Finally got around to finishing Netflix's ATLA adaptation. I have a LOT of notes, but I think the biggest one is this:

At the end of Season 1 of the original, Aang had at least started learning waterbending alongside Katara, and a little bit of Firebending with Jeong Jeong. Outside of the Avatar State, he had at least started 3/4 elements.

By the same point in NATLA, he's only at 1/4. I don't think this kid has bent a single drop of water. So far he is just a *really* good airbender who can do some spirit world stuff. That should give you a good idea as to why I have a few issues with it.

Netflix's Avatar The Last Airbender thoughts, part 5/5

And finally, about Aang. The need for a trigger warning is nuts; it's about a certain interpretation of a plot point and the warning is repeated before the paragraph where I talk about it.

Also, if you actually read this whole thing, thanks! I just had so many thoughts about this adaptation and I needed to get them all out. A few months ago I did a Supernatural rewatch and I did a meta on the last episode and the general storytelling of S1-5, and I thought that was long, oh man. I was incorrect. That one actually fit into a single post! If you read this and have comments please feel free to talk to me, I've been scrolling through the #natla tag on tumblr for two days trying to see how everyone else reacted. There is also probably like fifteen other bulletpoints I could make but I've started this at like noon and it's 1 am and this is already a five parter text post which tbh nobody is going to read because I know I wouldn't! ADHD brain be like "hey, write this!" but if I see a even a ling single part meta post it just goes "too many words, bye." Potentially expect further relatrf thoughts and/or a lot of reblogs in the near future.

Aang: idk about Aang. he's got good moments and weak moments, i don't love his arc so far. i think Aang is a bit of a debated character in the original, but i personally liked his 3 season arc. now i've been a little worried about what they're going to do with it when they were talking about making some changes to it? and after seeing season 1, i feel like i was right to be worried. so in general i think Aang's "arc" is really weak in this. he's basically just going back and forth between "well i don't wanna be the avatar" and "well i've got to stand up as the avatar" and he just sort of goes through this in every episode without making any progress. i also really hate that this season went so hard on the whole "The Avatar's burden is a lonely one" thing, because while that's relevant, i think it works much better in the original where Aang (and the audience) gets a lot of time to build up a connection with the rest of the Gaang and the Guru telling him that he needs to let go of earthly attachment and therefore Katara at the end of book 2 is such a sudden cold shower.

Aang (TW: SUICIDE): also his decision at the end of the season is so sad. i mean not for nothing but he's basically suicidal? like... that's so depressing, i really didn't want to be thinking about Aang wanting to literally die because he's so sad and lonely? i'm not saying it's not like realistic or whatever, it just made me feel like shit. it's like Bumi being so cynical and angry. it's not unreasonable of this Aang, who's being told on a weekly basis that whatever he does, he's going to lose everyone he loves, that after all his people have been killed, he's now going to have to bear this enormous burden he's never wanted completely alone, and that if he tries to find help anywhere that's not within himself, his past lives, he's also going to get everyone fucking killed. and i know it's sort of framed like a sacrifice, which it is, but the way he talks right before he does it, like "I should've been lost a 100 years ago, this isn't my world"??? despite what i think was the intended framing it felt so much like he just wants to die, like this is the only use for himself he can see in this world is to fucking. DIE. IT'S JUST SO FUCKING SAD. from this (originally) optimistic and resilient character this is sooo very out of character (the sacrifice wouldn't be. this basically suicide-thinly-veiled-as-sacrifice is.) okay i'll stop harping on about this, you get it.

Aang is out of character overall: anyway. another real bad moment was Aang telling Katara not to fight, all i'll say about that is that this is clearly not the Aang who said "if you don't train Katara, i won't learn from you either" putting his avatar training in jeopardy because someone tried to tell Katara what she can and cannot do. idk what else to say about him, i'm not really vibing with this adaptation of his character. OG Aang shines through here and there but he's lost a lot of his optimism, his inner strength, his charisma and his wisdom. i hope some of these issues get addressed if we get around to more seasons.

PART 5/5

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Thank you for reading!

(Please note I haven't read the comics.) Hello, good morning (at least where I'm from!) Or good afternoon or evening, I have brought to you some more Wuko headcanons and they are, drum roll please:

-The outside of their fridge is stacked with papers. (The inside of their fridge has, like, two eggs and a cartoon of milk, they need to go shopping.) Papers from Lin about the police department, recipes from Pema for airbender food, recipes from Grandma Yin for what to do with all the halfway-decent fruit from Lu's cart in Ba Sing Se she sends once a month, a NutTuk magnet, a landscape drawing of Republic City drawn by Meelo that he insisted go on top of all the other papers, an 'airbending scroll' drawn by Ikki that Wu and Bolin both agree just look like stickmen dislocating their stickjoints, a colorless sketch of BumJu that Jinora said they could gave the final picture of once it's done. (Probably didn't give it to Uncle Bumi because he'd gasp in horror and say "This isn't BumJu! This is a fire ferret!" And she'd either end up taking that to heart or starting a lecture about spirits.) Also on the fridge is a list of emergency contacts with Asami at the top.

-Their apartment isn't really decorated besides for the fridge. The only thing they have hanging up is Mako's badges and various awards from the police academy, Probending awards, and pictures of Team Avatar and Co. Some pictures, like the one Mako took of an off guard Bolin playing Pai Sho with the champ Pabu, get smushed up against the spirit vines growing outside their apartment complex. (Mako couldn't decide whether or not being the farthest away or closest to the Republic City portal was good or not until Korra AND Jinora lectured him about spirits and humans living in harmony, good spirits and bad spirits coexist, he can't remember the rest.) They have a radio that plays quiet, jazzy tunes Wu will dance to and sweep Mako in, it's right next to a science experiment they did with Meelo and Ikki (hypothesis: do plants from other nations grow faster than others? with each plant with different soil from each nation.) It's a simple life and a lot less suffocating than that of the Earth Kingdom, but it also has the Avatar and her engineer girlfriend, a lavabender, a rebirth of a nation, and 💖Mako💖

-That's not to say they don't go on adventures. They'll often accompany Tenzin and Pema to find airbenders, sometimes Kya and Jinora will join and Kya will tell embarrassing stories. Tenzin will come back with how they didn't talk to each other for months over fighting over Lin. Kya will then reply "What do you know you're the youngest" (which is so freaking funny) and Tenzin will just clench his jaw and change the subject. Once when this happened, he suggested signing songs and decided to start off with an "airbender song Father thought me." It was Secret Tunnel. Wu immediately pointed it out because he had learned some songs from Chong when they were in the Earth Kingdom and that it was more Earth Kingdom (specifically Omashu) origin than anything else. And Kya just starts cracking up at that and points out "Not everything Dad taught you was a secret airbender thing!" Tenzin was grumpy and silent for the rest of the ride. Ever since then Wu will quietly sing Secret Tunnel and it just makes him break out into a grin because, oh my god, airbenders are hilarious. Mako just melts at his singing, no matter it may be, and his big grin.

-Since Wu can't bend and it's something he feels insecure about, he decided to take up weaponary. He heard Tenzin's Uncle Sokka was a master at weapons and even had a space sword but, sadly, there were no cool outer space rocks to make into swords in Republic City. It's ok because he didn't really like the way a sword felt almost like it was tipping him foward because he didn't have balance, bow and arrows caused blisters on his hands and he needed aim anyway (shitty eyesight Wu rights), and boomerangs came back fast and knocked him backwards when he did catch them. Finally, he tried throwing daggers and they're much easier and don't require aim, just general area. He has a set of two throwing daggers, a green orietnal set with an Earth Kingdom symbol and badgermoles on the handle, and a practice set that Mako got for him. It has a simple wood handle and blade that constantly needs sharpning. The handle has a heart and a "M+W" carved into the handle. He first tried throwing them on the spirit vines until Jinora got upset, then Mako got him a dart board and they'll play knife darts. They've both gotten really good at throwing.

-Mako didn't get back into Probending because of his arm and he feels weirdly jealous when he sees Bolin with a bruise the size of a pizza pan on his stomach and Korra with healed burn scars on her arms. He knows he why he's upset and that's because he misses Probending and the exhilaration of it, and knowing why he's upset makes him more upset and it's a cycle; so sometimes when Wu catches him listening to the match while clenching and unclenching his jaw, he'll softly turn off the radio, run a hand gently up his sccared arm, tracing the scars like it's the Bayan-grove tree roots, telling him it's ok, there is bravery in your scars, and pick his hand up to kiss his knuckles. When it's really bad, like when he wakes up at night feeling filled with electricity and lightning and the power Ozai praised Azula for having and shaming Zuko for not, he'll open the window and point his scarred arm outside. Nothing happens. Nothing ever does, but he feels a little relieved and will go into the bathroom to wrap his arm up tight before going to bed again. Wu notices and leaves the window open while they sleep, sometimes wrapping his arm for him.

-Sorry for the angst, but now, please consider: them babysitting BumJu and it's a mess because what do spirits eat? And Korra, BumJu went into the Spirit World agai, is that normal? And Jinora how do you play with spirits, do you just chase them around or throw a stick?

Anyway that's all I got, have a great day!!!! 💖💖💖💖💖

OP all this is beautiful and well thought out. I especially like Wu using throwing daggers.