Escalus (Syn)
Avatar Kyoshi
Your Avatar title might impress some people, but not me.
Posts: 1,336
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Post by Escalus (Syn) on Jun 19, 2012 2:41:03 GMT -5
I think that to many times we look at Korra and move towards the whole "character development" card. I think there had been development, just in a different way then ATLA. While its not backstory based, I like the way it seems to be a growing conflict with people thrust into the middle. I would say that we need to have one episode every 4 episodes or so that slows things down. Maybe a "Bitter work" or "Waterbending Master" type episode that lets Korra move forward, but also gives time for "Sokka and Yue" esque side stories. So far its been hop everywhere, fight something... maybe learn something new.
I will say that I love the way the old Gaang is being treated this season (except that rather unfortunate faux-pas from a certain water tribe warrior) by bringing then down to earth and showing that there where secrets and uneasiness between them when it came to major matters.
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Post by bolinfangirl on Jun 19, 2012 17:00:02 GMT -5
Thats what we get when they wanted it to be a mini series, thank goodness they got a season 2 or I think we'd all be ticked off with how things endedXD
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Post by Nashk Tategami on Jun 20, 2012 2:58:59 GMT -5
I guess we have to also remember that LoK was meant to be just a 12 episode miniseries - purely event driven (Anti-Bending Revolution). I guess from Bryke's point of view, they are not telling a story about Korra and her friends, but more of "In the year ____, this happened and this is how it went down". Compared to the original series' "This is a story of an Avatar named Aang".They are contracted to do 26 episodes, not 12. Yes they are contracted for 26, but Nickelodian had to convince them to do the second season. The series was originally just going to be a 12 episode miniseries, and thank god that changed as the team obviously underestimated what they could do in twelve episodes. I mean there is so much we could cut out without losing anything. You could cut out Asami with little to no loss. You could cut out the entire probending arc. You could cut out Tarrlock's entire "Yakone arc" and remove his entire relation to the past, and etc. The probending should have been cut down a few episodes and skipped to the final match faster, and removing that first shipping episode could have done it. That would have left more room for developing Amon, or the situation in the city, or even just fleshing out the characters. The entire Yakone Arc was pointless as well. Absolutely nothing came from that, and it seemed the only point was to show us how terrifying Amon is, and I think that could have been solved much more elegantly and with less time. Asami just seems to have no point. She is used as a convenient excuse to solve the pro bending arc and remove any money troubles. She is given perfect fighting ability, beauty, and a myriad of other skills with no character flaw to balance it. (and no, jealousy over a cheating boyfriend is not a flaw,) It all seems to come down to wasted time. Too many stories that deviate from the main point, not enough time on the core plot.
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Post by Paraiba Ocean on Jun 20, 2012 22:08:49 GMT -5
I feel like these mini arcs would be tolerable if they contributed to the main plot but they typically don't, or what they do contribute isn't enough to make up for the time spent on it. ie, I feel like Korra could have tapped into spirituality a little bit more without Tarrlok and in the end I feel like Aang's ~message~ was completely useless.
OH MY GOD HE'S YAKONE'S SON.
wtf does that do for anything? Sure, it explains why he can bloodbend during the day but I don't really see what more we learned except from Aang took bending away from more than just Ozai.
Hearing rumors there will be a lot of character growth in season 2, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. I think all these characters have a lot of potential, and despite all the Mako hate, I find myself liking him more and more... just not as Asami's boyfriend.
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Post by Empy on Jun 21, 2012 14:06:46 GMT -5
This season was kind of a hot mess in my opinion. I love the art style and the riff on 1920's and seeing the Avatar world develop and modernize. I love Amon and the equalists; I think they created a really complex foil to the avatar and bending in general. Despite all this, the writing needed to be tightened up and there needed to be a ton more emphasis on characterization rather than bringing something up once and basically forgetting about it. The love triangle made me want to ragebend my head into the nearest wall. I love Lin, Asami, Bolin (even if he's basically turned into shallow comic relief...) and Amon (Tenzin's cool too) but it makes me sad that Mako and Korra (her especially) I feel at most ambivalent towards. What grinds my gears the most about this first season was there was SO MUCH potential and so many missed opportunities. It's a good show and it clearly made me invested but it definitely did not reach the expectations I set for it.
AND WHATEVER HAPPENED TO KORRA LEARNING TO AIRBEND? THIS BOOK IS CALLED "AIR" AND IT'S BEEN MENTIONED LIKE... TWICE IN THE PAST 4 EPISODES.
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Post by Paraiba Ocean on Jun 21, 2012 16:51:12 GMT -5
I actually love/relate to Korra so much, but I think that depends on how you look at her. Taking her feelings about Mako out of the equation (truthfully after she expressed how she felt/kissed him she really let him go which I admire), I actually love her more than Aang though I admittedly was never a big Aang fan, but I think that Korra and I are very similar personality wise.
And that being said, I think Mako and I are similar too in some of our relationship choices, so that's why I feel a bit compelled to defend/protect him. But I do think that parts of the love triangle were too forced/uncomfortable.
Then again, I've always felt Bryke has never been strong with romance. It's like they did the same thing with Katara/Aang's relationship by presenting Aang's feelings, then dropped it except with a hint here or there before making the big ~moment/acceptance~ literally the last few minutes of the LAST episode. Makorra feels almost the same... like Korra and Mako addressed feelings, but Mako pursued Asami then they just now bring it up in the last few episodes. I wouldn't be surprised if Mako/Korra have their big ~moment~ the last few minutes of the episode tbqh.
100% agree about airbending being put too far on the back burner. For Aang, it was like a required component of his journey to defeat Ozai to learn the other 3 elements. For Korra, it's like they're saying, "3/4 is good enough." Of course I still imagine they will make her airbend at some point as a dramatic moment/turning point lol
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Post by Empy on Jun 21, 2012 18:16:41 GMT -5
I like Korra's brass and that she can kick butt and knows it. But, even if she had development in sort of learning patience and accepting Mako and Asami's relationship, I just feel like she could have been developed a lot more as the protagonist instead of focusing on that poorly written love triangle.
I actually had high hopes for Mako and Korra's relationship because I thought he could be a vehicle for her to sort of check her privilege. She's never known hunger like he has. She's never had to worry about the kinds of things he's had to go through so I thought it would be a good way to get Korra to start empathizing more. But alas, that thread got dropped super early and it's a shame they never never address the class disparity even between Mako and Asami where it's even more pronounced. I think that would have been some great character development on Asami's end since we've seen her used to an extremely privileged lifestyle where's she's literally waited on. But it's never addressed and her adjustment to a life completely different from the one she's used to is never addressed either.
And I think the biggest missed opportunity for Korra is she hasn't really been able to CONNECT with the non-benders. Asami might be on "team Avatar" but with all the love triangle drama (if you couldn't tell, I REALLY don't like this love triangle xD) there's obvious friction. Pema is a side character for the most part and is married to a bender. You never get Korra to grasp the gravity of the plight of the non-benders. There's a reason these people join the equalists. It's because they feel frightened, abused, and oppressed. Korra has to realize that bending is a privilege and one that has been abused not only on other benders, but on non-benders who for the longest time had no means to defend themselves. We had that one line a few episodes ago, "You're our Avatar too" but I really think this theme should have been focused on far more since it's the crux of the entire conflict to begin with.
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Post by Paraiba Ocean on Jun 21, 2012 18:29:46 GMT -5
I do agree it would have been nice to sort of put a check on Korra. Though she doesn't have the same amount of wealth that Asami does, she's still the Avatar and she's obviously been on a pedestal, and even then she continues to experience care as Pema and Tenzin's family offer her a home. But really, the part I like about Korra the most is her frustration with not being able to grasp something after being so good at everything else. With Aang, he did get frustrated with how he struggled with both firebending and earthbending (earth more than fire), but Korra had water, earth, and fire come so naturally to her, plus she's clearly adept at melee combat. And beyond airbending, she can't even communicate with her past lives and ergo is unable to trigger the Avatar State. And her fear of Amon is so sad, every time she gets scared and cries because she's worried about him aksncdjakshda I feel so much I mean, idk, I think the plot has had some weak moments, but I'm starting to really like the characters more the more I think about it. There's just a lot about them individually that I can relate to... except for you know Asami's lack thereof imperfections lol.
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Post by Empy on Jun 21, 2012 18:48:57 GMT -5
Haha I know what you mean about Asami. I love her character but I can definitely understand why people think of her as Ms. Perfect of sorts. I still think her relationship with Mako could have been used to develop her... In my head she would have had a hard time adjusting to this new lifestyle and either have Mako help her or check her depending on how she portrayed these frustrations. But again, it's never brought up so the only flaw you see Asami have is her being reduced to some jealous girl (which I think she has a right to be upset but still... it's sad that that's the flaw they decide to go with).
I think also one of my issues is that this Team Avatar definitely doesn't have the camaraderie that ATLA had. At least I'm not getting it. I would have loved it if Korra and Asami could just have been friends. I feel like there's so much animosity between the women in this show. Even Pema was throwing shade at my HBIC Lin after who knows how many years? All these girls need to just band together and not let drama get between them. God. And I would love more brotherly love between Mako and Bolin. For a while all they had was each other and even that relationship's been put on the back burner.
IDK I do like the characters (Mako frustrates me for a lot of reasons but I don't think I can say I dislike him) but it's like... there's been so much emphasis on inconsequential things that they all read off as sort of one-dimensional. Like Bolin. The past few episodes he's gotten a couple one-liner zings of dialogue but hasn't really had any impact on the plot. He's been reduced to comic relief/more relationship drama. And whatever happened to his feelings for Korra anyways? One minute he's broken hearted and then poof it's like it was never there... The kids are all rather one-dimensional as well although I suppose since they're side characters as well I shouldn't really gripe. I was miffed with the "STAY AWAY FROM MY DAD'S EX GIRLFRIEND" Because Lin is so much more than that OMG! And she shouldn't be defined by a failed relationship that was possibly broken up in part by Pema's Taylor-Swift-You-Belong-With-Me logic.
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Leaf
Gran Gran
Posts: 585
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Post by Leaf on Jun 22, 2012 2:10:04 GMT -5
At least the next season it's pretty standard to have 14 episodes of a television series. Like Doctor Who.
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Post by Paraiba Ocean on Jun 22, 2012 11:47:43 GMT -5
It could have, but I think that Bryke flat out blows at relationships. I think she could have been developed too because I think she's a great foil to Korra's character by first being a friend, then being the girl Mako gets lovestruck by. I don't really consider Asami's jealousy in this situation to be a flaw since it's warranted.
Personally I think Pema's hostility towards Lin is a little unwarranted (you're having Tenzin's 4th child ffs), but I've never really seen any animosity between Asami and Korra. Actually, from everything I can tell, Asami and Korra like each other as friends. Korra initially had a certain impression of Asami, but she quickly countered it ("I had you pegged wrong"). Plus after Hiroshi was discovered to be conspiring with the Equalists, Korra offered Asami a home and told Mako to support Asami during this time. And Asami joined Korra in her combating the Equalists in episode 8, effectively sticking her neck out for her since she was a nonbender and Tarrlok had his curfew in effect. Then Asami helps search for Korra after getting busted out of prison, and I expect will continue to aid Korra in her plight against Amon.
lol I guess I basically went through the entire list of examples of Korra and Asami as friends, but even when Asami confronted Mako she said, "I like Korra." Her problem is with Mako's feelings towards Korra, not Korra herself.
Mako frustrates me too because I want to hit him with a bag and tell him to stop messing around with Asami and get with Korra I will go down with my ship, but he's kinda realistically portrayed for an 18 year old boy. lol. Do 100% agree that Bolin has been seriously undercut. His lines have been 95% comic relief, 5% spilling the beans on Mako. idk I always gathered Bolin letting go of his feelings after seeing Korra kiss Mako/the end of the episode, he realized he was friendzoned and just kind of moved on. I gathered his feelings to be more of a crush that he quickly got over after being rejected, not really a romantic relationship he intended on pursuing. lol I did make a face of Dx at Jinora's comment, but I figured it was supposed to be comic like Meelo's airbending move rather than taken in stride.
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asian malaysian
Avatar Kyoshi
Let me hear you say this ship is bananas! B-A-NA-N-A-S!
Posts: 1,308
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Post by asian malaysian on Jun 23, 2012 3:09:04 GMT -5
Guys, lets be honest. This was what we wanted:
It just couldnt be done in 12 episodes.
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Post by anitajob on Jun 23, 2012 11:21:33 GMT -5
It just couldnt be done in 12 episodes. LOK is 26 episodes, not 12. Once Nick got them to do 26, they should have filled in all the gaps and added depth to all the outstanding issues people have raised in this thread (make Bolin more than the new Sokka, fill in Mako's and Bolin's backstories, make the relationships between Korra, Asami, and Mako deeper and more believable).
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Post by GROOONK'D on Jun 23, 2012 11:23:05 GMT -5
I feel like throwing up.
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Alleluia
Kyoshi Mai
Earthbending General of the Zutarian Army
Icon by Youkaislayer
Posts: 2,384
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Post by Alleluia on Jun 23, 2012 11:38:21 GMT -5
Agreed. After all this, all we get is Amo-- excuse me, Noahtogg-- uses bloodbending to take away people's bending "somehow"? And then Aang shows up and magically fixes Korra's bending and now she can magically do it, too? Its the lion turtle fiasco all over again. Literally, actually, since its the same, broken, deus ex machina as before. Apparently Bryke *still* couldn't come up with a reasonable set of mechanics for how this stuff works so they left it vague. Again. Guys, lets be honest. This was what we wanted: It just couldnt be done in 12 episodes. I honestly doubt Bryke is capable of this when writing on their own, regardless of how many episodes there were. They'd need a team for this.
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