Bosco

"earth"

- Quiet! You don't know what I had to do to get seats this near the bear!

Bosco was Earth King Kuei's pet bear who resembled the real-life northern grizzly bear. He lived in the forests along the eastern coast of the Earth Kingdom before he was captured.

History
Bosco was the only known member of his species, although the Earth King had commanded the top zoologists of Ba Sing Se University to lead a battalion of soldiers in scouring the Earth to find Bosco a mate. Little is known about his habits in the wild, but Bosco seemed to enjoy roaming the grounds of the Royal Palace with his master, and he had developed quite a taste for cakes and pies.

Bosco was the guest of honor at a birthday party the Earth King threw for him. He ate large portions of food and was fascinated when Aang performed waterbending tricks.

He was also frequently seen sitting at Kuei's side. He was one of the prime reasons Kuei decided to hear what Aang and his friends had to say about the conspiracy, due to Bosco's liking of Aang.



Bosco was shown once more while Kuei was welcoming the disguised trio of Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. Apparently Mai was forced to clean all of Bosco's "waste", saying if she cleaned another pile of bear poop, she would throw up. He was separated from Kuei after Azula ordered the Dai Li to arrest the King. He was soon reunited with Kuei, however, when Sokka and Toph successfully rescued him from Ty Lee and Mai, who actually wanted him gone, by trapping Ty Lee's hands and feet to the ground.



After the Coup of Ba Sing Se, Sokka was shown trying to teach Bosco to survive in the wild. Sokka gave up after many failed attempts of climbing, fishing, roaring, and self defense. Upon seeing how Bosco did not know how to be a real bear, Kuei decided to travel the world as a humble man, with only Bosco by his side.

After Ba Sing Se's liberation and the end of the War, Bosco returned to a life of luxury when Kuei regained his position as Earth King. During the planning of the Harmony Restoration Movement, Bosco was seen while Momo tried to steal his hat, though he quickly got it back.

Behavior
Bosco was very ill-mannered, loud, and slobbery, and could often be seen eating. However, the Earth King apparently was oblivious to this, and treated him like his son. He traveled with the Earth King incognito to see the world outside the walls of Ba Sing Se. Despite being slobbery and ill-mannered, he was very affectionate toward other people. He could also sense if danger was near or if someone was a good person.

The Promise Trilogy

 * The Promise Part 1

Behind the scenes
When Bosco the bear was first mentioned to Aang and his friends, they were skeptical that there was such a creature as a "just a bear" and suggested that perhaps it was another type of creature, such as a platypus bear, skunk bear, armadillo bear, or gopher bear. This was an inside joke, as most of the animals in Avatar: The Last Airbender are either mythical or hybrids of two different animals from the real world. Bosco, like the Earth King, was obviously very important, as one guest at the Earth King's banquet said to another, "You don't know what I had to do to get seats this near the bear!"

The people of Chin seemed to know what a bear was, as one of the punishments on their Wheel of Punishment was "being eaten by a bear" with accompanying illustration. The picture, however, seemed to resemble more that of a platypus bear.

Trivia

 * Bosco was one of very few nonchimerical (non-hybridized) animals seen in the world of Avatar. Considering how hybrid animals were more frequent in the world of Avatar, Bosco was considered strange. Other examples of non-hybridized animals include Miyuki and wood frogs.
 * He was also one of the few animals not voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.
 * According to DVD commentary, Bosco was named after the pet dog of an Avatar animator.
 * Bosco's claws were manicured twice a month.
 * Bosco was the only animal (apart from Momo) to ride on Appa's back.
 * A comic entitled It's Only Natural was released by Nickelodeon, telling the story of Sokka as he tried to reintroduce Bosco to the wild. This comic revealed several of Bosco's skills, such as his ability to use a fishing rod, to whistle and to play dead.
 * Bosco's voice actor, Clancy Brown, also ironically voiced Long Feng, an ally-turned-enemy of Kuei (and by proxy: Bosco).
 * Bosco is an Italian word, usually applied to a wood of evergreen oak.