In ATLA...

[Tanis]

Imagine if Airbenders could break the bonds between atoms?
Like, gravity bending or something.
-Not sure how that works, but if fire can make electricity...why not?

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Air Pressure bending? That certainly has terrifying implications, like crushing your enemies' brains from the inside by increasing the air pressure around them quickly. Since the other benders can apparently manipulate the temperature of their respective elements, I guess that would lead to weather manipulation for airbenders. Though that's more using airbending as a means to an end rather than applying it differently.

Though if you drop the PG rating from your mind and really start thinking about what airbending could do, the possibilities really open up. Remember the arrow Michael Rooker's character had in Guardians of the Galaxy? They could do that.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Creating vacuums could work, which would of course be deadly if they can trap someone in a vacuum. Perhaps they could also create a big blast by removing the air from a wide area and then letting it flow back in.

They could also control the trajectories of various projectile weapons (knifes, spears, arrows, even bullets).

However, as airbending in the series has been about dodging and avoiding attacks rather than attacking yourself, that would all require a different philosophy.

I hope they don't go full Naruto-mode with the series myself. If they do however, this guy [http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Danz%C5%8D_Shimura] was pretty much using air slashes, bullets and whatever to cut through anything.

 

[Movitz]

IIRC, it requires the user to compress the earth to an extreme degree. Normally only Avatars are capable of it, but Zaheer's lackie seems to have learned the trick to it. It's probably something similar to Metal or Blood bending. A technique that only a few benders of that element can learn, even if they know exactly what has to be done to accomplish it.

Cool! Where did you get all this info from? Can't remember seeing it explained like that in Legend of Korra.

See, I get that maybe magma being molten earth is common knowledge. It probably was in the back of my head (magma and lava being basically the same thing, difference being whether it is above or under the earth, right?).

But since it's a new thing in the Avatar-universe, it would have been nice if someone was all like "Shit, that dude can magma bend? I thought only the most skillfull earth-benders yadda yadda" and you get the picture.

 

[Auberon]

When you have Sparky Sparky Boom Lady and waterbender who bends without arms, magma isn't that strange in comparison. Only anomaly would be Zaheer with the speed he picked up airbending in practice.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Erm is everyone missing out that Zaheer could FLY?!

How is effortless FLIGHT not an airbending mastery! Apparently its unique to air benders since an old master discovered the technique.

EDIT: Whoops older thread!

 

[Kopikatsu]

IIRC, it requires the user to compress the earth to an extreme degree. Normally only Avatars are capable of it, but Zaheer's lackie seems to have learned the trick to it. It's probably something similar to Metal or Blood bending. A technique that only a few benders of that element can learn, even if they know exactly what has to be done to accomplish it.

Cool! Where did you get all this info from? Can't remember seeing it explained like that in Legend of Korra.

See, I get that maybe magma being molten earth is common knowledge. It probably was in the back of my head (magma and lava being basically the same thing, difference being whether it is above or under the earth, right?).

But since it's a new thing in the Avatar-universe, it would have been nice if someone was all like "Shit, that dude can magma bend? I thought only the most skillfull earth-benders yadda yadda" and you get the picture.

Some of the people who work on the show have blogs where they post info and concept art and stuff on. I don't have the link on me, but you can find it from the TV Tropes page of Korra.

Avatar Kyoshi and a few others used Lavabending. It was suggested on this forum that Ghazan (and later, Bolin) could Lavabend because their personality doesn't match that of a normal Earthbender's. Since they're more fluid, so is their bending.

Kinda off topic, but I actually like how they introduced Bolin being able to Lavabend. Because at no point did he ever create lava, he only manipulated that what Ghazan created.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Avatar Kyoshi and a few others used Lavabending. It was suggested on this forum that Ghazan (and later, Bolin) could Lavabend because their personality doesn't match that of a normal Earthbender's. Since they're more fluid, so is their bending.

Kinda off topic, but I actually like how they introduced Bolin being able to Lavabend. Because at no point did he ever create lava, he only manipulated that what Ghazan created.

I like this theory because metal benders are generally tough, extremely resilient and VERY unyielding. Toph, her kids, korra, metal benders tend to share these traits of being stubborn and hard, they metal bend because they just move the metal by sheer force of will to overcome a metals strength. The exact opposite as lava benders and Bolin. So it stands to reason anyone absolutely terrible at metal bending might have the exact opposite traits of flexibility, fluidity and freedom to lava bend instead. Lava bending, like bolin did, was just going with the flow and working with what was already there which seems the exact opposite way to resolve a problem than a metal bender might consider.

 

[senordesol]

What about gas bending? Technically 'air' is just a mixture of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and methane (among others); some of that can be quite volatile in the right concentrations.

If we accept that metal bending is about bending the 'impurities' of metal, then it stands to reason that the same is theoretically possible with gas.

Thus an airbender, theoretically, should be able to turn an atmosphere poisonous, corrosive, or explosive by changing the gas mixture.