The Legend of Korra is an Animated Series from Nickelodeon and a Sequel Series to Avatar The Last Airbender and part of the overall Avatar franchise. It premiered on April 14, 2012.Set seventy years after the events of its predecessor, the series follows the adventures of a boisterous teenage girl named Korra, a member of the Southern Water Tribe and Aang's successor as Avatar. Having easily mastered all the elements but Air, she follows her Airbending teacher to Republic City, a metropolis based off of the Roaring Twenties where crime is rampant and an anti-Bending movement led by a faction called the "Equalists" is growing in strength. Under the guidance of Tenzin, the son of Aang and Katara, Korra struggles to master Airbending while balancing her status and responsibilities as the famed Avatar of legend. Thematically, there are some differences between it and the parent show: while Avatar the Last Airbender is arguably High Fantasy with East Asian elements mixed in, the Legend of Korra is Urban Fantasy in an East Asian setting, complete with mass media and politics.While it was originally announced as a twelve-episode Mini Series, Nickelodeon picked up an additional fourteen episodes during production, intending them to premiere in 2013. After the success of the first twelve episodes, another 26 episode season was announced with an unknown air date. It was later announced that the series would be divided into two 26-episode seasons of two "books" each (twelve and fourteen episodes for books 1 and 2, and thirteen each for books 3 and 4).The first two episodes received a limited online release in the United States from March 24th-25th as a reward for liking, sharing and tweeting the website KorraNation 100,000 times.Recaps of the show can be found here. Also has a page for memes.Not to be confused with The Legend of Korah, or the Kohr-Ah.
This series provides examples of:
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Absentee Actor: "The Spirit of Competition" does not feature Tenzin at all, though he is spoken of.
Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Republic City has a massive underground tunnel network, home to both the Equalists and the city's homeless population.
Age Cut: In "Welcome to Republic City," four-year-old Korra affects an intense expression as she firebends directly into the camera, obscuring the scene with a burst of flame, which seventeen-year-old Korra disperses while wearing a matching expression.
By the end of the first season finale, even though both Tarrlok and Amon/Noatak did many horrible things, the revelations of their history and their tragic deaths ultimately made both of them feel like this even in spite of it.
If you believe that the Lieutenant was offed by Amon, he counts too.
Nick.com's "Welcome to Republic City" adventure game, which provides supplemental information not presented in the show itself.
Several items within the adventure game (particularly the history books at City Hall) recursively reference events detailed in the Interquel graphic novel trilogy Avatar The Last Airbender The Promise.
Animation Insider'sfamily tree◊ reveals the names and bender status of Korra's parents, as well as the faces and bender status of Tenzin's siblings.
Korra Nation has concept art, interviews and production details.
Bryan Konietzko's Tumblr has concept art and usually some accompanying information on character development.
All Your Base Are Belong to Us: In "Turning the Tide," the Equalists seize both the Republic City government buildings and Air Temple Island, forcing everybody to flee.
Are We There Yet?: In "Welcome to Republic City", the introduction of Tenzin and his family features his daughter Ikki asking this over, and over, and over...
Tenzin: [While son Meelo gums his head] Yes, Ikki. As I've been telling you for the last fifteen minutes, we are — finally — here.
Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: In "The Spirit of Competition," Bolin asks Mako what he thinks of the idea of asking Korra out. Mako responds that he likes her, but he's already in a relationship, prompting Bolin to clarify:
Bolin: I was talking about a girlfriend for me! Leave some ladies for the rest of us!
In "Welcome to Republic City", Korra's readiness to fight gets her pegged as a Destructive Savior by the metalbender cops.
In episode eight, "When Extremes Meet", Asami is arrested for trying to stop oppressive measures against non-benders. Tarrlok claims that her father's connection to the Equalists is the reason, and when Mako and Bolin try to come to her defense they are put in the slammer, too. Ultimately, Tarrlok admits directly to Korra that he is simply doing this to manipulate her and force her cooperation.
Art Evolution: Art director Bryan Konietzko has discussed his evolution towards more realistic proportions and less oversized heads. This is particularly noticeable when redrawn original series characters appear as stills during the Opening Narration. Far greater detail and more CGI is used, leading to a far cleaner and more realistic look than the original series.
Awesome Personnel Carrier: The Nick.com "Welcome to Republic City" game details the police force's armored trucks.
Back-to-Back Badasses: Korra and Lin fight Equalists posed this way in "And the Winner Is..."
Badass Army: It takes more than a mere Avatar to impress Republic City's metalbending police force. The Equalist chi-blockers are also formidable foes, skilled in martial arts, ambush tactics, and motorbike-riding.
Baddie Flattery: In the finale "Endgame", Amon compliments Mako striking him down briefly with lightning bending stating that it's the first time anyone has ever gotten the better of him. He says it's almost a shame to remove the bending of someone so talented. Almost.
Balloon Belly: In "The Spirit of Competition" Pabu gets one after joining Bolin for a night of binging on noodles.
Batman Gambit: In "The Voice in the Night", Tarrlok arranges for a group of reporters to accost Korra at a party he is throwing in order to force her to join his anti-Equalist task force. When they accuse her of cowardice and abandoning her duty to the city, she responds by immediately joining the task force.
In "Welcome to Republic City," Korra uses an Effortless Amazonian Lift to pick up Tenzin and his children to give them a group hug.
In "The Spirit of Competition" Mako unceremoniously grants his brother one in cheer when Korra pulls off an incredible "hat trick" single-handedly (much the same way he did in his introduction), and wins the match that gets them to the finals.
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. In Korra's fight with Tarrlok, his icicle-rain move results in several visible cuts, and she spends the next episode covered in the same cuts and multiple bruises.
Belligerent Sexual Tension: Korra and Mako butt heads when they meet in "A Leaf in the Wind" and while infiltrating "The Revelation", but recognize that they have feelings for each other, and overtly act upon them once in "The Spirit of Competition".
Tarrlok gave Korra a roadster◊ that features over a dozen design cues from expensive cars from the twenties to the forties, most noticeably Auburn◊.
Asami's motor scooter◊ looks mostly like a Vespa, which was a 1940s onward scooter, making it a bit of an "odd man out" among the "Oriental Jazz Age" aesthetic.
Shady Shin and the other Triple Threat Triad gangsters use a hot◊ rod◊ based on various Ford◊ Model◊ T◊ hot rods.
In Episode 7, Asami takes Korra for a spin around the Sato test track in a race car◊ resembling a two-seater version of the 1920s race cars◊.
There are also plenty of buildings that resemble real-world ones.
The Cabbage Corp headquarters◊ resembles Boji Tower in Lansing, Michigan. It was built in part by Oldsmobile, which Cabbage Corp shares other similarities with.
The tower◊ Bolin took Korra to on their date resembles the Eiffel Tower and Tokyo Tower.
Blue with Shock: In "The Voice in the Night", Tenzin goes blue in the face when his son Meelo uses something as a toilet off-screen—at a high-society gala.
Boobs of Steel: Korra is one of the bustiest girls in the show (if not the avatarverse), including the ones who are pregnant. She is also, needless to say, exceedingly powerful physically and bending-wise.
Bound and Gagged: Bolin and a few Triple Threat Triad members in Episode 3. Then again with Korra after Tarrlok defeats her with bloodbending in Episode 8. Tarrlok forgot the "gagged" part, though, and nearly got his face burned off by a livid fire-breathing Korra for it.
Brand X: The Pro Bending tournament is sponsored in part by Flamey-O's Instant Noodles
Bratty Teenage Daughter: Discussed in "A Leaf in the Wind" when Tenzin expresses frustration with Korra, now his live-in student. After his daughters witness a particularly bad bout where Korra insults Tenzin's teaching skills, Tenzin tries to avoid the inevitable.
Tenzin: You must promise me your teenage years won't be like this!
Breather Episode: After two pretty dark and brutal episodes, "The Spirit of Competition" is a fairly lighthearted story involving the pro-bending tournament and the show's Love Triangle, and comes right before a slew of Wham Episodes.
Breaking the Fellowship: Of a sort. While Team Avatar seems to be going strong by Book Two, the Fire Ferrets are not. Korra and Mako have left the team for unknown reasons, leaving Bolin as the sole original member.
Break the Haughty: Korra was so used to being a natural prodigy at the physical side of being the Avatar that she assumed that connecting with the spiritual side was another game to win. This only changed when she admitted that the loss of her bending broke her heart.
Bridal Carry: After Naga arrives in Republic City with an injured Korra Mako shoos everyone away and carries her like this to Oogi. All the while he tells her how worried he was and assuring her that she's safe now. The implications of this are not lost on Asami.
After the Wolf-Bats' semifinal match, which the Wolf-Bats win the match in record time, the opposing team is carried away on stretchers, and one of them has a hole through his helmet.
In "The Aftermath", while fighting Mecha-Tanks made out of metal-bending-proof platinum, Chief Beifong resorts to the strategy of bending her metal bracer into a Blade Below the Shoulder, leaping up to the shoulders of one of the Mecha-Tanks, and driving the claw straight through the more vulnerable cockpit canopy. The chi-blocker piloting it is shown desperately dodging. After a few cuts, we see the Mecha-Tank as immobile, Beifong having bashed though most of the canopy segments.
Bullying a Dragon: Being the Avatar hasn't stopped people from being overtly confrontational with Korra. Tahno does this intentionally, because Korra attacking him would disqualify the Fire Ferrets from competing against his team. Tarrlok also mocks Korra as a "half-baked Avatar in training" since she hasn't mastered airbending, despite the fact that she has mastered the other three. His bloodbending did allow him to best her in a battle, but it was a trump card he only played in desperation. He got a solid ass-kicking when he tried to beat her in a straight fight.
Burping Contest: In "The Spirit of Competition" Korra and Bolin get into one on their date, much to the horror of the other patrons in the restaurant. Korra seems to come out on top.
Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Automobiles are called Satomobiles and Motorcycles are called Satocycles, after Hiroshi Sato, the Henry Ford-like industrialist who first marketed cars to the masses.
Pabu, who is very clearly a red panda, is called a "Fire Ferret".
In "The Revelation," when Amon takes away Lightning Bolt Zolt's bending, Zolt says the same thing that Ozai said when Aang took his bending away in the series' finale. The flashback in "Out of the Past," where Aang takes away Yakone's bending, similarly refers to the same scene.
In "The Aftermath", the owner of Cabbage Corp shouts "No, not my Cabbage Corp!" as he is arrested, similar to how the Cabbage Merchant did in the original series. Comes complete with an establishing shot featuring a statue of the original Cabbage Merchant holding a head of cabbage triumphantly towards the sky.
In "Endgame", the Amon mask floats to the surface of the water in a similar way as Zuko's discarded Blue Spirit mask.
In "The Spirit of Competition, " Flamey-O Instant Noodles sponsored the tournament. "Flamey-O" was a term that Aang insisted was Fire Nation slang when he was going to a Fire Nation school in season three's "The Headband."
In "The Voice in the Night". When Korra challenges Amon to a duel, he has his men restrain her and explains that while he could take her bending away, he will not because that would make her a martyr. Instead, he details a plan to take care of her last.
In Endgame, Amon ditches that plan and de-bends her anyway, before the revolution has spread beyond Republic City, when she saves the last airbenders and attempts to expose him as a bloodbender.
Casual Danger Dialogue: Episode 6, "And the Winner Is" - The Pro Bending commentator Shiro Shinobi. He retains the same energetic and fast-paced reporting tone when the match concludes and the Equalists start emerging from the audience and using electric gloves to attack the event. He does not even change tone when they attack him, adding that he is peeing his pants without the tiniest vocal quiver.
Catapult Nightmare: Korra gets one in "The Voice in the Night", as a result of being truly afraid for the first time in her life.
Central Theme: Attaining balance, whether it be in an individual, a city, or the world. Recognizing one's own strengths and weaknesses, and by doing so, adapting to your personal environment and situation.
Cerebus Syndrome: While the series is not lacking in the characteristic humor/wacky characters that TLA possessed, the overall tone is much more melancholic than the earlier episodes of TLA and is more on par with its darker episodes.
Changing of the Guard: Korra and her compatriots take up the mission of their fore-bearers: to preserve peace and balance in the world.
At the end of the very first episode, a blueprint of a Mini Mecha can be seen on the wall of the Equalist base. Cut to episode seven where they are wreaking havoc on the Metalbender Corps.
Asami grew up at her father's factory, not only learning to drive cars but other vehichles. Knowing how to work the forklifts allows her to drive the Mini Mecha her dad built.
Chekhov's News: In "A Leaf in the Wind", Korra hears of up-and-coming pro-bending team the Fire Ferrets, and their star player Mako, via a live radio broadcast. Combined with Chekhov's Gunman in "A Leaf in the Wind," when Korra is reading the newspaper, and a picture of Tahno can be seen on the back of the paper. He shows up three episodes later as her rival.
Chekhov's Gunman: Gommu, the homeless guy from the first episode who was really jazzed about that bush. Cut to the Book One finale and we find out why: the bush hides a secret passage to an underground city of homeless people (which just so happens to be composed of benders and non-benders who live happily side-by-side) where Korra & Co. hide during the Equalist occupation.
Chekhov's Skill: In "A Leaf in the Wind", the spiral dodging movements and footwork Jinora demonstrates and Korra struggles to master later help Korra win her first pro-bending match.
At the racetrack in "The Aftermath" Asami mentioned she had taken self defense classes which later prove useful in subduing a chi blocker and her father
City of Adventure: Republic City, the show's main setting in Book One.
Close-Call Haircut: In "When Extremes Meet", Tarrlok's opening attack on Korra slices off a few hairs from her ponytail when she dodges it.
Unlike the original series, where with few exceptions anyone's Elemental Nation citizenship or Elemental Powers could be determined at a glance, the people of Republic City either use a wide range of colors in their fashion, or Downplay their traditional colors, as with multi-ethnic bender crime gangs the Triple Threat Triads. People that live in their countries of origin, and people who are deeply involved in their culture (like Tenzin and his followers, the Air Acolytes) still play this straight.
Mako and Bolin typically wear dark brown in the fashion of Republic City, but they always have colored trim appropriate for their bending elements. Mako's sentimental scarf is conveniently red.
Pro-bending teams identify which element each team member bends by their color-coded belts and helmets.
Combat Commentator: Introduced in "A Leaf in the Wind," Shiro Shinobi, the announcer at pro-bending matches, narrates the action for spectators and radio listeners. He also narrates the Previously On segments, complete with footage edited to look grainy and sepia-toned. Played for Laughs and drama in "And the Winner Is," where he continues commentating in the same manner he always doeswhile he has an Equalist mook confronting him and about to electrocute him.
Combat Tentacles: The Metalbender Cops' weapons of choice are wrist-mounted retractable cables that can be manipulated through bending. They are used to tie up criminals and move around the city.
Conflict Killer: The first three episodes, and the pre-premiere commercials which contained footage from only the first two episodes, emphasized the criminal element of Republic City as the largest issue facing society and Korra's primary enemy. However, in "The Revelation" the Equalists, who had received only infrequent mentions and a single appearance of their leader, Amon, shifted the focus of the story to the bender/non-bender conflict after interrupting a planned gang war and eliminating the Triple Threat Triads in a single night.
In "The Revelation", Korra recalls the anti-bending protestor from "Welcome to Republic City" who gave her a hard time, and tracks him down so she and Mako can pump him for information on the chi-blockers.
When Korra explains to Tenzin that Amon can take away a bender's bending permanently, Tenzin mentions that previously only the Avatar had that power: This power was developed and used in the series finale of the original show.
In the flashbacks in "Out of the Past" we see Sokka speaking of both Combustion Man, and beating him with his boomerang, and Toph developing metalbending. The same episode shows that even at aged 40, Toph still calls Aang Twinkle Toes.
Conspicuous CG: CGInote mostly provided by Moving Picture Company's parent firm Technicolor S.A. is used for many things, including Satomobiles, Aang's statue in Republic City, Yue Bay, the police zeppelins, the airbending training gates, the boat Korra travels on, and for a brief shot in episode 7, Korra and Asami.
Conveniently Timed Attack From Behind: In "The Revelation" as bola-wielding chi-blockers advance toward a sprawled Mako and Korra, Naga frees herself. She and Pabu lunge bellowing (and squeaking) at them, at which they throw their smoke screen and flee.
Cool Bike: The Equalists' motorcycles and Asami's moped.
Cool Car: Future Industries' race car◊ is pretty cool, as is the gangsters' hot rod and the roadster◊ Tarrlok gives Korra. Even the regular Satomobile sedan◊ is pretty cool. Then there's Asami's alternative transport (a phaeton-type car) when Naga objects to carrying four people at once in "When Extremes Meet".
Mako: I like the new Team Avatar's style.
Cosplay: In the final match between The Wolf Bats and the Fire Ferrets, cosplayers of the respective teams can be seen in the stands.
Crash into Hello/Meet Cute: In "The Voice in the Night" Asami meets Mako by nearly running him over with her moped.
Crazy-Prepared: The Satoplanes, despite being the first (and only) heavier than air flying machines in the world, have rear-firing bolas just in case they get into a dogfight.
Cross-Popping Veins: In Episode 7, when Bolin and Mako are swimming in Asami's pool, Bolin orders her servant to dry him off, only for Bolin to immediately hop back in the pool. The servant understandably pops these.
In "Welcome to Republic City," Korra's battle with the three Triple Threat Triad members is laughably one-sided, despite her numerical disadvantage.
In "The Revelation," Amon has absolutely no trouble dodging the captured bending criminals' attacks and closing the distance so that he can take away their bending.
In "The Revelation," Amon's lieutenant wipes the floor with Bolin and Mako, brutally so.
In "The Voice in the Night", Korra gets ambushed, restrained and broken by Amon in no time flat.
The Wolf-Bats score a first-round victory in "The Spirit of Competition", which was brutal enough to put the other team on stretchers. The very next episode, the Wolf-Bats fall to a Curb-Stomp Battle against the Equalists and pay for it.
When Amon's Lieutenant attacks Asami after she has made clear what side she was on, she proceeds to knock his first rod out of his hand, and then uses his other rod to knock him out.
In "Out of the Past", Tarrlok is on the receiving end of this from Amon, who resists Tarrlok's bloodbending and de-bends him.
Amon's battle with his Lieutenant in "Endgame." The Lieutenant makes a dramatic speech and attacks Amon, who calmly bloodbends him into a wall before the Lieutenant even gets close enough to actually hit him.
Cycle of Revenge: Aang debended Yakone, causing him to plot revenge by raising his children as Tykebombs. This, in turn, caused Amon to lash out at benders in general, and Tarrlok to become a corrupt councilman to succeed were his father failed. Tarrlok realizes this in the end and finally ends the cycle, and Yakone's legacy, by killing himself and Amon.
Damn You, Muscle Memory: In "A Leaf in the Wind", Korra accidentally earthbends when she becomes frustrated during her first pro-bending match, despite assuring Bolin just prior that she would only waterbend to stay within the rules.
Darker and Edgier: Korra is far darker than the original, which already had plenty of dark moments for a kids' show. According to the creators, they were surprised they could even get away with some parts of the show.
In "A Leaf in the Wind", when Korra is trying to airbend, we zoom out to see that her target is actually a picture of Chief Beifong in the newspaper, which she then incinerates in frustration.
At the beginning of "And The Winner Is..." the Fire Ferrets are using photos of Tahno, the captain of the Wolf-Bats, as target practice.
Most of the people that Amon gets his hands on end up losing their Bending. This list includes Tahno in episode six, Tarrlok in episode nine, and Lin in episode ten.
In "Out of the Past", Aang does this to Yakone, who is too dangerous to imprison due to his bloodbending.
Two of Aang and Katara's three children were named after Kya and Bumi.
Mako is a meta example: He is named after Mako, Iroh's voice actor who died during production of the original series.
Tenzin is a meta example: Aang's mentor, killed by the Fire Nation, was named Gyatso. He was named after the Dalai Lama, whose full name is Tenzin Gyatso.
At the end of "Turning the Tides", the General of the United Forces is revealed to be General Iroh, voiced by Dante Basco.
Deadline News: Even as the pro-bending arena is being attacked, and an enemy comes storming into the announcer's room, Shiro Shinobi continues commentating his attack for all the listeners at home.
Death By Despair: Implied with Noatak (AKA Amon) and Tarrlok's parents; dad Yakone died a few years after his favorite son Noatak ditched him and their mom passed a few years after that.
In "The Revelation" we learn that Bolin and Mako's parents were killed when Mako was eight by a firebender who was mugging them. Later in the same episode, Amon claims that his family was killed, and his face scarred, by a firebender who extorted money from his non-bender family. Amon was in fact making up the entire story as part of his anti-bender propaganda. He was the son of former Republic City crime-lord Yakone.
In "Aftermath," we learn that Asami's mother was killed by a firebending triad member. This fact was used by Hiroshi Sato in order to tempt Asami to join the Equalists with him.
In "The Voice in the Night", Pema gives Tenzin quite a glare after he reluctantly allows Tarrlok to join them for dinner. He only acquiesces because according to Air Nomad philosophy, you cannot turn away a hungry guest. Ikki then trumps her mother when she really glares at Tarrlok after declaring him "weird;" her glare continues for twenty seconds, even after the camera pans away from her to cover his conversation with Korra.
In "Endgame", Bolin is on the receiving end of two glares after trying to reassure Korra by telling her that at least she is still able to airbend after losing the other three. He wisely shuts up immediately.
Despair Event Horizon: When Tarrlok realizes that Amon is his brother, and that they have both become tools of their father's vengeance despite their best efforts, he abandons any hope to ruling Republic City and no longer even cares that he has had his bending removed. When Amon invites him to run away together, he instead kills them both.
Destructive Savior: In "Welcome to Republic City" Korra ends up destroying more property than the gang members she caught when she first arrived in Republic City, which is quickly pointed out by the Metalbending Police when they try to arrest her. Chief Beifong is adamant that, Avatar or not, acts of vigilante destruction will not be tolerated.
Deus ex Machina: At the first season finale Amon is defeated, at the cost of Korra losing her bending and she is stuck in the worst crisis imaginable; the Avatar is no more. With Amon having blocked her connections to the three bendings (other than her newly-unlocked airbending), the Avatar is, for the first time in history, non-existent. When Korra travels and sits by an ice cliff to reflect and cry over her loss of identity, she is visited by the spirit of Avatar Aang. One flash of Aang's energybending later, and not only does Korra have all three bendings back, but she also gives us a taste of her Avatar State.
Die or Fly: In "A Leaf in the Wind", when Korra is on the verge of losing the pro-bending match for the Ferrets, she suddenly gets how to move like a leaf in the wind.
Diesel Punk: Despite the inspiration of Steampunk, and use of aesthetics associated with it, the series fits squarely into this category; the internal combustion engine is in wide-spread use and the setting matches the 1920's, with all the cultural trappings.
Bolin: I'm sorry, no, no! I didn't mean to assume! It's that, I was just figuring... with your Water Tribe getup... that you are... a Water Tribe... gal.
Distress Ball: In "Turning The Tides," Lin is defeated by the Lieutenant after attempting to grapple him with her metal cables. The three Airbender children come to her rescue and save the day.
The 1920's environment and the Equalists' rhetoric about overthrowing the ruling class mirrors the Communist/Socialist organizations that sprang up in industrializing countries during the late-nineteenth/early-twentieth centuries.
In "The Revelation" the staging of Amon's removing the bending of the leader and members of the Triple Threat Triads is set up like a public execution, a scene which is inevitably repeated when he does it in later episodes - when the Equalists start debending people in bulk it is presented in the manner of methodical mass executions.
Gommu, the vagabond who Korra meets in the park on her first day in the city and who later helps shelter Team Avatar after things go down the latrine, was a soldier in the United Republic Forces. An unfortunate number of real-life soldiers have difficulty readjusting to civilian life.
The Door Slams You: In "A Leaf in the Wind" Korra has great difficulty getting through the obstacle course posed by the airbending training gates, getting smacked around like a pinball.
"When Extremes Meet" ends with Mako, Asami and Bolin in jail and Korra being driven by Tarrlok to somewhere where she'll "never be found".
"Turning the Tides", which ends with the Equalists conquering Republic City and Air Temple Island, forcing Tenzin's family and Team Avatar to go into hiding. Lin also gets de-bended by Amon.
Down To The Last Play: Happens in "The Spirit of Competition", with the Fire Ferrets' second tournament match.
Dreaming of Times Gone By: Given Korra's spiritual shortcomings, the best Aang can manage (until the Book One finale, anyway) is to show her relevant flashbacks from his own life in an attempt to warn her about bloodbending and Yakone's legacy as opposed to simply talking to her like Roku did with him.
Jinora relates a story she read in a historical novel where a princess was unable to be with the man she loved, so she burned down an entire country via dragon and then jumped into a volcano.
Jinora: It was so romantic!
In "Endgame," Tarrlok, and he takes Noatak/Amon with him. There's also reason to believe Korra was considering it.
Drowning My Sorrows: In "The Spirit of Competition", Bolin performs a family-friendly variation, binge-eating tons and tons of noodles after he witnesses Korra kissing Mako.
There is a massive factory hidden beneath the Sato estate.
Episode nine shows that there is an entire underground infrastructure that the Equalists have built across the city, with transports, storage facilities, factories, training areas and even a private prison.
Electric Slide: In "Welcome to Republic City," the metal-bending police use this to easily chase criminals on the run.
While largely continuing its predecessor's formula of tying a person's eye color to their home nation and bending element, there are some aversions in multicultural Republic City. The firebender on the pro-bending team the Rabbiroos has green eyes and one of the metalbender cops has amber eyes, for example. Tenzin's three kids are airbenders, but the girls have brown eyes.
The three main characters — Korra, Mako, and Bolin — play this trope straight. Korra has aqua blue eyes and is the waterbender of the team, Bolin has leaf green eyes and is the earthbender, while Mako has amber eyes and is the firebender.
Mako and Bolin are a fire and earth bender of the same parents, so while they play the individual eye colours straight, they are also an example of the multicultural nature of Republic City.
While not a bender, Asami is definitely of Fire Nation descent given her name and hair color (her father looks straight out of the Fire Nation) yet she has green eyes, a mark of the intermarrying of ethnically Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom citizens in the Fire Nation colonies.
Elemental Powers: Republic City is full to bursting with fire-, earth-, and waterbenders, and is home to every airbender or potential airbender in the world (all six of them). Particular cases below:
Blow You Away: Tenzin and his first three kids are all Airbenders, and Korra is learning to become one from Tenzin.
Extra Ore Dinary: The police force are all Metalbenders. Their chief, Lin Beifong, is the daughter of the one who created both the discipline and the city's police force: Toph Beifong.
Making a Splash: The native element of Korra and of her people, the Northern and Southern Water Tribes.
An Ice Person: Korra, as it comes with being a waterbender.
People Puppets: Tarrlok, Amon and Yakone are bloodbenders.
The Triple Threat Triads are an actively multi-ethnic bender organized crime gang. In "Welcome to Republic City" Korra meets and beats a Power Trio of protection racket enforcers consisting of a waterbender, earthbender and firebender respectively. Other Triad groups, such as the Agni Kais and Red Monsoons, avert this by being element-specific.
The Equalists are gender and nationality neutral, so long as you're a non-bender.
Eskimo Land: The Southern Water Tribe city at the South Pole, home of Avatar Korra, her parents, and her Waterbendering sifu, Master Katara.
Establishing Character Moment: In "Welcome to Republic City" Korra at age four: "I'm the Avatar! You gotta deal with it!"
Everything Makes a Mushroom: In the finale, an Equalist boat goes up in a small mushroom cloud. Notable in that nothing else in any episode explodes as such.
Exact Words: In "A Leaf in the Wind", Tenzin tells Korra she cannot watch a pro-bending match. When he catches her enjoying one on the radio, she points out that he never said she cannot listen to one. Tenzin, of course, points out that it's a violation of the spirit of the order, if not the letter.
Eye Am Watching You: In "Welcome to Republic City", Chief Beifong gives this to Korra, index and pinky pointed to her eyes, then Korra. Korra gives one heck of a stink face before throwing the gesture right back.
Face De-Bending with Dignity: All of Amon's victims reacted with struggling and screaming as he prepared to remove their bending until Lin, who after defying his demand that she sell out Korra in return for keeping her bending, simply closes her eyes and calmly accepts what is about to happen.
Facepalm: In "A Leaf in the Wind", Mako does this when Korra makes her first mistake as their team's replacement player in a pro-bending match.
Face Your Fears: Korra tries to face Amon, who absolutely terrifies her, in Episode 4. It only makes things worse.
Blurring often transitions from the foreground to the background or vice versa, as if someone is adjusting the focus on a camera.
The demonstrations of earth- and airbending in the intro make the "camera" shake slightly.
Korra and Mako's fight against the chi blockers in "The Revelation" features a moment where the "camera" swivels around Korra and her opponent in a panoramic sweep.
False Flag Operation: In episode 8 Tarrlok, after putting into effect a curfew for non-benders, cuts the power in the Dragon Flats district which would cause the non-bending residents to protest. Tarrlok even branded it as an Equalist rally, and had them all arrested, possibly as a way to bait Amon.
Fangirl: Apparently, Bolin has a ton of them. During the first pro-bending match's opening in "A Leaf in the Wind", one of them can be heard screaming very loudly "I love you, Bolin!", and Mako's initial attitude towards Korra implies that Bolin brings fangirls to their prep room often.
Fantastic Racism: The Equalist movement claims that benders are oppressing the non-benders of the city. The thing is, they have some legitimate points; there are multiple bending crime gangs which prey on non-benders, the police and army appear to be mostly if not entirely benders, and Republic City is ruled by a council of five benders, one from each nation (Fire, Earth, North & South Water, and Air). On the flip side, Amon talks about "cleansing [benders] of their impurity" and other Equalists have voiced loathing at the thought of benders and non-benders mixing romantically.
Fartillery: Meelo first airbends his fart to break his fall in an early episode, later he weaponizes his fartbending against Equalist mooks.
Fascists' Bed Time: Tarrlok imposes a curfew on all non-benders in "When Extremes Meet."
Father, I Don't Want To Fight: occurs in Tarrlok'sbackstory. His father is obsessed with teaching him how to bloodbend but Tarrlok hates it and feels it's wrong to do to the animals they are training on. He finally refuses when asked to bloodbend his brother. In the present day he refuses to use these skills his father taught him until forced to. In a way the same events lead the brother to also refuses to 'fight'. The brother uses the powers his father taught them to stop *all* bending, not just bloodbending, as Amon to prevent anyone from behaving as his father use to.
The Federation: The United Republic of Nations, a collection of former Fire Nation colonies created as a fifth nation.
Feminist Fantasy: A female-led animated action show with a protagonist designed to be athletic and muscular is a calculated risk, but, as seen in the page quote above, it's paid off.
Fictional Sport: Pro-bending, where teams composed of one waterbender, one firebender and one earthbender compete against each other, trying to gain the most territory or knock out as many opponents as possible before time runs out.
Come standard on otherwise heavily padded pro-bending uniforms, as well as the similar armor Korra wears for her firebending test in "Welcome to Republic City."
In "Welcome to Republic City", the firebender of a Triple Threat Triad pulls this to back up his boss's threat against a shopkeeper who was behind on his protection money.
In "The Voice in the Night," Korra manifests a ball of fire in her palm to verify that she can still bend.
For the Mako/Korra/Asami Triangle: Played Straight. Despite dating Asami for several episodes, Book One ends with Mako declaring his love for Korra, whom he met first in the second episode.
For the Korra/Bolin/Mako Triangle: Averted. Despite meeting Bolin first, and even going on one date with him, Korra was never romantically interested in him and explained that she liked Mako from the first time she saw him.
Actually, this can be considered played straight since before Korra met Bolin, she was listening to Mako's match on the radio.
Flashback Cut: Played for Drama in multiple episodes; after Korra is knocked out, she's briefly Dreaming of Times Gone By, with split-second visions of Aang, and his friends Sokka and Toph as middle-aged adults. She eventually gets the full story in "Out of the Past".
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Bolin and Mako. Mako is a tightly controlled young man focused on winning the pro-bending prize money to keep himself and his little brother from going back on the streets, while Bolin is more of an easygoing type with a sense of humor and a way with the ladies and an impulsive streak that leads him into trouble.
Foreshadowing: One notable example is one of Tarrlok's lines in "Out of the Past." [to Amon] "You fool, you've never faced bending like mine!" Turns out, he not only has, but he's specifically faced his before, and it makes the ensuing Curb-Stomp Battle make more sense since Amon knew exactly what to expect.
The Metalbending Corps and Lin are, by definition, master earthbenders, but rely almost exclusively on their metalbending cables rather than their earthbending, even when it would be exceedingly useful.
Justified in that using earthbending would cause a lot of (temporary) collateral damage. While roads and buildings are easily fixed for master earthbenders, glass windows are more expensive to replace, not to mention the disruption of traffic that ground-level earthbending would incur.
In "Turning the Tides", Asami tells Mako he could have heated the water himself, being a firebender, instead of needing to ask for more.
Forceful Kiss/"Shut Up" Kiss: In "The Spirit of Competition", Korra kisses Mako after he explains that he likes her, but he still likes Asami. He kisses her back.
Fourth Wall Psych: Tenzin looks directly at the camera when he says "You must promise me that your teenage years won't be like this!" (He's actually talking to his kids.)
At the very beginning of "A Leaf in the Wind", there is a picture of Tahno, introduced in "The Spirit of Competition", on the back page of the newspaper Korra is reading.
At the end of "Welcome to Republic City", there are blueprints on the wall to Amon's left, apparently detailing Mini Mecha. The mecha themselves appear in "The Aftermath".
The battle moves fast enough that it's hard to notice, but screenshots of "The Revelation"note Look at picture 1008 for a clear side-view of the Equalist indicate that the Equalist who chi-blocks Korra has a feminine figure. Guess they really do strive for equality...
A man in a yellow suit and a hat with a red feathery puff on top has been featured in numerous crowd shots. Fans have made a game out of finding him.
In "Endgame", when Aang walks up to a depowered and depressed Korra, you can see his face clearly see part of his face for a half a second or so before Korra addresses him (as Tenzin) and he reveals who he is to her (and the audience).
From the Mouths of Babes: Ikki pulls this on Korra in "When Extremes Meet". She reveals Korra's crush on Mako to Asami, who was unaware of the crush beforehand. Ikki also likes to comment on stuff that isn't appropriate.
Funny Side-frame Event: After declaring him "weird," Ikki stares at Tarrlok for twenty seconds. The stare continues even after the camera pans to the left to focus on Tarrlok's conversation with Korra, where Ikki can be seen at the right of the shot, still staring at Tarrlok.
Generational Saga: In Korra, the previous series' protagonists, their children and grandchildren are alternately featured, depicted in flashback or discussed, particularly Avatar Aang's multigenerational family, with his reincarnation Korra narratively treated as a de facto member.
Gilded Cage: At the start of the series, Korra lived in a lavish mansion, with her only real challenge in life being to learn bending from masters... in the middle of an inaccessible and heavily fortified compound, miles from any other inhabitants of the South Pole—including her own parents. She was not allowed to leave the compound without permission, and had guards watching her at all times, even while taking Naga on a walk.
Girly Run: In "The Spirit of Competition," Bolin does this with bonus Inelegant Blubbering while fleeing the deeply hurtful sight of his friend Korra (who he'd taken on a date the night before) kissing his brother Mako.
Good Parents: Korra's parents, along with Tenzin and his wife.
Gosh Darn It to Heck!: Enforced, as it is both a family show and Justified as it's set in the equivalent of the 1920s.
Graying Morality: While it's still firmly in the territory of Black and White Morality, there are some subtle hints that the Equalists aren't just Windmill Crusaders, and that nonbenders really are at a disadvantage in society compared to benders.
Group Hug: The Fire Ferrets have one in "The Spirit of Competition" after defeating the Rabiroos.
The Guards Must Be Crazy: A heroic example. While the Order of the White Lotus serve as Korra's Hero Secret Service, she can get around them pretty easily when she wants to.
He Is Not My Boyfriend: "A Leaf in the Wind," when Bolin lies to Toza to let Korra backstage, Korra feels the need to correct him:
Bolin: So, you see, we're together... Korra: Well, not together-together, more like friends. Bolin: Right, right, friends... no, I didn't mean to imply that... Korra: Oh, you implied it.
Healing Hands: Korra is one of the water-benders who have the ability to heal, having learned it from Katara.
Heart Symbol: Mako has them fluttering around his head after meeting Asami, but more subtly, the table and chairs they sit at on their first date are lit in such a way as to strongly imply a heart◊.
One between Korra and Mako in "A Leaf in the Wind" after they win the pro-bending match.
Bolin and a minor unnamed bender share one of these when the bender is led away to have his abilities removed by Amon in "The Revelation".
Heroic Sacrifice: In "The Turning of the Tides, " Lin buys the airbenders time to escape. When captured she refuses to tell Amon where Korra is hiding, and has her bending removed.
Hero Insurance: Subverted in the premiere. Though she assumes she has leeway, Korra learns the hard way that being the Avatar is not a license to dish out vigilante justice and smash property.
Hobos: Korra encounters one in the first episode, living in a bush in one of Republic City's public parks. He alludes to there being quite a few homeless people in the city.
Bolin:(to Korra) In a real match, you'd be a sitting turtleduck. Bolin: [Pabu] is not a one-trick poodle-pony. Korra: What is that weasel-snake Tarrlok up to?
Holding Your Shoulder Means Injury: Bolin performs this in "The Spirit of Competition," after getting smacked by a stray earth disk. Unusually, it actually is his shoulder that's injured, complete with ugly bruise.
Huddle Shot: Used "Spirit of Competition", when Mako tries to build up confidence for the upcoming tournament.
Tenzin is as serious and staid as Aang was carefree.
Lin shares Toph's toughness, she's very strict about enforcing the law and has no patience for the Avatar's vigilante justice.
Asami refuses to join the Equalists with Hiroshi.
Tarrlok decided to try to rule Republic City from within its legitimate leadership, unlike his father Yakone, who tried to rule it from the criminal underground.
I Can't Believe I'm Saying This: When Amon tried to intimidate Republic City into not holding the pro-bending tournament finals, Korra wanted the finals to be held despite Amon's threats. Chief Lin Bei Fong, despite how she usually feels about Korra, agreed with her.
Korra's view of Amon wobbles, goes sideways, then goes dark after he strikes her.
When Tenzin takes a hard blow fighting the Equalist Mechs outside city hall his viewpoint is unfocused, with tunnel vision, until it fades out as he collapses.
Korra: I'm supposed to air sit, I mean baby bend, I-I mean babysit the airbender kids.
Inelegant Blubbering: In "The Spirit of Competition", a deeply hurt Bolin is reduced to this, complete with Ocular Gushers, rivers of snot and miserable wailing.
Infectious Enthusiasm: In "A Leaf in the Wind," staid Tenzin gets caught up in the mood and lets out a celebratory whoop at Korra's first pro-bending victory.
Ironic Echo: During the infiltration of Sato Manor, one metalbender cop was assigned to watch over Asami, Mako, and Bolin. When he tells them to stay put until Chief Beifong returns, Mako and Bolin incapacitate him, and Bolin delivers this spiteful reprise:
Island Base: While not exactly a "base," the Air Temple Island◊ where Tenzin and his family live is pretty sweet.
It Only Works Once: When Korra first fights Equalist chi-blockers, they use smoke bombs to disorient her and cover their escape. The second time she faces chi-blockers she encases the smoke bombs in water and freezes them to contain the smoke.
In Touch with His Feminine Side: Bolin, who despite his bulky physique and athletic profession, is extremely emotional and sensitive, and loves make-overs.
Jazz: Has been added to the soundtrack. A sprightly big-band-esque set of horns plays whenever Korra springs into action.
Tarrlok is using his task force to score political points, but the Equalists are a militant revolutionary group openly advocating the violent overthrow of their country's government and the extermination of bending. Some sort of official response is necessary to that existential threat and Tarrlok is the only council member offering a plan.
Similarly, while the Equalists are depicted as being far too extreme, they wouldn't have been able to raise an army if Benders weren't abusing their powers on the scale we saw.
Just Friends: In "The Spirit of Competition," the Sibling Triangle of Bolin, Mako and Korra articulate their feelings towards each other in various ways. After resulting interpersonal tensions nearly cost them their place in the finals, the three settle back into a mutually friendly dynamic, with the larger underlying Love Dodecahedron unresolved.
Ki Attacks: Like in its predecessor series, bending has a basis in the eastern theme of Chi, so all bending is technically ki attacks of an elementally aligned nature.
In "Welcome to Republic City" Korra is not that good with the verbal wit.
Protestor: Benders like this girl only use their power to oppress us! Korra: What? I'm not oppressing anyone! You're—You're oppressing yourselves! Protestor: That didn't even make sense!
In "The Spirit of Competition", Bolin gets one, but he has the excuse of being "drunk":
Mako: I told you that dating a teammate was a bad idea. Bolin:You're a bad idea!
The first public victims of his bending-removal ability are the leader of the Triple-Threat Triad gang and three of his bender thugs.
Amon's second group of victims is the Wolf-Bats pro-bending team, which had just won the championship through bribery and flagrant cheating.
In Episode nine, he takes out Tarrlok, the Sleazy Politician who was making a grab for power on the backs of Republic City's non-bending population.
Kung-Fu Proof Mook: The Equalists' Mini Mecha are made from platinum, metal so pure metalbenders are incapable of manipulating it.
Lock and Load Montage: Lin gets a brief but spectacular one when she dons her armour in Episode 9. Magical powers make these all the more epic.
Logical Weakness: The Equalists' electrical technology is very effective against the Metalbending Police, whose armor and Combat Tentacles are a perfect conductor.
Played With. When Hiroshi is looking out the window of his mecha he sees Lin stabbing away at another, which then appears to explode. Cut to a different POV and its revealed to really have been Korra blowing fire on his window.
In "Endgame," one biplane blows up for no other reason than that its propellers get stopped by a bola.
Magic A Is Magic A: Bending follows specific rules. Certain characters seeming to violate the rules are major plot points: Amon and Tarrlok can bloodbend when there is not a full moon, and using that with chi blocking, Amon is able to block others bending indefinitely..
Made of Indestructium: Aang's statue. A biplane rammed into its face at speed and exploded; the mask on the statue fell off, but the statue itself was completely unharmed.
Magitek: While a lot of the technology is what you'd expect to find from the 1920s, things are supplemented by bending. Lightningbending generates electricity, metalbending and firebending aid the working of metal and the making of buildings, etc.
The Magocracy: The modern United Republic Council is made up of five benders representing each Elemental Nation (Earth, Fire, Air and North & South Water), so Republic City lacks non-bender representation within its government. Nominally, this trope is not in play—a previous iteration of the council is shown to have at least two non-benders, Sokka and an Air Acolyte.
Man In The Iron Mask: Tarrlok, who is imprisoned in Air Temple Island because he is Amon's brother. This ultimately proves to be Amon's undoing as Tarrlok's knowledge of Amon's true past is used to turn the Equalists against him.
Market-Based Title: Due to the legal issues surrounding the name "Avatar," the show is referred to as just The Legend Of Korra in the United States, and Avatar: The Legend Of Korra for international audiences.
May-December Romance: Tenzin (51), the third child of Aang and Katara, is Happily Married to Pema (35), sixteen years his junior. Their oldest child is 10.
Meaningful Background Event: Bolin is first seen in the background in "A Leaf on the Wind" as he walks past Korra arguing with the gym manager of the Pro-bending Arena. He does a Double Take when he sees her, slicks back his hair and walks over. In "The Spirit of Competition," he explains to Korra that he liked her from the very moment he saw her.
Meaningful Echo: The scene where Amon demonstrates the ability to remove people's bending is extremely similar to the scene where Aang did the same thing to Ozai. Right down to the dialogue.
Zolt: What... what did you do to me?
Meaningful Name: Amon is the name of an Egyptian god. This comes from the root amen, meaning "what is hidden." Amon always wears a mask. It could also refer to Marquis Amon, the 7th listed demon in Ars Goetia.
Medieval Stasis: Averted. The technology present in Aang's time has advanced and spread, with Republic City boasting radios, electricity, cars, skyscrapers, cameras, microphones, and trains. A post-war development boom erased the Fire Nation's previous technological advantage.
Melting Pot Nomenclature: As a melting pot, Republic City plays host to names from multiple ethicities: Korra is a variant of the Greek name Cora, Mako's is Japanese while his brother Bolin's is Chinese. Hiroshi and Asami Sato have Japanese names, as does Shiro Shinobi. Narook the noodle-shop owner's is Inuit. Tenzin and Pema's are Tibetan. Jinora's is Sanskrit. Ikki is Uzbek for "two." Butakha is Indonesian for "bald." Lin Beifong is Chinese, Saikhan is Mongol, Hasook is Korean, and Tarrlok is Irish made to look Inuit.
Mini Mecha: The mecha-tanks. They were built by Hiroshi Sato, for the Equalists.
Misaimed Marketing: In-Universe. The announcer uses Bolin throwing up last night's meal as the perfect time to advertise "Flameo Instant Noodles, the Noodle-iest noodles in the United Republic!"
Korra's Canine Companion Naga the Polar Bear dog, just as giant as one might assume.
Bolin's pet fire ferret Pabu, a mix between a ferret and a red panda.
Descendents of rediscovered Sky Bison and Ringtailed Winged Lemurs (close cousins to Flying Lemur Momo) live on Air Temple Island.
Lizard-crows scavenge in Republic City's urban sprawl.
Spider-Rats are mentioned at one point, but never shown.
Notably averted with wolves, who are shown to be as normal as in Real Life, and one of the first victims of Amon's blood-bending.
Mixed Ancestry: A big difference from the original series, many main characters are explicitly of mixed race, and numerous secondary characters are implicitly this as well. As such, it's no longer possible to instantly know what bending a character may have on sight.
"The Voice in the Night" ends with Korra sobbing into Tenzin's chest as she admits that, for the first time her life, she is terrified and has no idea what to do. "The Spirit of Competition" begins with upbeat big band music and turns into a shipping plot.
"And the Winner Is…" starts with the continuation of the Pro-bending Championship now with more serious opponents and ends with a terrorist attack led by Amon.
Muggle Born of Mages: Animation Insider'sfamily tree◊ reveals Aang and Katara's middle child Bumi as the non-bender of their three children.
Muggle Power: The entire Equalist movement is based around establishing nonbenders in positions of power and eliminating the need for bending entirely, in response to the opression of nonbenders by benders.
Muggles Do It Better: The technology of the Equalists allows them to counteract all known bending disciplines, as well as giving them abilities which exceed bending.
See Fandom Nod above. As Katara begins her story, dramatic music starts in the background, only for it to abruptly stop when Ikki interrupts.
At the beginning of "A Voice in the Night," while Korra practices airbending forms after dinner, she has the radio on to some cheerful music. Halfway through, it is interrupted by a broadcast from Amon.
As Tenzin begins to explain to Korra the choices in life which lead to him choosing Pema over Lin a serene, peaceful music wells up, only to break off with him sputtering "Why am I even telling you this?!"
Mutually Exclusive Magic: As in the original series, all but the Avatar are only capable of bending one element. Children of mixed heritage will learn the element of one of their parents or the other, and perhaps no element at all, but never both.
My Parents Are Dead: In "The Revelation," Mako snaps at Korra when she comments she has people to take care of her, and his brother Bolin explains to Korra that they have been orphaned for quite some time. Later, Mako elaborates further, revealing to Korra that at age eight, he witnessed his parents' murder during a mugging by a firebender.
"The Spirit of Competition" looked as if it would focus completely on the probending tournament, but was really an entire episode about the Love Dodecahedron.
The trailer for the finale had a blatant lie. The trailer showed a clip with Amon saying that would rid the world of bending forever that night. The actual clip revealed that the trailer left out the word "air", preceding "bending", changing the whole meaning of the line.
New Era Speech: Amon gives one of these at an Equalist rally.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Lin Beifong voluntarily resigns from the police force due to her failures to curb the Equalist threat. However, that allows Tarrlok to manipulate the new chief of police.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In "Out of the Past," Korra is solidly trapped in a metal cage, unable to break herself out, and is only freed when the Equalist try and fail to subdue her and capture her themselves.
Flashbacks in "Out of the Past" show that, in the Avatar State, bloodbending has no effect at all upon Aang.
Amon has the ability to simply shrug off bloodbending with little more than a few jittery steps, and it is later revaled that he is a better bloodbender.
Not Bad: In "A Leaf in the Wind" stoic Mako sincerely offers this compliment when Korra successfully follows Bolin's pro-bending advice. It backfires, as she assumes she has been Damned by Faint Praise, to Mako's confusion.
Not Me This Time: In episode 9, the Equalists really didn't kidnap Korra, it was Tarrlok, who then framed the Equalists for it. Tenzin, Lin, Bolin, Mako and Asami only realize this after they have broken into the Equalist underground base and are interrogating one of their members.
Not So Different: In episode eight, Tarrlok compares Korra to himself this way, saying they both use force to get what they want. It is promptly turned on him when Korra states that his actions towards non-benders makes him no better than Amon, making his eye twitch in fury.
When Korra freefalls from hundreds of feet in the air, Chief Beifong does not catch her. She extends a metallic cable, allowing Korra to swing down and slow her descent more gradually and safely.
Whenever Korra jumps into the water, she creates a water spout to slow her descent.
In "Welcome to Republic City" Korra is not that good with the verbal wit when engaging a member of the local Muggle Power movement.
Protestor:Benders like this girl only use their power to oppress us! Korra: What? I'm not oppressing anyone! You—You're oppressing yourselves! Protestor: That didn't even make sense!
In "The Spirit of Competition", an unhappy Bolin gets one, but he has the excuse of being "drunk" on his Comfort Food:
Mako: I told you that dating a teammate was a bad idea. Bolin:You're a bad idea!
Obvious Rule Patch: Pro-bending didn't take into account what would happen if the Avatar became a player. The referees allowed Korra to continue, but only as long as she bent a single element.
During a flashback, Toph is drawn with six fingers. They forgot to correct this when the same scene came up again, even though the scene isn't just a reused clip.
In several scenes during "When Extremes Meet" Asami changes between her regular outfit and racing outfit, the difference is that the former outfit has a skirt.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In "The Spirit of Competition", all we hear of the Wolf-Bats fight is some noise of the hits and the buzzer going off every few seconds. When we look back at them, they won their match in the first round and their opponents are being carried out on stretchers.
Offscreen Teleportation: Special points to Tenzin in "A Leaf in the Wind" for somehow making it from Air Temple Island to the Pro Bending Ring in the 30 seconds between the match resuming and Korra getting knocked into the pool below. Airbenders travel fast.
In "A Leaf in the Wind" the White Lotus guards Spit Take when they are listening to the radio and learn that Korra is playing in the pro-bending playoff.
Tahno gets a moment when the Equalists subdue him and Amon approaches him. We get a close up of his face just before Amon takes his bending.
The new Chief of Police Saikhan gets one when he sees Councilman Tenzin coming into his station after Tarrlok ordered him to arrest Korra's friends and many innocent non-benders.
Korra when she realizes that Tarrlok is a bloodbender and can do it without the full moon.
Tarrlok in episode nine when Amon demonstrates that he can resist bloodbending.
Amon gets a subtle one in the finale when Korra calls him Noatak and he realizes she knows his true identity. Being Crazy-Prepared, though, he deflects her accusations rather quickly. Later, when he is seen waterbending by everyone, he gets a much better one.
Ominous Latin Chanting: The Wolfbat's over the top entrance in "And the Winner Is..." comes complete with a choir chanting ominously in the background.
One Name Only: In-universe, surnames are the exception instead of the rule, and tend to indicate wealth, as with Lin Beifong, and Hiroshi and Asami Sato, though Combat Commentator Shiro Shinobi also has a surname.
OOC Is Serious Business: When Korra uncharacteristically refuses an offer to join an Equalist-hunting taskforce in favor of finishing her training, Tenzin correctly deduces that she's doing so out of fear rather than any sense of obligation.
Opening Narration: In the same style of the original. The demonstrative benders are the Avatars Kyoshi, Roku, Aang, and Korra. Tenzin inherits the speaking role from his mother. The "Previously On" segments use a sepia tone and a dramatic announcer, indicative of the era because of their great similarities to 1920's film.
The pilot differs slightly from the rest of the episodes, using a longer recap:
"Earth. Fire. Air. Water. When I was a boy, my father, Avatar Aang, told me the story of how he and his friends heroically ended the Hundred Year War. Avatar Aang and Firelord Zuko transformed the Fire Nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations: a society where benders and non-benders from all over the world could live and thrive in peace and harmony. They named the capital of this great land Republic City. Avatar Aang accomplished many remarkable things in his life, but sadly his time in this world came to an end, and, like the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of the Avatar began anew."
Later episodes use a shorter narration and the demonstrative bending is sped up:
"Only the Avatar can master all four elements and bring balance to the world."
In episode seven, Tarrlok replaces the announcer in the Previously On segment, which is also changed to a press conference recap instead of the film style of the previous episodes (though the sepia tone is kept).
Republic City has a massive, Statue Of Liberty-esque monument to Aang, one of the city's co-founders, in Yue Bay. His face is also printed on the Yuan.
Toph, inventor of metalbending and establisher of the force, has a gold statue at Police Headquarters.
Zuko has his own statue at Central City Station, with him holding up an eternal flame.
The Cabbage Merchant has a statue in front of Cabbage Corp's main building, proudly holding a cabbage above his head.
Parental Abandonment: Mako and Bolin, whose parents were murdered when Mako was eight. The brothers had to take care of themselves at a young age while living on the streets. Mako, in particular, took on the parenting role.
Le Parkour: The urban cityscape setting allows for heavy use of the style in outdoor fight choreography, and an expert is employed as a consultant.
People Puppets: Bloodbending, like in the previous series. Yakone, Tarrlok, and Amon have the added benefit of not needing a full moon to do it.
While bloodbending was only used at most on a couple people simultaneously in the previous series, Yakone, Amon and Tarrlok are shown to be capable of manipulating dozens of benders/nonbenders all at once.
The Triple Threat Triad grunts deliberately Invoke this with their team of three, an Earth, Fire and Waterbender... at least, until Korra kicks their butts.
Precocious Crush: Meelo has one on Asami. Jinora and Ikki also refer to Mako as "cute" or "dreamy," though that's at least partly just to tease Korra.
Pretender Diss: Tarrlok brings up Aang's defeat of a man named Yakone 42 years before the start of the series during his speech calling for an anti-Amon task force, resulting in...
Tenzin: This is a completely different situation, and how dare you compare yourself to Avatar Aang!
Previously On: Narrated by Combat Commentator Shiro Shinobi, in the style of a sepia-toned 20s-era movie serial with melodramatic background music.
Race Against the Clock: The plot of the third episode is to rescue Bolin before the Equalists take away his bending. They come right down to the nail.
Racial Remnant: Tenzin and his family, for the Air Nomads.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: In "And the Winner Is..." Amon delivers one to pro-bending fans about celebrating and praising the flagrantly cheating Wolfbats, (incidentally giving due credit to the above-board Fire Ferrets) drawing a parallel to societal worship of domineering, abusive benders.
The SDCC '11 Trailer uses the same score that the trailers for Season 3 of ATLA used. The music is particularly moody and energetic at different times. Special award for the Editor who synched all the action so meticulously.
The music heard in the opening is an orchestral version of ATLA's theme.
The main theme is remixed and repeated often in every episode.
Redshirt Army: The Metalbending Police appear to fill this role considering how the Equalists use electric gauntlets and Mini Mechas made of platinum that the former are no match for.
The Republic: The United Republic of Nations is the first one in the Avatar-verse.
Reset Button: By the end of the finale, Korra gets her bending back and can now restore powers to Amon's previous victims using energybending.
Ring Out: An important mechanic of pro-bending. Forcing a player off the back (and only the back) of the arena and into the surrounding pool removes them from the game for the remainder of the round. Forcing all three players out in a single round is an Instant-Win Condition, which is why, in a best of three rounds format, the third round is always played. It's the only way left to win for a team down two rounds.
Roaring Twenties: The technology, speech mannerisms and culture are evocative of the real-life 1920's, and Word of God says this is the current time period in Korra's day.
Romanticism Versus Enlightenment: One of the major themes explored in the series is tradition versus modernity. Spirituality versus progess also plays a part.
Royal Mess: The Fire Nation's ruler, a position roughly analogous to Japan's Emperor, is termed "Fire Lord," and as of Korra's era, the title is held by a woman.
Rushmore Refacement: After Amon conquers Republic City, he has a large copy of his own mask placed over Aang's statue, and covers the Air Symbol on his staff with the Equalist banner.
Schizo Tech: Despite the generally Early-Twentieth Century level of technology present in the show, the Equalists seem to have mastered high-energy, low-mass power generators or batteries, giving their mooks electrified Kali-sticks and Power Palms.
Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: The Wolf-Bats pay off the referee in the pro-bending Championship so they can cheat without being called on it; by their third round with the Fire Ferrets, it is so blatant that the announcer calls them on it. It's implied by Amon that this is hardly unusual for them.
Second Episode Introduction: Mako and Bolin don't make their proper introduction in the series until "A Leaf In The Wind", the series' second episode.
Senseless Sacrifice: In "Turning the Tides," Lin stays behind to hold off the Equalists and gets her bending removed. In "Endgame," we learn that the Equalists managed to capture Tenzin and his family anyway and are planning to remove their bending at a mass rally.
She Is the King: The adventure game specifies that Zuko's daughter rules as Fire Lord, established as a gender neutral title.
Shoo Out the Clowns: Averted with Naga, Bolin tries to protect Naga and Pabu by telling them to stay put away from the fight in the two episode finale; turns out Naga and Pabu save Asami and him when they get captured and that Naga is quite the fighter.
There is a bridge with the distinctive silhouette of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, with less obvious allusions to Golden Gate Park, and infamous high-security prison Alcatraz.
The character Mako is a shout out to the deceased voice actor of Iroh in the original series, Mako Iwamatsu.
Asami Sato is not a visual Shout Out to Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist. Their similarities were completely unintentional, but Bryan Konietzkoembraced it in a Tumblr post after having it pointed out to him, since he thinks Lust has a beautiful character design. He did, however, give her Lusts' lipstick color. Asami's general design was inspired by 1940's film actresses, with her hair based on Rita Hayworth.
"The Aftermath" also features a brief racing segment, set to music that's similar to the Speed Racer theme.
Mako and Bolin grew up on the streets, but while Mako is responsible and dedicated to keeping them together and safe, Bolin is a fun-loving charmer with a fondness for the ladies.
According to Katara, Tenzin had this relationship with his siblings Kya and Bumi when they were children. Tenzin was very serious while his siblings were rather rambunctious. In the present we've seen that Tenzin is serious (usually), bald, and monk-like while Bumi is "a wild man" in the armed forces of the United Republic with a head full of anime hair.
Sickeningly Sweethearts: Mako and Asami are too much for Korra to handle, although her own feelings for Mako probably contribute.
Sleep Cute: Korra and Mako when staking out the Equalist protestor in "The Revelation".
Sliding Scale of Villain Effectiveness: High. The Equalists present a formidable threat to the Avatar and Republic City. Neither Korra nor the city's official police have been able to stop Amon or his agenda until their ultimate defeat in the season finale.
Upon learning that Korra was the Avatar, the Order of the White Lotus set up a large compound in the Southern Water Tribe for her to live in, to fulfill the promise they made to Aang to protect his reincarnation. There, Korra underwent her Avatar training, under constant watch from the Order. She was allowed to leave, but only with supervision and as long as she did not go outside the South Pole. When Tenzin tried to delay her Airbending training, and thus ultimately her freedom from the compound, Korra ended up running away in order to follow him to Republic City.
For Korra's airbending training, Tenzin attempted to set up something similar on Air Temple Island. This fell apart remarkably fast.
The pro-bending ring is far enough above the water below that you'd expect injuries, at least from the non-Waterbenders, but this trope is in full effect.
Waterbenders in pro-bending are the only ones allowed to hit their opponents in the head due to this trope.
In a nod to the previous series, when Korra jumps into the ocean from a great height, she bends the water up to herself to soften her landing.
Toph's daughter Lin Beifong is the captain of the police metalbenders in Republic City.
Aang and Katara's son Tenzin, who is teaching Korra to airbend just as Roku's descendant Zuko taught Aang to firebend. Tenzin also has two other siblings, Kya and Bumi, named for characters in the first series. Tenzin himself brings his wife Pema, and four children, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, and his new born son Rohan .
Zuko's grandson, General Iroh of the United Republic military forces, appears in the final arc to assist in the fight against Amon. Iroh, unlike other examples, actually has the exact same voice as his Grandfather.
Spiritual Antithesis: Korra was designed to be everything Aang was not. To a degree, the rest of the show is also meant to be unlike the original series (staying in a City of Adventure as opposed to Walking the Earth, and so on).
Spit Take: In "A Leaf in the Wind", a White Lotus guard does this right into the face of another when the pro-bending announcer on the radio reveals that Korra is playing in a match.
Staged Populist Uprising: Amon, who claims he was gifted by the spirits to cleanse the world of all benders, is himself a Waterbender.
Stereotype Reaction Gag: In "A Leaf in the Wind" Korra Downplays and Invokes this when she asks Bolin to teach her some pro-bending moves. He agrees but isn't sure how his earthbending will translate to her waterbending. She responds that she can earthbend, and Bolin freezes up before Digging Himself Deeper, stumbling through an apology about making assumptions based on her Water Tribe clothes. After letting him squirm a little, she allows that he was right, she is a waterbender, and a firebender, too. Bolin's brother, who saw her as just a common fangirl up to that point, does the math:
Mako: You're the Avatar, and I'm an idiot.
Supernatural Martial Arts: Just as technology has advanced, so have the bending arts, with many hybridized styles shown even in just the first episode in addition to the more classic bending styles. Mako and Bolin's styles show shades of modern boxing and kickboxing, despite wielding separate elements.
Tall Poppy Syndrome: Benders believe that they are tall poppies that envious Equalists want to cut down.
Teens Are Short: Averted. Korra is as tall as most other adult women, Mako is very tall indeed, and Bolin is still within a reasonable adult height even though he's shorter than his brother. It's part of the Art Evolution from the original series, which played this trope straight.
Jinora and Korra's varying execution of airbender footwork highlights their temperments. The more showy Korra navigates airbending training gates with lots of energetic spinning. In comparison, Jinora's approach to the course is fairly clinical: she turns on a dime but keeps her upper body rigid.
In-universe, Tarrlok identifies Amon as his brother Noatak, despite Amon's appearance being totally concealed, by the distinctive feel of his bloodbending.
In "And the Winner Is...", the Wolfbats, having just cheated their way to victory, ask if anyone else wants to take them on. Amon answers the call.
In "When Extremes Meet", Korra taunts Tarrlok about having no water to bend after destroying his office (which had a wall fountain). Unfortunately, she forgot about another source of water nearby.
The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The Equalists are ruthless, organized, well-equipped, and determined to wipe out any benders. What makes them scarier is that until Amon's unmasking as a bender they seem to enjoy at least some popular support.
There Was A Door: Korra's Establishing Character Moment has her Earthbend the wall of her room to make an entrance. Her parents probably did not have that in mind when they wanted her to come meet the White Lotus members sent to verify her Avatar status.
Three Round Deathmatch: Pro-bending works on a best of three rounds format. The third round is always played, even if one team already has two wins, because knocking all three opponents out of the ring in a single round is an Instant-Win Condition even if down two rounds.
Throw the Dog a Bone: Cabbage Merchant, The Chew Toy and Recurring Extra of the original series, earned enough of a fortune during the peace times that he was able to found a technology company in Republic City.
In "The Voice in the Night" while at Tarrlok's gala, Tenzin has to chase after his son Meelo, who has apparently decided that something offscreen is a toilet.
In "When Extremes Meet," Team Avatar joins hands and vows to stand by one another through whatever comes...and Meelo floats down onto their joined hands by using a fart to air bend.
In "Turning The Tides", Meelo is given to Lin to look after, who promptly tells her he needs to poo... and starts grunting. Lin understandably holds him with her metal cables at arm's length. Meelo also likes to airbend his farts as part of his combat style against the Equalists.
Basically, Meelo is very good at this trope.
Tonight Someone Kisses: In perfect Avatar tradition, it was used as a teaser for "Spirit of Competition." The clincher? This happened the day before April Fool's.
Trailers Always Spoil: Nickelodeon's Book One finale promo included a clip of Amon bloodbending.
The Triads and the Tongs: The Triple Threat Triad, a pan-elemental bender organization that collects protection money from shopkeepers, and its referenced competitors, the Red Monsoons and the Agni Kais.
The waterbender from the Triple Threat Triad after Korra taunts him.
Korra when Tenzin cuts off the radio seconds before the pro-bending match being played is finished.
Tenzin displays this on hearing that Korra is participating in a pro-bending match.
Tahno gets one after Korra beats him in the tiebreaker.
Undercover As Lovers: In "The Revelation" Korra grabs Mako's arm and leans in to provide a more convincing cover when they approach the bouncer at an Equalist rally.
Underdogs Never Lose: The Fire Ferrets were considered the underdogs going into the tournament. Subverted as the Wolf Bats win through illegal moves. Then gets double-subverted as the Wolf Bats did not get away with their victory, and they paid the price
Unflinching Faith In The Brakes: In the finale, Bolin is being attacked by mecha-tanks, which Naga unexpectedly stops by grabbing their grappling hooks and tugging. The mechas tumble over and stop just shy of Bolin, who never moves. Then he says "Whoa!"
Unflinching Walk: While pursuing Amon onto an Equalist zeppelin, Korra uses firebending to cause a large explosion. His mooks are knocked aside, but Amon casually boards.
Firebending's advanced technique of lightningbending, once only demonstrated by Azula, Iroh, and Ozai, is, after seventy years and an industrial revolution, mundane enough that firebender menial laborers use it to run the power plants. It is also noted that firebenders who are strong enough to use this gift are not common, though.
Metalbending, once Toph's unique innovation. She decides to teach it at a school and it is now practiced by an entire police squad.
Asami is able to pilot a Mini Mecha because its controls are similar to a Future Industries forklift.
General Iroh can pilot a airplane, to at extent, despite only becoming aware that they exist the day before.
Unnecessary Roughness: Korra gets a penalty in one of her matches for needlessly bounding an enemy up and down with her bending, and then gets a yellow fan for talking back to the ref.
Urban Fantasy: Of the rare alternate world variety, given that the setting is analogous to The Roaring Twenties and takes place in a world shaped and developed in large part by bending.
Variable Length Chain: The police force can use their bending to unleash metal cables as long as they need for their purpose, stored in a set of spools on their back.
In "The Revelation," Korra and Mako do battle with Equalist chi-blockers who are riding motorcyles.
In "When Extremes Meet," Team Avatar uses Asami's satomobile to attack, and defeat, Equalist forces staging a jail break. At one point it becomes a car vs. motorcyle battle.
Victory by Endurance: The Fire Ferrets win two matches by simply dodging or blocking their opponents' attacks until they've tired themselves out, at which point the Ferrets win with ease. Mako impressively manages this when it's three-on-one.
Villain Has A Point: Benders are disproportionately represented in the Republic City Council (i.e. the council is 100% bender), and some benders (such as the gangsters in the first episode) really are using their powers to abuse non-benders. In fact, thanks to Tenzin's place on the council, his family and the Air Acolytes - a group of twenty or thirty people who have decided to follow Air Nomad teachings - have more of a say in the city's affairs than the thousands of non-benders born and raised in Republic City.
Villainous Rescue: When Tarrlok is about to flee the city with Korra as his hostage, Amon shows up and de-bends him.
Korra Nation. The point was to get people to inform their friends of the show by having automatic posts show up on you Facebook/Twitter profile for people to click. The person sending the posts earned points for every link clicked and every person who signed up using their personal link, with the points going towards prizes including a drawing for a trip to this summer's SDCC and exclusive MP3 releases of music from the show.
Another branch of Korra Nation dealt with gaining likes, shares, and tweets of the Korra Nation website; on which fans could discover hidden content such as production sketches and background art. Sharing the site 100,00 times would allow fans to see the premiere a week early. It earned 100,000 points within the first week of its announcement, and as promised the first two episodes were available online on March 24th.
The Korra Nation website no longer exists, but the viral marketing continues with the Korra Nation tumblr and facebook pages. Art, production information, and clips of the upcoming episodes are posted to these pages once or twice a week.
Watching Troy Burn: Amon and the Equalists' destruction of the pro-bending arena.
Weaponized Car: The Equalist motorcycles have smoke screens.
Welcome to the Big City: The plot of the first episode, as sheltered Country Mouse Korra realizes Republic City isn't the shining beacon of harmony and prosperity she thought it was.
Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: On the appearance of two squadrons of fighter planes Bolin wonders aloud where Hiroshi finds the time to keep inventing new modern vehicles and weapons.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The reason why Hama was evil in the first series, Katara was nearly overtaken by her revenge, and why Yakone was so dangerous. Waterbenders are driven mad by bloodbending, that it causes an insatiable thirst for power. This is an especially important plot point, as Amon, who had an insatiable desire for more power after bloodbending, strove to use it against all the benders in the world. Tarrlok, his brother, found the experience horrifying after doing so.
Working With The Ex: Lin and Tenzin cooperate "like old times" in episode six.
World of Badass: It's the Avaverse, so it's more or less a given.
Wretched Hive: Tenzin acknowledges that Republic City has gotten a lot worse since his father's death, to the point that he considers his responsibilities as a councilman more important than teaching Korra.
Amon claims that his ability to remove a person's bending is a gift bestowed upon him by the spirits, who have determined that the Avatar failed in its duties of bringing balance to the world. Amon is actually simply utilizing another form of Wrong Context Magic; by combining bloodbending with chi-blocking he is able to strip away a person's bending ability.
Sokka discusses this trope in a flashback. While bloodbending without a full moon appears to break the laws of bending, Sokka quite reasonably points out that the fact that nobody has ever done it before does not mean it is impossible, given other examples of Wrong Context Magic that he encountered in the original series and especially when all evidence indicates that it actually happened.
Wuxia: As with its predecessor, a heavy genre influence.
Xanatos Gambit: Amon makes a public demand over the radio that the city government shut down the Pro-bending Arena and cancel the championship match. If it works, he shows that he can make the government fold under pressure. If it doesn't, his original plan goes forward and he demonstrates his power regardless.
You Are Not Alone: In episode eight, when Korra is crying about not being able to take the burden of saving the city alone, Mako, Bolin, and Asami come along and remind her she is not alone and they are there to help her save the city.
You Keep Using That Word: Technically the words "electrocute" and "electrocution" exclusively mean "to kill with electricity", though they long ago passed the point in common usage where it can mean non-fatal shock (shock being the "correct" term in non-fatal electrical incidents).
You Will Be Spared: Amon to Korra, of the "I'm saving you for last" variety.
You're Just Jealous: After Mako wrongly accuses Korra of using his brother for some Operation Jealousy ploy, she sees through his facade and remarks that he is jealous. This seems to be a favorite tactic of Mako since he uses the same argument against Korra when she insists that Hiroshi is an Equalist and Mako believes she is only doing this because she's jealous of Mako and Asami's relationship.
You Shall Not Pass: The Order of the White Lotus guards remain behind to hold off the Equalists when Korra and Tenzin's family flee Air Temple Island.
alternative title(s): Avatar The Legend Of Korra; The Legend Of Korra; The Last Airbender Legend Of Korra; The Last Airbender Legend Of Korra; Avatar The Legend Of Korra; Legend Of Korra; Legend Of Korra
100,000 times.Recaps of the show can be found here. Also has a page for memes.Not to be confused with The Legend of Korah, or the Kohr-Ah.
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