i could joke that bato isn't in the post-canon comics bc it would be too gay but the reason he was omitted is in fact the same reason that the bakoda dynamic comes off as gay, which is that narratively he only exists to be water tribe bonus dad for one episode's plot and the rest of the time he's just There hanging out with hakoda. kind of a redundant character bc we already have a dad but also having Two Dads is what makes it come off as gay











