Avatar: The Last Airbender is coming to Fortnite this week, with new skins and a more substantial playable event on Friday, April 12.
The Fortnite x Avatar collaboration begins on April 9, when “Katara, Zuko, and Toph” skins unlock in the Fortnite shop. These are characters from the animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender.
The Avatar: Elements event begins on April 9 at 2pm UK time.
“Start warming up your bending technique, Avatar: Elements kicks off April 12 at 9 AM ET,” the official Fortnite X account posted.
We are yet to see a gameplay video of this event in action. However, the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cowabunga event, which ran from February 9 to February 24, provides an idea of what to expect. It let you play as Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, using their signature weapons in the battlefield.
For those not clued up on the lore of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the show features characters who can control the elements. Katara is a “waterbender”, Zuko a “firebender” and Toph an “earthbender.”
The missing element here, the “airbender” of the series’s title, is wielded by Aang, a little, bald 12-year-old monk. Fortnite’s team has not yet told us how Aang will feature in the Avatar collaboration, but it seems unlikely he will not feature in some capacity.
Fortnite’s teaser videos show the new characters with an almost cel-shaded art style. This signals this is a tie-in with the original animated series, not specifically the recent live-action Netflix adaptation.
Avatar: The Last Airbender ran for three seasons, originally broadcast between 2005 and 2008, and is considered a classic among kids’ animated shows. While it has an anime-influenced style, it was a US production and more easily digestible than iconic Japanese favourite Naruto.
Avatar: The Last Airbender consists of 61 episodes, while there are 720 Naruto episodes if follow-up Naruto Shippuden is included.
This tie-in is one of many Fortnite collaborations, beginning in 2018 with a Thanos gauntlet to celebrate Avengers: Infinity War.
Fortnite is currently in Chapter 5 Season 2, while Season 3 is set to begin on May 24.
