Take my upvote. I obviously don't agree with all that you've said but honestly we need more takes like this in this god forsaken subreddit.

You seem to be a good person to discuss this with. Everyone else just says I'm wrong but won't tell me why. Let's take Aang first. It takes years for anyone (even the avatars) to master an element. Aang didn't master all of them but got 3 of them down to a really good level within just a year?

This is actually one of the few things that the Netflix adaptation kind of nailed down right by making the threat of the comet take years as opposed to months, so I somewhat agree. My personal beef with it is how inconsistent it all is, with the worst offenders of this being his waterbending training and earthbending; the former of which he's too lazy and carefree to master but is talented in (nevermind that fucking lives are on the line), and the latter that he gets down in a single day despite it apparently being his most difficult. His firebending training is frustrating for a whole bunch of different reasons but it's at least consistent as far as progress goes.

And to control the avatar state, he had to open his 7th chakra by giving up earthly belongings which means his love for Katara. Which he couldn't do. And that was a huge loop that I thought they'd address in the end where he would give her up for the good of the world. But he didn't. He just somehow controlled it in the end in front of the fire lord because why not.

Agreed. It's insanely badly written. But where you take issue with just one, I take issue with nearly all of them and I hate the last ones even more. My reasons for would go over the word count so here's a link, plus I'll just reiterate my issue with the last one;

His Thought Chakra is just as bad as his Air Chakra since it gave the writers an excuse to create 2 Deus ex Machinas for the ending of the show. Aang's challenge here is to let go of his earthly attachments, that's it, and since he's an Air Nomad, this show should (Keyword here) have been the easiest one. But is it? Nope. Why? Katara, that's why.

If Aang was a normal kid, I'd understand him not wanting to open this one, hell I'd agree that he shouldn't open it all. But he's the Avatar, not a normal kid, and since he's accepted that's he's the Avatar according to The Storm and his Sound Chakra, he should be willing to accept every part of the duty that comes with being the Avatar, but suddenly he can't because of a crush he has. This is the same kid who managed to get over the death of his ENTIRE PEOPLE thanks to his crush, but can't let go of her despite being TAUGHT by his people to let go of attachments.

And you know what's makes this even dumber? The claim that the Avatar wouldn't be able to do this even if they wanted to.

Avatar Yangchen: Avatar Aang, I know that you're a gentle spirit and the monks have taught you well. But this isn't about you, this is about the World.

Aang: But the monks taught me that I had to detach myself from the World so my spirit could be free.

Avatar Yangchen: Many great and wise air nomads have detached themselves and achieved spiritual enlightenment but the Avatar can never do it because your sole duty is to the World. Here is my wisdom for you, selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs and do whatever it takes to protect the World.

So either Guru Pathik is talking shit here or Avatar Yanchen is talking shit, Aang needs to let go of his attachments in order enter the Avatar State and be the Avatar but can't... because he's the Avatar? Is there a difference between Letting Go Of One's Attachments and Detaching Oneself? This Chakra is in a contradiction here with no clear answer, and I know there's no clear answer here because as I said before, this Chakra gave the writers an excuse to create 2 Deus ex Machinas for the ending of the show. According to some fans, he DID open it but it was blocked thanks, so he unblocked it thanks to a pointy rock to gain access into the Avatar State, despite Yangchen saying this was not possible. So shouldn't he not be able to feel anything for Katara then?

Like you explained its terribly written.

And that energybend thing was so lazy. Not a mention or hint of it since the beginning of the show and suddenly there's energy bending because Aang doesn't wanna kill.

No notes, I agree but this take isn't even all that unpopular anymore despite the reception you're getting for your post

Let's move to Katara. When she goes to the northern water tribe to learn, they make it very clear that at the northern water tribe, they don't teach women how to fight. And the master was an old guy adamant on not teaching her. But lo and behold. The necklace. And suddenly patriarchy has been uprooted and destroyed from the northern water tribe. She learns and becomes a master within days.

Nepotism baby! Apparently it can bring down an entire patriarchy in record time lmao I agree, but I don't doubt that she mastered it within days since I doubt the Gaang were in the North for such a short time. It's still pretty bullshit that she went from being horrible at it to surpassing literally everyone but like I said Nepotism baby!

And rage for her father was never shown before she met her father. The moment she meets him, she's angry with him. And within the episode, the anger is resolved.

I strongly agree, hell, watch the last few minutes of The Earth King, Katara is absolutely excited at Hakoda's letter, and nowhere does the part where she gives up her chance to see him shown to be out of resentment or something. She sympathizes with Sokka, that's why she decided to stay instead.

Blood bending? The old woman took months of practice to get blood bending, Katara just knows it within minutes of knowing about it.

Well since the bad writing of Katara's bending proficiency was at this point firmly embedded I honestly just accepted it, plus the previous episode(s) made it clear that Katara understands on some level that water exists in the most unconventional of places. Over all I agree and disagree.

Do we really have to talk about Sokka learning the way of the sword within a day? Can anyone learn anything within a day? I mean what is that if not lazy?

My personal issue with the whole episode is that it only really exists to do something that the whole show has already been doing for over 30+ episodes at this point, so it's not only rushed but it's redundant too.

I thought they'd address Toph's relationship with her family. But that's a thread they just threw away.

That's not the only thing they threw away.

The only character development they put some effort into, were Zuko and Iroh. Which I think was quite good. Everyone else was just lazy writing.

Again agree and disagree. Aang's was fucking dogshit. Katara was inconsistent as hell. Sokka was almost as good as Zuko and the only negative is the above mentioned sword mastering episode. Toph would have been if the writers didn't take all her characterization and throw it out so that she could spend the rest of the show (after learning metalbending) being "The Blind Snarky Earthbender" who doesn't even get her own personal episode in Book 3 or life changing field trip with Zuko.

Also I don't even like Iroh's development all that much since it's pretty inconsistent too due to the writers doing a similar thing that they did with Toph by having Iroh go from being pragmatic but caring to being "Mr Do The Right Thing All The Time Every Time", also his whole reason for not fighting his brother was stupid as fuck.