It's the last Fully Ramblomatic of the year! If you're enjoying Second Wind consider supporting us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/SecondWindGroup Yahtzee's "list" of games will be the first episode of the new year!

How good the Navi have it by comparison to humans makes me think of the Star Trek quote; "It's easy to be a saint in paradise."

I'm glad Yahtz brought up how weirdly obliging nature is on Pandora. You just know that if we had magical nerve ponytails that could connect to the minds of other living things there would be an entire ecosystem of horrible worms and other crawling things looking to infect our brains through it.

Yep, Avatar is a weird one. I can't think of another property where the amount of money it makes compared to it's pop culture presence is so mismatched.

As someone who lives in the tropics and has to check his shoes and bed sheets for spiders, scorpions and other creepy crawlies before use, I can confidently say that the vision of nature presented in Avatar could only exist in the mind of a city dwelling millionaire who's closest interactions with the wild is paying a few grand a couple of times a year to go on an all-inclusive guided safari tour and resort.

The only thing I remember about this franchise is how they got the composer to spend months to make alien music nobody has heard before. Then throw all it away because it was too weird. Feels like a franchise with alot of world building that wasn't showcased because they want to play it safe. So safe I can't remember a single thing.

Avatar is so strange, it's got a franchise, merch out the butt and a fricking theme park but I ask anyone if they like it and the most I'll hear is "well, I watched the films."

The thing I would actually like to see James Cameron make is a fake "Planet Earth" style nature documentary set on Pandora. It would show off the detailed world building Cameron made and I kinda think he would actually like making it.

Every Wednesday the tornado siren goes off as part of a test and it instantly reminds me to watch the new episode

We're now officially at the point where I expect the FR themetune correctly, and not the ZP themetune.

Speaking as one of the legions of sewer people who did enjoy James Cameron's Avatar I can say with confidence that there's already a game that captures everything good about the film, adapts it into a fun gameplay loop and then grafts a bunch of other good stuff on it as well. It's called Subnautica.

So, yeah, I've noticed this problem in a few other newer games, where it feels almost like graphics are getting too "good". There's just so many extra details, so much visual clutter, that it's harder for the actually important stuff to stand out. This can be especially annoying when it happens with enemies in a shooter.

The very fact that this is a major game release that I've seen advertised all over the place and yet doesn’t even have it's own dedicated TV Tropes page even after it's release is pretty emblematic of Avatar's pop culture impact despite it's huge success financially.

I've always said, my only metric for whether or not graphics in a game are good is whether or not I can tell at a glance what is and is not a thing. Used to be the graphics were so low-quality that they couldn't highlight the important stuff, but now apparently it's that they're so HIGH-quality that they can't highlight the important stuff. We are reaching the singularity of too-good graphics, and faster than I thought we would.

Wow I’d never realised just how insanely privileged the aliens in avatar actually are.

It took a while to really sink in for me, but shortly after coming down from the laughter at that "way behind on my have some actual fucking fun quota" line I realised I would have NEVER heard that line in that form with that level of intensity on the Escapist. Keep up the great work, y'all

"Those were my chips!" oh I felt the venom there 😂

Avatar just reminds people of the days they could go see a special effects blockbuster in a theatre and then not think about it at all until maybe a sequel came out.

Seconding that "It's apparently the most famous movie ever but I've never actually met anyone who is a fan or it or almost anyone who's actually watched it" feeling. The fanbase for it has to have an odd venn diagram that doesn't cross with anything in the world I care about.

3:57 This actually reminds me a lot of how I used to play MechWarrior 2 back in the '90s. I *always* kept the X-Ray mode on because it highlighted how damaged enemy Mechs' body parts were and where the cockpit was to snipe for an easy kill. (Yes, you could see how damaged the individual parts were on the little mini-model of a specific target on the corner of the screen, but why would I ever use that when I can see *every* Mech's current status, all the time, right where my crosshair was?) It was so useful that I actually forgot that the game had actual textures until I started watching Let's Plays of the game over a decade later where people didn't use it. And this was an early 3D game from the '90s, where unnecessarily gratuitous foliage or other environmental details in video games were exceedingly rare!

Avatar reminds me of a book series called "The Damned Trilogy." In this series it turns out every advanced sapient species evolves on a tectonically dead Pangea planet. So almost every species evolves to be non-violent. Some vomit and pass out just from hearing about violence. There is a galactic war going between to major factions. One is mind control slugs controlling and engineering other sapient species. The other is a collocation of free sapient species called the Weave, I think. The Weave only has one species capable of fighting and even that takes a lot of training. Both sides are always on the look out for more allies. The Weave finds the Sol system and their minds are blown. Long story short humans are the only sapient species that is if not only okay with violence, they are adapt at it, and even they thrive in it. Humanity was on its way to being peaceful. However, the initial results of a few peaceful humans entering combat were so drastic that the Weave saw no choice but, to get humanity involved. Like two teenage homeless kids, a fisherman, and a pair of college students were able to break through the front lines of a stalemate that lasted decades.

Yahtzee makes a good point. For a franchise who's first film grossed over 2.9 billion dollars, you don't really see that many people actually care about it. I know I don't. And Yahtzee's rant about how demonized rhe humans are for not being peaceful and nature loving like the Na'vi are, when nature actively helps them instead of trying to kill them like Earth nature, is so accurate. Same goes for better graphics making it harder to find what you're supposed to do.

I remember first watching Cameron's Avatar and waiting for the big reveal that the whole ecosystem was genetically engineered by a precursor race and that the massive unobtainium deposit was their ship or something, what with the whole "plug and play brain stem with internet trees" thing. But no, it was just noble savages all the way down.

I liked how Yahtzee pointed out the hypocrisy of believing those who have had everything in nature be catered to them are superior to those that had to fight in an environment that was actively hostile for 1000s of years. Maybe a good spin-off story would be exploring the inherited mindset of humanity and the heroes are those who struggle against it rather than run away to a paradise like some of the main characters did in the Avatar movies.

I remember seeing the first avatar when it came out, I remember the theater being packed and all, but me and my uncle saw it and we kinda forgot about it in like an hour. Now i remember it as the first 3D movie I saw.

Ah, it's always great when Yahtzee finds an anti-inudstrial blue humanoid animal to rant about. Happy holidays and thanks again, lads!

I love how catty (excuse the pun) Yahtzee is towards the Na'vi, it makes me wish he actually did see the films just so he realizes how spot on he was

I love how the Na'Vi are represented by those blue cats, very amusing aesthetic choice.

So glad Yahtz can keep using terminology he invented. Jiminy Cockthroat is such a classic.

It was 2016 when Yahtzee's off mention of Avatar during The Surge review that many people collectively thought about it for the first time in years.

I would’ve loved to play as the humans. Yeah I’d be missing the point of the game, but I want a mech suit!

Honestly I just think back to Yahtzee's rant on the old channel about the "rise of the boomer shooter," and how this rising desire for clarity and simplicity is probably a direct response to games like this, where you can get lost amongst the debris of colorful grassblades and flowers, and there's so much for you to do, and then after about an hour frolicking through the woods get sick of it because the game hasn't given an honest to goodness fun challenge since you started.

I love when Yahtzee reviews movie tie-in games because he gets to piss at both the movie AND the game.

i love how Second Wind is emphatically NOT the last show, but the turnaround was hilarious, don't think we don't see the little details

Seeing these comments reminds me of that test you're meant to try where you get people to name a character from Star Wars, then Marvel, then Avatar. I have a friend who used to share a flat with me who couldn't name a single character in Star Wars, not even the obvious ones like Princess Leia or Anakin Skywalker, but could name the lead Human character in Avatar (Who even I don't remember the name of). I was AMAZED when this happened. I couldn't believe it when I tried it.

Maybe because I was enjoying a white chocolate Digestive with a cup of tea or because Yahtzee and I have a shared annoyance for Avatar... but this feels like one of the best videos he has done. Not only the jokes (seagull revenge will stay with me forever), but it feels like there are a lot of amazing cuts / expressions / actions and variety between each of the stills.

I love that Yahtzee has a kind of legit beef with how the humans and aliens are portrayed in this universe!

People clown on Avatar for being forgettable. But in all honesty, a mega franchise being an intentional theater experience that people enjoy and then don't become an obsessive nerd about is kind of refreshing these days. I also have no intention of seeing the new Avatar and don't remember anything but a Robotjox-esque fight scene at the end of the first one.

I was very excited when I saw this because much like the movie, I've seen *literally nobody else* talk about or even mention this game, which I suppose is quite fitting for Avatar

I will never understand how Avatar became so popular and is just the series that a famous director is dedicating his life to

The Na'vi having the effective lifehack of a one with nature easy mode is a good point that I think a lot of people missed in the movies. Na'vi. "I plugged my thing into its thing and now it's my loyal steed until I choose to release it. This took all of 5 seconds. I also literally have mother nature on speed dial and she regularly gives me clear unambiguous signals as to what's happening." Human. "We selectively breed out aggression and push desirable traits to the surface. This process is a constant effort that outstrips our own lifespans. Life is a constant unknowable vicious struggle with little to no warning about what is happening on the macro level unless we use technology." Movie: They are the same and humans are terrible.

Now I'm imagining Yahtzee as Mario but replacing the goombas for seagulls

There something about how the blue cat people being portayled in this episode. It both cursed and funny.

I have seen both films but honestly, they fall through the mind like they're greased. The box art also makes me think of the Dragonriders (how to tame your dragon) instead, and I'm humming that trilogy's theme song.

I like to imagine most of the time making this video was drawing the paint by numbers gag

the game immediately lost it on me when i saw in the trailer that some primitive bow & arrow can function as anti-material weaponry against a space-faring civilization's armored vehicles

I used to work in a cinema and I can confirm that buying up empty seats to pad ticket numbers happens all the time. That late night show where you thought you were the only one in there? All those remaining seats were bought by the studio. You can't trust box office "receipts" at all!

I think the reason Avatar is so popular rests solely on the environment of Pandora and how cool it is. I remember watching the first film and LOVING it only to rewatch it later and be like...hmm...this seems more preachy than I remember it being. Then I realized that the first time I watched it I was just so enamored with Pandora itself that the story really didn't matter that much. I mean, who wouldn't give their left nut to live in a world like Pandora and be able to interact with it as the Na'vi do?

I’ve got to say that I like the Fully Ramblomatic music a lot better than the old Zero Punctuation one!

I will say this about the Avatar franchise. It doesn't have an obnoxiously toxic fandom. That I am aware of (fortunately?).

Nothing will ever top the ZP theme but damn this new opening and outro go hardddddd

Every week I get to relisten to the amazing theme of fully ramblomatic and I ALSO get to hear a fun review

I heard it's already on sale, so, that says all I need to know about it

how much better would this be if all the na'vi kids were 100% totally into human culture and were "Rescued" by their birth tribe and there was a huge clash and you had a story where you could go with the humans back to earth because the corpo dude actually saw himself like a father figure but it required you to betray your tribe - it would be the "Evil" (selfish) ending, but how much more interesting of a story would that be

Huh, just opened youtube and saw a 9s old video, hi :D

I've also never actually had someone try to talk to me about the second Avatar movie, nor have I seen it myself. You're right, it is weird it made all the money.

I love an off the chain Yahtzee.

The only reason I hope for more entries in this franchise is to see more blue cat Yahtzees in a future video lol

Yahtzee, first of all, want to say- I'm a long time fan. Going on 15 years. I'm so happy for you all for stepping out and getting the hell away from Escapist and building your own outlet. With that said, as much as I love seeing you take potshots at Ubisoft and hearing your thoughts on Atlus, Croteam, etc., (and assuming it's not already in the works), what I really look forward to are your thoughts on some of the stranger, or off the beaten path IPs and titles. Would love to hear your take on games like Jusant, Frog Detective, Teardown, or even the new Detective Pikachu. With all of that said, I'm so thrilled to see you all striking out on your own. The content has been incredible thus far, and I know a certain amount of recognition in reviewed titles is necessary to keep the lights on and the views up. You're one of the best in the business, and you keep excellent company. I look forward to whatever comes next, always. Much love to the Second Wind crew.

They should've done what Alien vs. Predator for the Atari Jaguar did: had separate campaigns for the different races that're fighting against each other. And also make it a level by level shooter rather than a Jiminy Cockthroat game

It’s been an enigma to me for years. Other than the visuals and James Cameron’s name, I can’t think of how the two Avatar movies made the money they did. Especially given that compared to his other works like Titanic and the first two Terminator films, the cultural impact Avatar left behind was practically nonexistent.

It's looks like we've got the yearly Ubisoft sandbox for the Bland 5, so that should hopefully bring back a sense of normalcy after this year's upheaval.

Because Avatar is mostly loved by people abroad. Like I stayed in China and had many friends in Japan and all of them were obsessing and going to see the movie. Meanwhile they were really surprised when I told them most Americans really don't care about Avatar

I don't understand how humans could master interstellar travel and establish oppresive colonies on foreign planets, but haven't figured out how to make glass that could withstand being hit by an arrow.

Finally some content to spend work watching

I actually enjoyed the Avatar game that released back when the original movie came out. 2 separate ones, actually, since the one i had on the 360 (3rd person shooter that looked fucking gorgeous, for the time, and let you play as both human and Navi (with surprisingly different gameplay since the Navi campaign was 90% melee instead of shooting) based on an early choice in the campaign where *_you could actually side with the humans killing their way through the ecosystem_* though sadly you'd be working with the Navi by the end) was very different from the DS (top down adventure as a navi child getting the Chosen One treatment to go fight off the human invaders) they were both better quality than I'd expect from a licensed game, not masterpieces by any means but decent. Main gameplay loop of the shooter was get dropped into massive, beautiful map of an area on Pandora, told to go kill someone or find something specific, rinse and repeat. Half the fun was all the bosses were characters in the opposing campaign.

Saying "Dances with Wolves" but showing a blue tinted shot of "The Last of the Mohicans" was brilliant!

I like how Joseph Stalin came back from the dead and decided to become a patron of Second Wind.

You know how avatar could get my attention? Switch focus to a tribe that suffered exile and repeated attempts at genocide for their crimes of discovering fire and experimenting with metal. Because, let's be honest with ourselves, the rest of the Navi are exactly the sort of technophobic pricks who would pull that kind of nonsense. And then the fire tribe starts making deals with the humans for better tech in exchange for local intel. Seriously, there has got to be somewhere on this planet that isn't pristine forests or whatever that the humans could set up shop without offending anyone.

Very much digging the new animation style, really brings the whole Ramblomatic to life!

"Couldn't give a single cerulean skid-mark," is possibly one of the most poetic things I've ever heard. XD

Seeing callisto protocol be 80% of is nuts. I want to play it one day but even £20 seem too much. Also YES, i dont think iv ever met an avatar fan im convinced at this point its a tax thing

i am passionate about avatar, have been since i saw the first one. still need to pick up this game

It would be nice if games were designed around being able to find the objective without the marker.

The crafting phallis of the Jiminy cocktail throat seems particularly egregious here because isn't the whole message of Avatar "don't strip mine nature?" Especially making you play as a Navi seems to be blind to the point of making Stevie Wonder blush

"Remember when games didn't need x-ray specs to let you know what was important because you could just tell?" Man that's hitting close to home right now. I just started playing through the Demon's Souls remake a few days ago, and while it's certainly a pretty-looking game, it's so hard to tell what I'm looking at sometimes because of all the detail and crazy modern-Western-games-studio-lighting-effects and whatnot. Prime example is trying to pick up your bloodstain after you died. I've almost lost my souls on multiple occasions because I couldn't tell which faint glow against the terrain was my bloodstain versus all the other faint glows of lighting effects and other people's bloodstains while I'm being chased by a skeleton that's faster than me and will take me out in 1 swing of his sword.

God damn it, I laughed every time your Na’vi depiction came on screen. Every time

Avatar is like the Emperor's New Clothes in that it's bad, but for some reason the overall perception is that it's good and therefore it makes billions.

That seagull joke made me laugh

“And WHAT bark?! We’re in a f***ing FOREST!” I laughed at this more than I thought

Funniest ZP this year. Good stuff

Avatar is great. I am enthusiastic about it in my own way (watch motion picture, enjoy it, move on with my life)

"Avatar: Fapping in Pond Water" 🤣🤣🤣

The beginning reminded me of a great moment from a let's play channel called Friends Without Benefits where one of them asked the other "Have you seen Avatar?" who then promptly went on a 3 minute tirade about how everyone saw Avatar, but noone remembers it really, and how it make a bajillion dollars but has had no impact on anything, only for the guy who originally asked him to say "I mean, The Last Airbender...". It feels like everyone knows OF Avatar, and associates the word to the film, but that's about the limit of it's impact on the world, is just making Avatar, the Airbender one, slightly more annoying to ask about because you need to clarify it every time.

0:48 that aged well

Keep up the great work guys!!!!

I'm so glad you're continuing this series!

I know things change but I miss the imps. Please Yahtzee, if the twats who fucked up the escapist don't own them shoot us an imp once in a while.

So vindicated by Yahtzee calling out the lead-brick-subtlety of these "humans are all thoughtless bastards, nature people are perfect pure little angels" plots- brings me right back to Octopath 2 and rolling my eyes so consistently and continuously throughout Ochette's entire story that you could have hooked my retinas to a turbine and supplied clean renewable power to a third world country EDIT: i don't actually know ANYTHING about Avatar LOL- if it is more nuanced than that in places then that's cool haha 👍👍

Finally first to a new Fully Ramblomatic video. Collect your early watcher pass here folks!

I kept expecting someone to tell the cats they need to play Twing-Twang. iykyk

A golden syrup bush......what a marvellous planet we must steal it immediately

It's such a missed opportunity that they didn't work more on stealth combat, the Far Cry games had fun stealth gameplay and it would make so much sense in this scenario. But no, all the combat gameplay I have seen of this consists of you being able to take out mechs with a bow and arrow and shoot down gunships with a few shots from an assault rifle.

0:46 I mean, yeah? Minus the whole sewer people exaggeration, Avatar appeals to, and I mean it in the most neutral way possible, a casual audience. The type of person that will go to the movies, go "wow that's neat", and move on with their lives as opposed to writing ten billion shipfics of Jake/Neytiri or something. The clearest example of a silent majority that comes to my mind.

The video game adaptation Avatar got on the Xbox 360 was really good

Music is great, still could use a tweak. Appreciate the passion and craft you all bring!

I don't know how I've never seen avatar in that light, but they live in an idyllic paradise, have no natural predators and their whole ecosystem is literally managed by a hivemind that makes their houses literally grow from trees Maybe it's because these movies are renowned for being impossible to think about

Hope we get to see more of the sewer mutants from 0:55

It's a small thing but I really appreciate slightly more visual flare and frame changes. While your technique and writing had improved over the years the videos themselves were streamlined to have fewer flip-book style animations or quick visual gags besides covering a game box in roaches or poo. I'm sure plenty of people don't watch the actual videos but as someone that does I greatly appreciate the bump in fidelity after all this time. Please keep up the good work!

I'm suddenly picturing a game where you play as an Ewok trying to survive Imperial occupation and all of the local megafauna. Remember also that Ewoks eat people.