Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl just revealed that Ren and Stimpy will be part of the brawler's roster at launch. Happy Happy, Joy Joy and all that, but why is the game still pretending Korra isn't going to be there? Avatar characters coming to the game began as hotly anticipated, but now it just feels boring. We all know it's coming. We can see Aang and Korra's outline on the box art. We know there are Avatar stages to duke it out on, too. It's one of Nickelodeon's most enduring shows across several generations. They are obviously in the game, but at this point, is the pay-off even going to be worth it?
When Nick Brawl announced a couple of days ago that a new fighter was incoming, I stopped paying attention. "I'm going to be so excited when it's definitely, definitely Korra," I tweeted at the time. Right laugh, me. Ren and Stimpy is actually a pretty great addition, and I already know I'm going to be an April O'Neil main anyway. But the fact everyone knows Korra, Aang, and possibly some other Avatarians are on the way puts a sour note on every reveal until then. It's not particularly clever to dangle Korra in front of our face then give a big drumroll to Ren and Stimpy. It's just daft, and constantly invites comparison to Avatar. It's one of Nick's most popular animated shows, so why does the game keep setting other reveals up for failure?
There is no element of surprise anymore. Though the online nerds - and the very cool editors here - figured out Korra and Aang were in the game from the box art, most players wouldn't have inspected it so closely. But after a series of leaks, teases, and more details being spotted in trailers, promos, and other Nick Brawl related shenanigans, pretty much everyone with an iota of interest in this game knows Korra and Aang are going to be there. Now, whenever the pair are revealed, the reaction will be a lowly sigh and a muttered "Finally..."
Maybe they don't even get announced at all. Maybe Nickelodeon knows that ship has sailed, and is using what little anticipation is left to funnel excitement into other reveals, with Korra and Aang set to simply be in the game with little to no fanfare at launch. If that's the case though, it feels like a huge waste of potential.
The worst part is I don't even care about Avatar that much. It looks cool, and the characters clearly belong in a fighting game, but I've never seen a single episode. My only experience with Avatar is playing the Xbox 360 game back in the day, where you could nab 1,000 gamerscore in roughly 15 seconds. Ahh, to be young and care about gamerscore again...
I'm not the world's biggest Avatar fan - our own Cian Maher has written about the series several times here, and he might just hold that title - but there's still a sense of excitement that some of Nickelodeon's more serious characters might be duking it out with SpongeBob and Nigel Thornberry. Again, I'm going to main April, but it would be nice to have Korra in the mix too as another kick-ass heroine ready to stomp on Powdered Toast Man. Mostly, Nickelodeon needs too stop teasing Avatar and just tell us they're in the game already. It's getting boring.