Aang and company have hit the big screen and with it they get an action figure line based on M. Night Shamilayanaynan’s version of the popular animated series (NOTE: that misspelling was being ironic BTW). I am going to say up front that part of this review will be aimed at the film for reasons that will become apparent.
Of course we all know that the series is called Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Avatar part of the title was dropped to avoid confusion with the James Cameron Film. Still that is a minor change compared to the needless changes incurred into the film. I am not going to even touch on the race controversy in the film as it will get into a great deal of what Anime is and how it’s presented. Much too long a discussion for this review.
I realize up front that a 22-episode season has more room for developing characters than an hour and forty-five minute film. However with M. Night’s version it seems the character development wasn’t even a consideration. The actors and actress just mouthed out the words and it’s very apparent it’s not a lack of acting talent on anyone’s part but a lack of anything for an actor to develop in the part. It’s writing and directing issue, not an acting issue as was the case with Star Wars and Anakin Skywalker. It is also amazing how much emotional content is in one 30-minute episode than the film could.
Of course there is some acting issues as well, the kid who plays Aang looks like he is taking a dump every time he tries to emote anything other than joy. This could be a directing flub but either way it makes Aang look like crap on screen. Another very frustrating point is that even though Aang’s name has been said 1,000+ times in the animated series, the actors still manage to mispronounce it.
Also much of the creative changes to Aang’s basic story ended up changing his whole motivations and made him come across as a whiney kid rather than a child with a huge responsibility facing more than he could handle.
It seems the character problems extend unto his figures as well. There are two versions of Aang, one in the Avatar State and one that is “normal.” Both are the same figure with different paint jobs and while that can easily be justified I just feel it’s a cheap way around the issue. Aang’s accessories are Momo the flying lemur and a staff while his Avatar version has his glider. The figure could have been handled better as one figure perhaps with interchangeable wrists and head to imitate the avatar state (as those are the only significant differences of the two figures). Also the glider seems even weaker cause Aang cannot use it as he does in the film and series (holding on while he flies bending the air under him). I am only giving Aang’s Avatar version so high a rating because at least that version looks as he should.
INormal Aang suffers greatly from the fact his eyes do not appear to be done, in fact in some lighting the only difference of the Avatar and normal Aang is the tattoos are a glowing color. This lack of detail is very disappointing on a figure I consider one of the really cool characters of the past decade. It may sound harsh that I am knocking the figures down so much for this fact but at the same time it seems more effort could have been put forward.
However in the second wave came Winter Aang who had some work done on his eyes. He also was an actual different figure as he was in his attire while in the winter camp. I grabbed the figure and was thinking I would do a head swap with “Normal” Aang but then imagine my surprise when I saw a horrid paint mistake on the back of his head. I can’t help but be frustrated to death over this. I probably would have given this figure 4 & ½ to 5 stars if it wasn’t for this glaring problem. If I can find a skin tone paint to cover this error I will, but the lack of quality control just infuriated me. I am not sure but I assume this was a mistake in the paint process and not that common, but at the inflated prices we are paying for these figures I would hope for better quality.
As for height, Aang is a bit taller than many of the “short” figures but it should noted that Aang is also a bit older than Short Round (For instance). The rest of the figures mix pretty well with other lines, it also must be kept in mind that the characters are intended to be teenagers and thus are a pinch short. But also they should be.
After that comes Sokka who in the movie gets regulated to just standing around most of the time. I understand the desire to tone down the humor of the cartoon, but without some degree of humor Sokka seems like a dry and pointless character. Often in the cartoon his humor would lead to some huge character moments that were not necessarily humorous. This makes Sokka a comic relief character with some depth and something that is very lost in the film.
As for the figure he is pretty good. He comes with his signature boomerang that at first is a bit difficult to figure out where and how to put on the figure. His likeness is close to the movie appearance but the face and eyes are a bit too light on paint (but not near as much as Aang). The details of the mold are pretty solid and the figure works on a great many levels. His paint is pretty even and there are no obvious errors. The quality control I hoped for Aang appears to have been applied to Sokka.
There is a second Sokka who is in his winter gear with a bow. He looks cool but I haven’t gotten him yet
Next up is the rejected Prince, Zuko. Knowing from the series that he ultimately redeems himself I do feel it was a mistake to put him into the first wave as the main villain. Not that he shouldn’t have been in the first wave, but we all know ultimately he joins the side of Team Avatar in his long and difficult arc. Still in the film his character has the few scenes that show any characterization and what feels like honest emotion. Then again Zuko is a character that is hard not to have those qualities in spades even with a script that is less than stellar.
Zuko’s scar is much more pronounced than the press pictures in the film. On screen though the scar is a bit stronger but still not the severity that it appears to be in the cartoon. Still his figure is good, very solid colors and design. Some have criticized the film for the villains “wearing black” but I would counter that the Fire Nation only has certain choices of color red (for fire) or black (for ash) and I think on a visual level the black works better. It is striking and attractive where as red would seem too bright and unrealistic. Blue (for the Water Tribes), green (for the Earth Nation) and brown (for the Air Nomads) all are more neutral colors and are easy to translate from a cartoon to a film. Red is not and would be a distraction.
Zuko does have red accents that work well with his black outfit and bring out detail. Some have said he is a bit bland but I think being an exiled prince this makes sense. The regalia that others of his nation have would be denied him until he has overcome his exile, so yes he works on that level. I really like Zuko both his figure and his character so this one is one of the major hits of this series of figures.
Of course Zuko cannot travel without my ultimate favorite character of the series, Iroh. Iroh (who also was never exiled but chose to help his nephew) has the regalia denied to Zuko. The details are accented with much more gold and red for his station. Iroh is not perfect as can be seen in the pictures. His tunic does have some paint flaws as does one of his sleeves. Without the QC issues he would have an easy five stars. Like the cartoon Iroh has a lazy look on his face indicating he would rather nap than fight.
But Iroh has some power with him. In the film this is expressed as he firebends without a source of fire (unlike most who need another fire source, another needless change IMO). In the series there are several moments that he shows this, such as standing between Admiral Zhoa and Zuko and almost appearing to stop Zhao’s fire bending.
One of my favorite aspects is the hair and how detailed it is. In the film this matches with his braids ect (which is not in the animated series). Iroh also comes with a nifty short spear that is just awesome. He also expresses one of my favorite aspects of the figures quite well. His feet have such a broad base they can stand in unique poses without the need of stands. Some other figures can do this as well but not consistently through a toyline. Iroh is shorter than Zuko in the cartoon but in the movie he is much taller. It’s an odd switch on an esthetic level but not one that ruins anything about the character.
Up next is the real villain of the film and first season of the cartoon, Admiral Zhao. His appearance in the cartoon is almost forgettable until the season finale. In the film he has a larger role out of necessity as he is the character who drives the villains.
He is short but looking at the pictures from the film so is the actor who plays him so it works. At first I thought his eyebrows were painted bad, but looking at the actor who plays Zhao he does have rather odd and high eyebrows.
Zhao has a unique body which is notable as it would have been easy to reuse the mold for Zuko and take the cheap way out. The different details make him look unique while still being uniform with the other members of the Fire Nation.
What would have been really a great idea would have been some generic soldiers to order around and army build. Instead we get needless multiple versions of characters like Aang and Sokka. Defiantly an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the movie (despite the movie’s apparent lack of success).
Up next is Blue Spirit, for those that are not aware this is a spoiler warning to the movie and cartoon. You have been warned.
Of course if you have watched the film or cartoon you know that Blue Spirit is an alternate identity for Zuko. My wife had never seen that part of the cartoon and she guessed this during the movie by the way Blue Spirit was able to block fire bending. The figure is pretty good, the mask is plenty detailed and while I did not understand the reasoning for the addition of the hair in the film it is translated well for the figure. Of course I have only seen later appearences of Blue Spirit so I might have missed soemthing too.”
The figure also has the trademark splitting swords from both the cartoon and movie. The detailing is simple on the figure, much as it is in the movie. Really this character doesn’t need a great deal of extra detail especially knowing that it is Zuko trying to keep a low profile.
TLast but defiantly not least is the character I felt the film ignored to a degree that proves the makers never paid any attention to the source material: Appa. Appa was regulated to a taxi in the film, he is a flying bison for crying out loud. That alone is a reason to extend his role. In the cartoon Appa actually has characterization, he is fiercely loyal to Aang (and vice versa) as well as having powerful air bending powers (never shown in the film beyond flying).
Appa is sadly very under articulated. He gets a whopping one point of articulation in his neck. Now I grant you that Appa has a tendency to not be the most mobile character but some tail and leg articulation would have been nice. Also there is an odd seam that makes it appear that the feet can at least swivel, but that is not the case.
Appa is a bit smaller than you might expect. While I realize he couldn’t be full scale and be affordable I am confused as to why there Is only room for one figure in his basket on his back. There is another seat for a pilot, but even in the film Appa can carry two passengers (including one driver) with ease. Just making the basket a bit wider would have made the sufficient room for two passengers. The fact that it appears the figure is downsized shows some cheapness in the manufacturing.
For scale Appa appears a good size in comparison to other figures of various price range. He and the Dewback from Star Wars have a similar scale. The Dewback was a lot more but also he came with a figure and had some articulation. I think a few extra dollars for articulation would have been ok myself.
Appa falls short of the mark, but one thing that works for him is who he is. Honestly the stars I did give him are based completely on who he is cause after seeing him on the cartoon it is hard not to like him, it is Appa after all and I doubt we will ever get another.
A last word on the film, one thing that has aggravated me about the film is the fact that there are pictures floating around of what appears to be the Koshi Warriors (and thus Suki who has a huge role in the cartoon’s finale). Yet in the film the Koshi Warriors are non-existent. Sure it could be a deleted scene but one has to ask with a movie so short why delete a scene, the movie needed more within it cause it was done way too fast (although with the pace it had it seemed longer). I have added the two pictures I saw that I believe are the Koshi Warriors, which only lack the make-up. I think it would have been a great idea to add these woman warriors to the mix of the film and also would have given Sokka something to do (as his interactions with the Koshi Warriors gave his character a good amount of depth in the cartoon).
This line is very hit and miss which I think shows the desire for cashing in on the film. I defiantly think the expectations for the film were much higher than the reality and the hopes was that the toys would follows suit. While it appears these are selling to a degree (for example Kitara is hard to find most likely she is the one character who had little change from the toon and movie) the figures also come across as cheap in many cases due to sloppy paint applications and less than effective designs.
