Avatar Legend of Korra

[Chosen_Hero]

Originally Posted by Psyco Diver

By far the best scene of the whole finale is Meelo on the glass of the mech looking at Kuvira, it was just perfect and I couldn't stop laughing, on top of that he tricked Kuvira to face palm her mech.

Anyways I thought it was a 'good as its going to get ending'. It tied alot of things up, no major plot holes left, no real "WTF" or "come on, seriously?" moments. It left me satisfied with the end to a point I can accept that this is the end, while leaving it open enough for a new avatar to come down the road.

The yuri-ish ending is what I think a major middle finger to Nick while pandering to the shipping that started a while back. It creates enough of a buzz now that people will be curious about the show, want to watch the show, maybe even enough for the series to be picked up on another network (cartoon network?) for reruns or even a new series, although I know the creators said they want to take a break from it. At least thats what I think

This series is a better anine than actual anime (I do consider it an anime though), it does so much right and when it does something wrong it's either fixed or addresed in continuity later on, also it doesn't treat it's viewers like idiots and respects their intelligence. I think anime need to take a few notes from this series.

[Gintokifan22]

I don't know, I'm not a fan of shipping in these types of shows. Why? Cuz that's all people talk about when things become canon instead of important parts of the final.

I'm still annoyed that the entire Krew got left behind like that, really annoyed. It's not like they were close like that from the start, matter of fact they were rivals for the most stupid reason and did awful things towards one another, big WTF on that. To me Asami x Korra friendship felt forced in books three and four.

Had they started the new Team Avatar on different terms it could have been different and maybe better developed. That didn't happen though, matter of fact I questioned why Asami even stayed with the Krew in the first place with how things turned out. Than Korra was a bitch in book two while Asami was once again being a walking dormat for Mako, seriously broken hearted twice by the same guy and yet she still stayed? Didn't make sense at all. In my opinion it would have been better off if they had left her as a villain with a better ending, she did jack the entire series any ways till the final when the writers decided to finally give her a bone do some thing for her, than they shoved that forced friendship again my opinion down our throats at the end to likely give an F u to Nick for the crappy ways they've been treating them, it's not like the fans did any better what with how Zuko x Katara shippers did to them in the previous series and what the Mako haters in both books one and two, fun times.

[Theo]

Kuvira did nothing wrong.

She only wanted to stop the rampant poverty and corruption, forging her own nation into the Earth Empire to purge the unclean.

Then Korra and her lesbian waifu Asami told poor Kuvira to check her cis-privilege and tore down everything she worked for.

The "Prince" will now attempt to balkanize the remaining states, which will magically accept democracy and decrease poverty and corruption, despite living under dictatorial governments for centuries and know nothing of or wanting a democratic process.

Wu did everything wrong.

[Kumagawa]

Bah only good thing with these 2 episodes was Kuvira liquefying metal for attack and defence in combat that looks really useful.

No Bolin awesome lavabending moment fail.

[Kumagawa]

Originally Posted by ChainLegacy

This had me thinking back to the Seinfeld episode where George sees that his ex-girlfriend, Susan, has "become" a lesbian, and he wonders if he drove her to it by being such a bad representative for the male gender. In Mako's case, he's driven both of the girls towards the other team...

Overall, a good, satisfying ending. This is supposedly the end of the Avatar franchise as a whole, and in that light, it doesn't quite feel conclusive enough, but I concede there's no way to really pull off an ending that would. Kuvira and Bataar Jr. certainly flipped their way of thinking on a dime, but I guess that's forgivable given time constraints.



I think if anyone argues otherwise they're either purposely denying it for whatever reason, or they're delusional. The implications were literally as obvious as possible while still adhering to the "American kids' cartoon" standard of conduct.

So all the girls in college who went on holiday together without guys are lesbians awesome
/s

I guess the Bechdel test is really the lesbian test in your eyes as well then.

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by Kumagawa

So all the girls in college who went on holiday together without guys are lesbians awesome
/s

It's not just the going off together... It's the going off together on their own holding hands while romantic music plays and the massive glowing all around them... also that it's the final scene of the series. Honestly, the only way the scene could be any more overtly romantic is if, well, the censors would have allowed it. And I say this as someone who is completely indifferent to same-sex pairings BTW.

So anyway how about that everything else, eh? Korra finally getting to be badass again after an entire season of lackluster performances, everyone working together to solve the problem using actually well thought out plans that took advantage of the resources they had available to them without resorting to a deus ex machina (this should be a given for any decently written show, but let's be fair, between Koizilla, Aang just being given the power of energy-bending just before the final battle, Korra just spontaneously learning airbending when she was at her lowest point, Aang just showing up out of nowhere to restore her bending, Giant Spirit Korra and whatever Jinorra did, this series has a pretty poor track-record with resolving conflicts), giving all the major characters at least one moment to shine, Varrick's proposal to Zhu Li and their wedding being pulled off in the most appropriately perfect manner imaginable... Yeah, I really liked this finale.

[SuitUp]

Originally Posted by Kumagawa

So all the girls in college who went on holiday together without guys are lesbians awesome
/s

I guess the Bechdel test is really the lesbian test in your eyes as well then.

It's depressing that people stick to this stock fallacies denying what is obviously happenning on the screen before your eyes... There's a million literary reasons as to why that scene and the one building up to it were definitely romantic, but I guess that it's no use to try and explain it...

[FlareKnight]

In the end Korra was a good run. Finally caught up and saw how it all worked out.

Of course I can't think it comes close to the original series, but as its own existence it was enjoyable.

As to that scene, seems fine to me. Not like they haven't had enough bad relationships in this show with guys. Might as well try another route . Plus if you don't like it, just presume it will end up just like the rest of their relationships...Not like either girl actually stayed with someone for very long in this show. If you do like the pairing then can presume it turned out fine. The future is open .

[james0246]

Originally Posted by takai

You make fair points, but I think they purposely left it ambiguous for both sides. Mako and Korra had a heartfelt moment, then Korra and Asami did. So to me they were saying "Here everyone, take that as you will and make your own epilogue."

I saw the progression of scenes a little differently. Mako's scene represented Korra's past. Their discussion focused on their shared connection and their respect and support for each other, no matter the circumstances. It was not really romantic in nature, there were no meaningful glances or real physical contact. It was an ending to one storyline, and the start of another equal yet separate storyline for both of them.

The Tenzin moment, then, brought the thematic elements of the story full circle. Their dialogue focused on just how much Korra has changed, from the brash and arrogant Avatar, to the compassionate and respectful young women she has become after years of fighting and suffering. Their moment ends with Korra not only believing in a better future, but looking forward to just what will come her way.

And at that moment, Asami appears. I truly believe Asami represents the future within the triumvirate of the final moments of the series. Whether you, or others, wish to see the moment as strictly romantic or not is left somewhat/just barely ambiguous (I believe that the moment is the start of a romance, but not strictly a romantic moment ala the end of Last Airbender, though it is obvious that the final moment of Korra is a reflection of the final moment of Last Airbender), but I do not see the moment as being solely friendship. The lighting, the music, the physical connection all indicate something more than friendship or sisterhood. They may not be girlfriend and girlfriend, but I expect the creators wanted us to view them as being mere steps away from such a relationship in this final moment of the series.

Originally Posted by takai

In my opinion, I think it shouldn't have been romance with anyone at all.

I do not disagree with this sentiment. That is why I think the lack of any kiss on the part of Korra and Asami works best for the characters and the story (as well as the censors and network ).

[ChainLegacy]

Originally Posted by Kumagawa

So all the girls in college who went on holiday together without guys are lesbians awesome
/s

I guess the Bechdel test is really the lesbian test in your eyes as well then.

Generally speaking, women tend to have as many or more women friends than male friends, at least in the culture I grew up in. I'd imagine it's like that in many other parts of the world. So that bechdel test (just looked it up) seems like a strange concept to me. I don't see why women interacting in fiction is different from the countless cases of women interacting in the real world over subjects other than men. It seems like it was conceived as a way of detecting sexism by the author in fiction, not really applicable here at all.

What we saw here is the ultimate scene of the series devoted to Korra and Asami gazing longingly into each others' eyes. Couple that with the subtle development we've seen all season long between the two, the answer is obvious.

I don't even like shipping in Avatar (whereas I do like it in some other series). Never have. I just see this for what it is.

[Slayerx]

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

This series is a better anine than actual anime (I do consider it an anime though), it does so much right and when it does something wrong it's either fixed or addresed in continuity later on, also it doesn't treat it's viewers like idiots and respects their intelligence. I think anime need to take a few notes from this series.

Well i wouldn't say its better... It does many things well but its got more than a few problems. The biggest problem has been planning. Season 1 was made without any promise they would get a season 2 and thus did not plan for beyond season 1... when they DID get their contract for 3 more seasons, this all resulted in a rather rushed and poorly executed season 2. Heck the whole realtionship drama in those first 2 season REALLY dragged things down

I'd also say it suffers from its own time constraints; 4 seasons at 13 episodes a piece is only just barely enough to tell the story they wanted, but not enough to flesh it out. The series could have really benefited from having like 20-26 episodes per season. The villains in particular could have been better with more fleshing out

Originally Posted by Theo

Kuvira did nothing wrong.

She only wanted to stop the rampant poverty and corruption, forging her own nation into the Earth Empire to purge the unclean.

Kuvira is a character that could have been brilliant if they took/had more time to flesh her out. Her biggest problem is that she comes off as nothing more than a tyrannical dictator instead of someone more caring but flawed. That vulnarability she showed korra right at the end is exactly what we needed to see more of throughout the season

The idea that Kuvira became a tyrant because she wanted her nation to be secure is actually quite believable. A lot of political leaders throughout the world come off as warmongering tyrants but are in fact more like paranoid loons. They don't actually WANT to start wars, they just think that if the best defense is a really aggressive offense. They think if they look big and scary enough all of their enemies will leave them alone and that includes their own people. "If i give my people free speech, they may spread dissent against me"; "I need to control the media; if i don't my opponents will spread lies about me and destabilize my rule"; "These people are of a different race than my own, and thus i can not trust them to be loyal to me"; "If i don't hit them really hard, they'll think i'm weak and come attack me." They actually WANT to be seen as a threat because they think it will keep their "enemies" away. What they don't realize is that such aggressive behavior and looking like a big threat scares everyone so badly that they think that YOU are threat to their own safety.

Showing signs of Kuvira's vulnerability would have allowed us to better understand why she felt all that she did was for the best. There's a couple of small things they could have done. First, "If we show weakness our enemies will attack us" should have been Kuvira's excuse for many of the things she did, just to help reinforce it as something she actually believes and not something she's just saying to placate her people in going along with her tyranny. ]

Another chance would have been her fight with Korra. Throughout the fight she calm, cool and totally in control... then Korra goes avatar state and floors Kuvira; in that instance Kuvira knows she has lost control of the fight and it legitmately frightens her. Korra breaks down allowing Kuvira to regain control, but that fight still had its toll. When kuvira is alone, we can see her still trembling from her close encounter

Another possibility is that maybe Kuvira could have suffered from night terrors; old scars from her orphan days. Not only does this make it known that she has deep fears, but it can have an added bonus... namely that Baatar, the guy she sleeps with is the one who comforts her. The fact that she lets him see her vulnarble side AND finds comfort in him will tells a lot about how she feels about him... this way when she tries to kill him near the end of the series, we KNOW that it is something that really hurts her. She doesn't want to kill Baatar, but if she shows weakness by giving into this threat and letting the city she captured go, she fears that it will only embolden her enemies and lead to future attacks against her empire. For the security of her empire she can not falter.

What the came up with Kuvira towards the end just felt so far out of left field... if we had seen more of her character and seen more of positive qualities (that did not have tyrannical implications attached to them) and more flaws and weaknesses, they could have sold Kuvira as a very complicated and believable villain.

The "Prince" will now attempt to balkanize the remaining states, which will magically accept democracy and decrease poverty and corruption, despite living under dictatorial governments for centuries and know nothing of or wanting a democratic process.

Wu did everything wrong.

Korra and Wu will be working on it together to make sure it works out. It can be bumpy, but Converting monarchy's to democracies can go pretty smoothly if it has the full support of the former monarchy. And really, as we saw last season, there was A LOT of people who were not happy with the monarchy and i'm sure many states in the Earth Empire had their fill of being ruled by a single person

Originally Posted by Kumagawa

So all the girls in college who went on holiday together without guys are lesbians awesome
/s

Do they also hold hands and silently stare into eachother's eyes while basking in a beautiful glow of light as soft music plays?

Y'know you have to read into the intentions of the artists. Korra and Assami could have walked into the portal side by side with their backs turned towards us and that would have sold us on the message of their friendship... the fact that they included not only hand holding, but imagery that called back to Varrick and Zhu li's wedding says a lot more. That is a heck of a lot more intimate. They didn't have to do it that, but they CHOSE to do it that way, and that means there is likely a reason for that choice.

[VTHokiePride]

I like on of the previous comments that the ending scene was a big F U to Nick for their handling of the Avatar series overall.

I couldn't see Korra ending up with anybody because Mako's final words to her showed loyalty and that he'd always be around to back her up and for Bolin...well because he's Bolin. I didn't really ship anyone for Korra throughout the series. Maybe for Mako a little bit because they were dating, but that was it.

That said, I didn't pick up on any romantic buildup between Korra and Asami until I saw the very ending scene. People can treat it either as a deep friendship or a romantic relationship. For me, I'm okay with both. Either way, the whole scene was beautiful and showed how close Korra and Asami really are. I still have feels after watching that scene and I saw the finale when it was released online Thursday.

That whole ending sequence will be burned into my memory forever. It was beautiful.

[DMurphy]

Originally Posted by ChainLegacy

What we saw here is the ultimate scene of the series devoted to Korra and Asami gazing longingly into each others' eyes. Couple that with the subtle development we've seen all season long between the two, the answer is obvious.

I don't even like shipping in Avatar (whereas I do like it in some other series). Never have. I just see this for what it is.

Exactly this.

(As for the Bechdel Test, the poster screaming 'IS iT tHe LESbiaN tESt?!?!' is making a bit of a weird argument. The Bechdel Test is a measure of whether a story has the very bare minimum of interaction between women you'd expect in real life - two women talking about something other than men.

The idea that it's at all the same as two women staring silently into each other's eyes, framed with golden light, as romantic music plays is absurd.)



*cough* Anyway.

As for Prince Wu and democracy: It's worth pointing out that the conversion of Britain from an absolute monarchy to a parliamentary democracy went pretty smoothly. Granted, over a longer period of time than Wu really intends, but I think people are overestimating how difficult it is to form a democratic nation out of a monarchy. Generally, if you go 'Hey, guys, do you want to pick your own leaders? Here's a handy way that you could do so', people say yes pretty easily.

[james0246]

Originally Posted by DMurphy

As for Prince Wu and democracy: It's worth pointing out that the conversion of Britain from an absolute monarchy to a parliamentary democracy went pretty smoothly. Granted, over a longer period of time than Wu really intends, but I think people are overestimating how difficult it is to form a democratic nation out of a monarchy. Generally, if you go 'Hey, guys, do you want to pick your own leaders? Here's a handy way that you could do so', people say yes pretty easily.

Well, its a little more complicated than that, especially with a large standing army of individuals that have been whipped into a mob to fight for their own Empire (under Kuvira). But, Legend of Korra is extremely pro Democracy, so we're not supposed to think too deeply on that complications and struggles involved in turning the quagmire that the Earth Kingdom is in into a democracy.

That being said, it certainly helps that the largest nation on the planet is able to utilize recent technology to allow all citizens the equal chance to vote. Just 20 years previous to this moment in the series, due to the size of the country setting up a democracy would have been significantly harder.

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by ChainLegacy

So that bechdel test (just looked it up) seems like a strange concept to me. I don't see why women interacting in fiction is different from the countless cases of women interacting in the real world over subjects other than men. It seems like it was conceived as a way of detecting sexism by the author in fiction, not really applicable here at all.

Well of course. It originated from a joke in a newspaper strip. Only reason why it's stuck is because, well... it's spot-on. One would not think that having a single conversation between two female characters that is about something other than a male character would be a high hurdle for a script to pass, but surprisingly few movies/shows actually pass it. It was never envisioned as an actual serious way of critiquing movies... but the sheer applicability of it to damn near everything still says something about the gender balance in popular media. (Avatar and Korra both pass easily though, and then some.)

[Ravagerblade]

I'm still hoping for more of this Version of Avatar, Watching Korra so far has been enjoyable in a way. While differing from The Last Airbender, I think it can stand on it's own for what it's done. It's really to bad it seemed so short. The characters in this series has ups and downs and also good focus while some didn't I wished it further delved into more characters fleshing out a more wider world similar but not the same as the first series.

[DMurphy]

Oh, hey, for everyone who was insisting that the final scene between Korra and Asami was just platonic and 'a friend thing':

Here is Bryan Konietzko saying in bold letters on his official tumblr 'Korrasami is canon' and then talking about how it's canon.

EDIT: Here's Mike DiMartino confirming the same thing on his blog.

[Tokkan]

Originally Posted by DMurphy

Oh, hey, for everyone who was insisting that the final scene between Korra and Asami was just platonic and 'a friend thing':

Here is Bryan Konietzko saying in bold letters on his official tumblr 'Korrasami is canon' and then talking about how it's canon.

EDIT: Here's Mike DiMartino confirming the same thing on his blog.

I didn't think they'd actually come out and confirm it. It is pretty cool, though.

[Theo]

Originally Posted by DMurphy

Oh, hey, for everyone who was insisting that the final scene between Korra and Asami was just platonic and 'a friend thing':

Here is Bryan Konietzko saying in bold letters on his official tumblr 'Korrasami is canon' and then talking about how it's canon.

EDIT: Here's Mike DiMartino confirming the same thing on his blog.

He has no buildup,
He has no trace,
But this writer has a funny place,

He can shill for it, when he needs to,
And stretch credibility out, just for you!

[Slayerx]

Originally Posted by DMurphy

Oh, hey, for everyone who was insisting that the final scene between Korra and Asami was just platonic and 'a friend thing':

Here is Bryan Konietzko saying in bold letters on his official tumblr 'Korrasami is canon' and then talking about how it's canon.

EDIT: Here's Mike DiMartino confirming the same thing on his blog.

Well i gotta give credit where its do, it seems that the Network WAS aware of what the creators wanted to do and let them do it... Even though they wouldn't allow them to do anything as Obvious as a kiss, the fact that the network allowed them to take it as far as they did to the point where most of the audience knew what they were going for is still a step forward. Same Kudos to Nick there

Not to mention the fact that creators sought Nick's approval, rather than try and sneak it past network censors shows a good level of class on their part... Shame nick didn't show them as much respect when it came to handling the airing of their show(Can't give Nick THAT much credit)

Now lets just see if that last shot can make it on television and avoid and shitstorms

Originally Posted by Ravagerblade

I'm still hoping for more of this Version of Avatar, Watching Korra so far has been enjoyable in a way. While differing from The Last Airbender, I think it can stand on it's own for what it's done. It's really to bad it seemed so short. The characters in this series has ups and downs and also good focus while some didn't I wished it further delved into more characters fleshing out a more wider world similar but not the same as the first series.

Well the series DID have a 50 episode run which is pretty good for a TV series. Though i think the reason it feels short is because it was split into 4 seperate plots/storylines. We got 50 episodes, but it feels more like 12. Not to mention since we changed plots so much it did interfere a bit with focus on the characters and the world. Honestly i think the series would have been better with Last Airbender's formula; Namely where we have one plot over 60 episodes. That gave the series not only time to develop its plot but also allowed it to have lost of filler episodes that allowed us to just spend time with the characters and see the world they lived in.