Hello, friends, benders and non benders alike. Welcome to Braving the Elements, Nickelodeon's podcast about all things Avatar Verse. I'm Janet Varney and I'm Dante Bosco, and we're pretty excited. Dave Varney, In case you missed it, over the weekend, at our Braving the Elements live show at San Diego Comic Con, we announced the exclusive thrilling news that the first feature length Avatar Studios film will focus on Ang and his friends. We are so excited, and we know you are too. For future breaking news on all things in the Avatar Verse, well you're just gonna have to subscribe and keep on listening. So today a pretty major episode of Avatar to discuss basically the ushering in of the era of Ta for We'll say it again, Yes, Yes, Tough is one of the most beloved characters in the Avatar Verse, and for good reason. And there are a ton of other great characters we meet in book two. Yes, indeed, like May for example. Now, last week you're on set the Nice School. Nice School. Of course you were on sets, so I chattered with the wonderful cricket Lee who played May, and it was such a wonderful conversation. She's such a brilliant and caring person. And keeping with a trend of voice over actors not matching their character personalities, I have to report the cricket is just so vibrant, you know. She's so alive and vibrant and has this like very very happy energy. So you know what, maybe May we'll grow into that someday too. And you know what, they both got that cool voice, that cool raspy voice. Oh, I wonder why you like a raspy voice. I wonder why. But we're also just fine with May being exactly she is, Varnie. She's absolute girl. That's right. But now for this week's episode, the best possible scenario would be to bring in someone who had a hand in making this episode happen. And because we know the right people and we could pull a string or two, I feel like we can definitely deliver. That's right, buddy. We are so so excited to be welcoming for the first time to the podcast. The director of the Blind bandit Ethan Spaldang Anything. Yeah, what's welcome to the podcast? Ethan? Hey, thanks for having me so much. I'm excited. This is one of my favorite episodes. Oh good, oh that this is one of the whole fandom's favorite episodes for sure. Absolutely do we figure out this is the number one. Remember when I pulled the audience at the beginning of season two of this podcast, I asked and it turned out that the Blind bandit was the number one answer of the episode that people were most excited about in the entirety of book two and it's their favorite episode. So Ethan, Bravo, bravo, Thank you guys. Yeah, tough is such a great character. And just look at the draw as the scripts came out, like be able to have a hand in directing this one was. It was a treat and having it about wrestling didn't didn't hurt either, So I doubt I was a big wrestling fan, so I really appreciated all that, all the wrestling tropes. You know, it's a big w w F fan. Before w W I'm talking Hok Hogan Andrea the Giant. Yeah, and she gave me the super Fly Snooker. That's what I was into. The British Bulldogs. The British Bulldogs are my guys. Even was there anyone in the room who when you guys were working on. This was like, I don't know any of these references. I don't know anything about wrestling. Like, help me, guys, help me. Was there anyone in that room that was like that. No, I think everyone had a little piece of it. I think everyone had had where their own reference point of some part of the wrestling. I even went to one of the recent ones and I was shocked to find there's no you can't hear the commentary. It was like a silent movie. It was remarkable. I went to want to It was so theatrical. It was like a theater in the round play with wrestling. You could hear them do their monologues and stuff like that. There's a wrestler named Austin Creed and he dressed up as Rufio for one of the matches and then, you know, my Twitter blew up everyone doing this video and then I tweeted back at him and he so cool. Then he ended up sending me tickets when he got to the Staples Center, and I want to go see him. And I've been a fan, of course, a bigger fan. Was a really young kid. So it was my first time seeing it in real life and it was crazy. I didn't know what to expect. It was wild. It was definitely more theatrical than I could have imagined, and the fans it's a former theater, but also with this like wrestling stuff and you totally hit a lot of these cues in this episode, which was wonderful. Yeah, we tried, and we had a great script from Mike DiMartino, and whenever he was the writer, it was a little bit easier on us as we boarded the thing because I think he's an animator himself, and a lot of the stuff that he wrote was really visual and we could really sink our teeth into it. So this one was like just a dream come true to work on, just because I think it's flowed really nice and it came out nice too. So oh yeah, how many episodes just going to find out what was going on with Ethan before he even came into the Avatar verse. Yeah. I worked at Film Roman, as did Mike and Brian think they were on King of the Hill and I was on The Simpsons and a little thing they called we called The Simpsons. It is great, And there was a pilot film floating around and Lauren McMullan was one of the directors on Simpson's. She had this pilot that Mike and Brian had created. It was making the rounds and we watched it in our office and I was like, this is like right up my alley. It looks like Studio Gibili. They had moss painted on the rocks and I've never seen anyone backgrounds that look that good, and I'm like, man, I would love to work on this. They were staffing up, they were looking for people, and you know, I was kind of setting my ways at Simpson's and had been there so long you're kind of afraid to make that step to another kind of project. But just seeing how beautiful their pilot film was and it touched all those notes, you know, Hong Kong cinema and then the Japanese animation, you know, I was like, this is I gotta take a chance and take a test. So I ended up taking a storyboard test and they liked it luckily, and so I got in. I got in the episode three. I think it was my first one to work on as an assistant. So different than The Simpsons, You're so right. I mean the Simpsons is obviously brilliant its own, right, it's just visually it is completely different. And I can say that having zero experience as an animator, but I am savvy enough to know, boy, anybody can tell those are wildly, wildly different styles. I think somebody else that we had on the podcast, maybe in the writing world, like a John O'Brien or someone um similarly, it was like, it's scary when you are working on a show that you're just very comfortable in and it's a successful show. You get that feeling of security that we so seldom get as artists in show business and to sort of go, boy, what's it gonna mean if I jump risky? It was a good risk, k Yeah. And I love how you mentioned Student Hibilie and how influential that was so a lot of people. I mean, I recently went back and watched Spirited Away. I don't forget what year came out, but it was so big as the movie theaters and all that stuff, and then seeing it again, these hunting images. It's just feeling that you get from some of this Japanese animation that's very unlike the American animation we grew up with. Sometimes it takes a few times to watch for it to sinking, like why did I dig in this because it's the stories. Structure is totally different, but the images sometimes don't make sense but also are so beautiful and then end up making sense. And there are things in Avatar they do remind me of students you'd be definitely, so I love that inspiration. I love it too, And I think Mike and Brian have cited that film as a big inspiration. And you know, just on that note, it's like the feeling I would get from those two is like the sense of place and like there's a reality. They would spend time on little quiet scenes, so nature and like not rushing it, and it's like, man, this feels real to me even though I'm looking at drawings, and I think totally we tried to get some of that in Avatar, for sure. That's so well said. It reviewed that film, Me and my girlfriend did like a thing every week of Money Cinema Club and we did that film, and I was like, here, this film, you guys, yo, No animation film in Americas can be like the girls falling in love with the guy Hakku who has a strange haircut. Whatever end of the movie, he remembers his name. He's like, I'm the river what You're the river now, I remember who I am, Haku. That's the end of this love story. That dudes the river. You believe it. Although his last girlfriend turned the moon very studio, Someone's the moon. I'm in love with you. Guess what. I'm the moon. For shadow report, I don't know where we had that episode, whatever, you know what I'm talking about shadow and back shadow report. I like a backshadow report. I'm on board for fackshow out report. Uh and so Ethan, you said you got lucky with the top episode, but were there episodes that you thought like, oh, maybe I'll end up getting direct this one and it just didn't come out that way, but you still love it as an episode. Um, I would see them right before I think they would finish the script. Of course, the scripts were in the works before with different writers, and the directors were in a rotation, so it's like, I think there's three or four of us, and so you would get every fourth script or every third script would be yours. And that's why I say, look of the draw. So I just you get what you get, and that's the one you do. But you know you're looking at the other directors and you're like Oh, they got a great Zuko episode, so you're kind of like this one a new character, a new season, and um, I think it was just the second one I directed. You killed it with this one. I mean you got blind banded. I mean you get the introduction of one of the gang, the last member of the gang coming in. That's pretty awesome. Yeah, it's a little heartfelt too. There's a little moment at the end of this one that's a little emotional. So I'm talking to our parents and it's like, it's like, man, you really feel he really gets to know tough. And I think it's written so well and it really comes through with a great character so unlikely, right, it's like an animation that there's a there's a character with this much dimension. And even within this one little episode, there's so many complex twists and turns of like what's going on, who she is, what's happening. It's a complex episode for I don't know what this twenty three minutes of storytelling. Yeah, yeah, it goes by quick. I mean I really love the part where um, she's playing the guards. You know, she's she's overprotected by her parents and she acts like it, like plays it up that she is a guards guards blind girl to them, and I'm like, man, that is great, and her voice changes a little bit and then you know, but we we see her. We know she's super tough and like a master of earth bending, so that's great back and forth. She can display all that absolutely. Do you have speaking of tough, do you have favorite characters? And and is top one of them? Is definitely one of them. Had you said someone got a cool z Go episode Zuko? He filed that a way super quick. File that one away. What's the one nice storyboard of this where you're you're on a mountaintop and it's raining and I forget the episode. You're crying. I'm yelling yeah, and you're like, why have you forsaken me? Kind I do remember that. I remember doing that episode. I was in Toronto. Do I remember yelling at the top of my lungs doing that episode and seen on the screen it's so good. And when I was storyboarding that, I took that stuff home sometimes to finish it. And I was storyboarding that, I was like crying, Like I was like, I gotta get the emotion into the drawing. Zoes pain there and it's like I hope this gets through to the animation. That's the trick. It's like these ideas have followed through and it's like the stuff that we plan out, you know, another set of artists is going to grab onto this and animate this, and it's fun to see when it comes through and it works. So but yeah, Zuko definitely another dimensional character that I love that about animation. You know, I tell folks all the time, we talked about the thing that ones or people ask me about, like Zogo and the character, and they and then you know, they really love that voice Zuko. And I always say, you know, I share this performance and this character with the with the artists, unlike acting on screen, where we always share it with the rest of the all the artists, production design, wardrobe. We all share the product that comes at the end, but never so much as in when we're doing animation, and it's like you're appreciating the character, but it's like you just said, you're feeling the emotion as the storyboard artist, director, and and we're all kind of putting it together. I'm just doing the voice, other people are doing the images and everything that's bringing the performance together. And I really feel like we all share this character in a lot of ways and how it was brought to the audience. So I love that. I love the way you're talking about it because I'm like, yeah, it's all of ours, absolutely. Yeah, it's such a great team to working on this project, unlike anything I've worked on. Actually, the vision Mike and Brian, they were totally clear throughout what they wanted and we're doing something new and it's like your talent, the voice acting, and it's like man, So you don't know when you're working on it, but afterwards you can look back and you're like, this is a special project, you know, and totally it's just grateful to work on this. So I think everybody across the board has that same backshadowing. This is a backshadow report, bad report, and Dante is talking about all the conversations we have with people at conventions. You know, shipping plays a very significant role in some of those conversations. Did you have or do you have any avatar ships that you particularly like. I kind of liked Suki and Soccer yeah good ship, Yeah, yeah, I think that was my favorite one. It was kind of like the unrequited Get all the Girls though she was good has a lot of shipping. I mean he didn't have any bending powers heart bending. My guy was heart bending all over the day place your guy was absolutely was. I love that ship. That's great. And then do you want to ask Ethan the question we got, the question we have everybody Ethan is if you can bend, what bender would you be? What element would you bend? Choose wisely? I think it's going to be a quick answer. It's gonna be fire. There you go, oh, stand up fire nation in the house. And why from your perspective, why would you do fire? It's just from an aesthetic point of view, Yeah, it looks the best. I think. You can keep yourself warm, keep yourself warm, use that many times swimming through cold, icy places, had to keep himself warm. Yeah, you can clear a path. I think that's the most um dynamic. They're all great, They're all great. I was going to say, but yeah, I would have to go with that one, just because the visual of that's it's so impressive, the support that your visual person where with that. That's right. All right, Well, let's get into this recap very quickly. Don'te remind us where we were in book two before we get into the Blind Bandit because it's been a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks ago, we had James the Cabbage Merchant himself on to dig into Avatar Day with us, which was awesome. In that episode, we learned about after Kyoshi and also saw a different perspective on how some Earth Kingdom villages don't necessarily love the Avatar. And of course we know that ang is still very much in need of an earthbending teacher, and that does take us into the Blind Bandit, where just we're a very quick recap. We know that he's been looking for this earthbending teacher, and here we end up this tournament. We've already teased that out with our various wrestling references and celebrations since we've been talking so far, and he does end up discovering who Tough is. He instantly wants her to be his teacher. It doesn't look like it's gonna work out, or is it. I think we should just dig in. What do you think, Dante? You wanna open us up and let's go. It's tough time, you guys, It's tough time. We open up this episode in an Earth Kingdom village with soccer debating whether to buy a satchel. When he finally his sides to go for a guy gives a flower to a guitar for Master used Earthbanding Academy. There's even a cupid on the back, which is funny. Could this be angs new earthbending teacher? Apparently Ang's gonna give it a shot. The first lesson is free because we see him at the academy dressed in a pretty cool training out like that, which he immediately makes let's go by sticking a finger into his ears and sniffing it. We also see more of his arrow tattoos on his arms and legs, which we don't see that often. When Master You comes in, we also realize that Ang is like two ft taller than any other little kids for their first lesson and immediately obliterated by the kid across from who slams a huge rock, and Ang by the end as definitely sure Master You is not his new earthbending teacher. But Team Aftertar does find out about a tournament Earth Rumbles six where apparently the best earth beenders will be shout out to Guitar, who creatively freezes the two guys in the alleyway she was finking why she was flirting with them, and then she was like totally overpowered them. She's okay, are you ready to find an earth spending teacher because we're going to Earth Rumble six. How did you get them to tell you? Oh, a girl has her ways, and I love that she freezes them sideways the ground. But the fact that she freezes them to either wall is so great. That was Brian. It's a cool thing. His theory was like, when it melts, they're gonna drop. I think we had drawn it differently, the gift that keeps on giving. And he's like, he's like, yeah, it should be like this. So it was all he thought that all out so good, But I like how guitar is like, hey, strong guys, guys, so good. It's so good. You're so right. It's a gift that keeps on giving. They're going to flop to the ground. It's gonna be a perfect like into the perfect thing. Um okay. So from here we go to this very awesome stadium. It's located inside a mountain, as you would hope a good earth ending stadium would be. There's a very wonderful, real pro wrestling vibe. Right away, we have the host Sin Foo, who kind of explains the rules and it's simple. You just gotta knock your opponent out of the ring. Boom you win. Gutar is not that impressed. She thinks it's gonna be like you know, I think she says, a bunch of guys for like rocks at each other and we see our first face off again. The animation in this ethan so so superb. The Boulder is going up against the big bad Hippo and there's some great smack talk from the Boulder. Major shout out. Gotta go to Mick Foley for his you may be big, but you ain't bad. The Boulder is gonna win this in a landslide, and cannot forget our friend Kevin Michael Richardson as the hippo and just all the creative ways that the fighters use earthbending. Even I would love to hear from, you know, more conversations you guys had if you had them about getting creative with how the different wrestling styles would work and who the different wrestlers would be and stuff. Yeah, they were so cool. There was a guy called the Gopher. I want to see more that guy from the ground. What's up of the Fire Nation got representing the Fire Nation, heart be fire Nation. He was the Patriot. Wait did the guy representing the Firebending did he ever fire end? Could he firebend? No? I think it was just an act because when he watched up, his stairs like disappeared in the rock. So he's totally WWF referenced the heell. So each of these there was even like an ultimate warrior looking guy. I forget what, Yeah, there's ultimate warrior looking guy there was. I'd love to hear more because I don't remember we ever like actually established if you're watching the show, maybe if you go to wiki or the after wiki or something, but you know, we've got the Fire Nation guy who's the get go because we've got the sort of Mexican wrestling representatives. Get that's the green mask. Gecko had the luchador mask, that's right. Yeah, and he would jump around on all fours and he was up on the crystals that perfect when he fights to and of course the go for He's kind of self explanatory. He looked very Legend of Cora almost. He had like a steampunk kind of thing, right, he had a steampunk thing, that's right. But I love how you know, the rock defeats the first guy and then you think, oh, the blind band is coming up next with we know it's a blind band episode Boulder the Bolder, But you guys layered so many other characters in where I'm like, there's no way they have time to do this many characters, which makes the tournament like so much more robust. But you think on a regular show would be like, Okay, he eats one person and then we're gonna get the champion that we really want to meet. But no, not y'all. Y'all like we're gonna throw in five six extra people in the next seconds. Here. I was like, what this is wild and it's it's just a montage montage and you get to see him fighting act three. Yeah, then they come back and acting they really tried to see him each one with how they fare against tough properly. Oh it's great. Yeah, I like that too. It's like those are my favorite characters. Also, it's like the side characters that look interesting and you never get to It's like the Boba Fette theory leave him wanting more, e tease these mysterious other characters and you're like, who are there it's like keep thinking about them. Absolutely. I also want to do a quick but major shout out, really share me the details moment but within that montage and it's like it's sort of fades in and fades out to a different part of the montage as it's happening, but you guys have the boulder flexes pecks, and I love that moment so much. I had to watch it like three times. I was laughing so hard because it happened so quickly. And again they're so it's sort of fading into a different scene, but it is gold. I love that detail. Yeah, I think justin Ridge storyboard at all that and he's great and that a lot of those expressions like when the boulder, that's justin those expressions and they and it's great because the animators picked up on it and it carried through to the final animation and you get in this episode a lot of like broader acting than normal, so it's so it's very comediic some of these wrestlers. It just looks great and it's animated so good. And there was an Annie Award year for achievement and um director you from Studio J. M. J. Mel He won that for this episode. So he was like the animation director, and I was so proud. I was like, oh, he got recognized for doing a great job because it does it's like certain scenes in this one or like not rotoscoped, but it looks it's very fluid observed animation. You know. Yeah, oh that's so cool. I didn't know that. That's really cool. Any award winning episode The Blind Bandit. And speaking of awards, here we see the Bowler just dominate everyone and it turns out he's not even the current champion. He's not the current champion. He has to fight the current champion. The current champion is some tiny person who holds this giant champions belt, and we find out it's this character, the Blind Bandit, right, Ethan, that's right, our little defenseless blind girl. Okay, she can't really be blind, it's just part of her character. Right. I think she is is. I think she is going down amazing. So there's a great exchange between the Boulder and the Blind Bandit, you know, as he expresses doubt about being attacked by a little blind girl, and she eggs him on, you know, by calling him the pebble, and then he's scared to fight her, and here's her laugh while she's taunting him, and we get a cool look flashback of the Swamp episode. He's like, that's her. He knows he's heard that laugh before. A little back shadow there for himself in the episode. Yeah, And the fight begins and we get to experience the way that the blind bandit sees the boulder. And this is a great, great sequence and this Brian canets go storyboard at this and I remember him taking pictures of his hands, you know, and tops through in that thing where she's flipping her hands towards the camera to the top vision. Yeah, yeah, amazing. It's tough vision. You know, there's echolocation for like bats. This is like vibratory. She feels the vibration, so if you step on the ground, she can feel it. And also when she steps, she sends out like a radius of where she can actually see. So really she is not blind, you know. She she can totally see her environment. Unless you're off the ground, you could actually see more. She can actually see more and certainly anticipate things that yeah, anticipate, So she's never in danger really unless someone's off the ground. You know. Like later I used to read Daredevil comics and remind me the Daredevil. I love that, like the Daredevil comics. We need his little staff and he could see the vibrations and I was like, oh, yeah, it's a tough vision. It's awesome. She don't need a staff. Yeah, and it's a great way so you can see how she sees. And it was cool. He was in black and white and a lot of slow motion in this episode. And and just a side note her style. You know how we patterned water bending and fire bending on different actual styles of kung fu and see food Manny came and uh did a seminar with us and they filmed and it's a prayin mantis style would be tough style. So that's a real legit. So some of those moves are like file that one. We shot footed of him and sent it and storyboard of him. So that's why she has her unique movement different from everyone else. So it's so and then Ang realizes it's all about waiting and listening because Boomy told him that previously to find his earthbending teacher. Now, Shinfu offers a sack of gold pieces to anyone willing to fight the Blind Bandit and hangs in. He just jumps in top talks him smack about she's sassy from the start of meeting her. This girl, Yeah, yeah, she's got so much attitude. You know. He thought this would be the best opportunity to talk to the bandit, but he's wrong, and um he ends up using his airbending to defend himself against her and uh knocks her out of the ring pretty fast because she wasn't able to see him in that that split second and he jumped off into the air kind of floaty. You see her look in the animation. She kind of looks around, so he's off the her radar for a split second and that's how he was able to do that. So she's off down below and she just, you know, in a huff, walks off, pouring and poor tof You really feel for both of them, right because angs like what, no, I didn't come back. I absolutely did not want this to happen, and talks like thanks, thank you, I with the champion, thank you. Yeah. He tries to explain it, and you know, she's not having any of it, and then um, shinfu hands over the money and the belt and uh, I think we leave that act and young just feels terrible. Do people really want to see two little girls fighting out here? I don't really want to fight you. I want to talk to you. It's like the worst outcome for each of them in that moment. The last thing Top wanted to have happened happened, and the last thing I wanted to have happened happened. So they're both super sad, and you know what, we gotta we gotta scrape some of this off because it's very Saturday. Where take a break, where to come back and or see where we are. Hopefully agatoff will have cooled off a little bit. We're back, and the saga of Soccer's bag but just continues, and now he's happy he bought it and it matches his belt perfectly. That's like not a B story or a C story. It's like a G story, right, Ethan, And they haven't explained by Mike, Mike who wrote it. I was like, what is this and he and he was like, you know, it's like a man bag and there was some store that had that and he had and I was like, it's a real thing. That's why if you notice that opening shot, it's just there's nothing in the store except that one bag shout the seventeen years ago. But now the man bag is everywhere you look, a prolific and embraced as it should be. Another thing that I think we we we as a show helped influence. I think man buns and bags there you go? Sure did in in so An, He's gonna find the Blind Bandit. They start with the Earth Banding Academy. These guys, they're tell Team Avatar that the Blind Bandit's identity is a mystery. But Ang realized he should describe the girl he saw in his vision, a girl in a white dress and a pet flying boar. Turns out the flying boar is a symbol of the super rich by Funk family. That's right, the Bay Fund, which the city is named after her. That's how rich they are. There's a great moment as they leave where guitar and soccer give off some water tribe vibes. What a tribe? I always think of it as water trip out in Jack Descent always says Dante is just water trap, like my bad. Meanwhile, Boulder and Shinfu discuss how Ang never touched the blind bed. It's actually a really reasonable conclusion. They come to when you think about it, she must have lost on purpose in some kind of set up with Ang, and that won't fly. Guitar Sock and Ang find the bi Fung residents and sneak in and are immediately caught by the girl in the white dress, who calls Ang one of our favorite nicknames for him, twinkle toes. Gang guitar try to explain why they're they're why they need her help, but she just tells them to leave. Yeah, and inside the Beifung's mansion, you know, we have Master You consulting with tops parents about these lessons that he's apparently been giving her. And we see very quickly her parents have no idea what's going on. They're obviously very overprotective of her. Ang has decided, meanwhile, that if sneaking in doesn't work, maybe he should just show up and announce himself. He's the avatar, after all, what what could go wrong? So indeed, they are welcomed in with open arms. They sit down, they have this gorgeous meal with the Baifongs. The have this very dignified conversation about the war. It's kind of stilted, uh and and then Ang also is telling them about how he needs to find a teacher master. You was still there. He was there consulting with a parents, so he is immediately recommended there in person, but Aang is clearly sort of angling for Talk, but Talk keeps trying to get him to shut up under the table, so she keeps earth bending at him to try to get him to stop talking. Uh, And eventually he ends up retaliating by sneezing on not just her but everyone, which is a huge mess. But again their hosts are very gracious about it. They invite Team Avatar to stay the night, which they do, and then you know, a little later in the evening, we find out tof does want a truce. Ang and Talk kind of separate from the others. They go out for an evening walk and she does explain to him, you know, how she sees um and that she envies Team Avatar's life. Frankly, where else am I supposed to go? You could come with us? Yeah, you guys get to go wherever you want, no one telling you what to do. That's the life. It's just not my life. And then suddenly they are as we fear they might be. They're ambushed the boulder and Shinfu and the entire gang are there to get this money back to right this wrong that they've perceived has happened, and Qatar and Soccer end up discovering this ransom note in place of where Tough and and should be. And you know, Socca never want to look a gift horse in the mouth is still super excited to have the Boulders autograph, so he clearly is not that worried. I'm sure he thinks everything will be fine in the meantime, he's got the Boulders autograph, I know. And can I point out one thing tomorrow with that? I thought about, please yet another person who caught everyone's catching avatar, not zo food coming out of nowhere, just catches the avatar. It's a real painful let's let's continue. I just wouldn't want to point that out. You just needed one of those metal cages. And then I need something all ethan tell us what was going on. Obviously, the Beifong family is happy to pay this ransom right right. So at the arena, you sends over the money, and Tough has returned to her parents and they're walking away, but bad guys are keeping ang and Katara runs after Tough as she's walking, you know she needs her help. She begs Tough to help. We need an earth vender. We need you. My daughter is blind. She is blind and tiny and helpless and fragile. She could not help you, Yes, I can't. Top comes back to face off with the wrestlers and proceeds to single handedly feed them all. In the meantime, Soccer is trying to release Ang from his cage. He's banging on it with the rock Master. You and Tops dad are amazed. I think they're sitting in the bleachers watching this. Each wrestler gets dispatched by Tough, and she's just laying waste everyone. It's like a huge she creates, like a huge dust. You know. They can't they can't, they can't see, and she can see everybody. Yeah, and she just walks right in and so it's kind of kind of creepy, you know. I like that. That's kind of like she's so powerful, it's like scary for those big guys. Totally Master You admits, you know, she's the greatest earth Beender he's ever seen, and after the battle's over, Top explains to her parents back at the house. You know she's much stronger than they knew, and she's tired of me and kept the secret from the world. She's twelve years old and she's never had a real friend. You know, that's the emotional part, Like twelve. When they leave, Dad kicks out the Avatar gang and you see tough crying is a little tear. She's like, see you ang, but tough Dad hears her out. So that's the thing that here's a little bit tough Dad hears her out. He says he's realized something, so you think he's agreeing with her, everything's going to change, and it just gets worse. You know. He's like, now you're gonna get twenty four hour security. There's no way you're getting out of our site. And then the Avatar teams kicked out of the household. So that's when she's like, as they're walking away, you see a little tier from tough. Yeah. It is kind of that thing with a family member, like where you love them. You love your family member, you know they love you, but the way when you try to communicate something to them. I'm just speaking from our side of things because that's what happens in the story we're on. We're sort of on quote unquote top side. But I think, I mean, I've certainly had that situation where I try to explain something from the heart to a family member and they're just in a different place and maybe they came from a different place, and what they say back to me makes it clear to me that we're never going to see this thing the same way. And it's heartbreaking, right because you do love that person and you sort of bury your soul and think, Okay, this might really bring us closer, like maybe this will bring about some change, and it's like, oh no, love is not gonna do that for us. Like you're still seeing this as she's in danger, and you know, it's like, okay, we're never going to see this it's the same way. It's hard because she's twelve. She's twelve. When you're adult, that happens also when you're you know, twelve. I get the parents side for sure, And I always want to talk at art schools and young artists. I talked to them, you know, when they talk to their parents or their loved ones, and they're not going to understand, you know whatever, why you stay up on I have to learn the scene or this poem means so much to your your song or and I go, that's it's okay though you know they love you, you you love them, but the fact that matters they're muggles and you're a wizard, and they're never going to understand that you should not love them any less. Just you don't need them to understand certain aspects about because they're not going to because they're muggles. And it's not a judgment on them, it's just what it is. But it's hard when you're twelve. I get it, you're twelve. It's like nobody wants their twelve year old to go out there and stay of the world. That's rough, for sure, But I definitely echo your sentiment there, Barney. All right, what happens now? Dante? So that evening, Egg and Guitar staring back towards where Top is trapped, and Guitar assures him that they'll find him someone else. As they get ready to fly off on APA, they hear something tough, what are you doing here? My dad changed his mind? He said I was free to travel the world. Soccerware turns the champion belt a top and Top gets even with Aim for knocking around of the ring and they're off, but back at the Bibe Fung residence, Top Dead has task shin Food and Master you to find his daughter, who has been kidnapped by the avatar. But for now Toss free, Toss joined the gang officially. I mean a lot, so much happened that I'm telling you, that's a lot. You're so right, Dante. I'm glad you brought back the dad perspective because I so wrapped up in knowing where the story is going that I'm so excited for Tough and I'm you know, do you do you want her to be part of the team. But you're right, it would be terrifying as a dad to think about your child that you've so carefully protected in this little egg of safety, just being out there in the world. What's going to happen? And of course he always assumed she's fragile, so he's going to assume that she would never make this decision. You know, he's seeing his daughter the same way, no matter what he sees, and so it's like, of course they kidnapped her, and of course he's gonna stop at nothing to get his daughter back. Yikes, And he has the money to do. Rumble fans, get off your butts and buy her tickets. Now to Earth Rumble Sister seven all the excitement of Earth Rumble six plus one. You know what they say as of just now, Earth Rumble seven is Earthfending even featuring all your favorite Rumble personalities, the Hippo, the Gopher, snail Man, Scotch, and the Purple Lollipop. Who will win the championship? Find out live by visiting Earth Rumble six dot E Kingdom backslash Chicks. Now it's a misunderstanding situation, but it's great how it drives the story along. And now there's like a gang going out to try to save the world and learn all the different elements. But now there's kind of this ticking bomb thing with these guys, little shifty guys, an earthbending master teacher I guess, and a somewhat slimy long hair. This got this hilarious. I don't know, because the confluence there's all these films of images. Where'd the image come from? Ethan? I don't know. That reminds me one of the character from Conan. I was like, who is this dude? Exactly? I think it's from one of Brian sketches. He would have ideas for these and then show them to us in the in the in the hand out meeting of the script, and then character designers would grab onto that, and so it might be from something I wasn't. A Razor Ramone reminds of some wrestlers with long and long hair, Razor Ramon though, Guys, I love that feeling too. The end, you know, it's like they've released the Bounty Hunters after him, like joins the team and it's like, Oh, what are these guys gonna do? This's just some heavy, bad guys coming after him. So yeah, although I mean, think about these guys. They got paid some money, but like, we know what this girl can do. I mean, she beat our whole gang everybody. You want us to go after her, You're going to keep up after that? I think we need army. They're gonna need a bigger army exactly. The I want to backtrack once on the thoughts about Top and her dad. Yeah, I think it's a testament to Tops character to where it's like her determination to kind of live her own life at such a young age. It's like she was going to this underground fighting. She's very strong willed and it's like she kind of knows who she is, so it's like she's following her path, her destiny. It's like she's making her own so she knows to go with the other kids. And it's like, I think it's one of the things that makes Top such a great character. It's like, man, she's like totally, she's so many things. It's multifaceted, you know, it's very interesting. There are multi faceted, fascinating themes that we deal with in this whole series that may go against the grain of animation series at this time and before, Like this is one, like you just said, going against your parents wishes. That's not a normal theme that cartoons on the afternoons after kids from home to school are watching, especially like go against your parents wishes. Like, what's I mean, There's been a few things that we've noted throughout the podcast. Etan I was like, that's a weird thing we're throwing in the I wouldn't say subversive, but against the grain. You know, Yeah, I gotta trust the storytelling. Unorthodox. Yeah, for sure. It could have been under the radar. It could have been the radar. Just one of those strange things. You're like, is that what they're saying in the episode, Like, well, that's what they did. You just have to have faith that the overall values of the story are gonna get your kids where they need to be. Um real quickly. I just wanted to offer up a quick one question quiz. We talked about twinkle toes, but there is another thing that Tough calls ang in this episode and it goes by real quick, and I just wondered if either of you remembered what it was. It's our one question quiz. Oh, I I remember what was it? Oh? What was your guess? I don't know. I don't know, but it's not It's like that's after she calls them fancy dancer. Yes, fancy Dancer's fancy Dancercer. It's so good. It's so good, fancy dancer. And again I just want to say thanks again Ethan and the whole team for creating such a wonderful group of wrestlers. Because we really don't have a lot of animals in this episode. Everyone knows we love to track those hybrid animals on the show, and this isn't about that. This episode about Tough. It's about those wrestlers, and luckily I didn't even feel the sting of not having any new animals because I was so enraptured by the awesomeness of all of the wrestlers, including the ones. As you very stage, they pointed out that he don't get to see enough of so you wish that you could see more and it leaves you wanting more. I love that. Um, there is one Oh, sorry, Ethan, go ahead, there is one miss I did in the montage. What is it? Oh? What are they called? The giant mole? Oh? The badroom holes. Yes, you're right, you're right, we don't they're not new to Zamboni. Yeah, that's right, he's not new. So I liked I sort of dismissed him, and that's not fair him or her. But you're right, Yeah, no new ones. But I do love those padroom moles. I did love that they had the Zamboni Badroom. We all know now that that's the original earth banding master that created the whole thing, so I was like, it must be pretty cool if they're tied with the badrooms. The bad rooms, like good can be a pretty legit tournament. The bad roomals are kind of like signing on this, that's right, let's talk about most valuable bending and non bending in the episode before we wrap up. Thoughts on most Valuable Bending. I mean, I'll be very surprised if we don't give it to a certain character that we've just met. But I'm certainly open to it if there's a good argument against it. Anybody not want to vote for talk, especially when she's beating up which one? Which one? Even what do you think? I think it's tough to I was thinking about this um and I think it's at the end. I think when she's fighting Shinfu and she makes that shield, you know, he's kicking all these rocks out, and then she uses the actual shield. She kicks the whole shield back at him. Yeah, that's really saying a lot when you're just like, oh your thing, Yeah, let me kick that right improvisation in the moment, I think it's like, man, she's like super high level at twelve years old, and it's like love it. It's just going to get more and more. So I I think you gotta hand it to the top for I think we're all in. I think we are all in right, And then for most valuable non bending, that could be a different cup of tea altogether. What do you think making that cloud. I don't know if that's bending or not. When she made that big cloud, I can make a cloud, and I'm not an earthbend or something. Maybe that's not bending because I can make a cloud of dust. Y'all, I could do it, and when she did that, it was very valuable. It was very valuable in the moment. I'm not sure that it's not part of earth bending, but it did remind me of when it creates that cloud. When don't you change the subjects. I'm telling you right now, this is reminds me off when hang Safe so cool, it's a cool safe in the episode that still makes me cry about it's a blue spirit when he gets that dust going. So that's a good like it's kind of a call back to you know, as as Airbender being able to create that dust cloud and then talk as Earthbender being able to create that dust cloud. Ethan, what do you think the most valuable non bending. I don't know. I was going to go more tell him that that counts is not bending. I think we all you're like, that's pretty part of ending. I think it's really good. I think it is good combanded a little bit. I don't know. I was gonna say it's I would have to watch it again, but I don't know. If it's soccer qatars they find out information in this, they find they're finding out where to go. That's important. That's a good point. Those can be important in guiding Ang. Yeah, they're kind of taking care of young through the whole series. And it's like, who knows, maybe they didn't enroll in that school or give coupon. It's like they wouldn't have found talk good point. So it's all you know, because Soccer getting that bag. Yes, if you could reverse engineer that into the most valuable non bending decision being that Soccer bought that man purse, I will stand by you, come what may. I'm all for it. Going to the satchel. That would make me so happy because it's so absurd, but it leads to a lot of stuff. You know, sometimes people complain about my shopping, and but sometimes the shopping could be the most valuable non bending moment of your day. I love it. It's like when Iro wanted to go, they ended up finding the pirates who had helped them get to Ang. Because Ira wanted to go shopping and buy chaccas and trinkets. So it's true, it's a second time a man going shopping has led us. Some were very important in the show. Even what a delight and joy I feel like we I mean, we wouldn't think you ever have gotten the inside info that we got on the spectacularly special and beloved episode without you here. So thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing and letting us feel like we're a little bit a part of the making of the episode. Oh, thank you so much for having me, and um, you are part of the episodes by doing this and Dante by being Prince Zuko. You know, thank you so much and feel honored to be a part of this. You know. I like that you guys are actually doing a deep dive into these episodes, and um, there's a lot to enjoy still, you know. Oh gosh yah, So yes, thank you. Can people check out anything that you worked on or that you're excited about or that following on social media anything like that, and if there's not, like, if you're just like no, just please rewatch avatar and love it, that's fine too. Well, yeah, I think that's it. I think just rewatch Avatar. If you enjoy it, and yeah there's stuff you see on repeat viewings. You know, I just noticed stuff watching it last night as well, so I love it. You heard the director of the episode. Still notice the stuff? I love it. Come on, I still notice stuff. Yeah amazing. But yeah, that's my advice. Would would be um, I have nothing to go check out except these episodes. Watch more wrestling, you guys, Let's watch more more wrestling, my two firebenders. I thank you so much for firebending your thoughts and hearts with me, and we will all talk to you next time on the podcast fire Nation out fire Nation. Thanks for listening to Avatar Brave New Elements, and make sure to subscribe and please leave us a review. It really helps the podcast so much and me and Janet really appreciate it. Next week, we're so excited to have our two dads back to talk about one of the most famous characters in all of the Avatar Verse, Top Pong. You can follow me on social media at the JV Club on Instagram and at Janet Barney on Twitter, and I'm at Dante Bosco on both of those. We'll see you next Tuesday on the I Heart Radio app Apple podcasts or where every Day Aper podcasts