Percival del Valle

They rushed through book one, condensing and skipping randomly. They should have taken their time creating a closer 1-1 live action of Atla. The original is so intentional in world building politically, symbolically, a show that will always hold up against time. Seeing this only made me miss the characters that I loved. Sokka was incredibly frustrating, they eliminated the character growth he obtained in Atla, his genuine respect for Suki as a warrior first and respecting her culture enough to wear the uniform. Instead they tried to make the scene hot and had Suki and Yue fall for him immediately regardless of his misogynistic undertones. Yue also being a bender and being so conscious of her connection to the spirit world took away from her original character, Yue was so strong and followed her ideals in the original, unyielding and devoted to her people regardless of her apparent lack of power. Azula being thrown in the first season was rushed and deprived her of her original introduction which was so beautifully manipulative and as sharp as a knife. Aang’s immediate connection to Kyoshi and all the previous avatars took away from how much he struggled originally and made him over powered without every even trying to learn water bending. And the fall of Omashu was disgraceful, the earth kingdoms are not that weak to fall so fast to the fire nation, they have strength and stability that was completely disregarded in the live action. Also being able to see Ozai was upsetting, the beauty of the original was that his face didn’t matter, he was an omnipresent god like figure of fire. We only got an idea of what he looked so much later before the eclipse in Aang’s dreams which showed the profound effect he had behind a wall of fire. The only good they did for me was Zuko and Iroh, their relationship was heartwarming, they did an excellent job of showing Zuko’s honorable ideals adding in the 41st was a nice touch. Overall it was just rushed and lacked the care in developing the characters like they all truly deserved.