Avatar: Legend of Korra
- Thread starter sophie
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sophie
Break My Heart
It's completely understandable for her to have complete control over the avatar state after the first time she enters it because literally every other avatar we've seen talk about the avatar state unlocks it in the same way. Aang gains complete control over the avatar state after a pointy rock hits him in the back. Roku also gains complete control over the avatar state after the first time he successfully enters it at will. Why shouldn't Korra be the same?
And just because her character arc wasn't given the proper time it fully needed doesn't mean it wasn't there. I absolutely think she deserved to gain the full powers of the avatar; it's in conjunction with the Buddhist morals and theming of the entire universe.
And just because her character arc wasn't given the proper time it fully needed doesn't mean it wasn't there. I absolutely think she deserved to gain the full powers of the avatar; it's in conjunction with the Buddhist morals and theming of the entire universe.
druidravi
King
Well with respect to Aang we have seen him go into avatar state without control as early as episode 2 when Zuko knocks him into water. And from then in the air temple when he sees the monks dead bodies , Roku taking over his body , the season finale with Aanzilla , when the earth bending general forced him , when Appa is kidnapped and so on. He also had a long one to one coaching from the guru .
We had an entire episode with him unlocking all his chakras . After all that he gained the ability to go into the avatar state at will in season 2 finale before Azula crisped him . Then he lost the ability to go into avatar state at all , then in season 3 finale somehow a rock pokes him and he regains the ability .
For Korra this was the first time she made contact with Aang. The equivalent ATLA equivalent is the first time Aang made contact with Roku in the spirit world when some spirit bear was ravaging and kidnapping people . And immediately she gains full control of the avatar state. No foreshadowings , no involuntary entering into the avatar state , no unlocking chakras . It was rushed up. But as you said it is understandable as it was supposed to be a one season stand alone show.
We had an entire episode with him unlocking all his chakras . After all that he gained the ability to go into the avatar state at will in season 2 finale before Azula crisped him . Then he lost the ability to go into avatar state at all , then in season 3 finale somehow a rock pokes him and he regains the ability .
For Korra this was the first time she made contact with Aang. The equivalent ATLA equivalent is the first time Aang made contact with Roku in the spirit world when some spirit bear was ravaging and kidnapping people . And immediately she gains full control of the avatar state. No foreshadowings , no involuntary entering into the avatar state , no unlocking chakras . It was rushed up. But as you said it is understandable as it was supposed to be a one season stand alone show.
sophie
Break My Heart
Christ. They aren't the same people, so obviously they aren't going to have the same spiritual journey. Aang was an extremely spiritual person, powerful enough to be confirmed as a master of Airbending by age 12. The avatar state is related to spirituality and Aang is pure spiritual energy, but its unharnassed. Aang loses control at several points and his spiritual levees break and the avatar state bursts forth uncontrolled and destructive. The story of Aang is learning to control his spirituality and use his energy when he needs to.
Korra on the other hand is all physical energy. She is all power and gets what she wants when she wants it. Korra story is one of learning to restrain herself physically (hence the patience comment in the finale); to stop and listen. She learns what it means to experience true strife, and through that she finally finds her latent spirituality. Because she discovers this spirituality of her own volition it is natural that she would learn to control it immediately because the very process of unlocking it was also learning how to control it. Combine this with the fact she unlocked it through the collective memories of a thousand generations of avatars who had done it before her and the manner in which she becomes a fully realized avatar is perfectly understandable. Could they have made the strife a little more blatant? Probably. Does the fact they didn't do this make the ending nonsensical? No.
Roku has a different story entirely. In Roku's story, like Korra, he was unable to tap the raw power and spirituality of the avatar state. Because of this (and because of his own impatience), he decides to try to unlock the power with artifice by using the power of the solstice, but the power he unlocks is raw and unharnassed, and he destroys the fire temple. After this he tries to unlock the power through more natural means and once he gets it once, he gets it permanently. It's not something you naturally learn to control over time. Like airbending, once you get it, you get it.
I don't argue that the ending was nonsensical. In-universe you can probably explain it consistently.
I'm approaching it from a dramatic perspective. And there it felt too much as if Aang showed up to give her control over the Avatar state because it was the last episode and she needed it.
I'm approaching it from a dramatic perspective. And there it felt too much as if Aang showed up to give her control over the Avatar state because it was the last episode and she needed it.
KaiserElectric
Total Freakin Besties
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- Dec 2, 2007
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Midnight-Blue766
The filidh that cam frae Skye
Well, I've begun watching this series over the holidays, and I must admit this is one of my favourite shows now! 
...I'm late to the party, aren't I?
...I'm late to the party, aren't I?
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
You are 
But it's still good to hear it's spreading.
But it's still good to hear it's spreading.
Anyone who likes this show must not have a soul. It has less depth than a Mortal Kombat video game, and makes a great deal less sense. The soap opera was by far the worst part. Seriously, even Azula and Chan had more spark.
Tell me about an aspect of it that you liked, and I'll tell you why you're wrong.
Tell me about an aspect of it that you liked, and I'll tell you why you're wrong.
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
The art direction and character designs (other than the new spirit designs) were pretty cool.
Midnight-Blue766
The filidh that cam frae Skye
Don't feed the troll, mate. 
sophie
Break My Heart
Beginnings
The art design/storyboarding, the voice acting, season 3 broadly
The art design/storyboarding, the voice acting, season 3 broadly
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
Don't feed the troll, mate.
I was making a serious contention
Oh I did love Season 3, a lot. Very cool villains with a cool ideology.
sophie
Break My Heart
Oh, and everything involving Varrick.
ZHU LI DO THE THING
ZHU LI DO THE THING
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
Oh I forgot about him. He's an awesome character. Really, the characters were all really nice. The only real problem was that there was often a way too convoluted plot. Season 2 in particular seriosuly suffered from this.
Midnight-Blue766
The filidh that cam frae Skye
Well that was one hell of a Season Finale.
sophie
Break My Heart
The major flaw of the show was one of pacing and troperiffic villains. Republic City was also really, REALLY bland.
Don't feed the troll, mate.
Sorry. It's just that this is a pretty good way of describing how I feel about the show.
Ah, I forgot I was asking Mister I-Liked-Breaking-Bad-Because-of-Its-Camera-Work.
(Not that there's anything wrong with that... but why not judge shows on their actual merit as stories?)
Well, which part did you enjoy the most? The pointless cameo of Zuko, which contains within it a pointless cameo of Iroh? Or was it the even more pointless plotline with the Earth Queen, which only serves to establish her as a Bad Person and make us root for the Red Lotus when they execute her? Please don't tell me that it added 'moral depth' by making the villains sympathetic. It should have been the Avatar's job to take her down, but Korra isn't a hero, she's just a self-absorbed teenager who can control MOAR elements than everyone else!
For the record, I prefer the The Last Airbender movie to this dunghill.
sophie
Break My Heart
No book is going to replace Breaking Bad. Or the Last Airbender (the show). Or Star Wars.
I rage against LoK because I'm an Avatar fan.
