The Science Of The Elements

Avatar: The Last Airbender is the G.O.A.T. | Video Essay

A love letter to the show.   

Why does Sozin’s comet make firebending stronger?  

Updated:  Corrected some grammar mistakes from the original.  

I am an Earth Science Teacher who studied the four elements in university.  I hope to make a series on the science within Bending.  

Added the Spiritual forms of bending to my so it’s pretty much done.  (I hope)

Below are it’s previous versions:  

Avatar Kuruk:  Failure or Retcon?

WARNING:  Minor Spoilers for the Kyoshi Novels.  

Avatar Kuruk was the Water Tribe Avatar before Korra and is considered by many to be a failure of an Avatar.  He was brash and was more interested in personal pleasure than keeping balance.  

The recent Kyoshi novels explain that Kuruk wasn’t a failure.  Rather, he spent his life fighting dark spirits which most people were unaware of.  The Kyoshi novels suggest that he was a good avatar even though public opinion was very much against him.  

However, this new information feels like a retcon to me for one specific reason:  

Everything we know about Kuruk doesn’t come from a third party account, it comes from Kuruk himself.  

Other than the novels, our info on Kuruk comes from the season 2 “Escape from the Spirit World” game, and the episode 319.  Kuruk himself recounts that he wasn’t the best Avatar and spent most of his time goofing off.  

However, if Kuruk wanted to explain he wasn’t a complete failure, then he had apple time to do so.  Plus, as our main source of info he had full controlled how the fans viewed him.  

I do not think the dark spirits were an original part of his character.  I think it was a much later addition after dark spirits were introduced in Korra.  I believe this retcon existed because Bryke didn’t want fans to think Kuruk was a total failure.  

But a retcon is still a retcon.  

And not all Avatars did a good job.  

Like a Gaggle of Geese, I wonder what a group of Zukos would be called?

An Honor of Zukos?

The meeting of the Zukos

zuko们的会面

“You and me, brother. The showdown that was always meant to be: AGNI KAI!”

Also, probably the best animated fight I’ve ever seen, a heart-wrenching tragedy, and also callbacks to All The Things.

You remember Zuko’s Agni Kai with Zhao? Remember his previous fights with his sister? Remember his 540 degree turn?

Well.

This is my second bending pamphlet.  It explains some of the basics of Firebending.   (EDIT:)  The Air and Earth bending pamphlets will have to be a little different since they don’t get stronger or weaker.  

AIR BENDING PAMPHLET

Now we have one for each element.  

Before you watch “The Legend of Korra”

Before you guys watch Korra you should know a few things, or maybe you've already started.  Don't worry, this is spoiler free.  

Avatar and legend of Korra are made by different people.  Yes, the "creators" worked on both shows, but surprisingly few others did.  If you look at the head crews of both shows, you'll notice they are very different.  

Why this matters is because Korra is a very different show from Avatar, by virtue of being made by different people.  A number of things from the original show get retconned, and some characters even get different personalities.  This is because there are different people that are making the show, and this is their interpretation.  

This issue isn't unique to Korra,  many shows/movies/series change when they get a new director, producer, or if they're bought by a different company.  (Like how StarWars was bought by Disney.)  Some of these changes you might like; others you might not.  Just don't feel you have to blindly accept whatever happens.