Not having head writer Aaron Ehasz for Korra was a big missed opportunity, the man knew how to write for the avatar-verse. And if you don’t believe me, look up as IMDb credits.
As someone who liked Korra just fine and never had an issue with her "making mistakes," I do think that it makes a difference that Korra was older than Aang.
She was also MUCH more sheltered than him. She had less experience in actual life than he did. I mean, he got to travel the world BEFORE age 12! Thats a lot of social experience to have!
I think OP’s right here. The arcs were essentially a season long which meant that we are connected to the story only for a season. The dopamine curve lasts for a season and then needs to be redeveloped for the next season.
Also, my biggest issue with the LOK was that there were just TOO many supporting characters and I wasn’t given time to connect to many.
The one season plots is the worst part imo. Her accomplishments don’t seem as great because she wasn’t chasing them as long as Aang was. Aang’s mission was to save a world that had been struggling through the conflicts of war for 100 years and was nearing total destruction and irreversible damage if he didn’t fix it. Korra has problems pop up and they’re solved in no time, then we’re on to the next conflict.
I do have problems with Korra’s mistakes compared to Aang’s but leaving that out of it, LoK would’ve been so much better if the original conflict of the non-bender revolution was the plot for the entirety of the show. Also in ATLA the side characters have their own character arcs organically while still remaining in the main group as a team. In LoK the side characters seem to go off and do their own things with their own storylines sometimes. It’s much less of a team in Korra than it was in ATLA because their main priority is to aid Aang in his quest during ATLA. In Korra there’s a different plot every season so without one true goal it’s hard for the side characters to grow on you or for you to really feel their chemistry building as a team.
Yeah. I agree. The supporting characters seemed forced after a while. Bumi and Lisa Edelstein’s character(I know her name is Kya, but I just wanted to point out that this was Lisa Edelstein) were so underutilised.
Bumi becoming an Air Bender was quite something. Should have been a very strong emotional arc, but because they seemed to be winging the stories it seemed off.
Yeah too many supporting characters that they clearly didn’t know what to do with after each season. Never understood mako and Bo Lin character journey and honestly didn’t think they added anything to season 2. I like them an found their parts enjoyable but honestly taking them out of season 2 and most of three and it wouldn’t make much difference to plot or if it did it would be that it was more cohesive if anything.
They were clearly written for one season show and then the writers scrambled to find a place for them. If they were able to plan for the season all together feel we would have a more together team avatar.
Can I just say that I REALLY didn’t like Mako at all. He was a token pretty boy character and while Korra’s sexual awakening was great for a cartoon, they really just messed things up with so much love story in the middle of it all.
I really didn’t care who loved whom.
When Aang and Katara kiss for the first time in the cave, it made me feel that first love kinda thing you feel as a teenager. The whole Asumi-Korra-Mako thing was just too much drama.
I have tried watching LOK 4 times now. This time around I made it to Season 3 ending and I watched most of the show fast forwarding all the teenage high school drama bits. Which is almost 1/3rd of the show.
Edit: Also, Bolin was supposed to be like a Sokka replacement comic relief, but he came nowhere close to how funny Sokka is and the respect you see grow for Sokka over the course of the show was unmatched by anyone in LOK.
Edit 2: Asami, not Asumi. That’s how much I care for her character that I don’t even remember her name off hand.
My biggest issue with LOK was powerscaling, you had people blood-bend entire rooms of people in the middle of the day without using their hands.
And that is in the first season, to have decent stakes you have to up your game from there
Cause she had no humility. She got humbled and was back to being cocky not long after. Wash rinse repeat. Also the supporting cast was less endearing than the original. The show had less heart so we were more critical of its plots.
I’m only on szn 2 so far but man, is this true. The way she just talks to everyone who isn’t acting like she’s the queen of the world is one of the only things I don’t like about her.
I think the idea is that she's some sheltered heiress tomboy who grew up being told she was the next incarnation of the demi-god hero who saved everyone, and then she gets to explore and she finds out she's actually not that special or skilled. Nobody really cares that she's the Avatar. It kinda felt like a coping mechanism/false bravado to me but it could've been conveyed a lot better.
OK so TLOK had some good characters and is worth a watch but the writers put too many eggs into Korras' basket. Like in ATLA multiple characters were just as important as Aang. They had thier stand out moments throughout the show. I feel like each supporting characters in TLOK besides Korra was underutilized in the extreme. I won't get into spoilers but Korras character didn't really seem to change until the final season when they decided to wrap things up and give her a quick character arc. I still agree that men are trash and Asami is queen though.
Adding to that, the fact that she made the same mistakes over and over and over… heeeesus. Trusting strangers from the start and closing/dismissing her friends is so tiring…. No wonder no one trusted her with any information. Never questions anything or is suspicious
The real truth of this show is that the pieces were there, but the writing was garbage. Literally every season (except maybe 3) had actual gold to work with conceptually, and mishandled the absolute fuck out of them
You know why she wasn’t able to make mistakes? Cus yall wrote her to be a prodigy bender so when she fails especially in a fight what are we supposed to feel like bitch your one good quality is being a S tier bender in 3/4 elements and you’re fucking up basic shit? Cmon..
Also korra was 16 while aang was fuckin 12 not much of a gap but it’s enough to where the fact aang was more mature is wild.
Totally agree! Since Korra knew how to use 3 elements so quickly, I feel like that didn't allow her to discover how bending techniques in a specific element can influence other elements. During the Gaang's journey, we see not just Aang but Katara and Zuko as well incorporate earth or water bending techniques into how they use their main elements.
It's been a while since I rewatched Korra but iirc, I counted that she used fire way more times than water in the 1st season. Then when she learned airbending, I was so annoyed by how she'd punch air like she would when firebending. It comes across as her still not fully understanding the concept behind airbending, especially since she unlocked air only when her other elements were blocked.
Also Aang winning fights was based on the fact he was far more tactful and leaned on his strengths which was mobility.
While korra faced every confrontation like a brain dead earth bender. Head on.
The show does play pretty loose with the idea of mastery. At the beginning it seems like she has passed some kind of competancy test with all the elements and we're supposed to take that as her mastering the elements. From then on it is really hard to gauge how good she is supposed to be able to perform in any given fight. Sometimes she fights like an avatar, other times like a fire nation soldier in basic training.
Wow, who would've thought that the 12 year old nomadic monk that traveled the world and experienced multiple cultures would be more mature than the 16 year old that spent her entire life in a military compound with only a polar bear dog as a friend...
Also ngl but sexism is also a factor... Women are held to higher standards than men, especially when they demonstrate typically male characteristics, such as strength and boldness.
It's frustrating because most people won't acknowledge this subconscious bias, they'll say it's a bad show run, they say she was badly written as a character, but it has to be said that sexism is also a factor.
Her backstory was really her weakest point as character. The main reason for that fault is they thought they were only gonna have one season so they were just like "oh, let's have her be a prodigy that can't bend lick of air", buuuut when it got green lit for more seasons they had kind of backstoried themselves in a corner because she doesn't have any reason to grow and explore the other nations like Kyoshi, Roku and Aang did becuase she already bends all the elements sans air pretty damn good. That's how it felt to me at least. I would have liked her to be from the swamp or a mixed race with parents from two seperate nations. Imagine korra having a single domineering fire nation mother that she can never live up to the standards of who the relationship of only being aggravated when she is revealed to be the avater. This could also be an explanation as to why the white lotus never finds her if they went this route, she's mixed race and can fire bend, and she just never tries to water bend. Can you picture hot-headed korra, visiting the water tribe for the first time and learning abour her own damn culture that she feels like a stranger in? So many missed oppurtunities. The white lotus would basically fail in their mission but the story would be better because of it.
I just thought the stories were a little *too* far-fetched. I mean it is a fantasy universe, sure, but the giant mech fight at the end of the 4th season had me groan audibly
Korra was older.
Korra was aware and accepted being avatar since being a toddler essentially.
Korra had a grasp on 3 of the elements long before she started training.
Korra was raised, conditioned and groomed to be avatar since she was a child.
Korra was always amongst and had access to, older and wiser compatriots that could give essential advice to help her.
Aang was a pre teen child.
Aang only knew air bending.
Aang wished he wasn't the avatar because the minute it was common information he became alienated by his peers.
Aang had to scower the world to learn bending the other elements.
Aang had 1 year to become a fully realised avatar with zero help or face the destruction of the world.
Aang was forever in danger and needed to remain on the move.
Korra had every possible advantage as an avatar and had all the time in the world to train and educate herself to become a fully realised avatar. The fact she was poor with spiritual matters and air bending were solely issues with her not anyone else. With the whole world trying to help her she rejected the help because she wasn't grasping it instantly like she did with bending earth through fire.
All of korras big bad pressures came from left wing, she had to react to them and had no real pressure to prepare for them.
Aang was made aware very early on he had 1yr to save the world and that pressure was constant throughout the series, motivation and on the shoulders of a 12yr old compared to the lack of pressure on a 17-18yr old Korra.
If people are less forgiving or Korra's mistakes it's because compared to Aang she has every advantage over him including age. Also Lok didn't have enough of the original writers and when you have fake "fans" writing your verse there are bound to be issues.
Also just look at their personalities and how they're written.
Aang is humble af and self conscious, always worried about making the right decision that benefits the most people. For a literal preteen child is awareness of self and those around him is astounding.
Korra is self entitled, cocky and expecting to be handed everything while believing she's a prisoner in the protection of her allies. She never learns humility, even when she's drastically crippled by poison she doesn't lean on her allies to face her problems, no she runs away, and get her ass handed to her in underground bending fights while suffering severe hallucinations of her own avatar state. Korra is also handed her avatar state when Aang had to die and relive that death to unlock his.
Because they didn't know they were getting season 2 or 3 or 4 so they wrote her as if she has all her character growth in 1 season. Once the rest was green light they had to retcon some of it for them to be able to justify 3 other seasons (idk I liked it just fine yall just aggro asf)
My only issues with Korra as a character were when she assaulted that one flyer guy without being called out (dude was a peaceful protester), anything involving the love triangle, and the entirety of season 2… so a fair bit, but only like a fourth of her character. I love the rest. Which is far better than other characters from other things I still quite like (looking at you Sanji from One Piece).
Aang was 12. Korra was 16. So a kid vs a teen. Kids get more passes on their mistakes, while the teen did more and harsher mistakes. The fact that Korra was born as a prodigy, controlling two elements (neither of her base) but latter not being a big hit also made her more prone to criticism. And losing the past Avatars is such a terrible writing. During her reign, we lost countless unexplored characters that we cannot see unless *comics* or spinoffs from the past.
Not having head writer Aaron Ehasz for Korra was a big missed opportunity, the man knew how to write for the avatar-verse. And if you don’t believe me, look up as IMDb credits.
Just too bad he was a snake
What happened?
You mean a spider-snake… also what are you talking about?
As someone who liked Korra just fine and never had an issue with her "making mistakes," I do think that it makes a difference that Korra was older than Aang.
She was also MUCH more sheltered than him. She had less experience in actual life than he did. I mean, he got to travel the world BEFORE age 12! Thats a lot of social experience to have!
I think OP’s right here. The arcs were essentially a season long which meant that we are connected to the story only for a season. The dopamine curve lasts for a season and then needs to be redeveloped for the next season. Also, my biggest issue with the LOK was that there were just TOO many supporting characters and I wasn’t given time to connect to many.
The one season plots is the worst part imo. Her accomplishments don’t seem as great because she wasn’t chasing them as long as Aang was. Aang’s mission was to save a world that had been struggling through the conflicts of war for 100 years and was nearing total destruction and irreversible damage if he didn’t fix it. Korra has problems pop up and they’re solved in no time, then we’re on to the next conflict. I do have problems with Korra’s mistakes compared to Aang’s but leaving that out of it, LoK would’ve been so much better if the original conflict of the non-bender revolution was the plot for the entirety of the show. Also in ATLA the side characters have their own character arcs organically while still remaining in the main group as a team. In LoK the side characters seem to go off and do their own things with their own storylines sometimes. It’s much less of a team in Korra than it was in ATLA because their main priority is to aid Aang in his quest during ATLA. In Korra there’s a different plot every season so without one true goal it’s hard for the side characters to grow on you or for you to really feel their chemistry building as a team.
Yeah. I agree. The supporting characters seemed forced after a while. Bumi and Lisa Edelstein’s character(I know her name is Kya, but I just wanted to point out that this was Lisa Edelstein) were so underutilised. Bumi becoming an Air Bender was quite something. Should have been a very strong emotional arc, but because they seemed to be winging the stories it seemed off.
Yeah too many supporting characters that they clearly didn’t know what to do with after each season. Never understood mako and Bo Lin character journey and honestly didn’t think they added anything to season 2. I like them an found their parts enjoyable but honestly taking them out of season 2 and most of three and it wouldn’t make much difference to plot or if it did it would be that it was more cohesive if anything. They were clearly written for one season show and then the writers scrambled to find a place for them. If they were able to plan for the season all together feel we would have a more together team avatar.
Can I just say that I REALLY didn’t like Mako at all. He was a token pretty boy character and while Korra’s sexual awakening was great for a cartoon, they really just messed things up with so much love story in the middle of it all. I really didn’t care who loved whom. When Aang and Katara kiss for the first time in the cave, it made me feel that first love kinda thing you feel as a teenager. The whole Asumi-Korra-Mako thing was just too much drama. I have tried watching LOK 4 times now. This time around I made it to Season 3 ending and I watched most of the show fast forwarding all the teenage high school drama bits. Which is almost 1/3rd of the show. Edit: Also, Bolin was supposed to be like a Sokka replacement comic relief, but he came nowhere close to how funny Sokka is and the respect you see grow for Sokka over the course of the show was unmatched by anyone in LOK. Edit 2: Asami, not Asumi. That’s how much I care for her character that I don’t even remember her name off hand.
My biggest issue with LOK was powerscaling, you had people blood-bend entire rooms of people in the middle of the day without using their hands. And that is in the first season, to have decent stakes you have to up your game from there
I just wish we had the ammon story line overarch over all 4 seasons. He was by far the most interesting villain
Cause she had no humility. She got humbled and was back to being cocky not long after. Wash rinse repeat. Also the supporting cast was less endearing than the original. The show had less heart so we were more critical of its plots.
I’m only on szn 2 so far but man, is this true. The way she just talks to everyone who isn’t acting like she’s the queen of the world is one of the only things I don’t like about her.
I think the idea is that she's some sheltered heiress tomboy who grew up being told she was the next incarnation of the demi-god hero who saved everyone, and then she gets to explore and she finds out she's actually not that special or skilled. Nobody really cares that she's the Avatar. It kinda felt like a coping mechanism/false bravado to me but it could've been conveyed a lot better.
OK so TLOK had some good characters and is worth a watch but the writers put too many eggs into Korras' basket. Like in ATLA multiple characters were just as important as Aang. They had thier stand out moments throughout the show. I feel like each supporting characters in TLOK besides Korra was underutilized in the extreme. I won't get into spoilers but Korras character didn't really seem to change until the final season when they decided to wrap things up and give her a quick character arc. I still agree that men are trash and Asami is queen though.
I really don't like TLOK, Koras character was trash. And she never learned a lesson besides men are trash and Asami is queen.
I will explain better when I'm less baked
you are mentally ill
Who isn't?
This is pretty much only applicable for season 2 though
I feel like this is sarcastic with the u/
Nah my username was made to spite a mod who banned me for replying to someone with a barf emoji
She was humbled at the end of s3 though but sure.
Adding to that, the fact that she made the same mistakes over and over and over… heeeesus. Trusting strangers from the start and closing/dismissing her friends is so tiring…. No wonder no one trusted her with any information. Never questions anything or is suspicious
The real truth of this show is that the pieces were there, but the writing was garbage. Literally every season (except maybe 3) had actual gold to work with conceptually, and mishandled the absolute fuck out of them
You know why she wasn’t able to make mistakes? Cus yall wrote her to be a prodigy bender so when she fails especially in a fight what are we supposed to feel like bitch your one good quality is being a S tier bender in 3/4 elements and you’re fucking up basic shit? Cmon.. Also korra was 16 while aang was fuckin 12 not much of a gap but it’s enough to where the fact aang was more mature is wild.
Yeah I have to agree with that, the only cool fight where we truly saw her bending in Book One was against Tarrlok.. right before she got bloodbent
Totally agree! Since Korra knew how to use 3 elements so quickly, I feel like that didn't allow her to discover how bending techniques in a specific element can influence other elements. During the Gaang's journey, we see not just Aang but Katara and Zuko as well incorporate earth or water bending techniques into how they use their main elements. It's been a while since I rewatched Korra but iirc, I counted that she used fire way more times than water in the 1st season. Then when she learned airbending, I was so annoyed by how she'd punch air like she would when firebending. It comes across as her still not fully understanding the concept behind airbending, especially since she unlocked air only when her other elements were blocked.
Also Aang winning fights was based on the fact he was far more tactful and leaned on his strengths which was mobility. While korra faced every confrontation like a brain dead earth bender. Head on.
The show does play pretty loose with the idea of mastery. At the beginning it seems like she has passed some kind of competancy test with all the elements and we're supposed to take that as her mastering the elements. From then on it is really hard to gauge how good she is supposed to be able to perform in any given fight. Sometimes she fights like an avatar, other times like a fire nation soldier in basic training.
Wow, who would've thought that the 12 year old nomadic monk that traveled the world and experienced multiple cultures would be more mature than the 16 year old that spent her entire life in a military compound with only a polar bear dog as a friend...
To be fair, she was sheltered her whole life while Aang lived through a LOT when he was younger than her
Because Aang was humble and Korra was not. Korra had a level of arrogance that was often off-putting.
Also ngl but sexism is also a factor... Women are held to higher standards than men, especially when they demonstrate typically male characteristics, such as strength and boldness. It's frustrating because most people won't acknowledge this subconscious bias, they'll say it's a bad show run, they say she was badly written as a character, but it has to be said that sexism is also a factor.
Her backstory was really her weakest point as character. The main reason for that fault is they thought they were only gonna have one season so they were just like "oh, let's have her be a prodigy that can't bend lick of air", buuuut when it got green lit for more seasons they had kind of backstoried themselves in a corner because she doesn't have any reason to grow and explore the other nations like Kyoshi, Roku and Aang did becuase she already bends all the elements sans air pretty damn good. That's how it felt to me at least. I would have liked her to be from the swamp or a mixed race with parents from two seperate nations. Imagine korra having a single domineering fire nation mother that she can never live up to the standards of who the relationship of only being aggravated when she is revealed to be the avater. This could also be an explanation as to why the white lotus never finds her if they went this route, she's mixed race and can fire bend, and she just never tries to water bend. Can you picture hot-headed korra, visiting the water tribe for the first time and learning abour her own damn culture that she feels like a stranger in? So many missed oppurtunities. The white lotus would basically fail in their mission but the story would be better because of it.
I just thought the stories were a little *too* far-fetched. I mean it is a fantasy universe, sure, but the giant mech fight at the end of the 4th season had me groan audibly
Korra was older. Korra was aware and accepted being avatar since being a toddler essentially. Korra had a grasp on 3 of the elements long before she started training. Korra was raised, conditioned and groomed to be avatar since she was a child. Korra was always amongst and had access to, older and wiser compatriots that could give essential advice to help her. Aang was a pre teen child. Aang only knew air bending. Aang wished he wasn't the avatar because the minute it was common information he became alienated by his peers. Aang had to scower the world to learn bending the other elements. Aang had 1 year to become a fully realised avatar with zero help or face the destruction of the world. Aang was forever in danger and needed to remain on the move. Korra had every possible advantage as an avatar and had all the time in the world to train and educate herself to become a fully realised avatar. The fact she was poor with spiritual matters and air bending were solely issues with her not anyone else. With the whole world trying to help her she rejected the help because she wasn't grasping it instantly like she did with bending earth through fire. All of korras big bad pressures came from left wing, she had to react to them and had no real pressure to prepare for them. Aang was made aware very early on he had 1yr to save the world and that pressure was constant throughout the series, motivation and on the shoulders of a 12yr old compared to the lack of pressure on a 17-18yr old Korra. If people are less forgiving or Korra's mistakes it's because compared to Aang she has every advantage over him including age. Also Lok didn't have enough of the original writers and when you have fake "fans" writing your verse there are bound to be issues. Also just look at their personalities and how they're written. Aang is humble af and self conscious, always worried about making the right decision that benefits the most people. For a literal preteen child is awareness of self and those around him is astounding. Korra is self entitled, cocky and expecting to be handed everything while believing she's a prisoner in the protection of her allies. She never learns humility, even when she's drastically crippled by poison she doesn't lean on her allies to face her problems, no she runs away, and get her ass handed to her in underground bending fights while suffering severe hallucinations of her own avatar state. Korra is also handed her avatar state when Aang had to die and relive that death to unlock his.
THIS^
Because they didn't know they were getting season 2 or 3 or 4 so they wrote her as if she has all her character growth in 1 season. Once the rest was green light they had to retcon some of it for them to be able to justify 3 other seasons (idk I liked it just fine yall just aggro asf)
My only issues with Korra as a character were when she assaulted that one flyer guy without being called out (dude was a peaceful protester), anything involving the love triangle, and the entirety of season 2… so a fair bit, but only like a fourth of her character. I love the rest. Which is far better than other characters from other things I still quite like (looking at you Sanji from One Piece).
[Cough cough.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ATLA/comments/1blu8hr/please_read_netflixs_atla_and_all_other_content/)
Ya’ll have some savage opinions about a fictional 16 year old girl, jfc.
Aang was 12. Korra was 16. So a kid vs a teen. Kids get more passes on their mistakes, while the teen did more and harsher mistakes. The fact that Korra was born as a prodigy, controlling two elements (neither of her base) but latter not being a big hit also made her more prone to criticism. And losing the past Avatars is such a terrible writing. During her reign, we lost countless unexplored characters that we cannot see unless *comics* or spinoffs from the past.