One of the long-running gags of the Avatar franchise is cabbages. This poor cabbage merchant just can’t catch a break as his produce gets pummeled and thrown about whenever Team Avatar wanders in his direction. According to a post on Avatar News, the shenanigans will continue as James Sie, the original voice actor for the merchant will be reprising his role in the upcominglive-action adaptationfromNetflix!
Known simply as “The Cabbage Merchant,” this poor guy was introduced in episode five, “The King of Omashu,” inAvatar: The Last Airbender. Aang and his friends caught a ride on the Omashu delivery system, which consisted of earth-bending powered slides. When their ride gets hairy, Aang derails their bin and crashes right into the merchant’s cart. They’re caught by the guard and brought to the king for vandalism. But this isn’t the last we see of the poor, upset merchant. He makes appearances in several more episodes, such as “The Waterbending Scroll,” “The Serpent’s Pass,” and “The Tales of Ba Sing Se.” Each time, he would have to witness his poor cabbages fall victim to some sort of destruction, and he would scream his signature line, “My cabbages!”
‘This Place is Worse Than Omashu!’
The cabbage merchant would also make cameo appearances in the Avatar comics, but his legacy would continue to live on. In the follow-up series,Legend of Korra, it turns out the cabbage merchant did very well for himself. It gets revealed in the sequel series that the merchant ended up founding a cabbage empire in the form of Cabbage Corp! Lau Gan-Lan, the son of the merchant, came under fire in season one when he was framed for allying himself with the Equalist terrorist organization. As the authorities came to arrest Lau Gan-Lan, he would scream, “No! Not my Cabbage Corp!” in a funny but bittersweet nod to his father’s poor luck. The son of the poor cabbage merchant would also be voiced by Sie!
James Sie has a long history in the world of voice acting. His most prominent role is the animated Jackie Chan in Kids WB’sJackie Chan Adventures, which ran from 2000 – 2005. He also voiced the character of Shendu in the same series. He also took over from Jackie Chan when he played the role of Master Monkey in the Nickelodeon seriesKung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. He would also make several appearances in animated shows throughout the early 2000’s and 2010’s, such asThe Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy,The Life and Times of Juniper Lee,Curious George,Back at the Barnyard, the 2012Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,Sofia the First,The Simpsons, and his most recent role beingKung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, which he plays Lao.
While a lot has been kept under wraps about the upcoming Avatar series from Netflix, it’s always a delight to see a character being reprised by their voice actor, especially one that is considered a favorite by many. Whether he will be a one-off appearance or a running gag like in his animated form is still up in the air. But however we see this unfortunate fellow, it’s probably safe to assume that there will be an unfortunate waste of food.
