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Legend of Korra Book 4: Balance |OT| A Feast of Crows

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Kuvira y u do dis

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Avatar State was a big problem, writing wise. Book One was supposed to solve that problem by questioning the power imbalance of a bender, but we all know how that went.

I agree with it for the writing staff of Korra it must've been hard to manage, but without the Avatar state the position of the Avatar becomes very useless. The Avatar brings balance via force, but if they don't have exceedingly OP powers then they are nothing more than a political piece who can do a fancy parlour trick. The part about Korra having poor approval ratings at the start of last season shows that especially. She's just a figurehead with no real power and then this season because people felt pity for her they decided to forgive her and give her a park.

She hasn't won a single majour battle without plot convenience. It definitely feels like on a good day any random bender could've killed the avatar and now Korra is again straight up getting her face bashed in by nameless mooks and she apparently isn't even putting up a decent fight. Aang came back from death and he needed some time to readjust but she's had 3 years and all the spirit water and the best healers in the land so she has no excuse even without the Avatar state.
 
^the world still needed aang.

Avatar State was a big problem, writing wise. Book One was supposed to solve that problem by questioning the power imbalance of a bender, but we all know how that went.
The ending of book one was the single worst decision they made IMO. Such a huge waste of potential.
 
I agree with it for the writing staff of Korra it must've been hard to manage, but without the Avatar state the position of the Avatar becomes very useless. The Avatar brings balance via force, but if they don't have exceedingly OP powers then they are nothing more than a political piece who can do a fancy parlour trick. The part about Korra having poor approval ratings at the start of last season shows that especially. She's just a figurehead with no real power and then this season because people felt pity for her they decided to forgive her and give her a park.

She hasn't won a single majour battle without plot convenience. It definitely feels like on a good day any random bender could've killed the avatar and now Korra is again straight up getting her face bashed in by nameless mooks and she apparently isn't even putting up a decent fight. Aang came back from death and he needed some time to readjust but she's had 3 years and all the spirit water and the best healers in the land so she has no excuse even without the Avatar state.

That's not really fair. As AtLA showed, mental fortitude and concentration is extremely necessary to be a proficient bender. Being the avatar, Korra has to master four different disciplines that each have unique methodologies. In the case of earthbending, being resolute and firm.

Korra's middling earthbending shows us just how affected by the events of Book 3 she is. Her foundation has been thoroughly shaken, which is understandable considering what she went through. Book 4 will be about her personal arc to find her footing and role in the world; assuming the title that she thought she wanted, but wasn't prepared for.
 
Damn the new episode of Korra seems to be taking a jab at the United State's 'world police' shtick.
Especially with that line about the ore.
No, this is different, they don't attack other countries, they just secure the backing of all their subjects that fell apart thanks to the death of the earth queen. It's different from the world police.
 
That was actually a pretty good first episode. Like what someone else said it felt longer then 22 mins.

Starting with Kuriva
da Goddess handling business, I figured it was going to be a political thing with all of this and most likely her feeling like she can do the job better then a kid. The way she threw out the metal bands were crazy.

Korra
I liked how she was MIA until the end like that. Good way to pick up where we left off with her and keeps up the mystery of what exactly has happened the past 3 years

Air Nomad and Metal Clan in general
seem to be heading to a possible clash.With Korra out of the picture one of the 2 groups will need to be the worlds "protector" and it will most likely get ugly between them
 
Well are you also disappointed with how UFC looks so damn safe for the combatants?

Probending and this underground version pretty much represent that typical differences. Look at how much damage Korra took. Even the various villains didn't rough her up this badly.

Like I said,
I didn't expect it to be as raw, but what was the difference between Earth, Fire and water benders in probending? It's been a while since I watched season 1 but I remember Korra even getting chewed out for doing something more creative than chucking a blast of water at someone.
 
All aboard The Great Uniter's train.

Great start. I thought Wu was going to be extra annoying, but I laughed at him enough he won't be too bad I think.

Glad Opal is becoming more of a force this time with Bolin. It'll be interesting to see where the relationship lands in alignment with the events of the story when it comes to Kuvira.

The ending may be my favorite part of the episode. It's weird because I don't want to see a beaten, shaken, and exhausted Korra (;_;) but at the same time, this will hopefully lead to some great development. I can't wait to see her face off against Kuvira. That match was pitiful though and through. The next episode should've been released today, gosh darn it. It utterly blows that all her friends have forsaken her like that. Glad they saved her at the end, though as it was good to set everything up for Korra to deal with as soon as she comes back.

Mako being stuck with the Prince has to happen and we all knew it was coming. Hopefully it'll allow for Mako to get involved with another side of Earth Kingdom's politics.

Now onto The Great Uniter. Williams fits her voice perfectly I think, akin to Zaheer's VA Henry Rollins. This woman is playing it smart and is in it for the long haul. 90% by the time we visit the universe? She's been busy. I also want to know about the big split within the family 3 years ago. Along with the engagement that's ought to being some serious tension. All that will be explained later I assume. Her bending is sick. The way she's blinding the bandits was great and it was a perfect way to introduce her abilities along with Jeremy's godlike score-drum-bashing. Had a dumb smirk watching her kick ass.

I share the same fear with everyone else that I hope she stays true to being a morally grey antagonist. I really don't want "Metalbender Nazis" or "corrupt with power" or something silly like that. A foil to Korra is exactly what we need, someone who may be the extreme of her if gone too far or something like that. Zaheer and the Red Lotus rocked because they were lost in their own plan of anarchy. Kuvira should definitely have some kind of realization at the end of what she's really appearing to be by Korra.

Anyways. Awesome premiere. Please be as good or surpass Book 3.

And give me my soundtrack.
 
Like I said,
I didn't expect it to be as raw, but what was the difference between Earth, Fire and water benders in probending? It's been a while since I watched season 1 but I remember Korra even getting chewed out for doing something more creative than chucking a blast of water at someone.

She got chewed out for breaking the rules.

Thinking back on it now, one of the rules (which one of her opponents broke) were head shots but that was clearly fine in the brief match we saw.

As for your ultimate question I think the underground fight went over the problems you had with probending. Probending had a bunch of artificial rules and you had to play within those rules. Everyone from what we see during Aang's time is heavily focused on preserving stances and break their opponents. In the brief time we learn about the art of probending even earth benders had to adapt to be more flexible and thus needed to rely on stances to quickly take advantage of the disks which were the only pieces of earth they could use.

Yet in that underground fight not only do we see what happens when an earthbender is allowed to use any earth available I think the earth bender in that fight was using a more traditional style.

So you are right to call out that the 3 bending styles seemed too similar in the pro-bending arena. The way the sport was structured probably forced that.
 
That was a really good episode. What a great way to start the season.

Wu wasn't as annoying as I thought he'd be from the preview clip, and Kuvira is a pretty great villain. I think it's obvious
that she had the bandits she earlier captured steal the food from Kai and Opal
. The scene on the train was pretty great as well.

The last shot with Korra was so sad, seeing her character like that. Can't wait until next week.
 
That's not really fair. As AtLA showed, mental fortitude and concentration is extremely necessary to be a proficient bender. Being the avatar, Korra has to master four different disciplines that each have unique methodologies. In the case of earthbending, being resolute and firm.

Korra's middling earthbending shows us just how affected by the events of Book 3 she is. Her foundation has been thoroughly shaken, which is understandable considering what she went through. Book 4 will be about her personal arc to find her footing and role in the world; assuming the title that she thought she wanted, but wasn't prepared for.

But in S1 she doesn't change her methodology to start Air bending? I thought they'd thrown that stuff away.

Still pretty (dark) grey. And so was Zaheer.

Broke out of prison he was put in for attempting to abduct a child, part of a secret society that wants to bring chaos and anarchy and has started by killing world leaders, threatening to kill all the air benders and attempting to kill the Avatar. That sounds grey to you? Its a standard comic book villain.
 
All the Books are back on Itunes now and Bryan seems to be very happy about its return.

YES, VERY EXCITED to have Korra back on iTunes!

Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4

Some reviews are also starting to pop up for the first episode.
The Legend of Korra: Book Four is off to a great start, with the premiere filling us in on the last three years.
IGN
Much like Book 3′s premiere, “After All These Years” eases us back to life with old friends. Knowing that the core characters’ emotional lives continued forward is the real joy.
Screencrush
 
After seeing m_shortpants's picture, I am convinced that it isn't a theory anymore.
Hmm. One one hand, that guy's hair is brown and the other one is black. But the arm accessories do match.

But regardless, I think it's pretty safe to assume that's really the case.
Because where do THEY get their supplies?
 
Really nice way to kick off the season. The interlaced the different character perspectives across the world well. I enjoy Kuvira's voice, almost a mix between Zaheer and Azula in a way. The animation in the fighting was also nicely done especially that ending scene. There seems to be a lot of emotional stress over the what happened before the time-skip so it'll be interesting to see the actual events that played out while also seeing what happens in the present. Overall, I'm really liking where the characters are at the start of this season and can't wait to see where they go from here.
 
But in S1 she doesn't change her methodology to start Air bending? I thought they'd thrown that stuff away.



Broke out of prison he was put in for attempting to abduct a child, part of a secret society that wants to bring chaos and anarchy and has started by killing world leaders, threatening to kill all the air benders and attempting to kill the Avatar. That sounds grey to you? Its a standard comic book villain.

Yeah, but the Red Lotus were not trying to be assholes, neither were they making a grab for power.

They were selflessly trying to free the world from what they saw as enslavement. Their motivations were relatively 'pure' and not at all self-serving.

Of course both their methods and the probable consequences of their machinations are reprehensible, but that is what makes them villainous.

'Morally Grey' is a poor set of words for what they were. Motivationally, they were relatively 'complex' and mildly sympathetic.

I am hoping for something similar for Kuvira. Anything more I think is out of scope for LoK's writers.
 
Alright, quick clarification question:
did Opal's brother's betrayal take place in S3, or during the timeskip? And if the former, what was it?

Man, before too long I'mma hafta marathon all seven seasons of Avatar. Should be pretty sweet!
 
Alright, quick clarification question:
did Opal's brother's betrayal take place in S3, or during the timeskip? And if the former, what was it?

Man, before too long I'mma hafta marathon all seven seasons of Avatar. Should be pretty sweet!
Timeskip.
Although they probably knew each other way before and had at least some kind of relationship, be it professional, friends or .... more.
 
Alrightie. A good start.

-Glad to see the Earth Kingdom revolution was not swept under the rug. Kuvira being placed in charge was a solid explanation. That she somehow achieved so much power without anyone stopping her is surprising, but I guess not unbelievable.

-Wu was annoying to watch. He made the episode worse, and its surprising that there are people that actually want him on the throne. But... its clear he isn't getting anywhere near the throne. I wonder if we will see him develop into a non-little shit, or if he will just be tossed aside for a democracy by the end.

-Air nomads being spread thin is reasonable, glad to see they are sticking to what they intended. I still think the white lotus not doing things is a bit of a plot hole but they kind of explained that away last season as them just being glorified body guards.

-While the earth kingdom plot line is being continued, it appears as though the spirit vines plotline has been swept under the rug. Disappointing, but the end result looks interesting. It can be explained away by the three year time gap, but I wish they had spent some more time on it. Maybe they will, but I doubt it.

-Kuvira is a badass, though she seems a lot meaner than the last time we saw her. I wonder what the incident was.

-The guy at the end asking "What ever happened to her, anyways" and Korra saying "I wouldn't know." was a nice interaction. Interested to see how it plays out.

Bryan and Mike confirmed yesterday that the Spirit Vines will play a big role this season.
 
Chariot your avi is amazing

Real feels for Korra at the end :( it's kinda weird even when she's been written as a major tool I find it easy to like her |:
 
Damn the new episode of Korra seems to be taking a jab at the United State's 'world police' shtick.
Especially with that line about the ore.

Pretty Sure the writers were taking a Jab at Russia not the US. What Kuvera is doing is Basically what Russia did with Crimea. At least that's how I interpret it.
 
I had just finished watching today's episode.

-It's good that everything is clicking in place, & it's interesting that the Air Nation has been struggling to help bring peace to the world since Korra's absence.

-I don't know what to think of Kuvira just yet, but I do hope she is a morally grey villain for this season.
-Like most of you, I don't like Prince Wu one lick, and it was good to see that most of the people of the Earth Kingdom don't have a high opinion of him. With that said, I hope that snooty prince will get a reality check & will try to be a more decent ruler towards the end of the series.

-Man, just seeing Korra at the end was gut wrenching, which is why I'm excited about the possibility that Toph is going to slap some sense into her & help restore her confidence.
 
Damn the new episode of Korra seems to be taking a jab at the United State's 'world police' shtick.
Especially with that line about the ore.

Lol I doubt it

If they had wanted to make fun of the US they'd be making fun of Team Air Benders being the world police for hidden reasons.

Kuvira and her crew if anything are just commentary of the rise of military dictatorships. She's
building her army slowly but surely to eventually attempt a coup, getting on the good side of civilians as well so the transition isn't horrible. She even has the name "the great uniter", dictators often have names.
.
 
Pretty Sure the writers were taking a Jab at Russia not the US. What Kuvera is doing is Basically what Russia did with Crimea. At least that's how I interpret it.

There are many other nations throughout history that have done the above tactic, so we can't really assume any of those are what the writers are inferring.
 
Kuvira is definitely not Red Lotus. If anything she's the antithesis of what the Red Lotus represents.

She's basically the new modern Dai Li (even fights like them and 'enlists' soldiers like them). She should get along fine with Prince Wu since he probably won't mind being a puppet so long as nobody disrupts his spa day. If I had to guess I'd say the battle will be between Kuvira supporting the old way and the Metal Clan wanting a republic/democracy while Korra might have to settle the dispute via diplomacy since her physical prowess is gone...

Anyway I trust the team to deliver another compelling conundrum. I love what they've done in past seasons and they've really upped the bar from ATLA. Korra is such a great show but I've said that already lol
 
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