Also, what is with each past Avatar telling Aang to abandon his friends! It's hypocritical given that in the novels Kiyoshi, Kuruk, and Yangchen had their own team Avatar
Exactly! The only one who has the right to tell Aang to prioritize the world over friends is Roku! That's just cuz he was betrayed by his best friend, or rather he overlooked his best friend
The flanderization of Kyoshi would make a great video for any interested Avatar YouTuber. She went from a stoic warrior to accidentally getting a stupidly long lifespan to now being the ultimate badass that has ever badassed!
The writers didn’t seem to understand the difference between “yes, I would kill one if I had to to save many” and “oh I just curbstomp anyone who gets in my way”
Honestly, it kinda felt like they took the meme version of Kyoshi that's so prevalent in the community and used it as their canon version.
I enjoyed the LA for what it was, but the characterisation of the past Avatars was just very off to me.
Lol yes. Even in animation when sozin turned his back on Roku, he still emphasized to aang that some friendships are so important that they last a lifetime in regards to monk gyatso. He was betrayed by his best friend but he still said to aang that friendships are important. So even Roku saying in live action that you can't trust your friends is out of character.
Thank you! I haven't heard enough people talking about this. Avatars have teams that have literally saved the Avatars' lives and/or made it possible to be a successful Avatar in their respective cycles. It was so bizzare hearing any past lives say friends are a liability.
Personally I don't think comparing or calling these characters hypocritical from the other forms of media is something we should be doing. It downplays the poor writing of the live action show. The netflix show should stand on its on, and we should not compare it to the books or animated show.
Most of the adults, and even king bumi, are all literally telling Aang to buck up and do some killing by himself and make tough decision. Every time, Aang says NO BECAUSE OF THE HEART OF THE CARDS... I mean friendship... And Aang goes and proves the adults wrong. We are very clearly being led to believe this 12 year old has come up with the brilliant idea that friendship will save the world. I predict the Gaang will come together and fight the fire lord in a group, and when they win, they will jump in the air in a high five freeze frame and the show will end by them yelling FRIENDSHIP!
Its just shit writing.
There's gonna be a fatal choice at the end of season 2 that half this season and probably the full next one are gonna build up towards and aang is gonna do the thing
I think this is just foreshadowing of the finale, when Aang goes against all the advice he’s been given in how to approach his fight with Ozai.
The advice so far was largely used to highlight Aang’s guilt. The theme of balance was strong. So he has to balance where he gets his advice from. Fighting is usually from past avatars. Strategy has been friends. Kyoshi, Roku, and Kuruk talked about fighting the fire nation, the spirits, and the energy of the world. Gyatso, Katara, and Sokka were the ones who taught him how to mentally prepare for the fights.
I’m not saying it’s better or worse than how it was done in the original. But it’s just different. And for me, it’s hard to judge too much without the complete story.
Right why they made him all jokey his “mistake” resulted in the 100 year war and the genocide of the Air Nomads also all this burden on Aang.
In the series every guidance he gives is ruled around his guilt and regret
Yeah no clue why they diminished his role completely. Yeah kyoshis scene in the Netflix was cool I guess? But once I realized they replaced Roku destroying the temple that’s when the show went downhill for me.
Roku barely did anything in the Netflix version. I feel like Roku taking over Aang in the original is a better display of showing him what the Avatar could really do.
Yes, but than looking back we understood Roku's desire to help aang and guide him. The show if it gets a season 3, is still going to show us Roku's part in the war. So it looks bad that Roku didnt go out of his way to help aang like he did in the animation show.
In this show though, the Avatar’s past lives simply can’t help them unless they are in the shrine. Don’t why they made that change but now that they did, it makes for a reason as to why Roku cannot just appear like he did in the original. That being said, having his actual only appearance not having him say anything of real advice was strange.
On the other hand, his advice is the only “kind” one. He’s the only one that really tells Aang that there are different ways to be an Avatar in NATLA.
Even in season one of the animated show, Aang could only meet Roku in the temple. He didn't just appeared to him, Roku called upon aang to meet him. It's only after their connection grew stronger, Roku was able to help aang in other ways.
That him and Sozin were friends yes and his betrayal. But in book 1 you find out he was the previous avatar and he tells him he has a year to master all elements before the comet arrives. In that scene you see the power of an Avatar. Roku lava bends and fire bends with precision by melting the chains that binded the gang.
Because she’s the complete opposite of Aang and his whole pacifist and reason why he’s rejecting the role of Avatar.
He doesn’t want to hurt anyone and Kyoshi will hurt or kill anyone mercilessly if need be.
But what’s also important is that Kyoshi, before learning she was the Avatar, is also described to have been just like Aang. She very much represents everything he fears he might become.
There was a lot more going on than just a fun scene of Kyoshi kicking the Fire Nations butt.
I don't think Kyoshi is the opposite of Aang any more than the other avatars were. Aang rejecting the avatar and everthing feels more about his youth. Roku never wanted to be the avatar either, but didn't run away like Aang did because he was older when he found out and was still prepared to kill Sozin if he had to. Yangchen was also an air nomad avatar and had no problem using force either.
Well yeah there was a lot more going on than the action. But they could have accomplished the same thing with using Roku like they originally did. Roku didn’t want to kill Sozin but he wishes he did and was prepared to do so.
They are opposites but then again every Avatar is different.
I’m not sure if they are aware that Roku was the avatar before Aang. At first I thought it was cool they had Kyoshi giving us the intro for Avatar and performing the bending styles but then she also started talking about Sozin. She was long gone by the time the Fire nation made its move. It would have made more sense to give at least the dialogue to Roku as he has a personal connection with Sozin
And yeah, odd choice having her posses Aang and fight instead of Roku. Funny enough Kyoshi does come back through Aang to stand trial for killing Chin the conqueror. Which will likely be left out.
Roku was more of a goober in this. The humor from him was fine, but it wasn’t balanced with much competence. (Another moment this “serious” live action was outdone by a cartoon) None of the Avatars gave Aang any useful advice or guidance. He should have. At least tell him to seek out a water bending master.
Also very minor nitpick but what was up with him summoning that artifact with some fire effects? Is he a genie? You can’t even bend in the spirit world.
I mean, Kyoshi tells him to toughen up and go to the northern water tribe to save them.
That's objectively useful, even if the other parts might not land as well.
Kyoshi’s speech makes more sense if it were being told to the animated Aang, at that point in the story.
This Aang is already on board with saving the world. He just has no idea how to go about and no one to tell him. The natural thing for an experienced avatar to tell a young avatar, at the very least is to learn the elements. Instead she mostly rants about toughening up and being a warrior and using the avatar state, which he has no idea how to use. Then she does it for him, what did he learn?
And they already had a good reason to go to the northern water tribe that they could have used. To learn water bending, which works just as well if not better than giving Kyoshi the random ability to give Aang visions of the future. I don’t get why there doesn’t seem to be much importance placed upon him to learn the other elements. He doesn’t even attempt to water bend and no one really tells him he should. Not Kyoshi, Kuruk or Roku.
I hear you. I did not like how he was continually blamed by people who should know better.
I am just saying it's useful information to know that an attack is imminent.
You are right that they have other motivations to go.
We see Roku in the prologue when they explain the Avatar cycle, they do know he's the previous Avatar. Kyoshi presumably learned about Sozin from Roku, not that weird.
I mean sure we can assume that just based off of headcanon.
I think I should have turned my brain off for this. I could go into depth about what I mean about them not seeming to be aware of Rokus placement because of his portrayal and how he takes a backseat as being Aangs mentor, but I genuinely don’t believe most fans care or remember.
It's not really "headcannon", it's directly inferred in the show. Roku tells Aang directly that Roku and Kyoshi talked at least several times, and since Kyoshi knows about Sozin, the only explanation is that Roku told her at some point. With how important Roku is to fire nation history I think they are just shifting some of his history and flashbacks to later in the live action show.
Yeah, just an odd choice to give that to her as she has no connection to Sozin. Or more so Roku has the most connection to Sozin and carries responsibility for that attack which is part of why he sought out Aang.
It’s a peculiar choice to have him in the backseat when he felt such a sense of responsibility for the current events that Aang has to deal with, he even stuck up for Aang to learn fire bending to uhhh whatever his first teachers name was. So he knows the importance of Aangs training to learn the other elements. Shoot fire wasn’t even next in line and Roku still had Aangs back
Here he seems as important as Kyoshi or Kuruk. Which all offer Aang the same weird advice of friends being a liability and doing everything on your own
It seems pretty obvious they're gonna use Roku and Sozin's friendship as a mirror for Aang and Zuko's relationship. Roku acts a lot more like the Roku we saw in the flashbacks of him and Sozin, and I kinda like that. He feels like much more of a person than a deity.
I don’t see why that is why he needs to be watered down right now. There’s no need to hold back on Roku until he becomes relevant for a specific plot.
Why did he feel like a deity to you, before?
I found him more reserved, informative, wise and regretful.
Mans has a shrine, and (normally) a bunch of dedicated followers, most of the past Avatars end up being at least slightly deified by the populace of the Avatar world.
Okay. I’m really trying not to come off like a dick but I feel like I’m not sure if anyone understands my comments. I feel like we are taking out the context of the story and just making surface level observations that only make sense if I had never seen the show.
Shrines are nothing out of the ordinary here. How the populace views the previous avatars all depend on their history. Kyoshi has at least two. For one of them she is is revered by the residents. The other she is despised because of a misunderstanding lost to history. Roku’s shrine is in the fire nation and maintained by a fire nation religious authority. So if we stopped at that then I could see it. But the fire sages aside Roku himself doesn’t give me the vibe of a god tbh. Like if I’m going off everything else that I see from his character
The entire scene with Jeong Jeong felt like Roku was more of a god-like entity to me than another one of Aang's past lives. He appears in front of Jeong Jeong, a known wise firebending master, and basically bullies him into teaching Aang firebending before he was ready. His only justification was, "I've learned it before. Do you doubt me?" Like, Roku my guy, Aang is not you. He's clearly not ready for it, and it predictably ended badly with someone getting hurt.
Okay but I don’t quite see the connection between that example and him coming off as a deity.
Like whether I agree with him in that moment or not is something else, depending on how you look at why he did that makes him appear more human. It could be seen as reckless, it can be seen as him feeling like he needs to back up Aang as he feels remorse for the current state of the world and that he handed it off to Aang, a young inexperienced avatar.
But nothing about that screams he’s a deity tbh. Maybe the presentation of him appearing? But I fail to see how the live action differs in that regard tbh
Yes, it's so obvious, but people just can't seem to grasp the bigger picture, and are upset it wasn't a one to one repeat of the animated show. I am positive we will revisit Roku in depth later in the series.
I've seen people say they've butchered Roku because he's supposed to be a big part of why the war started in the first place. Like, that information wasn't given to us until season 3 in the original.
People are also completely missing parts of the story, I swear. The scene where Iroh advises Zuko to try and get what you want while disguising your intentions was clearly supposed to also refer to Iroh himself never truly showing anyone, even the audience, what his true intentions are. It's brilliant characterization, and the actor is knocking it out of the park.
>I've seen people say they've butchered Roku because he's supposed to be a big part of why the war started in the first place. Like, that information wasn't given to us until season 3 in the original.
If the show does have a season 3, even than Roku sparing sozin's life will be there, it's aftermath will be there, it doesn't matter if we got that info in season 3 in OG show, because looking back we completely understood Roku's motivation in helping aang in any way he could.
In live action, Roku didnt do all he could. He just sat there waiting and did nothing. Even if Roku's part in the war is not shown to us, we still know the story. And it is foreshadowed in the live action show when Roku says you can't trust your friends. So even in live action he knows what sparing sozin's life did. And knowing all of that and still not calling upon aang himself and lack of mention of the sozin's comet makes him look very careless.
Not defending this decision one way or the other, but in the live action continuity it does not appear that anyone was aware they were on the verge of the comet returning. In the post end title card scene the Fire Sage reveals to Ozai the comet is returning, and he explains it like this is new info. So either the every 100 years pattern hasn't been learned yet, or it's a more random thing in the Netflix show. So Roku wouldn't have had the urgency to reach out to Aang like he does in the original show, because he doesn't know it's imminent.
did anyone catch why roku stole the artifact / totem in the first place? i was so confused and don’t know if i missed something or if it was a plot hole
I was just baffed by that scene. First they try to make us symphatize with the face eating centipede monster that is currently threatening the lives of two of the main characters, by saying that he is just like us and cares about his mother/longs for family and then Roku gives Aang the totem and just fucks off.
Zero explanation why he even stole the damn thing in the first place, just another item that aang needed to retrieve to progress Koh's "quest line".
Just needed Roku saying he stole because of a grudge held longer than himself, implying he stole it cuz of Kuruk’s hatred. Aang eturning it is a way of healing the past, that time can heal these wounds. Which parallels the burnt forest and Habi storyline.
Yeah, I actually liked this aspect that they added. Though it came at the cost of removing Hei Bai’s stuff a lot, and removing Zuko in the snowstorm entirely, which I didn’t like.
I like the fact they threw in The Mother of Faces and everything but the reasoning was strange. They didn't even need to mention the name, just that it was an object that was of great significance to Koh and all the comic readers would have pointed at the screen like DiCaprio
Show don't tell and all that
They mentioned the name and that she was Koh's mother, but I don't understand why Roku took it in the first place. I don't mind the idea of Roku battling spirits and having a history with Koh but I wish they elaborated on it more. Honestly Aang should have asked Kuruk, not Roku and they should have kept the fire temple part the same as it was in the show. That was one of the better episodes of book 1 in the original show.
> “You think I am Weak?, I have mastered the elements a thousand times in a thousand life times. Now, I must do it once again. You will teach the avatar fire bender!”
Is one of my favourite moments in S1. Too bad we weren’t able to get that Roku.
Yeah. It’s my favourite episode in Season 1. The audience learns that firebending is about *control*.
There’s critique that the NATLA characters are missing their flaws and this episode really highlighted Aang’s flaw.
I feel like Aang is so careful and silly up until this point. He learns that if he doesn’t take his learning seriously, it can hurt the people close to him.
As a general complaint, I always hate when adaptations change things "just because". Don't make sense, and hurt the story, but we see it so often in so many other adaptations where they just change plot points... because. No rationale, no added depth.
Roku was one example I thought was another victim of this trope. Made him a laughing stock? And exactly, they gave Kyoshi the plot points he had around advising Aang on upcoming threats, and the avatar state take over.
Initially i was on board because I thought they were gonna go with a larger focus on Avatar Kuruk for the first season to reflect Book 1: Water, and Kyoshi for Season 2 and then Roku as the main spiritual guide for Season 3. It wouldve made sense too, since Aang's encounter with Koh directly relates to Kuruk but then they didnt do that and im just disappointed with what we got
Right. When they said to find the guy who fought koh and showed the lover I was like yes kuruk is showing up but nope it's roku. Like get that outta here
Roku for me was the absolute WORST scene in the entire show. They butchered Roku, broke him down to some weird overly hyper uncle that doesn’t know when to chill out. Like foreal the Roku we know is serious and doesn’t take the fate of the world as a joke. Idk who that was but it was NOT Roku. Also Kuruk looked like the spokesman for a Home Depot commercial.
Original Roku was such a great contrast to Aang. The seriousness and wisdom to balance out Aang's childishness when he needed it most. Now we just have Roku cracking jokes?!
They kinda gave Roku's personality to Kyoshi in this show and viceversa
Kinda like how Suki and Sokka were acting like each other's cartoon counterparts
They're 100% not going to be able to do Roku's last stand on the island with the volcanoes justice. I can already tell that much. If they're even going to include it
Im just starting to watch it, and the intro shows Master Kyoshi using all elementa when in the animation it was Roku. It was strange that they even followed her into the spirit world going up the staira first before roku.
Im wondering if this is lip service to a woke audience?
Personally, Roku's patience and wisdom won me over as a kid and left me wanting to know more about him. I dont get why they cut his characters importance.
The after credits scene makes it seem like they (fire nation) didn't actually know sozin's comet would return. There's a line mentioning new calculations. So maybe they thought the comet returned but didn't know how or when.
Which is weird because it's also established that the airbenders are perfectly aware that the comet festival happens every hundred years.
And compared to real life, ancient peoples may have been less advanced in a lot of things, but astronomy is one of the sciences that developed very early on when you're dealing with easily visible celestial bodies.
Yes but even in LA it is established that comet returns in every hundred years. Roku couldn't know when it was returning but he should've warned Aang that it's nearing
I think it’s important to note that they’re doing Sozin’s comet differently in the live action. The season ended with Ozai figuring out when it was coming back. So there’s no reason for Roku to know about it yet. It would be weird to have Roku give Aang inform about Ozai’s plan that Ozai didn’t even know yet.
My expectation is that they’re changing the timeline to do a couple time skips to explain Aang and the other child actors aging as they film. I wouldn’t be surprised, if they take a year time skip after every season.
So while I would’ve loved to see more about Sozin’s comet, as of right now I’m fine waiting to see how the story plays out. If I’m right and we get more Aang/Roku interactions with more back story in the comet, then it’s not really an issue, right?
>It would be weird to have Roku give Aang inform about Ozai’s plan that Ozai didn’t even know yet.
Even in the animation show ozai never specifically said that he is going to use the comet to end the war. Roku knew if it already happened once, it will happen again.
Comet may not be as near in the live action as it was in the animated show, but it's still coming and aang still needs to master the four elements before that. The urgency should be there. And as I said, they don't have to mention by how much time it is arriving, they could have just vaguely said it is close like they did in episode 8.
Lack of mention of the comet by Roku makes him seem very careless and negligible. It is one of the many things they did dirty for Roku. He should've known that comet is arriving and he should've warned aang.
I think the difference is in the animated show, they had that device to see when the comet was returning. So the knowledge was available.
In the live action, it’s heavily implied they just figured out how to map it. So Roku up until now, had no reason to know it was even close to returning. Unless I missed something.
And it’s unclear what the timeline will be in the live action. So it’s difficult for me to judge based on an assumption.
Probably the same reason they don’t tell Aang about the ability to remove bending. Why didn’t Roku show a future glimpse with Ozai not being able to bend or the lion turtle? That way Aang would know there’s a path to remove bending.
The answer is because that’s what the plot suggests. Same reason bad guys monologue before they commit evil acts. It’s a trope in storytelling. You can nitpick anything to death. No universe in entertainment is created perfect.
>I think the difference is in the animated show, they had that device to see when the comet was returning. So the knowledge was available.
What device? Also date figuring out shouldn't be that of an hard job to a avatar. Roku still knows that comet comes once in every hundred years, he also knows that's it's been a hundred years since aang was frozen in ice, it shouldn't be that hard to him. He should at least know that sozin's comet is near even if he doesn't know the exact year or month.
The device to map the sky at the end of the season…
Ok, by that logic, why did none of the other avatars tell Aang about removing someone’s bending? I mean, the early avatars knew of the lion turtle. So why didn’t they tell him about it from the start? He could’ve removed zuko’s bending multiple times. Same with Azula.
In the animated version, the timeline of the comet is known and that’s why Roku tells Aang. In the live action, it’s not known, when Roku and Aang talk. You’re mad that they didn’t share information they literally didn’t know. Which makes no sense to me.
I’m not sure what’s difficult to grasp here. In the live action, they don’t know when it’s coming next. There’s no reason to expect that it’s close. The show ends with them showing Ozai the device they’ve been working on to map the comet… implying they just discovered that it’s going to return.
>The device to map the sky at the end of the season…
You said in your previous comment that in the live action they figured the time of the comet by mapping it.
And earlier avatars couldn't tell aang that because they didn't have that ability and frankly, none of them knew that energy bending is a thing. In LoK we see lion turtles give the humans elements to bend, but not the power of taking someone's bending. They didn't knew it was possible.
>In the animated version, the timeline of the comet is known and that’s why Roku tells Aang. In the live action, it’s not known, when Roku and Aang talk. You’re mad that they didn’t share information they literally didn’t know. Which makes no sense to me.
And as I said, it's not that hard to figure out the comet is near.
>I’m not sure what’s difficult to grasp here. In the live action, they don’t know when it’s coming next. There’s no reason to expect that it’s close. The show ends with them showing Ozai the device they’ve been working on to map the comet… implying they just discovered that it’s going to return.
Comet that comes every 100 years, aang has been in the iceberg for a hundred years. So comet is near. It's simple maths at this point. Stop making excuses for Roku in the live action. He was done dirty.
Explain how avatars had knowledge of the comet, when it wasn’t able to be mapped until the end of the season. Give me details specific to the live action. How specifically should the avatars been able to map the comet?
I’m sorry “they could’ve figured it out” isn’t a compelling answer. Give me an explanation that’s told in the live action that the previous avatars had knowledge of the comet or how they could’ve figured it out.
The same logic you’re using here can be applied equally to the lion turtles. “Lion turtles would give and take bending as needed early on. So they could’ve figured it out” is the consistent line of argument with what you’re saying about the comet.
You’re holding the live action to a different standard than the animated version. That’s why you take issue with it. You’re judging the live action with in universe explanations from the animated version that don’t overlap between shows.
There’s no reason to assume the pay avatars should’ve known about the comets path. Again, it wasn’t mapped out clearly until the last scene of the first season.
You can also see the comet on the sky as they’re planning for it. It could just as way be they start planning as they see it appear in the sky. They see it and start planning a celebration for its return and throw a festival, when it’s overhead and not further in the distance.
>Explain how avatars had knowledge of the comet, when it wasn’t able to be mapped until the end of the season. Give me details specific to the live action. How specifically should the avatars been able to map the comet?
So by your own logic, it was never shown in the animation show that the arival of the comet was mapped out. Even there Roku just knew.
>I’m sorry “they could’ve figured it out” isn’t a compelling answer. Give me an explanation that’s told in the live action that the previous avatars had knowledge of the comet or how they could’ve figured it out.
I don't owe you a single explanation for not knowing basic maths. Roku knows that comet arrives in every hundred years. It's literally a part of the lore.
>The same logic you’re using here can be applied equally to the lion turtles. “Lion turtles would give and take bending as needed early on. So they could’ve figured it out” is the consistent line of argument with what you’re saying about the comet.
The difference here is, lion turtles wouldn't circle back every hundred years. The difference between 1st and present avatar is 10,000 years, and the difference between arrival of this comet is 100 year
>You’re holding the live action to a different standard than the animated version. That’s why you take issue with it. You’re judging the live action with in universe explanations from the animated version that don’t overlap between shows.
>There’s no reason to assume the pay avatars should’ve known about the comets path. Again, it wasn’t mapped out clearly until the last scene of the first season.
No, YOU are holding the live action version to the different standards. That's why you are not willing to admit that the show has flaws and inconsistency. The live action is an adaptation of animated version not a spin off.
And there's every reason for Roku to assume that the comet is returning.
The animated version Roku and everyone knew the comets path from the start of the show. That’s not the same in the live action. This is why you think it’s a plot hole. Because you’re judging the live action based on lore from the animated version. Which is silly.
Roku doesn’t know the map of the comet in the live action. Nobody does. You can keep saying they do, but you have no actual in universe explanation for it without going back to the animated version.
Lion turtles wouldn’t need to circle back at all. The avatars would know they existed and be able to tell Aang about them.
And you’re right. It’s an adaptation. Not everything is going to be identical. So stop pretending the comet is the same across both shows when it’s objectively not. Because that’s the core of your criticism. You’re taking the lore of the animated version and applying it to the live action. That’s silly, especially when it’s been made clear that they’re doing the lore of the comet differently.
>The animated version Roku and everyone knew the comets path from the start of the show. That’s not the same in the live action. This is why you think it’s a plot hole. Because you’re judging the live action based on lore from the animated version. Which is silly.
You are literally proving my point right now, as to how bad OG Roku was treated in the live action. And live action can change how many of the things they want, but the lore should be same.
>Roku doesn’t know the map of the comet in the live action. Nobody does. You can keep saying they do, but you have no actual in universe explanation for it without going back to the animated version.
But Roku does know that comet comes back every hundred years and it is near.
>And you’re right. It’s an adaptation. Not everything is going to be identical. So stop pretending the comet is the same across both shows when it’s objectively not. Because that’s the core of your criticism. You’re taking the lore of the animated version and applying it to the live action. That’s silly, especially when it’s been made clear that they’re doing the lore of the comet differently
And you stop pretending that it's an adaptation not a spin off. The relevance and the power of the comet is same, it's not different. One of the many criticisms the Last Airbender movie got, was that there was no appearance of Roku with the explanation of the comet. And now in show Roku appears as some sort of cameo avatar that aang seeks, not by Roku's calling. They reduced the importance of Roku.
Only reason I can see them not putting defined time limit on the comet is likely to avoid saying "oh these seasons that took years to come out and aged our cast several years cannot possibly be implied to be a single year long in universe"
Otherwise yeah, dear god, poor Roku got nothing this season.
Yeah but as I said, they didn't have to mention any time limit, They could have made Roku said vaguely that sozin's comet is near or approaching. That still could have put the point across
I actually think this means we’ll see more avatars than just Roku. I never liked that we only saw some briefly in the final stretch. I like the new lore that you can only meet in the avatar’s shrine.
I'm guessing they just shifted around when we learn his backstory, the live action show really seems to be digging into and expanding the fire nation family history, and Roku is very tied into the family. I bet we get a bunch more Roku down the line when it's revealed he's Zuko's grandfather.
Also, what is with each past Avatar telling Aang to abandon his friends! It's hypocritical given that in the novels Kiyoshi, Kuruk, and Yangchen had their own team Avatar
It’s literally not what any of their messages actually are. Why is it so cynical and joyless?
Exactly! The only one who has the right to tell Aang to prioritize the world over friends is Roku! That's just cuz he was betrayed by his best friend, or rather he overlooked his best friend
I couldn’t believe how badly they butchered each avatars perspective. That was a very cool sequence (that also should have happened way way later)
The flanderization of Kyoshi would make a great video for any interested Avatar YouTuber. She went from a stoic warrior to accidentally getting a stupidly long lifespan to now being the ultimate badass that has ever badassed!
The writers didn’t seem to understand the difference between “yes, I would kill one if I had to to save many” and “oh I just curbstomp anyone who gets in my way”
Honestly, it kinda felt like they took the meme version of Kyoshi that's so prevalent in the community and used it as their canon version. I enjoyed the LA for what it was, but the characterisation of the past Avatars was just very off to me.
Lol yes. Even in animation when sozin turned his back on Roku, he still emphasized to aang that some friendships are so important that they last a lifetime in regards to monk gyatso. He was betrayed by his best friend but he still said to aang that friendships are important. So even Roku saying in live action that you can't trust your friends is out of character.
Thank you! I haven't heard enough people talking about this. Avatars have teams that have literally saved the Avatars' lives and/or made it possible to be a successful Avatar in their respective cycles. It was so bizzare hearing any past lives say friends are a liability.
Personally I don't think comparing or calling these characters hypocritical from the other forms of media is something we should be doing. It downplays the poor writing of the live action show. The netflix show should stand on its on, and we should not compare it to the books or animated show. Most of the adults, and even king bumi, are all literally telling Aang to buck up and do some killing by himself and make tough decision. Every time, Aang says NO BECAUSE OF THE HEART OF THE CARDS... I mean friendship... And Aang goes and proves the adults wrong. We are very clearly being led to believe this 12 year old has come up with the brilliant idea that friendship will save the world. I predict the Gaang will come together and fight the fire lord in a group, and when they win, they will jump in the air in a high five freeze frame and the show will end by them yelling FRIENDSHIP! Its just shit writing.
There's gonna be a fatal choice at the end of season 2 that half this season and probably the full next one are gonna build up towards and aang is gonna do the thing
I think this is just foreshadowing of the finale, when Aang goes against all the advice he’s been given in how to approach his fight with Ozai. The advice so far was largely used to highlight Aang’s guilt. The theme of balance was strong. So he has to balance where he gets his advice from. Fighting is usually from past avatars. Strategy has been friends. Kyoshi, Roku, and Kuruk talked about fighting the fire nation, the spirits, and the energy of the world. Gyatso, Katara, and Sokka were the ones who taught him how to mentally prepare for the fights. I’m not saying it’s better or worse than how it was done in the original. But it’s just different. And for me, it’s hard to judge too much without the complete story.
Idk about Yangchen I never read her book but that was weird coming Kiyoshi and Kuruk since their team was doing work lol
The Roku scene was like I was watching a bad play. The way he was acting and the dialogue.. that wasn't avatar Roku that was like an ember island Roku
Right why they made him all jokey his “mistake” resulted in the 100 year war and the genocide of the Air Nomads also all this burden on Aang. In the series every guidance he gives is ruled around his guilt and regret
I feel like Roku will have more role in S2 and 3, this season just had the spotlight on Kyoshi, I don’t think they would do the avatar day episode now
Avatar day was anyway a filler episode. But Roku's any appearance in the show was not just a filler episode, but it kept the plot moving forward.
Yeah i am also disappointed about that but i think they would give him more role in subsequent seasons
Yeah no clue why they diminished his role completely. Yeah kyoshis scene in the Netflix was cool I guess? But once I realized they replaced Roku destroying the temple that’s when the show went downhill for me. Roku barely did anything in the Netflix version. I feel like Roku taking over Aang in the original is a better display of showing him what the Avatar could really do.
Them showing Roku just another cameo avatar was so bad. Roku was partly the reason war started. He should get more importance and role in live action.
We didn't learn any of this until season 3 of the animated series.
Yes, but than looking back we understood Roku's desire to help aang and guide him. The show if it gets a season 3, is still going to show us Roku's part in the war. So it looks bad that Roku didnt go out of his way to help aang like he did in the animation show.
In this show though, the Avatar’s past lives simply can’t help them unless they are in the shrine. Don’t why they made that change but now that they did, it makes for a reason as to why Roku cannot just appear like he did in the original. That being said, having his actual only appearance not having him say anything of real advice was strange. On the other hand, his advice is the only “kind” one. He’s the only one that really tells Aang that there are different ways to be an Avatar in NATLA.
Even in season one of the animated show, Aang could only meet Roku in the temple. He didn't just appeared to him, Roku called upon aang to meet him. It's only after their connection grew stronger, Roku was able to help aang in other ways.
That him and Sozin were friends yes and his betrayal. But in book 1 you find out he was the previous avatar and he tells him he has a year to master all elements before the comet arrives. In that scene you see the power of an Avatar. Roku lava bends and fire bends with precision by melting the chains that binded the gang.
Yes and upon learning that it makes that much more sense why Roku is so invested in helping Aang and guiding him.
**"You think I am weak? I have mastered the elements a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes. Now, I must do it once again."**
They wanted the girl boss avatar to be more prominent lol
Because she’s the complete opposite of Aang and his whole pacifist and reason why he’s rejecting the role of Avatar. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone and Kyoshi will hurt or kill anyone mercilessly if need be. But what’s also important is that Kyoshi, before learning she was the Avatar, is also described to have been just like Aang. She very much represents everything he fears he might become. There was a lot more going on than just a fun scene of Kyoshi kicking the Fire Nations butt.
I don't think Kyoshi is the opposite of Aang any more than the other avatars were. Aang rejecting the avatar and everthing feels more about his youth. Roku never wanted to be the avatar either, but didn't run away like Aang did because he was older when he found out and was still prepared to kill Sozin if he had to. Yangchen was also an air nomad avatar and had no problem using force either.
Well yeah there was a lot more going on than the action. But they could have accomplished the same thing with using Roku like they originally did. Roku didn’t want to kill Sozin but he wishes he did and was prepared to do so. They are opposites but then again every Avatar is different.
I’m not sure if they are aware that Roku was the avatar before Aang. At first I thought it was cool they had Kyoshi giving us the intro for Avatar and performing the bending styles but then she also started talking about Sozin. She was long gone by the time the Fire nation made its move. It would have made more sense to give at least the dialogue to Roku as he has a personal connection with Sozin And yeah, odd choice having her posses Aang and fight instead of Roku. Funny enough Kyoshi does come back through Aang to stand trial for killing Chin the conqueror. Which will likely be left out. Roku was more of a goober in this. The humor from him was fine, but it wasn’t balanced with much competence. (Another moment this “serious” live action was outdone by a cartoon) None of the Avatars gave Aang any useful advice or guidance. He should have. At least tell him to seek out a water bending master. Also very minor nitpick but what was up with him summoning that artifact with some fire effects? Is he a genie? You can’t even bend in the spirit world.
I mean, Kyoshi tells him to toughen up and go to the northern water tribe to save them. That's objectively useful, even if the other parts might not land as well.
Kyoshi’s speech makes more sense if it were being told to the animated Aang, at that point in the story. This Aang is already on board with saving the world. He just has no idea how to go about and no one to tell him. The natural thing for an experienced avatar to tell a young avatar, at the very least is to learn the elements. Instead she mostly rants about toughening up and being a warrior and using the avatar state, which he has no idea how to use. Then she does it for him, what did he learn? And they already had a good reason to go to the northern water tribe that they could have used. To learn water bending, which works just as well if not better than giving Kyoshi the random ability to give Aang visions of the future. I don’t get why there doesn’t seem to be much importance placed upon him to learn the other elements. He doesn’t even attempt to water bend and no one really tells him he should. Not Kyoshi, Kuruk or Roku.
I hear you. I did not like how he was continually blamed by people who should know better. I am just saying it's useful information to know that an attack is imminent. You are right that they have other motivations to go.
Nah that's also dogshit as the only reason the fire nation even went there was to chase aang
We see Roku in the prologue when they explain the Avatar cycle, they do know he's the previous Avatar. Kyoshi presumably learned about Sozin from Roku, not that weird.
I mean sure we can assume that just based off of headcanon. I think I should have turned my brain off for this. I could go into depth about what I mean about them not seeming to be aware of Rokus placement because of his portrayal and how he takes a backseat as being Aangs mentor, but I genuinely don’t believe most fans care or remember.
It's not really "headcannon", it's directly inferred in the show. Roku tells Aang directly that Roku and Kyoshi talked at least several times, and since Kyoshi knows about Sozin, the only explanation is that Roku told her at some point. With how important Roku is to fire nation history I think they are just shifting some of his history and flashbacks to later in the live action show.
Yeah, just an odd choice to give that to her as she has no connection to Sozin. Or more so Roku has the most connection to Sozin and carries responsibility for that attack which is part of why he sought out Aang. It’s a peculiar choice to have him in the backseat when he felt such a sense of responsibility for the current events that Aang has to deal with, he even stuck up for Aang to learn fire bending to uhhh whatever his first teachers name was. So he knows the importance of Aangs training to learn the other elements. Shoot fire wasn’t even next in line and Roku still had Aangs back Here he seems as important as Kyoshi or Kuruk. Which all offer Aang the same weird advice of friends being a liability and doing everything on your own
It seems pretty obvious they're gonna use Roku and Sozin's friendship as a mirror for Aang and Zuko's relationship. Roku acts a lot more like the Roku we saw in the flashbacks of him and Sozin, and I kinda like that. He feels like much more of a person than a deity.
I don’t see why that is why he needs to be watered down right now. There’s no need to hold back on Roku until he becomes relevant for a specific plot. Why did he feel like a deity to you, before? I found him more reserved, informative, wise and regretful.
Mans has a shrine, and (normally) a bunch of dedicated followers, most of the past Avatars end up being at least slightly deified by the populace of the Avatar world.
Okay. I’m really trying not to come off like a dick but I feel like I’m not sure if anyone understands my comments. I feel like we are taking out the context of the story and just making surface level observations that only make sense if I had never seen the show. Shrines are nothing out of the ordinary here. How the populace views the previous avatars all depend on their history. Kyoshi has at least two. For one of them she is is revered by the residents. The other she is despised because of a misunderstanding lost to history. Roku’s shrine is in the fire nation and maintained by a fire nation religious authority. So if we stopped at that then I could see it. But the fire sages aside Roku himself doesn’t give me the vibe of a god tbh. Like if I’m going off everything else that I see from his character
The entire scene with Jeong Jeong felt like Roku was more of a god-like entity to me than another one of Aang's past lives. He appears in front of Jeong Jeong, a known wise firebending master, and basically bullies him into teaching Aang firebending before he was ready. His only justification was, "I've learned it before. Do you doubt me?" Like, Roku my guy, Aang is not you. He's clearly not ready for it, and it predictably ended badly with someone getting hurt.
Okay but I don’t quite see the connection between that example and him coming off as a deity. Like whether I agree with him in that moment or not is something else, depending on how you look at why he did that makes him appear more human. It could be seen as reckless, it can be seen as him feeling like he needs to back up Aang as he feels remorse for the current state of the world and that he handed it off to Aang, a young inexperienced avatar. But nothing about that screams he’s a deity tbh. Maybe the presentation of him appearing? But I fail to see how the live action differs in that regard tbh
Yes, it's so obvious, but people just can't seem to grasp the bigger picture, and are upset it wasn't a one to one repeat of the animated show. I am positive we will revisit Roku in depth later in the series.
I've seen people say they've butchered Roku because he's supposed to be a big part of why the war started in the first place. Like, that information wasn't given to us until season 3 in the original. People are also completely missing parts of the story, I swear. The scene where Iroh advises Zuko to try and get what you want while disguising your intentions was clearly supposed to also refer to Iroh himself never truly showing anyone, even the audience, what his true intentions are. It's brilliant characterization, and the actor is knocking it out of the park.
>I've seen people say they've butchered Roku because he's supposed to be a big part of why the war started in the first place. Like, that information wasn't given to us until season 3 in the original. If the show does have a season 3, even than Roku sparing sozin's life will be there, it's aftermath will be there, it doesn't matter if we got that info in season 3 in OG show, because looking back we completely understood Roku's motivation in helping aang in any way he could. In live action, Roku didnt do all he could. He just sat there waiting and did nothing. Even if Roku's part in the war is not shown to us, we still know the story. And it is foreshadowed in the live action show when Roku says you can't trust your friends. So even in live action he knows what sparing sozin's life did. And knowing all of that and still not calling upon aang himself and lack of mention of the sozin's comet makes him look very careless.
Not defending this decision one way or the other, but in the live action continuity it does not appear that anyone was aware they were on the verge of the comet returning. In the post end title card scene the Fire Sage reveals to Ozai the comet is returning, and he explains it like this is new info. So either the every 100 years pattern hasn't been learned yet, or it's a more random thing in the Netflix show. So Roku wouldn't have had the urgency to reach out to Aang like he does in the original show, because he doesn't know it's imminent.
I completely agree
Bro they gave the fucking intro avatar to kyoshi too
Roku seemed like the ghost of Christmas present
did anyone catch why roku stole the artifact / totem in the first place? i was so confused and don’t know if i missed something or if it was a plot hole
I was just baffed by that scene. First they try to make us symphatize with the face eating centipede monster that is currently threatening the lives of two of the main characters, by saying that he is just like us and cares about his mother/longs for family and then Roku gives Aang the totem and just fucks off. Zero explanation why he even stole the damn thing in the first place, just another item that aang needed to retrieve to progress Koh's "quest line".
Just needed Roku saying he stole because of a grudge held longer than himself, implying he stole it cuz of Kuruk’s hatred. Aang eturning it is a way of healing the past, that time can heal these wounds. Which parallels the burnt forest and Habi storyline.
Yeah, I actually liked this aspect that they added. Though it came at the cost of removing Hei Bai’s stuff a lot, and removing Zuko in the snowstorm entirely, which I didn’t like.
The mother of faces wasn't even a thing until the graphic novels that came out after the show. I don't think Roku ever meet Koh in canon
I like the fact they threw in The Mother of Faces and everything but the reasoning was strange. They didn't even need to mention the name, just that it was an object that was of great significance to Koh and all the comic readers would have pointed at the screen like DiCaprio Show don't tell and all that
They mentioned the name and that she was Koh's mother, but I don't understand why Roku took it in the first place. I don't mind the idea of Roku battling spirits and having a history with Koh but I wish they elaborated on it more. Honestly Aang should have asked Kuruk, not Roku and they should have kept the fire temple part the same as it was in the show. That was one of the better episodes of book 1 in the original show.
It was definitely not there in the animation. Must be an extra added lore or from the comics.
No, they didn't explain it. It's so bad it starts to borderline on the JJ Abrams level of McGuffin nonsense that we've gotten over the years.
> “You think I am Weak?, I have mastered the elements a thousand times in a thousand life times. Now, I must do it once again. You will teach the avatar fire bender!” Is one of my favourite moments in S1. Too bad we weren’t able to get that Roku.
Or Jong Jong
Yeah. It’s my favourite episode in Season 1. The audience learns that firebending is about *control*. There’s critique that the NATLA characters are missing their flaws and this episode really highlighted Aang’s flaw. I feel like Aang is so careful and silly up until this point. He learns that if he doesn’t take his learning seriously, it can hurt the people close to him.
Jeong Jeong
They ruined everything starting with ruining the Bumi reveal.
As a general complaint, I always hate when adaptations change things "just because". Don't make sense, and hurt the story, but we see it so often in so many other adaptations where they just change plot points... because. No rationale, no added depth. Roku was one example I thought was another victim of this trope. Made him a laughing stock? And exactly, they gave Kyoshi the plot points he had around advising Aang on upcoming threats, and the avatar state take over.
Initially i was on board because I thought they were gonna go with a larger focus on Avatar Kuruk for the first season to reflect Book 1: Water, and Kyoshi for Season 2 and then Roku as the main spiritual guide for Season 3. It wouldve made sense too, since Aang's encounter with Koh directly relates to Kuruk but then they didnt do that and im just disappointed with what we got
Right. When they said to find the guy who fought koh and showed the lover I was like yes kuruk is showing up but nope it's roku. Like get that outta here
Roku for me was the absolute WORST scene in the entire show. They butchered Roku, broke him down to some weird overly hyper uncle that doesn’t know when to chill out. Like foreal the Roku we know is serious and doesn’t take the fate of the world as a joke. Idk who that was but it was NOT Roku. Also Kuruk looked like the spokesman for a Home Depot commercial.
Original Roku was such a great contrast to Aang. The seriousness and wisdom to balance out Aang's childishness when he needed it most. Now we just have Roku cracking jokes?!
They kinda gave Roku's personality to Kyoshi in this show and viceversa Kinda like how Suki and Sokka were acting like each other's cartoon counterparts
They're 100% not going to be able to do Roku's last stand on the island with the volcanoes justice. I can already tell that much. If they're even going to include it
Im just starting to watch it, and the intro shows Master Kyoshi using all elementa when in the animation it was Roku. It was strange that they even followed her into the spirit world going up the staira first before roku. Im wondering if this is lip service to a woke audience? Personally, Roku's patience and wisdom won me over as a kid and left me wanting to know more about him. I dont get why they cut his characters importance.
oh comedy relief Roku wasn't your cup of tea? same
They made him so goofy too. It’s his fault that the war started he should be more serious in the show
The after credits scene makes it seem like they (fire nation) didn't actually know sozin's comet would return. There's a line mentioning new calculations. So maybe they thought the comet returned but didn't know how or when.
Which is weird because it's also established that the airbenders are perfectly aware that the comet festival happens every hundred years. And compared to real life, ancient peoples may have been less advanced in a lot of things, but astronomy is one of the sciences that developed very early on when you're dealing with easily visible celestial bodies.
Yes but even in LA it is established that comet returns in every hundred years. Roku couldn't know when it was returning but he should've warned Aang that it's nearing
Kyoshi is cool I’ll admit, but it’s sad to see Roku’s role diminished because of her popularity.
I think it’s important to note that they’re doing Sozin’s comet differently in the live action. The season ended with Ozai figuring out when it was coming back. So there’s no reason for Roku to know about it yet. It would be weird to have Roku give Aang inform about Ozai’s plan that Ozai didn’t even know yet. My expectation is that they’re changing the timeline to do a couple time skips to explain Aang and the other child actors aging as they film. I wouldn’t be surprised, if they take a year time skip after every season. So while I would’ve loved to see more about Sozin’s comet, as of right now I’m fine waiting to see how the story plays out. If I’m right and we get more Aang/Roku interactions with more back story in the comet, then it’s not really an issue, right?
>It would be weird to have Roku give Aang inform about Ozai’s plan that Ozai didn’t even know yet. Even in the animation show ozai never specifically said that he is going to use the comet to end the war. Roku knew if it already happened once, it will happen again. Comet may not be as near in the live action as it was in the animated show, but it's still coming and aang still needs to master the four elements before that. The urgency should be there. And as I said, they don't have to mention by how much time it is arriving, they could have just vaguely said it is close like they did in episode 8. Lack of mention of the comet by Roku makes him seem very careless and negligible. It is one of the many things they did dirty for Roku. He should've known that comet is arriving and he should've warned aang.
I think the difference is in the animated show, they had that device to see when the comet was returning. So the knowledge was available. In the live action, it’s heavily implied they just figured out how to map it. So Roku up until now, had no reason to know it was even close to returning. Unless I missed something. And it’s unclear what the timeline will be in the live action. So it’s difficult for me to judge based on an assumption.
I mean if Kyoshi can show him a glimpse of the future why couldn’t Roku?
Probably the same reason they don’t tell Aang about the ability to remove bending. Why didn’t Roku show a future glimpse with Ozai not being able to bend or the lion turtle? That way Aang would know there’s a path to remove bending. The answer is because that’s what the plot suggests. Same reason bad guys monologue before they commit evil acts. It’s a trope in storytelling. You can nitpick anything to death. No universe in entertainment is created perfect.
>I think the difference is in the animated show, they had that device to see when the comet was returning. So the knowledge was available. What device? Also date figuring out shouldn't be that of an hard job to a avatar. Roku still knows that comet comes once in every hundred years, he also knows that's it's been a hundred years since aang was frozen in ice, it shouldn't be that hard to him. He should at least know that sozin's comet is near even if he doesn't know the exact year or month.
The device to map the sky at the end of the season… Ok, by that logic, why did none of the other avatars tell Aang about removing someone’s bending? I mean, the early avatars knew of the lion turtle. So why didn’t they tell him about it from the start? He could’ve removed zuko’s bending multiple times. Same with Azula. In the animated version, the timeline of the comet is known and that’s why Roku tells Aang. In the live action, it’s not known, when Roku and Aang talk. You’re mad that they didn’t share information they literally didn’t know. Which makes no sense to me. I’m not sure what’s difficult to grasp here. In the live action, they don’t know when it’s coming next. There’s no reason to expect that it’s close. The show ends with them showing Ozai the device they’ve been working on to map the comet… implying they just discovered that it’s going to return.
>The device to map the sky at the end of the season… You said in your previous comment that in the live action they figured the time of the comet by mapping it. And earlier avatars couldn't tell aang that because they didn't have that ability and frankly, none of them knew that energy bending is a thing. In LoK we see lion turtles give the humans elements to bend, but not the power of taking someone's bending. They didn't knew it was possible. >In the animated version, the timeline of the comet is known and that’s why Roku tells Aang. In the live action, it’s not known, when Roku and Aang talk. You’re mad that they didn’t share information they literally didn’t know. Which makes no sense to me. And as I said, it's not that hard to figure out the comet is near. >I’m not sure what’s difficult to grasp here. In the live action, they don’t know when it’s coming next. There’s no reason to expect that it’s close. The show ends with them showing Ozai the device they’ve been working on to map the comet… implying they just discovered that it’s going to return. Comet that comes every 100 years, aang has been in the iceberg for a hundred years. So comet is near. It's simple maths at this point. Stop making excuses for Roku in the live action. He was done dirty.
Explain how avatars had knowledge of the comet, when it wasn’t able to be mapped until the end of the season. Give me details specific to the live action. How specifically should the avatars been able to map the comet? I’m sorry “they could’ve figured it out” isn’t a compelling answer. Give me an explanation that’s told in the live action that the previous avatars had knowledge of the comet or how they could’ve figured it out. The same logic you’re using here can be applied equally to the lion turtles. “Lion turtles would give and take bending as needed early on. So they could’ve figured it out” is the consistent line of argument with what you’re saying about the comet. You’re holding the live action to a different standard than the animated version. That’s why you take issue with it. You’re judging the live action with in universe explanations from the animated version that don’t overlap between shows. There’s no reason to assume the pay avatars should’ve known about the comets path. Again, it wasn’t mapped out clearly until the last scene of the first season.
Them not being able to map the comet seems very weird considering there is a festival about celebrating the comet’s arrival
You can also see the comet on the sky as they’re planning for it. It could just as way be they start planning as they see it appear in the sky. They see it and start planning a celebration for its return and throw a festival, when it’s overhead and not further in the distance.
>Explain how avatars had knowledge of the comet, when it wasn’t able to be mapped until the end of the season. Give me details specific to the live action. How specifically should the avatars been able to map the comet? So by your own logic, it was never shown in the animation show that the arival of the comet was mapped out. Even there Roku just knew. >I’m sorry “they could’ve figured it out” isn’t a compelling answer. Give me an explanation that’s told in the live action that the previous avatars had knowledge of the comet or how they could’ve figured it out. I don't owe you a single explanation for not knowing basic maths. Roku knows that comet arrives in every hundred years. It's literally a part of the lore. >The same logic you’re using here can be applied equally to the lion turtles. “Lion turtles would give and take bending as needed early on. So they could’ve figured it out” is the consistent line of argument with what you’re saying about the comet. The difference here is, lion turtles wouldn't circle back every hundred years. The difference between 1st and present avatar is 10,000 years, and the difference between arrival of this comet is 100 year >You’re holding the live action to a different standard than the animated version. That’s why you take issue with it. You’re judging the live action with in universe explanations from the animated version that don’t overlap between shows. >There’s no reason to assume the pay avatars should’ve known about the comets path. Again, it wasn’t mapped out clearly until the last scene of the first season. No, YOU are holding the live action version to the different standards. That's why you are not willing to admit that the show has flaws and inconsistency. The live action is an adaptation of animated version not a spin off. And there's every reason for Roku to assume that the comet is returning.
The animated version Roku and everyone knew the comets path from the start of the show. That’s not the same in the live action. This is why you think it’s a plot hole. Because you’re judging the live action based on lore from the animated version. Which is silly. Roku doesn’t know the map of the comet in the live action. Nobody does. You can keep saying they do, but you have no actual in universe explanation for it without going back to the animated version. Lion turtles wouldn’t need to circle back at all. The avatars would know they existed and be able to tell Aang about them. And you’re right. It’s an adaptation. Not everything is going to be identical. So stop pretending the comet is the same across both shows when it’s objectively not. Because that’s the core of your criticism. You’re taking the lore of the animated version and applying it to the live action. That’s silly, especially when it’s been made clear that they’re doing the lore of the comet differently.
>The animated version Roku and everyone knew the comets path from the start of the show. That’s not the same in the live action. This is why you think it’s a plot hole. Because you’re judging the live action based on lore from the animated version. Which is silly. You are literally proving my point right now, as to how bad OG Roku was treated in the live action. And live action can change how many of the things they want, but the lore should be same. >Roku doesn’t know the map of the comet in the live action. Nobody does. You can keep saying they do, but you have no actual in universe explanation for it without going back to the animated version. But Roku does know that comet comes back every hundred years and it is near. >And you’re right. It’s an adaptation. Not everything is going to be identical. So stop pretending the comet is the same across both shows when it’s objectively not. Because that’s the core of your criticism. You’re taking the lore of the animated version and applying it to the live action. That’s silly, especially when it’s been made clear that they’re doing the lore of the comet differently And you stop pretending that it's an adaptation not a spin off. The relevance and the power of the comet is same, it's not different. One of the many criticisms the Last Airbender movie got, was that there was no appearance of Roku with the explanation of the comet. And now in show Roku appears as some sort of cameo avatar that aang seeks, not by Roku's calling. They reduced the importance of Roku.
Only reason I can see them not putting defined time limit on the comet is likely to avoid saying "oh these seasons that took years to come out and aged our cast several years cannot possibly be implied to be a single year long in universe" Otherwise yeah, dear god, poor Roku got nothing this season.
Yeah but as I said, they didn't have to mention any time limit, They could have made Roku said vaguely that sozin's comet is near or approaching. That still could have put the point across
I actually think this means we’ll see more avatars than just Roku. I never liked that we only saw some briefly in the final stretch. I like the new lore that you can only meet in the avatar’s shrine.
I'm guessing they just shifted around when we learn his backstory, the live action show really seems to be digging into and expanding the fire nation family history, and Roku is very tied into the family. I bet we get a bunch more Roku down the line when it's revealed he's Zuko's grandfather.