Everyone being furious with Aang over running away from his responsibilities is even dumber when you remember that this time around he did not run away from his responsibilities! They removed that part of his character, so now it just straight up doesn't make sense.
The day he found out he was the avatar went like this:
>He found out he was the avatar and may have to stop an oncoming war
>He decided to go for a late night fly to clear his mind
>He got stuck in a storm and while attempting to return to the air temple ended up being pulled under the ocean and subsequently frozen
>He woke up, found out he'd been frozen for 100 years and the world was on the brink of collapse and decided he had to do something about it and immediately got to work.
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By removing his agency in his disappearance (along with his wandering and exploration of the world in the OG series) all the while making people more angry at him for it, the people criticising him for avoiding his duties have gone from looking like a bit of a dick with some semi-valid complaints to completely unreasonable assholes with no meaningful points. They've removed nuance by trying to make the story darker and more mature.
People in the show keep getting on his case for not prioritising his duties as the avatar despite the fact that that is all he has been doing from the moment he woke up from the ice, which may I remind you is now (for Aang) mere hours after he learned he was the Avatar in the first place.
what is with this fucking show and guilt-tripping aang????? bumi being mad at aang is the stupidest fucking thing ever because he of all people KNOW aang is a kid. KYOSHI of all people know the burden that the avatar has to carry and would NOT accuse him of running away??? the guilt that aang felt being the last of his kind is something he carries with him and is evident in his anger and his desire to keep his people's way of life alive. it is not something that other characters need to YELL AT HIM for???? just for him to have to COUNTER it??! as if they were wrong??? what the fuck is the thesis of this show???
There's something painfully funny that Avatar Aang, master of all 4 elements and protector of the world doesn't even attempt to nudge a single fucking drop of water for the entirety of the season dedicated to him learning how to bend water!!!
Like fuck. By the end of season 1 in the OG Aang was a master at airbending, was decent at water bending and had even attempted some fire bending a few times. But this time I don't think he did any water bending at all (The ending of the season doesn't count imo since it was the ocean spirit bending the water, not Aang himself.)
I'm pretty sure even the movie dedicated some time to showing Aang practicing water bending but this time he just doesn't fucking bother I suppose (despite the fact that everyone keeps telling him how important it is that he becomes stronger.)
The amount of times I said something along the lines of "They would not fucking do/say that!" while watching the live action atla series is insane. It felt so weird to watch because the acting was pretty fantastic and the set design/costumes weren't bad for the most part either, but the writing and direction itself was painfully bad.
I think King Bumi is probably one of the worst offenders of being written completely ass backwards, which is a shame because the guy portraying him did a great job and I think he would have made a fantastic Bumi if the writing was better.
It feels like they missed the entire point of his character. They took his goofy/slightly mad front from the original show and dialled it up to 11 all the while completely ignoring all the nuance behind that front.
Bumi isn't just the mad king they portray him as in the live action, he's a mad genius. Despite his quirks, he's a fucking fantastic fighter and a brilliant ruler. Despite what you may believe from first impressions, it really does feel like he always knows what he's doing.
Even when he's being antagonistic towards the gang in the show, he's never actually putting them in significant danger. The crystals he trapped Katara and Sokka in were ultimately harmless and all the trials he gives Aang were more akin to games than anything. Even when he fights Aang in his episode he's very clearly not giving it his all, as seen when he single handily takes back his city from the fire nation during the eclipse and when he takes back Ba Sing Se with a small group during Sozins comet, when the opposing forces would have been at their most powerful. My point is that if he actually wanted to beat book 1 Aang, he could wipe the floor with him easily. But this version is fucking furious with Aang (wrongfully so this time around because he explicitly did not run away from his duties in the live action) And very much seems like he wants to cause Aang as much pain as possible, but can barely manage to land a hit on him when he's not pulling cheap tricks with the crystals.
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I'm getting very side tracked but god damn it! This is the man Aang eventually decides to name one of his children after. Their friendship was so sweet and meaningful in the original. Bumi was such an interesting character in the original! And all of that meaning is lost here.
Ironically in an attempt to make Bumi's arc more dramatic and dark, they ended up making it significantly less interesting, along with also missing major parts of his character.