Top TV Memes: The Best Formats From 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a TV show from our childhoods that many of us turned to during last year's intensive quarantine. We don't know why so many of us went back to a show that's technically rated as TV Y-7, but we don't regret it. In fact it gears more towards adults than it does children with discussions of war and genocide. Plus, there's that really awful M. Night Shyamalan movie that follows some bad CGI and an overdramatic boy named "Ong" rather than Zach Tyler Eisen’s Aang. It’s way funnier if you've seen the original series. Thankfully, the film and the series are nothing alike, but I’m going to leave this here anyways, because I don’t want to be the only one who had their faith in modern cinema ruined by this. Now, you can, too.

Avatar is set in a fantasy version of earth where the world is divided into four nations, each of which has a culturally significant form of "bending" utilizing one of the natural occurring elements; Aang, who has been conveniently frozen in an iceberg for 100 years, is the only one capable of mastering all four elements. This means he has to overthrow the leader of the Fire Nation who has, for whatever reason, decided that genocide is the way. Like I said, the show is not just for kids, but I'm pretty sure anyone under the age of ten won't know what's going on, and that's why they've gotten away with it for so long. Because we've grown up with the show and found a different meaning now that we're old enough, ATLA has become particularly popular in memes in the past year.

Most Popular Memes: Season 3, Episode 14: "The Boiling Rock"

In this episode, the character Sokka (voiced by Jack DeSena) attempts to make small talk with his former enemy Zuko (voiced by Dante Basco) while riding in a hot air balloon. Frankly, any more context would probably make this scene even more confusing than it was already, but as Zuko manages the flames keeping the balloon afloat, Sokka proceeds to tell him that his first girlfriend turned into the moon. There is an awkward pause in which Zuko is clearly unsure what to say or ask, so he simply replies with "That's rough, buddy." The uncomfortable expression has obviously become fodder for thousands of memes; in fact it's probably the most quoted line from the whole series.

While this is undoubtedly the most popular line from this episode, it would be wrong to forget such a creative writing endeavor as "Hey, riot," being said at the beginning of a riot. Basically, this episode, set in a prison, is what Orange is the New Black would look like if it was rated PG and all the questionable scenes were replaced with an odd buddy comedy about two guys floating around in a giant hot air balloon comparing their levels of trauma.

Most Meme Potential: Season 2, Episode 1: "The Avatar State"

I don’t even know where to start with this one, since it’s honestly pretty messed up by the standards of the parents who mistakenly let their kids watch this show. Essentially, a king psychologically tortures Aang to try and make him the perfect weapon. Keep in mind, Aang is twelve, and he has to watch the king try to murder his friend. It also has one of the most questionable endings, where Aang essentially decimates a town out of rage. Then, he and his friends get onto a flying buffalo and leave as if nothing happened, and it’s not really touched on again.

But really, the reason the episode is so popular in the meme community is because of a moment in which Aang sees a vision of the Avatars before him in a scene that looks like Rey glancing into the mirrored images of herself in The Last Jedi, but actually makes some sense and has plot relevance unlike the sequel trilogy. This has also become a huge meme, which often winds up focusing on some particularly weird subjects due to the strangeness of the scene itself.

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