Avatar: The Last Airbender

I was indeed basically thinking of Hajime no Ippo and Megalo Box, that kind of thing, so it's pretty much what I'm pitching yeah.

Consider me cautiously optimistic.

One of the biggest let downs for me in Korra was not seeing more of Tahno. If they could make a pro-bending show about him I would be so down

I’ll never get over the fact that Tahno was voiced by Rami Malek of all people.

I literally had no idea of that until now... then again, if I did hear his name back then it probably wouldn't have registered; I've only really become familiar with him from Bohemian Rhapsody.

Wow, his range is crazy. He's been a socially awkward hacker, a Bond villain, one of the most prolific rock stars, a grieving brother turned Jigsaw clone, and a douchebag pro athlete.

Rami Malek and Aubrey Plaza were definitely my favourite LOK cameos. I liked JK Simmons as Tenzin too, but I wouldn't call that a cameo.

Mine is definitely Steven Yeun as Wan.

Serena Williams having a cameo in both series makes me happy.

I like that Kuvira's voice actress is of all people Robin Williams's daughter Zelda.

I know that it's probably impossible to begin with as a plot but I hope they at least mention any Avatars that went full conqueror for the sake of "solving problems" and how it ended up for them. It could even be a relatively early life.

Honestly, I think Avatar has had it's time and this is just an attempt to milk the series. I'd rather they just let it rest and try something new.

Edited by Kaiseror on Feb 28th 2021 at 8:18:23 AM

I still think it’s the opposite. It’s a rights retainer designed to PREVENT the franchise from being milked. This is Bryke retaining control of the franchise to shut down anything that disagrees with their vision. The LA show will either fade into the ether or be officially cancelled sooner rather than later, and we probably will never see an attempt at an LA spin-off again. Meanwhile spin-offs will likely be shut down unless they meet Bryke’s standards, so a lot of them will be shut down.

Is it really milking if the story has a lot of demand and everyone wants more of it. Avatar is probably one of the few franchises that actually has an excuse to continue narratively, since the nature of its universe allows it to feel fresh with an ever-evolving, lived-in world.

Also I think the world needs a show like Avatar now more than ever. Avatar was very progressive and had a lot to say about colonialism, redemption, prejudice, and war that still holds up. I would love to see that theme of hope and redemption told in a different way.

And a different show couldn't have those themes because...what, exactly?

It's milking because the story doesn't need anything new, all the worldbuilding of the original story was there to sustain the tale of Avatar Aang and his pals ending the Hundred Year War, and all the worldbuilding introduced in Korra was there to ruin the worldbuilding of the previous one to sustain the tale of Avatar Korra as she battles a bunch of rushly-developed villains.

"People want more of Avatar" is never a good argument because audiences always want more than what they already have until they get sick of the brand.

You get great, medium-defining shows like Avatar when you ignore what the audiences wants and just go do your own thing.

Most of that fails, obviously, but that's just how it is.

What I want is more shows like Avatar, shows with good writing and action animation and worldbuild, I don't want the Avatar brand farmed until all good will has been sucked out of it like what happened with Star Wars.

Look, this whole shebang might give some good results, even something as good as the original Avatar, but until that happens I'll call it as I see it: a shameless case of nostalgia pandering.

Eh. Star Wars has had The Mandalorian (and Fallen Order? I haven't played it, people seemed to like it), which for all its nostalgia pandering is pretty good. Even a few failures doesn't mean a setting is totally bankrupt, if the setting is big enough, the worldbuilding rich enough, as I think this one is. I mean, place your bets as you will, and for those that didn't much like Korra I can understand not having a lot of faith here. But for those who did like the setting update, if not necessarily everything (I'm mostly a first half of Season 1/Beginnings/Season 3 guy myself)... I think there's enough inventiveness on display that I think they do more without resorting to milking it. I get the desire for new things too. But you can ultimately still have both.

Well, different shows have done those themes since ATLA. Steven Universe, SheRa And The Princesses Of Power, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Dragon Prince, etc.

Still, I think being cynical in this situation is completely fair. As someone who has also felt grave disappointment from the Star Wars franchise as of late, I feel like this situation is very different. Disney's Star Wars was created through strife and was followed by a by non-stop fan wars. It began because original creator sold it away, deleting years of work and uprooting a lot of beloved properties and replacing with inferior stories and characters. I think this is an opportunity to do better than whatever SW was trying to do. Even LOK didn't make a lot of the same mistakes that SW did.

It's also important to note that the creators are reclaiming the story that they've never really stopped living in. Mike, in particular, was still a writer for the comics so they probably do want to continue the story they started (hopefully with some fresh new writers, though). In my opinion, Avatar deserves the opportunity to try exist in this new world like so many other properties get to exist. And whatever happens, we'll always have the original (and Korra for those who like it).

Now, am I excited for the inevitable fandom wars that are gonna come from the new content? Absolutely not. But I've been here long enough, so I might as well stay.

Eh, that's fair.

Sorry about the tone in the post above, t'was a stressful day.

At the very least this might prevent another Last Airbender situation.

More quality control and all that I guess.

If the worst thing we get is another Korra then hey Korra was pretty decent, better than another Shamathon.

Edited by slimcoder on Mar 1st 2021 at 2:15:10 AM

Until we get a crappy Avatar Pets show, that is my theory.

The first big test will be if the Netflix show goes forward, or if the formation of this studio shuts down production (again, everything said so far indicates the show is entirely in pre-production, no sets, no casting, no nothing). If it is shut down, the message is clear that Bryke are back and they will tolerate no dissent.

Been re-watching the original series for 2-3 weeks by now (thank you Netflix because I don't have to worry about having to wake up early to catch a new episode on Saturday mornings ^note speaking as a Philippines resident here) and something I noticed: Netflix grouped The Serpent's Pass and The Drill into "Secret of the Fire Nation".

If Wikipedia is to be believed, it was the name of a documentary. Why did Netflix go with that name?

Edited by HallowHawk on Mar 8th 2021 at 2:40:06 AM

I mentioned that a few pages ago. The two episodes aired together in the US as a double length "special".

I see. Though what convinced someone to treat the two-episode special as a "documentary" that he or she wrote it as such in Wikipedia?

Turns out you can make a really close approximation of Korra in the create a character mode of Soul Calibur 6. And if you use Talim's style, it's like she's bending everything except water (which is pretty on brand for her). You could probably make an approximation of Aang using Kilik's style, but I'll have to try to make him in the future.

"It began because original creator sold it away, deleting years of work and uprooting a lot of beloved properties and replacing with inferior stories and characters"

Not exactly.

Legends was never really canon to begin with, so Lucafilm technically never removed it.

And that they are "inferior" to Legends, depends on taste. For example the Mandalorian and Fallen Order are much loved and popular products.

And honestly, Lucasfilm only removed legends to have more freedom when it comes to storytelling and not because they hate Legends. (If they hated legends they wouldn't have recanonized characters like Thrawn)

Speaking of the new extended universe of Avatar, I hope they do series in which we are shown the fate of Azula and Sokka.

In fact, I wouldn't mind if their fate was simply, "They retired and died of old age," not all characters need epic fates.

Edited by JoLuRo075 on Mar 8th 2021 at 6:08:18 AM