That trope of "The villain acted preemptively to prevent a prophecy of their demise but only ended up fulfilling the prophecy by doing that" could be it's whole own video damn lmao
@@britishjack9931 Not sure, I binged a playlist of all of these so I wouldn't be surprised if they did have a trope talk vid on it but also I've seen so many now over the years I wouldn't know for sure.
I love how the managed to successfuly have their cake and eat it with that dialogue, it's both funny and solemn at the same time. Tigress clearly understands how blindingly obvious this revelation was, but she also acknowledges that it somehow wasn't obvious to Po and she chooses to respect the pain he's going through.
And it's even funnier that Po never thought it was strange his adoptive dad is a goose. Like it was natural. In any other story with any other set of characters, the adoptee would have answered the revelation from the adoptive with an, "Yeah, I know. It's kinda obvious." But no, not with Po.
I actually do love how the trope videos are like “this is a very interesting trope that happens often in media, this is how it tends to play out, and this is what we can get from it…. AND THIS IS HOW AVATAR MASTERFULLY DID IT!”
@@mikemudrowwatch they do an April fools joke that takes the piss out of themselves. Blue: here’s the domiest architecture in Venice. Red: and here’s the OSP trope of how I always talk about ATLA in trope talks. Something like that
Tigger, weirdly enough, is also a good example of “last of their kind”. There’s literally a whole movie about his desire to find things like him, and he fabricates what other tiggers might be like as a means of coping. Going so far as to leave his friends behind and go looking for his family DURING A BLIZZARD. But in the end it’s his friends that find him, bring him home, and make him realize that even though he’s “the only one”, that it doesn’t mean he’s without a family.
I love how Knuckles the Echidna has remained as a last of his kind for 30 years and they can't add any other echidnas due to legal reasons so he's stuck that way even if they didn't want to
I mean, they absolutely could, they just can't be any of the ones from the Archie comics or resemble them too closely (the latter is what happened with Chronicles). We're getting new echidnas in the Paramount canon and it doesn't seem like Penders can do anything about it.
@@splitjawjanitor5369 His echidnas were an isolationist high-tech civilization, while the echidnas shown in the actual games looked like Pre-Colonialism Mesoamericans. So long as nobody does Furry Wakanda echidnas he can’t sue them.
Killing Ozai would stop the war, but taking his power, forcing him to watch as everything he spent his life building is torn down and replaced by people he thought inferior to himself, that is true victory
Honestly, I don't know how much that's a valid defense, since Air Nomads seem to be pretty okay with murder. Just ask Monk Kyatso and his huge pile of Fire Nation soldier corpses. But I agree that's a very interesting conflict, and I like the angle that killing Ozai would have validated his "might makes right" philosophy ... it's just that the resultion doesn't feel earned. It was a Lion-turtle Ex Machina that gave Aang a solution whose risk were only vaguely explained AS it was being implemented.
Except Aang is a child. You teach child simple lessons as a framework to more nuance. Gaiatzo clearly killed firebenders in a last stand. Yangchen would have killed Ozai. Push the war back by 30 years and an Older Aang would have had no problem killing Ozai. Not because pacifism is wrong, but because pacifism cannot be your only option.
Superman being the "Last Son of Krypton" is still true because of the justification that he's technically the last Kryptonian male born on the planet before it exploded. Hence "Last Son of Krypton" not "Last Kryptonian". Anyone born after him, including his son, can never erase him being the last son.
I personally really like the more modern interpretation of the "Last son" part being that he was the last baby born on Krypton but also the first natural born baby in SEVERAL CENTURIES on Krypton
@@Tfbravemaybe that would get adapted in to new versions but IIRC only Snyder's MoS portrays Krypton with the genetic engineering and basically no natural births. The main comic universe and other comic universes portray Krypton as more eccentric but never went to the level of eugenics.
@por-pol I think the idea came from a "what if" comic where Superman landed on earth in a incubator (ironically, since the modern depiction is that Kal-El was the one not born in a incubator) where it wasn't even the focus of the comic, but a handwave to explain him becoming the president of the USA (he was technically "born in the USA" that way).
8:45 not to mention Po not being the last panda doesn't take away his mother ACTUALLY DYING AND SACRIFICING HERSELF RIGHT BEFORE HIS EYES. Like, the trauma is not all of a sudden invalidated
The point red makes about previous air avatars having the freedom to loose their air bender culture because there were others of their kind to preserve it while Aang can't is something i never got before and the realization makes his actions emotionally hit harder
That goes at the window when you realised that Aang has killed at least docens of people in the whole show, by drowning them or dropping them off a mountain
@@felipemontero1087I mean i guess you can also tie it back to the pure of heart video where the intent matter more than the result. There’s no guaranteed that the firebenders were dead and the Northern water tribe was partly the ocean spirit doing. Pacifism lies more in the choice than the actual result, the core here is obviously not willingly knowingly taking a life since I don’t think even the most devoted pacifists can confidently say that they have never harmed anyone period.
@@pancakeandwaffle4849 Aang has said on multiple times that he hasn´t killed anyone. And the Air Temple was several kilometers or miles above ground, bare minimun one or 10 died. Cool motive, still murder
@@felipemontero1087 its a damn cartoon with magic powers, if the show says aang didn't kill anyone and that a part of the theme then he *didn't kill anyone* Sure laughing at cartoon logic is funny bc they should have died. But you don't argue in circles about how the looney toons coyote should be dead after the 20th fall off a canyon do you? No bc we understand that in that universe it doesnt kill him, the same way batman somehow doesn't kill his villains with cte after decades of beating them into the ground on TV. This argument is pedantic
Popular theory is that he sucked all the oxygen out of the room, killing all the invaders along with himself. Unwilling to live with breaking his no kill rule even if he decided it was neccesary.
@@seasnaill2589eh I don't like that as much because that suggests both murdering people *and* suicide whilst knowing it would be fruitless. Him killing himself to remove a dozen soldiers isn't going to protect his people.
@@LadyJuse I don't think he would have cared too much, it might play into it a bit however the bigger issue is definitely the fact that his father figure died.
I love the fact that whenever someone talks about Kung Fu Panda, there is a moment of realization, either from the person themself or the one listening, that this trilogy was surprisingly deep.
The movies on their own, and as a trilogy, all explore different facets of the same theme: Self Acceptance, or to maybe to be more specific "You are good enough." You, as you are, are enough. Could there be some improvements? Yes, of course, but that's everyone. The Golden scroll is the obvious one, Shen is "someone is better than you" personified to the point he practices dialogue. Kai tries to take from everyone else for the same reason, he doesn't think he's enough. Po rebukes them each in their own way, through accepting a part of himself being the key to Immense power in Kung Fu world, and every movie leaves Po in basically the same place character wise, but still better off for it.
@@CillranchelloAdds a lot to one of the last exchanges between Po and Tai Lung. Tai Lung: You’re just a big, stupid panda! Po: I’m THE big, fat panda. Goes from feeling inadequate and insecure about his body because he can’t do the same things as his heroes to taking pride in it because he discovers he can do things that they can’t.
Red going on this huge Kung Fu Panda writing digest only to then reveal that was all entirely off the cuff was the most painfully relatable thing in the whole video and I appreciate her so much for it omg.
She brings me so much happiness, because her brain processes stories like mine does. She experiences the joy of that analysis like I do. To share the theme of this video, Red, and the comments on OSP's content helps me feel like I'm not the last/only one of my kind.
I am 43 seconds into the video and the "mysterious artwork unlike any seen on earth" absolutely broke me. After all those years, this is still one of my favorite OSP jokes.
This & the joke in the very very first episodes Red made of saying Brian Blessed's name have fundamentally changed the way I talk; I can't say them & not imitate the way Red says them...
As poignant, as Avatar was for this I wish she had spent some more time with King from The Owl House, he was a little kid, he believed he was some reincarnated demon king thanks to mixed up memories, but found evidence there were other demons of his species out there; and when he finds what he thinks are his people what he has found are actually a tribe of genocidal bigots who dress up like the very people they kill to fool them and as part of their own demented culture; they had mistaken him as they hadn't seen one of his kind in a generation or two, for one of them in costume, and immediately upon discovering (thanks to an elder remembering his victims) turned on him and tried to kill him. Which revelations later in the show, namely in season 3 (the specials), we realize that all the bones and skulls we see in the "trophy room" of the people who killed his people are ALL children like him. His people the titans are too powerful as adults to be killed by this tribe, requiring the aid of reality warping god like cosmic beings, but the tribe was able to hunt down and murder all the slowly growing children of his species.
I think one of the best thing about Doctor Who’s ‘last of their kind’ is the Doctor’s GUILT He is personally responsible for being the last of his kind and that weighs heavily on his soul He never forgives himself, even though he did it to save all of reality from the Time War, he still never forgives himself He counted every single child he killed on Gallifrey and never forgot that number
It's especially harrowing since the Doctor _had_ to destroy his race. The Time Lords were corrupted by the Time War, becoming as cruel and genocidal as the Daleks. The horrors of the Time War, the Skaro Degradations, the Nightmare Child, the Could've Been King and his army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres, there was _only_ one way to get rid of it all. The Doctor _had_ to get rid of the Time Lords, because of how dangerous they became. That means the Doctor had a unique internal conflict. He wants to continue adventuring, so he can keep the legacy and his more pleasant memories of the Time Lords alive. However, he also feels a sort of collective guilt from his people's actions. What if the universe was better off without him?
@@Silverwind87 It was a bigger kick in the teeth after the 9th Doctor found out the Daleks survived. From his perspective, the Time War turned into a cosmic scale pissing contest between the Time Lords AND Daleks over who could undo all of existence 1st, so he had to do what he did to wipe both sides out, and the Daleks came back anyway! Hell, once Davros came back, he picked up where he left off in the war: destroy the universe and all parallel universes! Which made the Tenth Doctor's slowness to react to everything Davros said and did not make sense, but that's another thing.
Glad to see someone mentioning this in the comments. I was scrolling down, looking for this being brought up, but mainly saw talk about Avatar and Kung-Fu Panda, and rightfully so. To quote 9, the Doctor didn't just become the last of the Time Lords, instead "I watched it happen. I made it happen!" Being the last Timelord wasn't just something that happened to him, it was a choice HE made, which doesn't just make his position at last even more daunting, but along with his general ethic of never carrying a gun, of ALWAYS finding another way.... there are so many reasons why the 9th and 10th Doctors were so weary and scarred by what they did. The man committed genocide on two species at the same time, because the alternative was so much worse, and now he is out there in his blue box trying to do as much good as he can, knowing he can never make up for that decision.
"Characters don't need to be completely unique from all characters ever, they just need to be distinct from each other within their story" is the kind of god tier eye opener I come to this channel for
"You know, the problem with being the last of anything? Bye and bye there'll be none left at all." -Captain Hector Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Interestingly enough, Captain America in the MCU actually loosely follows along this trope weird as it sounds. He gets preserved in ice and becomes a relic of a time gone by. Similar but different to everyone by virtue of the skip in time. Eventually he finally runs into ‘one of his kind’ in Bucky and tries his hardest to keep that connection, despite how that affects everything around him. And his story culminates in him finding ‘his kind’ once again after time travelling back, and he decides to stay with them. It’s honestly wild to think about how ‘last of their kind’ doesn’t have a hard limiting factor on what constitutes ‘their kind’.
@@Here_is_WaldoBucky is in this odd middleground where he had to relearn those memories of that time though, and with them came all the other times he was brought out of the ice over the years between for his missions. He's had this staggered growth rate where he's had the chance to adjust that Steve didn't, but it came at the cost of who he once was. In a way, I wonder if he feels even more alone because on some level he can't even relate to Steve anymore.
This gave me a whole new perspective on Season 3 of A:TLA. Aang spends a lot of specifically season 3 giving up pieces of his culture (burning his glider, covering up his tattoo, growing his hair), which shows that he understands that there comes a time to sacrifice to do what needs to be done. His pacifism is quite literally the *last thing* from his culture that he has not had to compromise on in some way, which is (part of) why he clings on to it so hard
Huh. I never thought of it that way. Makes sense though when I think about it. And also when you think about it in the end he manages to keep his pacifism. Instead of killing Ozai, he takes away his bending. He managed to be a bridge between cultures by keeping his pacifism.
I think it’s more due to cowardice, understandable cowardice but still cowardice. Aang was even told by yangchen the right decision is to kill ozai. Aang just got lucky a lion turtle magically showed up
I think if he killed Ozai he would have lost the balance of the world because the air nomads would no lomger be in it. It would be a blow that kills it in his mind before tenzen can even be born.
One of the things I appreciate (not like) about Korra is how Aang was basically set up to fail as a father. This man has to be the supreme diplomat for the world, the ambassador to the spirit realm all while dealing with the fact that once he inevitably dies the living memory of his entire culture dies with him. Between all of that you can't really blame him for not being the best dad to Bumi and it's not like Tenzin had it any easier since he inherited the burden of an almost extinct culture that he wasn't even a part of solely because of his inherited abilities. Aang carried the weight of an entire culture and then passed it down to his son without ever really giving him a choice in the matter in a way very similar to his own inability to change his status as the Avatar. It's all so real and tragic and I HATE IT I WANT MY BOY TO NOT BE A SHITTY DAD
Yeah totally agree, also in air nomad culture there are no parents, children are taken from their mothers at birth and raised in temples on the opposite side of the world. How on earth could Aang adapt to the nuclear family style of childrearing, while being the avatar, and preserving his whole culture with no reference points for fathering?
That’s probaby the realest aspect or Korra in the part of character development. Toph also failed as a parent because she gave her daughter complete freedom but no responsability, the opposite of her, specifically when Toph had two daughters from two different men. And the only one who has a good parent was Zuko, before he had his uncle as the best father figure and his mother who was the best, and had the example of Ozai of how NOT to be a father, he had all the pieces
This is one of the few pluses I can give to LoK: they posthumously gave Aang _more_ flaws. Aang wasn't perfect. Aang showed favoritism among his kids for obvious reasons. He was human.
And I headcanon that he definitely was all "Okay, Tenzin, we're going on a serious Spiritually Important Air Nomad Culture trip..." *Twenty minutes later* "Oooh, airball game!" It's not that he meant to leave the other kids out, but Aang's definitely easily distracted.
God, i never realized that Aamg's no kill rule wasnt just a personal creed, but one of the last connections to his culture. That show is damn near perfect
gives me a new appreciation and respect for his insistence on pacifism. especially since the remaining air nomads killed fire benders before dyingy. hes the last airbender, so he has a responsibility to uphold all of their philosophies.
Ah so that explains the badly written and insanely stupid double deus ex machina that the writers went with to make Aang avoid killing Ozai! Oh wait no it doesn't lol. Seriously, why even have this conflict if they weren't going to come to such a dumbass conclusion.
Luke Skywalker is the greatest example of the "Last of his kind" trope. This amazing quote of Obi-Wan in "Heir to the Empire" perfectly summarizes Luke's role in the Star Wars lore: "You're not the last of the old Jedi, Luke. You're the first of the new..."
With as many problems that The Last Jedi had, I did like the ending with that kid using the Force. It showed a new generation of Jedi on the horizon, a dim light of hope that would one day become as bright as the sun.
Yeah Anakin basically Ragnarok the force structure and Luke had to rebuild a system that doesn't form a threat something as powerful and preisist as the sith. Granted both pre and post disney kinda forgets that
@@Silverwind87 Honestly, that's one of the things I really liked about The Last Jedi. It's like what they did in Legend of Korra: Aang's attempt to rebuild the Air Nomads is fragile, and the worst case scenario could easily come to pass again if malicious forces got their way, as the Airbenders are still so few in number. The Last Jedi reveals that, despite Luke's efforts to rebuild the Jedi, the worst-case scenario DID happen: he was left, once again, as the Last Jedi. He failed, and his arc in the movie is recognizing that he doesn't have to be remembered by his failures: he can be the symbol the galaxy needs, one of hope, because the Jedi are not dead so long as other Force users exist out there. It's another reason why the Rise of Skywalker is so frustrating: Luke's sacrifice ultimately had no impact on the future story.
@@thirdcoinedge Luke's Jedi Order should have worked and succesfully replaced the old one, like its Legends version did. Luke's primary goal being completely ruined off-screen is one of the many reason the sequels killed the ot
I’d love to see talk of the trope or sub trope of this, “The one of a kind/first of their kind.” The characters who literally can’t have anyone else like them, like Vision from Avengers who was created essentially by luck, or Rocket Racoon who even though he had “siblings,” is still incredibly unique in that there is no other creature exactly like him.
“For some series, continuity is the true enemy.” 😂 What a delightful way to point out that a show still can have value even with major continuity problems. 😊
Maybe technically 4 even? In prime 3 all the hunters she knows get corrupted and had to be taken down by her own hand. Imagine a soldier having to finish his own squad. Oof.
one interesting variation of this trope is "the last of their kind - plural" where there are still several of these people from the get go, but with an understanding that after them, there wont be any new ones, that they are the last, dwindling with every loss until none remain. Examples that come to mind are the Witchers and the Tanith first and only
I wonder how WALL-E fits in with this trope, since at the beginning, he is basically alone. He is not just the last of his kind; he is the last of ANY kind (except for the cockroach, who seems more like a pet than a fellow conscious being since it can't talk.)
It's good way of showcasing how the "apocalypse" and "last of their kind" tropes overlap to form the "last person on Earth" trope! Generally, apocalypse stories need to avoid somebody being literally the ONLY person on Earth, for much the same reasons that "last of their kind" characters keep suddenly running into others of their kind, but in both cases the pathos of that one character's isolation is incredibly strong and meaningful. Wall-E meets another robot at the very start of the movie, and quickly finds out that humans have actually survived in the spaceship she comes from, but what makes him so gosh-dang lovable as a character is that before all this happened, it's very clear that he was just this silent caretaker of a 100% dead civilization that he loves and misses dearly and wishes he could have been a part of.
I also really like how Aang having to find a different way to end the war ties into practically the first lesson he was taught as avatar in the show from Bumi. He had to look at things from a different perspective, and find a different way to accomplish his goal. His journey into becoming the avatar really did come full circle.
You could tell that this was where the story was trying to end, but unfortunately they had to pull it out of their ass Du Ex Machina style. Why could Aang have just restrained Ozai and then he was sentenced to death by the resistance?
@@carolyn8740 I suppose they wouldn’t want to martyr him in any way, though I do agree they could’ve set up the solution better in terms of practicalities, even though the themes I think were there.
In the same vein, I like the “part of a dying breed” thing some of these characters fit into. Witchers, for example. A once thriving community that has dwindled down to almost nothing. Despite their creation being based in horrific experiences, you can’t help but feel a little bit of sadness when Geralt finds examples of the culture that have been lost to time.
The tragedy of The Last Unicorn is that she starts out with complete conviction that she's not the last/only unicorn left, but everyone else around her believes she is. By the end, everyone believes she isn't (and technically they're right), but she knows she is the only unicorn to ever know regret. Also, thank you for calling out the embodiment of beauty that is the movie's soundtrack.
Came down to see if anybody else had pointed this out; the title is much more layered as the story goes on. She's perceived as the last because people have forgotten magic and wonder, she's the last unicorn that Haggard needs to capture before he has them all, she's the last unicorn to leave because she stays with Lir and, as you said, when she's finally not the last free unicorn, she's the only one to know regret. It fits the tone of the story so well.
21:49 and also it’s way more devastating to the Fire Nation’s ideology if people get to see Ozai alive yet so thoroughly humbled, broken, and being called “the Loser Lord!” by Sokka after losing his fire bending.
Ya know its rather funny that Sokka is more powerful than ozai by the end because Ozai has been entirely relying on and believing purely in his firebending. Its one thing to lose firebending, its another thing to have someone who only does firebending to lose it. Ozai's not even tactically smart, he just surrounds himself with firepower.
It also shows the difference between Zuko and Ozai one last time. If Zuko lost his bending, he'd draw some swords and keep fighting. Ozai, meanwhile, has built his whole identity on his strength as a firebender and crumples the instant it's gone.
Aang is one of the rare cases where his adamant refusal to kill makes sense. He can't give up what little is left of his culture. (We don't talk about the wasp thing or the many Fire Nation soldiers who got buried by an avalanche or thrown off the mountain in the Northern Air Temple. That was like all the helicopters Kiryu shoots down throughout his career.)
While understandable, it's still deeply selfish. He put several lives at risk You should read the Avatar Novels by the way- Two for Kyoshi, Two for Yangchen. Yangchen specifically faces a very similar problem to Aang. Her decision however actually has dire consequences.
@@benapeh854Tbh I prefer vengeful characters over pacifists. Less "noo I can't kill the main villain, I'd be just as bad as him" whining and more "I want my father back, you son of a bitch" *stab*
@@akechijubeimitsuhideWell, if pacifist charachters can become wimpy "do nothing and cry"-types, just as easily vengfull charachters can become edgy "kill 'em all and let god sort them out"-types. Both are very liable to falling to these traps.
There is a fundamental difference between killing someone in a duel and an action like causing an avalanche though. It goes back to the reason why artillery and now drone warfare is so effective. Putting distance, both literally and emotionally, between the one pulling the trigger and the target is the most effective way to increase lethality in war. It's a plot hole, but it makes sense why Aang would process that differently from his fight with Ozai
It must have been a profound emotional moment for Aang the day he realized one of his children was an airbender. For the first time since he was a child, he was no longer alone. While we never saw that in the show, we can see a glimpse of it in Tenzin once he realized that Harmonic Convergence had brought a new group of airbenders into existence, and suddenly he and his children were no longer the only ones.
You can also see some of how he was probably raised by Aang. You can see how high strung and exacting he is as he sees himself as inheriting the role of last custodian of the Air Nomads from his father. We aren't shown in what manner Aang raised his kids, but you can see that, intentionally or otherwise, he imprinted on Tenzin how important keeping the Air Nomads alive was to him.
@@nevets2371 Also, Tenzin has definitely experienced personally what it's like to be the last airbender, since at least a few years passed between Aang's death and Jinora's birth. And yes, I'm quite sure Tenzin would never have gotten away with the sort of antics Bumi did, because he had so much responsibility on his shoulders.
@@nevets2371 I think there was an episode of Kora's 2nd season where Tenzin, Bumi, and Kaya (I think) bicker over who was which parent's favorite and how they were raised differently based on who could bend what (water, air, or nothing).
@@louisduarte8763 Yes, it was clearly shown that Aang put a lot of pressure on his Air bending som, and implied that he may have treated him better/shown more love to him. It was a major divide between the siblings.
I…LOVE…how they handled the Master. He knows how much the Doctor wants to not be alone. And he uses it to win. So devastatingly, so entirely, that even though the Doctor beat him, he still lost. I LOVE it.
And further on in the show, when the Doctors all come together and save Gallifrey he STILL can’t be with his people, the Doctor will always be ‘The Lonely God’
This was basically a slide show of some of my favorite characters. Odo, Data, Aang, The Doctor, The Last Unicorn even - I must REALLY have a thing for this trope. Final note - it's very interesting seeing how being 'The Last of His Kind' trope even effected Aang and other characters post The Last Air Bendir. If you look at the Ledgend of Korra and how Tenzin and his siblings are, how (in one of the more controvertial aspects of the show) Aang ended up somewhat neglecting his other kids, because Tenzin was the airbender. I find that really facinating. And especialy interesting when you consider the rest of the mythology.
I do like how they used this trope in The Last Unicorn. As you put it, she never believed that she was the last, but everyone else that met her thought she was. And by the end, when all the others are released into the world, she does become the only unicorn ever who regrets due to being a human for so long. She knows love and heartbreak, but her biggest thing was her regret of leaving her love behind, but the biggest thing she still remembers is that love and regret when she thought that she would forget it. But in the end, she goes to join her world anyway. So she goes from being “the last” to being “the only”.
It has been a VERY long time since I read the book; but I think the themes in that focused a lot more on the Unicorn's status as an immortal than her "last-ness." And I do think there's some elements of "last" even in the film, because HUMANS think there are no unicorns, and they so badly want there to be just one more left. The poignancy there being that, if you equate Unicorns with Innocence... Yeah, I'd really like for the world to still have unicorns. (As a note, I adore the movie and have large chunks of it memorized, and NONE of the book memorized, so.)
@@pn2294 I think so. She wasn't the last in existence, just the last free unicorn. And in a way she remains the last (in the same way she's the first, this the only) unicorn to have experienced mortality and human emotions. Even with the freeing of the other unicorns, she still remains singular. She didn't believe she was the last, but not unquestionably so because otherwise she wouldn't have gone looking for the others. She had at least a sliver of doubt or concern, and so sought to find out one way or the other. And in the end, she actually became the first/last/only unicorn to have the experiences that forever changed her and made her separate. She kinda ends up a bit like Po in Kung Fu Panda 3, among her kind but still different.
"For some stories, the only enemy is continuity." Oof, that's good. Also, damn Red is concise off script! I'd never guessed the whole bit about Kung Fu Panda hadn't been scripted!
Thank you! The final battle between Aang and Ozai is about more than just "kill Ozai or else he could do something bad in the future." It's a fundamental conflict between Airbender and Fire Nation ideologies represented in the unfortunate Aang. As we saw in the school episode and in Zuko's confrontation with Ozai, the Fire Nation justified the war to their people by claiming that it was their way of sharing their greatness with the world. They justified wiping out the Air Nomads by creating a narrative where the Air Nomads had an army and were a threat. By choosing to spare Ozai (and take away his bending) Aang claimed the moral high ground over him and the Fire Nation by showing that their route of violence and conquest was wrong. Furthermore, Iroh didn't want to fight Ozai because he was afraid that history would view it as another senseless act of violence. Sparing Ozai countered the possible narrative of the blood-thirsty Avatar seizing control of the Fire Nation and resolutely showed that the world was entering a new era of "peace and love." And yeah, there's always the possibility that rebels could free Ozai and that he could take power again, but there were always going to be zealous followers of Ozai, whether or not he remained alive. Aang's act of mercy was a show of strength, not the lack of it; it was a victory over the Fire Nation, not a failure to defeat it. Or at least, that's how I've come to view it after watching the show a hundred times. I'm glad that someone else sees it the same way.
Except that without the appearance of Deus Ex Turtle, Aang would've lacked the tools to pacify Ozai without killing him. If Aang had spend several episodes, or better yet at least half a season, searching for a method of preserving his beliefs while also stopping Ozai, and thus managed the victory by figuring this out, it would've worked as a proper resolution of the conflict in Aang's favor. However, he required not one, but two deus ex machinas for his philosophy to win out, where otherwise his dedication to his philosophy would've spelled his doom and that of the world, and thus prove his philosophy as incorrect. These two deus ex machinas are the lion turtle and the "Karate-Chop Action!" button on Aang's back (the scar Azula left when she struck him with lightning). The lion turtle gave Aang the ability to take away bending, a special ability not mentioned throughout the entire series until the point it was needed, nor did we know lion turtles or their magical abilities existed until the same point, and apparently it took no effort to gift Aang this ability. Meanwhile, to even get to the point where Aang could reasonably restrain Ozai to use this newfound ability, he had to be conveniently knocked into a rock spike that hit his scar, which also conveniently activated his Avatar State, the super power taken away in the previous season to grant additional weight to the conflict and force Aang to learn to become a better fighter rather than relying on the Avatar State, which was deliberately over-powered. Neither of these convenient events play any part in the conflict of Aang's and Ozai's philosophies, and in their absence, show Aang's way of thinking to be woefully incompatible with his duty as the Avatar and the world's protector. In addition, it robbed the story of what would be an epic comeuppance for Ozai, and great dramatic irony. Ozai would've been defeated by his own lightning (as in, he played a part in destroying himself, which could be seen as another way to demonstrate his violent philosophy as ultimately self-destructive), via a technique that Iroh invented (whose ways he despised, believing Iroh to be soft and weak when we know he is anything but), taught to Aang by Zuko, his own son that he also hated for his "soft" beliefs and thus discarded as unworthy (which would also be Ozai's own fault -- if he were a better father to Zuko, then Zuko would've never betrayed him). And, finally, such a defeat would've relied on talent and smarts over a deus ex machina, with Aang outsmarting his opponent with the help of his friends, rather than relying on a strange mythical creature and convenience to do the work for him. In this alternative end, Iroh demonstrates his superiority over Ozai through a technique that uses bending and flow rather than brute force, opposing Ozai's philosophy; allowing Zuko to take indirect revenge on the father that ruined his family and his childhood, and contribute to helping fix what his father did to the world at large; demonstrating that you don't need to be a demigod to beat the bad guy, or to preserve balance in the world; show that with the help of friends, you can defeat the man who stands alone, even if your friends are not there beside you; and that Ozai ultimately defeated himself, all of his mistakes and crimes coming back to bite him in the ass when he least expected it.
“There were always going to be zealous followers of Ozai, whether he was alive or not.” This. They would have made him a martyr if Aang had killed him. And set up someone else to take the throne. Maybe not Azula, but a cousin or even a figurehead to be Fire Lord.
@@animeotaku307 So plot convenience had additional plot convenience. If the actual show had this as a plot point, where it was made clear that killing Ozai wouldn't have stopped the war, and then have Aang point to this issue and then pursue a solution to it, like I said, then it would've worked better. But the show didn't point this out. And Aang did not make special effort to find an alternative solution. The solution was given to him. Plus, I'm pretty sure that in a world where news travels by letter and word-of-mouth, true zealots would not take their enemy's word that Ozai was rendered powerless, and instead believe he was defeated and taken prisoner. What stopped the war from continuing was Zuko + Katara defeating Azula, removing Ozai's successor from the throne and opening up the way for Zuko to lay a legitimate claim.
@@zephyrlyall8287 You raise some interesting points, and some other arguments that I've heard before. To be honest, I don't really see a version of the final battle where Aang didn't get into the Avatar state. From a writing perspective, it would have been a letdown if Aang didn't get to go all out in the final battle. I suppose it could be considered a deus ex machina that he unlocked it just in time, but from a writing perspective, it makes no less sense than having his chakras locked by his death to the point where Aang couldn't figure out how to go into the Avatar state all season. Maybe the writers could have spent some more time having Aang unlock his chakras, but that would have taken screen time away from the final battle, and since the crew reportedly paid for the final battle's animation out of their own pockets, every second mattered. So while it might have been nice for the Avatar state to have been given a bit more time during the "unlocking by rock spike" scene, we didn't really need to see it for the final battle to be awesome. The rock spike saved time. I also really like how it quickly changes the pace of the battle by having Aang grab Ozai's goatee. Some of that surprise and tension would have been lost if they took more time. As for the "take revenge by killing Ozai" argument, I've seen the reasoning others have proposed a dozen times, but I can't help but feel that it's out of character for Aang to take revenge. Just a few episodes ago, he had been encouraging Katara to forgive the terrible wrongs done to her. And before that, Aang forgave Zuko despite all that they'd been through. Furthermore, while Ozai was a terrible person, he also wasn't responsible for killing the Air Nomads. That was Fire Lord Sozin. Except for "he's kept the war going and hurt my friends," Aang doesn't have any reason to want to kill Ozai. It wouldn't have been revenge to kill him, and it wouldn't have brought Aang any closure (or arguably Zuko, since the secret of his mother would have died with Ozai). Killing Ozai might have brought a temporary sense of catharsis to the audience, but under closer scrutiny, it would have undermined the show's themes of redemption and forgiveness. Furthermore, as Red pointed out, killing Ozai would have represented the final death of Air Nomad culture and the final victory of Fire Lord Sozin. Did Aang deserve vengeance from someone? Yes. But to take it would have been out of character for him. However, I understand and agree that the lion turtle was a deus ex machina, and while it would have been cool to see more build-up for the spirit-bending technique, I also recognize that the strength of deus ex machinas is their unexpectedness. There is a certain air of wonder and mystery during the scene where Aang is spirit-bending. Is it perfect? No, not at all. Yet, I maintain that sparing Ozai makes more sense for the show than killing him. Aang could spare him either through spirit-bending or trapping all his limbs in rock until he can be put in prison (like Aang did right before he didn't kill Ozai with the four-elements strike). Regardless, he manages to defeat Ozai, stop the Fire Nation, end the war, and keep his connection to Air Nomad teachings alive. Regardless, people will have their own opinions of what "should" have happened, and that is fine. This is just how I feel about it.
I approve of how much thought is going on here. Personally (and feel free to disagree with me, but hear me out), I feel like most of the critique on the finale is born out of the desire to see a decisive, well earned victory for Aang, which includes Ozai being defeated. That means that for a lot of people, Aang's forgiveness seems out of place: it's the BBEG, why does he not have to pay for his sins? It's very much a modern trend, there is a lot of demand for justice on social media. That combined with the fact that Aangs solution ends up being very convenient feels to some like a cop-out of giving a real consequence to Ozai for his deeds, conveniently forgetting that taking away someone's bending powers is equal to taking away one the 5 senses.
Gotta also say- as someone who grew up usually being the only Black kid in a bunch of different spaces while being neurodivergent, Po’s story hits really hard when you look at the lens through race and culture as well.
@@kaitlnwhite6809 I keep reading that neurodivergence is often related to trauma, and as a result that there are a TON of undiagnosed black and brown people who don’t get diagnosed and don’t get support. I think about those people a lot. I hope you, personally, are doing okay…. And, yup, I just started crying again. I just want everyone to be okay ❤️
I think a good example of this trope is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Last Ronin. It’s about the Ronin, the last Ninja Turtle (won’t spoil who) and the last of the Himato clan. The story is about him wanting to avenge his family and return honor to his clan. We also get to see Ronin struggle with his trauma as he hallucinates his brothers.
@@madambutterfly1997 not the non existent film On Rotten Tomatoes, The Last Airbender holds an approval rating of 5%, based on 192 reviews with an average rating of 3/10, making it the lowest-rated film produced by Nickelodeon Movies, as well as Shyamalan's worst-reviewed film to date.[88] The site's critical consensus reads, "The Last Airbender squanders its popular source material with incomprehensible plotting, horrible acting, and detached joyless direction."[89]
not the non existent film On Rotten Tomatoes, The Last Airbender holds an approval rating of 5%, based on 192 reviews with an average rating of 3/10, making it the lowest-rated film produced by Nickelodeon Movies, as well as Shyamalan's worst-reviewed film to date.[88] The site's critical consensus reads, "The Last Airbender squanders its popular source material with incomprehensible plotting, horrible acting, and detached joyless direction."[89]
I feel like this trope could work very well with the Lonely Immortal trope, the individual Immortal doesn't even have to be the last of their species for it to work either, sure they look around and see people if the same species as them but everything has changed. Their home, their family and friends and everything they knew likely faded into memory long ago, they may not be the last of their species but they are the last of their kind.
Knuckles had a brief flash on screen but I'd like to bring up Shadow as an example of this trope. He has the blood of an extinct alien race, who are extinct because he killed all of them. He is the reason he is the last of his kind, and on purpose too.
I don't think Shadow fits the archetype. The alien bloodline is only relevant for one not-very-popular game, and not even the first game Shadow appeared in. Or the second one. And, actually, I think they be retconning the fact Shadow killed off the aliens with the new game (or rerelease with bonus levels?) that's coming out this year.
@@TheRealE.B. By that logic Knuckles being the last Echidna is only relevant for one game and it's not even the first one he's in, or the second one... or the third... or-. Besides SA1 the fact he's the last of his kind is only ever brought up sometimes and has no plot relevance outside of that one game (unless you count Sonic Chronicles, but that's not canon). Still, despite this, Knuckles showed up in the video. In Sonic Generations, Sonic and his friends are pulled out of the flow of time and Sonic relives the same events from his past, freeing his friends from being frozen in time by doing so. I can guarantee Shadow is just going to go through the same things he already has similar to Sonic. The trailer showed no indication that they're planning to retcon anything.
There is also a subsection of the Last of their Kind where they are technically the last of their kind and there are others, but those others are dwindling in number and the main Last of their Kind character is unique for being the one to go out on the adventure to try to help or the like (see- Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, sort of).
On a relative scale. The airbenders were all wiped out 100 years ago, but all the other nations are still struggling against the Fire Nation up to the moment Aang stopped Ozai. Compared to how well the other nations have held on, yeah, the airbenders were the easy part. Not that they didn't put up a fight, but their fight didn't seem to matter in practical terms
Differ ? Not really. On the grand scheme of things it didn't weight anything. And it's even pretty lame. A few dozens dead common troopers to take down a fucking master of the elements is a pretty sweet deal. In the series any bender can do twice that much damage with only basic training. And that was the end game boss of the air tribe. And he ultimately fell to random troopers. So the common air benders must have been... Well... A breeze... Hell, the ruins of the city shows so. There's no trace of the heavy weaponry, artillery and other goodies the fire army likes so much. This means they just sent troopers with light powers and weaponry in, and it was enough to kill everyone. And with only one helmet abandonned outside of the masters last stand, it seems likely they didn't lost much troops before the boss fight. Which is nothing when you're attacking a city-sized temple full of benders. Just remember the massive fight for the water capital. So yes, they really were easy to kill. From a strategic and historical point of view a last heroic, bloody fight is worthless if it doesn't even slows down the entire anhilation of your civilization.
0:39 This is what I appreciate about Dante’s world-building: he doesn’t care about originality - he’ll populate his version of hell with his contemporaries if he has to!
To tie two things you said together, Zod, The Master, and Lore are all examples not just of X but Evil but also X but Better. Zod is a Kryptonian, but a Trained Warrior rather than a Kansas Farmboy. The Master is a Time Lord, but a sadistic hardened criminal mastermind instead of a good-hearted free spirit juvenile delinquent joyriding a hotwired car that still has the parking brake on and fixing everything with a screwdriver. Lore is Data, but he actually understands people, too well even, because he can play them like a fiddle.
Two fun facts I remembered while watching this: In the original Dragon Ball series, while Goku is climbing the Red Ribbon tower to confront General White, one of the cyborgs he fights (I'd like to say the terminator reference one) scans Goku, and for a second or two you see his perspective, and Goku is categorized as an alien. Also, more of an observation, I kinda love how on top of culturally being kinda separated from the way of the Pandas, he also physically is different. He is noticeably smaller than most other pandas, and while large, he comparatively is the most physically fit since, despite having those layers of fat, he still IS the Dragon Warrior and a kung fu master with tons of muscle under that.
thank you for this wonderful Last Airbender rant. This makes me think about how Legend of Korra tackles the Air Nomads being reborn with Aang's son Tenzin, the second airbender tasked with rebuilding the Air Nomads. There was that one scene in episode 311 where he uses Airbending offensively to protect his family that struck me as... not Air Nomad-ish, as Airbending is usually characterized by evasion and deflection. So what has changed? Well, Tenzin is Aang's son, who was Toph's pupil. Aang learned as part of his Earthbending training that some problems cannot be evaded and must be dealt with directly. So it implies that the philosophy of the Air Nomads has changed by circumstance and the people who carry it on. Though it sounds harsh, Tenzin probably had the image of the emptied air temples in his mind, thinking "never again". Edit : the battle in question happened in season 3 episode 11
In my headcannon the Airbenders built their culture around peace and pacifism because air is the OP element, and they wanted to ensure anybody with such power wouldn't use it for evil.
On the one hand, thats a solid theory and its well thought out. On the other hand is an exceedingly simple reason: people are willing to break their morals when family is in danger. Oh they may hate themselves after, but to protect a loved one? Most parents would choose to fight.
@@cosmopeaches2604 Zaheer's ability with airbending seems like the fundamental proof of this idea. And he actually DID believe is many of the Air Nomad cultural ideas, just not really the one about not killing anyone.
While you make a good point we actually see several examples in ATLA of benders becoming effectively better at their element when they incorporate other elements bending techniques. Like how Katara beating the older and more classically trained Hama, where you can see her using positions Toph teaches Aang earlier. Or Iroh, who even specifically tells Zuko how some of his most powerful firebending moves like his fire breath or lightning bending are derived from air and waterbending.
I agree, the big theme in the Korra series is the blurring of distinctions between elements (the 3rd season subtitle it literally "CHANGE"). It's just interesting to see this specific example. Aang had an existential crisis at the thought of going against the pacifist teachings of the Air Nomads. Ostensibly Tenzin lives and breaths that philosophy of spirituality and detachment from the physical world, and he's a politician. Another example is when Korra airbends for the first time she's boxing. This is how the Air Nomads have changed, they are no longer detached from earthly affairs, they are not even nomads, they are acolytes. They have adapted. Maybe there's a distinction between self-defense & mastering your powers vs establishing a formal militia / martial art.
"Monsters Verses Aliens" has a villainous example of this trope. The main antagonist is the last of his kind because he literally destroyed his own planet.
I love him as an example of “I am always a little outside the group, so I occasionally have poiniant things to say.” Every single muppet movie in which Kermit has a loss of Faith, Gonzo sits with him, says something quietly, and sometimes plays music. He is THAT guy- so himself he helps others be themselves- and I LOVE him for it ❤
Same here! When Red did the section about when they find out there are others and have to choose between their biological and found family, I instantly thought of Gonzo!! Glad I'm not the only one!
@@brittanywetherill472 i when I first read the comment, knowing practically nothing about the muppets besides names I was like "THE MUPPET?????" But I guess it fits well
One of the most important lessons I ever got in creativity was that an "original idea" is usually just several other ideas connected in a novel way. _The Thing_ mixed classic monster horror with the concept of a locked room murder mystery to create a thrilling horror film where you can't even be sure the monster isn't in the current shot. Dragon Ball, among others, took chunks of the Journey to the West and recontextualized them as a science fantasy epic, connecting the core idea of simple-but-evocative protagonists facing various tests of courage and filling it with aliens, robots, spaceships, and somewhat-simpler macguffin structures. Red Faction, the first FPS to feature fully destructible terrain, looked at Worms and said "But what if it was in 3D?" Not only is this _common,_ it's also inescapable, because no matter how wild your setting is, humans still have to understand it, and that means relating it to what your audience already knows. You can call a rabbit a Smeerp all you like, but at the end of the day, you're describing a small fluffy animal with big ears, and that requires knowing what 'small', 'fluffy', 'animal', and 'ears' mean.
Want to point out that the Thing wasn't created out of whole cloth, it was a remake of a 1950s horror B-Movie called "The Thing From Another World," which itself was based on a 1930s novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell. However, I prefer John Carpenter's version where the Thing is literally a virus that can assimilate you from within with just a single cell to the novella's take where it has a "true" form (think humanoid muppet with tusks, three red eyes, and blue worm-like hair) and the characters theorize its body is made up of "living plastic" or that it's closely related to CARROTS. I found the novella a slow read as I felt the characters spent two-thirds of the story coming up with wild theories about the creature while locked in a room then actually investigating compared to the movie where it keeps the rules of the creature's biology concise and the characters and the audience slowly learns how it works as they fight it.
@@NobodyC13Exactly! One of John Carpenter's most famous films ever was arguably a "shitty" adaptation! ("Shitty" in airquotes because the "you have to exactly copy the source material" standard of the CinemaSins age is _worthless_ for making adaptations)
While the Air Nomads as a group probably didn't pose too much of a challenge to the organized Fire Nation army, I do like that good old good hearted Gyatso is surrounded by dozens of dead Fire Nation soldiers suggesting he put up one hell of a fight.
I think when most people say “hey, this reminds me of-“ they mean it as a good thing. “This brings back memories from a story that I love, and it helps me love this too.”
that's why I love it when people say that about my ocs, especially if that character was written well or has a great design. unless they call me a copycat or they hate the character my oc reminds them of, I take it as a compliment.
I think the main thing that makes it annoying is that it's just kind of a shallow comment/observation. Compare say, simply saying you think somethin looks cool, which is earnest, or asking about inspirations, which is engaging. It's just kind of Not Great to always be seen through the lens of other things.
@@VelociraptorsOfSkyrimit's a flawed instinct to begin with, though. When you design a character, you code them. The culture that inspires their clothes, their body shape, their facial features, their weapons and accessories. You can't make something that isn't like something else.
@@brookejon3695 Whether or not it's flawed is irrelevant. It's why Authors hate you saying "Oh, they're like X from Y." What you're basically saying is that they copied the character and made tweaks rather than make an original character.
One of my favourite moments involving the doctor being the last timelord is in waters of mars when he's like "I'm not the survivor of the time war, I'm the winner, the timelords had all these rules and now they're mine" basically acting like a god, and the emotional whiplash of immediately being defied. That moment of 'I'm not the guardian of this culture, I'm it's sole owner, I can do what I want with it because who's going to stop me or say I'm wrong?' followed by immediately being shown why it was the way it was, was just brilliant (this was before the return of the master by the way, so as far as everyone knew he really was the last)
My favorite example of this trope will always be pthe pre-reboot version of Archie Sonic's Knuckles the Echidna. Over the course of the original Archie Sonic comic run, Knuckles went from believing he was the last of his kind (due to his father pretending to commit suicide-by-fire in his youth) to discovering his people were still numerous and thriving. Through the ups and downs of it all, Knuckles got out of it a loving mother, a new baby brother, a soulmate, more relations than he could count, and a very complicated family tree. But, at the end of the day, Knuckles wasn't alone anymore, and he was happier for it. And then the Echidnas begin to decline. As time goes by, more and more of Knuckles' people are killed or lost. Their cities are razed, their monuments torn down, their people herded into camps or sent to the slaughter. In the end, the Echidnas number not even a _fraction_ of what Knuckles had found them as, but they were still there. Knuckles was not alone. And then he was. In the end, the last Echidnas are taken from him. His father, his mother, his brother, his soulmate, and all the ones who had survived the turmoils plaging them - lost to the void. Knuckles does his best to save them, desperate to bring them back.... but he fails. Knuckles goes from believing he is the last of his kind to realizing that he isn't... then knowing that he is. And he is alone again, forever.
And then the series was rebooted before finally being cancelled. It's funny, because the story gives the Echidnas so much focus that there are actually several different factions of Echidnas that are all independently quite numerous compared to most other species that appear in the story. Also, it just occurred to me that Mari-An probably escaped getting thrown into the void with the rest of the Echidnas, since she was married to an outsider and was already living in hiding elsewhere.
I know many people didn't like Legend of Korra, but I think they followed-up very well on that with Tenzin and the pressure that he feels having to live perfectly according to Air Nomad culture. It reaches the point where he over performs his culture and forgets his own personality and resents his siblings who don't have to live like that. He clearly changes significantly when other air benders are created as it is so much easier for him to relax because he and his kids are no longer the last ones, there are other people to carry the weight with him.
4:14 *Barbara:* "Continuity?" *Donna:* "What's continuity?" At least DC's willing to hang a lampshade on one of their most glaring issues... -occasionally.-
@@ShadeSlayer1911 Oh, no no, of course not. But "at least" means that addressing it is "literally the least thing they could do." Slightly more than "nothing," considerably less than "the bare minimum."
@@Wendy_O._Koopa I wouldn't even go that far. Lampshading doesn't even mean they're addressing it or even the bare minimum. It's just acknowledging that they're doing it. People can and do acknowledge they're doing something, even doing something wrong, and still do nothing to change their behavior whatsoever. In fact, lampshading can actually do the opposite. There are a lot of writers, especially around comics, that seem to operate under the belief that lampshading makes it okay to do the thing. Like if we wink at our bad writing and have characters mention the bad writing, it suddenly stops being bad writing. So it can actually do the opposite of doing even the bare minimum. It can be a doubling down of sorts. And the fact that comics have been doing this lampshading thing for so long now should tell you how they're not doing anything about it.
HOLY. CRAP. I have loved the Avatar show for years. I have championed it amongst friends and family. And only now, has someone pointed that out to me. Only now has someone finally put into words how powerful and perfect Aang's final conflict and its resolution are. Thank you Red. Your eye for storytelling and passion for teaching have done something for me I can only describe as "profound". Like any great magic trick, it's so obvious, yet I never saw it. I still have so much to learn about storytelling.
I feel like the concept of a 'last of their kind' character rebuilding their kind in a sense by sharing that culture with others is super interesting and pretty underutilized. Funnily enough the only example of this I can think of is in The Legend of Korra, where at the start the culture is carried on through Aang's offspring, but through events later in the show they end up sharing that culture with the wider world as well. I feel like this idea is a little harder to do when the 'kind' in question has some kinda powers, but if you write it as just a cultural thing there's a lot of room to make a good ass story out of this.
I think another reason why The Last of Their Kind often winds up finding more like them is also because that's actually a very, very common experience amongst humanity in general. As a disabled/mentally ill/autistic person, that's basically kind of our universal experience, feeling like you're alone or just weird or broken and there's literally no one else in the entire world who is like this only to discover that not only are you not alone by ANY means and there's actually hundreds of thousands of people who know EXACTLY what it's like, but that's also actually one of the defining features of being LIKE THAT. Even when it comes to something as common as grief or a break-up, it FEELS so isolating, but is, in fact, very, very common.
So much this. Being able to hear the stories of other people with ADHD, and be like "that! I know that!" was something that drastically improved my own mental health. It was incredibly fulfilling knowing there are other people out there who struggle the same way I do.
Absolutely. I'm autistic, was deeply mentally ill for a while, and recently discovered I'm non-binary. And then I met someone exactly like me. We've grown to be very good friends and that friendship is what has given me genuine hope and meaning for the first time in my life.
I was one of the first at my highschool to come out as asexual and be really open about it by my junior year and I thought I was the only one But my senior year other people who I was already friends with came out as ace too and I realized I wasn't alone and there were other people who understood and like me
11:46 I haven't watched the rest of the video yet but can I just say: This is my favorite part of the Last of Their Kind trope. Especially if they've already proven to be among the strongest in their party and suddenly their Broly equivalent slides in. Mollywhoppings go crazy haha!
Okay that is absolutely the best justification of Aang taking away Ozai’s bending I’ve ever heard! Usually people just complain that it was a deus ex machina so it was nice just to hear a positive take on it, let alone one so eloquent and thoughtful. Thanks, Red!
That analysis of Aang's journey was absolutely wonderful. It's one of the best epic stories in modern fiction, and you hit some of the aspects that makes it that. Thanks.
Toothless has some non-verbal searching for others of his kind in how to train your dragon series as once in a while episode focus. Hiccup does his best to look around for leads when available. The viewer doesn't find the answer until the third movie when the one guy who is a counterpart to hiccup has slain them all with gadgets and enslaving dragons.
Of course, you can have a true Last of their Kind be confronted with the option of staying with their real family or an acquired family. You just need a simulator like VR or a holodeck. One of the best twists on this trope I can recall is the Star Trek: TNG episode "The Inner Light". The one where Picard gets the flute. If you've seen it, then you're probably tearing up at the mere mention of it.
This was probably my favorite episode yet. During the Kung Fu Panda spiel, I was like, "Red seems much more lax today," only to find that was completely off the top. It really added an air of levity to the video, also the explanation on the last airbender's use of the trope was described perfectly.
A childhood example of this that stood out to me was The Tigger Movie. Yes, a direct-to-dvd movie in the Winnie The Pooh canon, played The Last Of Their Kind COMPLETELY straight. And it is weirdly heart rending watching Tigger briefly bellowing that he'll wait alone for his "real" family at his adoptive little brother Roo.
Thank you for explaining the reasoning behind the ending of ATLA ❤️ I feel like a lot of people misunderstand the ending and often dismiss it by saying "Well Aang should've just killed him, I would too" _You_ weren't raised an Air Nomad. You weren't raised with that pacifist culture. You weren't forced to feel the guilt and depression that Aang went through when he found out all the Air Nomads - everyone he knew and cared for - were dead. You weren't forced to carry the weight of an entire culture and godlike powers on your shoulders. Literally NO ONE can understand Aang but himself. Everyone wants him to be someone else; to be more like his past lives, Kyoshi, Roku, etc. But he is Aang, the last airbender, and his experiences and suffering are unique to him.
Honestly I do wish the Universe 6 Saiyans were more fleshed out, especially since they're confirmed to be an entirely different culture to the Universe 7 ones. There's potentially a ton of interesting character work you could make with a character who's the last of their kind and remembers their kind properly (Vegeta or the Doctor, basically), and finding through travel - multiversal or otherwise - this surviving clade that are the same species but not the same people.
Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon is a pretty good example of the bitter sweet side of "the last of their kind" A true endling whose legacy only survived as a recessive trait amongst the Light Fury population.
14:17 Oh Red if you only knew how deep the "Doctor is the last of their kind, except when they're not" rabbit hole on Doctor Who goes. Let's just say things got... interesting during Jodie Whittaker's run. lmao.
The fact that I was beginning to legitimately worry Red wasn't going to mention Avatar in a "I've talked about this show plenty already, you already know so I'm gonna just not." way. How could I lose faith like that? Amazing video as always. I've never sat down and thought about the particulars when it comes to the emotional story consequences of the Endling's people possibly coming back. Seen it plenty, but it's never clicked how much that truly changes in the dynamics of the story.
@13:30 - The Third Doctor and The Master stories are easily among the best in the classic series. You should definitely give 'em a view, if you get the opportunity.
I can't help but think of the Killer Rabbit scene in Monty Python where Tim the Enchanter is sputtering in disbelief because the knights don't believe it's dangerous. "LOOK AT THE BONES!"
that's actually one of the things i loved from Korra bringing back AirBending Air Nomads choosing pacifism wasn't for the good of them, it was to protect everyone else
One character that is the last of their kind is King Clawthorne from the Owl House. *SPOILERS AHEAD* King as the last of the Titans has no idea about anything of his people. His only potential source is the Collector, whom may not know much about their culture since he just played with the babies. At least its implied that King doesnt need to be the last of the Titans via asexual reproduction Also Owl House clip spotted 17:17
Loved the avatar commentary, I also want to comment in some ways avatar also got to the the last of their kind that gets to connect to their culture through Katara since she was the last waterbender of the Southern tribe and yearned to connect to that culture, and then was able to have a whole arc to connect to it and also have culture shock. So Avatar ended up doing 2 instances of the last of their kind in wonderfully different ways
Wanted to mention that Avatar does technically subvert it slightly but in a roundabout way. Simply Aang wishes to continue his People's legacy through his own kids, a logical idea for someone like him where what he's the last of is cultural and related to his bending. And while eventually even more Airbenders come about due to Harmonic Convergence likely trying to rebalance the benders of the world, this is long after Aang has died and the cycle has continued with Tenzin having his own kids who in turn would also have tried to carry on the legacy of the Air Nomads. In a sense, Aang went through the most extreme of this trope but caused it to become averted in the way that made the most sense.
Part of that comes from Aang being the last of his kind (culture) and the last of his kind (Airbender), but not last of his kind (species). He can make more Airbenders as easily as he can have children. An Airbender isn't a seperate species. It's just a part of his legacy. He can pass on the culture to other people, even those who were not born into that culture (as you see in the comics). But Aang doesn't lose that connection of being the last of his species that a lot of other instances of this trope have.
@@wavesofbabies figured it was simply interested how he went about it. He was the last of his kind for awhile and upheld their culture for as long as possible. Though him having kids didn't assure they'd be airbenders since Tenzin was only 1 of three and Bumi gained it from Harmonic Convergence. I think it works for him and the overall narrative for Airbending to have returned later on after his death both so he still lives as effective the last one save for his son who he put so much love and care into. Once others come back, it's due to quite literally people becoming more in tune with the spirits as there was a sudden massive spiritual event likely trying to rabalance the world
I love this trope. It is great for mystery and pathos. The last survivor of some great tragedy. It can give a lot to chew on, particularly if said survivor was at least partly responsible for such tragedy. One a related subject, I would love to see you cover the "human weapon" trope.
The twist in the Last Unicorn is that she's the last *free* unicorn. And then she saves the day. Her struggle is entirely external: finding the others. And that's on purpose because she's part of the immortals trope. The twist there is she's forced to experience mortality, therefore highlighting what it's like to be true immortal. Like she can die, but it's unlikely due to her power set. "We can be hunted and trapped, we can even be killed if we leave our forest, but we don't vanish." For heavens sake, she asks if she's truly the last and then is answered, naw fam they were chased away by the red bull, there's a king involved. Go find them! And she like kay and then does exactly that for the rest of the movie.
"I swear I've watched shows other than Avatar" don't worry Red, we know; you've also watched ReBoot!
Literally what I came here to say lol
Don't forget Leverage!
And Justice League!
She's also seen Gargoyles
Steven Universe!
That trope of "The villain acted preemptively to prevent a prophecy of their demise but only ended up fulfilling the prophecy by doing that" could be it's whole own video damn lmao
This will be one. And because it is one of the oldest tropes still used to this day (a Lot of greek Storys)
That trope's so old it's literally in the bible!
There’s even a phrase for it: “You often meet fate on the path you take to avoid it.”
I think Red already made that video
@@britishjack9931 Not sure, I binged a playlist of all of these so I wouldn't be surprised if they did have a trope talk vid on it but also I've seen so many now over the years I wouldn't know for sure.
"My dad just told me I'm adopted!"
"Your dad, the goose... that must be quite the shock."
I love how the managed to successfuly have their cake and eat it with that dialogue, it's both funny and solemn at the same time.
Tigress clearly understands how blindingly obvious this revelation was, but she also acknowledges that it somehow wasn't obvious to Po and she chooses to respect the pain he's going through.
@@Gboy86ify I love Poe's face as she says it, almost like 'Yup. I know.'
And it's even funnier that Po never thought it was strange his adoptive dad is a goose. Like it was natural.
In any other story with any other set of characters, the adoptee would have answered the revelation from the adoptive with an, "Yeah, I know. It's kinda obvious."
But no, not with Po.
@@foldabotZIts similar in the third movie.
"Wait, you can fly?"
"I'm a bird, Po."
@@Gboy86ify She has known him for what a movie and a half? While surprising in the moment its not long before you realizes "Wait, thats classic Po."
The understated visual gag of "Mysterious Artwork Unlike Any Seen on Earth" is a delightful call-back.
I could drive any artist mad
Do not throw it down a well™.
You mean to tell me there are colors never before seen by human eyes? What might they by capable of!?
Im gonna get some water from that fountain beside the art, you want any?
I like to imagine that ineffable cosmic beings have their own tropes and story cliches we could never fully understand
I actually do love how the trope videos are like “this is a very interesting trope that happens often in media, this is how it tends to play out, and this is what we can get from it…. AND THIS IS HOW AVATAR MASTERFULLY DID IT!”
most of the time, yes, that's how it plays out LOL
Avatar or Reboot
It's a trope in itself, and one that seems to work particularly well.
@@mikemudrowwatch they do an April fools joke that takes the piss out of themselves. Blue: here’s the domiest architecture in Venice. Red: and here’s the OSP trope of how I always talk about ATLA in trope talks. Something like that
Avatar the Last Airbender and Kung Fu Panda, apparently are the perfect stories
Tigger, weirdly enough, is also a good example of “last of their kind”. There’s literally a whole movie about his desire to find things like him, and he fabricates what other tiggers might be like as a means of coping. Going so far as to leave his friends behind and go looking for his family DURING A BLIZZARD. But in the end it’s his friends that find him, bring him home, and make him realize that even though he’s “the only one”, that it doesn’t mean he’s without a family.
As a matter of fact, the wonderful thing about Tiggers is that he IS the only one.
You're totally right
God I love that movie. Always makes me cry tho
the tigger movie is amazing
I could be wrong, but it always felt to me like he was actually contemplating suicide for a bit there after realizing there were no other Tiggers.
Red couldn't convince blue to do a third detailed Diatribe about Superman and is settling for trope talk
Sounds accurate
We can hope there will still be a third diatribe. Best of both worlds. (Or not.)
And almost making a detail diatribe about kung fu panda (again)
Literally what I was thinking
But we are going to get a kung fu panda deep dive.
I love how this episode is basically just 2 mini detail diatribes about Kung Fu Panda and Avatar with some framework in between to tie them together
The best kind of episodes. Don't know why but I love Red talking about shows. Especially ones I love.
And we can’t forget to throw in some super man
I'd like to vote for 2 full-length detail diatribes about Kung Fu Panda and Avatar.
You must be new here. :P
@@nathankurtz8045 I'd like to vote for an ongoing podcast about Avatar.
I love how Knuckles the Echidna has remained as a last of his kind for 30 years and they can't add any other echidnas due to legal reasons so he's stuck that way even if they didn't want to
What’s the legal reasons?
@@gen2763 *_KEN PENDERS._*
Also Archie Comics being a pathetic joke of a company, and the invention of the Internet.
@@gen2763 Ken Penders who was a comic writer now owns all the designs for the echidnas
I mean, they absolutely could, they just can't be any of the ones from the Archie comics or resemble them too closely (the latter is what happened with Chronicles). We're getting new echidnas in the Paramount canon and it doesn't seem like Penders can do anything about it.
@@splitjawjanitor5369 His echidnas were an isolationist high-tech civilization, while the echidnas shown in the actual games looked like Pre-Colonialism Mesoamericans. So long as nobody does Furry Wakanda echidnas he can’t sue them.
Sozin: killing the air nomads was easy. Barely an inconvenience
The dead Fire Nation soldiers surrounding Monk Gyatsu:
My favorite head-canon is that Gyatsu vacuum bended the whole room into their next live
Himself included, which is a pretty hardcore way to go
Gir, you speak wisely
@@matheussanthiago9685 Is... that _not_ canon?
Even more badass when you remember that those guys were not only trained soldiers but were also vastly empowered by Sozin's Coment.
@@stevenneiman1554Well, hey. There's a reason he was trusted to train the Avatar.
You can really tell that Red is sick of people asking "Why doesn't Aang just kill Ozai, is he stupid?"
Killing Ozai would stop the war, but taking his power, forcing him to watch as everything he spent his life building is torn down and replaced by people he thought inferior to himself, that is true victory
Why didn't Ozai kill the avatar while the Jonkler was around, is he stupid?
You can also tell she's had a long time to cope about deus ex lion turtle.
Honestly, I don't know how much that's a valid defense, since Air Nomads seem to be pretty okay with murder. Just ask Monk Kyatso and his huge pile of Fire Nation soldier corpses.
But I agree that's a very interesting conflict, and I like the angle that killing Ozai would have validated his "might makes right" philosophy ... it's just that the resultion doesn't feel earned. It was a Lion-turtle Ex Machina that gave Aang a solution whose risk were only vaguely explained AS it was being implemented.
Except Aang is a child. You teach child simple lessons as a framework to more nuance. Gaiatzo clearly killed firebenders in a last stand. Yangchen would have killed Ozai. Push the war back by 30 years and an Older Aang would have had no problem killing Ozai. Not because pacifism is wrong, but because pacifism cannot be your only option.
Superman being the "Last Son of Krypton" is still true because of the justification that he's technically the last Kryptonian male born on the planet before it exploded. Hence "Last Son of Krypton" not "Last Kryptonian". Anyone born after him, including his son, can never erase him being the last son.
Got chills reading that
I personally really like the more modern interpretation of the "Last son" part being that he was the last baby born on Krypton but also the first natural born baby in SEVERAL CENTURIES on Krypton
@@Tfbravemaybe that would get adapted in to new versions but IIRC only Snyder's MoS portrays Krypton with the genetic engineering and basically no natural births. The main comic universe and other comic universes portray Krypton as more eccentric but never went to the level of eugenics.
@por-pol I think the idea came from a "what if" comic where Superman landed on earth in a incubator (ironically, since the modern depiction is that Kal-El was the one not born in a incubator) where it wasn't even the focus of the comic, but a handwave to explain him becoming the president of the USA (he was technically "born in the USA" that way).
"The wonderful thing about Tiggers is that I'm the only one!" The Tigger Movie ripped my heart out when I was 11 😂
was hoping someone would mention the tigger movie! it was so sad for something derived from a one-off catchphrase 😭
FORGOT ABOUT THIS
When you feel lost, and ooooon yoooour oooooown…
Thanks, I thought I was emotionally past this. Now I'm sobbing once more over the movie
@@willooo09and faaaaaar from home…
you’re never alone, you know:
just think of your friends-
the ones who care…
I love Red’s impromptu info dump of the Kong Fu Panda trilogy out of nowhere. It’s beautiful.
I need to watch the third movie. I kinda fell off just before the third movie's release because I was interested in other things.
@@foldabotZsame here. I eventually watched it on Netflix, but that was only a few months ago
That's how you know she's a professional!!!
"for some stories, continuity is the only true enemy"
That's Dr. Who alright
Yup
Classic Who would have modern fandom tearing itself apart if it was released today. XD
8:45 not to mention Po not being the last panda doesn't take away his mother ACTUALLY DYING AND SACRIFICING HERSELF RIGHT BEFORE HIS EYES. Like, the trauma is not all of a sudden invalidated
The point red makes about previous air avatars having the freedom to loose their air bender culture because there were others of their kind to preserve it while Aang can't is something i never got before and the realization makes his actions emotionally hit harder
Red had just finished talking about the other examples when I thought, "The video's almost over, there's NO WAY she's going to forget about Ang!"
That goes at the window when you realised that Aang has killed at least docens of people in the whole show, by drowning them or dropping them off a mountain
@@felipemontero1087I mean i guess you can also tie it back to the pure of heart video where the intent matter more than the result. There’s no guaranteed that the firebenders were dead and the Northern water tribe was partly the ocean spirit doing. Pacifism lies more in the choice than the actual result, the core here is obviously not willingly knowingly taking a life since I don’t think even the most devoted pacifists can confidently say that they have never harmed anyone period.
@@pancakeandwaffle4849 Aang has said on multiple times that he hasn´t killed anyone. And the Air Temple was several kilometers or miles above ground, bare minimun one or 10 died.
Cool motive, still murder
@@felipemontero1087 its a damn cartoon with magic powers, if the show says aang didn't kill anyone and that a part of the theme then he *didn't kill anyone*
Sure laughing at cartoon logic is funny bc they should have died. But you don't argue in circles about how the looney toons coyote should be dead after the 20th fall off a canyon do you? No bc we understand that in that universe it doesnt kill him, the same way batman somehow doesn't kill his villains with cte after decades of beating them into the ground on TV. This argument is pedantic
Aang: “a core belief of the air nomads is that we never kill”
Gyatso’s body surrounded by dozens of dead fire benders: “yeah about that aang…”
Popular theory is that he sucked all the oxygen out of the room, killing all the invaders along with himself. Unwilling to live with breaking his no kill rule even if he decided it was neccesary.
@@seasnaill2589eh I don't like that as much because that suggests both murdering people *and* suicide whilst knowing it would be fruitless. Him killing himself to remove a dozen soldiers isn't going to protect his people.
What if Aang was able to figure it out and that's part of why he was so distressed?
@@LadyJuse I don't think he would have cared too much, it might play into it a bit however the bigger issue is definitely the fact that his father figure died.
Well, Gyatso was a sort of black sheep among the other airbenders. His ideology could be a little different.
I love the fact that whenever someone talks about Kung Fu Panda, there is a moment of realization, either from the person themself or the one listening, that this trilogy was surprisingly deep.
The 2nd movie is easily one of my favorite movies of all time
The movies on their own, and as a trilogy, all explore different facets of the same theme: Self Acceptance, or to maybe to be more specific "You are good enough."
You, as you are, are enough. Could there be some improvements? Yes, of course, but that's everyone. The Golden scroll is the obvious one, Shen is "someone is better than you" personified to the point he practices dialogue. Kai tries to take from everyone else for the same reason, he doesn't think he's enough.
Po rebukes them each in their own way, through accepting a part of himself being the key to Immense power in Kung Fu world, and every movie leaves Po in basically the same place character wise, but still better off for it.
@@CillranchelloAdds a lot to one of the last exchanges between Po and Tai Lung.
Tai Lung: You’re just a big, stupid panda!
Po: I’m THE big, fat panda.
Goes from feeling inadequate and insecure about his body because he can’t do the same things as his heroes to taking pride in it because he discovers he can do things that they can’t.
Fortunately there were only three movies in that series and they didn't ever try to make a fourth.
Red going on this huge Kung Fu Panda writing digest only to then reveal that was all entirely off the cuff was the most painfully relatable thing in the whole video and I appreciate her so much for it omg.
She brings me so much happiness, because her brain processes stories like mine does. She experiences the joy of that analysis like I do.
To share the theme of this video, Red, and the comments on OSP's content helps me feel like I'm not the last/only one of my kind.
11:28 "This town ain't big enough for two unicorns"
Sounds like the setup for a Magic Duel
Mlp reference!!
I am 43 seconds into the video and the "mysterious artwork unlike any seen on earth" absolutely broke me.
After all those years, this is still one of my favorite OSP jokes.
This & the joke in the very very first episodes Red made of saying Brian Blessed's name have fundamentally changed the way I talk; I can't say them & not imitate the way Red says them...
It is a good gag 😂
Explain?
@@shinobix4925 It's a reference to the Halloween Lovecraft video Red did
YES!
"They can't protect him from the horror, the horror has already happened" (20:03) Is actually chilling oh my gosh
I’m glad that you agree that line is a banger
As poignant, as Avatar was for this I wish she had spent some more time with King from The Owl House, he was a little kid, he believed he was some reincarnated demon king thanks to mixed up memories, but found evidence there were other demons of his species out there; and when he finds what he thinks are his people what he has found are actually a tribe of genocidal bigots who dress up like the very people they kill to fool them and as part of their own demented culture; they had mistaken him as they hadn't seen one of his kind in a generation or two, for one of them in costume, and immediately upon discovering (thanks to an elder remembering his victims) turned on him and tried to kill him. Which revelations later in the show, namely in season 3 (the specials), we realize that all the bones and skulls we see in the "trophy room" of the people who killed his people are ALL children like him. His people the titans are too powerful as adults to be killed by this tribe, requiring the aid of reality warping god like cosmic beings, but the tribe was able to hunt down and murder all the slowly growing children of his species.
I think one of the best thing about Doctor Who’s ‘last of their kind’ is the Doctor’s GUILT
He is personally responsible for being the last of his kind and that weighs heavily on his soul
He never forgives himself, even though he did it to save all of reality from the Time War, he still never forgives himself
He counted every single child he killed on Gallifrey and never forgot that number
I’m with you there and I love Doctor Who!!!!!
It's especially harrowing since the Doctor _had_ to destroy his race. The Time Lords were corrupted by the Time War, becoming as cruel and genocidal as the Daleks. The horrors of the Time War, the Skaro Degradations, the Nightmare Child, the Could've Been King and his army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres, there was _only_ one way to get rid of it all. The Doctor _had_ to get rid of the Time Lords, because of how dangerous they became. That means the Doctor had a unique internal conflict. He wants to continue adventuring, so he can keep the legacy and his more pleasant memories of the Time Lords alive. However, he also feels a sort of collective guilt from his people's actions. What if the universe was better off without him?
@@Silverwind87 that’s true
@@Silverwind87 It was a bigger kick in the teeth after the 9th Doctor found out the Daleks survived. From his perspective, the Time War turned into a cosmic scale pissing contest between the Time Lords AND Daleks over who could undo all of existence 1st, so he had to do what he did to wipe both sides out, and the Daleks came back anyway! Hell, once Davros came back, he picked up where he left off in the war: destroy the universe and all parallel universes! Which made the Tenth Doctor's slowness to react to everything Davros said and did not make sense, but that's another thing.
Glad to see someone mentioning this in the comments. I was scrolling down, looking for this being brought up, but mainly saw talk about Avatar and Kung-Fu Panda, and rightfully so.
To quote 9, the Doctor didn't just become the last of the Time Lords, instead "I watched it happen. I made it happen!"
Being the last Timelord wasn't just something that happened to him, it was a choice HE made, which doesn't just make his position at last even more daunting, but along with his general ethic of never carrying a gun, of ALWAYS finding another way.... there are so many reasons why the 9th and 10th Doctors were so weary and scarred by what they did. The man committed genocide on two species at the same time, because the alternative was so much worse, and now he is out there in his blue box trying to do as much good as he can, knowing he can never make up for that decision.
"Characters don't need to be completely unique from all characters ever, they just need to be distinct from each other within their story" is the kind of god tier eye opener I come to this channel for
Red casually dropping amazing writing advice
I literally just put that in a discord server with a few fellow writer buddies as soon as I heard her say it.
"Only 6 faces " is seen as a flaw for a reason
Even this has some pitfalls. Characters may be unique but the dynamics between the characters might be not.
"You know, the problem with being the last of anything? Bye and bye there'll be none left at all."
-Captain Hector Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
That's a pretty poignant and topical line from that film franchise. I remember the context of that line too, it was great.
@@blackdwarfstar1246 It does that quite often, yet people are always surprised.
Isn't it ironic this comes from a Disney movie? A company hell bent on destroying anything unique and special?
Interestingly enough, Captain America in the MCU actually loosely follows along this trope weird as it sounds.
He gets preserved in ice and becomes a relic of a time gone by. Similar but different to everyone by virtue of the skip in time. Eventually he finally runs into ‘one of his kind’ in Bucky and tries his hardest to keep that connection, despite how that affects everything around him. And his story culminates in him finding ‘his kind’ once again after time travelling back, and he decides to stay with them. It’s honestly wild to think about how ‘last of their kind’ doesn’t have a hard limiting factor on what constitutes ‘their kind’.
Leaving Bucky to be the last of his kind.
@@Here_is_WaldoBucky is in this odd middleground where he had to relearn those memories of that time though, and with them came all the other times he was brought out of the ice over the years between for his missions. He's had this staggered growth rate where he's had the chance to adjust that Steve didn't, but it came at the cost of who he once was. In a way, I wonder if he feels even more alone because on some level he can't even relate to Steve anymore.
Wouldn't that be more related to the idea of being a relic of the past?
It's similar but it's not the same.
This is actually a really cool take
This gave me a whole new perspective on Season 3 of A:TLA. Aang spends a lot of specifically season 3 giving up pieces of his culture (burning his glider, covering up his tattoo, growing his hair), which shows that he understands that there comes a time to sacrifice to do what needs to be done. His pacifism is quite literally the *last thing* from his culture that he has not had to compromise on in some way, which is (part of) why he clings on to it so hard
Holy shit I love this show
Huh. I never thought of it that way. Makes sense though when I think about it. And also when you think about it in the end he manages to keep his pacifism. Instead of killing Ozai, he takes away his bending. He managed to be a bridge between cultures by keeping his pacifism.
I think it’s more due to cowardice, understandable cowardice but still cowardice. Aang was even told by yangchen the right decision is to kill ozai. Aang just got lucky a lion turtle magically showed up
@@Ironcorgi2 I don't really think it's cowardice. I mean, he's a kid raised by a culture that practiced no killing.
I think if he killed Ozai he would have lost the balance of the world because the air nomads would no lomger be in it. It would be a blow that kills it in his mind before tenzen can even be born.
One of the things I appreciate (not like) about Korra is how Aang was basically set up to fail as a father. This man has to be the supreme diplomat for the world, the ambassador to the spirit realm all while dealing with the fact that once he inevitably dies the living memory of his entire culture dies with him. Between all of that you can't really blame him for not being the best dad to Bumi and it's not like Tenzin had it any easier since he inherited the burden of an almost extinct culture that he wasn't even a part of solely because of his inherited abilities. Aang carried the weight of an entire culture and then passed it down to his son without ever really giving him a choice in the matter in a way very similar to his own inability to change his status as the Avatar. It's all so real and tragic and I HATE IT I WANT MY BOY TO NOT BE A SHITTY DAD
Yeah totally agree, also in air nomad culture there are no parents, children are taken from their mothers at birth and raised in temples on the opposite side of the world. How on earth could Aang adapt to the nuclear family style of childrearing, while being the avatar, and preserving his whole culture with no reference points for fathering?
That’s probaby the realest aspect or Korra in the part of character development. Toph also failed as a parent because she gave her daughter complete freedom but no responsability, the opposite of her, specifically when Toph had two daughters from two different men.
And the only one who has a good parent was Zuko, before he had his uncle as the best father figure and his mother who was the best, and had the example of Ozai of how NOT to be a father, he had all the pieces
This is one of the few pluses I can give to LoK: they posthumously gave Aang _more_ flaws.
Aang wasn't perfect. Aang showed favoritism among his kids for obvious reasons. He was human.
@@overlookers it's not even bc he liked one more than the others he was just in an impossible situation
And I headcanon that he definitely was all "Okay, Tenzin, we're going on a serious Spiritually Important Air Nomad Culture trip..." *Twenty minutes later* "Oooh, airball game!" It's not that he meant to leave the other kids out, but Aang's definitely easily distracted.
It would make for a very different story, sure, but "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Two Unicorns" is aaaaaabsolutely a film I'd watch
God, i never realized that Aamg's no kill rule wasnt just a personal creed, but one of the last connections to his culture. That show is damn near perfect
gives me a new appreciation and respect for his insistence on pacifism. especially since the remaining air nomads killed fire benders before dyingy. hes the last airbender, so he has a responsibility to uphold all of their philosophies.
Ah so that explains the badly written and insanely stupid double deus ex machina that the writers went with to make Aang avoid killing Ozai!
Oh wait no it doesn't lol. Seriously, why even have this conflict if they weren't going to come to such a dumbass conclusion.
This is lefit
@@ChimeraLotietheBunny What's legit?
@@tutumazibuko2510Conclusions you don't understand aren't bad because you can't understand them.
Luke Skywalker is the greatest example of the "Last of his kind" trope. This amazing quote of Obi-Wan in "Heir to the Empire" perfectly summarizes Luke's role in the Star Wars lore: "You're not the last of the old Jedi, Luke. You're the first of the new..."
With as many problems that The Last Jedi had, I did like the ending with that kid using the Force. It showed a new generation of Jedi on the horizon, a dim light of hope that would one day become as bright as the sun.
Yeah Anakin basically Ragnarok the force structure and Luke had to rebuild a system that doesn't form a threat something as powerful and preisist as the sith. Granted both pre and post disney kinda forgets that
@@Silverwind87 Honestly, that's one of the things I really liked about The Last Jedi. It's like what they did in Legend of Korra: Aang's attempt to rebuild the Air Nomads is fragile, and the worst case scenario could easily come to pass again if malicious forces got their way, as the Airbenders are still so few in number. The Last Jedi reveals that, despite Luke's efforts to rebuild the Jedi, the worst-case scenario DID happen: he was left, once again, as the Last Jedi. He failed, and his arc in the movie is recognizing that he doesn't have to be remembered by his failures: he can be the symbol the galaxy needs, one of hope, because the Jedi are not dead so long as other Force users exist out there. It's another reason why the Rise of Skywalker is so frustrating: Luke's sacrifice ultimately had no impact on the future story.
@@Silverwind87
Yeah, except that kid should have been trained by Luke to make Skywalker's role meaningful
@@thirdcoinedge
Luke's Jedi Order should have worked and succesfully replaced the old one, like its Legends version did. Luke's primary goal being completely ruined off-screen is one of the many reason the sequels killed the ot
I’d love to see talk of the trope or sub trope of this, “The one of a kind/first of their kind.” The characters who literally can’t have anyone else like them, like Vision from Avengers who was created essentially by luck, or Rocket Racoon who even though he had “siblings,” is still incredibly unique in that there is no other creature exactly like him.
It’s also actually kinda reminds me of Powerpuff to be honest
@@fairyd3ity967 I'm thinking of Dr. Manhattan,
Last is almost a subtype of Only, when you think about it
“For some series, continuity is the true enemy.” 😂 What a delightful way to point out that a show still can have value even with major continuity problems. 😊
My d&d game lol
Continuity can be quite a bitch to do well. Especialy if wrighter understands it as unending escalation of thereats.
Continuity can be, at times, you best friend while your worst enemies as well
Maybe the real enemy was the continuity we broke along the way
Of course sometimes continuity is literally the enemy, like in "Father's Day"
I love that depending how you look at it, Samus from Metroid counts for this trope three separate times
Survivor of a destroyed human colony, imbued with DNA from the extinct Chozo, and later Metroid DNA when the last one is killed, yes?
Maybe even 4 times, if you count the Mawkin and Thoha Chozo separately
Maybe technically 4 even?
In prime 3 all the hunters she knows get corrupted and had to be taken down by her own hand. Imagine a soldier having to finish his own squad. Oof.
Metroid is classic Greek Tragedy.
Jesus I really need to play the games
one interesting variation of this trope is "the last of their kind - plural" where there are still several of these people from the get go, but with an understanding that after them, there wont be any new ones, that they are the last, dwindling with every loss until none remain.
Examples that come to mind are the Witchers and the Tanith first and only
I wonder how WALL-E fits in with this trope, since at the beginning, he is basically alone. He is not just the last of his kind; he is the last of ANY kind (except for the cockroach, who seems more like a pet than a fellow conscious being since it can't talk.)
Yeah, I'd say it counts for the trope
It's good way of showcasing how the "apocalypse" and "last of their kind" tropes overlap to form the "last person on Earth" trope! Generally, apocalypse stories need to avoid somebody being literally the ONLY person on Earth, for much the same reasons that "last of their kind" characters keep suddenly running into others of their kind, but in both cases the pathos of that one character's isolation is incredibly strong and meaningful. Wall-E meets another robot at the very start of the movie, and quickly finds out that humans have actually survived in the spaceship she comes from, but what makes him so gosh-dang lovable as a character is that before all this happened, it's very clear that he was just this silent caretaker of a 100% dead civilization that he loves and misses dearly and wishes he could have been a part of.
I also really like how Aang having to find a different way to end the war ties into practically the first lesson he was taught as avatar in the show from Bumi. He had to look at things from a different perspective, and find a different way to accomplish his goal. His journey into becoming the avatar really did come full circle.
But he didn't really have to think of a different solution he was gifted it by the lion-turtle.
Although he definitely killed a bunch of npcs throughout the series
You could tell that this was where the story was trying to end, but unfortunately they had to pull it out of their ass Du Ex Machina style. Why could Aang have just restrained Ozai and then he was sentenced to death by the resistance?
@@carolyn8740 I suppose they wouldn’t want to martyr him in any way, though I do agree they could’ve set up the solution better in terms of practicalities, even though the themes I think were there.
It's really a pity how horribly the ending of Avatar went. Such a great show marred so deeply by the ending
In the same vein, I like the “part of a dying breed” thing some of these characters fit into. Witchers, for example. A once thriving community that has dwindled down to almost nothing. Despite their creation being based in horrific experiences, you can’t help but feel a little bit of sadness when Geralt finds examples of the culture that have been lost to time.
Yoo.. That's such a good example. Thank you for bringing that up.
Whenever it comes up in game, I never ever kill other witchers, even Letho at the end of 2.
The tragedy of The Last Unicorn is that she starts out with complete conviction that she's not the last/only unicorn left, but everyone else around her believes she is. By the end, everyone believes she isn't (and technically they're right), but she knows she is the only unicorn to ever know regret.
Also, thank you for calling out the embodiment of beauty that is the movie's soundtrack.
Came down to see if anybody else had pointed this out; the title is much more layered as the story goes on. She's perceived as the last because people have forgotten magic and wonder, she's the last unicorn that Haggard needs to capture before he has them all, she's the last unicorn to leave because she stays with Lir and, as you said, when she's finally not the last free unicorn, she's the only one to know regret.
It fits the tone of the story so well.
21:49 and also it’s way more devastating to the Fire Nation’s ideology if people get to see Ozai alive yet so thoroughly humbled, broken, and being called “the Loser Lord!” by Sokka after losing his fire bending.
You need commas and you phrased it wrong where it's hard to understand
Ya know its rather funny that Sokka is more powerful than ozai by the end because Ozai has been entirely relying on and believing purely in his firebending.
Its one thing to lose firebending, its another thing to have someone who only does firebending to lose it. Ozai's not even tactically smart, he just surrounds himself with firepower.
It also shows the difference between Zuko and Ozai one last time.
If Zuko lost his bending, he'd draw some swords and keep fighting.
Ozai, meanwhile, has built his whole identity on his strength as a firebender and crumples the instant it's gone.
Aang is one of the rare cases where his adamant refusal to kill makes sense. He can't give up what little is left of his culture. (We don't talk about the wasp thing or the many Fire Nation soldiers who got buried by an avalanche or thrown off the mountain in the Northern Air Temple. That was like all the helicopters Kiryu shoots down throughout his career.)
While understandable, it's still deeply selfish. He put several lives at risk
You should read the Avatar Novels by the way- Two for Kyoshi, Two for Yangchen.
Yangchen specifically faces a very similar problem to Aang.
Her decision however actually has dire consequences.
@@benapeh854Tbh I prefer vengeful characters over pacifists. Less "noo I can't kill the main villain, I'd be just as bad as him" whining and more "I want my father back, you son of a bitch" *stab*
@@akechijubeimitsuhide Depends on how its handled. I think Avatar does it pretty well.
@@akechijubeimitsuhideWell, if pacifist charachters can become wimpy "do nothing and cry"-types, just as easily vengfull charachters can become edgy "kill 'em all and let god sort them out"-types. Both are very liable to falling to these traps.
There is a fundamental difference between killing someone in a duel and an action like causing an avalanche though. It goes back to the reason why artillery and now drone warfare is so effective.
Putting distance, both literally and emotionally, between the one pulling the trigger and the target is the most effective way to increase lethality in war. It's a plot hole, but it makes sense why Aang would process that differently from his fight with Ozai
It must have been a profound emotional moment for Aang the day he realized one of his children was an airbender. For the first time since he was a child, he was no longer alone. While we never saw that in the show, we can see a glimpse of it in Tenzin once he realized that Harmonic Convergence had brought a new group of airbenders into existence, and suddenly he and his children were no longer the only ones.
You can also see some of how he was probably raised by Aang. You can see how high strung and exacting he is as he sees himself as inheriting the role of last custodian of the Air Nomads from his father. We aren't shown in what manner Aang raised his kids, but you can see that, intentionally or otherwise, he imprinted on Tenzin how important keeping the Air Nomads alive was to him.
@@nevets2371 Also, Tenzin has definitely experienced personally what it's like to be the last airbender, since at least a few years passed between Aang's death and Jinora's birth. And yes, I'm quite sure Tenzin would never have gotten away with the sort of antics Bumi did, because he had so much responsibility on his shoulders.
@@nevets2371 I think there was an episode of Kora's 2nd season where Tenzin, Bumi, and Kaya (I think) bicker over who was which parent's favorite and how they were raised differently based on who could bend what (water, air, or nothing).
@@louisduarte8763
Yes, it was clearly shown that Aang put a lot of pressure on his Air bending som, and implied that he may have treated him better/shown more love to him.
It was a major divide between the siblings.
I…LOVE…how they handled the Master. He knows how much the Doctor wants to not be alone. And he uses it to win. So devastatingly, so entirely, that even though the Doctor beat him, he still lost. I LOVE it.
That's the "Xanatos Gambit" trope, where the bad guy sets up a situation where no matter what happens, they win.
And further on in the show, when the Doctors all come together and save Gallifrey he STILL can’t be with his people, the Doctor will always be ‘The Lonely God’
@@stevejakab274 The ol' Catch-22. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
@@stevejakab274 And then he came back anyway. because of the plan he (and by extension, Rassilon and the other Time Lords) set in motion.
This was basically a slide show of some of my favorite characters. Odo, Data, Aang, The Doctor, The Last Unicorn even - I must REALLY have a thing for this trope. Final note - it's very interesting seeing how being 'The Last of His Kind' trope even effected Aang and other characters post The Last Air Bendir. If you look at the Ledgend of Korra and how Tenzin and his siblings are, how (in one of the more controvertial aspects of the show) Aang ended up somewhat neglecting his other kids, because Tenzin was the airbender. I find that really facinating. And especialy interesting when you consider the rest of the mythology.
I do like how they used this trope in The Last Unicorn. As you put it, she never believed that she was the last, but everyone else that met her thought she was.
And by the end, when all the others are released into the world, she does become the only unicorn ever who regrets due to being a human for so long. She knows love and heartbreak, but her biggest thing was her regret of leaving her love behind, but the biggest thing she still remembers is that love and regret when she thought that she would forget it.
But in the end, she goes to join her world anyway.
So she goes from being “the last” to being “the only”.
Isn’t she “the last” because she was the only Unicorn that wasn’t captured?
It has been a VERY long time since I read the book; but I think the themes in that focused a lot more on the Unicorn's status as an immortal than her "last-ness." And I do think there's some elements of "last" even in the film, because HUMANS think there are no unicorns, and they so badly want there to be just one more left. The poignancy there being that, if you equate Unicorns with Innocence... Yeah, I'd really like for the world to still have unicorns.
(As a note, I adore the movie and have large chunks of it memorized, and NONE of the book memorized, so.)
@@pn2294 I think so. She wasn't the last in existence, just the last free unicorn. And in a way she remains the last (in the same way she's the first, this the only) unicorn to have experienced mortality and human emotions. Even with the freeing of the other unicorns, she still remains singular.
She didn't believe she was the last, but not unquestionably so because otherwise she wouldn't have gone looking for the others. She had at least a sliver of doubt or concern, and so sought to find out one way or the other. And in the end, she actually became the first/last/only unicorn to have the experiences that forever changed her and made her separate. She kinda ends up a bit like Po in Kung Fu Panda 3, among her kind but still different.
"For some stories, the only enemy is continuity."
Oof, that's good.
Also, damn Red is concise off script! I'd never guessed the whole bit about Kung Fu Panda hadn't been scripted!
In the last (and next) Spiderverse movie, continuity is literally the enemy (well, one of them).
That gives me the Idea of an story where the main villains Power is to mess with continuity
You can tell that there was something off as she was going off-script, but she's so professional that it's still hard to fully confirm
I'm so glad to see The Last Unicorn get referenced. That poor movie just never seem to get talked about.
Thank you! The final battle between Aang and Ozai is about more than just "kill Ozai or else he could do something bad in the future." It's a fundamental conflict between Airbender and Fire Nation ideologies represented in the unfortunate Aang. As we saw in the school episode and in Zuko's confrontation with Ozai, the Fire Nation justified the war to their people by claiming that it was their way of sharing their greatness with the world. They justified wiping out the Air Nomads by creating a narrative where the Air Nomads had an army and were a threat. By choosing to spare Ozai (and take away his bending) Aang claimed the moral high ground over him and the Fire Nation by showing that their route of violence and conquest was wrong.
Furthermore, Iroh didn't want to fight Ozai because he was afraid that history would view it as another senseless act of violence. Sparing Ozai countered the possible narrative of the blood-thirsty Avatar seizing control of the Fire Nation and resolutely showed that the world was entering a new era of "peace and love." And yeah, there's always the possibility that rebels could free Ozai and that he could take power again, but there were always going to be zealous followers of Ozai, whether or not he remained alive. Aang's act of mercy was a show of strength, not the lack of it; it was a victory over the Fire Nation, not a failure to defeat it. Or at least, that's how I've come to view it after watching the show a hundred times. I'm glad that someone else sees it the same way.
Except that without the appearance of Deus Ex Turtle, Aang would've lacked the tools to pacify Ozai without killing him. If Aang had spend several episodes, or better yet at least half a season, searching for a method of preserving his beliefs while also stopping Ozai, and thus managed the victory by figuring this out, it would've worked as a proper resolution of the conflict in Aang's favor.
However, he required not one, but two deus ex machinas for his philosophy to win out, where otherwise his dedication to his philosophy would've spelled his doom and that of the world, and thus prove his philosophy as incorrect. These two deus ex machinas are the lion turtle and the "Karate-Chop Action!" button on Aang's back (the scar Azula left when she struck him with lightning). The lion turtle gave Aang the ability to take away bending, a special ability not mentioned throughout the entire series until the point it was needed, nor did we know lion turtles or their magical abilities existed until the same point, and apparently it took no effort to gift Aang this ability. Meanwhile, to even get to the point where Aang could reasonably restrain Ozai to use this newfound ability, he had to be conveniently knocked into a rock spike that hit his scar, which also conveniently activated his Avatar State, the super power taken away in the previous season to grant additional weight to the conflict and force Aang to learn to become a better fighter rather than relying on the Avatar State, which was deliberately over-powered. Neither of these convenient events play any part in the conflict of Aang's and Ozai's philosophies, and in their absence, show Aang's way of thinking to be woefully incompatible with his duty as the Avatar and the world's protector.
In addition, it robbed the story of what would be an epic comeuppance for Ozai, and great dramatic irony. Ozai would've been defeated by his own lightning (as in, he played a part in destroying himself, which could be seen as another way to demonstrate his violent philosophy as ultimately self-destructive), via a technique that Iroh invented (whose ways he despised, believing Iroh to be soft and weak when we know he is anything but), taught to Aang by Zuko, his own son that he also hated for his "soft" beliefs and thus discarded as unworthy (which would also be Ozai's own fault -- if he were a better father to Zuko, then Zuko would've never betrayed him). And, finally, such a defeat would've relied on talent and smarts over a deus ex machina, with Aang outsmarting his opponent with the help of his friends, rather than relying on a strange mythical creature and convenience to do the work for him. In this alternative end, Iroh demonstrates his superiority over Ozai through a technique that uses bending and flow rather than brute force, opposing Ozai's philosophy; allowing Zuko to take indirect revenge on the father that ruined his family and his childhood, and contribute to helping fix what his father did to the world at large; demonstrating that you don't need to be a demigod to beat the bad guy, or to preserve balance in the world; show that with the help of friends, you can defeat the man who stands alone, even if your friends are not there beside you; and that Ozai ultimately defeated himself, all of his mistakes and crimes coming back to bite him in the ass when he least expected it.
“There were always going to be zealous followers of Ozai, whether he was alive or not.”
This. They would have made him a martyr if Aang had killed him. And set up someone else to take the throne. Maybe not Azula, but a cousin or even a figurehead to be Fire Lord.
@@animeotaku307 So plot convenience had additional plot convenience.
If the actual show had this as a plot point, where it was made clear that killing Ozai wouldn't have stopped the war, and then have Aang point to this issue and then pursue a solution to it, like I said, then it would've worked better.
But the show didn't point this out. And Aang did not make special effort to find an alternative solution. The solution was given to him.
Plus, I'm pretty sure that in a world where news travels by letter and word-of-mouth, true zealots would not take their enemy's word that Ozai was rendered powerless, and instead believe he was defeated and taken prisoner.
What stopped the war from continuing was Zuko + Katara defeating Azula, removing Ozai's successor from the throne and opening up the way for Zuko to lay a legitimate claim.
@@zephyrlyall8287 You raise some interesting points, and some other arguments that I've heard before. To be honest, I don't really see a version of the final battle where Aang didn't get into the Avatar state. From a writing perspective, it would have been a letdown if Aang didn't get to go all out in the final battle. I suppose it could be considered a deus ex machina that he unlocked it just in time, but from a writing perspective, it makes no less sense than having his chakras locked by his death to the point where Aang couldn't figure out how to go into the Avatar state all season. Maybe the writers could have spent some more time having Aang unlock his chakras, but that would have taken screen time away from the final battle, and since the crew reportedly paid for the final battle's animation out of their own pockets, every second mattered. So while it might have been nice for the Avatar state to have been given a bit more time during the "unlocking by rock spike" scene, we didn't really need to see it for the final battle to be awesome. The rock spike saved time. I also really like how it quickly changes the pace of the battle by having Aang grab Ozai's goatee. Some of that surprise and tension would have been lost if they took more time.
As for the "take revenge by killing Ozai" argument, I've seen the reasoning others have proposed a dozen times, but I can't help but feel that it's out of character for Aang to take revenge. Just a few episodes ago, he had been encouraging Katara to forgive the terrible wrongs done to her. And before that, Aang forgave Zuko despite all that they'd been through. Furthermore, while Ozai was a terrible person, he also wasn't responsible for killing the Air Nomads. That was Fire Lord Sozin. Except for "he's kept the war going and hurt my friends," Aang doesn't have any reason to want to kill Ozai. It wouldn't have been revenge to kill him, and it wouldn't have brought Aang any closure (or arguably Zuko, since the secret of his mother would have died with Ozai). Killing Ozai might have brought a temporary sense of catharsis to the audience, but under closer scrutiny, it would have undermined the show's themes of redemption and forgiveness. Furthermore, as Red pointed out, killing Ozai would have represented the final death of Air Nomad culture and the final victory of Fire Lord Sozin. Did Aang deserve vengeance from someone? Yes. But to take it would have been out of character for him.
However, I understand and agree that the lion turtle was a deus ex machina, and while it would have been cool to see more build-up for the spirit-bending technique, I also recognize that the strength of deus ex machinas is their unexpectedness. There is a certain air of wonder and mystery during the scene where Aang is spirit-bending. Is it perfect? No, not at all. Yet, I maintain that sparing Ozai makes more sense for the show than killing him. Aang could spare him either through spirit-bending or trapping all his limbs in rock until he can be put in prison (like Aang did right before he didn't kill Ozai with the four-elements strike). Regardless, he manages to defeat Ozai, stop the Fire Nation, end the war, and keep his connection to Air Nomad teachings alive.
Regardless, people will have their own opinions of what "should" have happened, and that is fine. This is just how I feel about it.
I approve of how much thought is going on here. Personally (and feel free to disagree with me, but hear me out), I feel like most of the critique on the finale is born out of the desire to see a decisive, well earned victory for Aang, which includes Ozai being defeated. That means that for a lot of people, Aang's forgiveness seems out of place: it's the BBEG, why does he not have to pay for his sins? It's very much a modern trend, there is a lot of demand for justice on social media. That combined with the fact that Aangs solution ends up being very convenient feels to some like a cop-out of giving a real consequence to Ozai for his deeds, conveniently forgetting that taking away someone's bending powers is equal to taking away one the 5 senses.
Red describing Po and connecting it to how neurodivergent people might feel isolated actually left tears in my eyes.
Came here to say this 🥲 did not expect a handful of pandas eating steam buns together would rearrange my brain today 💜
crying my eyes out
For real, it was a narrative reflection I'd never realised before that led to some genuine revelations. This channel is great.
Gotta also say- as someone who grew up usually being the only Black kid in a bunch of different spaces while being neurodivergent, Po’s story hits really hard when you look at the lens through race and culture as well.
@@kaitlnwhite6809 I keep reading that neurodivergence is often related to trauma, and as a result that there are a TON of undiagnosed black and brown people who don’t get diagnosed and don’t get support. I think about those people a lot. I hope you, personally, are doing okay…. And, yup, I just started crying again. I just want everyone to be okay ❤️
I think a good example of this trope is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Last Ronin. It’s about the Ronin, the last Ninja Turtle (won’t spoil who) and the last of the Himato clan. The story is about him wanting to avenge his family and return honor to his clan. We also get to see Ronin struggle with his trauma as he hallucinates his brothers.
I'd be totally down to watch "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Two Unicorns".
So would I, but that would probably be a very different movie than The Last Unicorn was.
@@WolfSongGirlPeter S Beagle is still alive, he might be down for it!
You released this just in time for Avatar the Last Airbender
That is not the real avatar, the last Airbender.
@@madambutterfly1997 not the non existent film
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Last Airbender holds an approval rating of 5%, based on 192 reviews with an average rating of 3/10, making it the lowest-rated film produced by Nickelodeon Movies, as well as Shyamalan's worst-reviewed film to date.[88] The site's critical consensus reads, "The Last Airbender squanders its popular source material with incomprehensible plotting, horrible acting, and detached joyless direction."[89]
not the non existent film
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Last Airbender holds an approval rating of 5%, based on 192 reviews with an average rating of 3/10, making it the lowest-rated film produced by Nickelodeon Movies, as well as Shyamalan's worst-reviewed film to date.[88] The site's critical consensus reads, "The Last Airbender squanders its popular source material with incomprehensible plotting, horrible acting, and detached joyless direction."[89]
@madambutterfly1997 it's actually a good adaption. This isn't another live action movie.
I would watch it if it comes out on a weekend..
I feel like this trope could work very well with the Lonely Immortal trope, the individual Immortal doesn't even have to be the last of their species for it to work either, sure they look around and see people if the same species as them but everything has changed.
Their home, their family and friends and everything they knew likely faded into memory long ago, they may not be the last of their species but they are the last of their kind.
Knuckles had a brief flash on screen but I'd like to bring up Shadow as an example of this trope. He has the blood of an extinct alien race, who are extinct because he killed all of them. He is the reason he is the last of his kind, and on purpose too.
Shadow is also the Last of the Space Colony Ark's crew, and he ALSO was the one to end the second to last crewmate, the BioLizard
I don't think Shadow fits the archetype. The alien bloodline is only relevant for one not-very-popular game, and not even the first game Shadow appeared in. Or the second one.
And, actually, I think they be retconning the fact Shadow killed off the aliens with the new game (or rerelease with bonus levels?) that's coming out this year.
@@TheRealE.B. By that logic Knuckles being the last Echidna is only relevant for one game and it's not even the first one he's in, or the second one... or the third... or-. Besides SA1 the fact he's the last of his kind is only ever brought up sometimes and has no plot relevance outside of that one game (unless you count Sonic Chronicles, but that's not canon). Still, despite this, Knuckles showed up in the video.
In Sonic Generations, Sonic and his friends are pulled out of the flow of time and Sonic relives the same events from his past, freeing his friends from being frozen in time by doing so. I can guarantee Shadow is just going to go through the same things he already has similar to Sonic. The trailer showed no indication that they're planning to retcon anything.
@@TheRealE.B.the aliens aren’t killed in the new game because generations is all about traveling thru time n shit
5:55 I love how you put so many quotation marks around "Last" in the trope name that in Python it would be commented out of the code.
That's not a comment, it's a multi-line string literal. It will still be run by the interpreter
The of their kind
There is also a subsection of the Last of their Kind where they are technically the last of their kind and there are others, but those others are dwindling in number and the main Last of their Kind character is unique for being the one to go out on the adventure to try to help or the like (see- Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, sort of).
21:26 - 'Easy to kill'? The dozens of Firebender corpses around Gyatso begs to differ, Red.
They clearly just died from altitude sickness
Thank You, my thoughts exactly.
there are degrees of pacifism...
On a relative scale. The airbenders were all wiped out 100 years ago, but all the other nations are still struggling against the Fire Nation up to the moment Aang stopped Ozai. Compared to how well the other nations have held on, yeah, the airbenders were the easy part. Not that they didn't put up a fight, but their fight didn't seem to matter in practical terms
Differ ? Not really. On the grand scheme of things it didn't weight anything. And it's even pretty lame.
A few dozens dead common troopers to take down a fucking master of the elements is a pretty sweet deal. In the series any bender can do twice that much damage with only basic training.
And that was the end game boss of the air tribe. And he ultimately fell to random troopers. So the common air benders must have been... Well... A breeze...
Hell, the ruins of the city shows so. There's no trace of the heavy weaponry, artillery and other goodies the fire army likes so much. This means they just sent troopers with light powers and weaponry in, and it was enough to kill everyone. And with only one helmet abandonned outside of the masters last stand, it seems likely they didn't lost much troops before the boss fight. Which is nothing when you're attacking a city-sized temple full of benders. Just remember the massive fight for the water capital.
So yes, they really were easy to kill. From a strategic and historical point of view a last heroic, bloody fight is worthless if it doesn't even slows down the entire anhilation of your civilization.
0:39 This is what I appreciate about Dante’s world-building: he doesn’t care about originality - he’ll populate his version of hell with his contemporaries if he has to!
To tie two things you said together, Zod, The Master, and Lore are all examples not just of X but Evil but also X but Better. Zod is a Kryptonian, but a Trained Warrior rather than a Kansas Farmboy. The Master is a Time Lord, but a sadistic hardened criminal mastermind instead of a good-hearted free spirit juvenile delinquent joyriding a hotwired car that still has the parking brake on and fixing everything with a screwdriver. Lore is Data, but he actually understands people, too well even, because he can play them like a fiddle.
Two fun facts I remembered while watching this:
In the original Dragon Ball series, while Goku is climbing the Red Ribbon tower to confront General White, one of the cyborgs he fights (I'd like to say the terminator reference one) scans Goku, and for a second or two you see his perspective, and Goku is categorized as an alien.
Also, more of an observation, I kinda love how on top of culturally being kinda separated from the way of the Pandas, he also physically is different. He is noticeably smaller than most other pandas, and while large, he comparatively is the most physically fit since, despite having those layers of fat, he still IS the Dragon Warrior and a kung fu master with tons of muscle under that.
thank you for this wonderful Last Airbender rant. This makes me think about how Legend of Korra tackles the Air Nomads being reborn with Aang's son Tenzin, the second airbender tasked with rebuilding the Air Nomads. There was that one scene in episode 311 where he uses Airbending offensively to protect his family that struck me as... not Air Nomad-ish, as Airbending is usually characterized by evasion and deflection.
So what has changed? Well, Tenzin is Aang's son, who was Toph's pupil. Aang learned as part of his Earthbending training that some problems cannot be evaded and must be dealt with directly. So it implies that the philosophy of the Air Nomads has changed by circumstance and the people who carry it on.
Though it sounds harsh, Tenzin probably had the image of the emptied air temples in his mind, thinking "never again".
Edit : the battle in question happened in season 3 episode 11
In my headcannon the Airbenders built their culture around peace and pacifism because air is the OP element, and they wanted to ensure anybody with such power wouldn't use it for evil.
On the one hand, thats a solid theory and its well thought out. On the other hand is an exceedingly simple reason: people are willing to break their morals when family is in danger. Oh they may hate themselves after, but to protect a loved one? Most parents would choose to fight.
@@cosmopeaches2604 Zaheer's ability with airbending seems like the fundamental proof of this idea. And he actually DID believe is many of the Air Nomad cultural ideas, just not really the one about not killing anyone.
While you make a good point we actually see several examples in ATLA of benders becoming effectively better at their element when they incorporate other elements bending techniques. Like how Katara beating the older and more classically trained Hama, where you can see her using positions Toph teaches Aang earlier. Or Iroh, who even specifically tells Zuko how some of his most powerful firebending moves like his fire breath or lightning bending are derived from air and waterbending.
I agree, the big theme in the Korra series is the blurring of distinctions between elements (the 3rd season subtitle it literally "CHANGE"). It's just interesting to see this specific example. Aang had an existential crisis at the thought of going against the pacifist teachings of the Air Nomads. Ostensibly Tenzin lives and breaths that philosophy of spirituality and detachment from the physical world, and he's a politician. Another example is when Korra airbends for the first time she's boxing. This is how the Air Nomads have changed, they are no longer detached from earthly affairs, they are not even nomads, they are acolytes. They have adapted.
Maybe there's a distinction between self-defense & mastering your powers vs establishing a formal militia / martial art.
"Monsters Verses Aliens" has a villainous example of this trope. The main antagonist is the last of his kind because he literally destroyed his own planet.
Can’t believe Gonzo wasn’t mentioned, truly a deep and tragic character with so much to talk about.
NGL, the party is a Celebration for the ages when the aliens do come, but I like how he's adapted well to being the weird one amongst weirdos.
I love him as an example of “I am always a little outside the group, so I occasionally have poiniant things to say.” Every single muppet movie in which Kermit has a loss of Faith, Gonzo sits with him, says something quietly, and sometimes plays music. He is THAT guy- so himself he helps others be themselves- and I LOVE him for it ❤
Same here! When Red did the section about when they find out there are others and have to choose between their biological and found family, I instantly thought of Gonzo!! Glad I'm not the only one!
@@brittanywetherill472 i when I first read the comment, knowing practically nothing about the muppets besides names I was like "THE MUPPET?????" But I guess it fits well
And now I really wanna watch Muppets From Space. It's my favorite of all the Muppet movies.❤
One of the most important lessons I ever got in creativity was that an "original idea" is usually just several other ideas connected in a novel way.
_The Thing_ mixed classic monster horror with the concept of a locked room murder mystery to create a thrilling horror film where you can't even be sure the monster isn't in the current shot. Dragon Ball, among others, took chunks of the Journey to the West and recontextualized them as a science fantasy epic, connecting the core idea of simple-but-evocative protagonists facing various tests of courage and filling it with aliens, robots, spaceships, and somewhat-simpler macguffin structures. Red Faction, the first FPS to feature fully destructible terrain, looked at Worms and said "But what if it was in 3D?"
Not only is this _common,_ it's also inescapable, because no matter how wild your setting is, humans still have to understand it, and that means relating it to what your audience already knows. You can call a rabbit a Smeerp all you like, but at the end of the day, you're describing a small fluffy animal with big ears, and that requires knowing what 'small', 'fluffy', 'animal', and 'ears' mean.
Want to point out that the Thing wasn't created out of whole cloth, it was a remake of a 1950s horror B-Movie called "The Thing From Another World," which itself was based on a 1930s novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell. However, I prefer John Carpenter's version where the Thing is literally a virus that can assimilate you from within with just a single cell to the novella's take where it has a "true" form (think humanoid muppet with tusks, three red eyes, and blue worm-like hair) and the characters theorize its body is made up of "living plastic" or that it's closely related to CARROTS.
I found the novella a slow read as I felt the characters spent two-thirds of the story coming up with wild theories about the creature while locked in a room then actually investigating compared to the movie where it keeps the rules of the creature's biology concise and the characters and the audience slowly learns how it works as they fight it.
@@NobodyC13Exactly! One of John Carpenter's most famous films ever was arguably a "shitty" adaptation! ("Shitty" in airquotes because the "you have to exactly copy the source material" standard of the CinemaSins age is _worthless_ for making adaptations)
@@NobodyC13Yes, that's why OP said "mixing classic monster horror"
@LordVader1094 memento mori!
I thought the game that looked at worms and said "But what if it was in 3d" was worms 3d
While the Air Nomads as a group probably didn't pose too much of a challenge to the organized Fire Nation army, I do like that good old good hearted Gyatso is surrounded by dozens of dead Fire Nation soldiers suggesting he put up one hell of a fight.
I think when most people say “hey, this reminds me of-“ they mean it as a good thing. “This brings back memories from a story that I love, and it helps me love this too.”
I understand that, but that doesn't stop the sinking feeling of "Oh, my character isn't original after all. Gotta scrap this and start over."
that's why I love it when people say that about my ocs, especially if that character was written well or has a great design. unless they call me a copycat or they hate the character my oc reminds them of, I take it as a compliment.
I think the main thing that makes it annoying is that it's just kind of a shallow comment/observation. Compare say, simply saying you think somethin looks cool, which is earnest, or asking about inspirations, which is engaging.
It's just kind of Not Great to always be seen through the lens of other things.
@@VelociraptorsOfSkyrimit's a flawed instinct to begin with, though. When you design a character, you code them. The culture that inspires their clothes, their body shape, their facial features, their weapons and accessories. You can't make something that isn't like something else.
@@brookejon3695 Whether or not it's flawed is irrelevant. It's why Authors hate you saying "Oh, they're like X from Y."
What you're basically saying is that they copied the character and made tweaks rather than make an original character.
One of my favourite moments involving the doctor being the last timelord is in waters of mars when he's like "I'm not the survivor of the time war, I'm the winner, the timelords had all these rules and now they're mine" basically acting like a god, and the emotional whiplash of immediately being defied.
That moment of 'I'm not the guardian of this culture, I'm it's sole owner, I can do what I want with it because who's going to stop me or say I'm wrong?' followed by immediately being shown why it was the way it was, was just brilliant (this was before the return of the master by the way, so as far as everyone knew he really was the last)
"The laws of time are MINE!"
The time lord victorious really is interesting character development for the doctor
THE LAST UNICORN! Mentions of which are almost as rare as actual unicorns! I love that you mentioned it!
18:00 I commend your restraint while simultaneously wondering what took so long. Thank you Red
My favorite example of this trope will always be pthe pre-reboot version of Archie Sonic's Knuckles the Echidna.
Over the course of the original Archie Sonic comic run, Knuckles went from believing he was the last of his kind (due to his father pretending to commit suicide-by-fire in his youth) to discovering his people were still numerous and thriving. Through the ups and downs of it all, Knuckles got out of it a loving mother, a new baby brother, a soulmate, more relations than he could count, and a very complicated family tree. But, at the end of the day, Knuckles wasn't alone anymore, and he was happier for it.
And then the Echidnas begin to decline. As time goes by, more and more of Knuckles' people are killed or lost. Their cities are razed, their monuments torn down, their people herded into camps or sent to the slaughter. In the end, the Echidnas number not even a _fraction_ of what Knuckles had found them as, but they were still there. Knuckles was not alone.
And then he was.
In the end, the last Echidnas are taken from him. His father, his mother, his brother, his soulmate, and all the ones who had survived the turmoils plaging them - lost to the void. Knuckles does his best to save them, desperate to bring them back.... but he fails.
Knuckles goes from believing he is the last of his kind to realizing that he isn't... then knowing that he is.
And he is alone again, forever.
And then the series was rebooted before finally being cancelled.
It's funny, because the story gives the Echidnas so much focus that there are actually several different factions of Echidnas that are all independently quite numerous compared to most other species that appear in the story.
Also, it just occurred to me that Mari-An probably escaped getting thrown into the void with the rest of the Echidnas, since she was married to an outsider and was already living in hiding elsewhere.
I know many people didn't like Legend of Korra, but I think they followed-up very well on that with Tenzin and the pressure that he feels having to live perfectly according to Air Nomad culture. It reaches the point where he over performs his culture and forgets his own personality and resents his siblings who don't have to live like that. He clearly changes significantly when other air benders are created as it is so much easier for him to relax because he and his kids are no longer the last ones, there are other people to carry the weight with him.
4:14
*Barbara:* "Continuity?"
*Donna:* "What's continuity?"
At least DC's willing to hang a lampshade on one of their most glaring issues... -occasionally.-
lampshading doesn't fix anything though.
@@ShadeSlayer1911 Oh, no no, of course not. But "at least" means that addressing it is "literally the least thing they could do." Slightly more than "nothing," considerably less than "the bare minimum."
You can't spell "continuity" without mentioning Donna Troy 😂😂
@@Wendy_O._Koopa I wouldn't even go that far. Lampshading doesn't even mean they're addressing it or even the bare minimum. It's just acknowledging that they're doing it. People can and do acknowledge they're doing something, even doing something wrong, and still do nothing to change their behavior whatsoever.
In fact, lampshading can actually do the opposite. There are a lot of writers, especially around comics, that seem to operate under the belief that lampshading makes it okay to do the thing. Like if we wink at our bad writing and have characters mention the bad writing, it suddenly stops being bad writing. So it can actually do the opposite of doing even the bare minimum. It can be a doubling down of sorts.
And the fact that comics have been doing this lampshading thing for so long now should tell you how they're not doing anything about it.
@@ShadeSlayer1911 I literally described it as "considerably less than _the bare minimum."_
HOLY. CRAP.
I have loved the Avatar show for years. I have championed it amongst friends and family.
And only now, has someone pointed that out to me. Only now has someone finally put into words how powerful and perfect Aang's final conflict and its resolution are.
Thank you Red. Your eye for storytelling and passion for teaching have done something for me I can only describe as "profound". Like any great magic trick, it's so obvious, yet I never saw it.
I still have so much to learn about storytelling.
I feel like the concept of a 'last of their kind' character rebuilding their kind in a sense by sharing that culture with others is super interesting and pretty underutilized.
Funnily enough the only example of this I can think of is in The Legend of Korra, where at the start the culture is carried on through Aang's offspring, but through events later in the show they end up sharing that culture with the wider world as well.
I feel like this idea is a little harder to do when the 'kind' in question has some kinda powers, but if you write it as just a cultural thing there's a lot of room to make a good ass story out of this.
superman, kung-fu panda rant, AND atla?! and you kept it under 25 min!? damn... getting pretty efficient with these trope talks. loved it, thank you.
I think another reason why The Last of Their Kind often winds up finding more like them is also because that's actually a very, very common experience amongst humanity in general. As a disabled/mentally ill/autistic person, that's basically kind of our universal experience, feeling like you're alone or just weird or broken and there's literally no one else in the entire world who is like this only to discover that not only are you not alone by ANY means and there's actually hundreds of thousands of people who know EXACTLY what it's like, but that's also actually one of the defining features of being LIKE THAT. Even when it comes to something as common as grief or a break-up, it FEELS so isolating, but is, in fact, very, very common.
So much this. Being able to hear the stories of other people with ADHD, and be like "that! I know that!" was something that drastically improved my own mental health. It was incredibly fulfilling knowing there are other people out there who struggle the same way I do.
As someone who's just figuring out the're autistic in their 20s, this is so accurate it hurts.
Absolutely. I'm autistic, was deeply mentally ill for a while, and recently discovered I'm non-binary. And then I met someone exactly like me. We've grown to be very good friends and that friendship is what has given me genuine hope and meaning for the first time in my life.
No wonder this video clicked a lot more than usual.
I agree with this, 200%.
I was one of the first at my highschool to come out as asexual and be really open about it by my junior year and I thought I was the only one
But my senior year other people who I was already friends with came out as ace too and I realized I wasn't alone and there were other people who understood and like me
11:46 I haven't watched the rest of the video yet but can I just say: This is my favorite part of the Last of Their Kind trope. Especially if they've already proven to be among the strongest in their party and suddenly their Broly equivalent slides in. Mollywhoppings go crazy haha!
I really liked they way you just casually improvised a full on analysis of Kung fu Panda on the go. 😂 10:34
The "Mysterious artwork unlike any seen on earth" sent me. One of my favorite bits on the channel.
Okay that is absolutely the best justification of Aang taking away Ozai’s bending I’ve ever heard! Usually people just complain that it was a deus ex machina so it was nice just to hear a positive take on it, let alone one so eloquent and thoughtful. Thanks, Red!
That analysis of Aang's journey was absolutely wonderful. It's one of the best epic stories in modern fiction, and you hit some of the aspects that makes it that. Thanks.
Toothless has some non-verbal searching for others of his kind in how to train your dragon series as once in a while episode focus. Hiccup does his best to look around for leads when available. The viewer doesn't find the answer until the third movie when the one guy who is a counterpart to hiccup has slain them all with gadgets and enslaving dragons.
Thank you brother for remembering this perfect movie
It was an amazing,important part of my childhood
Of course, you can have a true Last of their Kind be confronted with the option of staying with their real family or an acquired family. You just need a simulator like VR or a holodeck. One of the best twists on this trope I can recall is the Star Trek: TNG episode "The Inner Light". The one where Picard gets the flute. If you've seen it, then you're probably tearing up at the mere mention of it.
This was probably my favorite episode yet. During the Kung Fu Panda spiel, I was like, "Red seems much more lax today," only to find that was completely off the top. It really added an air of levity to the video, also the explanation on the last airbender's use of the trope was described perfectly.
A childhood example of this that stood out to me was The Tigger Movie. Yes, a direct-to-dvd movie in the Winnie The Pooh canon, played The Last Of Their Kind COMPLETELY straight. And it is weirdly heart rending watching Tigger briefly bellowing that he'll wait alone for his "real" family at his adoptive little brother Roo.
Thank you for explaining the reasoning behind the ending of ATLA ❤️ I feel like a lot of people misunderstand the ending and often dismiss it by saying "Well Aang should've just killed him, I would too" _You_ weren't raised an Air Nomad. You weren't raised with that pacifist culture. You weren't forced to feel the guilt and depression that Aang went through when he found out all the Air Nomads - everyone he knew and cared for - were dead. You weren't forced to carry the weight of an entire culture and godlike powers on your shoulders. Literally NO ONE can understand Aang but himself. Everyone wants him to be someone else; to be more like his past lives, Kyoshi, Roku, etc. But he is Aang, the last airbender, and his experiences and suffering are unique to him.
Gotta love Dragon Ball. Broly is now cannon, Vegeta has a brother and there's a whole other in-universe universe where the Saiyans never died out
AND Broly is actually a character now, not just a scream
Trunks: "I have an uncle?!"
Vegeta: "You *had* an uncle."
Honestly I do wish the Universe 6 Saiyans were more fleshed out, especially since they're confirmed to be an entirely different culture to the Universe 7 ones. There's potentially a ton of interesting character work you could make with a character who's the last of their kind and remembers their kind properly (Vegeta or the Doctor, basically), and finding through travel - multiversal or otherwise - this surviving clade that are the same species but not the same people.
Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon is a pretty good example of the bitter sweet side of "the last of their kind"
A true endling whose legacy only survived as a recessive trait amongst the Light Fury population.
14:17 Oh Red if you only knew how deep the "Doctor is the last of their kind, except when they're not" rabbit hole on Doctor Who goes. Let's just say things got... interesting during Jodie Whittaker's run. lmao.
The fact that I was beginning to legitimately worry Red wasn't going to mention Avatar in a "I've talked about this show plenty already, you already know so I'm gonna just not." way. How could I lose faith like that?
Amazing video as always. I've never sat down and thought about the particulars when it comes to the emotional story consequences of the Endling's people possibly coming back. Seen it plenty, but it's never clicked how much that truly changes in the dynamics of the story.
@13:30 - The Third Doctor and The Master stories are easily among the best in the classic series. You should definitely give 'em a view, if you get the opportunity.
17:15 I love you casually dropping one of the most heart-wrenching moments from that show, great stuff
21:20 "Were pretty easy to kill" over a scene in a room with the skeleton of one air nomad surrounded by a dozen or so sets of fire nation armor.
I can't help but think of the Killer Rabbit scene in Monty Python where Tim the Enchanter is sputtering in disbelief because the knights don't believe it's dangerous.
"LOOK AT THE BONES!"
that's actually one of the things i loved from Korra bringing back AirBending
Air Nomads choosing pacifism wasn't for the good of them, it was to protect everyone else
One character that is the last of their kind is King Clawthorne from the Owl House. *SPOILERS AHEAD*
King as the last of the Titans has no idea about anything of his people. His only potential source is the Collector, whom may not know much about their culture since he just played with the babies. At least its implied that King doesnt need to be the last of the Titans via asexual reproduction
Also Owl House clip spotted 17:17
Loved the avatar commentary, I also want to comment in some ways avatar also got to the the last of their kind that gets to connect to their culture through Katara since she was the last waterbender of the Southern tribe and yearned to connect to that culture, and then was able to have a whole arc to connect to it and also have culture shock. So Avatar ended up doing 2 instances of the last of their kind in wonderfully different ways
The dozens of probably suffocated fire nation corpses surrounding Giatsu tells me that they were _not_ that easy to kill.
they had the power of the comet. no one had a chance.
Wanted to mention that Avatar does technically subvert it slightly but in a roundabout way. Simply Aang wishes to continue his People's legacy through his own kids, a logical idea for someone like him where what he's the last of is cultural and related to his bending. And while eventually even more Airbenders come about due to Harmonic Convergence likely trying to rebalance the benders of the world, this is long after Aang has died and the cycle has continued with Tenzin having his own kids who in turn would also have tried to carry on the legacy of the Air Nomads. In a sense, Aang went through the most extreme of this trope but caused it to become averted in the way that made the most sense.
Part of that comes from Aang being the last of his kind (culture) and the last of his kind (Airbender), but not last of his kind (species).
He can make more Airbenders as easily as he can have children. An Airbender isn't a seperate species. It's just a part of his legacy.
He can pass on the culture to other people, even those who were not born into that culture (as you see in the comics).
But Aang doesn't lose that connection of being the last of his species that a lot of other instances of this trope have.
@@wavesofbabies figured it was simply interested how he went about it. He was the last of his kind for awhile and upheld their culture for as long as possible. Though him having kids didn't assure they'd be airbenders since Tenzin was only 1 of three and Bumi gained it from Harmonic Convergence. I think it works for him and the overall narrative for Airbending to have returned later on after his death both so he still lives as effective the last one save for his son who he put so much love and care into. Once others come back, it's due to quite literally people becoming more in tune with the spirits as there was a sudden massive spiritual event likely trying to rabalance the world
I love this trope. It is great for mystery and pathos. The last survivor of some great tragedy. It can give a lot to chew on, particularly if said survivor was at least partly responsible for such tragedy. One a related subject, I would love to see you cover the "human weapon" trope.
The twist in the Last Unicorn is that she's the last *free* unicorn. And then she saves the day. Her struggle is entirely external: finding the others. And that's on purpose because she's part of the immortals trope. The twist there is she's forced to experience mortality, therefore highlighting what it's like to be true immortal. Like she can die, but it's unlikely due to her power set. "We can be hunted and trapped, we can even be killed if we leave our forest, but we don't vanish." For heavens sake, she asks if she's truly the last and then is answered, naw fam they were chased away by the red bull, there's a king involved. Go find them! And she like kay and then does exactly that for the rest of the movie.
She was the last one that Haggard needs to have caught them all!