Avatar: The Last Airbender viewers turn on “toxic” fandom

Opinion has been well and truly divided on Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, with some fans now despairing over the show’s “toxic” fandom.

From the moment Avatar: The Last Airbender was dubbed as a “hot pile of garbage” online, establishing its legacy was never going to be a smooth journey.

Now that fans are familiar with the changes Netflix introduced to the story, it’s safe to say character changes and twists in narrative haven’t gone down too well.

While some fans are happy sharing their disappointment, others are concerned with the growing “toxic” fandom on social media.

Avatar: The Last Airbender viewers slam “toxic” fandom

According to fans on Reddit, viewers of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender have become too much of a “toxic” fandom.

Since the show’s release on February 22, it’s been in for a pretty rocky road online. Though social media posts haven’t been as forgiving, Netflix‘s Avatar: The Last Airbender has stabilized on Rotten Tomatoes with a Tomatometer rating of 59%.

“How did this fandom become so toxic..?” one person asked on Reddit. “I’m just wondering how this fandom became so toxic and I don’t mean the people who simply dislike the show. You have your reasons and that’s fair. I also have my critiques about the show in itself. I mean the people who have just been shitting on the actors and attacking their looks. Some of them are literal kids getting attacked for looking “fat” or being “ugly”.

“It’s just kinda sad how a show I grew up loving has turned so ugly so fast. It just reminds me of how the previous actor who played Aang in the movie was being bullied and threatened so badly that he quit his acting career and completely disappeared from the internet. He was a child,” the post continued.

A second weighed in: “Totally agree and it’s really weird how they’re lacking self-awareness of their behavior. I have seen a lot of people going ‘I do not mean to be rude’ to just blatantly offensive takes and it makes no sense.”

While many viewers agree that the fanbase has a problem, others cite rival TV shows and movies with what can be seen as much bigger problems.

“Every TV show, book, or movie that gets another adaptation is like this,” one fan stated. “Percy Jackson fandom is an even bigger mess than ATLA if you can believe it, after their TV adaptation lol.”

Another jumped in: “Reminds me of the Star Wars fandom. Nobody hates Star Wars as much as Star Wars fans.”

With more reports and posts released on Avatar: The Last Airbender by the day, it doesn’t seem as though this controversy will die down any time soon.

All eight episodes are now available to stream on Netflix.