Disclaimer: this is long, badly explained, and I repeat myself. If something comes off as agressive, please tell me, this was not my intention.
"If I hadn't blocked my chakra, I'd probably be in the Avatar State right now!"
Out of context, it could sound like Aang is upset about Katara and that he's saying he'd enter the Avatar State if a girl doesn't return his feelings. The problem is that in context, it's more than that.
First, in The Ember Players episode, Aang was already upset with the play before the whole "the Avatar?, he's like a brother to me" scene, because he disliked the way he was portrayed. But then, in addition the play also brings up his uncertainty about Katara's feelings, so he leaves. What I mean to say here it's that his response to Katara with the "I'd probably be in the avatar state" it's not just because the play implies that his feelings are unrequited.
If someone wants to argue the line is awkward or that the writers shouldn't have put it like that, that's fair criticism, not saying the oposite.
"We kissed at the invasion, and I thought we were gonna be together."
You say that it would imply that Aang only values Katara as a potential girlfriend.
But for me, it shows that: Aang has romantic feelings for Katara, he wished that the Invasion kiss could mean they were moving toward a relationship, and he wants clarification because he's confused.
But none of that inherently means he doesn't value her friendship. Aang having feelings for Katara doesn't automatically means that he can't consider her a friend, platonic love and romantic love can coexist.
You can absolutely criticize the way Aang handles the conversation in that episode, (especially the kiss at the end when Katara told her she was confused) That's a valid and common criticism, even among people who like Aang. But "he wants clarification about their romantic status" and "he only sees her as a potential girlfriend" are two completely different claims.
My post was about people who constantly villainize Aang, and I accompanied it with an image of someone saying that Aang is a 'nice guy', which implies that his kindness isn't sincere and that his behavior towards Katara has just ulterior motives.
Aang does have flaws, but saying that he's secretly a "nice guy? For me a "nice guy" refers to someone who fakes kindness (to girls most of the time) just in hope to have a romantic relationship with a girl. It's someone who believes kindness entitles him to romance and only acts this way to people he considers potential partners.
But Aang is a sincerely kind character, he sees good in people, even showing empathy to enemies, which can become a character flaw.
He does gets frustrated, insecure at times, and handles some situations poorly and I don't say people can't criticize him, but my point was that there are people who interpret all his mistakes in the worst way possible and conclude that he'sa bad person.
Again, this is a fandom, so people should have the right to criticize the characters of pieces of media. But I feel like Aang gets a lot of hate for a lot less then other characters, like the same standards are not applied to him. His flaws are exaggerated and then presented as his sole character instead of being just a part of his character.
That's why I made the og post. And my comment "Some of yall talk about a kid like he's the devil or sum" was not meant to come off as a way to excuse all his actions and errors because he's a kid. It wasn't meant to argue that Aang is a flawless character, it was more of a sort of vent post because i don't understand why some fandom interpretations portray Aang in a such negative way, with takes that are like "Aang is a 'nice guy' who only sees Katara as a prize." or the "Aang just used Katara to have children"
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