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DrSunshine posted:Oh my god, someone please do a mashup of Kuvira's "coronation" speech with the Britannia anthem. yes, your majesty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OULD8a13Ul8
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Oct 18, 2014 18:28
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uncleKitchener posted:Also, I might know what may be keeping Baatar II and Kuvira together. Soooo Korra will be Kuvira's Suzaku then  edit: ^^^holy poo poo dude
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Oct 18, 2014 18:34
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Oct 18, 2014 19:36
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Shame these seasons are so short; season three was the first time anyone really gave a hoot about the villains and now we have a protagonist on their side. If they had let Ghazan and Ming Hua escape we could have seen Red Lotus vs. Earth Empire Jackard fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Oct 18, 2014 |
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Oct 18, 2014 20:40
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Jackard posted:Shame these seasons are so short; season three was the first time anyone really gave a hoot about the villains and now we have a protagonist on their side. I expect Red Lotus to be a major terrorist organization in the Earth Empire. No super-benders, sadly.
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Oct 18, 2014 20:50
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So are we going to get more explanation for why Toph went all Yoda? At this point she just seems like she's in for fan service.
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Oct 19, 2014 00:05
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Barlow posted:So are we going to get more explanation for why Toph went all Yoda? At this point she just seems like she's in for fan service. I would assume that finding the spot where she can see everything going on across the continent might have had something to do with it.
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Oct 19, 2014 00:08
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Doesn't really make sense to me that she can see everything through the trees' roots, but not through the, you know, soil.
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Oct 19, 2014 00:13
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She went to find enlightenment. Being connected to everything yet detached from it is pretty dang enlightened.
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Oct 19, 2014 00:13
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mateo360 posted:Most shows usually have a preview of the next week's episode right after the show airs. It is not that unusual. True. They usually wait until mid-week to release new Korra clips though so I was wondering why they changed that. Barlow posted:So are we going to get more explanation for why Toph went all Yoda? At this point she just seems like she's in for fan service. Toph's always struck me as the type who stays on the move. Frankly, I'm surprised she stayed in Republic City so long, let alone had kids. Funnily, I haven't really seen having the old characters around as fanservice. I think Korra's going to go to all of Aang's old masters to get her mojo back: Katara for the initial healing, Toph to regain her confidence in her bending, and Zuko for the overall spiritual Avatar self (or something--mainly I think Korra and Zuko will meet Iroh in the Spirit World together). I don't mind her being around because it feels as though she has an actual role to play that contributes to the story. So far the only character I've felt was explicitly fanservice was Iroh II. God do I hate Iroh II.
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Oct 19, 2014 00:16
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Mymla posted:Doesn't really make sense to me that she can see everything through the trees' roots, but not through the, you know, soil. Tree roots are solid, whereas loose soil kinda messes with internal radar. It's not as bad as sand, but it still isn't ideal for long distance detail
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Oct 19, 2014 00:28
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Also, trees are alive.
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Oct 19, 2014 01:51
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I'm really glad this show's back on the classic standby of Imperial Fascism as an antagonist, because I think its the only style of civic philosophy the writers know how to handle with any grace. Of course, militant dictatorships are easy to write. They usually revolve around the cult of personality of a singular person (giving you an antagonist), with invasive and widespread influence (giving you a sense of pervasive danger), and attempt to silence dissent (giving you motive and means to antagonize the protagonists). It's a tried and true easy-bake recipe. Korra's been a politically-centric show from the beginning, but the scripting just doesn't have the chops for that sorta thing outside of fascist military dictatorships, unfortunately. If you're going to have a politically charged show, you have to be able to deftly describe each side of the debate. Even seemingly unreasonable philosophies, such as the Tea Party, have appealing sentiments that recruit people to their side. Otherwise, it'd gain little to no traction and wouldn't be a viable philosophy that could challenge a status quo, much less be the status quo. A major issue I see with the writing here is that the writers want to talk philosophy and use it as a device for their plots, but they don't really make an effort to understand, or at least articulate, their antagonists' motivational philosophies. Why would anyone actually believe in radical egalitarianism, or anarchy, or theocratic extremism? A college level thesis ain't needed; this is a show aimed at young people, after all. But, you don't have to devote screentime to the villain rattling off a manifesto. Likewise, the writers seem confused as to what they're trying to say with this show, and they are trying to say something, because they've focused on a different political and social philosophy each season thus far. They present us with a variety of villains with wildly different ideas, and even go so far as to paint a picture of a world where the status quo is questionable, to say the least. But when called to answer against the ideas the antagonists present, Korra and company come up empty handed except with a resounding "I don't know!". Republic City is shown to have problems with poverty and crime and equal representation of all demographics. The Earth Kingdom has a gestapo working under a old monarch who wanted to conscript a fledgling minority into an elite weaponized army, who was to be succeeded by an incompetent heir, all while the common people suffered. The White Lotus has secret prisons around the world, and apparently meddle in world politics. The New Air Nomads act as a global police force that may or may not recognize sovereign borders. The message here is that a lot of the world is very messed up, and in often very terrible ways. If the system is that terrible, then how can one rightfully defend it? The answer is that the writers simply end up defending the status quo, probably unintentionally. Which is really unfortunate. If they had spent more time understanding the philosophies that inspire their own antagonists' viewpoints, they could have articulated why Korra should defeat them, and thus define what this avatar actually believes in. Because what does Korra believe in? What's her opinion? What does she as a character think of the world, and how people should best get along? Roku thought the four nations should be that. Four nations. Aang was a staunch pacifist and was all about bringing people together to experience each others' cultures and traditions. What does Korra believe? From all the episodes I've watched, I can only tell that Korra believes that she is the Avatar and that she will punch any jerk who steps outta line. The Equalists believed that bending wrongfully divided people, placing benders above others. Their grievances and philosophy is not hard to understand nor demonstrate, but the writers didn't do much with it. Are benders really that privileged? Is society stacked against Nons so much that it breeds inequity? Do the non-benders get much of a say in government? Or is the inequity in society deeper, and benders are just an easy scapegoat? Is poverty and hunger and fear the root causes that make people's ears perk up when someone comes along spouting slogans? The lesson here some would say is too complex for children, but I say its an incredibly good thing to teach kids at an early age. Children understand unfairness, because life can be very unfair. But its important to teach them, with shows they like such as Korra, that maybe the easiest answer isn't the right one. Blaming an easy target for the greater wrongs of society is something people do on the daily, and its bred many terrible results. Spending 12 episodes really delving into this issue would be amazing. Korra should have been introduced to a non-bending everyman or two. She gets an insight in how they live their lives, and see how hard things can be for them, or the invisible advantages others with bending possess. On top of that, just because benders get some advantages doesn't make them bad people. She gains a deeper understanding in the plight of people, and how Amon's easy solution allows him to take advantage of them. Instead, we get 12 oddly paced episodes where Korra continuously runs in blind and swinging, and attempts to bring down Amon without understanding why he got to where he was in the first place. Her bullheaded behavior is met with predictable results. She loses her bending, and is devastated by it. Not being able to bend 3 of the 4 elements is a horrible, terrible fate for Korra. She doesn't even seem to get that she is still a bender, and one of the handful of her type. She's still amazingly special and unique. Then, at the very end, she magically has everything returned to her, well, just because. Season 2 is the lowest point. I won't spend a lot of time talking about it because I wish the writers would have gone a different direction entirely, but what's done is done. Unfortunately in this season, they go farther into the lazy antagonist method. Unulaq is a crazy priest who wants to uncork the bottled Ultimate Evil and make himself a god and usher in 10,000 years of darkness. Yawn. Not only is this boring, but its a strange departure from the asian influence the show usually demonstrates. Rava and Vaatu are supposed to be two sides of the same coin, order and chaos, but the show describes them in terms of Light and Evil. This is more a western style dichotomy of Good and Evil, instead of Order and Chaos, which are two innately neutral things that require each other for balance. Yin and Yang is the philosophy that things that seem separate are actually one in the same, and they define each other, and the way they wrote these two spirits really shows a shallow understanding of what that means exactly. Vaatu is depicted as a source of evil and destruction, instead of a source of dynamic change. It's too bad they sorta mucked up the Avatar mythology here. The avatar should be a unified being, representing equal amounts of these spirits. They seek balance balance between Order and Chaos, between Stasis and Change, Flexibility and Rigidity. Not just The Obviously Good Guy who beats up The Obviously Bad Guy. Season 3 was really quite great, but they pulled their standard (by this point), last-second reveal of the villain's motives. They should've just expressed his ideas early on. This would allow them to explore the philosophy and why it appeals, then having Korra meaningfully reject it and counter it with her own ideas. Zaheer expresses dissatisfaction with the world's status quo. Foolish, boorish rulers ignore the plight of the common person. Zaheer wants to create a world where every person should be able to seek his or her own path. Korra says she doesn't agree, but can't give more of an argument. So Zaheer's philosophy will cause chaos and people will get hurt? Just as Zaheer argues, rulers continuously oppress and subjugate their own people. The Fire Nation genocided an entire culture for the glory of their country, led by a dynasty of tyrannical despots. These are actually pretty good points. Why is he wrong Korra? Instead of providing answers of any sort, the show literally stuffs a sock in Zaheer's mouth. What I'm saying here is that the writers keep dabbling in all this politicking, but they don't seem to have the chops to really explore any issues they bring up. And its' not as if the answer would be to recreate CSPAN coverage, with long boring speeches on podiums. In good writing, we'd be shown why this idea or that idea is wrong. We'd have it demonstrated for us. I'm just glad the writers are back to a subject they can actually handle.
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Oct 19, 2014 02:54
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"Some leaders are bad, ergo we should kill all leaders and destroy the concept of government" is not actually a viewpoint that is generally something that needs to be defended again. It's a stupid black-and-white philosophy. They are not good points at all except insomuch as they argue 'some leaders are bad."
ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 02:57
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ImpAtom posted:"Some leaders are bad, ergo we should kill all leaders and destroy the concept of government" is not actually a viewpoint that is generally something that needs to be defended again. It's a stupid black-and-white philosophy. They are not good points at all except insomuch as they argue 'some leaders are bad." They don't even understand anarchy as a political philosophy. Instead of "kill all leaders!", the writers should have stressed "Everyone should be free to make their own way. Governments make that impossible." A proper philosophy of any kind believes in something, not just against something. That's my point. Zaheer believed in total freedom, and that should have been emphasized more.
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Oct 19, 2014 03:08
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blurry! posted:They don't even understand anarchy as a political philosophy. Instead of "kill all leaders!", the writers should have stressed "Everyone should be free to make their own way. Governments make that impossible." A proper philosophy of any kind believes in something, not just against something. That's my point. Zaheer believed in total freedom, and that should have been emphasized more. It was emphasized. Zaheer's mindset is the logical endpoint of the 'total freedom' argument. We even see the logical aftermath of it in Season 3 where, when given total freedom, powerful people abused the weak. He wasn't an anarchist, he was something far more pathetic and that much was clear from the moment his philosophy came out. ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 03:13
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He seemed pretty much like a Galt's Gulch libertarian type, really.
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Oct 19, 2014 03:22
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Like in Season 4, we are left with this quandary: The World Leaders want to put an unqualified, incompetent prince on the throne to succeed an obviously corrupt Earth Queen, and Kuvira wants to rule with an iron fist. Either a dictator with a secret cultural police force that lets most of their citizens rot in poverty and crime, or a dictator with a more overt military. Both are lovely answers, but we're plainly meant to believe that Kuvira is wrong because she manipulates circumstances to her favor. Unlike Raiko who was manipulating Wu to his favor. Nobody involved her is right. The common people are going to suffer either way. But Tenzin says "Boy I'd feel better if Korra was here." Why? What's Korra big ideas on how people should live? The show goes to lengths to demonstrate how corrupt the status quo is, but turns around and celebrates Korra for defending that status quo. That's my entire point. What's Korra fighting for? The writing presents us with antagonists that basically amount to easy targets that distract us from the fact that Korra isn't really helping anybody or really solving anything. I believe if they handled it a little more deftly early on, we could have had a better show overall. What Korra should have learned by now that the best way to fulfill her role as an Avatar is to provide an example by which people can live by, outshining the easy message of revenge and violence other "leaders" offer. I think this season may delve into that, and not a moment too soon. Toph showing up and telling her that her accomplishments didn't mean squat was great. Because they didn't. The world is still messed up. Toph even says herself that she spent years fighting crime and it didn't matter, and that the true lesson is you can't fight other people's battles for them. You have to provide an example of how to do it themselves. Win their hearts and minds, and appeal to their better natures, so that they don't give into hatred and violence and fear. And that's what the show's been missing, which is my entire point. Instead of the writers showing the dangers of seductive ideas (which would require the aforementioned eloquence in understanding/describing them) that can be countered with demonstrating a Better Way, the writers opt out for the easy Monstrous Bad Guy that can be defeated by punching. Season 2 is the worst, but its almost the most honest in how they've been writing this show. Bad Man wants to UNLEASH EVIL, Korra hits him a bunch, and he goes away. In The Last Airbender, the Dictatorial Fascism was headed by Ozai, who was indeed a monster man. But the writing was skilled enough to show us how and why people followed him. Fear. Pride. Indoctrination. We get lots of well rounded Fire Nation people, we get lots of grey areas. We see that simple hitting the bad guy enough will not truly end the conflict. Iroh even says that. If he or Zuko or anybody but the Avatar were to put down Ozai, the monster man, it would not cease the bloodshed; it would be rather seen as a continuation of it. Aang even goes a step further by finding Another Way that allows him to retain his agency, and elevate the victory to a place where the four nations could begin to heal. He was a truly realized Avatar that excelled beyond the limitations of the four elements in a world gone imbalanced. He embraced the good in each element, in Air he found the freedom to think outside the box, without being so ungrounded that he allowed a stronger enemy to corner him and wipe him out, as they did his forebearers. In Earth, he found a grounding to facing his responsibilities without being rendered inflexible, as the rulers of Ba Sing Se had become. In water, he remained adaptive and fluid, allowing him to survive his enemy's strikes, without running away, as the water tribes had done. In fire, he found the power to end the conflict decisively without descending into murder, and in fact preserving the life of the Fire Lord, unlike the savagery that had gripped the Fire Nation and forgotten their roots. In this, we see that Aang goes above and beyond the flesh of the conflict, and changes its soul, which allows the cycle of violence to end. He follows his beliefs, and comes out the other side self-actualized. How can Korra do that if she doesn't believe in anything?
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Oct 19, 2014 03:44
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blurry! posted:In this, we see that Aang goes above and beyond the flesh of the conflict, and changes its soul, which allows the cycle of violence to end. He follows his beliefs, and comes out the other side self-actualized. How can Korra do that if she doesn't believe in anything? She gonna punch it.
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Oct 19, 2014 04:24
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I do think Korra's going to have to stand for something politically at the end of this season. What, exactly, I don't know, but she's going to have to stand.
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Oct 19, 2014 04:26
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VanSandman posted:I do think Korra's going to have to stand for something politically at the end of this season. What, exactly, I don't know, but she's going to have to stand. Hopefully "you should punch evil people." Only, on a broad scale, so that it's "if your political leaders are being dicks, you, personally, should get out there and punch them, personally. It won't help if I beat up Kuvira but if everybody in the Earth Kingdom drops in to punch her she'll have to stop being such a pain."
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Oct 19, 2014 04:40
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Genocyber posted:yes, your majesty "ALL HAIL KUVIRA!"  Really, the only thing that makes this stop short of being perfect is that the sound mix of the music is a little bit overpowering next to the voices and the speech, and I'd have made it start the moment Kuvira addressed the people, rather than when she stood up. But really this is great. EDIT: Korra will kick reason to the curb and go beyond the impossible!  But yeah, Blurry! pretty much puts into words every mixed feeling I have about this show.
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Oct 19, 2014 04:43
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VanSandman posted:I do think Korra's going to have to stand for something politically at the end of this season. What, exactly, I don't know, but she's going to have to stand. I'm looking forward to the future comics that will explore the punchocracy that Korra establishes.
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Oct 19, 2014 04:45
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Seeing Korra spending more time with the original avatar crew begs the question, where the gently caress is Sokka?
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Oct 19, 2014 04:45
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Rincewind posted:He seemed pretty much like a Galt's Gulch libertarian type, really. Objectivism is specifically about the people in power being required for society to function. If he was someone of that nature then he would be concerned with preserving the Avatar (and the Earth Queen, etc), as without her society would not be able to function.
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Oct 19, 2014 04:47
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Tendales posted:I'm looking forward to the future comics that will explore the punchocracy that Korra establishes.  All hail the Punch-ident!Edit: Punch Minister? VanSandman fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 04:48
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sitchelin posted:Seeing Korra spending more time with the original avatar crew begs the question, where the gently caress is Sokka? We've known he's dead since like the very first episode of the show. 
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Oct 19, 2014 04:50
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sitchelin posted:Seeing Korra spending more time with the original avatar crew begs the question, where the gently caress is Sokka? One of the very first lines in the series is Katara mentioning he passed away.
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Oct 19, 2014 04:53
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A theory I heard that I always liked was that he was killed by the Red Lotus while defending Korra. I feel like a warrior's death would be what Sokka wanted. I hope he didn't just die of old age or something.
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Oct 19, 2014 05:17
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Rosalind posted:A theory I heard that I always liked was that he was killed by the Red Lotus while defending Korra. I feel like a warrior's death would be what Sokka wanted. I hope he didn't just die of old age or something. He was the meat and sarcasm guy. He probably died of a heart attack. That said, I did always find it a little sad that Sokka seems to have no real legacy beyond being part of Republic City.
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Oct 19, 2014 05:22
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ImpAtom posted:That said, I did always find it a little sad that Sokka seems to have no real legacy beyond being part of Republic City. I did find it strange that he was the only one of the original Gaang not to have kids. Sokka would've been a cool dad.
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Oct 19, 2014 05:24
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ImpAtom posted:He was the meat and sarcasm guy. He probably died of a heart attack. There's a huge statue of him in Republic City and he was Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. He was apparently also the chairman of the United Republic Council for awhile. So he was a pretty big deal for awhile. Really the question is what did Katara do for 60 years aside from have 3 children? It's really not been explored at all.
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Oct 19, 2014 05:29
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VanSandman posted:I did find it strange that he was the only one of the original Gaang not to have kids. Sokka would've been a cool dad. That we know of. I still think Suyin Beifong might be his daughter, if things with Suki didn't work out.
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Oct 19, 2014 05:31
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sitchelin posted:Seeing Korra spending more time with the original avatar crew begs the question, where the gently caress is Sokka?  
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Oct 19, 2014 06:16
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Rosalind posted:That we know of. I still think Suyin Beifong might be his daughter, if things with Suki didn't work out. Or maybe he was still with Suki at the time and that is why he is now dead.
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Oct 19, 2014 06:29
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Mymla posted:Doesn't really make sense to me that she can see everything through the trees' roots, but not through the, you know, soil. In the original Avatar series, The Swamp was a mystical focal point where everything in the world was interconnected. The Plantbender Huu of the Foggy Swamp Tribe originally attained enlightenment by meditating under the Banyan-Grove tree at the heart of the swamp. The oneness of all things that the Swamp exemplified was the source of the Gaang's visions, and it was also how Aang found Appa and Momo, by using the swamp's spiritual source as a link to them. So... uhh... yeah. It makes perfect sense why Toph would be able to see everything through the tree's roots.
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Oct 19, 2014 07:05
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blurry! posted:Like in Season 4, we are left with this quandary: The World Leaders want to put an unqualified, incompetent prince on the throne to succeed an obviously corrupt Earth Queen, and Kuvira wants to rule with an iron fist. Either a dictator with a secret cultural police force that lets most of their citizens rot in poverty and crime, or a dictator with a more overt military. Both are lovely answers, but we're plainly meant to believe that Kuvira is wrong because she manipulates circumstances to her favor. Unlike Raiko who was manipulating Wu to his favor. Nobody involved her is right. The common people are going to suffer either way. The World Leaders aren't putting Wu in charge of anything, nor is there any evidence they were going to provide him with a revamped secret police force. He was window dressing and the ministers they provided would be in charge. Now one can make a nationalist argument against what is essentially foreign rule, but what you've put forth is a bit disingenuous.
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Oct 19, 2014 07:14
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Killer robot posted:I'm loving the expressiveness this episode. 
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Oct 19, 2014 07:16
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sitchelin posted:Seeing Korra spending more time with the original avatar crew begs the question, where the gently caress is Sokka? He built a rocket to take him to the moon to be with the first woman he truly loved. Of course as good as it was he hadn't worked all the kinks in the design, like oxygen and climate control...
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Oct 19, 2014 09:01
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Rosalind posted:A theory I heard that I always liked was that he was killed by the Red Lotus while defending Korra. I feel like a warrior's death would be what Sokka wanted. I hope he didn't just die of old age or something. They explicitly mention him being there when they tried to take baby Korra. I always assumed that's how he died and that his tactical genius is the reason they capture the Red Lotus in the first place because boy howdy those same people were loving worthless at fighting them years later and the only change was no Sokka.
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Oct 19, 2014 09:08
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