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Mattierial — Avatar: Zuko Alone
Published: 2010-06-18 17:17:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 22236; Favourites: 845; Downloads: 0
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Avatar gets a lot of credit for a lot of things. Fluid fight scenes, great dialog, original idea. Amid all of this hype, the beautiful storytelling of the creators seems to get forgotten.Yes, the art is wonderful, But its not the best I've seen. Yes, It has fantastic comedy, but other shows have that too. Yes, it's original, but originality is common these days. But what this show has, that no other Television show I've seen has, is a real and defined story.
Look at shows like Naruto, Bleach; even live action shows like MASH and more recently House. The motivation to watch these shows is often on an episode basis, the formulaic Problem/solution one hour deal (and yes Avatar has this for each episode as well). But Avatar also has a long term motivation, a climax that each individual episode leads up to. An Epic Battle and more importantly, an end.
One could Argue that many shows have this long term motivation, Like Naruto and the main evil group fights, or Bleach and rescuing Rukia; and in a way it's true. But, once you have that Climax and Fall from action, another hurtle emerges, one more World ending fight with similar rising action (train, fight low-lings, etc; what I like to call the Dragon-Ball Z effect). In the real world, things like this just don't happen, and even if they did its just not plausible that one man or group could be at the center of defense against every Apocalyptic event. It's just not relatable and after a while, it gets boring.
Beyond just having an end, Avatar has one more fantastic story element, something that is often attempted but almost never done correctly (and the reason why this rant is here); a smooth Bad-guy to good-guy transition.
We all face tough choices, and we all regret our decisions. Zuko is the ultimate representation of this human quality, and I think that is the reason why Avatar fans love him so much; he's just like us.
Thanks for looking
-Matt
Avatar belongs to Mike, Bryan and Nick. Art belongs to me.
See More of my Avatar Fanart here: [link]
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Comments: 162
Ooh, I didn't hear about any of that! 
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I haven't heard that the "whole" original group would be dead, hmm... that'd be sad. Yeah, they say that Aang died young because the 100 years frozen in ice took a tole on his life span. But, that he would have a role in Korra's life much like Roku had a role in his
The voice actor for Zuko said that he was called in to voice a character on Korra. He didn't say which, just that "it would be a surprise," but the popular theory is that it's Zuko. To me, it could mean one of four things 1). Zuko is still alive, 2). Zuko will be seen in a flashback, 3). He will be voicing the son of Zuko, or 4). It's a brand new character that they thought his voice would be good for. 
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WEll, I wasn't sure about the whole cast, but I'm sure most of them would be. That's kind of weird I mean, he should've been able to continue a normal life span even if he was frozen in the ice since his body wouldn't mature. But, oh well...
Ooh, that would be awesome!
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Before I watched Avatar I had placed Ken Ichijonji as the greatest anti-hero, because he had all the qualities of such, a confused bad guy turning good through pain...
After seeing Zuko, I changed my mind.He is the ultimate representation of change, of regret, of the one who wants to change his destiny that has been placed upon him by others, a.k.a the perfectcharacter
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I agree
Sorry... but, who is Ken Ichijonji?
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ahh...in Digimon Adventure 02 he is the main villain for the first 21 episodes. Dark blue haired guy. Digimon Emperor or Kaizer.
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it's a really beautiful scene .. so peaceful but at the same time it's filled with doubt
Luv it
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I love MASH!
Thanks! You're awesome too
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I just finished the show for the first time recently, and OMG, I gotta say it was pretty awesome! I love Father Mulcahy, haha and Frank! He was hilarious.
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Wow this is beautiful, nice work
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So right ^^.
I do wish that the kid that Zuko saved in this episode was a little more respectful, though. I understand, Zuko's from the Fire Nation, but... does that really matter? Kid, he just saved your life. At least say thank you.
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Prejudice is something that is hard to overcome, that's why the war has lasted 100 years. Zuko needs to see that the fear and hatred that has grown out of this strife is unnatural and that it needs to be fixed.
Probably this EXACT moment is what influences Zuko to tell his father that the conquered people are not seeing the greatness of the Fire Nation, they just fear them... that this era of war needs to be replaced by an era of peace (I'm just paraphrasing here... I don't remember exactly what he says).
So you see, some good came out of this encounter, even if -at the time- it seemed like such a let down.
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I see your judgement there ^^.
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I am loving this incredibly. Ur comments are so true too!
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wow, very well said! I couldn't say it any better!
and the art is awesome!
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You know what? I think you're right
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I just love that episode. Thaks for drawing something about it
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EPIC.this is my favorite episode.Because Azula always lies lmao
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Love your rant and the pic
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i read that entire thing. truer words were never spoken. great art too. LONG LIVE ZUKOOOO. lol
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hey u can see my appartment from here XD
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