#meanwhile Kuvira things his so cool like genuinely

[cold-neon-ocean]

Unpopular opinion: deep down I always felt like bataar was actually ok with being a non bender and proud of what he could accomplish with no bending abilities/support. But I always love your take on TLOK series!!

BITES MY FIST I COULDN'T AGREE MORE!!!!!!!

I've always looked at him as actually not wanting bending and being fine that he doesn't have it because he takes a lot of pride in being able to do what he does without it. Would Engineering probably be easier with bending? Yeah. But can he still do it anyways without it? Sure can! And that definitely is a point of pride for him for sure, like he does with his bare hands what others need bending to do.

I interpret his anger coming from the fact that despite all that, he's still regarded as lesser than by society as a whole just for not having it regardless. Having bending is regarded as the fullest experience of living, and he hates that he's just automatically looked down on because he's a non-bender, because he KNOWS he can get by fine without it, but despite that he still gets over looked in favor of bending. That's why I found his relationship with Kuvira very meaningful because she's regarded as one of the most skilled benders in the whole franchise and yet she acknowledges and values his capabilities.

Like I imagine Baatar having this complex about bending where he vehemently insists he doesn't need it for things, even something like being healed by a water bender he would straight up reject because he doesn't wanna feel like he owes bending something in his life that he could do on his own without it. In his mind people like himself have been finding their own ways to do things since the beginning so there's no reason why he shouldn't be able to. Like building the kind of infrastructure and machinery he's been capable of without bending is no small feat for sure, but he just came from a family where bending was their whole identity and he no longer wants to be looked at like he's lesser than.

Also I've had a headcanon for a long time that Baatar has a general anxiety when surrounded by benders because he knows that just by default he has no means of defending himself that would come close to matching what benders are capable of. Like he doesn't really go places out in public if he doesn't have to, and even when escorted he's always got this thought in the back of his mind like "if any one of these people wanted to use bending to overpower me they could and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it" and that thought also just kinda adds to his spite because he doesn't want to be afraid like that either lol he's just fighting on all sides tbh that kinda lends itself to why I draw him the way I do, aka jacked, because 1. working out became his anger management, and 2. it's a sort of "at least I can bring myself as far as this" kind of mindset, because despite not having bending I do love the idea that he overcompensates a little by just being able to crush someone's ribcage alksdjf LOLOL someone needs to save this man from his own mind.

But anyway yes yes yes 100% I couldn't agree with you more!!!

[somestorythoughts]

Avatar Villains

One of the best things about The Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra - and I know that’s a long list - is that good and bad are complicated, and overall they’re complicated in different ways.

Aang and his gang are dealing with a main threat, Korra deals with a different threat each season that’s an obvious difference. The Fire Nation Aang faces is imperialistic. We see when Zuko challenges a general in his father’s council that choosing sacrificing a part of the army is considered reasonable by most of the council, and later that the Fire Lord had no problem publicly scarring his son for speaking out. Then there’s general Zhao who is gradually progressing through the ranks and whose strategies would probably fit in perfectly with those of the council. It seems that several of the people who advance in the Fire Nation do so through that cruelty, and at least a few are just evil.

But you also have Iroh, who is honorable and may not have immediately started as a rebel but is always shown to be displeased with the way things are progressing. You have Zuko who despite his mission still has honor. And we see them early on, and much later get to the complications of the winners writing the history books, Tai Li and Mai, Master Piandao, and the village on the lake. It’s not a nation made of evil people.

Then there’s Master Pakku who refuses to teach the last Southern Waterbender, the Dai Li who control the Earth Kingdom and brainwash their own people, a king who knows nothing of the outside world, and rebels willing to flood a village. This statement is probably overly simplifying things, but the main way this show complicates good and evil is that there is honor, decency, and rewritten history on the “bad” side, and misogyny, murder, and corruption on the “good” side.

With Legend of Korra, there is not a single villain who doesn’t have a point. That’s their complication. Unalaq and Amon in my mind are the least sympathetic villains. Unalaq may have had a point about the world being unbalanced by the lack of spirits, but a dark avatar? Seriously man? Do you really need to destroy everything to balance it? Amon meanwhile is manipulating the non-benders, who should have the right to learn chi-blocking freely and who definitely have reason to be worried about the government. But he manipulates them for his own power, so really its less that he has a point and more that his supporters have reasonable grievances.

Zaheer has a friend group of villains and I think that’s really cool? They work well together, care about each other or at least aren’t trying to stab each other in the back, when he and P’li kiss Ghazan’s like “seriously guys? now?” and that’s great. Seeing that team together is cool. And I don’t support anarchy, its messy, results in too much chaos, and on top of that there’s a decent chance that people will eventually just make new rules and then its not anarchy anymore. Rebellion/revolution/fixing the goddamn system yes, total anarchy no. But he’s right when he talks about corruption and mistreatment of people from those who are supposed to protect them. That’s a very real problem.

And Kuvira. She’s a great character, and I agreed with her until the potential of the re-education camps sunk in and she went nuts with the spirit weapon. I don’t know enough about facism to say whether or not Kuvira was, but I think she was at least in the vicinity. Wu was never going to actually be in charge of everything, and takes most of the season to gain a sense of responsibility. So I can’t blame her for deciding to keep him out of office, and from what I know she did start out genuinely trying to stabilize the Earth kingdom and reduce the bandit attacks as well as taking care of her people. I don’t know at what point during those 3 years she finally went too far (maybe its in the comics. Haven’t gotten there yet). She’s one of those villains who has a point but goes too far, into unacceptable territory.

So yeah. Good villains.

[holydragon2808]

Thoughts on The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars (Part One)

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything original on my blog about The Legend of Korra (or just anything original period). I’ve reblogged several Avatar related posts and art (as well as things from other fandoms), but I haven’t posted hardly anything myself since the Book 4 finale! I’ll just take a moment to wave hello to anyone still following this blog and my fellow Avatar buddies (Waves enthusiastically!). S’up Peeps! OH and if you’ve yet to read the Comic, don’t read any further than this because SPOILERS! I’m pretty sure most in the fandom have read them but just in case.

 I’m a bit late to the party I know, but I wanted to get my thoughts together before I posted anything. I have to say that I was really happy with this comic book overall. They’re off to a fantastic and engaging start with this story. With the ATLA comics I felt like those were just side stories or expansions. Interesting side stories/expansions granted, but really not just vital to anything (just IMO). ATLA concluded pretty soundly overall in its own right. With Turf Wars taking place immediately after the last scene with Korra and Asami walking into the spirit portal (and TLoK having far more loose plot ends to tie up than ATLA in general), this actually didn’t feel like just a comic book. It felt like it could have been a real animated episode. They seriously could have added “Book Five” to the title and gotten away with it.

Korra and Asami’s little getaway was exactly like I was hoping for with the two of them having a good time after everything they’ve both been through. From their friendly competitions and playful ribbing at each other, to their first shared kiss (Korrasami shippers squeal lol) to the two of them confiding in each other on exactly when and how they both realized they loved the other, and so on. That Spirit Mountain or whatever he was acted kind of bitchy though. It’s okay though Korra. In your own words about the Dragon Bird spirit “ I think it can sense where I am. Not EVERY spirit hates me” lol.

 Anyway, thanks to the grumpy mountain, Korra and Asami are forced to cut their vacation short and return to Republic City because they lost their supplies in all the chaos. Before that though, Korra wants to take a trip to the South Pole via the Southern Spirit Portal to visit her parents and tell them about their official romantic relationship and their “sounds fun” lol vacation. Asami has a few reservations about all of that but Korra is just too excited to really pay attention at the moment. So Korra and Asami “come out” to Tonraq and Senna. They’re surprised at the unexpected news (from their perspective) at first, but then were all “Yay! That’s cool! I’m so happy for you both! We couldn’t be more proud!” etc., which is pretty much how the fandom expected them to take it so no real surprise there.

 I do like that after the argument that took place between Korra and her parents, once Asami pointed out a different perspective on the matter (and provided a better understanding for Korra on what exactly Tonraq and Senna were really trying to get at), Korra was immediately able to step back, admit she was wrong to not take Asami’s feelings into consideration (and admit that Tonraq was right about her overly excitable nature leading to rash outbursts at times) and apologize, a FAR CRY from her Book 1 and Book 2 (pre Avatar Wan) days when she had difficulty accepting criticism/other perspectives until she was neck deep in trouble.

 I’m hoping we see more of both the positives and negatives of Korra’s overly excitable, openly passionate nature paired with Asami’s more reserved, patient and logical one in the future (as well as Tonraq and Senna making more appearances and Korra getting the chance to reconcile with them) and how they will work through it overall. Notably, Korra doesn’t just rush off to tell anyone else either without making sure she and Asami both are on the same page about it. They sort of well….”out” themselves to their friends near the end but more on that later lol.

Anyway, the minute our favorite couple steps out of the new spirit portal in the middle of Republic City, the world wastes no time reminding both of them (as well as the audience) of their responsibilities as well as the devastation Kuvira’s attack on Republic City had on the populace. Then this greedy guy named Wonyong Kuem is trying to seize his property back from the spirits. He may be technically right LEGALLY but at this point, he’s hardly the only one who’s life has been uprooted by the unexpected new spirit portal and he’s hardly the only one who’s lost property because of it so he just comes across as a greedy sleazebag (which was basically intentional so yeah lol).

Not to mention that while I do agree that the Spirit World in general should be more welcoming of humans (Heck, before Kuvira’s attack the citizens of Republic City, with Future Industries leadership, completely redesigned the city’s infrastructure just to accommodate the spirits better and welcome them. None of them have done the same for their own world nor did they bother to help with the Kuvira crisis either), a tourist attraction with people like Kuem is not the best way to go about it…Good on Avatar Korra for showing this guy who’s boss, though as she and the Airbenders suspect, he’ll probably be back.  His type always comes back….

It also was somewhat satisfying that the spirits are getting some well-deserved karma thrown back at them. They hate the spirit portal and try to urge Korra to close it but she’s quick to point out that had they helped out with Kuvira to begin with, the spirit portal may not exist right now. They realize that they can’t make her close the portal so in Korra’s own words, they’re just going to have to “deal with it”. Korra seems to believe from the bottom of her heart that Spirits and Humans can one day live together in harmony and she’s willing to stand her ground. I’m hoping the Spirits in general will one day stop looking down on humans on principle and put more effort into making both worlds a place where they can all belong or at the very least be civil. Turf wars (in the plural) indeed….

Meanwhile, even more trouble is brewing on the horizon with the Triple Threat Triads, The Creeping Crystals, the Agni Kais, and every other Republic City gang is on the rise with the Triple Threats gaining ground as we’re introduced to the main antagonist for this trilogy: Tokuga. Let me just say that this guy can seriously throw down (Hooked swords make a reappearance in addition to chi blocking) and is an awesome (but somewhat frightening) reminder that a person does not have to be a bender in this world to be a ruthless and cutthroat badass. I’m glad that the antagonist in question isn’t another bender. Nothing against them (we’ve had some good ones from both series) but it’s just great to finally break the mold here in a way that works. The Triple Threats finally getting a serious chance to shine and show just how badass they can be is a welcome plus as well. Two-Toed Ping is worried about his life being in serious jeopardy just for name-dropping Tokuga during Mako and Lin’s interrogation.

Speaking of the police force, I’m happy that Bolin joined along with his brother. It gives the police force some serious raw power at their disposal with Bolin being a Lavabender and it gives him a chance to truly shine without all the drama of his previous job with Kuvira (and shows he’s earned back his good will with his friends and family). Nice to see the bending brothers back together again. Loved both of the brothers’ interactions with Two-Toed Ping as they were taking him back to the station. Ping is genuinely proud of both of them for making something of themselves. Bolin being Bolin thanks him in stride while Mako just tells him to shut it lol. Good to know some things never change.

Back at the refugee camp we get yet more evidence of the sheer devastation Kuvira’s weapon (and Team Avatar’s attempts to stop it) having irreparable damage on the city and leaving hundreds of people homeless. About the only humorous thing taken from all of this is that President Raiko’s approval rating is -3. That’s too funny! I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m SO voting for either Poki or Zhu Li (or both they should team up!) for the next president lol. Just think of what they could do for the city! Gotta love Raiko’s new campaign slogan “Vote Raiko! He’ll wallop tyranny with a knockout blow! (I’m like Korra….wut? lol). But credit where it’s due. At least even he admits to his campaign manager that the slogan is ridiculous lol. He’s still pretty incompetent though. When you’re required an explanation on how  rebuilding homes for the populace would restore your own good will to the common folk after they’ve been rendered homeless…yeah…he’s more concerned with keeping his job rather than actually doing it….I’m seriously hoping for Poki. Zhu Li for a more practical candidate but Poki’s good too. Meelo can be the advisor. Republic City would either have absolutely NOTHING to worry about with this trio in charge, or EVERYTHING to worry about with this trio in charge. There would be NO middle ground whatsoever lol.

It’s also nice to see that despite their newfound hardships, the refugees aren’t blaming Korra for everything this time like during the beginning of book 3. They’re grateful to be alive and know it’s all thanks to Korra and her friends and they’re happy to see her again. She offers to help the displaced refugees in any way that she can and quickly begins to find herself overwhelmed. Just when it seems like she’ll be forced to leave (and they begin to riot or something), she doesn’t want to leave as Tenzin suggests. I’m going to post what she tells the refugees because there’s no way I can say it better and it deserves recognition in its own right:

Everyone! Please Listen! I feel for all of you. You’ve all been through so much and I’m sure you’re all tired, frustrated, and angry that you’re homes and neighborhoods have been destroyed. This is a time for great change for all of us in Republic City! But a wise man once told me that change could be good or bad depending on your point of view. So maybe we could all look at this as a chance for a new beginning.

I promise to work my hardest to make sure everyone has a place to live soon. My hope is that the rebuilt Republic City will be full of new possibilities for all of us. Together, we can forge a bright future, living in balance with our planet, evolving into our best selves, and becoming who we truly want to be!

Cue the audience cheering for her and the future.

This girl….no. This young woman…I just can’t right now. As I said before, she truly believes in this vision of unity and balance between humans and spirits with all her heart and soul and she is willing to work and fight for it. We saw shades of this Avatar Korra in the book 2 finale when she gave the speech about the Southern Water Tribe being independent and forging a new path for the future. But to see her now after the hell she was subjected to in the book 3 finale and 3/4s of book four…Avatar Korra has come a long way indeed both with her own struggles and being able to truly inspire people. And we get to see that here with her words spoken with an eloquence we haven’t heard in over two seasons. Just beautiful and Tenzin’s expression as if he’s holding back tears just seals the deal. Couldn’t be more proud of her.

Anyway, after the refugee camp visit, Korra and Asami are back on Air Temple Island standing in a very familiar gazebo admiring the sunset. Kya’s “officially” out as a lesbian in the actual universe (rather than just Word of God) but of course we already knew that. It’s also nice to note that a few characters in the canon suspected Korra and Asami had feeling for each other either before the vacation or shortly after. Good to know that they’ll have an older confidante. Kya also gives us more insight on how homosexuality is viewed by the Avatarverse at large with the official canon more or less matching up with a lot of fandom speculations before the reveal. The Air nomads didn’t/don’t give a shit (which well, duh element of freedom and all), the Fire Nation didn’t care all that much either until Sozin came along and outlawed same sex pairings. Guess we can add that to his jerkbender list….The Water Tribes don’t disown people for it but are private about family matters in general. Interestingly enough, it’s the Earth Kingdom that’s the most openly against it though maybe things are a bit different now than in Avatar Kyoshi’s time who was revealed to be bisexual and couldn’t really change things on that front. I think Kya said it best regarding Korrasami, it’s ultimately their story and they’ll know when the time will come to spread the news.

Speaking of spreading the news, Mako and Bolin come by to visit them. The core Team Avatar is back together! Korra and Bolin hug a bit while Mako and Asami hug (the Borra shipper in me squealed a bit lol. Those two always had an easy friendship. More Borra friendship moments please lol). However, this time Korra asks Asami if she’s ready to tell the boys (to not have another situation like what went down with Korra’s parents and not taking Asami’s feelings into consideration), showing that Korra does indeed learn from her mistakes. Just when they’re getting ready to tell them Jinora interrupts via astral projection because the Triple Threat Triads are threatening the new spirit portal (Dammit Jinora! Dammit Triple Threats I wanted to see the boys’ reaction (particularly Mako’s) was my initial reaction).

But I instantly forgave it with seeing Team Avatar’s first confrontation with Tokuga (as well as seeing how Korra and Asami out themselves to their friends anyway but again, more on that later lol). Ghazan’s signature Lava Shuriken makes an appearance! Well done Bolin! It was awesome to see this move return, but even more awesome and heartwarming was that this truly being the moment where Mako accepts Bolin as an equal partner rather than just his kid brother he feels he has to watch out for.

Things really get crazy when the spirits show up and start attacking people because apparently Korra and her friends weren’t doing a well enough job protecting the portal. Korra tries her best to reason with the stubborn (serpent, snake?) spirit but before she can gain any ground with that, Asami is overwhelmed by a group of benders and Korra immediately rushes to her rescue. Though, by choosing to aid Asami, the wrathful snake spirit goes after Tokuga and gives the audience a rather frightening call back to the Avatar Wan episodes.  Spirits can enter a human body and reshape their anatomy to where they take on physical attributes of the spirit in question. We saw that twice in the Avatar Wan episodes (with Yao and that unlucky hunter). This spirit really screws over Tokuga but it’s not like he didn’t have it coming. Though needless to say, Korra (understandably) choosing to aid Asami and not being able to stop that spirit from turning Tokuga into a mutated freak is probably going to come back to bite her in the ass. The Triple Threats end up retreating afterwards and Korra checks on Asami and they share yet another kiss but this time in front of their friends. They all reacted pretty much how I expected. Bolin being happy about getting his “gossip” fill (and calling for double dates already lol), Opal and Jinora being supportive and Mako being a bit awkwardly out of sorts with it but not against it. Don’t worry Mako. You’ll find your special someone someday. (I’m hoping we get more comics after Turf Wars. Would like to see him paired with the Fire Lord’s daughter as originally intended as well as seeing the Fire Nation and the fractured Earth Kingdom).

Anyway, apparently the Triple Threats and Keum (again his type always come back) were working together. The latter was trying to reclaim his land by getting the Triple Threats to intimidate the Airbenders to leave. Tokuga is rightfully pissed about what happened to him and takes over Keum Enterprises as retribution. Mutated or no, this guy is not one to be tried. Looking forward to seeing where all the plot threads will meet.

Overall, I’d say Mike and the rest of the team here are off to a great start with this comic. Korrasami is prevalent, but without pulling focus from the main threat/plot (THANK YOU). They clearly learned from the Book 1 and 2 days. Everything seems to be tying together and paced rather evenly and everyone is in character. Korra is depicted as the inspirational Avatar she was born to be if still a bit impulsive at times, Asami is the calming, rational presence in their relationship and out, Bolin is still the loveable goofball (but badass Lavabender), and Mako is still the socially awkward but competent cop (even with a bunk arm right now) and so on. The artwork is incredible to me. Irene Koh outdid herself IMO. The vibrant colors, the characters, (the spirit world pages were some of my favorites), it really does feel like a legitimate continuation on exactly where the show left off. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m looking forward to part two.

[seyaryminamoto]

"the show very obviously featured her as a problem that needed to be dealt with." That pretty much how the writers treat every single villain in AtLA and LoK as well, and it's very disappointing.

Tbh… yes and no. It’s definitely how they treat the villains in ATLA, but in LOK they actually tried to make some of them sympathetic (didn’t always work), tried to give them a story, and tried to make people sob over them (worked for sure with Amon, with Kuvira, for some people with Zaheer).

It’s absurd in some cases, though, because for instance… they made sure to show that Unalaq was always in the wrong, but once he’s dead, and after you’ve spent the entire season seeing how dangerous spirits can be, Korra just decides to do what Unalaq wanted her to do anyways. So… that’s plain ridiculous. Book 2′s plot is about as nice as stepping on a Lego, though, and as coherent as a baby’s rambling, so who can expect any better from that season’s villain?

Either way, though, pretty much every main villain in the two shows had to be taken down except for dear ole’ Zuzu. If you think about it, he did enough bad things during his villainous run that other villains get thrown under the bus for. If we were holding all villains to the same standard, it makes little sense that Zuko wouldn’t have been treated the same way (and no, I don’t care that he was always good inside because the Gaang had no reason to know that he’s actually nice, no reason to trust him in many instances of Books 1 and 2, and yet they did it anyways, such as in the Blue Spirit and Crossroads of Destiny).

I think that’s honestly my problem with villains in ATLA, and with their brand of redemption as a whole. It’s like redemption is exclusive to some specific individuals, people who the writers hand-picked to be redeemable and who they forced into the path of redemption even though they don’t really seem to want to redeem themselves at all. Some of them have hella questionable redemptions, such as Jet, but he’s still pretty much considered redeemed by the fandom just because the writers decided he was on a whim. 

If you gave me a show that hands every character the same opportunities to choose what’s right, to learn what’s right and wrong, yet some of them still stay evil (as, for instance, Ozai would), then I’d have no real issues with how redemption is handled here. But the problem is that behaviors as harmful as Zuko’s or Jet’s could be (destroying villages of perfectly nice people because they will do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, or pretty much believing murder is totally cool even after their redemptions) get swept under rugs because it’s those two. The show itself proves they really haven’t gotten over their behaviors and that they haven’t learned and changed as much as they say they did. And yet other people who are just as bad as them are labeled as utterly evil while those two, in particular, are just said to be misguided. Why such a double standard?

Meanwhile, LOK… it never gave any of the main villains a chance to redeem themselves (the only one who was remotely close to that was Zaheer), but it does redeem secondary villains. Hiroshi got redeemed, I wasn’t too happy about it, but at least the show did a decent job at showing that Asami’s reluctance to accept him was 100% justified. The one who got redeemed, and honest to gods didn’t deserve it, was Bataar Jr. Downplaying everything he did to “I was just in it for Kuvira’s love! I thought we were going to rule the world together!” was the biggest disservice to his character… I mean, did he really have no convictions? All the season it looks like he genuinely believed in what they were doing until suddenly he doesn’t. I’m not really complaining about his reaction to Kuvira’s cannon blast… more about how that cannon blast turned into such a reality blast that he suddenly snapped out of his beliefs and joined the good guys. They pretty much made it so Suyin was right about him being manipulated all along, when the show had NEVER played it that way until then. Utterly disappointing.

But whatever, still true that villains in this franchise are hardly ever given a chance to grow and change, which is what makes them fascinating for me, when it happens. It’s a lot more interesting to witness how a character loses himself to evil than just… being constantly told and shown they’re evil and that they need to be stopped. We’ve had plenty of those stories already, I think.