SajuukKhar said:
It does quite literally contradict everything we are told in Avatar the Last Airbender about how human got bending powers, but it was a goo enough of a retcon that I am willing to put the other stories behind as folklore/lost history in a pleasant manner.
I know others have already said this, but it doesn't contradict anything. First off, the old stories in the last series were about the "original benders" and not all of the four types of benders were confirmed to have learned from the originals. Only earthbenders and waterbenders had confirmations and yeah firebenders sort of but only the Sun Warriors as far as we know. I don't think they were necessarily false legends either, a lot of the other folklore was well-established and confirmed to some degree later in the old series. Who's to say after the Lion Turtles refused to give more bending that others who had the ability inside them (probably inherited from people who kept their Lion Turtle given bending) didn't realize it instinctively and studied the originals? Who's to say there wasn't a time before where bending was learned then forgotten then relearned after the events of "The Beginnings"? Despite their misgivings and the problems they have writing on their own without the input of their team (popular fan rumor that they're like the George Lucas of cartoons, great visionaries, but best working with a team that can control or supplement them rather than given full control especially of writing) in regards to Korra's character development, I don't think they'd forget such things and cast them off to the wayside like that.
TheYellowCellPhone said:
I really liked the element animations. Fire, air, and water all looked so beautifully oriental instead of looking cartoonish or out of place.
Otherwise, I didn't really like the animation change. [snip] I thought the lion turtles were way too... unrefined. Were they spirits, why did they have authority over Raava, why were they so quick to give bending powers to others?
I doubt this was only a (well-needed) explanation of some of Avatar's lore. I just hope Raava isn't some benevolent force that can always communicate to Korra and does all of the plot progression for her, that'd be boring.
This is a very interesting comment considering the animation studio behind these two episodes are the original studio behind Book One and considered the superior studio (Studio Mir, Korean studio). Long story short there was a conflict between the American team and the two different animated studios involved. Studio Mir was so exhausted from the process and got an offer to do
Boondocks at that moment. After a meeting they decided to go with
Boondocks, Studio Pierrot (Japanese) animated the majority of Korra episodes, and Studio Mir came back for a few. Before people even knew who animated which episodes, it was clear people thought the Studio Mir episodes looked better, which is why initially there were so many complaints about why the animation went up and down in quality. I think this is why it took so long for Book 2 to come. The excuses were suspicious to me, it was long even considering the trickiness of animation business; I had a feeling there were problems coming up like this. It's a LITTLE more complicated than that, but there's a basic explanation. If you want to know more go here [http://avatarthelegendofkorraonline.com/which-studio-animated-book-2-of-the-legend-of-korra-mir-or-pierrot-we-have-an-answer/2907/].
But yeah, interesting to hear someone who had trouble with this special considering the relative lackluster work present in Studio Pierrot episodes. It might have just been the nature of that particular type of animation that makes you think that rather than actual problems. Or maybe I should watch it again and look more closely. I was pretty tired when I saw this special and if animation overall reaches a certain threshold of good I'm less likely to complain or actively look for problems. This is especially true when I'm too tired or too willing to watch mindlessly to look for problems.
As for your Lion Turtle dilemma, it did not seem like they had authority over Raava at all to me. She was in a weak position, not to mention she was actually weaker physically/spiritually/whatever term is appropriate here and the Lion Turtle made a judgment that she had to follow out of obligation for the safety of the world. At worst, they might be on par with each other in terms of wisdom or authority over matters or authority or wisdom over one another, if you ask me anyway.
It also seemed like they were so willing to hand bending over because they were one of the few creatures that understood humanity and gave them the benefit of the doubt. At that point in time of humanity's development, it must have really seemed like they needed the help. After all, all the food and resources were in the Spirit Wilds. There was nobody else there for humanity, humanity believed they needed the protection, it just makes sense to me.
I thought it was obvious they weren't spirits: They continued to live in the physical world after Wan ushered the spirits back into the spirit world. That could be some moral obligation and refusal I suppose, but I'm going with the idea that they're physical creatures...that and the Avatar wiki says they are. Haha
Smiley Face said:
I enjoyed it, I thought it was well done, but ultimately I wish that maybe a little less had been spent on the animation for these episodes so that we could have enjoyed more expressive characters in the past 6 episodes to get us more anticipatory for this - although, Episode 6 was very well done; well done enough that I really just want to get back to what's going on there.
That's not what happened. See my above response in this post. They're not foolish enough to sacrifice overall quality like that; they're known for not being that foolish.
Personally, I am hoping Korra connects to Raava and Raava explains how throughout the lifetimes and with so many Avatars connection to her and knowledge of her has faded to the point she is mostly spiritual energy and very minor, subtle guidance primarily in the Avatar State. She is often found out in her fullest extent fully by an Avatar after the death of that Avatar; knowing they are an incarnation of a world spirit is not enough to go on to know it's actually a fully sentient female personification being rather than something more broad and grand. I am kind of hoping Korra gets berated at this point and Raava says something along the likes of how she was foolish, for the first time ever, due to the strange and very uncertain nature of these recent conflicts, to make it so Korra could have easy access to the Avatar State and allowed her to carry on never bothering or learning from what happened before to any important degree. It'd be nice to get an explanation for all of that and to find out why Korra has been allowed to continue acting the way she acts. It'd make everything else worth it.
I hate the people who try to excuse it as the instability of being a teenager or who try to reason that she made the apparent right call and we see things as an audience that she and other characters cannot possibly see when, for the most part, they very much can see it in front of their faces. I was a teenager once too (admittedly, not a girl) and knew/know a lot of teenagers. This is just too unbelievable and even if it was believable it's not interesting or good to watch in the form of a main character with her personality. It just doesn't work.
This episode summed up why I still watch
The Legend of Korra: She was barely in it and so there was no bad character development or choices for me to complain about, which let the good, even great, elements of this show shine through. I like Korra's character overall. I just wish she'd get over herself already!
