History NightmareFuel / TheLegendOfKorra

* As awesome as it was, imagine Beifong's hack-and-slash attacks from the mecha controller's POV...

** Pretty sure only Tenzin and Bei Fong would have had been BroughtDownToNormal, Korra's a completely different story considering Amon's whole "I'll save you for last." Still doesn't take away from the sheer shock of it all though.

* And Amon played everyone like fools. He knew where every guard would be, so he knew how Beifong was going to do security. The security checks weren't off-screen, we see them--they were ''everywhere'', and yet somehow there were bombs on the stage, and Equalists snuck in with their masks and shock-gloves under their clothes [[ParanoiaFuel or in their popcorn...]]

*** A bit of FridgeHorror, he might even be waiting for her to use the Avatar state before he tries to kill her so he can kill the Avatar spirit completely.

** The reactions to [[spoiler: Energybending]] and how they treated the benders looked '''''A LOT''''' like a public execution.
** Amon is not creepy. His followers, on the other hand, are. At least he's got a pretty mask and a dignified appearence; the other Equalitists, on the other hand, wear bizarre, inhuman gas masks with bright green eye lenses. As if that wasn't enough, they're horrendously athletic and paralyze people by manipulating life energy. Basically, just imagine a bunch of lovecraftian cultists jumping after you and destroying your own '''soul'''.
*** The fact that Amon was able to gather such followers should say something about how creepy he is in the first place though. Face it, he is tailor-made to attack Korra's strongest, proudest points and take her down to her weakest. And the fact that he is so calm and stoic rather than some loud and crazy lunatic while he does all of this makes it even more unsettling.

* Mako witnessed [[spoiler:his parents being murdered by a Firebender at the age of eight]]. Now think about how that would have likely happened. Hint-[[spoiler:burning alive is a nasty way to die]].
** Even worse when you consider that '''every single time''' he uses his firebending, he could be reminded of what happened...
* When Amon [[spoiler:energybends]] Lightning Bolt Zolt, his lightning degrades to fire, then to nothing at all. Something about that is so unsettling.
** And how Amon threw Zolt off balance and cause destruction with the lightning just to remind the people how dangerous the bending arts were prior to that.
* The look that benders have on their faces when Amon [[spoiler: is about to try and take their bending powers away]]. The situation is bad enough, but it's even worse when the benders have this look of absolute, pure terror on their faces that is just so unsettling. Even worse when [[spoiler: Korra, of all people]], has this terrified look as well. Knowing her character, it take a LOT to make her so visibly scared.
** It's arguably worse for Korra, since she's the Avatar. Bending is essentially her identity, moreso than it would be for any other bender. The fear of having it taken from her would be monumentally worse.

* During Voices in the Night, Amon becomes an In-Universe example for Korra. And in the episode itself, [[spoiler: Korra's confrontation with Amon and his group.]]
** [[spoiler: Especially how her encounter with Amon and his followers, and her and Tenzin's reaction to it, is staged in the manner of a rape.]]

** The cinematography is especially effective in this regard; first, [[spoiler:Korra is dragged into the darkness, where the only light is supplied by her Firebending attacks.]] Then the last thing we see before everything goes black is [[spoiler:Korra getting struck in the back by seemingly dozens of hands...]]
*** And the light reflecting off the chi-blocker's masks. Their [[RedEyesTakeWarning eyes]] look ''demonic''.
*** And then when Amon finally walks out of the shadows, made even more effective by his [[HellIsThatNoise inhumanly creepy]] {{Leitmotif}}.

** Amon revealing his intentions for Korra. While it would be so easy to crush her right then and there, he won't do it because he knows that would only make her a martyr. Countless benders from about the Four Nations would be up in arms at her defeat. He makes it clear to her that their showdown will come, but not today. He is going to break her down, he is going to tear everything around her that she holds dear to her away, take everything from her. ''He's saving her for last.''
*** He doesn't call it her defeat. He calls it her "untimely demise". ...Amon is outright saying that he's going to strip her of her power and then ''kill'' her.
** It also doubles as defeating her with psychological warfare. What better way to take on a god-like being than mentally destroy them as an appetizer before mentioning they are the metaphorical dessert for their desire of revolutionary conquest?
** Also, [[FridgeHorror Fridge Horror]] strikes when you realize just how ''easily'' Amon was able to take Korra down and psychologically eviscerate her. In [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender the previous series]], 12 year old trainee Avatar Aang was able to fight on somewhat equal terms the likes of [[ColonelBadass Zhao]], [[AxCrazy Azula]], [[ImplacableMan Combustion Man]], and even [[CompleteMonster Ozai]]. All were insanely powerful benders, and commanded legions of Mooks, and each were actively dedicated to hunting him down and defeating him. Not only that, not one of these enemies ever managed to psychologically torture him in any real capacity, despite multiple attempts to do so.
*** The impact of that is somewhat lessened and made worse by the fact that Amon massively used CombatPragmatist behavior to win that battle. He's cheaper but at the same time a lot worse, because he doesn't have the kind of honor holding the others back.
*** Fastforward to Korra, a 16 year old certified badass Avatar and extremely proficient at 3 elements. In her brief fight with Amon's non-bending minions, she is not only instantly taken down and disabled by a dozen or so [[EliteMooks Elite Mooks]], but Amon is able to effortlessly and sadistically rip apart her psyche in about a minute, and terrify her into breaking down in tears the next scene. In a single scene, Amon has become more terrifying than ALL of the previous series' villains put together.
** I don't know what it is, but those heartbeat-long visions of the Gaang as adults are... sort of unnerving for some reason.
*** It's because they're obviously foreshadowing something very serious ... if you can technically call it "foreshadowing" when referring to backstory.
* Spirit of competiton seemed like it would be rather nightmare free but after the wolfbats short match we see one of their opponents on a strecher, and he has a hole in the visor of his helmet. Only [[SoftWater water benders]] are allowed headshots so that had to be [[SmugSnake Tahno's]] handiwork. How much [[EyeScream damage]] could a person attempt and NOT get a foul for and how many times has this happened?
** it's later shown the ref is one their side and Tahno does use ice. Against Team Avatar, Tahno's teammate puts ''rocks'' in one of Tahno's water blasts, knocking out all three Fire Ferrets from sheer impact. From how much screaming Tenzin was doing when he saw, that's ''really'' dangerous.
* The Equalists attack the Pro Bending Stadium in a ''blatant'' terrorist attack. Ladies and Gentlemen, ''we have a terrorist attack in this show.''
** And what an attack! Every cop is taken out by being electrocuted unconscious, Cheif Beifong and Tenzin first, the Avatar and her friends are tied under the stage after also being electrocuted unconscious, the Wolfbats all have their bending taken, Amon blows up the stage (with Korra, Mako, and Bolin barely escaping), and gets away with the building all-but destroyed, and what's left is hanging with Equalist tapestries. [[HolyShitQuotient They went there, folks.]]
** The Lieutenant electrocuting the Fire Ferrets ''in the water''! You can see the pain in their faces.
** As funny as Shiro Shinobi's announcing was right when he is about to be electrocuted, the fact he is a defenseless non-bender and look of fear on his face, pretty much confirms that the Equalists are not against attacking non-benders who support bending. However, in a strange way it proves just how awesome he is as well. Even under attack, unlike other members of the Pro Bending Organization. Shiro not only kept his cool and stayed at his post, even while he was frightend enough to ''wet his pants'' he didn't beg or plead with the Equalist attacking him. He just kept doing his job in the face of a NightmareFuel situation.
** Tahno's face right before he's stripped of his bending...the perfectly-drawn details around his terrified eyes!
** And Amon played everyone like fools. He knew where every guard would be, so he knew how Beifong was going to do security. The security checks weren't off-screen, we see them--they were ''everywhere'', and yet somehow there were bombs on the stage, and Equalists snuck in with their masks and shock-gloves under their clothes [[ParanoiaFuel or in their popcorn...]]
** Aside from the obvious references to modern terrorism, the episode also shows Amon and the equalists displaying unnerving similarities to a [[NaziGermany "certain other group"]] as Amon is now explicitly talking about "purging the impurities" of benders, and then promising to expand his purge to the rest of the world once he had finished in Republic City. His appearance at the stadium also had more than a few parallels with the Beer Hall Putch
** Plus the announcer and Tenzin made it clear that the cheating the Wolfbats were getting away with was blatantly dangerous to their competitors.
*** And it was that ill-won knockout of the Fire Ferrets that let Amon make a speech about how the city loves bullying benders...so they just proved the villains right in front of a crowd!
*** Which further drives the theory that [[ParanoiaFuel the Wolfbats weren't the only ones who paid off the officials]].

** As funny as Shiro Shinobi's announcing was right when he is about to be electrocuted, the fact he is a defenseless non-bender and look of fear on his face, pretty much confirms that the Equalists are not against attacking non-benders who support bending.

*** Which further drives the theory that [[ParanoiaFuel Amon paid off the refs as well as the Wolfbats to ensure they'd win]].

** And what an attack! Every cop is taken out by being electrocuted unconscious, Cheif Bei Fong and Tenzin first, the Avatar and her friends are tied under the stage after also being electrocuted unconscious, the Wolfbats all have their bending taken, Amon blows up the stage (with Korra, Mako, and Bolin barely escaping), and gets away with the building all-but destroyed, and what's left is hanging with Equalist tapestries. [[HolyShitQuotient They went there, folks.]]

** And Amon played everyone like fools. He knew where every guard would be, so he knew how Bei Fong was going to do security. The security checks weren't off-screen, we see them--they were ''everywhere'', and yet somehow there were bombs on the stage, and Equalists snuck in with their masks and shock-gloves under their clothes [[ParanoiaFuel or in their popcorn...]]

** The Lieutenant electrocuting the Fire Ferrets ''in the water''!

*** Tahno's face right before he's stripped of his bending...the perfectly-drawn details around his terrified eyes!

* The Equalists electrocuting Lin, Tenzin, and the Metalbenders in "And the Winner Is..."

* Spirit of competiton seemed like it would be rather nightmare free but after the wolfbats short match we see one of their opponents on a strecher, and he has a hole in the visor of his helmet. Only [[SoftWater water benders]] are allowed headshots so that had to be [[SmugSnake Tahno's]] handiwork. How much [[EyeScream damage]] could a person attempt and NOT get a fowl for and how many times has this happened?

*** Fastforward to Korra, a 16 year old certified badass avatar and extremely proficient at 3 elements. In her brief fight with Amon's non bending minions, she is not only instantly taken down and disabled by a dozen or so [[EliteMooks Elite Mooks]], but Amon is able to effortlessly and sadistically rip apart her psyche in about a minute, and terrify her into breaking down in tears the next scene. In a single scene, Amon has become more terrifying than ALL of the previous series' villains put together.

** Also, [[FridgeHorror Fridge Horror]] strikes when you realize just how ''easily'' Amon was able to take Korra down and psychologically eviscerate her. In [[AvatarTheLastAirbender the previous series]], 12 year old trainee Avatar Aang was able to fight on somewhat equal terms the likes of [[ColonelBadass Zhao]], [[AxCrazy Azula]], [[ImplacableMan Combustion Man]], and even [[CompleteMonster Ozai]]. All were insanely powerful benders, and commanded legions of Mooks, and each were actively dedicated to hunting him down and defeating him. Not only that, not one of these enemies ever managed to psychologically torture him in any real capacity, despite multiple attempts to do so.

** Amon is not creepy. His followers, on the other hand, are. At least he's got a pretty mask and a dignified appearence; the other Equalitists, on the other hand, wear bizarre, inhuman gas masks with bright green eye lenses. As if that wasn't enough, they're horrendously athletic and paralyse people by manipulating life energy. Basically, just imagine a bunch of lovecraftian cultists jumping after you and destroying your own '''soul'''.

** I don't know what it is, but those heartbeat-long visions of the Gaang as adults is... sort of unnerving for some reason.

** Also, [[FridgeHorror Fridge Horror]] strikes when you realize just how ''easily'' Amon was able to take Korra down and psychologically eviscerate her. In [[AvatarTheLastAirbender the previous series]], 12 year old trainee Avatar Aang was able to fight on somewhat equal terms the likes of [[ColonelBadass Zhao]], [[AxCrazy Azula]], [[ImplacableMan Combustion Man]], and even [[CompleteMonster Ozai]]. All were insanely powerful benders, and commanded legions of Mooks, and each were actively dedicated to hunting him down and defeating him. Not only that, not one of these enemies ever managed to psychologically torture him in any real capacity, despite multiple attempts to do so.