The Legend of Korra Books 2-4

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Originally Posted by Dapiek Absaroka

It's still better than most western animation

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Agreement. I just want to make it clear that any criticism I throw at this show, it all has this attached to it. With the word "current" attached actually.

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Originally Posted by Dapiek Absaroka

but not nearly on the level of say, Xanatos and Demona from Gargoyles (admittedly, those are big shoes to fill).

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Indeed, it's rare for any show, much less children's animation, to reach Gargoyle quality at its peak.

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Originally Posted by Dapiek Absaroka

Zaheer was probably the best of the lot; even if we didn't know the details of his backstory we could get a general sense of where he was coming from in regards to his motives as a response to the world he lived in and those small moments with P'Li went a long way in humanizing him.

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I have some issues with Zaheer as a character, but the main problems I had with Season 3 villains involved the fact that they established them as a team, but once you get past their individual gimmicks, none of the others were very substantial. Heck, the show even forgot that P'li and Zaheer were supposed to be in love with each other for a while.

Spoiler - Spoilers don't work unless I name them

That is until it was time for her to go kaboom. Then the show made sure to dedicate time reminding us that, yes, this is why she's on this team. Don't forget to feel emotions viewers.

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Originally Posted by Dapiek Absaroka

Also, Prince Wu went from being better to worse than ever in record time.

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I've been waiting for the Wu transformation since they first established him as being so unlikeable. But it seems they're playing the subtle game of keeping him unlikeable for as long as possible instead.

So when he came in with his initial comment, it actually peaked my interest in a "Wow, they're really jumping right into this thing aren't they?" Of course then he kept going and I realized, "Oh right, false alarm."

Sorry for a few week delay of this thread, but I just saw three new episodes and here are my brief thoughts on each one:

Spoiler - Rememberance

This episode is more of a recap of the series, but Varrick's own story is really funny, and Wu's talk with Mako and others did make me laugh. Vaatu as an "evil kite", classic :p.

An 8 out of 10

Spoiler - Beyond the Wilds

The return of Zaheer worked out great. Surprisingly, he helped Korra conquer her vision fears, and she's finally back to herself. A truly remarkable moment. Let's not forget Jon Heder's voice cameo at the beginning of the episode (he's also on episode two of Book 3).

A 9.5 out of 10

Spoiler - Operation Beifong

Toph returns, and this time she helped her daughter Lin rescue Su. And I knew all along that Zhu Li isn't really betraying Varrick. The action scenes are great, too.

A 9.4 out of 10

I can see why they don't give Toph or Katara or Zuko a bigger role in fighting the baddies. They are mentors now, not fighters. They have had their own adventures in their own time- this is not their show anymore. They'll guide the new generation, but won't coddle them and hold their hand with every problem that comes along until they're in their deathbeds. There comes a time when the new kids have to learn to stand on their feet and face their trials on their own, because the old guard won't be around forever to do it for them.

Also, Bumi was mothereffing Bumi. He could earthbend with just his face and still looked ripped like a bodyduilder at the age of 112. It's pretty safe to say that Toph and her friends haven't aged as well, even if they're "only" in their 70's.

Spoiler - Love is a Battlefield

-Anyone else have trouble just getting to the episode? It wasn't on the front page and once I just manually went to it, it skipped the last third of the episode. I must say, Nick got a lot ad revenue from me today from my attempts to watch this thing

-Technically the Fire Nation had conquered that Earth Kingdom territory, it was theirs. Sure, the White Lotus took the capital and the leader had fallen, but if surrender terms did not allocate that land back, it was still a Fire Nation colony
-Hey Bataar Jr. remember how we love each other?
-Yeah Kuvira, you're the-wait...hold on, isn't this exactly what they did with Zaheer and that Combustion Lady person?
-That's not important right now.
-The hell it's not! I want to live!
-I love you so much. (hug)
-In honor of Zhu Li standing up to Howard Hughes, there will be no Varrick quotes today
-Also, he wasn't all that quoteworthy
-You are not a gun, you are what you choose to be
-Also, how does nobody know they had that giant mech?
-Apparently someone read Kojimas book on completely impractical mass destruction machines
-Further signs of apparent animation budget loss makes it pretty clear that this battle isn't going to happen
-It's a good thing the giant death laser proved to only be capable of mildly cutting through our ships, allowing us to get past censors by showing the crew is alive and also proving that this weapon is actually slightly less effective than anything else we've used in this show
-So uh, ok, he was unguarded, that's fine I guess. But how did you not know he was gone right up to the point where you line up for the terms settlement meeting thing?
-Guards are incompetent
-No Korra, you're not killing anyone Maybe threaten to remove his bending or something.
-Oh no! Not the hummingbirds! And this episode was just saying how they were important too. Such a loss.
-Oh and also, No! Not the people! And the show has been saying for a while now that we should consider them important too.
-So, where was the gambit here?

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Originally Posted by xxMATEOSxx

Spoiler - Love is a Battlefield

-Anyone else have trouble just getting to the episode? It wasn't on the front page and once I just manually went to it, it skipped the last third of the episode. I must say, Nick got a lot ad revenue from me today from my attempts to watch this thing

-Technically the Fire Nation had conquered that Earth Kingdom territory, it was theirs. Sure, the White Lotus took the capital and the leader had fallen, but if surrender terms did not allocate that land back, it was still a Fire Nation colony
-Hey Bataar Jr. remember how we love each other?
-Yeah Kuvira, you're the-wait...hold on, isn't this exactly what they did with Zaheer and that Combustion Lady person?
-That's not important right now.
-The hell it's not! I want to live!
-I love you so much. (hug)
-In honor of Zhu Li standing up to Howard Hughes, there will be no Varrick quotes today
-Also, he wasn't all that quoteworthy
-You are not a gun, you are what you choose to be
-Also, how does nobody know they had that giant mech?
-Apparently someone read Kojimas book on completely impractical mass destruction machines
-Further signs of apparent animation budget loss makes it pretty clear that this battle isn't going to happen
-It's a good thing the giant death laser proved to only be capable of mildly cutting through our ships, allowing us to get past censors by showing the crew is alive and also proving that this weapon is actually slightly less effective than anything else we've used in this show
-So uh, ok, he was unguarded, that's fine I guess. But how did you not know he was gone right up to the point where you line up for the terms settlement meeting thing?
-Guards are incompetent
-No Korra, you're not killing anyone Maybe threaten to remove his bending or something.
-Oh no! Not the hummingbirds! And this episode was just saying how they were important too. Such a loss.
-Oh and also, No! Not the people! And the show has been saying for a while now that we should consider them important too.
-So, where was the gambit here?

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I've been having problems with watching episodes on Nick's website for a while now; finally threw up my hands and found it was just easier to watch them on animejoy. Much smoother.

Also, I'm not sure Bataar Jr. is a bender at all; I don't ever recall him doing any bending of the sort in this season or the last. Come to think of it, that might have been an interesting angle to explore in regards to his apparent need to prove himself considering his brothers, sister, mother and grandmother are all formidable benders which could make a guy feel inadequate, just ask Sokka. Then again, Jr. is also apparently an insanely talented engineer who seems to be more talented then Sokka and Bataar Senior put together considering he went from a botched (albeit sabotaged) weapon test to a completely improved and perfected design and had enough spare time to design and build another completely functional marvel of engineering to strap it onto within what had to be a few days. Of course, this might tie into both not being quite as well-constructed as we are being led to believe.

And I'm guessing "Kuvira's Gambit" was just showing up earlier than expected? The "Gambit" part would make sense if the aforementioned machines aren't actually at 100%.

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Originally Posted by Dapiek Absaroka

I've been having problems with watching episodes on Nick's website for a while now

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So have I. Nick needs to get their stuff together..

Spoiler - SPOIL ALL OF THE THINGS! LOL JK, BUT STILL SPOILERS

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Originally Posted by Dapiek Absaroka

And I'm guessing "Kuvira's Gambit" was just showing up earlier than expected? The "Gambit" part would make sense if the aforementioned machines aren't actually at 100%.

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Google says(le copy pasta):

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gam·bitˈɡambət/
noun
(in chess) an opening in which a player makes a sacrifice, typically of a pawn, for the sake of some compensating advantage.
a device, action, or opening remark, typically one entailing a degree of risk, that is calculated to gain an advantage.

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So, I'd say "Kuvira's Gambit" was shooting at Bataar Jr. to take out Korra.

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Originally Posted by ConverseFox

Spoiler - SPOIL ALL OF THE THINGS! LOL JK, BUT STILL SPOILERS

So, I'd say "Kuvira's Gambit" was shooting at Bataar Jr. to take out Korra.

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By definition it makes sense. Except for the risk part I suppose.

Spoiler - Unless...

Unless the risk came from the chance that he would survive long enough to realize what she did and betray her as a result. But what are the odds of that?

Spoiler - Thoughts on Episodes 12/13

1. Varrick/Zhu Li marriage resolution felt a bit rushed but it was lovely so I can't complain.
2. Wu showed development, wasn't made king, he brought back badger moles, and I actually thought the bit was fine.
3. Pema was still doing something! The conductor was cool too.
4. Hiroshi's sacrifice worked.. well. Trying to cut into the titan with the plasma saw, I thought it was intense, and yeah, I guess his sacrifice was predictable, but whatever. I liked it, and seeing Kuvira lose control as much of the gang sneaked inside the titan was awesome.
5. Lin got her moment of badassery (with blade and a capable henchman enemy included).
6. Only a few henchmen within the titan which could be seen as odd but again they were all capable so I can't complain.
7. Mako's pseudo-sacrifice was cool. I really don't have a problem with it like some. I mean, there waas the whole scar bit which might draw up Zuko connections and how Zuko was cooler and how the whole sacrifice thing was sudden but I thought the scene was great, with beautiful music, Mako being useful, and yeah. The two brothers got an emotional moment together and I'm glad Mako survived. Personal preferences and whatnot.
8. I actually really like thinking back how they conveniently split the key characters so the spirit vine explosion wouldn't kill them. I mean yes, it was all convenient, but I'm serious, I just find it cool how it worked out. Lin and Su were caught in the arm which Kuvira ripped off, Korra and Kuvira were up in the head, and Mako and Bolin were able to be pushed down by the blast to the legs or wherever (as Bolin was already on his way down). I don't know, just little details like that are kind of neat.
9. Would have liked to have seen Tenzin be more useful, especially since it felt like he was beat around enough in the show. At least we got to see Meelo not do his signature move.
10. Not sure exactly how the weapon would still be functioning after what Su and Lin did to it but who cares, it's the finale and the foreshadowing of it thrown into the spirit wilds combined with Kuvira ready to fire it at Korra was awesome.
11. Speaking of awesome, the moment where Korra deflected the spirit beam. Seeing it pan out with the weapon blasting the spirit energy at her and seeing it just bounce off.. I just remember going back to that particular scene. Very powerful, especially with that specific music blasting.
12. Sudden change of heart though, Kuvira. Needed more of that in the season, even though spirit world looked awesome, the music was nice, and at least the conversation shed more light about Kuvira's side of the story. Still though, waiting for the finale to have us sympathize with the villain is eh. But again, not a big deal.
13. It is kind of weird how B'tarr Jr. and Kuvira were together.
14. Clap at the beautiful wedding scene why don't you, Lin.
15. I'm not one for the whole shipping business and I did enjoy the Korrasami ending, but at the same time I really liked Korra and Mako's final talk. Even though Mako said he has her back and always will, I guess I wasn't expecting them to try pushing any more romance from them, especially right at the finale with all the Korrasami hints and making Mako look like a jerk earlier on. They had a nice discussion together as the show was about to wrap up, and that was nice.
16. Also Tenzin and Korra got a discussion in. That was also good.
17. The Korra/Kuvira fight in the titan's head was great, by the way. Why did everyone think they were bending poison though? Seemed more like space rock to me.
18. No spirit interaction with fight was just fine, even if they do kinda look like jerks for teleporting back with no response.

What? :gopher:

Oh I had wanted to do a review of the ending so badly but the site went down for so long I almost forgot about it lol :p

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Originally Posted by yugnar

Oh I had wanted to do a review of the ending so badly but the site went down for so long I almost forgot about it lol :p

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Never too late. The Korra reviews must go on! :arg:

Let me see if I can find the paper where I wrote my comments. I suppose I could rewatch it but it just wouldn't be the same.

Found it.

Bit of a note. Normally, when I watched I would jot down a quick comment and then expand on it here after finishing the episode. The only thing I have to work on is my memory and a pseudo-shorthand thing. So apologies if I get a factoid wrong, I may be misinterpreting what I wrote for myself.

Now then.

Spoiler - Shadow of the Colossus

-Of course there are prototypes. It's always the prototypes.
-Dang it Milo's Mom. Don't you know that freakin' kid follows the rules of Beetlejuice. You said his name three times!
-Who thought lying straight toward the stupid giant mechanical robot was a good idea?
-By the way, have I mentioned how stupid the giant robot is?
-"We let huge ferocious beasts lead our way."
-Come on. Toph held up an entire sinking temple. I think you can handle knocking a building over.
-By the way, was anyone surprised by the arrival and result of Asami's father aka not Ford?
-Seriously, she even proclaims her love for him. We've already established that that's a death sentence in this show.

Spoiler - X3 - I Kuvira is Jean

-Bolin joined Tron Academy
-so uh...those volatile energy canisters just kind of...dropped
-Dang it Bolin! Don't say the L word!
-Eh, who am I kidding, epic last stands aside, Mako isn't interesting enough to die
-So...um...this fight...it's awesome
-It's amazing how much better the action gets when you go back to your martial arts roots and DITCH THE GIANT ROBOT!
-Stupidity that is giant robot vindicated by image of Kuvira wielding the cannon using only herself
-"You may now do the thing," because of course Howard Hughes was the real finale draw
-In conclusion, democracies > monarchies > dictatorships
-Thank's Wu
-And the finale
-I suppose I should legitimately talk about that

Spoiler - The Final Image

Concerning The Korra-Asami ending. I'm not one for shipping, but this is a relationship that makes sense to me. While they didn't set it up perfectly throughout the series, it is handled well enough that I believe it could happen. And then there's the progressiveness and such of having the balls to let them be officially together. It's a move that I think works in every possible way, except narratively, you know, the most important one for telling a story. My problem is that it really shouldn't have been the final image of the series. A nice moment, yes. A part of the ending, of course. The primary moment the series has been culminating toward thematically? Not at all.

But I do understand that, had they put it anywhere before the ending, it would have completely overshadowed anything else they put in that spot anyway. So I suppose I'm disappointed that that is the case.

I'm also disappointing that the creators felt the need to come out and confirm that no, they are not just friends, they are legitimately in love and dating and all that jazz. True, there is a part of me that's like, "Yeah, take that part of society being incredibly closed minded about this!" But again, on a narrative level, you know, THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE, this worked so much better when it was subtext. You know, a little ambiguity and subtlety actually made it that much nicer. The image alone already makes it clear that a statement is being made. Actually going out of the way to then restate that statement in words doesn't make it any better.

Also, I really dislike when writers feel the need to make their statements on canon rather than letting their work speak for itself.

Commentary on why they chose something, what they hoped to achieve, etc, fine. Statements that are meant to be taken as fact that shouldn't have needed to be made because unless your work backs it up it's just a load of crap and I don't care if you're the author because I'm the reader and therefore I outrank you, a load of nonsense.

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Originally Posted by xxMATEOSxx

Spoiler - Shadow of the Colossus

Toph held up an entire sinking temple.

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Spoiler - Correction

I think you mean library. ;)

Well, this was a long time coming wasn't it?'

Spoiler - General Musings

For the most part, I found the finale to consist mostly of not too unsurprising action scenes though I do think they were all well done. I don't think it quite hits the highs of "Sozin's Comet" but at the same time it avoids what I found to be weak about ATLA's finale as well. I still question the logistics that were at work (just how many shots could that cannon realistically fire?) but still no mincing around some arbitrary moral quandary and no overly convenient and/or inexplicable solution to such an issue or the central conflict. In that sense, this finale is actually superior to most of the other seasons in terms of pacing and resolution. That said, the unexpected "side effect" of the end of the battle does seem to sort of take some leaps on logic for what it does, but seeing as it mostly just sets up the very final scene rather than serve as a resolution to the battle which had all but been decided by that point I don't feel it to be so contrived within the context of the plot.

On a minor note, the animation quality (other than the somewhat shoddy CGI mecha) seemed to have been kicked up for these last two episodes but is it just me or did the character's chins seem pointier than usual?

I do have to wonder if I'm a bad person for feeling Kuvira deserved a more explicitly harsher fate. I still don't sympathize with her even after Korra deconstructs her motives; I honestly don't feel the parallels are all that strong though they could have made a better case if Korra's "Dark Avatar" hallucination (was that ever truly resolved?) had appeared again instead of just a reflection when Korra woke up in the spi. I was also sort of expecting the spirits to return and deal out a punishment similar to Admiral Zhao when Kuvira wandered off for the first time. Speaking of which, the spirits are just a bunch of fair weather freeloaders aren't they?

"Oh, nice city you have here. Mind if we just move it and tear down a few neighborhoods in the process?"

"Oh, the city will be under attack? Well, good luck with all that because we don't want to help you people because some of you did bad things to us before (even though they could only pull that off with the help of other spirits or our own inaction)."

"Oh, the dust has settled and the city is looking like an even better locale for us to live in? Well, good job saving it without us and if you don't mind we'll be moving back in!"

Spoiler - And of course, my thoughts on the final moments

Man, those last few minutes; I was expecting the show to end with Korra and Tenzin's last talk but then it kept going to what so many wanted but never expected. I've got to hand it to the writers because I can't recall the last time I was thinking "No! No! No!" (during the talk with Mako and where I thought it would be going) and then going "Yes! Yes! Yes!" within a matter of minutes. I couldn't believe they actually went that far but I do feel it is the best possible way to put a capstone on Korra's relationships (for what they could probably get away with) just as her show comes to a close.

I know how a lot of people criticize Korra and Asami becoming a couple as being rushed or forced, but frankly as far as I'm concerned, their relationship that culminated in those last few shots was probably the best of the romantic subplots not only in LoK but ATLA as well. Ignoring any controversy over them being a same sex couple, it's a pairing that grew organically out of not only the writers' intentions in the last two seasons but also from the unintended chemistry between the two in earlier seasons and thus, while not originally intentional, was something that developed over the course of the whole show.

This is especially true when you compare them to every other romance in the entire franchise, which have little-to-no build up; Sokka and Suki? The romance kicks off in one episode and despite a long separation they pick up momentum instantaneously when reunited. Bolin and Opal are only marginally better in that it takes two episodes and despite how their relationship suffers from Bolin hitching his wagon to Kuvira's sleigh they kiss and make up far too quick for me to buy it. Zuko and Mai become a couple based around them being childhood acquaintances but they literally don't interact at all during the second season except in flashbacks when they were kids, but come the third season and they're firmly established as in a relationship. I won't even bother critiquing the Korra and Mako pairing. The only other romance that has any decent build-up is the one between Aang and Katara, but let's be honest; it was so telegraphed and so one-sided on Aang's part until the third season that it really felt like it was there for the sake of the common belief that a romantic subplot for the main protagonist is necessary for a story (they aren't).

So, Korra and Asami, built up over the course of four seasons borne out of subtext (unintentional at first and then decidedly not so), a realization by both the fans and the writers somewhere in the middle of the show's run that "hey, these two characters really go well together" rather than a predetermined intent like practically all the other pairings were and the culmination of how far the relationship between both characters has come (from romantic rivals to being in a romance with one another). And that's why the pairing works, and why its the best within the entire franchise.

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Originally Posted by SnipySev

At this point I'm totally okay if Korra and Asami ended up together. Would love to see Mako's reaction to that.

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Called it! Kinda...

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Originally Posted by ConverseFox

Spoiler - Correction

I think you mean library. ;)

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Yep. That thing. The one with the ghost falcon. :)

Man, I seriously wanted to write an epic review of the final three episodes around the weekend the series finale premiered, but...stupid hackers :moody:. Anyways...

Spoiler - The final three

Kuvira's colossus looks really awesome, and it is definitely the final boss of the series :p. And Team Korra are at their best when they took down the colossus with everything they got. Sad that Asami's father sacrificed his life to open the hole to the giant mecha's interior, but he died as a hero despite what he had done in Book 1. Varrick's proposal to Zhu-li is hilarious, and it's about time they become a true couple. And Wu did a great job tricking Kuvira's soldiers by singing terribly to summon the badger moles. The final battle between Korra and Kuvira is excellent, and their battle ended with a bang by opening another spirit portal. And Korra taught her toughest enemy a lesson by explaining each other's struggles. The "Korrasami" ending is beautifully done, too.

Overall: It is indeed the grand finale of the series filled with epic action scenes and well-developed story. Sad to see the series ended, but I hope the creators can make an epic story about the avatar after Korra in the future.