Thread by @DannyVegito, The Legend of Korra was a series that had a complicated relationship [...]

The Legend of Korra was a series that had a complicated relationship with its fans, its critically acclaimed predecessor, and the network it aired on. now that its on netflix I’m going to rewatch the entire show and share my thoughts in this Korra-ntine thread

this thread is a continuation of the one I did on Korra’s predecessor, Avatar The Last Airbender. it’s roughly 200 tweets of analysis and shitposts about ATLA. check it out if you haven’t already! https://twitter.com/DannyVegito/status/1262894800338124801

https://twitter.com/DannyVegito/status/1262894800338124801

right from the start Korra’s arc is juxtaposed against Aang’s

Aang was a child who had to learn to become the Avatar. Korra was raised to be the Avatar and has to learn to find herself as a person

Tenzin got his dad’s ears

with the help of Avatar Aang, Fire Lord Zuko established Republic City as part of his “sorry for all the racism” apology tour

it’s been 8 years but I’m still blown away by how expressive Korra is. so many split second expressions are ingrained in my brain

I forgot that this show had so many mid-atlantic accents

Korra as a show took a lot of big swings and made some bold choices but one I’ll never agree with is making Toph a cop. the only way it would make sense for her character is if she did it as a joke

it makes me so fuckin happy that (academy award winner) JK Simmons voices Tenzin. he brings so much pathos and humor to the character. easily one of my favorite voice performances ever https://twitter.com/felixcadalin/status/1294347921349984256

https://twitter.com/felixcadalin/status/1294347921349984256

Bolin is the himbo in its purest form. toned, athletic, heart of gold, absolute dumbass

I have never thought about sports once in my entire life but I am a sucker for made up sci-fi/fantasy sports. tron light cycles? podracing? pro-bending? the more absurd the better. just hook it to my veins

favorite shot of the episode:

I forgot that the “previously on Avatar” segments in Korra are black and white newsreels. that’s a good bit

Bolin: “you wouldn't happen to have a secret Avatar bank account overflowing with gold, would you?”
Korra: “I got nothing”

harry potter found dead in republic city

lightning bending has gone from being a coveted, private ability known only to Fire Nation royals to a widely known ability that even the working class have access to. a deadly life-ending weapon has been repurposed into a life-enriching tool. that is cool to me

Mako: my parents are dead
Korra: I’m so sorry
Mako: they were killed in an alley
Korra: oh-
Mako: by a mugger
Korra: like Batman?
Mako: I was 8 years old
Mako: that’s Batman. you are literally describing what happened to Batman

Amon is voiced by Steve Blum, who also voiced Spike in Cowboy Bebop and Mugen in Samurai Champloo, both of which were created by Shinichirō Watanabe and were huge sources of inspiration for Korra and its animation style

I’m sorry I can’t watch the Amon revelation scene without thinking about the memes where he’s a stand up comic

When I was a little boy and told people I was gonna be a comedian, everyone laughed at me. well, no one's laughing now

the guy that voices Tarrlok also voices Klaus from American Dad so every time he speaks all I hear is

seeing a lot of people say “don’t watch Korra” to new Avatar fans and even if I didn’t like LoK I think that’s a shitty attitude to have

as a Star Wars fan I’ve learned to grow up & stop letting a few bad things ruin my enjoyment of something, especially if it’s meaningful to me

even if an Avatar fan didn’t like Korra, it’s not like it should ruin the entire franchise for them. if people can delude themselves to the point where they think Katara & Zuko would be a good couple I’m sure they can ignore Korra after watching it

favorite expression of the episode:

I haven’t gone into much detail about Korra’s more controversial aspects or where it falls short but the big one for me in book 1 is the pointless love triangles. it’s all unnecessary to me and it makes these characters look bad when we’re supposed to care about them

a lot of LoK’s problems emerge from the fact that Book 1 was conceived as a self-contained 12 ep miniseries. it resulted in some rushed interpersonal storylines that replace character building with drama. the show had to grapple with this once it was renewed for more episodes

the romantic plotlines in Avater worked because they were mostly background aspects of the show that were given room to grow as the characters developed and interacted more. in Book 1 of LoK it’s mostly used for tension & good characters like Asami, Bolin, and Korra suffer for it

people claim that the show didn’t set up Korrasami but there’s an actual bit in Book 1 where Korra basically says “stupid sexy Asami”

between JK Simmons and Rami Malek there are two academy awards winners in the Korra cast

best face of the episode:

another difference I’ve noticed between Avatar & Korra is that the dialogue in Korra is...snappier? maybe it’s because most of the cast is older/more experienced or maybe it’s because it’s a way to make the show feel modern but the way the characters interact is very different

using this opportunity to post the best Korra content you’ll ever see https://twitter.com/KaiserNeko/status/1123796084969672705

https://twitter.com/KaiserNeko/status/1123796084969672705

this is a pabu stan account

Korra started airing around the same time the first Avengers movie came out and brought Tom Hiddleston to the mainstream so you can imagine how many people were horny for Tahno

me, live tweeting:

korra has an arc devoted to sports and now I’m wondering why there aren’t more cartoons about sports? there’s like a million sports anime and america has...rocket power I guess?

America loves sports but doesn’t have any sports cartoons! there’s a highly popular manga/anime about american football called eyeshield 21 & the only american cartoon I could find was a licensed nfl series made on the cheap. the anime has triple the number of episodes

I love this so much. a completely unnecessary attention to detail. it rules

multiple favorite expressions for this ep, all tahno

I can’t stand Mako

best face of the episode:

Asami: there’s no way my dad is evil
Korra: baby he’s rich

Meelo cancelled for being a sex pest

I’m never gonna stop praising Korra for how expressive and funny it is

Asami Sato joins the exclusive Toph Beifong Society of Being Rich Enough To Afford A Last Name

no thoughts just Asami’s Extremely Disney Hair Flip

Korra: Asami you’ve got incredible style
Asami: thanks
Korra: you’re rich & have awesome gadgets
Asami: thanks
Korra: you’ve got a cool car
Asami: thanks
Korra: your mom was murdered in a robbery
Asami: thanks
Korra: kinda sounds like you’re-
Mako: don’t say it
Korra: Batman

Book 1 of Korra is making an incredible case about how right wing charlatans take advantage of disenfranchised people by making other groups a scapegoat, and that the state contributes to these problems and exacerbates them

but I’m not sure it even knows it’s making that point

Amon is a grifter who lies, exaggerates, and misrepresents facts to non-benders to make them resent benders instead of their conditions. he lies his way to notoriety through fear

Tarrlok meanwhile uses power as an elected official to brutalize nonbenders & feeds their resentment

the show could be suggesting that the extremes on both sides are bad but whether it means to or not is actually demonstrating that it isn’t both sides. it’s the same extreme working two different angles to hurt people without implicating themselves, which is how fascism grows irl

anyway we’ll come back to Korra’s complicated ideas on fascism & right wing grifters, we gotta do the best face of the episode segment:

while Korra’s [screams internally] is probably my favorite in the entire show I also gotta give credit to Ikki’s demon face from seconds later

the only way “Toph as a cop” makes sense to me is as a cruel “justice is blind” joke that Aang played on her

best face:

me every time Mako gets too close to Korra or Asami

Tenzin getting his ex to watch over the children of the woman he left her for is, dare I say, a chad move

pema, it is
time to have
another airbender yes tenzin

I think it’s great that the equalists don’t know how to fight airbenders because there’s literally only 4 of them

also best face of the ep:

we can argue all day about what the worst part of Korra is but it’s objectively casting Chris Hardwick as adult Sokka

Amon has to have a 20 foot mold of his mask custom made specifically for this statue. the drama of it all

best face of the ep:

Korra: AMON IS A BLOODBENDER
Amon: no I’m not
Korra: FUCK

I really dig Amon as a villain because his existence is a direct consequence of Aang’s refusal to kill the Firelord

I gave my thoughts on Aang choosing not to kill Ozai and why I find it compelling back when I rewatched Avatar

I also really dig how Korra explores the consequences of Aang creating energybending by making a villain as a direct result of that choice. it’s good stuff folks https://twitter.com/dannyvegito/status/1284941006979432448

https://twitter.com/dannyvegito/status/1284941006979432448

you: Korra is an awful show that tarnishes the legacy of Avatar-
me: Zuko’s hot grandson named Iroh uses firebending to fly like Iron Man

lots of people were mad about Korra using airbending after Amon blocked her other bending abilities. me personally? I think that’s great. I love a good technicality. it’s fun

Jesus

contrived as this solution is that line stuck with me when I first heard it and I’ve taken it with me through a lot of hard times

Korra: isn’t it a bit convenient to get my bending back from a past life? seems like a deus ex machina
Aang: hey I learned to take people’s bending away because of a giant turtle. everybody gets one

that concludes Book 1! while I think it could’ve used a bit more breathing room in parts, the ending is a bit rushed, and Mako is a bit of a shit, I think it’s a really good season. Incredible atmosphere, great music and visuals, and the makings of a great cast. good show

we still have three more seasons to go, and season 2 is the one Korra detractors take issue with the most. we’ll explore those critiques and which ones I find to be fair and which ones I think are overblown as we get deeper into the series

forgot to do my favorite face of the episode:

right out of the gate with Book 2 you can tell that the animation is different. most of Korra is animated by Studio Mir, which was founded by ATLA animation director Jae-Myung Yu. (Mir is named after the Soviet Space station)

Mir also animated Boondocks S4, Voltron: LD, & Kipo

half of Book 2, however, was animated by Japanese studio Pierrot (known for Naruto, Bleach, Yu Yu Hakusho, Tokyo Ghoul)

some people don’t notice the difference but backgrounds feel a bit more lifeless, there’s a heavy reliance on still frames, and the faces look off at times

Asami: so I hear you’re a cop now
Mako: yeah, I’m trying to be a detective
Asami: well you’ve been a dick as long as I’ve known you

Varrick is easily the funniest character in the show and he’s voiced by “hey it’s that guy” John Michael Higgins. you’ve definitely seen him before and he was probably the funniest person in whatever scene you’ve seen him in

best face of the episode + a pierrot bonus

this show knew exactly how to use Aubrey Plaza

I get why Book 2 is so frustrating to watch for both fans and detractors. Unalaq looks so obviously like a villain (and a pretty rote one at that) that every time he talks I’m just like “shut up and get to the point”

Korra to God, her father, and her boss:

not a lot of great faces this ep, here’s the best one:

I like Bolin but he works so much better when he’s bouncing off a character than when he’s just yelling.

he’s great when he’s riffing with Asami, Varrick, Eska, etc but they do the hooting and hollering stuff a bit too much imo

what the fuck

Eska & Bolin

Korra: I think you might be a bad guy
Unalaq: What makes you think that?
Korra; you’re sitting in a throne room in the dark. seems pretty ominous
Unalaq: I have a light sensitivity, like Bono and David Spade
Korra: those aren’t good people

best face of the ep:

my big takeaway so far during this Korra rewatch is that binging this show is a dramatically different experience than watching it live. there’s a whole layer of discourse and production drama you miss out on that can’t be replicated

a lot of the prevailing takes about Korra were informed by the audience who watched it week to week. Book 2 is a lot more of a disappointment when you had to wait 15 months for a slow-burn season with lower quality animation, not knowing how/if the next season would build on it

season 2’s civil war plot is ROUGH though and Korra’s actions, while understandable given her family issues and her isolated childhood, make for a more frustrating viewing experience than a compelling one, especially since Unalaq is a very predictable villain. Mako doesn’t help

when looking at the show as a whole, Korra Book 2 isn’t that bad, especially given how informs the great stuff in the later seasons

also the b-plots mostly work and make it BEAR-able. Varrick and Zhu-Li are all-time great characters

best face of the episode + a pierrot bonus:

I like how General Iroh’s entire personality is “Zuko is my grandfather”

look at how they massacred my boy

it’s nuts how Mako and Korra are just completely devoid chemistry. not a single hint of warmth or intimacy. there are tv characters who have chemistry on accident! how do you mess this up?

what do Makorra people see in their relationship? what’s appealing to them about Mako? are they just like “how would Mako understand monogamy when his parents are dead? some people?? cheat?? to cope??”

best face of the ep:

the way Mako has to be annoying AND a cop

Bolin and Asami working with Varrick to sell propaganda and weapons to unwittingly escalate a war

there’s a civil war being fought in the southern water tribe & Katara is just...absent? this would’ve been a perfect time to give her a spotlight but instead it’s a wasted opportunity. this is her home, she’s a passionate person with strong opinions on family! where is she?

issuing a correction on a previous tweet that said there were two academy award winners in the Korra cast, there are actually three! JK Simmons, Rami Malek, and Eva Marie Saint as Katara https://twitter.com/mathewbrown/status/1297930236848480258

https://twitter.com/mathewbrown/status/1297930236848480258

best face of the episode:

I think one of the biggest victims of the Pierrot face is Asami tbh

Mir has a way of animating Asami’s face that made it look unique and expressive while also making her look lovely and then in the Pierrot episodes she just looks like-

chapter 6 was the second to last episode to be animated by Pierrot, the last one will be chapter 9, the rest of the series, including the two-parter “The Beginnings” was animated by Studio Mir

the backgrounds and aesthetics of the Avatar Wan episodes are influenced by east asian woodblock printing (left) and ink wash paintings (right). the end result is gorgeous and helps make the time period distinct while building a mythos for this fantastical world

adding to the mythical nature of the Avatar origin story is that it starts as a “theft of fire” story. the most commonly known “theft of fire” tale in western civ is the story of Prometheus but there are other versions originating from Europe, Asia, and Indigenous tribes

it’s cool as hell that the first Avatar’s origin story is that he stole firebending from a god to create an uprising against the ruling lords of his city

I’m glad the Avatar animators and writers finally found a way to inject their overt Studio Ghibli influence into Korra

Avatar Wan masters the art of firebending by replicating the motions of a dragon. he does the same movements for what would become “the dancing dragon” technique Aang and Zuko learned in ATLA

pissed myself off by stumbling on a reddit post where someone accuses Avatar Wan of being a degenerate because he stole from a hoarding ruling class family

anyway best face of the ep:

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