Poll: So I just finished rewatching Avatar: TLA

[Davroth]

Airbending, since you can do it everywhere. Everywhere where you can survive anyway.

Favourite Character? Toph, hands down.

 

[Aprilgold]

Zuko's Uncle, he is just a bad-ass. So awesome, that old man is.

If I was airbender [in the time of the show at least] I would be dead, Waterbending would be lame and throwing rocks super fast don't appeal so I am going with Fire Bending. The thing to start and stop life.

 

[Thaius]

Filler? As a fan who's seen the show 8 times from beginning to end, I can guarantee there is only one episode in the entire series that is entirely irrelevant to later episodes (The Great Divide). Book 1 did have a lot of seemingly disconnected and meaningless episodes, but they got better with it after that, and even then all but one of those episodes meant something later.

Those "disconnected" episodes were filler and have virtually no or very little revelance to the actual plot.

If you say so. But no.

You've now activated my detail-oriented fanboy mode. You don't have to read it if you don't want to, but this will be really fun to write anyway. And this only for Book 1; there's no way in which later seasons can be accused of having significant amounts of filler.


The first three episodes set up the entire plot. No filler going on there at all.

Episode 4 introduces Suki and 5 introduces Bumi, both of whom are very important and play huge roles later in the series.

Episode 6 introduces Haru (who returns briefly in Book 3), introduces the concept that earthbenders cannot bend metal, gives the first real background into Iroh, and also launches the side story regarding Zuko's acquisition of Katara's necklace.

Episode 7 and 8 are the Winter Solstice episodes, which first explore the spirit world and introduce the Sozin's Comet as one of the most important plot devices in the show.

The Waterbending Scroll (9) introduces Iroh's fondness for playing Pai Sho (a very important game later regarding the Order of the White Lotus) and introduces the pirates (who are important near the season finale).

Episode 10 is Jet, which makes it absolutely vital for Book 2 (not to mention it's the first time the series attempts to tackle deeper moral issues than most children's shows ever do).

The Great Divide is useless. That's the single episode in this entire show that has absolutely no bearing on the rest of it.

The Storm gives the all-important background on both Aang and Zuko. This is absolutely vital to understanding them, especially Zuko. It also gives our first glimpse of Azula, though that's more an easter egg than a meaningful plot point.

The Blue Spirit (13) introduces Zuko's alter-ego, which is vitally important to his development. It also gets a brief callback in Bato of the Water Tribe a few episodes later.

The Fortuneteller (14) lays some of the primary ground for the budding romance between Aang and Katara (including the prophecy that Katara would fall in love with a "very powerful bender," which was an important indicator for the future romantic events of the series) and also briefly comes up in future episode Bato of the Water Tribe.

Bato of the Water Tribe (15) introduces Jun (an important character in the finale), has some serious development for all three of the protagonists, and lays the groundwork for the later reunion of Sokka and Katara with their father.

The Deserter (16) introduces Jeong Jeong (important later with the Order of the White Lotus), develops Zhao as a villain, and is an extremely important episode for Aang's character growth/development and his later fear of learning to firebend. This is also the episode that reveals that waterbending can be used to heal.

The Northern Air Temple (17) has characters that return later and, most importantly, lays the grounds on which the Fire Nation later develops the war balloons that are so important in the latter half of Book 3.

The last three episodes effectively comprise the finale (though the last two are technically the finale). All three encompass the story of Yue (absolutely, incredibly important for Sokka later on), the death of Zhao, foreshadowing for The Great Library, a defining moment for Zuko, and an incredibly important encounter in the spirit world for Aang. I don't think I even need to say that these three are some of the most important episodes of the entire series.

And no, I don't have too much time on my hands. I just used to when the show originally aired, and it's still my favorite show to this day. So I know it pretty well. Think what you will about it; I can't force you to like it, after all. But to say it's full of irrelevant episodes is simply untrue.

 

[gaiusimperator]

Zuko's Uncle, he is just a bad-ass. So awesome, that old man is.

If I was airbender [in the time of the show at least] I would be dead, Waterbending would be lame and throwing rocks super fast don't appeal so I am going with Fire Bending. The thing to start and stop life.

Hear hear.

Firebenders unite!

 

[Altorin]

The only really interesting suggesstion there is sound bending.. although technically, all those "higher forms of bending" are just basic bending to an extreme degree, and if an Air bender can feasibly pull a tornado out of his ass, I don't think it matters too much what you call it.

Air Bending can directly counter any other bending (other then terrestrial earth bending, where the earth bender pulls a chunk of earth up from the ground, and perhaps the lightning technique of fire benders) if the bender is strong enough. In our RPG, there was a whole network of things various types of benders could potentially manipulate, all through normal elemental bending. Things like liquid lava could be bent by either a Earth bender, or a Fire bender for instance. They'd use it differently, but both could have some effect over it. We had a wood bender (a concession to Dragonblood Exalted) who's natural domain was effecting the growth of plants and the release and control of natural airborn spores and toxins. The air bender had control over those spores and toxins as well, but less direct (although a powerful air bender can be quite precise with his application of air). In Avatar, Water benders can bend plants as well, so that's another place where our Wood and Water benders collided, but Water benders can only manipulate and move plants, the wood bender could actually cause it to miraculously grow.

Feel free to ignore the Wood bender stuff, I'm sure it'll just derail the conversation, but trust me, its inclusion added a very interesting twist to the environment.

Well, ok, Katara can also bloodbend, but as seen in TLA she really does not like using the technique, and she was one of the people who pushed for it being outlawed.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's a weak technique, but just that it often requires specific conditions (a full moon) for a person to be able to use it, aside from the deceased Yakone, Tarlokk and Amon.

Other than that, it's definitely the most powerful bending technique a person can learn, aside from stuff like flesh bending, if that's even possible.

Captcha: I Want Control

I never said blood bending was weak. It's the pinnacle of water bending. I think the idea of calling it "blood bending" like it's a different element is silly.. it's water bending, just a very powerful, very specific usage of water bending. Just like Metal Bending is really just powerful earth bending, and lightning bending is just powerful fire bending. "Flesh bending", although I hate that term, would just be an even more powerful application of water bending. At the highest level, a water bender could aerosol a person's blood, and all of the water contained in their cells, to the point that you could absolutely just annihilate someone using just the water in their body..

but a novice fire bender can do almost that exact same trick without years and years of practice just by setting the person on fire.

Okay that's very cool and all but I'm not sure what exactly you want me to say about all that? :S I was just trying to get people to come up with possible specialized airbending styles.

I'm just saying you don't need to. "specialized styles" are just precise applications. Think of air. Think of all the things associated with air - breathing, wind (from light breeze to hurricane to tornado), fueling fire, oxidation, think of vacuums, extreme pressures, both low and high, bitter cold, the weather - I'm sure you could think of even more.. Every one of those could be influenced by an Air bender of suitable power. Other benders could influence them as well, but each of those could be a specialized style for air bending. Controlling the weather, using only the wind to gather clouds, to create rain, would be a powerful air style indeed, at least as powerful as blood bending or lightning bending, or at least it would take a suitable level of control and power.

I guess I just look at bending as a more fluid thing.. I've sort of experienced Elemental bending in this way in two sorts of ways, and in some ways, they're a lot alike, but in others, they are not alike at all, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Zuko's transformation went above and beyond any expectations I'd expect to see in what is a children's TV show. That last season was something special.

Going off my personality, I think I'd be a water bender.

 

[Navvan]

Earth bending has the most application, and is overall my favorite. As for my favorite character I found Toph to be the most enjoyable of the bunch.

Hmmm water is tempting since it's pretty overpowered (ask me why, I dare you ) But earth or fire suit my personality more. On the other hand, airbending lets you effin fly! So any bending would be great really, I'm not picky

Off topic: you know how earthbenders get metalbending and firebenders get lightning? I wonder what airbenders would get...

Why? Every element can do things that are not shown in the show that are very over powered. Even applications of what they show is possible are overpowered.

When I say overpowered I don't mean it in terms of raw power. Because that completely depends on how much the bender has trained. The show does a really good job of making that clear: it's not the type of bending that makes you win, it's how good you are with it.
So if you get to pick a bending style, you should instead look at the extras that come with it. Like lightning for firebenders and flying for airbenders. This is ofcourse very subjective: some people would rather be able to shoot lightning than fly, and for others it's the other way around.
And this is where I feel waterbending has an unfair advantage because they just get SO much extras: powerboosts by the moon, icebending, healing, plantbending, bloodbending,... I know just because you're a waterbender doesn't mean you automatically learn all of those as wel, but at least the option is there. An earthbender can simply never learn any of it and what do they get instead? Sandbending and metalbending. Again, personal taste plays a big role here but I feel it's not really a fair trade. That's what I mean by "overpowered."

There powerboost by the moon is a double edge sword in that their power fluctuates according to the moon. Firebenders have the same situation with the sun. Earth and Airbenders have the advantage/disadvantage of being at a constant reliable strength level.

The "alternate forms" of waterbending are the most shown, but there is no reason to believe that more advanced bending techniques aren't available to the other elements if they are ever developed.

Since Firebending is actually energy bending (in terms of the actual definition of energy) they should be able to do a lot more than they do in the show. Including manipulating kinetic energy and light manipulation. Alternatively they should be able to generate varying degrees of explosive force much like combustion man out of virtually any object.

Airbending and Earthbending are a little less clear. It isn't actually stated what they actually bend. Earth is made up of several things as is Air, so I'd need that narrowed down a bit in order to give additional uses.

Just because waterbending has the most shown uses doesn't mean the other elements don't have the potential to be utilized in more diverse ways than they have been shown so far. Waterbenders are known for their flexibility and adaptability so in terms of developing techniques they are far more likely to be ahead of the game. Hence why it took so much longer for Metalbending to be discovered or lightning bending to become more widely taught. That is the way I see it anyway.

 

[Veldel]

I still wonder if Iroh had fought his brother who would of won? I think Iroh but that's because he is a pure badass.

 

[spacecowboy86]

You guys are nuts, airbending all the way! Too bad you have to shave your head though...

In a bizarre twist of fate, my favorite character probably has to be toph because she's just so epic i'm willing to look past the fact she's an earthbender (granted the greatest earthbender of all time).

That or Sokka, because c'mon, you can't not love Sokka.

 

[Saulkar]

Given my build, stature, and disposition I would definitely have to go with earth bending.

 

[Alternative]

Sokka the meat and sarcasm guy.
with Toph a close second.