So.... Korrasami is canon.

[Ieyke]

It was obviously canon from watching the last episode, it was really obvious through all of Book 4 that there was something beyond friendship between them, Book 3 had them constantly working extremely close together...

So yea. Duh.

My first thought is "Well duh. Did you see the finale? Of course it's canon. I've only seen gifsets of the finale, and I could tell you that shit's canon."

My second thought is pretty much that he's an unrepentant asshole. I mean, I'm fine with most of the article, but then it got to the part where it talks about those who criticized making Korrasami canon - and my asshole meter shot into the red. Seriously? "If you think we mishandled the relationship build-up, you're probably a homophobe with a hetero-normative lens." Wow, that's real nice, blame the audience and imply they're bigots because they disagree with your writing choices. Of course, given how they screwed the pooch with relationship writing in the first two seasons, maybe he really doesn't that the way he wrote Korra and Asami (Or Korra and Mako) could have been flawed. As I understand it, Bryke thought they wrote the relationships perfectly back then, and were genuinely surprised at the blow-back the romance got.

Meh, whatever. I dropped Korra after season two, so I genuinely don't care what happened or who ended up with who, and this actual news itself means nothing to me. Just noting that Bryan sounded really snotty and thin-skinned for a moment there. If the first two seasons of Korra taught me anything, it's that Airbender was a team-effort and Bryke either haven't got much talent on their own, or severely depend their editors to throw out their bad ideas. Either way, whatever these two produce in the future, I haven't got high hopes for it. Especially if that's how they respond to criticism. (And also seriously? "The characters told us where they wanted to go?" No, that's not how you write. Good writing needs planning. I feel like this attitude explains so many of LoK's flaws.)

Atleast Korra's over. If I have any luck, the next big thing will actually be worth my time. This show certainly wasn't.

EDIT: Why didn't you add di Martino's post instead, he's far less of a jackass about it.

http://michaeldantedimartino.tumblr.com/post/105916326500/korrasami-confirmed-now-that-korra-and-asamis

Bryan was beyond justified in his response.
A lot of people have been real dumbfucks about it. Various combinations of denser than lead, in hilariously embarrassing denial, whiny, tantrums, and lots of homophobes.

The Legend Of Korra is actually better than Avatar:The Last Airbender.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

I kinda stopped at the Season 2 finale...and even then, I got the odd inkling that Asami and Korra were a potential thing, what with the dudes consistently being fuck-ups.

Just didn't think they would actually go through with it. Good on 'em.

Let the fanart begin [small]continue[/small] in earnest.

 

[Ieyke]

Good god, watch Books 3 and 4.
Book 2 was the WORST.
2 was Bryke having to awkwardly recalibrate the show after Nickelodeon fucked them over.
3 and 4 were the show finally getting to be what it was meant to be.

 

[Denamic]

snip

Could you quote the part where he accuses people who think the build up was mishandled as "homophobes"? All I can find is this:

Sadly and unsurprisingly, there are also plenty of people who have lashed out with homophobic vitriol and nonsense.

"Hetero-normative" is a pretty good description when it comes to the issue. There were plenty hints and subtle details that displayed more than just friendship between those two over the last two seasons, I know that I personally caught up on them and Korrasami was "confirmed" for me way before the final epise. I just assumed that they will never get the okay to show it as explicit as they did. If one goes into the series without giving the thought of a homosexual / bisexual relationship a chance you will end up missing plenty of details, this makes it "hetero-normative" but by far not homophobic (a friend of mine did not see it coming and only after we discussed the buildup he realised that he missed it all).

Clearly, you have not seen the comments made about this issue outside of the escapist. If those are 'hetero-normative', then racism is 'skin-colour-normative'.

 

[Saetha]

Snip

snip

To the both of you, I'm just gonna drop this Tumblr post that surmises what is, perhaps, the biggest problem with what Bryan said:

http://forever-makorra.tumblr.com/post/105923616587

Even setting aside the absolute disgust I feel for a writer who'd rather blame their audience than accept criticism...

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Good god, watch Books 3 and 4.
Book 2 was the WORST.
2 was Bryke having to awkwardly recalibrate the show after Nickelodeon fucked them over.
3 and 4 were the show finally getting to be what it was meant to be.

Will have to do that now. >.>

I'll power through it in the next week or so. Just have to get over that S2 finale hump.

 

[Ishal]

As I understand it, Bryke thought they wrote the relationships perfectly back then, and were genuinely surprised at the blow-back the romance got.

If the first two seasons of Korra taught me anything, it's that Airbender was a team-effort and Bryke either haven't got much talent on their own, or severely depend their editors to throw out their bad ideas.

That's because they are bad writers. Period. There is really no way around it. All the corporate "Well you see NICK-" excuses in the world don't hold up against the horrible things that happened in Korra. Season 1 was pretty bad, Season 2 was worse, Season 3 was actually pretty good (imo), Season 4 is on par with 1.

Korra's entire relationship with Asami is saying passing compliments, stuff you would say to each other at a board meeting. "Hey nice hair today" "Hey looking good man" "Hey I got you some coffee you look tired" If we're arguing all those 'hints' were supposed to lean toward Korrasami. Then ships like Tenzin/Korra have just as much if not more merit.

Korra and Asami spent less time together in the course of four books than almost every other main character on the team. It amazes me that they saw fit to end with them 'together'There really is no indication that they are romantically interested prior to the finale. Especially if you compare that with all the other romances. Every other Bryke romance is beaten to death, then beaten some more before it becomes canon. There is no subtlety when it comes Bryke and romance.

Korra and Asami would meet up for one episode, talk, then Asami would be gone for two episodes while Korra ran off with Make, Lin, or Tenzin. You're telling me they couldn't have her around more to show this supposed interest? C'mon. It's not like Asami was busy off developing as a character, either. The one issue she had throughout the series was that she wasn't on good terms with her father, and she struggled a bit with her company in the second season.

I'm not arguing if Korrasmi is canon. I'm arguing the method by which they did it was atrocious.

Bryke can only be trusted to make something good if they have a good team. TLA compared to the now complete LoK is proof of this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Ah yes the good old "the creator said on tumblr" argument, also known as the Rowling Defense.
Look, I'm not saying they are or aren't. I take a story at its face value. Whatever an author has to say about his character/s he should say so in his work. If you can't weave it into the narrative and you have to bring it up outside of it ("they were mormons by the way"), then you didn't do a good job in the first place.

 

[Saetha]

To the both of you, I'm just gonna drop this Tumblr post that surmises what is, perhaps, the biggest problem with what Bryan said:

http://forever-makorra.tumblr.com/post/105923616587

Even setting aside the absolute disgust I feel for a writer who'd rather blame their audience than accept criticism...

Ehm... What does this blogpost explain? That in a landscape where everyone expects hetero couples in media people magically drop that expectation because they have a different sexual preference?

Yes, LGBT people can view media through the hetero-normative lens.

Really? Why don't you take that up with the girl running the blog - considering how she's already gone off about how Ikki's gay and Jinora's bicurious, I'm gunna go out on a limb and say that she probably isn't all that hetero-normative. She just didn't see this particular ship (Because that sort of thing's subjective, and what's obvious to someone could be quite a surprise to someone else) and feels alienated from her community by a man who's claiming he wants acceptance of people like her.

Look, I'm fine with you debating someone who thinks Korrasmi didn't have build-up, but accusing them of discrimination for not agreeing with your ship is going way too far. Didn't you, in another thread, tell me to respect other people's opinions and politely disagree? Maybe you should practice what you preach.

 

[Mr Companion]

Impressed they didn't try to pass it off as platonic just to avoid controversy and whiny parents. Good on them for saying 'Well yes it was romantic what are you stupid? Did you WATCH the epsisode?

As I understand it, Bryke thought they wrote the relationships perfectly back then, and were genuinely surprised at the blow-back the romance got.

If the first two seasons of Korra taught me anything, it's that Airbender was a team-effort and Bryke either haven't got much talent on their own, or severely depend their editors to throw out their bad ideas.

That's because they are bad writers. Period. There is really no way around it. All the corporate "Well you see NICK-" excuses in the world don't hold up against the horrible things that happened in Korra. Season 1 was pretty bad, Season 2 was worse, Season 3 was actually pretty good (imo), Season 4 is on par with 1.

Korra's entire relationship with Asami is saying passing compliments, stuff you would say to each other at a board meeting. "Hey nice hair today" "Hey looking good man" "Hey I got you some coffee you look tired" If we're arguing all those 'hints' were supposed to lean toward Korrasami. Then ships like Tenzin/Korra have just as much if not more merit.

Korra and Asami spent less time together in the course of four books than almost every other main character on the team. It amazes me that they saw fit to end with them 'together'There really is no indication that they are romantically interested prior to the finale. Especially if you compare that with all the other romances. Every other Bryke romances it beaten to death then beaten some more before it becomes canon. There is no subtlety when it comes Bryke and romance.

Korra and Asami would meet up for one episode, talk, then Asami would be gone for two episodes while Korra ran off with Make, Lin, or Tenzin. You're telling me they couldn't have her around more to show this supposed interest? C'mon. It's not like Asami was busy off developing as a character, either. The one issue she had throughout the series was that she wasn't on good terms with her father, and she struggled a bit with her company in the second season.

I'm not arguing if Korrasmi is canon. I'm arguing the method by which they did it was atrocious.

Bryke can only be trusted to make something good if they have a good team. TLA compared to the now complete LoK is proof of this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Kinda agreed, the show was pretty poor the whole way. It's especially obvious when you go back and watch TLA and see how much better written it was, how well planned it was. In TLA there were plot points they had clearly worked out from the start that didn't bear fruit until book 3.

LOK by comparison feels like they just made s**t up as they went along. 'What happens now? Uhh I guess they confront Kuvira in front of her entire army with no backup plan, then Kuvira wins even though Korra has all 4 elements and Avatar state because she is scared of being the avatar. Then they go do some other stuff for a while I suppose, then they win thend.'

On the other hand the Korrasami relationship was at least unexpected, even if it was pretty out of nowhere. To be honest they kinda snookered themselves on the relationship front because there were no male characters left that would make any sense for her to pair up with. Mako is a boring brick man with no personality and they both agreed that their relationship wasn't working so a Makorra ending would suck. Meanwhile Bolin is just a second rate Sokka and a relationship with him would be an anticlimax to say the least. Tenzen is a father figure so that would be creepy, Prince Wu is a reta- not suitable aaaand there isn't anybody else. Mako also would be have been a bit too vanilla and over-orchestrated. I would rather a very subtle relationship that comes out of nowhere (as they sometimes do in real life) than one that you see coming for ages.

So Korrasami was sudden (they only knew they were going to go for it by the final season) but made more sense than any alternatives. Of course as they said in the interview linked by the OP they were tempted to have no relationship ending but I'm glad they wen't for this, it was a pretty satisfying final minute.

 

[hermes]

Yeah... not really much into Korrasami, to be honest.

Not that I have a problem with what many are calling "revolutionary" as the first confirmed lesbian couple in western animation (I can't remember another example, but I could be wrong and no, fan made couples like Poison Ivy/Harley Quinn don't count); but because it comes literally out of nowhere. There are very few (if any) hints that they are developing into something more than close friendship, and there are even less hints throughout the series that either of them leans that way, so all most people have in terms of confirmation are the last 2 seconds of the show and a letter from the director, in four years... and that is an awful way of handling it.

In a way, I would have preferred that Korra ended up with no romantic interest (because we know a female character can't have an narrative arc if she doesn't end up with someone) than one that was poorly developed and just thrown there, no matter how unconventional it is.

 

[wizzy555]

I was never interested in Korra's relationships so this doesn't change my opinion of it. I was sort of impressed how they sort of hinted it at the start of season 3 (I was sort of "WTF is going on" but then I completely forgot about it) and then slotted it in at the end.

I'll leave that to others to decide if that was genius or lazy Chekhov's gun.

 

[A-D.]

Yeah... not really much into Korrasami, to be honest.

Not that I have a problem with what many are calling "revolutionary" as the first confirmed lesbian couple in western animation (I can't remember another example, but I could be wrong and no, fan made couples like Poison Ivy/Harley Quinn don't count); but because it comes literally out of nowhere. There are very few (if any) hints that they are developing into something more than close friendship, and there are even less hints throughout the series that either of them leans that way, so all most people have in terms of confirmation are the last 2 seconds of the show and a letter from the director, in four years... and that is an awful way of handling it.

In a way, I would have preferred that Korra ended up with no romantic interest (because we know a female character can't have an narrative arc if she doesn't end up with someone) than one that was poorly developed and just thrown there, no matter how unconventional it is.

Its actually been ongoing since Season 2, but it has been very subtle, in a way that you could clearly argue that they are just close friends. But if you follow them specifically, you can see that they are growing closer over the course of the series and it really is only at the end of Season 4 that both seem to have realized that maybe there is something more than just close friendship. It is very vague though and you could argue both ways, i.e. are they gonna be a couple or not and regardless of the creator's intent you could just simply decide for yourself that they arent.

It is arguably better solved that way than forcing the issue by loudly declaring that they are now together. Relationships are much more complex then that. Hell even a Fan citing the whole "Well they both dated Mako" isnt really a reason as to why they cant be together. Being into your own gender doesnt mean you wake up one morning and realize that you are in fact gay, alot of the times its the realization afterwards like, you are with a guy or girl and somehow it just isnt working, so you experiment with the other gender and suddenly it clicks. Or it can be very.."romantic" in a way of say "Soulmates" in that you can fall in love with someone who shares your Gender, you love them for who they are, not because of what gender they have.

In short, if you want to think that clearly they are just friends, thats totally fine. If you want to think that they are going to be more, thats fine too. At least it leaves it open and doesnt force the issue.

 

[ZiggyE]

Dropped the show in season one. Really just didn't hook me. Even so, the "if you didn't like how we did it, you're a bigot" argument is pretty poor, but an increasingly common defense. I like to call it the "Bioware defense".

 

[Queen Michael]

Isn't this headline kind of a spoiler? I think you should change it.