Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra

[HarleyQuinn]

Started up Avatar on Netflix and really enjoying it. I wasn't sure if I'd like Aang going in but he's been very enjoyable as one of the lead characters.

I've heard Legend of Korra follows up/is in the same universe so I'm excited to start that when I finish up Avatar.

Note: Never seen the M. Night movie version.

 

[Brooklyn Zoo]

Don’t ever watch the movie.

ATLAB is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Love the character arcs and universe. There are also comics that follow up after it ends. I haven’t seen Legend of Korra yet (just a few eps a while ago) but looking forward to it.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Legend of Korra is better. Don't 'at' me.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

I finally finished Legend of Korra and I liked it but I still preferred Avatar mostly for the characters and world building. I will say that watching LOK knowing the end and its... LGBT purpose, I can see how it'd ruffle feathers in the early 2000s but at the same time it felt underselling of what it was trying to convey. The phrasing & physical moments work (Vacation, going to the Spirit World together, the held hands) but it reminded me (ironically) of how people read subtext into certain scenes and it could've easily been read as close friends going in together instead.

I wanted to like LOK more but it never quite connected with me the same way that Avatar did. I think some of it was that LOK had a lot going on with a lot of characters whereas Avatar felt tighter more often than not even with the villains.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I can definitely see why people prefer ATLA to LOK. I prefer LOK for a number of reasons, the three primary ones being:

1. I find the story of an Avatar who is basically a barbarian being forced to get in touch with her spirituality, and seek nonviolent solutions to problems to be a much more interesting story than a pacifist actively trying to avoid using violence, and ultimately being validated by his nonviolent choices.
2. It has always been a personal pet peeve of mine, in shows where the protagonists are young people, that nearly all the adults have to be shown to be (borderline) incompetent, in order to justify why the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of a handful of kids. There were multiple occasions in LOK, where Korra had to get bailed out by grown-ups, which made it a better watch, for me. There were never any moments in the series where Lin came across looking like she had no business being the Chief of Police, or Tenzin looked incompetent. Even Bumi II, who was mostly on the show for comic relief, got to have his hero moment. Compare that to ATLA, where basically any competent adult not named Iroh was set up as either an obstacle or an outright antagonist to the kids, and anything an adult on the good guy side did right happened off-screen. Not only that, but the Avatar gets found at the South Pole by a pair of siblings that both just happen to be prodigies? As much as Katara complained early on about Aang learning faster than she did, she sure went from novice to master, fast as fuck! Sokka became a master swordsman in, what, a fortnight? The whole series took place over the course of less than a year, and Sokka went from being a kid playing soldier to Badass Normal, in a little more than half of that? Oh, and let's not forget the greatest earthbender who ever lived... and she's younger than Aang! At least in LOK, Team Avatar had valid in-storyline reasons for being as good as they were: trained in seclusion by masters, almost since birth(Korra)/grew up on the streets + multiple years of experience as pro benders(Mako/Bolin)/over a deacde of private tutoring in hand-to-hand combat(Asami).
3. One thing I liked about LOK is that they did a better job (IMO) balancing the moments where Korra was heroic with when she had feet of clay; because LOK did not occur in a world that was in the middle of a century of oppression, people weren't willing to just let Korra's immaturity slide. Aang didn't get half the ass-kicking he deserved for running away from his duties as the Avatar, IYAM. And there were way more "Nice job breaking it, hero!" moments in LOK, which should be expected when dealing with an Avatar whose preferred solution to problems is to hit it harder.

 

[cobainwasmurdered]

I finally finished Legend of Korra and I liked it but I still preferred Avatar mostly for the characters and world building. I will say that watching LOK knowing the end and its... LGBT purpose, I can see how it'd ruffle feathers in the early 2000s but at the same time it felt underselling of what it was trying to convey. The phrasing & physical moments work (Vacation, going to the Spirit World together, the held hands) but it reminded me (ironically) of how people read subtext into certain scenes and it could've easily been read as close friends going in together instead.

I wanted to like LOK more but it never quite connected with me the same way that Avatar did. I think some of it was that LOK had a lot going on with a lot of characters whereas Avatar felt tighter more often than not even with the villains.

this is where you tell me I was right. Again.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

Starting up the live-action 8 episode series on Netflix. Anybody else catch it yet? I've heard a lot of mixed opinions towards it.