10 Of The Best Pop Culture References To 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'
Image Source: YouTube
It has been nearly 20 years since Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) first aired on Nickelodeon. As it became a wildly popular show over its three-year run, its influence beyond its original airtime has only grown. It has inspired the creators to go on and make a sequel. There are now a number of books and graphic novels based on the lore and world the show started.
The show’s influence has also grown beyond its own franchise. There are a number of other franchises that have thrown in references to the hit series over the years. Let’s take a look at ten of the best references out there.
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10. The Owl House
There are a couple of references in the animated Disney show, The Owl House. In one episode, Luz is frustrated about being burdensome to Eda. The demon sitting with her drops the line “That’s rough, buddy,” referencing Zuko’s condolences to Sokka when he told him the story of how his first girlfriend turned into the moon.
9. World Of Warcraft
There are a couple of references in the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft. During the character creation screen for a Pandaren male, one of the hairstyle options is “The Sokka,” referencing the brother of Katara. Sokka normally sports a form of a top knot, which he calls a warrior’s wolf knot.
The other occurs during a side quest involving a horse chase that races past a cabbage vendor. If you crash through his cart, the vendor drops to his knees and cries out “My cabbages!” referencing one of the longest-running jokes in the show about a cabbage vendor who’s constantly losing his cabbage cart to some sort of destruction.
8. Community
It’s hard to see, but in the episode where the Secret Service are searching Abed’s room, there’s a shot where they find a bootleg copy of The Last Airbender in his room. This references the fan-lamented M. Night Shyamalan live-action movie that is the butt of many jokes among ATLA fans.
7. Moon Knight
There’s a moment in the show where the antagonist Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), corners Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac). As Harrow is explaining the avatar concept and Egyptian gods, Grant makes an offhand comment about the movie with the blue people (Na’vi from Avatar). Harrow, missing the joke, keeps talking and Grant asks if he actually meant the anime, referring to ATLA.
6. The Santa Clauses
Image Source: IMDb
In another fun one, Santa has different names for some of his reindeer. In the sixth episode, Santa’s daughter (played by Tim Allen’s own daughter, Elizabeth Allen-Dick) tells Santa that they prefer different names. One of those names is Airbender.
5. The Simpsons
Image Source: Entertainment Weekly
In one of the episodes in Season 21, Lisa is leaving a classroom and there are four elemental symbols of the four bending elements on the wall. They’re not in the right order, but they’re there clear as day. In Season 22’s “Treehouse of Horror” episode, the co-executive producer is listed as “The Last Chairbender” in the credits. Finally, in 2021, Bryan Konietzko, one of the creators of ATLA, took a screenshot of Bart wearing the Air Nomad symbol on his shirt. This was apparently a shout-out to Colin Heck, who worked on both The Simpsons and The Legend of Korra.
4. Robot Chicken
There are two ATLA references in the hilarious stop-motion animation show. In one episode, Roger Ebert has a dream where he is in the film The Last Airbender and defeats Fire Lord Ozai using his powers as a critic. This of course pokes fun at the fan base of ATLA, which often jokes about there being no movie because it was so poorly received. The other reference is in an episode where Aang and Zuko take on the Cabbage Merchant, who has gained the ability to bend cabbages.
3. The Dragon Prince
Image Source: Entertainment Weekly
This one is pretty tongue-in-cheek because one of the creators was one of the writers for ATLA. Furthermore, one of the main characters, Callum, is voiced by Jack De Sena, who voiced none other than Sokka from ATLA. There comes a point during the first episode where one of the characters, Claudia, is seen reading a book, and the title of the book is Love Amongst the Dragons. That is of course a reference to a play that Zuko says the playwrights in the episode “The Ember Island Players” butchered every year when he was a kid.
In Season 3, Callum inspects the staff of a character named Nyx and says it looks familiar. Then he says, “Boomerang?” This is of course referencing Sokka and his trusty boomerang.
Finally, in the episode “Beneath the Surface” during the fourth season, Soren, Claudia’s brother, tries to get a small dragon to fly by saying “yip-yip,” which is what Aang would say to get Appa, his flying bison, to fly. And then later in the eighth episode, the treasure of the Archdragon contains an Airbender glider staff and Sokka’s boomerang.
2. 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Image Source: Pop Sugar
This was cool to see. There were not one, but two references to the show and its characters during the 2020 Olympics in 2021 (Odd, I know. Thanks, COVID). The first was Dutch windsurfer Kiran Badloe, who won the gold medal in men’s RS-X windsurfing. His hair was dyed blue in the shape of an arrow, a reference to the cultural tattoos of the airbenders.
The other was a team effort. Mexican synchronized swimmers Nuria Diosdado and Joana Betzabe Jiménez wore swimsuits featuring the white and black koi fish, the physical embodiment of the moon and ocean spirits, from the spirit oasis at the Northern Water Tribe. Even more, the fish were patterned with the same markings found on Raava and Vaatu, the spirits of light and darkness. The four elemental symbols were also visible on the back of their swimsuits.
1. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Image Source: Entertainment Weekly
Finally, the top spot goes to Clone Sergeant Appo’s helmet. This is of course a shout-out for Dave Filoni, who worked on ATLA before he became the lead for The Clone Wars. Sergeant Appo’s helmet contains the telltale arrow of Air Nomads and their Sky Bison. His name is also a tribute to the show. Appa, which means “dad” in Korean and Tamil, is Aang’s best friend and aside from King Bumi, the only surviving being from when he was captured in the ice.
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Source(s): Entertainment Weekly, Avatar Wiki
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