Avatar: The Last Airbender Girls Kick Ass.
Okay, this was going to be part of the previous post, but ended up becoming so detailed it's basically become an entry of its own, so I'm making it one. After hearing some (what I assume to be since I have seen pictures disproving it) false information about the Kyoshi Warriors not being in the movie (or were they initially in and cut?), I began to (and still worry) that the Avatar girls will be misrepresented in the film. So this is basically me talking about how awesome the girls in the series are, and how I hope this is continued in the movie series at the very least.
The girls in Avatar: The Last Airbender totally kick ass.
Of the main heroines, Katara is an incredibly strong fighter, which she proves to Pakku in "The Waterbending Master" in which she demands to be taught despite the Northern Water Tribe's customs of refusing to teach anything other than healing waterbending techniques to girls. She gets incredibly insulted at the idea that girls can't (or shouldn't be allowed to) fight, despite the fact that fighting isn't something she loves to do. Although she acts as the motherly one on the team, she is Aang's first female master and is shown on multiple occasions to have more skill with waterbending than Aang. Although she is shown to lose her temper at times, and falls for Jet's flirting, she still is quite the intelligent girl, and feels compelled to help people who need it. Also, for all the trouble she sometimes gets herself or others into, she never needs saving nor is she close to a damsel in distress--making the faults she has just personal ones, and not stereotypical female ones.
Toph is probably as tomboyish as girls get in this series, and beats up plenty of big muscled men with ease. She invents metalbending, and is one of the best benders in the entire show, who loves fighting for fighting's sake. She was raised as a noble, learned the manners of high society, but prefers to be herself--who likes to be covered in dirt, and kicking butt. She is never simply a "love interest" (though there are times where she reveals having a crush on Sokka and perhaps Zuko). She is a strong Earthbender, Aang's rather strict teacher, and definitely a girl who despite being young and blind, lets her opinion known. Anyone who looks at her as an innocent little girl will soon be proven very very wrong.
Suki is the leader of an all-female warrior group, and her introductory episode proves (to the audience and Sokka) how strong these girls are. She cannot bend, but she is one of the strongest and most impressive warriors in the series (her actions in "The Boiling Rock Part 2" of capturing the Warden still impresses me--as it did all the guys in that scene). She is very proud of her skill, and isn't afraid to tell this to Sokka or fight without her team. To make her even more of a feminist character, her traditional warrior outfit does not resemble any kind of male armor--in fact, it resembles more a kimono, with geisha-like makeup. You cannot look at the Kyoshi warriors and think they are men (as Sokka very clearly proves). She's a very strong girl, who is only ever taken down by Azula's group (or as it is known to fans, "Ozai's Angels").
Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai ("Ozai's Angels") despite being villains are all capable fighters, and not stereotypical females.
Even though Ty Lee is sometimes depicted as an airhead, she is the only one who knows the how to block someone's chi, making them unable to fight and in a bender's case, unable to bend, suggesting that she may have created this technique herself. She is an incredibly capable fighter despite not being able to bend, and she is this strong while continuing to be shown as a "girly" girl. And Ty Lee is possibly the character who is most comfortable in their own skin (I say this because unlike Toph, we never see Ty Lee in moments of doubt about herself).
Mai is smart and strong, and enjoys fighting because it relieves boredom she otherwise feels. She doesn't do the feminine acrobatics, she fights with weapons. She is also the first to stand up to the overpowering Azula, and helps the Avatar team escape. She does not weep or get all sad when Zuko dumps her, she finds him and yells at him for doing it in a letter rather than to her face.
Azula is probably one of the strongest characters in the series, and although she is mentally unstable and "evil", she is a well done female villian. Unlike most female villains, she is not using her sexuality to her advantage at all. In fact, she probably wears the most masculine looking armor I've ever seen on a girl. She's manipulative, intelligent, strong, and confident. It's not often you see female mentally ill characters, and she is great example of the complex characters you can create if you don't rely on the typical "bad girl" character.
June is a different kind of character too. She's not a good guy or a bad guy, she's a very neutral character. Yet, she's also very self assured, and is more interested in money than anything. Personality wise, you'd expect her character to be a male, but she's definitely all-girl. And she can very easily take care of herself.
Probably the most stereotypical female character (i'm ignoring one-shot characters here--I almost didn't include June) would be Yue. Yue's the typical fragile princess, she's closer to a damsel in distress than any other girl in the series, yet she also makes the biggest sacrifice to save everyone as well. She's loyal to her tribe, willing to go through customs she's not that comfortable with for the good of her people. She has her own mind and thoughts, and it is from them that she makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her people and friends, which kind of throws the rest of those stereotypes away.
The girls in Avatar: The Last Airbender totally kick ass.
Of the main heroines, Katara is an incredibly strong fighter, which she proves to Pakku in "The Waterbending Master" in which she demands to be taught despite the Northern Water Tribe's customs of refusing to teach anything other than healing waterbending techniques to girls. She gets incredibly insulted at the idea that girls can't (or shouldn't be allowed to) fight, despite the fact that fighting isn't something she loves to do. Although she acts as the motherly one on the team, she is Aang's first female master and is shown on multiple occasions to have more skill with waterbending than Aang. Although she is shown to lose her temper at times, and falls for Jet's flirting, she still is quite the intelligent girl, and feels compelled to help people who need it. Also, for all the trouble she sometimes gets herself or others into, she never needs saving nor is she close to a damsel in distress--making the faults she has just personal ones, and not stereotypical female ones.
Toph is probably as tomboyish as girls get in this series, and beats up plenty of big muscled men with ease. She invents metalbending, and is one of the best benders in the entire show, who loves fighting for fighting's sake. She was raised as a noble, learned the manners of high society, but prefers to be herself--who likes to be covered in dirt, and kicking butt. She is never simply a "love interest" (though there are times where she reveals having a crush on Sokka and perhaps Zuko). She is a strong Earthbender, Aang's rather strict teacher, and definitely a girl who despite being young and blind, lets her opinion known. Anyone who looks at her as an innocent little girl will soon be proven very very wrong.
Suki is the leader of an all-female warrior group, and her introductory episode proves (to the audience and Sokka) how strong these girls are. She cannot bend, but she is one of the strongest and most impressive warriors in the series (her actions in "The Boiling Rock Part 2" of capturing the Warden still impresses me--as it did all the guys in that scene). She is very proud of her skill, and isn't afraid to tell this to Sokka or fight without her team. To make her even more of a feminist character, her traditional warrior outfit does not resemble any kind of male armor--in fact, it resembles more a kimono, with geisha-like makeup. You cannot look at the Kyoshi warriors and think they are men (as Sokka very clearly proves). She's a very strong girl, who is only ever taken down by Azula's group (or as it is known to fans, "Ozai's Angels").
Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai ("Ozai's Angels") despite being villains are all capable fighters, and not stereotypical females.
Even though Ty Lee is sometimes depicted as an airhead, she is the only one who knows the how to block someone's chi, making them unable to fight and in a bender's case, unable to bend, suggesting that she may have created this technique herself. She is an incredibly capable fighter despite not being able to bend, and she is this strong while continuing to be shown as a "girly" girl. And Ty Lee is possibly the character who is most comfortable in their own skin (I say this because unlike Toph, we never see Ty Lee in moments of doubt about herself).
Mai is smart and strong, and enjoys fighting because it relieves boredom she otherwise feels. She doesn't do the feminine acrobatics, she fights with weapons. She is also the first to stand up to the overpowering Azula, and helps the Avatar team escape. She does not weep or get all sad when Zuko dumps her, she finds him and yells at him for doing it in a letter rather than to her face.
Azula is probably one of the strongest characters in the series, and although she is mentally unstable and "evil", she is a well done female villian. Unlike most female villains, she is not using her sexuality to her advantage at all. In fact, she probably wears the most masculine looking armor I've ever seen on a girl. She's manipulative, intelligent, strong, and confident. It's not often you see female mentally ill characters, and she is great example of the complex characters you can create if you don't rely on the typical "bad girl" character.
June is a different kind of character too. She's not a good guy or a bad guy, she's a very neutral character. Yet, she's also very self assured, and is more interested in money than anything. Personality wise, you'd expect her character to be a male, but she's definitely all-girl. And she can very easily take care of herself.
Probably the most stereotypical female character (i'm ignoring one-shot characters here--I almost didn't include June) would be Yue. Yue's the typical fragile princess, she's closer to a damsel in distress than any other girl in the series, yet she also makes the biggest sacrifice to save everyone as well. She's loyal to her tribe, willing to go through customs she's not that comfortable with for the good of her people. She has her own mind and thoughts, and it is from them that she makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her people and friends, which kind of throws the rest of those stereotypes away.