About Grace's avatar...

[Tìng Eywatikìte'e]

I still need to play the game but it would seem like a stupid decision of Fox to make them not-canon. It was such a missed opportunity to take the story to a whole new level and flesh out the history of the Na'vi

[Srereu Aynantanghu]

in the pc game you become toruk makto, and you're not jake nor neytiri's great great grandfather, tell me that doesn't mess with the continuity, haha. You would think Cameron would have payed close attention to the games as well, I guess he was too busy

[Mako]

They said it happened 5 times since the time of the first songs, so it could have been any of those times.

[Srereu Aynantanghu]

the last one was neytiri's grandfather grandfather, or at least that's what was implied

if not that makes jake's accomplishment very minor

[Mako]

When does it say it takes place?

[Motxokxen]

in regards to graces avatar, i think every persons results can vary, since each persons DNA is unique.

as for the marines and avatars, jake was probably the first to be introduced as a learning agent to the Omatikaya

[Tìng Eywatikìte'e]

You'd think Cameron would have written the scripts or at least story lines for the games to make sure it all fitted together.

Do we know what time period the PC game took place? If it wasn't Neytiri's great grandfather than it was probably the other four times, which would have probably been before man arrived on Pandora.

[Coyote]

You'd think Cameron would have written the scripts or at least story lines for the games to make sure it all fitted together.

It would not surprise me if part of it was a marketing move by Fox. They'll feel that more people will buy the game if they get to be "the hero" --but the game was released before the movie, and J. Cameron didn't want to give away the plot and have people play out the movie as Jake Sully. After all, once you've been the movie, why bother to go see it, right?

So an alternate universe type storyline was thought up to provide content for the game while not spoiling the movie.

My guess, of course. 

[Srereu Aynantanghu]

no no, its set shortly before Jake, because Grace is in it. At the most its maybe 10 years before the movie, you don't get to play a true na'vi either, but an avatar.

Either that or its an alternate universe like was just said

[Mako]

Hmm. That could fit the gap between Ryan and Jake...

[Srereu Aynantanghu]

hmm, I dunno. It deals with a different tribe, there is a military guy in selfridge's office, so much about the game feels inaccurate and contrived, and the toruk thing just puts it over the edge. Yes its possible that another of the toruk makto's was a tawtute, but you would think neytiri would have mentioned that

I'm going with non-cannon money grab. It just doesn't feel right.

[Tìng Eywatikìte'e]

That's very sad.

I guess a movie like Avatar is a huge risk, sci-fi's don't always do well among the normal crowd and considering how much the spent on making it they wanted a way to sure up their profit. Games normally sell well among the friends and are a great way to advertise so I'm guessing the games were more of a safety net than something they took seriously. Now that the franchise has proven itself to be gold I'm sure the next one will have more effort behind it and hopefully be under Cameron's watchful eye.

[Coyote]

Now that the movie is out (and successful) I hope they make a new game-- maybe like some of the good Star Wars electronic RP games out there such as Knights of the Old Republic or something. You could choose lighter or darker paths for yourself, etc, and build up different aspects.

There were clearly a lot of other Avatars at the station, which begs the question where they were operating (ie, with other tribes) since we only saw Jake & Grace allowed to interact with the Omatikaya. There is a lot of RP potential that could be harvested, with Avatars in other tribes. You could even make it canon to the film since if other Avatars were "adopted" into other clans, any of those Ikran riders out there could have been Avatars that were allied to locals.

"Select humans were allowed to stay", and some of them were Avatars-- somebody in some tribe must have vouched for them.   

[Tìng Eywatikìte'e]

Now that the movie is out (and successful) I hope they make a new game-- maybe like some of the good Star Wars electronic RP games out there such as Knights of the Old Republic or something. You could choose lighter or darker paths for yourself, etc, and build up different aspects.

There were clearly a lot of other Avatars at the station, which begs the question where they were operating (ie, with other tribes) since we only saw Jake & Grace allowed to interact with the Omatikaya. There is a lot of RP potential that could be harvested, with Avatars in other tribes. You could even make it canon to the film since if other Avatars were "adopted" into other clans, any of those Ikran riders out there could have been Avatars that were allied to locals.

"Select humans were allowed to stay", and some of them were Avatars-- somebody in some tribe must have vouched for them.   

Well we can assume that they used to have interaction with the Omatikaya, since by the time Jake arrived they had been band from the tribe. Now they probably just explore the forest and collect data.

[Olo'eyktukru]

I don't think that it is only Grace's avatar that looks more human. For me all of the avatars are kind of weird, even Jake's.

When I first saw it, me and my girlfriend walked out of the theater discussing how we were only blown away by the CGI characters (and how real they looked) when the Na'vi showed up. For us the avatars don't look very natural (and we think that this is on purpose, they are unnatural hybrids after all), but the Na'vi look like what they are suppose to look like, like they are the result of the evolution on Pandora and we believed they were real from the first frame Neytiri appeared.

[Ayfa'liyä omumyu]

I enjoy the conjecture on the reason(s) behind the obvious difference in Grace's Avatar, but issue #120 of Cinefex gives some insight as to the actual design-side of things:

"Of all the avatars, Grace was the most difficult to realize, as it had to represent a hybrid of a Na'vi and a much younger Sigourney Weaver to accommodate the story point that Grace's avatar had been created 18 years in the past. To work off reference of Weaver at the appropriate age, SWS (Stan Winston Studio) brought pictures of the actress as she had appeared in Alien 3 into ZBrush, and sculpted the avatar features from those photos."

"Weaver's features - at any age - also turned out to be the least adaptable to the Na'vi face.[Emphasis mine] 'The Na'vi facial features include this very broad, lion-like nose,' commented Jim Cameron. 'It's like a brick in the middle of the face. They also have a forward projecting brow and very high cheekbones. All of that worked well with Sam Worthington's face. And some of it worked fine with Sigourney's face - she's got high cheekbones and strong jaw. But she also has a very narrow, patrician nose; and the second we tried to put that wide Na'vi nose on her, you lost her. You couldn't tell it was Sigourney Weaver anymore. So we had to go through many iterations with John Rosengrant and his team... [and] make Grace's avatar without the wide nose. We just gave Grace's avatar Sigourney's nose, and it worked fine because the character still had the big eyes and other features."

I highly recommend picking up a copy of this issue, as it has over sixty pages of similar production details and photos.

[kintìomum]

in the pc game you become toruk makto (snip)

Well, the player becoming toruk makto is kinda high grip.
Neytiri tells us that Toruk Makto is both a honor title and a leader who unites the clans in times of great peril to face that threat united.
And here's the game:

Spoiler

The character is not a big leader who unites the scattered Na'vi to face off the RDA. He's more like a "we got no better option".
OK, the game gives him the ability to call atokirina and talk to the Tree of Souls, but this feels more like a "we need to show his connection to Eywa to drive the plot forward".
He is nevertheless riding a toruk. But this is for exactly one flight. And I guess this doesn't count towards the honor title and spread his story among the other clans. Heck, it might even be the Ti'pani (Na'vi clan in the game) are a bit ashamed that they had to rely on help from a ketuwong

[Tefpakyu]

It's just a lot easier to accept that the game isn't canon and move on.

[Blue Elf]

Hello to all,
sorry for reviving this thread, but I hope here is correct place for my late question (I saw Avatar first time during last Christmas):
what could hapenned to Grace's avatar after she died? As we know, avatar "works" while connected to its operator. While disconnected, it "sleeps" or occurs in lifeless state (but not dead!). When operator dies, probably no one can replace him/her as avatar is created using operator's DNA, therefore no other person can drive him (except operator's twin).
But avatar even in lifeless state must consume energy to keep life functions, which must run out once because in this state he doesn't accept any food. So - it appears it is about to die because of hunger.
Have you any other ideas? This question sometimes worries me as Grace's avatar is very nice (at least for me) and I can't reconcile with its death.

[Human No More]

Her avatar can always be placed in a tank like they arrived in, or even just given what is needed intravenously. It's essentially a state of very deep hibernation, function is at the minimum to maintain cellular activity - respiration, breathing and heart rate are all extremely low.
While Grace's human body is dead, the most likely way she will return will be because her memories are intact, these being transferred to the avatar body.