Avatar: The Last Airbender
|Avatar: The Last Airbender|
|Also known as||Avatar: The Legend of Aang|
|Created by||Michael Dante DiMartino
|Written by||Michael Dante DiMartino
Elizabeth Welch Ehasz
|Directed by||Lauren MacMullan
Joaquim Dos Santos
|Voices of||Zach Tyler Eisen
(Seasons 2 & 3)
Dee Bradley Baker
(Seasons 2 & 3)
Mako (Seasons 1 & 2)
Greg Baldwin (Season 3)
Jason Isaacs (Season 1)
|Country of origin||United States|
|No. of seasons||3|
|No. of episodes||61 (List of episodes)|
|Executive producer(s)||Michael Dante DiMartino
|Running time||22 minutes|
|Production company(s)||Nickelodeon Animation Studios|
|Picture format||NTSC 4:3 (480i)|
|Original run||February 21, 2005– July 19, 2008|
|Preceded by||Zuko's Story (comic)|
|Followed by||The Promise and
The Search (comics)
The Legend of Korra (TV series)
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Avatar: The Legend of Aang in Europe) is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz. Avatar: The Last Airbender is set in an Asian-influenced world wherein some are able to manipulate the classical elements by use of psychokinetic variants of Chinese martial arts known as "bending". The show combined the styles of anime and American cartoons, and relied on the imagery of various East-Asian, Inuit, Indian and South-American societies.
The series follows the adventures of protagonist twelve-year-old Aang and his friends, who must bring peace and unity to the world by ending the Fire Lord's war against the other three nations. The pilot episode first aired on February 21, 2005 and the series concluded with a widely praised two-hour episode on July 19, 2008. The show is obtainable from various sources, including DVD, the iTunes Store, the Zune Marketplace, the Xbox Live Marketplace, the PlayStation Store, Netflix Instant Play, and the Nicktoons Network.
Upon release, Avatar: The Last Airbender was universally acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. Praises went to the art direction, humor, cultural references, and themes. It was also commercially successful, garnering 5.6 million viewers on its best-rated showing and receiving high ratings in the Nicktoons lineup, even outside its 12–18-year-old demographic. The series has been nominated for and won awards from the Annual Annie Awards, the Genesis Awards, the primetime Emmy awards and a Peabody Award among others. The first season's success prompted Nickelodeon to order second and third seasons. In other media, the series has spawned a critically panned but financially successful live-action film, titled The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, scaled action figures, a trading card game, three video games based on the first, second, and third seasons, stuffed animals distributed by Paramount Parks, and two LEGO sets. An art book was also released in mid-2010. A sequel series The Legend of Korra premiered on April 14, 2012.
Series overview 
Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a world home to humans, hybrid animals, and spirits. Human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. Each nation has a distinct society, wherein people known as "benders" have the ability to manipulate and control the element of their nation using the physical motions of martial arts. The show's creators based each bending style on an existing martial art, leading to clear visual and physical differences in the techniques used by Waterbenders (T'ai chi ch'uan), Earthbenders (Hung Ga kung fu, for the most part), Firebenders (Northern Shaolin kung fu) and Airbenders (Baguazhang). In addition to these four types of bending, there are several minor subcategories of bending within them, including but not limited to: Metalbending (Earth), Lightningbending (Fire) and Bloodbending (Water). Energybending is a lost, fifth form of bending that makes its only appearance in the series finale.
At any given time, there is only one person in the world capable of bending all four major elements: the Avatar. The Avatar is the divine spiritual entity of the world continuously reborn and reincarnated in human form. When an Avatar dies, this spirit/soul is reborn and reincarnated into the next nation in the Avatar Cycle, according to the implied correspondence of seasons to the nations' cultures (Winter/Water Tribe; Spring/Earth Kingdom; Summer/Fire Nation; and Autumn/Air Nomads) and must master each bending art in seasonal order, starting with their own native/birth element. Additionally, the Avatar possesses an immensely powerful spiritual ability called the Avatar State, which briefly endows them with all of the knowledge and abilities of all past Avatars as a self-triggering defense mechanism, which can be made subject to the will of the user by extensive trial and training in total chakra energy harmony. Being killed in the avatar state can cause the avatars to cease to continue. If an Avatar is killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle is broken, and the Avatar identity will cease to exist. Through the ages, the succeeding Avatars have served to keep a relative equality among the nations, however, since the Avatar connects the material world to the spiritual world, and vice versa, the Avatar also must strive to keep balance between the worlds. 
The events one hundred years before the beginning of the show are revealed gradually and out of order throughout the series.
More than a century before the beginning of the series, the ruler of the Fire Nation, Fire Lord Sozin, planned a World war to expand his territory; but knowing that his friend, fellow firebender Avatar Roku would prevent him, waited for the latter's death, whereupon the Avatar was reincarnated as an Airbender named Aang. Aang was told the truth of his Avatar status while still a child, despite the protests of his mentor Monk Gyatso; whereupon Aang, fearful of his new responsibilities and of separation from Gyatso, fled his home on his flying bison, Appa. The two were subsequently forced into the ocean by a storm, and Aang's protective Avatar State encased them in an iceberg, in suspended animation. In an attempt to kill the new Avatar, who would be reborn as an Air Nomad, Fire Lord Sozin carried out a genocide of the Air Nomads, leaving twelve-year old Aang as the eponymous "Last Airbender".
The war continued for one hundred years. Sozin was succeeded by his descendant Azulon, and Azulon by the younger of his two sons, Ozai, the current ruling Fire Lord at the time of the series. The older son is Iroh, who laid siege to the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se for over 600 days when he was younger.
Season one (Book 1: Water) 
Katara, a fourteen-year-old Waterbender girl, and her fifteen-year-old brother Sokka, find Aang, a twelve-year-old boy and Appa, a flying bison, in an iceberg, and have been there for 100 years. After Aang is revealed to be the Avatar, the three travel to the Northern Water Tribe so that Aang and Katara can learn Waterbending. En route, Aang and friends visit the Southern Air Temple, where Aang discovers the genocide of his people and encounters the spirit of his predecessor Avatar Roku, after which he finds the last winged lemur of the air temples, Momo. After they reach, they learn under the tutelage of Master Pakku and Sokka meets the beautiful princess, Yue. Throughout their journey, the trio are pursued by Prince Zuko, the exiled son of Fire Lord Ozai, who seeks to reclaim his honor by capturing the Avatar. Zuko travels with his uncle Iroh, a legendary Fire Nation general and the older brother of Ozai. Competing with Zuko for the Avatar is Commander Zhao, later to become Admiral Zhao, who leads an attack on the Northern Water Tribe. Zhao learns about the existence of the moon and the ocean spirits in the mortal world (the spirit oasis), on whom waterbenders are dependent, and plans to kill them. He lays a siege to the Northern Water Tribe and kills the moon spirit after a fight with Aang and his friends. Immediately all waterbenders lose control and the moon turns red. Aang, enraged goes into the avatar state and bonds with the also enraged ocean spirit to create a huge creature nicknamed Koi. This defeats the fire nation fleet single handedly and kills Zhao. Meanwhile, Princess Yue gives her life and revives the moon spirit. Before they leave Pakku gifts Katara water from the oasis.
Season two (Book 2: Earth) 
After leaving the Northern Water Tribe, Aang masters Waterbending under Katara's teachings and tutelage. Searching for an Earthbending teacher, the group meets Toph Beifong, a twelve-year-old blind Earthbending prodigy, and recruit her as such. She was also known as the blind bandit in an underground fighting arena. Zuko and Iroh, now fugitives from the Fire Nation, attempt to lead new lives in the Earth Kingdom, where Zuko, with the help of his uncle, tries to let go of his troubled past and his obsession with capturing the Avatar. Aang and his friends discover that an upcoming solar eclipse will deprive Firebenders of their Firebending ability, leaving them open to invasion and giving Aang his chance to defeat the Fire Lord; but in learning this, Appa is lost to a group of Sandbenders. Azula and her two friends Mai and Ty Lee pursue the protagonists, who struggle to reach Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom's capital, and tell the Earth King, Kuei, of the eclipse. Disguised as the Kyoshi Island Warriors (disciples of Avatar Kyoshi, who preceded Roku), Azula persuades Ba Sing Se's secret police, the Dai Li, to instigate a revolution, allowing the Fire Nation to capture Ba Sing Se. Both Zuko and Katara are captured during the coup, and though Katara offers him redemption, Zuko sides with his younger sister Princess Azula. Aang attempts to activate the Avatar State, an act he had formerly avoided because it requires him to let go of his deep and strong romantic love for Katara, but Azula hits him with lightning as he powers up, killing him and removing the divine Avatar Spirit entity from the plane of existence. Iroh, very disappointed and sad in Zuko's choices, intercedes, allowing Katara to escape with Aang; she is able to revive him, but he can no longer re-enter the Avatar State at will, depriving him of one of his strongest and most powerful weapons just as Ba Sing Se, the strongest bulwark against Fire Nation conquest, has fallen.
Season three (Book 3: Fire) 
Aang recovers from his long coma to find his allies disguised as Fire Nation soldiers on a Fire Nation ship (Aang also finds himself possessing a new head of dark brown hair, due to being unconscious for several weeks), while Zuko has been restored to the position of crown prince and Iroh is imprisoned as a traitor. Sokka has planned a small-scale invasion of the Fire Nation to defeat Fire Lord Ozai, taking advantage of the solar eclipse, staged by various allies encountered in previous episodes. After initial success, the invasion ultimately fails, and only Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and a few others escape. Zuko, now in a change of heart, defies his father and decides to teach Aang Firebending; though it takes a while to make up for a year's worth of dogged pursuit, he eventually manages to prove his change of heart and is adopted wholeheartedly into the Avatar's party.
In the four-part series finale, Aang and his friends confront Fire Lord Ozai, who plans to use the tremendous power and energy of Sozin's Comet to destroy the other nations and rule the world as the Phoenix King. Iroh, after breaking himself out of prison, leads the Order of the White Lotus (an international society of martial-arts masters, including himself and Aang's allies King Bumi, Master Pakku, Master Piandao, and Jeong Jeong) to liberate Ba Sing Se. Sokka, Toph, and Kyoshi Warrior Suki disable the Fire Nation's airships, preventing them from burning down the Earth Kingdom, while Zuko challenges Azula. Initially, Zuko gains the advantage; but when Azula fires a lightning bolt at Katara, Zuko intercepts the bolt to save her, severely injuring himself in the process. Katara then restrains Azula in chains and heals Zuko. Aang, after an intense fight with Ozai, falls into the 'Avatar State' and defeats the Fire Lord. Aang is reluctant to kill him, and is able to overcome him by permanently stripping him of his Firebending with an ability called "Energybending". Zuko is crowned the new Fire Lord and, with the help of the Avatar and his friends, begins rebuilding the three nations. After Zuko is crowned, he goes to confront his father in prison and demands the location of his banished mother. The team meets at Iroh's tea shop, the Jasmine Dragon, in Ba Sing Se to celebrate their victory. Aang and Katara embrace in a loving hug and kiss passionately as the sun sets, ending the series. The whole show in itself is told over a time period of 10 months.
- Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen) is the twelve-year-old, fun-loving, Airbending protagonist of the series. Although averse to fighting, Aang is fiercely protective of his friends. He is the current incarnation of the planet's Avatar Spirit, and is therefore required to act as arbiter among the various people. According to the show's creators, the arrow-like tattoos on his forehead and arms mark Aang as an airbending master; Aang being the youngest airbender in history to have earned them. His mentor, Monk Gyatso, was the greatest airbender who had ever lived, according to Aang. Throughout the series Aang develops a huge, romantic crush on Katara. He attempts to tell her so, but fails continuously until the final passionate kiss in the last episode.
- Katara (Mae Whitman) is a fourteen-year-old Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. With her older brother Sokka, she accompanies Aang on his quest to defeat the Fire Lord and, eventually, becomes his Waterbending master. Katara is the only surviving waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe and one of only two Waterbenders able to manipulate and control human bodies by bending the water and liquids therein, known as bloodbending (an ability used twice in the series). Katara is usually kind-hearted and generous, but is deeply hurt, hostile and often angered by the slightest betrayal and treachery. Katara eventually begins to develop equally strong romantic love and feelings for Aang. In an earlier version of the pilot episode, Katara's name was Kya.
- Sokka (Jack DeSena) is a fifteen-year-old non-bender warrior of the Southern Water Tribe. With his younger sister Katara, he accompanies Aang on his quest to defeat the Fire Lord. Sokka describes himself as "meat-loving" and "sarcastic", and is often a source of comic relief. Sokka was in love with princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe at the end of Season One and later shifted his affections to Suki, leader of the Kyoshi Island Warriors, in Seasons Two and Three. Unlike his companions, Sokka does not have any bending ability; his skill lies largely in mechanics and the sword. His chief weapons are a metallic boomerang, a blunt metal battle club, a Water Tribe machete, and later a black jian created from the metals of a meteorite.
- Toph Beifong (Jessie Flower) is a twelve-year-old blind female Earthbending prodigy (originally meant to be a sixteen-year-old boy) who first appears in the second season. After a vision Aang received while in a swamp, she becomes Aang's Earthbending instructor. Though blind, Toph "sees" by feeling vibrations in the ground through her feet using Earthbending. This ability also enables her to feel the pulses of one's heart, allowing her to tell if someone is lying. She is later shown developing a method of Metalbending by detecting earth-based impurities in the metal.
- Zuko (Dante Basco) is the sixteen-year-old Firebender, exiled prince of the Fire Nation, original antagonist of the first season, an anti-villain in the second season, and a protagonist in third season. He is determined and strong-willed, and rarely shows compassion until the third season. He is obsessed with regaining his lost honor, only to discover its true meaning at the end of the series. During season two, Zuko struggles to deal with his anger, self-pity, and complex familial relationships, as well as the choice between good and evil. He also takes on the vigilante identity of the "Blue Spirit" throughout season one and season two. In season three, he defects from the Fire Nation to join the Avatar. At the end of the series, he is crowned the new Fire Lord of the Fire Nation in which position he ends the war, and promises to aid in rebuilding the other nations to peace and harmony.
- Appa (Dee Bradley Baker) is Aang's flying bison, who serves as the protagonists' mode of transport around the world. He remains in suspended animation with Aang for one hundred years, and shares a very strong bond with him. He possesses the ability to fly and can use his tail to create incredibly strong and powerful gusts of air. According to Aang, the flying bisons were the first Airbenders.
- Momo (Dee Bradley Baker) is an intelligent and curious winged lemur, discovered by Aang at the Southern Air Temple. He often picks fights with other winged and smaller creatures and with Appa over food. He is capable of understanding Aang's speech; but less so of understanding others. In "Tales of Ba Sing Se", Momo’s name was written as 模模 (mó mó). Momo means "peach" in Japanese (he grabbed a peach out of Sokka's hand just as Aang was about to name him), but it is written 桃, which also means peach in Chinese.
- Iroh (Mako Iwamatsu/Greg Baldwin) is a former Great general of the Fire Nation, known as the Dragon of the West, and Prince Zuko's paternal uncle and mentor. Iroh was the heir to the Fire Nation throne until his younger brother Ozai usurped the throne after their father Fire Lord Azulon's death. On the surface, Iroh is a cheerful, kind, optimistic, eccentric old man; but remains a powerful warrior and a devoted surrogate parent to Zuko. Iroh is a Grand Master of the Order of the White Lotus, a secret society of men from all nations. Unlike most Firebenders, Iroh does not use anger as the source of his strength, relying instead on Firebending secrets learned from the Dragons.
- Azula (Grey DeLisle) is the princess of the Fire Nation. She is Zuko's younger sister and one of the major antagonists of the series (the primary antagonist of the second season and one of the main antagonists in the third season). Though much older in appearance, it is confirmed by the official website that she is intended to be 14, making her two years younger than her brother. Azula is a Firebending prodigy and is one of the few living Firebenders capable of casting lightning. She is a cunning master at manipulation and a great leader, using fear to control her subjects and friends alike, reserving loyalty solely for her father. She is meticulous and calculating, but also a megalomaniacal perfectionist. She is seen to be extremely capable and resourceful, bringing down the entire Earth Kingdom in her ruthless pursuit of the Avatar in season two. At the end of season three, she loses her sanity altogether due to deep rooted psychological problems and a fragile mental state broken by the betrayal of her friends and is subsequently defeated by Zuko and Katara.
- Suki (Jennie Kwan) is the leader of the young (and exclusively female) Kyoshi Island Warriors, a sect established by Avatar Kyoshi. She is an exceptionally skilled fighter and staunch ally of the protagonists. She was imprisoned by the Fire Nation after the Kyoshi Warriors were defeated by Azula, but was ultimately released by Sokka and Zuko. She remained with the protagonists thereafter and fought with Toph and Sokka to disable the Fire Nation's air force. She was Sokka's romantic love interest, lover, and girlfriend immediately following the end of the War.
- Mai (Cricket Leigh) is Zuko's love interest and the best friend of Ty Lee. Mai herself lacks bending, but is agile, swift, and skilled in dart-throwing and knife-throwing. She assists Azula throughout most of her role; but she later abandons the Princess because of her deep feelings for Zuko.
- Ty Lee (Olivia Hack) is an acrobat who fights alongside Azula against the protagonists, notable for her appearance of vivacity, innocence, and youth and for her ability to disable enemies by temporarily obstructing the chi from their limbs. Having abandoned Azula, she joins the Kyoshi Island Warriors, whom she had earlier impersonated.
Avatar: The Last Airbender was co-created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko at Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, California. Animation work was mostly done by three animation studios in South Korea: JM Animation, DR Movie, and Moi Animation. According to Bryan Konietzko, the program was conceived in the spring of 2001 when he took an old sketch of a balding, middle-aged man and re-imagined the character as a child. Konietzko drew the character herding bison in the sky, and showed the sketch to Mike DiMartino. At the time, DiMartino was studying a documentary about explorers trapped in the South Pole. Konietzko described their early development of the concept:
|“||We thought, "There's an air guy along with these water people trapped in a snowy wasteland... and maybe some fire people are pressing down on them..."||”|
The co-creators successfully pitched the idea to Nickelodeon vice president and executive producer Eric Coleman just two weeks later.
The series was first revealed to the public in a teaser reel at Comic-Con 2004, and aired February 21, 2005. In the United States, first two episodes of the series were shown together in a one-hour premiere event. A second twenty-episode season ran from March 17, 2006 through December 1. A third and final season, beginning September 21, 2007, featured twenty-one episodes rather than the usual twenty. The final four episodes were packaged as a two-hour movie.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is notable for borrowing extensively from East Asian art and mythology to create its universe. The series' character designs are heavily influenced by Chinese art, history, Hinduism, Taoism and Buddhism, and Yoga. Traditional Chinese calligraphy styles represent nearly all the writing in the series. For each instance of calligraphy, an appropriate style is used, ranging from seal script (more archaic) to clerical script. The show employed a cultural consultant, Edwin Zane, and calligrapher Siu-Leung Lee as consultants for the series' cultural influences. The choreographed martial art bending moves were affected by Asian cinema. In an interview, Bryan revealed that, "Mike and I were really interested in other epic 'Legends & Lore' properties, like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, but we knew that we wanted to take a different approach to that type of genre. Our love for Japanese anime, Hong Kong action and kung fu cinema, yoga, and Eastern philosophies led us to the initial inspiration for Avatar: The Last Airbender." The show's character designs are influenced by anime; but the show is not considered an example of such.
All music and sound used in the series was done by Jeremy Zuckerman and Benjamin Wynn, who formed The Track Team. They experimented with use of a wide range of different instruments, such as the guzheng, pipa, and duduk, to compose background music.
The term "Avatar" comes from Sanskrit (अवतार), wherein means "descent"; its roots are ava, "down," and tri, "to pass". In the Hindu scriptures, avatar signifies the mortal incarnation of a god (usually Vishnu). The Chinese characters apparent at the top of the show's title card mean "the divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world". According to the plot, Aang unknowingly revealed he was the Avatar when by choosing four toys out of thousands, each of which were the childhood toys of previous Avatars. In Tibetan Buddhism, there is a similar test for reincarnations of a Tulku Lama. In Magic and Mystery in Tibet, Alexandra David-Neel writes that "a number of objects such as rosaries, ritualistic implements, books, tea-cups, etc., are placed together, and the child must pick out those which belonged to the late tulku, thus showing that he recognizes the things which were theirs in their previous life". Each successor is expected to show signs of continuity with the previous Avatar, such as being born within a week of the death.
Avatar: The Last Airbender draws on the four classical elements for its bending arts: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. Although each has its own variation, most ancient philosophies incorporate these four elements: examples include the classical Hindu, Buddhist, and Greek elemental traditions. In the show’s opening, each element is accompanied by two Chinese characters: an ancient Chinese seal script character on the left representing the element being shown and a modern Chinese character on the right describing some feature of the element. The character 水 (pinyin: shuǐ), which stands for water, is shown with 善 (pinyin: shàn), which means benevolence and adaptivity. The character 土 (pinyin: tǔ), which stands for earth, is shown with 強 (pinyin: qiáng), which means strength and stability. The character 火 (pinyin: huǒ), which stands for fire, is shown with 烈 (pinyin: liè), which means intensity and passion. Finally, the character 气 (pinyin: qì), which stands for air, is shown with 和 (pinyin: hé), which means peace and harmony.
In addition to the use of four classical elements in the series, the fighting styles associated with each element are derived from different styles of Chinese martial arts, for which the film-makers employed Sifu Kisu of the Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic Association as a consultant. Each fighting style was chosen to represent the element it projected. T'ai chi was used for "Waterbending" in the series, which focuses on alignment, body structure, breath, and visualization. Hung Gar was used for "Earthbending" in the series, and was chosen for its firmly rooted stances and powerful strikes to present the solid nature of earth. Northern Shaolin, which uses strong arm and leg movements was used to represent "Firebending". Ba Gua, which uses dynamic circular movements and quick directional changes, was used for "Airbending". The only exception to these styles is Toph, who can be seen practicing a Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis style.
When the series debuted, it was rated the best animated television series in its demographic; new episodes averaged 3.1 million viewers each. A one-hour special showing of "The Secret of the Fire Nation" which aired on September 15, 2006, consisting of "The Serpent's Pass" and "The Drill", gathered an audience of 5.1 million viewers. According to the Nielsen Media Research, the special was the best performing cable television show airing in that week. In 2007, Avatar: The Last Airbender was syndicated to more than 105 countries worldwide, and was one of Nickelodeon's top rated programs. The series was ranked first on Nickelodeon in Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Colombia.
The four-part series finale, Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle, received the highest ratings of the series. Its premiere averaged 5.6 million viewers, 95% more viewers than Nickelodeon had received in mid-July 2007. During the week of July 14, it ranked as the most-viewed program for the under-14 demographic. Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle also appeared on iTunes' top ten list of best-selling television episodes during that same week. Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle's popularity affected online media as well; "Rise of the Phoenix King", a Nick.com online game based on Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle, generated almost 815,000 game plays within three days. IGN listed the complete series as 35th in its list of Top 100 Animated TV Shows, it is also currently the highest rated animated show on IMDb.
Awards and nominations 
|2005||Pulcinella Awards||Best Action Adventure TV Series||N/A||Won|||
|Best TV Series||N/A||Won|||
|33rd Annie Awards||Best Animated Television Production||N/A||Nominated|||
|Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production||Lauren MacMullan for "The Deserter"||Won|||
|Writing for an Animated Television Production||Aaron Ehasz and John O’Bryan for "The Fortuneteller"||Nominated|||
|2006||34th Annie Awards||Character Animation in a Television Production||Yu Jae Myung for "The Blind Bandit"||Won|||
|Directing in an Animated Television Production||Giancarlo Volpe for "The Drill"||Won|||
|2007||36th Annie Awards||Best Animated Television Production for Children||N/A||Won|||
|Directing in an Animated Television Production||Joaquim Dos Santos for "Sozin's Comet, Part 3: Into the Inferno"||Won|||
|Genesis Awards||Outstanding Children's Programming||"Appa's Lost Days"||Won|||
|59th Primetime Emmy Awards||Outstanding Animated Program||"City of Walls and Secrets"||Nominated|||
|Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation||"Sang-Jin Kim" for "Lake Laogai"||Won|||
|2008||Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards||Favorite Cartoon||N/A||Won|||
|Annecy International Animated Film Festival||TV series||Joaquim Dos Santos for "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse"||Nominated|||
|56th Golden Reel Awards||Best Sound Editing in a Television Animation||"Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang"||Nominated|||
Other media 
Art and comic books 
Dark Horse Comics released an art book titled Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Art of the Animated Series, on June 2, 2010 which contains 184 pages of the original art and creation behind the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series. Several comic book short stories were published in Nickelodeon Magazine, and on June 15, 2011 Dark Horse released a collection of these and new comics in a single volume, Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Lost Adventures.
Dark Horse also publishes a graphic novel series by Gene Yang that continues Aang's story after the Hundred Years' War. Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Promise, published in three volumes in 2012, is about the fate of the Fire Nation colonies that eventually become The Legend of Korra's United Republic. A second set of three comic books, Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Search, focuses on Zuko and Azula and the fate of their mother, Ursa.
Promotion and merchandising 
Avatar: The Last Airbender's success has led to some promotional advertising with third-party companies, such as Burger King and Upper Deck Entertainment. Avatar: The Last Airbender-themed roller coasters at Nickelodeon Universe in the Mall of America and one formerly at Kings Island also appeared. During the show's runtime, Nickelodeon published two special issues of Nick Mag Presents dedicated entirely to the show. Various members of the Avatar: The Last Airbender staff and cast appeared at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con International convention, while Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko appeared with Martial Arts Consultant Sifu Kisu at the Pacific Media Expo on October 28, 2006. Avatar: The Last Airbender also has its own line of t-shirts, LEGO playsets, toys, a trading card game, a cine-manga, and three video games, as well as an MMO.
The Fisher-Price-produced action figure toy line generated some controversy with its exclusion of any female characters. Mattel came to release information stating that they have taken account of Katara's increased role within the program, and that she would be included in the figure assortment for a mid-2007 release. The figure ultimately went unreleased, however, as the entire line was canceled before she could be produced.
Nickelodeon executives have since released optimistic plans for upcoming marketing strategies in regards to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon President Cyma Zarghami openly stated her belief that the franchise "could become their Harry Potter".
Video games 
A video game trilogy about Avatar: The Last Airbender has been created. Avatar: The Last Airbender, the video game, was released on October 10, 2006. Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth was released on October 16, 2007. Avatar: The Last Airbender – Into the Inferno was released on October 13, 2008. The three games were loosely based on seasons one, two and three, respectively. Players can select characters and complete quests to gain experience and advance the storyline. Despite lackluster critical reviews, the games did extremely well commercially; for example, Avatar: The Last Airbender was THQ's top selling Nickelodeon game in 2006 and even reached Sony CEA's "Greatest Hits" status.
Avatar: Legends of the Arena, a massive multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows, was launched on September 25, 2008 by Nickelodeon. Each user is able to create their own character, choose a nation, and to interact with others across the globe.
The first season of the show became the basis for the 2010 live-action film The Last Airbender, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is claimed to be the first movie of a planned trilogy from each of the television 3 seasons. Critical reception was overwhelmingly negative from both critics and fans alike, earning the film a 6% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and five Razzies in 2011, including Worst Picture. The film originally shared the title of the television series, but it was changed to The Last Airbender because producers feared it would be confused with the James Cameron film Avatar. The film version stars Noah Ringer as Aang, Nicola Peltz as Katara, Jackson Rathbone as Sokka, Dev Patel as Zuko, and Shaun Toub as Iroh.
The Legend of Korra, a sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender, was announced at the Comic-Con in San Diego on July 22, 2010. It is written and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the creators and producers of the original series. Initially titled Avatar: Legend of Korra, then The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra, it takes place seventy years after the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The first season of 12 episodes aired from April to June 2012, and a second season of 14 episodes is in production. Nickelodeon also awarded an additional 26 episodes to The Legend of Korra, re-announced by co-creator Konietzko at the 2012 Comic-Con in San Diego.
The series' protagonist is Korra, a 17-year old girl from the Southern Water Tribe and the reincarnation of the Avatar after Aang's death. The character was partly inspired by Avatar Kyoshi of the original series, whom the creators say was very popular among fans. In order to avoid repetition of Aang's adventures during the original series, the creators wanted to root the show in one place: Republic City. A concept drawing of the city, released with the announcement of the series, shows the city's design as inspired by Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manhattan, and Vancouver with a steampunk vibe. In the show's first season, Korra has to learn airbending from Tenzin, the youngest son of Aang and Katara, and contend with Amon's anti-bender revolution taking place in the city.
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