15 Things to Keep You Sane Waiting for THE RISE OF KYOSHI

With the announcement of The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee, the upcoming YA novel expansion of the A:TLA universe, there's really only one question to ask:

How do we survive the wait to July 19, 2019?

You, my friend, have come to the right place.

(If you haven't heard about The Rise of Kyoshi, check out EW's exclusive announcement.
If you aren't familiar with Avatar: The Last Airbender, this will convince you it's 100% necessary, and this will get you started.)

1. Re-watch Avatar: The Last Airbender
(It's still on nick.com!)
A no-brainer, sure, but get creative. Introduce the show to a friend who has never seen it (yes, amazingly there still exists such poor souls in the world). Get nostalgic about where/when you first watched the episodes and all the crazy theories you had about the story. I've even heard of an epic 24-hour binge-watching ceremony where supposedly your state of fatigue/exhaustion winds up aligning your emotions rather perfectly with the highs and lows of the Gaang throughout the series. (I read that on a blog somewhere ages ago and can't for the life of me find its origin.)

2. Read up on Kyoshi
Come on, guys; that's why we have fandom-themed Wiki sites!

3. Watch every commentary episode for Avatar: The Last Airbender
If you don't understand "Koizilla!" you have a lot to learn, young padawan.

4. Read The Lost Adventures
By far, this comic book is THE BEST expansion of the A:TLA universe outside the original series. This is an anthology of short canonical adventures that take place throughout Water, Earth, and Fire, most of them created in tandem with the show and released with DVDs or for Free Comic Book Day. Think of it as a 'Tales of Ba Sing Se'-type collection from the whole series.

5. Read the rest of the A:TLA comics
There are (so far) five trilogies of comic books expanding on the Gaang's exploits after the end of the Hundred Year War: The Promise, The Search, The Rift, Smoke and Shadow, and North and South. While some of these were fun comics, none of them quite lived up to 'great'.

6. Check out some Kyoshi fanfiction, like Kyoshi Rising
Fanfiction is always good to scratch that itch when the wait starts getting to you.

7. Read The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee
I freely admit I am reading this now for the sole purpose of vetting F.C. Yee's worth as the author to bring Kyoshi -and the whole of the Avatar universe- to the page in epic book form.
You can expect my report in the near future.

8. Write it off
After all, many of the expansion stories have fallen a little short of the pedestal so many of us place the perfection that is A:TLA on

9. Wonder, fret, and hope about whether it will live up to expectations
Avatar Kyoshi, according to Michael Dante DiMartino, "...is one of the characters fans often ask me about, so I’m excited to have the opportunity to help expand on her legend."
I've certainly always been curious about the towering, big-footed, fight-first-ask-questions-later Avatar founder of the Dai Li. Yes, the Dai Li.

10. Theorize
What fan doesn't love a good theorizing session? And if you've seen half the fanfics that covered What happened to Zuko's mom?! in the interim between A:TLA and The Search, then you already know Avatards have unlocked THE highest achievement in this department.
So do you think this will cover Kyoshi's conflict with Chin the Conqueror or be centered more on Kyoshi's youth, origin story-style? Will we see the birth of the Dai Li or just the horror of Kyoshi's mother as her feet just. keep. growing?
After all, at 230, Kyoshi is the oldest Avatar. They won't be able to cover it all.

11. Pre-order The Rise of Kyoshi
For those of you who are super optimistic. Or who just don't mind pre-ordering books.

12. Pull up your favorite A:TLA AMVs
I used to spend a lot of time watching these and some songs are forever linked in my mind to specific characters. Numb by Linkin Park, for example, will always be Toph's anthem, while Prelude 12/21 by AFI makes a perfect soundtrack to Zuko and Mai's turbulent relationship. (Maiko all the way, fyi.)
Aaand I just realized those are both by ravenhpltc242, whose videos always were my favorites.

13. Break up the wait with other waits
Two more comics are due between now and next July. First off, in December, Imbalance Part One. Second, in January, Team Avatar Tales, which seems to emulate the style of Lost Adventures, and therefore I have high hopes for.

14. Write your own fanfiction
Seriously, if you are super passionate about what they do and don't pull with Kyoshi's story, pour all that passion into words. Hey, people do it all the time!

15. Buy some A:TLA stuff like the fandom-crazed Avatard you are
I don't know why I never thought of looking for this stuff online, but Etsy is a veritable wonderland of glorious Avatar merch.

How excited are you for The Rise of Kyoshi on a scale of 1 to 10?
What will you be doing while you wait?

If you think I forgot The Legend of Korra, I didn't. Much like Disney's new Star Wars, I just can't bring myself to accept it as canon.