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

Status
Not open for further replies.
I think it's unfortunate that they played both sides, even if people seem to want to go all in with the Korra / Asami stuff.

It just reminds me of the "finger sex" meme that happened with Rinne no Lagrange awhile ago:
zbzKd.gif

Text/Subtext? I suppose the line becomes blurry depending on what kind of goggles you are wearing. lol

But sure, there is also a problem with the show where people are thrown together for the purposes of plot. The Zhu Li stuff for example, only works because the writers use "love" as the only reason why she would put up with Verrick's stupidity for 4 seasons.
lmao, they should've done that :D
 
I think if there ever is more TV Avatar it'd be Korra Book 5 or maybe ATLA 'all grown up' rather than some earthbender avatar.

Now it's sinking in that it's gone I'm really going to miss it :(.
 
Over all I liked it, but deep down I can't help but feel slightly disappointed.

It al came together in the end but they squandered a lot of opportunities to make a really tight and epic ala TLA

Female Hitler was one irredeemable bitch, I know they were trying to channel some Ozai in there but yikes...

A lot of people make really baffling decisions in this series.

Toph and Verrick were the highlights

as for the final scene, well....not really sure what to make of it. So I am not going to read too much into it, but the Tumblr crowd will be happy though
I wonder what the writer's take on it is?
 
The Korra and Asami thing (if it really is a thing,) would be a bit from left field definitely, there was no build up to it

It would be like the writers wanted to make the shippers on Tumblr happy, so they torpedoed the strongest friendship in the show for cheap fanservice.

I refuse to believe that
 
The Korra and Asami thing (if it really is a thing,) would be a bit from left field definitely, there was no build up to it

It would be like the writers wanted to make the shippers on Tumblr happy, so they torpedoed the strongest friendship in the show for cheap fanservice.

I refuse to believe that
Yup - agreed.
 
The Korra and Asami thing (if it really is a thing,) would be a bit from left field definitely, there was no build up to it

It would be like the writers wanted to make the shippers on Tumblr happy, so they torpedoed the strongest friendship in the show for cheap fanservice.

I refuse to believe that

I believe that's exactly what happened. Which is a shame because as I've said several times, Korra and Asami had one of the most genuine friendships in ether Avatar series.
 
Added to that the resolution with Kuvira was kind of hamfisted, her actions and means were so crazily disproportionate to her motivations the whole thing in the spirit world felt flat and unearned to me.

The show really suffered from not having a singular antagonist driving the plot, 13 eps is not enough to build clear thinking and believable characters that react to escalating situations in a believable way. (I am still furious about the character assassination that happened to Lin from last season).

Anyways I am glad it is over now, time to watch ATLA to cleanse my pallet
 
I have trouble understanding how love between two women born from growing frienship is the problem here, when the story ended with might makes right and still lack of solutions for every problem that created the villains of every season. We're again missing the fallout of the whole thing, including what exactly happened in Kuviras camps, how her army reacted, I am sure not everyone was happy just to give up and get judged for their crimes and if the Earth Kingdom now once again fell into chaos without any strong leader. Wu can as much as he likes and control badgermoles, there are more than a dozen duchies that are now again free to rule themselves again. And if not, then once again a villain got what they intended and ultimately did a better thing for the world than Korra did.
But no, people are hung over a lesbian relationship, because it was a friendship at one point.
 
They said things, but when it came time to it being portrayed on screen they just really never gave it the time of day. This also shows that Su's a HUGE hypocrite. Granted she never tried to dominate a country but Su did some dumb ass shit as a kid and WANTED FORGIVENESS for it, but never apologized. Kuvira manned up and actually apologized and got nothing at all from anybody. It's like the opposite of the whole Bei Fong family storyline. In some ways she didn't have much of a say in her life. Her family abandoned her, which is the opposite of Amon, whom just walked out on his. She didn't want her people to feel the pain of abandonment like she did. It's a noble aspiration, but it's something I wish they discussed a lot earlier in the season. They never really gave you an idea on how Kuvira thinks, or what she even thinks about. It was just domination domination, evil stare, sneer and shit like that. It would've been nice if she at least had some memento from her parents whether it be a tattered picture or a locket or a set of earrings from her mother that she would use to remind her where she came from, something, anything. I harp on it a lot, but it is something I think about a lot.

Yeah, I can see how forgiving Kuvira is meant to be the "final touch" on Korra's personal growth -- she finally can accept people as they are, even her enemies.

However this falls so flat when we consider that Kuvira is actually a very bloody dictator -- I don't see slave labor camps or sacrificing a fiance without a drop of a hat as "Oh I just wanted to protect my people and went too far!" I completely agree that more foreshadowing would be necessary, or some kind of internal struggle at least, for the audience to really sympathize with Kuvira. Maybe that was in the episode that they couldn't do, but then it should have been spread out throughout the season instead.

I think the biggest flaw was that the finale had no plot. The end had nothing to say about the series as a whole. And the season really amounted to nothing. We also didn't get any sort of resolution for Korra in terms of a conclusion to her journey.

I just watched the finale for a 3rd time. And I'm finding myself enjoying the finale a bit more in terms of pure entertainment. Action set pieces were cool. The team effort with the fighting was fun and used everyone well. So purely as an episode with action and pacing, it was quite good. But in terms of plot and themes, it just had nothing to say.

It's kind of crazy how I can be 44 min of nothing. By far the biggest misstep was the half baked Kuvira. She was very one note. And the season focused too much on Kuvira. Also it's insulting how Kuvira was "I always get what I want", slave labor camps, eugenics and yet they try to say she was a scared girl trying to protect herself and her people. It's so lazy.

And using Kuvira as a tie in for Korra's resolution was sooooo bizarre.

Anyways what are your thoughts on Korra's suffer for compassion line. It didn't tie in to any plot of Korra's.

Yeah I think I agree with all of the above. The suffer for compassion thing felt "okay" in that at least I understood what the show was trying to communicate. It reminded me a little of Zuko's story actually -- Zuko struggling alone to come to terms with who he is. This time it was hamfisted rather than something we see evolving for several episodes. She suddenly becomes buddha and able to forgive a mass murderer.

Overall though, I think the true test will be how long the series gets rewatched, gets recommended, etc. ATLA had a huge time where fans were still going strong, I personally rewatched ATLA several times in the gap between the two series. I enjoyed LOK but primarily for the Wan episodes and season 3, I will probably rewatch at some point but probably not recommend it to others. I do hope they produce a comic though.

I didn't like Mako.

tumblr_ngtlpeOPhI1qcgu0vo2_500.gif


tumblr_ngtlpeOPhI1qcgu0vo8_r1_500.gif


Then I saw the error of my ways.

It was nice animation but he's just attacking a big blob of spirit vines. Just comparing it to ATLA, LoK had none of the beauty of the Azula vs Zuko fight -- from the build up, to Zuko's transition, to the mental state of Azula hampering her, to the beauty of the animation. I get they had a limited budget, so why waste it on Mako fighting a blob? As an aside, though Mako and Bolin couldn't have known, Mako's near-sacrifice was almost completely useless. The gun was already destroyed and discarded, Korra was kicking butt in the skull. Based on previous destructive capabilities of spirit vines, it also feels that explosion should have been several magnitudes larger, certainly enough to kill most of them.

I am curious to see if we will get LOK comics -- any word on that? I can see additional story lines with Mako being willing to sacrifice everything (for Korra) unnecessarily.
 
Also you guys know that every relationship doesn't have to start in a very generic and procedural way right? What's the issue with them just being really good friends and then thinking "yeah let's try this"?
 
What's the issue with them just being really good friends and then thinking "yeah let's try this"?

I don't know about everyone else, but I was under the impression that this was how most relationships started. I don't think I've ever dated someone who I didn't consider a friend beforehand.
 
I don't know about everyone else, but I was under the impression that this was how most relationships started. I don't think I've ever dated someone who I didn't consider a friend beforehand.

Sometimes, for some of us, it happens. Especially for those who try (and fail) to pick up chicks.
 
The Korra and Asami thing (if it really is a thing,) would be a bit from left field definitely, there was no build up to it

It would be like the writers wanted to make the shippers on Tumblr happy, so they torpedoed the strongest friendship in the show for cheap fanservice.

I refuse to believe that

Or this was never a friendship being built up, but a romance and you viewed it incorrectly.
Most romances start as two close friends.
 
Also you guys know that every relationship doesn't have to start in a very generic and procedural way right? What's the issue with them just being really good friends and then thinking "yeah let's try this"?

I thought that part was fine. I have no issue with them starting a relationship, and was glad to see that happen over, say, Mako and Korra getting back together. I think what's upsetting is the lack of closure on the show. Korra and Asami together feels like a new adventure, placed at what should have been the end of this one. It's like if in the last 30 seconds they introduced that Amon was still alive. If they had procedurally built up Korra and Asami, it would have felt like a natural part of the end of Legend of Korra.

There's also an element of "we did this to be edgy" by adding romance to a female-female friendship that was already, in its own way, refreshing to see. The press is having a field day of praise with it but I think the true test will be how LoK fares in the coming years.
 
I thought that part was fine. I have no issue with them starting a relationship, and was glad to see that happen over, say, Mako and Korra getting back together. I think what's upsetting is the lack of closure on the show. Korra and Asami together feels like a new adventure, placed at what should have been the end of this one. It's like if in the last 30 seconds they introduced that Amon was still alive. If they had procedurally built up Korra and Asami, it would have felt like a natural part of the end of Legend of Korra.

There's also an element of "we did this to be edgy" by adding romance to a female-female friendship that was already, in its own way, refreshing to see. The press is having a field day of praise with it but I think the true test will be how LoK fares in the coming years.

I think that "element" is entirely down to you.
 
I definitely prefer Angel over the two. I always felt like they did a much better job, having an overarching villain in Wolfram & Hart, and having a smaller cast of characters was a significantly better decision. Believe or not, there are people who vehemently defend Season 4, even saying it's their favorite season. I can't really blame them, since it has a lot of episodes I genuinely like.

New Moon Rising, This Year's Girl, Who Are You, Hush, and Wild At Heart are widely accepted as great episodes and I am no exception to that. Restless and Superstar are a bit controversial. I enjoyed Restless, but I'm not particularly fond of Superstar myself. I just don't buy the love. Same with Pangs.

Plus, I never found Riley to be terrible. His relationship arc was bad, but not because it was poorly written: it was boring. Their relationship had few downs, and outside of that his arc is either choosing between the Initiative or Buffy followed by a massive inferiority complex arc. Still, I found his character arc to be fantastic and very well done (Into The Woods is amazing).

As for being better when they were in high school... I mean Season 5 is amazing, and I will fight you on that. Season 6 is really good, even if it is incredibly dark and depressing. All of those characters had very logical progression within their arcs, I felt. Then Season 7 comes and...well, it isn't the greatest. In fact, it's probably the worst season, although Chosen alone is worth it.
You're really making me want to do a series rewatch though oddly it got to a point where I stopped watching at season 6, don't ask me why. I actually did like season 5 though. Good villain and Dawn's character didn't even seem shoehorned in either given what she was. I guess with season 4 something just felt off about it. I don't know if it was the fact that it came after season 3, or I wasn't old enough to get the themes of it at the time. Season 7 was a bit weird, but could've been worse. Funny part is that after Firefly ended Whedon just gave that cast work as either a Buffy or Angel villain, except Summer Glau :( All memorable villains though.
 
interpretations work like that, everyone is free to take what they want from it.

That doesn't really make sense now when you know definitively that it was a romance being built, not a friendship. The friendship comes first, which transitions into romance at no particular point.
You could have interpenetrated it as a friendship before the finale but I don't think you can post-finale.
 
Also you guys know that every relationship doesn't have to start in a very generic and procedural way right? What's the issue with them just being really good friends and then thinking "yeah let's try this"?
Yeah, really weird how some people can't see that at all. Buy I blame american media that glorify sexual attraction as core of a relationship instead of emotional bounds.

If you ever get a new show it should be an older Korra and the only teaser is her just saying "Kept you waiting, huh?"
Only if Naga gets an Eyepatch and Bolin becomes a barely clothed sniper.
 
Actually most people have an issue with it coming out of nowhere. With no build up what so ever.

But it wasn't out of nowhere. This has been built up throughout season 3 and 4.
Only people didn't think in a million years it would actually be a romance, and so they thought the show was simply building up their "friendship".
 
That doesn't really make sense now when you know definitively that it was a romance being built, not a friendship. The friendship comes first, which transitions into romance at no particular point.
You could have interpenetrated it as a friendship before the finale but I don't think you can post-finale.

Freudian slip?

lol

my interpretation is as, two friends decide to go on holiday together, the scene in particular shows them holding hands and face each other and implies that there is a chance something could develop between them and hey that's fine.

It was done in an ambiguous and open-ended way to ensure there would speculation/vindication and furore/internet shit-storm for the tumblr shippers.

thats the way I saw it. and I'll leave it at that.
 
Actually most people have an issue with it coming out of nowhere. With no build up what so ever.

That's the thing though, there doesn't have to be some kind of sexual build up. You shouldn't have to harass the viewers with wink wink nudge nudge shit. What's so unrealistic about people being good friends, going through tough shit, and realizing they may like each other and take a shot?
 
But it wasn't out of nowhere. This has been built up throughout season 3 and 4.
Only people didn't think in a million years it would actually be a romance, and so they thought the show was simply building up their "friendship".

But it really wasn't. Not at all. The only thing that was built up and shown was Korra and Asami's friendship. They became close friends with in itself isn't unusual because they were each others only female friends of approximate age.

No thing romantic was ever shown happening between then. Outside of tumbler that is.
 
Freudian slip?

lol

my interpretation is as, two friends decide to go on holiday together, the scene in particular shows them holding hands and face each other and implies that there is a chance something could develop between them and hey that's fine.

It was done in an ambiguous and open-ended way to ensure there would speculation/vindication and furore/internet shit-storm for the tumblr shippers.

thats the way I saw it. and I'll leave it at that.

No, autocorrect. My issue is this part

to ensure there would speculation/vindication and furore/internet shit-storm for the tumblr shippers.

They showed as much as they could under Nickelodeon, but you're claiming it was "all for tumblr". That's just bullshit.
 
Actually most people have an issue with it coming out of nowhere. With no build up what so ever.

heck even Zhu Li and Verrick got a few episodes of build up and tension.

No, autocorrect. My issue is this part



They showed as much as they could under Nickelodeon, but you're claiming it was "all for tumblr". That's just bullshit.

its not bullshit, you pander to your audience and give them what they want (well, the loudest section of it anyways). I don't buy the romance angle so its a non-issue. I see it as a way to go out with a bang, a hail-mary of sorts before they shut down shop and turn off the lights.
 
But it really wasn't. Not at all. The only thing that was built up and shown was Korra and Asami's friendship. They became close friends with in itself isn't unusual because they were each others only female friends of approximate age.

No thing romantic was ever shown happening between then. Outside of tumbler that is.

You're still under this belief that people can't develop feelings after being friends.
 
I dont get the idea that a buildup is needed for that last shot, the conversation with Tenzin made it clear that Korra has seen the light at the end of the tunnel and has come to terms with her role in the world and who she is, she has been in crisis after crisis always being a reactive presence rather than actively looking for change, now that the future seems clearer she is free to pursue that change, its not like the scene implies that they are gonna bang as soon as they get to spirit world, it only shows what may be the beginning of a new dynamic.
 
But it really wasn't. Not at all. The only thing that was built up and shown was Korra and Asami's friendship. They became close friends with in itself isn't unusual because they were each others only female friends of approximate age.

No thing romantic was ever shown happening between then. Outside of tumbler that is.

A romance is not a romance until it is. You're trying to dismiss the entire buildup as "just friends" but that's not how it works.

It's awfully convenient for you to be completely certain everything in the series with the two is 100% platonic until the last 8 seconds of the show. You're trying to claim there was "no buildup", and when the buildup is pointed out to you, you dismiss it as "friendship". Most romances start as friendships, and Korra and Asami were not particularly close in season 1 and 2. Season 3 had them grow close as friends, especially by the finale, and by the end of season 4 it growing into a romance. It's not like the last shot is scissoring. It's only the beginnings of a romance at the end.

I'm not sure what the big issue with this progression is. If you had the exact same relationship with Korra and Asami in seasons 3 and 4, but Asami was a male, I fully expect there would be no "just friends" claims.
 
Freudian slip?

lol

my interpretation is as, two friends decide to go on holiday together, the scene in particular shows them holding hands and face each other and implies that there is a chance something could develop between them and hey that's fine.

It was done in an ambiguous and open-ended way to ensure there would speculation/vindication and furore/internet shit-storm for the tumblr shippers.

thats the way I saw it. and I'll leave it at that.

That's that the way I saw it also because it's the only way it makes sense in the context of what we as the audience was shown.

Every "relationship" in Avatar has been pretty overt. We know how Aang felt about Kartara from episode one. We started to see Katara feeling from season two on. We knew Toph had a crush of Sokka because it was shown. We knew how Sokka felt about Yue and Suki because it was shown ect ect.

Nothing romantic was shown between Asami and Korra, that last scene was the creators throwing Korrasami and bone, much like that did the Zutarans in that TLAB comic con trailers.
 
Only people didn't think in a million years it would actually be a romance, and so they thought the show was simply building up their "friendship".

Yeah, I'm on this boat. I heavily suspected that there was romance building going on, but then I would always shake my head and say, "Nah, they wouldn't do that, too much of a heavy risk, it's probably just "friendship", even though I wanted them to do it. Until the finale ending of course, where my doubt evaporated.

It's sad though, because if Asami was a guy and the show had maintained the exact same build up, there would have been absolutely no doubt on my part, it would have been as good as confirmed from the very beginning. The fact that it was two girls really threw me off. I'll try not to let that happen again in the future.
 
You're still under this belief that people can't develop feelings after being friends.

For fucks sake.....


My issue is with it coming out of nowhere in the last 5 minutes of the damned series. It was shipper pandering not some bold brave choice made by the writers years ago.
 
That's that the way I saw it also because it's the only way it makes sense in the context of what we as the audience was shown.

Every "relationship" in Avatar has been pretty overt. We know how Aang felt about Kartara from episode one. We started to see Katara feeling from season two own. We knew Toph had a crush of Sokka because it was shown. We knew how Sokka felt about Yue and Suki because it was shown ect ect.

Nothing romantic was shown between Asami and Korra, that last scene was the creators throwing Korrasami and bone, much like that did the Zutarans in that TLAB comic con trailers.

Yeah, NAIL ON HEAD.
 
That's that the way I saw it also because it's the only way it makes sense in the context of what we as the audience was shown.

Every "relationship" in Avatar has been pretty overt. We know how Aang felt about Kartara from episode one. We started to see Katara feeling from season two own. We knew Toph had a crush of Sokka because it was shown. We knew how Sokka felt about Yue and Suki because it was shown ect ect.

Nothing romantic was shown between Asami and Korra, that last scene was the creators throwing Korrasami and bone, much like that did the Zutarans in that TLAB comic con trailers.

1. The Gaang in ATLA are still KIDS, so of course they will act differently
2. FOR THE LAST TIME THEY DON'T HAVE TO SHOW ROMANCE FOR IT TO BE BELIEVABLE
For fucks sake.....


My issue is with it coming out of nowhere in the last 5 minutes of the damned series. It was shipper pandering not some bold brave choice made by the writers years ago.

...
I'm starting to think this has a lot more to do with them being the same gender than anything.
 
The creators actually do a subtle relationship for once and people refuse to believe that's what it was. Typical.

Yup. So sad.

It was pretty sweet, and looking back on Korra and Asami's time together I became convinced that this could happen.

I like that they also didn't go too dramatic with a kiss. It's like, they're holding hands and just going off together. This is a new dynamic in their relationship that has just begun.

I felt it was wholly appropriate, with subtext in the previous two seasons to support it, and tonally it was done super appropriately.

Best bit of the finale, for sure.
 
For fucks sake.....


My issue is with it coming out of nowhere in the last 5 minutes of the damned series. It was shipper pandering not some bold brave choice made by the writers years ago.

Stop with the "it was just them throwing a bone! It was pandering! tumblr!" nonsense. It's a seriously lame argument.

Had they had the exact same relationship buildup with Korra and Asami, but Asami was male, no one would have the slightest problem with "no buildup! clearly pandering!". The only reason people didn't realise it was a romance was because they were both women and people never thought in a million years that this show would actually have that happen.

Hell, I didn't think it was going to be a romance, not because the relationship they were portraying couldn't be, but because I was not used to a same sex relationship actually happening on a kid's cartoon, let alone with the main character. Their relationship in season 3 and 4 now makes much more sense to me now that I know it was the build to a romance.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom