History YMMV / AvatarTheLastAirbender

* TheScrappy: Fire Lord Azulon, father of Ozai and Iroh, is hated for being introduced as a FlatCharacter, who’s basically a rip-off of his second son and lacks of intimidating presence, with his order to have Ozai kill Zuko is non-sensical, not helped that his reason to continue war is not given depth.

** Ozai and Iroh's father, Fire Lord Azulon, was only briefly seen in one flashback episode and mentioned in passing in another. Despite being the Fire Lord before Ozai and despite the fact that most of the Hundred Year War passed during his reign, we know next to nothing about him.

** [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula]] shows herself as far more ruthless and manipulative than her elder brother Prince Zuko. Pursuing the Avatar, Azula later conquers the supposedly impregnable city Ba Sing Se by sheer guile after winning its secret police the Dai Li to her side by sheer force of will and charisma. After supposedly killing Avatar Aang, Azula gives her brother credit, knowing that if Aang is found alive then it is Zuko who will suffer the wrath of their father [[BigBad Fire Lord Ozai]]. While she [[VillainousBreakdown succumbs to madness]] at the conclusion of the show, ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch The Search]]'' shows Azula begin to recover, even manipulating Zuko when he knows how dangerous she is, [[spoiler:before she returns in ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderSmokeAndShadow Smoke and Shadow]]'', having accepted she will never have the throne. Instead, Azula orchestrates a series of plots to force her brother to take a heavy hand, content to manipulate him into being the Fire Lord she believes he should be.]]

** Due to her role in the story, viewers tend to either treat Azula as a monster who cannot be redeemed, or as a victim of mental disabilities that isn't to blame for her actions. The series really sits in the middle: she does have a mental disorder, and her father was not a positive influence on her at all, but Azula still makes choices on her own that make her an antagonist that needs to be stopped. Various episodes show her insecurities and flaws, making it clear she is a byproduct of the Fire Nations war, and other episodes show her being cruel out of her own desire to be. Like the above examples, Azula is presented as a terribly flawed human being, and while she should be accountable for the harm she has caused, she still deserves to be treated with kindness and compassion given her circumstances rather than as a lost cause. The finale of the series hammers home the middle ground more by showing both sides of these, but despite that, many tend to stick to one side and view her as innocent or a monster.

** The Zuko/Katara (aka "Zutara") fanbase is legendary, considerably outstripping both {{Official Couple}}s Kataang (Katara/Aang) and Maiko (Mai/Zuko) put together. The "Ember Island Players" episode [[FandomNod lampshaded this]] with an in-universe play that put Zuko and Katara together and having her refer to Aang, repeatedly, as [[LikeBrotherAndSister "like a little brother"]]. Not to mention, this couple provides the literal cover image for the trope. A long-running debate in the fandom revolved around whether the Zutara pairing becoming canon was ever even considered by the writers. One of the show's writers, John O'Bryan, [[https://twitter.com/NickRewind/status/1427632598109540353 would confirm years later that some of the writing team did push for the pairing]] on the ''Braving the Elements'' podcast, him included, but "lost that fight."

** The only game with an actual positive reception (among [[CriticalDissonance fans, at least]]) was the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfKorra Legend of Korra]]'' stylish action game made by Platinum studios -- [[ScrewedByTheNetwork and that game was delisted back in 2017]], and never got a physical release. That's right; the only game worth playing is also the only game you ''cannot play'' (legally, at least).

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Both shows have inspired dozens of video games for a litany of consoles and PC. Almost ''none'' of them are worth your time, being cheap tie-ins made with minimal effort and little budget. Even the resurgence of interest in the franchise in the '20s resulted in little more then skins for other games and ''Quest for Balance'' -- a bit of shovelware that was quickly lambasted for having remedial gameplay and graphics that ''might'' have been impressive in the PS2 era.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Both shows have inspired dozens of video games for a litany of consoles and PC. Almost ''none'' of them are worth your time, being cheap tie-ins made with minimal effort and little budget. Even the resurgence of interest in the franchise in the '20s resulted in little more then skins for other games and ''Quest for Balance'' -- a bit of shovelware that was quickly lambasted for having remedial gameplay and graphics that ''might'' have been impressive if it was released on the Playsation 2.

** The only game with an actual positive reception (among [[CriticalDissonance fans, at least]]) was the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfKorra Legend of Korra]]'' stylish action game made by Platinum studios -- [[ScrewedByTheNetwork and that game was delisted back in 2017]], and never got a physical release. That's right; the only game worth a damn is also the only game you ''cannot get'' (legally, at least).

** Going hand-in-hand with the popularity of Zutara, most fans agree that Aang would've been better off with Toph, with "Taang" along with Zutara and Sukka being sometimes referred to as the "golden trio" (or some variation thereof) of Avatar ships. Toph's usual "won't take crap" attitude is seen as a better way to put Aang through adversity and allow him character growth than Katara's mother-like coddling, and a lot of fans are put-off by Aang's infatuation with Katara, which at several points causes him to make decisions prioritizing his own wants over his duty as the Avatar, a mindset that likely wouldn't happen with Toph as his love interest and that she'd make him knock the heck off if it did.

* EvilIsSexy: Ty Lee fills the role of MsFanservice (among other things). She isn't ''evil'', though, she's just [[spoiler:initially]] on the wrong side.

** Going hand-in-hand with the popularity of Zutara, most fans agree that Aang would've been better off with Toph, with "Taang" along with Zutara and Sukka being sometimes referred to the "golden trinity" (or some variation thereof) of Avatar ships. Toph's usual "won't take crap" attitude is seen as a better way to put Aang through adversity and allow him character growth than Katara's mother-like coddling, and a lot of fans are put-off by Aang's infatuation with Katara, which at several points causes him to make decisions prioritizing his own wants over his duty as the Avatar, a mindset that likely wouldn't happen with Toph as his love interest and that she'd make him knock the heck off if it did.

** Going hand-in-hand with the popularity of Zutara, most fans agree that Aang would've been better off with Toph, with "Taang" along with Zutara and Sukka being sometimes referred to the "golden trinity" (or some variation thereof) of AtLA ships. Toph's usual "won't take crap" attitude is seen as a better way to put Aang through adversity and allow him character growth than Katara's mother-like coddling, and a lot of fans are put-off by Aang's infatuation with Katara, which at several points causes him to make decisions prioritizing his own wants over his duty as the Avatar, a mindset that likely wouldn't happen with Toph as his love interest and that she'd make him knock the heck off if it did.

** This would later also apply to streaming, as the series being released on Netflix lead new fans to discover the series by binge watching and caused the biggest NewbieBoom in the franchise's history since the premiere of its SequelSeries.

** This would later also apply to streaming, as the series being released on Netflix lead new fans to discover the series by binge watching.

** For the love of Raava, '''''DO NOT EVEN THINK OF''''' pronouncing Aang's name as "Ahng" or "Ong" unironically unless you really want to know what an army of pissed off fans will be like when they're all in the Avatar state. Of the many things fans hated about the [[Film/TheLastAirbender M. Night Shyamalan film]], this pronunciation was one of them.

** For the love of Raava, Do '''''NOT EVEN THINK OF''''' pronouncing Aang's name as "Ahng" or "Ong" unironically unless you really want to know what an army of pissed off fans will be like when they're in the Avatar state. Of the many things fans hated about the [[Film/TheLastAirbender M. Night Shyamalan film]], this pronunciation was one of them.

** Do not call Aang "Ahng". Of the many things fans hated about the [[Film/TheLastAirbender M. Night Shyamalan film]], this pronunciation was one of them.

* BetterOnDVD: Watching one of the series on streaming or optical discs is a nice way to watch/rewatch the series in a marathon. It helps that each DVD holds a movie-length set of episodes, helping one take in the story progression without interruption.

** Jet is an incredibly divisive character because of his radical approach to decolonization. The series portrays him as an extremist [[spoiler:and he is eventually killed off]]. This rubbed many fans the wrong way because they saw Jet as a traumatized teenager who only did what he had to to survive and they thought it was bizarre that [[spoiler:Jet was one of the only characters to die in the series while the BigBad Ozai did not]]. Other fans agree that Jet was in the wrong and they do not like him because of his manipulative personality.

*** Also considering how Azula before this [[spoiler:pulled massive TheBadGuyWins scenarios off in both "The Guru"/"The Crossroads of Destiny" and both parts of "The Day of Black Sun" that delivered massive defeats to the Gaang both times, seeing her be the one to lose and lose big in the aftermath of both of those only adds to how utterly sweet and therapeutic the whole situation is.]]

** Also considering how Azula before this [[spoiler:pulled massive TheBadGuyWins scenarios off in both "The Guru"/"The Crossroads of Destiny" and both parts of "The Day of Black Sun" that delivered massive defeats to the Gaang both times, seeing her be the one to lose and lose big in the aftermath of both of those only adds to how utterly sweet and therapeutic the whole situation is.]]

** In the first two episodes, Gran Gran is portrayed by Melendy Britt, the voice actress of the Adora/She-Ra in the original ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower''. The [[WesternAnimation/SheRaandthePrincessesOfPower 2018 reboot]] takes a lot of inspiration from this series, including the Animesque style.

** When the show first came out in the 2000s, a golden era for anime-influenced TV shows, there was one unwritten rule: Never, ever, ''ever'', call any part of this franchise "anime"; the universe was developed with anime stylings, yes, but it is a ''western'' cartoon. It's a common mistake, but doing so gets certain people really angry. Fast forward to 2020 and it seems the opposite is now true, with Avatar even being considered an honorary anime in all but name. This is a reflection of the ever evolving popularity of anime and its strong influence in animation as a whole, with many people, including ''Avatar'' fans becoming less and less insistent that "anime" can only be Japanese and not itself a global art style and medium.

** "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAppasLostDays Appa's Lost Days]]": Team Avatar's quest to find Appa in Ba Sing Se was pointless, because Appa never made it to Ba Sing Se. Likewise, Aang's assertion [[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderCityOfWallsAndSecrets a few episodes earlier]] ("He's here, I can feel it) becomes much harder when you realize just how wrong he was. If not for the Guru, Aang and Appa very well could never have seen each other again.