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Can we all just agree that Sokka's Master is the pinnacle of the original series
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Sep 17, 2014 19:53
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My only real complaint with the original series is I wish they could have booted out Avatar Day/The Great Divide, keeping any relevant B Plot stuff, and expanding Aang's training under Guru Pahtik, Toph's discovery of metalbending, and Sokka bonding with his dad for another episode. As it stands, Aang's training feels a little rushed, even though it's supposed to take a week (Aang tells Sokka he'll be back in a week, and he is on the final step of his training when he leaves). Another episode to expand on each chakra and the process of opening them would have been nicer for the pacing.
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Sep 17, 2014 20:07
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ROSS MY SALAD posted:Can we all just agree that Sokka's Master is the pinnacle of the original series You say "Sokka's Master" but I hear "Zuko Alone" and "The Chase."
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Sep 17, 2014 20:08
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I know "Zuko Alone" is supposed to be one of the all-time great episodes, but it always left me feeling kind of cold. Votes for "The Chase" though, as well as "City of Walls and Secrets," "The Library," "The Boiling Rock," and "The Drill."
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Sep 17, 2014 20:23
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Also that one Katara episode where she nearly killed that old retired pirate. That was the best Katara episode
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Sep 17, 2014 20:30
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Cave of Two Lovers is probably one of my most quoted ATLA episodes, thanks Nomads. "Oh yeah, and DIIIIEEEEEEEEEE" has so many applications.
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Sep 17, 2014 20:51
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"SECRET TUNNEL!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBU4RGff_bw
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Sep 17, 2014 21:17
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I'll take a million Cave Of Two Lovers over anymore love triangles in Korra. It has world building, humor, a gorgeousky hand inked sequence, and a nice lesson about love and the journey vs the destination. If you can't like that then i feel bad for you son.
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Sep 17, 2014 21:52
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Zuko Alone is clearly the best episode and if you disagree you are wrong 
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Sep 17, 2014 22:25
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The Boulder takes issue... with your opinions!!!
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Sep 17, 2014 22:34
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Favorite original Avatar episode? Hmmm... Three episodes come to mind, each for different reasons. Not really ranking them in any particular order here: - Tales of Ba Sing Se was very creative episode that had moments that developed many of the central cast characters, including the memorable Iroh's Tale. RIP Mako. - The Crossroads of Destiny had some of the best fight sequences in the series and really entrenched Azula as the true primary antagonist of the show. - The Avatar and the Fire Lord because I'm a sucker for good flashback episodes that reveal pertinent information on the current setting, and the final shot of Avatar Roku reaching out to Sozin as Sozin fucks off is heartbreaking.
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Sep 17, 2014 22:36
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I cannot believe no one was has said The Blind Bandit. You get Sokka waffling on buying the bag, Water Tribe walk off, the dinner scene with Toph's parents and all the wrestlers. That alone would of done well, but add in the gobsmackingly good fight with Toph and all the wrestlers at the end, and it puts it straight to the top. Hell, the Boulder's conversation with Toph still cracks me up. Looking back, I kind of wish Toph had some resolution with her parents. Outside of paying people to kidnap her, you never hear anything again about them. Its even more sad when you realize she walks into a trap just to hear about them.
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Sep 17, 2014 22:45
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Crazy Ferret posted:Looking back, I kind of wish Toph had some resolution with her parents. Outside of paying people to kidnap her, you never hear anything again about them. Its even more sad when you realize she walks into a trap just to hear about them. Read the comics!
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Sep 17, 2014 22:48
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Crazy Ferret posted:I cannot believe no one was has said The Blind Bandit. The Blind Bandit is my favorite standalone episode. I mean it introduces Toph, but it is incredibly self-contained. It's got humor, action, and a neat little story. I'm also a big fan of The Blue Spirit for many of the same reasons. Honestly, the best of the series is the end of Season 2. Everything from Tales of Ba Sing Se on is just so incredibly good, and it all culminates in Zuko's sudden but inevitable betrayal.
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Sep 17, 2014 22:50
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thexerox123 posted:Read the comics! I've been meaning too. Especially now that I recently purchased and re-watched my way through the Last Airbender show again. Outside media is fine, but I would of liked to see it in the show is all. Is there a particular order for the comics or are they all self contained? VVVVVVV - Cheers! Crazy Ferret fucked around with this message at 23:33 on Sep 17, 2014 |
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Sep 17, 2014 23:09
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Crazy Ferret posted:I've been meaning too. Especially now that I recently purchased and re-watched my way through the Last Airbender show again. Outside media is fine, but I would of liked to see it in the show is all. The Promise -> The Search -> The Rift Order matters.
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Sep 17, 2014 23:29
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Toshimo posted:The Promise -> The Search -> The Rift I really hope there are more comics post-Rift The Search is still awesome and Azula is awesome
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Sep 17, 2014 23:49
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My two favorite episodes are Crossroads of Destiny, and The Puppet master but water bending is my favorite bending and both of those feature Katara being really badass so I may be biased.
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Sep 18, 2014 00:33
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The Tale of Iroh is one of the absolute peaks of the entire franchise, for every reason. R.I.P. Mako 
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Sep 18, 2014 00:50
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I just realized what I want to see out of Book Four more than anything else. Toph comes back and the remnants of the Gaang, Katara, Toph and Zuko, go all The Expendables on somebody.
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Sep 18, 2014 00:55
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JT Jag posted:I just realized what I want to see out of Book Four more than anything else. Its absolutely going to happen.
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Sep 18, 2014 00:57
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SpiderHyphenMan posted:It's cool that he admits in the video that calling these episodes the "worst" is, while technically accurate, has incredibly misleading connotations, and then he proceeds to title the video that anyway, like some clickbait rear end in a top hat.
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Sep 18, 2014 01:06
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JT Jag posted:I just realized what I want to see out of Book Four more than anything else. The real villain will be revealed to be an 80-year old Azula, of course. And I will reserve the right to laugh like a madman if that really actually does happen.
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Sep 18, 2014 02:13
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Regalingualius posted:The real villain will be revealed to be an 80-year old Azula, of course. I'll be doing the same if that actually happens.
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Sep 18, 2014 02:17
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Y'all need to stop. You're making me want to rewatch all of ATLA, and I just don't have time for that right now.
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Sep 18, 2014 02:54
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I just finally finished my first rewatch a few hours ago. It was pretty much as good as I'd remembered it.
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Sep 18, 2014 03:02
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We do a Rewatch about twice a year as a few all night era with friends and beer. Makes a good weekend.
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Sep 18, 2014 03:03
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Honestly, if Azula shows up I hope it's to give Korra some absolutely un-PC lesson about kicking rear end. And that they get along great.
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Sep 18, 2014 03:49
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I've been writing snippets for my friend and since the topic is Azula I think now is as good a time as any to post it. Here's the thing about Azula. She is the primary antagonist of the series and one of my friends has gone as far as to describe her as "Avatar's Joker." However, I think writing Azula off as a Joker-like figure--an intelligent psychopath bent on chaos and destruction--is to ignore a huge amount of what we learn about Azula throughout The Last Airbender. I think, on the surface, the series wants you to think she's a psychopath. Several times she's described as a monster or heartless, even from her own family members. She also demonstrates some of the classic signs of psychopathy: lack of emotions, mimicry, manipulation, elaborate planning, and a total disregard for others. But I don't think Azula is actually a psychopath. I think she would very much want to be one. She even seems proud that her mother thought she was a monster. But she really isn't It's clear from "The Beach" and the series finale that Azula has an intense desire to be loved both by her family and by her peers. She was intensely jealous of Zuko's relationship with their mother and Ty Lee's ability to pick-up dudes. Her reaction to both of these was hostility and aggression. She tormented Zuko and seemed to take satisfaction when their mother fled the capital, but later scenes showed that her mother and her mother's love still haunted her. Similarly, she lashed out at Ty Lee verbally at first, but quickly changed her mind and apologized to her friend. In fact, Azula's relationships with her friends show an unexpected loyalty. She never actually betrays anyone she's allied with throughout the entire series (does she? I can't think of any). In The Search Part 1 she saves Team Avatar from the moth wasps even though she could have just escaped. Her friends do turn on her, but they turn on her and not the other way around. Contrast this to any historical psychopath and you'll see they are much more willing to toss aside people when they become useless. If Azula were truly a psychopath, I don't think she would have been as seemingly nice as she was to Zuko for the first half of Book 3 as she was. Far from being interested in chaos, Azula shows an appreciation for order and rules throughout most of the series. She is one of the only characters to constantly mention class. Calling someone a peasant is a favorite insult of Azula's and her speech to Long Feng are two examples of this. It's also clear that she has a strong, if strange, view on fairness given how upset she gets when Ozai says she can't join him for his coronation as the Phoenix King. So what is Azula? I think Azula is a gifted girl who has been forced by Fire Nation court intrigue and her father's demands to handle responsibilities that she isn't ready for. Keep in mind that in the series she is only 14 years old and yet Ozai tasks her with finding her brother and her uncle. Then she brings down an entire kingdom with a coup. Then her friends and brother betray her. Then her father puts even more burden on her, saying that she will be the next Fire Lord. I think in the end what causes her to crack is that she's trying so hard to fulfill what she believes is expected of her with no friends, no family, and no one she believes she can trust left in the world. She's mentally ill: paranoid, depressed, anxious, and having delusions and visual hallucinations, but she's not a psychopath. Now I'll turn to the question at hand: what should Azula be like if she were to appear in Legend of Korra? I don't think she'd be the same girl we knew in the original series. For one, she's too old at this point to realistically be seeking any sort of real power or position. If she is in her 70s or 80s, it's not like she can reasonable expect to overthrow Zuko's daughter and take over the Fire Nation. What I think we would see is perhaps an Azula obsessed with her legacy. I can see Azula wanting to be remembered a certain way and so perhaps that would be her angle. Just as Zuko will be remembered for redeeming himself and helping Aang, I could see Azula want to redeem herself by helping Korra. And if there's anyone who could help Korra get her spark back, I would say it's Azula. If there is a character in the original series that Korra can be compared to I would argue it's Azula. I think the two are mirrors of each other. Both are intensely powerful benders physically and prone even to hubris frequently about their bending skills. Both prefer to act decisively and believe that their respective titles (Avatar and Fire Nation Princess) give them privileges and responsibilities above others-- although Korra wouldn't lord it over people the way Azula does. At the end of Book 3 of their respective series, we actually see Korra and Azula in similar places: defeated, wounded, and lonely/isolated. I will say that they differ in terms of planning though: Korra isn't big on them in general. Realistically speaking, I don't think we're going to see Azula in Legend of Korra. I like where her story has ended both on the show and in the comics. There's a lot of possibilities in terms of what may have happened to her and I don't think it's necessary to codify a certain possibility over another.
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Sep 18, 2014 05:06
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Rosalind posted:Now I'll turn to the question at hand: what should Azula be like if she were to appear in Legend of Korra? I don't think she'd be the same girl we knew in the original series. I still haven't given up hope that the Fire Sage from Beginnings was actually Azula.  She has similar hair, she was specifically dealing with the Avatar's spirit being plagued by darkness, her identity was left conspicuously vague... and I really like the idea of Azula eventually overcoming her issues and devoting herself to a peaceful life of raising air bison and healing people who have inner turmoil. thexerox123 fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Sep 18, 2014 |
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Sep 18, 2014 05:11
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Azula certainly isn't "just a psychopath". More than that, she strikes me as very codependent, someone who desperately seeks approval from others. It's a trait she shares with Zuko. Of course, in their youths Azula and Zuko's lives went down drastically different paths: Azula got the support she needed, while Zuko was cast aside. Azula became Father's favorite, gained a circle of friends she could trust, while Zuko became a friendless wanderer of the world. Much of her confidence is drawn from the fact that she knows she is needed, that she knows she is superior. For most of her life she can ignore the anxieties that would normally be faced by someone who suffers from codependency, because the ones she depends on are always around her. It takes the removal of all of this support--- the betrayal of her closest friends and her Father not being there when she needs him--- for her to actually snap.
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Sep 18, 2014 06:20
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What I love about the Katara/Paku fight is that while he's quite controlled and careful as he aims to disable her, when Katara isn't avoiding his attacks she's full on no holds barred going all out at him. She shoots razor sharp ice discs at him, collapses a big structure on him, and at one point just tries to straight up punch him in the face. It's classic Katara rage.
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Sep 18, 2014 06:57
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thexerox123 posted:I still haven't given up hope that the Fire Sage from Beginnings was actually Azula. While this wouldn't be a bad end at all for Azula, I think the drastically different skin color might rule it out.
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Sep 18, 2014 06:59
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Felix_Cat posted:What I love about the Katara/Paku fight is that while he's quite controlled and careful as he aims to disable her, when Katara isn't avoiding his attacks she's full on no holds barred going all out at him. She shoots razor sharp ice discs at him, collapses a big structure on him, and at one point just tries to straight up punch him in the face. It's classic Katara rage. Waterbender v. Waterbender fights are always really good.
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Sep 18, 2014 09:34
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VanSandman posted:While this wouldn't be a bad end at all for Azula, I think the drastically different skin color might rule it out. Air bison herding tan.
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Sep 18, 2014 11:09
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Felix_Cat posted:What I love about the Katara/Paku fight is that while he's quite controlled and careful as he aims to disable her, when Katara isn't avoiding his attacks she's full on no holds barred going all out at him. She shoots razor sharp ice discs at him, collapses a big structure on him, and at one point just tries to straight up punch him in the face. It's classic Katara rage. My favorite thing about that fight is Pakku seeing his own  face reflected in an ice disk as it just misses cutting right through him.
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Sep 18, 2014 12:29
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Rosalind posted:She's mentally ill: paranoid, depressed, anxious, and having delusions and visual hallucinations, but she's not a psychopath. One of the things that really bothered me about The Search was how every character was treating Azula as a terrible person instead of someone who was mentally ill. I know she's both, but I really thought the Gaang would understand that she needed help, not to be constantly bitched out for her unstable behaviour.
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Sep 18, 2014 13:00
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Nephthys posted:One of the things that really bothered me about The Search was how every character was treating Azula as a terrible person instead of someone who was mentally ill. I know she's both, but I really thought the Gaang would understand that she needed help, not to be constantly bitched out for her unstable behaviour. I'd think Zuko out of everyone would understand that she needs help. Aang, being the way he is, I'd think would want to give everyone a second chance. Katara and Sokka though? I frankly don't think that they'd care if she was mentally ill or not. Too much bad blood.
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Sep 18, 2014 13:06
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VanSandman posted:While this wouldn't be a bad end at all for Azula, I think the drastically different skin color might rule it out. The nose is too broad and the eyes aren't the royal gold color, but a Fire Sage would be a good role for her. Azula spent so much of her young life trying to live up to others' expectations that for her to give it up would be a big bit of character growth.
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Sep 18, 2014 13:30
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VanSandman posted:While this wouldn't be a bad end at all for Azula, I think the drastically different skin color might rule it out. Mercury Hat posted:The nose is too broad and the eyes aren't the royal gold color, but a Fire Sage would be a good role for her. Azula spent so much of her young life trying to live up to others' expectations that for her to give it up would be a big bit of character growth. Compare young Katara to old Katara, though, they make changes:   Lighter skin, totally different chin shape, etc. Sokka also looks different in a lot of ways:   Totally different nose shape, skin colour, hair colour... thexerox123 fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Sep 18, 2014 |
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Sep 18, 2014 15:33
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