Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24074103-20131204160455/@comment-679780-20131204221639

Just to clarify, I only use terms and articles from the Avatar wiki to clearly state the difference between ways how various elements in Sonic games are manipulated. Obviously Avatar and Sonic series are not related at all. I just use the terms since I am a fan of Avatar and find it easy to differate from those who can manipulate the elements through various means and benders who can simply do so through magical/psionic arts.

For example Blaze is definitely pyrokinetic. I just call her a firebender because that's how she do it. Knuckles can cause quakes and shift rocks similar to an earthbender but he isn't one, he just does so by powerful punches.