In ATLA during the first episode of season 2, The Avatar State, we get a quick look at previous Avatars using the Avatar state. In each of the scenes, the Avatars are using the Avatar state to bend the element they were born with.

Kyoshi is bending Earth,

Kuruk is bending Water,

Yangchen is bending Air,

And Szeto is bending Earth? But, he’s the fire Avatar. Why is he bending Earth in this montage? I think it’s because when originally creating lavabending, Bryke and the team made lavabending a subending of fire, and not earth. But, when creating Ghazan, they wanted to give him a special bending technique for Earth. And after further thought about what lava is, they decided to basically retcon it so that lavabending was just part of earthbending and not firebending. What do you guys think? Was lavabending originally going to be part of firebending?

Ps. Why does Kyoshi need to use the Avatar state to lift two statutes? She is strong enough to do that without the Avatar state. Unless this is happening when she is very old.