The Legend of Korra "A Breath of Fresh Air/Rebirth/The Earth Queen" Talkback [6/27/14]

[Light Lucario]

There is no more Avatar State.

It got erased when the previous Avatars were erased and forgotten.

Then what happened when Korra's eyes were glowing white when she was trying to make the vines disappear?

 

[Rod G]

Then what happened when Korra's eyes were glowing white when she was trying to make the vines disappear?

A portion of Jinora's life force, perhaps? That's what took Raava's place.

 

[Frontier]

Then what happened when Korra's eyes were glowing white when she was trying to make the vines disappear?

Yeah, I was wondering that too. But isn't the Avatar State more because of Korra's connection to Raava than her past lives? So long as she has that connection, she should still be able to use the Avatar State.

 

[mrbean1500]

There is no more Avatar State.

It got erased when the previous Avatars were erased and forgotten.

Are you the guy who was arguing with everyone on the ign comments?

People already pointed out to you that she only lost the connection with past avatars which doesn't affect the avatar state (connected to raava)

 

[ShadowBeast]

A portion of Jinora's life force, perhaps? That's what took Raava's place.

No Korra got Raava back because of Jinora.

 

[Light Lucario]

Yeah, I was wondering that too. But isn't the Avatar State more because of Korra's connection to Raava than her past lives? So long as she has that connection, she should still be able to use the Avatar State.

I could buy that. I think that the Avatar State is supposed to be connecting to her past lives, but in this case, I could see it being more about her connection to Raava. They might also use that as a means to help her reconnect to her past lives if the Avatar State still connects back to her past lives.

 

[Neo Yi]

Recaps are back. Here's my opinion on the first two episodes.

So far, Book 3 is off to a very promising start and all three episodes are incredibly strong. I'm still apprehensive that things can go south (I was similarly impressed with Book 1 and 2's openers for starters), but these episodes capture the dynamic and poignant feel that Avatar did years back. My hope is a little high right now.

 

[Aldrius]

Then again Aang didn't do anything about the Dai Li years ago so neither team is coming out of this ep smelling like a rose.

The Dai Li are just an intelligence group that serve the state. When the state was Long Feng or Azula, that was a big problem. But now that the Earth Queen -- who is RELATIVELY or at least seemingly benign, there's no reason to worry about them. They're only a problem now because the Earth Queen is spoiled and nasty and is obviously aiming to take over the United Republic.

...also Aang has no jurisdiction to influence Earth Kingdom policy.

 

[Monte]

I thought this was an excellent start to a new season. Korra is likeable, the characters don't feel all that out of place, the story seems to be off to a good start. It'll take time to learn their names, but I like the new thief kid. We have our anti-team avatar, and the question there remains what their end goal is. I particualrly like the water bender what with her using water for arms. Though i'm most glad to see that we are getting out of republic city and seeing more of the world... last time we did get to see the new south pole, but then we went right back to the republic.

The Dai Li are just an intelligence group that serve the state. When the state was Long Feng or Azula, that was a big problem. But now that the Earth Queen -- who is RELATIVELY or at least seemingly benign, there's no reason to worry about them. They're only a problem now because the Earth Queen is spoiled and nasty and is obviously aiming to take over the United Republic.

...also Aang has no jurisdiction to influence Earth Kingdom policy.

Yes when Aang last checked on the Dai Li, the Dai Li would have no longer been a problem. With the Earth King back in power, the Dai Li would be serving the Earth Kingdom's rightful ruler as it should be. The problem ofcourse is that the current ruler is wholy corrupt and that corruption works its way down the ranks.

 

[Darkwing 626]

The Dai Li are just an intelligence group that serve the state. When the state was Long Feng or Azula, that was a big problem. But now that the Earth Queen -- who is RELATIVELY or at least seemingly benign, there's no reason to worry about them. They're only a problem now because the Earth Queen is spoiled and nasty and is obviously aiming to take over the United Republic.

...also Aang has no jurisdiction to influence Earth Kingdom policy.

But there in lies the problem, Long Fang was never the head of state, at some point in the history of the organization they came to believe they were more powerful than the Earth Ruler. They lied and manipulated at least one generation, they abducted and brainwashed people, they came to believe they were above the law. They became corrupt enough or indoctrinated enough in their manifest to think throwing in with Azula was a good idea. Something about the organization was broken and needed to be fixed, and as the Avatar Aang should have put that on his to-do list to ensure it didn't happen again.

I wouldn't have even had this problem had this either not been the Dai Li, or if they didn't look just like the last version. Between showing how bad the city still looked (the division in the rings) and then showing this group, unchanged in appearance and then abducting people says, nothing about the city changed. That it's just as broken and corrupt as it was when Aang was last there. I understand his focus was everywhere, but this city was a toxic problem in it's own day, and while Republic City may have been his grand experiment, this city also needed some massive social reform and it clearly never happened. The same mindset that Long Fang had is still in place with the Dai Li, only now it's endorsed by the actual ruler. Face it, for a man about balance and peace Aang failed when it comes to this city and now everyone is going to pay for it.

 

[Aldrius]

But there in lies the problem, Long Fang was never the head of state, at some point in the history of the organization they came to believe they were more powerful than the Earth Ruler. They lied and manipulated at least one generation, they abducted and brainwashed people, they came to believe they were above the law.

Long Feng did that, and Long Feng was the defacto head of state, the Earth King was a figurehead and Long Feng's puppet. The Dai Li was just the instrument Long Feng used to control Ba Sing Se. Ergo, in the aftermath of the hundred years war it's Long Feng, Azula and probably the Dai Li's leadership who would be reprimanded/punished for their actions. The whole organization wouldn't be disbanded.

Face it, for a man about balance and peace Aang failed when it comes to this city and now everyone is going to pay for it.

Aang can't just tell a ruler how to run it's kingdom. I don't know why you all think he'd have the power to tell the Earth King who to employ and who not to employ. Though honestly, I think the Earth Queen probably brought the order back when she took the throne to expand her power and her control over the city. And that would have happened when Aang was pretty old. And really, he's not the world police who can tell people how to run their nations. His job is to ensure balance when it's threatened, not from some perceived potential threat.

 

[Rod G]

Are you the guy who was arguing with everyone on the ign comments?

I've never been to the ign forums so I wouldn't know.

 

[Mister Mayhem]

Comrades,

these episodes were surprisingly good. i haven't enjoyed a legend of korra episode since season one.

but one of my main problems with the show is that i still can't get completely behind korra, mako and bolin. not only does a lot of their behavior annoy me but their interactions with each other feel artificial. they never really felt like good friends imo. also the other characters seem a lot more interesting.

 

[Light Lucario]

Recaps are back. Here's my opinion on the first two episodes.

So far, Book 3 is off to a very promising start and all three episodes are incredibly strong. I'm still apprehensive that things can go south (I was similarly impressed with Book 1 and 2's openers for starters), but these episodes capture the dynamic and poignant feel that Avatar did years back. My hope is a little high right now.

That was a pretty nice write-up. While the episodes were good, I'm still not really feeling the dynamic and poignant feeling of the original series. It's a good start, but not that good for me. Still, I'm at least hopeful that the season could turn out pretty well, even though I'm also apprehensive that things can go down south.

Comrades,

these episodes were surprisingly good. i haven't enjoyed a legend of korra episode since season one.

but one of my main problems with the show is that i still can't get completely behind korra, mako and bolin. not only does a lot of their behavior annoy me but their interactions with each other feel artificial. they never really felt like good friends imo. also the other characters seem a lot more interesting.

That's been one of my problems of the series from the start too. Korra and her friends don't really feel like friends. I think a lot of it was because they emphasized the romance between them before developing more of a sense of friendship. There was at least a bit of that between Korra and Bolin, but it was still primarily about the romance. I'd honestly enjoy this show a lot more if it was about Tenzin, his family and Asami since those are the most interesting characters to me and Tenzin's subplots with his family were some of the best parts of season two. I do like how they're establishing more of a friendship between Korra and Asami though. That felt especially lacking to me for the past two seasons and making them friends after the incredibly stupid love triangles sounds like a nice idea to me.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Hats off to the character designer here, I could tell almost immediately that Lin and the Metal woman were sisters thanks to their similar designs, and the daughter genuinely looks like she has a family resemblance. It's really impressive. The animation department deserves praise too, her delicate movements, naivety, and sense of pain were really well-conveyed. Nice that Genora actually gets to use her Spirit World powers for a usefully narrative purpose. So, Toph, Zuko, and Katara are all still alive? Wonder if Sokka is, there was a brief reference to him. The Waterbender who's arms seem to be made entirely out of liquid is kind of an odd effect. Lin is being a witch, but I like the handling of the domestic drama here much better than last season. Nice to see Bolin when he's fighting, it's a reminder that when he doesn't act like a moron, he can be useful. Wonder what that evil Airbender wanted at the Temple? He and Tenzin will throw down too, methinks. Nice to see that even in his advanced age, Zuko can still throw down if need be. Still think that even though they're integrated fluidly, I can't help but think that the CG sticks out from time to time.

"I actually hired someone to kill the old Avatar who could do that. It, uh, didn't work." LOL

Why can Korra still enter the Avatar State if her connection to her past lives is severed? I thought that's what that was.

 

[Srebak]

1. I watched these two episodes on my DVR when they first came out and while certain scenes stuck with me for the rest of the subsequent weekend, i have to say, it appears that, once again, i was more or less worried over nothing.


The only scenes that didn't work for me were those two awkward moments between Korra and Mako. But that scene where Tenzin and his kids talk about the future, the one where Tenzin gives advice to Korra, those breakout scenes and the moments with old man Zuko, those were all pretty good (I just wish they would stick with me like the awkward Mako/Korra moments do)


2. Watching this season makes me almost wish i had paid more attention to the last one. That season had so much going for it: two royal brothers having a grudge match, the introduction of Kya, a Civil War, a look at the Air Temples of LOK's time, the origin of the Avatar, Harmonic Convergence, a trip into the Spirit World and an epic battle to boot. But in the end, what holds the season back from being enjoyable (for me at least) are the tensions shown between Tenzin and his siblings and Mako and Korra's relationship problems. For me, those make the season almost un-watchable, which makes me feel like an outsider around those who saw them as good things. If they had just made those two problems negligible at best, i probably wouldn't have minded.

 

[Lavenderpaw]

Seriously... after the underwhelming season 2 finale, they're clobbering us over the head with more! Guys, it's been almost ten years now. Time to send Avatar and it's many mildly interesting spin-offs to the boneyard. I watch Nick's sister channel every few days and I ain't seen nothin' about no Korra 3; I vaguely remember hearing about season 3 but after bland-as-blah season 2 I really can't see how anyone still cares. Do kids even like Avatar anymore? pretty sure MLP and Frozen are top picks now. Not to hate on it, the 1st episode was all right but nothing I didn't already know about or expect. I sure miss Amon though. Time to look to the future. Also, I would have thought Youtube would take down copyright-infringing TV shows; especially new ones. Probably no one gave enough of a tick bite on YouTube or Nick.

 

[FriendlyMushroom]

Seriously... after the underwhelming season 2 finale, they're clobbering us over the head with more! Guys, it's been almost ten years now. Time to send Avatar and it's many mildly interesting spin-offs to the boneyard. I watch Nick's sister channel every few days and I ain't seen nothin' about no Korra 3; I vaguely remember hearing about season 3 but after bland-as-blah season 2 I really can't see how anyone still cares. Do kids even like Avatar anymore? pretty sure MLP and Frozen are top picks now. Not to hate on it, the 1st episode was all right but nothing I didn't already know about or expect. I sure miss Amon though. Time to look to the future. Also, I would have thought Youtube would take down copyright-infringing TV shows; especially new ones. Probably no one gave enough of a tick bite on YouTube or Nick.

"Many spin-offs"? Avatar: The Last Airbender has had one animated spinoff, and that's Korra. They only just now have half the amount of episodes that ATLA did. Who says the franchise has to be put to bed just for being ten years old? Need I start listing off all the movie, TV, and book franchises that are well, well over 10 years old?

Book 2 of Korra was many things, but I wouldn't call it "bland".

Nothing you didn't expect? So where you expecting airbenders to suddenly pop up all over the world, or what?

And yes, kids apparently still can't get enough of Avatar, judging by how much Nicktoons reruns the show. The genre and target demographics (different than online fanbases) of Frozen and MLP are completely different than Legend of Korra; it's ridiculous that you're implying that kids are into Frozen and MLP and thus can't be into Legend of Korra. That's like saying viewers are into 22 Jump Street and Big Bang Theory and thus can't be into Game of Thrones.