Same, it would be great to see her possibly make a redemption factor, maybe through her mother because that seems like the forefront of how she acts and feels. It was painful to see her go completely unglued and cry the way she did within that final episode. My little nephew and niece covered there eyes during that scene because they were that disturbed by it.
If you’re speaking about her final fight with Zuko and Katara at the very end of the series, then it wasn’t even comparable anymore. Azula by that time was broken down mentally and so completely to the point in which it directly effected her firebending greatly. This was also depicted within the episode by the fact that she didn’t have proper focus with her firebending anymore and her complete emotional instability when in all other prior fights she showed almost little to no emotion with superb control.
Zuko and Katara won because Azula was no longer the same individual.
On another matter though, seeing Tenzin utilize Airbending in such a way, I’m beginning to waver now on my favorite bending element. I really like Fire, however I feel that Water is the best and most versatile element to bend in my opinion, however the seeing Tenzin utilize airbending in new manners, I’m starting to like it alot more now. Still, I guess if I had to choose, it would be waterbending for me.
She was broken down mentally but it also came at a point when Zuko and Katara had leveled up a lot. Katara didn’t really become a imposing bender until season 3, and Zuko didn’t start to realize his potential until he changed his motives and fought alongside ang. Zuko was able to reflect a direct shot from his dad so its clear he had upgraded a lot from the previous encounters he had with her. Not to mention Azula did get worked by Katara during a direct h2h confrontation without a plot device to distract the good guys, so its clear that her defeat was a combination of the zuko and katara getting stronger and her gimmicks being removed from the battlefield. Remember when she attacked ang and company as they were teaching ang firebending, zuko and her had a direct h2h on those planes and it ended in a stalemate…well technically he pushed her off and went out of his way to try and rescue her from falling but the main point is that he was progressively getting stronger and stronger.
Its obvious she was out of her mind, but even if she had her full state of mind intact she would never have been able to beat both zuko and katara at that point in time.
Nobody is saying that they weren’t getting stronger, however to simply imply that Azula only got an edge simply because of plot devices is rather ludicrous. Read my earlier statements again, yes, Zuko did improve, however he was only good enough to be on equal footing to an Azula whom was mentally broken down, and that’s a significant change to her characters usual capabilities. That fight is not even a good measure of stating that Zuko and Katara would now be able to defeat Azula, because she had to be so mind effed in order to give them the edge. This is the only fight in which we see Azula doing simple mistakes that she normally wouldn’t be doing, this is the only few times we see Azula seeing like as though she’s out of breath during an actual bending fight.
If anything was ever more plot deviced as you conclude, then this fight was obviously made to give Zuko proper footing. I fully agree, Zuko and Katara were more powerful by the end of the series, but taking on a mentally challenged firebender and using that as a measuring stick is rather faulty on so many levels. Either way you put it, it was still 2 v 1.
Not to mention this still does not take away what I said previously that she had serious potential to go above her father had she not gone the way of the Dodo emotionally.
I don’t think she had potential beyond her father personally, and I think using azula wrecking ang and company is not strong evidence to support her “potential"as a bender. We have to remember that from angs groups of friends only 2 people were ever really"optimized benders”. Toph and ang were the only benders that had fully developed their skills while zuko and katara were always in a state of constant improvement. Whenever azula attacked ang and his friends she typically did it with some plot device induced to give her a edge, and considering only 2 out of the group had fully developed skills i never found her assault on them to be that impressive. Combustion man couldn’t even be touched by any of angs friends including ang himself and this all happened in mid season 3 when zuko and katara had got buffed. I would consider his tram wrecking a lot more impressive by the simple virtue that he always attacked them on his own and he had them on the run until they got a fluke KO.
Also the 2 on 1 was completely accidental, in fact if katara wasn’t there zuko would have won. It only turned to a 2 vs 1 because azula once again resorted to a gimmick to gain the advantage. I can concede in saying she probably wasn’t here strongest during that fight, but considering that the previous fight between zuko and azula ended in a stalemate I suspect that last showdown would have been close either way.
Everyone who has talked about Azula’s abilities says “yeah she’s pretty extraordinary, especially for her age, that kid’s going to go far”. Even Zuko realizes this; he wouldn’t challenge Azula to the agni ki until he realized that there was something wrong with her and she wouldn’t be able to fight him at the best of her ability. The plan was for them to both confront Azula, it’s just the plan changed when Zuko realized that he can totally beat Azula as she was at that point.
No one is trying to suggest she was on her"A"game at that point, I’m simply saying that Azula wasnt that impressive when you consider the fact that she almost always confronted ang when she had a small army behind her or with some situation that worked to her advantage. Also katara beat her down in a direct h2h sooooo…
Also people tend to forget that bending lighting requires a immense level of mental concentration so in spite of her going insane it isnt like she became less effective. In fact her going crazy could mean she was more dangerous, blood lusted and wildly insane would imply her bending was more potent as opposed to repressed or compromised.
Zuko explicitly says “I know I can’t usually beat her, but she’s different now”. Her insanity crippled her bending and it’s what gave Zuko the confidence to confront her on his own.
Several examples of Azula confronting the gang when she isn’t in a pure power advantage have already been given so… I think you’re just ignoring the other side at this point???
Zuko doesn’t exactly have the best outlook on ability, he thought he could beat ang for the entire 1st season and he didnt even know he could deflect lighting until his dad tried to kill him. His statement sort of contradicts their past confrontation which ended in a stalemate, so im not ignoring the others points but rather just explaining why I dont think they matter.
Katara already beat her once in a direct h2h, and zuko had stalemated her twice before their final confrontation. Zuko believing he couldn’t beat her under normal circumstances doesn’t amount to much especially when we have 2 fights which contradict his personal opinion(maybe a error from the writers, who knows).
Zuko had major balls taking the gamble of facing Azula. He couldn’t beat her before had he faced her in an agni kai…but she wouldn’t have killed him, just humiliated the shit out of him, maybe gave him a matching set of eyes. He faced her when she was far gone enough to kill his ass outright. Also, I think if her insanity affected her bending, she would have been busted back down to regular orange flame. She was still sharp enough mentally to use refined bending.
If “Korra” isn’t the last series, I forsee a future where benders have further intermixed to the point where every child can bend multiple elements in a very limited fashion (like Korra as a toddler) until a certain age, after which they only can control 1…except, of course, for the avatar.
Tenzin and Lin… OLD PEOPLE TEAM ASSEMBLE! Holy crap I was jizzin’ in my pants at how cool Tenzin was fighting throughout the episode. Then Lin decides to show go total ape shit Baraka style into that one mech. As much as people say “well I think Benders will just eat the mechs” I can bring some counter points.
Vs Earth: Rocket Boots upgrades to be able to float above ground. Naturally immune to getting “Gravity Squeezed” because of Platinum armor.
Vs Fire: Since these things have shocking bolas/whips I would think they can some way to ground themselves to not making these mechs a shocking failure. It depends though how hot a firebender can get to see if they can melt metal. Supposedly it needs somewhere around 3224F or 1773C which is pretty fucking hot. Maybe Blue flame can deal with that?
Vs Air: They would have to really change to Rocket boots for aerial supremacy since Tenzin was able to push them away quite easily because of the wheel feet. Although if we get anything like Macross Missle spam upgrade… I don’t think they will be able to shake away that too easy. Then again Macross Missles tend to be mad inaccurate against speedy targets… FOR SOME REASON!
[media=youtube]nxnC6jkJyEM[/media]
vs Water: I’m curious to see if freezing might be a legit strategy against them. The glass is a big weak spot. Freezing the glass to the point of shattering seems like a good way to break in. I don’t think merely finding the “cracks” to drown the pilot would be good idea since it seems like these things are walking submarine death machines, so using pressuring attacks wouldn’t be too wise.
Gotta love Lin’s attitude toward the end of the episode… bitch is going rogue. If she does this much badassery when under the shield of the law… can you imagine the pure devasation she can do when she is going ROGUE?! “I’m going to do it my way… OUTSIDE THE LAW!!!” /jizz
I’m shocked. I thought Asami was going to end up being the real traitor and the dad innocent. I thought Amon would be her true loverboy. it makes sense that they would keep her good so that she would contnue to be a wedge between Korra and gel-haired dude.
This makes things more intriguing because maybe Amon’s story is real, but he warped it because of his guilt. Maybe he’s the firebender and he might’ve killed his parents or something to that effect?
I don’t get the reference. Enlighten me please.
Yeah, but Beifong instantly became my favorite character when she ACTUALLY TRIED TO MERC SOMEONE WOLVIE STYLE! Finally, a bender trapped in a life-or-death scenario actively trying to kill the people trying to murder them.
Yo guys, the reason why Toph/ Lin can Metalbend is because they are using the impurities (i.e. the remnant rocks) left in the metal to manipulate the metal. Pure platinum has no impurities so they can’t bend it…
But wait a friggin’ second… **PURE PLATINUM WALLS!!! **Pure Platinum Mechs?!
That giant wall of Platinum is probably worth the 10+ years of America’s GDP! These machines weigh tons and that giant wall is probably 20-30 tons of pure platinum at the very least. Platinum is worth $1,466 dollars **PER OUNCE!!! **
If I could go into that Avatar universe and steal the handlebar or screws out of that mech I would be a millionaire. If I stole one of the forearms and came back here I’d be a multibillionaire! I’d make Bill Gates or Carlos Slim Helu look like street urchins!
To explain further: Often times Aang and the gang’s adventures would cross paths with a skinny man and his cart of cabbages. Somehow he’d get his cart knocked over and “My cabbages!” is what he would exclaim.