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Avatar: The Last Airbender & Korra (SPOILERS)

Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
Aaron Ehasz (ATLA head writer and The Dragon Prince co-creator) is facing allegations of misogynistic behavior after several former employees went public with their experiences. Allegations 1, 2, 3.

Two days later, Aaron released a statement on his twitter.
EI1EHf7U8AAuCzv
 

Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
Avatar: The Last Airbender–Katara and the Pirate’s Silver

Release date: October 13rd, 2020

ABOUT AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER–KATARA AND THE PIRATE’S SILVER
It’s sink or swim for Katara!


When Team Avatar is suddenly ambushed by the Fire Nation, Katara gets separated from the group. Unable to rendezvous with Aang, Toph, and Sokka, Katara must avoid capture by aligning herself with some unlikely allies! The normally sweet and sensitive Katara will need to explore her tougher side if she’s going to reunite with the rest of Team Avatar….

Written by Faith Erin Hicks (The Adventures of Superhero Girl, The Nameless City) and drawn by Peter Wartman (Stonebreaker), with colors by Adele Matera and letters by ComiCraft’s Jimmy Betancourt, in collaboration with Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series writer Tim Hedricks!


This would be the first Avatar one shot comic, up to this point every comic was done in 3 books.

9781506717111
 

Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
Preview for The Shadow of Kyoshi (the second book in a two novel story)

iyuZBzA.jpg


Chapter 1: Unfinished Business
Kyoshi’s neck itched terribly. The garrote had been coated in ground glass, and though she’d managed to avoid getting cut too deeply, sharp little fragments still vexed her skin. It served her right for being so sloppy. The gang’s wire man had been stealthy, but not at the level of the company she used to keep in her daofei days.

Speaking of which, she’d taken a risk by not incapacitating the boy like she’d done his elders. But he’d reminded her of Lek. The way his stupid babyface tried to arrange itself in a mask of hardness, his obvious need for the approval of his sworn elder brothers. His sheer, idiotic bravery. He was too young to be running with a gang in the slums of Ba Sing Se.

No more exceptions for today, she told herself as she stepped over rusting junk and debris. She was still in the habit of labeling anyone roughly her age as boys and girls, and the language made her inclined toward softness, which was dangerous. Certainly no one would show Kyoshi grace because she was only nearing eighteen. The Avatar did not have the luxury of being a child.

She pushed through a hallway barely wider than she was. Only the slightest cracks of illumination came through the walls. Glowing crystals were expensive, and candles were a fire risk, making light a premium in Loongkau. Networks of pipes dripped above her, pattering on the gilded headdress she wore despite the cramped environment. She’d learned to account for the height it added, and having to stoop had been a fact of her life since childhood.

The smell of human density wafted through the corridors, a concoction of sweat and drying paint. She could only imagine what the lower levels offered the nose. The City Block packed more people into its limits than any other in the Lower Ring, and not all of its residents were criminals.

Loongkau was a haven for the very poor. People with nowhere else to go squatted here and applied their industries, eking out livings as garbage pickers, “fell-off-the-wagon” marketeers, unlicensed doctors, dodgy snack vendors, and the like. They were ordinary Earth Kingdom citizens trying to get by on the margins of the law. Her folk, essentially.

The shadowed confines of the City Block were also home to a more violent sort, evolving gangs of the Lower Ring whose memberships were swelling from the influx of daofei. Bandits who could no longer hold territory in the countryside were fleeing for the cover of Ba Sing Se and other large cities, blending in with the populace, hiding among the same refuge-seeking citizens they’d brutalized in years past.

Those were not Kyoshi’s folk. In fact, many of them were running from her. But given it was just as likely for an apartment to be holding scared residents who had nothing to do with her quarry, Kyoshi was keeping her movements in check. Garden-variety earthbending that ripped up huge chunks of the surroundings would cause a dangerous collapse and harm innocents.

The interior opened into a small market area. She passed a room full of barrels leaking bright ink over the floor—a home dying operation—and an empty butcher stall clouded with buzzing ant flies. Jianzhu’s study had contained his notes on the political and economic situation of Ba Sing Se, and the small reference to the City Block noted how enterprising its residents were. Curiously, it also mentioned that the land it was built on held some value due to its prominent location in the Lower Ring. Merchants in the Middle Ring had tried to purchase the block in the past and evict the residents, but the dangers of the gangs had always made such projects fail.

Kyoshi paused near a vat of spoiled mango pomace. This was her spot. She bent an assortment of rock debris into a small circle and stood on it. She crossed her arms over her chest to make the smallest cross section possible.

Before she went, though, she noticed a tiny object in the corner. It was a toy, a doll made of rags scavenged from a fine lady’s dress. Someone in the block had gone through great effort to sew a doll made of fabric from the Upper Ring for their child. Kyoshi stared at it until she blinked, remembering why she was here. She stamped down with her foot.

Her little platform of earth, held together by her bending, turned as hard as the point of an auger. It burst through the clay tiles and rotting struts of wood, dropping her fast enough to make her guts lurch. She plunged through the floor and into the next level down, before doing it again, and again.

Jianzhu’s tactical manuals noted that in enclosed fights most casualties happened at doorways and stairs. Kyoshi had decided to skip over those parts of the building and bore her own passage. She counted fourteen stories—more than she’d estimated—until she came crashing through the ceiling of a room that was solid earth underneath. The bottom of Loongkau.

Kyoshi stepped off her platform, dust and crumbs of masonry cascading off her arms, and looked around. There were no walls in here, only supporting columns that propped up the great weight of the levels above. So the City Block has a ballroom, she thought wryly. The empty expanse was similar to the entertaining halls of wealthy nobles like Lu Beifong. There was a space like this in the Avatar’s mansion in Yokoya.

She could see all the way to the far end since the walls held lumps of glowing crystal, as if the light for the entire building had been hoarded for this room. There was a desk, a wooden island in the emptiness. And behind the desk was a man who hadn’t given up his pretensions since Kyoshi had last seen him.

“Hello, Uncle Mok,” Kyoshi said. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Mok, the former second-in-command of the Yellow Neck daofei, goggled his eyes in surprise. Kyoshi was like a curse he couldn’t shake. “You!” he fumed, shrinking slightly behind the furniture as if it could protect him. “What are you doing here!?”

“I heard rumors about a new boss settling into Loongkau and thought he sounded very familiar. So I came to investigate. I heard this group is calling itself a Triangle now? Do I have that right? Something with three sides.” Kyoshi found it hard to keep track. The daofei who were funneling into the cities brought their grandiose customs of secrecy and tradition into the realm of urban petty crimes.

“The Triad of the Golden Wing!” he yelled, infuriated by her disinterest in his rituals. But Kyoshi was long past caring about the feelings of men like Mok. He could throw whatever tantrum he desired.

The drumming of feet grew louder. The men Kyoshi had bypassed on the middle floors came filing into the room, surrounding her. They brandished axes and cleavers and daggers. Mok’s men had preferred outlandish weapons when they still roamed the countryside, but here in the city they’d abandoned the nine-ring swords and meteor hammers for simpler arms that could be hidden in a crowd.

Bolstered by more than two dozen men, Mok turned calmer. “Well, girl, what is it you want? Besides checking in on your elders?”

“I want you all to surrender your weapons, vacate the premises, and march yourselves to a magistrate’s courthouse for judgment. The nearest one is seven blocks from here.”

Several of the hatchet men burst out laughing. The corner of Mok’s mouth turned upward. Kyoshi might be the Avatar, but she was vastly outnumbered and trapped in an enclosed space.

“We refuse,” he said with an exaggerated roll of his hand.

“All right then. In that case, I only have one question.” Kyoshi cast her gaze around the room. “Are you sure this is all of you?”

The Triad members glanced at each other. Mok’s face swelled with rage, reddening like a berry in the sun. It wasn’t insolence so much as pragmatism, her instinct for tidiness and efficiency rising to the surface.

“If not, I can wait until everyone arrives,” Kyoshi said. “I don’t want to have to go back and check each floor.”

“Tear her apart!” Mok screamed.

The hatchet men charged from all directions. Kyoshi drew one of her fans. Two would have been a bit much.

The novel is still schedule to release on July 21st and is up for pre-order, priced at $18.99.
 

Clement Rage

Pro Adventurer
So, Um, yesterday I found out that 'Laogai' as in lake Laogai is the name of a realworld system of brutal Chinese prison camps.

That seems remarkably insensitive from Bryke, you might as well call it Camp Gulag. Hmm.
 

Clement Rage

Pro Adventurer
I feel like if I'd lost relatives to that system the name would make me pretty uncomfortable. I guess I could be wrong (and they only ended/dubiously changed their name in 1994, it's not so long ago.)
 

Lex

Administrator
Preview for The Shadow of Kyoshi (the second book in a two novel story)

iyuZBzA.jpg


Chapter 1: Unfinished Business
Kyoshi’s neck itched terribly. The garrote had been coated in ground glass, and though she’d managed to avoid getting cut too deeply, sharp little fragments still vexed her skin. It served her right for being so sloppy. The gang’s wire man had been stealthy, but not at the level of the company she used to keep in her daofei days.

Speaking of which, she’d taken a risk by not incapacitating the boy like she’d done his elders. But he’d reminded her of Lek. The way his stupid babyface tried to arrange itself in a mask of hardness, his obvious need for the approval of his sworn elder brothers. His sheer, idiotic bravery. He was too young to be running with a gang in the slums of Ba Sing Se.

No more exceptions for today, she told herself as she stepped over rusting junk and debris. She was still in the habit of labeling anyone roughly her age as boys and girls, and the language made her inclined toward softness, which was dangerous. Certainly no one would show Kyoshi grace because she was only nearing eighteen. The Avatar did not have the luxury of being a child.

She pushed through a hallway barely wider than she was. Only the slightest cracks of illumination came through the walls. Glowing crystals were expensive, and candles were a fire risk, making light a premium in Loongkau. Networks of pipes dripped above her, pattering on the gilded headdress she wore despite the cramped environment. She’d learned to account for the height it added, and having to stoop had been a fact of her life since childhood.

The smell of human density wafted through the corridors, a concoction of sweat and drying paint. She could only imagine what the lower levels offered the nose. The City Block packed more people into its limits than any other in the Lower Ring, and not all of its residents were criminals.

Loongkau was a haven for the very poor. People with nowhere else to go squatted here and applied their industries, eking out livings as garbage pickers, “fell-off-the-wagon” marketeers, unlicensed doctors, dodgy snack vendors, and the like. They were ordinary Earth Kingdom citizens trying to get by on the margins of the law. Her folk, essentially.

The shadowed confines of the City Block were also home to a more violent sort, evolving gangs of the Lower Ring whose memberships were swelling from the influx of daofei. Bandits who could no longer hold territory in the countryside were fleeing for the cover of Ba Sing Se and other large cities, blending in with the populace, hiding among the same refuge-seeking citizens they’d brutalized in years past.

Those were not Kyoshi’s folk. In fact, many of them were running from her. But given it was just as likely for an apartment to be holding scared residents who had nothing to do with her quarry, Kyoshi was keeping her movements in check. Garden-variety earthbending that ripped up huge chunks of the surroundings would cause a dangerous collapse and harm innocents.

The interior opened into a small market area. She passed a room full of barrels leaking bright ink over the floor—a home dying operation—and an empty butcher stall clouded with buzzing ant flies. Jianzhu’s study had contained his notes on the political and economic situation of Ba Sing Se, and the small reference to the City Block noted how enterprising its residents were. Curiously, it also mentioned that the land it was built on held some value due to its prominent location in the Lower Ring. Merchants in the Middle Ring had tried to purchase the block in the past and evict the residents, but the dangers of the gangs had always made such projects fail.

Kyoshi paused near a vat of spoiled mango pomace. This was her spot. She bent an assortment of rock debris into a small circle and stood on it. She crossed her arms over her chest to make the smallest cross section possible.

Before she went, though, she noticed a tiny object in the corner. It was a toy, a doll made of rags scavenged from a fine lady’s dress. Someone in the block had gone through great effort to sew a doll made of fabric from the Upper Ring for their child. Kyoshi stared at it until she blinked, remembering why she was here. She stamped down with her foot.

Her little platform of earth, held together by her bending, turned as hard as the point of an auger. It burst through the clay tiles and rotting struts of wood, dropping her fast enough to make her guts lurch. She plunged through the floor and into the next level down, before doing it again, and again.

Jianzhu’s tactical manuals noted that in enclosed fights most casualties happened at doorways and stairs. Kyoshi had decided to skip over those parts of the building and bore her own passage. She counted fourteen stories—more than she’d estimated—until she came crashing through the ceiling of a room that was solid earth underneath. The bottom of Loongkau.

Kyoshi stepped off her platform, dust and crumbs of masonry cascading off her arms, and looked around. There were no walls in here, only supporting columns that propped up the great weight of the levels above. So the City Block has a ballroom, she thought wryly. The empty expanse was similar to the entertaining halls of wealthy nobles like Lu Beifong. There was a space like this in the Avatar’s mansion in Yokoya.

She could see all the way to the far end since the walls held lumps of glowing crystal, as if the light for the entire building had been hoarded for this room. There was a desk, a wooden island in the emptiness. And behind the desk was a man who hadn’t given up his pretensions since Kyoshi had last seen him.

“Hello, Uncle Mok,” Kyoshi said. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Mok, the former second-in-command of the Yellow Neck daofei, goggled his eyes in surprise. Kyoshi was like a curse he couldn’t shake. “You!” he fumed, shrinking slightly behind the furniture as if it could protect him. “What are you doing here!?”

“I heard rumors about a new boss settling into Loongkau and thought he sounded very familiar. So I came to investigate. I heard this group is calling itself a Triangle now? Do I have that right? Something with three sides.” Kyoshi found it hard to keep track. The daofei who were funneling into the cities brought their grandiose customs of secrecy and tradition into the realm of urban petty crimes.

“The Triad of the Golden Wing!” he yelled, infuriated by her disinterest in his rituals. But Kyoshi was long past caring about the feelings of men like Mok. He could throw whatever tantrum he desired.

The drumming of feet grew louder. The men Kyoshi had bypassed on the middle floors came filing into the room, surrounding her. They brandished axes and cleavers and daggers. Mok’s men had preferred outlandish weapons when they still roamed the countryside, but here in the city they’d abandoned the nine-ring swords and meteor hammers for simpler arms that could be hidden in a crowd.

Bolstered by more than two dozen men, Mok turned calmer. “Well, girl, what is it you want? Besides checking in on your elders?”

“I want you all to surrender your weapons, vacate the premises, and march yourselves to a magistrate’s courthouse for judgment. The nearest one is seven blocks from here.”

Several of the hatchet men burst out laughing. The corner of Mok’s mouth turned upward. Kyoshi might be the Avatar, but she was vastly outnumbered and trapped in an enclosed space.

“We refuse,” he said with an exaggerated roll of his hand.

“All right then. In that case, I only have one question.” Kyoshi cast her gaze around the room. “Are you sure this is all of you?”

The Triad members glanced at each other. Mok’s face swelled with rage, reddening like a berry in the sun. It wasn’t insolence so much as pragmatism, her instinct for tidiness and efficiency rising to the surface.

“If not, I can wait until everyone arrives,” Kyoshi said. “I don’t want to have to go back and check each floor.”

“Tear her apart!” Mok screamed.

The hatchet men charged from all directions. Kyoshi drew one of her fans. Two would have been a bit much.

The novel is still schedule to release on July 21st and is up for pre-order, priced at $18.99.

I am *really* looking forward to this book. Rise of Kyoshi was such a joy to read and feels so faithful to the Avatar universe while also feeling more adult in nature.
 

Odysseus

Ninja Potato
AKA
Ody
How do you go from releasing today to releasing over a year from now? Is it due to the virus? Hardly stopping other publishers.
 

Cloud_S

Pro Adventurer
I'm sure you're all aware of the current "POC should play POC" movement at the moment? Mike Henry stepping down from his 20 year role as Cleveland Brown in Family Guy, Kristen Bell as Molly will be re-cast in Central Park (and Marshmallow in Bob's Burgers will seemingly be re-cast as well), and Missy on Big Mouth no longer being voiced by Jenny Slate.




Has Janet Varney issued an apology yet for not bowing out and letting the role of Korra be played by a BIPOC voice actor on "The Legend of Korra" (2012-2014)?

BNm5W6Y.png


Alison Brie issued an apology, stating that she regretted voicing Diane Nguyen (a Vietnamese-American character) in BoJack Horseman just a day ago. BoJack ran from August 22, 2014 to January 31, 2020, so it started around the same time that Korra was ending (December 19, 2014 last episode).

http://instagr.am/p/CB6vX6hHyih/
So certainly in 2012, someone should've given more thought to Varney as Korra.... or at least Varney should've seriously considered not accepting the role.



.....right?

Because if you applaud the others for stepping down or issuing "I regret/I apologize for my white privilege" statements, but stay silent on Korra because you like her voice..... then isn't that a problem?

Now I personally don't think these voice actors should apologize... they auditioned liked everyone else and got the role. It's not their fault the casting team went with them. Yet they're being made to feel like crap for accepting the role. I support more diversity in voice acting and in all professions.... but if you want to expand it, don't replace actors who have voiced their characters for over 2 decades! Instead shows should flesh out the main cast with more POC roles and do a better job of casting accordingly (I've been told this is an "unpopular opinion").
 
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Makoeyes987

Listen closely, there is meaning in my words.
AKA
Smooth Criminal
... So what's the point? Is she voicing Korra now somewhere or something?

Really not sure what the point is in singling out Varney. Just because another entirely unrelated voice actress from an adjacent time period chose to make an apology for a past role.

This is all their choice. It's simply a matter of solidarity with PoC and the same reason straight people now refrain from portraying LGBTQ characters.

In the end.... What does it even matter?
 
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Cloud_S

Pro Adventurer
Is she voicing Korra now somewhere or something?

She's been doing reading of the comics:


Really not sure what the point is in singling out Varney.

Because I've seen people seemingly ignoring this one while others are being incredibly harsh on others in recent days. I don't want her to apologize. I'm using Varney as an example of what people will likely expect from ALL white voice actors who have ever voiced a non-white character at any point in their career. It's becoming ridiculous. Like I said, voice actors are being made to feel like shit for roles they were given by casting directors, and that's wrong. People are literally demanding Brie donate every last penny she made from voicing Diane.


and the same reason straight people now refrain from portraying LGBTQ characters.

So Aaron Paul should issue an apology for voicing asexual character Todd Chavez?

In the end.... What does it even matter?

Because it's a really shitty and sensitive situation and IMHO, being handled the wrong way?
 
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Makoeyes987

Listen closely, there is meaning in my words.
AKA
Smooth Criminal
If no one's commented on it, it's because no one cares. Korra is a totally different show in terms of scope and popularity compared to Family Guy and Bojack Horsemen. Varney's not doing an industry animation project for television. She did a comic reading on the side on YouTube.

And no one's being "harsh." These decisions came from the voice actors and agencies themselves. What are you talking about? If they want to step aside and do something for the moment, now that they've seen first hand the existence of systemic racism in this country, that's their choice. They can choose to be allies and practice solidarity. Notice how they don't have a problem with doing it.

So Aaron Paul should issue an apology for voicing asexual character Todd Chavez?

If he wants to do that, then that's his choice.

You seem to miss the point that this happening on its own. There's nothing "shitty" about someone feeling compelled to do something to show solidarity with a marginalized community, especially in Hollywood where the topic of diversity has been a big deal in regards to the Oscars, casting talent and more. This is the same principle behind the pushback of whitewashing and having straight people act LGBTQ roles when there's hundreds of said actors languishing for roles that would reflect their human experience.

Trying to be outraged for people not even outraged at stepping aside makes no sense.
 

Cloud_S

Pro Adventurer
If no one's commented on it, it's because no one cares.

No one has commented on it yet. People are actually arguing against Phil LaMarr's role as Samurai Jack. Saying it should've been given to a Japanese voice actor.

Korra is a totally different show in terms of scope and popularity compared to Family Guy and Bojack Horsemen.

Central Park only had 6 episodes come out and is restricted to AppleTV, so it's not as popular as Family Guy or BoJack, and yet.....

You seem to miss the point that this happening on its own.
Is it though? Were it to be a natural thing, it would've happened years ago. Henry would've stepped aside long before 20 years had past of him voicing a black man (who even had his own spin-off series for a time) and Consuela, the Latina maid.

Trying to be outraged for people not even outraged at stepping aside makes no sense.
They can't be outraged, publicly. They have to agree with it and step aside. What do you think would happen to their career if they didn't step down from an active role or issue an apology for a role on a show that has ended?


I have to wonder if this doesn't eventually lead to the issue POC VAs have faced in the past and still do to this day: typecasting.
Will POC be relegated to POC characters and white VAs to white characters? Not to mention male VAs only playing male characters and the same for female VAs? Will nobody be able to play anything outside of their race and gender?

While there certainly needs to be more diversity in voice acting, and productions should look to talent outside of the usual names, will this have essentially the opposite effect of what it's attempting to correct?
 
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looneymoon

they/them
AKA
Rishi
I think its worth having a dialogue about? But I dunno if its worth holding voice actors accountable for taking a job, especially if the characters themselves are being portrayed respectfully.

I just wanted to add context. Alison Brie's apology is a response to the recent news that Family Guy and The Simpsons will recast POC characters with POC actors. edit: sorry I sorta skimmed the thread and didn't realize that was brought up in the initial post lmfao.

Alison's response was a personal choice of hers given this news, and probably informed by how Bojack posits itself as a progressive show. She's also a successful screen actress and can probably afford passing on a voice acting gig. I don't think anything can be gained from pressuring other actors to follow her example, as their conditions aren't going to be necessarily the same. I also don't really think Janet portraying a character like Korra is quite the same thing as something like The Problem with Apu. I watched that documentary about that. While I agree with its overall point, I thought the way he was hounding Hank Azaria for an apology, and used his refusal to appear in the documentary as some sort of indication of guilt, was not a great way of going about the discussion.

Personally, I think these shows should have been allowed to die a long time ago. They're relics of the 90s, and I'm not sure this attempt to modernize is enough to make them maintain relevance. It's a nice gesture, but let em die at this point imo :monster:
 
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