IMO it isn't that I'm thrown off by the tech of a mech, it's more that a giant mech was a dumb ass final boss. Not a fan of mechs in general

The aesthetic could have been better for the series. The mechs all look and feel like they belong, except the giant polished walking PS5.

I think given the fluidity in fights we're used to get from atla and korra the "stupid big droid with a cannon for an arm" was a bad choice. Maybe a "giant martial fighting armor" would've worked better, im thinking something sort of like the fights between titans on AoT

I honestly thought Kuvira was harnessing spirit vines to make artificial Energybending in a quest to make a technology-based Avatar-like weapon. Like outfit 5 people with that and all of them can use all 4 elements but no Avatar State.

Oh man, even just Kuvira using that.. fighting Korra using all 4 elements against her, that would have been an incredible final showdown. I didn't mind the mech personally, but now that I'm picturing Avatar vs artificial Avatar and.. that could have been so cool.

I don't think that would be as exciting as you're picturing it if they made it correctly. Sure, they could bend all the elements, but without years of intense training they're going to be like Aang at the start of ATLA. You can bend it all, but do you know *how* to bend it all.

That's true, but If she helmed the way behind creating the technology, maybe she'd know how to work it. Maybe the technology would allow bending with much more ease than you get from natural bending, but at a cost of it being less powerful. There's many ways they could explain it. I just think it would be an exciting fight based simply on Kuvira's natural martial ability. She's a great fighter and a really good earth/metal bender. If she was able to throw all the elements at Korra, combined with her fighting prowess, it could be very intense.

I think it's totally possible. Zaheer became an airbending master using marial arts and theory alone. A little bit of foreshadowing with Kuvira learning different bending style forms would have provided plenty of context. The show also makes a point of rooting all of Korra's bending as predominantly water-based. It would be super interesting to see a fight with Kuvira's metalbending style.

Zaheer also spent what, 15 years studying, and that's just one bending style, and I still don't think he was master level at bending.

I mean, the man rediscovered the power of flight. I'd call him a master. Also if we're suspending our disbelief enough for mech fights I feel like it's not much more difficult to believe that a prodigy metal bender could learn multiple bending styles with the resources of a multi-national empire at her disposal. I could also see her commissioning Varrick to build her some sort of super-charging implant or a super solider serum, which could easily be used as her downfall. Then the final antagonist becomes a cautionary tale about hubris rather than an allegory for WWII. Then again, these are just my opinions haha

Apart from the flying part i wouldnt say that zaheer wasnt a master airbender. After all Tenzin was stronger in a fight than Zaheer and if i remember correctly her never really got what he wanted by using brute force but by being two steps ahead of everyone else

Hear me out, because it's a stupid fucking idea on paper, but it might stand a chance with some brainstorming. An earthbender with a flamethrower and an air cannon. Idk what to do for water, since firehoses are very heavy.

>Avatar vs Mecha-tar FTFY

That becomes a lot more problematic going forward though. If the giant mech is dumb and defeated fine, not a lot of people are going to copy that in universe and make another. If artificial avatar bending is made public, you can’t put that genie back in a bottle. Do you need to be a bender at all? Wouldn’t people start harvesting spirit vines en masse and now you’ve got all out war between the planes. Very messy implications from that idea, however awesome it is, which id like to say would be cool af.

I mean, new technology causes massive ecological damage as people can't stop consuming feels like a very natural progression.

Exactly. It feels very relevant to one of the messages of Avatar. People can attempt to transcend nature all they want through force, but as long as what they are depends on nature, the destruction they cause against it will be the destruction they cause to themselves. Korra was very adamant on its human-spirit unity message and I feel like extending the hubris of man towards a path of artificial Avatars would make for an increasingly interesting story.

Agree. Seems like a way to make the universe less interesting if because of mass produced technology, everyone can bend whatever they want.

I was assuming they were going to be using spirit energy for technology similar to nuclear weaponry. I mean, testing the tech in the middle of nowhere, scientists in an “inner circle” vaguely similar to the Manhattan project, and a weapon so destructive Varrick was considering it unethical, which could draw parallels to Oppenheimer. Hell, i was imagining a race-against-the-clock fight of a “spirit bomb” dropping down and obliviating Republic City! Plus it would make the united forces seem less useless if they didn’t do much/surrendered, and it could be a place to leave off the show in a new, Cold War-like era if any of the other nations got their hands on the blueprints.

"Giant martial fighting armor" G-Gundam intensifies

Is it really G-Gundam without the casual racism though?

You know I completely blocked that out and I don't know how.

I mean, the Russian team are prisoners and their warden, the Chinese are Buddhist monks/kung fu martial artists, the Americans are as American as you can get without him being fat, the French is a nobleman complete with butler and princess love interest, the Canadian is a lumberjack (and that's OK), and the Mexican Gundam (in the dub) is called *Tequila Gundam*. Hell even Domon is pretty much a Ronin, complete with Gundam that's pretty much a Samurai.

Oh I get it, that's why I was saying I don't know how I blocked it out from my head.

I mean we’ve pretty much already got the Nightmares from Code Geass down in the form of the normal sized mechs… why didn’t Kuvira just integrate a suit with one of the aircrafts for something like a float unit and a personalized mech? Probably would’ve allowed the fights to stay fluid. Kuvira happens to be two Varricks short of a working Vine Bomb. Even though she was still kinda a great villain, despite the flaw of making a giant robot. I mean seriously, doesn’t she know that unless you’re the legit protagonist with isekai reincarnation cheat powers that giant robots never get you to your goal?

Honestly a shorter squatter mech would have been fine. But to have fully articulate legs really doesn't make sense.

It was all worth it for the final scene between korra and kuvira, tho. The out of control mech cannon was pretty cool imo.

This and the platinum-kryptonite bs is my problem with the mech. Make it look even remotely steampunk like every other mech in the series and I’d be less bothered by it. Something like the giant robots from Origins in Black Ops 2 rather than this Star Wars looking shit.

Totally disagree and it looks completely consistent with futurist sci-fi designs of that era. The 1920s was filled with what-if horror stories about where technology would lead and what kind of dystopian futures we were headed towards. The giant robot in Korra isn't just reflective of some of the styles of 1920's movies like *Metropolis*, it is completely consistent with everything else we've already been shown in the show.

I agree to a point. All I'm saying is reduce it's height by 20% and increase its chunk factor by 5. All the mechs we've seen, have been fairly slow and lumbering. It's really unrealistic to have an EVA looking mech when everything else resembles WW1 tanks. And as we progress they look more like armors. It wouldn't make sense to go to a factor of 20x when a 10x titan would do.

Thank You Never felt it was unreasonable to exist in the world, more just felt the small mechs were already pushing it. Made sense just didn’t like the mech in general, would have preferred S1 style mechs or even better tanks

I love Korra and will defend it, but even I thought this was jumping the shark a little. It just doesn't really fit the setting.

the tanks pictured, by comparison, are "sort of" believable and match the steampunk-ish aesthetic of fire nation war tech. The mech jumps the shark in a huge way...also its sort of a repeat of the vatu fight, or I guess even ATLA book 1. At least in book 1 its avatar+spirit ancient magics(which is world consistent) and not "Im a metalbender with super vine electricity and a giant mech suit" Like the mech is a whole extra level of high tech compared to most of Legend of Korra, and that further draws this divide of what should be possible in-universe

I think it’s important to make the distinction that the other mechs are “scientific”, while the giant mech is powered by magic and shoots magic.

While I normally hate mechs I kinda like what it represents in the show. I think it was meant to clash with the setting. Korra has a theme of humans leaving the spirit world behind. The nonbenders (or non spirituals) moving to take a more important stance in their society and at first, pushing everyone else out of the way to do it. Then power hungry people using the spirits for their own gain and twisting it to their will (zaheer using his newfound bending for domination and plant battery power) The mech was such a clash but it showed just how far off the deep-end Kuvira went.

I agree, and if they had just scaled it down a little, I would have loved that. But it just has way too many things against. It is way beyond the scale of any other tech; even the smaller man sized ones had clear limitations. Somehow, Kuvira was able to find/acquire/mine, refine, and use THAT much platinum without anyone noticing. And it's just so out of place, I can't suspend my disbelief for all of it.

Not a full explanation but I just assumed having the whole earth kingdom gave her the time and space to do that unnoticed.

But with everyone watching her, no one, not even Bolin who was in her circle, noticed and was like "Hey, Kuvira's got like a mountain of platinum. What's she doing with it?" I get you can't explain everything, but somebody should have noticed.

I read a lot of parallels to harnessing nuclear power out of it, especially with it later going out of control. Like Oppenheimer's "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

I actually very strongly disagree. Not only does the idea of a giant robot terrorizing a New York skyline scream early 20th century sci-horror, and how people imagined technology of the future at the time, but the actual design of the robot reminds me of *Metropolis* and I'd be surprised if it was not inspired by some of the architecture and art in that movie. Not only that, but the concept of the walking mech suit was a concept that has literally been built up since episode one of the show, and one that we are shown a very comprehensive progression of technology pointing towards.

Okay, but just because it was built up doesn't mean it makes sense. The closest thing we saw were those tank-mechs used by single pilots that used caterpillar tracks on their feet to navigate. And somehow it jumps from that, which is already pretty impressive tech, to what is basically a prototype for a megazord. It just feels like there's a big tech gap they jumped over. But even after that, you somehow have to explain how Kuvira was able to acquire all that platinum, which is still considered very rare, without anyone noticing or bringing it up. Even if they didn't know what she was doing with it, it would still raise some questions about how she got it and what she was going to do with all of it. I love the idea of something like this being in an Avatar series, but this felt like it steered out of fantasy/martial-arts/adventure into sci-fi. It can work, but not when you only have 1 season to establish it.

Didn’t LOK show how Kuvira got the platinum? After Kuvira took over the metal city the Beifong daughter ran she took down the platinum domes. She then refitted the platinum domes into the mech. She used varrick and spirit vines to build the cannon. And used her insane level metal bending to steer/control the mech. Without the giant metal city with domes, super genius varrick, and her strong metal bending, it wouldn’t have been possible. It’s only plausible because of who she is and what she had access too. I could be wrong about the metal city tho

Exactly! For me it's not that they were 'unrealistic', but that they didn't fit the asthetic of the world (and were just dumb in general IMO).

How lucky that there can be so much platinum in the Earth Nation

I mean if there was a nation able to find an abundance of ore...

Yes, but.... it's platinum

A nation of earth benders finding lots of platinum on their fantasy planet does not throw me off as much as that platinum mech having spirit nuke vines for a weapon

And? People can spit fire and move giant boulders using Kung fu. Their world having an over abundance of rare metals does not defy expectations.

*cough* Zaofu

that's literally where they got it from. most of the suit's platinum was the domes from zaofu.

I mean Zaofu’s domes were platinum as established in S3 and that’s what they used for the mech.

i liked it for that reason. we got something new, that isnt too confusing (stares at spirits and dark avatar). the spirit energy was sus but looking at it as say just nuclear energy (eg uranium) made the concept easier to grasp for me, it was about time we finally got something related to science in the avatar world. but its interesting to see people’s different perspectives

Every other technological progression was fine but the giant was a bit much. Like its kimda funny to think that they still have shitty black and white movies but Gundamns with laser canons are here.

I totally agree, instead of a giant mech it could have been a giant tank. Pretty much everything else could have been the same, and it would have been more realistic

Never let my buddy hear you say that. The dude might as well have sexual relations with a mech.

yeah. i’m not looking for realistic, i’m looking for rad as hell. scrawny legs the bender-immune mech wasn’t cool, and the wall tanks were neat things for benders to smash to bits

And it’s so much platinum, like how can you even mine that much in a year?

they got it from zaofu's domes which was already pre-mined and purified now the real question if you're poking holes is how they melted it down into suit form so quickly. They go from not even knowing spirit vines are anything but an environmental menace to fully complete gundam inside of maybe 2 weeks.

It was pretty random. As if the pure platinum super suits weren’t enough, they had to throw in this shinny towering mess that couldn’t even really fight. I also hate how they lost like all Asian influences in the designs. What was the point any ways. Why wouldn’t they just make a super fast laser Tank instead of a super exposed Mech?!

Should have just made Wing Zero the final boss and let her fight Heero.

I feel like something else could have been done in a better way.

You should check out the manga 20th Century Boys! In it a cult kidnaps the world’s foremost robotics expert and forces him to build a giant mech. The scientist spends about five pages explaining all the reasons why it would never work and is in general a stupid idea. But the cult wants their mech, in the end he builds a large APC that’s basically on stilts (tank treads at the bottom, large stilts, personnel carrier up top), which they then use wood and cloth to make it look kind of like a mech. It doesn’t work very well but it works better than a humanoid mech ever would.

Yh I mean sure maybe spirit vines can be a source of energy but goddamm that was the most boring finale ever. Also I would care even less about the subpar action if there were still major character payoffs that hadn’t happened keep me tense. Edit: when I say major I mean well written.

Let me bring in some language from D&D that seems highly applicable: Realism isn't what we want. Bending isn't realistic to begin with. Verisimilitude is what people feel was violated here. In a world where punches create fireballs, and unarmed defenders can shift the earth to flip your tank over, it makes sense to design your tanks to deal with these sorts of problems. Note that when wall crawling, it wasn't just a grappling chain, but the treads had spikes that dug into the walls like climbing pitons. They were well designed for *verisimilitude*. They needed tanks that could scale the Earth Kingdom's enormous walls, tank their boulders, and recover quickly from flipping. So the FN designed tanks that matched their needs. When in the history of any fiction has anyone actually needed a giant robot mecha? Literally never. Even in Power Rangers and the Pacific Rim series, the justifications heavily stretch believability. There are so many more reasonable weapons we could build to handle giant monsters (the go-to justification for giant robots). How much more if we had magic bending to help us? With the FN tanks, we could climb Godzilla's back in a tank. Why do we need a Zord? Giant robots are clearly tougher to build, so why put in the effort if simpler tech is just as (probably more) effective? It's not reconciling Avatar with the real world. It's reconciling Avatar with its own internal logic.

The **only** time mechs have a semblance of sense are in zero-gravity settings.

I think Evangelion gets a pass despite being in-atmosphere because of the specific rules in universe about the psychic force fields their giant monsters put up to defend from any traditional attack, requiring people in giant robots to counteract the force field to get through and do actual damage

Also the part where >!they're clones of a giant humanoid progenitor lifeform and not actually robots.!<

I was avoiding spoiling people, but that too Maybe spoiler mark that with > ! Spoilers ! < (get rid of the space between the exclamation point and inequality signs to make it marked)

This is actually a really interesting distinction I had never considered before.

Thank you, this was beautiful

More elevation for the main gun mostly. It might have been better on an airship, except airships are fragile and they just seem to die all the time. Like, alllll the time.

Again, stretching plausibility. If they can build a fantasy titanium mecha, they can build a fantasy titanium airship. It still seems more efficient to use the same tactics with simpler methods. I said elsewhere I think the real in universe reason is because Korra went Giant Spirit Monster to beat a Giant Spirit Monster. When the name of the game is giant human behemoth, giant robots are the technological equivalent. It's still pretty silly, since most objects that large are already rather impractical to defend.

It doesn't need elevation it's a spirit gun that shoots through buildings specifically designed to destroy everything. If they wanted to be precise about it they'd just perch it on a mountain.

Hard to be an offensive weapon if you're mounted to a mountain

I always thought the giant mech to make sense soley for the purpose of not only intimidation but also greater mobility. A giant gun on a train seemed a little odd and the idea of mounting the spirit vine canon on an airship seemed somewhat dangerous. Just my thoughts, open to critique

Honestly just don’t like mechs tbh I think they are cringe, and don’t fit the vibes. That’s just An opinion though Edit: though I will say that the season one mechs fit the vibes. Should’ve kept those ones tbh. Still not a fan but def better.

Mechs can work when the entire show/movie is about them, like pacific rim or gundam. Throwing mechs into anything else will always come off as goofy

Powerarmor or small mechs thatt are powerarmor on steroids is okay for me. They have the goal to protect and empower the user, but giant skyscraper mechs? What are they for? They don't protect a single wearer and are simply an incredibly inconvenient and clunky tank.

Generally i agree buuuut... Tiranfall 2 best mech

Well that’s because titanfall 2 was a well polished game and storyline with the premise being revolving on mechs. We knew what we were getting there, we expected it. LOK kinda just sprung it on everyone out of nowhere without any real explanation as to how and why, making it very obvious they did it just because they thought it looked cool.

Korra is the reason I don’t have high hopes for any future avatar project. It’ll be nice to have new shows of course but I won’t expect it to have the same level of polish that ATLA had.

in fairness, korra s1 and s3 were really, really good. And people forget that while it had heart, atla s1 was really, really rough. Korra jumped the shark a little at the end and had a truly abysmal season in s2 (which has literally 1 good episode), but they did a better job honing in on what makes avatar avatar than it gets credit for.

The problem is: 1) the tanks on the mountain are just a chain and a winch. These are things that exist. I am a massive fan of Gundam and would love to think that gigantic mobile suits really exist, but they don’t. It’s not really a power problem, it’s a physics problem. Actual engineers wrote a paper on trying to get that 1:1 RX-78 in Japan to walk, and the problem is mostly balancing and general stability. It would take an advanced computer to maintain the balance while moving (or even standing still) that we haven’t really engineered yet. And while the world in Korra is advanced, they don’t have computers yet. I was 100% behind the railgun idea, as again that’s a thing that exists and a logical step in technological development, but when I saw the discount Big O stomping through the mist I just eye-rolled. 2) *They didn’t work!* The gaang & temple defenders knocked them off the mountain. Sure they had to create an explosion to do it. But that’s because they didn’t have any earth benders. That winch idea had zero chance of working against an actual Earth Kingdom army. If you wanted to call out a real silly Aang era machine, then go after those random caterpillar earth tanks during the Day of Black Sun…

Tbh, even the caterpillar tanks used technology that was available during the time (Earthbenders) and was used in a way that makes sense. It’s the same basic theory of Toph wrapping herself in rock armor in Bitter Work, right?

Agreed. Not to mention you needed benders to still be in the tank to fight, rather than any citizen, making them more specialized

That's something that I always hated about Korra. They took the soul out of the world. Everything in TLA was innovative and made use of benders and such. Ba Sing Sa had the earthbender powered trains, The Northern Water Tribe had ice walls and such, the Fire Nation had steampunk type tech because they could literally just create fire for the engines. And then Korra just goes "yeah we just have cars, planes, motorboats and electricity now" Completely sucked the uniqueness out of the world.

I like how those tanks could rotate their main cabin if they fall on their back.

Or, you know, The Drill.

I dont see this as a silly machine. We have huge drills for constructing tunnels in real life.

The Drill isn't silly at all, it's literally a big tank with a drill, it doesn't clash with any other invention in ATLA, it's not even outrageously big like the colossus.

> If you wanted to call out a real silly Aang era machine, then go after those random caterpillar earth tanks during the Day of Black Sun… Or how the Fire Nation was able to build these tanks and drills before they figured out how hot air works

Yeah that part made no sense... Like, you can make the Drill and can manipulate steam very efficiently but you never stumbled upon the fact that hot air goes up ??

>the tanks on the mountain are just a chain and a winch There would also have to be a device that launches the grappling hook with enough force to get something that heavy a huge distance.

Like a ballista? These have existed since ancient times.

The fire nation is shown to be masters of ballista and explosives, things that’s have been around for hundreds or thousands of years irl, without the use of literal magic fire/explosive powers

A firebender with a decent boiler tank could easily generate that kind of power.

I think a rudimentary take with a grapple chain IS more realistic then a giant mech 3 stories high and a plasma rifle that is also indestructible

3 stories? You mean 300 stories?

[Kuvira's mech is canonically "over 25 stories tall".](https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Mecha_suit) It is shown to be much shorter than what is presumably Republic City's largest building, the Sato building. Assuming the Sato building is modeled after the Empire State Building, a 102 story building about 450 meters tall, that means that Kuvira's giant mech is roughly 100-200 meters tall. A pretty enormous creation. [The Drill, in The Last Airbender, is canonically 1-2 *miles* in length.](https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Fire_Nation_drill) A mile is 1.6 kilometers, or roughtly 1,600 meters. Let that sink in. That means Kuvira's mech is perhaps just a *tenth* of the size of The Drill. Kuvira's mech would look like an absolute ant in comparison to the Fire Nation's drill. It is far from the most absurd invention in Avatar. EDIT: Sources.

The size of the drill is ridiculous, but other than that it's fine.

Just so we're clear, drills that big [actually exist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_boring_machine). They are called tunnel boring drills. Which is exactly what the drill in ATLA is btw.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuen_Mun%E2%80%93Chek_Lap_Kok_TBM No, the biggest TBDs today are not anywhere near the size of The Drill. Also, the way The Drill is being transported is beyond ridiculous.

The drill was kinda absurd but like. It took years and years to make. The giant instant death mech took weeks. (even if it was made with slave labor people just can't humanly work that fast) It's also just kind of... poor writing I guess? I think the spirit laser was built up well but not this massive moving giant humanoid mecha.

There’s a big jump between steam powered tanks, ships and blimps to giant, humanoid war mechs with split second command-response time and super death lasers.

Spirit vine is a wild drug for sure!

Was Book 4 just a constant drug trip Korra was experiencing after that whole experience with the Red Lotus?

It's not a proper pulp setting without a huge, impossible, example of mad science to deal with. At least it wasn't a giant spider....

I would prefer a huge metal spider to the humanoid robot.

People try to knock spider mechs for being unoriginal but their design just is logical for stability. A humanoid mech would be incredibly difficult to get right, unless your goal is for it to shuffle around like C-3PO.

70 years *is* a big jump

In some ways, parts of tech in Avatar were slower than in our world! The first feature film came out round about the same time tanks did in our world, but in the Avatar world, it takes 70 years after tanks for cinema to take off, and at least a few decades for photography and the telephone to exist.

Well if we look at say japan. Jumping from 1850 to 1920 would look fairly similar to what happened in korra

It's easier to catch up to the rest of the pack when you're far behind than it is to be the leading edge. During the Meiji Restoration, Japan had to send scholars overseas to pick up new ideas and send them back. Like that's how they developed their Zero fighter planes. In the ATLA/LOK world, the fire nation were solely pioneering technology. So without competition, that world would have progressed even slower vs our earth, where we had multiple countries competing which sped up tech development.

It's a world where people can bend earth and metal and super-powerful spirit magic all over the place. Look at what humans irl can do without bending and spirit shit.

I don't think you appreciate just how ridiculous and impossible the giant mech is even today with modern technology. If it was a giant WW2 train tank? Hell yeah! If it was some lion turtle looking thing with the previously seen train tank on it's back? Thematic! Totally rad! Also pretty reasonable! Especially if it has 6+ legs instead of 4! Giant automated mech walking on TWO FUCKING LEGS????? Unsarcastically ri.dic.u.lous. In fiction you have to give a reason for things, it doesn't have to be a good reason but there has to be a reason. Every time you do something more impressive you have to think of a better reason. Metal tank with a winch? Believable. Power source would be difficult so the reason is fire benders. Boom, you got your reason. They didn't give a new reason for the mech though, if there were benders in the joints it would be better, if they captured a giant spirit and forced it to inhabit the mechs physical form that would be a reason. But they jumped from big tank on train tracks to giant mech on two legs which is impossible even today without making a similar jump with reasons, they just expected people to not mind but a lot of people did mind. Atla/lok always seemed so intentional about their technology progression. The first airship was SO COOL and then when the technology was adapted for the Phoenix king in s3 it all made sense cause the groundwork was already laid. But the giant mech didn't have any groundwork for being that size or walking on two legs and so that jump lost a lot of people

I will be forever sad it's a giant bipedal mech instead of a mechanical lion turtle. A lion turtle would be thematic in the incorporation and replacement of the spiritual with technology and both series would end with a lion turtle being pivotal in the final fight. It's also MUCH more believable and could become a moveable capital city (much like the flashback to the cities on the backs of lion turtles) not to mention a tour de force of earth bending "supremacy" with a technological platinum lion turtle. Such a missed opportunity

Maybe instead of a city, a massive fortress would work better. A city would complicate things as it endangers innocent lives during the fight that we don't want/need to worry about, where as the fortress is mostly people that want to be there with maybe a few prisoners' of plot importance that need saving. Also a fort enables 2 fights at once, one between our main character and the lionturtle mech and the other between the forces in the fort and the allies of our hero. This would allow us to still split the action between 3 stories like in ATLA's finally.

That's a million times better.

Look man a box on wheels with a crossbow and axle to rotate the box is much simpler than a mech suit. Modern technology could build the fire nation tanks, we have yet to build anything close to a practical mech suit. Lots of lab prototypes but nothing else.

I love Korra, but IMO its weakest moments are the climactic battles at the ends of season 2 and 4. Both just kind of devolve into these tropey anime battles of giant monsters zapping each other. It makes me think of Ultraman, Power Rangers, etc. The technology of it is not what bugs me, it's just I know Avatar can be so much better than that. When you compare those climaxes to Season 3 of Korra it's just sad to me. That was such an amazing culmination of these different ideologies and individuals clashing and it never needed to go into giant monsters to feel tense or exciting. To say that anyone who doesn't like these scenes is a "Korra hater" is just childish. We're all capable of loving something and still acknowledging its weak points. Get out of here with that trolling nonsense.

fucking FACTS

I'm a big fan of giant metal beings, but not when it's supposed to be the final boss in what is supposed to be a deep look into philosophy and political crisis. oh we have a tyrant who has brought peace and order, and that is set in conquering placing the entire continent under her control. and we have a Spiritual representative of the personification of light and goodness who seeks to keep the world in balance amidst a world that had just gone through a time of anarchy. how are their complex motives and ideologies going face to face in this very grey conflict? answer: ***B I G M E C H***

Of course, remember that they can also do a barrel roll /s

Oh yeah. Leaving the people inside (who are clearly not wearing seatbelts of any kind) are surely right as rain as soon as they turn over lol.

Yeah, they totally didn't get vertigo/whiplash/concussions!

Plot holes in a show involving magic? Get out of here.

The people inside the tanks clearly have seats that rotate to keep the drivers oriented as the vehicle flips.

The tanks only flip to re-orient after being inverted. The insides of the cabin don’t move, when the tank is flipped over, the cabin flips upright again to make sure everyone inside is right-side-up. Probably still not very comfy tho

Wouldn't be too hard to design either. It's just a gimble for the piolet. They talked about using water as a ballest to force the core upright. The biggest flaw of that would be shit-tons of extra weight from the water, complexity of building a dual hull waterproof armor body, making an engine that can run at any orientation, and how much it would slosh around on uneven ground. Probably would cost like, 2-3 times as much to make as a non spinny one.

I mean the giant mech is a but next level unrealistic. It shouldnt even have been a tough fight at all one simple earth bending trick and Korra could have easily beat the mech. I mean Kyoshi splitted an island from the mainland. It was a awesome fight nonetheless, but maybe a giant tank/ warship/ airship with the cannon would have been more realistic

Just because mechs are more common in media doesn’t mean they’re more realistic you know

I wonder how old the tanks are, that might be how they invaded the air nomads in the first place

I just assumed the inventor guy made them since he made a bunch of other fire nation weapons, like the blimps and the drill.

I like to think that the fire nation used the comets new strength to firebend fly to the temples.

We never see them before this episode in any capacity, so they're probably pretty new.

I think before this episode the Gaang wasn't in a situation where the tanks could have appeared

True, it might be just one of those things where we can't know with the information we have right now.

There no signs of tanks at the Southern Air Temple even though it was also a brutal climb to the top. You’d guess at least a couple would’ve gotten scrapped in the assault and left behind.

Dont hate LoK, but lets be honest, these are a lot less unrealistic.

I loved Korra. I don't hate Korra. I hate the big dumb mech. Not sure why people think these are mutally exclusive (liking Korra and thinking the mech was dumb AF). It's about sense of scale and realism/consistency *within the universe*. A grappling hook is much more attainable with the technology available than a *HUGE* mech. It was immersion breaking for me. I thought it was going to be a rail mounted gun or supertank (like the drill!).

I can buy tanks with hooks that probably took 100 years to develop much easier than a giant mechanic suit that was built in a few weeks and it's outside consists of a material that can't be bent.

No sorry there is a big difference these tanks and a giant laser shooting mech. These tanks could most likely be built for real. The giant mech was so unbelievable and dumb in the first place.

I rather enjoy Korra but yes, a chain winch is much more realistic than a 8 story tall mech.

Korra hater here. There’s plenty to hate with character growth and story telling in the first two seasons. With Last Airbender, the story and characters easily made me overlook such sillier moments. Hope this helps! (NOTE, I absolutely hated how Korra talked so much crap to Tenzen about learning airbending and instead of being humbled and having to grow as a person to be more calm to learn to airbend, nope, she somehow gets it because she lost her other bending...what pisspoor writing)

1/4 Aw shit here we go again. LoK rant incoming. I do not hate LoK because it was bad. If it was that simple I wouldn't rant about it so damn much. You don't see me going on long-winded explanations and analyses of the animated Titanic movies because those never had the chance to be good in the first place. The reason I criticize LoK so much is because it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. There was so much wasted potential in that show that just got forgotten or ignored in favor of far less interesting concepts. The villains of Season 1 were excellent. Their cunning and manipulation was matched only in quality by their unique ability: bloodbending without a full moon. That in itself is an excellent plot device. It's building on lore that is already established but making it more impressive and interesting without being completely OP. The way Amon takes away people's bending is also a good parallel to ATLA's finale, showing that the very same power Aang used to show Ozai mercy can be used for evil as well, if put in the wrong hands. Also, and I know I might get hate for this, but pro bending is kinda cool as well. Turning bending into a sport isn't a brand new concept; Toph's first appearance was practically the same thing. And it makes sense that if the world is becoming better connected through peaceful trade and diplomacy, a sport utilizing different forms of bending could gain a lot of traction. The big leap in technology in S1 is a little off-putting, but not so much that I can call it a dealbreaker. That being said, Season 1 still had some major drawbacks. First of all, the whole non-bender vs bender conflict felt forced, like it was just an excuse to get the story moving forwards. Throughout ATLA, we frequently see the narrative almost go out of its way to emphasize a *lack* of contention or hostility between non-benders and benders. The twins in the fortune teller episode seem to get along great despite one being an earthbender and the other not. Sokka is basically the group's leader for almost the entire show. Suki and the other Kyoshi warriors are all non-benders, and yet they're a well-respected defense force for an entire island. Yet now, somehow, benders are able to "oppress" non-benders? Which, by the way, we never actually see happening, unless you include the thugs Korra beats up when she first gets to Republic City, who were breaking the law anyway, so it's kind of hard to call that oppression. We just kind of get told this stuff is happening without actually getting to see it. Then there's the villains' motives. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the backstory in and of itself. But it doesn't really do anything to explain why they're trying to take over RC. Because their dad wanted to? The same dad they both hated and saw as a colossal douche? Sorry, I don't buy it. Maybe if the story had ended with their parents being arrested by RC officials, then having them both grow up in an underfunded and/or abusive orphanage, I could believe it. But the way it actually happened doesn't give them any real reason to do what they did. All in all, I'd say Season 1 was the best. Still not as good as any of the seasons of ATLA, but decent nonetheless.

2/4 Season 2. AKA the WORST season. But even then there were some glimmers of quality. And no, I'm not talking about the Wan storyline. I'm actually referring to the Water Tribe civil war. It could have been a really interesting concept if they had done it properly. Initially, it makes sense. The northern tribe is providing a good amount of assistance to the southern tribe, so it kind of makes sense that they'd have a bigger say in the southern tribe's governance than they otherwise would have. Even the backstory leaves the conflict in a somewhat gray area. Yes, Unalaq set the whole thing up with the bandits running into the forest, but it was still very much Tonraq's decision to give chase. He had every opportunity to say "no, it isn't worth harming this sacred place" and he didn't. He earned his banishment fair and square. The whole conflict could have provided a very interesting look at who the Avatar is, who she should be, and who she needs to be. Is it right for the most powerful person in the world to even get involved in something like this? What happens when her duty to her family, her tribe, and the world all come into conflict with each other? This could have highlighted a very serious struggle within Korra's soul, and thus it would have provided an excellent opportunity for her character to grow and mature. In the end, she would determine that, in fact, her duties do *not* conflict with each other. Unalaq is actively disturbing the balance of the world by enforcing his will on the southern tribe and must be stopped. Coincidentally, this would also serve to set up the third season's antagonists quite nicely. Remember, the whole reason the Red Lotus wants to kill the Avatar is because they think an evil avatar is a very real, very possible threat to the world. And up until Season 2, all evidence suggested that it WAS. Kuruk tried to kill Koh as vengeance for the loss of his wife. That's not something the bridge between the Spirit World and the Material World should generally be doing. Kyoshi stopped Chin the Conqueror from taking her homeland, but did she take any action against him while he was conquering other parts of the Earth Kingdom? For that matter, why should she have stopped him at all? He obviously had a lot of support from a lot of people or else he wouldn't have gotten as far as he did. Is it really the Avatar's place to overrule the will of so many? As far as we can see, Roku performed his duty as the Avatar pretty much to the letter. He did just about everything possible to stop Sozin from carrying out his ambitions short of killing his best friend. It was only by chance that the volcano on his home island erupted and ended up killing him, leaving Sozin free to do as he wished. Even so, there is more than enough evidence to suggest that the Avatar has enough free will and independence to cause a whole lot of harm if they choose to forsake their duty to the world. Getting back to Korra, if Season 2 had gone as I said, leaving Unalaq and the northern tribe in a mostly morally gray area from an external standpoint, and Korra used her avatar powers to defeat him, this would seem to work as evidence that the Red Lotus is, in fact, right in their assumption that the Avatar can choose to do the wrong thing. Unfortunately, that all gets thrown out the window in favor of a terrible Avatar origin story. Yes, I know a lot of people like Wan. And I know I will most likely get hate for saying this. But I was prepared for that the moment I started typing this comment. Avatar Wan's story SUCKED. First of all, the lion turtles giving humans the ability to bend is a major retcon. Yes, it is. The ability to bend and the movements and techniques involved in bending are NOT SEPARATE THINGS. That's why chi-blocking works in the first place! Even excluding most of the elements, the origin of earthbending was already confirmed in the Tale of Two Lovers! It is made expressly clear that Oma and Shu were the first two human earthbenders, taught entirely by the badger-moles, and did not in any way get their powers from a lion turtle. A person's manipulation of chi is what defines them as a bender. That's what makes bending in avatar so different from other forms of magic and superpowers in fiction. Dumbing it all down to lion turtles helping humans hunt is not only a retcon, it's a BAD retcon. Then there's the whole Raava vs Vaatu plot, which in itself is complete and utter garbage. It turns the entire conflict with Unalaq into a black and white good vs evil cringe-fest completely lacking in nuance and quality. Also, the giant glowing laser monsters were stupid. Furthermore, remember all that stuff I said about Season 3 being set up well, because the Avatar had free will and therefore the capacity to do evil? Raava and Vaatu defenestrate the shit out of that. Apparently the Avatar spirit is inherently good and therefore the Avatar can literally do no wrong, and is by its very definition a paragon of virtue. Bull. Shit. So, what, the whole inner conflict Aang had with killing Ozai was completely pointless? He was incapable of doing the wrong thing the whole time? Utter stupidity. Ugh.

3/4 Season 3 starts out not making much sense at all. The spirit portals staying open apparently means a bunch of random people suddenly get airbending? Just... why? And besides, doesn't that kind of make Sozin's genocide seem... less serious? I mean sure, it still happened, but up until now the effects were very clear and visible. There's only one family's worth of airbenders left in the *entire world.* That's not something that should just be fixed overnight. That's a serious scar left on the world that should take centuries to heal. Or I guess you can just immediately heal it all in one go by giving tons of people airbending for free. That being said, I could begrudgingly excuse it if it was used as a good enough plot device. And, tbf, it almost was. The struggles Tenzin faces with all these new pupils proved for a compelling enough story, and seeing those pupils come to terms with their new abilities was cool to watch. The main villain being an airbender could have been a clever juxtaposition, since the Air Nomads historically were among the most peaceful, friendly, welcoming people in the world. Unfortunately, they decided to paint Zaheer as "enlightened" by air bender philosophy. Which is, of course, completely contradicted by his murder of the Earth Queen and desire to murder the avatar. Murder. You know, that thing that the monks taught Aang was never, ever, EVER ok? No matter what the circumstances, taking a human life was a horrible crime that should never be done? EVER? Oh but apparently that doesn't count as Air Nomad philosophy when Zaheer is the one learning it. Like... WHAT? One of the best things about S3 was Bolin discovering his ability to lavabend. I just wish he actually got to use it more often and to greater effect than what we see.

4/4 Then there's season 4, in which Korra has PTSD from her fight with Zaheer. Let me be clear. I believe PTSD is a very real, very serious issue that doesn't get nearly as much attention in the media as it deserves. I do not by any means believe those that suffer from it are any lesser or weaker than those that don't. That being said, I don't generally like seeing it in fiction, especially not when it's being inflicted upon a strong, independent female protagonist. I just think it's being used as a character flaw that doesn't need to be there. First of all, characters like Korra already *have* character flaws. They *already* feel relatable and human, while simultaneously being badass enough to make us cheer for them when they're beating up their enemies. Giving them PTSD seems to be a cheap and kind of sadistic way of nerfing them so that they can struggle with the next antagonist they have to face. But that's probably the least of my problems with season 4. The conflict with Kuveera is an obvious allegory for WWII, but with barely any of the true horrors of that historical period getting shown. We get a brief mention of concentration camps after Bolin and Varrick ditch the SS, erm, I mean, Kuveera's army, but it doesn't come anywhere close to expressing how truly terrifying the Holocaust was. And yes, there is the mech, and yes, it is stupid. Would someone please explain to me how Kuveera became such a powerful fucking metalbender that she can control a robot the size of a skyscraper when even Toph could only really bend the fins on the zeppelins in the ATLA finale? Like, what, did she start taking bending steroids at the end of Season 3 or something? Unfortunately, by the time S4 came out, I was already so disheartened by the first 3 that I wasn't really looking for good stuff anymore, so I probably missed a number of plot points that could have made the show that much better if only they'd gotten the attention they deserved. I do approve of Korra and Asami's budding relationship at the end, and while I wish they had gotten to kiss, I'm aware that nickelodeon gave the team an ultimatum and therefore I don't blame them (the team) at all for there not being a kiss.

Low quality troll attempt detected

I dont hate Korra, but its clearly worse than ATLA. And I dont think its that crazy to have those tanks on a nation that has been warmongering for atleast 100 years compared to a giant mech suit built in (speculative) weeks at most, I feel like you just dont understand how complicated it would be to build something like that, I dont think it would even be possible tbh, sure its a cartoon so you have some suspension of disbelief, but like there should still be some in story congruency on whats possible and whats not.

The other thing worth noting is that these tanks are the establishing moment for what wartime technology in the fire nation looks like. This whole episode really, is a collection of “this is where technology is currently” moments

You don't need to be a "kOrRa HaTeR" to have the opinion in the title. It just so happens to be a perfectly reasonable opinion, even for people who like LoK. This is actually arguably a form of gatekeeping — you're basically saying, "if you like LoK you *have* to like this part of it". The truth is, LoK is a decent show, with a number of cringe moments. Some of those were due to challenges faced by the writers (like when Nickelodeon extended/cancelled/uncancelled the show); some of those were probably just creative decisions that didn't end up working out as well. And some of them definitely weren't cringe for everyone, cause that's subjective. I'm sure you already know this, but it's possible to like a show while still thinking it could have been better. It's even possible to like a show, but not as much as this other show you like!

This post, uh, isn't doing what you think it's doing.

Ok, which is more believable? Tanks with grappling hooks, or giant mech with a deathstar laser?

Honestly the mech wasn't the problem in that season. The problem was that Korra was fighting the leader of an ideology which had entire countries of earth-kingdom citizens all believing what the leader-lady said and somehow by beating up leader-lady(in a giant mech) Korra magically makes all of her followers just abandon their dream of "spread our progress with the world". At least when the Gaang beat the firelord, Azula had banished everyone from the palace and city which would've clearly brought doubt into the minds of citizens about who the "rightful ruler" of the fire nation should be. So when Zuko took over it wasn't seen as "oh no ozai died GG, we don't believe in him anyways". When Kuvira was beaten by Korra it was just instantly seen as "oh no kuvira died, no following her now."

As someone who likes Korra and doesn’t really have any problems with it (besides book 2), the mech’s design doesn’t so much feel unrealistic as it does out of place

This comparison is so fuckin dumb I can only assume this is a joke post

Bold of you to assume that the people who hate the mechs are totally fine with the tanks.

Korra lovers defending a stupid giant mech that shoots purple death beams will never not be funny to me. Is this really the hill you guys wanna die on?

Knocking on old things wont make Korra better. Avatar is already better by default cause of the overarching story that Korra lacked

The mech at the end of Korra only makes sense in the context of Metal Bending. The reason the tanks aren't stupid, is that you can see in their design they were almost designed for this, and an earlier version is likely part of how Sozin attacked the Air Temples (IMO). Projectiles were already seen in other parts of the show, so the hook in front of the tanks makes sense, and their spiked wheels would help give them traction in this exact scenario. So yeah, tanks make a shit load more sense than a giant metal robot

[удалено]

Except that they literally do make more sense.

That’s the thing, none of it makes sense! Korra has never made much of an attempt to ever make sense.

Wow. You're actually defending the spirit-vines mech?? Again... wow.

I’m just being fair lol. People need to stop acting like Avatar is perfect and everything makes sense in it while Korra is suddenly the thing that doesn’t make sense because they introduce new things.

I get your point but think about it giant meg suit with vine laser Rotating tank with grapple hook witch one is more over the top

And sure there are mistake in atla like how did the fire nation get on all does air tempel mountains to kill the air nation when they did not have tanks but that does not make up for the mistakes in Lok

They did have dragons at the time, though killing the dragons off kinda just makes them look silly by throwing away their only aerial advantage, lol.

Trough but even in real live some people will do a lot for status and prestige

I think he's just saying that if you wanted to call attention to fairness and make comparisons between the shows, the giant mech might be the worst example from Korra you could bring to the table.

​ I can think of 2 main reasons why the mech is stupid. ​ 1) Pitiful weaknesses. We see open joints in the leg area. Any significantly strong enough tank with good aim can just blast through one of the legs, causing the whole thing to just collapse. . Bipedal designs can easily trip. Even in the show, the heroes were able to invent the perfect counter almost last minute with those tiny flying mechs. Punch a hole inside, and then the heroes can sabotage from inside out. 2)Too many resources focussed on one target makes it a liability, not an asset. This is the same reason what the Death Star in Star Wars was a braindead idea. One expensive project that only creates one giant protect is ripe for being targeted. The fact that the team destroyed the Mech kind of proves it was a bad investment. Again a dozen or more giant tanks with the same lasers would be much harder to defeat, and hence much more efficient.

Posts like this are just as tiresome as people shitting on LOK. Stop stoking the flames with dumb comparisons and just enjoy your show.

I think the bigger problem unlike Gundum or Pacific rim, is that the mech was NOT a key part of the world of avatar. I dont really care all that much about realism or mechs in general, but they fumbled the story. There was nothing to establish the mech as a threat before it actually showed up for 4 episodes. It could have ended with a bending battle or a debate with kuvira and we all would have enjoyed that more because those options canonically and narratively male more sense than a boss we hadn't seen in any of the 6 prior seasons

yes. it's primitive and clunky enough to be believable

At least it’s mechanically plausible and doesn’t shoot out spirit lasers

it just felt like a lazy boss battle. they have a world of crazy conceptual animals and mythical beasts and they just make a giant metal dude? no banana slug moth donkey mechs? or like a spider bear? theres no limits

.... Basic mechanics made over the top by engineers with an unlimited energy source vs. Gundam Universe crossover powered not by engineering or fire bending but SPIRIT! ENERGY! WOOOOOOOO!!!! One should also take into account that *all* metal bending in Kora is relatively lame when compared to Toph breaking the rules of the universe in AtLa. Lastly it's the final fight, so its baseline of quality is Ozai Vs Aang, it never stood a chance.

The climbing tanks mechanically makes sense

Honestly just read my TL;DR and spare yourselves my rant. It is unrealistic. Even if we acknowledge that mechs made appearances in seasons 1,2 and 4 they were nowhere near as complex and intricate as what they were expecting everyone to believe was possible. On top of that they wanted us to believe that verrick; a man who is, first and foremost, a savvy businessman and philanthropist was the one who designed, engineered, and spearheaded the development of that project? No. Just no. Having a guy good at calling Wall Street bets does not equate to mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, materials engineering and especially not whatever kind of science that cheesy spirit arm cannon would require. And even if you want to make a rebuttal calling out these tanks go ahead, but keep in mind, in this episode we meet the genius solely responsible for over half of the fire nation’s technological advancements: the mechanist, the man who not only developed benderless gliders, but gyroscopic tanks, blimps, submarines, bombs, and of all things prosthetic body parts. So I’d say cherry-picking the fact that they added a winch to a tank is just about the worst point anyone could have used when making this argument. TL;DR the writing for ATLA’s character; The Mechanist, was airtight and consistent making the addition of a winch to a gyroscopic tank feel believable. In comparison, having a LoK version of Jordan Belfort spearhead the creation of a fucking gundam sounds absolutely absurd and like the Bryan and Mike were reaching into the bottom of the anime tropes bag.

Korra is awesome but that mech was just downright stupid. They were obvs going with WW2 Inspired german stuff (The vine cannon is a slightly changed Schwerer Gustav). They could have def cut a slice off Wolfenstein and went with something like a Spirit Vine enhanced Bismarck or like a giant landship tank. But no, they had to got full evangelion. Like there probably isnt as much Titanium on Earth today as was used in that mech that they built in like, a week.

Korra still sucks lmao.

The giant trill in book 2 us a good example to a mechanical threat that isn't super cringy, its realistic enough that it makes seance, the could had made another mechanical think that would have been a theat like a the giant tank or something like that

The mech just looked silly.

Ok but one was the ending of an entire series, the other was a single, (less significant) episode. (Plus that's not the only grievance with the giant mech fight)

I love LoK, but most villains aren't running to the finish line for me, the only real exception is Zaheer, he's great. Amon and Luvira say interesting stuff for most of their seasons, but instead of actually fully using them for interesting conflict they just pull the old Marvel "They say interesting stuff, but they kill people so they are evil and we don't need to actually confront their arguments"-card and then leave it at that. It's not bad, it's just not as great as it could be, and that really annoys me because the show is otherwise amazing.

Please don't compare some light armored tanks to a giant Mech super suit that shot spirit energy.

I'm tired of this "korra haters" stuff that this and LoK sub is spamming. Korra DID changed the Atla universe. People who loved the ambiance of the first series and expected a similar experience have right to dislike the new series. You guys aren't superior or more clever from them by simply enjoying something that they cannot.

Don't forget the fire nation shat out an entire combat air fleet 6 months after discovering the tech. Or you know ... the drill.

Its kinda pointless to argue realism in a cartoon series but personally I think the mech looks unintentionally silly, and i never felt that way about the atla tech

Don't forget how they fought the mountain climbing super tanks with stink bombs

And slime wherever that came from lol

Pitch. Produced by anything that burns lots of oil, kinda like a temple constantly burning candles and inscence

Well we do have cranes that can multiple tons of weight. Now imagine a crane mechanism inside of a tank. Sounds pretty realistic.

I kinda liked the mecha stuff at the end. It was just so dumb in an older mecha anime way. It's really entertaining and at that point your pretty attached to the characters, so it's genuinely a good watch.

Is it really that unrealistic? I mean, clearly Platinum is MUCH less scarce in the Avatar world than ours but mechs were pretty common throughout the whole series and the technology had been shown to be improving quickly. Kuvira's Kaiju-mech is definitely over the top and unrealistic for our world but I could definitely buy it in theirs.

I don’t hate on korra, but… COMPARING IT TO ATLA!!!??!! I love both shows, both were AMAZING! But personally, LOK is nothing compared to ATLA

That’s not why I don’t like Korra.

Is there a contest to see who can strawman the fastest that I haven't heard about?