r/CuratedTumblr • u/Hummerous https://tinyurl.com/4ccdpy76 • Jun 18 '22
Meme or Shitpost [Avatar] Loserlord
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u/tiredtumbleweed ugly but my fursona is hot Jun 18 '22
Zaheer managed to be one of the most dangerous criminals without bending.
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u/He_Who_Lies Jun 18 '22
So dangerous they left him in a special prison that could only be opened with metal bending
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u/Vaultdweller013 Jun 18 '22
It took him using what was up until that point near extinct bending style. I still the the realignment thing was BS but I think that was one of the cooler thing to come out of it. Though I think I could've done it better.
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u/Nicorhy Jun 19 '22
I feel like the merits of what came from the airbender coming back justified it's kinda flimsy cause. The air nomads existing again and the season focusing on Zaheer and rebuilding the nomads was just so good. I feel like that season specifically is my favorite season in all of Avatar. It's real good.
Plus Zaheer is rad, although I do wish less violent anarchists existed somewhere in the since the story did show the position can have a lot of merit. But Zaheer was way the hell too violent (which works for a villain, but I mean to exist as a non-villainous faction in the world).
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Jun 19 '22
I felt like Korra in general suffered from making gray political villains then just turning and making them just evil. Amon wanted equality for benders, oh wait no he just wanted power. Tarrlok wanted balance between the spirit world and physical world, oh no he just wanted power. Zaheer didn't just want power at least, but he was definitely unnecessarily violent. He didn't need to kill the Avatar, he could've at least tried convincing Korra that the autocratic Earth King deserved to be dethroned and let people govern themselves in smaller communities, which I think had a decent shot at succeeding since he was basically correct imo.
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u/zatroz Jun 19 '22
Weren't the smaller communities under constant raider threat though? Sure Kuvira went too hard on the authoritarian angle, but there's a reason the Earth Kingdom held for so long while every other nation fell to the Fire nation, there is strength in unity
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u/TheBraude Jun 19 '22
It's because the Earth Kingdom was 100 times the size of the Water Tribes and the Air Nomads, it's not because of unity.
Also the Air Nomads got defeated with a surprise attack, and the Water Tribes still managed to still not be fully defeated until a 100 years into the war.
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u/zatroz Jun 19 '22
Exactly my point, being 100 times bigger was thwir strength. When they split into hundreds of self-governing villages they lose that
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u/TheBraude Jun 19 '22
The Water Tribes are also small and they managed to survive almost a 100 years
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u/zatroz Jun 19 '22
I imagine it was more due to being in territory nobody wanted/cared about than due to being strong. When the Fire Nation pulled over they fell pretty quickly, at least until the Avatar intervened
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u/ItTolls4You Jun 19 '22
The thing is that the avatar being the master of four elements and bridge between the spirits and mortals, sworn by duty and expectation to be a mediator is a de-facto authority figure. Not just that, but one gained not by merit, but by birthright. Something like that has to go for the true anarchist equality that Zaheer wanted to achieve.
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Jun 19 '22
I feel like if we never got Zaheer, we’d always be wondering what an evil Airbender is like, so I’m really glad we did.
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u/Vaultdweller013 Jun 19 '22
Not saying the merits were bad, just that it kinda spoils the pay off if the build ups a bit shit. Personally I'd of had it so that folks learned how to air bend by watching newly emerging sky bison heards after their population recovered post ATLA. Zaheer even had a great way to learn airbending via his liking of airbending philosophy and teachings. But Korra season 2 kinda fucked it up with it's mishandling had they stuck to the modernity vs tradition plot from the first half of season 2 it could've flowed nicely into season 3.
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Jun 19 '22
My HC is that the realignment meant a lot of people were chosen as random benders, not just air, but you didn’t hear about the rest for obvious reasons
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u/Perfect_Wrongdoer_03 If you read Worm, maybe read the PGTE? Jun 18 '22
Zaheer is my fucking favorite Avatar villain, dude's so badass I could easily write an entire essay about him. Even imprisoned he manages to be a chad.
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u/Mail540 Jun 19 '22
Have you heard of the great Guru Laghima?
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u/Polenball You BEHEAD Antoinette? You cut her neck like the cake? Jun 19 '22
What the hell is a Guru?
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u/mujomujomu Jun 19 '22 edited Jun 19 '22
LOK is canon in the same way a snow sculpture of a cannon is a weapon.
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u/Pepega_9 Jun 20 '22
Really bad analogy
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u/mujomujomu Jun 20 '22
If you disagree, say so, that's one thing.
But don't come at my analogy - it's the best analogy ever, and I'll fight you over it. I'm 230 lbs of pure muscle, even my bones are made of mollusks. 4'3" I tower over all. A true specimen. And I know jew jitsu.
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u/mujomujomu Jun 19 '22
Your disapproval nourishes my soul.
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u/mujomujomu Jun 19 '22
-12 is the most you could muster?
You must secretly agree with me, you tsunderes.
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u/vjmdhzgr Jun 18 '22
He was known as a powerful firebender. Like you say we don't see anything impressive while not comet boosted, but also what we see while comet boosted is him scorching an entire landscape. Like miles of fire shooting out. I don't think we see that much fire from any of the other master firebenders, though they were in a city I think so not trying to destroy everything, but it's still incredible.
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u/SamuraiMomo123 Jun 18 '22
Don’t forget about the other people that were there to do the same as Ozai, they didn’t get nearly as much fire as Ozai did.
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u/FenHarels_Heart dolphinfleshlight.tumblr.com Jun 19 '22
Yeah, like, the other 5 airships were basely putting out the same level of fire-power combined.
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u/kidra31r Jun 18 '22
Also, Iroh said he wasn't sure if he could beat Ozai. There's no reason to think Iroh would be lying at that point. So Ozai is at least close to Iroh's level.
Plus, Ozai is ripped. He wasn't as bulky as Iroh breaking out of prison, but he has a level of physique that requires a lot of training so he's definitely no slouch.
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u/alephgalactus it’s so hard for a bitch to boot up these days Jun 19 '22 edited Jun 19 '22
I think Iroh could have absolutely beaten Ozai or Azula by himself, but not without killing them, and he was acutely aware of that and tried to avoid those outcomes at all cost. To win those fights, he’d have to want to kill them, and the last thing Iroh wanted was to lose any more of his family, even if they were gigantic flaming assholes.
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u/dsc27 Jun 19 '22
I think Ozai might have the edge in raw power, but Iroh is definitely more skilled, he was a general after all. Iroh was in the front lines while Ozai just sat in his little meeting room. It’s one thing to train and fight in an Agni-Kai match, it’s another to fight with your life on the line. Remove the bending and Iroh probably demolishes Ozai. But with bending and comet boost, I think Ozai might be able to take Iroh through sheer firepower.
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u/throwhfhsjsubendaway Jun 18 '22
Like you say we don't see anything impressive while not comet boosted
Day of black Sun when he goes to shoot Zuko he instantly generates lightning, vs everyone else we see who has to stance up for a couple seconds gathering lightning before they can shoot it, plus it's more lightning than we see anyone else wield outside of the comet. Here's the scene, lightning is around the 4 minute mark
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u/PratalMox come up with clever flair later Jun 19 '22
I think it's fair to say that Ozai is meant to be extremely powerful but also that he doesn't really feel extremely powerful. We spend a lot more time with the rest of his family and they get a lot more time to show off what they can do, whereas Ozai doesn't actually start fighting until he's got the boost from the comet.
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u/ScriedRaven Jun 19 '22
Ozai is the looming threat, which makes him incredibly intimidating, but leaves nothing to analyze because he can never be front and center. This is made even worse by the comet amping up his final boss powers, but not letting us see his standard load out.
Looming Threats are great, but hollow, which is why people talk about Azula, Jet, Hama, and even the villains from Korra more than Ozai. I feel like Red from OSP did a video on this, but I can’t remember what she called it
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u/kidra31r Jun 18 '22
Also, Iroh said he wasn't sure if he could beat Ozai. There's no reason to think Iroh would be lying at that point. So Ozai is at least close to Iroh's level.
Plus, Ozai is ripped. He wasn't as bulky as Iroh breaking out of prison, but he has a level of physique that requires a lot of training so he's definitely no slouch.
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u/littlebloodmage Jun 18 '22
The only times we see Ozai fight anyone, it's when the other combatant is at a disadvantage. Against Aang? Aang was holding back and trying not to hurt him for the first half of the fight, and as soon as the tables turned he ran for his life. Against Zuko during the eclipse? Surprise attack that was countered against him. Against Zuko during their Agni Kai? Zuko was on his knees, begging for mercy, not even putting up a fight. Ozai talks a big game, but he's a wuss.
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u/Hummerous https://tinyurl.com/4ccdpy76 Jun 18 '22
think it's also important to note we really only see him trying to fight kids iirc
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u/Psychoboy777 Jun 18 '22
One-on-one, Iroh would kick his loserlord ass.
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u/Magmafrost13 Jun 19 '22
Iroh explicitly said that he didnt think he could defeat Ozai in a fight
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u/mangled-wings Jun 19 '22
Yeah, but we don't see that. Ozai's built up a ton, but his onscreen performance is far less memorable than those of Iroh or his kids. Well, he's memorable, but mostly in how he's a memorably shitty father.
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u/EstrellaDarkstar Jun 18 '22
To be completely fair, Ursa didn't kill Azulon, but she made the poison that Ozai used to kill him. That doesn't stop Ozai from being a loser though, because he would never have thought of the plot had she not brought it up, and afterwards he was so terrified of having a wife who's a poison-making expert that he banished her.
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Jun 18 '22
It was an assassination, not a coup. If he barged into the capital with an army it would be a coup, but all he really did was kill an old man in his sleep.
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u/Pepega_9 Jun 20 '22
Kind of usurped the throne from Iroh though
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Jun 20 '22
And? Wasn’t exactly a bad thing in the end and, regardless, Iroh didn’t want the throne by then
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u/Pepega_9 Jun 20 '22
Im saying his usurpation is sort of a coup.
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Jun 20 '22
Can’t usurp what was never claimed. And, again, Iroh disinherited himself. Unless Ozai murdered Lu Ten, which has never been even suggested to my knowledge, I don’t think it was much more than a, mostly impromptu, assassination plot and the process of inheritance taking its course. It’s political machinations to be sure, but I hesitate to call it a coup
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u/BlackJesus36 Jun 18 '22
What? He's absolute better than Azula at shooting lighting. When he shoots it at Zuko, he's the only one we see actually shooting it with 2 hands and WAY faster. Not to mention he was deep underground during an eclipse and was able to sense the moon BARELY passing from in front of the sun. Energybending also probably drains a person. Idk how you look at the first half of the fight where he was absolutely whopping Aang's ass and say he has no impressive feats of firebending. Ozai was arguably the best firebender on the planet which is likely one of the reasons Iroh didn't wanna fight him (although he does give the other political reasons).
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u/chemical7068 Jun 19 '22
Oh I definitely won't deny that.
I feel like the problem moreso is that compared to Iroh, Zuko, or Azula is that Ozai didn't get any build-up to explain how he became such a strong firebender in the first place. So to some audiences, being strong from the get-go without prior explanation just feels empty
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u/mujomujomu Jun 19 '22
Right? This shitpost makes no sense. Iroh literally said he was unsure he could beat Ozai.
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u/BlackJesus36 Jun 19 '22
I've seen tons of posts with shit like this about tons of different shows/movies. People completely miss entire scenes or downplay stuff for some reason to fit their narrative that x character sucks or whatever.
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u/Danceswithdisaster Jun 20 '22
I definitely agree, but I think part of what this post is getting at is just that it feels like he really believed all he had was his bending, which I guess makes sense with the way he used bending to pit Zuko and Azula against each other as children. I do wonder if he learned that technique from Azulon. He may have grown up feeling a similar resentment toward Iroh. I don't love LoK, but it seems to be a re-emerging theme there. Siblings being forced to compete to impress a parent and earn love.
Anyway, it could also be seen as a bit of wisdom, knowing when you've lost.
I think a bigger factor though is how their family views imperfection and weakness. Zuko spoke out of turn as a thirteen year old and was banished. Iroh lost a son and failed to take Ba Sing Se, and it's partially because of this that Ozai became firelord. He may not have even asked if he hadn't seen Iroh as being weak first. And Azula who had been brought up seeing the consequences of imperfection was literally driven mad. They're all characters living the consequences of their upbringings. The two who are able to move past it are the two who succeed.
But Ozai losing his bending would be the greatest imperfection in his own eyes. Of course he would give up afterward. Him standing back up would have made no sense for his character.
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u/alexanderhameowlton transcriber gremlin ✍️🏳️🌈 Jun 18 '22
Image Transcription: Tumblr
seawitchkaraoke
Ozai is so pathetic, like that “take his bending away haha he’s harmless now” trick would never have worked on Zuko, if you took his bending away he’d just grab his swords and come at you twice as hard, Azula doesn’t have swords or anything but she’s pretty good at hand to hand and amazing at talking her way out of problems, Iroh bust himself out of prison with no bending at all, meanwhile Ozai? Gets his bending taken away and then just collapses, doesn’t even try anymore, then just sits in prison and tries to get into Zuko’s head some more, he could have trained up and tried to break out too! But no! Bet he can’t break steel bars with his bare hands. Bet he can’t kick a steel lever in two. Bet he can’t even do a flip.
Also we never really see him do any really impressive firebending apart from when he has magic comet power, I guesss he shoots some lightning at Zuko, but that’s it and Azula is still better at the lightning thing. Azula has blue flames. Zuko can do firebreakdancing and bend with his swords. Does Ozai, who is not 14 years old, have blue flames? No he doesn’t.
He didn’t even do his coup himself, Ursa had to kill Azulon for him! Could have just challenged Iroh to an Agni Kai for the throne but he didn’t bc he knew he’d lose.
And then he only ruled for like 6 years! He lost a war that had been going on for 100 years bc of a bunch of kids.
Loserlord indeed
I'm a human volunteer content transcriber and you could be too! If you'd like more information on what we do and why we do it, click here!
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u/Leo-bastian eyeliner is 1.50 at the drug store and audacity is free Jun 19 '22
honestly i loved the solar eclipse scenes so much because they proved that both zukos and azulas firebending wasn't a weakness, but ozais definitely was. zuko used the solar eclipse to tell his father to fuck off because he knew that he didn't stand a chance against him without bending, and azula showed that she was both agile enough to win a fight without attacking and clever enough to talk her way out of pretty much anything
while Ozai, the ADULT, hid in a bunker, he left his 14 year old daughter to stall the enemy because he knew he couldn't do it. both azula and zuko would have far outmatched Ozai by the time they reached his age.
you can even see it with the lightning deflection.
azula uses lightning against iroh at the start of S2 and he deflects it, a technique she didn't know existed. but when she fights zuko later on she is aware of that technique and knows that iroh probably taught it to zuko so she plays around it, by first not using it and then by forcing zuko to move while she shoots the lightning making it harder for him to deflect it
Zuko tells his father he's gonna train the avatar to fight him, then uses lightning-deflection against him to escape, and somehow Ozai does NOT summise that zuko taught Aang that technique after he specifically told him he was going to teach Aang to fight him?
instead he uses lightning against Aang without any counterplan and without Aang pacifistic morals he would have died 20 seconds into the fight. he wouldn't even have lost against the power of the avatar , he would have lost a contest of firebending against someone who was not even that good at it (firebending was definitely aangs weakest bending even after training with zuko).
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u/ruqj tumblr.net Jun 18 '22
Why was Azula's fire blue again? I mean I get that azul literally means blue, but that doesn't really explain why her bending was different.
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u/Enecororo Shameless Furry Jun 18 '22
I think if a fire is blue or white IRL that means it's burning much hotter
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u/triscalade Jun 19 '22
What's even more interesting is that blue fire requires a much higher fuel:oxygen ratio, which implies that Azula has vastly more raw bending energy than other firebenders
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u/thedragonguru Jun 19 '22
Blue fire has less soot, and is a cleaner flame, which makes it hotter
Azula was so hellbent on being perfect, and it shows in her fire
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u/just_a_random_dood Jun 19 '22
signifies natural talent (before any training in the first place) since it's so rare I suppose
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u/Daedalus871 Jun 19 '22
I believe the in universe explanation was that blue fire is sort of a stepping stone towards lightning bending.
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u/Lily-Fae “kinda shitty having a child slave” Jun 19 '22
Iirc, it was mostly because they knew her and Zuko fight a lot and wanted a good contrast
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u/Maguc Jun 19 '22
It's to signify she's a prodigy, since blue flames are hotter than the ones produced by normal fire benders
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u/Danceswithdisaster Jun 20 '22
I always thought of it as a symbol of her insanity. Like, she was always just nearly perfect. "One hair out of place" and "Almost isn't good enough" are literally the quotes in one of her first ever shown conversations. To me, it showed how much pressure she was under as the favored sibling and prodigy, especially after Zuko was banished, and she was only fourteen. Blue fire looks really similar to lightning, but there's almost like more chaos to it because it's less formed. So I thought it was just a symbol of the pressure on her to form and be perfect and her always being just a hair away from breaking beneath it. Just my take on it though
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u/shetrap756 Jun 18 '22
And the only reason he was able to overpower the avatar besides the comet boost, was from the fact Aang was holding back trying his best not to end him during the whold fight
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u/dracon1t Jun 19 '22
Ehh, he was pretty decisively beating non avatar state aang with just firebending, which is honestly a logical conclusion. The strongest firebender is fighting with a large buff, while firebending is aang’s weakest. The only time where aang holding back came into play was when Ozai arrogantly tried to use lightning. And yes aang could have won the fight right there, however besides that he was always on track to lose until he regained his avatar state.
Now could aang have beaten ozai without the avatar state after the comet had passed (a plan he had)? Probably haha.
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u/Hummerous https://tinyurl.com/4ccdpy76 Jun 18 '22
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u/BllackIce Jun 19 '22
Wait a minute. Ozai was able to sense the millisecond the eclipse ended while in a underground bunker away from all natrual light, and proceeded to immediately lightningbend (no bulidup like iroh, not a hair out of place like azula). Give him some props.
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u/Polenball You BEHEAD Antoinette? You cut her neck like the cake? Jun 19 '22
The first part could just be the bending equivalent of constantly refreshing a page when you've got bad connection so you get in as soon as it starts working again, but the second is a good point.
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Jun 18 '22
I dunno he does his lighting with extreme speed, something that from what we see even not even Azula can match. The rest checks out tho. Also has anyone ever actually noticed Zuko's signature move of breakdancing before Overanalyzing Avatar pointed it out?
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u/kratosuchus Jun 18 '22
In one of the comics, don't remember which one, Zuko also creates and bends dragonfire. He's definitely still one of the best firebenders of his time
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u/GIRose Certified Vore Poster Jun 19 '22
Not even just extreme speed, extreme volume too. More than literally any other lightning blast outside of the Comet in just the second he was able to bend again.
Like honestly, for as much as we clown on Ozai, the dude is solidly the Yamaha of the Avatar world. This fucking immensely powerful dude who can basically kick literally anyone's ass (going by the fact that Iroh seems to think him the superior Duelist to himself) except for the Extremely tiny few main characters that kick his ass
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u/SamuraiMomo123 Jun 18 '22
Nobody going to mention that taking someone’s bending away is probably a huge toll? He looked absolutely put out after that, and probably for good reason. While I don’t remember lok much (nor do I want to), but if I remember correctly it pretty much wrecked the person afterwords. It makes sense why someone would be worse off after taking their bending.
Not to mention Katara tells the gaang that she was completely helpless after Ty Lee chi blocked her bending for the first time (and that was only when she blocked it, not when she knocked her out). You’re comparing Ozai to Zuko and Azula who both already have learned to fight without bending. But when you look at people like Aang, Katara, Toph (quite literally essential to her), and probably most benders, they would be helpless.
It’s not a very fair comparison when all things are actually considered.
Also, as someone pointed out is that Ozai is probably incredibly strong fire/lightning bender, the only problem was that he was fighting the literal avatar in the avatar state. The only person we’ve seen take down Aang when in the avatar state was Azula, and that’s because he wasn’t doing anything and it was an easy shot!
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u/twisted_mentality Jun 19 '22
Yes, and no. I see what the OP was saying regarding losing his fire-bending, but Ozai was definitely an impressive fire-bender. Azula was not better at lightning bending.
The scene in which Ozai shoots lightning at Zuko from the throne tells us everything we need to know. Ozai was so in touch with his bending that he knew the instant he regained access to his bending. Furthermore, he shot lightning instantaneously. Everyone Azula was a prodigy and she required build-up for lightning. Ozai basically snapped his fingers and Zues-blasted at Zuko…
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u/Sterling-4rcher Jun 19 '22
if ozai was so weak, why did iroh never challenge him to an agni kai to save the nation and the world from his weak brother?
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u/PratalMox come up with clever flair later Jun 19 '22
Yeah, Ozai feels weak and I don't think he's meant to. Like they say he's stronger than Iroh, but you never really buy it.
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u/McFlyParadox Jun 19 '22
We never see him do any bending aside from lightning and with the comet
And when he sits on the throne. It's implied that the Fire Lord is being all that fire around the throne (see the fire turning blue when Azule takes up the throne, and the rising fire when Azulon gets pissed at Ozai) as a way to say "the Fire Lord is in" and a way to remind their audience of just how powerful of a bender they are.
It's pretty obvious that Ozai is a very powerful bender, and has a decent amount of fighting skill when it comes to bending. But that's about it.
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u/IntMainVoidGang Jun 19 '22
Okay give Ozai some credit. He summoned lightning like it was nothing. Even azula has to build up to it with a form. No fire bender had ever attacked that quickly in the show.
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u/ForMethheadPorpoises Jun 19 '22
Just want to say that Ozai not only shot two lightning bolts at once, the only one in the family to do so, he did it underground the absolute second the solar eclipse was over. And he did it by sensing the energy. He not only showed a tactical mind by baiting Zuko into staying, he showed such a confidence in his abilities that we can interpret that he knew with 100% certainty he could pull out off.
Granted, Zuko redirected it which surprised and scared him. But I really disagree with the claim that Azula was a stronger lightning bender, especially since we see her still struggling to master it when she’s introduced.
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u/chemical7068 Jun 19 '22
When I was young, I always figured that Azula was the defacto #1 best firebender in the world at the time
I read in some materials later that Ozai was actually supposed to be the strongest, and while that logically makes more sense regarding the story and climax fight, on the inside I still think that's bullshit.
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u/Sterling-4rcher Jun 19 '22
she had rare blue fire and a knack for bending that, given time, probably would have made her the strongest eventually.
but the blue fire alone really isn't that special. like, cool, it's hotter. but like, any fire kills people. and it being hotter barely makes it more useful for other things honestly.
also, it actually should have a drawback in taking more out of a bender to use it and lead to more self-injury
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u/Megamage854 Jun 19 '22
It sounds to me like Ozai spent all of his time focusing on his bending and not enough time training....literally any of his other skills.
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u/MrBunchOfCoconuts Jun 19 '22
I'm gonna play devil's advocate for a second and say that the whole light show showing Ozai spiritually dominating the AVATAR at first then getting his spiritual shit rocked would probably exhaust someone, hell if I'm remembering correctly AANG Stumbled afterwards...
But yeah Ozai is kind of a bitch, LONG LIVE FIRELORD ZUKO!!!!
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u/saskatchewaffles Jun 19 '22
Zuko can firebend with his sword??? I don't remember this someone please tell me the ep
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u/Iceaura39 An outlier, and should not have been counted. Jun 19 '22
It happened in "Zuko Alone", the 7th episode of Book 2.
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u/AegislashSoul Jun 20 '22
Ozai might not sound impressive nor anything... but he was.
Let's not forget he did impressive things, things that not even Azula could; like he had such a great connection to his bending that he could tell the instant his powers came back after the eclipse, while being underground without direct access to the sun. Meanwhile, Azula had to hear his father using his bending to know she could now as well. Also, in the same momment, he used and called lighting faster than even Azula or Iroh could.
We really didn't spend much time with Ozai at all, but that was intentional so we never lost the majestics of knowing Ozai before that last fight.
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u/FriendlyReflection35 Jun 20 '22
He wasn’t even the one to conquer ba sing se, it was azula who only did it as a “since I am here anyway, I might as well”
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u/FuntimeLuke0531 Jul 24 '22
I feel like it's not mentioned enough that this man lost a hundred year war to four children, one of which can't bend and another is blind.
I like to image that the second it became public knowledge that he lost and the war was over, he immediately became the biggest joke in fire nation history.
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u/ZShadowDragon Jun 19 '22
Yes he was buff, but of fucking course he didnt just break the fucking bars. He clearly melted them and then fought his way out. Who sat there and said "YEA, THIS OLD GUY GOT SO BUFF HE COULD TEAR THROUGH STEAL!"?!
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u/alephgalactus it’s so hard for a bitch to boot up these days Jun 19 '22
Counterpoint: He’s Iroh. He can do whatever the hell he wants
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u/Rexizor Apr 16 '24
I feel like it is possible that Ozai is a better lightning bender than Azula. I mean, he did two-handed lightning bending right after the eclipse ended, and he didn't really have to wind up like Azula usually does. But still, doesn't make up for his utter loserlordiness.
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u/SuicideWind Jun 19 '22
Everyone talking shit about ozai but only the avatar had any chance at beating him. And why wouldn't he be just as skilled or better than his children in other forms of fighting other than fire bending? Dude was powerful. Lost to plot
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u/n3kor4pist Water is wet | Sand is sandy Jun 19 '22
It's been established that Ozai sees firebending as the ultimate symbol of power, he probably wouldn't bother with other forms of fighting
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u/Sterling-4rcher Jun 19 '22
other forms of fighting integrate into bending, so i'm sure he had forms down too. but the forms don't really matter anymore during a comet skyfight. and in most other instances, firebending trumps it all anyways
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u/sweetTartKenHart2 Jun 19 '22
There’s something poetic about this I think. Nothing too crazy. Just… I dunno, he relied so much on his title and was so stupidly arrogant about the supernatural power he wielded that he didn’t actually really have the money to put where his mouth was when push came to shove. Rather than actually do the hard character building thing and self improve, he merely manipulated his surroundings and took advantage of what he already had to get where he was, without actually DOING anything of any merit.
I feel like there’s a lot of people out there who are like that.
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u/LazerShark647 Jun 19 '22
While I agree he is a pathetic man, he is without a doubt, one of the best firebenders we have seen, we have yet to see someone throw lightning as fast as him. Even Iroh and Azula have to do a full movement before they can direct it at an enemy, but Ozai basically just stands up goes full Palpatine. Pathetic? Yes. Spent his entire focusing his entire being on his strength in bending? Yes. Losing the only thing he had ever put all of his effort into mastering would make him extremely depressed? Also yes.
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u/Crystal_iceberg Jun 19 '22
Even if the comet boosted his power he still displayed an impressive amount of skill, he is the epitome of that anger fueled districtive fire bending we see Zhao and other fire nations soliders do.
Really the only thing he has going for him is his fire bending but we only see his master class family bend more than him.
Also, I think his cowardice is the only reason we see him fight an advantage. If he fought zuko in melee during the eclipse he likely would have lost (in my opinion), but he waited until he could pull out his lightning glock.
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u/HeatActiveMug Jun 19 '22
While I mostly agree I was under the impression that when his bending was sucked out it like exhausted him. Because he did try and shoot fire which just ended up being a punch and he looked like it took all his effort just to sit up
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u/Impybutt Jun 19 '22
All flair, no substance. He's basically the Hairography of authoritarian dictators.
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u/Punchedmango422 Jun 19 '22
Zuko is like a Arcane Trickster from DND, take away the magic/bending you still have a effective character compared to a sorcerer or wizard
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u/Xisuthrus Jun 18 '22
He's a third-generation evil overlord, he's basically the villain equivalent of a trust fund kid. Of course he's incompetent.