Let's focus on my opinions for each of these characters according to the tier list. I am extremely sorry because this comment is going to be extremely long!!! Let’s get the party started!

Sokka is arguably my favorite character out of the whole series! (Even more than Toph!) And the most underrated one at best! In Season 1; he was just your average goofy guy, comic relief, arrogant, moody, incompetent etc. He was the butt-monkey of all jokes and was shy to admit his crush to Suki. Nothing wrong with that. But his character development would later ignite by the end of Season 1 and onwards! That’s when he started to show signs of being an actual competent and formidable non-bender when he saved his sister, Katara from Azula’s minions; Ty lee and Mai.

Sokka does make me cringe sometimes such as when he hanged out with Suki and the Kyoshi warriors in Season 1 or when he drank the cactus juice in Season 2. Yeah; that episode where he drank the cactus juice was his worst episode. But at the end of the day; he always makes me laugh. His cringeworthy moments is very rare, thankfully.

Soon; as time went by, he became a mature person while still maintaining some of his occasional goofiness. But Season 3 is SOKKA AT ITS PEAK!!! He completely evolved in his personality. What I adore in Sokka is that; despite being a non-bender, he has proven several times throughout the whole series that he can be just as effective as any bender! He doesn’t get underestimated or being made fun of by either the audience nor his friends just because he is a non-bender. He slowly started to become smart and strategic which would later play an extremely role to Team Avatar. He became from once an idiotic, incompetent, awkward and comic relief guy INTO a genius, strategic, resourceful, brave and mature man!!

I felt a strong emotion when Sokka attempted to lead the water tribe into infiltrating the Fire Nation. He genuinely wanted to become a leader and make his dad proud. (But I am proud at how far he has come and his accomplishments! And I think that; I may have a little crush on him.)

As for the occasional touch, let’s not forget the best running gags of the ATLA show; Sokka’s occasional sarcasm and his loyal boomerang that never failed to get any job done! Ah…..I wish I had a boomerang like him.

Honestly; I didn’t like Sokka’s Netflix version because he came off as a whiny, moody person who just complains about everything. I missed his humor.

Toph is my favorite girl and she is the second-best character for me but Sokka takes the crown for the best character in ATLA. Speaking of Toph; I am your average typical Toph fan except I am completely different from regular Toph fans. The only thing/things I genuinely dislike about Toph is/are her fans. I seriously despise her fans, they disgust me! Toph’s strength is perfectly fine the way it is in the series and yet fans make her WAY more powerful than she actually is! For example; I found a reddit post saying, ‘’Toph knew how to sandbend all along but she hated Appa so much that she decided not to save him.’’ (it was a shitpost but still) Or that other post that said; ‘’Toph got defeated by Aang because she didn’t know she was fighting an airbender. If she knew that Aang was an airbender, she would defeat him!’’

There was even a comment on a random post saying ‘’Imagine if Toph was so powerful in earthbending to the point that she could restore her own eyesight!’’

And don’t get me started on YouTube theories that say; ‘’Toph faked her blindness! Here is proof!’’

It's as if people don’t watch the series in depth!

And whenever Toph struggles with any situation/weakness, her fans always try to cover it up by making obnoxious theories to make her seem invincible. But I don’t think that Toph is an overpowered earthbender. She worked hard to become the greatest earthbender in the present timeline and she earned it. She lives with earthbending and she heavily relies on it! Of course she’s going to be the greatest earthbender we’ve ever seen! I am sick and tired of her fans making her look like she is invincible and making her awesome all the time!! And this is coming from a Toph fan herself!

Anyways; I think that Toph’s personality is cute and I think that her dissatisfaction with the society rules such as when she and Katara went to a spa in ‘’Tales of Ba sing se’’ was hilarious at its finest. Her being rebellious is funny. Sometimes; Toph can have emotional moments such as when she teared a little when she said something about Katara. That Katara genuinely cares about Toph but Toph sees Katara as her own mother and that’s why she was being harsh and mean-spirited to Katara. Her relationship was Katara was also pretty fun.

You know that she doesn’t have to be bold and tough all the time.

And when she is actually vulnerable; it hits hard!! I think these lines hurt me the most.

‘’I don’t care what I look like. I’m not looking for anyone’s approval. I know who I am.’’

‘’The sand is so loose and shifty it makes everything look fuzzy’’. (I WILL NEVER FORGET THAN LINE!!!! I’m going to use this line everytime someone hypes up Toph and her sandbending!)

And yes; I enjoy her sassiness. No shame in that! I love her personality and her flaws. I just wish that these Toph simps don’t hyper her up and make her look like a Mary sue and annoy everyone. In fact; when I watched the series for the first time, I thought I was going to despise Toph. Because lately, I’ve been seeing terrible strong female characters in modern media. But, Toph feels refreshing. So; I am one of these people who are Toph fans.

But I also think that Bumi is a great earthbender. Come on; you’ve got to give credit to him. He’s hilarious but he is very smart and patient! He is extremely underrated and he even played an important role in the White Lotus. Plus; I like his design, his voice, the vibe he gives me and so on.

I don’t think I need to explain about Appa and Momo. They are both very loyal to their partners and just like Sokka’s boomerang, they never fail to get any job done.

So; now that we got the characters of ‘’Total badass’’ tier out of the way, let’s get to the ‘’Awesome’’ tier.

FireLordSSBU; you’re right! I should bump Zuko up a tier at least next to Bumi. I was worried to do so because well, Zuko is not a hero but he is also not a villain. He is an anti-hero at best. And I placed Iroh in the lowest tier I could think of. I just couldn’t decide for some of the characters like Ursa, the water siblings’ father, the disabled flying guy, the library bird, the crazy mechanic, Roku and the rest, I don’t even know their names. So, I put them on the ‘’I don’t know’’ tier because I can’t decide right now. Perhaps; I should rewatch the series.

But; I really love Zuko’s redemption arc. It was wild, like a roller coaster of emotions. He made so many bad decisions, he tried so hard to be kind to others. But he is trying to struggle and overcome his past. The different between him and Azula is that; after Zuko’s banishment, he went through countless life experiences by travelling across the world just like Team Avatar and attempting to get along with strangers.

He is a victim of abuse and manipulation. And his scar symbolizes his past. He was an angry, cold and scatterbrained person, confused and lost in his own thoughts, trying to find his morality, trying to understand what is right and wrong. But; he manages to stand strong and didn’t let his past affect him, shape him into a monster. He is trying his best to be helpful to Team Avatar and slowly starting to be kinder and more accepting. He reminds me of Shirasu Azusa from Blue Archive. (that game was made in 2021)

When he redirected electricity; it shows that he finally overcame his past and is no longer affected by it. He finally become strong-willed.

After all the struggles he has been for his life, the experiences, the suffering and struggles he went through; he got a happy ending where he became king of the Fire Nation and determined to bring peace according to all of his experiences. Am I the only one who feels this way towards Zuko? This is my opinion and thoughts towards Zuko.

And honestly; Zuko should have betrayed Iroh and THEN join Team Avatar. I was so happy that he betrayed Iroh because I thought that it was a sign that Zuko has finally moved on for better and bigger things. But; we’ll talk about Iroh later on.

Azula is no doubt a fantastic villain and easily my favorite of all! When I first watched the series; I was like ‘’UGH!!! Azula is so annoying!!! Why does she have to ruin everything!?!?’’. But then I realized, ‘’oh yeah, she’s the villain. Wow; she’s doing a really good job!’’. Azula is powerful, fearless and a manipulative girl. Also; is it just me or does her voice acting do an amazing job at voicing Azula?? I don’t know her name but she’s must be very good at voicing Azula. I love how Azula is very determined and she always thinks before she acts. She is the perfect foil to Team Avatar and genuinely, a threatening and scary one. She uses fear to control others. Like; everytime you see Azula, you hear a mysterious spooky music playing in the background.

That shows how powerful and threatening she is. But at the same time; there is something depressing and tragic behind her wicked and sadistic background. I remember a YouTuber saying that ‘’Ty lee’s betrayal is out of nowhere’’ while we can see in an episode where the thoughts in Azula’s mind said ‘’All your life, you’ve used fear to control people’’. Honestly, I wish that Azula gets a redemption arc. I don’t want her to be a good person but an anti-hero like Zuko. Because when you understand Azula’s character in perspective of writing; HOLY THAT’S DEEP!!! Great writing! From the looks; she is a girlboss tough sadistic girl.

I hate how everyone says that Aang is a bad protagonist. Aang and Ozai gets way too much hate from the fandom. But about Aang; I like how he is not perfect. He’s seeming like a really fun person. He’s energetic, optimistic and fun-loving kid. When he found out that his cowardice made him loose his entire home, everyone he loved etc.; that’s the reason why he sets up his character arc to become the hero of the story. He has some funny moments to be honest. Although; sometimes when he gets annoyed or angry, have some sort of outburst, it makes me a little uncomfortable and it makes me wonder, ‘’is he supposed to be a pure good hero?’’. But what I can assume is that; it’s very difficult to anger Aang as he is a pacifist who values life of all stripes.

It's good to see both Aang’s childness and wisdom at the same time. He is easy-going and easily forgiven. Once in a while; in fiction, you always need to have that one guy/girl that tries to find other ways to solve problems WITHOUT using violence and just wanting equality and peace in society. It’s hard to find such protagonists like Aang nowadays. I don’t think that Aang is a boring character as everyone says. He gets too much hate. I like his personality to be honest.

Hama is a cool character. And she’s legitimately terrifying! When she first appeared; she seemed like a friendly old woman. But when you understand her backstory, background, personality etc. you begin to realize how she is in reality, extremely scary. Hama was a really cool villain not going to lie! And the fact that during the battle between her and Katara; Hama won! She actually succeeded in her goal and she achieved her motivation. She’s a really great villain even though she appeared for one episode. (3rd favorite villain for me)

Katara is very underrated as well because she is a perfect balance of flaws and strengths; I do respect how determined she is at her goals such as attempting to master waterbending, finding her mother and she also seems to have the most realistic personality. On one side, she is kind, affectionate and patient with others. Even Sokka considers Katara like a mother because of how she does a near-perfect job. She is a hard-worker. In funny scenarios; she sometimes let her flaws get the best of her such as when she was resistant towards Zuko despite supposedly him redeeming himself which is understandable. Or sometimes; she tries to act like sort of a ‘’tough’’ girl when Toph was a famous scammer and Katara ‘’captured’’ her to get money. If you know what I am talking about; let me remind you of that episode when Katara and Toph got captured in a wooden box and Katara admitted to Toph that she just wanted to show that she can also be a fun person.

Speaking of Toph; I don’t know why but I honestly adore the dynamic between Toph and Katara, who are both like my favorite strong female characters in media. They have been through rough times in the beginning of Season 2 due to different personalities.

What I love, or rather, admire in Katara is how she is strong-willed and doesn’t love motivation easily, if it means protecting or helping her dearest friends even in the most seemingly impossible scenarios such as in ‘’The desert’’ episode. At the same time, her passionate, strong motivated and affectionate atmosphere shouldn’t fool you and we are brought moments to prove you that Katara is not afraid to kick your butt if she wanted to. Unlike modern strong female characters who gains mastery over skills for unexplained reasons in a short amount of time; Katara didn’t master waterbending in just one episode and we can see that she couldn’t even control it in the beginning of Season 1. It took time and effort to practice different techniques and gain control of it, and even then when she finally mastered it; she continues to practice waterbending over and over again, continuously improving herself.

I don’t think she is the greatest waterbending but she has got to the be the most resourceful waterbending ever; using its powers to find clever solutions such as when she sweat bended to break the wooden cage to free herself and Toph.

Katara always gets overlooked by Avatar fans. I confess; I also have this bad habit of overlooking Katara. Now; I don’t think I gave her enough compliments. I don’t think I gave enough reasons why I put Katara in the awesome tier. I just can’t think of a reason but I know that Katara is a great character, not my favorite but she’s good. I just admire how she is strong-willed, doesn’t lose motivation and doesn’t give up easily.

Also; I finally understand why everyone loves Zutara ship. Although; I also think that Zuko X Mai has potential. It is toxic but why not? It has potential.

Ty lee and Mai are pretty cool; I think that their backstories were interesting although I wish it was explored. I am amazed at the fact that Ty lee always stays happy no matter what even though Azula ruined her circus career. And why is it so funny when Ty lee flirts with boys, especially Sokka?? I think Mai pretty cool. They were good strong female characters and villains; actually, posing to threat to team Avatar and did a good job. Chi-blocking is very interested and I think that’s all I can say about Mai and Ty lee. One word to describe both of them;

Girlboss!

You know who else is a girlboss? The most underrated female character ever; Suki! Me personally; I prefer Suki without her makeup because gosh she looks so beautiful. I am upset that she doesn’t get a lot of screentime but she got involved a lot during the invasion of the Fire Nation to help Aang defeat Ozai. It’s the exact same feeling I have for Ty lee and Mai but for some reason they don’t have much personality except that Ty Lee is the cheerful happy-go-lucky girl and Mai is the tough-as-nails emotionless girl. I love the strong females in ATLA; simplistic personality but catchy.

I am trying my best NOT to forget Suki because I know that she is a great girl but just like Katara; everyone, including myself, overlooks her. It’s good to have plenty of female cast in this cartoon.

I think that Piandao should have been introduced to Season 3 way earlier! I think that he is really cool. He is definitely (in my opinion) the strongest non-bender in the series. When he was introduced and he started teaching Sokka fighting skills; Piandao’s expertise in combat and swordsmanship blows my mind!! He even said that he has never faced defeat! (When he defeated 100 Fire Nations) I swear, he needs more screentime in the series! I don’t know why he only appeared in one episode! If I wanted to be a strong non-bender; I should start taking notes from him.

(Also, am I the only one who finds Piandao handsome?)

So now to the; ‘’Guilty Pleasure’’ tier.

Most of the characters in this tier (except Yue, SSBM & Ozai) are characters that annoy and irritate me SO badly that it actually feels good or they only exist for the memes or the fact that they are poorly written characters (even overrated) and yet I can’t help but love them!

(SSBM stands for Sparky sparky boom man)

For example; I think that Kyoshi is overrated. But; for some reason, ever since that scene in ‘’Avatar Day’’, it was just too good. The timing, context, everything about Kyoshi killing Chin the Conquer; that scene was my favorite Kyoshi related scene. I find her too cool; her intense amount of power she possesses is fascinating. There were comic books about her and I am wondering if I should read them because Kyoshi is fascinating. She didn’t have much scenes in the cartoon. But the Avatar is a franchise after all; it has the comics including the ‘’Rise of Kyoshi’’ etc. so maybe I could try it. Maybe I should read the Kyoshi novels.

I’ll think about it.

Combustion man was also pretty fascinating character, or at least; his bending technique. And his background; that according to Zuko, he is an assassin and does a very good job at this profession. He only stands out for his powers but at least we learned how much damage can combustion bending do. (And it happens to make the bender the most vulnerable)

TINWIBSS girl, Boulder, the ‘’Earth bending rumble announcer’’ (I don’t know what his name is. He didn’t appear much) and Cabbage merchant exist solely for the memes. That’s why I put them on the ‘’Guilty pleasure’’ tier. In case you don’t know what ‘’TINWIBSS’’ is, it’s a word that stands for this sentence!

T: There

I: Is

N: No

W: War

I: In

B: Ba

S: Sing

S: Se

For strange reasons; the cabbage merchant is somehow memorable with his catchphrase because it’s making me giggle for no reason.

As Yue; she didn’t really last long in the Avatar series but she’s memorable just for being the moon spirit. (Also, she is pretty) I can’t say much about her. (I don’t want to call her boring because I know that she is important to the plot)

For Ozai; I have a huge rant about him.

I am sick and tired of witnessing reddit users complaining about how Ozai is a ‘’boring’’ villain!! In my personal opinion; Ozai is a very underrated villain and he gets WAY too much hate than he deserves. He’s my second favorite villain after Azula. The title of best villain goes to Azula but Ozai is also a great villain! (I don’t consider Zuko a villain.) Because come on people; you’ve got to give Ozai some credit. Just think about it with me….

Without Ozai; we wouldn’t have gotten an amazing villain like Azula! We wouldn’t have a fantastic redemption arc like Zuko’s!! Everyone loves Azula and Zuko. You all don’t understand the different between a ‘’boring’’ villain and an actually well-written villain. From my personal perspective; a ‘’boring’’ villain is a villain that doesn’t do anything evil or provides minimal threat to the heroes. They are a butt-monkey or a wannabe at best. I usually don’t like comedic villains. (Except Dr. Ivo Robotnik)

For example; I consider Sozin and Zhao boring villains.

But more on them later on.

Also; I adore pure evil villains. But only when they are written well and not cliché. I don’t want one of those ‘’generic doomsday villains’’. But Ozai is neither a cliché nor a ‘’generic doomsday villain’’. He is not just a power-hungry fire lord; he is determined and had only one goal in his mind and decided to follow along with it with no future plans for the rest of his life, completely neglecting any rules of society. I am a little disappointed that he served the Fire Nation for the shortest amount of time. Ozai is an unfair and abusive parent and he knows it very well. He has no sympathy towards his children (and his wife). He raped Ursa just to gain tools that he could use for his domination plans. He deemed Zuko as worthless and Azula as worthy only because of skill difference. He changed the lives of Zuko and Azula. I see him as a representation of real-life abusive parents, who has no regard for their actions and no words can describe the level of evilness Ozai contains!!

And you can see that he was willing to both physically and mentally destroy his children and young kids in general as seen when he;

1. Burned Zuko’s eye which lead him to get a permanent scar

2. Raised Azula to be a psychopath. He is the reason why Azula was a great villain in the series

3. Attempted to burn Aang to death

As Zuko once described him; ‘’Worst father in the history of fathers’’ (which is 10000% true!) At least Zuko managed to overcome his father’s manipulative and abusive tactics while Azula succumbed to them.

I honestly wished that he got more screentime in the series as he only became the main antagonist in Season 3. But I give him credit for driving the plot into nearly FULL GEAR!! So, I put Ozai in ‘’Guilty Pleasure’’ tier because everyone considers him a boring villain while I consider him a great one.

By the way; I regret putting Jet in the ‘’Guilty pleasure’’ tier. He was extremely annoying obviously. I think I should have put him in the ‘’Annoying tier’’.

The black-haired girl (I don’t know her name) is a badass but there’s not much to her.

Now for the ‘’Forgettable Tier’’

The only thing that Sozin has stand out is the fact that he betrayed his friend Roku and started the 100-year war, wiped out the air nomads, and starting the Royal family tradition of violent sibling rivalries. (Ok wow, Sozin did a lot of damage to the plot and yet I don’t remember him so well. Hahaha…….)

Same goes to Azulon……I forgot about him. Haha….

Zhao was probably the worst villain in the show as all he did was kill a moon spirit which did no damage whatsoever. (Although according to Iroh, it apparently has an effect) He’s probably just for a fever comedic dream. Or an example of ‘’what just happened)

Monk Gyatso and the swap bending guy didn’t appear much in the series. I don’t know the name of the swap bending guy but I knew that he played an important role during the invasion of the fire nation. I only remember Monk Gyatso for being a mentor to Aang and then he died from the war.

Now for the ‘’Annoying’’ tier. (I should have placed Jet here)

The sandbenders irritated me for kidnapping Appa and making Aang angry. Long Fe is not an impressive villain. And then we have Jet’s minions (or something) Jet’s minions were very annoying in my opinion.

I didn’t like the king of the earth kingdom (I am talking about the glasses guy, don’t know his name). Because he is incompetent and does a terrible job of ruling his kingdom. But Toph’s earthbending teacher (don’t know his name) perhaps irritated me the most; he is said to be the ‘’finest earthbending teacher’’ in the land but he was very annoying when he agreed with Toph’s parents to track Toph and bring her back home. Also; his earthbending isn’t very impressive.

I don’t like Toph’s father because; don’t you have a clue that sometimes kids mature faster at a very young age!?!? Instead of being proud of Toph’s achievement, her father just decides to punish Toph further and place her in a stricter environment. I understand that parents want to protect their children and there is a possibility of fear of losing that child but; give Toph some credit! She’s an independent girl thanks to her powers (and badgermoles) and she is NOT a damsel in distress anymore like you imagine her to be! (Yeah, her father annoyed me. Too bad Toph’s father was not an option in the tier list)

I wasn’t sure where to put Ursa, Roku, flying disabled guy, Library owl etc. in the tier. I couldn’t decide for them so I put them in the ‘’I don’t know tier’’. Roku’s character is extremely questionable. Perhaps; I need to rewatch the whole series since I finished watching it this year on September. I like to watch clips on YouTube. So, I should rewatch the series before I can decide where to place Ursa, Roku etc. in the list. I just wanted to find a random slot to place them. I just haven’t decided yet.

And now; it’s time for the moment we have all been waiting for!

I was honestly just hoping to open a discussion about ATLA characters. I just wanted to know other people’s opinions; because I am always curious to know what other people think about any cartoon characters. I didn’t expect that the first thing people would comment when they see my tier list is; ‘’Why is Iroh in worst tier?’’ I knew that I’d anger everyone by saying that Iroh is the worst character. I really thought I could get away with putting Iroh in the lowest tier and no one would notice.

Anyways; let me give you the reasons why I think that Iroh is the worst character in ATLA.

Here is a warning: the things that I am going to say is likely to seem harsh for you and I might get banned for this comment from the fandom. I feel awful myself for ranting about an old man. But he, or at least his writing, deserves plenty of criticism. But; this is just my opinion and I do not intend to hurt anyone's feelings and I am not trying to be rude or mean-spirited to anyone.

Read carefully

First of all; Iroh’s face looks punchable.

Second; Iroh is nothing more than one of those stereotypical dads you see in media that are idiotic and incompetent. All he does is spit out random words that has little to absolutely no effect on the plot. After all; actions speak louder than words. I don’t think that Zuko learned anything from Iroh’s so-called wisdom. And neither do ANY of the characters of this show! And as seen with some scenes; Iroh can be completely oblivious to his surroundings such as when he secretly firebended to warm his tea that even Zuko pointed out what Iroh was doing. He is completely unaware of the danger to begin with. Put Iroh in the most dangerous situations ever such as skydiving and he will show absolutely no fear! In fact; Iroh shows nearly zero emotion other than being idiotically optimistic for no reason! (At least through the majority of Season 2 and the early Season 3)

When I first watched the series; there was a period where I haven’t gotten to Season 2. During that period, I decided to try out the Netflix live action version. I didn’t like Sokka but I also didn’t like Iroh. They seemed like moody grumpy bears to me. So, I decided to continue watching the series but until I got to the moment where Zuko officially gets banished and travels around the world of Avatar; Iroh suddenly decides to come with Zuko even though a couple of episodes ago, he was completely supporting Zuko in capturing the Avatar!!! Then in Season 2; his flashback is suddenly slapped into our faces that his son died and that’s why his whole personality turned into a complete 180! And I was like; wait a minute? What happened!? Because in Season 1, Iroh was just a regular bad guy of the week who blended in with the Fire Nation but the moment Season 2 begins; he suddenly decides to become a pure good character and help Zuko! And his so-called redemption suddenly appeared out of nowhere without any development!

One could argue that because Iroh’s son died; he had so much grieved for it and realized that continuing the war would result in more losses so he decided that he may not be able to bring back his son but he still has the chance to make the future world a better place and not have our heroes of the story suffer just like him. But if that’s the case; then instead of turning a complete 180 in Iroh’s personality, give him a few episodes for him to grieve about his past! If the ATLA characters in the story can go through character development; then so can Iroh! The rules must be equal for everyone! The show could’ve given us a handful of episodes to showcase how much love did Iroh genuinely have for his son and maybe have him go through the five stages of grief. Taking care of Zuko could be his coping mechanism. That would be so much interesting and even more emotional!

After all; it’s never too late to change!

Or so Iroh SHOULD have been represented.

Instead; Iroh gets special treatment from the audience, the writers and the show itself just because he is an old man! If Iroh was a young adult, then everyone would rage at him. Normally, I see terribly written female characters in modern media especially nowadays. And nowadays, boyhs are considered inferior to women and just bumbling idiots. But; ATLA is the first series where I have witnessed a terribly written male character. No male character I’ve seen (Except Eugene from Wednesday) has such bad writing as Iroh!

From this day on; my hatred towards Iroh began to grow. Before I got into the Avatar franchise; I was neutral towards Iroh. I didn’t have as much hatred as I do now. Even then; his pictures look really adorable and he appears like a friendly guy to the point that you want to hug him so much!

Right after Season 1 ended; the plot tries to shield all of Iroh’s wrongdoings and is trying to manipulate the audience into falsely believing that Iroh is a ‘’great character who gives wisdom to everyone!’’ and they keep Iroh happy and smiling all day long! And I must admit; the manipulative action of the plot is extremely impressive! Iroh is an old man so everyone is blindly willing to listen to elders because no one wants to hurt them! (No, I am not offending elders. Iroh is a fictional character and not a real life one) And along with some ‘’wisdom’’ with a favorite hobby slapped on it (that is supposed to be a running gag); you’ve got an unrealistic perfect character and in this way, you can get away with making your character overpowered as much as you wish!!!

(And I am far from being done with Iroh criticism! I am just getting started!!!)

Speaking of favorite hobby; Iroh is also a very boring character as his entire personality is his ‘’wisdom’’ and tea making to blend in with his ‘’gentle, calm patient old man’’ atmosphere to the point that the afterword of the ending of 100 Year War is him making a tea shop and it’s even a tactic to manipulate characters to succumb to the plot’s demands; Iroh is a kind all loving character to everyone, even the most stubborn girls like Toph that ever lived! Geez, Toph should’ve gotten a field trip with Zuko instead of being stuck with an old man! And throughout most of the series; most of Iroh’s personality is being nothing but being a tea lover and that’s all we got from him! It’s a very boring running gag!

Example of him using tea to manipulate characters; the robber with a knife and a crooked leg who wanted to steal Iroh’s money. What is the first thing that Iroh does??? Give him some ‘’wisdom’’ and tea! Because this is apparently how a Gary stu redeems characters!!

And yes; I think that Iroh is a Gary stu! Normally; I despise overpowered female characters but Iroh is my FIRST DESPISED OVERPOWERED MALE CHARACTER!!!!

(Sorry everyone, I took my hatred to Iroh a little far.)

Heck; I have this impression that Iroh is most powerful bender in general in the world!! Even more than the Avatar himself!! Just what did he do to become the ‘’most powerful firebender’’? First of all; that title goes to Azula! Second; how does one become a firebending master at such an old age! Why only when Iroh’s son died, he decides to become a firebending master??? Everyone else in the series worked hard to become powerful benders! Toph learned earthbending from badgermoles and lives with it so that’s why she’s the ‘’greatest earthbender in the world!’’

Katara repeatedly and continuously practices her waterbending.

And plus; Aang, Toph, Katara and Zuko are all children so they have even more potential to grow their bending powers. The reason I don’t complain from Toph being overpowered is because she worked hard to practice her earthbending skills! (or least the badgermoles did the work for her) She earned it! Iroh did nothing to prove to the audience that he is worthy of being a powerful firebender! And if you were to compare the achievements of what other characters did and compare them to Iroh; you will observe that Iroh achieved more than anyone else in the series!

Katara mastered waterbending of nearly all forms, gained some bloodbending skills and even learned healing.

Toph unlocked seismic sense, invented mental bending, opened a metal bending academy and became a police officer.

Aang mastered all four elements and restored his entire Nation.

Zuko became the Fire Lord of the Fire Nation and restored honor of the Fire Nation.

Iroh mastered firebending, became Dragon of the West, invented lightning redirection, is the only character who can breathe fire, is a member of the White Lotus, opened his own tea shop, and is the only non-Avatar character in the whole franchise who entered into the spirit world! All while he is an old man! OH MY GOD; THAT IS WAY TOO MUCH ACHEIVEMENTS!!! How could such an old man have all of these achievements in a short period of time!? I understand Team Avatar; because they are kids so they have the better mindset of learning and adapting to things quicker and have the potential to gain even more knowledge than adults. The more knowledge is important for young children. But Iroh just wasted his whole life doing ‘’nobody knows what’’ and when his son died; he suddenly decided to change!

You could argue that Iroh represents the ‘’it’s never too late to change’’. But his character is so unrealistic that it makes Team Avatar (even Toph) look like amateurs.

Now comes the part that enrages me the most.

No matter whatever you do, no matter if you speak, no matter if you move, breathe etc.; you have to listen to Iroh no matter what!!! You are not allowed to even object Iroh’s ‘’wisdom’’; otherwise, you will be punished and humiliated by the plot as seen when Zuko betrayed Iroh!! I was honestly extremely happy that Zuko betrayed Iroh (no pun intended) because it was a huge step up for Zuko that he has finally moved on. But the series expects you to be angry at Zuko for betraying Iroh and then; the next two episodes, we see Zuko acting like a crybaby and being Iroh obsessed and all that! Because he is punished by the plot for simply leaving Iroh!!!

If you even criticize Iroh; you will be demonetized by the series! The only people that genuinely hate Iroh are the villains of the show!

Fire bending? More like Gary stu bending! He mastered all the techniques of fire you can ever think of (except blue fire) has a tragic backstory meant for the audience to sympathize with him and has the most powerful weapon in the world: a cup of tea!!! (Even more powerful than Sokka’s boomerang!) That can redeem anyone in the blink of an eye!! (Except Ozai and Azula)

So; I think that Iroh is 100% Gary stu!!! He has a tragic backstory, (his son died) he is loved by everyone, even strangers that don’t even know him (and if you hate Iroh, you are an irredeemable and terrible person!) he can redeem anyone, has powers that nobody else has, most powerful fire bender, became pure good in a matter of minutes and is the only person to enter the spirit world!!

In conclusion; this is why I hate Iroh!!! The only credit I can give him is that he cares about Zuko although his love for Zuko is very questionable.

These are honestly my opinions and I would be extremely happy to open discussions, take criticism, hear other people’s opinions and much more. If you disagree with my point of view; I respect your opinion. That’s all for this post.

The end.