New Recruits

"New Recruits" is a comic book that takes place in Book Two: Earth, originally released in the December/January 2007 issue of Nickelodeon Magazine and later released by Dark Horse Comics in The Lost Adventures. It is considered non-canon due to its placement under the "Bonus Stories" section of The Lost Adventures.
== Overview ==
The gang goes to a local Earth Kingdom tavern in search of some new recruits and allies to join them in their fight against the Fire Nation.
== Synopsis ==
Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph apprehensively sit in wait at a bar for a talent scout who is supposed to bring potential recruits for Team Avatar. The scout, Yahshi, arrives and introduces four children: Analay, a shadowbender, who demonstrates her power by entangling Aang around a pillar with her shadow. The next potential recruit is Hiroshi, an earthbender who creates a rock dragon and is popular with Toph. The third child that Yahshi scouted is Visola of the North, a self-taught waterbender with customized weapons, who shows Katara how to surf on a self-made wave. Riley, the fourth and final child, is a skilled bender of cookie dough, causing Sokka to like him immediately. After debating in private who is worthy of entering Team Avatar, Aang sees that the four candidates are leaving the bar. When he asks Yahshi where they are going, the old man figures that they did not like being judged and formed their own group.
== Production notes ==
=== Transcript ===
=== Nickelodeon Magazine write-in contest ===
* The new characters in this comic were winners of a Nick Magazine contest in which readers designed their own Avatar characters.The Lost Adventures, page 6. The contest ran from sometime in September 2006 to September 19 of that year. According to an advertisement by Nickelodeon, the winners were to receive a framed copy of the comic and ten copies of the issue, as well as "other great Nick prizes". Rules for the competition were simply that the characters have special skills.
** Nickelodeon advertised that "the 3 best characters created" would be drawn into the comic, yet five characters by five illustrators were featured in "New Recruits".
* The character contest was an overwhelming success; Nick Magazine reportedly received 4,936 entries, many of which were apparently quite amateurish, by October 5, 2006. The five winners of the contest had already been chosen by that date, but more entries continued to "[trickle] in".
* The winning characters were conceived and originally drawn by five children whose ages at the time of entry were noted.
** Sixteen-year-old Angela B. of Hales Corhers, Wisconsin (creator of Visola)
** Eight-year-old Jackira K. of Cicero, New York (creator of Riley)
** Twelve-year-old September M. of Aurora, Colorado (creator of Hiroshi)
** Ten-year-old Shelby S. of Gilbert, Arizona (creator of Analay)
** Twelve-year-old Mike T. of Brislow, Virginia (creator of Yahshi)
* Nick Magazine also published honorable mentions for the contest. Most of the honorable mentions were posted on an unknown website, but the runners-up were published in Nick Magazine.
** Thirteen-year-old Emma F. of Cranbury, New Jersey (creator of Asuko, controller of plants and owner of a six-legged koala)
** Fourteen-year-old Ben G. of Montclair, New Jersey (creator of Anadelo, or "'Delo for short", who was gifted with sea creatures and the surf)
** Thirteen-year-old Lisa M. of Bloomingberg, New York (creator of Rozelin, an archer with unusual talents)
** Fourteen-year-old Liz R. of Severn, Maryland (creator of Dray, who could "tie his shoes with waterbending")
== References ==
== See also ==
* List of Avatar: The Last Airbender comics
de:Neue Rekruten
es:Nuevos Reclutas
nl:New Recruits
ru:Новобранцы
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