Avatar: The Last Airbender/Radar



With all of its questionable content and violence, Avatar: The Last Airbender is sure to have a lot of moments where the censors weren't guarding their posts.

""Actual dialogue in﻿ this scene: Azula: Can't this wait till morning? Zuko: IT. CAN'T.""
 * Fans who toured the Avatar: The Last Airbender studios returned claiming that the original designs of the swimsuits the girls wore in the episode "The Beach" were rather... naughty. It was a Take Our Word for It, but they were implied to be something that most anime wouldn't have done in a Beach Episode. Considering that the final designs that made it to air were actually fairly risque for what was nominally a children's cartoon (including highlighting Ty Lee's, ahem, character growth), these rumored original designs were probably sacrificial lambs to let them get away with the bikinis for Azula and Ty Lee.
 * As noted above, "The Beach" has a lot of this.Pause during several shots at the volley ball scene, and you can clearly see some rather inconsistent clothing that...just looks rather striperish.
 * The scene in "The Awakening" when Zuko goes to talk to Azula late at night is a little, err, incestuous.
 * Given that it's Azula, she probably did it on purpose to freak him out.
 * Set the scene to the right (wrong?) music for fun and profit.
 * As pointed out by a comment on that video, the original dialogue doesn't help things.

"Hahn: I'll tell you Sokka, I've courted a lot of girls in my days but Yue is the finest."
 * In "The Siege of the North Part 1" Hahn gives us this gem.

"Aang: Your days of tyranny are over, Fire Lord! Ozai: Really? You're gonna take me out? You're not even wearing pants! Aang: No, Fire Lord Ozai, you're not wearing pants! Ozai: NOOOOO! My royal parts are showing!"
 * Judging by the leer and the tone of voice, he's not boasting about how many bouquets of flowers he's bought over the years.
 * And then he proceeds to talk about Yue's "perks", which makes Sokka extremely angry.
 * Zuko's and Mai's behavior in "Nightmares and Daydreams": Keep in mind Mai has an entire house to herself (the website states her family is still in Omashu), and Zuko got rid of the chaperones earlier in the episode. At one point, the camera cuts away while they're together at Mai's house late at night. When the show returns to their side of the story the next morning, Zuko is still there, lounging on her couch, that is in her bedroom, with a badly messed up head of hair. And she's making him tea. You do the math. (This almost makes up for more obvious hints that were nixed from "The Beach" by executives.)
 * This same episode has the "fruit tart" Double Entendre. The first time it's mentioned, it's used to send the servants away...The second time Zuko is depressed and Mai suggests they order a fruit tart to cheer him up.
 * The second time she asked for a whole tray of fruit tarts, take that as you will.
 * The first of the implied offscreen sex occurs when, after Zuko has returned to the Fire Nation, Azula makes some kind of coy, offhanded comment about how Mai "has been in a strangely good mood lately.". Uh-huh.
 * Zuko and Mai's relationship in general. They're a lot more physical than any of the other couples depicted on the show, always kissing, spooning on the couch, holding hands, cuddling... their final scene together involves Mai helping Zuko get dressed, followed by a kiss that's quite a bit deeper than any of the others that happen onscreen.
 * Also in "Nightmares and Daydreams," Aang's last dream sequence:

"Katara: I have a surprise for everyone! Toph: I knew it! You did have a secret thing with Haru!"
 * In Aang's second nightmare, he wears chains around his body (to apparently keep his pants up). And the lock is covering his crotch-area.
 * Some of the designs of the female characters have been more than a little risque, especially in season 3 where their outfits and bathing suits were considerably skimpy for a kids show, but a special shout out has to go to Ty Lee who was rather ample and endowed.
 * In the second episode of "The Day Of Black Sun," notice how when everyone was chasing Azula, there was a slow-motion sequence of Azula jumping over Sokka and smiling in front of him as his eyes followed her motions specifically as her breasts passed his face. Even though no one could blame Sokka, the fact that his eyes were obviously glued to her chest as it was literally inches from her face combined with his expression qualifies this as a Take That to the radar in general.
 * Basically, Azula leaps through a crevice while Sokka is still crawling through it. It's pretty obvious what his eyes are focused on as her chest passes a few inches above his face. In slow motion. (Given Azula's expression at the time, one might think Azula set that up to screw with Sokka's head.)
 * Sokka also has a pretty obvious line of drool at the corner of his mouth as he watches Azula's chest fly by.
 * There's also this little gem in "The Phoenix King." Does This Remind You of Anything?:

"General Sung: That is why the city is named Ba Sing Se. It's the impenetrable city. They don't call it Na Sing Se. (belly laughs, then becomes serious) That means "penetrable city.""
 * For those not quite getting it, it seems Toph thought Katara was going to announce a Surprise Pregnancy.
 * Freud Was Right: Nobody mentioned The Drill yet?
 * And the fact that the drill keeps getting longer as it prepares to penetrate the wall? Yeah...
 * And now that it's been brought up, this line paired with the images may make you realize, "oh my gosh, that was intentional."

"Sokka: It's a lot thicker than in the schematics."
 * Why does a tunnel boring machine need to use wet slurry at all?
 * Cooling
 * And this line about the outer shell girders of the drill:

"Toph: Here it comes!"
 * AND the fact that once it penetrates the wall, the water sludge backs up and squirts out, getting everywhere!
 * Including on Ty Lee and Azula!
 * While Mai was watching the entire time. Guess she really didn't want to get in on the action.
 * Only Azula could get away with literally taking away a city's virginity on a children's show, although Iroh got pretty close.
 * What about the episode The Earth King where they show him the drill? There's a wall of earth surrounding it and white stuff around the drill. 3 guesses as to what that could represent.
 * What about when Sokka tells Katara to block the slurry pipeline? His exact words are that it'll build up the pressure, and then "when Aang delivers the final blow, it'll be ready to pop!" That is SO....WRONG.
 * And right before the Drill explodes:

"Toph: You've been hitting the cactus juice again?"
 * AND the way it finally breaks down. There's an initial massive explosion of slurry at the wall end followed by several smaller ones, staggered in sequence all the way to the back. Nickelodeon, Freud would have been So Proud of You.
 * Also in "The Drill" you only see Ty Lee's side of the battle. You never see what Mai does on her side of the drill. Also, none of the survivors are complaining about "knife wounds," only Ty Lee's paralysis attacks.
 * And let's not forget that Sokka and Momo spend the better part of an episode high on peyote.
 * And later, in "City of Walls and Secrets"

"Katara: Aang, everyone's watching us... Aang: Don't worry about them. It's just you and me right now..."
 * The episode "The Southern Raiders" became (in)famous among the fandom for what is a truly epic instance of this trope. Zuko bumps into a very flustered Suki on the way to Sokka's tent, and she hurriedly excuses herself. He walks into Sokka's tent to ask him a question and finds him pants-less and surrounded by flowers and candles. He even greets Zuko with a suggestive "Well helloooo..." before he realizes who it is. After a short talk, he rushes Zuko out and sticks his head out to call for Suki. And if there was any doubt, Sokka is shown the next morning fiddling with a flower necklace for no apparent reason... except to indicate he got lei'd.
 * Or, if you are assuming that Suki gave him the flowers, you can also say that she was "de-flowered."
 * That one could just about qualify for Refuge in Audacity.
 * Speaking of that episode, no one else notice the beginning with Zuko putting Katara in an...odd position?
 * And nearly groped her...
 * In "The Cave of Two Lovers" the gang meets a group of nomads. Their behavior is basically that of a stereotypical hippie, bags under the eyes and all.
 * And their leader is named Chong.
 * "Love is brightest in the dark."
 * The mud wrestling between Katara and Toph.
 * It's fairly widely agreed that that was the point where Mike and Bryan lost anything resembling subtlety.
 * Pay attention at the right points. Amazing things are done with shadows and the girls' chests. So we get outlines when actually drawing outlines would get censored, and you can even see occasional jiggling. Again, it's done by the shadows, not Gainaxing.
 * Azula's "favorite prisoner" comment. There is no way to look at that and think it's clean. At all. Especially because it's Azula.
 * "Azula always lies... Azula always lies... Azula always lies..."
 * The Warden of The Boiling Rock, voiced by 'Brad Bellick' of Prison Break, later tells Zuko "You're my special prisoner now. And you best behave."
 * In episode 10, "Jet": "I bet you wouldn't be so bossy if you kissed a girl!"
 * In the episode "Zuko Alone," a flashback to Zuko's childhood shows Azula and Ty Lee pulling a prank on Zuko and Mai, in order to get him to fall on top of her.
 * And into the fountain too.
 * The dance in "The Headband" could be regarded as G-Rated Sex. Starts out slow and measured... and winds up with Katara and Aang panting and sweating profusely.

"Sokka: Looks like someone had a pretty good bathroom break. Aang: Y-yeah... when I was in there... Sokka: I don't even want to know."
 * Toph telling Aang not to "expose himself" in "The Beach." She was of course talking about his tattoos, but Aang replies, "What, I'm wearing a bathing suit."
 * When the pirates make off with Zuko's boat in "The Waterbending Scroll," one of the pirates turns around and grabs his pants as if he's getting ready to moon him, but the shot cuts away.
 * In The Fortune-teller, Appa scares the egg out of a platypus-bear.
 * Also in The Fortune-teller, Aang comes in beaming after eavesdropping on Katara's fortune

"Sokka: Like I paddle my canoe, I'll paddle yours too!"
 * Meng calls Katara a "Floozy," which is slang for promiscuous girl.
 * The series as a whole is able to dodge around the raw violence and death of a war by having a lot of offscreen destruction happening, but several scenes involve tanks being outright crushed or blown apart or hurled into water. Since they're tanks, the implied crew deaths can be glossed over. Later on, a few tanks develop crews that prove to be very good at bailing right before their vehicles are destroyed. There's also other scenes of offscreen death, such as when Hakoda leaps into a bunker, and what sounds suspiciously like a blade slicing through flesh can be heard, followed by explosions, or when grenades are tossed into bunkers and the crewmen are shown fleeing with the grenades going off right behind them. No bodies are shown, and the shot cuts away immediately after the explosion, but its pretty clear what happened.
 * There's actually a bit of Fridge Brilliance in a lot of the battle scenes regarding mook deaths. If someone is disarmed, frozen to a wall, drenched in slime/mud/ice/whatever, or otherwise incapacitated so that they are not shown trying to retaliate, you can take it as shorthand that they're dead. Note in "The Day of Black Sun," Sokka and Hakoda are shown chopping off people's spears or taking them out of their hands. The weapon's previous owner then often disappears from the shot. They are clearly no longer part of the battle.
 * As this troper's first post, I wanted to point out two cases where they didn't-In the Great Divide, the guide breaks both his arms after a nasty collision with a rockwall. Also, in the episode where they seek the Earth Kingdom escort, the general shows Aang a procession of wounded soldiers (with crutches, slings, body and head bandages), and states that they are "the lucky ones"
 * Iroh advises Zuko to get a girlfriend at least twice. He also does this in the movie, in which case the linked implications are a little clearer, whereas in the cartoon it could possibly be explained as Iroh just looking out for Zuko's long-term happiness.
 * There's one scene where Iroh says, "We want the place to look nice in case you bring home a lady friend!" followed by him elbowing Zuko and winking.
 * Although Iroh could have been referring to himself. For an old dude, the ladies are all over him.
 * "Nobody shows my On Ji anything, especially movements." If you know what I mean.
 * During "The Headband," while she and Katara are sitting at the "bar" of Aang's improvised nightclub, Toph tosses back a shot of... something in one gulp. She's a 12-year-old Bottle Fairy.
 * Then again, Toph has been set up as The Ladette from the start. Notice her complete comfort and nonchalance at the Bad Guy Bar in the desert, where she kicks up her feet and sips from another large Frothy Bowl Of Water.
 * In Tales of Ba Sing Se Sokka is having a Haiku off with a leader of a poetry club which happens to be all girls. We get this exchange:

"Zuko: [to Iroh] I didn't see you get paralyzed by the tongue. Iroh: Shhhh!"
 * For any doubters out there, yes Sokka is literally smacking his rear when he says this comment.
 * "Where we're going, you won't need any pants!" Made even funnier when you consider that Sokka meets his future girlfriend (and dresses up as a girl) later in the same episode.
 * There's quite a few instances of, uh, "beverages" showing up in the show that probably wouldn't have flown in a lot of other shows. There's at least two bars in the series, one of which shows up twice and features June drinking something that probably isn't tea. Zuko's ship crew also drinks something out of tankard-looking cups. And that's without even re-mentioning the "cactus juice."
 * Not to mention the special tea they give Aang in an attempt to trigger the Avatar state.
 * Given his extreme hyperactivity after drinking it, it was probably meant to be analogous to espresso. Still...Aang is kinda young to be drinking coffee.
 * Or it was one of these.
 * In "Bitter Work," Aang has to learn how to stand up to things like an Earthbender. Toph ends up going through his things and stealing his bag of nuts and his staff, which she uses to crack the nuts. Only in the end he has the balls to demand them back.
 * "It's not the only delicate instrument around here!"
 * Wang Fire !!? Really? How did they get an STD joke past the radars?
 * The same way Sokka got it past the school headmaster - really, really quickly.
 * In the book "The Lost Adventures," Wang Fire returns when Sokka enrolls in the Fire Nation Army and becomes Private Wang Fire.
 * It's a jab at the Fire Lord. "Wang" is Mandarin for "king," so Wang Fire = King Fire = Fire Lord.
 * At the end of "Bato of the Water Tribe," Zuko, Iroh, and bounty hunter June are apparently left paralyzed by her shirshu, with June laying on top of Iroh.


 * And June looks pissed after that exchange.
 * When Katara is paralyzed by Ty Lee in "The Guru," the water she was about to bend starts pooling around her limp body as the camera shows the scene from above in a shot that will seem familiar to anyone who's ever seen a crime drama.
 * In "The Waterbending Scroll" Zuko is seen grabbing Katara and saying "I'll save you from the pirates." Moments later she is tied to a tree. The scene is very reminiscent of a rape scene. Especially the way Zuko has her necklace, almost as if it is a trophy.
 * "I'd rather eat fireballs than nuts."
 * When the Gaang are stripped down for river wading in "The Cave of Two Lovers," Katara's little sarong is riding VERY low. There's a shot from behind which could only be described as sensual. Need we mention that there's no plot reason for them to be in a river at all?
 * In Sokka's Master, Toph admits to picking her toes twice; once for cleaning, and once more for the "sweet picking sensation," indicating she might have a bit of a foot fetish.
 * Well, feet are her main sensory organ she trusts more than any other. Of course she would like giving them special attention.
 * In The Ember Island Players the actress playing Katara cries a lot, is over-dramatic, and makes a lot of preachy speeches about hope. However, in the scene showing when they first meet King Bumi, it really does sound like she's orgasming as she gets enclosed by the rock candy crystals, rather than crying.
 * In "The Boiling Rock: Part 1," a female guard catches Zuko (disguised as a male guard) loitering in the female prisoners' block, seemingly standing watch for a buddy. The female guard silently glances at Suki's cell before demanding Zuko let her check to see what was going on inside. Yup. That's right. Avatar snuck in a bit about prison rape. Combine that with Suki's casually hostile reaction to a disguised Sokka sneaking into her cell and you realize this isn't the first time something like this has happened to Suki.
 * Well... She was Azula's favorite prisoner.
 * In The Beach Azula outright calls Ty Lee a tease.
 * Here's a good Tumblr post. (tl;dr Li and Lo are concubines).