things i love about avatar: the last airbender
katara calling sokka out for being sexist, to his face, loudly, no beating around the bush, in the first five minutes of the first episode
katara literally fighting the patriarchy, and winning
suki telling sokka that she’s both a girl and a warrior, and being one doesn’t cancel out the other
sokka’s character development
the sheer diversity and quality of the female characters (of whom there are a lot compared to most cartoons)
aang didn’t have to compromise his beliefs by killing ozai, and he wasn’t seen as weak for finding a way around it
zuko’s character development
azula’s portrayal as someone sad, rather than as someone to mock, especially in light of her obvious mental illness (at least, that’s how i saw it, if others saw differently i won’t argue, i haven’t got the ‘bad’ mental illnesses)
uncle iroh’s relationship with zuko and it’s development through the show
the clear message that power is nothing if you have no compassion
the message about it being okay to dislike your family if they’re abusive (zuko, toph to a point), and that found families are just as good, if not better
the characters respecting aang’s philosophies about nonviolence and compassion
aang keeping his cheerfulness and sense of joy, even through rough situations
the message that you can’t do everything alone, and needing help isn’t weakness
that time sokka got high on cactus juice
“death is an illusion, and so are pants”
the entire show is what i love
