Avatar: The Last Airbender

Frankly, I don't really think it matters whether they kissed or not in the Cave. Because

1. It didn't go anywhere until the finale.

2. The hooked up for real in Book 3.

It was fun to speculate back when the show was airing but looking back? Eh.

Edited by Codafett on Nov 30th 2020 at 5:21:43 AM

I think it was played as an interrupted kiss.

Someone pointed out how impressive it was that Aang was able to create an air shield to stop Ozai's fire breath when it was at its most destructive while not using the Avatar State.

One of my favorite underrated airbending moments of that fight was actually before he unlocked the Avatar State (though he wasn't using it in the move mentioned in that link): specifically when he used a flood of air like a fire extinguisher, at 3:45 here.

Also, rewatching that scene, the sheer volume of sound on Ozai's attacks.

I always liked the bit where he presses himself against the rock to instantly make some emergency armor for himself. It's an understated yet pretty effective bit of Earthbending.

Now that you mention it, one tactic earthbenders never seem to use is to simply fight from underground, which would be incredibly hard to defend against, let alone counterattack, for non-earthbenders.

Depending how far underground you are it's probably pretty hard to do if you aren't Toph/Bumi level and have the skills to interpret vibration and sound alone.

In a siege where you know exactly where the walls are it seems like a very useful tactic but in a fast moving fight it's probably fairly limited, especially when other benders can rocket/air bubble/glide/travel by water spout.

Exactly. Maybe not every other bender can hover indefinitely, but if you go into the ground and don't have seismic sense, it's pretty much just going to be for momentary defense, not offense. Plus earthbenders still need to breathe. And earth isn't a resistance-free fluid, so they still need to move.

I guess if you're really good at Earthbending you can "swim" through the ground ala Senor Pink.

I think the only people who ever did that in this actual series were Bumi, who just used it to quickly move between two places, and that one Earth Rumble guy, who disrupted the ground to move, and had to surface to actually attack. Even the badgermoles actually clear out space.

Edited by wanderlustwarrior on Dec 4th 2020 at 9:19:59 AM

I don’t think going underground would be an ideal strategy against talented earthbenders like the Beifongs, Kuvira or Bumi—who would sense your vibration in a heartbeat—or Ghazan and Bolin who would just turn the earth into lava.

It just sounds very dangerous. You’re literally surrounded by ammo for your opponent. It’s almost like your asking to be crushed. Kind of like how in Pokemon where the move Dig just makes the user a sitting duck and doubles the damage when their opponent uses Earthquake.

It would have been a great strategy against the firebenders, though.

Edited by deuteragonist on Dec 4th 2020 at 9:28:27 AM

Since Earth Benders are typically barefoot for the connection to the Earth...I feel like the vibrations are a factor all around.

In the era of Aang, sure. But in Korra’s era, not so much.

Weird how Earthbending in Korra's time has evolved to take on some similarities with Airbending in its mobility and lack of connection to the ground.

I think that is due to cultures interacting more, they were still pretty isolated before Aang's time.

It depends on the culture as well. There were still plenty of more traditional style earthbenders like the second and third generation Beifongs and Ghazan.

Bolin and Kuvira mostly represented the more progressive and unique forms of earthbending.

The best counter against an Earthbender fighting underground, aside from another Earthbender, would probably be a Waterbender. An Airbender would have to make a tornado to displace that much dirt and a Firebender would have to melt the ground in order for the heat to reach them (especially since dirt is extremely good at dispersing heat), but a Waterbender could just push the water through the ground itself.

While it would probably be very advanced Earthbending, another viable technique would be to disorient your opponent by making the ground underneath them soft.

I was specifically thinking of the Beifongs as non-traditional Earthbenders. Lin runs a group of Spider-Man cops. Suyin runs a flying circus. They're capable of traditional bending, but it's not their main forte.

Not really that advanced, Earthbenders do it all the time above ground. Sinkholes, sand pits, heavy resistance "mud"...

Edited by wanderlustwarrior on Dec 4th 2020 at 7:19:20 AM

Being proficient at Metalbending significantly increases one's options.

I was thinking more like turning ground that's initially solid and suddenly making it more like liquid. Something like suddenly turning solid rock soft.

Edited by M84 on Dec 4th 2020 at 9:21:10 PM

Like how Bumi got Aang stuck in a quickly made sand trap?

Or what General Fong does to Katara. Or Master Yu does to a guy in the desert.

It might be a very high level move, all the people we have seen sinking people into the ground are master earthbenders.

Yeah, something like that. Kind of surprised it's not used more often, which leads me to believe it's not a particularly easy move.

It'd be even harder if the ground is more solid like rock as opposed to sand.

Edited by M84 on Dec 5th 2020 at 2:12:42 AM

Well, Fong doesn't really seem to make the ground soft so much as pulling her underground.

There was also that Earth Rumble guy that fought by digging underground.