There’s a mystical and beautiful balance in the story of Avatar: The Last Airbender and that comes from the brilliant minds at Nickelodeon Studios. Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko went all in, so let’s go in with them! Prepare the trivia!
1. Firebenders are the only benders that can create their own element and that makes them so terrifying. Airbenders need air and Waterbenders need to carry their water with them to utilize their bending powers. This concept was written because they didn’t want it to seem too easy for all Benders to defeat their problems by using their powers. Smart.
2. An episode about Iroh’s past was plotted out and written, but there was a concern that it wouldn’t have enough of the main characters and people may prefer that in graphic novel form rather than the show. There, they can expand upon stories without taking away from their 22 minute plot formats.
3. The comic books sometimes incorrectly spell Katara’s name as ‘Takara’ and it frustrated fans so intensely that they talked about re-releasing them with the correct spelling.
(Nickelodeon)
4. While it’s not really spoken about, time-period wise, it’s thought that the late 1800s even though it appears they pick things from past centuries to flesh out their world and timelines.
5. Due to restrictions on Nickelodeon, Jet actually didn’t have a scene where his death was confirmed. This was something they tried to hint about but not be overt so as not to upset young viewers, but still stick true to their story.
6. Eric Coleman at Nickelodeon took the initial look for the series and told the creators that he’d appreciate if they moved their story into a coming-of-age tale that would appeal to older kids but still seem bright and accessible to younger children. They naaaaailed it!
(Nickelodeon)
7. The episode ‘Appa’s Lost Days‘ was given accolades by the American Humane Society in the way of the Genesis Award for teaching children about being kind to animals and what captive animals have to go through when mistreated. It was a beautiful episode and I suggest it HIGHLY.
8. Be glad Appa is so careful because that big ol’ fella weighs in at two tons. Do you understand how intense that is!? How heavy is that? Think half of a hippo. Yup! Now you’re freaked out about hippos, right?
9. Waterbenders wax and wane along with their emotional state. They can go completely bonkers if they’re passionately emotional — but that’s at the risk of losing control of their powers. They’re told to work on their chi to stay nice and balanced in order to have perfect control over their Bending.
(Nickelodeon)
10. Avatar is actually a Sanskrit word. What does it mean? In Sanskrit, it means ‘those who descend‘ and how can you not feel that’s completely epic?
