SUPER TOONS VILLAGE

afro samurai

2010-02-05T01:29:00.000-08:00

Afro Samurai (アフロサムライ, Afuro Samurai?), also romanized AFRO SAMURAI, is a Japanese seinen dōjinshi manga series written and illustrated by manga artist Takashi Okazaki. It was originally serialized irregularly in the avant-garde dōjinshi manga magazine Nou Nou Hau from September 1999 to May 2000. Inspired by Takashi Okazaki's love of soul and hip hop music, Afro Samurai follows the life of Afro Samurai who witnessed his father (owner of the No. 1 headband) being killed by the hands of a gunslinger named Justice (owner of the No. 2 headband). As an adult, Afro sets off to avenge his father's death and kill Justice.

The Afro Samurai dōjinshi was adapted into a 5-episode anime TV series by studio Gonzo in 2007. The same studio also went on to produce a made-for-TV movie sequel entitled Afro Samurai: Resurrection in 2009, which gained two Emmy nominations, for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation, which it won, and Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or More), which it lost. After the release of the anime series, Takashi Okazaki remade the original Afro Samurai dōjinshi into a two-volume manga. To be only released in North America, Tor Books and Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the title and published it under their new Tor/Seven Seas imprint.

In addition to the success of the anime series, Afro Samurai has also been adapted into a video game and an upcoming live-action feature film. For the TV series and the film, two soundtracks by the RZA of Wu-Tang Clan have been released as well as a profile book in Japan.

In a futuristic yet feudal Japan, it is said that the one who becomes "No. 1" will rule the world, wielding powers akin to a god. Someone becomes No. 1 by killing the previous No. 1 and taking his ceremonial headband. The only rule is that only the No. 2 (also designated by a sacred headband) is allowed to challenge the No. 1. In contrast, the No. 2 can be challenged by anyone (and typically everyone). Due to this, few people ever reach the mountain where No. 1 waits because the No. 2 headband is constantly changing owners.

Rokutaro, the owner of the No. 1 headband, goes to fight a gunslinger named Justice, the owner of the No. 2 headband. The two cross swords and it ends with Justice decapitating Rokutaro and claming his headband. Rokutaro's head rolls in front of his son, a young boy named Afro, as he sobs and vows revenge. Now an adult, Afro Samurai is the current No. 2 and a master swordsman. He travels Japan trying to make his way to the mountain-top keep where Justice awaits. As he makes his way to Justice, he recalls his journey from a frightened young boy to a master samurai. Along the way, many people challenge Afro for his headband including the "Empty Seven Clan" who send various agents, including a robotic Afro, to kill him throughout his travels. He is also being hunted by his vengeful childhood friend Jinno, who was long thought to be dead. Afro eventually defeats his enemies, Jinno, and confronts Justice, whom he defeats and takes the No. 1 headband.

Afro resides to live in the mountains once again when Jinno, adorned with every headband in existence, confronts Afro for the No. 1 and his revenge.

my beef with it
in all my search of literary and fictious works, I've found out that there is a difference between science fiction , novelization, and bullshit-fiction. Afro samurai falls in the last category. There has never been anything like a black samurai,and i never knew samurais to be foul-mouthed.
But as usual ,its in adult swim and the rating isn't bad so...oh well.

bleach

2010-01-30T00:40:00.001-08:00

A bleach is a chemical that removes colors or whitens, often via oxidation. Common chemical bleaches include household chlorine bleach, a solution of approximately 3–6% sodium hypochlorite (NaClO), and oxygen bleach, which contains hydrogen peroxide or a peroxide-releasing compound such as sodium perborate, sodium percarbonate, sodium persulfate, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, or urea peroxide together with catalysts and activators, e.g. tetraacetylethylenediamine and/or sodium nonanoyloxybenzenesulfonate. To "bleach" something is to apply bleach, sometimes as a preliminary step in the process of dyeing. Bleaching powder is calcium hypochlorite.
Many bleaches have strong bactericidal properties, and are used for disinfecting and sterilizing. Most bleaches are hazardous if ingested or inhaled, and should be used with care. *Writer looks off screen,then pauses for a moment, then blushes* ....break in transmission....

bleach{manga/anime}

2010-01-30T00:08:00.000-08:00

hi again, sorry for that typo,it won't happen again. At least not with cartoons that actually have a functioning storyline.

Anime and Manga Portal

Bleach is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he accidentally obtains the power of a Soul Reaper—a Japanese death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from Rukia Kuchiki. Gaining these abilities forces him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife. You know, like ghost busters,only with samurai swords instead of lighning spitting vacuum cleaners.

Bleach has been continuously serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 2001, and has been collected in 42 tankōbon volumes as of October 2009. Since its publication, Bleach has spawned a substantial media franchise. The manga has been adapted into an animated television series produced by Studio Pierrot which is still ongoing in Japan as it adapts the story from the manga. The series has also spawned two original video animations (OVAs), three animated feature films, seven rock musicals, and numerous video games, as well as prompted the release of many types of Bleach-related merchandise.
Viz Media licensed the manga for English-language publication in the United States and Canada and has released 28 volumes as of September 2009. In addition, it has been publishing the chapters in Shonen Jump since November 2007. On March 15, 2006, Viz obtained foreign television and home video distribution rights to the Bleach anime. Cartoon Network began airing Bleach as part of its Adult Swim block on September 9, 2006, in the United States. The first film, Bleach: Memories of Nobody was released in North America on Region 1 DVD by Viz on October 14, 2008, with the second film Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion released in North America on Region 1 by Viz on September 15, 2009.

Plot
Though the season one and parts of season 2 had sickening plots, this is what i've got.
The story opens with the sudden appearance of one of the Soul Reapers (shinigami, lit. "death god"), a military order who escorts the souls of the dead, named Rukia Kuchiki in teenager Ichigo Kurosaki's bedroom. She is surprised at his ability to see her, but their conversation is interrupted by the appearance of a "hollow", an evil spirit who was originally a human soul. After Rukia is severely wounded while trying to protect Ichigo, she attempts to transfer half of her reiatsu (霊圧?, lit. "spirit pressure") to Ichigo in order to let him face the hollow on equal footing. Ichigo unintentionally absorbs almost all her energy, allowing him to defeat the hollow with ease. The next day Rukia appears in Ichigo's classroom as a seemingly normal human, and informs Ichigo that his absorption of her powers has left her stranded in the human world until she recovers her strength. In the meantime Ichigo shelters Rukia in his home and takes over her job as a Soul Reaper, battling hollows and guiding lost souls to the afterlife realm known as Soul Society (Sōru Sosaeti?).
After a few months of this arrangement, in the sixth volume of the series, Rukia's Soul Reaper superiors find out about her giving her powers away (which is illegal in Soul Society) and send a detachment to arrest her, and sentence her to death. Ichigo is unable to stop Rukia's capture, but with the help of several of his classmates who also possess spiritual abilities and ex-Soul Reaper Captain Kisuke Urahara, he sets off for the Soul Reaper base, located in Soul Society. Once there, Ichigo and company battle against the elites of the Soul Reaper military, and are ultimately successful in halting Rukia's execution.
It is then revealed that Rukia's execution and Ichigo's rescue attempt were both manipulated by Sōsuke Aizen, a high ranking Soul Reaper previously believed to be murdered, as part of a far-reaching plot to take control of Soul Society. Aizen betrays his fellow Soul Reapers and allies himself with the strongest hollows, arrancar, becoming the main antagonist of the series, and Ichigo teams up with his former enemies in Soul Society after learning that the next step in Aizen's plan involves the destruction of his hometown. However, Ichigo goes with a few friends to the Hollow's world, Hueco Mundo (Weko Mundo?), in order to rescue their friend Orihime Inoue who was kidnapped by Aizen in order to reduce the number of Soul Reapers defending Soul Society. At this point, Bleach chronicles the war between Aizen and the Soul Society.

my beef with it
the ghost spewed blood... I MEAN TRUCK LOADS OF IT!
the main protagonist(itchy-go) had to look like the award deserving naruto
and for a show called bleach, it overtly centered on ichigo.

but all in all it sold about 50 million copies of its manga; so go bleach.

Totally Spies!

2009-07-14T04:11:00.000-07:00

Hello every body.Today i'm gonna feature some uber hot teens on this blog.So sit back and enjoy.

Totally Spies! is a animated television series produced by the French company Marathon Production. Production began in 2001; in 2008 the show ran its fifth and final season.

Animation style
Totally Spies is often wrongly described as "American" (despite being produced in Europe) due to its use of well-known visual gags and cues, as well as its Southern California setting. It also has a strong Shōjo manga influence. The series uses elements of Japanese animation style, the characters are drawn with big, dramatic eyes and the same basic body template. Anime gags are used – sometimes excessively – such as the sweat drop, crossed vein, and extreme facial expressions. Due to the shōjo motif and the use of anime gags, some viewers have considered the series as an American anime, even though it was made in France.Thats why the first time i watched it i thought it was Japanese made.

characters

sam
clover
alex
jerry

Spinoff Series

It has been confirmed by Guillaume Rostain, executive producer of Marathon Media, that there will be a Totally Spies spinoff. The show is called "The Amazing Spiez" and will feature new characters as spies, but Sam, Clover, and Alex are said to be making appearances throughout the series. Jerry is also seen saying his famous "Hello, Spies!" phrase. It focuses on 4 young 12-year-old siblings Lee, Megan, Marc and Tony Clark with more improvement on their gadgets. The show did have its world premiere on March 15, 2009 on Disney Channel Asia.

The Amazing Spiez!

2009-07-14T03:45:00.000-07:00

Today's post features kids...with full time jobs.Yes i know whats on your mind...this is bordering on child labour.Human right activists should have alot to say about this.

"The Amazing Spiez" is a series produced by Marathon. It is the spinoff of "Totally Spies". The show had its world premiere on Disney Channel Asia on 15 March 2009. It is shown every weekend at 9am and 4pm.

animation style
This series employs a comic style, different from its predecessor, Totally Spies, which uses manga style. The style of WOOHPing the spies are no different than in Totally Spies. The location of the Clark House is unknown, presumably in Los Angeles. The spies' school is called Southdale Middle School.

synopsis...i dont have much to put here since i haven't watched it and all
The Amazing Spiez is the story of 3 brothers, Tony, Marc and Lee Clark, and their sister Megan: 4 middle-school kids who have been secretly selected by the World Organization of Human Protection(WOOHP) to become international spies. Together, these young spies have to juggle between the daily life of an average tween, and intense spy missions!

Unlike its predecessor, The Amazing Spiez sees the use of America's favorite comic book style, with captions all around the show. There is no dialog box however. The comic style is similar to the ones used in Dennis the Menace Movie.

Jerry's role is more fatherly as he is taking care of younger spies. He still looks the same as in Totally Spies, although he and his office look comic-alized. Instead of introducing the gadgets to the spies, Lee takes over this role occasionally. The gadgets obtained by the spies are standard and more sophisticated, and also multi-functional. The color of their gadgets are usually silver, appropriate for both genders.

The spies have a silver WOOHP jet which is more sophisticated than used by their predecessor. Lee and Marc are the 2 pilots. Megan and Tony occupy the back seats. The Spies have apparently gone through the spy training earlier in age than any of their predecessors.

References to Totally Spies are often made. For example, Britney, Blaine and Dean appear in the episode "Operation Spy-Sitter".

Galactik football

2009-07-06T01:29:00.000-07:00

Today i shall appeal to football fans with this post. I believe you all will find it engaging.

Galactik Football is a French animated television series, co-produced by Alphanim, France 2, Jetix and Welkin-Animation. It follows the story of a futuristic football team - The Snow Kids - as they try to win the Galactik Football Cup for their home planet Akillian, with the help of The Flux - a mystical energy, specific for every planet.

On June 20, 2007 Jetix Europe announced it had acquired a second 26 episode season set to begin airing across Europe in Europe 2008. The second series started in United Kingdom on April 5, 2008.

A third season is currently being produced and is expected to air in June 2010, in time for the 2010 World Cup. The new series is unexpected to premiere in the United States, due to the Jetix block on Toon Disney being replaced when Toon Disney was rebranded Disney XD.

Plot

As usuall the drill here is simple if you dont like spoilers don't read this part .

19 years ago
The match between Shadows and Planet Akillian's home team is near the end. We can see Norata nodding in encouragement to his brother, Aarch (star-Striker & the Captain of the team) before stepping away. Aarch goes forward to take the free kick just as an explosion overhead is heard. Everybody is distracted and looks to the skies to see an avalanche approaching, marking the beginning of the Akillian Ice Age and the end of The Breath, Akillian's own Flux.

Four Years Ago

Aarch, the former striker of the planet Akillian, Clamp, a robot technician have just arrived back to Akillian for the first time in fifteen years. "With your ideas and my machines, we can do great things together." - that was Clamp's Favourite Saying with Aarch, the two of them plan to rebuild Akillian's Galactik Football team capable of winning the Cup. Despite everybody's beliefs, Aarch lives believing that the Breath still exists on Akillian, it just needs to be re-awakened. In his hope to produce a victorious football team, Aarch starts preparing try-outs, aimed especially at teenagers and adults.

With Clamp's assistance, Aarch is able to select a unique group of talented teenagers for his team. Seven kids from different backgrounds, personalities and skills are chosen. They are D'Jok, Sinedd, Micro-Ice, Mei, Thran, Ahito and Tia. (Rocket's replacement=Mark,Ahito-Yuki)

Aarch begins training with his new students. Clamp's invention, a holo-trainer machine which can simulate a football game holographically, as if it were a real football field, is used by all the players. Through this method of training, Tia shows that she can use Breath on her own, meaning Aarch was right about the fact that the Breath still exists. Following Tia's power, Aarch soon realises that despite this, the team still needs a good passer. Believing he saw a talented passer and possible captain for the team, Aarch takes Rocket under his wing and organises the team's first game - a friendly match against the Wambas. Whilsst the team puzzles over a suitable name for their new team, laid-back goalkeeper Ahito suggests the name Snow Kids would fit perfectly to them. Everybody agrees instantly.

The match against Wambas proves unsuccessful, as their Flux is stronger, giving the Wambas an easy win over the Snow Kids.

Meanwhile, Clamp's true identity is revealed. He's the creator of the Meta-Flux, a synthetic and undetectable Flux that could serve a dangerous role in war. Aarch meets up with Artegor once again and, as always, Artegor hates him and kicks him off. Sinedd also leaves Snow Kids to play for Artegor's team The Shadows to prove he's not only a better player than D'Jok, but also the best player ever, and that he will be the one lifting the Galatick Cup.

With the new arrival of Rocket joining the Snow Kids, an unlikely relationship grows between him and the midfielder Tia. Micro-Ice ends up in defense, because of Mei playing with Micro-Ice's emotions in order to gain his Striker position.

Present
There is a time however when Artegor and Aarch are the co-coaches of the Snow Kids. this occurs 2 episodes after rocket beats Cornor at Netherball and is slightly reminicint of the scene in the first series in which Aarch and Artegor play for the Shadows and both end up suffering from "withdrawal" symtoms of the Smog.

Ahito becomes seriously ill and has to be withdrawn from the team to recover when they travel back to Genesis Stadium. The Snow Kids return as champions to try and retain the cup.

The Pirates are no longer wanted and have immunity from prosecution, so Sonny starts spending more time with his son D'Jok.

Rocket gets banned from playing Galactik Football after he illegally uses the Breath outside of matches or training to save Tia's life. He then turns to a secret 1-on-1 sport called Netherball, which is covertly being run by Beylock and Technoid so as to gather Flux signatures and use them to their advantage.

In lieu of what happens to Ahito and Rocket, the team gets two new players called Mark (their new mid-fielder) and Yuki (their new goalkeeper).

Beylock uses the collected Flux to cause an explosion on the Shadow Archipelago, destroying the Shadow team's Flux, and engineers it to look like the Pirates are to blame. The Pirates lose their immunity and have to go on the run again.

Ahito recovers from his illness and returns to the Snow Kids.

As the series progresses, Rocket continues to play Netherball due to his suspension and goes out of control, caring for no one, while the Snow Kids are struggling to win matches, though they manage to make it to the quarter finals.

Tia then faces Rocket at Netherball and wins, forcing him to leave the sphere (where Netherball is played) and return to the Snow Kids.

The team win the quarter finals against the Lightnings. However, during the game Ahito has a relapse of his illness.

Till next time.

The Snow Kids face the Xenons in the final, winning on a penalty shoot.

naruto's intricate hand signs for the mute

2009-06-29T02:37:00.000-07:00

Well first of all it's anime, but unlike animes the protagonist isn't the strongest guy or is he the brightest bulb, and the women aren't for fan service.Everyone in the team pitches in to save the day.

Naruto has a large number of characters, most of whom are ninjas. They initially study at the Ninja Academy, where the story begins, are split up into squads of three after their graduation and become Genin, rookie ninja. Each squad is assigned an experienced sensei.

These core squads form a basis for the characters' interactions later in the series, where characters are chosen for missions for their team's strength and complementary skills; Naruto's squad 7 becomes the social frame where Naruto is acquainted with Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and their sensei Kakashi Hatake, forming the core of his world-in-the-making. The other three-man teams of his former classmates form another such layer, as Naruto connects with them to various degrees, learning of their motives, vulnerabilities, and aspirations. The groups of three are not limited to the comrades Naruto's age – groups in the story in general come in threes and multiples of three.
In the Naruto world, countries operate as separate political entities ruled by landlords. Within these countries are hidden villages [kakurezato].
settlements housing ninja, warriors capable of using supernatural abilities in combat. A hidden village maintains the economy of the parent country by training ninja from a young age and using them to perform missions for other countries. The ninja of a hidden village also serve as the military force of their parent country. The leaders of the hidden villages hold equal status with the leaders of their respective countries. Five countries in the Naruto world—the Land of Earth, the Land of Fire, the Land of Lightning, the Land of Water, and the Land of Wind—are known as the "Five Great Shinobi Nations". These countries are the most powerful in the Naruto world.

Plot
Naruto Uzumaki is a young boy who has the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed within him. Twelve years before the start of the series, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked the ninja village Konohagakure, slaughtering many people. In response, the leader of Konohagakure – the Fourth Hokage – sacrificed his life to seal the demon inside Naruto when he was a newborn. Konohagakure, however, regarded Naruto as if he were the demon fox itself and mistreated him throughout most of his childhood. A decree made by the Third Hokage forbade anyone mention the attack of the demon fox to anyone. Years later, Naruto was tricked by the renegade ninja Mizuki into stealing a forbidden scroll, but was stopped by his teacher, Iruka Umino. That encounter made Naruto realize he was the container of the demon fox.And thus an adventure was born.
There are many seasons following the manga cannons.
There are a total of five series. There is a staggering 209 episodes up to date with an unimpressive number of fights-51 to be exact.Oh yes and just like any manga ,one fight can last as long as five episodes, and in epic fights the hand signals kind a looks like 'rock paper scissors' game.You need to watch it to understand my point.

Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow

2009-06-29T02:16:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody i just got back from a trip and i missed you all.....NOT!...well i had a good trip.thanks for asking.

Today well i was torn between avengers and justice league...so i chose next avengers: heroes of tomorow.

there has been many types of avengers comics and none was chosen as a direct to movie except this one.I mean there has been New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Dark Avengers, The Ultimates.But only Avengers Next was chosen.

Plot

After six of the ten Avengers die facing Ultron, Tony Stark/Iron Man takes their children - James Rogers, the son of Black Widow and Captain America; Henry Pym Jr.(or just Pym), the son of Giant-Man and the Wasp; Azari, the son of the Black Panther and Storm of the X-Men; and Torunn, daughter of the absent Asgardian Thor and Sif - to a refuge hidden in the Arctic Circle. He raises them for nearly thirteen years before Ultron discovers their existence. When the Vision emerges after a 12-year absence and reveals that he survived - albeit barely - the attack from Ultron, Stark learns that Francis Barton, son of Hawkeye, is also alive. Unfortunately, while the kids are spying on Stark, trying to figure out who the Vision is and what's going on, James accidentally set off the launch of a series of robots that consist of Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Thor, Black Widow and Giant Man, designed in the Avengers' image. As a result, Stark's base is revealed to Ultron. Fortunately, Stark stalls Ultron long enough for the kids to escape, but he is ultimately captured. Before this, the Iron Avengers, the robotic versions of the children's parents are turned evil by Ultron.
Heading to rescue Stark, the four young Avengers meet Barton (whose father survived the initial fight that killed the other five, but was recently killed by Ultron), and team up with him to rescue their guardian. The five then escape Ultron's citadel, (along with an aged Betty Ross), heading for the desert, where former Avenger Bruce Banner, alias the Hulk, is hiding out. After he refuses to help them, James devises a plan to lure Ultron there so as to bring out the Hulk, who can then destroy him. Fighting a losing battle against mechanical doubles of the six fallen Avengers and Thor (whom it is revealed had left to rule Asgard before Ultron surfaced), the young Avengers manage to awaken the Hulk, who fights and ultimately destroys Ultron, ripping him in two. Torunn then flies his body into space to ensure that he can't rebuild himself, and nearly dies in the process. As a result, her father appears to her and explains his reasons for leaving her, and invites her to enter Asgard. Torunn chooses instead to return to her family on Earth, which Thor accepts, telling her that he's proud of her and sends her back in a copy of his armour.
In the final scene, the five young Avengers prepare to return to Ultra City, to deal with Ultron's remaining forces and rescue any survivors.

Needless to say the hulk bashed all the bad guys in the final fight...typically.

Watch it you'll like it.

Disney first ever black princess

2009-06-20T03:02:00.000-07:00

The image of princess tiana and her voice talent Anika Noni Rose

Got to post this,got to post this!Really got to POST this!!

Do you know that Walt Disney Co. has started production on an animated musical fairy tale called “The Frog Princess,” which will be set in New Orleans and feature the Walt Disney Studio’s first black princess.

The film, set for release in 2009, also is the first hand-drawn film Disney has committed to since pledging last month to return to the traditional animation that made it a worldwide brand.

“The Frog Princess,” a musical scored by composer Randy Newman, is “an American fairy tale” starring a girl named Maddy who lives in the French Quarter in New Orleans, said John Lasseter, chief creative director for Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. The film is set to be released on December 11, 2009.

“The film’s New Orleans setting and strong princess character give the film lots of excitement and texture,” Walt Disney Studios says.

spoilers alert
synopsis
A prince named Naveen from the land of Maldonia is transformed into a frog by the evil scheming voodoo magician Dr. Facilier. The frog prince asks a princess named Tiana to break the spell by kissing him. However, the kiss doesn't break the spell, but instead turns Tiana into a frog as well. Together, the two of them must reach the good voodoo priestess of the Bayou, Mama Odie, while befriending a trumpet-playing alligator and a hopelessly romantic firefly along the way.
When the free-spirited, jazz-loving Prince Naveen of Maldonia comes to town a deal with a shady voodoo doctor goes bad and the once suave royal is turned into a frog. In a desperate attempt to be human again, a favor in exchange for a fateful kiss on the lips from the beautiful girl, Tiana, takes an unexpected turn and leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana to the banks of the almighty Mississippi and back in time for Mardi Gras in New Orleans. An unforgettable tale filled with music, humor and heart where two frogs—along with the help of a 200-year-old voodoo priestess, a love-sick Cajun firefly, and a trumpet-playing alligator—discover that what they want isn’t as important as what they need

Well you know what guys? Hope they don't make a part 2 disney always have a habit of messing up their part 2s.

The good,The bad ,Then Xmen evolution.

2009-06-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

Well today i'll be talking about some dumb toon, and i thought hey why dont i talk a little about xmen evolution.

Its just like your regular xmen cartoon but just alot dumber...way dumber...here is some write ups about it.

Season one
The first season introduces the core characters and lays the foundations for future storylines. Professor X, Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm and Jean Grey make up the original X-Men. As the season developes, the ranks of the X-Men are bolstered by the appearance of Nightcrawler in the first episode, Shadowcat in the second, Spyke in the fifth and Rogue (who originally joins the Brotherhood in the third episode) in the seventh. In the later episodes of this season, Nightcrawler discovers the identity of his birth mother, Wolverine finds answers to his past, Rogue switches sides to join the X-Men, and Xavier's half-brother, Juggernaut, is released from his prison.

Confrontations are typically with the Brotherhood, who vie for new recruits with the X-Men over the course of the season. Toad is the first to be introduced, followed by Avalanche, Blob and Quicksilver. The Brotherhood, apparently led by Mystique, are in fact being directed by a higher power, the identity of whom was "revealed" in the two-part season finale as being Magneto. After Cyclops discovers that his brother, Alex, survived the plane crash that killed their parents, they are both taken by Magneto into his "sanctuary" on Asteroid M. Magneto captures several X-Men and Brotherhood members in an attempt to amplify their mutant abilities and remove their emotions. Asteroid M is destroyed by Scott and Alex Summers, but not before two unidentified metal objects fly from the exploding rock.

then there was season two ,three,and then the action started getting intense and well it didnt that much any more.Especially during season three and four.

and then the comic book spin offs.Oh brother.

And for the record it was an emmy award winning animation.Go non violence!!
Till next time.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series)

2009-03-14T02:51:00.000-07:00

Star Wars:

The Clone Wars is an American 3D CGI animated television series created by Lucasfilm Animation, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and CGCG Inc. The series debuted on the US-version of Cartoon Network on October 3, 2008. It is set in the fictional Star Wars galaxy, during the same time period as the previous 2003 Star Wars: Clone Wars series. Each episode will have a running time of 22 minutes, to fill a half-hour timeslot. Star Wars creator George Lucas says "there will be at least 100 episodes produced." Dave Filoni is the supervising director of the series. Genndy Tartakovsky, director of the first Clone Wars series, is not involved with the production, but character designer Kilian Plunkett referred to the character designs from the 2D series when designing the characters for the 3D series. There also exists an Online-Comic, depicting story-snippets between the single episodes.

The first trailer for the series was released on the official Star Wars website on May 8, 2007. The series was launched with a feature film, which was released in theaters on August 15, 2008. It is one of only three series (along with Total Drama Island and 6TEEN) to be broadcast on the main Cartoon Network (i.e., outside of Toonami or Adult Swim) with a TV-PG rating.

After seeing Star Wars: The Clone Wars, there’s only one conclusion to be drawn: someone needs to take away George Lucas’ allowance. It’s not that the latest Star Wars’ animated saga is bad. The force simply is not with it. The film, which is a compilation of the first three episodes of the impending animated television series, will make a highly entertaining Saturday morning cartoon, possibly the best action cartoon on television, but as a feature-length film the movie suffers from a lack of cohesiveness and dreadful dialogue.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars succeeds in what George Lucas does best: creating worlds. The lush, almost painted, alien landscapes and visually appealing bots and weaponry set a beautiful background for the story. The animation definitely works for the Star Wars’ tale. While the jarring and obvious mesh of CGI and live action shots made the uneven Star Wars prequels seem like special effects craft projects, the complete animation of the story in Clone Wars feels natural. The characters are also lovingly drawn to look like their living movie counterparts (with the exception of Anakin, who looked nothing like Hayden Christensen, and instead looked like an angry Roger Federer). But the animation really shines in the film’s continual action sequences. It turns out light sabers and exploding clone armies are just as exciting in animation as they were in live action, maybe even more so.
Where The Clone Wars falls short is the human quality. George Lucas can create vivid worlds and funny, clumsy, neurotic robots - one of the truly charming aspects of the film - but he fails to make his human characters believable as human beings. This isn’t new for Georgie. His dialogue somehow managed to suck all the chemistry out of Natalie Portman and Christensen in the prequels - which is quite a feat considering what pretty, young things they are and that they were, at one point, an actual couple. Lucas’ stiff dialogue has the same effect in The Clone Wars. Line after line, each character notes Anakin’s recklessness while reminding others of his great skill. Blah, blah, blah. There’s also something wrong with the speaking quality of the human characters. Their words and mouths just don’t seem to match up, and in these days of Dreamworks and Pixar, that’s simply not acceptable. But the disastrous dialogue could almost be excused if it wasn’t for the odd presence of new character Ahsoka Tano, Anakin’s padawan learner.
The female Jedi-in-training, Ahsoka, feels like one of those annoying kid sisters that gets introduced to a TV series in a desperate ploy for young viewers. She’s much too cutesy for Star Wars. Her giggling one-liners in the midst of battle and her semi-flirty banter with Anakin - whom she calls “Sky guy” - are baffling. And her presence alone troubles the continuity of the film. For starters, we’ve never heard of this girl. The Clone Wars fills in the gap between Episodes II and III of the movie series and tells the story of how Anakin and the Jedi’s rescue the kidnapped son of Jabba the Hut. Meanwhile, the Clone Wars between the Galactic Federation and the Separatists, led by Count Dooku and Asajj Ventress, an assassin who looks something like a sexy Voldemort, wages on. Plot-wise this works well within the Star Wars’ continuity universe. However, what is Ahsoka doing here? If you’ve seen Episode II (and if you haven’t, why are you watching The Clone Wars?), you know that Anakin has already taken a turn toward the dark side, slaughtering a village, including all the children, and secretly disobeying the Jedi Order by marrying PadmÃ© Amidala. So why is he flirting with a little padawan? Furthermore, in Episode III Anakin dispatches a slew of younglings in the Jedi Temple. Shouldn’t his relationship with his young padawan have discouraged him from such an action? Guess not.
When PadmÃ© finally appears in the last third of the movie (looking flawlessly like a super smoking Portman), the Ahsoka factor feels even more out of place. There’s a dark undertone to PadmÃ© and Anakin’s interaction (as there should be!) and after an hour of Ahsoka’s sass, it starts to feel like we’re watching two different movies: one dark, unfolding drama and one Saturday morning cartoon.
All in all, The Clone Wars suffers from being pulled by both sides and ending up in an uneven middle. Is it a cartoon for the kids who will care little for the emotional drama of the story? Or is it part of the complicated Star Wars movie universe with its dark, political, and psychological undercurrents?
I don’t think even George Lucas knows.

Iron Man: Armored Adventures

2009-03-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

Iron Man: Armored Adventures is a television series based on the Marvel superhero Iron Man which is set to debut on the Nicktoons Network in April 2009, and has already begun airing on Canadian network Teletoon. The series is story edited by showrunner Christopher Yost.

Synopsis
At a time when Howard Stark refuses Obadiah Stane's attempt to weaponize the Earth Mover Project, his 16 year old son Tony loses his father and almost his life in a devastating plane crash that leaves Tony severely injured. With the help of Jim Rhodes, Happy Hogan, and Pepper Potts, Iron Man fights the enemies of World Peace ranging from Mandarin, Iron Monger, Crimson Dynamo, Madame Masque, Blizzard, Living Laser, The Controller and Whiplash while attending school as a result of his father's last wish (or so Obadiah Stane, the acting CEO of Stark International claims)

Animation style
The series is made primarily using Computer Generated Imagery, in a similar style to MTV's Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, albeit with a few minor differences.And i have watched mtv spiderman and it was off the hook...but technically the show sucked,even though i've only watched the pilot show.

Wolverine and the X-Men

2009-03-03T08:53:00.000-08:00

Wolverine and the X-Men is an animated television series. It is the fourth animated adaptation of the X-Men characters, the other three being "Pryde of the X-Men," X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men: Evolution. It should be noted that it is not a spinoff of the previous series.

Season One
The story starts when the mansion explodes, apparently due to an attack targeted at telepaths, Professor Charles Xavier and Jean Grey are missing. The X-Men disband and Cyclops begins to suffer from depression. One year later, the MRD (Mutant Response Division) is starting to detain mutants causing Wolverine and Beast to get the X-Men back together. Iceman, Shadowcat and Forge rejoin the team. Rogue joins up with the Brotherhood. The X-Mansion is rebuilt with Angel's wealth. Emma Frost is able to locate a comatose Charles on Genosha in the care of Magneto. When hearing this, Cyclops returns to the team and X-Men go to Genosha to find Professor X. After a short battle with Magneto, they are allowed to take Professor X back with them to the X-Mansion. Professor X contacts the X-Men telepathically from twenty years into the future and informs Wolverine that he is to lead the X-Men if they wish to successfully save the world from The Sentinel Project and prevent the Brotherhood of Mutants and the Acolytes from taking over the world before the future ends up being dominated by Sentinels.

Production

The series was in the preproduction stage as of April 2007 and early news had speculated the show to air in Fall 2008. However, the speculation came to a rest as according to Marvel Quarterly reports, the show was scheduled to air in the United States in Spring 2009. It was also confirmed in an article by USA Today's website in which it specifically mentions the cartoon starting on January 23, 2009 on Nicktoons Network. On January 23, the first episode aired in the United States. The two premired episodes will re-air on regular Nickelodeon the following Sunday in the 2:00pm to 3:00pm time slot.

Release Dates

Press releases indicated that the first episode was due to premiere on August 2nd 2008 on BBC2 in the UK; however, it was postponed and premiered on January 4th 2009 on the CBBC Channel. Initially, one new episode aired every Sunday, but on January 25th 2009, CBBC started airing two new episodes every Sunday. The time slots vary, and the episodes are available for viewing on the BBC iPlayer for a limited time after they air. As of mid-February 2009, some new episodes have been shown on weekdays instead of at the weekend. CBBC in the UK is set to overtake Canada on March 4th 2009 when it airs the 20th episode, "Breakdown".
On June 23, 2008, a second preview for the series, starring the main X-Men team, was released to announce the special screening of the 3-part pilot episodes that aired at the San Diego Comic-Con in late July 2008.
In Canada, the series started airing on YTV on Saturday, September 6, 2008 in the 7pm time slot.Recently, it's time slot has been switched to Saturday morning programming, Crunch, where it airs at 11:30am. The series will also be shown on the Canadian toon network, Teletoon, starting at the beginning of the show on January 11, 2009 at 10am, right before The Spectacular Spider-Man.
In Brazil and Latin America, the series is airing on Jetix Brazil and Jetix (Latin America) starting August 25 from Mondays to Thursdays at 4:30 PM. On November 4th, 2008, a second season, consisting of 26 episodes was confirmed as being in pre-production.

Ratings

Thanks to the abundance of advertising for the series done by Nicktoons and Marvel, the Nicktoons Network premiere of Wolverine and the X-Men, garnered Nicktoons with their biggest ratings ever. Over 500,000 watched the premiere, which is the network's highest ratings ever.
Hindsight, Part One 436,000 viewers
Hindsight, Part Two 589,000 viewers

DVD release

Liberation Entertainment have announced the first DVD will be released on November 3, 2008 in the United Kingdom. The DVD has since been cancelled due to the UK branch of Liberation Entertainment going into administration; it is unclear if the USA branch will continue to release it in the future. A new company has gotten the rights to the show, so now the release date by Lace International, who took over the rights to the Marvel shows for UK distribution remains unclear.
Buena Vista Home Entertainment Mexico announced the release of the first DVD R4 containing the initial 6 episodes by Fall 2008.
The first three episodes will be released on DVD in the US in April 2009

2008-10-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

Superman

Creation and conception

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster first created a bald telepathic villain bent on dominating the entire world. He appeared in the short story "The Reign of the Super-Man" from Science Fiction #3, a science fiction fanzine that Siegel published in 1933. Siegel re-wrote the character in 1933 as a hero, bearing little or no resemblance to his villainous namesake, modeling the hero on Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and his bespectacled alter ego, Clark Kent, on Harold Lloyd. Siegel and Shuster then began a six-year quest to find a publisher. Titling it The Superman, Siegel and Shuster offered it to Consolidated Book Publishing, who had published a 48-page black-and-white comic book entitled Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48. Although the duo received an encouraging letter, Consolidated never again published comic books. Shuster took this to heart and burned all pages of the story, the cover surviving only because Siegel rescued it from the fire. Siegel and Shuster each compared this character to Slam Bradley, an adventurer the pair had created for Detective Comics#1 (May 1939).

Publication

Superman's first appearance was in Action Comics #1, in 1938. In 1939, a self-titled series was launched. The first issue mainly reprinted adventures published in Action Comics, but despite this the book achieved greater sales. 1939 also saw the publication of New York World's Fair Comics, which by summer of 1942 became World's Finest Comics. With issue #7 of All Star Comics, Superman made the first of a number of infrequent appearances, on this occasion appearing in cameo to establish his honorary membership of the Justice Society of America.
Initially Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster would provide the story and art for all the strips published. However, Shuster's eyesight began to deteriorate, and the increasing appearances of the character saw an increase in the workload. This led Shuster to establish a studio to assist in the production of the art, although he insisted on drawing the face of every Superman the studio produced. Outside the studio, Jack Burnley began supplying covers and stories in 1940, and in 1941, artist Fred Ray began contributing a stream of Superman covers, some of which, such as that of Superman #14 (Feb. 1942), became iconic and much-reproduced. Wayne Boring, initially employed in Shuster's studio, began working for DC in his own right in 1942 providing pages for both Superman and Action Comics. Al Plastino was hired initially to copy Wayne Boring but was eventually allowed to create his own style and became one of the most prolific Superman artists during the Gold and Silver Ages of comics.

Comic book character

Superman, given the serial nature of comic publishing and the length of the character's existence, has evolved as a character as his adventures have increased. The details of Superman's origin, relationships and abilities changed significantly during the course of the character's publication, from what is considered the Golden Age of Comic Books through the Modern Age. The powers and villains were developed through the 1940s, with Superman developing the ability to fly, and costumed villains introduced from 1941. The character was shown as learning of the existence of Krypton in 1949. The concept itself had originally been established to the reader in 1939, in the Superman comic strip.
The 1960s saw the introduction of a second Superman. DC had established a multiverse within the fictional universe its characters shared. This allowed characters published in the 1940s to exist alongside updated counterparts published in the 1960s. This was explained to the reader through the notion that the two groups of characters inhabited parallel Earths. The second Superman was introduced to explain to the reader Superman's membership of both the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America and the 1960s superhero team the Justice League of America.

Superman dies in Lois Lane's arms: Superman #75 (vol. 2, Jan. 1993). Art by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding.
The 1980s saw radical revisions of the character. DC decided to remove the multiverse in a bid to simplify its comics line. This led to the rewriting of the back story of the characters DC published, Superman included. John Byrne rewrote Superman, removing many established conventions and characters from continuity, including Superboy and Supergirl. Byrne also re-established Superman's adoptive parents, The Kents, as characters. In the previous continuity the characters had been written as having died early in Superman's life (about the time of Clark Kent's graduation from high school).
The 1990s saw Superman killed by the villain Doomsday, although the character was soon resurrected. Superman also marries Lois Lane in 1996. His origin is again revisited in 2004. In 2006 Superman is stripped of his powers, although these are restored within a fictional year.

Personality
In the original Siegel and Shuster stories, Superman's personality is rough and aggressive. The character was seen stepping in to stop wife beaters, profiteers, a lynch mob and gangsters, with rather rough edges and a looser moral code than audiences may be used to today. Later writers have softened the character, and instilled a sense of idealism and moral code of conduct. Although not as cold-blooded as the early Batman, the Superman featured in the comics of the 1930s is unconcerned about the harm his strength may cause, tossing villainous characters in such a manner that fatalities would presumably occur, although these were seldom shown explicitly on the page. This came to an end late in 1940, when new editor Whitney Ellsworth instituted a code of conduct for his characters to follow, banning Superman from ever killing.
Today, Superman adheres to a strict moral code, often attributed to the Midwestern values with which he was raised. His commitment to operating within the law has been an example to many other heroes but has stirred resentment among others, who refer to him as the "big blue boy scout." Superman can be rather rigid in this trait, causing tensions in super hero community, notably with Wonder Woman (one of his closest friends) after she killed Maxwell Lord.
Having lost his homeworld of Krypton, Superman is very protective of Earth, and especially of Clark Kent’s family and friends. This same loss, combined with the pressure of using his powers responsibly, has caused Superman to feel lonely on Earth, despite his many friends, his wife and his parents. Previous encounters with people he thought to be fellow Kryptonians, Power Girl (who is, in fact from the Krypton of the Earth-Two universe) and Mon-El, have led to disappointment. The arrival of Supergirl, who has been confirmed to be not only from Krypton, but also is his cousin, has relieved this loneliness somewhat.
In Superman/Batman #3 (December 2003), Batman observes, "It is a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then...he shoots fire from the skies, and it is difficult not to think of him as a god. And how fortunate we all are that it does not occur to him." Later, as Infinite Crisis began, Batman admonished him for identifying with humanity too much and failing to provide the strong leadership that superhumans need.

Powers and abilities
Main article: Powers and abilities of Superman
As an influential archetype of the superhero genre, Superman possesses extraordinary powers, with the character traditionally described as "faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound", a phrase coined by Jay Morton and first used in the Superman radio serials and Max Fleischer animated shorts of the 1940s as well as the TV series of the 1950s. For most of his existence, Superman's famous arsenal of powers has included flight, super-strength, invulnerability to non-magical attacks, super-speed, vision powers (including x-ray, heat-emitting, telescopic, infra-red, and microscopic vision), super-hearing, and super-breath, hich enables him to blow out air at freezing temperatures, as well as exert the propulsive force of high-speed winds.
As originally conceived and presented in his early stories, Superman's powers were relatively limited, consisting of superhuman strength that allowed him to lift a car over his head, run at amazing speeds and leap one-eighth of a mile, as well as incredibly tough skin that could be pierced by nothing less than an exploding artillery shell. Siegel and Shuster compared his strength and leaping abilities to an ant and a grasshopper. When making the cartoons, the Fleischer Brothers found it difficult to keep animating him leaping and requested to DC to change his ability to flying. Writers gradually increased his powers to larger extents during the Silver Age, in which Superman could fly to other worlds and galaxies and even across universes with relative ease. He would often fly across the solar system to stop meteors from hitting the Earth, or sometimes just to clear his head. Writers found it increasingly difficult to write Superman stories in which the character was believably challenged, so DC made a series of attempts to rein the character in. The most significant attempt, John Byrne's 1986 rewrite, established several hard limits on his abilities: He barely survives a nuclear blast, and his space flights are limited by how long he can hold his breath. Superman's power levels have again increased since then, with Superman currently possessing enough strength to hurl mountains, withstand nuclear blasts with ease, fly into the sun unharmed, and survive in the vacuum of outer space without oxygen.
The source of Superman's powers has changed subtly over the course of his history. It was originally stated that Superman's abilities derived from his Kryptonian heritage, which made him eons more evolved than humans. This was soon amended, with the source for the powers now based upon the establishment of Krypton's gravity as having been stronger than that of the Earth. This situation mirrors that of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter. As Superman's powers increased, the implication that all Kryptonians had possessed the same abilities became problematic for writers, making it doubtful that a race of such beings could have been wiped out by something as trifling as an exploding planet. In part to counter this, the Superman writers established that Kryptonians, whose native star Rao had been red, only possessed superpowers under the light of a yellow sun. More recent stories have attempted to find a balance between the two explanations.
Superman is most vulnerable to green Kryptonite, mineral debris from Krypton transformed into radioactive material by the forces that destroyed the planet. Exposure to green Kryptonite radiation nullifies Superman's powers and immobilizes him with pain and nausea; prolonged exposure will eventually kill him. The only mineral on Earth that can protect him from Kryptonite is lead, which blocks the radiation. Lead is also the only known substance that Superman cannot see through with his x-ray vision. Kryptonite was first introduced to the public in 1943 as a plot device to allow the radio serial voice actor, Bud Collyer, to take some time off. Although green Kryptonite is the most commonly seen form writers have introduced other forms over the years: such as red, gold, blue, white, and black, each with its own effect

2008-10-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

Approximately 5,000 years old, Apocalypse is a virtually immortal mutant. By the end of the Mutant-Human War, Apocalypse was seen as one of Magneto's most trusted lieutenants, but it was not always that way. The two came to blows early in the war, battling over the right to lead mutantkind. Apocalypse lost, but instead of destroying him, Magneto offered Apocalypse a place by his side. Apocalypse, surprised by his rival's generosity, accepted the offer. Magneto gave Apocalypse a crucial mission - to free the hundreds of captured mutants held in mutant camps across the United States. Apocalypse succeeded, and those freed mutants were crucial in the eventual mutant victory. Recently, Magneto placed Apocalypse in charge of North Africa. Against Magneto's wishes, Apocalypse and his Horsemen have enslaved the human population and forced them to reconstruct Egyptian landmarks. While this is not in the spirit of Magneto's policy of tolerance of humans, it appears Magnus chooses to turn a blind eye towards Apocalypse's actions.

Retrieved from my very own write ups

2008-10-11T02:24:00.000-07:00

Gambit (Remy Etienne LeBeau)

is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero that has been a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artists Jim Lee and Mike Collins, the character first appeared briefly in Uncanny X-Men Annual #14 (1990), weeks before a more comprehensive appearance in Uncanny X-Men #266 (August 1990). As of 2008, there have been two attempts at an ongoing title starring the character. Gambit also had two different miniseries and starred prominently in the X-Force replacement title during the Age of Apocalypse, Gambit & the X-Ternals.
A mutant, Gambit possesses the ability to manipulate kinetic energy. He is also skilled in card throwing, hand-to-hand combat, and the use of a staff.
A professional thief, few X-Men trusted Gambit when he first joined the group, a source of stress between him and his longtime on-again, off-again love interest Rogue. This was exacerbated when his connections to villain Mister Sinister were revealed, although some of his team members accept that Gambit honestly seeks redemption.
As the X-Men's self-described ladies man, Gambit has shown a more vulnerable side of himself over the years, especially when it comes to Rogue. Gambit remains fiercely proud of his Louisiana heritage, and speaks in a very thick, Cajun accent.
One of his defining traits is that he used to be a smoker, along with Wolverine. However, with Marvel's later anti-smoking policy, this trait has completely vanished.
Though he did not appear in the first three X-Men films, Gambit will finally appear on screen in the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where he will be portrayed by Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch.

Gambit appeared on the X-Men animated series and in video games. He also starred in two solo series, one lasting from 1998 through 2001 and the other 2004 though 2005. He also starred in two miniseries of his own, the first having been released in 1993 and the other in 1997, and co-starred in two additional miniseries, "Wolverine/Gambit", in 1995, and "Bishop and Gambit" in 2001. Additionally, "Gambit & the X-Ternals", published in 1995, featured a group of renegade mutants led by Gambit who has been living on the edge of law during the Age of Apocalypse.

Early life
Remy LeBeau was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was kidnapped from the hospital where he was raised by the LeBeau Clan Thieves' Guild, and given to the Antiquary as a tribute.
They referred to the child as "le diable blanc" ("the white devil") and believed he was prophesied to unite the warring Thieves and Assassins Guilds. Soon after, Remy was placed in the care of Fagan's Mob, a gang of street thieves who raised the child and taught him the ways of thievery. After living as an orphan on the streets, a 10 year-old Remy attempted to pick the pocket of Jean-Luc LeBeau, then patriarch of the Thieves Guild. Jean-Luc took the boy off the streets and adopted him into his own family.
Remy's bio-kinetic charging abilities manifested early in his teens, although he kept his powers secret from his family and friends, practicing his powers away from prying eyes. When he was 15, he accompanied his best friend Etienne Marceaux on his "Tilling", the ritual initiation test of the Thieves Guild. However, it went awry as they were assigned to steal from the powerful immortal mutant Candra, who quickly captured them. Candra recognized Remy from an encounter that had taken place in her past but in his future (due to a time travel mission to the 19th Century Remy would take as an adult) and sold them to the deformed, mutant gangster and child slave trader known as the Pig, who planned to sell them and others their age to HYDRA as boy soldiers. Remy used his powers to escape their holding pen, but the physically enhanced Pig quickly caught up to them. Remy discovered his signature attack when he picked up a playing card that Etienne had dropped, charged it and threw it in the Pig's face, taking out his eye. Finally escaping his cliff top headquarters by diving into the sea, Remy was ultimately rescued by the Guild; Etienne drowned.
In an attempt to reconcile the Thieves and Assassins Guilds, Remy married Bella Donna Boudreaux, granddaughter of the head Assassin, whom he met at age 8. Unfortunately, he was challenged by her brother Julien to a duel after the wedding. In the duel, Gambit killed Julien, and he was exiled from the city, ending his relationship with Bella Donna.

The Mutant Massacre
After his exile from New Orleans, he wandered the world and became a master professional thief, making many contacts (and quite a few enemies). During this period, Gambit found he had an uncontrollable amount of energy flowing through him, to the point that he could not withstand it. Desperate, Gambit went to Mister Sinister for help. Sinister modified Gambit's power, making him significantly less powerful, but able to control the still considerably large amount of power in him.
However, Sinister wanted the favor returned, so Gambit carried out various missions for him. For the last of these operations, Gambit gathered together a group of mercenaries which Sinister named the Marauders. The group included the mutant Sabretooth as one of its members. Gambit was then ordered to lead the Marauders into the tunnels under New York City. He led Sabretooth, Blockbuster, Prism, and Riptide there while - unknown to Gambit - Scalphunter, Arclight, Harpoon, Malice, Scrambler, and Vertigo followed the Morlock Tommy into the tunnels. Their goal was to wipe out the Morlocks. Gambit was unable to prevent the Marauders from killing a considerable number of Morlocks, but he was able to save one, a child. Her name was Sarah, and she would grow up to be Marrow, the leader of the mutant terrorist group Gene Nation. Gambit long kept his involvement in the mission a secret from his fellow X-Men, much to their eventual displeasure.

Powers and abilities

Gambit is a mutant whose primary ability is the manipulation of potential or kinetic energy. This is manifest both internally and externally, energy charges his body giving him greater strength, stamina, and agility than any non-powered human, As well as being able to charge matter resulting in the violent and disproportionately powerful explosion of said matter through touch. The object he charges explode with a force somewhat proportional to the size of the object, though a playing card is as powerful as a hand grenade in Gambit's hands. Gambit has the ability to charge living as well is non living matter, though this ability is the source of much controversy in Gambit's life as well as the continuity and nature of the character. He almost never charges organic matter. Gambit is skilled in card throwing with great accuracy, and all aspects of thievery. One of his trademark tricks is to hurl playing cards at an opponent, charging each card and turning it into a deadly projectile.
Gambit customarily wears a suit of highly articulated light body armor and his weapon of choice is a telescopic metal staff. He is extensively trained in martial arts, particularly French kick-boxing or savate, which coupled with his Thieves Guild training and natural mutant abilities, makes him a superhuman combatant. He is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, utilizing street-fighting techniques and acrobatics.
In his youth, Gambit was able to control all forms of kinetic energy, allowing him to charge all matter within his line of sight by mere thought alone, but his failure to control it caused him to turn to Mister Sinister. Sinister excised the portion of his brain stem responsible for his full mutant powers. Later, he returned to Sinister while he was in Victorian England, and had his grey matter surgically reimplanted, restoring his abilities to their full potential (which enabled him to return to the present day by transforming himself into living energy which joined with the kinetic flow of the timestream itself) until he burnt them out while fighting the New Sun. However, Sage then jump started his powers twice, first, when the XSE rejoined the X-Men and second, when she helped him heal his blinded eyes. It was later revealed that he had regained his ability to charge even organic and animated matter when he directly powered the kinetic-absorbing Sebastian Shaw with biokinetic energies in order to be able to destroy the Cronus machine of Mister Sinister.
While blinded for a period of time, it was shown that Gambit had the ability to foresee future events using his playing cards through tarot reading.

Films

In X2

, his name was seen on a screen among a list of other mutants when Mystique hacks the system of William Stryker for information on different mutants. Stuntman James Bamford

filmed a cameo as Gambit before it was cut.
An early leaked script suggested that Gambit would be included in X-Men: The Last Stand as a minor character. Josh Holloway was offered the role but declined it due to scheduling conflicts on Lost. An interview with producer Lauren Shuler Donner reveals that Channing Tatum auditioned for the role, before the character was cut. In an interview with Wizard magazine, WWE professional wrestler Greg 'The Hurricane' Helms said that he had planned to read for the part before the change of producers and director.According to the audio commentary of X-Men: The Last Stand, Gambit was to appear in the prison convoy scene of the movie, before the character was cut. In the commentary of the movie the director reveals that they did seriously consider putting Gambit in the movie but decided against it as they thought it was too small a role for such a big character. Lauren Shuler Donner revealed that James Franco auditioned for the role in X-Men: The Last Stand but didn't get the role before the character was cut.
In Chris Claremont's novelization of the X2 movie, Gambit is one of the mutants seen being affected by Dark Cerebr. He is playing cards in a New Orleans bar when he suddenly falls in pain from the machine's activation and causes a table to explode. In the X3 novelization, he is a new student at the mansion being trained by Wolverine, along with Cannonball, Danielle Moonstar, and Sage.
Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch will play Gambit in director Gavin Hood's upcoming film X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

2008-10-11T02:01:00.000-07:00

Returning characters
The Biker Mice
The Mice themselves are, character-wise, the same as before. But Throttle's leadership role has now been formally recognized with the rank of Commander. There have also been minor changes in costume (Throttle now has a green crossbelt across his chest under his jacket and new shades, Modo's boots are different and all three have new helmets). But More controversially amongst fans of the original series, they have been drawn as substantially slimmed down and less muscular. All three also have new bikes, Vinnie is much the same, but with minor alterations, Throttle's is of a similar design but green rather than black, and Modo now has a three-wheeled machine. The series has reverted to the original explanation of how Vinnie received his injuries, as contradicted in the final 1996 story, namely, through experiments conducted by Karbunkle.

Charley
Again, essentially, Charley is the same character-wise, but with a new, short

haircut and clothes more suited to a 21st century heroine. Although not present in every episode, she is in the majority and plays a more prominent role than in the original series. Her relationship with Vinnie has been toned down for the new series, but she appears to reciprocate Vinnie's feelings towards her more readily than in the original series.
Carbine
Carbine has had a costume change, and plays a substantially more prominent role than originally, even coming down to Earth on a couple of occasions. Her relationship with Throttle has been made a little more prominent, with emphasis laid on the strain placed on it by the War and their relative military responsibilities. Carbine has also been revealed as Stoker's niece.

Stoker
Stoker is the classic series minor character who has had the most significant increase in importance, acting as the

catalyst for much of the plot of the 2006 series. The founder and greatest leader of the Freedom Fighter movement, in the new series he has been missing in action for some years, and is wrongly, but widely, held (except by Vinnie) to have turned traitor. He is the inventor of the Regenerator, a matter conversion device that is crucial for producing the water needed for the survival of the Martian population. Some years earlier he had been forced to build a second Regenerator for Ronaldo Rump (see below), and when the Martian Regenerator was accidentally destroyed by the Catatonians, the Biker Mice were dispatched to Earth to recover Rump's machine, thus precipitating the plot of the new series. His alter-ego is Nightshift, a black-clad, masked biker; the disguise was originally adopted when he was still regarded as a traitor; it is now used to protect him from sunlight, which causes him to temporarily mutate into a rat-like creature, these mutations are the result of over-exposure to tetra-hydrocarbons, the power source of the Regenerator.

New characters
Hairball
Supreme Commander of the Catatonian army but highly incompetent and is only a puppet leader.
Cataclysm
Whilst officially the second in command to Supreme Commander Hairball, it is Cataclysm who is truly calling the shots in the Catatonian quest for the Regenerator.
Ronaldo Rump
A parody of Donald Trump with an oversized butt. A property developer who wishes to obtain the Regenerator for himself to make himself more wealth

Episode List
The Adventure Begins (part 1)
The Adventure Begins (part 2)
The British Invasion
Changes
The Tender Mouse Trap
Between Rump and a Hard Race
Biker Mice Down Under
Driver's Ed
New Cats in Town
A Hairy A-Bomb
Manchurian Charley
It's the Pits
Bringing Up Vinnie
Carbine's Conundrum
Rumpity-Dumpster
Surfer Cats of Saturn
Vigilante Vengeance
Cyber Mice From Mars
Break Up
Here come the Judge
Swimming With Sharks
Desperado
First Mice on The Moon
Cat and Mouse
Once Upon A Time on Earth (part 1)
Once Upon A Time on Earth (part 2)
Once Upon A Time on Earth (part 3)
Turf Wars

2008-10-08T18:56:00.001-07:00

Captain America (Steve Rogers)

Steve Rogers was a scrawny fine arts student specializing in industrialization in the 1940's before America entered World War II. He attempted to enlist in the army only to be turned away due to his poor constitution. A U.S. officer offered Rogers an alternative way to serve his country by being a test subject in project, Operation: Rebirth, a top secret defense research project designed to create physically superior soldiers. Rogers accepted and after a rigorous physical and combat training and selection process was selected as the first test subject. He was given injections and oral ingestion of the formula dubbed the "Super Soldier Serum" developed by the scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine. Rogers was then exposed to a controlled burst of "Vita-Rays" that activated and stabilized the chemicals in his system. The process successfully altered his physiology from its frail state to the maximum of human efficiency, including greatly enhanced musculature and reflexes.

After the assassination of Dr. Erskine. Roger was re-imagined as a superhero who served both as a counter-intelligence agent and a propaganda symbol to counter Nazi Germany's head of terrorist operations, the Red Skull. Rogers was given a costume modeled after the American flag, a bulletproof shield, a personal sidearm and the codename Captain America. He was also given a cover identity as a clumsy infantry private at Camp LeHigh in Virginia. Barely out of his teens himself, Rogers made friends with the teenage camp mascot, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes. Barnes accidentally learned of Rogers' dual identity and offered to keep the secret if he could become Captain America's sidekick. Rogers agreed, and trained Barnes. Roger met President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who presented him with a new shield made from a chance mixture of iron, Vibranium and an unknown catalyst. Throughout World War II, Captain America and Bucky fought the Nazi menace both on their own and as members of the superhero team the Invaders, which after the war evolved into the All-Winners Squad.

In the closing days of World War II in 1945, Captain America and Bucky tried to stop the villainous Baron Zemo from destroying an experimental drone plane. Zemo launched the plane with an armed explosive device on it, with Rogers and Barnes in hot pursuit. They reached the plane just before it took off, but when Bucky tried to defuse the bomb, it exploded in mid-air. The young man was believed killed, and Rogers was hurled into the freezing waters of either the North Atlantic. Neither his body or Bucky's were found, and both were presumed dead.

Discovery and the Avengers
The Avengers discovered Rogers' body in the North Atlantic, his costume under his soldier's uniform and still carrying his shield. Rogers had been preserved in a block of ice since 1945, which melted after the block was thrown back into the ocean by an enraged Sub-Mariner. When Rogers revived, he related his last, failed mission in the closing days of the war. Rogers accepted membership in the Avengers, and although he soon adjusted to modern times well enough to eventually assume leadership of the team, he was plagued by guilt for not being able to prevent Bucky's death. He also undertook missions for the national security agency S.H.I.E.L.D., which was commanded by his old war comrade Nick Fury. Rogers established a residence in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York and has discovered that Bucky had been held in suspended animation throughout the Cold War performing assassinations as the Winter Soldier.

Civil War
Recent events have been tumultuous for Captain America. As the passage of the the Superhuman Registration Act drew near, Maria Hill (the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D.) propositioned Rogers and the Avengers to join S.H.I.E.L.D. in enforcing the act. When he refused, Hill had her trained "Superhuman Response Unit" attack him. During the scuffle Rogers avoided being tranquilized and managed to escape by lodging his shield in an aircraft and forcing the pilot to fly him to safety. Soon after, at the Baxter Building the Watcher told the heroes who had gathered there about the Captain's escape. Captain America soon became the de facto leader of the Secret Avengers, heroes fighting against the registration act, much to the consternation of his erstwhile friend Iron Man. While the two made sporadic attempts to reconcile during the Civil War, the clashes between their respective teams became more and more heated, ultimately leading to a pitched battle in the middle of New York City. At the end of the battle, as Cap was about to deliver a finishing blow to Iron Man, he was tackled by several emergency workers. Realizing the damage the war was doing to the city and its civilian population, Captain America unmasked and surrendered as Steve Rogers.

The Death of Captain America
On his way to an arraignment at the Federal Courthouse in New York City, Captain America was shot in the right shoulder by a sniper's bullet. Several subsequent shots were fired point blank at Rogers by Sharon Carter, brainwashed by Dr. Faustus who was allied with the Red Skull. Sharon, unaware of her actions and concealed by the crowd during the shooting, escorted Rogers to the hospital while the Falcon and the Winter Soldier subdued the sniper, Crossbones (Brock Rumlow). Captain America was pronounced dead on arrival at Mercy Hospital. Sharon's memory was restored by a keyword spoken by the Red Skull's daughter, Sin (Sinthia Shmidt).

2008-10-08T18:03:00.000-07:00

The Boy, the Bite, and the Burglar

Orphaned as a baby when his parents were killed overseas in a plane crash as U.S. government spies, only child Peter Parker was raised by his elderly Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Academically gifted, Peter displayed an uncanny affinity for science that was nothing short of genius. Socially, however, he was painfully shy and the target of much cruelty by his peers at Midtown High School. Attending a public science exhibit when Peter was 15-years old, he was bitten on the hand by a radioactive spider accidentally irradiated by a particle beam, empowering Peter with the arachnid's proportional strength and agility, and the ability to cling to almost any surface. Most incredibly, he had gained a sixth sense that provided him with early warning of impending danger. Disguised, Peter tested his new-found abilities defeating professional wrestler Crusher Hogan in the ring, and earning some cash. Using his scientific prowess, he constructed a pair of artificial web-shooters that attached to his wrists. With an agent, a costume, and a new name, Spider-Man became an overnight sensation on television. Unconcerned with the rest of the world, he vowed to use his powers only to take care of himself and his aunt and uncle. After his first TV special ended, he allowed a burglar that he could have easily restrained to run past him and escape. A few days later, Peter returned home to find his beloved Uncle Ben had been shot and killed. When Spider-Man confronted the killer hiding in the old Acme Warehouse at the waterfront, he discovered to his horror that his uncle's murderer was the burglar he apathetically allowed to pass. Consumed with guilt, he became aware at last that with great power comes great responsibility, just as his beloved uncle had once said.

To help his Aunt May with finances, Peter took a freelance job at the Daily Bugle selling pictures of himself as Spider-Man to publisher

J. Jonah Jameson. Despite Spider-Man rescuing his son, astronaut John Jameson, from a malfunctioning space capsule, Jonah used his newspaper to publicly condemn Spider-Man as a menace. Unlike heroes like the Fantastic Four or the Avengers, Spider-Man was mistrusted and feared by the public. At school, his popularity was no greater, as "Puny Parker" frequently clashed with bully Flash Thompson and his followers. Flash's girlfriend, Liz Allan, often complicated matters, harboring a crush on "Petey" and making Flash jealous.

A Gathering of Enemies
Spider-Man soon found himself facing a rogue's gallery of powerful thieves, gangsters, and megalomaniacs including the Chameleon, the Tinkerer, the Vulture (Adrian Toomes), Doctor Octopus (Otto Octavius), the Sandman, Doctor Doom, and Electro. In Florida, he befriended Dr. Curtis Connors after administering an antidote to reverse his transformation into the terrible Lizard. Though he had many enemies, he also shared adventures with the Fantastic Four (including rival the Human Torch), the Avengers, the X-Men and Daredevil. At the Daily Bugle, he discovered a friend and his first love, Jameson's secretary, Betty Brant. Even more villains clashed with Spider-Man including the Green Goblin, the Big Man and the Enforcers, Mysterio (Quentin Beck), and Kraven the Hunter. Dating Betty became awkward after her brother, Bennett, was murdered in a clash between Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man. Betty at first held Spider-Man responsible. Though she later recanted, the thought of Spider-Man reminded her of losing her brother. At home, Aunt May suffered a heart attack, causing Spider-Man to abandon a fight with the Green Goblin. For a while after, the public viewed Spider-Man as a coward, before he made a comeback. May's fragile health and poor finances, however, remain a lingering concern. Frustrated by their defeats at the hand of Spider-Man, six of his top villains gathered forces under Doctor Octopus to form the Sinister Six. Through wits and determination, Spider-Man defeated the group one at a time.

Peter Parker’s confidence gradually increased. At the same time, his relationship with Betty crumbled as handsome reporter Ned Leeds stole her heart. Jameson took his campaign against Spider-Man to a new level, sponsoring the creation of the deranged

Scorpion, under Dr. Farley Stillwell. Though the Scorpion turned on Jameson, the publisher persisted with attacks against Spider-Man, and rented the first of a series of robotic Spider Slayers invented by Dr. Spencer Smythe. Spider-Man was able to use his technical know-how to defeat the Slayer. While Aunt May persisted with attempts to introduce Peter to Mary Jane Watson, the niece of neighbor Anna Watson, Spider-Man tackled organized crime led by the Crime Master and the Green Goblin. Tired of the Bugle's harassment, Peter tried selling pictures for the Daily Globe but gave up when the Globe's editor proved too nosy.

Big Super-Hero on Campus
After capturing a new foe, the Molten Man, Peter Parker graduated high school and earned a science scholarship to Empire State University (ESU) for achieving the highest scholastic average in Midtown High's history. College brought a fresh start with new peers including the wealthy Harry Osborn, son of industrialist Norman Osborn, and beauty queen of Standard High, Gwen Stacy; Flash Thompson followed Peter to ESU on an athletic scholarship. Consumed with worry about his aunt's hospitalization, Peter was misunderstood as an unfriendly snob by Harry and Gwen. Because a previous transfusion of his radioactive blood to Aunt May was slowly killing her, Spider-Man enlisted aid from Dr. Connors. The antidote that had been called in to cure Aunt May was stolen, and Spider-Man fought like a madman to retain it. Before Spider-Man could deliver the antidote, ISO-36, he was trapped under rubble in a battle with the "Master Planner” (revealed to be Doctor Octopus). Spider-Man courageously forced his way out to administer the elixir to Aunt May.

While Aunt May convalesced, Peter relaxed and befriended Harry and Gwen. Soon after, the Green Goblin negated Spider-Man's spider-sense, and kidnapped him. There, the Goblin revealed himself to be Harry's father, Norman. The two battled, but Spider-Man triumphed knocking the Goblin into live wires and chemicals. Norman was left with partial amnesia, blocking his memories of being Goblin and of Spider-Man's identity.

The Avengers invited Spider-Man to join their ranks, but after facing the Hulk, he declined the offer, preferring the freedom of working alone. Meanwhile, Peter could no longer evade meeting Mary Jane. Assuming the worst, Peter was stunned to discover she was both gorgeous and vivacious. Their first date involved riding into the city on Pete's new motorcycle take pictures of the Rhino. After another battle with the Lizard and new foe, the Shocker, Peter moved into Harry's apartment, rent free. Despite his new found independence, happiness eluded him. Worn out by Jameson's editorials, the public's fear of him, Aunt May's fragile health, slipping grades, and floundering love life, Peter decided to become Spider-Man no more. While Peter enjoyed time studying, and being with friends and family, crime escalated as the Kingpin's initiated his master plan to oversee the criminal underworld. After Peter rescued a watchman resembling Uncle Ben from two robbers, he renewed his vow to never let an innocent come to harm because he failed to act. Subsequently, Spider-Man battled the

Kingpin, Doctor Octopus (who became Aunt May's boarder), a new Vulture, a new Spider Slayer, and Mysterio. He and the Human Torch went to Hollywood where they tackled Mysterio and the Wizard.To be continued.

2008-10-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

Avatar: The Last Airbender

also known in some countries as Avatar: The Legend of Aang is an Emmy award-winning American animated television series that aired for three seasons on the Nickelodeon television network and on Nicktoons Network. The show is set in an Asian-influenced world of martial arts and elemental manipulation; the series follows the adventures of the main protagonist Aang and his friends, who must save the world by defeating the Fire Lord and ending the destructive war with the Fire Nation. In the series' terminology, each episode is referred to as a "chapter", and each season as a "book".
The show made its debut on February 21, 2005, and the last episodes were screened on July 19, 2008; it is now available on DVD, the iTunes Store, and the Xbox Live Marketplace, as well as its home on Nickelodeon. Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko co-created the series, and serve as executive producers alongside Aaron Ehasz.
Avatar: The Last Airbender was popular with both audiences and critics, garnering 5.6 million viewers on its best-rated showing and receiving high ratings in the Nicktoons lineup, even outside its 6–11-year-old demographic. The first series' success prompted Nickelodeon to order second and third seasons. Merchandise based on the series include scaled action figures, a trading card game, three video games based on the first, second and third seasons, stuffed animals distributed by Paramount Parks, and two LEGO sets.
Contents

Background
Avatar: The Last Airbender was co-created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko at Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, California. According to Bryan Konietzko, the concept of the program was conceived in Spring 2001, when he took an old sketch of a balding, middle-aged man; he re-imagined the character as a child, and the show began to develop. Konietzko drew the character herding bison in the sky, and showed the sketch to Mike DiMartino. At the time, DiMartino was studying a documentary about explorers trapped in the South Pole.
Konietzko described their early development of the concept:
“
We thought, "There's an air guy along with these water people trapped in a snowy wasteland... and maybe some fire people are pressing down on them..."
”
The co-creators proceeded to successfully pitch the idea to Nickelodeon VP and executive producer Eric Coleman just two weeks later.
The show was first revealed to the public in a teaser reel at Comic-Con 2004, and aired February 21, 2005. In the United States, the first two episodes of the series were shown together in a one-hour premiere event. At the conclusion of the first season, Nickelodeon ordered a second twenty-episode season that premiered on March 17, 2006, and concluded on December 1. The series maintained its success during the second season, causing Nickelodeon to order a third and final season, which began on September 21, 2007 and featured twenty-one episodes rather than the usual twenty. The final four episodes were packaged as a two-hour movie.

Premise

A map of the four nations. The characters at the top, 群雄四分, mean "the heroes divide [the world or the country or the land] in four." The characters of the four lands are (Water Peaceful), (Earth Strong), (Fire Fierce), and 气和 (Air Harmony). The phrase at the bottom, reads "correct all things under heaven." The "correct things" phrase, with roots of the Confucian analect phrase , refers to reunification.
Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a fantasy world that is home to humans, fantastic animals, and supernatural spirits. Human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Each nation has its own natural element, on which it bases its society. Within each nation exists an order called "Benders," who have the ability to manipulate the element of their nation. The show’s creators assigned each Bending art its own style of martial arts; inheriting both the advantages and weakness of the martial arts it was assigned. The Bending types are Waterbending, Earthbending, Firebending, and Airbending.

Each generation yields one person who is capable of Bending all four elements. This being is referred to as the Avatar, the spirit of the planet manifested in human form. When an Avatar dies, he is reincarnated into the next nation in the Avatar Cycle. The Avatar Cycle parallels the seasons: autumn for the Air Nomads, winter for the Water Tribe, spring for the Earth Kingdom and summer for the Fire Nation.

Legend holds the Avatar must master each bending art in order, starting with his native element. This can sometimes be compromised when the situation requires it, as Aang demonstrates in the show. For the Avatar, learning to bend the element opposite his native element can be extremely difficult. This is because opposing Bending arts are based on opposing fighting styles and disciplines. Firebending and Waterbending are opposites, as are Earthbending and Airbending.

The Avatar possesses a unique power called the Avatar State. It endows the Avatar with the knowledge and abilities of all past Avatars and acts as a self-triggering defense mechanism, though by learning how to unlock one's own chakras, it can be entered into at will If an Avatar is killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken, and the Avatar will cease to exist.

Through the ages, countless incarnations of Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony, and maintain world order. The Avatar serves as the bridge between the physical world and the Spirit World, allowing him or her to solve problems that normal benders cannot.

The Last Airbender episodes
One hundred years before the start of the series, the Airbender Aang learned he was the new Avatar. Faced with the heavy responsibilities of stopping an impending world war, Aang fled from home on his flying bison Appa. Encountering a fierce storm, they crashed into the ocean, triggering Aang's Avatar State, which froze them in a state of suspended animation.
They are awoken when two siblings of Southern Water Tribe, Katara and Sokka, find them. Aang learns that the Fire Nation had indeed ravaged the world with decades of war, he realizes that he must fulfill his destiny of becoming the Avatar and return balance to the world by defeating the Fire Nation. Along with Katara and Sokka, Aang sets out to master the four elements of Air, Water, Earth and Fire (in that order); as he is already an Airbender, he heads to the North Pole to find a Waterbending master.
Aang soon discovers that Sozin's Comet, which sparked off the war, will return within a year, giving the Fire Nation enough power to win the war for good. Aang must therefore master all the elements and as the Avatar, end the war before then. For most of their journey to the North Pole, the group is pursued by Zuko (along with his uncle Iroh) - banished Fire Nation prince and son of Fire Lor Ozai, obsessed with capturing Aang to restore his lost honor.

Aang travels to the Earth Kingdom to master Earthbending. The team meets

Toph, a blind girl who is nevertheless an Earthbending prodigy and becomes Aang's second teacher. The heroes go on to discover information about a solar eclipse, which would leave the Fire Nation powerless and open to invasion; they struggle to reach the Earth King with this vital information. Opposing them are enemies old and new: the conflicted Zuko, his sister Azula and her two friends Mai and Ty Lee. Azula engineers a coup from within that topples the Earth Kingdom and destroys any hope of a large-scale invasion of the Fire Nation.
On the day of the eclipse, Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph and a small, determined group of allied warriors go ahead and launch a smaller invasion, which although brave ultimately fails thanks to Azula's cunning. Zuko finally learns the true side of himself and confronts his father. He later manages to gain the trust of the protagonists and becomes Aang's Firebending teacher.

Sozin's Comet arrives and Fire Lord Ozai is on the brink of total victory in the war. Now, having finally mastered all four elements, Aang and his friends face Fire Lord Ozai and defeat him, finally restoring harmony to the world.

Characters
Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen) is the fun-loving, 112-year-old protagonist of the series. He is biologically 12 years old but was frozen in an iceberg for 100 years. He is the current incarnation of the Avatar, the spirit of the planet in human form. Aang is a reluctant hero and would prefer adventure over his job as the Avatar and making friends over fighting the Fire Nation.

Katara (Mae Whitman) is a 14-year-old Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. In the opening of the show, Katara discovers and frees Aang from an iceberg which he was trapped in for one hundred years. With her older brother Sokka, she accompanies Aang on his quest to defeat the Fire Lord, and bring peace to the world. In season 3, she reluctantly learns the rare art of blood bending (using the water in another's bloodstream to control their movement). In the original unaired pilot episode, Katara's name was Kya.

Sokka (Jack DeSena) is a 15-year-old warrior of the Southern Water Tribe. With his sister Katara, he accompanies Aang on his quest to defeat the Fire Lord. The joker of the group, Sokka describes himself as "meat-loving" and "sarcastic". Unlike his companions, Sokka cannot bend an element, but the series frequently grants him opportunities to use his true gifts: ingenuity and use of weapons, including his trusty boomerang and a sword he forged from a meteorite after training under the greatest swordsmaster in the Fire Nation.

Toph Bei Fong (Jessie Flower) is a 12-year-old, blind Earthbender. In the second season of the show, she leaves her wealthy family and home to join Aang on his quest, with a plan to teach him earthbending. Though blind, Toph "sees" with Earthbending; she feels the vibrations in the ground through her feet. After being captured by two Earthbenders, she learns to bend metal, as it is merely purified Earth.
Zuko (Dante Basco) is the 16-year-old exiled prince of the Fire Nation and original antagonist of the series. In Book One, Zuko is obsessed with capturing the Avatar. Due to events in Zuko's past, his father, Fire Lord Ozai, deems him a complete failure. Over time, Zuko struggles to deal with his anger, self-pity, and familial relationships; meanwhile, he grows sympathetic to the peoples his nation has terrorized. In Book Three, he defects from his father and the Fire Nation, and joins Aang and the team in order to teach Aang Firebending. At the end of the series he is crowned Fire Lord of the Fire Nation.

Azula (Grey DeLisle) is the 14-year-old princess of the Fire Nation. She is Zuko's younger sister and is one of the major antagonists of the series. Azula is considered a firebending prodigy, and is one of the few living firebenders capable of summoning lightning, as well as the only shown to bend a hotter, blue fire. She has no qualms about bullying and threatening her relatives, reserving any familial loyalty for her father, who greatly favors her over Zuko.

Iroh (Mako in Books 1 and 2, Greg Baldwin onwards) is a retired Fire Nation general and Prince Zuko's uncle and mentor. Being the older brother of Fire Lord Ozai, Iroh was the original heir to the Fire Nation throne.On the surface, Iroh is a cheerful and kind old man, but underneath his exterior remains a competent warrior and a devoted surrogate parent to Zuko, especially after losing his only child in battle. He is a Grand Master of the Order of the White Lotus, a secret society of men from all nations, and helped in the retaking of Ba Sing Se during Sozin's Comet

11 Free Sites To create your own cartoons

2008-10-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

If you are not comfortable using real photos to represent yourself in any online profiles and avatars, why not create a cartoon characters of yourself? It’ll definitely be fun and unique to others when you are representing yourself in a cartonized way in any online profiles and avatars, anywhere from Gravatar to MyBlogLog, blog profiles, Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, etc.

Thanks to many free web services, you don’t have to pay an artist for your cartoon illustrations. All you have to do is upload your photo, or perform some mix and match. Here’s 11 websites that allows you to create a cartoon character of yourself.

Portrait Illustration Maker
Portrait Illustration Maker is a service which provides character icons completely free of charge! They are available for your blog site or SNS. If you’d like to save the completed avatar, right-click on the icon. And then select "Save Picture As… " from the menu.

WeeWorld
Create an cartoon character to represent yourself in WeeWord games (WeeMee) or just export it for anywhere else.

Meez
Social entertainment website that allows users to create their own animated avatars, or "3D I.D." graphics, for the Web, to play casual games with their avatars, and to use them in customizable Rooms on social networks like Facebook.

Simpsonize Me
Turn yourself into a simpson character.

Yahoo! Avatars

BeFunky

Buscar Messenger

Cartoon Me
Cartoonize yourself as simple as uploading your photo, Cartoon Me will do the rest.

Joystiq Mii characters
Think of it as creating Mii characters, but online so you can use it anywhere.

MyPlay
By far, one of the most sophisticated cartoon character creating free service. However this Taiwanese site is only for those who are able to interpret chinese words.

South Park Studio
For south park fans, now you can become one of them.

All these sites can be found via google search or through any site you see here.Happy browsing folks.

Top 10 cartoon sites

2008-10-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

Shockwave Internet 'toons, including South Park, Thugs on Film and Stan Lee's 7th Portal.
The Simpsons Visit Springfield online (requires Flash plug-in).
South Park Comedy Central's hit cartoon.
Cartoon Network Online home of the Powerpuff Girls, Scooby Doo, 2 Stupid Dogs and Sailor Moon.
WackyToon TV Watch webtoons or preview the newest kid flicks.
Atom Films A wide range of high-quality short animated and live action clips from this independent film company.
Comics.com Featuring United Media comic strips, including Peanuts and Dilbert.
Disney.com The cartoon giant's home site.
Snoopy.com Official homepage of Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang.
WB Originals Warner Brothers animation site.