avatar, good show Options

[Hocus Pocus]

this show on nickalodean has characters "bending" elements. 5 episodes culminating with the final showdun on saturday night. Am happy to able to see the finale. I recomend it, very good story and development. Might give ya some ideas about yer magic characters and how they miniuplate the elements also martial arts in general, cool how they combine the two. Watch it!

[Drogos]

Earth Bending FTW!!!

The GF and I have been taking time to watch them and that's what we determined. A great way to corrup...er...interest the kids in anime. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[hobgoblin]

ah yes, the last airbender:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender

[paws2sky]

Not exactly on topic for SR, but, yeah, its a great show. My wife, son, and I are completely hooked. I'm a little sad to see it end, but... oh well.

-paws

[PBTHHHHT]

I have the first two boxed sets, I can't wait to get the last one so I can finally watch it all, it's great watching it in order rather than waiting for Nick to air them.

[Hocus Pocus]

bah i was posting and my comp froze and i forgot to put in the links i was gonna.


back from hiatus trailer which unfortunately i didn't see cause i didn't have cable. Awesome music and preview and shows pretty much the main characters .can somebody tell me what happend with the invasion of the fire nation? i assumed uncle died, anything else major happen? i know they were repulsed.

Sozin's Comet it means this saturday night coming.


all my chinese zodiac signs point to me as fire as my element and nothing else.

it has inspired me to take up my claestenics again and i have used some fire bending techinques in my excercises.

[PBTHHHHT]

bah i was posting and my comp froze and i forgot to put in the links i was gonna.


back from hiatus trailer which unfortunately i didn't see cause i didn't have cable. Awesome music and preview and shows pretty much the main characters .can somebody tell me what happend with the invasion of the fire nation? i assumed uncle died, anything else major happen? i know they were repulsed.

Sozin's Comet it means this saturday night coming.


all my chinese zodiac signs point to me as fire as my element and nothing else.

it has inspired me to take up my claestenics again and i have used some fire bending techinques in my excercises.

[ Spoiler ]

The invasion of the fire nation seemed to be going well as they stormed through the harbour and into the ports. They timed with the eclipse of when the firebenders would be weakened. The had many benders from the earth and water show up and used submersibles to get to land. Once there, they had these giant mechanical caterpiller like tanks using earthbending to lead the assault. The plant bender remained to guard the ships/escape. They began fighting their way up when Ang, Sukko, and Toph went ahead on the airbison to face off the Emperor. They find his palace empty, long story short, the fire nation folks knew about their weakness and pulled away from their capital, the emperor sequestered in a hidden chamber. The air navy, consisting of dozens of airships, waiting till the eclipse was over to come swooping in to barrage the ships, thereby trapping the invasion force before crushing it. The invasion was failure since Aang couldn't face the lord and he and his friends run off while the adults surrender and endure the hardships of fire nation prison knowing that Aang and co still leads the resistance.
At the end you find the uncle had escaped from his prison when Zuko went to free him. Zuko had a change of heart and had faced off with his father earlier during the invasion and stated he would join the Avatar and then escapes from his father. At the end of the episode he's seen with a mini-airship following the Ang and co into the sunset.
There was more from the episode but I don't want to spoil everything. Just wanted to let you know yeah, the invasion was more than repulsed, it was outmaneuvered on the strategic level, and that uncle is not dead.

[Hocus Pocus]

Airbending slice!

[ Spoiler ]

Woot! very good ending, capted it on dvr and watched it a few times. I'm sorry to see it going off the air but am glad i was able to see it.

funniest part was the birthday gag.

didn't know that was mark hamils voice till the very end when zuko seems the fire lord in prison.

Lotus whipped post terior

nice to see the characters all at the end

they have to make book four, Air. Like the fire nation splitting in two, civil war, ang trying to set up the air benders again, maybe the earth kingdom trying to take out the fire nation.

Interesting how they made azula insane and cry at the end, kinda anti climatic and sort of our of character. She could lead the fire nation civil war, sure lots of people weren't too happy losing that power.

though ang was gonna take the fire lords' bending ability.

the is one important person missing, where is momo?

all old people know each other

zuko searches for his mother. Has she been mentioned before?

ty lee....oh yes ty lee

many different episodes in the past that i liked, but the ones hiting me recently were the songs.

now the wandering Nomads (aka hippies) had some pretty cool songs Secret Tunnel and don't let the cave-in get you down . normally IRL i'd mace and club them hippies, but i must admit i would probably "grove" out with these characters. Man if i coudl only let loose of all the stress and worries.

and of course little soldier boy very profound. iroh's son dying and the guy that voiced the character passed away. so sad. and on a personal note the songs helps me relate to my own life, as i sit in the dark drinking beer lamenting my lost youth and henpeckedness. If you can manage it, shed a tear for me...



well i don't know if they be on again. but you can go to the nick site and see the show and gain some useful insights into possible shadowrun characters. Might tinker with it myself to see if you can make a character. An elemental physical magician? sound interesting.

[PBTHHHHT]

Yeah, I'm a bit sad that this story is over. The creators did mention somewhere that they're not done with this world. So who knows what's up. They did leave open of what exactly happened to Zuko's mom. Who's been mentioned at other times, including in the invasion of the Fire nation episode, see the throne room scene between Zuko and Ozai. I doubt they'll make a book four called Air, Aang is the last airbender and the whole story is about him as air as he visits the other nations, I could be wrong, but it fits more if they didn't make an 'Air' chapter. Maybe they can do a movie, such as stuff in the past, a special of Zuko finding his mother, maybe another series that takes place further on? I do wonder how the live action movie they're planning will turn out...

Yeah, Mark Hamill is a great voice actor, he does crazy characters, just like in Batman: TAS as the Joker.

[paws2sky]

Airbending slice!

Airship slice!, you mean! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Overall, I was pretty pleased with s3e16 through the finale. Southern Raiders was a great showcase for Kitara's general bad assitude. Ember Island Players was hit or miss; painfully funny at times, boring at others. The finale though... very cool.

Something did occur to me after watching the finale:

[ Spoiler ]

If Aang can strip a bender of his bending... could he develop teh technique to give a non-bender the bending? Could he use this ability to restore the air nomads?

Because... the avatar cycle would get pretty f'd up when he dies, right? i mean, there'd be no one to teach the next three avatars airbending... and what happens when the fire avatar dies? and then the world is out of balance again... or maybe it would break the avatar cycle?

-paws

[Drogos]

Duh, it's all about repopulation. Aang is going to have kids, and then they'll have kids. By the time it reaches back around to Air Avatar, there should be 3-5 generations of Aang's linegae running aorund.

Still, Earth Bending FTW!!!!

[paws2sky]

That's possible too.

[ Spoiler ]

Still, according to a FAQ I read (which, I think, came from Nick), not every bender has kids who can bend.

In the case of Kitara and Aang, assuming they stay together, there's a even chance of each of their kids being an air bender, water bender, or non-bender.

-paws

[Drogos]

True, but I presume they will be getting mad busy, what with all the pent up affection between them...man do I feel dirtier just for typing that.

So to link back to Shadowrun...I want to make an Earth Bender, how do I do it (without playing a Free Earth Spirit)?

[paws2sky]

Yes, your mind is dirty. They're kids... Eww.


Anyway... I was pondering an Avatar RPG too.

A friend of a friend ran one under GURPS, and it was quite successful from what I understand. He piecemealed the psionics and magic systems, rather than create a specific bending description from scratch. The noteworthy fighting styles (including those whipass fire nation archers) from the show were represented via the martial arts rules.

In SR though...

The basic powers of a bender would be: Shape (element), Flamethrower/Fireball (and their elemental variations), barrier spells, and element-oriented detection spells, levitate, etc. And really, they're not much more to it. Definitely no summoning. These guys are sorcery aspect magicians. Heck... Most would probably be Mystic Adepts.

The thing about bending that makes it mildly awkward for SR's magic system is that are a lot of specific restrictions on how they use their powers. For instance, most benders have a completely crippling version of the Geas (Gestures)... Its not that they're down a point of Magic, they just can't bend. Period.

They're also limited in their ability to advance, spell-wise anyway. Once you have your selection of spells, and maxed spellcasting, and high initiate grade... they're not really anywhere for you to go, except to maybe do the Kitara/Toph thing and start inventing/learning new forms of bending: Metal Bending, Blood Bending (which is just Control Actions), and so on.

[Bull]

Moving this to Gen gaming, since the Magic/Bending in the show doesn't really apply much to Shadowrun. It does apply to something like Exalted or other games of that bend, and could be an interesting, much more high-powered version of Shadowrun, but... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Good show, final epsiode was excellent.

Someone said this on RPGnet, and watching the final episode, I have to agree... It's amazing how much story they pack into each epidoe. Even given the finale was a 3-part episode, I was actually shocked when the title card for the final episode came on, because I figured we were long past that and they were going to have to rush the final fight. Seriously, the writers desrve a ton of credit, for giving us at least an hours worth of story in every 22 minute epidoes.

[paws2sky]

I think one of the things that really hooked me about the show is that, even though it was written with a younger audience in mind, it wasn't dumbed down. It didn't go for the easy answer to the tough questions (killing, love, etc.). There were some morals to the stories, but at the same time, they didn't beat you over the head with them unless it was critical to the character.

And, oh yeah, the episodes are packed full of story. And its story that you can actually follow without first reading a manga to fill in all the missing pieces.

-paws

[hermit]

I actually had SR variations of Azula, Ty Lee, Zuko and Mai (all Shaanxi nobles and physads (Mai, Ty Lee) and elementalists (Zuko, Azula)) pop up in a random visit to Dante's the other day. Fun. Especially Azula, but I'm fond of that character anyway.

I think one of the things that really hooked me about the show is that, even though it was written with a younger audience in mind, it wasn't dumbed down. It didn't go for the easy answer to the tough questions (killing, love, etc.). There were some morals to the stories, but at the same time, they didn't beat you over the head with them unless it was critical to the character.

Oh yeah. They also have some very nice popcltural quotes (especially in that desert episode in s2, the desert outpost with an ice source, the tusken-ish sand benders, and the one time a katana shows up in the show (to cut ice. Priceless. That's a nicely subverted trope if there ever was one, considering how the show only uses chinese weapons otherwise. Take that, anime!

Favourite characters would be Azula, Mai (Maiko, fer sure, Zutarans are gtonna go to hell!), Iroh, and Toph, in that order. Not that there's really any character I dislike, though. They all have great moments, even relatively minor ones like Jet, Smellerbee and Li/Lo.

Another really great thing is the greyness of the show. There is no 'pure' character (not even maternal and large-eyed Katara, whose dark side really had a prominent feature in The Southern Raiders), and neither is there a good or evil nation - there're noble Fire Nation people, as much as the Earth Kingdom is so full of crooks, it makes Chiang Kai Chek's China look modest. Also, the Dai Li really are the creepiest organisation in the Avatar world.

Me, I damned hope they do at least two feature movies, one about Iroh and whatever happened to Lu Ten (my personal pet theory is that Koh stole his face and he committed suicide), and one about Zuko and finding Ursa.

And, oh yeah, the episodes are packed full of story. And its story that you can actually follow without first reading a manga to fill in all the missing pieces.

Yes. And foreshadowings and well laid hints and basis' for things to come. Especially The Beach is great in that respect (very nicely hidden foreshadowing in the end, the panel where the four of them stand before the burning house ...). That an Tales of Ba Sing Se are the best episodes ever, counting the (great) finale.

[ludomastro]

Must agree that Avatar is an awesome show. Somehow, I managed to miss a chunk in the middle of Book 2: Earth. Otherwise, I have seen all of Water and Fire.

*makes note to buy DVD box set*

I think that the Lion-turtle is my new favorite critter. I must have an astral lion-turtle in my next SR game.

[TonkaTuff]

Zuko's mother was the secondary focus of an episode in the... 2nd season, I think... that explored why he's the way he is and set the groundwork for establishing that Azula and Ozai are complete sociopaths. She may or may not have assassinated the previous Fire Lord (Azulon) and, herself been killed (either for doing it or by the person who did, to clear suspicion) or run the hell away. It was (intentionally, I imagine) left unclear.

As far as more 'Avatar', be careful what you ask for. Apparently, M. Night Shaymalan has been tapped to direct a live-action trilogy due out sometime in 2010. Info here. Apparently, it's still ongoing as of early June.

[PBTHHHHT]

As far as more 'Avatar', be careful what you ask for. Apparently, M. Night Shaymalan has been tapped to direct a live-action trilogy due out sometime in 2010. Info here. Apparently, it's still ongoing as of early June.

A bit old news actually, it was a special feature on one of the avatar boxed sets where M. Night and the creators of Avatar are sitting around talking about the movie, what inspired M. Night to want to direct this series (blame his kids hooking him on), etc.

[Hocus Pocus]

it was on again today.


I made a fire bending character but my son got ahold of the paper and drew on it, the ripped it up, and threw it away.

will start from scratch again.

[Hocus Pocus]

oh yeah


and i never heard of a live action movie coming out. Shamalamadingdong is writig it? dunno. some of his early work was awesome, but his latest stuff is poo poo. I hope he does it justice.