Yip Yip Hooray! An Avatar Podcast

Our friends are leveling up! We discuss chapters 3: The Painted Lady and 4: Sokka's Master. Nobody knows what exactly is in Troy’s hair. Katie describes Piandao as a “sexy mysterious guy with a Batman voice.” Everyone debates whether or not "The Painted Lady" is this season’s “The Great Divide”. Katie appreciates how the episode raises awareness of water pollution, but hates Katara’s bulging anger-vein. Jordan reveals this is the first episode we see a female Firebender that’s not Azula. Katie is bothered by Aang objectifying Katara as The Painted Lady and loved the group effort for Katara’s dramatic entrance. Everyone wishes the Dock, Xu, Bushi joke was better. Katie thinks Sokka’s sulking is weird and Troy thinks if Sokka was going to feel that way, it should have been Book Two. Jordan breaks down the Aang-in-armor scene and how it was a joke about the ill-fated line of Avatar toys, which did not include any female characters. 

We head to the Fire Nation as Book Three begins! This episode we cover the season premiere "The Awakening" and Chapter Two: The Headband. It’s Troy’s birthday! And Katie can’t remember how old he is. Troy yelled out an expletive when Hairy Aang showed up on screen. Jordan recounts the numerous spoilers in Nickelodeon’s trailer for Book Three. Jordan loved Mae Whitman’s performance in the series premiere with Katara’s father Hakoda and Katie appreciated how her father gave her the space to express herself. We finally see Ozai’s full face and nobody is impressed with how his head doesn’t fit his body. Troy announces all warfare is based on the art of deception. Katie discusses how Zuko’s scar changed him and how Aang needs his honor back, which is a very Zuko thing to say. Troy is happy to see Aang’s glider go. Jordan thinks JM Animation was at the top of their game in “The Headband” and Troy doesn’t agree that the episode is clearly an homage to “Footloose”.

Chakras! Destinies! Onion and banana juice! The Book Two finale had it all. This episode, the gang covers chapters 19: The Guru and 20: The Crossroads of Destiny; Katie and Jordan definitely cried more than once. Jordan discusses the Christlike ending. Jessica announces her disdain for Empire Strikes Back, Jordan’s favorite, then says she likes Jar Jar Binks. Katie is happy Katara didn’t waste the Spirit Oasis Water on Zuko. Jordan discusses how accurately chakras are presented in “The Guru” and how each vision is tinted with the color associated with the real-life chakra Aang was working on; he announces his favorite chakra is the sacral chakra, obviously. Katie argues many of Aang’s chakras focus too heavily on Katara and Jessica is curious why his connection to Appa wasn’t there. Nobody is impressed how fast Aang plows through his chakras. Jordan thinks “The Guru” is distractingly ugly at times and wishes JM had done it. Jessica is curious about the other Southern Water Tribe kids Katara and Sokka’s age and Jordan assumes a plague wiped them out. Katie loves Azula’s Earth Kingdom outfit. Troy can’t remember who gave Zuko the scar on his face. Yikes.

The gang is all here! This episode tackles Book Two, chapters 17: Lake Laogai and 18: The Earth King. Jordan thinks Long Feng has nice calves. Ba Sing Se freaks Jessica out. Jordan wants to know what happened to Joo Dee 2 and discovers Sokka is left handed. Katie discusses the differences between Zuko and Iroh's journey. Jessica wants to know what secret ingredient, other than love, Iroh is putting in the tea to make it so good. Everybody dislikes the name of “Whaletail Island”. Katie is crushing hard on the Blue Spirit. Jordan realizes he has never understood a plot point in “Lake Laogai” until today. Troy thinks the episode deserves an Emmy and Jordan reveals IT DID. Everyone dives into Zuko’s visions. 

It's time to tearbend. This episode, the Yip Yippers cover Book Two chapters 14: City of Walls and Secrets, 15: Tales of Ba Sing Se, and 16: Appa's Lost Days. Jordan cries big man tears as soon as Iroh steps foot on that grassy knoll before singing "Leaves from the Vine." Katie finds out Troy has dimples and at some point we all sing “Say my Name”. Ba Sing Se reminds Katie of our trip to Singapore and some of the more Orwellian elements. We discuss Long Feng’s methods for keeping knowledge of the war out of the city. Jet makes Katie sad. Troy doesn’t have much faith in the people of Ba Sing Se being much help. Katie is disappointed all the boys get their own vignette in Tales of Ba Sing Se but Katara and Toph have to share one. Troy hates Sokka’s haiku showdown. Jordan wishes Tales of Ba Sing Se was an episode focused solely on Iroh. Katie appreciates Jin’s directness in asking Zuko out and everyone is emotional learning about Appa's lost days. 

Secrets! Mechanical beasts! Real beasts! This episode covers the two-part special "The Secret of the Fire Nation" which is Book Two, chapters 12: The Serpent's Pass (a huge showcase of girl power) and 13: The Drill (a huge showcase of industrial power). Jordan calls everyone “chitters”. Katie and Troy’s hips are going out and their cousin drives by on his motorcycle. Jordan talks about the Serpent’s Pants and the Avatar trading card game. Blasphemous Troy says Jet is forgettable. Katie observes that we reconnect with a ridiculous amount of characters from first season and she agrees with Jordan that Toph is MVP in these episodes and discuss the golden seal of the Flying Boar. Jordan breaks down the themes of the Sokka and Suki scene on the plateau with dizzying detail. Katie is shipping Zuko and Jet. Troy and Jordan argue over Smellerbee. Troy says “Bong Sing Se” which sounds like a counterculture festival. Troy thinks everything is a plot hole and Katie says the Drill’s slurry looks like fake cheese or old gravy. 

This episode we go on the greatest mini-vacation as well... to the Library! We dive into Book Two Chapter 10: The Library and Chapter 11: The Desert, which aired as a one-hour special in July 2006 as "Avatar: The Fury of Aang". Troy is paranoid every new character introduced is actually undercover Fire Nation, including giant owl Wan Shi Tong. Troy also discovers everyone but him is left handed. Jordan calls out his friend Bob for not re-stringing his guitar to teach him. Fruit-Juice-Sword-Guy reminded us of Cold Stone. Troy says the fruit juice looks vegan, so Katie and Jordan question what is in the mango drink. Katie is unhappy that Sokka is a library kleptomaniac while also discovering she clicks her tongue and thinks the art style in "The Desert" is horrendous and realizes DR Movie really does make everything look terrible. Troy may have recently escaped from a cult? He may need a friend. Jordan drops the bomb “The Desert” is the exact midway point of the series. Oh, the places we'll go!

Yip Yip, friends! This episode we cover the Book Two chapters 7: Zuko Alone, 8: The Chase, and 9: Bitter Work. Troy starts this episode jacked up on "green tea". Jordan talks about all the "Zs" in the Fire Nation Royal Family, which confuses Katie because she thought it was Fire Lord "Susan". Katie and Troy spread conspiracies about the House of Windsor and similarities to the Fire Nation. Jordan draws parallels between the way Zuko and Aang approach new villages and decides Aang is probably more effective. Troy decides to stand up halfway through because...? Jordan reveals Lo and Li apparently are the pilots of the weird freaky train thing in "The Chase" and Katie isn’t happy about mongoose lizards. Troy and Jordan disagree on whether or not Zuko is a kid and Troy announces he is fed up with the motivations of our antagonists and wants Azula’s motivation to be torture. It gets crazy.

Yip Yip, friends! This episode, we tackle Book Two chapters 4: The Swamp, 5: Avatar Day, and 6: The Blind Bandit. Troy decides it's important to distinguish between Mulan 1 and Mulan 2 by naming them so. Katie struggles to find a name for her newfound "Momo Moments", Jordan suggest Momo-ments, obviously. Jordan notices there are no female swampbenders and the fact Aang gets triumphant music when he attacks Huu. The group discusses Sokka's unfortunate lack of processing his vision of Yue and Katie announces the elephant rat in Avatar Day is disturbing. Foam-at-the-Mouth guy from Kyoshi Island returns to give Katie gets the hiccups and Jordan believes he might secretly be a waterbender. Troy and Jordan discuss the merits of raw dough to Katie's disbelief. Teddy Roosevelt makes an appearance. Earth Rumble VI takes Katie back to Guadalajara where she and Jordan watched Lucha Libre and everyone loves Toph, obviously.

New journeys! New outfits! New... haircuts? Yip Yip Hooray covers the first three chapters in Book Two: Earth - The Avatar State, The Cave of Two Lovers, and Return to Omashu. Troy thinks The Avatar State episode should have been the Book One finale for some reason, Jordan is rightly freaked out by Azula's sifus Lo and Li, and Katie is pretty sure Uncle Iroh gets a sweet tan. Everyone gets in their underwear, which makes Katie uncomfortable and everyone laughs during The Cave of Two Lovers, which Katie keeps accidentally calling the Cave of Secret Lovers... spicy. Troy's Book Two prediction is for Azula to capture and torture everyone we love this season. Yikes.