>Aang doesn't want to kill Ozai because, like Iroh, he doesn't want history to see this as another case of the avatar killing a ruler and restoring balance through violence, and would rather find a more peaceful solution instead of him pretending he never killed anyone
>Drop the lion turtles and energy bending entirely and have Aang find a chi blocking master that can teach him an advanced technique for permanently blocking Ozai's bending (maybe drop either Painted Lady or Nightmares and Dreams for an episode of Aang meeting this master)
Either that or just have Aang accept that he has to sacrifice his spirituality and kill Ozai, though I guess Nickelodeon restrictions wouldn't allow that.
Would this fix the ending?

>>149532260 (OP)
> restoring balance through violence
Crippling someone for life is also an act of violence.

>>149532289
Still better than murder.

>>149532260 (OP)
There was nothing wrong with Energybending as a solution to neuter Ozai, the problem was that it came straight of Bryke’s ass and had no build up. Just have it so Energybending is introduced midway through the season but Aang has trouble getting it right. Aang’s struggle in the finale is now less about trying to find a compromise and instead about him strengthening his spirit enough so that he can preform Energybending. While we’re at, write in someway to restore the Avatar state before Sozin’s Comet and get rid of that stupid fucking rock. It would add to Aang’s dilemma, “Do I take the guaranteed kill on Ozai with the Avatar State and violate my principles? Or do I stay true to myself and gamble everyone’s safety?” You could still argue that this arc still makes Aang look selfish and irresponsible, but at least there would be the proper president in place.

>>149532318
If that's the bar it has to clear, then you don't even need to take away his bending. Just lobotomize him, put the drooling husk in a cage, and say "see, I didn't kill him".

>>149532378
Too much for a kids show. Also simply locking him up after taking his bending at least gives him a chance to redeem himself spiritually.

>>149532260 (OP)
simple have Ozai die to his own stubbornness.
After a long fight, Both Ozai and Aang are very tired, but Aang still have power to keep himself flying in a safe distance from ozai, while Ozai is on the top of a cliff.
Aaang them talks:
>the comet is gone, you ahve no super powers, your army is defeated , you have no chance to win Ozai, just go home.
Ozai screams, NOOO, them he jumps to catch the avatar, but the idiot complete forgot that without the comet he can not fly so he falls from the top of the cliff and dies

>>149532378
Are you just trying to be edgy? Else this is a stupid take.

>>149532433
>the idiot complete forgot that without the comet he can not fly
The expert way he moves around suggests he can most likely still fly, just with less speed. Even if he can't outright fly, a fall is not a risk to him since he can still jet himself upwards.
Azula is weaker than him and can still jet into the air without the comet.

>>149532260 (OP)
the ending is fine and you fags are behaving like the autist on the 4chan puzzle banner

>>149532318
But he doesn't murder him. Are you stupid?

>>149532318
>Just have it so Energybending is introduced midway through the season but Aang has trouble getting it right.
At first I thought I agreed with you, but this right here is 1000 times worse than just having him learn how to do it offscreen and then pull it out of his ass in the fight. Completely kills any tension, because now we know beforehand that Aang has a solution, and being a kid's show on Nickelodeon, you know it's going to work, even if they explain there's a 99.9% chance it wouldn't. A big part of the tension leading into the final confrontation is that we don't really know what Aang plans to do, but we see that he's clearly found his resolve to do something and take responsibility no matter what the outcome, which is basically what he'd been avoiding since before the start of the show.
>It would add to Aang’s dilemma, “Do I take the guaranteed kill on Ozai with the Avatar State and violate my principles? Or do I stay true to myself and gamble everyone’s safety?”
This exact same dillemma is still present in the canon ending. There's even a scene where it's driven home by every previous Avatar telling Aang he needs to kill the Firelord. We just don't know what his alternative "gamble" is until he actually uses it. And honestly, teasing the alternative in any way just kind of ruins the buildup, because, again, I think a lot of the tension around the fight comes from wondering what the fuck Aang could even do besides killing him. As soon as you let the audience know he HAS an alternative, you know he's going to use it, and it's going to work, and that tension is gone.

As much as I think Energy-bending is one of the weaker elements of the finale, every alternative suggestion I've heard is worse.

>>149533176
>I think a lot of the tension around the fight comes from wondering what the fuck Aang could even do besides killing him.
This. I unironically think that teasing the Lion Turtles in season 2 and then having Aang meet the Lion Turtle for an exchange that we don't see the outcome of is plenty of build up. And it's not like the final fight scene is any less cool without the explanation.

Really, I think audiences are too hung up on needing to know every little detail in media. It's the exact same mentality that gave rise to the lorefag demographic that cares more about details than actual entertainment value. Mystery is underappreciated, these days.

>>149533176
Ok, but the rock has to go

>>149533366
Does it? The show had already esablished the concept of ki, and the fact that abilities can be manipulated with physical pressure on the body. And I think having Aang get the Avatar state back thanks to some violence Ozai inflicted on him is at least somewhat amusing. I don't cosider it an "ass-pull" or a tension killer because the Avatar state isn't even what Aang uses to end the fight. In fact, I'd argue that miraculously handing Aang the Avatar state and then having him choose not to use it is fairly relevant to his entire moral dilemma and character arc.

Aang spends the whole show being afraid of the Avatar state, and the final battle basically shows that Aang has transcended it. He solves one of the biggest problems any Avatar has ever faced, specifically by spurning it and staying true to his values.

The more people argue against it, the more I realize I'm fine with the ending. Especially since Zutara vs. Azula is the most exciting part, anyway.

>>149533056
>reading comprehension of a 5 year old

>>149533562
I still don’t like it, number 1 even though Aang doesn’t use the Avatar State to execute Ozai it still absolutely won him that fight, if Ozai didn’t knock him into that exact pillar Aang and the entire world would’ve been screwed. Second, if all took was shoving a rock into one of Aang’s dominant pressure points was all it took to unlock the Avatar State again then why hadn’t it happened sooner? Third, you can still have Aang transcend his reliance on and subservience to the Avatar State by having him unlock it of his own volition sometime before the comet, it’s not like it had to happen right then and there.

>>149533366
The rock pisses me off because I know I'll never have a chiropractor release my back in such a satisfying way

>>149533675
>memory span of a 2 year old

>>149532260 (OP)
Aang should've just listened to Kyoshi and murked him.

>>149533176
>because now we know beforehand that Aang has a solution
>And honestly, teasing the alternative in any way just kind of ruins the buildup, because, again, I think a lot of the tension around the fight comes from wondering what the fuck Aang could even do besides killing him. As soon as you let the audience know he HAS an alternative, you know he's going to use it, and it's going to work, and that tension is gone.
It's still better than a deus ex machina coming literally out of nowhere and giving Aang a solution for a problem that also came out of nowhere right at the last minute (Aang suddenly has a problem with violence/killing).
Creating an asspull solution like energy bending for "muh tension" and no other reason instead of at least building something up is one of the most retarded things you could do in a story.
>being a kid's show on Nickelodeon, you know it's going to work, even if they explain there's a 99.9% chance it wouldn't
Going by this logic, you also know that the good guys will win anyway and that Ozai won't be killed because this is a nickelodeon kids show.
>>149533349
>I unironically think that teasing the Lion Turtles in season 2 and then having Aang meet the Lion Turtle for an exchange that we don't see the outcome of is plenty of build up.
What teasing? There was just a brief mention of the name of "lion turtles" in season 2, and that was it. You might as well say that penguin seals were the key to energy bending and that they were already teased from episode 1.
>Mystery is underappreciated, these days.
It's not "mystery", both the turtles and energy bending were just a shitty plot devices for a forced conflict that popped up in the last 3-4 episodes with 0 buildup. That's not what "mystery" is.
You're actual braindead fucking morons, lmao.

>>149532260 (OP)
I think simply hearing a legend about Lion Turtles would have made it feel less out-of-nowhere.
In a Deus-Ex-Machina the audience knows who the gods are.

>>149533684
>if Ozai didn’t knock him into that exact pillar Aang and the entire world would’ve been screwed.
>if all took was shoving a rock into one of Aang’s dominant pressure points was all it took to unlock the Avatar State again then why hadn’t it happened sooner?
The fact that you don't realize how much these two arguments contradict each other is exactly why I don't care. You're irked that the ending didn't specifically fulfill some expectation you had, but you completely lack the ability to analyze or articulate it
>you can still have Aang transcend his reliance on and subservience to the Avatar State by having him unlock it of his own volition sometime before the comet, it’s not like it had to happen right then and there.
Exactly. It works either way. It doesn't matter. And really, the fact that Aang resolves to go into the final battle without the Avatar state is the show subtly forshadowing that he has found the alternative he's looking for. If you got your jimmies rustled when he dropped the state and did something else, you missed a LOT of obvious build up.

>>149533804
>a deus ex machina coming literally out of nowhere and giving Aang a solution for a problem that also came out of nowhere right at the last minute (Aang suddenly has a problem with violence/killing)
Goddamn, I love when the first sentence of a post displays such utter ignorance that I can comfortably ignore the rest.

>>149533844
This is really the biggest criticism I have. The Lion Turtles are literally only name-dropped in the library episode and that's about it. But again, I think bringing up a legend about Lion Turtles that doesn't have any payoff until the final episode is also a bit heavy-handed. The whole idea is that the Lion Turtles are effectively wiped from the world's consciousness. The fact that Aang—a highly spiritual monk who knows a lot of animals—is surprised by their existence is a pretty big flag that they're important. Even with just a name drop.

It could've ended with Aang kissing the Firelord.

>>149533973
Hot.
Aang gets to top the old man.

>>149533961
Well let me explain myself better. The rock is silly because what time and place it unlocks Aang’s 7th Chakra (and by extension Aang’s victory) feels arbitrary. It could’ve happened at the beginning of the fight, it could’ve happened during that one chiropractic session with Toph all the way back in Nightmares and Daydreams, he;; it could’ve not happened at all with how loose an understanding we have of how this works. Another problem, which is somewhat related to the rock is how Aang doesn’t spend any time or effort trying to unblock his chi. That feels like a huge oversight given how ashamed and guilty he was over losing under Ba Sing Se, doubly so since that mistake gets undone through something he had no control over.

SDCC panel starts in less than an hour

>>149532260 (OP)
>drop one McGuffin and replaced it with another one that does the exact same shit

>>149534118
it's usually drawn as the inverse

>>149533961
If this illustration was a wall mural or tapestry in the library and Aang told a legend about "Lion Turtles defended humanity from a war with dark spirits" or some bullshit that would be more than enough setup.

>>149534283
>aang slips into some rock
>it unlocks his 7th chakra

>>149532260 (OP)
I used to think the ending was worse than I now do. Thematically it's fine - Aang is the Avatar but the Avatar is not Aang, he cannot kill Ozai but the Avatar (by way of the Avatar State) does not even have to.

Problem is we had like four distinct chances leading up to this point to reawaken the Avatar state within Aang before now. But that thematic core, where his attachment to Katara is the center of Aang's own faith and hope for a better future, but also a limiter to his ability to act as the man who could realize such a thing, is not even interacted with once. There's some loose connective tissue in the form of fear of killing, but it's not really ever making contact with the reality of why it would be useless. A child doing in the grandson of his peoples' murderer isn't going to change anything, but dissolving the office of the Fire Lord by totally unravelling its underlying narrative would.

The rock used to reunlock the state sums the problem nicely. How was that supposed to make sense? Is this looney tunes now? Is the Roadrunner about to ink-bend a portal through a stone wall to escape Wile E Coyote?

Who thought that was a good enough ending to a three-season epic?

>>149535146
>But that thematic core, where his attachment to Katara is the center of Aang's own faith and hope for a better future, but also a limiter to his ability to act as the man who could realize such a thing, is not even interacted with once.
This is an interesting observation and I want to gesture at the episode where Katara withholds avenging her mother as being a similar conflict Aang is going through.
This hasn't congealed into a point but I think those dots can connect more.

>>149532318
Avatar > Avatar

>>149535343
Quaritch for Fire Lord 2025

>>149533562
Yeah, but I don't a lot westerners understand the concept of Qi or there were five elements that were hinted at in the show.

>>149533176
just lock him in a rock and take him to an earth kingdom court room or something lol

>>149532260 (OP)
Aang struggles through the fight to make a killing blow against Ozai, even after unlocking the Avatar State and chasing Ozai to the coastline. As they stand on the shore, with the waves cresting over the rocks, Aang makes his speech about not wanting to take a life and with the comet's power fading he makes on final plea for Ozai to surrender. Ozai tries one last time to kill Aang with lightning while his back is turned, Aang senses the attack with the seismic sense he learned from Toph and launches himself out of the surf with earthbending. Ozai's attack strikes the water and he kills himself with his own attack.

Church Of Om >149536873
The equestria girls find a not purple or orange crystal ball. It doesn't like PankerPoi.