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Post by Appayipyip the Klingon on Dec 14, 2008 16:18:06 GMT -5
Wait just a minute. The Finale? Are you saying that all of you have seen the Finale?ALREADY?! The latest episode I've seen was Book 3 Chapter 13! This is crazy!WHERE ARE THE EPISODES HIDDEN?! Avatar's been over since July. And they've been playing Season 3 Friday nights at 6:30 on Nicktoons Network for who knows how long. The only way I can think of you having missed them is not living in the U.S., but then, Canada and Europe both got Avatar episodes from Western Air Temple up to The Boiling Rock before the U.S., and even then, I'm fairly certain that the finale aired at about the same time worldwide. I've been wrong before, though. I give the entire finale movie-type deal a 10, despite a few gripes. For example, taking the Avatar State away from Aang at the end of Season 2, making us all believe that he was blocked from it for good, then all of a sudden giving it back to him. That really chaps my hide, and so does the fact that every single Avatar before him that he talked to, Roku through Yangchen, said he's going to have to kill Ozai, and Yangchen even pulled a Dr. Phil and said "It's not about you!" The whole taking Ozai's bending away was pretty cool, and I'm telling you, the Lion-Turtle gave him that ability, cause remember, Toph asked him where he learned to do it, and he replied, "A giant Lion-Turtle," so I don't want to hear any "He already had that ability." Anyway that was cool, but so wrong that he had to make no sacrifices whatsoever, when Zuko, Suki, and Toph all almost died, and Sokka may never walk properly again. Don't get me wrong, I mean the finale was epic, and I wanted that, but humans are murderous creatures, and when you have four of your past lives telling you that you're going to have to do it... YOU HAVE TO F***ING DO IT!!! I'm sorry, but it is just too convenient to not only give him the Avatar State back on a silver platter for the most part AND have him come up with a way to avoid killing Ozai. Monk or not, Aang should have had to have made that sacrifice, when three of his friends almost died fulfilling their role in the war's end and one got seriously, probably permanently, injured, though Sokka was seated at the end, so we really don't know how he was doing. I do live in the U.S. I just haven't gotten a channel on our lame little TV that plays the show since 2006. Plus we don't have Internet on our lame little computer, either, so I don't get to get on that often. Which also explains why I have less than 500 posts on this forum.
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asian malaysian
Avatar Kyoshi
Let me hear you say this ship is bananas! B-A-NA-N-A-S!
Posts: 1,308
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Post by asian malaysian on Dec 14, 2008 20:11:01 GMT -5
I give the entire finale movie-type deal a 10, despite a few gripes. For example, taking the Avatar State away from Aang at the end of Season 2, making us all believe that he was blocked from it for good, then all of a sudden giving it back to him. That really chaps my hide,. Yeah, the way his chi got unblocked was really too convenient. I wished M&B had thought up a better explanation for that part. .. and so does the fact that every single Avatar before him that he talked to, Roku through Yangchen, said he's going to have to kill Ozai, and Yangchen even pulled a Dr. Phil and said "It's not about you!" The whole taking Ozai's bending away was pretty cool, and I'm telling you, the Lion-Turtle gave him that ability, cause remember, Toph asked him where he learned to do it, and he replied, "A giant Lion-Turtle," so I don't want to hear any "He already had that ability." Anyway that was cool, but so wrong that he had to make no sacrifices whatsoever, when Zuko, Suki, and Toph all almost died, and Sokka may never walk properly again. Don't get me wrong, I mean the finale was epic, and I wanted that, but humans are murderous creatures, and when you have four of your past lives telling you that you're going to have to do it... YOU HAVE TO F***ING DO IT!!! I'm sorry, but it is just too convenient to not only give him the Avatar State back on a silver platter for the most part AND have him come up with a way to avoid killing Ozai. Monk or not, Aang should have had to have made that sacrifice, when three of his friends almost died fulfilling their role in the war's end and one got seriously, probably permanently, injured, though Sokka was seated at the end, so we really don't know how he was doing. Well, his past lives didnt expressly tell him to kill Ozai. They told him to act decisively, that only justice would bring peace and to do whatever it took to protect the world. I think that by taking away Ozai's fire bending away from him, Aang had fufllied his duties. Its important to remember that Aang was not acting as a human agent for justice but as the Avatar which has been described as the spirit of the planet reincarnated in human form and the link between the human world and the Spirit World. His ultimate duty was to restore the balance of the world which trancended human justice although there was judgement made on the Firelord. Moreover, I dont think Aang would have been in character if he had killed Ozai. I also liked the bit about the Lion Turtle because it spoke of bending before there even was an Avatar. It adds a whole new dimension to the mythology. How did Obiwan put it? "You've taken your first step into a larger world ."
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Kana
Yu Yan Archers
Posts: 5,728
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Post by Kana on Dec 16, 2008 17:17:35 GMT -5
The animation was astounding, so were many other aspects. But the way kataang ended (I don't care that it ended kataang, but the way they "set up" for it was just sad), the convenient rock, and other things. . . just was kind of lazy writing.
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nandireya
Zuko's Path to Redemption Mod
...tickled pink...
Posts: 6,822
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Post by nandireya on Dec 17, 2008 5:02:55 GMT -5
None of the romances were at all convincing if you ask me...the show was better when it stuck to the cool kung fu fighting.
I stand by my 6.
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Escalus (Syn)
Avatar Kyoshi
Your Avatar title might impress some people, but not me.
Posts: 1,336
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Post by Escalus (Syn) on Dec 17, 2008 15:54:57 GMT -5
That said, I have to agree with Kaneda. I really don’t see how someone could dislike the finale but like Avatar. The finale was everything that’s great about Avatar (good animation, music, character development, etc.) but better/in a stratifying four episode package. See, here's where I disagree. The finale wasn't everything that's great about Avatar. The fantastic action sequences were there, and the shivers-down-your-spine music was there, and the animation was fantastic, and the characters were brilliant. As far as production values go, the finale was definitely the Avatar we know and love. But I don't think that the finale captured absolutely everything that made Avatar such an enjoyable series. What about the focus on the four elements? For years that was the driving force behind the show. And ultimately, Aang defeated the Fire Lord without having mastered all four elements. Instead, he steals Ozai's ability to firebend after he comprehended, in those final seconds, what the lion turtle had spoken to him. Aang didn't have to compromise his beliefs, which is a wonderful thing. But in order for that to happen, the series had to redefine itself somewhere along the line. Sokka's discovery of the parchment detailing the Fire Nation's darkest day in "The Library" started a chain of events that distracted the series from its roots, and when it came time to tie it all up, the four elements were kicked to the curb. I was so happy when the finale opened up with firebending master Zuko and pupil Aang, but that happiness quickly evaporated as Aang's moral dilemma (which was excellent, by the way) forced the bending disciplines out of the viewer's mind. Don't get me wrong - Aang's conflicting thoughts about killing the Fire Lord were handled with care, and I understood and appreciated that. But bending the energy within oneself doesn't have anything to do with the show was at its core - it was simply a means to give Aang the happy ending that he deserved. It was the same deal with the way Aang regained access to the Avatar State. Aang's little info dump before the invasion earlier this season cannot serve as an excuse for the abrupt manner in which he recovered his ability to glow it up. Azula blocked Aang's chakra by shooting him full of lightning, yes. But if the lone ingredient for finding his way back into the Avatar State is "Aang needs to bump against a rock in a particularly jarring way," then when the narrative comes out of the oven, it's going to look about as appetizing as Sokka's pitiful sand sculpture of Suki. The Avatar State was steeped in mystery for the entirety of the first season, and it was an absolute thrill to watch. Even in the second season, when a lot of the murkiness had been cleared up, we knew that whenever Aang booted up the AS, things were serious. That's why the emotional impact of Aang's "death" at Azula's hands was so massive - and why Katara braving her closest friend's fury in "The Desert" gives me goosebumps even now. For twenty episodes we waited for Aang to recover the Avatar State. There was no question, really, that he was going to use it to beat the Fire Lord. It was integral enough to the story to have an entire episode centered around and named for it, after all. So when it came not from a willingness to sacrifice his spiritual needs, or earthly attachment, or from a lengthy spirit world journey in which Aang learns a valuable lesson and gains access to the AS because of it, or from a simple four elements montage in which Aang realizes that everything is connected and that control of the AS is now available to him because he "gets it now," but as a result of a carefully placed jab to some scar tissue, it was a fairly big disappointment! It felt like the Avatar State had been cheapened, all in the name of wrapping things up on time. Please understand... these aren't just a few of the things that I thought could have been "done better" - I'm seeing that phrase thrown around a lot right now. These are flaws that I think fly in the face of the spirit of the show. Sozin's Comet was fantastic. In fact, despite all of the criticism I have brought against the finale (and by extension, the creative team behind the show), it is still 9/10, if not 10/10 material in my eyes. But I wanted 11/10. No, I wanted 20/10. I wanted this show to wrap it all up without compromising its original mission: to portray a reluctant hero's journey to save the world by mastering all four elements. This show's first season was a complete and total masterpiece because, while it wasn't tied together by successive plot points like the second and, to some degree, third seasons were, it was constantly exploring the universe that Mike and Bryan had created by way of the Avatar's journey to master his first element. And in the process, we learned so much about the other elements that we couldn't help but fall in love with that universe. The characters were so strong, the individual, twenty-two minute stories so intricately woven, the animation so pleasing to watch, all on a consistent backdrop of the four elements; it was wonderful. Can you see what I'm trying to communicate, here? As the show progressed, it underwent a radical transformation - from being centered around a boy's journey to master the four elements to being centered around a boy's journey to beat the Fire Lord by any means necessary. With this change came a loss of focus on those four elements. We still got snippets like the training scene at the beginning of "The Runaway" every once in a while. But those didn't satiate my hunger for more stuff like "Bitter Work". After a certain point in the second season, episodes like "The Waterbending Scroll" vanished into thin air - where characterization takes center stage, but one of the four bending disciplines is the fuel that makes the motor run all the way through. Even an episode entitled "The Firebending Masters" could not hold a candle to "The Deserter" in terms of communicating to us what exactly firebending was all about. This shift in focus forced the finale to solve things with energy bending instead of airbending, firebending, waterbending and earthbending, and I felt like the series as a whole - not just the finale - had lost something HUGE in that moment. Edit: Gave it a 9, if you're curious. I know this is WAY late here, but I was looking at the early pages, and I agree with this 100%. I couldn't have done a better review if I'd tried. (Cruel Irony, isin't it?)
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lolabrit100
penguin
Never give up without a fight.
Posts: 20
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Post by lolabrit100 on Oct 10, 2010 15:39:46 GMT -5
I rated it 9/10. I loved the ending but i wish some other things could've happened like Zuko telling the Gaang how he got his scar and more about his past. I really wanted to know what happened to Zuko's mother. I am also a Zutara fan but that didn't effect my vote.
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