Korra:  The Airbending Drop-Out

Avatar:  Glory and Shame

Personally, I think Mike and Bryan get too much credit for what was really a team effort.  A good team balances out each other's weaknesses.  While making Avatar, Mike and Bryan were balanced out by other great writers.  However, Korra was mostly made by Mike and Bryan, so any personal biases they might have don't get edited out.  

Taking all the glory also means taking all the shame. 

Sokka and Katara:  Stick Figure Style

Just finished version 3.0 of my Avatar Sub-Element chart. It's come a long way since version 1.

Sadly, I’ve actually had a conversation like this.  

I think people forget how important “family friendly” entertainment is.  It’s something everyone can cherish and enjoy, not just people who have a desire for violence.  

Romantic Moments vs Romantic Intent: A Shipping problem

If you are a fan of animation/ anime, then you are probably familiar with the term “Shipping” or “Relation-shipping”.  This is basically when you think two characters should be a couple and you “ship” them.   As an Avatar: the Last Airbender fan, I am well aware of ships such as Zutara or Kataang.  However, it’s very common for shippers to ignore “Romantic Intent”.  Romantic Intent is when the characters are romantically interested in each other; this can be one sided or mutual.  Romantic moments might lead to romantic intent, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive.  

Being in a romantic situation (taking someone to dinner, hanging out with them, or giving them gifts) does not mean their intentions are romantic.  They could just be a really good friend, or they might be a relative.  For example, my sister and I did a lot of things together in High School, so many people assumed that we were dating.  

Why I bring this up is because many shippers ship characters purely because “they look cute together”, or “they have so much in common”, or “I would love to see these two become a couple.”  However, in their zeal shippers often forget that these characters might have their own desire and aspirations.  These aren’t dolls to make do what ever you like.   

Second, there’s often a huge amount of entitlement that comes with shipping, which I think is kinda funny.  Whether Jill ends up with Bobby or Max, isn’t your decision to make.  Stories are fun, and speculation is fun, but we the readers are really only outsiders looking into someone else’s story.  

And even though these are just fictional characters, we can’t force someone to fall in love with someone else.  

I’ve long wanted to make a fusion of the three legendary beasts (Raikou, Entei, & Suicune) which I refer to as “the fourth beast”.  He is heavily inspired by the mythical “Pixiu” from China.  The Pixiu is a god of wealth, which goes nicely with Pokemon “Gold” and “Silver”.  

As you can see I used elements from each of the three beast:

Raikou:  I kept much of Raikou’s face along with his stripes.  

Entei:  I kept Entei’s cheeks and repurposed with back spikes into the wings of a Pixiu.  

Suicune:  I repurposed Suicune’s horns to resemble that of an Chinese dragon.  Suicune’s spots combine with Raikou’s stripes to form rosettes.  And lastly, Suicune’s ribbon tail gets turned into long Chinese dragon whiskers.  (Which isn’t shown here)

(Ironically, every time I look at the drawing on the far right, I think of a water dragon.)

“The fourth beast” represents the steam from the Burned tower as the fire went out.  Thus his typing is Fire/Water.  On his back is a cumulus cloud for fair weather, but it can easily grow into a cumulonimbus.  

The Science of the Elements

In the episode "Bitter Work" of “Avatar: the Last Airbender” Uncle Iroh teaches Zuko about the four elements and their individual aspects. Fire is the Element of Power. Earth is the Element of Substance. Air is the Element of Freedom. And Water is the Element of Change. These aspects of the four elements are more spiritual in nature, but could they also be scientific?  So what is Power, Substance, Change and Freedom on a scientific level? Fire Fire is the Element of energy.  Fire Benders use the energy of the sun and their own chi to produce Fire Bending.  Both Lighting and Fire are forms of energy. Earth Earth is the Element of Mass/Matter.  Earth is the element of substance, and the basis of all substance is mass. Air Air is the Element of Motion.  Wind is movement of air from high pressure to a low pressure.  Wind is discerned by it's movement. Water Water is the Element of Physical and Chemical change.  Water changes form very easily, and is used for innumerable chemical changes.

Updated Element chart with explanations and a new watermark.