I loved the Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was well animated, full of lovable characters, humor, action, and it had a great plot. My favorite animal character was Appa, Aang’s giant flying water bison.

If you have never seen the cartoon I recommend it (it is only three seasons long) and there is a new live action move coming July 2, 2010 titled The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

The story in the TV series focuses on a war between the four different nations of earth, water, fire, and air. The war was initiated by the fire nation which desires to conquer the world. Each nation can fight and work by bending the element particular to that nation. The avatar’s job is to maintain peace between the nations and can do so because they are the one person who can control all four elements. The avatar is reborn after the previous avatar dies as a member of a different nation. The show focuses on the last air bender, Aang, who is the last person from the air nation, due to the conquest by the fire nation, and who is also the current avatar. It follows his struggles and friendships as he attempts to restore peace to the four nations. That is a very simplistic explanation of the show, but it is great and I highly suggest seeing it on DVD.

For reference, here is Appa from the cartoon:

Here he is with human characters for a size reference:

Here are some toys of him from the TV show:

Stuffed toy from the front –

View of his body –

Here is the plastic action figure, looking very intense –

Today I saw pictures of what the toys of Appa will look like for the movie:

I will have to get used to Appa’s new and more realistic look. But I think that seeing him in the movie will make all the difference!

To learn more about Avatar, the cartoon and the new movie, check out lastairbenderfans.com and mnightfans.com.