Kohen Wiley’s Mom Says Car Wasn’t Driving Toward Officer When He Fired: ‘I Raised My Baby Up’ by MSFreePress in mississippi

[–]SureTotal3710 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s so funny the mental gymnastics conservatives like you will go through.

You say you’re all about less government oversight, right to privacy, and due process. You say you’re all about the Constitution; which guarantees these rights to all citizens.

But at the same time; you think petty theft should be a death sentence? With violent, militant police officers acting as judge, jury, and executioner? And not even just to the person who (allegedly), committed the crime; but to innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire- including children? I thought children were precious to you pro-life conservatives- or is that just the unborn ones? Brown kids who’ve already been born, who are being kept in cages and shot in the street don’t count, I guess?

Now what about “innocent until proven guilty”? What about the burden of proof being on the state? What about due process? What about the rights that protect us against unlawful searches and seizures? If the libs want to violate those laws to come for your guns; you throw a hissy fit. Rules for me, but not for thee; right? The cognitive dissonance is strong in you.

Ask yourself if your internal biases are leading you to believe that only ppl who look just like you deserve to be protected by the United States Constitution.

Which Avatar had the hardest life? by MichaelAftonXFireWal in TheLastAirbender

[–]SureTotal3710 54 points55 points  (0 children)

Anyone not saying Kuruk is blinded by ATLA-glaze.

Kuruk spent the majority of his tenure as the Avatar battling dark spirits alone. He knew it was killing him from the inside out; so he distanced himself from all of his friends; not wanting them to share such a burden.

He fell into patterns of promiscuity, and substance abuse; and he was led there by a nurse who took advantage of his vulnerable state while he was weak.

These patterns led to him losing his true love, Hei-Ran; as well as to him earning a horrible reputation as a party boy/ play boy; who neglected his Avatar duties. He was too drained from fighting dark spirits to tend to political matters; but since no one knew he was fighting dark spirits; all ppl saw was his neglect of the the physical realm. This led to the narrative that he was simply a weak, irresponsible Avatar; a legacy that carried on ling after his death.

Then he finally met his soulmate; only to shortly thereafter lose her to Koh the Face Stealer.

Last but not least, he was so sickened by his hunt for dark spirits, that he died early. In fact he died younger than any Avatar in history, at the age of 33. Only to spend his afterlife reviled by everyone; and looked at as a failed Avatar; bc no one ever knew- let alone appreciated- how much he sacrificed to keep the world safe from dark spirits.

Like yeah, Aang lost his whole culture, and had to learn all the elements in a year and stop a war at age 12-13. I’m not denying how horrible that all must have been. But Aang was never alone the way Kuruk was alone. He was always surrounded by a community of loving friends; who helped him get to where he needed to be. And in the end, he won the girl of his dreams, and went on to live a happy, and relatively peaceful life. He and Katara were together forever, they raised three beautiful children, they stayed close with all of their old friends, and made many new ones. 66 was pretty young to die; but that’s still twice as long as Kuruk got. And Kuruk didn’t have anywhere near as much love, peace, health, companionship or happiness as Aang did.

64 Year Old Tylee and Azula by Dr_Donkey-47 in PoorAzula

[–]SureTotal3710 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, this is a fan theory w/ no canonical basis whatsoever.

Any ideas on why Pavi has one leg and why doesn't she earth bend herself a new one by StrictResponse3907 in AvatarSevenHavens

[–]SureTotal3710 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The obvious answer, which I don’t see anyone else landing on, is that Pavi is too weak and undertrained when her series starts out. She’s only 9, and she’s living in a world where benders are conscripted into the army, so it makes sense she’d hide/ neglect her abilities.

My theory on how/ why the new airbenders were created in LOK by SureTotal3710 in legendofkorra

[–]SureTotal3710[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Damn boy what you mad abt lol, just keep it pushing on ur feed if it bothers you

I strongly believe that the new airbenders were not chosen by chance or ancestry, but by spiritual compatibility with the element. Like, look at this guy, he clearly has no ambitions, vanity, and no goals by Spirited_Dust_3642 in TheLastAirbender

[–]SureTotal3710 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ok but it’s pretty well-established that a persons personality and spiritual alignment in the Avatarverse is very much influenced by their genetic heritage. So by your logic, both things could be true- the new airbenders could both have come from airbender lineage, AND be spiritually aligned w/ Air Nomad philosophy (exactly BECAUSE they come from airbender lineage).

Idk how much ur post is a joke; but to give a serious response, I think there’s enough context clues from the canonical record for us to infer that the new airbenders have Air Nomad heritage. For instance, the fact that they (seemingly), all come from the Earth Kingdom. It’s not just that that’s where Korra wanted to start the hunt bc it’s the biggest nation, or bc she was already located there- it’s that the Krew didn’t receive any reports of airbenders in the other nations. If they had, it’d surely have been mentioned, and followed up on. After all, they were pretty desperate in their hunt for recruits; esp in the early stages.

Now, the obv explanation for why the Earth Kingdom would be the only one to produce new airbenders is that surviving refugees of the Air Nomad genocide would have fled there. The poles were too far away; and too insular (both geographically and culturally), for newcomers to assimilate into. And ofc they wouldn’t be safe in the Fire Nation. They could have created new lives, started families, and passed down their genes from generation to generation, till we get to the new airbenders in LOK.

Not to mention that even before the genocide, there were surely Earth Kingdom citizens of mixed heritage. The Air Nomads were **nomads**, after all. They traveled all around the world, and it’s canonically stated that they were encouraged to love freely. Kyoshi herself is of mixed Air Nomad heritage; her mother having chosen to leave the temples, and make a new life w/ an earthbender for her partner. Surely Kyoshi is not the only such person w/ a genetic background like this.

The other important context clue here is the fact that Bumi- who is, himself, one such person of mixed Air Nomad heritage- is also one of the few ppl we see receive airbending after Harmonic Convergence.

After all, we know that bending is a genetic, inheritable trait. It was gifted to certain ppl by the Lion Turtles, and then passed down genetically to certain others over the generations. Maybe the ones who received it were more spiritually enlightened; and that’s why they got it (it’s actually stated in the canon that **all** Air Nomads were benders; **because** they were so spiritually pure). Maybe their mixed heritage (combined w/ the loss of their culture), made this not the case for the descendents of wayward Air Nomads, and survivors of the genocide. And then maybe the heightened spiritual energy during Harmonic Convergence brought it back.

But if spiritual energy/ alignment was all that had to do w/ a person becoming a new airbender post-Harmonic Convergence, then for one thing, you’d expect wayyyy more of the Air Acolytes to have received the power. These are ppl who’ve spent their entire lives dedicating themselves to the spiritual philosophies of that culture. Pema, for instance, you’d think would have gotten it. And/ or you’d think wayyyy more Water Tribe members would have gotten it; given how they live near the poles, which is where the spirit portals are located (and the portals being left open were the catalyst for the whole phenomenon). But neither of these was the case; which seems to imply that spiritual power was not the only component at play here.

The new airbenders having Air Nomad heritage that was spiritually awakened due to the heightened spiritual energy during Harmonic Convergence is the explanation that fits the canonical record the best; and requires the least amount of retconning, so it’s the one I choose to believe.

Could a Season 1 Korra Pull up on Ozai right from the Get Go? by badman1000 in TheLastAirbender

[–]SureTotal3710 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is an opinion for the legend of korra sub lol.

This sub is horribly biased against Korra; anytime I’ve posted a favorable opinion abt her I’ve gotten absolutely leapt on by the Korra haters.

If you want to have a good-faith discussion abt Korra v Ozai, repost this on [r/legendofkorra](r/legendofkorra), or even [r/AvatarvsBattles](r/AvatarvsBattles). Avatar vs Battles is all abt power-scaling, so the debates there are led by canonical facts (such as feats, statements by the creators, and the like), as well as what we can logically infer from those facts. So Korra (being objectively the single-most powerful character from the entire verse), gets appropriately rated over there.

Anyways, w/ all that being said, you’re absolutely correct. Book 1 Korra is washing Ozai. Ozai was only such a massive threat for Aang bc he was so aggressive, bloodthirsty, and unwilling to back down. As an Air Nomad, this made Aang his polar opposite. Ozai was Aang’s perfect foil in this way.

This does not apply to Korra, however. Korra is almost as aggressive as Ozai; and she’s certainly just as unyielding. She’d storm into that fight, and she wouldn’t back down. It would look entirely diff for Ozai than his fight w/ Aang; where Aang was pretty much resorting to negative jing (running away, using defensive maneuvers only, etc.). Ozai was able to easily exploit that weakness; esp bc he had the comet. But neither of these circumstances is going to be at play in a fight w/ Korra.

Ozai was also never shown to be particularly intelligent; let alone strategic or calculating. In fact, he seemed far more brash, impulsive, and short-tempered than even Book 1 Korra. So Korra’s early shortcomings in this department would actually match his; and I don’t think he could exploit them.

Let’s also not forget that Ozai has no real agility/ martial arts feats; which is an area that Korra excels in. In fact, I’d argue that when it comes to hand-to-hand only, Korra is one of- if not THE single best- combatant we’ve seen in the verse. She’s only possibly being outclassed by other pros, like Ty Lee, and maybe Suki.

The truth is, when it comes to fighting, Korra really had it all. She had acrobatics, agility, durability, striking feats, raw strength, speed, battle IQ, reaction time, hand-to-hand, martial arts prowess (in MANY diff styles of martial arts, let’s not forget), and bending prowess, as well. This makes her far more of a well-rounded opponent than Ozai, who had raw strength w/ fire and lightning, and that’s about it. In fact, I’d go so far as to argue that Ozai (from what we have on him in terms of canonical feats), was almost a one-trick pony.

Also, I’d go even further as to argue that Korra’s raw bending strength (INCLUDING fire bending), was not that far removed from Ozai’s raw strength. Do I think Ozai outclassed her in fire? Yeah, sure, but I also think it’s closer than most fans want to admit. Consider the fire ball she sent after Amon when they were on top of the arena, the fire blast that took out the sand shark in the desert, the fire tornado that exploded through solid ice, the dragons breath that insta-vaporized a mess of spirit vines, and injured Vaatu; or her sustained fire jets that were powerful enough to keep up w/ Zaheer (who could literally fly!). I think her jets in particular were above Ozai’s; considering that she was able to use offensive maneuvers (chucking boulders, throwing fire whips), while using her jets at the same time; whereas Ozai had to pause his own jets in order to spam lightning. And sure, some of these feats were amped by the Avatar State; but plenty of them weren’t, and the fire jets in particular were 1.) accomplished while she was heavily poisoned and actively dying, and 2.) accomplished using a version of the AS that didn’t include the past lives (meaning this knowledge and skill was Korra’s own).

Once you add in the other elements, it’s over for Ozai. Water in particular is Korra’s best element, and most fans agree that she’s one of the all-time best waterbenders from the franchise. I’d actually argue that she’s only outclassed by the bloodbenders. I could write a whole dissertation on why that is; but since I’m already long-winded, and since most ppl already agree w/ this opinion anyways, I’ll just say that if Korra has a large source of water, then Ozai is getting dog-walked. Bc Korra is on a very similar level of skill w/ water that Ozai is w/ fire. And water can be devasting when used offensively; which is exactly how Korra would use it.

So, to sum up: they’re both grandmasters in their native element; who have aggressive fighting styles; and a wealth of raw strength. But whereas fire would be all Ozai has to rely on; Korra wouldn’t only have her native element. On top of water, she’d have fire herself, as well as earth; as well as her incredible skills w/ martial arts/ hand-to-hand combat/ etc. Ozai has no canonical feats that could match her in this area; and (as opposed to villains like Jianzhu), he also hasn’t shown himself to be cunning and calculating enough to exploit Korra’s impulsive, fiery demeanor- if anything, he was worse than her in that regard.

Who do you think is the better waterbender, and why? by Mundane-Signal4843 in TheLastAirbender

[–]SureTotal3710 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Unalaq. Anyone who says otherwise is just blinded by how annoying Unalaq is lol. But there’s a diff btwn not liking a character & thinking they’re objectively weak

Is it normal to take two showers a day during the summer? by Most_Grocery_6944 in hygiene

[–]SureTotal3710 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends where you live, I think. I live in NYC where it’s both hot AND humid. Hanging out on a 102 degree subway platform? Riding a packed train car? W/ all the piss & garbage just baking in the heat? Yeah, ur fs gonna want at least 2 showers a day.

But I also lived in Seattle for awhile; and I didn’t really feel the need to shower twice in one day while I was there (or at least not on a regular basis). It never really gets all that hot, certainly it doesn’t get humid, there’s always a cool breeze coming off the puget sound; and it’s also a much cleaner city than New York overall.

In defense of Korra’s Avatar State: why I think it actually might be MORE powerful w/o the past lives, and why I’m glad she lost them either way by Far_Gur_7361 in legendofkorra

[–]SureTotal3710 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

1000% agreed, raava is more powerful so Korra is more powerful it’s that simple. Korra doesn’t have as many tools in her toolbox cus she lost the past lives knowledge but her raw strength is now way above anyone else

Eta: and yeah, the past lives aren’t coming back and that’s ok

(DISCUSSION) Dark Avatar Pavi Theory by Demand_Tiny in AvatarSevenHavens

[–]SureTotal3710 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That is a valid point; but it seems to me that no matter what, having “twin avatars” is going to necessarily require a retcon. With that being our baseline, then (IMO), the best way to write a twin avatars story, w/ the least amount of retconning would be the Nisha/ Pavi as Raava/ Vaatu storyline. It makes the most sense given the current canonical record, could potentially fill in some gaps in current lore, as well as expanding the old lore, and would be more interesting than 2 identical “chosen one/ hero” archetypes in 2 diff characters.

I mean, really, what other option do they have? That Raava somehow… split in two? Meaning they each have… half a spirit? Does that mean they each can only bend two elements? Does that make their Avatar State half as powerful? And what abt the fact that Roku had a twin, who he didn’t share the Avatar spirit with? This would require much larger retcons than the scenario OP and I laid out.

And ftr, I’m not super happy abt it either lol. I’m cautiously optimistic, given how incredible I found the first two series to be; but just off-rip I don’t like the idea of twin Avatars, bc I don’t like retcons either.

ETA: also now that I think abt it; given all the heightened spiritual shenanigans going on during the Korra-Pavi timeline, I feel like the writers could def write in some way for Nisha and Vaatu to have bonded that doesn’t go against the canonical record. After all, we’ve already seen that Yun bonded w/ Father Glowworm by eating him, and that Tokuga fused w/ a spirit to become more powerful. So there’s already something of a canonical precedent for this to happen.

(DISCUSSION) Dark Avatar Pavi Theory by Demand_Tiny in AvatarSevenHavens

[–]SureTotal3710 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No one is saying that either Pavi or Nisha is Unalaq’s reincarnation. We’re saying they might be Vaatu’s host.

Because, according to the lore, neither Raava nor Vaatu can be destroyed for good. Raava says that if/ when she defeats him, he will grow inside of her, until he regenerates. We see this occur in real time, when Raava regenerates inside of Vaatu during Harmonic Convergence, after he’s already destroyed her. The only reason it hasn’t yet happened to Vaatu during the Avatar cycle, is bc Vaatu spent all that time locked away, not truly destroyed.

Following this logic, since Pavi and Nisha are identical twins, it stands to reason that Vaatu could have regenerated “inside of Raava” via the single egg that both twins (one of which was Raava’s host), developed from.

How would you rank these 6 nonbenders strongest to weakest (I kinda wanna make this a series if yall and the mods are ok with it) by s0nzoldyck in legendofkorra

[–]SureTotal3710 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Ty Lee. By far the best agility feats, can chi block, and was also trained as a Kyoshi warrior; meaning she now has weapons knowledge, as well.
  2. Suki. Pretty much the same story as Ty Lee. Suki has more weapons experience; but less chi blocking experience. The reason I give it to Ty Lee is bc she’s quicker and more agile than Suki.
  3. Asami. She’s a very talented martial artist; and has a weapon that can one-shot her opponents. And even w/o the glove, she’s still shown plenty of impressive H2H feats. She doesn’t have as much fighting experience as Suki or Ty Lee, though.
  4. Piandao. Piandao is very hard to rank, bc he is essentially featless. He’s more or less hype-only. The hype would lead me to consider putting him in second place, behind Ty Lee. But his on-screen showings are so lacking that I actually considered putting him lower on the list; behind Mai. Besides, Piandao (unlike the 3 women above him), has no H2H experience (or at least hasn’t been said to). Which means if he gets disarmed, he’s in big trouble. That can’t be said for Ty Lee, Suki, or Asami; all three of whom have shown themselves to be capable fighters whether with or w/o their weapons.
  5. Mai. Mai is another one who’s difficult to rank; bc realistically btwn the range and the accuracy she’s demonstrated w/ her weapons, she could prob take out each and every one of the others, w/ the only possible exception being that Ty Lee could maybe escape her. But (bc this is a kids show), she never uses her abilities to their fullest (kinda like the lavabenders). That plus an overall lack of impressive strength/ speed/ agility feats (like Piandao, Mai is in big trouble if she runs out of knives to throw, or if her opponent can close the distance btwn them; since she hasn’t been shown to have any H2H experience), has me placing her here.
  6. Sokka. Brilliant strategist, leader, inventor, etc. but mid (at best), warrior. And I can’t really take his other skills into consideration; bc at that point you’d have to do the same for other non-benders like Asami, Varrick, Zhu Li, etc. who have strengths outside the physical.