A Brief Retrospective - Avatar The Last Airbender VS The Legend of Korra in 2021

Today at the Mystery Shack, we embrace nostalgia and take a retrospective look at Avatar The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. We examine how they approach storytelling, the bending system, the villains and their motivations as well as the general themes of the show.
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Timestamps :
0:00 | Introduction
2:55 | Stories
29:26 | Bending
43:50 | Villians
54:18 | Final Thoughts
#AvatarTheLastAirbender #LegendofKorra #Nickelodeon #Avatar

[@Koroto]

Wow, this video has broken 20k views, that's crazy! Hope you guys enjoyed this one, there's plenty more Avatar content on the way! 👍

[@TheBluePhoenix008]

You and my English teacher have the same definition of "brief"

[@alexismcneill6296]

"I don't want this video to be 2 hours long" eh, what's an extra hour anyways? Lol you should have gone and written up the extra hour :) I'd have watched it

[@juicypineapple6995]

Aang never used Earthbending with Waterbending moves. What the fuck are you talking about? NO. HE DIDN'T. And Zuko never once used Earthbending moves whilst Firebending, ever. You just think that because he closed his fists, which is fucking stupid because Firebenders have ALWAYS closed their fists whilst Firebending. So NO.

[@GDUniverse]

100k now 🙂

[@jovanym2931]

I feel sorry for the next avatar , imagine hoping to find the wisdom of the last avatars . And just seeing Korra

[@yanlopez674]

He's gonna get killed or assassinated

[@chuuyaism1653]

gotta suck 💀

[@Wyatt_B]

I feel like the prior lives should be communicated through rava honestly and I don't get why they got rid of it. My guess is to not use it as a crutch to constantly fall back on Aang every time there was a problem.

[@Ms.Amylia_Clenny]

Wasn't Korra a Legend because she ends up being The LAST Avatar?

[@ShaftCommander]

I feel sorry for Avatar fans. Imagine, hoping that others understand it wasn’t Korra’s fault, but still failing to see that, as well as everything else onscreen. Disappointing. But not everyone has a good head on their shoulders.

[@indoorplant2392]

I disagree that Zaheer held his own against Tenzin. In the fight, Zaheer never lands a single hit on Tenzin, which shows that even though Zaheer is an airbending prodigy, Tenzin’s skill and experience outclasses Zaheer with ease. Tenzin only lost when the four of them ganged up on him.

[@eons8941]

Tenzin could have won that fight 1 vs 3 if not for that combustion bender

[@mikemorro140]

@@eons8941 I think a lot of people just seem to forget about how much of an absolute monster Tenzin is in a fight

[@lovelife-cv8mn]

tenzin, trained by avatar aang, a master airbender, vs zaheer, and yet zaheer was doing a pretty descent job, it's safe to say, tenzin would lose against zaheer, one on one

[@mikemorro140]

@@lovelife-cv8mn They fought one on one and Zaheer couldn't even touch like even with help from the other Red Lotus Tenzin was still holding his own a while until he got sniped by the combustion bender

[@indoorplant2392]

@@lovelife-cv8mn lmaoo what? How? Literally have no explanation. The episode literally shows Zaheer fleeing as he is being destroyed by Tenzin, only “winning” when the other THREE members of the Red Lotus join in on the fight

[@RaymanM2]

Amon was basically a horror villain - you know almost nothing about him, you cannot fight him, your only hope is to run from him, and he won't even chase you, he'll just stare at you and let you flee, because you can run but you can't hide.

[@araposkulo]

Which was why he worked well enough as a villain in the first season. He felt very Vader-like, up until he removed that mask and we delved into his past ruining the mystery and "horror" of him. I understand that the point of that was to huminize him not only to us, but also to Korra but once those final episodes come around he just doesn't feel as threatening

[@PretzelLunar]

@@araposkulo He wasn't made to be a long term villain, but I get what you mean.

[@yunotheactivist49]

The fact he was a blood bender just ruined him for me

[@mellonlord4616]

He, along with Zaheer and Kuvira, were basically propaganda. Cheap mind control tricks by people who don't understand political ideologies and make no effort to explain their own.

[@MrDj232]

You could say the same about Ozai. He was a literally nightmarish presence who didn't need to pursue his enemies personally thanks to a global military presence.

[@Saphirakii]

Katara: specifically says “I didn’t forgive him. i’ll never forgive him” video: ‘Katara chose to forgive her mother’s killer’

[@jakedelcastillo3719]

Yea he missed the mark on that one. She doesn't choose to forgive him, she chooses to keep her morals intact. Essentially to not choose revenge.

[@ZaphiraX]

The video has more of those little moments. Like Lin and Suyin having a falling out, but not mentioning that they had a fight because Suyin was a CRIMINAL. They were literally on opposite sides of the law

[@landokiv13]

I like the thought that when Aang used energy bending to take Ozai’s bending only he and ozai could see the energy beams.

[@dumbloser666]

i like that too except for the giant blue energy beam that shoots in the sky afterwards

[@KiviKiddo]

I always saw that as metaphor for viewers and don't understand why people see it literally (and Korra actually made it literally and spoil all that exquisite metaphoric sense)

[@lucky_ramen9803]

Well.....Zuko saw the same beam in episode one of the series.

[@83jdc1]

I don't think the beams where really there but just a visual of what the lion turtle told Aang, " your own energy must be unbendable".

[@Eidolon5150]

The thing I hate most about Korra is the dark avatar and the fact that every avatar before korra no longer exists

[@ewout2763]

Yeah. That.

[@Blisstheproducer]

shouldn’t that mean there’s going to be a reincarnated dark avatar. it would be a really good plot to have the dark avatar be the big bad villain kinda like ozai

[@koyang341]

They didn't stop existing though? Korra is just no longer spiritually connected to them

[@justin.e249]

@@Blisstheproducer no bc Korra killed Unalaq in the avatar state, so just like for the normal avatar, we know that if they're killed while in the avatar state then the cycle stops forever. The only thing that will come to bite our avatar in the ass regarding that is that eventually Vatuu will reappear since "he cannot destroy light just I [Ravaa] can never destroy dark. one cannot exist without the other".

[@justin.e249]

For the dark avatar, i can understand. I will try to explain how I see the latter, hope it helps you with being more undertsanding and compassionate to Korra's writers decisions and maybe hold more love for the show, or at least less resentment/hate haha Honestly Korra losing her connection to the past avatars (bc Bolin and Mako couldn't keep Unalaq out of the spirit world for literally 10 more seconds ugh) is an amazing dark twist for the plot of the avatar. I find this great for two reasons: the first being that american shows are always so predictable and happy, honestly you watch the beginning and you can already guess the end (which is exactly what happened in ATLA btw, only Katara learning and using bloodbending and Yue becoming the moon were the only two things in that show that no one, or at least not I, was able to predict) so for once you can watch an american show and feel like the rug is being ripped out from right from under you and it is refreshing (as horribly sad as it is), but you can't be afraid to add a little misery here and there otherwise no matter how humane the characters are, the show itself would feel like a dumb utopia where nothing truly bad ever happens and there is no point in having a show that you know will never have any true heartbreaking hardships; the second is representation - that it is a representation of the avatars themselves seeing as Aang's show was very innocent with no deaths bc he's a monk and espescially a kid! and Korra is an adult from s2, she trives in battle and goes looking for it, not being scared at all about hurting other people or herself, on the contrary she loves showcasing her strenght to intimidate other people - and it is also a representation of a new world order, balance isn't lost bc her link to her past lives is destroyed, but seeing as a new cycle started after harmonic convergence and no Avatar had changed the world as much as Korra did since Avatar Wan bc they each seperated and reintegrated the spirits and humans, it changed everything - so it makes total sense (again as sad as it is for nostalgic reasons) Wan needed to appease the many tensions going on in his time bc humans suddenly had to learn to live w other humans, not living on the lion turtles and relying on them for protection anymore, and as it is said humans are selfish, destructive and think only of themselves so having the spirits there was too much for the new world order, Wan made the right choice that for balance to be preserved back then, the spirits had to go back to their world so that the physical world with all the humans could find its balance on its own before adding on more things - and 10,000 years later it's exactly what happened, this is exactly why Korra's decision is perfect, Aang and Korra (and every avatar before that contributed to their efforts) but these last two both played their part in finally addressing and resolving all the main remaining issues which humans have had for the last 10,000 years - in that perspective losing the connection to all past avatars will not matter so much as the world "is entering a new age", completely different from what it was for the past 10,000 years (I mean you already see that w Korra being confronted by all kinds of modern things such as polls and the press and overly complex geopolitics etc. preparing us for a completely new era), so now for the next 10,000 years, the world is going to have very different issues which won't have much need for guidance from the Avatars before Korra, and since she's the one who changed the world, just like Wan did - the avatars after Wan didn't need to know what happened before Wan's time bc they had him to draw wisdom from and he witnessed/caused the world change, Korra is just the same, the past before her will have 0 incidents on what could possibly ever happen in the future, or the little it could have would be enough through Korra witnessing/causing that world change. Anyway, I'm a huge fan of the Avatar world, and of LoK as it deals w much more mature and comlex things but oc it isn't without its flaws, espcially considering the constant pushbacks and limitations that Nick put on the authors throughout the creation of the show. But I hope that my explanation will be able to maybe reconciliate you, at least a little, with the show of Korra. It is completely different from ATLA and if you're able to see it as a different show more than a continuation to help tone down the nostalgia, I'm sure you will find that LoK is a show that is just as legendary (pun not intended but i'll take it haha) as ATLA 🤗

[@nikolasversteeg]

One thing I would like to point out that you made a mistake on is that in the episode southern raiders, Katara EXPLICITLY does NOT chose forgiveness - - - she chooses mercy. She has every single possibility to take this life, but dosent want to be a killer like the man who took her mother. She does however forgive zuko. This also helps to tie in the themes of how alone Aang feels in having to kill the fire lord - - - katara got to chose not to kill her mothers captor, but everyone is telling Aang that he HAS to kill ozai.

[@tee_saw]

Agree 100%. I wish they had dived more into Aangs dilemma. Did Aang forgive Ozai? Or just mercy? If Aang had killed Ozai then his culture would have truly died. I need more of that.

[@ATLA99]

I feel like he said that for comment bait or something. Thats such a memorable line especially since it sets up her forgiveness of Zuko "I didnt forgive him. I'll never forgive him...but i am ready to forgive you"

[@highc7409]

i love that when zuko's introduced they were careful not to make him an unlikeable villian. sure he threatens an old lady but i dont really believe he would have followed through with hurting her. when aang surrenders himself he honors his promise to leave the village alone. good subtle stroytelling tbh

[@vitormartins3773]

Also, we tend to sympathize with underdogs and that's exactly what they built with his agni kai with Zhao

[@derekhogan9685]

I would’ve liked Korra more with four changes: no giant mech, no glory Kaiju, hated the love triangle drama, and I love Wan but hate the Raava/Vaatu reveal. It’s hard to see an avatar as balance when it’s powered by the spirit of order specially.

[@captainnyan-nyan2005]

I would imagine that raava is more like the general earth with the lion turtles protecting the people who wanted to be their own individuality. As they ventured forth. More and more people who wished to be their own are starting to be in trouble with nature itself and among each other. Thus caring but frightful wan who were one of the first ones who left. Meditated,prayed and begged for the lion turtles to bring them back. They refused, but have decided to have wan be the avatar. Infusing him with bending abilities of all 4 lion turtles. To have him serve as the mediator and guardian of his people.

[@jamesmcdonnell2455]

You love a low life theif that murders several people for the high crime of being omnivores?

[@Suited_Nat]

Imo, the only good part of the romance of LOK is her ending up with Asami

[@nicholaswilkerson4394]

I mean it actually makes sense though. What does the core word "Avatar" mean? The movie "Avatar" explains it quite beautifully. Existing inside of a pseudo "container", if you will. An Avatar is an Avatar OF something, usually a god/demigod of some kind. In this case, the full title would basically be "the Avatar of Ravaa". A human vessel channeling God like power through their mortal form.

[@etienne8110]

​@@Suited_Nat the main issue with the korrasami ending was how it came out of nowhere. There was no foreshadowing of it and it was hard to tell they were close. It felt more like an executive decision to check some boxes on diversity ratio... 😢

[@Mysticshosh42]

Love the video just one thing i wanna point out is iroh can not only redirect but can use lightning like ozai and azula

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

He says that Iroh has been seen using lightning, but not for an offensive attack meant to kill, unlike Azula and Ozai.

[@shdhfhchxjxjxjxjxjjjdjdjdj6858]

@@Eidolon1andOnly he still can if he wanted to

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

@@shdhfhchxjxjxjxjxjjjdjdjdj6858 True, but he never did on the show.

[@IanWangai]

That's true power not only comes from brutal strength but knowledge & understanding

[@rmsgrey]

I identify a single overarching theme in each of the two shows: Aang's story is about restoration, about undoing the world-changing event from a century ago. Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked, and Aang's quest is to change it back, and restore the traditional balance (as far as possible with no Air Nomads left). Korra's story is about change and finding a new balance, and a place for the Avatar in a new world. Unlike Aang, who had a defined role to slot into, however reluctantly, Korra is keen to be the Avatar, but, after the best part of two decades without one, the world, particularly Republic City, doesn't have an Avatar-shaped hole any more, so her adventures are about finding - or making - her own place in the world (not helped by being very different from the only other Avatar in living memory). Amon challenged the assumption that Bending should confer privilege - which indirectly challenges the role and status of the Avatar as the ultimate expression of Bending. Unalaq attacked the Avatar, seeking to replace Raava with Vaatu (and himself) and succeeding in both breaking the chain of Avatars, and transforming the relationship between Humans and Spirits (which redefines the Avatar's role as bridge between worlds) through the reopening of the Spirit Portals. Zaheer and the Red Lotus sought to remove the Avatar and allow a world without one to develop. Kuvira didn't directly attack Korra, nor seek to undermine the Avatar - she'd have been very happy to have had Korra's support - but she also represented the downside of the changes brought by the rise of technology and weakening of traditional systems - new and more terrible machines and techniques of warfare, culminating in the giant mecha - and she managed as radical a shift to the world's status quo as anyone, by creating a third Spirit Portal. On a meta level, Aang's story is about building the world, establishing the status quo, and the Avatar's traditional role. Korra's is about deconstructing that.

[@Dello678]

Honestly I would give Atla a 9/10 or maybe a 10/10 and I would give tlok a 3/10.

[@ahadmerchant7510]

@@Dello678 I'd give TLOK a 7/10 if the 2nd book was removed. The writers and animators clearly gave a shit about what they were doing which is much more than can be said about the horseshit thats been saturating modern media.

[@Problemsolver434]

Here's the issue. 1. If the opening of the portals just gave randoms people airbending, why weren't random people getting airbending in the time of Avatar Wan? Why was is only airbending? It went against everything we knew. Why didn't Aang just walk through one of these portals in book 1. It's just a lot of weirdness. And it singlehandedly undid the genocide from the first series. 2. I quite remember the lion turtle saying "In the era before the Avatar, we bend not the elements but the energy within ourselves " Meaning elemental bending wasn't happening in that era

[@Krfification101]

The reason a bunch of people had airbending awaken within themselves after the spirit portals were opened is that without airbenders, the world was unbalanced. The spiritual flooding of the world in part attempted to restore lost balance by reintroducing airbenders to the world, same with spirits.

[@Problemsolver434]

@@Krfification101 It really doesn't make sense. The portals themselves were a retcon. They did not exist in the last air bender. The spirits lost everything that made them special and were reduced to household pets. No balance was lost when they were in their own world in the last airbender. And again, saying the opening of the portals just reintroduced air benders at random because "balance" genuinely makes no sense. It's a forced attempt to explain what is actually a plot hole. A plot hole that undoes the consequences of the previous series for no reason. It also breaks the lore. And it breaks the lore massively

[@ZaphiraX]

​@Krfification101 The reason harmonic convergence gave us airbenders is because of the plot. They never cared about the original world building

[@theaureliasys6362]

The first series had offensive airbending, but not on screen. Monk Gyatso defeated (and killed(!)), a bunch of firebenders, who were powered by the comet. He may have been a pacifist, but he knew when not striking would be a catastrophe.

[@Koroto]

I've always thought about that scene, I went into it in more detail in one of my older ATLA videos, but I really like the theory that Gyatso drew out all of the oxygen of the room (similarly to Zaheer, only on a large scale) thereby suffocating all of the firebenders as well as himself. Though on the other hand, I can also see the argument that in this case, the firebender armor is simply there to show Aang that he was killed by firebenders and never even fought back. I feel like it's difficult to say whether it was indeed the writers intention to hint at Gyatso's power or whether it really is really just a storytelling tool.

[@theaureliasys6362]

@@Koroto if only storytelling tool, it's a bad one. Why were there dead soldiers of they weren't killed there? I don't care about writers intent, the facts suggest Gyatso was a damn fine fighter, so that's what I will believe.

[@bluesbest1]

@@theaureliasys6362 Gyatso was one of the five elders of the Southern Air Temples, if not the entire Air Nomad culture, not sitting at the edge of the group, but just off-center. That tells me that he's one of the wisest Air Nomads, which is a major contributor to traditional bending power, or at least finesse, which tends to render power differences largely irrelevant. TL;DR, I agree.

[@DanSutherland]

"Gyatso drew out all of the oxygen of the room thereby suffocating all of the firebenders as well as himself", this is how I've always thought ATLA should have ended. Aang simply allows Ozai to burn himself out of oxygen, because ultimately Ozai's character is that one that refuses redemption. Aang's refusal to give up on Ozai and unwillingness to kill being his own demise. Definitely too dark to be approved by the network though.

[@etienne8110]

Being a pacifist doesn t mean being weak and not defending oneself.

[@TheMeaningOfNerd]

No one: Korotos: "Brief" also Korotos: makes 1h long video😂 Legend 💪🏼

[@TheMeaningOfNerd]

@Jensen Martin Why is this on here?

[@magacofi]

If anyone asked me what show I would rewatch for comfort, I'd probably think ATLA, honestly. It was my childhood and when I (re)watched it the first time ever since I was a kid, I rediscovered an amazing series, with the added feelings of nostalgia XD On the flip side, I think one of the things that turned me off when watching LoK was that I could never connect with Korra, and because she's the protagonist and more often than not the focus, I had a hard time looking past that, but there are many things I like about it.

[@squidbro6635]

Exactly. It's not that Korra isn't or couldn't be an interesting character, she just never connected with me like Aang did. However, I do like the protrayal of PTSD in LoK. Plus despite all the situational variables, I'm still sad about the severing of the avatar spirit.

[@ThatFalloutGod]

It's because Korra's a completely unlikeable character who knows nothing about basic principles, morals, ethics, and duties. She's a complete and utter bumbling buffoon who acts entitled to everything and then gets smacked down by reality until the plot calls for it to stop.

[@nataliajewelmusic]

@@ThatFalloutGod did you even watch the show? She has an amazing character arc where she learns humility and to be thoughtful and understanding of morals and integrity. The things she does, how she treats Kuvira in season 4 shows how much she grew throughout the show. She would have never been able to do that in season 1. She is just as stubborn and hot headed as Zuko is in season one, but she grows from there into a much more rounded avatar

[@ThatFalloutGod]

@@nataliajewelmusic It is baffling that someone can say something so self-evidently false. Korra never learns anything even approaching humility, we don't even see her struggle with getting her ass handed to her after season 3, we just skip a couple years into the future where she's not a cripple and she's all boo-hooey over her beatdown like she's some war veteran with PTSD, except nothing she went through even comes close to shit people with PTSD have actually gone through. And comparing her to Zuko? Are we fucking serious? Zuko was a cunt because he was scarred as a teenager by his own father for speaking out of turn at a war meeting where he was the sole person with the moral and ethical courage to stand-up to sending young soldiers to guaranteed death, and then exiled until he found the Avatar, who had been missing for 100 years and thought to be dead at the time, which means his father meant for him to never return home. That's before we get into the other awful things his father did to him, how Azula was a literal psychopath and prodigy that always belittled Zuko and manipulated him, and how his mother was exiled in order to save Zuko's life and put Ozai on the throne by killing his father. What did Korra endure to becoming an insufferable cunt? Fucking nothing. She's a Mary Sue who could bend three elements as a toddler, never left her home, had everything handed to her on a silver platter, and got bailed out of every single altercation she found herself in by someone else treating her like a child. Korra is the epitome of a rich, spoiled, entitled brat who literally never had to endure even the slightest of hardships and then tries to pretend that they had some traumatic upbringing that justifies their behavior. Korra was an awful character, the show was horrendous, and it spit on the original show and lore to such a degree that it's legitimately vomit-inducing. Don't try and compare it to Avatar, where it's a timeless masterpiece that gets better as you grow-up, specifically because the show was built in a way to have something for all audiences. Korra tried to be "more mature" and wound-up being an awful mess that doesn't even come close to the maturity of the original show.

[@noahdrucker3076]

@@ThatFalloutGod I completely agree with pretty much everything you said. It amazes me that people can talk about what an interesting, nuanced, and developed character Korra is. When she doesn't get any meaningful character development until the 4th season of a 4 season show. With enough time and dedication I could probably make a Last Jedi style 5 hour supper rant about Korra, the show doesn't do anything well. It's a masterclass in god awful writing.

[@stevennewsome8769]

Another powerful scene, in my opinion, is the one where Iroh tries to teach Zuko how to redirect lightning. Later in the storm is the VERY POWERFUL moment of which I speak. All that anger and frustration and confusion sings to me 😔.

[@nathanielmartins5930]

My complaint is: We see the world of Korra advancing technologically, architecturally and politically, becoming more "Western" and to be fair, having Western elements be present in Asian settings in the show's time period isn't a problem, as that is exactly what we had in our world with examples including Hong Kong among other Asian cities that were under European or American influence for some time. But that is the thing, these cities developed their Asian-western mixture of a style through outside western influence, so what on earth would facilitate that outside influence in the world of Avatar? We don't have a Europe nor an America in the Avatar world, we only have the Earth Kingdom, the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads and their temples, how did we get European styled governments, cities, clothes and ideologies with out a Europe to begin with? Styles don't just pop out of nowhere, and they certainly don' change from accurately Asian inspired to West meets East hybrid.

[@heysiri3327]

It would help if there was in-between material, allowing us to watch how the world developed, or if the jump in technology/culture from ATLA and TLOK was not as extreme.

[@Romashka_Sov]

Raava and Vaatu being Abrahamic God and Devil, btw 🙄

[@ionryful]

​@@Romashka_Sov Which contradicts the more eastern Yin/Yang ideology from AtLA...LoK was all over the place.

[@ionryful]

@Isaiah No it isn't. Yin and Yang are contradictory but compliment each other. One cannot exist without the other and none are inherently evil. While God and the Devil are opposing forces constantly trying to destroy the other. One is good and one is evil.

[@ionryful]

@Isaiah No, because TLA already gave how Yin and Yang supposed to work: Tui and La. Two opposing forces that compliment each other and doesn't reflect good and evil. Raava and Vaatu are representations of good and evil that are constantly fighting and trying to destroy each other, which isn't what Yin and Yang are about.

[@omarsalazar1537]

Can't believe I watched an hour long analysis about Avatar from the KZbin recomendations. You sir deserve more subscribers.

[@parangjothic5737]

Have to agree! My guy pops into my recommended with a 1 hr long "brief" analysis. Good shit dude.

[@ZaphiraX]

I actually found the analysis lacking here and there. It was decent, but not to the point where I would subscribe

[@vintagememelord8168]

Eventhough LOK isn't the greatest show, I'm really glad that it didn't feel like I was watching ATLA all over again

[@Koroto]

Yup, this is very much how I feel as well. I may disagree with some decisions they made, but I'd much rather see something new and experimental rather than a rehashing of the same story.

[@vintagememelord8168]

@@Koroto holy shit you actually replied bruh this has never happened to me before (ok stay cool meme lord) I meant I agree and it didn't seem too farfetched from the original ATLA series, Some people don't give it enough credit

[@dgagamingaesir]

@@vintagememelord8168 Uhhh...so Even though it's a terrible show, it deserves credit because it's different and get not far fetched from atla?

[@vintagememelord8168]

@@dgagamingaesir It was an alright show but still kept some things the same which was of benefit to the shoe

[@vintagememelord8168]

ha ha shoe

[@gioeleg6447]

The issue with Korra is that it lacks the cohesion of TLA. If it had that and not giant laser robots, it would have been on par if not even better than TLA. But unfortunately the writers didn't have the possibility from the beginning to do so due to greater reasons.

[@krittikapanigrahi]

LOK also lacks emotions in my opinion like i still cry in so many seans in ALTA it make you feel things Man you even conect to villans like azula It just that it has more emotions and meaning to it thats why its still relevant almost 15yrs after it airing and the gang including Katara, soka, toph, zuko, aang its more strong (i am not talking about power or bending rather a group as a whole) Each and every character was loved and had moments to shine moments to make mistakes and moments to learn Each had their own trauma but dealt with it as a team with each other on their side Its just more heart warming for me than LOK

[@etienne8110]

​@@krittikapanigrahiit boils down to the production issues. LoK was greenlighted one season at a time And even then they sometimes had cut in the budget taking out an episode. That s why each book had to have one antagonist and a résolution within these few episodes (12 to 14 épisodes per season is not a lot) The romance triangle was a mess in first season (it had to happen fast to fit in one season, but consequently it felt wrong and this wrongness leaked on the rest of the show) Atla could plan the whole show from the get go. Meaning they could build up the antagonists slowly, do a lot of foreshadowing and even sow for later books) it gave them more time to devellop the characters slowly. Honestly, rather than a live action, i d love it if the same amount of money (150millions dollars on Season one😮) was put into redoing LoK. As a full pièce with four seasons from the get go. I can dream 😂

[@ZaphiraX]

​@@etienne8110 If I remember correctly, ALT was not green lit the entire show. I remember someone saying that it was uncertain if we were ever going to see the final resolutions. I think it was also the reason they kept Ozai vague. They didn't think they would ever get to the big boss

[@antthegord9411]

I really wanted to like Korra. I loved the TLA to death. I had so much goodwill going into it but oddly enough the thing that ruined it for me was the jump in tech. I miss the ancient/medieval style of TLA.

[@jadenwalker2052]

Yeah the steampunk New York ruined it for me, and so did the extreme change in how the bending worked and was done.

[@yunotheactivist49]

@@asimhussain8716 I also hate how legend of Korra constantly breaks the established rules in avatar and completely destroyed the lore of bending in the avatar Wan bullshit

[@yunotheactivist49]

@@asimhussain8716 also the romance is complete garbage the much younger characters in ATLA were far more mature in handling relationships

[@jadenwalker2052]

@Gabriella Maroney I agree with all your points! Every Avatar fight felt like it had some good impact(no matter the length and goofiness of it) and served to better the character or story. All the elements had their own martial arts tied to them, and even a way of thinking as Iroh explained to Zuko. Korra just felt like it tried way too hard to continue what *they* thought people wanted.. and threw in really bad concepts for Anarchy, and Militaristic leaderships(I think that's the term for the final boss lady in book four, correct me please). While they tried to make messages in a teen's show that they'd understand, it felt more like they praised Anarchy, terrorists, and the like by just the way the told the story. The fights were... underwhelming and the only good part of Korra for me was the few episodes in the bending tournament(mainly because I love the bending and it looked more interesting than the plot.) In Avatar, like you said, Toph learned to Metal bend because she grew as a character and learned to apply herself in a different manner. Aang learned Energy Bending, not because of plot.. but because of his pacifistic nature, the Turtle was there to tell him "hey look, you want to beat him but be a pacifist? Here's the knowledge of Energy Bending, find out more for yourself)(in my opinion at least) Bolin's lava bending felt like it was plot driven in all honesty. And yeah all the people having Earth bending, Lightning bending, and the other unique sub elements, just cheapened them beyond comprehension.

[@nickramos6745]

@Gabriella Maroney theres a lot that i have to disagree with here. first of all, im really not understanding your point about the tech in tlok. it was only epic in atla because the fire nation was pretty much gatekeeping all of their tech. it was so common in tlok because it just wasnt kept only to the fire nation now. thats not even a fault you can put on tlok, thats literally just a realistic way of how the world wouldve evolved and refined this newfound tech that was now widely available. this is also only relative to republic city as we see that there are still many cities around the world that dont have any of this tech and are still in their primitive ways of life. second of all, i see your point about how the way of bending was reduced to kicks and punches, but again this is only relative to republic city. in a city where there’s a melting pot of every bending culture with rapidly advancing tech, there’s obviously gonna be new styles of fighting that are modernized, especially with the inclusion of pro bending and how mainstream it is. but this doesnt mean that this is how bending is around the world. in fact, i would assume that the vast majority of benders around the world still follow their respective traditional styles of bending. i also dont agree with how you think tlok is americanized. i really dont get why you think that when even cities like hong kong also had architecture and industrialization similar to 1920s nyc. also, obviously lightning bending will become more common. lightning bending was only really known in the royal fire nation family during the 100 year war-again, the fire nation was gatekeeping their tech and their ways of bending. after zuko disbanded that, it would become more common. and you cant compare a teenage love triangle to zuko whos literally going through a life crisis thats conflicting with his morals that affects his everyday life and thought process. if lightning bending was disrupted by such a little emotional conflict as a love triangle then literally no one would be lightning bending lol. also, the only reason it was considered rare was because,in atla, it was only really known in the royal family, but that doesnt mean that its a rare ability among fire benders. and when talking about metal bending, it, again, became much more widespread when toph opened her metal bending academy. you also don’t necessarily need a teacher to know that you can metal bend, so there were probably many people who realized they could do it when its existence become more widespread. but seeing more people in tlok metal bending doesnt really mean that its still not a rare ability, it just means that more people know about it. even the show mentions how not everyone in zaofu can metal bend. and i kind of agree with the lava bending part and the comparison with toph, but you also have to keep in mind that toph wasnt really in any immediate danger. she had time to figure out how metal bending works when she was trying to escape and us as the audience got to see it, too. but bolin and everyone else was aboutta get absolutely engulfed by lava in a matter of seconds, so we never really got to see how it works. we instead got a character development moment with bolin-he faced his fears (fear blocks the earth chakra) and he then could lava bend. it wouldve been better if we learned how lava bending worked through ghazan, but it shouldnt have been through bolin since we already knew that lava bending existed when it was introduced by ghazan-it wasnt the same situation with toph learning to metal bend and us as the audience also discovering it for the first time. i also think that that moment with bolin was pretty epic since the show had been leading up to that moment. throughout the entire series, bolin showed his constant insecurities about his bending and how he couldnt metal bend after trying many times. so it was pretty satisfying to see him lava bend and i definitely wouldnt consider that a weak moment in the series or for his character growth

[@Isaacksh]

Fully agree kuvira was definitely an underwhelming villain. Never fully got her motives.. great video 😌😌

[@Koroto]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! ❤

[@Isaacksh]

@Isaiah I get you but I think they could have done a better job explaining it. Above all I think the abrupt introduction of kuvira in book 3 doesnt help the audience better understand her motives? 🙂

[@Isaacksh]

@Isaiah yup more episodes would help! Will need to watch again to get a clearer idea, you are probably right though! The production of LOK was tumultuous to say the least, I'm not sure how much constrains they had in the writing/production timeline😌

[@katejoseph6547]

My problem with Ghazan was that he was too overpowered and committed suicide because I think the writers did not know how to finish him off. It happened so suddenly

[@mongolianmovezm7894]

Wow your channel is very underrated. Keep up the good work!!!

[@Koroto]

Much appreciated, will do! :)

[@carolinemasson7172]

I'm not yet finished with the video, but I have some thoughts so far: I'm glad so far you're not just shitting on LOK, bc it isn't all bad, even if I don't like it too much. Secondly, I feel like LOK had so much potential to explore particularly complex political and social themes of class and traditionalism and modernism in a way that ATLA couldn't. ATLA's darker themes of war, it's cost, etc, had very clear boundaries of right and wrong. Though I did like Zukko Alone for exploring that more. But LOK could have explored the bending elite, and such in so much more of a complex way, or at least, it could have been written so much better, that it kind of annoyed me. Also, I don't mind the tech jump in LOK, I just wish it was a little earlier, rather than like 20s, it just felt a little too much of a jump. Maybe like the 1910's even, idk, it felt a little jarring. Also, love that Korra is like buff, it's not something you often see. Also, I really liked how Aang's last bit was on whether to kill the avatar or whatever. I relate to Aang in personality a lot, bubbly, energetic, kind, I try to be loyal and mostly pacifistic, but I really liked that he felt it would be worse to Kill Ozai. On a moral level I really agreed with Aang, rather than the other Avatars.

[@SilicatYT]

Hour long retrospectives are my favorite kind of brief retrospectives

[@sparxstreak02]

7:54 Uh, Katara made it PRETTY clear she did not forgive her mother’s killer. She forgave Zuko yes, but he earned that. The lesson was more that you can choose either & still move on.

[@seventhofearth]

But Katara didn't forgive him. She said it herself. She'll never forgive him.

[@seaniestack7344]

Wow for such a small channel and only 7k views this video was very entertaining! Great video!

[@flintstonebeard2327]

TLA is a great story. LOK is a so so fanfiction based on a great story.

[@krittikapanigrahi]

Fax!!

[@sirskyrage]

I didn't know 1 hour could feel like 5 minutes

[@christopherhicks9944]

I'm quite surprised you didn't like Kuvira as much. I thought she served as a decently intimidating force based on her personality and influence alone. I like that her fighting style is based on a series of very small-scale manipulation of earth and metal that completely keeps her opponent from grasping the situation. Only using large-scale bending (like throwing a tank Suyin threw) when completely necessary. I think it is reflective of her methods to attain order in not often devastating towns with force directly but choosing for a more attritional approach. I feel her intimidation comes from the fact that she is a seemingly regular metal bender who doesn't use anything crazy in combat, but she still manages to hold as much influence as she does. Amon also had a lot of followers due to his charisma but his special abilities gave him a lot of his influence at the end of the day. With Kuvira, there is a looming idea that almost anyone with enough conviction can drastically change the world for the better or worse should they decide to. As for Kuvira's character, while very intense is very needed for the situation she is in. The Earth Kingdom was in chaos while absolute order was needed to keep things from degenerating further. In the time skip, we see that bandits were devastating entire towns leaving many completely helpless with no way to fight back. While her methods were not the most kind, I can't think of a more efficient way to maintain order in a quick manner. She also serves as a reflection to Korra herself. Her personality is reflective of Korra in her earlier seasons, and I think it shows off Korra's character growth in a very direct manner. Regardless, I did really like the video.

[@MrShadowThief]

I see Kuvira as basically a metalbending Azula who makes people obey her based on actual respect rather than fear, which makes her even more dangerous.

[@brandonlyon730]

And leagues better then Unalaq who barely has anything interesting going on with him and was pretty much just a lame mustache twirling villain.

[@chrisacosta9433]

Fantastic video, loved every moment of it!! Keep it up I’d love to see this channel grow because you deserve it

[@Koroto]

Thank you, really means a lot! :)

[@katejoseph6547]

Before I watch this video, and I don’t usually comment on videos, I’d like to say but Avatar was my first fictional world. There began my love for the chosen one trope and elemental magic (especially Fire users being my favorite: Prince Zuko, Princess Azula, Princess Bloom, Princess Aelin). In Korra, they changed what the Avatar was supposed to be. They questioned whether the Avatar was needed which is something I was not ready for. Also, I loved ATLA and watched LOK repeatedly when I couldn’t watch ATLA. It was the closest I could get and as a result, I’m not so interested in rewatching the show. But I had a great time watching them! PS: I love these essay type videos and am hoping if you could into reviewing the Shera Princess of power reboot.

[@Nomad.]

im excited to see the channel grow

[@JohnnyTightlips2007]

When it came to the Giant battle, I kind of wonder if it was because of Pacific Rim which I think came out in the same year. I assume that it was something Korra was only able to do because of an Astral Event and the Tree of Time.

[@TheMrFancyKiwi]

I dropped Korra half way through season but not gonna lie the Red Lotus arc sounds really good. Might go back and finish it.

[@Koroto]

100% recommend it. No joke, the Red Lotus arc is one of my favorites in the entire Avatar franchise!

[@brandonhelcher3691]

Surprised Unalaq ranked higher than Kuvira. Unalaq ultimately was quite selfish and cared little for his nation, or even his own family, putting his ambition for power above all. Kuvira certainly went too far, she had no right attacking Republic city or even Zoufou, but at her start she wanted to genuinely help people and keep her nation safe. She also had valid points about Wu being an unfit puppet, and Suyin not doing enough to help. She was eventually able to see how far she'd fallen and try to make things right, while Unalaq seemed to have zero principles, and not even his children mourned his death.

[@Kintaku]

I feel like almost all of the villains have a weird fumble in their story endings, but I agree with this perspective. Kuvira was a good villain with understandable motivation. No idea why they felt she needed to destroy the city in a giant mech, but aside from that part it was clear she was just doing what she thought was best. The monarch’s were unfit, Suyin was selfish (imo) and the Avatar was useless. She realized someone needed to do something and she did it. The wrong way, but she did it. Unalaq’s story falls apart when he reveals that he’s actually just trying to become an evil avatar on purpose. It would have been better if his convictions were real. The fact he was healing the spirits for the sake of balance doesn’t align with his end goal.

[@GrapeCheckerBoard]

Kuvira wanted to take over Republic City because it was built on land captured from the Earth Kingdom by the Fire Nation during the Hundred Year War. After the war, Aang, Zuko and Earth King Kuei decided to follow the wishes of the inhabitants of the oldest Fire Colonies, and granted them independence from both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. (The comic trilogy “The Promise” covers the events that led to the Fire Colonies gaining independence.)

[@brandonlyon730]

Unalaq was kind of stupid to, like after Korra open the portal in the South Pole all he literally had to do afterward was to send Korra up to the North Pole to unlock the second portal and his plan would’ve been fulfilled with Korra none the wiser and without her friends. But instead we wastes his limited time to take over the South Pole even though that has nothing to do with anything with releasing Vaatu and just alienate Korra even though she is the only thing to accomplish his plan. So had Korra done literally nothing after escaping until HC passes Unulaq’s plan would’ve failed. So yeah he was also a dumb villain who unknowingly self-sabotage his own plans

[@PainfullySubjective]

8:53 the freedom fighters were not anarchists. they were not fighting for freedom from systems of oppression for all, they were just fighting the fire nation out of hate and vengeance. they had a very obvious leader in Jet. and the problem was not with them, it was with Jet specifically. and the fact that he was so driven by vengeance that he was willing to sacrifice the innocent to meet his goals. the red lotus were anarchists (or rather, closer to what anarchism is than the freedom fighters were).

[@tayvone24]

I really sat and watched for almost an hour. Amazing video 👏🏾👏🏾 keep up the good work.

[@DourFlower]

The music you choose for each video is just great

[@countveles]

11:46 You don't have to show it to make me cry, as I cry by remembering it myself 😢

[@artisticvisionary00]

I will always prefer the TLA over LOK but Zaheer is my favorite character of both parts and man I'm glad LOK produced him, Cause LOK Book 3 was the best it had to offer imo.

[@squidbro6635]

Completely agree. I personally don't like the series as much as ATLA, but due to it having less of an over aching story, it created more diverse and three dimensional villain, though mainly season 3 and 4, and I love it.

[@junior523]

LOA??

[@Kintaku]

I agree. Zaheer might be the best villain overall. Understandable (though naive) motive, realistic character flaws, and meaningful character growth. I also like that he was taken down not by Korra getting a random power boost, but by a group of air benders in a way that makes sense.

[@dinoaurus1]

@@squidbro6635 the reason it didnt have an overarching story was because nickelodeon wouldnt approve more than one season at a time until they approved season 3 and 4. So they were able to make an overarching story there

[@justinchristian3374]

Gotta say, you have the best breakdowns EVER!! Thank you…like wow!

[@Super-Animation]

This is fun! Enjoyed watching this till the end. Thanks a lot for sharing.

[@Type2DiabetesLol]

lol toph was not gambling, she was scamming.

[@argama_asce8461]

The giant spirit projections I feel is just like Aang fusing with the moon spirit at the end of season 1

[@Tedy419]

"she takes on 5 benders... and soka..." I mean come on you really did him dirty.

[@thecringekid1929]

Damn spectacular video, I always thought flight was a technique not sub bending style?

[@Koroto]

Thank you! :) I suppose so, but at the end of the day you could also call lightning bending a rare technique, so I'm not too sure how you'd classify them precisely. Appreciate the comment!

[@thecringekid1929]

@@Koroto oooh fair point, I guess their isn’t exactly an easy way to classify them

[@indoorplant2392]

@@Koroto All “sub bendings” are just different bending techniques so I don’t understand the need for so many to try to classify them as if there is an inert logic to them

[@romano-britishmedli7407]

Thanks for this awesome, long and detailled review! Loved it, as I love and enjoy both shows! Your neutral standpoint was really nice and enjoyable to watch. Kinda bummed you put Kuvira as your least favourite villain, as she's my second-favourite villain in LoK after Zaheer, of course. I'd argue that Kuvira was dangerous on a smaller scale, not as world-threatening as Zaheer or Amon (or obviously Unalaq). Not every plot has to focus on saving the world - the fate of Republic City was good enough as a story-driving plot, for me at least. But I really sympathize with Kuvira's motives of bringing stability and order to the Earth Kingdom (it's in the execution of these ideals that she has gone way too far).

[@snevkreb14]

40:12 I'm not a 100% sire where I picked this up, but I really like the idea lava bending requires elements of earth AND fire bending. This would explain why we have only seen Avatars do it in the past. Mako and Bolins parents came from the earth and fire nation respectivey (hence they bend earth and fire). I like the idea that this bending ability was only able to develop after the fire nation and earth kingdom population started to mix, after Ozai's reign.

[@jagnestormskull3178]

Metalbenders are also probably partially more mobile because they inherited (through all Metalbending teaching lineages being traceable to Toph's Metalbending Academy from the ATLA comics) Toph's Praying Mantis Stance versus the more traditional Earthbending Horse Stance.

[@Rivecha]

Insane content bro. Keep it up!

[@Koroto]

Much appreciated! :) Will do!

[@Rivecha]

@@Koroto yeah its insane how high quality the content is for the view count! Only 300 views on this, its a travesty! Also, I'm wondering how you deal with copyright strikes when using footage from movies/shows, because whenever I use footage even in a transformative/review setting, I always end up getting ineligible for monetization and it sucks. Ik your channel technically isnt eligible to be monetized yet but im wondering if you deal with a similar issue?

[@Koroto]

Nice to see you enjoyed it! But yes, copyright strikes are a pain to deal with, especially with Avatar content. It's mainly down to creative editing and using super short clips, preferably without audio. I find that anything 5-10 seconds long is usually safe. Problem is that as a small creator, its pretty much impossible to reach out to YT to dispute claims, even if it's clearly transformative, so I upload draft versions to see if anything gets caught by the algorithm right away and go from there. It's finicky and requires multiple renders & uploads, but it's better than the video getting blocked completely world-wide. 😄

[@bamboocottage5030]

I do think ATLA was better than TLOK though TLOK is very special in its own way. I didn't expect TLOK to give me a similar investment in the story and the charecters that ATLA did. A critque I would give is TLOK lacked the consistency and character arc that ATLA did. With maybe the exception of korra's PTSD "lone traveler" story. In a way it seems similar to zukos because they are both battling a mental fight opposed to physical ones through exploring. I think zaheer was an excellent villain due to firm morals and not being the linear good and bad without a switch of side/heart. I think the other 3 villains were lacking. They didnt have an arc, great consistency or dept compared to zaheer and zuko. I would've liked to see more of the martial art connection to bending that ATLA had. To be fair an industrialized mostly intergrated world wouldve muddled styles in this world but seeing a more cohesive mix would've been great. For example irohs application of water bending for lightening bending. I recognize it is extremely difficult to live up to original with its through study of the arts for this show, an excellent highlight of this is tophs bending style being noticably different to the main stream earth bending due to the influence of the southern praying mantis style specifically made for blind people. This detail was excellent. I appreciate the non-linear story line korra had. The world felt larger and more complex and it showed the various very different possibilities for opposition. TLOK is a great show worthy of appreciation and shouldn't just be measured up to ATLA. Anyways sorry for this long post lol.

[@nightwing7204]

I feel like raava and vaatu should have both been the avatar spirit raava would been the members of the past live and vaatu would be the spirt allow the avatar to bend the four elements. It would also make since for the avatar to keep balance because they would have both light and darkness in them and because that was there role in the world. Also I think there should have been problem with only raava out in the world because it would make the spirit way to orderly but it was shown that they where some chaos among spirits. I wish in TLOK there was more jobs for just benders to show how much of a impact they had on the world and have non bender as people who study the science to improve both lives and study to see if other people could be benders. The people who did TLOK should have made a world of what they would imagine if the western world never came to Asia. And they should done like naruto to where only the true master could bend without doing the marshal art moves because the bending in TLOK just bland.

[@Flipitmixit]

Astral projection: spiritual airbender technique which Jinora uses. Essentialy just meditating your intangible spirit out of your body. Energy bending: Technique taught by lion turtle making it so you can bend spiritual energy within a person or from the outside like when Korra bended kuviras spirit canon beam. Spititbending: Waterbending technique developed by Unalaq designed to either heal or destroy spiritual beings

[@Valiguss]

I think korra was a great show but it’ll always be overshadowed Also a major missed opportunity for as dropping psychic blood bending and the amon backstory to make him actually blessed by the spirits to feed into a revised season 2 Psychic blood bending was op and I think the idea of a non bending villain with spirit powers could have been cool. And also it makes season 2 more interesting since we have seen the spirits try to intervene already.

[@alyseleem2692]

Now That , Is a beautiful suggestion. Thank you ,good sir. I have only one like to give you.

[@Valiguss]

@@alyseleem2692 thanks

[@alyseleem2692]

@@Valiguss No need. You just made my day.

[@youngmaster7405]

i thinkg they took it in a good direction. Amon's true power was always the people and if he lost them he would be powerless

[@foxdavani4091]

It makes sense that certain bending styles are no longer rare. As soon as you introduce some thing to the world, it’s going to spread. A great example is Shaolin kempo. it makes sense that certain bending styles are no longer rare. As soon as you introduce some thing to the world, it’s going to spread. A great example is Shaolin Temple. Shaolin kempo began as a way of fixing the negative aspects of other arts. for example, Shaolin Campo takes the close range control that jujitsu utilizes in order to control people in close range. Kind of like blood bending where normally karate and tae kwon do don’t deal with close range. And then Sheldon Campo takes for range attacks because karate and jujitsu. Don’t deal with the far range. It takes the softness of kung fu since linear heart attacks like karate or not, very good if the person themselves is not very strong like a child, for example. But then it also takes the linear of karate because the gentle flows of kung fu aren’t very useful if they are too complicated for the students to master. But when it first came on the scene, it was rare. Most places you went you found, tae kwon do, studios, karate studios, and so on , but after a few decades, now, most places also have their Shaolin Campo. And now Shaolin tempo is not as rare or even as prestige as it once was. It is just another tool for those who don’t want to pull out a gun and kill someone. So it’s the same thing in the sense that blood bending metal bending , and so on started off as something unique, but given time they spread

[@luvdisneyv]

I saw a comment on another video. It was about the themes between both Last Airbender and Legend of Kora. I forget what the actual quote was but it's close. "Avatar the Last Airbender was about a man learning how to be a avatar. Legend of Kora is about the avatar learning to be human."

[@Kev.NTheLich]

Video was cool, I just dont understand why everyone called aang a bad father I believe he was far from it, he just had to carry the responsibilities of continuing the air nomad culture as well as being a father. His kids even state that he was never a bad father and that he loved them all.

[@ianleonard3264]

im a year late but have an idea as to the power discrepancy between original and korra. the abilities of a field become more common over time because young people take it up and learn everything and invent new stuff. its why fields get bigger over time and take longer to fully master. when van halen played eruption it was wizardry, now theres 11 year olds all over the internet playing it flawlessly

[@jayive34]

The Tales of Ba Sing Se is what cement Iroh as my favorite character of the show.

[@hameley12]

Let's not forget that Aang of the Air Temple his nickname will forever be twinkle toes. I'm sure Toph at some point told his children about it. And he gave her a bit of fun [hellish games] by earth-air bending until she was down then they both laughed it off. As for Legend of Korra, it was okay. They had some good ideas, but not well executed or thoughtout probably because Nicktoons didn't give them enough time, money and support. And that's how you get Legend of Korra. But I do have to agree that the main arc of bending being spiritual became more about commercializing it and using it for other purposes. And that's okay. If I was part of the rewriting. I would ask what about Jinora? What if Korra only gets to two elements and by the third book Jinora gets ahead, she's had more time to train and develop as a strong bender. Suddenly instead of Korra defeating Zahir or Kuvira. It's Jinora who makes it through and settles everything peacefully? I know this story is about Korra not about Jinora. She meets with the spirit from the beginning and instead of a biased Good vs Evil, Gods vs Demons. It's a new beginning of bringing two worlds together and living peacefully. By doing so, we get to see towards the end that non-benders suddenly find themselves with air, earth or metal bending. Something that's so unpredictable but good. They can train alongside Tenzin, Jinora, Korra and other strong benders who have had years of know-how. Q: When did Jinora have time to learn about fire, earth or water? A: From previous Masters, her father has visited. Tenzin has the ability to travel, meet unique people and brings Jinora and his children along with him. Q: How is it that Jinora is the first one to see or communicate with the spirits? A: She's an intuitive, patient, and out-of-the-box creative thinker. And also spiritual, she trains and focuses more than her siblings. Similar to Bumi and Aang. But she is her own person. Sorry for the long rant. I've had his idea in my mind for a long while.

[@Dolly.956.]

I wanna re watch it around the autumn time

[@sepphoris8463]

2 years late, but regarding Aang's strength in bending, it depends on whether you mean the strength he shows as an individual, or with the power of the Avatar State. Individually? I would agree that how he pacifies Ozai is the most impressive scene. But with the Avatar State? He does something that easily tops everything across TLA and LoK (even the spirit laser deflection): when he is gathering the elements to chase after Ozai, one thing he does is pull a massive torrent of water, and then COMPRESSES it into a small ring, without any visible loss. It takes a ridiculous amount of energy just to compress the amount of water that a straw could hold. The strength that Aang would need for the amount he gathers (what looks to be a small lake's worth) could only be done on - ironically - a cosmic scale. Unless an avatar was to do something like create or destroy a literal black hole, this is probably THE #1 feat of power that will ever appear within Avatar.

[@MercerSin]

Sokka is the non-bending avatar. Change my mind

[@Wvyern_]

I feel like everyone dislikes legend of Korra mainly because it doesn’t hold up to avatar the last Airbender but I was lucky enough to have a friend who recommended legend of Korra to me also tell me to not think of the show as a continuation but more as a Completely different Show. this will change a lot on how you view a show. Korra is not atla, it’s korra.

[@user-qq8kq5td4x]

in general i wouldnt have liked it regardless, its worldbuilding makes no sense, and the characters are quite underdeveloped

[@DarkAuraLord]

That's the most retarded thing that I've ever heard. You CANNOT view Korra as a separate show, because it's entire world, cast of characters, magic system, and politics are ALL DEPENDANT ON THE WORLD AND EVENTS OF ATLA. It LITERALLY does not make sense without the context of ATLA, and they decided to retcon SO much shit from the first show that I don't even know WHY they bothered predicating it so fucking much on ATLA to begin with.

[@ThePastAnalysis]

Thank you for this video. It helps me remember various aspects of the Korra series that I liked. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of it and even have a personal desire to rewrite it from the ground up. The change to the magic system was deeply upsetting for me, but even so your video has helped me appreciate various aspects of the series for my rewrite. Again, thank you very much for your take on the series.

[@JediDanD]

Korra is interesting with villains, Amon was the big bad because Korra was a one season show. Then they green-lit season 2, so Amon was the big bad. Then they green-lit 3 and 4 together, so really Kuvira is the big bad after being stepped upto by Zaheer. With Aang, all three seasons were already lit (or at least they had a plan for three seasons from the getgo).

[@TSH425]

The problem I had with korra having mastery over all bending as a kid is that she was never taught it she had no idea what she was doing she just did it which was weird as why was she able to bend the elements without any instructions even aang needed a teacher to be able to use he needed to see it first but she just did it? Didnt make sense to me lava bending should have stayed as a avatar only ability and not a wide spread ability. Lightening is no longer an ability that is a 1 shot KILL ability jow u can be hit and survive like what if that was a thing then aang had no reason to throw away his shot against ozai. Then air got flight which was cool but I think air needed somthing more like a zone and blood bending became dumb asf how can a family of blood benders exist but Hama was the first EVER BLOOD BENDER she made it in prison so there was no way for anyone else to gain it as an ability if katara didnt teach anyone and Hama was sent to a prison and she ONLY RVER TAUGHT KATARA so how the hell was there a family of blood benders it made no sense

[@TSH425]

Blood bending should not be able to take bending away and that was just dumb like bruh how can they do that and dont even tell me they closed chakras that would take spirt and energy bending like aang did having a water bending do it breakes the rules of the show as that would mean katara can stop people from bending during a full moon

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

Also, Hama could only bloodbend during a full moon. Korra did a lot to destroy the lore set up by ATLA

[@TSH425]

@Gabriella Maroney exactly if blood benders can do it it should only be temporary and not permanent only the avatar should be able to permanently take bending

[@MrShadowThief]

"korra having mastery over all bending as a kid" That's your problem. It took years of training for her to master the elements. Only thing she know was to throw water, pebbles and flames around, much like what Katara could do at the start of ATLA because she had no training.

[@Eidolon1andOnly]

@@MrShadowThief It literally took years for most avatars to even begin to manipulate other elements, let alone master them. Korra as a toddler had a good sense of three and even proclaimed she was the avatar and you had to deal with it. Even as a teen she was able to out perform the White Lotus masters trying to train her. She could have been written as a character much more confident and capable than Aang without coming across as a piece of self-centered trash, learning elements faster and being a real relatable character, but that wasn't the case. She was a Mary Sue who was just better for the sake of it, and was a trash protagonist. Why is she somehow the exception to the rule? Aang was written as an exception by having to master all 4 elements within months and he struggled. Korra was able to use 3 out of 4 elements as a small child. Terrible writing.

[@emmetthowell9265]

Spring 2022 and here I am obsessing over avatar again

[@Morgothik]

I believe Kuvira is meant to show the cycle of war, peace, war. There was a dictator, he was defeated, things were good for awhile until the top got too comfortable and thought they were untouchable, they fall and another "revolutionary" takes their place.

[@IbbickYT]

Technically only iroh, zuko, and aang can REDIRECT lightning, iroh created that technique by studying water bending. Azula and Ozai can generate lightning but not redirect it

[@jeremybowser7690]

I agree with you on everything but Asami. Her analog in the ATLA is Apa; she flies/drives them around. Her relationship with Korra is very thin and it's friend vibes until season 4. Also, Tenzin spanked Zaheer and he should have. Airbending master vs anarchist, air acolyte poser.

[@charliechuckles2195]

I always saw Mai and Ty Lee as fire nation ninja.

[@m1cha3l31]

I didn't look at how long this was until about twenty minutes in. "a brEiF rEtroSPecTivE" he says, this guy.

[@Sapphireeyes104]

I watched all of airbender and then burned out after like 3 episodes of Korra...maybe I'll try it again.

[@Koroto]

It's definitely worth giving a shot! If you're like me, the jump in overall setting probably seemed a bit surprising, but I got used to it really quickly.

[@dgagamingaesir]

@@Koroto if you are a person who care more about a good story than just good ideas and animations, Lo k is worse that a metal grater as toiletpaper.

[@youngmaster7405]

@@dgagamingaesir korra has a good story (can't speak for season 2 even though it does help korra grow as a character) the animation and ideas are just the cherry on top. but I love the stories they tell in Korra.

[@dgagamingaesir]

@@youngmaster7405 let us analyse season one. Correct me if I go wrong anywhere. It revolves around korra learning air, korra experiencing the outside world for the first time, korra taking on the responsibilities she believes the avatar just bear, equality between benders and non benders and amon. Let's us go point by point. Korra learning air: it is the start of her spiritual journey. At the very start of the first episode,it established the fact that korra is severely lacking in the spiritual side of bending. She goes to republic city to learn from Tenzin. So, we should see a conflict between korra's nature,her behaviour, and tenzin with his teachings. Yes, we do see all of these. But, here is where it goes wrong. Korra doesn't even try to listen to tenzin. Tenzin asks her to meditate- she stops a few seconds later. Tenzing tries to teach her to move like a lead in the wind. Korra charges in headfirst into the spinning planks, and rages when it doesn't work. She burns the relic , and then badmouths Tenzin in front of his kids. The tension of this conflict has reached its climax. It will then be resolved. How was it resolved? She learned to move like the leaf through focusing only on her opponents and their attacks(probending) Tenzin and korra then resolve their conflict by apologising to eachother. Tenzin says that maybe he was using the wrong approach ,trying to force her into being something she isnt. Korra is ,at that point,purely physical. She isn't spiritual, but that's what she went after tenzin. So, when Tenzin apologised, he basically said that it was wrong for him to teach korra spirituality. She came to Tenzin to learn spirituality, she didn't even try to learn from him, and when she was supposed to apply what she learned, and flies into a destructive rage. It is entirely her fault. Yet, the conflict is resolved by Tenzin also apologizing, and Tenzin let's korra do it her way. Now, it Tenzin was a non bender who was influential politically, and he took korra with him to republic city, she would have joined pro bending, she would have learned to move like a leaf from probending. She would keep doing things her way,ignoring spirituality. She would still have a right with Tarloq over the imprisonment of her friends, and she would get captured. She would find it futile to try and escape. She would have then had nothing to do but focus on aang as her last resort. She would have had the vision(this is the only other supposedly spiritual thing she did). To summarise: Korra was told that she could not bend air due to not being spiritual. If this was false, she should have learned air along with all other elements when she was small. So, she then established with Tenzin that spirituality is not the problem, and that her non spiritual way is what she needs. But she would have learned airbending already if that were the case. Thus, her relationship with Tenzin is forcefully settled for the plot, Tenzin was of no use in helping her learn airbending, and she got airbending through magic. As the supposed problem wasn't actually a problem. It is 12 am, so I will continue about amon,the equalists and their impact on korra ,tomorrow .

[@youngmaster7405]

@@dgagamingaesir the thing with the first point is that it's showing korra's impatient personality. she is frustrated because she is unable to get it straight away because the other elements were so easy for her. throughout the second episode, tenzin does get impatient with korra as well and she does resist him for this. they were both partly at fault so they mutually apologize. also in this episode, tenzin denies korra basic freedom to travel and experience things. also it's established in the novels that airbenders are all spiritual in some way and that is why their population is full bender. korra could not grasp it, partly because her freedom was being taken from her and she was physical.

[@datnoob4394]

Koroto: "I want to be VERY clear this isn't another 'hate on LoK' video"

[@gamesndebunker]

I gotta say. I first watched ATLA in 2020 when it released on Netflix, and I have now watched it 4 times in total. I also watched LOK when it was put on Netflix, and I haven't felt a desire to rewatch it.

[@AdeptusSteve]

Hey thats really interesting, I have the exact same tradition of watching both shows at the mid-end winter time. Just to get some nice feel-good energy after a the long dark. I dont care what the haters out there say. LOK to me is one of the best shows that I had the joy of watching. I really appreciate what the creators were able to do with it despite all the setbacks and challenges they were facing. Yea it has its flaws, just like the character of Korra, but thats what I like about it, how it still managed to be a very enjoyable show with meaningful themes and lovely characters that mean a lot to me.

[@christianmugisha7933]

I don't feel as though the astro-projection incident in the Legend of Korra deviated from the avatar magic system. Not all information about the magic system was ever discussed in the the last air bender especially events that had to do with the spirit world and energy bending. You brought out an example of Aang using energy bending to take away ozai's bending but Aang wasn't a spirit being amped up the power of harmonic convergence which only happens once every 10000 years so it I do not think them turning into giant spirits was unnecessary. There is a reason why both giant forms of Korra and Unalaq were only able to happen during harmonic convergence. While Unalaq's physical body was completely taken over by Vaatu while him still being in control and powered up by harmonic convergence which happens to both raava and vaatu. Korra's was a form of energy bending. The explanation was vague but it was present and explained iin the wan episodes. I guess the creators didn't want to give viewers a much straight forward answer as opposed to putting details and letting vewiers find out which i don't mind. Korra is almost a vessel of energy that was being harnessed in the last 10000 years due to her and previous avatars having raava. In order to bend multiple elements as raava stated to wan, they must combine their energies and raava was to hold the elements for wan till he mastered how to use them. You could see Korra bend both water and air without raava once she was taken away from her. So we can conclude she was able to bend 2 elements without raava or more due to her energy retention. Tenzin told her to bend the energy within herself in the tree of time as ancients used to medidate to connect with their cosmic energy. Cosmic energy isn't only subject to Korra turning into a giant version of herself as energy in avatar can be in many forms. Korra used that energy for that specific reason hence why she was the only one that could do it. For the beams we know vaatu can do it because he is a spirit and when him and unalaq combined powers with him taking over his physical form yet being in control, Unalaq was able to use vaatu's powers so it makes sense. As for korra, she is a form of energy and mainly spiritual energy and we know energy can be manipulated. Since it's spiritual energy we can assume some of their powers come from the same source considering they were both powered up harmonic convergence.

[@dgagamingaesir]

In a nutshell, she got a huge power boost and projected her spirit in a way that any spiritual person should have been able to, even though korra doesn't know shit about spirituality and spirits. And nice try but human bodies can't manage that much power(more than one element). Without the carpet korra can't bend other elements. If it was possible, other people would have been able to do the same.

[@sanjagoceva3054]

i just didnt like how they cut korras connection to all her pst lives that was the only huge thing that bugged me in the seiries

[@LtLongle]

Tenzin had Zehir dead to rights until the others stepped in. It was almost over and Tenzin could have easily ended it sooner if he had Zehir's ruthlessness.

[@benjamintic3653]

Tbh I don't think the revolutionist movment in S1 of TLOK is just 'unjustified radicalists wanting fake equality' because when you look at the season and the series as a whole, they have a point. They're opressed, stuffed in sectors of the cities meant for them, they're treated as below benders and at a peaceful protest they get rowded up like animals. That's why I don't feel like the first season works. Just because their leader was a fraud, it doesn't mean their struggles and opression aren't real.

[@werewolfjedi38]

with the giant spirit bend fight, I did not see that as a bending move precisely, but as spiritual powers. avatar power, being brought out during the time when spirital potential was at it's highest, like with sozen's comet and firebending. that was not astral projection to me.

[@Wyatt_B]

I think if Kuvira was more personal it would have been better, and was made even worse by the giant robot. If they had more episodes where it was a brutal slug to invade the city(Fallujah in American Sniper for example). It would have been much more interesting. But that obviously couldn't happen with the limit on episodes. Honestly the lack of episodes and nickelodeon being a bunch of turds is what made Korra not as great as it could have been. Season 2 spirit stuff and Wans origin story were the worst parts. The mystery of where the avatar came from is more compelling in my opinion. Great video though!

[@RicyRicky]

I was rewatching korra with my dad and i forgot he didn't see the show so when he said the fire benders gave him the scarr i spoiled that it was makeup

[@markcastro2036]

Two things that are wrong: 1)korra and salami relationship came out of left field. Every LoK fan needs to accept that. And 2) Aang being a bad father is one of the most unbelievable changes they made

[@deerinheadlights7179]

hm, i do not know for Korra and Asami... It in fact did felt coming out of nowhere no matter if you go back you could see them having time together, the problem is what we saw felt more like a result rather than the built up of one relationship, It was as if it happened off screen and we were shown just normal moments (with which i have no problem since teh story was never about romance) but i guess i can see why it felt that way. About Aang though... I loved this. They did not make him a bad father though. They showed us the result of his possible actions, they showed us the personal struggles his children had around him but never showed him as bad father, just a person, a parent... and it kind of made sense. After all people change a lot while growing up. It is not like taking the child he was and just building up on that forever. Things change, all to different extent.

[@jamesmcdonnell2455]

@@deerinheadlights7179 the writers themselves admit they never intended for korrasami, they just noticed it was a way to trick idiots into continuing to view their retcon machine. Their relationship doesn't even make any sense. Would you date someone who tried to steal your partner from you?

[@deerinheadlights7179]

@@jamesmcdonnell2455 dude, not everyone's got your morals, values, priorities etc.. I for once, would and i know i am not the only one.

[@cervitaurwitch]

11:40 “I’m not gonna make you cry so I won’t show it” Shows it anyway a few seconds later

[@alyseleem2692]

I'm surprised. ... I actually loved this discussion... THANK YOU! I'M FREE!

[@Dumbsourplum]

Honestly I feel like saying The last Airbender Is anything close to linear and Saying Korra Is more Open World Is Honestly Just really bad wording Man.

[@joshuafrazier3904]

Saying Zaheer was the strongest antagonist is a bold and overall incorrect statement. He was the most threatening and dangerous on a personal level but he himself is not the strongest. That title belongs sadly to Unalock, Amon, or Ozai depending on if you count specifically him while being buffed by Sozin’s comet since we don't see him do anything outside of that.

[@Kev.NTheLich]

Glad you were nuetral and all but I also thought that spirit bending in korra was absolute cheeks, I called it pacific rim bending😅

[@LiviaAndrade1]

The monks were pacifist but when it comes to defending themselves, they didn't exactly chose to dodge and evade. The amount of fire soldiers helmets around monk gyatsu should tell us something

[@The_Nailsmith]

40:10 and also Roku bends the volcano’s lava and the lava in the temple

[@isaacguadalupe7019]

Same as you the only difference I watch it in the winter, Fucking great video and love from Chicago

[@quinnbell2388]

I loved watching Legend of Korra, up until the end of book one. The battle with Aman and the Equalists was great and Aman taking away Korra's bending and forcing her to find a way to connect to air bending I thought worked very well. I was very excited to see how the story would progress and how Korra would regain her other bending abilities, because obviously she has to my conceit of the story. The fact that she just 'got her bending back' from Aang really did not sit well with me, and it sucked that such a faceplant on the ending made me completely uninterested to continue watching the show. But it looks like there was quite a bit of cool stuff after that, so maybe I'll be able to give it another whirl.

[@yentl]

So is Korra's connection to all of the previous Avatar's lost for good by the end of the show or?

[@teamaang7915]

Only 2 other characters imo have the same growth as zuko. Steve from stranger things and Jamie tartt from Ted lasso. 😍