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Nickelodeon (ended 2014)

Official Book 4: Balance Discussion Thread

  • Avatar of Kwando7

    Kwando7

    [1]Oct 11, 2014
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    Wasn't an official one regarding the series just the first ep so here it is

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  • Avatar of RaizenYusuke

    RaizenYusuke

    [2]Oct 12, 2014
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    I'm liking the season so far. Korra's recovery was played realistic with such a long recovery time and the mental/spiritual damage that Zaheer's attack caused her. I was pretty surprised to hear that Korra lost her connection to Raava and can't enter the Avatar State. That really sounds familiar to how Aang lost connection his pasts lives and Raava when he was nearly killed by Azula in the Avatar State. Although, while Aang's lost connection seemed to by physical (and needed a physical blow to restore the connection) Korra's lost connection seems to be mental. I was surprised Toph came so early in the season. It was cool that Korra met Toph in the same swamp Aang had a vision of meeting Toph in the original series.


    So basically only Aang and Sokka died from the original series. That makes Katara's line about most of her friends are died seem like an exaggeration. I hope we see a reunion with Katara, Toph, and Zuko though.

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  • Avatar of Kwando7

    Kwando7

    [3]Oct 13, 2014
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    There's probably also Suki but I'd be surprised if Katara considered her a friend.


    So cool seeing Toph can't wait to see what she brings to the story. Good to see the flashback episode early so there's more room for the action later.


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  • Avatar of RaizenYusuke

    RaizenYusuke

    [4]Oct 19, 2014
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    Episode 3 made me realize how much I missed Toph. She was hilarious and cool at the same time. Lin's got nothing on her on being brutally honest. Kuvira has balls for basically declaring herself Empress of Earth Empire in front of the rest of the world and getting away with it. 3 years without the Avatar and things went so bad so fast.
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  • Avatar of Kwando7

    Kwando7

    [5]Oct 19, 2014
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    So cool how her abilities have become so much stronger she can sense air blasts. I expect that the metal in Korra's body will come up at a time she's suppose to be in a situation where she can't bend anything

    Edited on 10/19/2014 8:42pm
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  • Avatar of RaizenYusuke

    RaizenYusuke

    [6]Oct 26, 2014
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    I liked Ikki got a character focus episode. She usually get neglected, so it was nice to see her be the star of the episode. She reminded me a lot of her Grandpa Aang. She befriended her kidnappers and chased an animal to apologize for scaring it were totally Aang moves.


    It was nice to see reunion between Korra and the air kids. I guess that was the first time Toph met Aang and Katara's grandchildren. I hope this wasn't the last we've seen of Toph. I really want a reunion with Katara, Zuko, and Toph in the finale. It's the final season of the series and possibly the Avatar franchise as a whole. To me we have to see those 3 together one more time. She did help Korra at least. I was impressed how Toph evolved as a character, while her core concept remains unchanged. I did think Korra fixed her problems a little too fast. I didn't expect her to reconnect with Raava this soon or get the Avatar State back. It would be a fair handicap if Korra couldn't use the Avatar State for a while.

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  • Avatar of Kwando7

    Kwando7

    [7]Oct 31, 2014
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    I'm guessing if Toph comes back she's going to be able to metal bend the platinum tanks

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  • Avatar of MajLorne

    MajLorne

    [8]Nov 23, 2014
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    I can't believe they wasted an episode on recaps from the past few seasons. They better not have any excuses on content for the remaining episodes.
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  • Avatar of Kwando7

    Kwando7

    [9]Nov 25, 2014
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    you know it was because their budget was cut right? Out of their control. Next episode looks good tho

    Edited on 11/25/2014 11:53pm
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  • Avatar of MajLorne

    MajLorne

    [10]Nov 28, 2014
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    I see, didn't know it was that bad. I would've thought they were funded regardless of nick showing the show online.
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  • Avatar of RaizenYusuke

    RaizenYusuke

    [11]Nov 29, 2014
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    I loved this week's episode. Korra finally accepted what happened to her and Zaheer of all people helped her. I was happy to hear Raava again. I hope we see her a few more times before the series ends. If I am honest I still hope to see Korra's connection with her past lives restored in the series finale, just so we can see Aang one last time as the Avatar franchise ends. Anyway, I liked how Zaheer was still the same, but recognized how his actions caused more harm than good. Even though he hadn't changed per say he was more helpful than I thought he would be. I liked we finally got to see world leaders discussion about what to do about the Earth Empire.


    I know they were probably doing this off-screen, but it was good to see now. They really did lose faith in Korra dealing with it, which was understandable. I loved Izumi, Zuko's daughter. She didn't get a lot of screen time compared to Aang, Katara, and Toph's kids, but she what little screen time she got she proved to be one of my favorite world leaders. She was right about the Fire Nation had done enough senseless fighting. The war has been over for a good 70 + years, but I doubt the rest of the world has forgotten, especially the Earth Kingdom. Unlike Sue she didn't just turn her head away. Izumi isn't going to send her armies to attack the Earth Empire/Kingdom she still offered to send troops to reinforce/help United Republic forces in defending their boarders in case Kuvira attacks them first. I feel like Izumi is one of the most reasonable and reliable world leaders in LoK yet. Rakio is the second.


    Bolin added some comedy and seriousness to. I liked how he used Pabu to try to win back Oppal only for her to chew him out than apologize to Pabu for exposing him to that. It's also cool to see Lin, Oppal, and Bolin going to Zafou to save their family. It's cool to see a more caring Lin and bonding with her niece. It always good to see Korra and Tenzin's relationship. Tenzin's reveal that he still had faith in her, but that he was worried he would lose her to Zaheer after he almost saw Zaheer kill her before. The episode hit all the right notes for me. It reminded me why I got into the Legend of Korra. It had its problems, but overall it is a great series in its own right and I love these characters and will miss them when they're gone. I wish Nick had treated the series as well as its parent show. It was a mistake to air only episodes on Friday and never show them again on the weekend. They treated it much better with book 1. IDK why when the show came back they lost faith in it and stuck it on Fridays with no replays. Book 3 and Book 4 barely got any advertisement.

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  • Avatar of Kwando7

    Kwando7

    [12]Nov 29, 2014
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    I liked Zaheer returning but I think his prisons a little unsecure if he can still fly and move he could be a problem later on.I'm looking forward to the next episode if only to find out what Toph is doing while they farm the spirit vines.


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    roweantarts

    [13]Dec 11, 2014
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    MajLorne wrote:
    I see, didn't know it was that bad. I would've thought they were funded regardless of nick showing the show online.


    The budget cut was made long before the decision was made to show the show online only.

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  • Avatar of Kwando7

    Kwando7

    [14]Dec 13, 2014
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    Latest episode was awesome, really looking forward to the next two.

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  • Avatar of qtwanderer

    qtwanderer

    [15]Dec 16, 2014
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    Kwando7 wrote:

    I liked Zaheer returning but I think his prisons a little unsecure if he can still fly and move he could be a problem later on.I'm looking forward to the next episode if only to find out what Toph is doing while they farm the spirit vines.


    I agree, can Korra only restore bending and not take it away? Zaheer is a strong candidate to find out

    I think Toph could have had a better reason for not fighting anymore than her back but it was nice how they showed her ability while not making her the only one in the spotlight.
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    RaizenYusuke

    [16]Dec 19, 2014
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    The series finale was good, but it wasn't great. The battle with a giant mech suit made sense. It was big enough to where I could see the Avatar even in the Avatar State would have problems with it. The stakes were high it lacked the presence or threat level the other finales had. Book 3 finale was great, personal, and had cool and the battles were epic. Here the battle with the giant mech was kind of cool and I did like the air benders working together to slow it down, but seeing them try to fight it head on lacked a certain spirit. I mean maybe if we saw Korra tried using the Avatar State the same way Aang did againt Ozai and we saw her using all the elements at once we could have seen more. While everyone played a big part and it had a sacrifice of Asami's dad to get everyone inside the suit it felt kind of hollow for me. Bolin and Mako took out the core, Lin and Su disabled the cannon, and Korra kicked Kuvira's ass in a rematch by showing off her bending arts, but it was too fast. I hate doing this, but it felt like they copied the format A: TLA series finale by having the gang split up to take the enemy down, but for some reason it didn't click. Maybe it is because it felt rushed. The original series we had 4 episodes to set up the finale, two episodes exploring the characters and setting them up for the final battle, while the remaining two episodes were about the battles themselves. LoK's finale didn't have the wow factor.


    I still found it to be good finale overall. Bolin was MVP of the season. I felt he grew and matured the most, while retaining what essentially made him Bolin. In the finale showed it. He saved everyone by earth bending a large piece of building up, while everyone got away. He lava bended to weaken the giant mech's feet for the air benders to knock it over. He lava bended a discs to and used it to fight while in the giant mech where he had no earth to use. He was great. Verrick and Ju Lu's romance I didn't mind too much, but could have used less time up. I liked his EMP which took out a lot of the mechs. Korra was cooler by bending a large amount of water to freeze the mech without even needing to go into the Avatar State. I loved Korra didn't just kill Kuvira and tried to save her. It really was fitting to her character development the whole series. She went from reckless, self absorbed, and a bit anti-social into a compassionate, wise, and empathetic person. Her going out of her way to save Kuvira and making her see the error in her ways would have done Aang proud. It was more fitting to have the war end with this talk then to just have Korra take Kuvira's bending and forcing her way over the Earth Empire. Just like Aang did in the original series Korra found her way to do it and took her first real step in being the Avatar. The ending was appropriate. I loved that Tenzin and Korra had one last talk where they acknowledge her growth. Their bond has been one of the strengthens of the series. Tenzin really is like a second father to her and she really does seek his guidance and approval. It was nice to see their bond evolve throughout the series. The ending with Korra and Asami going into the Spirit World together was nice. Their relationship really evolved to when compare them to book 1 when they were sort of rivals for Mako to being the most significant people in each others lives. Korra is much closer to Asami than Mako and Bolin at this point.


    The weak points were Kuvira wasn't well rounded bad guy. The season spent too much time making her a villain that when it came time for the finale and for her to see the error of her ways that it felt forced. They intended to make her a morally gray character they went too far with making her a tyrant who did evil things for the heck of it. While that worked for say Ozai in original series here Kuvira wasn't supposed to be purely a villain, but an anti-villain. A lot of characters didn't get spotlight. Kai didn't have a speaking role. Ikki, Jinora, and Bumi didn't really have any speaking roles either. I felt Kya should have been there. It was weird that she wasn't in the series finale since she had become a big supporting character in book 2 and 3. I would have thought she would have gone to Republic City to help her brothers. General Iroh didn't get to do anything either, disappointing considering how he rocked against the Equalists. There was too much emphasis on Verrick and Ju Le's romance and it took valuable time away from other plot points. Bolin and Korra didn't have a big talk in the finale either. She had one with Mako, Asami, and Tenzin, but not Bolin. Bolin was the first friend she made and arguably the one who brought Team Avatar together, since Mako only became friends with Korra through him, and Asami became friends through Mako. I felt cheated. In general Korra didn't have as much focus as she should have.


    Things I would have liked to see: The biggest letdown is original Team Avatar didn't show up in the end to meet the new Team Avatar and congratulate them. It's the series finale, so it would have been neat to get all them together. I was hopingKorra would reconnect to Aang at the very end andthey would have one last talk to conclude the series. I know Aang's time ended and I'm happy the series didn't rely too much on him or bring him back all the time, but this is possibly the final part of the Avatar franchise as a whole. It felt right to seen Aang one last time. The one thing I missed was Korraand Aang never got to bond. On the other hand Korra had so many mentors it seemed unnecessary, but I would have preferred Aang mentoring over say Iroh I.We nevergot to see the Fire Nation. That wasreally odd since we had seen every othernation up until that point. Zuko's family had a small role overall in the series when compared to Toph's family. Toph's familyand her history was explored as much as Aang and Katara's family. Izumi the Fire Lord barely had a speaking role, Iroh II only had a major role inbook 1, and we still don't know if Mai is Izumi's mother or if Zuko married someone else. I can't believe we didn'tlearn a thing about Sokka or Suki. Sokka wasn't touchedupon much at all in the series. I can't believe he doesn't have any kids. I liked the idea of Tenzin, Kya, and Bumi having crazy cousins. Overall book 4 was a good season, but book 3 was stronger. IMO book 4 needed more than 13 episodes to live up to its potential. I thinkit needed 20 episodes. TheRepublic City being captured in episode 12 and 13 and the heroesescape to the Fire Nation and plan a way to take the United Republic and Earth Kingdom back. I'll miss LoK. It was a great series and a worthy sequel to A: TLA.

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  • Avatar of Kwando7

    Kwando7

    [17]Dec 19, 2014
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    I agree with a lot of your points. As great as the final was it lacked a wow factor. I like Hiroshi's redemption which gave the ending more risk even tho he hadn't been around for long. I was expecting at least some of the group to be badly injured from the cannon firing on the base. When I heard we would find out about Varrick's past I was interested but they sort of just shovelled it out there and to be honest his past sounds interesting, didn't he make mention of being kidnapped by circus performers? I'd have loved to hear how that went. I agree that the series could have had a few more episodes obviously they spend these two episodes taking down the "colossus" they could have had Kuvira retreat and spend the remaining so many episodes fighting against her army. I was sort of holding out and expecting Zuko's daughter to do something awesome since she's had so little time around her compared to everyone else.


    In a way they could have had the explosion with the cannon and Korra "re-connect" with her past lives or at least Aang through "magic". Although I'm glad they didn't, it would have cheapened season2 even further but I think they could have had something there during Korra and Kuvira's spirit teleportation. I mean if the explosion could make a portal it could have done any number of things.


    I had sort of wished that during the credits they included pictures of the original group growing up together with their kids leading to their adult lives. Then following Korra, Bolin, Mako and Asami as kids growing up. To top it off maybe show off what they will look like as adults. It's the lack of which Ihope there will be another series following the tale of the Earthbending Avatar trying to master new bending techniques



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    cabutoyammay

    [18]Dec 19, 2014
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    I liked the finale for reasons that differ and coincide with points made. Full thoughts will be posted alongside Noel's review.

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    RaizenYusuke

    [19]Dec 19, 2014
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    What did you guys think of the ending with Korra and Asami? It seems like there is a debate going on over rather it was meant to be platonic or romantic in nature. I felt like it was supposed to be romantic. I know it is a kid's show and that two women can be close without having it be romantic, but I got that vibe. The ending felt like A: TLA for me to where it ended with protagonist taking a big step with his love interest. The hand holding was innocent, butKorra and Asami did seem to be sharing a loving gaze before it ended. It's hard to tell what the creator intentions were you know.


    In general I felt Korra and Asami's relationship was platonic for book 3 and most of book 4. I could see why fans thought it could evolve into romantic I didn't think it would happen since it is a kid show and they tend to avoid topics like sexuality. That ending just seemed to have to much of a romantic undertones to it for me to just brush off completely.

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    VirusMonster

    [20]Dec 19, 2014
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    RaizenYusuke wrote:

    What did you guys think of the ending with Korra and Asami? It seems like there is a debate going on over rather it was meant to be platonic or romantic in nature. I felt like it was supposed to be romantic. I know it is a kid's show and that two women can be close without having it be romantic, but I got that vibe. The ending felt like A: TLA for me to where it ended with protagonist taking a big step with his love interest. The hand holding was innocent, butKorra and Asami did seem to be sharing a loving gaze before it ended. It's hard to tell what the creator intentions were you know.


    In general I felt Korra and Asami's relationship was platonic for book 3 and most of book 4. I could see why fans thought it could evolve into romantic I didn't think it would happen since it is a kid show and they tend to avoid topics like sexuality. That ending just seemed to have to much of a romantic undertones to it for me to just brush off completely.



    I'm glad I wasn't the only one to think that, it came off with a vibe of them begin too close then normal BFFs. Well I want to keep them as just that, best friends with a sister-like relationship and nothing more, but did they creators really have to make the scene like that?

    Kinda makes me think what a vacation throughout the Spirit World would be like.

    Anyway it's sad that the Old Team Avatar didn't show up for the finale or the Fire Nation explored and Zuko's daughter. I know in the comics Mai kinda broke up with Zuko in the first comic series, I think it was called "Promise"? Though I don't know if they got back together again seeing as Mai left him because he was keeping secrets from her which he couldn't seem to trust to tell her which was if he was doing the right thing by not forcing his Fire citizens to left the Earth Kingdom as some of them married the Earth Kingdom people and have kids and the kids thought of themselves as both and didn't want to leave and Zuko was wondering if he was becoming like his father which scared him.

    It's sad that this was a mini-series, if this was a full-fledged series I think the episode pacing and character would've been much better. I would've loved that the explosion of the Spirit Vines allowed Korra to see and speak to Aang one last time before the connection was gone for good and Aang being proud of her for returning the Airbenders back to the world and stop Kuvira without killing her.

    Good series, but there could've been more. I would've LOVE to see two Avatars, a Light one and Dark one, co-exist at the same time due to Harmonic Convergence though someone else instead of Unalaq, like say for example Korra had an adopted younger brother who was a Fire Bender and was an opposite to her personality in the beginning with her rash and impatient and him calm and patient and he jumped in the way for Vaatu to fuse with Unalaq and took the Dark Spirit onto himself and got stuck together via Harmonic Convergence and Vaatu sees more potential in him than Unalaq and tries to control him and sees his own resentment towards himself at how weak he is compare to his friends and felt like he was holding him back... actually I had this idea around the Book 2 finale yet I cannot remember the exact details... oh, it was resentment towards the world and he hates how people act towards each other, robbing, hurting, and other inhuman things and wanted to put a stop to it along with Korra but felt like he couldn't change a thing.

    Well as the boy struggles back for control against Vaatu, Korra goes into the Giant Avatar Spirit State like before and tries to call out to her younger brother to seize control and stop Vaatu... which manages to him help seize control a bit and sends them back to the Spirit World where they BOTH get hit by Harmonic Convergence and thus their lives are tied together forever forcing both Light and Dark to both die and reborn together at the same time forever bond. At that time Vaatu is under the control of the new Dark Avatar and both Avatars work together now to bring peace to both Human and Spirit World.

    I saw that the Dark Avatar had an attune ability to sense people's emotions and saw that he can call out to the person's emotion "darken" emotions and the Light Avatar, Korra, can use her spirit calming technique to relax the person and disperse their dark feelings and make them calm and happy again to show a level of teamwork and co-exist between Light and Dark to work together to use both their abilities and can bring out the best from each other. However I do see Vaatu as a problem and the new Dark Avatar struggles to keep in check Vaatu's destructive impulses and trains himself to prevent Vaatu from influencing him and possible future Dark Avatars. Well the Light Avatar can bend all 4 elements I like to see the Dark Avatar to being able to bend "raw chi energy" like the laser beams from before and such other abilities he can bend exclusively to him.

    Though this could be a bad fanfic idea, but I thought it would be cool and a start of a new era of two Avatars.

    Anyway I hope they continue with the comic series! I want to know what happens next in Aang's adventures before Book 3 and The Legend of Korra.
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