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| From the Editor: Spring Means New Stuff! |
Spring has begun recently for many of us, and new stuff indeed has sprung along with it. Today, the Ba Sing Se Times offers you plenty of new information to please your inner Avatar Fan, along with things that rekindle your love for it. If you've been gone a while, breathe in the nostalgia and return anew! So let's take a look at this fresh page and have some good 'ol fandom fun along with it.
Happy Reading!
One of the things Avatar gets praised for the most is the fact that it deals with mature issues and has a compelling enough story and characters to engage adults, despite being initially aimed at children.
But now that I have the opportunity to watch the show with my own children, I'm realizing just how well it works for its original audience as well. Kids in elementary school see the world in black and white, and most of the shows they watch reflect that. Good guys always do good things. Bad guys always do bad things. There's never a question of anyone crossing this line, even when there probably should be. In one of the first episodes of another Nickelodeon show, the TMNT reboot, one of the turtles is attacked and swipes his sword at the stranger in defense. The blade hits, slicing through the man's head, revealing that it is actually a robot. Our supposed good guy, however, had no way of knowing this ahead of time and was perfectly fine with brutally murdering someone he could have easily outrun. As the protagonist of a kids' show, his actions were justified without question. But Avatar is not your typical kids' show. One of the first episodes I watched with my son (who is, in fact, in the elementary age bracket) was ""Jet"". As he watched the story unfold, he voiced that Sokka wasn't being fair and that Jet was good. After all, Jet had been seen fighting the bad guys, so he had to be a good guy. But when it's revealed that Jet is willing to flood a village and attack a helpless old man simply because they're from the Fire Nation, things become much less clear. By the time the episode was over, my son had the look of a person who'd just had their whole reality turned upside down and was amazed at the new possibilities. No other show had dealt with the fact that people can have good motivations, but their actions can still be wrong. And of course, being Avatar, the show goes on to demonstrate how the reverse is also true. We recently watched ""The Blue Spirit"", and my son quickly named the titular character as ""the mystery guy."" He commented that he wondered who it was but didn't make any guesses. When the Blue Spirit's identity was revealed, his eyes widened, and when we got to the end of the episode, all he could say was, ""Wow. That. Was. Amazing."" In case you were wondering, no, that is not his typical closing statement to a TV show. But this is what the best storytelling does -- it inspires us. When it comes to work for children, it's easy to make the villains robots or monsters or something else that can never be morally gray. (Bonus easy points if it's something you can destroy without feeling even a twinge of guilt.) It's much harder to use humans; it requires any decent writer to acknowledge that people do both good and bad things, to recognize that human lives, all of them, have value. Not only does Avatar introduce kids to fantastic storytelling, but it also paves the way for conversations about the real world. After several rounds of pretending to be the Avatar characters, my son and I had a talk about how Aang doesn't like hurting people and how he saves Zuko from Zhao even though they are enemies. We talked about how Aang tried to make friends with Zuko afterwards and only ran away when Zuko chose to attack. (Interestingly enough, when we started the series, my son simply called Zuko ""the bad guy."" Now, he tells me, Zuko is ""a good guy to most people and only bad when he's chasing Aang."") I know my kids are going to run into a lot of people that they don't agree with, even some people who are antagonistic towards them. How awesome would it be if their first reaction isn't to be antagonistic back, but to ask, ""Is there any way we could be friends?"
For this ship of the issue, I have decided to write about Ty Lokka. As I’m sure many of you know, it the ship between Sokka and Ty Lee. It is also sometimes referred to as Tykka.
Ty Lokka is one of the “four main ships” involving Sokka. It set sail as soon as Ty Lee developed a crush on Sokka. It seems as if there was a mutual attraction between them as they flirted at one point while inside of the drill. When Sokka and Ty Lee fought in Ba Sing Se, Ty Lee continued to flirt with him. However, Sokka was dating Suki at this point so he rejected her romantic advances. This did not stop fans from shipping Ty Lokka and some would rather see Sokka with Ty Lee instead of Suki. I never really shipped Ty Lokka. I ship Sokka with Suki and Yue and I did also ship him with Toph at one point. This biggest issue is that they were technically enemies during the war. While the two flirted inside of the drill, it seemed to be entirely based on physical attraction as the two did not know each other on a personal level. There used to be an avid Tokka fan on Avatar Wiki and he did a very good job with pointing out the flaws in this pairing. It was mainly based on physical attraction. Some believe that Sokka is the reason why Ty Lee betrayed Azula along with Mai. I serious doubt this because if this was the case, then why didn’t she side with him sooner? Ty Lee was friends with Zuko and Mai and Azula was about to attack the latter. I feel that this is the main reason why Ty Lee betrayed the Fire Nation. Pros:
Cons:
Time for another installment extolling the virtues of Avatar: The Last Airbender! This issue, I wanted to cover an idea, or rather, a challenge that faces many movies and television shows: screentime and time constraints. Often used to excuse shoddy writing and poor characterizations, the idea of time constraints—be it shorter episode length or less episodes per season than the norm—are used to hand-wave things that just don’t add up.
“Well, they didn’t have the luxury of time to do what they wanted to do. These characters could only be built up so much.” Well, I’m here today to do two things: disabuse anyone of that notion, and praise one of my favorite TV series in the process. And I’m going to look at one simple episode to do so: The Avatar and the Firelord. So, what’s so special about this episode? What does it contain within that makes it worth mentioning? This episode not only brings the protagonist, Aang, and the deuteragonist, Zuko, closer together in terms of mirrored journeys, it also manages to do that while telling a completely separate story with characters, stakes, drama, action, and heartbreak. And the time it takes? Twenty-two minutes. In the average runtime of an episode, the writers of A:TLA gave us a story that worked on its own and continued building a relationship between two characters that had been weaved throughout the show from the beginning. How does this feat get accomplished? Well, we are told the story of former Firelord Sozin and Avatar Roku through two different perspectives. One is Zuko reading an account by his grandfather detailing their friendship, while Aang goes on a spirit journey with Roku as a tour guide of his life. The setup grants us two viewpoints, two characters to follow. Roku’s half details his experiences as the Avatar, learning to bend the four elements, as well as his increasingly strained relationship with Sozin. Meanwhile, we see Sozin beginning to bring forth a vision of unity and prosperity that, in his eyes, will lift every nation. It is upon Roku’s return from his training that things begin to strain. We see two best friends become increasingly at odds with one another as Sozin tries to move forward with his plans against Roku’s wishes. This culminates in a battle that, while one-sided, destroys a friendship in the process. Neither man walks away unscathed. That would be enough to make this a worthy episode, but it doesn’t end here. The story within a story truly reaches its end as the best friends are brought together one final time, only to have betrayal and death shatter what remains. It is bitter, it is harsh, it shows us that Roku ultimately failed in his duty, but it also shows a glimmer of hope in Aang, the next Avatar. And it is done in twenty-two minutes. Is every character within it fleshed out? No. Do we miss much of their lives? Yes. But the most important question, and the one I believe this episode answers in the affirmative, is this: Did we get a clear picture of friendship, conflict, despair, and hope? I believe we did. The Avatar and the Firelord paints a two-sided story in a brilliant way that makes us feel for this broken friendship, for these men who were torn apart by duty on the one hand and ambition on the other. So when someone complains that a show or movie only had so much time, and it’s flaws can be excused by that lack of time, I tell them about The Avatar and the Firelord. Or Baccano!, because I will never pass up a chance to mention the utter insanity that is Baccano!. At any rate, The Avatar and the Firelord is yet another example of why Avatar: The Last Airbender is so brilliant. It does things with its story, tone, and characters that allow it to transcend the mark of a simple kids’ TV show. It is a masterpiece, as I’ve said before and I’ll say again. And that just makes me happy, because I get to keep writing these. Peace.
Mako and Bolin are the world-renowned fabulous bending brothers. They were both orphaned at a young age and had to fend for themselves before training to become Probenders and then joining Avatar Korra in her struggle against evil.
Mako is a fierce firebender, well adapted to the fast-paced fighting style of Republic City. He was known for his characteristic 'cool under fire' fighting style in which he would dodge most attacks with little wasted effort. He is also a skilled lightning bender, using it to temporarily stun Amon and even kill Ming-Hua.Mako is a brilliant tactician, being able to use his environment to his surroundings. This was shown when he was able to kill Ming-Hua with a brilliant use lightning and the surrounding water. He is very much the leader of Team Avatar, being a very quick thinker. Bolin is a brilliant earthbender. Unlike a typical earthbender, he is capable of being quick and light on his feet when the situation calls for it. This style is very suited for pro-bending. However, he is also capable of traditional earthbending styles. In addition, he is the only known lavabender to be living by the time of Book 4. However, he is not a metalbender. It is also likely that even if Mako can get past his brother's defence, Bolin will be able to carry on fighting. For these reasons, I'm going to give Bolin the victory. What does everyone else think? Bolin is a tank. He is able to absorb many attacks and even carry on fighting with a dislocated shoulder. In the final battle against the Colossus, he managed to incapacitate a metalbender by ramming him. To me, it seems that a battle between them would be decided by a few factors. Mako is more agile than Bolin and a better tactician. In terms of raw power and endurance, Bolin seems far superior. So it seems that if Mako can use his environment to his surroundings and use his superior agility to his advantage, he would be able to overcome Bolin. That is, of course, if he could get past his brother's rock-solid defences and dangerous attacks of both stone and lava. For these reasons, I'm going to give Bolin the victory. What does everyone else think? Which two should face off next? Make your suggestion in the comments! |
If you weren't aware already, Smoke and Shadow Part 3 has been released earlier than the planned date. Snatch it fast and see the marvelous work of Gene Luen Yang. And before you read the discussion below, I have to give a shoutout to him yet again for being one of the kindest, most passionate authors there are out there. Thanks for everything, Gene, on behalf of the Avatar fandom!
Hi Mr. Yang! How are you?
Pretty good. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions today.
Click here to keep reading! with Smoke and Shadow and North and South, which is the next one. They’ll be overlapped; pieces of them will take place simultaneously. I think that’s just part of the nature of the Avatar to be constantly called to duties. They’re with you until you die.
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Well come on all you big strong men, Uncle Omashu needs your help again! If you're like me and you feel like you're fixin' to read a good fanon, you've come to the right place. Take my hand, close your eyes, place blind faith in my judgement, and follow my instructions without hesitation. I'm sure you already have your hands and minds full with the first two fanons I've recommended, Switched Powers and Spirit of the North, but I'm eager to pass on yet another promising story in our midst.
I present to you, from acclaimed author and a personal friend Agent Slash, the latest noir thriller, Crimes of Passion. If you think Republic City deserves a better class of criminal, a new bending ability, and a character whose story isn't quite as black and white as it may appear, this fanon is for you. Longtime contributor to the portal and tested writer Agent Slash offers this plot summary: Now I'm not entirely certain, but I believe this little gem may be the first crime-genre plot following a female Republic City gang member that we've seen on this wiki. One thing is for sure though, I'm already hooked. I want to know what happened in Song's past. I want to know what happens to Song in her future. I want to know who Song is. Luckily, Agent Slash has a unique and thoughtful way of answering each of those questions. His style is captivating, and while I've been a fan of his for a while, this is his most dramatic stylistic departure. The first-person narrative is a bold choice, but the flow of narration and pacing sets the mysterious tone. Readers have already been given a taste of an interesting method in which the author breaks from the first-person and briefly enters into the third to relay a scene in which Song is not involved. But Omashu Rocks, doesn't that make the plot choppy and confusing? No it doesn't, now shut up head voices. Agent Slash executes the risky yet rewarding shift well, and it feel more like House of Cards, where most of it is told from the point of view of a fourth-wall breaking protagonist but occasionally ventures off to other players. Besides, Agent Slash has said the switches are "rare." The best part of this story is that it, while promising, is only two chapters long thus far, so you have plenty of time to catch up before the real adventure begins! I encourage all wikians looking to confuse themselves with endless theories and speculation to attempt the puzzle that is Crimes of Passion!
fanon popularity
noun Most commonly known as:
If you're a fanon author here, you'll pick up certain popularity trends before long - the first one being what it can do to people. There are users who drown in the Jealou Sea whenever the spotlight never seems to glance their way, but many stay afloat by trying to analyze that darned Popular Author to learn his or her secrets. So today, I begin the long, gruesome ordeal of listing the most famous myths that have taken hold of the portal over the years. Today can only have a fraction of an overwhelming collection of superstitions. Now let's bust 'em! MYTH 1:
I must be a popular user in order to be a popular author. This one is the strongest myth of them all. It often refers to the super active/involved users, or (especially) someone with a fancy-sounding responsibility in the community; admins, usergroup members, awards hosting, staff, and so forth. Yeah sure, there are many things that exposure can do...but what it can't do is make readers last beyond the first chapter of your fanon. If there's anything I've seen happen consistently, it's that the natural lack of feedback to bland or sucky writing doesn't spare any well-known users. So, I encourage you guys to figure out how to make your story the best it can be. Your username won't do it for ya! MYTH 2:
My story needs to be endorsed by a popular author. Now now, this isn't to say that OR's "On my Radar" does nothing for the fanons it highlights. The real problem with this is, users seem to forget the difference between a person who likes their story versus their own skill as a writer. It's just as hard to make a popular author like your stuff as it is to attract the rest of the readers or perhaps the crowds of adoring fans you crave. Better yet, it's probably the fact that you even have that craving that's the problem. While it does feel nice when a writer you admire becomes your fan, I don't know what it is about this but I've never seen a successful fanon that actually made it a goal. Actually, maybe I do: the less priority you place on your love of writing, and the more you have to share it with the importance of having fans of any kind, wouldn't that also mean less effort to grow as an author and less utilization of your own potential? Food for thought. MYTH 3:
I'll lose all my readers if I don't update often. Eh... I'll have to point out that for me personally, I can't really make a statement about myself other than that it amazes me how long people are willing to suffer and wait when I take literally a year to find time to write a new chapter. Out of the authors who still plan to finish their fanon and still love it, I'm one of the absolute worst updaters in the portal. So, no. (p.s. Sorry Mage :P) MYTH 4:
I'll lose all my readers if I update too often. This is the idea that there's simply too much to read at once. Will it delay feedback on your other later chapters as they catch up? Perhaps. But will they leave? Heck no, the more to read the better! A huge fan's worst nightmare is when they've reached the point in which they actually have to wait for an update. That's all for now, folks! Before I leave, I have to throw in the disclaimer that there are many, many things that can cause a lack of feedback on your fanon aside from bad writing. The one thing I do think is always true though is that any lasting interest of readers in your writing is pretty much impossible if you suck at it. So in short, worry less about myths. Just don't suck at writing because after all, if you're an author: "You had one job!!!" Don't forget that :) Agent Minn out~
Some of you may remember me by my username, but most of you probably have no idea who I am or why they allowed me to submit this! So before I say anything, if we haven’t met, my name is Braden (Bray for short), and I was pretty active on the wiki in the past. Lovely to meet you!
First off, sorry for disappearing. It was something I could tell was happening but didn’t have the willpower to stop. My life picked up speed and I had no traction. And my wiki presence fell through the cracks. When college hit, I was so far gone, I had over 100 notifications lying in wait for me when dropping in over Winter break. How did something I was so passionate about suddenly become something that I no longer even had time to worry about? To be honest, aside from school, I have no answers. Writing about Avatar-esque things began to feel more and more forced. Even as Korra was in high swing during season three, I still felt my love for the Avatar Universe dwindle. Even Inheritance, a project I loved, became a chore to write about. I flipped the switch off regarding everything Fanon without realizing it. And perhaps that’s really what happened to my works at the time. Whatever reason or issue that spurred on my words had become nullified – and with that nullification, my passion for it all shortly followed suit. And I didn’t want to write an unjust ending to a series I had once held very dear simply to cap it off – my readers deserved far better than that. Is that to say Inheritance, or any other works of mine, will receive a true ending or extension one day? That’s hard to say. If I find a reason to write again, perhaps they will. But for now, they’re stuck in a passion limbo. And they’re going to be there for a while. I loved every minute of season 3 & 4 of Korra, but for some reason, the inspiration it once had encouraged within me was no longer there. Maybe the novelty was gone or I had hit a new point in my life – I’m not sure. I would still write, and still do… just not about Avatar. For whatever reason, the nostalgia and urge isn’t there right now. I still like to check up on the wiki and see how it’s doing, almost like coffee with an old friend. The place that fostered my love for writing, for creating – it’s always going to have a special place in my heart. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll start writing here again. In the end, writing has a funny way of doing what it wants.
What's a newsletter without random, time-killing puzzles and games? We've decided to start up our very own Avatar-themed jigsaw puzzle series. It's an interactive puzzle that allows you to move the pieces of the image around until they all click together. Try it today, see which iconic image we've pulled from the series, and see who gets the best time!
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Mageddon725, also known as Mage, has been around the fanon portal here since the summer of 2011. His current fanon is The White Lotus, which follows a line that began with his very first. The Spirit War Trilogy also includes Avatar- Aftermath and Burning Earth, Sons and Daughters and It All Ends. Today, I will be interviewing him for this edition of the times.
Click here to keep reading!
Fight scenes in movies and television can also get the creative juices flowing, as fight scenes are among some of my favorite things to watch and write. Something about combat gets both my adrenaline and my mind working. I might be a little weird.
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