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Post by Moni on May 21, 2016 22:30:31 GMT -5
I loved that free comic and somehow wikipedia told me there were ATLA comics, so I picked it up to relive some childhood nostalgia. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand . . . well, they're eh. I'm not sure if I'm really a fan of anything in this franchise besides the original show, which was not really a masterpiece by any means but it had its high points. Legend of Korra and what I've read of the comics are just kind of mediocre. |
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Post by Blueysicle on Oct 4, 2016 18:30:17 GMT -5
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Post by Thorn on Oct 5, 2016 5:54:53 GMT -5
Whhyyyy do I have to discover this just as I'm about to go to bed? xD Much hype! One of my favourite cartoons in the history of ever, I can't wait to hear more about this. <3 (this has also reminded me that one of my fave characters from another series is finally getting her own canon novel + non-canon comic soon so EXTRA HYPE). |
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Post by Liou on Apr 5, 2019 15:09:35 GMT -5
Don't mind if I bloodbend this thread to spill some thoughts. Sometimes I go back to watch scenes of both Avatar series, especially fight scenes, and they give me many feels, and they give me many thoughts. Sometimes I take a look at comment sections - I know, I know, big mistake - and invariably find commenters debating over which character is Stronger and why, which character would beat which other character and why, which bending style is Stronger, and many ways of kinda missing the point. (The shows have been around for a while, so I'll just spoilerbox my rambles for length.) I discovered that Azula has fans who seem to believe that she was in the right and a better person than the others. Aside from that creepiness, on the end of Book 3, debates on the outcome of her defeat in Agni Kai get heated (eeey), people will bring up her blue fire that's hotter and should work better than Zuko's, her stances, anything to say that Zuzu's a cheat and casually ignore Azula's Shakespearean downfall arc.
What I find most surprising is the utter lack of mention of Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal. Even from the people defending the outcome of the Agni Kai. Is it because they're non-benders? Is it because they're pretty? Is it because they're her gal pals, so they're not supposed to matter? Is it because not enough firebending happened in that scene? In any case, you've got the major turning point and beginning of Azula's descent, the moment that swiped the rug of perfection and confidence right from under Azula's feet, and people casually ignoring it.
Azula's downfall shows that yes, you might be the most Gifted Child, the most talented prodigy, and in radiant physical form - but if you have mental health and relationship issues, you're still going down. I think it's a much more powerful experience to watch this than someone simply being bested in a fight. Then there are complaints about how bending styles changed between AtLA and LoK, from something more elegant to something more efficient and aggressive. I was very pleased by the choreographing in both series? Okay, let's say there were significant differences. I don't know how much of it is stylistic choice and how much is animation budget but, ignoring the financial aspects: a lot of work was put into writing a shifting world that actually evolved over the timeskip. AtLA had countries that had been at war for a long time, where benders were the defenders and the pride of their villages, trained to transmit this cultural heritage. In LoK, there is no (well, less?) looming threat of war and no need for noble sacrifice. I think it makes sense for young benders to learn faster in this industrial world, and apply bending in more efficient ways to find work, as well as flashier ways to be noticed by the more prevalent media. There's much less time to be elegant and traditional about it.
Metalbending has become a lot more widespread and specialised in law enforcement. I've seen many complaints of metalbending fights looking boring, but I found it to be so versatile in books 3 and 4 of LoK. It became one of my favourites.
I love the older bending forms and seeing a character bring them back in LoK was always a treat, but AtLA is still there for us to watch, and if nothing had evolved between the shows people would just complain about that instead. There were especially complaints about airbending, claiming that, aside from Tenzin and Jinora sticking to the traditional moves, airbending didn't look at all the same in LoK. Even though we'd only seen one airbender in At LA. And Zaheer's form seemed quite conservative to me. Okay, let's say it's changed between the series.
One of the most important messages in the show, imo, is how it depicts the trauma of war, in the short term and in the long term. It's a huge part of Aang's evolution from the beginning of AtlA (and it's also kind of right there in the title): his entire culture has been purposefully eradicated, generations of knowledge are gone, his entire nation is gone, and it's never coming back. That's what stops him from travelling with his friends like the carefree child he should have been, and makes him work to stop a war instead.
To revive the old airbending forms so fast in LoK would have, I think, undermined this message, all the heartbreaking scenes of Aang revisiting the Air Temples, the flashbacks to Gyatso. The new Air Nation in LoK was a fragile young thing, and awkward beginners' airbending was a part of it. Even if the animation process and resources had been the same for the two shows, I think it would have been fitting for the bending moves to look different. (Book 3 is literally titled Change...)
About the brief, incredibly intense fight scene between Tenzin and Zaheer around the end of Book 3, again, I saw discussions of who was stronger, of who was the better airbender - the son of the Avatar, or a man who had learned the flight technique that was legend among airbenders, etc.
At that moment, despite having had airbending for the shorter time, Zaheer is a very proficient fighter and an obsessive, single-minded man with no restraints, who has seriously followed the teachings of a guru. He's fighting for his ideal of anarchy.
In the other corner, we have Tenzin, indeed son of the Avatar and master airbender trained in the old ways for his whole life. It's also important to remember what he's fighting for: his father's heritage, his culture miraculously beginning to resurface in a tiny spark of hope.
People guilty of nothing more than randomly receiving airbending, kids entrusted by their families to Tenzin's care, now taken hostage.
The person tasked with upholding the balance of the world, whom Tenzin has taken under his wing, and who also happens to be the reincarnation of his father's soul.
And most importantly, in that battle, Tenzin is a father of four children including a months-old baby, fighting to defend his family.
To me, it feels like a waste to just think of him as the better fighter in that battle. He's an Air Nomad. They're. Pacifists. |
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Post by Kat on Sept 24, 2020 2:10:52 GMT -5
Reviving this thread to let everyone know that my rewatch of ATLA is going very well a.k.a. there are many many feels.
I'll be watching LOK after this because I...admittedly haven't outside of the first 3 episodes and then my tiny attention span got the better of me.
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