The Legend of Korra is Garbage and Here's Why

The Legend of Korra is a bad show attempting to cash-in on the popularity of the original.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Introduction
2:40 Positives
6:55 Serialization
17:38 Korra's Stilted Character Arc
31:35 Americanization
41:49 Bad Romance Arcs
48:16 Season Two Switching Gears
57:26 Season Three's Boring Nihilism
1:09:42 PTSD? Never Heard Of It
1:11:51 Season One/Four's Lack of Establishment
1:25:06 Tough Act to Follow
1:31:00 Dumb Stupid Thoughts About Meme Faces
#legendofkorra #avatarthelastairbender #nickelodeon

[@Theproclaimed]

Having Kuvira be able to beat a fully trained avatar is honestly a bit far fetched from the beginning but actually adding the avatar state into it just makes no sense. Ozai powered up with the comet got absolutely destroyed and here we have a regular earth bender

[@OneEyedCloud01]

Right? Comet Ozai would’ve dusted most of these villains too.

[@BlueGangsta1958]

I went into this video expecting to hate it because I remembered kinda liking the show. But while you were listing the few things you liked in the beginning, I realised that was all I ever liked about the show. I feel kinda betrayed now.

[@rebeccamartinez5886]

" ... And then towards the end they just write it all off, as if we didn't just spend the whole season laughing at Bolin's obvious distress and anxiety. The sad part is that this could've been the most interesting thing in the entire series if the writers had taken it even remotely seriously and not just assumed that abusive relationships are funny when the abuser is a woman." THIS. SOMEBODY FINALLY SAID IT. I don't think the Legend of Korra was horrible as a sequel but it could have been WAY better. Definitely not even remotely as good as its predecessor.

[@cainballer9745]

Yeah, you said it man.

[@yearlyposts]

I agree 💯

[@Hearth123]

I think what bothers me most about the series is that I didn't care about any of the characters and they didn't seem to care about each other. There were so many missed moments where especially Mako and Bolin could have actually established a brotherly bond, but they didn't. We're simply told that they all like each other, not shown

[@DarkEclipse23]

Because they only have 12 episodes a season in a ~22min runtime, they don’t have much leeway to “waste”.

[@romankotas448]

@@DarkEclipse23 yet they found a way

[@bumbleebee6961]

Same

[@jennifer-cm6bo]

yup and it makes us not even care about the characters

[@MoshanAliRujandi]

They show lots of times when they care about each other

[@TheMasterOfSquids]

"The ember island players isn't filler" Yeah but it's also the best episode in the entire series so who even cares if it is

[@Lily_Orchard]

That was my entire point. There's been a backlash against episodic TV shows in recent years for no justifiable reason.

[@Haishiyu]

'Eastern culture that's not just Japan' THANK YOU. THAT WAS ONE OF THE REASONS I LOVED LAST AIRBENDER SO MUCH, THERES A REAL PROBLEM NOW OF OVER-SATURATION IN SHOWS THAT TRY TO BE COOL, HIP AND EDGY BY INSERTING JAPAN (and only japan) INTO EVERYTHING TO CAPITALISE ON YOUNG WEEB AUDIENCES. (e.g. Neo Yokio, ninja's being used in every other show) ITS GETTING PRETTY OLD AND TIRED AT THIS POINT.

[@oremfrien]

I struggle with this claim because ATLA can be easily seen as an allegory of the Second Sino-Japanese War with the Fire Nation being Japan and the Earth Kingdom being China. There are many facial similarities (such as dress and geography) but also functional similarities (such as the Earth Kingdom being divided by warlords and having a secret police). I get that ATLA doesn't have anything that is hypermodern Japanese, but to say that "it's not Japan" misses the point.

[@Charl_00tte]

@@oremfrien No one said it's not Japan, people are saying it's one of the few animated shows that's based on eastern culture that is not JUST Japan. The Water Tribes for example, and as you pointed our the Earth Kingdom. Air Nomads are very clearly not just Japanese inspired. The conflict of ATLA may be based on the Second Sino-Japanese War, but the show itself is not just japan.

[@yoavtheguy2198]

You're getting pretty old and tired by now.

[@honkhonk8009]

Mortal Kombat and Avatar did it the best. Loved seeing my Bhuddist culture u0nin the big screen.

[@KingKimwer]

The one point I will agree with you on without question is Republic City. Part of the original show's charm was seeing those different cultures within the 4 nations. Having LoK set in "Asian steampunk NYC" completely missed out on the opportunity to show how those other nations changed after the 100 year war, outside of a few small glimpses. Also, Republic City is just a really boring location to set most of the show in. So sick and tired of everything being in New York.

[@cheyenneguest4495]

Didn't get to say this on the last video, but I honestly got mad at the season two storyline being dropped for the origin of why the avatar is reincarnated. It sounded so good, enough to make me consider to watch before you told us what happened in the second half of the season. Such a waste honestly.

[@ritwikjs]

solving an actual civil war seems like the PERFECT test for an AVATAR. Problem was, korra was basically gifted the avatar state by aang, and seemingly learned little to no diplomacy from the first book. robbing her of any journey and sheltering her had consequences, but i hate just how much of a passenger korra was to her underpreperation.

[@confusionisme4259]

‘’Fuck that , this guys bending fucking lava.’’ Best sentence anyone ever said

[@Vevotaa]

As a Korra fan, you make great points. Idk why so many people get angered over objective observations. Good work.

[@GameBoyyearsago]

Korra Is Sexy Too : )

[@mateocoglianio1965]

A lot of people see criticism as a personal attack, it's honestly sad.

[@TJ-hg6op]

@@feniu10 It isn’t political opinions, it is the way the creators of the show use these concepts in a bad way.

[@peptoyo]

​@@imshakedown Indeed, I think honestly as a boomer, who was too busy skateboarding to give a shit about the Avatar and thought the concept was dumb as hell, it boils down to the order in which you watched them. I my self am always keen to like a bad ass female protagonist over a male. I watched the Legend of Korra first while bored and stoned, loved it, but then decided to binge the Avatar right after. Both have different premise and different qualities that are both good and bad; however, neither have bad qualities that warrant this to be the top video for the show on the KZbin and as well over an hour long rant that literally boils down to who the fuck cares?

[@bagek]

@@peptoyo the reason I don't like korra is because I grew up with avatar and its really sad to see the characters that we are all familiar with reduced into nothing for and get their 3 episodes and leavr

[@jenikapacheco2759]

#bolindeservedbetter

[@Elay-tulc]

Fr he did

[@XxNo_InterestxX]

Real!

[@mfrebel7831]

Definitely my favourite character in Korra

[@pandaren_brewmaster]

@@mfrebel7831 I thought he was the lamest character in any show. He was plain dumb to make jokes, and yet he was making jokes anyway. And none of them were funny. They tried to make a Sokka like character and failed miserably.

[@idkwhattoputhere6200]

Start: This shouldn’t be too long right? End: Oh crap it’s night!

[@Demonoicgamer666]

I don’t really like the fact korra was great at three elements immediately because Roku tells use learning the elements requires discipline and years of practice the only reason aang learned so quickly is cause he had to and he was pretty mediocre while not in the avatar state I mean in his fight with ozai he was almost completely on the defensive until he entered the avatar state.

[@omarkhan4179]

this is the best point i think anyone has made so far

[@ashebennett7726]

There’s a reason why people say Aang is the chosen one troupe done right. He didn’t have the elements right away, he had to learn each element at a time. And he’s also op done right when it comes to the avatar state. He’s overpowered when it comes to the avatar state but overpowered done right is when their are limitations. He’s still vulnerable in the avatar state and can still be killed. Kind of like how Toph is op since despite being blind, she can beat anybody and is the best earthbender ever born but only when she’s on the ground in order to see. Off the ground, she’s helpless because she can’t see and can’t bend. Both troupes needs limitations to make for a more compelling character. The chosen one needs limitations as well as basics the same as the op.

[@om3ga109]

Aang was *absolutely* not mediocre in the slightest outside of the avatar state- the tattoos aren't just for fashion, they denote a recognized airbending *master*. He got those before he knew he was the avatar- the way they're earned is by either mastering 31 existing airbending techniques, or coming up with your own- his was the air scooter. He also showed incredible talent at pretty much every point in the show, matching Azula while being exhausted from being chased for 24 hours. To say "Aang is mediocre outside the Avatar State" is a fucking wild take, holy moly.

[@TitusPrime1995]

*reads description, oh wow really? Pfft. Come on now. COME ON PEOPLE

[@TheGhostbuster1989]

Titus Prime I know what you mean. I am a fan of Korra and the last airbender and even I could see that Korra was a deeply flawed show, hell the original LAB had its fair share if problems too. The Problem i see so much with internet fandoms is that they're not mature enough to handle criticism. So they're response is lashing out instead.

[@anonimosu7425]

The chinese caption of each “book” screen makes this just that much better if you can read it. XD

[@Lily_Orchard]

I'm so happy when someone points that out.

[@onion4976]

48:21 HAHAHAHA the Chinese character literally just means “stupid”, didn’t even say “book 5 is stupid”, it’s just “stupid”

[@destituodaemonis]

A very well constructed movie and essay on how TLoK was a massive let down. More importantly, how it also had so much potential that was squandered. I remember watching the first season, and getting turned off by it, then coming back some few months later, watched till the second half of season two then just dropped it entirely. Did not like what they tried doing with that.

[@Nckolas20]

I thought I would hate this but OMFG this was creative, smart and hilarious. I enjoyed Legend of Korra, except for the butchering of character development and relationships. I liked what the writers attempted to do without an imperialist conquest as a main plot point and focus on a post-war story setting.

[@camphil6622]

I actually like the legend of Korra but every point you made was valid and I'm glad you re uploaded this

[@theduchess1877]

On the note of Legend of Korra's animation, is it true that traditional animation is dead, because the animation tries to be extremely detailed and pretty, and not FLUID? I know it's not really the topic of your video, but I was interested in your talk about the animation. (I just want western 2D animation back, like everyone else). However, I did kind of wished a little bit elaboration on your snippets of the animation. Just a suggestion. Anyway, great video!

[@Lily_Orchard]

I talk about writing over animation because a show's success is entirely on the backs of the writers. Back or choppy animation can easily be overlooked by most people. The Last Airbender was notorious for it's animation shortcuts outside of the last few fights. The big problem 2D animation has in 2018 is that all the people who are begging for it's return care ONLY about the animation on a raw, technical scale. Fluidity, high framerates, shading, all that technical shit that doesn't matter. Art direction is ignored (unless they want to bitch about Frozen some more), aesthetics are ignored, all the actual meat of the animation is ignored because all they're focusing on is raw technical output. Most importantly, the writing is ignored and in many cases often scoffed at. And that's why attempts to revive 2D animation continue to fail because they think the animation itself is the most important thing when reality it's the least of your concerns. Writing a good movie that is received well is the part that needs to be focused on, and nobody bothers to do it. They're so obsessed with frames and shading that they ignore the very thing that killed 2D animation in the first place: Too many terrible movies with shit writers. That's why my criticism (not just here, but in Glass of Water as well) focuses entirely on the writing and not the animation.

[@comealongpond365]

Legend of Korra: yeah it was all the lion turtles and raava and 1st avatar and god vs. satan we explain the magic!! Avatar the Last Airbender: what the heck??? No??? we literally established that it was the sky bison who taught the airbenders, Tui and La who taught the waterbenders, the dragons who taught the firebenders and the badgermoles who taught the earthbenders. (unless of course I'm totally mistaken or the writers made a massive inconsistency when introducing the lion turtles)

[@pazel3232]

correct i didn't even notice i hate the legend of korra so much

[@ritwikjs]

explaining the "first avatar and raava and vatu" just seemed like an insult to all the lovely, and ACCEPTED magic of the first series. Like there were so many better ways to introduce spiritual discord and korra's role in saving them, than fucking power rangers mecha evil avatar.

[@DepressedOptimist]

_I watched the entire thing and this is the video I was praying for, years passed since I watched LOK and I was wondering if anyone would make this and I'm very satisfied_ _Bless you_

[@mayormccheese6451]

The thing I hated most in Korra was the progress and changing of the world. It doesn't feel like the same world at all, I understand there's peace because of the events of the last airbender but the progress does not feels unearned, we didn't see the world change in anyway we just have to accept it. It completely tears away the aesthetic that made the first show so memorable. I feel like republic city looks like something that'd happen over 100 years, not 50. Not to mention the ease by which some benders have learned to use lightning and other bending disciplines that were always toted as special. The biggest loss is the heart, Aang was the emotional core of ATLA, always being surprisingly mature after bouts of immaturity and internal emotional ping pong.

[@Abbie.Lou.13]

It’s like they tore the beautiful painting that was the originals world building into shreds I can’t sleep at night without telling myself it’s all uncanon lmao

[@briannaphillips3633]

Watching Korra now for the first time. The thing that annoys me most about Korra is how she isn't loyal to anyone. She seems to care about no one except herself and her own opinions. She continually is selfish and shows this by leaving her friends and her family time and time again because they don't agree with her. And the real kicker is that this abandonment (gaslighting, ignoring opinions smarter than her/ignoring parental authority, etc.) ends up working in her favor most of the time and then the people she brushes off come back and apologize to her as though they're in the wrong. It just makes her an all out dislikable character.

[@amandagustafsson2930]

Yes!! Finally someone said this!

[@nopenopenopenope4076]

I was not expecting to end up agreeing with you for most points. Good exploration.

[@BargB]

I mean...who thought that giant mecha fights on the middle of the city was a good idea for the avatar world is beyond me. That sums up a lot about korra creative decisions...

[@pug5731]

I saw this was an entire hour, but I clicked it anyway, and it s i n g s to me. I've shared it with like four other people, lmao. Same Sentiment.

[@recsporteducation4594]

Best rant about this show I've heard. Well done. I've listened to lots of commentaries and reviews on this series and yours is my favorite. I just wish the producers of so man shows and movies would listen to this kind of stuff. So much talent out there that show how to write a proper story and the only people who haven't got the message are those producing the content.

[@DarkFoxV]

From what I understand, nick ordered one season, and that's what they prepared for. Then, when that was dine Nick went "wow, that went extremely well, can you make Korra S2?" Rinse and rnpeat for S3 & S4. If these had been 4 unique Avatars, these storylines could have been much better.

[@DDM_08]

Yoo that would have been great. Show could have been called ‘The Tales Of The Avatars’ or something. Kiyoshi animated story would have been cool or some of her predecessors, maybe an Avatar who was actually evil. Nonetheless they had so much potential to fletch out the lore more

[@Spiritwhisperer11]

The anarchism depicted in legend of Korra doesn't really represent anarchism as a political ideology either, tho. The show just doesn't seem to understand politics??? Lol

[@Lily_Orchard]

The anarchism is a mixed bag. It starts and stops at "No Rules" and "Power Vacuum", which is a stripped down version of anarchism. However, because the majority of anarchist philosophy ignores the issue of power vacuums and the fact that human beings created hierarchies for a reason the end result is effectively the same regardless.

[@OurBrainHurtsALot]

@@Lily_Orchard Naahh, MAREZ in Chiapas, Mexico and the Rojava Revolution are good examples of actual working anarchism. Zahir's philosophy is not anarchism, who the hell knows what it is. I would call it Jokerism. The whole point of anarchism is to create a network of independent municipalities that rule themselves through direct democracy. It's a completely grassroots down-top movement. In the show, you never see Zahir interact with the municipalities of the Earth kingdom, you never see him advocating for democracy, organizing assemblies or creating dual-power coalitions, nothing, you never even see him speak with the citizens. He's just like: "You now what would be cool? Killing the queen, hehehe I bet that would solve everything, let chaos rule!!!!!" I mean, not even Ancaps think like this. Zahir legitimately wants people to just run around setting buildings on fire and killing each other, because for him that's just how the world should be. Again, this guy is the joker, the problem is that he's not funny.

[@Xylord79]

I like the show overall but what kills me is this obsession with humanizing and depowering characters that are extraordinary, like the avatar. Aang was far stronger of an avatar as a kid then Korra was almost grown. She was pathetic compared to past avatars. And even with Aang feeling much stronger they were still able to add character growth and challenges with his character. Korra always seems to get easily beat up by foes and the whole avatar state thing was essentially written out of it with no explanation. There are other ways to write stories and relate to the characters without depowering them.

[@robertmccarick1690]

whats the 1920s song called lol

[@SuperZez]

I’m a bit confused. Half the time it sounds like you’re saying Communism is a terrible idea, and the other half it sounds like you’re saying that anyone who thinks that communism is a terrible idea is an idiot. I can’t quite determine which half I’m mis-hearing.

[@Lily_Orchard]

The actual problems with Communism (necessary bureaucracy creating an opening for power grabs, failure to properly account for inevitable human vices, ect) are rarely if ever talked about. The American understanding of Communism is little more than Fascism with state-sponsored propaganda stapled on top of it. Like how North Korea calls itself a "Democratic People's Republic", while Americans think it's Communist, but in reality neither of those are true and it is a Totalitarian Dictatorship telling two lies at once. Or how Hitler tried to rebrand Fascism as Socialism, or how Republicans call white supremacist bigotry "Family Values", because euphemisms will always fool the average schmuck.

[@SuperZez]

Lily Peet The whole “Communism’s major flaw is that it requires people to not be people” is the biggest complaint I’ve ever seen about it. I’ve hardly seen anyone denounce it without pointing that out. So this is news to me.

[@Lily_Orchard]

That's the usual American response to anything that isn't their version of Democracy: "Not enough Freedom." But Communism's actual biggest problem is it's inability to resist systemic corruption that leads to that "not enough freedom" in the first place. The lack of freedom is the symptom, not the disease. If Communism was able to better resist or counteract systemic corruption, the reduced freedom compared to Democracy would be irrelevant as, when push comes to shove, more people care about their security than whether or not they're technically free. Many of the lower class who overwhelmingly support Communism are already forced to go without their freedom in a Capitalist system anyway, so talks about freedom fall on deaf ears.

[@t8nto]

@@Lily_Orchardbrain hurty :(

[@aidanchilton7899]

I think this series coulda been 5 billion times better with one bullet point added to their writing process: make emotional stakes pls. That’s it. If there was a relationship between the characters that meant more than “ur destroying the city” then I’d be so much more into the show. Emotional stakes are what turned the final Agni Kai from a fire dick measuring contest into a tragic and dramatic duel of the fate of a nation.

[@artemisfowl2017]

I just want to say - THAT IS THE BEST ARGUMENTATIVE VIDEO I HAVE EVER WATCHED! I grew up with "Avatar the Last Airbender" and I think it is the best animated series ever made. The characters, the silliness, all the great Sokka moments and everything about Aang and his friends made my life complete. It also taught me a lot (especially English). I was really exited when I learned about it being continued with an avatar, born in the water nation (I adore water). And then... I watched it and was left disappointed. Lily Peet, Thank you so much for this video. One of the best ways to spend an hour of my life!

[@BlueLizardKing]

The worst thing this show ever did was make Toph a cop. What the fuck were they thinking?

[@sarag1716]

Toph, the character who scammed people and was forced to behave and grew a profound hatred for orders and strict rules and laws and society and cities, who saw the most satisfaction and love and joy in breaking the rules and going on adventures, is now a law abiding COP. Like this is why I think LoK should be decanonized. Because there is NO WAY that the events in ATLA lead to LoK in any capacity

[@romankotas448]

She was a pro wrestler, I don’t know, I’m still mad

[@gunterxvoices4101]

Avatar was a show for children written by adults and Korra was a show for adults written by children.

[@linlawson1530]

48:26 The Chinese there literally just say stupid lmao

[@Lily_Orchard]

WE'RE BACK ON AIR!

[@Thejosiphas]

i remember the segments they had on nickeldodeon about how much care & detail they were putting into avatar like martial art styles & buddhist themes etc, not so with this one

[@wraithTAS]

Assmi being jealous of Korra only after finding out about her relationship with Mako is one of the only situations that felt real. You see that all the time in everyday life.

[@uatoto7783]

I watched this straight and I'm commending tf out of it bc it put into words my every frustration with Legend of Korra

[@M2JoyBoy]

I love that you put it into words why this show annoyed the hell out of me but I never really could explain why the show annoyed me so much I just remembered feeling REALLY annoyed. The only time I felt this amount of annoyance and anger at a show was Myne from the first season of Rising of the Shield Hero, the only difference is the ladder is on purpose.

[@DergusLp]

i need sauce for that rich intro song before the title card - i know its all from the mists of pandaria ost i just couldnt be fucked to listen through it all to find a single song.-

[@Lily_Orchard]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqSbqnVri79njck

[@LoreDrake]

Were back Bitches, time to get my popcorn and re-watch the Lily Peet movie once more

[@MissLascah]

I was not able to Tell what i dislike so much about korra even if i really really tried to like her and THW series Thank you for showing me what it was ^^

[@jsyap11]

Coming from an Asian country, westernisation and loss of culture due to globalisation are actually very relatable real-world problems. Additionally, the bending was actually animated close to life, but with MMA consultants in addition to Sifu Kisu. Many of the complaints about bending in Korra reflect real-world complaints of MMA. Regarding pacing and the meh filler episode, the creators were very transparent about production issues at the time, like no guarantee how many seasons they could get (therefore ending Season 1 with Korra’s powers back in case that were the only season), and a last-minute budget cut. Finally, yes the romance was probably the worst part of the series.

[@cherry-ks9yb]

I don’t agree with every point in this video, but I definitely do agree that legend of korra was incredibly disappointing. With better writing, it could have been amazing , the plot lines and characters had soooo much potential

[@Maswartz226]

You know they dropped the ball with plot when most of the ATLA sequel comics were about setting up stuff for it

[@Asbjoern135]

I think there could have been a interesting dichotomy and story in how the globalization americanization leads to a more homogeneous population but at the same time it chips away at their unique cultural identity. It would set progress vs. Traditionalism and globalism vs nationalism

[@annaisee]

I never liked the show. I've rewatched ATLA almost 3x but I've only watched LOK once and I barely even remember half the story even though I watched it relatively recently. It tried too hard to be a sequel and not enough to be its own show. The side characters were shit and so were the main characters.

[@maahm6442]

One thing I would like to add Korra didn't lose some battles she lost every single altercation any she win she for help dc rm others. Only one she won alome was the first one in RP city. Even a scene in 4th season when random hired henrch man kidnaps the future earth King he managed to knockout Korra and escape

[@ThisismineIguess]

I think part of the reason why they also show Korra being abused/brutalized is to have something to point out and say "SEE SHE SUFFERS CONSEQUENCES SHE HAS TRIALS SEE SEE HOW AWFUL AND TERRIBLE AND NASTY THEY ARE" *still leans on the level of fetishes amongst the creators though lmao*

[@LionsState626]

First of all, thank you. Second, I think I need to binge watch the last airbender. Third, this is the first video of anything that I have not skipped through in a long while. Fourth, this video is needed in this world, why....because I said so. Ok that's all, again thank you for this video

[@alexanderluthi4028]

aang using all four elements was so terrifying lol

[@leafgreensniper13]

And when Korra goes avatar, I think “oh, this again?”

[@kami-kaze5084]

Dude legend of korra had so much potential but it ended up being such a fucking letdown

[@nail2688]

How did you have the time to make this??!!!

[@Lily_Orchard]

This question makes no sense. I have 60 years of life ahead of me.

[@kanaekeiko]

Was about to trash your opinion but... these are rather valid points. Nonetheless I still enjoyed Korra, it was a more modern twist to the beloved Avatar series, similar to how Boruto is kinda eh but is still watched due to the strong emotions with the previous series, Naruto.

[@Lily_Orchard]

Congratulations, you resisted the knee-jerk reaction. A lot of people haven't, so it's nice to see.

[@KaizenKitty]

Thank you! :-) This video is both a solid analysis of LoK and AtLA, and a very useful tutorial on storytelling in general. You've offered me a lot of interesting new insights into both the new and the old Avatar series. Thank you for making this and sharing!

[@erileafeldtmann50]

PLEASE! FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST, SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT THE TITLE OF THE MUSIC IS FROM 2:00 TO 2:30 !!!!! I've been dying to figure it out!

[@Lily_Orchard]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jamZcmigisZmftk

[@KidAL0]

Okay how come some of your book titles are straight up 15 seconds long Do you think I can’t read Edit: Jesus Christ book 9 was actually half a minute for like no reason

[@Lily_Orchard]

They're timed based on the music used, as cutting certain tracks mid-note ended up sounding terrible to I opted for appropriate breakpoints instead of imposing an arbitrary limit on the book titles. I could be fast, or I could be appropriate. I opted for the latter because of the video's overall length. My rationale was that people who are so impatient that long (except not really) transitions bother them probably aren't going to watch a 90 minute video in the first place. And people who do have that kind of selective impatience can just skip forward with the right arrow-key anyway.

[@eric2781]

You sure put a lot of work in this video , you have my respect

[@ed95002]

Great video! One thing I felt was missing in Korra, which I think falls into the serialization part of the video, was that every mid-season conflict seemed kinda pointless. In all the seasons, the way they wrote it just never let Korra win any "major conflict" until the very last episode. So, honestly, none of those mid-season conflicts were that exciting because you already knew Korra would lose.

[@Sol_VI]

I always find myself coming back to this video. I remember when I watched The Legend of Korra about two years ago, right after I finished Avatar. I somewhat enjoyed it, but it always felt like something was really missing from it. They never really hit the same nails that Avatar did, and I just couldn't really get it out of my head. It felt like they constantly missed the mark on making *actually* good allegories and parallels to real political issues. People would always praise it for being "so good at portraying communism" and "teaching us lessons about the real world", but I could never understand where the fuck they got that impression from, since I always felt like they did nothing more than a half assed nudge nudge and a wink, while completely misunderstanding the entire point they were trying to make. It's like the writers really thought they were being clever, and unfortunately so many viewers who don't understand anything about politics completely bought it. I really found myself disappointed in this show, not just because it was really bad, but also because it feels like they can do so much better. We saw the quality of Avatar. If they could some how create that, how could they not just repeat the same successes? The part of Korra that *really* bothered me was the origin story of her being the avatar. I generally liked the idea of Korra going back to learning about Wan, and him being the first avatar. I feel like, with actually smart writing, that storyline could have worked. You may disagree with me here, but I think that it could have been interesting, learning about the first ever Avatar, and drawing knowledge from the person who started that whole cycle. But the entire idiocy surrounding Raava and Vaatu was just completely moronic and a total waste of time. They didn't need to explain how the Avatar cycle worked, and how it was created. What makes the Avatar power so interesting is what we *don't* know about it. Less is way more, in this particular case. What pissed me off the most is how in 60 years, we got a 1920s American style city. They basically decided to just skip a few centuries of history to give people an American-exceptionalism boner. I always wondered *why* they just suddenly skipped to that kind of technology. It just bothered me from a common-sense perspective, but more-so knowing the real reasons they did it. I don't remember if you point it out, but I feel like one of the least talked about failings of Korra, beyond "It can't portray political ideology for shit" and "It completely neglects everything that made Avatar *good*", is the serialisation that Korra follows. If they went for the more episodic route like Avatar did, I feel like they wouldn't have had a fucking ANNOYING love triangle arc, and would have built more on the characters. A lot of what makes Korra suck is everything from its core, and it's why it will never be what Avatar was.

[@youhavebeengalaxyd9674]

Oh my god this is a whole hour and a half of bitching I love it

[@WalkThrough_101]

I think they tortured Korra so much not because of... uh... what you insinuated, but because they wanted to make her look like less of a Mary Sue, sHe CaN't Be A mArY sUe ShE fAiLs aLL tHe TiMe

[@itsjustme6334]

I think Bryke is great at coming up with broad concepts, but I'm not sold on their character or connective writing. The "creators" aren't who made ATLA so great. It was the whole writing team.

[@treyonay]

23:52 the first thing I muttered from my hoarse voice, was "Are you serious?"

[@stickyfingers5189]

There was one scene of non benders being oppressed by benders it was the very first episode where korra arrives in the city when she finds those bending mob members who were extorting the local shop keepers for “protection”. It’s not much and if I remember correctly I think korras actually punished for dealing with them because property damage is important in a world where a civilian could literally bend the potholes out of the streets in a second lmao. But even that scene was don’t better in Atla with firebender soldiers doing the same thing to earth nation towns that had all their benders imprisoned already which made the gang go and free all the earth benders to combat it instead

[@ThePreciseClimber]

AtLA only didn't have filler episodes in HINDSIGHT. That crapton of random-ass episodes in season 1 WAS filler because they were distractions on the way to the North Pole. Those episodes only became important in seasons 2&3 when the writers decided to bring back characters from said episodes.

[@Lily_Orchard]

AtLA is an episodic show. They, by their very nature, do not have filler. They just have episodes that aren't crucial to the plot. That's a good thing, because only sticking to the main plot is the reason serialized shows are so dull.

[@revenge425]

1:30 hours, there is no way I will watch... 1:30 hrs later i am here watching it all :D

[@DuccDev]

Disappointed he didn’t talk longer about how for some reason ganorra is some god of spirituality who can do astral projection and fly and does magical yellow spirit ball thing and suddenly gives Korra super powers

[@kaykay8855]

*She

[@yentl]

Why couldn't they have made an animated movie instead?

[@oppaknobby2071]

Can someone tell me the name of the song from 2:00 to 2:30?

[@Lily_Orchard]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmiboodjqLB_qNk

[@firebender1174]

I would argue the great divide is they only filler episode Mainly because is not good lol

[@Lily_Orchard]

"Filler" and "Bad" are two very different things.

[@firebender1174]

Lily Peet OK the great divide is the only filler because it does not contribute at all and is never mentioned again, and even contradicts itself

[@Lily_Orchard]

That's most episodes, because this is an episodic show.

[@Peter-bn2pu]

Its really the same writers an creator? Unbelievable...

[@thegapegrape]

Honestly, thank you so much for making this. I just recently started writing and im noticing i made a lot of the same mistakes that you pointed out that TLoK made. I did notice something was wrong but you put it into words and kinda helped me create a list of things i shouldn't do, so thanks a lot.

[@mysticranger2456]

The last Airbender is definitely a much mature show the legend of Korra just the whole dynamic of the fire nation royal family Felt like Game of Thrones. As a matter of fact Game of Thrones should’ve took notes from avatar the last Airbender

[@tjmario64]

For fucks sakes, Just checked the OST in WOWs OST, and wow, thought it was from the show, but it's so much better, so gorgeous. Sucks that I thought it was just in this show. Glad that I heard such beautiful pieces from other sources, thank you!

[@PR0per6RAMmar]

Interesting. Between this critique and E;R's "Legend of Whorra", I'm seeing two perspectives on decided opposite side of the aisle. Both hit similar notes, however, because this show is that bad.

[@PR0per6RAMmar]

However, in regards to your critiques about content splurging by studios, your 90 min seems to indicate a blind spot in your thinking.

[@Lily_Orchard]

I keep a regular upload schedule in addition to larger videos like this, so I fail to see how this is a blind spot in my thinking.

[@mysticranger2456]

And there are so many people out there who say people hate the show because it’s stars a female of color. We’ve never had a problem with female avatars Avatar kyoshi and Avatar yangchen our fan favorites I much rather see a TV show about them then Korra

[@Psalm27.mp4]

the part where Tenzin was looking for his lost daughter and his siblings started to guilt trip Tenzin with their daddy issues because Tenzin was feeling like a horrible dad (and to be honestly this man was carrying a lot of things on his shoulders like feeling like a failed mentor, carrying an entire culture, his children getting targeted constantly because they're the last airbenders, him being one of the republic city's leaders) ... but this part where his daughter was kidnapped on their vacation and i think Tenzin was even telling his bro and sis, "I feel like a bad dad," and they're just, " YUP, heReSSS Whaayy".. was the part where i started to go like "now wait just second..." instead of helping him out and supporting him, they just shamelessly throw all their crap at him as if he's their dad. he had to be in the fog of the lost souls to realize that he's not his dad, but the writers just left it there. this guy has more problems than anyone else and somehow we get to see Lin lose her shit more than Tenzin does.

[@BatmanVengeance]

air nomads are peaceful so its not surprising we dont see him lose his shit more then lin and i agree they just threw everything at him and then did nothing so cool am i right? the avatar gets beaten in every fight because why not and AVATAR is the strongest human on earth bends all for elements has avatar state what does she do? lose every time she has to jump the villian or villians have to die for plot.. also her team is so just bad no goal no nothing just some random people she met also took bending and changed it :/ like original benders were the water and moon spirits sky bisons the dragons and i forgot the name of original earth benders and IT MADE SENSE but in legend of korra they just forgot it and threw "oh yeah the turtle lions were the original benders" so damn stupid

[@pirateguy3521]

This video is so right and Korra could have been good if only the writers gave a shit!

[@Dranlia]

Well, this is a good excuse to watch it again.

[@cutiepie120048]

I was so mad when I saw it then had to finish a video then saw it was taken down - Been waiting, I love analysis videos!!!

[@patrickfager7613]

It’s back, yay

[@maurycyoseka1057]

I was expecting at 1:01:28 that he will say "death" instead of "darkness". lol.

[@User-jp1sj]

I think Stain from My Hero Academia is what Amon should have been. It would have made for a less harmful message and it wouldn't be strawmanning any actual ideologies

[@doghat1619]

good post lily good post, however most of the posts I see about Korra say that the avatar wan two episodes are the only good episodes. so most of the fanbase likes them a lot

[@Lily_Orchard]

I made the mistake of assuming the audience had standards.

[@KristjanThomasHaaristo]

Have watched this like 3 times, once every year sometimes in its fullest because I always get a type of catharsis from this because ATLA is my favourite visual media ever conceived

[@cookiman4225]

oh my god someone finally talks about the difference in bending styles between korra and airbender. I thought i was going crazy

[@clintonnwachukwu1505]

37:46 - what’s the name of the song? It’s so jazzy.

[@Lily_Orchard]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKK7haponL1ohKM

[@thenameisntimportant9008]

Okay, I enjoy most of this because it does highlight the failures of the show extremely well, but cut the two spirits are not just "God" and "Satan". Just because most of the other problems are boiled down to too much westernization, doesn't mean that every problem boils down to that. Vaatu and Raava are a representation of yin and yang and are a painful one at that. Both of them being diametric opposites, both of them apparently having a bit of each other in themselves, both essentially being on an even playing field in terms of strength, etc. The only part that comes close to your criticism, is the fact that one represents good and the other represents evil, which can just be attributed to an over simplification of the yin and yang concept, but not God vs Devil.

[@Lily_Orchard]

They portrayed "Yin and Yang" like Jehova and Lucifer, therefore they ARE Jehova and Lucifer. That's how mythology works: Entirely on presentation. If you portray Yin and Yang as objectively good and evil, then you did not portray Yin and Yang at all. And they already did this better in The Last Airbender with the Ocean and Moon spirits anyway. Intent ends where execution begins. What they intended was irrelevant because what they did was completely different. They intended Yin and Yang. They made Jehova and Lucifer. Therefore Ravaa and Vaatu are Jehova and Lucifer. Just like how it doesn't matter if the show wants to be anti-extremism, the actual mechanics of the story make it explicitly pro-extremism.

[@TheScott21385]

Title says it all. Dont need convincing

[@kunibertrandolf1886]

The idea of a show about an avatar that has mastered the elements but completely fails on the sociopolitical and spiritual aspects of the role due to her sheltered upbringing and increasing disconnection of society, nature and spirituality sounds like a great series. The villains could then jerk her to the extremes of the to-be-balanced sides of material and spiritual world. *Season 1:* Korra rejects the idea of spirituality and tries to play down the importance of the spiritual world, especially in an industrializing world. While doing so, air bending evades her still, but her other bending techniques also stagnate. By actively trying to prove the white Lotus wrong and trying to be the best, her passive eprception of spirituality in the other elements dwindles and bending feels more and more disconnected from her. Amon can still be a anti bender racist, advocating for the full disconnection from bending and spirit shenanigans. Naturally, Korra opposes the idea, realizing that her sheltered livestyle INDEED goes against the way of the avatar and that she effectively is just a bending human and would be left with nothing if her current style of bending was taken from her. She realizes her short comings, aknowledges that the white lotus was right, but is also at fault and opens herself up to the spiritual aspects of bending and the avatar. *Season 2:* Korra wanders around for spiritual mentors in all elements, gaining a new understanding for each of them and advancing with her bending capabilities past blunt force to actual finesse. This sets up her story arc for act two where she stumbles too far into the idea of "living for spirits". In a spiritual journey she learns that the currently repressed spirit world is increasingly unstable and prone to popping into the material world like a zit soon, if nothing is done to honor nature and the spirits in some form again. She increasingly invests herself in spirit welfare and starts resenting society and the missing spiritualism in it and begins working down the problems of the spiritual world. Unfortunately, the needle jumps over to the other side as her efforts lead to imbalance due to the long neglected spiritual world gushing over into society as spirits suddenly try to pry back their "natural world" in the middle of cities and villages, similar to Hei Bai attacking the wrong people for the damages of the fire nation. While Korra tries to understand why going full spiritual also didn't solve the problem, Unalaq takes advantage of the situation and stirrs up a "Spirit uprising", trying to turn the land into a chaotic mess with nothing but him as a religious leader at the top, gicing him full control over everyone by writing any political step off to "appeasing the spiritual world". Korra realizes that this also isn't good, defeats Unalaq qithout Jesus analogies and Spirit Mechas and now is left in a limbo of not knowing where to stand and how she can balance two currently unbalanced worlds. In addition, societ itself strts to question the power of the avatar since she now has two seasons worth of irresponsible actions and cleaning up her own consequences. *Season 3:* With current leaders being met with distrust after the avatar failed his duties so far and the leader of the water tribe trying to spirit-nuke the world, Zaheer sees his chance to do his anarchy funnsies, but straight states that he will destroy the current order only to leave the world to reform anew. He doesn't talk Anarchy up as some grand finale, but sees his role as giving the world the choice to reform by destroying all current establishments, taking the following chaos as a price and the ash necessary, for a better world to sprout. This includes killing all current political leaders and the avatar. The rest ensues adjusted, but normal. Korra goes into "hiding" as the effects of everything and her personal discord disabled the avatar state and she has to find peace with herself before she can help anyone else again, not understanding, that her peace COMES from helping the balance. *Season 4:* With the Avatar gone for a few years, Kuvira LITERALLY becomes a new Fire Lord Ozai, effectively forcing Korra into the same situation Aang was in a generation ago: Clear out her own problems and the avatar mode as fast as possible to dispose of a big bad. Difference is that Korra may have the same predicament as many avatars before her, but completely different problems. So she journeys around to fix them, finds enlightenment, learns new social and political skills with the other new, young leaders of the kingdoms and by that finally rejoins the actual journey the avatars before her went through. She then dismantles Kuvira not only in a fight but also politically ridicules her ideals and then spiritually shows, that she is the boss in the current situation, turning Kuvira on her ways. Not only did she manage to long term prevent another Zosin/Roku situation, but she also solved the same problem completely diffrent than Aang and fitting to HER personality. She dominates Kuvira Physically, socially and mentally simply by the virtue of knowing how small they both really are in their world. Finally, with all that new found balance in both worlds, no Jesus worm to ever be seen and the big bad defeated, she goes on vacation the spirit world for that sweet sweet magic kissing with her girlfriend.

[@Hyn922]

Hey I know this question is really out of the blue but could someone tell me the name of the song that starts fron 2:00?

[@tylaire9248]

Balloon ride - mists of Pandaria

[@megantvenstrup7687]

Why is Amon not a pseudo-communist? You say the reasons are obvious but I can't figure them out. I am one of those witless idiots who hears 'equality of outcome' and thinks 'communism'. If Amon isn't a pseudo-communist, what is he?

[@Lily_Orchard]

He's a charlatan. He's got a wealthy capitalist as his main ally and supporter. Communism is more than context-less equality. It's primarily a wealth gap issue, the wealthy aristocrats vs the downtrodden working class. Two of the main characters are benders who are poor to the point of near homelessness, and Future Industries is the Equalists' main benefactor. If the writers are actually trying to talk about communism, they have fucked up every single thing they could possibly fuck up in the process of doing that. Equality is something he says. What he's doing is ethnic cleansing. What he says has no bearing because he's a LIAR.

[@SybilNix]

I’m pretty sure I’ve watched Korra twice, once in high school and again toward the end of college, and all I remember is Pro Bending and “fake communism bad”

[@treysims1585]

What’s funny about the guy on the bridge scene was she could energy bend, sooo she could’ve taken away his bending.