Legend of Korra continued - season finale SPOILERS

[Kalbear]

I believe they mentioned platinum in the first season and possibly with toph in atla as well.

[Spring Bass]

That was a great episode. Very interesting ending, too, in that everything's a mess in a not-so-easy-to-solve way.

So was that the poison liquid mercury? It sure looked like it, and mercury poisoning is pretty bad news (even if Korra only had most of it in her system for a few minutes). I could see how it would mess Korra up physically in addition to her obvious PTSD and depression.

[The Drunkard]

I believe they mentioned platinum in the first season and possibly with toph in atla as well.

Ah, I'll have to go find that. Thanks.

[Samalander]

Yeah, I thought that didn't make much sense either. They should have gone for a 50/50 ratio.

Since it's a realtively small group, a 50:50 chance for every single member, might result in skewed gender stats.

[The Anti-Targ]

So, lightning bending ex machina aye? I mean we all knew he could lightning bend, but it's just a bit silly that he waited until all was almost lost before remembering he has a sure-fire way of taking out water arms chick.

Plot hole on the whole platinum bending thing I think. Wasn't it explained in one of the metal clan episodes that metal can be bent because of the earth impurities in metals? So in theory any metal can be made unbendable by having an extremely high level of purity, and there should be nothing particularly special about platinum. Or is platinum particuarly known (irl) for being a high natural purity metal? Anyway, breaking chains should be a piece of piss for Korra since she has all elements at her disposal.

I don't know why Zaheer kept Tensin alive, he has no problem killing tons of other people, and Tensin is surely one of the worst perpetrators of the "unatural order of things". Still I guess it's still ostensibly a kids show, so it would be bad to kill off someone like Tensin. The Earth Queen is OK 'cause she's a meanie, even though it was still bad to kill her.

Aside from those niggles I was happy with the episode.

[fionwe1987]

Platinum is the least reactive metal we know of. So reaction products are incredibly rare, and it is found as pure platinum often. They don't need to purify it to make it free of Earth.

Also, Hiroshi uses platinum walls to trap Team Avatar, and his mecha tanks are made of it too. He event taunts Lin saying that even her esteemed mother couldn't bend pure platinum. They didn't just make this shit up.

[Kalbear]

Ah, that was it. Right, Hiroshi and the mecha were made of platinum.

[The Drunkard]

I wonder what Varrick will be up to next season. Completely forgot about him, though his magnet work seemed important.

[Veltigar]

So, lightning bending ex machina aye? I mean we all knew he could lightning bend, but it's just a bit silly that he waited until all was almost lost before remembering he has a sure-fire way of taking out water arms chick.

:agree:

Plot hole on the whole platinum bending thing I think. Wasn't it explained in one of the metal clan episodes that metal can be bent because of the earth impurities in metals? So in theory any metal can be made unbendable by having an extremely high level of purity, and there should be nothing particularly special about platinum. Or is platinum particuarly known (irl) for being a high natural purity metal? Anyway, breaking chains should be a piece of piss for Korra since she has all elements at her disposal

I do find it strange that villains need to resort to Platinum to capture the avatar. At the tech level LoK is at there must be enough skill already to make highly pure metal.

[The Anti-Targ]

Platinum is the least reactive metal we know of. So reaction products are incredibly rare, and it is found as pure platinum often. They don't need to purify it to make it free of Earth.

Also, Hiroshi uses platinum walls to trap Team Avatar, and his mecha tanks are made of it too. He event taunts Lin saying that even her esteemed mother couldn't bend pure platinum. They didn't just make this shit up.

But still doesn't get around the fact that Korra should have the bending skills to get out of platinum chains even without the aid of metal bending. Sure a metal bender is pretty fucked, but even general earth bending skills should be able to break said chains given enough time.

And she should have Avatared when her dad went over the cliff. But that's a minor point.

[fionwe1987]

But still doesn't get around the fact that Korra should have the bending skills to get out of platinum chains even without the aid of metal bending. Sure a metal bender is pretty fucked, but even general earth bending skills should be able to break said chains given enough time.

She had barely any time. And how was she to Earthbend with her hands and feet bound? The only bending she could do was Firebending with her mouth and maybe Airbending with it too. I suppose she could have Firebent the platinum and roasted her own hands...

She needed the super strength of the Avatar State to break free.

And she should have Avatared when her dad went over the cliff. But that's a minor point.

I totally agree. Or she should have done it before Zaheer's speech about his plans. I think they should have dropped a hint that Korra is going in less into the Avatar State because it's a greater risk for lesser reward now that there aren't even past memories to help her.

[Lol]

\I totally agree. Or she should have done it before Zaheer's speech about his plans. I think they should have dropped a hint that Korra is going in less into the Avatar State because it's a greater risk for lesser reward now that there aren't even past memories to help her.

at some point will they be fixing the avatar line, or will it remain broken...

[fionwe1987]

at some point will they be fixing the avatar line, or will it remain broken...

I really don't think so. Raava who held those memories was completely destroyed and made again. I doubt they are available somewhere to be reclaimed.

Also, there's a certain balance that the Avatar Cycle might need restarting every 10000 years. A kind of check on the power of the Avatar.

[Warg Arry]

So, lightning bending ex machina aye? I mean we all knew he could lightning bend, but it's just a bit silly that he waited until all was almost lost before remembering he has a sure-fire way of taking out water arms chick.

I mean sure you could see it that way. But personally I think they did a good job in showing that Mako is a police officer first. Or at least he took it very seriously. And that lightening bending is deadly stuff. I think it makes sense that he didn't want to whip out the death blow until he absolutely had to. Even in that final fight he was trying to get her in a state without water in which she could be apprehended. I also think the look on Mako's face after he resorted to lightening was well done. Personally I thought that they displayed pretty convincingly that Mako didn't intend to kill her. I like the idea that this whole time he was holding back because he didn't want to go lethal.

Is that Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral?

As a side note. I'm still not all that comfortable with Lava bending. I liked the suggestion that an Earth bender parent and Fire bender parent could produce offspring that might be able to lava bend.

But it's so OP that it feels... ick.

I don't know why Zaheer kept Tensin alive, he has no problem killing tons of other people, and Tensin is surely one of the worst perpetrators of the "unatural order of things". Still I guess it's still ostensibly a kids show, so it would be bad to kill off someone like Tensin. The Earth Queen is OK 'cause she's a meanie, even though it was still bad to kill her.

Aside from those niggles I was happy with the episode.

I'm not entirely convinced that Zaheer ever intended to wipe out the air benders. He moved them out of the way. chained up sure. But the guards weren't at all the lethal choice. I saw the situation as bait and security. But that ultimately he intended to let them go. None of his people were on scene. The guys that were there were grumbling about getting stuck babysitting.

I just didn't get the feeling at all, that he would have done what he threatened.

Just in reference to the question regarding why Zaheer wanted to end the Avatar. Rather than the previous plan to capture her.

Wasn't the explanation for that attributed to Korra's uncle. Who was apart of the Red Lotus' plans and it was he who wanted to go the route of kidnap and brain wash. Which is something he ultimately tried to do in season two but as a way to become the Vaatu Avatar. With Unalaq out of the picture and Korra being old enough to be less vulnerable and in the spirit world proving that even though she could relate to what Zaheer was pitching. She wouldn't be swayed and called out Zaheer on the wrong of his/their plan/actions the Red Lotus decided to go another way.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

I don't think that Bolin will use lava bending much, for the se reason Mako doesn't want to use lightning.

[red snow]

The previous thread did not have SPOILERS in the title and there we talked freely after a while no?

Just you wait until some of those "walking dead" boarders come over here. Then we'll know we need to obey the SPOILER tag rules. It seems this crowd is cool with being sensible. Hell, we even spoiler things on the day just in case. What a civil bunch ATLA/LOK fans are :)

[Veltigar]

I posted this somewhere else, after mulling about the finale for a while:

A great season, but a pretty disappointing finale if you ask me. The animation and fight choreography were top notch, probably the best ever for this franchise. I loved the callback to Ozai vs Aang so much, especially the role reversal. The revelation that Zaheer could fly (and everything leading up to it) was also incredibly well-handled.

The rest however, fell pretty flat storywise. In fact I feel like they actually undid some of their great work from earlier in the season. For starters not killing of Tonraq was a huge cop-out. He's not a very important character and his valiant death would have added more weight to Korra's PTSD.

The low bodycount for Team Avatar also made the Red Lotus look pretty incompetent after all the build-up. They said that Zaheer & Co together could take down the entire world, but the losses were all on their side.

The biggest flaw however, was what they did to Zaheer. In the end, they had to make him into another cackling villain, instead of the (dark)grey antagonist he was before. And the way Bolin shoved that sock in his mouth was just poor form and it robbed the entire season of dignity imo.

I also seriously disliked lightningbending Mako. Bolin's lavabending was handled much, much beter imo. Of all the people on team Avatar, he's the least interesting and to have him end a formidable opponent like Ming Hua should require some more build-up.

I'm definitely not buying the cop excuse, they fought several times already and those fights were serious. Mako and Bolin had every reason to assume that these fights were to the death, so Mako should have used lightning bending already.

Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if Mako never had it in the first place. One of the few writing fails this creative team has made is the huge growth in benders with control over the secondary powers. It cheapens the whole concept. I could accept some more advanced benders, but there are just to many special snowflakes that it cheapens the badassery of main characters with these skills.

One last minor flaw, which I'm willing to overlook because of time constraint, was the death of Ghazan. I feel like they should have attributed more time to his duel with Bolin. If Mako had then joined them and helped Bolin corner him, Ghazan's last words would have been more poignant and they would have made more sense. On the show, he just kind-off gave up, he didn't even try to best the both of them.

Just you wait until some of those "walking dead" boarders come over here. Then we'll know we need to obey the SPOILER tag rules. It seems this crowd is cool with being sensible. Hell, we even spoiler things on the day just in case. What a civil bunch ATLA/LOK fans are :)

We're enlightened ;) Plus we have better taste, because tWD is awful :p

[red snow]

I posted this somewhere else, after mulling about the finale for a while:

We're enlightened ;) Plus we have better taste, because tWD is awful :P

I think some of your problems are that you are watching a show meant for families instead of adults. While losing one of the team would tell us about the stakes I think the fact they killed the villains also shows this. Seeing Korra as she now is,is another way to show the stakes without resorting to deaths.

I think if Korra's dad had died it would have been stupid given he'd just climbed up a mountain using water bending (I mean he should be able to do iceman style slides if worst comes to worst). It was bad enough he had to be saved by the character they seem to be shoe-horning into the show.

I do agree with the Zaheer scene. Bolin's actions felt a bit like the end of an epsisode of "thundercats" where all the characters laugh at the bumbling fool of snarf. The delivery was off. Having Zaheer break his word was also a little off too and turned him,like you say. into a maniacal killer. At least this never happened with Amon. I still hope they bring him back though as it would be cool to see him act as an unwilling ally with the rest. To be honest I'd entertain the idea of Tenzin somehow using him to train the new airbenders as he is clearly on the same level (although Tenzin will always be grounded by family so will never fly). Can Korra take away bending? Aang could - this could be a way to use Zaheer as a teacher without being too dangerous,

Another factor with Mako's lightning bending is the fact that in the other cases I think he was surrounded by team-mates. Mixing electricity with water could also harm them - in fact I think Mako himself may have been at risk as they made a point of him using the lightning while he was earthed and dry. At the end of the day the water/lightning mix should work both ways and Zuko and co showed they had to redirect the lightning themselves so as not to be hurt. Mako can maybe make electricity but his mastery of it may not make him immune - especially when fighting a water bender.

I also agree with the others that lavabending surely has to be a combination of fire and earth bending. If they just bent lava that was present I'd buy that they could bend it but to make the earth into lava requires firebending.

[Pliskin]

I also agree with the others that lavabending surely has to be a combination of fire and earth bending. If they just bent lava that was present I'd buy that they could bend it but to make the earth into lava requires firebending.

Waterbenders can bend water into its three forms (ice, steam, liquid) without having to firebend.

It's the same for lavabending.

There is no fire in the lava. It's only earth at at a very hot temperature.

[Veltigar]

I think some of your problems are that you are watching a show meant for families instead of adults. While losing one of the team would tell us about the stakes I think the fact they killed the villains also shows this. Seeing Korra as she now is,is another way to show the stakes without resorting to deaths.

I feel like LoK is kind-off trapped in an awkward position. It's not a family cartoon anymore, but for some reasons they can't/won't fully commit to a more adult tone (though it's better than book 1 and 2 already). That handicaps the series immensly imo, since the best moments of this season (and all the LoK books really) are the darker and more adult ones.

And just for the record, I wasn't advocating for killing Bolin or Mako. I just wanted to see Tonraq and some metal benders to stay down.

I think if Korra's dad had died it would have been stupid given he'd just climbed up a mountain using water bending (I mean he should be able to do iceman style slides if worst comes to worst). It was bad enough he had to be saved by the character they seem to be shoe-horning into the show.

I feel like Kuvira was the whole reason for the Tonraq thing really. Like they needed a way to get her in, so they decided to throw Tonraq over the cliff instead of knocking him out. I do not think that it would be ridiculous for him to die. The improbable saves are what is ridiculous really.

I do agree with the Zaheer scene. Bolin's actions felt a bit like the end of an epsisode of "thundercats" where all the characters laugh at the bumbling fool of snarf. The delivery was off. Having Zaheer break his word was also a little off too and turned him,like you say. into a maniacal killer. At least this never happened with Amon. I still hope they bring him back though as it would be cool to see him act as an unwilling ally with the rest.

They basically did the same thing with Amon though, when it turned out he wasn't a real revolutionary. And that stupid painted scar they used to expose him. I do hope they bring Zaheer back somehow though. Perhaps give him Iroh's role from the early episodes of book 3, where he's behind bars and they can go and get advice from him.

I To be honest I'd entertain the idea of Tenzin somehow using him to train the new airbenders as he is clearly on the same level (although Tenzin will always be grounded by family so will never fly).

Zaheer would be a good teacher for more advanced students like Kai (and I'll count Jinora as well, eventhough she's a master now). He has some kick-ass moves, but he's still to dangerous to expose to young impressionable airbenders. If the only guy alive (and only the second in history) who has mastered flight tells you a story about anarchy, it would sound mighty convincing to new airbenders.

EDIT: That reminds me, Zaheer is only the second airbender to achieve flight. There were loads of airbenders strong enough, but they failed because they lacked Zaheer's spirituality. In other words, to unlock flight one needs to reach a certain kind of spiritual level. That's more in tune with Iroh's explanation of lightning bending in ATLA.

And I feel like that is more appropriate than making it just about raw power or innate talent (with the exception of an Ammon or an Azula every once in a while). Secondary bendingpowers have become a bit to cheap.

Can Korra take away bending? Aang could - this could be a way to use Zaheer as a teacher without being too dangerous,

I read somewhere (here or on youtube) that energybending is all about willpower. Broken Korra against zealot Zaheer in a battle of will woulnd't end well for Korra.

Another factor with Mako's lightning bending is the fact that in the other cases I think he was surrounded by team-mates. Mixing electricity with water could also harm them - in fact I think Mako himself may have been at risk as they made a point of him using the lightning while he was earthed and dry. At the end of the day the water/lightning mix should work both ways and Zuko and co showed they had to redirect the lightning themselves so as not to be hurt. Mako can maybe make electricity but his mastery of it may not make him immune - especially when fighting a water bender.

Azula had no problem using lightning on waterbenders. Mako likewise was never in a position were lightning bending could endanger his teammates. At Zaifu, there was no water and the other fight took place in the desser. Bolin only got wet after Mako was taken out by jumping in a pond. And even if there was a danger for teammates, they were fighting a real fight, they didn't know the Red Lotus was going to spare them. So, when they were loosing Mako should have had to take his gloves off and shock them. The fact that he didn't just doesn't make sense.

I also agree with the others that lavabending surely has to be a combination of fire and earth bending. If they just bent lava that was present I'd buy that they could bend it but to make the earth into lava requires firebending.

Nope, only earthbending. A lavabender just uses friction to heat up earth and rock into lave.