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Argue posted:I can think of a couple of justifiable reasons for disliking Airbender's first season, but its animation quality is absolutely not one of them. If that's really the only reason, just wait till he hits season 2 of Korra!  But yeah personally I love Airbender but I'm not a huge fan of season 1 beyond a few select episodes. The finale and on into season 2 is where it really grabbed me.
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Aug 27, 2014 04:34
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Eej posted:So quick question, I want to get in on the Korra train but I was kind of turned off by The Last Airbender. quote:Is it mandatory watching or can I just safely skip it and its early 2000s era flash animation.
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Aug 27, 2014 04:37
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Are there any other more normal martial art styles shown in Korra that can hold up to benders besides chi strikes? Part of the reason why I liked the first show was that there were martial art prodigies in their own right that could school benders such as Ty Lee. I don't remember much of the first season, but I'm not remembering anything non bender besides electric palms that could fight on par with any bender.
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Aug 27, 2014 04:47
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Thanks for the quick replies, I'm only about halfway through season 1 so I guess I'll soldier on. As for the animation comments, so far I've noticed a few things like really lazy long shots, zooming and panning over a static background to convey movement and fight scenes that look like they're being animated at half the framerate they should be. Maybe I'm just too picky.
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Aug 27, 2014 04:55
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Crabtree posted:Are there any other more normal martial art styles shown in Korra that can hold up to benders besides chi strikes? Part of the reason why I liked the first show was that there were martial art prodigies in their own right that could school benders such as Ty Lee. I don't remember much of the first season, but I'm not remembering anything non bender besides electric palms that could fight on par with any bender. Ty Lee hosed benders up because she used chi strikes.
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Aug 27, 2014 04:57
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It wouldn't surprise me to find that martial arts has mostly fallen to the wayside with this steadily-progressing industrial era. Like I understand benders using martial arts to amplify their bending, but I think most non-benders would be more interested in moving to a city or working in a factory.
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Aug 27, 2014 04:57
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Eej posted:Thanks for the quick replies, I'm only about halfway through season 1 so I guess I'll soldier on. As for the animation comments, so far I've noticed a few things like really lazy long shots, zooming and panning over a static background to convey movement and fight scenes that look like they're being animated at half the framerate they should be. Maybe I'm just too picky. Nah, that happens from time to time. There are some wonderfully animated episodes and some really crappy ones. Give it a shot though, it gets better as it goes on.
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Aug 27, 2014 05:14
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ImpAtom posted:Nah, that happens from time to time. There are some wonderfully animated episodes and some really crappy ones. Give it a shot though, it gets better as it goes on.
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Aug 27, 2014 05:17
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I am willing to forgive all of the erratic animation in season 2 just on account of how pretty the Wan episodes areCrabtree posted:Are there any other more normal martial art styles shown in Korra that can hold up to benders besides chi strikes? Part of the reason why I liked the first show was that there were martial art prodigies in their own right that could school benders such as Ty Lee. I don't remember much of the first season, but I'm not remembering anything non bender besides electric palms that could fight on par with any bender. Well there's a lot of variation in "benders" Somebody like Asami or Amon's Chief Goonbro could probably handle whole squads of your rank-and-file "I can throw a rock!' benders, even without the lightning gauntlet/shock sticks, but I imagine they would be in trouble if they had to go 1-on-1 with Ghazan or Ming-Hua.
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Aug 27, 2014 05:23
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Bloody Pancreas posted:It wouldn't surprise me to find that martial arts has mostly fallen to the wayside with this steadily-progressing industrial era. Like I understand benders using martial arts to amplify their bending, but I think most non-benders would be more interested in moving to a city or working in a factory.
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Aug 27, 2014 08:17
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Baron Bifford posted:Are you saying martial arts is some sort of agriculture-related activity? Why would factory workers be any less interested in it than farmers? Because as everyone knows, industrial societies are famous for the development and patronage of martial arts. 
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Aug 27, 2014 08:37
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First Bass posted:Because as everyone knows, industrial societies are famous for the development and patronage of martial arts. I mean...yeah? Quite a few of what we think of as "martial arts" today were heavily codified and developed in the 19th century. Karate, Savate, Muay Thai, capoeira, and jujutsu, among others, all date in their modern forms back to the industrial era. Better communication and transit plus the expansion of leisure time to more than just the upper echelons of the aristocracy tend to be helpful for any activity that's not strictly useful. It's not like farmers and serfs had a whole lot of time to devote to rigorous personal training. e: Honestly though this is silly, this season was bending-heavy because the main villains were all benders, similar to how season one was heavier on "regular" martial arts. The hypothetical growth of fictional martial arts traditions doesn't have much to do with it.
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Aug 27, 2014 10:33
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Jet and Sokka's master held up fine against benders with pure swordsmanship.
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Aug 27, 2014 12:29
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Did anybody see these yet? I found them on Reddit.        
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Aug 27, 2014 14:50
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One of my favourite things about S1 of Korra was seeing all the callbacks and payoffs of the events of ATLA. In particular, seeing stuff like: a metal-bending police force, lightning benders powering the city generators, chi blockers in the anti-bender ranks (Probably unnecessary spoiler tag, but don't wanna ruin it for that one guy if he does watch ATLA)
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Aug 27, 2014 16:22
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Rosalind posted:Did anybody see these yet? I found them on Reddit. You're forgetting the best one 
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Aug 27, 2014 17:27
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TheModernAmerican posted:Thanks for getting really weird guys.
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Aug 27, 2014 17:57
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Swamp bender Tiana is awesome.
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Aug 27, 2014 19:04
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Golden Goat posted:You're forgetting the best one This isn't bad. She's just drawn that way.
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Aug 27, 2014 19:05
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There's a lot of information here, but the tl;dr version is the Korra game comes out Oct. 21!
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Aug 27, 2014 23:14
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In related news, Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko will be on The JV Club podcast (Janet Varney's podcast on the Nerdist network) tomorrow. They shouldn't talk too much about Korra, but you never know. Plus I highly recommend that podcast, no matter the guest(s).
Jorghnassen fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Aug 27, 2014 |
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Aug 27, 2014 23:54
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I miss the chi blockers. I'm guessing they might come back when the Red Lotus reveal themselves to be the Illuminati from Deus Ex.Gaussian posted:There's a lot of information here, but the tl;dr version is the Korra game comes out Oct. 21! Pretty good news, but I wonder how long it's been in development for.
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Aug 28, 2014 00:07
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Considering that it's a $20 downloadable game, probably a year or less.
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Aug 28, 2014 00:10
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Yeah, that makes sense.
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Aug 28, 2014 01:09
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Veotax posted:Considering that it's a $20 downloadable game, probably a year or less. Yeah, its probably going to suck and have no variety what so ever/be very short.
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Aug 28, 2014 01:14
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PupsOfWar posted:I expect that Mako and Bolin are hampered by the fact that they (especially Bolin) still use mostly the same style that they used in pro-bending, which is established as a very different discipline with different priorities. I wonder if they even had proper bender training. Katara had training from a master, Toph was a natural candidate and learned it from the source, and Zuko had master training but it wasn't until he also went to the source and had his epiphany (and his inner turmoil and all that). Speaking of, do the lion turtles invalidate the source of bending? Are badger moles, sky bison, and dragons extremely spiritual? I guess we know the moon totally is, did those creatures only teach methods and not ability? I haven't read any outside sources just watched the cartoons so I have no idea what gets covered outside the show.
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Aug 28, 2014 01:21
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Just from what we've seen on the show, the lion-turtles gave humans the elements themselves, but the corresponding martial arts were invented by imitating things in nature that also possessed those elements.
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Aug 28, 2014 01:25
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I just got done watching S3. I have a lot of words to post about it. Maybe too many. I hope nobody will be upset about a word-dump.
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Aug 28, 2014 01:29
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blurry! posted:I just got done watching S3. I have a lot of words to post about it. Maybe too many. I hope nobody will be upset about a word-dump. I, for one, am getting upset preemptively in preparation for it.
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Aug 28, 2014 01:36
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blurry! posted:I just got done watching S3. I have a lot of words to post about it. Maybe too many. I hope nobody will be upset about a word-dump. How dare you post about Legend of Korra in this, the Legend of Korra thread.
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Aug 28, 2014 01:39
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Bongo Bill posted:How dare you post about Legend of Korra in this, the Legend of Korra thread. That said, really eager to hear what he has to say.
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Aug 28, 2014 01:46
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I'm quite sure I've enjoyed some of blurry!'s posts before. Have at it, chum!
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Aug 28, 2014 01:47
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Ok here it is about a chillun’s show inbound---I decided to sit out this season unless I heard great things about it, so I’m glad the show is back up to par with The Last Airbender. Now that we’re into 36 episodes of Korra, we really can nail down the strengths and weaknesses of the writers, and overall get a handle of this run of the Avatar franchise. What works in this type of show, and what doesn’t, is clear by now. I categorize the Avatar Franchise as “speculative fantasy”. You take a fantastical premise and ask “what would a world based around this premise be like”? In this case, what if people could magically manipulate the medieval elements of earth, fire, water, and air? What kind of cultures would emerge from that? What are the mechanics and the mysteries inherent in this magic? What technologies would be circumvented by its use, and which would feasibly come to be anyway? How does this magic shape people’s beliefs, relationships, and conflicts? Because the premise begs to be explored, the genre that we’ve found to work best for Avatar is the adventure genre. We travel to various places and explore scenarios that answer our questions. We listen to experts and masters that have ventured to the far reaches of knowledge. We discuss humanity in the context of such a world. When it comes to this genre, the adventure genre, the primary scale is universal. That is to say, our plot or narrative encompasses the entirety of the world in which said plot occurs. But this universal scale is humanized and made relatable by stories of a digestible scale. TLA is a very elegant example of this. The concept of the Avatar takes the worldly scale and compresses it into a recognizable relatable human sized being that has innumerable versions and incarnations. The writers are able to organically explore all the questions the audience has about this setting and the things that make it interesting by following the most interesting person in the world. After all, when you, as an audience member, has their curiosity piqued when you hear the premise of this setting, what other character do you really want to follow the story of? What other character besides the Avatar is going to provide as interesting scenarios or catalysts for plots and introductions to other interesting characters? This is where I think the first season of Korra fumbled the most. The Avatar is a person of global importance. The strength of the writing in the Avatar franchise is that of Comprehensive World-Building tempered by Family Drama, with light political and romantic sub-plots. The big, interesting questions of an Avatar story are “how will the avatar maintain or restore balance?” and “what are the limits and possibilities of bending?”, with the tensions of family drama bringing these lofty questions back down to earth, giving us people to root for and against and providing complexity. Zuko's relationship with his father, uncle, and sister were some of the most interesting hooks given by TLA. Sokka and Katara's feelings about their mother and father provided gravitas to their characters. Toph's need to be free from her parent's control, and Aang's total loss of anyone he called family coupled with the people he now considered family were all vital in providing us with stable ground from which to view this alien world built upon bending. Season 2's exploration of Bumi, Kya and Tenzin's relationship, as well as Tenzin's relationship with his children, were high points of that season. So I was glad to see the writers realized their skill in Season 3, and explored the family legacy of Toph. Episodes 5 & 6 were some of my favorites. In Season 1, we saw a lot of wasted time spent on questions that this franchise is wasted on. Several episodes devoted to questions like “who will win the big game” and “who will kiss and who will tell?” The questions that should have been focused on instead were “What advantages are given to those who are born with bending over those who aren’t?” “What would an industrialized nation look like if this magic existed?” “What if people could have this ability, which is regarded as sacrosanct, forcibly removed? What would people feel about that?” These questions are toyed with briefly. We see a governing body composed entirely of benders, excluding non-benders. We see bender-criminal triads run amok. We see an enormously privileged bender, Korra, fail to understand why anyone would be upset with the system how it is. We see the most privileged non-bender (Asami) being treated like a punching bag by the story. We get the picture that getting your bending removed is apparently a horrific thing, despite people living without bending everyday. But we never really delve into them much. Even when the story could have explored Korra seeing how the other side lives first-hand by removing her bending for a few episodes, there wasn’t enough planning allotted to focus on these actually interesting and pertinent scenarios. We don’t even really get to explore what a world where people can bend would look like after its industrial revolution. We’re given very flimsy motivations for antagonists (Amon and Sato both give us one-line sob stories about firebenders). But, we do spend a lot of time on pro-bending, and a romantic square of Bad Decision Making occupy entirely too much of the precious 12 episodes’ runtime. Then we have everything interesting undone in the last 15 minutes of the show. None of the interesting concepts waiting in the wings are really explored in any meaningful way. In case it wasn’t obvious, I didn’t care for S1 much. S2 was better, despite running on the recycled premise of a waterbender brotherly feud, with one deceitful brother claiming spirit-y powers and a Mission From God. The early part was terrible, with Korra and Crew running around with no real goals and accomplishing very little, with everyone written as one dimensionally as possible. But the important thing is the show finally got off its rear end and started exploring topics the setting was actually made for. The origins of the Avatar, the odyssey into the spirit world, Korra actually learning and growing as a person, and a paradigm shift of what we know about the rules of the world. Most importantly, I think the writers remembered the importance of consequences. When an action is written, it’s lazy to unwrite it. Season 3 barrels ahead full-steam by exploring the consequences of what has already happened, instead of pussing out at the last minute and undoing what happened. It’s established Korra can’t communicate with past Avatars, and in plain terms, there’s no going back. It gives Korra a clear motivation, goal, and role, something that pendulated between “Korra why are you here” and “yeah why not” in the previous seasons. Rebuilding the devastated culture of the Air Nomads is straight up Avatar work. It seems like the writers finally figured out what they wanted to do with this show. The Red Lotus is a superior set of villains that fulfill the same role that our previous antagonists attempted to fulfill, but do so more in line with the Eastern-inspired theme of the show. This season nicely contrasts and feels more in line with TLA. The antagonists this time around are an inversion of the Original Team Avatar. A spiritually inclined, bald airbender leads a fight for freedom with his motley crew of talented fighters that include one representative of each discipline. Whereas TLA focused on the downside of too much order and the totalitarian regimes it breeds, TLOKs3 focuses on an equally extreme take on too much freedom and the chaos that creates. Whereas the Equalist movement was unfocused and flawed in that it was led by a complete fraud, and Unalaq was more in line with a Evil/Good dichotomy present in more Western-inspired stories, Zaheer was excellent in presenting the fallacious belief in complete anarchy. What’s best is that he genuinely believed in his own story, just like Ozai believed in total structure and homogeneity built in his own design. It’s just a bummer that it took this long to get here. One odd plot-hole that I noticed was Lin basically abdicating her post to protect Korra. Sure, Korra would be Lin’s business when she was in Republic City, but once the PRESIDENT kicked Korra out, what was Lin’s logic in traveling to Ba Sing Se, staging a jail break on foreign soil (in uniform no less), and then trying to bring Korra back to the city from which the Avatar has been banished? What’s going on there anyway? Personally, I think the show should have made Lin the White Lotus’s liason to the RCPD with Mako and Bolin being two White Lotus rookies working under her. Give all three an organic reason to be involved and close to Korra. After all, the White Lotus dudes spent 17 years guarding Korra then basically stop giving a gently caress when she sneaks out. I’m looking forward to the next book.
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Aug 28, 2014 02:15
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I think it's interesting that the title for the season was a bit misleading, but still very apt.. everyone assumed that "Change" referred to the spirits returning to the world, but it ended up being more about the Air Nation (in more ways than one), and the Red Lotus' intentions... it was a good curveball.
thexerox123 fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Aug 28, 2014 |
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Aug 28, 2014 02:32
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blurry! posted:After all, the White Lotus dudes spent 17 years guarding Korra then basically stop giving a gently caress when she sneaks out.
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Aug 28, 2014 02:43
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Jackard posted:They got tired of being mooks after quadruple prison break. "Those guys were pretty awesome, maybe we should go join the Red Lotus."
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Aug 28, 2014 02:46
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Maybe the White Lotus has some kind of student credit/exchange program for talented benders and after a year on guard duty they get money for school.
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Aug 28, 2014 03:48
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PriorMarcus posted:Yeah, its probably going to suck and have no variety what so ever/be very short. It's by Platinum Games. Their stuff might be weird and not appeal to everyone, but I think they are incapable of making something that outright isn't good.
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Aug 28, 2014 09:47
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Decius posted:It's by Platinum Games. Their stuff might be weird and not appeal to everyone, but I think they are incapable of making something that outright isn't good. Nah, they've made some clunkers. Madworld, for example.
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Aug 28, 2014 09:55
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MadWorld rules, though
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Aug 28, 2014 13:38
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