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The Legend of Korra: Book 4 |OT2| ALL HAIL THE GREAT UNITER
- Thread starter Toa TAK
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JadedWriter
Member
Not saying I agreed, just conveying an explanation. Unalaq was essentially Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon as far as I'm concerned and that's who they modeled him after for Varrick's mover propaganda films.
Icyflamez96
Member
Yeah I'll never agree that Unalaq is better than like, literally anyone else in the series. He's just the worst.
Unalaq is straight booty. Nothing he did made any sense and at no point was it clear what he wanted or why he wanted it :/
Something I've seen way too few writers do (worldwide) is actually think through the implications of their villain design. The standard way, and it's a standard because it has proven to be effective storytelling across time (see the "Hero's Journey" and other such fiction models), is to make your antagonist much more powerful than your heroes for most or the entirety of the narrative. However, many authors get so wrapped up in making their villain "godlike" that they write themselves into a corner. When it comes to end the narrative and the hero(es) has to confront the "final boss", given the nature of how conflicts are resolved in their world and the relative skills and abilities of the protagonists, there is no realistic way the protagonists can actually win. So they have to resort to bullshit Deus ex Machina, people have to selectively grab hold of the idiot ball, etc. for the "good guys" to win. This often makes for a very unsatisfying/frustrating/outright bad final confrontation and ending for the reader.
Though it can be hard I believe that when writing a heroes vs villains story, people should plan out far in advance how they intend their villain to lose to ensure a satisfying an logical ending. Shit, Dragonball Z of all shows was even able to do this. Goku was able to beat Frieza due to the Super Saiyan power-up but the show made sure you knew about Super Sayians and their lore like 50 episodes before Goku even meets Frieza and constantly reminds you about it. As such, the conclusion of the fight is expected and logical within the context of that world rather than an ass-pull (not that DBZ isn't full of asspulls in other respects
)
Something I've seen way too few writers do (worldwide) is actually think through the implications of their villain design. The standard way, and it's a standard because it has proven to be effective storytelling across time (see the "Hero's Journey" and other such fiction models), is to make your antagonist much more powerful than your heroes for most or the entirety of the narrative. However, many authors get so wrapped up in making their villain "godlike" that they write themselves into a corner. When it comes to end the narrative and the hero(es) has to confront the "final boss", given the nature of how conflicts are resolved in their world and the relative skills and abilities of the protagonists, there is no realistic way the protagonists can actually win. So they have to resort to bullshit Deus ex Machina, people have to selectively grab hold of the idiot ball, etc. for the "good guys" to win. This often makes for a very unsatisfying/frustrating/outright bad final confrontation and ending for the reader.
Though it can be hard I believe that when writing a heroes vs villains story, people should plan out far in advance how they intend their villain to lose to ensure a satisfying an logical ending. Shit, Dragonball Z of all shows was even able to do this. Goku was able to beat Frieza due to the Super Saiyan power-up but the show made sure you knew about Super Sayians and their lore like 50 episodes before Goku even meets Frieza and constantly reminds you about it. As such, the conclusion of the fight is expected and logical within the context of that world rather than an ass-pull (not that DBZ isn't full of asspulls in other respects
)BKatastrophe
Member
That's not true. He wanted power. Everything he did was to get power. The spiritual stuff was just him being a lying asshole.
Unalaq is straight booty. Nothing he did made any sense and at no point was it clear what he wanted or why he wanted it :/
Something I've seen way too few writers do (worldwide) is actually think through the implications of their villain design. The standard way, and it's a standard because it has proven to be effective storytelling across time (see the "Hero's Journey" and other such fiction models), is to make your antagonist much more powerful than your heroes for most or the entirety of the narrative. However, many authors get so wrapped up in making their villain "godlike" that they write themselves into a corner. When it comes to end the narrative and the hero(es) has to confront the "final boss", given the nature of how conflicts are resolved in their world and the relative skills and abilities of the protagonists, there is no realistic way the protagonists can actually win. So they have to resort to bullshit Deus ex Machina, people have to selectively grab hold of the idiot ball, etc. for the "good guys" to win. This often makes for a very unsatisfying/frustrating/outright bad final confrontation and ending for the reader.
Though it can be hard I believe that when writing a heroes vs villains story, people should plan out far in advance how they intend their villain to lose to ensure a satisfying an logical ending. Shit, Dragonball Z of all shows was even able to do this. Goku was able to beat Frieza due to the Super Saiyan power-up but the show made sure you knew about Super Sayians and their lore like 50 episodes before Goku even meets Frieza and constantly reminds you about it. As such, the conclusion of the fight is expected and logical within the context of that world rather than an ass-pull (not that DBZ isn't full of asspulls in other respects
To be fair, all the final fights up to the Buu Saga were able to avoid Deus Ex Machina. The Victory against Vegeta was a group effort, Super Saiyan was hinted at throughout the entire arc and Gohan's potential and anger had been a running theme for him throughout the entire series.
JadedWriter
Member
Yeah Gohan's potential was hinted at since the Raditz fight and it finally culminated in him taking out Cell. It was a nice passing of the torch moment, then the Buu saga happened. That is my least favorite saga. Irritating villain.
JadedWriter
Member
I guess you're currently posting cause you ran out of tissues.
FeenixRising
Banned
you and me both....
JadedWriter
Member
Where the fuck is that from?
That Dude John
Member
FFXIV lol
JadedWriter
Member
Ironically that's my reaction to current Square Enix.
FeenixRising
Banned
still browsing =/
JadedWriter
Member
I've had to stop for the day. I gotta try and finish off my latest campaign of Medieval 2 Total War before my cousin comes to visit this weekend. The Pope is being a complete dick though, he threatened me with excommunication for going to war with the Holy Roman Empire, even though they attacked me first(well, I provoked them into attacking me by assassinating their Emperor and many members of their Royal family, but let's not get technical
)You know what, fuck it, I got loads of coin, I'm gonna give a "donation" to the church so that the Pope turns a blind eye and leaves me to defeating the HRE and getting this damn campaign over with.
Once I finish I can finally get back to looking at some more Owler art
m_shortpants
Member
Serious question, why do people like Kuvira?
I think she's a terrible villian. She isn't even particularly threatening because she can be beat by one avatar state air gust. Her best fight is with Su, who isn't even a main character. She's weak. Weak characters don't make good villians. They can, but they need exposition and exploration. Look at Lex Luthor. He's weak compared to Superman. He is not a physical threat. But he's so much more fleshed out with his views on human potential and how Superman ruins that. He's also extremely intelligent so he regularly manipulates the world to his own end.
Kuvira wants to unify the earth empire. OK. Why exactly did she feel so strongly about it? The show says "because Su". Why did she want Republic City so bad? It existed before she was even born right? Why does she have these feelings of being wronged? I don't know, she just rings as a very hollow and superficial character. Unalaq is pretty bad too, so I guess the best I can do is say she's equal to his shit tier level. His only redeeming quality is that the show doesn't try to rationalize his evilness in some half assed 10 second exposition in the last ten minutes of the season.
Another reason I think I don't like Kuvira is because she's just not a good villian to end a series on in terms of design and presence. As I mentioned she's rather mundane, especially compared to other villians. Amon is OP as fuck. Unalaq, and Vaatu more specifically, is a cosmic, universe-tier conflict. Even Zaheer, who seems rather simple, can fly.
So in conclusion, kuvira sux
I think she's a terrible villian. She isn't even particularly threatening because she can be beat by one avatar state air gust. Her best fight is with Su, who isn't even a main character. She's weak. Weak characters don't make good villians. They can, but they need exposition and exploration. Look at Lex Luthor. He's weak compared to Superman. He is not a physical threat. But he's so much more fleshed out with his views on human potential and how Superman ruins that. He's also extremely intelligent so he regularly manipulates the world to his own end.
Kuvira wants to unify the earth empire. OK. Why exactly did she feel so strongly about it? The show says "because Su". Why did she want Republic City so bad? It existed before she was even born right? Why does she have these feelings of being wronged? I don't know, she just rings as a very hollow and superficial character. Unalaq is pretty bad too, so I guess the best I can do is say she's equal to his shit tier level. His only redeeming quality is that the show doesn't try to rationalize his evilness in some half assed 10 second exposition in the last ten minutes of the season.
Another reason I think I don't like Kuvira is because she's just not a good villian to end a series on in terms of design and presence. As I mentioned she's rather mundane, especially compared to other villians. Amon is OP as fuck. Unalaq, and Vaatu more specifically, is a cosmic, universe-tier conflict. Even Zaheer, who seems rather simple, can fly.
So in conclusion, kuvira sux
I
Once I finish I can finally get back to looking at some more Owler art
Owler's art is so "bubbly", it almost feels alive. lol
Icyflamez96
Member
Why do you like Unalaq
JadedWriter
Member
She's a flawed human being and you can kind of tell that they wanted to go that route with her, before everything got out of hand with her narrative. Despite that she still earned the trust of her troops and she was legit correct on several fronts. She was wronged by Su when Su tried to kill her, she was wronged by the politicians when they tried to boot her out to set up some half ass Reaganesque puppet regime with Wu. She was right when she said somebody had to unite the Earth Kingdom as well. She took that shit too far, but somebody had to do something, but everybody just wanted to sit on their fucking hands and wait for the problem to solve itself, which it would've after everybody was dead. Her reasons might have been because she didn't want everybody to feel abandoned like she did growing up, but it's sort of noble, though as I said she took that shit too far. If they didn't force Nazi ethics on her to make her feel like more of a villain she would've been fine. They never tried to portray her as her own person. Amon had OP swag, Unalaq was an evil douche bag and Zaheer was like your friendly neighborhood anarchist with a bad ass crew and a mission. There's stuff they could've done better I'll admit, but at the very least she wasn't Unalaq. Only thing they did right with him was keep his tone consistent. He was a villain, nothing more, nothing less...unless he pretty much just did all that shit for a petty sibling rivalry with Tonraq.
m_shortpants
Member
I dont. That's how bad I think Kuvira is
Jaded I see what you're saying. I think she could've been great, but she too was Bryked it seems.
Icyflamez96
Member
Well we're almost on the same page. I just think Kuvira is less bad.
I like her character design, the way she speaks, and her fighting style a lot more than Unalaq at least.
But even so, I don't think she's that bad, just lackluster compared to Zaheer and Amon.
I like her character design, the way she speaks, and her fighting style a lot more than Unalaq at least.
But even so, I don't think she's that bad, just lackluster compared to Zaheer and Amon.
m_shortpants
Member
I mean, at least Unalaq was manipulative too?
Kuvira is just Hitler. And no Toa, not good Hitler.
https://www.change.org/p/netflix-pi...hise-and-release-as-a-netflix-original-series
Saw this on my facebook. Chances of it actually happening? Oh so low.
https://www.change.org/p/netflix-pi...hise-and-release-as-a-netflix-original-series
Saw this on my facebook. Chances of it actually happening? Oh so low.
Should be pitching it more at Amazon now after that big deal Viacom did with them last year.
JadedWriter
Member
They really needed to stop having her as stoic. She's fine when she's actually emoting like a human, but a season full of stoic didn't help her character at all. There was a lot of fun they could've actually had with her. Dio isn't stoic, but the audience sure as fuck knows he's a villain.
X
Xpike
Unconfirmed Member
https://www.change.org/p/netflix-pi...hise-and-release-as-a-netflix-original-series
Saw this on my facebook. Chances of it actually happening? Oh so low.
no
especially after the series just ended
m_shortpants
Member
Gif of the day
That sweet sweet top tier book one
JadedWriter
Member
Top tier minus the Amon fight scenes.
JadedWriter
Member
In before Tak heralds Kuvira as the best thing or that kaiju fight.
SilentMatthew
Member
https://www.change.org/p/netflix-pi...hise-and-release-as-a-netflix-original-series
Saw this on my facebook. Chances of it actually happening? Oh so low.
Best part about this is how Mako got cut off from the picture. The L combo keeps on going.
JadedWriter
Member
And Pabu gets more attention than him as well. It's like that Nickolodeon promo site that featured him above Asami.
JadedWriter
Member
And you said this 39 minutes after my in before post. Lol. She had confidence I won't deny that. Too bad Korra sucked most of it out of her at the end.
You don't "In before" Kuvira, pal.
FeenixRising
Banned
I'm pretty sure theres a picture on tumblr to describe that.
Probably one of Owler's
JadedWriter
Member
FeenixRising
Banned
Probably Nikkipet actually.
Speaking of Nikkipet:
50s Jazz Singer Kuvira.... sounds like a good alternate career for her.
JadedWriter
Member
It's a definite theme on tumblr.
Anybody saying she doesn't have a fanbase on tumblr are so wrong she's got some hardcore stans on there.
Terra 7 actually draws her more than Korra.
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