The Legend of Korra

I think the Water Tribe takes a bit of influence from some Siberian ethnic groups.

I remember thinking that what we saw of the Northern Water Tribe architecture in the flashback at the beginning of season 2 looked Russian-inspired, but I wouldn't attest to it.

I'm not sure about older influences, but Fire Nation Man from "The Blind Bandit" puts on a fake Russian accent as part of his 'evil foreigner' wrestling Heel schtick (which is presumably just a joke for its own sake, but it does happen), and the Fire Nation's spartan industrial aesthetic and focus on the colour red can't help but look Soviet-inspired unless you deliberately tried to avert that. I thought there were some modernist propaganda posters as well, but I can't find them now.

edited 15th Mar '17 8:39:24 AM by Unsung

The Fire Nation seems to be a weird mix of Imperial Japan, the Ottoman Empire, and various Russian societies.

I think Mick Foley was just conditioned by years in wrestling that Evil Foreigner = Russian. Are you gonna say otherwise?

edited 15th Mar '17 8:51:25 AM by Beatman1

Hmmm... That is interesting.

There also seem to be some minor Western European influences, given that mutton chops are pretty common among Fire Nation men.

Then again, all the nations seem to have influences from several cultures as opposed to being exclusively, say, Tibetan or Chinese, which is preferable given that it gives each Nation their own distinctive feel.

edited 15th Mar '17 2:50:28 PM by KSoniK

I'm not seeing the Ottoman influence. They're too intolerant to bear any real resemblance to the early empire (which was far from good by a modern standard, but better than its peers) and by the time the empire was at its most psychotic, under the Three Pashas, it was also in its death throes. Ideologically and even in terms of dress, etc, I don't see it.

Do you think it was an error that Toph could see everything from the swamp? I mean, the tree's roots are made of wood, so there's no reason she should be able to see the whole world through them or use them to see at all, and the swamp is all mud, so it should be really difficult to see. Are the roots petrified or something?

Also are Kuvira and Starlight Glimmer actually the same person?

I doubt it's an error. She's probably just connecting spiritually, like both Avatars did.

Two things - it's entirely possible that Toph's honed her abilities since then (she can fight fine against Korra even when she uses airbending, after all), and I was under the impression that she was utilizing the Swamp's spiritual connection stuff.

edited 30th Mar '17 10:13:41 PM by KarkatTheDalek

Honing her abilities don't make wood or water earth, but it could totally be spirit stuff. Spirit stuff can pretty much be used as an explanation for anything.

That doesn't answer my second question though.

Mud is water and earth, but whatever. In any case, the Swamp's been a spirit thing since The Last Airbender.

edited 30th Mar '17 10:23:58 PM by KarkatTheDalek

The swamp's the one who told Aang about the flying pig in the first place. Maybe the Spirit World/writers' room had plans for Toph to show up as a spirit mentor like Iroh in the future. Wouldn't surprise me. I can only hope we get to see those plans someday.

No, that's just silly. Starlight is actually Amon.

Starlight is definitely more Amon than Kuvira. Her whole shtick was that she wanted to remove everyone's special talents and create a world of eternal mediocrity where no one was special and no one could do anything any better than anyone else.

She even has her own version of the reveal that Amon's secretly a waterbender.

She just didn't get blown up because My Little Pony has a central theme of self-improvement and rehabilitation while the Avatar franchise is generally content for f*ckers to get theirs.

Twilight Sparkle would have Azula reconciling with Ty Lee and Mai and learning how much their friendship meant to her all along instead of rotting in an asylum, because it is very different in how it approaches villains from basically every other show out there.

edited 31st Mar '17 7:57:30 AM by TobiasDrake

Great analysis!

Good thing Azula could only cause Amusing Injuries in the world of My Little Pony.

@ K Soni K Irene Koh stated Turf Wars would be featuring more Korean and South Asian characters, (including her boyfriend being a Butt-Monkey.)

As much as I don't like to think about Korra and/or Asami dying (and if so, both going out peacefully in their sleep in each others' arms at the same time at ripe old ages,) my idea of the next Avatar would be a introverted big, dark-skinned, Stout Strength kind of guy that w/o being a born prodigy is more experimental with the bending styles to essentially take a MMA/hybrid approach to the elements like what started with Iroh's invention of lightning redirection (waterbender approach to firebending) then pro-bending's MMA/kickboxing approach and now the evasive grace of an airbender while chucking rocks ala breakdancing w/o him also being a Walking Tech Bane who may became a loner after his original/proto-Team Avatar turned on him, so someone like a perky firebender girl is among the few trying to regain his trust.

That is definitely an interesting idea for a new Avatar.

That's interesting.

edited 3rd Apr '17 8:15:57 AM by KSoniK

I'd like to see an Earth Avatar series where Korra's stuck trying to take on the complete burden of mentoring this kid because she is the only past life he has a connection to. She has to be his Aang, Roku, Kyoshi, Yangchen, etc.

She doesn't get to just pass the buck to a previous Avatar when she runs into a knowledge gap. She's expected to know all of the things, but she was more of an action Avatar than a knowledge Avatar so she's an imperfect Obi-Wan at best.

• Avatar: These people's problem began just after the Hundred Year War. What can you tell me about that period in this region?
• Korra: (wide shrug and fake smile)

edited 3rd Apr '17 8:29:17 AM by TobiasDrake

Oh I would love to see that. Poor Korra.

Just think of the comedic potential.

That is a brilliant idea. It's absolutely the kind of problem Korra would suck at solving.

I don't know why you'd need to consult the Avatar for that rather than, you know, a book.

Hell, by the time Korra dies they might have the internet or an equivalent.

edited 3rd Apr '17 9:21:37 AM by Arha

That would be pretty humorous/interesting to see Korra have to actually mentor a new Avatar and have a really hard time doing it.

Also,@post 71715: I'm not really sure Avatar is that cynical really. While most of the villains don't really get rehabilitated in the series, I always kinda felt that it was implied that it was possible for some of them. It just wouldn't happen in the show. Particularly Azula, the creators even said there was a possibility of her changing for the better eventually. I always thought that rehabilitation and self-improvement was part of the series but they usually implied the possibility rather than show it in the case of their villains, except for Zuko. I know the comics are kind of a contentious thing for a lot of people, but they have been playing with that idea of Azula changing since The Search. (I know that was posted yesterday but I still felt like responding to it anyway .)

• Korra: Look, I'm going to level with you. Most of my knowledge revolves around when it is and is not okay to hit people.
• Avatar: Is that all you did? Hit people?
• Korra: That and talk about the philosophies of the people I was hitting. Right before I hit them.
• Avatar: So...is now an acceptable time to start hitting people?
• Korra: You're doing, what, some kind of politics meeting? I'm going to say probably not. But be sure to let me know if you give it a try, because I've been wanting to hit a politician for 93 years.

edited 3rd Apr '17 10:29:56 AM by TobiasDrake