Okay, okay, all of you friends and CF commenters who’ve been nagging me to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender for the last few years. You can all go ahead and say “I told you so,” because you were right and I was wrong and now I’m completely obsessed.

Avatar: The Last Airbender has an amazing, rich mythology and a more dynamic set of characters than most shows can claim, much less one intended for children. I can’t wait to get started on The Legend of Korra! 

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Know Your Geek: About ATLA

• Created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Brian Konietzko, Avatar: The Last Airbender premiered in 2005 on Nickelodeon and had three seasons. The show utilizes the style of both anime and American cartoons.
• In the world of Avatar, certain people are born with the ability to manipulate the classical elements —earth, water, fire, and air— through the physical motions of martial arts. This is known as “bending.” 
• Benders can only manipulate the element of their nation, with the exception of the Avatar, who is the only one capable of mastering all four elements. The Avatar is responsible for maintaining harmony between the four nations and serving as the connection between the living and the spirit world.
• When the Avatar dies, his/her spirit is reincarnated into an individual from the next nation in the cycle of Water, Earth, Fire, and Air.
• The show begins 100 years after the Fire Nation wages war on the other three kingdoms. Although the Avatar is supposed to prevent this imbalance, he disappears without a trace.
• A century later, the Fire Nation’s world conquest is almost complete when Katara and Sokka, two Water Tribe teenagers, discover a boy named Aang suspended inside an iceberg. To their amazement, he is an Airbender, all of whom were thought to have been killed long ago by the Fire Nation.
• Aang reluctantly reveals himself as the Avatar, and the three embark on an epic journey to help Aang master the remaining three elements and defeat the Fire Nation before it’s too late.
• I hear that there was a live-action movie adaptation released in 2010. I also hear that most fans of Avatar really don’t like to talk about that.

Outfits Inspired by the Four Nations

You may not be the Avatar, but you can master all four elements… of style (Although that just makes me think of Strunk & White.) Read on for outfits inspired by the world of Avatar.