Cross stitch pattern of Aang trapped in ice from Avatar The Last Airbender. The pixel art comes from Ian Mandarini who does all sorts of art and has an indie game in development called Sonatina. You should all check it out. Download the PDF here: Aang in Ice Pattern

Grid Size:128W x 128H
Design Area:9.14″ x 9.14″ (128 x 128 stitches)
Colors: 7

My Patron, Natasha Maxwell, lives on a beach at the edge of the world caring for the strange meteorites that have fallen from the sky. In the dark of night, Natasha can see the glow of a fire inside swirling around a mysterious form. They shine brighter and hotter each day.

Avatar has a near perfect start. The Boy in the Iceberg sets up everything that I love about the show and really gives us a glimpse into the magic that’s to come.

Okay, yeah the preface is a little old fashioned. Talking directly to the viewer about the past is not my favorite way to set things up especially if there isn’t a diegetic reason for it. But the story starts out strong with some amazing sibling banter between Sokka and Katara that highlights both of their flaws, and this is important, without making them completely insufferable. Too often, characters who have an arc about becoming better people are way too annoying at the beginning. I know that I almost put down Doctor Who just because I didn’t like Rose Tyler.

And did I mention how concise and fitting this first mystery is? It’s one of those rules of writing that your first few pages are the most important, because for a lot of people, those will be the only pages they read. Having the story start here with Katara and Sokka finding Aang trapped in a mysterious glowing iceberg is the best choice since starting earlier with something like a day in the life of the Water Tribe, something moved to later in the episode, would give the wrong first impression of what’s important in the story. Then again, starting the show later in a scene with more tension like when Zuko confronts them, may hook people in with a cool action scene, but it would also be devoid of context. Those first few minutes of the show give us so much insight into the personalities of the main cast, details which remain important all the way until the end.

What I’m saying is that the character driven slow burn is necessary, but the mystery of the boy in the ice helps keep us hooked even though the way Aang got into the ice isn’t super important to the plot.

And that’s just the first five minutes.