[quote=@SleepingSilence]


So back to your points. Can you think of a kids show where 'obvious gags for the young crowd' doesn't apply? Or can you think of a season one of a kids show that does its worldbuilding/lore better than Avatar? [i]Please don't say Steven Universe or Adventure Time, I beg you.[/i]


[/quote]


Off the top of my head? No, because most cartoons aren't really serialized the way Avatar is, or I assume it becomes such. Also because I'm not super familiar with a lot of cartoons. I haven't seen Adventure Time and Steven Universe is a bad example anyway because its first season is like 50 episodes and only like 10 of them have any sort of lasting lore relevance. Gravity Falls maybe? But I say that having not seen Gravity Falls. 

Most cartoons, and correct me if I'm wrong as this is absolutely not my area of expertise, tend to be more episodic in nature culminating in arcs near mid or season finales. But just because ATLA does its lore better than its peers doesn't mean I have to give it a pass for what I feel are its narrative shortcomings. 

I don't expect a character like Aang to understand the moral complexities of war profiteering, but I would absolutely expect a character like Katara or Zuko to