on this podcast we don't talk about that
in these parts all right don't tell
nobody you lied we have a segment that
we call animal crossing okay love it
that is the avatar animal crossing of
hybrid animals do you have a favorite or
a handful of favorites i hate when
people ask me for just one because i
have a very hard time choosing so what
are the ones that pop into your head
when you think about some of your
favorite hybrid animals i think i'm
gonna have to go with um hog monkeys uh
they're up there i i just i just really
like monkeys for whatever reason like
real monkeys um so i think that was a
that was a good one um you know i'll
admit i haven't seen cora all the way
through i did start it recently and i'm
very into it but i do love the polar
bear dog
so that's one thing that was kind of
lacking from the last airbender real dog
characters i think and you know naca was
part of the original concept and she
just didn't make it in that was a really
early design that i believe brian had
done and he they like held on to her and
then they popped her in when they had a
chance i'm glad because it's based on
based on brian's real dog right yeah
yeah later when we went to finalize the
design i worked in my dog gunther and
mike's dog truman they were brothers and
worked in some aspects he's like even
with the same like huge back legs and
small front legs like somehow that was
all happening in real life so brian's
dog is massive is what you're saying yes
i think about naga i thought about this
thing jen about naga and oppa like you
know we we realized like oppa is so
important without oppa our gang zach
would i mean
what would we do we can't go anywhere
yeah we can't go
yeah like
half the plot was based around being
able to travel around the world you know
we do these we do these most valuable
bending the most valuable non-bending
moments per episode and early on we were
like well we can't give it to oppa every
time but
he kind of is the reason that they're
able to do anything and he is an
airbender technically comes through in
the clutch how about episodes uh zach
any episodes that really stick out this
is another tough one it's you know i
have a lot of memories and i think i i
really do think that most of the lasting
memories have come from the first season
which is odd because that was you know
farthest from now um i think
that the most memorable to me and i've
said this before is is the king boomy
episode i feel like that's kind of where
i
like started to feel like i was hitting
my stride as an actor like i started to
understand the character um it was just
a very fun episode that being said there
are a few that like also
throughout the rest of the series that
stuck with me um one is uh zuko alone i
which is i think the only episode that
i'm not in um but dante you were
incredible uh
zuko's character arc is is amazing and
and i mean you were just so phenomenal
in voicing him thanks man tails
embossing say obviously uh that's that's
a classic unforgettable um and i've also
loved that episode too it's my favorite
i mean that could have won all the
awards from as far as i'm concerned
oscar yeah i'm happy to hand over the
oscars
not sure i'm ready
tears are always in the uh
in the festivities when that one comes
on
i also think i like i like the guru
patik stuff um i just think it took the
show in an interesting direction uh
added a lot of spirituality and and um
other things that typically you don't
see in
cartoons that are made for kids i don't
want to call it a kid's show because
that's kind of putting it into a into a
box a little bit but um yeah i think it
uh just like it was a very cool and and
different uh direction oh i love that
you brought that up that's so true right
for shadow report what are your thoughts
about the times that aang lied i mean
for the fandom it's very conflicted
about those moments in the show it's an
emotion yeah it's an emotional topic for
many fans even you as a kid i mean i
imagine you as like 12 or younger doing
this show and you're like hold on a
second i i get to lie like i lie i
questioned dante what did you feel at
that age he's such a pure
character that yeah it is it it was um
it's kind of hard to
take a character in a direction
doing something that they're normally
not in the position of doing and dante i
feel like you probably had a similar
experience when zuko undergoes his kind
of
awakening and when i was an adult i was
a bona fided you know what i did i was
like i was seeing what's going on you're
like you're like 11 years old like i
that's how i do it i just lied about the
whole thing yeah yeah all right good
have next episode like oh what whatever
bring it on bring it on yeah no i mean
uh i think like like
part of part of why aang was was um i
don't want to say an easy character to
play but like he really was just so
genuine and so all i had really had to
do was was be genuine so so telling a
lie and acting and figuring out how to
how to do it and still make it
convincing but not you know i yeah no it
was it was difficult and um
uncommon very uh uncharacteristic yeah
it's funny too because foreshadow report
foreshadow report those those two book
one lies are
are so different in their utility like
people one of them it enrages people
because it's such a toss off at the end
of something that it's like how can he
just so comfortably in the great divide
just like i just made it up i made the
whole thing off like that that would
come so easily that one is so light and
just fluffy and like and it's gone why
did you have to like like that's
that's an adult lie it's an adult lie
that an adult tells children you know
what i mean and then they write it off
as an adult being like oh yeah i lied it
was just too big of a headache they need
their they they need to get it together
like that
yeah cool yeah i think he did versus
like the other one which is like the
heaviest of lies that we all
feel like oh those are the times when
it's that dark part of us that just is
so hurt and so afraid of losing
something that you know we make a
decision that is like eating us up
inside even as we're doing it and
that episode is so important when he
really confronts that it's like that's a
real jerker for me yeah we've never done
this segment before it's called cannon
fodder
c-a-n-o-n
cannon fodder
we're just gonna play a quick game with
you
which of the following is true of these
four
atla factoids number one
oppa was based on a stuffed animal mike
had as a kid
two
momo is short for more money three
mo money thank you no problems three
three the rebels treehouse is based on
ewok's dwellings in the jet episode or
four the cabbage merchant is hidden
somewhere in every episode
hmm
[Music]
i really want to believe that it's the
cabbage merchant but i don't think
that's true
i think i really think that that would
be
more of like an internet sleuth thing i
i think that would be out there
somewhere i haven't personally come
across that
um hmm
that's a good one i'm leaning towards
the jets dwelling is based on the ewoks
um i can totally see that being a mike
and brian thing but also i don't think
it's momo unfortunately although that
would probably be the coolest thing um
mo money's cool momo money
um
oh and then
dante's imagining me writing that right
now just laughing his butt off like what
a dork she is such a dork like patting
herself on the back like
money no money mo money mo money
um hmm i'm gonna go with i'm gonna go
with the ewok one
correct
i would have went with that too i
wouldn't want that you have triumphs
cannon fodder you have triumphed my
friend
these are the questions we asked all our
guests of course what kind of bender
would you be hmm and i can't i can't say
the avatar right i think that's that's
true i don't know
the avatar we have two avatars on this
program right now i'm really feeling
kind of i hand over the throne i hand it
over avatar whatever two avatars talking
in one podcast what's going on here
moment sorry
one of the avatars came up with mo money
for momo it's not good
oh clearly zach
clearly zach deserves the title
oh man i so i think that in terms of
like
your bending ability um at least for an
avatar is closely related to your
personality as we learn in both series
yes um so i would say that i
like most
closely associate
with
with the air nomads for for pretty
obvious reasons i i just like awesome i
um i feel like that's that's not the
answer that people want to hear but it's
true i i i think what i think is that i
think it's the answer people want to
hear okay all right you're like yeah no
oh i'm so curious what you think people
would prefer you say i don't know i
think i maybe they just they just want
some some drama some some hot taste oh
like you say i'm fire nation all the way
like dante yeah but but i'm not i'm not
an angry person
yeah you definitely i'm not either janet
what are your fire names i'm throwing
the question back at you have you had to
answer this yet i've had to answer it so
many times and i have i feel yeah i i
feel
an intense loyalty to the water tribe i
love the water tribe of all my heart
i'm during the course of us doing this
podcast and of like understanding myself
as janet the character on this podcast
i identify so hard with toff it's an
interesting thing that's happening
because
i'm just i'm kind i feel like i'm more
apt to like you know
let a burp out and uh still manage to
like take care of business
i'm just starting to wonder
in the in the few episodes of quora that
i have seen i i i can see that i can see
similarities between cora and toff and
just like their rebellious spirit so
that that that doesn't it does it's not
as far as the departure as i was afraid
it was okay that's no no way yeah car is
a little rough around the end around the
edges
because if you think about it like the
original cast like the original uh gang
if you would the ogs
the ogs they're actually all rich kids
they're all i mean prince zuko is the
prince of the fire nation toff is top
bae funk she's like from the richest
family
and then even the water the katara and
saka
are their dad that's pretty that's true
yeah their dad is is the chief yeah so
it's like they're all they're all
refined that's a good point that's true
characters you know what i'm saying that
they all came together and then of
course i mean that's the avatar's the
avatar they're i think all they're all
they're raised by
flower petals at my feet wherever i go
yeah so but when it came to cora you i
mean cars are little yeah
cars a little rough around the edges
yeah that one it's true it's true it's a
whole different vibe it's a whole
different vibe and then the rest your
gang is all messed up too
none of those guys are royal none of
those guys are royal posh guys we're
like a bunch of posh kids doing stuff
and then you guys listen again my heart
i give my heart to the people who are
still hurt that they turned on cora
thinking they were getting more avatar
at the last airbender i love you i know
your pain i know you don't need me to
love you but i still love you because i
get it because i love the last airbender
so much and it is a
wild ride into the future when you start
chorus i am so happy just to be myself
as a nerd talking about this show and
speaking of nerds talking about the show
what about our final question we're
going to ask because we get asked and we
feel responsibility as the kind of
representatives of the fans on the
podcast
dante who do you ship i had a feeling
now
i learned about the whole concept of
shipping on our last reunion dante which
is which was on on one of your streams
um
well i like again i'm gonna give the
answer that everyone wants to hear that
i just can't not say katang you know you
like tanks
everyone was waiting for it the the
entire series it happened you know
what else is there i you know i mean
there is there are other ships there are
other ships of course of course hey i
think i think zuko and may are great i
love both of those characters
i think cricket who voice me was great
mako's great yeah mako's a great ship
yep um
i i i like that zootara ship you heard
about these guitars you know we don't
talk about that in these parts
[Music]
[Laughter]
i will say one more thing that i think
um
any any of saka's ships i love ua and uh
and also uh tsuki um just i think you
just saw a different side of saka in
those moments that was it was cool it
kind of rounded out his character a
little bit more let's get real saku gets
all the girls like
yeah he's a popular guy cool guess who
gets all the girls yeah
i mean we can bend but saka's getting a
girl in every place he goes
by the way katara has a lot of people
interested in her as well i will say
she's just a knockout human being like
she's an amazing character those it's
those bangs it's those little the the
droopies
yeah dante that's what it is that's all
it is
it's not the fact that she's one of the
best characters ever created in
animation or otherwise it's amazing
katara is how can you not look no you're
just stinging right now because zach
totally schooled you on dropping truth
bombs yeah zutara being in your head
this has been
so much fun zach thank you so much for
taking time out of your schedule to
speak with us we've been looking forward
to this and it has not disappointed
it all
same here
i had a great time with you guys
barney we found the avatar you found him