The Legend of Korra Series Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

[Winter]

Now that its been out for a while, and is still sold out in comic book stores, I would like to know what everyone thinks of The Legend of Korra Turf Wars Part 1 and how Korra and Asami's relationship was handled.

For me this is Book 1 done right, the main focus is on the romantic relationship between the two lead characters but unlike the romance in Book 1 the romance A) doesn't come out of nowhere and B) is actually well written which is helped by the chemistry between Korra and Asami which is just as strong in the comic as it was in the show.

It also helps that this arc has fewer stories to juggle then Air did which had up to six with half of them being rather unneeded and rather pointless. As I said before the Pro-Bending Tournament didn't really add anything and went on longer then it really needed to and eat up time that could have been used to flesh out the conflict with the Equalists. Here we have three major plot points, the titular Turf War with the different sides being, the gangs, the spirits and our heroes. The election campaign which is set up here and will have Raiko go up against Zhu Li in the next two issues. And finally Korra and Asami's relationship which is the main focus of the series.

If you haven't picked up the first issue of Turf Wars I highly recommend it both as a fan of Avatar and a romantic who loves the relationship between Korra and Asami.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Well, Koh is pretty par for the course.

The moon and ocean spirits still work because they STARTED in the spirit world, but chose to cross over to our world and take fixed forms. And the stuff in the spirit world presumably has meaning to the mundane world/symbolism, hence the carrot spirit and Bushy the Bush Spirit.

[excalibur]

I'm sure it's been discussed before, but one of my biggest gripes of the Korra series is the poor handling of relationships, specifically couple relationships with the main characters around Korra.

Let me start with how they had established 2 pretty ok characters, the brothers Mako and Bolin. The initial impression from episode 1 is Bolin is the fun loving guy who is hinted at being a lady's man from Mako's comment of him constantly bringing in another "fan", specifically girls since he was noting Korra being in their locker room. This denotes a guy with a lot of confidence and perhaps compensating for something, which isn't hard to explain being an orphan with his brother lacking of parents and guidance. That's a good start.

Mako from first impressions could have been the stoic cold older brother figure, and of course the brooder which seems to be mandated by story law to always have one. Nothing from initial first impressions seemed to indicate a good relationship possibility between Korra and Mako and yet the show seemed to want to literally force it. I could believe the bright eyes Korra, who was sheltered all her life would jump on the first hot guy she sees. That's not saying she's a shallow character but the product of how she was raised. Mako on the other hand could have been written better where he didn't want a relationship with Korra simply because the writers just wrote it like that. The chemistry and romance had little to stand on. This is later proven when in later seasons or rather directly in the 2nd, any actual relationship between the two is suddenly torn apart so the writers decided to flimsily backtrack instead of fully committing a real relationship between the two. Mako's and Asami's relationship seemed pretty standard but it felt real. Call me a shipper for those 2, but at least the story made sense for them. Even their break up seemed natural aside from the context of why they needed to break up.

And Bolin's character went into a sorta fool, no confidence, not smart. It's like they took the energy of Sokka and took out the soul of why people like him. The character meant for comedy can't survive solely on being the joke of the party. They tried to correct that later on and even with season 3 by introducing a love interest for him that...sorta works...a lot better than Korra and Mako but any additional relationship story is better than those 2. Though they sorta stumbled on that in season 4 with taking Bolin's character arc a step back

And they didn't need a romance story at all between Bolin and Korra. They could of just stayed BFFs since their dynamic worked so well in their "date".

And that boils me down to simply saying that you don't need to write in any romantic stories to pad things out. They could of went 4 whole seasons without a single romance between the main characters. Hell, in the Last Airbender, there wasn't an established romance between Aang and Katara until the second half of the last season. They writers were content in moving along the will they won't they concept and all at the same time actually writing a somewhat meaningful story of relationships between Sokka and Suki, probably because they were older characters than Aang and Katara.

I think this goes back to how originally the studio gave the creators only 1 seasons that they needed a check list of story plots in their new story. If they really wanted a Korra Mako romance, what really should of happened is an entire season of implied interests from both or a lot from Korra being she's naive and hints from Mako and take out the Mako/Asami story to make it a lot less complicated. A guy and a gal could both actually be good friends without it escalating into a romance story. They could still have involved the conspiracy plot with Asami leading them in without her romance with Mako being strung along.

The implied romance between Korra and Asami at the end only works after the briar patch of relationships they both experienced in the early season. Other than that, there were no hints throughout the seasons, I assume because the studio wouldn't let them. Again, this goes back to my thoughts on a story...a romance plot should not be a check list to make your story great. It should only fit in their naturally with the flow. If it isn't possible, then cut it out

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

The implied romance between Korra and Asami at the end only works after the briar patch of relationships they both experienced in the early season. Other than that, there were no hints throughout the seasons,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znGBU5o ... GP&index=2

(Sorry I can't figure out how the youtube post function works)

[aceina]

the spirits are dicks just leave it at that

[RobbyB1982]

It's been said time and again that Nick screwing around with their episode count and production order really screwed them up, and there's no t really any arguing against that... if they had known up front they were getting 52 episodes (or even 26) they no doubt would have structured things very differently and we probably would have had a much stronger show overall. It's super easy to see where pushing or pulling a thread and moving bits of story around would have made the whole thing come together much more strongly. Not even cutting any content, just moving it around... and the resultant changes in character arcs as a result.

Most notably, the end of season 1 where Korra loses her bending then magically gets it back last second.... would have worked much better were she without it in season 2 and thus better explained her drive to go after the spirits. The tear down and complete break down she had in season 4 should have been the consequence then. (or conversely, her bending gets taken later.) And they could have better paced the dating roulette and the pro-bending. Had we gotten 3 or 4 tournament games over the course of 50 episodes, no one would have cared. Getting half the first season filled with them, not so much. Etc. etc.

ANd yet... it was also a failing of the showrunners. Other series get by on season to season orders, where they only have 13 episodes at a time and they make it work... so I'm not sure why they stumbled so repeatedly, or why season 2 was so bad overall.

[Winter]

Now that its been out for a few months and sold like crazy, I got lucky and was able to pick up the last copy when it was first released, I figured now was a good time to quickly go over my thoughts on The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Part 1. I think the best way to describe my thoughts on the first part of Turf Wars is that its Book 1 Air done right. Like Air, there is a conflict between different factions in Republic City, there's a huge focus on the romantic relationship between the two leads and the story is set solely in Republic City.

However, TW, so far, manages to zigs everywhere Air zags. For starters while there are a number of plots going on at once its clear how they all tie into one another. The gangs have taken advantage of the resent crises to claim as much power as possible, the creation of the spirit portal along with the battle from the series finally has left many people homeless which has caused Raiko to fall in popularity. Meanwhile a business man hopes to buy the land around the spirit portal to turn it into a amusement park and hires the gangs to clear out the airbenders so he can remove those who are standing in his way. And in the middle of it all is Korra, Asami and the rest of team Avatar trying to keep the situation from getting any worse.

In contrast most of the plot points in Air didn't really tie into each other all that well and some even took up more time then they needed. As I've said before, the pro-bending tournament didn't really added that much and yet was a major plot point for more then half the series. While the Equalist and Tarrlok's bid for power tied into one another there was more time dedicated to fleshing out Tarrok's motivation and plot then Amon and even caused more trouble for Korra then any thing Amon did until the last three episodes.

Add to that the poorly written romance which was given more time and focus then any other plot in the season and yet somehow ended up being the most under developed and poorly thought out plot in the season. A big chunk of this was the fact that the show never bothered to show what Korra saw in Mako and on Mako's part we are only told about the times when he's talking and thinking about Korra. Case in point Mako shows n real interest in Korra until The Spirit of Competition, almost half way through the first season. The only hints we get that he has feelings for Korra is when Asami tells us that Mako talks about Korra all the time. And in the Revolution, the only episode where the two spend most of their time together, Mako and Korra remain focused on trying to save Bolin and don't really bond during that time.

In contrast, if you never saw the series and just picked up Part 1 you would be able to tell that Korra and Asami are a couple due to how they interact with one another throughout the 7 pages. The way they look at one another, the way they hold hands, the way they talk to one another makes it very clear that these two are very much in a relationship and with little to no dialogue from either of them. Hell, it's not until after they kiss that the two ask one another about when they knew how they felt about one another and its here both as backstory for anyone who never watched the show and confirming what most fans had already suspected.

So at this time, the comics are off to a great start. The villains are interesting, the heroes are engaging and the romance is truly sweet. Here's hoping that parts two and three can continue this trend.

[RobbyB1982]

Korra and Mako was a dumb shallow relationship that was done 100% by the creators to please Zutara fans... despite not understanding what people actually liked about that pairing, and having actively insulted that part of the base.

Guys, it was the personalities, backstories, ongoing conflict, mutual growth, and chemistry that made people want them together, not the "the waterbender chick should totes pair up with the hot firebender."

So when they did Mako they just did the most shallow aspect of it without any of the character stuff, basically purely on looks, and as a result it didn't work. In or out of the show. (And made all the worse when they tried having him date Asami for... some reason.)

[Winter]

Korra and Mako was a dumb shallow relationship that was done 100% by the creators to please Zutara fans... despite not understanding what people actually liked about that pairing, and having actively insulted that part of the base.

Guys, it was the personalities, backstories, ongoing conflict, mutual growth, and chemistry that made people want them together, not the "the waterbender chick should totes pair up with the hot firebender."

So when they did Mako they just did the most shallow aspect of it without any of the character stuff, basically purely on looks, and as a result it didn't work. In or out of the show. (And made all the worse when they tried having him date Asami for... some reason.)

Actually the romance in the first season was as shallow as you could get. Why did Mako started dating Asami? Because she was hot and was a big fan. Why is Mako torn between Korra and Asami when, as pointed out earlier, he never shows any real interest in Korra? Because the plot says he's interest in her. Why is Korra interested in Mako, because the script says so.

While I'm pretty sure I've said this before there is one point where Mako goes over why he so attractive towards her which are, and I quote "You're the most loyal, brave, and selfless person I've ever known." The problem with this statement is that these same traits fit Asami just as much as Korra.

Loyal, Asami turned on her father to help you and the Avatar to help in your war against non-benders. Brave, Asami is the only member of this team without powers and yet is going up a huge hate group to do the right thing. And finally Selfless, Asami has given up everything to do what is right without any thought of reward because she feels its the best she can do even as her boyfriend decides to start making the moves on another girl.

Again, I do hope that Mako gets better but after four seasons and the first issue of Turf Wars Mako is still just kinda there.

[aceina]

It's been said time and again that Nick screwing around with their episode count and production order really screwed them up, and there's no t really any arguing against that... if they had known up front they were getting 52 episodes (or even 26) they no doubt would have structured things very differently and we probably would have had a much stronger show overall. It's super easy to see where pushing or pulling a thread and moving bits of story around would have made the whole thing come together much more strongly. Not even cutting any content, just moving it around... and the resultant changes in character arcs as a result.

Most notably, the end of season 1 where Korra loses her bending then magically gets it back last second.... would have worked much better were she without it in season 2 and thus better explained her drive to go after the spirits. The tear down and complete break down she had in season 4 should have been the consequence then. (or conversely, her bending gets taken later.) And they could have better paced the dating roulette and the pro-bending. Had we gotten 3 or 4 tournament games over the course of 50 episodes, no one would have cared. Getting half the first season filled with them, not so much. Etc. etc.

ANd yet... it was also a failing of the showrunners. Other series get by on season to season orders, where they only have 13 episodes at a time and they make it work... so I'm not sure why they stumbled so repeatedly, or why season 2 was so bad overall.

ive always HATED the idea of korra not getting her bending back right away

then it becomes "oh the only reason she is struggling is cus she dont have her full power" oh also her only having air bending would just lead to copying last airbender stuff

spirit bending was a explained thing by then so it was a simple fix spirit bending allowing aang to avoid killing ozai was a far bigger load of crap
as it came out of no where just to have aang avoid dealing with his problem (and the comics have shown this was a very bad idea)