if you had to give bolin a good personality/arc, what would it be? mako has (hardly touched) parallels as the repressed, protective older sibling. bolin, like katara, is the younger sib who wears their heart on their sleeve. but while she's a prodigy on top of being the last bender of her tribe, he has mediocre skill, and probably would get looked down upon as a mixed earthbender in neocolonial republic city. but instead he's just written in cringy ships that are esp hard to watch

this is a great question. the thing about bolin is, he’s actually a pretty talented earthbender. obviously not toph level, but you know, good enough to be a pro athlete, and to lavabend! the problem with bolin isn’t that he’s untalented per se, it’s that he’s stupid. katara may be naive, but she’s still incredibly smart, witty, and practical. no one in atla is straight up dumb tbh (even zuko has his moments). but plenty of characters in lok are dumb and serve no narrative purpose other to be annoying UHH I MEAN “”funny”” . bolin was actually fine at first. in the first couple episodes, he’s confident, outgoing, and optimistic, but he’s also grounded and has at least one brain cell. then i guess they decided they wanted bolin and mako to fight over korra but for mako to “win” korra in the end, and so they had to nerf (or perhaps lobotomize) him. which makes perfect sense, of course. it’s clear from then on that the show never really has any idea of what to do with him, which is a problem with pretty much every facet of lok.

bolin reaches his peak of character usefulness in the book 3 subplot wherein he and mako get stranded in the lower ring and run into their extended family. this is a very good mini-arc and exactly what i wish we had seen from mako and bolin throughout the entire show. i don’t care about their misguided career choices (apart from insofar as it is informed by their trauma), i care about their roles as they problematize the neoliberal fantasy lok largely uncritically glamorizes. not saying that all my favorite children’s cartoons need to be marxist propaganda (although……… im not NOT saying that), but their entire backstory conflicts w the ideologies being presented in the show, and they’re ostensibly main characters!!! so where is that tension???? why are we focalizing capitalists and nepobabies (sorry tenzin i forgot ur not actually defined by ur famous parents) when mako and bolin are supposed to be significant players?? and not just in a “oh teenage boy romantic drama” or “wacky buddy cop sideplot” way. in a “how do they reflect the themes” way.

i don’t really know what exactly i’d do with bolin if i rewrote lok right now (because i tend to forget he exists tbh), but i do know that he NEEDS to have more depth, nuance, and like… a modicum of intelligence. the class, racial, familial, and romantic aspects of his character would need to be teased out more and actually cohere. he would need to have feelings that aren’t simply played for laughs, and his role in the narrative would have to be more than simply being the show’s little jangling jester. maybe some people enjoy the “dumb comic relief” archetype (and if anyone says “but what about sokka? you like sokka” i will find where you sleep) but he literally has no depth. and what’s the point of a PRIMARY CHARACTER who serves no thematic function. his function is mainly to be proximate to mako, and of course to annoy the viewer with his wacky subplots. also i guess to introduce the avatar world to red pandas, but again, that first happens before they nerfed him, so im not even gonna count it as a positive. actually you know what? since the beginning of writing this paragraph ive given it some thought and decided that bolin should’ve been a communist revolutionary 👍🏼

Look, okay... No one is gonna like this lmao but I'm going to say it.

Just because "they paved the way," does not mean "we have to forgive everything they did wrong because that's all we have."

Everyone, I mean EVERYONE, is saying this because Lumity is canon now. btw, haven't watched it yet, it's not on Disney+ and that's what I have, and I don't mind TOH spoilers. Anyway.

And Lumity isn't *just* canon-- both characters are well developed, it's pretty healthy, it's really cute, and it's right in the middle of the series-- so we get to see it develop!

But. *but.*

"Steven Universe made this possible! LOK made this possible! She-Ra made this possible! We have to accept all these as perfect because they made representation on screen possible!"

No. We don't. And if you thought, with constructive criticism, about it, you'd know that we do not, actually, have to just roll over and accept the terrible excuses for predecessors Lumity had. Okay?

I'll start with LOK. god. where do I start. I watched ATLA and LOK back to back for the first time. I guess that was a mistake because after the series I just could not put down, LOK was like a slap in the face. Uninteresting male characters there to be the love interests for Korra to go back and forth with. Even more uninteresting female side character that I would, frankly, rather have been the star. And the main character...oh god. Korra is literally the worst, most hated character troupe I have. She's already perfect, a complete overconfident jackass, and gives no shits about anyone as long as she gets to do what she wants. Sorry. Someone had to say it. It's why I can't stand Captain Marvel either. And she's the Avatar, in fact, the worst one ever. She *loses the connection to all the past Avatars,* for crying out loud. And when she's thrown in the dirt, powerless, helpless, she does... Absolutely nothing to change. Cuts her hair, I guess. Saves the world, I guess, but she's still just *so. unlikeable.* And after this constant back and forth between the two guys [I barely remember the names, but I do like Bolin] she's... Suddenly dating Asami? I mean-- there was some hints and stuff leading up to it, so I can't really say I have a problem with the ship. In fact, the ship itself is fine. But literally everything else about the trainwreck that was LOK-- not fine.

Moving on. Steven Universe. Which I have not seen, definitely do not care to. I could barely finish the first episode. To get to the point, everyone worships this show for all the representation and how awesome it is. But... What about all the issues? The racism? The abusive relationships? The racism? "But they had the wlw wedding on screen!" Okay, that's great! As far as I can tell, the ship is fine! I mean, it's a little sus that the couple spend the entire show save five minutes fused into one person, but the ship is fine. But you can't just ignore everything else that happened, considering-- again, the racism, the abusive stuff or whatever the deal is with Lapis, the literal Nazi redemption thing ["but they had a bad day" is not an excuse, sorry]... One ship in this whole mess doesn't make the rest of the series flawless. And, apparently, the wedding wasn't the scandal everyone tries to claim. Considering there's like, four seasons, a movie, and another series after that episode.

Anyway. Finally. She-Ra. We all know how this goes. Because, obviously, this is C*tradora we're talking about. Do I have to say it? We got four well made seasons of the cat being mentally and physically abusive towards the person she claims to love, her victim finally choosing to stand up for herself and be her own person, and that person then ends up with her abuser in the last shitty season. Not to mention throwing the disabled, poc characters under the bus, or ignoring literally everything else the cat did before that moment of confession. which was gross in and of itself. "But my wlw rep!" my dudes, Glimmer was right fucking there. End of story.

The point is, you can't just hero worship these shows because "they paved the way for Lumity." It's fine to say something like, well, these couples happened, so we could have something like this now. Something good. Something that wasn't forced, that didn't involve one or both characters being boring or, worse, toxic, that didn't involve the rest of the show being awful in one way or another. TOH is an all around awesome series. It deals with all kinds of issues, without being racist, or ableist, or apologetic to any number of problematic characters.

Do you really want parents to see something like LOK, where the main character solves everything with aggression, or SU, which forgives actual Nazis for no reason, or She-Ra, which pairs a victim with her abuser-- is that what you want representation to look like? Because if I saw that, and saw that this is what the LGBT+ wants to say is good...well. hopefully you can do the math.

It's fine to acknowledge where the fight started. But don't pretend like the origins were flawless. Don't just roll over and accept whatever comes your way. Be critical. Demand better. You deserve better. You deserve healthy, developed relationships, without forgiving the problematic for no reason.

Update;; so this is like well over a year old and keeps getting notes for some reason, I still hate all the above series. That's not really the point of the post. Y'all still need to recognize that these are big issue series, that there are way better things out there to point to for representation, and that's all I was going for. We deserve better. Stop accepting shit that barely passes as showing representation at all just because it was the starting point. Or at least stop holding it on such a damn pedestal.

Ranking the Avatar seasons

this is purely for fun, and also bcuz ik a lot of this is gonna b controversial and yall know how i LOVE stirring shit up. also id love to hear yalls opinions. (worst to best)

7) Legend of Korra Book 2: Spirits

ok this one isnt controversial lmao. everyone knows this season is ass. it’s especially bad bcuz i feel like it gives this series a bad rep when really it’s just this season thats so bad. obviously i know that it’s only this terrible bcuz the series was supposed to end with season 1, and i am glad overall that the series didnt end with season 1, but this season did not help it’s case. awful things included the lore retcon, the re-introduction of the stupid love triangle that nobody wanted, erasing everyones character growth from season 1, and everything they did with bolin. there are good things tho. like what they did with kya, tenzin, and bumi. and overall, i appreciate the decision to leave the spirit portals open because that’s a really bold move and shows how korra is willing to listen to her villains and consider their point of view. and it’s a great setup for season 3

6) Legend of Korra Book 4: Balance

this one is miles ahead of season 2, but overall it’s nothing special. the ideas are good, and i was super into this season before they brought in the giant robots bcuz giant robots is never a good idea, but ya. kuvira was cool. i liked korras character arc. i think prince wu was hilarious. and the ending ended up being perfect for the show. korrassami walked so that modern lgbt characters in kids cartoons could run

5) Avatar the Last Airbender Book 1: Water

ok listen. i appreciate what this season did for the series, and all the setup and character introductions were necessary, but other than a few standout episodes like The Storm and The Blue Spirit and The Siege of the North, it’s not super enjoyable. when im binging the series with my friends or family, season 1 is always just something we have to get through to get to the real good stuff. it’s very monster-of-the-week kiddie-cartoon style, which can be great and is something that the show perfects in seasons 2 and 3, but ya. basically i like everything in this season that everyone else likes, and there are no real glaring problems, but its just not as enjoyable as the seasons higher on this list

4) Legend of Korra Book 1: Air

yes this one has lots of problems. namely the love triangle and the fact that the characters are just... not great, but i feel like its existence is justified and it’s really fun to watch and super engaging. the moment water bending was a thing, every viewer who’s taken 3rd grade biology was like “so can you bend... people?” then they do one episode about blood bending and just kind of forget about it. it was cool to get to explore blood bending in this season, especially through tarlok, who i liked a LOT. he was super cool. amon was cool too but being able to take away someones bending with blood bending is difficult to get behind. and the bender vs non-bender issue is something that in a a universe like this, kind of had to get brought up, but i just wish they had done it better. (side note: i liked the flashbacks to adult gaang). overall, fun season. also, the fights all looked incredible

3) Avatar the Last Airbender Book 2: Earth

this season is so good. the only reason it isn’t higher than season 3 is because it still feels like a lot of setup for season 3 but its still incredible. i love the aesthetic, i love everything they do with the characters. azula is a great villain. toph is such a great new character. ba sing se is an awesome setting (i love how creepy and sketch it is). Zuko Alone, Tales of Ba Sing Se, Crossroads of Destiny, etc etc are some of the best episodes in the series. issues: i didn’t really like the episodes set in the dessert, and the finale kinda seems like it comes out of no where when you’re watching.

2) Avatar the Last Airbender Book 3: Fire

ok this season is basically perfect. is what i would say if the first half of the season didn’t exist. other than just “the first half is boring”, there isn’t much criticism i can say about this season. ig energy bending was kind of an asspull? but that’s basically it. from day of the black sun onward, everything comes together so nicely and it’s so so enjoyable and fun and incredible and i love it. the characters arcs are all perfect (though zuko is really the star of the season), the story progresses in such a satisfying way, and everything just... makes sense. best television finale ever (ok tcw also has the best finale ever but thats not the point). its impossible not to love this season

1) Legend of Korra Book 3: Change

LETS GOOOOO this season is HYPE AF. SO BADASS. SO FUN. ALL THE WAY THROUGH. i love this season so much. i wudnt give a single fuck about this show is not for this season. since im ranking the seasons individually, this is at the top, though i don’t think lok is better than atla (even though i LIKE IT better. but thats a conversation for another time). it took the good things from season 2 of lok and expanded on it, while fixing all the issues it had. the love triangle is FINALLY gone, we get some great character development, we FINALLY leave republic city and do some good-old-fashioned traveling the world with the avatar, and the villains are incredible. (side note: this season shudve been the air season bcuz its where we actually get to learn about the element of air). this season also introduced lava bending into the avatar universe, which is just SO COOL. and it makes SO MUCH sense. like if water benders can shift between the solid and liquid forms of ice, than of COURSE a really powerful earth bender can do the same with rocks. again, every single battle is awesome and badass as fuck and they’re all different from one another, too. oh and zuko is awesome in this season. he’s awesome in every season, but i love what they did with him here. no, i don’t think its pandering. i just think it’s cool.

Theory on ATLA and Reincarnation

Been rewatching ATLA for the last week or so, hoping to be timed right to jump right into LOK when it comes out on Netflix. I watched all of LOK when it came out, but haven’t fully rewatched it much if at all since then, and there’s probably a lot I have forgotten. Just as a warning. I hope to refine this theory as I go along and have a fully polished headcanon for personal use by the time I’m done.

Starting from two basic premises:

1. Reincarnation is a thing in the ATLA world. That’s kind of a given.

2. Reincarnation cannot exist for only one person. If one person reincarnates, other people can, too. I find that other characters’ casual discussion of Aang’s past lives is enough indication that reincarnation is the generally accepted form of afterlife in the ATLA world. It would be a mistake to give an Asian-themed world western Christian notions of heaven and hell, and the spirit world is clearly inhospitable to most humans. I don’t remember much discussion of ghosts, but they aren’t incompatible with reincarnation anyway.

The avatar’s only an exception because a. Raava gives them access to all four elements, and b. Raava holds complete memories of all past lives and gives the avatar access to them as well, enabling both remembrance and direct communication as if their past lives are separate people. Regular people reincarnate, but do not experience anywhere near the volume and accessibility of part life memories as the avatar does. I’d say awareness of one’s past lives is, on average, nil in everyone except the avatar. 

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that a person’s level of spirituality that determines their ability to bend accumulates through multiple incarnations, and it doesn’t always apply well to a new element. Non-benders continue to incarnate as non-benders until they have enough spiritual training or experiences that bending is… let’s call it unlocked in their next life. Benders may become more naturally gifted if they reincarnate as a bender again, or they may become a non-bender if they had a traumatic experience or to go through a break or lesson, or may struggle with reincarnating as a bender of their natural opposite element, potentially making them a non-bender by default even if they technically have the right spirituality and genetics for it.

I’m also going to point out before I begin throwing past life ideas around that for most of these characters, I don’t know whether their status as living or dead is ever confirmed. I read three of the comics, basically. I’m just going by “everyone on LOK has to be a reincarnation of someone from ATLA” logic.

So here’s a few ideas on who could be reincarnations of whom:

Aang’s son Bumi is obviously the reincarnation of his friend King Bumi. I don’t think it even matters whether King Bumi lived long enough for the dates to line up; King Bumi would have waited around for Aang to start having kids. That’s why Bumi starts out as a non-bender--by genetics, Aang’s kids could only be airbenders or waterbenders. Bumi has everything lined up right to be an airbender, but cannot grasp it because King Bumi was so intensely an earthbender. That’s also why he got airbending later on in the show when--if i recall correctly--the spirit world opening up essentially forced a bunch of people around the world to be airbenders without any other requirements. Bumi already met all the requirements, everything else about him just gave airbending a big nope until it was forced upon him. He was basically first in line.

(side thought: or maybe when reincarnating all non-avatar benders have to take a lifetime off from bending in order to reset or something?)

(side note: I want to state for the record that Tenzin does not strike me as the reincarnation of Gyatso, nor does Kya strike me as the reincarnation of Katara and Sokka’s mother. It’s not just a namesake thing. Plus we all know that Gyatso reincarnated as Momo for a while, and whoever he is in LOK he’s probably having much more fun than Tenzin.)

Now let’s discuss Sokka, the only member of the main cast of ATLA who is probably dead by LOK; I’m not sure whether it’s 100% confirmed anywhere, but he’s really really not around and it’s a logical conclusion. The first thought to leap to about who he might have reincarnated as would be Bolin, as the goofy comic relief boy of the main cast of Korra, but I don’t think their personalities fit very well. (...I know that given the evidence of the Avatar’s personalities in succession incarnations, personality doesn’t have much to do with it, but it’s all I have to go on here). If the timeline fits right, I did have the much more entertaining notion of Sokka reincarnating as Prince Wu, but I’m also partial to Sokka being one of Tenzin’s younger kids… and I am not sure any of those fits his personality particularly better, either. I will probably have to think about it very thoroughly when I watch Korra. 

Honestly, it’s mostly because I had an idea I like way better for who Bolin might have been in a past life, and that’s Ty Lee. I… don’t know if she’s dead yet as of LOK, but I like this idea so much I don’t care. I mean, he’s awfully flakey for an earthbender, and he’s so into standing out and being an entertainer. I’m gonna test this theory out when I get up to LOK next week, but I want it to fit even if it doesn’t.

And I had some conflicting ideas about Mako’s possible past life, but so far I’ve concluded that the most interesting one is Jet. Certainly, if Jet reincarnated as Mako he’s been learning good, hard lessons about his past-life prejudices, something that doesn’t fit nearly so well for lots of other characters I could think up.

Anyway, that’s pretty much all I could think up without having watched LOK for quite some time, and I wanted to hurl my ideas into the void before I did something to make me gunshy like, idk, looking up whether any of these characters actually died or whatever. I could just point to the old people of ATLA for the past lives of LOK characters, but where’s the fun in that? Especially when the best old dude of ATLA is 100% not reincarnated yet and is just chilling in the spirit world being awesome?

Thoughts on LoK as of s01e03, The Revelation:

•I really dislike how much closer it is to our world than ATLA was. Despite the coal mines and the ships and the certain level of technology ATLA had, it always felt just distant enough that it obviously wasn’t in our world. It created an escape and it was magical. I don’t like that a hundred years later, they’ve got cars and microphones and televisions and whole stages (as a stage technician, I can tell you that Amon’s stage is pretty darn close to our current set-ups). I find that it takes me out of the world of avatar, and places me in a weird anachronistic industrial revolution and modern world. Republic City looks, and sounds Americanized, and I’m not here for that. There are ways to show progress without making the whole city feel like it’s suddenly in our world. And Aang, who as the avatar always talked about natural balance, and keeping it safe, just agreed to all of this unnatural city to grow? I don’t buy it.

• how are there suddenly enough highly talented fire benders to run power plants off their lightning bending skills? Because didn’t Uncle Iroh tell us that very few people are able to do this? I mean maybe now that the war is over more people are being taught how to achieve it, the way Toph taught metalbending, but to the point where this is highly common? Sure that makes sense.

•Ty Lee was incredible and unique at chi blocking. She might’ve imparted her knowledge with a bunch of people, which is cool. Why is it though that when it’s used on Mako and Korra that they’re immediately able to get back up? Is it because Ty Lee was just that much more precise that she could make her victims’ limbs simply stop working and not just take away their power??

• the opening sucks. Listen I’m sorry, but ATLA gave us an opening credit that reminded us of the stakes with every episode, and which I never want to skip, even years later. This one is just really bland.

• even after Amon’s revelation, he doesn’t feel like much of a threat tbh. I’ve seen more episodes in the past, so I know it gains in urgency at some point, but right now? There’s nothing. Even his demonstration of stealing bending away isn’t impressive.

• By the end of the first episode of ATLA, I knew who were the characters we’d be interacting with, and I knew them all by name. I feel like they’re introducing so many characters and storylines at once here that every introduction feels insignificant, and even three episodes in, I don’t care for any body.

• so far (and again, I’ve watched more episodes in the past, so I know this goes on), all the characters feel very two-dimensional. Tenzin’s three kids have so little personality it’s ridiculous, it’s like they just /are/. Jinora is older and wiser and that’s all she’s gonna be. Even Mako’s description of his parents’ death feels two-dimensional. They were killed by a firebender! You’re a firebender! One of your parents was possibly one too! You must’ve seen them try to defend themselves! I’m not saying to spill all of your backstory and heartache yet, but at least give us a moment of reaction to show us that you care.

• Bolin and Mako are you watered down copies of Sokka and Zuko, change my mind. I haven’t decided yet how I feel about that.

NOW don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of good things about LoK too, and I know that it’s always hard for me to start watching it and that it gets better but honestly? It’s rough to go from the masterpiece that was ATL A to this impersonation of it.

Opal?

Sexuality Headcanon: bi! Gender Headcanon: she’s trans babey A ship I have with said character: uhh i don’t really know. opal and bolin?? A BROTP I have with said character: hmm so far opal and korra A NOTP I have with said character: ?? i mean obviously none of the gross age gap ships but i don’t really know any ships with opal that come to mind, like in general lol A random headcanon: you know what i’m gonna say it opal seems like the kind of trans girl who tries to experiment with makeup but only feels comfortable revealing her attempts to her friends. she shows what she’s tried out to bolin a couple of times and he’s too sweet to do anything but validate the hell out of it even if there are a few subpar first attempts General Opinion over said character: love her so far!! and from what i can remember when i watched lok as a kid

send me an atla or lok character and i’ll tell you these things!

okay tbh i never watched lok all the way through (i skipped all of season 2), and i only watched it once, so i forgot about most of the smaller details and also i feel like my opinions may be less founded but who cares lol

the humor SUCKED OMFG, every attempt at being funny usually failed spectacularly. i missed sokka like you wouldn’t fucking believe. i struggled with the urge to strangle every character written to be “funny” including bolin (stop trying to make sokka 2.0! it’s not gonna happen!!!). tbh this is what stops me from rewatching, i don’t think i could sit through all the terrible, terrible jokes again

they really did the Gaang dirty and it was Unnecessary. katara is some sort of grandma figure who doesn’t do shit besides help korra with rehab? she never fucking shows up??? i know it’s a different show, but if she’s alive you’re telling me she isn’t poking her nose into every international conflict korra’s dealing with? katara is NOSY that’s her PERSONALITY. tbh would’ve preferred if she were dead bc it would explain her absence better. aang was a bad father?? are you kidding me? he would’ve loved every single one of his fucking kids, i’m so annoyed with making beloved characters do shitty things to make them more “edgy” after the fact like. it’s out of character and lazy writing.

also you’re telling me the Gaang doesn’t ever hang out, even the living members... zuko and katara don’t visit each other? they never tried to find toph? oh yeah bc friendships just wither with time -- uhhhhh the whole fucking point of the first series was how aang was supported by his friends and created a new family after his old one was massacred, and you’re telling me oh no it’s just casual. we’re just political acquaintances fuck OFF

WHERE DID SOKKA GO? UNAPPRECIATED

why the FUCK is toph a cop. acab obviously but also she’s just so incredibly anti-establishment, why would she EVER want to enforce laws? ever? the hermit thing was kind of dope sometimes i guess, but it’s so cold that she never dropped by to say hi to her fucking grandkids... like “oh but she could see them through the tree” that’s not a relationship dummy!! it’s a two-fucking-way street!!! why is everyone a bad parent WTF

so many of the side characters were just written poorly. i went back and forth on hating and liking bolin. why does he always have to have a girlfriend. opal was suki 2.0 in a lot of ways, although maybe she was just slightly more interesting. pema was so BORING LOL, literally worst couple ever like it puts me to sleep. jinora was slightly op imo, and her romance with kai -- they are literally children like stop. wish lin and korra grew even closer than they ended up, they had so much in common and it would’ve been cute to see

where the fuck are korra’s parents at any point in time lol that made zero sense... like i get she’s an adult but dude. i forgot she wasn’t a goddamn orphan 90% of the time

mako was botched. they made a perfectly good character and fucked him up. i was super down with bolin and mako’s background, and how they could talk about maybe inter-element marriage discrimination (is that a thing? probably would’ve been a thing), could’ve talked about poverty and the wealth inequality in the city and how aang and sokka failed to remedy that, but no that never really came up huh. mako’s just arm candy and can make lightning, wooow. he didn’t need to be like zuko, but they tried too hard to do so and it fucked up his whole arc. and he became a COP LOL

this is such an unpopular opinion but i felt like asami for some reason was too perfect? like she had the plotline with her dad, with being the Other Woman and romantic rivals with korra, and her fighting style was super cool -- but i wish she was more flawed? like she’s not vain, she’s never selfish, never emotional, never short-tempered, never anything but perfect and pretty and clutch when she needs to be. versus korra was such a wonderfully developed and difficult character, hot-headed, competitive, stubborn, brash, uber-talented but often overconfident, a fighter not a politician... like their relationship would’ve been so much more compelling if i understood who the fuck asami was even supposed to be. like they could’ve made her secretive and closed-off with her emotions, which could’ve worked, but they didn’t. she’s just Great All The Time. idk i just feel nothing for her character and it’s bc of the bad writing.

like all the other characters were based off characters from atla. bolin is sokka, mako is zuko, korra has some resemblance to toph, all of tenzin’s kids are like aang -- but then they created asami as a truly original character (maybe based off june? who was super 2d bc she was such a minor character) and bc they had no prior character development or model to look to, they just went Mary Sue. and i know that term is controversial but it’s literally that. they wrote a flat female love interest who does literally nothing wrong ever and is a good fighter or whatever so we have SOME reason to like her. it’s so annoying, again bc she’s one of the main fucking characters, she has such interesting conflicts, she’s got a great character design and a great arc -- she’s just written so boring, i didn’t form any understanding of her. or maybe there wasn’t anything there to understand.

also their romance was SOOO under wraps bc nickelodeon is homophobic so i can’t really complain but like. i had to fight to convince miles that they were in a relationship and that shouldn’t happen, it should be obvious... like the hand-holding? come on

season 2 villain and choice of severing korra’s connection to all prior avatars was super questionable imo. i really hated that decision. i liked learning about the origin of the avatar, but it felt super rushed. that romance between bolin and that one princess was ridiculous. those twins were trying too hard to be mai. again w recycling characters from atla...

wish the conflicts and major villains of each season were more related to each other. maybe i’m misremembering the show, but the seasons felt so discrete and i missed the culmination that was present in atla. like atla really built up to the series finale; korra just kinda got stronger and more mature, which was done well, but it wasn’t extremely interesting plotwise. like, i know korra’s actions in season 2 gave zaheer airbending, and then korra’s mercury poisoning in season 3 left kuvira an opening in season 4, etc. but come on. it just feels like korra’s accidentally tripping these wires that present yet another new villain in a never-ending series of villains wanting to Do Bad Stuff...

you know what would’ve been cooler? if all the villains were present at the same time, and actively fighting each other as WELL as korra. it would’ve been a lot more chaotic, but i think it would’ve made more fucking sense than just like “Who’s Next?”

red lotus didn’t get enough screen time. writers fucked up by making those guys infinitely cooler than the other villains, and then immediately killing them off (kuvira is hot, but she’s not very interesting). they didn’t need to kill those guys like that. ming hua killed by mako? MAKO? please. garan (or whatever his name was) outsmarted by bolin? are we being real?? suyin killing p’li made sense bc suyin is a fucking badass but the other two deaths made ZERO sense.

uhhhh the pro-bending stuff was kinda boring? i felt like the rules and design of the sport were so uncreative, and being forced to watch korra just splash people for several episodes was torture. also wish there were more talking about bending techniques, especially since the styles seemed to have changed so wildly compared to atla. earthbending changed A LOT; suddenly everyone’s so light on their feet and kicking shit like firebenders, when it used to be about digging your heels in the dirt and standing your ground.

lok had better fighting animation, more realistic portrayal of politics, and wasn’t scared of violence unlike atla -- but in terms of basically everything else, atla was better imo

My rewrite of LoK: Book 1(Episodes 1 & 2)

@awesomechocolatesauce

So, I’m just gonna say, I like Legend of Korra. It wasn’t as grand as Last Airbender, and that’s fine! They’re two different ways to go about the universe, and that’s okay. The being said, there are a lot of things in LoK that don’t quite hit the mark as TLA did. So, for that, I’m going to go through what I would do differently for the series, Book by Book.Let’s start with Book 1!

Now, there’s actually not a whole lot I’d change about Book 1, as it’s actually my favorite of the series. I liked Republic City, I liked the story, and thought it was a good intro for “Korra.” However, there are some things I would change.

Episode 1: First, I would keep everything relatively the same in the beginning. We meet Korra, she knows 3/4 of the elements, we meet Tenzin, he tries to guide her towards spiritual enlightenment to help her master Air, she wants to go to Republic City but can’t, sneaks on board a ship, arrives, fights some thugs, meets Lin Bei-Fong, Korra’s able to stay in RC, has the press conference, and we meet Amon, finishing the episode. 

However, there is one underlying story for Korra, and that’s how she can hope to be as great, if not better, than Aang. After all, this 112 year-old boy did end a war that lasted 100 years, brought the 4 Nations together, and led everyone to a brighter future. Korra’s a capable fighter, sure, but her inability to master Air, or the spiritual side of Bending, greatly hinders her. 

Episode 2: Korra reads about the Pro-Bending matches in the paper, and desires to go and see one herself. Tenzin, of course, disagrees, telling her it’s a mockery of Bending, all flash no substance. Later, Korra fails at both meditation and the spinning fan training, argues with Tenzin once again about wanting to see a Pro-Bending match, sneaks into the Pro-Bending arena, and then meets Bolin! Now, here’s where we start to change a few things.

1. Bolin: Oh Bolin, poor, poor Bolin. I feel for him, I really do. He’s a character that just SCREAMS comic-relief. Which isn’t bad, mind you, but... I felt like he could’ve been more. The great thing about Sokka was that, even though he was comic-relief, he wasn’t the relief 100% of the time. He was smart, he was obnoxious, he was a brilliant strategist, he was a capable fighter without any bending powers, he was so many things! Bolin... I can’t think of anything about him other than he’s funny, and Mako’s brother. Which is why I would change his arc. He can still be comic-relief, sure, but make him have a purpose other than that. That’s why, in this version, Pro-Bending isn’t 3-on-3. Instead, it’s a classic 1-on-1, similar to boxing or MMA, or even the wrestling-style fight they had in “The Blind Bandit” in A:TLA. Bolin is a young up-and-comer, an underdog. He has his fans, but nowhere near enough to become a household name. 

After witnessing her first live Pro-Bending match, and Bolin’s scraped-by victory, Korra offers to train Bolin in exchange for learning a few tricks of her own, and shows him some Fire-Bending moves he could probably use to better fit the agile side of Pro-Bending, sort of like how Iroh taught Zuko lightning. 

The next day, after failing to pass through the spinning fan training Tenzin gives her a second time, and burning it down, Korra and he argue. Tenzin angrily asks what’s wrong with her, and Korra responds by saying there’s nothing wrong with her. She tries and tries to understand Air-Bending, but it doesn’t sink in, and maybe the reason is because he’s a terrible teacher.

Tenzin gets furious and says no matter how many times he tries to be patient, it’s clear the only thing she responds to is force, so he forces her to stay on Air Temple Island until her training is complete. Korra vehemently refuses, and says maybe she doesn’t need Air-Bending! Tenzin says, “That’s ludicrous, if all you care about is fighting, than you’re nothing more than a child throwing a temper-tantrum. Actually, wait, Aang was a child, but even he was doing better than you!” This causes Korra to leave, ignoring Tenzin’s call back.

At the Pro-Bending arena, she meets up with Bolin, preparing for a match. They do a little training to get ready, and we even get a little character development on Bolin wanting to be equal to his brother. “When people talk about me, it’s mostly as “Mako’s brother,” which honestly, kinda hurts. I love Mako, don’t get me wrong! But just being “Mako’s brother” isn’t good enough. That’s why I went to Pro-Bending, to win the tournament and make a name for myself, and show Republic City I’m something more... and a little training from Avatar Korra doesn’t hurt.” 

Bolin’s match is exciting, but nerve-racking. His opponent is tough, being a fellow Earth-Bender, but also rather vicious with his moves. Bolin tries his best to dodge and attack, but ends up losing Round 1, and doesn’t last long in Round 2. It’s in Round 3, where his opponent deliberately sends an Earth disk to his right arm, possibly breaking it. Bolin’s obviously in pain, and the Water-healers try their best, but it doesn’t look like he’s capable of continuing. This, at first, shatters Bolin, and he begs them to keep him in, saying he has to do this, even if it’s with one arm. When asked if he’s sure to compete, Bolin slowly makes his way up to his feet, broken arm and all, and says yes.

The final round is a nail-biter, but something seems different. The fans in the arena are cheering... for Bolin! With this new-found confidence, Bolin musters up a unique brand of offence, thanks to Korra, blending Earth and Fire-Bending moves that actually give him the win, and a spot in the Tournament! The fans go crazy!

Korra is elated, and goes down to the arena to celebrate. Bolin takes this time to thank everybody who cheered for him, but most of all, he wants to thank Korra, the Avatar, for her patience and training. The crowd cheers for both of them.

When they get back to the locker room, Korra starts healing Bolin’s arm, thanking Master Katara. Bolin than takes the time to properly thank Korra for showing him the Fire-Bending techniques, saying they really came in handy in the last round. Korra’s grateful, saying he did great out there, but Bolin still feels like he can’t live up to Mako. “Ever since we lost our parents, Mako’s been the one trying to find justice, to find the Fire-Bender that killed them and put him in prison. I admire that part of my brother, but the more I hear and read about Mako cracking down cases, putting away bad guys, and seeing him in the spotlight, I can’t help but feel left behind. I mean, I’m a Pro-Bending rookie. I know I can’t make it as a detective, but I believe I can at least bring a smile to the people of Republic City.” Korra tells him, “You shouldn’t compare your success to Mako’s. You has to make your own, and you can do that by winning the Championship Tournament, and no matter what, your parents would’ve been proud of you.” They have a bonding moment, and Korra leaves.

Later that night, Korra returns to Air Temple Island, where the spinning fans are being rebuilt. Tenzin is there, and Korra takes this time to apologize. She realizes she was impatient, and frustrated at herself, and took it out on him. Tenzin also apologizes, in trying to teach her patience, he lost his. No hard feelings between them, and if she’d like, they can go and see a Pro-Bending match together soon, maybe see her new student? Korra asks what he means, and Tenzin tells her he heard Bolin’s speech on the radio.

Finally, the spinning fans are complete, and Korra offers to give it one more shot. 

She succeeds, ending Episode 2.

(It might not be much, but I hope it’s, at least, interesting. I was going to add episode 3 on here, but that part ended up being pretty long XD So that’s for another time)

ffxv/atla/korra stuff?

just gonna ramble my thoughts and opinions of an atla au in which the ffxv chocobros exist because showers always get me thinking. fair warning, there is no organized timeline so i’ll be jumping willy nilly between atla and lok events, so pardon the spectacularly inconsistent verb tenses. this will be a messy stream of consciousness post. Spoilers all around.

noct: i feel like the prince would mostly likely be a water bender. he’s just got this cool, icy vibe going about him. small things - i find his ice spells to be visually pleasing because i feel like ice compliments his black and pale aesthetic best of the other elements. his eyes are a good chilly icy blue. and he likes to fish. Ray Chase even said that everything that noct says has weight to it because being cool is so important to him. larger things - his character development is exceptional. he undergoes so much change. as a water bender, he might struggle to get a handle on the techniques initially because of his overall inert attitude toward life. then chapter 13 happens and he becomes quite the changed man. he is able to go about his days by feel, ready to adapt as soon as he needs to. Sounds changey watery to me. once he gets into the water bending groove, his go-to weapon would be ice shards. water bending is often argued to be the most powerful form of bending, being able to conduct electricity, manipulate the water content in bodies, chi/qi meddling, healing, all that jazz. it would be fitting for a king like himself. i also like to imagine him having uninterested, unimportant arguments with the korra, who would fiercely sass him back. korra would kick his butt of course, but no one can stay mad at noct forever. he’s literally sacrificing himself. at least the avatar doesn’t need to die to save the world. i also like to imagine sokka, aang, and prompto being real bros and roping noct into semi-ironically partaking their shenanigans and terrible jokes, iggy, gladio, and katara shaking their heads somewhere in the background. in another scene, the other 3 chocobros are probably bowing at katara’s feet for her generously mentoring noct with how to manage his ice spells so that the other guys don’t have to suffer under his AOE icy hell. if only he could have learn these techniques before Leviathan happened... also Shiva is just nonchalantly JAZZED in the spirit world that her wee prince is learning ice so well. His doggo companion, Umbra, would probably be part spirit, gifted with some nifty communication abilities. He’ll never lose touch with Luna with Umbra around. Umbra is definitely cuddle buddies with Naga. (noct is kinda amused by the irony in the name of korra’s bear-dog.)

prompto: first instinct is to say he’d be an air bender because of the happy-go-lucky/carefree vibe he exudes. but then i remember Bolin, to whom he is similar in personality. as much as i love picturing prom air scootering around town, i also have a hard time picturing him being a particularly spiritually invested individual. and then i also remember prom’s MT history and his old esteem issues. prom is someone who can’t live without constantly being reminded of his roots. heavily influential roots make me lean toward him being an earth bender, his specialty being metal bending. it would make so much sense - the bros tease him about being a technophile. he is MT. I imagine him really digging Zaofu. Toph would teach him as mercilessly as the rest of her pupils, but his quirky personality would eventually win her over, queuing her signature affectionate punch. with time, he even picks up sand bending pretty decently. the Beifongs would end up being quite protective over this ray of sunshine despite his clear ability to take care of himself (esp after the 10 year jump.) wouldn’t be surprised if zuko took prom on a life-changing field trip that confronts his past. #the real episode prompto. that’s rough buddy. bolin and prom would get pretty competitive with earth bending sports. he and bolin gossip about how they secretly have a crush on gladio’s muscles. prompto also confesses his love for asami to bolin. she’s techy and gorgeous, it just isn’t fair. bolin empathizes with him, talking about his old crush on korra. prompto would essentially become another brother to mako and bolin. Asami is still fond of prompto and appreciates the help he offers in the garage. Iroh is probably commending prompto’s appreciation of nature and friendship, as displayed so wonderfully in his pictures. at the end of the day, prompto finds that his camera’s memory is completely full of real flattering pics of aang’s face and motion blurred sokka who complains of not being ready for taking a perfect picture. toph is just glad she can’t see the pictures. meelo borrows some of the pictures prompto takes for references for his complex paintings. varrick hires prompto as his personal photographer and the two fall in love with each others’ spunk. they talk about prompto’s cindy situation. prompto is given some terrible ideas for this but he tries them anyway. when iggy is freshly blind, prompto does everything he can to give iggy pointers to help him feel his way around the earth. of course, his animal companion is a chocobo. when noct is gone, he makes sure to take a charcoal colored chocobo chick under his care and names it after his late friend.

ignis: again, first instinct is to classify the guy as a water bender, like katara, both being the moms of their squads. it’d also make sense, being the healer of the group. regardless, iggy’s a bit tough for me, because he also reminds me of tenzin - being the protagonist’s advisor and being accidentally funny. but he also demonstrates the aristocratic discipline of a polished fire bender, a much different kind of discipline from katara’s or tenzin’s. my final answer is that iggy would be a fire bender. he’s wise like iroh and disciplined like jeong jeong. the fire benders seem to take on advisory rolls in the avatar series in terms of main characters anyway. Iroh to Zuko. Zuko to Aang. Mako to Bolin. i like to imagine ignis using fire bending to his advantage as a cook. his ebony never runs cold. i also like to imagine when ignis becomes blind, instead of using his usual fire bending in melee, he figures out how to manipulate the electric impulses in human body. he could effectively exhaust someone or something just by tetanizing their muscles. he and katara might even be able to discover some medically revolutionary treatments through his abilities with the nerves, pacemaker cells, and the brain. also the synergy between noct and iggy when fighting would be so good. iggy would probably grab some lightning from the atmosphere and direct it to noct, who redirects the lightning with his water bending, quickly incapacitating MTs. if noct is unavailable then prompto’s on it, sending a charged metal whip right to the hearts of the MTs. iggy will sometimes put a motherly flame under noct’s ass to get him out of bed in the morning. Iroh is probably very fond of iggy, who appreciates his tea and is a great conversationalist when it comes to philosophy. iggy is always more than happy to cook for Iroh and to play pai sho on his spare time. iroh basically adopts the man. When iggy is blind, he and zuko like to tease each other about the fact that they both have scars on their left eyes. iggy proves to be a great listener for zuko just as he is for noct. zuko basically adopts iggy as his substitute uncle when iroh passes. now iggy is busy motherinig TWO angsty figureheads. at least zuko eats his vegetables. gladio is always grateful when iggy’s around so he doesn’t have to spend a lot of time making a fire. toph probably thinks iggy is just the most amusing, darnedest, and sometimes infuriating beast, and iggy learns a lot from toph when he’s blind. it doesn’t take an earth bender to tap into the frequencies of the world, and he eventually learns to see like toph. team avatar lowkey ships the two together, but the chocobros know that iggy probably couldn’t handle a girl like toph. when iggy visits zaofu, he cooks for suyin, who is blown away by the blind man’s tastes. bolin requests seconds and thirds of his meals, going up to fifths, rivaling gladio’s appetite. every once in a while, iggy feels intrigued by varrick and helps zhu li out with her endless duties. Ignis would probably have a BIG black leopard-opossum hybrid companion. a beast with heightened sight and smell to guide him when his own eyes fail. also a good friend for finding quality ingredients.

gladio: gladio’s a straight forward kind of guy. he knows what his path is. his mind is unwavering, being the king’s shield. he is a guy who’s very in tune with nature. I bet he’s a natural earth bender. gladio can also have a firey temper when provoked. over time he might learn to lava bend. as the chocobro’s survivalist, his earth bending comes in handy when they boys are just too tired to set up a tent or to build a proper fire pit. if he’s lucky, he doesn’t even have to try very hard to catch small prey like rabbits if they’re unfortunately close by. he makes very easy friends with the creatures from the spirit world. they show him all sorts plants to live off and places to camp out. of all the bros, toph tolerates him the best. this is mostly because he can put up an equal fight and isn’t as excitable as the others. the bros are awestruck once again by how gladio can seem to get on every woman’s good side. toph and gladio enjoy sparring - toph is very sensitive to his movements and quick to react. gladio has excellent instincts as well and is obviously powerful. he might not be quite as accurate as toph but he’s got just a smidge more brute force than her, somehow. sokka is unsubtley jealous of gladio’s masculinity and secretly leaves to do some pull ups on a tree or something. how dare gladio just walk around with his 6-pack out and about. gladio and aang become great buddies. aang and gladio relentlessly pull pranks on each other and the bros. aang helps gladio learn the wiley ways of the spirit world too. korra sees gladio as a big brother. when she needs someone to talk to, gladio’s there to listen. if she needs to let off some bad energy by throwing rocks n’ stuff, he’s always happy to give the avatar a good, earthy fight. this guy can take a punch. prompto is hiding and secretly taking pics of the intense fights. both fighters are pleased with how badass they look. he and bolin train together sometimes, though usually the sessions end up devolving into a volley of cheap and dirty tactics and taunting. spending time with bolin is still one of his favorite pastimes. gladio becomes fond of mako as well. they relate to each other, having very similar occupations. gladio even offers to fill in for mako when something more urgent than his police work requires his presence. lin approves of gladio. every once in a while prompto requests gladio’s assistance in helping him escape the slightly overwhelming varrick during enormous parties, but gladio decides to stick around and have a few drinks with the elegantly dressed ladies. gladio would probably have a raven for an animal companion (partially to match his tats.) The raven would be a great helper when scavenging and just a nice intelligent friend to hang out with. His raven probably plays pranks on all the other bro’s animals.

i agree with that voltron statement like volton the characters grow alot while in kora they grow but not well and what i mean is in voltron it shows them slowly learning and being better paladins, while in kora it was ya shes trying but failing to learn air except for at the end when she suddenly becomes a master of it right after achieving bending because it was a dire situation, also it starts out here she is as kid a master of everything while ang never started as a master he had to learn

I can see what you’re trying to say (I apologize, but the grammar here isn’t the best, and I had some trouble making it out, and I understand if it’s because English isn’t your first language), and yeah, that is one of the many, many problems I have with The Legend of Korra, at least when comparing it to what we currently have with Voltron. I know I’m probably going to rephrase or reiterate a lot of stuff that’s been said before, including what’s been said by this guy I occasionally check up on at DeviantART here and here (they’re actually good summaries of what I think of LoK), but I still think they contain some bit of truth as to why I think Voltron is a better successor to Avatar than LoK was. 

In fact, I think I can separate the reasons as to why Voltron works where LoK didn’t into four main categories (yes, there’s several reasons, but I feel like these are the main four which are the most important to me): 1. The Main Character (or Main Characters, in Voltron’s case), 2. The Villains/Antagonists, 3. The Characters and Their Relationships, and 4. The Story Itself

Firstly, as you said, I get what they were going for with Korra when they made her a bending prodigy who needed to learn that was more to being Avatar than just being the chosen one, rather than learning how to control all four elements but it just isn’t pulled off very well, at least to me, anyway. I get that she’s supposed to be a flawed character, but her development felt rushed and sloppily handled most of the time to me, some of her arcs either go on for too long or just end up going nowhere and being abandoned (Dark Avatar Korra, anyone?), she becomes more than a bit too grating and arrogant at times, and she kind of keeps learning the same lessons over and over again. Not to mention, it feels like we spend less and less time on her own personal character with each passing season, and instead focus more on either what new, big central threat we get (which takes away the personal time we get with the characters, which was made Avatar so great) or which character Korra is gonna end up banging in the end (I’ll get to that part later, and why it felt detrimental to the show, including the end result). 

With the Paladins, we have to see them grow and develop as a team, and learn the clear goal of mastering how to control Voltron during the series, much like how Aang learned how to control the four elements throughout Avatar. And each of them have their own straightforward goals and characters, which do develop as the show goes, and will hopefully continue to develop as the show goes on.

Secondly, although it’s pretty early in Voltron’s case, so we still have to wait until other villains and characters appear, the villains in Voltron so far feel a bit better than we mostly got in The Legend of Korra. The villains in LoK try to present a more grey morality approach with the ongoing archetype of ��person with good intentions that went too far”, but they get weaker and more predictable after Amon, and they fail at grey morality by having the villains end up acting so obviously evil near the end to the point of it being ridiculous. Some people may think that revealing that he was a bloodbender may have spoiled Amon, but at least he was intimidating, charismatic, and the fact that we didn’t see his face most of the time added to his intimidation level. Same could be said with Ozai, because even though he was mostly power-hungry and selfish, he was still intimidating enough to leave an impact, and Azula was charismatic and manipulative to make up for that as well. With antagonists like Unalaq, he was just a bad Ozai wannabe who claimed that he wanted to bring balance between the spirits, yet he was going to merge with what was the Avatar equivalent of the freakin’ devil, and that he would become the “Dark Avatar”, so any grey morality is thrown out the window. Vaatu kind of gets a pass since he’s basically evil incarnate, so I’d expect just that. Zaheer may have been better, but I still think there was room for improvement, and I would’ve liked more personal time with him and his companions, so that we could better understand him and his motives. Finally, with Kuvira, it seems that they were running low on ideas for villains, so they used a minor character from season 3 and turned her into a villain without showing us how she came to that point or why she wanted to conquer the world other than power and “order”, but even then the latter may have just been a lie she told in order to gain support. And like many have said before, she feels like combination of Ozai and Azula, the way she ended up basically being rule 63, metalbender Hitler is just silly (the concentration camps for non-native Benders didn’t mesh well with was established about her earlier, I feel that she borders on being a boring, invincible, villain sue, and, in my personal opinion, she’s kind of a poor choice to have as your final villain when comparing what we previously had. In fact, I think that Vaatu should’ve been the final villain, due to him being end-all, be-all evil of their universe. 

With Voltron, we have more of a straightforward set of bad guys with Emperor Zarkon and the Galra Empire, but like Ozai and the Fire Nation, they work because we have a clear singular enemy which the heroes will face throughout the series. And like the Fire Nation, since we have a single main threat to deal with over the course of an entire series (instead of having to deal with one new main threat per season, squeezed in over the course of 12 to 13 episodes), it allows for a bit more time for personal character interaction and development, which actually is rather good place to segue into my next point.

The third thing I would like talk about is the characters and their relationships. Avatar is very well-known for it’s excellent character development, and the relationships built between the characters, both platonic and romantic. LoK, to me at least, felt rather lacking in that department. While they started off well in that department (and, to it’s credit, they did carry on with it for some characters, since I liked most of Tenzin’s interactions with his family), a lot the character subplots and interactions kind of felt rushed at times (you can see that there’s theme with things being rushed), and some characters were even pushed aside or forgotten about. For example, while I don’t he’s as bad as people say, and that could’ve been more well-received if his character was written better, Mako sort of almost became a non-entity by the end of the series, and while I didn’t mind it at first, I look back and think that it would’ve been better if they just went and redeemed his character by writing him better, and not just shoving him to the side (in fact, I heard they were originally going to kill him off in Book 4, but they figured that would to some unfortunate implications for Korrasami, and I don’t know about some people, but even I think that’s just plain bad writing, no matter how poorly handled Mako was). And poor Bolin, even after getting some spotlight in Books 3 and 4, I think he’s been forgotten about for the most part. And that’s not getting into the side characters, which I think there eventually became too many of, and there were just not enough episodes per season to flesh them out, so they just ended up disappearing aside from the occasional cameo, or showing up for the final season (General Iroh II, Hobo Man, Mr. Sato, Eska & Desna, Spirit Iroh, Kya, Ginger, Zaheer, Kai, etc.). Finally, I believe many of us can agree that one of the most annoying parts of LoK was that stupid love triangle/square/dodecahedron/whatever, which plagued the series until the vey end (and possibly even after that, depending on who you ask), and also reduced all the characters involved into merely being love interests for one another, by both the staff and the fandom. 

Speaking of reducing characters and their personalities into being nothing but being an item by the staff and the fandom (and I hope you don’t think I’m going off on a tangent a little), another thing which I felt was detrimental to the rest of the characters was making Korrasami canon. Now, I have nothing against the rational people who ship Korrasami, but I personally feel it’s done harm than good for the show. Ever since it became canon, the Korrasami fandom became a haven of obnoxiousness and toxic-ness, only surpassed by the Steven Universe fandom and, ironically, extremist Voltron yaoi shippers. As seen here and here, not only did the Korrasami fandom harass and cyberbully people who didn’t like or ship Korrasami (with two internet memes, “Feudal Lord and Handmaiden” and “Poppin’ Bottles”, being the direct result of harassing people), but the show to the fandom (and, to some extent, the show’s staff and creators) became less and less about the adventures of the new Team Avatar and the ongoing fight between good and evil, and more about constantly yammering on about a single same-sex pairing and how “look how gay Korra and Asami are!!” (seriously, tell me the last piece of fan content you remember which doesn’t bring up Korrasmi or imply it), obnoxiously bragging about said pairing to every single person, and eventually forgetting and shoving aside almost everything about the show that’s not Korrasami. And if you didn’t like it, the fandom would just say that you’re homophobe/”lesbophobe” (never mind that that’s erasing bisexuality) for not shipping it or not liking the way things turned out, and even one of the staff (I believe it was Bryan) more or less said that if you didn’t think their relationship was really that developed, you were just a homophobe and “looking through a ‘hetero-lens’”. All the show seems to be now is just a singular pairing, with so many characters stories tossed aside in the name of leaving some sort of legacy behind and being “progressive”, and to me, it just all ends up feeling hollow. Also, on a unrelated note, I think short hair doesn’t suit Korra at all.

Going back at last to Voltron, the cast of characters is (as of this writing) much smaller, allowing for more focus on individual characters and their relationships in a way similar to that of the original Avatar, and with the more straightforward plotline (that’s another theme going on with Voltron being more “straightforward”), they can spend as much time developing the characters as they can focus on the main threat. Also, as far as canon goes (and in spite of the previously mentioned extremist shippers and the Social Justice Warriors), there’s hardly any romance in the show, aside from the occasional ship tease and any moment of Lance flirting. And, in all honesty, I’m kind of with @celticpyro that there probably shouldn’t any too major canon pairings, because not only do I think that Voltron just isn’t the type of show to do anything too romantic (don’t get me wrong, shipping can be fun, and I do have a few Voltron pairings myself, but I don’t think Voltron’s the type of show for anything too major, unless it’s done well), I also think that, again, while shipping can be fun, it can also easily corrupt a fandom, and making certain ships canon can unleash a whole new can of worms. Basically, I want Voltron’s legacy to be based around a great show about a battle between the forces of good and evil, and not solely based on a same-sex pairing made solely to please the fans.

But the biggest and most important area which I consider Voltron to have done better is this: the story itself and how it was planned out. You see, while Voltron is clearly being planned out ahead with certain twists and an ending in mind, LoK was basically written by the seat of Bryke and company’s collective pants, mostly because they originally planned and wanted it to be a mini-series, but Nickelodeon ordered at the last minute for it to be a full series. And honestly, I think it would’ve been better as a mini-series. But as is, it’s more than a little apparent that a lot of behind the scenes difficulties went on (hell, they had to create clipshow just to save on the budget near the end). I can handle having a storyline that’s not overarching across the seasons, but with the amount of stuff that was going on in each season, I think that most of the series would’ve benefitted from at least having more episodes per season (18 to 20 at the most), that way they could spend more time on the rest of the characters’ story arcs, as well as the main threat. Also, they seemed to have sort of a case of “tell, don’t show” with stuff like the time skips explaining things at the beginning of each new season.

With Voltron, even though the storyline is more straightforward and overarching, it works in a similar way the original Avatar’s overarching story did; they had an end goal in mind, but the journey to that end was filled with twists and turns, and the characters felt fully developed for the most part by the end. I just didn’t get that feeling of being satisfied that I did with Avatar as I did with Korra.

And I know that there are those saying I’m being unfair, and that I should judge LoK on it’s own merits and not compare or contrast it with AtLA so much. My response to that is that I hold LoK, AtLA, and Voltron: LD on the same level of standards I set for nearly every piece of media I partake in, no matter what it is, and comparisons to both AtLA and Voltron: LD are most likely going to happen, since LoK is literally a sequel to the former (and keeps reminding us about that with nearly every other episode), and the latter at least has a couple of people who’ve worked on both AtLA and LoK. To put it more clearly, I judge LoK both on it’s own merits as well as on it’s merits as being a sequel to Avatar, and the merits of both, I think it’s a show that ranges from above average at best to slightly irritating at worst, and while I sadly think it got screwed over by the powers that be, I also felt it was too overhyped, especially the ending, and I just don’t see myself coming to it as much as I do with Avatar and probably will with Voltron. 

And I am aware that there may be some people out there who may rudely tell me that I’m apparently an unwashed idiot who “doesn’t get” LoK and what it tried to do, and tell that I’m a moron if I don’t agree with them and think it’s some sort of revolutionary series which “broke boundaries”. And to those people (and no, in case anyone is wondering for this case or the previous case, I’m not vague-posting about anyone), I say, congratulations, you’ve missed the point of a little something called “subjectivity”, and you automatically assume that I’m one of those people who mindlessly bash the show, when I’m just saying that it’s not my own personal cup of tea, and that I don’t think it’s as great as other people think it is.

Now, that is to say that didn’t want The Legend of Korra to be a complete clone of Avatar, and that I get what they going for in many instances, but I just personally don’t think they pulled it off that well, and calling me stupid or insinuating that I am stupid and saying that I “can’t see it” isn’t going to change my mind.

TL;DR: I personally don’t really think The Legend of Korra is that great of a series either on it’s own merits or on the merits of it being a sequel to Avatar, as well feel that it was overhyped, and I much more enjoy Voltron: Legendary Defender to LoK, as well as feel that Voltron better captures some of the spirit of Avatar. That’s just my personal opinion, and you disagree with me on some or even most of it, but just don’t tell me or insinuate that I’m idiot who doesn’t “get it” because I dislike something you like.

I really didn’t mean for this to become an essay. I apologize for that.