>Season Two will deal with ideas of religious fundementalism and cultural posturing
It will half-heartedly attempt to do so in an extremely facile and jejune way and end up discarding those themes entirely to focus on some character trivialities that end up being incredibly pointless and unenjoyable for anyone but the producers themselves.

>>113686
>waaah
>waaah

>>113687
No one on this writing team does depth. Not Hedrick or Hamilton. We already know what Bryke is capable of writing. So I ask you, why set yourself up for disappointment by pretending they're going to get it right this time? This series does not do big themes. It does a paper-flat parody of them; it always did. It always took the easy path to avoiding dealing with anything even when it was Avatar.

(USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)

>>113688
Keep whining.

>>113686
Stop watching. And more importantly, stop posting.

>>113685
>>Season Two, from what we've been gleaned so far, seems to be of a similiar theme going on in the background, beyond even the invasion of spirits/Korra's journey to the Spirit World. That is to say, the appearance and intervention of Korra's uncle, who wants to instill North Water Tribe religion and values into the people of the South.

I wouldn't go that far. In fact, I'd say that S1 and S2 seem to shaping up to have almost completely opposite themes. Lemme explain...

S1 was, ultimately, about one city and one people collapsing into conflict because of their belief in false dichotomies. For all the talk about benders and nonbenders, the real divide within Republic City was an economic one, and one papered over with a hollow multiculturalism. Korra and Tenzin are the only ones who ever talk up Aang's vision for the city, and neither of them are exactly natives, y'know?

Look at the Satos. Look at the bros. What's their real objective? To get rich. Hiroshi did it. Asami will be trying to do it again in S2. The brothers spent half of S1 trying to strike it rich via probending. Even Tarrlok saw success in terms of gathering political power and soft influence (and it's not exactly like he was hurting when he bought Korra that car!). With the absence of their originating cultures, the homegrown one of Republic City is a kind of hollow thing where money/power is their American Dream.

The bender/Non-bender conflict was thus basically racism. The divide might have been "fake" but it had real consequences, and, like how poor race relations are sometimes thought to have sabotaged the American socialist movement, it turned the working class benders and nonbenders against their common interest. Between the vaguely aristocratic bender leaders (Tenzin, Lin, Tarrlok) and the nonbender revolutionaries deep in the pocket of the world's greatest plutocrat (Hiroshi), it's more than a little telling that Our Heroes in S1 are two blue collar gutter rats, an heiress who gave up the privilege of wealth in order to fight for the greater good, and a penniless (if dim) warrior-philosopher in training.

But I digress.

Season 2 seems to be shaping up to be about how two *different* sorts of people have to learn to live together: North and South, human and spirit. The Avatar Wan stuff hints most strongly at it, as we know the Avatar forms a bridge between both worlds, and we'll be seeing Wan's journey as first establishes that balance between each population. Just from a narrative standpoint, it seems likely that Wan's story will reflect on Korra's, which is to say that she'll spend S2 learning that both the South and the North deserve to each live their own way, and that each needs the other.

As that line from Persona 3 goes: "Two in harmony surpass one in perfection."

Yeah, complaining is pointless.
I wish haters would stop complaining and enjoy the show the way its creators intended it to be.

So I'm hoping we get even more shipping in season two. Like let's have more Makorra with "eskimo kisses" which they call "Water Tribe snuggles" or "Beardog nuzzles". That'd be cute and would make great fanart.

Bolin needs no development, he's so perfect already. Like he tries to learn metalbending and fails comically, because a police force formed by metalbender experts is no place for Bolin to learn anything, but Mako makes a perfect policeman and he could even get promoted to Chief of Police at the end of the season. Also more Pro-Bending filler.

Bolin and Asami dating for a couple of episodes but breaking up due to misunderstanding some Pema's advice. That'd be hilarious!
The show is not "The Legend of Asami" so there's no reason to even consider Asami as a protagonist character when she can serve as a romantic interest for Bolin which is a lot more important for the story because it leaves room for Makorra canon.

If anything the series need more "Lady and the Tramp" hijinks bewteen Bolin and Asami because the NWT vs. SWT backstory can be solved long expository monologue or in five minutes with a some Avatar State ex machina to show what a great Avatar Korra makes and allows to show how the cartoon is all about girrl-powerr.

After all what really insterests the target demographic is characters interacting in romantic ways and Cabbage Corp references.

People complaining about the show obviously don't get what the show is about and shouldn't watch the show or expect the show to be different than it is because then it'd be other show. And they would complain about it too anyway.

And I'm crossing fingers for more steam-powered robots for no reason at all, i.e. Korra's uncle has robots protecting Tui and La. Or maybe even better Tui and La have become robots themselves. Because if you are the spiritual embodiment of the Moon and the Ocean you might as well become a robot too because fuck yeah that's why.

>>113692
Anyway Equalists will be handwaved by season two as they never actually happened, after they realized Amon was fake they went back to their regular unequalist lives.

>>113693
>>113694

>>113693
There's the door, you're free to leave at any time. Preferably before you make an even bigger fool out of yourself.

I have a feeling that Unalaq's ideals and goals, his spirituality and his traditionalism, will be portrayed as good things. That is, for the most part, he'll be a good guy who probably isn't really looking out for himself as much as he is for his people.

If we look at Tarrlok, we have a man who was desperate to become the world's savior, who was so egotistical that he was willing to fan the flames of a conflict just so he could put out those flames he himself made worse to look like some kind of hero. His desire was mostly for power, honor and glory for himself and he was very sneaky and prudent in doing this, coming off at first as a good, albeit fairly stuck up person.

Unalaq I don't think will follow too much of the same pattern. He may have a high opinion of himself, but I think that unlike Tarrlok, his ambitions will remain selfless ones for the most part. What he wants is what's best for his people, it just so happens that one of those things that's best for them is that he consolidates more power and authority. If there's one thing Avatar as a series shows respect for is spirituality, so I think Unalaq's desire for the Water Tribe to not forget their traditions and to not take the sanctity of these tradtions in vain will be portrayed positively. Unfortunately, he'll make the mistake of killing some kittens, which will justify Korra having to go against him.

>>113696
I'm poster of >>113693 and I totally disagree with poster of >>113688 and >>113686 btw. I know the image board has a small userbase and things often get misunderstood.
Also I would never use words such as "facile" or "jejune" ffs, I'm not that much of a condescending ass.

Now being honest, sorry if I angered you by being a fool but I can't help it. At least I didn't say "trivialities" or some other word from French.

>>113686

I totally understand people's gripes with Season 1, I share some of them. But there's complaints/criticisms, and just plain hating on the series and it's creative staff. This falls distinctly on the latter.

If you wanna argue that they should have focused less on Pro-Bending? Fine. Feel that there should have been an undercurrent or an allegory for racism/social inequality with the Bender/Non-Bender conflict? Feel like Bending Privilege was something the show should have addressed?

Just fine. Peachy. Perfect in fact. Talk about it. Tell us why you feel that way or why you feel that's correct.

This isn't what you're doing. This is you insulting the show, calling it and it's creators vapid and stupid, and saying that it will never have potential, and I don't know if I'm overreaching on my duties here, but I don't think that belongs on this board.

>>113701
>I'm not that much of a condescending ass.

Go re-read what you wrote and tell me that with a straight face. Seriously. That entire thing is oozing with condescension and smarm, whether you throw in any French words or not. I think it's fine if people want to debate the weak points of the show. I have my issues with it too. But if you're just going to come in here and trash the whole thing or whine like a spoiled baby, we really don't need any more of that shit around here. Debate intelligently or leave.

>>113709
>I don't know if I'm overreaching on my duties here, but I don't think that belongs on this board.

No, I applaud your actions because I feel like we've put up with enough crap as it is. There should be little to no tolerance for people who come into threads just to hurl insults or bash the show without having any real reason beyond "I hate it, so everyone else should too".

>>113710
Well, I won't comment on this >>113686
But this was fucking funny >>113693

>>113688

>(USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)

>>113710
>>Debate intelligently or leave.

I'm sorry but no, I have no interest in debating with you. I've my opinion and you have yours, I don't pretend to change yours so I expect you don't try to change mine.

I'm totally OK with probending filler, robots and clumsy shipping stealing the show. Other people hate it. There's no "debate" to have about it.

>>113715
I'm an entirely different anon here, but does anyone actually debate in an attempt to change somebody else's mind?

I mean, it's pretty obvious that the only people who are goign to actually get into debate are those firmly set in their beliefs, and it'll tkae more for the reasoning of some random anon on the internet to budge them from it. It's just a fun way to better understand other people's opinions, their logic and generally see something through another person's eyes.

>>113718
I wouldn't call it hopeless to say you can't change people's minds on the internet. Granted, my opinion of Korra hasn't changed much and frankly, I don't think it ever will. It had a decent beginning, but empty characters and a rushed anticlimatic and unfulfilling second half.

But for what it's worth, I've been convinced to not blindly hate Zutara anymore.

And whereas before I was firmly in the "Aang should've killed Ozai" camp, I've switched to the more nuanced belief that "Aang should have been consistent with his pacifist principles and struggled with the death of Combustion Man by the hands of his very close friends as well as the hundreds of FN soldiers who were probably in those zeppelins or any of those other times where offscreen deaths are implied."

>>113721

>And whereas before I was firmly in the "Aang should've killed Ozai" camp, I've switched to the more nuanced belief that "Aang should have been consistent with his pacifist principles and struggled with the death of Combustion Man by the hands of his very close friends as well as the hundreds of FN soldiers who were probably in those zeppelins or any of those other times where offscreen deaths are implied."

Aang has is own values and moral code taught to him by the Air Nomad monks. He's not preachy to his friends about it or tries to force his beliefs on them.

When they eat meat at meals he just chooses a vegetarian alternative. He doesn't scold the Gaang for eating delicious meat candy.

Sokka didn't even directly kill Combustion Man. Combustion Man killed Combustion Man after he tried to asplode the air after Sokka bopped his third eye after a wing-on-a-prayer boomerang shot. And even if Sokka did manage to get close enough to slice his head off, I doubt Aang would have thrown him out of the Gaang because Combustion Man was trying to freakin' kill everyone while destroying ancient artifacts of his People.

The closest Aang got to preachiness was in The Southern Raiders with Katara and that wasn't even about his Pacifist beliefs in not killing. It was about Aang seeing Katara going to a dark place and seeing her long buried feelings of suffering and regret come to surface. It was a parallel to Katara hating watching Aang go into the uncontrolled Avatar State. Even then, Aang's plea to her was simply that, not a "If you kill your mother's killer you're dead to me" ultimatum.

Aang's moral struggle was always with himself, he never imposed his beliefs on the gaang throughout the series. It would go against his nature. He's not the judgmental or grudge-holding type (that's Katara's department). The kid got along with hardened criminals in jail for crying out loud!

>>113721

Combustion Man died by accident while he was trying to kill them. I don't think Aang's practical side would really begrudge Sokka. I mean, if Sokka had killed Ozai while Aang had his back turned as retribution for the war (which was actually a fanfic I read once, it was bizarre) then I think Aang'd have grounds to be pissed. The rest is just collateral damage he had no control over, and there are beliefs among Buddhist Monks that pacifism doesn't exclude self-defense.

>>113729
Aang risked the safety of the entire world with his decision to not kill the Fire Lord. He would never resort to killing someone due to self defense and somehow I don't imagine him being okay with "accidentally" killing people either. Imagine if Katara had "accidentally" killed that Southern Raider. Aang is precisely the sort of person to agonize over the death of anyone as we so clearly saw with his struggle against Ozai. And we already know he feels responsible for much of the people's suffering due to his absence for a hundred years. Again, he's exactly the sort of person that would take responsibility even though he wasn't directly involved.

That's why it doesn't make much sense that he doesn't even so much as give a thought of regret to Combustion Man or all the other people who had to have died during the DoBS attack or the coup during the Comet.

>>113731
>Aang risked the safety of the entire world with his decision to not kill the Fire Lord.

I think the ONLY reason he did it was because he'd just been taught by the Lion-Turtle the new technique of taking away someone's bending. If he hadn't, then I think he would have eventually killed Ozai once he realized he couldn't contain him forever while he still had his Firebending. Then we would have had the angsty, dramatic ending the complaining fans wanted, and poor Aang would have lived with the guilt and regret for the rest of his life, no matter how justified he was.

>That's why it doesn't make much sense that he doesn't even so much as give a thought of regret to Combustion Man

To be fair, it was probably more of a time-constraint thing. But they barely even knew Combustion Man and there wasn't a moment between the two parties where he wasn't trying to kill them.

>or all the other people who had to have died during the DoBS attack or the coup during the Comet.

I know realistically this probably happened, but since nothing was seen on screen or mentioned, it could be that no one died after all, they were merely stopped or taken prisoner, and Aang wasn't present during those events. He felt regret for his actions at the NWT, but mostly because he and La had merged while the destruction was being carried out. But even then, you didn't actually see anyone "die". I think you're just overthinking things at this point.

>>113733
>since nothing was seen on screen or mentioned, it could be that no one died after all, they were merely stopped or taken prisoner

>>113735
In a children's cartoon show on Nickelodeon, that's almost certainly what did happen, actually.

>>113737
Just like how the genocide of the Air Nomads never happened because this is a show on Nickelodeon.

The show was already using the extermination of an entire people as its premise even though that occurred all offscreen, so I don't see how you're willing to do mental gymnastics to say no one else died during the duration of the show.

>>113741
Historical deaths versus on-screen deaths. It's not difficult, and it only takes mental gymnastics for someone who is absolutely dedicated to the idea of using real world logic on fiction.

>>113688
Banning people for criticizing isn't right. I don't like the over the top haters of korra on /co/ either but if you just ban them you're proving them right.

>>113744
But the Avatar world does use real world logic and then some. People die from getting hit by a rock or getting drowned or being tossed off a cliff. We know they do because Jet, Zhao and CM are all confirmed dead.

Again, if you seriously think that no one died in the series just because they occurred off-screen, then you're just being silly.

>>113747
>Banning people for criticizing isn't right.
What he was doing was not criticism, it was bitching. Criticism involves observations / post-mortems of specific elements of writing and cinematography, not just repeated and angry shouting about how horrible something is. The only real rule we have on plus4chan is "don't be an asshole," and that guy was being an asshole. The ban is entirely justifiable.

>>113748
The only reality in any work of fiction is that which happens onscreen, or at least was confirmed to have happened offscreen in an onscreen segment. Everything else is just fanfiction.

>>113749

For that matter, I never ban permanently except in the case of ban-evasion and proxies. The guy's ban was for a day and if he's got a dynamic IP, probablly less than that. It's more a statement than anything.

>>113750
Sparky Sparky created an explosion right in front of his forehead. Dude's dead. Having his metal prothstetic fall from the site rather than him himself is a gentle way to hint at his death. Zhao was punished Tui for killing La (and not sharing his facial hair grooming secrets). Now there is a GREAT comic out there by one of the series'- Storyboarders, I think she was?- with him surviving and living the NWT with amnesia, but I'm pretty sure he's dead. Jet?

Fairies. Fairies came and took him to their land. It was a miracle.

>>113750
If a fictional world only exists as far as the literal content, then I guess you can't appreciate subtext, themes, metaphor, any sort of implication and the actual content of characters for their true motivations are almost never explicitly told.

This is basic writing 101, but stories aren't just what is written, but what isn't.

>>113685

Of course he's going to be villainous. As much as I think >>113686 and >>113688 go too far with unnecessary hate, the core point is a solid one- I simply don't believe it will properly approach this subject matter without going all Civil War on us.

I mean, at the end of the day...it *is* a kid's show on Nickelodeon. I got more from this clip of TNG than I did from the whole of Season 1 of Korra.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19d5yZOERAc

>>113752
>Zhao was punished Tui for killing La (and not sharing his facial hair grooming secrets). Now there is a GREAT comic out there by one of the series'- Storyboarders, I think she was?- with him surviving and living the NWT with amnesia, but I'm pretty sure he's dead.

That would be rufftoon, forgot her real name. A lot of people seem to like that comic, but I'm kinda "meh" about it, since I was never a huge Zhao fan, but I'm also not going to stop people from having fun. Zhao IS dead for reals, though, I thought that was pretty obvious.

>Jet?

Dead for reals, which I also thought was clear enough, but

>Fairies. Fairies came and took him to their land. It was a miracle.

I lol'd.

>>113760
>I got more from this clip of TNG than I did from the whole of Season 1 of Korra.

Then perhaps you should go back to watching TNG instead of Korra. Honestly, if you think the whole thing was completely terrible, find something else to entertain yourself with. TNG is a good pick, despite having its moments of dated cheesiness that make Korra's silliest moments look classy and sophisticated.

>>113761
>Then perhaps you should go back to watching TNG instead of Korra.
>as if people can't watch different things for different reasons
Can we just stop with the kneejerk overreactions of "just go watch something else!"

>>113762
Maybe when people stop comparing Korra with X and going on about how terrible Korra was, but still posting here for some reason. I honestly don't see the point in it. You can find flaws in the show without going overboard and complaining about it non-stop.

>>113763
So why did you pick the one post that specifically said that the hatred of previous examples were overblown?

I mean, they even said that it wasn't fair to expect much political depth or drama from what is still essentially a kid's show. Which, to me, sounds more like a defense for Korra than a criticism, and that's leaving aside the fact that the very same post also said that other's were overboard in their hatred.

>>113764
Because what is

>I got more from this clip of TNG than I did from the whole of Season 1 of Korra.

supposed to tell me other than LoK is clearly not for this person? Maybe they should just give up and go back to watching something they like better.

>>113765
>AS IF PEOPLE CAN'T WATCH DIFFERENT THINGS FOR DIFFERENT REASONS
Seriously, all that post said is that they didn't expect the same level of depth from Korra as they would get from TNG. Nothing in that post was condemning Korra or even close to calling it terrible. That was just you being overly defensive and making shit up.

>>113765
It's supposed to tell you that they clearly liked TNG more than LoK, which is not a criticism of LoK, nor implies that they dislike it.

>>113768
>>113767

Pretty much these. I thought Korra was good. Didn't blow me away or anything as the ending was a bit rushed and telly-not-showy, but I liked the characters and didn't mind the romance.

That doesn't mean I think it'll be able to deal with things like traditionalism vs. modernism in *too* nuanced a manner, though.

Will it be possible for someone with ambition (like Zhao) to lead an invasion force into the Spirit World to slay all of the spirits?

I'd imagine they'd have to be masters with weaponry as bending is not an option.

>>113786
>slay all of the spirits

Maybe some. All? No. Just because Korra is somewhat darker than ATLA, that doesn't mean it's gonna get all GRIMDARK on us.

>>113790
'Leading an invasion' does not necessarily mean that they'll do successfully.

>>113790
How would you kill a spirit in the Spirit World?

>>113799
Space sword.

>>113799
With a weapon, and talented wielder. The Avatarverse is probably filled with myths about plucky mortals killing troublesome spirits, much like our own world is filled with tales of people slaying monsters.

*Watches first two episodes*

Called it!