Normally, Avatar: Macai's Journey threads/discussions/polls are planned to be released on a weekly basis and no more frequently than that. Today however, is a special exception. I'm releasing this thread in relation to Azula's graphic novel "Azula In the Spirit Temple" which releases October 31st.
The only other exception to this rule where two releases might come out is on the week right before the live action Avatar series comes out (it may not) and the week before the ATLA animated film on Team Avatar is released. The reason for this, is because Azula: In the Spirit Temple could be particularly important to AMJ's storyline depending on what happens.
These threads aren't just normal AMJ threads (which focus on a specific AMJ universe project), they are instead classified as double header threads. Threads that contain both information about AMJ itself and about the canon story they are covering right before release.
What is AMJ?
AMJ is an abbreviation for Avatar: Macai's Journey which is a fan project that is an extension of the Avatar: The Last Airbender storyline. AMJ is made to zero in on Fire Nation society. A large reason AMJ was created was to give Avatar fans genuine content to enjoy outside of the novels and comics during the time when Avatar did not have any tv shows.
Despite being a fan story, AMJ is designed to be specifically canon compliant with the original 2005-2008 animated series. With that being said, Macai's Journey has its own lore timeline which is informally referred to as the Manon timeline. This was made as a method of protection in case any future Avatar projects would contradict it.
How do the comics relate to the AMJ storyline?
Macai's Journey timeline includes the Avatar comics from the years 2013-2020. AMJ released November 2020 a little after the Last Adventures and Team Avatar Tales came out.
However, other great comics like Toph's Metalbending Academy and Suki Alone would eventually release in 2021. Still, neither of these stories came into direct conflict with the story and were easily adopted to AMJ's timeline.
In 2022, there were no new Avatar comics to enjoy. Though the Dawn of Yancheng novel came out there wasn't a lot of variety of Avatar stories or mediums that were being released. This was a year that AMJ exploded in participation, content, and impact. The most popular platform in Webnovel leapt to over 400,000 views during that time.
But now things are different, a story that directly relates to AMJ like Smoke and Shadow is coming out. In many ways, part of Macai's Journey's storyline from its start was to eventually continue what happened after Smoke and Shadow with additional layers.
This creates an opportunity for Avatar to make something that will further enhance AMJ's storyline, which would cause it to be added to the timeline like the other comics.
How could the story go against AMJ's story?
Romance choices depending on their long-term feasibility could play a part in this especially if those choices involve Azula (what Ty Lee does not matter at this moment if it doesn't involve her). Depending on what happens, AMJ could make an alternate storyline that fits canon.
This storyline would be called the Manon-B universe, but the most sacred timeline will always be the original Manon/Manon-A universe.
Will the Live Action show be a part of AMJ's timeline?
At the moment, the show is NOT considered part of AMJ's timeline nor was the standalone TV series. A major reason for this is because show remakes can often play out differently than original stories or have expansions.
Are any other fanon stories part of AMJ's timeline?
One is, Avatar Legacy of Rong Yan is respected and exists within the same timeline. However, the stories do not draw off of each other outside of a name reference. Some other fan stories are respected by AMJ and therefore are listed as Alternate Universe stories to AMJ's Manon timeline.
For more information about this, go here.
Could we get any new AMJ universe content from this?
Assuming Smoke and Shadow makes the Manon cut, which I really hope it does, we surely will. Whether that is in the form of another spinoff, some less important content like a Manon in-universe interview, or if it's a short standalone story depends on how everything plays out so we will have to sit tight for now.
But if it doesn't make the Manon cut, it still could lead to Manon-B content.
What is its significance to the canon story and the rest of the Avatar universe?
While this might seem like another Avatar story, a lot more is at stake. Like in Smoke and Shadow and the Promise we got to potentially learn the direction Zuko and Azula's relationship was moving in. With a story like this, we might learn Azula's fate of whether she will stay evil, become good, or be in a more difficult to gauge position like some edgy anti-hero.
A lot of fans have been waiting for a redemption and this could give fans exactly what they want. For those who don't know, I will not risk spoiling if this does or does not correlate with Macai's Journey. Of course, there are also some who don't want to see Azula's redemption and see her appeal in being a villain or dark anti-hero.
We could get interesting fights like Azula vs Ty Lee, Azula vs Aang (to settle once and for all who is better), Azula vs Zuko again which always seems to sell itself, and so on. We could see the state of Azula's dark cult. We might learn more about Azula's past, her ancestry, her mindset, and whatnot.