The Legend Of Korra: Season 4

[Skyway]

For the life of me I cant find the other thread, anywho. It first says why the last eps were pulled off nick and then that season 4 will air in two weeks.

http://www.avclub.com/article/season-four-legend-korra-will-premiere-online-octo-209106

 

[Bee]

I'm excited. I didn't really dig ATLA, but I've been enjoying LOK for whatever reason. Dat short hair tho.

 

[Zay]

Ya know I watched ATLA and loved it. Is LOK just as good? Life got a little crazy for me and I haven't had the chance to check it out.

 

[Bee]

I think its a little less cheesy than Avatar was. And Korra is cool as shit.

 

[Zay]

I'll have to give it a watch fo sho den.

 

[Cortan]

Overall? No. It has a number of moments that do come close, and a certain pair of season 2 episodes are some of the best of the franchise, but Legend of Korra also has a number of thematic, pacing, and general story flaws that stop it from working as well as its predecessor. Generally the second season is taken as the worst overall (barring the aforementioned episodes, which you'll understand if and when you see them), but it does try some interesting concepts, and otherwise is pretty essential viewing to understand season 3, which is a marked improvement.

Edit: Bee stop being a ninja.

 

[Bee]

I'm too slow to be a ninja! But I thought Aang was kind of annoying, so I didn't really enjoy Avatar that much. It isn't a bad show at all, and if you're into cartoons about weird people throwing magic at each other and the sorta almost-steampunk setting, both are fun.

 

[Skyway]

I like ATLA story and characters. ALOK is good with groups story but jump around enemrys to much. I like "when the fire nation attack"

 

[Miz]

The characters in LoK don't hold a candle to the original, and has DBZ syndrome.

Edit: Damn Cortan summed it up perfectly.

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

Overall? No. It has a number of moments that do come close, and a certain pair of season 2 episodes are some of the best of the franchise, but Legend of Korra also has a number of thematic, pacing, and general story flaws that stop it from working as well as its predecessor. Generally the second season is taken as the worst overall (barring the aforementioned episodes, which you'll understand if and when you see them), but it does try some interesting concepts, and otherwise is pretty essential viewing to understand season 3, which is a marked improvement.

Edit: Bee stop being a ninja.

I prefer Legend of Korra personally and actually think the previous season has been the best in the entirety of the Avatar series.

To me Last Airbender was a show that mostly focused on world building to fill out the overarching long conflict with the Fire Nation. Still good, but it felt like monster/culture/problem of the week between the episodes that had Aang and company fighting the main antagonists, or AAANGtagonists if you will
(GOD DAMN I'M FUNNY!).

Korra, both character and show, seemed a lot more focused to me. The seasons/books focusing on one problem without having to explain too much side stuff as opposed to Aang's stories either building to the long overarching conflict or doing **** all.

Korra had its problems. Season 1 and 2 were rife with forced romance plots, but looking back at Last Airbender the romance wasn't handled as competently there either. By season 3 of Korra though I was just hoping Korra and Asami would bang already.

In summation, Last Airbender is still good; but I prefer Korra's story as they get to focus on a lot more than having to build a world and I find Korra a batter protagonist than Aang.

My main concern? The move to digital is both good and bad. The show obviously wants to move in more mature directions as evidenced by Season 3 of Korra and Nick didn't want that paired against their other shows. The push to move Season 4 out so quickly is a bit disheartening as Nick just seems to be quickly running through the show so they can fulfill their side of any contract or distribution agreement. The main problem that leads to is will there be a post-Korra show?

I personally hope so, but that seems reliant if Korra is able to put up good numbers digitally compared to when it was regularly run on Nick's airing block.

 

[Miz]

In summation, Last Airbender is still good; but I prefer Korra's story as they get to focus on a lot more than having to build a world and I find Korra a batter protagonist than Aang.

Going to have to disagree there. The Avatar is someone who is supposed to be the moral and spiritual compass of the universe. With that said Korra always seemed to be the Monkey D. Luffy of the series, where her moral compass wasn't really explained, but was always on the right side, because she was the avatar. She basically said that she was going to kill the antagonist in season 3, and lost her temper in more than one uncalled for occasions, like the random outburst season 3 episode 1. While Aang got angry it were for good reasons, never spoke ill of his enemies, and when he made a mistake he owned up to it. Not cry on top of a mountain, then suddenly get the power to energy bend.

 

[Cortan]

To be honest, I've not got so much of an issue with Korra as a character and concept - she's quite deliberately the anti-Aang, from having mastered everything but Air at the start, to her often crass nature and small scale story focus over (at least from the start) having to save the whole world. And well, even as much as I like Aang, its been shown in universe that not every Avatar was - or has to be - up to his given moral standard, even other Air Nomads. The big problem I find is that with Korra, the show has had a tendency to... well... kinda undermine her, often letting her be duped by villains into serving their own ends. Where Aang felt responsible for the Hundred Year War for having not been around to stop it early in and thus generally was altruistic to pretty much every damn problem he came across, Korra in various respects is responsible - though again, partly down to her being duped - for villain schemes getting as far as they ever do. Sure, its likely trying to make her more of a flawed character who has to overcome her issues, but at this stage its more annoying than endearing, making it harder for me to recall her achievements over her failures.

Season 3 I'll admit was somewhat better about it though, because whilst her existence might enable the main villain plot, she wasn't inadvertently contributing as much. The one time she kinda did, it was for a minor villainess who was already off her rocker for reasons separate of Korra. That and unlike say, Season 1, there wasn't a three act structure mandated cap upon her capabilities and powers, so even when restrained, she was still a competent opponent.

 

[Skyway]

preview I should had link with first post. It looks a lot better then the first 3 seasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCEFMY4TWGw

 

[Black Noise]

To be honest, I've not got so much of an issue with Korra as a character and concept - she's quite deliberately the anti-Aang, from having mastered everything but Air at the start, to her often crass nature and small scale story focus over (at least from the start) having to save the whole world. And well, even as much as I like Aang, its been shown in universe that not every Avatar was - or has to be - up to his given moral standard, even other Air Nomads. The big problem I find is that with Korra, the show has had a tendency to... well... kinda undermine her, often letting her be duped by villains into serving their own ends. Where Aang felt responsible for the Hundred Year War for having not been around to stop it early in and thus generally was altruistic to pretty much every damn problem he came across, Korra in various respects is responsible - though again, partly down to her being duped - for villain schemes getting as far as they ever do. Sure, its likely trying to make her more of a flawed character who has to overcome her issues, but at this stage its more annoying than endearing, making it harder for me to recall her achievements over her failures.

Season 3 I'll admit was somewhat better about it though, because whilst her existence might enable the main villain plot, she wasn't inadvertently contributing as much. The one time she kinda did, it was for a minor villainess who was already off her rocker for reasons separate of Korra. That and unlike say, Season 1, there wasn't a three act structure mandated cap upon her capabilities and powers, so even when restrained, she was still a competent opponent.

I agree with you on those aspects, but for me that more makes the series more enjoyable than pushes me away. Korra often causes more problems than she solves by thinking with her fists and not with her head, but she has a heart to help people and make right every wrong. Is it getting annoying? Yes, but here's to hoping they won't do it again in S4. Though with Aang, I always felt as though he was the Avatar who could do no wrong. He always had backup, he always had more than enough time, and his enemies were almost always clearly laid out before him and not hiding behind him as pretend allies.

Much agreed.

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

Going to have to disagree there. The Avatar is someone who is supposed to be the moral and spiritual compass of the universe. With that said Korra always seemed to be the Monkey D. Luffy of the series, where her moral compass wasn't really explained, but was always on the right side, because she was the avatar. She basically said that she was going to kill the antagonist in season 3, and lost her temper in more than one uncalled for occasions, like the random outburst season 3 episode 1. While Aang got angry it were for good reasons, never spoke ill of his enemies, and when he made a mistake he owned up to it. Not cry on top of a mountain, then suddenly get the power to energy bend.

I don't think Korra was always on the right side just because she was the avatar and when some dissonance was had in her actions the show called it out and she dealt with it. The whole point of the second season was that she was making the wrong decisions and season three was all about how the Avatar was losing popularity in the world in terms of favor and utility and also that governments established that the Avatar would be representing themselves were extremely fallible.

Aang and Korra are different Avatars for sure. I would liken it to The Doctor if you are familiar with Doctor Who. Each iteration is the same person in endowment, but when it comes to life experience and character they are far different. Any "role" of the Avatar is a socially constructed one as evidenced by this latest season. Aang was an Air Nomad and younger than Korra. So he was brought up to be far more peaceful in both demeanor and in character. Korra was brought up in a different world and wasn't born to the life of Air Nomads so understandably she is a lot more emotional and has different values than Aang.

Also note on terms of killing the showrunner actually did want Aang to kill the Fire Lord, but Nick told him he had to come up with something else and thus energy bending was born.

Again, not saying Aang is a bad character or that his tenure on the show is bad; I just prefer Korra's character.

the show has had a tendency to... well... kinda undermine her, often letting her be duped by villains into serving their own ends. Where Aang felt responsible for the Hundred Year War for having not been around to stop it early in and thus generally was altruistic to pretty much every damn problem he came across, Korra in various respects is responsible - though again, partly down to her being duped - for villain schemes getting as far as they ever do. Sure, its likely trying to make her more of a flawed character who has to overcome her issues, but at this stage its more annoying than endearing, making it harder for me to recall her achievements over her failures.

I find it more endearing and again it is being pulled together of the overarching theme of "Does the world need an Avatar?"

I think that is a more interesting concept than Aang fighting a war, again not bad, but I enjoy them exploring this route. As Mizchno points out there is a concept both in the show and out of what an Avatar is. I really like that the concept of this good archetype role like Jedi, Power Rangers, Superman etc. is being questioned. Does the world need an Avatar? Both Aang and Korra have really only gotten by on plot power and as said before they have never gotten through their trials completely alone. So does it need to be an Avatar that unites people? Charismatic people who unite people across all the cultures have been present on both good and bad sides so why does an Avatar need to be present to tell or instruct people on what to do? Before you could say they had the wisdom of past Avatars and basically are just a walking history book, but now that the past Avatars are gone would a future Avatar have as much weight?

Again, I think Legend of Korra brings up a lot more interesting concepts than the pretty straight forward story Last Avatar set out.

 

[Cortan]

I find it more endearing and again it is being pulled together of the overarching theme of "Does the world need an Avatar?"

I think that is a more interesting concept than Aang fighting a war, again not bad, but I enjoy them exploring this route. As Mizchno points out there is a concept both in the show and out of what an Avatar is. I really like that the concept of this good archetype role like Jedi, Power Rangers, Superman etc. is being questioned. Does the world need an Avatar? Both Aang and Korra have really only gotten by on plot power and as said before they have never gotten through their trials completely alone. So does it need to be an Avatar that unites people? Charismatic people who unite people across all the cultures have been present on both good and bad sides so why does an Avatar need to be present to tell or instruct people on what to do? Before you could say they had the wisdom of past Avatars and basically are just a walking history book, but now that the past Avatars are gone would a future Avatar have as much weight?

Again, I think Legend of Korra brings up a lot more interesting concepts than the pretty straight forward story Last Avatar set out.

I suppose in my case then, I'm somewhat tired of seeing that question asked, though probably because many writers just aren't that good at meaningful deconstruction, or if they are, all they're left with is a broken and pointless story. Thankfully, at the very least Avatar doesn't have enough of an expanded universe to fall into 'all the bad stuff happens over and over again so this is clearly somehow the good guys' fault' nonsense.

What it does try though, I'm not so sure it always delivers well, mostly in matters of answering the question (see: Equalists vs benders). It seems though that Season 4 is going to be majorly built around actually doing that this time around, dealing with the aftermath of the largest nation in the world having lost its central political structure, and without the kind of cultural shift that would allow it to become the anarchistic utopia that the Red Lotus would have wanted.

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

Season 4 is setting itself to rub me in all the right ways. On effectiveness of deconstruction and if the show is succeeding in their goals I think we will have to agree to disagree. (Can someone disagree to agree?)

I'm still hoping for the shows future to pan out well. I am not one to urge a show on past its natural life, but I think there are still interesting concepts to explore in the Avatarverse. I hope digital distribution is good for it and allows the creators more freedom.

 

[Miz]

On thing that rubbed me the wrong way in season 3 is the lack of badass spirits. Where were all the hardcore evil spirits from the original?

 

[Johnnysaurus Rex]

On thing that rubbed me the wrong way in season 3 is the lack of badass spirits. Where were all the hardcore evil spirits from the original?

I disliked how the entire Spirits storyline was kind of swept under the rug. The setup pre-Season 3 and the first episode sets up that across the world the introduction of spirits to the world has caused some issues. Which they ignore almost immediately in lieu of the new Airbenders story. The story was good, but it was a pretty decent smudge on an otherwise solid season.

 

[Cortan]

That I can definitely agree on, and we'll see how the three year timeskip affects things on that front.

Part me does almost wanna see what the setting would be like in a modern/near future age, since its a fantasy setting that actually shows development in technology and culture over time.