WHYTBishe

Neji pushes Hinata to quit. Not only because she's outmatched, but because the win/lose conditions are "surrender, incapacitate, or die." First choice he makes is not to attack her and end it while she's too busy panicking, which he could have (and should have in my opinion), but to force her to surrender - which she would have if not for Naruto and in turn her obsession with Naruto.

That fails, he goes to incapacitate her and continues pushing her to forfeit. She still keeps fighting and he doesn't says "fuck it" and go for killing blows, contrary to what Hinata fans and Neji haters like to think. Both in anime and manga, Neji doesn't try to actually kill her until she makes that comment that is the basis for my own dislike of her.

Now, reverse their skill level and try to tell me Neji wouldn't be dead - because it isn't like Hinata values his life nor does her father.

it's okay. but every single babymonster song is so freaking predictable and its tiring. i can name every single BM title track and it all has the exact same formula.

so here's how to make a babymonster song because yg has no creativity!! :DDD

1. song starts off with either a snappy verse or the lyrics to the chorus, mostly sung by either chiquita or ahyeon

2. mini rap segment before the chorus (optional) mostly done by ahyeon or ruka

3. rora or pharita sing the prechorus where the beat slows down

4. chorus (obviously not the same but theyre similar enough TT)

5. the same exact rap portion in every SINGLE SONG with first ruka then asa

6. yet again prechorus with rora or pharita or sometimes chiquita

7. random slowed down bridge for the vocalists to get some time to shine

8. random ahyeon high note that doesn't fit the vibe of the song sometimes but who cares (mandatory for every baemon song)

9. a random beat

10. dance break / outro thing where all the members shout / sing together

Is this thing on? Good. Because we need to have a very serious, very urgent conversation about media literacy on this website, and I am entirely out of customer service patience.

Welcome back to the dash, it’s your local neurodivergent mixed Black & Indigenous Contralto realist scarlett-fire-cat, and yes—the Season 5 Catra icon stays on during this absolute roasting of the Avatar: The Last Airbender fandom.

Today, we are dragging the "Draco in Leather Pants" treatment out into the daylight, and the target on my board is none other than Princess Azula.

I am exhausted. I am furious. And frankly, the absolute math is not mathing with you Azula apologists. We have entered a collective cultural delusion where a teenage imperialist war criminal is being rewritten as a soft, helpless victim who "did nothing wrong."

Let’s establish a baseline of reality before the simps start crying in my ask box: understanding a villain’s trauma is not the same as absolving them of their canonical atrocities. Azula is a masterfully written, tragic character. She is also a malicious, calculating predator of power who weaponized systemic fear against everyone she ever touched.

So pull up a chair, put your headphones on, and let’s look at the actual canonical facts of the text. Because reducing this terrifying, brilliant monster to a static "sad girl" trophy isn't the feminist take you think it is. It’s just lazy, uncritical fan-fiction.

Let's unpack the absolute clownery, starting with the reality of her choices...

1. The "But Ozai Abused Her" Myth: Trauma is an Explanation, Not an Absolution

Let’s start with the ultimate defense mechanism every Azula apologist hides behind: "But Fire Lord Ozai was an abusive, narcissistic father! She was just a product of her environment!"

Okay, first of all, let’s use our brains. Yes, Ozai is a monster. Yes, he weaponized parental affection to mold Azula into a perfect imperialist weapon. No one is denying that. But the absolute clownery begins when you act like Azula had zero agency in that dynamic.

Let’s look at the canonical contrast right in front of your face: Prince Zuko.

Zuko and Azula grew up in the exact same household, under the exact same abusive tyrant. The difference? Zuko suffered the actual physical and psychological brunt of Ozai’s hatred, yet he constantly fought to retain his humanity. Azula looked at her father’s cruelty and said, "Write that down, write that down!"

Azula didn't just passively comply with Ozai out of survival; she actively savored the power it gave her. When Ozai banishes Zuko, Azula isn't sad; she mocks him. When Ozai burns Zuko’s face off, Azula watches with a smirk on her face. That isn't a scared child trying to please a daddy who doesn't love her—that is a malicious opportunist feeding on the suffering of her own blood.

In sociology and psychology, we understand that trauma can explain why a person becomes twisted, but it never, ever absolves them of the damage they cause. Azula is a tragic character because we see how the Fire Nation’s hyper-militaristic, fascist culture completely warped her soul. But she is still a willing participant in fascism. She actively engineered the fall of Ba Sing Se. She happily accepted the title of Fire Lord to continue a century-long global genocide.

Stop treating this teenage dictator like a helpless toddler. She made her choices, and she chose cruelty every single time it served her.

2. The Psychological Warfare: Real Friends Don’t Use Terror Tactics

Let’s talk about the absolute romanticization of "Team Azula." Apologists love to treat Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee like a cute, badass trio of besties who just had a tragic falling out.

Excuse me? Did we watch the same show?

Azula did not have friends; she had hostages. She operates entirely on a zero-sum game of psychological terrorism. Let’s look at the canonical facts of how she recruited them in Season 2:

Ty Lee was completely happy living in the circus. She explicitly told Azula she wanted to stay. What did Azula do? She ordered the circus master to set the safety nets on fire and release wild beasts while Ty Lee was on the high wire. That isn't a "quirky girlboss recruiter." That is a literal, near-fatal threat against a childhood friend's life to force her into submission.

Mai was trapped in a suffocating political household in New Li An (Omashu). Azula used Mai’s boredom and political position as leverage to drag her into a dangerous, high-stakes military manhunt.

Azula herself says the part out loud in 'Sozin's Comet, Part 3: Into the Inferno' episode: "But what choice do I have? Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way. Even you fear me." She literally admits that she replaces genuine human connection with terror because control is her only love language.

When Mai finally turns on her at Boiling Rock—delivering the most iconic, iron-clad line in the entire series: "I love Zuko more than I fear you"—Azula’s entire universe fractures. She doesn't process this with emotional intelligence; her immediate, visceral reaction is to try and execute Mai on the spot.

If Ty Lee hadn't stepped in with a rapid-fire chi-blocking strike, Azula would have happily murdered Mai right then and there.

Stop rewriting her abusive dominance as a "complicated sisterhood." Azula systematically stripped away the autonomy of the only people who ever cared about her. When you romanticize that dynamic, you are normalizing the exact kind of toxic, controlling friendships that leave real-world people traumatized.

3. The Catra Comparison: Accountability vs. The Tantrum of Lost Control

Now, as someone sitting here with a Season 5 Catra profile pic, I am uniquely qualified to explain the massive, ocean-wide chasm between a genuine redemption arc and the desperate breakdown of an unrepentant villain.

People love to compare Azula to Catra from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. They say, "Well, Catra did horrible things, was abused by a parental figure (Shadow Weaver), went crazy, and she got saved! Why not Azula?"

Let’s break down the mechanics of a real redemption arc, because the fandom clearly lacks the media literacy to tell the difference.

Catra’s journey works because she hits rock bottom, realizes she is the source of her own misery, and actively chooses to change. Catra stops blaming the world, stops running from her guilt, and engages in the agonizing, messy work of accountability. She risks her life to save Glimmer with zero expectation of forgiveness. She literally says, "For once in my life, I'm doing something good." She allows herself to be vulnerable, faces her victims, and earns her place back through changed behavior.

Azula during the finale? That is not a redemption arc. That is a textbook psychological breakdown caused by a loss of control.

Azula does not snap in the finale because she feels guilty for the lives she ruined or the nations she burned. She snaps because her tools of terror stopped working. Mai and Ty Lee left her. Her father left her behind to burn the Earth Kingdom while giving her a hollow title. Her perfectionism cracked. The hallucinations of her mother, Ursa, aren't even about guilt; they are about Azula’s deep-seated frustration that she couldn't control her mother's perception of her.

When Zuko and Katara defeat her in the Agni Kai, Azula’s screaming, fire-breathing tantrum isn't the cry of a redeemed soul. It’s the rage of a tyrant who can no longer force the world to bow to her.

Catra chose to let go of her power to save her humanity. Azula would rather burn the world to ashes than lose an ounce of her power. They are not the same.

The Final Mic Drop

So to every single Azula apologist cluttering up the dash with your soft-girl edits and your uncritical think-pieces: grow up.

You can love Azula as a villain. I love her as a villain! She is one of the most masterfully written, terrifyingly competent antagonists in animation history. But stop trying to sanitize her crimes to make your support of her socially acceptable.

When you erase her malice, you erase the genius of her character design. And more importantly, when you make excuses for her psychological abuse of Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, and others, you show everyone on this dashboard exactly how much toxic behavior you are willing to excuse in real life.

Iroh was disgraced from leaving the war and failing the siege, she technically didn’t say anything “wrong” (though morally and ethically she was wrong).

Azulon WAS loosing his power from Ozai trying to scratch his way into the throne. Irohs failing was also HIS loss too! He lost Ba sing se!

All of these stuff were happening in the way azula was talking about. This shit obv did not come purely out of her own interpretation. It suggests that azula was victim of the environment she grew up in.

Azula was the one who INTENTIONALLY saves Zukos life by snooping around. When azula says that Ozai will kill him, she doesn’t actually wish his death. She hopes he will find refuge instead, to a “nice earth kingdom family”(lol).It demonstrates the fact that Azula is still very much naive and innocent to the concept of death and especially that of a closed one. Again, she doesn’t say he’ll die, she hopes that he will escape, hence why she tells him and Ursa afterwards. It’s a more of a “aha” moment, that he will be mildly upset and annoyed while she gets all the parental affection (lol). Not that he will literally die by his father’s hand.

It's all of the OTHER things she chooses to do as a fully congniscent adult that makes her a bad person.

She had as many, if not MORE opportunities than Zuko to get better.

I don't know what show you are watching or what Azula hate you are reading, but no.

Azula still gets hate for things she did as a nine-year-old in the Zuko Alone flashbacks. Example: Fans still say she abused turtleducks, wished death upon Zuko and other members of her family, among other things. And they'll use it as evidence that she is a bad person, as you said.

Saying she was a "fully cogniscent adult." No! Absolutely not! She was FOURTEEN when she appeared in season 2. FOURTEEN!!! A fourteen-year-old who is not only groomed by her father her entire life, but also groomed by the imperialistic propaganda that has kept the war going for a 100 years. She is literally the furthest thing from a fully cogniscent adult! She was still a child!

You know who was a fully cogniscent adult, IROH. Iroh was in his late 40s, pushing 50, when he led the 600-day siege in Ba Sing Se. Keep in mind, he spared the last dragon decades before the siege. He never challenged Ozai for the throne. Jeong-Jeong and Piandao were fully cognisant adults who fought in the Fire Nation Military. These grown-ass men who committed worse atrocities than Azula DEFECTED.

Saying she got around the same amount or more chances than Zuko is laughable. Ok, Zuko (pre-redemption) was the one who kept rejecting opportunities to change.

Example:

Blue Spirit Ep when Aang asked, "if we knew each other back then, do you thing we could have been friends?" He shoots fire

Saving his life in The Siege of the North ep

The Chase Ep when Katara says she can help Iroh. He shoots fire

The Crossroads of Destiny by both Katara and Iroh

Zuko made a choice. He took some lumps. But he made it.

Like you said, he backslid more than once. That gives Azula even FEWER excuses not to have had SOME kind of epiphany. A MOMENT'S hesitation. SOMEWHERE.

But she doesn't.

Not when she's trying to kill her own brother and uncle with lightning.

Not when her best friends decide this has gone on far enough (the PERFECT time for her to have SOME kind of realization)

Not after Aang and Zuko spare her life and bring her on a journey to find the mother that left such a yawning pit in her soul.

Zuko and Azula are similar characters. They come from the same place. Zuko made it out. Azula didn't. What's the difference?

The plain fact that one of Azula's core traits is that she ENJOYS hurting people. She feels POWERFUL when she causes pain and suffering. And nothing will convince her it's worth it to give up that feeling. Not her mother's love, or her father's abuse, or her "best friends" telling her what a stuck up little bully she is.

I get that you like her. So do I. She's a cool and tragic...villain.

Zuko was banished for 3 years, and Azula was not.

Azula was their father's favourite, and Zuko was not.

Zuko had 3 years with Iroh, Azula had 3 years alone with Ozai.

That in season 2 and the second half of season 3, Zuko and Iroh were wanted dead or alive by the Fire Lord, and Azula was ordered to hunt them down.

If Azula truly enjoyed hurting people to the (honestly comically cartoonish) degree you say she does, then she wouldn't:

push herself to perfection out of fear of losing her father's approval

be hurt over her mother thinking she was a monster - the Beach

Tell the Warden that he's interrogating the wrong man - Boiling Rock

break down after hallucinating her mother

Tell the hallucination of her mother: "What choice do I have? Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way." Which really goes against your view. She's saying she doesn't have a choice to be what she is.

Saying Zuko backslid (rejecting opportunities), so Azula should have had an epiphany, makes no fucking sense. It practically screams double standards. Zuko rejecting opportunities really indicates just how challenging it is for him to confront the propaganda he has been taught since birth. So reasonably, it would be similarly challenging for Azula to unlearn her father's influence and the imperialistic propaganda.

She very much did question Mai - she says," I never expected this from you. The thing I don't understand is "Why?". Why would you do it? You know the consequences."

I specifically said: Where in the show did Azula get a single chance? Notice that I didn't mention the comics.

But since you did, in the Search, Azula made a deal to Zuko to join the journey to find Ursa, none of the Gaang was happy with taking her along. And this is the same comic where Zuko dangled her over a cliff, right after he got Aang to leave, saying he could handle her. The same comic where her mind has deteriorated due to being in an abusive asylum for more than a year. The same comic where no one asked if she was ok when she jumped off Appa mid-air, hallucinated and rambled on about Ursa conspiring against her. If they were trying to help her, they did a terrible job at it. It drove her further away from them.

You say you like Azula. Yet you are the one who said she was a fully cogniscent adult instead of a teenager. When I point out that she's 14 and that there were fully cogniscent adults like Iroh, Jeong-Jeong and Piandao, who defected after committing atrocities worse than Azula, you don't seem to really acknowledge it. In fact, you apply these adult- level moralisations that she should have hesistated, she should have realised, she should have has an epiphany. That's clarity expected from an adult not a child solider.

Why SHOULD any of the Gaang have tried to help her? From their perspective the ONLY things they'd ever seen her do was try to kill them all without a single second's remorse!

It's so glaringly obvious that you haven't watched the show in a while, or you watched it while your eyes were closed.

You literally thought Azula was a fully cogniscent adult. Ignored that I even pointed it out. Ignored that you still seem to expect her to have adult-level critical thinking to have an epiphany on her own.

If Katara can make moral decisions. So can Azula.

If Zuko can make moral decisions. So can Azula.

Iroh was disgraced from leaving the war and failing the siege, she technically didn’t say anything “wrong” (though morally and ethically she was wrong).

Azulon WAS loosing his power from Ozai trying to scratch his way into the throne. Irohs failing was also HIS loss too! He lost Ba sing se!

All of these stuff were happening in the way azula was talking about. This shit obv did not come purely out of her own interpretation. It suggests that azula was victim of the environment she grew up in.

Azula was the one who INTENTIONALLY saves Zukos life by snooping around. When azula says that Ozai will kill him, she doesn’t actually wish his death. She hopes he will find refuge instead, to a “nice earth kingdom family”(lol).It demonstrates the fact that Azula is still very much naive and innocent to the concept of death and especially that of a closed one. Again, she doesn’t say he’ll die, she hopes that he will escape, hence why she tells him and Ursa afterwards. It’s a more of a “aha” moment, that he will be mildly upset and annoyed while she gets all the parental affection (lol). Not that he will literally die by his father’s hand.

It's all of the OTHER things she chooses to do as a fully congniscent adult that makes her a bad person.

She had as many, if not MORE opportunities than Zuko to get better.

I don't know what show you are watching or what Azula hate you are reading, but no.

Azula still gets hate for things she did as a nine-year-old in the Zuko Alone flashbacks. Example: Fans still say she abused turtleducks, wished death upon Zuko and other members of her family, among other things. And they'll use it as evidence that she is a bad person, as you said.

Saying she was a "fully cogniscent adult." No! Absolutely not! She was FOURTEEN when she appeared in season 2. FOURTEEN!!! A fourteen-year-old who is not only groomed by her father her entire life, but also groomed by the imperialistic propaganda that has kept the war going for a 100 years. She is literally the furthest thing from a fully cogniscent adult! She was still a child!

You know who was a fully cogniscent adult, IROH. Iroh was in his late 40s, pushing 50, when he led the 600-day siege in Ba Sing Se. Keep in mind, he spared the last dragon decades before the siege. He never challenged Ozai for the throne. Jeong-Jeong and Piandao were fully cognisant adults who fought in the Fire Nation Military. These grown-ass men who committed worse atrocities than Azula DEFECTED.

Saying she got around the same amount or more chances than Zuko is laughable. Ok, Zuko (pre-redemption) was the one who kept rejecting opportunities to change.

Example:

Blue Spirit Ep when Aang asked, "if we knew each other back then, do you thing we could have been friends?" He shoots fire

Saving his life in The Siege of the North ep

The Chase Ep when Katara says she can help Iroh. He shoots fire

The Crossroads of Destiny by both Katara and Iroh

Zuko made a choice. He took some lumps. But he made it.

Like you said, he backslid more than once. That gives Azula even FEWER excuses not to have had SOME kind of epiphany. A MOMENT'S hesitation. SOMEWHERE.

But she doesn't.

Not when she's trying to kill her own brother and uncle with lightning.

Not when her best friends decide this has gone on far enough (the PERFECT time for her to have SOME kind of realization)

Not after Aang and Zuko spare her life and bring her on a journey to find the mother that left such a yawning pit in her soul.

Zuko and Azula are similar characters. They come from the same place. Zuko made it out. Azula didn't. What's the difference?

The plain fact that one of Azula's core traits is that she ENJOYS hurting people. She feels POWERFUL when she causes pain and suffering. And nothing will convince her it's worth it to give up that feeling. Not her mother's love, or her father's abuse, or her "best friends" telling her what a stuck up little bully she is.

I get that you like her. So do I. She's a cool and tragic...villain.

Zuko was banished for 3 years, and Azula was not.

Azula was their father's favourite, and Zuko was not.

Zuko had 3 years with Iroh, Azula had 3 years alone with Ozai.

That in season 2 and the second half of season 3, Zuko and Iroh were wanted dead or alive by the Fire Lord, and Azula was ordered to hunt them down.

If Azula truly enjoyed hurting people to the (honestly comically cartoonish) degree you say she does, then she wouldn't:

push herself to perfection out of fear of losing her father's approval

be hurt over her mother thinking she was a monster - the Beach

Tell the Warden that he's interrogating the wrong man - Boiling Rock

break down after hallucinating her mother

Tell the hallucination of her mother: "What choice do I have? Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way." Which really goes against your view. She's saying she doesn't have a choice to be what she is.

Saying Zuko backslid (rejecting opportunities), so Azula should have had an epiphany, makes no fucking sense. It practically screams double standards. Zuko rejecting opportunities really indicates just how challenging it is for him to confront the propaganda he has been taught since birth. So reasonably, it would be similarly challenging for Azula to unlearn her father's influence and the imperialistic propaganda.

She very much did question Mai - she says," I never expected this from you. The thing I don't understand is "Why?". Why would you do it? You know the consequences."

I specifically said: Where in the show did Azula get a single chance? Notice that I didn't mention the comics.

But since you did, in the Search, Azula made a deal to Zuko to join the journey to find Ursa, none of the Gaang was happy with taking her along. And this is the same comic where Zuko dangled her over a cliff, right after he got Aang to leave, saying he could handle her. The same comic where her mind has deteriorated due to being in an abusive asylum for more than a year. The same comic where no one asked if she was ok when she jumped off Appa mid-air, hallucinated and rambled on about Ursa conspiring against her. If they were trying to help her, they did a terrible job at it. It drove her further away from them.

You say you like Azula. Yet you are the one who said she was a fully cogniscent adult instead of a teenager. When I point out that she's 14 and that there were fully cogniscent adults like Iroh, Jeong-Jeong and Piandao, who defected after committing atrocities worse than Azula, you don't seem to really acknowledge it. In fact, you apply these adult- level moralisations that she should have hesistated, she should have realised, she should have has an epiphany. That's clarity expected from an adult not a child solider.

Why SHOULD any of the Gaang have tried to help her? From their perspective the ONLY things they'd ever seen her do was try to kill them all without a single second's remorse!

It's so glaringly obvious that you haven't watched the show in a while, or you watched it while your eyes were closed.

You literally thought Azula was a fully cogniscent adult. Ignored that I even pointed it out. Ignored that you still seem to expect her to have adult-level critical thinking to have an epiphany on her own.

If Katara can make moral decisions. So can Azula.

If Zuko can make moral decisions. So can Azula.

“My mother thought I was a monster. She was right of course, but it still hurt.” I’m sorry, where is the indication here that Azula struggled to identify expressions of parental love? Is this parental love?

Ursa did love both her kids equally, with that I can agree, but you scold the commenter to not take the retcons for granted meanwhile you flat out CONTRADICT the ORIGINAL FOOTAGE where Ursa spoke to her way harsher than she did at Zuko. Ursa doesn’t show “respect” towards the children being different. It’s a reaction, whether that is positive or negative. Azula could have very well listened to a softer tone, a more mature explanation, but we are not given that. Ursa treated Zuko a lot more reasonably (not better! But reasonably) than Azula.

Yes. Ursa did speak more harshly to Azula than she did to Zuko, in some of the flashbacks from the original cartoon. Absolutely, she did that.

And it was an example of good parenting, not bad.

Azula, in these scenes, was engaging in cruel behavior, and then she responded with dismissiveness and annoyance to Ursa's attempts to scold her for that cruel behavior. This does not merit a decent, loving parent backing off and saying, "Oh, I'm sorry I made you feel bad! Don't worry, kid, it's okay to be cruel, you're not a bad person for wishing harm on family members or causing harm to others for your own amusement!" Azula's behavior merited further scolding from a decent, loving parent.

Zuko, meanwhile, responded with guilt and remorse for his behavior when he was scolded about the turtleduck/bread incident. That's why Ursa softened her behavior after he accepted the initial scolding as deserved. Before that? She scolded him just as harshly as she ever scolded Azula right out of the gate.

Let's not strip Azula of her agency in the cruelty of the choices she made. Azula's point of view was warped, and that's how she justified her cruel choices to herself, but at the end of the day Azula chose, repeatedly and deliberately, to lean into her father's warped view of the world - to lean into cruely, to lean into power over others gained through fear and violence, and to lean into the idea that kindness made people (people like Ursa, like Iroh, like Zuko) weaker and undeserving of empathy or compassion.

And it was not Ursa's job as a 'good parent' to 'love' her child out of such behavior with blind praise or never making Azula feel bad. It was her job as a good parent to scold Azula for cruel behavior and to do her best to model & teach kindness, compassion, and (healthy!) trust to her daughter. It was Azula's job, beyond that, to learn how to make her own choices and decide for herself whether to internalize her mother's lessons on kindness, or her father's lessons on cruelty.

Azula internalized the lessons on cruelty from Ozai and scorned her mother's lessons. That is why Ursa spoke more harshly to her, when she was being cruel and dismissive and otherwise displaying deeply worrisome behavior.

And we also see that Ursa treated Azula with love and trust, love and trust that got Zuko hurt, no less, in the flashback when Azula was trying to get Zuko to 'play' with her (aka play victim to the prank she planned for him and Mai) while Zuko begged Ursa not to make them play together. And Ursa took Azula's side, because Ursa loved both her children and desperately wanted to believe in Azula, in spite of Azula's repeated demonstrations of her own cruel and untrustworthy choices.

Iroh was disgraced from leaving the war and failing the siege, she technically didn’t say anything “wrong” (though morally and ethically she was wrong).

Azulon WAS loosing his power from Ozai trying to scratch his way into the throne. Irohs failing was also HIS loss too! He lost Ba sing se!

All of these stuff were happening in the way azula was talking about. This shit obv did not come purely out of her own interpretation. It suggests that azula was victim of the environment she grew up in.

Azula was the one who INTENTIONALLY saves Zukos life by snooping around. When azula says that Ozai will kill him, she doesn’t actually wish his death. She hopes he will find refuge instead, to a “nice earth kingdom family”(lol).It demonstrates the fact that Azula is still very much naive and innocent to the concept of death and especially that of a closed one. Again, she doesn’t say he’ll die, she hopes that he will escape, hence why she tells him and Ursa afterwards. It’s a more of a “aha” moment, that he will be mildly upset and annoyed while she gets all the parental affection (lol). Not that he will literally die by his father’s hand.

It's all of the OTHER things she chooses to do as a fully congniscent adult that makes her a bad person.

She had as many, if not MORE opportunities than Zuko to get better.

I don't know what show you are watching or what Azula hate you are reading, but no.

Azula still gets hate for things she did as a nine-year-old in the Zuko Alone flashbacks. Example: Fans still say she abused turtleducks, wished death upon Zuko and other members of her family, among other things. And they'll use it as evidence that she is a bad person, as you said.

Saying she was a "fully cogniscent adult." No! Absolutely not! She was FOURTEEN when she appeared in season 2. FOURTEEN!!! A fourteen-year-old who is not only groomed by her father her entire life, but also groomed by the imperialistic propaganda that has kept the war going for a 100 years. She is literally the furthest thing from a fully cogniscent adult! She was still a child!

You know who was a fully cogniscent adult, IROH. Iroh was in his late 40s, pushing 50, when he led the 600-day siege in Ba Sing Se. Keep in mind, he spared the last dragon decades before the siege. He never challenged Ozai for the throne. Jeong-Jeong and Piandao were fully cognisant adults who fought in the Fire Nation Military. These grown-ass men who committed worse atrocities than Azula DEFECTED.

Saying she got around the same amount or more chances than Zuko is laughable. Ok, Zuko (pre-redemption) was the one who kept rejecting opportunities to change.

Example:

Blue Spirit Ep when Aang asked, "if we knew each other back then, do you thing we could have been friends?" He shoots fire

Saving his life in The Siege of the North ep

The Chase Ep when Katara says she can help Iroh. He shoots fire

The Crossroads of Destiny by both Katara and Iroh

Zuko made a choice. He took some lumps. But he made it.

Like you said, he backslid more than once. That gives Azula even FEWER excuses not to have had SOME kind of epiphany. A MOMENT'S hesitation. SOMEWHERE.

But she doesn't.

Not when she's trying to kill her own brother and uncle with lightning.

Not when her best friends decide this has gone on far enough (the PERFECT time for her to have SOME kind of realization)

Not after Aang and Zuko spare her life and bring her on a journey to find the mother that left such a yawning pit in her soul.

Zuko and Azula are similar characters. They come from the same place. Zuko made it out. Azula didn't. What's the difference?

The plain fact that one of Azula's core traits is that she ENJOYS hurting people. She feels POWERFUL when she causes pain and suffering. And nothing will convince her it's worth it to give up that feeling. Not her mother's love, or her father's abuse, or her "best friends" telling her what a stuck up little bully she is.

I get that you like her. So do I. She's a cool and tragic...villain.

Kids don't get ideas from nowhere. Kids don't wake up one day and suddenly start thinking their mother thinks they're a monster with no prior evidence. What led Azula to believe Ursa thought that of her? What led her to believe she loved Zuko more?

First. Let's imagine that after the Agni Kai, Ozai didn't simply send Zuko on a long journey with a ship, a crew, money, and the Dragon of the West. Instead, he locked him in a cage on a remote island and kept him there for over a year, and then came and demanded his complete obedience and transformation into his lapdog. Should Zuko obey Ozai? Will it be good for Zuko? How will this affect his character? If you have the answers to these questions, then replace Ozai with Zuko and Zuko with Azula.