amon = badass

I honestly think he is the ugliest little guy in the entire history of the show...

I think that kid has more Water Tribe genes than Air Nomad...His great uncle would be proud.

**sleepehz rolled a random image posted in comment #22 at Airport Security Guy **
Looks like milo is doing some bone bending.
i am sorry for that....

The popular theory right now is when Aang died to Azula's lightning shot a new avatar was born (Amon) but then Katara revived him with the spirit water so Amon's avatar abilities were taken away, all except his ability to go to the spirit realm.
Then, when Aang died for good from old or w/e Korra was born. This also explains why korra has problems with the spiritual aspect of the avatar.

Keep in mind that this is all just speculation and is in no way proven yet.

Different Chi blocking strategies as compared to when Aang did it. When Aang took Ozai's powers he touched both forehead and chest, Amon only touched forehead. And If Amon was born then he would be old, around 86. He doesn't move like he's 86. Also if Aang 'died' in the Avatar state, the cycle would end immediately at Aang, and the avatar would not reincarnate. Even if all this was null and void, where is the air bending? Did Amon get it, as he has the spiritual aspect, or Korra? Can Amon bend and he doesn't know it, or does Korra have the ability and it is literally impossible due to lacking the spiritual side? Honestly I believe Korra is just a hot-head who has the ability to enter the spirit world, she just needs to practice. Also Amon is the son of Cabbage guy. Born on a farm (cabbages) he was raised on his father's anti-bending feelings (because benders kept destroying his crop).

Well, in response to the two anons below me.
This is simply the most popular theory, personally I don't think there's enough information yet as to make an educated guess and even then it would still be just that, a guess.

well, i can't think of any good arguements to oppose that theory.

If Aang died in the Avatar state (which is when Azula hit him) the cycle would have ended.

because.
It has something to do with the spirit of the avatar and moving onto the next person.

so this is just my theory. but aang had a son named bumi who couldn't bend. Considering he is the son of the avatar, and couldnt bend, im guessing he would be really pissed off. im guessing maybe aang taught Bumi energy bending somehow to counter his lack of bending and now Bumi is taking out his anger on all the benders. Just a guess though lol

A lot of people don't think that Amon's ability is permanent. Here's a picture kinda explaining

Aang had the same power and used the same technique in the finale of Avatar, so it might actually be spirit based

he is supposed to be the other half of the avatar in charge of the spirits because korra is in charge of the actually bending unlike all the other avatars who were in charge of both

I agree, mostly because it looks like Chi-blockers have learned a martial art that is specifically used to fight benders. No matter where you train bending, they teach you forms and combat techniques that have been around for generations. So perhaps the reason why the Chi-blockers and Amon can dodge and anticipate so easily, is because they devised a way to see the moves as their coming, and know the path that the bending will strike. It's a lot like why Tae-kwon-do was developed. It's designed to fight another art specifically, and they attack the chi zones and block benders from bending. Their just highly trained.

It's a known fact, that in martial arts, you have counters and moves that are used specifically to nullify certain attacks. I am just saying that most benders learn a form, and associate their bending with it. Fire users learn katas and so on, as shown in the first series. Once you know how they move and attack, and take the time to learn their katas, they will become easy to counter. Most people who learn martial arts never reach the level that they move beyond memorization, and are usually limited by only the basic moves they repeat over and over, not seeking to develop themselves. It's true that a Chi Blocker might have a harder time with someone with more fighting experience and time to learn more than just basic bending/fighting. However, look at who they were fighting.... thugs, a half-trained avatar, and street urchins... read about martial arts some time, and how a well trained master can predict a move by the slightest hint of muscle movement.
We could be giving them to much credit, but I don't see anyone saying they have powers beyond the norm.

But that means they would die if anyone was to ever just spam fire in their general direction. So they could easily be countered in close combat. But nobody will ever do that...

Dont' bring Naruto into this.

So sorry that your internet is bad.

That's Jack of Blades from Fable if I'm not mistaken?
( If I am you can shower me in red thumbs)

Correct, but even if you were wrong I probably wouldn't thumb you down. Why punish someone for not knowing something?

Is that Jack of Blades from the first Fable?

Yes.

Jack is one of the coolest video game villains I've come across.

He is my second favorite villain of all time in all categories.

he's by far the best, he turns into a fucking dragon

He's awesome, but my favorite is definitely him
<-----

What show is that from!!! i used to watch that all the time

Xiaolin Showdown. One of my favorite shows.

yessss, I fucking love that show

I love the show. I'd say to finish The Last Airbender then watch Legend of Korra. They're drastically different, but both are really good.

The last season was awesome, ended slightly abruptly but awesome :) Last fight = epic. I say watch the end first ^.^ Worth it. And as for the new series...it's "alright" the original gang was amazing...the new chicks ok. but it is slightly getting better, so we'll see what happens. But watch the ending forsure.

abso-fuckin-lutely yes

I think it's because the bending techniques have been advanced and improved over the years since the last airbender so that the advanced techniques are more accessible to the less skilled benders. Toph was the ONLY metal bender in the last series, she invented it. So it would make sense that she teach others the technique.

To the whole sub bending abilities (lightning, metal etc) those forms of bending weren't very well known. Toph literally invented metal ending and lightning bending was relatively new. After the events of the last air bender, people were aware now of the new forms of bending and over the last 70 years learned it. Kind of like how a meme spreads on the internet.

Also, the police thing is explained. The police chief is Tophs daughter, and she was obviously trained by her mother and then she went ahead and trained her police force.

Also, bending in general used to be a more spiritual and martial artist sort of thing in the last airbender. Over the 70 years, it's lost some of its "spiritual" part and become more of a game. Look at the pro bending competitions. That never would have happened in the last airbender. Plus, when Korra rescued that guys brother, notice the brothers suck at martial arts in general even though they're able to bend when they were fighting that guy with the electrical rods.

Metal bending branching out is justified I guess, but I don't think lightning bending should be as spread as it seems (I know its 4 episodes, but with a power plant and a young street punk casually doing it, the move looks spread). Zuko's inability to lightning bend demonstrated it took more than talent to lightning bend. You had to have spiritual awareness and have your shit together (Azula and Ozai had a very sure if their goals, so i guess they were at peace with them selves). It doesn't really matter anyway. I guess i'm just sad cause it makes it look weak.

That said, everything else you mentioned totally makes sense. Not being in tune with the spiritual side of bending stops them from being as amazing as they could be, and not syncing it with martial arts brings down its lethality. I always thought Toph was as good and innovative as she was because she learn't to earth bend from the original earth benders.

I guess when it comes down to it, the benders may know how to move the elements, but the chi blockers are straight up more skilled in the art of giving a beat down, so their talents compensate big time.

Ya, the lightning bending kinda bugged me too. But I thought about it and figured it was one of those things that, while initially was hard, became easier to do. Like technology. A modern day calculator has the same if not more processing power then the first computer, which took up an entire room.

Though it's still not exactly how I would have imaged it to be used.

In ancient China there were many forms of kung fu and means of self defense. As with any old civilization, law enforcement most likely wasn't a concern and forced people to learn to fight for themselves. The Chinese developed elaborate martial arts styles to help defend against attackers (Choy Li Fut, Hung Ga, Houquan, -and my favorite- Shaolin Quan). I feel that because of the power shift in the Avatar world, many people acclimated to a peaceful way of life and left the need for advanced bending behind. The guy that was qi blocked was some Triad mob boss, so obviously he's going to know a little bit more about firebending (Shaolin Quan) than most (i.e. he can lightning bend). I do Shaolin kung fu and western boxing/Muay Thai and noticed they've incorporated both into the series. It's actually pretty cool that they've brought in boxing, which is a more modern fighting style in itself.

i love all of you.

im so glad to know the fj community loves avatar as much as i do.
none of my friends really watch it. so i can finally have some deep seated debates with people:D

It's kind of like us they've become too dependent on technology so they don't care about bending

i had the same thought but i thought that maybe because the in a more modern time the got better at it like evolution or something

It's to do with knowledge rather than a testament of skill. Once Toph started a metalbending academy loads of people were able to do it. A large amount of skill is involved in discovering the refined form of bending, but once it's known it's considerably easier to teach.

There will probably be new abilities, don't worry.

and what was used for bad is used for good (electricity)

well the lion turtle said that energy bending existed before the time the avatar existed. so i don't think its reserved just for them

Nice.
But amon is only 1 hump away from anon.