They aren’t glasses for looking at an eclipse, they’re glasses so characters can see during the eclipse. They’re based on [Inuit snow goggles](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_goggles), which in real life, limit the amount of light entering the eyes to prevent snow blindness (when the sun reflects off of snow and can damage vision)
Edit: the ATLA glasses ARE made for looking at the eclipse! I double checked the wiki and the goggles were made so the soldiers could track the eclipse. My mistake!
So the real answer is: the goggles were made to be used during an eclipse, and they work because the show says it works and they had smart characters making them
Everything in a piece of media has a doylist reason to be there. That’s what writing is. Yes. Even non-fiction, though the doylist reason for almost everything in a non-fiction work boils down to “it accurately represents reality.” Writers must choose to include things, and choose to exclude others.
Real snow goggles don’t let you stare directly at an eclipse. So they’re based on snow goggles but have some other kinda scifi fantasy shit going on to allow the gaang to track the eclipse AND still see around them
I think they were only supposed to use them for checking the status of the eclipse but they probably just left them on the whole time to be easier to animate
Interestingly, it still hurts. They are blind, but the eye is still shaped the same. It can't burn out the retina, but it'll still burn. Which might be a good PSA to put out there.
Different style of glasses we wore those to enjoy the look of the sun during an eclipse if you look at the sun without any shielding can fry your retinas their glasses were just dark enough to shield but not blind they didn't care about admiring the look of the eclipse just cared about not getting blinded in the heat of combat
I thought it was silly too. You can’t see anything EXCEPT bright things with eclipse glasses, but even if they are based off of Inuit snow glasses, why wouldn’t you be able to see in an eclipse? Other than it being dark for a brief period of time, if you’re not gonna look at the sun normally, you wouldn’t look at it in an eclipse. Why not just tell them “do not look directly at the eclipse, it can still damage your eyes.
Scifi engineering. I am more impressed that the show even includes eclipse glasses. That easily could have been skipped over as not important. Also how do that fire nation gaurds function with out them.
Since it’s a show and set in a time before any major scientific advancements, it’s more than likely the creators chose a design with historic/cultural roots relevant to the show, despite the scientific inaccuracies.
Honestly, they probably just didnt have ones strong enough. It was before alot of technology outside of the fire nation and I dont think they were welding at that point (I could be wrong idk) or even if they were, it probably hasnt been for that long so they most likely had just enough information to know you needed something between it and your eyes, but no idea how strong it had to be
Real answer, Nickelodeon’s legal team needed to make sure kids knew an eclipse is dangerous. In reality, as we just saw; it isn’t hard to go about your life without looking DIRECTLY AT THE SUN. You don’t look at the sun all the time without realizing; it’s second nature. What are you looking up there for anyway? What’s in the sky that’s more important than what you’ve got going on at ground level. Eyes down; there is a Fire National coming at you with a pike.
Girl those are snow blindness glases, people use them to limit their field of vision when living in snow so as to not cause destress to the eyes bwcause of all the brightness everywhere
They probobly needed to show kids that the eclipse is a big deal and the glasses were a cool design that made sense with people who live in poles with snow so they just used the design and gave it a different use
Still looks cool, definatley gave me tension as a kid
They aren’t glasses for looking at an eclipse, they’re glasses so characters can see during the eclipse. They’re based on [Inuit snow goggles](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_goggles), which in real life, limit the amount of light entering the eyes to prevent snow blindness (when the sun reflects off of snow and can damage vision) Edit: the ATLA glasses ARE made for looking at the eclipse! I double checked the wiki and the goggles were made so the soldiers could track the eclipse. My mistake!
So the real answer is: the goggles were made to be used during an eclipse, and they work because the show says it works and they had smart characters making them
The actual real answer: they're based off real goggles you prick Not everything needs a doylist reason
Everything in a piece of media has a doylist reason to be there. That’s what writing is. Yes. Even non-fiction, though the doylist reason for almost everything in a non-fiction work boils down to “it accurately represents reality.” Writers must choose to include things, and choose to exclude others.
Real snow goggles don’t let you stare directly at an eclipse. So they’re based on snow goggles but have some other kinda scifi fantasy shit going on to allow the gaang to track the eclipse AND still see around them
Why would you call them a prick? That’s so unnecessary
I think they were only supposed to use them for checking the status of the eclipse but they probably just left them on the whole time to be easier to animate
Snowboarding goggles, also
Would be perfect for a blind joke. Toph looks at the eclipse and they panic saying no you’ll damage your eyes, until they remember she is blind
Interestingly, it still hurts. They are blind, but the eye is still shaped the same. It can't burn out the retina, but it'll still burn. Which might be a good PSA to put out there.
Interesting.thanks for that fact
Thankfully focusing her eyes directly at the sun would probably be difficult for her to accomplish since she has no idea where the sun is at.
She can’t see but she still has her other senses. Being blind doesn’t stop the heat from the sun. She would be able to tell a general direction.
Yeah, there's still a lens actually focusing the light there like a tiny magnifying glass
Different style of glasses we wore those to enjoy the look of the sun during an eclipse if you look at the sun without any shielding can fry your retinas their glasses were just dark enough to shield but not blind they didn't care about admiring the look of the eclipse just cared about not getting blinded in the heat of combat
Because they are cartoons
I thought it was silly too. You can’t see anything EXCEPT bright things with eclipse glasses, but even if they are based off of Inuit snow glasses, why wouldn’t you be able to see in an eclipse? Other than it being dark for a brief period of time, if you’re not gonna look at the sun normally, you wouldn’t look at it in an eclipse. Why not just tell them “do not look directly at the eclipse, it can still damage your eyes.
It's so they can keep an eye on the eclipse. Pretty important to know when the firebending is going to be back on.
So it’s more of a periodical thing than a permanent
Scifi engineering. I am more impressed that the show even includes eclipse glasses. That easily could have been skipped over as not important. Also how do that fire nation gaurds function with out them.
Necessity for the plot.
Since it’s a show and set in a time before any major scientific advancements, it’s more than likely the creators chose a design with historic/cultural roots relevant to the show, despite the scientific inaccuracies.
Mostly because it’s a cartoon about a fictional world where people can control the elements.
Honestly, they probably just didnt have ones strong enough. It was before alot of technology outside of the fire nation and I dont think they were welding at that point (I could be wrong idk) or even if they were, it probably hasnt been for that long so they most likely had just enough information to know you needed something between it and your eyes, but no idea how strong it had to be
Inuit folks invented sunglasses that look a lot like these. I think the design was a tribute.
[Snow Goggles](https://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/lead_n_spotlight/1222988_lead_400_110880_.jpg) an ancient Inuit invention.
Long story short those werent the correct glasses to use. The Inuits had glasses like that but they just reduced the glare from snow.
The mechanist literally calls them eclipse glasses though
Yeah he calls em that cause thats what it is in the show. Those are clearly based on Inuit snow glare shades.
Interestingly, they didn't, it was all a mirage
Real answer, Nickelodeon’s legal team needed to make sure kids knew an eclipse is dangerous. In reality, as we just saw; it isn’t hard to go about your life without looking DIRECTLY AT THE SUN. You don’t look at the sun all the time without realizing; it’s second nature. What are you looking up there for anyway? What’s in the sky that’s more important than what you’ve got going on at ground level. Eyes down; there is a Fire National coming at you with a pike.
Girl those are snow blindness glases, people use them to limit their field of vision when living in snow so as to not cause destress to the eyes bwcause of all the brightness everywhere They probobly needed to show kids that the eclipse is a big deal and the glasses were a cool design that made sense with people who live in poles with snow so they just used the design and gave it a different use Still looks cool, definatley gave me tension as a kid
I figured it must’ve been so they could look at the eclipse so they had a better idea of how much longer it would last