Trey said:

LoK thinks it can be mature by dealing with "mature" topics. Politics! War profiteering! Civil unrest! The show believes it can be grown up by just wearing dad's pants, but it rarely does the legwork to really complement the themes it's trying to push.

AtLA was so successful because it built this fantastic world with a really interesting and understandable backdrop that drove the main plot at all times. Then the show built well realized characters within this context. And it had these characters play off one another effectively so that AtLA's themes of understanding, empathy, friendship and forgiveness could be pushed. They're not "mature" themes on the surface like what LoK wraps itself in, but they're qualities every mature person would appreciate, and are the soul of the entire show. Much care and respect is given to them.

For example, look to how this thread was begging for Korra and her gang to split up so that each character could be apart from each other. It was that toxic, their interactions. The plot would struggle because everyone would be stupid and nothing could be built between them. Leaps of logic would happen all the time, and nobody learned. Contrast that to Aang and his friends: even when they would fight, there would be an impetus behind the argument which led to a resolution that makes sense within each respective character. And the plot was driven forward.

You hardly see that in the Legend of Korra. Mako in particular was a character leech for far too long before he became merely tolerable. Satch has a really good post detailing why he was so bad - if someone would be so kind to link it.

Click to expand...

Trey said:

LoK thinks it can be mature by dealing with "mature" topics. Politics! War profiteering! Civil unrest! The show believes it can be grown up by just wearing dad's pants, but it rarely does the legwork to really complement the themes it's trying to push.

AtLA was so successful because it built this fantastic world with a really interesting and understandable backdrop that drove the main plot at all times. Then the show built well realized characters within this context. And it had these characters play off one another effectively so that AtLA's themes of understanding, empathy, friendship and forgiveness could be pushed. They're not "mature" themes on the surface like what LoK wraps itself in, but they're qualities every mature person would appreciate, and are the soul of the entire show. Much care and respect is given to them.

For example, look to how this thread was begging for Korra and her gang to split up so that each character could be apart from each other. Their interactions were that toxic. The plot would struggle because everyone would be stupid and nothing could be built between them. Leaps of logic would happen all the time, and nobody learned. Contrast that to Aang and his friends: even when they would fight, there would be an impetus behind the argument which led to a resolution that makes sense within each respective character. And the plot was driven forward.

You hardly see that in the Legend of Korra. Mako in particular was a character leech for far too long before he became merely tolerable. Satch has a really good post detailing why he was so bad - if someone would be so kind to link it.

Click to expand...

Satch said:

I'm sure everyone here already knows that Asami is the light of my life, the fire of my loins, etc.

That being said, as much as I love her, she's not faring much better for similar reasons: the lack of agency, and then they don't flesh out her motivations.

The most glaring form of this is throughout basically the entirety of book 2, where her role and her storyline are hijacked to flesh out the male characters around her - Varrick and Mako. Asami is made the passenger in a plot about the safety and stability of the company that she inherited from her father. She's got the pieces in place to start her own personal journey, but that subplot isn't about her, really. It's about learning that Mako is a great detective, and about how he will go the distance to find out the truth, even if it's in conflict with the ideals of his job. That Mako, right?

Asami follows Mako to the triads and we don't get to see any form of resistance? She's just there to accompany him because Mako has an idea that these same types of people that killed Asami's mother - these same types of people that triggered the event that would allow Hiroshi's anger to fester for a decade and then blossom into a breed of hatred that burns so hot and so brightly that it blinds him as he attempts to crush and maim and mangle his daughter in his wife's (her mother!!!) name - have a way to help her company. We don't get to explore any kind of reluctance? She just follows? She accepts help from these people? She's as good as a lamp until she has to drive them both to safety in a scene that's reminiscent of literally every badass sidekick chick scene in every action movie ever (and then the sidekick chick goes on to be nothing short of worthless the rest of the movie until she has one more moment and then is worthless again). This is about Mako and his inhibitions about working with Triads after getting out of all of that gang shit and being directly at odds with it now that he's a cop.

Next she... breaks down or whatever, and the way they express her vulnerability is through having her kiss Mako, because Mako is representative of Resolve and Reason in this subplot, both things that Asami apparently lacks. And he rejects her, then takes her later, then kisses his ex in front of a group of people THEN IN FRONT OF HER, and she doesn't even say anything. Amazing! Amazing. And this is after Mako puts the pieces together and Asami is happily signing her life away to Varrick because she's desperate and dumb I guess, and can't realize that she's being played by this guy at all, even though Mako's practically been laying it out in front of her all this time.

I don't know if anyone remembers this, but when Mako went to jail and Bolin came to visit, Bolin told Mako that Asami couldn't bring herself to visit him in jail because it reminded her of her imprisoned father. Like... we couldn't explore that with Asami? Bolin had to speak for her on this? It was absolutely shameless. That scene alone is the tl;dr version of how they treat Asami Sato's role in her story. Amazing.

Asami is a female character that has an incredible journey she needs to conquer. She has to live up to the greatness of the Sato name, and yet she has to cut herself from it so that she may rebuild it in her image, not her father's. Like Katara, or even Zuko, her story intersects with the Avatar's, but is also independent of it. She has to learn to carve her own path and build a better Future [Industries]. But she can't, because she has to take a backseat first to Mako, and then to Varrick, who essentially usurps her role as the engineer. She plays second fiddle to him. It'll be a miracle if we get to see Asami Sato, CEO of Future Industries, whose father was an inventor and innovator and likely trained Asami most of her life to take on this role someday (but not so soon, since she's a baby in corporate years), invent anything. And we don't need to. Because Varrick does that! But she can be relegated to Appa-tier transportation without the Appa-tier affection. And I guess she can fight or something, but she's not going to get put in the vicinity of any real danger (unlike Sokka), lest she be willing to die a quick death. You know, like when the writers fridged Asami's mother.

Basically, I wouldn't point to either Korra or Asami as positive female role models because of how weakly they're written in the context of the story. Asami is slightly ahead though, if only for the fact that she respects Korra enough as a person to not make a move on Mako while they're still together.

This kinda ties into why I don't like Mako. He weakens Korra's story and he weakens Asami's story. Too many moments of greatness that either of them could have are wasted on his character. Amon compliments the bending of ONE PERSON the entire time he was active in the show, and who does he give that compliment to? Mako. SHAMELESS.

That's why I'm always mad about him in here even when he does things that are completely innocuous.

edit: omfg this post is so long and its about a cartoon character im a mess

Click to expand...

Septimus Prime said:

You know what LoK has been missing this whole time? Combination animals. We have Naga and Pabu, and then that's pretty much it.

Click to expand...

Sub Boss said:

A new quote from the same person that leaked the earlier episode:

Spoiler

"The nature of my work has involved many journeys into the spirit world. According to tradition I have always left my physical body guarded by a close friend in the Order. This ancient tradition - spiritual journeyer paired with physical observer - is as old as the age of the Avatar. It is ostensibly to ensure my body’s physical safety. The true purpose of the practice is to guard against a much more sinister threat. While my spirit is on its journey, an ambitious spirit may seek habitation within my body.

A rogue spirit moves through unwilling flesh like venom. Ancient records show that victims of possession exhibit signs of delirium when they awaken, as the foreign spirit attempts to assert control over the body. My guardian in the physical world watches for these signs. In the event of my possession, I must be prevented from deceiving my fellows within the Order, or all we are working for might be lost. My physical body must be destroyed. It is critical, therefore, that my guardians be chosen such that they know me personally, yet would have no compunctions against ending me for the greater good. Only the most fanatical members of the Order are entrusted with such a task. A young acolyte from the north with an interest in airbender philosophy is proving to be a promising candidate.

—The Journals of Xai Bau

Click to expand...

Sub Boss said:

A new quote from the same person that leaked the earlier episode:

Click to expand...

coolfighter1993 said:

I respectfully disagree. The crew in in LOK are more balanced and not as overpowered as in ATLA.

Azula is a great villain but I prefer Amon over her as he wasn't as crazy and a typical villain compared to her.

Main characters:

Korra > Mako > Bolin > Toph > Aang > Sokka > Asami > Katara

Villains:

Amon > Azula > Zaheer > Zuko

Click to expand...

Veelk said:

Next friday should have all 3 last episodes, right?

Click to expand...

Satch said:

last 2

Click to expand...

Veelk said:

Wait, I thought there were 14 episodes to the season?

We're on episode 11, so...?

Click to expand...

TacticalFox88 said:

13 episode seasons brah.

Dunno where you've been.

Click to expand...

Veelk said:

Last season was 14.

Click to expand...

Flandy said:

Can we just have a series dedicated to Azula that takes place like 5 years after Sozins comet? I haven't read the comics so I don't actually know if that would be possible

Click to expand...

Veelk said:

Wait, I thought there were 14 episodes to the season?

We're on episode 11, so...?

Click to expand...

Infinite Justice said:

hmmmm

i really don't think this can all end in 2 episodes tbh...

Click to expand...

Sketchbag said:

They will start fighting and they'll fall into a rock tent and Toph Beifong will come out pissed and kill them all Korra included.

Click to expand...

Satch said:

i agree

the tophocalypse

Click to expand...

LAUGHTREY said:

Season 4: Fightin' Round The World with Toph Beifong.

Click to expand...

Frog-fu said:

Open question to errbody, if we were getting a new Avatar series in a few season would you one

A) want them to jump further into time (male earthbender)
B) go back to an previous unnamed Avatar (could be anything)
C) go back all the way to the beginning and tell the story of Wan

Click to expand...

Infinite Justice said:

hmmmm

i really don't think this can all end in 2 episodes tbh...

Click to expand...

Icyflamez96 said:

Click to expand...

Sub Boss said:

A new quote from the same person that leaked the earlier episode:

Spoiler

"The nature of my work has involved many journeys into the spirit world. According to tradition I have always left my physical body guarded by a close friend in the Order. This ancient tradition - spiritual journeyer paired with physical observer - is as old as the age of the Avatar. It is ostensibly to ensure my body’s physical safety. The true purpose of the practice is to guard against a much more sinister threat. While my spirit is on its journey, an ambitious spirit may seek habitation within my body.

A rogue spirit moves through unwilling flesh like venom. Ancient records show that victims of possession exhibit signs of delirium when they awaken, as the foreign spirit attempts to assert control over the body. My guardian in the physical world watches for these signs. In the event of my possession, I must be prevented from deceiving my fellows within the Order, or all we are working for might be lost. My physical body must be destroyed. It is critical, therefore, that my guardians be chosen such that they know me personally, yet would have no compunctions against ending me for the greater good. Only the most fanatical members of the Order are entrusted with such a task. A young acolyte from the north with an interest in airbender philosophy is proving to be a promising candidate.

—The Journals of Xai Bau

Click to expand...

Infinite Justice said:

hmmmm

i really don't think this can all end in 2 episodes tbh...

Click to expand...

darkazcura said:

Was it ever confirmed if this storyline would end here or not? Maybe they will keep it going until season 4 and let the storyline breath and develop more. I wouldn't mind if they ended season 3 with why they want Korra so badly. It better be for a good reason though haha

Click to expand...

zulux21 said:

really it wouldn't be that hard to do.

korra arrives, start battle with bad guys... learn why they are doing what they are doing -ep 12
finish battle with bad guys... learn that the red lotus has a boss and the mission won't end just because they were defeated - episode 13

season 4 deal with the red lotus as an organization and ultimately defeat the leader of the red lotus to end the series.

Click to expand...

TacticalFox88 said:

13 episode seasons brah.

Dunno where you've been.

Click to expand...

HiiiLife said:

Refuse to believe Zaheer is that strong tho.

Click to expand...

zeemumu said:

Click to expand...

Infinite Justice said:

fighting Suyin? #believe

Click to expand...

Sub Boss said:

A new quote from the same person that leaked the earlier episode:

Spoiler

"The nature of my work has involved many journeys into the spirit world. According to tradition I have always left my physical body guarded by a close friend in the Order. This ancient tradition - spiritual journeyer paired with physical observer - is as old as the age of the Avatar. It is ostensibly to ensure my body’s physical safety. The true purpose of the practice is to guard against a much more sinister threat. While my spirit is on its journey, an ambitious spirit may seek habitation within my body.

A rogue spirit moves through unwilling flesh like venom. Ancient records show that victims of possession exhibit signs of delirium when they awaken, as the foreign spirit attempts to assert control over the body. My guardian in the physical world watches for these signs. In the event of my possession, I must be prevented from deceiving my fellows within the Order, or all we are working for might be lost. My physical body must be destroyed. It is critical, therefore, that my guardians be chosen such that they know me personally, yet would have no compunctions against ending me for the greater good. Only the most fanatical members of the Order are entrusted with such a task. A young acolyte from the north with an interest in airbender philosophy is proving to be a promising candidate.

—The Journals of Xai Bau

Click to expand...

Sub Boss said:

A new quote from the same person that leaked the earlier episode:

Spoiler

"The nature of my work has involved many journeys into the spirit world. According to tradition I have always left my physical body guarded by a close friend in the Order. This ancient tradition - spiritual journeyer paired with physical observer - is as old as the age of the Avatar. It is ostensibly to ensure my body’s physical safety. The true purpose of the practice is to guard against a much more sinister threat. While my spirit is on its journey, an ambitious spirit may seek habitation within my body.

A rogue spirit moves through unwilling flesh like venom. Ancient records show that victims of possession exhibit signs of delirium when they awaken, as the foreign spirit attempts to assert control over the body. My guardian in the physical world watches for these signs. In the event of my possession, I must be prevented from deceiving my fellows within the Order, or all we are working for might be lost. My physical body must be destroyed. It is critical, therefore, that my guardians be chosen such that they know me personally, yet would have no compunctions against ending me for the greater good. Only the most fanatical members of the Order are entrusted with such a task. A young acolyte from the north with an interest in airbender philosophy is proving to be a promising candidate.

—The Journals of Xai Bau

Click to expand...

Joeytj said:

My god... wow.

Do not highlight that quote. It doesn't spoil exactly what happens in the finale, but it does indeed make this the best season of Korra, and possibly one of the best in Avatar.

Click to expand...

zulux21 said:

really it wouldn't be that hard to do.

korra arrives, start battle with bad guys... learn why they are doing what they are doing -ep 12
finish battle with bad guys... learn that the red lotus has a boss and the mission won't end just because they were defeated - episode 13

season 4 deal with the red lotus as an organization and ultimately defeat the leader of the red lotus to end the series.



they said at the start each season was to be self contained (so at the very least a new main bad guy with each season) there is a chance they changed their mind, but it seems unlikely at this time.

Click to expand...

Mariolee said:

What? Hype. Haven't read it, but man you better not be full of crap.

Click to expand...

Peagles said:

I prefer the version that has Katara in it too, but it's 17MB and I can't seem to upload it :/

Click to expand...

-Deimos said:

Try pomf or gfycat.

Click to expand...

Peagles said:

Thanks, pomf it is!

Click to expand...

-Deimos said:

lmao, that's rough but still hilarious.

Click to expand...

Sub Boss said:

A new quote from the same person that leaked the earlier episode:

Leaked quote

Click to expand...

zulux21 said:

really it wouldn't be that hard to do.

korra arrives, start battle with bad guys... learn why they are doing what they are doing -ep 12
finish battle with bad guys... learn that the red lotus has a boss and the mission won't end just because they were defeated - episode 13

season 4 deal with the red lotus as an organization and ultimately defeat the leader of the red lotus to end the series.



they said at the start each season was to be self contained (so at the very least a new main bad guy with each season) there is a chance they changed their mind, but it seems unlikely at this time.

Click to expand...

Melkr_ said:

Katara was insufferable.

And yes I agree! Korra > Aang; Amon > everybody.

Click to expand...

coolfighter1993 said:

Main characters:

Korra > Mako > Bolin > Toph > Aang > Sokka > Asami > Katara

Villains:

Amon > Azula > Zaheer > Zuko

Click to expand...