the extended atla franchise is really proof for why an IP-based approach to art does not work because while it is true that michael dante dimartino and bryan konietzko Created atla, it should be clear from the quality of the rest of the installments in the franchise with their name/stamp of approval on it that they were not the deciding factor in the quality of the original show. in fact, many if not Most of the series best episodes were written by head writer aaron ehasz and his then-wife elizabeth welch. neither of theses two have the Right to make more avatar even though they're a big part of what Made It in the first place.
ehasz then went out to put out 'the dragon prince' for netflix which was not a show i was crazy about but i think i feel pretty confident in calling it better than legend of korra.
now what's also notable about this situation is that ehazs is a notorious enough misogynist to have a section of his wikipedia page devoted to his alleged professional mistreatment of women
elizabeth on the other hand has absolutely no presence online whatsoever. ATLA is her only writing credit. She wrote eight episodes of the show including Zuko Alone, The Avatar and the Fire Lord, and The Southern Raiders. She and aaron are now also divorced.
Now, if you know anything about how misogynist male creatives working in the same field as their wives operate, then you can probably reach the same conclusion I have. If a man is willing to treat female coworkers like his nanny and assistant as a baseline, imagine what he feels entitled to expect from a female coworker that is also his wife. I would not be surprised if much of the work on ATLA that ehasz was able to build his career off of would not have been nearly as good without a lot of behind the scenes assistance from elizabeth.
so of the 4 people mentioned here, the one with the absolute least claim of any entitlement to the Intellectual Property of the avatar franchise is overwhelmingly likely to be the most responsible for the meaningful character and narrative writing that caused ATLA to even earn enough accolades to be worth franchising in the first place.
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