Can we all at least agree that this was the best episode of s3

No, not even close.

Wasn't there a comic where Sokka got btfo by Zuko in a sword fight? I recall hating that.

Hell no.

>>91276784
>I recall hating that
Why? Sokka had a sword for all of 2 seconds.

>>91276784
....why? One has years of training, the other has a weekend.

>>91276793
>>91276742
What's better then?

>>91276807
>>91276815
eh i'm with you guys, but sokka's the kind of guy who should be able to unpredictability his way out of any situation. he could never BEAT zuko but i have to imagine he'd avoid getting BTFO by being way too tricky and nonstandard

>>91276867
He's never done that in a direct 1v1 fight. Stop being a tard.

>>91276867
Sokka needs to actually have something to abuse, there was virtually no environment factor in that fight, it was sword vs sword only (so no boomerang shenanigans) and he didn't have proper time to prepare

And when it comes to sheer swordfighting techniques and skill, Zuko is simply the more experienced combatant given he had the opportunity to train half his life and take lessons from masters during that entire period while Sokka was busy trying not to starve and got a master's help for only a week in total.

>>91276696
That's not the beach episode.

>>91276696
Best episode is Crossroads of Destiny. I thought we all agreed on this.

>>91276981
You might have a point there.

>>91276696
>Can we all at least agree that
No. And for future reference the answer will always be no.
Now stop making threads with this header.

>>91276696
Man space sword looks really short in an adult's hands

>>91276815
Sokka isn't a bender. He is like Rock Lee.

>>91276696
I disliked a lot how Sokka was praised for goofing off during most of his training while later he is told that he is going to become the greatest swordsman in history:

>shoving his face with paint when he is supposed to be practicing calligraphy
>painting a rainbow when he is supposed to be training his memory
>getting comfortable and building a lawn chair when he is supposed to be studying his surroundings.

Not to mention that he only trained with Piandao for a day, the whole thing just reeks of "you are more special than anyone because you are a main character"

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>>91277221

>>91277618
All the shit he does makes perfect sense in the context of the episode though.
The whole point was that Sokka isn't your run-of-the-mill swordsman, he's inventive and uses the environment to his advantage.
Sokka subverts all the challenges.
The calligraphy test is about leaving your mark. There's nothing distinctive about having perfect handwriting like everyone else so he does something that stands out.
He sucks at art so he gets creative with the painting test and creates an idealized version, rather than attempting to copy the landscape.
The landscaping test reinforced Sokka's knack for using what in the immediate vicinity to benefit him.
These three points culminate in the Space Sword. It's distinctive like his calligraphy because it stands out and isn't like any other sword. It's idealized like his painting because it cuts through pretty much everything. It's opportunistic like he was in the landscaping test because it takes advantage of the meteorite that was in the area.

It's a pretty good summation of his strengths really.

>>91278960
That's what the writers wanted to show, yes.
Other anon is saying they did a poor job. (Of course, other anon is doing a poor job of saying that, but then he isn't getting paid for it... I think.)

>>91277003
Yes, even though it's full of shitty writing too.
The whole show is, yet it's still amazing.

No, "The Southern Raiders" is the best episode of both.

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Why is Azula so cute?

>>91279123
You mean the episode in which neither Katara nor Zuko ever apologize for being absolute dicks (to Sokka and Aang, respectively)?
I think it's a great episode, but come on, anon.

>>91279142
Because she's a girl drawn by Gurihiru.
Cute is their speciality.

>>91276696
Best episode overall is Lake Laogai.

Best episode of S3... not sure actually. I really liked the Runaway.

>>91279142
Zuko wasn't even lecturing her on firebending

No. It's not even close.

>>91279142
I've never seen anything so smug as Azula in that last panel

>>91279212
>Ozai in charge of auditory comprehension

>>91279212
>Ozai
Was it autism?

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>>91279212
>>91279242
does this look like a reasonable man to you?

>>91279266
Every firelord was crazier than the last, until Zuko stole the throne from the craziest of them all

>>91279190
Lake Laogai would have been best episode if not for the whole Jet thing. Seriously, why'd they have to kill him off at all? I still hate the episode for that.

>>91279307
Killing him wasn't the problem, it was doing it in such an unclear way that they made fun of it in the glorified clip show episode.

>>91279307
Killing Jet was part of what made it so good.
Also, Iroh letting Zuko know what a fucking idiot he is.

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>>91279241
Are you sure?

>>91279346
>Toph can sense lies
>Jet tells his gang he's going to be fine
>Toph tells Sokka that Jet is lying

Context clues are all there, there really isn't any excuse to be confused over Jet's death.

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>>91276696
>Make a sword
>Oh wait this is still a kids show so we can't actually use it

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>>91276981

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>>91279346
>>91279369
Killing off a major character for no real reason other than to help ensure Kataang, of course is good writing to you anons?

>>91279472
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InverseLawOfSharpnessAndAccuracy

>>91279489
I wouldn't have minded if it had been just Zuko and Azula doing that.

But instead we had to spend two minutes of Mai and Ty Lee whining about their rich people problems

>>91279520
>ensure Kataang
Jet was killed for the sake of drama, Jetara died in the episode it started

>>91279520
>Jet
>major character
Dude was in 3-4 episodes, he served his narrative purpose, killing him off like that showed he was no longer the douche he began as.
Your shipping bullshit is not relevant to this.

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>>91276981
>but you're the smartest, prettiest, most perfect girl in the whole world
what did she mean by this?

>>91279671
>what did she mean by this?
Please don't rape me tonight and set my bedroom on fire. I'll be nice to you.

>>91279731
so the same meaning as 90% of everything Ty Lee says and does

>>91276696
>lets give Sokka a sword in a kid's show where we're not allowed to cut people.

What were they thinking? Fuck, the boomerang was more effective.

>>91279576
>>91279609
>Jet was killed for the sake of drama, Jetara died in the episode it started
That's not what some of the Ehasz anons claim.

>>91279851
Zuko had swords and he got to do some cool stuff with that.

>>91279900
Ehaszfags are deluded.
The guy was important, yes, but it's not like he's the reincarnation of Shakespeare, responsible for everything good on ATLA.

>>91279900
What do they claim? That Katara was going to have onscreen make-up sex with Jet and then hook up with Zuko with no source whatsoever?

>>91279918
Zuko v Jet was one of the best fights on the show.

>>91279472
>>91279851
Sokka actually used it quite a bit in the invasion, and Piandao used his in Sozin's Comet as well. You know swords don't just cut humans, right?

>>91279918
Sokka had perfect aim in the entire series, he never missed once

>>91279962
not true, he threw his boomerang at Azula in 'The Chase' and she deflected it with a fireball

>>91279953
The claim here is that Bryke saw Jetara as a threat, and originally wanted Jet to never break free of his brainwashing and be put out of his misery out of mercy, but S&P said no

>>91280009
deflected, as in not his fault or bad aim

>>91279962
>>91280038
Who had better aim, him or Mai?

>>91280016
Well whatever the reason, Jet dying where he did was the best thing for the story.
S2 is the dark, middle section of the trilogy. It's where the heroes face their lowest point, deaths of good supporting characters are to be expected there. That's some basic storytelling shit, I think that's more likely the reason that shipping drama shit.

>>91280091
Mai never hit anyone.

>>91280016
So people speaking out of their asses? Nice to know.

>>91280096
I hate it for different reasons, though:
1. Jet was the only character who had a "normal" death in the show, which felt kind of unfair. Yue became a spirit, Zhao was taken under by another spirit, and Combustion Man blew himself up with his own special power.
2. I REALLY hate how the story has Iroh sitting with Zuko and Jet on the ferry and talking about second chances, and just a few episodes later, we find out Jet never really got a second chance - but Zuko later gets a THIRD one!

>>91280126
for much the same reason Sokka never cut anyone with the sword.

as soon as she chose to use knives her odds of actually hitting anyone became zero

Ty Lee has much better accuracy because poking people is always acceptable to show

>>91280126
Mai pinned people's clothing, rendering them unable to move. It proved very effective against Katara in The Chase, for example. Just ignore how unrealistic that is, of course...

>>91280252
>pining people's clothes to steel walls when the victims aren't even close to the walls
>nobody just move around and use the knives to tear the clothes
I always hated the way her fighting style was presented

>>91280210
>1.
Meh. Seems like a personal thing to be honest. I don't really see it as any different to Zhao's or SSBM's. Plus, he died with his friends there.

>2.
Never really thought about it like that. I'd read that situation and say he does take his second chance to redeem himself. He dies selflessly and as a hero, but I can see where you're coming from with that one.

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Toph feet

>>91280302
I'm struggling to think of a better way of having a ranged non-bender who doesn't fight like that though

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>>91280330

>>91280360
Blunt projectiles? Like say marbles or something

>>91280404
Aang would like that, methinks...

>>91280330
Aang looks really tall in there

>>91280302
Mai's fighting style was really inappropriate for the show. Ty Lee's chi-blocking was absolute genius, it was born from the same martial art origins that the show was steeped in, it was a realistic threat to benders which made it interesting from an action, drama and lore aspect and it foreshadowed the stuff about chakras later on in the season. And its visually non violent so it can be used to its full extent on Nickelodeon.
It's almost as completely perfect in its conception as bending itself, it works on every possible level.

And then Mai throws knives, except she can't actually hit anyone because that would draw blood.

That's it, that's as deep as Mai's fighting style goes. I don't know what else they could have come up with that fits the setting as well as Ty-Lee's chiblocking but throwing knives sure ain't it.

>>91280330
>Air acolytes

I can't believe those larping faggots got a council seat. Anon was right and wholly justified in all his actions. Bending untermensch must be exterminated.

>>91276696
This is my first time here. Why do you guys talk about Avatar on a comics forum?

>>91280519
are air acolytes the weeaboos of rthe avatar universe?

>>91280487
>Ty Lee's chi-blocking was absolute genius
Indeed, I just wish a more appropiate character used the ability than a ditzy teenage circus girl that fights in a war while showing off her midriff.

>>91280578
Yeah, but in a world where all Japs except one are dead

>>91280360
It's not easy, there aren't a lot of options.
Explosives can be made fairly non-lethal in cartoons but still pose a threat but they'd already introduced one of the Rough Rhinos as an explosives guy by that point.

Autistic confession time

Back when I was planning on running an ATLA quest on /tg/ one of my ideas was a metal bender who worr big, heavy rings. She could use them as knuckle dusters for CQC and reshaped them and launch them as projectiles for ranged attacks.

>>91280588
Anon, you gay.

>>91280711
Except metalbending basically didn't exist in ATLA.

>>91280739
Well, not strictly ATLA then. The setting was in the years between Aang's death and Korra arriving in Republic City.

>>91280588
You realize this "war" involves a group of preteens and teenagers and many of them girls literally saving the world, right? It's not exactly supposed to be realistic.

>>91280772
I meant that they couldn't really have used this idea in the show, even if the writers had thought of it.

>>91280404
>>91280711
How about throwing marbles that can be filled with different chemicals for a variety of effects?
Mini explosives
Smoke bombs
Ink bombs
Stink bombs
Poison pellets that she throws down your throat

>>91280857
I'm pretty sure the bombs idea was used several times, most notably in The Northern Air Temple.

>>91280805
Oh, well that's absolutely true.
That further demonstrates the first point though. That really isn't a whole lot you can do with medieval ranged attacks to make them non-deadly.

Future cartoonists are gonna be fucked when the world learns that laser guns don't just leave a bruise.

>>91280875
Yeah but these are smaller bombs that would be innocuous and identical so you wouldn't be sure which one she was throwing until it was too late

And sometimes she's just throwing marbles with excellent accuracy to knock out grown men or make them trip.

>>91280778
I wouldn't mind if there were a reasonable explanation like there was for Toph's powers, Azula's or even Suki's.

But Ty Lee is just a random rich girl that happened to be Azula's school friend, and for some reason she is the only master of the perfect technique to take down benders and can defeat a squad of Ba Sing Se's most elite soldiers by herself.

It's the same stupidity that later allowed Asami to take down trained terrorists just because "I was in self defense classes, lol"

>>91280857
My issue with that would be that it's super gimmicky. Probably more usable that ninja stars but a bit goofy.

>>91280984
Goofiness is at the heart of ATLA though

There's a teenage acrobat girl who takes down grown soldiers with pokes

>>91277476
He'd be more like Shikimaru

>>91281071
You're not wrong. I guess it all depends on how they'd use it. ATLA is goofy but Mai isn't, they'd have to find a balance with it that seems in character for her.

>>91280899
There really isn't a lot you can do with ANY attacks to make them non-deadly. That's the whole point of "attacks" - in a war, you generally fight to kill. Don't want to terrify the little kiddies though, now do we?

>>91276696
It's certainly one of the best standalone episodes. I really like how it focused on both Sokka's strengths and weaknesses. It showed his inexperience in a legitimate fight with a skilled adversary, yet also his ingenuity and indominatable will.

>>91279489
This. Too much verbal whining for my taste.

Also, I need to go rewatch the first Futurama run.

Fire Nation is supposed to be Japan, right? With Earth Kingdom as China, Water Tribes as Polynesians, and air nomads being monks.

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>>91279174
I can't tell if I Gurihiru's Toph makes me want to fuck her more or if I've just forgotten from not watching the show in years.

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>>91282245
Everyone is extra cute in Gurihiru art

>>91279174
>>91282286
Gurihuru's ATLA art is terrible desu senpai, dunno how anyone can unironically like it

>>91282325
I don't find it bad at all

>>91279957
It's more that they CAN'T cut humans because it's a kid's show.
That's obviously what they were getting at.

>>91282949
Obviously, but they wrote around that pretty well.

>>91276963
Why the fuck did Zuko learn how to master sword fighting anyway? A martial society like the Fire Nation probably extolled the virtues of weapon practice but wouldn't Fire Bending itself take precedence?

Is the reason he sucked so hard at firebending for years because he was spending all his time mastering swordplay instead? Or did he take it up when someone like Iroh commented on his bladework being promising so he threw himself into it, free from the hangups and spiritual blockages he had mastering firebending?

>>91280951
No, that's not the case at all.
Azula, Mai and Ty Lee all went to a super-special Fire Nation girls school where they learnt their respective fighting styles.
It's not a great explanation, but it's better then "DUDE SELF-DEFENSE LMAO"

>>91283066
The canon explanation for Mai's skills is that she spent a lot of time bored in her room so she started throwing knives at the walls

>>91283050
Yeah, they did pretty well, but I personally found it a little jarring at times, mostly when Piandao was just cutting the tops of the spears off when taking back Ba Sing Se.
I get that you can't disembowel people, but it's the during the climax of the war, there's no way he'd hold back like that.

>>91276867
That works when Sokka has something to utilize. In a straight up sword fight Zuko is savage, and Sokka isn't even close to his level.

>>91276696
Wrong on both counts.

The correct answer is The Avatar and the Firelord

>>91280568
Read the top of the page, "Comics & Cartoons", newfag.
Now fuck off and kill yourself.

>>91283053
I could see Ozai having recommended it, due to his disappointment in Zuko's firebending.

>>91283143
It felt like he was so good, he didn't even need to threaten the people, just destroy their weapons. It worked IMO.

>>91283134
She really was just a bland, useless character from start to finish.

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>>91283369
Mai managed to reform Zuko unlike a true bland useless character though. I have some salt on me.

>>91283369
And she somehow ended up with someone who had one of the best character arcs in western animation.

>>91280951
At least the chi thing extended into her personality, since she was basically an Airbender in terms of looseness and wanting "freedom." Knives also fit Mai, but again, their usefulness is curbed by the show's rating.

>>91283424
>Mai managed to reform Zuko
She had absolutely nothing to do in Zuko's character arc, nor made Zuko a different person.

At most she was just something to leave behind after he chose joining the gaang over life as a prince.

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Speaking of Avatar, I'm watching Korra for the first time and season 2 is boring as shit
Like sleep inducing boring, can I just skip to season 3 without losing any valuable informaation?
Does season 3 even get better than season 2? Watching this shit season is being a huge chore and I'm only at ep4

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>>91284137
1 > 3 > 4 > 2

Season 2 is the low point.
Season 1 botched everything with Amon and his revolution.
Season 3 is good with Zaheer
Season 4 you just need to turn off your brain as you get closer to the end.

>>91283053
They don't have to be mutually exclusive, since Zuko's shown he's able to firebend with them.

>>91284193
Ok but can I skip it or not?
I liked Season 1, I hated the forced ending and amon's backstory but the rest kept me entertained

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>>91282245
I've been waiting to post this reaction image.

>>91283143
>>91283350
Honestly just being there and not instantly dieing was pretty impressive itself.

>you've got like 20 people and you're going to liberate one of the largest, if not the largest city in the world
>it's full of tanks, cannons, and people empowered by Sozin's Comet
>one of your friend can make tidal waves
>another can throw humongous boulders
>two of your friends are also empowered by Sozin's Comet and can blow apart gigantic walls with their firebending
>you've got a sword and a huge pair of balls

>>91284281
Watch The First Avatar and the season finale for entertaining visuals, skip the rest, if anything of importance happened, they will comment on it like "remember when <something from season 2> happened"?

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>>91284281
You can go on to watch Season 3. Season 2 had nothing of real value and retcon a bunch of stuff.

Also everybody hated Amon's backstory and forced ending.

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>>91280252
>Just ignore how unrealistic that is, of course...
It is semi-realistic. It'd be a lot more realistic if people wore thicker clothes and more obtrusive clothes.

For example, in Japan, cops would use weapons like pic related to pin people's robes down to make them easier to capture without hurting them too much.

>>91283066
>Azula, Mai and Ty Lee all went to a super-special Fire Nation girls school
It was just a boarding school for super rich people and nobles, not some elite preteen military academy like people make it out to be.

>>91276696

>>91284539
Quality post, anon.

>>91276784
In the same comic, Zuko mentions he studied under Piandao too.

>>91276867
This is how gary stus' are born.

>>91276696
the guy was badass enough to compete against master benders using only martial arts

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>>91276784
But it's a great comic