Listen in as Yani, Alie, Lilly, Carolina, and Zach discuss, question, and debate the wonderful worldbuilding of the Avatar world.
The Ember Island Critics is a casual podcast with a rotating cast of college students coming together to discuss one of the most beloved works of our childhood and what we've grown to question over the years. Sit tight for theories, headcanons, and hot takes galore!
Time stamps of the discussion:
Introductions 00:51
What excites you most about the world of avatar 2:06
Background art appreciation 10:59
Intuition of where each nation is 12:04
The Water Tribes do not need to exist as a monolith 13:12
Bloodbending and the duality of water 17:27
Who was the last waterbender they were looking for? 20:23
The funky inheritance of bending 22:28
Hama being handed back over to the Fire Nation 25:51
Katara criminalizing bloodbending 27:03
On to earthbending! 31:04
Lightning bending: royal to industrial 32:00
Is the bender non-bender conflict backward? 34:23
How solid the magic system is 39:07
Brilliant problem solving skills until... 40:55
Live action tangent 48:53
Tales of Ba Sing Se slaps 51:26
The value of life and death 54:01
Geology 1:03:46
Fire nation flat earthers 1:05:55
Favorite nation and/or location 1:13:12
Culture exploration of each nation 1:19:48
Soft magic spirits 1:22:52
The literal black and white morality of Ravaa and Vaatu 1:27:25
Writing credits by episode 1:39:24
What made atla feel so alive 1:40:20
Why Korra wb falls so flat 1:41:38
Why is there such immediate disrespect for Korra to contest 1:44:21
closing thoughts 1:58:16