[TV] Avatar: Legend of Korra

[ImpTaimer]

I wasn't really happy with the amnesia cliche at the end. Felt like a cheap way to move forward past previous fluff.

Then again she was in emotional turmoil and attacked by a spirit, who kinda looked like Ko. (I let my imagination go to not get upset over it)

Not to mention Unalaq chilling in the Spirit World for whatever reason.

This season is definitely pulling a lot of "you didn't expect this bad thing to happen" along with various anime cliches. I hope the seasons get more involved and slows down a bit with the next episodes.

[Very Tired]

I can just sense the conservative talk heads complaining a rich guy was made to be evil again.

[Duronos]

There's part of me of that wants to believe Varick is doing this for a greater good reason. There has to be some good in him and I really wonder what his motives actually are because he is technically helping Asami. I really have no idea.

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To be clear about things, that last episode opened up a bunch more than any of the other episodes have, it feels like this could go any direction.

[Drikkink]

There's part of me of that wants to believe Varick is doing this for a greater good reason. There has to be some good in him and I really wonder what his motives actually are because he is technically helping Asami. I really have no idea.

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To be clear about things, that last episode opened up a bunch more than any of the other episodes have, it feels like this could go any direction.

Exactly. Before this episode I thought "Where could they possibly be going with this?" but now it's more "Where WILL they go with this?"

[Duronos]

Exactly. Before this episode I thought "Where could they possibly be going with this?" but now it's more "Where WILL they go with this?"

I don't want Varick to turn out bad, I really want him to stay in the show. He has hands down become my favorite character and even Bolin is working for me because even though he's considered comic relief he isn't as idiotic as blah! Mako and Asami! THERE I FUCKING LET IT OUT! Now who wants some iced tea?

[Zonas]

I don't want Varick to turn out bad, I really want him to stay in the show. He has hands down become my favorite character and even Bolin is working for me because even though he's considered comic relief he isn't as idiotic as blah! Mako and Asami! THERE I FUCKING LET IT OUT! Now who wants some iced tea?

Idiotic? But ones a male character and ones a female character! Don't you see their emotion!? Can't you feel the feels that you are supposed to be feeling?! Doesn't your heart warm at the sight of those two developing feelings for each other offscreen?!

For Varrick though... iono, I could honestly see this being some bait and switch with him. Where he isn't actually an ass or anything, with a conveluted plan to make everything better. (So long as it's actually what they wanted to do and not just half-assed because they realized they screwed up.) They made him crazy enough to make me think it at least.

Though, I might just be getting my hopes up because I just don't want Varrick to suddenly turn into Sato with even worse motives...

[Turin]

The chairspin though. It's the bright room equivalent of the half in shadow thing they did with Unalaq.

Gaaaaaaah, it's not true, I won't believe it! Lalalalalala I can't hear you!

[derpkitteh]

hopefully that ending means they're gonna tone korra down a bit. really hope she's less of a bitch anyway, i want to like her. but her personality so far makes me want to kill someone, namely the douchebag writer that thought a bitchy teenager would make a good character for anything outside of a high school soap opera.

[Swizzle]

Okay, I have to say this: THESE CHARACTERS ARE FUCKING TEENAGERS. I remember how I and my friends acted when we were that age, and I know how my female friends and girlfriends acted, too. You can't complain about them acting like teenagers because that's what they are. You CAN however, complain about the lack of growth and understanding the characters have shown, because that IS bad writing. Teenage girl kissing someone she's loved for a while? Normal. Teenage girl not listening to her parents? Normal. Teenage girl being mad at not hearing what she wants to hear? Normal. Master benders forgetting how to bend? Not normal. Storming into your SO's place of work and destroying their stuff in front of everyone? Not normal.

So while there are plenty of gripes to be had with the writing in the episodes between the first and the latest, teenagers acting like teenagers in a show geared towards teenagers isn't one of them.

I'm more confused why no one has complained about Unalaq having easy access to the spirit realm, or his children being able to apparently go from one side of the globe to another in a freaking day, or the fact that Bumi hasn't been contacted by Iroh about what Korra came and asked him about, or Tenzin not being contacted about the possible war.

[Xuvial]

So while there are plenty of gripes to be had with the writing in the episodes between the first and the latest, teenagers acting like teenagers in a show geared towards teenagers isn't one of them.

Teenagers acting like teenagers = shallow, cliche, uninteresting and borderline frustrating/annoying when they do stupid shit. It is valid criticism.
Teenage behavior has to be handled very carefully to make it enjoyable to watch while keeping it's "teenage-ness". Zuko is a good example (Book 1). One way to NOT execute teenage behavior is goddamn Legend Of Korra, where the protagonist would probably rank in my top 10 disappointing protagonists of all time.

But apparently at the age of 24 I'm far too old to understand any of this :P *shakes walking stick*

[Swizzle]

Teenagers acting like teenagers = shallow, cliche, uninteresting and borderline frustrating/annoying when they do stupid shit. It is valid criticism.
Teenage behavior has to be handled very carefully to make it enjoyable to watch while keeping it's "teenage-ness". Zuko is a good example (Book 1). One way to NOT execute teenage behavior is goddamn Legend Of Korra, where the protagonist would probably rank in my top 10 disappointing protagonists of all time.

But apparently at the age of 24 I'm far too old to understand any of this :P *shakes walking stick*

I'm 24 too, but I remember how I was back in the day, and I know how my friend's siblings behave still, and Korra has it spot on for the most part. Asami, Mako, and Bolin behave naturally. Korra...is hit and miss. Half the time it's normal teenage behavior (wanting Mako to always agree with her), the other half is pure bullshit (trashing desks, plotting coups, ignoring her family for a creepy older man who may or may not fornicate in a bear).

I agree though, if you take out Korra from the picture, you have a stronger second season so far. She's been the weakest point, and that comes from a lack of growth in any factor of her life, be it bending, relationships, being an avatar, or even choice in clothes. Hopefully meeting the first avatar after her mind wipe sets her up for being a more well written character.

[Zonas]

I'm 24 too, but I remember how I was back in the day, and I know how my friend's siblings behave still, and Korra has it spot on for the most part. Asami, Mako, and Bolin behave naturally. Korra...is hit and miss. Half the time it's normal teenage behavior (wanting Mako to always agree with her), the other half is pure bullshit (trashing desks, plotting coups, ignoring her family for a creepy older man who may or may not fornicate in a bear).

I agree though, if you take out Korra from the picture, you have a stronger second season so far. She's been the weakest point, and that comes from a lack of growth in any factor of her life, be it bending, relationships, being an avatar, or even choice in clothes. Hopefully meeting the first avatar after her mind wipe sets her up for being a more well written character.

I don't think the others are realy an issue to most people though.

Korra is the only one who acts like a cliche modern teen drama star. The others are... their own people for the most part. Hell, is Asami even a teenager? Every time I see her I can't help but think she's in her early twenties. But teenager or not, she's shown to be smart enough to not be suddenly love struck for the same guy who kicked her down the proverbial flight of emotional stairs. (She's running an entire company for God sake)

I think the main problem some people have with Bolin is just that he hasn't done much of anything important so far. I can see where they are coming from, since his dating with Eska and his "moving" doesn't seem to be plot important yet, unless Varrick's show will tie into whatever evil plot he has. Though, there's still plenty of episodes left for him to get back into the main plot.

And though I really don't like Mako ever, they are at least doing something with him more than just being broody love-interest. (Though they seem to be doing a complete u-turn now...)

[SvetlanaSvetlana]

My first reaction when watching the new episode was "No Korra... I can dig this"

One of my main criticisms of the show was that it always focused on Korra and Korra's adventures. None of the other characters ever saw the spotlight (and the cast is pretty solid imo) Mako, while he was a total douche to Asami, is turning out to be a cool dude. Every character but Korra is developing pretty nicely, and fitting well into their roles. Korra still needs to be reminded that the Avatar is just one kid.

One of my other criticisms is that in TLA, we were constantly shown the limits of people's bending, and the feats of strength people could achieve. In LoK, we see weak-ass firebending from Mako, pitiful earthbending from Bolin, and the other stars never see the spotlight. The only semi-competent benders are Korra and Tenzin, and Korra's the goddamn Avatar.

[Duronos]

My first reaction when watching the new episode was "No Korra... I can dig this"

One of my main criticisms of the show was that it always focused on Korra and Korra's adventures. None of the other characters ever saw the spotlight (and the cast is pretty solid imo) Mako, while he was a total douche to Asami, is turning out to be a cool dude. Every character but Korra is developing pretty nicely, and fitting well into their roles. Korra still needs to be reminded that the Avatar is just one kid.

One of my other criticisms is that in TLA, we were constantly shown the limits of people's bending, and the feats of strength people could achieve. In LoK, we see weak-ass firebending from Mako, pitiful earthbending from Bolin, and the other stars never see the spotlight. The only semi-competent benders are Korra and Tenzin, and Korra's the goddamn Avatar.

Yeah what's with this weak bending? It's not making any sense.

[Ridesdel]

Yeah what's with this weak bending? It's not making any sense.

Yes it does. Their form is weak/non-existent. TLA had a STRONG correlation of form to bending. And if you paid attention to what Tenzin was saying at the beginning of this season, Korra needs to learn REAL airbending, as in the full spectrum of forms.

The one piece of Strong bending i've seem Mako do was during the explosion of the building, where he basically stopped it, he used a traditional style of bending there it seemed to me.

[Frozen Death Knight]

Yeah i've had a funny feeling about Varrick for a while but they make him so likeable it kinda threw me off a bit

Maybe the line he said to Asami "If you can't make a profit from a war then you can't make a profit" is his way of literally telling them his intentions

I had my suspicions already when Varrick was talking about making actual propaganda films. I mean, there have been quite a lot of hints about Varrick's motivations already, but as you said, what made him tricky to determine his status as an antagonist was his personality. Pretty happy to know that the amount of screen time he has got is paying off. Now when there are two antagonists by having Unalaq and Varrick it will be a lot trickier to see where this goes.

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Yeah what's with this weak bending? It's not making any sense.

I think it does. It's been well established that powerful bending and good stance techniques are closely linked. With the exception of Korra, the new team Avatar don't have any training in the traditional stances of their respective bending form. The way Mako and Bolin use bending are more in practical terms as well as using it in a sports style combat that is based more on restrained and tactical moves that are not meant to severly hurt (you can't have bending sports if your moves can actually kill or incapacitate someone indefinitely).

In a sense, the traditional way of bending is dying out in the modernized world of Republic City, but it is undeniably the strongest bending techniques you can learn.

[Immitis]

There's part of me of that wants to believe Varick is doing this for a greater good reason. There has to be some good in him and I really wonder what his motives actually are because he is technically helping Asami. I really have no idea.

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To be clear about things, that last episode opened up a bunch more than any of the other episodes have, it feels like this could go any direction.

im pretty sure hes trying to make it look like the northern water tribe is up to no good and attacking everyone to get people to help in the war, whether hes doing this to help the south or because he has some scheme or is thinking it will make him lots of money somehow idk

[Duronos]

im pretty sure hes trying to make it look like the northern water tribe is up to no good and attacking everyone to get people to help in the war, whether hes doing this to help the south or because he has some scheme or is thinking it will make him lots of money somehow idk

Actually that could let him off the hook if you think about it, he's actually attacking his own vessels and he's trying to get everyone to hate the north and with good reason. I could see it go that direction and he is never labeled as an antagonist.

[Zonas]

Actually that could let him off the hook if you think about it, he's actually attacking his own vessels and he's trying to get everyone to hate the north and with good reason. I could see it go that direction and he is never labeled as an antagonist.

Well, they made him crazy enough to believe he'd be capable of a huge plan to help everyone in the end. The main question would be, why couldn't Mako and Asami know about it and make himself look evil?

I'm mostly just crossing my fingers for him. Just because I'll probably end up smashing my head against the wall of Varrick just turns into Book 2's Sato. At best, if he is going to be a bad guy, I hope they can give him a better motive then just wanting more money.

On the subject though, any one else notice the strange trend that LoK has made? What's up with them making out the Water Tribe people into villains? It's like how AtLA showed most Fire Nation people, either evil or assholes. Book 1 you had Yakone, Tarlokk and Noatakk. And now we've seen Varrick, Unalag and his kids (and the northern army if you can't em.) You could even count Tonrag, considering he's a blasphemous bastard for what he did to the spirits that one time. Hell, even Korra's acting like a whiny thug most of the time now.

I can only hope that they create a third Avatar series, Avatar: James Cameron Can Suck It. It'll revolve around an evil Air Bender, who uses his power of air scooters and marble spinning to take over the world...

[Duronos]

Well, they made him crazy enough to believe he'd be capable of a huge plan to help everyone in the end. The main question would be, why couldn't Mako and Asami know about it and make himself look evil?

I'm mostly just crossing my fingers for him. Just because I'll probably end up smashing my head against the wall of Varrick just turns into Book 2's Sato. At best, if he is going to be a bad guy, I hope they can give him a better motive then just wanting more money.

On the subject though, any one else notice the strange trend that LoK has made? What's up with them making out the Water Tribe people into villains? It's like how AtLA showed most Fire Nation people, either evil or assholes. Book 1 you had Yakone, Tarlokk and Noatakk. And now we've seen Varrick, Unalag and his kids (and the northern army if you can't em.) You could even count Tonrag, considering he's a blasphemous bastard for what he did to the spirits that one time. Hell, even Korra's acting like a whiny thug most of the time now.

I can only hope that they create a third Avatar series, Avatar: James Cameron Can Suck It. It'll revolve around an evil Air Bender, who uses his power of air scooters and marble spinning to take over the world...

Made me chuckle.

Better yet the next Avatar series will be called The Legend of M Shamalamadingdong and Shit.