Reviews WesternAnimation / The Legend Of Korra

So basically you've based four seasons entirely on finale nitpicking, and double standards between the series and its precursor. And people wonder why they call us autists.

^ Finales can make or break a show. Even as a package Korra just doesn't deliver on all those other things.

The co-creators themselves commented on the clip show; they were forced to by their executives, with their only other choice being let go of their crew members several weeks early... they never considered that last option. And so, they made the best they could, by making it the A:TLA version of 'The Ember Island Players' (which while not a clip show, was pretty damn close in practice, so it's not new)

And it certainly looks like nitpicking here... they're not perfect, but things like deus ex are not an automatic fail applied to a whole show.

Besides, Legend of Korra is vastly different in story-telling and other elements than A:TLA, which was the point (Korra was even designed as the anti-Aang, except for 'energy')

^ A lot of shows do clip episodes. The one they did wasn't even good though. They were just reminiscing rather than having the need to show old clips in the first place. Other shows like Stargate Atlantis have brought in fair enough context for a clip episode like a trial.

The deus ex machinas are a big deal because they frustrate viewers and remove the drama. Even on other merits, The Legend of Korra isn't the best for pacing, plot twists etc. What wrong with Korra, is badly wrong and what's good doesn't match up to the standards of the original.

Perhaps the creators went too far the other way. They wanted an "anti-Aang" and they did all this other edgy things but the results were disappointing.

They didn't exactly have a lot of time to write it. They were middway through production and suddenly told they had to remove one of their episodes and replace it with a clip show. That's not a lot of time to try and write something great, particularly a challenge most writers fail at.

They actually specifically tried to copy Stargate Atlantis in some of the ideas, and I think the last third with Varrick actually worked really well. The problem was starting with Mako, whose the least dynamic of characters. If the whole thing had been people reintpreting what happened (with the funny characters centre), it could have worked. They almost did it, it just didn't quite come off

Yet again, people are arguing simply by stating their opinions at each other. Do they think this will cause the others to realize the error of their ways?

Debatable, as far as Lo K being disappointing, or even a failure in any way - and that includes the usage of deus ex's (some like them, they don't bother others, etc; that's what opinions are about)

Besides, it's not right to constantly compare Lo K to A:TLA imo, because of the aforementioned wild differences. Korra is a Sequel Series, but it is not in the same spirit as the original (intentionally), and thus can't be compared to the exact same standards

And actually, this Clip Show was good in a way, I believe; most others just show the clips, wrap it around a plot, and that's it. The co-creators used those same clips to highlight the characters and how much they've changed since the beginning, along with the usual poking fun and commentary about fan issues about it (most prominent with Mako's story).

Why has this been flagged?

^Perhaps because the overall tone seems/looks insulting, with words like rubbish and codswallop. There's certainly nothing wrong with not liking a show, but presenting it that way kinda is

omegafire17:

Or it could be some butthurt fan. I don't hate the show and all but I know it has flaws. And the finale was THAT disappointing? I need to finish this series and my liveblog.

I have no idea why this review was flagged. Fanboys/girls can't take criticism, it seems.

"and made Korra automatically correct in reshaping the world despite the valid reasons not to."

Just curious, what are those reasons?

Let's be honest. Avatar The Last Airbender was no prize pigeon either.

@ Theokal3

Well reopening the portals for starters.

During Wan's time, humans were forced to live on the back of turtle lions (now extinct). Even when they gained bending the spirits were ceding territory for their own. There was no harmony to speak of. Spirits were occupying the human world en masse and humans did not live in the spirit world in groups.

Korra on the other hand thought "screw it" and allowed spirits to start harassing humans yet again.

For season 4 you said "Yet another deus ex machina helps end the series..." Just curious, what would this be? As far as I could see, the finale to season 4 was pretty well set up ahead of time. Well, maybe not the sudden emergence of a new Spirit Portal, but really, was that NEEDED for the conflict to end? Kuvira already seemed to realize that she'd completely screwed up once the weapon went berserk. I mean, I can totally agree that seasons 1 and 2 ended on huge deus ex machinas (which was a major reason why, by the time season 2 ended, I was all but ready to give up on the show entirely... It was just boredom and curiousity that made me check out season 3), but I think the show actually fixed most of its major issues in the third and fourth seasons. I mean, it was never perfect, but the second half of the show was one hell of a lot better than the first, and ultimately left me with a positive opinion of the series as a whole despite its rough start.

Yeah she wasn't saved by the Spirit Portal, she was saved by her Avatar State and some seriously good shielding on her part. The Spirit Portal is one of those 'gifts in the aftermath' things, like poppies on a WW1 battlefield, or a rainbow

The whole spirit portal thing and spirits themselves were shown as fundamentally incompatible with humans in Season 2, not to mention being assholes as late as the final episodes of Season 4 going "Humans suck, bye!" There was no good reason to bring them into a ecology that couldn't handle them.

I'm sad that it seems to be getting more common for people to flag reviews just because they don't like what the reviewer has to say. I can kind of understand it when the viewer insults the fanbase, but that's not the case here. Some might try to say that the review is too vitrolic, but I've seen vitrol. This review is nothing.

@ Lord Starfish and Tomwithnonumbers

1. Korra had never blocked any energy beams before now, yet blocks a humongous one. 2. The explosion alone should have created a dirt cloud that blocked out the sun. 3. How is no one deaf and blind from the explosion of that force?

The spirit portal sealed the deal in my opinion. It might have been an unintended consequence. But it was a stable portal, with lots of vegetation all around. It doesn't at all look like a recent nuke site.

Korra in the Avatar state has blocked/interacted with Vaatu's energy beams right? And that's the exact same energy beam. If nothing else, when in the Avatar state she's tapping into the power of Raava and we know that Raava can do stuff with Vaatu's energy blasts.

And it's not like she needed to jump in there. The show seemed to be implying that she could have legged it or saved herself or something, she only blocked the beam to save Kuvira

That's the whole poppies on the battlefield thing though. And it was a spirit vine energy beam which resulted in a spirit portal and even more spirit vines. That's doesn't seem to absurd for the fallout of a Flower-Power nuclear bomb.

Well shin, 1) She used Energybending to do so (given to her at the end of Season 1 by Aang, which she used to reverse Amon's take-away-bending effect of bloodbending), 2) it was a spirit energy mushroom cloud that had internal forces battling to contain it and all it's effects (ie the aforementioned Energybending), and 3) as implied in the previous point, this is not the same type of energy at work as a nuclear bomb. Acts like one, sure, but not necessarily with all the same effects like one from our world (and that includes the newly created spirit vines from the explosion)

@ Tomwithnonumbers

The point is that she has never blocked beams like that before. If she had countered it with a Raava beam of her own, then than wouldn't be a problem.

The poppies analogy is kind of ridiculous. Previous vine-powered beams did not result in more vines popping up. Poppies don't pop up in an instant either.

@omegafire17

1) She may have used energybending, but she had not used it in that manner before.

2) We have seen the beams create typical explosions. A good example in within the last episode where Kuvira blasts a whole bunch of buildings behind Korra.

3) "Acts like one" well there we go.

1) Imo, something does not need to be established or done beforehand to be plausible (that's what suspension of disbelief is for; some of these things are bound to happen because it's generally different from our reality). After all, we haven't seen Bolin or the Beifongs drop a building on someone before, but they did it and no one complained; same general thing here. 2) Yes, those were typical explosions. Korra Energybending it was NOT a typical followthrough for the explosion 3) Like I said, acts like one. Doesn't make it one in every single aspect, especially since it's a man-made construct of an energy beam that's used by a god-like spirit that doesn't exist in our world... some differences are bound to occur

@omegafire17

1) Suspension of disbelief has limits and it is based on previously established conventions. For Korra to deflect a gigantic nuke laser on her first known attempt with no casualties is ridiculous. The earthbender example isn't farfetched since that was a combined effort and lifting earth is what they do.

2) If it wasn't a typical followthrough for the explosion then that definitely clashes with the first point of how implausible it all was. Then your saying that Korra knows how to nullify the effects of a nuke explosion on her first known attempt.

3) "Acts like one" well the energy was pretty much converted for conventional human warfare. The fact is that the beam produces powerful explosions and all the effects we've seen have mirrored conventional explosive weapons.

As far as 1 + 2, we have to remember, Energybending used by Avatar State Korra means this is NOT just Korra, but Raava too (who has intimate knowledge of Vaatu's energy beam, and a lot more than we probably know about). So therefore, we have a human and a tens-of-thousands-years-old spirit working to nullify it, not just a human

I find the reasoning works, even if it hasn't been stated; the limits of suspension are simply different for each person.

For 3, yes, 'conventional' explosive weapons; not necessarily radiation or any sign of it yet, by all accounts

@omegafire17

1) Knowledge without practical experience does not make you an expert. So even if Raava did have the knowledge of how to block a nuke beam, Korra would not have the experience to pull it off. The other point is that you are assuming way too much of energybending. In the originals series it was described by the Lion Turtle as bending the energy within themselves. It means bending energy WITHIN others and yourselves. I don't see how you can take the Lion Turtle's explanation to mean that Korra could use energybending to block nuke beams.

2) Generally speaking, miraculously surviving nukes are where people's eyebrows get raised. (See nuke the fridge)

3) In terms of power it compares to a nuke but the point is that it creates regular explosions which release massive amounts of sound, light and dust.

1) Like I said, Raava's lived for tens-of-thousands-of-years; that's all but stated to be knowledge and experience. And that's the whole point of the Avatar state: when you're in it, the current Avatar is connected to the entire span of knowledge + experience of the spirit Raava, and the same thing of all their past lives, combined together in one body.

And honestly, you can never assume it was 'only' within themselves; that'd be far too narrow for such a discipline. After all, if we go by that logic, firebending should only be about fire... but they have lightning-bending in there, so I find that logic wouldn't hold up anyway against energybending. Yes, it probably can't be thrown around or used over great distances, but energy is literally 'everywhere' in some form or another.

2) That's if they took it point-blank - we've already established Korra energybent the entire thing, and sent much of the energy elsewhere, and quite a bit of it involved ripping a new portal into the spirit world (which doesn't conform to our rules even more than the normal world of Avatar).

3) And yes, it should, but that's an easy one; artistic license. Every piece of fiction has done something like that, and it's not that big a deal anyway imo - so they didn't go fully realistic. Did we really need it to? I don't think so, but that's just me

Now, can we please drop this and just agree-to-disagree?

@ omegafire17

1) Raava has never blocked nuke beams like that. I think you are overestimating the supposed knowledge and experience of Raava. If that were the case then Korra's giant spirit battle with Una Vaatu would have had her lose in less than a minute, since Vaatu must be as equally as old.

That fire bending example doesn't work since fire is plasma. Therefore fire bending and lightning bending make good sense. Even if energy bending can block the beams it's a big leap from bending energy within people to blocking nuke beams with no known previous experience of doing so.

2) Well the nuke did hit as it left a massive creator the centre. Therefore she didn't absorb or redirect that energy instantly otherwise there wouldn't have been a crater or explosion.

3) You have to base it what the effects are in-universe; in Avatar explosions with light and sound are indeed produced a direct result.

You think I'm overestimating, where I think you're being overly cynical... that, and/or overly realistic/narrow-minded as to how Avatar's (fictional) logic is supposed to work in your mind. In my experience, it's a lot more open to interpretation and suspension of disbelief than you're seeming to.

We have our opinions as to what works and what doesn't; that's all.

@omegafire17 "that's the whole point of the Avatar state: when you're in it, the current Avatar is connected to the entire span of knowledge + experience of the spirit Raava, and the same thing of all their past lives, combined together in one body."

What if the entire span of knowledge + experience of the spirit Raava is the equivalent of the current Avatar? Isn't that one of the major takeaways from Book Spirit's finale? I'm supposed to insinuate that Raava's reappearance in Book 4 means all that information was brought back & revamped Korra's energy-bending prowess?

Assume Korra knows how to energy bend because she recalled it from Book Air's finale back in the tree of time. Maybe she found a way to deflect energy during the 4th book before the first & last time the ability is shown, but unlike the previous assumption, there's no circumstance that would foster one's imagination...and that's when Deus Ex & @sspulls come about.