UPNetwork  

Go Back   UPNetwork > General Forums > Entertainment

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 06-14-2014, 08:07 PM   #501
Schadenfreude
Volcano Badge
 
Schadenfreude's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Bar-hopping with Notorious RBG
Posts: 2,263
Send a message via Skype™ to Schadenfreude
Another trailer, an official one from Nickelodeon, is now available. This one can be watched in HD and was far better quality.
Schadenfreude is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-27-2014, 12:31 PM   #502
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
AK2 just called to tell me that The Legend of Korra Book 3 will begin airing tonight at 7pm EDT. Nickelodeon will air the first three episodes tonight; then, next week there will be a break; and then the following week will see the airing of Episode 04. It's obvious why they would release a) so many episodes at once and b) at such a shitty time of the year television-wise. (The end of June? Seriously? ) Although really, I think it's kind of silly that they rushed it when the damage was already done. May as well have had us wait until the fall. Well, whatever! If you're a huge fan of Korra, then you're not going to want to miss the episodes -- catch 'em tonight or tomorrow and join in the discussions that are sure to follow.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-27-2014, 05:13 PM   #503
Loki
The Path of Now & Forever
 
Loki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 5,304
Why did it have to fall on D&D night?!?!?!?!!!!
Loki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2014, 06:35 AM   #504
SoS
Ducks gonna duck
 
SoS's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 2,824
So apparently there's a Korra video game coming out. Developed by motherfucking Platinum Games. As in the guys behind Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising, etc. Holy shit a potentially good tie-in.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Concept View Post
Why are you always a pretty princess?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Son_of_Shadows View Post
Because I look damn good in a dress.
Fizzy Bubbles Team
PASBL
Wild Future
SoS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2014, 08:05 AM   #505
Chalis
Activating Rampage
 
Chalis's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,961
Yeah, I heard that too yesterday. Hope its good.
__________________



"Meteor Jam!"


Chalis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2014, 12:16 PM   #506
Emp
Volcano Badge
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 3,143
Season 3 Ep 1

Spoiler: show
What can I say? I came into this episode not expecting a lot and that’s certainly what I got. The episode starts with my least favourite character discovering he can Airbend. I’m glad it turned out that he didn’t have this power all along like I expected, but I was still pretty disappointed that we can’t just remember Aang and Katara as having an Airbender, Waterbender and a nonbender. I imagine there’s going to be a lot of focus on Bumi this season – whether it be a power struggle with Bumi and Tenzin as the two senior members of the new Air Nation or his mastery of Airbending (comedy involving the Airbending kids ensues). Here I was hoping he’d rejoin the United Republic navy and his sister would leave too. Oh well.

Increasing the Airbender population seems like something the writers pulled out of their hats. You’d think that the creators had mapped out so much about the Avatar universe including its history and future. This, along with spirits now living alongside humans and the Ravaa/Vatuu storyline just seems like it was thrown into the Avatar continuity last minute. Maybe it’s because of the lack of foreshadowing? I don’t know.

I read what must have been a fake news story somewhere that the Dai Li had been secretly keeping a group of Airbender’s captive prior to the 300 year war knowing that the future Avatar would eventually be born under their control. That was an idea I really liked. It’s plausible that an Orwellian state like Ba Sing Se would have kept a secret airbender prison and it’s really, really dark. Just the sort of thing Avatar: The Last Airbender would do. It’s a shame that they instead decided that a load of people, who clearly aren’t decent from the Air Nomads, have picked up this power.

This episode’s saving grace was its final scene. I’ve been getting into spirituality and meditation recently and it’s allowed me to appreciate the original Avatar Series so much more. The scene where the Guru teaches Aang about chakras is a prime example of where the series has borrowed from real eastern philosophy and beliefs. The creators have admitted that they’ve tried to incorporate these teachings into the series, and while TLOK Book 2 wasn’t very spiritual for a season about spirits, this last scene really was:

“Instinct is a lie
Told by a fearful body
Hoping to be wrong."

Spiritual teachings revolve around how this this world, the world in which you are reading this post, is a dream that you need to wake up from. This is the same message that the new villain, or Guru Lahima, is teaching us in this scene. Not sure how relevant it is to the scene itself But still. Awesome! Really looking forward to more of this guy and less of everyone else.
__________________


FB PASBL TL 4

26-4-0 KO74 TP208
B Ref SP 2


Last edited by Emp; 06-28-2014 at 01:57 PM.
Emp is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2014, 12:22 PM   #507
Red Panda
head head bitch
 
Red Panda's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,490
Quote:
Originally Posted by Son_of_Shadows View Post
So apparently there's a Korra video game coming out. Developed by motherfucking Platinum Games. As in the guys behind Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising, etc. Holy shit a potentially good tie-in.
I've read that it's a 3rd person fighting game being released as a downloadable game in Fall 2014. The game's events take place between S2 and S3.

There's also a 3DS game coming out for it that's a turn based game where you have to correctly position Korra and allies on the battlefield.
Red Panda is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2014, 01:03 PM   #508
Amras.MG
Not sure if gone...
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Or just lurking.
Posts: 2,709
Yeah, and both are supposed to release this fall and we haven't seen any gameplay footage at all. Plus, the 3DS one is being done by an Activision shovel-ware developer and the console one is being done by Platinum, which is currently working on Bayonetta 2, porting Bayonetta 1, and a new IP for Xbox One, so they're really busy.

I'd say treat it like the rest of the Legend of Korra - sounds good on paper but wait until the reviews trickle in before you get your hopes up too high.
Amras.MG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2014, 01:55 PM   #509
Emp
Volcano Badge
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 3,143
Totally should've couple my review of 1 and 2 up, then had a separate review for episode 3. Meh, this isn't much of a review anyway but rather some passing comments on how the series is progressing so far. I hope someone else watches these episodes soon so I can see what they think

Spoiler: show
Is Kai supposed to be this annoying? He’s such a Scrappy Doo. I don’t care if he starts to redeem himself from this episode onwards, he’s no Toph.

I don’t care about Mako and Bolin’s family. Their whole backstory has never interested me that much at all, and I don’t really care much for the wealth disparity in Ba Sing Se since we’ve already been there and done that.

The main thing that’s keeping me interested at this point is the villains. There’s a Waterbender. Without. Arms. That is the stuff of nightmares, and a great way to refresh the Waterbender villains since we’ve been saturated (lol) with them this series. We also have a Magmabender (?) although my first impression is that they’ve wasted such a cool ability on a character who looks like he’s going to be nothing more than the muscle of the group. They’re setting up Combustion Woman to be one of the biggest threats, so I’m looking forward to that.

One thing that’s really bothering me so far though is that they seem to have forgotten about Korra’s Energybending ability. There was an Airbender wanting to throw himself off the bridge, asking Korra if she could make it stop and she said that there was nothing she could do. Uh- Yeah there is! More importantly though, why didn’t the Order of the White Lotus get her to remove the bending of the three most dangerous criminals in the world? It would’ve saved them all a lot of time building those intricate prisons and keeping guard. Yeah that’s a pretty huge plot hole.
__________________


FB PASBL TL 4

26-4-0 KO74 TP208
B Ref SP 2

Emp is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2014, 09:34 PM   #510
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
The Legend of Korra: I am one minute and fifty seconds into Episode 01 of Book 3, and already ...

Spoiler: show
... they are pissing me off with yet another blasphemy against prior canon. Bumi (son of Aang) can now airbend? Seriously? We're going to claim that for 50+ years of this man's life he wasn't able to airbend at all but that suddenly when his life is put in danger and we have spirits back in the physical world that Bumi can summon the power to bend air?

Presumably this will be explained if I give the writers a goddamn chance instead of freaking out about it only two minutes in, and believe me, I'll try to give them that chance! But I just had to share my half-laughing half-eyes-rolling complaint about this. It's just so ridiculous. "We trampled all over the origins of bending. Then we trampled all over Uncle Iroh. Now let's trample over the idea that people are either born benders or else they're not!" Because it totally doesn't make Bumi out to be even more of a failure to say that it took him 50+ years to figure out airbending whereas Tenzin's idiot son figured it out before the age of 4.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-28-2014, 11:08 PM   #511
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
Okay. Finished the episode. So without further ado ...

The Legend of Korra Book 3 Episode 01:

Spoiler: show
I ended up enjoying the episode, I hate to admit. I also hate to admit, unfortunately, that I was reminded occasionally of earlier events that I simply did not and continue to not like. So for me, S3E01 was in a weird place where like ... I liked it, but I still kept it at arm's length as I would a fanfic or a Star Wars prequel. I guess the best way of putting it would be, "It was a welcome continuation of the Korra mythos but did little to remove the tarnish which now stains the Avatar franchise."

The New Airbenders: this was one of the most exciting developments of the episode. I'll handle Bumi and the new villain in their own respective sections, but for now let's just talk in general terms about the development. Generally, I like the idea that the way Korra dealt with harmonic convergence has resulted in the rebirth of the airbending nation. It's going to be a lot of fun watching Korra go from place to place, seeking out the new airbenders of the world and recruiting the willing to Tenzin's cause. As we saw with the Republic City cook's brother, the spontaneous development of airbending powers can be a lot like suddenly becoming a mutant in Marvel's X-Men franchise. Even if we as bright-eyed audience members can look at airbending with yearning desire, the actual people whom it affects can often times find their new powers unsettling and unwelcome. I liked how the chef's brother asked Korra to take his bending powers back. It was a nice exploration of the other side of the coin from Book 1; there, we saw Amon stealing bending away from unwilling benders; here, we see former non-benders entreating the Avatar to return them to their status as ordinary citizens who can't bend. Anyway, yeah. This is probably the most fun macguffin we've had yet in the Korra universe. Beating Amon and the Equalists, while exciting at first, was never exactly "fun"; and Unalaq and Vaatu were no fun at all. But this? This looks fun.

Bumi: I'm torn over whether I like this development or not. First the bad. I don't like the message that Bumi's newfound powers send to kids. One of the strengths of the original series, Avatar: the Last Airbender, was that it didn't sugarcoat things for kids and that it reached out to so many. And the particular example that comes to mind for this conversation is Sokka. Sokka, several times throughout the original series, got depressed over his lack of bending powers compared with his friends. Surrounded by the last airbender, the world's greatest earthbender, and a skilled waterbender, Sokka felt himself the weak link of the group many times. But what did the writers of A:tLA tell us with Sokka? They told us, "Hey, look. Just because you can't do well what everyone else can do, that doesn't mean you can't be an equal contributor. You'll just have to take a different path. But all the roads lead to the same destination." Sokka trained with the master swordsman, having already been the group's best weapon user, and by the end of Book 3 he was basically Team Avatar's kickass swordsman. Yeah, he couldn't bend, but he was a better swordsman than most. Not only that, but Sokka came into his own as the group's tactician. Ever the jokester of the group, it turned out that Sokka had a real mind for military tactics. It was thanks to him that casualties were kept to a minimum on the Day of Black Sun and that the heroes were able to defeat Ozai on the day of Sozin's Comet's return.

But what about Bumi? What message does it send kids to have Bumi now becoming an airbender? It feels like it is, in many ways, the anti-Sokka message. Instead of telling kids it's okay to not be a bender (i.e. it's okay to not excel at some things which everyone else you know excels at), the writers are giving kids an "all's well that ends well! " schtick that teaches them that the only reason Bumi's ending is a happy one is because he got to become an airbender in the end after all, i.e. if Bumi had never gotten to become an airbender then man that would've sucked. It also sends kids the unhealthy message that, give it enough time, you too can accomplish what everyone else already has. And that just isn't true. Try as he might, Sokka could never bend. Try as you might, you probably won't ever be able to become a Dallas Cowboy or an astronaut. "Where there's a will, there's a way" doesn't cut it when NASA requires you to have 20/100 vision or better uncorrected, be between 5'2" and 6'3", and have over 1,000 flight hours. But instead of celebrating becoming a master at the things your body does let you achieve, the Korra team of writers is encouraging kids to not accept any limitations at all. It's a romantic idea that many will be quick to cheer for, but I don't think that makes it right. I think it's important to be honest with children while at the same time encouraging their growth and pursuit of lofty goals. Sokka as a character served that purpose well. Bumi does not.

So what's the good part about Bumi's newfound powers? Well, the good part is simple: like everyone else, I too am gratified to see Bumi be able to be a bender now. I'm happy for him, fictional character though he may be, that he no longer has to feel like he let his father, his family, and his ancestors down. I'm happy for him that he no longer has to feel like he lives in his brother's and sister's shadows. I'm happy for him that he gets to experience the wonders of being a bender. I'm just happy for him. Good for you, Bumi.

The new villain: And what about our new villain? I heard his name but didn't quite catch it and I'm too scared to go looking it up right now only to be spoiled on events in later episodes. So for now I'll just call him "the villain" or similar. Well, the new villain ... is really cool. I like him a lot. In fact, I only have one complaint about him so far and that's that his voice sounds far too young for him given how old he appears to be. (Appears to be in his 40s or 50s but sounds like he's in his 20s.) Aside from that, he's great. For one, I'm excited by the prospect of a villainous airbender. We've never had one of those before! Should be cool. For another, I'm excited by the prospect of Tenzin having to reconcile this fact -- that not all airbenders are good-hearted -- with the hero worship of his ancestors he's surely done all his life. Will Tenzin offer a fraternal hand to the guy, inviting him to join the other airbenders? And if so, will the other guy ever accept or will he, to the day he dies, spit on Aang's descendants, Korra, and anyone else with ties to the Avatar?

One thing in particular that I like about the villain is the fact that he had to be placed in a maximum security prison -- solitary confinement on top of a mountain accessible only to members of the Order of the White Lotus O_o -- despite apparently being a non-bender. That's insane. That, despite not being able to bend at all, he was that much of a physical danger to people. So now that he can airbend, hoooooooooooolyyyyyyyyyyyyy shit.

Republic City president: Why is he acting like such a child? Strike that -- why is he acting like such an asshole now? Korra said it herself -- harmonic convergence was just three weeks ago. It seems awfully strange that the president of Republic City would've gone from being on Korra's side (even though the brash teenager didn't see it that way) to being a childish nincompoop of a "villain". It's almost like the 8-year olds in the audience got a hold of the writers' pens and drew up the portions of the script concerning the president. I don't like it. I liked it better when Korra thought he was a bad guy but it was clear to us adults in the audience that, while stern, he was actually on her side (to an extent) and was genuinely concerned with the welfare of Republic City.

Bolin: I wrote "Gotta love Bolin" on my phone at the start of the episode when he was telling Korra how much he loved staying with Tenzin's family. But as the episode wore on, those words should really have been changed to "Gotta love Bolin ... before the writers wear him out." Because boy did they ever wear him out. Bolin is one of those characters where the more you force him to be funny, in both magnitude and in frequency, the less funny he becomes. One of the worst parts was when he interrupted Korra's and Tenzin's conversation under the pagoda at sunset. Writers, just ... *sigh* ... go back and watch how Sokka was written in the original series. Do it like that. Don't carbon copy Sokka, no, but take notes regarding how extreme Sokka was (or wasn't) and how often he was played for laughs.

The Korra & Asami scene in the car: Faaaaaaaaaaaaar too convenient. The one thing I like about this though is that, as stupidly convenient as it was, it totally gets out of the picture any and all lingering romantic drama from Books 1 and 2. Thank God.

Tenzin: this man is easily the best new addition to the Avatar franchise when he's being written correctly. The writers did a wonderful job with him here. I loved practically every minute Tenzin was on screen.

Continuity: I was grateful to see that the writers haven't abandoned the uncomfortable consequences of Raava's death at the end of Book 2, namely that Korra's link with all of the past Avatars is gone for good. I had totally forgotten about it and it's the sort of thing that I have come to expect writers like the Korra team of writers to try and shove under the rug and act like it never happened. Very grateful to the team that they did not do this this time. Yeah, it fucking sucks that she can no longer talk to Aang or Roku or Kyoshi or any of them. Yeah, you might even call it depressing. But it happened. Actions/Events have consequences. And those consequences should not be discarded just because they inconvenience us as writers or upset us emotionally as fans.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-29-2014, 12:03 AM   #512
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
The Legend of Korra Book 3 Episode 02:

Spoiler: show
In some ways a step down from Episode 01, in others a step up. All around about the same quality.

No annoying brats: YES.

Tenzin acting like a bossy jackass: UGHHHHHHHHH. -______-; This is what I was talking about last post when I said "when he's being written correctly." Because while when the writers write him right he's great, when they write him wrong it's insufferable. Not just that he's insufferable: the entire idea of Jackass Tenzin is insufferable. I hate it. I hate it so much. Why oh why are we to believe that Tenzin, a grown man in his 40s and who is supposed to be very wise, would be less wise than an eight-year old when it comes to a farmer not uprooting to the Northern Air Temple just because he can now airbend? The whole scene was such a disgusting joke. Ughghghghghghghghghghghghghghghhghg!

Prison Break: This was kinda cool but kinda ehh. I think I liked it better when Zahir (a.k.a. "the new villain" last post) was our sole villain. Having him be the leader of a four-man team of benders is kind of silly. It's even more silly when you consider that the four now form a perfect circle of elementalists (one Fire, one Water, one Earth, and one Air) yet only several weeks ago Zahir would've, like Sokka, been the odd man out bending-wise. Like Sokka, of course Zahir could still contribute! But I'm just saying that with respect to IRL design considerations, I find it transparently juvenile of the writers to have given us a squadron of four, "one for each element ", and indeed given us one of each element. Whatever.

The actual prison break scenes themselves were fine. I have to suspend my disbelief as a grown man watching this show sometimes since, duh, the bending rules don't always make the best sense. (For example, why can't the waterbender use her own sweat -- and surely she'd be sweating in that sweltering sauna -- to do stuff? Don't tell me "Because it'd evaporate" because like hell it'd evaporate before she could pool it together and reduce its surface area. ) But with a willingness to suspend my disbelief just enough, I can roll with the plot like anyone else and enjoy it for what it is: people who supposedly couldn't break out before now being able to break out because oh shit they got assistance and BOOM there goes the jail cell.

Kai: It was pretty obvious that he was lying about his parents. That aside, I liked how different people responded to him. Korra, Tenzin, Jinora, Bolin, Mako: each had their own way of responding to Kai. That's typically a sign of good character writing, so I'm optimistic that the writers are paying more attention to this sort of thing for Book 3.

Jinora in love: Haha, this was as awkward to watch as it was cute. It's The Lion King 2 all over again. We'll see what happens.

Zuko: Nice to see Zuko. Disappointed that the writers are still keeping us in the dark regarding the Fire Nation's political situation right now, but it's clear from this scene that even though Zuko might not officially be the Fire Lord anymore that he still commands respect and enjoys great authority. I'm going to be very, very disappointed though if they have Zuko getting pwned by the firebending prisoner we've yet to meet. C'mon, writers: don't do that to us. Zuko had better be one of the best (if not the best) firebenders in the world right now. Especially since he learned the true way to bend fire in A:tLA Book 3, not fueled by anger like I would expect the prisoner's firebending to be.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-29-2014, 12:17 AM   #513
Tyranidos
beebooboobopbooboobop
 
Tyranidos's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Krusty Krab
Posts: 3,800
Send a message via AIM to Tyranidos Send a message via MSN to Tyranidos
Tyranitar

Just watched all three.

Spoiler: show
This is already better than Season 2. All the crappy love stuff seems to be out of the way and the focus is once again on bending. I can understand why some of you think adding airbenders randomly messes with the canon, but I don't mind one bit and I think the Harmonic Convergence is a reasonable explanation for it. However, I would expect that other kinds of benders would start appearing randomly as well, though maybe the spirit world can "sense" that there are very few airbenders compared to other kinds? I don't know, but the premise is, for the most part, sound. Like Talon, the hunt for airbenders seems like a fun idea and should make for a good story.

Kai is annoying the hell out of me, but I feel like if I was 10 years old he would be my favorite. Hope some regular airbenders join the cause.

Mako and Bolin's homecoming was very touching. When Mako gave his scarf to his grandmother and then they all hugged broke my damn heart. It seems like grandmother is respectful to the shitty Earth queen in like a brainwash-y kind of way, seems like a plot device in addition to the secret airbender army. Looking forward to the coming episodes.
__________________
Tyranidos is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-29-2014, 10:17 AM   #514
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
The Legend of Korra Book 3 Episode 03:

Spoiler: show
The episode was, for the most part, a good episode that even felt like a throwback to the old A:tLA days. Unfortunately, I feel like the writers are tryhards too often with this series and it ends up hurting it rather than helping it. Sometimes it felt like this episode was trying too much to be an equal or superior version of the A:tLA visit to Ba Sing Se. Whenever I noticed that, it hurt the episode. Whenever I didn't notice that, I was able to enjoy the episode for what it was.

Plot threads: I liked how this episode not only had multiple plot threads but -- more importantly! -- how it handled them. Previous Korra episodes have often been criticized by fans for either:
  1. having too few plot threads going on at once ("Why can't you be more like A:tLA? ")
  2. having the right number of plot threads but poor management/presentation of these plot threads
That latter one in particular has really plagued the earlier episodes of Korra which have tried their best to give the fans what they want. But this episode? I felt like this episode nailed it. It felt like magic to get to experience this for the first time in so long, but yeah: I thought the writers did a really solid job of juggling the Korra & Asami plot thread, the Mako & Bolin plot thread, and the Kai plot thread. Interwoven throughout these three fabrics was a fourth plot thread -- that of the Earth Queen and her Dai Li agents -- and again I thought it was done well.

Mako & Bolin: It was unbelievable to me that Korra, Asami, and Tenzin would not have freaked out when Mako and Bolin not only did not return with Kai but went missing for hours, let alone an entire day. Like, I'm 99.99% positive that if those two went missing for more than five hours, Tenzin and Asami would've been worried that something had happened to them and they, with Korra in tow, would've gone looking for them. Tenzin would have had to have heard the horror stories about the Dai Li, Joo Dee, Jet, and so on from his father. There's no way that he would have been enthusiastic about the group splintering off. And there's no way that, once splintered off and failing to reconvene, he would've just calmly gone to bed and figured that Mako and Bolin would be back in the morning.

Further defying logic was the notion that Mako and Bolin would not only run into their family the very next morning -- this is like saying that you get lost on the streets of Tokyo and the next morning when you wake up you just so happen to run into your cousin and uncle -- but that they would be recognized. Obviously I see the family resemblance in the photograph, but cartoons are cartoons and reality's reality. Would a passing stranger really say, "Mako? :o Bolin? " to two young men whom his son claims were trying to steal from them just because one of the boys' faces reminds him of his long lost brother's?

But I understand why the writers defied logic here. They defied logic because "Goddamn it!" they said, "One way or another we're going to get those boys to meet their extended family!" So while I don't approve of the clumsy execution, I understand why they did what they did.

The family scene was good without being great. I guess that's all I can really say for it without being grossly analytical. I will say that the highlight scene was the one with Mako gifting his grandmother the red scarf.

Korra & Asami: I don't have too much to say here other than that I enjoyed this scene and what it portends. We all knew that the Earth Queen was a bad guy but that's because we're watching a children's television show. It's fucking obvious to us. ^^; But to Korra, who has an especially poor track record with understanding the situation, it wasn't necessarily obvious that the Earth Queen was a villain so much as a snooty monarch.

Couldn't help but to laugh at the writers' seemingly desperate attempts to make Asami seem relevant in a fight though. Korra's doing most of the fighting, understandably, but then the writers are all, "ASAMI CAN FIGHT TOO! " and Asami's all like "I CAN FIGHT TOO! " and up she goes, jump kicking a guy on a motorcycle. Yeaaaaaaaaah ...

Kai: I like his character so far. I can understand why some might find him to be an annoying child character, but to be honest I feel like he is the single least annoying child character we've had on this show yet. Tenzin's two younger children are the absolute worst. Jinora annoys me for what she is -- "oh, look at me! Ten-year old prodigy over here!" These are the worst characters ... well, aside from the Meelos. And so then we have Kai who, while he might be a bit of a stereotypical scamp, is still a lot more fun and deep than the other children. I look forward to watching as Kai learns his lesson and, once rescued, commits to a life of austerity with Tenzin as his guide. He'll still be a little rascalion, I'm sure of it, and we won't have seen the last of his nimble fingers either. But his days of pickpocketing innocent citizens are probably over. From this point forward, the only pockets Kai'll be picking will be enemies'.

The Earth Queen: Sufficiently detestable. Kind of nuts that the other nations of the world (and the Bei Fong family inside the Earth Kingdom as well) would've allowed such a Maoist ruler to take hold. Whaaaatever ...

The airbender army: So, empoleon dynamite pretty much called this in his post for Episode 01:
Quote:
I read what must have been a fake news story somewhere that the Dai Li had been secretly keeping a group of Airbenders captive prior to the 300 year war knowing that the future Avatar would eventually be born under their control. That was an idea I really liked. It’s plausible that an Orwellian state like Ba Sing Se would have kept a secret airbender prison and it’s really, really dark. Just the sort of thing Avatar: The Last Airbender would do. It’s a shame that they instead decided that a load of people, who clearly aren’t decent from the Air Nomads, have picked up this power.
While the agenda might be a little different (emp's news source claimed that the Dai Li wanted an Avatar born under their control; all the Dai Li agent told Kai is that the Earth Queen wants a private army of airbenders) and while the timeline might be a little different too (emp's source saying this has been happening for 300 years but the episode suggesting that the only airbenders rounded up thus far have all been ones who spontaneously developed bending powers in the last few weeks), the idea of the Dai Li impressing airbenders into a secret army is still very much an Orwellian nightmare.

I have to wonder what the consequences will be for the Earth Queen. Will she be forcibly deposed by Korra and other Earth Kingdom outsiders? Will she be forcibly deposed by her own subjects? Will Korra and Tenzin simply take the airbenders with them and then leave, not wanting to meddle in the private affairs of the Earth Kingdom? We'll have to see. Long Feng wound up in jail for this sort of thing but then again he was the Grand Secretariat, not the king or queen.

Eska and Desna: While I enjoyed seeing the twins again, their execution felt like a swing and a miss. I wanted to enjoy the comedy scene in the elevator where Zuko briefly tells them about the time he hired Combustion Man to kill Aang and then Eska shares her own story about trying to kill Korra for ruining her wedding, but the scene just felt too forced and childish. :\ *sigh* Anyway, here's hoping that we get to see Eska again at least one or two more times this season and that her future appearances are more positively memorable.

And now for some responses to others' posts ...

Spoiler: show
Energybending: I didn't even think about this, I'll admit. But yes, this is a rather large plot hole. Korra could have easily taken away the chef's brother's newfound bending abilities. And Avatar Aang could have easily taken away the criminals' bending powers. It is silly to think that they would have let them keep their bending powers while placing them in a ridiculous maximum security prison like none other on the planet instead of simply doing what they did to Ozai -- taking away his bending so that he can never again harm anyone with it and then just letting him rot in an ordinary prison cell.

This seems to be a recurring problem with the Korra team of writers. While we know that they're trying their best to create a cohesive universe, it seems like sometimes they forget some of the core principles introduced in the original series.
  • First we had them forgetting the history of bending as already presented by A:tLA. "The first earthbenders learned from the badger-moles." "The first fire benders learned from the dragons." ... That is until Korra S2 came along and said, "Nope! LION-TURTLES! " *sigh*
  • Then we had Uncle Iroh. Oh my. Next.
  • And now we have this fuck up with forgetting about energybending.
I'm optimistic that the decision to allow three of the four prisoners to retain their bending powers had a deliberate reason behind it and one which will be explained by the series. Like, perhaps they'll say that taking away someone's bending is to the Avatar universe what dropping a nuclear bomb on a city is like to ours. That even if Aang felt at the time that he was doing the right thing and even if countless historians look back on Avatar Aang's actions with gratitude and respect, he still felt later in life that what he did was so wrong that he swore to never again take someone's bending away unless it was literally a matter of life or death for him or for the victim. In other words, "If we can find a way to imprison them without debending them, then we should. Debending should not even be on the table unless all other options have been exhausted." But I dunno ... that would still feel like a copout explanation to me now that we've had Zuko go on record as saying that individually these criminals are a match for the Avatar and that together they could threaten to destroy the entire world. Like, if they are supposed to be that good, then wtf, man. Debend them.

Kai: I don't think he's as annoying as emp or Tdos seem to feel he is. I dunno. I anticipated that some people might find him annoying, but so far I honestly think he's one of the better new characters we've had in Korra. Maybe that's sad? ^^; But it's the truth (at least for me it is). I like Kai more than Asami. I like Kai more than any of Tenzin's kids. I like Kai more than even Desna or Eska. (Gasp!) He's not as amusing to me as Varrick was. And he's not as cool in my book as Tenzin is. (Though Jackass Tenzin can go away forever, please. ) But I definitely don't think of him as a Scrappy Doo. That's just me, anyway. And that's just now, too. We'll see what time does for each of our opinions.

Armless Waterbender: I didn't notice this. She really didn't have any arms? Guess I'll have to go back and watch this later. As far as plot devices go I've seen this one before in other stories, so it doesn't hold any novelty for me. Considering how much waterbenders make use of their actual arms to bend water though -- just think of Katara or Master Pakku -- it'll be interesting to hear their explanation for how this woman can bend water despite not having any arms.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-29-2014, 11:38 AM   #515
Red Panda
head head bitch
 
Red Panda's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,490
Any idea where I might be able to find the episodes? One of my siblings cancelled the recording on the TV, and I was out the night they aired. I checked the Nickelodeon site but didn't see them.

EDIT: Thank you, Tdos!

Episode 1:
Spoiler: show
As far as premieres go, I'm a little on the fence for this one. Sure, it introduces the problems that will occur throughout the season, like dealing with the Spirits in everyday life, but I'm really not sure what to think of it.

The beginning of the episode states that 2 weeks have passed since Harmonic Convergence. It feels like a lot more to me. Take Korra and Asami for example. They've never really been great friends, or friends at all, but now they're driving through the streets together, acting like best friends?

>Bumi getting airbending

On one hand, I'm glad that Bumi will become more relevant to the series, but on the other hand, now we only have Asami as a non-bender. AtLA had Sokka, Ty Lee, Mai, and Suki. Don't get me wrong, Asami is great and pretty badass, but I think it would've been better for Bumi to stay without bending.

>Bolin and Mako

Welp, Bolin looks to be staying as comic relief. Again. Mako seems to be trying to distance himself from the group. As long as him and Korra stay away from each other (romantically), I'm completely fine. We do not need another mess from those two.

>ALL the Airbenders

See, I understand the justification for it (Airbenders are most heavily tied to the Spirit World, so bringing the Spirit World to the regular World might bring them back) but I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's great to see more Airbenders, but I dunno about there suddenly being a ton of them.

>Foreshadowed Villains

The President might be a possible villain (or at least opposition to Korra).

Then the Airbender shown at the end of the episode. First off, FINALLY, an Airbender villain! I realize that there hasn't been a chance since we've only had 6 other airbenders in the series before this, but as I said in a previous post, I'm glad that there looks to be a variety of villains, not JUST non-benders or JUST waterbenders like previous seasons.

I'm going into this with expectations of it being on par with last season.


Episode 2:
Spoiler: show
I'm really not used to having these episodes be 1/3 the length of the shows I usually watch ^_^

Anyways, I'll start with the Episode overall. I liked this episode far more than the premiere. I don't know why, but I truly did enjoy this episode.

>Rejection of the Airbenders

I really liked this part. I like how no one wants to the an airbender, and things aren't all easy for Team Avatar. People had this forced on them, and they don't want to abandon their lives. I think it was a really nice detail to add.

>Kai

I'm not sure how I feel about Kai yet. On one hand, he's an interesting character as a whole that will definitely allow for us to see different sides of other characters around him. He's sure to spur interesting reactions from Tenzin :P

>New Villains

Okay, I know that other Villains in the past on this show have been cool, but personally none trump these. They are incredibly badass and bend in ways we haven't seen before (magmabending?). I really like how there's one for each element. I also really like how the Waterbender is "handicapped". We haven't seen much in that area on the show and I think it definitely makes up for Bumi's shift to a bender. I think the only other example we've had was in AtLA with the kid in the wheelchair, but this is quite different from that. All in all, I really like these villains. Much more so than Amon or Unalaq.


Episode 3:
Spoiler: show
This episode is on par with the first. About what I expect the show to be like.

>Earth Queen

Not overly fond of her character. Kind of feels like a repeat (but slightly different) performance from Azula (nasty Queen, secret bad stuff on the side, etc.) And of course the Dai Li are bad again. Of course.

>Airbender army

THIS is interesting. I can't wait to see what they'll do with the idea.

>The Twins and Zuko

I forgot to mention Zuko in my last post. Okay, we know Iroh was a magnificent firebender. I expect Zuko to be better than that. Older or not, he travelled with the avatar, trained under his uncle, and really unlocked the power within himself. I'll be damned if he isn't a complete badass.

As for the twins (I forget their names), it's good to see that they aren't forgotten about. They made last season a little more interesting and it would've been a shame to see the writers abandon them so quickly. I can't wait for the epic battle that is sure to come!

>Kai

Not really liking his character. I know he'll change, though. That much is obvious.

Last edited by Red Panda; 06-29-2014 at 02:33 PM.
Red Panda is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-30-2014, 01:13 AM   #516
Stealthy
A New and Original Person
 
Stealthy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 949
I wanna double check but did Combustion Wkman say she was locked up for 17 years? Cause I think she did. And I'm also pretty sure Korra is 17.
Stealthy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-11-2014, 11:54 PM   #517
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
Legend of Korra Season 3 Episode 04:

Spoiler: show
The episode did a number of "little big things" wrong. I hate to be a nag, but let's just get these out of the way as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

Jinora's extracorporeal technique: I'm not too thrilled to see this plot device return from Season 2. The ability to leave your own body and pass through the world like a ghost is far too powerful a tool for the sort of stories the Avatar team wants to tell in the sort of world they want the Avatar universe to be. If you're Marvel Comics and you're writing with Kitty Pryde in mind, it's one thing. But Team Avatar frankly becomes a little too broken with someone like Jinora on the team using a skill like this. Remember the time Momo was lost and Aang couldn't find him? How he searched for Aang high and low? How he searched for weeks and weeks? How emotionally worn out he got, how angry and depressed he became? I'm not necessarily asking for a carbon copy repeat of that (as that too would've garnered some criticisms), but I just want to point out that Jinora lost her new boyfriend Kai for like half a day (that she knew of; one and a half days in total) before finding him again. My point is, the Avatar writers tried to set up another "Appa lost in Ba Sing Se" story arc and then "LOL! Finished! " laughed and patted themselves on the back for their cleverness () when they realized that they could just Jinora's powers to locate Kai in two seconds.

Children besting skilled adults: This comes with the territory of the franchise. In fact, I almost feel silly bringing it up considering how much I loved Avatar: the Last Airbender and how that show was nothing but children kicking trained adults' butts. Yet with Korra, which features a cast of characters who are almost all in their upper teens or older, I guess it just stands out more when I see Kai and Jinora kicking Dai Li agents' butts. Especially Kai, I guess, since he only just became an airbender several weeks ago. At least Toph, Aang, and Zuko had been hardcore bending from an early age; and even Katara had been bending for years, even if not nearly as hardcore as the other three. But Kai ... he just learned it.

Rushed romance: I don't mind Kai x Jinora. But I feel like the writers way rushed it. They were already kinda rushing it even by the end of Episode 03. But by the end of Episode 04, things went exponential.

Forced nods: the Lake Laogai reference was unnecessary. Not only did it feel foolishly convenient -- yes, I totally believe that Mako just happened to be reading airbender scrolls last night and that he found out about Lake Laogai from them ... -- but it was also a waste of our time in the end since all the writers did was show us an abandoned Dai Li prison that was submerged by the lake's water. Sooooooooooo ... what was even the point? You demolish our suspension of disbelief and for no other reason than to "Gotcha! " some eight-year olds in the audience?

Okay ... so if I didn't like all these things about Episode 04, then what did I like?

The pacing: I thought that the pacing was really satisfying. Not only did I feel like I got my twenty-two minutes' worth, I felt like I got much more. Furthermore, I could really tell that the writers weren't drawing things out. They knew that we knew where this was going -- bust out the airbenders, Tenzin offers them sanctuary at the Northern Air Temple, etc. -- and so they didn't waste any time. While this could have been a story arc that took several episodes to explore -- and, well written, I'd have been okay with that -- the writers instead opted to cut to the chase. Four scary prisoners? All broken out of jail. Earth Queen? It's World War 3, baby. Kai and the other airbenders? They're out.

The possible plot twist with the four prisoners: We were given the impression that the four prisoners had attempted to kill the Avatar once before and would attempt it again given the chance. In fact, the way their backstory was hinted at in previous episodes, I'd started to wonder if maybe they hadn't been the ones who brought Avatar Aang's life to a premature close. (If maybe the writers had decided to retcon the reasons for Aang's early death.) What if the reason Zuko knew for a fact that these prisoners were more powerful than the Avatar himself ... was because the Avatar himself had lost his life fighting them? So that was the idea I had in my head as of two weeks ago. But then what happened this week? We discover from Lin Beifong that the prisoners fought against Zuko, Tonraq, Sokka, and others ... after Korra was born, i.e. after Aang had died. And that they had demonstrated determination to reach Korra. And that our heroes ... have no idea what they were after. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa? You mean to tell me you don't know what their goal was? And that maybe -- just maybe -- they could actually be like the biblical Three Kings, wanting to come to Korra to pay her respect? To anoint her with gifts and to swear their devotion and loyalty to her? I mean, I don't want to go too far down this rabbit hole just yet ... but still! :o What if!?

I feel like I had more positive things to say originally ... but I can't remember it right now, so ... I guess I'll just move on to watch Episode 05, either tonight or tomorrow.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2014, 04:49 AM   #518
Concept
Archbishop of Banterbury
 
Concept's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Nipple-Hunting with Elsie and Kairne
Posts: 7,030
Send a message via Skype™ to Concept
So verdict thus far guys; worth picking up again or not?
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by PTerry
What can the harvest hope for, if not the care of the reaper man?
Concept is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2014, 12:39 PM   #519
Charminions
Your reality is mine
 
Charminions's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: NY
Posts: 2,829
It's still early, but thus far I'd say it's been pretty great. Though it's still not A:TLA level, it's been giving off a similar vibe lately and the bending battles so far are pretty sick.
__________________
Charminions is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2014, 07:57 PM   #520
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
Legend of Korra Book 3 Episode 05:

Spoiler: show

<3

So yeah. Let's talk Episode 05. I honestly can't believe that this episode is almost entirely about nothing but 1) the visit to the City of Metal and 2) Zahir's shenanigans at Air Temple Island. I could've sworn that the heroes didn't make it to Su Beifong's city until around the halfway point. But no: they arrive in the opening minutes. Normally this could be taken as a bad sign. After all, I mistook twenty minutes' worth of content for only ten, you could say. But in this particular instance it's actually the other way around: those twenty minutes were so good that I guess my brain just assume "time flies when you're having fun" applied and that they must've only accounted for ten minutes of airtime.

I say "So good," "so good," but really, the episode still did a lot of little annoying things that carry over from previous seasons and will be sure to annoy any who dropped Korra for being a fanfic wolf in canon series sheep's clothing. So don't get the wrong idea. Honestly, if I had to pick out the reason why I enjoyed this episode so much, it'd have to be ... her.


Opal is definitely my favorite addition to the cast. From what little we've seen of her so far, I would say that she'd be my top pick for who I'd want to date out of any of the main Korra ladies. Korra? Pass. Asami? Pass. Lin? Pass (even were she a lot younger). But Opal? Opal is like the Hinata of this series. She's the girl that makes you internally yell "BEST GIRL, BEST GIRL!" She's the girl who makes you want to strangle the idiot guy she has a crush on -- in our case that would be Bolin -- who is too stupid to appreciate that she is the best catch on the planet. This girl is sweet, she's kind, she's beautiful, she's cute, she's a little bit of a dork, she's ...

You know what she is? She's otaku bait. Fucking Korra team. They went and wrote the foolproof otaku bait character. And it's working! >_<


Zahir continues to be shrouded in mystery. For the time being, this too is working. Zahir remains a character that I find myself enjoying whenever he's on camera. But if they keep us starved for information on his backstory and motives for much longer, this is going to reek of Amon all over again. And this time I'll be along for the heartbreak.

I thought that Zahir's ability to join the commune on Air Temple Island without being discovered was preeeeeeeeeeetty ridiculous. So I was glad to see that Kaya eventually recognized him.

Even though it would have blown his cover to bring harm to anybody, I thought it was somewhat telling that Zahir seemed to have a neutral-to-positive relationship with Meelo. Like, his line about how the student is only as good as the teacher or some such ... obviously Zahir said that in part to flatter Meelo and to not blow his cover, but I dunno ... he seemed to show sincere respect towards Meelo on at least some level. Not as an instructor, sure, no, but as a fellow human being.

I thought it was also somewhat telling that Zahir had many opportunities in his fight with Kaya to attempt to cause her serious harm or even take her life yet everything he did in that fight was done to inhibit her ability from barring his escape. Like, if she grabbed onto his leg, then he'd try to blow her away so she'd let go. But once she'd let go, all he was interested in was getting out of there. He didn't want to stick around and try to kill her. You can say what you will about him being intelligent enough to realize that he, a novice airbender, cannot hope to outbend her, a veteran waterbender. But remember: this was a man placed in a maximum security prison despite having no bending powers whatsoever. A man who led a group of three other highly-skilled benders. He presumably can hold his own in a fight against benders like Kaya or even Zuko. And so the fact that he so heavily prioritized bloodless escape over bloody revenge says something in my opinion. In fact, last episode he and his friends had the perfect opportunity to end the lives of Zuko, Tonraq, Eska, and Desna -- and they chose not to. The heroes were already beaten; it would not have taken much effort to decapitate them, skewer them, what have you. But instead the group allows the heroes to live, their mission -- retrieving Combustion Woman -- having already been fulfilled. It's because of things like these that, until proven wrong, I'm going to choose to believe that Zahir doesn't mean to kill Korra.


The promise of character development for Lin Beifong is an exciting one. As Korra has proven time and again to be a series where Korra hastily judges people incorrectly, and as Lin's sister Su is housing Varrick and plotting sedition, I'm inclined to side with Lin on this one without even hearing their full stories yet. With Su and Opal, it feels like the situation with Asami's father and Asami all over again: the child is wonderful but the parent is a bad guy who needs to be imprisoned.

And speaking of imprisoned -- what's up with Toph? I had thought Toph dead, but this episode informs us that not only is Toph alive but that she hasn't been seen for many years, having gone on a spiritual journey. "Spiritual journey," huh? I remarked to AK2 on the phone that Su's city of metal, while perhaps pretty to some, struck me as more of an enormous prison. Maybe it's just the metallic appearance. But like ... well, for starters, why does a city inside a kingdom at peace in a world at peace need such heavy duty fortifications? Why can't people who arrive at the city simply pass in? Even the walled city of Ba Sing Se allows people into the lower ring. But Su's city seems impenetrable if you're not welcome. Which begs the question: is she trying to hide something and if so then what is it? It makes me wonder -- what if Su has imprisoned her own mother? O-o; The idea of the world's greatest earthbender being kept prisoner may seem crazy at first, but remember: even the world's greatest earthbender is only one person. If Su has assigned thirty guards to round-the-clock supervision of Toph's prison cell -- and if it's like the magmabender's jail cell in that all sources of earth and metal are kept beyond Toph's radius of influence -- then maybe it's possible that Toph Beifong isn't on some "spiritual journey" after all but is being kept prisoner in her own daughter's city. O.o

Though I could be hilariously barking up the wrong tree with this too, so let's table the thought for now.

One thing that I found interesting about Lin and Su was that not only do the women have different fathers but that they don't even know who their respective fathers were. What. O_o That's kinda crazy for a kid's show. That the writers have written Toph Beifong to be the sort of woman who would have two kids out of wedlock and with different men to boot. It also of course begs the tantalizing question: is either of Toph's daughters Sokka's illegitimate child? The more visually obvious candidate would be Su: after all, Su's the one with the tan skin while Lin's skin is rather pale. Anyway, whoever the girls' respective fathers were, it sure will be interesting to find out.

Our culture has a bad tendency to romanticize the pirate life, so when Su Beifong admitted to being a pirate in her younger years I initially equated that in my brain with being an adventurer on the high seas. But nooooooooo ... she said she was a pirate. So unless the writers have made the same mistake I made, then this detail could be another clue that Su is not a good person. We'll have to see.

What Korra said to Lin at the end of the episode was insanely cruel. O_o Man, the writers sure do know how to make Korra an utterly unlikeable person. Too bad she's the main character, writers. -_-; Maybe rethink that decision the next time you decide to write a four-season television series.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2014, 08:23 PM   #521
Talon87
時の彼方へ
 
Talon87's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Lafayette, Indiana
Posts: 20,578
Quote:
Originally Posted by Concept View Post
So verdict thus far guys; worth picking up again or not?
As of Episode 04, I was on the fence and would've toppled over onto "No." As of Episode 05, I'd still be on the fence but would topple over onto "Yes." There are some things the season has done which reinforce my decision to approach the series as a fanfic with no actual bearing on Avatar: the Last Airbender canon. However, the vast majority of these things were already done in previous Korra seasons. (If you like, you can think of it as Jar Jar Binks showing up in Attack of the Clones.) Then there are other things the season has done which make me glad I'm checking it out.

Spoilers for the end of Book 2 of Korra (and technically soft spoilers for Book 3 as well but ehhh):

Spoiler: show
Book 3 does not apologize for Book 2, with particular emphasis on the previous season's final few episodes. But it also doesn't celebrate them. At least not beyond the first episode. Harmonic convergence is used to justify something which occurs at the start of Book 3. This occurrence, which could've been explored even without Book 2 being canon (but it's just that they chose to use Book 2 as the means to justify exploring it), has either been the focus of the story or else has been itself the motor which advances other plot threads.

If you have the time to spare and are willing to risk the heartache, I would suggest watching Episode 01. If you despise it, then that gives you all the information you need to know. If you don't and if you think you want to watch a little more, then the episode you'll probably need to reach is, I guess, the latest one. At which point you should be able to tell for yourself whether you want to watch this series or not.

For what it's worth, Korra will be airing two new episodes a week every Friday from here on out, I believe. We got 4 and 5 yesterday. Next week is 6 and 7. If they don't take a break, then the week after that would be 8 and 9. I think AK2 told me that he read that Nick's plan is to finish broadcasting the series by mid-August. Do with that information what you will.
Talon87 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-14-2014, 12:04 PM   #522
Stealthy
A New and Original Person
 
Stealthy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 949
Spoiler: show
I'm quite liking Season 3. I'm not a fan of the Airbender Plot's existence, but I think they're doing a solid enough job with it. The new characters are, for the most part, pretty solid. Particularly the villains. Bumi continues to be a bit underwhelming, but aside from that the adults continue to be the best part of the show. Mako seems to have a slightly more consistent character, and best of all, romance subplot triangle bullshit has been killed. We got a great cameo from Zuko, and Toph is apparently still alive! And it has the high points it had before, in the fact that it looks beautiful and the fight scenes are still great.

I'm still afraid to see if they bungle the climax... but so far the meat is there to make this a really solid season. The biggest potential issue being that they may lose their way on the scope of the plot and rush some pieces or something, but it's impossible to say for sure.

Last edited by Loki; 07-15-2014 at 11:04 AM.
Stealthy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-14-2014, 01:38 PM   #523
Loki
The Path of Now & Forever
 
Loki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 5,304
So far I feel like Season 3 is all over the place. Not entirely happy about it overall.

Spoiler: show
Aside from the vines in Republic City, it seems like the merging of the worlds meant pretty much nothing to the world as a whole aside from new Air Benders. And how exactly does Harmonic Convergence really explain how someone is suddenly an Air Bender? I really hoping for more interaction between the Spirit Realm and the Human world. Maybe even another war with the spirits or something.

Instead we got super powerful bending convicts and a worldly search for Air Benders.

And despite their supposed power level, it honestly feels like the least interesting bad guys so far. Season 1's Amon gave us a real look into the feelings of the non-bending community, which we never really got to see. He was also insanely threatening because he supposedly could take away bending and rallied a large portion of the Republic City population to support him. Vaatu was a giant evil Spirit monster looking to destroy the world! These guys. Criminals who want to kill Korra. And no one knows why. What?

And in the newest episode, it's suddenly about METAL TOWN and Lin and her dumb family stuff.

"Oh yeah she totally has always had a sister who made a whole metal town. We only never mentioned it because we didn't think of it until now."


Sorry, but it's been fairly disappointing for me. I hope they somehow pick it up but that's how most of Korra has been going for me... I hope it gets better...
Loki is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-14-2014, 04:42 PM   #524
Amras.MG
Not sure if gone...
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Or just lurking.
Posts: 2,709
Stealthy, you need to put your posts in spoilers or I am going to report you. Cut that shit out.
Amras.MG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-15-2014, 09:04 AM   #525
CyberBlastoise
Team Mother?
 
CyberBlastoise's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 861
@Loki
Spoiler: show

Quote:
And how exactly does Harmonic Convergence really explain how someone is suddenly an Air Bender?
Honestly, it makes a lot of sense for a spirit world to bring over Airbending. Unlike all of the other bendings which use a form of physical training to achieve, Airbending has been stated by the creators multiple times that airbending is directly tied to the spirituality of a person, thus the addition of an entire world does seem plausible.

As far as a "War between the spirits and humans" remember that not only do we have the rest of this season, but we also have an entirely new season coming up. Unlike the previous two which were obviously written with the thought process of lasting only one season, they now know they can spread out their stuff with two seasons. While the writing isn't going to be as good as A:TLA, it's still very passable by me. It's a lot better than all the modern Nick shows and is quite possibly the best modern cartoon currently to me.

Of course, the least interesting villain of all of Avatar-verse to me is still Ozai. He is such a disappointment as was that final fight. But then again, Avatar's weakest points were always their seasons/series endings. ALL OF THEM SUCKED in my opinion.
__________________

Fizzy Bubbles

PASBL
CyberBlastoise is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Lower Navigation
Go Back   UPNetwork > General Forums > Entertainment


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:11 AM.


Design By: Miner Skinz.com
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.