Book 3: The Metal Clan

[Musogato]

Discussion for the fifth episode of Book 3: Change, The Metal Clan.

[Alouncara]

This episode was a ton of fun for me. New characters. New scenery. Su seems like a really cool person and I love the society she has created. Her kids seem interesting too. I was concerned Toph wasn't going to have any progeny. But 5 grandkids later and I guess I shouldn't have been worried. I'm also happy that things are kind of ambiguous regarding whether Toph is alive or not. I was under the assumption that she had died. But now I've got some hope of seeing her again ^-^

I dunno how I feel about Opal. She seems like a cute girl. And I'd be curious to know more about how it was for her to grow up with 4 talented brothers while she is a non-bender. I also would love to see her see Toph now that she is an Airbender. I could totally picture Toph teasing her about having a "twinkletoes" in her family now.

Lin's character is fascinating as always. And I look forward to next week seeing how things get resolved/explored. It was a bit heart breaking at the end of the episode to see her break down after confronted by Korra and Opal.

On the other end of the story. I'm so crazy happy about all the airbenders. I really want to see the Northern Air Temple now and see how things have progressed and how Tenzin is training the new recruits now that he has some willing people.

Was I the only one who that the fight scene with Kya and Zhahir was AWESOME? You could really see Katara's fighting style in the way Kya did things. Kya hasn't been explored very much and it was great to see a little bit more of her and see how powerful she is.

Anyway. Loved this weeks episodes. What about you guys?

[ILZ]

It's great getting to explore the Avatar world as it is now. I missed seeing new places and meeting new people. And what a cool city Su and her husband have designed. I'm loving all the character development we are getting in this season. I'm just very glad that they didn't solve a 30 year feud in one day. Pacing seems a lot better and more believable this season. I look forward to getting to learn about the sisters past and hopefully Lin can find some peace and happiness. She has always struck me as so unhappy. It makes sense that Toph had some parenting struggles considering how she was raised. And she was such a tough person that I'm sure it was hard for her to show her daughters a lot of love and affection.


Aw I'm a fan of Opal and Bolin. She seems sweet, but tough enough to tell him when he was being stupid. I liked that Mako called him out on her not being his type.

[Musogato]

I'm surprised that Korra's group was so stunned that Su was Lin's sister -- they're practically twins. Also interesting that neither of them knew their fathers; Bryke's really keeping things open for the various Toph ships. Su's son, the metal sculptor, is so reminiscent of Sokka or Zuko it makes me want to pull out a tin foil hat, haha!

Toph possibly still being around is exciting too. Her leaving to travel around the world seeking enlightenment really made me think of that time her and Iroh had tea on the roadside. Oh God, if they recreated that scene, but it was her as the old wise one giving advice to someone who had run away, I think I'd breakdown crying. (No, it's too much to hope for, shouldn't get my hopes up.)

But I loved hearing Su's story, she seems really cool, and the metal city is absolutely gorgeous. Although you'd think it would get really hot in there, but maybe they're far enough north that it actually helps warm the city? Or not, I have no idea where it is.

Opal seems really sweet, and I hope we'll learn more about her. I didn't realize that she wasn't an earthbender before, so it would be interesting to hear what her experiences were like since all her brothers and parents have a place they fit into and excel at. I'm not sold on her and Bolin's romance (also wth, is he not with Ginger anymore? Please do not tell me after all of that bs last season and that hideous heel-face turn in the finale or w/e, that they broke up off-screen. I will scream.) ......uh, where was I? Oh, Opal and Bolin. Anyway, I'm glad she can hold her own with him, that's always an important trait to have.

Also glad to finally start to get a closer look at Lin and her past. Really interesting to hear about Toph as a parent, and just..... as a viewer, it's nice to see the diversity in parenting/child-rearing. That it's not always magically wonderful; that it's complicated, and that experiences affect how someone in turn will do things. But now I'm itching even more to learn about Zuko's daughter, and Does Sokka Have Kids?? Did anyone choose not to? What's Azula's status? I gotta stop before I get worked up. I'm not gonna get answers anytime soon, if ever.

What else..... Zaheer! and Kya! Their battle was incredible, so great to see Kya hold her own for so long. Definitely a powerful waterbender like her mom. Also, Zaheer looks much better with his new haircut, and now I'm super interested in how he knows about ancient Air Nomads. Could that partly be why he became an airbender? Not because he read about it, but because it hints to that inner spiritual link? Must know more, and I can't put into words how much I want to see the Northern Air Temple.

[Paraiba Ocean]

Actually, I don't think Opal was an earthbender before; I think she mentioned casually that she felt like a "disappointment" because she was the only nonbender among Su's children so she's kind of excited to realize she's an airbender now. I think. Don't quote me on that, but I vaguely remember her saying something to that effect either to Korra or Bolin.

Zaheer continues to be an interesting character. I'll probably reiterate this a gazillion times but I'd like to know what the dealio is with him and his crew. Why do they want to get Korra? Something I'd really like to see are some more people who are morally "gray." I mean, one could argue that Varrick is morally gray, but I'm talking more of an antagonistic perspective. I'd like to think their reasons for wanting Korra are less than... sinister, although their methods are indicative of people who don't mean to sit down and talk about their feelings over tea. idk. I'd just like to see a little intrigue in the sense that we see people who appear to be antagonistic and arguably do antagonistic things, but have a motive that could be something that's not necessarily in the name of evil.

It's unlikely since that's usually not Bryke's MO for bad guys (they develop the characters so you may feel sympathetic as one often does with the story of Azula, so that's not my complaint), but still. Grays are interesting. It's nice to see stories where protagonists face difficult choices about doing bad things for the right reasons or good things for the wrong reasons, I think. It adds a lot of layers of realism, insofar that people tend to be morally gray.

(I blame the new Fifty Shades trailer for incorporating all this use of the word gray. And I loathe it.)

[asian malaysian]

Zaheer was a very interesting charater. I would like a bit more back story on him. How did a clearly spiritual air bender like him get that way?