Mr. Avatar: Edmontonian's tattooed body pays tribute to his favourite flick
'It changed me,' says Raymond Knowles, whose inspiration was James Cameron's film
James Cameron's 2009 box-office smash Avatar changed Raymond Knowles, literally. Most of his body is covered in blue tattoos.
"I have the blue skin colour from my head right down to my toes," Knowles told CBC News. "I have a few figures on my body as well of Neytiri, the one that pretty much inspired me to do this to myself."
Neytiri, of course, is the blue humanoid who captures the heart of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) after he sets out to colonize the resource-rich planet Pandora.
The issues on Pandora are close to the ones in our own world such as strip mining, killing forests and the planet, and driving out Indigenous people, said Knowles.
His love of Avatar extends to his pickup truck, which is decorated bumper-to-bumper in Avatar images.
Knowles' fandom has also connected him to a new community on this planet. Each year, Knowles attends gatherings with like-minded fans from all over the world.