PewDiePie Admits He Was Wrong
Earlier this year, following the constant urging of his fans, PewDiePie watched the first episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender. While there was quite a lot of excitement for his stream of the show, he wasn't exactly blown away by the opening of the beloved animated series. However, PewDiePie has admitted in a recent video that he was actually wrong in his assessment of the show.
If you've somehow missed Avatar: The Last Airbender, here's the deal. The critically-acclaimed animated series ran for three seasons on Nickelodeon, from Jan. 2005 to July 2008. It followed the exploits of Aang, the titular Avatar, who can control all four elements of water, earth, fire, and air. The show proved to be so popular that it spawned a spin-off, The Legend of Korra, as well as a live-action remake that was so bad that it never got a sequel.
The topic of Avatar: The Last Airbender recently came up again as PewDiePie scrolled through birthday wishes and fan art posted on Reddit. One particular piece of fan art really made him laugh: PewDiePie's wife, Marzia, drawn to somewhat resemble a character from Avatar. Instead of controlling one of the four elements, however, Marzia is seen in this illustration with a wave of noodles surrounding her. The caption for the image reads, "Marzia: the last pasta bender." PewDiePie got a really good laugh out of this image, which seemingly reminded him to update fans on his progress in watching Avatar: The Last Airbender.
"I just finished season two," Pewds excitedly told his viewers. "I know everyone was crazy about me watching Avatar and it was so annoying. And it's so childish, the first episodes, but it gets actually good. It gets really good. So you were right, and I'm willing to admit I was wrong."
At this point, PewDiePie looked directly at the camera and the screen went to a black-and-white filter. PewDiePie let out a huge sigh, as though he was getting something huge off of his chest. It was time for PewDiePie to own up to his mistake regarding Avatar: The Last Airbender. "Guys, I made a mistake, alright? I pre-judged Avatar, and it was actually great," he said.
The last few moments of this apology greatly resembled a recent video PewDiePie posted in which he took a shot at YouTuber "apology videos." The only thing missing from his Avatar apology was a convenient eyedropper to make Pewds look like he was crying. PewDiePie also once returned to that black-and-white format when he actually apologized to his viewers for snapping at them during a livestream of Ghost of Tsushima.
PewDiePie's original stream of Avatar occurred after months of pleading from his viewers. It is unclear if PewDiePie intended to continue streaming his reactions to Avatar or simply uploading reaction videos to YouTube, but it doesn't seem like that decision is up to him. According to RemusGT on Reddit, PewDiePie's original Avatar reaction video received a copystrike, presumably due to the fact that he watched the episode in full on his channel.
However, for anyone curious about Pewd's thoughts on the first episodes of the animated epic, RemusGT has re-uploaded PewDiePie's reaction video on his own YouTube channel, albeit with the portions of the screen showing Avatar having been covered up. Obviously, it isn't exactly ideal to watch a reaction video without being able to see the thing being reacted to. Despite this fact, the video offers some interesting context to PewDiePie's more recent feelings concerning Avatar: The Last Airbender.
It seems to be pretty clear from the reaction video that the YouTuber wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the first episode. PewDiePie could be seen yawning during the opening moments of the episode, although he attempted to engage with the content by excitedly reading the title cards as they popped up on the screen. At one point, PewDiePie jokingly compared the appearance of Avatar protagonist Aang to Krillin from Dragon Ball. For the most part, however, he sleepily watched the episode and didn't appear to be too invested. Apparently that has all changed.
To be fair, it's probably difficult to fully enjoy something that thousands of people have been bugging you to watch for months on end. This seems to be a point that PewDiePie is stressing during his latest video. However, it seems like the YouTuber is very happy that he stuck with the show.
Avatar: The Last Airbender continues to be a hugely popular show, even over a decade after it ended its original run. A live-action adaptation of the series is in the work for Netflix, although the surprising news just broke that Avatar's original creators will not be involved.