Avatar: The Last Airbender / The Legend of Korra -

[Trickie]

So, I think it's high time we had a thread for the Avatar series. Season 4 just started and it's been really hitting close to home for me, especially this week's episode. It's so amazing! I really love this series, and I wonder if anyone else here loves it too?

It really is a great show all around, and if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend giving it a try.

 

[Segue]

I love Avatar. The Last Airbender is my favorite cartoon of all time and Legend of Korra is pretty worthy followup too.

Korra Book 2 sucks though. I'd rather watch the Shymalan film than that.

 

[R.A.E.L.]

Eh, it's a guilty pleasure. I only watched a bit of Avatar but I'm all caught up on Korra.

 

[Anonimo]

I absolutely loved Book 3 of The Legend of Korra. Zaheer was the villain that the franchise had needed for a long time, and is up there with Azula among the best baddies in the Avatar-verse. Book 1 and 2 were good, even if they had their problems. Bear in mind that Book 1 was originally going to be the only series, then I believe when that season entered post they got 14 episodes for Book 2, only to get orders for Books 3 and 4 soon after. I think in retrospect, Book 2 was stronger than 1. Book 2 wasn't terrible, but it felt disjointed at some points. Though I'd say when it got to the origin of the Avatar, that was when the season got good and stayed good. I think Book 3 was the one they did absolutely right and so far Book 4 is shaping up to be great. This guy sums up my reaction to the second episode of Book 4:

 

[Trombonista]

Katara is awesome.

That is all I have to say for now.

 

[Trickie]

Eh, it's a guilty pleasure. I only watched a bit of Avatar but I'm all caught up on Korra.

I absolutely loved Book 3 of The Legend of Korra. Zaheer was the villain that the franchise had needed for a long time, and is up there with Azula among the best baddies in the Avatar-verse. Book 1 and 2 were good, even if they had their problems. Bear in mind that Book 1 was originally going to be the only series, then I believe when that season entered post they got 14 episodes for Book 2, only to get orders for Books 3 and 4 soon after. I think in retrospect, Book 2 was stronger than 1. Book 2 wasn't terrible, but it felt disjointed at some points. Though I'd say when it got to the origin of the Avatar, that was when the season got good and stayed good. I think Book 3 was the one they did absolutely right and so far Book 4 is shaping up to be great. This guy sums up my reaction to the second episode of Book 4:

I have trouble deciding if I like book 1 or 2 better, just because they're both rather mediocre in their own way. Book 1 was decent, but it suffered from some bad elements, such as the awful love triangle subplot, but it was really good overall. Book 2 had a lot of problems early on and was mostly subpar, particularly in the villain, who wasn't that interesting, but the parts they got right were complete home runs. Varrick, and Wan, the firs avatar were some of the best additions to the series by far.

Zaheer was a great villain, I agree, but I think Amon will probably always be my favorite.

 

[Dr. Tremolo]

I love both series. Korra's Book One had a flawed ending while Book Two was a bumpy ride, but since Book Three it got excellent.
I've only watched through the first series this year, but it felt special to me. Just a testament to how great it is, they did a fine job making it appropriate for kids while also enjoyable for adults. I just can't find any other western animated series with such memorable characters, story and setting (and ironically, it's the one that visually imitates anime).
So back to Book Two of Korra, I see everyone can agree that it's the lowest point of the franchise. It just suffers from terrible pacing and forced romantic subplots, and even the animation took a dive in quality. At least the Avatar Wan episodes were a saving grace.

 

[Dollars2010]

I really like ATLA, with Zuko being my favourite character, and I recently started giving Korra a try. All I can say is that this big fluff is my favourite:

I want ten polar bear dogs.

 

[R.A.E.L.]

forced romantic subplots

Oh god, don't get me started. Every pairing that has happened is shit. Avatar, on the other hand, actually knew how to handle romance.

 

[Trickie]

Oh god, don't get me started. Every pairing that has happened is shit. Avatar, on the other hand, actually knew how to handle romance.

Hey now, Eska and Bolin's relationship was a thing of beauty.

 

[R.A.E.L.]

Hey now, Eska and Bolin's relationship was a thing of beauty.

WHAT COULD'VE BEEN, MY FRIEND

But nooo, Bryke has Bolin fall for inuit Android 18, a ginger bimbo and Opal Sue.

 

[Venusaur]

I greatly enjoyed Avatar: The Last Airbender, the ending to that series is one of the most satisfying final episodes I can remember.

The Legend of Korra I feel, gets a lot of hate. I find myself really enjoying some aspects of it, and really, really disliking others. I don't think I'm going to be original in my complaints:

The ending to Season 1 was very rushed, and it kinda left a mark on what had until then been a really intriguing season.
Season 2 was a mess, the writers forgot/ditched some lore, some character personalities felt inconsistent/unatural and the spirit realm was a bit too forcefully Miyasaki.
I liked how Season 3 developed and ended, even if it was all largely triggered by a huge McGuffin.

Hopefully season 4 will continue to craft an interesting story for Korra, and hopefully they'll manage to branch away from the same structure the other seasons have had: "There's a mystery/conspiracy. Who's the real villian!? Oh, it's that dude. Why? Plot exposition! Now have an epic fight, Korra."

 

[Dr. Tremolo]

So what else can I say about Avatar... I really like the name origin of the city of Omashu. It's strikingly similar to my city's - in a legend, the name of Warsaw comes from a fisherman named Wars who fell in love with a mermaid named Sawa - and they went to found a city together, calling it Warszawa.

Speaking of that city, I wonder if we'll see Omashu in Book 4 of Korra - if you look at Kuvira's map, it's one of the few territories not taken over yet.
This season is shaping up very well so far. A new clip of episode 3 came out just now. God, I just love Prince Wu, he's awesomely obnoxious.

 

[Anonimo]

I remember seeing Unalaq's design and reading about how he was supposed to be Korra's mentor and I liked how he brought up valid points when he expressed his distaste in what the spirits festival had become(This festival used to be a time of fasting, the elders would commune...now we just watch an idiot stuff his face...blah blah blah). I was hoping for more of that kind of character in Unalaq: A mentor who tries to look like a caring person, but is a bit more snarky than Tenzin. They revealed him as the villain too early(it was like two episodes into the season) The idea of an anti avatar was cool in theory, but I think was poorly executed with the giant kaiju style battle. I wouldn't have minded Vaatu altering Unalaq if he didn't make him grow 50 feet tall.

And I'm also enjoying Prince Wu, he's like the new Tahno!

 

[Venusaur]

So...Season 4 of Korra already started!?

Nickelodeon's advertising of this series really, really sucks. Liking the series so far. Three years in the seems like a good period for a time-skip.

 

[R.A.E.L.]

I love how dark Korra has gotten. Even though it started with

Spoiler

Amon's death

, it still took guts for Nick to show that. So now that it's airing exclusively online, they can get away with more. Season 3 was easily my favorite thus far; I really liked the Red Lotus.

 

[mardonik]

I enjoy both shows. LoK Book 4's pretty good so far.

 

[Trickie]

Has anyone tried the game they just released yet? I'm trying to decide whether to get the PS4 or the PC version...

 

[Morbid Boredom]

Dang, dirty Korra!

Taking all the pretty boys, and leaving none for Asami to choose from.

 

[Dollars2010]

I'm slowly working through season two and it's been really jumbled, but I do kind of like Wan and his little deer cat friend.