All posts by AtkaSura

A reply to It's Blackout

AtkaSura·8/28/2014

The script and voice acting were likely all completed (or near complete) before the move to online, so the episodes wouldn't change because of it. If I recall correctly, Bryke even stated that the the level of violence or mature themes in the show had no impact on it's switch to online formats. It was purely a business and ratings decision. They realized online viewership far outweighed television as more and more people became cable cutters.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

AtkaSura·8/27/2014 in Netflix series

The final shots of each Book and their themes/character progressions.

I pointed this out elsewhere, but it sparked some interesting discussion so I'll share it here. The near-final scenes of each Book (barring following shots of Azula, the small temple, and spirits flying in the sky) speak volumes about the themes and character progressions spread throughout the series. A great deal of thought should be put into the final shots of any series and I commend Bryke for tying the show together in this way. One can see themes of hope, despair, and peace (among others) in The Last Airbender as well as optimism, determination, and trauma in The Legend Korra. Korra's transition from "I'm the Avatar, you've gotta deal with it!" to "I'm the avatar, I have to deal with it," and finally "Am I the Avatar, do I have a place in this world?" is made abundantly clear. What do you see in these shots? http://imgur.com/a/xijV0

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to LacedUp

AtkaSura·8/25/2014

Yea, I can see how valid some of the concerns for Suyin's loyalties are, especially early in the season. She's a wildcard at heart, after all. What bugs me is that the first thing I read about seemingly any newly-introduced character is "Red Lotus!" Especially as the evidence begins to mount against it. Yet people still cling to the theory. Suyin's proved beyond a doubt where she stands at this point (she straight-up killed a prestigious Red Lotus member's love interest), unless she's some seriously deep-cover sleeper agent (or whatever.) But yea, I can see how/why the discussion sparked. Seeing it happen again with Kuvira is a bit odd to me, though. 
Plus, they already did the whole "New 'good guy' character is secretly behind everything/involved" plot line with Verrick.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to JuniperAlien

AtkaSura·8/25/2014

I love Avatar because it tends to humanize the villains and stick to the mantra of "'bad guys' are people too." Random Fire Nation soldiers/Equalists/unnamed Red Lotus members having normal interactions, Azula completely breaking down, the Earth Kingdom Soldiers that captured Korra, even showing Ozai's baby picture. Zaheer and crew showed that they cared for eachother, that their time in prison was hell (talking about how they spent their days), and made us connect to them. Made us think "if only they didn't follow such extreme ideology, they could do such good for the world/actually be friends with our protagonists." And that's what makes Avatar so great!

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to Ungsumalynn

AtkaSura·8/25/2014

The finale was beautifully done, and Book Three was amazing. There were times where I felt a level of tension I hadn't experience since Breaking Bad, and Jinora earning her tattoos was absolutely breathtaking (lol). If I were the crying type, that scene would have had me bawling. Jinora's just so adorable, and looks so much like Aang hah. For a moment after the end fight, I was worried they'd pull the "suddenly everything's okay!" card. Then my soul got crushed. Korra's just so, utterly broken both physically and mentally. It was hard to watch.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to LacedUp

AtkaSura·8/25/2014

I never understood why everyone's so quick to jump on the Red Lotus/traitor bandwagon. Suyin's dismissive of the Queen, but that doesn't automatically make her a member. Everyone's entitled to hold that opinion, and the Queen is an outdated tyrant. Even Korra hates the Queen, so by the fandom's logic, Korra is Red Lotus too! Same goes for the loyal Metal Clan guard. Everything she'd done was for the good of the Clan and completely against the Red Lotus mentality. She even saved Korra's father, a World Leader, when a Red Lotus would have just let him fall. Nobody knew she was there, and if they did, she could easily claim that she missed. She's obviously a developing character that will come into play later on, but I never once got traitor vibes (and I seem to be the only one that didn't immediately think evil!) Suyin may have had a run-in with the Red Lotus in the past, but just like her mob friends, she might not have been fully involved ("I'm just driving" or even split off and left them behind. She may have been friends with them all before they joined or without knowing their true purpose. All of that doesn't mean she's still Red Lotus. Asami's father was an evil madman, that didn't make her the same. People were quick to jump on the "Asami's an equalist" bandwagon as well, it's the same situation. I don't know why everyone seems to wish every that character was a scheming, backstabbing villain. Wouldn't that get old? I do have to admit, Unalaq tricked me. People were screaming "why doesn't Korra realize he's evil?!" from the start, but I didn't see it. Why would Korra -or anyone of us for that matter- suspect her uncle of manipulating her? He seemed to have good intentions (just executed poorly). Then he devolved into a cat-stroking, goatee twirling Bond villain. . .

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to IAmNothing712

AtkaSura·2/9/2014

One of the biggest moments of lost potential is Tonraq's banishment. The canon reasoning for it is a simple, cliched desire for power, but imagine this: Unalaq saw Harmonic Convergence approaching and knew that the Water Tribes would need a strong spiritual leader to guide them through it. Tonraq's stubborn aversion to the spirits would end in disaster if he were chief at such a critical time, so Unalaq arranged to usurp him for the good of the Tribes. What if it pained Unalaq to do so, but he saw it as absolutely necessary? He created a rift in his family not out spite and power, but love for the tribe.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to IAmNothing712

AtkaSura·2/9/2014

I was really hoping they'd make Unalaq a morally grey antagonist. Someone who has good intentions (bring spirituality back to the Southern Water Tribe, bring balance to the spirits) but is going about it in the wrong way. Instead, he turned into an evil, power hungry, cat-stroking Bond villain. I was so disappointed, Unalaq had a ton of potential to be amazing. I wanted to question if Korra was right in stopping him, if she truly chose the right "side." They made it obvious that the Northerners were the 'bad guys' and the Southerners 'good guys,' but it shouldn't be that clear-cut in a civil war.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to Fja3987

AtkaSura·2/4/2014

In my opinion, the spirits of Book Two were too "Studio Ghibli." They didn't quite fit into the world of Avatar. The only exceptions were Aye-Aye (he screamed "Avatar"), the very first Dark Spirit that attacked Korra, and maybe Raava/Vaatu. Some could argue that spirits are supposed to look "otherworldly," but that's not what I mean when I say they don't look like they belong in Avatar. When I think of Avatar Spirits, I think of Koh, Wan Shi Tong, Hai bai, Tui/La, Odd Spirit, and the Painted Lady (to name a few). In an indescribable way, all of these spirits truly felt like a part of the Avatar universe in terms of style, animation, and their use of muted, earthy tones. If you showed a picture of the Gaang/four nations next to a picture of the spirits, you could tell they belonged to the same show. When the same thing is done to Korra and Book Two's brightly colored dragonfly-bunnies, hopping beaked fuzzball things, etc, one might easily make the mistake of saying "oh, that's two different shows. Avatar and Ghibli!" They way they looked and moved just felt. . . off. It was a major disappointment to me, I wanted to see more Avatar spirits but got Ghibli 2.0. (There's the original Avatar's 'inspired by Ghibli' style, and then there's straight Ghibli.) This is ignoring the fact that most of the "Dark Spirits" seriously look like they were pulled straight out of my childhood drawings of evil monsters.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to Avatar Swoosh

AtkaSura·1/21/2014

Recreating the original show in a more mature format would take away some of its charm, but I'd absolutely love to see a miniseries about the Adult Gaang's lives in/around Republic City (and the rise of Yakone) hosted on, say HBO or AMC. I also wouldn't mind if Legend of Korra switched channels. You can tell they've been forced to hold back (white parachute!), especially regarding some of the themes LoK has been trying to tackle.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to MovingOnAngel

AtkaSura·1/21/2014

Hahaha! Oh, wait. People are serious about this? Is this the Avatar Wiki or Tumblr? What is it with this fanbase picking apart and/or finding offense in every character's gender/race/eye color/shoe size, and why do they call themselves fans of the show? I'd hazard a guess that most of the people arguing for it are trolling. They've made Toph's character pretty clear. A transgender appearing on Avatar isn't out of the question, but it's definitely not Toph. Lol.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to Ehubb16

AtkaSura·11/30/2013

Severing her connection does not mean that the rest of the world completely and immediately forgot about every past Avatar. Kyoshi islanders won't suddenly go "Kyoshi who?" Republic City citizens won't forget their founder. Even the nutsos at Chin Village won't suddenly stop worshiping/hating the Avatar. It's the same world, and Korra has plenty of sources to turn to if she wishes to know about what happened in the past: Wan Shi Tong's library, the Fire Sages, Ba Sing Se University, flashbacks of Aang through Katara, his children, or Lin, Koh for Kuruk, and (possibly) the spirits of the Avatars in the Spirit World.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to Fja3987

AtkaSura·11/19/2013

^ I've seen many theories ranging from ridiculous (taking Iroh's "there's a little light in every cup" literally as a sign that part of Raava was in the teacup) to plausible (Jinora called the butterfly spirit a light spirit and used/sacrificed it to amplify the light inside of Vaatu). All this wild speculation just goes to show how out of place the finale was. Amon severing chi lines through bloodbending in the same manner as chi blockers made sense. Korra miraculously gaining the ability to air bend made sense with established chakra lore. Aang energybending made sense. Even koizilla had a fitting explanation. Jesus Jinora and giant blue Korra. . .

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to Warmachine375

AtkaSura·11/19/2013

I always appreciate it when Korra receives some battle damage. It just shows how tough she really is, and it's one step further from 'this is a "children's show," nobody gets hurt' restrictions. Her battle with Tarrlok had similarly satisfying results. No holds barred bending battles should definitely result in a little wear and tear more often. That skybison crash was the best thing to happen to Korra: it let her hair down and gave her some badass wounds. They do look exactly like Lin's, though, both in placement and number. I'm not sure if that was intentional. (Oh, and you might want to use a different image. In all likelihood, that one will be removed from the wiki soon if it doesn't pass Profile Image Change consensus. Even if it does, it'll be renamed and your embed will break. Just letting you know.)

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to Fja3987

AtkaSura·11/19/2013

I had high hopes for this season. It had everything I love: Water Tribe and Spirits. The Civil War plot was intriguing but it just sort of dropped off into the background halfway through only to reappear at the very end. Unalaq, what happened to you? You showed so much promise for some heavy character development. At first, he appeared to be someone who had good intentions, but was going about it in the wrong way. Maybe he dethroned Tonraq because he saw the threat of angered spirits approaching and knew someone spiritual would need to be in charge. His character just devolved into "look how evil I am! *Twirls mustache, pets cat, laughs manically*." I couldn't tell the difference between him and mover parody Unalaq. So sad. I really wish they hadn't gone down the 'dark avatar' path. It's just so. . . fanfiction. They built Varrick up (which I loved), then didn't really do much with him. All's forgiven, I guess. As for the spirits, none of them felt very "Avatar." Both dark and light spirits looked like, as said above, fairy people, Pokemon, or lazy drawn 'evil monsters.' Aye Aye and that first Dark Spirit to attack korra were really the only spirits that fit into the world of Avatar. I think I've heard it summed up like this: Show anyone a picture of Aang/the Gaang next to a picture Koh, Wan Shi Tong, the Painted Lady, Odd Spirit, Hei Bai, etc. and they could probably tell you that they belong to the same world. Show Korra & the new spirits and they'll assume it's two different shows. This is Avatar, not Studio Ghibli. I'm not going to even go into the Pacific Rim finale. . . Severing the connection with the past lives was brutal and holds a ton of potential. What they did after that was just. . . what? Even most of the fan explanations are grasping at straws. It would have made a lot more sense if Unalaq remained normal sized/red eyed and lead an army of dark spirits into the material world instead of turning into. . . that thing. Then Korra wouldn't need to inexplicably grow into a giant to fight him. Also, it was really hard to get immersed in the story with Pierrot's glaring animation errors/ off model characters right in your face half the time. Overall, it was a disappointment. However, the essence of what made TLA/LoK series so good still shone through a few times. I loved "The Sting" (minus the animation), "A New Spiritual Age," "Night of a Thousand Stars," and Mir's excellent bending animation in "Harmonic Convergence" and "Darkness Falls." I just wish so many episodes didn't end with 'zoom into shocked face' cliffhangers. Got old fast.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to AtomicPsychology

AtkaSura·11/18/2013

It would be pretty powerful if they show Korra bending each of the elements alone.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to Totaldramavictorious

AtkaSura·11/17/2013

It's not irrelevant. Zuko and Katara are still alive. We can still get flashbacks of Aang and Toph through their children, and the world still takes place in the Avatar universe. Wan Shi Tong's library and the Tree of Time could feasibly provide information on past Avatars if need be and Korra could possibly still speak to their spirits in the Spirit World (wasn't there a game where Aang did just that after losing his connection?). I thought it was a ballsy move by Bryke, but I respect them for it and can't wait to see how it turns out. So many fans relentlessly compared Korra to TLA that this latest episode pretty much had to outright state "I am not TLA, I am forging my own path." Swap out Tenzin's dialog with Aang in the Fog of Lost souls with Korra & TLA and the point is made even more clear.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to Avatar Swoosh

AtkaSura·11/17/2013

Studio Mir always has the best action sequences. Pierrot was ok, but Mir includes all kinds of crazy camera tricks, depth of field effects, and fluid movements. You can feel the energy behind each blow. I absolutely loved Bolin's fight, Tonraq and Unalaq, and the fights in Harmonic Convergence/Darkness falls. They lost me at "Light in the Dark," though. Wasn't a fan of the giant monster fight. Am I watching Avatar or Pacific Rim?

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to CzechOut

AtkaSura·11/17/2013

If one enters the Spirit World as a spirit, they leave their body behind (and their bending with it). If one takes their physical body into the Spirit World (only possible through the portals), there's nothing stopping them from bending. The Spirit World itself doesn't render bending useless, only the lack of a body. Bryke made sure to restate and reinforce that fact multiple times.

(Edited by AtkaSura)

A reply to Avatar Swoosh

AtkaSura·11/9/2013

I withdraw my earlier hatred for the dragonfly bunnies. Apparently it was just Peirrot's style I had an issue with. They looked great in "New Spiritual Age."

(Edited by AtkaSura)