It's not as bad as people say, but it's not as consistently great as A:TLA.It isn't magic. The show goes through great detail about it. Not everyone could use it. Heavily relies on martial arts to use. Your born into your element. You don't use incantations. Bending has much more restrictions in comparison to magic where magic has a lot more freedom to use. Bending is more realistic and thematic in their approach in comparison to how magic generally works.
...What?