Introduction

How many times has this happened to you;

You're walking down the hallway at school, and there's one guy that's being a real prick to some other kid. So you give him a two-fingered jab in the chest and warn him if he doesn't learn respect, you will teach it to him. Or maybe for others, you're still pretty pissed that you have yet to perfect getting those hair loopies in for school in the morning. Maybe you can't decide whether you want a mango or a papaya for breakfast. You find yourself turned on by guys with ponytails -- or more preferable -- 'warrior's wolf tales'. You feel like a bad ass walking around with your boomerang. And whenever you see a bald kid, you feel very tempted to take a blue magic marker and draw an arrow on his head.

Basically, you get the feeling you may have a slight problem with your Avatar obsession…

Well, my young Avatard, do not despair. You're not the only one that's gone overboard with your undying love for this show. And some of you really mean it when you say "undying love".

For one reason or another we've all come to admire this Korean animated work of genius. Some for those action packed fights that keep us on the edge of our seats. Others were quickly drawn to the romantic background of our characters, for it makes them squeal with joy. And if even this does not satisfy our needs, we have Sokka's dry humor that always seems to lighten the mood.

And in a way, (whether anyone of us will admit this or not) we all feel a sense of connection with these characters because we've intently watched them go through so much troubling times. We've seen our troubled heroes flirt, fight, and fall in love. We all can remember those dark stories of our characters past, seeing feeling's going astray, we all gazed upon that giant mushroom, and we've even seen a Toph and Katara bitch fight or two. And I guarantee with most of us that when this show finally comes to an end, sometime later we're all going to stumble upon those old DVD's and chuckle to ourselves "Those we're the days..."

Yes, I know reader. It seems so strange to talk of characters in such a way because they just happen to be, oh, I don't know…. not real. But keep in mind my fellow friends and fanatics, the creator's job, the animator's job, the storyboard artist's job and the writer's job is to make these character appear real to us. And if they seem pretty darn real now, well I guess it's safe to say that Mighty Mike and Bodacious Brian seem to be doing a crackerjack job!

But before we start jumping in on this lovely fan bandwagon just yet, we'll need some time to sort out and answer a few questions: What makes a hero a hero; A villain a villain? How can one so hot be so angst? Why do some people insist Katara (or anyone else for that matter) is a Mary-Sue? Is Sokka just for comic relief or is that ponytail a comical genius? And in short -- how can we really bring out these characters and see just what makes them tick?

I am determined more than ever -- along with a bit of help from my wonderful Avatarded friends and our lovely fandom of course -- to provide some answers to you... Because all of us are way to lazy to go out and get them ourselves, or even care for that matter.

So, take a seat, sit back, relax, and grab 'a calming cup of jasmine tea' while you're at it, and enjoy Part I of "Liesl's Guide to Avatar: Getting Into Character"