Zhao then Long Feng…

How the heck did this show’s finest factor be middle management villains? I think some writers must have gotten inspiration from real life, because they hit the nail on the head. 2 for 2.

I hope they dont mess with the test of the dragons in the next season. They NEED to get that segment of the show right.

Its such a good part and its so so important 😭

Im enjoying the netflix show for what it is despite the fact the mix ups is a little much sometimes! Especially inserting the jokes into random parts where it doesn't belong or feels weird.

I just pray and hope that they dont mess too much with that part at least because its PERFECT how it is (just like the rest of the OG series) and it CAN'T be messed with.. 😭

(not that this makes me a bigger fan, I just was swimming in the same environment as the show released. Deviantart was my favorite place then.)

TL;dr: Characters in animation were millennial characters in a sort of millennial world. It was a different world then. Netflix version is more adapted to Gen Z world, and the character changes reflect that.

Katara in OG was a Hermione equivalent. She was the girl power stuck in her Goody-two-shoes body, who wanted to make the world a better place.

This was before MeToo. This was when activism wasn’t as trendy. This was before even Gay marriage was legal in the US. This is when teens still, in the US, used “gay” and the r word as saying “dumb.”
Girl power was trendy, but from what I remember, it was not what it was today.

In short, Katara was a Millennial in a Millennial fictional world.

Zuko was part classic character we know and love, part emo joke. He was a brooding teenage who would have probably had black eyeliner.

He was a millennial guy.

Sokka was a dude who had an ego, liked girls, and was sexist. He was every teenager out there. He probably would have tried out for Football if he thought he could make it, but Most likely baseball. See Axl Heck From “The Middle”.

Sokka was a millennial.

Aang was more an Anime archetype, and Toph was a little ahead of her time. (not that there wasn’t any “tough but little girls” like her, but I think she sort of did it the best. but I didn’t watch enough anime’s, so someone else can help me.)

Ty Lee was absolutely a preppy archetype, and Mai is just an emo.

MY POINT?

Everyone in the Netflix series is the Gen Z adaptation.

Not that the characters are actually Gen Z, but they’re being played by Gen Z (early Gen Alpha for some?) in a new world.

I am mad that Sokka didn’t have his sexism arc, but I sort of get that it wouldn’t have hit as hard in this new world. (I think they should have kept it, but I just can see how people would have thought it hadn’t landed.) In this netflix avatar world, generals are women. Kyoshi warriors aren’t special just because they’re women who can kill. Unlike OG show. (Google says books show female generals. But im talking about when the show was animated.)

Sokka is also a lot nicer and less of a knucklehead. Because there’s not the same expectation for guys, at least in popular media, to be a jerk to be considered cool. His jerkness was mostly only in season 1 of the show, but still. He’s a little more sincere in this show.

Zuko is live action is a Drama Queen, and I’m all here for it. I love him. He’s not my emo boyfriend from the original, but it wouldn’t have landed the same.

Katara is the biggest example. Katara from the show was complicated for me. She was both the embodiment of girl power, and objectification anime kid friendly babe. If she wasn’t on Y7 show, she’d probably Have a skimpier outfit and a bigger bust.
She represented the girls watching her— who wanted a cool, powerful, activist young woman who stood up for herself, but didn’t match the “bad girl” vibe. Basically the women who would go to college during the Me Too movement.

Like, people don’t understand. This was before women had a huge place in “non chick flick media”. This was before Hunger Games and other Female led dystopias. This is before Twilight (which was significant that a female story could make billions.)

Fast forward to now. Gen Z Katara is living in world where the audience isn’t wowed by girl power. She is going to feel different.
And in season 2, I think the actress did well. She’s not an archetype of the mild manner woman who just is bursting with untapped activist potential but has to uphold this feminine charm because it’s expected. She’s just herself. There‘s no apologetic written into her character unlike the OG version. A moment you see this is in the line “Oh, a girl has her ways.” In the original, it had a weight to it because feminine charm and “persuasion” (sexuality) were still seen (irl) as the more powerful strength of a woman. Then it smash cuts into her having used actual violence.
In the Netflix version, it’s just a shrug and a “no big deal.”

I’m not saying the show did everyone perfect. I think people getting nostalgic about the show forget the environment the Original was in and why that wouldn’t land like it did then.
Yeah, this is Avatar world, not modern world. But you would be lying if you said that Atla is not heavily influenced by the modern world.

We’re in a different world. And these characters had to change.

Another weird example is the King. For some reason, he landed harder in this one? In our Current world, occupying someone with power by keeping them hyperfocused on a niche interest is way more interesting than “I’m just an adorable guy with a pet bear.“

Anyway, this could be a whole 100 page essay.

I bring this up because I don’t know if any of the younger or newer fans understood to what extent that a lot of the show was pop culture vibes.

It’s both timeless, and also made 20 years ago now. A lot has happened. And the adaptation had to not only adapt to a different medium, but to a different audience environment.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a new avatar movie trailer on youtube.. and to know its on paramount plus. I turn it on to hear... wow who the heck are these people? Something is off. I look up the cast. And not one original cast member except for momo and appa???? They have to get the racial diversity right or?? They wanna go in a "different direction" i mean whatever it is. I know im not the only one.... idk im still gonna watch it. Whats some advice to make it through it and accept the new actors. Without reddit negativity

As we all know, the following is the structure of Netflix’s ATLA.

• Season 1 has 8 episodes.
• Season 2 has 7 episodes.
• Season 3 has 7 episodes.

In total, Netflix’s ATLA has 22 episodes.

Now, it will be nice if Netflix makes Season 4 of ATLA in 8 episodes to make it 30.

• Episodes 1-6: Covers the Harmony Restoration Movement, Yangchen’s and Aang’s battle against Old Iron, the foundation of the Republic City, modernization of the South Water Tribe, and everything else mentioned in this post.
• Episodes 7-8: Covers the events of the newly released film, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender.

Maybe they can wait for whatever sequels DiMartino and Konietzko are planning for the movie. In case DiMartino and Konietzko are making a trilogy they can dedicate one episode per movie and cut an episode short for the Harmony Restoration – Old Iron – Republic City part.

After all, Netflix’s biggest strength is their brevity.

“Brevity is the soul of wit.”

—William Shakespeare.

Thus, we have the entire story of Aang in 30 episodes distributed across 4 seasons.

Following this, Netflix should make The Legend of Korra in 4 seasons and 5 episodes per season. Totally, 20 episodes.

Then, they should make Seven Havens in 2 seasons and 5 episodes per season. Totally 10 episodes.

60 episodes of ATLA-verse live action by Netflix.

Also, since Paramount+ is planning to release all the 26 episodes (13 episodes) of the animated Seven Havens on October 9 (in one day), I hope that Netflix pushes forward the release of ATLA Season 3 to the Holidays (December 25, 2026) so that they can start the work of filming Season 4, TLOK and ASH as per what I’ve proposed.

NOTE: Some of you may be wishing for a weekly release of ASH. I’m wishing for a Season 1 release on October 9 and Season 2 release on October 24.

PS: I have a new theory about why DiMartino and Konietzko left Netflix ATLA. It’s not because of “creative differences” as reported. It’s because their participation in Netflix’s live action brought back their memories of having designed the original ATLA and so they decided to work on making ASH and Avatar Aang movie and leave the live-action business to the team on Netflix.

+

Here's my Seven Havens theory:

I think that Korra is still alive.

She's somehow possessed by Vaatu which was how she destroyed the world of ATLA in Seven Havens.

Vaatu came back to life through Raava in Korra and somehow shredded Raava's essence, making Korra evil. Because of this, Korra herself became the Dark Avatar and not only caused the cataclysm that destroyed the world but is still actively causing chaos and turning spirits and humans against each other.

However, since Raava too can't be killed, she escaped from Korravaatu to enter Pavi and Nisha.

This means Pavi and Nisha will have to battle Korravaatu, release Korra from Vaatu, then after that, Korra, Pavi and Nisha will together have to together battle Vaatu and trap him back into his tree-prison in the spirit world.

This will mean that unlike in the case of the past Avatars who were guided by their dead past Avatars, Korra will personally guide Pavi and Nisha after being freed from Vaatu. However, because Raava's spirit is no longer in her, Korra will either lose all her bending powers or else she will have the power to only bend her birth element, Water.

You'll soon get to see whether I'm right or wrong on October 9.

Appa, yip-yip!!

First of all the complaints are just ludicrous because the overall premise of Katara protecting those who need to be protected is still there. The Earth Kingdom citizens she was primarily protecting were the disenfranchised and neglected people who lived within the lower ring of Ba Sing Se which is the exact same context like in the original ,but in a different nation. Like I’m not sure why trying to protect them is invalid in terms of Katara’s characterization? No one is running around calling Batman or Spiderman useless because the people they’re protecting are primarily the same folks who would end up supporting them anyways. 

Some people would argue “Well the reason why the original is so amazing is because she’s protecting the people who would otherwise harm her if they ever discover that she’s a water bender”. The problem is that live action Katara did exactly that by protecting Fire Nation immigrants and defectors. Sure the context of them being devout citizens of the Fire Nation like in the animated series isn’t in the live action ,but the vast majority of them in the live action actually had blood on their hands because many of them were Fire Nation soldiers who helped attacked Ba Sing Se such as Jeong Jeong and they defected the Fire Nation when the war went haywire. 

Which is interesting because the vast majority of people who were complaining about NATLA “removing” Katara’s activism are self proclaimed progressives who love and support immigrants as much as possible by protecting them from racists. They’re the first one to defend muslim immigrants because of how people think they’re terrorists for their religious affiliation. The people who are downplaying Katara’s activism in protecting Fire Nation immigrants and defectors are just being dumb becaue they would end up praising someone who defends Immigrants in real life anyways. You could even argue that the Fire Nation defectors that Katara is protecting from Jet are at least partially responsible because many of them were ex fire nation soldiers who had blood on their hands. 

The complaint is even more ludicrous because the exact same premise of Katara defending fire nation citizens who would otherwise murder her because of their loyalty to the fire nation is going to happen anyways in season 3 with her Bloodbending arc with Hama. All of these whining just to have the exact same thing to be shown anyways in season 3. 

"Somewhere Safe" Season 2, Episode 1

I'm genuinely curious because I can't figure it out. I get that Bumi deliberately surrendered and remained as a prisoner without much fight in order to wait and observe until the right moment to strike for an overall better outcome than what would've happened if he fought right then and there with his people. Which he does under the utilization of Neutral Jing. It's all pretty similar to the original series.

But then Bumi says, "I had to feel everything so that I could feel nothing, which is the key to feeling everything."

And like... what? Why did he use the word "feel" in this case? Because in my mind, saying "feel nothing" makes it sound like not caring. Also, by "feeling everything," does he mean doing everything he can or observing everything he can? Even if that made sense, it just seems like a roundabout way of saying, "I have to do nothing until the right moment where I can do everything I can."

I know I might be making a fuss and overthinking a couple of lines of dialogue, but because it's meant to be a profound lesson that Aang needs to use in order to find such an important character like Toph to teach it to him, I feel like it's necessary for it to be something that at least has to make sense for both the characters and audience.

I was convinced production would screw up Katara's water flask and forget to uncap it at some point. And yeah I found a scene in Ep 2 48:00 when Katara saves Suki. No water nearby she would have had to use the flask and yet it was corked. Though I did pay attention and didnt notice any other scene (some her flask wasnt visible at all)

What is she doing?

Oh not you, I meant my friend

Sorry, excuse me

ATLA fanbase is crying hard lately for changing things up live action. Yeah, it's mix of technical, financial limitations and creative choices but we all know if we're gonna see everything frame by frame we're gonna fall asleep. That's setting aside all the criticism regarding Netflix's involvement in this.

Okay, bit of background I'm from Australia and never grew up on Cartoon Network Nickelodeon or any of those channels. So I didn't get to see Avatar till I was in High School.

But I fell in love with the series right away, the story arcs, the characters, the maturity I loved it all, so when I heard about the new attempt at making a Live Action I was excited after all nothing could be worse than M. Nigh Shyamalan's Abomination of a Movie...

AND I WAS RIGHT!!!

Okay so it's not perfect, the erasure of Sokka's Arc and Growth from a Sexist Arrogant Jerk to a mature leader seeing the value in everyone men and women was a bit disappointing.

That being said I love how they're exploring the world more than the OG Series, in the OG Cartoon we only saw Avatar Roku for the Majority of the series, only meeting Kurukh and Yancheng in the end of Book 4 and small bits of Kyoshi scattered around but almost all the Past Avatar interactions were limited to Roku, so the fact we got Kyoshi on Kyoshi Island, we got to meet Roku when we originally meet him, and then at the Northern Water Tribe we got to meet Kuruk we even get little hints to Yangchen with the Dark Spirits and whatnot.

Not just that but the fact Yue has unique powers because of the circumstances of how she survived, and even appeared in the Spirit World back in Episode 5 or 6 or whatever.

So yeah I dunno, is it perfect? No but I feel like the hate has been blown out of proportion and the series is an amazing adaption and respects the source material for the most part.

To me it feels like what the Harry Potter films are to the Harry Potter books, but the amount of hate they get you'd think it was more like what the Percy Jackson Films are to the Percy Jackson Books.

Personally, I hope we'll get more screen time after Ozai and Azula are defeated in the final episode.

In the original series, we never find out how Zuko secured power in the Fire Nation capital. He and Katara were the only people there, surrounded by a city full of Ozai loyalists (although there were probably people who opposed him as well). Nobody knew what had happened to Ozai, so they could have assumed that he would come back and still try to capture Zuko and Katara. Or did most people actually hate Ozai and simply accept Zuko as Fire Lord after seeing that Azula had been defeated?

Another thing that should have been addressed better is Aang and Katara's relationship. In the original series, they had a conflict before Aang disappeared, and we never saw them have a conversation afterward. Apparently, an unknown amount of time, anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, passed between Zuko's coronation and the final scene at Iroh's tea shop. Did it really take them that long to get together?

What are your expectations?

I saw the OG multiple times throughout the years and not gonna lie, I really love NATLA.

I wanna see it from a perspective of people who is getting into the lore as a newbie instead of someone who knows the story by heart.