AVATAR AANG

a-smoldering-lionheart: run the world by ~intoyourheart

Wed, 22 May 2013 22:47:39 +0100

a-smoldering-lionheart:

run the world by ~intoyourheart

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Wed, 22 May 2013 20:49:01 +0100

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Tue, 21 May 2013 23:38:25 +0100

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Mon, 20 May 2013 21:17:07 +0100

thickbrowsensei: misskenzierain: thickbrowsensei: Well ya know just waiting on season two of...

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:31:10 +0100

thickbrowsensei:

misskenzierain:

thickbrowsensei:

Well ya know just waiting on season two of Korra

you misspelled season three of sherlock

you misspelled my foot in your ass

I love your blog! It's clearly run by an intelligent and thoughtful avatar fan who is able to look at the series with a great eye. I have two questions if it's not a problem for you to answer: 1.) Why do people dislike Katara in the first series? She was always my favorite character and I see you defending her in your tags so I'd like to know if people really hate her. 2.) What's your opinion on bloodbending? Do you think that it would be cool if Korra used it? P.S. Hannibal is an amazing show!

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:33:08 +0100

1) With regards to Katara, there’s a general rule in fandom, and maybe even in life in general, that people will always find reasons to dislike female characters. I think the common criticisms in S1 are that she’s whiny, aggressive and makes poor decisions. I suppose you can justify these dislikes, but bear in mind I’ve also just described Zuko and yet there are never any long posts on how terrible he is.

2) Bloodbending’s great. But I think it’s a better plot device when used sparingly. And no, Korra shouldn’t learn it. Not only because it’s a morally repulsive technique, but because Mako would definitely be dead within 3 episodes.

3) Hannibal is an awesome show. If somehow I wake up tomorrow as God (or just a TV exec, but whatevs), I want to make a spin off where Hannibal and Alice Morgan meet.

I'm glad you had the same reaction to them working on 3 books at a time as I did. I really really hope quality isn't compromised in the process, and I dunno what the hell Nickelodeon is doing.

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:25:51 +0100

It must be something that’s done occasionally in the industry? I have no knowledge in this area so I’m the wrong person to ask.

I can understand planning a story for 3 seasons, that’s good and makes sense. But actually doing animation work seems strange to me, what’s the grand hurry? Why not just focus on one season and get it the best you can before moving onto the next one. I’m not really judging, just genuinely interested in why they are doing that.

bryankonietzko: For some reason, this “tight rough” for the...

Wed, 15 May 2013 16:18:42 +0100

bryankonietzko:

For some reason, this “tight rough” for the second piece of press art we released didn’t make it into the Korra art book, but I like it so I’m posting it here. I based it off of a storyboard panel of Joaquim’s from the premiere episode, and he did some further revisions on top of my drawing, which are included here in what you might call a “jam.” I wouldn’t call it that. Without wincing.

Sorry again for the lack of posts! Our production schedule is simply brutal as we are working on Books 2, 3, and 4 simultaneously, and I have little time for anything else once I try to fit “being a human being” in there. Such is the nature of TV production and its protracted, overlapping schedules… Despite the absence and the delays (which are all symptomatic of The Difficulty of Making Animation and little or nothing else), I would (as I have in the past) humbly ask you for your continued patience: It is a good year to be a Korra fan, and a lot of great stuff is coming down the pipeline that we are excited to announce (when we are permitted to announce it) and to share with you all. Thanks, sincerely!

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Mon, 13 May 2013 22:21:03 +0100

blurbery: happy mother’s day!

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:15:50 +0100

blurbery:

happy mother’s day!

I’m not saying the Avatar state doesn’t have incredible—and...

Sat, 11 May 2013 22:33:57 +0100

I’m not saying the Avatar state doesn’t have incredible—and helpful power. But you have to understand, for the people who love you, watching you be in that much rage and pain is really scary.

Avatar: The Last Airbender // Favorite Female Characters

Sat, 11 May 2013 22:11:38 +0100

Avatar: The Last Airbender // Favorite Female Characters

I agree with your thoughts on GoT vs. Avatar. But I feel like the internalized misogyny displayed by Arya is exaggerated by the fandom. Yes, Arya does sometimes ridicule the worth of more traditional female characters, but we also have characters like Sansa and Cersei, who fully embrace their femininity, while displaying great strength, perseverance, and wits at the same time. GoT has a broad spectrum of female characters, all boasting strength of one kind of another.

Sat, 11 May 2013 21:56:00 +0100

Saying that “Arya does sometimes ridicule the worth of more traditional female characters” is admitting there is internalised misogyny. That is pretty much the definition of internalised misogyny, you can’t really exaggerate facts. Brienne is even worse, because in the book she actively praises the worth of traditional women. She compares child birth to battle and laments that no songs will be sung about the woman that die there. In the show she attempts to shame Jaime by comparing him to a woman. It is so antithetical to the book I was shocked that line made it in.

And even though they do a good job with Cersei and Sansa, the writers underlying motivations are laid bare in their treatment of ~badass~ female characters (Arya, Dany, Brienne) compared to the more traditional ladies. Case and point is Catelyn Stark who’s storyline in Game of Thrones has been absolutely murdered. For a character who gets chapters devoted to her POV in the book, it borders on amusing how much they shit on her character.

The show has a borderline respect for traditional women, but my goodness do they revel in female characters that break the mold. But in doing that they miss the huge core of the original novels that were in their essence about subverting normal tropes. Catelyn Stark is supposed to be a deconstruction of Caring Mother trope, but the writers are so obsessed with fighting female characters that they simply are not interested in really understanding and fleshing out the more traditional ladies (probably out of fear that the audience will find it boring).

Sorry what, this is an Avatar blog? Have a gif to compensate.

If anyone wants to chat/argue/brood over Game of Thrones, I’m always open to talking about it on my personal blog btw. I feel bad clogging up this one.

What do you think Avatar does better than Game of Thrones, and vice versa?

Sat, 11 May 2013 18:35:00 +0100

Erm, interesting question! I’m going to separate the books from the tv show, as they differ significantly in their interpretation and portrayal of the characters. So when I talk about GoT, I mean the show, not the books.

Avatar does female characters better than GoT. In the HBO series, femininity is often portrayed as something that inherently weak and to be scorned at. Unconventional female characters (Arya, Brienne) often exhibit internalised misogyny which simply isn’t present in their book characterisations. The show suffers from thinking a badass female character = fighting female. Avatar completely avoids this pitfall by consistently showing that traditional female characteristics are nothing to be ashamed of. The line spoken by Suki, “I’m a warrior, but I’m a girl too” is pretty much a perfect summation of how ATLA treats femininity.

GoT does moral ambiguity better. It’s not really a fair comparison because frankly the entire series is based off the premise that there are not inherently “good and evil” people. That’s a fake dichotomy. The real world is messy and GoT captures that beautifully. Avatar does a good job too, Mai being a great example of a character you’re not quite sure whether or not to root for. But in the end ATLA has some very one dimensional villains while GoT pretty much spends its entire time making you doubt your original perceptions of the characters.

Oh, and GoT wins hands down in terms of foreshadowing. It is actually ridiculous how many little one liners in the show come back to haunt the characters. Equally the prophecies that are uttered in the show are a great source of speculation (“Three treasons you shall know, once for blood, once for gold and once for love.”) There’s just so much fans can get stuck into. ATLA has excellent foreshadowing, but on the other hand things like Aang learning energybending in the finale could have been better set up.

In the end both series are spectacular, and they are too different to make a fair judgement in certain categories. Bryke should offer their services to write female characters better, and in return they can give some tips on plotting.

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Sat, 11 May 2013 18:09:34 +0100

why do you think katara would tell korra about bloodbending, i mean the whole point of the episode where that creepy old lady tried to teach her bloodbending was that it was evil and even if katara could pretty much control anyone with it she would never use it and no one should , also if that old lady never taught katara, the technique probably would've died with her, so how that yakone know how to bloodbend bcus I 'm assuming katara never taught anyone...other than maybe a few ppl she truste

Sat, 11 May 2013 17:18:32 +0100

Katara won’t have taught anyone the technique. Either people learnt it spontaneously because of word of mouth (Zuko, Aang, Sokka, Toph, random FN ship dude and a whole FN village know the technique exists) or through the process of Katara trying to make it illegal Yakone figured out how to do it.

geersart: Sketchin colors

Fri, 10 May 2013 22:36:48 +0100

geersart:

Sketchin colors

Pages from the Legend of Korra Book One: Air Art Book

Fri, 10 May 2013 21:22:25 +0100

blog-castbender:

A beautiful scene of Korra fighting the metal bending police with Republic City in the background. While Korra seems to be having a good time, I can’t say the same for the guy holding on to her…

What looks like some early drawings of Korra. It’s interesting to see how her character design developed.

A nice sketch of Korra water bending and fire bending at the same time, which is pretty cool. Also those are some pretty funny Korra faces. I love the one in the bottom right.

Here we see some of Korra’s outfits and drawings of cute baby Korra. “I’m the Avatar and you gotta deal with it!”

This shows some intersting shots of what looks to be the slums of Republic City, where I assume Mako and Bolin grew up. Also some cool early early character designs for the brothers.

Here get see the finished designs for Mako and Bolin. Mako looks as broody and angsty as usual while Bolin looks as sexy as usual.

Some hilarious Bolin faces with a few Mako drawings as well. Bolin really has the best expressions.

Ba Sing Se was involved in the war; it was just primarily the outer wall. Everything inside the main city was isolated from the war, but it still served as a haven for refugees. The wealth and culture of the Earth Kingdom was preserved inside the city, and so the Fire Nation could not claim victory until it conquered Ba Sing Se. The Outer Wall stood between them and this victory, though. So no, that wasn't a plot hole. :)

Fri, 10 May 2013 11:05:17 +0100

Yes, but they weren’t actively contributing to the war effort. Ba Sing Se was more a symbolic victory than anything else. Hence why when it fell at the end of S2 the war was not over…

for plot holes what about the fact that in episode 13 Zhao says "this is the year the Fire Nation breaks through the walls of Ba Sing Se and burns the city to the ground" and in episode 18 of season 3 Ozai says “I will use it (the comet) to end the Earth Kingdom. Permanently.” like it was his idea and Azula mentioned it for the first time

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:06:41 +0100

There’s a difference between conquering a city and destroying an entire continent.

The original plan was to use the comet to finally beat the main stronghold of Earth Kingdom power (frankly that’s a plot hole because Ba Sing Se wasn’t involved in the war!) but then Azula persuaded her father to up the genocidal stakes.