The Avatar Portal http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog The blog/news page of theavatarportal.org, a community dedicated to all things Avatar: The Last Airbender Mon, 06 Sep 2010 01:06:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 AP Back online! -8/7/10 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1340 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1340#comments Sun, 08 Aug 2010 03:34:10 +0000 Kevin http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1340 We are back online! We had to get our database back up, and thanks to the efforts of Tev our tech-inclined admin we are! Sadly, we have lost about a month’s worth of forum posts and site updates. Have no worries! We plan to have our Korra info section back online this weekend and will help any and all members register and get back up to speed on the forum.

AP will never go away, no matter how hard teh interwebz tries.

]]> http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1340 0 AvRen’Ten to Kick Off Tomorrow! -6/17/10 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1337 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1337#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:23:12 +0000 Kevin http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1337 That’s right, the annual AP summer classic is back and ready to officially begin tomorrow! Until this week, only the nation sign-ups and pre-IRP, or international role play, were open. Starting tomorrow, the international events between the nations begin. This year we feature the return of the classic event scoring system used in our first two AvRen’s based on points. We also feature the Risk-board from last year as its own event. And of course, the IRP makes its return and will go on for almost all summer. To head over to our AvRen’10 Board, click here.

To those new to AvRen, it is an annual summer event on AP dating back to 2007. It has the members of the forum pick one of the four Avatar nations, Air, Water, Earth, and Fire, and then pits them against eachother in events ranging from trivia to comics, fanart to fanfiction, and AMVs to scavenger hunts. This year will feature a more modern IRP with modern commodities like weapons and trains and events more based upon the upcoming TLA movies. This year promises to be among the best AvRens yet.

]]> http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1337 0 TLA Soundtrack Released and New Premiere Date – 6/16/10 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1330 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1330#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:36:36 +0000 Kevin http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1330 Two bits of news on the TLA front today. The first is that the soundtrack has been released for the movie! It is now available on iTunes from the iTunes music store here. It will not be released by Amazon until June 29th, so if you want TLA music now, iTunes is your store of choice.

Another bit of news comes from producer Frank Marshall’s twitter page (and I applaud Last Airbender Fans for spotting it first). The Last Airbender will now be released on July 1st instead of July 2nd! So remark your calendars with a July 1st premiere!

We here at AP are attempting to put together a NYC/Manhattan premiere party. If you are interested, please visit this thread of our forum for details.

Also, remember our giveaway of the five TLA books ends tonight! To get very good quality books from Simon and Schuster publishing with huge spoilers of the movies, make sure you post in this thread here on our forum. Currently your chances of getting a book are ~1 in 5 if you sign up now, so be sure to enter.

]]> http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1330 0 Legend of Korra Live Action? – 6/13/10 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1295 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1295#comments Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:34:18 +0000 Kevin http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1295 Kevin here forwarding a breaking news story from one of our admins, Tev. Tev with his many worldly connections has managed to get photocopies of the original ATLA show patent and the recent patent for Legend of Korra.

The Last Airbender Patent

Legend of Korra Patent

The shocking bit comes from reading the first paragraph of each. ATLA was created for the purpose of being “an ongoing television series featuring animation.” Korra, on the other hand, was created with the purpose of being a “continuing program series, featuring live action, comedy, and drama.” (emphasis mine in each).

You read that right. We here at AP are not lawyers, try as we might, so this is open for some interpretation from the fandom. However, the wording is quite obvious; The United States Government Patent and Trademark Office (click to search the serial number of the patents to verify yourself) says Avatar: The Legend of Korra has been filed to be a live-action series on Nickelodeon. Feel free to discuss on our forum here.

]]> http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1295 2 Giveaway Contests from AP and UGO – 6/9/10 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1288 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1288#comments Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:25:45 +0000 Kevin http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1288 That is right, there will be two (count em, two!) giveaway contests over the next few days.

The most immediately occurring one is from the site UGO. This has been the talk of this giveaway in our chat tonight and with our friends over at Last Airbender Fans. It involves the giveaway of five (5) Book One collectors editions! The contest begins tomorrow morning at 10am (I assume EST, or -4 UTC). The contest and its rules can be found here at UGO.

Now for our own giveaway! We have recently entered into a working deal with the publishing company Simon and Schuster on their five TLA movie tie-in books (which can be seen in the link to their page, and for those too lazy, I mean this link). We will be giving away one of each of the 5 books to 5 lucky winners and one bundle of all 5 to one really lucky winner!

Our contest will be a bit simpler (a.k.a. lazier) in nature than the UGO contest. All you need to do for our contest is register/be registered on our forum here, then post in this thread here. Only if you post in that thread can you be considered for any of the prizes! Winners will be decided by a random drawing (done via Excel’s random number generator, and will be broadcast on my LiveVideo feed from my webcam). The winners of these books have no restrictions on forum membership (save for one title). One book will be given away to a forum member who has been on AP for over a year (they will get their pick), and the other titles (including the bundle) will be given away to several random people who post in the thread regardless of time spent on our forum. This thread will remain open through next week to allow everyone a chance to enter. This contest will end next Wednesday by 10pm EST, (almost) exactly one week from now.

Good luck to all who enter the contest at UGO and here at AP! It is truly a great time to be an Avatard.

Summary: Register on our forum and post in this thread to have a shot at getting the TLA movie books for free! Be sure to read the rules in that thread before posting.

]]> http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1288 0 New Products for TLA and Special Promotions – 6/8/10 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1270 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1270#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:42:28 +0000 Kevin http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1270 That’s right, I’m actually doing a TLA news post and not a site news post. Weird, huh? Well this news comes from a source of ours in Viacom/Nickelodeon’s advertising department with summaries of events in the TLA merchandise universe.

Yesterday there was a number of announcements out of Las Vegas, NV on partnerships formed by Nick and several companies for products lines and promotions. One company Nick is entering a partnership with is Nordstrom. Nordstrom plans to produce a limited-edition line of apparel and accessories generally geared towards the younger crowd of TLA fans. The products include dog tags, charms, shoes, watches and T-Shirts. To promote this line of products, Nordstrom will have martial arts demonstrations outside select stores on June 27 featuring the martial arts that inspired the bending motions for the movie! Be sure to see if a store near you is having such an event.

The complete line-up of products to be distributed by Nick and Paramount is as follows:

Toys / Entertainment / Electronics:

  • Action figures, playsets, role play items, vehicles and more from Spin Master
  • Video games from THQ
  • Construction-themed sets and products from Mega
  • DVDs from Paramount Home Entertainment
  • Party goods from American Greetings
  • Customizable goods from HP

Apparel:

  • Footwear from Stride Rite
  • Footwear from ACI
  • Headwear/Cold Weather from ABG
  • Rainwear from Berkshire
  • Sportswear, T-shirts, kids sleepwear, outwear, swimwear from KHQ
  • T- shirts from Mad Engine
  • T-shirts from Jem
  • Packaged underwear from Handcraft
  • Adult sleepwear from Briefly Stated
  • Hosiery from Planet Sox
  • Costumes from Rubies

Home Décor:

  • Bedding, bath, beach, pillows, throws from Jay Franco & Sons
  • Restickable wall decor from Fathead

Publishing:

  • Prequel manga, movie manga, cinemanga from Del Rey Manga
  • Junior novelization, movie storybook, ready to reads, lost scrolls collection from Simon and Schuster
  • Activity digest, full-color scrapbook, activity book from Random House
  • Mad Libs from Penguin/Grosset Dunlap

Accessories:

  • Sunglasses from Pan Oceanic
  • Bags and backpacks from Global Design Concepts

Jewelry:

  • Children’s watches from MZ Berger
  • Specialty costume jewelry from High Intencity

Looks like there is no limit to what you can purchase in the TLA world! We hope to have links to all these products on our own merchandise page shortly. We have much more news where this came from, but for the sake of a shortish post this will be all for now. Check back soon for our reviews of Simon and Schuster Publishing Company’s TLA tie-in books!

]]> http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1270 0 New Epic Japanese TLA Trailer!– 5/31/10 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1182 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1182#comments Mon, 31 May 2010 15:49:31 +0000 Jon http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1182 Note the word “Epic” in the title; it is quite correctly placed.  Recently, a new Japanese trailer surfaced on Youtube for “The Last Airbender.”  It is actually the longest trailer for TLA so far.  This trailer is pretty awesome and actually focuses more on the art and drama of the movie rather than trying to entice Americans to think it’s just a cool action movie.  So without further adieu, watch the trailer for yourselves below.  It’s worth it!

]]> http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1182 4 ATLA Art Book Released!– 5/27/10 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1180 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1180#comments Fri, 28 May 2010 00:49:19 +0000 Jon http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1180 Today, the long awaited ATLA Artbook was released.  It is available online at Amazon.com or at your local book stores and comic shops.  The book is a good 184 pages long and includes very detailed information and unheard things such as how exactly Sokka shaves his head in season one and two to the possibility of Appa being female!  It is indeed a must-have for any fan of the series.  Nickelodeon’s name may be on it, but don’t let that misguide you into thinking that this book is not as comprehensive as it actually is.

Comment about this epic book here or on our forums!

]]> http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1180 3 Ozai and Zhao Speak!– 5/25/10 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1178 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1178#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 04:02:41 +0000 Jon http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1178 A new TV spot trailer aired for “The Last Airbender” during the show, Glee.  In it, we see some new footage here and there as well as some dialog from Ozai and even Zhao!  It’s pretty short, but it’s definitely a neat watch.

Feel free to discuss it here or take it to our forums!

]]> http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1178 0 The Last Airbender Soundtrack – 5/25/10 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1176 http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1176#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 22:18:52 +0000 Jon http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?p=1176 We all know by now that James Newton Howard is composing the musical score for “The Last Airbender.”  Howard has collaborated with M.Night in a lot of movies and also contributed to the soundtrack for “The Dark Knight.”  If you think the music in those movies was amazing, wait until you hear some samples from the TLA score. It’s pretty amazing and awe-inspiring.  The soundtrack of “The Last Airbender” is due out around June 29th according to Amazon.com.  So be sure to keep an eye out for it if you’re a musical person such as myself!  You can hear samples of the TLA soundtrack throughout the official TLA website or the TLA Soundtrack’s Myspace.

www.lastairbendermovie.com

http://www.myspace.com/lastairbender

Also, speaking of TLA merchandise, Hot Topic now has some TLA stuff in their stores.  They have things ranging from necklaces to wristbands.  Be sure to visit your local Hot Topic and get suited up for TLA!

]]> http://www.theavatarportal.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1176 0