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

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Trey said:
So is anyone gonna bring holiday cheer to my Toph avatar or nah?
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be careful what you wish for

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Hamlet said:
So one of the Legend of Korra Storyboard Artists has started answering some questions about the remaining episodes for Book 4.
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Uh, real inside information for once. Sounds like it definitely picks up in pace from now on. That comparison with Book 3 was a really good question.

Also, another person who worked on Book 4 posted on tumblr a while back shots of emails they had between the production crew about Fire Lord Izumi, explaining a little joke they had amongst themselves. You can see in the email that she has a speaking role in this Friday's episode, so there's that to look forward to at least.
 
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(Best I could do for Toph. It was really hard because of how her hair sticks out to the right side. Hats don't fit with that perspective. So I had to remove parts under the hat. Personally, I like Deimos clever avatar. But you can use this one too, whatever).
 
JadedWriter said:
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I really like this piece of fan art in particular because it shows something the writers could potentially get at that they just haven't gotten at before. The fact that the protagonist is pretty much the most powerful being on the face of the planet.

I mean, we all know Korra's AS has been dwarfed in power in comparison to the shit that Kyoshi, Roku and Aang pulled. These people shaped the world. Like, literally, Kyoshi moved a fucking landmass at will, Roku fought back a volcano, and Aang had the sea level rise about 20 feet with a wave of his hand. Korra, even though her avatar state is less impressive, has still been portrayed as extremely powerful in the face of it.

So you can try to imagine the villain's perspective for a moment. The original series kinda got away with it because Zuko knew he was on a snipe hunt and had no realistic chance of capturing the avatar, if he ever found him. He, and the rest of the villains, once they saw Aang was still untrained and unable to access the avatar state at will, felt much better about their chances. But even Ozai, the most powerful firebender in the world at the absolute height of his power, was a plaything in Aang's hands those eyes started glowing. Otherwise, it's pretty easy to look down at a 10 year old kid and not think he's a threat to you.

But Korra is a bit of a different story. Amon, as complete as his power over the human body is, I suppose would have good reason to think he can take on the avatar, as the avatar is literally the only person on the planet who could have stopped his father. God, bloodbending is OP. Anyway, I can see why Amon would think that if anyone can take on the most powerful human on the planet, it'd be him (and really, he's still right. We never were given a good reason why Korra broke out of that hold he had her in...). But Unalaq never thinks like "Oh shit. Oh my god. The fucking avatar is coming and she's gonna rek my shit." Neither do Desna and Esna, as far as I remember. They do not bat an eye at taking on their superpowered cousin. Zaheer has the stoic thing going for him and he and his crew are badass, but none of them even show a moment of nervousness as they begin their assault on a fully mastered avatar. Even when Zaheer is fighting Korra in the AS, he doesn't really show the kind of fear even Ozai showed. Again, stoic, but given they let that crack during the sock in mouth moment, a hint of his fear wouldn't have killed the writers to include.

And now Kuvira. She's badass, but still the least capable villain of them all. Amon had complete control of human bodies and the equalists thought they were being led by a spirit that gave them divine cause, Unalaq knew he was going to be empowered by a spirit equal to that of the avatar's, and Zaheer was a fanatic to the point that I could believe the sheer enormity of the task he's undertaken is something he's just accepted. I don't think those things entirely justify how completely undisturbed they and people who follow them are, but it gives some kind of basis for it. Kuvira, on the other hand, is just a really good earthbender with a unique style. Perhaps her unique power is that she has a whole army under her control, but given that she is willing to go and fight Korra 1 on 1, she kind of relinquishes that advantage. And it's not like the writers seem unaware of this. Once Korra got off her ass and went into AS, one gust of wind knocked her the fuck down.

It's just so weird how unafraid she acts. The only explanation I can think of is that they're making her a sociopath (which I suppose would fit what we've seen so far. Manipulative and a liar, power hungry, takes pleasure in domination, etc...), but other than that motivation wearing thin with its repetition in the series, I don't know if it'd fit given her past relationship with Su. They keep talking about how she was a stand up girl until much later on. I feel that Suyin would have said something if she had these elements in her from childhood. So I think (or atleast hope) this is going to end up in a more of a 'power corrupts' kind of framework for Kuvira.

But that doesn't explain the extreme lack of fear here. Which I think is a completely missed opportunity for her character. It would have been awesome to see her in her tent, mentally prepping herself to take on the most powerful person on the face of the earth. It'd show a genuinely admirable side of her. Whether she's Hitler or not, you'd have to admit that she has balls to go up to the motherfucking avatar and offer to throw down 1 on 1 to protect your army, knowing the kind of power she wields. Just on a human level, that shows a great level of bravery to be able to face an unstoppable force without a hax bending power, an evil spirit, or even the insanity of zealotry to hide behind. Fearlessness is amusing, but courage is genuinely impressive. And like this fan art shows, the aftermath of Kuvira recovering from Korra when she used even the smallest fraction of her AS abilities would do a lot in humanizing her, to see how determined she is.

I feel like more than any other villain, Kuvira is someone who could have fit in the TLA world more than any other villain thus far. Amon's complexity (or his 'potential' as everyone keeps talking about) lies with his political campaign rather than his character. TLA made some interesting political commentary, but mostly as a whole rather than in any one character like Amon. One of the reasons pre-reveal Amon worked to intrigue us as much as he did was because he represented that a different kind of world than what we had in TLA, but he wouldn't have fit in TLA itself for that reason. Zaheer was more in like with TLA villains, but his singlemindedness reminded me more of periphery characters like Zhao or Combustion man or Hama than any of the major characters. They had a big presence and said interesting things, but were not the arc focus at any point. Unalaq was like Melon Lord, pure evil but otherwise not noteworthy. But Kuvira, or her potential, lies more in being an ordinary person who has to face an impossible task. When I think of Kuvira, if she were better written, I think she could have been easily like Zuko, a human, sympathetic antagonist that Korra still has to go up against because she's being a jerk. But we're really missing those humanizing moments that Zuko had for it to work like that, unfortunately, so instead she's just Hitler.
 
Finally got around to watching the last episode and... I actually enjoyed it. Michael and Bryan did the best they could in that shitty situation.
 
Veelk said:
I really like this piece of fan art in particular because it shows something the writers could potentially get at that they just haven't gotten at before. The fact that the protagonist is pretty much the most powerful being on the face of the planet.

I mean, we all know Korra's AS has been dwarfed in power in comparison to the shit that Kyoshi, Roku and Aang pulled. These people shaped the world. Like, literally, Kyoshi moved a fucking landmass at will, Roku fought back a volcano, and Aang had the sea level rise about 20 feet with a wave of his hand. Korra, even though her avatar state is less impressive, has still been portrayed as extremely powerful in the face of it.

So you can try to imagine the villain's perspective for a moment. The original series kinda got away with it because Zuko knew he was on a snipe hunt and had no realistic chance of capturing the avatar, if he ever found him. He, and the rest of the villains, once they saw Aang was still untrained and unable to access the avatar state at will, felt much better about their chances. But even Ozai, the most powerful firebender in the world at the absolute height of his power, was a plaything in Aang's hands those eyes started glowing. Otherwise, it's pretty easy to look down at a 10 year old kid and not think he's a threat to you.

But Korra is a bit of a different story. Amon, as complete as his power over the human body is, I suppose would have good reason to think he can take on the avatar, as the avatar is literally the only person on the planet who could have stopped his father. God, bloodbending is OP. Anyway, I can see why Amon would think that if anyone can take on the most powerful human on the planet, it'd be him (and really, he's still right. We never were given a good reason why Korra broke out of that hold he had her in...). But Unalaq never thinks like "Oh shit. Oh my god. The fucking avatar is coming and she's gonna rek my shit." Neither do Desna and Esna, as far as I remember. They do not bat an eye at taking on their superpowered cousin. Zaheer has the stoic thing going for him and he and his crew are badass, but none of them even show a moment of nervousness as they begin their assault on a fully mastered avatar. Even when Zaheer is fighting Korra in the AS, he doesn't really show the kind of fear even Ozai showed. Again, stoic, but given they let that crack during the sock in mouth moment, a hint of his fear wouldn't have killed the writers to include.

And now Kuvira. She's badass, but still the least capable villain of them all. Amon had complete control of human bodies and the equalists thought they were being led by a spirit that gave them divine cause, Unalaq knew he was going to be empowered by a spirit equal to that of the avatar's, and Zaheer was a fanatic to the point that I could believe the sheer enormity of the task he's undertaken is something he's just accepted. I don't think those things entirely justify how completely undisturbed they and people who follow them are, but it gives some kind of basis for it. Kuvira, on the other hand, is just a really good earthbender with a unique style. Perhaps her unique power is that she has a whole army under her control, but given that she is willing to go and fight Korra 1 on 1, she kind of relinquishes that advantage. And it's not like the writers seem unaware of this. Once Korra got off her ass and went into AS, one gust of wind knocked her the fuck down.

It's just so weird how unafraid she acts. The only explanation I can think of is that they're making her a sociopath (which I suppose would fit what we've seen so far. Manipulative and a liar, power hungry, takes pleasure in domination, etc...), but other than that motivation wearing thin with its repetition in the series, I don't know if it'd fit given her past relationship with Su. They keep talking about how she was a stand up girl until much later on. I feel that Suyin would have said something if she had these elements in her from childhood. So I think (or atleast hope) this is going to end up in a more of a 'power corrupts' kind of framework for Kuvira.

But that doesn't explain the extreme lack of fear here. Which I think is a completely missed opportunity for her character. It would have been awesome to see her in her tent, mentally prepping herself to take on the most powerful person on the face of the earth. It'd show a genuinely admirable side of her. Whether she's Hitler or not, you'd have to admit that she has balls to go up to the motherfucking avatar and offer to throw down 1 on 1 to protect your army, knowing the kind of power she wields. Just on a human level, that shows a great level of bravery to be able to face an unstoppable force without a hax bending power, an evil spirit, or even the insanity of zealotry to hide behind. Fearlessness is amusing, but courage is genuinely impressive. And like this fan art shows, the aftermath of Kuvira recovering from Korra when she used even the smallest fraction of her AS abilities would do a lot in humanizing her, to see how determined she is.

I feel like more than any other villain, Kuvira is someone who could have fit in the TLA world more than any other villain thus far. Amon's complexity (or his 'potential' as everyone keeps talking about) lies with his political campaign rather than his character. TLA made some interesting political commentary, but mostly as a whole rather than in any one character like Amon. One of the reasons pre-reveal Amon worked to intrigue us as much as he did was because he represented that a different kind of world than what we had in TLA, but he wouldn't have fit in TLA itself for that reason. Zaheer was more in like with TLA villains, but his singlemindedness reminded me more of periphery characters like Zhao or Combustion man or Hama than any of the major characters. They had a big presence and said interesting things, but were not the arc focus at any point. Unalaq was like Melon Lord, pure evil but otherwise not noteworthy. But Kuvira, or her potential, lies more in being an ordinary person who has to face an impossible task. When I think of Kuvira, if she were better written, I think she could have been easily like Zuko, a human, sympathetic antagonist that Korra still has to go up against because she's being a jerk. But we're really missing those humanizing moments that Zuko had for it to work like that, unfortunately, so instead she's just Hitler.
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Excellent writeup, Veelk.

I too think that the people in this world should be much more fearful of Korra. Although it seems the person most afraid of her is herself. Which is understandable because she struggles with being the most powerful human on the planet and what that means for her friends and families if she were to ever lose control.

As for why the villains are not so scared of her? It's probably because they all feel like they can handle it. The big ego is all part of what makes a villain a villain.

And of course, few of them have witnessed a full blown Avatar State. They've heard stories sure, but stories are stories. People can't comprehend something so insane as creating an island until they witness it.

Zaheer would have taken Korra out if P'li didn't die. I'm sure he felt protected because his friends are master benders with no equal. He himself an airbender that can use it lethally instead of evasively.

Amon figured that since he was way more powerful than his dad, coupled with the fact that Korra can't go Avatar State, he would easily win. And technically he did, except that Korra's airbending saved her at the last second. Her unlocking airbending gave her a bit of a power boost and she was able to sucker punch(kick) Amon out of a window falling 30 feet into deep water. When he came to, he was already out of oxygen and deep in water, so in a moment of panic, he did the only thing he could to save himself. Thus exposing himself. Poor Amon.

As for Kuvira, the season isn't over so I'm still holding out judgement on her. I can see her and Korra coming to an understanding.
 
Veelk said:
I really like this piece of fan art in particular because it shows something the writers could potentially get at that they just haven't gotten at before. The fact that the protagonist is pretty much the most powerful being on the face of the planet.

I mean, we all know Korra's AS has been dwarfed in power in comparison to the shit that Kyoshi, Roku and Aang pulled. These people shaped the world. Like, literally, Kyoshi moved a fucking landmass at will, Roku fought back a volcano, and Aang had the sea level rise about 20 feet with a wave of his hand. Korra, even though her avatar state is less impressive, has still been portrayed as extremely powerful in the face of it.

So you can try to imagine the villain's perspective for a moment. The original series kinda got away with it because Zuko knew he was on a snipe hunt and had no realistic chance of capturing the avatar, if he ever found him. He, and the rest of the villains, once they saw Aang was still untrained and unable to access the avatar state at will, felt much better about their chances. But even Ozai, the most powerful firebender in the world at the absolute height of his power, was a plaything in Aang's hands those eyes started glowing. Otherwise, it's pretty easy to look down at a 10 year old kid and not think he's a threat to you.

But Korra is a bit of a different story. Amon, as complete as his power over the human body is, I suppose would have good reason to think he can take on the avatar, as the avatar is literally the only person on the planet who could have stopped his father. God, bloodbending is OP. Anyway, I can see why Amon would think that if anyone can take on the most powerful human on the planet, it'd be him (and really, he's still right. We never were given a good reason why Korra broke out of that hold he had her in...). But Unalaq never thinks like "Oh shit. Oh my god. The fucking avatar is coming and she's gonna rek my shit." Neither do Desna and Esna, as far as I remember. They do not bat an eye at taking on their superpowered cousin. Zaheer has the stoic thing going for him and he and his crew are badass, but none of them even show a moment of nervousness as they begin their assault on a fully mastered avatar. Even when Zaheer is fighting Korra in the AS, he doesn't really show the kind of fear even Ozai showed. Again, stoic, but given they let that crack during the sock in mouth moment, a hint of his fear wouldn't have killed the writers to include.

And now Kuvira. She's badass, but still the least capable villain of them all. Amon had complete control of human bodies and the equalists thought they were being led by a spirit that gave them divine cause, Unalaq knew he was going to be empowered by a spirit equal to that of the avatar's, and Zaheer was a fanatic to the point that I could believe the sheer enormity of the task he's undertaken is something he's just accepted. I don't think those things entirely justify how completely undisturbed they and people who follow them are, but it gives some kind of basis for it. Kuvira, on the other hand, is just a really good earthbender with a unique style. Perhaps her unique power is that she has a whole army under her control, but given that she is willing to go and fight Korra 1 on 1, she kind of relinquishes that advantage. And it's not like the writers seem unaware of this. Once Korra got off her ass and went into AS, one gust of wind knocked her the fuck down.

It's just so weird how unafraid she acts. The only explanation I can think of is that they're making her a sociopath (which I suppose would fit what we've seen so far. Manipulative and a liar, power hungry, takes pleasure in domination, etc...), but other than that motivation wearing thin with its repetition in the series, I don't know if it'd fit given her past relationship with Su. They keep talking about how she was a stand up girl until much later on. I feel that Suyin would have said something if she had these elements in her from childhood. So I think (or atleast hope) this is going to end up in a more of a 'power corrupts' kind of framework for Kuvira.

But that doesn't explain the extreme lack of fear here. Which I think is a completely missed opportunity for her character. It would have been awesome to see her in her tent, mentally prepping herself to take on the most powerful person on the face of the earth. It'd show a genuinely admirable side of her. Whether she's Hitler or not, you'd have to admit that she has balls to go up to the motherfucking avatar and offer to throw down 1 on 1 to protect your army, knowing the kind of power she wields. Just on a human level, that shows a great level of bravery to be able to face an unstoppable force without a hax bending power, an evil spirit, or even the insanity of zealotry to hide behind. Fearlessness is amusing, but courage is genuinely impressive. And like this fan art shows, the aftermath of Kuvira recovering from Korra when she used even the smallest fraction of her AS abilities would do a lot in humanizing her, to see how determined she is.

I feel like more than any other villain, Kuvira is someone who could have fit in the TLA world more than any other villain thus far. Amon's complexity (or his 'potential' as everyone keeps talking about) lies with his political campaign rather than his character. TLA made some interesting political commentary, but mostly as a whole rather than in any one character like Amon. One of the reasons pre-reveal Amon worked to intrigue us as much as he did was because he represented that a different kind of world than what we had in TLA, but he wouldn't have fit in TLA itself for that reason. Zaheer was more in like with TLA villains, but his singlemindedness reminded me more of periphery characters like Zhao or Combustion man or Hama than any of the major characters. They had a big presence and said interesting things, but were not the arc focus at any point. Unalaq was like Melon Lord, pure evil but otherwise not noteworthy. But Kuvira, or her potential, lies more in being an ordinary person who has to face an impossible task. When I think of Kuvira, if she were better written, I think she could have been easily like Zuko, a human, sympathetic antagonist that Korra still has to go up against because she's being a jerk. But we're really missing those humanizing moments that Zuko had for it to work like that, unfortunately, so instead she's just Hitler.
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Kuvira does have a brass set on her telling Korra to use the avatar state all she wants like she didn't even give a shit about it. I'm not sure if it's just flat out ignorance on her part or she really just thought she'd be able to take on the avatar at the height of her powers. Non hax mode Korra she beat her convincingly, hax mode Korra? Didn't stand a chance. Though yeah it's good that she didn't want her army to deal with Korra, shows that she's not afraid to lead by example. Though yeah seeing something like Kuvira being healed up or mentally preparing to take on Korra would've been interesting, but Kuvira seems to be pretty mentally prepared to deal with everything so it's probably something she did before she stepped up to fight Korra. They really do need to take some time to humanize Kuvira and you make a lot of good points regarding that. She's not a cyborg or anything and they need to make sure they portray her human side. Though I am interested in seeing an actual flashback with younger kuvira and Su during a training session or something.
 
JadedWriter said:
Kuvira does have a brass set on her telling Korra to use the avatar state all she wants like she didn't even give a shit about it. I'm not sure if it's just flat out ignorance on her part or she really just thought she'd be able to take on the avatar at the height of her powers. Non hax mode Korra she beat her convincingly, hax mode Korra? Didn't stand a chance. Though yeah it's good that she didn't want her army to deal with Korra, shows that she's not afraid to lead by example. Though yeah seeing something like Kuvira being healed up or mentally preparing to take on Korra would've been interesting, but Kuvira seems to be pretty mentally prepared to deal with everything so it's probably something she did before she stepped up to fight Korra. They really do need to take some time to humanize Kuvira and you make a lot of good points regarding that. She's not a cyborg or anything and they need to make sure they portray her human side. Though I am interested in seeing an actual flashback with younger kuvira and Su during a training session or something.
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Considering how much the avatar gets stomped and how good the communication systems in Avatar currently are, I wouldn't be surprised if people were no longer afraid of her powers. Of course I doubt Bryke thought of that, I'm pretty sure the only reasons we see no fear in her enemies is because the writers never considered it or they thought that her scaring people would make her look like "the bad guy".
 
Sou Da said:
Considering how much the avatar gets stomped and how good the communication systems in Avatar currently are, I wouldn't be surprised if people were no longer afraid of her powers. Of course I doubt Bryke thought of that, I'm pretty sure the only reasons we see no fear in her enemies is because the writers never considered it or they thought that her scaring people would make her look like "the bad guy".
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Yeah you do have a good point about that one. Korra gets her ass kicked a lot in this show and rarely gets a clean win without the aid of a deus ex. Kuvira probably made and released a propaganda film of her ragdolling Korra. It's not like Korra has any of those Kyoshi stories to make people fearful of her.
 
To be fair having the Avatar exist presents a very good question just like having benders around did in Season 1

Too bad the series will never actually delve deeper into these and I often time I wonder why they even brought them up. How season 1 was handled and the non-benders was cringe worthy.

Honestly, the series probably would have been better if it settled on just a nice adventure story with cool set pieces than them trying to tell a mature story...considering they are failing on both ends at this point.
 
I'll be sad when Bolin and Varric reach Republic City. Because they'll probably immediately separate. And the Bolin will rejoin the krew and once again like every character become completely useless so they can further emphasize how korra saves them all. Mama Korra save us.
 
Admiral Woofington said:
I'll be sad when Bolin and Varric reach Republic City. Because they'll probably immediately separate. And the Bolin will rejoin the krew and once again like every character become completely useless so they can further emphasize how korra saves them all. Mama Korra save us.
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Mama Korra almost wrecked those two with that shit ass love triangle.
 
Admiral Woofington said:
I'll be sad when Bolin and Varric reach Republic City. Because they'll probably immediately separate. And the Bolin will rejoin the krew and once again like every character become completely useless so they can further emphasize how korra saves them all. Mama Korra save us.
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The team is worthless, they got better in Season 3, but they are far less useful than a lot of other teams and groups in similar situations.

This is probably the problem with making Korra so strong from the start or having an Avatar in a team in the first place.
 
I think Kuvira was trying to inspire devotion to anyone who doubted her ability to lead.

"I won't ask any of you to do anything I wouldn't do myself."

*proceeds to beat the Avatar*

She just set the ultimate standard for herself. So essentially when she orders her army to do something, they'd do it because as far as they're concerned Kuvira would too (SHE TOOK ON THE AVATAR AND WON!!) because whatever she's ordering them to do pales in comparison.
 
TacticalFox88 said:
I think Kuvira was trying to inspire devotion to anyone who doubted her ability to lead.

"I won't ask any of you to do anything I wouldn't do myself."

*proceeds to beat the Avatar*

She just set the ultimate standard for herself. So essentially when she orders her army to do something, they'd do it because as far as they're concerned Kuvira would too (SHE TOOK ON THE AVATAR AND WON!!) because whatever she's ordering them to do pales in comparison.
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The problem is that the story never showed or even implied that beforehand. It would have been nice to see some uncertainty in the ranks by your average rank and file soldier, but as Kuvira said, she always gets what she wants. There hasn't been a situation to cause doubt.
 
Villains weren't afraid of Aang, either.

I don't recall any villain being afraid of the base-power Avatar, aside from Sozin.
 
Trey said:
Villains weren't afraid of Aang, either.

I don't recall any villain being afraid of the base-power Avatar, aside from Sozin.
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Aang was a 11 year old pacifist or whatever his age was. You can list most of his character traits and none of them really scream "this kid will wreck your shit." At least Korra's an adult of decent stature.
 
I dont know, a 4 foot man tried taking on Kyoshi.

and she was a confirmed 8 foot amazon with an "I don't give a fuck about consequences" attitude.
 
RockTurtle said:
I dont know, a 4 foot man tried taking on Kyoshi.

and she was a confirmed 8 foot amazon with an "I don't give a fuck about consequences" attitude.
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I'm starting to get the picture that villains or people in general in the avatarverse have no fucking common sense lol. Kyoshi should've just stepped on the guy...she did have big ass feet.
 
Its a rite of passage. In order to be a true leader of the Earth Kingdom you must shit talk the avatar into beating the shit out of you.
 
Just watched ep 1 and..... sigh....I don't know you guys, I hope it gets better

starting ep 2 and hope we get more Katara in this season
 
Bold One said:
Just watched ep 1 and..... sigh....I don't know you guys, I hope it gets better

starting ep 2 and hope we get more Katara in this season
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Sorry to say the show has largely gone nowhere this season. You can at least look forward to Varric and Bolin adventures. When a thing needs doing you know who to call
 
Jacob said:
Well considering how the first two Avatar comic trilogies turned out, that's a pretty low bar. :P

I did like The Rift for what it was, but it still feels like glorified fanfic. I was surprised at the number of Korra references considering that the comic takes place almost 70 years before. The cabbage man stuff in part 3 in particular would be meaningless to anyone who hadn't watched Book 1 of Korra and thus knew about Cabbage Corp.
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Eh, I really enjoyed the first two comics. Even though The Search was kind of convoluted.

Yeah, the Korra references were a little odd. Cabbage man being inspired by the forklift was kind of amusing. And I guess the comic really does solidify that Aang can't metalbend at all as he needed help from Toph and her students.
 
Veelk said:
I really like this piece of fan art in particular because it shows something the writers could potentially get at that they just haven't gotten at before. The fact that the protagonist is pretty much the most powerful being on the face of the planet.

I mean, we all know Korra's AS has been dwarfed in power in comparison to the shit that Kyoshi, Roku and Aang pulled. These people shaped the world. Like, literally, Kyoshi moved a fucking landmass at will, Roku fought back a volcano, and Aang had the sea level rise about 20 feet with a wave of his hand. Korra, even though her avatar state is less impressive, has still been portrayed as extremely powerful in the face of it.

So you can try to imagine the villain's perspective for a moment. The original series kinda got away with it because Zuko knew he was on a snipe hunt and had no realistic chance of capturing the avatar, if he ever found him. He, and the rest of the villains, once they saw Aang was still untrained and unable to access the avatar state at will, felt much better about their chances. But even Ozai, the most powerful firebender in the world at the absolute height of his power, was a plaything in Aang's hands those eyes started glowing. Otherwise, it's pretty easy to look down at a 10 year old kid and not think he's a threat to you.

But Korra is a bit of a different story. Amon, as complete as his power over the human body is, I suppose would have good reason to think he can take on the avatar, as the avatar is literally the only person on the planet who could have stopped his father. God, bloodbending is OP. Anyway, I can see why Amon would think that if anyone can take on the most powerful human on the planet, it'd be him (and really, he's still right. We never were given a good reason why Korra broke out of that hold he had her in...). But Unalaq never thinks like "Oh shit. Oh my god. The fucking avatar is coming and she's gonna rek my shit." Neither do Desna and Esna, as far as I remember. They do not bat an eye at taking on their superpowered cousin. Zaheer has the stoic thing going for him and he and his crew are badass, but none of them even show a moment of nervousness as they begin their assault on a fully mastered avatar. Even when Zaheer is fighting Korra in the AS, he doesn't really show the kind of fear even Ozai showed. Again, stoic, but given they let that crack during the sock in mouth moment, a hint of his fear wouldn't have killed the writers to include.

And now Kuvira. She's badass, but still the least capable villain of them all. Amon had complete control of human bodies and the equalists thought they were being led by a spirit that gave them divine cause, Unalaq knew he was going to be empowered by a spirit equal to that of the avatar's, and Zaheer was a fanatic to the point that I could believe the sheer enormity of the task he's undertaken is something he's just accepted. I don't think those things entirely justify how completely undisturbed they and people who follow them are, but it gives some kind of basis for it. Kuvira, on the other hand, is just a really good earthbender with a unique style. Perhaps her unique power is that she has a whole army under her control, but given that she is willing to go and fight Korra 1 on 1, she kind of relinquishes that advantage. And it's not like the writers seem unaware of this. Once Korra got off her ass and went into AS, one gust of wind knocked her the fuck down.

It's just so weird how unafraid she acts. The only explanation I can think of is that they're making her a sociopath (which I suppose would fit what we've seen so far. Manipulative and a liar, power hungry, takes pleasure in domination, etc...), but other than that motivation wearing thin with its repetition in the series, I don't know if it'd fit given her past relationship with Su. They keep talking about how she was a stand up girl until much later on. I feel that Suyin would have said something if she had these elements in her from childhood. So I think (or atleast hope) this is going to end up in a more of a 'power corrupts' kind of framework for Kuvira.

But that doesn't explain the extreme lack of fear here. Which I think is a completely missed opportunity for her character. It would have been awesome to see her in her tent, mentally prepping herself to take on the most powerful person on the face of the earth. It'd show a genuinely admirable side of her. Whether she's Hitler or not, you'd have to admit that she has balls to go up to the motherfucking avatar and offer to throw down 1 on 1 to protect your army, knowing the kind of power she wields. Just on a human level, that shows a great level of bravery to be able to face an unstoppable force without a hax bending power, an evil spirit, or even the insanity of zealotry to hide behind. Fearlessness is amusing, but courage is genuinely impressive. And like this fan art shows, the aftermath of Kuvira recovering from Korra when she used even the smallest fraction of her AS abilities would do a lot in humanizing her, to see how determined she is.

I feel like more than any other villain, Kuvira is someone who could have fit in the TLA world more than any other villain thus far. Amon's complexity (or his 'potential' as everyone keeps talking about) lies with his political campaign rather than his character. TLA made some interesting political commentary, but mostly as a whole rather than in any one character like Amon. One of the reasons pre-reveal Amon worked to intrigue us as much as he did was because he represented that a different kind of world than what we had in TLA, but he wouldn't have fit in TLA itself for that reason. Zaheer was more in like with TLA villains, but his singlemindedness reminded me more of periphery characters like Zhao or Combustion man or Hama than any of the major characters. They had a big presence and said interesting things, but were not the arc focus at any point. Unalaq was like Melon Lord, pure evil but otherwise not noteworthy. But Kuvira, or her potential, lies more in being an ordinary person who has to face an impossible task. When I think of Kuvira, if she were better written, I think she could have been easily like Zuko, a human, sympathetic antagonist that Korra still has to go up against because she's being a jerk. But we're really missing those humanizing moments that Zuko had for it to work like that, unfortunately, so instead she's just Hitler.
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Very good points.
Yes,the potential of Kuvira was always that she was a more personal threat, she had Bolin working for her, her fiance, she had a good reason for doing things,her relationship with Suyin.
But all of that is over, and the show focus on her evilness instead, wich is making her a dull villain again.taking over cities, making grin faces, called a powe rhungry dictator, having an army of faceless mooks, Bataar Jr. using the spirit vines for a weapon, trying to kill the Avatar, manipulating Bolin, trying to capyure Wu, reducation camps, etc.

Lets see what they do with her these last episodes, the only justification is that she is a sociopath, like you said, she tries to justify it by saying Korra is a bit rust.

Then there are the spirit vines, the only way Kuvira can be a threat is by making her superweapon.

The other villains had a reason, Amon did everything to get revenge on the Avatar, not by killing it, but by turning public opinion against her and taking her bending.
Unalaqr wanted to become an Avatar, he had the help of Vatuu and the dark spirits, and was able to manipulate her easily.
Zaheer, he is devoted to his cause,didnt tried to confront her directly, but capture her and use the poison.
All three more or less knew what they were dealing with-
 
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