The Legend of Korra (Spoilers ITT)

Ace Emerald

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I think Unalaq is gonna fuse with Vaatu during harmonic convergence to fight/kill Korra/Raava and consequently become a sort of evil avatar equivalent.
Dammit v is literally was about to post that theory >:[ would he get the other bendings though? He didn't receive them from the lionturtles but maybe Vaatu can get around that? This was pretty much a set up episode, looks like stuff will actually happen next week.
 

v

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I don't think Unalaq's powers would be element-based, as Vaatu demonstrated the ability to project that purple energy and fly. Unalaq himself also has some special spiritual connections as well, but they have so far only manifested through waterbending. Maybe Unalaq will gain physical abilities to match whatever kind of spirit Raava and Vaatu are. I think they look like kites, so Unalaq could get flying powers plus the violet energy blasts plus super-spirit-powered avatar-level waterbending which imo would be pretty powerful, maybe roughly avatar state-level since Vaatu wasn't too far off on his own fighting against a freshly-Raava-ensouled Wan.

I was hoping Koh would show up, since Koh was a centipede underneath a tree and Wan locked Vaatu up in a tree ): would've been cool since Koh is supposed to be so fckn ancient and being under the tree where the definition of evil exists would explain why such a seemingly random spirit would be so old. PLUS Aang encountered Koh near the Spirit Oasis in the North, and this would give a reason etc etc I just think Koh should be involved with Vaatu's tree somehow........................
 
I dunno if the spirit of evil and chaos and darkbadness would be the kind of thing that would get into a symbiotic partnership like that. The Evil Opposite thing is so overdone, anyway. Get yer Antichrist figures outta my Eastern mysticism inspired cartoons, I say.

Anyway, I kind of have a theory. Notice how it took there wasn't much advancement between Wan's time (metal weapons) to Roku's time? OK, the Fire Nation gained some ridiculous technology in the next hundred years but if we ignore the GIANT DRILL and consider the tanks to basically be the firebending equivalent of a hamster ball then their most advanced technology is the steam ships or zeppelins. Then 70 years later we've leaped forward to electricity, radio, gloves that shock people and giant robots. Could it be that because the spirit of peace and shininess won last time that technology slowed down until recently when Vaatu's seal weakening or something? Of course, I'm probably overthinking this and it'll likely turn out to be a black and white struggle against a villain who wants to destroy the world and then laugh evilly about it.

Still, most of the people who we've seen that have been at the forefront of technology (the Fire Nation, Sato and now Varrick) have all been dicks. Coincidence? Probably.
 
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Omg, subtle message about the evils of technology and saving the planet?!

And who knew lion turtles were the source of bending and not animals. Still, that doesn't really explain energybending, as I thought that was known to humans before elemental even and that they almost destroyed themselves with it.
 

v

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Omg, subtle message about the evils of technology and saving the planet?!

And who knew lion turtles were the source of bending and not animals. Still, that doesn't really explain energybending, as I thought that was known to humans before elemental even and that they almost destroyed themselves with it.
I think in the era before the lion turtles granted elements, humans instead learned to bend their internal energy from the turtles, but as we've seen energybending the vessel by which elemental bending is granted and it seems as though knowledge can be passed on using it as well. because of this, the turtles could not prevent humans from keeping and spreading the power until everyone had it, at which point the turtles removed human knowledge of energybending and put them in the cities on their backs
 

religiousjedi

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Them predictions. ^^

So cool to see Iroh agein. He was always one of the best characters.
This.

IDC what happens the rest of the season: Mako can die, for all I care, Unaloq can unite with Vaatu for all he thinks it will help, Lin can once again lose her bending...

The Dragon of the West, Iroh, just made Korra go from amazing to one billion awesomeness. :)
 

Layell

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Not to say too much about other spirits but The Search recently came out with the part 3 final which is all about Zuko looking for his mother, you could read a bit up on the whole thing on the avatar wiki but basically:

-Zuko allows Azula to be free from her mental institution so Ozai can give her a lead to their mom
-We see Ursa's past before marrying the fire lord, was part of an acting trope
-Ursa's marriage is messed up, she is banished because of some really dumb way she reveals she could assinate her husband during his time where Ozai takes the trone from Iroh
-She had to leave the childhood friend with a crush (Ikem) in the arranged marriage
-Gaang + Azula go on quest to find mom, Azula goes crazy at some points
-Zuko swipes a letter from Azula, it states that he isn't the son of the Fire Lord.
-Gaang follows a lead that Ursa went to this random forest, they discover two northern waterbender siblings who are looking for the Mother of Faced
-Basically they need Mother of Faces to give the brother a new face, which the spirit does only once a season, also hard to find
-They find her, Azula goes bitch mode and steals the one wish and finds out that their mom used Mother of Faces to get a new face
-Their mom was random couple they stayed at earlier (yeah I forgot about them too), Ikem also had his face changed
-Ursa not only had her face changed by Mother of Spirits, but removed the memories of her life married to Fire Lord
-Mother of Spirits gets pissed Aang wants two wishes, but when she sees waterbender guys masked removed and no face (dang Koh) she gives it back
-Koh is her son, and is a shithead
-Mother of Spirits restores Northern Waterbender guys face along with Ursa's face and memories because family bonding
-Zuko was always Ozai's son, but Ursa called him Ikem's son in letters out of a combination of depression, spite, and seeing if Ozai was reading her private letters
-Ozai apparently had spies on Ursa for some time to make sure she wasn't fornicating with other guys even before marriage, Ozai decided to treat Zuko like shit just to get back at his wife.
-Also Zuko has a half-sibling now from Ursa's new life fancy that.


So basically these three comic series
The Promise: About events leading up to founding Republic City
The Search: Zuko's moms story, aka what everyone wanted to know
The Rift: Actually building Republic City

Part 1 of Rift is coming out in March, can't say I'm too interested considering it will probably take another year for that series to finish, plus we just got the answers everyone was waiting for since TLAB ended, is there really much going on when Aang builds Republic City? They really seem to be trying to keep Aang in a similar age range of Season 3, and I can't say the stories are much better for it. Some of the people calling Korra a 'betrayal' might have a heart attack with what Aang and Zuko do in The Promise.
 

vonFiedler

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Actually I thought The Promise finally explored some of Aang's worst character traits and had him turn around and build something out of them. But then again I'm not a boob who thinks that a civil war is "nothing happening in this season". Some of you people would just flat out commit suicide if you were forced to watch The Wire.
 

v

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does anyone else think it is absolutely retarded that unalaq can "spiritbend" (or whatever) the connection between humans and spirits...and also thinking about it, bending should hurt the dark spirits in meatspace too because vaatu, source of all dark spirits, was ultimately vanquished by elemental combat. unless unalaq is tapping into vaatu-power (which, given that his spiritbending is now purple instead of yellow may be the case)
 

vonFiedler

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Korra was turned back to the age in which she found out she was the avatar, when any hope of having a normal upbringing were shattered. The entire episode is symbolic of her pent up anger holding her back as the avatar. It's kind of what I've been saying forever.
 

vonFiedler

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Iroh was only there to help the avatar see the error of her ways. A flawed character going through changes set against an environment highly symbolic of her own internal struggles, that's the bad part? If you think so, you're a straight up fucking philistine. This was hands down the best episode of Korra yet.

It's no fucking wonder that Nickelodeon was hesitant to make more than one season of Korra on the grounds that it starred a female character. Or that we're plagued by media where the girl is the sidekick, there to look pretty and only having the occasional flaw that can be solved quickly enough to focus back on the chin down eyes up dudebro protagonist. And if you want fratboys to pretend they aren't sexist, go ahead and have that female sidekick throw a punch or two. But you make the show about her, make her problems the focus of every episode, and suddenly she's a bitch. Wan acted much the same way, but it was okay because... profit?

I get that shoving a corrupt judge's mouth into the head of a polar bear is reckless and unrighteous, but in what fucked up universe do we live in where it makes the character unlikeable? People watched through the 5 awful seasons of 24 just because the main character acted like that all the time. And in 8 seasons that character never even fucking evolved, but this one is right now and you need to find more fucking problems with her?

I get that LoK isn't the cartoon revolution, but it's still nice, and this is character development 101. If you think Aang acted any different in Season 2 of his show, you'd better rewatch episodes like The Desert. Korra threatens a judge who sentences her father to death, Aang loses his bison and endangers all of his friends. Neither case is befitting of the avatar, but they are understandable and they take a whole season to really work through.
 

Aldaron

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I agree with the general idea of what you're saying vonFiedler, though, not at all regarding the sexist / gender bias claims lol...

I had the same criticisms of aang's sense of entitlement during avatar 1, but I'm able to forgive him more easily than I am korra not because he is a male and she is a female but because he was younger, and because I figured all her sense of entitlement and "bitchiness" (you used the word) should have been washed away during season 1, when you know, she was all of that and got owned repeatedly. I can't speak for everyone obviously, but I'd hope that the difference in expectations between aang avatar 1 and korra avatar 2 season 2 are due to both the age difference and the fact that korra already got owned by these character flaws in season 1, not due to any gender stereotyping.

Do I expect Korra to be perfect? Of course not...though I'm not sure if sticking a judge's head in a bear's jaw is as easily passed off as you claim (remember, she had no proof he was dirty at that time, just that she didn't like his judgment).

THAT said...I also don't understand criticisms of this episode...from what I watched, it seemed like it was finally wrapping up all that emotional noise Korra was feeling? The revert to child-korra I took as symbolic to represent her volatile emotions, and the episode itself was kind of an emotionally focused climax because it ends literally with her learning she can't be like that and she has to "be the avatar."

So basically, agree with vonfiedler completely regarding this episode (it was great, and necessary for positive character development), agree mostly with vonfiedler in that these extremist criticisms of korra should start being curbed now, and don't really agree with vonfiedler regarding his gender bais analysis.
 

vonFiedler

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In this age of Anita Sarkisian and Bioware I certainly was hesitant to pull the sexism card, it's something I've been stewing on for a long time. A flawed character still has to be likeable, but Korra is a no holds barred badass and her voice actress brings a lot to the role (and it's not really a factor to this discussion but being a character of color is also nice!). I can't think of any other explanation for the extreme hate she's gotten. Season 1 criticisms towards the brothers were at least valid, if also stupidly extreme on the "I hope this character dies" end.

People liked Katara and Toph who had many of the same flaws, but those flaws were in manageable episodes and not season arcs. And whether you're treating Korra that way because of her gender or not Aldaron, this is all old news when it comes to TV, movies, and video games. Nick wasn't excited about a female protagonist (fact), and with this response they have no reason to be excited about another one. Frankly, Korra could be shark weeking all over the place and it'd still be a nice change of pace from the steady stream of white dudebros voiced by Troy Baker I'm dealing with in my industry.
 

Aldaron

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Fair enough, my point is more simply to raise the idea that criticisms, perhaps even harsh criticisms, of Korra in the episode flow previous to the most recent are defensible, even while not criticizing Aang just as hard, due to the age difference and season 1 happening.

I have little to no opinion on general sexism in the industry...wouldn't be surprised if Nickolodean's analytics showed female protagonists as less of a cash cow than male ones for their intended audience, and honestly, I wouldn't really care because there is nothing I can do about that :X

I will agree though that, during the parts Korra isn't being emotionally...questionable, she is very bad ass and overall a solid main character.

Was dying to use "strong woman" there but you'd probably have an aneurysm at that trope :P
 
Personally, I think most people hate her because she is just flat out unlikeable, myself included. Not because of the whole sexism or other feminist BS, I just flat out do not like her. I probably am blinded by my preference to the original Avatar series, but LoK I honestly don't like as a whole really. I just watch it mostly because it is Avatar and on the off chance something good does happen, like seeing Iroh (was also kinda funny how they revealed the fate of the one guy that got buried in the library back in Season 2 also). Just my thoughts anyways, Korra obviously isn't written to be hated, but I guess that's how some of us see her.
 

vonFiedler

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Basically Bolin's "Sokka's Master" episode. Man every episode lately is better than the last, I hope this keeps up.

EDIT: 1 episode later, so far so good.
 
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