Appa
Encyclopedia
Appa is a fictional character
on the Nickelodeon
animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender
and in the film The Last Airbender
. In the series, Appa is the only known living sky bison, a species of animals that can fly naturally, and is the animal guide of the protagonist, Aang. Dee Bradley Baker
voices Appa, along with all the other animals, in both the TV series and the film.
and Bryan Konietzko
have described Appa's appearance as a cross between a buffalo
and a manatee
. According to an interview with the artists involved with creating the show, Appa's design was based on that of Catbus
from the movie My Neighbor Totoro
, as they found it difficult to create a six-legged mammal
. The name Appa resembles the first syllable of the word Apple, which is the first fruit fed to him by Aang in the show.
Other aspects of Appa's character include his fear of fire and his trusting of those who have been kind to him. He can become quite temperamental towards anyone who he thinks is a threat to himself or his friends, especially Aang. Conversely, he has demonstrated an unrestrained affection towards those that he likes, often licking anyone he deems a friend. Appa also has a fear of going underground or in small tunnels, evidenced by his claustrophobic panic in the episode "The Cave of Two Lovers."
He has a special friendship with Momo the lemur, with whom he is often in company. Appa also shows a special preference towards Zuko (Initially being the only member of Team Avatar other than Toph
to think letting Zuko join the group is a good idea) because Zuko saved him from his imprisonment beneath Lake Laogai.
TV series, but also in the film The Last Airbender
, various video games, and manga. Dee Bradley Baker
voices Appa in both the TV series and the film.
The first meeting between Aang and Appa is seen during a flashback sequence in Appa's Lost Days.
It is tradition with Air Nomads that each young Airbender is given a sky bison calf once they come of age to be the Airbender's life-long animal companion.
Almost immediately, the two became friends and would remain close, Appa being the one thing aside from his staff and robes from Aang's home that Aang took with him when he fled the Southern Air Temple.
Appa remained in suspended animation along with Aang for 100 years until their discovery by Katara and Sokka
.
Since then, Appa has been the group's main form of transportation in their quest, as well as occasionally assisting in battle. Appa was a consistent part of the group throughout the series until his capture by the Sandbenders in "The Library
".
However, Appa has been returned to group as of the Season 2 episode Lake Laogai.
In a flashback on Appa's Lost Days, Appa's herd flies down to an Air Nomad Temple where Aang and other young Airbenders are waiting. Aang brings Appa an apple as a sign of friendship, which Appa accepts, sealing their bond as well as giving Appa his name, after the word "apple".
Appa became lost for a short time when the group was traveling in the Earth Kingdom. He was kidnapped by Sandbenders in the middle of the vast Wan Wong desert, while Aang, Katara, Sokka, and their winged lemur Momo were trapped in a vast underground library. It is later revealed that he was eventually sold to a Fire Nation circus where an animal tamer attempted to make him part of the show.
Appa later escaped and journeyed throughout the Earth Kingdom until he encountered the Kyoshi Island Warriors, who attempted to heal the various wounds he had sustained in his travels and escort him back to Aang.
Appa was forced to leave after an attack by Azula and her allies, ushered away by Suki while the warriors tried to delay the three Fire Nation girls.
On his journey he encountered a sadhu named Guru Pathik at the Eastern Air Temple, to which he had fled.
Being healed of his personal turmoil and directed to Aang by the sadhu, Appa flew to Ba Sing Se, where he was captured by Long Feng.
Appa was kept in a secret location at Lake Laogai until his rescue by Zuko, who was initially planning on utilizing him to capture the Avatar. Appa eventually returns to the main group in the last scenes of Lake Laogai.
Appa still accompanies Aang and his group even after they enter the Fire Nation. However, in order to make sure that he does not give away Aang's identity when flying, Aang covers Appa with clouds as a disguise while in flight.
At the Western Air Temple, he was among the first members of the group to accept Zuko as Aang's firebending teacher, as he is still grateful for Zuko freeing him in Ba Sing Se. He flew Aang and Zuko to the Sun Warrior Temple in order to learn the origin of firebending.
He also flew Zuko and Katara to the Southern Raiders ship, so Katara could confront the murderer of her mother.
After the search for Aang in the finale failed, the group was forced to divide their efforts to prevent the Fire Nation from wiping out the Earth Kingdom. Appa flew Zuko and Katara to the Fire Nation capital where they fought and defeated Azula before she could assume leadership of the throne. Afterward, Appa is last seen outside of Iroh's tea shop in Ba Sing Se, listening to Iroh play a horn.
with roar effects provided by Dee Bradley Baker
. Appa's role in the film has been noted to be significantly less prominent than in the animated series.
The sky bison was rendered entirely in computer graphics
for the film by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), with Pablo Helman as visual-effects supervisor. Regarding the challenges of adapting the cartoon Appa into a realistic-looking CGI beast, Helman said:
ILM animators also looked at polar bears while imagining the two front legs moving as arms while Appa walked.
. Appa also appears in Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth
and in Avatar: The Last Airbender - Into the Inferno
. In the Avatar: The Last Airbender Plug It In & Play TV Game, Appa takes center stage in "Appa Air Attack" in which Appa destroys Fire Nation airships using his airbending abilities.
Happy Meal
toy--with Appa as a launcher that shoots out Momo, the flying lemur.
Leading up to the opening of The Last Airbender
, reporter Kofi Outlaw of Screen Rant remarked that Appa "is a fan-favorite of the series." Similarly, Edward Douglas noted in Superhero Hype! that "Two of the characters from the cartoon fans are most anxious to see brought to life aren't even human. They are Appa, Aang's six-legged flying bison, and Momo, his flying pet lemur." The film trailer shown during Super Bowl led UGO Entertainment critic Jordan Hoffman to ask, "Where's Appa?" as the sole complaint, noting the character's lack of prominence in the preview. Correspondingly, MTV
's Rick Marshall provided instructions online on "how to find the elusive Appa" for the character's brief appearance in the background of a trailer scene.
As with the rest of the film, Appa's appearance in The Last Airbender was met with largely negative reviews. Geekosystems Susana Polo found the CGI version of Appa "really quite creepy," noting "that prey animals (like bison) have eyes on the sides of their heads, and so moving them to the front without changing rest of the facial structure tips us right into the Uncanny Valley
." With regards to the film's scripting, io9
reviewer Meredith Woerner wrote, "The saddest cut by far was watching Appa and Momo's personalities disappear."
During June 2010, the "Appa Mobile"a 1985 Chevy Astro painted by Maaco
to match the colors and patterns of a stuffed animal version of Appahad been created by Avatar fan Chelsea Guy and friends. The van also includes horns and a tail. Incidentally, Tyler Anderson had designed a "Appa Moderne" concept van the year prior.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz...
and in the film The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender is a 2010 American fantasy adventure film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is a live-action film adaptation of the first season to the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender....
. In the series, Appa is the only known living sky bison, a species of animals that can fly naturally, and is the animal guide of the protagonist, Aang. Dee Bradley Baker
Dee Bradley Baker
Dee Bradley Baker is an American voice actor. He is noted as his long-running-role as Klaus Heissler in American Dad! and other various characters including Squilliam Fancyson in the hit TV series SpongeBob SquarePants, Nightcrawler in X-Men: Legends and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance...
voices Appa, along with all the other animals, in both the TV series and the film.
Creation and conception
The show's creators Michael Dante DiMartinoMichael Dante DiMartino
Michael Dante DiMartino is an American animation director, best known as the co-creator, executive producer and story editor of the hit TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon...
and Bryan Konietzko
Bryan Konietzko
Bryan Konietzko is the co-creator and executive producer of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. He has also worked as a character designer at Film Roman for Family Guy and as Assistant Director for Mission Hill and King of the Hill. He was a Storyboard Artist and Art Director for the...
have described Appa's appearance as a cross between a buffalo
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
and a manatee
Manatee
Manatees are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows...
. According to an interview with the artists involved with creating the show, Appa's design was based on that of Catbus
Catbus
The is a character in the Studio Ghibli film My Neighbor Totoro, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is a large creature, depicted as a grinning male cat with a hollow body that serves as a bus, complete with windows and seats coated with fur, and a large bushy tail...
from the movie My Neighbor Totoro
My Neighbor Totoro
, is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film follows the two young daughters of a professor and their interactions with friendly wood spirits in postwar rural Japan...
, as they found it difficult to create a six-legged mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
. The name Appa resembles the first syllable of the word Apple, which is the first fruit fed to him by Aang in the show.
Characteristics
In the Avatar franchise, Appa is the last known living sky bison, which are large mammal-like creatures that fly through airbending and steer through air currents with their broad tails. The bison are covered in thick white fur with a large brown arrow marking that is remarked to be extremely itchy. In the show, the markings on the flying bison's backs are what inspired the tattoos which symbolize an Air Nomad's mastery of air bending. Their fur is shed at the end of winter. The Air Nomads summon the sky bison to their side through the use of whistles that only the animals can hear.Personality
Throughout the series, Appa has demonstrated high intelligence and often appears to understand at least a portion of human speech whereas Momo, the winged lemur, struggles to understand. Overall, Appa is not very aggressive. Nonetheless, Appa has shown himself to be very capable of fighting when necessary. With his bending, Appa can create powerful gusts of air by flicking his tail.Other aspects of Appa's character include his fear of fire and his trusting of those who have been kind to him. He can become quite temperamental towards anyone who he thinks is a threat to himself or his friends, especially Aang. Conversely, he has demonstrated an unrestrained affection towards those that he likes, often licking anyone he deems a friend. Appa also has a fear of going underground or in small tunnels, evidenced by his claustrophobic panic in the episode "The Cave of Two Lovers."
He has a special friendship with Momo the lemur, with whom he is often in company. Appa also shows a special preference towards Zuko (Initially being the only member of Team Avatar other than Toph
Toph
Toph Bei Fong is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The character was voiced by Jessie Flower.Toph Bei Fong is a blind Earthbending master...
to think letting Zuko join the group is a good idea) because Zuko saved him from his imprisonment beneath Lake Laogai.
Appearances
Appa is featured prominently throughout the franchise, not only in the Avatar: The Last AirbenderAvatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz...
TV series, but also in the film The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender is a 2010 American fantasy adventure film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is a live-action film adaptation of the first season to the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender....
, various video games, and manga. Dee Bradley Baker
Dee Bradley Baker
Dee Bradley Baker is an American voice actor. He is noted as his long-running-role as Klaus Heissler in American Dad! and other various characters including Squilliam Fancyson in the hit TV series SpongeBob SquarePants, Nightcrawler in X-Men: Legends and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance...
voices Appa in both the TV series and the film.
In the animated series
Appa is in almost every episode of the animated series, having appeared in 58 of the 61 episodes of the three seasons. Much of the back-story about the character comes from the episode Appa's Lost Days, "in which the most under-explored member of the team gets his very own episode."The first meeting between Aang and Appa is seen during a flashback sequence in Appa's Lost Days.
It is tradition with Air Nomads that each young Airbender is given a sky bison calf once they come of age to be the Airbender's life-long animal companion.
Almost immediately, the two became friends and would remain close, Appa being the one thing aside from his staff and robes from Aang's home that Aang took with him when he fled the Southern Air Temple.
Appa remained in suspended animation along with Aang for 100 years until their discovery by Katara and Sokka
Sokka
Sokka is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The character, created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, is voiced by Jack DeSena...
.
Since then, Appa has been the group's main form of transportation in their quest, as well as occasionally assisting in battle. Appa was a consistent part of the group throughout the series until his capture by the Sandbenders in "The Library
The Library
The Library may refer to:* The Library , a publication of the Bibliographical Society* The Library a World Fantasy Award-winning 2002 novella by Zoran Živković...
".
However, Appa has been returned to group as of the Season 2 episode Lake Laogai.
In a flashback on Appa's Lost Days, Appa's herd flies down to an Air Nomad Temple where Aang and other young Airbenders are waiting. Aang brings Appa an apple as a sign of friendship, which Appa accepts, sealing their bond as well as giving Appa his name, after the word "apple".
Appa became lost for a short time when the group was traveling in the Earth Kingdom. He was kidnapped by Sandbenders in the middle of the vast Wan Wong desert, while Aang, Katara, Sokka, and their winged lemur Momo were trapped in a vast underground library. It is later revealed that he was eventually sold to a Fire Nation circus where an animal tamer attempted to make him part of the show.
Appa later escaped and journeyed throughout the Earth Kingdom until he encountered the Kyoshi Island Warriors, who attempted to heal the various wounds he had sustained in his travels and escort him back to Aang.
Appa was forced to leave after an attack by Azula and her allies, ushered away by Suki while the warriors tried to delay the three Fire Nation girls.
On his journey he encountered a sadhu named Guru Pathik at the Eastern Air Temple, to which he had fled.
Being healed of his personal turmoil and directed to Aang by the sadhu, Appa flew to Ba Sing Se, where he was captured by Long Feng.
Appa was kept in a secret location at Lake Laogai until his rescue by Zuko, who was initially planning on utilizing him to capture the Avatar. Appa eventually returns to the main group in the last scenes of Lake Laogai.
Appa still accompanies Aang and his group even after they enter the Fire Nation. However, in order to make sure that he does not give away Aang's identity when flying, Aang covers Appa with clouds as a disguise while in flight.
At the Western Air Temple, he was among the first members of the group to accept Zuko as Aang's firebending teacher, as he is still grateful for Zuko freeing him in Ba Sing Se. He flew Aang and Zuko to the Sun Warrior Temple in order to learn the origin of firebending.
He also flew Zuko and Katara to the Southern Raiders ship, so Katara could confront the murderer of her mother.
After the search for Aang in the finale failed, the group was forced to divide their efforts to prevent the Fire Nation from wiping out the Earth Kingdom. Appa flew Zuko and Katara to the Fire Nation capital where they fought and defeated Azula before she could assume leadership of the throne. Afterward, Appa is last seen outside of Iroh's tea shop in Ba Sing Se, listening to Iroh play a horn.
In the film
Appa appears in the 2010 live action film The Last AirbenderThe Last Airbender
The Last Airbender is a 2010 American fantasy adventure film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is a live-action film adaptation of the first season to the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender....
with roar effects provided by Dee Bradley Baker
Dee Bradley Baker
Dee Bradley Baker is an American voice actor. He is noted as his long-running-role as Klaus Heissler in American Dad! and other various characters including Squilliam Fancyson in the hit TV series SpongeBob SquarePants, Nightcrawler in X-Men: Legends and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance...
. Appa's role in the film has been noted to be significantly less prominent than in the animated series.
The sky bison was rendered entirely in computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
for the film by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), with Pablo Helman as visual-effects supervisor. Regarding the challenges of adapting the cartoon Appa into a realistic-looking CGI beast, Helman said:
ILM animators also looked at polar bears while imagining the two front legs moving as arms while Appa walked.
In other media
The first video game Appa appeared in is the 2006 Avatar: The Last AirbenderAvatar: The Last Airbender (video game)
Avatar: The Last Airbender is a video game based on the animated television series of the same name for Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Wii, and Xbox...
. Appa also appears in Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth
Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth
Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Burning Earth is a video game for Wii, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and based on the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was one of the last games released for the Game Boy Advance in North America...
and in Avatar: The Last Airbender - Into the Inferno
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Into the Inferno
Avatar: The Last Airbender – Into the Inferno is a video game based on the Nickelodeon animated TV Series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The game's setting is based upon the show's third and final season...
. In the Avatar: The Last Airbender Plug It In & Play TV Game, Appa takes center stage in "Appa Air Attack" in which Appa destroys Fire Nation airships using his airbending abilities.
Promotion and merchandising
Appa has been featured in varying pieces of merchandise, including toys and plush dolls. The sky bison has also been featured as a McDonald'sMcDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
Happy Meal
Happy Meal
A "Happy Meal" is a meal specifically marketed at children, sold at the fast-food chain McDonald's since June 1979. A toy is typically included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a small box or paper bag with the McDonald's logo....
toy--with Appa as a launcher that shoots out Momo, the flying lemur.
Reception and legacy
KidsTelly.coms Dan G. Hughes noted that "the flying six legged bison has a lovingly sketched personality," further commenting how every character (including Appa) changes and grows throughout the series. Kevin Fitzpatrick of UGO Entertainment praised Appa's "love and courage throughout the series" citing how "our cuddly 8-foot tall buddy [is] willing to face any danger, and overcome any hardship to return to his master."Leading up to the opening of The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender is a 2010 American fantasy adventure film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is a live-action film adaptation of the first season to the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender....
, reporter Kofi Outlaw of Screen Rant remarked that Appa "is a fan-favorite of the series." Similarly, Edward Douglas noted in Superhero Hype! that "Two of the characters from the cartoon fans are most anxious to see brought to life aren't even human. They are Appa, Aang's six-legged flying bison, and Momo, his flying pet lemur." The film trailer shown during Super Bowl led UGO Entertainment critic Jordan Hoffman to ask, "Where's Appa?" as the sole complaint, noting the character's lack of prominence in the preview. Correspondingly, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's Rick Marshall provided instructions online on "how to find the elusive Appa" for the character's brief appearance in the background of a trailer scene.
As with the rest of the film, Appa's appearance in The Last Airbender was met with largely negative reviews. Geekosystems Susana Polo found the CGI version of Appa "really quite creepy," noting "that prey animals (like bison) have eyes on the sides of their heads, and so moving them to the front without changing rest of the facial structure tips us right into the Uncanny Valley
Uncanny Valley
The uncanny valley is a hypothesis in the field of robotics and 3D computer animation, which holds that when human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers...
." With regards to the film's scripting, io9
Io9
io9 is a blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The blog focuses on the subjects of science fiction, futurism, and advancements in the fields of science and technology....
reviewer Meredith Woerner wrote, "The saddest cut by far was watching Appa and Momo's personalities disappear."
Influences in art
An allusion to Appa can be found in the online comic strip A Life Precocious under the title "The Last Sky Bison," created by Matthew J. Ziemer.During June 2010, the "Appa Mobile"a 1985 Chevy Astro painted by Maaco
MAACO
MAACO Collision Repair & Auto Painting is an American franchisor of auto painting and collision repair shops based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1972 by Anthony A. Martino and Daniel I. Rhode. Maaco's reputation is low pricing and questionable quality...
to match the colors and patterns of a stuffed animal version of Appahad been created by Avatar fan Chelsea Guy and friends. The van also includes horns and a tail. Incidentally, Tyler Anderson had designed a "Appa Moderne" concept van the year prior.