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Ahahaha, Ba Sing Sei is still a hellhole and the Dai Li are still being wielded like a club by its ruler. But hey, at least we can look forward to the inevitable moment when the Earth Queen gets ground into the dirt.
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Jun 28, 2014 02:02
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pentyne posted:
She has a good reason to be pissed about things that happened probably before she was alive? If those tracts of land were ceded to the United Republic of Nations, it was because they were probably already populated by the descendants of Fire Nation settlers who had lived there for 100 years and the native Earth Kingdom population, who had all blended together and didn't want to be torn apart by being given to either nation. Creating a separate new entity state for them was the only way to resolve the conflict peacefully. I mean, there's no way you can even lend the Earth Queen a bit of sympathy -- the only thing she's really mad about is having less citizens to tax. That land was parceled out -- possibly by Kuei, to whom she should be related in some manner (father? grandfather?) -- long before she came into power, and likely before she was even born.
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Jun 29, 2014 13:14
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Hauldren Collider posted:I'm hoping someone at some point in the season actually points out the real reason anarchy doesn't work, i.e. that if you take away all the leaders, new ones spring up and at best you end up back where you started. Shhh, it'll all work out fine! After all, Guru-san said
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Aug 2, 2014 17:15
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Zaheer is just a straight-up great villain. Some of his essential core beliefs have real merit -- like freedom is a right not a privilege, freeing people from tyranny, etc. -- but then you have the poo poo like "chaos is the best system, hands down" and "kill all authority figures." Makes me really suspicious about Zuko suddenly being involved in everything this season. He might not be a world leader any more, but he's a former Fire Lord and may end up on Zaheer's radar. The one thing I really hope we don't see is the Red Lotus group broken up. It might be tempting for the writers to break Ghazan and Ming-Hua away from Zaheer's increasingly-brutal revolution and maybe even have P'Li forsake him in the end to show how far gone he is, but I hope that instead we see them sticking together until the bitter end. Having people jumping off the crazy train before it derailed worked really well when Mai and Ty Lee acted against Azula, I just don't see how something like that could work again. As it is, in season 1 the Lieutenant turned on Amon when he was revealed to be a fraud, and I don't think they'll go at quite that angle again. It would just end up being the cheesy trope of the Good Guys convincing some of the Big Bad Villain's lackeys that Good is truly the best and Evil should be opposed! But the way Ghazan and Ming-Hua were presented in this episode and how ruthless Zaheer is trending, the fracturing of the Red Lotus seems like a real possibility.
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Aug 8, 2014 23:55
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Mecca-Benghazi posted:Earth is next in the avatar cycle, right? I'd love if we got a sandbending avatar if there's ever a third series. Or a swampbender. Ahaha, this guy thinks they're ever going to make a third series. Like Nick would ever greenlight another one.
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Aug 9, 2014 15:10
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Spergatory posted:EDIT: There's always the chance that some enterprising internet entrepreneur could buy the rights from Nick and give us a streaming series. As much as I'm enjoying this season, I think this would be the only way we'd really get great Avatar in the future. Cut Nick out of the picture and cater to the audience they have, not the audience the network wants for the show. Still don't see it happening, though. :/
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Aug 9, 2014 19:45
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Strom Cuzewon posted:My favourite fight bit was when Kiya snapped off Ming Hua's icicle blade. Have we seen someone actually pry an element out of a bender's grip? Because that was seriously more impressive than her whole fight with Zaheer. Katara could do it. Took control of her own blood back from Hama. That scene actually made me wonder about Ming Hua in reference to Hama. Bloodbending is fairly well-known among many circles at this point in time, and you'd think a powerful waterbender like Ming Hua would be able to do it. Hell, Hama was the first one to figure it out in prison with the rats scurrying by, you'd think Ming Hua would have been able to reach out and grab the blood of the guards in her prison since 15-year-old Katara could even bloodbend in full daylight. (Holy poo poo I'd love to see Katara show up and just pin her to the wall with ice spikes and scold her like a crotchety grandma.) Also, Old Man Zuko's face when he heard Iroh is still around.  Such a great episode. This show has absolutely hit its stride this season. There are the right amount of goofy moments, serious moments, and TLA-style bending brawls are back!
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Aug 15, 2014 21:50
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Spergatory posted:Katara never bloodbent in full daylight. She never bloodbent outside of the night of a full moon. The only people who can bloodbend without the aid of the moon are Yakone and his two sons, all dead. Huh, I just checked the ep and you're right. It was a full moon night during The Southern Raiders when Katara bloodbent the wrong guy. Either way, my point that Katara took control of her blood back from Hama stands, and it's odd that even on nights of the full moon in prison Ming Hua never bloodbent since she's clearly very powerful. Silynt posted:Ming Hua probably wouldn't have been able to bloodbend in prison because, IIRC, it has always been shone to use very heavy hand and finger movements to control the blood. Maybe one of the Season 1 bloodbenders didn't need to but if so I can't remember it. All the bending forms are heavy on various arm and hand movements, including waterbending, but that doesn't appear to have stopped Ming Hua at all. And no, Amon, Tarlok, and Yakone didn't need any movement to bloodbend -- it was psychic bloodbending, which is why it was so insidious. hiddenriverninja posted:Preview clip from Episode 12, Enter the Void: Glad to see Korra is finally thinking through a plan ahead of time, along with the pros and cons.
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Aug 16, 2014 18:20
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Don't know why you people are still using spoiler tags, the episode is up on the Nick website so gently caress this CIA document poo poo. Episode loving rocked. One of the best episodes of the franchise, hands down. This whole season has had me totally pumped and yelling at the screen because rad poo poo keeps happening. Also, can we all please remember that in addition to P'li blowing her own head off, Ming Hua getting fried like calamari, and Korra hulking out after Zaheer, near the beginning Tonraq straight up hauled his rear end up a mountain using only scythes of ice and his own strength? That was amazing. There really is just too much to talk about all at once about this episode. It was just that mind-blowing. (Too soon?)
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Aug 22, 2014 20:50
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i hate meatloaf posted:I like how much the big airbending techniques contrasted. Zaheer's interpretation of Airbending philosophy got all his friends imprisoned and later killed, and he achieved his ultimate technique by letting go of his girlfriend after he got her killed. Jinora rallied together all the airbenders to combine their power, saved her friend, and beat Zaheer. Zaheer also works as a kind of dark mirror to Tenzin; his spiritual mastery of Airbending is what Tenzin always felt he should have but could never achieve because of his duty to his family and rebuilding his culture. Jinora succeeding where her father couldn't isn't a failure on Tenzin's part at all; it's his greatest success. He's sacrificed his own spiritual enlightenment so that his daughter and future airbenders can achieve theirs. Tenzin really is the best. Right, and I love this because it's exactly the kind of thing Yangchen was telling Aang during the ATLA finale. That because of his responsibility as Avatar, he could never set aside his attachment to the world and achieve enlightenment as others had done. Tenzin inherited the responsibility from his father, albeit for the reborn Air Nation rather than the whole world, and the same limitation on how far he could take his spirituality. Jinora represents the first generation that can rededicate themselves to that spiritual quest if they choose to, though their new self-imposed responsibilities to the world and the hodge-podge heritage of the new airbenders means it will probably be a long time before the Air Nation will return to a pre-Sozin's Comet level of spirituality, if they ever do.
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Aug 24, 2014 21:42
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Rand Brittain posted:Should the Air Nation return to that level of spirituality? It seems like both series have acknowledged that spirituality has its benefits, but have been not-too-subtly critical of people who are willing to set aside their earthly bonds, not just in the character of Zaheer but also in Uncle Iroh's advice to Aang in the finale of Earth. I think even among the Air Nomads, there were few who were at that level of true dedication to achieving enlightenment. Mostly, they seemed to go about the business of everyday life -- training the kids, playing pai sho, making fruit pies. It'd be a rare few who spent their whole life completely dedicated to severing their earthly bonds.
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Aug 25, 2014 01:24
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Filthy Casual posted:IIRC, she's the only non-villain to murder someone on-screen. However, I always considered her more irresponsible and capricious than evil, kinda like Varrick. See, I don't get this. I see Suyin as someone who once lived carelessly and recklessly to boot, but she grew up and learned from it. Since being kicked out of Republic City by her mother, she's grown into a normal adult, albeit one whose decisions regarding Korra are tempered by memories of what it was like to once feel like adult authority figures were oppressive. None of the decisions she made regarding Korra were bad or irresponsible, considering there were so many things only Korra could do and were proper for her to handle as the Avatar. Everyone else wanted to wrap her up in cotton wool and stand in front of her and the bad guys, but being the Avatar is inherently dangerous and carries the risk of dying in the line of duty or at the hands of someone who opposes the Avatar for whatever reason. She also was willing from the get-go to bury the hatchet with Lin, but the problem was that Lin couldn't accept that she wasn't the same as when she was just a teenage idiot succumbing to the pressure of her peer group and driving getaway cars for them. Imagine 20-30 years have passed since you did something dumb, and having someone in your family still treating you like you're that teenager, despite having become a respected community leader and having teenage kids of your own.
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Aug 26, 2014 23:04
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AshB posted:I like Zuko because even though he isn't an exceptional bender, he devoted his life to service longer than any other character in either series. Korra's become pretty great and all, but I want to watch The Adventures of Old Man Zuko now. He just flies around the world on his dragon, startling livestock and solving mysteries.
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Aug 27, 2014 03:24
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Rosalind posted:Sort of a Zuko redemptive arc would work. People love Zuko (I love Zuko). Yes, yes, everyone loves Zuko. The sky is blue, grass is green, everyone loves Zuko. That's like a test of humanity. Did you love Zuko? No? You're a filthy robot without reason or emotion. Big Anime Fan Here posted:It's bullshit that you have to wait all the way until Season 4 to see Toph And then it's only a shot of her grave, which is marked by a 50 foot statue of her that she bent with her dying breath. And the epitaph reads "Greatest Earthbender Who Ever Lived." ImpAtom posted:Asami is Korra's best friend I don't agree with this. You're right that Asami isn't just a nothing character, but I don't see her and Korra as BFFs. She's, simply put, Korra's only girlfriend. Jinora and Ikki are too young, Pema's more of an aunt, Suyin is a mentor figure, Eska is bananas, and Lin is...Lin. Asami is really her only female friend. Korra really doesn't seem to have a best friend. Bolin could have fit that role if not for the fact that his initial interest in her was romantic, and her friendship with Mako is only just moving beyond the awkward we-used-to-date-and-it's-weird-now stage. As a group they have a cool dynamic that's finally recovered from the stupid love triangle, but each of their connections to Korra seems much weaker than when they are all together.
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Aug 28, 2014 23:28
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You know what always kinds of peeves me about ATLA, though? Azula is fourteen. The Dai Li turned on Long Feng for her, Ozai was going to crown her (puppet) Fire Lord, and aside from her little mental breakdown at the end she could outsmart and outmaneuver basically everyone. I mean, she's a prodigy and a psychopath, but she is fourteen years old. I just like to...ignore everyone's ages in that series and pretend they're each like two-four years older since it makes more sense that way. Except Aang. He is still twelve because he's the only one who ever actually seems his age.
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Aug 29, 2014 18:13
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PupsOfWar posted:this franchise has always had the best comic-relief varmints Gif just reminded me I need to own a Pabu doll. Something to absorb my tears over the fact that red panda/ferret hybrids don't actually exist. 
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Aug 31, 2014 19:28
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blurry! posted:This is one of the issues with the short-season format Korra suffers from. The writers keep tackling concepts and plots that need more salesmanship on the part of the antagonists to be believable or sympathetic. Every season they've delved into what would be an extremely complex real-life situation, but even during the best season don't have time to give it the nuance it deserves. The Equalists really needed more narrative representation to sell their side of the story and explain to us, the audience, why their membership boomed and they were popular with the common folk. In real life, there are extremists plenty, but they are often largely ignored unless they strike a chord with the general populace. We got Amon sermonizing about being on a mission from God (the spirits), and that firebender criminals are jerks. Sato also says firebenders are jerks. We don't get any other character that really explains their position and really sells the Equalists' appeal. People are mad at the Avatar and benders, but why? Wait, you really didn't get a sense of the plight of the non-bender in Republic City from the first few episodes? Bender gangs like the Triads demanding protection money, pro-benders able to go from rags to riches based on their abilities, and the overall notion that if you're in an argument or fight with a bender, they can take you out without even coming within arms reach to make it a fair fight. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Hell, look at the pro-Equalist dude rallying in the park about the oppression of benders, who Korra ran into her first day in the city. He accused her of wanting to knock him down using her bending to silence his opinion, and he was absolutely right. Granted, Korra was at that point nothing more than a hothead who punched first and asked questions later, but imagine being a non-bending citizen in a world where a quarter or more of your population had magic powers you don't have and can never gain, which can be used to boost themselves in industries that require bending or could be used to harm non-benders in all sorts of ways. That would inspire tons of fear and jealousy, enough to inflame a movement against all bending, especially when they used terms like Equalists and employed chi blocking techniques to prevent benders from using their advantages against you. Granted, the hobo population living in the sewers showed that benders and non-benders alike suffered in Republic City, so it's not that the city's issues of equality stemmed entirely from the dichotomy between benders and non-benders. But benders are a really convenient scapegoat when they're a minority who seem privileged in the eyes of the masses swayed by their own confirmation bias and a charismatic leader that by all appearances seemed to be backed by the Spirits and completely untouchable by even the Avatar. Anyway, my point is that it's not that the first season didn't demonstrate why people supported the Equalists, it simply did not pay out as it should have. None of those issues were actually addressed in the end. Amon was just run off, his movement presumably collapsed because of its leader's hypocrisy, and Korra moved on to the next bad guy in season two. So a lot of angry people who supported the Equalist cause due to oppression by benders (real or perceived) were left to simply slink back to their homes with no real forum in which to air their grievances once the situation was "resolved."
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Sep 2, 2014 22:47
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Grump posted:I'm waiting for a "korra looks more attractive with her hair down" post. I mean, she looks more fierce. As if she's been in a fight and her hair came out of the ponytail or whatever, but she's like "gently caress it, ain't got time to fix it, keep going."
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Sep 14, 2014 18:57
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VanSandman posted:Avatar: Kyoshi at War  I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.
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Sep 15, 2014 00:20
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