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Old 12-12-2014, 08:57 AM   #651
Concept
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Minor thought, having watched as far as episode 10:

Spoiler: show
So originally upon the reveal that Kuvira was planning on attacking Republic City, my reaction was that it was a stupid plot point that kinda diverged from Kuvira's actions so far (unifying the Earth Kingdom). I just remembered why it's not - Republic City and the area it controls were once part of the Earth Kingdom, and were the initial Fire Nation colonies at the start of hundred years war. A century later when Ozai is defeated, the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom couldn't agree who got control of the colonies (which had at that point been FN for a hundred years but were historically EK) so they ended up becoming separate. Kuvira likely views Republic City as rightfully part of her nation.

However, I only know this from wiki/the comics. It's never once been raised in the show, which is poor writing if they're now going to use it to justify a major plot development. And if they don't justify Kuvira's attack on Republic City, then it's also shitty writing. This season is kinda disappointing me after last season. Kuvira is believable, but only because I have experience of people like UnownMew - people like Kuvira are infuriating, pathetic and petty, not interesting major villains. I just find myself kinda grumpy whenever she's on screen.

I'm also annoyed that they've opted to have Toph sit out on the basis of "lol old". Bumi was 112 when he single-handedly freed Omashu and helped liberate Ba Sing Se from comet-enhanced firebenders, you're telling me Toph can't/won't stomp some of Kuvira's troops into the ground? The worlds greatest metal bender was ten feet from a giant metal superweapon and did nothing.

Unrelatedly, I feel like Korras confrontation with Zaheer could've been the backbone of an entire episode and was kinda rushed. But he was, as ever, the shows only villain to rival Zuko. That was nice.
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Old 12-12-2014, 04:33 PM   #652
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New Episode.

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What the fuck with the Pacific Rim shit. The sound of the cannon. The Giant Mecha. Seriously I laughed and looked on in a bit of shock at how silly and strange the entire thing was.

The rest of the episode played out somewhat how I expected once we saw Mech-Kuvira. Although honestly, I feel like if the entire army swarmed her feet and climbed up the mecha monstrosity, they could have done enough to fight her. Mecha aren't done in real life cause they're overengineered nightmares.

It really felt like no one took Bolin, Lin, Opal, and the Beifong's warnings seriously. I was really surprised they didn't describe it as obliterating a mountain cause if I heard that, I'd have been much more proactive. And once they saw it, they were too awestruck to even bother trying. I guess that's how the Nuclear Bomb went.

The ending betrayal of Batar Jr. by Kuvira was also extremely predictable. And extremely foolish. I know the show is rushed for time, but I honestly would have preferred that Korra handed over Batar Jr., then Kuvira immediately got back into the Mega-Mecha and blew them up. And if she was going to kill Batar Jr. and Korra and the rest, she should have shot like a dozen shots into that warehouse until it was entirely vaporized to ensure no survivors. Hell, level the whole district. You can't leave Batar Jr. alive after such a betrayal as he knows too much. And ensuring Korra's demise is probably the best.

The obvious thing will be Batar Jr. will see Kuvira for the monster she is and now help Korra stop her. So typical.

I will truly be surprised if anyone dies. And I do mean ANYONE. This is the final season, so it could happen, but highly unlikely.
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Old 12-12-2014, 11:32 PM   #653
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Korra Season 4: Because we loved giants shooting spirit lasers so much last time.

I'm just kinda disappointed with how weak a villain Kuvira's become. This season isn't bad (it's leagues better than 2), and I'm liking some of the character arcs even if they could be done better, but it's just very underwhelming, partly because of how much better it could be if they were less cartoonish.

Kuvira could have been sympathetic. I mean, she took a continent in chaos and set it to rights, and the proposed new ruler, Prince Wu, is clearly not qualified. You can build off of Zaheer's anarchism and some of the anti-world leader sentiments in Season 3 to make a cogent and defensible case for her taking over. This means not making Kuvira a morally bankrupt despot, so when Bolin defends her to Mako, he's not just an oblivious idiot. Yes, she's essentially usurping Wu's throne, but Wu doesn't deserve it and Kuvira would do a much better job. This then forces Korra into a difficult position where she has friends on each side and has to rely not on bending but wisdom to fix, which is a nice for her character arc of "there is more to being the Avatar than beating up bad guys". Hell, maybe even throw in a mini development for Kuvira for the first few episodes where, instead of her already planning to takeover, she slowly decides she has to after she sees how incapable of an Earth King Wu would be. And as things heat up, Korra's not joining up with one side, but is instead trying to keep the peace. Her end avatar state solution is her halting both armies and stopping the war, not winning it. She forces a deal, and stops the war like a true Avatar. This season had potential, as did Kuvira, and it's squandering it. Kuvira could have been something great, or at least something better.

Instead, she's literally Hitler.
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Old 12-13-2014, 11:19 PM   #654
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The Legend of Korra Book 4 Episode 11:

Spoiler: show
I found this episode to be very entertaining. It suffered a few faults, some of them with far-reaching consequences for the franchise, and for that reason the score is dinged somewhat. But I still think I'd give it an 8/10.

Zhu Li and Varrick: Zhu Li was cute. Varrick was insufferably a) blind or, more likely, b) pretending to be blind. While I say B is more likely, the Korra team didn't help matters much with that post-Zhu Li's exit-material where they have Varrick giving Bolin the "What did I do? " look and Bolin giving the Varrick the "UGH! You're such a blockhead!" exasperated response.

Baatar, Jr.: Was disappointed in how his character was handled. First off, I would have wanted him to start displaying concerns at the start of the episode (rather than at the start of next week's episode). Have him display some doubts about Kuvira's intentions, given the close call Opal had with the spirit vine laser. Then have him explain away those doubts, reassuring himself that Kuvira is a good person. Anyway, we didn't get this. Next point.

Second, I really didn't like the bit with Kuvira at the end. As has been mentioned previously and will only continue to be mentioned for months, even years to come, Kuvira has shaped up to be an incredibly cartoonish villain. She's still not quite as bad as Unalaq was by the very end of Book 2, but she's getting there -- and that's a problem. Zaheer was such a fantastic villain. He was someone that I as a viewer fell juuuuuust shy of being able to root for. That's arguably ideal. "I want the viewer to sympathize with the villain, but not so much so that they're rooting for the villain to win and not the official hero(es) of the story." I loved his spiritual story. I loved his love story. I loved his political story. The guy was probably the best villain in the entire franchise (not counting Zuko, of course), and it's such a shame that he got the sandwich season, sandwiched in between two cartoon villains.

Third, I thought Korra's bargaining with Baatar was even more ridiculous. For a guy who claims to know a bluff when he sees one, his reaction to Korra's final threat sure raises questions. Did she sincerely mean it when she told him that she would take him backpacking with her all around the world for the rest of their natural lives? If not, then why did Baatar fail to see that such a threat was obviously hollow? And in any event -- even if Korra were to tie Baatar to her hip and travel the world with him, why should we accept that he would be any more out of Kuvira's reach than if Baatar were held captive in a maximum security prison? Yes, prisons are targetable for prison breaks -- but the roaming Avatar is targetable too. The people of the new world aren't nearly as enamored with Korra as the people of A:tLA's time were with Aang. Kuvira could appeal to their sense of justice. She could point out that the Avatar is being a bully, is the one holding Baatar hostage against his will, etc etc, and this in turn would greatly limit Korra's potential hiding spots. Smoke her out one target after another and eventually the problem reduces to a prisonbreak scenario. Anyway ... we're overanalyzing it at this point. The point is, Korra would never tour the world with Baatar for the next 70+ years and it was supremely stupid of him to fall for such a childish threat.

Kuvira's Mecha: I'm neutral about this one. On the one hand, I chuckled when I first saw it and wondered to myself how many fans must already be comparing it with Gundam, Voltron, Evangelion, etc. After we had such a Romantic villain in Zaheer, we've fallen back down to such a cartoonish threat in Kuvira's robo warrior of dewm. :\ But on the other hand, I dunno: I can buy that this would be a weapon that (if you ignore the real-live problems in assembling functional Gundams) WW2-era mankind would have not only loved to have gotten its hands on but would have been terrified of were their enemies the ones to spring it on them first. "It's silly but I guess I'm in a good mood because I find it to be fun-silly": I guess that's one way to put my feelings about her 25-story mech warrior.

Raiko: I really wish that this man had been written to be the man I first envisioned he was, back when he was first introduced in early Book 2. Had he been that Raiko, it would have made the regrettable but sound decision to surrender Republic City to Kuvira's forces all the more poignant. As it was, he just felt like the wrong man making the right decision for a mix of the right and wrong reasons.

Meelo's fart joke: Torn between my usual disdain and a celebration of the fact that this scene represented a gift from the writers: "in exchange for this one final fart joke, we'll give you the gift of no more Meelo for the remainder of the series. We are officially writing him out of the action scenes, and the end of the series is going to be almost non-stop action right on up until the final five minutes, so yeah. A gift from us to you. Enjoy. " Oh, I will enjoy it, writers. I will enjoy it. Have your fart joke. For it will -- hopefully -- be your last.

Bumi: He shows up for the first time in ages ... and is sadly little more than a silent S.W.A.T. team member. I guess the writers are committed to the idea of Bumi the Fool and thus won't be gifting him any strokes of genius in this final confrontation. *sigh*

Prince Wu: Unnecessary toilet lines aside, Prince Wu is back in the "nice guy monarch who can surround himself by competent advisors and ultimately be a pretty decent king" saddle. Let's just pretend that Episode 10 never happened then as far as Prince Wu canon is concerned.

While I feel like too little has been done on the Wu front to justify why he should become king, I recognize now more than ever that the Korra team simply didn't have the time, the finances, or the foresight to see his character through to the proper end. It's okay. He may be rough around the edges, but he'll do. He's certainly not the season's most disappointing character.

The laser: I feel like it's gotten less and less impressive with each successive appearance. Is that just me, or ...?
  • Varrick's initial test: practically a nuclear bomb
  • Baatar, Jr.'s test in the desert: a large incendiary bomb, capable of taking out a few city blocks but not much more than that
  • Kuvira vs. the watchpost: a smaller bomb still, powerful enough to take out one fortress but only the one fortress
  • Kuvira demonstrates her firepower to Raiko: we can still take out one structure, but whereas before the structure appeared to be vaporized/utterly reduced to rubble, now her targets are merely "demolished" in a conventional sense: buildings crumble as though hit by one swing of a wrecking ball, ships sink as though hit by a torpedo, etc.
  • Kuvira fires upon the warehouse where Baatar, Jr. is located: a single warehouse (which is already a pretty flimsy structure, I would think, given the huge amounts of open space, the large amounts of window glass in the walls, etc.) is partially demolished. Like, it collapses as the other buildings in town did? But a little less violently so. I mean, Team Avatar is shown running from the blast when it arrives ... and they haven't even managed to leave the hangar yet. They're literally tens of feet away from where the laser penetrates the wall. And yet they're all probably going to be shown to have survived the blast.
No? Did no one else feel this way while watching? I feel like if you agree with nothing else on this list, you'd have to agree with the fortress vs. warehouse comparison.

If I've forgotten to bring up anything, well then I'll try to remember and comment about it later. For now, this is good enough.

Next week is the two-part season finale, yes? And not just a season finale -- a series finale. Let's hope it's an early Christmas present. An early good Christmas present. ^^;
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Old 12-18-2014, 12:44 PM   #655
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I've only watched the first episode of the fourth book.
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Old 12-19-2014, 03:59 PM   #656
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The Legend of Korra Book 4 Episode 12: (the first half of the series finale)

Spoiler: show
A surprisingly boring and silly episode. I'll keep discussion on the various individual points brief.

The mecha: I'm a lot less enthusiastic this week. I can't help but to feel that with so much focus on the mecha, it's the writers' inadvertent confession that they don't find Kuvira very interesting themselves. Because why would you supplant an interesting villain with this boring robot? You wouldn't, right? They've gotta think the robot is so much cooler than Kuvira, such a badass, awesome threat. And I'm sure that to the series' original target audience of children ages 6 to 12 this is probably true. But for the adult audience whom they captivated with the original and had ostensibly been writing to with Korra, this robot feels like a big swing and a miss.

Hiroshi Sato: I thought both his entrance and exit were handled poorly. The rest was handled nicely. Entrance, I disliked how "... And suddenly Hiroshi!" it felt. Exit, I disliked how predictable and "Is this really necessary? Are we certain he isn't simply suicidal? " it felt.

Varrick & Zhu Li: Great. Particularly loved their respective reactions after she put the ring on.

Bolin: Was impressively strong this episode. Too impressive, if you ask me. ^^; Suddenly he can hold up an entire building for ten to twenty seconds? I know that benders have always been capable of superhuman feats of strength, but what Bolin demonstrated in this episode is something few characters in either A:tLA or LoK have been able to do. The lavabending bit later on in the episode felt more realistic, more in keeping with his demonstrated power level.

Prince Wu: I liked it, but I would have liked it a lot more if it hadn't been so deus ex. This was the first time we ever saw Prince Wu either singing or demonstrating an interest in badgermoles. You can omit one until now or the other but not both. Omitting both makes their sudden unison seem so "What? XD" out of nowhere and deus ex machina-ey. But like I say, overall I enjoyed it. A cheap but pleasing way to try and legitimize Wu's ascension to the throne. "The badgermoles approve!"

Korra vs. the mecha: Was disappointed by the transparency of the writers' pulled punches throughout the episode. Most prominent example: Korra successfully uses ice to lock Kuvira in place but doesn't do so until two thirds of the way through the episode. Why didn't she do it sooner? Republic City is surrounded by water -- the sea, an estuary, and city plumbing everywhere. No lack of water available to her waterbending needs. The only reason for Korra to have not used this trick sooner is that it would have shortened the conflict considerably. That's no excuse for ignoring this fact, though, and asking the audience to pretend they never noticed either.

Baatar, Jr.: As predicted.

Meelo: Ugh. -.- And here I thought ... well, you know what I thought. (See last week's post.)

Meelo's paint plan: So, question: if metalbending is basically "earthbending on an amazing scale because you can pick out the individual earthy particulates in impure metal and bend the metal indirectly by bending the earth directly," then why the fuck couldn't Kuvira just bend the paint away? Not that it mattered anyway since she had conveniently installed windshield wipers. (Uhh ...) But still. Kinda disappointed that the writers would have had the heroes in-universe think that a plan involving "colorful liquid earth" would be a good idea against a master earthbender.
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Old 12-19-2014, 06:37 PM   #657
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Not sure I understood everything I saw.

Spoiler: show
Was that Korrasami fuel or what? Especially that last scene and then the last shot. Look, I don't care if they did do it or not, but this was like doing it half way and in a somewhat vague way. Was this censorship of a homosexual relationship on TV? Was this pandering to 14 yr old boys? I can't even remember the rest of the two episodes because of that scene.


More later.
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Old 12-19-2014, 06:39 PM   #658
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>Loki

Spoiler: show
Tumblr is blowing the fuck up over Korrassami, that's all I know.


So the show's definitely over now, right? Because if so I should binge it.
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Old 12-19-2014, 06:42 PM   #659
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It is definitely over. If they ever do more televised Avatar-universe stuff, it'll likely be through a studio other than Nickelodeon and probably won't be for some years either. And that's if they ever do it. They've officially said that this is it and for now there's no reason to doubt them. While it's true that they did say the same thing about the original series, Nickelodeon was pestering the A:tLA creators for more "IT PRINTS MONEY!" goodness. Hence Korra, and even then only once the creators felt that they had come up with an idea that would do the original series justice. Given the backlash from the fandom the creators received with Korra (something they surely had very little experience with with the original series, beloved as it was) and further given the woes they had with Nickelodeon in the latter half of Korra's production run, I'm guessing that the A:tLA creators are in no rush to do another cartoon.
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Old 12-19-2014, 10:05 PM   #660
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Not sure I understood everything I saw.

Spoiler: show
Was that Korrasami fuel or what? Especially that last scene and then the last shot. Look, I don't care if they did do it or not, but this was like doing it half way and in a somewhat vague way. Was this censorship of a homosexual relationship on TV? Was this pandering to 14 yr old boys? I can't even remember the rest of the two episodes because of that scene.


More later.
Spoiler: show
It was Korrasami, although the creators did their best to make Korra seem Bi (at least I think) which is major in my opinion because that's a massive step for an animated "kids" show.

If you look at the two final scenes of both series, they pretty much parallel each other. The final words of AtLA are along the lines of "You look perfect/That looks perfect." and for LoK "Sounds perfect."

So yes I'd assume that Korrasami is a thing.
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Old 12-20-2014, 01:49 AM   #661
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About the ending. Don't click it unless you want to be spoiled. Seriously.

Spoiler: show
Someone on Imgur claims he found the unedited ending: http://imgur.com/gallery/xWg5JPR
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Old 12-20-2014, 09:46 PM   #662
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Book 4 Finale spoilers:

Spoiler: show
If I get to it, I'll do a full review of the finale later. Generally thought it was better than the rest of the season though. This spoiler is purely for KorrAsami.

For what it was, I think they did an excellent job of handling it. However I'm not a fan of the decision to do it. Bromance has been in for a while now but the female equivalent (womance?) is virtually nonexistent on TV. There's really no female equivalent of, say, either Dean+Sam or Dean+Castiel from Supernatural. Korra and Asami for season 3 had probably the best dynamic in the show, and it's so rare in TV to get that sort of genuine trust and friendship between female characters - Korra/Asami's early season dynamic of romantic rivalry and such is much more common, and even when that's not it there's rarely a really strong positive platonic female relationship in any show. I thought Korra had done this excellently for the last two seasons, with their dynamic in Book 4 potentially being read either platonically or romantically. But to shoehorn in suddenly sexuality to two characters with zero previous hints of homosexuality and a lot of straight romantic history? I feel like it somewhat cheapens the otherwise excellent dynamic the two had. Like other shows before it, female relationships are either rivalry, not all that close or romantic. TV apparently has no room for close female friends.

That said, it's hard to fault a show with the courage to romantically link two female characters - and non-white ones, at that - and whilst it's not the decision I'd have made myself it was very well done.
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Old 12-21-2014, 09:14 AM   #663
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Spoiler: show
Like other shows before it, female relationships are either rivalry, not all that close or romantic. TV apparently has no room for close female friends.
Spoiler: show
Are you honestly saying there's more romantic female relationships in TV than close friendships? Without even leaving Nickelodean you have iCarly, Sam and Cat and Victorious which all feature a female lead with a female best friend(s). If you’re looking for animated examples, My Little Pony and Sailor Moon both quality. I understand that they’re not nearly as common as bromances, but they’re WAAAAY more common than same sex relationships.

Everything else you said was completely valid. I can see why it feels shoehorned and I honestly don’t believe it crossed the creators minds until season 3 onwards, which I can see being a huge problem with some people. But you can't undermine how important this is for a show targeted at children. For young LGBT and questioning, they finally have a hero they can relate to.

I’m not saying that the ends justify the means – I actually really like how their relationship evolved over the past two seasons and felt it was so much better handled than the trainwreck that was Makorra. It parallels same sex relationships in more adult shows like Buffy, where the bi/lesbian character in question goes through some bad straight relationships before finding love with someone who just happens to be the same sex.

I'm sorry if this relationship bothers some people, but I can't possibly put into words how happy I was when it happened because I've been shipping them since the final scene of season 3. I'll definitely be posting more on the episode in the next few days. In the meantime...


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Old 12-21-2014, 06:09 PM   #664
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So guys, should I rewatch all of TLA before moving onto Korra or just crack on with the latter?
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Old 12-21-2014, 06:12 PM   #665
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Start with Korra. Then watch TLA after.
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Old 12-22-2014, 05:00 AM   #666
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Spoiler: show
Korrasami is all but canon at this point. Notice that the song that they chose for that final scene is a reprise of this song from ATLA. And the way that the final scene went down parallels the Kataang ending quite well. Furthermore, both the show and the voice-actors (Seychelle and Janet) have retweeted this article.

I say kudos to the writers for having the balls to set up a subtle Korrasami relationship. Rarely do we get shows where the lead is a female, and even more rare are shows where the female lead doesn't end up with the guy. Having a woman be without a male romantic love interest is a very feminist choice. But what is even rarely is actual queer representation, where the character is possibly not heterosexual. And if the character happens to be gay, their sexuality is the focus of some large storyline. In this case, Korra is a female lead who just happens to be bisexual, and the hints are subtle rather than the sexuality be a major focal point.

Willow/Tara comparisons make sense. I like the way that the show set up the Korra/Asami dynamic and developed it throughout the past few seasons. In retrospect, this ending adds a whole new dimension to the Mako/Korra/Asami love triangle in Season 1.

I was really happy when Korrasami happened. The show has decided to be progressive, and honestly, Asami is a good fit for Korra. She's sensible and compassionate, and unlike Mako, she is a good influence on her. For a moment during the Finale, I was worried that the final Mako/Korra interaction at the wedding was going to end in a Makorra dance, but the show surprised me by going in a different direction.

Korra/Asami's final moment was touching, and regardless of whether they are friends or are something more, I'm glad that the show ended with those two. Season 3 and Season 4 were heavily female-centric anyway, and it felt right that Korra's journey would end with a talk with Tenzin and then a trip with Asami.



Also, I gotta say that I like the way that the series tied up Kuvira's storyline. Korra overcame this Big Bad through empathy, showing how far that she has come since Book 1. And it's not coincidence that the show's Female Big Bad is the one with whom Korra sympathises and then finds common ground. You feel for Kuvira during this scene, and it was well-done. Yes, the show could've ended with Korra taking down Kuvira in a big battle, but I like this ending better.

BORKED

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Old 12-22-2014, 08:42 PM   #667
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Old 12-22-2014, 09:10 PM   #668
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Spoiler: show
Are you honestly saying there's more romantic female relationships in TV than close friendships? Without even leaving Nickelodean you have iCarly, Sam and Cat and Victorious which all feature a female lead with a female best friend(s). If you’re looking for animated examples, My Little Pony and Sailor Moon both quality. I understand that they’re not nearly as common as bromances, but they’re WAAAAY more common than same sex relationships.
Spoiler: show
Not exactly, I'm saying close female friendships - even when they supposedly exist - are a dynamic that's mostly just ignored. It's almost always an informed attribute. Take Buffy for example - the only female relationships that are properly explored are the strain being the Slayer brings between Buffy and her mother and Willow/Tara. Despite being close friends the entire show, Buffy/Willows friendship is taken for granted and never really given a showing where Willow/Xander is explored in detail and given a lot more emphasis, particularly in S6. Angel explores plenty of Cordelia and Freds relationships with the male cast and explores the at times rocky relationships between Westley/Gunn and Westley/Angel, but between any two female characters? Nope. Fred/Cordelias friendship gets zero exploration. And these are shows praised for their excellent female characterisation - most tv shows don't even do as much as they did. Skins puts a lot of focus onto several male hetero friendships (Cid/Tony is a big one), a bunch of relationships including a lesbian relationship (Emily/Naomi in the second generation), but female best friends (like Michelle/Jal)? We're informed they're best friends, they hang out, that's about it. No depth. I could go on.

I greatly appreciate what they've done with Korra/Asami, particularly being on childrens TV, and despite my gripes that their suddenly sexuality in S4 is a tad jarring I understand there's not really much they could've done to improve it. I think they built them very well romantically over S4 and platonically in S3. I'm just lamenting that once again we're left with a show that gives no time to exploring any genuine female friendships, even where they exist. There are a bunch of excellent female characters in Korra, but the only explored female relationships are the now romantic Korra/Asami and the family tension of the Beifongs.

Korra/Asami have been well done both from a platonic and a romantic perspective, it's just that in season 3 I was enjoying the rare well handled platonic female friendship and was a tad put out that the only strong female bond in the show had to be made romantic. Strong non-romantic bonds are allowed, writers, and they don't have to be confined to the bromance, but I really struggle to think of examples.
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Old 12-23-2014, 03:35 AM   #669
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Futari wa Pretty Cure did it a lot better ten years ago. In super sexist, misogynist Japan.

So progressive, America!
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Old 12-23-2014, 05:01 AM   #670
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@Dopple

Spoiler: show
Japan isn't a Christian nation filled with homophobia. Shintoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are all pretty tolerant of the same sex relationships. While they might not have wanted homosexuals in their orders (as sexuality as a whole was considered a distraction from enlightenment), they didn't send people to prison for life for such thing.
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Old 12-23-2014, 12:30 PM   #671
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About the ending. Don't click it unless you want to be spoiled. Seriously.

Spoiler: show
Someone on Imgur claims he found the unedited ending: http://imgur.com/gallery/xWg5JPR
Fanmade edit going around on tumblr.
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Old 12-23-2014, 04:03 PM   #672
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@Dopple

Spoiler: show
Japan isn't a Christian nation filled with homophobia. Shintoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are all pretty tolerant of the same sex relationships. While they might not have wanted homosexuals in their orders (as sexuality as a whole was considered a distraction from enlightenment), they didn't send people to prison for life for such thing.
That's a pretty sad commentary on America. Perhaps I've grown naiive over the years believing in something I wanted to take for granted really badly.

Spoiler: show
That said, I want to agree with Concept. I don't even watch Korra, but since the inspiration for the visual novel I'm writing is a "deeply platonic friendship with playful romantic hints" I do have some concern that Korra's writers had to make it blatant and obvious for audiences to get it. And then write a post on tumblr telling people to not deny it.
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Old 01-07-2015, 07:46 PM   #673
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The Legend of Korra Book 4 Episode 13: (second half of the season finale)

Spoiler: show
Procrastinating this post results in dulled excitement and memory. Better late than never, though.

My feelings on the finale and its place in the Avatar franchise are echoed by this Twitter user:
Quote:
Sozin's Comet is a great capstone to an already-remarkable show. Korra's finale is a redemption round for a mediocre-to-average show.
First: while Korra did improve from the disastrous Season 2 and generally disappointing end of Season 1, it never fully recovered. It never fully caught up to Avatar: the Last Airbender and stayed there. Any visits to such peaks in quality were short-lived, and overall Season 4 felt a weaker tour to me than Season 3.

Second: redemption round indeed. That's the big difference between the two series finales, isn't it? A:tLA's was much more a capstone to a heralded project. Korra's, on the other hand, had a lot of visible attempts at winning over a perceptibly lost crowd and at fanning the flames in the hearts of those who'd never left.

Anyway ...

Kuvira: to the end, she remained a less-interesting villain than Zaheer or pre-reveal Amon.

Korrasami: I disagree with those in the community who felt that this reationship was well-developed. That's my biggest complaint with it. Seasons 1 and 2, nothing. Season 3, I didn't see anything -- and neither did any of you if we're being completely honest, folks, given how not a single UPNer brought it up during S3 despite our numerous LGBT Korra viewers. And then finally in Season 4, some semi-subtle signs here or there that were so obvious we all joked about them but so subtle we couldn't really be sure what was going on. Even right up to the very end, we have Korrasami proponents admitting that they were worried the scene at the wedding with Korra and Mako was leading into a Makorra ending. How can any of us claim that Korrasami was "well-developed" when you have doubts about it right on up until the final minutes of the series!? Straight, gay, bi, I don't care: I want my romance to be well-written. Korrasami wasn't that. (Though to be completely fair: neither was Katara x Aang. Friendzoned friendzoned friendzoned SUDDENLY RECIPROCAL FEELINGS OF LOVE.)

Mako's fate: silly execution. They make it seem like if Mako detonates the reactor he'll die instantly (when he and Bolin are arguing over the plan) and then they go and have it take such sweet time detonating that Bolin is able to come back, rescue Mako, and get the two of them out of there in time.

In the end ...
  • I'm glad I chose to watch 'til the end instead of quitting after Season 2
  • I do still think that Korra is better programming than most of what you'll find on Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel
  • but I don't think Korra managed to tie, let alone surpass, the original series
I think Korra demonstrates the huge problem with writing to your fanbase (and worrying about their expectations) rather than writing in solitary confinement and turning out a flawless gem that is untouched by the fans during creation. With A:tLA, they had had an idea for a three-part saga, they pitched it to Nickelodeon, they got accepted, and they wrote it. With Korra, they forced a sequel to their original work, they only had one season in mind, and then when we all cried "WHAT!? " they forced three more.
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Old 02-03-2015, 05:56 PM   #674
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So, I watched Book 4 over the past few days. Saw a major spoiler yesterday which made me know I had to watch Book 4

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Originally Posted by Concept View Post
Minor thought, having watched as far as episode 10:

Spoiler: show
So originally upon the reveal that Kuvira was planning on attacking Republic City, my reaction was that it was a stupid plot point that kinda diverged from Kuvira's actions so far (unifying the Earth Kingdom). I just remembered why it's not - Republic City and the area it controls were once part of the Earth Kingdom, and were the initial Fire Nation colonies at the start of hundred years war. A century later when Ozai is defeated, the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom couldn't agree who got control of the colonies (which had at that point been FN for a hundred years but were historically EK) so they ended up becoming separate. Kuvira likely views Republic City as rightfully part of her nation.

However, I only know this from wiki/the comics. It's never once been raised in the show, which is poor writing if they're now going to use it to justify a major plot development. And if they don't justify Kuvira's attack on Republic City, then it's also shitty writing. This season is kinda disappointing me after last season. Kuvira is believable, but only because I have experience of people like UnownMew - people like Kuvira are infuriating, pathetic and petty, not interesting major villains. I just find myself kinda grumpy whenever she's on screen.

I'm also annoyed that they've opted to have Toph sit out on the basis of "lol old". Bumi was 112 when he single-handedly freed Omashu and helped liberate Ba Sing Se from comet-enhanced firebenders, you're telling me Toph can't/won't stomp some of Kuvira's troops into the ground? The worlds greatest metal bender was ten feet from a giant metal superweapon and did nothing.

Unrelatedly, I feel like Korras confrontation with Zaheer could've been the backbone of an entire episode and was kinda rushed. But he was, as ever, the shows only villain to rival Zuko. That was nice.
Spoiler: show
It was a plot point in Book 3 with the Earth Queen being outraged, claiming the Earth Kingdom had been pressured into ceding that territory to the United Republic. So it did come up before


@Talon:
Spoiler: show
well, to be honest, there was a lot of tease for it, but, realistically, did any of us really expect a Nickelodeon cartoon to have a canon lesbian couple? CN barely scraped Marcy and Peebles and that was only confirmed outside the show itself. And I disagree that the romance was not well-written. I knew Korra and Asami were endgame before watching Book 4 and all throughout the season I saw hints upon hints. Lingering glances, her only writing to Asami, a million little tells that definitely added up. Aang/Katara? Yeah that was really shitty writing and was a terrible resolution, but Korra and Asami had some real chemistry in a way that wasn't just like siblings.


Overall reactions:
Spoiler: show
It was better than The Last Airbender. tLA suffered from some terrible villains. Ozai was not a great or well-written villain and the end Deus Ex Machina was a cop out. Azula was a credible threat but she grew secondary, and Zuko joined up with the heroes and wasn't entirely a villain. Zhao never did anything right.

Zaheer, overall, was the best villain in the franchise. The Red Lotus as a whole was just the greatest. We had some great introduction of the White Lotus in the original series, and it clearly grew a fair bit in between the serieses, which made the splinter cell a completely believable direction to go in. Especially in regards to the fact that the primary foursome was the most diverse cohesive team we've seen since the original series. It had a bender of each of the four elements, but before Harmonic Convergence, it was three benders and a nonbender. Either way, together, they at one point or another represented the five different kinds of peoples in the Avatar world. My personal tastes also lie with Ghazan, who was charismatic and a great personality right up until the end, as well as having a great bending subset. He even bantered with and complimented Bolin during their final fight.

Korra also took the concepts in the original series, the things that made us love Avatar, and expanded them. Metalbending and Lightningbending become better understood. Technology progressed, and I'm sure in no small part to folks like the machinist and Sokka who pushed with innovative ideas.

Also, what's people's problem with Jinora? She's spiritually attuned, but that never stopped people from liking Guru Pathik. She might be more gifted with it than him, but remember that she also manifested with them at a time when the separation between the mortal and spirit realms was very weak, very close to the same Harmonic Convergence that gave at least dozens the ability to Airbend. She's an airbending prodigy, but so was her grandfather, and her grandmother is Katara. She has very strong bending in her blood, and a deeper spiritual connection isn't that far-fetched.

Also, there's the hypothesis that Bolin has the rare Lavabending ability because his father was Earth Kingdom and his mother was Fire Nation, lava being seen as an in-between. Well, Jinora's from the line of Katara and Aang, Water and Air. As we saw from Korra Book 2, there's spiritual healing arts in waterbending, as well as the magic healing, showing a deep spirituality, and Airbenders are known for spirituality, so it's entirely likely she gets some of that from that. Notably, her uncle Bumi also communes with spirits pretty effectively, able to communicate with Bumju quite well, even if they can only exchange the gist of their meanings to each other.

I loved Varrick and Zhu Li. "You may now... do the thing". That was absolutely beautiful. Their chemistry was great and they played really well. They're so quirky, they were totally made for each other.

I didn't ship Korra and Asami before but I love it and I do now.

In sum, I find Korra much better than the original series and a great addition to the world of Avatar.
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Old 02-09-2015, 01:11 AM   #675
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Korra suffered from a largely underdeveloped cast. There were many to many secondary and third tier characters in the series that ate up each others screentime and as a result most characters barely developed.

Tenzin and his family were the best characters of the show. But everyone else besides Korra were just kinda there.

And I agree with the above, Asami in general was one of the least developed characters of the show. Why was she even there other than to be a love interest to two characters? Its like...she had no real role or purpose after Season 1 ended and her father went to jail. If she never came back nothing would have been lost other than shipping.

Kind of a shame. When the show started I thought Asami would be one of my favorite characters, but in the end she's just a bland shipping fodder based on the writers whims.
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