Aang vs Thor

[The MunchKING]

Somebody compared them, and most everybody else has jumped to Korra's defence.

And part of me now wants to see just how horrible Azula would make things if she was the avatar. Like a dark comedy short that shows what Azula would be like after gaining full master over all four elements.

SHe'd probably be a much better person if instead of her dad telling her to be a more cutthroat bitch all the time she had a few million of her past lives in her head telling her to seek balance and peace in the world.

[Dark Soul # 7]

SHe'd probably be a much better person if instead of her dad telling her to be a more cutthroat bitch all the time she had a few million of her past lives in her head telling her to seek balance and peace in the world.

But what if she had both?

I somehow doubt that Ozai would let her leave the fire nation and his watchful eye while she was still training.

[The Drunkard Kid]

Here's a summary of the fun stuff Azula's been up to in the comic continuation of A:TLA.

The Search: She's convinced to team up with team Avatar to look for her and Zuko's mom. During this search she assaults everybody at least once and basically plans to murder Ursa because she's convinced that's how she'll regain her sanity. She shows now regard for innocent people that happen to be in her way, including her young half sister. Granted, this is Azula at her most uncontrollably crazy, but at the end of the day she's only thinking of how to make herself feel better and is more than willing to kill innocent people to get her way.

Smoke and Shadow: This is where things get real fun with Azula. She's relatively sane again, as in she's fully in control of herself and able to make all kinds of schemes and stuff, so all her horrible actions. She gets a group of warriors to join her in pretending to be spirits that kidnapp children from their homes and keep them prisoner so that Mai's father has reason to start a militia and attempt to incite an revolt against Zuko's rule as the fire lord.

And the reason she's doing this. She wants to help Zuko become a better fire lord by forcing him into situations where he'll have to exert his authority in ways that'll scare the people into following his rule. Basically, she wants to turn him into a new Ozai. Because that's how she thinks a fire lord should act.

Korra may be a jerk at times or a stupid teenager, but she's always got her heart in the right place and tries to do what is right. Azula is insane, ruthless, only really cares about herself and constantly tries to force her world view onto others.

To be fair, the latter is kinda sweet, in a twisted kind of way. It seems to be her sociopathic way of trying to help her big brother be a better ruler.

[The MunchKING]

But what if she had both?

I somehow doubt that Ozai would let her leave the fire nation and his watchful eye while she was still training.

Kyoshi and Roku would tell her to kick him off a cliff into poisonous gas or something.

[Nik Hasta]

Somebody compared them, and most everybody else has jumped to Korra's defence.

For me, as the guy started the discussion, it was less about defending Korra and more about pointing out about how the poster in question had a really weird sense of relative ethics.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Kyoshi and Roku would tell her to kick him off a cliff into poisonous gas or something.

Yeah, that's the path to a righteous avatar Azula.

Starting her off with patricide.

[Carabas]

But did she even KNOW that at the time?

She watched Unalaq tell him to change his verdict and he totally did, not even arguing about it.

I thought her dad was like "I totally went to that 'Let's overthrow the guy from the Northern Tribe' meeting, but we didn't actually do anything about it yet" to her. But I admit it's been a while since I watched it...

It wasn't a 'Let's overthrow the guy from the Northern Tribe' meeting. It just turned into that after the fact. And Tonraq was the one trying to stop it.

So was Azula. Being a Teen doesn't get you an exemption from being held accountable for your actions.

There's a slight difference between a rebellious teen who disrespects (occasionally unreasonable) authority figures and a teen who likes to murder people.

It was certainly A course of action... and it worked out for her in the end. Aang would have totally gone about it more diplomatically.

and if you want to watch a show about Aang, well, they made one of those, but it'snot this one. Howis what Aang would have done even slightly relevant. That judge was lucky he wasn't dealing with Kyoshi.

Kyoshi would have done it.

What? Her that created the Dai Li? Now there's a role model.

That it worked doesn't mean that it was the only option.

But, crucially, it worked. Her instincts were right.

Well ultimately SOMEONE's got to make the call.

Look, you can't have it both ways.

Well the other thing is she had nothing to LOSE by telling them such a ridiculous lie. They weren't going to punish her for claiming to be a 30 foot tall purple platypus bear. And Mythbusters said that a polygraph needs you to have some fear of repercussions to catch you.

Ypu are missing the point of the scene. And you're not getting what Toph can do. This is not a polygraph. This is lying to an upgraded, mystically empowered version of Daredevil.

[Carabas]

Somebody compared them, and most everybody else has jumped to Korra's defence.

And part of me now wants to see just how horrible Azula would make things if she was the avatar. Like a dark comedy short that shows what Azula would be like after gaining full master over all four elements.

That sort of is one of the ideas the creators have been thinking about: a series where the main villain is the Avatar who has gone bad, and the heroes must stop him/her. But presumably not in a darkly comedic way.

[The MunchKING]

Yeah, that's the path to a righteous avatar Azula.

Starting her off with patricide.

Dude should learn not to try and kill the super-bender that reincarnates every time it dies.

Wait, that was Sozen wasn't it? Never mind then. Roku might have just smacked him around a bit. Not sure though, cause he said the only reason he didn't murder Sozen outright was their long friendship.

And it's not just him & Kyoshi either, the Water bender guy before her went so nuts when Kao stole his girlfriend (on their wedding day no less) that he hunted it through the spirit realm for well over 300 years through 3 reincarnations to STILL try and kill it and put its head on a spiritual pike as a warning for everyone else not to mess with the Avatar.

She watched Unalaq tell him to change his verdict and he totally did, not even arguing about it.

I meant did she know Umaloq was trying to blow up the world and become a Dark God at that point? She knew he'd taken over the Southern Tribe, that much was obvious. But he'd told everybody it was stability issues IIRC.

What? Her that created the Dai Li? Now there's a role model.

Like the Firebender monks of Crescent Island they were perfectly loyal as the Avatar's private hitforce as long as they had an Avatar to report to.

But, crucially, it worked. Her instincts were right.


Look, you can't have it both ways.

Yes I can. I can say that she had to make the call, and she did. I can also say that other Avatars wouldn't have done it differently, and probably better (in the sense of accomplishing more while NOT making the Avatar out to be a psycho murderer).

Ypu are missing the point of the scene. And you're not getting what Toph can do. This is not a polygraph. This is lying to an upgraded, mystically empowered version of Daredevil.

How does Toph (and Daredevil) work? She said it outright. She senses vibrations and is mostly going off heartrate speeding up, quickening breath, and nervous ticks. So yeah pretty much testing for the same physiological reactions a polygraph tests for. It's not like she had a magic lasso to Primal Truth to know what was correct or not.

[The MunchKING]

That sort of is one of the ideas the creators have been thinking about: a series where the main villain is the Avatar who has gone bad, and the heroes must stop him/her. But presumably not in a darkly comedic way.

I thought that was a cool idea they were setting up for with the Dark Avatar thing. Who knows, maybe we'll get another sequel where it's Avatar vs. Dark Avatar.

[master of read]

Are we actually trying to draw a moral equivalence between Korra, who makes some mistakes and does her best to make a better world while bearing the enormous weight of the Avatar, and Azula, who literally can't play a friendly game of beach volleyball without deconstructing someone, throwing a small explosive at the other team, and burning down the net so that no one else can play? Who maliciously betrays everyone that ever tried to help her, whines when it happens to her, treats her immediate subjects with malice and sadism just because she's having a bad day, shoots lightning at a bystander, and revels her ability to commit atrocity? Probably the only reason we don't see her outright torture people is because it's a show for children. Like at this point we might as well say Aang is as bad as Azula because he capsizes an airship without knowing whether or not there are still people on it, and puts his own spiritual growth before the fate of the world. I mean he made a deliberate choice to essentially throw the fight rather than hit Ozai with his own lightning, and he didn't know he was going to get the Avatar state back. His sin is just easier to ignore because it's indolence, but indolence kills.

But like these characters dealing with those problems is the moral conflict their respective shows are centred around. Korra didn't get morally simple villains because it wouldn't challenge who she is. Aang did, because the challenge he was facing was ultimately not really about Ozai, but balancing his soul against the world. They struggle, but that doesn't make them equal to Azula. If Azula was the Avatar, she'd declare herself Godqueen in the second week and start demanding human sacrifices.

i did like how korra's villains were all moral corruptions of what korra as the avatar stood for: equality, spirituality, freedom and order.