So basically a story about some average schmoe who befriends the Avatar, becoming BFF's for whatever reason & ends the story not any stronger or intelligent but wiser in the sense the adventure has given them a new look on life.

......... Fuck I do not like the everyman.

Man does Kyle Raynor suck.

Edited by slimcoder on Mar 12th 2020 at 12:33:45 PM

That doesn't seem like a story that would happen unintentionally.

the everyman means you are just a citizen like many, sokka is the everyman in that regard.

Granted a lot of series kinda cheat with that: the protagonist are everyman only in the sense they are dude that look like us(or could be us like us) just to figure out they are special in a way they dont know about.

is narrative trickery.

The Everyman is a character trope that only works early on in a character's arc.

As soon as that character takes a level in badass, or has something significant happen to change their life, then they don't qualify as The Everyman anymore.

An example of this would be Donald Malarkey from Band of Brothers.

If you discount the fact that his mother is dead, his father is absent, and he was raised to be a warrior, Sokka is the most everyman-ish of the group. As soon as he becomes more competent as a leader and warrior, he doesn't qualify anymore.

So you can have an Avatar that starts out as an everyman, but discards that characterization later on.

That's not necessarily true. It would depend on when you discover it, I think. There are plenty of Everyman stories where Joe Q. Normalguy wakes up one day to obtain INCREDIBLE POWER or finds out that he's THE CHOSEN ONE or some shit.

Luke Skywalker is an Everyman despite being a Force-Sensitive literally descended from the Force itself, whose dad is a terrifying Sith Lord running the fascist Space Nazis. None of that impedes him from being an Everyman, because none of that shit was a factor on his life before the story began. When the story began, he was a mundane dipshit living on a farm who just wanted to buy some power converters.

It is possible to write an Everyman story featuring the Avatar. You'd just have to write them as some person who never really cared that much about bending and might not even know they're the Avatar until Plot Events start occuring.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Mar 12th 2020 at 8:44:49 AM

So I finally was able to get The Rise of Kyoshi and, um, Avatar fanbase...we got beef. How is this not uber-popular and why are there not more people talking about it? What a dark, complex, intriguing, and downright fantastic book. This is a version Avatar unlike anything that's come before and it's goooooood.

Avatar Kyoshi is a phenomenally layered character and the epitome of what you expect an Avatar to be: powerful. Her personality by the end just screams "Don't mess with me, I'm the f****** Avatar". She is so different from any of the other Avatars we've gotten to know. She's not overzealous like Korra, sweet-tempered like Aang, mischievous like Wan, or chill like Roku. She's blunt, stoic, vengeful, and strict.

Seriously, I thought Korra was an anti-hero but she has nothing on her earthbending predecessor. In fact, I'm not sure whether or not Kyoshi would love or genuinely dislike Korra. If her relationship with Rangi is any indication, it would probably be the former.

I can't tell where Kyoshi ranks out of the Avatars for me. Korra is still my favorite and I definitely relate to Aang and Wan more as characters, but Kyoshi's story is just so good and timely.

It's nice to see the Avatar franchise has still got it.

Edited by deuteragonist on Mar 12th 2020 at 6:11:13 AM

That's the thing. As well written as Kyoshi is & it is well written it is still ultimately a novel spin-off. These things are rather niche for the most part unfortunately.

Its like with the Star Wars novels. There are many fantastic works of literature there but it doesn't reach as wide an audience as the TV shows, games & movies.

Wen Kyoshi movie?

Kyoshi vs Broly when?

I’m still reading it, so I can’t judge it as a whole. I do think that Kyoshi holds the record for “most traumatic reveal as the Avatar”, although Aang does have a lot of trauma adjacent to that.

Honestly, Roku had it easy.

Edited by KarkatTheDalek on Mar 12th 2020 at 9:36:40 AM

Though Roku had a pretty terrible death.

Left to die by his best friend after the entire relationship turned to shut with the knowledge that he will engage on a worldwide conquest that will bring about endless death & destruction all the while knowing he cannot stop it all.

And then mass genocide was committed & he knows all this could have been prevented had he just killed Sozin when he had him dead to rights.

The man died knowing everything he built & worked for was all for nothing as it all came crashing down.

Edited by slimcoder on Mar 12th 2020 at 6:42:58 AM

Yeah it's weird in comparison to Kyoshi and Aang how lucky Korra turned out to be even with all she went through. She had a great support system: both her parents were alive and well, she had a loving teacher and his family who took care of her, she had great friends who adored her, great allies, and none of her villains ever killed a person she loved. Hell, even a dangerous OP villain like Amon barely killed anyone.

That's why I feel like Kyoshi wouldn't be fond of her. Kyoshi suffered and struggled, but remained humble and never had the sense of entitlement that Korra had. It doesn't help that Aang set things up to be pretty great for Korra in ways that Kuruk did not for Kyoshi.

Edited by deuteragonist on Mar 12th 2020 at 6:57:15 AM

I'm not sure I agree. Yeah, Kyoshi started from a life of struggle but she was raised in a loving, yet strict environment similar to Korra. Yeah Korra didn't get betrayed by someone who raised her or witness one of her closest friends being murdered but I don't think Kyoshi would dislike her when you consider what her own supporting cast is like. Yeah they may have struggled but they're still outlaws who felt entitled to do whatever they wanted.

Huh does anyone else know that Katara is getting her own comic? Like its an actual graphic novel that explicitly stars Katara in the central role away from the rest of Team Avatar. Avatar: The Last Airbender – Katara and the Pirate’s Silver

https://www.comicsbeat.com/avatar-the-last-airbender-katara-and-the-pirates-silver-ogn/

The synopsis:

Its sink or swim for Katara!

When Team Avatar is suddenly ambushed by the Fire Nation, Katara gets separated from the group. Unable to rendezvous with Aang, Toph, and Sokka, Katara must avoid capture by aligning herself with some unlikely allies! The normally sweet and sensitive Katara will need to explore her tougher side if she’s going to reunite with the rest of Team Avatar….

Speaking of comics, I just found out that Cranefish Town in Imbalance is where the future site of Republic City will be. And it just so happens to be the place where Liling launched her bending supremacist movement.

Geez, no wonder why Amon choose Republic City. It's not only the capital of the United Republic but it's also where he can exploit the prejudices from the non-benders who remember Liling's supremacist movement as well as the non-bender police force established (ironically) by the Kyoshi Warriors.

Like it is the exact site? I knew it and Yu Dao were in future United Republic territory. I didn't realize one of them was explicitly the future location though.

Oh yes, this is the future geographic site of Republic City.

But did she die?!

Katara: "I'm standing right here, you idiot!"

For real though, Aang would be the more likely candidate to pull that trope, especially with his death from lightning strike.

Had a feeling you guys might appreciate this.

TV Zuko: Arrives to challenge Azula on Appa.

Re:Anime Zuko: Arrives to challenge Azula in a blazing meteor.

Interesting twist at the end, too.

A bit of adaptational shift to account for lack of budget and inconvenient set design. But overall, that was actually a really great rendition of the iconic fight. I'm genuinely impressed. This video really showed off what live-action is capable of.

When people say, "This animated thing is cool; I want to see it in live-action," shit like most of this fight, barring the pragmatic ending, is what they're imagining in their heads.

We can only hope the Netflix series is so good.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Mar 27th 2020 at 7:50:40 AM

> We can only hope the Netflix series is so good.

"Guys,where's Sokka?"

"Who?"

"And why does Aang have so much hair suddenly?"

What are the life philosophies of the water tribes? MORE importantly, how do they relate to their bending?

Is it community and unity as Iroh explained to Zuko? It kinda makes sense as an antithesis to fire, the element of "power". As in: people on the water tribe are more relying on each other strengths, while those in the fire nation are more individualistic. But how does that relate to their bending? Is it because they're using other people strengths instead of their own? which is what waterbending is supposed to do?

I think I kind of answered my own question. I just needed to see the Iroh clip again. My memory just keep coming back to water being the element of change, and that not being really reflected on their culture. I mean, people of the water tribes seem to be attached to their traditions as much as the people of the earth kindom.

But, to be honest, I just wanted to hear people opinions because I wanted to isekai characters from a different series into the world of avatar; and I wanted to give them bending based on their personalities. But I can't just come up with a criteria for giving people waterbending.

I mean, how do you translate change/versatility/adaptability/using-you-oponent-strength-agaisnt-them into a personality? Thinking outside the box is something you DO, not something you ARE. Going with the flow? For some reason that sounds too close to an airbender's personality to me.

With all of the other bending styles is easier: airbenders are free spirits, earthbenders are firm and resilent, firebenders are driven and pasionate, waterbenders...? I've heard some waterbender fans saying they're more emphatetic, but it just seems to me they are thinking about Katara; and also everybody has the capacity to be emphatethic, saying emphaty is what distinguishes waterbenders from the others sounds... wrong.

Edited by Gabo352 on Mar 28th 2020 at 2:07:53 PM

Waterbending originated from the push and pull of the tides. That's one thing to keep in mind.

As for water, they are as unpredictable as the sea. They can be calm and nurturing or rough and destructive. The Water Tribe for instance is all about living in harmony with nature. But not to the extent of the Air Nomads. They hunt animals, live in harsh, cold conditions, and do not hesitate to go to war.

Water is change. They are not as free as the air, nor as stiff as the earth, nor as fiery as fire. And that in many ways is why water is the versatile and useful bending. Air cannot brute strength their way through, Earth cannot be flexible, and Fire has little defenses. Water can access to all of these four states with ease: Offense, Defense, Flexibility and Rigidness. The cost is that water is not fully specialized as these other elements.