The Legend of Korra (the sequel series to the Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Oh yeah, and STEAMPUNK! I actually think they might get some cool stuff out of it, the fact that Republic City is supposed to be a fantasy equivalent of 1920s Shanghai is certainly interesting.

Where are all the Avatar heads? Isn't anyone excited about this?

i'm excited about this! i'm fortunate in that i just watched the original series during the Christmas holidays, so i didn't have to experience the torturous wait for this to finally get a release date. i liked the first two episodes that leaked, although my favorite part of the original was the group dynamic between aang and the others so i'm kind of in wait-and-see mode about that aspect. love tenzin's family ("be the leaf!") and that tenzin is allowed to be a little ridiculous, even though he's the wise authority.

although my favorite part of the original was the group dynamic between aang and the others so i'm kind of in wait-and-see mode about that aspect.

Yeah, I'm with you here. I hope that Korra's "gang" will have more members than the two brothers, and that their roles will be a bit different than in the original series. Based on the first two episodes it's pretty easy to draw equivalents (Korra = Toph, Bolin = Sokka, Mako = Zuko), but obviously it's too early to say for sure.

love tenzin's family ("be the leaf!") and that tenzin is allowed to be a little ridiculous, even though he's the wise authority.

Yeah, I think they handled this really well. Also Tenzin's wife's exasperated reaction to learning she's about to give birth to yet another airbender. Speaking of which, I'm not sure if they're gonna delve into this, but since bending seems to be a genetical trait, it looks like the only way to rebuild the Air Nomads is for Tenzin and his siblings to have lots of kids, which might explain why he has a fourth one on the way. This might be a interesting source of drama (does Tenzin's wife feel obligated to have many babies?), but I guess they couldn't really address it in a kids' show.

So, any thoughts on the third episode? Looks like they are indeed trying to make the Equalists into somewhat sympathetic villains; even though Amon is certainly depicted as a shady character, his justification for his actions don't sound all unreasonable, and I think that's intentional on the writers' part. Hope they will develop this theme, as it'll make Amon a more interesting villain than if he was pure eeevil like Ozai.

Also, looks like they are hinting at some connection between Aang and Amon, as it was mentioned that only Aang could energybend, but Amon seems to be able to do that too. (Though it could be that he's just faking it, as his "energybending" didn't include the fancy lightshow seen in the AtLA finale.) I guess the writers wouldn't have given him a mask unless they were preparing for some sort of Darth Vader style revelation on who's behind it. (Maybe he's Mako's and Bolin's dad or brother or something? He and them both tell a similar story of being attacked by a firebender who killed their family.)

Anyone still watching the series? Because yesterday's episode was awesome! Okay, the plot was kinda predictable; of course Chief Beifong turned out to be Tenzin's former sweetheart mentioned in the previous episode, of course her men failed to protect the pro-bending arena from Amon - and of course in the next episode Tarrlok will use her failure to gain more power, as was hinted here. But despite all this it was still hella exciting watching the events unfold, and the final action scene was one of the finest in the whole franchise. I love how this series (as well as its predecessor) doesn't use the bending thing as merely as a shapeless, ruleless superpower that will magically solve conflicts, but as a internally coherent way of staging action scenes. For example, you can see that Korra has now learned to fight more like a pro bender, using quick short range moves, which turns out to be useful against the Equalists, as they try to get close to her and quickly disarm her with their chi blocking.

I'm watching! But I've only watched the first 3 (next 3 sitting here waiting for me). Really liked what I've seen, still haven't quite engaged with the main characters, but I can be slow to do that with things, and I'm sure I'll grow into it. Exceeding my expectations that were based on early descriptions anyway. Disconcerting when people share voices with old characters, but that'll fade too.

Okay, I don't want to spoil things, but episodes 4 - 6 will definitely add more shades to the main characters, so I don't think you'll be disappointed by them... Though I'll have to admit episode 6 made me more interested in Tenzin and Chief Beifong than in the main trio - but in the original series too my favourite character was probably Iroh. Let's hope they can manage to do similar balancing between the youngsters and the older folks as they did there, so far it's looking good.

Oh, Iroh was the best. Watched these now (I had already seen 4). Really good stuff in the last 2 eps. There does seem to be something kind of Randian about the way the equalist/bender conflict is framed - would kind of fit into the right-wing 'meritocracy' ideology that complains about the talented being pulled down by 'unrealistic' ideas about equality. Some great action stuff towards the end, though it's kind of hard to see how this series will move towards the epic battles of the first series (the siege of Ba Sing Se, for example, or the defence of the (southern?) water tribe).

There does seem to be something kind of Randian about the way the equalist/bender conflict is framed - would kind of fit into the right-wing 'meritocracy' ideology that complains about the talented being pulled down by 'unrealistic' ideas about equality.

Yeah, I've been noticing this too, and I do hope the show doesn't go too deep into it. So far they've manage to give the Equalists' claims at least some validity, and I do hope that by the end of the show their point of view is still acknowledged... Even if Amon will turn out to have some ulterior motives for running the movement (which seems likely), it looks like most of his followers have a genuine reason to distrust benders (for example, the City's ruling council seems to consist of only benders with non-benders having no representation there), and I think the writers are smart enough to include these shades of gray to the story, instead of just revealing all Equalists to be evil.

And I do genuinely hope they're gonna not gonna reveal Amon to be some mastermind who's only using the Equalist movement for his evil purposes, I like the idea that he has some actual justification for his actions. I think of one of the biggest flaws in AtLA was that almost everyone was treated as a three-dimensional character, with their own understandable motivation for doing things, except for Zhao and Ozai who were just pure evil.

Anyone still following this? Any thoughts on the revelations in episode 9?

Here's a funny fan comic I came across:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5j6hclrOC1ry4m96o1_r3_1280.jpg

I was just thinking of posting here, as I watched 9 this morning. Nice to see blood bending back, and some spirit world stuff. I'm still enjoying it anyway. Why did the end of my (torrented) ep have something about a 2 part season finale? Surely it hasn't been axed already?

Yeah, there's one regular episode next week, then a two-part season finale the week after that. From what I've gathered, when Nickelodeon commissioned the second season, the first one may have been so far in production that they couldn't really change the plot anymore. So it's possible the finale will actually end this story arc (as TLoK was originally supposed to be only a 12 episode miniseries), and the second season will have a completely new arc.

So, I stopped watching this when season 2 started out kinda lame, but recently I bought the Blu-Rays and watched all 4 seasons in a row, and in the end Korra was actually quite good! Not as thrilling or as epic in its scope as the previous series (I think the series did suffer a bit from having 13 episodes only, there wasn't as much room for worldbuilding as in Avatar, which made some of plots feel a bit rushed), but it did a lot of things really well that many other series (whether for kids or adults) rarely even touch.

Season 2 is definitely lamest, mostly because it had the most generic evil villain, but there was still some visually cool, Miyazaki-inspired (and some Lewis Carroll too) Spirit World stuff, so it's not a total disappointment. Season 3 really raises the quality though, they take some of that moral questions about violence and war and authority that I thought were the best parts of AtLA, and really delve deep into them, for what's ostensibly a YA kung-fu anime. I mean, the main antagonist of season 3 is bona fide anarchist voiced by Henry Rollins, who looks like him too. And Korra herself goes through some fascinating (and tramautic) character development that's actually quite heavy for an adult viewer too, so she's not just a Boring Invincible and Morally Superior Hero anymore. I really liked how they managed to make her moral growth and maturation of empathy an integral part of the overall plot of the series, alongside the cool bending fights and urban fantasy stuff!

Also, from a feminist point of view Korra really is an amazing show for its genre... Besides Korra, herself there's a whole bunch memorable & badass female characters of different ages (from grannies to kids) and ethnicities, but it never makes a fuss about any of this, it's just a normal and integral part of the show's setting. Like, Korra herself is a non-white, masculine, bold, muscular female hero in an animated action series, but I didn't even think about how unsual that is until some internet comments on the subject made me think about it, because it didn't feel out-of-place in this show.

And on top of all this they ended the whole series with a scene that did something really touching (I won't spoil it, but of you Google it you'll find loads of articles discussing what happens in the finale), which could be a first in mainstream kids' animation, at least in the West. And again, it's not just that they made such a bold choice, but that it felt like an organic part of the story and its setting, not just the writers trying to impress everyone on how progressive they are. So yeah, it made me cry, in fact I can't think of any other series that would've brought more tears to my eyes, besides AtLA I guess...

Finished season 1, started 2.

First ranged from mediocre to horrible, but the second is leagues better, if nothing else then in humor.

idk i really liked season one

season two however is one of the best things i’ve ever seen

i also genuinely think this show is a thousand times better than avatar, which was very very good

Curious what you think of S3, Brad, it was my favorite by far. But then I much prefer original Avatar to Korra so maybe I don't get out of it what others did

i think the thing that distinguishes the shows from each other is that avatar, despite its epic, three-season-spanning master storyline, is often episodic and formulaic in its pacing. a friend put it something like: they arrive at a new place, everyone gets separated, a lesson is learned. which is not a criticism exactly, avatar became oddly comforting to me over time, even as the storytellers raised the stakes and really did a number on the characters

in contrast, i have no fucking clue what's going to happen in any episode of korra. it's exhilarating

It’s (and AtLA was) very good at showing all levels of a conflict: the politics, the personal, the strategic, POWs, etc. Some of the epic battles are great, and the frustrations of the political are well drawn.

It's interesting to see people here praise season 2, when I thought the general consensus was that it was the wasn't very good, apart from the episode about the First Avatar.

... wow i'm out of step i guess. i thought it was amazingly plotted, the final battle gorgeous and surreal

unalaq's whole deal reminded me distinctly of giygas from earthbound

apart from the episode about the First Avatar.

― MarkoP, Tuesday, November 26, 2019 9:55 AM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

also how the fuck does this general consensus not like the spirit world episode ("a new spiritual age")??????

often episodic and formulaic in its pacing

I guess I can see that, and I agree Korra avoids it, but there's so much variation within that formula, it barely bothers me. In S2, you've got e.g. the Drill, the Serpent's pass, the Ba Sing Se episodes which basically fit the formula but have wildly different feels

The First Avatar episodes in Korra (Beginnings, parts 1 and 2) were series highlights. My friend and I were speechless after watching them. But those and the final battle aside, I did think S2 was the weakest

the first avatar episodes all the more remarkable for being the resolution to a brief amnesia plot (which, when that happened, i was like "oh no an amnesia plot noooo")

idk, season two had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, from the moment the seemingly internecine conflict between the southern and northern water tribes turned into a hostile takeover. the spirit world stuff, revisiting the library, the return of my favorite avatar character iroh, whatever varrick's damage is, jinora getting lost in the spirit world :(, the completely traumatic way raava is separated from korra and how things basically only get worse from there, until they get better/weirder. i guess maybe some of the unrelated tenzen on vacation stuff felt like padding but otherwise that shit was perfect to me

i was as awestruck and terrified by the harmonic convergence as the characters were. that's great storytelling

regardless i am very excited if seasons 3 and 4 are apparently better, i'm two episodes into the former

i remember seasons 1 and 2 of korra being fairly weak and muddled, especially season 2 (though the first avatar episodes were great). i think the biggest issue was the very uncompelling antagonists - amon was interesting at first but the revelation that he wasn't truly committed to his ideology and just was using it as a means to seize power for his own means was very unsatisfying at the time because it meant the show didn't really have to deal with the class tensions analogy it had been working with. i don't even remember the s2 antagonist's name or what his deal was beyond planning to become the "dark avatar".

it was shocking how good seasons 3 and 4 were after those, so if you liked the first two a lot more than i did you should hopefully really love them.

I hate the first season of Korra for the same reason ufo mentions and because the humor was one dimensionally juvenile, and the first half of the second season because all of the character conflicts exist only because Korra never stops to ask what's going on, and basically everyone is acting suspiciously or stupidly to maintain tension. But then starting with the the Wan episodes, it becomes so so good for the reasons Brad mentions. (Jinora is my favorite character in Korra, I think, and her story is good in season 2. And it's God damned beautiful in season 3.)

I think the main problems with season 2 are that Unalaq is an uninteresting, stereotypical villain (he's the only one of the four main antagonists who doesn't get fleshed out to show he has some sympathetic qualities too, he's just evil), and that the plot relies too much on deus ex machina and out-of-blue revelations, the biggest one being the way Korra defeats Unalaq... Since she doesn't have her avatar powers at the time, are we to assume any human can just do that?

Also, I didn't like how they sort of overexplained the Spirit World, making it too mundane. In AtLa it was this mysterious, awe-inspiring dimension with ultimately unknowable inhabitants. Here, the spirits become the humans' wacky neighbours. This is irritating especially because in seasons 3 and 4 the show still keeps on implying the spirits should be treated with the same sort of reverie as in AtLA, even though here we learn a lot of them are just selfish jerks.

Thankfully season 3 improves a lot on season 2 by having the best villains of the series (with no Amon style cop-out regarding their motivations), and by once focusing on the Avatar world politics instead of spirit shenanigans.

i acknowledge the one-dimensionality of unalaq i guess, possibly i liked him bc i projected giygas-like motivations onto him, regardless once it’s revealed vaatu is the true villain everything gets much better. korra being stupid about someone who’s so obviously shady is pretty understandable to me bc he’s family but ymmv

i don’t think the spirit world itself is overexplained, i still felt a lot of awe and sense of endless possibility whenever we crossed over into that world. the fog! i loved the fog! and the spirits being dicks is very greek mythology to me, i personally love it

totally agree the amon plot in s1 ended up being a copout, even if i kinda loved the character anyway. season one was mainly enjoyable to me bc i find bloodbending terrifying

the plot relies too much on deus ex machina and out-of-blue revelations, the biggest one being the way Korra defeats Unalaq... Since she doesn't have her avatar powers at the time, are we to assume any human can just do that?

the show doesn’t suggest once that she lost her powers by being separated from raava, just that her connection to the avatar line is severed. jinora coming out of nowhere with the light that she places inside vaatu is deus ex machina as hell but also too wonderful to complain about imo

obv korra's powers are severely affected by being separated from raava, but afaict they're never gone, and it initiates the whole plot of tenzen teaching her what he learned in the spirit world, that korra is not inherently raava or any avatar that came before her, and that as soon as you know yourself you can begin to write your own story ;_;

of course, knowing thyself = being able to astrally project thyself as a giant of light so you can have a sick mecha battle with the dark avatar

the plot relies too much on deus ex machina and out-of-blue revelations, the biggest one being the way Korra defeats Unalaq... Since she doesn't have her avatar powers at the time, are we to assume any human can just do that?

the show doesn’t suggest once that she lost her powers by being separated from raava, just that her connection to the avatar line is severed.

It's been a few years since I watched it, but IIRC it's explicitly mentioned that Korra can't use her Avatar powers at this point, and becoming a blue giant is totally unrelated with her Avatarhood, so apparently anyone can become an enegy giant they really want to? She does eventually regain the Avatar powers (though the connection with past Avatars is lost, as you say), but only after the Unalaq fight.

of course, knowing thyself = being able to astrally project thyself as a giant of light so you can have a sick mecha battle with the dark avatar

Not to spoil too much, but there's a point in season 4 where this giant of light ability would be extremely useful, yet Korra seems to have completely forgot she was once able to do it.

i hate to insist on this but: she doesn’t lose and then regain her powers in season two

but i mean maybe i watched it too stoned and missed the explicit mention of it

i mean ang only ever becomes a big blue giant once himself

but i mean maybe i watched it too stoned and missed the explicit mention of it

When Unalaq/Vaatu seemingly kills Raava in the penultimate episode, she can't use her Avatar powers after that. Then in the final fight between the two giants, Jinora shows Korra that Raava is still alive inside Unalaq/Vaatu, so she rips Raava out of him and reconnects with it, and regains the Avatar powers (though her connection to past Avatars is still lost).

yes i can see how you would get that through implication but i don’t think it’s explicitly stated

anyway, it’s fine lol, i’d rather stop talking about it

Can we talk about how the animals have less charisma in Korra than AtLA? I love red pandas! And big dogs! But they weren’t Momo and Appa.

y’all are way harsher on this show than i’m capable of being. appa was a miraculous character, i’m fine with them not doing it again

I critique because I love.

i also started korra right after finishing avatar and didn’t notice a dip in the humor at all. there were maybe two fart jokes

The kid fart jokes are obnoxious (obv), and low effort, to the point where I wonder if they were reacting against studio notes that insisted on having young comic characters.

The youngest boy is very ‘Scrappy Doo’ to me.

i lol’d so hard at how he said he’d train the new airbenders though

He’s actually more bearable and funnier in the last two seasons.

just finished season three, it ruled

some pretty gnarly deaths in this show even though they're more implied than shown (suffocation, head explosion)

The suffocation death shocked me. Was it the first on-screen death in the series?

oh god i loved this whole show so much, season 4 was especially bangin

yeah this is on a very short list of shows that continually improve season over season

i still love season 2 A LOT, even more than the show itself does (i lol'd when varrick called unalaq boring in the recap episode still)

also this is very "fandom" of me but korra/asami!!!!! can't believe this show got to me on that level

I felt like that pairing came out of nowhere, but my friend pointed out they had been slowly building up to it over the series. I would have loved to see them explore it in more depth in another season but of course, it's Nickelodeon, so that moment at the end was the most they were allowed to do anyway

Their relationship is explored more in the sequel comics, which obviously are less prone to censorship than a Nickelodeon show.

I've watched LoK twice, and IMO the Korra/Asami ending still comes mostly as a surprise. There are some hints towards it, especially at the end of season 3 and beginning of season 4 (I don't think the writers had even decided Korra and Asami might be bi until season 3), but since LoK had such short seasons, they don't really have much time to develop the relationship, or even Asami as a character. I think the most important thing about the ending is its after-effect on other kid-oriented animated series in the US. It was a big moment that was lauded widely, and partially because of that we've seen more explixit depictions of same-gender romance in shows like Steven Universe, She-Ra, and The Dragon Prince.

Wow I don't think I knew there were comics. Time to go find those! Asami was definitely underdeveloped past the first season. underused, really

If the Korra comics are anything like the ATLA comics, then they're not very good.

the korra/asami ending did not come as a surprise to me bc it's telegraphed in episode one of season four. the idea that korra can tell asami things that she can't share with mako or bolin was, though abrupt, very credible to me

sorry that actually might be episode two of season four

Yeah, it's established that they've become very close, but there's no obvious hints that their feelings are romantic until the series finale. And even then, since they didn't end the episode with a kiss that was a clearly about to happen (because the showrunners knew Nickelodeon wouldn't allow that), I remember some parts of the fandom weren't quite sure what the ending was supposed to imply, and some of the more heteronormative fans claimed Korra and Asami were just friends, because there had been no kiss or other overtly romantic gestures. The day after the finale came out, Bryan Konietzko actually had to confirm to the fandom on Twitter that, yes, Korra and Asami are a couple now.

This is the reason why I said the importance of the finale is more how it affected other kids' cartoons. Korra showed the way, but still suffered from (assumed) censorship, whereas today shows likee She-Ra and The Dragon Prince have gay and lesbian couples openly kissing each other.