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That shot of the army approaching was some really bad CGI and I hope they shy away from big group shots of copy-pasted mechs in the future.
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 16:45 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 09:09 |
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I liked the music, though. Have they ever released more of the soundtrack than a few pieces on soundcloud?
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 16:58 |
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VanSandman posted:Also Baatar Jr., what the hell, man. When your fascist wife is the one saying 'no, we need to do this peacefully,' you got problems.[/spoiler] "No, gently caress you, Psyched to see how the siege goes down. I guess this is gonna be Bolin's big moment.
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 17:26 |
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I bet that mechs can beat metalbending, but aren't prepared for lava underneath their feet.
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 17:35 |
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SpiderHyphenMan posted:That shot of the army approaching was some really bad CGI and I hope they shy away from big group shots of copy-pasted mechs in the future. Big armies of CGI machines rolling towards cities are a time-honored Avatar tradition!
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 18:02 |
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So are they more likely to rush to make Bolin see the light during the Zaofu campaign or are they going to actually wait until he has some real blood on his hands until he realizes how much more destructive metal fascism is compared to an impotent mixture of Third Republic ruled by
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 18:19 |
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Also, IMDB got it wrong. The real name of the episode is Enemy at the Gates which is pretty obvious from the preview. If the battle at Zaofu is going to be a two-parter my guess is that Bolin will either switch sides at the end of this episode as a cliffhanger(and the next episode will be the ramifications of his choice) or sometime during the next. There are a lot of scenes of him running away and battling mechs on his own while still wearing his uniform in the trailer so they should be giving some time to his about-face.
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 18:42 |
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Crabtree posted:So are they more likely to rush to make Bolin see the light during the Zaofu campaign or are they going to actually wait until he has some real blood on his hands until he realizes how much more destructive metal fascism is compared to an impotent mixture of Third Republic ruled by Nah, Zaofu's going down. What'll happen is Bolin will have a reunion with either Opal or Korra and see the error of his ways, etc.
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 19:19 |
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SpiderHyphenMan posted:It haunted her around the world for six months. This is pretty much spot on. Agreed. And Toph's description of the why of Korra's enemies eluding her is exactly what I was getting at for so long. At the core of each enemy, there's an ideal. The show has sorta toed around this, and by extension, toes around why people would join up around these fanatics. Zaheer's philosophy was, at its core, one of freedom from control, and yes, that has fundamental validity. It's not just "kill all leaders". He wanted freedom for all, and the means to that end was the abolishment of government. He went off the deep end in the execution, but complete freedom itself is a philosophy that can intrigue. Korra seeing things in shades of grey will allow her to see Kuvira not just as a monster that is Doing Things Wrong, but a person fueled by ideals. A person pursuing those ideals in unbalanced ways. This is the episode where we hopefully see how Korra is diverging from Kuvira. Bolin was right, despite Mako's disbelief, that Korra and Kuvira were much the same pre-episode 4. Korra would just rush in, bully those she disagreed with, and hit things until they lined up. She was a fascist, even if unintentionally, with her "my way or the highway" perspective. She's come a long way. What I imagine is Korra will encounter Kuvira, and ask for parlay and debate. Kuvira will be shown to be unreasonable and forceful when the now-more reasonable Korra disagrees with her, and that's when violence will erupt. Kuvira will be discredited when she can't simply silence dissent and overpower dissidents such as Korra. Fascism isn't very good at handling opinions that disagree with it without relying on force.
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 19:45 |
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but will it really? I mean we won't know until next week but according to the preview it looks like Kuvira is actually adjusted enough to understand that they can't just roll into Zaofu and destroy everything, she understands that doing that would show her as no different than Sozin, Ozai or Chang, a simple tyrant who only understands violence I think this will be interesting because up until now we've never really seen a head of state villain be this nuanced in TLA or Korra. But of course I understand that this could all be turned on my head as Suyin will not kowtow and then Kuvira will get to say something akin to "let the die be cast" and crush Zaofu to dust. However, like others are hypothesizing this could be what changes Bolin's disposition and he will see that while he was bringing balance and stability with Kuvira at the start of their crusade, it has long gone off the rails and he doesn't agree with her anymore
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 19:57 |
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Also a legitimate resolution for the political crisis is a United States of Earth thing. We see independent States being dissolved in exchange for protection. Korra could establish a federal type government that offers protection and support to all Earth Kingdom lands but allows them a degree of autonomy.
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 20:01 |
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Seems like that was what was previously the case, c.f. Omashu having its own king. By the way, we haven't heard about Omashu at all in the entire Korra series...
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 20:04 |
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Hauldren Collider posted:By the way, we haven't heard about Omashu at all in the entire Korra series... It must have been consolidated by Kuvira sometime between the first episode and this one. Because it wasn't marked on her map as being part of the Empire yet in the first episode, but now they're saying that Zaofu is the last holdout.
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 20:18 |
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Hauldren Collider posted:Seems like that was what was previously the case, c.f. Omashu having its own king. By the way, we haven't heard about Omashu at all in the entire Korra series... It seems that Zaofu has overtaken Omashu as the Earth Kingdom/Empire's second city. Nobody was calling for whoever succeeded King Bumi to step into the void after Hou-Ting's death.
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 20:33 |
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Democratic Pirate posted:I bet that mechs can beat metalbending, but aren't prepared for lava underneath their feet. This just made me realize that Bolin has had 3 years of lavabending practice and it's gonna be rad as gently caress.
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 21:30 |
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Something a bit bothersome: it feels like nothing was really gained by this little kid mini-adventure. Korra was ready to come back to civilization on her own without being found by anyone else. I was expecting a little tension to arise had they found her before she was ready to return. They didn't find her until she was ready to be found, which was already illustrated by her vanishing without a trace for six months and nobody having the faintest idea where to look. It feels really quite redundant. It feels like the only purpose it truly served was to provide Korra a quick ride home on the back of a bison. I think the screentime could have been better used for the much better purposes, focusing on Toph and Korra. Having them argue, fight, and eventually come to terms with each other. Korra finally learning to listen to wisdom, and coming to terms with her fears, and letting go of past battles. That part was the best part of the episode and could have been expounded upon. The kids' journey could almost be totally removed and nothing of real value would be lost. They're very minor characters. If you had to devote screentime to supporting characters, I'd rather see Varrick doing his spirit-science, or Prince Wu and Mako palling around. I don't think anyone was really asking what Tenzin's kids were really up to with everything else going on.
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# ? Oct 25, 2014 23:22 |
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blurry! posted:Something a bit bothersome: it feels like nothing was really gained by this little kid mini-adventure. Korra was ready to come back to civilization on her own without being found by anyone else. I was expecting a little tension to arise had they found her before she was ready to return. They didn't find her until she was ready to be found, which was already illustrated by her vanishing without a trace for six months and nobody having the faintest idea where to look. It feels really quite redundant. It feels like the only purpose it truly served was to provide Korra a quick ride home on the back of a bison. While I agree that the screentime could have been used better, I disagree with your first paragraph. Korra ended the third season feeling as though there was no need for her anymore, that she could disappear and life would go on and nobody would come looking. Once she got connected with the swamp she realized that this wasn't true and there were people looking for her all along. "The Calling" referenced in the title was Korra herself letting herself be found, connecting with the world around her and calling out for somebody to find her: if someone wasn't there to answer the call Korra's storyline over the past few episodes of doubting she is wanted and needed wouldn't have found resolution. It may not have had to be Tenzin's kids in particular but I'd argue it was necessary for airbenders to be the ones looking. Tenzin explicitly said that the new Air Nation would be fulfilling her role; essentially they would be replacing her and rendering her role meaningless. The fact that it was airbenders coming after her, the ones that took over in the first place, showed that there was a place for the Avatar, and Korra in particular, that nobody else could fill. Considering it was Jinora's mastery of airbending that prompted this crisis it adds meaning if she's among the people looking for her. ETA: Actually, after thinking about it, why shouldn't it be Tenzin's kids? A lot of the storylines for the characters this season have been about growing up. This was their first big mission on behalf of the Air Nation--just because they're kids doesn't mean they're not maturing and learning to embrace their place in the world and each other. By the end of the episode they were already moving towards the latter. Growth isn't about just the main characters and it's neat to see that even the side characters have their own journeys and challenges. Kind of reminds me of the original series. Sato fucked around with this message at 00:03 on Oct 26, 2014 |
# ? Oct 25, 2014 23:46 |
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Crabtree posted:So are they more likely to rush to make Bolin see the light during the Zaofu campaign or are they going to actually wait until he has some real blood on his hands until he realizes how much more destructive metal fascism is compared to an impotent mixture of Third Republic ruled by Nah pretty sure Bolin gets corrupted by power, takes out Kuvira, then becomes the new (somewhat)benevolent ruler of the earth kingdom. Long live Earth king, Bolin. Oh, then Mako has to serve Bolin as his perpetually exasperated bodyguard. Its the only thing that really makes sense. blurry! posted:Something a bit bothersome: it feels like nothing was really gained by this little kid mini-adventure. Hey, we gained a valuable life lesson about working together.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 00:00 |
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Meelo's head is like a giant misshaped potato. [edit] [/edit] Lady Gagazula fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Oct 26, 2014 |
# ? Oct 26, 2014 03:42 |
What if Korra decides that Kuvira is right, at least in the beginning? EDIT: Well, not "right", but I feel the conclusion of the storyline won't be "Kuvira is dead, let's put Wu back in the throne". I'm expecting something like Republic City and how it shaped Aang's story. Yeah, he defeated the Fire Lord and made possible the next step but I would argue that Republic City/United Republic of Nations was probably Aang's biggest achievement. lunar detritus fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Oct 26, 2014 |
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 04:45 |
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gmq posted:What if Korra decides that Kuvira is right, at least in the beginning? Then it would probably be like Bolin's story on steroids.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 04:49 |
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Something WAS gained! Now Korra has a means of returning to society in a timely matter via airbison. That was literally the plot purpose of the mini kid adventure, especially since time is pressing in this arc.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 07:31 |
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Democratic Pirate posted:I bet that mechs can beat metalbending, but aren't prepared for lava underneath their feet. The equalist mechs were all platinum somehow since the cops were metal benders. These are probably the same, platinum is really common in the avatar universe apparently.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 07:32 |
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It honestly wouldn't surprise me if Kuvira loses to Korra - only to get elected first Earth Nation president immediately after.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 07:36 |
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gmq posted:EDIT: Well, not "right", but I feel the conclusion of the storyline won't be "Kuvira is dead, let's put Wu back in the throne". I'm expecting something like Republic City and how it shaped Aang's story. Yeah, he defeated the Fire Lord and made possible the next step but I would argue that Republic City/United Republic of Nations was probably Aang's biggest achievement. Yeah, as part of the whole balance theme I think Korra's going to go for a middle path between Wu's lack of interest in governance and Kuvira's strict interest in only governance. It's clear the Earth Kingdom isn't working but the Earth Empire is too much of an extreme. I expect Suyin will be involved somehow since she's really the only other prominent inhabitant/citizen of the Earth Kingdom we know. Maybe an Earth Federation? VanSandman posted:It honestly wouldn't surprise me if Kuvira loses to Korra - only to get elected first Earth Nation president immediately after. This would be incredibly depressing so I doubt it would happen--I think Bryke will want a happy ending, and defeated fascist ruler immediately returning to power again wouldn't really give that happy, satisfying conclusion. I mean, Kuvira was given a chance and ended up setting up prison camps so I'm not sure how many people would want her in a position of authority again. Sato fucked around with this message at 08:02 on Oct 26, 2014 |
# ? Oct 26, 2014 08:00 |
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Sato posted:This would be incredibly depressing so I doubt it would happen--I think Bryke will want a happy ending, and defeated fascist ruler immediately returning to power again wouldn't really give that happy, satisfying conclusion. I mean, Kuvira was given a chance and ended up setting up prison camps so I'm not sure how many people would want her in a position of authority again. I don't remember any prison camps? I don't know, she seems to have a lot of popular support among the general populace - she has reunited the Earth Nation and kept the bandits from taking everything like they used to do.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 08:05 |
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Sato posted:Yeah, as part of the whole balance theme I think Korra's going to go for a middle path between Wu's lack of interest in governance and Kuvira's strict interest in only governance. It's clear the Earth Kingdom isn't working but the Earth Empire is too much of an extreme. I expect Suyin will be involved somehow since she's really the only other prominent inhabitant/citizen of the Earth Kingdom we know. Maybe an Earth Federation? For that matter, given Omashu and the frequently-referenced diversity of Earth Kingdom peoples, it sounds like their historical norm is a loosely governed empire with symbolic leadership but non-centralized government. And the last queen's obsession with being a strong and controlling ruler unlike her father was a big part of the problem. Whether the monarchy of the Earth Kingdom survives or not, it makes sense that the solution will be unifying the world's largest nation, but loosely.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 08:07 |
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VanSandman posted:I don't remember any prison camps? I don't know, she seems to have a lot of popular support among the general populace - she has reunited the Earth Nation and kept the bandits from taking everything like they used to do.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 08:17 |
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Just gonna post to say I hope that both SpiderHyphenMan and Blurry! are right. To have a show, in it's final and 4th season, so properly and appropriately address the major short-coming in it's previous arcs would be absolutely astounding. After reading that analysis, I'm gonna be entirely disappointed if that's not where they're going. I do agree that they don't really need to bother introducing new characters at this point. One of the best things about the Coronation episode is the first five minutes or so, where we catch up with all the previously established folks and despite only spending one or two lines with each are reminded why they're awesome and worth our time.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 09:33 |
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I didn't see this posted in here, but I found this re-edit of the end of the last episode that went a long way towards giving the proper weight to Korra removing the poison. It's pretty rough, but it would have been amazing if it was planned from the beginning with better match-cuts to her movements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5jxmxNpZBg
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 09:54 |
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I want to see Korra go full Kyoshi and separate the metal clan from the rest of the Earth Empire. Speaking of, how is Kyoshi Island?
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 09:58 |
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Thanks for posting this. The kinda-sorta-anticlimax of an otherwise good episode (minus the kid plotline) was really irritating.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 10:05 |
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Andrew_1985 posted:I want to see Korra go full Kyoshi and separate the metal clan from the rest of the Earth Empire.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 10:21 |
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VanSandman posted:I don't remember any prison camps? I don't know, she seems to have a lot of popular support among the general populace - she has reunited the Earth Nation and kept the bandits from taking everything like they used to do. Someone already explained the prison camp thing. There's also been a lot of speculation that she's hired at least some of the bandits to ensure the governors have no other choice but to capitulate. As for the bolded part, we actually haven't seen that she does. The only Kuvira supporters we've seen have been in the United Republic. For that matter, the only Wu supporters we've seen have been in the United Republic (other than the world leaders, of course). Except for Suyin, the citizens of the Earth Kingdom haven't had a voice in who is going to rule them. The only other Earth Kingdom subject we've really seen is the Yai governor, and he didn't like any of the options presented to him, Kuvira or otherwise. He only signed Kuvira's contract because it was literally the only way to keep his people from starving: not exactly a ringing endorsement there. Suyin supported Wu but only reluctantly: we've heard her views on monarchy and we know for a fact she doesn't support Kuvira. We haven't really heard any other Earth Kingdom voices in the matter and I think that's going to be significant later on. If Kuvira isn't so bad why doesn't she hold an election? If she's as popular as you (and her United Republic supporters) say she'll win in a landslide and there's no need for her to seize power with aggressive tactics as she's been doing. Andrew_1985 posted:I want to see Korra go full Kyoshi and separate the metal clan from the rest of the Earth Empire. According to Bryke in the Q&A they just did Friday we're not going to find out.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 15:54 |
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What ever happened to Iroh 2.0?
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 16:23 |
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Democratic Pirate posted:What ever happened to Iroh 2.0? Burning in the fires of Hell.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 16:59 |
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Sato posted:This would be incredibly depressing so I doubt it would happen--I think Bryke will want a happy ending, and defeated fascist ruler immediately returning to power again wouldn't really give that happy, satisfying conclusion. I mean, Kuvira was given a chance and ended up setting up prison camps so I'm not sure how many people would want her in a position of authority again. Yeah, I'm putting money on Mako's influence helping Wu to reform and learn how to be a good leader.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 17:12 |
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Democratic Pirate posted:What ever happened to Iroh 2.0? Waiting in the wings for the liberation of zaofu
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 17:41 |
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When I suggested Kuvira run for president, I meant after Korra had kicked her rear end then had a long talk about balance and convinced Kuvira that maybe a dictatorship is a very bad idea after all.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 18:48 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 09:09 |
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VanSandman posted:When I suggested Kuvira run for president, I meant after Korra had kicked her rear end then had a long talk about balance and convinced Kuvira that maybe a dictatorship is a very bad idea after all. I think Kuvira is likely going to represent an extreme viewpoint that can't be reasoned with; I suspect Korra will try at some point during the season and be rejected. At some point Kuvira is likely going to go too far and be irredeemable. Having Kuvira win an election soon after decimating the Earth Kingdom (which will likely happen) doesn't strike me as particularly realistic--after all, Kuvira seemed a capable, dependable woman who gained the confidence of others and then she spat it back in their faces in the most public manner possible. If the Earth Kingdom gets a vote, I doubt they'd vote for the woman who destroyed the Kingdom shortly before the election because "the Avatar says she's okay now;" if she could fool Raiko and the rest of the world leaders she can fool Korra and I think people would recognize that.
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# ? Oct 26, 2014 19:34 |