The Legend of Korra

[theeboredone]

I'd like to mention that the people you are talking about are most likely STORYBOARDING artists, and the situation seems to be that Bryke kept some of the original storyboarding secret from most people at the production, it was animated through the regular process in Korea and then brought back here.

They didn't change anything.

Just gonna have to disagree on this. Plots change last minute just as much as school or business projects do. Overall, I don't think it was developed properly to justify a romantic relationship.

 

[FloatingMew]

I loved it up to the part about Korrasami, I just hate that NOBODY acknowledged that Hiroshi DIED FOR THEM. Only Korra and Asami. The others were like "Hiroshi's Plan Worked!"

Edit: I JUST REALIZED IVE BEEN SAYING ZHU LI WRONG

I've been sayin Jhu Li the whole time...

 

[Dreamy Luigi]

Speaking of Zhu Li, their marriage was probably the happiest moment of the episode for me, lol.

 

[Sedda]

Just gonna have to disagree on this. Plots change last minute just as much as school or business projects do. Overall, I don't think it was developed properly to justify a romantic relationship.

That's fine, but there's no reason to argue about it.

To say that there have been ZERO clues or chances that Korra and Asami could end up together would be disingenuous. I don't like shipping, and I always saw the internet stuff of Korra and Asami (only within these last two seasons) as funny and just laughed it off, but I can't truly say that it came out of nowhere. It's pretty obvious to me that she's closer to Asami than anybody else in team avatar, and this was definitely confirmed by the end of Book 3/beginning of book 4.

The ending seems open ended enough for some people to refute them being in a relationship, but we both know that their intentions are pretty obvious. I don't mind either way, but they definitely did not do it because of the fans. Like I said, I don't think that's a valid and fair complaint because ANYTHING they do is and has been criticized as fan service at some point.

It's their show and I'm ok with this.

 

[theeboredone]

That's fine, but there's no reason to argue about it.

To say that there have been ZERO clues or chances that Korra and Asami could end up together would be disingenuous. I don't like shipping, and I always saw the internet stuff of Korra and Asami (only within these last two seasons) as funny and just laughed it off, but I can't truly say that it came out of nowhere. It's pretty obvious to me that she's closer to Asami than anybody else in team avatar, and this was definitely confirmed by the end of Book 3/beginning of book 4.

The ending seems open ended enough for some people to refute them being in a relationship, but we both know that their intentions are pretty obvious. I don't mind either way, but they definitely did not do it because of the fans. Like I said, I don't think that's a valid and fair complaint because ANYTHING they do is and has been criticized as fan service at some point.

It's their show and I'm ok with this.

I never said there were zero clues? I've repeatedly said that it just wasn't given enough time to develop properly and came off as a forced relationship.

Also, I felt like Book 4 did have a lot of fan service, and how you interrupt it can be chalked up as Bryke bending to the will of the fans or it already being "planned". Toph's presence and who her husband(s) was, Zhurrick, Asami and her dad, Mako "sacrificing" himself were some examples a lot of fans on Tumblr and Reddit wanted to see prior the start of Book 3 and 4. Some of these are reasonable requests if implemented correctly, but others are definitely fan service for the sake of fan service. I know I'm probably missing some other stuff, but those are the ones that immediately came to mind and just made me arch an eyebrow.

Looking back at the Book and the rest of the finale, I feel like the cast was just too bloated for a 13 episode season. I don't understand why we had an episode dedicated to Tenzin's kids looking for Korra, because that essentially was filler material. Kai became an afterthought (rightfully so) after the first episode. I thought Wu's development really came out of no where and should have been progressed steadily after the Ba Sing Sei square incident. On top of that, a side character like Wu got probably the most development after Korra. Mako was totally sidelined for the majority of the series to baby sit Wu, and did not get anything significant out of it. Tenzin became an afterthought. We already know how bad the show treats Asami and what purpose she is meant to serve for most of the series (love interest and transportation person). Dark Korra just disappeared? And just a personal one, Korra never got her own decisive, one on one victory I was hoping for, unless you count her deflecting the spirit beam at the end.

I was hoping for one more Bataar and Kuvira scene. Also, Kuvira giving up like that felt a bit weak to be honest. I mean she was just so extreme in her ideals, it just took one pep talk for it all to stop? She looked like one of those people who would fight until the bitter end, or at least go down with a sinking ship. When she became shocked or overwhelmed seeing her spirit ray gun go crazy, I was just thinking...how did you not notice this earlier?

I'm still going to let my emotions settle down and give it a week, but at the moment, I still think Book 3 was a step above Book 4.

 

[MewtwoMaster2002]

I saw the ending as part of the theme of spiritual and technological worlds working well together. I also saw it as a good example of well developed female characters who are fine with friendship and don't need romance (Mako). If it was supposed to be romantic, I'd like to hear it from the writers of the show.

 

[Airgemini]

I was satisfied with the finale. It had good action but I wish it was more action from bending and not fighting the spirit vine machine. Korra and Kuvira's fight was pretty cool though. Anyone else extremely impressed with how far Metalbending has advanced since the days of TLA? It almost looks like a completely separate bending element.

The implied romance at the end was the most shocking thing for me because even though I suspected that they were getting really close I didn't expect them to imply and leave it as open in the air as they did.

Sad to see the series go. Book 3 is still the best. Followed by Book 4, Book 1, then Book 2 in my opinion. I think overall this season suffered from pacing. The best fight of the season was Su vs Kuvira.

 

[Sedda]

Also, I felt like Book 4 did have a lot of fan service, and how you interrupt it can be chalked up as Bryke bending to the will of the fans or it already being "planned". Toph's presence and who her husband(s) was, Zhurrick, Asami and her dad, Mako "sacrificing" himself were some examples a lot of fans on Tumblr and Reddit wanted to see prior the start of Book 3 and 4. Some of these are reasonable requests if implemented correctly, but others are definitely fan service for the sake of fan service. I know I'm probably missing some other stuff, but those are the ones that immediately came to mind and just made me arch an eyebrow.

i dont have a problem with anything else you said, because like i said, you always have good points about the writing, but THIS is exactly what I was talking about. You can literally call out to VARIOUS things and say "fan service," and that is extremely unfair.

This story happened within the same world. It is within the realm of possibilities that the old characters would've been involved, and in my opinion they weren't involved in any large capacity anyway, maybe with the exception of Toph. At the same time, wouldn't you think she would've gotten involved in a rescue mission to save her family?
Why is their presence all of the sudden fan service?
Just because the fans wanted something to happen doesn't mean that that's why they did certain things. The ONLY 100% fanservice thing that they did was the deal with Lin's father, and EVEN THEN, of COURSE people are going to ask them questions about their fathers. They created an amazing world with ATLA, we care about those characters, and in my opinion, Toph giving an answer was basically Bryke saying "there you go. shut the hell up"

You have zero evidence of them being influenced by the fans outside of that, and I will repeat, this is a really weak criticism. Fans will want a lot of things, and they will hit it right on the nail on certain things because of the shear amount of people speculating. There were a lot of people who speculated that Amon was a bloodbender during the airing of season one (myself included). There were people shipping Korra and Bolin, but it never happened.

If you want to criticize the writing and say that Korrasami isn't portrayed very well, that's fine, but bad writing Korrasami relationship =/= fan service. In my opinion, the only reason why they did it that way is because people in this country are still very against homosexuality

I don't get why fans wanting something "prior to the start of books 3 and 4" automatically means they appealed to fans. They're not influenced by that stuff, and there has been plenty of fan discussion of very plausible theories that never came to fruition.

 

[theeboredone]

i dont have a problem with anything else you said, because like i said, you always have good points about the writing, but THIS is exactly what I was talking about. You can literally call out to VARIOUS things and say "fan service," and that is extremely unfair.

This story happened within the same world. It is within the realm of possibilities that the old characters would've been involved, and in my opinion they weren't involved in any large capacity anyway, maybe with the exception of Toph. At the same time, wouldn't you think she would've gotten involved in a rescue mission to save her family?
Why is their presence all of the sudden fan service?
Just because the fans wanted something to happen doesn't mean that that's why they did certain things. The ONLY 100% fanservice thing that they did was the deal with Lin's father, and EVEN THEN, of COURSE people are going to ask them questions about their fathers. They created an amazing world with ATLA, we care about those characters, and in my opinion, Toph giving an answer was basically Bryke saying "there you go. shut the hell up"

You have zero evidence of them being influenced by the fans outside of that, and I will repeat, this is a really weak criticism. Fans will want a lot of things, and they will hit it right on the nail on certain things because of the shear amount of people speculating. There were a lot of people who speculated that Amon was a bloodbender during the airing of season one (myself included). There were people shipping Korra and Bolin, but it never happened.

If you want to criticize the writing and say that Korrasami isn't portrayed very well, that's fine, but bad writing Korrasami relationship =/= fan service. In my opinion, the only reason why they did it that way is because people in this country are still very against homosexuality

I don't get why fans wanting something "prior to the start of books 3 and 4" automatically means they appealed to fans. They're not influenced by that stuff, and there has been plenty of fan discussion of very plausible theories that never came to fruition.

I had a whole post typed up, but it disappeared on me. At this point...I'm just going to leave with this and that will be that.

Let me rephrase:

Your last paragraph seems to imply that they are not influenced by the fans. Other shows that have been influenced like DBZ, Adventure Time, and Gravity Falls (and I don't even watch much TV, so I know more is out there). Somehow, Avatar is impervious to this? Makorra was practically a love letter to Zutara fans.

I am not against fan service if it meets two things.

1. If it's subtle, then it's generally harmless and can flow into the story.
2. If it's major, then there has to be a proper story and writing around it.

The first one is not hard to pull off. The second, if done poorly implies that something was amiss. Could be because the writers were thinking too much of appeasing their fans rather than their own story? Or maybe they themselves thought it was a good idea and it failed on some level. Either way, with the more popular requests showing up in Book 4, I feel like Bryke just wanted to go out with a bang, while trying to make everyone happy.

 

[Banjodorf]

I'm gonna say I loved the finale, and I honestly feel like the way Korra and Asami's relationship evolved was one of the more stable (and subtle to the untrained eye) elements of the show. They went from rivals in S1 to friends in S2 to good friends in S3 to something more in S4. (Unintentional rhymes all the time!) (Look, I get open interpretation and all, but that's some pretty heavy-hand(holding)ed symbolism at the end. And the throwback's to AtlA's Aang/Katara ending, and the musical bits reminiscent of Avatar's Love. Also, the conversation the two of them had before going on vacation is not one Korra would have with any of the other Krew members, and was very personally connected to the two of them, even obviously intimately so.


I don't think it was shoehorned in for the fans, and even if it was fit in to satisfy the fans and break even more boundaries on the show's record list, I think it was very well-executed, and the relationship between the two characters gradually developed closer bonds rather than being the straightup borefest that was Makorra. Ugh.

..Oh, and giant robot fights and awesomely well-coreographed fight scenes are cool too, I guess...

(Seriously I find it hilarious, and it speaks to the power of the final moments that amazingly well-animated giant robot apocalypse was overshadowed by two female characters finally expressing their feelings for eachother. What a world.)

 

[Sedda]

yeah actually i dont like giant fight stuff within a universe that is better at doing people 1v1 fights, so that's a reason i wasnt too excited about korra season 2 (although i do love godzilla and stuff like that).

this felt really cool and it had a shadows of the colossus feel.

 

[Sedda]

relevant double post

Bryan Konietzko's comment about the finale:

http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/105916338157/korrasami-is-canon-you-can-celebrate-it-embrace

this:
"If it seems out of the blue to you, I think a second viewing of the last two seasons would show that perhaps you were looking at it only through a hetero lens. "

and this:

" “Mike and Bryan just caved in to the fans.” Well, which fans? There were plenty of Makorra shippers out there, so if we had gone back on our decision and gotten those characters back together, would that have meant we caved in to those fans instead? Either direction we went, there would inevitably be a faction that was elated and another that was devastated. Trust me, I remember Kataang vs. Zutara. But one of those directions is going to be the one that feels right to us, and Mike and I have always made both Avatar and Korra for us, first and foremost. We are lucky that so many other people around the world connect with these series as well. Tahno playing trombone––now that was us caving in to the fans!"


preeeetty much what i expressed. that's why i dont like it when writers are accused of fan service.

 

[Banjodorf]

relevant double post

Bryan Konietzko's comment about the finale:

http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/105916338157/korrasami-is-canon-you-can-celebrate-it-embrace

this:
"If it seems out of the blue to you, I think a second viewing of the last two seasons would show that perhaps you were looking at it only through a hetero lens. "

and this:

" “Mike and Bryan just caved in to the fans.” Well, which fans? There were plenty of Makorra shippers out there, so if we had gone back on our decision and gotten those characters back together, would that have meant we caved in to those fans instead? Either direction we went, there would inevitably be a faction that was elated and another that was devastated. Trust me, I remember Kataang vs. Zutara. But one of those directions is going to be the one that feels right to us, and Mike and I have always made both Avatar and Korra for us, first and foremost. We are lucky that so many other people around the world connect with these series as well. Tahno playing trombone––now that was us caving in to the fans!"


preeeetty much what i expressed. that's why i dont like it when writers are accused of fan service.

DAMN.

I love when the creators stand up for themselves like that. Also, them confirming (although I know it was obvious, but people are dumb) the ending is nice, as a Korrasami fan. It wasn't out of the blue looking at seasons 3 and 4, and Makorra showing up at the last minute would've been the worst thing ever, Korrasami fan or not, because it had absolutely zero buildup, and those two characters had alot of development without eachother, whereas Korra and Asami did things together constantly in 3 & 4.

...Suck it, doubters.

 

[Sedda]

yeah

i dont know if i said it before on here, but i liked it that they didn't actually spend a large portion of the last two books trying to force a relationship. it was much better to build slowly and then have the reveal at the end

 

[Banjodorf]

yeah

i dont know if i said it before on here, but i liked it that they didn't actually spend a large portion of the last two books trying to force a relationship. it was much better to build slowly and then have the reveal at the end

Yeah, Mako and Korra's relationship seemed so forced it hurt me. Definitely my least favorite part of the first two seasons just because there was like zero chemistry whatsoever. In season 2, all they did was bicker back and forth. Ugh.

Though, as a friend of mine assumes, they probably didn't worry as much initially because Korra was going to be a single season series, so after season 2 they thought "Oh, ****, we have to do something with this relationship? Eh, scrap it, let's start over and do something else." And so they did, and the buildup was much more subtle and organic.

 

[BirthNote]

So Korrasami's canon...I bet my college buddies can't wait to see me eating my words like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

I was never a fan of either ship; Makorra was painfully cringeworthy and Korrasami seemed like that crazy fan theory that every show has, but I guess they were onto something this time. IRL, the show's popular at my college. Some of the people I talked to suggested Korrasami and I'd ask why they think it was likely; they'd say that Korra's always been a tomboy and she has a good bond with Asami. I didn't agree with those as reasons; I'd retort by asking if they think all tomboys are into girls and question that if two girls become good friends, they're romantically involved. I never got a good counter for that tbh, other than "we need a progressive Avatar", "it would be hot" or "she's at that curious age", so naturally I saw this as LoK's Zutara craze.

The actual scene was fine. It was handled well and you can totally see where things were headed and it didn't seem like some raunchy fantasy whatsoever. IMO, it's significant but not a big deal--it's tame but it got everyone talking up a storm. Conflicting words, but I digress. My gripe is that Asami is Korra's only female friend and their interactions up until that certain blush always seemed like friend-to-friend stuff, and Korra's tomboyish nature was pretty much just that, to me atleast. It was like trying to use most of their moments to justify Korrasami was weak, cause you'd also imply that all interactions with friends regardless of gender stemmed from romantic/sexual feelings, in this show and IRL, and that's silly. Even with Korra writing only to Asami (which is sad cause the only one who shouldn't have gotten a reply is Mako--his letter was terrible), the most you could prove is that she trusts her more than the others. Do you have friends you trust more than others? Do you tell some of them things about yourself that you don't want the others to know? Does that mean you have romantic feelings for them?

The tomboy angle also reinforces a stereotype about a girl's orientation like how a flamboyant personality does for guys, and I wasn't gonna trust that as a valid reason for this ship. Both forms of that logic are constantly proven and disproven so it's not reliable. The progressive Avatar angle is good however, and why not have Korra be one with all the good and bad milestones she's created. I don't have a problem with Korra being into women, but I do wish she had more than one female friend and make it a little less forced. I mean c'mon, you bond with the one friend you have of the same gender and you two start a relationship? That's either extremely lucky or something's amiss. How would she have acted around other female friends? How would their interactions play out? If Bryke could've shown us this, or leave subtle hints like always or use offscreen methods (like Korra's hangin out with Alice) we'd have a better point or 3 of reference.

I hoped they'd leave main character romance out after Book 2's nonsense, but no.

 

[MewtwoMaster2002]

I agree with @ BirthNote on a lot of points. I don't see writing letters to only Asami as a hint because I talk to certain male friends about stuff, but I'm pretty sure I'm not attracted to them in that way.

I'm glad to see that Bryan posted an official confirmation for it. One day I'd like to see a good show that doesn't end with a romance between main characters. Well, at least this show is being progressive.

 

[FloatingMew]

I don't know why, I'm just uncomfortable with this ending. I expected... no relationship ending... especially not Korrasami. I would have placed a MILLION dollars on Korrasami being impossible a month ago. (Wish I had that much money)

 

[Sedda]

So Korrasami's canon...I bet my college buddies can't wait to see me eating my words like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

I was never a fan of either ship; Makorra was painfully cringeworthy and Korrasami seemed like that crazy fan theory that every show has, but I guess they were onto something this time. IRL, the show's popular at my college. Some of the people I talked to suggested Korrasami and I'd ask why they think it was likely; they'd say that Korra's always been a tomboy and she has a good bond with Asami. I didn't agree with those as reasons; I'd retort by asking if they think all tomboys are into girls and question that if two girls become good friends, they're romantically involved. I never got a good counter for that tbh, other than "we need a progressive Avatar", "it would be hot" or "she's at that curious age", so naturally I saw this as LoK's Zutara craze.

The actual scene was fine. It was handled well and you can totally see where things were headed and it didn't seem like some raunchy fantasy whatsoever. IMO, it's significant but not a big deal--it's tame but it got everyone talking up a storm. Conflicting words, but I digress. My gripe is that Asami is Korra's only female friend and their interactions up until that certain blush always seemed like friend-to-friend stuff, and Korra's tomboyish nature was pretty much just that, to me atleast. It was like trying to use most of their moments to justify Korrasami was weak, cause you'd also imply that all interactions with friends regardless of gender stemmed from romantic/sexual feelings, in this show and IRL, and that's silly. Even with Korra writing only to Asami (which is sad cause the only one who shouldn't have gotten a reply is Mako--his letter was terrible), the most you could prove is that she trusts her more than the others. Do you have friends you trust more than others? Do you tell some of them things about yourself that you don't want the others to know? Does that mean you have romantic feelings for them?

The tomboy angle also reinforces a stereotype about a girl's orientation like how a flamboyant personality does for guys, and I wasn't gonna trust that as a valid reason for this ship. Both forms of that logic are constantly proven and disproven so it's not reliable. The progressive Avatar angle is good however, and why not have Korra be one with all the good and bad milestones she's created. I don't have a problem with Korra being into women, but I do wish she had more than one female friend and make it a little less forced. I mean c'mon, you bond with the one friend you have of the same gender and you two start a relationship? That's either extremely lucky or something's amiss. How would she have acted around other female friends? How would their interactions play out? If Bryke could've shown us this, or leave subtle hints like always or use offscreen methods (like Korra's hangin out with Alice) we'd have a better point or 3 of reference.

I hoped they'd leave main character romance out after Book 2's nonsense, but no.

What do you mean by only one female friend? This show is literally a whole handle of strong female characters, not just Korra.

 

[BirthNote]

@ Sedda
I meant it the way I typed it. Name all of Korra's friends and Asami's the only female. There's no doubt the show has plenty of stong female characters--Korra and Asami definitely are--I'm not implying anything that said otherwise.

 

[theeboredone]

"If it seems out of the blue to you, I think a second viewing of the last two seasons would show that perhaps you were looking at it only through a heterolens. "

Am I the only one who finds this offensive? How about you write your story and develop a relationship better so it doesn't feel so forced and underdeveloped in the first place? That way, we wouldn't have random people debating a "wait what?" when it did go down.

The problem with that statement is that it then forces you to look at every other relationship through a "different" lens and then are we to assume there are other same sex relationships out there? @ BirthNote explains it similar, so I won't type much. I don't think it should be like that. If you are watching from a non-bigoted point of view, then there should be more than enough moments and development to conclude that "x and y" will get together.

 

[Banjodorf]

I mean, I felt there were. Maybe they could've shown more, but there were certainly enough moments to make me go "Huh."

I didn't really support the ship until S3, and started to actually hope they'd do it given what was happening in S4. It's not like it was flawless in execution, but it wasn't "out of the blue"; I feel like people are overstating how nonexistent it was, even if it could've been more present.

 

[theeboredone]

I mean, I felt there were. Maybe they could've shown more, but there were certainly enough moments to make me go "Huh."

I didn't really support the ship until S3, and started to actually hope they'd do it given what was happening in S4. It's not like it was flawless in execution, but it wasn't "out of the blue"; I feel like people are overstating how nonexistent it was, even if it could've been more present.

I think the problem is that a lot of these moments can be interpreted as platonic to some extent. For what it's worth, I honestly do disregard any moments a character is "tagging along" with another, because that to me isn't development of a relationship or romance. Asami was unfortunately a backdrop a lot of times in Books 2, 3, and 4, which hurt her own development.

I just wish Bryke had more emotional or intimate moments between them. One can sadly argue that Mako had more intimate moments with Korra than Asami did, which is just sad if that Korrasami was meant to be end game.

 

[Sedda]

what do you mean by backdrop? she was with Korra a lot, especially when they were captured by the Earth Kingdom, and earlier in season 3 as well. You can't also discount when her and Korra spent time together at the end of season 3 and then everything else about season 4 that has been mentioned.

Yes, I think Asami fell into the backdrop PLOT-WISE (only in book 3), but aside from that, she was very involved throughout.

here's _some_ of the moments korra and asami shared together through seasons 3 and 4

http://imgur.com/a/r0obx

I don't really see why we need to see them cuddling to understand that they have a very strong bond.

"If it seems out of the blue to you, I think a second viewing of the last two seasons would show that perhaps you were looking at it only through a heterolens. "

Am I the only one who finds this offensive? How about you write your story and develop a relationship better so it doesn't feel so forced and underdeveloped in the first place? That way, we wouldn't have random people debating a "wait what?" when it did go down.
.

I have a problem with the "rushed" criticism because there's nothing that could have been rushed in the first place. There seems to be no slower burn than this... They DID developed their relationship.

The way I see it is that they developed a strong bond for each other and then right at the end of the series is when they decided to begin their romantic relationship. What's rushed about that? I don't get it.


It's a very reasonable build up, and it happened in a much more organic way than it every did with Mako.

Now THAT relationship felt rushed. Korra and Asami? Felt well prepared

 

[Banjodorf]

Yeah, I'll never get over how godawful Makorra was. I can't understand how anyone would ever ship it, because rather than developing slowly, more as a background to the plots, it became a focus (like it was seriously half the focus of S2, and the characters just had no interaction chemistry, and sometimes didn't even seem to have a friendship going on.

Maybe it's not as bad as I remember, I just remember being mad all the time their relationship showed up in S1&2. I don't think they developed Korrasami as much as they wish they had, and maybe they missed a good opportunity, but it definitely doesn't seem forced or out of the blue, considering the number of times over S4 people said "I think it may actually be happening!". Maybe some people were surprised ("in a where did this come from?") way, but overall it was better executed than many are giving it credit for.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

What can I say, the finale was pretty epic. It will be talked about for years.

 

[theeboredone]

what do you mean by backdrop? she was with Korra a lot, especially when they were captured by the Earth Kingdom, and earlier in season 3 as well. You can't also discount when her and Korra spent time together at the end of season 3 and then everything else about season 4 that has been mentioned.

Yes, I think Asami fell into the backdrop PLOT-WISE (only in book 3), but aside from that, she was very involved throughout.

here's _some_ of the moments korra and asami shared together through seasons 3 and 4

http://imgur.com/a/r0obx

I don't really see why we need to see them cuddling to understand that they have a very strong bond.



I have a problem with the "rushed" criticism because there's nothing that could have been rushed in the first place. There seems to be no slower burn than this... They DID developed their relationship.

The way I see it is that they developed a strong bond for each other and then right at the end of the series is when they decided to begin their romantic relationship. What's rushed about that? I don't get it.


It's a very reasonable build up, and it happened in a much more organic way than it every did with Mako.

Now THAT relationship felt rushed. Korra and Asami? Felt well prepared

I said what I meant. Asami would go episodes without a line and was literally just in the backdrop for a lot of scenes. She got the same treatment in Book 4. Also, tagging along with a character does not = meaningful moments, development, and budding friendships. Does that mean all the times Mako tagged along with Korra and NOT Asami after Korra returned to R.C. means it's development for a potential strong friendship or romance? "Hetero-goggles" or not, there were hardly any "moments" where you could say in Book 3, "Okay, Korra and Asami are really tight and that's awesome." The only true scenes we got were the car dialogue in the first episode (purely platonic) and then the scene at the end after Zaheer's defeat (I would hug a man if he went through that or put my hand on his shoulder...but wait, I have "hetero-goggles" so clearly I can't see the romance in that.

The sad thing is there were a lot of moments where Asami and Korra could have had meaningful interactions rather than a "we're just working together, cause of plot". Mako told Asami to take care of Korra while she was meditating, because wtf was she gonna do against the RL? And when they were on the prison ship, there was no in depth talk about their emotions or insecurities. It was just, "let's get out of here."

Take away some of Mako's moments with Korra in Book 3 and give to Asami, and I'd buy that they are best friends or emotionally close. Not the case, unfortunately.

I'm not asking for them to "cuddle". I'm asking for them to have meaningful dialogue that goes from establishing them from a start of a friendship (car talk) to something more (End of Book 3).

Asami as a character was poorly developed. Bryke originally wanted her to be an Equalist spy, but they loved her so much, decided to make her into a main character. They really didn't know what to do with her after that as evidenced by her constantly being put in the back drop and not having many lines.

Edit:

While I'm at it, I'm gonna go ahead and criticize all these reviewers and Bryke themselves for wanting to be "progressive" in a cartoon. Fact of the matter is, the demographic for LoK is not little kids, but teenagers to adults. The "Cartoon" argument is then invalidated. Adventure Time has a better representation of homosexual characters for a "cartoon". You know what other shows these people watch? Shows like Modern Family, Glee, and any other show with homosexuals. Yes, these shows have established homosexual characters, but we get to see them do far more than what LoK did despite all the other elements they were able to pull off (Murder suicide, PTSD, etc).

Nick has been pretty liberal with what they present. Just take a trip down memory lane. Hey Arnold and Wild Thonberries dealt with some heavy stuff. For Bryke to think that Nick would say no, and then dance around the friendship, and turn it into a romance when they finally asked last minute is just bleh.

 

[Sedda]

so your whole argument is basically "they're lying about thinking that portraying a homosexual relationship wasn't allowed given that those kinds of relationships have been portrayed on TV before. they really only included that final scene to appear progressive?"

lol


and don't say that asami was put in the backdrop. do you know which character that happened to? Kai. HE was put on the bench hardcore. Asami has always been involved in anything the avatar team was doing. Maybe less so in season 3, where she does "tag along" Korra while BUILDING A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP with her.

what do you mean by saying that they didnt know what to do with her after book 1? did you forget about the subplot with varrick taking control over future industries and how asami was portrayed then? Did you forget about her importance to the main character AND the plot in book 4? quoting the creators on the origin of Asami only to twist it to your own baseless perception is pretty lame.

saying "this character only had X number of lines, therefore she's not important" is a misrepresentation of how the character was actually portrayed.


edit: also, just because these social issues have been addressed before in this medium doesn't mean that Korra isn't progressive.

 

[theeboredone]

so your whole argument is basically "they're lying about thinking that portraying a homosexual relationship wasn't allowed given that those kinds of relationships have been portrayed on TV before. they really only included that final scene to appear progressive?"

lol

Oh look, being disrespectful when you didn't even understand my sentiments. How awesome. Looks like this is my last post.

No, I never said they lied. I said that it is overall insulting for us to recognize a "romance" being built by being asked to watch the show without "hetero-goggles". If a show is written well, you don't need to do that ****. You don't need them holding hands, hugging, kissing, etc etc to show the audience that they will become a pair. What you need to show is them having more intimate and more emotional moments. You can even have some awkward dialogue and hidden jokes between the two as well. I will state this again, Book 3 took place in roughly a 2 week time span. All we saw was the "car talk" and then Asami holding Korra's hand at the end of the Book. Everything in between shows no implications of a romance or even a strong friendship developing. It was two characters working alongside one another.

and don't say that asami was put in the backdrop. do you know which character that happened to? Kai. HE was put on the bench hardcore. Asami has always been involved in anything the avatar team was doing. Maybe less so in season 3, where she does "tag along" Korra while BUILDING A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP with her.

Kai is a minor character, while Asami is part of the main cast. I honestly don't even care about him given one of the problems with LoK was the bloated cast. This is like saying that Kya and Bumi needed more screen time.

There is being involved, and then there is being "involved" to the plot at hand. But how does "tagging along" = building a closer relationship? Should we analyze everytime two characters are around one another, but do not interact much, or when they do, it's just for the issue at hand = building a closer relationship? Where is the actual dialogue outside of "business" dynamics? By business, I mean anything that pertains to the characters themselves and not the "business" around them?

what do you mean by saying that they didnt know what to do with her after book 1? did you forget about the subplot with varrick taking control over future industries and how asami was portrayed then? Did you forget about her importance to the main character AND the plot in book 4? quoting the creators on the origin of Asami only to twist it to your own baseless perception is pretty lame.

When they decided to make Asami a prominent character, it was apparently a good idea for her to become a part of some love triangle crap that we all hated in Book 1. In Book 2, yes she had her plot with Varrick, but once again, that whole plot was criticized, because it was basically a plot that in the end, had nothing to do with the bigger issue at hand (This also hurt Mako and Bolin's purpose as well). For some reason, they decided to use her for a love triangle again in Book 2 (seriously? What were they thinking?). In the Book 2 finale, she flew a plane and was then delegated to "Take care of Jinora".

In Book 3, I'm convinced they did not know what to do with her. They just said "eff it, let's just have her tag along and have a line here and there" for her. 90% of the things she did could have easily been done by a generic character.

Book 4 they finally had her do what she was good at, and that was engineering (last few episodes). But at the same time, she disappeared for several episodes or became backdrop material. How the hell did Wu get more screen time than Asami? Notice also how much more prominent Mako, Bolin, and Korra were featured compared to the 4th member of the Krew.

saying "this character only had X number of lines, therefore she's not important" is a misrepresentation of how the character was actually portrayed.

Seriously? I guess we'll just disagree on that point. If you're meant to be a prominent character, you don't get put in the background like that with few lines. Asami is the fourth Ghostbuster.

edit: also, just because these social issues have been addressed before in this medium doesn't mean that Korra isn't progressive.

I never said Korra wasn't progressive? Honestly, I thought Korra's PTSD/Mental issues were far better represented and progressive in that area. I'm just saying that if you're gonna go the route of homosexuality, there is already a precedent of one cartoon show (that I'm aware of), and other shows for that demographic that present itself rather openly to these issues. Not only those characters are developed better for those issues at hand, but because they openly show them in those social situations. I would say they are far more "progressive". Korra and Asami are progressive, but on a scale compared to these other shows, people need to stop making them out to be some mind blowing, "What is this? I have never seen this before in my life" nonsense.

Hell, Cardcaptor Sakura had a homosexual relationship. Sailor Moon did as well, and even when it made it over the states, it was such a fail in censoring it, that it was obvious.

And with that, I'm done. As Russel Peters put it, "Take it and go."