I Love How Zuko Is Happiest In The Face Of Possible Death

[redbrunja]

Avatar: Worth lying to you mother about turning off the light and staying up until 1 am.

First, to get the few bits of bad out of the way:

Katara's hair. What is she doing, not washing in and then ironing it flat? For god's sake, it is supposed to be wavy, and preferably in a braid, or you know, looking hot. (I actually had the thought, 'I wonder if her hair is punishing her for being bitchy to Zuko. Maybe it he invaded her personal space again, or they made out, it would go back to being awesome.

Iroh not having killed the last dragon. I loved the idea that he had a complicated past ("I guess it's a family traditon.")

This episode was too Aang and Zuko-centric. We have 9 episodes left, and a hell of a lot of characters to do right by, not to mention, you know, the plot? So now that we have Aang learning fire out of the way, can we please go back to nice, ensemble episodes?

We still don't know what's going on with Suki. And while that might be good for me, in the sense that I may end up finishing my Suki piece(s) before they get jossed, it's back because I WANT TO SEE HER ALIVE AGAIN!

The good:

Katara's snark and snicker at Zuko. So in character. (But now I want to see them start to move past this.)

Zuko in general. I had my fears that once Zuko joined the group he'd get boring, but he really hasn't, and I love that he retains his broody yet active lifestyle.

(Also, the scene with him standing outside the fire was excellent - that 10 seconds summed up his whole relationship with the group perfectly.)

Aang's line about, 'we usually start our missions with a more positive attitude.'

I liked Toph's story and the Firebender history. (Was disappointed that we don't find anything about Zuko's mother or what Iroh's doing - for a minute, I thought they were going to come out together as the two masters.)

Comments

[mzminola.livejournal.com]

Now I want the final episode to be a dance off.

At least Zuko's friends with Appa. Yay badger-moles, and for adorable fearless baby Toph!

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Now I want the final episode to be a dance off.

That would kill my soul. Although you can't say there hasn't been foreshadowing... and baby Toph was adorable.

[bentfire.livejournal.com]

Having an intelligent Avatar fan on your flist = priceless. It's so, so awesome to read entries about this show that are more than "omg zuzu was so hottt!111" ... which, actually, is pretty much all I ever write about the show, but eh. :P

So um, thanks for being a smartiepants?

And this episode reeked of filler. The plot advanced a teeny bit, but not enough, IMO. A lot of episodes this season have been that way and it's getting irritating. :/ This is the final season, dudes, can't we get some Ursa, Iroh or SUKI or JET action? Can't we atleast know what happened to them?

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, what a great compliment! I do my share of 'Zuko *fangirls* *boom*' (which was what my review for DoBS' looked like, as I recall) but I'm so pleased that when I get all meta-y and ramble other people enjoy it.

You're very welcome. I take my smartie pants cred seriously.

And I agree with you on the episode reeking of filler. I was watching focused on 'is Zuko boring when he's not utterly emo'? And was quite pleased when the answer was 'no.' Which is good for the show, but bad in the sense that Zuko being awkward is a bit harder for me to write than Zuko being brooding yet action-packed.

But Mike and Bryan REALLY need to get their asses in gear (and this is actually one reason I'm happy that/if this show only has 10 episodes left, because I want to leave loving it). I mean, for this episode to have NOTHING but Aang and Zuko learning firebending? It bugs me. I mean, there was that cute bit with Toph, but this show is usually has both a A and B plot, and this one totally didn't. (Even Zuko alone had two story lines going on, as did "The Beach") What was really disappointing is that we didn't find out ANYTHING besides dragons where the first benders, or deal with how any of the other characters are handling the events of DoBS. Not to mention all the characters you did.

*sigh*

Now that I'm not all 'OMG new Avatar!' I'm.... really not thrilled with this episode. I was riding my bike today, and getting a bit annoyed with their rational for firebending. I mean, am I to take it that ALL firebenders are driven by anger? I mean, I can buy it, but I would think that Zuko would have enough anger at his father to fuel his firebending. ("He taught me a life lesson. ON MY FACE!") It would have been a better episode if they had needed to go search for the dragons because Aang COULDN'T learn firebending that way, because as I was talking with my mother earlier, Aang really doesn't have a darkside (which is one reason he's totally not a favorite character of mine).

I think I would have been more forgiving of the episode if only they hadn't pulled the 'Iroh didn't actually kill a dragon' card. Because Avatar is usually really good about good people doing bad things and bad people doing good things, and I loved the idea of Iroh making mistakes in his youth. One person made the comment that it probably wasn't until his son's death that Iroh became the man we know today - because once he was a loyal son of the fire nation, just as Zuko used to be.

I haven't felt this jerked around by Avatar since I thought Zuko and Mei broke up. And then they got back together five minutes later.

[renegadekitsune.livejournal.com]

Oh giggle, we talked about this earlier this morning. Now I need to know when to start my countdown for episode 3.14..(Officially known as Episode Pi.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yep. Episode Pi? What's the reasoning behind that choice of name?

[renegadekitsune.livejournal.com]

The first three digits of the symbol pi is 3.14 (I can go longer though, 3.14159. Hurrah math!) I'm a nerd.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yay! Math joke!

[renegadekitsune.livejournal.com]

Math joke indeed! (If there is any actual pie in that episode, I might just bust a gut laughing.)

P.s.: Katara line art (for the most part) posted.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I hope they do have actual pie! That would be so awesome!

And I saw the line art - it was nice.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Heh, somehow this one didn't bug me as much as the filler-y episodes at the beginning of the season did; now, if they give us multiple episodes of not-much-happens Zuko-and-Aang-bonding, I'll start to gripe, but one episode showing them learning to work together I can buy. Admittedly, I was perhaps far too amused by the Teotihuacan-meets-Angkor Wat architecture, and was distracted by wondering if the continued existence of the "extinct" dragons and Sun Warriors might be a hint that there are still a few of Aang's people kicking around in hiding somewhere.

And really, I can forgive a lot for the pure sweetness of the chibi-Toph-meets-the-badgermoles flashback.

They definitely need to put one of the good artists back on Kat's hair, though. Whoever did it this time seems to think that it's shaggy and layered, and somehow magically gets LONGER when it's braided. (To borrow a scans_daily meme, Hair Doesn't Work That Way.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, one episode to get the firebending out of the way was fine - if they start to drag this on, I'm going to get frustrated.

I'd like to see Zuko bond with, you know, other members of the gang (by which I mean Katara. And Toph. And Sokka) and have the plot, you know, do things.

I think this episode bugs me for two reasons: 1.) Katara's hair. Seriously, what did they smoke when they were drawing that? It's ugly! And I'm really, really missing her braid (so pretty! yet so practical! Exactly what a long haired girl would do with her hair while traveling!) or her have her hair look, you know, hot.

And that meme sounds hilarious. I can think of some pretty unrealistic hair right off the top of my head. (Namely, Ed's - they draw it layered when it's down, and one lenght when it's in a braid.)

And looking back over season three, I'm really, really surprised at how many episodes feel like filler/one-shots. That's new for Avatar. *sigh* Plot! You have so much plot! Start using it again!
See, Avatar

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

"--- doesn't work that way" is a running gag; S_D is a comics community and folks alternate between posting really amazing art and stories and really, really horrific stuff. "Boobs don't work that way" is one particularly common tag, given some of the horrific anatomical problems some artists have, but particularly horrible cases lead to cries of "NOTHING WORKS THAT WAY". ;)

And how-hair-works is definitely something they've had some issues with in the past. Zuko's shaggy mop doesn't quite seem long enough to have managed even that very modest topknot he was sporting earlier this season...was he supposed to be wearing extensions? *snicker* And they've had a recurring problem with drawing Kat with loosened hair that's noticeably shorter than her braid, which any girl with long hair could have told them is the opposite of how it really works. And back in the first season, Haru in particular was suffering from a pretty bad case of magical length-changing anime hair, there were some scenes where it looked like it was just about brushing his shoulder blades and others where it damn near looked like it would have been closer to waist-length. But that seems a pretty chronic condition for long-haired anime characters, anime!Gojyo suffers from it at times too -- it's probably just another strange law of cartoon physics. ;)

But yes, the beginning of S3 in particular was for my tastes the worst this has been in terms of concentrated filler. Not that the show hasn't had its fillery moments in the past (hello, Great Divide), but some of the past filler like Tales of Ba Sing Se was full of awesome character moments even though they didn't advance the plot much.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm going to have fun checking out that site.

Yeah... I was actually so relieve to have his hair look flattering again (in the topknot) that I totally didn't think of the physics of it. (Why can't he go back to second season hair? When it was all short and hot? Usually I like hair that's just long enough to run your hands through, but not if it's just flopping in his face like it is.

Yeah, the thing about Avatar is that I'm used to the filler having character moments to make up for it, a la Zuko alone or Tales of Ba Sing Se. The protracted 'mostly filler with a little bit of plot' is beneath them.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

scans_daily is FULL of lulz. While the primary focus is on more mainstream-US comics, indy titles and manga and European comics all do get reasonable attention as well, and there is some content on web comics and newspaper strips too, even occasional bits on doujinshi and Western fanworks. It can be a nifty way to get little teaser samplers of obscure or older comics you might never have thought to pick up, and a hysterical forum for mocking all the sillier nonsense. Just browsing randomly through the community tags (http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/tag/) can be loads of fun -- and there's a lot of love there for Girl Genius and Fables.