The Avatar Thread (The Last Airbender / Legend of Korra)

[BowserBasher]

14 hours ago, bob said:

I'm trying not to read any reviews or reactions online (at least until i've finished it), but dear god some of the people on Reddit are unhinged. It's not a shot-for-shot remake of the cartoon and is therefore absolute garbage.

You just can’t please people. And I bet that if it was a shot-for-shot remake, they’d moan about why did they make it like than when we have the cartoon. They should have tried something different. 
I haven’t started it yet but think I will be doing so next week. I heard the episodes were an hour long each.?

[Julius]

Watched the first two episodes, so really not far enough in, but some things have stood out already (both good and bad). It's a weird one where this is an adaptation of a very accessible cartoon, but I'll try to keep things in spoiler tags when comparing the two as well as for major beats in case there is anyone here who has yet to watch the original and is checking this out first. 

Some non-spoiler thoughts first though: 

• Ian Ousley as Sokka is kind of nailing it to a degree which is seriously surprising me, at least so far. Some of his new lines have given me genuine chuckles and laughs. 
• Dallas Liu as Zuko and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Iroh were great castings, and so far very good performances from the latter. It makes going between the two sides feel interesting and evenly balanced in terms of keeping my attention. There was one shot of Zuko which is going to become an overused and hilarious GIF, though 
• All of the cast looks the part. We knew this already from casting announcements and trailers beforehand, but seriously, they've nailed the look. 
• Not really a fan of the score so far. The reorchestrations of Jeremy Zuckerman's original score only hit because of their sheer underlying melodic quality and nostalgia, but they sound incredibly generic when compared. The new, original score so far has been flat and boring. 
• Set design has been great. 
• I think the pacing is a bit messy, and I do think it's down to blending and distilling three 20+ minute episodes into roughly an hour each. Some of these aren't necessarily three-episode arcs, and the gap between ending one episode in the animated series, getting the credits, then moving onto the start of the next, getting opening credits, felt like it broke it up better. Here, you're getting Appa swoop out of a shot where he'd normally be capping off an episode...but then swinging back in almost immediately after in what would introduce the next. It's the nature of the adaptation, but I'm not a fan so far – and I think this particular move to have episodes serve as condensed examples of multiple episodes is actually going to fly in the face a bit of not having filmed everything already (which is a fine decision to make in terms of finances and production, but as a story, it's going to be odd). It just already feels like it's moved on too fast once or twice already. 
• The bending feels like it's at 0.75x speed and there has already been way too much slow-mo. 
• Gordon's smile and goofiness as Aang shines through a lot. Perfect casting. 

And then to get onto some of the spoiler stuff/changes...

Spoiler

• Not a fan at all about Aang's reason for ending up in the iceberg ultimately being "I'm going to clear my head and get some fresh air" vs the animated "I DIDN'T ASK TO BE THE AVATAR!" It completely undermines a HUGE point of the first season, which is Aang accepting his role (even if not fully embracing it), and rids him of the guilt he understandably had in the animated series over running from his responsibility and destiny. Then makes it even more confusing when he speaks to Kyoshi who calls him out on running away...when he wasn't? He went for a fly to clear his head? It's like they forgot they'd changed that bit. 
• Gran Gran was pretty terrible here - the writing and direction. She reveals he's the Avatar after deducing it in a few seconds? And then goes off at Aang about everyone he loves being gone? And really boringly does the intro of the animated show? Urgh. 
• No lip service for Katara's and Sokka's mother early on is a decision. But sure, let's get the flashback with virtually no context to show more than was shown in the actual animated series? 
• They SERIOUSLY want to make a Kyoshi show, huh? We've had infinitely more Kyoshi so far than we have Roku, which makes sense in the Kyoshi Island episode...but not so much in the first. It has me really curious - and a little apprehensive - about how much Roku we're going to see here. 
• I don't think it's straight up flying (you see some air movement), but they do certainly make it LOOK like Aang is flying. Hmm. Not too sure how I or anyone else who's watched LoK will feel about that. 
• Man, Katara is kind of getting shafted a little bit here. Her anger being what splits open the iceberg says so much about the world in the original - the way she flaps her arms in anger and the tide starting to change, then becomes more aggressive - before she then takes to the iceberg with Sokka's boomerang to try to free Aang. Here she's looking the complete other way trying to pull their boat back towards them and it just...breaks open, because? 
• I know a lot was made about reducing the sexism on Sokka's end before release, but they've kind of gone the other way? Sokka was totally smitten with Suki and here the first bare chested dude Suki sees she's immediately head over heels with. It's weird because they keep the idea of Sokka feeling undermined here - his annoyance at Suki taking him out so easily - but it falls a bit flat because it's not clear why he's annoyed. They had a chance to work it in but because they don't you end up with both Katara and Suki feeling a little flat, as they're not fighting against Sokka's early prejudices and stereotyping in the animated show. Suki is now just a cool warrior who Sokka didn't really win over or grow as a result of, she's just some hot chick in cool cosplay that he has stuff in common with and got to kiss. Which is totally fine, it just doesn't feel as compelling as the original when it comes to showcasing great female characters, and that's down to writing decisions, not performances. 

It's solid so far.

It's a weird one: my expectations are pretty low (like I said before, just want to see a few scenes realised in live-action), but some of the changes they've made so far have been drastic in terms of how they approach the underlying themes, mini-arcs and very nature of the first season. Some of the writing changes more than performances are probably my main hang-ups so far – I'm only two episodes in like I said before, though, so perhaps they're approaching certain topics at other times/in other ways. Some of the performances are a little stilted, nothing worth seriously flagging so far, but I think it's just the nature of having child actors. 

Looking forward to seeing how the rest pans out. 

[Julius]

Six episodes in now and I'm very, very torn. 

Spoiler

• they butchered Bumi. Yet another guy voicing the "you ran away!" line when it's just factually wrong in this telling of the story. 

• Lu Ten's funeral was excellent and is a scene good enough to be in the animated series. 

• if we don't get a second season at least we got some of Leaves from the Vine 

• the change to having the division Zuko saves be the very division ending up under his command during his banishment is *genius*. 

• Ozai seems way more sociopathic than he is psychopathic, which he certainly was in the animated show – you can see it in how he's manipulating Zuko and Azula. Jury's still out on whether that was the right move. 

• needed to tone down the reflection in Ozai's eyes just a little bit at the end of the Agni Kai because it looks like he's tearing up (he's not, though)

• wasn't a huge fan of how Zuko got his scar. Probably my favourite part in the first season of the animated series was the sheer cruelty of Ozai burning his son's face in front of hundreds of onlookers. Here? It's a FIGHT in the private palace gardens. There was something about Zuko's grovelling and unwillingness to fight in the animated show which is lost here almost completely when you have them fight AND make it so that (it at least looks like) Zuko ends up with the upper hand...and decides against using it. That's actually *earned* much later on in the animated show, by comparison. 

• Gyatso giving Aang the Good Will Hunting treatment  it's not your fault...

• The Great Divide being mentioned I'm background chatter was hilarious. 

• Azula, Ty Lee and Mai were completely miscast. Yes, it is partially down to looks, they look like they're in Halloween costumes more than most of the other characters – not in a way which is meant to bully them, but the look of a character is absolutely a huge part of their onscreen presence. For example, with Azula, the *only* scene her soft features work well in are when she's managed to work her way into a rebel group. There's a reason they were drawn the way they were in the animated series. Mai's whole design is based around how sharp and blunt she can be! And you can't tell me they don't care about this stuff, because look at the castings for Zuko, Iroh, Aang, Ozai, Katara, Sokka, Suki...and so on. It would be mean to re-cast them but their presence only gets larger as the show goes on, so I wouldn't be shocked if Netflix go that route (if the show continues). 

• that a lil bit of blue flame from Azula I spy? 

• butchered the spirit world. 

• the slow-mo was way out of hand two episodes in, and it's only got used more and more. Seriously? 

• Katara feels completely flat at this point, and I don't think it's the actress. There's nothing for her to act out! It's crazy how much emotion they've drained out of some of these characters. 

• did...did they just do secret tunnel with two siblings? What? 

• Aang has done ZERO waterbending so far. Considering I expect the finale to be a bit of a two-parter...is the only waterbending he's going to do be as Avatar mode giant water fish god thing? 

• June being into Iroh (rather than the other way around) kind of kills the entire point of S1 setting him up as a sleazy and pervy old man well past his prime but alright

• Wan Shi Tong (the spirit owl) turning up midway through S1 along with Koh makes me wonder if they've just stitched together a lot of the spirit content into one episode? Curious to see what they do with the library now (not that there's a timer like there was in the animated show at this point, mind)

• while Zuko is getting fleshed out a good bit more here...it all seems very clearly with his redemption in mind. Except...he hasn't done anything bad yet? It's very strange. On the other hand, his "BUT THE AVATAR!" and "AAAAAAHHHHGGG!" could win an award at a Dante Basco meet. Favourite actor of the young bunch followed by Sokka. 

• more Ozai is pretty cool. Definitely need to do it a bit differently without Mark Hamill voicing, I feel. DDK has kinda been nailing it to be fair to him. 

• Roku is still getting left to waste at this point in the story. It's crazy. 

Very easy to make sense of which additions and changes were from the minds of Bryke and which were from Netflix's side, I feel. One or two times the trio of episodes condensed down into one kind of works, or is tweaked to work pretty well, but other times it misses entirely. 

Curious to see how the last two episodes were handled...

Edited February 27 by Julius

[BowserBasher]

So far I've watched the first two episodes and pretty much do agree with what @Julius mentioned about them.

Sets and costumes are amazing and spot on for costumes. So far the actors have proven to be the right, or best choices for the roles. It's great to see that they are still treating Aang as he is a child too, there's moments where you can clearly see that, he is 12 after all.

It does seem to me that condensing the episodes like this has meant we have lost something.

Spoiler

And the part on Kyoshi seems to have shown that the most. It just seems like its all condensed into what feel like a few hours of timeshare. I'm sure in the original animated show is was a lot longer. And the whole reversal of roles for Sokka and Suki, it just didn't convey the relationship that was/is to come. (if it does in this one) the fact that the whole part of Sokka dressing up as one of the female warriors to train with them is totally removed and that was a big part of Sokka's arc in learning the ways of them and respecting the females of the warriors. The fact that in the animated show, no males were allowed to train with them, yet in this one Suki just helps Sokka train with no resistance feels wrong.

I did enjoy the way the show started though as it was great to see that time in the history played out like that and not just done as a flash back or just the opening narrative from the show. We know the Fire Nation attacked, show us!

So far I'm enjoying it, it's a decent adaptation so far.

[Julius]

I finished this the other night, and have been thinking about it a fair bit. 

Spoiler

• other than when he becomes Koizilla - which is way more 'zilla' than it is 'koi' this time around - Aang does zero waterbending this season. I know this is just called S1 and not Book 1: Water, but...yikes? I guess they're just going to have him learn it between seasons and train occasionally in S2? 

• on the other end of this, Katara does very little waterbending, then turns into an absolute badass in the last two episodes. 

• and on the other end of this, we have like 5 minutes of Azula all season and yet it feels like she's developed more evenly than Katara. Like...what? This is all original stuff, too, because Azula turns up waaaaaaaaaay earlier than before. 

• urghhhhhhhh another "let's empower women!" scene when preparing for a battle? It just falls so flat at this point. 

• Yue's wig just looks hilariously bad. Amber's Yue was actually really good, though! 

• Iroh's "WHATEVER YOU DO TO THAT SPIRIT I WILL UNLEASH ON YOU TENFOLD" falls a bit flat here when he just watches Zhao give a monologue and telegraph his incredibly obvious intent to kill the thing before going crazy on him. 

• more. slow-. -mo. WHY. 

• they toned down Sokka's sexism but not Pakku's and...huh? 

• Mai and Ty-Lee just...kind of...standing there? Why? What? Why?! Have them twirl knives and do handstands (respectively) or something! 

• my headcanon is that Pakku shipped Gran Gran off to the South himself because he was sick and tired of her nonstop exposition. 

• "so no plan?" was an S-tier Iroh line delivery. 

• the Momo fake out lmao. 

• Iroh straight up killing Zhao but having it be a bit removed from saving the spirit felt...odd. cool as heck, but odd. Especially seeing as they've made a point of him not attacking the Gaang this whole time like he does in the show early on. 

• I swear no-one is being made wet by waterbending attacks and it irks me. 

• Roku got done so dirty by this adaptation. 

Overall, I think this adaptation of TLA is fine. If I were to score it /10, it's slap bang in the middle a 5/10.

There are some excellent original moments and scenes which are good enough to be added to the original, but there are large swathes of the show which just feels like the people working on this missed the point. There are so many times where we're just told and not shown what characters are feeling, and so it feels like a simplified take on an already pretty simple (at surface level) animated children's show. The exposition is pretty terribly handled, the writing is just straight up bad most of the time, the quality of the music shifts from EPIC ORCHESTRAL COVER to super generic incidental epic stuff, and it only hits at times because of the original underlying musical score from the animated series. 

Zuko was the highlight for me, I think Dallas Liu nailed it; actually, I think most of the time, the Fire Nation side of things was infinitely more interesting and better delivered than what we saw going on with the Gaang. A lot of these main characters are child actors and I think they all did pretty well, there's room for improvements in places (one of the blessings, I guess, of not shooting it all at once is that they can go get more acting chops between now and a potential second season) but these characters improving going into the next season is ultimately reliant on better dialogue than what we ended up with in this first season. 

Think it's time for an animated ATLA re-watch now, feels weird just leaving the story off at the end of S1. 

Edited March 3 by Julius

[BowserBasher]

Just finished. I enjoyed it for what it was, it’s certainly much better than the film that shall not be named. However it still has its flaws. I guess we really don’t know if it’s supposed to be just a first season or actually supposed to be Book 1 like the animated show, if it was they could have done more. 

 

Spoiler

The main gripe, if this was supposed to be Book 1, is that Aang just doesn't learn any water bending at all from Katara, I remember in the animated show he and her would at the least do that water pulling and pushing move on bodies of water just as an exercise, but nothing. We did't even get him attempt any bit or a hint that he was to learn some from any water bending master nor Katara herself. Big letdown there. 

They have obviously planned to make the rest as shown in the scene just before the credits of the last episode and showing us that Sozin's Comet will be back again soon. If they are going to do them then they best get on them soon as to keep the events in a small a time frame as they can without the actors growing up too fast. I guess not giving an actual timeframe on the Comet does leave it open a bit if they need to change it to happening over a couple years or so. At least we'll still get something. they can't leave it be as I do feel this has been enough of a success to be completed. 

I think Azula has been a bit of a highlight for me outside the main story. Her appearance is earlier than before, but in the short time she was there, it did seem that her story progresses more than others. Loved the glimpse of the blue flame early on then the outright show of Lightning Bending. 

Get rid of the slow mo, it's not needed, at least not to the extent that they have been using it.

Also feel that the bending moved need to reflect martial arts a bit more in the movements. Especially Fire Bending. 99% of the time they just conjure a fireball in their hand then throw it. I'm sure that only the best fire benders could create fire like that, most would use an existing source of fire and use that. That seems to be lost quite a bit. I mean the other benders don't materialise water and earth out of nowhere. 

I'd certainly watch this again (as long as the rest of the story is told) otherwise I think this is just a waste to leave it without concluding it at all. Is it better than the original animated show, not for me so far. Does it stand up to being worth a watch of you've never seen the original, yes. I'd probably give it a good 7/10 if I was rating.

Now we just need it to have been enough of a success for Netflix to finish the story off. It doesn't have to be strung out, after all the animated show was three seasons. Perfectly told story in that time.

[bob]

Finished watching it last night. I loved it! I was a bit apprehensive about some of the changes they made, but i tried to turn that part of my brain off and just watch it, and I realised i was getting really excited about the next episode, and really getting into it.

 

Spoiler

I thought it was good how they structured the previous avatar episodes. I liked that they gave equal screen-time to Kuruk, Roku and Kyoshi, it felt more balanced. I don't think it'll be the last we hear from them anyway - Roku seemed to hint at the feelings of regret he had for basically allowing the war to start because of his friendship with Sozin, so i reckon they'll revisit that in S2.

I thought the bending started off weak, and got better towards the end. I didn't mind the slow-mo, but i thought the full speed bending was too slow. They could have sped it up by 20-30% and it would have looked better imo. I agree that there wasn't a lot of martial arts moves behind a lot of the bending as well. Lots of times they just waved a hand which made them seem more like X-men mutants or something.

I loved most of the casting - special mention goes to Zhao. At first i thought he seemed a bit weak and snively, but as the season went on, i was more impressed with how unhinged he seemed to get, and thought that Ken Leung did a great job. Fire-Lord Ozai was fantastic, i'm glad they're giving him more screentime than they did in the cartoon. 

I agree with Mai and Ty-Lee being mostly pointless. i understand about wanting to introduce them early, but if you don't give them anything to do or say, then what's the point - just introduce them in S2 instead.

On 26/02/2024 at 11:25 PM, Julius said:

June being into Iroh (rather than the other way around) kind of kills the entire point of S1 setting him up as a sleazy and pervy old man well past his prime but alright

Did i miss something - how is Iroh being a pervy old man part of his character? Isn't there just one moment in one scene where he perves a bit on June (which seems very out of character in the cartoon anyway). I wouldn't say the entire point of him in Season 1 is him being a sleazy old man...?

I thought Iroh was great, and him and Zuko seem to have some great chemistry. 

I would say the only weak part in terms of casting is probably Katara's acting - she does fall a bit flat in most of her lines, but then they only seem to give her the worst, schmaltzy lines anyway, so maybe it's not her fault. The amount of schmaltz generally is a bit too high - I swear Aang mentioned the power of friendship about 10 times, but then it is a show aimed at kids.

Regarding the Aang doing zero waterbending thing - i personally don't care. I'm sure he'll start learning in S2, but i don't understand why they left it out. It's bizarre, surely they could have had him do a few moves with Katara even if he doesn't really get the hang of it? What possible reason could they have had for leaving it out completely...?

 

I was most impressed by the season finale - the episode in the cartoon is actually pretty goofy when you think about it - Zhao randomly killing a fish that is actually the moon - Yue turning into the moon to save the world - Aang merging with a second fish to become a giant fish monster and saving the day. I could see how it would be very tricky to do that in live action and it not come across as ridiculous, but i think they actually managed it very well. It helped that they clearly left a huge chunk of the budget for the visual effects - Aangfish looked great and reasonably believable. 

Overall, i'm really happy with how it turned out. Not perfect by any means, but i'd give it a 8.5/10, and i'm really looking forward to the next season!

[Julius]

Glad to hear you two enjoyed it! 

@bob 

Spoiler

I'm going to correct myself here because I definitely didn't get my point across well, and don't agree with the part of my post you quoted reading it back. I was definitely tired when I typed that up and I feel like I exaggerated that point to the point I definitely don't recognise it, so sorry about that. 

So, to just edit my thoughts on that particular exchange between Iroh and June: I don't think that the point is that he's a sleazy and pervy person (there's the scene with June and maybe one or two moments in S2 where he gets a bit flirty), though I do think that S1 does generally try to set him up as someone past his prime in many cases, but I guess my problem is how they handled the interaction between June and Iroh in the live-action.

It's a really weird and specific characteristic of Iroh which never really felt right to me, yet they decided to keep it in...but tweak it so that June is now the one showing Iroh attention? It's a weird one to me because it clearly shows that they acknowledge the original interaction in the animated show (which, again, just felt off when I've watched it as both a kid and as an adult) but then altered it...because..? It's not really clear.

Maybe they felt like it would be received poorly here, but honestly I'd rather they just take it out of the equation altogether – swapping it so that June is instead the one interested in Iroh almost feels like a commentary by the people who worked on the show that it's wrong for an older man to be into a younger woman (and to be clear June isn't a kid, thankfully, because obviously that'd be a whole cavalcade of problems - I've always had her down as mid-20s to early 30s), but it's perfectly fine for a younger woman to be in an older man. I think both are fine (so long as they're both adults, goes without saying) but it's a change which is so small that it feels like it's trying to say something or take a stance, but it's not really clear what it is. 

I don't know, maybe they tried it and it played off weirdly and just edited it on the fly to be the other way around? It's not a massive deal by any means, I'm just confused about and trying to figure out why you'd keep it in but then switch it around over just cutting it altogether. 

It's funny because despite giving it the lowest score of us three, I also definitely want to see a second (and third) season of this. Just go all the way with it at this point! 

@BowserBasher I'll be shocked if it doesn't get a continuation personally, the numbers it's pulled in have been pretty crazy; per Gizmodo, it had a debut of 21.2 million views (the One Piece adaptation had something like 18 million?) and got to the Top 10 in 92 countries, which is bonkers.

What's more, while they continue to have the original ATLA in a number of countries on Netflix, there's a positive trickle down effect where there are people like me who have decided to watch the original again (more than anything because, well, why only stop watching at the end of S1, right? I think I even saw the original started trending in some countries off the back of the live-action release!); people who haven't watched the original, or just haven't got back to it in a while, might skip the adaptation after seeing the mixed-to-positive reaction and just go to the original (I have a number of friends who did this one); and I imagine there are a bunch of newcomers watching it for the first time who have checked out the animated series after being introduced to the series by the live-action adaptation. 

There are too many reasons to not continue, so I'd be shocked if we don't get some type of confirmation in the next few weeks, especially with financial end-of-years coming up for a lot of places. 

Edited March 4 by Julius

[BowserBasher]

6 hours ago, Julius said:

the numbers it's pulled in have been pretty crazy; per Gizmodo, it had a debut of 21.2 million views (the One Piece adaptation had something like 18 million?) and got to the Top 10 in 92 countries, which is bonkers.

Well that sounds like good news then. I think the best thing they could do knowing that it’s been a success is to just go ahead and film the rest all in one go so the actors don’t get too old before it’s too late. Let’s hope we hear something soon. 

[MindFreak]

Watched the first episode the other day, and I have never seen the animated show (shame on me, I know). It was alright, seems a bit basic and kliché but had fun watching it. Animations seemed cheap at times, though.

And what's up with their clothes - why wasn't Aang freezing in the ice and Sokka sweating later? Hopefully they change into something more appropriate later on.

[Julius]

Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender has been renewed for a second and third season:

Shocked, I tell you, shocked! 

In all seriousness though, looking forward to seeing how they go forward with it. Casting Toph is going to be HUGE. Really hope they take some of the feedback onboard, some is a bit extreme and mean-spirited which I think should obviously be ignored, but there's clearly room for improvement, so I do hope they try. 

[BowserBasher]

I’m glad they seen sense to say it’s for both season two and three, the two icons used pretty much confirm they are using the original seasons too. Season two being Book Two Earth and 3 being Fire. So hopefully we get it all wrapped up. 
 

Agreed that Toph will be the casting that will either make or break it. She’s a very strong character later on (as well as the start) but she’s also a kid and has some very funny and humorous interactions with the gang and others. They need to nail her character down. And don’t skimp on Twinkle Toes. 
 

Will be interesting to see who they cast as The Boulder too, the original was Mick Foley doing The Rock (I’m sure I’ve read that they originally wanted the Rock) I don’t know if they would be able to get him but it would be awesome if they could. 

[bob]

Hopefully if they film seasons 2 and 3 back to back, they release them a bit closer together too! I can't wait until 2025 for more!

[Julius]

Finished my animated TLA rewatch last week. Despite rating the season individually as a 10 for forever, I always manage to forget just how excellent Book Two is. 

Naturally, this has resulted in another LoK rewatch, perhaps forced a bit by wanting to cancel Netflix soon (nothing on the horizon but I have it for now). Finished Book One last night and even if I think it's a glaring step down from TLA, it's still such a solid and fun time.

That being said, I'll go to bat for the soundtrack of LoK overall being stronger than TLA's  the music in LoK is just so consistently rich and emotive. Onto Book Two today, aka maybe the weakest season of Avatar (and which is still fine, maybe saved a little by the Avatar Wan stuff).

[BowserBasher]

1 minute ago, Julius said:

I always manage to forget just how excellent Book Two is.

Yep. Been doing the same, a rewatch of the animated show and just finished Book Two. So much story told but it never feels overwhelmed. It moves along at a great pace and sets up Book 3 perfectly. 
Im a few episodes into Book 3 now. Usually watching two or three at a time. 

[MindFreak]

We are slowly progressing the live action show. It feels very shallow and basic most of the time with some cringe worthy dialogue at times, which makes us laugh. The animation when flying is totally off, but the actual bending looks nice. 

The world and story seem interesting, though.

I also wondered why the Fire Nation went to kill all airbenders. Wouldn't the Avatar just emerge as the next elemental type, if Aang was killed then? 

[bob]

We are slowly progressing the live action show. It feels very shallow and basic most of the time with some cringe worthy dialogue at times, which makes us laugh. The animation when flying is totally off, but the actual bending looks nice. 
The world and story seem interesting, though.
I also wondered why the Fire Nation went to kill all airbenders. Wouldn't the Avatar just emerge as the next elemental type, if Aang was killed then? 

I suppose they would have given themselves 10-15 years for the new water tribe Avatar to grow up a bit, and given that they'd already started killing off all the water tribe benders already, they were probably planning on killing off all the water benders too?

[BowserBasher]

One thing to remember, and I can’t remember if it has been bought up in the live action yet, is that if the Avatar dies whilst in the Avatar State then the line can be broken and no new Avatar will be called on. Maybe the Fire Nation knew this and was hoping to kill him whilst he was in that state. 
Though one other option, which is mentioned in the animated show, at one point the Fire Nation had captured Aang, and was keeping him locked up (I think it was when we first saw the Blue Spirit) one of the guards, or it may have been the one in charge, told Aang that they had no intention of killing him as he would just be reincarnated as the next Avatar in the cycle and the Fire Nation would just have to start their hunt again. 
So my guess is they would have tried to find out who the Avatar was either before invading or whilst capturing some Air Nomads and then capture Aang during that first attack. Thus no new Avatar and Aang would just be held prisoner by the Fire Nation leaving them free to invade the other nations and take the victory. 

[Julius]

Finally getting some more concrete news on next year's animated film which will mark the debut of Avatar Studios: starring Eric Nam and Dave Bautista, with the work-in-progress title of Aang: The Last Airbender. 

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Dave Bautista and Eric Nam are set to headline the voice cast for the upcoming “Avatar: The Last Airbender” movie in development at Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Studios. The film’s working title is “Aang: The Last Airbender.” The news was announced during Paramount’s slate presentation at CinemaCon.

Joining Bautista and Nam in the voice cast are Dionne Quan, Jessica Matten and Roman Zaragoza. Plot details for the film remain under wraps. Bautista will voice a villain character. The new “Avatar” animated film is set for release on Oct. 10, 2025 from Paramount.

The studios announced in June 2022 that three standalone “Avatar” animated films were in development. The 2025 film was the first to get a release date. Lauren Montgomery, who worked on the original “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series, is directing the project, with original series creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko executive producing alongside Eric Coleman. William Mata is co-directing. 

Bautista did some voice work in Ghibli's the Boy and The Heron recently, and I think he'll make a stellar villain, so I'm looking forward to hearing that. Bit of a shame they seem keen to move on from the original cast in most cases (I imagine apart from Zuko?), but I know some have retired and others have expressed interested in those of backgrounds closer to their characters getting the nod over them (heard this for both Korra and Katara), so it's hard to complain; excited to see how it turns out nonetheless 

Edited April 12 by Julius