2012-06-24, 00:23 | Link #921 |
Hiding Under Your Bed
Join Date: May 2008
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Lame finale.
Asami being put in path for Sokka 2.0. Lame. Mako all lovey-dovey with Korra. Minutes after being lovey-dovey with Asami. So lame. Korra getting her powers back just like that. Lame. Sure, it'd have been very predictable for season two to have been spent on her journey to regain her powers, but it would have also brought back some of the greatness of the Last Airbender, in bringing some adventure back to this series. Amon having such a trite reason for all he did. Lame. Amon's fire scars being nothing but paint. Lam...lol...e. What looks essentially like complete closure? Lame, since it means they're going to have to come up with something completely out of thin air for season two, thereby breaking the sense of continuity that was so great between seasons of the Last Airbender. What villian will terrorize Republic City next? Are they gonna somehow twist prohibition into the story in some way? I said it after episode 10, but gosh, it was even worse with a full two episodes. Zuko's VA as General Iroh's VA was possibly the worst casting decision I have ever witnessed. Double lame. Overall, Korra was a decent series, despite the rather poor culmination of season one. Visually looked better than Airbender. I'm also a sucker for the whole 1920s vibe, and it's great to see Korra as a dark-skinned, female heroine full of muscle and vigor, as they could easily have modeled her after someone like Asami to boost ratings. But, it's far less ambitious, and it showed.
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2012-06-24, 00:27 | Link #922 | |||||||
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I will grant the possibility that someone else could stumble upon it, however unlikely the original series made it seem. But in that case, it should be a fairly well known bending style as of the first series, like lightning is to firebenders. And even if you ignore all that... we were repeatedly told that it was impossible to blood bend without a full moon. It's like they tell us only the avatar can master all bending styles... and then suddenly having a pair of nobodies who can do the same. It breaks the established narrative. They could have explained it so much better, if spirits were involved somehow, which would have made vastly more sense (and give us a reason as to why Korra wasn't very good at the spiritual stuff). Quote:
But as you said, the mecha tanks weren't practical, when compared with regular tanks. I could buy the regular tanks in the first series, since they were firebender powered and made sense. The caterpillar tanks and submarines were rather brilliant, too. But part of my problem with them, is that they can quite easily be knocked over by a simple earthbending move... which Korra and the Earthbenders failed to do in their first meeting. It really reeks of the writers doing a bad job trying to make these things threatening. "Oooh, mecha!" Lastly, sure, we had electricity back then. But there is a big difference between electricity, and having small enough batteries to produce the charge needed to lay someone out. I don't buy the tech level being that good. At the very least, it's a copout to try and make the bad guys more of a threat Quote:
The writers needed hostages to force Korra to fight. And so they provided some. I'm just surprised they didn't add Katara and her kids to the hostage roster. How would he have kidnapped them? Does it matter? We don't need to explain anything! Maybe by itself, I might not have minded, but there were just too many things that broke the bounds of disbelief. It's bad writing, plain and simple. Quote:
Ask yourself if this is the road you want them to go down. For if they do a third series, and start ignoring even more of the lore, when suddenly other people can bend multiple elements, and they are using interstellar space ships with 1960's tech. And as a fic writer, I'd love to be able to get away with this stuff. I'd love to write "and then the villain suddenly has a death ray that was never mentioned previously!" and follow that up "but suddenly our hero has a death ray reflection shield that was never mentioned before" and then "but the villain suddenly reveals that he holds all the loved ones of the hero captive as hostage, despite them being scattered across the world 5 minutes ago!" It would be damn easy to write that way, without worrying about setting things up. Unfortunately, my readers wouldn't let me get away with it. They'd call it for the BS that it is. Quote:
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But as was said above, I can't compare it with Aang's earth bending(or energy bending), because of the clear difference. Aang had to learn to "stand his ground" which he did with the bullmoose. What was Korra's problem? It was never said, other than it just wasn't clicking for her. To me, this was a failing on the part of the writing, to more clearly elucidate as to what Korra's problem was. If they could have done that, and then set up a situation where Korra was forced to overcome her mental block like Aang did, it wouldn't have felt like it came out of nowhere. |
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2012-06-24, 00:57 | Link #923 | |||
Waiting for more taiyuki!
Join Date: Jan 2004
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Technically, Asami is not needed anymore if they leave Republic City in Book 2. Now that the couple is established, 3 is a crowd. Bolin needs to find learn metal bending and find a nice chi bender to hang with so we have 2 couples for Book 2.And since Mako impressed Amon, we need to see more skills from the guy. Quote:
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2012-06-24, 01:18 | Link #924 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: East Cupcake
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^Don't mistake my words. Korra had the techniques to utilize air bending. She trained for it. But, she lacked the fundamental qualities required to actual bend Air, and, truthfully, I do not think she was ever shown actually gaining the traits needed to utilize Air.
Air, by its very nature, is free, and Korra, in a nice dramatic turn, was constantly plagued by her insecurities throughout the series. I liked this. I liked that her fears were (undoubtedly) the root of her inability to be bend air. Sadly, she never really got over her fears, so I am unclear how she was able to bend air (a slight argument could be made that she survived her greatest fear, so she could finally break through her mental block and air bend). Again, her bending air is fine on a theoretical level. She has the training, just not the 'will'. (That being said, I find many of your other critiques are far closer to nitpicking rather than true criticism. The technology of the series can't be questioned too far, especially since it is unknown how long these various death machines had been under production, and there basic design is well within the pseudo steam punk vibe the creators were going for, so I generally disagree with your incredulous response. And, while I was a long time supporter of Koh as well, blood bending is a sufficient answer considering the massive control it has over the body (additionally, as Sokka said in his brief appreance (and I'm paraphrasing), "if you can accept that a fire bender can shoot fire from his forehead at will, then why couldn't a water bender learn to blood bend without the moon?"). As for Tenzin and his family...well Republic city is Aang's city, and Amon and his brother have partially targeted the city because of that, so targeting Tenzin is natural. And, considering that he and his family represent the last of the airbenders, their death would have been a monstrous blow to the world's morale. So, it makes sense (to me at least) that Tenzin would have been public enemy number 2, and this is partially confirmed during the initial invasion as Amon sends multiple mechas and ships simply to capture Tenzin and his family.) Last edited by james0246; 2012-06-24 at 01:38. |
2012-06-24, 01:57 | Link #925 | |||||||||||
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
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in fact, if the villagers knew how hama was abducting poeple (which would be a requirement if they wanted to keep her locked up since they would have to know to avoid her cell during the full moon), then its easy to believe that the rumors of bloodbending would slowly spread from there. Quote:
In the end, katara had a choice... try to keep in a secret and risk the technique being recreated in an unprepared world, or allow word to spread, but prepare the world to counter it should it pop up Hell its even possibly that over the 30 years since the first series (it was outlawed when yakone was around), some other waterbender somewhere already figured it out, or stories of bloodbending had already slipped. Thus given Katara reason to act instead of trying to keep a secret that was no longer secret Quote:
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If they took it a step furthar and actually showed the equalists knocking on their door, then it wouldn't be much of a twist since the idea that they were captured after that would be EXTREMELY predictable. The best kind of foreshadowing is the subtle kind, not the painfully obvious. Quote:
How many times did aang go into the state when his life was in danger? For instance, when he was captured by General Zhao, he did not go into the state and had to be saved by Zuko. The defence mechanism only triggers when DEATH is imminent... and frankly, Amon nor tarlok ever actually attempted to kill korra; just ruin her life As for the emotional trigger... again, this only occurred when Aang either knew about someone who had died (monk gyasto), or when he thought someone he cared about was about to die (Katara getting buried)... This actually fits with the idea of an avatar realizing their power by being at their lowest point. In korra's case, we have to consider the concept of "a fate worst than death" and for Korra that was loosing her bending... Korra was utterly and emotionally destroy and that was enough to trigger her spiritual connection. Quote:
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Korra got overly emotional over Mako, threw out her fist, possibly in a futile attempt to throw a fire ball, and ended up throwing air instead. And just as Aang could easily earth bend after he did it once, she found herself able to throw out crude blasts of air we saw in the previous series that bending is not limited to forms and stance as the emtoional state is also a factor and one that ingores the need for forms and stances... those forms and stance are only key for learning to accurately control that power, instead of just randomly throwing attacks Quote:
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2012-06-24, 02:27 | Link #926 | |
Waiting for more taiyuki!
Join Date: Jan 2004
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Besides she's not on the official website banner so hopefully we can find a nice chi bender for Bolin and drop the excess baggage.
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2012-06-24, 02:36 | Link #927 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: "Sacrifice one to appease the few."
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I'm pretty sure they broke up, even if they didn't say it. Asami saw how Mako reacted to Korra, she couldn't even bring herself to kiss him anymore. Sure he still cares about her but those feelings are no matter romantic since he finally realized that he does truly love Korra and that staying with Asami would only continue to hurt all 3 of them. Besides, they totally needed a happy lovey-dovey ending for Korra. Remember that this is a show for kids, making the ending sad and not with the main couple would be horrible to them.
Anyway, I fully expect Team Avatar, Asami too, to return even after leaving Republic City. Maybe she'll leave for a time or join up later after venting over what happened with her Father and her relationship with Mako. Remember that Asami never once blamed Korra and actually got along well with her. As for the Airbending... Korra did well but it's obvious she's nowhere near Aang's level which is to be expected since even with training this was her first time actually air bending. |
2012-06-24, 02:53 | Link #929 |
Osana-Najimi Shipper
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Mt. Ordeals
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Absolutely awesome IMO...
..EXCEPT for the way they dealt with Masami. "I still care about you" is supposed to be the break up line? PUH-leeze. I started as a MaKorra supporter, but now I think Mako is a TOTAL douchebag that I think Korra is too good for him. I guess it's true that one should be careful what you should wish for... Who says it has to be the little brother? I smell the next wife of the future Fire Lord *cough*AsamIroh*cough*
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2012-06-24, 05:00 | Link #930 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: "Sacrifice one to appease the few."
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The difference is that TLAB was always planned for 4 books. Korra initially was only planned for 1.
Well, I'm sure they can't resist the urge to bring Iroh II for Book 2 in a larger role. I wouldn't mind seeing Asami fall for him though he seems too serious to notice if someone's into him. Even the bending championship cheater may appear again since Korra can now restore his bending. |
2012-06-24, 06:13 | Link #931 |
STARVING ARTIST
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: 永遠の冬の国
Age: 33
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Well, Legend of Korra was an okay enough show, I guess, but it's sad how they've squandered the potential it had by shoehorning in a badly-written romance and topping it with a very lackluster finale. I didn't have much problem with the pacing so far, I like fast pacing, but these last two episodes were simply rushed. Everything fell flat, and all the asspulls didn't help either. 6.5/10
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2012-06-24, 07:57 | Link #932 | |
Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Western Eurasia
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Korra, on the other hand, does not have this big advantage against her opponents. The Equalists were trained to fight earth-,fire- and waterbenders, and bloodbending is just overpowered. I fail to see how that brat was better than Lin Bei Fong. |
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2012-06-24, 08:05 | Link #933 | |||||
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
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I know that would happen but it is stupid. So what if Amon was a bender? He was fully on non benders side. Seeing bender fighting against benders should strengthen their believes instead. Amon should have retreated for time being. He was good with words so he could get power back eventually. What I meant by losong is how easily he got pushed around here. Till now no one could even touch him and now he gets thrown around. He got electrocuted by weak Mako and thrown out of the window by Korra who doesn't even know how to use air properly. I know there was surprise factor and all but with his skills it shouldn't have ended like this. Quote:
Aang kept working on his skills while Korra abandoned them. Quote:
Aang spent 3 seasons until he got to the point of learning energy bending. Previous Avatars did not out loud tell him how to do everything in 1 episode right at the start. They guided him to the right places before he learned stuff while here everything was done for Korra. With such treatment she can be called a spoiled brat. Her character lost all possible development in season 2. The way she cried after losing her bending... would she keep sulking? If yes, she would be an ass since everyone else lost all kind of bending while she still has air. No? Then how would she deal with it? Would she try to find the way to get bending back? That's how it went with Aang, he discovered thing while traveling. Korra got everything handed on a silver plate. Quote:
Asami had fallen for Mako just like Korra after watching games. She mostly fell for his looks and skills what can't be called real love. Here, if she comes to know Bolin then she will fall for him and not for his shell and it will be real. It won't be second best. Just because Bolin and Mako are related shouldn't play any role. Quote:
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2012-06-24, 08:16 | Link #934 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Korra did not train air for only 2 episodes, she was training throughout the series, it just happened off screen. She mentioned she had been in Republic City for months, all that time she was training with Tenzin.
As for training in the original series, people must have short memories. It was the exact same thing in Avatar. We would see Aang training for an episode or two and then the next episode he would have pretty much mastered the element. Because just like in Korra the actual training was happening off screen. I thought the Korra finale was pretty weak overall too but I think people are being a bit nitpicky in this case. Also I definitely hope Asami comes back in the next season, I really like her. Personally I wouldn't mind if both Korra & Asami ditched Mako.
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2012-06-24, 08:23 | Link #935 | ||||||||||
Banned
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As for Tenzin and his family, yes, I agree they would have been targets. That's why we were shown that two airships were sent after them... which Lin took down. I'm not saying it's bad, per se, so much as lazy writing. Like I said, I'd love to, in my fanfiction, just have things happen without setting them up. It would make writing soooo much easier. Why should I need to explain anything? I'll just do what I want, and let the audience come up with their own ideas. Quote:
I often see this attitude, and it's fascinating. That, in order to defend something, someone will make up a bunch of reasons that aren't actually in the show or series itself. As an author, I'd actually love that. Why write out details myself, when I can just rely on my audience to make them up for me? Quote:
The writers set up metal bending rather well, when they had a voiceover of the guru that metal is merely refined earth. And Toph's unique abilities allowed her to sense the particles of earth in there, and bend it. That's good writing. Which brings up another point of bad writing when they introduced platinum in Korra, which they supposedly couldn't bend. Why not? Platinum is metal, too! They never said combustion man's abilities were impossible, and bending has always required a mental component (witness Aan's earthbending learning). The problem they set up with blood bending, is that waterbenders just don't have that kind of power to bloodbend, except when strengthened under a full moon. Maybe Yakone was the strongest water bender there ever was, but they never established that. Look, I'm not against blood-bending, per se. I'm saying that their implementation was sloppy and lazy. If you're going to ignore canon, you better have a damn good reason. That's what this all boils down to: good reasons. It's why you have to make up reasons in your mind, because you can't point to them in the show. Quote:
But mecha are not, in and of themselves, impractical. In the Gundam series, they are very practical and useful; much more agile than tanks or fighters. So my issue with these was that they were impractical for the setting they were placed in. Like most everything else, the writers tried to build them up as a threat, but in order to do that, they had to dumb down the heroes and ignore basic physics and geology. Quote:
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Maybe there are people who are satisfied by making up reasons in their own mind to account for things a show doesn't do a good job establishing. I'm not one of those. And I've said before, there is some amount of lazy writing and bad plot points I am capable of letting pass... but do it too often, and it passes my threshold, and then I unload on every single one. And what kills me, is that there are many ways to resolve all these issues, that you and everyone else have come up with suggestions for, that would have taken all of 5 minutes to do. If a writer can't take 5 minutes to fix glaring issues, that's just lazy. Canon? Lore? Who needs those things anymore? |
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2012-06-24, 09:24 | Link #939 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
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For the record a lot of the complete resolution to the story was because Korra was only supposed to be a 12 episode mini-series.
It was only after this season was already completed by Bryke that Nick approved a 2nd season. They also asked for something like 24 where each season has a separate story unlike the original Avatar. That doesn't excuse some of the sloppy writing we saw in the finale, because even as a stand alone story Korra's ending was pretty weak, but it does explain why things were all tied up at the end.
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2012-06-24, 09:24 | Link #940 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: East Cupcake
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Honestly, besides the pulpy ending and overall bad pacing, my biggest complaint in the last episode was Iroh the Seconds ability to fly a plane. Where did that come from? You can't just sit in a plane and know how to fly.
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avatar the last airbender, korra |
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