The Legend of Korra

That's true but it's not evidence that anarchism naturally gives way to feudalism. I mean while I think Catalonia, had it survived, would inevitably have to adopt state-like institutions and thus no longer be "anarchist", the idea that it would have continued as it was is a lot more convincing to me than the idea it would have inevitably given over to feudalism and then tyranny. Rojava and the Zapatistas are usually my go-to examples of successful anarchist-esque polities, and they're not showing any signs of reverting to feudalism.

I haven't formally studied anarchism or anything like that, but I'm familiar with some of the theory. I can't give too thorough of a critique but basically, even though I really enjoyed S3 and thought the Red Lotus were interesting and somewhat sympathetic villains, I don't think Zaheerism is really all that well thought-through of an interpretation of anarchism. Like anarchist history is very much intertwined with Marxist history, and both ideologies have had massive influences on each other, so most anarchists place a lot of value on things like class struggle and workplace democracy rather than Zaheer's "chaos". Also, like you said, Zaheer's assumption that everyone will immediately seize the opportunity for "freedom" given the chance is pretty naïve and not really something anarchists talk about; revolution requires actually selling people on the ideas first. Another point worth noting is that most anarchists put a lot of stock in the idea of the workplace as the site of revolution and struggle (e.g. the Wobblies and "One Big Union") rather than just... assassinating the state out of existence.

Of course there's anarcho-capitalism too but like honestly even Zaheerism is better thought-through than that.

edited 18th Feb '17 7:01:53 PM by VincentQuill

It might have been interesting to show some of the movement toward unionization and workers' rights, maybe in just one episode of Book Three or Four— Mako's past career as an industrial lightningbender, for instance— that would've given him a personal stake that he often lacked, and going from worker to cop... That might've been fairly fraught, however. I could see that getting shot down.

That blurry edge between religion and philosophy is common in Asia, with philosophy being more spiritual and religion being (sometimes) more..mundane? Zaheer's beliefs seem based on Buddhist and especially Taoist teachings, albeit taken to the extreeeme. I've heard it said that the Tao Te Ching reads like a manual on how to, if not be an anarchist, how to think like one, the proper mindset to start out with.

edited 24th Feb '17 2:40:42 PM by Unsung

The issue with Zaheer is that for his plan to work it would require the Red Lotus to become the new global authority. If there's just total anarchy then eventually someone is going to find a way to amass more power than their neighbors. Eventually more of these entities, be they people or groups, are going to pop up and you've gone back to having what amount to kings and queens. The only way to prevent this is if the Red Lotus was a perpetual entity that repeatedly knocked down any attempts at monarchy. At that point what differentiates the Red Lotus from any other governing body?

I think you're missing a piece there. I believe what the Red Lotus wants is for the people as a whole to rise up and be united in freedom, to fight the power themselves and prevent any dictators from gaining a new foothold. As Book Four shows, however, that's...not really what people do, given the choice.

I didn't mention it because I know for a fact it won't happen. Someone is going to get ahead of others whether it's through strength, intelligence, or luck. Unless there's some kind of group that goes around toppling these people it's just going to revert to the status quo.

Well, that's a Full-Circle Revolution for you. But it's worth mentioning because that's the Red Lotus's intent, regardless of whether or not anyone is likely to take them up on it.

edited 19th Feb '17 3:24:19 PM by Unsung

I liked Season 3 and 4 equally, I admit both Kuvira and Wu had issues with there portrayals that nevertheless do not matter to me, and the romances needed work on this show.

Could a live- action Netflix TV adaptation of Avatar the Last Airbender work?

edited 20th Feb '17 10:10:17 AM by KSoniK

I don't really think they to remake The Last Airbender as any kind of series, but a continuation or a story about the life of a different Avatar, live-action or otherwise, I could be into that.

I don't think Avatar can really work in live-action, to be honest. It's one of those series where the episodic nature functions better as a TV show, but the visuals demand a blockbuster budget. If they were to try to make it a live-action TV series, expect to see a lot of straightforward martial arts with the occasional element bending.

edited 20th Feb '17 10:23:32 AM by TobiasDrake

Sure, though as shorter series (like 4-8 episodes with the option for sequel series rather than a more standard seasonal format), I think they could have room for it.

Are the Avatar comics worth getting?

I'd say yes on account of finally finding out what happened to Zuko's mom, and to see Toph fight King Bumi.

But I haven't heard great things about the comics, and have yet to read them myself.

edited 22nd Feb '17 8:39:03 AM by Soble

The reception is the definition of Broken Base with the reactions ranging from "good but flawed" to "absolute garbage." So your opinion will vary. A lot.

Not really, in my opinion.

These have been an enjoyable few pages.

I found them serviceable. Not some of the best writing Avatar's ever had, but not terrible either.

No, I meant the thread. I don't really care about the comic.

I'm sure it can't be that bad.

On a slightly different topic, is Guru Pathik the only Indian character in the franchise, or are there others?

edited 24th Feb '17 2:48:17 PM by KSoniK

He's the only one that we see. Given how big and diverse the Earth Kingdom is I assume he's just from a region we never see.

That makes sense.

Possibly? Ethnicity isn't one-for-one in Avatar World, and the Earth Kingdom in particular is very multiethnic. Bumi is so cartoonish that it's hard to say what he'd look like in real life (which is fine), and outside of Ba Sing Se the direct correlation with China isn't always as strong. The extermination of the Air Nomads might have also displaced surrounding peoples, of which Pathik might've been one, as the Fire Nation moved through their lands to get at the Air Temples. Meanwhile Zaheer and Ghazan look more East Asian but have Sanskrit names (which they might have adopted?), plus we know Zaheer based his philosophy on airbender ideas, and Air Nomad culture is based in part on Tibet, so...

Can't remember if this was on this thread or the ATLA one, but Bumi was apparently a redhead when he was young, even moreso than Suki, although the filter on Aang's flashbacks could admittedly be doing something weird to his hair colour.

edited 24th Feb '17 3:56:44 PM by Unsung

Hmmm,now you mention it, Bumi's hair is the same colour as Aang's shawl◊

edited 24th Feb '17 3:22:45 PM by KSoniK

Given the reddish filter over the whole scene, Bumi's hair was more than likely brown.

That is a pretty interesting video.