Cabbage merchant

"earth"

- MY CABBAGES!

The Cabbage Merchant is an unfortunate Earth Kingdom salesman who specializes in selling cabbages. He is a recurring character in the series who continuously has his cabbages destroyed or damaged when encountering Team Avatar and their enemies.

History
This unfortunate character is something of a running joke. He appeared in many Earth Kingdom locales with his cart full of cabbages, which inevitably got destroyed, usually by Aang when he was fleeing from a foe or some other situation, which caused him to yell his catchphrase "My cabbages!" He was first seen in Omashu, when his cart was destroyed by a troop of overzealous Earthbending guards. Somehow he obtained another cart filled with more cabbages, only to have it be destroyed again by the Avatar and his companions when riding on the mail system. Following this, he demanded "Off with their heads, one for each head of cabbage!" during their subsequent trial, but King Bumi threw them a feast instead. His cart was destroyed one final time by King Bumi and Aang while riding the mail system (once again). Later, he was seen when his cart was destroyed by Aang when pirates were chasing him and his friends. He yelled "This place is worse than Omashu!" He was seen among the refugees fleeing to Ba Sing Se; while waiting to get on the ferry to the city, the ferry's security told him he couldn't bring his cabbages due to the risk of a Cabbage Slug infestation and the cart was destroyed by a Platypus Bear. He was last seen in Ba Sing Se, when a Rabbaroo ate his cabbages, to which he responded by exasperatedly saying, "My cabb....Oh forget it," and walking off. He could later be seen sobbing in the background. While on Ember Island, Sokka mentioned him as a "surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage," a source of information to the Fire Nation play.

His ultimate fate after the War is unknown, though it is likely that he continued his occupation of selling cabbages.

Trivia

 * The martial arts consultant of Avatar, Sifu Kisu, was originally going to be the Cabbage Merchant as his counterpart in the show. But eventually, the creators decided to portray Piandao after the consultant because the Cabbage Merchant was too small.
 * In the episode "The King of Omashu" with "Avatar Extras" bonus commentary, one of the commentary bubbles stated that the Cabbage Merchant was meant to be a one time character, to only appear in that one episode. In that same episode with bonus commentary it was pointed out that the Merchant's Cabbages were destroyed at the front gate, but he was later seen with a cart full of cabbages, which were destroyed by Aang and his friends riding down the delivery chutes (although they could simply be different cabbages).
 * When the platypus bear destroys his cart in "The Serpent's Pass", it is said by the creators that a Cabbage Slug can be seen if you slow the tape down between 05:10 and 05:11.
 * A cabbage stand can be seen destroyed in Gaipan in the flood initiated by Jet and his Freedom Fighters.
 * Despite his cart being destroyed and supposedly not allowed in Ba Sing Se, he is seen with them in the capital.
 * In "The Waterbending Scroll", the Avatar Extras subtitle states "It's our lovable loser, the Cabbage Merchant".
 * The Cabbage Merchant can be seen in the PS2 game Avatar: The Last Airbender.
 * The Cabbage Merchant will not appear in The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra, but it has been confirmed that his legacy will be carried on in some way.
 * The Cabbage Merchant is played by the same voice actor as Oyaji.
 * Pu-on Tim supposedly came in contact with the Cabbage Merchant at some point, as the Ember Island Players poster suggests with "a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage".