The Failed Masculinity of Netflix’s Sokka

I suppose it could have been worse.
I don't understand what Netflix was trying to do with Sokka. I don't think Netflix knew what they were trying to do with Sokka. His "character development" in the adaptation is incredibly inconsistent and contradictory. The whole "you don't have to be a warrior" schtick makes no sense whatsoever considering he's quite literally going to war, and his actual inventive and creative side that is supposed to sit opposite his warrior side is sorely underdeveloped. I suspect Netflix wanted him to not have to be a warrior to combat "toxic masculinity" or whatever, which is just plain dumb.
Also, that flashback scene can eat my farts.
#atla
#avatarthelastairbender
#sokka

[@davidlewis6728]

i can't believe how well netflix has been remastering the ember island theatre scene, i just didn't realize it was this long.

[@Kez-The-Pez]

The theater performance was better than this

[@ToxicVex267]

Na dude that theater scene was funny. THIS. Is just downright sad.

[@davidlewis6728]

@@ToxicVex267 what is comedy without a little tragedy? that said, ya, it's pretty sad. on the bright side, we can pretend it doesn't exist.

[@69SalterStreet]

😂

[@tommyl.dayandtherunaways820]

The Ember island players episode only showed us the highlights This shows us the whole damn play.

[@CyberVirtual]

Katara had the perfect brother but everything changed when the Netflix Nation Attacked...

[@able_archer01]

Avatar had the perfect character writing, but everything changed when the Netflix Nation attacked...

[@CyberVirtual]

Facts bruh…

[@wagerobot5231]

Great character that was perfectly flawed. He had lots of room to grow.

[@bojangle2213]

and you can say they did the exact same thing about Katara

[@mariem8705]

He was perfectly imperfect in the cartoon. While visually it is stunning, the acting and how Netflix is handling them is extremely disappointing

[@Khadharphak]

The stuff with Hakoda and the "warriors can't be inventors" thing is further _undermined_ when you remember that Hakoda invented the stink-and-sink mines for the day of black sun invasion, he was never afraid to be inventive. It was implied that Hakoda was _where_ Sokka got his inventive streak from.

[@fangiscool1]

He also taught Sokka how to make the fur bombs they used to try to open Roku's temple door

[@Zarastro54]

They are probably going to give both inventions solely to Sokka in the remake.

[@happilyevernever4289]

😂😂😂 exactly. I get the feeling these netflix writers are doing this on purpose

[@Eilonwy95]

Right! Sokka wanted to be like his dad. And he was a lot like him. But this was actually a good thing because Hakoda is a great father and role model. It’s a good foil to zuko wanting to be more like his father, but needing to move away from that because Ozai is a terrible role model and father.

[@vailingbow1068]

Minor correction it wasn't on the day of black sun. It was when Ba Sing Se fell. But the only way to remedy this is if we see the opposite happening through Hakoda's POV. Or have Hakoda say he was wrong, but I personally prefer the former as that doesn't assassinate Hakoda's character.

[@lasercraft32]

They removed Sokka's sexism and in-turn make Suki a more sexist portrayal of women, because Suki's ENTIRE personality and character in the remake is basically to prop up and fawn over Sokka's "manliness."

[@brunoalsi]

I was thinking the same. Netflix Suki gave me a predator vibe.

[@Singinferyoo]

I was thinking the same thing!! She became less badass, and he became this “savior” for her. How did they get that so wrong in trying to prevent sexism??

[@brunoalsi]

@@Singinferyoo Yeap, just baffling. "Hey, let's remove the sexism of this teenage boy by portraiting this otherwise badass girl in a even more sexist way. We are progressive!"

[@teleportingpotatoe]

when ppl were complaining about him about sexually objectified by suki I thought they were joking or smnth. then i saw the shirtless scene...like wat. this isnt riverdale or euphoria

[@xsomili5501]

EXACTLY. She was so down bad it was fking annoying

[@12SickOne34]

As I see things "modern writers" do not understand the concept of nuance and growth in character development. Simply put

[@jambott5520]

That sure is a take. There have always been both nuanced and unnuanced writers. Especially within the realm of cartoons that avatar is in, nuanced characters have been more and more prevelant, as shows have become more serialised. Since avatar aired we have gotten characters like the ice kind and gruncle Stan, complicated, nuanced characters. This take is one born of ignorance, an incomplete view of a media landscape. The writers for the avatar live action being bad it only representative of the writers themselves and maybe Netflix if you are willing to stretch it.

[@12SickOne34]

@@jambott5520 Guess why I put "modern writers" in quotation marks, friend.

[@theartisticvampire2598]

@@12SickOne34 hate to be that guy.. but "quotation marks" not exclamation marks (!)

[@m.a.k.dynasty4504]

​@@12SickOne34 It's still a very disingenuous thing to say. Especially since most writers these days are upwards the age 30-40 + years old. Just goes to show you that media literacy and the ability to write nuanced stories is a skill that you develop and not something that you acquire with age.

[@quistador7]

I do wonder if there actually don't get it? Or if they just think the audience is too stupid to get it. Or both

[@mayae9372]

Having a guy on tv go on his knees and admit explicitly that he was wrong and sexist was so powerful. And NATLA turned that whole arc into a horny dance😭

[@TabysHere]

I haven’t heard people call it NATLA, that’s a great name for it

[@TwilightChomperEnthusiast]

@@TabysHereNot Avatar: the Last Airbender

[@yaj9349]

​@@TwilightChomperEnthusiast i was thinking Netflix Avatar: The Last Air Bender

[@TwilightChomperEnthusiast]

@@yaj9349 Yeah, that is the general term, but I think my version is funnier.

[@tracim3080]

If his dad thought he shouldn’t have people’s lives in his hands why would he leave him in charge of the village?

[@sarahlandis289]

Exactly.

[@vailingbow1068]

True. Which I think they'll expand later or retcon later that this was only Sokka's skewed view of what happened and what Hakoda said was entirely different.

[@tracim3080]

@@vailingbow1068 did he fail the test cause if so they already made the dad a shity leader.

[@vailingbow1068]

@@tracim3080 He didn't, but Bato bailed him out.

[@michaelortiz1561]

They did it probably because the idea of a positive patriarchal leader is a bad thing so they had to completely assassinate hakoda

[@NHarts3]

Sokka's sexism makes sense considering his history. And its not just because of the traditions of the watertribe. His mother died in the war at the hands of a male soldier. She was not a warrior. His father also is the chief of the village and asked him to protect everyone. Of course he will have this problem. He won't want any other women dying because they aren't a warrior. His ideal as a male protector goes deeper than just tradition. When he meets suki, he also has to accept that there are women out there who will fight and who can protect themselves. This personal development took a hit when Yue died, as he later became very protective over suki in season 2. Edit: also, Hakoda _was_ an inventor! I rewatched the esrly episodes of season 1 recently and he mentions several times that Dad taught him different explosives and stuff. And I distinctly remember Hakoda getting excited about different inventions when they meet up later. He's got that same goofy curiosity as sokka.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

“Look how they massacred my boy.”

[@ewe6096]

Disagree. The sexism makes no sense. The south allowed women warriors. We know this because of Hama’s flashbacks of the fire nation raids. Women were fighting alongside men. Hama must have been one heck of a bender to be the last one remaining. WW2 in America saw women enter the workforce and doing jobs traditionally done by men. It changed women’s place in the workplace forever and inspired more women to have careers. If anything, the war in ATLA and lack of men at the South Pole would have seen more women doing men’s jobs including hunting and fishing. Katara accompanying Sokka is proof of that. The sexism was added in the early 2000’s because that was the moral dilemna writers fell back on during that time period. Sokka’s character doesn’t need to be sexier to be cocky. Any young boy put in charge of a tribe would get a large head about his "superior skills".

[@jjhh320]

"I call it the stink n sink."

[@j.m.l.m.]

​@@ewe6096Sokka doesn't know about that. He's only seen male warriors before they go on their journey.

[@haku8135]

@@ewe6096 "Disagree. The sexism makes no sense" No, it makes perfect sense. In fact if he doesn't hold these values, it'd make NO sense. "The south allowed women warriors." Also false. Not one single woman from the village went to fight. "We know this because of Hama’s flashbacks of the fire nation raids." False again. They were not warriors, they were Waterbenders. There's a distinction. It's like saying if a bandit breaks into a woman's home and she stabs him with a kitchen knife she's a warrior. No, they were not warriors. All the waterbenders in the village had to fight because their village isn't very large, their defenses are poor, and they were the specific targets of these raids. If the women sat on their asses doing nothing, they'd have been wiped out. They're nearly wiped out anyway as the fire nation beats them in a war of attrition, and now the only people left in their village is elderly women and some children as the MEN go off to actually fight actively in the war. One single warship is enough to single handedly threaten the entire existence of this tribe, and it's because they have no warriors and no women that can have more children to replenish the numbers they lost. If all the men in a village are killed, the village is wounded but can heal. If all the women are killed, the village is dead. That's why the North doesn't allow women to fight, they are far too valuable. This is the ENTIRE source of men fight and women don't, because it's bloody obvious. "Hama must have been one heck of a bender to be the last one remaining." Forged in fire, literally. That doesn't mean she was a lifelong soldier, in fact she was clearly not one. "WW2 in America saw women enter the workforce and doing jobs traditionally done by men." Because all the men were off FIGHTING, which women couldn't do because they're not expendable and men are just better at it anyway. "It changed women’s place in the workplace forever and inspired more women to have careers." Indeed, and then it went way off the rails. Just look at where we're at now. "If anything, the war in ATLA and lack of men at the South Pole would have seen more women doing men’s jobs including hunting and fishing." You have no idea what you're even talking about. You've missed the point completely. Also fishing isn't a "man's job", the fuck are you on about?

[@Jasonwolf1495]

I stand by Sokka being the character who actually needed and has a "girl boss" moment in the original. He is the one who has everything he needed internally but has a flawed world view starting thinking way too highly of himself and then falls to thinking he is lesser than everyone else.

[@HauntingSpectre]

He doesn't have everything the needs though. He lacks the training, the discipline, and the actual self confidence. Sokka frequently doubts himself, and puts up a cocky front. He has an internal conflict the entire show about how he's virtually useless, and even his plans don't always work out. It's later through training, and learning humility that he becomes something better for it. But he couldn't do that on his own. He needed a guide. So yes, he had the capacity, but he didn't know the way. Which is why mentors are important, and even the most self made man was built up by others to some degree. Having all the tools is useless if one doesn't know the design and how to use them. This isn't to discredit Anime Sokka, he's a great person with great potential, but untapped and untrained, he would have remained little more than the map man, and the comedic breaks with out the aid of others.

[@basilhenry-eyo6522]

Not really though, Sokka actually ha doubts about himself

[@master_samwise]

Is what you described this "character arc" that I keep hearing so much about? Huh, if only someone actually wrote one.

[@Jasonwolf1495]

@@master_samwise its not just a character arch its a character sine-wave as Sokka face multiple ups and downs unlike this faker who basically just gets told no or fakatara who just has a line rocketing up with no actual bumps to make it interesting.

[@ThereIsAlwaysaWay2]

@@Jasonwolf1495 He went from someone who learns to become wise over time, to a little bit** following his penis and "men are stupid" stereotype.

[@taylorhauser3347]

The way they massacred my boy Hakoda, both in casting and writing. Add him to the list with Azula, Katara, Roku, and Bumi

[@akechijubeimitsuhide]

I'm incredibly pissed about Azula. Who the fuck is this whiny, weak, insecure little girl.

[@mori1bund]

...and Aang! Aang was a kid who literally ran away from his responsibility. His character arc was that he had to learn to face his responsibilities head on instead of avoiding them. The Netflix show completely deleted Aang's flaws and this character arc, as they did with Sokka.

[@taylorhauser3347]

@@mori1bund he’s in my b tier of ruined characters 😂 the top list are my s tier misses

[@martijnkoning3354]

​@@taylorhauser3347Mai not S tier butchery?

[@michaeld830]

Roku was so bad. They tried to make him funny? By far the worst casting and writing…

[@dschortz]

The scene where Sokka bows to the floor to humbly ask Suki to train him is one of the most empowering moments in tv and was just fantastic character development. Le sigh.

[@dohickey7184]

This is also yet another example of Netflix not being able to write relationships with fathers that don't ivolve the child having some form of daddy issues. In the cartoon Hakoda and Sokka both have absolute trust, faith and respect for one another, Hakoda is completely supportive and proud of his son for how far he has come as a warrior and for helping the Avatar, while Sokka looks up to, appreciates and understands Hakoda and why he left the tribe to fight the war and doesn't resent him for it. It's one of the healthiest father-son relationships I have ever seen, I mean hell, Hakoda literally left Sokka in charge of what was left of their village, this makes absolutely no sense in the Netflix adaptation if he doesn't believe Sokka should be trusted with a life, let alone literally their whole tribe. But no Sokka needs daddy issues because Netflix doesn't know any other way to write fathers

[@Kez-The-Pez]

For real. It's like everyone has to be a victim or a victimizer

[@madametrafficjam8347]

The show took all things that were interesting and turned them boring and generic.

[@balrog262]

People pointed out it coukd be Sokka's skewed view point.

[@lainiwakura1776]

Bryke love them some daddy issues too: Zuko, Korra, Asami, Desna and Eska.

[@Eilonwy95]

Sokka is the Head and leader of team avatar. Undermining that is a mistake. Also, why the heck ruin his relationship with Hakoda? Hakoda is one of the best dads in a tv show despite the little screen time.

[@HauntingSpectre]

Gotta make men bad.

[@dragonmaster1360]

@HauntingSpectre 💯

[@alejandrovegarodriguez6422]

Yes! the only flaw he has in the original series is not being with his kids because of the war, a good male model was what Sokka needed the most to not grow sexist in the first place. I can't believe Netflix butchered him.

[@Rosa-kd2cl]

Because having our protagonists (female and male) have flaws and complexity would be bad. 🥺

[@sophieamandaleitontoomey9343]

@@alejandrovegarodriguez6422 But they address the impact his absence had on them and had Katara say she understands why he left, but still felt a lot of anger and resentment toward him for leaving. And she and Hakoda have this beautiful scene of him talking about how much he loves her and how every night he would miss her and Sokka so much "it would ache." But OF COURSE Albert Kim can't have that in his "mature" Avatar.

[@johnleonard9102]

The writers of this show are the kind of people who think being in the military means you're constantly on the front lines shooting the enemy.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

Honestly they probably have enough animosity against anyone in the military to do their due diligence and research. My father himself was an infantry officer (infantry is closest to what you describe), and even then his job was _a lot_ more complex than that.

[@GreakyGeek]

@@DiamondKingStudiosimo, based on the very black&white and all about power narrative this adaptation portrays i get the feeling the writers would actually quite look up to any military position

[@DiamondKingStudios]

@@GreakyGeek Either they love it (glorify the generals and heroes and all that) or hate it (thinking war is bad for any reason and anyone who fights, even if drafted, is evil). There is no nuance, no recognition of moral conflicts, none of that.

[@potterhead_da4392]

The idea that being an inventor had nothing to do with being a warrior was so ridiculous. The combination of the two is what made Sokka a great leader in the first place. And Hakoda's character was completely destroyed when Sokka said he didn't really care for his ideas, which is the reason why I think his spirit world flashback showed Hakoda to be a bad leader rather than Sokka being a bad warrior, because Hakoda had already proven himself a bad leader by being so narrow-minded. A good leader would have made the right decision not to let Sokka pass the ice-dodging trial, while Hakoda went for the easy way out to avoid hurting Sokka's feelings.

[@adekaiwamisou]

Honestly, the idea of beign either one or the other could work as sokka could have seen them as separate due to his experiences and think he has to devote himself to only one and cannot be the other. But it seems this is more to give him insecurity issues.

[@akechijubeimitsuhide]

Hakoda being a bad father was such bullshit. Real Hakoda loves his kids and he's proud of them. Who was this fake.

[@Bunnymafia8150]

“A society that separates its warriors and scholars will find themselves defended by fools and ruled by cowards”

[@sophieamandaleitontoomey9343]

Especially since Sokka's greatest asset was his mind. And strategy is the key to battle. It's why Sokka's intelligence was so important during battles because he knew how to use tactics to get shit done.

[@sophieamandaleitontoomey9343]

@@akechijubeimitsuhide Not the mention they completely missed the point of Hakoda being a good father. Hakoda's love was unconditional. Ozai's was just conditional. Again, how can you get this very simple thing completely wrong? It is just absurd.

[@Thawheedi]

Writers Back Then: Let’s make a character have a flaw and make them actually get punished for that flaw and eventually learn to overcome it Modern writers: wHAt ArE cHAraCtEr fLAws

[@jambott5520]

I already commented about this on another comment, but modern writers really ain't any better or worse at writing characters than people of the past. Only real difference is that there is a much larger hating culture, giving more prominence to bad examples. One show does not make a trend.

[@m.a.k.dynasty4504]

Saying things like this only proves that people like you don't watch nearly enough modern media as you allude to in order to form an opinion like this.

[@sexy1018]

Yeah - I guess stuff like Arcane, Primal, Andor, Puss in Boots the Last Wish, Dune 2, the Spiderverse movies, etc, don't exist /S

[@John-fk2ky]

@@m.a.k.dynasty4504I’m not finding much in modern media that contradicts it that was made in the West. What little I do find is lower budget.

[@John-fk2ky]

@@sexy1018 you just listed almost all the good stuff. The stuff that supports the OP’s point is a MUCH longer list.

[@courtneycalvert185]

I feel like they’re Hiccup-ifying him (from HTTYD). Making him a scrawny inventor nerdy kid while his father expects him to be the type of brutish headstrong “warrior” man he is. The thing is… HTTYD showed us multiple ways that Hiccup strayed from the standard Viking, he tried so hard to fit in to the image of a Viking and he physically couldn’t. Sokka has plenty of stereotypical “warrior” attributes, well built, ambitious, determined, KNOWS HOW TO FIGHT,, yet it’s like the writers are insisting he’s a limp wristed soft boy who was never good at being a warrior from the start. I think Sokka could be given a “just like Katara was forced into the woman role I was forced into the man role” arc and be super compelling, but since they’re capping so much off the original avatar, they’d have to change a lot to make it fit. Idk,,

[@tracim3080]

You are right! they are totally doing that relationship! I hadn’t thought of that but yeah that’s exactly what they did. They turned the southern water tribe into a Viking tribe 😬

[@SeanHartnett-t8c]

yep that could have worked

[@AnimaVox_]

And the thing is, even HTTYD doesn't solely stick to that aspect of Hiccup throughout the whole franchise. The shows and sequels later expand on his character and Hiccup evolves into a capable engineer, navigator, cartographer, and warrior on top of his already existing strategic and dragon-taming skills. All while still keeping his goofy demeanor. It's called _character development,_ and that's how it's done right. Something current writers don't seem to understand.

[@Sqwivig]

​@@AnimaVox_TRUE!! That's why I love Hiccup so much! He proves to be as much of a true Viking as anyone else but in his own ways.

[@TehMomo_]

and like... Hakoda was also an inventor... Hakoda is a good dad that loves his son...and what did they do.....have him call his son a disappointment in a flashback. JUSTICE FOR HAKODA.

[@eaglehaze1600]

In the original Hakoda is also super innovative as well, like when Sokka goes to meet him he's busy demonstrating the stink bombs and tangle mines that he invented, so him not taking an interest in Sokka's ingenuity makes even less sense. Like, he's the leader of a fleet of non benders who are facing up against a whole navy of firebenders using wooden ships, guy's gotta be a little creative. edit: spelling

[@sarahlandis289]

Agreed. In a world of benders, nonbenders gotta get creative to fight on their level

[@natashasullivan4559]

Sokka also comes up with the "fake fire bending" to get aang in to see Roku. It doesn't technically works. But it was still an amazing idea. I absolutely hate how the tore everyone down. And dummed everything down.

[@master_samwise]

I knew I forgot about one of his ideas in the first book.

[@natashasullivan4559]

@@master_samwise honestly it's probably the "least memorable" one? Because it didn't technically work? But, figured is bring it up. Thank you katara for the good idea. (Not xerox karara 🙄🙃)

[@bigkirbyhj666]

Honestly that "it looked like it worked." Fits Sokka so well, he's like okay it didn't work, but lets leverage the noise we made to our advantage.

[@natashasullivan4559]

@@bigkirbyhj666 yes!!! And katara helps to make sure he knows. That even though it "didn't work" he was still helpful. By making the best of his failed idea. Which is waayyyyy better than just.. monologuing with the inverter (and destroying Hakota...)

[@ShowerWithSocks]

​@@master_samwise also he is the one who saves the town from Jet.

[@darththeo]

The scene with Hakoda is the absolute worst scene and addition that this series did. It absolutely assassinates how Hakoda was shown to be. Hakoda is a mirror to Ozai in the series. Rather than send his kids to fight, Hakoda goes in order to keep his children safe. Rather than manipulate his children as a means to his own ends, Hakoda loves them. Hakoda would never lie that way to Sokka in the animated show. When I saw that scene the first time I literally cursed at the screen. In the show, Hakoda was always proud of his son as he was a very loving father. That pride only grows with his son's growth. Seriously, I hate that scene so much. And the worse part is they showed they could add scenes that were either interesting to a world building aspect or a character aspect. Lu Ten's funeral? That scene was an amazing addition. The reveal that Zuko's crew is the unit he spoke up for? Amazing addition. This falseback scene? Complete cow dung. You literally could have adapted the scene of Hakoda leaving Sokka behind and have that be that Sokka is not yet a man be his arc. That he still needs to grow into who he is. Change the scene with the mechanist as him hiding his inventive side from his father because he sees his father as only a warrior, not knowing his dad is inventive too. Like there are so many better ways to hit these notes.

[@bradymalec3690]

"The Awakening" did a great job of showing how Hakoda is a mirror to Ozai. Right after Hakoda touchingly reassures Katara how much he loves & cares for his children, we're shown Ozai & Zuko's reunion. There's no love, just proclamations of how Proud Ozai is of Zuko's accomplishments. I don't know how the show runners of the Netflix series could watch that & create such a horrible interpretation of Hakoda's character. It shows a complete lack of understanding of the characters.

[@ZamiGami_]

THANK YOU so many people don't realize hakoda is a mirror to ozai, I think it's odd because it becomes very clear when sokka shows up at his camp after ba sing se, it's the same premise as zuko's backstory and shows how the two fathers react to their sons interrupting an important war meeting

[@pappanalab]

Oh my goodness I wish they’d dug into the idea of Sokka having a false perception of his dad! He was fighting in the war so it makes sense that his image of his dad is through the eyes of a young child and potentially over simplistic. I would love Sokka not knowing how to interact with his dad a first. Then they slowly grow closer once Sokka finds out Hakoda’s inventive.

[@jonathanyaloussa]

You could have called this video "Netflix has no clue" and you'd still be right through and through.

[@robinjameson4261]

Yes, but then he would have to have the same name for several videos and make it harder for us to tell whether he's talking about how they have no clue about sokka or katara or each individuals he talks about.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

@@robinjameson4261the Netflix Has No Clue video series Season 1: Avatar: The Last Airbender Episode 2: they messed up Sokka big time

[@therealgj995]

Facts! That's a whole bar right there bro🔥

[@jonathanyaloussa]

@@robinjameson4261 I understand what you mean, but what I was trying to say is that Netflix does not have a clue about anything in general.

[@andrewkessinger5966]

I am almost afraid to see what they do to Toph...

[@Francisco-bu9ew]

I'm betting they'll remove her "vulnerable" side and just keep her as the tough cool girl

[@Fartman1776]

@@Francisco-bu9ewyea and she’ll be the one who controls her parents

[@XiaoFury]

Toph is a girl boss who gets humbled. In these modern adaptations, humble is a word that doesn't exist for female characters. So, she's probably going to be extremely insufferable.

[@bloodstoppin]

as a disabled person i would bet my good leg that they will fuck up her blindness ROYALLY. disabled people have a fierce sense of humor oftentimes because like, what other choice do we have to cope? they're gonna be too afraid to touch that part of her with a ten foot pole, ESPECIALLY since she's cocky and gets kinda humbled through experience. netflix had the option to hire disabled and blind consultants to help with the writing but did they? idk if they did, chief. find me here after we see Toph and if she's well-written and still has her jokes, i'll fork over the leg.

[@bumbabees]

@@bloodstoppin im just waiting for them to cut down the blind jokes by a lot or even better, just remove them completely because apparently they are unable to distinguish what is actually offensive, so might as well just get rid of anything that has the slight possibility of it.

[@dhdragon555]

The thing that boggles my mind is that they had the best set of blueprints they could have possibly had. They could have made this show just as good as the original by just following the blueprints instead of "innovating" these characters when they're really just changing them.

[@teleportingpotatoe]

the director of this show said he purposely did not watch the "movie' well he shouldve seen what WE DIDNT LIKE about that movie!!!

[@Kromiball]

​@@teleportingpotatoe Calm down, you're safe now. There is no movie in Ba Sing Se. There is no movie within the walls, here we are safe, here we are free.

[@Lady-in-Red]

I watched Avatar when I was a young girl, so I hated Sokka at first. I thought he was annoying when he would argue with Katara when she was clearly in the right (being a girl with magical water powers making her superior, of course) and when he would boast about having all these warrior skills when it was obvious he couldn't actually fight that well. I couldn't wait for him to get is comeuppance, and when it happened with Suki and the Kyoshi warriors, I felt so vindicated. Then he did something my vengeful little heart didn't like... He admitted he was wrong and asked to train with the Kyoshi warriors, and he kept his newfound humble spirit with him as he not only became a better warrior, but also a better military strategist, leader, inventor, comedian, brother, son and connoisseur of sweet, sweet Cactus Juice. Seeing his growth humbled me a bit (more than a bit), and made me way less judgmental towards guys I knew that acted like Sokka in real life. Over time, I noticed that if they were given similar opportunities to grow, they managed to harness their more childish characteristics (i.e. arrogance, bravado, pride) and turn them into more mature ones (i.e. confidence, courage, leadership). Ended up loving Sokka.

[@Avatargirl38]

I feel like the writers of the live action need to reread and then rewrite their Sokka cause who was that on screen? Not sokka thats for sure.

[@soniastock4404]

I think the fact that they felt the need to tone down or get rid of Sokka's sexism is sad reflection the woke attitudes which dominate the media today, an attitude that is supposedly all about tolerance, and yet is entirely intolerant of anyone who's views differ from what those of this attitude consider to be right and good. The kind of attitude that says that if you don't agree with something then you're sexist or racist or transphobic, or if you support the 'wrong' political party you're a terrible person. It would never do to have a good guy you're supposed to root for have some less-than-ideal views and have to admit he was wrong, because that sends the message that someone who is wrong about something as important as gender equality can still be a good person and deserve forgiveness and tolerance.

[@Tupadre97]

The idea that sokka can't be a warrior and inventor is completely moronic when hakoda himself was an inventor since he and his fighters were also nonbenders just like sokka.

[@Fixti0n]

The butchering of Hakoda is among the worse sins of Netflix. Hakoda is not only a wise leader and a skilled warrior, he is also the mirror image of Soka, or, well, Soka is the mirror image of his father. Hakoda is a loving father and a genuine fun and creative guy, we learn from Bato that Hakoda was the local prankster before he became the chief, and this was the reason why a small fleet of water tribe warriors, none of them a bender, held off the entire Firenation navy from the east side of the serpents pass. Hakoda is a genuine genius, and Soka is just like him, which is a point of why Soka gets his inferiority complex.

[@TehMomo_]

but noooo they had to make Hakoda toxic.....

[@freshoffthehook904]

Ok let me fix that Hakota scene. Instead of “not everyone is supposed to have people’s lives in their hands” make it “he is to young, I wish we had more time”

[@Eilonwy95]

Much better

[@freshoffthehook904]

@@Eilonwy95 I can even see a way the mark of the wise could be justified. Just have Soka call in his dad once he lost control. Then he gets the mark of the wise for knowing when to set pride aside and ask for help. Then my line for Hakota hits even harder since he knows he is about to leave Soka in a situation where he will not have anyone to turn to for help. It also still allows Soka to be insecure because even if his father sees potential in him he clearly hasn’t yet lived up to his personal ideal (his father). In the original this is a huge driving factor in Soka’s over the top sexism. He is desperately overcompensating for not only being left behind because of his age but also having to step up and fill in for his dad but only by default… which in turn made it super easy (barely an inconvenience) for him to drop that trait as soon as he is presented with evidence.

[@e0jay]

I hate how the show handled Sokka. We all know he was the mastermind of team avatar. Without him, none of them would've know how to handle their roles in their group.

[@Pirates.27]

The episode where he goes away to learn sword fighting and everyone just laying bored whole days. 😂

[@Corristo89]

Inventor. Warrior. Leader. Sokka was initially none of these things when the show first started all the way back in 2005. Man, it's been nearly 20 years... The foundations were there, but he was very much a diamond in the rough. Watching Sokka slowly smoothe out those rough corners, refining his skills and growing into the man he wanted to be was what made him stand out and hold his own amongst people like Aang, Katara, Toph and Zuko. Taking away flaws to overcome (i.e. immaturity and sexism) doesn't make his growth easier. It makes it less interesting and believable and it shows that current writers don't understand their craft. They're incapable of writing flawed characters capable of growth because they lack empathy and essentially write every character as a sort of self-insert, which is thereby perfect and virtuous because they, the writers, are, in their own eyes, perfect and virtuous.

[@adamantiiispencespence4012]

I disagree while Sokka shows all these attributes from the first two episodes on. He needs to improve with them but that was already his foundation.

[@joypink5599]

Hakoda is one of my favorite characters. If they take him in this direction, it’s just a total massacre of him. One thing I loved about the original is that when Sokka FINALLY sees his dad again, the first thing Hakoda does is smile and start bragging and gassing up Sokka to his men because he’s so proud of his son, to the point where Sokka gets insane anxiety from not wanting to let him down. But Hakoda makes sure he knows he’s already proud of him. Also, the fact that leaving the SWT was the LAST thing Hakoda wanted to do, but he had to do it, makes his character so much stronger and influential in Sokka and Katara’s character arcs. Katara feels abandoned where Sokka is understanding. Now I’m worried that they’re going to flip it, where Hakoda think Katara is an awesome warrior and Sokka is some nerdy inventor now. If they do that, it’ll be the culmination of ruin for these characters.

[@TARMHeLL]

9:00 Sokka's dad is also and inventor, joker, and warrior, he made the seaweed mines to clog up fire nation ships, are the writers mad, Sokka and his father's relationship is unbreakable.

[@michaelortiz1561]

The reality is probably a mixed bag , the writers almost certainly Hate men especially fathers and literal patriarchs? Oh definitely but they can't portray " minorities " in a bad light so they make the male figures do bad things and make stupid decisions but also try their hardest to keep them away from what they would consider cardinal sins such as sexism.

[@tiablue9106]

I always loved sokka and hakoda’s reunion in book 2, how the viewers kinda are nervous alongside sokka how he’ll fit in w/ his dad’s soldiers. But not only hakoda but everyone is glad to see sokka, treating him w/ respect and love. It was just nice to see, I liked that they never went the route of hakoda being disappointed in his kids, sokka just felt inadequate sometimes compared to him. Netflix hakoda apparently loves sokka enough to protect his feelings but clearly doesn’t respect him, such a shame

[@OdaGoda957]

“The nickname thing is getting old” continues to use them. Never change bro lol

[@0That_Guy0]

«Modern» writers seem so detached from ordinary people. They can’t write good men or women, they mistake strong characters with physical prowess, and they seem dependent on dragging at least one character down in order to make another look good.

[@xT3ALxPACMANx]

No wonder Ai was the next step lol can’t even depend on decency anymore

[@Sqwivig]

​@@xT3ALxPACMANxAI will never make art as good as real humans. Give me a fucking break.

[@claudinsky4449]

God I hated what they did with Suki. An essential aspect when they met was that Soka was the one looking to demonstrate to Suki that he has a better warrior. He was arrogant. In the live action scene, having Suki come to him (and acting with that weird fake innocence with some lack of social skills) takes away his moment of humbleness for BOTH characters. I understood Soka going away, Suki’s lesson felt really forced and undeserved

[@alamedaace8522]

The funny thing is even with the changes they could have still had a decent arc by having Sokka be overconfident/arrogant about his abilities before getting humbled by Suki (sorta like the forest scene), then have him realize he needs to learn skills to be the leader/defender of his village he needs to be and then have him ask Suki to teach him. It's also let him show he values her experience and skill and set up the foundation for him learning from other teachers too. You could even arrange it so they have an actual conversation about their lives/fears/thoughts since it's clear the writers were laying in the foundation for their later relationship (and have a reason for the "I *am* a warrior, but I'm a girl too" line which is like a really weird line to cut out considering how important it is thematically and for Suki specifically).

[@XiaoFury]

Seems like Suki just have the hots for Sokka because...because! Nothing earned, nothing much in common besides them being kind of warriors in this adaptation. The relationship is just based off of infatuation...which is always short lived.

[@cornelljohnson8224]

Can someone help me understand why Hakoda would say some people aren't meant to have people's lives in their hands, in reference to Sokka and then turn around and leave the entire village's lives in Sokka's hands?

[@Eilonwy95]

Right!!!

[@TARMHeLL]

cause modern writers don't have father figures.

[@CatalinaLinal7710]

I honestly can only imagine two possibilities: 1) we find out that Sokka remembers his darkest moment very differently because insecurities and self-doubt reshaped the memories of it and his father to something that doesn't actually properly correspond to reality Or 2) they honest to God just didn't catch this massive plot hole they created while rewriting the story.

[@Keyatzin]

Having him fail the dodging trial in the flashback could have been a great character choice, especially if he felt that was why he was left behind. Having that drive and need to prove himself, while also learning his limits & to trust his team could have been a great arc. But they keep removing any bite from these moments, and stripping any complexity from the characters..

[@impp18]

FOR ROCK AND STONE!

[@12SickOne34]

For Karl!

[@dobleve_walas]

Rock and Stone brother!

[@ivanvoronov3871]

For the Melon Lord

[@Calavane]

If you don't rock and stone, you ain't coming home.

[@qwertyshblong]

ROCK and STONE to the BONE!

[@clayongunzelle9555]

They forgot that sokka's father created the stink and sink mines?? 😅😅😅

[@robinjameson4261]

apparently they completely ignored the part where his father appreciated the inventions that he made and also the fact that hakota himself made some inventions in terms of c minds for facing off with the fire Nation

[@ryanb33n]

This show is also doing the injustice of making everyone’s plot “I’m being held back because other people don’t believe in me”

[@himaxx_x]

Did Netflix just forget about the entire scene in I think the 2nd book when Hakoda Shows Sokka the seaweed(?) bombs he made??? Bato literally tells Sokka “your father invented them himself” AND NOW HAKODA DONT GOT TIME FOR THAT?

[@tommymaxey2665]

I haven't watched the live action, and it's because of these points made. The change in character is just enough to turn me off from the show. I've seen clips, and the dialogue is terrible. The new writers have done a terrible job adapting. Why would Hakoda dislike Sokka inguinity and engineering skills? In the animated show, both Sokka and Hakoda bonded over their ability to create new inventions. Making Hakoda be an uncaring father just ruins his character and both Katara and Sokka. Hakoda loves his children and knows they will grow up to do great things. He hated having to go to war and leave them behind. Sokka is my favorite character in the show, and it's a shame Hollywood is so afraid to write a good male character. What is so wrong with having a young man grow up to be a good leader, warrior, and inventor? Is it to much "toxic masculinity "?

[@RazorO2Productions]

Men Bad, Women Good, Accept the new Gospel. :(

[@tommymaxey2665]

@@RazorO2Productions pretty much man. "Oh no this big bad man who has a lot of life experience is telling me I'm wrong, he must be the problem here"

[@Emarella]

I had completely forgotten about their shared interest in creating new inventions! They mention that in the Bato episode as well as one of the ones where the Gaang splits up during Omashu, don't they?

[@tommymaxey2665]

@Emarella yep when the gaang spilts up after they expose, Long Feng Sokka goes to meet with his dad. Bato has an off-hand remark on how similar they are. Then, just before their raid on a fire navy ship, Hokado tells Sokka how proud he is of him and how he is already a warrior

[@belias360]

@RazorO2Productions Another ridiculous take. The show didn't do right by the female characters either, particularly Katara. So stop it.

[@salad3955]

its so sad because they had the visual and cgi and the fighting styles down to perfection but they just completely forgot about writing and sticking to the original, no wonder the creators left

[@catwithquill]

Sokka's creativity and inventiveness is something he literally inherited from Hakoda. That, and his sense of humor. The point is Hakoda is awesome and this show is bullshit.

[@derekmann8239]

I understood the “not our precious Sokka” reference and I see your chicanery.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

Couldn’t keep his hands out of the cabbage cart!

[@YasonYou]

Sokka with an engineering degree is like a squirrel-chimp with fire bending!

[@Gol.D-Roger]

Can you remind what episode this is from again?

[@DiamondKingStudios]

@@Gol.D-Roger “Chicanery”

[@Gol.D-Roger]

@@DiamondKingStudiosHere I am, thinking those lines were said in the actual show. Read the replies more times than I’d like to admit and realized this is a BCS reference 😭

[@arturmaxon2842]

10:21 Wait... the writers decided to shove the first pair of siblings into the cave of lovers together?... You know the cave of lovers...

[@0deadx21]

That's a different cave.

[@arturmaxon2842]

@@0deadx21 So they went into the sibling cave?

[@henryjones2111]

we call that the alabama breeding box@@arturmaxon2842

[@laylascharpf3234]

Secret tunnel, secret tunnel

[@anotherday-anotherslay]

the way i watched that entire scene in horror from the implications of it all

[@ventusvindictus]

I will give the Netflix mimic this one compliment: the costume design looks great.

[@Inflatedchair]

the guy who plays him unironically looks like the guy that played sokka in the in show play

[@ronnies732]

No, he sounds, looks, acts exactly like Sokka. Compare voice with Og Voice - Jack De Sena

[@Inflatedchair]

@@ronnies732 meant purely by looks and wasnt saying it was a bad thing

[@ronnies732]

@@Inflatedchair oh sorry, nowadays there is too much hate. Personally i see less amount of people complain about Sokka's character. They know what they are doing.

[@Inflatedchair]

@@ronnies732 NP lol

[@VinnieMF]

​​​@@ronnies732 Live Action Sokka is more along the lines of Zuko and Iroh, that is, he was damaged and watered down but not ruined. Most people are focusing, fairly, on the fully butchered characters (Aang, Azula, Katara, Bumi, etc).

[@Francisco-bu9ew]

I literally can't understand from a worldbuilding point of view how the leadder of a small tribe located in a place with hazardous enviroment with an army of non-benders could survive without creativity and innovation in a war against fire benders. Just using... brute force I think (?)

[@Matt_Underwood]

Another good example of why Sokka is the Leader, the episode where Sokka follows Swordfighting lessons from Piandao, Katara, Aang and Toph have no idea what to do, what to plan, what to practice, how to even behave without Sokka planning and leading the charge. I keep saying it, without Sokka, Katara, Aang and Toph would have been headless chickens

[@blakearius]

Sokka's character was the epitome of "Ego" - Either overcompensating or too insecure, which was the entire basis for his character development, sibling rivalry with kitara. He went from a character I see everywhere in real life to just a fake wet noodle.

[@basilhenry-eyo6522]

Fr… modern writers always miss the point!!😔💔🤦‍♂️

[@lijiajaja]

I feel like the spirit world flashbacks were Netflix's attempt to do the swamp episode, where everyone's facing their inner demons. Katara gets to see her mom like in the animated show, but Sokka couldn't get sad about moon-Yue because he hadn't even met her yet. sooooo they invented a demon for him and gave him daddy issues that he never really had. and THEN they had to insert more daddy issues throughout the show to back up that added conflict. Also, the removal of his sexism not only removes a huge chunk of his arc and background, it weakens every female character that challenged Sokka. Katara doesn't have anyone to rage against all season till she meets Pakku. We don't get to see Suki's determination to humble the guy, so she just randomly has a huge fascination with him.

[@JuliaN-ti9zv]

I also felt they were trying to replicate the fog sequence in the swamp episode. If that means they exclude the swamp benders I'm gonna be soooo mad

[@lorettabes4553]

09:30 Hearing you talk about this made me think: As if Hakoda didn't make the sludge bombs in the original show. Bato even said 'like father like son' with their silly naming scheme for the Sink and Stink iirc.

[@Barakon]

There’s a 4th circle which sort of overlaps a lot with the third & that is “Captain”, the main difference is that through comic relief, he keeps up morale. Although keeping up morale is usually at least shared between him and Katara.

[@jodieg6318]

Something I've also noticed in modern writing is that the "wise beyond their years/grew up fast" trope has gotten a new varnish. We see this in the effortless talented characters that master both martial and mental skills easily because they are somehow special or had a hard life that forced them to grow up quick and never have a reaction that one else in their age bracket would. While all of Team Avatar have a measure of this trope, it never got in the way of showing that they are still very young people in the story. What the Netflix writers, and modern writing in general, forgets is that being young and inexperienced because of being young, is not a crime or makes a character any less capable. On the contrary it makes a character much more capable of growth, when both Sokka and Pakku have their sexism challenged, Sokka being young man who is learning and forming new opinions all the time, reflects on and develops an appreciation. Where as Pakku as an older man is set in his ways and cultural norms far longer and it takes a deeply personal connection through Sokka and Katara's grandmother for him to even consider and a different view.

[@moondear]

9:14 in the original, hakoda was also a tinkerer, and that was one of the things that helped him bond with sokka. idk why they thought it was a good idea to change that.

[@OseanArts]

After watching Avatar:The Last Airbender, I started watching your videos and thankfully I did because it changed at how I look at the characters in the show Especially Sokka and Zuko, gotta be my favorite characters in this series

[@ToxicVex267]

What I don’t about this is whenever they say we’re toning down something that is important to a characters development they don’t really add anything to make up for it. They just take stuff out and say that’s it.

[@reimannsum9077]

Well at least they "fixed" his "sexism." Stunning and brave character.

[@thatonepossum5766]

I don’t get why they’d remove that. Not only was it a reasonable character flaw, it was also played to be really funny. :/

[@basilhenry-eyo6522]

I still don't get why they removed it💀

[@brandonross9762]

​@@thatonepossum5766 I'm with you. Instead, they gave Suki the bad guy role and made their relationship awkward

[@gainestics7194]

It’s the woke agenda, basic traditional gender role swap

[@mohamedAgacem]

​@@thatonepossum5766it's obvious why they removed it, if they kept it in they would've been targeted by right wing clickbait outrage podcasts like the daily wire for example, even by removing they still got called woke by a prager u podcast

[@aracelylopezpsyd5794]

These screw ups makes me wonder if they ever fully read (or watched) the actual script of the original story. Like, they gathered very superficial ideas of these characters & weren’t able to understand the genius behind them. Also, stuff like this makes me feel that writers really need to take some basic psychology lessons. They need to understand just how complex even the “simplest” character can truly be. A “simple” human being is actually not simple at all compared to typical Hollywood characters. The reason people love so-called “complex” characters is because they are in fact REAL, much closer to real life human beings!!

[@aracelylopezpsyd5794]

Also, it’s always ironic when people clearly do not understand the nuance of the social issues they are allegedly trying to avoid. As humans, we ALL have biases & prejudices that take time for us to understand & outgrow. It is why, I young teenage boy who oversells his sexist beliefs about strength & gender roles works so well, especially in the context where he had no proper adult role model to set him straight. It is the very fact that he was willing & able to accept change that makes his new world view have much deeper meaning. Anyhow, I will shut up before I start rambling any more.

[@skits_3d824]

I always thought seeing as there village was so small in the cartoon that he would leave Katara in charge of protecting the tribe when He would go out hunting and bringing back food. However the first episode in the animated version I had imagined Katara had had enough of village life and demanded he take her out. And well Sokka loving the idea of showing off his hunting skills agreed. So add hunter to the list please.

[@nerolia_gaming8030]

Best line of this video: "Sokka is not meant to have people's lives in his hands, is not meant to be a protector, is not meant to be a warrior, is not meant to be a leader which is... F**K OFF, SHOW!"

[@Barakon]

9:43 this arc belongs to an earth kingdom engineer with a militant father, not Sokka.

[@francostevo9939]

Sokka had been my favorite character of the show since I got into it back in 2008. Min bender are my favorite because it forces them to be better and use brains and strategy. So this stuff with Netflix is raising concern

[@BlazeD_7]

Bro, your videos make me want to watch avatar the animation again. Amazing videos

[@kingace6186]

Not only did Netflix make Boomerang useless, but they also stripped Sokka of his humor.

[@Evets_03]

This show makes me want to rewatch avatar the last hoodbender

[@RedLeif1]

The entire reason they took that out is because Sokka's attitudes (which if we're being honest are typical attitudes of an immature boy) are now seen as irredeemable flaws in the eyes of "modern audiences." Basically any and all characters who think that way are portrayed as villains, and they cannot be seen as anything else. It's terrible that people these days don't understand growth and change, and that the people we are even last week can be vastly different from the people we are today. Him not being a warrior also spits in the face of the original (something I'm told the live-action likes to do). One of the points of Sokka is that he's the only normal guy in a group of benders, yet he proves not only that he can hold is own in a fight, he has characteristics that he excels at that the others don't.

[@jambott5520]

That first point really ain't true. People, modern audiences, are perfectly OK with Sokka's attitudes in the original, or more accurately, OK with how the show portrays them, as the attitudes are clearly portrayed as a character flaw. So no, modern audiences aren't against this. If anything people seeing a character arc being of a person learning "wow, sexism is bad!" is very much within the sensibilities of modern audiences. We can see this because, people still watch avatar for the first time nowadays. And people don't get up in arms about it, at the very least not many. There will always be some media illiterate people, but it's not that many.

[@lancearnedo7837]

​@@jambott5520ah, you're misunderstanding the phrase "modern audience" it doesn't actually mean real people, it comes from a lot of bad writers making the excuse that their bad writing was actually good because it was for the "modern audience". Those authors live in a bubble or an echo chamber, they can't understand that most people won't like their work and believe that the majority of people are exactly them, so this "modern audience" they're talking about is basically just them.

[@jjhh320]

@@jambott5520 that's the point they were making dude, there is no "modern audience" so it made no sense to remove the sexism because we all would've liked the character arc, but the showrunners decided it would be too terrible a concept for the "modern audience" to understand...this "modern audience" hates anyone that has to learn how to reexamine life and grow up, and yeah, many tv shows are written with this mythical group in mind first and foremost

[@TehMomo_]

and yet modern audiences have been complaining nonstop about him NOT having these flaws...

[@Dddduuummb]

Honestly it felt like the writers didn’t know what to do with everyone except zuko. Aang’s strength in the LA is supposed to be his ability to connect and bring happiness to a hopeless world but his character is too serious and depressing. Katara is supposed to be about women empowerment and exploration but is made to be the quietest one on the team with the least amount of character. Honestly it felt like they flipped each character upside down then said this will be a more “serious”take on avatar

[@coffeebux]

What made sokka so endearing to me in the animated show was... His animations His over the top wide eyed reactions. His hopping around arm waving and reverse smiles that human actors simply cannot duplicate.

[@sammie_dot7542]

What bothers me is that in the live action Kataras worst moment is WATCHING her mother die, unlike the carton she stays in the tent and watches her get burned alive, unable to do anything to save her and forced to watch under the table. While Sokkas worst moment is… his father thinking he’s bad at something…. this is brought up SEVERAL TIMES making it a point that this is the worst thing ever. They could have gone in any direction, maybe the moment the fire nation attacked is the worst or when he discovered his mom died, i would even understand if they made him upset with himself because he was so bad at something that it made them late to arrive home and discovering the fire nations attack. Making him believe that if he wasn’t bad at something maybe his mother would still be alive. But no. Sokkas problem is that his daddy said he was bad at something so he started crying…

[@killz5567]

sheesh i didn’t even realize that connection…live action katara would be right if she told sokka he didn’t love their mom like she did 🤣

[@Cattensu]

Love how they also missed the fact that Hakuda is also in inventor on top of being a warrior, and leader. So he and Sokka get on really well.

[@roramoya]

I'm so sorry to Sokka, Suki, and Hakoda. The writers did all three of you so dirty

[@sophieamandaleitontoomey9343]

They robbed my boy of all of his charm, wit, sarcasm, natural intelligence, and all of his flaws. Sokka starting the series off as a sexist moron who couldn't fight, trust outsiders, or be the strong and capable man he wanted to be was the start of his arc. He grew from an ignorant moron who saw women and outsiders as lesser or people that can't be trusted to the leader of Team Avatar working alongside women and outsiders as equals as they worked together to save the world. Sokka in the new series is just...kind of there. He has no depth or flaws. He has no agency. He has no path or character growth. He feels like every stereotypical harem anime protagonist who doesn't say much, doesn't do much, has no real personality and yet can hold his own against Yuki and Zuko despite having no experience, and gets all of the girls he interacts with. Look how they massacred my boy doesn't even come close.

[@Violets_and_Madness]

I think the greatest part about original Sokka is how he goes from thinking girls can't fight and are helpless and need to be protected to protecting girls not because he thinks they need protection but because he cares for them and will do anything for them. The way he leaps onto Toph on the airship to protect her from the falling wreckage makes me tear up because he knows Toph is capable and strong and can protect herself, but he still covers her because he cares for her. (And there's something to be said about Toph letting him, too) Seeing Sokka's reasons to protect people shift is so beautiful and so intricately done.

[@sonkehagen8219]

As a stalwart fan of this masterpiece of a story since the very beginning (always making room for watching the newly released episodes on nickelodeon to annual dvd rewatching sessions to this very day), I do not have the words to express my deep deep sadness in light of this simulacrum! And that doesn't even take into account the knot in my gut about social implications...

[@linenotter]

9:39 On the topic of Hakoda being not just a fighter but having a creative side too: the Stink N' Sink!! His idea! He's got that in common with Sokka, even Bato said "you are definitely your father's son" when Sokka was impressed by Hakoda's idea for destructive stink bombs

[@mysticalarchives7821]

I'm okay with taking out Sokka's sexism, but only if they had replaced it with this: Make Sokka focused on the ideals of Nobility (not too dissimilar to Zuko's focus on honor) where he follows the Water Tribe belief that it is the man's job to protect his Tribe from all threats while women in the Tribe are expected to nurture and preserve their future. Having a large focus on family, tradition, and responsibility for the Water Tribes leads Sokka to be much more protective of his sister and his tribe than even the original, leading to his encounter with Suki and the Kyoshi warrior to be more about a conflict of his view that any self-respecting culture would never allow their women to be put in harm's way with the Kyoshi values of teaching women to fight so that they would be more secure and less vulnerable to danger. You could even loop in that, while Katara doesn't know that her mother was killed because the Fire Nation was looking for the last Water Bender, Sokka and his father do and that can be why everyone discourages Katara from Water Bending. Thus emphasizing Sokka as a protector and noble warrior in line with his original character while having some deviation to make him unique.

[@Ower8x]

The problem is the writers would consider what you described as sexism ... as they can not see the difference

[@michaelortiz1561]

​@@Ower8xI mean......op basically described sokka anyway lol like yes he is sexist but thats a flaw to be worked on all of the things op described are basically how sokka thinks about his place in life and his tribe

[@TehMomo_]

that's still sexism tho.... nobility and hierarchy is a very sexist idea of ruling...

[@Ower8x]

@@TehMomo_ Sure Jen ... so a hierarchy based on race... is sexist ... or on IQ is sexist .... seriously ... Comments like these makes me think we should bring back the Trivium ....

[@gang-ridertv5433]

0:12 ROCK AND STONE! OR YOU AINT GOING HOME.

[@christophergarrett7082]

Sokka dad trusted him and knew he was a great warrior. That was a corner stone if their relationship. Thats why in the og series sokka was always trying to improve his skills to make himself the warrior his dad knew he was and be proud kf. Thats why the day of the black sun and the boiling rock episodes was huge for him and sokka relationship cause his dad saw him be an better warrior and leader than he even could imagine. His dad even said that the invasion was the result of sokka and even when they lost that battle he still said sokka did a great job. Part of sokka being a great warrior was how smart he was and his willingness to learn from others after he meets suki

[@jobengals86]

Sokka is also The Fool, a necessary precursor to The Warrior

[@adamantiiispencespence4012]

"All men are fools and all men are knights especially where women are concerned." From one of the Dunk and Egg stories though I probably ended up paraphrasing a tad.

[@BelieveDream247]

I absolutely hate how they made his dad seem like a bad father who wasn't supportive. His dad literally was one of his main supporters and encouraged his leadership arc. I do love the actor though. Sometimes I literally saw Sokka coming out of him, it was crazy!

[@melaniekay3647]

Sokka is my favorite character and my favorite thing about him is how he, too, draws strength and knowledge from all four nations. In one of the first episodes, he says he can’t drive the boat (I think, can’t remember) because “this thing wasn’t built by the water tribe!” But by the finale episodes, he’s flying a fire nation warship with ease.

[@hharden4969]

Netflix taking out what made Sokka’s background as part of a male-lead culture in order to grow him as a more mature character in the end through his lessons he learned really shows how out of touch modern society is with history and how much they really want to cover up these situations instead utilizing it as a means of character development in storytelling. It was done SO WELL with Sokka in the original, and you can tell the writers really loved going through his ark as a growing leader but also as an ignorant teenager who’s still learning of the world around him. It’s so disappointing, and also his dad being such a bad parent here is such a disrespect to his character too and the relationship he had with Sokka. AND HE INVENTED STUFF TOO GUYS!!! He had personality, he wasn’t just a stickler for leadership like shown here, AND he was just as witty and clever as Sokka, that’s why they had so much of a connection with each other😤what a disservice to the original!

[@magicalpopfish9570]

When the argument of whether Sokka should be a warrior or inventor came up all I could think of was high school musical. Now I'm wondering if they'll resolve the conflict like high school musical where the simple answer of "you can do both" is treated as the most genius groundbreaking thing.

[@dpool7416]

I think this "Truth" in the Netflix version he was seeing was NOT that he isn't meant to be a warrior, or have peoples lives in his hands, only that his father doesn't believe he can. It would be so he can prove his father wrong.

[@CatalinaLinal7710]

In the end of the day, it wouldn't have been bad if the show runners simply wanted to focus on other sides of the characters. The problem is though that they're also reusing almost the same plot, and no shit, the old plot was written with the old character progression in mind. If they had utilized the Kyoshi warriors episode for a different development entirely between Sokka and Suki that focused (for example) on her being the future matriarch of her village who has so many resources and proper help by her side, while Sokka is the patriarch of his' who had to step up way too early in life in an environment that barely had anything left That would have been GREAT in my opinion! Because both have to carry very different and yet still extremely similar kind of burden. Not to mention the potential of Suki's religious-like connecting to her village's Avatar Kyoshi, in comparison to Sokka traveling with Aang who he has yet to properly warm up to and who belongs to a nation that Sokka has no connection to. Kyoshi could be almost over-glorified by Suki, and Aang was kinda demonized by Sokka in the beginning of the cartoon. You can make both of these sides meet in the middle to develop Suki out of the soldier mindset to create a contrast to the fire soldiers, while Sokka not only learns what a true warrior is for their home but also develops in his connection to Aang. Which would _also_ help greatly to explore the nuanced cases of both Aang and Kyoshi as Avatars. Then I could have absolutely fucked with that. I would have loved that. I don't need JUST the old show to exist. You can change things up and approach it differently this time around, but then you can't use the old plot. The old story existed for the old character and plot progression. Change those two things and you OBVIOUSLY need to write the story differently. That...should be a given in my opinion, but okay. I guess not?

[@ThreadBareHope1234]

1:52 That is a baddass mantle piece. Wish it was in a better show

[@Zarastro54]

Even ignoring the original, the ship between Suki and Sokka was way too rushed and forced for me. They kiss on the lips after literally less than 2 days of knowing each other, and the “training” scene was so cringe worthy. Also, I just realized that if these writers are so afraid of letting protagonist characters have negative traits, then there’s a good chance that they’ll cut out all the blind jokes around Toph. Mark my words.

[@anothrwintr8313]

"But not our Sokka! Couldn't be precious Sokka! And HE gets to be a warrior?! What a sick joke!"

[@xavierthomas5835]

In the end, this touches on another problem of modern writing. Besides the problem of writing plots centered around scenes, there is also the problem of writing characters around messages instead of writing characters WITH messages. Katara isn't a character with a message of strength, compassion, and healing. She IS a euphemism for female strength, healing, and knowledge. Sokka isn't a character with a message of understanding, humility, and burgeoning resolve. He IS a euphemism for understanding, humility, and resolve. He doesn't grow into these qualities. He exemplifies them. Thie both simplifies his character and removes the nuance of a person who isn't all that he can be or should be. The Legend of Korra's entire plot is built on the back of the plausibility that the characters we know CAN grow into these final ideas because the story always showed that they had more to understand about life and leadership. A character whose final act is that they become more like they already were, or else, learn how to juggle both of their responsibilities, makes that character one dimensional. You write a character, and THEN you write a message. Otherwise, you end up coming up with everything last minute, or worse, you end up with one-dimensional characters who have a linear path easily seen from a distance. You don't deliver the audience anything they don't already know because they've seen you story from 100 meters away.

[@foxy_projun1748]

"IF YOU AIN'T ROCK AND STONE,YOU AIN'T COMING HOME⛏"

[@joshuakolton9955]

I only watched the first episode and immediately quit. Not sure why people keep thinking they can do better than the original show.

[@princessthyemis]

Same!!!! Episode one club! I couldn't bear to watch more after that!!

[@jneilson7568]

I got to episode three then realised that if they were going to keep smashing important episodes together without the slightest understanding of why any of it originally worked, I was better off rewatching the real show yet again. Time much better spent!

[@PastelPixie99]

Watched until episode 5 then quit and started rewatching the original

[@Ashen2437]

How the fucked up so badly is honestly astounding.

[@moss1087]

I agree with you about sokka. They fr didn’t know what they wanted him to be🤦. I hope you do a video about azula next 🙏

[@sexy1018]

The scene where Sokka fights against Zuko in the first episode is easily one of the best. You can definitely feel the influence of the OG heads of Avatar there.

[@afiknat]

I really want to sit down with the writers and hear why thy made thire decisions

[@kyleeon8717]

One thing that definitely left a sour taste in my mouth and I don't see people mentioning is that Sokka is *still pushed around* or isn't taken seriously by others, but this time he deserves none of it. The immediate example I can think of is how he's humbled by Suki (as in, she literally goes out of her way to humble him) except he doesn't provoke her now. It's unwarranted and makes Suki look kinda like a douchebag, which the series seems to try to salvage by making her act like Sokka is the first dude she's ever seen lol, showing how ruining one character can contribute to other characters around them feeling weird or falling apart as well. It's not that he's not broken down, it's that he's already a broken man (or rather, a broken child) since the first second. Hopefully it's just my memory failing but I can't remember one moment where Sokka didn't feel utterly defeated; like there was nothing left to break down, like we simply skipped that step.

[@coderaven1107]

Its even weirder with the warrior/inventor difference, because Hakoda in the original clearly was an inventor and goofball creative person himself, as can be seen by their conversation about the smell bombs he invented/used (forgot the exact name).