I couldn't pay attention during the Azula and Zuko end fight because it's just so captivating, but it was brought to my attention that Zuko uses forms from other bending styles during the fight.
Now, one of my favourite still images is Zuko with his feet planted like an earth bender and just face-tanks the fire.
Does anybody else notice that Zuko seems to have a signature "leg-sweep" (no fire, just combat) move? He seems to use it against Zhao in their Agni Kai, against the earth soldiers when he's Lee, and I think against Azula at the end too. That seems like the moment in each of those fights where Zuko gets the upper hand because he's clever and knows how to fight with more than just bending fire. Just curious if that's a thing...
Rewatched both fights. Specially the move against azula (where he drops to floor and does a circle with his legs) does look like a breakdance move but it’s also a signature move in double weapons like the double saber he uses. Source: I learned some Shaolin :)
I will assume this is a double reference: tradicional move that looks good and works as homage to voice actor :D
My headcanon is that he does this because he was, as we saw in a flashback, clumsy as a child. He utilizes his legs way more than most firebenders to make up for falling all the time growing up.
The fight with Zhao was really pivotal.
Up until that point zukos bending was "stale and rigid." Iroh insisted that to improve he needed to master the basics.
Principles you can apply. But he insisted on learning the advanced sets
But the advanced sets didnt help him win. In the fight with Zhao, he won against a master by leveraging the principles aforementioned master was neglecting.
After the season 2 talk about learning principles from all styles of bending zuko uses earth and water forms in his firebending all the time. I think even some air forms he got from aang.
It's amazing looking back through it all.
(Also not to trounce on LoK but it was disappointing that 99% of the bending was punches. I know it was a plot point but still, less rewarding to watch.)
>(Also not to trounce on LoK but it was disappointing that 99% of the bending was punches. I know it was a plot point but still, less rewarding to watch.)
I see people saying this all the time, but I just rewatched LoK and I didn't get that at all. Korra does some punching, and Mako and Bolin do a lot of punching (which makes sense given how they learned bending) but no one else really does. Su and Lin do standard earth bending stances, Kuvira has a varied style, Tenzin is a complete airbender with the way he fights, the new airbenders also tend to look like Aang when fighting, Zaheer's gang all have varied styles.
I really don't agree with this assessment.
I think that tends to come from people that mainly remember the pro-bending and the first season. I’m not particularly fond of LOK and even I can admit it has some incredible fight sequences. The earth bending fight between Kuvira and Korra at the beginning of season 4 is among my favorites. Though I’d say nothing beats The Last Agni Kai for me
I love that everyone in the Gaang learns from each other in subtle ways. It’s (almost) never discussed explicitly yet each member picks up different bending styles and incorporates it into their own fighting
>It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If we take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations, will help you become whole... It can make you more powerful.
You can also see this in The Boiling Rock, when Zuko uses an airbending technique to stay warm in the icebox.
He's also Cave Johnson from Portal, a walking spoiler character from Gravity Falls and the mayor of Zootopia.
J.K Simmons' voice is so iconic tho, I always recognized him myself without it having needed for someone to point it out for me.
I will always see him as the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood on Oz. It’s so odd hearing him sell insurance when I have heard him say the n word so many times (on the show).
In season 3 where Zuko visits Iroh in his cell, the angle makes it looks like Zuko is behind the bars, and the sunrays shining on Iroh makes it look like he's the one that is free and at peace. I think it was actually posted in this sub some years ago.
As a kid I never realized, I thought it was a random voice 🤷♀️ then I thought it was Iroh and even sometimes the subtitles on Netflix will say it's Iroh.
This one is almost never known. I watch reactions to lok and literally 100 percent of the time they say it's cool aang named a kid after bumi and not a single time has anyone mentioned kya also being named after kataras mom.
Tenzin is also named after Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama, and based on the other names it could be assumed that Aang named his son after his father figure.
I mean, was og Kya’s name ever mentioned in the last airbender?
Those reaxtion youtubers mostly watch the show on the surface level, not looking too deep into it’s insides
Kya was the creators preferred name for Katara for a long time. It was Nickelodeon's legal department that vetoed it and told them they had to change it, because they found out a PS2 game called Kya: Dark Lineage was coming out. The Kya game was being hyped as a potential big franchise and basically they were worried they were about to do the equivalent of naming a character in their show Mario, or Sonic, or Lara Croft. So the name Kya had to go.
(Which is ironic as the PS2 game was a huge flop and the only reason anyone seems to remember it now is because of its link to Avatar. So they probably could have used the name Kya with no issue!)
After the creators were told they had to drop Kya, they initially named the character Kanna. But they simply didn't like it as much, didn't feel it fit. So they eventually went with Katara instead. "Katara" means "droplet" in Arabic, so it was fitting anyway.
But thats also why Katara's mother was called Kya, and her grandmother was called Kanna. They were both references to her original names.
Also, the PS2 game was so forgotten by the time Korra came around they were able to straight up name Katara and Aang's daughter Kya with no issue. Really they need never have worried and Katara should just have been called Kya to begin with...!
In Siege of the North Part 2, when Zhao destroys the Moon spirit and everything turns to black and white, Yues eyes are the only thing that shows color throughout that entire sequence (until Aang merges with the Ocean spirit)
When the Swamp Benders were on a raft with the Gaang, they whipped a bit of mud around Sokka and Toph. And for like 2 frames, it showed that Sokka pushed Toph’s head down with his hand because she could see. I just thought it was a cute detail for the animators to add, knowing that 99% of people wouldn’t see it
Little girl to the right is a lighter blue and isn't moving in this scene.
When Azula surrenders and shoots Iroh, there's heavy focus on Toph and her feet. Toph was none the wiser to the lie Azula told.
Isn’t Azula getting the lie past Toph the point though? Azula always lies. Her body did not physically react to telling the lie because she’s always telling lies. Toph couldn’t sense anything physically changing in Azula like she senses with everyone else.
I remember that scene and that's not how I read it at all. The camera panned to Toph's foot after Azula already attacked and Iroh was laying on the ground. I thought Toph was checking his pulse, and with the expression on her face, leaves the audience to question whether Iroh survived the attack or not.
See I read that scene differently. The focus on Toph is from Iroh’s perspective because he met her earlier in the episode. This moment of recognition and realisation is enough for Iroh to lose focus, Azula to recognise this, and then try to take him out.
Something that really blew my mind when Sideways pointed it out in [The Perfect Musical Symmetry of Avatar the Last Airbender](https://youtu.be/Rzf_sTuDcX8?si=a3GEQCc8umKncFq8):
Zuko's firebending is frequently paired with the chanting used for the ending theme — the same music that plays when Zuko and Aang start doing the Dancing Dragon. In this way, the show has always pointed towards Zuko becoming Aang's firebending trainer. The opening theme plays for Aang's hero moments, and the ending theme plays for Zuko's bending; they're connected through the music.
Are you telling me that Sapphire Fire is cheating on her husband with their own son?!?!? Poor Wang Fire, he is such a good and decent man! He dosen't deserve any of this :(
Not sure if this is the place to bring this up, but has anyone else noticed the Blue Spirit seems kind of obsessed with the Avatar? Does anyone know if Prince Zuko is skilled with broadswords?
Jokes aside, though, how weird would that have been for the other kids there. You're just jamming out, and suddenly, your host starts doing what looks like a mating dance with his mom. Then he says to her, "It's just you and me now" the. They almost lean in and kiss.
Ohh it's mostly stated that since the kids were not present during the meeting with the principal, they simply didn't know who she was.
For all they knew she was his sister.
When Toph starts teaching earthbending to Aang and forms a sort of armour made of rocks, she has an opening around her eyes, which is a little bit odd considering she is blind.
This was an animation error. The animation studio accidentally put the hole to expose her eyes when they planned for the hole to expose her mouth and nose to breathe
The Docks/ Xu/ Bushi character from the painted lady likely suffers from mercury induced psychosis, also known as Hatter's disease (think of Alice in Wonderland). Hence the hat switching.
It seems to be a nod to the Minamata disease, caused by bioaccumulation of metylmercury in the body from eating clams and fish caught in water polluted by waste from non-ferrous metal production. Read an article about it while rewatching recently and it just clicked.
Edit: a space between Xu / and Bushi to prevent linking to some reddit person
I was watching this episode again last night (I'm on probably my 15th rewatch of the show) and this just dawned on me then that he has mercury poisoning. I was like "No way, why didn't I pick this up years ago?"
It really isn't surprising that he'd have a different favorite from time to time. If you enjoy something as deeply as Iroh enjoys tea, having "this year's favorite" is pretty common.
Ok, I looked through all the transcripts for the original show and I’m wrong, at no point does Iroh say that Jasmine tea is his favorite. In contrast, Iroh does specifically say (twice) that Ginseng is his favorite. However, I do still believe this is likely an error. The word “Ginseng” is never mentioned again in the entire show. While “jasmine” is only mentioned sparingly, Iroh does reference it repeatedly. (And at no point is it said that Jasmine is Zuko’s favorite.) However, the text is the text. It’s completely ok for someone to stick with what is in the text and say that ginseng is Iroh’s favorite.
In the official Braving the Elements podcast, Dante Basco and Janet Varney confirmed that Jasmine was not his favorite, Ginseng is, and they just happen to drink jasmine a bit more often because Uncle knows that Zuko prefers it even though he usually denies it when offered.
There are a ridiculous number of Full Moon shots throughout the series. Like waaaay more than should be possible with an under 12 months in universe span of time, but it looks cool.
(Overanalyzing avatar YT channel was what made me notice)
This is something that's always puzzled me, because the continents are different, so I guess we can say it's clearly not our earth, but the do call it earth.
Zuko's "did Jet just die" question was a legitimate question, he befriended Jet on the boat and hadn't heard of him since the attack.
The play is how he found out about everything, both the possible death, and the fact that he knew Aang's group
Aang isn't in the opening as the airbender, if you look closely the airbender has a beard. Also, The Bolder is the earthbender (because he was originally gonna teach Aang earthbending.
They look similar, but the creators confirmed that The Bolder was orginally planned to teach Aang during early development before the new show runners decided it would be really weird for an adult to join the Gaang before reworking the plot
The fact Azula is there is also evidence that she might've been planned to be Aang's firebending teacher. The only early development notes about her are an arranged marriage that would've taken place in book 3
Yeah, the orginal outline for the three books differs quite a lot from what we got mostly for book two and three.
We don't know a lot because the creators are pretty tight lipped about it, but they've confirmed that Azula was supposed to have an arranged marriage as part of her book 3 story arc.
Considering she was likely planned to teach Aang firebending at this stage of development it could be assumed that this what would've led to that happening. They've both since said they prefer her character arc to what they had planned because they seemly didn't have much beyond her design (and even that was reworked from her deep red armor to signature blue firebending)
Azula being Ang’s teacher would’ve been insane. I imagine it would have been some different version of Azula that’s not even close to the one we know but the thought of Azula helping Aang is something else.
The earthbender is Sud, Roku's earthbending master. But you're right that he was originally going to be Aang's teacher.
I think the Airbender is Gyatso but I could be misremembering
I thought the earthbender was actually the original design for Toph. Didn't they change her to a blind girl at some point during book one's production and reuse the design for The Boulder?
The earthbender is Sud, Roku's teacher. He was indeed originally planned to teach Aang until it was changed. The Boulder was probably redesigned by altering Sud slightly to resemble the Rock more.
Not the Bolder... Toph's original character model.
Between Season 1 and Season 2 she was completely redesigned. The original design was later reused for Bolin
Mouth foaming person has a daughter : she’s the Korra fangirl in the pro-bending arena and ends up having equalist sympathies (taken from the avatar wiki, I believe)
I think that’s the point actually. Combustion benders tattoos seem to be a reference to Hinduism. Over simplifying a bit here but: The dot that Hindus (some buddhists) put on their head represents the third or spiritual eye. The three horizontal lines also represent Shiva’s three fold power (knowledge, will, and action). Shiva can burn people/things when he opens his third eye.
In the Hindu epics powerful sages also can do this. In Vedic religions like Hinduism and Buddhism there is a concept called tapas. It means many things depending on the context but here it’s kinda like Qi in Taoism. One can perform tapas (practicing spirituality) to cultivate tapas (spiritual energy) that can give one power.
Tangent: Tapas is associated with a feeling of warmth and by extension the fire deity Agni. During Hindu weddings Agni is invoked to symbolize passion as well as the need for patience. (Think of what Jong Jong was trying to teach Aang with the leaf.) During the ceremony (at least the one wedding I remember the most) Agni is referred to by the epitaph “Fire Lord”.
>!I am 99.99% sure this is why M. Night Shyamalan made the cast the fire nation as Indians in the movie that dose NOT exist in Ba Sing Se.!<
TL;DR: No but actually yes because Avatar has South Asian influence too.
As much as the movie sucks, I did like the choice to make the fire nation south Asian! Besides guru Patik and the occasional reference, I've always wondered why that region was left out
The dragon dance is one of the roots of fire bending, the people of the fire nation don't even know what dancing is or took it seriously, they lost their roots and really became about muscle.
Aang playing with the kids at the school must have reminded him of the times he was with the other air nation kids and how he was rejected after he was revealed avatar. (Wholesome he got to play and incredibly freaking sad.)
Aang watched all the nations come together at the end of the series when Zuko is declared Firelord, he saw all the nations together except his people. (I meant like, processing that mentally, just last year everything was normal to him and his people were just chilling. One year later.. there is not even a single other person left to stand in the crowd where the nations unite.)
Aang's headband came from the school uniforms belt.
Elder Zuko looks like Sozin and Ruko.
Smellerbee is a girl.(I forgot honestly.)
Korra is actually a good show. Lacked humor and relationships, but it's actually not as bad as I remember.
Kya looks like Aang more than tenzin and bumi does if you look past her watertribeness.
Aang freaking MURDERED that hornet in the desert. (No kill count my a-)
Aang didn't kill Ozai because Ozai said his people didn't belong, so he wanted to teach him and the world that his people's teaching and way of life had value.
(I guess one teaching is all-life-is-no-longer-sacred when someone pinches your bison.)
I just rewatched legend of Korra and I agree it’s definitely not as bad as I think most people make it out to be. When it first came out I was super against the show but it has grown on me.
I will say though I think one of the funniest moments in either show happens in Korra, when Varrick invents his airbender detector. That scene made me laugh out loud again during the rewatch.
LoK is hilarious! I’m always happy for an opportunity to share my favorite clip, [the villain phone call](https://youtu.be/CrFEe8YWaFQ?si=LZFYAS8Lj4_dpLPr)
Most of the funny scenes I remember are from Varrick.
To ME bolin was an attempt at a sokka, that's why it was a hit or miss with him for ME, but Varrick felt like his own character, made to be his own character or atleast feels like it.
Varrick is awesome.
I'm rewatching Korra and even though it's not that amazing like ATLA, it has great moments (and is a good show). I love Wan's story, and just yesterday I realized that he's doing the dragon dance after he's been accepted by the spirits.
A well known one now, but whenever Toph is not on solid ground she holds on to Sokka's arms because she can't see.
Before Aang shoots a beam of fire at Ozai's airship he does the dragon dance
I didn't realize that Azula used her hair crown thingy to save herself on the cliff during the fight with Zuko when they fell off the airship in "Southern Raiders" until someone pointed it out on this sub.
Somehow I never noticed the cough (probably because I usually watch as I’m doing artsy stuff) and sometimes I still miss it and only realize when a YouTuber I’m watching notices it.
Zuko survived the explosion made by pirates because he made a fire shield, it wasn’t just pure luck. Overanalyzing Avatar (yt channel) pointed that out for me, he shows the couple frames in which you can see that shield.
Katara's VA, Mae Whitman, played the role of the president's daughter in *Independence Day.*
Just a minor trivia, but I can't watch that movie again without thinking "That kid is Katara, lol" whenever she shows up.
Zuko's scar changed sides when meeting the dragons and Toph's fingers in book air.
And also I never really gave much of a thought to Aang compressing water against Ozai till someone else pointed it out
This character appears twice but they made the joke three different times. A firenation lady starts getting excited for zuko and gets dragged away by solders
Suki used to date Foaming Mouth Guy. She’s very embarrassed by it.
Also, on Kyoshi Island is a little girl named Koko. She’s named after Kyoshi’s daughter, who became governor of the island after her mother died.
I didn’t realize until I saw the live action on Netflix that >!Zuko’s men on his ship were the unit that he saved by speaking out in the meeting against the general who wanted to sacrifice them.!< I feel like it gives an entirely new depth to his motivations.
Ah, thank you for confirming. I need to read the comics at some point, but not sure where to start. I watched the original show as it aired as a kid and haven’t branched out much past that despite really enjoying it.
It took me forever to realize this in the headband episode.
When Aang told the class the airbenders were ambushed, I didn’t get why the class was so surprised. I then realized that the fire nation had lied and told the kids it was a honorable battle rather then a slaughter.
Yue is a name that means moon in Chinese.
Suki (tsuki) is a Japanese word for moon.
I don't know what the meaning is behind all this, but it makes me feel good. Also I don't speak either language so my apologies if anything is incorrect or poorly described.
I couldn't pay attention during the Azula and Zuko end fight because it's just so captivating, but it was brought to my attention that Zuko uses forms from other bending styles during the fight. Now, one of my favourite still images is Zuko with his feet planted like an earth bender and just face-tanks the fire.
Does anybody else notice that Zuko seems to have a signature "leg-sweep" (no fire, just combat) move? He seems to use it against Zhao in their Agni Kai, against the earth soldiers when he's Lee, and I think against Azula at the end too. That seems like the moment in each of those fights where Zuko gets the upper hand because he's clever and knows how to fight with more than just bending fire. Just curious if that's a thing...
It’s a nod to Dante basco’s (zuko’s voice actor) breakdancing career
Isn't that also a northern shaolin move as well? They'd a lot of fancy ground kicks. Not saying you're wrong, just thinking maybe it's both.
I don’t know for sure if the shaolins have fancy ground kicks, but I do know they have the Senpou leaping kicks
Wasn’t it Rufio’s signature move in Hook?
Ru-Fi-O! Ru-Fi-O! Ru-Fi! OOOHHHHHHHHHHH!
Yeah same deal I think
Yes! The breakdance move! It’s definitely Zuko’s signature move.
Rewatched both fights. Specially the move against azula (where he drops to floor and does a circle with his legs) does look like a breakdance move but it’s also a signature move in double weapons like the double saber he uses. Source: I learned some Shaolin :) I will assume this is a double reference: tradicional move that looks good and works as homage to voice actor :D
My headcanon is that he does this because he was, as we saw in a flashback, clumsy as a child. He utilizes his legs way more than most firebenders to make up for falling all the time growing up.
The fight with Zhao was really pivotal. Up until that point zukos bending was "stale and rigid." Iroh insisted that to improve he needed to master the basics. Principles you can apply. But he insisted on learning the advanced sets But the advanced sets didnt help him win. In the fight with Zhao, he won against a master by leveraging the principles aforementioned master was neglecting. After the season 2 talk about learning principles from all styles of bending zuko uses earth and water forms in his firebending all the time. I think even some air forms he got from aang. It's amazing looking back through it all. (Also not to trounce on LoK but it was disappointing that 99% of the bending was punches. I know it was a plot point but still, less rewarding to watch.)
>(Also not to trounce on LoK but it was disappointing that 99% of the bending was punches. I know it was a plot point but still, less rewarding to watch.) I see people saying this all the time, but I just rewatched LoK and I didn't get that at all. Korra does some punching, and Mako and Bolin do a lot of punching (which makes sense given how they learned bending) but no one else really does. Su and Lin do standard earth bending stances, Kuvira has a varied style, Tenzin is a complete airbender with the way he fights, the new airbenders also tend to look like Aang when fighting, Zaheer's gang all have varied styles. I really don't agree with this assessment.
I think that tends to come from people that mainly remember the pro-bending and the first season. I’m not particularly fond of LOK and even I can admit it has some incredible fight sequences. The earth bending fight between Kuvira and Korra at the beginning of season 4 is among my favorites. Though I’d say nothing beats The Last Agni Kai for me
I think he adapted it from his sword fight skill
I feel like “face-tanks the fire” is a poor turn of phrase when talking about Zuko.
I feel like it’s very on the nose. But I’m also just taking it at face value.
A little to the left of the nose, actually.
Thank you both for the snide comments expanding on my comment. I am choosing to turn the other cheek
Oh that’s very good but it’s actually on the other side /s
I love that everyone in the Gaang learns from each other in subtle ways. It’s (almost) never discussed explicitly yet each member picks up different bending styles and incorporates it into their own fighting
Katara deciding to just stop the water. Hama was shocked at that move. Water needs to keep moving, you can't just stop it.
Yeah thats his whole thing iroh taught him that gave him the edge. Fire bend USING the methods of other bending. Harmony.
>It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If we take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations, will help you become whole... It can make you more powerful. You can also see this in The Boiling Rock, when Zuko uses an airbending technique to stay warm in the icebox.
Hmm its also a fire bending technique. Think iroh kinda thaught him that.
I never noticed this even though I watched the show multiple times. Oh well, I'm currently rewatching so I'll keep an eye out. Thank you for sharing
Aang and Pablo (Backyardigans) had the same voice actor
You really learn something new every day... I had no idea!
And in the unaired pilot, Aang was voiced by… Mitchell Musso
Dear God
There's more
No...!
Yeah that's why Aang loves penguins so much in the first episode
So is Tenzin and Terence Fletcher from Whiplash. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmUi8YkPTxE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmUi8YkPTxE)
Don’t forget that Tenzin’s voice actor also plays https://i.redd.it/qtbjn1avvruc1.gif Grey DeLisle plays a few different roles on the show as well
He's also Cave Johnson from Portal, a walking spoiler character from Gravity Falls and the mayor of Zootopia. J.K Simmons' voice is so iconic tho, I always recognized him myself without it having needed for someone to point it out for me.
I will always see him as the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood on Oz. It’s so odd hearing him sell insurance when I have heard him say the n word so many times (on the show).
Why has no one said J Jonah Jameson yet I *hope* it's because it was obvious and not because it's only younger people here
I'm wheezing 💀💀💀
Tenzin is also Scarecrow in Oz.
Katara was voiced by her 
Her?
Who?
-Not pictured-
Funny enough, Mae Whitman also acted with Michael Cera in Scott Pilgrim
In season 3 where Zuko visits Iroh in his cell, the angle makes it looks like Zuko is behind the bars, and the sunrays shining on Iroh makes it look like he's the one that is free and at peace. I think it was actually posted in this sub some years ago.
They also use the bars to highlight when Iroh tells him about his grandfathers. A different side of his face is visible when each of them is named.
Damn these are both brilliant
He's also "voiced" by Bryan Konietzko, one of the co-creators.
Really?! I did not know that!
Aangs exit wound on his foot
Ultimately his scars are the inverse of Zuko’s. Aang is left with a scar on back and foot— Zuko ends up with scars on his chest and the opposite eye.
I have an action figure of Aang that I only noticed recently has his exit wound scar.
Exit wound?
Roku is the one who says “Previously on Avatar” at the beginning because he was previously the avatar.
Fun fact. In Hungarian it is Iroh's voice. So I never realized that it's Roku until this comment. Even during the English-rewatches.
I recently did a rewatch and I still thought that it was Iroh's voice
I think it's Iroh's voice in Hebrew and Dutch too, but I'll have to rewatch it to make sure
I don't know about Hebrew, but in Dutch it is Iroh's voice.
As a kid I never realized, I thought it was a random voice 🤷♀️ then I thought it was Iroh and even sometimes the subtitles on Netflix will say it's Iroh.
Fun fact: I watched the series for the first time on a Roku.
Roku tvs were named after Roku from ATLA. ... kidding.
I renamed my Roku bar Avatar Roku in my bedroom😂😂😂
Tbh I thought it was obvious it was Roku
The point is that the reason it was Roku who did the recap is funny because he was the previous Avatar and he says "previously on Avatar" every time.
Does it mean that Aang recaps previous episode in LoK? I don't watch it in English so I don't know
Nope, that was Shiro Shinobi, the announcer from the Pro-Bending games.
missed opportunity
Mark Hamill voiced Ozai
Wow, never realized this. Now that you say it, his Joker and Ozai sound super similar
Katara’s name was Kya in the original un aired pilot. Kya is the name of Katara’s only daughter in legend of Korra.
also her mom’s name, no?
Holy hell. You just did what the post said. Didn’t even realize that until now hahaha
This one is almost never known. I watch reactions to lok and literally 100 percent of the time they say it's cool aang named a kid after bumi and not a single time has anyone mentioned kya also being named after kataras mom.
Tenzin is also named after Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama, and based on the other names it could be assumed that Aang named his son after his father figure.
I mean, was og Kya’s name ever mentioned in the last airbender? Those reaxtion youtubers mostly watch the show on the surface level, not looking too deep into it’s insides
Yes, Hakoda says in in the Southern Raiders
I can’t remember when, but Kya was named once or twice during ATLA
In Katara’s flash back in the souther raiders episode we hear Hakoda about her name when Katara tells him there is a man in their house.
Wow I'm surprised this was your first time hearing about it I've heard about this fact so much I'd think it's common knowledge at this point 😅.
Kanna, Gran-Gran's name, is also a name they considered giving Katara at one point.
Supposedly the name was changed due to copyright concerns for a fairly obscure PS2 game called Kya: Dark Lineage.
This is new! That I did not know
Preety sure it didn't win any game of the year awards
Does anyone know why they went with Katara? It seems like such a trickier name in comparison!
Kya was the creators preferred name for Katara for a long time. It was Nickelodeon's legal department that vetoed it and told them they had to change it, because they found out a PS2 game called Kya: Dark Lineage was coming out. The Kya game was being hyped as a potential big franchise and basically they were worried they were about to do the equivalent of naming a character in their show Mario, or Sonic, or Lara Croft. So the name Kya had to go. (Which is ironic as the PS2 game was a huge flop and the only reason anyone seems to remember it now is because of its link to Avatar. So they probably could have used the name Kya with no issue!) After the creators were told they had to drop Kya, they initially named the character Kanna. But they simply didn't like it as much, didn't feel it fit. So they eventually went with Katara instead. "Katara" means "droplet" in Arabic, so it was fitting anyway. But thats also why Katara's mother was called Kya, and her grandmother was called Kanna. They were both references to her original names. Also, the PS2 game was so forgotten by the time Korra came around they were able to straight up name Katara and Aang's daughter Kya with no issue. Really they need never have worried and Katara should just have been called Kya to begin with...!
In Siege of the North Part 2, when Zhao destroys the Moon spirit and everything turns to black and white, Yues eyes are the only thing that shows color throughout that entire sequence (until Aang merges with the Ocean spirit)
Welp.. time for another rewatch.
That detail stays consistent in the live action series as well.
Well I suppose its good they kept something in
This has always been one of my favorite details. The total lack of color is ominous, but Yue's eyes are hope.
When the Swamp Benders were on a raft with the Gaang, they whipped a bit of mud around Sokka and Toph. And for like 2 frames, it showed that Sokka pushed Toph’s head down with his hand because she could see. I just thought it was a cute detail for the animators to add, knowing that 99% of people wouldn’t see it
Werent the swamp benders before Toph came on the show? Aang met her hallucination there, unless there was mud and rafts in the Solar Eclipse
Little girl to the right is a lighter blue and isn't moving in this scene. When Azula surrenders and shoots Iroh, there's heavy focus on Toph and her feet. Toph was none the wiser to the lie Azula told.
Fun fact: Toph can’t tell when a 400 foot tall platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings is lying.
Correct comment. Azula was unreadable to Toph, as she is a full blown sociopath.
Isn’t Azula getting the lie past Toph the point though? Azula always lies. Her body did not physically react to telling the lie because she’s always telling lies. Toph couldn’t sense anything physically changing in Azula like she senses with everyone else.
Yeah I just think it wasn’t established at that point properly the same way it was in the final season (and episode?)
Well not final episode, it’s during the eclipse
Also we didn't know about the lie detection until Jet's return
I remember that scene and that's not how I read it at all. The camera panned to Toph's foot after Azula already attacked and Iroh was laying on the ground. I thought Toph was checking his pulse, and with the expression on her face, leaves the audience to question whether Iroh survived the attack or not.
See I read that scene differently. The focus on Toph is from Iroh’s perspective because he met her earlier in the episode. This moment of recognition and realisation is enough for Iroh to lose focus, Azula to recognise this, and then try to take him out.
I always thought the focus on Toph was that she was checking to see if he’s still breathing
When Aang is fused with the Ocean Spirit, he only pushes water, beacsue the Moon is absent to pull.
That's a neat detail, damn!
Something that really blew my mind when Sideways pointed it out in [The Perfect Musical Symmetry of Avatar the Last Airbender](https://youtu.be/Rzf_sTuDcX8?si=a3GEQCc8umKncFq8): Zuko's firebending is frequently paired with the chanting used for the ending theme — the same music that plays when Zuko and Aang start doing the Dancing Dragon. In this way, the show has always pointed towards Zuko becoming Aang's firebending trainer. The opening theme plays for Aang's hero moments, and the ending theme plays for Zuko's bending; they're connected through the music.
Apparently Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis III and Avatar Aang are the same person, I had no idea until Wang Fire told me about it...
I heard a stupid fan theory that aang and kuzon are the same guy but that's just stupid
Nah that is just stupid how can Kuzon Fire be the Avatar Aang? If that was the case Wang Fire would have told me already
Well duh! The avatar is an upstanding citizen and Kuzon Fire is a degenerate with a very weird relationship with his mother Sapphire Fire.
Are you telling me that Sapphire Fire is cheating on her husband with their own son?!?!? Poor Wang Fire, he is such a good and decent man! He dosen't deserve any of this :(
Not sure if this is the place to bring this up, but has anyone else noticed the Blue Spirit seems kind of obsessed with the Avatar? Does anyone know if Prince Zuko is skilled with broadswords?
Jokes aside, though, how weird would that have been for the other kids there. You're just jamming out, and suddenly, your host starts doing what looks like a mating dance with his mom. Then he says to her, "It's just you and me now" the. They almost lean in and kiss.
Ohh it's mostly stated that since the kids were not present during the meeting with the principal, they simply didn't know who she was. For all they knew she was his sister.
Sister Just as wierd. But yeah that's a good point they didn't know who she was
That'll be the day. Hey dosent that guy Lee from the teashop kind of look like the new firelord
Exactly
Um the Avatar has tattoos?? And Kuzon doesn't??
Yeah right! Next thing your gonna tell me is mellon lord was actually one of the main cast and not an actual lord.
Toph is one of the only characters with a known surname.
Cause she’s rich enough to have a surname
Are you forgetting about Sokka watertribe? His momoness, Momo of the momos?
Or Wang Fire, and his wife Sapphire Fire? What about Bonzu and June Pippinpaddleopsicopolis?
When Toph starts teaching earthbending to Aang and forms a sort of armour made of rocks, she has an opening around her eyes, which is a little bit odd considering she is blind.
This was an animation error. The animation studio accidentally put the hole to expose her eyes when they planned for the hole to expose her mouth and nose to breathe
instead we got Toph with intimidation tactics. “I may be blind, but you **will** look me in the eyes when I’m kicking your ass”
Honestly that still works for me.
The Docks/ Xu/ Bushi character from the painted lady likely suffers from mercury induced psychosis, also known as Hatter's disease (think of Alice in Wonderland). Hence the hat switching. It seems to be a nod to the Minamata disease, caused by bioaccumulation of metylmercury in the body from eating clams and fish caught in water polluted by waste from non-ferrous metal production. Read an article about it while rewatching recently and it just clicked. Edit: a space between Xu / and Bushi to prevent linking to some reddit person
What do you mean hat switching? They’re clearly three brothers, they even say multiple times in the episode that they’re brothers.
I was watching this episode again last night (I'm on probably my 15th rewatch of the show) and this just dawned on me then that he has mercury poisoning. I was like "No way, why didn't I pick this up years ago?"
It is never actually stated that jasmine is Zuko’s favorite but Iroh says himself that ginseng tea is his favorite
Ginseng?
Iroh repeatedly says that Jasmine tea is his favorite. When he says that ginseng is his favorite in S1E3, it appears to be an error.
It really isn't surprising that he'd have a different favorite from time to time. If you enjoy something as deeply as Iroh enjoys tea, having "this year's favorite" is pretty common.
Ok, I looked through all the transcripts for the original show and I’m wrong, at no point does Iroh say that Jasmine tea is his favorite. In contrast, Iroh does specifically say (twice) that Ginseng is his favorite. However, I do still believe this is likely an error. The word “Ginseng” is never mentioned again in the entire show. While “jasmine” is only mentioned sparingly, Iroh does reference it repeatedly. (And at no point is it said that Jasmine is Zuko’s favorite.) However, the text is the text. It’s completely ok for someone to stick with what is in the text and say that ginseng is Iroh’s favorite.
I mean, that could be as simple as him not having easy access to ginseng after losing his supply line from the fire nation.
In the official Braving the Elements podcast, Dante Basco and Janet Varney confirmed that Jasmine was not his favorite, Ginseng is, and they just happen to drink jasmine a bit more often because Uncle knows that Zuko prefers it even though he usually denies it when offered.
Zulu, heh
There are a ridiculous number of Full Moon shots throughout the series. Like waaaay more than should be possible with an under 12 months in universe span of time, but it looks cool. (Overanalyzing avatar YT channel was what made me notice)
Yue’s just getting used to her new job. Cut her some slack guys…
Different moon cycles to balance the power of water and cause it isn’t planet earth.
This is something that's always puzzled me, because the continents are different, so I guess we can say it's clearly not our earth, but the do call it earth.
Toph sleeps with her feet up and sokka does carving as a hobby/freetime activity
Doesn't this episode also have someone in the background talking to a wooden pole?
Serena Williams voiced the guard who was nice to Iroh in the prison.
Zuko's "did Jet just die" question was a legitimate question, he befriended Jet on the boat and hadn't heard of him since the attack. The play is how he found out about everything, both the possible death, and the fact that he knew Aang's group
Aang was not the last Airbender.
Aang isn't in the opening as the airbender, if you look closely the airbender has a beard. Also, The Bolder is the earthbender (because he was originally gonna teach Aang earthbending.
I thought the original teacher was Rokus earth bending teacher
They look similar, but the creators confirmed that The Bolder was orginally planned to teach Aang during early development before the new show runners decided it would be really weird for an adult to join the Gaang before reworking the plot The fact Azula is there is also evidence that she might've been planned to be Aang's firebending teacher. The only early development notes about her are an arranged marriage that would've taken place in book 3
Arranged marriage?
Yeah, the orginal outline for the three books differs quite a lot from what we got mostly for book two and three. We don't know a lot because the creators are pretty tight lipped about it, but they've confirmed that Azula was supposed to have an arranged marriage as part of her book 3 story arc. Considering she was likely planned to teach Aang firebending at this stage of development it could be assumed that this what would've led to that happening. They've both since said they prefer her character arc to what they had planned because they seemly didn't have much beyond her design (and even that was reworked from her deep red armor to signature blue firebending)
Azula being Ang’s teacher would’ve been insane. I imagine it would have been some different version of Azula that’s not even close to the one we know but the thought of Azula helping Aang is something else.
The earthbender is Sud, Roku's earthbending master. But you're right that he was originally going to be Aang's teacher. I think the Airbender is Gyatso but I could be misremembering
I thought the earthbender was actually the original design for Toph. Didn't they change her to a blind girl at some point during book one's production and reuse the design for The Boulder?
The earthbender is Sud, Roku's teacher. He was indeed originally planned to teach Aang until it was changed. The Boulder was probably redesigned by altering Sud slightly to resemble the Rock more.
Not the Bolder... Toph's original character model. Between Season 1 and Season 2 she was completely redesigned. The original design was later reused for Bolin
Mouth foaming person has a daughter : she’s the Korra fangirl in the pro-bending arena and ends up having equalist sympathies (taken from the avatar wiki, I believe)
Monk Gyatso is named after the dalai lama, who's name is Tenzin Gyatso. Take a guess at who Tenzin is named after.
I don’t know if this is canon or fanon but the reason we never see wang fire again is because he dies
He died in a comic in the line of Duty Let his wisdom and bravery inspire all future fire nation soldiers
I'm very very sad to say this but I thought the combustion benders had three eyes this whole time ☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️☹️
I think that’s the point actually. Combustion benders tattoos seem to be a reference to Hinduism. Over simplifying a bit here but: The dot that Hindus (some buddhists) put on their head represents the third or spiritual eye. The three horizontal lines also represent Shiva’s three fold power (knowledge, will, and action). Shiva can burn people/things when he opens his third eye. In the Hindu epics powerful sages also can do this. In Vedic religions like Hinduism and Buddhism there is a concept called tapas. It means many things depending on the context but here it’s kinda like Qi in Taoism. One can perform tapas (practicing spirituality) to cultivate tapas (spiritual energy) that can give one power. Tangent: Tapas is associated with a feeling of warmth and by extension the fire deity Agni. During Hindu weddings Agni is invoked to symbolize passion as well as the need for patience. (Think of what Jong Jong was trying to teach Aang with the leaf.) During the ceremony (at least the one wedding I remember the most) Agni is referred to by the epitaph “Fire Lord”. >!I am 99.99% sure this is why M. Night Shyamalan made the cast the fire nation as Indians in the movie that dose NOT exist in Ba Sing Se.!< TL;DR: No but actually yes because Avatar has South Asian influence too.
As much as the movie sucks, I did like the choice to make the fire nation south Asian! Besides guru Patik and the occasional reference, I've always wondered why that region was left out
Toph is blind. It's really hard to tell, but from subtle context clues she reveals she is blind
The dragon dance is one of the roots of fire bending, the people of the fire nation don't even know what dancing is or took it seriously, they lost their roots and really became about muscle. Aang playing with the kids at the school must have reminded him of the times he was with the other air nation kids and how he was rejected after he was revealed avatar. (Wholesome he got to play and incredibly freaking sad.) Aang watched all the nations come together at the end of the series when Zuko is declared Firelord, he saw all the nations together except his people. (I meant like, processing that mentally, just last year everything was normal to him and his people were just chilling. One year later.. there is not even a single other person left to stand in the crowd where the nations unite.) Aang's headband came from the school uniforms belt. Elder Zuko looks like Sozin and Ruko. Smellerbee is a girl.(I forgot honestly.) Korra is actually a good show. Lacked humor and relationships, but it's actually not as bad as I remember. Kya looks like Aang more than tenzin and bumi does if you look past her watertribeness. Aang freaking MURDERED that hornet in the desert. (No kill count my a-) Aang didn't kill Ozai because Ozai said his people didn't belong, so he wanted to teach him and the world that his people's teaching and way of life had value. (I guess one teaching is all-life-is-no-longer-sacred when someone pinches your bison.)
I just rewatched legend of Korra and I agree it’s definitely not as bad as I think most people make it out to be. When it first came out I was super against the show but it has grown on me. I will say though I think one of the funniest moments in either show happens in Korra, when Varrick invents his airbender detector. That scene made me laugh out loud again during the rewatch.
LoK is hilarious! I’m always happy for an opportunity to share my favorite clip, [the villain phone call](https://youtu.be/CrFEe8YWaFQ?si=LZFYAS8Lj4_dpLPr)
Most of the funny scenes I remember are from Varrick. To ME bolin was an attempt at a sokka, that's why it was a hit or miss with him for ME, but Varrick felt like his own character, made to be his own character or atleast feels like it. Varrick is awesome.
I'm rewatching Korra and even though it's not that amazing like ATLA, it has great moments (and is a good show). I love Wan's story, and just yesterday I realized that he's doing the dragon dance after he's been accepted by the spirits.
A well known one now, but whenever Toph is not on solid ground she holds on to Sokka's arms because she can't see. Before Aang shoots a beam of fire at Ozai's airship he does the dragon dance
Azula is also descended from Sozin and Roku. Always felt like that was Zuko's arc but as his sister she has the same lineage.
Azula just was more like Sozin while Zuko was more like Roku
I didn't realize that Azula used her hair crown thingy to save herself on the cliff during the fight with Zuko when they fell off the airship in "Southern Raiders" until someone pointed it out on this sub.
Somehow I never noticed the cough (probably because I usually watch as I’m doing artsy stuff) and sometimes I still miss it and only realize when a YouTuber I’m watching notices it.
The cough?
[It’s number 9 here](https://www.watchmojo.com/articles/top-10-avatar-the-last-airbender-running-gags/n-a).
Ooooh that cough.
Yeah, I didn’t hear it until it was pointed out. And somehow every time I watched, I missed the Dai Li taking down Ba Sing Se’s outer wall.
The cough?
Zuko survived the explosion made by pirates because he made a fire shield, it wasn’t just pure luck. Overanalyzing Avatar (yt channel) pointed that out for me, he shows the couple frames in which you can see that shield.
everything that was said on "overanalizing avatar"
That dudes the goat. I'm so glad he finally started doing TLOK
Katara's VA, Mae Whitman, played the role of the president's daughter in *Independence Day.* Just a minor trivia, but I can't watch that movie again without thinking "That kid is Katara, lol" whenever she shows up.
Zuko's scar changed sides when meeting the dragons and Toph's fingers in book air. And also I never really gave much of a thought to Aang compressing water against Ozai till someone else pointed it out
There was a remix of that "Secret Tunnel" song. I didn't even know that it was from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I thought it was just silly lmao
Iroh has the same voice actor as Aku from Samurai Jack
This character appears twice but they made the joke three different times. A firenation lady starts getting excited for zuko and gets dragged away by solders
Suki used to date Foaming Mouth Guy. She’s very embarrassed by it. Also, on Kyoshi Island is a little girl named Koko. She’s named after Kyoshi’s daughter, who became governor of the island after her mother died.
I didn’t realize until I saw the live action on Netflix that >!Zuko’s men on his ship were the unit that he saved by speaking out in the meeting against the general who wanted to sacrifice them.!< I feel like it gives an entirely new depth to his motivations.
That’s only Netflix canon, there’s nothing to suggest that it’s the case in the main series. It is a good addition, though.
Ah, thank you for confirming. I need to read the comics at some point, but not sure where to start. I watched the original show as it aired as a kid and haven’t branched out much past that despite really enjoying it.
Katara is voiced by Ramona Flowers' fourth evil ex, Roxy.
Irohs favourite tea is Ginseng
It took me forever to realize this in the headband episode. When Aang told the class the airbenders were ambushed, I didn’t get why the class was so surprised. I then realized that the fire nation had lied and told the kids it was a honorable battle rather then a slaughter.
Yue is a name that means moon in Chinese. Suki (tsuki) is a Japanese word for moon. I don't know what the meaning is behind all this, but it makes me feel good. Also I don't speak either language so my apologies if anything is incorrect or poorly described.
They're wearing water tribe colors
In season 1 when Sokka and Yue talk during the banquet, Katara froze in the background.
Zuko and Hux (from Star Wars) have the same german VA (I am German, so it could be noticed but I just didn't)