All Your Old Friends (are poorly replaced)
Look, it’s Aang from the original show! Why so angry? Oh, you watched this series… Well, we only get a few confusing flashbacks of you anyway. (Nice hipster beard.)
If you liked Avatar: The Last Airbender for all its interesting qualities, the sequel series, The Legend of Korra may not be for you. Avatar groupies who like anything Avatar (including the live action movie, and even James Cameron’s Avatar) should read with caution.
Brace yourself for the world’s worst love quadrangle.
We were fond of the original Avatar series. It depicted a carefully crafted universe influenced by the few who could “bend” elements. It featured a likable cast, deep backstory, and plots both personal and grand. Korra portrays:
- The entire bending universe haphazardly transported to the American 1920s.
- One supporting cast brother who is overly stiff and unlikable.
- The other supporting cast brother who is a total goober and whose misspeaks get old.
- A lead character who goes from annoying to… er, no change there.
Meet the new avatar. She’s churlish and puerile! (Uh, those aren’t good qualities.) She’s a jerk in a world of jerks, weaklings, and megalomaniacs.
You will also find episodes that are consistently no fun because:
- The “good guys” always lose, being one step behind.
- Our “heroes” make the world’s worst decisions without fail.
- The romantic narrative is purposely uncomfortable.
Tensin is opposite to young Aang in every way, despite being his son. (He also spends the season being the straight man for every joke at the hands of his kid’s and Korra’s childishness.)
Why are we in the 1920s? Was the previous setting so bad? Dull? Uninteresting? They went all out: Cars, airplanes, and even a 1920s radio newsie narration. For technology to have advanced so far in just 70 years was bizarre. Seeing Korra ride down the street on a polar bear was just dumb.
Oh, did we mention there are also combat mech suits? What the heck?! Someone mentioned to us that the show felt a little like a “Batman Universe.”
One of these characters is interesting, and the other a dipstick.
The show does have some bright spots. The voice work was well done. The main villain’s voice especially, which carried well his malevolent intent. Most of the voice cast hit the mark, but this does not mean the lines they said carried an enjoyable plot.
The art direction was also very good, especially noticeable in the vehicles (airships, mech suits, etc.) and specialty sets (like the bending competition arena). The character design was less impressive overall, but with solid hits like Amon and Asami. She was visually different and well done. Almost out of place among the standard dull designs of many other characters.
“Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful… or rich, or smart, or brave, an excellent driver, master martial artist…”
The new avatar is an aggressive, annoying, headstrong, unwise, impulsive (have we said annoying?) teenaged girl. She lacks respect. This is the lead protagonist of the entire show? A poor foundation indeed. If she has a true internal arc of growth, it has not started despite a whole season’s worth of episodes.
A stiff, a fox, and a dullard (in that order…). Is this show even about bending?
The romantic interaction was a real turn-off. Manipulative on purpose. The stiff, dull brother has a brief infatuation with Korra before getting into a relationship with the surprisingly smart, competent, pretty and undeniably interesting Asami. Then he makes an abrupt, completely witless, and disrespectful turn back to Korra. Those two dull lumps deserve each other. Never was there a romance for which we rooted less…
Ugh. Korra actually surpassed Bella from Twilight (okay, almost) as the new “least interesting girl in the world.”
There were a lot of political messages. The shallow appeal of the communist, “Equalist” message apparently appealed to the moronic city populace, and we gained little care for their welfare. Nor did we for the feckless and impotent ruling council swayed by the underhanded antics of every bad guy that came along. The whole season felt insular and small.
Asami knows how to strike a pose, but does she know her own father? (She may also wonder what she is doing in this series). She turned out to be genuinely nice and true, and did not deserve the treatment she got.
The most fun we had with this season was during professional arena bending games shown in the first few episodes (and then stopped in lieu of stupider plot prospects). It was an interesting set up with engagement zones and 3-person teams, each set up with water, fire, and earth benders.
“Wave to the crowd and have fun! (It’s the most you’ll have this season.)”
If this show was no relation to the original Avatar series, and just called “Fred’s Elemental Powers Adventure,” we’d cut it more slack. But it’s not. So do the franchise justice, producers.
“Do the franchise justice, or I’ll use this on your face!”
Lin Beifong, daughter of the original series earthbender Toph, was one of the few characters that grew on us. She started brusque, but had a significant (and rare for this series) arc.
At the rate technology is advancing in the Airbender universe, Korra’s grandchild will be the space avatar of distant world Rigel 12…
“Is this Mars?”
Check out our Avatar related Takes:
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008)
The Legend of Korra [2012] Season 1
She’s a jerk in a world of jerks, weaklings, and megalomaniacs.
F o r t r e s s T a k e s 
I agree with you, but I enjoyed Korra anyway. I must admit that the “romantic interaction” totally ruined it. But I like the darker feel of this series. The Legend of Aang was really interesting in the 3rd book, and this is closer to that, but darker but and with many disturbing flaws, “romantic interaction”. It could have been perfect and better than the previous Avatar, but what’s it’s done… anyway.
We have to say that we agree with you as well. Korra was enjoyable despite its flaws, though less so at the end where everything was going wrong constantly and the romantic interaction was ruinous.
Being better than the original Avatar series is a tall order. We doubt Korra is capable of that, however there is a lot of room for improvement in the seasons to come. Who knows, it may just surprise us.
I think Korra will not be improved, they should have rewritten the last episode at any cost. Korra was so confident but in the moment of truth all she had was fear. Amon was a unique waterbender with a cool voice, capable of doing things that only the Avatar is known to do..
And fear is the key to weakness and self destruction (in Star Wars it’s the path to the dark side)
Korra should have learned the hard way how to overcome this calamity in the next season
Bloodbending is the closest to the Avatar a bender can get, the ability to control everyone’s body
For goodness’ sake, this story should have been continued. I have some ideas, but I guess I’ll just keep them to myself
The romantic interaction will not stop here, unfortunately. The two writers (who penned all 12 episodes of this first season), confirmed that they will “delve deeper into the romance” and take it to “bizarre” new dimensions. This includes Mako being able to go to the spirit world with Korra, if the concept art is to be believed, and one of Korra’s cousins will have a crush on Mako. Bolin will be getting his own romance arc as well.
Oh my…
We do not know what they mean by “bizarre.” We are not sure we want to… However, it is nice to know that others feel similarly regarding the unfun romantic turn.
Korra spent about 12 seconds the whole 1st season in the spirit world. It used to be such a big part of the avatar universe.
Thanks for weighing in Stuart.
I guess the reason why the setting is now “1920s America” is because Bryke mentioned that they based Republic City more on Vancouver and New York rather than Shanghai. It feels like they just modeled the place after a typical American city, and then sprinkled some asian flavor on top. Do you think now they mostly lost the whole asian culture? Also, the new Avatar did not learn anything about patience, and by the beginning of book 2 (from what I’ve seen in the trailer), she’s still abusing her powers, only now she’s abusing the avatar state by winning an air-bending race against Tenzin’s kids. You know, I’m starting to think that Korra (and Mako from that book 2 trailer as a cop) are mary-sues…
That is an interesting possibility that got us here in the Fortress thinking. If what has been said here about season two is true, Mako is already sporting some overly idealized character traits (despite his romantic density). And Korra? She may qualify in the writer’s mary-sue “wish-fulfillment” category.
I think you’re being a little harsh on this new season, as you’re comparing a shorter 1 season story to 3 incredibly well connected seasons. The creators were ready to get cancelled after this first season, so they couldnt start a plot as complicated as their original. There is definitely flaws concerning characters, setting and plot, but i didnt even like katara that much till a few episodes into season 2, and now shes my favorite. I’m just glad that this show gets to continue at all, compared to the other garbage that airs on nickelodeon now, this show is a breath of fresh air. The next season can completely bomb and ill still be there watching and supporting it. But who knows,maybe by the time they finish legend of korra ill love it more than the original series, all we can do is hope.
You make a good point about what much of the TV world is like right now. A lot of garbage. Korra is at least different and a quality production, if a little misguided in our opinion. Still, being better than garbage may be okay for Fred’s Elemental Adventure. But if you are making a sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender, there is a higher standard to reach.
We hope you are right, and we too find ourselves liking it more in the upcoming seasons. After all, Aang was such a happy boy. Look at him now.
I can’t really excuse Bryke for only having twelve episodes, as plenty of anime, like Madoka Magica, were able to squeeze a more coherent story arc in the same amount of time. That’s not even getting into anime series with only five or so episodes, like Afro Samurai. I think the real problem is that Bryke cannot write. The previous series had a whole writing staff, and here in Korra, the episodes were all penned by Bryke themselves. If they had their old writers, it would have been better. And this review I like, because there cannot be enough harsh criticism of this show. Everywhere else I look that isn’t tumblr is a review basically but-kissing the show simply because it had high expectations and is better than a bunch of other kids shows (while these same reviewers probably never watched the more mature stories of anime). I am still not sure if next season will necessarily be better, as only two of the old writing staff will be coming back while Bryke have reportedly written most of book 2 already.
Hey, OP here! I completely agree with this review. LOK just didn’t do the series justice. The script was terrible, the characters were either uninteresting or annoying (I HATED Tenzin’s kids), and the major plot points were poorly developed (or they were just lame, like Amon’s background story).
I get that the show was supposed to end at 12 episodes, but like Stuart said, there are short anime that manage to tell complete and satisfying stories. So there’s no excuse.
I had to keep my opinions to myself during the broadcast because my sister absolutely loved LOK. She gets hostile when someone disses her favorite shows, so she wouldn’t let me “complain.” I was just being another whiny TLA fan who couldn’t accept the show for what it was instead of making comparisons. Whatever. <_<
Side note: are you gonna do a review of the first 13 episodes of "Winx Club" season five? If so, I can't wait!
Oh, by the way, I’ve changed my blog address to http://www.unadinoi-winx.com. =) (I think I used the wrong link in my first comment.)
You are right OP, the time is upon us. We like to see the episodes without much delay to really soak in the arcs. And in season 4 Winx did that mid-season hiatus. We were waiting for the midpoint break for season 5 and it is here. We will indeed be doing a take on it.
There are personalities in the Fortress who insist on seeing that franchise through to the end, and we will not disappoint. Season 4 was not exactly the Winx franchise’s high point, but hope springs eternal for season 5.
Your site looks as awesome and fun as ever. We highly recommend it to those interested in Winx. You run a fine ship there. We like that fan art of Baltor/Valtor you posted (http://www.unadinoi-winx.com/fan-art/#jp-carousel-10320). A fun and fitting profile of a cool villain that made season 3 entertaining.
OP! So nice to have a visit from you. You are highly regarded in the Fortress.
As you suspected, we wanted to like Korra, but it would not oblige. Yes, Tensin’s kids were annoying, and them taking out those crack electrical troops by passing gas and such seemed a …stretch. We agree with you and Stuart, so many animes have done fine and deep 12 episode arcs. We want second season to be better. We hope it is.
We so understand your situation with your sister. It is not easy saying it like it is to those who will like it no matter what. We here in the Fortress have decided to do just that with this site and let the chips fall where they may. There are many out there like yourself and Stuart and all the other good participants that appreciate a place to say it like it is.
Supposedly amusing antics…
I love it that they were bored to try out something new. Its not easy to follow up the last air bender. But i think you guys are a bit to hard. If you dont like it you can always make your own… Just saying coz you are exparts.
I do have to agree with Tenzin’s kids, I didn’t hate Jinora, but I did not care for the other two (especially not Meelo since he was a walking toilet humor kind of guy). If you want an even more harsh review, there is this website called “Tenka Seiha” which has a section on Korra. They have the exact same problems with the series that you guys do, and then some. Anyway, I’ve heard that by now plenty of guys on fan fiction.net have already come up with their own season 1 finales to LOK, which do a much better job of giving Korra and the others much needed character development.
Acctually, I think toilet humor, is a good way to discribe boys until they calm down at about 7-8ish (well at least for my little brother) , and even now if someone were to say something about farts/poop/ bodily functions in general, he will crack up, it’s just boys. granted some exceptions.
As for the rest of the show, I absoulutely loved it, true there was a lot of room for improvement, but after watching atla, I was craving more.
I also feel that they can, and will, do much better, they’ve obviously proven they can, I mean if your here, you’ve watched avatar the last airbender, which was beautifully executed.
As for Korra, I loved her personality, and but in regards to changing at the end, I feel she went through some change, but it didn’t dramatically effect her personality, and realistically speaking, I don’t think a few weeks or maybe a month or so, would change a person so dramatically that they Acctually, I think toilet humor, is a good way to discribe boys until they calm down at about 7-8ish(well at least for my little brother) , and even then if someone were to say something about farts/poop/ bodily functions in general, he will crack up, it’s just boys. With some exceptions…
As for the rest of the show, I absoulutely loved it, true there was a lot of room for improvement, I feel that they can and will do much better, they’ve obviously proven they can, I mean if your here, you’ve watched avatar the last airbender, which was beautifully executed.
As for Korra, I loved her personality, though in regards to changing at the end, I feel she went through some change, but it didn’t dramatically effect her personality, and realistically speaking, I don’t think a few weeks or maybe months, take aang for example, aang didn’t change his whole personality, he changed aspects and grew, but in the end aang was still aang and he stuck to his personality.
Thanks for a thoughtful comment. We did not care for Korra’s personality like you did, but we understand that character growth and real change can take time. However, they do not HAVE to take more time than this season portrayed. Of course, there are more seasons to go, although we wonder if that would have been the case had this not been a Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel.
As for young boys and toilet humor, we understand, but it does not have to be catered to. They also enjoy other things. Additionally, we do not think this show was aimed at boys under 8.
Much of our issues with Korra revolve around the fact that it is a sequel to a superior show (that, and what we consider an annoying, unlikeable lead character). But it is fun, and a quality production.
As for it getting better, if you have perused the above comments, it seems that the producers are not taking the show’s reception into consideration, and continuing down an unpopular path. Don’t they know they need ratings to continue?
I forgot to mention, by the way, that not just the rabid fans, but Bryke themselves were not exactly gracious in the face of all the criticism of this season. In regards to the romance plot in particular, which the creators themselves said that that was where a great deal of the overall story’s tension was supposed to come from, the two were quoted to dismiss any and all critics of the love square as “angry fangirls who didn’t get their preferred pairing” and shrugged the whole issue of with a “people will criticize us no matter what we do so it’s best not to pay it mind.”
I think everyone so far has agreed. This is not the classic Avatar and it never will be. We all have had to take it for what it is and not wish for the old Avatar series to return. I certainly wanted those adventures to continue, at least in the same spirit if not the same people. So, that being said, I will always enjoy the original Aang saga best, but I can enjoy this ramped up, industrialized version for what it is worth too. I still greatly enjoy the bending, and that’s about 80% of it for me. ; )
I agree with many points you made here in the Fortress. My top points of contention being the more industrialized timeline and the horrible love web between the main characters. I overcame my dislike of the cityscape rather quickly and just took it to be something similar as the Chinese industrial revolution. This is a fictional universe, so I suppose bending could ramp up the invention industry and locomotives, automobiles, flying contraptions, and so on could come around in about 70 years or so. So while I do not by any means prefer the city to the expansive towns and land of the original Avatar series, I can live with it in this current universe. It doesn’t have to live up to the original series, it just has to offer me some entertainment and a decent plot.
On that note, I think the plot is interesting. Typical, but I don’t mind a little politics here and there. The water-bending Amon was a very nice twist, and I like twists. I believe he has the best voice actor of the series currently. Amazingly devious deep voice. Reminds me of Slade from Teen Titans. The villain is great, but what of the main heroine?
I do tire from Korra’s childish nature. She is not diplomatic, cannot think things through, often has bad plans, and is just overall impulsive in a childish manner. She is the last person I would place as head of an army. Oh sure, she often feels bad about her choices and cares about people, but that doesn’t overlook the fact that is does not use her head when it counts. Too much immaturity. It looks terrible on a main character. Aang, being a few years younger, had at least 15 years of maturity on Korra. That’s rather sad… But I suppose every new Avatar has their beginnings and Korra’s is to be a rather rough one. Some people don’t gain maturity until a later age, Korra unfortunately is going to be one of them.
The love web, or “quadrangle” though? Ridiculous, even for a pre-teen series. It is immature and nonsensical, especially the change-over from Asami to Korra? Uh…wha?! What in the world did Korra do to win over Mako’s affection? Asami, while very pretty, definitely outweighs Korra on maturity, intelligence, interest, skills, and just about everything else at this time in the series. Korra, who I think also has a nice look, is hot-headed, immature, unskilled, rash, impulsive– a soup of disaster. In reality, Korra has more of a tendency to act like a 5-year old, while Asami is the mature choice for Mako. This is not to say that Korra cannot have a maturing arc. I certainly hope she does, but at the moment she is not fit for dating. Falling apart, cowering in fear, and being a general nuisance and annoyance? Yeah… I actually do feel for Korra a little. There are many things I can connect with her on, things that have to be changed in ourselves. To be hot-headed and emotion-controlled is something everyone wars with, and Korra has to change first in order for me to see her as a true Avatar. She honestly should NOT be dating at all right now either. She has no business in that realm if she cannot even control herself or her powers at this moment. That being said, Mako is quite a fool too for choosing her. And poor Asami should never have joined their group at all. Even Bolin should get out of the group, yeesh. The writers have decided a horrible match-up is great for drama? I can’t think they are taking their work seriously. Please, write plots that make sense, where I can connect the dots and not wonder how we jumped from Point A to Point D.
The other characters range from disappoint, to decent, to likable. Tensin and his family are just annoying, especially when I think of Air benders as being somewhat “higher” than other benders. I imagined them being more calm and wise. Tensin is not either (unless by calm you mean “sedated”, ha). Why do his children act like they are high on sugar?
Bolin and Mako I think could be decent, if the writers would get their heads back into writing good dialogue and character arcs. I like Mako’s strong and calm demeanor. He could be a very likable guy. Bolin, while being funny to an obnoxious level, could also be a Sokka-like character, but he is too slap-sticky for my taste right now. Asami of course is a great character, but a tragic one too.
General Iroh. I am on the fence about this one. I think I may like him in the end… but they had to give him Zuko’s voice actor? As much as I liked Dante Basco’s voice for Zuko, I think it works terribly for an adult, especially the general of an army! The voice is incredibly young-sounding, not something I want to associate with an adult character, especially an impressive one at that.
Ahh, then there is Lin Beifong. Yeah! Now we have a character I can get behind! She shares all the qualities of Toph that I liked so much. She is a powerful heroine, if ever I could name a hero of this series. I have liked her bending scenes the most so far. She’s just epic. (Could we change the plot over to Lin’s story for the next three seasons instead?)
The Avatar plot itself is disappointing me. Where is the spirituality, the honing of skills, the putting “self” aside to become a hero? You’re right, Korra has spent a few seconds in the spirit world and even then she get’s frustrated and blathering about how unfair her visions are. I miss that aspect of Aang’s journey. He went through the paces, he tried very hard and rarely blew up emotionally. That 12 year old kid was someone anyone could look up to. Aang was connected to the Avatar spirit and could even commune with the spirit world. What has Korra been able to do except complain and give up? Seriously, I’ve never heard a whinier character. She needs to be put in her place when it comes to Avatar training. She has not been trying hard enough and is too enamored with entertainment and boys… What a mature Avatar we have.
Now my least favorite moment of all. The last scene of the last episode. That was AWFULLY too easy for Korra. She is having her own pity party, alone, instead of trying to work things out and be a strong Avatar leader in the face of adversity. Then all of a sudden the spirits decide they should give her bending powers once again? I guess they have no choice, she is their only hope. But she is NOT ready for them, she is not mature enough to handle any responsibility right now. She gets her powers back because she… what did she do exactly? Did the spirits pity her so much? They should have made it much harder for her to regain them. Korra needed to go through some huge trials on her own. Why not take her for a season in the spirit realm and have her win back her powers? Her arc and character would mature, and she might even have the maturity to be the Avatar that the world needs. Instead, she wins back her powers and the affections of Mako all in one pity party. (Hello!! Writers?! Are you awake??)
I did not know this would get so long! I just kept writing things that popped into my head. Sorry… *feeling sheepish* I know I’m passionate about the show and tough on the plot and character points that don’t make sense, but in the end I enjoyed the new series for what it is worth. There are many things I would fix, but since I cannot (and I realized this while watching the season), I just wrote them down and did not dwell on them. I guess you could say my response here was getting my bottled emotions out. I would still recommend this new series to old Avatar fans because the universe is still fun and interesting. Any new Avatar watches? I greatly suggest they watch the original series first with Aang. It just cannot be outdone.
Thanks for weighing in… big! You really let it rip, coming in at almost 1500 words. We understand how it can be harder to write short, and that sometimes it is more time efficient and better to just go with the flow.
Amon’s voice actor is quite a busy guy. Indeed very Slade-like.
It is a sad commentary and an interesting note you raised regarding the fact that 12-year-old Aang was more mature overall than Korra. She is “a soup of disaster” as you colourfully put it.
Apparently the romantic mis-interaction is unpopular from what we can see. But will they change course? From what Stewart has said, we doubt it.
Yes, good point about air benders. They are supposed to be a more introspective, sedate lot. The Korra producers really went against type, and I doubt people are any more thrilled with Tensin and company’s depiction than they are with the so-called romantic interaction.
Mako’s character type can be likeable, usually when the outside is hiding a kinder interior. What we found out about his interior when he turned to slavish Korra-devotion we would have rather left hidden.
Yeah, Dante Basco is great, but not in this general role.
Your thoughts about the ending were fitting, and your plot possibility for season two sounds a lot better than what they have planned.
Yes, this show can be enjoyed for what it is, but that would be easier if it was “Fred’s Elemental Adventure” and not sequel to the fine “Last Airbender” series. Thanks again for an epic comment.
One Decent Character.
“So while I do not by any means prefer the city to the expansive towns and land of the original Avatar series, I can live with it in this current universe. It doesn’t have to live up to the original series, it just has to offer me some “entertainment and a decent plot. ” Yeah, accept I don’t believe Korra was that entertaining except the early episodes of the tournament which are considered filler. I’m not even comparing it too the original, there have been far better spin offs that work on there own giving themselves there own identity, no excuses, Korra was just a misfire because of it’s own merits.
The tournament scenes were entertaining and, *gasp* fun. More so than much of the regular plot. That is a sad commentary on LoK. The universe has such potential.
I pretty much agree with everything mentioned so far, just wanted to add that korra lacked what made the original series so compelling, which is the heroic journey. It just wasn’t there, I felt like there was no character growth in regards to Korra. I also think republic city was wasted, for such a grand city they did little to explore the landscape. I also have issues with the bending, it seemed way weaker than in the original series and much uglier in its delivery. Maybe it has to do with the ‘industrial’ theme but the bending in the last airbender was much more beautiful and fluid. Anyways, just wanted to throw in my two cents.
Yes, good point about the bending now that you mention it. It was more fluid, artistic, and pretty in the Last Airbender series. Especially the water bending.
The hero’s journey is iconic. It resonates with us as viewers. Aang did personify it well in his series. He took steps season by season. Korra does feel lacking in this department (as a character and a series).
A Real Hero’s Journey!
I thought Korra (the character) was fine, even if she could be annoying. What made her so uninteresting to you guys?
She acts way to macho, overconfident and pretty bland, while these traits aren’t bad per se, it gives off the image she’s acting tough. I think it’s the way she ends up dealing with situations in the exact opposite way of her surface image.
She ends up crying in almost every failure during the season (Amon taking away people’s bending, the finale) and her weakness ends up getting her powers back from that??
watch the youtube videos from people who responded negatively toward the show, some are quite reasonable
Bland?I don’t think that Korra’s bland at all. But you’re right that she’s macho, which is never good.
First of all everyone needs to stop comparing this show to the previous show… They are two different shows with related topics and they also need to stop judging the characters because one(tensin isn’t aang he isn’t going to have the all the same personality’s as aang.. And korra is not even related to aang besides there spiritual connection… So obviously she is going to have a different personality. Aang was obviously more of a fun kind of person then she was… But to the point and sum this up: Different show, different characters, different attitudes/personality’s. The shows are related but they have a different name. Different stories.
and different people.
You can’t expect people to not compare this series with the previous, since the previous was really good. Anyway, Korra seemed too much of a generic female character, like a shouen jump hero but only female, and any flaws present in the first four episodes were not improved upon by the end of the season. Besides, as a “strong female character” she was undermined anyway by being forced into a typical teenage love drama that sucked up much of her development (and the progress of the show’s main themes) and becoming a damsel in distress towards the end in order to give Mako a reason to show that he “loves” her.
A number of good points. Yes, it is a different show, but it is built on the foundation of Last Airbender. That did set up certain expectations. Expectations that Korra is taking advantage of, but perhaps not honoring.
As for Korra herself, I think a couple comments above and ohm said it well enough. An extreme character, all over the place, grating, shackled with horrid teenaged romance symptoms, etc. The series had to conform to this character? No wonder it had trouble.
She is a teenager… What did you expect? All teenagers are like that.. For all we know they made the show like this on purpose.. .And I know it’s built on last air bender ( which I do agree is a better show) but i enjoy this show also. But anyways, you can’t really compare these two shows… For reasons I mentioned in my first comment 🙂
All teenagers are not like that, and thinking that all teens are as immature and at some points downright despicable as the ones depicted in this abomination of a love triangle is an insult to all the mature ones in the real world. When I was a teen, I did not care for romance and I would never try to mess with other’s feelings or cheat on them, and neither would a lot of younger people on the internet, even as young as eleven, as they also agree that what some of these characters did was stupid. Even on tumblr, the “teenagers” excuse has been dissected to death by now.
“All teenagers are like that.. For all we know they made the show like this on purpose”
True, I don’t mind teen drama when it’s done well, same goes for unlikeable/ inexperienced lead characters it works with a lot of prime time shows and a recent action cartoon “The Spectacular Spiderman” did them fine.
Unfortunately “Legend Of Korra” isn’t one of those shows, it is heavily flawed by wasting good ideas like Amon and the political aspects that COULD have fleshed out there characters and the city. The aforementioned time consuming romance that didn’t do a thing to add to the overall story. Tenzin being a poor teacher and Korra lack of disciple to learn all the elements plotline went nowhere.
Those triad mafia stories as well as parents’ being killed by firebenders and lingering fire nation aggression also went nowhere because of the romance and the pro-bending. Anyway if they wanted a “cheesy teen romance” (Bryke’s words) so badly, they should have stuck to a romance show instead of an action-adventure-politics show. Like perhaps this series would have flowed better if it had been split into two different shows.
I think Korra being the way she was is very important, it shows the attitude of someone who was not raised with any sense of responsibility, hence why the world is completely screwed up. A lot people hate her because she is different than Aang. At least she isn’t a recycled version of Aang. She will have to become a better person. Korra seems to me to be a slightly exaggerated version of what kids have become today: self absorbed, impatient, unable to focus, lack of spirituality, etc. I think Bryka was making a social comment with this. Korra will have to overcome all this and grow as a person. As for the romance.. barf! It took away from the story, it was distracting and cheesy. Mako is a complete user and a dirtbag, hopefully his character will grow as well as Korra’s. Bo LIn was far more likeable for me, but he was kicked aside for cheesy humor. Asami was a more interesting character as well. Oh well, I’m hoping it was because Nickelodeon only gave them 12 episodes that they had to make it that way. Perhaps they can plan the next 3 seasons in a much better way. Fingers crossed!
Shut up! I like Mako as he is because he’s a serious guy. And I like serious guys, whcih means that I can relate to Zuko.
As for Korra, I can’t stand her overly feminist attitude for the same reason I can’t stand Toph’s. But I like Katara’s feminism because it’s reasonable.
Even though Bo Lin means well, he isn’t my kind of guy ‘cuz he’s funny. And funny folks don’t appeal me. After all, I’m fed up with people who always favor funny beings over serious and don’t appreciate the kinds of folks who I like. Therefore, I want more seriousness in entertainment.
We see where both AHL and Anonymous are coming from regarding Bo Lin. Once he was made the dumb comic character, that’s all he really was. Perhaps the show makers didn’t realize that he might be the most likable character in their cast.
Pardon me but I apologize for my anger. It’s just that I’m fed with many people badmouthing and looking down on serious guys, whom I can relate to.
Now I apologize if I offended you in any way. But I don’t want anyone treating my kinds of people like their garbage,especially due to what’s happening nowadays.
To show you that there are no hard feelings, I apologize for typing”which” as “whcih.” Also, I don’t always agree Katara, Zuko, and Mako even though I respect and like then. But no matter what kind of disagreementsI have with those characters, I’ll always have a soft spot for them.
Korea was such a bummer to me. I would rather them make a whole new sequal to the last air bender series then continue watching this. They could keep some parts like the pro bending arena but the love circle ain’t working.
Yes, Legend of Korra is less than fully satisfying.
Honestly, how bad could the original cast as teenagers have been? It worked for Ben 10.
No, not really, it didn’t work well at all. Especially “Ultimate Alien”, God, that show sucked.
Nick, I accept that you dislike Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. But I wish that you wouldn’t be too negative about it. Even though that sequel of Ben 10 has more than one thing that I dislike, I still and always will prefer to its prequel for pretty much the same reasons that I favor Ben 10: Alien Force over every other Ben 10 creation.
I agree with you, Jake.
Let’s be honest. The Avatar universe had an incredible amount of technology in the first series. They had submarines, aircrafts, transits made of either steel or stone (depending if you were in the fire or earth nations.) massive cities with massive buildings. To top it off metal bending came outta the wood works in the end of season two, and mad geniuses that could make things before their time were shown in season one. I’d be surprised if they didn’t advance the way they did. That would be like saying that our world would remain in a primitive technological state after mass producing iron and steel, developing steam power, and understanding and harnessing the power of electricity (by the way, we can’t bend any of the elements involved, the avatar universe can). If they didn’t advance, I’d call them incompetent and unworthy of the incredible power they were graced with.
Secondly, if the avatar was so close in every respect to Aang, it is possible that people would want the avatar killed off (Jason Todd aka second robin anyone?). The point in making a different personality is to make it realistic. I mean not everyone in series or a sequel series should be a cookie cut out of those in the previous. Because we all know that everyone is equal mature as the next guy, right? Actually, Aang was incredibly mature for a person of any age, let alone a 12 year old. To expect that most people of any age would be that mature in any universe is banking on a miracle.
As far as love interests go, in my opinion, as is everything else I have written, there are girls that won’t be that, for lack of a better word, goddess. In fact most girls are not. To take the perspective of the “dull” physically attractive girl (though having a unique personality) in a love interest is what some people may want to see. To compare the two series’ love interests, Aang and Katara were basically chained to each other the whole series. The approach of being around many different people and not particularly chained to one individual makes more sense if you are trying to relate to your audience.
This series has great potential, and it is possible that we as fans can share our views on the matter with the authors. They may not listen, but nothing ventured nothing gained.
And I agree with AHL that the authors could be getting the teen thing to reflect most of society today, perhaps showing how prosperity and relative peace can affect society as a whole. Self-absorbed, irrational, not having any real need to be responsible in a time of relative peace. As far as the tumblr arguments against the teen thing, I’m not aware of what they have said or done. All I’m saying from my own experiences of the people and events happening around me. And as far as I have seen, there are cheaters, players, manipulators, and politicians who do it all. Showing society in that respect is probably trying to show us how our world is in that we are in a time of relative peace and prosperity. The first series showed the horrors of war, this series shows the turmoil of peace. Without some relative peace in the world, civil rights wouldn’t have been a battle to fight because the citizens would be more concerned about not dying and government would be more concerned with preserving itself. But because there is relative peace, the only battles to be fought either political in nature or stopping criminal activity. So the only problems that would be in Korra’s world would be gangs, politics, civil rights, and relationship difficulties. I believe it is very difficult to make a sequel series in a time of peace after a series based in a time of warfare (more action in war than in peace).
You make some interesting and thoughtful points about times of war versus peacetime. And in some ways have pointed out why certain topics are more of a natural fit to the storyline they constructed.
Our only problem is that THEY constructed this story and setting. It is a cage of their own making. A TV show must be entertaining first. If it is not, who will watch to get any deeper messages?
Why not leave a name to go with such a long, thought out comment?
You make some good points about technology advancement. We agree that bending can change the course in ways quick and unexpected. But it was a radical departure that the viewer had to swallow rather suddenly. It made the fighting less about bending battles and more bending versus tech. Not bad, but different.
The new avatar does not have to be like Aang, but if they are to be the protagonist of a series, they need to have qualities the viewers can get behind.
Romances that go against the grain are doable, but they need to be set up a bit. And viewers need something more to go with than what they have done so far. We say that because this aspect so far seems rather universally reviled.
This series still has great potential, but season one was not exactly a stellar launch.
Even though Avatar: The Last Airbender’s one of my favorite Nicktoons, I odn’t like Aang that much because he came off as being hypocritical to me due to his pacifism and fun-loving personality. Therefore, I prefer Katara and Zuko ‘cuz they were more mature to me.
I know you guys think the romance in Korra was terrible, but what do you think of the romance in the last airbender? The romance between Aang and Katara was not much better, as one said, they were basically chained to each other simply because they were the main boy and girl characters, not because you actually believe they are meant for one another. In one scene, Aang blew up over the slight possibility that Katara might be into Zuko and acted rather entitled. Also, what fourteen year old would kiss a kid?
The 14-year-old girl romancing on the 12-year-old boy was something we thought a little off in the Last Airbender series, and we said so in our take. They could have left the romantic angle in, just made it more subtle, as a thing they were growing into. Those two had some things and personality qualities in common.
The Korra romance should have been set up better in our opinion to resonate better with apparently disgruntled fans. Not catering, but something fitting and fun?
As far as I’m concerned, I’m not all right with Aang and Katara being a couple due to their differing ages and personalities. And so, I ship Katara with Haru.