Reflection and Analysis

AtLA: I am More Supportive Without Them on Board (9/26/2020)

I came across an article written earlier this month by Alice Raja titled "Avatar: The Last Airbender Creators Have Ideas for New Stories".

In other words we're supposed to believe that the copyright holder – which isn't Bryke – will actually allow them to continue working with the Avatar copyright despite the fact there is quite a few issues with Bryke's "vision" for the series which includes removing Katara's agency. I'm still under the belief they left the Netflix adaption because they were yet again pushing for the removal of Katara's agency, something they've actively done in the comics and LoK, but may also be to blame for regarding – well, the original live action adaption.

The fact – to quote the above article – this was "a labor of love" for them doesn't mean that Bryke should benefit from "the fact that it is still so successful and beloved amongst fans, many years on from its original release, shows how much potential there is to further explore this franchise," not when they have failed to do so in the past. In fact, the places the series fails is often credited to the fact they were "crafting a show that they themselves would want to have seen as children".

Seriously – Aang is their self-insert, but Michael Dante DiMartino – whom adult Aang ends up looking like – repeated the twelve-year-old self-insert in his Rebel Genius books where – gasp, the twelve-year-old self-insert just so happens to be an artist who possesses what's known as Geniuses. To quote the Amazon page for this book, "A few artists possess Geniuses, birdlike creatures that are the living embodiment of an artist' creative spirit", but they are persecuted regarding this.

As for Bryan – he's still not released Threadworlds, which everyone was told about back in 2015.

What certain fans don't realize is the fact Bryke were in desperate need of the live action series succeeding with their involvement as they've not done anything successful since.

What many fans don't realize is the fact Bryke were in desperate need of the live action series actually succeeding. After all, Threadworlds – Bryan's one project – hasn't seen the light of day, while Mike's Rebel Genius and his work on Adventures in Wonder Park were far from successful. For those who don't know Adventures in Wonder Park – let's just say I agree with Matt Zoller Seltz's review over on the Roger Ebert site.

After all, AtLA was a major success for them – the only major success.

Yes, they've worked on other successful shows, but their work actually amounts to only a small portion of the actual work which went into those series. Much credit is given to them regarding being the creators of the series, but unfortunately fans can trace a lot of decisions – such as Toph being female – back to someone other then Bryke and when they were allowed to do their own thing there is no getting around the fact they failed.

Of course, they're no longer a part of the live action series, so they're hoping that – in the hands of someone else – the live action series will fail, because if the series is a success without them then they are effectively not needed in regards to making the AtLA series successful, nor does Nickelodeon need to bring them back for any future projects. Let me stress the fact they need the live action show to fail.

Looking at the IMDb, I do need to address the fact, "In 2018, Mike and Bryan were hired as executive producers and showrunners and were told by Netflix that their vision for this retelling would be supported. Unfortunately, the pair felt that Netflix did not follow-through in their promise and decided to exit for that reason."

Let me emphasize the fact Netflix, no matter what they promised, should not be forced to follow through with a vision which likely will cut a lot of Katara's agency, but more importantly, their promise of keeping to the "vision" also goes for what Nickelodeon – the copyright holder's vision for the series is and that trumps – well, Bryke's vision.

This is super important because Netflix has a couple of series under its belt where they did let the vision of the executive producers take precedent over the copyright holder and the results were disastrous. Specifically, the decisions ended up majorly alienating the intended fanbase, but one of the things which would majorly alienate the fanbase would be Katara losing her agency as a character – something which is definitely in Bryke's vision for the series given their treatment of her in the comics and LoK.

More importantly, that vision of there's would not in line with the vision of the original show. As such, I am not getting on board with the fans who want to boycott the series – who are putting forth a petition to cancel the live action adaption of the show, particularly when we know absolutely nothing regarding the live action show. More specifically, this places way to much trust in Bryke.

Am I saying the live action series will be a success?

It's too early to tell, but what I do honestly feel given their track record that them not being involved is better then them being involved.