Ah, the classic "This old show was better!" technique to get people on your shitty, bigoted side. All while conveniently ignoring the fact that ATLA's sequel series ended with its female protagonist in a romantic relationship with another woman.
ATLA is better than Steven Universe in some respects (animation quality and consistency especially) and weaker in others (I find the sci-fi lore in SU stronger). But, hear me out here, I believe it's possible to...enjoy both shows at the same time without pissing around about which one is better.
As a fan of ATLA, Korra, and Steven Universe, the thought of not being able to enjoy one of them because it isn't the same as the other is alien to me. Few things anymore are judged on its own merits, but just judged on the nostalgia everybody has about something else.
I managed to catch two pieces of contradictory criticism from them: Steven Universe has both unnecessary episodes and is too serialized at the same time, apparently?
And it's not like ATLA didn't just copy the structure and Hero's Journey of the Star Wars Original Trilogy anyway and added "filler" stories to make it last three seasons, but that would just be a neat fact, not a reason to call ATLA "garbage" for having an episode about the Grand Canyon and not being as "tight" as Star Wars.
Oh god, now I fear the think pieces and stupid videos that are going to pop up now with the Netflix live-action ATLA series.