Gone Viral

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Last night I managed to get my buddy Heather—you may remember my buddy Heather, the nicest person in the world—completely addicted to Avatar: The Last Airbender. After I assured her that there was no questionable content in it and in fact it’s a kids’ show, we spent a good three hours watching through it.

We’re still on season one, so I have yet to convince her that Uncle General Iroh is a god damn badass GQ motherfucker,* and she’s still dubious of my claim that Zuko’s character arc through the series is, in my conservative opinion, one of the greatest ever written.** Right now they’re just a goofy old fat guy and a bratty wounded teenage antagonist.

BUT SOON SHE WILL SEE THE LIGHT. She’ll be going back to school in Southern Utah in a couple of days, but she has asked if she can come over when I’m done with work tomorrow to finish the first season.

She is a little worried that she’s making me watch something I’ve seen before. “You have no idea how happy I am to have an excuse to,” I told her.

So I’m hoping Saturday will be Avatar Party 2: The Writers Realize How Cool This Show Can Be, And So Does Heather. And if she doesn’t make it, don’t tell anyone, but I may have to just watch it again. For … completeness. Yes. That’s right.


*Partly because one does not use such tawdry language around Heather. Hell, even “Iroh is a gosh darn cool GQ mothereffer” may be too saucy for her, but cleaning it up completely sort of loses something.

**No, really. Redemption, finding one’s own path, coming of age—they’re old tropes, but never have I seen it executed better.

Comments

[pandoras-closet.livejournal.com]

Is she one of those people who give off an aura that makes you feel bad for swearing around her?

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Heather is a force unto herself. A force of NICENESS.

It's kinda weird. She sincerely believes in and lives all that warm fuzzy Mormon wholesomeness--charity and no swearing and family-friendly media and love of family and no caffeine--AND IT'S NOT CREEPY. I know this sounds impossible. I would have thought it WAS, except I know Heather.

[pandoras-closet.livejournal.com]

A force of grumpiness and such like myself fears such a person, yet, a sense of morbid sadomasochisim makes me want to meet her to pit my badger like mentality against her niceness.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Well, that's the other thing. Heather is nice but she also takes no bullshit. I can't for the life of me figure out why she puts up with me, but for some reason we get along beautifully.

[pandoras-closet.livejournal.com]

Friendships are like that.

[acrossthelake.livejournal.com]

Hi, Heather! *waves* Tell her I look forward to seeing y'all in two months and I hope I can watch ATLA too. I hope you won't be too sick of it to see it a third time.

[marag.livejournal.com]

I agree. Zuko's story is one of the best versions of an old tale I've ever seen.

Also, I have to give big props to what they did with Sokka. Yes, he's the comic relief, but he's not *just* the comic relief. He grows and changes and learns and has his own role to play.

SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS SHOW.

The movie doesn't exist, right? It's just something from a bad fever dream? Lie to me if you have to.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Love the icon.

Zuko's story is kinda like hearing someone play a flawless rendition of a difficult concerto. Sure, you know the music, you've heard it before, but DAMN THEY DID IT RIGHT THIS TIME. And as I said further down the page, it has something new the second time around, because you know the background and can see just what's making him such an obnoxious little twerp at the beginning.

I like that Sokka is the comic relief AND the badass normal. And I loved how they give him a sort of ass-backwards brilliance--he is not very articulate, but my brother the engineer feels that he is a kindred spirit in problem-solving.

WHAT MOVIE? I KNOW NOT OF ANY THE LAST AIRBENDER MOVIE. YOU MUST INDEED BE MISTAKEN.

[marag.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I dreamt that movie. I mean, can you believe that in my dream, they didn't cast Asian actors? Hahahaha! That would be so silly, wouldn't it?

And yes, there's just so much going on. It's a kid's show that doesn't talk down to the kids.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Hah! What a strange dream you had! Imagine casting someone of a different race--Hollywood wouldn't do that! You would never see a black actor playing Harry Potter or a Japanese person playing Batman simply because those were "the best actors for the job," so OBVIOUSLY such a weird recasting wouldn't occur IF Hollywood ever decided to do an Avatar: TLA movie, right? LOGIC.

Hell, I (and many others) even have trouble keeping the "I LEARNED SOMETHING TODAY" out of grownup fiction. I have tremendous respect for people who can let stories speak for themselves. And when they do it for kids, they get extra super bonus points.

[beccastareyes]

Sweet. I remember watching Avatar with my family -- my cousin and her husband discovered it independently, so one night when I was over*, we watched the Season 2 finale together. I'd seen it before, but they hadn't.

* Back when they lived an hour away from me, normally I'd take the bus down to them, then we'd drive to visit the rest of the family. Occasionally we'd get back after the buses left, so I'd just spend the night on their guest bed.

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

I am three episodes away from the conclusion of season 3. On my first watch-through of this series ever.

She will learn to appreciate the AWESOME THAT IS IROH. ...but I sympathize with her "Damn, Zuko is a whiny emo teenager" thing. It takes a while to warm up to the guy. Heck, I didn't even like Sokka until about the latter half of disc 2 of the first season...

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

*grin* But Zuko IS a whiny teenager! That's part of the fun. (The second watchthrough of S1 is fun because you see it all after learning his story and learning about his character, and you see just how hurt and angry and flaily and desperate he is.) And I love that he's still an awkward kid even in Season 3. He knows what he has to do and he's going to do it, but that doesn't make it EASY to just barge up to the others and be like, "... Zuko here ..."

Sokka was tough to warm up to, agreed. You think he's gonna just be the comic relief and then gradually it dawns on you that he's turning into a badass ...

Heather hasn't even MET Toph yet. TOPH. Damn, she's in for goodness.

So you're on the finale? Oh, god, there's a scene with Iroh there that just makes me choke up EVERY DAMN TIME. And it is truly EPIC. Like, in the traditional sense. It's awesome like a hundred BILLION hot dogs.

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

I have now finished watching the entire show. And I have spent pretty much all day today since we finished the four-part finale talking about the awesome that is Avatar.

Seriously. It's like, we'll be out at dinner, and the conversation is about how brilliant the structure is and how tightly plotted things were. On the drive back, we're talking about the way the structure maps to a really good RPG campaign, and how the GM statted out stuff like the metal-bending upgrade, and what you can tell about the players by how their characters act... And I spent about half an hour after the finale just walking nervously in circles, trying to burn off the tension acrued through Massive Awesomeness.

Damn, but that's a good show.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

OMG YES. The metalbending was a terrific thing, and I loved how they established that it had never been done before you even meet Toph so it's even more awesome when she's like "I have decided to invent metalbending!"

OH AND THE BLOODBENDING UPGRADE. The first time I watched S1 I noted that airbending could be a pretty scary one to have because what if you bend the air in people's lungs and my siblings laughed and told me that THEY HAVE PROBABLY THOUGHT OF THAT TOO.

Also, now I'm sure you've figured out which scene makes me bawl like a girl every time. "Hey, I'm sorry I was a little snot and called you names and betrayed you and got you sent to prison and I'm sure you'll never forgive--" "SHUT UP AND GIMME A HUG, YOU."

OH GOD AND THE WORLDBUILDING.

I believe all I could say for a while after finishing the series was something along the lines of ASDGAGASDFLADYES. So I know where you're coming from.

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

My response to all this is mostly OMG YES but I must single out the scene with Zuko and Iroh.

I was sniffling. In front of friends. I get a little sniffly just thinking of it again. OH IROH. OH ZUKO. *flails*

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I know, right? Talk about unconditional love. All he wants is a father figure to love him and it was there all along and ... *wibble*

Speaking of reconciliation, I'm curious about Toph's parents' reaction to the events of Sozin's Comet. That would be an interesting conversation to listen in on ...

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

*wibbles along with you*

(And, you know, it's a whole trope in the show that if Iroh gives you advice, TAKE IT. Failing to take his advice ALWAYS ENDS BADLY. Taking his advice ALWAYS WORKS. Seriously. I mean, look at the invasion of the Water city, when he tells the general not to attack during night, to press the attack during the day, and then finally, not to kill the moon spirit. Every time! He was right, every time!)

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Not to mention his advice to the nice prison guard that maybe she should take the rest of the day off. That turned out to be very good advice.

It's interesting that a character whose major moments of growth and wisdom are behind him could still be so enthralling, too. But then, you kind of get his story in reverse when you get the flashbacks, which is still pretty cool.

[deird1]

It really is a great show.


I'm enjoying it so much - but unfortunately, Australia still hasn't released seasons 2 and 3 on dvd, so I'm way behind.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Curses! The awesome only increases from where you are. I mean, the first season is terrific, but it suffers greatly from lack of Toph. You will love Toph. She can kick your ass six ways from Sunday.