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Blizzard

2021-09-16T07:25:54Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:891B:7D7D:DFFF:955F: /* Legitimately unbiased comparison */

{{/vg/}}
{{topquote|Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.|Charles C. Colton, ''Lacon: Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those Who Think''}}

{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Blizzard
|Symbol = [[File:Fluff Accurate.jpg|300px]]
|Alignment = Stupid Chaotic Evil
|Divine Rank = AAA
|Pantheon = Activision
|Portfolio =
|Domains = Greed, Falls From Grace, Bad Ideas, Terrible Writing (Formerly: Polish, Execution, Unoriginality)
|Home Plane = California
|Worshippers = Gamers,
|Favoured Weapon = Exploit worker, Union Breaker, Retcons, Virtue Signal, Weinsteinian culture, IP theft
}}

__NOTOC__
'''Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.''' is an American-owned servant of the PRC and [[/v/|video game]] developer founded in 1991. Consumed by corporate merger shenanigans in 2008, they are now a subsidiary of parent company Activision Blizzard. They are well known in the gaming community for rising to prominence by shamelessly ripping off a long list of things, the most pertinent to [[/tg/]] being the similarity between its flagship franchises and ''[[Warhammer 40k]]''. Blizzard is akin to Apple Inc.: they never ''really'' did anything original, and instead took inspiration/borrowed/stole content from other sources, marketing it as though they're pretty much posterboys of the brand, and took the credit for being "pioneers of said genre". [[Games Workshop|Let it not be said they didn't steal their business/creative practices from the best]].

While not as skubtastic as [[Kaldor Draigo|the]] [[Matt Ward|other]] [[Grey Knights|things]] [[Ultramarines|present]], it still does cause tensions in /tg/ when brought up. Especially if it concerns one of their games' [[fluff]].

While Blizzard does [[Blood Ravens|"borrow"]] other people's ideas, there's no denying marketing spends a lot of time and effort studying those ideas, figuring why they are successful, and what parts of these ideas should be improved or removed to make them better. This leads to creating a few extremely well done and successful games, in turn earning a [[Profit|LOT of money]]. While other studios may create revolutionary content, Blizzard is more about ''evolution,'' with their games becoming golden standards of quality, and "easy to learn, hard to master" learning curves. They are also responsible for creating the game-dev meme ''"when it's done,"'' which means they could literally spend a decade on mismanagement one game, probably spending too much time doing drugs in the office, and another decade to force the dev team into crunch with a shit-ton of balance patches, while management pisses off to GDC but it's to be expected, given all other major game developers are the same, if not [[EA|much, much worse]].

[[Skub|There's contention]] between the legions of GW and the hordes of Blizzard in regards to copyrights, who invented which idea first, and whether any ripping-off in fact occurred. Facts seem to lean in the direction of yes, actually. Blizzard's co founder Allen Adham wanted to get the license to the Warhammer Universe however the [https://kotaku.com/how-warcraft-was-almost-a-warhammer-game-and-how-that-5929161 business side of the deal fell through], and the team wasn't keen on working for someone else. The exaggerated features and painted art style of the table top minis was adapted for low poly games. It boggles the mind that there still hasn't been legal trouble for this, and leads many to speculate that there's an off the books deal. Fa/tg/uys tend to accuse Blizzard of ripping off most of [[Games Workshop]]'s content, and they're right. They often write long angry posts about why Blizzard an evil company, what was stolen from their precious settings, and why Blizzard games sucks so much. But this is normal operating procedure for khornporation, Ip for the Ip throne after all. This sounds hilarious when you think about Games Workshop, who does steal '''all''' of its content from other settings. Blizzard only concentrates what's awesome about James Workshop and repackages it after doing minimal rework.

If you ever meet a raging fan, crying about plagiarism, <s>ignore the fucking troll</s> [[lulz|throw oil on the fire and get a-trolling]]. Alternatively, keep raging about [[The Ultimate Necron Cheese List|Necron Flyer Lists]]/[[rage|Terran Hellion Drop]] imbalance.

'''TL;DR''': Good [[crunch]], meh fluff (their memorable humor is arguably the best part of it), they are the [[Tzeentch]]/[[Slaanesh]] to GW's [[Nurgle]].

==Scandals==

From the late 2010's onwards, the company has experienced a steadily worsening fall from grace; whereas Blizzard was usually the universally beloved grand-daddy of the gaming world, albeit with one skubby exception in the form of Diablo 3, a number of PR-fuckups, shallow cashgrabs, [[Communism|grievances of the developers that actually make the games]] and the revelation of pervasive sexual harassment of staff have all but crushed their reputation. In a funny twist of fate, when it comes to their products, Blizzard is currently making a lot of the mistakes Geedubs made before [[Kevin Rountree]] took over. Here are some of the biggest failures and crimes - yes, really - in recent times;

'''November 3, 2018:''' During Blizcon, Diablo Immortals was announced as a mobile game. Gamers were livid, with one asking if it was an out of season April fools joke. The Gamer rage made an notable impact on stock price, taking months to recover afterwards.

'''Feburary 12, 2019:''' Blizzard fired 800 employees after reporting record earning.

'''October 6, 2019:''' During a tournament, Chinese [[Hearthstone]] pro-player Blitzchung appeared wearing a gas mask and goggles in a live stream and showed support to the Hong Kong Protests. Near the end of the live stream he said “Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age”, a recognized slogan in the Hong Kong protest. After the interview Blizzard disqualified Blitzchung and stripped him of his prize money, and banned him for a year. Backlash was immediate, users deleted Blizzard accounts and destroyed games while #BoycottBlizzard trended with thousands retweeting.

'''October 28, 2019:''' Blizzard announced a $660,000 prize pool for their annual arena/mythic dungeon world tournaments, after previously releasing a set of promotional in-game toys, promising 1/4 of the sales would go towards said prize pool. Most fans believed the money made from the sales would be added to the $500,000 minimum that Blizzard had promised. However, after competing players confronted Blizzard officials, it was revealed that Blizzard had instead chosen to rely entirely on the sales profit for the prize pool, making off with ~$2 million themselves from the other 3/4 of the sales and contributing nothing out of their own pockets. Nerd rage ensued.

'''January 28th, 2020:''' Blizzard released the remastered version of Warcraft 3. The game came out in a notoriously unfinished, buggy and featureless state and used advertisement that borders on being fraudulent (Australian and EU authorities actually filed a lawsuit against Blizzard for misleading advertisements), was missing features the original game had ''13 years ago'', [[RAGE|'''claimed ownership of any custom content created for the game in the ToS in a really, really stupid move that is also illegal under US and EU law''' - especially since Blizzard is a US company]] and even refused to offer refunds, which prompted another lawsuit by EU authorities against them. The game also completely replaced the original Warcraft 3 on the launcher, locking players out of the original unless they have the physical discs plus disc ports and instead prompting them to download the "improved" version.

'''August 4, 2020:''' Employees shared a spreadsheet of salaries and recent pay increases showing that few were given raises after crunch, and overtime. Many employees, despite working at one of the biggest video game companies were struggling to pay rent and using the company's free coffee as an appetite suppressant as they cut meals. Apparently that 5 year service sword does not also pay rent.

'''October 16th, 2020:''' Blizzard announced that they would put Starcraft 2 into maintenance mode, ceasing any content updates in the future. This has left a lot of players angry and sad, especially since Starcraft 2 is one of the very last remaining RTS with a decently sized playerbase and competitive scene.

'''July 22nd, 2021:''' California's Department of Fair Employment filed a civil lawsuit against Activision/Blizzard for sexual harassment of numerous employees - especially female employees, some of the incidents going back years. The final catalyst was the suicide of a female employee who was one of the victims of said harassment. According to the lawsuit, the culprits are from several levels in the company (former Senior Creative Director Alex Afrasiabi and former CTO Ben Kilgore are among them), the charges include unwanted groping and posting intimate pictures without their consent, and that other execs knew of the abuses but did nothing. The situation wasn't helped when several Blizzard employees lashed out at several high-profile WoW commentators and streamers such as Asmongold for criticizing them, trying to shift blame onto them despite those streamers having nothing to do with the company or the abuse. With morale at an all-time low and widespread stress, the development of new projects (or at least World of Warcraft) has been stopped until the situation is resolved.
* '''July 28, 2021:''' After delivering a open letter to the upper management, a portion of Blizzard staff staged a walkout protest that gained considerable news coverage. There has been increasing support for staff to unionize, with Blizzard's Board of Directors responding by consulting the same legal firm whose lawyers prevented Amazon's staff from unionizing.
* '''August 3rd, 2021''' Sponsors have started to turn on Blizzard and executive-level employees, such as J. Allen Brack and Jesse Meschuk, have been leaving the company (unclear whether it's voluntary resignations or firings as per the standard sugar-coated dismissals for top level business execs). Brack and Meschuk are both among the executives named in the lawsuit, and Brack is succeeded by "co-leaders" Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra following his departure (with further accusations leveled that Brack left to deliberately avoid being confronted over knowing about the abuses but not stopping them).
* '''August 25th, 2021''' The California Department of Fair Employment leveled charges of obstruction via witness tampering - requiring employees to speak with Activision Blizzard execcs ahead of contacting the DFEH, amending the complaint and even destroying evidence by shredding records from the HR archives. This was added to the lawsuit, and could take the case from a civil lawsuit to a criminal lawsuit.
* '''August 26-27, 2021''': Characters and places named after developers, especially those from the lawsuit, are renamed or removed from Overwatch and World of Warcraft. Examples include the Overwatch character Jesse McCree and World of Warcraft's Draenei city Mac'aree - both named for former lead level designer for WoW Jesse McCree, being renamed.

'''September 14, 2021''': A lawsuit is filed against Activision/Blizzard accusing them of union-busting and worker intimidation, the latter in particular based on company executives responses to the sexual harassment lawsuit.

==Franchises relevant to /tg/==

*'''''[[Warcraft|WarCraft]]:''''' A real-time strategy (RTS) series; initially [[Orc]]s vs [[Human]]s but then later games added more races. Then it became a [[MMORPG]] with [[World of Warcraft|all kinds of crazy shit]]. Particularly notable to /tg/ because it spilled over into multiple genres: There were [[World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game|two separate editions of a ''D&D'' campaign setting]], a physical [[Card_Game#Collectible_Card_Games|trading card game]] and has its own board games too.
*'''''[[StarCraft]]:''''' RTS IN SPHESSSSS! <s>[[Space Marines]]</s> [[Imperial Guard|Terrans]] vs [[Tyranids|Zerg]] vs [[Eldar|Protoss]]. Beyond being the national sport of Korea, the ''StarCraft'' franchise has its own board game and has its own unique version of ''[[Risk]]'' which alters the rules just enough so that it isn't merely a re-skinned version of ''Risk''.
*'''''[[Diablo]]:''''' [[Grimdark]] [[Dark Fantasy]] setting involving the wars between [[Angel]]s and [[Demon]]s, and also not actually made by Blizzard. It was made instead by an outfit named Condor, which got bought out by Davidson & Associates, which also bought out a little outfit named Chaos Studios. Then, Chaos Studios got renamed '''Blizzard''', and Condor was renamed '''Blizzard North''', which is why Diablo ended up being playable on battle.net. Meanwhile, another group of guys named Synergistic Software got bought out by Sierra On-Line, which was in turn acquired by CUC International, which gobbled up Davidson & Associates, which was how the job of making Diablo's expansion pack, Hellfire, got farmed out to Synergistic. However, Condor and Blizzard both had veto power over Synergistic's ideas, and Condor, which was already working on Diablo II, didn't want anything to be in Hellfire that was also going to be in D2, which is why the Barbarian and secret cow quest had to be cut and why Hellfire couldn't be played over Battle.net even though the code totally worked. There was a [[fail|short-lived]] attempt to port the Diablo franchise into both [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons#AD&D 2nd Edition|2nd Edition]] and [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|3rd Edition]] ''Dungeons and Dragons'', though the results were not particularly successful or well-remembered.
*'''''Hearthstone:''''' A digital collectible card game. Think ''[[Magic: The Gathering|MtG]]'' but all the depth and complexity got replaced with RNG bullshit. Also it only costs you one kidney to gather a good card collection rather than [[Forgeworld|both, one leg, one testicle, and the soul of your firstborn child]] , but Blizzard seems dedicated to catch back on that missed profit by adding more content that cannot be bought with in-game currency (gold) and going the way of the battlepass...wait, what do you mean they have two passes?

==Blizzard things that aren't (/tg/ related) rip-offs==
In 1992, they made ''Battle Chess'' for the Commodore 64 & MS-DOS, and also a ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' [[RPG]] for the Amiga. The ''LotR'' game was supposed to be just the first book, with two sequels, but they never got around to finishing it. They made ''RPM Racing'' (allegedly the first American-made SNES game) and ''Rock n' Roll Racing'' for the Super Nintendo and the Sega Megadrive but that's [[/v/]] shit. They also made a side-scrolling Superman beat 'em up and a shitty Justice League fighting game for a dose of [[/co/]] crap too. There's also their game ''The Lost Vikings'', a platforming puzzle game where you control three [[vikings]], each of them with their own special abilities (Erik the Swift can run faster and jump higher than the other two and also bash through walls with his horned helmet, Baleog the Fierce can shoot an arrow and kill enemies with his sword and Olaf the Stout can block with shield which he can also use like a hang-glider.) Since the game has vikings in it, /tg/ might be interested in it due to their [[Warriors of Chaos|viking fetish]]. A sequel was also made, ''The Lost Vikings 2'', which added two more characters, a [[werewolf]] named Fang and Scorch the [[dragon]], but it's kind of a rarity. Fast forward to more recent times, trying to cash in on the growing MOBA-craze, Blizzard developed ''Heroes of the Storm'' by throwing all their decent franchises into a blender to make one mediocre new game, which is ironic considering highly customized user-made ''StarCraft'' and ''WarCraft III'' maps pretty much spawned the MOBA genre in the first place. Blizz's most recent success is the first-person shooter ''Overwatch''. Though hilariously similar to ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' and [[Blood Ravens|drawing upon]] various sci-fi and fantasy sources, it presents a somewhat unique (albeit poorly fleshed-out) [[noblebright]] setting and characters that are mostly [[/d/|fapbait/schlickbait]].

==[[Skub|Legitimately unbiased comparison]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Both of the companies' products have a bevy of similarities and differences that can be factually assessed without any real bias. Beginning here is a <s>comprehensive</s> tiny list of the comparisons between popular topics of much [[RAGE|debate]].

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
===[[Orks]] vs. [[Orc#Warcraft|Orcs]]===

While it is true that the light green skin, angry porcine face with lots of tusks, and heavyset jawlines are traits shared across the two species of Orcoids, that's about where the similarities end. While [[Orks]] are brutal, fun-loving omnicidal maniacs who love the [[Dakka]] and only momentarily hesitate to shoot something if it's sufficiently green and orky, [[orcs]] in Blizzard's universe actually eventually filled the unique role of being good guys. For the most part, anyway, back when they were first through the portals they were extremely bloodthirsty but as time has gone on they've settled down nicely. This is actually a first, as no other universe is really known for having Orcs who can be described as friendly (''[[Strike Legion]]'' is a good example though as well as the elder scrolls). In fact the Orcs of Blizzard's universe are the glue of their faction, serving as the lynch-pin by which the other races come together as one Horde.

Similarly, <span style='color:green;font-size:115%'>Orkzes iz da biggest an' da strongest.</span>, with the lowly boy far more buff than your standard human and only getting taller and taller as they age. Orcs, while significantly physically imposing, are roughly the same height as average humans, and are dwarfed by their [[Minotaur|Tauren]] allies.

Though it should be noted, that at current state Orcs spawned a total of three [[BBEG]]s of the setting, including the first Lich King himself, while most other races, except dragons and (technically) draenei, have their count on one or zero. The Orks, on the other hand, ''are'' the BBEGs.

===Terran Marines vs Space Marines===

This should be somewhat obvious. Space Marines, as deigned by [[GW]], are one-man armies, raised from a young age to be killing machines and then augmented to become superhuman monstrosities. Terran Marines, by comparison, are pitiful. If we're being very generous, they're an analogue for the [[Stormtrooper|Tempestus corps.]], but with a worse track record. They are literally a case of the government or rebel faction finding every hick and criminal they can and shoving them in a brainwashing tank, slapping power armor on them, pumping them with drugs, handing them a gun, and telling them to [[Tarpit|keep shooting until it stops moving]]. And, considering everything in the ''StarCraft'' universe can pierce through tanks and [[/m/|giant mechs]], not to mention some power armor, those marines aren't likely to survive their first deployment. So, to put it simply, Terran Marines are really closer to Guardsmen or Penal Legionnaires, except with better guns and even more drugs. And like the Guard, they have really nice tanks and fantastic artillery.

===Zergs vs [[Tyranids]]===

Both are races of ravenous, rapidly evolving beasts under the control of a distant supreme intelligence, both use biotechnology instead of tools, most of their units are fast, deadly, fragile and numerous, and they even look almost the same. The last part is actually to GW's shame, since they all but copy-pasted the Zerg appearance into Tyranids in 3rd edition, mostly to capitalize on the ''StarCraft'' financial success (yes, they were that greedy and shameless even back then).

Secondly, while the Tyranids' hive mind is their collective consciousness, the Zerg have actual physical entities with emotions and personalities to rule them - from the lowly Overlords, to the Cerebrates, to the Overmind itself (or Overlords - Hive Queens - Broodmothers - The Queen of Blades after Kerrigan took over control), and with that they also get some actual character development and political struggles in their ranks - something 'Nids solely lack as their only real agenda revolves around planet-hopping towards that psychic light known as the [[Golden Throne]], all the while eating everything on the way. Even though most Cerebrates merged into the new Overmind and were killed by Kerrigan (and her puppets) during Brood War, the real reason that they never showed up again was that their hierarchy was similar enough to the 'Nids that the Cerebrates were killed off off-screen and cut from ''StarCraft II'' as a way of [http://comments.deviantart.com/1/359035454/2977652201 Blizzard playing nice with Games Workshop].

Zergs also do not eat worlds like Tyranids do - only conquer and colonize them, which automatically lowers their Eldritch Unstoppable Evil level by half.

There's also a variant of Zerg called the Primal Zerg, which have a strictly more reptilian/mammalian aesthetic and are notably individuals that operate in Packs. Despite being individuals, some with marked intelligence, they're all basically just focused on eating strong prey and surviving and have no ambitions or desires beyond that one dimension.

===Burning Legion vs [[Daemon#Warhammer_40,000|Daemons of Chaos]]===
Both are evil demons, who came from the [[Eye of Terror|dimension of magic]] and want to [[Exterminatus|destroy everything]]. The Burning Legion, however, is everything but chaotic, and is highly organized and structured, and even after their dark god Sargeras got himself killed, they managed to keep their shit together. Moreover, unlike Chaos Daemons, who are the manifestations of emotions and magic, creatures of the Legion are mostly normal sapient biological beings, transformed through overuse of fel magic, or artificial constructs, enlivened by said fel magic. Unlike [[Chaos Gods]], who want the eternal conflict just for the sake of it (which makes sense, given they are empowered by emotions, and conflicts stimulate more emotions), the Burning Legion have clear goals, which are: 1) Gather all the magic, 2) Use it to destroy the Creation, 3) Hope a new, better one comes along. 4) [[Meme|???]], 5) [[Profit|PROFIT]]!

===Protoss vs [[Eldar]]===
You fucking kidding me? OK, both are psychic race with small numbers and long lifespan, both have tech, superior to everything in their setting (save Necrons and Xel'Naga respectively), and both are quite arrogant about their superiority. And that's it. Protoss are tough as adamantium bunkers, can warp in infantry almost instantly any place with an energy field, are fast as a slime, hit like every fucking one of them is armed with a tank cannon or a [[Power Fist]] and tend to move in big unkillable all-destroying deathballs of doom, while Eldar are fast as hell, can be killed by a mean look, and tend to zoom around in small groups at mind-blowing speed, surgically shooting/cutting down priority targets before retreating to the safety of cover. Culture-wise Protoss are closer to [[Tau]] than to Eldar, with a rigid caste system and hierarchy, and the highly collectivist ideology of the Khala, which is actually almost the same as the Tau's Greater Good. From this perspective Dark Templar are basically the Farsight enclave, who told the Khala and its Ethe... I meant Judicators to fuck off and left to build their new home without that brainwashing <s>pheromones</s> psi-internet bullshit. Oh, wait, the Tau Empire was introduced 3 years after the release of ''StarCraft''... OOPS!

Both the Protoss and Eldar also fell out of their golden ages pretty hard, though that's about where the similarities end. The Eldar caused their empire's fall entirely on their own, between all the murder-fucking and general debauchery that was getting out of hand, to such a point that not only did it reduce their species' population to a pitiful fraction of what it once was, but also damned each and every Eldar soul that exists (or has yet to exist) by creating one of the four Chaos Gods responsible for a shit ton of the Grimdark in 40k. Even though the Eldar are fighting against all odds, and making ''some'' progress with the birth of Ynnead, the chance of them actually ever returning to a semblance of their former glory is about as likely as the God-Emperor of Mankind leaping from the Golden Throne and declaring the Imperium of Man a Xenos-inclusive democracy. The Protoss, on the otherhand, are only partially responsible for their fall from power, as the internal strife between the Judicator Caste and Templar Caste didn't exactly help prepare them for when the Zerg invaded their homeworld of Aiur. The surviving Protoss as a whole had to evacuate to Shakuras, where their Dark Templar kin granted them sanctuary (in that kind of arrogant "look at how cool and caring we are ''despite'' you exiling our kind" mindset). Also unlike the Eldar, the Protoss are notably reclaiming their former glory. Having made buddies with the Dark Templar, Purifiers (sentient Protoss AI), Tal'Darim (to the Protoss the way Dark Eldar are to the Craftworlders), the collective Protoss race took back Aiur and is currently rebuilding a unified homeworld for all Protoss.

</div>
</div>

'''TL;DR''': A game company with an emphasis on quality (usually), responsible for both awesome and terrible things. If you really want to know what's what, go look it up yourself from a better source than 1d4chan.

And this whole comparison is now moot, as for all of GW's money grabbing and litigation, they have never had a corporate culture that induced sexual assault and a suicide. And unlike WoW, Warhammer is growing more and more popular and GW revenue is rising. Eviler and less competent. Oh 90's and 2000's Blizzard, we miss you so.

Blizzard

2021-09-16T07:22:17Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:891B:7D7D:DFFF:955F: /* Legitimately unbiased comparison */

{{/vg/}}
{{topquote|Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.|Charles C. Colton, ''Lacon: Or, Many Things in a Few Words: Addressed to Those Who Think''}}

{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Blizzard
|Symbol = [[File:Fluff Accurate.jpg|300px]]
|Alignment = Stupid Chaotic Evil
|Divine Rank = AAA
|Pantheon = Activision
|Portfolio =
|Domains = Greed, Falls From Grace, Bad Ideas, Terrible Writing (Formerly: Polish, Execution, Unoriginality)
|Home Plane = California
|Worshippers = Gamers,
|Favoured Weapon = Exploit worker, Union Breaker, Retcons, Virtue Signal, Weinsteinian culture, IP theft
}}

__NOTOC__
'''Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.''' is an American-owned servant of the PRC and [[/v/|video game]] developer founded in 1991. Consumed by corporate merger shenanigans in 2008, they are now a subsidiary of parent company Activision Blizzard. They are well known in the gaming community for rising to prominence by shamelessly ripping off a long list of things, the most pertinent to [[/tg/]] being the similarity between its flagship franchises and ''[[Warhammer 40k]]''. Blizzard is akin to Apple Inc.: they never ''really'' did anything original, and instead took inspiration/borrowed/stole content from other sources, marketing it as though they're pretty much posterboys of the brand, and took the credit for being "pioneers of said genre". [[Games Workshop|Let it not be said they didn't steal their business/creative practices from the best]].

While not as skubtastic as [[Kaldor Draigo|the]] [[Matt Ward|other]] [[Grey Knights|things]] [[Ultramarines|present]], it still does cause tensions in /tg/ when brought up. Especially if it concerns one of their games' [[fluff]].

While Blizzard does [[Blood Ravens|"borrow"]] other people's ideas, there's no denying marketing spends a lot of time and effort studying those ideas, figuring why they are successful, and what parts of these ideas should be improved or removed to make them better. This leads to creating a few extremely well done and successful games, in turn earning a [[Profit|LOT of money]]. While other studios may create revolutionary content, Blizzard is more about ''evolution,'' with their games becoming golden standards of quality, and "easy to learn, hard to master" learning curves. They are also responsible for creating the game-dev meme ''"when it's done,"'' which means they could literally spend a decade on mismanagement one game, probably spending too much time doing drugs in the office, and another decade to force the dev team into crunch with a shit-ton of balance patches, while management pisses off to GDC but it's to be expected, given all other major game developers are the same, if not [[EA|much, much worse]].

[[Skub|There's contention]] between the legions of GW and the hordes of Blizzard in regards to copyrights, who invented which idea first, and whether any ripping-off in fact occurred. Facts seem to lean in the direction of yes, actually. Blizzard's co founder Allen Adham wanted to get the license to the Warhammer Universe however the [https://kotaku.com/how-warcraft-was-almost-a-warhammer-game-and-how-that-5929161 business side of the deal fell through], and the team wasn't keen on working for someone else. The exaggerated features and painted art style of the table top minis was adapted for low poly games. It boggles the mind that there still hasn't been legal trouble for this, and leads many to speculate that there's an off the books deal. Fa/tg/uys tend to accuse Blizzard of ripping off most of [[Games Workshop]]'s content, and they're right. They often write long angry posts about why Blizzard an evil company, what was stolen from their precious settings, and why Blizzard games sucks so much. But this is normal operating procedure for khornporation, Ip for the Ip throne after all. This sounds hilarious when you think about Games Workshop, who does steal '''all''' of its content from other settings. Blizzard only concentrates what's awesome about James Workshop and repackages it after doing minimal rework.

If you ever meet a raging fan, crying about plagiarism, <s>ignore the fucking troll</s> [[lulz|throw oil on the fire and get a-trolling]]. Alternatively, keep raging about [[The Ultimate Necron Cheese List|Necron Flyer Lists]]/[[rage|Terran Hellion Drop]] imbalance.

'''TL;DR''': Good [[crunch]], meh fluff (their memorable humor is arguably the best part of it), they are the [[Tzeentch]]/[[Slaanesh]] to GW's [[Nurgle]].

==Scandals==

From the late 2010's onwards, the company has experienced a steadily worsening fall from grace; whereas Blizzard was usually the universally beloved grand-daddy of the gaming world, albeit with one skubby exception in the form of Diablo 3, a number of PR-fuckups, shallow cashgrabs, [[Communism|grievances of the developers that actually make the games]] and the revelation of pervasive sexual harassment of staff have all but crushed their reputation. In a funny twist of fate, when it comes to their products, Blizzard is currently making a lot of the mistakes Geedubs made before [[Kevin Rountree]] took over. Here are some of the biggest failures and crimes - yes, really - in recent times;

'''November 3, 2018:''' During Blizcon, Diablo Immortals was announced as a mobile game. Gamers were livid, with one asking if it was an out of season April fools joke. The Gamer rage made an notable impact on stock price, taking months to recover afterwards.

'''Feburary 12, 2019:''' Blizzard fired 800 employees after reporting record earning.

'''October 6, 2019:''' During a tournament, Chinese [[Hearthstone]] pro-player Blitzchung appeared wearing a gas mask and goggles in a live stream and showed support to the Hong Kong Protests. Near the end of the live stream he said “Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our age”, a recognized slogan in the Hong Kong protest. After the interview Blizzard disqualified Blitzchung and stripped him of his prize money, and banned him for a year. Backlash was immediate, users deleted Blizzard accounts and destroyed games while #BoycottBlizzard trended with thousands retweeting.

'''October 28, 2019:''' Blizzard announced a $660,000 prize pool for their annual arena/mythic dungeon world tournaments, after previously releasing a set of promotional in-game toys, promising 1/4 of the sales would go towards said prize pool. Most fans believed the money made from the sales would be added to the $500,000 minimum that Blizzard had promised. However, after competing players confronted Blizzard officials, it was revealed that Blizzard had instead chosen to rely entirely on the sales profit for the prize pool, making off with ~$2 million themselves from the other 3/4 of the sales and contributing nothing out of their own pockets. Nerd rage ensued.

'''January 28th, 2020:''' Blizzard released the remastered version of Warcraft 3. The game came out in a notoriously unfinished, buggy and featureless state and used advertisement that borders on being fraudulent (Australian and EU authorities actually filed a lawsuit against Blizzard for misleading advertisements), was missing features the original game had ''13 years ago'', [[RAGE|'''claimed ownership of any custom content created for the game in the ToS in a really, really stupid move that is also illegal under US and EU law''' - especially since Blizzard is a US company]] and even refused to offer refunds, which prompted another lawsuit by EU authorities against them. The game also completely replaced the original Warcraft 3 on the launcher, locking players out of the original unless they have the physical discs plus disc ports and instead prompting them to download the "improved" version.

'''August 4, 2020:''' Employees shared a spreadsheet of salaries and recent pay increases showing that few were given raises after crunch, and overtime. Many employees, despite working at one of the biggest video game companies were struggling to pay rent and using the company's free coffee as an appetite suppressant as they cut meals. Apparently that 5 year service sword does not also pay rent.

'''October 16th, 2020:''' Blizzard announced that they would put Starcraft 2 into maintenance mode, ceasing any content updates in the future. This has left a lot of players angry and sad, especially since Starcraft 2 is one of the very last remaining RTS with a decently sized playerbase and competitive scene.

'''July 22nd, 2021:''' California's Department of Fair Employment filed a civil lawsuit against Activision/Blizzard for sexual harassment of numerous employees - especially female employees, some of the incidents going back years. The final catalyst was the suicide of a female employee who was one of the victims of said harassment. According to the lawsuit, the culprits are from several levels in the company (former Senior Creative Director Alex Afrasiabi and former CTO Ben Kilgore are among them), the charges include unwanted groping and posting intimate pictures without their consent, and that other execs knew of the abuses but did nothing. The situation wasn't helped when several Blizzard employees lashed out at several high-profile WoW commentators and streamers such as Asmongold for criticizing them, trying to shift blame onto them despite those streamers having nothing to do with the company or the abuse. With morale at an all-time low and widespread stress, the development of new projects (or at least World of Warcraft) has been stopped until the situation is resolved.
* '''July 28, 2021:''' After delivering a open letter to the upper management, a portion of Blizzard staff staged a walkout protest that gained considerable news coverage. There has been increasing support for staff to unionize, with Blizzard's Board of Directors responding by consulting the same legal firm whose lawyers prevented Amazon's staff from unionizing.
* '''August 3rd, 2021''' Sponsors have started to turn on Blizzard and executive-level employees, such as J. Allen Brack and Jesse Meschuk, have been leaving the company (unclear whether it's voluntary resignations or firings as per the standard sugar-coated dismissals for top level business execs). Brack and Meschuk are both among the executives named in the lawsuit, and Brack is succeeded by "co-leaders" Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra following his departure (with further accusations leveled that Brack left to deliberately avoid being confronted over knowing about the abuses but not stopping them).
* '''August 25th, 2021''' The California Department of Fair Employment leveled charges of obstruction via witness tampering - requiring employees to speak with Activision Blizzard execcs ahead of contacting the DFEH, amending the complaint and even destroying evidence by shredding records from the HR archives. This was added to the lawsuit, and could take the case from a civil lawsuit to a criminal lawsuit.
* '''August 26-27, 2021''': Characters and places named after developers, especially those from the lawsuit, are renamed or removed from Overwatch and World of Warcraft. Examples include the Overwatch character Jesse McCree and World of Warcraft's Draenei city Mac'aree - both named for former lead level designer for WoW Jesse McCree, being renamed.

'''September 14, 2021''': A lawsuit is filed against Activision/Blizzard accusing them of union-busting and worker intimidation, the latter in particular based on company executives responses to the sexual harassment lawsuit.

==Franchises relevant to /tg/==

*'''''[[Warcraft|WarCraft]]:''''' A real-time strategy (RTS) series; initially [[Orc]]s vs [[Human]]s but then later games added more races. Then it became a [[MMORPG]] with [[World of Warcraft|all kinds of crazy shit]]. Particularly notable to /tg/ because it spilled over into multiple genres: There were [[World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game|two separate editions of a ''D&D'' campaign setting]], a physical [[Card_Game#Collectible_Card_Games|trading card game]] and has its own board games too.
*'''''[[StarCraft]]:''''' RTS IN SPHESSSSS! <s>[[Space Marines]]</s> [[Imperial Guard|Terrans]] vs [[Tyranids|Zerg]] vs [[Eldar|Protoss]]. Beyond being the national sport of Korea, the ''StarCraft'' franchise has its own board game and has its own unique version of ''[[Risk]]'' which alters the rules just enough so that it isn't merely a re-skinned version of ''Risk''.
*'''''[[Diablo]]:''''' [[Grimdark]] [[Dark Fantasy]] setting involving the wars between [[Angel]]s and [[Demon]]s, and also not actually made by Blizzard. It was made instead by an outfit named Condor, which got bought out by Davidson & Associates, which also bought out a little outfit named Chaos Studios. Then, Chaos Studios got renamed '''Blizzard''', and Condor was renamed '''Blizzard North''', which is why Diablo ended up being playable on battle.net. Meanwhile, another group of guys named Synergistic Software got bought out by Sierra On-Line, which was in turn acquired by CUC International, which gobbled up Davidson & Associates, which was how the job of making Diablo's expansion pack, Hellfire, got farmed out to Synergistic. However, Condor and Blizzard both had veto power over Synergistic's ideas, and Condor, which was already working on Diablo II, didn't want anything to be in Hellfire that was also going to be in D2, which is why the Barbarian and secret cow quest had to be cut and why Hellfire couldn't be played over Battle.net even though the code totally worked. There was a [[fail|short-lived]] attempt to port the Diablo franchise into both [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons#AD&D 2nd Edition|2nd Edition]] and [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|3rd Edition]] ''Dungeons and Dragons'', though the results were not particularly successful or well-remembered.
*'''''Hearthstone:''''' A digital collectible card game. Think ''[[Magic: The Gathering|MtG]]'' but all the depth and complexity got replaced with RNG bullshit. Also it only costs you one kidney to gather a good card collection rather than [[Forgeworld|both, one leg, one testicle, and the soul of your firstborn child]] , but Blizzard seems dedicated to catch back on that missed profit by adding more content that cannot be bought with in-game currency (gold) and going the way of the battlepass...wait, what do you mean they have two passes?

==Blizzard things that aren't (/tg/ related) rip-offs==
In 1992, they made ''Battle Chess'' for the Commodore 64 & MS-DOS, and also a ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' [[RPG]] for the Amiga. The ''LotR'' game was supposed to be just the first book, with two sequels, but they never got around to finishing it. They made ''RPM Racing'' (allegedly the first American-made SNES game) and ''Rock n' Roll Racing'' for the Super Nintendo and the Sega Megadrive but that's [[/v/]] shit. They also made a side-scrolling Superman beat 'em up and a shitty Justice League fighting game for a dose of [[/co/]] crap too. There's also their game ''The Lost Vikings'', a platforming puzzle game where you control three [[vikings]], each of them with their own special abilities (Erik the Swift can run faster and jump higher than the other two and also bash through walls with his horned helmet, Baleog the Fierce can shoot an arrow and kill enemies with his sword and Olaf the Stout can block with shield which he can also use like a hang-glider.) Since the game has vikings in it, /tg/ might be interested in it due to their [[Warriors of Chaos|viking fetish]]. A sequel was also made, ''The Lost Vikings 2'', which added two more characters, a [[werewolf]] named Fang and Scorch the [[dragon]], but it's kind of a rarity. Fast forward to more recent times, trying to cash in on the growing MOBA-craze, Blizzard developed ''Heroes of the Storm'' by throwing all their decent franchises into a blender to make one mediocre new game, which is ironic considering highly customized user-made ''StarCraft'' and ''WarCraft III'' maps pretty much spawned the MOBA genre in the first place. Blizz's most recent success is the first-person shooter ''Overwatch''. Though hilariously similar to ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' and [[Blood Ravens|drawing upon]] various sci-fi and fantasy sources, it presents a somewhat unique (albeit poorly fleshed-out) [[noblebright]] setting and characters that are mostly [[/d/|fapbait/schlickbait]].

==[[Skub|Legitimately unbiased comparison]]==
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Both of the companies' products have a bevy of similarities and differences that can be factually assessed without any real bias. Beginning here is a <s>comprehensive</s> tiny list of the comparisons between popular topics of much [[RAGE|debate]].

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
===[[Orks]] vs. [[Orc#Warcraft|Orcs]]===

While it is true that the light green skin, angry porcine face with lots of tusks, and heavyset jawlines are traits shared across the two species of Orcoids, that's about where the similarities end. While [[Orks]] are brutal, fun-loving omnicidal maniacs who love the [[Dakka]] and only momentarily hesitate to shoot something if it's sufficiently green and orky, [[orcs]] in Blizzard's universe actually eventually filled the unique role of being good guys. For the most part, anyway, back when they were first through the portals they were extremely bloodthirsty but as time has gone on they've settled down nicely. This is actually a first, as no other universe is really known for having Orcs who can be described as friendly (''[[Strike Legion]]'' is a good example though as well as the elder scrolls). In fact the Orcs of Blizzard's universe are the glue of their faction, serving as the lynch-pin by which the other races come together as one Horde.

Similarly, <span style='color:green;font-size:115%'>Orkzes iz da biggest an' da strongest.</span>, with the lowly boy far more buff than your standard human and only getting taller and taller as they age. Orcs, while significantly physically imposing, are roughly the same height as average humans, and are dwarfed by their [[Minotaur|Tauren]] allies.

Though it should be noted, that at current state Orcs spawned a total of three [[BBEG]]s of the setting, including the first Lich King himself, while most other races, except dragons and (technically) draenei, have their count on one or zero. The Orks, on the other hand, ''are'' the BBEGs.

===Terran Marines vs Space Marines===

This should be somewhat obvious. Space Marines, as deigned by [[GW]], are one-man armies, raised from a young age to be killing machines and then augmented to become superhuman monstrosities. Terran Marines, by comparison, are pitiful. If we're being very generous, they're an analogue for the [[Stormtrooper|Tempestus corps.]], but with a worse track record. They are literally a case of the government or rebel faction finding every hick and criminal they can and shoving them in a brainwashing tank, slapping power armor on them, pumping them with drugs, handing them a gun, and telling them to [[Tarpit|keep shooting until it stops moving]]. And, considering everything in the ''StarCraft'' universe can pierce through tanks and [[/m/|giant mechs]], not to mention some power armor, those marines aren't likely to survive their first deployment. So, to put it simply, Terran Marines are really closer to Guardsmen or Penal Legionnaires, except with better guns and even more drugs. And like the Guard, they have really nice tanks and fantastic artillery.

===Zergs vs [[Tyranids]]===

Both are races of ravenous, rapidly evolving beasts under the control of a distant supreme intelligence, both use biotechnology instead of tools, most of their units are fast, deadly, fragile and numerous, and they even look almost the same. The last part is actually to GW's shame, since they all but copy-pasted the Zerg appearance into Tyranids in 3rd edition, mostly to capitalize on the ''StarCraft'' financial success (yes, they were that greedy and shameless even back then).

Secondly, while the Tyranids' hive mind is their collective consciousness, the Zerg have actual physical entities with emotions and personalities to rule them - from the lowly Overlords, to the Cerebrates, to the Overmind itself (or Overlords - Hive Queens - Broodmothers - The Queen of Blades after Kerrigan took over control), and with that they also get some actual character development and political struggles in their ranks - something 'Nids solely lack as their only real agenda revolves around planet-hopping towards that psychic light known as the [[Golden Throne]], all the while eating everything on the way. Even though most Cerebrates merged into the new Overmind and were killed by Kerrigan (and her puppets) during Brood War, the real reason that they never showed up again was that their hierarchy was similar enough to the 'Nids that the Cerebrates were killed off off-screen and cut from ''StarCraft II'' as a way of [http://comments.deviantart.com/1/359035454/2977652201 Blizzard playing nice with Games Workshop].

Zergs also do not eat worlds like Tyranids do - only conquer and colonize them, which automatically lowers their Eldritch Unstoppable Evil level by half.

There's also a variant of Zerg called the Primal Zerg, which have a strictly more reptilian/mammalian aesthetic and are notably individuals that operate in Packs. Despite being individuals, some with marked intelligence, they're all basically just focused on eating strong prey and surviving and have no ambitions or desires beyond that one dimension.

===Burning Legion vs [[Daemon#Warhammer_40,000|Daemons of Chaos]]===
Both are evil demons, who came from the [[Eye of Terror|dimension of magic]] and want to [[Exterminatus|destroy everything]]. The Burning Legion, however, is everything but chaotic, and is highly organized and structured, and even after their dark god Sargeras got himself killed, they managed to keep their shit together. Moreover, unlike Chaos Daemons, who are the manifestations of emotions and magic, creatures of the Legion are mostly normal sapient biological beings, transformed through overuse of fel magic, or artificial constructs, enlivened by said fel magic. Unlike [[Chaos Gods]], who want the eternal conflict just for the sake of it (which makes sense, given they are empowered by emotions, and conflicts stimulate more emotions), the Burning Legion have clear goals, which are: 1) Gather all the magic, 2) Use it to destroy the Creation, 3) Hope a new, better one comes along. 4) [[Meme|???]], 5) [[Profit|PROFIT]]!

===Protoss vs [[Eldar]]===
You fucking kidding me? OK, both are psychic race with small numbers and long lifespan, both have tech, superior to everything in their setting (save Necrons and Xel'Naga respectively), and both are quite arrogant about their superiority. And that's it. Protoss are tough as adamantium bunkers, can warp in infantry almost instantly any place with an energy field, are fast as a slime, hit like every fucking one of them is armed with a tank cannon or a [[Power Fist]] and tend to move in big unkillable all-destroying deathballs of doom, while Eldar are fast as hell, can be killed by a mean look, and tend to zoom around in small groups at mind-blowing speed, surgically shooting/cutting down priority targets before retreating to the safety of cover. Culture-wise Protoss are closer to [[Tau]] than to Eldar, with a rigid caste system and hierarchy, and the highly collectivist ideology of the Khala, which is actually almost the same as the Tau's Greater Good. From this perspective Dark Templar are basically the Farsight enclave, who told the Khala and its Ethe... I meant Judicators to fuck off and left to build their new home without that brainwashing <s>pheromones</s> psi-internet bullshit. Oh, wait, the Tau Empire was introduced 3 years after the release of ''StarCraft''... OOPS!

Both the Protoss and Eldar also fell out of their golden ages pretty hard, though that's about where the similarities end. The Eldar caused their empire's fall entirely on their own, between all the murder-fucking and general debauchery that was getting out of hand, to such a point that not only did it reduce their species' population to a pitiful fraction of what it once was, but also damned each and every Eldar soul that exists (or has yet to exist) by creating one of the four Chaos Gods responsible for a shit ton of the Grimdark in 40k. Even though the Eldar are fighting against all odds, and making ''some'' progress with the birth of Ynnead, the chance of them actually ever returning to a semblance of their former glory is about as likely as the God-Emperor of Mankind leaping from the Golden Throne and declaring the Imperium of Man a Xenos-inclusive democracy. The Protoss, on the otherhand, are only partially responsible for their fall from power, as the internal strife between the Judicator Caste and Templar Caste didn't exactly help prepare them for when the Zerg invaded their homeworld of Aiur. The surviving Protoss as a whole had to evacuate to Shakuras, where their Dark Templar kin granted them sanctuary (in that kind of arrogant "look at how cool and caring we are ''despite'' you exiling our kind" mindset). Also unlike the Eldar, the Protoss are notably reclaiming their former glory. Having made buddies with the Dark Templar, Purifiers (sentient Protoss AI), Tal'Darim (to the Protoss the way Dark Eldar are to the Craftworlders), the collective Protoss race took back Aiur and is currently rebuilding a unified homeworld for all Protoss.

</div>
</div>

'''TL;DR''': A game company with an emphasis on quality (usually), responsible for both awesome and terrible things. If you really want to know what's what, go look it up yourself from a better source than 1d4chan.

And this whole comparison is now moot outside of their products, as for all of GW's money grabbing and litigation, they have never had a corporate culture that induced sexual assault and a suicide. And unlike WoW, Warhammer is growing more and more popular and GW revenue is rising. Eviler and less competent. Oh 90's and 2000's Blizzard, we miss you so.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

2021-09-16T06:25:11Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:891B:7D7D:DFFF:955F: /* The Last Airbender */

{{/co/}}
{{awesome}}

'''TL;DR''' a setting for AZN kung-fu and high magic without being the over-the-top [[Exalted]] and not the highbrow [[Legend of the Five Rings]].

Let's say you want something that is fantasy, set in a large complex world that in no way rips off [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], is presented in visual form and is just well made all around. Well, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko had come to your aid with '''Avatar: The Last Airbender''' and its new followup [[FAIL|'''The Legend of Korra'''.]] It is in no way related to [[Avatar|James Cameron's similarly titled work]] (thank god).

== Setting ==

You have a world modeled primarily off Asia (in particular dynastic [[China]]), plus some people can magically manipulate simple matter using martial arts moves called "bending." Benders can manipulate one and only one of the Earth, Air, Fire or Water elements. The exception to this rule is one person called the "Avatar" who can master all four types of bending, and universally regarded as a spiritual leader (think: the Dalai Lama). There is only ever one Avatar in each generation, who is the reincarnation of the previous Avatar and can remember (converse with the ghosts of) previous Avatars.

[[File:Avatar-.The.Last.Airbender.full.1161878.jpg|thumb|750px|right|The continent of the Avatar universe, only slightly inspired by [[China]] - The Republic City from the second series is situated on the western coast of the Earth Kingdom.]]
The world has one language and four nations:

* The '''Water Tribes''': Hunter-gatherer Inuit-like people who live in the North and South polar regions. The South Pole tribe consists of stereotypical Inuit, whereas the ones living at the North Pole got bored of making simple igloos and carved their ''entire city'' out of ice. Then they added canals to troll the physicists. Korra was born in the South. There is also a water tribe scattered in equatorial swamps that manipulate the swamp vines by bending the water saturating the vines. Analogous to Indonesia, or a snowy Philippines?

* The '''Earth Kingdom''': A large loose continental power ruled out of the massive fortified city of Ba Sing Se. Wealthy and prosperous, they are masters of resource harvesting with bending as a safe and efficient means of mining metals and rare earths, and reduced labour required for farming. Culturally diverse, but largely modeled on [[China]] and Korea, with the capital (Ba Sing Se) eventually turning out to be based on North Korea. Seriously, this shithole has a [[Inquisition|secret police force]] that monitors the inhabitants and re-indoctrinates them to not cause trouble. Some [[Tolkien]]-esque undertones there. Then again, the first series is mostly about Buddhism, balance and peace, so it makes sense.
** The sequel splits the Earth continent into three big territories: The original Earth Kingdom, '''Republic City''' (a neutral territory independent from each nation while working with them all), and '''Zaofu''' (a city of metalbenders who made their own city after Toph began teaching Metalbending. One of her daughters runs the place).

* The '''Fire Nation''': A technologically advanced state based off of a volcanic island chain with imperialistic ambitions (so, Japan). By technologically advanced, we mean they have steampunk tanks, ironclad ships, a giant freaking drill and hot-air zeppelins (the original concept for the zeppelins was invented by an earth nation mechanic but the fire nation turned them up to 11), and by the time of the sequel, a ''nation-wide electric grid''. Their culture encourages ambition and competition.

* The '''Air Nomads''': Monastic wanderer-gatherers who lived ascetic (if non-celibate) lives, like what normies think Tibetans live like. They have four temple-cities that the wanderers will cycle through, and monuments scattered throughout the territories of the other three nations. By the time of the first story, the Air Nomads were purged [[Exterminatus|with <s>holy</s> fire]] in an attempt to prevent the reincarnation of the next Avatar. The Avatar was born to Air Nomads anyways and is the protagonist of the first story.
** After the Harmonic Convergence and Korra saving the world, a strange anomaly happens where random people begin developing airbending powers. Of course, Tenzin (Aang's son) begins making a world tour to meet these airbenders and rebuild the Air Nomads.

There is a fifth faction, of the fae creatures collectively called "Spirits," who used to be common but have mostly left the physical world behind for their own Spirit World that is an alternate dimension. The spirits that remain in the physical world are dedicated to the places they reside, interacting very little with people but they have been known to pick-up on the ambient mood of communities around them (ie. a river spirit will be irritable if the river is polluted and neglected, a mountain spirit will be confrontational if the nation has been at war).

'''When the first story starts''', the Fire Nation has been expanding aggressively into the Earth Nation for four generations, which hasn't been reacting beyond resisting in small city-states and issuing an "everything is fine they'll never win" message from the capital in what's obvious procrastination, hoping the Fire Nation will give up and decide the constant sieges are too expensive (spoiler: nope). The Fire Nation has already extinguished the Air Nomads, satisfied they have prevented the rebirth of the next Avatar prophesied to end their conquering. The Fire Nation naval aggression have made a virtual embargo on the Water Tribes, isolating north from south and both from the Earth Nation.

The only surviving Air Nomad after the pogrom is the current Avatar, who hid himself in cryosleep. Nobody was around to resuscitate him so he was out of the picture for a century or so. His education was interrupted and feels he needs to learn all four forms of bending as well as visit each of the isolated culture/nations before he can fulfill his purpose as a peacemaker.

'''The second story''' is sixty years after the first story, and the world's technology has advanced to the level of the 1900's -- ironclad ships are common, we can see industrial manufacturing in privately-owned companies instead of Fire Nation government military efforts, automobiles are uncommon but visible, and we see people listening to crystal radios. Most of the story takes place in "Republic City," which is for all intents and purposes New York City with Chinese architecture. Republic City is the world's equivalent of the United Nations; an independent city-state regarded as a symbol of the international peace. There is civil unrest, as the improved technology is closing the gap between benders and non-benders, causing resentment since benders have had a leg-up in social strata. This resulted in the insurgency of the "[[Communism|Equalist Movement]]" who want to overthrow the "let them eat cake" bender bourgeoisie.

The Avatar of this era is a young woman from the water tribes who is comfortable with the physical powers granted by her mastery of multiple elements but stunted in her training with spiritual matters and diplomacy, making her a poor mediator in the role that's expected of her, and easily manipulated by politicians. The Equalist insurgents are lead by a charismatic leader named "Amon," who claims to have a method for permanently disabling any person's bending ability; crippling the Avatar would be a huge symbolic victory for the Equalists, who see the Avatar as the pinnacle bender and biggest target for their resentments.

== Characters ==
=== The Last Airbender ===

[[File:Avatar-The-Last-Airbender-Free-Download.jpg|thumb|400px|right|From top left and towards right, Toph, Prince Zuko, Sokka, Katara and Avatar Aang.]]
: '''The Gaang'''
* Aang: Protagonist de jour. Mostly optimistic (when he's not panicking) and the nimblest motherfucker you'll ever meet due to being an Airbending prodigy. His destiny is to master the other three elements and save the world. Favorite mode of transport: flying bison. Known to go [[Awesome|godmode]] when shit hits the fan.
* Katara: Motherly waterbending love interest. Occasionally kicks ass. WARNING: FRIENDSHIP SPEECHES AHEAD. The only one in the group with any resemblance of common sense other than Aang, and has a surprising amount of wisdom and knowledge for her age.
* Sokka: Katara's bigger brother, a tech-minded guy in a world of magic Kung Fu and Spirits that get pissed off if you cut down too many trees in an area. The non bender of the group so he has to think his way to victory. Man's man, ladies man, master swordsman, brilliant scientist (he co-invented the submarine with the earth nation mechanic who invented the zeppelin in this world), leader of men, and a genius in the use of comedy in all its shapes and forms, from the one-liner to the pratfall. We all wish we were Sokka.
* Toph Beifong: A blind twelve year old girl introduced in Season 2. Also a massive badass, a tomboy and the best Earthbender in existence.
* Momo: Aang's companion. Hybrid of a bat and a lemur - This is normal in the Avatar universe. Is a cute little bugger.
* Appa: Aforementioned flying bison. Hasn't got a lot of personality and functions as the group's main center of operations, supplied by a platform on its back. A large part of the second season is focused on getting him back from captivity. Like Aang, he's the last of his kind, [[Grimdark|but as an animal rather than a human, he's an endling]] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endling Yes, that's an actual term]).

: '''Allies'''
* Suki: Member of the order of Kyoshi warriors (a group of warriors inspired by one of Aang's past lives, Avatar Kyoshi - [[Awesome|an Avatar who looked like an amazon combined with a geisha]]). They live on an island and hold the Avatar in high regard. Kind-hearted yet one of the best fighters in the series, second only to Iroh, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. Literally knocked the sexism out of Sokka when they first met (beating him in a fight and proving to him that it's possible a woman can fight better than a man) and later on the two fall in love.
* King Bumi: King of the Earth city Omashu, a massive badass and a very old man (he's a childhood friend of Aang's, and Aang was frozen in ice for a century). Possible origin of the term "mad genius", Aang's nickname for him, since he acts crazy but is extremely smart. Tied with Toph for the most powerful Earthbender in existence. He surrendered his city to a fire nation invasion, but, in the series' best moment of [[Just As Planned]], the city was evacuated, [[Awesome|he waited until the firebenders temporarily lost their powers, then used his Earthbending to singlehandedly retake his city without killing or losing a single person]].

: '''Enemies'''
* Zuko: Exiled firebender prince. Originally a whiny bitch attempting to hunt the avatar to end his exile, but undergoes <gasp>CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT</gasp>, eventually becoming Aang's firebending teacher.
* Azula: Zuko's crazy badass dominatrix sister. Also a magnificent bitch with mommy-issues. Hobbies: Shooting lightning, [[Tzeentch|manipulating others to further her plans]], being better than you and volleyball. Often accompanied by her only friends/lieutenants the knife-wielding goth, Mai, and the acrobatic valley girl, <s>jailbait</s> <s>teenager fap bait</s> Ty Lee.
*Ozai: Ruler of the Fire Nation, firebender of (near) "UNLIMITED POWAH!", crappy father (burned his preteen son's face and exiled him for being 'rude'; rude here meaning [[Salamanders|protesting against using new recruits as cannon fodder]], he also made Azula what she is), and above all evil motherfucker (not surprising considering he's played by Mark Hamill aka Joker). Willing to genocide entire races and nations in order to ensure his power, and his country's undisputed supremacy ([[God-Emperor of Mankind|Sounds quite familiar]]). At the end, [[Horus Heresy|he is betrayed by his son who joins the enemy side]] and Aang strips him of his powers and his previously banished son becomes the new monarch and throws him in the dungeons to rot.

: '''Others'''
* Iroh: Zuko's uncle, a bro-tier guy even when on the villain's side and (spoiler) later revealed to be a secret hero who also [[Awesome|saved the dragons from extinction by pretending he'd killed the last ones]]. Basically what would happen if one of the dirtier-minded Buddhas could eat fire, shit lightning, and drink enough tea to cause a younger man's heart to explode. [[Kharn|A fun guy to be around, minus the team-killing]]. Voiced by the glorious, the late Mako Iwamatsu.

=== Legend of Korra ===

[[File:4388128-553141-legend of korra.jpg|thumb|400px|right|From top to bottom, Master Tenzin, Mako, Bolin, and Avatar Korra.]]

: '''The Krew'''
* Korra: The title character, and a brash, athletic tomboy who lacks spiritual aptitude (which means she punches people instead of meditating and talking things through like some kind of hippy... which isn't a good ideal when your chief enemy is claiming you oppress people who disagree with them). Gets her ass kicked a lot despite in skilled in three of the four elements due to her impulsiveness and not outright mastering any of them. Rule 34 has taken this penchant for failure and run a fucking marathon with it. Still qualifies as a [[Mary Sue]] for the same reason as [[Star Wars|Rey]]: much of her supposed power and competence is handed to her on a plate with no personal growth involved.
* Mako: Writers said he's "Zuko without the angst"; however they forgot Zuko had other traits and so is just some generic dude Korra wants to make out with, and kind of a creepy asshole. Also cheated on Asami. His primary characteristics are his strong sense of duty and a scarf. Team's Firebender, was taught how to lightningbend by a mobster. Becomes a cop in the second season, and then stopped after scandals involving eccentric rich dudes. Named after the late Japanese actor, Mako Iwamatsu, who among his many accomplishments voiced Iroh in The Last Airbender.
* Bolin: Mako's younger brother. Unlike Mako, Bolin is an earthbender and has character traits. He's the team's "funny guy" (he's basically like Sokka, but without the wit or tactical sense...actually now that you say it, nothing like Sokka except occasionally being comic relief), being on the better side of the whole dudebro thing while avoiding asshole territory. Had a crush on Korra, but she strung him along and shacked up with his brother Mako, with Bolin even walking in on them kissing when he was ready to confess his feelings to Korra. Ouch! Also happens to luck into being a movie star because of an eccentric rich man.
* Asami Sato: Daughter of this world's inventor of the automobile and easily the most rounded and best member of Team Avatar. She does not have any flaws other than being too nice sometimes, which is not a flaw, and yet is somehow not a loathsome Mary Sue. Mostly because she isn't in the show much, isn't overpowered, and when she's kicking ass with an Equalist power fist it is pretty awesome. [[Retcon|Revealed]] to be in lesbians with Korra at the end of the series (technically the directors said they're bisexual, but same difference) in a transparent attempt to redeem the series in the eyes of Tumblr, kicking off a category 5 skubstorm in the process and delighting everyone who wanted to make/already had made [[Rule 34]] of the pairing.

: '''Allies'''
* Tenzin: The youngest song of Aang and Katara, a sane, calm, rational Airbending master and adviser to Korra... most of the time. Has a wife and four children (his wife gives birth to the fourth during the show), three of which are airbenders. Starts off being a hard-ass until his own family insists that he ease off. Is very set on keeping the Airbending traditions alive and considers his duty to his people and his father important above all else to the point that he wants to be just like his father... with good reason, since he's trying to rebuild a civilization that went through an attempted genocide which his father was the only survivor of.
* Lin Beifong: Toph's even more hard-assed daughter who's chief of Republic City Police. Pretty much only uses metalbending and tries her damnedest to keep everything under control. Despite being a hard-ass, she's completely correct in her negative assessment of Korra in Season 1.
* Suyin Beifong: Lin's sister who built a city of metalbenders named Zaofu. Had to leave Republic City after her mother covered up her association with a gang of criminals and accidentally scarring her sister.

: '''Enemies'''
* Amon: [[Eliphas]] the Inheritor's bastard son [[Communism|and a hero of the common man and working class who strives to end the oppression of foul bending class and bring about true equality and a golden age of happiness]], until later episodes reveal he's just batshit insane. Also, has the BEST voice in the entire series, being also blessed by [[Cyrus|Steve Blum]].
* Vaatu: The spirit of chaos of the Avatar world, who is embattled with an eternal conflict with Raava, the incarnation of peace. They're suppose to be analogies of Yin and Yang (the Chinese philosophy that opposing forces balance and compliment each other to create peace and equilibrium), but the writers kinda fucked it up and made it: "VAATU IS CHAOS SO BAD, RAAVA IS PEACE SO GUD". Even worse, the writers already did spirits that were a Yin and Yang analogy in ATLA with the spirits Tui and La who took the form of Koi fish.
* Unalaq: [[Lorgar]] of the Avatar world. Starts off a malicious prick and then literally gets empowered by the Dark God to make a fucking Kaiju fight. Is also Korra's uncle. Also a very powerful Waterbender.
** Eska and Desna: Unalaq's identical twin son and daughter. One of them becomes Bolin's stalker and tries marrying him. She's voiced by Aubrey Plaza.
* Red Lotus: A secret society dedicated to the cause of anarchy.
** Zaheer: The Normie Batman-lite leader of the group, the deeply spiritual Zaheer semi-spontaneously developed Airbending powers after Korra aligned the spirit world with the one that matters. Instead of being a Buddhist about it like Aang, he rips the air out of people's lungs and embraces the void like a boss. Learns how to fly after his girlfriend is tricked into making her own head explode. Voiced and faced by Henry Rollins.
**Ghazan: One of Zaheer's pals. An earthbender with a pretty cool temper, except he is actually so good he can lavabend, a fit previously only done by the Avatar in their avatar state. Voiced by Peter Giles.
** Ming-Hua: An arm-less lady with an extraordinary good level of waterbending. Seriously, in a world where you have to mimic martial arts mouvements to shoot fireballs and stuff, doing it without arms seems a tad bit difficult and yet she is able to form water arms that she can partially freeze to form blades, hooks and over deadly forms depending on the situation. Voiced by Grey DeLisle.
** P'li: Zaheer's girlfriend. A firebender gifted with the rare skill to also create explosions with her mind (Combustionbending). Drove off a dragon using her firebending and combustionbending skills that she hadn't used in 13 years, being locked in a prison built inside a glacier specifically so the cold would prevent her from using her power. Voiced by Kristy Wu.

* Kuvira: [[Imperial Guard|The Lord Commander Militant]] of the Avatar setting. Student of Suyin and former member of the metal bender clan. Cleaned up the mess left behind by the Red Lotus after Suyin refused to step up and founded the Earth Empire, claiming that the concept of kings was outdated.

: '''Others'''
* Varrick: The [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Littlefinger]] of the Avatar universe. He at first appears to be very eccentric and friendly to Team Avatar, but it turns out he is manipulating entire wars in order to profit off of them. Still manages to be one of the most fun characters in Seasons 2 and 4, respectively. Probably has tons of crack stowed away on many of his boats, which he uses to fund movie production and insane inventions. Always flanked by his secretary/maid/assistant/bodyguard Zhu Li, who always does things.

== Films ==

A movie was released in 2010 by M. Night Shyama-{{BLAM|'''*CRUSH*'''}}<br>

Ahem, Please ignore the vandal spreading lies above. [[Alpha Legion|there is none, as of yet]]. No movie was ever made that was universally panned by critics and fans alike, blatantly ignored/basterdized the [[fluff]] in ways unseen since [[C. S. Goto]], and contained more racewashing than a Marvel comics fanfic collectively written by Tumblr. There are no plans of any movies like the one described in the future, nor was one ever made in the fist place.

Any mention of anything resembling a movie set in the Avatar Universe may result in [[Blam|an invitation from the Earth King to Lake Laogai]]. Remember, [[Meme|there is no Last Airbender movie in Ba Sing Se. All media related to it are just the two TV shows, comics, and video games.]]

Also, please report sightings of a man by the name of [[Heresy|M. Night Shyamalan]] to your nearest Earth Kingdom constable, as he is wanted for questioning. Do not attempt to apprehend this man by yourself has he is known to destroy anything he is able to grab into an unrecognizable mess.

== Games ==
* There's an [http://the-logbook-project.blogspot.com/p/avatar-world_23.html Apocalypse World hack] for Avatar like stories. (They dropped the sex movies, you perv.)
* There's a Savage Worlds splatbook for Avatar; also [http://savagepedia.wikispaces.com/Avatar+the+Last+Airbender some details on Savagepedia]. (more links needed)
* "Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple" for the vaguely Asian-setting protagonist gang tries to solve other people's problems & hilarity ensues, with a little magic but there are no hit points so there's no kung-fu roll playing here.
* ''Jadepunk'' and ''Tianxia'', both made for the same system as ''Do'', run on the same 'Steam/Dieselpunk through an Eastern Lens' idea as ''Korra'' but play it put for actual drama.
* The Way of the Four Elements monastic tradition from 5e is a very obvious homage to The Avatar.
* It doesn't take a genius to see that Avatar was "heavily influenced by" [[Exalted]].
* ''Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game'', an officially licensed TTRPG for the setting, produced by Magpie Games. Released on Kickstarter and raised $3 million in the first 3 days.
[[Category: Television]]

Avatar: The Last Airbender

2021-09-16T06:24:03Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:891B:7D7D:DFFF:955F: /* The Last Airbender */

{{/co/}}
{{awesome}}

'''TL;DR''' a setting for AZN kung-fu and high magic without being the over-the-top [[Exalted]] and not the highbrow [[Legend of the Five Rings]].

Let's say you want something that is fantasy, set in a large complex world that in no way rips off [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], is presented in visual form and is just well made all around. Well, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko had come to your aid with '''Avatar: The Last Airbender''' and its new followup [[FAIL|'''The Legend of Korra'''.]] It is in no way related to [[Avatar|James Cameron's similarly titled work]] (thank god).

== Setting ==

You have a world modeled primarily off Asia (in particular dynastic [[China]]), plus some people can magically manipulate simple matter using martial arts moves called "bending." Benders can manipulate one and only one of the Earth, Air, Fire or Water elements. The exception to this rule is one person called the "Avatar" who can master all four types of bending, and universally regarded as a spiritual leader (think: the Dalai Lama). There is only ever one Avatar in each generation, who is the reincarnation of the previous Avatar and can remember (converse with the ghosts of) previous Avatars.

[[File:Avatar-.The.Last.Airbender.full.1161878.jpg|thumb|750px|right|The continent of the Avatar universe, only slightly inspired by [[China]] - The Republic City from the second series is situated on the western coast of the Earth Kingdom.]]
The world has one language and four nations:

* The '''Water Tribes''': Hunter-gatherer Inuit-like people who live in the North and South polar regions. The South Pole tribe consists of stereotypical Inuit, whereas the ones living at the North Pole got bored of making simple igloos and carved their ''entire city'' out of ice. Then they added canals to troll the physicists. Korra was born in the South. There is also a water tribe scattered in equatorial swamps that manipulate the swamp vines by bending the water saturating the vines. Analogous to Indonesia, or a snowy Philippines?

* The '''Earth Kingdom''': A large loose continental power ruled out of the massive fortified city of Ba Sing Se. Wealthy and prosperous, they are masters of resource harvesting with bending as a safe and efficient means of mining metals and rare earths, and reduced labour required for farming. Culturally diverse, but largely modeled on [[China]] and Korea, with the capital (Ba Sing Se) eventually turning out to be based on North Korea. Seriously, this shithole has a [[Inquisition|secret police force]] that monitors the inhabitants and re-indoctrinates them to not cause trouble. Some [[Tolkien]]-esque undertones there. Then again, the first series is mostly about Buddhism, balance and peace, so it makes sense.
** The sequel splits the Earth continent into three big territories: The original Earth Kingdom, '''Republic City''' (a neutral territory independent from each nation while working with them all), and '''Zaofu''' (a city of metalbenders who made their own city after Toph began teaching Metalbending. One of her daughters runs the place).

* The '''Fire Nation''': A technologically advanced state based off of a volcanic island chain with imperialistic ambitions (so, Japan). By technologically advanced, we mean they have steampunk tanks, ironclad ships, a giant freaking drill and hot-air zeppelins (the original concept for the zeppelins was invented by an earth nation mechanic but the fire nation turned them up to 11), and by the time of the sequel, a ''nation-wide electric grid''. Their culture encourages ambition and competition.

* The '''Air Nomads''': Monastic wanderer-gatherers who lived ascetic (if non-celibate) lives, like what normies think Tibetans live like. They have four temple-cities that the wanderers will cycle through, and monuments scattered throughout the territories of the other three nations. By the time of the first story, the Air Nomads were purged [[Exterminatus|with <s>holy</s> fire]] in an attempt to prevent the reincarnation of the next Avatar. The Avatar was born to Air Nomads anyways and is the protagonist of the first story.
** After the Harmonic Convergence and Korra saving the world, a strange anomaly happens where random people begin developing airbending powers. Of course, Tenzin (Aang's son) begins making a world tour to meet these airbenders and rebuild the Air Nomads.

There is a fifth faction, of the fae creatures collectively called "Spirits," who used to be common but have mostly left the physical world behind for their own Spirit World that is an alternate dimension. The spirits that remain in the physical world are dedicated to the places they reside, interacting very little with people but they have been known to pick-up on the ambient mood of communities around them (ie. a river spirit will be irritable if the river is polluted and neglected, a mountain spirit will be confrontational if the nation has been at war).

'''When the first story starts''', the Fire Nation has been expanding aggressively into the Earth Nation for four generations, which hasn't been reacting beyond resisting in small city-states and issuing an "everything is fine they'll never win" message from the capital in what's obvious procrastination, hoping the Fire Nation will give up and decide the constant sieges are too expensive (spoiler: nope). The Fire Nation has already extinguished the Air Nomads, satisfied they have prevented the rebirth of the next Avatar prophesied to end their conquering. The Fire Nation naval aggression have made a virtual embargo on the Water Tribes, isolating north from south and both from the Earth Nation.

The only surviving Air Nomad after the pogrom is the current Avatar, who hid himself in cryosleep. Nobody was around to resuscitate him so he was out of the picture for a century or so. His education was interrupted and feels he needs to learn all four forms of bending as well as visit each of the isolated culture/nations before he can fulfill his purpose as a peacemaker.

'''The second story''' is sixty years after the first story, and the world's technology has advanced to the level of the 1900's -- ironclad ships are common, we can see industrial manufacturing in privately-owned companies instead of Fire Nation government military efforts, automobiles are uncommon but visible, and we see people listening to crystal radios. Most of the story takes place in "Republic City," which is for all intents and purposes New York City with Chinese architecture. Republic City is the world's equivalent of the United Nations; an independent city-state regarded as a symbol of the international peace. There is civil unrest, as the improved technology is closing the gap between benders and non-benders, causing resentment since benders have had a leg-up in social strata. This resulted in the insurgency of the "[[Communism|Equalist Movement]]" who want to overthrow the "let them eat cake" bender bourgeoisie.

The Avatar of this era is a young woman from the water tribes who is comfortable with the physical powers granted by her mastery of multiple elements but stunted in her training with spiritual matters and diplomacy, making her a poor mediator in the role that's expected of her, and easily manipulated by politicians. The Equalist insurgents are lead by a charismatic leader named "Amon," who claims to have a method for permanently disabling any person's bending ability; crippling the Avatar would be a huge symbolic victory for the Equalists, who see the Avatar as the pinnacle bender and biggest target for their resentments.

== Characters ==
=== The Last Airbender ===

[[File:Avatar-The-Last-Airbender-Free-Download.jpg|thumb|400px|right|From top left and towards right, Toph, Prince Zuko, Sokka, Katara and Avatar Aang.]]
: '''The Gaang'''
* Aang: Protagonist de jour. Mostly optimistic (when he's not panicking) and the nimblest motherfucker you'll ever meet due to being an Airbending prodigy. His destiny is to master the other three elements and save the world. Favorite mode of transport: flying bison. Known to go [[Awesome|godmode]] when shit hits the fan.
* Katara: Motherly waterbending love interest. Occasionally kicks ass. WARNING: FRIENDSHIP SPEECHES AHEAD. The only one in the group with any resemblance of common sense other than Aang, and has a surprising amount of wisdom and knowledge for her age.
* Sokka: Katara's bigger brother, a tech-minded guy in a world of magic Kung Fu and Spirits that get pissed off if you cut down too many trees in an area. The non bender of the group so he has to think his way to victory. Man's man, ladies man, master swordsman, brilliant scientist (he co-invented the submarine with the earth nation mechanic who invented the zeppelin in this world), leader of men, and a genius in the use of comedy in all its shapes and forms, from the one-liner to the pratfall. We all wish we were Sokka.
* Toph Beifong: A blind twelve year old girl introduced in Season 2. Also a massive badass, a tomboy and the best Earthbender in existence.
* Momo: Aang's companion. Hybrid of a bat and a lemur - This is normal in the Avatar universe. Is a cute little bugger.
* Appa: Aforementioned flying bison. Hasn't got a lot of personality and functions as the group's main center of operations, supplied by a platform on its back. A large part of the second season is focused on getting him back from captivity. Like Aang, he's the last of his kind, [[Grimdark|but as an animal rather than a human, he's an endling]] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endling | Yes, that's an actual term]).

: '''Allies'''
* Suki: Member of the order of Kyoshi warriors (a group of warriors inspired by one of Aang's past lives, Avatar Kyoshi - [[Awesome|an Avatar who looked like an amazon combined with a geisha]]). They live on an island and hold the Avatar in high regard. Kind-hearted yet one of the best fighters in the series, second only to Iroh, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. Literally knocked the sexism out of Sokka when they first met (beating him in a fight and proving to him that it's possible a woman can fight better than a man) and later on the two fall in love.
* King Bumi: King of the Earth city Omashu, a massive badass and a very old man (he's a childhood friend of Aang's, and Aang was frozen in ice for a century). Possible origin of the term "mad genius", Aang's nickname for him, since he acts crazy but is extremely smart. Tied with Toph for the most powerful Earthbender in existence. He surrendered his city to a fire nation invasion, but, in the series' best moment of [[Just As Planned]], the city was evacuated, [[Awesome|he waited until the firebenders temporarily lost their powers, then used his Earthbending to singlehandedly retake his city without killing or losing a single person]].

: '''Enemies'''
* Zuko: Exiled firebender prince. Originally a whiny bitch attempting to hunt the avatar to end his exile, but undergoes <gasp>CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT</gasp>, eventually becoming Aang's firebending teacher.
* Azula: Zuko's crazy badass dominatrix sister. Also a magnificent bitch with mommy-issues. Hobbies: Shooting lightning, [[Tzeentch|manipulating others to further her plans]], being better than you and volleyball. Often accompanied by her only friends/lieutenants the knife-wielding goth, Mai, and the acrobatic valley girl, <s>jailbait</s> <s>teenager fap bait</s> Ty Lee.
*Ozai: Ruler of the Fire Nation, firebender of (near) "UNLIMITED POWAH!", crappy father (burned his preteen son's face and exiled him for being 'rude'; rude here meaning [[Salamanders|protesting against using new recruits as cannon fodder]], he also made Azula what she is), and above all evil motherfucker (not surprising considering he's played by Mark Hamill aka Joker). Willing to genocide entire races and nations in order to ensure his power, and his country's undisputed supremacy ([[God-Emperor of Mankind|Sounds quite familiar]]). At the end, [[Horus Heresy|he is betrayed by his son who joins the enemy side]] and Aang strips him of his powers and his previously banished son becomes the new monarch and throws him in the dungeons to rot.

: '''Others'''
* Iroh: Zuko's uncle, a bro-tier guy even when on the villain's side and (spoiler) later revealed to be a secret hero who also [[Awesome|saved the dragons from extinction by pretending he'd killed the last ones]]. Basically what would happen if one of the dirtier-minded Buddhas could eat fire, shit lightning, and drink enough tea to cause a younger man's heart to explode. [[Kharn|A fun guy to be around, minus the team-killing]]. Voiced by the glorious, the late Mako Iwamatsu.

=== Legend of Korra ===

[[File:4388128-553141-legend of korra.jpg|thumb|400px|right|From top to bottom, Master Tenzin, Mako, Bolin, and Avatar Korra.]]

: '''The Krew'''
* Korra: The title character, and a brash, athletic tomboy who lacks spiritual aptitude (which means she punches people instead of meditating and talking things through like some kind of hippy... which isn't a good ideal when your chief enemy is claiming you oppress people who disagree with them). Gets her ass kicked a lot despite in skilled in three of the four elements due to her impulsiveness and not outright mastering any of them. Rule 34 has taken this penchant for failure and run a fucking marathon with it. Still qualifies as a [[Mary Sue]] for the same reason as [[Star Wars|Rey]]: much of her supposed power and competence is handed to her on a plate with no personal growth involved.
* Mako: Writers said he's "Zuko without the angst"; however they forgot Zuko had other traits and so is just some generic dude Korra wants to make out with, and kind of a creepy asshole. Also cheated on Asami. His primary characteristics are his strong sense of duty and a scarf. Team's Firebender, was taught how to lightningbend by a mobster. Becomes a cop in the second season, and then stopped after scandals involving eccentric rich dudes. Named after the late Japanese actor, Mako Iwamatsu, who among his many accomplishments voiced Iroh in The Last Airbender.
* Bolin: Mako's younger brother. Unlike Mako, Bolin is an earthbender and has character traits. He's the team's "funny guy" (he's basically like Sokka, but without the wit or tactical sense...actually now that you say it, nothing like Sokka except occasionally being comic relief), being on the better side of the whole dudebro thing while avoiding asshole territory. Had a crush on Korra, but she strung him along and shacked up with his brother Mako, with Bolin even walking in on them kissing when he was ready to confess his feelings to Korra. Ouch! Also happens to luck into being a movie star because of an eccentric rich man.
* Asami Sato: Daughter of this world's inventor of the automobile and easily the most rounded and best member of Team Avatar. She does not have any flaws other than being too nice sometimes, which is not a flaw, and yet is somehow not a loathsome Mary Sue. Mostly because she isn't in the show much, isn't overpowered, and when she's kicking ass with an Equalist power fist it is pretty awesome. [[Retcon|Revealed]] to be in lesbians with Korra at the end of the series (technically the directors said they're bisexual, but same difference) in a transparent attempt to redeem the series in the eyes of Tumblr, kicking off a category 5 skubstorm in the process and delighting everyone who wanted to make/already had made [[Rule 34]] of the pairing.

: '''Allies'''
* Tenzin: The youngest song of Aang and Katara, a sane, calm, rational Airbending master and adviser to Korra... most of the time. Has a wife and four children (his wife gives birth to the fourth during the show), three of which are airbenders. Starts off being a hard-ass until his own family insists that he ease off. Is very set on keeping the Airbending traditions alive and considers his duty to his people and his father important above all else to the point that he wants to be just like his father... with good reason, since he's trying to rebuild a civilization that went through an attempted genocide which his father was the only survivor of.
* Lin Beifong: Toph's even more hard-assed daughter who's chief of Republic City Police. Pretty much only uses metalbending and tries her damnedest to keep everything under control. Despite being a hard-ass, she's completely correct in her negative assessment of Korra in Season 1.
* Suyin Beifong: Lin's sister who built a city of metalbenders named Zaofu. Had to leave Republic City after her mother covered up her association with a gang of criminals and accidentally scarring her sister.

: '''Enemies'''
* Amon: [[Eliphas]] the Inheritor's bastard son [[Communism|and a hero of the common man and working class who strives to end the oppression of foul bending class and bring about true equality and a golden age of happiness]], until later episodes reveal he's just batshit insane. Also, has the BEST voice in the entire series, being also blessed by [[Cyrus|Steve Blum]].
* Vaatu: The spirit of chaos of the Avatar world, who is embattled with an eternal conflict with Raava, the incarnation of peace. They're suppose to be analogies of Yin and Yang (the Chinese philosophy that opposing forces balance and compliment each other to create peace and equilibrium), but the writers kinda fucked it up and made it: "VAATU IS CHAOS SO BAD, RAAVA IS PEACE SO GUD". Even worse, the writers already did spirits that were a Yin and Yang analogy in ATLA with the spirits Tui and La who took the form of Koi fish.
* Unalaq: [[Lorgar]] of the Avatar world. Starts off a malicious prick and then literally gets empowered by the Dark God to make a fucking Kaiju fight. Is also Korra's uncle. Also a very powerful Waterbender.
** Eska and Desna: Unalaq's identical twin son and daughter. One of them becomes Bolin's stalker and tries marrying him. She's voiced by Aubrey Plaza.
* Red Lotus: A secret society dedicated to the cause of anarchy.
** Zaheer: The Normie Batman-lite leader of the group, the deeply spiritual Zaheer semi-spontaneously developed Airbending powers after Korra aligned the spirit world with the one that matters. Instead of being a Buddhist about it like Aang, he rips the air out of people's lungs and embraces the void like a boss. Learns how to fly after his girlfriend is tricked into making her own head explode. Voiced and faced by Henry Rollins.
**Ghazan: One of Zaheer's pals. An earthbender with a pretty cool temper, except he is actually so good he can lavabend, a fit previously only done by the Avatar in their avatar state. Voiced by Peter Giles.
** Ming-Hua: An arm-less lady with an extraordinary good level of waterbending. Seriously, in a world where you have to mimic martial arts mouvements to shoot fireballs and stuff, doing it without arms seems a tad bit difficult and yet she is able to form water arms that she can partially freeze to form blades, hooks and over deadly forms depending on the situation. Voiced by Grey DeLisle.
** P'li: Zaheer's girlfriend. A firebender gifted with the rare skill to also create explosions with her mind (Combustionbending). Drove off a dragon using her firebending and combustionbending skills that she hadn't used in 13 years, being locked in a prison built inside a glacier specifically so the cold would prevent her from using her power. Voiced by Kristy Wu.

* Kuvira: [[Imperial Guard|The Lord Commander Militant]] of the Avatar setting. Student of Suyin and former member of the metal bender clan. Cleaned up the mess left behind by the Red Lotus after Suyin refused to step up and founded the Earth Empire, claiming that the concept of kings was outdated.

: '''Others'''
* Varrick: The [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Littlefinger]] of the Avatar universe. He at first appears to be very eccentric and friendly to Team Avatar, but it turns out he is manipulating entire wars in order to profit off of them. Still manages to be one of the most fun characters in Seasons 2 and 4, respectively. Probably has tons of crack stowed away on many of his boats, which he uses to fund movie production and insane inventions. Always flanked by his secretary/maid/assistant/bodyguard Zhu Li, who always does things.

== Films ==

A movie was released in 2010 by M. Night Shyama-{{BLAM|'''*CRUSH*'''}}<br>

Ahem, Please ignore the vandal spreading lies above. [[Alpha Legion|there is none, as of yet]]. No movie was ever made that was universally panned by critics and fans alike, blatantly ignored/basterdized the [[fluff]] in ways unseen since [[C. S. Goto]], and contained more racewashing than a Marvel comics fanfic collectively written by Tumblr. There are no plans of any movies like the one described in the future, nor was one ever made in the fist place.

Any mention of anything resembling a movie set in the Avatar Universe may result in [[Blam|an invitation from the Earth King to Lake Laogai]]. Remember, [[Meme|there is no Last Airbender movie in Ba Sing Se. All media related to it are just the two TV shows, comics, and video games.]]

Also, please report sightings of a man by the name of [[Heresy|M. Night Shyamalan]] to your nearest Earth Kingdom constable, as he is wanted for questioning. Do not attempt to apprehend this man by yourself has he is known to destroy anything he is able to grab into an unrecognizable mess.

== Games ==
* There's an [http://the-logbook-project.blogspot.com/p/avatar-world_23.html Apocalypse World hack] for Avatar like stories. (They dropped the sex movies, you perv.)
* There's a Savage Worlds splatbook for Avatar; also [http://savagepedia.wikispaces.com/Avatar+the+Last+Airbender some details on Savagepedia]. (more links needed)
* "Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple" for the vaguely Asian-setting protagonist gang tries to solve other people's problems & hilarity ensues, with a little magic but there are no hit points so there's no kung-fu roll playing here.
* ''Jadepunk'' and ''Tianxia'', both made for the same system as ''Do'', run on the same 'Steam/Dieselpunk through an Eastern Lens' idea as ''Korra'' but play it put for actual drama.
* The Way of the Four Elements monastic tradition from 5e is a very obvious homage to The Avatar.
* It doesn't take a genius to see that Avatar was "heavily influenced by" [[Exalted]].
* ''Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game'', an officially licensed TTRPG for the setting, produced by Magpie Games. Released on Kickstarter and raised $3 million in the first 3 days.
[[Category: Television]]

Avatar: The Last Airbender

2021-09-16T06:23:42Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:891B:7D7D:DFFF:955F: /* The Last Airbender */

{{/co/}}
{{awesome}}

'''TL;DR''' a setting for AZN kung-fu and high magic without being the over-the-top [[Exalted]] and not the highbrow [[Legend of the Five Rings]].

Let's say you want something that is fantasy, set in a large complex world that in no way rips off [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], is presented in visual form and is just well made all around. Well, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko had come to your aid with '''Avatar: The Last Airbender''' and its new followup [[FAIL|'''The Legend of Korra'''.]] It is in no way related to [[Avatar|James Cameron's similarly titled work]] (thank god).

== Setting ==

You have a world modeled primarily off Asia (in particular dynastic [[China]]), plus some people can magically manipulate simple matter using martial arts moves called "bending." Benders can manipulate one and only one of the Earth, Air, Fire or Water elements. The exception to this rule is one person called the "Avatar" who can master all four types of bending, and universally regarded as a spiritual leader (think: the Dalai Lama). There is only ever one Avatar in each generation, who is the reincarnation of the previous Avatar and can remember (converse with the ghosts of) previous Avatars.

[[File:Avatar-.The.Last.Airbender.full.1161878.jpg|thumb|750px|right|The continent of the Avatar universe, only slightly inspired by [[China]] - The Republic City from the second series is situated on the western coast of the Earth Kingdom.]]
The world has one language and four nations:

* The '''Water Tribes''': Hunter-gatherer Inuit-like people who live in the North and South polar regions. The South Pole tribe consists of stereotypical Inuit, whereas the ones living at the North Pole got bored of making simple igloos and carved their ''entire city'' out of ice. Then they added canals to troll the physicists. Korra was born in the South. There is also a water tribe scattered in equatorial swamps that manipulate the swamp vines by bending the water saturating the vines. Analogous to Indonesia, or a snowy Philippines?

* The '''Earth Kingdom''': A large loose continental power ruled out of the massive fortified city of Ba Sing Se. Wealthy and prosperous, they are masters of resource harvesting with bending as a safe and efficient means of mining metals and rare earths, and reduced labour required for farming. Culturally diverse, but largely modeled on [[China]] and Korea, with the capital (Ba Sing Se) eventually turning out to be based on North Korea. Seriously, this shithole has a [[Inquisition|secret police force]] that monitors the inhabitants and re-indoctrinates them to not cause trouble. Some [[Tolkien]]-esque undertones there. Then again, the first series is mostly about Buddhism, balance and peace, so it makes sense.
** The sequel splits the Earth continent into three big territories: The original Earth Kingdom, '''Republic City''' (a neutral territory independent from each nation while working with them all), and '''Zaofu''' (a city of metalbenders who made their own city after Toph began teaching Metalbending. One of her daughters runs the place).

* The '''Fire Nation''': A technologically advanced state based off of a volcanic island chain with imperialistic ambitions (so, Japan). By technologically advanced, we mean they have steampunk tanks, ironclad ships, a giant freaking drill and hot-air zeppelins (the original concept for the zeppelins was invented by an earth nation mechanic but the fire nation turned them up to 11), and by the time of the sequel, a ''nation-wide electric grid''. Their culture encourages ambition and competition.

* The '''Air Nomads''': Monastic wanderer-gatherers who lived ascetic (if non-celibate) lives, like what normies think Tibetans live like. They have four temple-cities that the wanderers will cycle through, and monuments scattered throughout the territories of the other three nations. By the time of the first story, the Air Nomads were purged [[Exterminatus|with <s>holy</s> fire]] in an attempt to prevent the reincarnation of the next Avatar. The Avatar was born to Air Nomads anyways and is the protagonist of the first story.
** After the Harmonic Convergence and Korra saving the world, a strange anomaly happens where random people begin developing airbending powers. Of course, Tenzin (Aang's son) begins making a world tour to meet these airbenders and rebuild the Air Nomads.

There is a fifth faction, of the fae creatures collectively called "Spirits," who used to be common but have mostly left the physical world behind for their own Spirit World that is an alternate dimension. The spirits that remain in the physical world are dedicated to the places they reside, interacting very little with people but they have been known to pick-up on the ambient mood of communities around them (ie. a river spirit will be irritable if the river is polluted and neglected, a mountain spirit will be confrontational if the nation has been at war).

'''When the first story starts''', the Fire Nation has been expanding aggressively into the Earth Nation for four generations, which hasn't been reacting beyond resisting in small city-states and issuing an "everything is fine they'll never win" message from the capital in what's obvious procrastination, hoping the Fire Nation will give up and decide the constant sieges are too expensive (spoiler: nope). The Fire Nation has already extinguished the Air Nomads, satisfied they have prevented the rebirth of the next Avatar prophesied to end their conquering. The Fire Nation naval aggression have made a virtual embargo on the Water Tribes, isolating north from south and both from the Earth Nation.

The only surviving Air Nomad after the pogrom is the current Avatar, who hid himself in cryosleep. Nobody was around to resuscitate him so he was out of the picture for a century or so. His education was interrupted and feels he needs to learn all four forms of bending as well as visit each of the isolated culture/nations before he can fulfill his purpose as a peacemaker.

'''The second story''' is sixty years after the first story, and the world's technology has advanced to the level of the 1900's -- ironclad ships are common, we can see industrial manufacturing in privately-owned companies instead of Fire Nation government military efforts, automobiles are uncommon but visible, and we see people listening to crystal radios. Most of the story takes place in "Republic City," which is for all intents and purposes New York City with Chinese architecture. Republic City is the world's equivalent of the United Nations; an independent city-state regarded as a symbol of the international peace. There is civil unrest, as the improved technology is closing the gap between benders and non-benders, causing resentment since benders have had a leg-up in social strata. This resulted in the insurgency of the "[[Communism|Equalist Movement]]" who want to overthrow the "let them eat cake" bender bourgeoisie.

The Avatar of this era is a young woman from the water tribes who is comfortable with the physical powers granted by her mastery of multiple elements but stunted in her training with spiritual matters and diplomacy, making her a poor mediator in the role that's expected of her, and easily manipulated by politicians. The Equalist insurgents are lead by a charismatic leader named "Amon," who claims to have a method for permanently disabling any person's bending ability; crippling the Avatar would be a huge symbolic victory for the Equalists, who see the Avatar as the pinnacle bender and biggest target for their resentments.

== Characters ==
=== The Last Airbender ===

[[File:Avatar-The-Last-Airbender-Free-Download.jpg|thumb|400px|right|From top left and towards right, Toph, Prince Zuko, Sokka, Katara and Avatar Aang.]]
: '''The Gaang'''
* Aang: Protagonist de jour. Mostly optimistic (when he's not panicking) and the nimblest motherfucker you'll ever meet due to being an Airbending prodigy. His destiny is to master the other three elements and save the world. Favorite mode of transport: flying bison. Known to go [[Awesome|godmode]] when shit hits the fan.
* Katara: Motherly waterbending love interest. Occasionally kicks ass. WARNING: FRIENDSHIP SPEECHES AHEAD. The only one in the group with any resemblance of common sense other than Aang, and has a surprising amount of wisdom and knowledge for her age.
* Sokka: Katara's bigger brother, a tech-minded guy in a world of magic Kung Fu and Spirits that get pissed off if you cut down too many trees in an area. The non bender of the group so he has to think his way to victory. Man's man, ladies man, master swordsman, brilliant scientist (he co-invented the submarine with the earth nation mechanic who invented the zeppelin in this world), leader of men, and a genius in the use of comedy in all its shapes and forms, from the one-liner to the pratfall. We all wish we were Sokka.
* Toph Beifong: A blind twelve year old girl introduced in Season 2. Also a massive badass, a tomboy and the best Earthbender in existence.
* Momo: Aang's companion. Hybrid of a bat and a lemur - This is normal in the Avatar universe. Is a cute little bugger.
* Appa: Aforementioned flying bison. Hasn't got a lot of personality and functions as the group's main center of operations, supplied by a platform on its back. A large part of the second season is focused on getting him back from captivity. Like Aang, he's the last of his kind, [[Grimdark|but as an animal rather than a human, he's an endling]] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endling| Yes, that's an actual term]).

: '''Allies'''
* Suki: Member of the order of Kyoshi warriors (a group of warriors inspired by one of Aang's past lives, Avatar Kyoshi - [[Awesome|an Avatar who looked like an amazon combined with a geisha]]). They live on an island and hold the Avatar in high regard. Kind-hearted yet one of the best fighters in the series, second only to Iroh, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. Literally knocked the sexism out of Sokka when they first met (beating him in a fight and proving to him that it's possible a woman can fight better than a man) and later on the two fall in love.
* King Bumi: King of the Earth city Omashu, a massive badass and a very old man (he's a childhood friend of Aang's, and Aang was frozen in ice for a century). Possible origin of the term "mad genius", Aang's nickname for him, since he acts crazy but is extremely smart. Tied with Toph for the most powerful Earthbender in existence. He surrendered his city to a fire nation invasion, but, in the series' best moment of [[Just As Planned]], the city was evacuated, [[Awesome|he waited until the firebenders temporarily lost their powers, then used his Earthbending to singlehandedly retake his city without killing or losing a single person]].

: '''Enemies'''
* Zuko: Exiled firebender prince. Originally a whiny bitch attempting to hunt the avatar to end his exile, but undergoes <gasp>CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT</gasp>, eventually becoming Aang's firebending teacher.
* Azula: Zuko's crazy badass dominatrix sister. Also a magnificent bitch with mommy-issues. Hobbies: Shooting lightning, [[Tzeentch|manipulating others to further her plans]], being better than you and volleyball. Often accompanied by her only friends/lieutenants the knife-wielding goth, Mai, and the acrobatic valley girl, <s>jailbait</s> <s>teenager fap bait</s> Ty Lee.
*Ozai: Ruler of the Fire Nation, firebender of (near) "UNLIMITED POWAH!", crappy father (burned his preteen son's face and exiled him for being 'rude'; rude here meaning [[Salamanders|protesting against using new recruits as cannon fodder]], he also made Azula what she is), and above all evil motherfucker (not surprising considering he's played by Mark Hamill aka Joker). Willing to genocide entire races and nations in order to ensure his power, and his country's undisputed supremacy ([[God-Emperor of Mankind|Sounds quite familiar]]). At the end, [[Horus Heresy|he is betrayed by his son who joins the enemy side]] and Aang strips him of his powers and his previously banished son becomes the new monarch and throws him in the dungeons to rot.

: '''Others'''
* Iroh: Zuko's uncle, a bro-tier guy even when on the villain's side and (spoiler) later revealed to be a secret hero who also [[Awesome|saved the dragons from extinction by pretending he'd killed the last ones]]. Basically what would happen if one of the dirtier-minded Buddhas could eat fire, shit lightning, and drink enough tea to cause a younger man's heart to explode. [[Kharn|A fun guy to be around, minus the team-killing]]. Voiced by the glorious, the late Mako Iwamatsu.

=== Legend of Korra ===

[[File:4388128-553141-legend of korra.jpg|thumb|400px|right|From top to bottom, Master Tenzin, Mako, Bolin, and Avatar Korra.]]

: '''The Krew'''
* Korra: The title character, and a brash, athletic tomboy who lacks spiritual aptitude (which means she punches people instead of meditating and talking things through like some kind of hippy... which isn't a good ideal when your chief enemy is claiming you oppress people who disagree with them). Gets her ass kicked a lot despite in skilled in three of the four elements due to her impulsiveness and not outright mastering any of them. Rule 34 has taken this penchant for failure and run a fucking marathon with it. Still qualifies as a [[Mary Sue]] for the same reason as [[Star Wars|Rey]]: much of her supposed power and competence is handed to her on a plate with no personal growth involved.
* Mako: Writers said he's "Zuko without the angst"; however they forgot Zuko had other traits and so is just some generic dude Korra wants to make out with, and kind of a creepy asshole. Also cheated on Asami. His primary characteristics are his strong sense of duty and a scarf. Team's Firebender, was taught how to lightningbend by a mobster. Becomes a cop in the second season, and then stopped after scandals involving eccentric rich dudes. Named after the late Japanese actor, Mako Iwamatsu, who among his many accomplishments voiced Iroh in The Last Airbender.
* Bolin: Mako's younger brother. Unlike Mako, Bolin is an earthbender and has character traits. He's the team's "funny guy" (he's basically like Sokka, but without the wit or tactical sense...actually now that you say it, nothing like Sokka except occasionally being comic relief), being on the better side of the whole dudebro thing while avoiding asshole territory. Had a crush on Korra, but she strung him along and shacked up with his brother Mako, with Bolin even walking in on them kissing when he was ready to confess his feelings to Korra. Ouch! Also happens to luck into being a movie star because of an eccentric rich man.
* Asami Sato: Daughter of this world's inventor of the automobile and easily the most rounded and best member of Team Avatar. She does not have any flaws other than being too nice sometimes, which is not a flaw, and yet is somehow not a loathsome Mary Sue. Mostly because she isn't in the show much, isn't overpowered, and when she's kicking ass with an Equalist power fist it is pretty awesome. [[Retcon|Revealed]] to be in lesbians with Korra at the end of the series (technically the directors said they're bisexual, but same difference) in a transparent attempt to redeem the series in the eyes of Tumblr, kicking off a category 5 skubstorm in the process and delighting everyone who wanted to make/already had made [[Rule 34]] of the pairing.

: '''Allies'''
* Tenzin: The youngest song of Aang and Katara, a sane, calm, rational Airbending master and adviser to Korra... most of the time. Has a wife and four children (his wife gives birth to the fourth during the show), three of which are airbenders. Starts off being a hard-ass until his own family insists that he ease off. Is very set on keeping the Airbending traditions alive and considers his duty to his people and his father important above all else to the point that he wants to be just like his father... with good reason, since he's trying to rebuild a civilization that went through an attempted genocide which his father was the only survivor of.
* Lin Beifong: Toph's even more hard-assed daughter who's chief of Republic City Police. Pretty much only uses metalbending and tries her damnedest to keep everything under control. Despite being a hard-ass, she's completely correct in her negative assessment of Korra in Season 1.
* Suyin Beifong: Lin's sister who built a city of metalbenders named Zaofu. Had to leave Republic City after her mother covered up her association with a gang of criminals and accidentally scarring her sister.

: '''Enemies'''
* Amon: [[Eliphas]] the Inheritor's bastard son [[Communism|and a hero of the common man and working class who strives to end the oppression of foul bending class and bring about true equality and a golden age of happiness]], until later episodes reveal he's just batshit insane. Also, has the BEST voice in the entire series, being also blessed by [[Cyrus|Steve Blum]].
* Vaatu: The spirit of chaos of the Avatar world, who is embattled with an eternal conflict with Raava, the incarnation of peace. They're suppose to be analogies of Yin and Yang (the Chinese philosophy that opposing forces balance and compliment each other to create peace and equilibrium), but the writers kinda fucked it up and made it: "VAATU IS CHAOS SO BAD, RAAVA IS PEACE SO GUD". Even worse, the writers already did spirits that were a Yin and Yang analogy in ATLA with the spirits Tui and La who took the form of Koi fish.
* Unalaq: [[Lorgar]] of the Avatar world. Starts off a malicious prick and then literally gets empowered by the Dark God to make a fucking Kaiju fight. Is also Korra's uncle. Also a very powerful Waterbender.
** Eska and Desna: Unalaq's identical twin son and daughter. One of them becomes Bolin's stalker and tries marrying him. She's voiced by Aubrey Plaza.
* Red Lotus: A secret society dedicated to the cause of anarchy.
** Zaheer: The Normie Batman-lite leader of the group, the deeply spiritual Zaheer semi-spontaneously developed Airbending powers after Korra aligned the spirit world with the one that matters. Instead of being a Buddhist about it like Aang, he rips the air out of people's lungs and embraces the void like a boss. Learns how to fly after his girlfriend is tricked into making her own head explode. Voiced and faced by Henry Rollins.
**Ghazan: One of Zaheer's pals. An earthbender with a pretty cool temper, except he is actually so good he can lavabend, a fit previously only done by the Avatar in their avatar state. Voiced by Peter Giles.
** Ming-Hua: An arm-less lady with an extraordinary good level of waterbending. Seriously, in a world where you have to mimic martial arts mouvements to shoot fireballs and stuff, doing it without arms seems a tad bit difficult and yet she is able to form water arms that she can partially freeze to form blades, hooks and over deadly forms depending on the situation. Voiced by Grey DeLisle.
** P'li: Zaheer's girlfriend. A firebender gifted with the rare skill to also create explosions with her mind (Combustionbending). Drove off a dragon using her firebending and combustionbending skills that she hadn't used in 13 years, being locked in a prison built inside a glacier specifically so the cold would prevent her from using her power. Voiced by Kristy Wu.

* Kuvira: [[Imperial Guard|The Lord Commander Militant]] of the Avatar setting. Student of Suyin and former member of the metal bender clan. Cleaned up the mess left behind by the Red Lotus after Suyin refused to step up and founded the Earth Empire, claiming that the concept of kings was outdated.

: '''Others'''
* Varrick: The [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Littlefinger]] of the Avatar universe. He at first appears to be very eccentric and friendly to Team Avatar, but it turns out he is manipulating entire wars in order to profit off of them. Still manages to be one of the most fun characters in Seasons 2 and 4, respectively. Probably has tons of crack stowed away on many of his boats, which he uses to fund movie production and insane inventions. Always flanked by his secretary/maid/assistant/bodyguard Zhu Li, who always does things.

== Films ==

A movie was released in 2010 by M. Night Shyama-{{BLAM|'''*CRUSH*'''}}<br>

Ahem, Please ignore the vandal spreading lies above. [[Alpha Legion|there is none, as of yet]]. No movie was ever made that was universally panned by critics and fans alike, blatantly ignored/basterdized the [[fluff]] in ways unseen since [[C. S. Goto]], and contained more racewashing than a Marvel comics fanfic collectively written by Tumblr. There are no plans of any movies like the one described in the future, nor was one ever made in the fist place.

Any mention of anything resembling a movie set in the Avatar Universe may result in [[Blam|an invitation from the Earth King to Lake Laogai]]. Remember, [[Meme|there is no Last Airbender movie in Ba Sing Se. All media related to it are just the two TV shows, comics, and video games.]]

Also, please report sightings of a man by the name of [[Heresy|M. Night Shyamalan]] to your nearest Earth Kingdom constable, as he is wanted for questioning. Do not attempt to apprehend this man by yourself has he is known to destroy anything he is able to grab into an unrecognizable mess.

== Games ==
* There's an [http://the-logbook-project.blogspot.com/p/avatar-world_23.html Apocalypse World hack] for Avatar like stories. (They dropped the sex movies, you perv.)
* There's a Savage Worlds splatbook for Avatar; also [http://savagepedia.wikispaces.com/Avatar+the+Last+Airbender some details on Savagepedia]. (more links needed)
* "Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple" for the vaguely Asian-setting protagonist gang tries to solve other people's problems & hilarity ensues, with a little magic but there are no hit points so there's no kung-fu roll playing here.
* ''Jadepunk'' and ''Tianxia'', both made for the same system as ''Do'', run on the same 'Steam/Dieselpunk through an Eastern Lens' idea as ''Korra'' but play it put for actual drama.
* The Way of the Four Elements monastic tradition from 5e is a very obvious homage to The Avatar.
* It doesn't take a genius to see that Avatar was "heavily influenced by" [[Exalted]].
* ''Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game'', an officially licensed TTRPG for the setting, produced by Magpie Games. Released on Kickstarter and raised $3 million in the first 3 days.
[[Category: Television]]

Avatar: The Last Airbender

2021-09-16T06:23:17Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:891B:7D7D:DFFF:955F: /* The Last Airbender */

{{/co/}}
{{awesome}}

'''TL;DR''' a setting for AZN kung-fu and high magic without being the over-the-top [[Exalted]] and not the highbrow [[Legend of the Five Rings]].

Let's say you want something that is fantasy, set in a large complex world that in no way rips off [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], is presented in visual form and is just well made all around. Well, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko had come to your aid with '''Avatar: The Last Airbender''' and its new followup [[FAIL|'''The Legend of Korra'''.]] It is in no way related to [[Avatar|James Cameron's similarly titled work]] (thank god).

== Setting ==

You have a world modeled primarily off Asia (in particular dynastic [[China]]), plus some people can magically manipulate simple matter using martial arts moves called "bending." Benders can manipulate one and only one of the Earth, Air, Fire or Water elements. The exception to this rule is one person called the "Avatar" who can master all four types of bending, and universally regarded as a spiritual leader (think: the Dalai Lama). There is only ever one Avatar in each generation, who is the reincarnation of the previous Avatar and can remember (converse with the ghosts of) previous Avatars.

[[File:Avatar-.The.Last.Airbender.full.1161878.jpg|thumb|750px|right|The continent of the Avatar universe, only slightly inspired by [[China]] - The Republic City from the second series is situated on the western coast of the Earth Kingdom.]]
The world has one language and four nations:

* The '''Water Tribes''': Hunter-gatherer Inuit-like people who live in the North and South polar regions. The South Pole tribe consists of stereotypical Inuit, whereas the ones living at the North Pole got bored of making simple igloos and carved their ''entire city'' out of ice. Then they added canals to troll the physicists. Korra was born in the South. There is also a water tribe scattered in equatorial swamps that manipulate the swamp vines by bending the water saturating the vines. Analogous to Indonesia, or a snowy Philippines?

* The '''Earth Kingdom''': A large loose continental power ruled out of the massive fortified city of Ba Sing Se. Wealthy and prosperous, they are masters of resource harvesting with bending as a safe and efficient means of mining metals and rare earths, and reduced labour required for farming. Culturally diverse, but largely modeled on [[China]] and Korea, with the capital (Ba Sing Se) eventually turning out to be based on North Korea. Seriously, this shithole has a [[Inquisition|secret police force]] that monitors the inhabitants and re-indoctrinates them to not cause trouble. Some [[Tolkien]]-esque undertones there. Then again, the first series is mostly about Buddhism, balance and peace, so it makes sense.
** The sequel splits the Earth continent into three big territories: The original Earth Kingdom, '''Republic City''' (a neutral territory independent from each nation while working with them all), and '''Zaofu''' (a city of metalbenders who made their own city after Toph began teaching Metalbending. One of her daughters runs the place).

* The '''Fire Nation''': A technologically advanced state based off of a volcanic island chain with imperialistic ambitions (so, Japan). By technologically advanced, we mean they have steampunk tanks, ironclad ships, a giant freaking drill and hot-air zeppelins (the original concept for the zeppelins was invented by an earth nation mechanic but the fire nation turned them up to 11), and by the time of the sequel, a ''nation-wide electric grid''. Their culture encourages ambition and competition.

* The '''Air Nomads''': Monastic wanderer-gatherers who lived ascetic (if non-celibate) lives, like what normies think Tibetans live like. They have four temple-cities that the wanderers will cycle through, and monuments scattered throughout the territories of the other three nations. By the time of the first story, the Air Nomads were purged [[Exterminatus|with <s>holy</s> fire]] in an attempt to prevent the reincarnation of the next Avatar. The Avatar was born to Air Nomads anyways and is the protagonist of the first story.
** After the Harmonic Convergence and Korra saving the world, a strange anomaly happens where random people begin developing airbending powers. Of course, Tenzin (Aang's son) begins making a world tour to meet these airbenders and rebuild the Air Nomads.

There is a fifth faction, of the fae creatures collectively called "Spirits," who used to be common but have mostly left the physical world behind for their own Spirit World that is an alternate dimension. The spirits that remain in the physical world are dedicated to the places they reside, interacting very little with people but they have been known to pick-up on the ambient mood of communities around them (ie. a river spirit will be irritable if the river is polluted and neglected, a mountain spirit will be confrontational if the nation has been at war).

'''When the first story starts''', the Fire Nation has been expanding aggressively into the Earth Nation for four generations, which hasn't been reacting beyond resisting in small city-states and issuing an "everything is fine they'll never win" message from the capital in what's obvious procrastination, hoping the Fire Nation will give up and decide the constant sieges are too expensive (spoiler: nope). The Fire Nation has already extinguished the Air Nomads, satisfied they have prevented the rebirth of the next Avatar prophesied to end their conquering. The Fire Nation naval aggression have made a virtual embargo on the Water Tribes, isolating north from south and both from the Earth Nation.

The only surviving Air Nomad after the pogrom is the current Avatar, who hid himself in cryosleep. Nobody was around to resuscitate him so he was out of the picture for a century or so. His education was interrupted and feels he needs to learn all four forms of bending as well as visit each of the isolated culture/nations before he can fulfill his purpose as a peacemaker.

'''The second story''' is sixty years after the first story, and the world's technology has advanced to the level of the 1900's -- ironclad ships are common, we can see industrial manufacturing in privately-owned companies instead of Fire Nation government military efforts, automobiles are uncommon but visible, and we see people listening to crystal radios. Most of the story takes place in "Republic City," which is for all intents and purposes New York City with Chinese architecture. Republic City is the world's equivalent of the United Nations; an independent city-state regarded as a symbol of the international peace. There is civil unrest, as the improved technology is closing the gap between benders and non-benders, causing resentment since benders have had a leg-up in social strata. This resulted in the insurgency of the "[[Communism|Equalist Movement]]" who want to overthrow the "let them eat cake" bender bourgeoisie.

The Avatar of this era is a young woman from the water tribes who is comfortable with the physical powers granted by her mastery of multiple elements but stunted in her training with spiritual matters and diplomacy, making her a poor mediator in the role that's expected of her, and easily manipulated by politicians. The Equalist insurgents are lead by a charismatic leader named "Amon," who claims to have a method for permanently disabling any person's bending ability; crippling the Avatar would be a huge symbolic victory for the Equalists, who see the Avatar as the pinnacle bender and biggest target for their resentments.

== Characters ==
=== The Last Airbender ===

[[File:Avatar-The-Last-Airbender-Free-Download.jpg|thumb|400px|right|From top left and towards right, Toph, Prince Zuko, Sokka, Katara and Avatar Aang.]]
: '''The Gaang'''
* Aang: Protagonist de jour. Mostly optimistic (when he's not panicking) and the nimblest motherfucker you'll ever meet due to being an Airbending prodigy. His destiny is to master the other three elements and save the world. Favorite mode of transport: flying bison. Known to go [[Awesome|godmode]] when shit hits the fan.
* Katara: Motherly waterbending love interest. Occasionally kicks ass. WARNING: FRIENDSHIP SPEECHES AHEAD. The only one in the group with any resemblance of common sense other than Aang, and has a surprising amount of wisdom and knowledge for her age.
* Sokka: Katara's bigger brother, a tech-minded guy in a world of magic Kung Fu and Spirits that get pissed off if you cut down too many trees in an area. The non bender of the group so he has to think his way to victory. Man's man, ladies man, master swordsman, brilliant scientist (he co-invented the submarine with the earth nation mechanic who invented the zeppelin in this world), leader of men, and a genius in the use of comedy in all its shapes and forms, from the one-liner to the pratfall. We all wish we were Sokka.
* Toph Beifong: A blind twelve year old girl introduced in Season 2. Also a massive badass, a tomboy and the best Earthbender in existence.
* Momo: Aang's companion. Hybrid of a bat and a lemur - This is normal in the Avatar universe. Is a cute little bugger.
* Appa: Aforementioned flying bison. Hasn't got a lot of personality and functions as the group's main center of operations, supplied by a platform on its back. A large part of the second season is focused on getting him back from captivity. Like Aang, he's the last of his kind, [[Grimdark|but as an animal rather than a human, he's an endling]] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endling|Yes, that's an actual term]).

: '''Allies'''
* Suki: Member of the order of Kyoshi warriors (a group of warriors inspired by one of Aang's past lives, Avatar Kyoshi - [[Awesome|an Avatar who looked like an amazon combined with a geisha]]). They live on an island and hold the Avatar in high regard. Kind-hearted yet one of the best fighters in the series, second only to Iroh, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. Literally knocked the sexism out of Sokka when they first met (beating him in a fight and proving to him that it's possible a woman can fight better than a man) and later on the two fall in love.
* King Bumi: King of the Earth city Omashu, a massive badass and a very old man (he's a childhood friend of Aang's, and Aang was frozen in ice for a century). Possible origin of the term "mad genius", Aang's nickname for him, since he acts crazy but is extremely smart. Tied with Toph for the most powerful Earthbender in existence. He surrendered his city to a fire nation invasion, but, in the series' best moment of [[Just As Planned]], the city was evacuated, [[Awesome|he waited until the firebenders temporarily lost their powers, then used his Earthbending to singlehandedly retake his city without killing or losing a single person]].

: '''Enemies'''
* Zuko: Exiled firebender prince. Originally a whiny bitch attempting to hunt the avatar to end his exile, but undergoes <gasp>CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT</gasp>, eventually becoming Aang's firebending teacher.
* Azula: Zuko's crazy badass dominatrix sister. Also a magnificent bitch with mommy-issues. Hobbies: Shooting lightning, [[Tzeentch|manipulating others to further her plans]], being better than you and volleyball. Often accompanied by her only friends/lieutenants the knife-wielding goth, Mai, and the acrobatic valley girl, <s>jailbait</s> <s>teenager fap bait</s> Ty Lee.
*Ozai: Ruler of the Fire Nation, firebender of (near) "UNLIMITED POWAH!", crappy father (burned his preteen son's face and exiled him for being 'rude'; rude here meaning [[Salamanders|protesting against using new recruits as cannon fodder]], he also made Azula what she is), and above all evil motherfucker (not surprising considering he's played by Mark Hamill aka Joker). Willing to genocide entire races and nations in order to ensure his power, and his country's undisputed supremacy ([[God-Emperor of Mankind|Sounds quite familiar]]). At the end, [[Horus Heresy|he is betrayed by his son who joins the enemy side]] and Aang strips him of his powers and his previously banished son becomes the new monarch and throws him in the dungeons to rot.

: '''Others'''
* Iroh: Zuko's uncle, a bro-tier guy even when on the villain's side and (spoiler) later revealed to be a secret hero who also [[Awesome|saved the dragons from extinction by pretending he'd killed the last ones]]. Basically what would happen if one of the dirtier-minded Buddhas could eat fire, shit lightning, and drink enough tea to cause a younger man's heart to explode. [[Kharn|A fun guy to be around, minus the team-killing]]. Voiced by the glorious, the late Mako Iwamatsu.

=== Legend of Korra ===

[[File:4388128-553141-legend of korra.jpg|thumb|400px|right|From top to bottom, Master Tenzin, Mako, Bolin, and Avatar Korra.]]

: '''The Krew'''
* Korra: The title character, and a brash, athletic tomboy who lacks spiritual aptitude (which means she punches people instead of meditating and talking things through like some kind of hippy... which isn't a good ideal when your chief enemy is claiming you oppress people who disagree with them). Gets her ass kicked a lot despite in skilled in three of the four elements due to her impulsiveness and not outright mastering any of them. Rule 34 has taken this penchant for failure and run a fucking marathon with it. Still qualifies as a [[Mary Sue]] for the same reason as [[Star Wars|Rey]]: much of her supposed power and competence is handed to her on a plate with no personal growth involved.
* Mako: Writers said he's "Zuko without the angst"; however they forgot Zuko had other traits and so is just some generic dude Korra wants to make out with, and kind of a creepy asshole. Also cheated on Asami. His primary characteristics are his strong sense of duty and a scarf. Team's Firebender, was taught how to lightningbend by a mobster. Becomes a cop in the second season, and then stopped after scandals involving eccentric rich dudes. Named after the late Japanese actor, Mako Iwamatsu, who among his many accomplishments voiced Iroh in The Last Airbender.
* Bolin: Mako's younger brother. Unlike Mako, Bolin is an earthbender and has character traits. He's the team's "funny guy" (he's basically like Sokka, but without the wit or tactical sense...actually now that you say it, nothing like Sokka except occasionally being comic relief), being on the better side of the whole dudebro thing while avoiding asshole territory. Had a crush on Korra, but she strung him along and shacked up with his brother Mako, with Bolin even walking in on them kissing when he was ready to confess his feelings to Korra. Ouch! Also happens to luck into being a movie star because of an eccentric rich man.
* Asami Sato: Daughter of this world's inventor of the automobile and easily the most rounded and best member of Team Avatar. She does not have any flaws other than being too nice sometimes, which is not a flaw, and yet is somehow not a loathsome Mary Sue. Mostly because she isn't in the show much, isn't overpowered, and when she's kicking ass with an Equalist power fist it is pretty awesome. [[Retcon|Revealed]] to be in lesbians with Korra at the end of the series (technically the directors said they're bisexual, but same difference) in a transparent attempt to redeem the series in the eyes of Tumblr, kicking off a category 5 skubstorm in the process and delighting everyone who wanted to make/already had made [[Rule 34]] of the pairing.

: '''Allies'''
* Tenzin: The youngest song of Aang and Katara, a sane, calm, rational Airbending master and adviser to Korra... most of the time. Has a wife and four children (his wife gives birth to the fourth during the show), three of which are airbenders. Starts off being a hard-ass until his own family insists that he ease off. Is very set on keeping the Airbending traditions alive and considers his duty to his people and his father important above all else to the point that he wants to be just like his father... with good reason, since he's trying to rebuild a civilization that went through an attempted genocide which his father was the only survivor of.
* Lin Beifong: Toph's even more hard-assed daughter who's chief of Republic City Police. Pretty much only uses metalbending and tries her damnedest to keep everything under control. Despite being a hard-ass, she's completely correct in her negative assessment of Korra in Season 1.
* Suyin Beifong: Lin's sister who built a city of metalbenders named Zaofu. Had to leave Republic City after her mother covered up her association with a gang of criminals and accidentally scarring her sister.

: '''Enemies'''
* Amon: [[Eliphas]] the Inheritor's bastard son [[Communism|and a hero of the common man and working class who strives to end the oppression of foul bending class and bring about true equality and a golden age of happiness]], until later episodes reveal he's just batshit insane. Also, has the BEST voice in the entire series, being also blessed by [[Cyrus|Steve Blum]].
* Vaatu: The spirit of chaos of the Avatar world, who is embattled with an eternal conflict with Raava, the incarnation of peace. They're suppose to be analogies of Yin and Yang (the Chinese philosophy that opposing forces balance and compliment each other to create peace and equilibrium), but the writers kinda fucked it up and made it: "VAATU IS CHAOS SO BAD, RAAVA IS PEACE SO GUD". Even worse, the writers already did spirits that were a Yin and Yang analogy in ATLA with the spirits Tui and La who took the form of Koi fish.
* Unalaq: [[Lorgar]] of the Avatar world. Starts off a malicious prick and then literally gets empowered by the Dark God to make a fucking Kaiju fight. Is also Korra's uncle. Also a very powerful Waterbender.
** Eska and Desna: Unalaq's identical twin son and daughter. One of them becomes Bolin's stalker and tries marrying him. She's voiced by Aubrey Plaza.
* Red Lotus: A secret society dedicated to the cause of anarchy.
** Zaheer: The Normie Batman-lite leader of the group, the deeply spiritual Zaheer semi-spontaneously developed Airbending powers after Korra aligned the spirit world with the one that matters. Instead of being a Buddhist about it like Aang, he rips the air out of people's lungs and embraces the void like a boss. Learns how to fly after his girlfriend is tricked into making her own head explode. Voiced and faced by Henry Rollins.
**Ghazan: One of Zaheer's pals. An earthbender with a pretty cool temper, except he is actually so good he can lavabend, a fit previously only done by the Avatar in their avatar state. Voiced by Peter Giles.
** Ming-Hua: An arm-less lady with an extraordinary good level of waterbending. Seriously, in a world where you have to mimic martial arts mouvements to shoot fireballs and stuff, doing it without arms seems a tad bit difficult and yet she is able to form water arms that she can partially freeze to form blades, hooks and over deadly forms depending on the situation. Voiced by Grey DeLisle.
** P'li: Zaheer's girlfriend. A firebender gifted with the rare skill to also create explosions with her mind (Combustionbending). Drove off a dragon using her firebending and combustionbending skills that she hadn't used in 13 years, being locked in a prison built inside a glacier specifically so the cold would prevent her from using her power. Voiced by Kristy Wu.

* Kuvira: [[Imperial Guard|The Lord Commander Militant]] of the Avatar setting. Student of Suyin and former member of the metal bender clan. Cleaned up the mess left behind by the Red Lotus after Suyin refused to step up and founded the Earth Empire, claiming that the concept of kings was outdated.

: '''Others'''
* Varrick: The [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Littlefinger]] of the Avatar universe. He at first appears to be very eccentric and friendly to Team Avatar, but it turns out he is manipulating entire wars in order to profit off of them. Still manages to be one of the most fun characters in Seasons 2 and 4, respectively. Probably has tons of crack stowed away on many of his boats, which he uses to fund movie production and insane inventions. Always flanked by his secretary/maid/assistant/bodyguard Zhu Li, who always does things.

== Films ==

A movie was released in 2010 by M. Night Shyama-{{BLAM|'''*CRUSH*'''}}<br>

Ahem, Please ignore the vandal spreading lies above. [[Alpha Legion|there is none, as of yet]]. No movie was ever made that was universally panned by critics and fans alike, blatantly ignored/basterdized the [[fluff]] in ways unseen since [[C. S. Goto]], and contained more racewashing than a Marvel comics fanfic collectively written by Tumblr. There are no plans of any movies like the one described in the future, nor was one ever made in the fist place.

Any mention of anything resembling a movie set in the Avatar Universe may result in [[Blam|an invitation from the Earth King to Lake Laogai]]. Remember, [[Meme|there is no Last Airbender movie in Ba Sing Se. All media related to it are just the two TV shows, comics, and video games.]]

Also, please report sightings of a man by the name of [[Heresy|M. Night Shyamalan]] to your nearest Earth Kingdom constable, as he is wanted for questioning. Do not attempt to apprehend this man by yourself has he is known to destroy anything he is able to grab into an unrecognizable mess.

== Games ==
* There's an [http://the-logbook-project.blogspot.com/p/avatar-world_23.html Apocalypse World hack] for Avatar like stories. (They dropped the sex movies, you perv.)
* There's a Savage Worlds splatbook for Avatar; also [http://savagepedia.wikispaces.com/Avatar+the+Last+Airbender some details on Savagepedia]. (more links needed)
* "Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple" for the vaguely Asian-setting protagonist gang tries to solve other people's problems & hilarity ensues, with a little magic but there are no hit points so there's no kung-fu roll playing here.
* ''Jadepunk'' and ''Tianxia'', both made for the same system as ''Do'', run on the same 'Steam/Dieselpunk through an Eastern Lens' idea as ''Korra'' but play it put for actual drama.
* The Way of the Four Elements monastic tradition from 5e is a very obvious homage to The Avatar.
* It doesn't take a genius to see that Avatar was "heavily influenced by" [[Exalted]].
* ''Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game'', an officially licensed TTRPG for the setting, produced by Magpie Games. Released on Kickstarter and raised $3 million in the first 3 days.
[[Category: Television]]

Avatar: The Last Airbender

2021-09-16T06:17:13Z

2406:3400:20F:FFC0:891B:7D7D:DFFF:955F: /* Legend of Korra */

{{/co/}}
{{awesome}}

'''TL;DR''' a setting for AZN kung-fu and high magic without being the over-the-top [[Exalted]] and not the highbrow [[Legend of the Five Rings]].

Let's say you want something that is fantasy, set in a large complex world that in no way rips off [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], is presented in visual form and is just well made all around. Well, Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko had come to your aid with '''Avatar: The Last Airbender''' and its new followup [[FAIL|'''The Legend of Korra'''.]] It is in no way related to [[Avatar|James Cameron's similarly titled work]] (thank god).

== Setting ==

You have a world modeled primarily off Asia (in particular dynastic [[China]]), plus some people can magically manipulate simple matter using martial arts moves called "bending." Benders can manipulate one and only one of the Earth, Air, Fire or Water elements. The exception to this rule is one person called the "Avatar" who can master all four types of bending, and universally regarded as a spiritual leader (think: the Dalai Lama). There is only ever one Avatar in each generation, who is the reincarnation of the previous Avatar and can remember (converse with the ghosts of) previous Avatars.

[[File:Avatar-.The.Last.Airbender.full.1161878.jpg|thumb|750px|right|The continent of the Avatar universe, only slightly inspired by [[China]] - The Republic City from the second series is situated on the western coast of the Earth Kingdom.]]
The world has one language and four nations:

* The '''Water Tribes''': Hunter-gatherer Inuit-like people who live in the North and South polar regions. The South Pole tribe consists of stereotypical Inuit, whereas the ones living at the North Pole got bored of making simple igloos and carved their ''entire city'' out of ice. Then they added canals to troll the physicists. Korra was born in the South. There is also a water tribe scattered in equatorial swamps that manipulate the swamp vines by bending the water saturating the vines. Analogous to Indonesia, or a snowy Philippines?

* The '''Earth Kingdom''': A large loose continental power ruled out of the massive fortified city of Ba Sing Se. Wealthy and prosperous, they are masters of resource harvesting with bending as a safe and efficient means of mining metals and rare earths, and reduced labour required for farming. Culturally diverse, but largely modeled on [[China]] and Korea, with the capital (Ba Sing Se) eventually turning out to be based on North Korea. Seriously, this shithole has a [[Inquisition|secret police force]] that monitors the inhabitants and re-indoctrinates them to not cause trouble. Some [[Tolkien]]-esque undertones there. Then again, the first series is mostly about Buddhism, balance and peace, so it makes sense.
** The sequel splits the Earth continent into three big territories: The original Earth Kingdom, '''Republic City''' (a neutral territory independent from each nation while working with them all), and '''Zaofu''' (a city of metalbenders who made their own city after Toph began teaching Metalbending. One of her daughters runs the place).

* The '''Fire Nation''': A technologically advanced state based off of a volcanic island chain with imperialistic ambitions (so, Japan). By technologically advanced, we mean they have steampunk tanks, ironclad ships, a giant freaking drill and hot-air zeppelins (the original concept for the zeppelins was invented by an earth nation mechanic but the fire nation turned them up to 11), and by the time of the sequel, a ''nation-wide electric grid''. Their culture encourages ambition and competition.

* The '''Air Nomads''': Monastic wanderer-gatherers who lived ascetic (if non-celibate) lives, like what normies think Tibetans live like. They have four temple-cities that the wanderers will cycle through, and monuments scattered throughout the territories of the other three nations. By the time of the first story, the Air Nomads were purged [[Exterminatus|with <s>holy</s> fire]] in an attempt to prevent the reincarnation of the next Avatar. The Avatar was born to Air Nomads anyways and is the protagonist of the first story.
** After the Harmonic Convergence and Korra saving the world, a strange anomaly happens where random people begin developing airbending powers. Of course, Tenzin (Aang's son) begins making a world tour to meet these airbenders and rebuild the Air Nomads.

There is a fifth faction, of the fae creatures collectively called "Spirits," who used to be common but have mostly left the physical world behind for their own Spirit World that is an alternate dimension. The spirits that remain in the physical world are dedicated to the places they reside, interacting very little with people but they have been known to pick-up on the ambient mood of communities around them (ie. a river spirit will be irritable if the river is polluted and neglected, a mountain spirit will be confrontational if the nation has been at war).

'''When the first story starts''', the Fire Nation has been expanding aggressively into the Earth Nation for four generations, which hasn't been reacting beyond resisting in small city-states and issuing an "everything is fine they'll never win" message from the capital in what's obvious procrastination, hoping the Fire Nation will give up and decide the constant sieges are too expensive (spoiler: nope). The Fire Nation has already extinguished the Air Nomads, satisfied they have prevented the rebirth of the next Avatar prophesied to end their conquering. The Fire Nation naval aggression have made a virtual embargo on the Water Tribes, isolating north from south and both from the Earth Nation.

The only surviving Air Nomad after the pogrom is the current Avatar, who hid himself in cryosleep. Nobody was around to resuscitate him so he was out of the picture for a century or so. His education was interrupted and feels he needs to learn all four forms of bending as well as visit each of the isolated culture/nations before he can fulfill his purpose as a peacemaker.

'''The second story''' is sixty years after the first story, and the world's technology has advanced to the level of the 1900's -- ironclad ships are common, we can see industrial manufacturing in privately-owned companies instead of Fire Nation government military efforts, automobiles are uncommon but visible, and we see people listening to crystal radios. Most of the story takes place in "Republic City," which is for all intents and purposes New York City with Chinese architecture. Republic City is the world's equivalent of the United Nations; an independent city-state regarded as a symbol of the international peace. There is civil unrest, as the improved technology is closing the gap between benders and non-benders, causing resentment since benders have had a leg-up in social strata. This resulted in the insurgency of the "[[Communism|Equalist Movement]]" who want to overthrow the "let them eat cake" bender bourgeoisie.

The Avatar of this era is a young woman from the water tribes who is comfortable with the physical powers granted by her mastery of multiple elements but stunted in her training with spiritual matters and diplomacy, making her a poor mediator in the role that's expected of her, and easily manipulated by politicians. The Equalist insurgents are lead by a charismatic leader named "Amon," who claims to have a method for permanently disabling any person's bending ability; crippling the Avatar would be a huge symbolic victory for the Equalists, who see the Avatar as the pinnacle bender and biggest target for their resentments.

== Characters ==
=== The Last Airbender ===

[[File:Avatar-The-Last-Airbender-Free-Download.jpg|thumb|400px|right|From top left and towards right, Toph, Prince Zuko, Sokka, Katara and Avatar Aang.]]
: '''The Gaang'''
* Aang: Protagonist de jour. Mostly optimistic (when he's not panicking) and the nimblest motherfucker you'll ever meet due to being an Airbending prodigy. His destiny is to master the other three elements and save the world. Favorite mode of transport: flying bison. Known to go [[Awesome|godmode]] when shit hits the fan.
* Katara: Motherly waterbending love interest. Occasionally kicks ass. WARNING: FRIENDSHIP SPEECHES AHEAD. The only one in the group with any resemblance of common sense other than Aang, and has a surprising amount of wisdom and knowledge for her age.
* Sokka: Katara's bigger brother, a tech-minded guy in a world of magic Kung Fu and Spirits that get pissed off if you cut down too many trees in an area. The non bender of the group and has to think his way to victory. Man's man, ladies man, master swordsman, brilliant scientist (he co-invented the submarine with the earth nation mechanic who invented the zeppelin in this world), leader of men, and a genius in the use of comedy in all its shapes and forms, from the one-liner to the pratfall. We all wish we were Sokka.
* Toph Beifong: A blind twelve year old girl introduced in Season 2. Also a massive badass and the best Earthbender in existence.
* Momo: Aang's companion. Hybrid of a bat and a lemur - This is normal in the Avatar universe. Is a cute little bugger.
* Appa: Aforementioned flying bison. Hasn't got a lot of personality and functions as the group's main center of operations, supplied by a platform on its back. A large part of the second season is focused on getting him back from captivity.

: '''Allies'''
* Suki: Member of the order of Kyoshi warriors (a group of warriors inspired by one of Aang's past lives, Avatar Kyoshi - [[Awesome|an Avatar who looked like an amazon combined with a geisha]]). They live on an island and hold the Avatar in high regard. Kind-hearted yet one of the best fighters in the series, second only to Iroh, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. Literally knocked the sexism out of Sokka when they first met (beating him in a fight and proving to him that it's possible a woman can fight better than a man) and later on the two fall in love.
* King Bumi: King of the Earth city Omashu, a massive badass and a very old man (he's a childhood friend of Aang's, and Aang was frozen in ice for a century). Possible origin of the term "mad genius", Aang's nickname for him, since he acts crazy but is extremely smart. Tied with Toph for the most powerful Earthbender in existence. He surrendered his city to a fire nation invasion, but, in the series' best moment of [[Just As Planned]], the city was evacuated, [[Awesome|he waited until the firebenders temporarily lost their powers, then used his Earthbending to singlehandedly retake his city without killing or losing a single person]].

: '''Enemies'''
* Zuko: Exiled firebender prince. Originally a whiny bitch attempting to hunt the avatar to end his exile, but undergoes <gasp>CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT</gasp>, eventually becoming Aang's firebending teacher.
* Azula: Zuko's crazy badass dominatrix sister. Also a magnificent bitch with mommy-issues. Hobbies: Shooting lightning, [[Tzeentch|manipulating others to further her plans]], being better than you and volleyball. Often accompanied by her only friends/lieutenants the knife-wielding goth, Mai, and the acrobatic valley girl, <s>jailbait</s> <s>teenager fap bait</s> Ty Lee.
*Ozai: Ruler of the Fire Nation, firebender of (near) "UNLIMITED POWAH!", crappy father (burned his preteen son's face and exiled him for being 'rude'; rude here meaning [[Salamanders|protesting against using new recruits as cannon fodder]], he also made Azula what she is), and above all evil motherfucker (not surprising considering he's played by Mark Hamill aka Joker). Willing to genocide entire races and nations in order to ensure his power, and his country's undisputed supremacy ([[God-Emperor of Mankind|Sounds quite familiar]]). At the end, [[Horus Heresy|he is betrayed by his son who joins the enemy side]] and Aang strips him of his powers and his previously banished son becomes the new monarch and throws him in the dungeons to rot.

: '''Others'''
* Iroh: Zuko's uncle, a bro-tier guy even when on the villain's side and (spoiler) later revealed to be a secret hero who also [[Awesome|saved the dragons from extinction by pretending he'd killed the last ones]]. Basically what would happen if one of the dirtier-minded Buddhas could eat fire, shit lightning, and drink enough tea to cause a younger man's heart to explode. [[Kharn|A fun guy to be around, minus the team-killing]]. Voiced by the glorious, the late Mako Iwamatsu.

=== Legend of Korra ===

[[File:4388128-553141-legend of korra.jpg|thumb|400px|right|From top to bottom, Master Tenzin, Mako, Bolin, and Avatar Korra.]]

: '''The Krew'''
* Korra: The title character, and a brash, athletic tomboy who lacks spiritual aptitude (which means she punches people instead of meditating and talking things through like some kind of hippy... which isn't a good ideal when your chief enemy is claiming you oppress people who disagree with them). Gets her ass kicked a lot despite in skilled in three of the four elements due to her impulsiveness and not outright mastering any of them. Rule 34 has taken this penchant for failure and run a fucking marathon with it. Still qualifies as a [[Mary Sue]] for the same reason as [[Star Wars|Rey]]: much of her supposed power and competence is handed to her on a plate with no personal growth involved.
* Mako: Writers said he's "Zuko without the angst"; however they forgot Zuko had other traits and so is just some generic dude Korra wants to make out with, and kind of a creepy asshole. Also cheated on Asami. His primary characteristics are his strong sense of duty and a scarf. Team's Firebender, was taught how to lightningbend by a mobster. Becomes a cop in the second season, and then stopped after scandals involving eccentric rich dudes. Named after the late Japanese actor, Mako Iwamatsu, who among his many accomplishments voiced Iroh in The Last Airbender.
* Bolin: Mako's younger brother. Unlike Mako, Bolin is an earthbender and has character traits. He's the team's "funny guy" (he's basically like Sokka, but without the wit or tactical sense...actually now that you say it, nothing like Sokka except occasionally being comic relief), being on the better side of the whole dudebro thing while avoiding asshole territory. Had a crush on Korra, but she strung him along and shacked up with his brother Mako, with Bolin even walking in on them kissing when he was ready to confess his feelings to Korra. Ouch! Also happens to luck into being a movie star because of an eccentric rich man.
* Asami Sato: Daughter of this world's inventor of the automobile and easily the most rounded and best member of Team Avatar. She does not have any flaws other than being too nice sometimes, which is not a flaw, and yet is somehow not a loathsome Mary Sue. Mostly because she isn't in the show much, isn't overpowered, and when she's kicking ass with an Equalist power fist it is pretty awesome. [[Retcon|Revealed]] to be in lesbians with Korra at the end of the series (technically the directors said they're bisexual, but same difference) in a transparent attempt to redeem the series in the eyes of Tumblr, kicking off a category 5 skubstorm in the process and delighting everyone who wanted to make/already had made [[Rule 34]] of the pairing.

: '''Allies'''
* Tenzin: The youngest song of Aang and Katara, a sane, calm, rational Airbending master and adviser to Korra... most of the time. Has a wife and four children (his wife gives birth to the fourth during the show), three of which are airbenders. Starts off being a hard-ass until his own family insists that he ease off. Is very set on keeping the Airbending traditions alive and considers his duty to his people and his father important above all else to the point that he wants to be just like his father... with good reason, since he's trying to rebuild a civilization that went through an attempted genocide which his father was the only survivor of.
* Lin Beifong: Toph's even more hard-assed daughter who's chief of Republic City Police. Pretty much only uses metalbending and tries her damnedest to keep everything under control. Despite being a hard-ass, she's completely correct in her negative assessment of Korra in Season 1.
* Suyin Beifong: Lin's sister who built a city of metalbenders named Zaofu. Had to leave Republic City after her mother covered up her association with a gang of criminals and accidentally scarring her sister.

: '''Enemies'''
* Amon: [[Eliphas]] the Inheritor's bastard son [[Communism|and a hero of the common man and working class who strives to end the oppression of foul bending class and bring about true equality and a golden age of happiness]], until later episodes reveal he's just batshit insane. Also, has the BEST voice in the entire series, being also blessed by [[Cyrus|Steve Blum]].
* Vaatu: The spirit of chaos of the Avatar world, who is embattled with an eternal conflict with Raava, the incarnation of peace. They're suppose to be analogies of Yin and Yang (the Chinese philosophy that opposing forces balance and compliment each other to create peace and equilibrium), but the writers kinda fucked it up and made it: "VAATU IS CHAOS SO BAD, RAAVA IS PEACE SO GUD". Even worse, the writers already did spirits that were a Yin and Yang analogy in ATLA with the spirits Tui and La who took the form of Koi fish.
* Unalaq: [[Lorgar]] of the Avatar world. Starts off a malicious prick and then literally gets empowered by the Dark God to make a fucking Kaiju fight. Is also Korra's uncle. Also a very powerful Waterbender.
** Eska and Desna: Unalaq's identical twin son and daughter. One of them becomes Bolin's stalker and tries marrying him. She's voiced by Aubrey Plaza.
* Red Lotus: A secret society dedicated to the cause of anarchy.
** Zaheer: The Normie Batman-lite leader of the group, the deeply spiritual Zaheer semi-spontaneously developed Airbending powers after Korra aligned the spirit world with the one that matters. Instead of being a Buddhist about it like Aang, he rips the air out of people's lungs and embraces the void like a boss. Learns how to fly after his girlfriend is tricked into making her own head explode. Voiced and faced by Henry Rollins.
**Ghazan: One of Zaheer's pals. An earthbender with a pretty cool temper, except he is actually so good he can lavabend, a fit previously only done by the Avatar in their avatar state. Voiced by Peter Giles.
** Ming-Hua: An arm-less lady with an extraordinary good level of waterbending. Seriously, in a world where you have to mimic martial arts mouvements to shoot fireballs and stuff, doing it without arms seems a tad bit difficult and yet she is able to form water arms that she can partially freeze to form blades, hooks and over deadly forms depending on the situation. Voiced by Grey DeLisle.
** P'li: Zaheer's girlfriend. A firebender gifted with the rare skill to also create explosions with her mind (Combustionbending). Drove off a dragon using her firebending and combustionbending skills that she hadn't used in 13 years, being locked in a prison built inside a glacier specifically so the cold would prevent her from using her power. Voiced by Kristy Wu.

* Kuvira: [[Imperial Guard|The Lord Commander Militant]] of the Avatar setting. Student of Suyin and former member of the metal bender clan. Cleaned up the mess left behind by the Red Lotus after Suyin refused to step up and founded the Earth Empire, claiming that the concept of kings was outdated.

: '''Others'''
* Varrick: The [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Littlefinger]] of the Avatar universe. He at first appears to be very eccentric and friendly to Team Avatar, but it turns out he is manipulating entire wars in order to profit off of them. Still manages to be one of the most fun characters in Seasons 2 and 4, respectively. Probably has tons of crack stowed away on many of his boats, which he uses to fund movie production and insane inventions. Always flanked by his secretary/maid/assistant/bodyguard Zhu Li, who always does things.

== Films ==

A movie was released in 2010 by M. Night Shyama-{{BLAM|'''*CRUSH*'''}}<br>

Ahem, Please ignore the vandal spreading lies above. [[Alpha Legion|there is none, as of yet]]. No movie was ever made that was universally panned by critics and fans alike, blatantly ignored/basterdized the [[fluff]] in ways unseen since [[C. S. Goto]], and contained more racewashing than a Marvel comics fanfic collectively written by Tumblr. There are no plans of any movies like the one described in the future, nor was one ever made in the fist place.

Any mention of anything resembling a movie set in the Avatar Universe may result in [[Blam|an invitation from the Earth King to Lake Laogai]]. Remember, [[Meme|there is no Last Airbender movie in Ba Sing Se. All media related to it are just the two TV shows, comics, and video games.]]

Also, please report sightings of a man by the name of [[Heresy|M. Night Shyamalan]] to your nearest Earth Kingdom constable, as he is wanted for questioning. Do not attempt to apprehend this man by yourself has he is known to destroy anything he is able to grab into an unrecognizable mess.

== Games ==
* There's an [http://the-logbook-project.blogspot.com/p/avatar-world_23.html Apocalypse World hack] for Avatar like stories. (They dropped the sex movies, you perv.)
* There's a Savage Worlds splatbook for Avatar; also [http://savagepedia.wikispaces.com/Avatar+the+Last+Airbender some details on Savagepedia]. (more links needed)
* "Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple" for the vaguely Asian-setting protagonist gang tries to solve other people's problems & hilarity ensues, with a little magic but there are no hit points so there's no kung-fu roll playing here.
* ''Jadepunk'' and ''Tianxia'', both made for the same system as ''Do'', run on the same 'Steam/Dieselpunk through an Eastern Lens' idea as ''Korra'' but play it put for actual drama.
* The Way of the Four Elements monastic tradition from 5e is a very obvious homage to The Avatar.
* It doesn't take a genius to see that Avatar was "heavily influenced by" [[Exalted]].
* ''Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game'', an officially licensed TTRPG for the setting, produced by Magpie Games. Released on Kickstarter and raised $3 million in the first 3 days.
[[Category: Television]]