Old People Like Avatar Too

I am old. Probably twice your age. I don't understand tumblr. This is my old person attempt at a tumblr exclusively about Avatar the Last Airbender & Legend of Korra. Spoilers abound for both shows!! // All screencaps from www.avatarspirit.net.

[peacefulsoaring]

(SPOILERS) NATLA SEASON 2 INTRO SNEAK PEEK - source

Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.

[meseob]

now that's my Aang

[ozais-lobotomist]

turned it into a gif. i couldn’t let it die

[greenbasiltea]

Amazing trio

[devinellekurtz]

When we first met

[keikomivra]

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER 2.07: Something Broken

[peacefulsoaring]

AVATAR AANG, PRINCE ZUKO & PRINCESS AZULA in Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 Sneak Peek

[chiptrillino-art]

(id in ALT text)

lets look threatening with papa vs. lets look pretty with mamma

[rogerwittdraws]

[tassjis]

Team Avatar

[solidsmax]

AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER 2.04 | The Water Falls the Stones Emerge

[bloodbendingbrosfresh]

Noatak vs Tarrlok by Avatar Seven Havens Character Designer Ken! Brotherly foes engaged in a violent dance of fate! Tarrlok displays unrivaled confidence - Noatak, hesitation. Could it be the strongest bender finds himself at a crossroads? Delightfully dynamic, Ken never fails to impress! You can find Ken on his instagram here!

[quietumbramist]

His momoness lord momo of the momo dynasty.

[alya-ptichka]

[botanicaxu]

Here's my entry for @atlazine (Generations zine) with some renowned lavabenders! I was quite excited about the pitch since lavabending is probably my fav form of bending XD

[blinderbg]

Forgot to post it

[mutopians]

ALRIGHT SO LET'S TALK ATLA MOVIE LIGHTING

(literally had to figure out how to screenshot from paramount for this one, so please appreciate my dedication and ignore the random borders <3)

one of my favorite design choices in the aang movie is the use of lighting and shadows to show how much aang is being swayed by tagah. it doesn't apply all the time, but it DOES come up during some of the big emotional beats during the trip to the island and through the immortal storm.

(if this happens in other parts of the movie, feel free to add some examples onto this post as well!)

the first part that clued me into this design choice was aang's conversation with tagah about restoring the airbenders. during the conversation, tagah's face is shadowed, and so is aang. tagah is successfully isolating aang here—as the last two airbenders left in the world, only tagah can understand aang. and aang, who is clearly so desperate for some connection to his people, is very much grabbing onto it.

the next time tagah and aang have a conversation with clear lighting/shadows, it's when tagah asks how aang can trust zuko after what the fire nation did to their people. when aang explains how zuko is a friend who helped end the war, aang's face is lit; tagah's isn't. i also find it really interesting that aang is leading the conversation here and placed on the right. in other scenes, including the one before this, tagah is usually placed on the right instead, and also usually is the one leading things.

and then we get into the immortal storm.

in the first shot on the left, tagah's face isn't really lit up or shadowed, but you can make an argument that some of aang is. either way, the important part here is that aang's face isn't in the shadows. then when tagah says that they can clear a path for the ship together, RIGHT after aang suggests that they find another path, the lighting flashes and immediately casts tagah's face in shadow.

(i'd need to rewatch to do a fact check, but it's important to note that, as far as i could see while looking for these specific moments to screenshot, a lot of the same lighting flashes usually illuminates the gaang's faces inside of the airship.)

but then the storm continues. and as aang is helping tagah, he starts to get more doubts about this plan of his. he turns around, face illuminated, and says they need to turn back as soon as he realizes they're falling behind.

but as soon as tagah convinces him that they need to push on forward and that his friends can handle it (which he admittedly isn't wrong) aang turns around and is IMMEDIATELY cast in shadows again. another important note is that tagah is STILL placed to the right/in the lead here.

as soon as they get through the storm, it's katara and aang's fight on the ship. when katara points out how risky what aang did was, her face illuminated. aang, who has already been convinced by tagah that he did the right thing, is cast into shadow still. (and tagah, like always, is off to the right and cast in shadows, too. the framing also puts him behind aang, almost like aang's reasoning isn't really his own here.)

when aang claims that none of his friends understand what he's been through—except for tagah, of course, even if it's never said—aang is still cast in shadow.

once they get successfully through the storm, aang tries to thank tagah for helping them navigate it. tagah insists it was all because of aang. both of them are still in the shadows. afterwards, when aang explains why they had push through, he still isn't fully illuminated. there's also an interesting detail of tagah literally putting himself between aang and the others (face still mostly in shadows) while putting aang on the right side. aang is the "leader" here, and DID believe in the strength of the team, but only after tagah told him to.

afterwards, aang is mostly illuminated during his search for the staff on the islands. i don't know if the lighting is ever as clear cut as it is during the flight/immortal storm scenes.

but at the end of the movie, once aang is safely on top of appa with his friends surrounding him after fighting tagah and falling through the sky?

he's back in the light—and alongside the real family he has left.