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Post by fionordequester on Sept 3, 2010 23:56:18 GMT -5
...whole series. Who's interested?
Basically, it's a show that I've seen only a few episodes of before Nicktoons bailed on me and started telling me that I hadn't purchased the channel, even though I've had it for like, years. Well, I finally am now able to get around that, so, I figured that now that I'm able to watch a show I've been dieing to watch for a long time now, I'd write up little segments about what I think of it so far, and maybe ask questions for fans of it to answer.
I dunno whether or not that actually sounds interesting to you guys, but I'm going to do it, simply because I want to. If you are interested though, feel free to make suggestions where you feel them appropriate. I want it to be very detailed and indepth, but, I also want it to be enjoyable, so I want to know your suggestions.
I'll watch them, in chronological order. See you guys later, even if nobody responds. If there's anything I've learned from writing my Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu log, it's that even though people don't respond for 50 posts, they still become interested over time. In the worst of scenarios, it's all about patience.
By the way, one other very important thing I've forgotten to cover. NO SPOILERS, I REPEAT, NO SPOILERS, ok? If I ask any questions about any future plot that can't be answered without spoilers, then either ignore them, or be very, very vague
I've watched the first two episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, after a few days of putting it off. Mainly, whenever I get hyped to watch something, or play it, I'll put it off for a few days because I'm nervous to actually see it. But, that's just an oddity of mine.
Saying that, I looked at the episode count, 61, and instantly, I thought back to Dragon Ball Z, and found it really funny that I could've watched almost this entire series in the time that it took the Z Warriors just to beat Frieza. Upon that revelation, I've decided something. I'm only going to watch 1-2 Episodes per day, and that's what my posts are going to summarize. What I think and feel based on those 1-2 episodes. I don't want to blow through this too quickly. Also, if the way I write this differs from log to log, that's me figuring out what to do, and how to write for this log.
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Post by Nightmare on Sept 4, 2010 1:23:41 GMT -5
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Post by fionordequester on Sept 4, 2010 1:38:26 GMT -5
Ok, cool, good for him. It seems that there ARE people interested in these kinds of threads. In that case....
First off, I found the intro pretty neat. It just told us the basic plot, introduced two main characters, then just went straight to the show. I just thought that was really neat, to not have to sit through a long montage before the actual show starts.
I liked how the show just introduced the concept of Water Bending just through Sokka and Katara bickering, and Sokka freaking out every time Katara doesn't manipulate the water quite right or anything like that (not that he doesn't deserve it. Based on his attitude towards the ladies, he's going to be having a rather painful journey if the women on this show are as awesome and tough as the ones I've seen in the few episodes I've already seen).
My first question comes up shortly after this however, when Katara and Sokka get swept up in some dangerous currents and end up getting their raft destroyed. It made me wonder why they bothered fishing in such a dangerous area to begin with. But then, I guess that would be like asking how Katara and Sokka manage to hop across platforms of ice without any difficulty on their way to Aang's iceberg. Speaking of dangerous...
Look's like Zuko's in the house, and he now realizes what this means! But, just when his search is about to come to an end, he's immediately shot down by what seems like a rather...patronizing fashion by his uncle. Zuko immediately shows a rather ugly side to his nature with his raging temper, but then, I think I'd be pretty insulted to if my own uncle responded to me accomplishing my lifelong dream by basically telling me to SHUT UP AND DRINK YOUR ******* TEA!
Aang gets defrosted, and it's here that I think the dialouge might've gotten a little hokey, just for a brief instance. For one thing, Aang seems surprisingly chipper and ready to have fun despite that it's shown through flashback that he almost drowned right before freezing himself in that iceberg, just 5 minutes later. I dunno, it just seems like the show was a little too quick to show his goofy and eccentric side, when it seemed like he should've had at least some kind of short, normal conversation before sneezing himself 25 feet in the air and introducing us all to his flying animal.
But that's all water under the bridge. It's only for an instance anyways, and it helps that Sokka's delightful commentary makes for some entertaining scenes.
Flash back to Zuko, a rather shocking sequence as Zucco's mentor outright tells him that his whole mission is pointless and stupid, not something that's going to sit well with Zuko considering that his honor now hinges on being able to capture the Avatar. But surprisingly enough, he actually keeps his cool this time. Maybe he just appreciates his mentor's honesty, or maybe he's so desperate that it's cooled his anger. Makes sense, considering that his honor now hinges on him capturing the most powerful figure in the world...or maybe he's just being the typical meathead who thinks all of life revolves around looking good to your fellow warriors.
Still, you have to wonder why his mentor even bothered to come if he thought this whole thing was pointless. It just makes him look bad, the way he's practically insulting Zuko for trying hard to accomplish something big.
The next few minutes go by, without really much to commentate on. Except for one line of dialouge I found rather...interesting.
"Katara: I can sense that he is full of much wisdom!"
I probably wouldn't have found this line worth mentioning, except that it reminded me of one particular episode of Avatar that I really didn't like too much at all. I'm not going to spoil anything, but both Sokka and Aang just looked like complete douches in that episode, to the point where I actually started to wonder if the writers were knowingly making them act out of character in order to advance the plot. I won't say much more than that though. Heck, I don't even remember it that well, so I could be remembering wrong. Who knows?
Another scene with Zuko and his mentor, and by now, I'm kind of confused by the dynamics of their relationship. Who exactly is wearing the pants here? Zuko tries to force his uncle to "teach him the advanced set", and at first, it seems like his mentor is the one who has to submit. But then his mentor fires back by forcing Zuko to wait as he finishes his lunch, almost like he's daring Zuko to make him, and Zuko's only response is to get this shocked expression on his face. It's like Zuko relied so much on bullying to get him somewhere, that he doesn't have any clue on how to respond when it doesn't work. One thing's for sure, they make for interesting interactions.
By the way, I find it interesting to note that, according to his mentor, Zuko hasn't even mastered the basics of the basics of firebending yet, because in the next episode, Zuko's going to say something that's going to make him look incredibly stupid when you remember was his mentor said about his performance here. However, that's going to wait. I want to see how people respond first.
Again, the rest of the episode passes by without much to comment on (except that I'm starting to suspect that Aang might have a slight case of ADD). However, I really loved the ending to this episode, where we see Aang and Katara escaping the ship from the perspective of a telescope, and we get a close up of Zuko's eyes, which I thought was an effective way of ending the episode.
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Post by fionordequester on Sept 4, 2010 1:46:14 GMT -5
Episode 2 starts off, and it's actually really good here. The parting of Aang and Katara was pretty sad, especially with Katara's frustration here, and we even revealed that Sokka's actions are driven by a promise he made to his Dad. Good stuff.
However, once Zuko's band arrives, I find it immediately offputting that Sokka is the only one who did anything to prepare for their arrival. I know that the women and children probably didn't have any combat training, but is it really too much to ask that they at least gather slings, or spears, or at least do SOMETHING other than stand there helplessly, and watch Sokka be completely useless against Zuko? It's not a plothole, as some people really are that helpless, but it's a darn shame is what it is.
I mean, don't get me wrong, Sokka didn't handle it perfectly. If I were him, I wouldn't have just immediately bull charged Zuko, especially when I know he has range advantage. I would've just stared him down, and made it clear that I didn't want or wish for any trouble, but if he starts making even the slightest sign of trouble, he's going down.
Their complete helplesness comes to a fever pitch though, when Aang zooms in, kicks butt, and is doing really well until he ends up almost hurting some of the villagers by redirecting Zuko's fire at them (I'm surprised Aang's able to do that at all actually). One would think that the villagers would, I dunno, actually back off a bit and give Aang room to fight Zuko without hurting them, but instead, they stand their frozen with fear, to the point where Aang is literally forced to let himself be captured so that the villager's don't burn to death because of their fight.
Boy, if I have to rely on anyone in a fight, I'm certainly not relying on anyone from this village, besides Sokka and MAYBE Katara. Speaking of counting on capable warriors, it is here that Zuko says that awesome line that makes him sound so incredibly stupid...
"Zuko: I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training, meditating, and you're just a child!"
I'm sorry, I just find it really funny that he's apparently spent years training for this very moment, and yet, according to his mentor, he still hasn't even mastered the basics of firebending yet, despite all of this training he's done. It makes him sound like he had some sort of learning disability or something. Either way, the show isn't exactly painting a very intimidating image of him so far. Even more interesting to note, if this is really supposed to be some kind of Avatar conquering team, why does Zuko only seem to have 7 other men with him?
It's like the Emperor had an incompetent bunch of ninnies, and didn't know how else to get them out of his hair than send them off somehwere, on the small chance that the Avatar might still be alive despite him doing nothing for 100 years. It would certainly explain the Mentor's attitude. He'd be old and experienced enough to recognize what the Emperor ordered them to do as an insult after all.
Then, just to complete this image, Aang goes on to school everyone on the boat with his hands tied behind his back...literally. No, seriously, he takes them all out with only his feet availble to him. It was just hysterical to me how he just makes complete fools out of every villain that's been introduced so far.
Then he gets to Zuko to get his staff back, and it's here that I'm starting to think that Aang's kind of new at this whole "fighting for you life thing". There were a lot of little things Aang did that made the fight so much harder than it should've been. For one thing, there are multiple instances where after dodging an attack, he'd just freeze in place and breath really, not even attempting to do anything but wait until Zuko went on the offensive again. Rather than actually attacking, he just spent almost the entire fight just running and flying around, trying to dodge Zuko's attacks and getting hurt because of it.
There was even one moment where he was right behind Zuko, in the perfect position to lay the hurting on him, and he still did nothing but defend. Listen, I know that Aang's 12 and probably hasn't packed on the muscle to be as physically strong as Zuko, but he still at least knows martial arts. You could tell that by how he moved. And in all that time he was behind him, he could've grabbed his head or that stupid looking ponytail of his and kneed him in the back, he could've gotten him in some kind of choke, he could've kicked him in the balls, he could've tackled him to the ground, anything but just continuing to dance around like he did.
Then, the fight finally comes to a head when Aang finally gets his staff, the two face off...and Aang immediately smacks him into a wall and launches him into the ceiling.
After that, I couldn't help but think "Wow, that was quick".
But, after that, as Aang tries to escape, Zuko actually manages to impress me here. Apparently, he's immediately recovered from his smackdown, and catches Aang right as he tries to fly away.
Well, if nothing else, Zuko can definetly take a hit pretty well. I don't think I would've recovered that quickly had I been launched into the ceiling.
His friends arrive, Aang takes his eyes off Zuko to look at his friends, and immediately learns the hard way that you should NEVER take your eyes off of your opponents, as he is immediately blasted with so much fire, that his staff is eventually spun out of his hand, and he gets sent into the ocean by a one two punch of fire.
But then, Aang's eyes glow blue, he starts going Super Saiyan (I'm calling that because I'm not supposed to know that it's called the "Avatar State" yet), and from there, I don't think there's much point in commentating on anything else, other than that the bad guys make themselves look even WORSE than they already did by getting owned by Katara, a girl who has never been in a single fight in her entire life (that I know of), and has barely even begun to perfect her water bending.
When you're supposed to be an experienced adult warrior, you've got two other guys backing you up, and yet, you still get owned by a 14 year old girl who doesn't even have full control over her powers yet, I think it's time to consider getting a different career. But that's just me.
Oh, and I found it pretty cool when Aang deflects the combined blasts of both Zuko and his Mentor (yes, he finally gets off his butt at some point in this episode). The three ride off into the sunset, and despite a rather depressing conversation about how Aang never wanted to be the Avatar, he still manages to make me smile by showing his goofiness again. Apparently, he's not quite done with riding animals yet.
And that's the first two episodes. What did I think? Well, I liked it a lot. I thought Sokka and Katara were both characterized well, and I thought the episodes did a good job of explaining why the character's are all doing what they're doing, without getting bogged down in explanations like some other shows do. However, my favorite parts of both of these episodes was how entertaining the interactions were between the characters, especially Sokka and Katara, and Zuko and his Mentor. I like Zuko as a villain as well, because even though he and his gang aren't really that great in terms of actual competence (no, I'm still not of letting the fact that he hasn't even mastered the basics despite all his training go), his drive and tenacity still make him seem threatening all the same. I just find him interesting I guess.
I loved the artwork and the fights to. The fights were stunning and flowed very quickly. Speaking of fights, don't be fooled by the way I nitpicked at Aang's actions during his fights with Zuko. I don't expect him to be any Bruce Lee or anything, the guy IS only 12 after all, and new to all of this. I like that he's got a few rough edges actually. Makes it seem more realistic.
So, yeah, I actually liked them quite a bit, despite my nitpicking here and there. There are also some other things I could nitpick at if I REALLY wanted to, but, it's nothing that I actually care about much anyways.
I don't judge pilot episodes very harshly, as it's pretty much inevitably going to be the weakest episodes by design, just because of course the writer hasn't quite figure out all the ins and outs of everything their doing. So, I give the pilots an A because despite this being the writers very first shot at this, the characters were characterized well, they were entertaining, the animation was remarkably fluid, the voices sounded so good, you'd never know that this was their very first time voicing the characters, lots of stuff that come out like they were refined instead of unpolished, like the usual pilot.
Now, don't be mistaken. I won't be giving out A's anywhere near as easily from here on out, as after the pilots, that's when the show is supposed to start settling in and be written in a comfortable style, because it's figured out everyhting that would give it trouble in writing a Pilot.
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Post by fionordequester on Sept 6, 2010 1:29:28 GMT -5
Hello guys, we're back again for more Avatar: The Last Airbender!
As it turns out, Aang and Co. take a little visit to Aang's home, the Southern Air Temple. Now, this episode was one of the few episodes that I've actually watched before doing this log, and I must say, I'm really surprised that they're showing it this early. With the sheer content, feeling of loss and shock, not to mention Aang's "Avatar Spirit" (not "State" as I thought it was), this episode seems more like it would've been appropriate after Aang and Co. spend a few episodes on a long journey, hyping themselves up with each episode, and dropping subtle hints about the concept of the Avatar Spirit on the way. Not much else I can see talking about, not until we cut back to Zuko and Iroh (yes, I get to call him Iroh now. That's revealed in a moment).
It's here that we are introduced to Commander Zhao. The soundtrack doesn't seem to like him very much, and he's older and more experienced, so I assumed that he was going to come onto this show to be the Yosemati Sam to Zuko's Elmer Fudd (Zuko even has the shaved head to go with it now that I think about it). It's here that Iroh is in fact revealed to be a great hero by Commander Zhao. Gee, wonder how Iroh got stuck with Zuko then.
But never mind. Zuko doesn't want every fire bender out looking for him, so it's lame coverup time, for why his ship got maimed...
"Zhao: That's quite a bit of damage." "Zuko: Yes...you wouldn't believe what happened....UNCLE! Tell Commander Zhao what happened!" "Iroh: Yes! I will do that! It was incredible...(obvious whisper) what, did we crash or something?" "Zuko: Yes! Right into...an Earth Kingdom ship!"
Yeah...not really helping that Elmer Fudd image Zuko. Seems like he should've at least had a lie planned. Zhao plans to point and laugh at Zuko's humiliation for Zuko...uh, I mean, be regaled with all the "thrilling" details, so, they head on over to his tent.
In this tent, which seems to have some sort of orange filter on it for reasons I can't determine. I know that there seems to be two lamplights on the sides of Zhao's base, but the room seems too well lit for them being the sole reason for the filter. Whatever though, I like it.
As for their actual conversation, other than Zhao revealing that Zuko was a banished prince, I find it odd that he's so suspicious of Zuko all of a sudden. I don't know why Zhao is so certain that Zuko has found the Avatar, but isn't telling him. Sure, he and Iroh made a royal mess out of covering up the damage to their ship, but I think if I were Zhao, I'dve just figured that Zuko just accidently trashed the ship in some really humiliating way, and didn't want anyone to know. He was a failure after all, and his crew members seem to suck even worse, and it's established later in the episode that all four kingdoms have warning signals to let them know whether or not the Avatar has returned. So, as far as I know, Zhao has no reason to be as suspicious as he is.
Cut back to Aang and his group, in which we get our first bit of foreshadowing that Aang may not be in for such a pleasant surprise after all. That, and we have an enlightening little flashback, to Aang's master this time. I can now say that whatever bad habits Aang has, I think I now know where he got them from...
Back to Zuko and Zhao, the events that I'm really interested in (mainly because I didn't remember any of their interactions from this episode, while I still remember most of what happened to Aang). I find it interesting that one of Zhao's reasons for taking over the hunt for the Avatar was because "capturing the Avatar is too important to leave in a teenager's hands", especially since I believe that we all know a certain...other person in Zuko's life that's younger than him, yet could probably have beaten Aang at this point with one hand tied behind their back.
After some more exposition with Aang and co., and Aang showing that he can indeed use offensive Airbending techniques without his staff, we cut back to yet another Zuko and Zhao interaction. There's always good stuff to talk about there. Zuko actually ends up challenging Zhao to a fight here, and an immediate feeling of "Oh no..." went up inside me. I was actually tense to see how Zuko would suffer, especially as it's revealed that he got his scar from a fight with a master.
We switch to Aang, and I'm surprised by Aang's discovery of Kyotso's corpse for three reasons. One, for a show that was aimed at 6-11 year olds, it seemed like a rather graphic picture, with the close up of Kyotso's skull and everything. I know that this show became more mature as it went on, but I wasn't expecting the change to come immediately after Episode 2. And two, I remembered the exact details being a lot different. I remember this episode being a lot more chilling than it was, with there being more build up to this discovery, like Sokka and Katara discovering more and more Fire Nation corpses/masks/weapons to hide from Aang. Finally though, I remember there being A LOT more Fire Nation corpses surrounding Kyotso than what was there. I thought it was some ridiculous number like 57 or something, when really it was less than 10 here.
Aang goes into Avatar Spirit mode, and we go back to Zuko and Zhao, who for whatever reason, are no more interesting than what's happening with Aang, but a whole lot more interesting to actually talk about.
Anyways, I found it really weird how...harmless the firebending looked. Both Zuko and Zhao are constantly blocking blasts of fire with nothing but their bare arms, and both even get blasted into the air at one point, and yet, there's not one moment where either of them are even singed. At first, I was willing to blame this on Nicktoon's censorship policies (I mean jeez, look at how heavily they censored Dragon Ball Z Kai...), but then I remembered hearing that even the DVD's of this show are virtually identical to the broadcast version, so, that theory was disproven. So I thought, "well maybe they were just holding back a bit since it wasn't an actual fight". That made sense, until I remembered that Zuko got his scar from one of those fights, so hurting each other badly clearly wasn't a problem. So...maybe firebenders just have a natural resistance to fire?
Anyways, it's a thrilling fight. Zuko's offense utterly fails, Zhao responds by pounding him until Zuko flies into the air, Zhao closes in, Zuko trips him up, sends him through the air...and wins...
Let me say that again. ZUKO WINS!! He's so pathetic that he's actually been exiled, and he STILL manages to beat someone who's supposed to be one of the Commanders.
It is then that it occurs to me that calling Zhao the "Yosetami Sam" of this cartoon is probably too generous, and that Zhao must be one of those Commanders. You know, the ones who don't actually earn their place in the chain of command, but get there through politics, nobility, brown nosing, and all around jackassery.
Then after a rather noticeable continuity error in which Zuko is seen approaching the fallen Zhao from the side, yet ends up in front of him for some reason (I'm just going to assume that Zuko is still at Zhao's side, since otherwise it doesn't make sense why Zhao didn't do what Zuko did when Zuko was on his back, in the same position), Zuko confirms something I've been suspecting ever since Episode 1.
Even though he's quick to yell, and threaten, and push people around, he doesn't seem to dig actually following through with his threats, even when there's no repercussions to worry about. Or, at the very least, he doesn't seem to like hurting people any more than he thinks is necessary. Actually, that was kind of shown when he was interrogating the Water village now that I think about it. Even when he grabbed an old lady, he never once tried to use her as a hostage, and he never did anything to actually harm anyone but Sokka, and of course Aang. And even then, Sokka did try to kill him, twice. Both attempts were laughable at best, but still.
Just to top off what was already a great scene, Iroh flaunts his muscle, and manages to send Zhao flying with what didn't look like anything but a leg lock. I don't know what kind of tea he's drinking, but I'd kill to have it. Must be all the anti-oxidants.
Finally, we're done for good with Zuko and Zhao's rivalry, but that's ok. It's here that, for the very first time, I find fault with the voice acting, most specifically Katara's speech. I don't take issue with her pronunciation, or the emotion she's putting in her lines, that's all as good as ever. What bothers me, is how she hardly even raises her voice! Aang is currently surrounded in typhoons, hurricanes, tornadoes, gusts, all sorts of stuff that's making a lot of noise, and Katara still isn't speaking any higher than her regular speaking voice. It just seems like she's not talking as loudly as she should be talking for Aang to hear her.
But, Aang hears her all the same, and calms down, but not before signal lights from all four Kingdoms flare up. Remember why I said that Zhao shoudn't have had a reason to be suspicious of Zuko? Well, this was one of the main reasons why in my mind. They have signal lights that go off when Aang is reawakened, so, I don't really get why Zhao was so bent on the assumption that Zuko actually knew anything, when he knows that had he awakened, there would've been a very clear and distinct signal to alert him to it. But, whatever, maybe I missed something.
To end this view of Episode 3, I like the music that starts playing as Aang and Co. leave the Air Temple. It was soft and tender, was melancholy, airy, and just seemed like a good theme for Aang in general. Besides that, the instruments reminded me of the soundtrack for "7th Saga", one of my favorite RPG's, with one of my favorite soundtracks from any RPG.
Besides that, I loved how consistently exciting this episode was. You could feel tension all throughout out it, whether it was Zuko's heated rivalry with Zhao, or whether it was Aang exploring the Air Temple, when you just knew he was going to be getting a nasty surprise. All in all, great episode, but kept from getting an A by a few things. Some of them just those little feelings you can't quite give shape to, but, there were specific things as well.
1) It still really doesn't make sense to me that Zhao was as suspicious of Zuko as he was. And that was a pretty big part of the episode, so to have something like that without any real explanation was kind of weak to me. 2) It seemed strange that there were so few corpses to hide from Aang, when pretty much the entire temple had been ravaged, I thought there was more that could've been done with that. 3) This last one is really nitpicking, but, it seemed somewhat cheesy to have threatening, scary music the moment Zhao walked on screen, when we shouldn't otherwise be able to tell whether he's friend or foe.
So, my final thoughts? B
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Post by Nightmare on Sept 6, 2010 2:27:32 GMT -5
tl;dr - I'm totally joking, I just learned what that means today. Unfortunately you are now ahead of me so I cannot read any of this. Still, karma for the obvious effort. You must like to do book reports.
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Post by fionordequester on Sept 6, 2010 9:01:29 GMT -5
Well, I guess I do somewhat, but not to the same degree. With book reports, or any kind of school assignment, I'm usually bound by rules, which is always annoying.
Here, I can do my own thing.
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Post by Nightmare on Sept 6, 2010 13:18:52 GMT -5
Well, I guess I do somewhat, but not to the same degree. With book reports, or any kind of school assignment, I'm usually bound by rules, which is always annoying. Here, I can do my own thing. Well, apparently you have't read volumes 1 - 4 of the Uniform Code of Adequate Posting (or UCAP). ;D
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Post by fionordequester on Sept 7, 2010 20:24:14 GMT -5
Pffft, volume, shmolume, at least I don't have to make my writing fit into any fixed procedures or formats like they make me do in my English classes.
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Post by Nightmare on Sept 7, 2010 20:41:06 GMT -5
I was just joking about that anyway (although I do think UCAP is a pretty decent acronym). So I watched the third episode. So far I liked this one the best. As I said in another thread, I have a strange affinity for cool villains. I can already tell Zuko's going to be my favorite. His uncle is really pretty funny too. I guess it's fitting I use the Fiery Summer skin, although I chose it at the time just because the contrast between the words and the background is pretty sharp so it's easier for me to read. Anyway Zuko was a bad*** in this episode, besides, I know what it's like to be banished. Long live Prince Zuko (or, at least, for another 58 episodes).
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dirtyyasuki
Iroh
Take it to the limit... then break it.
Posts: 199
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Post by dirtyyasuki on Sept 8, 2010 2:55:33 GMT -5
Time can pass you by without you noticing when I watched all 61 episodes back-to-back when the movie came out.
I marveled at how the overall charm and value of the entire series hadn't worn off on me as I watched everything all over again.
That's how good the show was for me... I hope you enjoy your personal journey as much as I did.
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Post by fionordequester on Sept 11, 2010 14:41:40 GMT -5
Strap in for another few minutes of reading folks, it's time for some more Avatar: The Last Airbender!
NO SPOILERS, I REPEAT, NO SPOILERS, from any Episode taking place after this one, ok? If I ask any questions about any future plot that can't be answered without spoilers, then either ignore them, or be very, very vague
Now, before posting this, I've gone onto the Reviews section of this, and I have to say, I'm really surprised that this got such a high grade. Well, ok, I guess a B- isn't THAT high of a grade, but even that's being pretty generous to the Episode, from my perspective anyways. I just thought this was by far the weakest episode so far in terms of writing, dialouge, and especially in suspension of disbelief. Heck, I give this Episode a C, as it just seemed below the standard considering the first three episodes. Firstly, to my unpleasant surprise, the set ups to the jokes and a lot of what happened were just so painfully obvious, to the point where my brain was kind of on autopilot for a lot of the episode. A great example is the very first scene...
"Iroh: Well, there is news prince Zuko, but you might not like it. Don't get too upset" "Zuko: Uncle, you taught me that keeping a level head is the sign of a great leader. Now, whatever you have to say, I'm sure I can take it" "Iroh: Ok then, we have no idea where he is" "Zuko: WHAT?!! (flames burst)"
Yeah, a lot of really obvious set ups like that, setups that I think have been used literally hundreds of times before. It's just, to me, you can't really just transcribe a joke like that without even putting some kind of spin on it. It felt like their lines were repeated almost word for word from countless other shows.
As for the rest of the episode, I think this whole "Aang being able to ride anything" thing has gone a little too far. The way he can apparently get these HUGE fish to go anywhere he wants to just by grabbing them isn't really making any sense with creatues as big as the ones he's riding, nor does it really even make sense that they're willing to follow him. Even horses aren't that willing so quickly. But, that's the least of my problems in terms of suspension of disbelief go with this episode.
The gang then gets jumped by warriors from all around, and just to nitpick a bit more, I disliked how Aang just sat there and let himself be captured. Sokka looked like he was at least trying to do something, but was too disoriented to act before being captured, and ok, Katara isn't much of a fighter yet, fine. But Aang had no excuse to be as helpless as he was. According to my count, it took at least 5 seconds for him to be captured. He could've easily jumped into the air (we've already established his ability to clear 25 feet) and summoned up that air orb or flying stick to get away from them.
Seriously though, it should NEVER take you more than 5 seconds to react to anything, not if you've spent your whole life training like Aang has. It's something that should've been drilled out of Aang a long time ago if his teachers knew he would become Avatar. But whatever, just nitpicking.
For the next 5 minutes or so after this, it's really just Aang letting all the glory go to his head after another obvious set up to this development, and dancing around the village like a goldarned fool. There's not really anything wrong with this in storytelling terms, so I guess I can't really complain, as it does lay the groundwork for Aang to grow up, but, I just wish the Episode had focused a little less on that, and on events that happen later on in the Episode. Plus, I always find it really exasperating when anyone, fictional or not, goes on the ego trip Aang goes on. Heck, it's not even really anything to be proud of, it's just a bunch of little girls following him around >_<...
After that 5 minutes of exasperation, and 17 minutes in, we get to the first, and one of the only parts of the episode that I actually really liked. Sokka getting his butt kicked by Suki (dunno if her name was revealed yet, but I'm NOT referring to her as "that Kyoshi Warior" either way).
I don't really know what Sokka was trying to accomplish with his showboating in the Kyoshi dojo. At first, I thought he was trying to pick a fight with one of the girls, but then he acts shocked when he's asked to actually demonstrate his prowess...so, I don't know. I guess that's assuming he's even putting any thought into at all though.
He begins fighting Suki, and boy, Sokka stinks, and if Suki was really being serious in that fight, than she isn't that great either (although to be fair, it's her style of martial arts that needs work if she wasn't just toying with him. In terms of speed, power, and technique, she's actually really good). First of all, Sokka he keeps telegraphing his blows. Twice in this fight, he winds up and brings his rear arm back before actually throwing a punch, which not only leaves more distance that his arm has to cross before actually landing, but forces him to put all of his weight behind one slow, easily predictable punch.
First of all, if you're in any kind of sparring match, you should never lead off with your rear arm. It may have slightly more power, but it's much further away from your opponents face than your front arm, so it takes more time for that punch to actually reach your opponent. A rear arm punch should generally be the follow up strike in a combination, not the start of one.
Second mistake Sokka makes, he tries to nail her with a front kick, again using his rear leg which makes him that much easier to block. Then, Sukki here makes her first major mistake, by ducking down and using her back to catch Sokka's kick. Even though it worked (because Sokka is a poorly trained dolt), that could've easily backfired had Sokka grabbed her hair and used his strength to pull her down with him. Had he tried that, there wouldn't have been anything she could've done to defend against that based on her position. Basically, had she used something simpler, like a crane block (basically a circular sweep of your arm where you redirect the force of the kick and end up trapping the opponents leg between your shoulder and head), not only could she have trapped his leg and threw off his balance, she could've moved his leg in a way that spun him around to expose his back, or even landed a nice kick the the groin if she felt like it.
Then, Sokka makes his biggest mistake of all, by again trying to use a haymaker off of his rear arm, and this time, he actually tries to run towards her. Running towards your opponent when you're as far away from them as Sokka was is by far one of the biggest mistakes you can make in a sparring match. By doing this, you have no way of blocking any powerful kicks (which, by the way, are going to hurt a heck of a lot more with the momentum you've already created by running), but it once again leaves your balls completed exposed and ripe for kicking.
If you're ever going to run forward in any martial arts fights, you need to be close enough that your opponent can't stop you with a powerful kick, and should only be doing it if you intend to tackle your opponents to the ground, slam your opponents into a wall, get them in some kind of clench, or intend to trap their arms in some powerful hug, as to restrict their mobility.
Suki of course has no trouble blocking this, redirects the punch, and traps Sokka's arm in this beautifully done shoulder lock. So now, she's got his entire arm locked out, and could easily end this by pushing down on his shoulder, posting her leg between his, and turning Sokka's body so that he ends up tripping over her leg and landing on his face.
But instead, she makes the baffling decision of actually letting go of the shoulder lock, and swinging Sokka around, even stopping at one point to turn him around. Not only could Sokka have easily used the momentum to swing his body around and wrap his arm around her throat, putting him in the superior position, but the way she stops before spinning him leaves her face completely open to a sucker punch from Sokka.
I'm not going to comment on her using his armbands to wrap his arm to his leg, because I've never done that before, so therefore, I don't know whether it's implausible or not.
I'm not totally sure whether this was an honest mistake, or Suki just toying with Sokka (probably the latter now that I think about it), but either way, Sokka is a poorly trained ragamuffin, and so finds his pride in shambles.
Cut back to Aang and Katara, and it's at this point that I'm beginning to get a little unsettled by how fast their relationship seems to be going. Katara is only 14, and Aang hasn't even reached puberty yet, and already Katara's at the point where she's actually jealous because Aang's hanging out with little girls instead of her....
Then, comes my absolute favorite moment, and probably best part of the episode, in which Sokka displays a level of maturity and humility that I didn't think he was anywhere near at yet, a level of maturity that I really wish he would've had in that one OTHER episode I mentioned in Episode 1, that I...didn't like to say the least. He actually gets down on his knees, admits that he was wrong, and asks that he could please learn from Suki and her warriors. And all this packaged with some particularly effective tunes from the soundtrack that makes his apology all the more touching.
I remember watching this episode, before, and other episodes in which Sokka acted like a jerk to women, and I was actually planning to have a "Sokka Owned by Girl" counter, just to see how much pain his chauvinism brought him. But, it's scrapped now, thanks to Sokka acting like a man instead of a boy....now, if the Kyoshi Warriors would just start acting like women instead of girls...
See, this is the one me about this, the seeming hypocrisy of the Kyoshi Warriors. They get on Sokka's case for being arrogant and sexist, and yet, when you look at how they tell him that they don't normally train boys, they're probably even more sexist than he is.
Sokka may have been sexist, but at least he didn't outright refuse to accept having the opposite gender doing the same things that men do, as the Kyoshi Warriors did before he came along (even if he did think it was silly and foolish, he at least went along with it from what I can tell).
But whatever. Sokka learned pretty quickly to, even rivaling Suki in just a short scenes. Nothing to nitpick though, as it's already implied that Aang and Co. spent a great deal of time here.
Then of course is Aang's comeuppance for all of his tomfoolery, in which he almost gets killed when he tries to ride something out of his league (it's about time it finally comes back to bite him to). Aang and Katara make up, but just then, Zuko's gang appears, once again proving that although Zhao may talk a big game, he's just as much of a ninnie as Zuko, if not moreso.
Seriously though, does anyone else find it hilarious that despite all of Zhao's talk and power, that Zuko, THE EXILED PRINCE WITH NO RESOURCES, apparently has a better network of spies than Commander Zhao himself has?
Unfortunately, this is where things get really stupid in a short bit. Zuko's goons get their butts kicked by the Kyoshi warriors. Zuko however is another story, and in yet another display of awesomeness, he goes on to pwnstomp three Kyoshi warriors at once with his firebending and proving that his fire can indeed burn things, and topping it off with his most badass line, as well as the only one that I thought was actually legitametly funny.
"Zuko: Nice try Avatar! But these little girls can't save you!"
Aang goes on, loses his staff when Zuko knocks it out of his hand yet again when Aang tries to block his fire with his staff (I don't know why Aang keeps trying to do that), and Aang goes around and this time, it only takes him one blow to utterly destroy Zuko. Now, from here, Aang could've easily gone on, pounded Zuko into submission, then went on to dominating a crew that we've already established he could beat with two hands tied behind his back (literally). All this could've been done, Zuko's gang could've been captured and hogtied like Aang and Co. were at the beginning, the Kyoshi village would be saved with nobody hurt, and they would be out of Aang's hair for the rest of the series.
But no, Aang doesn't do that. Instead, he gets his staff, flies off, gathers his crew, and completely ditches the Kyoshi warriors.
Great way to thank the village that fed you, housed you, and treated you like a star huh?! I know that Aang was trying to lead Zuko and his gang away, but we've already established that he could've easily beaten them by himself, so with the Kyoshi warriors, it should've been a cinch. He seriously couldn't have taken two minutes to run off the fire benders?! I knew that Aang wasn't exactly taking his Avatar duties seriously so far, but this...this was just...ugh...
And why aren't any of his friends calling him out on this?! Everyone acts like Aang's doing the right thing, to the point of grating on my nerves, even Sokka! Of all the people to call him out on this, I'dve at least thought Sokka would have something to say, but nope.
Just to make it seem like Aang actually did something, he jumps back into the water and foolishly risks his life to catch that Leviathin that almost killed him (whom he can now suddenly control without any effort or difficulty for some reason...I don't know), and douses the village.
Oh, just so I have my bases covered, I'm not going to nitpick about Sokka and Suki's spontaneous romance. It's implied in the episode that Aang and Co. spent a great deal of time there, and besides that, both of them are 15 years old, so it's not nearly as bothersome as Aang and Katara's romance.
So ends Episode 4, which I thought was by far the weakest episode in terms of suspension of disbelief. I know I said that, but...I felt like saying it again. Besides what I complained about, I really wish the episode had spent more time focusing on Sokka's training with Suki. There were a lot of little things in the episode that weren't altogether necessary, weren't particular interesting, and could've been easily cut so that we could've gotten more of that.
A great example would be the opening scene, where nothing happens but Zuko and Iroh delivering one of the most tired and overused jokes in media, and one not so tired, but still equally lame joke. It didn't contribute anything to the actual plot, so it could've easily been cut with no repercussions. I just think it would've been nice to have at least one more scene of Sokka's training, preferably one that sort of built up the romance between Sokka and Suki. Their romance came completely out of left field, so I just think having an extra scene to build up to that would've been much more effective than that lame scene we had with Iroh and Zuko.
It just seems like wasted opportunity to me. Seriously, not only was this episode a major stepping stone in Sokka's evolution, but it led to his very first love interest! How could you only have only one scene actually dedicated to the training that he recieved, and the creation of the relationship?! We couldn't have cut out that Zuko and Iroh scene, or gotten rid of some of the Aang showboating stuff to see more of that?!
In addition, there were things that also kind of stretched the limits of my suspension of disbelief. Alright, so Zuko apparently has a better network of spies than Zhao does? Fine, Zhao sucks anyways. So Sokka and Suki fell in love in such a short period of time? I'll roll with that to, there are lots of lovers who rush relationships like that, and besides, we never got an exact estimate of the time they spent there, so, it may not have been as rushed as it seemed. Aang being completely helpless when captured by the Kyoshi Warriors? Well, he still should've done SOMETHING, but, he's inexperienced, he's new at this whole thing, so, I can't expect him to do everything correctly, right? Why were Aang and the Kyoshi Warriors not more upset about Aang ditching the Kyoshi Warriors? Now your stretching it, but, all of Aang's most impressive stuff was really when he was alone so...maybe they all just thought he was weaker than he was? Fine, that's cool
But then you hit me with all that stuff with Aang just automatically being able to ride all of these giant fish for no explicable reason, and that's what ends up being the final straw on the camels back. Not only did Aang controlling that Leviathan not make any sense, but, it just felt like a cheap Deus Ex Machina pulled out to make it look like he did something to help the village.
But, those were my thoughts. It wasn't bad or anything, but, I didn't find it particularly good either. Overall, I guess I just didn't enjoy it as much as the other three. Your thoughts?
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Post by fionordequester on Sept 11, 2010 22:42:50 GMT -5
Hey guys, it's time for some more Avatar: The Last Airbender!
I don't think there's as much to comment on on this one, except that it's perhaps my favorite one so far, and that I found Aangs "old man" imitation to be pretty funny. Other than that, the first 6 minutes are really just Aang getting in trouble for...well, being Aang.
I'm starting to wonder if this is really all his fault though. I mean, we're introduced to Boomy, another of Aang's friends, and yet another person in his life who encouraged his behavior. I mean jeez, first Gyotso, and now "Boomy". Was there ever a person in Aang's life who tried to reign in his antics? If not, I hope there's one soon, because so far, Aang's not doing a good job at the whole "saving the world" thing. As a matter of fact, he's been doing just the opposite now that I think about what's happened to most of the places he's visited.
But hey, he's wearing a disguise this time, so, at least he's making progress right?
I don't know if this is the primary Earth Kingdom, or a hamlet, or a province, or whatever, nor whether the Lord of this town is supposed to be a Baron, or a King, or a Lord, or whatever, so I'll just call him the King. Sokka does say that his crown is on a little tight, and I always associate crowns with King's, so King it is!
Anyways, I found the Baron to be an interesting man. Pretty clever one to, if the way he found out Aang's identity is any indication. I think he's pretty funny as well.
I don't know how he managed to kidnap Sokka and Katara without waking Aang up, when the only entrance was a sliding earth door that made tons of noise when opening up, but then, we're talking about a guy who has magic rings that, when put on, encase you in candy. Seeing how technologically advanced the city is, I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that he must've had some kind of crazy sleeping powder in that feast of his.
So, the first two tests go by easily enough. I really like the King's commentary in the first and third trials. He may be kooky, but when it comes to sarcasm, he's not half bad at all.
Speaking of the third trial, it's here that my favorite part of the episode, not only because it's probably the best fight we've had so far (probably helped that the King's pretty much the only opponent Aang's fought so far that wasn't murdered in two moves), but because the King actually points out a flaw in Aang's fighting that's been bugging me since the very beginnning...
"King: Typical airbender tactic. Avoid and Evade. I'd hope the Avatar would be less predictable!"
And...
"King: Don't you have any surprises for me? Sooner or later, you'll have to fight back"
I just like the feel of the fight. That Aang's come to a point where he needs to think creatively and open his mind a little in order to overcome an overpoweringly strong foe. Plus, any episode that forces Aang to be a little more aggressive in a fight is always cool by me, as it's something he needs to learn if Episode 4 is any indication.
The twist at the end was pretty cool to. I never expected the King to turn out to be Boomy, though, it didn't help that he didn't do any of the snorting he did as a child until near the end of the Episode, nor did I expect anyone in this show to live to be 112 (nothing to nitpick though, I've heard that Earthbenders live pretty long lives).
So ends a pretty cool little episode. Probably the best one since Episode 3. And, to my surprise, absolutely nothing to nitpick! Well, ok, I guess if I really wanted to, it seems silly that Katara and Sokka are letting Aang lead them around, doing nothing but thrill seeking, especially when Katara is still seeking to actually master her water bending, but hey, that's Aang for you.
This Episode is just interesting in that when you look at the premise, it could've easily have been just an average, filler Episode, but instead, we get a surprisingly great one thanks to Boomy being awesome, Aang having to learn a few things, and the jokes actually being funny again.
By the way, about the Emperor's name, Ozai (it was revealed here)? Is that not one of coolest names ever? I think I'm going to name one of my characters in Final Fantasy Ozai from now on.
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Post by fionordequester on Sept 13, 2010 20:45:53 GMT -5
Yo, guys, it's time for some more Avatar: The Last Airbender!
In this episode, we are introduced to a new character, one that I'm assuming is to be episodonic (that means, he appears for only one episode). I don't believe he's given a very appropriate introduction by the soundtrack either, as it makes it seem like he's doing something incredibly menacing and threatening with his Earthbending, when in actuality, he's really just practicing, completely unaware of anything else.
Katara, by the way, is somewhat irritating in this episode in that even though she's quick to do all sorts of things, she really doesn't seem to actually think things through as much as she should. Her plan to get on that Prison Warden ship so that Aang and Sokka could find the ship by following her path was pretty clever, but, it bothers me how her entire plan centered around the Earthbenders actually being able to rebel. I think had they been able to, they would've done so by now.
As a matter of fact, speaking of rebelling, why didn't Aang and Co. bring any kind of weapons with them? I'm pretty sure that a stockpile of spears, swords, slings, heavy stones, and crossbows would've really helped the Earthbenders rebel, like their plan revolved around. They shouldn't have had a problem getting it either, after all, Aang IS friends with a king!
Now that I think about it, why hasn't Sokka gotten himself any weapons or armor in these past episodes? As a matter of fact, if I remember correctly, he HAD armor to wear, from the Kyoshi Warriors, so why isn't he using that? Where'd that go?
Katara's revolution fails as expected when no one responds, the Prison Warden doesn't seem anywhere near as worried as he should about someone trying to start a revolution.
The climax comes when Aang figures out that by summoning up all the coal on the ship, the Earthbenders will have something to fight back with. And it is at this point, that the Gate Warden shows his complete and utter incompetence by absolutely NO CONCERN about the fact that the earthbenders now have weapons to fight with, nor does anything to get rid of them before the earthbenders get any funny idea of using them, and gets trounced by a small group of aging earthbenders who are about 5 years out of practice, and have no weapons to use but a small pile of coals...
You know, with how low Zuko set the bar, I never would have concieved that there would actually be villains so bad, that Zuko actually looks good in comparison. It doesn't exactly make the firebenders look good when the show has gone on for six episodes, and still hasn't got any better villains than the one that regularly gets trounced in just one to two blows. Zuko better start hitting the weights, otherwise, it's going to be a LONG wait for Season 2.
But hey, at least he has the smarts to find Katara's necklace on that abandoned ship, once again proving that, even as an exiled prince, he STILL seems to be more on the ball than Zhao is on finding new information and acting on it, and has a better network of spies (as proven in Episode 4), making Zhao look even more worthless than he already is.
I guess in addition to taking a hit pretty well, he's fairly good at tracking as well, so, we're getting there, we're getting there. One slow step at a time, huh?
Anyways, about the Episode? It's nothing exceptional compared to Episode 3 and 5, but, I like it all the same. It teaches us that one should never give up, even under the blackest of curtains, that nothing ever gets done unless you buckle down and put a fire in your belly. Plus, it's nice to see that Aang finally seems to be getting a sense of responsibility (Sokka is the only one who objects to helping out the Earthbenders). Also, I like how the jokes have gone back to being funny, unlike those terrible jokes in Episode 4.
Before I end this though, both the voice actors for the Ship Warden and Haru's Father sound incredibly familiar. I looked up the VA for the Ship Warden, and found no other previous projects that he was in, so I can't say anything about him. Haru's Father though reminds me of one of the male voices from Baldur's Gate, and I'm too lazy to look him up now, so, has he been in a lot of other roles? He sounds familiar.
Anyways, that wraps up another log. See you folks later....
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Post by fionordequester on Sept 13, 2010 20:47:40 GMT -5
...A few seconds later that is. Yo people, raise your hands up for some more Avatar: The Last Airbender!
Again, I'm pleasantly surprised by the intro, starting off with some more of that "7th Saga" music I always love. Of course, then it immediately gets interrupted by this wilder theme that only lasts for a few seconds anyways, followed by another song silly song as Aang shakes the water off of him. Just a difference in tastes I guess, but I think it would've been more effective had the composer just kept that same peaceful "7th Saga" music playing up until Saka and Katara see that ruined forest. I just think having a consistent mood going on, instead of it changing twice in 17 seconds would've sounded better. But, that's more of a personal taste issue, so, no biggy. I'm no music composer anyways. But seriously, what's the name of the song that plays in the beginning? I checked Youtube for it, but no dice.
Anyways, as his reaction to the forest shows, it's nice to see that Aang's actually taking this seriously for once. His revelation that he has no idea how to do his job, was, I thought, pretty touching to. I think it sheds a whole new light on his earlier irresponsibilities. It makes me think that all that shirking of his duties in the earlier episodes was just him being frightened to go forward and embrace his destiny. I think I'd be pretty scared to if I was his age, although, I think I would've handled it a bit better (although I also would've acted a lot more depressed).
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for one "Great Hero of the Fire Nation", who was particularly exasperating in this episode. You know how in Episode 1, I painted Zuko's impatience as a negative, and thought it revealed an ugly side to him? Well, it still kind of did, but suddenly it's making a lot more sense considering what Zuko has to put up with.
Zuko: Uncle! It's time to leave! Where are you?! Uncle Iroh! Iroh: Over here! Zuko: Uncle? We need to move on! We're closing in on the Avatar's trail, and I don't want to lose him! Iroh: You look tired Prince Zuko. Why don't you join me in these hot springs and soak away your troubles? Zuko: My troubles cannot be soaked away. It's time to go! Iroh: You should take your teachers advice and relax a little. The temperatures just right. I heated it myself...
Yes, lets just forget all about restoring the honor you've been desperately seeking for all these years, catching the enemy that could be the very ruin of your homeland, and finally gaining the love of your father. Seriously, does Iroh have no understanding of what Zuko's going through? If he's trying to teach him patience and level headedness, fine, but he's doing it in a way that's insulting to Zuko, and openly defiant. The very least he can do is show that he understands (I hope he does), and try to see things from Zuko's perspective.
Speaking of Zuko, is it just me, or does he seem slightly less brutish than he was in Episode 1? It might just be because most of his interactions have been with Iroh, where pushiness obviously isn't cutting it, but he seems to be trying harder to keep his anger under control (which, can't be easy when dealing with Iroh). Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that Iroh's teaching Zuko how to be a better figher, I'd think he was actively trying to make sure Zuko fails.
The ending to their conversation was great though. It was really funny how Zuko reacted to Iroh getting out of the tub.
In the next few scenes, we're brought up to date on the plague, the great monster Heibai, that threatens to destroy the village that Aang and Co. end up at. As well, I think I just figured out how this cartoon handles death. I'm assuming that the Spirit World is the afterlife? Or something like that?
I'm confused about Heibai's motivations by the way. He seems to want to destroy, but has no interesting in actually harming living things. Well, that is, until he grabs Sokka and is happy to just leave with Sokka in tow. Why was he so interested in Sokka anyways?
After some more of Aang and Heibai's struggles, we cut back to Iroh, who, intentionally or not, almost makes himself out to be even lazier and weak willed than he already seemed....
Iroh: Aah, the great city of Bazhingsei. Earthbender Warrior: It was great than you were, apparently. Iroh: I acknowledge my defeat at Bazhingsei. After 600 days away from home, my men were tired, and I was tired...and I'm still tired...
I'm sure the brave men and women who fought in Vietnam would've loved to hear Iroh's story. However, I say almost, because in Vietnam, we were getting nowhere fast for years and years, so with Iroh, maybe he just knew when to quit? Or, maybe he's giving false reasons so that the warriors will underestimate him?
Ironically enough, it's this scene in which we finally get a glimpse of Iroh's true cleverness, in which he leaves behind a sandle for ZUko to follow.
I'm not sure what the Earthbenders are trying to do by the way. They're bringing Iroh to "face justice", which probably means they're going to kill him, but then, why go to all the trouble of transporting him to their village? Why not just kill him right then and there? Of course, maybe that's NOT what they're doing considering that they were nice enough to tighten the shackles on Iroh when he requested it. Maybe you guys can add a little to this discussion? What do you think?
It is here that Aang's side of the story goes out of the picture for most of the rest of this post, as most of the rest of his story in this episode is flying around with a Dragon who does weird stuff to his mind, so, I'll just say that it is here that Zuko makes the final leap, from villain to anti-hero, by choosing to continue trying to rescue Iroh instead of following Aang when he is given the option. It's great stuff, as Zuko doesn't actually seem that bad of a guy anymore, but at the same time, it leaves sort of a seething exasperation when you realize that now, we're stuck with Zhao as the villain, a villain who so far has been, for all intents and purposes, all bark and no bite. Wonderful...
Zuko rescues Iroh from dealing with the consequences for running away, presumbably being able to smash the chains with a single kick because his boots are made out of some kind of hard metal, and the chains weren't able to use their flexibility to their advantage thanks to their postion. I'm not completely sure what Iroh accomplished by trying to run away and failing (he smiled like he accomplished something after failing), as in my eyes, all it did was put him at unnecessary risk, but whatever. Fight sequence!
And...ok, ok, Zuko does do pretty good, I guess, but remember, he had Iroh with him. Just look at how he almost got his head smashed by a boulder to the back of the head! Of course...he was completely surrounded, and if there's one thing I learned in Martial Arts training, it's that trying to keep an eye on everyone when they've got you surrounded is almost impossible, so, I guess I can't really fault Zuko for it. Actually, had he done this all by himself, I would've officially had to take back everything I said about his weak sauce fighting. But, he didn't, so I'm not inclined to yet. But, he was smart at least. The moment he had an opportunity, he got out of the circle and got all his opponents in front of him, which is ALWAYS the first thing you should try to do in that situation.
By the way, is it me, or is that little break dancing fire kick of his kind of a signature move for him? He first used it to own the three Kyoshi Warriors that attacked him in Episode 4, if you need visual aide.
So anyways, after that, Aang calms down Heibai, and it's here that I take back what I said about Heibai earlier. He WAS an animal, so maybe he didn't have a clear motive. Just raging. But, he seemed oddly specific in his actions for that to happen so, again, I'd like your opinions.
Also, why's Sokka getting flak for asking for supplies and money? Isn't that something they really need? I mean really Katara, if you're going to complain about him bringing nothing but nuts for dinner, you need to understand that it takes money to get much better. Seriously.
So, to wrap up this blog, Aang's next objective is to finally talk to Avatar Roku by going to some sort of shrine in the Fire Nation...yeah.
Whatever happens, I'm going to be so upset if Aang goes to all that trouble to get there, only for their talk to amount to this...
Roku: You must master the elements Aang. Aang: I should.
or...
Roku: You should use water against the Fire Nation Aang: I should. Thanks Dragon! Roku: No problem!
To wrap it up, I would say it's another typical, good episode, but, it's a two parter, so I'm not going to give it a rating just yet. See ya next time!
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