Legend of Korra: Book 2

[Catterjune]

I don't see why everyone is complaining so much about Korra being "unlikable". Sure I can get annoyed when she begins to belittle and yell at everyone, Makko included, but I can also understand why she is being so hot headed.

I can understand perfectly well why she's an arrogant prick. From the time she was a pot bellied little brat she was told she was special. And not just how normal parents tell their kids "you're special", but she was literally a deity incarnate and it wasn't just her parents who treated her this way. It was Tenzin, the White Lotus, her entire town, every single person she had ever met in her entire life literally worshiped her and gave her everything and anything she asked for.

So suddenly she's 16 or 17 or however old she is and everyone's telling her "no". No Korra, you can't have free food for Naga. That'll be 20 yuan. No Korra, you can't just murder fish and eat them at the park. No Korra, you can't dispense street justice. Go to jail, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars.

She's a little girl who's used to getting her way, and now when it's not happening the only language she knows is temper tantrums and violence because that's what probably got her what she wanted when she was 4, 5 or 6.

So yes, I can understand Korra's characters. But that doesn't mean I have to like her character.

[Fusion X. Denver]

I'm positive Korra will turn around and become more likable.

But yeah, every time she and Mako have argued, I always thought Mako was being the sensible one.

 

As for Varrick, I don't think he's outright evil, but I could see him trying to take as much advantage out of the conflict as possible to add more money in his pockets.

I hope he'll be involved this entire season though, because I like his character a lot too.

He and Bolin should be giving us some good laughs together.

[Jake the Sage]

I'm positive Korra will turn around and become more likable.

 

She does have her own story arch to overcome, which will probably happen when she encounters Wan

 

But yeah, every time she and Mako have argued, I always thought Mako was being the sensible one.

 

I viewed it almost as an actual relationship. I mean, to be honest, them arguing a lot is almost the kind of relationship you'd expect out of two hot headed people; even though Mako is just "following orders".

 

Also I think they'll get back together because, deep down, you know they do care about each other.

 

And, again, NO ONE has noticed the Bruce Lee picture!?

[Shradow]

I'm pretty sure Varrick isn't a bad guy, at least I hope not. To me he just seems like an overactive and silly businessman who's trying to make the best of a bad situation. Him being against Unalock is probably what he thinks is best for his company.

[Fusion X. Denver]

She does have her own story arch to overcome, which will probably happen when she encounters Wan

 

 

I viewed it almost as an actual relationship. I mean, to be honest, them arguing a lot is almost the kind of relationship you'd expect out of two hot headed people; even though Mako is just "following orders".

 

Also I think they'll get back together because, deep down, you know they do care about each other.

 

And, again, NO ONE has noticed the Bruce Lee picture!?

Yeah, but they haven't really given me anything this season to back their pairing. I saw the breakup coming a mile away.

I actually never really got behind Makorra, though I don't oppose it. I'm betting they'll get back together before the season's over.

 

I'm pretty sure Varrick isn't a bad guy, at least I hope not. To me he just seems like an overactive and silly businessman who's trying to make the best of a bad situation. Him being against Unalock is probably what he thinks is best for his company.

I would definitely prefer that, but you never know.

[Jake the Sage]

I actually never really got behind Makorra, though I don't oppose it. I'm betting they'll get back together before the season's over.

 

I'm really the same. I don't care if Korra gets with someone, Mako, Bolin or otherwise. I was a hardcore Aang X Katara shipper but that was just because I felt they actually, honestly belong together and would make a good couple.

 

Korra I just think needs to do a bit of growing up before I can see her in a serious relationship with someone.

[Shradow]

I guess I'm just too sympathetic, since I still don't think she's being that unreasonable, considering her family and tribe members could end up dead or imprisoned.

[Flame Dragon]

I guess I'm just too sympathetic, since I still don't think she's being that unreasonable, considering her family and tribe members could end up dead or imprisoned.

 

 

The problem is she has been like this since the season begain. I can get her being worked up about whats happening but this is how she started things off and has kept more or less at the same level of bitchiness each episode. 

[Shradow]

Eh, I'll just blame the beginning on it being her time of the month. I'm easily entertained and don't like to dwell on things too much, for the most part.

 

I just want to see more of Varrick in the stuffed platypus bear. I was severely disappointed to see him in normal attire when this recent episode started.

[King of Games]

Korra...Korra, Korra, Korra...

 

She's constantly making wrong decisions, not acknowledging her mistakes. Thinks she's ALWAYS right. There are NO possibility that she's wrong (Okay, she did start out questioning herself, asking Mako for assurance but that only added to her confusion and she's since gotten worse out of anger at getting tricked by Unaloq). She's spiteful. She cares only about what's immediately important to her (HER tribe, HER family, HER training). Doesn't think about the big picture or concerned with keeping the world in balance as the Avatar. She sees the Avatar State as a quick-fix solution to problems with no consequences or need to use responsibly. Thinks the world's out to get her. Doesn't respect any authority: not Tenzin, not her father, not the judge that could put her father away, not THE PRESIDENT, and rebels against all of them in turn. Things don't go the way she likes, her first and ONLY reaction is anger and violence. 

 

...This is starting to sound like season 1 Zuko, if not worse. 

She's gonna need a redemption arc at this point. And a good one. 

I can see it happening yet, even starting by the next episode: by the end of this ep, Korra is alone, isolated out at sea, at that low point she was at every so briefly in the last season. And she was on the way to see Zuko, right? Just maybe...

 

I dont think she's just PMS-ing, like it's something every teenage girl does. I think it's something teenagers go through.

[Flame Dragon]

...This is starting to sound like season 1 Zuko, if not worse. 

She's gonna need a redemption arc at this point. And a good one. 

I can see it happening yet, even starting by the next episode: by the end of this ep, Korra is alone, isolated out at sea, at that low point she was at every so briefly in the last season. And she was on the way to see Zuko, right? Just maybe...

 

I dont think she's just PMS-ing, like it's something every teenage girl does. I think it's something teenagers go through.

 

 

 

Zuko was never this bad. Not to mention we also saw his back story so its easier to understand Zuko's position. We don't have any significant portion of her past. 

[Cloister]

I've now watched 3 episodes, and I'm already not liking it at all. My favorite characters are Tenzin and Meelo. I would rather see them on a journey instead of watching Korra.

[Catterjune]

Episode 4 and 5 are slighty improvements over the first three. Episode 4, because Korra stops being such an asshole so much, and episode 5 because it has more non-Korra characters doing things. I'd say continue watching it, but don't expect it to improve, and just be mildly surprised when it does get "okay".

Unless you meant the first season of LoK, in which you should probably at least watch until the Pro Dueling finals, then skip to the final episode because really not much happens.


ON-TOPIC: I really want to like Korra (the character) but she's just such a reactive character.

Aang and his friends moved the story along. Korra and her friends respond to the story moving along around them. That is a boring way to write characters.


tl;dr -

The Last Airbender = A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi
The Legend of Korra = Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith

He's hoping the next Earthbending avatar is better.

[Jake the Sage]

Okay I'm just going to have to quote someone who said it WAY better than I ever could

 

 

I think that a show with enlightening messages are a benefit in comparison to the crap like Sponge Bob or Adventure Time. Having a show where the protagonist is a young female with a load of responsibilities and emotional uncertainty is great. The underlying message helps younger generations to evaluate political and ethical conflicts.

More importantly, the haters of this show are the types who can not except change. No Aang = no good.

. . . . this show isn't about Aang or Korra directly. This show is about the Avatar and the tribulations of the title. And now the Avatar crew are telling you about the history of this story. We are only a few episodes into this Book and there's more information coming.

Because of all of those various angles I say this is a good show.

[Billy Batson]

...This is starting to sound like season 1 Zuko, if not worse. 

She's gonna need a redemption arc at this point. And a good one. 

I can see it happening yet, even starting by the next episode: by the end of this ep, Korra is alone, isolated out at sea, at that low point she was at every so briefly in the last season. And she was on the way to see Zuko, right? Just maybe...

 

I dont think she's just PMS-ing, like it's something every teenage girl does. I think it's something teenagers go through.

How the hell can you hate Zuko or think that season 1 Zuko is as bad as Korra? Dude has one of the most sympathetic back story ever. 

[Cloister]

The reason I don't like this show, I guess, is because the characters aren't developed enough to make me go "OK, I can accept that", instead I think "wUUUt, that's not logical".

Like when they took her father to prison, she did nothing. But then like 1 minute later, threatened to kill the judge. I mean, seriously?!

That's why I don't like this show.

[King of Games]

How the hell can you hate Zuko or think that season 1 Zuko is as bad as Korra? Dude has one of the most sympathetic back story ever. 

 

I don't hate Zuko. Not at all. But in season 1, he's the villain, not the chosen one like Korra.

[Fusion X. Denver]

Pika has a good point about the story moving the characters as opposed to the other way around.

 

I also think Korra being isolated and venturing into the spirit world will help out her character a lot. And I'd expect she'll be doing a lot of introspection, so we can learn more about her past that way too.

[Cloister]

Why are the spirits in this show all purple and blob-like?

[Tentacruel]

I want the next series to be a post-apocalyptic series where the earth bender Avatar after Korra failed to stop the building of nuclear weapons and the main character is now an anti-hero bandit Avatar.

 

So it'd be like Fist of the North Star but not all like that. 

[Flame Dragon]

Okay I'm just going to have to quote someone who said it WAY better than I ever could

I think that a show with enlightening messages are a benefit in comparison to the crap like Sponge Bob or Adventure Time. Having a show where the protagonist is a young female with a load of responsibilities and emotional uncertainty is great. The underlying message helps younger generations to evaluate political and ethical conflicts.

More importantly, the haters of this show are the types who can not except change. No Aang = no good.

. . . . this show isn't about Aang or Korra directly. This show is about the Avatar and the tribulations of the title. And now the Avatar crew are telling you about the history of this story. We are only a few episodes into this Book and there's more information coming.

Because of all of those various angles I say this is a good show.

 

 

How often have the people in this thread that have been negative on the show said it was because it doesn't have Aang. We have all said its because Korra, as a character, has been unlikeable. All the other characters are fine, but that only goes so far since they aren't the center of the show, Korra is. 

[Catterjune]

I think that a show with enlightening messages are a benefit in comparison to the crap like Sponge Bob or Adventure Time. Having a show where the protagonist is a young female with a load of responsibilities and emotional uncertainty is great. The underlying message helps younger generations to evaluate political and ethical conflicts.

More importantly, the haters of this show are the types who can not except change. No Aang = no good.

. . . . this show isn't about Aang or Korra directly. This show is about the Avatar and the tribulations of the title. And now the Avatar crew are telling you about the history of this story. We are only a few episodes into this Book and there's more information coming.

Because of all of those various angles I say this is a good show.

The biggest flaw in this reasoning is that TLA also had young males and females with loads of responsibilities and emotional uncertainties, and it pulled it off in a much better way then Korra ever did. We see Zuko go from villain to hero. We see Aang evolve from a goofy little kid to a serious young man who faces real consequences. We see Katara grow from a small girl into the central mother figure of the group. We see Sokka go from being a bumbling joke character to being a warrior. Toph changes from a bitter loner to a valuable team player.

Korra is just an asshole who's biggest problem was being unable to airbend, then being only able to airbend. Aang and the group had people chasing them who were actively trying to murder them. Mako and Bolin's biggest troubles were either "ZOMG! Pro Bending!" or "ZOMG! Girl trouble!"

Is Korra "good"? I think it tries to be good, tries to be deeper than most other silly cartoons, but just fails horribly and looks even worse because TLA did everything Korra did but did it better and did it 4 years earlier. It's really hard to imagine both shows were done by the same people.

[Jake the Sage]

The reason I don't like this show, I guess, is because the characters aren't developed enough to make me go "OK, I can accept that", instead I think "wUUUt, that's not logical".

 

You DO know that it has only been four God d*mn episodes, right?

 

Seriously everyone is treating this like it's been an entire season. We have hardly gotten ANYTHING from the series yet everyone is going to jump on Korra's case and deem the show "worse than Avatar: The Last Airbender"

 

How often have the people in this thread that have been negative on the show said it was because it doesn't have Aang. We have all said its because Korra, as a character, has been unlikeable. All the other characters are fine, but that only goes so far since they aren't the center of the show, Korra is. 

 

The point of most of that was everyone keeps comparing it to Avatar: The Last Airbender, or at the very least saying Korra isn't living up to her potential. By doing so everyone seems to be harking back to Aang on "how a good character should be done".

 

See Pika below.

 

The biggest flaw in this reasoning is that TLA also had young males and females with loads of responsibilities and emotional uncertainties, and it pulled it off in a much better way then Korra ever did. We see Zuko go from villain to hero. We see Aang evolve from a goofy little kid to a serious young man who faces real consequences. We see Katara grow from a small girl into the central mother figure of the group. We see Sokka go from being a bumbling joke character to being a warrior. Toph changes from a bitter loner to a valuable team player.

Korra is just an asshole who's biggest problem was being unable to airbend, then being only able to airbend. Aang and the group had people chasing them who were actively trying to murder them. Mako and Bolin's biggest troubles were either "ZOMG! Pro Bending!" or "ZOMG! Girl trouble!"

Is Korra "good"? I think it tries to be good, tries to be deeper than most other silly cartoons, but just fails horribly and looks even worse because TLA did everything Korra did but did it better and did it 4 years earlier. It's really hard to imagine both shows were done by the same people.

 

Again I'll repeat we've only gotten four episodes into the series and everyone is deciding to sentence it to death. I can understand saying, "oh I don't think Korra shouldn't do this/that" or "I don't understand why Korra is XYZ . . ."

 

Instead it just seems everyone is saying the show is bad when the truth of the matter is no one has seen enough to make a REAL informed decision.

 

So I'll leave with this. Don't damn the show only after four episodes, keep an open mind that things will change as the series continues, and if you can't then stop watching the f*cking show and bi*tching about it. You can b*tch about it after, and only after, the series has ended.

 

[hr]

 

By the way, don't get me wrong. I actually agree that Korra is being unreasonable and hot headed, but I'm not saying the show is bad. She is MAKING mistakes and I am waiting and hoping she'll learn from them.

[Flame Dragon]

The point of most of that was everyone keeps comparing it to Avatar: The Last Airbender, or at the very least saying Korra isn't living up to her potential. By doing so everyone seems to be harking back to Aang on "how a good character should be done".

 

 

Again I'll repeat we've only gotten four episodes into the series and everyone is deciding to sentence it to death. I can understand saying, "oh I don't think Korra shouldn't do this/that" or "I don't understand why Korra is XYZ . . ."

 

Instead it just seems everyone is saying the show is bad when the truth of the matter is no one has seen enough to make a REAL informed decision.

 

So I'll leave with this. Don't damn the show only after four episodes, keep an open mind that things will change as the series continues, and if you can't then stop watching the f*cking show and bi*tching about it. You can b*tch about it after, and only after, the series has ended.

 

[hr]

 

By the way, don't get me wrong. I actually agree that Korra is being unreasonable and hot headed, but I'm not saying the show is bad. She is MAKING mistakes and I am waiting and hoping she'll learn from them.

 

 

 

We have no harkend back to Aang on how a good character should be done. As I said all the other characters in LoK are good, or at least passable. Korra is the one who has a crap character. And you seem to be over looking the fact that we don't have 4 episodes. We have 17. The Korra in the first 12 episodes and the one we have now are very different. In fact it seems like she is worse than how she started. 

 

 

 

Is Korra "good"? I think it tries to be good, tries to be deeper than most other silly cartoons, but just fails horribly and looks even worse because TLA did everything Korra did but did it better and did it 4 years earlier. It's really hard to imagine both shows were done by the same people.

 

 

I'd argue a decent amount of the stuff we've gotten from Tenzin has felt like it was the same people. Even some of the stuff we've gotten from Varrick has as well. 

[Catterjune]

Seriously everyone is treating this like it's been an entire season.

[...]

Again I'll repeat we've only gotten four episodes into the series and everyone is deciding to sentence it to death.

You are aware there was a first season of 12 episodes, and we just saw the 17th, and the 18th episode is debuting this Friday, right?

By the 18th episode of TLA we had much more heart, much more laughs, much more action and adventure, better fight scenes, everything about TLA was better than Korra at the same point.

The point of most of that was everyone keeps comparing it to Avatar: The Last Airbender, or at the very least saying Korra isn't living up to her potential. By doing so everyone seems to be harking back to Aang on "how a good character should be done".

Why is it a bad thing to refer to the show it was a direct sequel of made by the same people who made the first? What the fuck else am I supposed to compare it to? Korra doesn't exist in a vacuum. There's tons of other shows, video games, books, films all competing for my Friday-at-8 timeslot. I'm honestly just watching for the hope it gets better just because it has the "Avatar" brand name I recognize but it seems all but certain this franchise's best days are behind it.