Avatar: The Last Airbender

[kyuuketsuki]

http://avatarthelastairbenderonline.com ... in-canada/

[kkslider5552000]

Ehvatar

[Kor]

So... yeah.

A new season begins and it's more mediocre than ever!

[Vylash]

"this season will be good, unlike season 1!" i deluded myself into thinking

[kyuuketsuki]

I disagree. They are doing almost everything I wanted changed from the first season in the second. The only thing they are keeping is the love story it seems.

I think if they go down the path I think they are this will be many more times better than S1. Hopefully better paced as well (though the premier did seem a bit rushed, it wasn't as bad as the wrap up of s1).

[Kor]

It's funny how I feel this whole thing is REALLY rushing, but also goes really slow at the same time. Way too many conflicts in this episode. Most of the time characters were bitching to each other and telling them how they feel. The stuff with Tenzin's family started interesting but became frustrating to watch. SHOW ME A FLASHBACK AND I'LL GET IT, STOP TELLING ME IN LENGTH ABOUT ALL OF YOUR CHILDHOOD PROBLEMS.
That whole beat actually reminded me of that Beach episode of avatar when Zuko and the brigade just sat on the beach and whined about their issue. It was just as ridiculous, but I could still accept a bunch of teenagers whining about all the stuff that's wrong in their life. In this case however, it's a bunch of middle aged people who only now seem to open all the black holes in their family's past.

Also Bolin is pretty useless so far. The shenanigans with the twins aren't funny, and Bolin in general fails to be funny

[kkslider5552000]

Bolin in general fails to be funny

your face fails to be funny!

...wait, I don't think that works...er........





...

my impressions of this entire season so far is the writing is around as good as it was during Avatar, except the attempts to make Korra anti-Aang almost has backfired pretty hard.

[kyuuketsuki]

Bolin in general fails to be funny

your face fails to be funny!

...wait, I don't think that works...er........





...

my impressions of this entire season so far is the writing is around as good as it was during Avatar, except the attempts to make Korra anti-Aang almost has backfired pretty hard.

This is how I feel. They are trying too hard to do a 180 for the titular character, but what they are trying to do with the story and the direction they are heading is potentially interesting.

[kkslider5552000]

Varrick is the real star of this season, for the record.

[Kor]

My thoughts about stuff I didn't elaborate yet.

1) Bolin was actually much better in the last episode because it felt like there was some purpose to what was going on. The shenanigans with emo girlfriend wasn't funny or interesting because it just felt imposed and contrived for no reason other than to put Bolin in funny (?) situations. (It's funny because Bolin is in an abusive relationship...?). I wish whatever happened in the last episode with him would actually lead to some development of his character. Sokka was a fun character because he was both funny, necessary to the group, and the "adult" voice (most of the time). Bolin on the other hand, from the majority of his appearance felt like a contrived character that's only there for the sake of being funny and isn't actually necessary in the grand scheme of things. (Though I feel he was a slightly stronger character last season).

2) Do the writers try to make us dislike Korra? Cause so far, throughout this season, I really do. She's impulsive, annoying, irrational, and kinda stupid too. Moreover, it makes it seem like she didn't learn anything in the last season. I don't mind complex characters with super-faults, but I don't watch this cartoon to be frustrated with the characters I'm supposed to cheer for (I imagine that's what Game of Thrones is for).

3) Am I the only one who feels like the writers are taking notes from George Lucas? The whole development from the Aang series to the Korra series seems like the same development from the Original Saga to the Prequels. In the Aang series, it was a journey around the world filled with a minimal (yet growing) cast, action scenes and a very simple plot of good vs. evil. In the Korra series we've had a lot of political crap and social mumbo-jumbo filled with allegories to the real world (or not, it's kinda vague). It feels like the writers are trying to be more mature about the Korra series, but they don't tackle the mature concepts in mature ways. I don't mind political stuff, but is this that appropriate for this series?

4) Truly hated Mako in the episodes so far. He was only there to be Korra's boyfriend and for her to yell at him. In the last episode he finally showed some sort of character when he ended the relationship.

5) God, I wish the emo unsociable twins (they're twins, right?) are more than just emo and unsociable. They feel like walking gimmicks and I hope they have actual characters. Plus, they are Korra's cousins, yet iirc, only in the last episode they finally exchanged a line with Korra.

For the latest episode - overall I didn't really like it because of Korra. Didn't mind the deal between Tenzin and his son, but I wish it'd amount to something.

my impressions of this entire season so far is the writing is around as good as it was during Avatar

I still find the writing pretty weak at this point. I'd also like to note I don't think the writing was totally consistent during Avatar. For example, season 2 was much better written than season 1.

[kkslider5552000]

I have started to find another problem in this episode. Oddly it's probably the best and the first episode of the season I liked basically every part of. But as a whole, it's almost like the series thinks it still has one-off story episodes like Avatar did. But it doesn't. It makes the series feel unnecessarily...complicated?

[Kor]

I have started to find another problem in this episode. Oddly it's probably the best and the first episode of the season I liked basically every part of. But as a whole, it's almost like the series thinks it still has one-off story episodes like Avatar did. But it doesn't. It makes the series feel unnecessarily...complicated?

Wasn't sure what to think of your notion until the two episodes from yesterday. I think it's pretty accurate now.

Okay so the last two episodes. OH FINALLY 2 EPISODES I CAN LIKE!

Before that, about the episode from last week - it had pros because Korra was barely in it, but hammering back romance was stupid, plus the episode overall didn't feel too important in the grand scheme of things cause the only crucial part of it was finding out Varrick is a villain, which was pretty damn predictable. Apparently people from the water tribe are the biggest pricks ever. Oh, and the amnesia thing at the end was one of the biggest "pull out of your ass" moments I've ever seen. Like, that's the sort of stuff fanfics do.

So back to the 2 parter:
Korra was barely in it - like
History of spirits and bending - like (the season is named Spirit, yet only now we finally continue to focus on these things?)
Wan actually grew as a character through these episodes - Korra, take notes please.
This "Legend of Wan" miniseries makes me appreciate LoK even less. So we can get good stories, but not with the main characters?
A minor nitpick, but why does Wan and co. talk in a 21 century way? I don't expect old English, but the whole "modern" feel of the speech felt a bit weird.
Thank you for upping the stakes at long last. Thank you for giving Korra an actual quest that wouldn't involve politics.

Now for the overall negatives:
Anything with Korra was super rushed. Korra amnesia, oh no! (episodes end) Korra back to normal, yay! Here, flying bison, because it's convenient and we don't have even time for mild exposition! Now you need to go and defeat the Fire Lo- I mean the spirit of Darkness!
WHY WAS THE AMNESIA NECESSARY?! It didn't develop Korra's character (as far as I can tell), it was just shoe-horned for the sake of the giant flashback. Surely there was a more justified way to insert a giant flashback.
F**K YOU LION TURTLE! I still hate you from Avatar's finale. You were better this time, though.
The problem with only upping the stakes now (half way through the season) is that it makes this whole civil wars/politics/republic city shenanigans feel really insignificant. I know, I know, two plot lines (civil wars and unbalanced spirits), but I feel like there was too much focus on unimportant stuff.

Is Korra finally going to develop as a character and become a protagonist I can cheer for? Hopefully, but now it feels like there's too much stuff to cover in the rest of the season, so I fear some stuff will get rushed.

EDIT: Forgot about one thing. I kinda wish the writers stop hammering "humanz are evil" messages. LoK already has some pretentious tendencies.

Also:

Spoiler:

Speculation:
Is Unalaq trying to release that spirit of darkness so he can get Avatar powers too?
One way I see this season ending is Korra fusing with that evil spirit to bring the world to the same balance there was before Wan. That could lead to the next seasons and have it focused on Korra trying to deal with both the spirits of light and darkness in her body

[Hime-Chan]

So far I've watched three episodes and I'm really angry. Korra is ticking all the boxes of the stupid teenager! She's being annoying, and blinded by her own stupidity!
She doesn't even try to be the avatar, I'm so frustrated!

[kyuuketsuki]

So far I've watched three episodes and I'm really angry. Korra is ticking all the boxes of the stupid teenager! She's being annoying, and blinded by her own stupidity!
She doesn't even try to be the avatar, I'm so frustrated!

Just watch beginnings part 1 and 2. Totally worth it imho. Didn't really even feel like a korra episode.

[kkslider5552000]

Yeah, I think I get this season now. It's not bad, it's just poorly put together. There's way too much I've liked in this season for me to even think of calling it bad as a whole though, despite its major issues in how the story they were telling was told. In terms of hit-or-miss animated programming, the bad parts of Korra could never even dream of being as bad as in something like Air. Between that and Angel Beats and watching Bleach filler on Toonami, I don't think some of you know what "bad" actually is. It could've been way worse is what I'm saying. Like WAAAAAAY worse.

Though hype everything for missing an episode because there was a 2nd episode again for a completely random reason.