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Mattierial — Avatar: Zuko Alone
Published: 2010-06-18 17:17:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 22019; Favourites: 846; Downloads: 0
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Description
Avatar gets a lot of credit for a lot of things. Fluid fight scenes, great dialog, original idea. Amid all of this hype, the beautiful storytelling of the creators seems to get forgotten.Yes, the art is wonderful, But its not the best I've seen. Yes, It has fantastic comedy, but other shows have that too. Yes, it's original, but originality is common these days. But what this show has, that no other Television show I've seen has, is a real and defined story.
Look at shows like Naruto, Bleach; even live action shows like MASH and more recently House. The motivation to watch these shows is often on an episode basis, the formulaic Problem/solution one hour deal (and yes Avatar has this for each episode as well). But Avatar also has a long term motivation, a climax that each individual episode leads up to. An Epic Battle and more importantly, an end.
One could Argue that many shows have this long term motivation, Like Naruto and the main evil group fights, or Bleach and rescuing Rukia; and in a way it's true. But, once you have that Climax and Fall from action, another hurtle emerges, one more World ending fight with similar rising action (train, fight low-lings, etc; what I like to call the Dragon-Ball Z effect). In the real world, things like this just don't happen, and even if they did its just not plausible that one man or group could be at the center of defense against every Apocalyptic event. It's just not relatable and after a while, it gets boring.
Beyond just having an end, Avatar has one more fantastic story element, something that is often attempted but almost never done correctly (and the reason why this rant is here); a smooth Bad-guy to good-guy transition.
We all face tough choices, and we all regret our decisions. Zuko is the ultimate representation of this human quality, and I think that is the reason why Avatar fans love him so much; he's just like us.
Thanks for looking
-Matt
Avatar belongs to Mike, Bryan and Nick. Art belongs to me.
See More of my Avatar Fanart here: [link]
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Comments: 162
nice pic i love the color scheme you used , & i get what you're saying about zuko,he's probably my fav character
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It's the way that what is supposedly a kid show has captured the hearts of people of all ages. As the story progresses and the characters mature, you go on that journey with them. You feel their turmoil, struggles, and triumphs. The way Michael, Bryan, the producers and of all the cast have managed to convey that is done so wonderfully that you really do feel like you KNOW the characters. And I love Zuko because he is the perfect representation of the idea that we all have both good and dark sides to us, but what matters is the part we decide to act upon. I don't think I've ever recalled a series that has moved me this much.
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Because Avatar the Last aribender is a monomyth.
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Wow! It looks like it's straight from the episode! Amazing!
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Oh! I love this episode! besides Zuko is the only big character who has an whole episode for him self!
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This is excellent!
Thanks for the commentary on Avatar: The Last Airbender. You summed up a really important aspect of the show.
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Really looks like art straight from the ATLA drawing board...awesome....
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so great!!!
and you're right. there's a little bit of Zuko in all of us.
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Oh, you make such a good point in your description! See, I grew up watching A:TLA and I got that amazing story. Now the cartoons for kids to watch growing up are just "DDUUUHH, WE GOT IN TROUBLE, HEHE, FART BURP INSERT MORE UNAPPEALING AND IDIOTIC THINGS HERE". It makes me sad, but happy that soon Korra will ocme to the rescue!
And this picture is SO beautiful. I love it, and that was one of my favorite episodes, mainly because it featured one of my favorite characters. And the reason I love Zuko is because of that bad-guy to good-guy transition! He's got such a deep emotional story and all this pressure about which path in life for him to take, and it's just so... sigh. I'm sorry, going on another one of my A:TLA rants. XD
Seriously, I LOVE it though. The drawing, coloring, shading, all of it!
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Yeah... I'm disappointed by the cartoons on today. Can you believe that stuff like "Adventure Time" are actually shows? There is absolutely no production quality at all... I think the difference is most of those shows are designed by a board of directors for the purpose of making money, instead of by creators who actually believe in the project (like Mike and Bryan).
Yes, Korra will be out soon to save the day
Zuko is pretty amazing 
I think we can all agree that "gAang Zuko" is the character we really love... not the angry one we met in the first season. It's how he changed that makes him so endearing
Thank you
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Yeah, it's exactly as you say. 
Zuko... it's the pain that he went through, lived with, how he fought for his honor, the way he continued with his goals without giving up, and went through the difficult process of deciding which path to choose, especially when one meant he's be going against his own father and his country. Everything he did makes him who he is. At first, he's just a spoiled prince stopping at no cost to capture the Avatar (season one), then he realizes that maybe, just maybe it isn't right... and he starts to doubt. Uncle Iroh helps by giving advice and guidance. Zuko thinks about everything and the choice that he has to make (season 2). And finally, he realizes that the right choice isn't always easy, but accepts it and tries his best again (season 3). He becomes stronger, someone who fights/cares for others and not just himself.
I love Zuko! xD
Oh, and his hair also gets better with his personality. XDDD
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Zuko is may favorite charcter for the exact reason you've described above. He goes through a lot in Avatar. He's got a lot on his plate and though he struggles he gets through it. He's my favorite chracter and this is a great image...of my least favorite episode. I can't watch the episode Zuko Alone without wanting to jump in that world and totaly kick those villagers @$$es!! :mad: I know he's fire nation and all and they hate the fire nation but he saved the kid! They were ungrateful. But good picture because it caputres that same feeling i have when i see that episode is about to play. 
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It's funny... you hear the creators' interviews and they talk about how he was an afterthought, a throwaway character so that they could have a bad guy. But, then he turns out to have the most dynamic story arc of all of the characters. I love it
As to the villagers... people hold on to their prejudices. Look at how long America had slavery... and now, hundreds of years after the Civil War, the prejudice still stands on both sides of the issue. Those villagers have been at the whim of a tyrannical ruler for so long... there's a lot of pain, suffering and anger that's existed for nearly a century. You almost can't blame them for hating someone whose part of that- and the Prince, the future of their pain- even if he did save one of their own. Sure, there comes a time when you have to shed the prejudices of your fathers and live for yourself... but, those people aren't at that point yet... heck, Zuko isn't at that point yet
But, I think that time with those people helped Zuko see the problem for himself. See how evil the war was, and what it was doing to the people. And, I think it directly affected what he said to his father at the Day of Black Sun.
Thank you, I tried very hard to capture the emotion of the episode. I'm glad it comes across well
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I'm glad he turned out not to be a throwaway character. And, yeah, i get what you're sayin' about that prejudice thing. Actually my grandfather's HIGHLY prejudice. I'm not. I hate everyone. lol Acutally i'm more of the easy going "as long as your nice to me i don't care" type of people. The war in the show did spawn a 100 yrs of hate for the fire nation so i understand how the hate could be so deeply imbeded. But he's my favrite character so it upset me. 
And you're welcome.
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"We all face tough choices, and we all regret our decisions. Zuko is the ultimate representation of this human quality, and I think that is the reason why Avatar fans love him so much; he's just like us."
O_O... That is so true...
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Zuko is alone is my favorite episode just because of what you say in your description. Your description is very true, and the reason why I really love Avatar. It's so real, a war, I don't even know how to explain. Beautiful picture and beautiful description :] <3.
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That's . . . beautiful. Amazing. I love your incredible work!
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One of my favorite episoded hands down and your right, Zuko has the widest character arc in the show and the payoff at the end really feels worth it
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You are so right! And to think some people only like him because of his good looks. There is so much more to him than meets the (scarred) eye.
Avatar is a fantastic show and this is a fantastic work of art from my favourite episode. Great job.
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Beautiful. Zuko's story was more interesting than the "avatar" story.
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When I seen the hat I said "Oh Look! It's Longshot!"
When I seen the title I said "Awww....It's just Zuko...."
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Totally, But I like Longshot more XD
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i used to watch Avatar i really liked it when i did i just got lost 
i really like this its got a nice softness to it
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Wow! Brilliant work! ^^
I can feel a story from his back and beautiful background.
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I can see what you mean; I think it was gutsy for them to plan the series out like they did, and then just stop it when the story was done. 
And yeah, Zuko's story was interesting...particularly how he chose the wrong side in "Crossroads of Destiny." That was definitely a twist, and sort of a realistic one---the transition from villain to hero was smooth, but not perfectly linear, since people do backtrack into bad actions all the time.
Anyway, for the actual art here, I'm also very impressed. It looks great. 
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When I wrote "smooth," I meant from the perspective of someone watching the show, in the sense that it was realistic without any "bumpy" flaw. With this in mind, his "setback" at the end of the second season contributes to the "smoothness" of the transition for the viewer... even if the immediate result seems to defy that. Of course, for Zuko himself, the transition was anything but smooth, and he wrestled with the concept of right and wrong throughout the series until he found his own definition.
"We all face tough choices, and we all regret our decisions." Zuko's life was governed (more so than any other character in the series) by choices. For Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph you could argue it was the "destiny" of the Avatar that brought them together and wrought the important changes in their lives... but for Zuko it was always a choice. It was his choice to stand up at the war meeting, his choice to leave his uncle, his choice to join his sister... and finally, his choice to join the Avatar. Sure, he made a lot of wrong choices on his path... but when it mattered, he found the right answer.
This steady, yet consistent, growth of character is what I consider smooth. We can hardly see him change from day to day, episode to episode. But, when you compare the blustering prince from the beginning of the series to the calm, collected Fire Lord at the end of the series you can see the magnitude of the change. The second time I watched the series, I was shocked at Zuko's character. In my mind, he was still that matured, awkward friend who would take a lightning strike for Katara... the guy who would talk about girlfriends with Sokka, get stuck in glue with Aang and listen to Toph's life story in patience.... but, here he was, making the same mistakes that he did the first time I watched the series. Did I expect any different? I guess I did
I've watched the series so often now (and so out of order) that I've lost that surprise at Zuko's character. It's just part of an established timeline to me now, but I miss that excitement. Maybe someday (if I ever put it down for any amount of time) I can watch it with new eyes and enjoy it like I did the first few times I watched it.
Thank you
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<3 i completely agree with Zuko's life being governed completely by choices.
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Excellent, interesting points.
You're welcome!
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Totally agree with your description. Also this is my favorite episode so far (I'm watching the show for the first time). You totally did justice to this great episode!
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Thank you
Hope you enjoy the rest of the show
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Yeah, this part of the series was when I first felt like it was something really special, because it was taking time to make the "bad guys" human.
Gorgeous piece.
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wow! it looks amazing!! 
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Yeah, they were pretty bad at the end. But, you have to remember that they are dealing with nearly 100 years worth of hate and war... it's kind of hard to get over so quickly, even if he helped them.
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I know, I know... I'm just trying to get to the human aspect of it. We tend to hold on to our pain... and forgive very slowly.
Here's what I told someone else (in the comments of this same picture) who pointed that out:
"Prejudice is something that is hard to overcome, that's why the war has lasted 100 years. Zuko needs to see that the fear and hatred that has grown out of this strife is unnatural, and that it needs to be fixed.
Probably this EXACT moment is what influences Zuko to tell his father that the conquered people are not seeing the greatness of the Fire Nation, they just fear them... that this era of war needs to be replaced by an era of peace (I'm just paraphrasing here... I don't remember exactly what he says)."
I think, in the long run, that Zuko needed to see this first hand... so that, later in life, he can rule as a fair and just Fire Lord.
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Well, I'm glad Avatar is coming out with a sequel!!
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I agree, I'm looking forward to Korra too
Also, Mike, Bryan Nick and Dark Horse will be working together to produce a series of comic books that will directly follow the story of the original series. I'm sure they will cover such issues like reconstruction after the war and letting go of long ingrained prejudices. A lot of the artists that worked on the series will be on this project too.
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