So that one thing
I know this is, for many, a pointless request to make of an SF-F or action/adventure genre canon, but I'm not a genre fan, so I feel okay pushing for the next level. This isn't a diss on Avatar by any means, just something that felt missing, that occurred to me after a few days of thinking about the finale.
I wish there had been important older women. I wish that all the mother figures hadn't either died/disappeared in sacrifice for their children (which no fathers did, except sort-of Aang's) or were useless in the face of the father's rules, like Toph's mother. I wish that at least one of the White Lotus had been a woman. I wish that at least one of the older mentors we encountered was a woman. I wish there had been a woman to balance out that poor insane water bender who taught Katara to blood bend, just as there were so many young women to balance Azula. I wish it hadn't been Katara who was driven to avenge their mom, but Sokka who was driven to find their dad. We have such a variety of younger women, and a heritage of female avatars. What happened to the older women?
I wish there had been important older women. I wish that all the mother figures hadn't either died/disappeared in sacrifice for their children (which no fathers did, except sort-of Aang's) or were useless in the face of the father's rules, like Toph's mother. I wish that at least one of the White Lotus had been a woman. I wish that at least one of the older mentors we encountered was a woman. I wish there had been a woman to balance out that poor insane water bender who taught Katara to blood bend, just as there were so many young women to balance Azula. I wish it hadn't been Katara who was driven to avenge their mom, but Sokka who was driven to find their dad. We have such a variety of younger women, and a heritage of female avatars. What happened to the older women?