avatar the last airbender

[ZekeySpaceyLizard]

to be honest all the nations in avatar are very much like different kinds of tribal earth peoples

earth kingdom looked like china, fire nation looked like japan, the water tribe looked like inuit and WHY THE FUCK AM I TALKING ABOUT THIS IN THIS OLD DEAD THREAD

[Swoop]

Doesn't rather seem to be -that- old.

I assumed the Fire Nation was more like Japan, but I've been told it holds some Chinese influences as well. The "Air Nomads" are also along the same lines, so the world itself seems dominantly themed around Chinese mythology and the like - which I won't lie and say I know much about in the first place, 'tis merely an observation.

[ZekeySpaceyLizard]

you brought this on yourself.

[Swoop]

...not quite my favorite aspect of the series, but still amusing I suppose.

[ZekeySpaceyLizard]

all is nothing.







ALL IS NOTHING

[rtil]

you do know that all the animation for avatar (and the boondocks, mind you), is done in korea, right?

I'm aware. I meant Chinese by the theme of the worlds they include on the planet, specifically the Earth Kingdom and a little bit in the Fire Nation, and I meant Japanese in the way the storytelling as a lot of Anime-style themes to it. If I'm not mistaken, Boondocks' later episodes had some involvement from Madhouse, which actually IS in Japan unless I'm wrong, but yes I'm aware the animation for it (and most series of that length) are animated in Korea.

well what is your point then? all those networks do is ship our animation work overseas and leave us jobless. the boards are done here, then shipped, fucked up, and sent back. it's a horrible and backwards way of working and our directors are begging for some in-house work to be done. those shows do nothing for animators and artists' "self-achievement". the only reason avatar looks good is because we've been sending work to the koreans for so many years that they're becoming better than a lot of american animation studios who have been doomed to animate crappy TV commercials in the span of a week. that and the art directors probably trained them themselves so they wouldn't lose everything in translation. you know how many times the storyboard artists on the boondocks have to re-draw over the frames the koreans fucked up and send it all the way back? it's time consuming and pointless.

the best way to work is to have everyone under the same roof. that's what the WB crew did in the mid 20th century. they pumped out a cartoon every 2-3 weeks and nearly every one of them is a timeless classic.

[ZekeySpaceyLizard]

[Swoop]

Ooh, seems to be some misconception. My apologies.

My "point" I suppose as it were, is that it seems many aspiring since, Japanese animation has become so popular, often hope to make essentially what Avatar is - that being: an epic anime-style storyline with many characters and story arcs to it. With the way many animated programs in the US seem to be cut and dried up where 'tis either a "kids show" or an "adult show" to many imbecile producers, it's very near impossible for a show such as that to be produced over here by those who dream to make such a thing for themselves. However, this series proved that it IS possible to do so, and they did it without many elements that would only be seen IN an "adult" show, while still pushing the Nickelodeon barrier, as it were.

EDIT: Though, it seems the poster for Dream On would certainly describe the outcome most of those "dreamers" seem to reach in the end, wouldn't it?

As far as the animation process goes - well, you're certainly correct there. A good chum of mine was actually rather disgusted upon finding out that even things like Spongebob are animated mostly overseas. It's quite a shame that so many good animators are indeed put out of a job, or are given a rather silly job such as you mentioned, a commercial, or flash animated series for TV such as Collective's work and most of the programming on Adult Swim. It's just as much of a shame that "the industry" has come to be in such a condition, so I'm certainly hoping aspiring artists and animators will change that and evolve the industry to benefit that. Though, that's a whole 'nother subject in itself, Avatar aside, yes?

[ZekeySpaceyLizard]

[Swoop]

He looks rather quite surprised about everything.

...he also appears to have, hooves?

[ZekeySpaceyLizard]

STOP FESTERING GOD DAMNIT ITS DRIPPING

USE THE DRAIN SO IT STOPS DRIPPING OVER THE SIDES

USE  A RAG TO ABSORB IT. I AM TIRED OF USING MY PENIS AS A VACUUM

HOLY SHIT YOU PAY THESE PEOPLE

IN THE NAME OF ALL THATS HOLY, EAT MY MOUTH

[rtil]

well i haven't seen much of avatar besides the last 3 episodes. but from what i did see, there was a lot of cheeseball dialogue and some sort of romantic story arc to it all that i noticed, and i thought it was poorly done. the only thing that i really thought was impressive were the production values. and all that was predominantly done in a country 4,000 miles away. so based on that knowledge, i would have to say it's not much of a groundbreaker. the only thing avatar proves is that we've trained a bunch of foreign animators really well.

also zekey enough with the image macros please

[ZekeySpaceyLizard]

okay just one more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUNJjIwlHk8

[mishkamash]

thank you bug

[Swoop]

There ARE indeed a few points where the dialogue can leave me rolling my eyes just a tad, but usually nothing so horrible that it destroys the experience. Only one example I can remember in a scene involving Katara confronting her father about her confusion on...everything? I think? I'm not even sure, but it was -supposed- to be an emotional scene. Between the strange lines and suddenly Katara's VO lost all acting ability for that one scene.

The "romantic" story arcs are, to be honest, overblown by fandom. Yes, they're present in some capacity during the plotline, but not to the point where they become overbearing. The final season is where most of that comes into play, and the vast majority of it simply revolves around Aang and Katara. The rest of that aspect otherwise stays at just "I like you! You're cute!" type of playing around, or in some cases flat-out two characters get into a relationship and it stays that way.

Finally, regarding the animation studio. It's true, but as previously stated - that seems to be an overall industry issue more than anything else. On the side of production that actually takes place HERE however, I felt it was rather impressive by the creators from the conceptual aspects. Honestly it could be a novel or comic and I think it would still be a most interesting series in the same light.

Dirty Bill rather quite smells.

[sQueef]

i dont like the way things look round these parts

[rtil]

The "romantic" story arcs are, to be honest, overblown by fandom. Yes, they're present in some capacity during the plotline, but not to the point where they become overbearing. The final season is where most of that comes into play, and the vast majority of it simply revolves around Aang and Katara. The rest of that aspect otherwise stays at just "I like you! You're cute!" type of playing around, or in some cases flat-out two characters get into a relationship and it stays that way.

well i'm not very familiar with avatar fandom and i still thought the scenes were stupid.

[GRINACE]

One thing I don't get. If the animators were Korean. Why would they get the Avatar "animation" staff (american) to learn the styles of martial arts to help them have a better understanding of how to animate the bending? I even herd commentary that the two makers of avatar animated a showcase episode.

[rtil]

One thing I don't get. If the animators were Korean. Why would they get the Avatar "animation" staff (american) to learn the styles of martial arts to help them have a better understanding of how to animate the bending? I even herd commentary that the two makers of avatar animated a showcase episode.

they probably do a lot of keys along with the boards. but they don't inbetween, and they don't paint the frames. there's no way in hell they do that.

[Swoop]

I even herd commentary that the two makers of avatar animated a showcase episode.

Correct. Looking back that's actually kind of disappointing, considering the animation quality of the pilot episode looks rather quite close to that of the series as it were while the Korean studio was doing the largest amount of gruntwork, but the pilot alone (despite it being the length of about half a normal episode) was essentially animated and finished BY the two creators and a few other close chums of theirs they befriended while working on shows such as King of the Hill, Family Guy and a small bit of Invader ZiM. If anything 'tis moot point that it very easily CAN be done over here, contrary to how many producers think.