From the fanon portal Rassilon of Old

The ongoing work to the Fanon Portal is proving to be fairly successful, with currently more readers of fanon than we have had in a long time. A lot of more unnoticed fanon have become well read and loved by the community, and we're steadily seeing a slight improvement in article quality, so thank you all for you consideration, help, general friendlyness and politeness on the Portal, regarding others' fanon and their possible inexperience.

Now we need to move on to the next step in imroving the Fanon Portal, and that is categorization. I've been plundering through fanon pages - both on the Fanon Portal and Mainspace - and there have been quite a few 'incestial categorizations'. Now, that is a term I just made up, and what I mean by this, is when an article is categorized as Category A, and it is also categorized as Category B, this is normal, but when Category B is a sub-category of Category A, it becomes redundant. A recent series of bot edits made by myself to various Legend of Korra reflects this, and I will use it as an example.

After Comic-Con, we established quite a lot, include names of characters, and naturally, these respective articles were created. However, it may not have been a concious decission, but all of the Korra character articles were categorized incestially. Each character page was categorized as Legend of Korra characters and Legend of Korra, but Legend of Korra characters is a sub-category of Legend of Korra. See what I mean? A page was categorized twice in the same category 'branch'.

Now, obviously on the mainspace, there is a vast amount more moderation of articles, and so usually these errors are picked up on quickly, (I would have missed it but I'd just gone through quite a categorization spree that same night, and noticed the error) but in the Fanon Portal, there is not this same amount of moderation. Before I propose an outline in the War Room, I'd like to suggest a "Fanon Portal Categorization Guide" be created so that newer users, and even more experienced ones, can see how their fanon articles should be categorized. Please vote in the poll below to tell us how useful you think the guide would be, and maybe extend on that in the comments below.

Speaking of categorization, we are currently considering genre categories to be created, for a more comprehensive listing of fanon, and an easier way to find fanon suited to your liking, so have a look at that please. Also being discussed is the synchronization of News and Updates pages on the Fanon Portal, for a more effective procedure for reading the latest news for fanon, read that here.

*puts on cheesy commercial voice* Has your fanon gone unnoticed? Do you know it would be the best fanon, if only people read it? Well we have what you're looking for! Fanon Advertisement! No, but seriously, under-read fanon is quite an issue on the Portal, and advertising your fanon on another person's fanon might get you the readers you need! We are currently running a sign up form for 'beta testers' of the new feature. Just list your name and fanon on the list, and over the next few weeks, we'll asking you what you think of the advertisements, are they distracting? Do they make you visit the advertised fanon? All sorts of questions about the new procedure so we can gather your feedback and proceed with the improvements from there. So please sign up so that we have more spaces for testing!

And it has been observed by many, that ever since the creation of {{Discontinued}}, more and more fanon have become just that, discontinued. Why? Probably because of the two years we have had since the last episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, people have forgotten about the wiki! They've lost interest, they've decided to spend their precious time elsewhere - on, or off Wikia - and due to this, we are finding more and more fanon articles that are abandoned. Sometimes, they are good quality! Other times, not so much. I find that more and more people just move the fanon into the creator's Userspace, but what does it do there? It gathers dust, and does nothing. So please, if you find a fanon article that has been discontinued, and it is of low quality, instead of dumping it in the Userspace where it does nothing, take that extra three minutes to tidy up grammar, fix the coding, add the odd template or category. I'm not saying that the Userspace method isn't effective, it is highly effective - with active users - but if the creator is inactive, just take that five minutes out of your 1440 minute day to clean up that odd article, just so it isn't moved to the Userspace and rots there.

The next issue of the Ba Sing Se Times will feature the brand new "Fanon Editorial", a specialised section of the BSST just for fanon! So myself and The 888th Avatar will be taking submissions for the Fanon Editorial, as well as for the normal editorial, from right now until the 3rd of September, so submit your articles to either of us by then to be featured in the brand new series of the BSST! Have a great week.

Fanon review Dcasawang1

For people who don’t know, this fanon, “Engagements” is a fanon written by PSUAvatar14 which consists of two parts: Maiko part and Kataang part. The first part takes place three years after the end of the war, while the second part takes place a year and a half after the first one. Both are about the two men plotting how to “make the next move” in their relationships, asking their girlfriend for their hand in marriage. Both stories are amazingly written, but I’m going to comment only the Kataang part as it’s the one I liked most.

Aang and Katara: A year and a half after Mai accepted to become the new Fire Lady, Aang decides that it is time he too “made his move” as he was ready to live forever with Katara and start a family with her. So, after some advices of Sokka, he starts “crafting his masterpiece”, making a special betrothal necklace with a symbol of their two elements, a mix between water and air. After careful preparations and his struggle in keeping his big plan a secret, he prepares a perfect day only for them: a dinner followed by penguin sledding and a romantic conversation while walking to a special place under the moon, remembering good moments and the times when they met.

Aang’s feelings are accurately shaped, as showed by his insecurity about Katara’s possible reaction to his proposal, to which he will try to make all things perfect that day for his girlfriend. Katara’s thoughts are also perfectly written (it’s mentioned that Vulmen helped in this aspect), although they are not explicit at first due to the narration is centered on Aang, they are mentioned every some paragraphs, showing that she feels exactly the same and she had been waiting for that moment for a while.

Sokka’s intervention in the story, although brief, was important, since it encouraged and helped Aang to ensure that what he was thinking to do was the right thing. Sokka didn’t need to see or hear anything to know what his friend and future brother-in-law was planning. When he discovered Aang’s big plan, he supported him and said he was really happy for them. As a personal opinion, I’d like to have seen a longer appearance of this character.

The elaboration of the necklace, and the necklace itself, is a great element in this story. One of the best scenes is the moment when Aang starts thinking how to make the betrothal object and Katara surprises him doing something secretly. This part has a great dialogue between the two lovers; it shows the love and confidence they have for and in each other and lets the reader know how much the relationship between the two has advanced in those years. (Note: Thanks again, PSU, with the references to ABCLAF around these moments I finally understood the meaning of the title of TAD’s fanon ^^).

Romantic moments are very well described. The actions taken by the Avatar are precise; as he had planned, the memories they start to bring to the present (including the Penguin Sledding, what they actually repeat) make a suitable atmosphere to the climax where Aang’s nerves start to increase until he hears the answer he was yearning. As I commented once about “Reunion”, this is what really would have happened.

Veni. Vidi... Revert! Lady Lostris

The new profile-I-zoomed-in-too-much-with-my-browser-banner of wikia. Who doesn’t know what I’m talking about? Of course, everyone knows. Why? Because the banner practically jumps of your screen, demanding your attention like a little 3-year-old toddler. You might as well use it as a blindfold 'cause you will not see anything else on that page except that banner. My biggest question: why, Wikia, WHY?

But, that’s life. There will always be things happening that you don’t like, so we’ll have to live with it... Yeah right, not this time! Let’s go over our options here, because you know what they say: “If you can’t beat them, beat them anyway because that is the last thing they will expect!” But in this case “beating them” doesn’t really count as an option as it would mean that we would have to hack their mainframe (or whatever) to delete the code that brought forth the ugly arch enemy to your eyes. And is illegal... Or at least seriously frowned upon.

So let’s move on to our second option: “If you can’t beat them, join them”. Yeah, like that is what I want to do. Join the forces of ugliness? No thank you. Let’s move along, nothing to see here.

So that brings us to our third option: “If you can’t beat them, make it bearable and sulk in a corner — sulking is optional”. So how to make this bearable. Again, we are faced with several options. The first one is to gouge out your eyes. Although that does effectively block out the banner, it leaves us with some “minor” side effects, to which I do not have a solution yet, so let us rule out that option. Second possibility is to cover the top half of our computer screen with a picture of your favorite person/thing in the world. Obvious advantage of this technique: you get to stare at a picture of your favorite thing/person in the world all the time! Side effects of this technique may entail reduced site activity, computer failure caused by heavy drooling over the picture or sore eyes from staring at the screen to long without blinking. Again, we are faced with on option that is very tempting.

Wikia editor redesign Natsu11

At last, the new editor redesign has been made mandatory for all wikis. It doesn't matter much for our wiki, as we had enabled it a lot of time ago. But, I want to ask you a question; do you like the editor redesign or not? I have seen the Rich Text Editor, or the WYSIWYG version of it, but I do not like it in any way. The previous one was way better in RTE. However, the source mode, which I had made mandatory in my preferences more than 2 months ago, is not very different than the previous one.

Some bugs in the redesign are the lack of search box, the "Random Page" and "Wiki Activity" buttons. It makes it hard to navigate from the editing window, and we have to go "back" to the page. The only way is to go to our userpage from the link in the bar as usual. I feel that the "Add features and media" are pretty useless. They aren't much of a help to users. The category management is kinda hard to follow too. The templates section is also pretty useless. The temps there are not usefull. Also, the most bugging thing related to templates is that the list of templates used on that page is linked below and can't be found easily.

Some people have expressed dislike over the fact that the new editor has the buttons near the top and about the font change. The buttons are not really a problem if you get used to them. Dislike has also been expressed regarding the additional wiki-codes in the "more" part. I actually find it better as I don't have to scroll down and click it. One thing I don't like is the preview part. Though we don't go to a new page, the preview doesn't display the full width of the actual page. A major bug is the colors (yes, theme colors!). It is normally displayed in a shade of blue and had to be modified through CSS. Not many people are masters in CSS like Sifu Wjxhuang.

And yes, just like every new change Wikia makes, this also invited major bugs. One of them was the cruel category burglar which made editing very tedious.

Finally, I would like to ask you guys to rate this redesign. I will give it a 7.5/10 as it is not awesome and not crap too. If you guys don't like the RTE, you're welcome to use the source mode. The ways for switching to the source mode forever is given here, which I wrote a long time ago. Yes, fellows. Wikia will never have a long period with no major changes!

On a different topic, I would like to share this link with you. Happy editing!

Psychic wanted! Lady Lostris

Are you the new Aunt Wu? Are you the improved version of Sybill Trelawney? Can you best Phoebe Halliwell when it comes to premonitions? Then hide no longer and share your powers with the Avatar Wiki community!

Working hours: Very flexible. You are free to choose when you come on and when you hold your psychic sessions. You get the added bonus of working from your save home environment where you are free to practice the wizardry you specialize in without being disturbed.

Work field: The Korra and The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra pages. Some side questions may also be found on the pages of the old Team Avatar members.

Requirements: Have a catchy psychic name and answer the following questions correctly:

• When will The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra air?
• What happened to the old Team Avatar? (Note that you will get bonus points when you can provide a decent answer for every member individually.)
• Who got married with whom? (Note that you will get bonus points for predicting possible descendants. If your predictions foresee Zutara, you will instantly be disqualified and put on the Avatar Wiki’s blacklist of "quack psychics".)
• What happened to Ursa and will Zuko ever find her?
• Who is the father of Bei Fong?

Do you think you know the answers? Have the cracks in the bones foretold the future? Has your crystal ball revealed all? Have you touched the screen and got a premonition? Then don’t hesitate any longer and mail your answers to avatarwiki@gmail.com The winner will be revealed shortly. (Note that you will get bonus points if you can identify yourself as the winner.)

Sorry. It was just too cool to resist...
Make the War Room a daily habit.
You never know what might come up.

From the deputy editor Rassilon of Old

Well, well, well... Welcome to the first ever fanon editorial! I know, how exciting! Now, all thanks to The 888th Avatar, the fanon portal has its own space in The Ba Sing Se Times for fanon reviews, advertisements, fan fiction, fan art, and more, and it just seems fitting that this should happen on the Times' 30th issue! Happy anniversary, Ba Sing Se Times!

I will of course be sending in my articles to The Ba Sing Se Times fanon editorial, but we need yours too! Anything fanon related you'd like to have published in The Ba Sing Se Times can be sent to me, or link a sandbox to my talk page. Remember, anyone and everyone is more that welcome to contribute, after all, the BSST is for the community, by the community.

Anyway, onto the fanon portal. This week I began work on Fanon News and Updates Central, your localized location for all Avatar fan-fiction updates on the wiki. However, due to my exams beginning this Wednesday, I've had to put the work on hold. Millennia2 has kindly offered to help me out with that, so I'd like to throw a thank you out to him.

If you're wondering why your news and updates page(s) were moved, it is for this reason: so we can create Updates Central. Once I have completed work on Updates Central, my bot will send everyone a message with an explanation as to how to use Updates Central to their advantage.

Now, on to more issues concerning the fanon portal, we are having a bit of a categorization crisis... Unfortunately, most (newer) users are unsure as to how they should categorize their fanon articles, and even more experienced users are making mistakes, whether they are plain wrong, or conflict with a particular category's purpose. As of last issue, a survey was taken about how helpful a fanon portal categorization guide would be, and overwhelmingly, 96.3% of you (26 out of 27) said it would be helpful of some degree, with 42% of that group saying it would be extremely helpful, and that they usually leave the categorization to an admin.

Due to this overwhelming response, I have begun work on a categorization guide for the fanon portal, and hopefully it's contents will be under public discussion within a month, but no guarantees.

On a happier note, we have a new fanon user group, the Fanon Review Squad!

"Is your fanon unread, unnoticed, or just in need of some advice? Do you wonder for hours and hours every day, wanting to know if your fanon is actually good? Have you needed a bit of motivation, some reception on how your stories are going?
Ask these questions no longer!
The Fanon Review Squad is a new user group of successful fanon writers who will review your fanon upon request. Just go down to the bottom of the page and drop a link to your story under one of the group member's schedules. On the day that you request, we'll make a little blog post about your fanon, give it some scores, and tell some advice."

Good luck to both BlackMonkey and Millennia2 with the user group, and anyone who would like to join the user group may simply request.

And also tested in the last fortnight, has been the new Fanon Advertising system. Eight users have been advertising their fanon, and have had a fanon advertised on their fanon pages. If you've seen this test around the fanon portal, please answer some quick questions in the poll below.

That's it from me, I'll be continuing my Undiscovered Fanon series next issue, and I'm sorry for not doing that in a while, exams, study, the usual stuff. But continue writing, continue thinking, continue being absolutely mad with pen and paper (or keyboard) and writing away. I myself have let my mind off the leash in my writing of White Lotus, my upcoming fanon, which is still being fully fleshed out. I've also been writing the final two chapters of Avatar: The Legend of Teru, which as of yet still have no release date, but I'm hoping by the end of the year!

So, I'll see you all around, and remember, contribute to the Times, and its new fanon editorial!

Fanon review: Avatar: Energy Saga BlackMonkey

This blog was conducted by the Fanon Review Squad.

Hello, this is BlackMonkey, signing in to review Avatar: Energy Saga by AvatarRokusGhost.

This story takes place after the end of the television series. It's about Aang fulfilling his duties as Avatar and rebuilding the world which has been devastated by a hundred years of war. In order to help make the world he lives in now more like the one he grew up in, he starts learning Energybending, one of the capabilities which the Avatar Spirit has; however very few incarnations of the Avatar have ever used it. Without the instruction of his past lives, he's essentially on his own. However, as he discovers what Energybending is capable of, he learns that all of his actions have consequences.
I knew this was a fairly popular story, so I read Book 1, and - wow - it was good. I really felt like the same Team Avatar as the show was in the story. AvatarRokusGhost replicates all the characters emotions and dialect almost perfectly. My grudge on "After the War" fanons is slowly but surely fading because of this. If you haven't read this, you don't know fanon universe. Great job.

Scores:

• Story - 9.0: The only parts that I didn't really like is when Aang and Sokka meet Trinley and the final fight in Azula's Release. Both happen too fast. Besides that though, everything was amazing.
• Action - 9.1: Again, some things happen too fast, but for the most part I was very excited about what wold happen next.
• Writing - 9.5: Excellently written. ARG captures everything so well, and replicates components from the original series like no other author.
• Creativity - 8.9: Hey, if Avatar: Energy Saga was the only continuation of Team Avatar's adventures, or the only Energybending fanon, this would probably be a 9.9. But the thing is, there are just so many "After the War" fanons, that it's hard to give on an extremely high creativity score. Good anyway.
• Believability - 9.7: Some fanons have poor representations of old characters that really annoy me, but Team Avatar in this really seems like Team Avatar. All of the character's personalities are frighteningly realistic. The representation of Jeong Jeong was a favorite.

Average Score: 9.2
Note: All scores are out of ten

Advice for AvatarRokusGhost: Me giving advice to you? This is tough. It was a really good fanon. Again, the only thing that I really though was, well, bad, was the first meeting with Trinley. It just was all too convenient, too quick. When you add a new character to a group, it's got to be a little difficult. When Team Avatar first meets Toph, she doesn't want to join. When Zuko first meets Team Avatar, they don't want him to join. Besides that, just keep writing.

What kind of users should read Avatar: Energy Saga? Anyone who wants to read a fanon better than theirs.

Fanon Review: Mysteries of My Past Millennia2

So, my first contribution to the Ba Sing Se Times and I get to do a review on one of my favorite fanon authors! Is anyone else as excited as me?! No? ...ok. Onto the review then of Mysteries of My Past by The Bos.

Mysteries, Bos' second fanon story, stars Shenji, a young Earth Kingdom soldier striken with amnesia. As he and his best friend, Kuro, go about their duties as soldiers of their dying nation, they discover the presence of a large Fire Nation base being built in the Northeast. After his commanders refuse to take action about the fort, Shenji and Kuro desert the army to take action into their own hands. The continuing story deals with the their quest and Shenji reclaiming piece by piece of his own identity and past.

If you are a Guardian fan, you will LOVE Mysteries. It's chock full of suspense and plenty of cliffhangers and theory starters that will have you begging to know more. If you followed his first story and haven't read this, I implore you to take a look at Mysteries. It's a story I would be willing to follow until the end.

Script: The script, especially for a newer story, is captivating and believable. If this is how it starts, I can't wait to see what it becomes. 9.7/10, my highest grade for script.

Story: I've always loved stories about finding yourself. Bos takes this unique plotline and masterfully weaves it into the Avatar storyline we all love. 9.6/10

Keeps You Reading: For this, it should be "can't stop reading". I'm eagerly awaiting the next chapter. 9.4/10

Avatar: suspense and hand-outs Dcasawang1 and Sirius13

As we all may know, the premiere date of The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra has probably been pushed back to 2013... However, this has not confirmed by Bryke or Nick, and some websites still state it will happen in 2012, rather than 2013. And as we also all know, very few (or none at all) are happy about it.

We all also have different ways of coping with the bad news: Some bash their heads against the wall and proclaim, "Why must I wait?!" Others, being sane rational beings, simply think, "Meh, just another year." But, of course, there are also those that believe in mythology and scream, not unlike a screeching dodo, "What?! But the world will end before then!" Symptoms of 'Korra-itis' aside, we can only wonder WHY this delay has happened.

Some theories have appeared concerning this. Some think a Book 4 is being created, others think it was delayed because of the comic, and some guess it's because Bryke is making a second season. The fact that Nickelodeon is still home to several, er, "underappreciated" series that seem to be given priority has been considered as well.

The ones who are waiting for The Promise - Part 1 are mostly people who are still rather sad that the end of the first series came, and many don't understand how Bryke could "not finish" it, and how they could kill Ursa. (And, no, Zutara didn't happen either after the finale.) The ones who blame the comic start to smear it, noticing all kinds of possible errors and making straange speculations just by looking at the cover.

Finally, the ones who wait for the second season already have speculated all the series chapters, they have found out and deduced the conflict's solution, all kinds of shippings, and even Amon's identity. Well, they believe they have anyway, so who needs LoK, since the plot is oh so predictable?

What should we do, then? Just wait for more news? Don't get TOO mad yet, because it's something not 100% confirmed. The series is going to be aired eventually; the world is not going to end in 2012 (presumably). Book 4 has not even been mentioned, however, we hope that the comics give us some answers that ATLA didn't, and, of course, tell us how the end of the War was properly controlled and planned by Team Avatar, bearing in mind all the obvious possible conflicts that could emerge.

Demotivated Theavatardemotivator

Editor's note: Watching this episode through while reading this column is recommended.

Chapter 1: The Avatar State
A commentary and review (and some demotivation) of Book 2: Earth, Chapter 1: The Avatar State.

Hi there! Welcome aboard the second season of Demotivated. It’s been a wild ride with all of you, and let’s see if we can’t make this season better than the last.

Note: Since this is my first demote in over two months, bear with me please. =] My skills are a little, eh, rusty? Hey, Rusty! Go talk to Bluestar! Nobody likes you!

Previously on Avatar: Sokka’s heart broke. =[ Hahn’s . . . whole body broke. =D Yue died for the moon. =[ Zhao died by the ocean! =D Aang and Katara had a miss-kiss. =[ Aang and La had a Koizilla! =D

Koh the Face Stealer! =] ]= =D D= =P P= =B B= =3 3= Insert more smilies here!

Get it? Because Koh steals faces . . . ? [knee slap]

Note: In this demote, watch out for TAD points. The recipient of the most TAD points will receive a super secret, super special, super stupid prize! Unless otherwise stated, you can’t use Google, and it’s the first post to state the reference that gets the points.

Modified posts are not allowed. If I see a ‘history’ button on your post, you’re disqualified.

Figure 1

I can imagine the creators sitting down together and looking at each other, preferably over a morning hot cup of tea or morning hot foxy lady.

Yes, there was a reference in there if you read Kataang fanon and love ruining little kids’ lives.

M: “So, you know, in the first season, we totally had Aang have nightmares . . .”

B: “Uh-huh.”

M: “In 112. So, I was thinking for season tw—”

B: “Wait, what about 101? You know, first episode?”

From the deputy editor: Rassilon of Old

I'm back! My rather, well, active-inactive period has ended, with exam week finishing on a high, hopefully! In my time gone, I've been trying to cram some writing in all the free spaces I have between school and studying. So removing eating, sleeping, and breathing, I made space to work on my new fan-fiction project, White Lotus. Since I don't have an updates page for it, and I probably won't until the series begins, I'll be having small updates in my Ba Sing Se Times collumn.

In last issue's poll, we asked what you thought of the new fanon advertising system, with two-thirds of you responding positively to the system, but with one-third of you replying negatively. To those who replied negatively, I would love to get some feedback from you that I can use to build on the system, as a bunch of numbers regarding preference is useless. So please, give me some feedback on what you don't like, why you don't like it, and what can be done to improve it.

Now, in previous issues, I have proposed and mentioned a 'Categorizing Guide' for the Fanon Portal, so newer users, and even some older users, know exactly what to do when they create or add categories for their fanon. I've been working on this idea since then, and I've established a basic draft of the policy, as well as my first heading, "When to create categories". See below for the draft.

So, from that draft, what do you think? I know it is a very basic outline so far, but is there anything else YOU would have added to it? I'll be working on that throughout the week, and hopefully have the policy ready for consideration in the War Room by next week.

Also in the works is the restructuring of the Fanonbenders, and you'll see me doing quite a bit of work on that in the coming weeks. That's all from me for now, my Undiscovered Fanon series will continue next issue along with an interview, have a great week!

Fanon review & Alone updates Millennia2

This review is brought to you by the Fanon Review Squad

Today's Ba Sing Se Times review is The First Avatar, by H-Man Havoc.

Overview: The Avatar is the most powerful bender in existence and has regulated world order for millennia under countless reincarnations. What if one could discover what life was like when the very first Avatar came into existence? This fanon attempts to recreate that scenario, going back in time to 20,000 BSC; the year that the Avatar initially came into existence from the depths of the Spirit World. The story centers around a young, somewhat inexperienced Airbender named Tenzu, who has a shady past and was recently exiled from his home at the Northern Air Temple for something he unintentionally did. Accompanied by his best friend and mentor, Monk Shinjin, Tenzu's goal is to rehabilitate his image and realize an unknown destiny that may never arrive.

Script: From the perspective of the Air Nomads we never had in the series, H-Man does a good job of writing their philosophy and bending training. 8.9/10

Story: Quite creative. His first prologue was like a story within the story. 9.2/10

Keeps You Reading: Honestly, it could use a little creative edge that makes you want to continue. 8.7/10

Creativity: The first chapter about the creation of the world and the start of bending was brilliantly done. 9.4/10

Action: Move for move is described down to the finest detail. 9.5/10

Character Development: I can tell that this is only the beginning of Tenzu’s experience in the story. Can you say Aang? 9.1/10

General Writing: 9.3/10

Overall: 9.1/10

Next Review: And Everything in Between

Book 3? Really?

Trust me, I don’t believe it either.

First off, I’ve been working on a guest chapter for A:TLAR for a while now, and it will be done by the end of the week! So be sure to check that out, I hope you like it!

Now off to Alone…

After a LOT of planning, some pre-writing, and a good bit of rearranging, I am excited to say that Book 3: Storm will premiere on October 1st, 2011!

I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting for this. Just a few things included in the book:

• Three new villains, including a new version of a silent killer from the original series
• A reappearance from the prisoners at Uluru
• Tons of flashbacks and character backstories
• A Teenage romance (It won’t be THAT cheesy, I promise!)
• My favorite character in her prime :D
• Plenty of action
• A shocking new secret
• Torture
• Death. Lots of it :P
• A wedding
• An explosive finale in New Orleans

Excited yet?

I hope so! Just as a little treat, I’ll include a little preview of a chapter from the Book. So Alone fans, however many or few of you there are, get ready for October 1st!

The door burst open, sending ripples through the blood soaked linoleum floor. Barefoot, the woman walked slowly towards the bed in the corner. The woman was not what Talise had imagined. Her feet and ankles were covered in blood, but other than that she was spotless. She wore a deep red robe, trimmed with gold on the edges. Her jet black hair was straight past her shoulders, not one hair out of place.

Talise cowered against the wall next to the bed, holding her sleeping infant in her arms. As the woman walked closer to the bed, Talise began to cry softly to herself.

“Shh.” the woman whispered. “Don’t want to wake the baby, do we?”

The woman was next to the bed now. She grasped the metal bars of the bed with bare white hands. Her knuckles were knobby and seemed as if ready to burst out of her skin.

“Did you really think you could betray him like this?” she said, her eyes darting to the baby.

Talise began to sob, her arms shaking. The baby stayed asleep, as if nothing were going on.

“How could you? How could you betray Joel?” the woman whispered dangerously.

Talise’s eyes darted to the door, to the bloody handprint left there from the doctor whose blood now covered the floor of the room. Talise cried out, and the baby moved slightly at the disturbance.

“What was I supposed to do? He’s been gone for years! I had to move on!”

“Gone? Oh dear, he was never gone. Not to me.”

The woman jerked her arms towards the floor. The blood, every drop of it, floated towards her waiting hand.

"Give me the child." the woman demanded.

Talise was lost for words. All she could do was cry and tighten her grip on her daughter.

"You betrayed your husband. You don't deserve to care for her. Give her to me." the woman quietly demanded.

Talise shook her head, tears pouring down her face. The woman didn't show any sign that she acknowledged the small mark of defiance. She only raised her hand and jerked, freezing the blood into a large spear. Talise closed her eyes. The child slept on, an innocent lamb to the slaughter.

Fanon crossword BlackMonkey

Hello everyone! It's my second column for the Ba Sing Se Times - and I have put together a little game here, that culminates fanon knowledge with the old puzzle known as the word search. Here's how you play. Hidden in the mass of letters below, the abbreviations for five fanons can be found. Below the word-search, you can find the quote or slogan for each of those stories, to help. For example, if "The only way to pay for her mistakes is to become what she tried to destroy", the slogan of Daughter of Ashes and Air, is listed below the puzzle, you would try and find "DAA" in the word-search. Figure it out, mix and match, hunt for the answers, and see how you do.

1. A bird could love a fish, but where would they live?
2. Be careful when ye fight the monsters, lest ye become one.
3. Thou Shalt.
4. Different Origins. Same Adventure.
5. A young boy just trying to find his place in the world.

Editing trend PSUAvatar14

Greetings, mein Avatar Wiki volk.

I have noticed lately something rather un-nerving in editing trends. Now, we all love to do our part to make all the articles on this Wiki readable, and we like to make our edits constructive. That is certainly not the issue I am seeing in editing habits as of late.

What I have been seeing that I find odd is the /quantity/ of edits. I understand what editors are trying to do...but I notice that users are making five, seven, ten, sometimes even more, edits to one page in a short period of time. I don't feel like this is needed and has hints of badge editing. Although this is not as significant in the time since I proposed this column to 888th, I would like to implore this to the community as a whole:

Only 1 - 2, maybe three edits, are really needed to do work on a whole page. If you are totally overhauling a massive page, perhaps more edits are needed, yes. But one edit for pages is good, maybe a second to make any fixes. Three really should be the maximum. There is just no need to have 7 - 10+ edits for small to moderate pages.

Keep in mind to use preview mode. This will help ensure that your changes are in place and are accurate with regards to spelling, grammar, coding, etc.

I hope you will all take this to heart with your editing habits. Yes, trying to overhaul a whole page in one edit could be time-consuming and tedious, but at the end of the day, it will make us look more like an efficient wiki with an emphasis on quality over quantity.

Guten tag!

Sorry. It was just too cool to resist...
Make the War Room a daily habit.
You never know what might come up.

Demotivated Theavatardemotivator

Editor's note: Watching this episode through while reading this column is recommended.

Chapter 2: The Cave of Two Lovers
A commentary and review (and some demotivation) of Book 2: Earth, Chapter 1: The Avatar State.

Previously on Avatar: Aang goes berserker mode. Zuko ships with some random girl who never appeared again—not that it stopped the shippers. No one cares about the death/destruction. Yay!

Figure 1

And now it’s time to demote the . . . third most Kataangy Kataang episode of all time, and fortunately—or lack thereof—we’ve got Monkeyfeathers here, due to popular demand. Hm . . . I’m probably going to have to take a vote about him. I don’t know if everyone likes him.

“You can’t get rid of me. I’m like . . . part of you . . . muahaha! Muahahahahah!”

No, that’d be Li’l Voice. Get out of here.

“Are you replacing me?”

I would never . . . unless the community decided so, of course.

Anyway!

[moves on]

So I’d like you to, if you haven’t already done so, take a look at the above poster—specifically, at Katara’s expression. That totally looks like the way a prostitute mother would look at her child. I’m serious about the strikeout there, Monkeyfeathers. Stop staring at me like that.

No, her expression is like Nala’s during the infamous shot in Can You Feel the Love Tonight? from The Lion King. All of you Lion Kings fans will surely know about what I speak, and if not, well, I can’t say it here lest I be banned from the Wiki. ;3

Forever.

So—

“But I can say it, neh? Katara wants Aang in—”

Okay that’s enough! On to the next, demote, which is hopefully clean—

Figure 2

—or not.

If you don’t know what hentai is . . . all animé is hentai.

Look at the shape of that tentacle for a second. Just look at that thing.

[grabs computer]

And you, Monkeyfeathers, don’t even approach me.

Now, since my mind is so far down the gutter at this point that the only thing stopping me from writing a trashy fanfic is that I write fanon, not fanfiction—and also the fact that I would never reduce myself to wasting time on something like that . . . I don’t have no objections—I just want to point out something awesome.

Please open your eyes [hands reader a pair of toothpicks] and glance at the water distortion. Now that, right there, is talent.

As far as I’m aware, it wasn’t done by computer. That distortion is drawn, y’all, and you know it’s serious when I use a word that isn’t in the English slaanguage—or any other.

Figure 3

“Really, Shoe? Really?”

Hey, I can faangirl however I want! Get out of here! Get! Shoo!

“. . . okay . . . huh . . .”

Yeah, that’s what I thought. [raises arms] Come at me bro.

“I’m fine, Shoe.”

Don’t start that up again.

“So these guys right here are the chocolate chip pistachio hippies of Avatar. No, not the vanilla-strawberry’d heavily tattooed Dalai minting Lama but the mangoing Don’t Fall in Love with the Traveling mrakking Girl up there. Have you cookies and cream seen them? I’m surprised they weren’t chocolate protesting the rocky road War like a bunch of ba—”

. . . I’d like to buy the world some tea in perfect harmony?

Figure 4

You know it’s going to be a long episode when you hear:

“We’re just people-people.”

“Aren’t we all?”

If you happen to read Cracked.com, allow to say four words: Men in Black Swan.

If you don’t . . . congratulations! You’re still sane, unlike me!

Of what material are Sokka and Katara’s undergarments/swimwear made? Don’t think it looks like fur or something, as I thought fur and sea prunes were all they had down there. And fish. But that doesn’t exactly look like fish either.

[looks around]

So . . . what gives? The monkeyfeathers are those?

And why was Sokka floating on the leaf at the beginning of the episode—almost forgot to mention—because come on. Please tell me what kind of tree grows giant leaves that float and can take the weight of a fifteen-year-old male. Go ahead, Show me.

I’m waiting.

[waits forever]

[sits next to a black hole]

[travels to the future a couple million years]

[returns]

[sees no answers at all]

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

So Sokka drowned on his nonexistent leaf, and the rest of the nomads died in the titular Cave of Two Lovers! We so cool, we so cool.

And then the nomads were never able to make it to their recording session, and the world wasn’t killed by their recording of We are the World.

And by the way, deceased Sokka, if you’re so fixated on getting to Omashu as swiftly as possible, why are you lounging around on a nonexistent leaf?!

Figure 5

See, there’s this point in time when you have to say to yourself: “Should I make some delicious tea that could kill me or go to a nearby Earth Kingdom store and just buy some? Hmmm . . .” and then you go ahead and make the delicious tea. In the meantime, your nephew has set out to fish on a giant spear and managed to catch what seems to be Nemo. Speaking of which, in 314, Zuko “sets out on a fishing trip”; good thing Iroh wasn’t there to tell the rest of Team Avatar just how successful said trips tend to be. Back to 202. So, Iroh—[tosses a purse]—here, go buy yourself something nice. And by the way, what kind of tea aficionado can recognize the White Jade yet not remember: White on pink, safe to drink. Pink on white, dead by night. Iroh, you’re so smart sometimes. That’s like not knowing the difference between Black-Capped Chickadee and a Carolina—never mind.

Figure 6

Meanwhile, back to the nomads.

The hippies are showing Aang and the gaang everything about hippie life: Wandering around so that one can continue stealing without being caught; being able to sing and play instruments all day because the drugs they bought were nice and hallucinogenic (Spirits, that’s a giant Momo! Woah, that meteor just decimated everything! Hey . . . is that Zuko? Nice view!); and, oh yeah, taking drugs.

This was when Sokka the Ghost came in and told everyone to get packing, because everyone is mooving out like some docile, drugged cows.

^ Worst pun in the history of TAD puns.

Monkeyfeathers originally had a stop here, but it was so offensive that I had to pull the plug. Sorry, all you gun-toters out there. Please don’t murder.

Figure 8

Trufax.

Smash cut to: Appa in the middle of all this fire and Australia—yes, that’s a reference to something else hot that’s down under, but I’ll leave that to you to decide as to what that may be—but I’ve a question. Why can’t tey just fly around the giant Fire Nation army? I mean, if Appa can fly over the ocean for hours, why can’t they just make a detour instead of being so math-minded they have to go in a daang straight line?

“But Shoe, then we wouldn’t have a kiwi pineappleing Kataang episode!”

Good point. I’ll take the Kataang episode.

“. . . fudge you.”

Figure 9

Allow me to give you a small hint: If you decision is between death and a person, and you chose death . . . are you acquaintance with my sister?

Figure 10

So, Master Arrowhead—

[falls off chair]

[rolls around on floor]

[laughs loudly]

Okay, okay, I’m good.

So, Master Arrowhead—

[snickers]

[slams head into back of chair]

[gniffels obnoxiously]

So, Master Arrowhead—

[Error: This joke has been removed by the Committee for an Appropriate Wiki.]

So . . . Master Arrowhead realizes that all he needs is love. Quick, someone put on a romantic comedy soundtrack. It’s time for some Zutarians to d-d-die!

This episode is rather a one-two punch for Zutara: It has both hardcore Kataang and Zong. Sorry, Zutarians.

Anyway, some Fire Nation evil-people [or something] arrive, and clearly these are the same people one of whose cousin died of “pentapox” that know the daang song.

A song.

Oh come on.

And they put these guys in charge of tanks? Why, so they could make length jokes? What is this? The USSR as it fled Afghanistan?

No, siriusly.

What is this I don’t even . . .

Figure 11

[Quick note: When I was five, I thought Woodstock was a big birthday celebration for the little yellow bird that tagged around with Snoopy.

. . . wait, it isn’t?]

Back to Avatar!

Naturally, there’ a cave in caused by the above geniuses, each of them with IQs in the thousands and no failing grades whatsoever [of course, this may have been caused by IQ tests out of a hundred thousand points and an ‘ABCDEJ’ grading system], and now they have to get out.

Hmmm.

The rational guy, the couple, the hippies . . .

Right, M. Night, please don’t turn this into a full-length romantic comedy. As much as we’d like a romantic comedy on Kataang—

“Pwsah! As if!”

--shut up Monkeyfeathers as much as we’d like a romantic comedy on Kataang, we don’t want it form you.

Figure 12

Meanwhile, in a totally creepy and possibly illegal scene, a bloated Iroh tries to make moves on Song, who is clearly disinterested.

And Zuko, I’d like to speak to you.

Zuko: “Uh . . . sure. What’s wrong?”

Me: “Did you just think that no one would notice the giant scar covering half of your face?”

Zuko: “Er, well . . . actually . . .”

Me: “Er, well . . . yeah, okay. Does no one know who you are?”

Zuko: “They don’t exactly hang pictures of me everywhere.”

Me: “I think it would spread pretty far that a guy with a giant scar covering half his face is the prince. Remember how you totally blew your cover in 207? Right. Well—why didn’t the news reach Ba Sing Se in all of your wayward travels that took at least a month, not even counting the time spent in 209?”

Zuko: “. . . why are you stalking me?”

Me: “Hey, I’m not a Zuko fangirl. I’m not stalking you.”

Zuko: “I know how to deal with this . . .” [claps hands]

[Aang pops out]

Me: [squees]

Interview: Lady Lostris Dcasawang1

1. How has your experience on the Wiki been?

A: That's an easy one: it has been great! Avatar Wiki is the first wiki I've ever been on and I don't regret it for a second. Even as a newby, I immediately felt at home thanks to the friendly people here and once I discovered IRC and got to know some people better and they got to know me, that experience only become better and better.

2. We all know you are a good contributor in the wiki and one of the most active users. What makes you work and edit in the wiki as much as you do?

A: I have been discovered as an Avatar Wiki addict! Now I must flee to the Avatar Wiki Anonymous. Sexily! But what makes me work here? Combination of factors really. My main drive has always been my love for the show. It is an amazing series that deserves to have an amazing wiki like this one and I am proud that I can help this wiki become even more great. At first, that drive was also fuelled by a great deal of boredom, but that soon changed as I got to know people here and now I just come on because I genuinely like it here. I like editing and improving something I love and I like the fact that by doing so, I help out others who are looking for info about Avatar. If something I wrote helps maybe only one person, then that was a successful edit and was worth my time.

3. What do you expect of Korra?

A: I expect to see another amazing adventure in the Avatar World. I hope the new series will continue the path ATLA has taken: a mature series from which you can learn a lot, but still enough humor to keep it light and entertaining. I don't really have a preference for what I would like to see as I must admit that I gave up on thinking about it after reading all those specualtion theories that are flooding some of our LoK-related. I wish the creators will leave the old Team Avatar be. I hope that there will not be too many flashback, because to me the old series is done. Keeping it alive will derive attention away from Korra and will stretch ATLA out too much and stretching out a series is never good. That being said, I would /love/ to see Katara and Aang's wedding (be it a flashback, I don't care, I want to see the wedding!). And I want a good close up of Zuko's happy face as he kisses Mai, because he was overwhelmed by the romance on the wedding of Kataang (what? Me wanting to annoy the Zutarians? The nerve you have to even think that!).

4. How has the Answers Wiki been working lately?

A: Pretty good. It has come a long way from since Natsu and I began cleaning that site up. As with all things, we didn't do that alone of course and we owe a lot of clean up to the hard work of the Answer Gurus. We seriously couldn't have gotten the wiki to where it is now without the help of the gurus. Questions are getting answered to a decent level and there isn't a lot of spamming and vandalism going on, so that's all good. I must admit though that the answers wiki sometimes gives me more than a fair share of facepalms and headdesks, but then there is this heavenly thing called a "delete button". ^^ But the answers wiki can sometimes raise your spirits as well: either by getting a very good question and seeing that is gets an equally decent respons or just by reading a funny question like "What is the name of the Unnamed fire Avatar?". Having read that question 4 times was extremely good for lifting my spirits; good thing that they say "laughing is healthy". :-)

5. How's your fanon going? When do you think we will be able to read it? Can you tell something about it?

A: My fanon is going well, I'm currently working on my second chapter, but I probably won't post anything until I've written my third chapter so that if people actually like my fanon (wouldn't that be something?) they would actually have something to read. Although it seems that my chapters do tend to be quite lenghthy ^^. Only one problem: I've noticed that I am very creative when I am on a train or on a bus. Sadly enough, I'm only on a train/bus twice a week and thus I don't write as much.

That's part of the reason. The other part is that when I'm writing my fanon, I can't edit the wiki or talk on IRC, so I am still trying to figure out how exactly I am going to balance all that. So for those who are waiting to read it: it is all your fault! You shouldn't be so sarned interesting! ;-)

Now, what is it about? My fanon has 3 big influences: First: ATLA (what a shock, right?) Second: Ancient Egypt and third: Wilbur Smith's Egyptian novels, more specifically "River God" and "Warlock". Some already know that River God is my favorite book and I adore Smith's style of writing. (Come to think of it, he should pay me or something as I am widely advertising his book. At least 4 users here have started reading River God) Now, my fanon will be about Lostris Tamose, the Fire Nation's crown princess. Before I continue, I'd like to point out that I am not, but then absolutely NOT writing a fanon about myself. For those who have read River God will notice that the main character there is also called Lostris and she is a noble woman. I just trasnfered that to my fanon. To be honest, I've been a bit lazy when it comes to names as I have taken a lot of names out of Smith's books.

(Let's consider that as my payement for the advertising I've done.) Anyway, the fanon is set in ancient Egypt and follows Lostris' journey through the world as she first loses it all and then needs to fight like hell to maybe get it back. For those who know me, it will come as no surprise that the story has some romance in it, but I try to balance the mushy stuff with action, drama, humor and seriousness.

Community Central Natsu11

You might have heard somewhere about Community Central, the central or the eye of the storm we all are in, and love. What is Community Central? Community Central is a place and a wiki where you can meet up with other Wikia community members to talk about your wiki or any other topic, learn about what is happening on Wikia, and find help from the experienced and knowledgable users. What kind of help would you require? It can be stretching from how to add a link, to complicated CSS and JavaScript. Wikia Staff announce their new features like chat, the new editor, the new profile redesign, and so on. Some Staff regularly post blogs regarding suggestions for users in editing, and many other topics. Weekly, Staff also post blogs regarding the technical tweeks, changes, and/or updates that have been fixed/done throughout the week. The blog comments allow users to discuss about the changes, new features, and suggestions, and voice their own opinions and suggestions to add on to the blog.

Now comes the Admin and Founder Central that concentrates on educating, and/or helping both new and old wiki founders and admins in various topics. This can range from a short tutorial about Wiki Activity and Recent changes, to policy drafts help for newer admins written by our own little Rassidy! :P. The founder and admin central has helped a lot of users who are admins or founders of other wikis, with an example being me. The founder and admin hub also has a forum specifically for its purpose. The forum is divided into four sections: General questions, where general questions can be asked, as the name suggests. Technical help, where questions regarding technical topics like codes, CSS, and/or JavaScript can be asked, as the name suggests. Getting started, where basic questions about managing or creating a wiki can be asked, as the name suggests. And lastly, Watercooler, where you can post forums on any topics that don't fall in the above categories.

After the two main parts of Community Central, now come the Community Forums. Forums in Community Central can be used for several purposes. These forums, like the Admin and Founder hub forums, are also divided into sections, but into two sections rather than four. Support requests, where you can seek help from the Wikia community and General discussion, where you can post general discussions. After covering forums, now come some important links. Some of the useful links are: Technical updates, Staff blogs, new features, tips and tricks, Help. This article was mostly to introduce the users who don't know about Community Central to it. I hope this all helps. Happy editing!

Gender of Avatars H-Man Havoc

There have been a few blog posts that attempted to establish a pattern of previous Avatars' genders in order to extrapolate succeeding Avatars' genders, much like how the last one dealt with the gender of Korra's successor, a future Earth Avatar. While it is impossible to predict with certainty the gender of an Avatar based on algorithmic patterns, I believe that a key factor in gender identification could revolve around the aggression levels of the immediate predecessor.

I hypothesize that the higher an Avatar's sustained aggression in certain situations, the more likely the next Avatar would be male. Likewise, the more passive an Avatar is, the more likely the next Avatar would be female.

I base this theory on the fact that before Aang, the previous 5 Avatars alternated between males and females (3 males, 2 females). We don't know what the Unnamed fire Avatar's temperment was, but given the fact that his successor, Yangchen was female, he was likely a passive Avatar. Yangchen didn't hesitate to use force when necessary, as she explained in 3.19, likely giving rise to Kuruk after her death. Though Kuruk was a showoff (as seen in the Escape from the Spirit World game), he was more passive than aggressive, therefore Kyoshi became his successor. She was ruthless at times and didn't hesitate to kill, like she did to Chin, and developed the Dai Li. After her death, Roku took the mantle. He's tricky since he was virtually split between passive and aggressive. It shifted to the latter at times though, due to his animosity with Sozin as well as giving his full effort to save his people from a volcanic eruption (in vain though). Aang came after, and like a true Airbender, avoided fights in most situations and did not want to hurt anyone or anything except when he had to. Korra is now the Avatar, and judging from the trailer, she shows no hesitation in using her opposing bending art, Firebending, and is always starting fights. I think she also enjoys using Firebending based on the trailer.

So what do you guys think? Does this theory have merit?

Commenting: courtesy and conduct Rassilon of Old

Comments; the Lower Ring of Avatar Wiki, home to some of the scum and vermin of the Avatar Wiki Community. No matter what the Dai Li Agents do to try to stop them, the peasantry always come back.

No but seriously, comments in recent weeks, both on articles and on blogs have been, in my opinion, leaning towards being rather rude, derogatory, and even disrespectful. I'm not naming any users, I'm not saying that I myself am exempt from this, I just thought I'd put out a small message to rethink and review your comments before posting if you are upset or a bit emotional at the time of typing it, to ensure the coherence and overall happiness of the community.

Fanon open to all writers Omashu Rocks

We all like to write, read, and comment on fanons. But what if there was a fanon that we could all work on together? Well, there is! The first ever fanon open to all writers is finally here! Now, any member of the wiki can write for Our Story! So far, there are 10 confirmed contributors to this fanon and our numbers are expected to grow. Join the epic fanon movement today and begin writing for the soon-to-be most successful fanon on the wiki!

From the deputy editor: Rassilon of Old

You may have noticed a small deletion from the Fanon Portal I made yesterday, and that was removing the old fanon advertising method, to make room for the new one, which has been tested by many authors over the past month (who all deserve my thanks). You would all have seen them if you are a reader of Avatar: Energy Saga, Mysteries of My Past, or even The First Avatar plus countless more. A few issues ago, we asked you what you thought of the advertising method, and we received generally positive results, but for a few concerns.

However, these concerns were unable to be solved, as although we received numbers and statistics, we really didn't receive any qualitative feedback, any personal opinions and feedback and specific concerns. So I have opened up a new thread in the War Room, Thoughts on new Fanon Advertising method, so I can gather some proper concerns from all users, so as to improve it to suit everyone's liking. So please make a comment on that forum, and once consensus is reached, we can implement the change to the Portal.

Now, onto something else that's been stirring in my mind for some time now, The Common Series Project. Due to the inability to successfully contact one another, the project sort of, dwindled away - depressing, I know - but I continued my own work on it, assisted by MightyBrit - whose self and family have my thoughts at the present time. The Common Series Project will begin again, and I have found an excellent way to communicate with one another, which doesn't involve email.

Anyone here heard of Evernote? Well I certainly have, and I'm loving using it. Basically, what happens is, you download the program, make an account, and you can sync your files over the web incredibly easy. So all Common Series writers, keep your eyes glued to your email inbox (or special location for one particular user) for details on how this will work.

And now for an update on my fanon. Progress has been, well, appalling, in the last few weeks. White Lotus is no nearer to completion than M. Night is to having a successful movie making career again... White Lotus is slowly moving along, but for some reason, I've been building on the series' third season more than the first. Odd, but I'm excited for it. Here are some updates, and have a great week.

Don't forget to visit this forum thread, or I'll find your home and knock loudly on your door until it annoys you immensely!

Fanon review: Dancing Shadows BlackMonkey

Hello, this is BlackMonkey, signing in to review Dancing Shadows by BlueDagger.

This series chronicles two young assassins, Feng and Wei, as they journey and rise from little-known assassins-for-hire to becoming the greatest assassins in the world. Dancing Shadows takes place from 2 years before the end of the Great War to near the very end, and the Earth Kingdom is in great danger. However, in Feng's career, the next Avatar will rise to power, and the War's tide will begin to turn in the Earth Kingdom's favor. Feng himself will, eventually, become a factor in the War.
I won't try to hide the facts with lame criticisms - let's get to the point. This is my favorite fanon on the wiki. Yup. I said it. Between great action, a thrilling plot, and amazing characters, this is a really, really great story. When it's done, which I hope won't be for a while, it's going to be up there with the epic fanons like Guardian and Wanted. It's a legend waiting to happen.

Scores:

• Story - 9.1: Each chapter is really just another kill until you make it to the What Goes Around Comes Around duo. That really elevates the story to another level.
• Action - 9.7: Brilliant.
• Writing - 8.8: Great is some parts, others might need a little work. Good overall.
• Creativity - 9.3: This is something that's never been done. A very creative story.
• Believability - 9.0: Everything that happens or said could probably happen. Nothing much to say here.
• Character Development - 9.5: One of my favorite things about this story, whenever a character makes a kill, they think about it afterwards. Feng, Wei, and Nekku can't just stab a guy and leave. They acknowledge the feeling of a blade sliding into one's body. They think, they realize that they just ended one's life. That's the power of writing for you, and BlueDagger has mastered it. Soon one of the assassins in that trio is just going to snap.

Average Score: 9.2
Note: All scores are out of ten

Advice for BlueDagger: Nothing much really. Read over every chapter before you publish it so everything seems possible, and all the speech seems normal. I really think you've mastered writing action and I think Dancing Shadows is going places. From what I can tell by looking at the list of planned chapters, this fanon is going to go on for a while, so just keep writing.

What kind of users should read Dancing Shadows? If you like high action, illegal city life, murder, and the struggles of killing, this fanon is for you. Although you should be comfortable with cursing before starting to read it. There's, well, a lot.

Next Review: Savior

From the deputy editor: Rassilon of Old

Recent discussions and thoughts brought up on IRC in the past month or two has brought something to my attention, the lack of work being made to the Fanon Portal by the Fanon administrators. Carloso has been fairly inactive of late, and I have been plagued with school work, now that I'm in my final year of High School, and AvatarRokusGhost has been tinkering away on his own Fanon - which I can't blame him for, I mean, it's a pretty fantastic Fanon, to say the least.

It has also come to my attention, that there is more and more that needs to be done on my own wiki, the Young Justice Wiki, as the series continues and begins to near its season finale. I'm also having a difficult time balancing my school and study time with my free time plus my wiki time, which has no doubt been noticed by myself, as my marks are affected. It isn't that bad, but 80% isn't 90%, which I am capable of achieving, should I apply myself more.

It is due to this, that I have decided to resign as Fanon administrator. I have absolutely loved the time I have spent with all of you; both on the wiki, and on IRC. I feel that the point in life I am at know seems like a natural transitional period, and it is time to step off the Fanon administrator podium, otherwise I'd never leave! I am very proud of everything I have achieved both with my fellow Fanon administrators, and with all of the Avatar Wiki Community. This resignation means a few things...

The Fanon Awards have been the topic of hot conversation in recent weeks, and no doubt my inactivity has been to the frustration of several users. With my resignation, I also leave the Fanon Awards to the responsibility of AvatarRokusGhost, Carloso, and my replacement, who no doubt will do an excellent job in their positions as both Fanon administrators, and as members of the Fanon Awards Council. I am certain that the Award Council will be successful in reviving the Awards.

Although I am leaving the Fanon Awards Council, there's one set of awards I won't be abandoning... the Avatar Wiki User Awards! I'll be back next year to present the wiki's second official Avatar Wiki User Awards, alongside Natsu, if he chooses to stick around. ;)

In the meantime, I have spoken to The 888th Avatar, and he has agreed to open the nominations for a new Fanon administrator next week, so I can brush up my other projects, such as the Fanon Advertising system, which will be put live around next week, as there have been no objections to the system in the forum discussion I created a week or two ago. If you have any complaints about the advertising system, voice your opinion as soon as possible!

White Lotus will go ahead as planned, and the Common Series Project - which too, will continue - writers should have an email in their inbox by now (Lovelyb0nes should have a message elsewhere) with instructions as to how we shall communicate and plan the series.

So farewell all, as this will also be my last Ba Sing Se Times column as Deputy Editor and Fanon Editorialist. I'd like to thank everyone, again, for making my time on the wiki so enjoyable, and I have loved every minute of it. I'd like to say good luck to everyone in your Fanon, good luck to the Admins as they continue to do the excellent job they do on the wiki, good luck to my fellow Fanon admins as they tirelessly clean and continue to organize the Fanon Portal, good luck to Hasdi, Buttongoo and KaneC, with your work on the Film namespace and your future filming career, I look forward to your Avatar adaptions, and lastly, good luck to my replacement, who I am sure will continue the work on the Fanon Portal with dedication, passion, and the hard work that they will undoubtedly put in to the Portal.

So to all, goodbye, farewell, good luck, and see you when Korra comes out. Now, time to go. :)

Click. You know you want to.

Lack of activity Natsu11

Have you guys noticed the really noticable lack of activity in the wiki? Yes, answer is yes. But, 'me wonderz Y thar iz lak of aktiwiteh; MI NEEDZ AN ANZHAR!' It's simple, we don't have much to edit other than occasional rewamps and transcripts. *Sigh* We're too flawless, aren't we? I used to think flawlessness was awesome, but now I realise that not being too flawless is good, as you have something to do almost always! Meh... I've been struggling to find something to edit other than minor typos and fixes. But guess what? I'm so unlucky that I don't find anything! :P All the action and edits take place when I'm not online, and I'm not involved in most of'em. That said, the advantage and positive point of it is that we can concentrate on Avatar Answers Wiki (Advertising FTW! :P)! Hey, you do have transcripts alright. But remember to not copy from avatarspiritmedia.net. Lol. And, due to the lack of a lot of editing, we have blog posts, heated arguments and problems :S and discussions taking place.

I strongly believe that our activity will increase by ten-fold when The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra. Whatever you do to reduce the activity, I'll boost the activity by ten-fold! 'U askin Y?' Well, you would better ask the users who were around in '08, as they will know how much page creation and content expansions is going to occur. Oh yeah, we also have the Post-war comics coming up. That will, at the least, bring about a bit of page expansions and page creations. The saddest thing is the supposed postponing of the release of Legend of Korra. I'm stuck between being positive or negative. The postivite thing is... of course... they will get more time to spend on the series, thus making it better. The negative thing... obviously... 'ME iz tir'd 'f weitin'! We last saw an episode of Avatar 3 years back, and I'm really tired of waiting 2 more years for it. I would like to settle with being negative with it, for now. We're all working to prevent the activity from crashing. We've got blogs, and contests, like AvatarRokusGhost's Fanon Trivia, 1stAvatar's well-known Avatar Tournaments.

This period of less activity has also been the activity of many new changes and improvements. Take the title case and sentence case clash or the recent profile image change clashes. Gives us the proof that our wiki can never go without activity. We're so awesome that ever after 3 years after the series' end, we have a booming activity! Why are we so good? Why is it that we are almost flawless? It's because of us who have edited it and made it like this. Our community is, as I have said multiple times before, one of the best ones in Wikia. We have the proof, as even though we don't have much to do, we're still boooming and super cool. Our freenode IRC channel is definitely the epicenter of the earthquake we better know as Avatar Wiki. It's 'ze bezt!' I met... lemme count... *Natsu counts* more than 5 users... yeah, more than 5 users through IRC. How can we keep our community strong without interacting? Nope, no way to do that. I hope that we can keep our activity booming until Legend of Korra and the post-war comics shove in. Happy editing!

Patience, young one BlackMonkey

A couple weeks ago, I created a blog post entitled A Good Old Fashioned Protest, which, if you did not look at it, basically was a large question about the Fanon Awards, and why the CSP was coming before it. I was careful about what I said, and people reacted reasonably and thanked me for writing it. And I thought I had done a good thing for the community.
But I was wrong.
As I attracted experienced users and fanon admins to my blog post, I also attracted lots of new incredibly impatient users, who have never read anything about the Fanon Awards ever. And after reading about the fanon awards, becoming interested, reading my concerns, being impatient, they decide to do the wiki a huge favor. Make their own unoriginal Fanon Awards.
When we tell them that they have to ask fanon authority beforehand, they tell us their awards are unofficial.
When we tell them they copied ideas from the Fanon Awards, they tell us they added their own awards.
When we tell them they copied ideas from the Featured Fanon System, they tell us their awards are for unknown fanons.
When we tell them that they just got impatient after reading my blog, they tell us they never read my blog.
Yeah, that's right. They never saw my blog. That seems perfectly coincidental that several different unofficial awards are created in less than a week after my Good Old Fashioned Protest.
No.
As we are all waiting for the one, the only, Fanon Awards. We don't need a Fanon Recognition Ceremony, Momo Awards, or Fanon of the Month. We know you want these awards to start. But you don't have to create another copy because you cannot wait for the fanon admins, who are busier than you, to start up an official, long-time, well run ceremony. And if I mentioned a work of yours in this column, please do not feel offended - just stop your awards - because what I said here is true, you know it is true, and you know you are impatient.

Interview: The Bos Natsu11

1. Does it feel different being an admin after being a fanon admin for over an year?
It's not majorly different; when I was a fanon admin, I always was very active in canon maintenance and would frequently do the deletions normally left for the main admins. And now, as an admin, I remain active in the fanon side as well, starting publication of The Generals and continuing on Mysteries. It's all in all pretty much the same, given how much I feel I need to do.

2. What are your opinions on the movie and your expectations for Legend of Korra?
I did not like the movie ... I had to sit through the whole thing with a moderate fan beside me trying to tell me who things weren't all that different. They were, and I was quite disappointed. The animation was good enough, but the acting and writing had a lot to be desired. Korra, on the other hand, looks like it will be quite a masterpiece. The style looks fluid and brilliant, and it looks like it will be a full series with as much epic-ness as Sozin's Comet. I'm a little hesitant about the technology, but considering the Mechanist had already invented half of it by the original series, I can let it slide.

3. How are your fanons going? Do you have plans on writing more series?
With college classes, I've been forced to put Wiki work on the back burner ... sad to say, yet true. I've been keeping an eye on things and trying to come up with ideas, but I haven't had too many as of late. I've already finished The Generals, so that will be coming out on a pretty regular basis (for those who care to read), and I'll get working on Mysteries and a special surprise as well (Natsu already has an idea as to what it is). As for my future plans, I've got another idea in the works, that as of now only Dragon of The West knows about and that is so far away from publication that I have no need to be mentioning it. But, I will say that I've written a few things here and there for it, as well as my most brutal scene ever. When it comes out, I think my fan base will be pleased.

4. Considering that you've won the Fanon Trivia Contest, you must have read many fanons. What are your favorites?
Favorite fanons: I've always liked the Wanted-verse, including all of Dragon's wonderful expansions. I honestly feel that his series helped make Wanted into what it became. I'm into Sozin's Blood, Child of Destiny, Alone, and HTF; those are the ones I've read all that's out. I've also liked Avatar: Legend Of Fire and The Runaway', but the author is gone now, so there's little chance they'll be finished. On my to-read list are Energy Saga, catching up on The 600th day and see what I can read of Rassilon's stuff when he publishes it. I'm not incredibly well-read in all the wiki's fanon, given my very specific taste, but these are some of the examples of what I see and enjoy.

5. What, in your opinion, needs to be improved on the wiki?
I see the wiki as constantly evolving based on the new users coming in. This, of course is great because of all of the new perspectives that are brought into play from newer, dynamic users. However, most policies were put into place for good reason, and I urge users to think about the origins of policies before proposing a forum to overturn them. I'm not saying all policies must stay, but that I see forums happening all the time about incredibly (in my opinion) minor issues. The wiki as a whole is amazing, probably in its best state ever, but it's clear the minor issues are still the bulk of our changes. Korra will bring about massive changes to the wiki, and we must be prepared. Large scale policies may need to be changed or amended, so we should keep ready.

6. You, of course, are a very experienced user. What are your "tips" for newer users?
Tips: A system I've seen work is to stick to asking few users questions. Connect with a user who is more experienced than you and direct your questions to them. They can get you the answers, or they can at least tell you where to find out. And, instead of simple memorization, conceptualize. I think that is the single most important thing that a Wikian can do. Find out the origin of policies, traditions, or the system of how Wiki coding works, and then find out why and memorize that. If we have a small group of analytical users, it will be better than a larger group of users who are unsure of what to do. We can then use the experience we gain to spread to newer users by taking them under the Wiki-wing and teaching. Then, they'll be able to teach the next generation of users.

Unemployed with a MegaFonzie Theavatardemotivator

Since I was booted from editing, I put out several job applications, making sure to bolster my résumé by adding my talents:

(1) Has memorized every episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

(2) Has done extensive editing on the Avatar Wiki.

(3) Aang's staff. [snicker]

Unfortunately, no employer apparently wanted to go for someone as talented as me, seeing as they were sure I wanted a lot of payment for my awesomeness. Well, I didn't want much, just a few thousand ... a day. That shouldn't be too difficult, am I right? I mean, look at that one country with the crazy inflation! Those guys must be rich in the trillionaire business!

I might be a trillianaire in the Iar Sea, but I want to be a trillionaire in the real world, too.

Eventually, though, while peddling handcrafted plushies and secretly smuggling computer hardware in Ba Sing Se, I landed a deal serving tea at the Jasmine Dragon. Oh wait, no, just kidding, it was the Jazmine Dragon, some new-age ripoff hoping to catch customers off guard by rationalizing none would be able to spell. Somehow, the long line of vagrants, vagabonds, and one other word starting with a v I can't repeat here for the sake of the kiddies proved their pessimism right. While juggling my two new jobs [literally, I was juggling cups of tea and plushies here, trying to get both to the customer without destroying either], I found myself a nice apartment known as the cupboard in the kitchen, and there I holed up, shivering, wishing I were a Firebender. Sadly, I was stuck being a nothing until I realized that those bozos were writing comments like "I like this alot".

Finding one such customer, who was a darkly-dressed teacher at the local Academy for Land Operations and Tactics, a military institute of some kind or another, I asked him quietly, "What is an alot?"

From over the top of his nonexistent sunglasses - I very much wanted to retrieve that homemade flamethrower and burn him like a truck full of Chihuahua-shark hybrids - he opened his mouth, revealed to me a sickening maw full of broccoli and chocolate at the same time, and said: "What?"

Unfortunately, I could tell from his accent that he was, in fact, saying, "wut?"

I was about to go all flying kick-a-pow on him right then and there, but a little voice in my head whispered, "What would Kung Fu Action Jesus do?"

"Wait to be attacked?" I inquired. The Li'l Voice nodded. I leaned over the customer. "You said you liked our alots, but we don't serve alots here.

"Oh, you must be stupid, jay-kay. I mean like I like this tea alot." He gestured towards the cup now rattling from my Godzilla-level anger.

"What is a tea alot?" I hissed, my hand making the table vibrant.

He laughed out loud. "Alot means I liked it very much, dumb boy."

"He called me a boy. Can I kill him now?" I questioned.

Li'l Voice was sporting a helmet. And a grenade. "Oh ... yes."

With a battle-cry befitting a viking from Valhalla, I ran at him and karate chopped his idiocy. As I would later tell it:

"So there I was, toe to toe with five of the nastiest grammar violations you ever saw! Comma splices oozing from monstrous jaws! Spelling errors sharper than daggers! Slowly, all ten of 'em surround me. But do I surrender? No! I summon my highly trained killer instincts, and pounce! Hya! Kick-a-pow! Pew pew pew! Haa! And when the dust cleared, there were twenty less grammar violations in the world."

As his stupidity fell into pieces around him, he emerged holding a book of Iroh's wisdom and wearing thick hipster glasses. Bowing to me and immediately computing his tip in his head, he used his newly discovered psionic powers to levitate across the room and teleport away.

For a moment, I was concerned, but then I beat up his remaining stupidity and tossed it at the first person who walked through the door, figuring that anyone inattentive enough to end up at the Jazmine Dragon wouldn't notice the extra dumbness.

The first person to walk through the door? Sokka.

As the stupidity hit him, his eyes widened, he zeroed in right at me, and he yelled: "I want you to be my secretary!"

He then picked up Toph, kissed her fervently, set her back down, and turned his shirt inside out.

I stared blankly as he ran over to the owner of the teashop, some clown named Jar Jar Tinks, and hugged him while screaming, "Uncleirohuncleirohcanihavesomefreeteaaaaa?"

The next few days was a cliché whirl of hanging out - or shall I say haanging out? - with Sokka and Toph, who had been apparently looking for a secretary to answer all their fan mail. Since I've never been in a buddy montage, especially not an Avatar buddy montage, I felt it quite disorienting as all of the backgrounds simply began to switch. While Sokka and Toph were able to keep smiling and immediately doing whatever the new background demanded, I was the montage guy who hung around in a corner and pretended to be a confused snail sloth.

Let me tell you, it's very difficult to be a confused snail sloth, especially since they do an excellent job of making themselves seem confused. Besides, I didn't actually know what one looked like, so I was simply sprawled out on the floor, having hoisted two arms over my head to act as feelers.

I don't think Sokka noticed, but I'm pretty sure Toph stared at me. Well, she can't see per se, so possibly I was just imaging things. Or imagining things. Whichever. My backspace is stuck I suppose I'm going where no TAD has gone before by writing a nonstop sentence with no grammar or spelling HAHAHAHAHAHA A LIFE IN PLASTIC IS SO FANTASTIC I'll just have to use strike-throughs whenever I get in a crazy mood, which happens often.

Anyway, I was promptly saddled with answering some fan mail for Sokka. It's kind of like Avatar Answers Wiki, but five time more active and fifteen-point-six-seven-three times less fun. There I was, holed up in the middle of nowhere-land trying to answer stupid mail for Sokka. The cupboard might've been bad, but now I was forced to do it under the dinner table while half the team was busy cracking rude jokes. Well, Toph and Sokka were anyway. Suki, who had spontaneously apparated here just in time for me to write her name down, was just pretending to ignore them.

Secretly, I think she likes it. I'd insert an eyebrow waggle here, but some of the more suspicious readers might take it the wrong way. Therefore, I'll insert an eyebrow waggle for Sokka instead.

Sokka: [waffles eyebrows]

You're doing it wrong.

Deliciously, deliciously wrong.

Now, my handwriting is so bad, I call it handwronging. I failed a test once because the teacher couldn't read it. Monkeyfeathers, I got my perfect audial memory after realizing I couldn't read my own notes. So good luck to whoever received my letters. Then again, I was also writing in English and had to use Google Goggles to translate the letters themselves. Er ... that probably wasn't the best idea to hire me.

Dear Socka,

I love everything about you, from your massive rippling muscles to [censored censored censored]. Will you marry me? Or at least mail yourself in a box to me? Don't worry, my medical record is clean as my wrist.

Love, the girl next door, Northern Water Tribe

Dear KND with a G,

I'm not sure how clean your wrist is, but I wouldn't poke you with a ten-foot-stick. Anyone who confuses me with laundry - and that specific article of laundry - is a no-no in my book.

Besides, do you know how much money postage is these days? What, you want to bankrupt me? Money don't grow on trees y'know, it dug up from the ground.

Without a speck of love, Sokka.

Allusions to the book of Genesis H-Man Havoc

Being a follower of my faith, I am well-versed in the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. Recently, I've re-watched "Zuko Alone" and done an in-depth analysis of its themes, and I came across the notion that a few key events in the episode may allude to certain situations in the Book of Genesis, the first of the five books in the bible. Whether this was a coincidence on Mike's and Bryan's parts or an actual reference to the religious texts is ambiguous at best, but I will be exploring the latter possibility with this blog.

The first instance I will investigate occurs when Ozai talks to his father, Azulon, about transferring his older brother Iroh's birthright to him due to the former's failure in besieging Ba Sing Se and voluntarily withdrawal after his son Lu Ten's death in the ensuing battle. At the end of the episode, after Azulon's mysterious death, the birthright was switched from Iroh to Ozai, making the latter his father's immediate successor. This event relates to the story of the twins Esau and Jacob, whose origins are explained early in Genesis: Esau was the elder, and Jacob the younger, clinging to his brother's heel when the two were born. Jacob's mother, Rebecca, conspired with her younger son to get him her older son's birthright, because Esau had no intentions of leading or a sense of duty; all he wanted to do was hunt, which he did well, and thus he was admired by his father, Isaac, for that reason among others. Jacob managed to convince Esau to sell his birthright for a meal. Later, Isaac sent Esau off to the fields to catch some game in order to prepare a meal, after which he would confer his blessing to his eldest son. Rebecca overheard this and hatched a plan to get the birthright for Jacob instead of Esau, and this involved tricking Isaac (who was blind by this point) into uttering his blessing to his younger son. She dressed Jacob up in skins and covered his arms with hair (Esau was very hairy while Jacob was smooth-skinned), and she had him prepare a very similar meal. Despite a very close call during the initial execution of the plan, Jacob ultimately received his father's blessing yet subsequently had to flee when Esau returned and Isaac realized his mistake, shaking with rage since the blessing couldn't be repeated.

The second connection involves the first event as well as a second event towards the end of the episode. After Ozai declares his desire to usurp Iroh's birthright, Azulon says that his youngest son would be punished for his defiance, so as that he (Ozai) experiences the pain of losing his son. The connection with Genesis involves a much younger Isaac and his father, Abraham. God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his only legitimate son (he had another son, Ishmael, with his wife's maidservant, Hagar). Reluctantly, he took his son to Mt. Moriah, built an altar, and bound Isaac atop it. Abraham raised his knife and brought it down to Isaac's neck, but God stopped him right before any blood was drawn, saying it was only a test, to see how far Abraham would follow His orders. He then commanded Abraham to kill a ram spotted in a nearby bush instead. Going back to the episode, we know that Ursa, Zuko's mother, vowed to protect her son at all costs. It is later found out in "The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse" that Ozai had every intention of killing his son (directly contradictory to Abraham's reluctant obedience to attempt to kill his own) and that Ursa prevented him doing so by volunteering to hatch a plan that would result in Ozai becoming Fire Lord, which resulted in Azulon's death (perhaps by her hand) and her subsequent disappearance. This ties in with the latter part of the second biblical instance (Abraham sacrificing a ram instead of Isaac) as well as the implied aftermath of the birthright incident (although never mentioned in Genesis, it is implied that she bore the brunt of the blame for Jacob getting the birthright, as the latter was already long gone).

Those are the two events that tie Zuko Alone to the Book of Genesis. Hopefully you enjoyed the blog, and feel free to comment below.

Undiscovered fanon Bahjy1

The Avatar of the Fire Temple is a great fanon by Jall. It follows a mixed story based on a novel. For anyone who likes a different story, I'd recommend this. This romance story is very good; whether the idea is from the novel or not, the drama and romance are still great. Actually, I have never seen a better drama series on the wiki, since there are few of them. Whether Jall is still active or not, this mix of drama and romance makes a really nice short story which is something nice to read. I won't reveal any of the plot's twists or main ideas to keep you wanting to know more about this or read it, so I say it out loud again: Read it people!

6.5/10

Work overload BlackMonkey

As I am a (fairly) friendly and helpful user - a main goal of mine is to make sure that the community is always happy - and I decided to write a column on one way to stay happy on the wiki.

And by happy, I mean sane.

Sometimes work at this site drives you to the level where you're crazy. Believe me, at the end of this summer I had to work on my fanon, edit Omar's fanon, and write fanon reviews twice a week. It was chaos, and by the time school started up again I had to leave the heartbreaking message on Omar067's talk page saying I could not edit his story anymore. As I don't want anyone else to go through that pain, I've realized that the only way to the escape this insanity is to never enter it. Start small. Stay small.

You may be wondering why I am bringing this topic up now. Well, it's come to my attention that recently many users have just been loading too much work on themselves, some working on three or four fanons at once, along with huge projects. Working on that many projects at once will most likely cause some or all of the following things:

• The projects will take a long time to complete.
• Some projects will go through long inactivities.
• Some great ideas will be cancelled due to working on other projects.
• You may have quit groups or stop working with others.

The Promise Natsu11

We've finally got new updates and information about the first and second installments of The Promise, the postwar comics coming out next year, all thanks to Uiop60 and, of course, Gene Yang, who provided us with information. The Promise Part 1, the first graphic novel, is going to be released on January 25, 2012. Now, while we're all really excited for Legend of Korra, I'm more excited for these comics. They are like a bridge between our beloved original series and the new sequel spin-off. First of all, I've seen that there have been concerns about Aang's face, which supposedly looks "younger" and "like a nine-year-old child". The cover art for The Promise Part 2, however, denies such concerns as Aang clearly looks his age. Secondly, from the first few pages, it definitely looks that the comic is going to be worth the wait!

Now, for my opinions. After watching Gene Yang's youtube upload regarding this comic, I must say that I absolutely love Toph's redesign. She looks older and more mature. Katara's redesign is my second-favorite. Plus, after seeing some panels, I'm really impressed by Gurihiru, the team of artists behind the graphic novel! Their illustration is simply awesome and breathtaking! But, the thumbnail for the cover art of The Promise Part 3 was the one that took my complete interest. It looks awesome, and I don't think I'll be able to wait until it is released. Seriously, I'm sure I can't. By the time I saw it, I was already speculating and forming my own, not to mention stupid, theories about what's going to happen. From what we know currently, Kuei is going to reappear (I've my own theories as to what he did during his exile), along with, of course, my second-favorite animal in Avatar, Bosco, too!

Now, now, you might have obviously known that I'm super-duperly excicted. What are your opinions?

Is mengslaughter a crime? Theavatardemotivator

Note: If you haven't read Part I, look at the previous BSST first. Also: Be prepared for references to everything imaginable, including The Lion King [my point exactly, Zuko's Scar]. This contains a bloody lot of references, for example, to the beginning of a certain Harry Potter book where Snape catches Harry asleep on a train. If you'd like any explained, contact me. ;3

There she was. Sitting on the little step with a suitcase full of Aang memorabilia, hair a zoo as always, searching vainly over one of Sokka's expensive atlases possibly to find where her future boyfriend had gone.

Now here's the question: About whom am I talking?

Anyway, as I was sitting on the little step scouring through the atlas, I was surprised to hear a whiny little voice start wailing. "Do you know where Aang is? Do you know where Aang is? Do you know where Aang is?"

Seething with as much rage as a sadistic pacifism who desperately wanted to see certain people burn - I'm looking at you, User-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named - could muster, I lurched up, put the atlas away, grabbed my super special Avatar soft drink cup that only cost me three hundred rice bag labels, shrugged, and went on sitting on the step. I was waiting for the Suki-Sokka-Toph love triaangle to come back from a "night at the theatre", reversed last syllable and all, and I was definitely not going to miss the opportunity to destroy everything in the apartment, then blame it on pirates. Or ninjas. Pirates or ninjas? What about ninja-pirates? I flashed a grin. Oh yes, ninja-pirates would work.

By the time she came into view, the house was ransacked, every article of clothing switched and/or burned and/or washed with the colors and whites together, and the salt and sugar [gasp] switched, and I was back in Aang-fantasy-la-la land. My favorite kind.

So, sniggering about expandable arrows, I almost didn't see her approach, until she screamed: "It's a map!"

"No duh, Admiral Ackbar," I answered absentmindedly, turning the page and seeing a detailed thingymajigger of the Fire Nation, hoping that someone had been smart enough to map the Avatar's location. Then again, knowing Sokka . . . no matter.

A giant hand came out of nowhere and slammed the book out of my grip. Finally enraged, I looked up and tried not to gag.

My archrival.

A wild Meng appeared!

"Who are you?" she snapped.

I raised an eyebrow. "Come to challenge me at a Pokémon battle, Blue?"

"Name's Meng." She giggled, a sound like a thousand kitten heads being wrenched off and the jugular blood spurting all over a freshly waxed floor. Pity for those who waxed it. "It rhymes with Aang. We're engaged to be married, you know."

I blinked. "That's funny. I thought he was Katara's girlfriend. I mean - boyfriend."

She waved her hand slightly. "Bah." If she had a tail, she'd have been wagging it. "Maybe he is, but I'm his fiancé."

I put the atlas down and stood up to my full very impressive 5'2 frame and squinted at her and then did some other actions will total and utter disregard for the serial comma. "What's that, little girl?"

"You jelly?" She snorted with laughter like a crazed cow hippo. I frowned.

"I hope you taste as good as cow hippo," I muttered under my breath.

Meng froze. "Whah?"

"Because I'm going to kill you." I snatched the nearest weapon I could find and threw it as hard as I could at her head. She pitched backwards, just barely able to straighten herself, and I attempted to roundhouse kick her in the chest only to lose my balance and fall onto the road myself. Before an ostrich horse cart could run me over, I scrambled back onto the step and pushed Meng's whiny little face into the ground. "The Zutaracaust is now an anti-Kataangcaust! Kill all the haters!"

"Kill all the haters?" she squeaked.

[Godwin’s Law. It’s a law.]

I paused for a moment, considering, my hand now around her throat. "Maybe that was a bit of a hyperbole and a half, but . . . come on."

"Maybe I could make a proposal," she wheezed. "I know where he is!"

I let her go instantly, then gasped as she tumbled backwards into the street. My arm snapping forward, I grasped her collar and held her up against the wall, growling. "I hate proposals. Where is he?"

"Let - me - go - first!" I dropped her like the sack of moldy potatoes she was, and she rubbed her throat, staring at me with such venom in her eyes she was practically shooting daggers, but the Copyright Ghost magically appeared, screamed, "Copyright! Copyright!" at the top of his lungs a few times, and ordered her to stop copying off of Mai.

I plunked down next to her on the step and nudged her with my elbow. Time to play good TAD-bad TAD. "Hey, listen, I'm really sorry." I sniffed. "I think we got off on the wrong . . . foot."

"Whatever." Meng tugged on her hair, but it only sprang up to its previous bouncy-ness. I think I'd rather see Zuko with a mullet than Meng with - no, no, anything is better than Zuko [shudder] with a mullet. "Here's my proposal: I give you the directions, you give me transportation."

I mentally reviewed all of my transportation-giving options and realized that I had a grand total of absokutely none. Then I turned to my evile but necessary friend and nodded. "Sure, I can get you transportation."

"Great." Meng clapped loudly, startling the oogies out of me, and grabbed the atlas in my hands, lifting it up so proudly I could have sworn I heard African chanting in the background. With a flurry of pages and the sound of my eyebrow being raised so far it might have disappeared from my face altogether, she tapped a map of the Fire Nation and pointed to the Capital. "He's taking an interview and posing for some Gene Yaang guy," she expounded, and I found myself wishing that explanation verb was 'exploded'. "There's going to be a lot of posing, if you catch my drift."

I stared at her incredulously, mouth having fallen to the ground. "The Promise isn't po - !" I yelled, loudly enough to startle a few characters returning just at the wrong moment, as always.

"What was that, TAD?" Sokka inquired as he and Suki apparated next to me, he with the remains of a bag of flaming fire flakes, she with a giant plush badgermole in her arms. "Who's that girl?"

"I'm the biggest Aang fangirl in the world," Meng boasted.

I glared at her. "Maybe, but I'm the biggest faangirl."

Toph showed up shortly thereafter, just in time to see Meng and me duking it out like like a pair of ferocious faangirling felines. She bit my arm; I slugged her face hard enough to knock her unconscious. "Good thing I practiced that maneuver on my sister," I muttered, stretching, then glancing up at the trio of Team Avatarites. "S'up?"

"Cool story bro fight it again," Sokka answered instantly, and I frowned at the usage of the Internet meme, considering that the Internet had yet to appear in the World of Avatar - take that, continuity addicts - and pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation in a very Zuko-esque move.

Toph tapped a foot on the ground. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"Fun time with you guys, but I'm leaving. I've got bigger birds to fry." I licked my lips. "I'll be seeing you 'round, yes, no, maybe, lobster?"

Sokka burst into loud chortles. "Lobster!" he howled. "Lobster!"

Suki glanced at him, frowning at his immaturity, then turned back to me. "Do we really have to lose you as a secretary?"

I shrugged. "Sorry, but, uh, I don't think that my skills were really vital to your success anyway. Just have Toph answer them. She'll do as good a job as I was, anyway."

At this point Sokka got over his insanity and now started to realize the truth of the situation. He threw himself at my feet. Well, not really. But if it weren't for Toph restraining him . . . "No, please!" he pleaded. "You have to stay!"

Meng blinked. I narrowed my eyes and put my hands on my hips. "Oh really?"

"Yes really!"

I scoffed, which was very difficult to do considering that I've only ever read the word scoff but still have no idea whatsoever as to what the Spirit World it means. "No way. For what?"

"You're the Meat God!" he cried out. "You're the only person in the entire team who will give me as much cooked meat as I want for free!"

"It's about to be sans gratis. Get out of here." I put my hand on his chest and tried to push him across the room, but I suppose it only works at teenage-infested drunk parties on the beach. I hear the surfing's choice, though.

With that, I spun around, hooked my arm into Meng's, hissed at the contact, and left, proud and triumphant, feeling like a movie.

Just kidding. I then had to go back, gather my meager things into a ratty old suitcase, and burn with discomfort as Sokka kept begging me for meat and Meng kept begging people for Aang artifacts. I shook my head and ignored the lot of them. Eventually, I actually left the house and disappeared, but not before giving in and cooking Sokka one last meal. I felt like a prison warden about to execute him, which is hilarious considering that they would probably forget me in about five-point-six minutes. Toph might remember me a bit longer, but Sokka? Just until the meat ran out. And even then, in his tiny brain, he likely couldn't think "TAD" and "meat" at the same time. Either way, I bundled myself up, and then Meng and I were running full-tilt towards the train station. I bought the tickets with counterfeit money and threw myself into a seat. Meng grumbled about transportation. I ignored her and asked for my complimentary bag of peanuts.

After two weeks or so on train and then at sea - on a ship called the Monkey Emu, so I could make as many monkeyfeathers quips as I wanted - we ended up on the shores of the Fire Nation. As I was paying for more train tickets, I eyed Meng and my suitcase, calculating their respective volumes, then bought just one ticket.

"Meng," I whispered urgently, "I just have enough money for one train ticket, so we'll be smart and pull the old Jewish tradition of getting two people on a train for one, okay?"

She hesitated. "Okay."

And that was how after listening to her squirm in a suitcase for a few days, I grinned to myself as I left her there on the train, enjoying my sadistic pacifism in all of its glory. Natural selection. Survival of the fittest.

Hopefully Severus won't mind my little "present". Maybe he'll even forget about the "missed the train, took a flying bison instead" incident.

[Side note: Professor Snape, if you're reading this, the tooth fairies infesting your office are not in fact mine. I blame Halloween. I suggest you call an exterminator. Or at least Hellboy.]

Now, to find my precious Avatar and [removed by the Commission for Removing Avatar Prawn (CRAP)].

Oh for the love of expletive deleted!

Open letter to M. Night Shyamalan AvatarRokusGhost

Dear M. Night Shyamalan:

I’ve been a viewer of some of your movies since I was in middle school when I saw The Sixth Sense, which was one of the better thrillers I had seen in a while. It was not necessarily my favorite, but as a fan of horror movies, I did enjoy the plot and the twists involved. Unfortunately, I could not say the same about The Signs or The Village, which came out in 2002 and 2004, respectively. Finally, there came Lady in the Water – the ultimate disappointment for me. Frankly, over time, your movies have become vaguer, cornier and harder to follow.

But enough of that. Let’s talk about the movie that’s most important – and that the people reading this are most interested in. That would be The Last Airbender, which is a live-action adaptation of one of my favorite shows. Let me just say that this stands out in my mind above everything you’ve ever done, so that none of the previously-mentioned movies matter to me anymore. This movie defines my image of you. And it was... awful.

The casting was poorly-done in relation to the show. The actors did not hold a candle to the personality of the characters I have come to know and love in the animated series. Some make a not of the races involved and while I personally don’t put as much weight on that myself, I do think it makes the movie less true to the cartoon series. The lines that were said that were meant to be witty came off as ridiculously corny. The bending was lame, the special effects were poor and the story was static. By taking all the personality and charm out of the characters, you have literally sucked the energy out of something that I love. Whatever good intentions you had, I’m afraid I cannot let that slide. I have heard that it is uncertain whether or not you will have the opportunity to direct the sequel or not. To be honest, I am rooting for the latter.

But there is still hope. No, I kid you not. Things can still work out between us. After all, The Phantom Menace was the worst of the new Star Wars trilogy, but by the time of Revenge of the Sith I was willing to forgive that disaster. If you do indeed get green-lighted for a sequel and make some serious improvements, all can be forgiven.

First off, forget the idea of a trilogy in this case. That’s the way it was with the Books of the TV series, but you’ve already changed so much and you have to change this to make it right. Make it a quartology, with Book 1: Water, Book 2: Earth and Book 3: Fire split into one movie leading up to the invasion and one with Sozin’s Comet in it.

So, taking your misguided character name pronunciations and lack of understanding of Avatar in general to the third movie, lets try to get right to the good part of the second season. Go to the meeting with Toph and make her as in-character as possible with an actress that actually looks like her. If she’s in-character and you get her to interact right with the other characters, people will almost forget how hopelessly out-of-character everyone else is. Almost. Whatever you do, don’t put Bumi in the movie. You heard me – DON’T put him in. He’s one of the best minor characters there is and I’d just like to keep him sheltered from you for now. I don’t trust you with him, even if things do get better. For the remainder of the second movie, try to incorporate "The Library" if possible, even if it makes the movie 3+ hours long. It would make the movie feel more like the show, which is something you badly need. After that, focus on the conflict between Team Avatar and Team Azula up until Ba Sing Se when the Dai Li come into the picture. Once it gets to the climax, don’t mess it up like you did by turning Koizilla into a giant wave or something like that.

In the third movie, you’re only working with half a season and you should take advantage of that by including more material from the show. As you’re building up to one of the great climaxes of the show, you should take a break and throw in some charming points from episodes such as "The Headband" and "The Painted Lady". Also, "Combustion Man" is an absolute must! I don’t care how you explain it in terms of your bending universe, just do it. You’ve taken too much bending action out of the show and you must make up for it somehow. The latter part of the movie will obviously be the invasion and this is where you need to incorporate some real bending. I’m not talking about “there’s earth beneath your feat” or the ability to “make fire” – I mean fire flying around left and right and fast-paced action the whole way through. Add some variety to the different Fire Nation opponents Team Avatar encounters. Also, it couldn’t hurt to have the Great Gates of Azulon scene from the show, since I could see that working well on a big screen.

As for the fourth and final movie, you need to make the scene with Zuko joining Team Avatar believable. Feel free to borrow some writing from the show, since I don’t fully trust you to pull it off on your own – no offense. When it gets to the final part with Sozin’s Comet, I don’t know what to tell you on that since the four episodes fit together into an awesome movie that’s essentially written for you. I wouldn’t try to invent the wheel on that. If you change some things, try to enhance the effects of the airship scene and the Agni Kai between Zuko and Azula. Also, ditch the idea of the Avatar not marrying somehow so that Katara and Aang end up together. A lot of fans need that to happen!

That’s my two cents for the day. In the unlikely event that you ever read this, I hope it helps you out.

Allusions to the Book of Exodus H-Man Havoc

Recently, as the collective group of Avatar Wiki users know, I published a blog on likely connections between the Book of Genesis and "Zuko Alone", to unexpected success and praise from many readers. I did however have a few detractors, but they only represented a few of those who posted comments in response to the blog. In the same comments section, I mentioned that should I find more links to the Torah (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament), I would post them in a successive blog posting. In this blog I will be analyzing and commenting on allusions to the Book of Exodus (the second of the five books, and perhaps the most well known of the books, ahead of Genesis) from a few episodes in the series, rather than on one specific episode. Granted, these allusions will not be nearly as strong or notable as the ones mentioned in my previous blog, but I will attempt to highlight and interconnect them to the best of my abilities.

Before I conduct my analysis, a disclaimer: What I've written in my previous blog as well as what I'm about to reveal here is not trying to argue that a specific viewpoint is more recognized than any other interpretation. The three monotheistic religions (one God) (Judaism, Islam, Christianity) each portray these events in their respective religious texts with slightly different interpretations from one another. I'm portraying it from Judaism's point of view because that's what I know, and that's the religion in how I was raised growing up.

For the first possible Exodus allusion, we head to the final episode of Book 1, "The Siege of the North, Part 2". Almost immediately after Zhao killed Tui, the Moon Spirit, by slicing the koi fish with a Firebending slash, an angry and disheartened Aang went into the Avatar State and merged with a seemingly wrathful La, the Ocean Spirit and became "Koizilla". Koizilla went on a rampage, killing off as many Fire Nation troops as it could, until it managed to vanquish the Fire Nation's flotilla (shortly after which Tui was revived using Yue as a willing host for its human form, and Zhao was subsequently drowned by a vengeful and defused La). In one of the scenes where Koizilla kills troops, Water Tribe warriors and Fire Nation soldiers were fighting each other on either side of a small canal, when the fused behemoth's mighty figure interrupted them. The Water Tribe warriors immediately bowed down, while the Fire Nation soldiers stood guard, raising their weapons at the giant. The warriors were spared while Koizilla drowned the soldiers with a simple wave generated by its large arm. This alludes to the ten plagues brought down on Egypt, specifically the last one: The Death of the Firstborn (in Hebrew: Makat Nechorot [pronunciation]), where each of the firstborn of the Egyptians was struck down by the Angel of Death (God), including Pharaoh's own child. The Israelites were saved from the same fate by painting their doorways with the blood of a freshly-sacrificed lamb. The Angel "passed over" (this is how "Passover" came to be named) the houses of the Israelites and smote the firstborn of the Egyptians. An interesting and ironic revelation of this plague was that the Pharaoh himself was a firstborn, but God saved him from death, to witness the grave destruction and sorrow caused to his people, as well as to his own family. Heavily distraught and in a state of grief, he demanded Moses and the Israelites leave Egypt, which they did in haste. The Pharaoh changed his mind soon after and ordered his surviving armies to chase down the slaves he only recently released, but they were all drowned once the troops arrived at Red Sea, where the parted waters were reunited. Looking back at the event in the episode, it isn't difficult to surmise that Koizilla represented the Angel of Death carrying out the final plague, "passing over" the Water Tribe warriors and striking down the Fire Nation soldiers.

The second possible allusion takes place at the end of "Avatar Day", when after saving Chin Village from the Rough Rhinos, Mayor Tong rededicated the festival to honour the Avatar rather than the original purpose of villifying the spirit. One of the measures was to make cookies in Aang's image by simply using uncooked dough. This was to signify that Aang was not boiled in oil, as his original punishment stipulated, but rather that he protected the village from capture and destruction by the Rough Rhinos. In the haste to leave Egypt after the Pharaoh's command, the Israelites did not have time to allow their bread to rise, as is normally done when baking it. As a result, they were left with partially-baked and unleavened bread, known as matzah, which is the primary food eaten during Passover. Granted, this is a very weak comparison, as Lady Lostris pointed out in the comments section of my previous blog since it only relies on the coincidence of one small item (the food).

Click "show" to continue reading!

The last allusion takes place in "The Serpent's Pass", when Katara and Aang help their group (incluing Sokka and Hope's parents) cross the watery expanse in between the two sections of the Serpent's Pass, by splitting and forming a water barrier around them using Waterbending. The allusion only focuses on the part where the water is parted, and not the barrier afterwards. The scene alludes to Moses parting the Red Sea to cross the expanse leading towards the other side, representing freedom from Egypt. As the Israelites were crossing, Pharaoh and his armies chased them down, but were temporarily halted when Moses summoned a large pillar of fire to halt the military's progress. Once the Israelites and Moses crossed over, the pillar vanished, enabling the forces to enter the partition, when they were subsequently drowned by the rushing waters reuniting. Accounts of the Pharaoh after the incident are ambiguous as to what really happened. Either he died with his men, or as "The Ten Commandments" (1956) and "The Prince of Egypt" (1998) illustrate, he remained on shore while he was forced to watch his men drown. What supports the latter opinion is that it seems God prevented the Pharaoh from going with his men in order to have him watch his armies' demise at His hands. These are three events that tie the series to the Book of Exodus. Hopefully you were intrigued y the blog's contents and feel free to comment below. Thank you for reading.

Weatherbenders chapter 5 preview PSUAvatar14

“So, this Weatherbending thing,” Katara started. “How many people do you think know about it, and how are we going to find this guy? I mean, do people know him?" Aang looked towards his girlfriend. “All we can do is keep moving, and hopefully it doesn't take a bad situation to find him, like the spirits said." “I can’t believe people could change the weather like this,” Sokka said. “I guess you can believe it,” Zuko replied. “It’s happening in the world right now, and we need to stop it.” The Team continued their trek through the barren forest, walking up the grassy path. Suddenly, a figure moved quickly through the brush. “What was that?” Toph yelled out. “I felt something go right by us!”

The Team looked around, confused. “Toph, I didn’t see anything,” Katara said.

“But…I could feel it. I could hear it,” the blind Earthbender turned back towards all of them.

“I didn’t see anything either,” Sokka responded. “If you felt something, it was probably just some animal of some sort, Toph.” Soon thereafter though, they all felt a temperature increase.

“It’s getting warm,” Aang noted. “Pretty quickly.”

“No kidding, Avatar, why don’t you state the obvious some more!?” A man’s voice called out, looking down from the trees at them all.

“Who’s there?” Zuko yelled. “Show yourself!”

As soon as the Fire Lord said this, the man from above used his fire jets and jumped down from the trees, positioning himself in front of the gang. He wore a Fire Nation General’s uniform, indicating he was, at least at some point, a general within the Army. He was followed by a woman, wearing a blue Water Tribe dress, riding a small wave to reach the team. She appeared on their right. To their left, another apparent Fire Nation general, alongside an older gentleman in Water Tribe clothing, appeared from beyond the trees.

“Good day, Team Avatar,” the man in front of them said. “Fire Lord Zuko, it is a shame my first time meeting you will be short.”

“Who are you?” Zuko demanded.

“No patience to allow for explanations, huh?” The general smiled, shaking his head. “I would think the Fire Lord would show some patience, especially a spoiled brat like yourself. In any event, I am General Zorro, brigadier general in the Fire Nation Army. I served under your father for several years, and your grandfather as well. I also served with your Uncle in his first siege of Ba Sing Se, but of course he failed. I was a proud man serving under Azulon and Ozai, but you came in and ruined the quest for world domination. It’s time you paid for that. However, how rude would I be if I didn’t let the rest of my crew introduce themselves?”

The second general turned to them. “Pleased to meet you…since you are all my targets today. I am General Ezan. I served in the War alongside Zorro, and I too was a proud man under your predecessors, Zuko. I would love to get that back.”

“My name is Kianna,” the woman spoke up. “I am from the Northern Water Tribe, where I thought I couldn’t learn combative Waterbending. What makes you so special, that you think you can just become better than me?” Kianna looked straight at Katara. “You, from the South? You could barely hold your tribe together, and suddenly you think you can run the show, little girl? By the way,” she signaled towards the other Water Tribesman. “This is Baktan, my husband’s brother.”

“Look who we have today…it shall be a day to remember,” Baktan said evilly.

“Okay, who are all of you?” Aang said, preparing to attack.

“Why, you haven’t heard?” Zorro asked mischievously. “It is us… the only other Weatherbenders in the world. We are… the Meteorologists!”

Some members of them collectively gasped, as they all prepared for attacking positions.

“So it’s you. You’re the ones who have been changing the weather!” Zuko yelled out.

“Specifically, I took care of this nation,” Zorro said. “You all looked warm, so I cooled you off a little. Only the most comforting temperatures for my nation!”

“Your nation?” Zuko yelled again. “Not today!”

“Are you sure?” Ezan began. “I don’t think you will be in charge after we’re through here.”

BlackMonkey's BlackMonkey

Hello, this is BlackMonkey, signing in to review Darksome Knights by Lightningthief9.

Darksome Knights is a creative fanon which takes place in seven connected worlds, including the worlds of Avatar, Kingdom Hearts, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pokemon, and Percy Jackson, and the mysterious Five Pillars who are destined defeat the Darksome Knights, who has returned to the worlds, making them enter a reign of chaos.
After reading Book 1, I really don't know what to say. This was so confusing - but so good. I loved each part and I've got to say this is probably the most creative fanon I've ever read. Each chapter is unrelated in the beginning, filled with mystery and suspense, you want to know what happens next and are left with questions or ideas, only to read the next chapter which is different, leaving you in a unique and confused need to read more. Good job, Lightning.

Scores:

• Story - 8.7: Some chapters were a bit short or went to fast, but if you read it over a few times and know what to expect, it flows pretty well.
• Action - 9.0: Action itself - not so much. Leaving you hanging and wanting to read more or figure out the mysteries of the seven worlds - all the way.
• Writing - 8.3: Pretty much average.
• Creativity - 9.7: It's right on the line between being very creative and not having to do with Avatar at all - but I think it balances on the line pretty well - I've never, ever seen anything like this in my life.
• Believability - 8.9: - Some parts were a bit so so, but it didn't affect the general gist of the story at all.
• Character Development - 7.9: I know in Book 2 this will probably get better, but in Book 1 each chapter is in a different world so there isn't much time to expand on their personalities.

Average Score: 8.8
Note: All scores are out of ten

Advice for Lightningthief9: This was a wild fanon, man. I loved it, but make sure that you keep it to a certain level of creativity and thoughtfulness, because I think others may not. One thing I think you can improve on is making chapters longer, think about how much story can be fit into an ATLA episode, or imagine if you started watching ATLA and a whole episode was just a conversation or a celebration. Make sure there is a bit of action in every chapter too, other than that I really think your on a roll.

What kind of users should read Darksome Knights? Anyone who wishes to read a confusing, suspenseful, wild ride of a fanon should look at this. At times it may be a bit too confusing, but I think you'll get the idea of it. Darksome Knights isn't any ordinary "after-the-war" fanon, I'll tell you that much.

Next Review: Spirit War

Undiscovered fanon Bahjy1

This issue's featured new undiscovered fanon is The Avatar's Story by brand new fanon author PreservationsWings.

This series takes place after The Legend of Korra, 16 years after Korra's death. An Earth Kingdom boy named Leon is the new Avatar, and he hates it. Leon runs away. On his way to nowhere, he meets the still-living Guru Pathik, who tells him how important the Avatar is.

Looking at the main page of the story, we can also see that there was a past Fire Naton Avatar named Zien, he dicovered the history of the Avatar spirit. We can assume that the author will try to reveal how and why the Avatar was created.

A greatly-writed story, and a brand new one, is obviously lacking readers. It is creative as well. May I also say that this author has a great potential, as an author and a contributor. So you gotta read the fanon, it is cool.

8/10

Interview: PSUAvatar14 The Ultimate Waterbender

1. How does it feel being a fanon admin? What are some things you hope to achieve now that you are one?
It feels pretty good, though at the end of the day, I'm still just another user with pretty much the same level as the bulk of the userbase. I just hope to help keep our fanon space at the high quality it has been praised for – ensuring all are up to our standards and that they're all in the right place (categories).

2. What are you really hoping to see in Legend of Korra?
I want to see the roots of the Equalist Movement, the same character depth we got with most characters in ATLA, just how far we have come in 70 years, and of course some flashbacks to the past.

3. Did you see the movie, The Last Airbender? What disappointed you the most about it? Would you see parts 2 and 3, if they come out?
I have never seen it in full, but I have seen enough to see that it is a poor movie. I was truly disappointed by the bending – the moves were really weak and complicated. Further, the characters had no depth and emotion was sorely lacking. I don't think I would be up for anything further.

4. You've written/been writing several fanons. Was it difficult to make time to write them? Are you happy with the way they did/are turning out?
I have had a good amount of free time on my hands, though it has been dwindling as of late. I was not happy with how the first half of "Engagements" turned out, those needing some serious pre-release revisions, but I loved the second half. I like where "Weatherbenders" is headed currently, I'm just hoping I can keep it on the right track.

5. Where do you think the Wiki can be improved?
Our fanon space still has quite a number of articles that could use fixing up. Also, some canon space articles lack information that can be used, as was brought to my attention a few days ago. We are a solid wiki, but, users should not think everything is perfect – there is always room for improvement.

6. How has your time here been for you?
Oh, wow...get ready for rambling. :p My time here has been incredible. I have met many awesome people, just too many to name specifically – though I'm sure they know who they are. ^^" This wiki, thanks to its fanon space, has felt like I can free my mind up more...it helps me get some creative ideas out of my head and into words, such as "Weatherbenders". But, mostly I've loved my time here because of the community. If I didn't join... well, I wouldn't have made some close friends. :)

Ice dodging: Avoiding huge ships Theavatardemotivator

News: Demotes are officially making a comeback next BSST. Hooray for a clear schedule!

This is not going to be funny but rather a reflection on the shipping insanities of a truly crazed fandom - or should I say fandumb?

Even though 70.483% of all statistics are made up on the spot - and nine out of five people suffer from math illiteracy - let me give you a few fictional statistics. TvTropes is a popular website that deals with things seen constantly in media; examples of "tropes" include "Mind-Control Eyes", referring to the swirly/googly/pupil-less/iris-less/etc. eyes that the brainwashed usually have, such as Jet and Joo Dee, and parodied "for the lulz" in The Ember Island Players; "Sealed Good in a Can", which refers to any sort of benevolent force trapped somewhere, such as Aang in his iceberg; and "Kangaroo Court", describing a sham legal proceeding a lá Avatar Day. Now, TvTropes is a really great, really entertaining little site that makes sense and knows about what it is talking; most of its users are of the "Internet age" that loves sci-fi, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and video games. In fact, Avatar itself isn't a common staple on most trope pages.

Then one sees the pages on shipping.

Avatar features prominently on Die For Our Ship, Fan Preferred Couple, and Launcher Of A Thousand Ships - and that's only through clicking just three shipping trope links.

Furthermore, the Avatar shipping crises are highlighted on almost every single shipping trope. For a site that deals with mostly sci-fi, what's going on here?!

The answer is simple. After scouring the Internet, I came up with proof of the worst kind: Avatar has one of the most rabid ship followings - and one of the rudest, deadliest, most idiotic-beyond-a-scrap-of-doubt in any way, shape, or form, shipping wars. Cha, wait, there's another prominent Avatar feature! [facepalm]

So who's to blame for all of this? The fact that less than half of the fans of Avatar are female? The constant ship teases on the part of the creators? The woe-is-us-the-fanatics cry of "they're just shipping it because they're never seen the show"?!

It might just be a combination of all three. But first, let's take a look at the history of shipping. Warning: The following may be extremely disturbing; just remember that I had to experience . . . firsthand . . . as I was doing research for this article. [puts on aviator goggles] These goggles do nothing, but they sure make me feel much better!

And why am I qualified to write this kind of stuff? I've been everywhere. Zutara, Kataang, Zukaang, Sukka, Yukka, Tokka, Ty Lokka, Jetara, Hatara, Taang, Azulaang, Hakursa, Zhaozai, Tyzula, My Cabbages - you name it, I've seen it or read about it, not because I ship them necessarily, but because I like to keep myself informed on all things Avatar, and unfortunately Avatar is, as we have seen, one of the most, if not the most, shipping-and-flame-war-inclined fandoms. I have seen it all, and I'm got the mental scars to prove it. All I did was take the most mainstream of the shippings and bring it straight to you, no awkward fanfics or terrifying fanart required. You're welcome.

I've had some particular experience with Zutara, Zukaang, Sokkla, and other "crack" pairings, mostly thanks to my sister and my friends, few of whom ship Kataang. Therefore, one might say I'm more or less qualified. No, this column will not be about debunking these other pairings. The canon shippings - Kataang, Maiko, and Sukka - have been confirmed to occur in the end, and there is no way around the fact. This is only a history of the bloodiest war since the Amercan Civil War.

That's bloody.

There will also be, towards the end of the article, a few spoilers of The Promise. The spoilers in question are very minor plot points and cover perhaps three panels in total, but it is understandable that some do not wish even these small ones. There will be another warning at that point in time. Just letting you know that I'm watching out for you.

In order to do research for this article, I am very literally going to go back in time. Arming myself with nothing more than the useless goggles mentioned above and my own wicked humor, I raced about six years back in time: In other words, I went back to the blogs and comments, etc., on websites since Avatar's creation. Let's see what the Avatards have to say.

Please note that the views expressed in this article do not reflect Avatar Wiki's or even the author's. Because the article deals with "proof" of non-canon shipping paraphrased or quoted from various blogs around the interwebz, please keep in mind that the author does not necessarily ship these ships. The author's preferred shippings may be found at the bottom of the article.

Lettuce souprise ewe - great restaurant name, by the way - by starting out at the very beginning. During the first few episodes, Zuko had this fangirls, sure, but no one really paid attention to him until the Agni Kai of 103; that was when the first wave of Zuko fanart rolled out, and some, looking for a shipping partner to admire Zuko's great qualities of aanger and aangst, turned to Katara, who was then the only recurring female character on the show. Aang acted particularly childishly in those first two episodes, and even his great explosion of sorrow-turned-to-Avatar-State in 103 was considered nothing more than a temper tantrum by some. Younger fans tended to identify with Aang and say it was Kataang at first sight; older fans tended to go Beauty and the Beast and/or misinterpreted Lion King II and assume that Zutara would result either in Zuko's defection or from the fact that he was a villain.

And by fans, naturally, I mean females.

The male fans, most of whom didn't care either way, either assumed a) Aang was the protagonist and therefore Kataang would happen or b) Avatar was an animé and therefore . . . Zutara would happen. Either way, very few realized Avatar was in fact Americanimé, not Japanimation - and trust me, viewers confuse those all the time.

Personal story time: I was chatting over the web with one of my sister's friends, who mentioned she thought Zuko was "hot". Disgusted, I asked her how she could think that - after all, Zuko had an ugly scar. Cha, I was, what, eight at the time? The friend typed, "*shrug* idk he is". And that was the beginning of Zutara for many. Very many. Extremely many.

When 104 aired, almost everyone thought Suki would be a one-off character, and the Sokka fangirls - of which there were few at this point - squealed with delight at the prospect of their "holy shrine" finally "getting a girl". They jabbered and flamed those who didn't agree that Suki would return. Incidentally, this is a case of Fandom Gone Right.

The Kataangists - of which, again, there were somewhat less at this time - were excited about the Kataangst present in 104, and, let's face it, there were a few questionable shots, all of which were swiftly Photoshopped. However, the Zutara push was stronger - though very weak compared to what it would become - as Aang hadn't yet quite proved himself, and Katara still seemed more like an older sister to him than anything else.

Royal Family primogeniture H-Man Havoc

Although it never was addressed in the series, it would be interesting to determine if primogeniture had a direct influence in Fire Lord succession protocols. Before I go any further, primogeniture refers to the right of inheritance granted to the firstborn. It's obvious that this form of system was in effect in the Fire Nation, but which type exactly? There are two major types of this: male-preference (a.k.a. Agnatic), and absolute (a.k.a. Absolute Cognatic). The former is traditionally how primogeniture is viewed; the oldest male child gets the inheritance, regardless if he has older sisters. The British Royal Family traditionally used this form of succession, with the notable exceptions being few (including Queen Elizabeth II). The latter refers to succession by the oldest child, regardless of gender. This form was very rarely used until around 30 years ago (especially with regards to the monarchies), when Sweden passed an amendment to change from male-preference to absolute. This is why the current King of Sweden (Carl XVI Gustaf)'s eldest daughter (Victoria) is now the heir apparent (her younger brother, Carl, had it for a few months, until the amendment). The British monarchy also recently passed an amendment to change from male-preference to absolute primogeniture, which would benefit Prince William and Princess Catherine should their eldest child be a girl.

In terms of Avatar, I would assume that the Fire Nation (and the Avatar world in general) uses male-preference primogeniture when deciding their lines of succession. Here however, some assumptions and liberties must be distinguished due to lack of information from the series. Firstly, with the notable exception of Ozai, none of the Fire Lords (or purported successors) had more than one child (Ozai obviously had Zuko and Azula). Secondly, every child borne by the known rulers were male (except Azula). Thirdly, it can be assumed that both Sozin and his son, Azulon, had no siblings (at least none mentioned in the series or the continuity' yes, this is contradictory to what I mentioned as the first assumption, but it's still relevant nonetheless).

The only reason why Ozai got the throne and not Iroh was that the former asked his father to extricate the latter from the line of succession (making this occurrence the only time that an heir apparent was disavowed and removed of his title and replaced by a younger sibling; it nearly happened again when Azula was almost crowned Fire Lord).

In conclusion, I believe that male-preference primogeniture was used in the Fire Nation, as well as the rest of the Avatar world. Now that I've parlayed my reasons for this, what are your opinions on the matter?

Message Wall Natsu11

Many of you might know about the upcoming "forced" replacement by Staff of MediaWiki default talk pages by "Message Walls", which are similar to article and blog comments and are under development. I posted a blog about this to inform users about the change, and all of the users, except two users *cough* wjxhuang and Rass *cough*, have several negative opinions about it. First of all, I really want a preview function, which a huge amount of users has been demanding. I'd also like if some of the extra white space were removed. That one's really annoying me. Users are also criticizing the use of the "aka" name in bold and the actual user name in a smaller font size. I was originally not happy with it, too, but I'm now pretty indifferent to it.

After the repeated demands by users for a header where you can add text like you add now, like talk page picture or other messages, a sub-page was created, where you can add such text and images, which is transcluded on the Wall. One of the other improvements applied to the Wall is the improved time-stamp. Another thing I like about this new feature is that newer users don't have to be pestered to add signatures, as the time stamp is added automatically. But one draw back is that the work of people who have spent some time making good signatures will be mostly wasted. Now, the messages are replied on the user's own message wall, which is easier, allows easier checking up of discussions as logs, and is more efficient. I'm still not sure about the automatic pagination, as I've not seen it work.

Now, many users claim that it's a copy of Facebook just because it's related to commenting and has "wall" in its title. I'd like to repeat what wjxhuang said: Commenting didn't originate in Facebook. Also, the idea of "it has 'wall' in its title, so it's definitely a copy of Facebook" is really crazy. The title "wall" or discussions through "comments" aren't copyrights of Facebook. I can't really say I love the wall, although I can say I'm getting used to it, and I'll be able to bear with it, eventually. And with its automatic pagination, which will archive it every 20 posts, wjxhuang has a load off his shoulder: The weight of archiving talk pages with his bot.

Now, while the message wall has negative points that can cause people to hate it and positive points that can cause people to love it, what are your opinions?

Fanonical Analysis 2 BlackMonkey

Anyone who was here back in summer may remember that I posted a blog in early July, Fanonical Analaysis, telling the percentages of the total amount of fanons which were complete, inactive, and discontinued. The blog got rave reviews and over the five months since it was posted many users asked me if I could update the blog with new info.
Well guess what? Fanonical Analysis #2 is here for you in the Ba Sing Se Times. Pretty snazzy, huh? Check out these stats: Fanon Analysis of July 3rd:

• 5% of stories are complete
• 60% of stories are incomplete but active
• 22% of stories are incomplete but inactive
• 14% of stories are discontinued

Fanon Analysis of December 3rd:

• 6% of stories are complete
• 47% of stories are incomplete but active
• 27% of stories are incomplete but inactive
• 19% of stories are discontinued

The total amount of completed stories has increased (yay!), but basically everything else is worse.

Fanon review Millennia2

This Review is brought to you by the Fanon Review Squad

Today's Ba Sing Se Times review is Emblem of the Outlaw, by Bassoon Ninja.

Overview: Three years after the death of Avatar Korra, three years after the Avatar was reborn into the Earth Kingdom, a powerful bender opened a portal into the spirit realm. An imbalance between the worlds came, causing several more portals to tear open: One in the Earth Kingdom, one in the Fire Nation, one in the Northern Air Temple, one in the Southern Water Tribe, and one in the middle of Republic City. Spirits poured into the human world through these portals. Most of the spirits who passed through were lesser spirits, but some malignant spirits came through and wreaked havoc on the humans. Likewise, some humans would stumble into the spirit realm and disturb the more powerful spirits; most humans never came back from the spirit realm because of this. Overall, the result of these portals ultimately became that humans suffered more than spirits. The humans cast all the blame for these incident upon the spirits, and being blamed for an incident that was obviously the humans' fault irritated the spirits, thus tensions began to rise.

When a powerful evil spirit crossed into the human world and completely destroyed a village, humans became terrified of the spirits. They foolishly began to believe that the benders were "spies" for the spirits: Any known benders were taken away, and none would return. Bending was deemed illegal, as a method of communing with the spirits. Police worldwide were given the task of tracking down and arresting all known benders, but bending was as natural to the people as breathing. The bending world quickly went underground; over time the underground bending world became a world of crime, violence, and villainy. Bending matches became brawls, bringing the deaths of many talented benders. And with crime on the rise, the police began to take anyone, from any small child to any old man, who showed any sign of being a bender and locked them away.

Relationship Natsu11

The recent interview of Gene Yang has done nothing, nothing but totally hyping me up! Initially, I was very excited for the graphic novel series, but now, after being revealed some information about it, I'm even more excited!

Now about the relationship, or as it's commonly called, "Shipping". The thing I've been wondering the most about the series are the developments of the relationships of the character, and also whether Toph will get a love interest. We know Aang and Katara's relationship will definitely develop, as they have a child in the sequel or the spin-off series, but we don't have any confirmation about Zuko and Mai's relationship. They latter's relationship hasn't been expanded upon much, and I am curious about it, very curious in fact.

Now about Toph's possible love interest. Users support different "pairings" for Toph, the most populer being "Tokka" (Sokka and her), "The Doph" (The Duke and her), and some more I fail to remember at this instant. The former is "50-50" to happen, considering Suki and Sokka's relationship. The latter can happen, but you have to keep in mind that The Duke is eight years old, and I doubt a child of that young age needs a girlfriend. What are your opinions about this? And please, don't be uncivil if you do not support the relationships I mentioned above.

After Gene Yang revealed that the entire of the three installments occur within a one week time, I even more excited as to how it will be managed!

Demotivated Theavatardemotivator

Previously on Avatar: No demotes have magically appeared in the past two weeks. How tragic. Aang and Katara kissed. Zuko and Song shipped. Iroh hit on Song. The fandumb went insane.

And yes, demotes are back. No, you’re not seeing things. Yes, I am a bit rusty. No, it won’t be depressing. Yes, I’m eating cold spinach puffs. How’d you know?

And why yes, Monkeyfeathers is back with a vengeance. Good for some. For others? Not so much. Best part? He’s agreed to stop cursing. Awesome.

Figure 1

We begin our adventure here, in the sewers of ItalyOmashu, aka Oh no according to Sokka, where the interesting . . . er . . . adventure will begin. Naturally, Aang and co. decide to head up a sewer instead of going inside like normal people, which is understandable, considering they’d be skewered on a stick. Unfortunately for them, how did they would that they would arrive at a comfortable location?

Aang: “All right, I think that’s the end.” [opens manhole] “Hellooooo, world.” [stares at the multitude of Fire Nation soldiers marching in the street now staring back at him] [slowly replaces cover] “You didn’t see anything . . .”

Otter penguins from certain islands off of the coasts of certain continents that look like certain dolphins aside, the Gaang could’ve gone The Thief and the Cobbler route: Sokka would have been quite pleased; Aang and Katara not so much.

Review: LWFAW BlackMonkey

Hello, this is BlackMonkey, signing in to review Love Will Find A Way by AlaskaBender.

When Earth King Maroph reigned over his glorious nation. He had two sons, his heir, Prince Long, and Prince Moku. During an annual feast celebrating the strong alliance with the Water Tribes, Moku becomes infatuated with Chief Rakara's daughter, Kyla. After discovering the Kyla feels the same way about him, Moku quickly follows Water Tribe custom and carves a betrothal necklace, a symbol of their love. Moku and Kyla are ecstatic about their newly found bond, while King Maroph and Chief Rakara celebrate a possible new tie between their nations. Everything was perfect...until the unthinkable happened. This is the tale of how one man will give up all of his glory, his whole life, to find the woman he is destined to be with. This is the tale of Moku and Kyla.
Wowzers. A very good fanon, especially for a new author like AlaskaBender, combining all the elements of romannce, adventure, and action, all at their highest form in the Avatar universe. There are the old secret conspiracies and quests that help every story and the new plot twists and characters that will blow your mind. And it's all entwined into good writing - a legend in the making.

• Story - 9.3: Very good. A creative, well thought out story of love.
• Action - 8.9: Sometimes quick but very well written.
• Writing - 9.4: I did not expect this quality from AlaskaBender.
• Creativity - 9.4: There's not a romance story like this out there - not one that's got enough adventure and action to be legendary. This story is unique
• Believability - 9.1: - Some answers are gotten too easily, but for the most part it was very believable. Nothing really felt unrealistic.
• Character Development - 9.5: Moku is set on getting back Kyla, fighting for answers, developing on the way. Kyla is growing up and learning in prison, along with Peo. Those are only the major ones.

A Christmas Message Millennia2

Well, here we are. After four months and almost 30 reviews by our members, the Fanon Review Squad has reached the end of our 2011 season. 2011 has been a turbulent and exciting year, bringing with it numerous Korra tidbits, the unveiling of the Promise Trilogy, and an enormous growth in our great community.

Though I'm definately excited for a break from reviewing, there are still two duties left for me. First, my "Final Four" review will be posted on the fanon portal on Sunday, December 18. These four stories are my last reviews for the year. Second, I have one special review for this issue, the last before Christmas. It involves a story called Child of Destiny.

Child of Destiny is a fanfiction story depicting the future of the world ten years after the end of Sozin's War. The story revolves around Aang's search for Diyi, the first Airbending child to be born in over one hundred years, who has been kidnapped by an unknown party. It also chronicles Zuko's struggles against the Cult of Sozin, a group of Fire Nation rebels who still eagerly pursue the goal of Fire Nation supremacy and are led by Admiral Zhao, who was believed to be dead.

Now, normally I would give a review of the story; I've considered it several times. However, in light of recent events and also the time of year, I would only suggest for you to read it. Child of Destiny is a truly amazing story. Child of Destiny has always been my personal favorite on the wiki. The author, a person known as MightyBrit, was one of my favorite users. As some of you may or may not know, Brit was involved in a car crash some time ago, and his injuries led to his current state of lying in a coma.

As the holidays approach and we face the new year, I ask you to keep MightyBrit in your thoughts and prayers this season. I, along with the community, hope for his recovery and return. He is truly amazing. And with that, I wish you all Happy Holidays and a good start to an amazing new year.

Fanon review Moon Beam

I will be reviewing Avatar: The Legend of the Phoenix, by Saphira1001.

This story is about The World of Avatar, with a different twist. A Water Avatar, named Amalric, went mad with power. The Fire Sages wanted to create a temorary Avatar to stop Amalric. They wanted to gather all of the Sages from each nation to make this happen, but they either refused or could not. The Fire Sages then got a young Fire Nation girl, and performed the same ritual in which created the first Avatar, to give her the power to bend Fire and Air. This turned her hair white and her eyes a sky blue color. She mastered Fire and Air, and when she was ready, she faced Amalric and ended him. She eventually died, and the world was fine as the new Avatar was sane.