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The Legend of Korra: Book 4 |OT2| ALL HAIL THE GREAT UNITER

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M

Mononoke

Banned
wildfire said:
Let's be real here. Unalaq's set up and eventual plot twist was Amon set up and plot twist cranked up to 11. The show runners decided to be too clever and ruined the basis for a high potential villain.

The same goes for Vaatu. They really screwed up the idea of spirits and their relationship with humans after Beginnings.
Click to expand...

The spiritual stuff had a lot validity (that the world was out of spiritual balance) and was really interesting too. I mean granted he's a villain so he would have to take it too far and be an extremist. But they quickly moved away from that and just made him a power hungry psycho. Yawn. If you are going to have a villain be evil to be evil, they need presence and be fun to watch (like Amon or Zaheer). Unalaq was so boring design wise.
 
M

m_shortpants

Member
I am destroying ToaTAKs world.

tumblr_ned9pplBZF1twmgrso2_500.gif
 
M

Mononoke

Banned
DedValve said:
In Chariots absence allow me

korrasami_wallpaper_by_vanja1995-d56iux2.jpg


EDIT: Damn this pic makes me wish we got an episode of Korrasami on a wacky adventure of JUST those 2. Amazing that they had an entire episode together in book 3 WITH BONDAGE and yet they don't really talk a lot. That plot wrote itself. Korra was in a position where being the avatar didn't help, in the middle of nowhere and only Asamis ingenuity could have gotten them out. How could they fuck up so badly on all the potential interactions?

They finally fixed that in Book 4 but they where only together for like 1 episode.
Click to expand...

I have the official Book 1 art book signed by Bryke. And it has that pic in it. Looks gorgeous in print.
 
M

Maximo

Member
Ok just finished the Fourth Season. I love that Korasami is *Real* but its complete and utter bullshit, there was NO indication that they liked each other more then just a friends. Really disappointed by Fourth Season, not as bad as the Second because holy crap half of it was awful but still disappointing. It probably goes 2->4->1->3 for me..
 
M

Mononoke

Banned
Maximo said:
Ok just finished the Fourth Season. I love that Korasami is *Real* but its complete and utter bullshit, there was NO indication that they liked each other more then just a friends. Really disappointed by Fourth Season, not as bad as the Second because holy crap half of it was awful but still disappointing. It probably goes 2->4->1->3 for me..
Click to expand...

I still like Book 1 way more than Book 4.

Book 1's ending was pure shit. It had some other issues. But in general, it actually had a plot for one. Book 4 just felt like a bunch of hot air and spinning wheels. But it seems like a lot of people hate Book 1, and still rank it towards the bottom. :(

EDIT: Wait...you mean?

3 > 1 > 4> 2?

I'm used to people ranking left to right. My mind is full of fuck right now.
 
M

Maximo

Member
Azula said:
I still like Book 1 way more than Book 4.

Book 1's ending was pure shit. It had some other issues. But in general, it actually had a plot for one. Book 4 just felt like a bunch of hot air and spinning wheels. But it seems like a lot of people hate Book 1, and still rank it towards the bottom. :(

EDIT: Wait...you mean?

3 > 1 > 4> 2?

I'm used to people ranking left to right. My mind is full of fuck right now.
Click to expand...
Yep sorry meant the other way around =p.
 
M

m_shortpants

Member
Azula said:
I still like Book 1 way more than Book 4.

Book 1's ending was pure shit. It had some other issues. But in general, it actually had a plot for one. Book 4 just felt like a bunch of hot air and spinning wheels. But it seems like a lot of people hate Book 1, and still rank it towards the bottom. :(

EDIT: Wait...you mean?

3 > 1 > 4> 2?

I'm used to people ranking left to right. My mind is full of fuck right now.
Click to expand...

I posted this last night:

m_shortpants said:
I mean, I'm looking at the list of episodes in season 1 and 4.

Season 1 just had so many good ones.
"Welcome to Republic City"
"A Leaf in the Wind"
"The Revelation"
"The Voice in the Night"
"And the Winner Is..."
"The Aftermath"
"When Extremes Meet"
"Out of the Past"
"Turning the Tides"

And I look at season 4 and only see maybe 3-4 good episodes, with the rest being filler like rescuing Wu and Jinora™.
Click to expand...

Season one was ace. Yes, there were 1 or 2 bad episodes, particularly the romance/probending one and the finale, but everything else was quality. Pacing was good too, we get Amon by episode 3, and he's menacing and scary. Season 4 on the other hand....
 
K

Kinvara

Member
Toa TAK said:
Kuvira IS better than Unalaq though.
Click to expand...

I agree with Toa.

I understood Kuvira and was sympathetic to her anger/frustration at how the Earth Kingdom was being exploited by foreign nations.

Unalaq was a religious zealot. Those kinds of characters can make good villains like Frollo in the The Hunchback of Notre Dame but Unalaq had no personality so...
 
J

JadedWriter

Member
Kinvara said:
I agree with Toa.

I understood Kuvira and was sympathetic to her anger/frustration at how the Earth Kingdom was being exploited by foreign nations.

Unalaq was a religious zealot. Those kinds of characters can make good villains like Frollo in the The Hunchback of Notre Dame but Unalaq had no personality so...
Click to expand...
I really did feel sorry for her as well. I really did just want more of her being an actual human being because I think if she actually displayed more emotion you would be able to witness and relate to her struggle more.
 
L

Luigi87

Member
Welp, $134 later (after taxes), just bought all of ATLA on DVD, as well as The Promise and The Search library editions.

All because Korra ended >_<
 
L

Luigi87

Member
Afrocious said:
Did you just want the show in a physical format? It's all on Netflix.
Click to expand...

Yeah... I love collecting things.

Admittedly I would have gone digital for the comics had that been more of a common option, but I essentially only do digital comics from Comixology, and the ATLA comics aren't sold on it.
 
M

m_shortpants

Member
Afrocious said:
They really didn't.

We could've had an allegory to Ozai in the barest of bones filled with irony considering this would be an empire grown from the very land Ozai tried to raze.

While I think Amon was a bigger disappointment, kuvira had a lot of promise as well.



What was going on in this scene again?
Click to expand...

That Dude John said:
Amon breaking Tarrlok's bloodbending, before we knew he was also a bloodbender.
Click to expand...

Joeytj said:
Word. That scene freaked everyone out. "Is he a robot?! A Zombie?!"

Of course, in retrospect, it was kind of obvious he would be a bloodbender.
Click to expand...

Yeah, before we knew he was a bloodbender it blew everyone's feeble minds. No one knew wtf was going in, given how powerful Tarrlok's bloodbending had been shown to be.
 
D

Daemul

Member
Unalaq is a better antagonist than Kuvira?! LMAO! Some of you guys are going to get a rude awakening when we eventually get to LoKS2 during our re watch.

Serenade_King said:
Just finished all the extra content of Korra book 1. The only Mako I like is puppet Mako.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1nceDygSk

Even his Scarf leaves him in the end now that I think about it... poor Mako.
Click to expand...

romo-dead-o.gif


This Puppetbender shit is amazing, I have to get the Blu Ray now.

HOLY SHIT @ Asami and Korra puupets throwing shade at each other. I can feel the burn.
 
S

SilentMatthew

Member
JadedWriter said:
I really did feel sorry for her as well. I really did just want more of her being an actual human being because I think if she actually displayed more emotion you would be able to witness and relate to her struggle more.
Click to expand...

They should have had at least one or two episodes on Kuvira's 3 year campaign. For example:

Kuvira just pacified Ba Sing Se, had to station a portion of her army to garrison it and neighboring countryside. Unfazed by this handicap, Kuvira marches on to "whatever" province and faces difficulty in subduing the bandits and securing the province from future attacks. It so happens that the province has a major manufacturing industry and dabbled in making weapons and etc. Although, the raw materials needed stopped coming because the main supply is controlled by a Warlord in a nearby province. Kuvira then decides to divert scouting squads to the Warlord controlled province to probe the strength of his forces. In the meantime Kuvira spends time training the the local earth benders/fighters. Once the scouts made their report to Kuvira, she asks the people she trained if any of them would volunteer to join her assault on the Warlord. Reasoning that this province needs to be able to produce arms for her army to be safe. Many of them joined Kuvira. Kuvira kicks some ass, get the loot and established a loyal province with the promise of protection. Earned the admiration of her volunteers. This mantra of get troops, get loot and establish a province to outfit her armee would prove to be the winning formula for much of the 3 year campaign. Add a bit of struggle "how do I get through to these kidz", but ultimately might makes right and sees that it works.

Or something similar. Dunno, I think I'm stepping closer to the dark abyss...
 
D

Daemul

Member
SG-17 said:
I don' think this thread has left the front page since it started.
Click to expand...
The thread is incredibly active. I leave for a couple of hours to go to one of my sports forums and chat about the boxing day football(soccer) in England, and I come back to many new pages to read. The KorraGAF community is way more active than what it was when S4 was still airing.

I ain't complaining though, I like having people to talk about the series with.
 
H

Hamlet

Member
Decent summary of the Book 3 commentaries. Should sate those who don't have the blu-rays.

Some interesting ones.


  • Book 3 production was smooth. Joaquim: “Book 2 was like trauma”. Bryan: “I think it took a year and a half off of my life.”
  • Bryan was worried about adding Kai because they had so many characters. Also worried because he was similar to Aang.
  • Bryan says most network notes from Nick are “more fighting, more action”.
  • The Red Lotus’ first plan was to go to Republic City, take out Raiko and get Korra. In this episode they’re hiding out in the spirit wilds. Episode 6
  • Henry Rollins wanted to audition for the role of Zaheer and as Bryan made a post about a while ago, called Mike and Bryan from tour to ask questions about the character, before the audition. Basically it he interviewed them instead of them interviewing him.
  • Bryan feared a backlash of people thinking the Nuktuk fans were parodying Korra fans. He says they hadn’t thought of it until a Nick executive brought it up.
  • They meant for the Red Lotus name to be a secret until this episode but “it got leaked like everything else”.
  • Mike says they were trying to be “as clear as possible” with the Queen’s death.
  • Mike attributes the “extended finales” to the high number of characters they have in the show.
  • Bryan is a little hurt that people only look to Mike out of the two of them for the story.
  • The idea of the highest level airbending move being “become wind” was in the original series bible.
 
J

JadedWriter

Member
SilentMatthew said:
They should have had at least one or two episodes on Kuvira's 3 year campaign. For example:

Kuvira just pacified Ba Sing Se, had to station a portion of her army to garrison it and neighboring countryside. Unfazed by this handicap, Kuvira marches on to "whatever" province and faces difficulty in subduing the bandits and securing the province from future attacks. It so happens that the province has a major manufacturing industry and dabbled in making weapons and etc. Although, the raw materials needed stopped coming because the main supply is controlled by a Warlord in a nearby province. Kuvira then decides to divert scouting squads to the Warlord controlled province to probe the strength of his forces. In the meantime Kuvira spends time training the the local earth benders/fighters. Once the scouts made their report to Kuvira, she asks the people she trained if any of them would volunteer to join her assault on the Warlord. Reasoning that this province needs to be able to produce arms for her army to be safe. Many of them joined Kuvira. Kuvira kicks some ass, get the loot and established a loyal province with the promise of protection. Earned the admiration of her volunteers. This mantra of get troops, get loot and establish a province to outfit her armee would prove to be the winning formula for much of the 3 year campaign. Add a bit of struggle "how do I get through to these kidz", but ultimately might makes right and sees that it works.

Or something similar. Dunno, I think I'm stepping closer to the dark abyss...
Click to expand...
Some defeat and triumph would help yes, but that's only the side of the military part of her personality. I read Kuvira as a very emotionally repressed human being. She grew up with a lot of abandonment issues, but she holds them back a lot. I honestly wish they delved into the human half of her. Why was she drawn to Bataar? Does he remind her of a brother perhaps, did she model her hair after Suyin's to appease her (the front half is similar to Su's)? Does she wear the braid to honor her mother. Just stuff that ties into her past. I'd like to think that people don't just randomly do things. Does she dislike other benders because her parents are non earth benders? Was she in some sort of orphanage and got bullied by non earth benders? They'd seriously have to tie that labor camp shit somewhere into her back story.
 
S

SilentMatthew

Member
JadedWriter said:
Some defeat and triumph would help yes, but that's only the side of the military part of her personality. I read Kuvira as a very emotionally repressed human being. She grew up with a lot of abandonment issues, but she holds them back a lot. I honestly wish they delved into the human half of her. Why was she drawn to Bataar? Does he remind her of a brother perhaps, did she model her hair after Suyin's to appease her (the front half is similar to Su's)? Does she wear the braid to honor her mother. Just stuff that ties into her past. I'd like to think that people don't just randomly do things. Does she dislike other benders because her parents are non earth benders? Was she in some sort of orphanage and got bullied by non earth benders? They'd seriously have to tie that labor camp shit somewhere into her back story.
Click to expand...

The labor camp and euthenics were just throw-away lines to make her a bad guy, a Hitler without his failed-art career backstory. The only tangible thing we saw were the prisoners Varrick and Bolin were with and they could just have easily just be resistance fighters if those two lines were removed. Nothing of value would've been lost.
 
J

JadedWriter

Member
Gravidee said:
I thought it was kind of disappointing that Kuvira didn't have some kind of trademark bending move.
Click to expand...
Dat force choke
tumblr_neba3hOAWh1s0aktyo1_500.png

SilentMatthew said:
The labor camp and euthenics are just throw-away lines to make her a bad guy, a Hitler without his failed-art career backstory. The only tangible thing we saw were the prisoners Varrick and Bolin were with and they could just have easily just be resistance fighters if those two lines were removed. Nothing of value would've been lost.
Click to expand...
True, it's just one of those "Why say it if you're not going to do more with it?" kind of things. It just feels like they made a person that wasn't actually supposed to be a cut and dry bad guy a bad guy and the tone they tried on her just felt forced. She didn't need to be a flat out villain, yet they made her a flat out villain, the tone with her was just too inconsistent, which is why I preferred the human portions with her the most, because it actually felt more believable, but they never gave her a story for her human side to show through, so wham villain.
 
Tal Shiar Agent

Tal Shiar Agent

Member
Daemul said:
The thread is incredibly active. I leave for a couple of hours to go to one of my sports forums and chat about the boxing day football(soccer) in England, and I come back to many new pages to read. The KorraGAF community is way more active than what it was when S4 was still airing.

I ain't complaining though, I like having people to talk about the series with.
Click to expand...

I go to sleep, wake up and see 5+ new pages. Its awesome.


I need to rewatch the series with audio commentary. I hope the Book 4 commentary is robust.
 
S

SilentMatthew

Member
JadedWriter said:
Dat force choke
tumblr_neba3hOAWh1s0aktyo1_500.png


True, it's just one of those "Why say it if you're not going to do more with it?" kind of things. It just feels like they made a person that wasn't actually supposed to be a cut and dry bad guy a bad guy and the tone they tried on her just felt forced. She didn't need to be a flat out villain, yet they made her a flat out villain, the tone with her was just too inconsistent, which is why I preferred the human portions with her the most, because it actually felt more believable, but they never gave her a story for her human side to show through, so wham villain.
Click to expand...



For myself, I always saw Kuvira as a Napoleon without his selfishness. Someone who is willing to sacrifice many lives for order and the good of the nation. For what reasons? I'm fine for anything more than we got. Although, I am the Toa of Napoleon & Napoleonic Era... it is hard to admit. To be fair, we are given threads of character, as thin as paper they may be, Kuvira could many things, but not even an inch close to any of them. A tragedy of characterization if do say for myself.

Edit: What I initially thought they were going for was Kuvira being like the Book 2 Korra. Violent, willing to go to war, use any possible advantage(Mako) to get what she needs, bull-headed and other things that would make a decent avatar villain if there was better writing.
 
H

Hamlet

Member
JadedWriter said:
Dat force choke
tumblr_neba3hOAWh1s0aktyo1_500.png


True, it's just one of those "Why say it if you're not going to do more with it?" kind of things. It just feels like they made a person that wasn't actually supposed to be a cut and dry bad guy a bad guy and the tone they tried on her just felt forced. She didn't need to be a flat out villain, yet they made her a flat out villain, the tone with her was just too inconsistent, which is why I preferred the human portions with her the most, because it actually felt more believable, but they never gave her a story for her human side to show through, so wham villain.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the smug Kuvira move. Shame it was stoic Kuvira most of the time in Book 4.
Eck9Qkq.gif
 
J

JadedWriter

Member
SilentMatthew said:
For myself, I always saw Kuvira as a Napoleon without his selfishness. Someone who is willing to sacrifice many lives for order and the good of the nation. For what reasons? I'm fine for anything more than we got. Although, I am the Toa of Napoleon & Napoleonic Era... it is hard to admit. To be fair, we are given threads of character, as thin as paper they may be, Kuvira could many things, but not even an inch close to any of them. A tragedy of characterization if do say for myself.

Edit: What I initially thought they were going for was Kuvira being like the Book 2 Korra. Violent, willing to go to war, use any possible advantage(Mako) to get what she needs, bull-headed and other things that would make a decent avatar villain if there's better writing.
Click to expand...
Granted she's a pastiche of various dictators, but the problem with that is that there's no consistency to it. She didn't have her own route or flair to something she did. Only thing that was "hers" was a giant mech. They lost me when they gave her giant Nazi artillery. A lot of characters are based on historical figures, but at the same time you have to make that character an individual because without that they're not remembered for much of anything.
Hamlet said:
Don't forget the smug Kuvira move. Shame it was stoic Kuvira most of the time in Book 4.
Eck9Qkq.gif
Click to expand...
I loved smug Kuvira, I saw that as Kuvira actually having some fun with what she was doing. Nothing better than a bad guy that visibly enjoys what they're doing.
 
S

SilentMatthew

Member
JadedWriter said:
Granted she's a pastiche of various dictators, but the problem with that is that there's no consistency to it. She didn't have her own route or flair to something she did. Only thing that was "hers" was a giant mech. They lost me when they gave her giant Nazi artillery. A lot of characters are based on historical figures, but at the same time you have to make that character an individual because without that they're not remembered for much of anything.
Click to expand...
Hmm.. I was a tad generous when I said I saw or what I would've liked to see Kuvira as a Napoleon. He was passionate, break and make kings on a whim, up/with-held liberties. Was a monster, a hero and human. Kuvira was bland for most of the show and only time I really dug her was when she kicked Korra's ass and her other fight scenes. Tch, thinking of what could have beens for a Kuvira is a soul crashing endeavour. Her purpose was to be a foil to Korra, which means the Book 2 Korra, which also means that both plots/arc of Korra and Kuvira have be rewritten to have actual connections instead of being isolated like they are now. There's a lot of time wasters here that need to be cut for this... the Wu kidnapping,Opal-Bolin conflict, Kai,Air sibling episode, Meelo and etc. Eff it.

Edit: I realize I didn't really properly replay to the "flair" or individuality Kuvira should have had. Dunno, she probably first need a real personality to start off. The Mech she controlled was basically a representation of her. Out of place, questionable and only there for one reason.
 
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