Appa () is a fictional character in the Nickelodeon animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender and in the film The Last Airbender, and is part of the Avatar: The Last Airbender world. In the series, Appa is a flying bison, a species of animals that can fly naturally, and is the animal spirit guide of the protagonist, Aang. Dee Bradley Baker voices Appa, along with all the other animals, in both the TV series and the film.
Creation and conception
The show's creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have described Appa's appearance as a cross between a buffalo and a manatee,
The design and backstory of Appa underwent significant development, as documented in the official series art book. The first drawing of the creature that would become Appa was made alongside the second drawing of Aang. The creators envisioned Aang and Appa suspended in a hollow pocket of energy within the iceberg, rather than frozen solid, though depicting this proved too complex.
Later production details include the episode "Appa's Lost Days" winning a Genesis Award for its depiction of animal cruelty, and the creative process behind sequences like a samurai-style battle between Appa and Momo. For the series finale invasion, Appa was given armor derived from unused toy design submissions. The creators joked about a potential series ending where Appa would be revealed as female, having restored the flying bison population, an idea celebrated in a 2009 Comic-Con poster.
Habits
In the Avatar franchise, Appa is the last known living sky bison, which are large mammal-like creatures that fly through airbending and steer through air currents with their broad tails. The bison are covered in thick white fur with a large brown arrow marking that is remarked to be extremely itchy. In the show, the markings on the flying bison's backs are what inspired the tattoos which symbolize an Air Nomad's mastery of Airbending. Their fur is shed at the end of winter. The Air Nomads summon the sky bison to their side through the use of whistles that only the animals can hear. Aang and his friends use the words "yip yip" to get Appa to take off into the air.
Like all animals in the Avatar series, Appa cannot speak, apart from in one episode in which Aang hallucinates Appa and Momo talking.
Personality
Throughout the series, Appa has demonstrated high intelligence and often appears to understand a portion of human speech, whereas Momo, the winged lemur, struggles to understand. Although placid, Appa has shown himself capable of fighting when necessary. Appa never turns down food and would eat whatever he sees as tasty, mainly because he has five stomachs.
Other aspects of Appa's character include his fear of fire and his trusting of those who have been kind to him. Much of the back-story about the character comes from the episode "Appa's Lost Days", "in which the most under-explored member of the team gets his very own episode."
The first meeting between Aang and Appa is seen during a flashback sequence in Appa's Lost Days.
Appa remained in suspended animation along with Aang for 100 years until their discovery by Katara and Sokka.
Since then, Appa has been the group's main form of transportation in their quest, as well as occasionally assisting in battle. Appa was a consistent part of the group throughout the series until his capture by the Sandbenders in "The Library".
Appa became lost for a short time when the group was traveling in the Earth Kingdom. He was kidnapped by Sandbenders in the middle of the vast Si Wong desert, while Aang, Katara, Sokka, and their winged lemur Momo were trapped in a vast underground library.
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Appa still accompanies Aang and his group even after they enter the Fire Nation. However, in order to make sure that he does not give away Aang's identity when flying, Aang covers Appa with clouds as a disguise while in flight.
At the Western Air Temple, he was among the first members of the group to accept Zuko as Aang's firebending teacher, as he is still grateful for Zuko freeing him in Ba Sing Se.
After the search for Aang in the finale failed, the group was forced to divide their efforts to prevent the Fire Nation from wiping out the Earth Kingdom. Appa flew Zuko and Katara to the Fire Nation capital where they fought and defeated Azula before she could assume leadership of the throne. Afterward, Appa is last seen outside of Iroh's tea shop in Ba Sing Se, listening to Iroh play a horn.
In the film
thumb|right|300px| Appa as he appears in the live action movie [[The Last Airbender (film)|The Last Airbender.]]
Appa appears in the 2010 live-action film The Last Airbender with roar effects provided by Dee Bradley Baker. Appa's role in the film has been noted to be significantly less prominent than in the animated series. Regarding the challenges of adapting the cartoon Appa into a realistic-looking CGI beast, Helman said: