Legend of Korra: Korra Goes to Dagobah (Kinda)

[klaynexas3]

I'm just disappointed that she's blatantly evil. That's what has been pissing me off about Korra, every villain, besides Zaheer, has just been mustache twirlers. To be fair, Ozai was the same thing in TLA, but at least we had Azula for some interest, and Ozai actually was a decent villain as a mustache twirler. It just feels now like they're trying to make lightning strike twice, and the only reason why Ozai worked was because he wasn't even seen as a person, he was like an unstoppable force, we never even saw what he looked like until like the end of season 2, and it wasn't Amon's hiding behind a mask deal, it was the creators trying to portray him as this otherworldly thing, a monster really, rather than an actual human. That's why Ozai worked, and why Unaloq, Amon, and now Kuvira, really are not interesting villains. They're just assholes. And instead of trying to make Kuvira out as someone just trying to bring order to an unstable nation, no, she's just going to be another power mad fuckwit and just...fuck man. It pisses me off really, it's like they are not even trying anymore, like they thought "okay, Zaheer was the best villain we could ever make, we might as well just make more Ozai's without the actual threat or build up."

Dammit man. I'm liking Korra, I'm liking it a lot, and I would like some interesting characters, but that goes all around. It's just like, it's nearly perfect, but because it's so close to that perfection, it hits the uncanny valley and just becomes annoying because it's flaws, while not as many as some shows, are now glaring, and it just seems so obvious how to make it into that perfect show and just fuck man.

 

[jamail77]

I'm not finding Toph that likable anymore, her attitude was funny when she was a child but now she just comes off as a *****.

Pretty much this.

I find her still to be immensely likable. Frankly, it's nice to see she hasn't changed too much aside from being wiser. I like her no-nonsense attitude. I like that she is rightfully arrogant (Seriously, she might still be the best earthbender in the world). I like that she enjoys tormenting Korra in a similar fashion to how she tormented Aang. I like she still calls the Avatar "Twinkle Toes" even though Korra is not Aang. It's all such obvious fanservice, but it's fanservice done right. Going to have to agree to disagree with you two.

While we're on the topic of Toph, did anyone get the feeling Toph was even more skilled/even stronger than she was in ATLA? The way she beat down Korra was so fluid versus the tense, precise, unmovable quality of her usual fighting style. ATLA Toph was never that fluid, partly due to her blindness. To see her so much more flexible in her fighting makes me think she is better than she was. Plus, she could take the remaining bits of metal out of Korra, something even Su couldn't do who despite being criticized by Toph for not being that good is still probably 1 of the best metalbenders around solely because she was trained by the creator of metalbending. In ATLA, Toph couldn't bend metal unless she was directly touching it even though she vastly improved by the finale. Now, she can apparently bend metal that is buried under all the complicated nature of skin, bones, bodily fluids. That's a vast difference from her ATLA metalbending. And, she claims she isn't even in her prime anymore! I know just this 1 episode isn't enough to be sure, but if I'm right damn! She was already a really amazing eartbender in ATLA! 0_0

 

[jamail77]

Totally predicting Wu going through some hardcore character development this season... though I'm kinda wondering if the vaguely romantic subtext between he and Mako is being done on purpose. XD

I doubt it was done on purpose. It just comes off that way because Wu is kind of a camp character, what with his love for certain..."activities" (Sokka actually liked some of that stuff too, but he wasn't camp about it, to be fair). I think that's just part of Wu's social awkwardness. Royalty are often so sheltered they're a little socially awkward. Or, maybe he acts that way because Mako is the closest thing he has to a friend: He doesn't realize he's coming off stronger than he should.

 

[Wolyo]

I find her still to be immensely likable. Frankly, it's nice to see she hasn't changed too much aside from being wiser. I like her no-nonsense attitude. I like that she is rightfully arrogant (Seriously, she might still be the best earthbender in the world). I like that she enjoys tormenting Korra in a similar fashion to how she tormented Aang. I like she still calls the Avatar "Twinkle Toes" even though Korra is not Aang. It's all such obvious fanservice, but it's fanservice done right. Going to have to agree to disagree with you two.

While we're on the topic of Toph, did anyone get the feeling Toph was even more skilled/even stronger than she was in ATLA? The way she beat down Korra was so fluid versus the tense, precise, unmovable quality of her usual fighting style. ATLA Toph was never that fluid, partly due to her blindness. To see her so much more flexible in her fighting makes me think she is better than she was. Plus, she could take the remaining bits of metal out of Korra, something even Su couldn't do who despite being criticized by Toph for not being that good is still probably 1 of the best metalbenders around solely because she was trained by the creator of metalbending. In ATLA, Toph couldn't bend metal unless she was directly touching it even though she vastly improved by the finale. Now, she can apparently bend metal that is buried under all the complicated nature of skin, bones, bodily fluids. That's a vast difference from her ATLA metalbending. And, she claims she isn't even in her prime anymore! I know just this 1 episode isn't enough to be sure, but if I'm right damn! She was already a really amazing eartbender in ATLA! 0_0

Not just the fluidity, she barely moves and never use her arms except when she sat down at the end but Korra was trying to sneak on her. Airbending is not even a problem for her now. And she can see everything, I'm pretty sure that's true, she's never been one to lie. Boast for sure but lie not really.

Best character of the two series, with Bolin

 

[K12]

I will be disappointed if Kuvira turns out to be the main antagonist for this season.

She's basically doing the right thing but being a bit of a ***** about it at the moment. It'll be disappointing if they take the narratively easy way out of that conflict but just saying "hey turns out she was just out to grab power for herself the whole time".

If she declared herself leader of the "Earth Republic" rather than the "Earth Empire" then she'd be a pretty clear good-guy.

Long time reader, first time poster... yadda-yadda.

I think the mention of "metal fragments" within Korra's body is going to play out as a very crucial plot element in the near future. I mean, we saw what was Korra's reaction when Toph tried to metal bend it away from the body.

So if we focus on all the things that have been established in the series thus far:
1) Kuvira is most likely to become the primary antagonist for our heroine.
2) Kuvira is exceptionally talented metal bender as seen when she took out an entire band of earth bending bandits.
3) Korra has fragments of metal within her body, along with still lingering physical and psychological trauma.

So when Korra and Kuvira butt their heads against each other; I think Kuvira could defeat Korra by simply 'bloodbending' her.

Or maybe Kuvira is the one who finally gets all the metal parts out of her.

 

[Rastrelly]

I'm getting more and more bored and filled with sadness, and I cannot get all the amounts of praise Korra gets. Seriously. What do you guys see in this series? ATLA was epicly great, but Korra, IMHO, fails at every single aspect...

 

[Wolyo]

I'm getting more and more bored and filled with sadness, and I cannot get all the amounts of praise Korra gets. Seriously. What do you guys see in this series? ATLA was epicly great, but Korra, IMHO, fails at every single aspect...

Why do you keep watching then?

 

[Dalrien]

I'm getting more and more bored and filled with sadness, and I cannot get all the amounts of praise Korra gets. Seriously. What do you guys see in this series? ATLA was epicly great, but Korra, IMHO, fails at every single aspect...

I look forward to your review.

O'wait.

 

[KazeAizen]

So far, this season has not disappointed yet. Wu isn't my favorite guy, but so many things are happening and all of it is amazing. Plus, a season combining two of my favorite characters (Toph and Varrick)? Nice stuff. Hoping Varrick goes full-on mad scientist before this is done.

Prediction: Using the roots, they'll somehow bring back Vatu (that was the evil spirits name, right?) either on purpose or accident. This will force Korra to kick her ass in high-gear to save the world again. And the result will reconnect her with her past-avatars. Just a hunch.

Or the ending result will destroy the Avatar forever. That's where I think this is going. Its called Balance so I think this is meant to be the last story for the Avatar period. Korra will either die or Ravaa will be gone forever this time and when all is said and done the world will finally be at true peace and balance.

 

[KazeAizen]

While we're on the topic of Toph, did anyone get the feeling Toph was even more skilled/even stronger than she was in ATLA?

Not to sound like a jerk but it would be incredibly strange if she wasn't. I mean she was freaking good as a kid but she's what 10 there? Its been at least 74 years since then. If you aren't better at something at 74 then at 10 something went terribly wrong.

 

[SilverUchiha]

So far, this season has not disappointed yet. Wu isn't my favorite guy, but so many things are happening and all of it is amazing. Plus, a season combining two of my favorite characters (Toph and Varrick)? Nice stuff. Hoping Varrick goes full-on mad scientist before this is done.

Prediction: Using the roots, they'll somehow bring back Vatu (that was the evil spirits name, right?) either on purpose or accident. This will force Korra to kick her ass in high-gear to save the world again. And the result will reconnect her with her past-avatars. Just a hunch.

Or the ending result will destroy the Avatar forever. That's where I think this is going. Its called Balance so I think this is meant to be the last story for the Avatar period. Korra will either die or Ravaa will be gone forever this time and when all is said and done the world will finally be at true peace and balance.

I want to argue, but I can see some possibility to what you've said. Lines of dialogue from Toph such as "The world doesn't need an Avatar" really hint that things may very well go that way. I REALLY don't want them to because the idea of Avatar as a franchise ending here would be really depressing when there are so many possibilities for future eras in their world. I've love them to get to a sci-fi futuristic world while also having the Avatar. Regardless of how they choose to end it though, I think it will be spectacular as the series has just gotten more interesting since it started. They're learning from previous seasons and constantly improving their craft.

 

[Amazing Mavis]

Or maybe Kuvira is the one who finally gets all the metal parts out of her.

That too is a possibility, and it could play both ways to make Korra either friendly or hostile towards Kuvira.


As for what our Varrick is doing with that spirit vine:
If we focus on Kuvira's speeches on protecting the Earth Kingdom's/Empire's borders, especially the line she made when she crushed the medallion: Varrick could be trying to find out a way to control and grow spirit vines wherever. Just think about if Earth Empire's borders were wrapped with spirit vines that acted as a protective barrier against outside intrusions.

But looking at his device, well, it still kind of looks like some kind of ray-gun... >_>

 

[Amazing Mavis]

I want to argue, but I can see some possibility to what you've said. Lines of dialogue from Toph such as "The world doesn't need an Avatar" really hint that things may very well go that way. I REALLY don't want them to because the idea of Avatar as a franchise ending here would be really depressing when there are so many possibilities for future eras in their world. I've love them to get to a sci-fi futuristic world while also having the Avatar. Regardless of how they choose to end it though, I think it will be spectacular as the series has just gotten more interesting since it started. They're learning from previous seasons and constantly improving their craft.

Well, I have thought of that too. But if we look at the events earlier in the series:
1) Korra lost the previous incarnations of the avatar.
2) She left the spirit portals open.
3) The world has changed a lot more than it has during the past 10,000 years.
4) Vaatu has most likely become a permanent darkness inside the avatar. (Vaatu/Unalaq destroyed Raava, and Korra rediscovered Raava again inside Vaatu/Unalaq - before in turn 'destroying' Vaatu/Unalaq herself. And my point is, what would make the Korra/Raava any different from Vaatu/Unalaq?)

So given the above, I think Korra needs to find a new balance. An entirely new avatar cycle, if not an entirely new role for the avatar itself.

 

[jamail77]

snip

Not just the fluidity, she barely moves and never use her arms except when she sat down at the end but Korra was trying to sneak on her. Airbending is not even a problem for her now. And she can see everything, I'm pretty sure that's true, she's never been one to lie. Boast for sure but lie not really.

Best character of the two series, with Bolin

EXACTLY! Glad to know I wasn't the only one who thought that might be a sign of a vastly improved Toph, at least in terms of fighting and only compared to her ATLA self rather than her interim self.

I would argue though that airbending was not a problem for her then either; after all, Toph can see attacks coming via vibrations regardless of whether the moves are rooted to the earth, so long as the person is rooted to the earth. I always thought it was the airbender strategy that Toph had a problem fighting against. Remember that when Toph first fought Aang he rarely spent much time making long, complicated ground movements. He spent most of the fight, if you could even call it that considering how averse to it Aang was, jumping around and landing so softly Toph barely felt vibrations. So, when he shot an air blast out at her and she saw the vibrations of the movement it was too late by then because 1) Airbending is fast, 2) It involves no physicality you can feel, and 3) he had just landed softly before he bothered striking and she lost track of where he was. Of course, I get the feeling you already know this and meant that more or less and I'm just focusing too much on the semantics/taking you too literally.

Personally, I'm partial to Tenzin, Varrick, and Wan as favorites for this series, but to each their own.

I'm getting more and more bored and filled with sadness, and I cannot get all the amounts of praise Korra gets. Seriously. What do you guys see in this series? ATLA was epicly great, but Korra, IMHO, fails at every single aspect...

Why do you keep watching then?

To be fair, people watch stuff they dislike in the hopes it gets better. They often stick around because there are promising signs although in Rastrelly's case I doubt this considering Rastrelly said, "fails at every single aspect". It might be ATLA nostalgia that keeps him coming, in the hopes he'll be watching an episode that has an ATLA character in it. Frankly, "Why do you keep watching?" is an argument I'm kind of tired of seeing. Just because someone dislikes something doesn't mean they won't stick around for understandable reasons. I've certainly stuck around with stuff I don't like.

I would agree that voicing dislike in a forum thread related to a review that praises this episode is a little silly. He's just going to get a lot of backlash rather than insight. I doubt there will be a lot of people who don't like the show commenting here. It would be more appropriate to start his own thread, but there are already quite a few topics on how this show must be terrible and why does everybody like it so much. So, he'd kind of be beating a dead horse.

While we're on the topic of Toph, did anyone get the feeling Toph was even more skilled/even stronger than she was in ATLA?

Not to sound like a jerk but it would be incredibly strange if she wasn't. I mean she was freaking good as a kid but she's what 10 there? Its been at least 74 years since then. If you aren't better at something at 74 then at 10 something went terribly wrong.

Don't worry, you don't sound like a jerk. I agree it would be strange if she wasn't a better fighter than she was as a still growing kid. To understand where I'm coming from, it's probably best for me to just quote the Facebook comment I made on the actual review:

Yeah, 12 is pretty young: Most people would get stronger than their 12 year old self. And, I know the Avatar universe has a lot of people who are strong despite their age, but, honestly, yes I am surprised. I had a hard time thinking Toph could get much more awesome than she was in ATLA. She was freakin' Earth runnin' MANY MILES back to Ba Sing Se after escaping capture and this was right after discovering metalbending, something I imagine had to have been somewhat tiring to do for the 1st time. I'm glad though. Toph was a fan favorite for a reason.

To reiterate, Toph was REALLY strong in ATLA and I didn't see how she could improve much farther. It felt like she had reached a peak of earthbending, hence greatest earthbender in the world though really she might as well have called herself "The Greatest Earthbender Ever".

 

[dalek sec]

I'm not finding Toph that likable anymore, her attitude was funny when she was a child but now she just comes off as a *****.

Likewise, I know she's Toph and is living alone but by the Emperor I couldn't stand her. I honestly want Korra to ***** slap her in Avatar mode before the series ends, shit you'd think as a mother she'd had a shred of pride for her daughters.

OT: Yeah it was a builder episode but we needed it, my personal guess is that spirit branch is gonna be used as some kind of bomb or beam weapon.

 

[Wolyo]

"Why do you keep watching?" is an argument I'm kind of tired of seeing. Just because someone dislikes something doesn't mean they won't stick around for understandable reasons. I've certainly stuck around with stuff I don't like.

It's not an argument, it's a question.I want to know his reason. I mean if I felt this about a show:

I'm getting more and more bored and filled with sadness, and I cannot get all the amounts of praise Korra gets. Seriously. What do you guys see in this series? ATLA was epicly great, but Korra, IMHO, fails at every single aspect...

I would've quit a long time ago, it's the fourth season, why stick around for something that make you sad and bored?

Personally, I'm partial to Tenzin, Varrick, and Wan as favorites for this series, but to each their own.

Aaah Varrick and Tenzin I really like them too. But still Toph and Bolin take the first place. Plus I really want to know how much Bolin got better at Lavabending.

I would argue though that airbending was not a problem for her then either; after all, Toph can see attacks coming via vibrations regardless of whether the moves are rooted to the earth

It's true that Korra is not really using usual airbending tactics compare to Aang it must be easy for Her.

To reiterate, Toph was REALLY strong in ATLA and I didn't see how she could improve much farther. It felt like she had reached a peak of earthbending, hence greatest earthbender in the world though really she might as well have called herself "The Greatest Earthbender Ever".

It's not that she is particularly stronger, her techniques are far more refined no useless movement or too much force applied when not necessary.

 

[Rastrelly]

"Why do you keep watching?" is an argument I'm kind of tired of seeing. Just because someone dislikes something doesn't mean they won't stick around for understandable reasons. I've certainly stuck around with stuff I don't like.

I would've quit a long time ago, it's the fourth season, why stick around for something that make you sad and bored?

Why do you keep watching then?

I click it through diagonally to stay up to date. Also, thanks for your answers, they helped me much.

 

[KazeAizen]

I want to argue, but I can see some possibility to what you've said. Lines of dialogue from Toph such as "The world doesn't need an Avatar" really hint that things may very well go that way. I REALLY don't want them to because the idea of Avatar as a franchise ending here would be really depressing when there are so many possibilities for future eras in their world. I've love them to get to a sci-fi futuristic world while also having the Avatar. Regardless of how they choose to end it though, I think it will be spectacular as the series has just gotten more interesting since it started. They're learning from previous seasons and constantly improving their craft.

This is a case of we think we know what we want. Believe me I would want more Avatar as well. I don't think that would be the best idea. Especially considering Nick doesn't seem to even care for it themselves with the treatment Korra got. If this ending leaves off on a very satisfactory note that determines the role or existence of the Avatar for the rest of time they shouldn't make anymore. Sometimes Its just better to leave things where they lie. That is why I actually never want Valve to make a Portal 3. The ending to Portal 2 was perfect. There is no need to go back.

 

[jamail77]

Spoiler: My misspeaking

"Why do you keep watching?" is an argument I'm kind of tired of seeing. Just because someone dislikes something doesn't mean they won't stick around for understandable reasons. I've certainly stuck around with stuff I don't like.

It's not an argument, it's a question.I want to know his reason. I mean if I felt this about a show:

Spoiler: Rastrelly's voicing of dislike

I'm getting more and more bored and filled with sadness, and I cannot get all the amounts of praise Korra gets. Seriously. What do you guys see in this series? ATLA was epicly great, but Korra, IMHO, fails at every single aspect...

I would've quit a long time ago, it's the fourth season, why stick around for something that make you sad and bored?

You're right, it is a question and I should have used that term to describe it. I was thinking of it in terms of how people respond to vehement dislike of what they dislike. People get mad at criticism and say, "Leave if you don't like the show" instead of just taking the criticism into consideration. In fact, it scares people off when they get responses like that. These people who didn't like the show at first, but it might have grown on them like all the fans who hated Books 1 and 2, but loved Book 3 and are glad they stuck around. They get scared off by such reactions. So, in a way it's both a question and an argument, in the sense it is an argument to dissuade critical people from being involved in fandom discussion, but, yes, the way you used it was as a question.

It's not that she is particularly stronger, her techniques are far more refined no useless movement or too much force applied when not necessary.

You really focus on the semantics, don't you? What I meant is she's just a better fighter now. I didn't mean stronger literally.

Don't forget that through the swamp vines she can apparently see the entire world (or at least a good chunk of it) through her feet.

Toph too OP.

I don't think she meant she could see the whole world through seismic sense. I think she just meant the whole world is connected and you can see it all at once from the swamp if you're spiritually enlightened like she is. She's not using the earthbending vibration sensing power. She's just like this guy from ATLA. He didn't have earthbending senses like that (mostly because he was a...you know, a waterbender), but he claimed to be able to pull off the same thing.