Appa, meet the Internet. Internet, meet Appa.

Oh hai guyz, what’s going on in this thread? ^_^

I’m guessing that most of the people who read our blog are at least peripherally aware of what an Appa is. To clarify for those that might not: Appa is a 10-ton, 6-legged flying bison who is featured on the Nickelodeon show “Avatar: the Last Airbender”. This show is a family favorite; we watched it when it was airing originally, we did cosplay for it at Anime Boston 2007 (two weeks before our wedding, which is why we didn't shave our little Aang like we had for the previous Halloween, or dye Zuko's or Azula's hair), and the 8-bits were even in an episode of Nickelodeon magazine for being seen in their Aang and Zuko costumes. (we’re nerds, but I can still be a proud mom, so there.)

In the back: Biz as Azula; Jenn as Katara; Matt as Sokka.

In the front: the 8-bits as Aang and Zuko.

On the right: some Toph cosplayer who thought we were awesome.

Back in 2008, one of my friends gave me a plushie Appa for Christmas. It was a completely unexpected gift – not because it was an odd thing to pick for me, but because this particular friend was not one of my otaku/sci-fi/parent friends, so there was no reason at all for him to have even HEARD of the show, let alone associate me with it, let alone know the character names well enough to pick this one out. But there it is, and here we are.

Appa at a young age.

I’m a side sleeper, so despite being well into my 30s, I still sleep with stuffed animals. (Yeah, they make special body-pillows and fancy support mechanisms for grown-ups, but why would I spend all that money on some fancy contraption when a stuffed animal will serve me just as well?). Appa is the perfect size for that, so in addition to being awesome around the house, he also travels with me everywhere. This includes conventions, where he serves as a “booth bison.”

(I have a picture to go here, but will have to upload it later today. Sorry!)

His first con was Anime Boston 2008. He was still fairly clean then, and if I’d been of a mind, I could have sold him for a lot of money, about 50 times. NO, CON, MY BISON. YOU CANNOT HAS.

This was Appa’s cosplay for AB 2010. As I get busier, I have less time to make costumes for myself, but tossing together something for Appa is easy, satisfying, and usually adorable.

Recently, I’ve been working on developing chibis for webcomic artist Shaenon Garrity, and one of her strips is called Skin Horse. It deals with a group of government agents and genetically-altered beings, and one of the leads is a sort of Frankenzombie, and it’s a fantastic read. But the first “strip” really caught my attention:

After I got done sobbing over the memory of the Velveteen Rabbit (THAT BUNNY WAS SO DEDICATED ;_;) and then sharing my misery with Casey (WHY DID THE KID GET SICK JENN ;_;), I went to go snuggle with Appa … and I remembered the art that Casey had commissioned for us, from a friend, as a Christmas present this year.

Casey had said, “It’s about time you guys had a family portrait with Appa in it.”

So congratulations, Appa, you’re real now!

 -- Jenn