‘Avatar: the Last Airbender’s Five Best Cabbage Merchant Moments
My cabbages! Aang and the Gaang are always inadvertently ruining the Cabbage Merchant’s day, and these are our favorite times it’s happened.
The Cabbage Merchant is one of the most well-known and popular background characters in the Avatar universe. Usually, his role is to exist as an innocent bystander, have his cart of cabbages destroyed in some over-the-top and comical way, and yell “MY CABBAGES!” while lamenting his cursed existence. It’s an ongoing fruit-stand bit that’s repeated throughout the entire original series. But these are our favorite Cabbage Merchant moments.
There are No Cabbages in Ba Sing Se
Cabbage Merchant has the misfortune of traveling the same general route as Team Avatar. So when Aang needs to go to Ba Sing Se for a little while, guess who happens to also be taking his business that way? Unfortunately for him, Ba Sing Se has some very strict rules for outside agriculture. Told that his wares could contain cabbage slugs, he can’t take the very to the city until after his cabbages are destroyed. By a platypus bear. The visual gag in this scene is hilarious between the over-kill of a platypus bear being on cabbage destruction duty, the handler who can just barely keep the animal under control, and of course, the Cabbage Merchant’s breakdown.
Trying to Get Team Avatar Punished for Their Crimes Against Cabbage
The first time we’re introduced to the Cabbage Merchant, the Aang Gang (of course) accidentally destroys his cabbage cart. Only this first time the Merchant tries to go after the Avatar legally… by demanding King Bumi beheads them to make up for his lost heads of cabbage. King Bumi, of course, refuses the demand and the Avatar goes on to destroy many more cabbages in the years to come. And this denial by Bumi is made even funnier because…
Bumi Helps Aang Destroy Some Cabbages
One of our first introductions to King Bumi is when he makes a roller coaster out of the delivery system of Omashu. Nobody’s going to say no to the king with magical rock controlling powers when he wants to ride a mail cart down the side of a building. But the Cabbage Merchant is less than thrilled when this results in yet another destruction of yet another Cabbage cart. This entire scene is hilarious and wacky, and the perfect introduction to Bumi and the Cabbage Merchant as characters.
Helping the Empire Island Players
When in-universe playwright Pu-On Tim tries to write a play about Team Avatar, he has to consult somebody who knows them. And who’s traveled in the general vicinity of Aang for this entire adventure? That’s right, the Cabbage Merchant. In a move that was either revenge or a well-deserved payout, he told all… sort of. While the result wasn’t accurate or good, it was pretty darn parallel to what Aang’s journey actually looked like so far. And the throwaway line about “a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage,” was pretty funny.
Statue
Thanks to a series of strange events in the comics, the Cabbage Merchant sees a forklift for the first time after failing to run a cabbage-themed restaurant. He’s so impressed with the machine that he goes on to form Cabbage Corp. We don’t see the true majesty of Cabbage Corp until Legend of Korra. But when we do, there’s a bronze statue on a pillar depicting the Cabbage Merchant and his precious produce. It’s little more than a wink and a nod to the audience, and we all waited for the statue to be somehow destroyed. But Cabbage Merchant deserves to have one nice thing. Right?
What is your favorite Cabbage Merchant moment in Avatar? Who is your favorite side or background character? Would you visit his cabbage-based restaurant? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
