Legend of Korra Season 3

[red snow]

Two really strong episodes. Was the second one by a different animation team - it looked slighlty less sharp than the the first ep this week?

Bolin has become a really entertaining character. As usual, I'm a sucker for the interplay between Tenzin and his entire family as well. There's always plenty of laughs when that happens.

I really like Tenzin and Korra's phonecal there were some strong beats there and it reminded me of the interesting dynamic that while Tenzin is the father-figure, Korra is in essence Tenzin's dad (I know she's been cut off now but that's how it should be).

I also like the sinister moments they inject into episodes of late. The whole bison steaks was pretty horrible but not quite as scary as how they showed how Varrick is going to take down the metal clan (when he sees more opportunity with the frightful four) in what seemed like a comedy moment, Knowing how Varrick works it's clear he knows exactly what he's doing creating strong electromagnets...

It's a shame I'll miss the rest of the season while on holiday as it's been fun watching it on a weekly basis rather than box-setting. I prefer the 2-episode a week format but would rather have a longer season. Guess Nicklelodeon are trying gamage limitation from the leaks and maybe also toying with the idea of how ondemand season releases work.

[fionwe1987]

What was amazing about the last episode is that it literally had only a few moments with the core "team Avatar" characters in it, and was yet so interesting. They've done something awesome with Aang's family, and the arrival of new Airbenders. The very strong secondary characters and storylines are one way in which Korra is definitely a step-up over ATLA.

Also, nice to see the first benders were still various animals.

[Fat Mac]

Why do you think "soundbending" ?

Not sure, just a theory I've seen floating around.

It kind of makes sense. Shouldn't an airbender be able to at least amplify the sound of their own voice? Perhaps something to do with that? I literally have no idea how it would work, but I feel it makes sense.

[Trebla]

He projects his spirit the same way Jenora does.

Guess that's the Air Special Power.

eta:

Air - Spirit Projection

Water - Healing, Blood Bending

Earth - Metal Bending

Fire - Lightning, Mind Explosion

Aren't you missing a special air power...FLIGHT!

[Sci-2]

Aren't you missing a special air power...FLIGHT!

I thought of that, but you need a glider so I don't think it counts?

[Kalbear]

If you want to go with a similarly evil power to bloodbending, vacuum-bending would be fairly hardcore

[Metopheles]

flight....err firebenders can do that :P

[Metopheles]

If you want to go with a similarly evil power to bloodbending, vacuum-bending would be fairly hardcore

wouldn't that make them .... non-benders?

As..vacuum is nothing...so..nothingbenders.. :lol:

[Kalbear]

As in remove all air from a given area. Would be incredibly deadly to most living things.

[Veltigar]

Has there been a change in the writing staff since season two? I can't believe that the same people behind that abysmal second season are reponsible for this one. It's almost on par with ATLA right now.

Lin's sister is dark-skinned. Undeniable proof that Sokka is in fact the baby-daddy, no if's and's or butts 'bout it.

The thought has crossed my mind before. Toph did seem to have a crush on him at times.

That reminds me, have they ever hinted at what happened to Sooki? I read a theory once that she would eventually end up with Zuko, which would be great, since it would end the two blandest romances from ATLA (Zuko - Mai and Sokha - Suki).

Omashu is a free city if I remember correctly.

No, Omashu is part of the Earth Kingdom and the capital of one of its provinces according to the Avatar Wiki

Bolin is freakin' hilarious. Dude makes every scene he's in great.

Hated him in the previous seasons. But he's alright in this one, I think they made him a tad more capable this season.

Air - Spirit Projection

Water - Healing, Blood Bending

Earth - Metal Bending, lava bending

Fire - Lightning, Mind Explosion

Come to think of it, we're missing some special powers here. Some earthbenders are able to tell whether or not you're lying through the vibrations. And the way Toph is able to see thanks to earthbending should also count as an extra power no? If you're fighting in the dark, that should be a huge advantage. It seems like earthbenders have the most special powers of them all.

One thing that bothered me about the lavabending btw is how they guy is able to generate the heat that turns normal rock into lava. In the old days, I assumed that some things (like the muddy water in the drill episode) could be bent by different types of benders. That way, when a volcano errupts, both earth and firebender could bent lava. But now this earthbender guy comes along and is able to create lava on his own and no firebender seems to be stopping him. It's a bit strange

Lost in the awesome of the two episodes...the Earth Queen ATE her father's BEAR.

BOSCO...NOOOOOO!!!! :bawl:

I know this is a kid's show and all but season 1 had a murder/suicide. I demand blood! :P

That was indeed quite shocking. Even if it's just a rumour I still aplaud the makers for including it :)

I really like Tenzin and Korra's phonecal there were some strong beats there and it reminded me of the interesting dynamic that while Tenzin is the father-figure, Korra is in essence Tenzin's dad (I know she's been cut off now but that's how it should be).

It's a shame that they didn't do more with this in the previous two seasons. That was one of the first things that crossed my mind when we were introduced to Tenzin, but it never really came up IIRC.

I also like the sinister moments they inject into episodes of late. The whole bison steaks was pretty horrible but not quite as scary as how they showed how Varrick is going to take down the metal clan (when he sees more opportunity with the frightful four) in what seemed like a comedy moment, Knowing how Varrick works it's clear he knows exactly what he's doing creating strong electromagnets...

:o :idea: Damn, the Varrick thing went completely over my head. At most I thought that someone would steal his suit or copy his technology, but this does seems more likely.

As in remove all air from a given area. Would be incredibly deadly to most living things.

That would be a cool secondary power for airbenders. And since the airnomads were pacifists, it would make sense that no one really knows about that particular power.

[AverageGuy]

Air - Spirit Projection

Water - Healing, Blood Bending

Earth - Metal Bending, lava bending

Fire - Lightning, Mind Explosion

At least at one point, the Dai Li's rock gloves and shoes for sliding/wall walking were meant to be a special earth technique. I think that may have been abandoned, though.

Damn, the Varrick thing went completely over my head. At most I thought that someone would steal his suit or copy his technology, but this does seems more likely.

Do the metalbenders still practice normal earthbending? Magnets shouldn't take them out of the running completely if so.

[The Drunkard]

If you want to go with a similarly evil power to bloodbending, vacuum-bending would be fairly hardcore

Creating a space-like vacuum around someone would be pretty horrible to watch. Airbenders have a lot of scary potential like that. If Aang could use air like a blade to cut through a metal column, then everyone he meets basically has a knife at their throat that they can't counter.

[Sci-2]

At least at one point, the Dai Li's rock gloves and shoes for sliding/wall walking were meant to be a special earth technique. I think that may have been abandoned, though.

Do the metalbenders still practice normal earthbending? Magnets shouldn't take them out of the running completely if so.

Ah, it makes sense the Dai Li rock gloves would be a special technique.

Since the metalbenders in the city can apparently make metal into a viscous liquid and earth bend, shouldn't be hard to stop Varrick if he betrays them via the magnetic suit.

[Pliskin]

Has there been a change in the writing staff since season two? I can't believe that the same people behind that abysmal second season are reponsible for this one. It's almost on par with ATLA right now.

I don't understand all the criticism I read here and there about season 2.

I thought it was great, specially the Avatar Wan stuff. Varrick, Bolin, the twins were great fun. And the conflict between the North and South was handled perfectly and made sense politically.

[red snow]

Sci - magnets will be a pain in a city made out of metal. That and the fact most people there wear metal as jewellry/portable weapon store.

The battle in the last showed the metal benders are still happy with earth though. Speaking of which it was so refreshing to see two elderly female characters have a kick ass fight scene.

As for season 2 hate i think the villain was weak compared to the first. I watched itall in a week so i had less time to pick it apart. I thought the Wan story and animation was beautiful like a real creation myth.

[Metopheles]

No, Omashu is part of the Earth Kingdom and the capital of one of its provinces according to the Avatar Wiki

I doubt there would be a king in Omashu if it were part of a kingdom..

Omashu was independent. Just like when it was founded. An independent city.

Nothing to do with the Earth Kingom, only is inside it.

But now that Bumi is dead, it may very well have become part of the normal EK or maybe has a new ruling family.

Same with Kyoshi Island, or not? I doubt they belong to the EK or Water tribes, as Kyoshi split the island from the EK.

[Veltigar]

I doubt there would be a king in Omashu if it were part of a kingdom..

Omashu was independent. Just like when it was founded. An independent city.

Nothing to do with the Earth Kingom, only is inside it.

But now that Bumi is dead, it may very well have become part of the normal EK or maybe has a new ruling family.

No, it's definitely part of the Earth Kingdom. After all they did contribute troops and weapons to the Earth Kingdom army. Clearly, the earth Kingdom is based on China and they had things like princedoms that resided under the emperor. The creators just chose to give the ruling dynasty the title of 'Earth King' rather than 'Earth Emperor', because that sounds silly.

I don't understand all the criticism I read here and there about season 2.

I thought it was great, specially the Avatar Wan stuff. Varrick, Bolin, the twins were great fun. And the conflict between the North and South was handled perfectly and made sense politically.

It was horrible. Easily the worst season in the entire franchise (ATLA and LoK). For starters the villains were boring and forgetful, which is a real shame, since this series normally has very diverse and interesting antagonists. The final fight scene was especially infuryating, it just went on and on, no cool moves, only ridiculous last minute saves and I just wanted it end.

It shat all over the backstory established in ATLA and not in a good way. The whole bussiness with the Lion turtles and the origin of the Avatar spirit, those are things that are better left alone. We don't need to know those things, because they won't live up to scrutiny (I can only compare it to the SW prequels). It's better to hint and be vague, instead of showing what happened, especially if you don't intend to keep faithful to the original mythology.

The twins... they just tried to hard to make them into LoK's equivalent to Azula's tag team and they failed miserably. The one scene the twins got in season 3 (with Zuko in the elevator) beats everything they have done with the characters in season 2. Bolin was annoying, since they made him to incompetent, how the hell does team avatar keep him around? It's hard to make a good comic relief character, ATLA did a wonderful job with Sokha (who despite often being outmatched still felt like an essential part of the team).

Then there was the dreaded love triangle with Mako - Korra - Asami. That was just ridiculous and not something I want to see in LoK (keep that in Twilight please). Mako already was a pretty grating character (look this Gary Stu can lightning bent already) and he definitely works better in small doses (like this season). The love triangle also takes away from the interaction between Korra and Asami, who are the most interesting members of team Avatar. You have two strong female characters, both with lots of bagage (one is the avatar, the other is a daughter of an equalist) and instead of having them be good friends (or something more, but since this is a kid show that's never going to happen. A shame really) they both wind up running after one of the blandest characters in the show's history.

Their use of other characters pissed me off as well. Lin was one of the most interesting characters in season one and she was just left dangling in season two. Just compare that to season 3, where she's one of the most interesting characters to follow again. Then there was the return of Iroh... That was just so wrong. Zuko and Iroh were my favorite characters in ATLA and the way Iroh resided in the spirit world was just so out of character that it was grating.

Iroh would always travel on, in order to reunite with Lu ten (Remember the crowning glory of ATLA, Iroh's segment in 'Tales of Ba Sing Se'). If he were to stay behind, he would act more like a "Bodhisattva" and even then the stop would be temporary. He'd help Zuko and the avatar and when Zuko were to pass away, he would travel with him to the beyond.

Another cameo that bothered me was Admiral Zhao in the mist. That whole scene was underwhelming because - like the avatar origin story - it's better to hint instead of outright telling. Zhao's exit in the first book was one of the scariest bits of the show. You never heard what happened to him, only that he was taken. That's much scarier then "he's just walking through some fog". What kind of punishment is that? This is the guy who killed the moon spirit and he's walking through the mist with several dozen others (did they all kill a moon spirit).

And then there was another cameo that didn't happened that was rather strange. What happened to the equalists? Do Aman's followers even know that he's dead? I can't imagine this whole movement, which made some valid points, to just disappear.

The North and South conflict didn't make sense at all. So, everyone just followed Unalak (whatever his name was) blindly? And why did the conflict even start? The Southern water tribe was brought back by members of the Northern water tribe, there's already a strong connection there. And then Unalak was proven right that the Southern tribe was out of balance with the spirit world when the festival was attacked and he was able to calm the spirit down. That the conflict broke out afterwards just makes Unalak even stupider than he already looked, since it should have been easy to take over after that.

There were three good things about that second season. One is Varrick, who was a funny new character (although they overused him a bit, especiallu during the horrible mover scenes). The two other things have more to do with the outcome of the season. Korra being cut off from her previous incarnations just upped the tension and raised the stakes considerably. That I liked and then there is of course the rebirth of airbending. Both of these things however could have been brought in LoK in another way, one that wouldn't rely on a bloated season of crap.

[Pliskin]

Yeah ok... I still just don't understand at all. But whatever. I enjoyed everything you spoke of.

[Fat Mac]

Unalaq was a terrible villain. The dark avatar stuff could be seen a mile away.

He also paled in comparison to Amon, and even Zaheer, who we know little about, blows him out of the water as a villain.

I liked some parts of Season 2 though

-I liked Avatar Wan

-Jinora's expanded role

-Varrick is pretty funny

-Desna and Eska, but I'm not sure I'd like them that much if one of them wasn't voiced by Aubrey Plaza

Aaand those were the main things I took away from the season. Compared to season one, which had many more highlights. Overall, I guess I enjoyed season 2, but compared to TLA, and Season 1 of Korra, it just isn't up to snuff.

[Kalbear]

This season is definitely great. To me it is because we are going back to the personal threats and stories instead of the giant threat to the universe thing. It's much more intimate this time.

Plus Lin. Lin is amazing.