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*** Which can lead to Unfortunate Implications, as some of this indicates a perhaps unconscious attitude that people with mental illnesses are dangerous, evil, and/or insignificant.
** The first season is bookended by Iroh telling Zuko "A man needs his rest."
* [[Armor-Piercing Question]]: "Who are you and what do you want?" Iroh to Zuko. [[Babylon Five5|Vorlon and Shadow]] in one sentence.
** Mai, Ty Lee and Azula want to know, "Who are you mad at?"
** "What are you going to do when you face my father?"
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* [[Art Major Physics]]:
** Fire does not have a concussive effect unless it is part of an explosion, and even then it's the rapidly expanding gases (fire is a form of plasma) that cause the person or object to be pushed back.
** Mai's daggers should not cause people to go flying back into walls unless she's somehow [[X -Men|Gambit]] in disguise. Also note that at the speed she throws them, they should just cut right through the clothes instead of dragging people with them.
** Though there are some uncommon aversions as well: Azula's fire is extra hot and therefore blue, and Aang makes a point to cut the surface tension of the water he falls into, also averting [[Soft Water]].
* [[Art Evolution]]: In a short series like this, and an animated one to boot, one normally doesn't find art evolution. However, it does occur; for instance, compare the size and shape of Katara's eyes (They shift from a noticeably Tibetan (or maybe Inuit) appearance to the more standard large anime eyes) in the first few episodes to the last few episodes, Sokka's entire facial structure and even Aang's face changes somewhat.
** Also, in a more subtle example, as time goes on, Zuko's scar seems to become a much less dominant feature of his face, partially because he loses his [[Bald of Evil]] and lets his hair grow long enough that it covers a lot of the scar.
* [[Art Shift]]: The flashbacks in Season 1, Episode 11, "The Great Divide".
* [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence]]: Princess Yue becomes the {{spoiler|Moon Spirit.}}
** Previous Avatars also become [[Spirit Advisor|spirit advisors]] to the current one.
* [[Ascended Extra]]: Jet, and to a lesser extent Longshot and Smellerbee, in Season 2. Suki may count as well.
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* [[At the Crossroads]]: The Season 2 finale is ''The Crossroads Of Destiny'' where Zuko and Aang make their tough choices.
* [[Attack Its Weak Point]]: Sokka {{spoiler|defeats Combustion Man by throwing his boomerang into the center of CM's eye tattoo. This causes it to malfunction and explode when he tries to fire his lasers again.}}
** Also, the Gaang use this tactic against the drill attacking Ba Sing Se, in the episode [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|The Drill]].
* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: King Bumi, the entire Fire Nation royal family.
* [[Aura Vision]]: Ty Lee has the ability to see other people's auras. Hers is pink and Mai's is gray. No word on the other characters, though.
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*** Followed by [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Toph punching him in the shoulder for being a sap]].
* [[Axe Crazy]]: Azula. There is a [http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/04/real-deal-season-two.html review] in which she is referred to as "the most terrifying 14-year old girl you will encounter in any medium."
* [[Back for Thethe Finale]]: {{spoiler|June, Iroh, Pakku, Jeong Jeong, Bumi, Piandao, Mai, Ty Lee, and a number of other characters for minor appearances.}}
** While not quite the Finale, Day of the Black Sun has an equally impressive list of minor characters return
* [[Backstab Backfire]]: Twice. The first time is in "The Southern Air Temple", while the second occurs in the finale. Neither time ends well for the one doing the backstabbing.
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* [[Bond Villain Stupidity]]: The Fire Nation in general. For a nation dedicated to wiping out everyone with [[Elemental Powers]] besides themselves, they seem remarkably intent on leaving the Benders from other nations sitting around in prisons rather than just executing them - and confirmed traitors like Iroh, as well.
** It should be noted that imprisonment would be a more viable choice since execution of the benders may turn more people against them including the very citizens of the Fire Nation. From the public's point of view, killing an enemy in the battlefield is different from executing an already defeated and imprisoned foe.
** It should also be noted that this is a kid's show that tends to take a [[Never Say "Die"]] attitude with respect to named characters. Execution is a bit... adult.
** It still can be justified in-universe: Keeping in mind than the War lasted one hundred years, killing each new generation of benders would establish the entire Fire Nation as [[Complete Monster|unbelievably evil]] from the point of view of non-benders, that they can't subdue due to their sheer number (The Air Nomads being the exception, since they were a sufficiently small population to [[Kill'Em All]] at once). Simply neutralizing them work better from a P.R. stand-point.
* [[Book Ends]]: A pillar of light shooting into the sky in the first and last episode.
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* [[Brain Fever]]
* [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]: Jet. Which also falls into the [[Manchurian Agent]] and [[Mind Control Eyes]] tropes (see their entries for more information).
* [[Brainwashing for Thethe Greater Good]]: Subverted in Ba Sing Se.
* [[Break the Cutie]]: Pretty much every character ever. Katara, Sokka, Aang, Zuko, and Jet all get flashback scenes showing them as cute, chubby-cheeked little kids that have horrible things happen to them. The rest of the Freedom Fighters, Ty Lee, and Mai are implied to have gone through this - all of the Freedom Fighters are orphans who have been hurt by the war, Mai withdrew into herself as a result of her oppressive childhood, and Ty Lee snapped and ran away to the circus because she was treated like she had no personal identity. Even ''Azula'' could arguably fall under this - her deep desire for her parent's affection, likely based on her mother's unspoken preference for Zuko, is part of what makes her the monster she is during the show.
** Don't forget Appa and Hama. Appa had an entire episode showing him being treated as a universal punching bag. It was horribly depressing.
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*** Sokka: [[Lampshade Hanging|"Come on! A day at the theatre? This just the kind of time-wasting nonsense I've been missing!"]]
* [[Brick Joke]]:
** In the Book 1 episode "The Deserter", Sokka tries some Fire Flakes, which are [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|pretty hot]], but it's made much funnier when we meet [[The Stoic|Mai]] a season later in "Return To Omashu" and she snacks down on them like they're nothing.
*** Sokka developed a taste for them by the time "Ember Island Players" rolled arond.
** Zuko mentioning the tsungi horn in Book 1 seems like an offhanded comment at first, if you don't remember that it ''actually appeared'' in "The Waterbending Scroll"; later we see Aang playing one in "The Headband". Iroh himself plays one in the last episode (presumably it's the one they bought).
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* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]: Bumi.
* [[The Bus Came Back]]: This show is notable for bringing characters who appeared at first to be one-shot extras back for reappearances (often spoiling the surprise with a [[Spoiler Opening|Spoiler Recap]] at the beginning of the episodes in which they reappear).
** Most notably, in "Day of Black Sun", {{spoiler|characters from "Jet", "The Northern Air Temple", "The Swamp", and "The Blind Bandit" show up… as well as Hakoda, Bato, and the warriors of the Southern Water Tribe}}. A number of characters in the finale, too (see [[Back for Thethe Finale]], above).
** {{spoiler|Jet, Longshot, and Smellerbee}} in Season 2.
** Also, Suki at various points: {{spoiler|"The Serpent's Pass", "Appa's Lost Days", then becoming a [[Guest Star Party Member]] from "The Boiling Rock" until the end of the show.}}
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{{quote| '''Zuko:''' What are you doing here?<br />
'''Azula:''' Isn't it obvious? I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child! }}
* [[Call a Smeerp Aa Rabbit]]: "Penguins". Played for laughs and subverted with the Earth King's pet bear; the crew goes on to name various animals that could be combined, but are left perplexed as it just says 'bear'. This trope is pulled throughout the entire universe of Avatar, which lends more humor to the situation.
* [[Calling the Old Man Out]]: Katara to Hakoda, and more significantly, {{spoiler|Zuko to Ozai.}}
* [[Calling Your Attacks]]: In "The Runaway".
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* [[The Comically Serious]]: Zuko, Mai, Sokka (when not being sarcastic), and even Azula on one occasion
* [[Coming of Age Story]]
* [[Commuting Onon a Bus]]: In the third season, this happened to Uncle Iroh... for the first few episodes, he didn't even get any speaking parts! ([[Word of God]] is that this had already been planned that way and was not because of the sudden death of his prior voice actor, Mako.) Then he had exactly two speaking appearances in the entire rest of the season.
* [[Companion Cube]]: Sokka's Boomerang and later, Space Earth Sword. {{spoiler|Complete with "death".}}
* [[Competitive Balance]]: The bending arts work this way.
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** This doubles as a reference to [[Peter Pan]], where the eponymous eternal child is traditionally played by a petite woman rather than a prepubescent boy.
* [[Cruel Mercy]]: To both Ozai and Katara's mother's killer.
* [[Cry for Thethe Devil]]
* [[The Cuckoolander Was Right]]: In the Siege of the North Part 1, when talking about getting the Ocean and Moon Spirits' support, Aang says that, "Maybe they'll unleash a crazy amazing spirit attack on the Fire Nation." Both Yue and Katara give him weird looks. [[Foreshadowing|Guess what happens]] [[Curb Stomp Battle|next episode?]]
* [[Cucumber Facial]]
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* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: Avatar Aang + La wiping out Zhao's fleet at the North Pole.
** Less Curbstompy, but still pretty much one sided, Pakku vs Katara shortly previous. Justified since he's an [[Old Master]] while she's a largely self-taught 14 year old.
* [[Cursed Withwith Awesome]]: Aang never wanted to be the Avatar, and ran away when the monks tried to {{spoiler|separate him from Gyatso.}}
* [[Cut Apart]]: In "Lake Laogai", Team Avatar opens the door to where they think Appa is, and Appa looks up at the opening door to see... Zuko. A mild [[Lampshading]] follows as Zuko snarks, "Expecting someone else?"
** Also happens in "Imprisoned": Fire Nation troops walk around menacingly as the Gaang sleeps, the troops then knock on a door... which is opened by Haru.
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* [[Darkest Hour]]: "The Crossroads of Destiny" and "Day of Black Sun" featured two of the cruelest [[Downer Ending|Downer Endings]] in the entire series.
* [[Daydream Surprise]]: "Nightmares and Daydreams"
* [[Day in Thethe Life]]: "Tales of Ba Sing Se"
* [[A Day in Thethe Limelight]]: "Zuko Alone", "Appa's Lost Days", "Sokka's Master", "The Boiling Rock".
* [[Dawson Casting]]: [[Averted Trope|aversion]] Aang and Toph are voiced by actors of about the correct age. The actors who play Katara and Sokka are not much older than their characters, either.
** Played straight in Chile with Aang, whose male voice actor (René Pinochet) was almost 30! Justified that he was born prematurely and his voice hadn't changed much since childhood.
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* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: Mai in Season 3. She still ''acts'' plenty frosty, but is actually capable of showing emotion when either a) Zuko is around or b) it's just her and Zuko.
* [[Deliberately Monochrome]]: In "The Siege of the North" arc, when the moon spirit is killed, everything becomes black and white, except when lit up by light from fire or water bending.
* [[Demoted to Extra]]: {{spoiler|Teo, The Duke, and Haru}} in late Season 3. At the end of "Day of Black Sun" {{spoiler|they escaped on Appa with the rest of the gAang... [[Word of God|according to the commentary]], because the writers felt that sending children to a Fire Nation prison would be too harsh. But the writers couldn't figure out anything else to do with them, despite Teo being a great glider pilot and inventor and Haru being a decent Earthbender in his own right… so they only appeared in the background, or the focus of "road trip with Zuko" episodes was set away from the Western Air Temple where they were encamped, until they could be [[Put Onon a Bus]] (along with the just-rescued Hakoda) in "The Southern Raiders". (In later commentary, the writers joked about wanting to do an episode entirely about their adventures exploring the Western Air Temple.)}}
* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: The series finale had a few.
** The lion-turtle was a type 2. Although in Book 2, The Library, there was a set up for the lion-turtle. If not for the fact that this line was said just over a year before the finale was released this could be a type 3. But it is more than likely a type 4.
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* [[Disorganized Outline Speech]]: Sokka's courtroom defense of Aang in "Avatar Day", and his attempt at briefing the invasion plan in "Day of Black Sun".
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: It seems to be a common response to perceived "disrespect" in Zuko's family.
* [[Distracted Byby the Sexy]]: In "The Drill", Sokka leaves himself wide open to attack when Ty Lee flirts at him. Katara pulls him out before anything bad happens, though.
* [[Disturbed Doves]]: Zuko manages to summon them just by ''taking off his shirt''. While [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|overly dramatic theme music]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|plays in the background]]. See the picture on that page.
** Also happens here and there in the series; once when Appa and the Porcupine-Boar raise hell with their fight in "Appa's Lost Days", and in the beginning of "The Southern Raiders"; [[Disturbed Doves]] flying off the water fountain is what warns Aang that something is wrong, about half a second before they are bombed by Azula's Airships. Most notably in the finale, in which an entire fleet of birds scatter off from just about everywhere when Ozai begins his attack. [[Justified Trope|To be fair though]], he was burning down their entire forest...
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* [[Drama Bomb]]: The second season finale is infamous because of this. There had been a gradual build up of conflict and drama in the episodes leading up to it, but it all came to a head in that episode with the force of a nuclear explosion.
* [[Dramatic Thunder]]: First type in "The Storm" and second type "The Southern Raiders"
* [[Dressing Asas the Enemy]]: Done in all three seasons.
* [[The Drifter]]: "Zuko Alone", which is pretty much an homage to ''[[Shane]]'' and the [[Dollars Trilogy]].
* [[Dropped a Bridge Onon Him]]: Jet. See article.
* [[Dual-Wielding]]: Both Zuko and Jet prefer dual wielding style (and of course, they end up in a [[A Worldwide Punomenon|dual-wielding duel]] in one episode).
* [[Early-Bird Cameo]]: Tons of them.
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** In his backstory, the incident that resulted in his scar started because he objected to sacrificing a division of new recruits for tactical expediency, despite not necessarily opposing the war.
** Possibly subverted by Azulon, who objects to Ozai callously asking him to make him successor instead after the death of Iroh's only son. Azulon, if Ozai and Azula are to be believed, then went over the moral event horizon by telling Ozai to kill Zuko.
* [[Exposed to Thethe Elements]]: Averted with Sokka and Katara, who wear heavy fur coats at both poles. Played straight with Aang, who never seems to be cold even though he always wears the same outfit (though this is [[Hand Wave|Hand Waved]] by him knowing a special breathing technique). Averted and Justified with Zuko, who is seen using a special technique that allows him to breathe fire. He also dresses appropriately and is in very real danger of freezing to death after he gets knocked unconscious, prompting Aang to take him with them.
* [[Everything Makes a Mushroom]]: Aang creates a mushroom cloud while airbending in ''The Desert''.
* [[Everything's Better Withwith Penguins]]: Incidentally, they're [[Mix-and-Match Critters|also otters]].
* [[Everything's Better Withwith Princesses]]: Subverted by Azula, but definitely played straight by Yue.
* [[Everything's Worse Withwith Bears]]: Averted. Judging by Bosco, ''normal'' bears are pretty nice. ''Non''-normal bears ([[Everything's Better Withwith Platypi|platypus-]][[Mix-and-Match Critters|bears]], [[Gaia's Vengeance|spirit]] [[Pandaing to Thethe Audience|pandas]], and [[Beware the Nice Ones|women]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|named]] [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Ursa]]) aren't.
* [[Everything's Worse Withwith Bees]]: ''Vulture'' bees! Encounters with them do not go well.
* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: Let's see here...
** [[Gadgeteer Genius|The Mechanist]], who is actually referred to as such by Sokka at one point.
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* [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]]: Aang's entire culture is extinct, he's unaware of the war that's been going on for the past century, and his attempts to blend in in the Fire Nation are a mix of [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe]] and [[Totally Radical]].
{{quote| "Flameo, hotman!"}}
* [[Five-Man Band]]: See the [[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)/Characters|Character Sheet]] for more info on them
** Aang: [[The Hero]].
** Katara: [[The Lancer]] {{spoiler|until Zuko joins the Gaang}} and [[The Chick]].
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* [[Flanderization]]: The [[Show Within a Show|Ember Players' show]] featured heavily flanderized versions (to the point of parody) of the main characters, [[Played for Laughs]] of course.
* [[Flash Back]]
* [[Flashback Withwith the Other Darrin]]: "The Western Air Temple"--the flashbacks with Iroh feature Greg Baldwin as his VA, when the viewers were used to hearing Mako's voice for S1!Iroh.
* [[Flat Earth Atheist]]: Sokka in "The Swamp" who refuses to believe there might be a mystical explanation to the visions, despite all he's been through with Aang.
{{quote| '''Sokka:''' That's Avatar stuff. It doesn't count.}}
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* [[Get a Load of That Square]]: Aang's use of outdated Fire Nation slang to fit into a school doesn't impress anybody.
* [[Get Into Jail Free]]: Katara gets herself arrested for (bogus) Earthbending so she can find the Fire Nation's Earthbender-proof prison and free the prisoners.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Has [[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)/Radar|its own page]].
* [[Giant Flyer]]: Appa
* [[Gilded Cage]]:
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* [[Girl of the Week]]: Jin and Song for Zuko. On Ji for Aang.
** Subverted with {{spoiler|Meng}}, to whom he doesn't give the time of day.
* [[Giving Up Onon Logic]]: Sokka never fully does this, but he starts off as almost a [[Flat Earth Atheist]] who says that bending is magic and a flying bison could never exist to casually accepting all the various genuinely supernatural experiences the gaang goes through.
* [[Glacier Waif]]: Toph.
* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]: Aang whenever he is in the Avatar State.
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* [[Held Gaze]]: the series has a few of these. One with Mai and Zuko in the Boiling Rock episodes after being forced to lock the cell door on her [this one is more of deep hurt though], one with Suki and Sokka on the Serpent's Pass leading to an [[Almost Kiss]]. Then finally the one between Aang and Katara which leads to the [[Big Damn Kiss]] and end of the series.
* [[Hero-Killer]]: Azula.
* [[Hero's Muse]]: Princess Yue takes this role [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence|after sacrificing her mortal life to become the moon spirit]]. In the episode "The Awakening", she provides encouragement and help to Aang at a time when he desperately needs it.
* [[Hero Withwith an F In Good]] {{spoiler|Zuko.}}
{{quote| Why am I so bad at being good!?}}
* [[High Fantasy]]: An epic that involves the fate of the world, a young boy and his [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] who are [[Walking the Earth]], politics that change the course of the world, gods (called spirits but act as deities) that interact with the protagonists and, as a refreshing twist, takes place in a mythical world insipired by Eastern culture rather than Western. It would go in Wuxia save for the fact that it holds very little in common with the genre.
* [[Hoist Byby His Own Petard]]: Zhao and Long Feng.
* [[Honor Before Reason]]: A least a thousand times.
* [[Hook Hand]]: Actor Jet in "The Ember Island Players".
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