Avatar: The Legend of Korra

Originally posted by Nephthys
The Problems with Legend of Korra

Okay, I was messaging a friend over Tumblr and the topic of Legend of Korra came up. I was invited to rant, and rant I did.

I am now embarrassingly proud of this rant, and I want to share it with the world. Not gonna tag it though, I’m not a hater.

Under a Cut because LONG

Legend of Korra was utterly destroyed by 2 things; the ****ing despicable Love Triangle and their utter ruination of the villain as a legitimate philosophical viewpoint.

The first is especially easy to break down; the love shape is built on cliche and circles around a character that could never have supported the swing point position. Mako is a boring character, plain and simple. He’s a respectable guy with a sad past, but that’s it. He has no depth and every action he takes because of his position as swing point only makes him more awful. He goes after Asami out of initial friendly affection and a desperate need for money (and she’s a MUCH more balanced character than he is) while Korra chases after Mako in the most bone-head of bone-head moves. Bolin was just a nice guy who loved Korra, and he got hurt and then BACKED OFF (god he’s such a nice guy, like actually nice aaaauug) and Mako never even properly broke up with Asami onscreen before the final climatic Makorra kiss. Everything about that plotline is awful awkward conflict and it tortures two characters I actually like, Bolin and Asami, for no really good reason. Borra and Masami were fine ships, but they burned because he writers couldn’t get their heads around the fact Makorra was now AWFUL FOR EVERYONE, no matter the original plan or intent.

The villain, however… that’s trickier. His design? Great! His methods? Terrifying! His backstory? Fine. Some people have problems with it, but I think it works. The thing that ruins Amon, destroys him as a credible threat, is one scene in particular. One moment even. The moment he reveals he has no morals and is just using a political platform as a base for an epic scale Power Grab. Except, you know, THE ENTIRE ****ING SHOW UP TO THAT POINT WAS BASICALLY PROVING HIM (and by extension the Equalists) RIGHT. There was a big problem with power abuse! Government was run by benders exclusively and the shit pulled by one Government official in particular could fuel the Equalist Campaign for DECADES to come! And that’s not even bringing the Bender fueled Gang Violence and Corruption and the idolization of a sport that by its very nature is Benders only into it!

There was plenty there! The Equalists were a huge group of angry people and they were angry for good reason! Now all you need to do is carry that over to Amon. Give him ideals! Make him COMPLICATED! Even making using his powers a last resort would have been good! You could still have the same epic duel at the end, just make Amon and actual opposing viewpoint instead of tossing him into the ‘Bad Guy’ Bucket so you can punch him easier!

It’s like they had this great set up where the clearly nutso terrorist group actually had pretty damn solid ground to stand on and realized half way through the finale they couldn’t handle it so they pulled out! Totally killed the legitimacy of everything we’d seen from the Equalists by going ‘Amon actually doesn’t give a damn cause he’s EEEEVIL so it’s cool to take him out with force’ EXCEPT NO! IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY! You can’t TAKE BACK everything you’d been building up to that point by making Amon evil! You’re just trivializing your antagonist and DESTROYING a chance for Korra to confront someone with a POINT! Hell you could still have Korra beat the crap out of him, literally EVERYTHING ELSE about the finale was at least okay. It would have left a bad taste in my mouth and I would have been disappointed but I could have said ‘At least Amon was great’ but I CAN’T BECAUSE HE NEEDED TO BE EVIL INSTEAD OF AN ANTAGONIST.

If Amon had been backed into a corner, if he’d held off before blood-bending them, if he’d honestly believed Bending was poisoning the world and it was his great mission to remove it, THAT. WOULD. HAVE. BEEN. AMAZING. He’s wrong! We know he’s wrong! He’s taking characters and ripping away a huge part of their spirits because of a personal crusade he doesn’t NEED to be evil! Korra could have beaten the crap out of him just fine and we’d root for her! He was ABOUT TO REMOVE AIRBENDING FROM THE WORLD BY SPIRITUALLY RAPING KIDS ON STAGE AT A RALLY WHAT MORE DO YOU *WANT*?!?! But no, evil power-grabber he must be because we don’t want the opposing side to have an actual POINT do we?! That’d be too much for the teens watching this to handle, lets devote some time to the goddamn pissing in my mouth Love Octagon!

Not to mention it kills any chance for solid character development on Korra’s end! Have Korra confront the Equalists with words! Have her admit to the wrongs they’ve endured! Show her learning, show her growing, show her ACTING LIKE AN AVATAR! That’s what we needed! Not conformation it was all okay because Amon was actually a dick the whole time! Arrrrrrgggggg it’s all so damn easy to fix and I cAN’T BECAUSE IT ALREADY CAME OUT AND IT EXISTS.

AND THE WORST PART?! THE GODDAMN WORST PART OF THIS WHOLE THING?!!? THE SCENE THAT RUINS AMON IS ABOUT 5 MINUTES LONG! FIVE! ****ING! *MINUTES*! CHANGE THOSE FIVE MINUTES AND LITERALLY *EVERYTHING ELSE* with Amon in it is great! The final scene he’s in is one of the gutsiest ends to a villain I’ve ever seen and it would have been SO MUCH BETTER IF AMON WAS MORE THAN JUST VAGUELY SYMPATHETIC EVILLLLL AAAAAAAaaaaaaaahhhhh I need to eat something crunchy

-back with dry honey nut cheerios- -munches-

So! Final notes. The love Triangle was bad. Very bad. But it wasn’t the worst thing. The worst thing was the Final confrontation with Amon. That killed Legend of Korra for me.

Lookit all dis truf.

I didn't actually write that, I just think its alot of true things someone wrote.

Personally? I think Asami should have been an Equalist and the main secondary character, at least after the reveal. I know it would have been slightly predictable but the benefits outwiegh that. People did call her as an Equalist pretty quickly but you know why they did that? Because it would have actually have been ****ing good and would have developed the Equalist side of the story like everyone was expected them to do.

I don't think people understand just how *good* it was to have Zuko as the secondary protagonist. It gave the Fire Nation such a level of actual humanity and an insight into them that the Equalists never got, despite the fact that the Fire Nation is as comically evil a force as possible. Its complete black and white with them as the bad guys and they still come off as more interesting, fleshed out and understandable in their actions than the Equalists. Earlier in the thread I said that Amon was looking to be a better villain than Azula. No. Because despite being an actual psychopath Azula is still more sympathetic and relate-able than Amon is. The difference between the two is that the Fire Nation is written with a level of maturity that is simply not present in Amon or the Equalists.

Making Asami an Equalist and one of the focuses would have done the exact same thing, particularly if shes already been established as a likable character with relate-able motivations. This also sets up Korra for character development as shes forced to confront Asami who explains her side of things and makes Korra reflect on the situation, until she decides that she's going to try to fight for ALL people and sort out the situation for the good of all. That bit in that one episode where that non-bending woman says to her 'Your OUR Avatar too!?' That was ****ing great and it should have been the focus for the season. Meanwhile have Asami torn between the increasingly heroic Korra and increasingly extreme Amon. The final episode should have her choose the former, as Korra earns her victory by continuing to fight even after Amon takes her bending away and tries to kill her, proving herself to be both the moral victor in her convictions as opposed to Amon and the reason why shes the ****ing hero of the story.

Also completely remove the Love Triangle and Pro-Bending storylines. Theres not enough room for them in the plot. Expand Tarlokks plotline as well, and make it the big thing where Korra starts to understand the Non-benders plight and begins to win the hearts and minds of the people and the Equalists.

At least, thats what I'd do.

I think doing "the exact same thing" was something they were intentionally avoiding. If asami was zuko abd korra was aang, then this series would just be the old one with a few aesthetic changes. Droping pro bending after an episode or two would have been good though.

It wouldn't be the exact same thing though since the FN was a force that needed to be defeated, whereas in my version the Equalists are just as in the right as Tarrlok and the other benders and needed to be dealt with in ways that don't include beating them up. At some point it should be made clear that doing that solves nothing, doesn't address the reason they're rebelling and doesn't stop the cycle of violence. Which would make it much harder for Korra since shes naturally an ass-kicker.

Instead we have 'firebenders kill my wife kill them all kill my daughter even' Sato and 'bending sucks because my dad was a douche' Amon.

Also they already made Bolin an Earthbending Sokka and Mako a boring Zuko, so whatever.

Also I forgot to mention, but don't give Amon a backstory. Just have him walk through Tarrloks bloodbending and be a complete badass like he was everywhere except the finale. Make him mysterious and creepy, maybe expanding on him subtly in later seasons.

Also also, have Korra be a straight-up ass-kicker. Have her arms taken out and she just headbutts the guy and continues fighting with only her legs. Korra should be a combat beast who the Equalists have to take on using tactics and underhanded cunning.

People predicted thats he was an equalist not because it's good writing, but because it got in the way of Makorra.

*sigh*

I had hopes for this season. After that they're going lower and lower.

Was it that bad?

Yay. Both daddy and uncle are dicks.

Originally posted by Nephthys
Was it that bad?

Bad? Hard to say. Some of the guys on Something Awful seemed to like it. But I'll put my own thoughts in a review.

Yeah, wasn't that good. The animation on the spirits looked really nice but other than that I was unimpressed.

The ending for the "second episode" was pretty awful though.

JesuOtaku also ripped it apart on Twitter.

Iroh: "What are you doing?" D:
Mugger: "I'M MUGGING YOU!" >😮
Iroh: "With that stance...?" o ~ o ?

Epic.

On the positive side, I did find eska and bolin to be pretty funny.

On the plus side Mako is better...he's just kind of a boring idiot but it's pretty clear he is trying to be a supportive boyfriend which is more than he ever gave Asami.

Yeah, he's ok. Though I think they made him look better by having Korra be a real b*tch to him. Kinda cheap and made Korra look bad imo.

Originally posted by NotAllThatEvil
On the positive side, I did find eska and bolin to be pretty funny.

"I will protect you, my feeble turtle-duck." 😐 was hilarious.

So, first episodes...

A lot of information in this episode was thrown at us at once. I like that they're explaining why Korra was stuck in the south pole as opposed to travelling the world.

I really like Eska. "You amuse me. I will make you mine"- god I love Aubrey Plaza.

They seemed to have toned down the power of the Avatar state... I think it was explained that Korra still isn't fully spiritual so can't access its full power.

The MaKorra shit still makes me sick but at least it's not a love-triangle. Though Korra is kind of acting like a ***** which I don't like.

Korra's dad banished by his father? Shouldn't he have frostbite on half his face or something? 😛

I liked it. Still nothing compared to ATLA of course, but I'm excited to see where it goes.

Quick question. Is asami officially out of the group now?

Originally posted by NotAllThatEvil
Quick question. Is asami officially out of the group now?

Not at all. From the previews of Civil War, her airplanes will have a prominent role. They didn't focus in on her since she's a non-bender and the first two episodes have a lot to do with spirits.

Maybe she'll become a war profiteer in order to rebuild her company, selling planes to both sides while Korra + her krew gets pissed at her for taking advantage of the conflict.

awermm

Jumping right back into the war game seems like a bad business decision.