Legend of Korra Book 3: There is only darkness.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Legend of Korra Book 3: There is only darkness.

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Wildeyes posted:

Is it unpopular to say that I really loving hate Bumi?

Not really. I mean, he gets lots of love from the fans overall, but the people who can't stand him are rather numerous. Some people compared him to Jar Jar Binks after all.

Wildeyes posted:

It's the same problem with Bumi -- they go way, way too far in trying to make these characters lovable idiots, to the point where they're too impossibly stupid to fit into a dramatic plot.

Sokka was a goofball, but he was quite smart, and he switched to responsible-big-brother mode often enough.

Bumi never struck me as stupid, he's just incapable of focusing. It's like he has to obfuscate whatever point he's trying to make under piles of ridiculous lies, so that no one but the most patient of people (Asami included, apparently) can see the wisdom behind all the foolishness.

Bolin is just stupid though.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2014 22:00

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 12:04

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Jackard posted:

My god! I cannot unsee it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xRN1SMUg7g

Now that is some great Binks-ing! Be useful because of your idiocy and clumsiness! And you get to save the day!

# ¿ Jun 27, 2014 22:28

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

SpiderHyphenMan posted:

In Korra's defense, that was a good idea that only didn't work because that's how stories go.

Are you speaking of Bumi's "plan"?

# ¿ Jun 28, 2014 00:28

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

SpiderHyphenMan posted:

What? No, I'm talking about the episode that's airing right now.

Ah sorry, I can't watch it live and with the time difference I never really know when it's airing.

On a side-note : blasted iTunes has taken all of Korra off its service now, where am I supposed to get Book 3 in a legal (well, kinda...) way now?

# ¿ Jun 28, 2014 00:32

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Oh Snapple! posted:

The airbending plotline bothers me because I can't help but shake the feeling that the people rejecting Tenzin and co. are being portrayed as wrong for not abandoning everything for a culture they have no connection to or heritage from.

I believe you may feel that way because Tenzin himself feels that way. I really hoped that he would have a realization of some sort at the end of the first interview, but it never came. I can't believe that a grown, intelligent man like Tenzin doesn't realize how much of a life-choice it is to become an Air Nomad. Especially when all the people living in the Air Temples right now are non-benders who decided to follow the Air Nomads' way of life.

QUEEN CAUCUS posted:

If Varrick is coming back, do we get to see Zhu Li do the thing?

Better, at least in my opinion : we finally get to see some quiet exasperation from her about the fact that her boss makes a mess of things and leaves her to do all the clean up.

ROSS MY SALAD posted:

Sparky Boom Boom Girl sounded a LOT like Azula

Grey DeLisle (now Grey Griffin) actually voices Ming Hua, the armless waterbending lady.

Sithsaber posted:

I'm relieved that they stepped back from the abyss that was the eska-Bolin relationship although I expect one last good catfight after Opul gets established.

I'm expecting something rather weird myself : the reveal of an established diplomatic relationship between the Metal Clan and the Northern Water Tribe, and Eska and Opal being sort-of friends from the days when Unalaq would make diplomatic visits.

And I'm all for any fight involving Eska. I wonder why they made Desna and her part of the Worf Effect Squad so early, given how lackluster they were in Book 2, with only one real fight under their belts, and not a very good one.

AshB posted:

Y'know, I was watching clips of the Book 2 finale, and it was jarring just how unimpressive all the bending is in this series compared to A:TLA. Most of it is just blasting stuff with fire or air, lobbing rocks at people, or whipping them with water. This is like Green Lantern making nothing but green bubbles all the god drat time.

Book 2 is terrible on the bending front though, easily the worst Book as far as that is concerned. The most interesting fight for me was Unalaq vs. The Ferret Brothers, and that was very short and one-sided. And don't get me started on the twins and how unimpressive their bending was after the way they were hyped!

Book 3 has some really nice new bending styles from the bad guys though, and it's already better on that front!

SirKibbles posted:

The ration thing was more because it's more obvious that there's people there when they break out the waterbender for instance they don't really dwell on the fact that a few of the white lotus dudes went over the edge into a pit of lava.

Although I must say, if the White Lotus was stupid enough to not leave a few guys at the other end of the bridge just in case, that will make them the most foolish organization in the history of ever.

P.S : I liked the first three episodes. Really, I did! It makes Apple's decision of taking Korra off their iTunes catalog all the more infuriating. What happened there, I wonder?

X_Toad fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Jun 29, 2014

# ¿ Jun 29, 2014 14:34

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Fried Chicken posted:

Are you not counting Wan's fight as book 2 for some reason? Because that was visually amazing. It didn't have the pace and energy of, say, the battle at the monastery, but it was gorgeous.

I don't count them, I think. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with those episodes. On the one hand, the story's good if simple, Wan is a good character, the visuals are gorgeous. But on the other hand, they introduce Vaatu and since they're smack in the middle of the season, they feel like a half-assed transition between two completely different stories. One of which I cared about : a main conflict with the Water Tribes' Civil War, the antagonist of which seemed to be the only one who had knowledge of and cared about a greater, more random threat brewing in the background. The other I couldn't be less interested in : an ancient battle between Good and Evil brought upon by a cosmic event, with an incarnation of all evil who's a complete chump (Maleficent he isn't). Joy.

I think the worst offender for me is the threat of the Dark Spirits in the first part of the Book : not only does it "disappear" completely after Beginnings, but to add insult to injury, it's that very threat that launches the two-parter!

# ¿ Jun 29, 2014 19:48

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

ImpAtom posted:

Uh, the Dark Spirits remain around for the entire second half and a big part of the final climactic fight is against them.

No, they don't. They're reduced to Unalaq's foot soldiers and become an extension of his will. Before that, they were a completely different problem, and Unalaq's position as the only guy with the knowledge necessary to deal with them made the rest of the conflict kind of interesting.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2014 19:59

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

ImpAtom posted:

They are exactly the same problem they were before. Spirits are turning dark and need to be purified. The only thing that changed is we had a straight-up explanation for why. They did not suddenly vanish from the plot and the danger they represent is kept throughout the entire ending until it is bookended by Korra literally purifying the source. It is not a particularly well-executed plot but claiming it vanished is straight-up wrong.

They're not "a threat" after Beginnings. When they were being created randomly by the actions of mankind and the general imbalance of the world, then they were a genuine, specific threat. That plotline just drops after Beginnings and they just become an extension of the threat posed by Unalaq.

X_Toad fucked around with this message at 20:10 on Jun 29, 2014

# ¿ Jun 29, 2014 20:08

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

ImpAtom posted:

Literally all of it is traced back to the Vaatu thing and how Vaatu builds up the negative aspects of the world.

If they were under Vaatu's control, explain to me why one tried to kill the Avatar, who was vital to Vaatu's and Unalaq's plans?

The Taint Reaper posted:

I wonder if regaining the previous avatar spirit memory things will ever come into play since it was mentioned.

Vaatu reintegrated Raava. Maybe Unalaq will be Korra's previous life.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2014 20:27

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Charlz Guybon posted:

Tonraq vs. Unalaq was a much more impressive fight, as were the fights between Wan/Korra and Vatuu.

Not a fan of "one man vs. monster" fights, and Unalaq/Tonraq was somewhat ruined for me by Tonraq's "strategy", to go in and punch his brother. I also had a hard time accepting that we had that fight at all, it only happens because of Unalaq's hatred of his brother, but that particular angle on the character was treated badly through the season so I couldn't care less about its resolution.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2014 01:37

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

dj_clawson posted:

Nick just tweeted that they are re-airing the first three episodes this Friday instead of new episodes.

https://twitter.com/NickelodeonTV/status/484037279879815168

Well, we already knew that there wouldn't be any new episode this week, so I guess it's good news that they're taking even this minor opportunity to have more people watch the beginning.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2014 21:00

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Mazerunner posted:

It's ok for his abilities to just get filed under weird poo poo about the world, but Korra's season 1 depends entirely on the existence of psychic bloodbending.

No, it does not. It depends on the existence of a bloodbending prodigy and the technique he created to take away bending with bloodbending. Amon himself almost never uses psychic bloodbending (he used it once againt Tarlokk).

# ¿ Jul 3, 2014 21:59

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Android Blues posted:

Also, like someone pointed out, firebending in the middle of the arctic is supposed to be more difficult than in a more temperate environment. Plus, all of Zaheer's gang are ridiculous prodigies in and of themselves, able to do stuff with their bending that most people think is impossible.

I understand that argument, but it just does not work as well in this instance. Zuko fought and lost against the one member of the Red Lotus who was just as disadvantaged as he was : he had to bring his own rocks and couldn't overheat them to create magma, presumably because of the weather. Eska and Desna had to tackle the most dangerous member.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2014 20:15

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Squidster posted:

I agree that Old Zuko, a single-episode cameo character, should definitely have recaptured all the prisoners and ended the plot. Audiences love it when that happens.

He could have at least lasted for more than 10 seconds (and I mean that literally) or at least make his opponent struggle (he didn't).

In fact, I think it's that whole last break out which was a bit anti-climactic. With that many named characters and time to prepare on the defenders' part, I think we were in our "right" to expect something rather impressive. Right now, that fight was a pity compared to the fight between Kya and Zaheer.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2014 21:04

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

BrianWilly posted:

In any case, this book has been pretty great so far. I've been wanting to see a villainous airbender for a helluva long time and Zaheer is definitely delivering on that front. It actually occurs to me that there shouldn't be anything preventing him from bending, like, anime-style air blades that just cuts someone apart with the wind if he really wants to push airbending to its logical conclusion. I doubt we'll see someone cut apart on this show, but maybe we'll see him really cut loose with something like that.

Aang already used an air blade against the "vine monster" in Book 2 of ATLA, it's nothing new. Although I'm not sure how well it would work against a human being.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2014 11:41

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

King of Foolians posted:

I never really understood the "Seperating of the Worlds" anyway. Wan supposedly sent all the spirits back to live in the Spirit World, but even in ATLA Aang still encountered Hei Bai, the panda forest spirit and it was implied that the spirit Koh had access to both worlds, so what the heck?

I think some spirits were bound to some places in the physical world, and even when they crossed over that connection was strong enough to enable them to come back from time to time (the solstices mostly). Koh is a very old and very powerful spirit, and the two instances of him crossing over and stealing someone's face in the material world both happened at the North Pole, so I'm guessing that there is something there that enables him to cross over (the presence of the Spirit Portal, Tui and La probably helps).

Hakkesshu posted:

Still, Aubrey Plaza

I would enjoy Aubrey Plaza's voice-acting better if they had made Eska a queen of sarcasm, but alas that wasn't to be.

nutranurse posted:

I still feel like they're under/misusing someone who could otherwise be a great voice actress.

I mostly question why, if they hired her to play someone who's almost always deadpan and blank-faced, they didn't have her bring the wits and lashing tongue that generally accompanies that face.

X_Toad fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Jul 16, 2014

# ¿ Jul 16, 2014 22:34

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

SpiderHyphenMan posted:

The Airbenders in Wan's flashback actually have the arrow tattoos, which proves that even in the era of Lion Turtles, the Air Bison were an integral part of Airbending.

Did they? I remember them having a different motif.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2014 00:03

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

SpiderHyphenMan posted:

Korra's going digital

That's rather... broad. Do we know the exact services the season will be on?

# ¿ Jul 25, 2014 21:11

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

SirKibbles posted:

Hulu, Amazon,Google Play, the Nick.com website.

No iTunes? Rats. How easy is it to get videos from the U.S. Google Play store if you're not from the U.S.?

# ¿ Jul 25, 2014 22:13

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

I think Verrick is coming up to some comeuppance soon : Bolin has rejected his relationship advices, he's been shown to be an idiot with his ridiculous airbender detector and, most importantly, Zhu Li is starting to show signs of weariness. He loses her, he's done for, I think.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2014 23:34

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Bongo Bill posted:

Plus, Iwei vouched for him, and although Iwei turned out to be untrustworthy, Varrick was the one who sold him out, so if he's playing a long con, he's at least an enemy of the Red Lotus.

Not necessarily. It frankly looks like Aiwei wanted to be found out without being too obvious about it. Most notably, his choice of culprit amongst the guards make little sense, as Mako pointed out rather quickly. Verrick could be in on it as the clue-giver, and Suyin's reaction to Aiwei's betrayal was either expected or she's part of the conspiracy herself.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2014 00:05

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

DrSunshine posted:

My favorite "they couldn't possibly--" theory was in Season 1 when some guessed that Amon and Tarlok might be brothers, and everyone was like "Nahhh that'd be far too cliche and creatively bankrupt, they're more aware of the tropes than that!" And then... they did it!

Oh yeah, Unalaq sometimes feel like even more of a sore point than Amon. That a guy who started as something of a well-made gray antagonist turned out to be a mix of Sozin's ambition with Ozai's personality, without any of the entertainment value (basically, Adrian LaTourelle, with his zero voice-acting experience, is no Mark Hamill), really didn't go over well for some people.

TheModernAmerican posted:

Hahaha I can't wait until I get to that reveal. Are you kidding?

You just said that you watched the Wan's two-parter and you've apparently seen the previous episodes if you're familiar with the twins... how could you have missed it?

X_Toad fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Jul 30, 2014

# ¿ Jul 30, 2014 01:26

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

TheModernAmerican posted:

Uhh... I might have missed it? As of now I am aware Unalaq is a dick because he campaigned to get rid of his brother after the attack.

Unalaq actually paid the barbarians to attack and told them to hide in the forest, knowing that his brother would destroy it when retaliating. After that, he didn't have to campaign for Tonraq's exil, their father decided it on his own.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2014 01:32

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

PerrineClostermann posted:

Wakfu?

Why would you mention that?

# ¿ Jul 30, 2014 21:40

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Speaking of fire, as a fan of the One Piece manga, I was very amused at seeing Mako stopping a rather big stream of lava with a quick shot of fire.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2014 00:15

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Hauldren Collider posted:

I'm wondering when they're gonna throw in a token Asami Saves The Day episode. I know she's supposed to be like this series' Sokka, but right now she feels like Team Avatar's Aquaman.

Mako and Bolin together are this series' Sokka. Asami since Book 2 has been more of a Appa without the personality. It's like the writers didn't realize, when they decided to not make her a villain after all, that they would have to work on her character.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2014 12:39

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

RyuujinBlueZ posted:

Isn't Asami actually a pretty well trained (and likely strong) martial artist? We haven't seen it in a while, but given she's traveling with the Avatar I doubt she's slacking on training.

I always got the impression that she was in the "skilled but not particularly strong" range, perhaps because she uses a weapon that can send people down in one shot and doesn't display as many acrobatics as Ty Lee. Her fights tend to be really short, she generally begins them with a sneak attack to reduce the opposition and prefers to have her opponents down very quickly. Compare with Korra, who is physically strong and prefers to hit the opposition relentlessly until their defense breaks.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2014 20:05

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

RyuujinBlueZ posted:

The shock glove wasn't always part of her style, though. She was shown in Book 1 to be pretty capable in hand-to-hand before getting the glove. Hell, I'm shocked she hasn't gotten a second one yet.

Asami's fighting style before the shock glove is honestly a bit of a head-scratcher for me. All the bad guys she's taken down on screen, she's taken down with the help of some sort of electrifying weapon, and I'm just wondering what her fighting style looked before that?

As for a second shock glove, I've come to the conclusion that hers is the only one that remains in the entire world. Plus, I'm not sure that it would be smart to have both arms weighted down by that thing. Hiroshi kind of didn't have a choice because he's not a physical fighter, but she does.

Irish Joe posted:

Asami's the Gadget of the group. She doesn't do much, but its nice to have her around in a jam.

I believe that Gadget was a lot more integral and useful to the Rescue Rangers than Asami is to Team Avatar.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2014 01:12

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Sydin posted:

I loved the scene where Bolin asks them how boring it was to be imprisoned for so many years. You know if somebody like Amon or Unalaq had been asked that question, they would have said something grimdark like "I wasn't bored, I spent every waking moment PLANNING MY VENGENCE!" Instead, we get Ghazan and Mingwa all "Oh man, you have no idea. I've lost count of how many times I counted all the stars..."

One thing I really liked is how differently they react to Mako and Bolin. The former is all business and trying to threaten/scare them, and they just tell him to shut up, but the later starts doing some small talk? They're totally into it. And I wonder which of the two things Bolin guessed were true... the mustache thing feels like the most biologically improbable, so I'm going to rule that one out.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 19:14

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

AshB posted:

I think the hint was that the unspoken attraction thing was true because Ming Hua glanced at Ghazan and then quickly glanced away.

Now I feel like a fanfic writer.

Nah it's better than that : they both glance at each other, Ming Hua then glances away, Ghazan's eyes widen just slightly when she does it in a very "what do you know, the kid is right!" way and then he goes back to Bolin. It's a very funny scene, and very humanizing for the least focused-upon members of the Red Lotus.

X_Toad fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Aug 7, 2014

# ¿ Aug 7, 2014 20:18

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

PriorMarcus posted:

Don't forget that this is the guy who publicly announced he was changing how the names were pronounced.

According to the same guy on the forum, that was all show-boating and "promotion" by Shyamalan. He didn't believe a word of it.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2014 00:28

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

ImpAtom posted:

I'm curious to see how Bolin is actually going to metalbend at this point. They've set that gun up so prominently it is is a just a matter of when it fires at this point

I don't know, I feel it's a red herring. Him managing to metalbend in a critical moment would feel like a copy-paste of Korra learning airbending in Book 1. What I believe/hope for is this : it will be revealed that he just doesn't have what it takes to be a metalbender, but could end up being able to lavabend. Notably, many people have already pointed out that Ghazan has a very mobile, acrobatic fighting style rather unusual for earthbenders, and Bolin also happens to fight like that.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2014 00:22

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

RyuujinBlueZ posted:

Seriously though, they've been building it up to an obvious "if you just believe in yourself you can do anything!" conclusion and that just doesn't feel right.

Well, we already had "too obvious, they won't do it" talks about Bryke, and they really just did the thing that everyone thought they wouldn't do. So yeah, there is a distinct possibility that this might end in a similar way as Korra's airbending plot in Book 1.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2014 16:33

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Babygravy posted:

Yeah that's what I theorised earlier in the thread, that he and the other members imprisoned were constantly meeting up in the spirit world while imprisoned.

I don't know if that can work for the others : Zaheer was completely isolated, even from the guards, but the others always had some guards watching over them.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 01:15

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

DrSunshine posted:

It'd be a funny scene if someone (like Varrick) combated it by plugging their nose and holding their breath.

Is it a coincidence that they mentioned 40 minutes of breath-holding as part of his nightly exercise regimen?

Yeah, it most likely is. No way are they going to play something like that for laughs.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 14:11

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Xelkelvos posted:

It's more like an assassination technique.

It's more of an execution technique for me. It's the magical version of strangling someone to death.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 17:03

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

BrianWilly posted:

I can't see Book 3 falling into the same hole because there's nothing quite as equally, pressingly important that needs to be addressed before it ends...but there's just this slight worrying sense of them having written themselves into an immaculate, intricate, incredibly well-crafted conflict of a corner...now how the heck are they gonna write themselves out of it?

I don't know, unlike in Book 1 and Book 2, I find the conflict in Book 3 to be quite easy to solve : get rid of Zaheer. His refusal to get into the light and take leadership of the larger revolution means that if he's taken out, there won't be a large body of supporters ready to fight for his ideals and goals. Compare that to Amon, who served a goal shared by thousands of other people, and Unalaq, who seemed to be, for some reason, rather popular in the Northern Water Tribe.

Resolving the situation in Ba Sing Se is important, but feels clearly separated from Zaheer.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2014 23:35

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Rincewind posted:

I feel like an important thing to keep in mind with the Equalists is that they were taking advantage of the discontent and anger caused by Republic City's actual horrible class divides and wealth disparity and scapegoating the benders.

I would agree with that a lot more easily if, out-of-universe, the creators hadn't somewhat insisted that there was a real discrimination against non-benders in Republic City. With that in mind, the fact that the poorest characters were benders and the wealthiest ones were (consistently) non-benders came off as dissonant.

Truthfully, the Equalists were never meant to be anything more than Amon's henchmen by the creators, but their pre-release comments really made it look like the struggle of the non-benders for equality would be a rather significant part of the world building, and it wasn't.

In a less cynical way, I was very surprised to learn that they saw Unalaq as having a restrained and precise fighting style reminiscent of a fencer, because it's basically the opposite of how he fought on screen.

Rincewind posted:

Is it really fair to say that the Hundred Year War happened because of "benders", though?

It's not fair, but it's probably easier to fit the Fire Nation into that narrative, I think, because the feeling of importance of the highest Fire Nation aristocracy seems to (in part) derive from their ability to firebend. Not to mention that the initial invasion was made possible thanks to a huge boost in power brought to firebenders by a cosmic event.

SpiderHyphenMan posted:

Could it be that the only reason we were disappointed in Amon being revealed to be a fraud was because we wanted to believe in his scapegoating solely because it made for a more interesting moral dilemma in a fantasy series for bending to truly be an inequality of sorts, rather than any evidence in the actual show?

That, and as I said, because the creators themselves made it look like it would be the case with some of their comments pre-release.

# ¿ Aug 11, 2014 12:19

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

computer parts posted:

You're supposed to think that their arguments have some merit even if their practices don't, that's why they dissolved the council at the end of S1.

It would have been nice to hear some of those arguments in the series proper though. As it is, there is very little connection in the series proper between what the Equalists fought for and the change of politics in the RC.

# ¿ Aug 11, 2014 15:40

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 12:04

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

TheModernAmerican posted:

I did find it unfortunately appropriate that we started and ended the most serious episode with peak awkward Bolin comic relief. The sock and bird call scenes were so horribly out of place, though the sock on did do exactly what I've wanted someone to do to Zaheer since day one.

I don't know, I liked the sock scene, except for his "I do what I do" at the end. The bird call scene was horrible though. I know that whenever he starts off with "I've got an idea!", his idea is going to be really, really stupid and I'm going to cringe the whole time he's explaining it and I'm tired that he never seems to learn.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2014 00:56

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