Legend of Korra's 'Beginnings' | An Overdue Critique

[@HelloFutureMe]

I'm doing a post-vid Q&A over on my Instagram right now, so some follow and submit your questions about this, writing, worldbuilding, me, or anything else! instagram.com/tim_hickson_hfm/ Cheers to my GODLIKE patrons ( www.patreon.com/hellofutureme ) Stay nerdy! ~ Tim

[@georgethompson913]

Yes my child, let the E;R flow through you!

[@Dnzjsjdk]

Couldn’t agree more I don’t like the beggings either.

[@petrino]

my big problem is how....EASY all 4 elements came to wan, i woulda done it so that the first firebending avatar could ONLY firebend... and then the next airbender avatar would teach the avatar spirit airbending, then water, and finally earth, that way its earned, and shows that it would normally take a lifetime to really master each element. and it is the power of the legacy of the avatar spirit that makes them able to wield all four.

[@gracekim25]

Hello Future Me goodbye 👋

[@the_catboi]

since you are focused into good stories and good character arks. What are your top 10 most liked stories to read to watch and to learn from? i want to learn writing so I can design great OCs and plot for them as an artist but i always end up finding out how little I know about writing. Any tips were to learn and study from the best? I don't know if you are reading comments so I will take my chance

[@shadowjerok]

I think my biggest issue with season 2 was that they just spontaneously removed Korra's connection to the past avatars and than just didn't explore the destruction of identity, history and culture and what that meant for the avatar, which imo would have been very in line with the themes of season 3

[@princessthyemis]

yeah!

[@ThexKiidxSausage]

What's even worse is that now the next avatar will only have Korra to go to for avatar advice. I like Korra but she is not a teacher. There should have been a way for her to reconnect with her past lives. If they did it one by one it would have been a great way to tell stories about avatars we haven't seen anything about.

[@vetarlittorf1807]

Except they did do that. The loss of the past lives paved the way for character development for Korra, such as letting Korra rely more on her own experience rather than just taking the Avatar for granted.

[@vetarlittorf1807]

@@ThexKiidxSausage The only reason people want the past lives back is because they're sentimental. And what makes you think Korra won't be able to give good advises to the next Avatar? She has done a great job as the Avatar and learned a lot. Even Roku, who was objectively a terrible Avatar, was very helpful to Aang.

[@jasonschuler2256]

@Vetarlit Torf I think being sad at the loss of ten thousand years of knowledge is a bit more than sentimentality...

[@scotchedtapee]

the spirits in ATLA seemed a product of their universe, and they were terrifying at times and genuinely awe inspiring. the spirits in LoK feel like ghibli background characters and are more whimsical in a childlike way than in a fantastical way.

[@alyseleem2692]

Agreed!

[@mocharoll3486]

which is ironic since they're trying to make LoK more "mature" and "adult" for the old audience now all grown up.

[@lucyandecember2843]

yee, the more i saw of the spirits in lok the less intrested i got tbh. I wanted to like them, and i don't hate them, but it just felt like something's missing.

[@pulguinha682]

also, in ATLA, spirits appear very scarcely and their appearance alway provokes some sort of reflection and change in the main cast. In Korra they kind of become trivial

[@alzada_]

To me the spirits just look like Pokémon’s that have to mental state of a human and Raava and Vaatu look like Fancy, Glowing Rugs

[@Hot4Thot]

When we first met the spirits, I assumed that Wan would fuse with both of them. So the avatar would be the embodiment of balance

[@shadow_shine3578]

That would have been better

[@siennahartle9069]

Same. I was so upset that they just went “this one good, this one evil” when that spits in the face of everything preached in ATLA

[@marcosnonato]

Korra "destroyed" Vaatu, which means he will gradually grow inside Raava, that is, inside the next avatars. At some point an avatar will have both.

[@StephanAlfisz]

@@Ika0713 I personally think that... the idea behind Raava and Vaatu is actually quite nice... it's the execution of them in the story that is kinda flawed. Raava and Vaatu are and should have been portrayed as order and chaos, defined by a foreign sense of morality that was incomprehensible to mortal beings. Order (Raava) is stable and peaceful... but it is restricting and controlling. Raava could enforce order by enslaving and forcing her way of thinking into all of creation, and it would be good in her eyes, but horrible to the rest of the world. If you really think about the role of the Avatar, it fits into this definition. The Avatar's mission is to preserve the status quo... 4 nations, in a world that doesn't really have a place for big changes. If someone or something threatens that status quo, the Avatar does everything to destroy that agent of change. It is only the chaotic nature of human beings that prevents the Avatar from becoming the ultimate opressing force.. "Submit to the eternal order or be destroyed in elemental fury". Chaos (Vaatu) is disorder, destruction, war.... but it is also life... That's why Vaatu has that really neat ability to create spirit vines. I actually have developed a whole theory on how Vaatu was the creator of all mortal life, based on a lot of evidence... the northern and southern portals' spirit wilds, the Banyan Grove Tree/Tree of Time and the swamp that covers most of the earth with interconected plan life.... He is an embodiment of things that are bad for us, but is Vaatu evil? NO.

[@TheSuperRatt]

That's not how balance works in many eastern theologies.

[@JesusHasRisen1]

Korra: **Leaves Spirit Portal open** Koh about to steal a whole lotta faces: 🧐

[@drawsection]

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@alyseleem2692]

We're dead.

[@justinesun631]

Koh: ....well this is way too convenient, even for me.

[@KRYMauL]

Koh's mom would probably have to say to him.

[@thanquolrattenherz9665]

to be fair to this day i can see no positiv thing in letting this fucking portal open and opening the other one. does this girl even have a brain or know how to use it.

[@lionprubbs701]

22:37 “Doing something is better than doing nothing” *King Bumi wants to know your location*

[@567secret]

That's quite different though as Bumi was waiting for the right moment, he wasn't just contentedly doing nothing.

[@idigamstudios7463]

@@567secret But that's the point, Bumi knew when to hold back and when to act, Korra frequently causes problems with her recklessness and doesn't ever really seem to get past that.

[@ultraghostrider8305]

@@idigamstudios7463 its a joke

[@ultraghostrider8305]

@@567secret its a joke

[@idigamstudios7463]

@@ultraghostrider8305 I know it is but it's a joke that highlights gripes I have.

[@alecneal8335]

The most relevant critique I have of LoK is that it brings up interesting concepts like war profiteering, anarchy, fascism, etc. but then doesn't answer any of the questions it raises in regards to the world, fictional or not. They answer mysteries with less compelling information and don't answer mysteries that have more compelling answers.

[@Meidaneh_Shush]

I agree, the main thing that makes me upset about the whole show is that I think about the potential it had but failed to make true time after time no matter how many chances I gave it.

[@19peter96]

There's also the underlying boring centrist liberal political message; 'wot if good thing but taken too far?!' forced into every season.

[@bryanmcclure2220]

Some questions don't have answers or at least not yet.

[@ch33les99]

Especially with the Equalist movement. Every character starts talking about this disparity between Benders and non-Benders that could’ve made for a pretty interesting allegory, except we’re never given any real examples or evidence of it (SPOILER) It gets worse with kuvira imo. At first it seems like we’re getting a nuanced, morally grey exploration on the effects and philosophy of this new empire, but then she becomes fantasy Hitler and builds a giant robot to destroy the city

[@KevinACarroll1996]

@@19peter96 'wot if good thing but taken too far?!' is an important message that many people never seem to comprehend. So as long as their good, I hope for more stories like them.

[@andrewrudulph4735]

I'm not gonna lie, that line about imagining right at the end of the season someone finally airbending after a long span of cultural rebuilding gave me chills and now I'm upset I won't get to see it.

[@omatofi]

same!! the episodes he describes would be so much better than the ones canon, and i wish it would've been like that from the beginning. it's not like the canon episodes compared to his imagined ones are bad or horrible, it's just... disappointing.

[@aceatlasska4343]

Yeah it would have been great (I actually started tearing up/sort of crying). I also think it would have been cool if a similar thing had been done with Korra at the end of season 1 where instead of being given back her bending powers she has to re-learn them like the original benders did (from the badgermoles etc), including airbending, which I don't think she ever "mastered" in terms of the spirituality etc? Idk I haven't seen the show in a while. Or have her keep balance without her bending and knowing what it's like not to bend.

[@frogthetoad6773]

And adding to that. Imagine Azir was the one to finally air bend. How emotional and compelling is betrayal would be.

[@glorytoarstotzka2325]

Yep. I'm just gonna believe that storyline is canon now.

[@theleanbusinessman5431]

What’s even worse is that Korra can give people air bending, she’s an energy bender

[@drfifteenmd7561]

The thing about Yin-Yang in the Avatarverse is that Tui and La already perfectly embody that philosophy physically and spiritually.

[@alyseleem2692]

Finally! Someone said it!

[@ThomasBomb45]

Yin and Yang are not only one thing, are they? Multiple pairs of spirits can be yin-yang esque

[@Slm99]

I thought it was more Hinduism and not yin-yang. I am talking about Legend of korra not Tui and La.

[@comyuse9103]

​@@ThomasBomb45 they treated one as simply evil, and that is just piss poor writing. yune was a goddess of war and chaos, but also justified her existence with freedom and transformation. having a foil of 2 entities simply being big bad murder god while the other is super duper good god is bad writing (generally).

[@ThomasBomb45]

@@comyuse9103 I 100% agree that they were written poorly and don't embody yin and yang. I'm just saying that we could have had multiple yin and yang type of spirit pairs. They just wrote this one pooorly

[@charlesburrows687]

I feel like that was every season of legend of Korra. Each season had a great sometimes complex set up but then ends in a simple and mostly unsatisfactory way.

[@johncollins1255]

I dunno season 3 ended really great for me because it actually lead to the whole earth kingdom in ruins issue of season 4.

[@adeptdamage3669]

@@azulaeatingmochime2353 Yes they did.

[@grasstastesbad4605]

​@@azulaeatingmochime2353 maybe not 3 but season one never showed non benders getting oppressed like amon was preaching and season 4 rushed kuvira's ending by giving her an half ass ending that was, oh she's just like korra except she never got the attention she needed. Like since when was that your motivation?

[@cadekachelmeier7251]

@@grasstastesbad4605 There was the triad shaking down shops in the beginning of the season. And the non-bending curfew later in the season. Also, just the fact that there were no non-benders on the council is an issue. I agree that it could have used a bit more, especially early on. But it wasn't absent.

[@mikemorro140]

@@cadekachelmeier7251 The triads were going against everyone The curfew only happened as a reaction to the Equalists There was no non benders at the time but Sokka had been head of the council during Aang's time(and I"m assuming at least the early years of Korra's since he was still alive then)

[@TigeriPlaysGames]

i won't lie, when you first said "blue and orange morality," i hadn't heard of the term, and i thought you were just making a joke referencing the colors of aang and ozai's spirits in the finale of atla

[@Chilloxable]

wait, that WASN'T what he was referring to???

[@t.a.yeah.]

I thought of the main colours in the Harry Potter movies.. xD Hmm...

[@mxewris2355]

Also the colors Aang is wearing on his body.

[@Mikewolv007]

I thought of Portal

[@jagnestormskull3178]

It's a TVTropes term. Blue is "the path of bacon" and orange is "the path of necktie."

[@darkmelancholy]

"Why?" Because writing a resolution to complex issues relevant to the real world is hard. Glowing kaiju spirit battle is easy.

[@shadymerchant1198]

glowing kaiju spirit battle also look real nice

[@Boredman567]

Also if you're facing an extremist political movement, you can solve everything just by beating up its leader.

[@forbbidenname18]

@@Boredman567 just like in season 1 lol. If only solving class conflict is ever that easy

[@tywillis2395]

Especially since NICK was rushing the series out the door by this time

[@BratzRockAngels]

@Thomas the Dank Engine I've always felt there was more to Revenge Of The Sith than just fighting in my opinion. ☺

[@XOISHTAR]

It's interesting to think: the AtLA explanation has a more eastern writing trope of great power through focus and hard work, while in the Korra explanation it goes off the western writing trope of having the great power granted from an outside force. Adding in the stark contrast of the morality of the Spirit realm between the two series and it feels like two very different look at core philosophical takes on the hero story.

[@grasshopperye3593]

Underrated comment. That's a really interesting take

[@unlimon6382]

I really like hard work better than natural power. I loved ATLA because even if Aang was a "chosen one", it was more about potential, and the actual power came from hard work

[@TheSuperRatt]

@@unlimon6382 You're forgetting that without the Avatar State, Aang would have lost to Ozai. That isn't power gained through hard work.

[@rajeshthebeast9487]

@@TheSuperRatt it is, hard work over thousands of lifetimes. It may not be Aang's hard work, but it is still hard work

[@adilhoxha5443]

@@TheSuperRatt aang could have beaten Ozai by redirecting the lightning back at him so he didn’t really need the avatar state

[@Ki_Adi_Mundi]

The Avatar state in Last Airbender: Spiritual One-For-All The Avatar state after "Beginnings": *_Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan_*

[@xVallan]

at least SSB is coherrent with the worldbuilding

[@air-headedaviator1805]

And we all know the opinions on Dragon Ball Super....

[@insanevidss]

I also thought of one-for-all lul

[@charizardio7636]

No it's mure like UI

[@jpmccabe2246]

Dont you have the droid attack on the wookies to worry about?

[@erraticonteuse]

28:20 The way they handled the reconstitution of the Air Nomads and the return of airbenders annoyed me so much, because I felt they had *already* set up how it might happen in the original series. Namely, the inventor's community that had taken up residence in one of the Air Temples. I expected to see them, as you suggest, learning airbending from the sky bison or some other means growing out of their connection with the element of air that Aang himself remarked that they had. I expected to see that after a few generations, that connection had grown stronger and more profound, leading to the emergence of new airbenders.

[@alfreddozier832]

I personally liked the way they brought back the air nation, it was like the universe balancing itself.

[@peterparker8462]

@@alfreddozier832 but I thought the whole point of the avatar was that he had to restore balance, not the universe? Even taken as some "will of the universe", it has to act through an intermediary

[@aracelyduarteperez]

@@peterparker8462 yes, but by opening the spirit portals, Korra did create balance in the world/universe, allowing airbenders to come back. It wasn't necessarily "the universe," but Korra establishing balance to it through the portals that allowed this to happen...

[@theleanbusinessman5431]

Why not both?

[@theleanbusinessman5431]

Also how do you know that didn’t happen in the series?

[@sauron7839]

If Wan had fused with both to end their conflict, it also wold have created a narrative symmetry with Aang's resolution of the Hundred Year war by stripping Ozai of his firebending. It would have represented a third option to taking sides, and taught Korra a lesson about how the Avatar's role is to restore the balance not by crushing and suppressing evildoers, but by changing the game instead.

[@stanleystewart8444]

I like this. Conflict resolution doesn't have to mean fighting until one side 'wins', it can also mean compromise.

[@sdaht5736]

This resolution could've also possibly played into Korra's personality, considering she's way more chaotic than you'd think the embodiment of peace and light to be like.

[@Thesilentvoice...]

Smart comment

[@agilagilsen8714]

Absolutely agree, they could have even partially solved this by having Korra fuse with both spirits. Sure it wouldn't have been as god as your suggestion. But it would have shown that the avatars can grow, that new avatars can improve on and do better than their predecessors. Making better choices and bringing the world forward by the help of previous avatars and so on, I know she lost connection with the previous avatars, but still.

[@sdaht5736]

@@agilagilsen8714 Actually, I like your idea a bit better. It could have made for better development for Korra if they decided to portray her as believing that Raava's side of order is the only necessary and "good" side in all of this, with her eventually coming to terms with the natural duality of things and deciding to work as an agent of both sides, as necessities in the world. Personally, this all sounds like it could've made for a more interesting avatar series, where the major focus was an Korra discovering what the Avatar really was, and learning that the conceptcan evolve over time, even with the White Lotus trying to push her into becoming Aang 2.0. I feel like that's kinda whatthe series was going for, tbh, but they failed to make Korra likeable, instead making her more immature and reckless than 12 year old Aang and lacking in respect for the legacy set by her previous lives

[@bdletoast09]

You know, Beginnings would have made soooo much more sense if Wan had absorbed Raava AND Vaatu, becoming the incarnation of balance, containing both the spirit of Order and Chaos and thus, the spirit of the World.

[@boardcertifiable]

Nope that's too complex since it means the Avatar can't be the perfect Raava, because chaos is not good. :/ Seriously, that was a missed opportunity.

[@kaicraft275]

@@boardcertifiable that’s what I’ve been saying for so long

[@madarauchiha8508]

*28:19* *This was my favorite part of the video. Truly, they could've showed the disciplined people becoming Air Benders. I wanted to see more of the "horrors of genocide", the world suffered through, in the last 100 years. It would have then been so much better than the world pressing the "refresh" button and everything coming back to how it was. This totally takes the value of the genocide and all that Aang suffered through.*

[@Sitwayen]

This would only work for air nomads though. And air nomads were the less disciplined, the disciplined people were earth. It would make no sense for the other elements since bending is hereditary unlike personality.

[@Ashitaka255]

Yup. Imagine a small village of a few hundred people (perhaps including a descendant of the SECRET TUNNEL guy) gathering a bunch of air bender scrolls in a attempt to keep the art alive, learning about their history from old scrolls and legends passed down like Robin Hood or Hansel and Gretel. They get some things right, some wrong, it's not all clear cut. Imagine the new air nomads are like when Katara was first learning water bending, they're ALL novices. They struggle to fit into the new world order of republic city, they struggle to process the trauma of the air Nomad genocide. I could picture Zaheer being a "radicalised" air bender who struggles to make peace with the past and instead seeks revenge. The story could also be quite interesting if they showed that Aang didn't punish the fire nation, and they continued to prosper as if nothing happened, similar to how the British brutalised India, but really escaped without any consequences. Surely, the viewers could then sympathise with Zaheer.

[@carso1500]

@@Ashitaka255 My biggest problem with having this secret society of air benders suddenly showing off is that, how is that aang never found them We are supposed to believe that aang searched everywhere he could to see if he could find, something, everything left about the air nómads and it's actually show in the series that he kinda did, there are some non air nómads, non benders, that are trying to keep the culture alive living the same way the air nómads lived (just without air powers) and that aang allowed them to live in the air temples so that at least a part of their culture could keep going, it stands to reason that if there were some secret airbenders hiding somewhere in the 70 years between legend of aang and legend of korra aand would have found them even if just by chance Personaly i think that even if that was the direction the show took people would still not like it because exactly of that "how is that aang spended 70 years searching for some renmants of the air nómads and he didn't found anything and suddenly korra just stumbles into them, OMG this series is shit and it makes aang look like an idiot" or something like that

[@AdumbroDeus]

@@carso1500 in the comics series they literally had the perfect group for this which aang helped mature from a fandom to non-bending cultural inheritors.

[@ghostyon3399]

I've heard people say that when you try to explain everything in a fictional universe, it feels smaller. I think that's partially what's happening here.

[@thalmoragent9344]

Ghost Yon Exactly. Don’t explain the magic, at least not like this.

[@buster3041]

Explaining the magic is fine because if you don't then you leave open questions like why some characters can use the magic and why some don't. Or why some can't use it beyond the writer just not wanting them to.

[@TF2Fan101]

Honestly, I think you just perfectly summed up the problem with the explanation of the Force in the Star Wars prequels. It doesn’t really need an overly detailed explanation, we just need a quick explanation of how it works.

[@buster3041]

@@TF2Fan101 The comics explained the force. Not the prequels. The prequels just explained how characters could use the force and why some characters couldn't. Why can't droids the force? Star wars nerds lose their shit at the thought of any droids using the force yet they accept every other thing in the series using it.

[@thalmoragent9344]

buster Because Droids aren’t living things and are simply manufactured. They’re not organic or living or even completely synthetic, just a bunch of parts put together with a neural drive. If droids could be Maude to use the force, then the clone wars would have been over with in a week, with droids demolishing everyone.

[@Lin-kk5be]

I have a love/hate relationship with the beginnings. What I love: - we learn why there can’t be a evil avatar (bc the avatar is raava, the spirit of light & order) - why bending is genetic (bc the power was given to a few & never handed back) - how the original energy benders (turtles) & human bending are linked (the turtles are the source & they gave aang the ultimate ability that was reserved for them only) - my head canon: the humans received the energy to bend but perfected their abilities from their ancestors through original benders (dragons, bysons etc.) - the original source of bending couldn’t be „learning“ it through the original benders because then there would be the question why bending is genetic & cannot just ne learned like the ancestors did - i genuinely like how the avatar is rather accident than anything - why the avatar is reborn (because raava wanders) What I hate - spirits getting much less mystical, why are they annoying fucking kids all of the sudden? - vaatu being the bad guy when atla taught us that true harmony is balance - raava being more of a moral preacher rather than keeper of balance (because sometimes to maintain balance morally grey actions need to be taken, like killing someone who brings imbalance to the world- heck that’s literally what kyoshi did)

[@profwaldone]

I would have loved if Korea took both spirits, claiming that for balance, you need both light and darkness. Creating a true mixture rather than the violent flip-flopping that came before. Vatuus knowledge would also be able to compensate for the broken links and maybe even partially restore them.

[@curranfrank2854]

@@profwaldone That would've been a better approach, yes.

[@sachintommy2246]

But bending isn’t 100% genetic is it? Because a bender can be born from non-benders and benders can have a non-bender child. In TLA there’s even twins where one can bed and the other can’t

[@nagger8216]

"we learn why there can’t be a evil avatar (bc the avatar is raava, the spirit of light & order)" Yes, and Vaatu is the spirit of chaos and destruction, so there can be an evil Avatar. Korra's uncle literally becomes one lmfao

[@juljul184]

@@sachintommy2246 bending can be a recessive trait

[@TheRibottoStudios]

I think this is my exact problem with Korra: the universe doesn't feel bigger after Beginnings. It feels SMALLER. And while having the Air Nation back is nice, it doesn't feel EARNED. I ALWAYS felt that SOMETHING else should've happened to bring them back, but could never figure out what. But you summed it up perfectly. I also never liked that in season 2, they just kept resetting Korra to make mistake, learn from mistake, then make mistake again. she just rushed into shiz with no real thought of the potential consequences even after learning to think things through. With Aang, he CONSTANTLY and CONSISTENTLY grew and changed and LEARNED from his errors. It's what makes him in my opinion, a better Avatar-he made mistakes, but he learned from them, and grew upon them. I think Korra herself is an OK Avatar, but she's not a match for the Airbender.

[@MrShadowThief]

Book 4 is basically her learning from her mistakes, tho.

[@HighPhoenix1754]

@@MrShadowThief but the fact that she wasn't consistent with her growth is what turned off a lot of people with her.

[@universalcerberus5863]

@@HighPhoenix1754 It kind of just started at the end of season 3. She was the exact same in season 2 as in the beginning of season 1.

[@selalewow]

I found Korra had little to no character arc. She is the same whiny person she was in season one episode one, except now she is gay.

[@rararasputin2613]

@@HighPhoenix1754 How does that make any sense when she was clearly consistent with her growth? She started off as an impulsive hothead who didn't know the first thing about spirituality, to an ambitious spiritual acolyte, to a patient hero to a spiritually enlightened Avatar.

[@kuyaleinad4195]

I think LOK had a lot of good pieces but ultimately didn’t really get a good conclusion. I did enjoy Wan’s story but it was placed wierdly and the Raava-Vaatu duality wasn’t compelling. The thing is, the series has had a lot of Yin-Yang concept before so why didn’t they do well for Raava and Vaatu. Vaatu is the spirit of Chaos and we’ve seen that Chaos can be good. I’d say the Air Nomads live a Chaotic life with no actual place of residence. Chaos is inherently linked to high levels of freedom and autonomy. Raava is the spirit of Order and we’ve seen from Ba Sing Se that too much order can lead to restricted freedom and misery. The writers should’ve done this duality instead of the Good/Evil duality that’s less compelling.

[@1005rhys]

Blame Nickelodeon for that, under-funding a series people praised and making the creators of LoK live in fear of cancellation. Also, Yin-Yang is just Good-Evil with more steps.

[@BluePraetor]

@@1005rhys Yin-yan is certainly not that

[@emyyyuu]

@@1005rhys that is not what made tlok a shitshow lmfao 😂😂😂 what made atla great was its editors and cowriters, which tlok didnt have so no nickelodeon wasnt at fault, it was bryke

[@ehmolekkkkk]

not only that, but there is no balance at all, Vaatu is way stronger than Raava when they don´t connect, and is completely useless to the world, if Raava simply Kill Vaatu each time he reborn the world would be much better.

[@UGNAvalon]

@Kuya Leinad YES!! Thank you! I’m so tired of “Chaos bad Order good” when we clearly see that both of them can produce _both_ good&evil! Book 1 Aang was a perfect example of the carefree/free-spirited “chaos”, but his propensity to evade rather than stand firm caused him to run away from his responsibilities when they needed him most. Meanwhile, the highly ordered Earth Kingdom (both under the Dai Li, and later under Kuvira) showed exactly how “order” could cause equally severe suffering under those it affects.

[@edgarsantos4030]

"Problem that maybe can't be solved by someone having the biggest Nuke" Damn Tim always has this deep and meaningful quote out on each of his essay, truly word full of wisdom.

[@452pokemaster]

"In the era before the Avatar... we bent not the elements, but the energy within ourselves." -Lion Turtle

[@alyseleem2692]

Indeed. .. This was ignored.

[@Elitus]

I mean they did bend the Energy in themself and people

[@KRYMauL]

The Lion Turtle did technically bend their energies because they're part of the creation myth.

[@bramderacourt9499]

TBF the beginnings two parter only portrays, like what, the last 20 years of the era before the avatar? Considering just how long the era before the Avatar might have been, I don't take particular issue with that in and on itself.

[@Rozdlc]

There was an online Avatar game that was similar to the set up to beginnings in Korra and I think they did a better job with it. Basically after Azula shoots Aang while he's in the Avatar state, his spirit is damaged and therefore must reconnect with the four former avatars before him. Each one telks Aang a bit about their past along with something to reflect on, like how Kyoshi created the dai lee and why. When Aang meets the air bender Yang chen, he asks why the Avatar isn't an all powerful spirit that never dies. Yang Chen explains it's important that the Avatar is human so they can experience the joys and struggles of humanity so they can understand it better and will compel them to protect it no matter what. That line always stuck with me as I found it, compelling.

[@stanleystewart8444]

This was actually a mini series of videos. Ugh I can't remember the name but they are floating online somewhere! I think here on YT somewhere

[@Rozdlc]

@@stanleystewart8444 Found it! It was called Escape from the Spirit World. Technically they're cut scenes from the game. Ince completeing the level you were able to download them. I remember because I played it myself. Shame I couldn't figure out how to download the cut scenes though

[@chinuaalibatya7345]

I think this is actually canon

[@jacobtripp2372]

@@chinuaalibatya7345 In case you were still wondering, the cutscenes are in fact canon

[@arthur1428]

Netflix: **looking for ideas for the live action** Netflix ***whispering***: write that down WRITE THAT DOWN

[@jameshenderson8321]

We hope so!

[@christophvonpezold4699]

@@jameshenderson8321 I really hope so

[@matewostadesse281]

I don't if I'll be more or less angry at Netflix if they plagiarism this this video

[@crasher35]

I would be so happy if, after the ATLA remake, we get a LoK remake that fixes some of these issues. I love the characters, the world, and so much about LoK but it could have been so much better.

[@kendalm.9354]

Amen

[@AaronJamesFD]

Wasn't there literally a temple full of non-bending Air Acolytes studying the ways of the old nomads in season 1?

[@jenniferernst4141]

Yes, Acolytes not benders. All the benders (as far as we know) were killed during the war, but Aang founded the Air Acolytes as a means of preserving the culture. They're basically just hardcore air nation fans.

[@jojbenedoot7459]

@@jenniferernst4141 funnily enough he seems to have gotten inspiration from that time in the comics he met a bunch of people absolutely dedicated to studying air nomad culture, but since they couldn't actually talk to any air nomads they were doing everything in a very wrong and disrespectful way. Guess he just figured he'd get ahead of the game and take it into his own hands

[@deptusmechanikus7362]

@@jenniferernst4141 disgusting airboos

[@satinsleeves]

Yes and honestly I feel like Aang (or even Korra, as they both know how to grant bending) should have granted them bending to bring back the airbenders rather than the harmonic convergence nonsense. It would have made so much more SENSE in every possible way.

[@unlimon6382]

@@satinsleeves honestly I don't think the Avatar precisely should play god and give who they want bending or remove it. In ATLA it was used as a last ressource, as an alternative to death. In general giving it just because you think it is better, and not the only choice is a bit disrespectful. Airbenders learnt from sky bisons, and bending is about spirit and philosophy too. If there was enough dedication and luck, the air nomads would have gone back on their own, slowly healing the wounds of the past and saving the culture, piece by piece, not just suddenly receiving bending with no training and going to basic courses on how to monk. Toph's parents were not earthbenders, she had the hability somehow, maybe spirit, maybe luck, maybe philosophy. She trained thanks to badgermoles and became powerful. I believe airbending should have been restored by people passionate about the culture, that connected with the philosophy, and that had the spirit, that something Aang mentioned with the refugees in the temple that learnt how to glide.

[@siddiqsmouse5004]

Raava and Vaatu: *exist* Tua and Lai: "Are we a joke to you?"

[@badluckrabbit]

Holy SHIT you're right!!! "Push" and "Pull" work so much better as embodiments of Yin and Yang, and have nothing to do with the tired "Cosmic Good vs Cosmic Evil" schtick. Replacing Raava and Vaatu with Tua and Lai and having both endow Wan with the Avatar State fixes EVERYTHING

[@siddiqsmouse5004]

@@badluckrabbit it also ties back into the whole north vs south plot somewhat as well.

[@theleanbusinessman5431]

Lol Yeah true

[@theleanbusinessman5431]

@@badluckrabbit I would agree if not for both of those entities / deities apparently existing in real life

[@ianr.navahuber2195]

@@badluckrabbit yeah you are right now that i think about it. And i liked the "beginnings" episode but i felt it could be different. it even has a nice excuse for nostalgia pandering by bringing yue (the new moon spirit) bakc into the fold. also, yeah, i was so done with the "oh the cosmic good spirit looks so stereotypically good while the suppsoedly evil devil spirit looks so stereotypically evil" thing. outside of Avatar, I would love for once that in one pice of media, the villain was the "deity / god of light" (and humans helping it thinking "light is good, dark is bad") and the good guy is the "deity of darkness". the closest i have seen something like this was in YuGiOh GX, and even then, they still needed to feature a villain representing "evil darkness" as final boss

[@itsjameskmartin]

"I need a drink... of milk because I don't solve my problems with alcohol." - Tim (2020)

[@NoxideActive]

He's a good boy.

[@floaton3]

To say alcohol is a solution is asinine.

[@williamkrause5831]

@@NoxideActive or a mormon lol

[@kohakuaiko]

And here I was going to offer him coffee.

[@kohakuaiko]

@KaMau Mau actually a modified version of sweat.

[@Randerson2409]

I rarely get to say this, but old MK lore actually pulled this off better with the Realms of Order and Chaos. The realm of chaos is utterly nuts, with anyone and everyone acting to their own whims, regardless of the consequences to themselves or others. The Realm of Order is an entire realm built of pure Authoritarian thinking, where even the slightest deviation from the rules and laws is punished harshly and severely. Its made very clear that neither place is a particularly nice place to live for anyone who doesn't also fall on the same extreme end of the spectrum as those Realms embody

[@g.e.e.k_talk4610]

You really need to get funded to write your own animated series or comic/manga or something because I was with you the whole 34 minutes and 06 seconds.

[@ofthecaribbean]

I think talking about telling stories and actually telling them are two very different things. That's why he made "On Writing", which is a blueprint, instead of a work that uses those same ideas

[@g.e.e.k_talk4610]

@@ofthecaribbean well isn't he writing another book?

[@ofthecaribbean]

@@g.e.e.k_talk4610 Is he?

[@upg5147]

@@ofthecaribbean He is

[@joshua2764]

@@upg5147 what is it?

[@richardwilliams2808]

Here's my headcanon: The version of Wan's story which we see in Beginnings isn't a literal or definitive depiction of those events, but rather a version of them which is comprehendible to Korra at that point in her development. Between both series we see that each Avatar's understanding of the world, their place within in, and their own abilities, stems from both a synthesis of, and interpretation of, the collective experiences of their current and previous lives. We've also seen that the most recent previous Avatars are the easiest to call forth (Aang for Korra, Roku for Aang, etc.) which implies that lives from further back are harder to access. Therefore, Wan's life is now so distant that it can only be called up in bits and pieces, and in a more abstract way. If Aang had seen the story of Wan (which he may well have at some point) it would have looked very differently, and reflected his more nuanced understanding of morality and the balance between the physical and spiritual. Korra however is a very concrete, black-and-white kind of person, at least at this point, and so that shades her experience of Wan's life. It also reframes the spiritual matters which have thus far gone over her head as something simple and straightforward; something she can grapple with. The idea of stories being told in multiple ways, and there being elements of truth in each, is something that ATLA dealt with more than once, and applied here it retains the ambiguity of the Avatar's nature and the nature of the spirit world despite what we see in Beginnings. Of course, this headcanon makes it extremely hard to explain the final giant spirit fight at the end of the season. All I can suggest for that is that the way in which Raava and Vaatu are manifested is dependent upon the understanding(s) of those who call them forth. Korra and Unalaq both have very black-and-white views on morality, and so that is how Raava and Vaatu, manifestations of the essential duality of existence, become simply spirits of good and evil in this instance. There could even be something in this about how didactic worldviews inevitably breed violent conflict, tying it back to the civil war story, although that's even more of a stretch than the rest of this rant. This interpretation of Beginnings certainly doesn't resolve all of season two's other issues, and was also clearly not the intent of the showrunners, but it is in line with a lot of the themes from ATLA.

[@ron.behiri]

I would love if the creators built on this, like the next avatar also has a confrontation with vaatu or something and then they also see wan's story but in a different light

[@theleanbusinessman5431]

That sounds Very accurate considering she was talking to a spiritual being, to show the actual littoral /literal events to her being may have ultimately been damaging in the long run

[@theleanbusinessman5431]

@@ron.behiri That would be soooo dope

[@Draxynnic]

That is an interesting interpretation. If they hadn't thrown in the bit about Unalaq having set Tonraq up, therefore making him less "someone who cares deeply about the spirits" and more "ambitious hypocrite", then they could have made Unalaq genuinely believe that Vaatu was the good spirit that represented a greater presence of spirits in the world. Would fit better with the later claim that he was a Red Lotus member, too (although I'd admit I'm sceptical of everything Zaheer said in that exchange - Zaheer had pretty much proved by the end of the series that he'd use any lie to get one over on his opponents, so I suspect that Zaheer was just saying whatever he thought would keep Korra in the spirit world long enough for his allies to grab her).

[@alyseleem2692]

I'm so sorry ,man,.. BUT THEY DIDN'T THINK ABOUT THAT AT ALL!IT'S JUST A FACT NOW!

[@horseluver2509]

I wish that these episodes were framed as an alternative mythology from a certain group of people instead of the legitimate history that really actually happened. It’s really cool to have lots of mythology and folk lore and incredibly not cool to have facts just laid out unambiguously. None of this matters, though, cuz I only watch those episodes for Jason Marsden’s voice

[@silverkingisley6438]

I would add to that: Doing that or maybe laying out the already known methods that humans learned bending myths/half truths. Something like "By the time those so called 'ancient' scrolls of yours were written the Dragon Turtles had already faded into myth and legend. Humanity looked to the creatures they lived with, creatures that lived far longer than them, and simply connected the dots. They wrote what they *thought* was the origin of bending." Something along those lines, instead of making it look like the writers just forgot what was already set in cannon.

[@remem95]

Ohhh, the writers should have watched the canyon episode again and then make like 4 different versions of the origin story, leaving the viewer with the choice to piece together their headcanon.

[@silverkingisley6438]

@@remem95 hmmm, now theres an idea.

[@horseluver2509]

remem95 I mean that’s what religions are; they’re just different cultures explaining worldly things through supernatural beings/events! I think Avatar does a great job of showing the different ways that the various groups express their spirituality but having diversity in the mythologies would have been really cool! I think even the good vs. evil thing wouldn’t have been that bad if it were about a specific religion as opposed to historical events...

[@princessthyemis]

@@remem95 now THAT'S a good idea!!

[@luminaryprism75]

People always jump on me for saying I hate the beginnings episodes. Thank you for explaining why they aren’t good.

[@brya9681]

I mean that super subjective but alright

[@Kage-jk4pj]

@@brya9681 watch the video

[@brya9681]

@@Kage-jk4pj I did. Watching it doesnt make everyone agree with him like a sheep

[@luminaryprism75]

Osiris Paradim Well of course everyone’s opinion is their own. I’m just saying thanks for explaining the negative in a comprehensive and clear way.

[@savantcrystian2686]

As a fan of the korra series and the beginnings episodes I respect your opinion

[@noellesato311]

The heart of the Avatar isn’t their powers, it’s their wisdom and humanity, several human lifetimes that converge on one person who will struggle with the world and themselves. They’re not capital A “Avatars” of all the elements and the spirit world, they’re avatars of humanity, a fragile and conflict-ridden race. Aang struggled to learn the elements but struggled even harder against the world, its people, and ultimately himself. The world of Avatar was written to grow and support these subtleties, to tell a story with a deeper meaning beneath the setpieces and drama. The world wasn’t built just for massive action scenes to occur and not all conflicts were meant to be resolved so easily *by the writers* . The reason why morally dubious conflicts with no clear cut good and evil sides are so engaging is because we’re human. We know they aren’t. Agh, Avatar used to be such a good series.

[@andresmarrero8666]

Avatar also means teacher.

[@xander1052]

that's why I think the only good season of TLOK was season 3, it was far more morally grey.

[@donatodiniccolodibettobardi842]

You mean, that ATLA stopped being a good series?

[@ryanmoore6259]

Eh quit your whining. Korra was fine.

[@xander1052]

@@ryanmoore6259 man is entitled to having an opinion, and at least he's backing his opinion up with reasons.

[@ryanhall5360]

I find actually that those who dislike the Legend Of Korra, they point to how the Avatar Wan episodes have completely retconned the entirety of the bending system

[@decobyjones9491]

I just thought it was boring.

[@heliquad2674]

It wasn't entertaining IMO and it is for the reasons mentioned in the video where it is not as compelling

[@airpodsmurf6175]

i just dont consider tlok cannon

[@ryanhall5360]

@@airpodsmurf6175 LoK was realistically just a shitty fanfic that we can look back at and go "now if we were to make a sequel to AtLA, this is what we shouldn't do"

[@gracekim25]

airpod smurf rude

[@gabrielhenriquesilva2014]

What killed this was the old say that lot of writers forget " never explain the magic "

[@judeconnor-macintyre9874]

I don't think that's a blanket rule, there are examples where explaining magic does work (Mistborn comes to mind). I think it should be, "never explain the magic when it doesn't need explaining" We already understood everything we needed to about Bending we didn't have to know about Wan merging with Kite-God and fighting Kite-Satan.

[@nagger8216]

@@judeconnor-macintyre9874 I guess it also served as the origin of the Avatar, but even then I don't think that ever needed explaining. I always assumed the Avatar was the spirit of nature and the planet itself made into a physical manifestation to ensure the world always stays in balance, and existed ever since humans have been able to threaten the balance of the world. Not a giant, glowing, magic talking carpet that had a thing for some pathetic, asshole thief and merged with him into some cosmic abomination. The Lion Turtle also mentions in the Avatar finale that "Before the Avatar we bent not the elements, but the energy within ourselves." Which alludes to the fact that there was a time in human history *before* they used any kind of elemental bending, yet in an episode literally titled "Beginnings" we see that immediately being contradicted. Would've liked to have seen that pre-elemental bending society, but I guess that's either been retconned out of existence now or retconned so that the Lion Turtle was talking about an even more ancient-er time waaay before Wan. Either way it's all pretty fucking lame and completely unnecessary, which perfectly describes Korra in a nutshell, honestly.

[@judeconnor-macintyre9874]

@@nagger8216 Agreed.

[@sunny74763]

Not a strict rule, look at Hunter x Hunter, where the magic is explained in detail, but it makes the world 100x better. I guess never explain the magic unless you have a damn good explanation.

[@gabrielhenriquesilva2014]

@@sunny74763 yes that what i mean , you can ofc give answers , but be good on it .

[@Mariana16562]

This video should be titled “so much less compelling”

[@Xentillus]

I feel like the title he went with was just... so much less compelling.

[@toascranill5464]

I don't hate The legend of Korra, I just strongly dislike Book 2.

[@jacobandrews2663]

bro same. I actually love the worldbuilding and characters, which usually are the central focus of stories. But the themes, I mean, the themes are passable in all the other books. BUt season two is waaaaay too fucked up

[@sunwukong5518]

I only think book 3 is good. Book 1 and 4 are decent to bad and book 2 was very good up until episode 4 but then got worse than any other book. I still like to watch first 4 over 1 and 4.

[@finbarndaba5393]

@@sunwukong5518 I think book 3 was the best , book 4 was good, book 1 was decent and book 2 was kinda bad but has great episode

[@poggers3218]

The whole story just comes to a grinding halt when it goes to Bolin and his film career. Every time it comes on screen you know there are more important things happening. It’s fine to have comic relief, it was handled masterfully with Sokka in ATLA. But while he made quips he also had character development and learned to become a leader. I just finished book 2 of Korra so I don’t know if the same thing happens with Bolin, but so far he just hasn’t been taken seriously. Him getting his heart crushed by Korra is treated as a joke, like he’s only a punching bag. That’s not a character, it’s just something to make kids laugh.

[@ExcuseMyWeebRudeness]

@@poggers3218 Bolin's filn career was the only thing I outright don't like about book 2. Although it did result in that cool fight in the bending arena. But still, I was reminded of Book 1 of ATLA, and how everytime Zuko was off screen I wanted them to go back to him. I honestly would've muched preferred a full show centered around him starting as a little kid. That would be amazing, seeing Azula & Zuko's dynamic with nothing to stand in the way and explored in much further depth.

[@katara9]

You just made me realize the pun behind Wan's name.. I thought you said "The first avatar, avatar one". The idea of how the air nomads cultures could have been learning from sky bison as a way to help restore their culture, until one of them finally airbends, really gave me goosebumps!

[@powerofanime1]

Ironically, darkness is way more peaceful than constant bright light.

[@limazulu6192]

Which is why yin is the passive force and not yang. Violence is an inherently yang concept but the west doesn't give a shit about what asians actually philosophised about.

[@carso1500]

@@limazulu6192 why is it often the west this, the west that, you guys have real problems, yeah grasping a concept that is outside of your culture and it's not normaly teached is hard, surprise

[@limazulu6192]

@@carso1500 taught and im not just busting the west on these things but everyone who's got little appreciation for the things they talk about especially when it gets on a cultural level. That shit just grinds my gears in general. Now surprise because im neither asian nor have i been taught that shit either. I just know because i cared enough to read about it. But do you know who should care more about it than i do? THE FUCKING JACKASS WHO WROTE AN ENTIRE BOOK ABOUT IT!!! THAT'S LITERALLY THE FIRST THING YOU DO IN THAT PROFESSION AND ITS CALLED RESEARCH! God i hate bad authors. Like seriously not only does this inform me that he has next to no interest to pay proper tribute to the things he's referencing, he's not even gonna treat his own art with respect. Like why even bother becoming an author in the first place if you're so dispassionate about it you're ok with half assing it?

[@tylerparaz6786]

carso1500 hard to grasp a concept youre not even aware of.

[@Churagai]

@@carso1500 but acknowledging that you don't fully understand the concept and not seeing yourself entitled to tell it to people is very easy. This isn't someone struggling to fit another perspective to their own thinking the first time they hear about it; it's literally someone saying "I understand this well enough to create a story based on it and tell it to millions of people".

[@joedidio9186]

24:36 You know I think a lot of the problems with Korra is that it raises interesting political and sociological issues but always cops out at the end. Season one raises interesting debates about the bender/non-bender conflict, but focuses so much on the whole pro bending thing that that theme is not allowed to develop further and in the end the antagonist turns out be a hypocrite anyway. Season 2 is obvious. In season 4, my actual favourite season, Kuvira tries to unite the earth kingdom and even though she is taking harsh measures to do so, clearly has* a positive effect on the kingdom. That raises questions about how much interference is required in scenarios like this and what measures should you take to fix a broken nation. All of this is discarded when Kuvira starts doing obviously evil things like building a big ass mecha and trying to take over Republic city. Movies like Zootopia and Black Panther actually deal with these things much better than Korra even though these movies still may be flawed in some ways. Zootopia is essentially the first season of Korra (replace the predator/non-predator conflict with the bender/non-bender conflict) but is allowed to actually develop the themes to its logical conclusion. Black Panther does not cop out at the end by having the antagonist turn out to be a hypocrite. Killmonger is 100% right and in the end the main characters acknowledge this and promise to change Wakanda by opening it up to the rest of the world instead of keeping it isolated.

[@sierra750]

Yeah I was sooo disillusioned by the liberal propaganda. And by liberal I mean anti-left. It basically took a bunch of cool leftist theories and practice and then said they were all bad because they made all their leaders ridiculously evil. It was a cheap way to discredit the actual ideas that could have been fleshed out more.

[@belegl.7721]

@@sierra750 I am so glad to see someone else talk about this. Zaheer and Amon are both basically right. Zaheer especially is an weird to be potrayed as evil, because we KNOW from the last series that the villages, towns and provinces are basically fine without a central authority, there problem isn't a lack of governance but an imperialist invanding force. Disposing of the Earth Kingdom is the correct thing to do, it only ever makes its citizens lives worse (see "Zuko Alone" or the Queens tax collectors) I'm not willing to defend Kuvira for even a minute though, the woman is facist.

[@Lacertos]

@@belegl.7721 If you think that Amon is right by bringing equality through force, I'm sorry but you are insane. Even without being a hypocrite he is completely wrong, as he basically strips people away from things that they consider part of their core identity by force. It is a terrible thing to do. Zaheer is much more complex, but it shows that extremist ideas, even when they look good in paper, always have unforeseen consequences. The same can be said about Kuvira. Unalaq was the villain that I mostly sympathized with at first, until they brought up the whole Vaatu thing.

[@StarryEyed0590]

@@Lacertos I think the point is that the Equalists have legitimate grievances in Season One - nonbenders ARE treated as second-class citizens and ARE at the mercy of the more powerful benders. Arguably, teaching chi-blocking and developing technology that lessens the advantages of bending are even healthy responses to this. Even Amon removing the bending from people like the crime lord who use their bending to oppress others seems at least a fairly light shade of grey. I mean, Aang the highly pacifistic Avatar did the same thing. Maybe it's not his "right" to do so, but if the correct authorities haven't found a way to stop him, it's hard to blame him for taking action. There are pieces of a really interesting story about an oppressed class of people taking violent action against a society that won't protect them or respect them, how the situation becomes ever more political and polarized, and keeps constantly escalating each time either side uses force instead of peaceful resolution tactics. Equalist crimes are responded to with basic rights of non-benders being taken away which leads to what are essentially large scale terror attacks. LoK had the chance to (like Black Panther) create a story where the villain is right about something important but wrong in their methods, and this sparks lasting change. Instead, by focusing on the family drama and cover-up lies of the leaders on both sides of the conflict, LoK has Korra defeat Amon and end the Equalists as an organization without actually dealing with their ideology at all. Amon and Tarlok kill themselves and we never hear another word about non-bender rights. It's kinda-sorta implied by the fact that no one talks about it at ALL that things are better now, but if they are, then how? Did being under non-bender military occupation somehow make all the benders nicer to non-benders? Were there laws passed protecting non-bender rights? Were Amon's actions enough to break the grip of organized crime targeting non-benders on Republic City? Just like Season 2, Season One sets up a complex, morally grey idealogical conflict, and then late in the season introduces a backstory-related plot that allows the story to be reframed in more black-and-white terms and the villain to be defeated without addressing his original motivations.

[@Lacertos]

@@StarryEyed0590 I understand all that, but I'm addressing Amon as a character, not the background that his actions take place. You said that Amon took out the bending of the crime lord. It is debatable if justice by its own hands is justice at all, but even if it is, Amon didn't want to take away the bending only of criminals, he used his powers on innocent people as well, that is simply not justifiable. If he wasn't a dangerous extremist and instead as more Robin Hood or Punisher type of character (that targeted only shit people) maybe he wouldn't be a villain, but it is pointless to discuss this, as the whole season arc would have to be completely different, with different questions asked.

[@James-us4lo]

This is a pretty good video. I’ve always felt that there was something “off” about Season 2 especially with how the spirits and the spirit world is portrayed compared to the first series but never quite understood what it was or how to articulate it. Thanks for the amount of time and effort you put into explaining this!

[@snapple5950]

I feel like Beginnings also shows the problem that I have with Korra as a whole. For instance, in season 1, Korra has no ability to airbend because she solves her problems with brute force and is unable to connect with the world spiritually. Airbending is all about using finese and cleverness instead of violence and brute force. This was great. This lead room and motivation for character development within Kora, and served as kind of a contrast to Aang's problem throughout his series. However, her problem witth air bending was solved through brute force. She really tried to attack, to bend, and magically air bending started working for her again. She still sued brute froce and was impulusive throughout the series, and the meaning of airbending presented to us with season one was completely undermined. And she acted the exact same way in season 4, showing that she didn't grow at all through the series and instead was just having the same problem repeatedly. This was quiyte unsatisfying to watch for me.

[@DFloyd84]

Chemically speaking, alcohol *is* a solution.

[@basilumeh9085]

Ah haaaaa

[@Mica_T]

Depends on which alcohol though

[@druggeddragon420]

INDIGO BLUEoO a cold one

[@wisdommanari6701]

Lmao

[@majorfallacy5926]

It rubs me the wrong way when someone plays smartass and says "but technically *technically wrong statement* is correct", especially when it's the same goddamn one over and over again

[@Mathewrath]

ATLA doesn't need a remake, TLOK that needs a serious reboot.

[@asAbsolute]

Nah, scrap TLoK.

[@aydenzinter2849]

@@asAbsolute yeah honestly we should just redo it lol with a different avatar

[@Mathewrath]

@@asAbsolute Too extreme. It has a lot of good things in it.

[@Drekromancer]

@@Mathewrath Agreed. Make no mistake: there is a good story here. It just needs to have the bullshit trimmed off, and then it needs some polish. But I really like a lot of what they set up. They just need better consistency and follow through.

[@hannahstarinieri1351]

TLOK and the live action adaptation needs to be deleted from our universe. ATLA is all there is

[@matthewmuir8884]

13:26 I think you unintentionally hit the nail on the head as to what the problem was when you said, "The way *Mike and Bryan* wrote spiritual energy". Odds are that they didn't write it; Aaron Ehasz, the lead writer for ATLA, did. Who was missing from Legend of Korra? Aaron Ehasz.

[@WarZealot1]

@Mullerornis at least he writes characters not as complete morons

[@matthewmuir8884]

@Mullerornis Again, I'm not saying, "Aaron Ehasz for the win"; I'm saying that ATLA was a team effort, and that LOK was the result of a vital part of the team being missing. The Dragon Prince has its issues, but it is a lot better than LOK, especially in character writing.

[@rararasputin2613]

Aaron Ehasz hardly wrote anything in terms of world-building.

[@matthewmuir8884]

@@rararasputin2613 Huh. Interesting.

[@xretrobox4203]

“The magic carpets” 🤣🤣 exactly my thoughts when I saw that shit

[@eggrollyummy]

i clicked on this video expecting to disagree but damn your point with blue and orange really resonated with me. video beautifully made as always!

[@erinbailey782]

your version of bringing back the air nomads is so beautiful and everything they deserved

[@ObsessedwithZelda2]

As someone who watches many 3-5 hour takedowns of things, gotta say, it’s great for learning about writing type stuff just as much as positively oriented things, and usually covers very different topics to the positive angle. They’re both good times

[@underground868]

-Hello Future Me: "How do people, like, go on three hour long rants fueled by only a sweaty mountain dew induced rage? I'm like an hour into this and I'm already exhausted." -Mauler: "Hello there ladies and gentlemen."

[@matthewmuir8884]

Ah, another fan of MauLer. Always good to see another fan of the legendary long man himself.

[@AzureKnight2]

As the spiders foretold, more members of the Toxic Brood are drawn to good criticisms of writing. Cheers, fellow massives.

[@AzureKnight2]

@Dalton K Haha, sorry man, those are a lot of inside jokes and some deep podcast lore. There's a lot it would take to explain some of it, and others don't come across as funny unless you've experienced the jokes firsthand. Probably the easiest to explain is that no, you don't have to be politically incorrect to be a member of the toxic brood, you just have to acknowledge that objective criticism of art exists. "Toxic brood" was originally intended as an insult against people who objectively evaluate writing, and it was used by someone who only values subjectivity. In other words, it was a childish attempt to say "stop pointing out why the thing I like is flawed." So now we still laugh at the moniker. Also, no, MauLer's isn't the only good criticism... Mauler runs a podcast called Every Frame A Pause, where they celebrate good criticism and do _very_ deep and *extremely* long dives on why some popular criticism videos are flawed. The podcast gets a lot of guests (from across the political spectrum despite accusations to the contrary) who either try to defend their work in debates, or who also have a passion for trying to objectively critique art. Mostly writing. (Not to say that they don't value subjectivity... far from it. They just know there's a place for both subjective and objective criticisms to coexist.) Now, if you'll excuse me, I think it's time for a glass of Rhino Milk. All hail The Don, and praise Jeb.

[@CriKnight]

"sweaty mountain dew induced rage?" I mean, it's more of a "rhino milk induced rage". HFM needs to ditch the mountain dew and start chugging Rhino Milk if he wants to last longer.

[@silentspartan46]

My people, love me some Mauler (finish the Force Awakens review please)

[@gracealyssa28]

I absolutely love the avatar universe but I’d be lying if I said the beginnings episodes didn’t disappoint me, I couldn’t explain why it felt like it didn’t fit but this video explains it very well

[@3HorsemenOfMovingPictures]

Same. Apparently, the AU has been completely ruined and destroyed, thanks to Bryke.

[@philter105]

"I have mastered the elements a thousand times in a thousand lifetimes" Is completely spoiled in Beginnings. Always bothered me...

[@MrShadowThief]

Please elaborate.

[@philter105]

Avatar Roku says that to Jeong Jeong in Season 1 of TLA. Makes the Avatar cycle much longer than 10,000 years.

[@MrShadowThief]

@@philter105 Wasn't 10,000 established in ATLA? Then it would be a problem with ATLA's math (just like Azulon's reign, which was said in ATLA to have lasted less than 30 years).

[@philter105]

Not that I can think of. The history of the Avatar always seemed longer than 10,000 years to me. Partially because they left it quite vague. Putting a number on it spoils it like Tim says in the vid

[@StopReadingMyNameOrElse]

@@philter105 Same thing with the statues in Book 1. There was just an unending amount of them lighting up when Aang went Avatar state. We're never supposed to know the exact number, we just know he's been around since the beginning of bending itself.

[@xLeechcraftx]

Your analysis was once again beautiful. However, while I agree with the vast majority of it, I'm compelled to point out a correction and add my own thoughts. The correction being that they did actually retcon the lore of TLAB. The avatar was originally supposed to be the spirit of the world made incarnate in human form, which is what gave them the authority and duty to balance things. The avatar spirit was the avatar themselves, and each prior avatar was the same spirit; not some carrier pigeon of power flitting between hosts. That retcon alone cascades into pretty much every other problem. And even though the other parts of the lore could technically be considered not retconned (like who bending was learned from), it is a massive directional shift away from the rather solid impression it gave. So while that might not be a retcon in letter, it wholly is in spirit. It jars the internal consistency to the point of cataclysm, and for me taints the whole experience. That aside though, my thoughts are that they didn't just make the world less compelling; they simplified it to the point of dumbing it down and slowly picked away at all the connections it has to the original show. Bending goes from being both a physical and spiritual art to being a generic tool with no real depth. Ancient techniques that required lifetimes of work and mastery suddenly become common place (lightning and metal bending being the two most blatant examples). Bending powers have hardly any feeling of being earned anymore, and they're no longer all that special. Korra's connection to all the past avatars is stripped away and replaced for no reason, and yet it simultaneously has no effect on her abilities. The deep personal connection that the reincarnation cycle has, both to the audience and to the character, is just gone; replaced by some disembodied voice that is impossible to relate to and was mysteriously non-existent for previous avatars (except Wan, apparently). Bye, Aang; bye, Roku; bye, Kyoshi; it was nice getting to know you just to have you unceremoniously tossed into the aether alongside all the setup that went into fleshing you and your relationships out in TLAB. And all that was sacrificed for... absolutely no payoff/benefit. Turns out the experience of past avatars wasn't even contributing. All just Raava backseat bending. And that's just a couple of the connections they devalued between TLAB and Korra. Narratively speaking though, like you pointed out in season 2 where they subvert all the moral questions of the avatar's place in the world, they do the same thing in a bunch of other places. Every point they have an opportunity to address an adult theme in the primary story arch, they undercut the narrative and throw in some simple answer. It starts with Amon just being a blood bender, delegitimizing his entire revolution, and the moral questions with it. Not to mention not having to deal with any actual ramifications from him taking away people's bending. And while season 2 is certainly the worst offender of this subversion, it's a consistent issue with the show. This all in the context that Korra was supposed to be the more "adult" of the two Avatar series? TLAB did a way better job answering moral questions, and it did it without feeling the need to try spell out the plot devices. TLAB recognized even its younger audience's abilities to understand abstract and complex issues, much less the adult audience. Korra gives its audience zero credit. I'd rant about my issues with the characters themselves too, but I probably should've never allowed myself to start ranting in the first place and should stop now before I write another ten paragraphs. I can only imagine how far I'd go if I still drank Mt. Dew. It just sucks because TLAB is more than just my favorite show; it ranks up there with Tolkien for me for how much it inspires me to write and imagine. While I can enjoy watching Korra to an extent if I don't think about what it changed from TLAB, the more I do think about it, the more it feels like it ruins a work of art that is very dear to me. So that's my thoughts. Thanks for another great vid, Tim. Looking forward to the next one.

[@matthewmuir8884]

I read through all that, and I agree. I really dislike how the show had every opportunity to tackle complex issues, and it squandered each of them. I especially agree about Amon. Before he was revealed to be a bloodbender, he was easily the best part of the show. LOK had failed to really show that there was a societal inequality issue between benders and non-benders, but I could buy Amon's existence as someone who believes that there is and intends to bring an end to it. It helped that Amon was a cunning and downright terrifying antagonist, and that he was counterbalanced by Tarrlock: a bloodbending villain at the very top of society who was the product of his crime-lord father's vengeance. Then they revealed that Amon's a bloodbender and made beating him way too easy. All they had to do was knock off his mask and expose his fake scar to a bit of water, and suddenly his whole revolution dies? Seriously? There are many other problems with the reveal that Amon was actually a bloodbender, but that's how it ruined season 1 thematically.

[@Drake00000010]

I did not think about how the past experience of the avatars didn't mean anything and it was just Raava powering it all. It would have been interesting how Korra dealt with being weaker and having a useless avatar state but as you said, it never mattered cuz Raava. Raava is honestly the worst char in the series.

[@Drake00000010]

@@Niop_Tres I agree that its natural more people know about these top tiers bending. However lightning and metal bending were reduced to common everyday things which they are not. Even if you compare it to real life with people with excellent art skills or singers. Those are highgly sought after and valued. Lightning benders should be top of the food chain as its so powerful and deadly and the same goes for metal bending. Mako never uses it almost even thought he could have likely killed every enemy with it. I imagine you ill say its because hes not evil but what about any other fire bender? We saw a lot of them in the show. Even when he used in the factory as a tool, it was a low waging job that didn't pay shit. Your telling me lightning bending, something so dangerous and rare as Iroh said, would equal to a shitty job in a factory? No and no. Anyway point is these incredible fighting skills were reduced to nothing special. Amazing martial skills are still hard to achieve and majority of people can't do them.. Nothing will change that. It should matter all the more in a world where guns haven't existed yet like in Korra.

[@xLeechcraftx]

​@@Niop_Tres I understand the viewpoint that it's just a natural progression of the Avatar world (it was my initial perspective as well), but I feel that when scrunitized it loses credence. In real life it usually takes much longer and much more rigorous training to actually reach mastery levels of martial arts as opposed to arts like drawing and painting. Self-teaching is much less efficient (and usually much less effective) with martial arts than other arts. You can't look up video tutorials of martial arts techniques and assimilate them like you can with other arts, what with its physical nature. It almost exclusively requires a need to be physically present with a teacher (or learned the hard way by actually fighting), which means the information is bottle-necked by the available practitioners. You can't just break down the difficulties of learning it by disseminating the information about it, the same way you can't with real martial arts. Because of the means by which you have to learn it, it's not the kind of thing that can evolve to be learned faster. Sure, more people might have access to the knowledge about it (and even that would take quite some time to happen), but they still need to invest significant time and energy into learning them regardless, much less mastering them. It's not like technology where it advances in exponents. The idea that the information exploded as quickly as it did in Korra with the level of technology they had doesn't line up. There were so few individuals who could have provided the information to begin with, and in Korra they had only recently attained radio communication. Even with all of the vast armies of the fire nation during TLAB, only a handful could even begin to learn lightning bending (we only know of 3 who were capable). Iroh, probably the best firebender of the age, made a particular point on how almost nobody can do it by its very nature. Then you have Toph, who was only able to figure out metalbending because of her blind-sense, which is something more or less unique to her. The idea you can propagate a skill that required the loss of an entire sense to obtain as easily as they do in Korra breaks both the learning curve and some serious barriers of character progression. Aang didn't even learn it. Yet in the short time since Toph discovered metalbending (only about 65-70 years) every cop in Republic City, a sizeable portion of Kuvira's army, and pretty much everyone we see in Zaofu (which had been around for 30 years at the absolute most) are now all incredibly proficient metalbenders, to the point they've produced a city out of massive and intricately designed metal structures, as well as booming industry and transport systems, and all without the need for Toph's unique circumstances to develop the necessary senses. That is quite a lot of people who suddenly have fine detailed mastery over things that were previously very obscure/incredibly difficult, and had only one person to teach them for about half of that 65-70 years span. Bending wasn't so much of an "elites" thing as it was an "earned" thing through practice and hard work (with the exceptions of the main characters as prodigies, which is acceptable for narrative reason, and even they had issues with learning some things). You didn't have to be elite to know it, and the elites didn't learn it any easier (they just had easier access to the knowledge); everyone had to invest a ton of their time to advance in it. But in Korra, bending loses the reverence it had because now every average Joe can do all the special abilities that were established as being very difficult/rare/unique. In real life, other arts never transitioned out of being art into something that's not art. Art is still revered as something evocative, where bending completely loses that aspect. It becomes tantamount to using a wrench or tossing a ball. Also in relation to art in our own world, if the Pareto distribution is to be trusted, you only have about 20% of people who actually participate in a field become substantial in that field, and only a fraction of those could be worthy of being called "masters" of their field. Much like real life, I imagine that even if you had a fair amount of people capable of performing such bending on a relatively competent level, many of them would never be encountered/discovered, just like with artists in real life (and we have the internet to help us). As far as popular music goes, you only have a couple of writers shared between the vast majority of pop artists. Popular music has more to do with image and marketing than actual talent a lot of the time. Most big popular artists are just flashes in the pan. The vast majority of actors don't make the cut either; we only see a select few of the many who have tried. Even out of the ones that stick around, many aren't household names. Some aren't even good at acting; just ridiculous enough in some way to keep an audience, or have a loud cult following. Same could be said for many writers. But even with all those considered, they are still a tiny, tiny fraction of the population. I'd wager that the world of Avatar has a much smaller population than the real world (based on comparable time periods), which would make it an even more select few who would be capable of such things. All those things considered, I don't feel the evolution of bending presented by Korra is very natural or reverent of what bending was shown to be in TLAB. It no longer feels worth venerating like it once was. More to your last statement than the rest of the topic: While I could create my own version of Korra for myself, it doesn't change that Korra's official existence tarnished TLAB's legacy for me, and prevents anything Avatar from ever being officially released again without that taint. What I wish to imagine happened won't retcon the mistakes of Korra from the Avatar universe, or any future Avatar content that is officially released. Rather or not I make my own headcanon, fanfiction, etc., does not remedy those grievances, and I can't look forward to seeing more of the thing I most want to see. (Apologies for the long-winded reply. The topic is nuanced and I'm bad at being succinct lol)

[@rynobehnke8289]

@@xLeechcraftx I sincerely thing you all overestimate how difficult it actually is to pick up bending with the right tutoring. I mean Toph despite being a child is not only the most powerful earth bender ever with Bummy as the only real concurrence for the title but also managed to push Aang into very advanced techniques in under a year all on her own. It took over a decade to invent Blood bending and yet Katara just picks it up in a few moments. And Aang after meeting the last 2 dragons makes ridicules fast progress on his fier bending. To just name a few examples of the top of my head. So while proper mastering is suppose to be kinda hard was actually getting decent with proper teaching never shown as something difficult in the series. As for the whole lighting bending before Toph was metal bending though to be impossibel all together and before Iroh studied Water bending teachings was the Lighting technique thought to be unstoppable. What I want to say with it only because with the teaching Iroh know it seams like a very restrictive technique doesn't mean it actually is with the right teachings. Actually a far bigger issue in my opinion is that Wan's era was already to advanced for the quick development speed bending allowed to happen to make the progression from Last Air bender to Korra logical.

[@mohdghazali3473]

When you talking about how to improved the episode, how the revival of Air Nomad should have happened, how the Water Tribe Civil War should have ended, I swear you could be a writer for this series. On a different note, i always thought it will be interesting to explore the Foggyswamp Water Tribe and added to the mystery of how much they connected to both the moon and that big tree.

[@DionScott]

I do enjoy how well you articulated and explained the faults and merits with Beginnings. You were able to explain it in a way I could not describe. The Avatar was someone trying to find a balance of their actions. My tribe and culture we learn many lessons from our non-human siblings / relatives. For example Wolf taught us how to hunt and work in groups. When they talk about learning from the original benders, I literally took that as them learning from Bison, Dragon, Badger-Mole, Moon and Water. I guess this would be a discussion best for Discord or another platform. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and teaching me something. I am grateful.

[@BravoTango-vt8em]

I’ll never get sick of him saying “less compelling.”

[@birdmonster4586]

This was an excellent analysis of Season 2 and really explained why I always felt that it (Specifically the second half) felt, Weak. The KorraKaiju fight felt out of place, spectacle overwhelming the rest of the show. I think part of what they wanted to do with this season as well was depower Korra a bit. Season 1 left her with the Avatar state and the writers wanted to take that away. By cutting her off from the other Avatars it does so. So I think that would need to still be done. Maybe, IDK, I''m not a writer. You're idea about rebuilding the air nomads really works, That's such a good idea about people having to work for it. (In the comics) Aang already had Air Nomad Disciples post 100 year war and we see them in Season 1 of korra. You had a group of people that had, for decades been living, behaving and basically being air nomads minus the bending. But it didn't work for them? because what? they didn't have the right midichlorians? They didn't have the blood of kings, they weren't skywalkers. Keep in mind I say that season 2 of korra is weakest of the franchise. but it is by no means (IMO) a bad bit of Television. And Beginnings is great. but only when put in a vacuum

[@Meidaneh_Shush]

Bryke aren't writers either. I missed Aaron's writing skills.

[@AzureKnight2]

It could have been an interesting story arc if she had to spend the rest of the series reconnecting with the past Avatars. That way it wouldn't have lost Aang and the others for all time, but also given her something to do while building her power back up. I commented this elsewhere, but why didn't Aang give the Air Acolytes Airbending? We know from S2 that it's how you can bestow bending on a non-bender, and that Aang had become proficient with it as an adult. Makes no sense for someone so concerned with rebuilding his culture. Just so much missed opportunity with this series. And while I still think that, overall, I like the series... it's really soured for me over the years. Just so many writing issues and improper handling of many of the lore and legacy characters. While The Last Airbender is still one of my all-time favorite series, and has actually improved in my estimation over the years, The Legend of Korra has become rather forgettable. I usually tell people to avoid it and just stick with the original series.

[@birdmonster4586]

@@AzureKnight2 I still very much like Korra, It has a lot of good points. More weak points than ATLA, sure. But it's still excellent in my opinion. really it's only this part, the end of season 2 that I felt a bit meh about. Half a bad season out of 7, that's a pretty good standard.

[@MrShadowThief]

Iinm, the responsibles for giving airbending to non-benders are the spirits, which can have mysterious motivations.

[@lendrigangames]

Before Beginnings: Legend Of Korra After Beginnings: Legend Of Care Bear Stare

[@overdramaticnerd2367]

Before Beginnings: Legend of A Wizard Doing It!!! After Beginnings: Legend of these 2 magic carpets decided that they would just hate each other for all eternity and one decides to make some sort of magic bending god that reincarnates in order to 'maintain balance'

[@thomasjones4893]

I just think they should re write Korra. They’ve formed this new Avatar Studios thing so we have some hope I suppose.

[@alyseleem2692]

My advice Make them ashamed enough to do it. They didn't sound too conscious of their failures.

[@lonemotheo1964]

They should reboot that show

[@alyseleem2692]

@@lonemotheo1964 Agreed 👍

[@atlantefou566]

Yeah, I was also dissapointed by how the second season ended... Big Good against Big Bad... when the start of it was so much more grey. Which means I was totally taken by surprise by the third season. I really love an antagonist with depth that does what he does not because he is evil but because he believes in what he does.

[@nathanj3528]

Zaheer's philosophy (anarchy) is a very flawed one. Unlike Amon's equality which makes sense. Zaheer wants every human to decide for themselves, which creates a power vaccum. A society cannot survive without someone to lead them

[@Lilith_NightRose]

@@nathanj3528 I mean.. sure.. maybe? But that's sort of orthogonal to the issue at hand? Like, I think that you're wrong, that humanity can be organized in a more non-hierarchical, just way, but your point, even if correct, doesn't really invalidate Atlante Fou's. One can think *both* that Anarchism is a philosophy doomed to fail because of ~human nature~, *and* that exploring the mind, motivations and lengths to which an antagonist will go in pursuit of that philosophy makes for a fascinating story

[@nathanj3528]

@@Lilith_NightRose True, but when you pursue a goal, and hardcore want to do find way to achieve it, you must also fine the flaws within. The problem with Zaheer was that he knew how to achieve it, but the consequences of it were well beyond his reach.

[@atlantefou566]

@@nathanj3528 You criticism of anarchism is debatable, but I agree that Zaheer's philosophy is flawed. He is an antagonist after all. but he HAS a philospophy, which makes him more interesting than most villians. He does not see himself as evil, he really believes in his cause. He has depths. Off course, he does not see the flaws in his plan (just like Thanos by the way, another great villian in my opinion). He's an extremist after all ! No extremism can really work in our world but we still have a bunch of them in the real world.

[@nathanj3528]

@@atlantefou566 Let me get the anarchism part straight first. No society can run on that system. There is no debatable reason for this. Even the animal kingdom has a structure for survival, of course, we aren't animals, but if any man lived by their own ideals, than that would lead to chaos. Anarchy always leads to chaos. I should have explained Zaheer more. He had his own philosophy, which is amazing, because I love antagonists with their own motivations, but the problem with him is not his way on how he wanted to reach his goal. It wasn't that hard actually. Take down governments and that's it. All done. The problem was the consequences of his actions. The earth nation was in absolute chaos after the Queen's death. Was that a good thing? No. He didn't take responsibility nor did he do anything to help reduce the riots because it was against his philosophy. Every man who was rioting had the rights (according to him) So it's not a debatable topic after all. Anarchism is not only flawed, but isn't applicable at all

[@ErekLich]

I absolutely despised these episodes. The "morality" they espouse makes no sense. They depict humanity as totally living under threat. One small moment of caprice of any given spirit ruins a human's life forever - and the moral is supposed to be that we need to live in harmony with them? While the ending of Season 2 has plenty of other problems, Korra's decision to reopen the spirit world made *zero* sense in light of the Blue and Orange morality of spirits, and how easily they can destroy that which humans have made. Also the show proceeded to ignore the very lore that it made *in these episodes* - based on these rules, Korra should *only* have been able to waterbend after losing Raava.

[@MegaBlackk1d]

"Korra should only have been able to water bend after losing Raava". I don't know if that's the case because Raava only held the elements for Wan until he mastered them. Wan originally a fire bender can be seen air bending without Raava when he was trying to stop the humans and spirits from fighting.

[@jamesm7324]

Humans did nothing wrong, spirits needed quarantining for the safety of normal people

[@Bruinsbigestbear]

The fact that Korra kept the portals open was so stupid to me for the same reason you brought up. The spirits are quick to anger and can fuck a person up really fucking easy. And Korra knows this, but keeps the portals open anyway.

[@Harshhaze]

@@Bruinsbigestbear I agree. This should have been the point where humans and spirits seperated

[@AzureKnight2]

@@Bruinsbigestbear It's one of those things that, if set up properly, could have really worked. Like if we had seen how humanity had benefited from working with the spirits (along with the challenges), or the material world was suffering from the lack of the spirits' presence.

[@griffins-c4892]

Your content is fantastic. This explains a lot of the gut reactions I had Korra. I remember really enjoying the civil war section, but on a rewatch I was pissed by how blatantly evil Unalaq was--the interesting tensions just evaporated.

[@Bruinsbigestbear]

The moment you brought up Lovecraft it just reminded me of Sovereign from Mass Effect and how they ruined the Reapers by expanding upon them. The same applies to LoK, I think. I just remember getting chills down my spine when Sovereign says "You are not Saren... rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding." This how the spirits were portrayed to a certain degree in The Last Airbender, but by expanding upon the mythos of the spirits they ruined them at the same time, just like BioWare did with the Reapers.

[@Plasmacat1]

Last Airbender even on the dichotomy of "Fire Nation/Lord bad " you have this sense of Grey all over and how Aang really struggles with his peaceful nature dealing with even slight conflicts within his friends like with Katara being vengeful or Toph being rash. Fire Nation had good people too and it wasn't black and white. The dark avatar thing is so cliché and handled so bad it just makes everything less interesting.

[@KonoGufo]

Right, like there was a clear "good person VS evil person" conflict in Avatar but the show was about seeking *balance* and showing us that EVERYONE has the potential for both good and bad. Korra on the other hand just tosses that notion so that it can say "Alright so there's a really nice light spirit, and a really mean dark spirit, and there is no balance between the two, the avatar is just the cool lightness person that pushes the darkness back into its corner. Yay!" It's really lame and uninteresting lol

[@JaganshiHiei15]

I actually remember when I first saw these episodes. I had actually missed a couple of the previous episodes and came back to them. I thought an entirely new season had started. They felt so out of place, I genuinely didn't think they were a part of the season I had been watching. Objectively, the episodes are fine, but in the context of the entire series, they don't fit at all.

[@KrBme78]

21:35 summarized w/ Futurama quote: "They will learn of our peaceful ways...by force!"

[@Matsarth]

"I don't solve problems with alcohol" *Community asks for an Atla movie rant*

[@xyrenegade]

What's the second Avatar's name? Avatar Tu. I know it's overdue as well just give this to me

[@R0CKDRIG0]

I'm more of a fan of Avatar Turi.

[@brandonmiller9155]

YES! Your understanding of the civil war is great! It’s supposed to be her understanding that sometimes you do.. nothing. Positive jing when you’re attacking Negative jing when you’re retreating And neutral jing... when you do nothing. Sometimes it’s not your fight. Yes she’s the avatar and yes she’s a member of the southern water tribe, but that doesn’t mean it’s her say on how complex sociopolitical conflicts should be resolved. Imagine if Aang had forced his beliefs on the northern water tribe and paku, forcing him to teach katara. It’s not his place to do that. Likewise the same goes for Korra and the politics of a nation. So long as that nation doesn’t threaten imbalance then her duty is to do nothing.

[@Jebbtube]

For the longest time, I've questioned the idea of light and order being inherently good. Same goes for peace, in a sense. Look at the sun too long and you go blind. A dictatorship thrives on imposing its order on the people. Hell, for all my criticisms of the Star Wars prequels, when Palpatine talked about "peace," it sent a chill down my spine. Yes, the war would be over, but that's also mean that he'd be able to rule unopposed. Darkness can be a refuge from prying eyes, and trying to sleep in daylight is next to impossible for most. Freedom is a form of chaos, and nothing ever changing is unhealthy. War is costly in many regards, but sometimes you need to fight for a better cause (like overcoming an oppressive regime). Dualities are kinda lazy in my opinion, and fail to understand the nuances of good, evil, and everything in between.

[@georgekostaras]

And on the flip side of that, look to the Doom series. Doomguy is an all out chaotic maniac, but he's the greatest good in a world choked by "orderly" mega corporations and the genocidal hierarchical demons of hell. He's the good his world needs and not at all peaceful or "light"

[@Jebbtube]

@@georgekostaras Not sure he's "good" so much as "wants everything he doesn't like dead," but I see your point.

[@DqwertyC]

Have you read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series?

[@fzb2818]

This perfectly sums up how I felt after the beginnings episodes. I always liked how mysterious and unknown the avatar world felt with so much beyond our understanding. Sometimes the origin of the magic does not have to be explained and be left as it is because in the case of the avatar it took away so much of what made the world of avatar so interesting and immersive

[@amiyang1]

That cough “JK Rowling” comment made me snort my strawberry milk laughing.

[@jussapoints701]

Strawberry milk is as bad as skim milk

[@sanguine7616]

Strawberries don't have nipples. What?

[@rengokuscrunchytwattreats3045]

Sanguine the strawberry is the boob, the seeds are the titties

[@cloin6]

This is absolutely NOT the discussion I expected in the replies lmfaoooooo

[@tomasvrabec1845]

Korra just stud there all neutral yet what was happening reminded me of how the War was starting when Sozin attacked the Earth Kingdom and when Roku lashed out on him and destroyed the Palace because he started oppression. You cant be neutral as the force of balance if the scales are out of balance already.

[@alyseleem2692]

Correct.

[@acehealer4212]

I agree that sometimes it's more interesting to leave certain things to the audience's imagination since the mystery and intrigue is often more interesting than the answer. I also agree that the Water Tribe civil war plot had a lot of potential that was really derailed by the cosmic spirit warfare nonsense.

[@THEDRUMMERJOSH]

To "fix" LOK, the story should be more connected, but none of the story lines are inherently bad. - Amon should be a recurring character, perhaps even experience a Zuko-like humanisation. - The returning of bending should be something Amon could do, and make that a big deal for Lin Beifong to go an entire seasons without bending (Tenzin too). - Season 2 should led be Amon's brother leading the way, instead of yet-another waterbender and as this video breaks down, don't be so "on the nose" with the spirit world. - Season 3 is great, but having Amon as a 3rd party, both Zaheer and Amon would disagree, creating a more elaborate and interesting conflict. - Season 4 doesn't need a giant mech, but Kuvira is a great representation of lawful evil, Korra would be between three extreme ideologies, and true progress comes from a combination of three ideals. Amon: Equality and everyones voices to be heard. (this can have good intention) Zaheer: Chaos and the idea of unearned leadership. (this bears merit, particularly when linked with Prince Wu) Kuvira: Leadership as a necessity and dictatorship. (serves as a warning, yet leadership can bring stability, perhaps highlighting that a unified government truly did bring prosperity) The spirit world should remain ambiguous as this video discusses, but reconnecting the world to balance the nations and bring air-benders back was very exciting. ATLA was loved because we learned to love and hate every character. We never get to feel what the villains feel, we never see any real character development outside of maybe Korra (at a stretch).

[@jonathanyamilmirandapachec3665]

This is a great idea, but we can't ask for a development that was not meant to happen. You probably already know it but book one was the whole story, then Nick decided to add book two and finally it ended in season 4. Considering the circumstances they did what they could with the characters. it's legitimate to feel that it wasn't as good as it could have been, although it's kind of unfair.

[@sneakysneakyraccoon8538]

@@jonathanyamilmirandapachec3665 I feel like a lot of people ignore this fact. Once you make a story that has a planned end. You don't generally plan to continue the story after that. So once you are told to make more seasons, you have to force yourself to think of different plots, arcs and, obstacles the characters have to face for new seasons. This sort of thing can be used for comedy, but not for story based shows.

[@chartreusephoenix6581]

Wow, that works!

[@helios8587]

If the creators were given the chance of making something good, they would have. Every season they were told it would be the last, so they couldn't have made inter-season character arcs like Amon.

[@ethanhogan2463]

The idea of Amon having this slow humanisation arc playing in the background and then swooping in to save some member of Team Avatar from a Red Lotus member by swiping their bending or chi-blocking them is absolutely badass

[@davidlegare5021]

I remember really liking the Avatar Wan arc but this break down actually makes a lot of sense. You're entirely right that they turned the whole Rava/Vaatu into a God/Satan, Good/Bad dichotomy rather than 2 necessary halves of a whole, like we see in eastern philosophy. Great content!

[@khizarch4910]

15 minutes into the video: “I’m like an hour into this...!”

[@michaelbailey1242]

Bloopers, screwups, etc. It's a LONG script

[@jasonschuler2256]

Yeah, that sounds about accurate for how long it takes to record something. What was your point?

[@-Extra_Lives]

It's not even that boring.

[@khizarch4910]

Photon Theorist I said nothing about it being boring.

[@benu22027]

This feels to me like the exact issue that Game of thrones ran into toward the end. They created this beautifully realized world with all sorts of profound mysteries that felt as though they might never even be understood. And then they managed to squander all of it within the span of only a few episodes. Mistakes like these really take away from the grandeur of an entire universe.

[@123Nightcloud]

I can't express how much I love ATLA. It's been with me since I was a child and I even got a tattoo of it. I've bought it twice for myself (one physical, one digital) and for my youngest brother (who doesn't live with me). But. I can't watch Korra. I've tried so much to get into it. I've watched S1and the start of S2 like 5 times but, just knowing about the cluster fuck that is Beginnings coming up, retconning lore and killing the past avatars, immediately makes me stop because I don't wanna see that - we never asked for the origin of the Avatar, so why did we get it? In my head, it was always just a "random human in the cycle born as the last Avatar dies gets the powers". There was never a greater meaning to it. LOK trying to force one really left a bad taste in my mouth...

[@XVENEZUELAZX]

lOL season 3 and season 4 are the mest

[@XVENEZUELAZX]

best*

[@dasia2345]

LOK is an alright show I don't think I'll rewatch it

[@TheDelosDinh]

I honestly love it, even better than ATLA is some respect.

[@rebs8294]

@@TheDelosDinh in what respects? LOK falls short of ATLA in almost every area with the exception of animation and art style (although it was made many years later so that makes sense). there's a reason why a lot of avatar fans despise the series and even ignore LOK as canon...

[@ginge641]

"To the south, this military occupation is thought to be a military occupation."

[@srspanksalot4501]

OH SO YOU'RE TAKING THEIR SIDE!

[@bennyboy1918]

One of the best critiques I've ever heard on Korra.. I love your channel

[@wibblemu9]

As soon as I saw the title I knew exactly what you were going to say and I agree. Its the same problem that happened when star wars introduced midichlorians, it really cheapens the story edit: So happy I typed this before you mentioned the midichlorians

[@jensovadina5954]

Last time i was this early i did not sell my Soul to a mythical being in a game known as Dungeons And dragons

[@manacress85]

So basically the Avatar is a Warlock with a homebrew patron and or celestial. Intriguing theory.

[@jensovadina5954]

@@manacress85 i like that theory a lot

[@jeannebouwman1970]

Or in mtg

[@shewithwings]

lok is like "what if we made atla but western"

[@MangaBear]

It's ironic that I was thinking about that today.

[@crowmaster9652]

We drop the idea of logic, living citizens and add as much drama as possible and lets make it so the 1920s style technology doesn't get in the way of element bending fights.

[@MaxWelton]

For the record: spirits of light and dark exist in religions other than Christianity.

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

I mean if we want to call obvious parallels to Japanese history "western" I guess that's a thing we could do. Really though Wan kickstarted feudal society which lead to the "warring states" period. Aang ended the war, and feudalism, and kicked off the Meiji revolution. Korra oversaw the transition from imperialism to democracy. These aren't exclusively western historical events.

[@Qwajman97]

@@CitanulsPumpkin i don’t think they are referring to the historical parallels. More the twisted Taoist philosophy

[@katsumaeda5615]

This was such a good articulation of what I've always felt about season 2.

[@nbj55]

"It could've been so much better with a few tweaks" describes Korra to a T

[@hunterotte4085]

The answer to how people go into 3 hour long rants without breaking a sweat: Do not use your energy as the fuel. Use the Mt. Dew and rage as the fuel instead.

[@traitorfang1416]

The reason I like these 2 episodes, is purely for the history of the past human benders that had to borrow the bending powers from the lion Turtles. I would love for them to do a mini prequel series on either one of the earliest avatars, or even go back further to before the avatars and do a prequel on an important event that took place during the Pre Avatar Era.

[@jeffmiller6025]

This was lovely. Vatu and Rava always bummed me out. I couldn’t-and can’t-figure out why the writers felt compelled to confuse yin/yang with evil/good. East Asian thought has a concept of good and evil (contrary to what some folks seem to think), but it’s rooted in the complexities of yin *and* yang. To use D&D terminology (while steering away from D&D’s Manichaeism-esque dualism): Yin is chaos, yang is law. The natural states of things can be understood in terms of the neutral alignments. True neutral, chaotic neutral, lawful neutral. And, vitally, these are dynamic. In the natural state of things, balance is dynamic, like riding a skateboard or surfing. It is not static, like the scales of justice. Continuing with this terminology, in East Asian ethics generally, a sentient being cannot be one of these neutral alignments. Instead, sentient beings respond to the natural state of things in one of two ways: 1) They attempt to control nature, rejecting law (yang) in favor of chaos (yin), rejecting chaos in favor of law, or attempting to control nature by statically balancing law and chaos. These are the forms of “evil.” And can be readily seen in fiction from East Asia about demons and such. 2) They strive to mirror and flow with the nature of things, striving for dynamic balance of law and chaos. Such dynamic balance is “neutral good,” the achievement of harmony with the state of things; naturally responding in ways that help maintain balance and help keep balance dynamic. Of course, one can be chaotic good or lawful good. But in both cases one isn’t wholly rejecting of the other. Just part of the natural dynamic balancing of things. But can still come into conflict! (E.g. chaotic good Zahir against lawful good Korra.) These are the forms of “good.” Of course, there is still conflict here: the conflicts of “good” protecting the dynamic nature of things from the attempts of “evil” or control or destroy it; the conflicts of good folks striving for dynamic balance within themselves; etc. This is a lot of what we see in East Asian storytelling. And in ATLA. And in some of LoK! Sigh.

[@Katosepe]

Is THAT what Season 2 was trying to do? I just thought the northerners were so blatantly and obviously evil that I legitimately never even saw that ambiguity as a theme. Well, now I can at least respect what they were going for, even if they missed the mark. As a fan of the Beginnings episodes, I really like your analysis of them. I think I enjoyed them purely because I didn't like LoK, so standing them by themselves was much easier to do. I'd already distanced the show from TLA so dramatically in my mind, it was just its own thing. Great video and I look forward to seeing more! I'd love a fresh take on LoK

[@armorfrogentertainment]

They really screwed up how yin and yang work. While light (yang) does represent order, it also represents violence, not peace. Peace is a principle of darkness (yin). Legend of Korra's duality reminds me of Star Wars, where they're trying to have the Light and Dark simultaneously be two complementary halves of a whole (Eastern dualism) AND the concept of good vs evil (Western dualism). You can't combine those concepts. (Side note, Western dualism is stupid. Evil is the absence of good, not its opposite.)

[@vetarlittorf1807]

Raava and Vaatu are not meant to be Yin and Yang though. They're based on Zoroastrianism.

[@armorfrogentertainment]

@@vetarlittorf1807 then why is there a fair share of taijitu imagery surrounding them? (You are right that the concepts are much closer to Zoroastrianism, but I don't think Avatar is the right fantasy universe for that kind of battle.)

[@vetarlittorf1807]

@@armorfrogentertainment I don't recall any taijitu imagery. And why isn't Avatarverse right for Zoroastrianism when they've included concepts from multiple philosophies and faiths from all over the world?

[@kirkkerman]

Star Wars, at least directly under Lucas, does not try to present light and dark as two halves of a whole though. The Dark Side was intended to be wholly unnatural and corruptive.

[@armorfrogentertainment]

@@kirkkerman true. But the EU and the new Canon have been a bit less consistent about that.

[@jazwhoaskedforthis]

I have heard that Faulkner quote in so many video essays that it activates my fight reflex now.

[@95DarkFire]

18:34 I have noticed this so often when background to a story was revealed: The world suddenly seemed small and boring. However, I think Tolkien was one of the examples of the opposite: With the reveal of the backstory and history of Middle Earth, the main story of the Ring becomes far more important.

[@atuljha6128]

Because for Middle Earth, the more we know, the more we realise how little we actually know and how little we can truly comprehend in the grand scheme of things. Like Eru Illuvatar, the supreme god-like being responsible for all creation in tolkein's world, is responsible for everything that happens in the world and that both "evil" and "good" are bound to his will. This itself places this supreme being on an amoral, orange-blue morality scale. He's not the Christian god who stands for absolute good. He's the amoral all-powerful Erú who is seemingly beyond human comprehension.

[@DCreed013]

THANK YOU. I only watched the first season of Korra when it came out, and thought it was awful. Years later, my boyfriend had me watch the whole thing...and I still thought it was awful as an Avatar expansion. I think Korra is fine as it's own show (bad in some places, good in others), but it's horrendous as a part of the Avatar franchise. Instead of actually expanding upon the ideas and themes of the original show, Korra took those themes and twisted them horribly. It's not just a matter of them 'wanting to go in a different direction', it's because the writers didn't understand or didn't care about the original show's philosophy. I get wanting to go in a different direction, but if you wanted to do that, just make a completely different, unrelated show instead of mucking up a franchise. Another thing that really bothered me about Korra is when she opened up the gate to the spirit world. Like...humans are just supposed to deal with spirits now? Did...did the show just forget that there are spirits who KILL PEOPLE??? Callously, and with no regard for anything but themselves and their forests? Not to mention that when the world was in terrible danger, the spirits did jack shit. "We don't meddle in human affairs" my ass. Even though the show is telling us that 'spirits are good and humans should coexist with them', they SHOW us that 'spirits are assholes who actively dislike humans and have no interest in coexisting with them". They just want to live in the human world, tell humans to get off their lawn, and be annoying. If you don't like humans and don't want to coexist with them, WHY ARE YOU HERE? What's wrong with that perfectly good spirit world? Even though the show says that opening the gate is a good thing, it's shown to be a BAD thing for humanity, and a neutral thing for spirits at best. The show did not do it's part in proving that this decision was the right thing to do, and makes Korra look incompetent at best and negligent at worst.

[@timidalchemist8475]

They should've gotten Aaron back to write the overall scenario on Korra because he was the main reason why A:TLA was great due to him and his wife contribution of the overall lore and consistent narrative.

[@princessthyemis]

EXACTLY!!!!! you said it so well!

[@nocktukdaze8256]

Finally, someone else said it.....

[@DCreed013]

​@Houston Rockets (fair warning, this is really long). A lot of it is personal bias on my part, I'll admit. I found Korra to be a horrid, unlikable person. On top of her brash and irresponsible personality that I find agitating, the way she handled the whole Mako/Bolin romance really solidified her to me as a stupid and selfish teenager (a character type that while I agree is realistic, I don't enjoy watching. Again, that comes down to my personal bias, and I'm not gonna debate people about whether they like Korra as a character. Also, this was just her in season 1. While I still don't exactly like her in later seasons, I don't think she's quite as bad as season 1 Korra). There are things that I believe are objectively bad about season 1 though, most of them being problems that are rampant through the whole series. It's pretty obvious that at the start of Korra, the show runner's weren't sure if they were getting another season. So, there was a lot of pressure to make season 1 a complete story, just in case they didn't get green-lit for season 2. That's why all of the arcs that start the series; the Amon and Equalizer plot, the romance plot, and the 'can't bend air' plot, get resolved in season 1 only for brand new things to be the plot points of season 2. Then I suppose they repeat this through all of the seasons so that season 1 didn't stick out too much. And I personally find that to be a shame. Korra does make some very interesting and compelling narrative points, but never really follows through with them. Take the Equalizers. Ideally, Amon would've been capitalizing on some civic unrest about the imbalance between benders and nonbenders that existed BEFORE he spearheaded the movement. And yet, that civic unrest vanishes as soon as Amon is dealt with, never to be brought up again. The only far reaching consequences Amon had was being the start of Korra's character arc about her fear of being helpless. And on top of that, what exactly was the imbalance that the equalizers were protesting? We saw some benders bullying normal people...that's it. We saw no indication that there were deeper problems with society. We didn't see any problems with the bending police force brutalizing non-benders, we didn't see non-benders being passed over for jobs that they could've done just as well of as a bender. We saw no signs of systemic prejudice that would lead to that kind of civic unrest, so it just makes the whole idea seem shallow. And that's probably my biggest issue with not just season 1, but LoK as a whole. It had so many great ideas and potential, but it ended up being shallow in everything from it's plots, to its themes, to its characters. In better hands, the overarching plots to ANY of the seasons could've made an excellent, multi-season show. But because they (the showrunner's or the producers, who knows which) didn't have faith that the show could succeed, we instead got 4 rushed, poorly thought out bundles of wasted potential. Anyways, that's my 2 cents. If you disagree, I'm always down for a good debate.

[@timidalchemist8475]

@MullerornisBryke? Who's bryke? Also I know Aaron understands the critiques since he has said that novels will cover some stuff, but he also said that the later will expand a lot from act 1 (yes book 1-3 is part of an overall long narrative).

[@KikiYushima]

"So much less compelling." That about sums up my feelings toward Korra as a whole. I don't like it because it's just so much less compelling than the original series.

[@Birzt]

Really wish season 2 stuck with the Civil War story’s themes. Was the only part of Korra I actually enjoyed.

[@tyrkun1624]

For some reason this is an unpopular opinion

[@Short_Juan]

Crazy Person it would have been cool to see the water tribes in war and the southern fighting for their independence

[@williamkrause5831]

Finally someone else with my thoughts. The first half of season 2 feels like a truly more mature version of avatar, rather than the edgier version of avatar that the rest of the show seems to love being, It was so awesome to touch on things like war profiteering, a civil war, and an improperly trained avatar with worldbuilding on how the world has changed since atla. I was so excited when i thought that we'd finally get to see the fire nation and how it's changed with Zuko in charge, or with whether unalaq is right in uniting the tribes and trying to promote spirituality, but that was completely fucked with some fanfictiony origin story for the avatar that ruins alot of the world that atla set up and a power rangers boss battle with an emo avatar.

[@Short_Juan]

William Krause exactly plus it would have been so cool if the northern water tribe to lead to another war like water is the opposite of fire so after fire it’s water

[@tyrkun1624]

@@Short_Juan what?

[@_tideaina]

Never been a big fan of Korra, and Beginnings was always one of my favorite parts. However, I see your point, and this just makes the Legend of Korra even weaker in my opinion

[@dinosaysrawr]

Excellent critique! I had the exact same reaction to this arc. I loved the art style and the characters, but didn't like this as the origin story of and explanation for this universe. I also hated Korra having a kaiju battle with Unavatu. Legend of Korra botched so many golden opportunities, often at the 11th hour.