The Incredibles 2: Inventive Action Sequences and Great Character Moments.

The Incredibles is probably my favourite animated movie of all time because of its fantastic appeal for both kids and adults, presenting a superhero story that had a great family drama at its heart.
Now, 14 years later, the sequel has finally been released.
Once again directed by Brad Bird, The Incredibles 2 picks right up from where the first film left off with the superhero Parr family attempting to stop on an attack by the super villain The Underminer.
However, this gets them into trouble because superheroes are still illegal but then a billionaire named Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) provides a way to make superheroes legal with the help of Helen/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter).
I was a little concerned coming into The Incredibles 2 that, after the 14 year hiatus, the film would struggle to capture the feeling of the first film but, thankfully, this was not the case.
Although I do think the original is better, The Incredibles 2 is still a great follow up that blends the family drama excellently with its super hero story.
The standouts of this movie were by far Elastigirl and her son Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile) who had many great scenes, with Elastigirl taking part in a very inventive action sequence involving a train.

Elastigirl was one of the standout characters of the film with great action sequences to boot.

However, this does lead into my one problem with the film, which is its portrayal of some of the Incredibles.
In the first film it felt like every member of the Parr family had a chance to shine but unfortunately, due to the focus on Elastigirl and Jack-Jack, it felt like some of the other family members did not have much to do, especially Dash (Huck Milner).
Even though I did have a problem with this, the characters who the film did focus on were done very well.
The comedy of the film was also well delivered but even more so the action.
Along with the train sequence there were many other well choreographed action sequences that actually greatly improved on the original.
There is a new character in this film named Voyd (Sophia Bush) whose superpower Bird really had fun with by creating various ways for her to use it in the action sequences.
The family drama moments with Bob/Mr Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) staying home to watch the kids also led to some funny scenes like how he tried to fix his daughter Violet’s (Sarah Vowell) relationship with her boyfriend.
Both the action and family drama scenes were done very well and blended together seamlessly.
One thing I have heard people criticizing about The Incredibles 2 was that its villain, The Screenslaver, was one dimensional but I honestly did not find this to be the case.
While not as great of a villain as Syndrome from the last movie, The Screenslaver was an interesting one due to the motivation for what they were doing and their inventive way of committing crimes.

: Some say that Screenslaver was one dimensional but I disagree as I did find them to be a good villain.

Overall, The Incredibles 2 is a very fun film with a seamless blend of action and family drama that offers even better action sequences than the first and some great character focus.
I would not be opposed to seeing a third one but if there is let’s just hope it does not take another 14 years to come out.

Westworld Season Two Review.

The second season of Westworld aired on Monday bringing to an end a season full of twists, action and character moments.
I had been eagerly anticipating Westworld season two since I saw the first one in 2016.
This first season was fantastic and I was hooked right from the first to the last episode so I was very excited to see it return this year.
But could this season recapture the magic of that first one?
Well if you looked at my weekly reviews of the show you will already know that I thought this season was excellent.
This is clear through the fact that I never gave an episode anything lower than four stars, with four of them getting the perfect five stars.
Was this season as good as the first, well that is debatable but it is at least on par with it and, since I loved the first season so much, this is not a problem.
Westworld delivered some truly excellent episodes in its ten episode run this season with my five star rated episodes Riddle of the Sphinx, Akane No Mai, Kiksuya and The Passenger being particular standouts.
Each of these episodes were absolutely fantastic with episode eight Kiksuya being what I believe to be the best episode of Westworld.

Season two delivered the best episode of Westworld so far with Kiksuya.

I loved how this episode focused on the new character of Akecheta (Zahn McClarnon) and how much they made me care about him with just one episode.
Watching his emotional journey to find his wife and then setting out to lead all of the hosts to the Door was one of the most emotional moments of the entire series.
But Akecheta was not the only stand out character of the season.
Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton) were both great this season with me constantly switching which one was my favourite character.
The actresses who play these two really deserve awards for their performances.

Dolores and Maeve — Both Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton gave fantastic performances and should at least be in the running for awards.

Even characters I thought of as one note last season really surprised me in this one as I come to like Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) a lot more and Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) had one of the best arcs of the season, going from an unlikable narcissist to a redeemed hero.
One flaw I do have with the characters though is that a few of them were underwritten, most notably Sylvester (Ptolemy Slocum) who went from disliking hosts in season one to apparently willingly helping them in season two with no character arc.
However, I will not mark this as a point against season two because Sylvester is just a minor character and had literally no impact on the story this season so can be seen as a nit pick.
Along with the amazing characters and story there was also amazing plot twists, like the one seen in the season finale The Passenger, incredible music and cinematography.
Season two of Westworld was amazing.
Even the weaker episodes of the season like Journey into Night and Phase Space were still really good episodes.
I cannot wait for season three but it will probably be a while before we get it and I do not know how on earth they will pick up from the season finale.

Westworld, Season Two Finale: Passenger – What Just Happened!?

Warning: Major spoilers for the finale.

The Westworld season two finale, Passenger, aired two days ago and ever since then I have been in a state of shock.
This 90 minute finale was absolutely incredible with emotional deaths and moments, mind boggling twists and more than a few intense cliffhangers.
The episode started off as a fairly standard episode of Westworld but by the half-way point it had hopped on board a train of absolute insanity and stayed on board all the way through to the post-credit scene.
Even before this half-way point though, the episode had plenty of typical fantastic Westworld moments, like the heroic death of Lee Sizemore.
I was very surprised by Sizemore’s character arc this season.
In season one he seemed like an irredeemable jerk who would only cause trouble, however, this season they actually redeemed him giving him many emotional moments like his breakdown in front of Maeve in Kiksuya.
They even gave him a great way to go out with him holding off Delos security to give Maeve and the others time to escape while he shouted the speech he had written for Hector.
It was a sad and yet oddly triumphant end for Sizemore.

To to rescue — Sizemore, Hector, Armistice and the others attempt to rescue Maeve right before Sizemore’s heroic death.

However, Sizemore was not the only character to die this episode as we got multiple characters deaths with Maeve, Charlotte, Elsie, Hector and Armistice all dying.
One tiny problem I have with this though is, once again, I am not sure if Maeve, Hector and Armistice are actually dead for good, due to them being hosts.
The finale seems to hint that Felix and Sylvester will bring Maeve back but we will have to wait and see.
Speaking of which, Maeve’s death was very tragic as, much like Sizemore, she sacrificed herself to save her daughter.
What was not tragic, however, was the death of Charlotte Hale, which led to the explosive twist that Bernard had replaced her with a host version of her with Dolores’ mind inside.
So the entire time we were seeing Charlotte in the future timeline it was actually Dolores in a host Charlotte’s body.
I knew something was off about Charlotte when she reappeared in the future timeline but I thought it was because she knew Bernard was a host.
I never expected this huge twist and it was excellently done.
More revelations soon followed with Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) hinting that he may be a host to Charlotte/Dolores and, in a post-credit scene, William going through a fidelity test run by a host version of his daughter years in the future.

Is Stubbs a host? Or is he just following Ford’s orders? I guess we will have to wait until season three to find out.

Honestly, with all these plot twists, it feels like the show will be completely different when season three airs, whenever that will be.
What makes the wait for season three more exciting though is the questions the finale left us with.
I genuinely do not know if certain characters will be returning.
I have no idea if Akecheta is returning, for example, and honestly I both want and do want him to come back.
I want him to come back because he is such a great character and it would be really good to see him again, but I do not want him to come back because he got a happy ending this episode and I want him to stay happy with Kohana.

: Akecheta, Maeve’s daughter and her new mother escape to The Valley Beyond.

In considering who among the hosts who died will be returning, I think Maeve is probably coming back, along with Hector and Armistice, but other than them I have generally no idea.
The final big take away from this episode was that Dolores and Bernard are now enemies, with Dolores acknowledging they are both important to the hosts’ survival but that they cannot work together because of their differences.
Personally, I am on team Bernard because Dolores has certainly become a villain this season and, as Bernard puts it, she will kill “every man, women and child” on the planet if she could.
I have heard more of a mixed response from people when they talk about Passenger but I for one think it was an incredible finale with many shocking moments.
I am not sure if it is as good as the season one finale The Bicameral Mind but it is still a fantastic way to end season two.
I have no idea what is going to happen in season three but I cannot wait.

Attack on Titan Part Two: End of the World – Somehow Worse than Part One.

After watching part one of the Attack on Titan live action movie I was not looking forward to seeing the second part.
And, I am to sorry to say, my concerns were correct because part two is, not only terrible but somehow worse than the first pat.
Attack on Titan: End of the World is an absolute mess from start to finish.
Directed once again by Shinji Higuchi, the film picks up with a ten minute recap of part one, which goes on for way too long.
After this, the movie opens up with Eren (Haruma Miura) having a flashback to his father giving him an injection that supposedly gives him the ability to turn into a Titan.
This really should have been set up in the first movie so Eren transforming into a Titan did not come completely out of the blue.
Worst of all, however, Eren’s mother shows up in this scene.
If she was a part of the story then why did the director not just have her die in the first film?
This would have given Eren the motivation to fight the Titans instead of the weak reasoning we got in the first film.
Anyway, this scene sets up multiple questions for the film to answer.
Why was Eren’s father testing the Titan ability on his son, how did he create this ability, what happened to Eren’s mother and father, who is Eren’s older brother they are talking about?
These are just some of the many questions that are set up in this scene and the movie answers none of them.
If this had been in the anime it would have been acceptable because we know the answers are coming but this movie does not look like it is getting a sequel, even though it has an incredibly confusing end credit sequence.
So if we are not going to get answers what was the point of setting these questions up?
Sadly, the movie does not get better from here.
The story comes across as very contrived and also extremely rushed.
The first part definitely moved through the story at a very fast pace but in this film they took it a step further by giving the story no time to breath.

Armoured Titan 1.png — The story of *Attack on Titan: End of the World* moved so fast that it was hard to get invested in what was happening.

Even the individual scenes were bad.
This movie “tried” to explain the truth behind the Titans and Titan Shifters but failed miserably.
I really hope this is not the explanation we get in the manga and anime because it made absolutely no sense.
The entire scene where they explained the Titans origins was the worst in the entire movie because of how confusing it was.
In one shot Eren and Captain Shikishima (Hiroki Hasegawa) are watching footage of Titans being created and then the shot cuts back to them and they are suddenly sitting on beach chairs in the sand with no explanation as to where the chairs or sand came from.
And why was The End of the World song by Skeeter Davis playing during this scene?
Was it just so they could put End of the World in the title?
I have no idea what was going through the writer’s head when he wrote this scene.
What made this situation worse was the acting, which was once again terrible.
Just like in part one, Miura gives a terrible performance as Eren.
Someone just as bad as him though is Hasegawa, as Captain Shikashima, who laughed way too much in this film.
It felt like he laughed after every line of dialogue.

Hiroki Hasegawa turns in a cringe worthy performance as Shikashima with his constant unneeded laughter.

The other characters were also very badly handled again.
Armin (Kanata Hongo) is completely useless, just like he was in part one, and Mikasa (Kiko Mizuhara) is made to be a victim who does not care about Eren at all.
Then there were the characters created solely for the films, who are just as bad, with one character Sannagani (Satoru Matsuo) having amazingly stupid levels of strength in both parts.
The color palette was also pretty bad in this movie, although not as bad as the first one so that was something.
What was worse in this part, however, was the special effects, which are some of the worst I have ever seen put to film.
The Microsoft Paint blood effects are back and the scenes where characters turn into Titans are laughably atrocious.
I know Japanese film companies do not have the big budgets of Hollywood blockbusters when it comes to CGI but this was just embarrassing.

Microsoft Pain blood effects — Blood splatters onto the camera with effects that looks like they were completed using Microsoft Paint.

Speaking of the Titans, they are a non-existent threat in this movie.
One of the few things the first film got right was the Titans who were very creepy, with the first shot of them giving me goosebumps.
Here though, with the exception of the Titan Shifters, the Titans felt like a complete afterthought.
The one redeeming factor of this film was once again Satomi Ishihara, as Hans, who is a joy to watch.
She brought a smile to my face every time she appeared on screen.
Other than her though, this film was absolutely awful.
Incredibly rushed story, terrible acting and characters, atrocious effects and a complete lack of suspense.
This movie really encompasses why so many adaptations of anime go wrong.
The reason so many people connect with Attack on Titan so much is because it was written by Hajime Isayama.
He has a clear vision in writing the manga series, which you can see when reading it.
His vision works perfectly with this story and if any other person had come up with Attack on Titan, it probably would not have worked.
So when adapting something to live action, if it is going to work, you need to adhere to the creator’s original vision because, if you do not, nine times out of ten the film will completely fall apart.
This is the case with films like the Attack on Titan live action adaptations where the director kept the story but threw out the creator’s vision for their own and this new vision combined with Isayama’s story just did not mix.
If the Attack on Titan movies had stuck to Isayama’s vision then they would have been a lot better and connected with more people just like the manga and anime.
Instead they will just be remembered as entries in a long line of horrible live action anime adaptations.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a Fun Movie if you Haven’t Seen the Trailers

I have heard mixed responses to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, some like it and some hate it so I did not really know what to expect when I went in.
Overall though, I feel that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a fun movie to pass the time, that is if you have not watched the trailers.
If you have, then there is pretty much no reason to go see this movie because the trailers spoil 95% of it and the 5% that is not spoiled is nothing special.
The movie will be a good time though, for people who have not watched these trailers because the action set pieces and tension of he film is really well done.
Directed by J.A Bayona, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom centers on Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) from the previous film, who go back to the island to rescue the dinosaurs from a volcanic eruption.

The plot of the first half of the movie is to save the dinosaurs from an erupting volcano.

This storyline is interesting but then the story turns on its head and becomes a completely different movie.
This tonal shift was not exactly bad as both the first and second half were entertaining but it felt like I was watching two different movies.
The characters are fairly average as well.
Pratt and Howard are likeable in their rolls but do not have any substantial growth.
The same can be said for the side characters with Justice Smith’s character, Franklin Webb, being on the verge of downright annoying.
There is also a twist near the end of the movie surrounding one of these characters, which, while an interesting concept, is not explored well and has no meaningful impact on the movie.
Then there are the decisions these characters make, some of which were on an Alien: Covenant level of stupid.
These flaws, however, do not stop the movie from being entertaining.
The action sequences with the dinosaurs are very well done and engaging and there is one moment of the film that is very reflective and actually heart breaking to watch.

Mosasaurus — The action of the film is very well done and helps makes the film more entertaining.

If I were to gauge this movie though, I would say it was better than the previous film in the series, Jurassic World.
Fallen Kingdom does have the weird subplot of weaponizing dinosaurs from the previous film but it was handled a lot better and made more sense sense to me here.
Unfortunately though, this film ultimately fails to capture the magic of the original Jurassic Park.
It is a solid film but nothing to write home about.
I can least say you will find it entertaining… if you have not seen the trailers that is.

The Attack on Titan Live Action Movie is a Colossal Disaster.

It is at least a month until the third season of Attack on Titan airs and I cannot wait.
I have been dying to see more of it so I decided to watch the live actions adaptations to pass the time.
Now, I had not heard good things about the films so coming into the first one I was expecting something on the scale of The Last Airbender or Dragonball: Evolution in levels of terrible.
While, thankfully, the first live adaptation is nowhere as bad as those films, it is still a colossal mess (pun intended) that not only fails to capture the greatness of the source material but as a standalone movie as well.
Directed by Shinji Higuchi and “based” off the manga by Hajime Isayama, Attack on Titan is set 100 years after humanity hid behind three large walls to escape giants known as Titans that have driven humanity to the brink of extinction.
The movie follows friends Eren (Haruma Miura), Mikasa (Kiki Mizuhara) and Armin (Kanata Hongo) who witness a massive Colossal Titan destroy the outer wall allowing the Titans inside.
The film then follows their efforts, and that of the Survey Corps, to eliminate the Titans.
This plot synopsis does seem to encapsulate the story of the manga and anime, however, Higuchi makes many additions and changes to this story that severely undermine it.
For one, Eren’s mother is not in this film so her death cannot motivate Eren to fight the Titans, completely removing a large part of his character.
The worst change to the film story wise though is the addition that the Titans attacked in modern day so humanity have trucks and guns at their disposal.
This eliminates much of the tension that was seen in the original source material, due to the limited technology.
Even worse than the story changes, however, are the character changes.
I may have hated Eren in season one of Attack on Titan but at least he was memorable.
The movie version of Eren is an incredibly forgettable character and Miura gives the worst performance of the entire movie that sometime becomes laughably bad.

Movie Eren — Haruma Miura gives the worst performance of the film with various cringe inducing scenes.

Armin is just as forgettable, with no depth or character growth whatsoever.
The only change he got was that he was turned into an inventor in this version but this was pointless because it never came into the story in a significant way.
Then there is Mikasa, who is by far the worst offender.
Her main purpose in this movie is to serve as the love interest for a creepy love triangle between Eren and a watered down version of Levi known as Captain Shikishima (Hiriko Hasegawa).
The worst change about Mikasa though, is how she got her scarf.
I know this may seem like a fanboy nit-picking but it is really not because how Mikasa got the scarf in the manga and anime is integral to her character.
Mikasa saw her parents get murdered right in front of her.
After this, she felt completely lost and alone in the world until Eren wrapped his scarf around her and assured her she was welcome to come home and live with his family.
Thus Mikasa came to associate this scarf with Eren and her strong feelings for him, which is a big part of her motivation in both the manga and anime.
So, how was this translated to the film?
Eren gives Mikasa the scarf because she has a cold… Seriously?
This basically takes away Mikasa’s entire motivation and character development in this part of the story.

Mikasa scared — Mikasa is reduced to the love interest of the movie with almost no motivation.

Another big problem with the film is the music.
Attack on Titan has my favourite soundtrack of any show I have watched.
It is absolutely incredible and gives a perfect vibe for the series.
In comparison, the music of the film is incredibly cheesy with over the top whimsical music playing in the beginning scene.
Then there is the color palette.
Another great thing about the anime is how beautiful and colorful the environments are.
This makes for a very stark and disturbing contrast when we see characters getting horrifically killed in these beautiful environments, which improves the impact these scenes have.
The movie’s color palette, on the other hand, was incredibly bland and dull throughout.
In one particularly awful shot, the Titans are the same dull grey color as the environment, failing to make them stand out.

Bad Titan — The Titan’s completely fail to stand out because they are the same color as the environment.

Finally, there is the CGI, which goes from good, to passable, to atrocious throughout the movie.
Whenever the characters are using their ODM gear everything looks so incredibly fake that it draws you out of the moment.
I am not kidding when I say that some of these effects were I would expect to see in a Sharknado movie.
There is also a scene where blood splatters on the camera and it looks like the effects were done by Microsoft Paint, the effects are that bad.
All that being said though, was this film completely terrible?
No.
There were some things I did enjoy.
The character of Hans (Satomi Ishihara), who was the movie’s version of Hange Zoe, was spot on in both casting and performance.
The actor did a really great job and I wish she had been give more scenes.

Hans was a great interpretation of Hange from the manga and anime.

The final thing I liked was the 20 minute scene where the Titan’s attack Eren’s hometown.
This was a genuinely good scene with a lot of great horror moments and tension.
It also featured my favourite shot in the entire movie when, after the Colossal Titan has kicked in the wall, we see numerous Titans, illuminated by the sunlight, moaning as they make their way through the wall.
This shot was genuinely creepy and gave me goosebumps.
However, other than that, this movie was a failure in every way.
The story changes were ridiculous, the characters were terribly adapted, the soundtrack was cheesy and the color palette and effects were atrocious.
This was another bad adaptation of an anime and am I not looking forward to watching the sequel.

Westworld: Vanishing Point – William is Officially the Worst Father of the Year.

Warning: Contains major spoilers for the episode.

And the worst father of the year award goes to William, from Westworld.
In all seriousness, the latest episode of Westworld, Vanishing Point, delivered plenty of shocking moments and deaths.
Chief among those was the death of Emily at the hands of her own father.
I realised this was going to happen a full ten seconds before it did and spent those seconds literally screaming at the television for William not to kill his daughter.
Sure enough though, he did because he thought she was secretly a host being controlled by Ford.
However, sadly for William and Emily, she was not a host created by Ford and William really just killed his own daughter.

William kills his daughter — William realizes that Emily was not a host so he killed his real daughter.

I think it is fairly safe to say now that William is irredeemable at this point.
He looked to be on a redemption arc in the fourth episode Riddle of the Sphinx but, what with the whole murdering his own daughter thing, I do not see that really working out.
This shocking scene does lead to a very interesting one though, as William digs into his arm with a knife to see if he is a host to absolve at least some of the blame for Emily’s death.
While the episode does leave you hanging about whether or not William is a host, I think it is safe to say he is not.
One because the Delos security officers tested him right before he killed them and their tech said William was human, secondly because making him a host would remove most of the impact of him killing Emily.
Speaking of which, Emily and the Delos security team’s deaths were not the only ones William caused this episode as in a flashback it goes into the death of his wife Juliette, played in a brilliant cameo by Sela Ward.

Sela Ward was great in her small role as William’s wife Juliette

Watching her death play out and how it inadvertently led to the death of Emily as well was tragic to see.
The death of Juliette and Emily are not the only tragic deaths this episode though because Teddy dies too, or at least I think he does.
This is one of the few problems I have with Westworld because when a host dies you never know if it is going to be for good or if they will be brought back to life later.
Yes the hosts destroyed their backups by blowing up The Cradle, but Charlotte just brought Clementine back this episode and we still do not know if Lawrence is dead for good.
That being said, Teddy’s death was still very emotional.
At first I thought he was going to attack Dolores for changing him, before he said he would never hurt her and shoots himself.
Dolores reaction at the end is painful to watch, although this may led to something interesting in the finale because it looks like she and William will be teaming up to get to The Valley Beyond, due to both their tragic losses.

Dolores cries — Dolores tragic reaction to losing Teddy, possibly for good.

While having tragedy, this episode also had hope and dread for the finale.
Ford gave Maeve some new ability to help her escape her confinement saying he thought of her like his own child, which was very emotional.
Then there is Bernard who banished Ford from his mind, but for how long I wonder?
Finally, there is Clementine who, in a terrifying foreshadowing of things to come, was brought back to life by Charlotte and given Maeve’s admin powers.
Charlotte plans to use her to get all the hosts to kill each other, thus eliminating the threat.
We can see this plan coming to fruition in the season finale promo but Maeve is also there so hopefully she will be able to stop Clementine.
Another interesting thing in the promo is its connection to Logan, who looks to be playing a central role in the season finale because we can see Dolores and Bernard investigating his memories through the Forge.
Overall Vanishing Point was a tragic episodes with the deaths of Emily and Teddy, which will probably bring Dolores and William back together again.
It looks to be an intense season finale next week.

Tag: A Good Message About Friendship but not Much Else.

When I first heard about Tag I was skeptical.
A movie about a group of friends who play tag once a month every year, how could that be good?
Then I saw the trailer and I thought it might actually make a fun movie, not fantastic but fun.
Oh, how wrong I was.
I will admit Tag could have been good, what with its really good message about friendship.
All they had to do was throw in some good comedy and it would worked for a fun film to pass the time.
However, this was all ruined by immature a childish gags, which you could argue was the point since the characters themselves are immature and childish but that still does not make it work.
The only joke in the film I can remember was a Sherlock Holmes style gag where you hear the characters’ thoughts.
Other than that, I cannot remember a single joke from Tag, they were that forgettable.
Directed by Jeff Tomsic, the basic plot is that Ed Helms, Jon Hamm, Jake Johnson and Hannibal Buress play a group of friends trying to tag their friend Jerry, played by Jeremy Renner, who has never been tagged in his life, before his wedding.
The story that follows can only be described as incredibly predictable.
The characters think of a way to tag Jerry, they try, it fails, rinse and repeat.
It gets old very fast.
Another thing about the way the story is told is how pointless some its sublots are.
There is a love triangle sublot in this film that literally goes nowhere and had no reason to be in the film.
If I were to describe Tag in one word it would be forgettable.
The only redeeming quality about it is that it had a good message about friendship but it was difficult to latch onto that message since the story and comedy had no substance.
Tag is a forgettable experience that you should probably skip.
I will wait for the hide and seek movie to come out, thank you very much.

Top 10 Avatar: The Last Airbender Characters

Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of my favourite shows of all time.
It not only has a fantastic story, along with animation, music, action sequences and themes but incredible characters as well.
Some of these characters are even among the best in television history so I am going to count down what I consider to be the top 10 best.
Before that though, I have a few honorable mentions of Commander Zhao and Firelord Ozai, who are good characters, just not good enough to get on the list.
So, these are who I consider to be the top 10 best Avatar: The Last Airbender characters.

10. Suki

When we were first introduced to Suki in Book One, episode four, The Warriors of Kyoshi, she seemed like a very interesting character but only one that would be recurring and not a part of the main cast.
This, for the most part, was true because we did not see her for the rest of Book One and she was only in a little of Book Two before she got captured by Azula.
It is in Book Three where she is made a part of the main cast after being rescued from the Boiling Rock Prison.
She would go on to take part in the final battle, helping Sokka and Toph destroy the Firelord’s airships, even saving them both at one point.
Suki may not get that much development, due to her limited screen time throughout the series, but she is still a really cool character due to her unique fighting abilities as a Kyoshi Warrior and her relationship with Sokka.

9. Mai

I am going to be honest and say that when Mai was first introduced I did not really care for her.
Yes, her skill with knives was pretty cool but character wise she just fit the trope of a moody uncaring teen.
The reason she is on this list though is due to her actions in the Book Three episode, The Boiling Rock Part 2.
It is in this episode where she betrays Azula to save her ex-boyfriend Zuko, leading her to say one of my favourite lines in the series, “I guess you miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you.”
This was a really great moment for her because it showed her dedication to protecting those she cares about.
This along with the explanation of why she is so moody in the episode The Beach was enough to put her on my list at number nine.

8. Appa and Momo

Appa and Momo are basically the mascots of the show.
Appa, a sky bison, is Aang’s lifelong friend who has stuck with him through thick and thing and Momo was discovered as the last winged lemur in The Southern Air Temple.
Both stick with Team Avatar throughout the series and are mainly used for comic relief, especially Momo.
However, they also provide emotional moments for the show as well as Appa’s kidnapping was one of the big driving points for Book Two.
It was through the separation of Aang and Appa that we got a good look at how strong their friendship was through how both of them were reacting to their separation.
Appa was also very important to the show due to him being Team Avatar’s main form of transport.
While, Momo may just be comic relief and not important to the story he is still a lovable character that is shown to have a lot of heart, just like Appa.
Appa and Momo may be mascots but they are some of the best of any show.

7. Katara

Katara is the strong-willed mother figure of the series and provides a lot of emotional heart for the show.
I was genuinely surprised that I placed her at only number seven but that comes from no fault of her own, just that I like the characters further down the list more than her.
Katara herself is still a fantastic character who grows a lot from beginning to end.
In fact, some of the best episodes of the series are Katara centric like The Puppet Master, where Katara had to use the inhumane technique of Bloodbending to save her friends.
Then there was my second favourite episode of the series The Southern Raiders, where Katara and Zuko went to hunt down the man who killed her mother.
This episode had a lot of great growth for Katara, like with her going so far as breaking her vow of never bloodbending again when she thinks she has captured her mother’s killer, and her deciding not to kill Yon Rha but does not forgive him.
Throughout the show we have seen Katara at her best and lowest points presenting a strong character with a lot of emotional depth.

6. Aang

You might think it is a problem for me to consider the main character of the series, Aang, to be only the sixth best character but, like Katara, he is a fantastic character, just not as good as the ones further down, which shows how fantastic the entire cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender is.
Aang is the Avatar, the only one who can control all four elements and bring balance to the world.
It just so happens that he is also a fun loving goofball who would rather have fun with his friends than save the world.
This does not mean he is neglectful of his responsibilities though because, after realizing what his disappearance has done to the world, he takes on his responsibility as the Avatar, despite him never wanting to be.
Just like Katara, Aang grew a lot throughout the series, having matured a lot in the final episodes of Sozin’s Comet.
We got a look at his tragic backstory in The Storm where it was revealed he ran away from home after he learned the monks were going to take him away from his adoptive father Monk Gyatso when he got frozen in the ice, dooming the world to 100 years of war.
Watching his journey from here to Sozin’s Comet was great to see and only made better with how his character arc played into the themes of the show.

5. Sokka

Sokka may just seem like comic relief when you see him in the first episode but he is so much more than that.
You only need to compare him to the comic relief of the series’ follow up The Legend of Korra, Bolin, to see that Sokka is the perfect type of this character.
Bolin’s sole purpose in The Legend of Korra was comic relief so there was little to no depth with his character, while Sokka, on the other hand, had so much more depth despite being comic relief, thus making him a more interesting character.
He was the smartest person in Team Avatar, constantly figuring out ways for them to get out of tricky situations.
Even better, he got a lot of great character development as well, both through the relationships he had and his character arc.
We got to see him grow through his loss of Yue and eventually learning not to be too overprotective of Suki, when dealing with the aftermath of that loss.
Sokka’s feelings of inadequacy were also addressed in episodes like Sokka’s Master and The Day of Black Sun Part 1, and this all lead to him becoming an experienced warrior by the end of the series.
Sokka was a great character with a lot of heart.

4. Toph

Sokka may be the comic relief character but I always felt like Toph was the funniest character of the series.
Her blind jokes always got a laugh out of me.
Despite being blind, she is one of the most powerful characters in the Avatar series due to her unique sense of vibrations that allows her to fight in a very different style to everyone else.
She is a very fun character with a lot of spunk and heart.
Although she is one of the more underdeveloped members of Team Avatar, Toph is still one of my favourites because of her great personality.
We first meet her in The Blind Bandit fighting in a pro-wrestling match, a fantastic way to introduce her that really showed her characteristics and her skill set.
Toph also had many inspirational moments throughout the series, like her inventing metal bending in The Guru.
This was an excellent scene that really showed Toph overcoming the odds.
Toph is a character who, out of everyone in the show, I would probably want to be friends with the most due to her fun personality and inspirational strength.

3. Azula

What can I say?
I love a great villain and Azula is the best one in the entire series.
She is not only my favourite villain in Avatar: The Last Airbender but one of my favourite villains of all time.
That shows what an excellent character Azula is.
Azula is, without a doubt in my mind, a complete and utter sociopath.
That may seem extreme for a Nickelodeon show but it is the only thing that makes sense.
She threatens her “friends” with physical injury if they do not join her mission, she taunts Sokka about what she has done to Suki and, worst of all, as an eight-year-old girl she celebrated when she learnt her father planned to kill her brother and laughed about it.
Yet, despite being a completely despicable person, Azula is still fascinating to watch.
Seeing her plan to overthrow the Earth Kingdom in The Guru and The Crossroads of Destiny was brilliant to see play out and her scolding line to Long Feng, “don’t flatter yourself, you were never even a player” is probably the biggest insult in TV history.
Then, despite all the terrible things she had done, the show actually succeeded in making me feel sorry for her at the end.
Watching her slowly descend into madness was very sad to see because she had gone from basically perfect in every way to a shell of her former glory.
The only problem I have with Azula is we do not know what happened to her.
I do know from reading the comics she escaped and is still causing trouble but she is not mentioned in The Legend of Korra and I just want an explanation as to where she is.
Azula is the best villain in all of Avatar and one of my favourite villains ever.

2. Iroh

Iroh is the kind of guy who any person would be happy to have as their uncle.
He stuck by Zuko and supported him when no one else would.
Iroh has had some of the most emotional moments on the entire series as well.
When he celebrated his dead son’s birthday in The Tales of Ba Sing Se it was very emotional and his reconciliation with Zuko during Sozin’s Comet always makes me cry tears of joy at how beautiful it is.
Iroh always has great advice for people, as can be seen when he helps Toph in The Chase and is one of the most spiritual characters in the entire characters, except for the Avatar of course.
He also had his own little arc as it is revealed years before his son’s death he was a lot like other Fire Nation royalty as he planned to burn Ba Sing Se to the ground.
However, after Lu Ten’s death, Iroh became more spiritual and calm, joining the White Lotus when he realised what his Nation was doing to the world.
Iroh will do was is right above all else and is Zuko’s true father figure.
Heroic, kind and a father figure to everyone, Iroh is my second favourite Avatar: The Last Airbender character.

1. Zuko

Honestly, who else could it be?
Zuko is not just the greatest Avatar character but one of the greatest characters of all time.
I know this might seem like a bold statement but I do not think I am exaggerating at all here.
Just look at his arc throughout the entire series.
He starts of as a conflicted villain, then becomes an anti-hero, then the conflicted villain again, until he finally realizes what is right and becomes a hero.
He goes through so much development throughout the series and all of it is excellently handled.
We got to see Zuko go from the conflicted, angered, banished prince to the confident, content, new Firelord.
It was not an easy journey, however, as Zuko made many mistakes along the way, most notably relapsing into his desire for his father’s approval by turning on Aang in The Crossroads of Destiny.
Despite this, we all saw that Zuko was redeemable through episodes like The Blue Spirit and Zuko Alone.
This all culminated in the two-parter The Day of Black Sun, where Zuko decided to do the right thing and join the Avatar to help defeat his father.
Watching Zuko face off against Ozai after so much abuse from him was very powerful, especially when he utilized Iroh’s technique of redirecting lightening.
From here we had the satisfaction of, after so much great build up, Zuko redeeming himself by helping each member of Team Avatar and then facing Azula for the throne with Katara.
Zuko’s arc is one of if not the greatest character arc ever put to screen and watching him grow was a pleasure to see.
Zuko is, without a doubt, the best character in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Detroit: Become Human, a Game of Choices.

I have played many multiple choice games over the years and I am usually bitterly disappointed by them.
So often a new game will come out that promises players their choices will have dramatic effects on how the story progresses only for them to break their promise, with the choices having little to no impact (I am looking at you Telltale Games).
There are so few games out there that offer player choice that successfully give the player what was promised and, I am happy to say, Detroit: Become Human is one of these games.
Developed by Quantic Dream and directed by David Cage, Detroit: Become Human is set in the year 2038 in Detroit, where androids are used for everyday chores and are basically slaves.
However, some Androids become conscious, or deviants as they are called, and rebel against their creators.
The game centers around three playable androids Kara (Valorie Curry), a maid who goes deviant to save a little girl from her abusive father, Markus (Jessie Williams), who after becoming a deviant leads the others androids in a revolution, and Conner (Brian Dechart), who has been designed to specifically hunt down deviants.
It is a testament to this game with how closely I became attached to these three characters.
My favourite was Conner, who has a gripping storyline where you can either make him a heroic figure who discovers what it means to be alive or an emotionless jerk who will do anything to complete his mission, both of which are fun to play as.

Connor’s branching storylines were by far the best in the game.

Kara was my second favourite because I grew strongly attached to her through her connection with the little girl Alice (Audrey Boustani) and the lengths she would go to save her.
While, Markus was my least favourite of the three playable characters that does not change the fact that he was still a very likeable and investing character with his revolution, which can fail or succeed based on your decisions.
Even the side characters are great with Connor’s potential friendship with his partner Hank (Clancy Brown) being a great standout.
I got so attached to these characters that I broke my promise of playing through the game without going back to change anything because when I got Kara, Alice and their friend Luther (Evan Parke) killed I immediately went back to the last checkpoint to save them.
Speaking of which, the choice system in this game is unlike any other I have seen.
There are so many variations that it makes the game have great replay value.
I am currently on my third play through and still discovering new directions the story can go.
It is not all good though because this is David Cage we are talking about and the writing of the game can be a bit wince inducing at times.
Thankfully, Cage has clearly learned his lesson from Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls because the horrendously awkward interactive shower and sex scenes are gone.

Still, there is still plenty of awkward writing to see with some of the most blatantly obvious foreshadowing I have ever seen and even the usage of some of the worst cliches in film and gaming.
There was one cliche in the game where I literally paused it and said, “are they really doing this?”
Then there is the gameplay, which mostly consists of quick time events.
Props to Quantic Dream though because they know how to use these very well during action sequences as they heighten the tension because one wrong button press could mean certain death for one of the characters.
However, while these quick time events work for action sequences, when it comes to everything else they are very tedious and monotonous.
The true reason to play Detroit: Become Human is for its fantastic usage of the choice based system, lovable characters and story, at least the parts that do not have those eye rolling cliches.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes branching storylines in their games.