1. #2001
    Mechagnome Zeglo's Avatar
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    IMO Bending is never taken away by bloodbending. I think it's a temporary thing where the blood vessels in the brain are manipulated to sort of block bending. It's not taken away per se but rather the body thinks it can't do it (even though I still can).

    Only the avatar can take away bending.
    Last edited by Zeglo; 2012-06-24 at 03:55 AM.

  2. #2002
    was it just me or did Amon's voice as a kid sound alot like Aang?

  3. #2003

    Answers

    [spoiler]
    Quote Originally Posted by ijffdrie View Post
    1) Am I the only one who thought that the twist was going to be that Amon wasn't really going to be Yakone's brother? Amon obviously has a very different skin-colour than the kid, we clearly see him fire-bend (look how he is pushing aside the flaming wall) when following Korra and there is absolutely no explanation for how the hell Amon was taking away bending. I'd accept blood-bending as an explanation, except that Korra clearly needs to use energy-bending to return it. We might get an explanation for this next season, but I still feel that one of the characters should have noticed it.
    For another season, what possible enemy could Korra face that's greater than a blood-bending water-bender with public support? Another 'avatar'.

    Quote Originally Posted by ijffdrie View Post
    2) How the hell did Mako and Korra both break free of blood-bending? Yakone was easily able to control an entire courtroom with his eyeballs, yet Amon can't control two people.
    Mako didn't break free, he caught him by surprise. Korra is the avatar, and although her control of her water-bending was taken away, she was still a water-bender. Technically, any bender capable of blood-bending should be able to resist another's blood-bending to some degree, by blood-bending their own body in resistance instead of struggling to force their way free of it. Korra just unlocked her air-bending by experiencing defenselessness, and learning how to 'fight back' without fighting back would be the key to resisting blood-bending.

    Quote Originally Posted by ijffdrie View Post
    3) Naga is suddenly able to throw around mecha-tanks and break through iron bars.
    I don't have any experience with polar bear dogs to really understand their capabilities, especially when they're under stress.

    Quote Originally Posted by ijffdrie View Post
    4) How did Korra get in contact with her spiritual side? We never see anything in the episodes to indicate that she has become spiritual. It honestly felt like a deus ex machina.
    Korra couldn't get in touch with her spiritual side before because she didn't understand defenselessness and couldn't open herself up to it, just as she couldn't open herself up to air-bending enough to learn it before.

    Quote Originally Posted by ijffdrie View Post
    5) How did Amon catch Tenzin and the kids? We spend a portion of the previous episode on them getting away, we saw the zeppelin break off pursuit... and suddenly they are captured.
    They would be the best leverage in dealing with Korra, so Amon sent someone after them, or they weren't comfortable with how they were abandoning their home and cause, so they turned around.

    Quote Originally Posted by ijffdrie View Post
    6) Given Tarrlok's backstory, why was he trying to take over the city through the oppression of non-benders?
    The oppression of the non-benders was only to get a reaction out of Korra, in that episode you can see he is more interested in Korra & her reactions than any of the people he was oppressing.

    Quote Originally Posted by ijffdrie View Post
    7) How exactly did the equalists keep all their production secret? They had to produce and store at least a dozen airships, a dozen fighter-bombers, several dozen mecha-tanks and several large underground complexes. We know that Hiroshi Sato was thoroughly investigated, so he couldn't have been the one funding it, and they probably didn't mine the metal themselves, considering they weren't going to use earth-benders.
    Their airstrips are seen surrounded by mountains. If it wasn't on route to some other city, there would be no reason for anyone to travel there, and a couple lookouts posted on the mountain would be able to see and redirect or detain anyone that did happen to come that way. This would be the same for all their other equipment.

    Today even with all of our technology and investigative skills people are able to hide money, it's more than plausible that Hiroshi & Amon could find a way.

    They didn't need to mine all the metal themselves, they only needed to mine enough metal to make 1 metal-mining machine.

    Quote Originally Posted by ijffdrie View Post
    8) That love triangle was entirely pointless.
    Bolin-love square. May seem pointless now. Have you seen the look in Asami's eyes? She still has an important role to play in this story.

    9) With a season 2 on the way, it would be idiotic for the writers to answer all of our questions and not leave us with things to think about. Based on the quality of the prequel, this is not their first rodeo and the show wouldn't be as successful if they didn't have a good plan for where they were going with the story.

  4. #2004
    I was talking to a friend about the episode, and we were talking about the ending and how it was somewhat disappointing (or I was anyway lol) and I came to this conclusion:

    I'd much rather have the episode go pretty much as it did, up until Korra was on the cliff crying. Ideally, Aang would appear, and with the past avatars at his back, give an inspirational (but not overly cheesy) speech about how despite her loss of 3/4 of her bending elements, she is still the avatar. She carries the will of the past avatars with her, and as thus she is still the avatar, the pillar of balance in the world. She would hone her airbending abilities, and in the second season she would connect to the spirit realm further and learn energy bending to compensate for her lack of water/fire/earthbending. (LOLOL :P) However it would be very exhausting to her as it's an art that has been lost for so long that the avatars cannot be very adept at it anymore, so it would be like only used in dire straits... or something. Something so that the energy bending doesn't become a super-crutch for her.

    And they could just save the kissing until the second season where Mako and Asami come to a nuetral agreement of just friends. I wanted to like Mako so much but this was such a dick move on his part.

    Edit: My friend also brought up her style of airbending, and said she airbends like a firebender, to which I replied wtf are you talking about, she doesn't airbend like a firebender... she airbends like KORRA.
    Last edited by Kickinwing; 2012-06-24 at 04:32 AM.

  5. #2005
    Quote Originally Posted by Irraticate View Post
    I've thought about this before and I think Sound Bending would make sense. If it's practical or not, who knows. But sound requires air to travel through, so... You could bend/make/destroy sound with air bending, I'd imagine.
    Makes sense, in theory an advanced Air Bender could create or block any sound they wanted, might be onto something here..

    Kinda reminds of of an episode of Heroes in the last season, there was a woman who could manipulate sound into doing actual physical damage, as well as act as a "siren" to lure people to her.

    *epic daydream sequence of Tenzin clapping his hands and creating a massive sonic boom that knocks out everyone within a mile*
    Last edited by Vakna; 2012-06-24 at 04:59 AM.

  6. #2006
    this is somewhat offtopic but,
    there's this weapon on TF2 called "the Equalizer" and i want to rename it with something related of LoK... lol
    any suggestions?
    You will not be forgotten, Eleanor / Steam ID / DeviantArt page / YouTube / Twitter

  7. #2007
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by NightFury Treann View Post
    this is somewhat offtopic but,
    there's this weapon on TF2 called "the Equalizer" and i want to rename it with something related of LoK... lol
    any suggestions?
    Metal bending tool number 431

    ---------- Post added 2012-06-24 at 08:19 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Vakna View Post
    Makes sense, in theory an advanced Air Bender could create or block any sound they wanted, might be onto something here..

    Kinda reminds of of an episode of Heroes in the last season, there was a woman who could manipulate sound into doing actual physical damage, as well as act as a "siren" to lure people to her.

    *epic daydream sequence of Tenzin clapping his hands and creating a massive sonic boom that knocks out everyone within a mile*
    I'm a little sceptical. Sounds is a wave that needs a medium to travel in. Usually air, but any element will do. The thing is sound is not matter. The only thing you could do as an airbender is to prevent sound from traveling by creating a lack of materia.
    But on another note, it's a fantasy world where you can fly by sending out fire from your external bodyparts (feets and hands namely). So no reason to assume that our laws of nature can be applied in the show.

  8. #2008
    The butt clenching in this thread is awesome.

    Korra regaining her bending was not a deus ex in any way. They explained before that:

    1.) Avatar state can be reached when the Avatar is in a life-or-death situation or when they are most open to the spiritual side of it. Pretty sure Korra, in her mind, no longer being the "Avatar" and losing all of the bending she was most common with was a pretty low point for her.

    2.) Bloodbending can be broken with the Avatar state.

    The entirety of something being a Deus Ex hinges on the fact that it is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly. Neither point was.

  9. #2009
    Deleted
    I have a question though, why is aang and katara's family (children grandchildren etc) airbenders exclusively. Why no waterbenders? Maybe an unreviled familymember in next season? Or was it simply just that one waterbending hero is enough?

  10. #2010
    Aang's and Katara's children actually are one waterbender (Kya), one non-bender(Bumi) and one airbender (Tenzin), I think they said it in the first episode, didn't they?
    The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold those in high esteem who think alike rather than those who think differently - Nietzsche

  11. #2011
    Quote Originally Posted by studkaw View Post
    I have a question though, why is aang and katara's family (children grandchildren etc) airbenders exclusively. Why no waterbenders? Maybe an unreviled familymember in next season? Or was it simply just that one waterbending hero is enough?
    They aren't.

    Tenzin is an Air Bender Councilman of Republic City
    Bumi is a Non-Bender Commander of the United Forces.
    Kya is a Water Bender

  12. #2012
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyK923 View Post
    They aren't.

    Tenzin is an Air Bender Councilman of Republic City
    Bumi is a Non-Bender Commander of the United Forces.
    Kya is a Water Bender
    I excluded Bumi since he is a nonbender or at least unknown what he bend.
    But when did I miss kya? :S

  13. #2013
    Stood in the Fire Dairyking101's Avatar
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    So.... when does season 2 start? =DD

  14. #2014
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Dairyking101 View Post
    So.... when does season 2 start? =DD
    Not announced yet afaik (according to wikipedia at least, not that it is a good source)

  15. #2015
    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyK923 View Post
    The butt clenching in this thread is awesome.

    Korra regaining her bending was not a deus ex in any way. They explained before that:

    1.) Avatar state can be reached when the Avatar is in a life-or-death situation or when they are most open to the spiritual side of it. Pretty sure Korra, in her mind, no longer being the "Avatar" and losing all of the bending she was most common with was a pretty low point for her.

    2.) Bloodbending can be broken with the Avatar state.

    The entirety of something being a Deus Ex hinges on the fact that it is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly. Neither point was.
    It being sudden or unexpected has nothing to do with it being a dues ex. It's an improbable (and often clumsy) plot device to resolve a difficult situation. It doesn't have to be necessarily sudden or unexpected, just awkward or kind of "cheap". Now is it a dues ex? Eh, I'd say technically no because you're right about our previous knowledge of avatar powers. However, being caught by Amon was a real and serious threat because of the potential loss of bending. It was a constant fear for Korra and it was a pretty good way of adding gravitas to Amon's character and this way of resolving it completely took the seriousness of the threat out from under it.

    But in the end what happens? It's only partially explained away by Blood Bending(we're still not sure how blood bending can take away bending) and the consequences of being caught by Amon were instantly and magically fixed in a matter of two minutes why? Oh because she's the fucking avatar and for no other reason. Not to mention the explanation for why she kept and suddenly figured out how to Air bend was kind of half ass. I mean I don't think any of us honestly expected in the event Amon did take away her bending she'd lose it forever, but I expected a much much more story driven quest of Korra to regain her Avatar powers. Either through someone like the Guru that helped ang control the avatar state or some sort of spirit world journy's in which Ang has to try and teach true bending to korra. It could have been an amazing story to explore and go along with some Spirit based enemy/enemy X in the second season but instead the Avatar muscle just gets flexed and everything is back to normal.

    Honestly I liked the series, but if I'm honest with myself it could have been so much better. Can't blame them too much for only having 12 episodes to work with.
    Last edited by shimerra; 2012-06-24 at 09:01 AM.
    “Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.”
    "Conservative, n: A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others."
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  16. #2016
    Quote Originally Posted by shimerra View Post
    It being sudden or unexpected has nothing to do with it being a dues ex. It's an improbable (and often clumsy) plot device to work his or her way out of a difficult situation. Now is it a dues ex? Eh, I'd say technically no because you're right about our previous knowledge of avatar powers. However, being caught by Amon was a real and serious threat because of the potential loss of bending. It was a constant fear for Korra and it was a pretty good way of adding gravitas to Amon's character.

    But in the end what happens? It's only partially explained away by Blood Bending(we're still not sure how blood bending can take away bending) and the consequences of being caught by Amon were instantly and magically fixed in a matter of two minutes why? Oh because she's the fucking avatar and for no other reason. Not to mention the explanation for why she kept and suddenly figured out how to Air bend was kind of half ass. I mean I don't think any of us honestly expected in the event Amon did take away her bending she'd lose it forever, but I expected a much much more story driven quest of Korra to regain her Avatar powers. Either through someone like the Guru that helped ang control the avatar state or some sort of spirit world journy's in which Ang has to try and teach true bending to korra.

    Honestly I liked the series, but if I'm honest with myself it could have been so much better. Can't blame them too much for only having 12 episodes to work with.
    Actually, the definition of a Deus Ex Machina is:

    2
    : a person or thing (as in fiction or drama) that appears or is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty
    "Because she's the fucking Avatar and for no other reason." That happened to Aang multiple times in the original series.

    Did you really want the creators to spend the time explaining 100% exactly how Bloodbending can affect a person's bending? We're shown in the original show about Chi and the Blood Stream in the body, and they are overlapping in nearly every single way, and its completely realistic to say that somebody who can control Blood can prevent these chi "routes" from being open.

    You should go back and rewatch the original series. They actually explain everything that you're complaining about in the past lore of the show. I guess I just assumed people knew the lore of the Avatar universe before watching Korra. Even if you didn't they still explain it fairly well.
    Last edited by KrazyK923; 2012-06-24 at 09:01 AM.

  17. #2017
    Quote Originally Posted by Muzual View Post
    Also, we've already had an Avatar that could only really airbend in the beginning, I do not want to see that again..
    It's even a different world.. There is no great war, Korra was surrounded by people who were set up to train her the second she was found, all in part due to Aang.. People I don't think get the fact that she was going to be going threw stuff faster then Aang, because of Aang.. lol
    "If you want to control people, if you want to feed them a pack of lies and dominate them, keep them ignorant. For me, literacy means freedom." - LaVar Burton.

  18. #2018
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Muzual View Post
    You say that now, but if that was actually done in the series you would be bored to tears by it. If she's with the Guru for one episode and it's all fixed, you'd all complain that it was too fast. If she's with a Guru for multiple episodes to get it fixed, you'd all complain that it was too long. The simplest option would've been to make her go into the Avatar state when Amon had her.

    Also, we've already had an Avatar that could only really airbend in the beginning, I do not want to see that again..
    Kids these days are so impatient. I totally agree with Shimerra. I for one would not be bored, it was why I liked the original series. I hate when there is a setback and 5 min later said setback is restored.

  19. #2019
    Quote Originally Posted by studkaw View Post
    Kids these days are so impatient. I totally agree with Shimerra. I for one would not be bored, it was why I liked the original series. I hate when there is a setback and 5 min later said setback is restored.
    Having a conflict and then it being resolved immediately =/= disliking a plot that they have done before.

    I feel like Amon actually Bloodbending away Korra's Waterbending adds more to his character on the way out than it does in creating a "conflict" that is immediately resolved. Its different from, for example, Aang beating General Zhao or Fire Lord Ozai. Korra really doesn't defeat Amon in actual combat. Mako and Korra manage to just launch him out the window, and his lies are then exposed.

    Honestly, if the Amon vs Korra fight continued, Amon most definitely would have won.

    If anything, the Bloodbending of Korra does nothing but create a comparable situation to Aang facing Yakone (Even if its in a slightly different context).
    Last edited by KrazyK923; 2012-06-24 at 09:13 AM.

  20. #2020
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by KrazyK923 View Post
    Having a conflict and then it being resolved immediately =/= disliking a plot that they have done before.
    Um why would it?

    Edit:
    Green unicorns =/= Tasty Tacos.
    Last edited by mmoc410448ef5d; 2012-06-24 at 09:17 AM.

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