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I feel like "filler" is being misused here. A lot of the episodes that you guys are talking about don't directly advance the story, but do indirectly affect the story, mainly through world-building and introducing characters that become important later.
For example, the episode "Bato of the Water Tribe" becomes important later on because + Show Spoiler +Jun helps track down Iroh in the grand finale.
Filler is more used for episodes that literally don't matter at all, like "The Great Divide" and "The Painted Lady". The Great Divide never comes up again except as a joke, and the Painted Lady never gets referenced again. However, if you took out episodes like "The King of Omashu" or "Imprisoned", there are parts of the overall story that would either cease to exist or would just not make sense.
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I didn't mean to imply those episodes had no value. You'd be hard pressed to find a filler episode in any series that didn't at least accomplish some characterization and world-building. Well, ok maybe Great Divide has no value 
It's just if all you really care about is what's going on, you don't need the ones I called filler. Bumi is king of Omashu and is an old friend of Aang's is all you really learn in that episode, and it's pretty apparent the next time they meet him. It's also pretty apparent that Suki's a friend of the Gaang, that she's tough, and that she's Sokka's love interest.
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On July 29 2015 03:27 Millitron wrote:Well, ok maybe Great Divide has no value
That's just it though, the filler episodes are the ones that have no value to the story at all, like The Great Divide.
I mean, you're mostly right: aside from the first two episodes, the "Winter Solstice" two-parter, The Storm, The Blue Spirit, and the last three episodes, you can generally make assumptions about/fill in everything else on your own, it's just that the most of the rest of the episodes do flesh out the characters and the world of Avatar. I just feel like saying "the main story didn't advance, so it's filler", is incorrect.
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TLA had some useless episodes (Painted Lady, Great Divide), but LoK probably had a higher quantity of filler during main story progress (most of Season 2, the all-smothering love arcs of Season 1).
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On July 29 2015 11:57 WolfintheSheep wrote:
TLA had some useless episodes (Painted Lady, Great Divide), but LoK probably had a higher quantity of filler during main story progress (most of Season 2, the all-smothering love arcs of Season 1).
Might be baised here, but painted lady did a lot of characrter development. Not sure if I would count it as filler, altough it didn't progress the main plot.
Still easily in my top 10 favorite episodes ^^
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On July 29 2015 11:57 WolfintheSheep wrote:
TLA had some useless episodes (Painted Lady, Great Divide), but LoK probably had a higher quantity of filler during main story progress (most of Season 2, the all-smothering love arcs of Season 1).
Wait, if you are calling those things in LoK filler then you could just call half of TLA filler.
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If i remember TLA correctly.. Basically half of it actually was filler. But good filler can be enjoyable so i don't see this as something necessarily negative?
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Avatar filler really felt more like world development than filler. Real filler is entirely throwaway, but TLA filler generally introduces either characters or parts of the world, which makes it have some meaning.
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Caldeum1977 Posts
The way I judge something to be filler or not is simply the question "Would the series be the same without this episode?" And for most of TLA the answer to that is no. Most episodes introduce characters, give background info or history, or offer main character development, all of which are important.
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On July 29 2015 20:19 Miragee wrote:Show nested quote +On July 29 2015 11:57 WolfintheSheep wrote:
TLA had some useless episodes (Painted Lady, Great Divide), but LoK probably had a higher quantity of filler during main story progress (most of Season 2, the all-smothering love arcs of Season 1). Wait, if you are calling those things in LoK filler then you could just call half of TLA filler.
The thing about TLA is the the story is it's a lot more like The Odyssey or Journey to the West. Each season (and the overall story) had very loose and simplistic goals, but the travel and the journey was most of the story.
LoK had very compact stories with new villains and settings that needed developing each season, and good deal of the first two seasons dragged out the side stories too long and made the end of the first season rushed, and the first two thirds of the second season meandering while everyone acted like idiots.
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On July 28 2015 19:50 ETisME wrote:Show nested quote +On July 27 2015 21:38 Miragee wrote:
Woooot? A new comic with Korrasami focus? I know someone who will love that. :D I'm going to read it as well I think. But please, finish the fourth avatar book first.
Also glad you enjoyed the show ETisME. Style-wise it's not that different from anime imho. Yup and I really like the character development of korra. nice to see it maturing up in a slower pacing. Loved the book 4 because of that. I am trying to go back and watch the TLA but it is hard to watch, a little too childish/ dull, I think it's because I am still at book 1. Will it get better?
TLA season 1 is definitely the weakest season but really picks up near the finale. Season 2 is where the show really comes to life with the introduction of the main villain (Azula) and the fan favorite Toph.
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EPT
) really flesh a lot of the world out, and I appreciate that a lot 
