Fortnite’s big Avatar: The Last Airbender crossover is finally here, adding the entire Gaang to the battle royale… except for Sokka.
For context, the v29.20 patch for Fortnite includes skins for Katara, Toph, and Zuko, with Aang getting two skins as part of his own battle pass. Sokka, however, is completely absent despite being one of The Last Airbender‘s main characters. He debuted in the very first episode and became one of Aang’s travelling companions long before Toph and Zuko joined them yet he’s nowhere to be seen in Fortnite. Not even his iconic boomerang made it in, though you can use his cool meteorite sword as a pickaxe.
Admittedly, there is something oddly fitting about Sokka not making it into Fortnite. He was typically the butt of jokes and was often overshadowed by his friends due to his lack of bending. However, he was also intelligent, regularly coming up with plans and strategies to help the team. It’s possible he was omitted because Epic Games wanted to prioritize characters with bending, and Aang, Katara, Toph, and Zuko cover all four elements—air, water, earth, and fire. Sokka would’ve stuck out as the exception, but considering he had an arc in the show about feeling he didn’t contribute enough because he had no powers, it’s almost mean for him to miss out on one of the most popular games in the world for that same reason.
Fans of Sokka have naturally taken to X (formerly Twitter) to either crack jokes about it or complain. One user, SlyFoxHound, sums things up perfectly with a line Toph says in the show: “I didn’t count you. You know, no bending and all.” Fans like Skins Soap and PogJSV have used hilariously appropriate The Last Airbender GIFs to express their feelings on the situation, including the iconic “That’s rough, buddy.” Others, such as s8nsChwToy and Mondo, are far less ambiguous with their feelings, simply admitting they’re disappointed; the latter even calling this “the worst timeline.”
Reddit users are also memeing on Sokka’s absence, with this thread on the The Last Airbender subreddit gaining 2,700 upvotes at the time of writing with another hilarious Toph line. Some have also said (I’m assuming jokingly) that Sokka would be a great fit for Fortnite since he’s the only who’d most likely use a gun, which brings to mind this well-known piece of fan art. With any luck, Epic Games will add another round of Avatar skins later down the line since, aside from Sokka, there are still several fan-favourite characters it could bring to Fortnite, like Azula and Suki.