Nostalgia Critic- Avatar The Last Airbender

[Crazedwraith]

You know, I don't know why I never realised it before but Zuko Alone is where its first made explicit that Iroh was the older brother of Fire Lord Ozai and that he was basically cheated out of throne.

Not cheated but refused it. Losing his son left him a broken man right as their father was dying and more importantly it left him without a successor. Iroh could have succeeded as Fire Lord but then where would the Fire Nation be in a few years when Iroh dies from 71 self inflicted stab wounds?

Eh? I wouldn't say Iroh refused it. It's not like Ozai gave him the choice. Ozai usurped the throne and murdered his dad basically and yeah when presented with Fire Lord Ozai as <i>Fait accompli</i>, Iroh didn't push his claim for the reasons you mentioned but that's not really the same thing.

[Metahive]

Not cheated but refused it. Losing his son left him a broken man right as their father was dying and more importantly it left him without a successor. Iroh could have succeeded as Fire Lord but then where would the Fire Nation be in a few years when Iroh dies from 71 self inflicted stab wounds?

He wasn't refused it. When Ozai made the suggestion to Azulon that Iroh wasn't fit to be the next firelord anymore, Azulon angrily demanded that Ozai kill his own son in atonement for his offense. Iroh was definitely cheated out of the chain of succession.

[Ahriman238]

Iroh would have been a great Fire Lord. I don't know that he could or would (at this point in his life) end the war or pull back the colonies in the Earth Kingdom, but you can be damn sure he'd have reigned in a lot of the excesses we see in the Fire Nation, and dealt with a lot of the corruption and imbalance we saw in the Fire Nation itself.

[Mr Bean]

He wasn't refused it. When Ozai made the suggestion to Azulon that Iroh wasn't fit to be the next firelord anymore, Azulon angrily demanded that Ozai kill his own son in atonement for his offense. Iroh was definitely cheated out of the chain of succession.

You misunderstand me, I mean Iroh refused the job or to act against his brother when he took the title later.

[Lord Revan]

Iroh would have been a great Fire Lord. I don't know that he could or would (at this point in his life) end the war or pull back the colonies in the Earth Kingdom, but you can be damn sure he'd have reigned in a lot of the excesses we see in the Fire Nation, and dealt with a lot of the corruption and imbalance we saw in the Fire Nation itself.

well IMHO when the succession happend as bad as it sounds Ozai was the better option, as Azulon's death/murder happend only a short time after the death of Iroh's only child (as far as we know) whom Iroh seemed to love dearly, so he was emotionally and mentally devestaved by the loss, it wouldn't be unlikely that Ozai and/or other major player could manipulate the greaving Iroh to be even worse tyrant then Ozai ever was or at least as bad.

however the current Iroh who had come to terms with the loss of his son and found new path and purpose in raising his nephew as an honorble man capable make his own judgements (and not just be Ozai mark II like Azula tries to be), he could be the firelord if he wanted so and be at least decent at the job.

[Ahriman238]

The Chase

[Ahriman238]

And-

Bitter Work

Iroh teaches Zuko about the 4 nations, and their philosophies. Sokka gets trapped in the ground, Toph is awesome, and Doug can't think of much to talk about. Also, he seems to be meshing lightning with Iroh's lightning redirect, I don't think it's because he's confusing the two, Iroh was pretty specific.

[Crazedwraith]

First time I'm actually disappointed when he doesn't gush about one. Bitter Work is one of my favourite episodes along with the Boiling Rock two parter. It's just fun, with all the team playing a role. Plus that hilariously wangsty moment with Zuko failing to shoot lightning. "Ahh! Why can't do this!? It just keeps exploding in my face. Like everything always does" I always laugh at that bit.

Yeah he seems to have lumped generation and redirect together as 'lightning bending' which... seems fair enough to me.

[Mr Bean]

Which is a shame because without future episode knowledge he does not know how powerful being able to redirect lighting is for fire bender fights.

Your a fire bender and you shoot lighting at the following
Water bender + Water = ground the lightning
Earth Bender + Earth =Earth shield ground the water
Air bender = Dodge with super air bending dodge
Fire bender =... fuck

As a Fire bender facing another lightning shooting Fire bender if you can't move fast enough your dead since your element does nothing to stop the lighting. When Aang redirects the lighting towards the Fire Lord he knows he's dead since he jumped and can't dodge quick enough. Aang had the fight one at that point because the Fire Lord was out of options. But he still refused to kill.

[Crazedwraith]

Though at least in Last Airbender, lightning takes quite a bit of preparatory motions before the ZZAP. Like in Power Ranger's no-one seems to interrupt this sequence. But logically they could. Fire's defense here would characteristically be offense, a series of quick strikes to break the opponent's rhythm/balance before they get their lightning on. This is pretty much what Zuko does in his agni-kai with Zhao in the first book.

[Coop D'etat]

Which is a shame because without future episode knowledge he does not know how powerful being able to redirect lighting is for fire bender fights.

Your a fire bender and you shoot lighting at the following
Water bender + Water = ground the lightning
Earth Bender + Earth =Earth shield ground the water
Air bender = Dodge with super air bending dodge
Fire bender =... fuck

As a Fire bender facing another lightning shooting Fire bender if you can't move fast enough your dead since your element does nothing to stop the lighting. When Aang redirects the lighting towards the Fire Lord he knows he's dead since he jumped and can't dodge quick enough. Aang had the fight one at that point because the Fire Lord was out of options. But he still refused to kill.

Plus it was a pretty important bit of symbolism for when Zuko confronted Ozai that what Iroh taught him gave Zuko the ability to resist his father and not get murdered by a lightning strike. Especially as a call back to how Zuko got his scar by being helpless against his father.

The distinction between the skills needed to redirect lightning compared to generating seems to be a reoccurring point in season 3 as part of the difference between Iroh and Ozai's schools of firebending.

[Ahriman238]

the Library

[Dread Not]

The Desert, one of my favorites of the season, is posted.

Shame that he barely talks about the humor in this one, despite it being a fairly dark episode. "MOMO NOOOO! YOU'VE KILLED US AAAAALLLLLLLL!!!" is one of my favorite lines in the series. And I think Sokka asking Toph "Can't you look where you're going.... oh," is one of the better "Toph is blind" jokes.

I think Doug will be pleased with the way the character arcs continue from here.

[Crazedwraith]

Serpents Pass

This one is one of my favourites I'll admit if only because I'm a big sap and like Sokka/Suki because really that (and Zuko/Mai) are just so much more interesting than Aang/Katara. I mean he's twelve right now. Urgh.

Anyway for all the box art says. Doug's not going to have much chance to learn Suki's name this season. She only appears again in Appa's lost days. Wonder if that'll throw him for a loop.

[Ahriman238]

The Drill
City of Walls and Secrets

He seems to think Azula's blue fire is lightning. Of course the Drill comes back, but I don't think it's so much an essential element of the plot as an acknowledgement of the amazing thing they did in stopping it. If they really had to, they could have found a different way to expose Long Feng.

I guess his brother wanted to be there when he sees Tales of Ba Sing Se, presumably for the small Mako tribute.

[Crazedwraith]

Tales Of Ba Sing Se

Rob Walker is really keen on Iroh it seems. Interesting perspective, that I'm not sure I agree with.

[Ahriman238]

I wouldn't say the series centers around Iroh, though I agree he's the only reasonable adult character that's really developed. Hakoda would be this too, if he got more screen time.

I always pronounce it "EYE-roh" like everyone on the show who calls him by name.

I don't know that "it gets real" in the next episode, but you do have to feel sorry for Appa.

[CaptJodan]

I guess the "it get's real" bit was only in reference to how depressing the episode ultimately is, that Appa is pretty much kicked around nearly the entire episode. For a kid's show, and even for a family or adult show, that episode had a lot of depressing moments.

While I'm enjoying reliving these episodes through the eyes of someone who is seeing them for the first time, Doug is no Chuck. That quip at the end about Doug not doing his homework by his brother was accurate. At this stage in the game, he should know the characters' names, know how to pronounce them, and know who plays what role (he has a computer right in front of him to IMDB this stuff). His analysis is far shallower than that of Chuck's, where Chuck was able to bring in a lot more context for the series and did a better job making connections with what the series was trying to show its audience. There's also been a lot of missed opportunities for Doug to comment on specific new or interesting elements of an episode was used and he just glosses over them or forgets them completely. All and all, it's often a very haphazard review.

"Tales of" was probably my favorite review of his thus far, though, because he had a foil to play off of and someone who at least seemed to think a bit more deeply about the series than I think Doug does. I don't agree with his brother that Iroh is the center of the story, but at least he's thinking about the character in a deep way and making a case for it.

[Crazedwraith]

Doug is doing an entirely different thing to Chuck. Chuck watched the entire thing and then gave a season by season look. His analysis and thoughts are based on the fact he can see the patterns in say Katara's behavour over all three books. Same with Rob's comments.

Whereas Doug is just looking at one episode and giving his immediate reaction, his thoughts as a casual viewer. He's not writing a dissertation on the Last Airbender or anything. I find it interesting to see what he thinks is important or notable in any particular episode because it isn't always what you expect.

And lets face it, this vlog series is basically him gouging Last Airbender fans for page views and hence Ad money. Two ads a view, for a breif video everyday. Even said write at the start he was doing like this because time=money.

[Ahriman238]

While I'm enjoying reliving these episodes through the eyes of someone who is seeing them for the first time, Doug is no Chuck. That quip at the end about Doug not doing his homework by his brother was accurate. At this stage in the game, he should know the characters' names, know how to pronounce them, and know who plays what role (he has a computer right in front of him to IMDB this stuff). His analysis is far shallower than that of Chuck's, where Chuck was able to bring in a lot more context for the series and did a better job making connections with what the series was trying to show its audience. There's also been a lot of missed opportunities for Doug to comment on specific new or interesting elements of an episode was used and he just glosses over them or forgets them completely. All and all, it's often a very haphazard review.

Different people approach reviewing with very different perspectives, from different angles and with different ideas of what's important. They also try different things, Chuck looked at the series as a whole, understanding what would come back and where each character arc was going. He also thinks more like an Englich Professor, while Doug is going episode by episode and thinks more like a guy who watches way too many movies and tv shows.

Sorry for the slight thread derail, we just had a conversation about this in Sci-fi where someone begged me not to do a review like Connor, which made me think a lot about how I started out aping Connor but sort of fumbled my way into my own style.

Anyways.

Appa's Lost Days

Rob's still in this one. As far as Aang leaving the others in the desert, eh. He was emotional, his best friend, the only one who remembers the world he knew a year ago is gone, and he had a glider staff to catch up with. Plus, if he'd found Appa and overcome his captors, they'd have all ridden straight out of the desert as easily as they'd arrived.

Well, just four episodes left in the season

[Crazedwraith]

Well I think this review shows the down side of Rob being there as well because they seem to spend alot of time repeating themselves and talking over each other and not talking about this episode but instead 'the Desert'

And yeah, I think Aang's a kid who just lost the only remaining remnant of his culture is perfectly valid explanation for his rage and actions.

[Ahriman238]

Back to Doug alone.

Lake Laogai

Honestly, that episode is pretty much the only point where Long Feng impressed me as a villain.

[Crazedwraith]

"Did Jet Just Die?" "You know, it was really unclear"

I look forward to his reaction to Zuko's decisions in the rest of book 2.

[Ahriman238]

He'll be so disappointed that the Earth King is a real man and not a literal puppet of the Dai Li.

[Ahriman238]

The Earth King