Animator recreates ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ intro with Pokémon

An animator went viral on Twitter for her reimagining of the “Avatar: The Last Airbender” introduction with Pokémon.

Vancouver-based animator Kaitlin Sutherland first had the idea of mashing together “Avatar” and Pokémon over a decade ago. Considering that Pokémon manipulate the elements just like the benders of the Avatar universe do, it seemed like a natural fit.

On September 1, Sutherland revealed her “Avatar” x Pokémon video to the world.

The video depicts Squirtle, Sandshrew, Charmander and Pidgey taking the place of the unnamed benders in the original “Avatar” intro. While the video only has a runtime of 10 seconds, Sutherland spent years meticulously developing it and catalogued the progress on her YouTube channel.

When she tweeted out the finished product, the response was immediate and glowing.

Sutherland also linked her personal support page for any fans interested in funding her goal of animating a longer version of “Avatar” x Pokémon that includes the entire “Avatar” intro.

Fandom mashups have been a staple of artists for years. Marvel Comics and DC Comics had Amalgam Comics in the ’90s, a publication owned by both companies which produced characters such as Dark Claw (Batman\Wolverine) and Iron Lantern (Iron Man\Green Lantern).

But now it’s more common to see mashups that span different genres. When artists learned that Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons were scheduled to launch on the same day (March 20), they commemorated the joint release with hilarious fan art depicting Isabelle (a sweet secretary who loves mocha) with the Doom Slayer (a merciless, unstoppable engine of death who has slaughtered millions of demons) as total BFFs.

And in other times like Sutherland’s mashup, the analogy between two franchises is more immediate.

Sutherland (who goes by Kay) can be found on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Twitch.

If you enjoyed this story, check out In The Know’s article on an official Pokémon ASMR video featuring Squirtle on a beach.

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