SDCC 2017 Avatar Panel, Signing and Exclusive Merch Announced

San Diego Comic Con 2017 is coming up in just a few weeks, the convention will run from Thursday July 20th to Sunday July 23rd 2017. We have just had all of the Avatar/Korra related things announced. First up is the 1 exclusive piece of Merchandise that will be available at the convention. It is our good old friend, Sepia Tone Chibi Aang from Zwyer Industries which will be available for $25 dollars ($5 Dollars more than the standard one). [caption id="attachment_10376" align="aligncenter" width="360"] Because everyone wants Sepia figures!!![/caption] Next up is the Dark Horse signing on the Hellboy Signing Stage Sunday July 23rd 1:30pm - 2:30pm - THE LEGEND OF KORRA: Michael Dante DiMartino, Irene Koh, Janet Varney This signing will require a wristband to attend and according to Dark Horse they will be supplying a free print, comic or poster, which for this signing could very well be a copy of Turf Wars Part 1 given that it will be on sale early at SDCC. That said it could be an Irene Koh print or something like that. Last, but not least is this year's Avatar panel. The exclusive merch item is a joke IMO, I was highly critical of this sepia repaint when Zwyer showed it off for the first time last December and I still don't like it or see the appeal at all. I was convinced until this announcement that they had cancelled this release given the fan reaction to the initial reveal. I love the standard coloured version of the figure and would recommend people buy that, but this stupidly specific repaint has no appeal to me and I would guess no real appeal to most fans especially them charging 5 dollars more for an uglier figure. A really disappointing item to have as the lone Avatar merch item. The Panel and Signing are much more interesting. The fandom has been confused the last few months about the future of Avatar comics with the recent announcement of Team Gurihuru being done with ATLA comics and no new comic announced yet, this plus Irene Koh basically confirming she is only on board for the 3 Turf Wars Books also is soon to leave Korra comics in doubt. Just seeing that this panel is an Avatar and Korra panel gives me some confidence that they will use this opportunity to either announce new books or at the very least give an update to ease the worries around the future of the franchise. Whether it is Dark Horse or Nick or both, they have not handled communication with the fandom very well and at an important time for them, Turf Wars looks set to be potentially the biggest Avatar comic Dark Horse have released, it is sure to get A LOT of attention and unfortunately the last few months have seen a lot of doubt from Avatar comic fans with the future of ATLA comics distracting from the hype leading into Turf Wars. This panel needs to show that Dark Horse are aware of what the majority of their fanbase is talking about, that yes, we care about Korra comics, but we have been invested in ATLA comics for 5 years now, we care about that story also and want to see it continue and it has been very frustrating the past year to see Dark Horse shift most of the focus over to Korra while seeming to leave ATLA behind. It is baffling that for some reason they can't or don't want to have an ATLA and a Korra book on the go at the same time, it feels so backwards that basically every other franchise that has comics can have multiple series come out when Avatar seems locked into this 1 series a year cycle. I want to see them acknowledge what everyone has been asking for - Azula's Story. This has been an important ongoing arc in the comics since the end of The Promise, she is a character with a massive fan following and the comics have shown clearly that she is a focus, so why stop ATLA comics just before we get deeper into her character. I hope the panel is not just a big advertisement for Turf Wars part 1, the timing it a bit weird with the panel happening 3 days before Part 1 is released, so I hope they keep the talk light and let the fandom react to the book in the days following the panel and focus on yes talking about the behind the scenes stuff, but also giving some news. News is what we need from this panel by the time the panel is here the only Avatar stuff still to come out from Dark Horse is Turf Wars Part 1, 2, 3 and the Library Edition and also the North and South Library Edition. They need to tell us what 2018 looks like for Avatar fans, beyond Turf Wars. My expectations are medium for this panel, I don't expect loads of massive announcements, but I also don't expect nothing but Turf Wars talk we have probably heard before. I hope, but also to a degree expect an update about ATLA comics, but hope is all we have based on the last few months. What are your thoughts on the SDCC Avatar stuff announced?