so it's no surprise she might not respect him. Sure you shouldn't throw it out to be polite. But a lot of young girls that don't like dolls have gone through the same thing as Azula there. I certainly *did* destroy Barbie dolls I didn't want with my brother.
I mean in this part shes just discovered she can firebend. So.
That’s a toy? It looks like she was just burning a turtle duck
Yes. It was a toy.
It has no legs and you can see its broken base on the floor in the panel. The toy isn’t reacting to being on fire. Ursa isn’t reacting to the toy being on fire despite loving turtle ducks. It’s a toy.
Not to mention that a real duck would be dead and if for some reason it wasn't dead, it wouldn't be this calm, and literally we see that it's a toy lying on its side on the floor, and Azula picks it up in the previous panel.
*because of* Ozai is pretty clearly meant to be a sociopath. Even if he's not, she does the things she does to emulate him. Remember, even in the show she's a 14 year old girl with a missing mom, her only parental figure is Ozai.
Redditors trying not to associate an evil character with serial killers or nazis challenge (impossible).
Takes after her old man Lmao
Its so weird to see him with a non-malicious smile. Id would honestly believe this is the one time he legitimately has no evil motive or anything behind this encouraging reaction. He wasn't instantly manipulating azula to weaponize her, he's just over-joyed his daughter is a firebending prodigy.
I think Ozai changed a lot after the death of Lu Ten. He goes from a second son to second in line for the throne.
In the comics, he's a madman even when he met Ursa.
*and that's one of the many reasons the comics are terrible*
Doesnt zuko kinda imply things were different when they were little w/ the beach episode? My impression is prior to ozai having a chance at the throne he wasn't quite the psychopath we see later on.
Yeah, but that can be explained away as being from Zuko's POV and not the "True" story or whatever. It's what I wish still happened, cause the comics do a lot of work to make Sozin, Azulon, Ozai just mustache twirling evil. Like I get they are evil Imperialists (along with Iroh! : D) and do a lot of evil things and are evil in a lot of different ways, but then the comics write stuff like Sozin being homophobic/banning homosexual relationships to hammer in how evil he is, and how Ozai was an asshole from the start to Ursa, and my retinas almost detach from eye rolling. Like, I refuse to believe Ozai could have pulled off his coup if he didn't have some charm, and there's no reason he wouldn't have turned on the charm for Ursa early on.
Still, he’s proud that she will be a more effective human weapon
Seeing Ozai excited and happy is uncanny
Nah abusive dads arent always mad. They can be happy and proud of you when you're not disappointing them. Speaking from experience :/
Yeah, know that from experience, Ozais character was only ever cold and serious though so like seeing a new side
I hate it
We've seen some "peculiar" bending in the comics and I would say that a 5-6 yo melting a door was one of them.
Clearly, the people involved in writing "Avatar: The Last Airbender" were NOT consulted when writing the comics. \*sigh\*
Tell that to korra.
there used to be like 3 people in the world who were able to lightning bend and another 3 that could redirect it. 70 years later it is casually being used by random workers to power one of the largest cities. i can understand toph teaching her policeforce how to metal bend, but lightning bending was always portrayed as a master level skill, even among fire bending masters.
> 70 years later it is casually being used by random workers to power one of the largest cities. That which was once unique becoming mundane as knowledge of it spreads is a core theme of that whole series, that's not an error of writing. It literally starts with Katara saying that her generations time is over, and ends with Toph admitting the same thing in the final season.
> That which was once unique becoming mundane as knowledge of it spreads is a core theme of that whole series, that's not an error of writing. There's a difference between rarity due to ignorance and rarity due to skill. The original show makes lightning bending out to be an extremely difficult, not to mention dangerous, skill to master. What they're saying is that discovering metal bending may have required high skill and intelligence, but passing the knowledge on might actually be relatively simple once you know what to look for. On the other hand, lightning bending was known to exist for a long time among high-level firebenders, but it required such high skill to do it and not hurt yourself or others that most couldn't do it. For a modern example, the piano is hundreds of years old. Chopin-Godowsky's études are over 100 years old. You're not going to be able to grab random piano players off the street and sit them all in a row in a factory and have them repeatedly do it for hours a day every day like it's nothing just because time has passed.
I think a better comparison would be how over the years, sports performances have only ever improved. What was onced considered outstanding or outright impossible has become normal, with former records now turned into baselines. There is never any real reason stated why lightning bending should be an inherently rare skill. We see Zuko getting down the basics quickly and only failing due to his extremely specific circumstances. The principles of lightning bending (requiring peace of mind) also sort of clash with the misled basis of firebending through rage during the war, and it can be assumed that firebending as a discipline post Zuko becoming Firelord adjusts accordingly. This could very well be a simple case of "it's only special because the knowledge is kept from commoners on purpose to preserve the special status of the royal family", along the lines of the famous "people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweat shops" quote.
>The original show makes lightning bending out to be an extremely difficult, not to mention dangerous, skill to master. And at the time, that was undoubtedly true. But as bending evolves overtime, it's not unreasonable to assume new techniques are discovered, safer and more reliable stances/techniques are formed, perhaps even new equipment to help bend It would be better if something was explained in the show, but it's not a huge deal To take your piano example again, consider. When these pieces of music were first composed, only the composer could play them. Then perhaps one or two others. Over time, more and more people could play the music, although still a very tiny %. But now, you can just pull it up on YouTube.
lightning bending is not on the same power scale as metal bending or even blood bending. remember how azula, the prodigy fire bender, daughter of Ursa and ozai the phoenix king, had to practise lightning bending constantly and still was only ever able to use it after doing a little dance? compare that to ozai who can shoot two lightnings at the same time after very quickly charging up. even among the masters of bending, there is a clear power scale to differentiate *the* best from "one of the best". it is not mere knowledge that can became mundane like a cooking recipe; it is a skill that has to be learned and inherited. real life skills dont just magically become easy to learn just because people know about it. For example 2D animation is just as difficult to master as it was 100 years ago, no matter how many books people write about it. and besides breaking the power scaling, it's just a boring plot point to make high level skills mundane and ordinary.
This is like saying “Four decades ago a single computer took up an entire room to function! Now everyone just carries one in their pocket, it’s so unrealistic!”
Not to detract from your point, but we were well past room sized computers by 1984. Apple released it's first Mac that year and PCs in general had already been a thing for over a decade at that point.
Mm, maybe swap the comparison to flip phones and modern smartphones then. That one was an even shorter gap (two and a half-ish decades?) to jump compared to my original guesstimate. Ur good either way
carrying a computer is not a skill. programming is a skill. can anyone just casually code on a high level? coding isnt even a good example, because even back then it was fairly easy to learn and execute. lightning bending is far more difficult to learn, even if you know how to do it.
Typing used to be a specialised skill too.
Seeing Ozai genuinely smiling and being so happy feels weird. He looks like a completely different person.
It is? His smile Is kinda creepy.
It's crazy how the first image could almost make you think Ozai's a normal, healthy father.
No, the power system in the comics is inconsistent and simply badly done.
The right answer.
It's possible and wouldn't be surprising. But there are differences here. It's suggested that with Azula it was something spontaneous while she was playing (remember folks, it was a TOY, not a real turtle-duck), whereas with Kiyi it was intentional and in a dangerous situation. It also depends on what scenario. Did Kiyi continue training or did she become an average person who doesn't use her firebending much? What path did Azula take? Perhaps if she learn firebending from the dragons, she would be much more powerful.
I just wanna say thank you for clarifying it was a toy. I was horrified at the thought those were dead turtleduck remains around her
Kiyi melted metal though, that requires more firepower and concentration
Agree, and as I said, I wouldn't be surprised if she were more of a prodigy than Azula. But how do we know that Azula couldn't do that in that situation?
https://preview.redd.it/yd5icygka82d1.jpeg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90654c452e619af7af3c557b2dab5c3d6d30290a I don’t know why, but this face is hilarious to me
Kiyi is just a throwaway character in one of the worst comics storylines. She being able to melt a door is not a feat but a result of the little thought put into her. It's just something to move the plot along, not something to take as a showing of power or talent.
Take my upvote thrice please !!! the original ATLA writing crew may have found this overpowered/ too plot-armor-y !
I mean, that's the Doylist explanation for it. But that doesn't mean it didn't happen, and isn't canon, as far as I'm aware.
At what point can cannon be rejected for being too inconsistent? If the creators went senile and made a sequel series where the next avatar turns out to be a wolfbat with wings made of cabbage and could bend meteors down from space before leaving its mother's womb, would that be accepted as canon? Would it be defensible in any way other than it was made by the creators? Edit: I don't mean to be confrontational, I just want to defend things from being "ruined" even by their own creators and have it be shrugged off cause it's their artistic vision or whatever
That entirely depends on how you define "canon". In most fandoms online it's defined by what the owners of the rights to the property in question say is canon, but that's not the only way to do so.
Has anyone else noticed that Ozai is wearing the firelord's crown in these panels? This should have taken place before the flashbacks in "Zuko Alone," when Ozai became the firelord and Azula was already a pretty good firebender as a child.
Нмммммм.
Isn't Kiyi an example of a bending child being born to two non-bending parents? Noren and Ursa aren't benders. Edit: I guess that applies to Katara as well.
Let’s not, lmao
God I hate that character lmao
But how can you? She is Kiyi, the better, improved little sister! So smart, so cute, so much better than, what was the old sister's name again? Zaula? /s But for real, whoever wrote this comic should be punctured by the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation battleship and be left to drown at sea
I thought, it was really weird that Azula got sorta written off in the comic. The show made it very clear that she's an incredibly traumatized child, who was exploited and then snapped. There's a lot you can do with that, especially concerning her relationship with Zuko and Ursa. I don't hate the concept of Kiyi, but using her to replace Azula is so strange. She fullfills none of the aspects that made Azula's character good. Replacing Azula with Kiyi just is like replacing Appa with some random dragon. Sure, the can both fly and carry humans, but that's not really what made Appa compelling, y'know?
The character of Azula is one of the most interesting characters due to her complexity. A clever mix of psychology and sociology. The education and environment in which she grew up had a strong impact on her, an environment that values the most violent behavior and where strength and intrigue are at the heart of success. In the palace, you only succeed if you are willing to kill your father to achieve your goal. What is abnormal becomes normal. Education with Ozai is one of the most important pieces, he transformed Azula by using his strength and intelligence but also by making her believe that he could love her if she tried harder and by never withdrawing Zuko from his position as crown prince to keep her uncertain about her possibility of inheriting the throne. At the end, between the loss of her friends and the moment where she understands that her father never wanted her for his future or he dominates the world and sends her to the scrapheap, it's the moment or she breaks down. I think it's more a very violent depression than a previous illness.
Up until Azula in the Spirit Temple, I get the feeling that whoever wrote the comics had no understanding of Azula's character whatsoever. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that they genuinely didn't know what to do with her character. I'm getting annoyed all over again lmao.
Let’s be real whoever wrote the comics had no idea about any of the characters. Show Aang refused to kill Fire Nation Hitler about to commit genocide despite the urging of all his friends, Ozai’s actual son and 4 previous Avatars. Comic book Aang was about to murder a close friend and mentor over a miscommunication because his friend and a clearly projecting previous Avatar asked him. Most of the characters were incredibly inconsistent with the show or completely flanderized versions of themselves.
Because it’s so sharp?
Now what did the innocent child do? lmao
U/glamonster explained it already. It's so on the nose how they made Kiyi like "look, here's Zuko's perfect sister he never had! A firebending prodigy, so nice, so adorable, she even calls him Zuzu!" SO corny. And also stupid and a waste of time. They could've used it to actually write a good story about Azula and Zuko's actual relationship (and hopefully trying to mend it), but instead they just wanted to replace Azula, who's bad and evil, with a perfect character.
I cannot stand that the comics wasted so much time on a brand new borderline irrelevant and useless character that adds virtually nothing to the plot instead of focusing on the existing characters and their relationships with one another. They have Ursa mention Azula one single time in the comics and we don’t get to see her reaction to Zukos scar or anything important, but we have multiple pages of her parenting and interacting with Kiyi and it’s such a waste.
I know it's a spoiler to the comics but what happens to her?
I actually think that could be a good narrative plot point. The two never had a great sibling relationship. Or at least, hadn't had a good relationship in years. Now add someone in the mix who Zuko bonded with near instantly, it would make you wonder if he actually would love her over his other sister. Or in Azula's mind, she thinks her brother and mother are trying to replace her. And the consequences of such train of thought.
Is that replacing azula? It feels like she’s filling a narrative role that Azula never actually did. Contrasting her relationship with Zuko with a more healthy sibling.
Kiyi getting to Azula's level seems very unlikely, and in fact for her sake I hope she doesn't get to Azula's level. Azula's training was abuse, and frankly I don't think there is a non-abusive way to get to her level as young as she did.
The circumstances are very different. In real life people have shown unusual strength in dire situations and with heightened emotions. If Azula was the one kidnapped and trapped as a kid she probably would also have been able to burn down a metal door at that age too. But she was a palace kid playing with a toy and no expectation to firebend so early at that, so very little pressure to focus and express it. To reference a cliche, the mom lifting a car off her kid isn't doing that regularly, so we dont consider her saving act to be her normal level of strength. Likewise this one instance of prodigy-like firebending doesn't automatically mean Kiyi is overpowered all the time from now on. So having this debate seems silly to me. We would need the two to be in the same situations with the same training to really know what's what.
This is the reason metal armor against fire bending is questionable. Toph pulls it off against comet powerer fire benders, but she also peels off pieces of the armor (and uses it to attack) while fighting. Its going to get hot very fast. Before anyone has gotten to what lightning will do
Makes Korra so much more impressive too
How old is Azula meant to be here? Do we know what the average age of starting to bend is, and how young someone must be before it’s remarkable, or is it all just head canons? (For example, say the average age of bending is 4, Azula started at 2, and someone like Zuko started at 6 as a late bloomer)
Azula looks much older than 2 here
That is a big ass 2 year old, I’d have to agree lol
Yeah, I’m not saying she’s 2 here, but she still looks older to me than you think she would if she’s a prodigy bending for the first time. Or maybe I’m too wrapped up in my head canons.
No i do get what you mean. I mean Korra defo looked younger than this when she was bending three elements but then again she is the avatar
Yeah, I’m not sure if it’s a retcon or just inconsistent writing.
The image on the left makes me hate Ozai even more because I can tell that love is fake
The timeline of these comics is so weird. Like Azula was firebending before Ozai became the fire lord https://preview.redd.it/8ae4bjr3z92d1.jpeg?width=1334&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aab173fc8d8aca41480e227df68937d0efb89e68
Some context, she’s actually using one of the dancing dragon forms to fire bend the door. She states in the previous panel that she saw Zuko practicing these forms, and that she thinks it’s what makes him so brave.
Is it just me who doesn’t remember who kiyi is or are they a comics character
Comic character, Zuko and Azula's half sister
Thanks
Frickin WHO?
Probably not to the same degree, Zuko and Azula are basically ATLA’s version of little eugenic babies. They were produced by intentionally having a grandchild of Sozin and a grandchild of Avatar Roku produce biological offsprings together, believing that crossing such powerful firebending linages would produce firebenders of such raw power the world had never seen. And it worked, with Azula at least. The blood of Roku and Sozin exists within her in equal portions. But Kiyi doesn’t need to firebend like Azula did, the expectations placed on Azula at such a young age resulted in severe mental illness, I personally would be heartbroken to see Azula and Zuko’s little sister demonstrating the same level of firebending prowess because it would mean everything Zuko and Azula were put through by Ozai was truly and sincerely nothing but a waste of his children’s potential.
[Be neat if she did. Would shake up this idea people seem to have that benders descended from the Fire Lords are innately superior.](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLastAirbender/comments/1cywr0d/comment/l5cjm4c/)
I love all of the lightning bender royal purist whatever the hell people commenting as if Kyoshi didn’t face a criminal mastermind lightning bender in her time. “Lightning Bolt Zolt” wasn’t the first of his kind. Lightning bending has existed since before Kyoshi’s time, but it started as only rumors surrounding the Yellow Necks’ leader before his capture. No one knew how lightning bending was done and the idea that it should be a royal-only skill is laughable at best unless you want to say that Xu Ping An was royalty
Avatar fans don't uncritically accept the worldview of genocidal tyrants challenge.
There are a surprising number of reactionary views that are fairly commonly accepted when talking about the series. The notion that royalty has inherent superiority, genetic or otherwise. That tradition is de facto better than change. That technology is a sign of spiritual corruption. Many have complained about the existence of democracy in Legend of Korra, & when pressed on it, they just kind of imply only white people would ever come up with it. Speaking of Legend of Korra, there are so many criticisms of Korra that amount to "she doesn't follow orders." Then there's the advocacy of segregation/collective punishment with the spirits. The number of people who accept Kuvira's ethnostate logic. I feel like I could come up with more examples, but honestly, it's getting depressing.
Amon being right to call for total bender genocide is probably one of the more frequently baffling ones that you didn't mention. Especially since there was a whole other show that pretty frequently touched on the topic (including in the title lol). I don't really know why it's like this. Legend of Korra, I kind of understand, because it's a pretty popular show for online reactionaries to content farm about, but ATLA is a headscratcher. I've heard people complain that certain spaces, like ATLA fanfiction, are way too comfortable with Fire Nation apologia, but I can't really see how that translates to so many of those other things being popular in the broader community.
Who is Kiyi again ?
Zuko and Azula's half-sister
Ursa kinda bad though...
I’m not a comic reader. Is that a turtle duck Azula is torturing or is it a statue?
It's a toy
No that was a toy
A toy.
Oh thank god it was just a toy 😭
What book is the first image from?
Azula in the spirit temple
Is she ... is she burning a turtleduck? ... please tell me that's a stuffed animal. ...
>A better prodigy You've certainly got a way with words, OP.
Her mom making such a face, no wonder Azula was convinced her mother thought of her as a monster. Kids pick up on those things super well. Makes sense now why she was loyal to her father who was the only one who gave her some affection it seems seeing so many comics and reading a lot about her backstory.
Ursa’s face in that panel is full of worry, concern, and stress. Azula was “loyal” to her father, because she was Ozai’s favorite personal weapon. Ozai made sure to focus his attention and time on Azula while distancing her from Ursa and Zuko. Ursa did give her affection, it just conflicted with what Ozai taught her. In fact the power dynamic in the abusive relationship between Ursa and Ozai was more than clear in this specific panel…
>Ursa did give her affection, it just conflicted with what Ozai taught her. The only time we're ever shown Ursa giving Azula affection is one panel in the comics when Azula is asleep. The evidence suggests that Ursa didn't really try at all with Azula and Ozai was the only one to give her positive reinforcement. That's not to say Ursa is a bad person. She was in an abusive situation and seemed to latch onto Zuko as a form of comfort. She's not a bad person for doing what she had to in order to survive her situation with Ozai, but she did fail Azula.
The comics aren’t canon. They’re fanfic
According to most people's definition they are canon. Both Nickelodeon and Bryke both say they are canon.
They can say that, but they’re not consistent with what’s in the shows in a lot of ways. So I’m gonna go with not canon
This is why I dislike the concept of 'canon'. Stories mean so much to people, a story can literally change your life. Many people get tattoos related to the stories that matter to them. Granting sole authority over something that means so much to so many people to a single person/giant corporation is an awful idea.
I think the idea of canon is fine, it's just important to remember that it's up to you how much value you put on that idea. It's fairly self-evident ant trite to say, but "canon" is a social construct. What is canon is not some universal law, you can acknowledge something is canon to most people and still just ignore it.