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[Trey]

Re-read what you just said. lol

It totally is the climax of the series. The MOST IMPORTANT plot with the most stakes. Not to mention, it completely defined Korra and what the Avatar cycle was. It wasn't just a big event that impacted the entire world, it was probably the most profound personal story arc for Korra (and it had no business being in the middle of the show, especially the way Book 3 to 4 ended up being).

It completely was the climax in every sense of the word.

Out of all the stuff we disagree on, I find your defense of this really baffling to be quite honest.

...how is that not the climax? It had the origins of the avatar, the mystery of the spirits, an entire new era and a dark avatar that can match korra in power.

How do you continue from that? Well by ignoring pretty much all repercussions of it like Book 3 and 4 did of course.

I know what I said and what I'm saying. If Legend of Korra was the story of the world, then harmonic convergence would be its climax. But Korra becomes her own woman and avatar as she makes her first decision as a person of authority. It's a perfect midpoint for her arc as she grows into a role she thought she was prepared for. Harmonic convergence would have made no sense as her climax.

It's no different to how The Empire Strikes back isn't the climax of the original trilogy.

 

[DedValve]

real talk spirits had more influence on the world in Aangs time. The He Bai actively kidnapping people, Roku showed up a boatload of times, Kyoshi "possessed" Aang, Koh the all mighty face stealer, the moon and ocean spirits, Yue becomes a spirit, etc. etc.

 

[Afrocious]

Would you guys get rid of Unalaq? I find him to be a boring character (design wise). But I think the family connection to Korra, and the religious plot....

I think there could have been something there had they properly fleshed him out.

I'd get rid of him out of principle that the Avatar series didn't need any more family issues at the forefront. We literally went from the conflict of Zuko, Iroh, and Ozai, to Noatok and Tarlok, to Tonrak and Unalaq.

We get it Bryke.

I know what I said and what I'm saying. If Legend of Korra was the story of the world, then harmonic convergence would be its climax. But Korra becomes her own woman and avatar as she makes her first decision as a person of authority. It's a perfect midpoint for her arc as she grows into a role she thought she was prepared for. Harmonic convergence would have made no sense as her climax.

It's no different to how The Empire Strikes back isn't the climax of the original trilogy.

Book 3, if anything was the ESB of Korra

 

[Luigi87]

Would you guys get rid of Unalaq? I find him to be a boring character (design wise). But I think the family connection to Korra, and the religious plot....

I think there could have been something there had they properly fleshed him out.

In spite of being from the North, I would introduce Unalaq in season 1 or something. Demonstrate importance as family in Korra's life (even through flashbacks if that's the only way). Essentially he could have been developed as someone who helped teach Korra in the past, that way him being a villain would have been surprising as opposed to "Wow, this guy is gonna be a bad guy" as soon as he shows up.

Basically make the audience care about a character, and then crush their expectations.


Edit: One of my favourite examples of an established character becoming a villain is Two-Face in Batman TAS. Harvey Dent is introduced long before the episode Two-Face, so you see his relationship with Bruce, and it became that much more personal when Dent becomes Two-Face.

 

[DedValve]

Get rid of Unalaq entirely. I liked Korra being a random nobody and her family being a bunch of nobodies that fueled her passion to become the greatest avatar before S2 made her practically a princess.

If anything they should focus more on Korra being forced to choose her loyalty to the water tribes or her duty as an avatar. They so loosely touched upon that but wend NOWHERE with it.

 

[Pachinko]

Re-ordering the books like mentioned above actually sounds pretty good. I haven't watched 3/4 yet but I did watch 1 and 2 on bluray.

It's kind of a shame that the way this show was ordered compared to Last Airbender kind of prevented them from doing an overarching storyline which is pretty well the greatest thing ATLA has over korra.

Imagine if they had 3 20 episode books like last time and the end game of harmonic convergence was planned from the beginning instead of being hammered through a 13 episode run ?

They could have followed the same kind of plotting as ATLA - episode 1-10 could have been roughly the same as book 1 , 11-20 could have been the first half of book 2 , book 2 could have centered around the earth country just like ATLA and covered the current book 3 and most of book 4 - perhaps with the south pole under the north poles control , Korra seeks aid from ba sing sei ? and that leads to most of the conflicts that occured in 3/4 just happening for slightly different reasons. The whole time though, Korra's uncle is getting set up for the harmonic convergence (a mirror to souzens comet from atla).

This could have lead to a book 3 where the first half would largely be newer episodes - korra going to the fire nation and learning about avatar wan , who perhaps gets a 3 episode mini series rather than just 2 episodes and the last 10 episodes could have been a more fleshed out harmonic convergence battle from the end of book 2.

50 episodes of Korra character development would make her a much more mature character by the end but you know, there'd have to be a ton of changes from the ground up to make it all work like that.

Goes back to that basic issue with how the show was conceived - Book 1 of Korra was supposed to be an epilogue to ATLA , a one off entertaining diversion for the hardcore fans.

It ended up being fairly popular so they got a second season. Again, that second season was supposed to be it so the creators went all out with a hugely epic story line where the entire world was at stake. They were then given 2 more seasons , so they made 26 episodes that tied together 1 giant storyline but were forced to work in the aftermath of what they did in season 2. This lead to some interesting ideas (air benders coming back) but they were left the victims of their previous writing decisions in other ways (at least going by this thread).

I'd love to see this world used one last time with a story set basically in the present. The next in line for the avatar would be an earth bender - what if this person was from Ba sing sei and in another 100 years or whatever , it's like modern day china ?

 

[Mononoke]

Get rid of Unalaq entirely. I liked Korra being a random nobody and her family being a bunch of nobodies that fueled her passion to become the greatest avatar before S2 made her practically a princess.

If anything they should focus more on Korra being forced to choose her loyalty to the water tribes or her duty as an avatar. They so loosely touched upon that but wend NOWHERE with it.

Yeah that is true huh? In Book 1 you think Korra was just a regular family in the tribe, that happened to give birth to the Avatar.

Then finding out she's royalty, and her family is really important....

I dunno.

 

[Trey]

The more I think about it, the more spirits makes sense where it is. Too bad poor writing submarines that season before it ever really gets going.

 

[TacticalFox88]

Korra GAF have to ask. Do any of you genuinely have writing experience from either fan fiction or writing your own stories? Or you're just particularly good at analyzing story structure and what does and doesn't work?

 

[m_shortpants]

I still think the final season is pretty dreadful in a larger context. Like, I'm still surprised that we had an entire season full of nothing. Just a really dull plot. And there is just SO MUCH they could have done with Korra's personal arc. It's just so sad to me, that the show ended on the limp note that it did.

To me, the finale is really telling of so much. Because I still say the finale really had no real character/thematic resolution. There might have been some attempts at resolution (like Korra's bizarre suffer for compassion stuff, and Korrasami). But there wasn't any like, overall proper resolution that brought things together. And even as a single season, the finale was awful (just because the plot went no where, and really lost all steam by the final act. And there was like no pay off to any of the arcs set up).

What really gets me about Book 4 is that, I look at something like Book 2, and to me, Book 4 is clearly better written episode to episode. Like, each episode has a really strong structure and has good pacing. They are entertaining. Whereas most of Book 2 is just a disaster. Like episodes couldn't even come together it was so messy. And yet, Book 2 had much much better plot points, and overall thematic stuff going on. So you had two seasons where each had the opposite major flaw (one had really great ideas and themes, but had terrible execution. The other had like no themes/plot, but really great execution).

Book 4 to me, is kind of the worst way a show could go out on. Because it's just a cowardly way to end a show. It's just such a flavorless, dull way to limp across the finish line. I would much rather we had a Disaster like Book 2 for the final season, because it at least attempted something. It at least made us feel something.

What bugs me so much about Book 4 looking back, is that it is well written. It is...competent. And yet, I just hate how dull it is. How much it had nothing to say when everything was over. That is what I can't get past. BUT KORRASAMI, so that makes everything alright. Lol Bryke, the fan base. Everyone smh. I wanted Korrasami back in Book 2 (you can check my old posts, I was even rooting for it on here). And while I do understand the importance of this happening on a kids show, it's just insane to me that so much focus is going to something that was so poorly written. It's as if, Bryke knew Korrasami would dominate the discussion, so that was their ace in the hole. Nothing else mattered in the end, because this became a story about Korrasami. And it ended with Korrasami. The entire show was leading up to Korrasami.

But what is so fucked about this, is just how many plot/themes they just said fuck you too. How little the finale really wrapped shit up, or really had anything to say about what the series was about. In the end, it was Korrasami. I would have been okay with it all being about two lovers. But lol come on now. This show was 5% Korrasami, and 95% other shit. Hell, even Bolin had more importance then that relationship. Ugh.

Also Merry xmas mothafuckas.

Great post. Pretty much spot on on how I feel about it too.

 

[Icyflamez96]

Get rid of Unalaq entirely. I liked Korra being a random nobody and her family being a bunch of nobodies that fueled her passion to become the greatest avatar before S2 made her practically a princess.

If anything they should focus more on Korra being forced to choose her loyalty to the water tribes or her duty as an avatar. They so loosely touched upon that but wend NOWHERE with it.

Aang was already a random nobody. Also I'd want to keep the drama with Zaheer wanting to off her dad because he's a world leader.

 

[DedValve]

I still don't understand book 3 and 4. They where being made at the same time, book 4 only releasing a few months after 3 and where planned together correct?

How the fuck did we go from 3 to 4 then? 3 was bliss. Paced extremely well, fantastic plot and villains, etc. Why did they need to introduce Kuvira at all if they weren't going to do anything with her?

How do you go from Book 3 to Book 4 so fast? The drop in quality was unreal.

 

[Mononoke]

The more I think about it, the more spirits makes sense where it is. Too bad poor writing submarines that season before it ever really gets going.

But the spirits weren't important. Korra's personal story was. That much was evident. So really, it still doesn't make sense where it's placed in the story. It's why Korra's personal arc is so limp by the end (the structure was all messed up).

Korra GAF have to ask. Do any of you genuinely have writing experience from either fan fiction or writing your own stories? Or you're just particularly good at analyzing story structure and what does and doesn't work?

Been a professional critic (published). Also written before. Yes.

Aang was already a random nobody. Also I'd want to keep the drama with Zaheer wanting to off her dad because he's a world leader.

Well that's interesting. About Zaheer and her father. Too bad they didn't do that. Gah.

 

[m_shortpants]

Also, in our rewrite, can we make the Spirits cool again like they were in ATLA? I was originally off put by them when I saw Book 2. I was like, why are they all so generic looking and small?


The Air Nation once Tenzin took it on should've been equal to that of Remember the Titans/The Dirty Dozen type of deal where you've got a bunch of strangers from different lands being kinda forced to come together to revitalize a lost culture and civilization. What I LOVED about Book 4's finale was how they were all working together in unison. That was excellent and should've been the end of their rocky road to becoming a group of people, to be Airbenders. Book 3's stuff of them coming to terms with each other and the practices of the culture was great, but I don't totally get the jump from "finally uniting to stop Zaheer" to "now we protect the world without issue".

That fucking 3 year time jump.

Yeah lol, the spirits went from being mysterious and sometimes scary in TLA to fucking Pokemon

 

[DedValve]

Korra GAF have to ask. Do any of you genuinely have writing experience from either fan fiction or writing your own stories?

Or you're just particularly good at analyzing story structure and what does and doesn't work?

Not at all but if I didn't see ATLA before watching Korra I would have asked Bryke the same damn question.

There needs to be a behind the scenes documentary of this show. I would pay so much cash for this.

 

[Luigi87]

Get rid of Unalaq entirely. I liked Korra being a random nobody and her family being a bunch of nobodies that fueled her passion to become the greatest avatar before S2 made her practically a princess.

If anything they should focus more on Korra being forced to choose her loyalty to the water tribes or her duty as an avatar. They so loosely touched upon that but wend NOWHERE with it.

This is where I would choose to rather than get rid of Unalaq, but to completely re-write his back story. Similar motivations, yet give reason to care about him as a character, like people actually care about the other three main villains of the series.

 

[Afrocious]

Korra GAF have to ask. Do any of you genuinely have writing experience from either fan fiction or writing your own stories? Or you're just particularly good at analyzing story structure and what does and doesn't work?

I wrote this: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4998290/1/Pokemon-0

I like writing and I love picking apart stories to see what works and what doesn't.

I also like reading and listening to people analyze things. I love media theory too.

Not at all but if I didn't see ATLA before watching Korra I would have asked Bryke the same damn question.

There needs to be a behind the scenes documentary of this show. I would pay so much cash for this.

I'd love a post-mortem of the show, too.

 

[Icyflamez96]

Well that's interesting. About Zaheer and her father. Too bad they didn't do that. Gah.

They kinda did though in the season finale. It wasn't super fleshed out or anything but it was acknowledged briefly by Korra, Tonraq, and Zaheer.

 

[Trey]

But the spirits weren't important. Korra's personal story was. That much was evident. So really, it still doesn't make sense where it's placed in the story. It's why Korra's personal arc is so limp by the end (the structure was all messed up.

Korra's spirituality is her most glaring weakness. It's the perfect place to examine what being the Avatar is supposed to mean,which should have been the major concern of the show and major focus of Korra's character.

 

[Toa TAK]

Korra GAF have to ask. Do any of you genuinely have writing experience from either fan fiction or writing your own stories? Or you're just particularly good at analyzing story structure and what does and doesn't work?

I used to write a lot when I was a kid up until somewhere my junior year in High School. It's never something I've seriously pursued.

Analyzing story structure and character development for me is just easier to do in hindsight, depending on the situation. I feel like Bryke didn't really plan out this show once they got the green light for Book 2.

 

[Mononoke]

They kinda did though in the season finale. It wasn't super fleshed out or anything but it was acknowledged briefly by Korra, Tonraq, and Zaheer.

Yeah that's true. But it wasn't really capitalized/expanded on the way it should have been. There could have been some great dialogue between the two. I'm giving you props, because I think you made a good point I hadn't considered.

There was something there that could have been truly great.

Korra's spirituality is her most glaring weakness. It's the perfect place to examine what being the Avatar is supposed to mean,which should have been the major concern of the show and major focus of Korra's character.

You said spirits, not her spirituality. Her spirituality IS a personal character arc. And they shouldn't have had her personal character arc have its climax in the middle of the show.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

The more I think about it, the more spirits makes sense where it is. Too bad poor writing submarines that season before it ever really gets going.

It's magic spirit dimensions, you can rewrite it however the hell you want and it'll still make the same amount of sense.

 

[Magwik]

Korra GAF have to ask. Do any of you genuinely have writing experience from either fan fiction or writing your own stories? Or you're just particularly good at analyzing story structure and what does and doesn't work?

I've written a few things. Also been playing around with an idea for a story or two for the past few months as well.

 

[360pages]

Korra GAF have to ask. Do any of you genuinely have writing experience from either fan fiction or writing your own stories? Or you're just particularly good at analyzing story structure and what does and doesn't work?

Plenty, even though I say that I'm no expert or anything. I would be happy getting at least one thing of mine published.

 

[Toa TAK]

Now the next question is that if anyone here has done Korra AMVs? (preferably without Linkin Park, not to hate I love them but they get mashed with everything).

 

[Trey]

You said spirits, not her spirituality. Her spirituality IS a personal character arc. And they shouldn't have had her personal character arc have its climax in the middle of the show.

Spirits, the season, which is chiefly about Korra's spiritual growth.

And spirituality is a component of Korra's character growth, not her entire arc.

And Korra's arc didn't climax in season 2.

 

[DedValve]

Now the next question is that if anyone here has done Korra AMVs? (preferably without Linkin Park, not to hate I love them but they get mashed with everything).

I might try my hand in it since I love doing that stuff when I'm bored and putting them on my deserted youtube.

 

[Mononoke]

Spirits, the season, which is chiefly about Korra's spiritual growth.

And spirituality is a component of Korra's character growth, not her entire arc.

And Korra's arc didn't climax in season 2.

Yes, but that was pretty much the climax of her personal arc. So why have that in the middle of the entire series. And it was. The only thing left was Korra finding her relevacny since so many people were pushing back against her. But her spirituality was pretty much her #1 weakness (even you said this). Dealing with her #1 flaw in the middle of a story, is fuckin weird. Seriously, I do not get why you are arguing this Trey.

It's oddly structured. And I know that the season was supposed to be about her spirituality (although that was poorly handled and to be quite honest, laughable).

Another reason I disagree with you, is that I think Book 2's spiritual stuff would have worked better with more time to flesh it out. And for Korra to be build up to this conclusion.

Are you seriously arguing Korra being a roid rage psycho path abusive girlfriend, was a great set up to this arc? That her being destroyed by Zaheer and being broken, wouldn't have been a better segue way into it? The entire Spirit arc was awful. Korra was an insufferable terrible person. She gets Amnesia. Learns the history of the Avatar. Then magically is cured, and her personality changes and she's different. IT was really awful. And again, in terms of her personal arc, you don't get any bigger then that. So why you think that it makes perfect sense in the middle of the story, is beyond me.

 

[Magwik]

Now the next question is that if anyone here has done Korra AMVs? (preferably without Linkin Park, not to hate I love them but they get mashed with everything).

IM BECOMING LESS
ALL I WANT TO DO IS BE MORE LIKE ME
AND BE LESS LIKE YOU

 

[Kai Dracon]

In the final analysis, I can't help but feel ATLA benefited from following a kind of existing mythic structure. Being Journey to the West and all, with the Avatar world's mythology and character arcs slotted in place. With the overall arc laid out in clear terms, the focus on character development seemed to remain center stage.

I come away from Korra with the sense that it never really had an identity, or settled on a narrative direction. Maybe the entire thing was torpedoed by Nick refusing to commit to a full series and so they didn't fully develop a concept which supported more than a mini-series.

At any rate, if there was something I could change, I'm reminded of a suggestion I read for season 1: keep Amon/Noatak as the brother of Tarrlok, except Noatak was born a non-bender and wanted to rid the world of bending due to his own brother's corruption and abuse of power as a bloodbender. Allow them to go out the same way, preserving the memorable scene on the boat. But don't betray the ideological challenge the Equalists represented.

 

[Afrocious]

We should get together and do the equivalent of a Plinkett review of Korra.

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-episode-1-the-phantom-menace/

That's a classic.

At any rate, if there was something I could change, I'm reminded of a suggestion I read for season 1: keep Amon/Noatak as the brother of Tarrlok, except Noatak was born a non-bender and wanted to rid the world of bending due to his own brother's corruption and abuse of power as a bloodbender. Allow them to go out the same way, preserving the memorable scene on the boat. But don't betray the ideological challenge the Equalists represented.

How the equalists were handled was the biggest blue balls ever in the show.

Like everything else in the show, Bryke couldn't handle writing about potential issues with weight within their world directly, so all of these got nice bowties to resolve them and were swept under a rug.

 

[Xpike]

I'm willing to give Bryke a little break on Book 4 since they got a whole episode cut by Nick. Who knows, make the plan was to finish the Kuvira stuff somewhat earlier and have a 15 minute epilogue.

 

[Trey]

That "only thing left" is the entire premise of the show. One that is never properly addressed by the show's end, which makes the Legend of Korra feel underwhelming. Korra's spiritual growth is tangential to this theme, and I feel 2 seasons was more than enough time to address such a theme.

We're arguing about this because we have fundamental differences on what Korra's arc actually is or should have been. And you believe that switching the narrative stakes of book 4 and Book 2 would have made for a better end, which I also disagree with.

There is no better way to end this show than the theme of defeating and mastering oneself, both figuratively (Kuvira) and literally (avatar state).

 

[Icyflamez96]

How would Amon then logically fight against Tarrlok's bloodbending tho (because we all know THAT scene would have to still be kept lol)

I always thought it'd be cool if Amon was outted, (but not unmasked) that he was a waterbender at one point, then when the equalists feel betrayed, he calls for "one last" rally, and he says stuff like even if i'm a bender, I still stand by my beliefs and it doesn't change anything about my views or something. Then he goes more in depth with his backstory and motivations, and then at the end of the speech, he takes off his mask, looks like this

and bam, the equalist movement is stronger than ever.

 

[Toa TAK]

There is no better way to end this show than the theme of defeating and mastering oneself, both figuratively (Kuvira) and literally (avatar state).

Good God in the highest, that's ANOTHER issue with Kuvira. Bryke hyped her up to be this mirror of Korra, but she doesn't come across anything like her at all. You're right, that could've been a powerful endgame for Korra's final step in her personal development, but where was that? We were told that, like, twice, but then it doesn't really manifest itself in a way we can easily compare both Ks.

 

[Magwik]

I'm willing to give Bryke a little break on Book 4 since they got a whole episode cut by Nick. Who knows, make the plan was to finish the Kuvira stuff somewhat earlier and have a 15 minute epilogue.

They didn't manage their time well. They wasted too much time on nothing and side plots. Hell if they needed an extra episode why not cut the first one out of two Toph/Korra episodes. It was pretty much redundant because after an entire episode it was just "lol you still have poison in you"

 

[m_shortpants]

Good God in the highest, that's ANOTHER issue with Kuvira. Bryke hyped her up to be this mirror of Korra, but she doesn't come across anything like her at all. You're right, that could've been a powerful endgame for Korra's final step in her personal development, but where was that? We were told that, like, twice, but then it doesn't really manifest itself in a way we can easily compare both Ks.

Yeah I don't see the comparisons either. They're both violent people?

 

[Trey]

Good God in the highest, that's ANOTHER issue with Kuvira. Bryke hyped her up to be this mirror of Korra, but she doesn't come across anything like her at all. You're right, that could've been a powerful endgame for Korra's final step in her personal development, but where was that? We were told that, like, twice, but then it doesn't really manifest itself in a way we can easily compare both Ks.

Kuvira should have at one point been a good friend of Korra - maybe part of Team Avatar. Korra's struggle with Kuvira should have been much more personal. Their conflict should have made their contrasts more stark, but as it is no one really cares. Su is the only one who feels some type of way about Kuvira personally, and she is completely fine with chopping off her head by the time the Battle for Zaofu rolls around. No compunctions, no reservations.

 

[Mononoke]

I'm willing to give Bryke a little break on Book 4 since they got a whole episode cut by Nick. Who knows, make the plan was to finish the Kuvira stuff somewhat earlier and have a 15 minute epilogue.

But I mean, is one episode really enough to fix all the problems? Also, think about how many circular plot structures, spinning wheels, and wasted time they had with the episodes they did have.

 

[Mononoke]

That "only thing left" is the entire premise of the show. One that is never properly addressed by the show's end, which makes the Legend of Korra feel underwhelming. Korra's spiritual growth is tangential to this theme, and I feel 2 seasons was more than enough time to address such a theme.

We're arguing about this because we have fundamental differences on what Korra's arc actually is or should have been. And you believe that switching the narrative stakes of book 4 and Book 2 would have made for a better end, which I also disagree with.

There is no better way to end this show than the theme of defeating and mastering oneself, both figuratively (Kuvira) and literally (avatar state).

She didn't really master her self. She kind of stumbled around. Had a very scattershot plot. Fell back down. Then kind of just went off and did some things. Beat Kuvira. I really don't know how you can argue she had some deep character arc in the final season. The set up was there (her demons, her struggling with the past, her relevancy). But they hardly landed it. The Book 2 personal arc was much more profound and much bigger.

So yeah, I still think it was bizarre having that in the middle of the series. Maybe had Bryke done a better job with the other stuff, maybe I would think differently. But I still think Harmonic Convergence and her personal arc were much bigger then anything in the show (and that to me, is definitely the most climatic aspect of the plot/character).

Having that happen 50% in, was very strange.

 

[Icyflamez96]

Yeah I don't see the comparisons either. They're both violent people?

I can see Korra being the "I always get what I want" type of person if she only got eviler and eviler after season 1 lol

 

[Mononoke]

I can see Korra being the "I always get what I want" type of person if she only got eviler and eviler after season 1 lol

lol you got to deal with it.

They didn't build up Kuvira's back plot, and how she went about doing things, to justify that comparison Korra made. It was a really cheap/contrived plot point. They tried to salvage Kuvira in 1 min of dialogue, and bizarrely tried to tie into Korra's end resolution which never even felt built up to (certainly not in Book 4's arc).

The comparison only makes sense, if Kuvira was motivated to do what she did, and did so out of a similar logic to how Korra approached situations (thinking she was right, not listening to others). But Kuvira was pretty much a pyschopath that got off on power. I never got the sense that, Korra got off on Power. She would only do the things she did, because she felt trapped. She felt like she needed to be her own person. I'm seeing a big disconnect between Kuvira and Korra tbh.

Saying both are violent and approach things with aggression first, is pretty lazy.

 

[JadedWriter]

Korra GAF have to ask. Do any of you genuinely have writing experience from either fan fiction or writing your own stories? Or you're just particularly good at analyzing story structure and what does and doesn't work?

I have a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Creative Writing others here I have no idea about. Spent most of college writing short stories, news stories and post college writing video game reviews till I got tired of not getting paid for it.

 

[Toa TAK]

Yeah I don't see the comparisons either. They're both violent people?

Not even, kinda, Kuvira goes for the fucking jugular (as she should).

Kuvira should have at one point been a good friend of Korra - maybe part of Team Avatar. Korra's struggle with Kuvira should have been much more personal. Their conflict should have made their contrasts more stark, but as it is no one really cares. Su is the only one who feels some type of way about Kuvira personally, and she is completely fine with chopping off her head by the time the Battle for Zaofu rolls around. No compunctions, no reservations.

Yeah, and while she does deserve it, Su comes off ultra harsh in her response to Kuvira's apology.

Kuvira should've been actively working with Team Avatar during Book 3 instead of being pushed in the background constantly and Bryke teasing her future in the commentary that we hear months after the book is over.

 

[BKatastrophe]

The Red John arc ending was complete bullshit, but they did well to move on and continue the series afterwards, and the final season so far is very good with them closing up some plot threads from the previous 6 seasons.

You should catch up with the series, even though season 7 is only a 13 episode season, but it's a 13 episode season done right so far. The first 4 episodes have already had more happening in them than the entirety of LoK S4 LOL!

Yeah, I plan on doing that soon. I just got Season 6 for Christmas. Seasons 3-5 were really fucking good. Season 2 was solid as well. Going back to 1 used to be kind of rough because of how slow it is by comparison, but it establishes a lot of relevant characters.

Too bad he didn't get a proper ending. Crazy how much this season focused on Bolin. How much the overall series he was a key player. And yet all we get is, a zoomed out shot of him and Opal going to the dance floor.

No real sense of conclusion/resolution. The audience didn't really get to say goodbye. We didn't get to see Bolin reflect on things or react to the end of his journey. We didn't get jack shit. As much as I hate epilogues, I kind of wish we had a flash forward epilogue to show us what these characters did. Purely because, they added way too many characters, and there wasn't enough time. I hate these plot devices, but the ending we got was just so unsatisfactory in terms of the side characters.

Did we really need anything more, though? When you think about it, he only had two plot threads: Him and Kuvira, and then his relationship with Opal. I look at it that we only really need that, because it shows that he and Opal are happy together. I admit, I would have liked a scene where him and Korra have a little chat like she had with Mako, Tenzin, and Wu. I think it's a good end for Bolin, though. I mean, every season had him with a romance arc, and kind of finding a purpose.

First, he is interested in Korra and has a deep investment in pro-bending and being part of Team Avatar. Then, he has a relationship with Ezna along with the whole movers thing, indulging in the fame and the fact that people love him. He feels like he means something, but then ultimately gets back in the fight, because that's where he belongs. In Book 3, he dedicates time to getting the airbenders back and helping to protect Korra. It's why lavabending is so important, because he feels he isn't strong as the rest and isn't worth it. It's also part of why he bonds with Opal so well, adding in another romance arc. Then Book 4, he joins Kuvira because he believes he's helping, but it puts a strain on his relationship with Opal. I think his conclusion was appropriate: He puts in a fuckton of work to stop Kuvira, and lives happily ever after with Opal. We only needed that shot.

I would've accepted it if it was just a thing in her head, but they make a point of having another spirit see it. They had to have been something more to it.

I always took it as Raava trying to communicate with Korra, but all Korra was getting was all the pain of what happened and not clear signals. Manifesting as PTSD. Keep in mind, the Spirit World was in disarray this whole time because the Avatar's presence wasn't being felt by the Spirits. I believe Zaheer said something to that degree.

They were made to mimic something we'd see in a Miyazaki film.

Which is fine and dandy, but spirits actually had some sort of relevance throughout the entire series of ATLA, which kinda culminated to the deus ex machina lion turtle at the end.

Remember that panda bear? I wanted something like that. Or Face-Stealer Ko.

The thing about spirits in ATLA: They only show up as plot devices. I like how they showed up in TLoK. Makes them feel like an actual alternate race of beings in the world, and thus gives even more impact to the Avatar's role.

Should have went:

Book 1 > Book 3 > Book 4 > Book 2

Tying Amon's plot with social inequality with Zaheer's political philosophy, and then Kuvira's power grab when the Kingdom was in disarray, would have been a great 1-2-3 punch.

Then as Korra is broken and doesn't know what her relevancy is anymore, we go into the back story of Avatar Wan (why the avatar exists, why it always needs to exist)...and Harmonic Convergence being the final conflict that only the Avatar could have dealt with. I mean the shit practically writes itself. Instead of the half baked, scattershot final arc we got with Korra and her personal story, imagine that being tied into the Origin of the Avatar. Imagine, broken Korra from Book 3's finale (her being destroyed, and so hurt). And that eventually building up into her discovering herself again with the origin of the Avatar.

It would have been powerful as fuck.

I think this current order could have worked just fine, but tie in the arcs better. You have Korra fight the Red Lotus for the first three books as they work to "restore balance": Amon trying to keep the benders in check and giving normal humans a chance; Unalaq trying to free spirits and merge the spirit and human worlds together again; Zaheer trying to remove oppression and government. Then, after Korra has been utterly broken by the Red Lotus, here comes Kuvira. With no Avatar, she takes it upon herself to maintain order, but because of all the chaos she decides to go overboard. Now Korra has to fight this ideal that opposes the very thing she'd been fighting against, and goes through a crisis of ideals. It's not very different from what we got, just more connected and fleshed out.

Would you guys get rid of Unalaq? I find him to be a boring character (design wise). But I think the family connection to Korra, and the religious plot....

I think there could have been something there had they properly fleshed him out.

I actually liked him. It was nice to have someone who was just evil as hell. Just crazy for power. I do agree that they could have played up the family angle more and what kind of damage that did to Korra, but otherwise I liked him.

 

[m_shortpants]

Not even, kinda, Kuvira goes for the fucking jugular (as she should).


Yeah, and while she does deserve it, Su comes off ultra harsh in her response to Kuvira's apology.

Kuvira should've been actively working with Team Avatar during Book 3 instead of being pushed in the background constantly and Bryke teasing her future in the commentary that we hear months after the book is over.

Yeah. Her little cameo appearance at the end of book 3 was so hamfisted. She should have been more prominent. Maybe they could've put her into the group as a love interest for Mako or something.

Her power grab would have been more poignant in season 4 and the stakes would be higher too.

 

[Mononoke]

Not even, kinda, Kuvira goes for the fucking jugular (as she should).


Yeah, and while she does deserve it, Su comes off ultra harsh in her response to Kuvira's apology.

Kuvira should've been actively working with Team Avatar during Book 3 instead of being pushed in the background constantly and Bryke teasing her future in the commentary that we hear months after the book is over.

Kuvira was putting people into slave labor camps. We can assume people died. Terrible working conditions. She also practiced Eugenics and forced those that weren't earth benders, into slavery essentially. And this is after she pretty much tried to kill everyone in Republic City, and also stole the Beifongs land, and turned their son against them.

Kuvira's weak ass excuse for why she did things, and her going from someone willing to wield a big ass mech gun and murder anyone....

Yeah fuck. I find it funny that we go from Kuvira being totally cool with murder, to being remorseful in a matter of seconds. She deserved to get her ass kicked or had herself get killed. I also don't really buy into this idea that, a crazy person like Kuvira would be willing to give up just because someone is stronger, and protected them. She should have kept fighting to the death. That was the character that was set up.

If anything, I find Su's response not strong enough. She should have smacked Kuvira upside the head with something. And dragged her on the ground in her cuffs lol. I do agree the scene felt jarring, given what the writers tried to do with Kuvira and Korra. That entire scene, while contrived, was the set up. And Su's reply really didn't match the scene before it. So I see where you are coming from.

 

[Icyflamez96]

what if all the villains were in play at once

we have zaheer killing the earthqueen and trying to cause anarachy while amon is trying to bring equality and Kuvira is trying to take over the earth kingdom while unalaq is trying to become the dark avatar

all within 1 season

 

[Mononoke]

what if all the villains were in play at once

we have zaheer killing the earthqueen and trying to cause anarachy while amon is trying to bring equality and Kuvira is trying to take over the earth kingdom while unalaq is trying to become the dark avatar

all within 1 season

Suicide squad?

 

[360pages]

Kuvira was putting people into slave labor camps. We can assume people died. Terrible working conditions. She also practiced Eugenics and forced those that weren't earth benders, into slavery essentially. And this is after she pretty much tried to kill everyone in Republic City, and also stole the Beifongs land, and turned their son against them.

Kuvira's weak ass excuse for why she did things, and her going from someone willing to wield a big ass mech gun and murder anyone....

Yeah fuck. I find it funny that we go from Kuvira being totally cool with murder, to being remorseful in a matter of seconds. She deserved to get her ass kicked or had herself get killed. I also don't really buy into this idea that, a crazy person like Kuvira would be willing to give up just because someone is stronger, and protected them. She should have kept fighting to the death. That was the character that was set up.

If anything, I find Su's response not strong enough. She should have smacked Kuvira upside the head with something. And dragged her on the ground in her cuffs lol. I do agree the scene felt jarring, given what the writers tried to do with Kuvira and Korra. That entire scene, while contrived, was the set up. And Su's reply really didn't match the scene before it. So I see where you are coming from.

It's legit hilarious, it's life if Dio stopped being an evil Scum bag if Jonathan just talked to him about his daddy problems. No, some people are just fucked up and need to be removed completely.