People often compare Aang not killing Ozai with the Diamonds not dying at the end of Steven Universe and tbh I feel like ATLA handled that situation better. Aang gaining the ability to take away peopleās bending from the lion turtle was 100% a Deus ex Machina and shouldāve been foreshadowed better but otherwise the way he handled Ozai was a perfect fit for his character. He is the sole survivor of the Air Benders it makes sense that he wouldnāt want to give up a major part of his culture. Him taking a third option where he could both keep his ideals and save the world by neutralizing Ozai as a threat was the best way to wrap up his character arc imo. My problem with the ending of Steven Universe is that the Diamonds donāt really face any major accountability for thousands of years of space fascism aside from Steven not forgiving them. Donāt get me wrong they didnāt necessarily have to die and Steven definitely shouldnāt have been the one to kill them but their redemption(?) arcs werenāt handled super well. A pet peeve of mine in media is when a pacifism morality lesson just feels like the writer misinterpreting MLK Jr. and this is sort of an example of that I fear. Not saying thatās literally what happened just that itās how the ending feels. Which is why the Diamonds are best appreciated as characters when you just kinda ignore the space fascism stuff and view them as a metaphor for a toxic/queerphobic family. Also Iām willing to give Rebecca Sugar grace because itās not their fault that the show got canceled and they had to rush the ending. It probably wouldāve worked if there was more time to flesh out how the Crystal Gems would go about systematically dismantling the Great Diamond Authority and got more from the perspective of gens outside the main cast
