Legend of Korra Book 3: Change |OT| SCHEDULEBENDING
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Deleted member 231381
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I still think it's not quite as good as Korra Book 1 episodes 1-10, but overall Book 3 is better just because of how bad Book 1's finale is. I'd peg Korra Book 3 as nearly as good as ATLA Book 1; though I'd still take ATLA. IMO Korra Book 1 episodes 1-10 was easily competitive with the best parts of ATLA, the only thing holding it back was the useless romance sub-plots/pro-bending plots. Korra Book 2 was irredeemable trash that was bad from start to end, and I'd seriously tell anyone who was planning on watching Korra just to skip it.
I could see that. I personally liked it more than Book 1. But I think the conflict with Amon is a little better, since it's put forth in the beginning of the season and constantly ramps up as the season goes on. Book 3 kind of felt aimless in the first half, because Zaheer and co were off doing their thing far away (no one knew what it was). Not even Korra was aware of them for 4-5 episodes. So basically you had Korra + the group trying to find new air benders, that really was the central plot being driven (with no real conflict, outside maybe the Queen and them breaking the air benders out, and the mini conflict between Lin and her sister. But those are side characters.).
Amon's plot always had you on the edge of your seat, because you knew he could strike at any moment. And his actions were directly impacting the plot/characters throughout the season. The reason I still think Book 3 is better though, is that ultimately I just think episode for episode, the characters were just used a lot better. And i just found the episodes to be more enjoyable (even if they weren't 100% driven by conflict). Of course, 100% subjective opinion. One of the flaws with Book 1, is that I don't think they had the characters down as well yet. So Mako came off as more one dimensional/and insufferable. The side plot with the group hanging out, weren't always as interesting as the Amon plot (and because the characters weren't as likable by this point, the side plot while necessary for establishing the groups releationships, weren't always like the best episodes).
I really really liked Book 1 though. So I can see why you would prefer it overall.
EDIT: Actually, I guess I shouldn't say the characters were used well in Book 3. I think, many of them were used better (in terms of them being played to their strengths). But actually, Book 3 is kind of bad with how it incorporates side characters (Asami, while she got some moments, still doesn't entirely feel like she's apart of the group. At least, to me she doesn't). So at least Book 1 had those episodes where they were just hanging out.
i agree
D
Deleted member 231381
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I'm not really sure how Book 3 uses characters better than Book 1. I think this is possibly true for Korra, who is, if not likeable in Book 3, at least not widely dislikeable as she was earlier. Bolin also gets a reasonable bit of development, although the "lol, I lavabend now" power-up was still totally undeserved But otherwise... Asami is made entirely useless, Mako does nothing the entire show until he electrifies Ming Hua, Zaheer is not as well-fleshed out as Amon and the rest of the Red Lotus are even worse; Book 1 actually managed two villains sort of well at the same time with Tarrlok and Amon, Tenzin is repeating the same lessons he should have learnt in Book 1 anyway AGAIN, and so on. I mean, I thought Book 3 was decent, but really in spite of the characters and not because of them.
Well I did edit my post to say that, the show still is pretty bad at utilizing characters in a way that feels natural (or from a plot perspective). However, I felt the characters played to their strengths better (in terms of how they were used). Korra's anger was used more appropriately for one (when she did get angry, it was used towards the right people who deserved it). Mako was loosened up a bit by being awkward (ie. reacting to the break up), and so it gave his character more likability. Bolin..welll I'll agree Bolin was worse in Book 3. Much much worse.
Book 1 probably had better use of the characters in a plot sense. But I didn't like them as much as I did in Book 3. That's all I'm saying.
I don't really see how you can claim Amon was more fleshed out then Zaheer. He pretty much was a scary figure in the shadows. He was all about surface level presence. He was bad ass, don't get me wrong. But really, the only exposition we got for him (ie. what fleshed him out), was the poorly handled exposition in the finale that was clumsy at best. Amon, more than Zaheer, was more about surface level presence/threat. At least the Red Lotus were a lot of fun to watch, and had really cool/diverse fight scenes. Amon's motivations weren't known until the very last second, and it was kind of baffling to be quite honest. While I agree that Zaheer was not fleshed out enough, his motivations were known early on, and they had scenes here and there to strengthen who he was (even if they were super shallow, they at least played off what we knew about his motivation). We didn't get this for Amon. So i mean, if you want to argue that technically, Amon had more depth (because of this 5 min of exposition)...I guess? But it doesn't really hold true in the larger sense.
Someone made a fairly decent alternate ending to season 3.
Yeah, it's pretty great. Obviously some of the editing is clumsy (the music and transitions). But I think more so than the original ending, it conveys how Korra is feeling a bit better.
i agree
Some feels were felt.
Admiral Woofington
Member
Off topic but why would somebody with "NeoGAF's smiling token" as their tag have a disturbing yandere smile? 2spooky4me
coolfighter1993
Banned
Anyone else who felt that Asami should have been given Airbending powers? At least, she could have been more involved in the story especially because she already has martial arts skills. And it would make the group more complete: Korra (every element, but more water focused), Mako (Fire), Bolin (Earth) and Asami (Air). Such a wasted opportunity...
P.S. When can I create a new thread, the message says I'm not privileged enough to do so?
P.S. When can I create a new thread, the message says I'm not privileged enough to do so?
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
You have to get made a member instead of a junior. 300 posts and 3 months or something like that.
coolfighter1993
Banned
I see... Thank you very much, I appreciate it!
Admiral Woofington
Member
Not really. The whole point of her character is to show that non-benders can still hold their own in this universe, not necessarily in combat (where she's adept but never as useful as a bender). If they had made her a bender she would have had to stay with Tenzin, and she's part of the Krew, so that would have been an issue.
coolfighter1993
Banned
You have a point, but Asami barely did anything in the season. Most of what we have seen of her is her trying to recover her company's sub par reputation.
I'd really like to see her fight slightly more with the various gadgets her company has made. It doesn't have to be batman-Asami levels of gadgets, but we saw throughout season 1 that non-benders could hold their own.
I'm sure it's a balance thing as if she were too special, the focus on bending could be lost.
Admiral Woofington
Member
That's more an issue with the writers than with her character. Similar to how Jinora was supposed to demonstrate to us throughout the season that she was ready to be an airbending master, but instead the writers opted to have her be saved by Kai at every chance they got, making him shine more. The writers have issues with expanding their side characters.
Heck Sokka had a decent amount of screen time and episodes where it basically all revolved around him showing his emotional issues and/or his usefulness.
coolfighter1993
Banned
It would be cool if they introduced 'artificial bending' in Book 4 as a counter to bending. A gadget where non-benders can bend themselves, so they can defend themselves.
They most likely won't but I can dream, can't I?
Cloud Strife
Member
Guarantee you these flashbacks will be in Book 4 Episode 1.
If the shoe fits.
I'm not saying she should become Ty Lee, but she should become
An overly pretty distraction.
Admiral Woofington
Member
she has little purpose outside of being the normie, and her purpose in season 1 was as the romantic rival and provider of drama in that regard as she was an obstacle between Korra and Mako or some crap. Then season 2 she became the economic backbone of the krew, and was struggling to keep her company afloat and once again provide romantic drama between Korra and Mako. Season 3 she became besties with Korra.
Ironic enough, season 3 might be considered the best and season 2 the worst, but Asami seems to have had a bigger role in season 2.
Sokka at least was the funny guy, the boomerang guy, the ideas man, one of the leaders in the assault, caller of bullshit, jail break dude and later became proficient with a space sword . He had plenty of shit to do in the shpw
Icyflamez96
Member
We need highschool avatar to be the new chibi avatar shorts of the last airbender.
Orbis Tabula
Member
That was pretty good. You can make absolutely anything pretty damn emotional with that one song from Lost.
I would love to see season 4 go in the direction that this fan video sort of does. Make it about Korra questioning her place in a world that she's no sure she belongs in. Villains have been harping on that idea and now she looks at a world that's fundamentally different than when she started, a world that seems more balanced, and she feels broken and unnecessary. But then, you still need a bad guy other than "Inner Demons" and since there's only 13 episodes, I don't expect it to go that way.
Admiral Woofington
Member
funny enough the romantic drama shit would be perfectly at home in a high school setting
Chezzymann
Member
Anyone else annoyed by Bolin? He just feels like a hollow one dimensional sokka replacement minus the emotional moments and character development.
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
Not at all a fan of that alternate ending, way too maudlin for my tastes.
Discotheque
Banned
what if the season 4 premiere reveals that to be a tear of joy instead lmao.
yall fucked up
big brother is almost over, i'll be back
Slamtastic
Member
they should have given Asami airbending
oh that's the whole reason the subject got brought up
i should read from the beginning
j/k obviously
oh that's the whole reason the subject got brought up
i should read from the beginning
You relinquished your right to defend...um...
who where we talking about? Oh right, Bolins girlfriend. Or something.
No, you're right, they should have given Asami airbending. I've actually mentioned this before earlier in the thread, because the way they were using her bothered me.
Legend of Korra does not using its setting very well, and Asami is very much representative of that failing because she is indicative of the changing times. She's the CEO of a company that has far-reaching influence across the world. What her company shows us is that Industrialization doesn't necessarily mean "War" anymore like we're used to seeing in ATLA. That's what innovation was always linked to; things were made so that they could be used to fight back under the oppressive regime or to subjugate weaker nations. But here comes Hiroshi, and then Asami, and we see that technology still takes that old combative form (mechatanks, biplanes), yet it's also evolved into leisure and luxury for the common man. We saw airships ferrying police officers around Republic City and then we saw airships used like cruise liners with rooms galore, furnished from front to back, top to bottom. That's an interesting dichotomy to explore, in my opinion.
But, you know, they don't explore it. They don't really explore the technological boom, or how an explosion in new technologies being developed would interfere with the progression of a more spiritual world, or how a more spiritual world would interfere with the progression of a more technological world. We get throwaway moments like vines taking over Republic City, or Unalaq saying the world is thrown out of spiritual balance (what does this mean, really?). We don't know exactly how much the two can or cannot co-exist. Are we just meant to assume that, in some way, they do co-exist sufficiently enough for it to not matter?
It'd be one thing if spirits didn't walk the mortal plane, like with our world. We can all go about our days just fine without risk of a giant spirit panda crushing our suburbs, and we can go to work everyday without needing to figure out an alternate route to get there and back because, for whatever dumb reason, the spirit vines are just really out of wack today and now the roads are closed. Like, who even pays for damage like that? Does this come out of taxpayer dollars if the streets are damaged and need to be fixed? Does the head of Cabbage Corp take it out of his pocket to make himself look good so his shitty cars can sell more?
LoK absolutely refuses to have these two schools of thought intersect on any kind of meaningful level because it is wholly reliant on the bending and the nature of spirituality to make it unique AS A PRODUCT. It doesn't take time to explore how spirits and technology will inevitably have to intersect and/or butt heads as the general public becomes more technologically proficient, and it's because bending is the show's bread and butter.
This is where Asami comes in, because I think that someone as gear-brained as her should represent the non-bending person's views on how complicated it can be to navigate a world like theirs. It's ever-changing and she's in the thick of it as the Avatar's best friend and as the CEO of one of the leading developers of innovative technology in the world. However, the show doesn't allow Asami to challenge Korra's worldview. She's there to support Korra unflinchingly, despite the fact that sometimes, Korra is wrong, or despite the fact that Korra is maybe half-right, but didn't consider that the consequences could maybe make something not worth it, and there's probably a more efficient way to go about solving a problem than just throwing all of your resources at it and hoping for the best. Asami probably does that cost efficiency thing at work all the time. It's applicable to a lot of things in life; Korra could learn a lot from it.
Like in episode 1 of book 3, Korra is moping about the president being mad at her for being somewhat responsible for the vines, Asami could have said something like, "Well, maybe keeping the gates open wasn't the best idea, but what's done is done and we'll figure it out," instead of telling her "We'll figure it out." She doesn't need to be Korra's Yes-Man to be her best friend. There's more to friendship than that.
Asami has plenty of purpose, it's just that the writers refuse to act on it. The pieces are there waiting to be put together.
And y'all gotta chill with considering Asami the shipbait character. It's Mako, it's always been Mako, and it's always gonna be Mako, and that is a conclusion drawn from the character's most notable moments throughout the series, not some kind of arbitrary fandom reaction. Asami once had her own story, her own goals, and her own losses that would have worked just fine even if she were independent of the core cast. The same cannot be said of Mako at any point in this series ever. What the shippers do with Asami isn't her fault. So she has chemistry with everybody on the team. That's not a bad thing. The rest of them don't have what she has with any one character (except Mako and Bolin I guess, but I'll be damned if her camaraderie with Bolin isn't refreshing to see, considering how snarky Mako tends to be with him).
this one is most peoples favorite season and its kinda already away from the modern setting
the only modern things of significance that are lingering and of any kind of plot significance are the mobile phones and cars
u could probably make all of book 3 in ATLA's setting easily just by repurposing some minor things
...hence my post.
o i misunderstood srry
Perspicacity
Banned
Asami is the Appa of the group. She flies them around and occasionally comes in as a fighter assist.
It all comes down to the shorter seasons, the shorter episodes and the uncertainty of Seasons 1 and 2.
Most world-building has to be done on the fly as the writers are extremely strapped for time. The original series would most likely have suffered if it had to operate with the same constraints LoK has to.
Most world-building has to be done on the fly as the writers are extremely strapped for time. The original series would most likely have suffered if it had to operate with the same constraints LoK has to.
The mix of spirituality and technology is a bit of an odd problem to tackle.
For one, the spirits of Legend of Korra aren't the same kind that appeared in TLA. That's the first problem in trying to assess in how spirits and technology are supposed to 'mesh'. In TLA, the spirits had a feeling of purpose of some kind to them, but they felt inhuman. The Panda Monster is supposed to have looked after the forest, but cared nothing for the people living there, and kidnapped human souls to balance scales, but couldn't (for any discernibly physical reason) just attack the house that held most of them. The Owl looked after knowledge, but never put it to any kind of use and considers the utilization of it for violence (regardless of purpose) an abuse of it. Koh the Facestealer is the creepiest because he's hardest to make heads or tails of and thus the best example of what I'm talking about. He obviously has contempt for the avatar, but because of what a past life did, yet is under some kind of obligation to help and tell the truth. He wants to steal Aang's face, but for some reason can't do it unless Aang missteps and makes an expression. Why? What would happen if he did take it without Aang making an expression? And why does he need faces? And how can he take them without seemingly harming the head? No one is sure. He's playing by different rules and that makes him alien.
The spirits of Legend of Korra are just pokemon. Or digimon, if you're looking at the ones that can talk. They have cutsy, wierd designs ripped straight out of Miyazaki's rejected concept art and they just do whatever the plot needs them as either A. an aggressive party or B. Wierd cute thing to look at. If they have vaguely defined dark energy, that makes them attack. IF they don't have that, they just stand around, I guess. There is some spirits from Wan's time that don't act like animals, but they instead just have them act like normal people who happened to be giant lemurs or something, removing their alien characteristics. Instead opting for the conflict between humans and spirits merely being a racial one, which takes pretty much every possible interesting thing away from it, and instead replaces them with laughable caricatures of actual racial issues.
Book 3 has the spirits being minor inconviences altogether. There are vines that wrap themselves around the city (Why? idk, we never find out or are given any hint). There is a hedgehog or something that tells Korra to fuck off when she complains to him about the vines, but that's it.
So, with that in mind, how would spirits and technology intersect, given more interaction? Based on what LoK showed, I think they'd just need to work out space issues, for the most part. That risks of stigmatizing one or the other by having a 'spirit' and 'human' sections, but they'd probably integrate over time. That's usually what happens when two different groups of people start sharing the same space. The animal-like spirits become domesticated like Bumi's is. But really, to be honest, I'm not sure why the spirits even want to come to the human world. Hell, I'm not sure what they were doing there in Wan's time, given how much they hated it. It seems they'd be more comfortable staying in the spirit world. I imagine most of them would go to the human world for vacation or something, the same way humans would for the spirit world, but most wouldn't want to stay there. I suppose some big shot spirit might want to try and conquer the human world? I don't know their laws on interacting with humans who aren't the avatar, and it's not like they are beholden to the Avatar. If the big shot spirit is as huge as that one wolf that randomly passed by Aang and Roku in the spirit world once, I think humans are screwed. For all the advancements, I don't think I've seen anything humans have made that could easy handle that huge sand shark that they had in season 3, let alone a goddamn wolf spirit 3 times that size.
But I have no idea. No one knows why the spirits in the human world are even bothering. They could invade. They could just serve humans. They might have just come here as a touring screamo rock band. It could be anything, because the writers have them be blank slates that don't act with any kind of purpose. TLA's spirits would fuck the world up beyond repair. How many poor ignorant souls could Koh lead into his cave? And we know the panda takes exception to any forest destruction. The giant wolf would probably destroy smaller vilages just by walking. Any city he walked through would be like Tokyo when Godzilla decides to visit. And those are spirits who don't have any inherent malice to humanity.
For one, the spirits of Legend of Korra aren't the same kind that appeared in TLA. That's the first problem in trying to assess in how spirits and technology are supposed to 'mesh'. In TLA, the spirits had a feeling of purpose of some kind to them, but they felt inhuman. The Panda Monster is supposed to have looked after the forest, but cared nothing for the people living there, and kidnapped human souls to balance scales, but couldn't (for any discernibly physical reason) just attack the house that held most of them. The Owl looked after knowledge, but never put it to any kind of use and considers the utilization of it for violence (regardless of purpose) an abuse of it. Koh the Facestealer is the creepiest because he's hardest to make heads or tails of and thus the best example of what I'm talking about. He obviously has contempt for the avatar, but because of what a past life did, yet is under some kind of obligation to help and tell the truth. He wants to steal Aang's face, but for some reason can't do it unless Aang missteps and makes an expression. Why? What would happen if he did take it without Aang making an expression? And why does he need faces? And how can he take them without seemingly harming the head? No one is sure. He's playing by different rules and that makes him alien.
The spirits of Legend of Korra are just pokemon. Or digimon, if you're looking at the ones that can talk. They have cutsy, wierd designs ripped straight out of Miyazaki's rejected concept art and they just do whatever the plot needs them as either A. an aggressive party or B. Wierd cute thing to look at. If they have vaguely defined dark energy, that makes them attack. IF they don't have that, they just stand around, I guess. There is some spirits from Wan's time that don't act like animals, but they instead just have them act like normal people who happened to be giant lemurs or something, removing their alien characteristics. Instead opting for the conflict between humans and spirits merely being a racial one, which takes pretty much every possible interesting thing away from it, and instead replaces them with laughable caricatures of actual racial issues.
Book 3 has the spirits being minor inconviences altogether. There are vines that wrap themselves around the city (Why? idk, we never find out or are given any hint). There is a hedgehog or something that tells Korra to fuck off when she complains to him about the vines, but that's it.
So, with that in mind, how would spirits and technology intersect, given more interaction? Based on what LoK showed, I think they'd just need to work out space issues, for the most part. That risks of stigmatizing one or the other by having a 'spirit' and 'human' sections, but they'd probably integrate over time. That's usually what happens when two different groups of people start sharing the same space. The animal-like spirits become domesticated like Bumi's is. But really, to be honest, I'm not sure why the spirits even want to come to the human world. Hell, I'm not sure what they were doing there in Wan's time, given how much they hated it. It seems they'd be more comfortable staying in the spirit world. I imagine most of them would go to the human world for vacation or something, the same way humans would for the spirit world, but most wouldn't want to stay there. I suppose some big shot spirit might want to try and conquer the human world? I don't know their laws on interacting with humans who aren't the avatar, and it's not like they are beholden to the Avatar. If the big shot spirit is as huge as that one wolf that randomly passed by Aang and Roku in the spirit world once, I think humans are screwed. For all the advancements, I don't think I've seen anything humans have made that could easy handle that huge sand shark that they had in season 3, let alone a goddamn wolf spirit 3 times that size.
But I have no idea. No one knows why the spirits in the human world are even bothering. They could invade. They could just serve humans. They might have just come here as a touring screamo rock band. It could be anything, because the writers have them be blank slates that don't act with any kind of purpose. TLA's spirits would fuck the world up beyond repair. How many poor ignorant souls could Koh lead into his cave? And we know the panda takes exception to any forest destruction. The giant wolf would probably destroy smaller vilages just by walking. Any city he walked through would be like Tokyo when Godzilla decides to visit. And those are spirits who don't have any inherent malice to humanity.
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