Avatar: The Last Airbender

And rather than directly empowering mortals the way Spirits and Lion Turtles did to turn people into Benders, these “Western” Spirits grant mortals objects infused with their powers like an Excalibur expy or a Grail expy.

Regarding Toph's parents, I agree their initial portrayal really didn't line up much with how Toph's father was portrayed in the comics.

Like, yes, the show says that Toph was taught "proper" manners and behaviors, but hated it, but that just sounded like typical aristocracy/nobility training, there wasn't the implication they were especially obsessed with it.

Although, I will say the show itself was a bit contradictory about her home life. When Aang first asks why Toph stays and offers her a chance to come along with them, she says there her parents and just travelling around isn't for her. But then later on it's revealed that she ran away numerous times before. That's not a huge thing, but you get the point.

I'm glad Republic City is the closest Bryke has ever come to "Westernizing" this franchise. Mixing western mythology with Avatar's Eastern Mythology just makes me shudder.

Unrelated but I just rewatched The Chase (which is a pretty packed and downright fantastic episode). This episode has a very mid-season finale or arc climax vibe to it.

But what stood out to me the most character-wise was how much I genuinely dislike Katara (my favorite character) for most of this episode due to her antagonism with Toph. Granted, I get that this supposed is to be an exploration of cultural differences between the two and I have no qualms with Katara wanting her to participate in setting up camp. Hell, I even think her frustration with Toph's attitude is completed warranted.

The problem is that she's so sanctimonious about it, to the point that it becomes extremely petulant and downright mean. Seriously, she literally picks a fight with Toph four times. Like, Katara, you're asking a blind girl whose never interacted with anyone else on a friendly level or developed a sense of teamwork to help with chores. That's just...not gonna work. I like that she acknowledges how mean she was to her by the end, but this was not one of her best episodes.

Katara is the mom friend on every level, including at times being self righteous and petty.

I feel like the key word there is "ask". How was Toph supposed to get used to group dynamics if no one asked her to actually do things (including not-fun things) with the group?

From what I remember, Katara did to which Toph replied something about Sokka's sleeping bag smelling bad.

I agree that there was nothing wrong with asking Toph to help. In fact, Katara's original approach was very diplomatic and well-done. Hell, she even just straight up asked her to help unload the second time and Toph was like "Nah."

The tipping point for me was when Katara said, "The stars sure are beautiful tonight. Too bad you can't see them, Toph."

Like...girl, those are fighting words. And then she just kept bringing it up even after they found out they realized that their lives were in danger. At that point, I was definitely Team Toph. Katara would have just been better off just having a group meeting or something.

I also remember this being an episode that a lot of people would bring up when they say why they prefer Toph to Katara.

Edited by deuteragonist on May 22nd 2020 at 1:52:55 AM

Ah, I forgot about that part. Yeah, Katara could be petty when she wanted to. Part of that was sleep-deprivation getting to all of them, but still, not cool.

We like Toph = >< = Katara too, but she was in the right until the insults came out.

I honestly don't blame either of them for their behavior since they had stayed up all night running away from Azula and not being able to sleep really puts a damper on some moods.

I'm honestly the opposite. I'm completely on Katara's side for The Chase.

If Toph wants to participate in the war and hang out with a team of friends who are preparing for a monumental battle, she'd better bloody contribute something to the group other than insults and teaching Aang bending.

Many people bring up The Chase as to why they prefer Toph over Katara.

I, on the other hand, bring up The Chase as to why Katara is better than Toph and why the latter is a very "meh" character to me.

Toph didn't even learn the proper lesson at the end.

Toph: People see me and think I'm weak. They want to take care of me, but I can take care of myself, by myself.

Iroh: You sound like my nephew, always thinking you need to do things on your own, without anyone's support. There is nothing wrong with letting the people who love you help you.

That wasn't even the point of contention that Katara and Aang had with Toph.

It was Toph being a lazy ass and refusing to help others.

Her new friends were already accepting her and trying to understand her and help her out.

It was her not doing the same for them that got them pissed off.

Toph definitely deserved a heavier calling out for her attitude, rather than some words of encouragement from Iroh.

Edited by BrightLight on May 23rd 2020 at 12:23:12 AM

That was Toph's perspective...

So that "is" what she needed.

Then she can get called out later.

One, it was a warped perspective and Self-Serving Memory of the actual argument that she had with the rest of the group.

Two, she never was properly called out for that later.

Toph wasn't not helping others because she was "lazy," she wasn't doing it because she didn't understand why she should have to.

From her perspective, she was being a good friend, because she took care of her own work without complaining and never asked for anything from anyone else — "I carry my own weight" — and that was born out of her need to be independent, plus the fact that she'd literally never had a friend before, and didn't know things about companionship that were common knowledge to the others.

Who hunts for food? (Sokka)

Who cooks the food? (Katara)

Who cleans the clothes? (Katara)

Who carries everyone while travelling? (Appa — Aang even points that out.)

Who actually helps Katara and Sokka around camp? (Aang)

It's naive to think that Toph was taking care of all of her needs by herself.

Everyone else was pitching in (except her) to share the load around and make survival easier on themselves as a whole.

Edited by BrightLight on May 23rd 2020 at 2:18:49 AM

Only one of those things actually mattered for what we can only assume is their first camp stop after she ran away.

Otherwise the point being she has to learn the dynamics.

Edited by randomness4 on May 22nd 2020 at 7:19:53 AM

All that talk of Jianzhu or whoever last page makes me realize I have an actual, physical-in-my-bones need to read the Kiyoshi book (books?) now.

Check it out. Good timing, too — the second part's out in July.

On a different note, I was just thinking about how the Avatar franchise has never been that successful merchandising wise — a card game that made up a bunch of characters before fizzling out by the end of book one, a toy line that excluded Katara and any of the girls that didn't last much longer, a handful of shitty cash-in video games — and low and behold, Diamond Select has come out with a new set of action figures just this year.

There's only three so far, but they already addressed old sins by making Katara one of those three, and Azula is promised for the next wave.

See a review of the toys already out here:

Edit: And on a different different note, it seems "Avatar" is currently no. 1 on Netflix this week. Yay Avatar.

Edited by drac0blade on May 23rd 2020 at 12:25:06 PM

Yeah it’s...weird how the Avatar merchandise wasn’t successful. They had pretty good products. I still have my Aang action figure that I got when I was 8 years old and, while it’s been through a lot, it’s in pretty good shape. Then again, I haven’t touched it in years.

And Avatar being #1 on Netflix US doesn’t surprise me. It’s immensely popular and has a lot of social media buzz. Hell, the movie was even trending in the Top 10 when it was released on Netflix.

A new presence on social media, a resurgence of popularity thanks to Netflix, a live-action show in the works, a new toyline and a series of novels — so how about that Arc-Sys fighting game we've all been asking for?

I'd ask for the Bioware RPG we were asking about for a while there, but — (looks at the steaming carcass that is modern-day Bioware) — ugh.

Edited by drac0blade on May 23rd 2020 at 4:19:07 AM

There are a couple companies trying to do Bioware-type RPGs right now, with a bit of success. Spiders did Greedfall, which is a bit unpolished but still good. Ubisoft did a sub-par Bioware RPG with Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, which makes me think that if they tried that in any other setting they'd do a better job. A couple other companies are doing some things in the same general vein.

An Avatar game should have a studio capable of a really good combat system.

Platinum Games is one such studio if they were given the opportunity to help make a full-scale game instead of a middle-tier game like the Korra one.

I remember when they did a Transformers game and you could tell the difference between Platinum working on a franchise they cared about and one they didn’t. The Korra game was so slapdash in comparison, while the Transformers game went deep into details.

Personally, I think an Avatar MMO would be pretty cool. Making your own bender and being let loose in the Avatar world sounds like it'd be fun.

Something, anyway. Avatar's a vast world with a lot of lore and awesome kung-fu based elemental powers — it deserves better than a bunch of cheap cash-ins from people who clearly didn't care about the franchise.

Edit: How about the guys who did The Outer Worlds? That turned out really good.

Edited by drac0blade on May 23rd 2020 at 5:44:50 AM