/hobby/ - Hobby

>>39885
>Not necessarily, the main fault of Live Action adaptations is the fact that the people creating them either have limited budgets, poor vision or poor direction or any combination of that, causing them to fail.
I think a really big problem is not having a good understanding of both mediums and deliberately making changes to play to the strengths of the one you're adapting to. Also there's a tendency to not create something that can stand on its own. If you write from scratch it's easier to keep track of what information you have to convey to an audience. If you're working from something that already exists then you have to keep in your head everything that the original conveys and figure out what part of that you need to preserve in the adaptation. An audience coming in blind should still get at the very least a complete story. Too many of these live action adaptations don't have that and basically function as supplemental material to the original.

>>39875
It's less the peeping itself and more that he catches her doing it and she just keeps standing there ogling him mouth agape for like 15 seconds. And then later in the episode she states outright that she thinks he's hot because he's foreign.

>>39877
>It's not like we have a large number of willing Inuit actors jumping at the chance to play a character in a show they probably have never heard of.
Eh that's not true. There's plenty of people out there who are looking for acting work. The issue is that there's kind of a vicious cycle where people who don't fit the "traditional" expectations are less likely to get work, which means they are less likely to get experience and be considered less suitable.

The real issue for this particular show is that it's looking for a fairly large overall cast where:
(1) most actors need to be able to do martial arts AND acting, and key characters need to be good at martial arts acting (different and more difficult than either one separately)
(2) about half of them are children with the necessary skills (or who can learn)
(3) they at least approximate an ethnicity which is a minority in the countries where the show is produced
Any one of these 3 factors narrows down the pool. All 3 at once makes it even smaller. That said, it's entirely possible to do if you actually invest in the casting process. The actors aren't even the problem (except maybe Katara), it's that they got bad direction. You can tell they're not sure what they're supposed to be feeling in many/most scenes. They also seem to be relying too much on having the kids mimic a performance they're given by an adult instead of figuring out for themselves how to do the scene.

>>39877
>This is a fictional fucking world INSPIRED by Asian cultures but not purely beholden to them.
This is an argument of dubious weight since the Asian influences are pretty heavy, including names and languages. Neither do they look light-skinned either.

>>8953
>>2888
>>4019
Unfortunately, most of the political nuance died down after episode 3, where afterwards Kuvira devolves into a generic villain and her decisions aren't just evil but also become stupid. This just to further emphasizes the shows only consistent political thesis, that liberal market capitalist democracy is literally the only good political system
https://files.catbox.moe/33thj1.mp4
https://files.catbox.moe/csrbbn.mp4
https://files.catbox.moe/gay5ws.mp4
https://files.catbox.moe/755qaq.mp4
https://files.catbox.moe/i9shn8.mp4
https://files.catbox.moe/69ps4g.mp4
https://files.catbox.moe/2vb3ob.mp4

>>39893
>>39894
Never reached her season but seems based

watching the 5th episode has been rough. been sitting 3 days through it.

why kid katara has showed more emotion than the main actress

>>40014
Allegedly Katara's actor was cast for being some up and comer with prior credits (and an award).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiawentiio
She also had an EP so maybe they were hoping to have her do music for the show?

Just an opinion, but would using science to extract bending from people be too sci-fi for a fantasy adaptation of early 20th century Americana? I heard the showrunners originally wanted Asami to be a villain, and i sort of love the idea of her being a sort of Lex Luthor to Avatar Korra's superman; Asami having delusions of grandeur and using Korra and the equalists to develop a sort of bending formula in order to monopolize bending for profit. I had brainstormed a rewrite for s1 and 2 with these ideas in mind. If anyone's interested i could post it.

>>40029
Building on your superhero analogy it would fit the setting better to try to invent a bending super serum a la Captain America. Maybe you make this by harvesting spirits, which adds the environmentalist/spiritualism layer. It also leads into the season 2 plot with the spirits wilding out and gives Unalaq something organic to react to instead of some 10000 year prophecy asspull.

>>40036
>Maybe you make this by harvesting spirits
That's exactly what i was thinking lol. The initial trials on low level gangsters captured by the Equalists prove fatal for both the extractee and the recipient. When the equalists capture and extract Korra's energy and test it, not only does she survive, but the resulting serum works. Not knowing the reason but understanding the avatar possesses spiritual energy unlike typical benders, they begin capturing spirits from the material plane. The resulting experiments lead to a perfected "bending formula".

>>40029
The idea I had for the next Avatar series involved the Republic government using spirits as an energy source to usher in a cyberpunk future.

>>40040
Season 3 doesn't have the Red Lotus at all. Instead it's some renegade Air Acolytes capturing spirits to restore their airbending and perverting the Air Nomad values of harmony with the spirits. Korra and Tenzin have to stop them but also deal with how the ideology has been warped and potentially try to search for another option for restoring bending. Work in Toph in the Banyon Grove by having the bending capability come from some spiritual energy that you can connect to there or in the spirit world (this is what was being harvested from the spirits).

>>40042
I was actually having a hard time even trying to incorporate the show's version of the red lotus into my hypothetical s3. Probably would be a better idea to just omit them entirely. I'll post my rewrite when i get home.

>>40044
They don't fit with the larger story at all, at least as they were originally written. If you want them to relate to the actual story that's already unfolding, then have them split off the White Lotus during the present, trying to RETVRN to the roots of the organization as a secret society. Maybe they think Korra is fumbling her job and they need to take matters into their own hands. Maybe they just don't like the White Lotus being too big and public.

Maybe they are still political radicals who came to the conclusion from their scholarship that some kind of revolution is needed and have a conflict with the avatar for the same basic reason of revolution vs harmony. That's still a fine concept, it was just executed poorly. Even the bit about ending the Avatar cycle could be done well.

>>40044 (me)
Ok here's my sort of write-up/brainstorm of a Korra s1/2 with the bending serum premise.

For starters, I would go all in with bending ability and genetics being tied to nature and spirituality. With the industrial revolution, bending became rarer, and those born with it became weaker than those born in the past as mankind's relationship with nature became more and more extractive. This being a problem society is well aware of, Hiroshi Sato, still being an equalist in secret, is working with them to create a method of "extracting" and redistributing bending among the populace with a set of devices of Asami's design (driving home the Luthor parallel of her both being super-smart and having delusions of grandeur, as well as the communist influences of the equalists wanting equity for all), rather than simply super-chi blocking it out of existence (that technique never made sense to me tbh). The initial trials fail, as while they do successfully find a means to extract it, the raw bending energy would cause horrible disfigurement/death in those that use it, as well as kill the bender (usually bending gangsters kidnapped for experimentation) it was extracted from. Amon and his followers steal the tech and defect anyway, modifying it and using it much like in canon to harmlessly take away bending, with plans to destroy bending altogether, as they truly believe the world would be better off without it. When Asami befriends Mako after learning of the Avatar being the Fire Ferret's replacement team member, this is eventually revealed much later on to be part of her larger plan to extract the Avatar's bending energy and study/test it to see the difference between raw bending energy and the Avatar's obviously unique bending energy. When Amon eventually accomplishes this, Asami has the serum stolen and tested in secret, finding that it in fact works. This will ultimately lead up to the reveal of the Avatar spirit being a fusion of one of the most powerful spirits and a human long ago. The spirit plot of season 2 would begin with Future Industries capturing and experimenting on spirits in the material plane, as Asami understands that the Avatar possesses spiritual energy not found in typical benders, leading to a plethora of spirit attacks on humans. Korra, traveling with Team Avatar and Tenzin to re-learn all the elements from the various natural teachers (i totally stole this idea haha), also begins encountering these spirit attacks. Upon her arrival to the South Pole, Korra would eventually learn from Unalaq that the spirits are angry at humanity for their actions in perverting the balance of the world. He eventually tells Korra the true origin of the Avatar instead of it being a flahsback out of nowhere, himself learning it from Wan Shi Tong's library. Unalaq's ultimate goal in S2 will be to extract the Yin spirit Raava from Korra and reunite it with the Yang spirit Vaatu, rather than fusing with Vaatu himself. In Unalaq's view, the world was permanently thrown out of balance when these two separated, with him colonizing the South partly being to accomplish this goal by controlling both spirit portals, as well as his internal prejudice against them for neglecting the spiritual world(idk much about this plot I've only watched s2 like twice, feel free to add to this/critique it). The reason for this separation, via records kept within Wan Shi Tong's Library, being that Vaatu viewed the lion turtles' actions to be a great betrayal. In Vaatu's mind, humanity could not be trusted with bending as he viewed them as lesser than spirit-kind in every way, via the actions of some of the first Fire and Earthbenders waging war with spirits and eachother, while Raava favored humanity for their ingenuity and harmony, as displayed with the first Air and Waterbenders working with and thriving amongst the spirits and nature. This schism would ultimately lead to the separation of these two great spirits and plunge the world into the first great war, with Vaatu rallying an army of spirits to his cause and Raava, being powerful enough, gathers up the 4 elements and fuses herself with a progidy firebender (Wan) to galvanize the population of human benders to fight back. Humanity ultimately wins out, and the Avatar, with help of the excess of spiritual energy via Harmonic Convergence, seals the spirit portals, effectively banishing Vaatu and the majority of spirits to the spirit half of the world, forever separating the two, with the Avatar, in a compromise, vowing to be the bridge between these two worlds. Vaatu accepting this, would vow to return during the next Harmonic Convergence and eradicate humanity if the Avatar failed in their role. After Unalaq sacrifices himself to pacify Vaatu, Korra would ultimately convince Vaatu that the only way to accomplish harmony would be to reunite Raava and Vaatu within herself and end the separation of the two worlds, to which Vaatu agrees, revealing him to having missed Raava and learning from various spirits 10,000 years worth of deeds and actions Vaatu thought impossible of humanity. This reunification via Harmonic Convergence could be what brings back the Air Benders, rather than Harmonic Convergence itself. Meanwhile, Asami, with the help of the newly acquired Varrick Global Industries, begins to take advantage of both the influx of new airbenders, as well as free access to the spirit world, to begin plans to mass produce more potent bending serums for use for the elites of society by capturing and experimenting on even more spirits, setting up an audience with the Earth Queen on the sale of these serums for military use.

Adding on to this I actually don't mind the idea of bending coming from lion turtles, themselves being physical embodiments of the elements they represent. There's no reason they couldn't have found a way to bend the energy these elements came from with various animals (badgermoles, skybison, etc) being the original recipients of these gifts. I like the idea of early humans taking sanctuary atop lion turtles and climbing down from them as their intelligence was allowed to develop without threat from natural predators, with the lion turtles imparting bending upon them as a sort of gift for their symbiosis. But yeah, I honestly like the idea of bending as an allegory for wealth and wished they leaned more into that premise as others have pointed out.

It would be cool for some Air Nomads to survive the genocide, since they were spread all over the world. Aang didn't have time to find them in canon but by the end I think it would be fitting for him to meet remnants that could have important part in alternate season 4/Korra.

>>40152
>It would be cool for some Air Nomads to survive the genocide,
Realistically that definitely happened. There's a fan theory about it too. Even after Aang got older it would make sense for any survivors to stay hidden or to have forgotten their ancestry.

Luumaa's Avatar map with some changes to canon. The comments on the post discuss the obvious language differences between nations, and within them there would be many dialects.

The Gaang would have to rely much more on locals helping them if the language barrier is rough. For wolrdbuilding this could expand the opposition inside Fire Nation that would shelter the Avatar and explore more insurrectionary groups like Jet's.

I imagine the Ba Sing Se Earth dialect would've been the standart lingua franca alongside Fire Nation's capital dialect. Due to proximity between the Southern Air Temple and the South Water People I think Aang could've guessed what Katara and Sokka were saying but it would be like an Spanish speaker trying to understand French.

Could we try building a language map for ATLA?

https://www.deviantart.com/luumaa/art/Avatar-World-Map-WIP-918836747

>>>40185 (me)
Ba Sing Se dialect being an Earth Nation language variant, likewise for the Fire Nation.

>>40185
Now that I think about it learning the most widespread languages would be an obligation for the Avatar, so Aang could've easily understood Katara and Sokka, Zuko and Suki. Although his speech would be archaic.

>>40185
For scripts I think an ideographical system would surge in the Earth Kingdom and spread everywhere else, with simplifications and stylisations akin to hiragana and katakana being done in the Water Tribes and plenty surging everywhere in Earth Kingdom political centers that are distant from Ba Sing Se's rule.

The Fire Nation could have adopted a hangul-like script in its industrialization phase to distinguise itself from the Earth Kingdom, whom they begin to regard as inferior.

Presuming the Fire Nation language being similar to Japanese I can try to make a hangul-esque script for it, just substituting kana for made-up hangul. It would be a little more compact since it's mostly syllables.

>>>40185
Although Water tribes are native inspired I think they would differ in language from the Air Nomads, but there would be a lot of common words due to proximity.

>>>40190 (me)

If the Water Tribes developed a writing system it could be inspired by Rongorongo but whackier due to hybrid animals.

>>40185
Aang canonically traveled through a lot of the world so we can probably assume he's a borderline polyglot. Sokka and Katara would only speak the language of the Water Tribe (with probably diverged somewhat into Northern and Southern dialects during the war). Maybe they also knew some of the Fire Nation's colonial language. Which could also be a sort of lingua franca spoken by most of the characters encountered in the story.

The only groups that would pose much of a challenge for the group to communicate with would be the pretty isolated ones, like the foggy swamp people and the sand benders.

The writing in the show uses mostly Traditional Chinese characters. They had a guy on staff who was in charge of checking the art so it was accurate to the language.
https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Writing_in_the_World_of_Avatar
<The written Chinese content in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra was provided by cultural consultant Dr. Siu-Leung Lee. He handled all of the translation and calligraphy for both shows, including the calligraphy for the logo of the former. His vast knowledge of various styles of calligraphy throughout China's history added a culturally grounding component to the show. While most of the Chinese used was classical Chinese, Lee used his deep knowledge of archaic Chinese for ancient texts about spirits or elements.

>>40186
>>40190
>>40192
You need to learn how to link your posts properly, m8, three ">" symbols will kill the linking. >>40185
A map would be feasible but language is not, at least not one close to canon, because we never properly see the symbols, writing or meaning of said writing never mind I forgot about what >>40214 mentions

>>40152
Well if Aang found Lemurs and Sky Bison (as stated in Legend of Korra), so why not hidden air-benders?

>>40154
While this is a possible theory, the Air Nomads are also sort of like the Jedi, wherein peak monk status is when you completely drop all attachment with the world as Guru Pathik says on opening the final Chakra and as Aang confirms when he talks with Yangchen about finding a solution with Ozai. Meaning romantic and lustful attachments would probably be discouraged, and outside relations would be frowned upon too. Considering how isolated the temple's are, it suggests an insular society. Thus it is unlikely there are many carriers of Air-bender bloodlines left. However I can't discount air-bender descendants unaware of their ability.

While Ty-Lee does have a similar fighting style in terms of how defensive, acrobatic and mobile it is, the styles are different. Aang's is based on Baguazhang which has a relation to the Bagua / 8 Trigrams, something that the Avatar's idea of balance ties to heavily.
Ty-Lee uses Crane Fist which strikes vulnerable points on the body like a crane's beak and dodges retaliation. Her jumps being absurdly high could be explained by her super-human flexibility and low-end cartoon physics, but Sokka gets pretty good by the end of the show and never does similar, so I'll give that. Her physique is certainly similar to Aang's too.

Linking Ty-Lee's pressure-point targeting and Aang's relation to the Bagua and his culture's method of unlocking Chakras could be the grounds for Energy Bending as I and another anon discussed earlier ITT >>39713 (You) and >>27724
Actually this combination of Aang and Ty-Lee's styles reminds me of the Hyuga Jyukenpo / Gentle Fist to be honest, especially as it is based on the Japanese version of Baguazhang, Hakkeshō combining it with the pressure-point attack method.

>>40219
>While Ty-Lee does have a similar fighting style in terms of how defensive, acrobatic and mobile it is, the styles are different.
That doesn't say anything about her ancestry. Her fighting style doesn't have to have anything to do with airbending for that. The sort of similar acrobatics could still support some airbending though, in the same way that you have non-standard benders using different variations on the martial arts, like Toph or the elemental sub-types.

Air is the easiest element to bend without noticing, and any Air Nomad refugees trying to blend in could specifically look for fighting styles that would favor their tendencies. The chi blocking is certainly more aggressive than airbending, but it's ultimately focused on disarming the opponent instead of doing damage, which definitely seems in line with Air Nomad ideals. I'm partial to the idea of unaware descendants unconsciously doing a little bending after being taught techniques that would allow them to do that.

Another detail that was left out of the theory is that Ty Lee is one of 7 identical sisters, which is almost superhuman. The most documented identical children to be born and live to adulthood is five. If she had Air Nomad ancestors who survived the genocide, maybe somebody used some secret spiritual practice to improve fertility to help repopulate the line lol.

>>40221
>That doesn't say anything about her ancestry
I know, that's my point. Her having a fighting style using similar methods as airbending martial arts isn't proof of heritage.
>Another detail that was left out of the theory is that Ty Lee is one of 7 identical sisters, which is almost superhuman. The most documented identical children to be born and live to adulthood is five. If she had Air Nomad ancestors who survived the genocide, maybe somebody used some secret spiritual practice to improve fertility to help repopulate the line lol.
Spiritual repopulation juju… now that sounds like an interesting plot for a prequel series during the 100 year war after the airbenders were wiped out.

Aaron Ehasz said on twitter: "Truthfully, there was a moment in time when we all thought we would do a 4th season of #AvatartheLastAirbender. Then along came M. Night…" https://nitter.poast.org/aaronehasz/status/1113086464512802816?lang=en . He said that in the context of being asked whether a redemption arc was planned for Azula (there was according to him). I find it kinda surprising that there was a fourth season planned but that it was a fourth on top of the third season we did get, rather then a season in between the second and third seasons as we got them. So the poor foreshadowing of spirit bending and the resolution of the 100 years war (within the show) by just removing the fire bending of the Ozaiwere always the plan apparently, which is kinda disappointing tbh. Or maybe I'm being to harsh on a kids show. There are some interpretations of the ending that at least make sense of the ending thematically, namely Big Joel's.

>>40253 (me)
I did like the Azula/Ursa/Zuko plot of the comics. My only problem with the comics is that in them Korra is canon. Thankfully Korras spirit world and avatar origins lore doesn't have much bearing on those story lines.

>>40253
Well book 3 does have a sequel hook with Zuko wanting to find out about his mom. It would help round out the story and act as a proper denouement, but that's not really the style in modern storytelling.

Live action renewed for seasons 2 AND 3, in an unusual move for Netflix.

Toph inspired me, to go 1 week barefoot everywhere. Yes, even to school. This was one of the weirdest experiences in my life. Unfortunately, our citys are too dirty for barfoot, so I stopped after one week.

>>40279
You should try using barefoot shoes. Even crocs will make your feet better.

>>40279
>>40289
Do consider that modern pavement isn't really great for your feet and legs. Modern shoes are terrible for a lot of reasons, but the padding does help cushion you from concrete and asphalt. You can go barefoot or minimalist shoes, but ease yourself into it. You need time to adjust and for your feet to toughen up.

>>40278
The slop never ends

>>40919
>LoK is based on 1920s Hong Kong
1) Nope, it's based on 1920s New York, down to the green-tinted Statue of Libert-*cough* I mean Statue of Aang, and the "melting pot of civilization" idea behind Republic City. FFS pic rel is LITERALLY ripped from Central Park NYC.
2) Even if it WAS based on 1920s Hong Kong, it still doesn't make it any better world-building, which wouldn't be as much of an issue if it wasn't for how carefully the material development of the original series' civilizations was explored.
>When you think of a 20th Century Asian do you literally think of a fucking Fu Man Chu caricature
Concern trolling projection, nowhere did I even imply this
>We only know one style of industrial architecture
LOL, LMAO even. Seriously read a book on Urban Planning in different Industrial Countries; China, the USSR, the USA and India for example all had/have different developments of industrial-era architecture. Moreover, considering that - unlike in Colonial Asia - The nations of the Avatar world did not have Anglo-Saxon/European influence, it would develop along different material lines even more so, and more thought could be put into it.
>it's very hard to envision an entirely different way to depict brick homes and metallic structures
Lame excuses. They literally demonstrated architecture and industrial progression taking into account the importance of bending (and how bending itself works) thus the city of Omashu, or the North Pole fortress or Ba-Sing-Se. Metal Bending alone would change the nature of construction (such as more curved architecture, due to less need for welding and riveting), yet we barely see this explored.
>part of their construction is constrained by physic
If we were going solely by physics, Bending would be completely impossible because of a variety of reasons ranging from the Law of Thermodynamics to the way air/gas spreads over distance. Half of the metal bending in the series we see would be impossible because the stresses put on metal being rapidly bent and moved like that would heat it up visibly.

>>40919
>LoK is based on 1920s Hong Kong lmao
lolwut
What about Republic City resembles 1920s Hong Kong? I fuckin wish they did that, it would have fit the setting much better.

>>40928
It's even got the Brooklyn Bridge lol.

>>40928
>>it's very hard to envision an entirely different way to depict brick homes and metallic structures
>Lame excuses. They literally demonstrated architecture and industrial progression taking into account the importance of bending (and how bending itself works) thus the city of Omashu, or the North Pole fortress or Ba-Sing-Se
lol they did this with metal bending, in Korra: Zaofu! which is incidentally not as blatantly western-influenced.

>>40931
>they did this with metal bending
<Zaofu
I didn't say they don't have it at all, I said it's barely explored, or done so in a way that ignores material progression. The way metal bending worked in ATLA was that Toph bent the earth remnants within the metals (impurities), which is why when she uses metal bending, it's rough and unfluid. The way we see metal bending in LoK doesn't fit. Zaofu is literally the ONLY example of this seen, while in Republic City or anywhere else this application is more or less non-existent until Kuvira starts actively rebuilding the Earth Kingdom, and again, much of it is squandered.

>>40930
Ignore them, based on post #40929 they're a /pol/fag LARPing as a concern-trolling radlib.

>>40941
>I didn't say they don't have it at all, I said it's barely explored
I know. I was just saying it was something they had thought about since Zaofu exists. It makes it worse, really. Republic City (bad name too) should have had a mix of features associated with the four nations. The only thing close to this is the fire benders providing electricity. It should have also had a combination of things: big walls like Ba Sing Se or ramps like Omashu and locks like the North Pole. You could have a scene of earthbenders and waterbenders working together to operate the docks to help ships in and out. Something like that.

>>40942
>it was something they had thought about since Zaofu exists. It makes it worse, really.
Yeah, you're right, it does make it worse.
>Republic City (bad name too)
Honestly I wonder if that was just a draft placeholder name from an early script that they forgot to change all the way up to production.
>The only thing close to this is the fire benders providing electricity.
And even then that doesn't quite work (even if I understand that they were trying to demonstrate industrial applications of bending) since lightning generation was a rare skill that requires internal balance and stability.
> It should have also had a combination of things: big walls like Ba Sing Se or ramps like Omashu and locks like the North Pole. You could have a scene of earthbenders and waterbenders working together to operate the docks to help ships in and out.
A sort of Panama/Suez Canal type operation.

Bryke should have just made a new steam-punk show instead of forcing in 1920s America into the Avatar world.

I wonder how come there's no oceanic water tribe. Surely water bending and the culture that developed around it would be the most suited to seafaring. So why aren't there any water tribe groups that are based more on Pacific island cutlures? The fire nation having steam powered ships makes sense as an explanation for why they would get overtaken and crushed, so they could be added to the pre-Sozin era. It would also tie into the north and south poles becoming separated.

>>40943
>And even then that doesn't quite work (even if I understand that they were trying to demonstrate industrial applications of bending) since lightning generation was a rare skill that requires internal balance and stability.
well it was but then Korra threw all that kind of stuff out the window

>A sort of Panama/Suez Canal type operation.
Yeah, and putting the city in a location like that would make more sense than a natural harbor that nobody ever thought to build a city in for the last 10000 years. If the combination of bending styles allowed them to build new infrastructure it would create new opportunities for urban development, and a canal city would represent an important place for trade and transit that would fit very well with what the city was supposed to be about.

>>40944
>why aren't there any water tribe groups that are based more on Pacific island cutlures?
Because Pacific Island Cultures are already a different cultural group, separate from Asia and more closely related to South American cultures, and Avatar's world was created around the specific basis of Asian cultures other than Japan. That being said, it would make sense for there to be a tropical Water-tribe that would be like the Polynesians or Maori.
>it was but then Korra threw all that kind of stuff out the window
Like a lot of things in the show tbh
>If the combination of bending styles allowed them to build new infrastructure it would create new opportunities for urban development, and a canal city would represent an important place for trade and transit that would fit very well with what the city was supposed to be about.
Exactly, it would essentially allow for a low-level sort of terraforming.

>>40945
>Avatar's world was created around the specific basis of Asian cultures other than Japan.
There are multiple cultural influences present that are from the Americas, most prominently the water tribe being based on the Inuit. There's also the ancient Sun Warriors being based on Mesoamerica. The northern water tribe has totem poles (Pacific Northwest). The cactus juice is also based on the peyote cactus (in its hallucinogenic effects) and barrel cacti (in its appearance) which are both native to the American southwest. Notable also is Sokka's boomerang, which comes from Australia. The wide range of influences on the water tribe would make it make more sense if they used to span the world's oceans in the past.

>>40946
>There are multiple cultural influences present that are from the Americas, most prominently the water tribe being based on the Inuit
Fair enough, although the Inuit aren't American only though and are closer to Asians ethnically.
>he cactus juice is also based on the peyote cactus
Gonna be honest, I don't think it was that deep in their thinking process, I think they just wanted a goofy hallucination scene with Sokka and referenced something they heard about, it has little to do with the Peyote ritual. The barrel Cactus is stereotypical in appearance, so I don't know about it.
>Sokka's boomerang, which comes from Australia
Shit, good point, and if I remember correctly the Aborigine's also have hallucinogenic plants (I may be wrong, because it's been a long time).
It's ironic that the Cameron Avatar film was also supposed to have a scene with Ayahuasca hallucinations >>36581

Also as a side note, I wonder what Toph would 'see'/do if she had drank the Cactus like Sokka?

>>40947
>and if I remember correctly the Aborigine's also have hallucinogenic plants (I may be wrong, because it's been a long time).
Everybody has hallucinogenic plants/fungi. Hallucinogenic cactus is fairly specific though. The visions the gaang has in the foggy swamp are implied to be a product of the swamp's unique plant life (one of the few things Korra expands on).

As far as water tribe diversity goes, there's also the foggy swamp tribe, which seems to be based more on various uncontacted tribes than anything specific, although they do speak with cajun accents in the original English version of the show.

>I wonder what Toph would 'see'/do if she had drank the Cactus like Sokka?
Blind people can take hallucinogens. They don't generally get visual effects from what I understand because they don't use their brain that way. AFAIK neuroplasticity tends to reformat the visual processing part of the brain to use other sensory inputs more if you go blind. Some blind people can learn to do a basic version of echolocation (IIRC that was a source of inspiration for Toph).

>>27724
>Aang could use perhaps some Spirit bending thing to demonstrate to Ozai the things he saw and felt, hiding in the Fire Nation and other nations, the squalor and hatred and abuse and death and misery, all wrought by has actions even for his people. To demonstrate that his idea of conquest brought nothing but destruction and would eventually destroy him too.
Kinda reminds me of the climax from The Crow too

>>27724
That would also be a payoff to the globetrotting stuff throughout the series, bringing back the side characters for some kind of spirit vision he forcibly takes Ozai on. It would be like how Roku had done with Aang throughout the show, demonstrating Aang fully becoming the Avatar's role as a guide. The climax of Aang's spiritual character arc being just another neato power is a lot less interesting than some kind of empathy based power that uses his connection to the "world spirit" to "fix" Ozai by re-connecting him to everyone else. Even if he still technically wins just because the experience overwhelms and incapacitates Ozai until the comet passes.

Started watching Avatar with my gf. The episode with the "freedom fighters" plotting to take out a dam caught me off guard. I was not expecting a kids show to touch on such topics, even through a liberal lense.

>>40947
Australians are asiatic