Last Airbender Inspired Design Ideas & Tips in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
It seems many fans of Animal Crossing: New Horizons have challenged themselves to recreate aspects of their favorite shows, movies, and games in the popular life simulation. Players showcase both their creativity and their love of certain fandoms by tailoring their island design to those properties. One such property is Avatar: The Last Airbender. This animated series blended techniques from Western animation and Japanese anime to create a unique and recognizable art style. Widely commended as one of the best-written series for children of the last decade, the show managed to inspire generations.
An Animal Crossing: New Horizons player recently made headlines with her tribute to the Avatar: The Last Airbender Pilot within the game. If other players are looking to emulate that style and homage, they can do so, as with most designs in the game, with custom patterns and clothing, specialty furniture and miscellaneous items in the game, and the use of Terraforming. Here are some ideas and tips for designing in Animal Crossing: New Horizons based on the unique style of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Most fans of Animal Crossing looking to design based on an existing property will begin with clothing. Thanks to the custom design portal system in New Horizons, players can create and share clothing with the rest of the community. Many players have already designed and uploaded custom clothing to look like the costumes worn by characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender. If these do not satisfy the player, they can also design and share their own.
Players can select styles they think would fit their resident villagers and gift some of these custom items to them. Eventually, provided the villager likes the item, players can have versions of all their favorite characters wandering around their island.
The nations in Avatar: The Last Airbender are based on the elements and the ability to bend those elements to a character's will. Players can use this as a theme for their entire island, zoning out four separate regions and designing with each element in mind: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.
Once players have reached a five-star island rating, they can take advantage of Terraforming. Terraforming will be necessary for adding water features to an island or creating cliffs and plateaus in an Earth region.
Fencing and other items can help add to the aesthetic of each area. For example, the Ice series of furniture would be effective in a Water region, as Katara and Sokka were raised in the Water Tribe which is partially a frozen landscape. By contrast, players can use Stones and other rock formations in addition to Terraforming to create a landscape based on the Earth tribe.
Fire and Air can be a little more difficult, but players can be creative with the items and designs they use. There are many custom patterns for fire and many flammable objects, from candles to campfires, that can be used to decorate the region based on the Fire Nation. Because the Air Nomads in the show were nomadic and monastic, players can possibly use Terraforming to build high cliffs and create paths and zen gardens in tribute to this group.
Players have already begun using their talents and Terraforming tools to recreate exact locations from the show. One player, Reddit user u/submerging, created an outdoor theater in the same style as the Ember Island theater, complete with mannequins onstage displaying costumes from the show.
Another player chose to design the Spirit Oasis. They used Terraforming to surround a small piece of land by water and added wooden bridges, one at each cardinal direction. They included plants, bamboo, lanterns, and a stone archway to complete the look. And, another player, user u/BackToClassics, paid tribute to everyone's favorite character, Uncle Iroh, with an outdoor tea room.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is available for the Nintendo Switch.