Avatar: The Last Airbender/WMG/Miscellaneous

It was a conscious choice to cast Mark Hamill as Firelord Ozai.
In his most famous role, Mark is the son of a man who tries to kill him multiple times, sees him only as a tool in his quest for power, and came this close to world domination. Family-wise, the man has a brother, an absent wife, a son who is older and a daughter who is younger. It is also hinted that he was good once upon a time. This has to be more then a coincidence.

Also, in one of said father's (being Vader, not Hamill) more famous roles, he is a king who is killed by his own brother in his lust for power. Also, in this movies sequel, one of two protagonists is a "Well Done, Son" Guy who dose a Heel Face Turn and acquires a scar on his eye, given by his own parent, and was conditioned into the way his acts by said parent. Also, this boys have similar names.

This troper has a lot of free time on her hands...


 * A "conscious choice"? As opposed to what? Casting it by picking a name out of a hat? Of course it was a conscious choice. The cast of a TV show doesn't happen by accident and serendipity.
 * I think the idea is that it was an intentional Actor Allusion, not just a matter of who was best at the role (although Hamill clearly fit that criteria too).
 * Right.
 * Then again, perhaps they were inspired by his equally awesome performance as the animated version of another crazy.. the Joker?

The Avatar world is our world in the distant past.
There was a giant Cosmic Retcon replacing the four elements with the elements of the periodic table. This led the the Avatar Spirit discontinuing the Avatar system and the elemental bending disciplines (which are related, as implied by the Giant Lion Turtle's speech on Spiritbending) because a) the prospect of learning more than 117 different bending styles, plus reincarnating among an equal number of elemental nations, was enough to give even a transcendent Spirit of the World a massive headache, and b) because the first Plutoniumbenders accidentally wiped out human civilization and wrecked the ecosystem, and the Avatar Spirit didn't want to risk putting the world through that again. (This also explains why there are currently no traces of the Four Nations' civilization, as well as why all the Mix-and-Match Critters were replaced by bizarre, abberrant, mutated creatures such as "bears", "ducks", and non-flying "bison".)
 * More likely, due to the prevalence of Mix-and-Match Critters, and the tendency to treat the impossible as a mild inconvenience, the Avatar world is actually the world of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and all bending is produced by Spiral Energy.
 * Impossible. If this was true, nothing would have been able to stop that giant drill at Ba Sing Se.
 * Or, while we're on this kick, the Avatar world is a realm in the Mortal Kombat cosmology. We have the super-duper chi kung-fu, and the Asian culture which is known to extend beyond Earthrealm (seen in Outworld in particular, probably implying Asian culture isn't native to Earth). The Avatar, then, is that realm's protector god, much as Raiden is to Earth.
 * Alternatively, the past Gaia, from Final Fantasy VII. Both worlds use elements such as Fire, Water, and Wind. Not only that but the Air Nomads are nomadic, just as the Cetra from Final Fantasy VII. Not only that, but the Earth Kingdom is similar to a younger form of Midgar, with the Dai Li being similar to the Turks, and the centralized transportation seen in both worlds, with a lower ring and upper ring. Moreover, that could be why some people's bodies are not seen, they just disappeared, as in Final Fantasy VII. The strange looking animals are the proto form of Monsters, do to not being infected by JENOVA. Ostrach Horse=Chocobo? Cosmic Power? Avatar State=Limitbreak? Fire Nation=Wutai and Earth Kingdom=Midgar?
 * It could be the world of The Twelve Kingdoms before the Gods decided to separate the four lands in twelve kingdoms and an island in the center. Just look at the mix-n-match creatures, how they can be similar to some youkai.
 * It could be Star Wars in the distant past, before humans managed to travel the stars, and bending is merely a primitive version of the Force. The Fire Nation are simply early Sith (letting their emotions control their bending) while the Avatar is the original Jedi.
 * I thought the show took place in a lost era

An upcoming Avatar spinoff will be "Field Trips with Zuko."
In a similar vein as The New Scooby-Doo Movies and Batman: The Brave and the Bold, it will be a series chronicling Zuko's search for Ursa, engaging in wacky team-ups along the way. (Example: Zuko looks for Ursa in a pineapple under the sea, Zuko wonders why he dosen't have fairy godparents for all the crap he's been through, etc.)
 * Season 1 will feature cartoon Zuko as described above. In Season 2, he'll be played by the actor cast in the Shyamalan film and Crossover into every by-then-current live-action Nickelodeon series.
 * Also, Toph will keep showing up to try to get a refund field trip and constantly get shot down. And the universe will implode at a show turning a Memetic Badass into a Butt Monkey.

Zuko's Important Haircut at the end of Season Two was an Homage to Bruce Lee
Just look at his stance and fighting style in the season finale and tell me I'm wrong.

Short, general theories about the early aspects of the show.
In the early stages of development, the show was set in a more sci-fi setting. Example: Aang having a more high-tech staff, Momo being an R2-D2-esque robot, etc. Therefore, through the powers of WMG, we can conclude that...
 * Toph would have become a literal Iron Toph.
 * Azula would have gotten a Death Star. It would be the greatest day of her life.
 * A major aspect of the Avatar's job would be to make sure people don't get so advanced they forget the spirits.

In the upcoming live-action film, Zuko will recieve his scar during the storyline, not before.
Narrative-wise, it's simply easier to show rather then showing an extensive flashback sequence. At the start, he'll be an unpopular, but not exiled, prince eager to prove himself to his dad. After one encounter with Aang, he'll return home for the war meeting and fateful Agni Kai. They'll also segue this into Zuko's presumed death before the Seige of the North...instead of simply putting him in exile, Ozai will try to outright kill Zuko. After that, everyone will assume he's dead until it's revealed he survived with help from Iroh. His survival and Iroh's role in it will set up them becoming fugitives in the planned sequel. Hence why all of the released photos of him have no scar...they want to surprise folks unfamiliar with the source material. So it's basically The Dark Knight Avatar-style.
 * Also, Zhao will be the man Zuko speaks out against in the war room. Since Zuko won't yet be man enough to face his father, he'll take his anger and frustration out on the man he was prepared to fight. ("Zuko? I thought you were dead?" "Half.")
 * Um, Zuko has his scar in the pictures that have been released. It's just way more subtle.
 * They can size it up or shrink it down in post production. Stops the poor lad from having to sit through an hour of make up each morning.

The sequal to the live-action film (The Last Airbender) will be called The First Metalbender.
And Summer Glau will play Toph Beifong.
 * A tribe of Whedons will direct, script, and produce it as a musical. The song over the end credits will be 'Nobody's Asian In The Movies'
 * There will be no third installation because too many of the main characters die at the end.

The Great Movie Wild Mass Twist Guessing Cluster.
No matter how close the live-action film sticks to the source material, some part will be labeled a "shocking twist" just because it's Shamylan. Just post any ideas for what that twist could be here, and put them in spoiler tags.
 * What a twist!
 * What a twist!
 * What a twist!
 * Everyone is actually
 * What a twist!
 * Everyone is actually
 * Everyone is actually
 * Everyone is actually
 * Everyone is actually
 * Everyone is actually
 * Everyone is actually
 * Everyone is actually
 * Everyone is actually
 * Everyone is actually
 * Everyone is actually
 * Everyone is actually

Zuko Alone is based on William Faulkner's A Light in August.
Both are about a mysterious wandering guy (Zuko and Joe Christmas) ending up in a random small village where he tries to just pass through and be left alone but he winds up getting caught up in the people there and their problems. Then it cuts to a long flashback of the wandering guy's childhood which turns out to be filled with all sorts of turmoil that explains his current behavior. Eventually the villagers find out the wanderers real ethnicity (Zuko's fire nation Joe's actually black though he looks white) and they all freak out. This comparison is the only way i managed to get throught that book back in English class.
 * Or, you know, it's supposed to be a Western with magic kung fu.

White Lotus Pai Sho tiles work like the enchanted galleons Dumbledore's Army use.
In "The Old Masters", Jeong Jeong says "a call went out" to all the members of the White Lotus but no one ever says how they communicate over such vast distances. Maybe the tiles are more than just how members identify one another; maybe they serve as communication devices as well - at least for something like a meeting place and time.

The Fire Nation is actually an alternate universe version of Nazi Germany.
Think about it. They commit genocide on several races of people. In "Imprisoned", they're shown to kidnap any dissenters and take them away to a work camp rig where they are forced to work for the Fire Nation. The warden, as per usual, pretends to be nice, but singles out the one worker who is sick and takes him away. It's been mentioned that the Fire Nation manufactures propaganda. They want to take over the world. Think about it!
 * Those same attributes are true of a great many regimes throughout history, not just the Nazis specifically. The Romans did it, the Soviets did it, Shelbyville tried to do it to Springfield, etc.
 * This troper always saw the Fire Nation as based on early 20th century Japan.
 * This troper thought the Fire Nation had a few, somewhat unfortunate ties to China. The Airbenders are TIBETANS MONKS (especially since the monks [and Dalai Llama, or in here, the avatar] were exiled and now struggle to keep their culture alive which is similar to how the air nomads end up, or leading down that path). China and Fire Nation have a lot in common: higher population, technologically advanced, strict law enforcement, ect. Not all people who are Chinese, or all places in China apply. But it'd be mighty tough to miss the similarities.
 * The Earth Kingdom seems to share more similarities with China than the Fire Nation. What with all the secret police, brainwashing, and figurehead king, not to mention it is quite poor and is barely industrialized compared to the Fire Nation. Or maybe both nations were based on China, only in different time periods. In that case, there really isn't much of a political agenda behind the show at all.
 * Tibetan monks aren't exiled...

The movie is a altered verson of The Boy in the Iceberg
After the war ended, Pu On Tim rewrote the play to make it a little more accurate.
 * Wait, so Pu On Tim took an adaptation of all three seasons and turned it into an adaptation of only the first season? How did that happen?
 * The first movie was Act I.

Shortly after the war someone will invent a writing system analogious to Braille
This will probably involve a slab of rock (or wood if the reader is an earthbender) that an earthbender uses their earthbending (or a firebender their firebending) as paper and their finger as the paintbrush/ink.
 * It will be Sokka.
 * Alternatly, it will involve a special ink that allows both waterbenders and earthbenders to "read"- waterbenders by microscopic water capsules in the ink, and earthbenders by the earth "shell" around the water capsules. Somehow...

If Koh is ever somehow killed, all the faces he stole will turn into masks.
If returned to their proper owners, the faces will be replaced. So the poor monkey outside the cave will have a happy ending.
 * If you wear the mask, you will slowly be corrupted and will become the person whose face Koh stole. "Oh, a cute monkey mask!" Body Horror ensues.
 * ...Majora's Mask crossover time!
 * You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?

If Azula had been a guy like the writers originally planned, less people would find Zucest gross.
Yaoi fangirls would have crawled all over the bedroom scene in The Awakening and tons of other Zucesty scenes in a way that the vast majority of het fans seem more reluctant to do so.

The ember island player's use a separate script outside the fire nation
In the version the Earth kingdom and the Northern water tribe see, the "Gaang" beats the fire lord.

The Ember Island Players were Getting Crap Past the Radar...in-universe
The Boy in the Iceberg was a classic example of this trope. They got away with performing the tale by claiming that it was a morality tale about the foolhardiness of going against the Firelord, and then promptly break their Aesop by spending 95% of the play focusing on the Avatar and his awesome adventure.
 * This happens quite often in Real Life dictatorships. The Berlin cabaret remained popular in the east because it was one of the few institutions permited to (gently) mock the state.

Episodes like "The Great Divide" and "The Painted Lady" saved Avatar's life
Bryke intentionally put in bad episodes to keep the show from becoming Too Good to Last. If we had sixty-one episodes of "Crossroads of Destiny" or "The Blind Bandit"-level awesomeness, we never would have seen past the halfway point.

Bryke were subtly were hinting at the real end pairings of AtLA from practically the very beginning.
In all the fan-names for the canon pairings, i.e. Kataang, Maiko and Sukka, the name of the girl is first- or, in some circles the one who is "on top" so to speak. Bryke spread these names around on the interwebz. Somehow. Anyhooz, the canon pairings were the ones where the female was "on top" if you will. Zutara just never had any hope... (Besides, much as I adore Zuko, who would believe that be tops? XD) The only one exempt from this is Toph, mostly because she's just that awesome. And ten. (Though that doesn't mean that this troper isn't holding out for Tophuke.
 * Jossed by the commentary. Byrke calls Toph/The Duke "Doph", and they ship it.

There is no war in Ba Sing Se.
The Earth King invites anyone who says otherwise to Lake Laogai. ..
 * I am honored to accept his invitation.
 * We are safe here.
 * My name is Joo Dee. Welcome to our wonderful city.

There is no Shipping War in Ba Sing Se
All fanfiction pairings involve Long Feng our great Grand Secretariat of our glorious Ba Sing Se.
 * The Earth King invites anyone who says otherwise to Lake Laogai...

Pants and death really are an illusion.
Aang's true Avatar state is a pantsless immortal being. It knows the truth: Pants are an illusion, and so is death.
 * This makes perfect sense. Of the five avatars we get to know, only Kuruk and Aang wear pants. Aang is still learning how to be an Avatar, and Kuruk wasn't the best Avatar since he was more of a "go with the flow" kinda guy and as he put it, "everyone solved their own problems." Roku, Kyoshi, and Yangchen wear robes, because they understood the importance of pantslessness. HOWEVER, Yangchen explains that the Avatar must sacrifice his spiritual needs (i.e., not wearing pants) to fulfill his duty to the world. while all of the Avatars lived in a world where pants were required, Yangchen, Kyoshi and Roku could get away with not wearing them. However, pants are needed at the frozen poles where Kuruk comes from, and they're also required for male Airbenders like Aang. Because Aang and Kuruk needed to wear pants due to climate and/or culture, they are less competent Avatars- though in Aang's defense, he's 12 and inexperienced anyway with or without pants, but Kuruk did not get rid of his pants, preferring to "go with the flow".
 * Korra wears pants in the next series, but she's also a new Avatar, and there's nothing so far saying that she won't wear a dress at one point.
 * Or pants are an illusion in the non-mortal realm. Seriously, what use do spirits have for pants?

Meta-WMG- The Ready for Lovemaking scene wasn't cut because the censors thought it was ridiculous.
Most of the comic relief in this story comes from embarrassing Sokka, so Zuko walking in on Sokka when he was expecting Suki is downright hysterical and par for the course. Perhaps the censors were laughing so hard they genuinely didn't notice Suki sneaking in after Zuko left, nor the implications of what just happened.

The casting of the voice of Actor Sokka from Ember Island Players was due to jokes about Captain Planet
It's Scott Menville, the voice of Ma-Ti

Iroh is a metaphor for Prometheus.
Prometheus was known for giving advice to those without the previous knowledge, the most important of which was fire. Iroh did the same to Zuko. You may say that Zuko is like Iroh's son- this is a mirror to Deucalion, Prometheus' son. They were both taught by their respective guardian. It was also mentioned that Iroh would be pecked by birds, which was Prometheus' fate.

When Aang was hallucinating from sleep deprivation there was one thing in the duel between Momo and Appa that was real
And that was a six armed Guru Pethik floating on a cloud.