Legend of Korra Book 4.44: This is (Not) Anime

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X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

We've not seen Bolin yet though. And I'm wondering why he left Pabu with Ikki?

# ¿ Sep 29, 2014 18:56

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 13:46

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

ImpAtom posted:

Yes we have, he's very clearly seen. His designed hasn't changed much. Plus shots of Lavabending.

I meant in that last preview, not in the trailer.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2014 19:18

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Blind Melon posted:

Am I the only person who liked Bolin and the whole mover star subplot? The wink he gave the other lava bender was gold.

I don't think you are the only one, but I really didn't care for it when it was unfolding and it became worse when Book 3 rolled around and Bolin is basically back to square one. What was the point of all that screentime?

And I don't see what his mover career has to do with the wink he gave Ghazan?

# ¿ Sep 30, 2014 22:07

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

i hate meatloaf posted:

Neither of them were unrelated to the main storyline, but considering how short each book are they felt like a distraction from more interesting things like delving into the Equalists or the Water Tribe Civil war.

I don't think I would be annoyed as much as I am by the propaganda subplot if it hadn't been linked to a plot that turned out to be a red herring (the civil war).

# ¿ Oct 1, 2014 00:15

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

BrianWilly posted:

I'm more worried that Kuvira -- who's really awesome so far -- will pull an Unalaq and ends up being the one who sent the bandits after Kai and Opal, just so the governor has no choice but to turn to her protection.

I'm not worried. I hated that Unalaq turned out to have been behind Tonraq's banishment in Book 2, but I wouldn't mind Kuvira using that kind of under-handed tactics. The ladies got some extreme methods and doesn't hesitate to push people around to unite the Earth Kingdom, after all. Her using shadow operatives like that just makes her more awesome as a villain.

PiedPiper posted:

A good episode. I hope to learn why Bolin thought it was such a great idea to help Kuvira, though.

He probably only sees the end result, that is him and his soldiers helping people. He probably doesn't realize the kind of methods Kuvira uses and probably still believes her to be under some kind of mandate from other world leaders.

Rincewind posted:

I really don't think that reading the Equalists as Communists makes much sense, since like their entire deal is breaking up the solidarity of the lower classes by (with the help of a literal capitalist captain of industry!) channeling the resentment of nonbenders against benders as a scapegoat.

Amon and the Equalists always read more as Fascits than Communists to me as well. Complete with putting the all the blame on a minority that supposedly holds all the power.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2014 18:26

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

SpiderHyphenMan posted:

What if it's Hiroshi?

I don't think Hiroshi would be interested in doing something like that. If he appears in the season, I think it will be because Republic City will get desperate for an engineering genius who can match Baatar and Varrick.

PupsOfWar posted:

I do think we'll see the Airplane Bandit again. He seemed too badass to be a one-off, and villains in this franchise traditionally have some sort of intimidating right-hand-man.

Speaking of : does that guy look like FMAB!Kimblee to anyone else?

# ¿ Oct 3, 2014 20:25

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Sato posted:

He was featured in the trailer (I want to say repeatedly?) which makes me think he'll appear again.

No, he appeared only once in the trailer, and we've seen that scene already.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2014 21:05

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Nephthys posted:

Raiko doesn't seem to have fixed jack poo poo about RC's problems to me. Has he actually done anything other than be a douche, refuse to go to war and play politics?

Well, a solution for the Spirit Wilds problem has been found, Republic City is participating in massive infrastructure upgrades all over the Earth Kingdom, the rightful heir to the Earth Kingdom is sheltered in his city (and I doubt that Raiko is the only one wanting to use Wu as a possible authority figure to counter Kuvira), etc. He's got to have done something right in the last three years.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2014 22:30

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Metropolis posted:

I have avoided the previews, but I am guessing Toph will train someone, Korra or Lin I guess, to "see" the way Toph can, through vibrations. Then when Kuvira uses her flying metal slap bracelets to blind them, they'll beat her through the power of unexpected feet-seeing.

They're metal-benders. They don't need to see in the dark, they can just get the metal bands of their eyes, or better yet, simply dodge them.

Carlosologist posted:

I hope the third episode is the Team Avatar reunion, hopefully things aren't too strange between them.

I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. From the trailer, it seems that Korra is reunited with Mako and Asami but that Bolin isn't with them. I don't think that he will join them immediately.

Harold Cooplowski posted:

Does anyone think that Sokka is Suyin's dad now? I mean that guy Kuriva is engaged to (Suyin's son) looks exactly like him.

Right now the most popular theory is that Sokka is Baatar Sr's (Su's husband) father.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2014 17:29

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

gannyGrabber posted:

The real question is: Where the gently caress is Pabu??

With Tenzin's family. He's on Ikki's shoulder during Raiko's speech and next to Jinora at the diner table on Air Temple Island.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2014 23:13

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Sato posted:

I wonder why Pabu had to stay behind? He's not exactly hard to transport like Naga.

Well, Bolin did join the army. He probably thought that it was too dangerous for Pabu to come with him.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2014 09:55

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Zedd posted:

Bolin.

Speaking of, anyone remembers this?

http://pjbyrne.tumblr.com/post/97337099923/i-would-have-happily-done-this-for-free-scream

That does not bode well for Bolin, I think. Something really bad is going to happen.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2014 18:03

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Sato posted:

Apparently there's going to be a voice-acting booth where you can play one of the characters in a scene and get an insight into how the voicework in Korra is done. I'm torn between thinking this is awesome and thinking it's cringeworthy.

Apparently one can play Bolin in a scene with Eska (WHY?) and Aang in a scene with Katara.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2014 21:24

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Rigged Death Trap posted:

Also Kuvira's fighting style is a real breath of fresh air. No one in both series has been so business-like and ruthlessly efficient in their moves.

I don't know, she really reminds me of Unalaq when he fought Bolin and Mako. Although it may just be the fact that she only uses her arms to attack.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2014 21:57

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Sato posted:

And I agree, Unalaq was meant to be like a fencer and very restrained and businesslike, especially when compared to his brother.

It's too bad that this aspect of his character only comes through during that fight against Bolin and Mako though. And it's funny that you should mention Tonraq, since that battle was probably the one into which Unalaq was the least restrained.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2014 00:36

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Aces High posted:

Also I never thought that Bolin was just drawing pictures because...how the gently caress do you get a narrative like that based solely on pictures I mean I don't know a lot about character based languages but there must be rudimentary or rather childish forms of them as well. I honestly thought Bolin just sent her pictures to go along with his letter because he's that kind of guy

Same here, Bolin's narration was trying way too hard, I don't know how you could get something like that out of pictures.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2014 00:59

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

I don't know, I really thought that the joke was having Bolin trying way too hard on the written part of the correspondance, using super-fancy words without realizing that it makes the letter ridiculous, but being his usual naive and a bit childish self with the drawings.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2014 01:07

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Regalingualius posted:

So, in unrelated news, the Korra News tumblr (I can't figure out how the gently caress to link to individual tumblr posts) posted some stuff of admittedly unknown authenticity indicating that we're potentially looking at a 4-part finale again.

In general, the date or the notes indicator are links to the individual post. Finding those can be a little challenging depending on the layout of the blog.

Here, direct link : http://korranews.tumblr.com/post/100007025785/book-4-balance-could-have-a-four-part-finale-much

# ¿ Oct 15, 2014 22:22

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

hiddenriverninja posted:

As a firebender, Mako should be able to suck the heat from the lava. Whether he's able to do that is another matter.

If he can do that, I think it would just put him in the same position as Bolin's at the end of his last fight against Ghazan : sure, he was now safe from the lava, but by the time it took him to cool down the lava, his opponent had managed to move behind him.

BrianWilly posted:

I was scared for a second that the show was gonna go real GoT for teens when they revealed that Desna and Eska shared a room.

Let's be honest here : they probably share the bed, they've probably shared one since they were children. The bathtub thing was just to deflect rumors.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2014 17:59

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

blurry! posted:

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.

Doesn't that problem only arise when it comes to Amon? Unalaq didn't have followers because he was a charismatic leader with appealing ideas, he only inherited his authority over them and used a false pretense to mobilize them, with his final plan being something else entirely. Zaheer and the Red Lotus strike me as idealists and theoreticians, who wants to create a world based on an abstract concept. Only Amon's movements seemed to have really been born out of real social issues that the show could have really expanded upon instead of simply using them as a "justification" of Amon's incredible resources.

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.

You are right, but I really believe that this time, the more reasonable side (Raiko & Co) will be called out on their bad handling of the situation and how stupid and offensive (a king foreign to his own land, counseled by foreigners? What were they thinking?) their actions were, leading Korra into finding another solution once the bigger, less reasonable side (Kuvira & Co) is dealt with.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2014 13:26

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

blurry! posted:

I think Unulaq could have been an interesting villain had they played him as a straight theocrat. The civic issue that created him was a crisis of spirituality in a setting where spirits are manifest. In the avatar world, disrespecting or ignoring the spirits leads to dire consequences. The conflict could come from Unulaq's drive to control how people interact with the spirit world. Instead of making him into a boring 10,000 Year Reign of Super Evil villain, make him into Kung Fu Pope Gregory IX.

Wouldn't we need an Avatar equivalent of the Church in order to have Kung Fu Gregory IX? I guess I just can't see Unalaq as a straight theocrat because the way humans interact with spirits isn't really detailed in any of the books.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2014 23:18

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Sato posted:

We haven't really seen low-level bending talent because both Avatars have tended to hang out with talented benders.

I would say that both series allowed us to see at least one bender go from "average" to "great", Katara in ATLA and Bolin LOK.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2014 12:25

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Genocyber posted:

I don't like that Varrick is developing a conscience, part of what makes him so great is how he is a completely shameless rogue.

I like it because it's implied to be an inversion of he and Bolin's relationship back in Book 2, when Varrick corrupted Bolin with money, fame and women. Now Bolin is inadvertently making Varrick grow a conscience!

BrianWilly posted:

The Asami/Hiroshi stuff was nice, but felt like a weird interlude in the midst of everything else, and I'm gonna laugh so hard if it doesn't actually lead to anything else and this is literally the last we ever hear about it. Like, they're just gonna wrap up this dangling D-plot in five minutes and call it a day.

Hiroshi is an engineering genius in a series where technology could play a very big role, I certainly hope we haven't seen the last of him! Plus I feel like they've done their best to show how different he and Varrick are, so it would be a shame not to have them interact at some point.

Sato posted:

Also, on a less lethal note, treebending!

That was fun. Baatar must no have seen that one coming.
Bolin in general seems to have become a much better bender than before, none of his attacks felt desperate and he was very much in control of the whole thing once he got out of the mech.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2014 00:54

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Rosalind posted:

Amon - Communism

I'm just going to say, I never understood why that interpretation was so popular. Amon's rhetorics about benders always made him feel more like a take on Hitler and Nazism, his take on equality is about a biological difference rather than stopping the exploitation of the working class.

Rosalind posted:

Unalaq - Religious Fundamentalism

Never got that one either, although that's probably more because "religion" and "faith" in the Avatar Universe are somewhat poorly defined, and as a result Unalaq's cause was always nebulous beyond his hunger for power.

Jimbot posted:

I did take issue with Toph's bone-headed evaluation of previous season's antagonists. It felt like she was a writer's surrogate tell the audience that these monsters had good ideas when, in fact, two of the three of them were clearly monsters. Zaheer was at least honest about his philosophy

I agree with your general sentiment, but I think it's easy to make a case that Amon took the concept of equality and took it to a dark, twisted place, just like Zaheer did with the concept of freedom.

Unalaq was just an rear end in a top hat. Which is too bad because I think his goals could have really made an easy set-up for a villain who had good intentions and goals but that the heroes still fought because of various misunderstandings and the apparent insanity of his plans.

PiedPiper posted:

And what does GODWIN VILLAIN even mean?

That concept does make little sense.

uncleKitchener posted:

Season 2 had a lot of things happen and had some of the best fight scenes. Problem was mostly with early season characterization. Other than that, it really wasn't that bad.

I wouldn't agree about the fight scenes. The early season in particular was bad, with special mention for that lame-rear end fight against Eska and Desna in the fifth episode. Those two were supposed to be the Big Bad's best henchmen, couldn't their one real fight have been a good one?

# ¿ Nov 3, 2014 00:03

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Sato posted:

I think theocracy is a better term to use to get Rosalind's point across.

Sounds like Vaatu and Unalaq to me.

I don't know, we still miss a cohesive religion and faith for that to work in my opinion. Vaatu and Unalaq didn't have any real followers for instance.

TheKingofSprings posted:

He also didn't hesitate even for a second to save her life when things went wrong.

But does that count when there was no immediate danger for him? Letting her go would have just been a dick move!

PiedPiper posted:

I'm certain it was just a ruse by Zhu Lee. What I'm interested in is whether Kuvira truly bought it or not.

Kuvira bought Bolin's assessment of his loyalty. I'm pretty sure she's terrible at reading people. For those who've played Alpha Protocol, kind of like Marburg.

Gravitas Shortfall posted:

ftfy

One thing I've always wondered, what became of the Northern Air temple? Is it still a center for invention? Or learning? Is it a museum dedicated to the Machinist and his inventions? Is it still populated by hangliding enthusiasts?

Isn't that the temple who was melted down by Ghazan last season?

Kassad posted:

Everyone's gonna be floored when he shows up out of nowhere and wipes the floor with Kuvira's army using nothing but a sword.

A Fullmetal Alchemist reference. Nice. Wasn't his first name "King" though?

# ¿ Nov 4, 2014 00:17

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Kassad posted:

And then you've got people like Ghazan

Ghazan, from what I understand, is a bit of pun. It's pronounced one letter away from "Kazan", the japanese word for volcano. Given his lavabending, that seems fitting...

There is also Eska and Desna, named after rivers, one in Alaska (so I guess it keeps with the Inuit culture?) and the other in... Ukraine.

Sato posted:

That's a fair point, and I'll agree that it was poorly portrayed, though I'll stand by my assertion that this was what Bryke intended.

One of the main problems with Unalaq is that, aside from the poor portrayal of what he was supposed to come off as, he also had a lot of unrelated evil tropes attached to him for some reason : his pettiness and envy towards his brother, his parental neglect towards Eska and Desna, the obvious hunger for power, etc. Why make him so despicable even if you don't take into consideration that he wanted to become a God and rule over humanity for eternity?

Sato posted:

We were probably supposed to guess that Unalaq's vision was increased communion with the spirits under the supervision of Vaatu. I think we were also supposed to draw a parallel between Unalaq's disgust at the commercialization of the Glacier Spirits Festival and fundamentalist Christian disgust at the commercialization of Christmas to underline Unalaq's fundamentalism.

I guess the main problem is that, with the kind of person he turned out to be at the end, it's hard to think that he was really sincere about anything back at the beginning of the season. Most notably, he said that darkness was a bad thing brought by lack of balance, but he then embraced darkness and its very embodiment.

Sato posted:

As for followers, I think Unalaq was supposed to be the main follower who implemented Vaatu's commands. Unalaq had Desna and Eska, who followed him blindly until they saw UnaVaatu, and the rest of the Northern Water Tribe, where Unalaq implemented his initial goals and made a more spiritual society; we never saw any members challenge him so I guess we were supposed to think they all followed him?

I've been told that, according to the artbook, his soldiers and citizens were more interested in the ongoing dispute about the NWT wanting to get a piece of the SWT's economic success, and thought that Unalaq wanted to bring them that.

As for Eska and Desna, their relationship with their father was as poorly defined as Unalaq's ideals, so there is no way to know why they were loyal to him. Force of habit?

# ¿ Nov 5, 2014 00:45

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Sato posted:

The artbook does go more into the bad blood between the two tribes, and the SWT's success is the main driver, but doesn't mention anything about the bolded part (thinking Unalaq was more interested in the economic stuff) at least from my quick scan. Either way, that's Unalaq taking a side and using politics to his own end, something the Avatar is not supposed to do. Interestingly, the book does mention his soldiers possibly beginning to question their leader once they see UnaVaatu, but that implies they followed him blindly from the beginning.

It's not that they believed that Unalaq was more interested in the economic stuff, they believed that Unalaq's ambition to reunite the two tribes, although for reasons that went over their head and that they didn't really care about, would bring an end to that issue.

I guess that line about the soldiers hesitating might be why Eska and Desna were the only ones of Unalaq's entourage to react when Unalaq said that he was going to fuse with Vaatu. Apparently, that too went over their head, they probably thought that as soon as Unalaq had all the crazy things he wanted, he would get back to the interesting stuff.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2014 23:13

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

JT Jag posted:

Some physical similarities to Adolf Hitler. Actually the leader of a fascist state. Has "Fuhrer" in his job title. 50 Hitlers.

How many Hitlers are shaved off due to the physical similarities to Joseph Stalin?

# ¿ Nov 6, 2014 20:01

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Darth Walrus posted:

Counterpoint: airbenders.

Counterpoint: Hiroshi Sato vs. Tenzin.

Torquemadras posted:

I had the same impression, actually. I guess it's justified with Korra; and I noticed quite a difference in the other big action scene we had so far, Bolin's escape attempt: everything was much smoother, and it looked less like flailing about.

What was bad about Bolin's escape attempt? I didn't notice much flailing on his part, all his moves felt controlled and purposeful.

X_Toad fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Nov 8, 2014

# ¿ Nov 8, 2014 19:39

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

I'm still wondering if Ghazan using his elbows so often meant something as far as real life inspiration is concerned...

# ¿ Nov 9, 2014 00:29

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

dj_clawson posted:

I don't know if Kuvira had plans for the Avatar state, but she really hosed Korra up until that point because she was a more intelligent fighter who had obviously prepped for the battle.

How did she prepare for the battle? She's just a very good fighter who hasn't gotten out of practice.

Sato posted:

It actually just occurred to me that this was probably a major reason she specifically recruited Bolin. She knew the Avatar would be back eventually and knew that Bolin was writing to her so had an idea of her recovery schedule.

I don't think that would work, we know that Korra only responded to Asami. Kuvira wouldn't have been able to follow Korra's recovery through Bolin's letters.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2014 15:23

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

I would be interested in seeing Baatar interact with Toph, he is her grandson after all. Maybe she will shame him in that special way that grandmothers can.

Rosalind posted:

I wonder how people would defend that.

Maybe by likening it to WW2!U.S.A rather than WW2!Germany? It feels like Kuvira is doing the same "let's send japanese people to prison camps" thing that the U.S did in WW2.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2014 01:49

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

VanSandman posted:

I must've missed it. What was the drivers seat gag?

It's when Varrick offers to carry Bolin on his back (quote : "All right, I'll take the driver's seat for a while. Hop on!"), and he, like every mount in the series, strains under the earthbender's weight. And he just manages one step before they fall for the escapees' trap.

VanSandman posted:

One of the things I-'m surprised no one's mentioned is how Bolin's getting some actual character growth. Anyone think I'm onto something.

I believe this is an evidence

. As of right now, Bolin is basically the co-star of this season, and I don't think it can be argued that he's had the biggest, best action scenes so far. They've shown his growth as a person now that he and Mako are separated, they've shown his massive improvement when it comes to bending (seriously, he probably could take Ghazan now), they've made a call back to Book 2 and how inspirational he can be with words, etc.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2014 13:03

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

VanSandman posted:

Bolin's gonna rip his shirt off dramatically at some point and reveal he is insanely and brutally ripped, isn't he.

Hasn't he already done that? The pool scene in Book 1, as well as his Nuktuk costume in Book 2, already showed off his physique, and he is ripped. He is on, like, Major Alex Louis Armstrong's level.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2014 13:26

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

VanSandman posted:

It's a great contrast with Bolin, who is getting some much needed character development after the stagnation of Season 3.

You thought that Bolin stagnated in Book 3? I would gladly give you Book 2, but I think that Bolin's screen-time-to-character-development ratio was rather good in Book 3, even though it really only planted the seeds for Book 4. He managed to get over his inability to metalbend and discovered lavabending (which arguably triggered a deeper understanding of how he spiritually relates to his element), he got into a good relationship with Opal, Su became a bit of a mentor figure for him, we saw how easily he could make friends with the bad guys, etc.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2014 02:16

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

TheModernAmerican posted:

That is a good point. Every single romantic subplot in both Avatar series has been at best painful. So yeah, I don't even know what I'm arguing for.

I liked Opal and Bolin despite how quickly it happened. And maybe they went too fast when it came to show that they were good at supporting each other.

Aces High posted:

Did the prisoners say where they were planning to go again?

They said they were going north. I hope they meant "to the north of the Earth Empire, close to Republic City" and not "to the North Pole", because that would be one hell of a detour!

Golden Goat posted:

Can we go back to how Toph's going to lose against Kuvira's army or something?

Nah, she will lose in a fight against her grandson in a power armor.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2014 13:11

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Kassad posted:

Or collapse a section of it that's in the middle of nowhere. Bolin could probably just have melted the ground under the wall a couple miles away from that checkpoint.

Didn't the escapees say that the wall was regularly patrolled on its entire length?

# ¿ Nov 17, 2014 19:12

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

VanSandman posted:

Toph was a terrifying opponent as a child. I can't imagine what she'd be like as an adult in her prime.
She probably could take on the Avatar 1-on-1 if they didn't go into the Avatar state.

Yakone punked her though. I can't imagine a worse scenario for Toph than hovering a few inches from the ground, completely helpless and unable to use her Earth Sense.

Darth Walrus posted:

'Probably'? She could do that when she was ten. As is, she's probably one of the few outside the Red Lotus who could hold their own against an Avatar in the State.

I don't think any member of the Red Lotus could hold their own against the Avatar State, as the Book 3 finale showed. Maybe as a team they could have been a threat, but not on their own. And I don't think Toph would be much of a challenge either.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2014 01:23

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Oh Snapple! posted:

They also put the show on like a months-long hiatus along with Green Lantern with basically no prior warning shortly after starting up with new episodes.

Why did you leave the "basically" in this? From what I can remember, Cartoon Network gave the official word after the show was supposed to air!

Pththya-lyi posted:

I actually liked the second sequence because it rebutted a major criticism that's been thrown around in this thread: "Korra's a fuckup! Nothing she's done has made a difference!"

To be fair, it's not like Korra intended to do any of those things, or even participated in all of them. The democratization of Republic City happened because Amon was defeated after having been really successful and then the politicians thought "Okay, maybe we ought to change a few things around here". She only left the portals open because her complete failure at stopping Unalaq before he could fulfill his goals, and only managing to stop him at the very last moment, meant that the main reason for closing them was gone. The return of the Air Nation was an unexpected event and before that, she couldn't deal with any of the predictable stuff, like getting rid of the vines or helping human and spirits to live together.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2014 16:13

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 13:46

X_Toad: Apr 2, 2011

Torquemadras posted:

She saw that Unalaq had a point and left the portals open on purpose;

I think my beef with Unalaq and the portals is based on a "what if", namely "What if Korra had managed to put Vaatu back in his prison before he and Unalaq got a chance to merge?" and my answer to that is "She would have closed the portals, duh!". Purifying Vaatu and reuniting both worlds is an idea that she only started to ponder when Vaatu was decisively destroyed, which is something that Unalaq basically forced her to do when he became a physical god.

It's part of the reason why I believe that Unalaq would have worked well as a revolutionary bent on opening the portals and have Harmonic Convergence take place, with the intention of having Korra deal with Vaatu, thus removing the main reason for the separation of both worlds (the Dark Avatar being the result of the forceful possession of Unalaq by Vaatu when the later realizes that he's not match for the Avatar). It looks insane enough that everyone, especially the Avatar, would want to put a stop to it even if Unalaq's intentions are "good". Add in the personal imbalance of Unalaq, and we could have had a "good intentions, wrong methods" villain alongside the ones with twisted ideologies (Amon and Zaheer) and the one who started with good intentions but then went off the rails (Kuvira).

Torquemadras posted:

am I supposed to believe she actually understood the underlying problem and helped bring democracy about? Looks more like a job for Tenzin. Sorry, I don't buy it.

I don't think we were supposed to "buy it". Korra had obviously no implication in the whole process.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2014 19:03

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > Legend of Korra Book 4.44: This is (Not) Anime

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