The Last Airbender Trailer #3

Click here for third trailer.

Click here for my reaction.

Ahem. With that out of the way...

The trailers have been increasing in quality, intensity and downright awesomeness. With this becoming a pattern, I can only hope that the trailers are just stepping stones to a movie of spectacular proportions. Let's go over a few things.

The bending. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, OH. MY GOSH. The water bending is superb! The firebending is sick nasty (in a completely positive way, of course), air bending looks cooler than I could've ever imagined and--while it has not received much screen time--the earthbending looks great.

Princess Yue. She's absolutely gorgeous! The white hair looks awesome, her eyes look otherworldly and beautiful. Her costume is spot on (can I just say I love her little hair pieces? Because I do.)

Prince Zuko ANGST! It's unbelievably refreshing to see Dev Patel pull off the classic Zuko pout, and even spout off some quintessential Zuko-isms in the trailer. Zuko is someone I definitely love to hate and I think Dev Patel will surely capture the essence that is Zuko in the movie if he's exactly how he is in the trailers all the time.

Appa. You see Appa! Enough said. Oh, and the Komodo Rhinos (which are definitely more "komodo" and a lot less "rhino") are looking pretty fierce as well.

Those are just a few of the highlights of what I liked in general. Now let's go through a list of all the moments that I totally freaked out during.

0:10 - Appa, F-T-W!

0:16 - I'm not certain, but that looks like Pakku waterbending. Sweet!

0:24 - WHY HELLO FIRE LORD OZAI. Great costume design. (:

0:47 - Princess Yue looking sexyfine.

0:48 - Again, that's probably Pakku standing off to the right.

0:56 - Nothing says Avatar like a talking Spirit Dragon.

1:00-1:06 - Great fight sequence with the Blue Spirit.

1:10-1:15 - COOLEST BENDING MOVE EVERRRR.

1:23 - Watch closely--is that a homage to the air scooter?

1:28 - OMG WTF BBQ? I don't want to spoil anything, but that's just downright awesome.

"There are reasons each of us are born. We have to find those reasons."

Things are looking up! My faith in M. Night from the beginning is finally starting to pay off. I'm trying to to have too much naive optimism here, but frankly, if the movie is anything like the trailers, I think we'll be in for quite the treat.

My only complaints: Suki? WHERE ART THOU, SUKI? I heard a rumor she would have a stronger prescense in this trailer. I suppose not. I also heard that we'd see a shot or two of Momo. Again, did not happen. But at least there was another glimpse of Appa (who's design is pretty much identical to the show's).

Other than that...woohoo! Yeah! Tell your friends and family! Go see it so it can make enough money for Paramount to green light the sequel and have fun!

The Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Jackson Rathbone as Sokka (and why you should too.)

This list is kind of silly. But I'm starting to think Jackson Rathbone is my favorite casting choice so far. Which is weird, because

at first I hated the idea of him playing Sokka, my most beloved character. But true to form, the "meat and sarcasm" guy will

always reign supreme in my heart...

- - -

The Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Jackson Rathbone as Sokka (and why you should too.)

10. He is a southern gentleman. (Born in Singapore, but raised in Texas.)

9. He plays Jasper Hale in the Twilight Saga. He has plenty of experience in film, TV and theatre.

8. His fan base is considerably large and will support the movie. (High ticket sales = good public response = green light for the second movie.)

7. His band, 100 Monkeys, is super rad.

6. By nature, he is a goofball.

5. He’s sexyfine. (it must be the shampoo...)

4. He looks good in fur.

3. This interview. ("I have the power of sharp wit!")

2. Also: this interview.

1. The warrior wolf-tail works for him. (He's also figured out a way to make the wolf-tail versatile.)

"I LOVE that episode!" - 02 - 1:04

"I LOVE that episode!" - Feature 02 - Episode 1:04, "The Warriors of Kyoshi."

"Girls are better at fixing pants than guys, and guys are better at

hunting and fighting and stuff like that. It's just the natural order of things."

-- Sokka, episode 1:04 "The Warriors of Kyoshi"

This episode does a lot to set up the structure for the entire series. As you can see, this is the fourth episode of the first season--a time where Avatar: The Last Airbender was still gaining momentum as a contender as one of Nickelodeon's top cartoons. This episode, though it seems like a filler episode, actually sets up a dynamic for the audience that will follow them until the end of the third season.

What dynamic am I referring to? It's the dynamic of women in Avatar: The Last Airbender. There's only two episodes in the entire series that carry that "OMG YAH GIRL POWAH!" vibe, and this is one of them. Despite it's over-the-top "Girls can kick butt too!" theme, "The Warriors of Kyoshi" not only establishes the female presence among the battlefield, but establishes the more feminine side of the female characters as well. While Sokka is off making a fool of himself with Suki, one of the most notable female characters in the show, Aang is galavanting around trying to impress the local village girls and, specifically, Katara.

Suki and Katara's respective roles in this episode set up a standard that the viewer can come to rely on. Suki plays the role of the powerful warrior who is as tough (if not tougher) than any male warrior around (in this case, Sokka). Katara, in contrast, is portraying the woman in a more traditional sense: the love interest that is being courted by a foolish boy. The women of Avatar: The Last Airbender are both strong and in touch with what makes them ladies. Suki and Katara set up a mold in this episode that will later be reaffirmed by the likes of Toph, Princess Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. Minor female characters ring true to this mold as well (i.e. Jun, Kya, Ursa, Aunt Wu, Princess Yue, Avatar Kyoshi, etc.)

"I am a warrior...but I'm a girl too."

-- Suki, episode 1:04 "The Warriors of Kyoshi"

I have to admit, I didn't think much of Suki the first time I saw her. It was only when they brought her back in episode 2:12, "The Serpent's Pass" did I realize that I enjoyed her as a character. Although my heart mourned for the bittersweet romance of Sokka and Princess Yue, I couldn't help but feel that Suki was always the better match for Sokka. She's patient, strong, and a fellow kick ass non-bender.

Episode 1:04 marks her debut to the show and it couldn't have given her a better introduction. Her fierce feminist attitude parried sharply against Sokka's "make me a sandwich, woman" sexist views. Suki simultaneously laid the groundwork for her future character development while also helping Sokka mature.

Although Suki's screen time is sparse throughout the series, she still maintains a strong influence amongst the GAang, thus her appearance towards the end of it all didn't seem strange or forced to me. It was like Suki was supposed to be there the whole time, but she was just busy doing other stuff. I'll admit, I can see why people feel that Suki was just an afterthought as a love interest for Sokka, but I really think that she had a bigger role in the mind of the creators. But, like many other things in the shoes, some things simply fall between the cracks when you have such strict time and content constraints.

At any rate, I think Suki's a great character. She's actually one of my favorites. It took her a while to get there, but she can easily be included in the top five favorite characters (which is a hard list for me to make, trust me).

"You kids had a big impact on Suki. She said you inspired her

and she wanted to help change the world."

-- Oyagi, episode 2:04 "Avatar Day"

In conclusion, "The Warriors of Kyoshi" offers first time viewers a clear view of what you can anticipate from the female characters in the show. As I mentioned earlier, this and only one other episode have overtly girl power themes. The beauty of the female presence in this show lies in the fact that they don't really need girl power oriented episodes. The ladies of Avatar: The Last Airbender do just fine making themselves look awesome. It's one of the few cartoons where there isn't just the token girl character and that's all. Women play an important role and equality amongst the genders is something that rests that the core of the show's writing.

It may seem like I'm pulling a lot of this out of thin air and making it deep thinking, but for those of you who have seen the show (namely, this episode) consider how it portrays women. True, this is one of the more childish episodes (most of early season one are) but the true intent is still there. Dig deep for it. Or I might have to come after you with a pair of fans.

"The Warriors of Kyoshi" provides some fantastic character development for Sokka, Katara and Aang, and also introduces Suki as a key contender in the series. It also offers a look at the female dynamic in the show, while concurrently focusing on the two primary roles of female characters (the fighter, the love interest) in the show. The episode has fluid transitions between story lines, and ties it all up in a neat little bow at the end.

And those are the reasons why I LOVE that episode!

IMPORTANT THE LAST AIRBENDER T-SHIRT INFORMATION!

* * * IMPORTANT! MUST READ! * * *

Here’s the skinny:

I’ve invested in a do-it-yourself screen printing to machine to make these t-shirts. The machine burns the image onto a screen and creates a stencil outline of the image. Ink is then dragged across the surface of the screen while it’s placed on top of the shirt. Thus, the image is transfered and you’ve got yourself a screen printed t-shirt.

The screen is reusable, you simply need to wash the stencil off and burn another one on. Since I am offering four designs to choose from, I can only have one design burned onto the screen at a time. Which means I can only create shirts for one of the designs at a time. I’ve thought about investing in three more screens so each graphic could have their own, but the screens are about $35...which means the cost of the shirt would go up. And that ain’t good. So I’ve opted to make them one style at a time and just nag at everyone until they tell me what shirt they want.

In short: ORDER THE SHIRT YOU WANT NOW. I’ll only be making each design for about three weeks before I clean the screen and burn the next image on to make the next round of t-shirts. I’ll make a few extras for each style, but there is no gurantee that there will be one in your size.

As of right now, the AIR NOMAD image is the one burnt onto the screen. It will be available until APRIL 21ST. Again, if you want the AIR NOMAD t-shirt SUBMIT YOUR ORDER BEFORE APRIL 21ST.

Any important information about the t-shirts will be posted on this blog or on the Facebook page. Thank you all for your interest and support in this project.