Cabbage merchant

"earth"

- MY CABBAGES!!!!

The Cabbage Merchant is an unfortunate Earth Kingdom salesman who specializes in selling cabbages. He is a recurring joke in the series who continuously has his cabbages destroyed or damaged.

History


This unfortunate character is something of a running gag. He appears in many Earth Kingdom locales with his cart full of cabbages, which inevitably gets destroyed, usually by Aang when he's fleeing from a foe or some other situation, which causes him to yell the catchphrase "Argh! My cabbages!" His first appearance was in "The King of Omashu," when his cart was destroyed by a troop of overzealous Earthbending guards, only to be destroyed again by the Avatar and his companions when riding on the mail system, after which he demands that they get the death penalty during their subsequent trial. His cart is destroyed one final time in that episode by King Bumi and Aang while riding the mail system (once again). Later, he is seen when his cart was destroyed by Aang when pirates were chasing him and his friends. He yells "This place is worse than Omashu!" He is 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 cabba....Oh forget it," and walking off. He can later be seen in the background crying. He is mentioned by Sokka in "The Ember Island Players" as a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage, a source of information to the play.

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 that the Cabbage Merchant was too tall.
 * 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).
 * In "The Ember Island Players", Sokka mentions "a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage" as a source on a poster for the play. This is a clear reference to the Cabbage Merchant and his feelings towards Team Avatar's repeated "vandalism" of his cabbage cart.
 * In the episode "The Serpent's Pass", when the platypus bear destroys the cart, 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 capitol.
 * In " The Waterbending Scroll", the Avatar Extras subtitle states " It's our lovable loser, The Cabbage Merchant ".