What everyone gets wrong about Avatar: Is fleshbending possible? [ ATLA l LOK ] 

This comment's sole purpose is to force RU-vid to promote this video.

In my opinion, lavabending is like ice bending: it's just manipulating the same material in a different state of being.

I think people often forget that blood-bending isn’t actually bending blood, per se, but the water inside a person. It’s basically swamp-bending but more sadistic.

I always loved earth bending because of the way toph MADE earth bending spiritual. To most of the people it was just moving stone, but to her it was understanding, sight, the way she communicated with the world, and I thought that was awesome

earth is also associated with stubbornness, and honestly metal bending was invented bc toph was just too stubbon to accept she couldn't. its not exactly a deep analysis of the subject but i think its neat

If anyone tries to bend my cabbages, I'll have my revenge!

Its overlooked a lot, but that Fire Sage in LoK using fire to read her chi and her pain was one of my favorite moments. Like yes, firebending is powerful and can be destructive, but this woman used it to "shed a light" and help heal. Almost like an X-Ray. I think about how fire is often portrayed as the "evil" element, not just in Avatar, but other media as well. But looking at fire in real life, it can cause a lot of pain. It can be used irresponsibly. But it also keeps people alive. Gives us warmth, light, and cooks our food. The fact Avatar showed this just makes me so happy.

As an artist, Earthbending has always been by far what I'm most passionate about. The ability to so directly create and sculpt the world around you, it's practically all I've ever longed for. It just vibes with me. The other elements are flashy and dramatic, but they're temporary. Bent earth is real, it's tangible. That makes it feel so much more significant for everyday life use, especially if you could hone your skills with it to a fine degree, like the metalbenders in Korra. Not to mention the metal-web-slinging the metalbenders do is super rad.

Lavabending makes sense because it's just 100% melted, hot stone. And stones can be moved by earthbenders.

Zaheer learned to fly by letting go of his earthly tethers, well except for his very earthly desire to kill a person.

I never even thought of lightning as a sub element. I always saw it as superheated air - just really hot and focused firebending. In book one of Korra, as Lightning-Bolt Zolt is getting his firebending taken from him, he's shooting an arc of lightning into the air. As that power dwindles, it transitions to fire, then nothing. Lightning, or plasma, can originate from superheating air. That's always how I thought firebenders did it.

Bone-bending as an earth-bending equivalent to water-bending's blood-bending makes a lot more sense. Nothing is more grounded than them skeleton-bones.

Water? Change. Earth? Substance. Fire? Power. Air? Freedom Blame? Viacom Hotel? Trivago

Earthbending is like the engineering set in star trek and Hufflepuff. Everyone's mocking them until you need something practical done

Can I just say; the scene where Zahir learns to fly (while admittedly cool), bugs me immensely. He just saw the woman he loved die, a woman they showed he cared deeply about, and he just lets it go in that moment. It honestly comes off like the "oh no! Anyway..." meme. I think they should've showed us a scene of Zahir wrestling with the death first, making his eventual flight more fulfilling. And I know they had to wrap up the season and stuff, but it still bugs me. And while I'm on the topic, wouldn't his obsession with removing the avatar prevent him from flying in the first place? Seems like an "earthly tie" to me.

Complete breakdown of Elements and Sub-Bending: Air - Spirit Fire - Lightning - Plasma Water - Healing - Blood - Ice - Plants/Vines Earth - Metal - Sand - Lava - Crystal/Gem All benders have the ability to work with/sense energy. Toph used it to see everywhere in LoK, Water Benders use it for healing, Air Benders for spiritual stuff like sensing one's presence, Fire Benders use it to sense what ails the body.

Video title: "Is fleshbending possible?" Bloodbending: "Am I a joke to you?"

Here's why toph is so powerful. Almost nobody has experience fighting someone who sees like she does. Making her react differently than literally anyone else they have fought before

I wonder how your thoughts around the elements changed since the Kyoshi novels, which do seem to give more depth to a lot of different lores. Particularly, Kyoshi witnesses two expert firebenders in close combat without any actual fire - they say firebending is fundamentally a concussive force, not fire, and really good firebenders can separate the flame from the force. It certainly makes more sense in how they depict firebending, more like an explosion blasting out rather than a wave of heat and plasma. But then how does it really fit into the more spiritual aspects of firebending? It feels like a totally different interpretation of fire than a source of heat and life. I’d also just love to see you talk more about lore from the Kyoshi novels! Especially with Father Glowworm (and its merger contrasted with that of the Avatar) and Kuruk’s story.

Iroh said it Don't bend the elements bend the energy inside them

"Why do you like rocks?..." *GODDAMNIT MATE, THEY'RE MINERALS.*

Viacom/RU-vid copyright logic: "I say what happened, then you say what happened, and then I say who's right."

Me: (moves my finger.) Me: “Le gasp! I’m a flesh bender!!!”

I wonder if the introduction of new sub-types of bending - particularly lava - have some relation to how Avatar's world is becoming more modern and materialistic as time goes on, and this is reflected in how bending techniques are becoming a little more influenced by scientific understanding rather than spiritual? I don't think this is making things less spiritual, to be clear. I would say that Lava is closer to Fire in terms of the philosophical connection: It is explosive, powerful, and destructive, but also can create life-giving volcanic soil that is really good for growing crops. And yet, it falls under Earth Bending because it is... well... made of *earth.* But what if a Fire Bender could learn to bend Lava AS WELL by somehow making use of the spiritual/philisophical connection to it? Perhaps I'm overthinking this, but I hope it's an interesting idea, and it could begin to explain things a little. Like... you could say that most of the apparent rules of Avatar are spritualism-based more than scientific, but what I'm suggesting is that a LITTLE of scientific (or adjacent) understanding is beginning to creep into how Bending rules work, and that this is reflected in the increasing modernity of the world in Season 2. Perhaps it's sort of both? Perhaps this relates to what was said about all of the elements being one back in Season 1? Though, of course, there aren't really any strongly set rules anyway. But this is fun to think about.

According to the rise of kyoshi novel: yes. A strong enough earthbender can fleshbend. Its the secret to immortality in fact

Imagine earth bending clay in art class

Honestly, the reason I love earth bending is because of the potential. I realize that other elements also have great potential and so on and so forth, but earth bending really gets shafted by almost anyone who is neither Bumi nor Toph (Kyoshi also does cool stuff in the past though). Even Aang doesn't really do anything particularly interesting other than in the avatar state. Bumi shows that he is basically able to level a city within a few minutes. Imagine the things you could build with earth bending too. What do you for the most part see in the show? Stomp to make rock jump. Punch to make rock fly. Stomp to make a shield. The Dai Li also do some cool stuff with their rock gloves and wall running abilities, so it's not like we only see these things. But compared to the amount of earth bending we see, I feel you could do so much more.

“I like capital ‘E’ Earth, it’s where I keep my stuff”

I wanted to se blind air nomad tribes who uses sound bending

Fire bending: Life and Emotion Feelings like happiness, anger, sadness, and love have an effect on bending ability. Earth bending: Body and Character Traits like pride, laziness, perseverance, and greediness have an affect on bending ability. Water bending: Soul and Nature Attributes like calmness, rashness, bravery, and gentleness have an affect on bending ability. Air bending: Mind and Spirit Ideas like righteousness, faith, truth, and peace have an affect on bending ability.

I always thought that Bolin can Lavabend because it’s earth (duh) which is his natural ability, but also fire as something he kind of got from his family. Mako is firebender so in my head it made sense that their bond would make Bolin able to bend lava which is a mix of the two (both hard to control and very grounded) more than metal which is more refined (which Bolin definitely isn’t). It made so much sense to me I never really questioned it and thought in the detail. Thanks for the video!!

With the bloodbending part, it goes back to the healing powers they are known to have. Waterbending can heal but as shown by bloodbending, this power can be twisted crudely. It's the dark shadow of medicine, when things go horribly horribly wrong.

0:31 Mishka: LOOK AT MY TOE BEANS SO YOU ARE NO LONGER SAD

Fire benders can bend lightning and lightning is electricity so does that mean Aang can bend the internet?

Sub-elements: Blood bending Combustion bending Metal bending Mudbending Flight Lightning bending Snowbending Sand bending Swamp bending Healing Energy bending Ice bending Lavabending Spiritual projection Lie detecting? Seismic sense Body temperature control Condensesation Cloud manipulation Spirit bending Fog bending (Let me know if I missed anything)

If air surrounds everything then could a skilled airbender effectively control all elements?

Why I love Earth bending One Word TOPH drops mic

You already know I'm rewatching this

I think it might be possible, and here is why: When Toph uses earthbending to see, she can see people. Not just where they are touching the ground, but their whole form. If earthbending can pick out the shapes of people (down to facial features like mustaches.. if the comics count) then surely there is earth in people that can be bent.. right?

Not at all surprised you were proud of this video, it literally gave me goose bumps a couple times when i thought about the elements the way you explained them

How about Sound bending? Increasing or decreasing the vibrations in the air. makes the science fans happy If the bender who discovers it is a musician it could still play into the spiritual aspect air bending, as music is the sound of the spirit.

14:40 - Late to the party here, and someone may have already brought this up, but the idea that in LOK the Equalists use Palladium and hyper refined/pure metals to prevent the "metal benders" on the city's police force from fighting back also is a supporting point to the idea of metal and earth being distinct elements in the Chinese framework you discussed.

I was surprised not to see more of things like earth bending used to move clay pots or water benders washing dishes with it. I would love to see more day-to-day stuff

I would argue, separately, that the idea of earthbenders bending flesh misses how complex biochemistry is. Earthbenders aren't bending elemental components of earth, they are bending minerals, and sometimes mineralized/crystalized elements (metal). Cells are mostly bags made of oil, and we don't see anyone bend oil. I would, however, argue that earthbenders might be able to bend bone, which is a mineral of calcium and phosphorus.

4:49 Sokka also has a fetish for the moon. 🌙 🌔 🌖 🌛 🌜 🌕

I just like to think of it as... Water gives life Air sustains life Earth holds life Fire lives in life itself.

Dude as you analyze this show more and more it continues to have links and Easter eggs per se. It’s absolutely amazing and I love this show above all. It’s just so well done.

Commenting to help!! Love you man

Viacom, how dare you take down such a wonderful video. This video was really great, though, and I don't mind re-watching it one bit.

Welcome to the club brother. They did the same to my Korra Review. Real scumbags

Great video. I'm sorry that the video got taken down.

I always loved earth bending most because with it you could do a version of all 4 bending styles. Water is mud, wind is dust, and fire is using dust and then flint and steel to create a spark. Also boomy is amazing

Im in the earthbender camp, it just seems practical. I'd make myself a house wherever i want and demolish it the next day

My favorite hypothetical bending was what one of my friends called "rage bending". You get one of each bender, have the Water Bender use blood bending to accelerate the Earth Bender's pulse, Air Bender pumps more air into the Earth Bender's lungs, and Fire Bender uses electricity to heighten the Earth Bender's reflexes. More air pumps more oxygen into the blood, faster blood flow delivers the surplus of oxygen to the muscles and brain faster, all feeding the faster reflexes with energy to use them. Finally the Earth Bender can bend rocks and metal into armor making the ultimate warrior

im so sorry!! i really love your videos. i just started watching today and i can already tell that all your videos are amazing and you put a lot of work in them!!

I love this series of videos! Thanks for your hard work.

actually, flesh bending is possible here's why and the steps: 1. be a person 2. move BOOM! you can bend

My least favorite thing about ATLA/LOK is that it is owned by Viacom.

Great video loved it. You are very eloquent and intelligent. I'm sorry they took your original video down that's lame. People should be able to discuss the stories they love. That's one of the most critical roles of literature, the exploration, discussion, and dissemination of ideas and viewpoints.

"Earth bending is the least spiritual of all elements" Precisely. Each of the 4 elements represent one of our states: Fire - spiritual Air - mental Water - emotional Earth - PHYSICAL Earth is the physical representation of the elements, it represents our connection to our bodies, our connection to the earth, our natural instincts (gut feeling) and the root of our very existence. To be the avatar, is to master all 4 elements: all 4 states of being. This is why the avatar is the resolve of all conflict in the series, because they have mastered themselves to the point of healing everything.

it's hilarious that even though the ran and shaw part was edited out, I could still recognise it because I've probably seen the ATLA series over a hundred times

Love your channel, bro!

The main video content might be good but like... your cat at the beginning!!! It's so frickin cute and fluffy i wanna hold it

Earth to me is the bending without compromise. fire is called upon, if you have a strong inner chi your energy calls to the fire and it responds if you call with enough passion to spark it (pun intended for you lightning bender out there) hence the method it's a lot of fighting, your literally attacking your surroundings to show the fire your eagerness you want to glow and shine. Water is guided, not called. you don't summon water, you simply give it a correction and doing what water doe it moves as you give it a path, it's a little heavier than water, so it takes a little more effort to motivate it, but it's equally as malleable, but try and force it along a path and all you will get is ice. Air is freedom and enlightenment, as you yourself have stated, to let go and be free like the wind, the wind is literally everywhere yet you can't see it, it's not like earth water or fire, it's a void. It's a faith that as we saw in this video, if you fall the wind will catch you, but if you show little faith it will drop you like a stone. the burdens of what lies at the ground doesn't matter, it's all a matter of faith and willingness to move on, Inge like grudges and vengeance is baggage, that weighs you down, the wind is held back by nothing, simply let go. Earth to me is the most human element, a life energy, peace and freedom are all very, very tranquil and admirable life choices. But down in the earth life's a bit rougher. We earth benders don't ask our element or even call upon the earth to come to us, nah we kick the hell out of it forcing it to move for us. We stomp on the earth, the earth is pushed up, it's tectonic. Our force matches it's force and one has to give way. It's a bending of wills, the earth doesn't respond to anyone. Even those most attuned to the earth only know how to talk to it by blows struck to the earth and the ripples that sends across it, the earth itself hasn't moved once in that action, it doesn't have to. The earth is stubborn and singular, fores dance around each other, water and air are combined forces, the earth fights itself, plates below the planet hit and clash at one another for room pushing each other around causing earthquakes as they tussle. Two of the worlds greatest benders King bumi and toph both show great strength in their bending, and both show great pride in their strength. They are immovable objects that the other elements can not move. To use two quotes from completely different media this is how I see earth, it's an element of will stubbornness and internal fortitude, to not move or backdown, to not act but to not be pushed back. "No matter how hard the wind blows, the mountain can not bow to it" "Our bond is iron, our will unbreakable, who will stand against us?"

:,) It’s like water is kind of physically healing, while fire is kind of spiritually healing.

been watching your videos for years, loved every minute of all of them! also i have been a fan of Avatar ever since it first came out, i was watching them live as they came out on Nickelodeon.. my dog is called General Iroh or typically just Iroh for short.. idk why it's taken me this long to subscribe, but i just did! keep up the great work and long live glorious Mishka!!

You have amazing content, thanks!

Earth bending is much more "grounded" and logical. Therefore they embrace science. They approach things in the way of stability.

Water: Flow Earth: Patience Fire: Emotion Air: Freedom

Im so sad im finding this channel so late 😥 Im enjoying binge-watching

I absolutely love your channel

I feel like Bone Bending would make more sense than flesh bending for earth

How is the concept of patience and being one with your environment less spiritual than Waterbending or even air bending? Hell, actually it's pretty much the same thing only focused on persistence rather than change. Really it's a shame that we didn't have an earthbender avatar, because if any element is intrinsically linked to protection and coexistence, it's earth. The element of patience, the element of standing your ground, no matter how harsh the tide. I think what you mean is that it's not philosophical, but that is kind of the core: Earth doesn't question. Earth merely listens.

I love the very quiet Skyrim music in the background, it's so calming

you are the best I love your videos and your accent and your humor especially concerning killing shyalaman.

I wouldn't say earth is the least spiritual element, but rather the most stoic. In the words of Mulan's Emperor: "No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it." Earth and stone are these stalwart entities that take the longest to change and remain the most persistent, no matter what the other elements have to say about it. The storm may howl against the mountain, the sea might clash against the cliffs and Ozai might burn everything to a crisp, but earth remains.

One of my main problems with Korra is that they seemed to dismiss the spiritual nature of bending. So many people could lightening bend, or metal bend. Where as it should have been only true masters of themselves who could achieve that

As always, informative and interesting

I miss Mishka... Love your videos as always

I think you have earth bending wrong in some regards. I personally feel like it gets screwed over in most fantasy settings, but avatar was actually able to present it in a beautiful way. Earth spirituality is about staying still and mediating on the large picture of spirituality. Earth is all-encompassing. Earth spirituality asks you to connect to other people, your community, your world. To connect to this one has to let go of their individuality and see how they are just one part of this larger sum. Earth spirituality is seeing yourself as a grain of sand, that builds into the tallest mountains and into the core of the earth. That is why lava bending is earth bending. Its about taking what is at our cores and being completely open to the world. Bolin has an open heart which is why he connects with this bending style. Earthbenders have the largest continent for a reason. They teach being a part of a community and caring about each other as a whole. That is why when the earth benders are put on a boat in ATLA they lose their sense of community and look inwards. They don’t know how to connect with each other even though they have the numbers. The idea of family and together-ness is important to earth spirituality. The beifongs in both series struggle with family-ties as it connects them to what is at the core of their culture. Suyin creates a place in the world for her people, and Lin protects people keeping her community safe. Its where the other three spiritual concepts are dissimilar to earth. Air asks one to seek enlightenment by letting go of the body and self. Earth asks that you ground yourself in reality and acknowledge that you are a part of the world. What connects you to others is important and valuable, and caring about the world is important as every action you make can cause a land slide or earthquake leaving a permanent scar. Metal bending is finding something familiar within something that that is different or foreign. It symbolizes finding the common-ground that people share. Which is why the fire nation is able to connect so easily with the earth kingdom. They share that sense of gathering around the hearth. Toph’s ability to feel the vibrations in the earth connects more to this inner connectivity than it does to actually being able to feel other people’s shape via actual vibrations. If it were just vibrations she would only see their location. Yet she is shown to see their faces and clothes. She can make out the shape of who they are. I think that enlightenment is useless without this sense of reality. Thats why earth is my favorite element. Edit: In Korra Toph says: “Im more connected than you’ve ever been. The roots and vines, they run all over the world. I can see Su and Lin, Z and republic city. I see everything.” Edit 2: Because now im really interested in this topic. In looking it up the ATLA IP bible states that earth bending is strongest near fault-lines meaning that they have a connection to tectonic plates which adds to their connection with the earth’s core.

*Holds Mishka for comfort*

I like how earthbending is also about having clear boundaries, a clear sense of self, clear limits to protect, and shows how to take up space with gusto. It's spirit is clear-headed, practical, no-fuss, anchored, but still capable of subtle presence or 'there-ness', and detail understanding of the physical world

You work hard. I like your videos.

I'd want sand bending as a sub-form. Earth and air are the most patient elements. Sand is a symbol of the passage of time, patience is a kind of time-wisdom.

I have seen this video. No problem watching it again. You have the best avatar content. Keep up the good work.

I think this always made sense to me because I read Tarot. Each suit in the Tarot has a related element (fire, water, earth, air) and this is also the case in western astrology. But in the Tarot, it's interesting because the element acts as a lens through which the same card, the same number, the same archetype gets filtered through in each suit. I didn't watch ATLA until I'd already been reading tarot for years and so the spiritual framework was already there for me while watching it. It's also extremely fascinating how the style of martial art they chose for each bending style fits so beautifully with each element. The amount of attention to detail in this show makes me the good kind of insane

My list of all the elements I consider to be sub-elements of a particular bending we've seen in the show/comics/novels Air Bending - Flight Fire Bending - Lightning Bending - Combustion Bending - Smoke Bending Water Bending - Ice Bending - Steam Bending - Snow Bending - Plant Bending - Blood Bending Earth Bending - Sand Bending - Mud Bending - Crystal Bending - Glass Bending - Lava Bending - Metal Bending

Water? Change. Earth? Substance. Fire? Power. Air? Freedom. Blame? Viacom.

if we look ANATOMICALLY and not atomically (because we all know avatar is 100% anatomically correct what with the flying and breathing fire), bending of literal blood is impossible. the suspension of blood would stop its circulation throughout the body, and whoever was being controlled would die after so many minutes, and at the very least pass out within a minute. the name bloodbending probably isn't meant to be taken literlly. hama even says that it's simply "controlling the water in another body". most likely, bloodbending is controlling the fluids in the skeletal muscle, since that is what actually allows bodies to move. so in a sense, fleshbending

I’m so sorry for what happened to the original vid

I love what you do! :D

I made a comment to this effect on the original video, but I'll restate it here. If an earthbender was determined to do body manipulation, their best shot would probably be bone bending. Since bones are the hard, rigid framework of the body, they have a strong philosophical tie to the earth element.

Metal bending is probably the most useful and practical in everyday life in our world, but in avatar world lightning bending would make you an incredible mercenary

new fav youtuber

I find the paradox inherent to Earthbending really interesting now that you mention it. It definitely is the most grounded/least spiritual, but also inherently has the greatest connection to the Earth and that spiritual concept of Gaia. The Broken Earth trilogy by N K Jemisin deals with a kind of similar magical ability to manipulate rocks, the earth and seismic ability, but in a very different way. It's a very good series, especially if you enjoy elemental and "hard" magic systems.

Waking up to having to my video taken down was incredibly frustrating. I think it's one of the best Avatar lore videos I've ever done, and it was doing really well for my channel. I realise it won't get the views it had last time, but it'd really help just to comment anything/like the video if you have a second. Thanks to the RU-vid copyright system, I guess I'll just need to be more careful in the future. Thanks everyone, and I love you all. *Give me your most ridiculous idea of "[x] is made of [y], that must mean that a really powerful [z]bender should be able to bend [x]."* ~ Tim

8:00 How did you not mention Appa and other Sky Bison for true flight.

Best video I've ever re-seen.

Damn... that all hail Mishka made me actually happy for a second. Love this guy!!!!

When he said "It's pouring with rain - in November!" I was like "duuhh, dude?" at first...