#korra book 4

[avatarpatra]

this too

Korrasami Confirmed

Now that Korra and Asami’s final moment is out in the world, it seems like an appropriate time to express how I feel about it. I didn’t want to say anything right away so the audience could experience the finale for themselves.

The main themes of the Avatar universe have always revolved around equality, justice, acceptance, tolerance, and balancing differing worldviews. In subtle and maybe not so subtle ways, Avatar and Legend of Korra have dealt with difficult subjects such as genocide, child abuse, deaths of loved ones, and post traumatic stress. I took it as a complement when Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair called the show subversive. There were times even I was surprised we were able to delve into the really tough stuff on a children’s TV network. While the episodes were never designed to “make a statement”, Bryan and I always strove to treat the more difficult subject matter with the respect and gravity it deserved.

And over the years we’ve heard from numerous fans, in person and online, how Avatar and Korra have influenced their lives for the better or helped them overcome a life struggle or setback. I am always humbled when people share their personal stories with us and I am grateful that my love for telling stories has been able to help people in some small way. So while Avatar and Korra were always meant to be entertaining and engaging tales, this universe and its characters also speak to the deeper humanity in all of us, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, culture, nationality, or sexual orientation.

Our intention with the last scene was to make it as clear as possible that yes, Korra and Asami have romantic feelings for each other. The moment where they enter the spirit portal symbolizes their evolution from being friends to being a couple. Many news outlets, bloggers, and fans picked up on this and didn’t find it ambiguous. For the most part, it seems like the point of the scene was understood and additional commentary wasn’t really needed from Bryan or me. But in case people were still questioning what happened in the last scene, I wanted to make a clear verbal statement to complement the show’s visual one. I get that not everyone will be happy with the way that the show ended. Rarely does a series finale of any show satisfy that show’s fans, so I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the positive articles and posts I’ve seen about Korra’s finale.

I’ve already read some heartwarming and incredible posts about how this moment means so much for the LGBT community. Once again, the incredible outpouring of support for the show humbles me. As Tenzin says, “Life is one big bumpy ride.” And if, by Korra and Asami being a couple, we are able to help smooth out that ride even a tiny bit for some people, I’m proud to do my part, however small it might be. Thanks for reading.

[prying-pandora666]

I bet you that if we had gotten Book 4: Air, and there had been a time skip, we wouldn’t be seeing so much Aang hate today.

No really. If the show had been able to continue and gave us an older, edgier, more attractive Aang?

He would have fans falling all over themselves for him.

The thing is that ATLA ended when Aang was barely turning 13. A goofy, bald, pacifist, vegetarian 12 year old isn’t attractive and so too many fans discount him. How can he possibly compete with openly tormented and outwardly angry Zuko? Or quietly insecure and naturally hilarious Sokka?

Zuko and Sokka who are 16 and 15 respectively (nearing 17 and 16 by the end), and therefor at an age where romance is more relevant to most, and so are the focus of so much love and affection and especially shipping?

If Aang had been able to grow anywhere between 15 - 18, he’d be right up there with the other two. You’d see metas about his tragic backstory, suddenly more of the fandom would care about the loss of his entire people, about the survivor’s guilt, the intense loneliness, the diaspora, the yearning for common everyday things that now no one else in the world understands.

But we didn’t get that. Instead we got LOK, with an old, bearded, post-bucal fat removal Aang. An Aang who has already had children and has a controversial score on “dad ratings”.

The poor kid never stood a chance.

@book4air

[project-incubus]

any action cartoon made after 2008 doesn't last... all they know is, be bisexual, get cancelled & fucked over by executives

[darius-1]

Art by Mastrocecchi on Twitter.

[feral-jackdaw]

Their friendship tho>>>

[fyeahlegendofkorra]

[okaydesna]

Fact of the day:

Chief Eska is taller than Chief Desna

[yahoo201027]

Day in Fandom History: October 10…

Three years since she last saw her friends, Korra went through a lot of things while healing from rehab with Katara over at the Southern Water Tribe to traveling down to a swamp in the Earth Kingdom where she encounters an old familiar face awaiting her. “Korra Alone” premiered on this day, 10 Years Ago.

[original-sheepsandwich90]

Getting on each other's nerves.

[impossiblycolorfulpanda]

Let's see how different TLOK would be if ATLA had a book 4: Air, Harmonic Convergence was in Aang's saga, Ozai was Vaatu/The Dark Avatar, Aang lost his past lives, and Zutara and Azulaang were endgame.

For starters, the world as it looks by the end of TLOK will already be like that at the beginning of TLOK. Three spirit portals are already open, but the third portal will be placed where the giant swamp tree and tree of time used to be. Makes sense to have a third portal there. The Air Nation and Airbenders have already returned. Korra would only be able to speak to Aang. Katara will have multiple statues, one in the South Pole, one in the North, and several in the Fire Nation that replace all of Sozin's, Azulon's, and "Ozai's." The spirits of the original benders exist because Ozaatu caused the extinction of all OG benders so he could consume their souls, abilities, attributes, bending, memories, and experiences but those souls have been freed.

Book 1 of Korra will be renamed Energy. Having mastered the elements, Korra is tasked with learning energybending next, which she struggles with since it's the purest, most spiritual, and arguably the strongest form of bending. This parallels Amon, who allegedly has "energybending" and uses it to block bending. Katara is there during Yakone's trial, she fights beside Aang and helps him subdue Yakone.

Book 2: Spirits is a bit more challenging to think up but importantly, Unalaq would be the well-intentioned extremist he was supposed to be. I figured he'd come from the opposite extreme as Amon and he goes after non-benders. During the North and South Civil War, Katara pulled amazing battle feats that pushed back the invading North. Unalaq does not orchestrate Tonraq's banishment nor set up the invaders to attack the north. It'll all happen coincidently. If Unalaq were to have a spiritual ally, it would be Hundun from Korra's game. If Unalaq were to die, it'd be because of a heroic sacrifice. Aang's sons will mostly be the same, with his oldest only being named after Roku. His daughter is named after Ursa, she's a firebender and has fire nation attire. Aang and Azula's family are more equal. Azula was the most demanding of that equality.

Book 3: Change. The airbending rebuilding subplot would be cut because it'll have already happened in Aang's era. Various red lotus members will infiltrate the white lotus and give Zaheer and the main elite members the keys to their escape. Roku 2 is not an Airbender, he and his family already became content with him being a non-bender a long time ago. The rest is the same.

Book 4: Balance. It's the same except Korra doesn't accidentally open another portal, I think there are enough portals. Zuko and Katara's daughter and current fire lord, Izumi (or Kya), has a mix of fire and water tribe attires. I'm having trouble deciding whether to switch the endings of ATLA and TLOK and have Aang and Azula take a vacation in the spirit world together while Korra and Asami have their kiss moment or just have ATLA end with all members showing up beside Aang and they all look out into the horizon and sunset while TLOK's ending remains the same.

[cuteniaarts]

@katkastrofa, circa 40-ish hours ago: Hey, what if our newest bunch of OCs adopted a baby from one of the other brothel girls who knew she couldn’t afford to raise one? That would make for some fun shenanigans :D

Me, with a notoriously non existent sleep schedule, instinct of self preservation or concern for my poor wrist: Alright, bet. Watch how fast I can make you fall in love with this hypothetical baby >:)

Daneli as a gentle and loving caretaker-turned-adoptive-mother is something that can be So Personal, actually, and originally I was going to leave it at this quick sketch, but then I got carried away thinking about what this child will grow up to be like raised by this little gang of misfits, so…

Here she is!! A little older and so, so beautiful, I need more of her in my life immediately, she’s way too precious

And, because I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t also add a sapphic element to this absolute cinnamon roll, a small crack ship that I’m only half serious about for when she’s a little older still:

All in all, we may be getting impossibly far from canon, but I for one already cannot get enough of sweet darling Kumisai <3

(I fully drew three pieces from scratch in 9 hours I cannot feel my brain or my hands anymore send help)

[prying-pandora666]

On the Disconnect Between ATLA and LOK: Or Why Reactionary Centrism Ruins Everything

I’ve made it no secret that I’m no fan of LOK’s writing for a number of reasons. But today I want to focus on only one issue: its politics.

I am baffled as to why LOK is seen as being the more “woke” story. Just because the protagonist is a buff brown woman with a female love interest (only implied until the comics, really)? This is such an incredibly shallow reading focusing only on aesthetics and ignores the actual content and philosophies LOK espouses.

But let’s not get into religion, iconography, the effects of colonialism and westernization etc, or we’ll be here forever.

Instead let’s just focus on the politics.

The Forge

Part of the disconnect between ATLA and LOK are the cultural conditions in the USA when both were made. The forge from whence they came was quite different.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

ATLA criticized imperialism.

If this show had been made during the height of Manifest Destiny, or during our super fun times illegally annexing territories (like Hawaii), it would’ve likely struggled to tell its story as well as it did. It would’ve been far more controversial and likely would’ve needed to take a more “centrist” approach, making it seem like imperialism isn’t “all that bad”.

It might have even come out and said that it isn’t imperialism itself that is the problem, but that Sozin to Ozai were big mean dictators that did it the wrong way!

But because ATLA came out in the 2000s—during a time in which the world had widely come around to thinking imperialism is kinda some super villain schtick—it was easy for the story to focus on the perspective of the victims of such campaigns and tell it from this point of view.

We don’t get long segments of feeling sorry for Ozai, now do we? The closest we get is Azula, who herself serves as a victim of this war that has consumed her childhood and deprived her of a safe, loving environment in which to grow and develop, instead having been groomed into a living weapon for her father and nation’s war machine.

So now let’s compare this to LOK.

The Legend of Korra

What does the first season of LOK cover? Collectivism, social activism, civil disobedience escalating to acts of violent defiance against the state.

What was going on in the USA in 2012 when LOK came out?

Occupy Wallstreet.

Socialism vs capitalism, the 99% versus the 1%, civil rights and equality; these are all issues we are still grappling with today. They’re highly politicized and divisive. There is no universal agreement about them.

And so LOK had no “safe” villain or “evil” ideology to combat. Instead it had a complicated and widely divisive topic to tackle that was contentious then and continues to be today.

As a result? Too much time is wasted equivocating.

Both Sides Are The Same! (But Not Really)

We get some soft worldbuilding early on in Book 1 of LOK showing how the infrastructure of this city is built to benefit benders and box out non-benders, but this is never given real focus. We SEE how the trains and police are dominated by earth/metal benders, we SEE how factory jobs employ lightning benders, while non-benders live in the slums which subject them to violence. But none of this is ever the focus or the point.

Almost as if the show is afraid to make a real critique from the perspective of the working class or an oppressed minority group.

Instead the story quickly falls off a cliffside as every tired old pejorative thrown at communists is recycled for Amon.

His sympathetic backstory is a complete fabrication meant to hide that he is actually part of the oppressor class.

They pretend to be the powerless oppressed group, and yet have the funding of the richest industrialist in the city?

The rich industrialist is a member of this supposedly oppressed class but really he’s just a secret villain looking to change the world for his own personal reasons and not to protect his fellow nonbenders (these same accusations are thrown at Jewish people re: Marxism).

There are no sincere attempts to communicate their grievances sympathetically or build a coalition or garner public support. Instead The Equalists only use violence, fear, and other oppressive silencing tactics.

The desire to make everyone equal by “stealing” people’s individuality. (The old “make everyone equal heights by cutting tall people’s legs down” chestnut).

And more!

This is kinda bonkers propaganda if you’re looking at it from a left-wing perspective, right?

And it seems weirdly incoherent if you’re trying to look at it from a right-wing perspective, especially with Tarrlok standing in as the villain “on the other side”.

But it makes PERFECT sense as an enlightened centrist horseshoe-theory piece that can’t commit to either side and has to warp and undermine its own story to fit a “both sides are wrong” message. Heck, it’s so heavy handed it even made Amon and Tarrlok brothers!

This is the problem that plagues all of LOK.

Look at the other villains too!

Amon: Civil Rights Activist or Bad Faith Opportunist?

Amon

Pretends to be: A civil rights activist for an oppressed minority group.

Is actually: A bad faith actor whipping up a small or non-issue into a much bigger one and convincing people to turn on each other for his own personal gain/revenge. Once defeated, the problem disappears.

Electing a non-bender somehow makes everyone happy and the problem is never addressed again. Just like electing Obama ended racism! Oh wait…

Unalaq: Spiritual Environmentalist or Environmental Satanist?

Unalaq

Pretends to be: A spiritualist concerned about the environment and the spirits. Basically Al Gore meets Tenzin Gyatso but willing to start a civil war over it.

Is actually: An occultist weirdo who wants to fuse with LITERALLY SATAN and usher in 10,000 years of darkness or something, and willing to start a war over it.

In an attempt to make a spiritual foil for Korra, who struggled with the spiritual parts of being the Avatar, the story took a weird turn and made a choice widely regarded as “fanfiction on crack” by having Unalaq aspire to become “The Dark Avatar”.

But it’s okay, you see, because while Unalaq’s criticisms of waning spirituality and lack of protection of holy sites could be seen as a knock against environmentalism, by the end Korra recognizes that Unalaq had a point and that the spirit portals should be left open.

So why exactly did Unalaq want to be the Dark Avatar and usher in an era of darkness? How was that supposed to resolve the problem he presented and Korra ended up agreeing with?

It doesn’t, and once again we are left with a contradictory centrist message of “protecting the environment is good but you should be suspicious of anyone that actually advocates for it”.

Also thanks for demystifying the origin of the Avatar and ruining the original lore for where bending came from with your Prometheus/Christian allegory. Ugh.

Zaheer: Spiritual Guru Fighting Against Modernity or A Charismatic Dummy Who Learned Everything About Anarchy From a Prager U Coloring Book

Zaheer

Pretends to be: An anarchist seeking to bring down oppressive regimes, therefor resetting the world to a more egalitarian time

Is actually: An idiot who doesn’t even know the difference between an ancom and an ancap and has no coherent ideology. He just wants chaos, I guess, which isn’t whah anarchy or anything is about.

Perhaps realizing they messed up so badly with Unalaq that even the creators were unhappy with the results, they attempted the spiritual foil idea again with Zaheer.

This time they actually had a writing staff which makes this season the agreed upon best of LOK.

But the tip-toeing around making any actual criticisms and falling back on the “both sides are bad” cop-out are only exacerbated by how uninformed and nonsensical Zaheer’s actions are. Not unlike Amon, he takes none of the steps an actual activist would take. He never even speaks to the people of Ba Sing Se to find out what they need or want. He just kills their leader, announces it, refuses to elaborate, then bounces and lets the city tear itself apart in the power vacuum.

It’s an entertaining spectacle! Just like his later torture of Korra is visceral. But none of it has any real substance to support it and so the horrific acts he commits feel like senseless edgelord tantrums.

Even Bolin knows it. Once Zaheer is defeated, Bolin shoves a sock in his mouth, therefor cementing Bolin as my favorite of the Krew for all time.

Kuvira: Literal Nazi or Literal Nazi but she didn’t mean it!

Kuvira

Pretends to be: A fascist, putting people in labor camps and uses the equivalent of an atom bomb to crush her enemies under heel in the name of unifying the continent under her control.

Is actually: All of those things but she had good intentions! She just went too far! Give her a slap on the wrists because her and Korra aren’t so different, you see!

Perhaps the most bizarre writing choice was to make the fascist the only truly sympathetic villain of this series. The reasons become quite clear, however, when we recognize one thing.

Yes, she’s styled after the Nazis.

Yes, her actions in modern day are more reminiscent of Russia.

But who is the only nation to have ever used a weapon of mass destruction on the level of the atom bomb? The USA.

And here is where the unwillingness to make a bold criticism or take a hard controversial stance is the most apparent.

Kuvira acts like a fascist and has a lot of Nazi-vibes, but she is also a grim reminder of the USA’s own imperial history. Of our flippant use of a horrifying technology that still continues to have consequences for the descendants of the victims even today. It is one of the worst violations of human rights and decency in history. And the USA is the only nation to have ever actually used one.

So if you ever feel it’s weird that Kuvira was arguably the worst of the villains but got off with only house arrest and a happy ending with hugs from her family? You’re not alone. Kuvira has to be “not that bad” or else you’re critiquing the USA itself. And that is a level of controversy this franchise doesn’t seem interested in dipping it’s toes into.

It’s the reason they equivocate and justify by having the Earth Prince step down and choose democracy. This isn’t an East Asian ideal. This wouldn’t have been a popular or virtuous choice in that time period. Many would’ve regarded it as tyranny of the majority, or a disorganized chaos without a consistent central authority.

It’s only seen as the perfect solution in the Democratic West. So you see, it’s not so bad, because at least we have democracy! We aren’t as bad as Kuvira who really isn’t all that bad either! Or so the narrative tries to apologize for itself.

And this is even more apparent with everyone’s problematic fav!

Varrick: How Elon Musk Wants Us To View Him vs What Elon Musk Wishes He Was

Varrick!

Is presented as: A quirky, funny, Tony Stark-esque genius who made a mistake and deserves a redemption!

Is actually: A war-profiteer willing to escalate tensions and shed the blood of his own people with no remorse to make money. Also he builds the equivalent of the atom bomb for Kuvira and her allegorical Nazis. But he gets a happy ending with a weirdly westernized wedding anyway!

Isn’t it telling that the villain who is written to be the most loveable and sympathetic is, in fact, the capitalist industrialist?

And not like that yucky evil industrialist Hiroshi Sato funding the Equalists and their civil rights movement.

No, no! Varrick is the good kind of industrialist! The kind that is non-political and mostly cares about money and inventions! After all, he only built a weapon of mass destruction for the Nazis, not the civil rights protestors!

Which brings us to…

Our Civilized Poverty vs their Savage Poverty!

And hey, that’s fair because look at the differences between Republic City and Ba Sing Se!

Sure, both had destitute populations starving and without proper shelter due to the disconnected elite leaders who didn’t care about their plight.

But the homeless people of Republic City are presented as jolly and helpful and never state a single grievance even as they live in a tent city underground! Everyone knows that democratic poverty is better! Therefor Sato was totally unjustified in funding an equality movement!

The poor people of BSS, on the other hand, are victims of that mean old non-democratic Earth Queen and later of the power vacuum left by her assassination, therefor their plight is ACTUALLY horrific. Kuvira may have been bad but she and Varrick are justified because of the unAmerican conditions!

Looking at it this way, so many of LOK’s problems fall into place. It perhaps serves as lesson in not tackling complex problems with the intention of a clean solution unless you’re willing to take a controversial stance and stick to your convictions.

I don’t think the creators intended to make a libertarian criticism of every social movement and apologia for capitalism and fascism. It’s just a sad reflection of what is and isn’t controversial in our current society. Divorced from actual morality or perspective.

What a waste.

This Post Brought To You By: Viewers Like You! (or: Check out this thing I made)

All that said, if you want a well-written and more adult take on the ATLA universe, check out the Kyoshi and Yangchen novels! F. C. Yee doesn’t pull any punches and perfectly balanced the darker, more visceral elements an adult story can have, with expert worldbuilding and humanized characters that feel believable even when they’re in fantastical situations.

Or if you want more ATLA instead, kindly check out @book4air: A project creating a pseudo Book 4 using both the official comics and original materials, fully dubbed, orchestrated, and partially animated by industry pros who happen to be fans!

Some comics are getting rewrites too, so whether you love the comics and want a fresh take, or hate the comics and want a change, we are doing our best to make this accessible for everyone including people with disabilities who may not be able to enjoy the originals.

Check out our first episode here!

If you can afford to, consider supporting us on Patreon! Every episode is expensive to produce and we are a bunch of broke artists. Some which don’t even have consistent or reliable housing. Any little bit helps.

If you can’t, no worries! You can still help by spreading the word so our videos can overcome the YouTube algorithm.

With all my love for this franchise and its fandom, I hope you all continue to enjoy your favs regardless of my criticisms.

[korrasamibottles]

Very deep in my feelings about how experiencing a bodily invasion like Korra did (not once, but three times! When Amon took her bending, when Unalaq reached in and tore Raava out of her, and when Zaheer force-fed her poison and ripped the air out of her lungs) can leave a person feeling like their body is something not entirely their own, like they're inside it but so is somebody else. About how long Korra spent physically unable to move while simultaneously being tormented by memories of Zaheer and what he did, literally and figuratively locked inside the haunted house of her body with the guy who made it that way.

[thatonebirdwrites]

And Book 3.5 is FINISHED. I will be working on Book 4: Balance, and that will debut hopefully (if I don't get really ill again) in August. I just want to get ahead in my writing, so I can post more regularly again.

EXCERPT:

Korra focused on Asami’s chi, and it’s flow to her body. The warmth of it curled through her like Asami, herself, hugged her. Her girlfriend worked on the bars on the opposite side of the room, while Korra sat in the healing pool. Warm water simmered with energy around her body. Katara worked on her final chi point. Each one cleared oozed with Asami’s chi. Her own coiled faint in the edges of her awareness, as if a silver wall lay between her and her own chi. 

It infuriated her, and the guilt threaded through Korra. She didn’t want to be such a leech to the one person she loves most in the world. She had to get better so she could find Toph and figure out the chi stuff, to fix this mess somehow.

Opening her eyes, Korra watched the glow of the water under Katara’s practiced fingers. Whirlpools and swirls appeared at each of her limb that she had slightly outside the water. Her focus shifted upward to where Asami balanced herself on a board only a few handspans off the ground. Kya walked behind her, where a ribbon of water that coiled from Kya’s hands to Asami’s waist.

Her lips pursed tightly, her eyebrows scrunched, and her cheeks rosy still from the cold. A curtain of black hair hung around her face, her green eyes on the bar in front of her, with her arms sticking straight out. It looked so silly, but Korra didn’t dare laugh again. She’d gotten a face full of snow last time. 

Asami took another step, teetered, but quickly regained her balance. The creak of her prosthetic was the only other sound beyond the swirling of water around Korra's body. 

The glow of the pool faded, and Korra felt a sizzle of energy deep in her gut. Like fire. She pushed herself up to the bottom step of the pool and lifted her hand. She breathed carefully, focused on that inner flame, and slowly and steadily a fire lit her hand in an orange glow. It’d never come so easy before. 

“Good.” Katara leaned back on her heels with a smile. “That was your last chakra unblocked.”

Korra snuffed the fire and tried water next. That required a different set of breathing exercises. Excited, she bended too hard, and a wave of water swept toward the ceiling only to douse her from head to toe. “Whoops?”

Katara shook her head, fondly. “It is a start. Can you feel earth and air as well?”

[darius-1]

Art by Mastrocecchi on Twitter.

[cuteniarose]

Ever since I started getting recommended more Avatar stuff on tiktok I keep seeing the same take over and over again and I have to say something about it before I explode:

Yes, a lot of the LoK characters are 'weaker' than their AtLA predecessors. Yes, Jinora and Kai and Suyin's twins and whoever else would not be able to beat Aang/Katara/Zuko/Toph in a fight

But WHY are you so obsessed with kids having to fight? Isn't it A GOOD THING if kids aren't good at combat? Because it means they didn't have to grow up too fast in the middle of a war? Why does every conversation about characters ultimately descend into who would beat the other in a fight in a show where the main themes are THE IMPORTANCE OF PEACE AND HARMONY???

Avatar fandom use your brains challenge