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

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Yeah. At that point bending in combat will be relegated to either large-scale power moves or more restrained CQB moves.

Either way, metal benders become even more powerful.

I think air benders would also do well against guns. They could easily bend the air around them, and also dodge the bullets. They could also pull some matrix crap and stop bullets with the air.

Metal benders and air benders would be able to fight against guns. More so metal benders. Although if you are Amon, you just blood bend people to blow their own brains out. Amon is the best >>>
 
The backstory is what ruined him. Before that, he was, and still is, the greatest villain this series has ever had.

My issue with him is that the way he was able to take away powers was incredibly predictable. I knew it was bloodbending from the get-go, what I completely forgot was that you could only do that on a full moon (not that it mattered).

I'd still put Zaheer over him.
 
I think Earthbenders are actually pretty good, even against guns. Metalbending is obvious, although I am not sure if Metalbenders can actuall keep up with the speed of a bullet or worse of a machinegun. But earthbending walls will still hold very well against bullets (buy may also be fucked with bombs and rocket launchers, still better than nothing tho).

Ok, thinking about it, Airbending is even more useful. People can easily throw of the trajectory of bullets, very subtle and to a bigger extend. And that can also be used against a lot of other kind of weapons, including gas based ones. The mobility doesn't hurt either.

Firebender suck a bit. They still can dish out damage, but they can't do much against being riddled with bullets and I guess waterbender ice isn't as good as earth walls.
 
I'm pretty sure most people in the avatar universe would not be able to deal with a proper sniper.

Except air benders that can sense the air around them. But even that might be a stretch since it would require some insane (impossible) reaction time. Everyone else (including metal benders) wouldn't be able to do jack shit against an unsuspected sniper round to the head.

Edit: yeah even though air benders can sense the air around and them and objects going through the air, I don't think they can react at the speed of a bullet.
 
The backstory is what ruined him. Before that, he was, and still is, the greatest villain this series has ever had.
Before his back story, he was just a walking terminator. Atleast half of his intrigue lied in us speculating the origin of his powers, his back story, and the end goal he was trying to accomplish. His back story is what made him interesting, or at least our initial idea of it. Take that away, he's still got swagger, but nothing of substance to make him compelling. Changing his back story to being a vengeance driven hypocritical dick weed is what ruined him. Unfortunately, the amon we loved simply never existed. We just assumed he did.
 
I'm pretty sure most people in the avatar universe would not be able to deal with a proper sniper.
True enough, nobody has a auto defense. But I thought about field fights. But when aware, airbenders could circulate the air around them to throw of bullets of their intended path. Very difficult for a sniper to work around that.
 
Before his back story, he was just a walking terminator. Atleast half of his intrigue lied in us speculating the origin of his powers, his back story, and the end goal he was trying to accomplish. His back story is what made him interesting, or at least our initial idea of it. Take that away, he's still got swagger, but nothing of substance to make him compelling. Changing his back story to being a vengeance driven hypocritical dick weed is what ruined him. Unfortunately, the amon we loved simply never existed. We just assumed he did.

Yup. His backstory of being burned by firebenders was made much more sense and it's simple for anyone to get behind that Freudian excuse. But then he got lame with daddy issues, the worst Freudian excuse.

This is why Unalaq is the best.
 
Before his back story, he was just a walking terminator. Atleast half of his intrigue lied in us speculating the origin of his powers, his back story, and the end goal he was trying to accomplish. His back story is what made him interesting, or at least our initial idea of it. Take that away, he's still got swagger, but nothing of substance to make him compelling. Changing his back story to being a vengeance driven hypocritical dick weed is what ruined him. Unfortunately, the amon we loved simply never existed. We just assumed he did.

He checked off all the things a good villain needs though. He had a really cool design. He had presence. When he walked on screen he took control of your attention and you felt the air change. His fighting style and power was insane and menacing. And then he had the equalist movement that was compelling given the problems that would arise in this kind of world.

And yes the origin/mystery element also elevated him. But if you take all that in before the ending, I would say he's a front runner for series best villain (well Azula was better). Certainly better than Kuvira or Unalaq. Zaheer second best for Korra.
 
Reminds me of this classic:
Ok, this has been driving me crazy for seven movies now, and I know you're going to roll your eyes, but hear me out: Harry Potter should have carried a 1911.

Here's why:

Think about how quickly the entire WWWIII (Wizarding-World War III) would have ended if all of the good guys had simply armed up with good ol' American hot lead.

Basilisk? Let's see how tough it is when you shoot it with a .470 Nitro Express. Worried about its Medusa-gaze? Wear night vision goggles. The image is light-amplified and re-transmitted to your eyes. You aren't looking at it--you're looking at a picture of it.

Imagine how epic the first movie would be if Harry had put a breeching charge on the bathroom wall, flash-banged the hole, and then went in wearing NVGs and a Kevlar-weave stab-vest, carrying a SPAS-12.

And have you noticed that only Europe seems to a problem with Deatheaters? Maybe it's because Americans have spent the last 200 years shooting deer, playing GTA: Vice City, and keeping an eye out for black helicopters over their compounds. Meanwhile, Brits have been cutting their steaks with spoons. Remember: gun-control means that Voldemort wins. God made wizards and God made muggles, but Samuel Colt made them equal.

Now I know what you're going to say: "But a wizard could just disarm someone with a gun!" Yeah, well they can also disarm someone with a wand (as they do many times throughout the books/movies). But which is faster: saying a spell or pulling a trigger?

Avada Kedavra, meet Avtomat Kalashnikova.

Imagine Harry out in the woods, wearing his invisibility cloak, carrying a .50bmg Barrett, turning Deatheaters into pink mist, scratching a lightning bolt into his rifle stock for each kill. I don't think Madam Pomfrey has any spells that can scrape your brains off of the trees and put you back together after something like that. Voldemort's wand may be 13.5 inches with a Phoenix-feather core, but Harry's would be 0.50 inches with a tungsten core. Let's see Voldy wave his at 3,000 feet per second. Better hope you have some Essence of Dittany for that sucking chest wound.

I can see it now...Voldemort roaring with evil laughter and boasting to Harry that he can't be killed, since he is protected by seven Horcruxes, only to have Harry give a crooked grin, flick his cigarette butt away, and deliver what would easily be the best one-liner in the entire series:

"Well then I guess it's a good thing my 1911 holds 7+1."

And that is why Harry Potter should have carried a 1911.
 
I think Earthbenders are actually pretty good, even against guns. Metalbending is obvious, although I am not sure if Metalbenders can actuall keep up with the speed of a bullet or worse of a machinegun. But earthbending walls will still hold very well against bullets (buy may also be fucked with bombs and rocket launchers, still better than nothing tho).

Ok, thinking about it, Airbending is even more useful. People can easily throw of the trajectory of bullets, very subtle and to a bigger extend. And that can also be used against a lot of other kind of weapons, including gas based ones. The mobility doesn't hurt either.

Firebender suck a bit. They still can dish out damage, but they can't do much against being riddled with bullets and I guess waterbender ice isn't as good as earth walls.
The amount of force required to throw a bullet off its trajectory with a gust of air enough to miss a human is ridiculous.
 
Call me when Korra has a fight that has me as invested as this.

It won't. Don't bother.

Korra will never reach that height tbh. That fight was thing of beauty. It wasn't just the visuals, it was all the emotion built up over an entire journey. Pain/release and tension all wrapped up in one. Azula vs Zuko had so much into that fight, that there won't ever be anything to compete with it.

I will say visually though, Book 3 had some cool moments (albeit, very short segments compared):

tumblr_napx8qd8sz1snn0hpo1_500.gif


^

That is pretty bad ass. Also as much as I hated Book 2 (and the finale) the Origin episode + some of Book 2's stuff was pretty.
 
The amount of force required to throw a bullet off its trajectory with a gust of air enough to miss a human is ridiculous.

Well, we are talking about people that can bend air. So who knows what amount of force they can do. I mean Jinora and Opal were enough to almost wipe out Kuvira's army with their air bending lmao

That said, force aside, I think reaction time would be pretty impossible even with an air bender.
 
Take that away, he's still got swagger, but nothing of substance to make him compelling. Changing his back story to being a vengeance driven hypocritical dick weed is what ruined him.

Demonstrably false.

Amon_yuck.gif


The man breathed in air and exhaled fantastic. He was the creep of the night, the existential bane of the avatar. No man or woman in history was as fundamental a threat to the avatar cycle as this glorious individual. He was the will of a people - their voice. Their whispers became tumultuous shouts as Amon's legend grew.

He's the only person who can possibly become more fearsome when you ignore all the "strongest waterbender in the history of the Avatar universe" stuff. That's power.
 
Demonstrably false.

The man breathed in air and exhaled fantastic. He was the creep of the night, the existential bane of the avatar. No man or woman in history was as fundamental a threat to the avatar cycle as this glorious individual. He was the will of a people - their voice. Their whispers became tumultuous shouts as Amon's legend grew.

He's the only person who can possibly become more fearsome when you ignore all the "strongest waterbender in the history of the Avatar universe" stuff. That's power.
No, that's swagger. The guy has masterful presentation.

The only other thing he had going for him is the equalist movement(as azula suggested, which I admit I did forget about), but the show never went into that. The rest is just showmanship.
 
Seeing as it's Monday, it is time for our weekly Amon Day discussion.

Was there any scene chiller than when Amon confronted Tarrlok? That's when everyone knew what time it was. Had the fanbase thinking he's a dark spirit and shit.

What happened directly after that scene was clown shoes but still his legend was not diminished.
 
Seeing as it's Monday, it is time for our weekly Amon Day discussion.

Was there any scene chiller than when Amon confronted Tarrlok? That's when everyone knew what time it was. Had the fanbase thinking he's a dark spirit and shit.

What happened directly after that scene was clown shoes but still his legend was not diminished.

So you were misinformed, therefore amon is awesome.

Apparently Kuvira is amazing then, because of that split second where everyone thought she went avatar state, before it was revealed korra was just spazzing out
 
Korra will never reach that height tbh. That fight was thing of beauty. It wasn't just the visuals, it was all the emotion built up over an entire journey. Pain/release and tension all wrapped up in one. Azula vs Zuko had so much into that fight, that there won't ever be anything to compete with it.
Yes, yes, and YES. The fight it cool to watch and all, but that's not at all what makes it so damn memorable. Finally got to see Azula taken down after the characters involved were all properly developed.

Korra will NEVER reach that height in this show. For shame, Bryke.

Book 3 is pretty great on a surface level, and there is a bit more to it with Zaheer and Korra's stakes.
That will be next episode when Korra and Asami battle convention for the sake of their love.

Scratch that.
 
So you were misinformed, therefore amon is awesome.

Apparently Kuvira is amazing then, because of that split second where everyone thought she went avatar state, before it was revealed korra was just spazzing out

Quiet yourself, heretic.

Amon that boy. Who can claim to be as charismatic as him? To come from nothing and lead the revolution? None. He may have not been of divine origin but that only makes his accomplishments more impressive. The way he power walked through that bloodbending...even Aang needed avatar state for that.

Also, I can't believe everyone thought Kuvira went AS for a moment. I knew as soon as the long shot of the back of Kuvira's head happened some mental block shit was about to occur. Though, I was personally expecting Zaheer to pop up.

Korra needs some of that Zuko-Iroh pep talk right about now.
 
What I still don't get is why Amon being outed as a waterbender somehow stopped his whole movement. He could've been like "Yeah I'm a waterbender, but you can believe I'm fighting for you non-benders!" and considering all that has happened in Korra the people would've believed it.
 
What I still don't get is why Amon being outed as a waterbender somehow stopped his whole movement. He could've been like "Yeah I'm a waterbender, but you can believe I'm fighting for you non-benders!" and considering all that has happened in Korra the people would've believed it.

Endgame top 5 worst episode in anything, ever.
 
What I still don't get is why Amon being outed as a waterbender somehow stopped his whole movement. He could've been like "Yeah I'm a waterbender, but you can believe I'm fighting for you non-benders!" and considering all that has happened in Korra the people would've believed it.
I think the make-up scare was the final nail, seriously, why did he do that? The scar and fire backstory was not needed at all for his plans.

Other than that I agree. It's like if a black leader in the american 60s turned out to be actually a white dude with black face all along. The black movement would've gotten a blow to it's credibility, sure, but it wouldn''t just died down and returned as mere mercenaries. The root problem is still there. For that matter: the triple triads are still here. And the Avatar first brought a giant fight near the city that destroyed some bit and then opened the portals with out anyone of Republic City asking for it. They just timeskipped the issue of people and the unwanted spirit world right in their lives.
 
lol Amon was taking away bending from benders. If that doesn't convince people that he's loyal to them (especially because he is a bender), I don't know what would.
 
lol Amon was taking away bending from benders. If that doesn't convince people that he's loyal to them (especially because he is a bender), I don't know what would.

I dunno, what if people thought that by taking away bending from everyone he would be the only bender left? Then he would have one up over everyone.

Apparently Kuvira is amazing then

That's all you needed to say. Don't ruin this for me.
 
I dunno, what if people thought that by taking away bending from everyone he would be the only bender left? Then he would have one up over everyone.



That's all you needed to say. Don't ruin this for me.

Still better than having an entire class of benders and inequality. I would think. I mean..yeah only one bender existing would be crazy. I can understand why people would be skeptical about that. But if they live in a society where benders have an advantage and there is class issues, I don't see why they would take that over having a single bender.

But we are probably over thinking this too much. The reality is, it made sense why people abandoned Amon after he was outed. My only issue is that, while the movement itself wasn't mature and it falling part makes sense, I don't think the deep seeded issues that caused people to turn to the movement would just go away. And when you have the entire Republic City taken over by this, that means A LOT of citizens felt disenfranchised.
 
Before his back story, he was just a walking terminator. Atleast half of his intrigue lied in us speculating the origin of his powers, his back story, and the end goal he was trying to accomplish. His back story is what made him interesting, or at least our initial idea of it. Take that away, he's still got swagger, but nothing of substance to make him compelling. Changing his back story to being a vengeance driven hypocritical dick weed is what ruined him. Unfortunately, the amon we loved simply never existed. We just assumed he did.
Exactly. I will never let go of the possibility that Amon could have been Unalaq in Season 2, or that, if Nick didn't suck, a more cohesive line between Book 1/2 could have been drawn with Amon's intrigue.
HNNNNG
 
Exactly. I will never let go of the possibility that Amon could have been Unalaq in Season 2, or that, if Nick didn't suck, a more cohesive line between Book 1/2 could have been drawn with Amon's intrigue.
HNNNNG

Amon had a ton of potential. No doubt. But the writers wanted a self contained story. No one to blame but themselves, unfortunately. I think it's kind of funny that they put it on themselves to limit their seasons and their story telling. And then Nick ended up coming back to bite them in the ass by fucking with the show.
 
The whole Non-bender thing should have never been brought up. The writers didn't know how to write at all, hell I'm sure the writers don't know how to write anything outside the basic good vs evil plot.
 
It's (IMO) the show's biggest problem, structurally. It's really hard to introduce and develop a villain, and then actually resolve the problem in a satisfying way, in just 12-14 episodes.
 
It's (IMO) the show's biggest problem, structurally. It's really hard to introduce and develop a villain, and then actually resolve the problem in a satisfying way, in just 12-14 episodes.

Pretty much. Or at least, they aren't capable of it. I really think, if they wanted the shorter season format, they should have just focused on having over-arching plot points, and then have self contain mini arcs for each season. Would have worked out better. Would have been able to establish and flesh out conflicts and characters more.

This "Dexter" with the bad guy of the season format, is just a pretty bad idea in general. I know some shows can pull it off. But I really don't think it was ever a good thing for the kind of world/series that Avatar was.
 
Pretty much. Or at least, they aren't capable of it. I really think, if they wanted the shorter season format, they should have just focused on having over-arching plot points, and then have self contain mini arcs for each season. Would have worked out better. Would have been able to establish and flesh out conflicts and characters more.

This "Dexter" with the bad guy of the season format, is just a pretty bad idea in general. I know some shows can pull it off. But I really don't think it was ever a good thing for the kind of world/series that Avatar was.

It could work with the Avatar verse, but not with the Avatar themselves. Because with a character as powerful as the Avatar you are stressed to make every event as big as possible,

That and 14ep is just dumb for a self contained story. Maybe if they had 20 it could work, but less episodes per season should have meant they make them connected more not less...
 
Villain of the season concept would have worked fantastically if the core group had cohesion, and Korra progressed as a person each season. She starts off the series as a prodigy bender of course, but by series end she is a grizzled badass who has mastered every bending discipline and has overcome four deleterious foes whose defeat have each taught her an important lesson.

Korra at its core is a show that works best when it allows the avatar to be the singleton he or she is supposed to be. Really they started Korra off pretty damn over powered to begin with, so every season tries its damndest to shit on her until all vestiges of Korra's confidence and self assuredness are stripped bare and she somehow corrals herself in time for the final victory.

Fuck allat, have her bust some heads front to back. Let her learn lessons about herself and from her friends and mentors and especially her enemies. Shit could've been so dope.

I also think each episode in a 12 episode season should be 1 hr.
 
Yeah, the avatar is too powerful. The Avatar state should have a time limitation like 3 minutes per day or something. So the Avatars have to actually use it resourceful and enemies have windows to exploit a not full powered avatar. Also the avatars shouldn't be on masterlevel in every element at young age. I mean, maybe it seeks out the most talented people, but it's spitting on those who needed decades of training and mastering to get kicked in the butt by a kid in their master discipline.
 
Yeah, the avatar is too powerful. The Avatar state should have a time limitation like 3 minutes per day or something. So the Avatars have to actually use it resourceful and enemies have windows to exploit a not full powered avatar. Also the avatars shouldn't be on masterlevel in every element at young age. I mean, maybe it seeks out the most talented people, but it's spitting on those who needed decades of training and mastering to get kicked in the butt by a kid in their master discipline.

Well, the idea that one person can have all the elements ruins the uniqueness of everything. Why do I need an earthbender on my team when I can earth bend myself.

A team should have a dynamic and have each member be able to do something the other members can't to give them a purpose and role. Even the most basic shonen's understand that much.

ATLA got away with it because Aang was still learning most of the elements and his friends each had one trait that Aang couldn't learn. (Katara could heal, Toph could metal bend, Zuko had swords ect)

Korra is missing this for the first two seasons reducing her friends to glorified cheerleaders
 
In retrospect, Korra's villains did a better job in bettering or changing the world than she might've ever done.

Amon wanted equality between benders and non-benders and that issue was only brought up seriously only because of his actions. Despite the movement just straight up dissipated to thin air over night, they at least achieve in getting rid of the un-elective council with a president that had major non-bender support.

Unalaq... erm... wanted more connection with the spirit world, still got it in the end. Which brought back the Airbenders.

Zaheer bought down the decadent state that was the Earth Kingdom and literally tore down the class walls.

Kuvira stablized the... hmm.. since the Avatarverse never actually gave names for its continents or major isles(Fire Kingdom)... I'm just calling it Rockville. Spreading technology and bringing equality via slavery , soldiery or whatever.

My main grip is that Korra, as in the character and the show, had so much potential to learn from the villains. They embody roles of the Avatar taken to the extreme. Korra being thristy to be the avatar from the last 3 seasons, only now in the lasts season actually understanding what her past villains are coming from. I don't know if it fits or not, but it still feels kinda rush as all hell.
 
In retrospect, Korra's villains did a better job in bettering or changing the world than she might've ever done.

Amon wanted equality between benders and non-benders and that issue was only brought up seriously only because of his actions. Despite the movement just straight up dissipated to thin air over night, they at least achieve in getting rid of the un-elective council with a president that had major non-bender support.

Unalaq... erm... wanted more connection with the spirit world, still got it in the end. Which brought back the Airbenders.

Zaheer bought down the decadent state that was the Earth Kingdom and literally tore down the class walls.

Kuvira stablized the... hmm.. since the Avatarverse never actually gave names for its continents or major isles(Fire Kingdom)... I'm just calling it Rockville. Spreading technology and bringing equality via slavery , soldiery or whatever.

My main grip is that Korra, as in the character and the show, had so much potential to learn from the villains. They embody roles of the Avatar taken to the extreme. Korra being thristy to be the avatar from the last 3 seasons, only now in the lasts season actually understanding what her past villains are coming from. I don't know if it fits or not, but it still feels kinda rush as all hell.
I honestly think Korra is too hard headed to learn anything from anybody. Even your basic shonen character will learn stuff from their fights.
 
In retrospect, Korra's villains did a better job in bettering or changing the world than she might've ever done.

Amon wanted equality between benders and non-benders and that issue was only brought up seriously only because of his actions. Despite the movement just straight up dissipated to thin air over night, they at least achieve in getting rid of the un-elective council with a president that had major non-bender support.

Unalaq... erm... wanted more connection with the spirit world, still got it in the end. Which brought back the Airbenders.

Zaheer bought down the decadent state that was the Earth Kingdom and literally tore down the class walls.

Kuvira stablized the... hmm.. since the Avatarverse never actually gave names for its continents or major isles(Fire Kingdom)... I'm just calling it Rockville. Spreading technology and bringing equality via slavery , soldiery or whatever.

My main grip is that Korra, as in the character and the show, had so much potential to learn from the villains. They embody roles of the Avatar taken to the extreme. Korra being thristy to be the avatar from the last 3 seasons, only now in the lasts season actually understanding what her past villains are coming from. I don't know if it fits or not, but it still feels kinda rush as all hell.

You are right, both Amon and Zaheer changed the world for the better, or at least tried to make the world for everyone. Korra's team feel like they just want to maintain the status Quo because their lives are already pretty easy.
 
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