My AtLA ending analysis:

I first would like to say that I was looking forward to Zuko and Katara being together.  However, they didn't.  I admit defeat.  With that said, allow me to just say...

THAT ENDING WAS CRAP!

No!  This has nothing to do with Zutara or Kataang.  This has to do with 27 things that were so painfully wrong with that finale.  Zutara lost.  FINE!  Kataang and Maiko won.  Congrats.  I would still feel this way if Zutara won.  Now, here's why the AtLA ending fails worse than Viacom for taking down free advertising from one of the most popular sites on the internet:

1. The Avatar State

What the hell was the point of mastering the other elements?  Aang went AS and basically bitch-slapped Ozai around like the pheonix king was a freaking new-born chick.  There really was no point in training anything else.

That general from "The Avatar State" was right.  There is no point to learning the elements.  Figure out that on your own time.  For now, glow it up, take out Ozai, save the world, and we'll call you if we need you again.

By the way, they would have been successful in glowing it up if they had just jabbed Aang in the back, which brings us to wrong thing #2.

2.No "has to let her go"

I'm not complaining about this as a Zutarian.  I'm complaining about this as a fan of the show.

This was the reason Ba Sing Se fell.  This was the reason that Azula was able to go home with the knowledge that the eclipse was coming.  But, low and behold, Aang just needed a good slap on the back with a pointed rock.  WTF!

Hey, AtLA, did you guys order the plate of uber DEUS EX MACHINA?

Look, if you wanted to say, when he leaves the AS, he can have Katara, fine, do that.  But don't just completely ignore the point altogether.

3.Aang not killing Ozai

This was supposed to be it.  Aang's final loss of innocence.  Something he couldn't get out of.  All the Avatars said he had to do it.  His friends said he had to.  Ozai was willing to kill.  Yet, Aang doesn't and there's no consequence to it.

Oh, and how does he do it?  That's the beauty and it brings us to #4.

4.Bending bending

WTF!  I'm sorry, AtLA, my mistake.  That was two orders of DEUS EX MACHINA that you wanted.

Only one person can stop people from bending and that's Ty Lee.  She did it with jabs and pressure points, not bending bending.

Couldn't we have one last blast from Ozai to show that it wasn't perfect.  Something that doesn't keep #5 from happening?

5.No deaths

Suki falls on a blimp with no way of making it out, but miraculously is safe?  Ozai couldn't have delivered one last blast, maybe killing Sokka, Suki, or Toph?  No one dies?  Aang's decision to spare Ozai has absolutely no consequnce?

SHAME ON YOU MIKE AND BRYAN!

Why was this so important?  Because it could have been the perfect time to reveal #6 and not have it lost forever.

6.Toph's crush on Sokka

She never tells him.  

*Lowers head and shakes it*

No more needs to be said about #6.

7.Kuzon

Couldn't we have so kind of closure on this?  What was his ultimate fate?  Did he side with the Fire Nation?  Did he try to spare the air nomads?  What happened?  Could he have been Ursa's father?  Maybe he just died.

Who knows?  Tell us!

8.Long Feng

If you read my fanfic, I had high hopes for Long Feng.  After all, they never showed him die.  They never showed him in a jail cell.  They never did anything.

He was one of the most cunning, manipulative, and ruthless men in AtLA.  He should have seen Azula's move coming and planned for it.  So where was it?  Where was he?

Closure please!

9.Azula

Kind of the same thing as Long Feng.  She goes mad, but we don't know her fate.  Throw her in the cell next to Ozai.

10.Dai Lee

Hey, you are all banished.  Don't expect to face punishment for your crimes against the Earth Kingdom or anything.  Just go bye-bye.

11.Comet lasts for a few hours

It didn't even last a day!  How the hell was the Fire Nation going to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground in a few hours?  They could have had ten times as many air ships as that and never made it to Ba Sing Se.

12.Aang never had to grow up

A combination of points 1, 2, 3, 5, and the fact that he got Katara.  When has Aang ever had to learn how the real world works?

He never had to lose anything as far as the series goes.  He stuck to his morals and there was no consequence.  He got the girl that he wanted, despite the fact that he never made any real moves at her or gave any overt signals that he liked her until the three times in the final 11 episodes.

The worst, the absolute worst part of all was that his deus ex machina AS path didn't make him find a new way.  He didn't dig deep into the depths of his soul and pull out the power in the hardest way.  It just accidentally happened.  What does that teach kids?  I'll tell you what it teaches kids:

For those of you who read the comic strip "Pearls Before Swine" on July 20, 2008, this will sound familiar.

The message is, luck and timing are much more important than personal effort.

Really, that's it.  He just accidentally gets jabbed in the scar and he goes AS.  No hard work, no sacrifice, just Ozai holding back a little on his fire and Aang goes AS.

Way to fucking-go Mike and Bryan.  Way to fucking-go.  Just take the biggest journey in the show, the voyage of growing up, and excuse the main character from having any part of it.

Way to fucking-go.

13. Lion Turtle

Sorry, that was three plates of DEUS EX MACHINA!  However, this one had a side of: Can't bend on it for some reason.

Why did Aang swim there anyway?

14 and 15.Iroh and/or Zuko vs Ozai

Come on!  We wanted to see that so badly.  Couldn't you have one of them battle him while Aang is trying to get a second way into the AS?

16.June

Shows up, makes a Zutara joke, finds Iroh, and leaves.

Chit Seng had a bigger role then that.

17.Ty Lee's feelings for Sokka

Same issue as Toph, but to a less degree.

*Shakes head without lowering it*

18.Iroh in the spirit world

WTF HAPPENED THERE?

He had a vision that he'd conquer Ba Sing Se.  Anything else?  That didn't even definitively say that he went to the Spirit World to see it.  What happened there?

Even if Lu Ten died, that's not enough to make him want to end the war, but not even try to kick Ozai off the throne to do it.

19.Everyone just accepts Zuko

Hey, look, citizens of Ba Sing Se!  The guy who helped capture our city is now the fire lord.  Oh well, I guess if Aang supports him, I'll recognize him.  That's good enough for me.

20.Zuko never shoots lightening

This was supposed to be the overt moment when we knew that Zuko had forgiven the last person he needed it from, himself.

I was holding my breath through Zuko and Azula's battle, which was the highlight of the movie, waiting for him to shoot it.  But, no.  It never happens.  Not once.  Not at all.  I hate Mike and Bryan for that.  I really do.

21.Combustion man is never explained

This one is really just a peeve.  In order to know the most BAMF villain's history, you had to go online to Nick.com and read about him.

That's just wrong.

22.Ursa

Nobody better be disagreeing with me about this!  We have all been holding in the biggest "Awwwww" for when Zuko and Ursa re-unite.  Do we get that?  No.  Do we get Ursa confronting Azula?  No.  We do get an illusion of Ursa, but that's pretty much a low-blow as far as consolation prizes go.

But what really, really ticked me off about this was #23.

23.Zuko interrogates Ozai, then joins the Gaang for tea

WHAT!  He knows where Ursa is, but wants to have tea first?  I think everyone would understand if Zuko said, "Hey, guys, rain check on the tea, alright?  I have to find my mother.  SINCE I NOW KNOW WHERE SHE IS!"

You fucked that up, Mike and Bryan.  You fucked that up royally.

24.Zuko's scar

It's never healed and he never tells the Gaang how he got it.

You know, if he wanted to keep it as a mark of what he's gone through, fine.  But say that.  They can get more spirit water.

Also, how many of us were just waiting to see the reaction on the Gaang's face when they found out who scarred Zuko and why.

25.Lieutenant Jee

A peeve like combustion man.  He should have been brought back.

26.No official Toph nick-name for Zuko

Why not?  Are we just supposed to settle with the fandom-name of Sparky?  Give us a solid one.
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And what's #27?  It is something that pains me!  Boils my blood!  Makes me see red!  Fills me with complete and absolute hatred for Mike and Bryan for making such a crappy end and for myself for not seeing how bad they are at making stories!

I hate you for this above everything, Mike and Bryan.  If you are reading this, I hope you don't see another God-damn penny for your work because it fails so much because of #27.  You had a perfect opportunity to prevent it as well as many of the other points in this essay.

I hate you for this, Mike and Bryan.  Your work inspired me to start writing real works to be published and I hate you for this.

27.Koh

WHAT THE HELL DIDDLY-DO-DONG FUCK?  YOU KNEW HE WAS THERE!  YOU DIDN'T FORGET HIM!  YOU ACKNOWLEDGED HIM WHILE AANG WAS TALKING TO HIS PAST SELVES!  WHERE WAS HE?

Does anyone else realize how many problems this could have saved ending from?  Let's look at it like this:

-The imbalance of the Fire Nation's power and the comet allowed Koh to slip into our world.  That's how he gets in.

-The Lion Turtle is Koh in disguise.  We know Koh's power is great, that explains why Koh could have made a spot where Aang couldn't bend

-Koh wants Aang to not want to kill so that when he himself confronts Aang, Aang won't be used to killing.  That's why he tells Aang to find a different way of beating Ozai and that teaches Aang to grow up and face reality.

-Koh attacks after Ozai is beaten, maybe steals a face or two, and Aang has to kill him to save them.

-A battle with Koh could also point out why he needed to master all four elements and not just glow it up.

Koh was laughing ominously at the end of season 1 and saying that he would meet the avatar again!  How did that not signal that he was coming back?  I wanted him back.  I wanted to see him fight.  It also left so many questions unanswered.

Why does he steal faces?  Why did he take it upon himself to steal Kuruk's fiance's face?  What is the purpose of a spirit who steals faces when you express emotion?

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO HIM?

After three wonderful seasons of suspense, drama, and violence that was all acceptable for a kid, while at the same time, an adult could read between the lines and see how much violence you wanted to put there, Mike and Bryan ended it like this.

Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are the worst story-tellers ever.  May they never make another story ever again.
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EDIT: July 27, 2008: Due to the fact that some people still are wasting my time and saying that this essay is because Zutara didn't happen, despite that I have it stated three times, now four times, that this essay is not because of the final shippings, I will completely ignore any and all posts that say this.

I'm not being vain or petty and I do acknowledge that many Kataangers, even Chaobunny, creator of "Guide to Zutarian Logic", had enough common sense to read what I wrote and knew that some people get into stories for reasons other than shipping.  So, if you want me to respond to your post, realize that this has nothing to do with Zutara.