Thursday, July 19, 2012

Comic Con from afar

It's that time of year when I can hardly keep up with my Reader feed because it's filled with awesome announcements on all things nerdy -- must be ComiCon! There is a LOT to report, but here are a few things I'm freakin' out about: 

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AVATAR: THE LEGEND OF KORRA, the sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender, was renewed for a second season, which means there are 40 more episodes to look forward to!! Tor has some great ideas about what it'd be fun to see in the future, but the really good stuff are these sneaky pixx from the Korra panel at ComiCon, showing new outfits, new characters, new locations, and new creatures. 

Now I love love Korra just the way she is, and I know she's a different Avatar in a different time in a different show, but I'm really looking forward to more flashbacks of Aang, Sokka, Katara and Toph, mostly because I didn't really think they got the characters right when we so briefly saw them. Sure, they've grown up, but why was Aang so serious, even if he is the Avatar? Same for Sokka! "Goofball" is, like, the first thing you'd say to describe them, and stripping the humor from those two characters was pretty much the worst thing about the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. (Maybe I'll just see if there are any grown-up fanfic-- oh, yeah, of course, here it is. And for good measure, here's the grown-up grown-up stuff.)

(FYI, if you're into Katara/Aang as your OTP, it's called KATAANG -- which I discovered by googling "ktang," one of the sounds that Rick Jones's wristbands make when struck together to call Captain Marvel from the Negative Zone. I was looking for a graphic for this post about comics and language, but instead found a bunch of incredible KatAang fanart, like THIS. You're welcome.)


(Also -- I just learned this a couple of days ago and it blew my mind -- Katara in Avatar: The Last Airbender is voiced by Mae Whitman, the chick that played Ann on Arrested Development (and Roxy in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). Her? Really?!)

I'm also definitely hoping for more past-life Avatar awesomeness. So far, we've really know the stories of Korra, Aang, Kyoshi, and Roku. 

But the ten-year FIREFLY REUNION is all we really care about, right? So grab your Jayne hat, your tiny plastic dinosaurs and box of tissues, because here it is in all its glory:


Jose Molina, Tim Minear, Alan Tudyk, Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, Sean Maher, Adam Baldwin and god himself, Joss Whedon all ended crying. My boyfriend Nathan Fillion summed it all up rather well: 
“When Firefly died, I thought it was the worst thing that could possibly happen. What I realize now, looking over this room, is that the worst thing that could have happened is if it had stayed dead.”
Robert Downey Jr with Iron Men!
But what I love most about Comic Con is -- well, first maybe I should tell you I'm kind of a dork. My favorite thing about Comic Con is, of course, the COSPLAY. (#nerdalert I've done a little myself... see Billy & Phoebe. They're from books you've probably never heard of. #latfh But you should!) My favorites are exclaimed!

  • Here you'll find GENDERSWAPPED Geordie, Indie, Avengers, Han & Leia, Rocketeer, Tin Tin, and a really really ridiculously good-looking lady Wolvie (!).
  • Here you'll find KIDS as Amidala, Hawkye, Flash, Dalek (!), Finn & Jake (!), Edward Scissorhands, and Sakura & Chung Li (!).
  • Here you'll find the Engineer from Prometheus (!), Henry Jones, LSP, Carmen Sandiego, FemShep (Mass Effect).
  • Here you'll find Nausicaa (!), Princess Mononoke, Ghostbusters, Batman & Bane, Scott Pilgrim & Ramona Flowers, Rorschach, Mary Poppins, Duffman, Bilbo Baggins, Disney princesses, Xena, Spy vs. Spy, Earthworm Jim, Sailor Moon, Silver Surfer (!), Arthur & the Tick, and Darth Vader grilling up Jar-Jar Binks' head.
  • Here you'll find Galactus (!), hipster!princesses, regular princesses, hipster!Zelda characters, Futurama, Jem (!), MegaMan, April O'Neil and one of the TMNT, an Oompa Loompa, and zombies zombies zombies.