Avatar: The Fandom That Failed

Being an Avatar fan saves you so much money. All the merch is on steep discount and you only have to go to the theater every decade.

The discussion around Avatar lacking cultural impact was in itself cultural impact.

Avatar fans: The only nerds who regularly touch grass and somehow get slagged for it

Remember guys, Pacific Rim with just ONE movie have a big fanbase...

I met a guy who told me Avatar is his favourite film of all time and I felt like I had found bigfoot.

Oh no there’s a dude who wears Avatar merch completely unironically. Jimmy from my high school went full LOTR nerd but for avatar in 2009. Dude was one of the “heart throb” popular kids until he proudly showed pretty much everyone his collection of 5 avatar blue rays. One for watching, one for “display”, one for safe keeping/ prosperity, one for his future wife, and one to sell later because he was sure it would be super valuable. Watching the light of dozens of teen girls crushes fade during his monologue is a core memory for me

Avatar was the peak 'water cooler movie'. "Hey Bill you seen that new movie?" "With the blue guys? Yup" Barely something to talk about but everyone knows it

I think the secret sauce is that the real star of the AVATAR movies is the world itself. Yes there's character, heroes/villains, technology... but it's all in service of an incredibly realized, vivid, and immersive world. You can't really box that up and sell it as a LEGO set or a t-shirt. The folks who love AVATAR talk about things like community, culture, and conservation. You can't put that on as costume and cosplay it.

I've treated these movies more as technology demonstrators than movies.

As a child I was a huge Avatar fan. You could catch me running around in our countryhouse's backyard with handmade bow and arrows and a blue sash as a tail... I was cringe but I was free

I'd say its massive popularity yet seeming non-existence online stems from mainly older demographics liking the series. Those people dont tend to congregate online and obsess over this universe. Atleast this would be my guess considering my grandparents absolutely adore this movie and watched like ten times. Guess what the most viewed series in the US is? Yellowstone. This doesn't really have a huge fandom online despite millions watching it, again, mainly older people.

Calling avatar fans the horse girls of sci-fi is so funny and so accurate. I almost lost it

Pandora in Disney World is also an anomaly. I’ve been multiple times and the lines are hours long, but no one’s in the gift shops and you don’t see anyone with Avatar souvenirs or shirts.

Honestly, part of it is that the merch is just inherently lame and goofy. Who wants to paint their skin and dress up as a weird furry in a loincloth? Like compare it to Star Wars, there aren't really any "cool" characters to latch onto, like Darth Vader, and there aren't easy, fun, and not-inherently-awkward cosplay options like stormtroopers. You have generic futuristic US military peeps and uncomfortable blue Native larping to choose from.

when someone says Avatar,i only remember about the Last airbender,sometimes i forgot this film exist

here in Italy, we have a small animated movie called "Aida degli alberi"... Aida, the protagonist, is a blue, feline-like girl who lives on a forest-like planet... and this movie was released in 2001.

I remember in my high school years a girl I hung out with was so obsessed with the blue people to the point that she was truly depressed she couldn’t be one. “They’re beautiful” she would remark.

Here’s the weird thing about Avatar that really speaks to how unpopular it is: Look at how much Rule34 there is for Avatar(Blue) and then look at how much there is for Avatar(Bending).

I feel that Avatar is good at selling the world, but not at selling the characters, and from my experiences with fandoms, characters are the main drawing card for a lot of people. Just look at many not-so-good shows with memorable characters — even if people are hating on the plot, they will still write thousands of rewrites and AUs for their faves

Avatar is so weird, I don't know anyone that actually likes it and I feel like everyone's just been gaslit into thinking it's popular.