Avatar Discussion - Early Concepts and Cut Ideas

[@AirspeedPrime]

Let me know if you need the source for any of these details, I have included links for the leaked series bibles that quite a few of the pieces of info are based off. Really interested to know how much stock people put in them and if they are regarded as "legit".

[@APabuFan]

I highlighted the Sifu Kisu polygon article on a discord server last week, I didn't actually think it would be used in a video lol. I actually didn't put much stock in it when I read it years ago, mainly because there were some other parts that discussed the Korra production that didn't match up with any of the other materials, interviews, etc from creators and other people involved in the production and I've read/listened to a lot of Korra-era interviews. Even the leaked Korra bible which was written in 2010 says that the show would have each season chronicling one adventure in Korra's life. I believe it was in this same interview where Sifu Kisu says that the big delay between the first and second books were because they wanted to do this format described in the article which wasn't the case.

[@APabuFan]

Actually, turns out I'm also thinking of another article that came out around the same time in summer 2020 from the jiu-jitsu times that touches this subject as well: "“A lot of people don’t know there was a huge gap between the first and second season - a two-year gap. There was a lot of executive input there. [Korra] was going to lose her powers, and then I think it got political about the first woman hero losing her powers, so I can kinda see where they went with that. Then they snuck in Avatar Wan and a couple of the others,” he says." Except she does lose her bending at the end of b1 (she does get it back but still). And by that point the show's structure had been decided (see leaked bible). The troubles behind the scenes had more to do with the animation studio situation. At this point, the creators had also pitched a Zuko's mom tv movie for Nickelodeon which ultimately did not get picked up. But there were no mentions in anything I read of moving to other avatars in first season - second season time gap.

[@RjZyon]

Iroh secretly working with Ozai. I like this. I’m happy the way the show ended but this is unique and fascinating. I like the water tornado Aang and Katara and Pakku would do🌪️ but I wouldn’t want Pakku to die.

[@madgodprince]

Great video! I'm happy how it turned out. It almost makes me want to have seen what your first reactions looked like when you saw some of the concepts that you hadn't heard of before. I don't blame you for not covering every concept on the list due to time constraints and since the list was so long, and I especially don't blame you for not wanting to delve into the cesspool of zutara vs kataang lol

[@AirspeedPrime]

I didn't do the Zutara Kataang one because I have heard like a million takes on what was and wasn't in initial concepts and what x and y writer said etc. It is honestly at the point where I just don't know what to make of it, and because I am really not into shipping I don't really care that much. It gets into the topic of how far these various concepts got. Because it is clear some of this stuff was likely only ever recorded in one document (Prince Azul sort of fits here, I assume they very quickly shifted to Azula when they actually moved to plan the character) in the history of the show's production while stuff like Boy Toph got far enough where there is a coloured design for the character. I get the impression sometimes that some shippers are like "release the Zutara storyboards you cowards" while in reality it was discussed by writers in the writing room alongside a million other possible scenarios related and unrelated, but likely never got to the stage of being a concept that was to be developed further. Hence why Mike and Bryan have always said Zutara was never "planned", but why you have stuff like Avatar Extras saying it was and idea that was "toyed" with, both can be true. Again the vagueness of what "discussed in the writing room" means from a solidity of concept point of view.

[@martinmonterrosa]

Something that bryke mention on the commentary episodes is that in Ba Sing Se the neighbour in front of the Gaang`s house is called Pong and he was meant to have a storyline of his own

[@vinnyfromvenus8188]

yeah that makes sense, it feels weird to have a very specific character like that have a name but then they end up not going anywhere with that

[@alguemalguem]

The "we don't want bonebending because it takes away from the uniqueness of bloodbending" argument fails very hard in light of them deciding to let bloodbending emulate energybending with taking bending, something even more unique. Kyoshi even bent the closest thing to bones in The Shadow of Kyoshi when she cleared Hei-Ran's chalkboard. There's overlap in effects and applications of bending all the time, this is particularly noted in the Kyoshi novels with dust-stepping, mist-stepping, and jet-stepping. They even made it so bloodbending is possible without the full moon if you're strong and talented enough, so the power-boost requirement argument also becomes weaker. Even their recent "chi-field" explainer lends credence to the soundness of the premise.

[@Mistquill]

The religious cult idea for North & South is definitely one of the few ideas I think would have been better. But as you say, not sure it was the right place to do it. Still, the eventual Gilak idea also wasn't that interesting to me at the end of the day. And yes, Izumi's daughter - I don't even consider it a 'cut' concept almost since she could always be introduced later, lol

[@Bait154]

35:00 you talk about villains wanting the avatar to be from their nation so that they can gain some advantage. I have been thinking that would be a really interesting story line for Avatar Szeto. Maybe he only helped the fire nation so much because he was being extorted by the fire nation. I hate to keep making the fire nation the bad guys, but it sounds so juicy blackmailing the Avatar

[@callumf5013]

Good lord I shudder to think what ATLA would have been without Aaron Ehasz and Dave Filoni. I can’t believe they cut the Zuko is a slave trader arc.

[@piglatin9]

My boy Mako needs to finally find love. It would also be cool since Mako is a fire bender and his mom was a fire bender, from the fire nation, it would be cool to see him, (and Bolin) meet that side of the family since they met the dad side. That could be a whole fun side arc right there. That's a whole new season by itself and I'm already in

[@alexanderforte4265]

I think that some sort of Avatar anthology series makes too much sense and feels like a no-brainer, so I'm in complete agreement with you on that. An arranged marriage for Azula is very interesting to me. Considering how the concept of arranged marriages were treated in regards to Yue in book one, and then Ursa in the comics, I wonder if it was being considered as a way to garner sympathy for Azula.

[@britintoyland]

Great video! I definitely hadn’t heard some of the ones from the leaked bible, so that was pretty interesting. Always cool to get a glimpse at the creative process and what things looked at the first pass compared to the finished product. I’ve been interested in the recent Bryke BTE comment that John O’Bryan had pitched a bunch of fire sages meditating to create a nuclear explosion, which they nixed, but it sort of morphed into Combustion Man. Mainly I just find the idea of sages working in tandem (whether it’s meditating or bending forms) to create something really powerful to be a very intriguing concept. Probably not a nuclear explosion, though. 😅

[@AmarZion]

I like a lot of the things in the series bible

[@tabse21u]

I would have really liked to see the ‘arranged marriage’ idea for Azula. I see maybe why it was cut, so that at the end of season 3 she’d be all alone, but i don’t think that she’s doing much in th beginning of S3

[@jacawandersmok9043]

2 last present ideas very intresing

[@wazvs5182]

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