Avatar Nostalgia

Last night, I finally read the Avatar comics 'The Search' trilogy and first two parts of 'The Rift' by Gene Yang. I mean, finally right?

(After years of waiting, I know what what happened to Zuko's mother! Honestly, I was the tiniest bit disappointed in Ursa, but moving on...)

Reading through them all, especially after watching the Rings of Ba Sing Se come tumbling down in last week's Korra episode, made me terribly nostalgic for A:TLA. So I thought I'd share some of the old memories with you.

Favorite character:
Zuko. Always Zuko. A lot of others -Toph, Iroh, Mai, Sokka- take turns running a close second, but my number one favorite will always. be. Zuko.

Favorite episode:
The Storm. This is when we really start figuring out who's who and just how deep this show is going to cut. Close seconds are Zuko Alone, the whole Ba Sing Se arc, Boiling Rock parts 1 & 2, The Chase, and The Ember Island Players.

First introduction to the show:
If I'm being entirely honest, my sister watched this show before I did. At the time, I was trying to 'grow up' and made the woeful mistake of lumping it in with all the other 'stupid cartoons.' Thankfully, my best friend shoved the first season into my hands and ordered me to watch it. I have been in her debt ever since.

The Part Where I Cried:
'The Tale of Iroh,' especially followed by the Mako dedication. *sob*

The Part Where I Laughed the Most:
'The Desert.'
"It's the quenchiest! It'll quench ya!"

The Part Where A Character Broke My Heart:
Book 2 finale. Zuko. You turned on Uncle. How could you?!

Most Epic Moment:
Final confrontation between Zuko and Azula. Like, whoa.

Biggest shocker of the series:
Aside from realizing we wouldn't find out what happened to Zuko's mother? j/k
Azula's break down. I can't even begin to describe my reaction to that. All the signs were there, but somehow I didn't see it coming. In a way, I'm glad. I loved that moment of shock and disbelief when Azula started to crack.

Biggest disappointment:
Not finding out what happened to Zuko's mother and not seeing how and if ever Toph repaired her relationship with her parents. I considered both of these huge, gaping holes in their character arcs, and I nursed those wounds for quite awhile. (I actually wrote a whole story just to resolve these loose ends, as so many other fans did.) Luckily for us, the comics 'The Search' and 'The Rift', respectively, deal with both of these issues.

Favorite minor character:
Lee, from Zuko Alone. I always wanted he and Zuko to meet again later in life. *sigh*

Favorite thing about the show:
I love how real and individual the characters are. This show taught me so much about character arcs and brilliant storytelling. No story to that point hit me quite as hard or made me cheer quite as loud as this one did. I also enjoyed the epic worldbuilding done here, and how it was entirely based on Eastern culture and therefore almost completely new to me. It opened my eyes to the fact that the world is full with interesting and delicious fodder for storytelling, if you only go and look for it.

If I could bend an element, it would be:
Water. I love swimming, and I wouldn't make a very good monk, so I'd have to go with water.

Random Bits 
My nickname -'Wordbender'- is derived from my love of writing and my obsession with this show, where characters can 'bend' elements.
I wrote 'Air', an epic-sized fanfiction to deal with the passing of the show and had way too much fun with it.
 

Okay, okay, enough jabbering! I love Avatar, you get it. I'll sign off now, but not before sharing some of the videos that helped me survive the unbearably long wait between seasons 2 and 3: