I think the concern that those titans are at the top of the hierarchy. And since the tensions in Korra have taken a political spin, guess who would be called in.
Hint: Not the water-bending plumbers, Mario jokes aside.
So, basically, we're just wondering why no one has managed to invent a bomb, which lets a single normal person cause similar levels of havoc (not necessarily the volcano thing).
IT'S A CARTOON FOR CHILDREN! Bombs and terrorism? What are you thinking?
*sigh* It is a cartoon, yes. We are adults (well, many of us). We are trying to socioeconomically investigate a cartoon for children using information presented to us. My post was not intended as an assumption we would see such a thing, simply pointing out that Quid's comment on the level of havoc achievable by a single individual is similar between benders and non-benders. His further comments on how normal people feel intimidation by benders but not by non-benders simply points out to how biased their view is. Yeah, that guy approaching me might be able to throw a car at me. He might also just be able to knife me to death. While hypothetically I could more easily defend against one, in reality I'd be equally likely to die by either.
The end statement of the non-bending faction is simply that they are afraid, and unreasonably so to my mind. I don't think everyone who has a knife is going to try to knife me, similarly just because someone is a bender that doesn't mean I should be afraid of them either.
Edit: Really the only difference to me between a bender and a guy with a knife is how much of my corpse is left.
And, you know, you can get a knife too.
Where do you get the ability to throw cars from across the block?
Man Quid, you are repeatedly directly comparing average folks to the Avatar and other titans of bending. Average benders do not erupt volcanoes or create tidal waves or earthquakes. They like throw rocks.
Because Neaden claimed a person of equal training could hold their own against them.
And that is simply untrue.
Korra has trained as a bender since she was 6. She lost a fight to some random equalist ninja. Jet was a close match for Aang before he trained water bending. Ty Lee took out an elite unit of earth benders. Piando beat a group of supercharged fire benders. Hakkoda took on multiple fire benders during the invasion. Zuko took on 3 fire benders as the blue spirit without any fire bending. Those archers were able to beat aang in a fight and do things like knock a frog out of his hand or shoot a grappling arrow into a tree while falling.
Man Quid, you are repeatedly directly comparing average folks to the Avatar and other titans of bending. Average benders do not erupt volcanoes or create tidal waves or earthquakes. They like throw rocks.
Because Neaden claimed a person of equal training could hold their own against them.
And that is simply untrue.
Look, there's ONE Avatar ever, and their entire existence is to balance shit. The Avatar is not a factor in this fight. You want to talk about Iroh and Toph and Azula? Compare them to Ty Lee and Master Sword Guy and Tazer Henchman, not Timid Shop Keeper.
This discussion actually brings up kind of a sore point for me. They had all this talk about how the comet was going to supercharge the firebenders, and then the comet shows up and THAT is when they totally bitch slap the entire Fire Nation military? I mean sure, Iroh is likely to be quite a force with the comet behind him, but very few members of the Avatar's side of the conflict were firebenders.
Actually, if you remember, the plan was to wait until after the comet, to give Aang time to get good at firebending. It's not til Zuko joined the group that they learned of the impending world conquest that would go down on the day of the comet, and then it was sorta too late. :P
I still hate that plan just because it made no sense. The comet lasted for what, 20 minutes? That wasn't enough time to travel very far on blimps to burn the Earth Kingdom.
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
This discussion actually brings up kind of a sore point for me. They had all this talk about how the comet was going to supercharge the firebenders, and then the comet shows up and THAT is when they totally bitch slap the entire Fire Nation military? I mean sure, Iroh is likely to be quite a force with the comet behind him, but very few members of the Avatar's side of the conflict were firebenders.
Actually, if you remember, the plan was to wait until after the comet, to give Aang time to get good at firebending. It's not til Zuko joined the group that they learned of the impending world conquest that would go down on the day of the comet, and then it was sorta too late. :P
I also find it odd, Neaden, that you claim pro bending pays well despite it being shown on screen that Mako and Bolin get no money from it, indeed they lose money, but you want to claim that industrial work pays poorly despite what's seen on screen showing the opposite.
I am saying that we don't have any evidence that pro bending is wage slavery which is what you said or that industrial work means that they aren't poor.
Edit: Also they didn't lose money from probending, they just only had enough to buy groceries and pay their landlord.
The scene where Bolin and Mako get paid and then have every bit of that money taken away for various expenses is the definition of wage slavery.
I also find it odd, Neaden, that you claim pro bending pays well despite it being shown on screen that Mako and Bolin get no money from it, indeed they lose money, but you want to claim that industrial work pays poorly despite what's seen on screen showing the opposite.
I am saying that we don't have any evidence that pro bending is wage slavery which is what you said or that industrial work means that they aren't poor.
Edit: Also they didn't lose money from probending, they just only had enough to buy groceries and pay their landlord.
The scene where Bolin and Mako get paid and then have every bit of that money taken away for various expenses is the definition of wage slavery.
Were the expenses legitimate? I remember Bolin's extra grocery bill, Korra's new uniform and helmet ... I think there were two more things.
I'm certainly not wholly on his side but the idea that there aren't obvious, significant advantages to everyone knowing you can literally kill them with a wave of the hand is ludicrous.
But that is not oppression. We haven't seen any proof that benders dominate the government or are richer on average then non benders or have old benders clubs that fix each other up with jobs etc.
Do you not consider having to regularly fear that a group, and only one group, is going to destroy your block in a dispute oppression? That in any interaction with one the power is always out of whack? You've yet to address the fact that outside the ring bending has been demonstrated as terribly destructive and responsible for more damage than anything else. This alone is reason for people to be fearful and upset. To say nothing of the threats the Avatar made, the followed through on, against a peaceful protester.
So yeah. No one's oppressed so long as they don't upset the people with the power to ruin their lives in an instant.
In the show a bender vs a non bender of equal talent and training is an even fight. Period full stop we have seen that time and again. This isn't the real world and nonbenders can do impossible martial arts and gymnastics. If benders are on average better at fighting it is because they train at fighting more.
If you take a bender and a non-bender of equal martial talent and training, the bender inherently has a massive advantage, because they can shoot fire or rocks or water whips or blasts of air, whereas the normal cannot. That's like saying "if you take two people of equal martial arts talent and training, but one has a gun, it's a fair fight."
People like the Equalists and Ty Lee do decently against benders typically because they've got the element of surprise and they're incredibly well trained. The normals we see take on benders are not your average rank-and-file soldiers; they're the best of the best.
Thinking of Amon's henchmen as random mooks is a mistake. Those guys are, in all likelihood, master martial artists. Just look at how they move.
I also find it odd, Neaden, that you claim pro bending pays well despite it being shown on screen that Mako and Bolin get no money from it, indeed they lose money, but you want to claim that industrial work pays poorly despite what's seen on screen showing the opposite.
I am saying that we don't have any evidence that pro bending is wage slavery which is what you said or that industrial work means that they aren't poor.
Edit: Also they didn't lose money from probending, they just only had enough to buy groceries and pay their landlord.
The scene where Bolin and Mako get paid and then have every bit of that money taken away for various expenses is the definition of wage slavery.
Were the expenses legitimate? I remember Bolin's extra grocery bill, Korra's new uniform and helmet ... I think there were two more things.
Rent for their appt and gym fees I believe. To me the difference is that they have a separate relationship with their employer where he is also their landlord. I don't think that the other probenders live there.
I'm certainly not wholly on his side but the idea that there aren't obvious, significant advantages to everyone knowing you can literally kill them with a wave of the hand is ludicrous.
But that is not oppression. We haven't seen any proof that benders dominate the government or are richer on average then non benders or have old benders clubs that fix each other up with jobs etc.
Do you not consider having to regularly fear that a group, and only one group, is going to destroy your block in a dispute oppression? That in any interaction with one the power is always out of whack? You've yet to address the fact that outside the ring bending has been demonstrated as terribly destructive and responsible for more damage than anything else. This alone is reason for people to be fearful and upset. To say nothing of the threats the Avatar made, the followed through on, against a peaceful protester.
So yeah. No one's oppressed so long as they don't upset the people with the power to ruin their lives in an instant.
In the show a bender vs a non bender of equal talent and training is an even fight. Period full stop we have seen that time and again. This isn't the real world and nonbenders can do impossible martial arts and gymnastics. If benders are on average better at fighting it is because they train at fighting more.
If you take a bender and a non-bender of equal martial talent and training, the bender inherently has a massive advantage, because they can shoot fire or rocks or water whips or blasts of air, whereas the normal cannot. That's like saying "if you take two people of equal martial arts talent and training, but one has a gun, it's a fair fight."
People like the Equalists and Ty Lee do decently against benders typically because they've got the element of surprise and they're incredibly well trained.
Thinking of Amon's henchmen as random mooks is a mistake. Those guys are, in all likelihood, master martial artists.
And Korra is a master bender who has trained for 11 years or so. Sounds like 2 equally trained people to me.
The Kyoshi warriors (trained fighters but certainly not masters) did well against firebenders. There just weren't very many of them.
And since we're also bringing out every sorely mismatched fight, a single unarmed, unarmored Suki blew through a bunch of guards and captured the warden of the hardest prison probably in the world.
This discussion actually brings up kind of a sore point for me. They had all this talk about how the comet was going to supercharge the firebenders, and then the comet shows up and THAT is when they totally bitch slap the entire Fire Nation military? I mean sure, Iroh is likely to be quite a force with the comet behind him, but very few members of the Avatar's side of the conflict were firebenders.
Actually, if you remember, the plan was to wait until after the comet, to give Aang time to get good at firebending. It's not til Zuko joined the group that they learned of the impending world conquest that would go down on the day of the comet, and then it was sorta too late. :P
You know, if they didn't take the time finishing the Katara revenge sidequest, they could have visited fire nation a few days sooner and completely curb stomped them.
I suppose boiling rock was worth the effort, simply because Mai and Ty Lee got arrested and Azula descended into further insanity.
Seriously, though. When Katara wants to join in the fight, Zuko should have responded with, "Hey, Azula and I are both 100 times more powerful than normal today, and you sort of aren't."
The Kyoshi warriors (trained fighters but certainly not masters) did well against firebenders. There just weren't very many of them.
And since we're also bringing out every sorely mismatched fight, a single unarmed, unarmored Suki blew through a bunch of guards and captured the warden of the hardest prison probably in the world.
To be fair Suki was only captured by Azula directly (I think, or was it Ty Lee?), and was no doubt a better fighter than every single guard on that rock. The guards aren't even really there to keep people in, the volcano does a pretty good job of that. I'm guessing the guards themselves were probably mediocre to bad soldiers being kept out of the way where they can't do any real harm to the war effort and still be useful. So just because it was the hardest prison to escape from doesn't mean they had quality personnel, just a severe terrain advantage.
I'm certainly not wholly on his side but the idea that there aren't obvious, significant advantages to everyone knowing you can literally kill them with a wave of the hand is ludicrous.
But that is not oppression. We haven't seen any proof that benders dominate the government or are richer on average then non benders or have old benders clubs that fix each other up with jobs etc.
Do you not consider having to regularly fear that a group, and only one group, is going to destroy your block in a dispute oppression? That in any interaction with one the power is always out of whack? You've yet to address the fact that outside the ring bending has been demonstrated as terribly destructive and responsible for more damage than anything else. This alone is reason for people to be fearful and upset. To say nothing of the threats the Avatar made, the followed through on, against a peaceful protester.
So yeah. No one's oppressed so long as they don't upset the people with the power to ruin their lives in an instant.
In the show a bender vs a non bender of equal talent and training is an even fight. Period full stop we have seen that time and again. This isn't the real world and nonbenders can do impossible martial arts and gymnastics. If benders are on average better at fighting it is because they train at fighting more.
If you take a bender and a non-bender of equal martial talent and training, the bender inherently has a massive advantage, because they can shoot fire or rocks or water whips or blasts of air, whereas the normal cannot. That's like saying "if you take two people of equal martial arts talent and training, but one has a gun, it's a fair fight."
People like the Equalists and Ty Lee do decently against benders typically because they've got the element of surprise and they're incredibly well trained.
Thinking of Amon's henchmen as random mooks is a mistake. Those guys are, in all likelihood, master martial artists.
And Korra is a master bender who has trained for 11 years or so. Sounds like 2 equally trained people to me.
Chi Blockers train specifically to combat benders.
Korra has had zero training to combat chi blockers. She doesn't know any of the counters, or any of the moves specifically to protect herself. She might know general defensive strategies, but again, these are exactly the sort of things that chi blockers can train for.
Most obvious, getting armor to protect your chi spots.
Man Quid, you are repeatedly directly comparing average folks to the Avatar and other titans of bending. Average benders do not erupt volcanoes or create tidal waves or earthquakes. They like throw rocks.
I'm certainly not wholly on his side but the idea that there aren't obvious, significant advantages to everyone knowing you can literally kill them with a wave of the hand is ludicrous.
But that is not oppression. We haven't seen any proof that benders dominate the government or are richer on average then non benders or have old benders clubs that fix each other up with jobs etc.
Do you not consider having to regularly fear that a group, and only one group, is going to destroy your block in a dispute oppression? That in any interaction with one the power is always out of whack? You've yet to address the fact that outside the ring bending has been demonstrated as terribly destructive and responsible for more damage than anything else. This alone is reason for people to be fearful and upset. To say nothing of the threats the Avatar made, the followed through on, against a peaceful protester.
So yeah. No one's oppressed so long as they don't upset the people with the power to ruin their lives in an instant.
In the show a bender vs a non bender of equal talent and training is an even fight. Period full stop we have seen that time and again. This isn't the real world and nonbenders can do impossible martial arts and gymnastics. If benders are on average better at fighting it is because they train at fighting more.
If you take a bender and a non-bender of equal martial talent and training, the bender inherently has a massive advantage, because they can shoot fire or rocks or water whips or blasts of air, whereas the normal cannot. That's like saying "if you take two people of equal martial arts talent and training, but one has a gun, it's a fair fight."
People like the Equalists and Ty Lee do decently against benders typically because they've got the element of surprise and they're incredibly well trained.
Thinking of Amon's henchmen as random mooks is a mistake. Those guys are, in all likelihood, master martial artists.
And Korra is a master bender who has trained for 11 years or so. Sounds like 2 equally trained people to me.
What's your point with all of this? A ninja can beat a bender so it's not feasible for the non benders to be oppressed?
I think it's hard to argue bender vs. non-bender class oppression when we have lots and lots of examples of poor benders living in rural settings (swamp benders), doing menial tasks (literally dozens, from factory work to pushing public trains non-benders ride), being exploited by their non-bending employers, and so on. The elite might be mostly benders, but benders are not the elite.
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Was the Earth King in TLA even a bender? I don't recall ever seeing him bend anything.
What we're talking about here is levels of skill and training. The concept of bending as a "gun" is silly. The idea stems from the belief that anyone with the ability to bend can do it well enough to be more of a threat than someone who cannot bend. We simply have not seen that. In fact there are multiple occurrences of untrained benders being imprisoned or captured and held by non-benders and better trained benders in the series. The earth benders being held by the fire nation, the water benders being held by the fire nation, the entire Boiling Rock complex. These are examples of non-military benders being subjugated and being no more harmful than non-benders due to their lack of training. Without some form of practice or training a bender is no more dangerous than a non-bender, though can become more of a danger to themselves and unintended targets (as seen in both Aang's earth and fire bending attempts, and in Katara's early water bending). Having the innate ability to hold a tool is something everyone has, having the ability to use it well enough to be useful is something that requires work and skill.
Lets take a look at the triads gang from the first episode of the series. If they hadn't used fire, water, or earth, would they have been less of a threat? Would breaking up that merchandise have been less of a threat to the merchant if they had simply used weapons or their martial arts training?
The skewed view comes to the fore because all we typically see on the show are very skilled benders. Fire Nation military, Earth Nation military, the Avatar and friends, ect. These are all very skilled benders. So, are those people more of a threat to non-benders? Sure, but only because they have the skill to be able to use their tools properly. Piandao, Suki, Ty Lee, Mai, Jet, Jet's freedom fighters and Sokka (once he's trained) are just as much of a threat to benders without the innate ability to bend, but with the same levels of skill as the benders they're fighting.
That was a different series and a while back. Within the current time and setting, benders definitely have a serious advantage. The power plant job payed well and was immediately available to a bender. There are likely jobs of that sort for every kind of bender.
I think it's hard to argue bender vs. non-bender class oppression when we have lots and lots of examples of poor benders living in rural settings (swamp benders), doing menial tasks (literally dozens, from factory work to pushing public trains non-benders ride), being exploited by their non-bending employers, and so on. The elite might be mostly benders, but benders are not the elite.
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Was the Earth King in TLA even a bender? I don't recall ever seeing him bend anything.
Bender have a natural advantage over non-benders simply because benders can accomplish a lot more work.
Imagine being a non-bender, trying to assemble a house.
I think it's hard to argue bender vs. non-bender class oppression when we have lots and lots of examples of poor benders living in rural settings (swamp benders), doing menial tasks (literally dozens, from factory work to pushing public trains non-benders ride), being exploited by their non-bending employers, and so on. The elite might be mostly benders, but benders are not the elite.
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Nonsense! Bender privilege breeds corruption by giving them an unfair advantage in life over the common man. Equality is achieved when the exceptional are held accountable by the ordinary or else the advances society has made crumble into serfdom. De-power the benders! Imprison the intellectuals! Workers' Paradise!
We have seen evidence to indicate that a untrained non-bender can beat an untrained bender.
We have seen evidence to indicate that a moderately trained non-bender can beat a moderately trained bender.
We have seen evidence to indicate that a highly trained non-bender can beat a highly trained bender.
The actual issue is that bending comes with a much higher chance of causing collateral damage, until the technology of the setting advances to the point where pretty much everyone can make bombs.
I think it's hard to argue bender vs. non-bender class oppression when we have lots and lots of examples of poor benders living in rural settings (swamp benders), doing menial tasks (literally dozens, from factory work to pushing public trains non-benders ride), being exploited by their non-bending employers, and so on. The elite might be mostly benders, but benders are not the elite.
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Was the Earth King in TLA even a bender? I don't recall ever seeing him bend anything.
Man Quid, you are repeatedly directly comparing average folks to the Avatar and other titans of bending. Average benders do not erupt volcanoes or create tidal waves or earthquakes. They like throw rocks.
Because Neaden claimed a person of equal training could hold their own against them.
And that is simply untrue.
Korra has trained as a bender since she was 6. She lost a fight to some random equalist ninja. Jet was a close match for Aang before he trained water bending. Ty Lee took out an elite unit of earth benders. Piando beat a group of supercharged fire benders. Hakkoda took on multiple fire benders during the invasion. Zuko took on 3 fire benders as the blue spirit without any fire bending. Those archers were able to beat aang in a fight and do things like knock a frog out of his hand or shoot a grappling arrow into a tree while falling.
Do you remember the Ty Lee and Toph fight? Happened at the end of Book 2. No? Not really surprising as it lasted all of 5 seconds. Toph nabbed Ty Lee's hands and feet with earthbending from a ways out. End of fight. Just because the benders lack imagination at times on screen does not limit their abilities. Rock armor or metal armor would shut down any offensive action a non-bender could hope to take. You also seem happy to ignore Mai. She was highly trained and skilled. See how many fights she won? How many times did she get completely tooled? The answer to one of those questions is every single time. Guess which one.
Think about all the jobs made obsolete by benders as well. No one would be able to mine as an example. Healing is done by water benders. Welding is gone as well. Construction would take a serious hit as well given how easily an earthbender could throw together walls and a floor even with a wood skeleton base. It would be much cheaper as well since earth is everywhere. Concrete and bricks would probably fall under earthbending as well for extra fun. Entire industries would be dominated and/or created by a simple chance of birth.
By the standards of turn of the century orphans, Making and Bolin are fucking loaded. They can afford nice clothes. And a pretty big apartment for themselves alone. And dumplins.
Well, they're benders. I love the irony - by all rights they should be still living in squalor, but instead they rise above it all because of something they were born with.
If they didn't they'd probably all be rah-rah-boo-benders with Amon
Do you remember the Ty Lee and Toph fight? Happened at the end of Book 2. No? Not really surprising as it lasted all of 5 seconds. Toph nabbed Ty Lee's hands and feet with earthbending from a ways out. End of fight. Just because the benders lack imagination at times on screen does not limit their abilities. Rock armor or metal armor would shut down any offensive action a non-bender could hope to take. You also seem happy to ignore Mai. She was highly trained and skilled. See how many fights she won? How many times did she get completely tooled? The answer to one of those questions is every single time. Guess which one.
Eh, Mai kind of had to lose every single fight, due to the way she fought. She chucked knives at people's heads. If she had won any of her one-on-ones, we'd be watching the adventures of Aang and his three dead buddies.
Intelligent people are better at business and engineering. Should we start a "stupidest" movement to knock some lack-of-sense into those bastards because they are naturally gifted beyond what us normals can do?
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21stCenturyCall me Pixel, or Pix for short![They/Them]Registered Userregular
I think it's hard to argue bender vs. non-bender class oppression when we have lots and lots of examples of poor benders living in rural settings (swamp benders), doing menial tasks (literally dozens, from factory work to pushing public trains non-benders ride), being exploited by their non-bending employers, and so on. The elite might be mostly benders, but benders are not the elite.
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Was the Earth King in TLA even a bender? I don't recall ever seeing him bend anything.
Wasn't he a massively powerful bender who at some point earth bended using only his face?
Korra has trained as a bender since she was 6. She lost a fight to some random equalist ninja. Jet was a close match for Aang before he trained water bending. Ty Lee took out an elite unit of earth benders. Piando beat a group of supercharged fire benders. Hakkoda took on multiple fire benders during the invasion. Zuko took on 3 fire benders as the blue spirit without any fire bending. Those archers were able to beat aang in a fight and do things like knock a frog out of his hand or shoot a grappling arrow into a tree while falling.
Do you remember the Ty Lee and Toph fight? Happened at the end of Book 2. No? Not really surprising as it lasted all of 5 seconds. Toph nabbed Ty Lee's hands and feet with earthbending from a ways out. End of fight. Just because the benders lack imagination at times on screen does not limit their abilities. Rock armor or metal armor would shut down any offensive action a non-bender could hope to take. You also seem happy to ignore Mai. She was highly trained and skilled. See how many fights she won? How many times did she get completely tooled? The answer to one of those questions is every single time. Guess which one.
In Ty Lee's fight against Toph, Toph not only had the element of surprise but was able to wait for Ty Lee to be in a compromising position. Every other time Ty Lee fights a bender in a straight up fight, Ty Lee is on top. Mai actually wins a lot more fights than not. Even in martial arts, coming out of a fight unbeaten is not a loss, the majority of the time Mai is skilled enough to realize when she's outmatched or outmaneuvered and simply doesn't fight in those situations. Pretty sure that's the essence of strategic fighting.
As for rock and metal armor, we see two benders capable of that in the entire series; Aang and Toph. One is the avatar, the other is the most powerful earth bender in several generations. Even Bumi isn't shown as having the ability to use that technique. Though, the use of bombs in the first and second series suggests that the technique is likely less useful against someone with such. That does bring up another argument, one of techniques. Bending teaching is not consistent throughout the world, even in the second series. Yes, an earth or fire bender can learn to use metal bending or lightning, respectively, but it's not something everyone knows how to use. You don't earn a nickname like "Lightning Bolt Zolt" is everyone has that ability, and Korra wouldn't be amazed at seeing metal benders if they were common (and she supposedly already mastered earth bending, but can't metal bend). Bending still has to be taught and techniques and fighting styles are still important.
Think about all the jobs made obsolete by benders as well. No one would be able to mine as an example. Healing is done by water benders. Welding is gone as well. Construction would take a serious hit as well given how easily an earthbender could throw together walls and a floor even with a wood skeleton base. It would be much cheaper as well since earth is everywhere. Concrete and bricks would probably fall under earthbending as well for extra fun. Entire industries would be dominated and/or created by a simple chance of birth.
There were always more non-benders than benders in the show. The idea that everyone who needs skilled or unskilled labor in an industrialized society will be able to replace them with benders is ludicrous and not presented in the show. Also, if jobs like healing were taken over entirely by water benders, there would be a very different concept of water benders by the public, and water bender healing was shown throughout the series to be a rare thing anyways (Only taught to female benders and then only in the Northern Water tribe in the original series. And so far there's nothing to prove the numbers on that have gotten any better).
I think it's hard to argue bender vs. non-bender class oppression when we have lots and lots of examples of poor benders living in rural settings (swamp benders), doing menial tasks (literally dozens, from factory work to pushing public trains non-benders ride), being exploited by their non-bending employers, and so on. The elite might be mostly benders, but benders are not the elite.
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Was the Earth King in TLA even a bender? I don't recall ever seeing him bend anything.
Wasn't he a massively powerful bender who at some point earth bended using only his face?
That's King Bumi, the King of Omashu. The Earth King, the one in Ba sing se and the nominal head of the Earth Kingdom, is a non-bender.
That was a different series and a while back. Within the current time and setting, benders definitely have a serious advantage. The power plant job payed well and was immediately available to a bender. There are likely jobs of that sort for every kind of bender.
We don't have enough information on how the power plant is run to be able to reliably say that it is a strictly "bender only" workplace. There were a few people in there shoveling coal, and there's evidence from the very place that the "Revelation" was held that benders are not necessary for machinery in the setting to run. There's also the Sato-mobiles that are works of non-benders for all people.
I think it's hard to argue bender vs. non-bender class oppression when we have lots and lots of examples of poor benders living in rural settings (swamp benders), doing menial tasks (literally dozens, from factory work to pushing public trains non-benders ride), being exploited by their non-bending employers, and so on. The elite might be mostly benders, but benders are not the elite.
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Was the Earth King in TLA even a bender? I don't recall ever seeing him bend anything.
Wasn't he a massively powerful bender who at some point earth bended using only his face?
No that was Aang's old friend, the reigning Earth King in TLA had a pet bear who he liked to put hats on.
I think it's hard to argue bender vs. non-bender class oppression when we have lots and lots of examples of poor benders living in rural settings (swamp benders), doing menial tasks (literally dozens, from factory work to pushing public trains non-benders ride), being exploited by their non-bending employers, and so on. The elite might be mostly benders, but benders are not the elite.
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Was the Earth King in TLA even a bender? I don't recall ever seeing him bend anything.
Wasn't he a massively powerful bender who at some point earth bended using only his face?
You are thinking of Bumi, the king of Omashu. The Earth King was the ruler of Ba Sing Se and basically a puppet of the Dai Li.
I think it's hard to argue bender vs. non-bender class oppression when we have lots and lots of examples of poor benders living in rural settings (swamp benders), doing menial tasks (literally dozens, from factory work to pushing public trains non-benders ride), being exploited by their non-bending employers, and so on. The elite might be mostly benders, but benders are not the elite.
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Was the Earth King in TLA even a bender? I don't recall ever seeing him bend anything.
Wasn't he a massively powerful bender who at some point earth bended using only his face?
No that was Aang's old friend, the reigning Earth King in TLA had a pet bear who he liked to put hats on.
By the standards of turn of the century orphans, Making and Bolin are fucking loaded. They can afford nice clothes. And a pretty big apartment for themselves alone. And dumplins.
Well, they're benders. I love the irony - by all rights they should be still living in squalor, but instead they rise above it all because of something they were born with.
If they didn't they'd probably all be rah-rah-boo-benders with Amon
Considering that they had to do some really shady stuff just to get to where they are, I'd say they didn't exactly come out on top. Of course, even the non-bending orphans are shown to be in on the shady side of the law.
I think it's hard to argue bender vs. non-bender class oppression when we have lots and lots of examples of poor benders living in rural settings (swamp benders), doing menial tasks (literally dozens, from factory work to pushing public trains non-benders ride), being exploited by their non-bending employers, and so on. The elite might be mostly benders, but benders are not the elite.
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Was the Earth King in TLA even a bender? I don't recall ever seeing him bend anything.
Wasn't he a massively powerful bender who at some point earth bended using only his face?
No that was Aang's old friend, the reigning Earth King in TLA had a pet bear who he liked to put hats on.
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Hint: Not the water-bending plumbers, Mario jokes aside.
And, you know, you can get a knife too.
Where do you get the ability to throw cars from across the block?
Look, there's ONE Avatar ever, and their entire existence is to balance shit. The Avatar is not a factor in this fight. You want to talk about Iroh and Toph and Azula? Compare them to Ty Lee and Master Sword Guy and Tazer Henchman, not Timid Shop Keeper.
*contemplates while stroking long, white beard*
Actually, if you remember, the plan was to wait until after the comet, to give Aang time to get good at firebending. It's not til Zuko joined the group that they learned of the impending world conquest that would go down on the day of the comet, and then it was sorta too late. :P
Were the expenses legitimate? I remember Bolin's extra grocery bill, Korra's new uniform and helmet ... I think there were two more things.
If you take a bender and a non-bender of equal martial talent and training, the bender inherently has a massive advantage, because they can shoot fire or rocks or water whips or blasts of air, whereas the normal cannot. That's like saying "if you take two people of equal martial arts talent and training, but one has a gun, it's a fair fight."
People like the Equalists and Ty Lee do decently against benders typically because they've got the element of surprise and they're incredibly well trained. The normals we see take on benders are not your average rank-and-file soldiers; they're the best of the best.
Thinking of Amon's henchmen as random mooks is a mistake. Those guys are, in all likelihood, master martial artists. Just look at how they move.
And since we're also bringing out every sorely mismatched fight, a single unarmed, unarmored Suki blew through a bunch of guards and captured the warden of the hardest prison probably in the world.
Korra needs a fifth master.
You know, if they didn't take the time finishing the Katara revenge sidequest, they could have visited fire nation a few days sooner and completely curb stomped them.
I suppose boiling rock was worth the effort, simply because Mai and Ty Lee got arrested and Azula descended into further insanity.
Seriously, though. When Katara wants to join in the fight, Zuko should have responded with, "Hey, Azula and I are both 100 times more powerful than normal today, and you sort of aren't."
The real danger?
The Bending Lemurs
To be fair Suki was only captured by Azula directly (I think, or was it Ty Lee?), and was no doubt a better fighter than every single guard on that rock. The guards aren't even really there to keep people in, the volcano does a pretty good job of that. I'm guessing the guards themselves were probably mediocre to bad soldiers being kept out of the way where they can't do any real harm to the war effort and still be useful. So just because it was the hardest prison to escape from doesn't mean they had quality personnel, just a severe terrain advantage.
Chi Blockers train specifically to combat benders.
Korra has had zero training to combat chi blockers. She doesn't know any of the counters, or any of the moves specifically to protect herself. She might know general defensive strategies, but again, these are exactly the sort of things that chi blockers can train for.
Most obvious, getting armor to protect your chi spots.
The twist?
Tell that to the phonograph guy
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Was the Earth King in TLA even a bender? I don't recall ever seeing him bend anything.
What we're talking about here is levels of skill and training. The concept of bending as a "gun" is silly. The idea stems from the belief that anyone with the ability to bend can do it well enough to be more of a threat than someone who cannot bend. We simply have not seen that. In fact there are multiple occurrences of untrained benders being imprisoned or captured and held by non-benders and better trained benders in the series. The earth benders being held by the fire nation, the water benders being held by the fire nation, the entire Boiling Rock complex. These are examples of non-military benders being subjugated and being no more harmful than non-benders due to their lack of training. Without some form of practice or training a bender is no more dangerous than a non-bender, though can become more of a danger to themselves and unintended targets (as seen in both Aang's earth and fire bending attempts, and in Katara's early water bending). Having the innate ability to hold a tool is something everyone has, having the ability to use it well enough to be useful is something that requires work and skill.
Lets take a look at the triads gang from the first episode of the series. If they hadn't used fire, water, or earth, would they have been less of a threat? Would breaking up that merchandise have been less of a threat to the merchant if they had simply used weapons or their martial arts training?
The skewed view comes to the fore because all we typically see on the show are very skilled benders. Fire Nation military, Earth Nation military, the Avatar and friends, ect. These are all very skilled benders. So, are those people more of a threat to non-benders? Sure, but only because they have the skill to be able to use their tools properly. Piandao, Suki, Ty Lee, Mai, Jet, Jet's freedom fighters and Sokka (once he's trained) are just as much of a threat to benders without the innate ability to bend, but with the same levels of skill as the benders they're fighting.
Bender have a natural advantage over non-benders simply because benders can accomplish a lot more work.
Imagine being a non-bender, trying to assemble a house.
Now imagine doing that as an Earth bender.
Nonsense! Bender privilege breeds corruption by giving them an unfair advantage in life over the common man. Equality is achieved when the exceptional are held accountable by the ordinary or else the advances society has made crumble into serfdom. De-power the benders! Imprison the intellectuals! Workers' Paradise!
We have seen evidence to indicate that a moderately trained non-bender can beat a moderately trained bender.
We have seen evidence to indicate that a highly trained non-bender can beat a highly trained bender.
The actual issue is that bending comes with a much higher chance of causing collateral damage, until the technology of the setting advances to the point where pretty much everyone can make bombs.
He also wasn't really acting as King.
Do you remember the Ty Lee and Toph fight? Happened at the end of Book 2. No? Not really surprising as it lasted all of 5 seconds. Toph nabbed Ty Lee's hands and feet with earthbending from a ways out. End of fight. Just because the benders lack imagination at times on screen does not limit their abilities. Rock armor or metal armor would shut down any offensive action a non-bender could hope to take. You also seem happy to ignore Mai. She was highly trained and skilled. See how many fights she won? How many times did she get completely tooled? The answer to one of those questions is every single time. Guess which one.
Think about all the jobs made obsolete by benders as well. No one would be able to mine as an example. Healing is done by water benders. Welding is gone as well. Construction would take a serious hit as well given how easily an earthbender could throw together walls and a floor even with a wood skeleton base. It would be much cheaper as well since earth is everywhere. Concrete and bricks would probably fall under earthbending as well for extra fun. Entire industries would be dominated and/or created by a simple chance of birth.
If they didn't they'd probably all be rah-rah-boo-benders with Amon
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Wasn't he a massively powerful bender who at some point earth bended using only his face?
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As for rock and metal armor, we see two benders capable of that in the entire series; Aang and Toph. One is the avatar, the other is the most powerful earth bender in several generations. Even Bumi isn't shown as having the ability to use that technique. Though, the use of bombs in the first and second series suggests that the technique is likely less useful against someone with such. That does bring up another argument, one of techniques. Bending teaching is not consistent throughout the world, even in the second series. Yes, an earth or fire bender can learn to use metal bending or lightning, respectively, but it's not something everyone knows how to use. You don't earn a nickname like "Lightning Bolt Zolt" is everyone has that ability, and Korra wouldn't be amazed at seeing metal benders if they were common (and she supposedly already mastered earth bending, but can't metal bend). Bending still has to be taught and techniques and fighting styles are still important.
There were always more non-benders than benders in the show. The idea that everyone who needs skilled or unskilled labor in an industrialized society will be able to replace them with benders is ludicrous and not presented in the show. Also, if jobs like healing were taken over entirely by water benders, there would be a very different concept of water benders by the public, and water bender healing was shown throughout the series to be a rare thing anyways (Only taught to female benders and then only in the Northern Water tribe in the original series. And so far there's nothing to prove the numbers on that have gotten any better).
That's King Bumi, the King of Omashu. The Earth King, the one in Ba sing se and the nominal head of the Earth Kingdom, is a non-bender.
We don't have enough information on how the power plant is run to be able to reliably say that it is a strictly "bender only" workplace. There were a few people in there shoveling coal, and there's evidence from the very place that the "Revelation" was held that benders are not necessary for machinery in the setting to run. There's also the Sato-mobiles that are works of non-benders for all people.
No that was Aang's old friend, the reigning Earth King in TLA had a pet bear who he liked to put hats on.
You are thinking of Bumi, the king of Omashu. The Earth King was the ruler of Ba Sing Se and basically a puppet of the Dai Li.
What kind of bear? Platypus-bear?
Considering that they had to do some really shady stuff just to get to where they are, I'd say they didn't exactly come out on top. Of course, even the non-bending orphans are shown to be in on the shady side of the law.
No, it must have been a teddybear-bear.