this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2026
277 points (96.9% liked)
me_irl
8040 readers
338 users here now
All posts need to have the same title: me_irl it is allowed to use an emoji instead of the underscore _
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I had finished the Netflix series yesterday (season two), and I had to force it down a little. They really sucked the life out of every character, and the plot. I will probably still watch the third season, but I will hate it. And at least right now I'm rewatching the animated series just to calm myself down. Might happen again.
Why does everyone fuck up Avatar?
To Netflix's credit, at least the bending doesn't look like I'm cleaning my vacuum.
I haven’t hated it. The acting isn’t amazing but the writing is decent, I think they’ve combined storylines in ways that make sense and are interesting (zutara shippers POP OFF). The actors playing Zuko and Toph are killing it, imo. Sokka is also pretty good, and at least Aang has some martial arts skills.
I'm not sure if I can agree to this.
I think they really done Bumi bad. He's a bitter old man that has to be reminded of friendship and the values he himself stood for a hundred years ago. In the animated series, he's a child with a playful heart that disguises as an old man.
Sokka and his learning is an important part of the series, but they made him a romantic comic relief ... kind of.
Toph is witty and sharp and a great example of what makes earth-bending different from water-bending for example, but it just seems to be missing in the new series. She's okish, but not nearly as great as she should be.
Katara tries water bending twice, Aang tells her a story, Jet tells another one and then she has figured it out, goes to the North Pole and is declared a master. What?
Azula is scary crazy in the animated series, but she's just meh and evil.
Mai an Ty Lee are such great characters and all that they left them was acupressure and throwing knives. Mai was goth and had dominatrix vibes. All gone. Try Lee was like a joyful, poisonous flower whirling. Gone as well.
The only character I really enjoyed was Zuko.
But where is the Dragon of the West's gluttony? Where's his simple joy of life? I think I missed him the most. What they gave us wasn't even close.
Edit: I'm realizing I'm a little mad 🙄😂
lol all fair and why I didn’t mention the other characters… azula is particularly disappointing (and iroh, to your point). i guess I didn’t go in with my hopes at all high, so I had room to be pleasantly surprised by the things it does well. It’s never gonna be as good as the original—honestly I don’t think a really excellent live-action adaptation is even possible. IMO it’s good enough, it has its charm and I am looking forward to the third season
Yeah, I think in a vacuum it would work. But I can't help but compare it to the animated series I love so much.