Fire Nation Tank
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Fire Nation Tanks are large armored vehicles manufactured by the Fire Nation. They are first introduced in "The Northern Air Temple".
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[edit] History
It is unknown when these vehicles entered production, but they were first introduced in "The Northern Air Temple". They were likely designed by War Minister Qin and his unwilling accomplice, the Mechanist, an Earth Kingdom inventor. The Mechanist only agreed to help Qin design such vehicles in exchange for the safety of his people, who took refuge in the abandoned Northern Air Temple. When Aang and his group arrived and forced the Mechanist to break his deal with Qin, the War Minister launched an assault on the temple, which resulted in the Battle for the Northern Air Temple.
During the battle these tanks easily overwhelmed the temple defenses and advanced on the temple virtually undaunted. However, before they could proceed to destroy the temple, Sokka and the Mechanist ignited a natural gas pocket in a nearby crevasse, causing a huge explosion that destroyed the tanks and forced the Fire Nation to retreat.
These tanks were also used in the Siege of the North, where several of them employed ballistas to destroy the walls of the Northern Water Tribe Capital. However, they were destroyed when Aang and the Ocean Spirit merged to annihilate the entire Fire Nation invasion force.
The tanks again appeared when War Minister Qin and Princess Azula attempted to use the Fire Nation Drill to breach Ba Sing Se's Outer Wall in an attempt to invade the city. They were either destroyed or they retreated when Aang destroyed the Drill. Hundreds of these tanks were used to storm Ba Sing Se when Azula conquered the city several weeks later.
Finally, these tanks appeared on the Day of Black Sun trying to defend the Fire Nation Capital from the invasion force later. The tanks seen in this battle traveled on treads. Dozens of these tanks attacked, but they were little use against the Earthbending Powered Tanks, which actually crushed these tanks. The tanks could not stop the invaders from reaching the Capital, but they were later repulsed by the Fire Nation Airships.
Hundreds of these tanks were used to fight the Order of the White Lotus during the group's assault on Ba Sing Se. However, they proved no match for the masters of the Order and dozens were destroyed as the city was finally liberated. King Bumi stacked a whole bunch of these tanks, which was later used for games of kickball by the city's citizens.
[edit] Design
The Fire Nation sent these tanks to fight in the War. These tanks have two types of wheels- treaded wheels and wheels equipped with spikes. The Fire Nation tank is operated by one firebender and two or three engineers. The firebender shoots fireballs out of four hatches on each side of the top of the cabin. At the bottom of the tank is an escape hatch in case the tank gets damaged or capsized. A unique feature of the tank is a rotating cabin, capable of righting the tank should it get flipped over. Two grappling hooks on the front end allows the tank to scale even sheer rock cliffs. The tanks are powered by steam engines.
[edit] Weaknesses
These tanks have very few weaknesses to speak of. However, it has been demonstrated by Katara in battle that if Waterbending is used to freeze the axles of the tank's wheels, they can fall off, rendering them immobile. The tanks are apparently inferior to Earth Kingdom Tanks, since they could not take a single one down in The Day of Black Sun, Part 1: The Invasion.
Bumi, a powerful earthbender, was able to both jam the fire portals and launch the tanks into the air, hinting that brute force might be the only way to deal with the tanks.
