The Legend of Korra

I still don't get the metalbending thing.

Rocks are made of metals. Periodic table and shit.

If bloodbenders need the full moon, I doubt earthbenders are powerful enough to do basically the same without a power boost.

And the reason bloodbending needs a power boost in the first place is I assume you need to at your strongest to go again the will of the person being bloodbent.

Earthbenders seem able to bend any element that's not a metal or a gas. The reason it doesn't apply to metals was probably for tension and so Toph could look really cool figuring out metalbending.

edited 22nd Jul '14 11:15:11 PM by KBSL

Airbending is OP as it is, firebending gets comets and high noon, waterbending gets full moons. You suck, earthbending.

Bending is more symbolic and spiritual than scientific.

BECAUSE LIGHTNING. AND COMETS.

I said that airbenders can vacuum-choke people to unconsciousness (not to death). Just make it hard for their people to breath and that should be enough to end a fight quickly, rather than bashing them against a wall to knock them out.

Similarly, earthbenders can just do what General Fong did, drop people into holes, make earth prisons. No need to bash people around when you can just restrain them.

Yes, I know - must have more action scenes which I don't mind. It's just that bloodbending tends to make people think more about the technicalities of bending, hence this discussion.

Rocks are the dirty unrefined metals that earth is. The Avatar world doesn't run on our physics...

@Ninety And earthbending is so good just because earth is what people are usually standing on.

If this franchise utilized all of its potential, it'd be far more violent than it is. People would be melting and suffocating and getting crushed and having their blood ripped out of them left and right.

Maybe that stuff happens on the battlefield, but the 100 Year War was (un)fortunately not so touched on.

edited 22nd Jul '14 11:34:04 PM by Keybreak

That would still probably take way more precision and power than most airbenders would probably be capable of. The avatar maybe, but seriously, I don't see why they would think of a move like that.

There is too much room for something like that to become fatal and they were all about avoiding that, and fighting in general, if possible.

Well... maybe when Avatar becomes more Sci-Fi rather than Fantasy, they'll start calling Airbending "Gas Manipulation" Waterbending "Liquid Manipulation" Earth "Solid" Fire "Plasma".

Or just plain ol' telekinesis.

Pretty much all bending is "telekinesis". Or kinesis of some sort. Pyrokinesis, hydrokinesis, geokinesis, aerokinesis...

And not all bending can control every state of matter. Earthbending can't control wood or bone. I always think that earthbending can only control things that are naturally inorganic.

I'm pretty sure the reason Airbenders didn't (as far as we've seen) vacuum choke people to near death is because of the whole nonviolence-except-in-defense thing they're supposed to practice (remember what Tenzin says to Kai when he's beating up the vulnerable poacher?), which would mean no use of excessive force as well. Pretty sure suffocating someone might be considered excessive force.

When did "unconsciousness" become synonymous with "death" ?

If you're out for more than a minute or two you've probably got some bad brain damage

You'll also get physical injuries being slammed into the wall or against the ground with enough force to stun or knock you out.

There's plenty of chokeholds in martial arts, and at least with airbending, you don't have to physically touch your foes to render them unconscious. (Again, unconscious, not dead.)

Heck, I think most people would just immediately stop fighting once they realize they can't breath.

Still excessive force and causing harm, though, and the philosophy by which Airbenders live involves minimizing harm. Again, self-defense, not offense.

Well, Zaheer seems to not pay much attention to that bit so we can always rely on him to show us what airbending is really capable of.

I think we should just agree that we have way different ideas on what excessive force is.

For me, chokeholds are more of a restraining maneuver rather than a killing maneuver.

Yes, it can cause death but so can knocking a person with such force that they fly off their feet.

edited 23rd Jul '14 2:35:11 AM by probablyinsane

Creating a vacuum around someone's face, though, is less like a chokehold and more like strangling someone.

Choke and strangle are practically synonymous.

Look, I do not expect the peace-loving airbenders to maintain the "choke" long enough to kill someone or cause permanent injury.

You can deprive someone of oxygen for 1 minute, and they'll be fine. The point is that it should stop them from attacking you or being aggressive.

Like just the sensation of "cannot breath" is enough to make a person panic and "just stop attacking".

Plus, I look it up. Brain cells only begin to die off at the 4 minute mark. Make it 3 minutes if you want, so you're far less likely to cause a person perma brain damage for making him breathless for about 30 seconds vs hitting him against the wall with a force strong enough to blow him off his feet (in an instant).

Just try holding your breath. It's not as if people die from lack of air instantly.

edited 23rd Jul '14 5:18:40 AM by probablyinsane

Under some technical definitions a choke cuts off air to the lungs while a strangle cuts off blood to the brain.

I think within martial arts circles, that's how they differentiate.

Anyway, I'm tired of "unconsciousness" being equated with "death". I'd rather imagine an "evil" airbender using explosive decompression to kill someone.

I think that might be a bit too gory for Korra. It is supposed to be suitable for kids to watch, after all.

I'd imagine creating a vacuum would be kind of the bloodbending equivalent of airbending. Just not something many airbenders would have the precision and power to pull off.

Korra's not set in the peaceful Airbending methods either - perfect match-up for Zaheer... well not really, because she's the Avatar, but Zaheer has a team.

Each bending art is balanced. You can Hand Wave the more obvious uses with the user's own skill level. Only people like Iroh and Toph could breath fire or bend metal during their time. We can always assume that vacuum-ing and more extensive metal control belong to Avatar-level fighters.

Avatar vs Mendeleev.

Mendeleev would be truly overpowered.

Wouldn't mastery of all 118 Elements just be telekinesis?