History YMMV / AvatarTheLastAirbender

** Zhao. Helps that he's voiced by [[HarryPotter Lucius]] [[JasonIsaacs Malfoy]].

**** It wasn't that (from a purely military, in-the-moment tactical point of view) the idea ITSELF was bad; it was doing it right in front of the [[YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry rage-awakened]] Avatar. Seriously, he's the ''page image'' for a trope more famously paired with the freakin ''[[TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]]''!

* BaseBreaker: Aang...and Katara...and Azula...and Suki...and Mai... and Ty Lee... and Zuko. [[BrokenBase Name a character, really]]. Basically anyone not named Iroh.

*** Then again, even Zuko mentions that there "was a time when they were happy" (and visited Ember Island together), so it's likely that he wasn't always evil. Confirmed in ''The Promise'' comics.

*** Another possible (and controversial, of course) interpretation of Ozai's behavior: [[CompleteMonster Is he a ruthless, merciless and heartless bastard]], hungry of power or deeply he is a JerkassWoobie and[=/=]or WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds with a large InferioritySuperiorityComplex and his own unresolved ''[[WellDoneSonGuy daddy issues]]''?

** Azula is an interesting [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]: by the end of Season 2, she appeared to fit ''all three'' of the necessary CompleteMonster qualities. Then Season 3 came, she gradually unravelled, had her VillainousBreakdown, and ended up with only ''one'' of the criteria left (that she has committed heinous crimes within the context of the story.) In the end, although she did a good job emulating her father for a while, she couldn't escape being a TragicVillain.

-->'''Sokka:''' I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy, but his plan is just [[CompleteMonster pure evil]].

** [[CompleteMonster Ozai]] also counts.

*** The quotes listed under Funny Aneurysm Moment above.

* AngelDevilShipping: Aang and Azula, Zuko and Katara.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Zuko ([[spoiler:before his HeelFaceTurn]]), Zhao, Azula, Jet and yes, even ''Ozai''.

* AlasPoorVillain:
** Azula is a terrible, terrible person, and while it's possible to feel sorry for her, usually she's such a {{magnificent bitch}} that you temporarily forget those feelings. [[spoiler:Then she spends the whole series finale going steadily crazier and crazier, with her FreudianExcuse coming to the surface. Then she finally snaps after she loses to Katara and the last shot of her in the series is her sobbing uncontrollably, with Zuko and Katara themselves looking sad about it]].
** Sozin dies offscreen, but he gets a lot more sympathetic by then, realizing that he basically crossed the MoralEventHorizon by betraying and murdering his best friend and wiping out the Air Nation, and has ''nothing'' to show for it except an empty, hollow life.

* FanPreferredCouple: Zutara (Zuko/Katara) is the biggest example-- about 22% of the [=AtLA=] fanfics at FanfictionDotNet ''alone'' list the two as main characters. Doesn't help that Zutara had an unusual amount of ShipTease in the show, or that they had their own ''canon'' shippers, in the form of June and the Ember Island Players. Other couples like Aang/Toph, Sokka/Toph, Sokka/Azula and Ty Lee/Azula also attract large numbers of shippers.

* BrickJoke: In "Daydreams and Nightmares", Aang has a reoccurring NotWearingPantsDream about fighting the Fire Lord only to discover he's not wearing pants, until he eventually gets over it, saying: "No, Fire Lord, it is you who is not wearing pants!" "My royal parts are showing!" In the finale, Aang and Ozai are both shirtless for most of the fight, so they are both ''only and specifically'' wearing pants.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Apparently, ''The Promise'' seems to be heading in this direction. Not only is it showing that the ending for the series is not [[EarnYourHappyEnding the definitive one nor as happy as it initially seems]], but [[spoiler: both Fire Lord Zuko AND Earth King Kuei slip into WellIntentionedExtremist territory]]. A hundred years of warfare can't be unmade in just a few months, after all.

* VillainDecay: Zuko as Season 1 progressed. He hadn't even become all that conflicted about what he was doing yet, but he still kept on failing in his endeavors. No wonder Zhao wound up the final enemy of the season, despite Zuko being it's main villain.
** This may or may not be tied with his CharacterDevelopment, however.
** It's also somewhat ironic since Zuko got noticeably and progressively more powerful throughout season 1, It just became more and more apparent as the season went on that he had inadequate resources facing effectively impossible odds. From the very first episode, the only reason he was a threat to Aang at all were his [[MagnificentBastard cunning]], [[VillainousValor desperation]], [[{{Determinator}} and absolute refusal to give up.]]

** It's also somewhat ironic since Zuko got noticeably and progressively more powerful throughout season 1, It just became more and more apparent as the season went on that he had inadequate resources facing effectively impossible odds. From the very first episode, the only reason he was a threat to Aang at all were his [[VillainousValor cunning, desperation, and absolute refusal to give up.]]

** [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Hama]]. Kidnapped and imprisoned by the Fire Nation army as a teenager, prevented from bending her native element (water), it's no wonder she took her only chance of escape, by turning the guards into PeoplePuppets by bending their body fluids. But then she snuck into the Fire Nation and started kidnapping innocent civilians with the same technique she used on the prison guards...

** Azula crossed it when she [[spoiler:shot Aang in the back with lightning,]] thus proving she will do ''anything'' to serve her father. Unless of course, you find that [[MomentOfAwesome disturbingly awesome]].
*** If you do find that to be a MomentOfAwesome, then her being the one to advocate (and partially inspire, though Ozai's the one who takes it to it's most horrific stage) the whole "raze the Earth Kingdom until it's all ash" plan of her father's might be an even better one.

* BaseBreaker: Aang...and Katara...and Azula...and Suki...and Mai... and Ty Lee... and Zuko. [[BrokenBase Name a character, really]].

* NoYay: Bryke (jokingly) suggested "Bluezula" during the infamous shipping-slideshow. You can actually hear someone in the crowd screaming "What is '''WRONG''' with you?"

** In the 'Ember Island Players', the play's version of Aang is a girl posing as a boy. [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra The next Avatar is a girl with boyish tenancies.]]
* HoYay: Has it's [[HoYay/AvatarTheLastAirbender own page]]

** It gets even more complicated when there are indications that it is not entirely one-sided. See the IncestSubtext entry on the main page for details.

* HoYay: Pretty blatantly invoked by "The Ember Island Players" when Actress!Aang goes all "My hero!" to Play!The Blue Spirit. The awkward look Aang and Zuko give each other makes it even more hilarious.

* GenericDoomsdayVillain: For some fans Fire Lord Ozai is this. While other villains in the series (particularly his offsprings [[AntiVillain Prince Zuko]] and [[TheDragon Princess Azula]]) have some dimensions to them, Ozai in the end is nothing more than a [[OmnicidalManiac genocidal]], [[AbusiveParents child-abusing]], [[CompleteMonster Pure]] EvilOverlord with delusions of grandeur, and Aang's greatest threat to overcome.

* GenericDoomsdayVillain: For some fans Fire Lord Ozai is this. While other villains in the series (particularly his offsprings [[AntiVillain Prince Zuko]] and [[TheDragon Princess Azula]]) have some dimensions to them, Ozai in the end is nothing more than a [[OmnicidalManiac genocidal]], [[AbusiveParents child-abusing]], [[CompleteMonster Pure]] EvilOverlord with delusions of grandeur, and Aang's greatest threat to overcome.

* GenericDoomsdayVillain: For some fans Fire Lord Ozai is this.

-->'''Azula:''' [[FreudWasRight I could sit here and complain how our mom]] [[SiblingRivalry liked Zuko more than me]], but I don't really care. My own mother thought I was a [[CompleteMonster monster]].\\
* [[BeatPanel beat]]*\\
'''Azula:''' [[AvertedTrope She was right, of course]], but it still hurt.

* {{Narm}}: Zuko's reaction to Iroh being attacked by Azula in Book 2 chapter 8 to be this.