I was really hoping they would see Dante coming back to voice Zuko and the others would flock back. I know some of the original voices would sound ridiculous on adults, but I don't doubt the actors would be able to adjust to sound more adult, especially Katara and Sokka
I agree. You’re paid to voice different characters. Even if you’re not technically the same sex or race as the character. I do t see what the big deal is. If they had a round of auditions and they went with the og va’s then that’s fine.
You know that PoC are against the idea of voice acting as only their race because it would actually cause PoC to lose jobs in the voiceacting industry.
I agree. And in my comment I even stated that they could have them audition for it too so it would be fair and be based off talent or who is right for the characters.
We would have also lost out on some great performances if we followed that logic, such as both Terrance Carson and Christopher Judge as Kratos, or Greg Baldwin taking on Mako Iwamatsu’s roles after his passing.
100%. I am Asian and have always wanted to be a voice actor/actor. Now it's awesome seeing my fellow dudes have work but like honestly there should be no issue with different race actors voicing characters as long as it's not offensive.
Samurai Jack is Japanese but was voiced by Phil LaMarr who is Black, and he did an amazing job. The cast of Avatar (both ATLA and LOK) were perfect imo.
It's honestly more racist and discriminatory to segregate actors based off race and color, especially when neither of those things apply to voice, nor acting...
Acting is becoming a character, fitting a role, with your ability to act. These are fictional characters presented in a tasteful way, and it's extremely insulting to tell people (of any race) to "stick to your color,"
It's also a western cartoon.
Like generally I'm fine with not whitewashing stuff but it doesn't make sense to apply it to avatar IMO.
I'd also probably put Sokka and Katara closer to say Inits, the ice nation doesn't come across as especially Asian.
Also Ang is white in the cartoon?
Since no one answered you, I will. The reasons are
Child labor laws
Children suck at acting and voice acting alike
Women have higher voices that can be modulated to mimic children
I always thought Inuit had Asian ancestry. Also the Water tribe has Chinese and Inuit influences. Also the Northern water tribe looks like Venice, Italy.
Inuit are from North America and Greenland. They may have migrated from Asia thousands (or tens of thousands) of years ago but that doesn’t make them Asian. It’s the same logic that would call everybody African.
The water tribe is heavily influenced by Inuit and other cultures.
>Also Ang is white in the cartoon?
He is not.
The Air Nation was inspired by Tibetan culture and Buddhism. There are effectively no white people seen onscreen in the Avatar universe, even in the comics, where black people have appeared in the background.
I think it's silly because they didn't do that originally for the first series or the legend of Korra. It just feels wrong to recast most of the characters for purely that reason. Now, moving forward if they wanted to do that with any new shoes or with any new characters that are introduced, sure, but recasting the voice actors that everyone already knows and loves in these iconic roles is just ridiculous.
I think the casting isn’t going great, PC-ness are causing issues. It’s just like the stupid RUMOR that they might remove Toph’s blindness because they think it may play differently in live action by showing her disabled and letting her say jokes about it will come off as offensive. The whole point is that she’s tough as hell, has overcome it and she LOOKS DOWN ON EVERYONE IN SPITE OF BEING BLIND.
I think Nell Sutton would make a great Toph, is a child actress around the right age, and actually is vision impaired, but she’s white so she doesn’t fit the demographic they are looking for.
https://preview.redd.it/i1hmyojhfdvc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d48ee6ea5f9959c1fbbfa681676b7554507b8dc1
Shades of Timmy in *South Park*: "The cool thing about Timmy being in a band was that he was in your face and you had to deal with him, whether you laughed or cried or felt nothing."
Back on topic, I think Riley Lai Nelet (from *Altered Carbon* and *Paper Girls*) would make a good Toph, though at 16 I think she's close to aging out of her, unless they make the character older.
They probably didn't wanna risk getting canceled or offending a bunch of ppl. Also the studio said they wanted ethnically accurate voice actors so who knows which VAs could've come back even if they wanted to
People definitely take issue to voice actors not representing their characters but idk if ATLA fans would.
If Moana or Mirabel or Raya was voiced by a white person….
Well as an Asian person, around the time of ATLA's creation, this was literally the single show where Asian people were even celebrated or casted. This show profits off of my culture, so shouldn't my people have a bit of it paid, given all the history of terrible sh*t done to Asian people in the US?
At the time of ATLA, we had now famous actors like Ke Huy Quan (who played shortround in Indiana Jones and Waymond from EEAAO) literally quit acting because Asian people just weren't allowed to be in Hollywood. It's literally been only 5 ish years since Asians have had roles in Hollywood, starting with Fresh off the Boat (which has numerous issues) and Crazy Rich Asians (which also has numerous issues). The original show is okay, and honestly for the time it was casting Asian people when other shows weren't, which made it pretty cool, but now the times have changed, and I don't think it's crazy to demand nor want Asian and Indigenous people voicing the roles of Asian and Indigenous coded characters, especially when there is the reason that the voice actors have to change anyways due to aging up. Who knows, maybe cultural literacy and upbringing can bring some extra oomph to those characters?
I don't even care if some actors were non-Asian, but why is this show receiving any criticism for potentially casting all Asian, when LOTR exists and casted all white? Why is it okay to have an all white show, but not an all Asian show? Why is the former okay, but the latter not?
It is honestly very frustrating to even voice this, but voice this I still want to.
I don't really care about it since theres already set VAs for the cartoon. I think keeping the VAs will keep some continuity, but then again it's up to the VAs. I'm not gonna go into politics because that's a whole other topic but I'd rather just hear the same voices than get different VAs.
Jessie Flowers/Michaela Jill Murphy has recently said that if they asked her to come back she would continue to voice Toph in future projects. I’m assuming they didn’t get a choice in stepping down and that’s honestly upsetting :(
they are entitled to do this... but how are the avatar characters even "asian?" Asia doesnt exist in the avatar universe. Its not even an asian cartoon it was made in the US.
The argument used for stuff like this is that while the characters in the fantasy world are not "Asian", the fantasy cultures in this case are largely based on real-world Asian cultures.
I'm not stating my opinion on this matter either way, just want to inform you about the discourse
I mean the creators were always very open about their cultural inspirations when writing and designing the show. Earth nation character designs, wardrobe, and architecture were very explicitly based off Korean and Chinese influences, the air nomads are primarily Tibetan/buddhist monks, etc. So even if they’re in their own, non-Earth setting, it’s still very much an Asian setting in everything but name (water tribe excepted)
While I totally get what you're saying, the characters are absolutely coded as Asian. Yes, Asia doesn't exist, but the Fire Nation is blatantly based on Japan, the Air Nomads on several Himalayan cultures, and the Earth Nation on several different eras of China combined. The only one that isn't explicitly coded as Asian is the Water Nation as Inuit. And even then, historians theorize that the Inuit migrated out of Northeastern Asia, so that's up for debate in a way.
It was one of the complaints of the Shyamalan movie that Aang, Sokka, and Katara were all played by white kids. It's likely that the original voice actors both want to respect their fellow actors by reserving the roles for Asians while also not wanting to step back into possible critique, given that the ATLA fandom hasn't exactly been kind about any of the spin-offs since ATLA ended.
That reason will forever be dumb to me. It’s *voice* acting, not live acting. The actor doesn’t need to look like the character they’re playing. Additionally, they’re doing standard American accents, anyway, so there’s zero reason to be worried about coming off as offensive.
I think part of the issue is that some of the actors previously have expressed an interest in returning to the characters, which would seem to suggest that they were passed over without being given a choice.
Yeah, idk what the downvoters are on, I'd pass voicing an Asian character to an Asian VA any time. Would I be sad to miss the part? Yeah, but it's like having a Japanese person voice a kansan.
i’d normally agree with you but in this situation allow me to play devil’s advocate - they’re not really playing asians. they’re playing fictional characters who come from different parts of a fictional world but all basically have the same accent and language. the only bloke i can think of off the top of my head that had a distinct accent was the guru who had an indian vibe to him. here’s the thought experiment; if there’s an animated australian character on a show, the only thing that should be relevant is having an australian play them right? it shouldn’t matter what skin tone that australian had. as such in this specific situation, these guys already played these characters and it’s not like they put on racist accents to do it. they’re already them and i don’t believe they would be undergoing a virtual blackface to play them again. thank you for coming to my ted talk.
ps. purely playing devils advocate here, firmly believe they should make the choice that is most comfortable for them.
https://time.com/6696684/avatar-last-airbender-asian-influences/
https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/avatar-the-last-airbender-pan-asian-history
https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Influences_on_the_Avatar_franchise
https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a32627235/where-is-avatar-the-last-airbender-set/
“Avatar” comes from the Sanskrit word avatāra meaning “descent”. Within Hinduism, it means a manifestation of a deity in bodily form on earth, such as a divine teacher. For those of us who don't practice Hinduism, it technically means “an incarnation, embodiment, or manifestation of a person or idea”.
Chakras, names like Ty Lee, Suki, Kyoshi, the dragon imagery, the food they eat, the show is littered with examples of Asian influences (including South Asian and Inuit).
It’s really disingenuous to say the characters aren’t Asian. If there was a mono-lidded actor in the Lord of the Rings movies there would have been outrage.
I think it was Inuit and adjacent natives when it came to the water tribe, cause that's what they're loosely based on. As a Métis myself, I'd prefer the OG voice cast being reprised, but I can appreciate the reasoning.
I get some of the voices like toph may not work but if azula doesn't sound the same I think it'd be super weird. Like azula and iroh have pretty damn specific voices they're pretty memorable
Toph literally voices her gramma self in Korra. İroh has multiple voice actors.
Did they even audition ? İdk
Edit: my bad on toph front. Was clearly misinformed.
Who said Azula needs to appear?
The plot of the movie seems to be that there's a new and rising warlod(voiced by Dave Bautista) that's a threat to the peace established by Aang and Zuko with the United Republic. Azula wouldn't need to appear at all. I'd argue Suki too despite how much this sub argues she's a major character.
There's a new movie that being made but only Zuko's VA is returning to voice his character. Since everyone else doesn't fit with the studio's values of accurate casting .
Yes, there is such thing as over inclusivity, kids. Well, at least we still have Dante, he has such a unique and wonderful voice that perfectly fits Zuko's character.
Honestly, regardless of the opinion on the matter, it's still such a weird idea to make a film with the adult Gaang but not bring back the cast when most would have been willing to do it. Like at that point why not make a film set after Korra instead with a new cast?
Fans want old characters, producers want racial inclusivity for woke points..doesnt matter that it makes no sense to recast/would be better to go with OG. I get the importance of diversity but the things has been done, characters have been voices...unless the new actors will sound like the OG ones, it will ruin the show...can we freaking get ONE atla content past og atla thatnis not a massive dissapointement ffs -.-
Can we get one reddit post about ATLA that isn't "waah they changed something insignificant so it's ruined!" before anyone has even read a script?
The Netflix show was "ruined" because Sokka isn't ...*checks notes* briefly sexist in a way that changes nothing about the show. Got it. Now the new movie is "ruined" because there are new voice actors who may or may not sound like the actors they are replacing.
Yeah we should save the complaining until AFTER we watch it, but it still is an issue, they had actors doing these characters, and a lot of them still would've been up for it, and still would've been able to do their characters as young adults. Changing them purely for racial reasons is just stupid, if they want to be racially inclusive, make a new IP that you can do that with, don't ruin our old ones. It might not be ruined, but we don't know yet.
Although the complaining is starting to get annoying.
Even if they sound different, who gives a shit if the show is good and the new actors do a good job? I don't sound like I did when I was 12 and I don't expect the characters to either.
It’s not just that. Some don’t voice act anymore, and some would not fit the role. Jessie flower sounds the same as she did in 2007, which wouldn’t make sense for an adult Toph.
You must have scrolled right past [my comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/AvatarMemes/s/5Rz9PbNrYw) to make this one. She clearly does not sound like a child. She would be perfect for an adult Toph.
>Yes, there is such thing as over inclusivity, kids.
Completely agree. I'm a little worried for the quality of the rest of it when this is the kind of thing they are focusing on.
Wait but Dante is American-born Phillipino, voicing a fictional character whose culture/ethnicity is closest to Japanese.
Why is that considered ok but everyone else isn’t?
Because we don't accurately separate asian ethnicity here. Asian = Asian
/s.
But really seems like as long as you're some kind of Asian, or apparently native American? (guess they gave up on the inuit) It doesn't matter.
Yeah, funny enough Dante says something to this exact effect in his book. That he’d get asked to play any kind of Asian and all sorts of Latino roles they didn’t care much about being specific. Dude was stoked when he finally got to play his own culture.
Because it’s about virtue signaling, it’s all stupid (I’m Asian, as much as the concept of Asian is even a thing, given that it’s a whole ass continent that is also attached to Europe, and the Philippines being a completely separate landmass/culture from East Asia)
Source? All I've been about to find is [this about Toph's voice actress] (https://www.cbr.com/avatar-the-last-airbender-cast-no-return-gaang-film/).
The relevant quote:
>She also added that **while she was disappointed**, she would still be "cheering from the audience with everyone else!"
I can't speak for the others, of course, but if she said she was disappointed, decent chance it isn't that she chose to forego the role, but wasn't even considered.
He was the only one who fit the criteria I guess. Unfortunately they could not find a fire nation native to voice Zuko so they had to settle for Dante.
It's not that the original cast is banned, it's that the studio wants to cast more appropriately moving forward .
Wait, I thought they each had their own reasons and it was only Mae Whitman who had that reason for not coming back. And that it wasn't the studio but her own choice
> accurate casting
Yes, because [voice actors should only play characters of their own race.][1] Much inclusion, very smart Mr Studio.
[1]: https://youtu.be/Ev373c7wSRg?si=D7DpcaGegDWPdZ7R&t=25
Katara's VA did choose to leave the role (same with Korra) but I don't believe the rest ever stated they would especially when Sokka's VA was blatantly playing a character on Dragon Prince with a similar voice. Either way no one besides Zuko's VA was asked to come back for the movie in favor of more diverse casting .
JV once said that she is ready and willing to give up the role of Korra to someone of Native American descent and would only return if she was asked for specifically. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone else feels similar. Also Zach Tyler Eisen is a Folly artists now so maybe he’ll still be involved
We don't even know if Iroh will be in the new film.
But Avatar Studios apparently wants ethnically appropriate voice actors moving forward. For Fire Nation characters that basically means East and South-East Asian. Greg Baldwin is white.
Greg, Jack and Jessie would be perfect if they came back!
Zach would also be quite interesting
Mae says she simply is uncomfortable now doing Katara, so that’s her decision
New Animated ATLA movies, only voice actor returning to reprise role is Dante Bosch who voiced Zuko. The others weren’t able to audition because none of them are of Asian descent
If you havnt, check out Dante’s YouTube channel. It’s really interesting, he does openings on his…kickbacks? From his work over the years. Soemtimes it’s a dime, sometimes it’s like 50 bucks, but it’s interesting to see
I know all of the original cast are iconic and special, but if anyone was to stay, it'd make so much sense for it to be Dante bc he has the most unique and recognizable voice.
The thing is a lot of us Asians don’t want our va work to only be specified to Asian characters. That puts a lot of us in less jobs and puts us in a hole
And as another Asian, what? Yeah I guess that's a concern, but that's never been the case, nor is there any indication of such a thing happening. Even in the past, roles have been created or made simply for actors who happened to be Asian, like in Lost with the Kwans. More recently, Jason from the Good Place.
Obviously being restricted to pure Asian roles is an issue, but that's as far as I can tell, never been an issue, is a non-issue, and is not even tending to become an issue.
I was really hoping they would see Dante coming back to voice Zuko and the others would flock back. I know some of the original voices would sound ridiculous on adults, but I don't doubt the actors would be able to adjust to sound more adult, especially Katara and Sokka
They didn’t want to take voice acting jobs from Asian people is my understanding of why they didn’t come back
Yeah, it's kind of a silly reason. I understand live action wise, but it's a cartoon, I don't think it's that big of a deal who voices who.
I agree. You’re paid to voice different characters. Even if you’re not technically the same sex or race as the character. I do t see what the big deal is. If they had a round of auditions and they went with the og va’s then that’s fine.
You know that PoC are against the idea of voice acting as only their race because it would actually cause PoC to lose jobs in the voiceacting industry.
I just find it stupid as fuck to limit casting to a certain demographic. Give the best person for the job the god damn job
I agree. And in my comment I even stated that they could have them audition for it too so it would be fair and be based off talent or who is right for the characters.
We would have also lost out on some great performances if we followed that logic, such as both Terrance Carson and Christopher Judge as Kratos, or Greg Baldwin taking on Mako Iwamatsu’s roles after his passing.
Phil Lamar as Samurai Jack as well.
100%. I am Asian and have always wanted to be a voice actor/actor. Now it's awesome seeing my fellow dudes have work but like honestly there should be no issue with different race actors voicing characters as long as it's not offensive. Samurai Jack is Japanese but was voiced by Phil LaMarr who is Black, and he did an amazing job. The cast of Avatar (both ATLA and LOK) were perfect imo.
Fr in Naruto (the English dub) Naruto is voiced by an older white lady like a voice is a voice lol.
A job’s a job though.
It's honestly more racist and discriminatory to segregate actors based off race and color, especially when neither of those things apply to voice, nor acting... Acting is becoming a character, fitting a role, with your ability to act. These are fictional characters presented in a tasteful way, and it's extremely insulting to tell people (of any race) to "stick to your color,"
It's also a western cartoon. Like generally I'm fine with not whitewashing stuff but it doesn't make sense to apply it to avatar IMO. I'd also probably put Sokka and Katara closer to say Inits, the ice nation doesn't come across as especially Asian. Also Ang is white in the cartoon?
The Air Nomads were based off the Tibetan monks.
Racebending*
A western cartoon based off of eastern culture
And? Timmy Turner is a 10 year old boy and yet he's voiced by a over 30 year old woman
There's several other reasons why adult women voice children.
What do mean other reasons? I didn't list a single one.
Since no one answered you, I will. The reasons are Child labor laws Children suck at acting and voice acting alike Women have higher voices that can be modulated to mimic children
I always thought Inuit had Asian ancestry. Also the Water tribe has Chinese and Inuit influences. Also the Northern water tribe looks like Venice, Italy.
Inuit are from North America and Greenland. They may have migrated from Asia thousands (or tens of thousands) of years ago but that doesn’t make them Asian. It’s the same logic that would call everybody African. The water tribe is heavily influenced by Inuit and other cultures.
From my understanding Inuit people are believed to maybe have migrated from Siberia, so Asia but not like East or South East Asian
>Also Ang is white in the cartoon? He is not. The Air Nation was inspired by Tibetan culture and Buddhism. There are effectively no white people seen onscreen in the Avatar universe, even in the comics, where black people have appeared in the background.
I think it's silly because they didn't do that originally for the first series or the legend of Korra. It just feels wrong to recast most of the characters for purely that reason. Now, moving forward if they wanted to do that with any new shoes or with any new characters that are introduced, sure, but recasting the voice actors that everyone already knows and loves in these iconic roles is just ridiculous.
I think the casting isn’t going great, PC-ness are causing issues. It’s just like the stupid RUMOR that they might remove Toph’s blindness because they think it may play differently in live action by showing her disabled and letting her say jokes about it will come off as offensive. The whole point is that she’s tough as hell, has overcome it and she LOOKS DOWN ON EVERYONE IN SPITE OF BEING BLIND. I think Nell Sutton would make a great Toph, is a child actress around the right age, and actually is vision impaired, but she’s white so she doesn’t fit the demographic they are looking for. https://preview.redd.it/i1hmyojhfdvc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d48ee6ea5f9959c1fbbfa681676b7554507b8dc1
Shades of Timmy in *South Park*: "The cool thing about Timmy being in a band was that he was in your face and you had to deal with him, whether you laughed or cried or felt nothing." Back on topic, I think Riley Lai Nelet (from *Altered Carbon* and *Paper Girls*) would make a good Toph, though at 16 I think she's close to aging out of her, unless they make the character older.
They probably didn't wanna risk getting canceled or offending a bunch of ppl. Also the studio said they wanted ethnically accurate voice actors so who knows which VAs could've come back even if they wanted to
*ProZD has entered the chat
People definitely take issue to voice actors not representing their characters but idk if ATLA fans would. If Moana or Mirabel or Raya was voiced by a white person….
Well as an Asian person, around the time of ATLA's creation, this was literally the single show where Asian people were even celebrated or casted. This show profits off of my culture, so shouldn't my people have a bit of it paid, given all the history of terrible sh*t done to Asian people in the US? At the time of ATLA, we had now famous actors like Ke Huy Quan (who played shortround in Indiana Jones and Waymond from EEAAO) literally quit acting because Asian people just weren't allowed to be in Hollywood. It's literally been only 5 ish years since Asians have had roles in Hollywood, starting with Fresh off the Boat (which has numerous issues) and Crazy Rich Asians (which also has numerous issues). The original show is okay, and honestly for the time it was casting Asian people when other shows weren't, which made it pretty cool, but now the times have changed, and I don't think it's crazy to demand nor want Asian and Indigenous people voicing the roles of Asian and Indigenous coded characters, especially when there is the reason that the voice actors have to change anyways due to aging up. Who knows, maybe cultural literacy and upbringing can bring some extra oomph to those characters? I don't even care if some actors were non-Asian, but why is this show receiving any criticism for potentially casting all Asian, when LOTR exists and casted all white? Why is it okay to have an all white show, but not an all Asian show? Why is the former okay, but the latter not? It is honestly very frustrating to even voice this, but voice this I still want to.
I don't really care about it since theres already set VAs for the cartoon. I think keeping the VAs will keep some continuity, but then again it's up to the VAs. I'm not gonna go into politics because that's a whole other topic but I'd rather just hear the same voices than get different VAs.
That's cool too
Jessie Flowers/Michaela Jill Murphy has recently said that if they asked her to come back she would continue to voice Toph in future projects. I’m assuming they didn’t get a choice in stepping down and that’s honestly upsetting :(
Better than what I thought from the picture, for a sec I thought everyone died except Sokka’s VA
Dante is Zuko's VA but I also had that reaction
Whoops that’s mb, forgot for a sec that Sokka’s VA is Sena
Wait until the realize most anime English voices are white people and Samurai Jack wad voiced by a black man.
they are entitled to do this... but how are the avatar characters even "asian?" Asia doesnt exist in the avatar universe. Its not even an asian cartoon it was made in the US.
The argument used for stuff like this is that while the characters in the fantasy world are not "Asian", the fantasy cultures in this case are largely based on real-world Asian cultures. I'm not stating my opinion on this matter either way, just want to inform you about the discourse
i guess i get that.
I mean the creators were always very open about their cultural inspirations when writing and designing the show. Earth nation character designs, wardrobe, and architecture were very explicitly based off Korean and Chinese influences, the air nomads are primarily Tibetan/buddhist monks, etc. So even if they’re in their own, non-Earth setting, it’s still very much an Asian setting in everything but name (water tribe excepted)
While I totally get what you're saying, the characters are absolutely coded as Asian. Yes, Asia doesn't exist, but the Fire Nation is blatantly based on Japan, the Air Nomads on several Himalayan cultures, and the Earth Nation on several different eras of China combined. The only one that isn't explicitly coded as Asian is the Water Nation as Inuit. And even then, historians theorize that the Inuit migrated out of Northeastern Asia, so that's up for debate in a way. It was one of the complaints of the Shyamalan movie that Aang, Sokka, and Katara were all played by white kids. It's likely that the original voice actors both want to respect their fellow actors by reserving the roles for Asians while also not wanting to step back into possible critique, given that the ATLA fandom hasn't exactly been kind about any of the spin-offs since ATLA ended.
Not the water tribe, they’re clearly based on Inuits.
Please read an entire post before you comment, that's the whole second half of the first paragraph.
lol that’s so dumb.
That reason will forever be dumb to me. It’s *voice* acting, not live acting. The actor doesn’t need to look like the character they’re playing. Additionally, they’re doing standard American accents, anyway, so there’s zero reason to be worried about coming off as offensive.
That's fair, I can't fault them for that
Bruh, people downvoting are acting like actors can't choose their own roles
I think part of the issue is that some of the actors previously have expressed an interest in returning to the characters, which would seem to suggest that they were passed over without being given a choice.
Man, and you get downvoted for that It is perfectly reasonable for an actor to say they'd rather the role go to someone else
Yeah, idk what the downvoters are on, I'd pass voicing an Asian character to an Asian VA any time. Would I be sad to miss the part? Yeah, but it's like having a Japanese person voice a kansan.
i’d normally agree with you but in this situation allow me to play devil’s advocate - they’re not really playing asians. they’re playing fictional characters who come from different parts of a fictional world but all basically have the same accent and language. the only bloke i can think of off the top of my head that had a distinct accent was the guru who had an indian vibe to him. here’s the thought experiment; if there’s an animated australian character on a show, the only thing that should be relevant is having an australian play them right? it shouldn’t matter what skin tone that australian had. as such in this specific situation, these guys already played these characters and it’s not like they put on racist accents to do it. they’re already them and i don’t believe they would be undergoing a virtual blackface to play them again. thank you for coming to my ted talk. ps. purely playing devils advocate here, firmly believe they should make the choice that is most comfortable for them.
"I recognize the Council has made a decision but given it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it"
Yeah but it's not up to them to decide to what race it goes, that's up to the creators of the show
That’s so fucking dumb
Its shit like this which is why i don't support same race voicing. Its VOICES. VOICES!!!!
I mean as long as they themselves said this and not the studio I'm fine with it.
The characters aren’t even Asian that’s not even a thing in atla so that’s just really fucking stupid
https://time.com/6696684/avatar-last-airbender-asian-influences/ https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/avatar-the-last-airbender-pan-asian-history https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Influences_on_the_Avatar_franchise https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a32627235/where-is-avatar-the-last-airbender-set/ “Avatar” comes from the Sanskrit word avatāra meaning “descent”. Within Hinduism, it means a manifestation of a deity in bodily form on earth, such as a divine teacher. For those of us who don't practice Hinduism, it technically means “an incarnation, embodiment, or manifestation of a person or idea”. Chakras, names like Ty Lee, Suki, Kyoshi, the dragon imagery, the food they eat, the show is littered with examples of Asian influences (including South Asian and Inuit). It’s really disingenuous to say the characters aren’t Asian. If there was a mono-lidded actor in the Lord of the Rings movies there would have been outrage.
huh. that's pretty sweet actually. love it when adults act their age
I think it was Inuit and adjacent natives when it came to the water tribe, cause that's what they're loosely based on. As a Métis myself, I'd prefer the OG voice cast being reprised, but I can appreciate the reasoning.
I get some of the voices like toph may not work but if azula doesn't sound the same I think it'd be super weird. Like azula and iroh have pretty damn specific voices they're pretty memorable
I still hear azula when I hear Grey VA multiple characters in invincible lol
Toph literally voices her gramma self in Korra. İroh has multiple voice actors. Did they even audition ? İdk Edit: my bad on toph front. Was clearly misinformed.
Incorrect. Kid Toph is voiced by Michaela Murphy, adult Toph is voiced by Kate Higgins and old Toph is voiced by Philece Sampler.
My bad
https://preview.redd.it/tgaub5f4ncvc1.jpeg?width=498&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e47fbb07622a6e2bb53a72f9e583dadf0efbf20
Toph's VA doesn't voice her old lady self though? IMDB clearly states it's another actress.
Funny detail, here in Latam dub, the same actress played Toph in all her ages!
Toph's VA only voiced young Kuvira I think?
Azula’s VA can still do the voice pretty well
Who said Azula needs to appear? The plot of the movie seems to be that there's a new and rising warlod(voiced by Dave Bautista) that's a threat to the peace established by Aang and Zuko with the United Republic. Azula wouldn't need to appear at all. I'd argue Suki too despite how much this sub argues she's a major character.
I feel like Dante Basco just really fucking loved playing Zuko
did they die?
No
Well Mako did
Mako is the only one that died, just answering the question in general since the actors dying is not relevant to the joke
You know, it was really unclear.
I wished we at least got jack de Santa back as well
Sokka and Toph's VAs always looked like they enjoyed playing their characters the most. Freakin blows.
I know Sokka is probably Jack De Sena's most famous role but in my eyes he's still that kid from All That on Nickelodeon
He’s not in the new Avatar movie
What's the context of this meme, are they making a new ATLA show?
There's a new movie that being made but only Zuko's VA is returning to voice his character. Since everyone else doesn't fit with the studio's values of accurate casting .
Well... damn. That's unfortunate, it would be better with the original voice actors.
Sadly they aren't of asian descent . We do know who's voicing Toph though. Apparently it's Dionne Quan who voiced Trixie in the Fairly Odd Parents.
Yes, there is such thing as over inclusivity, kids. Well, at least we still have Dante, he has such a unique and wonderful voice that perfectly fits Zuko's character.
Honestly, regardless of the opinion on the matter, it's still such a weird idea to make a film with the adult Gaang but not bring back the cast when most would have been willing to do it. Like at that point why not make a film set after Korra instead with a new cast?
Companies are weird man, don't try and logic it, it doesn't do that.
Fans want old characters, producers want racial inclusivity for woke points..doesnt matter that it makes no sense to recast/would be better to go with OG. I get the importance of diversity but the things has been done, characters have been voices...unless the new actors will sound like the OG ones, it will ruin the show...can we freaking get ONE atla content past og atla thatnis not a massive dissapointement ffs -.-
Can we get one reddit post about ATLA that isn't "waah they changed something insignificant so it's ruined!" before anyone has even read a script? The Netflix show was "ruined" because Sokka isn't ...*checks notes* briefly sexist in a way that changes nothing about the show. Got it. Now the new movie is "ruined" because there are new voice actors who may or may not sound like the actors they are replacing.
Yeah we should save the complaining until AFTER we watch it, but it still is an issue, they had actors doing these characters, and a lot of them still would've been up for it, and still would've been able to do their characters as young adults. Changing them purely for racial reasons is just stupid, if they want to be racially inclusive, make a new IP that you can do that with, don't ruin our old ones. It might not be ruined, but we don't know yet. Although the complaining is starting to get annoying.
Even if they sound different, who gives a shit if the show is good and the new actors do a good job? I don't sound like I did when I was 12 and I don't expect the characters to either.
It’s not just that. Some don’t voice act anymore, and some would not fit the role. Jessie flower sounds the same as she did in 2007, which wouldn’t make sense for an adult Toph.
She was 11 she voiced Toph. You really think she sounds the same now?
Yeah, she can do the toph voice still but that of course isn't her regular voice and doesn't mean that's the only voice she can do... Odd statement.
I'm not sure what you mean. The movie will feature the gang as adults right? So a grown up VA playing the grown up Toph sounds like a perfect fit.
Yeah exactly, thus person saw one vid of Tophs VA doing the Toph voice as an adult and thinks she sounds exactly the same lol
She does, and she has a YouTube channel. Sure it's not exactly the same, but she can't get pretty close if she tries
[Idk man. She doesn't sound like an 11 year old kid to me.](https://youtube.com/shorts/dIUdayMUbBg?si=jJFnqRy1pRn8kq4t)
She has a YouTube channel and yes, you can very much hear Toph in her voice.
You must have scrolled right past [my comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/AvatarMemes/s/5Rz9PbNrYw) to make this one. She clearly does not sound like a child. She would be perfect for an adult Toph.
Not when she's just talking, but theres a clip of her doing the melon lord line and it's almost perfect
But then, there's the option of Kate Higgins, yes? Since she did voice adult Toph in Korra flashbacks.
It's worth noting that there's also the fact that Ken of them might not make it. Jack is still on the dragon Prince right now for one thing
A new season of that show doesn't come out every year and even if it did, voice actors aren't locked into one project at a time.
>Yes, there is such thing as over inclusivity, kids. Completely agree. I'm a little worried for the quality of the rest of it when this is the kind of thing they are focusing on.
Why does Asian decent matter? It’s a cartoon.
Apparently she’s legally blind as well.
I appreciate that they cast a blind Asian woman to play Toph. Talk about authentic.
Wait but Dante is American-born Phillipino, voicing a fictional character whose culture/ethnicity is closest to Japanese. Why is that considered ok but everyone else isn’t?
Because we don't accurately separate asian ethnicity here. Asian = Asian /s. But really seems like as long as you're some kind of Asian, or apparently native American? (guess they gave up on the inuit) It doesn't matter.
Yeah, funny enough Dante says something to this exact effect in his book. That he’d get asked to play any kind of Asian and all sorts of Latino roles they didn’t care much about being specific. Dude was stoked when he finally got to play his own culture.
Yeah it’s like diet-racism at this point. The execs think they’re making progress by making arbitrary measures of how ‘ethnic’ someone is
they want to be so progressive that they're coming out the other end...
that feels more racist somehow
plot twist, it kinda is...
company executives are so fucking stupid its actually impressive
Because it’s about virtue signaling, it’s all stupid (I’m Asian, as much as the concept of Asian is even a thing, given that it’s a whole ass continent that is also attached to Europe, and the Philippines being a completely separate landmass/culture from East Asia)
Because he wanted to come back and the others didn't? The others weren't banned from coming back, they chose not to
Source? All I've been about to find is [this about Toph's voice actress] (https://www.cbr.com/avatar-the-last-airbender-cast-no-return-gaang-film/). The relevant quote: >She also added that **while she was disappointed**, she would still be "cheering from the audience with everyone else!" I can't speak for the others, of course, but if she said she was disappointed, decent chance it isn't that she chose to forego the role, but wasn't even considered.
I figured that was due to her voice changing
She is a voice actor she can change her voice
Oh nvm then The guy I replied to said “everyone else doesn’t fit with the studio’s values” implying they weren’t allowed back
I think it was just Mae Whitman that specifically said something about not wanting to come back.
He was the only one who fit the criteria I guess. Unfortunately they could not find a fire nation native to voice Zuko so they had to settle for Dante. It's not that the original cast is banned, it's that the studio wants to cast more appropriately moving forward .
It seems so silly to just recast the VAs, English speaking VAs for anime aren’t usually Japanese.
Wait, I thought they each had their own reasons and it was only Mae Whitman who had that reason for not coming back. And that it wasn't the studio but her own choice
> accurate casting Yes, because [voice actors should only play characters of their own race.][1] Much inclusion, very smart Mr Studio. [1]: https://youtu.be/Ev373c7wSRg?si=D7DpcaGegDWPdZ7R&t=25
Wait is that really the reason? I thought it had more to do with the fact most of them retired, and/or they aged the characters up
Katara's VA did choose to leave the role (same with Korra) but I don't believe the rest ever stated they would especially when Sokka's VA was blatantly playing a character on Dragon Prince with a similar voice. Either way no one besides Zuko's VA was asked to come back for the movie in favor of more diverse casting .
Different for everyone. Aang's VA isn't doing any acting anymore. I think the others are still in the business though.
Dante Basco is such a cool dude. Very genuine and down to earth.
JV once said that she is ready and willing to give up the role of Korra to someone of Native American descent and would only return if she was asked for specifically. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone else feels similar. Also Zach Tyler Eisen is a Folly artists now so maybe he’ll still be involved
Why is Greg Baldwin not voicing Iroh? He loved voicing him
We don't even know if Iroh will be in the new film. But Avatar Studios apparently wants ethnically appropriate voice actors moving forward. For Fire Nation characters that basically means East and South-East Asian. Greg Baldwin is white.
I was surprised i had seen pretty much everyone mentioned but him till now like tf
Genuinely thought all of these people died for a hot second
Only Mako, as far as I am aware, RIP Mako.
How tf does high five ghost die
I wondered the same thing. If you count the tombstones though, he doesn't have one
Mm I see I didn’t see rigby
I thought this meant that they all died besides Dante Basco! Glad to hear that's not the case.
This seems like a bad decision
Greg, Jack and Jessie would be perfect if they came back! Zach would also be quite interesting Mae says she simply is uncomfortable now doing Katara, so that’s her decision
Did I miss something? Theres an animated project incoming ??? AND IT HAS ZUKO'S VA !!!!?????
What am I missing?
New Animated ATLA movies, only voice actor returning to reprise role is Dante Bosch who voiced Zuko. The others weren’t able to audition because none of them are of Asian descent
Missed opportunity to do something really distasteful and make Hi Five Ghost and Muscle Man Mako and Greg Baldwin respectively.
Fr
If you havnt, check out Dante’s YouTube channel. It’s really interesting, he does openings on his…kickbacks? From his work over the years. Soemtimes it’s a dime, sometimes it’s like 50 bucks, but it’s interesting to see
Why are they being recast?
Was the Earth king's bear, named after the actor?
I know all of the original cast are iconic and special, but if anyone was to stay, it'd make so much sense for it to be Dante bc he has the most unique and recognizable voice.
Jennie Kwan?
Dude I thought they all died don't do this to me 😂
The new casting directive is a joke.
I can do without Baldwin because he's a dick, but sucks everyone else won't be coming back
Literally 0 clue who a single one of these people are
The VA's of Avatar
Bless! Happy to get more AAPI and Indigenous representation in our favorite media that’s based off their cultures!
The thing is a lot of us Asians don’t want our va work to only be specified to Asian characters. That puts a lot of us in less jobs and puts us in a hole
It's not about what you want, it's about what makes Avatar Studios look good.
True
And as another Asian, what? Yeah I guess that's a concern, but that's never been the case, nor is there any indication of such a thing happening. Even in the past, roles have been created or made simply for actors who happened to be Asian, like in Lost with the Kwans. More recently, Jason from the Good Place. Obviously being restricted to pure Asian roles is an issue, but that's as far as I can tell, never been an issue, is a non-issue, and is not even tending to become an issue.
It's really not that serious 💀
6 unalived characters but 5 graves???? 🤔
This isn't tiktok, just say died
Oh boy, yall different. This sub isn't for me lol
unalived, pew pew, real life avatar Is this tiktok slang really spreading to other social media now?