The Legend of Korra

[nessokman]

Nick: The only company that considers reruns of 10 year old episodes of a show everyone has seen 50 times is more important than their newer shows.

 

[theeboredone]

From a blog person that attended the LoK panel...

Bryan begins by talking about the change, the show is NOT cancelled. It is moving over to digital because of numbers- while on the air it got relatively low ratings, digital streaming was through the roof. Though the transition and announcement could have been done better, it will still be available, and it will start going online NEXT FRIDAY AUGUST 1ST WITH A NEW EPISODE EVERY WEEK, WITH A TWO PART SEASON 3 FINALE ON AUGUST 22.

 

[adumbrodeus]

so what exactly does "through the roof" mean?

 

[theeboredone]

It's often been cited (not gonna go found the sources), that the LoK stream ratings have been crazy good. I believe the Book 1 finale had even higher ratings online than it did live, with the live one already being pretty darn good.

One thing is for certain, LoK does not fit with the rest of hte programming on Nick. They failed in the advertising department, but perhaps kids just aren't interested in it from other marketing research like surveys and such. They do know LoK has a following from teens and adults, and they see it best to put it online rather than waste space on a TV slot.

Episode opinion will come later.

 

[BirthNote]

Another amazing episode. Man I could FEEL the urgency of the situation, and they pulled off a full-blown shootout?! These guys are so efficient it's scary, and I just can't wait for next week because this season hasn't done anything wrong and I'm completely hooked!

Even with Varrick on the sidelines he's still providing insight, and I have to give Mako props. Awesome episode; really left me inspired. :D

 

[theeboredone]

Okay, here's my takeaway...

1. When Mako showed up with Asami to watch Bolin and Korra metalbend, he seemed totally cool and not awkward around her. Did this all get resolved off screen? I mean, the Krew has only been on their journey for a week at most.

2. Bolin may never learn metal bending, but he definitely seemed excited to see lava bending. Possible foreshadowing?

3. The entire action scene was totally awesome. Freaking P'li can bend her combustion bending? WTF?

4. Zaofu guards are actually competent. Two of them were fighting Zaheer (one was a fire bender) for quite a while given the fact...

5. Su and Lin's plan was totally awesome and well done. Mako and Bolin held their own and stepped it up.

6. Mako resuming his detective role. He really is the smartest guy in the room for the most part and it showed again. Nice to see him get a lot of screen time given he's been absent for the most part.

7. Asami on the other hand...not so much.

8. LOL VARRICK

9. So, the truthseer aka Iway was the traitor? Kinda saw it coming during the interview process. Was really awesome to see Korra create an air shield to protect the Krew from that explosion.

10. Su went behind Lin's back just a day after they hashed things out? That's not gonna end well. Su definitely seemed angry about being betrayed. Looks like she wants some revenge through Korra.

11. It has now been implied that the Red Lotus is more than just those 4 guys given Iway's involvement. I wonder who else is part of the RL? Time will tell.

 

[BirthNote]

Nick has the eps on their website now. If the amount of views on their website helps the creators then I'll watch it from there I suppose.

 

[nessokman]

w

I'm pretty much done with Nick....I really wish they could/would sell A:TLA and TLOK to a channel who would do them right. (****ING ADVERTISE THEM) I know that no network would do it right though, cartoon network would either milk it until it became horrible and died, or end it prematurely. Disney would kiddie it up to the point where it wouldn't be half as good as it is. No other network would air it how it is supposed to be...makes me really sad

 

[theeboredone]

Spoiler alert, trailer for the rest of Book 3.

http://www.nick.com/videos/clip/digital-short-legend-of-korra-dse-book-three-trailer.html

 

[BirthNote]

IGN posted this from Comic Con:

http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/07/2...omic-con-2014?abthid=53d7b706187a14667000000c

Also, I've read some speculation that Su Yin was involved in Zaheer's plan. I doubt it personally, but I'd keep my eye out for it.

 

[theeboredone]

New episode is up.

 

[Sedda]

ehh we got some new info this episode I guess, but this bad guy is just another bad guy. Follows the same trend every villain has been following. They're just entitled brats with a twisted sense of purpose.

 

[adumbrodeus]

The player on nick.com is horrific >_>

 

[theeboredone]

ehh we got some new info this episode I guess, but this bad guy is just another bad guy. Follows the same trend every villain has been following. They're just entitled brats with a twisted sense of purpose.

Yeah, was hoping some "gray" to Zaheer. I would have been fine if he wanted all governments gone, but the dude literally said he wanted to throw the world into chaos. Other than that, I thought the episode was great.

Mako and Bolin desperately need to up their skill in Book 4. I'm tired of seeing them only deal with henchmen. It's stupid on so many levels to give the main characters so much screen time only to have 1/4 capable of dealing with the tough villains.

 

[Sedda]

I'm ok with them getting rekt by the red lotus people. They're supposed to be powerful and all, but the Zuko thing still bothers me more. It's hard to tell who is supposed to be stronger than who at this point.

 

[theeboredone]

I'm okay with them getting wrecked too, but it's also a problem as it happens way too often when they face off against a major or major side villain. Chances are, they will take one of them out in a 2 v 1 situation though I'd personally like a rematch with Mako using some lightning on Ming Hua...that's essentially a one shot.

 

[Airgemini]

I liked the episode. Finally got some answers although I'm not sure if I was satisfied with them.
I have a feeling Mako/Bolin's family will play a role in helping them if everyone's going to be in Ba Sing Se.

The fight sequence was nice. I agree with everyone else that Mako and Bolin get showcased terribly. Personally, I feel like Bolin's style of earth bending is very dull and not very entertaining to watch. Compared to what we've seen in TLA series, earth bending here seems pretty regressed. Especially in his case.

This is way out there but for whatever reason I feel like Zaheer wants to capture Korra and use her to channel the ancient air bending monk he idolizes to help lead a new world. But that's a pretty far stretch.

 

[theeboredone]

The episode prior to the season finale is called "Enter The Void", which is part of the words that Guru has spoken before. The words include saying "Leave the Earth", so I'm guessing whatever happens...it's gonna happen in the Spirit World perhaps? Or maybe in that weird part of an Avatar's mind where they see a giant version of themselves? Regardless, we know that Korra is meant to lose something important to her every season...I wonder what it will be this time.

 

[Sedda]

sigh

I'm just not satisfied =(

They've completely ignored anything spirit related. They could've come up with a plot that actually related to the spirit world and its integration with the human world, but instead they just pulled airbenders out of their ass. All spirits do now is just hang around like they are animals.

The issue with the vines in republic city is the only thing we've seen to come out of that. I really don't know how they'll win me over to be honest. After what they revealed in the last episode, season 1 is back up to my number one as far as Korra goes. The equalist rebellion was a lot more interesting

 

[BirthNote]

sigh

I'm just not satisfied =(

They've completely ignored anything spirit related. They could've come up with a plot that actually related to the spirit world and its integration with the human world, but instead they just pulled airbenders out of their ***. All spirits do now is just hang around like they are animals.

The issue with the vines in republic city is the only thing we've seen to come out of that. I really don't know how they'll win me over to be honest. After what they revealed in the last episode, season 1 is back up to my number one as far as Korra goes. The equalist rebellion was a lot more interesting

I don't see how they're pulling new airbenders out their ***. Harmonic Convergence literally means harmony coming together, they hyped it up since Wan's eps so we had foreshadowing roughly halfway through Book 2, and without many airbenders there's not much bending harmony. The Avatar was born as a direct result of that HC energy; is it hard to believe that a world-sweeping wave of it can't have other effects? You can't do an ***pull if you talk about something, show what it did last time, mention it's on its way again and have a villain who's counting on using it again.

Anyway, solid ep. Not as amazing as the last but still pretty good. It felt like the pai showdown justified why there's different takes on the Lotus order, but for future reference Bolin should NOT be shouting during a stakeout if the target's across the yard. The FOLS fate was...dspressing, and that means we basically got an onscreen death in a horribly subtle way. It'd be SICK if people could pull others into the Spirit Realm while they slept and throw them in that fog.

Also, I disagree with Zaheer, especially regarding Wan. Closing the portal wasn't foolish; humanity at that time was at the mercy of spirits and couldn't get along with each other let alone scary monsters. It was a good idea at that time because how isolated humans were, and they needed to grow without the threat of face stealing centipedes and worse. I was wrong about him wanting to kill a four year old, but his actual goal was worse. A manipulated avatar is worse than a bad avatar, and after they used Korra to plunge the world into anarchy, they likely would've had her end the avatar cycle, probably in a willing suicide thanks to her indoctrinated ideals I guess. Zaheer talked about the end of the avatar and the WL, which is why I assume such.

 

[Sedda]

@ BirthNote Yes they're pulling it out of their ass. You can't just try to rationalize airbenders coming out of nowhere dude. You're talking about harmony and relating it to "HARMONIC convergence," but word association isn't enough.They didn't hype up anything or hinted at that in book 2, because they had finished book 2 by the time they knew there would be a book 3. They just pulled it out of their asses and could've done WAY more interesting things with the spirit world.

Now we just have the red lotus (which they created out of nowhere and was never hinted at before). They shoehorned that into the existing story, create airbenders out of thin air, and the bad guy just happens to now be an airbender to allow the plot to move. There are literally thousands of things they could've done with the integration of the spirit world, and moved the story FORWARD. Instead they decided to add some background story that was never ever explained before. I hate it when they do that

 

[#HBC | Laundry]

To me it just seems like they're admitting season 2 was a dumb ****ing idea and was merely all a gimmick for them to justify the re-emergence of airbenders.

Because, really, 90% of season 2 was a dumb ****ing idea. The only parts I liked out of it were seeing Iroh again, Verrick as a whole, and the two episodes explaining the avatar's origins.

EDIT: But really, I don't think any background story for these ****s is going to make you think it was well-done because we had practically zero hints as to who these guys were before Zaheer revealed their intentions. We knew they were all terrifying benders set on a chaotic path and that was it. The Red Lotus thing doesn't make me nearly as upset because it works--it explains why they don't like the White Lotus, at the very least, and gives them a motive. The only thing I don't like about it was the sort of heavy-handed metaphor that the Pai Sho match between Bolin and Asami was before the reveal. ATLA used that metaphor very well because it wasn't painfully transparent and they kept it running throughout before revealing the White Lotus organization, but that wasn't the case here.

 

[BirthNote]

@ BirthNote Yes they're pulling it out of their ***. You can't just try to rationalize airbenders coming out of nowhere dude. You're talking about harmony and relating it to "HARMONIC convergence," but word association isn't enough.They didn't hype up anything or hinted at that in book 2, because they had finished book 2 before they knew there would be book 3. They just pulled it out of their ***** and could've done WAY more interesting things with the spirit world.

Now we just have the red lotus (which they created out of nowhere and was never hinted at before). They shoehorned that into the existing story, create airbenders out of thin air, and the bad guy just happens to now be an airbender to allow the plot to move. There are literally thousands of things they could've done with the integration of the spirit world, and moved the story FORWARD. Instead they decided to add some background story that was never ever explained before. I hate it when they do that

So they can have a comet that supercharges firebenders but an energy wave that grants bending doesn't fit? They crossed that threshold with solar/lunar powerups and celestial events in Aang's story, and what proof do you have that they wrapped up book 2 before starting book 3? They've stated (again during Aang's show) that they work on various episodes at the same time, and this link holds true for LoK:
http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/55788253484/to-give-you-a-sense-of-just-how-long-it-takes-to
They were mapping out Book 4, hadn't finished Book 2, and didn't even air Book 2's premiere. From the sound of it they knew there'd be more than a Book 2, since Nick ordered 3 more seasons, not just one after the other. Who in their right minds would finish Book 2, then chart out Book 4 then write Book 3 without knowing there'd be one?

And a secret society we knew nothing about? Surprising that they came out of thin air, with you know, 70 years worth of backstory and a direct influence on Korra's sheltered life. This isn't occurring immediately after Aang beat Ozai or even a few years. This show is a near century long time skip and they have room to introduce things like this. I suppose Republic City and the Equalists, Zaofu and the Metal Clan and the ****** Earth Queen and her Dai Li came out of nowhere as well.

 

[Sedda]

they were animating book 2, which means all story had been written already. NO connection between book 2 and 3 as far as WRITING

The comet that supercharges firebenders was part of the original story. They have said that they already had all the story planned out. Sozins comet wasnt shoehorned in in book 3. we knew about it already.
The red lotus came out of NOWHERE. Why can't they move FORWARD instead of creating backstories that just didn't exist before at all.

I suppose Republic City and the Equalists, Zaofu and the Metal Clan and the ****** Earth Queen and her Dai Li came out of nowhere as well.

You dont get what im saying. Republic city was written as a part of the FUTURE. A follow up to TLA. They looked into the future.
Creating stuff that came before the events we've already seen just to have everything "fit" is so cheap.

Opening the spirit world was a great opportunity to say: Ok, we have established characters. What situations can we create out of this new scenario with the spirit world?

Instead, they created the red lotus, shoehorned it into the past, pulled airbenders out of thin air, and COMPLETELY ignored the spirit world. THE ****ING SPIRIT WORLD LOL

 

[BirthNote]

I just disproved they didn't know there'd be a book 3 before finishing book 2, as they were mapping book 4 before finishing the 2nd and I'm still waiting on your proof otherwise. It's illogical for them to have nearly finished the 2nd yet storyboard the 4th without having a solid framework for the 3rd. Storyboards are made after the story is written but before the animation. You can't animate without the storyboard, and its far more difficult to storyboard without writing the script which means you need a story to begin with hence the writing.

And I'm not suggesting Sozin's Comet was shoehorned because it isn't. I'm arguing that if this show can have powerups based on celestial bodies, a wave of energy formed by planetary alignment (which also created the avatar) leading to airbenders popping up like weeds isn't too far of a stretch. Sozin's Comet, the sun/moon empowering fire/waterbenders do set a precedent.

And as I've said, we're dealing with a time skip here. There's more than enough room for issues like a splinter group when we take 70 years into account. We're literally just now finding out about Lin's sister and her city; was that shoehorned as well? Bryan even stated at Comic Con that the Metal Clan was thought up before they created Korra. In a near century of progress there's gonna be tons of developments and they should have reasonable room to pick what they want to show/tell and when. Could they have sprinkled in more tidbits? No doubt, but I disagree with the Red Lotus/new airbenders being an ***pull, especially compared to kaiju Unaloq and Deus Ex Jinora.

 

[Holder of the Heel]

That moment where the little spirits briefly popped up to "warn" them that the place they were looking for was not on the map was less like clever foreshadowing and more like a reminder that said "Hey, you guys didn't forget about the spirit world being connected to the physical one, right? Riiiiight?"

 

[Airgemini]

I'm satisfied and prefer this direction they're going with this season. The spirit world plots don't really interest me tbh.

 

[theeboredone]

@ Sedda

Bryan and Mike have said it several times in regards to how they planned the stories of Book 1, 2, 3, 4...

Self-contained, self-contained, self-contained.

I'm really tired of people whining about there being no continuation, because if they would dig a bit deeper, they would know this is not the intention. This is not TLA, where a plot is sent from Book 1, and does not conclude until Book 4.

Yes there maybe things here and there that may carry over such as the existence of Spirits in the real world, or a mention of Equalists here and there. HOWEVER, the continuation of that plot is not meant to be the focus of Book 3, 4, etc. New villains, new story, and a new challenge for Korra to go through. This is how they've decided to work things in LoK, and I am perfectly fine with that.

There are plenty of things that cannot be properly explained. Some more ridiculous than others such as Jinora's Deus Ex. I honestly don't see Harominc Convergence giving bending abilities (not just Air) to people as a big deal. I honestly predicted it in another forum I keep up with. A lot of people did. It's also why Book 3 is called "Change". Yes a lot of us thought it would focus on the Human/Spirit interaction, but Bryke made a nice twist in focusing on the fact there are new Air Benders popping up. Furthermore, one can argue that if Korra does adapt some of Zaheer's philosophies (basically, not being a doormat to governments), that in itself is Change.

Honestly, anyone who complains about things like that...I just consider it noise. It doesn't even register as a valid complaint to me.

 

[Sedda]

Im not complaining about the lack of continuation... did you guys not read what I typed.

The lack of continuation IS a problem, but it's not what I was talking about.

Books 3 and 4 were ordered simultaneously, which means they had all the chance to make it into something special AFTER book 2 had already been written/storyboarded. However, none of that was my point.

That moment where the little spirits briefly popped up to "warn" them that the place they were looking for was not on the map was less like clever foreshadowing and more like a reminder that said "Hey, you guys didn't forget about the spirit world being connected to the physical one, right? Riiiiight?"

Precisely my point. That's what they're using the spirit world for instead of using it as a major plot point.

I just disproved they didn't know there'd be a book 3 before finishing book 2, as they were mapping book 4 before finishing the 2nd and I'm still waiting on your proof otherwise. It's illogical for them to have nearly finished the 2nd yet storyboard the 4th without having a solid framework for the 3rd. Storyboards are made after the story is written but before the animation. You can't animate without the storyboard, and its far more difficult to storyboard without writing the script which means you need a story to begin with hence the writing.

Right.. This is my main problem. While Book 2 was being animated, both books 3 and 4 were ordered at the same time.

The reason books 1 and 2 are independent is because of the way they were greenlit as we all know. All I'm saying is I'm disappointed in the way they've evolved the story now that they've had the opportunity (for the first time) to create something bigger than one book. Maybe I didn't explain myself well.

I'm not arguing they didn't know about books 3 and 4. I'm arguing that they didnt know when they began writing Book 2. We know how that affected the writing... we're all on the same page on that. I'm trying to show that they aren't seizing the opportunity now that they have it

 

[theeboredone]

They've completely ignored anything spirit related. They could've come up with a plot that actually related to the spirit world and its integration with the human world, but instead they just pulled airbenders out of their ***. All spirits do now is just hang around like they are animals.

@ Sedda

Bryan and Mike have said it several times in regards to how they planned the stories of Book 1, 2, 3, 4...

Self-contained, self-contained, self-contained.

When you say that "continuation" is not what you're talking about, and then proceed to say that they should have used the Spirit World as a major plot point...that just screams "continuation". The Spirit World is there, but that doesn't mean Bryke has to make it a first priority in story telling.

 

[Sedda]

I am complaining about the writing after the fact that they were aware that they were getting books 3 and 4 because it has been crappy.

I totally get books 1 and 2 being self-contained (and please don't make it sound like they WANTED that to be that case, because they didn't), but watching the show makes it clear that they haven't taken advantage of the fact that they aren't boxed into creating self contained seasons for books 3 and 4. The only reason why the stories were self contained was because of how Nick ordered the seasons. They had to make sure that book 1 had a clear cut ending, and same for book 2. Once again, don't say that they "planned" for the stories of EVERY book to be that way period. Not true. It was a bad situation for them (I repeat, books 1 and 2), but it sucks that they aren't using the spirit world in a more original way now that they have way more room.

Once again, "self-contained" as you say is a justification for the self-containing stories of books 1 and 2 because of how the episodes were ordered by Nick. It doesn't justify anything after that because books 3 and 4 were ordered at the same time.

 

[theeboredone]

Some spoiler gifs have been posted on this person's tumblr. View at your own risk. Not mentioned what episodes these will occur in.

http://dongbufeng.tumblr.com/post/94014489683/nick-com-spoils-book-3-in-gifs

 

[Airgemini]

Oh no no, I clicked and saw a tiny glance of the first gif and couldn't watch anymore haha. But I am definitely shocked if what I think I saw is true. Seems dark and something I've seen fans speculate about millions of times with air bending lol.

 

[theeboredone]

Latest episode has been leaked. I won't say anything until tomorrow.

Edit: Spelling and grammar due to crappy mobile =/.

 

[Airgemini]

^ lol this season is a mess with all of these leaks.

 

[theeboredone]

Yeah, I'm no tech person, but I wonder how you're able to get an episode leaked if it's digital only to begin with.

 

[Alacion]

Wow at what Zaheer did... and yet again the episode ends in somewhat of a cliffhanger. Korra will have to take the Red Lotus' bending away I guess

Can't wait for Bolin to Metalbend!

 

[BirthNote]

I'm...shocked. I feel happy about what happened but at the same time conflicted and worried. This isn't something you regularly see on Nick, right? No wonder it's not on tv.

Holy ****.

 

[KrIsP!]

Wait.... Episode 10 was leaked?

Anyways, I'm hoping since it seems book 4 will be the end and each season has expanded the universe bit by bit that the last season will be a satisfying conclusion. Each villain seems self contained but they're all quite connected really. Unexplained connections to spirits, wouldn't be surprised if Amon was someone who left the red lotus and Zaheer isn't actually in charge. I was a bit disappointed by the reveal of zaheer's intentions but he never explained why he still wants the avatar now that the portals are open, definitely more to come.

 

[Airgemini]

The episode left me feeling pretty uneasy. Especially with the situation involving the Queen.