
I'm sure he was.
Growing up as Aang’s firstborn must've been a lot. I can't imagine the pressure of carrying that legacy, only to watch your younger brother be the "chosen one" just because he was born an airbender.
I’ve always felt like this was a great parallel to the show itself trying to live up to the original series. It feels like the creators speaking directly to us through Bumi, basically saying they hope they made us proud even if the show wasn't exactly what we expected.
He didn’t need airbending to make his dad proud, but seeing him finally get to be an airbender in the end was such a satisfying payoff for everything he went through.