The Legend of Korra

[Smooth Criminal]

Zuko couldn't firebend for a while 'cause he lost his "inner fire," which is more or less at once a state of mind and a literal force within the firebender himself. Essentially, it's passion and drive that empowers firebending; if the firebender is lacking in either of these traits, his ability to bend gutters. When Zuko betrayed everything he knew and joined up with Aang, he lost all of the stuff that formed the foundation of his bending, all that rage, anger, and misguided "honor" in service to his father. He had to find another way to rekindle his passions and reestablish his connection to firebending by means of inspiration and enlightenment. Thanks to the Dragon Warrior sect and the olden teachings of firebending, Zuko did just that.

Tl;dr It's two different things.

Smooth Criminal

 

[DakotaBonez]

*SPOILER*


Amon takes away Korra's bending, but she manages to keep her airbending?
The F#$%!?! The writers got lazy in the end and were all like
nah its cool we'll just use Avatar hacks and give her the ability to cure everyone who lost their bending.

 

[Deleted member]

...
Amon just figured out how to put a block on it and that's why he has to touch the forehead.

this would make it unlikely katara would not be able to fix it, and also extremely odd only Amon figured this out.

 

[theeboredone]

Well, I think Amon's proficiency in blood bending is top notch. Take someone like Katara, who refuses to practice that art would not have much experience in that. If I remember the word correctly, Katara said "severed" the connections needed to bend the elements. Amon probably has a very high level of understanding when it comes to blood bending, that he can operate on such a detailed level. So it wouldn't surprise me if he also knew how to restore bending.

Also, I feel like the excuse that might come up is that blood bending is somehow related or derived from energy bending. Sort of like how in Naruto, the Sharingan and Byakugan are derived from the Rinnegan. We also don't know technically how Energy Bending works. It might be the same method.

 

[Kal]

 

[Deleted member]

Well, I think Amon's proficiency in blood bending is top notch. Take someone like Katara, who refuses to practice that art would not have much experience in that. If I remember the word correctly, Katara said "severed" the connections needed to bend the elements. Amon probably has a very high level of understanding when it comes to blood bending, that he can operate on such a detailed level. So it wouldn't surprise me if he also knew how to restore bending.

Also, I feel like the excuse that might come up is that blood bending is somehow related or derived from energy bending. Sort of like how in Naruto, the Sharingan and Byakugan are derived from the Rinnegan. We also don't know technically how Energy Bending works. It might be the same method.

it still would feel like a major cop-out, especially with blood-bending being a very physical skill and chakra/energy bending being, well you get the point

also lol @comic

 

[theeboredone]

That comic is probably the first one to make me chuckle. All thanks to the Emperor's New Groove. Kronk is amazing.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

Kronk da bess. xD

Smooth Criminal

 

[KrIsP!]

Kal, where do you find these? I must know because my google searches have not yeilded such results. I seriously love the ones you've found.

On another note, I think I'm going to rewatch TLA. I haven't seen it since it was on tv and I missed way too many episodes...like, half a season where I just stopped watching.

 

[Spelt]

They're from Tumblr.

 

[The Real Gamer]

The only thing I really liked about the finale was the sub plot (and the eventual death) behind Tarlok and Amon. IMO that part was developed pretty well. Everything else just felt rushed as hell, especially the ending.

Oh and the romance between Korra and Mako somehow managed to feel even more superficial and forced than Katara x Aang. I really didn't think that would be possible until now.

 

[LLDL]

Spoiler

If you thought Bolin was gonna be hittin dem draws, YOU THOUGHT WRONG

Altho I won't rule it out in season 2, writers do stupid stuff all of the time : p

 

[Kal]

Damnit Spelt, stop revealing my secrets! I'm gonna go all RIAA up in this ***** and get Hylian to start infracting people for copyright infringement.

Anyway, yeah, some are from Tumblr, some I've seen on GameFAQs, and some are from my friend Brandon.

Oh and the romance between Korra and Mako somehow managed to feel even more superficial and forced than Katara x Aang. I really didn't think that would be possible until now.

When you power through the show, Katara and Aang makes a bit more sense. It's not quite organic, but it's not terrible. I think that particular narrative is just too unfocused and scattered, so if you don't take the entire show in at once, it feels more artificial than it should have.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

When you power through the show, Katara and Aang makes a bit more sense. It's not quite organic, but it's not terrible. I think that particular narrative is just too unfocused and scattered, so if you don't take the entire show in at once, it feels more artificial than it should have.

At least it's not as bad as some Rumiko Takahashi bull****. I mean, I love me some Ranma 1/2 (one of my personal favorites), but did it really take 50 plus volumes and/or a bazillion episodes for Akane and Ranma to finally get together? Siiiiiigh.

I can definitely agree that tanking TLA all at one time will bring out some of the better qualities inherent to the framework of the show, but also some of its glaring flaws (which, unfortunately, are mirrored in LoK but to the umpteenth degree). It took the second time watching the series as a whole for me to really appreciate and dissect it.

Smooth Criminal

 

[Kal]

Would you elaborate on these flaws? I'm curious to see what you noticed.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

Where do I begin?

(Not in the sense that it's a complete cluster****; I'm trying to organize my thoughts.)

Maybe "flaws" isn't the right word I'm looking for here. More like...there's stopgaps placed right smack dab in the narrative in place of broadening certain themes (The Fire Nation's imperialistic bent, the impact of Jet's death to the main characters, the price of constant warfare and the toll it takes on the individuals, et cetera) or explaining things a little better (my biggest gripe here is the lack of a role that the spirit world seems to play; it seems like it was just thrown on there for dressing and it played very little role in the setting itself, not that it wasn't pivotal to the story). I've said it before, there's a target demographic that this series aims for and I think a lot of it has to do with that. A lot of the kids that are watching this **** are just that, kids that don't really have an attention span to digest that sort of thing, and (god forbid) if there's a topic thrown in there that might offend. It also feels a little rushed in certain areas, especially towards the end of the series. It felt like during season 3 they wanted to cram everything in there all at once (visit the Fire Nation, "wowzor" at how things changed in said Nation, Aang learning firebending, Zuko having a change of heart, defeating Ozai without killing him, finding a magic turtle, Sokka finding love again, May and Ty Lee having enough of Azula's *****assness, canitakeabreathnowplease?).

I guess I have a hard time appreciating it for being a kid's show, and it isn't deeper than what it is. *shrugs.* Some of the stuff, the real subtle and nuanced stuff, is handled and is developed.

Forgive me here; I've had a few drinks and I'm kinda rambling. I can't really explain things well when I'm like this. Lol.

Smooth Criminal

 

[Praxis]

So, I haven't seen much discussion about the final scenes here. I saw a few interesting discussions going on elsewhere and wanted to bring it up here.

A common consensus is that Korra was considering jumping from the ridge.

If you watch the scene again, everything seems cut to imply this. She tells Mako that he's better off without her, flees from her friends, and then when she is standing over the cliff, the camera follows her tear that makes the fall. Then she turns away from the cliff and starts crying.

Korra knows the whole Avatar cycle, and that if she can't fulfill her role as Avatar, her death will let a new Avatar be born. This is probably what she was thinking.

The scene also happens immediately back-to-back after the other suicide. One chooses death, one life.

 

[theeboredone]

Yeah, I do remember reading about that too...though suicide personally turns me off so I just avoided the conversation >_>. It just burns a hole in me thinking about Korra possibly thinking of that.

 

[The Real Gamer]

Honestly Im not even sure if the Avatar spirit in Korra would even allow her to kill herself. Think about how Aang would have drowned in that storm if his Avatar state didn't kick in and preserve his body in the ice, or how adult Aang would have been killed by the freaky bloodbender (forget his name) if his Avatar state didnt kick in.

Any time an Avatar is close to a premature death or in serious danger their Avatar state always protects them at the last second somehow. The same rule would probably apply to a suicide attempt.

 

[Praxis]

I'm not sure if it would apply to a suicide attempt...the other situations you quote are all situations where the Avatar is fighting to live. If every time an Avatar was near death the Avatar state kicked in, the Avatar should be gone by now (since dying in the Avatar state ends the Avatar line, and an Avatar can't die except by old age without the state kicking in soon...).

Also, I never got how Aang beat Yakone. It seemed pretty clear that none of the Avatars past had the ability to bloodbend during the daytime, or Avatar-state-Aang would have beaten Ozai rather quickly. So how did he overcome the bloodbending as soon as he went to Avatar State?

 

[Spelt]

I really doubt that that's what was going on. Korra isn't the type to just give up.

And all the past avatar's strengths put together would easily overcome the most adapt bloodbending.

 

[theeboredone]

You also get the knowledge of Avatars going back to day 1. Wouldn't surprise me if some knew blood bending or how to deal with it.

 

[The Real Gamer]

I'm not sure if it would apply to a suicide attempt...the other situations you quote are all situations where the Avatar is fighting to live. If every time an Avatar was near death the Avatar state kicked in, the Avatar should be gone by now (since dying in the Avatar state ends the Avatar line, and an Avatar can't die except by old age without the state kicking in soon...).

Also, I never got how Aang beat Yakone. It seemed pretty clear that none of the Avatars past had the ability to bloodbend during the daytime, or Avatar-state-Aang would have beaten Ozai rather quickly. So how did he overcome the bloodbending as soon as he went to Avatar State?

That's why I said the Avatar state only seems to kick in during a premature death.

Dying from old age is part of the natural process.

 

[Tee ay eye]

 

[ShroudedOne]

"ShroudedOne has been slain."

It's so good...why is it so good...

 

[Ussi]

I lost on the "doo doo doo doo doo doo doo honor"

 

[GreenKirby]

Season 2 screenshot?

 

[Kal]

In Season 2, Asami and Korra run away together.

 

[Tee ay eye]

i am okay with this

 

[ShroudedOne]

I am more than ok with this.

 

[theeboredone]

Sisterhood of The Travelling Pants: Avatar Edition.

 

[The Real Gamer]

**** Makorra... From now on I'm team ASORRA.

 

[NinjaFoxX]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4B0K1Quwn8

 

[Airgemini]

So, fire for weakest element?

 

[ShroudedOne]

This was confirmed ages ago, in the original Last Airbender series.

 

[NinjaFoxX]

water would be weakest if it werent for bloodbending being so OP

 

[Tee ay eye]

i hate the fact that bloodbending exists just cuz its so broken

like, it was fine when people could only do it during the full moon, but yakone had to ruin that

 

[Deleted member]

Fire does have the advantage of being the only bending you can use in space.

 

[GreenKirby]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4B0K1Quwn8

Was the first 10 seconds really necessary?

 

[Spelt]

Fire does have the advantage of being the only bending you can use in space.

How would that work? Fire needs oxygen, and there is very little if any oxygen in space.