Lots of animated shows come and go, but few manage to establish themselves as cultural touchstones.Avatar: The Last Airbenderis one of those few shows, and since its debut, it has managed to spiral outwards into a powerful multimedia franchise.The Legend of Korrahas become a beloved successor toAvatar: The Last Airbender,while comic books about Team Avatar’s further adventures continue to come out.Avatarlooks like it’ll continue expanding thanks to the formation of Avatar Studios, a new group led by the original show’s creators. Avatar Studios is reportedly collaborating on several video games based onAvatar: The Last Airbender’s world, and hopefully these games are only the first of many.
Avatar Studios is supposedly helping some studios developanAvatarRPG and MMORPG, but there’s a very different style of game that Avatar Studios should look into:LEGO.Traveller’s Tales has a long history of makingLEGOvideo games that retell the stories of major IPs likeStar Wars, Indiana Jones,andLord of the Rings.WhileAvatar: The Last Airbenderonly has a limited relationship with physical LEGO products, the show itself seems perfect for a licensedLEGOgame, thanks to its balanced tone, memorable world, and the power of bending.
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LEGO Avatar’s Gameplay Potential
InAvatar: The Last Airbender,many people have the remarkable power to control one of four elements, and sometimes even a subtype of that element. That immediately makesAvatarmuch more plausible as aLEGOgame.Lots of Traveller’s Tales’LEGOgameshave brick piles and objects that only certain characters can interact with; in a lot ofLEGO Star Warsgames, for instance, only Sith can build with or break certain dark bricks.LEGO Avatar: The Last Airbendercould have all kinds of unique building puzzles that channel elemental bending in the same way. Waterbenders could build unique objects out of ice using water, metal objects could be indestructible to everyone but metalbenders, and so on.
Avataris also well-suited to make use ofLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s innovations.The Skywalker Sagafamously has a huge overworld composed of many planets; whileLEGO Avatarmight have a slightly smaller world, its four nations are full of memorable locations from the shows that could all be woven together into an overworld that players can traverse with the help of Appa or a Fire Nation blimp.The Skywalker Sagaalso introduces RPG-like skill treesand complex combat mechanics to Traveller’s Tales’LEGOseries, both of whichLEGO Avatarcould make use of, letting players learn new bending techniques before leaping into high-stakes battles with Fire Nation soldiers and other villains fromThe Last Airbender.
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A New Look for LEGO
BeyondAvatar: The Last Airbender’s lore, the show also has a tone that seems like a perfect fit for aLEGOgame. Traveller’s Tales usually features more lighthearted and family-friendly retellings of famous IPs in itsLEGOgames, althoughThe Skywalker Sagaseems to balance jokeswith memorable, movingStar Warsmoments. As a show full of both comedy and drama,Avatar: The Last Airbenderprovides perfect source material for aLEGOgame, allowing Traveller’s Tales to find clever retellings ofAvatar’s jokes while preserving some of the show’s most iconic and serious story beats.
The biggest thing standing in the way of aLEGO Avatargame is likely the show’s limited connection to LEGO itself; there have only been two LEGO sets forAvatar: The Last Airbenderto date. Traveller’s Tales would have to make up designs for a lot of minifigures andAvatarcreatures. Still, in the end, it would likely be worth the effort.Avatar: The Last Airbenderis resurgent right now, thanks to Avatar Studios' growing list of projects, andLEGOgames are growing too because ofThe Skywalker Saga.There’s never been a better time to combineLEGOwithAvatar.
AnAvatar: The Last AirbenderRPG and MMORPG are reportedly in development.
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