Alright, last thing I'll say on the matter (at least this time around):
Narratively, the Avatar State was never shown as a Super Saiyan type power up. I'm not doing power scaling here, I'm talking about the narrative.
The Avatar State is a Conflict Ender, like the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic. Almost every single time Aang used it in the original show, it ended the conflict.
Episode 1 - defeats Zuko and his crew, escaping.
Fire sage Temple - Roku inhabits Aang's body, wipes the fire benders and sinks the building in Lava.
Northern Water Tribe - annihilates the ENTIRE Fire Nation navy with help from the ocean spirit.
Sand Bender tribe - After learning that they stole and sold Appa, Aang enters the state and instead of being happy that the thieves are getting what they deserve, Sokka tells them to RUN.
Ozai - The second Aang enters the AS, Ozai is on the defensive. He can't get a single hit on Aang. He is running away the entire time.
The ONLY time it failed was Azula's cheap shot. This is important because it shows that even with all its power, it doesn't make him invincible. If the AS is physically incapable of ending the conflict, they are screwed.
The only reason the AS has had any weight going forward in the rest of Avatar media is because of all things it was capable of in the original show. Every single time we saw it used, its power was overwhelming and consistently ended almost every single conflict without fail.
The only time you see the AS fail to resolve a conflict is when he was shot in the back while re-unlocking the Avatar State. If Azula had missed or hadn't done it, that entire room would have been demolished.
If the AS is no longer capable of ending conflicts when it's used, it loses its narrative power.
The audience stops caring that it's being used because the power it once had is gone. It stops being impressive, it stops having any narrative weight because we're seeing it fail more often then it succeeds.
If you are going to have a Conflict Ender be beaten in your story, it needs to be done sparingly and cleverly.
My head gasket is gone. Destroyed. I had no injury / injuries going into the fight. I was throwing kicks, planted and jumping, all throughout camp as well as backstage before the fight. This came out of nowhere. I am beyond dark here. I can only describe it as hell.
life can become so complicated if you continue to get caught up in the intricacies, small details..focus on the big feeling, strongest direction & that base will become undeniably obvious