Because I finally realized that I can have my notes and VLC player opened side by side. Anyway -
Gonna go down to the beach!~
With......
The bad guys?
Yes, The Fire Lord wants to meet with his advisors alone, which is odd considering Azula is probably far more competent than any person under her father’s command, but we need to kick this shit off somehow.
It certainly seems like a nice place to relax!
Even if their cabin smells a bit…weird.
Yeah, Lo and Li were definitely Azulon’s concubines.
The kids (Except Ty Lee of course) keep shittalking the house but this is amazing and I love it.
Meanwhile, the Gaang is chilling out in a swimming hole, and Aang accidentally exposes himself as the Avatar to some bored Fire Nation Soldier.
And the fire psychic assassin who Zuko hired intercepts the messenger hawk.
And goes to attack the Gaang; There’s no music during a part of this sequence, only the sounds of blasts, rocks, and elements.
Side note; The score in this sounds very much like a video game from the 90’s. Think Chamelon Twist.
This beach montage is basically ‘Oh look our Fire Nation kids don’t know how to actually be teenagers.’
Azula is jealous that between Ty Lee (Whom everyone likes) and Mai and Zuko, she gets no attention from anyone.
That happens.
They play volleyball with some sick OTT moves like jumping off each other to spike the ball super hard.
“YES, WE HAVE DEFEATED YOU FOR ALL TIME, YOU WILL NEVER RISE FROM THE ASHES OF YOUR HUMILIATION!”
“Well, that was fun.”
Surprisingly, no one seems to recognize that two of these four newcomers are the heirs to the throne of their country. Including two bigheaded boys that invite Ty Lee and Mai to a party.
And there’s more of Azula not knowing how to interact with anyone, Mai being very annoyed at Zuko’s raging jealousy.
If it seems like I’m skipping a lot of this - I am. It’s a lot of teenagery stuff. The real character development is later.
Zuko has left and goes not to the beach house they’re staying in, but the one the royal family owns. It's gone unused for years.
On the beach, after most of them have either been evicted, left, or in Azula’s case, scared the host within an inch of his life, they all spill their innermost secrets;
Mai being annoyed that she had to be the perfect, silent, indifferent child to further her father’s career, Ty Lee being angry at being part of a set of identical sextuplets, and, well you know Zuko’s deal. He’s angry at himself for being confused and he knows that he fucked up.
Azula’s is possibly the most damning and sad of all - “My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right, of course.”
Everyone’s confessions make them feel better, so they go commit arson on the house where the party is.
I wonder if there was ever a Firelord who also ended up being the Avatar. Conflict of interests, much?
Anyway, here are the stories of Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin, told to Aang and Zuko respectively.
Turns out, Roku and Sozin were best friends, way back when, Fire Nation nobles and royals alike.
During their joint birthday, it’s revealed that Roku is the Avatar. Considering he looks to be around 17, I wonder why no one pointed it out sooner? It was a time of peace, so who cared, right?
Sozin gives Roku his crown. Even after the impending final destination battle, he never parted from it.
Roku goes around the world, training with various masters - like Gyatso;
And Sud, who was the original design for Toph.
It was twelve years since Sozin had seen Roku, and they’re the Firelord and The Avatar now.
During Roku’s marriage celebrations, Sozin comes in with “Hey, the Fire Nation is great, the other nations are not, let’s fuck it up! I need your help to do it.”
But of course, he treats it like a “Hey, we’re doing THEM a favor.”
What a pretty sky background.
Pictured: The initial takeover of Ba Sing Se.
After a brief battle where Roku destroys Sozin’s palace occupying Ba Sing Se, he gives him an ultimatium -
“Stand down, motherfucker, or it’s the end of you!”
Sozin sees this (As the island is conveniently nearby!) and goes to see his old friend….
and helps him contain the lava. Did you think he just let the man die?
That comes a bit later, as Roku has inhaled too much toxic gas, and Sozin refuses to help him to safety so he can bring about his new world order.
Also, he’s voiced by the same guy who voiced Slade in the Teen Titans cartoon! Just realized.
Immediately after Roku dies, Aang shows up!
And Sozin shows up to kill him (eleven years later but ok) but it doesn’t happen, yadda yadda, you know how this goes.
Oh, and when Zuko goes to see Iroh, the latter points out that his mother Ursa’s grandfather was Avatar Roku.
The Avatar and the Firelord is another favourite episode. Seeing why there is conflict in Zuko is always good.
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