nebulous

y'know red lotus is kinda based but that whole complete chaos and killing the avatar and returning to a pre-avatar world with spirits and disorder and shit ain't really my thing

maybe a middle ground? The Orange Lotus?

also Zaheer's character introduction is amazing and gives me amazing chills

LoK succeeded in having some interesting antagonists with convincing motivations and points of view (minus season 2). Zaheer's great but I'll always stan Amon

Amon's chi-blocking bola gang was the high water mark of the series

i'll never forgive season 2 turning Unalaq from a "benevolent" dictator trying to use the excuse of cultural unification and spiritual mumbo jumbo to gain power and conquer the southern tribe into a cartoonish villain that literally release the spirit of darkness that'll plunge the world into 10000 years of destruction and chaos

North / South civil war stoked by Unalaq's sermons on dwindling cultural conviction and ignited by a false flag terrorist attack. I weep for what could have been

Delving into the themes of war profiteering, false flag attacks, cultural identity, the duty of the avatar, spirituality, realizing your place in the world, forced neutrality, the role of family, confronting your past, self identity etc.

but nooooope WHITE SPIRIT GOOD RED SPIRIT BAD

and then it turns into BIG RED MONSTER BAD BIG BLUE MONSTER GOOD

i was so fucking pissed it had the potential to be SO FUCKING GOOD

It felt especially disappointing because all the groundwork for disunity between the northern and southern tribes is already laid. The northern tribe abandoned the south to fortify itself against the fire nation, and the south got absolutely picked clean and reduced to an impoverished hunter-gatherer society while the north maintained their way of life with a royal family

After 100 years with minimal contact or aid, no one's a little pissed?

The south was even sending all its fighting men out to the Earth Kingdom to contribute to the war effort while the North was hunkered down, fuck's sake

To be fair at the end of season 1 the North kinda goes "yeah we fucked up we didn't know shit was that bad it's about time we help" and go down there.

I believe there's a few comics dedicated to the restoration of the South and the relationship of the water tribes that takes place after the series ends

It does make sense that the south aren't satisfied with Unalaq just landing troops, but fuck the civil war plot i guess lol