LibriumArcana.Games

Yeah, yeah, I know its been out finished for a while and that several of you told me it was awesome but I've only started watching it recently. Consider yourselves proven right. Now, on to business.

I'm at the episode where Sakka gets trained by the swordmaster and the series continues to be awesome. We see character development and maturity from Sakka, elements we've seen parts of in earlier episodes and have had a chance to grow organically. He's still Sakka though and while he gets powered up with new training and a new sword, its really the character growth and the awesomeness of the swordmaster that are on display. The Fire Nation people continue to be portrayed as people, not puppy raping monsters.

I also have to say I love the ending of the Earth. They set us up by putting Zuko and Katara together, with Katara offering to try and heal Zuko's scar with the special water and completing his journey from antagonist to protagonist. We were ready for that and then they had Azula offer Zuko everything he wanted if he took her side and he did. Zuko, who believed the restoration of his status, his honour, and his father's love was impossible and had begun to find contentment in following a different path is yanked back when it is dropped into his lap. It's a powerful moment and a believable one.

Of course Zuko's finding that getting everything back isn't quite what he thought it would be. I'm sure he's going to end up on Team Avatar at some point and that either he or Iroh will end up teaching Aang firebending. I'm also fairly sure that Zuko will bust Iroh out of prison if Iroh doesn't escape first and that Iroh will forgive Zuko's betrayal, thus proving that he is Zuko's true father in every way that matters.

What I really love about this series is that I could be wrong about some of the above and that if I am wrong it won't be because of out of the blue trickery but for a reason that will make sense in universe. As a side note, I'm curious about Mei. Why does cynical, hate the world girl have a thing for Zuko. Yes, I caught the bit from when they were kids flashback (and man, does Zuko's childhood ever suck) but that was then, this is now. I'm currently guessing that she's either faking it to stay close to him on Azula's orders (that bitch is devious) or that she's still carrying a torch for Zuko from earlier days and the hard exterior is emotional armour (which given the amount of dickery she's around might be a good idea). It would suck for Zuko if she were a plant, but that's not even close to the worst thing that's happened to him. I suspect that the series will clarify matters before the end.

Also I love how wise old Uncle Iroh gives the opposite advice of the Guru, telling Aang that in his place he would not put aside the people he cherishes. Aang is left with two different pieces of advice on how to proceed and has to figure things out on his own There are moments of levity and comedy, but at its core the series is a lot smarter than most of the TV land crap shoveled at adults.

What did you think of how they handled the death of Iroh's voice actor?

I think they handled it well. Iroh's quiet for the first few episodes, a tribute to Mako, creating the desire in the audience to hear him again, and creating a discontinuity so the change in voice actors is less noticeable. The new guy is close enough that while you can tell the difference is there if you listen closely, it isn't jarring.

"It is time for you to learn how your grandfather died."

That was a good twist. We expect it to be about Firelord Soizen and it is, but in the end we learn the grandfather he meant. It opens up a whole new chapter in Zuko's backstory. Awesome work.

I asked for characterization for Mei and, unsurprisingly, they delivered in spades. And it's pretty sad to boot. Her life is a prison of expectations and rigid controls, with the only freedom being her friendship with the Zuko and Azula because of her family's political aspirations.

That's why I didn't say anything about Mei or Ty Lee. I knew you'd be getting the answers soon enough

I almost feel sorry for Azula, though.

All right, you rotten bastards talked me into it. I'm downloading the entire fucking series now, just to wash the taste of that vile abomination of a film out of my mouth. We'll see what all the fuss is about.

General Havoc wrote:All right, you rotten bastards talked me into it. I'm downloading the entire fucking series now, just to wash the taste of that vile abomination of a film out of my mouth. We'll see what all the fuss is about.

My early prediction, having not seen the movie and only s1 of the series, will be that after seeing the series all the way through, you will promptly attempt to organize an angry mob, armed with pitchforks, fire, and angry slogans, to protest M. Night Shayamalan's house.

I want to see if I'm right.

I'm going to be doing that regardless of what happens in the series, as Mr. Shayamalan has served me a pile of cinematic shit for the last fucking time.

But if this show turns out to be awesome, and he ruined it for this abomination of a film... well...

Fire ants and salt.

Finished. It could have handled tiddying up the loose ends a bit better (I suspect they were forced to finish it earlier than they wanted), but still awesome. Aang wrestling with how to deal with Ozma, not wanting to kill but realizing the consequences of failing to stop him are unthinkable, was well handled, especially the advice of his previous incarnations. So far removed from the "if you kill him, you'll be just like him" pap that I remember from other kid shows and never bought.

The powered up firebending was beautiful and I was pleasantly surprised by the Day of Black Sun. I was expecting the typical gimmicky unrealistic win by the protagonists and what they gave us was so much better.

I have two complaints.

1) Zuko's mom. Even if she was only sipping tea at the end, we needed more.

2) Too much taking of prisoners in the third season and then being rescued. It diminished the threat to the characters and drained away tension. If a minor character or two died or suffered horribly, even offscreen, it would have really helped. The finale did much to make up for that.

Well it is a kid's show in the end. if I had written the Airbender movie, it would have been animated and the two big plots would have been Zuko's Mom and Sokka's Sword. Seriously that's two big plots just kinda siting there going

"OH! OH! PICK ME!"

It is a kid's show, but it's one that consistently produced high quality material. It's a kid's show that had Zuko maimed by his dad, killed Sakka's and Katara's mom, and nearly kills Aang and he carries around a big fucking scar on his spine from the attack even after being healed. It can scare us a bit with what might happen to the prisoners.

Three Seasons of Asian flavored fantasy.

Lots of swordplay.

Only one wankish sword and that's Sokka's badass meteorite blade.

Not a single fucking katana.

Fuck yeah.

Now to address the female empowerment issue. This show doesn't have any.

There's no empowerment issue when both sexes are absolutely equal from the beginning. Heroes, villains, masters, benders and martial artists all have their status independent of their gender. It's not patronizing or grrl power, but simply awesome.

Especially Katara's throw down with Master Pakku when he won't train her.

Hmmm, further reading indicates that the creators are finished with the show, but are considering spin off work set in the same universe.

What's that Sokka? Some people saw a guy with your sword head to the strange ship, which sailed off in the same direction my mother was sent into exile? Why yes I am very interested in naming Iroh regent and coming with you.

I would be very interested in seeing how they work out the issue of the fire nation colonies myself. Something tells me Aang is going to be a very busy mammal for the rest of his life.

frigidmagi wrote:I would be very interested in seeing how they work out the issue of the fire nation colonies myself. Something tells me Aang is going to be a very busy mammal for the rest of his life.

Well I dont imagine, with his experience with the Northern Air Temple that he would allow them to be forcefully relocated. Many of them have after all been there for a hundred years.

I can definitely see them being granted semi-autonomous status. Say, nominally ruled by the Earth King, but otherwise left to their own devices. That or integrated somehow, with the people they displaced being allowed to return. Some tension of course.

Because I'm an idiot, I missed this thread. I, too, have partaken in this series, very much from what I saw in the movie-related thread, and I was amazed at what I missed. The series started decent and just kept getting better. Especially when, out of nowhere, we went from the lighthearted excursion of Katara and Toph in "Tales of Ba Sing Se" to Tale of Iroh, which was simply amazing in how it was laid out and how it ended. I don't think anyone with a soul could finish that segment without a tear in their eye. The show creators couldn't have chosen a finer tribute to Mako.

The excellent ending to Season 2 - a far cry from the fairly optimistic, if sad, conclusion to Season 1, with Zhao's defeat - was a great way to complete that storyline. I remember feeling suspicion when Azula started giving her promises to Zuko, wondering if Zuko would let her tempt him away from everything he'd been moving towards, and I couldn't help but shake my head when he did give into the temptation. It, of course, set itself up for Season 3's plot arc for Zuko, as he learns that he didn't want what he thought he wanted, and the victory of restoration gave way to shame at his treachery toward Iroh.

The early Season 3 episodes helped in other ways, by showing us what the average Fire Nation citizen was typically like and by giving us sympathetic Fire Nation citizens who weren't outright dissenters like Jeong Jeong or Iroh. Then we got to the Day of Black Sun, and as the tension builds you just know something is wrong... then Aang finds the deserted Fire Nation capital and you want to quote Star Wars lines ("It's a trap!"). Only then did I remember the whole thing about the Earth King telling Azula of Sokka's plan, and it occurred to me that they would prepare for such an attack even with Ba Sing Se in Fire Nation hands.

So that whole thing ended in disaster and we got the heroes back on the run, everything having gone wrong, their closest friends and allies imprisoned, and the only glimmer of hope being the one person they had every reason to mistrust: Zuko. Who, as was later lampshaded by Toph, is sent on character-building, life-changing journeys with each of the others (well, save her), enabling him to earn their trust - even that of Katara, who wasn't about to get burned again given the trust she showed in Ba Sing Se.

And then... Sozin's Comet. Dear Lord, Sozin's Comet. That just utterly blew me away. I am hard pressed to thing of any series finale as enjoyable and fulfilling, and as fun to watch, as it was. Even B5 Sleeping in Light, which was my #1 by recollection, was challenged by it, if not surpassed (I'm still thinking about it). To see everything in the series come to its full conclusion (Save the sad fact they couldn't fit in the scene of Princess Ursa's return - it was apparently storyboarded) was a pleasure to behold, culminating with Zuko's coronation, the fates of Mai and Ty Lee revealed (Ty Lee fits in so well with the Kyoshi Warriors, doesn't she?), and it all coming to a close at Uncle's tea shop in Ba Sing Se. The series ends on the appropriate note: Sokka providing the humor (his "group painting") and the promise of the entire series brought to a conclusion as Katara and Aang share their first full kiss in the sunset of Ba Sing Se, something that had seemed almost destined from the moment Aang opened his eyes after awakening and seeing Katara's face for the first time.

Honestly, at this point, even if it was good, why bother with a live action adaptation? The series was already as perfect a work of art as such a thing could be; anything more would be nothing more than an attempt at imitation. And, from what I've heard, it's a particularly bad imitation.