Okay to quote my initial reaction that i moved to my blog
"FINALLY have gotten chance to watch part 2!!1 OMG ZUKO IS AWESOME!!! i love how this character have evolved not just emotionally throughout the show, but hes actual fighting ****and power! i think its def' one of the greatest achievements of the show how natural they have made it. First time he fought Azula she kicked his ass and this time i swear it was if Zuko was going easy on her the way he was deflecting and dissipating her attacks without using fire (like Iroh when Zuko first fought Zhao)"
LOL
first time ive read back over old posts
Okay, getting down to basic facts here
1) Azula probable does have more "potential power". She is the only firebender we've seen that has blue fire, which as the creators put it, makes it hotter than others (you can also see it cool down to red when it hits objects). Kinda similar to Liz from Hellboy movie.
2) ZUko is a VERY powerful bender. Prob is people keep comparing him to THE MOST powerful benders ie Iroh, Ozai, Azula.
3) ZUko HAS, over the course of this series, become more powerful, has developed better technique and now draws his power from a FAR healthier source than Azula's. Her's helped to cause her insanity- fear, anger and munipulation leading to paranoia and instability. Now for a "rough" fourth point, which im sure huge Azula fans will argue
4) Zuko is more experienced than Azula. As far as we know she has never left the FN before her quest for Zuko (she is a 14 yo Princess after all) or atleast not into a war zone or varied fights. Some evidence for this is her quick wooping by Katara in CROD, whilst Zuko fought Katara to Stand still. Azula is however a fast learner, so she does make up for this, but Zuko is pretty fast in this area also.
Dam i had a good fight brak down from start of my posting on this forum, but im not bothered to find it
I'll try best to re-do it
Zuko defeated Zhao, who was said to be a Fire Bending Master by Iroh people, give old guy some credit. He then easily has Zhao on the ropes in S1 finale, having learnt from old fights and experienced more during season.
Aang- Zuko has always put up a good fight against Aang, a guy who has incredible potential in all bending arts. Zuko had to go into the Avatar state to escape Zuko and crew in first three episodes. During the fight at the "monastry" (? the place with the perfume) he fought Aang to a stand still, but was stopped by intervention of Katara and Sokka with June's creature.
Season 2 Zuko fought Aang (and Azula) to stand still, and was only knocked out of fight because of the lack of flooring
and in CROD he was again doing incredible well against Aang and had him on the ropes just as often (if not more)than Aang had with him.
IM not sure if i should count finale fight. Zuko was doing impressively there, but difference here was that Zuko was definetly not trying to hurt Aang (though he never tried to kill him b4) and Aang the same with him, but in this handicapped fight Aang was eventually victor.
Azula- Zuko couldnt land a blow before on her, a fire bending prodigy (a master), but the second time they fought Zuko was dodging her blows and Azula had to actually block his. In BR, ZUko was (as i said in blog) blocking Azula's blasts without needing to resort to using fire and, with out intending to badly injure her (he could have knocked her off during the fight, same with Sokka and his sword) whilst Azula, who wanted to injure/kill them, couldnt get a move in.
SR- ZUko was fairly even here and Azula (quoting old Obiwan) "i have the high ground". The terrain here could give us a straight fight, with both being knocked off. and in Reply to another post- Azula was closer to wall, if their positions were reversed she'd been hard placed to have reached wall. Plus surviving fall isnt part of battle
in the Finale Zuko again fought Azuala, both powered by comit (so Azula should be more powerful considering blue fire) to stand still and wasnt tired. Personally id perfered the fight to not have had Azula so unstable (how did she produce lightning???) and Zuko to have more obviously had advantage over her. Zuko deserved his victory guys, come on, she was to him what Ozai was to Aang. Still think he should have had been zapped, but AS IN THE FINALE, Azula did this because she knew she couldnt get him in a straight fight. She was apparently stable enough to strategize drawing Zuko into her fire when she aimed at Katara, so she wasnt as unstable as some make her out.
Katara- S1 Finale; at night, in an ice land, with the moon almost full, Zuko was almost even with Katara, and (imo) was really trying to get by her to Aang. As soon as Sun was up Katara was taken out easily. And in CROD they were evenly matched. With Katara supposably being able to perform blood bending anytime (WTF?) she now has advantage over him.
Finally- Zuko has gone from using brute force and powerful attacks that weakened him (first Zhao fight), to direct and small blast like ZUko (rough rhino's bow-man and lighting candles). In CROD he strategicly applied his bending into rapid attacks, charging a greater blast and uttilising whips for distance and control. In DOBS he, for first time, redirected a very powerful double lightning attack from OZai which took a second to charge.
In WAT, he was able to directly block Com-bust man attack, something Gaang were useless against, and after Fire Masters, his whole style has changed to be more fluid with him now redirecting others attacks and dissipating them (Iroh did same with Zhao's kick in first fight). HIs blasts were also larger, yet they did not weaken him as before.
Even if you dont accepts that Zuko could defeat Azula (which i think he can) he is definitely now a master
