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fredhot16 Don't want to leave but cannot pretend from Baton Rogue, Louisiana. Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: Too sexy for my shirt
Don't want to leave but cannot pretend
#75951: Dec 26th 2022 at 7:44:43 AM

I’d also like to point out that it’s not like we haven’t seen an adult Avatar get beaten or killed before.

Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.
GNinja The Element of Hyperbole. from The deepest, darkest corner of his mind. Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
The Element of Hyperbole.
#75952: Dec 26th 2022 at 7:46:42 AM

[up][up] You say that. And perhaps. but I highly doubt I would enjoy a series like that. I dont like invincible heroes. I don't care how cool they are.

But then, not every story has to cater to me, I suppose.

Though I'm not talking about the Avatar being an underdog. I mean writing a compelling conflict for them at all. Even in shows where a character isn't the underdog, they usually fight something that can give them a challenge at some point.

[up] An adult Avatar can be tricked and cheap shotted. You can't really have a climactic fight with them though.

Edited by GNinja on Dec 26th 2022 at 3:48:50 PM

Kaze ni Nare!
Bexlerfu Khatun of the Azim Steppe from Mol Iloh Since: Nov, 2020
Khatun of the Azim Steppe
#75953: Dec 26th 2022 at 7:50:11 AM

My bet right now is that this hypothetical Earth Avatar will be a neurotic mess due to succeeding uberbadass Kyoshi. If s/he's a Beifong too, make it double.

ultimatepheer Since: Mar, 2011
#75954: Dec 26th 2022 at 7:53:36 AM

It could be written, it would just have to be written carefully. Like, nobody is going to pretend Ozai hadn't lost the second Aang entered the avatar state against him, but it was still a cool set piece to watch, and it gave catharsis to the fans to see Ozai get his shit kicked in by a literal god.

And even before then, Aang rarely lost fights, and he also wasn't in mortal peril terribly often; throughout the entirety of season 1, neither main antagonist actually wanted him dead, after all. It's an inevitable side-effect of the genre itself; we know the main character isn't in actual danger, because this isn't a special episode, it's fighting the villain of the week and they're not going to kill the main character in a random filler episode.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#75955: Dec 26th 2022 at 7:56:15 AM

Though I'm not talking about the Avatar being an underdog. I mean writing a compelling conflict for them at all. Even in shows where a character isn't the underdog, they usually fight something that can give them a challenge at some point.

Sometimes, but not always. One-Punch Man has been going for years without its title character ever breaking a sweat. A character whose superpower is literally being infinity strong and being able to obliterate any foe in a single hit has managed to cultivate and maintain a fan-following.

They even managed to give him longer fights without breaking his rule, by pitting him against things like a regenerator that can pull himself back together after every obliterating hit or a copycat fighter literally channeling Saitama's own limitless power. While still making clear that even those fights are effortless stomps that never truly challenge Saitama. And still being extremely entertaining to watch.

So. No. I don't think "A fully-realized Avatar would instantly erase anyone who tried to fight them, and that would make for a boring series," is something to be too worried about. If Saitama can be interesting, then a fully-realized Avatar shouldn't have a problem.

Especially since it's always seemed pretty evident that experienced masters of the individual bending arts are more than capable of fighting on the Avatar's level anyway.

The real bugbear is the Avatar State, which is typically treated as an automatic "I Win" button for Avatars of any age. Firelord Ozai pushed a young Aang so hard that he was only able to win by entering the Avatar State, and the bloodbender Yakon would later do the same to an older Aang. If you want an OP tension-nuke, it's that.

And yet, we've managed to go two whole series without it nuking the tension.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Dec 26th 2022 at 7:56:36 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
GNinja The Element of Hyperbole. from The deepest, darkest corner of his mind. Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
The Element of Hyperbole.
#75956: Dec 26th 2022 at 8:00:51 AM

And tobias mentioned Toph. The parts that I remember most about Toph are her moments of vulnerability. I always remember her being unable to stop Appa from being captured because of the fact that she was standing on sand, and so couldn't use her powers as effectively.

I dunno, I just think characters need contrast. Toph wouldn't be as lovable to me if all she ever did was effortlessly beat people.

[up] As I said, I'll just need to resign myself to the fact that if Avatar ever did do a One Punch Man, then there'd be nothing for me personally to enjoy. Because I can't stand One Punch Man.

Although I would point out that the primary conflict of One Punch isn't really the fights, right? Which was my original point. If you had an unstoppable Avatar, you'd have to give them conflicts that they can't win just by punching.

Edited by GNinja on Dec 26th 2022 at 4:08:13 PM

Kaze ni Nare!
alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#75957: Dec 26th 2022 at 8:05:04 AM

Maybe they're gonna introduce Spirit Steroids™ to supercharge bending and momentarily match the Avatar state. tongue

Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#75958: Dec 26th 2022 at 9:42:30 AM

They could use possession like that. Spirits merging with humans is a Dangerous Forbidden Technique outside of Harmonic Convergence; even Raava couldn't do it for long. So a villain could go "I know this is going to kill me, but it will make me strong enough to kill you too" and merge with a spirit for the final battle.

Or just emphasize politics, as was said earlier. The Kyoshi duology is largely about how she's terrible at politics and can't solve these problems by punching them. Of course, the second book ends with Kyoshi deciding to go full-in on the Judge, Jury, and Executioner Terror Hero thing rather than stumbling around in politics and just screwing everything up worse.

Lao Ge: You don't understand. She told me to tell you she realizes her entire mistake was trying to dabble in politics with you. My friend is not a diplomat. She is the failure of diplomacy. She is the breakdown of negotiations. There is no escalation of hostilities beyond her.

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
Sannom (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#75959: Dec 26th 2022 at 12:01:13 PM

Let's the next Avatar be a Beifong, but with a twist : they're a child or grandchild of Bolin and Opal and they use the "wrong" element at first, Air, rather than Earth. Let's have the opposite of Korra, someone who is extremely hard to find and confirm as the Avatar because of the changing times.

alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#75960: Dec 26th 2022 at 12:03:21 PM

that'd be pretty fun, an Avatar that sucks at their original.

ElSquibbonator Since: Oct, 2014
#75961: Dec 26th 2022 at 12:49:30 PM

What I'm wondering is what the next Avatar's animal companion is going to be (and we do know for a fact that every Avatar has one). I felt like they tried a bit too hard with Naga and Pabu to recapture the dynamic of Appa and Momo, and they should do something different with the next one.

Before I heard the announcement about the new show, I was playing around with the idea of writing my own fanfic about the Avatar after Korra, and his companion was going to be a bobcat-rattlesnake hybrid.

alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#75962: Dec 26th 2022 at 1:01:25 PM

I mean, if its a Beifong, a Badgermole could be kinda cool.

Tuckerscreator (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#75963: Dec 26th 2022 at 1:08:37 PM

If a new Avatar is on the way I don’t think they need to be related to anyone we’ve known before. Especially since the Earth Kingdom population is so much bigger than the Airbenders and Southern Water Tribe.

diddyknux (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#75964: Dec 26th 2022 at 1:12:57 PM

The next Avatar will be a Foggy Swamp guy who doesn't quite fit in...

EpicBleye drunk bunny from her bed being very eepy Since: Sep, 2014 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
drunk bunny
#75965: Dec 26th 2022 at 1:27:21 PM

i like the idea of an avatar that was just completely missed or overlooked

like a street rat kid that grew up in the underbelly of the city, completely forsaken by society for happening to be born extremely poor

so they never came into their own or had strong moral guidance in growing up before discovering their avatar powers

"There's not a girl alive who wouldn't be happy being called cute." ~Tamamo-no-Mae
32ndfreeze Since: Mar, 2012
#75966: Dec 26th 2022 at 1:38:34 PM

If following real life trends, a booming population could also contribute to making the Earth Avatar difficult to find. Plus more and more mixing of bender populations would make the search area quite a bit larger.

Edited by 32ndfreeze on Dec 26th 2022 at 8:39:14 PM

Robbery Since: Jul, 2012
#75967: Dec 26th 2022 at 5:29:49 PM

Edited by Robbery on Dec 26th 2022 at 5:31:51 AM

Robbery Since: Jul, 2012
#75968: Dec 26th 2022 at 5:31:21 PM

I think the next Earth Avatar should be a sand-bender. It'd be interesting to see an Avatar from an isolated/marginalized culture like that. Or it could indeed be interesting to see an Avatar from a completely urban background.

Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#75969: Dec 26th 2022 at 5:52:47 PM

Figuring out how to make them different from Kyoshi would be the first question. She ignored her role at first, too.

Wake me up at your own risk.
GNinja The Element of Hyperbole. from The deepest, darkest corner of his mind. Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: I'd need a PowerPoint presentation
The Element of Hyperbole.
#75970: Dec 26th 2022 at 5:57:41 PM

The real dream for me would be a non-bender Avatar. Or at least a Non-bending Big Bad.

Though for many logistical and thematic reasons, I'm aware that that's a pretty impossible dream.

Edited by GNinja on Dec 26th 2022 at 1:58:52 PM

Kaze ni Nare!
Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#75971: Dec 26th 2022 at 6:54:17 PM

Non-bending Big Bad is definitely possible. They claimed they were doing that with Amon but, well, we saw how that worked out. They might be willing to do a real try now.

Non-bending Avatar is literally impossible. Non-bending protagonist, maybe. Make a series about the Sokka of the new generation.

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
Shadao Dorzma Forever! Artwork by Kris Dobbins. (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
Dorzma Forever! Artwork by Kris Dobbins.
#75972: Dec 26th 2022 at 7:23:09 PM

[up][up] A non-bending Avatar would be the equivalent of a non-super powered Superman. Yes, it would be interesting to see Superman operate without his powers, but it defeats the whole purpose of Superman if he wasn't born with said powers to understand what it's like to have no powers. There can be no non-bending Avatar, but there can be an episode where an Avatar temporarily loses their four bending powers.

KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#75973: Dec 26th 2022 at 10:34:33 PM

[up]x5 I agree on both counts. Maybe even do both at once, have them be a Sandbender who grew up in a big city.

Other personal desires for the cast:

  • While I don’t want to imply that Aang’s bloodline is super special or whatever, I would still like to see one of his great-great-great grandchildren be a part of the main cast. Tenzin’s kids can still be around as important elders in the Air Nation, it’d be fun to see Ikki as a kooky old lady.
  • Some sort of talking animal spirit as one of the traveling companions, perhaps able to give insight on the spirit world in a way we have not before. After several decades of the Spirit portal being open, I think it would make sense if they were more…knowable, if you get what I mean.
    • Such a character should ideally be voiced by Danny De Vito.

Also, what exactly was the latest status of the remnants of the Earth Kingdom? Because I kind of like the sound of “Earth Federation”.

As for a non-bender Avatar, conventional wisdom would indeed deem that impossible…but what about an Avatar that couldn’t bend at all outside of the Avatar state? You’d need to justify it somehow, but that alone could be very interesting.

Edited by KarkatTheDalek on Dec 26th 2022 at 1:36:46 PM

Oh God! Natural light!
lbssb The sleepiest good boi Since: Jun, 2020 Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!
The sleepiest good boi
#75974: Dec 26th 2022 at 10:47:46 PM

I'm interested to see how they'll handle a new Avatar that now has only one precursor they can seek wisdom from. A part of me wouldn't necessarily be opposed to a plotline about finding out a way to bring back the others (since it's kinda implied that Wan through Aang didn't actually disappear per se but were more just locked out of contact) but I feel like having both Korra and the newbie figuring things out together as they go is the better story option.

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PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#75975: Dec 26th 2022 at 10:54:53 PM

Agreed. Korra as the Tenzin of the show would be a great role for her.


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