A Legend about Korra getting beaten up a whole bunch.

[Imp_Emissary]

Ok, let's take a look at the combatants.
On one corner we have Korra, who for the last three years was crippled emotional wreck. She didn't train for the longest time and still carried deadly, debilitating poison in her veins.
On the other corner we have Kuvira. An incredibly skilled metal bender who was trained by the best and who for the last three years did nothing but train, lead and fight.
Result of the fight should be pretty obvious.
And that "pretty skilled" part? Just freaking look at it http://i.imgur.com/cmQ96Es.gifv

Awesome fight.

Yeah, what other people have said. Korra has been doing pretty well so far. Even the first avatar didn't take care of Vaatu to the level she did. Plus as others have said, Kuvira won not just because of her abilities vs Korra's, but also because Korra is still having PTSD issues. I mean, Korra would have won if she hadn't stopped fighting at that moment.

However, I do have one issue with the fight.

Korra is a metal bender like Kuvira, right? So why didn't she bend Kuvira's metal armor? The whole fight I was king of wondering why she didn't do to Kuvira what Kuvira did to Varrick?

I guess you could say her armor could be made of un-bendable metal like platinum, but Kuvira seems to be bending her armor or at least parts of it.

Eh, maybe this will be addressed later.

The implication for not being able to bend the other person's armor is based on how much control one has over their surroundings. Korra could try and bend her armor, but Kuvira would be enacting similar control at close range over her own armor, creating a stalemate.

Secondly, Korra is not a master metalbender. Kuvira is, so fighting her at her own game is likely a poor decision anyway.

Eh, I guess that's good enough.

Makes sense anyway. Korra did have enough trouble with fighting over just regular rock during the fight.

Ok, let's take a look at the combatants.
On one corner we have Korra, who for the last three years was crippled emotional wreck. She didn't train for the longest time and still carried deadly, debilitating poison in her veins.
On the other corner we have Kuvira. An incredibly skilled metal bender who was trained by the best and who for the last three years did nothing but train, lead and fight.
Result of the fight should be pretty obvious.
And that "pretty skilled" part? Just freaking look at it http://i.imgur.com/cmQ96Es.gifv

Awesome fight.

Yeah, what other people have said. Korra has been doing pretty well so far. Even the first avatar didn't take care of Vaatu to the level she did. Plus as others have said, Kuvira won not just because of her abilities vs Korra's, but also because Korra is still having PTSD issues. I mean, Korra would have won if she hadn't stopped fighting at that moment.

However, I do have one issue with the fight.

Korra is a metal bender like Kuvira, right? So why didn't she bend Kuvira's metal armor? The whole fight I was king of wondering why she didn't do to Kuvira what Kuvira did to Varrick?

I guess you could say her armor could be made of un-bendable metal like platinum, but Kuvira seems to be bending her armor or at least parts of it.

Eh, maybe this will be addressed later.

Yeah I do like the premise of the season how she is having PTSD because of all the horrible s**t she has had to do all these years, it shows a greater level of thought and development than most anime protagonists and makes her seem more like a human being than a mindless ass-kicking machine. if this story has proceeded events or arcs of her growing up and learning the responsibilities of being the Avatar I would be all over it it's just... well you know :/

Also totally agreed. I too watched the fight thinking "Bend her armor!". Even if her armor is somehow unbendable (which like, how? All metal is made from rock ore) she could surely launch a surprise attack using the metal cuffs and projectiles Kuvira has all over her. I hate to rail on Korra because I do like her character even if she does make for a weak protagonist, but this is kinda typical of her. She doesn't use tactics or guile or improvisation, she just throws things. Aang acheived a lot with what little he had, Korra achieves very little effect with a lot of power. Why she even tried to battle Kuvira in front of her whole army in the open with no plan for an escape route is beyond any speculation. I would love to say it's the stupidest thing she has ever done but I am probably forgetting something, It's a course of action that makes so little sense I struggle to imagine Aang or any of his friends would have even entertained the idea.

Well, she kind of didn't have a choice. Suyin kind of forced her hand when she went after Kuvira. Korra was left with only the option of challenging Kuvira, or letting her take the city.

Plus, if she won, it sounds like many of her soldiers are only because they're scared of Kuvira, so if she won they probably would have given in.

Also, it wouldn't be the first time an Avatar fought against an army.

I understand where you're coming from on this, but this is how things generally work. Hero starts out happy, goes through some junk, over comes, goes through even worse junk and over comes at some costs, and sometimes goes though being completely broken. Then either they die for the cause/goal, or find some way to come back from that.

The issue is, as a few others have mentioned is that Korra hasn't yet faced what's really bothering her. That "Shadow Korra" may be a bit more than just PTSD. Not sure what, but we'll find out soon I'm sure.

 

[The Madman]

I like Korra, I like her as a character because throughout the series so far she's been repeatedly forced to confront her personal flaws and has grown and changed as a result of that. What makes it especially interesting though is that unlike The Last Airbender or indeed most other shows, especially not many family entertainment shows, those changes aren't always for the better.

Sure Korra's wiser now. She's less confrontational, more willing to listen to others and find diplomatic solutions to her problems, but she's also had her confidence and self-image absolutely shattered. She's more unsure, doubting, she lacks the drive that kept her going through most of her earlier conflicts. In this latest season Kuvira isn't Korra's most dangerous enemy, she's her own biggest enemy. Korra 'could' almost certainly beat Kuvira, no matter how talented Kuvira is (And Kuvira is talented, I do think saying she's 'pretty skilled' is a disservice.), but she's holding herself back. It's no coincidence that just when Korra begins to win against Kuvira it's her own reflection that stops her short and allows her to be defeated instead.

I find that intriguing, even if it can be a bit depressing. I want to see Korra winning again, I want to see some of the fire and spit from Season 1's Korra, and it's crushing to see her consistently allowing herself to lose. But I do think it's building up towards something and I'm excited to see what that something is. I have faith the shows creators know where they're going with this.

As much as I enjoyed The Last Airbender Aang as a protagonist never really had to deal with anything like this, and when he did it was always briefly wrapped up in an episode or two. Hell he never did actually have to confront his biggest issue either, that of having to sacrifice his own personal beliefs for the sake of the greater good, that got patched over with a band-aid solution in the form of convenient turtle powers. By contrast Korra is just having everything repeatedly shoved in her face and while it's a bit disheartening to see sometimes, it's also got me intrigued to see where this will go next.

 

[Ishal]

What you see is why people hate Korra. Both the show and the titular character. Here's why:

The characters suck.

The villains suck.

The writing sucks.

Literal essays have been written on how all of that sucks.

People like to compare TLA with Korra, and often they cite how Korra having bad/weak villains doesn't matter because TLA villains were one dimensional. But they really weren't.

Azula is pretty clear cut evil, but the show does a very good job at SHOWING(showing!) you why she's evil. Her dad's a psycho, she's a bit of a psycho, and her mom neglects her. She was raised in a psycho militaristic culture. Azula being Azula makes sense

But with Kuvira and Unalaq - we're just told. Constantly told, told told told. Throwaway character A will say I SURE HATE KUVIRA then Throwaway B will say YEAH BUT SHE'S DONE SOME GOOD

They'll do that instead of, say, show the character. More people talked about Kuvira and what she was doing before we got to see her doing anything.

And Bryke HIDE behind the whole "We're dealing with complex themes!" argument.

Oh, they ARE dealing with complex themes - themes which it is apparent they know NOTHING ABOUT.

Revolution, spiritualism, conservatism, progressiveness, all that stuff is indeed multi-faceted - but its never handled in a multi-faceted way. The villain will represent a parody of one of these mindsets and be taken out, and the subsequent return to the status quo will be treated, in story, as right, instead of just what happens when you literally murder the leader of a moment

But I could forgive all that - all of that, if the characters just had some life in them. If the characters were capable of making me laugh or be worried I'd forgive them

But the only thing they do is get me angry at how stupid they are.

In season 1 Korra took advice from a homewrecker, and bumbled her way through the finale only to get her bending handed back to her by Aang. In Season 2 Korra tried to punch her way through problems just like in Season 1, and only won out in the end thanks to Jinora Ex Machina. In Season 3 she's the same, starts to get better a tiny bit, then get's mercury poisoning.

It's just a chore to watch. The sad thing is, I understand what they wanted to do. Korra is the opposite of Aang. Aang was an airbender, he had the spirituality thing down, and wasn't really keen on fighting. He wasn't direct at all, which is why earthbending was so hard for him. Korra is the opposite, she's arrogant and bullheaded but lacks the spirituality side. But the way they structured everything put them into a corner. Korra should have been close to a master with all the other elements and been trained by other masters for the spiritual stuff. She should have been a legit master, but the problem is that would have made her too powerful. Thus all her villains would have to be more powerful, or she would have to be de-powered to face them.

This is why Korra is so disliked by so many. She's an ineffectual hero because the plot demands it. That combined with her shitty attitude that didn't even BEGIN to improve until mid season 3 makes her beyond insufferable. People expect more from their heroes, and Korra doesn't deliver.