Is this a durability feat?

If it is, it's kinda ridiculous even for multiverse battles. Thoughts? Could they somehow shield against it or something? Casue it's a point blank explosion without a hair out of place.
You can see them thrown back right after the punch, but then an even bigger explosion comes and I don't think that they were out of its range.
Also, remember when Aang and Zuko where fighting in Book 1 and they tanked an explosion point blank once again?

As a whole I have a problem with firebending having an explosion like effect. If someone with science knowledge can give a reason or example for this happening then that would be great. Otherwise this seems inconsistent and shouldn't stand as a feat in any way. The same thing is when Aang and Zuko fired at each other in s1 and an explosion happened...since when does air + fire = explosion? If anyone can explain this then please do so as I'm aware I could be wrong.

@anthp2000:

Couple of things to keep in mind.

Avatar verse fire seems to pack more force than heat. If it was regular hot fire, then neither Zuko, nor Azula would be able to get that close to each-other's fire and physically cancel it or knock it aside. They'd get burned even when doing it. A point-blank explosion that close in real life would melt the flesh off you before it knocks you back - but since this is Avatar fire, there is more pushing force than heat.

Under normal circumstances, a sudden concussive force like that would do some damage even if it doesn't bang you against anything. But almost all Avatar characters can take shots like that without getting hurt. Whether that'sa durability feat or just a feature of their verse, I dunno.

@shepardoakenprime: Firebending isn't really the same as fire. This is evident by how Azula and Zuko are also able to make their fire blasts explosive.

Oxygen's explosive in high concentrations.

@anthp2000: Was there other times they were able to do so by themselves? I'm aware Azula did when she attacked a couple minutes before the gif in the OP, but I don't recall another time. It just seems out of the blue and too inconsistent to be qualified as something she/all firebenders can do on a whim and without an outside source. There wouldn't be a need for combustion benders if fire benders could in fact create explosions themselves with just fire.

@shepardoakenprime: Not only Azula was able to do that. In the very same episode, Zuko was spamming explosive fire balls.
And Combustion is even more explosive than Azula's blast in this episode.

No, because they somehow clearly cancel eachother out.
Somehow.
Don't ask me how, but for the sake of consistency it does not make sense for these guys to tank that kind of power at point blank effortlessly.

The top one seems to have a purely concussive impact on them, so it's a durability feat in that respect.

The second one I'd say yes, but I'd treat it more as blunt force durability than as heat resistance. Avatar characters regularly get knocked flying and are fine and even though fire burns the sh*t out of stone and metals, it doesn't always seem to do all that much to people.

Fire very clearly does burn them (Zuko's scar, Aang burning Katara, Zuko burning Toph etc). The fact that it's a children's show is clearly a factor. I do think they likely have a resistance to fire and heat a bit above real people since in the wake of the OP's second gif, Aang and Zuko are literally smoking and get up shortly after to resume fighting. It's worth noting that they are sent flying a significant distance too and crash into the roof, so it's a decent durability feat anyway.

Aang is also smoking when he is hit by the backlash of the Ozai's blast.

They have other feats to back this up though. Zuko has the feat above as well as other more feats from the COD fight as well as Book 1.
Azula has things like tanking her own charged lightning:

Gallery

That pretty much killed Aang and seemed to be hyped as lethal considering Zuko and Iroh's quotes.

She also has other feats:

Gallery

They definetely have the ability to back up such a feat but I'm still not sure yet.

Avatar characters have anime durability, always have

@amendment50: So you think it counts?

@anthp2000: I don't understand why it shouldn't

I really don't care. It's much better to watch without think on feats.

@anthp2000 said:

@pierpat said:

No, because they somehow clearly cancel eachother out.

Somehow.

Don't ask me how, but for the sake of consistency it does not make sense for these guys to tank that kind of power at point blank effortlessly.

They have other feats to back this up though. Zuko has the feat above as well as other more feats from the COD fight as well as Book 1.

Azula has things like tanking her own charged lightning:

Gallery

That pretty much killed Aang and seemed to be hyped as lethal considering Zuko and Iroh's quotes.

She also has other feats:

Gallery

They definetely have the ability to back up such a feat but I'm still not sure yet.

That lightning was clearly not full power.
It did not even damage her clothes, come on.

Just look at aang's robes after azula hit him.
If you're in contact with the beginning of an air blast you're pushed more than hit by it, just like a superhuman can throw you without damaging you.
It still makes no sense to me for Avatar characters to be above peak human durability when it's consistently shown and implied they are peak human durability, Wan aside.

@pierpat: His clothes were damaged a lot before Azula struck him. Lightning just ripped them apart after all that damage.
Her clothes at the comic were just fine before she was struck.

Just like they are totally fine after she was struck.

Aang had the area of the lightning torn apart, at least, and an actual deep wound in his back.

And if you want to say that for some reason azula's skin and muscles are x100 times harder than aang's ok(because that is what we are talking about, not even a bruise vs a deep wound), but it simply makes no sense for me and i'll keep considering these showing PIS/outliers.

Why wouldn't they be? Aang's clothes were hihgily damaged. It would only take another fireball to rip the apart.

Aang was struck in his back. Azula was struck head on and without so much percision.

I'm not sure if the lightning was as strong. Probably not. But tanking it since it was charged is already good enough.

Why is it PIS when she has more feats of low superhuman durability? It wasn't a one time ting.

Since when precision means anything in terms of actual damage once the part is hit?
I need precision to reliably hit you with a bullet in the eve, but once i've hit you the damage is the same even if i did it randomly, with no precision.
And again, the lightning that made deep wound that torn through muscle should at least tear the dress azula is wearing a bit, if the power was the same...but there is literally no sign of physical damage.
It's PIS because it makes no sense with re rest of her actings/showings.
If you can causally tank explosions that make grown men fly and lightning that tears to man's flesh, you should laugh at grown men punches and kicks and laugh to knives/arrows.
It's a matter of consistency.

That's the point. It's not the same part that was hit.
The bullet will make you bleed anyway. Lightning is different.
I already agreed that this lightning might no be as strong, however it shows much of her durability. And it threw her back anyway.
Tanking explosion isn't good enough for tanking lightning?
No, you shouldn't. Arrows and knives are gonna make you bleed. Lightning and explosions are pain, but won't kill if you have strong and touch body.
The explosion was not tanked casually anyway.

...How is skin's reaction to tension different according to where you've been hit, lol?
Throwing her back meanks nothing honestly, that's an effect comparable to a very minor airbending move a real life human could tank.
and again, i did not talk only about knives and arrows, but about punches and kicks.
Sokka's club should be useless against top tier benders if you where to give these feats legitimacy.
Or are you implying that sokka with his club deals comparable damage to those explosions?
Not tanked casually?
Zuko was fine after the gif you have shown, that clearly conveyed much more concussive energy than an arrow hitting a mask on your forehead...Oh wait
Zuko was flat out knocked out by an arrow that hit him exactly in that way.

Because the human body has certain weak points.
Obviously she can tank punches and kicks just fine. And that makes sense considdering that Katara that has no special durability feats was tanking Toph's rocks just fine just pushed back. Azula was never punched or kicked so we can see the effect. Only time was when Iroh kicked her and she wasn't hurt. Just fell.
Not all top tier benders have this durability just because they are benders.
Pretty sure that the arrow didn't have to do with energy.
Yeah, Sokka water club would be pretty useless against guys like Zuko.

I'm sorry bro, i'm actually in that field of study
There is no sort of "weak/strong" point of the skin in those areas, and even then it would make no sense for comparable tensions to leave a charred deep wound in one part and not even a slight burn in the other, even considering the areas where the skin is thicker and thinner.

"Pretty sure that the arrow didn't have to do with energy."

Excuse me....what?
There was no wound, it was clearly only the knockback of the arrow. What was it, magic.

Hey, if you wanna just say that a guy with a club can't harm zuko or azula i'll just have to say that we agree to disagree, your view of this topic is not compatible with mine.

@pierpat: Yeah, I explained that just cause the lightning wasn't as strong, it doesn't mean that it's not a good durability feat or that it's PIS.
I don't know what was it. tbh, I never understood that scene.
A guy with a club can harm them if he hits them on the head or if he hits them continiously. But hitting them on the chest 1 or 2 times in't gonna hurt them. At least not much.

Arrows from the Yuyan archers are pretty powerful and can pierce six inches of wood:

Just putting that out there.

The scene is totally feasible for real life, it's actually realistic.

If a guy hits you in the forehead with an arrow with a filled-in flat point it won't cut you, but the mere force will hurt you and even knock you down, depending on the bow. It's simply a scene where a normal human gets hit with an arrow, without having the usual fictional plot armor/superhuman durability that we are used to. Just like a bullet hurts even if you have a life vest on in real life.

Again, i guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

@rogueshadow said:

Arrows from the Yuyan archers are pretty powerful and can pierce six inches of wood:

Just putting that out there.

That's impressive, it's basically modern composite bow power instead of standard historical bow power.
Still not enough to proof the point, sadly.

@pierpat: Since Zuko has 2 other showings of durability in explosions I'd say that the arrow scene was PIS.

And again, that's fine, if you want to view it that way.
It's clear that our views are inconceivable here.

@pierpat: I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that even modern arrows couldn't pierce that much wood; enough to cause it to completely split.

Having had one in my own hands, i disagree.

here's a random video where a composite bow does similar penetration on a book.

In case anyone did not know paper placed like that has one of the best resistances to penetration and tearing in the world:

@pierpat: Fair enough.

Is it a durability feat, yes. Are people trying to seriously apply real life "science" to a cartoon show made for kids to enjoy because they are taking this way too seriously, yes.

Lol wait didnt Azula blast Aang through some rocks at one point? I thought it was quite obvious that durability in Avatar was crazy strong.

@koays: You mean that?

Or that?

I would agree but people often refer to them as peak human at the very best. Don't see it that way tbh.

Both Zuko and Aang were stunned by that explosion in Bato of the Water Tribe, they didn't tank anything.

@anthp2000: Nah Aang is 12 getting hit with enough force to shatter crystal and send him flying through the air almost 50 feet away where he slammed into a wall of rock. He then got up and continued the fight. Hes 12 years old. Thats low level superhuman at least in the range of Captain America at high end.

@killerforhire: @anthp2000: Thank you (killer) for replying, but from what I found oxygen is not flammable, that it only increases/decreases the flame rate of another substance. Therefore in every case an explosion happened there was something in the air that caused it. Now this makes sense when we consider the instance with Aang and Zuko, it is possible the perfume is what caused the rapid fire/explosion. It is also possible for dust from certain materials to explode from flame which explains Azula's attack at the temple. So basically they cannot create explosive blasts without an outside source, and the times they did are PIS imo.

Anthp2000 do you have have gifs of Zukos explosives blasts? It's just been a while. If they're all from the same episode then I'm almost certain once the animators did it once they did it a few more times since it looked cool.

@shepardoakenprime: Hmmm.....well shit, so oxygen only oxidizes fuel but isn't itself flammable.

I feel like I should've known that but I didn't. I shoulda' stayed in school.

@killerforhire: LOL its okay, the sites I searched said it's a common misconception even among scientists.

Man, you guys really love trying to explain everything with real life mumbo jumbo huh?

@shepardoakenprime: well it can only be Hydrogen then. The only possible way Air Bending could work is if he's somehow expanding and/or condensing gasses in the atmosphere.

@anthp2000 said:

@koays: You mean that?

Or that?

I would agree but people often refer to them as peak human at the very best. Don't see it that way tbh.

Nor do I:

@killerforhire: From what I know it is the changes of pressure that causes wind to blow at various speeds. If it also has to do with gasses then I give up lol I'm not scientific, I can accept Airbenders being able to just move the air but I wouldn't give them the ability to manipulate gasses and pressure.

Air is gas & wind is caused by gases expanding & rising from being heated by the Sun.

As for the hydrogen, if Fire Benders can pull it from the moisture in the air that could be how they sustain a flame.

@killerforhire: I could only find one funny looking site that said because of the different temperatures and gases is what makes wind. Every other site says pressure is what causes wind. Perhaps the temp and what's in the air does creates a bit of a gust but it's not what causes wind. Plus it doesn't make sense for it to blow horizontally when the substances in the air only move vertically.

@killerforhire: They would need a good amount of it though no? Isn't it rare to find a natural supply of hydrogen in the air? Especially since it rises up to space? Plus when hydrogen is caught on fire the flame is very dim and sometimes invisible, which is not shown in the series.