Aaaaand finished. Much like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, I really powered through the back half of this show, and much like with Steven Universe, the real enjoyment came after taking a lot of time to warm up to it. Reading this thread for some week-by-week reactions to the third season, esp. the finale, was pretty entertaining.
Deus Ex Machina don’t bother me too much, and I was a sucker for Aang/Katara from the get-go, so there wasn’t much about the end that hit me wrong. Watching the Old People Faction kick ass and re-take Ba Sing Se was epic as fuck, and Zuko/Katara’s battle against his unhinged sister was epic as hell. Would have loved to get more meteor swording and earthcrushing blows from Sokka and Toph, as others mentioned, but overall, hard to complain about. The Aang/Ozai fight was heavily reminiscent of DBZ cinematography what with the breathless sailing through impossible rock-towers, blasting each other mercilessly with fireballs, in a way that really struck a chord with my inner 13-year-old.
I think I walk away loving Katara most; her strength, bravery, purpose, and vision really do pull the team through again and again, and watching her get some real payoff from all that (basically dragging them bodily through the dessert after Appa’s stolen, and the whole tiff with Toph about mothering the team) was very rewarding. It probably doesn’t hurt that she reminds me heavily of a dear friend who shares many of those traits (and gets many of those same critiques), heh. Toph, Iroh, Mai, the kooky inventor dude, and Suki also stood out a lot.
I didn’t jive with Sokka quite as well. Never actively disliked him, but I was surprised by the outpouring of deep affection as I read through others’ concluding thoughts in this thread! And while I definitely dug Zuko’s arc and complex redemption (the mini-quests with everyone, and Toph whining about not getting a good one, was awesome), he’s just a little too whiny-emo Kylo Ren for me too much of the time to really love.
In any case, the development was fantastic, and the worldbuilding was just a ton of fun. Loved the hybrid animal wackiness throughout, and the crazy landscapes and fascinating city designs the showrunners showcased each season.
Also, holy fuck Ba Sing Se’s secret government agent mind-controlling motherfucker faction was creepy as shit. I may have already mentioned that in my S2 thoughts, but dammit, they deserve to get called out again. 1000% fuck those dudes :)
On to Korra, with everyone’s various reservations and grains of salt in mind. I’ll probably take a break till at least tomorrow, though; I watched like 4 hours of Avatar tonight >.>
And @Rock8man, @WhollySchmidt, @Calelari, @Daagar, @Balasarius, @lordkosc, get thee to the She-Ra thread and watch it, dagnabbit :P
If you don’t like it, I owe you one “Told you so, you show-evangelizing crazy person!” each.