The fandom is split between whether Aang becoming a bad father was a good decision or not and whether it made sense. But the one thing everyone can agree on is why Katara would just sit there and take it and wouldn’t call him out on his shit. Katara had no problems calling out Aang during the original series. I mean, even if she was in love with him and sympathetic to his circumstances, she’s still emotionally mature enough to recognize that her other two have been neglected. After the trauma she experienced as a child, I doubt she would want her children to not have a present father in their lives. And you’re telling me Kya and Bumi didn’t even have Sokka in their lives to become like a second father to them? None of the children even so much as mention Sokka; he doesn’t even exist to them. Only Tenzin brings him up once and he literally refers to him as “Chief Sokka.” So if we are to accept that Aang is a bad father, we also have to accept that Katara and Sokka did nothing and sat by and watched it happen. Which reeaaally doesn’t sound like the original team avatar so I’m sorry but I don’t buy it.

Old Toph makes me cry every time, since she always recognized Aang by how light his steps were and called him by that nickname, in jest and sincerity, and asked him directly "do you think friendships can last more than one lifetime?"..
"Nice to see you again Twinkle-Toes" ❤
She knew by the lightness of the footsteps, a friendship that transcends a lifetime. ❤

I also love how it explored how deadly air bending can be when not used by the pacifistic air nomads. When Zahere uses air bending to literally suck the breath out of the earth queens lungs... horrifying

loving that zuzu - the most complex, traumatized, daddy-issues endowed character with emotional issues - was canonically the one with the best relationship with his child (as far as we know) 😭

Aang being a bad father always bothered me so much for one reason: Katara. This show treated their marriage like a... I don't know, it often acted like Aang and Katara were never truly together as parents, kids were always seen like either Aang's kids or Katara's kids depending on the story the show was telling at the point. In the second season when we found out Aang wasn't a great father and he favored Tenzin, Katara was completely forgotten and pushed out of the story. Are you telling me that Katara who as a child was looking after other kids in her village, Katara who became the mother figure in her older brother's life after their mother died despite being a child herself, Katara who worried and tried to help Toph despite them clashing often, Katara who was the mother figure in their tiny group who kept them together and didn't take no shit just sat there and let Aang favor one of their kids so obviously???? She was just okay with Aang taking Tenzin everywhere and leaving Kaya and Bumi back at home??? Are you telling me Katara never talked to Aang about this??? Katara is very sympathetic the whole time but adult Katara just doesn't give a shit about what Aang does with their kids? Who is that woman?!?!1
So Aang being a not-so-great father isn't actually about him, it's about Katara and their marriage. It makes sense for Aang to feel so close to Tenzin after everything he's been through, suddenly there's another airbender in the world, it must be really emotional and difficult for him. But Katara is someone who would remind Aang that he still has 2 other kids and they deserve the same love and attention. Especially after we saw how much Katara suffered when her father had to go away because of the war. No way she's letting that shit happen, I'm sorry. LoK's writing is very messy and poor but I like the show in general. But Atla's strength was its characters while in LoK apart from Tenzin and Korra (and sometimes Lin), most characters are poorly written and they are just there. I swear they forgot Katara exists for a second when they were writing this plot lmao

My one issue with Aang's kids (and this may sound nitpicky) is why are they so....culture coded? I mean, yeah, Tenzin was the only airbender so Aang obviously had to focus training on him, but that doesn't mean Kya and Bumi aren't air nomads themselves. One could argue Aang didn't want to impose his culture on them, but given their dialogue both of them clearly resent Aang and Tenzin for excluding them, to the point it feels like Katara raised them as a single mother....which explains why Kya would be water tribe coded, but....why isn't Bumi?

Is Tenzin not allowed to wear blue? is Kya not allowed to wear orange? is Bumi not allowed to wear either? (I do recall him wearing a blue undershirt once tho, I think). I know they just wanted to make it visually easy to percieve who's who (airbender, waterbender, nonbender/"earth" namesake), but contextually it just seems like Aang and Katara segregated their own children, and that feels ...wrong.

ALSO! neither of Katara's parents were waterbenders, yet she is one, so it can definitely skip a generation (or two?). Even if Bumi was a nonbender, his children could still very well be airbenders (or waterbenders).

Isn't Toph's first appearance in the swamp also? I find it full circle on how we first see her appearance in the show and now how she seeks enlightenment in the swamp.

I liked that Toph was in the swamp, especially since in ATLA that is literally where the audience first sees her. In Aang's vision in the swamp.

I think Aang would have wanted kids because he was always so fun oving, but Tenzin i think didnt - he stayed with Lin for so long and then when he becomes the last airbender, switches to pema and has 4 kids in less than 15 years? That to me sounds like having kids out of obligation rather than wanting them

I really love about Tenzin, that even though he pretty much dresses up as Aang, you can defenetively see Katara's emotional temper as well as herbbull headedness shine through. As much as people always say Katara was poeticly waxing about hope, when I think about Katara, I think about how she crushed the iceberg because she was angry at Sokka or how she constantly fought with Toph because she simply was convinced to be right, or at least more right. Or how she repeatedly refused to leave a town because they needed help.

And when Tenzin loses his temper and fails to be the peaceful (old? he's like in his late 30s) wise man, he just seems to be a well rounded character.

21:30- I don't think the ban of female bending in The North still exists by Korra's time; we see Korra's cousin, Eska, who's literally the tribal princess and is shown openly and proficiently waterbending and is not reprimanded by her father for doing so. Katara's whole thing with Pakku probably led to the ban falling apart.

While I'm fine with broken families being portrayed in media, but what I don't like is that it doesn't match the character's...well character.
I reeeeeally don't like that they made Aang a bad dad, whether he was aware of it or not, because Aang doesn't seem like the type to IGNORE his children in favor of one. If I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure Tenzin's sister mentioned how Aang would ONLY take Tenzin of field trips around the world. Like excuse me? Aang would never just abandon his WIFE and TWO CHILDREN just to go ride some koi fish with his youngest child. And even if he did, KATARA, Miss All Up in Your Business, Speak Her Mind Regurdless of Who It's To, Mom of the CENTURY...didn't have anything to say to Aang about that? Imo, Katara would've smacked the arrow off his head, sat him down, and told him that what he's doing is wrong. And it's not like Aang wouldn't listen.

I think Aang being a bad dad is actually a really good decision. It does make sense for his character as he never really had an adult figure in his life after coming out of the iceberg

They could have given aang a different parent fuck up, him neglecting his two other kids wasn’t it. Could’ve simply made it so that he was harder on tenzin and was actually more loving and fatherly to his other kids. Making tenzin mad at aang and his siblings

38:00 I love how Kya was such a good match for Zaheer in that moment because she had actually trained with airbdenders before. He was stomping everyone before he came up against her.

Aang being a bad father is fine if you do it right. Making one of the most compassionate characters in the series just cast aside his children because they aren’t airbenders doesn’t make sense. Especially when you consider that the Air Acolytes were a thing, aang clearly had no issue teaching non airbenders the air nomad teachings. Not to mention the absolute character assassination it does to Katara as well.

Honestly, Aang not being a great dad tracks given his whole… everything. He’s a fun uncle type! It’s really more weird that Katara and to a lesser extent Sokka let it slide.

 My big problem is that the pattern of shitty parenting amongst the Gaang is it’s just another way the story puts down the older characters to prop up the new ones. The old characters are either all dead, passive, or… Zuko. And it’s weird as hell, given that in the OG, being old did nothing to limit bending power. Ba Sing Se was retaken by a handful of old men. Bumi is literally 112 years old and kicks so much ass his feet need condoms. Old people are very active in the story. And then in Korra they are just… gently dunked on and toned down so the newbies could shine.

 Zuko is a bit of an odd exception. It’s actually really funny. Besides the fact he seems to be tight with his daughter, there is also just. Toph and Katara generally being like “Nah, I’m too old. You youngins take it.” Cut to Zuko, older than both of them, riding around on a dragon going to fight in a fucking snowstorm as firebender. In his 80’s, wanting all the smoke but in like the worse possible position to show off his skills, making him look like a bit of bitch. Because they can’t let the legacy characters be too cool, they’ll out shine the newbies.

 It really seems like a lot of it could have been avoided if they just made a show about the avatar after Korra instead or just… had Aang die older so the others would also reasonably be dead by show start.

Toph being a cop is the REAL problem of this show 💀

This series wasn't as good as its predecesor but it certainly deserves more recognition.

12:57 Su may have changed since hurting Lin but we never hear or find out if she apologised for it (nor Toph for the way she invalidated Lin during that same incident).  Owning up to your mistakes & making things right with those you hurt is over half the process when it comes to change & growth.