Avatar: The Last Airbender & Korra (SPOILERS)

Lex

Administrator
@Clement: You're coming at it from a tumblr-ey fandom perspective though, I'm more talking about how media is generally perceived and how our brains are trained from a young age to view interactions. I understand your point, but I think it bears pointing out that "every interaction being perceived as romantic" isn't necessarily "true".

For example when I was younger I liked the Cloud/ Zack pairing from VII, but I understood that their interactions weren't written to be romantic and unless a person is completely delusional the vast majority of people would have the same perception. Shippers of the pairing generally understand that too, but promote the fantasy or convey different meanings behind their actual interactions in their writing or whatever to give it a more grounded basis, but that doesn't necessarily mean those shippers believed those interactions were romantic.

In the case of Korra and Asami, the nods to the romance are pretty overt in book 4 but people explained it away or overlooked it because of their own preconceptions and expectations. So I guess I don't really agree with your overall point, because this isn't exactly a situation where two people are having interactions that could be misinterpreted as more friendly than romantic unless viewed with an entirely straight lens.
 
In the case of Korra and Asami, the nods to the romance are pretty overt in book 4 but people explained it away or overlooked it because of their own preconceptions and expectations.
Let's not forget that many of us assumed that the creators of the show would "follow the rules" and not introduce a gay couple in a cartoon "for kids". The "straight lens" also involves the expectations we have from the creators and the medium in question. Strictly speaking though, they didn't break the rules so much as BEND them.

CUWUTIDIDDAR :awesome: BEND THE RULES :lol:

As strong as the hints were in Book 4, the fact remains that we only got 100% confirmation via the interviews that followed shortly after the finale. Now we are also blessed with a canon comic that deals with homo/bi issues in the ATLA/Korra universe. As great as these things are I'll always mourn the fact that we didn't get these victories in-show.
 

Carlie

CltrAltDelicious
AKA
Chloe Frazer
Clement: This isn't exactly about fandom shipping, fandoms ships characters together all the time independently of them having anything in canon that supports it or not. We all know this, hell we're part of a fandom that's rather infamous for their shipping. What Lex and I are referring is subtle hints in canon about characters having romantic/sexual feelings for someone of the same sex.

Is not hard to tell that Azula behaves towards Ty Lee rather differently than she does with anyone else. And yes they're childhood friends but so is Mai and there's quite the difference in interactions between those two. From the moment Ty Lee is introduced Azula shows a warmness and possessiveness towards her that's rather non-platonic. The episodes that show the more hints about Azula's romantic interest in Ty Lee are The Beach and The Boiling Rock Part 2.

In the former there's the scene were boys are helping Ty Lee unpack and Azula shows signs of jealousy. Then there's the scene at the end when Ty Lee is talking about why she ran away from her family because she felt unremarkable and lacking an individual personality around her identical looking sisters. While Azula looks genuinely sympathetic but hides it when Ty Lee looks her way. There's also the scene were Ty Lee roleplays as Azula's boyfriend to teach her how to flirt that's typical Bryke trolling. One of the descriptions Bryke gave for the episode was that Azula and Ty Lee were acting as foil to Mai and Zuko, you now a couple. As for the Boiling Rock when Mai betrays Azula, she's furious and is obvious Azula was going to execute her. Yet when Ty Lee intervenes Azula goes from angry to devastated but instead of executing them she tells the guards to imprisoned them instead.

As for Korrasami I would argue that it wasn't even all that subtle in Book 3. I picked on it immediately but because Bryke are trolls and it was a children's show I refused to get my hopes up that it would lead to anything. It was pretty fucking obvious in Book 4.
 

Lex

Administrator
As strong as the hints were in Book 4, the fact remains that we only got 100% confirmation via the interviews that followed shortly after the finale. Now we are also blessed with a canon comic that deals with homo/bi issues in the ATLA/Korra universe. As great as these things are I'll always mourn the fact that we didn't get these victories in-show.

This tells me that you're still kind of missing the point Shad :monster:

If Asami was male the creators wouldn't have had to make a blog post. That's the point. The romantic nature of the ending (and all the moments before) would never have been in question.
 
As strong as the hints were in Book 4, the fact remains that we only got 100% confirmation via the interviews that followed shortly after the finale. Now we are also blessed with a canon comic that deals with homo/bi issues in the ATLA/Korra universe. As great as these things are I'll always mourn the fact that we didn't get these victories in-show.

This tells me that you're still kind of missing the point Shad :monster:

If Asami was male the creators wouldn't have had to make a blog post. That's the point. The romantic nature of the ending (and all the moments before) would never have been in question.
How am I missing a point when I don't see anything wrong with what you're telling me? :wacky: When I watched the finale, I felt that Korrasami had just been shown to us. Speaking only from my own point of view, a confirmation from the authors was not needed. The blog post that came later was just a bonus.

But when taking into account the society we live in, and the fact of just how new it is to have LGBT represented in cartoons for kids, of course some people will require author confirmation or better yet, an on-screen kiss. That's why a Korrasami kiss would have mattered. Not for me personally, but to show beyond all reasonable doubt to everyone that "YES, THIS SHOW IS NOW DOING THIS". To begin removing the "straight lens", media needs to be blatantly obvious one way or another.
 

Lex

Administrator
I don't disagree, but you said "we only got 100% confirmation via the interviews that followed" which said to me you don't think the show confirmed the pairing, now you're saying you did. I understand now that you're talking about everyone else's perspective rather than your own, but what I'm saying is that "removing the straight lens" is as much the responsibility of the people watching the show as it is the showrunners.

In the case of Book 4 I suspect they did as much as they thought they could get away with, and correct me if I'm wrong but I'm sure the showrunners have confirmed this themselves. And I do think Book 4 made it blatantly obvious. Tbh, it's my favourite romance in the Avatar universe, not just because it's daring and progressive, but also because it's sparked these kinds of discussions :monster:

I myself missed a hundred cues when I first watched Books 3 and 4. I might be slightly less inclined to "the straight lens" since I'm gay, but I was brought up with and exposed to the same media and expectations as everyone else. I saw hints and moments, but never in a million years did I imagine they'd end the show the way they did. I'm still impressed with it to this day. When I rewatched it I picked up on so much more that I'd missed before, and that in part is due to the fact that the straight lens was completely removed for me as soon as I saw the ending. It made me aware that even I was prone to it, and for that reason I'm thankful they did what they did.

What I have a problem with is the torrents upon torrents of people who just absolutely refused to accept it as a possibility after watching the finale. "That's not a romantic relationship" and all those kinds of reactions bugged me, because at that point it's the straight lens + willful ignorance. I remember feeling a strong sense of relief when Bryan later made his blog post about it.

So I don't think we're actually disagreeing with each other Shad, I think maybe we're just thinking about it differently. I get what you're saying and I too think it could have been executed in a more overt way so that people weren't questioning it (hello LTD moment), but I also know that if Asami was a male character none of this discussion would be happening - which leads me to reiterate my opinion that I really like the way it was handled in spite of it being unclear for people who are unable to see past their own expectations. It's overt enough to be clear and emotional but subtle enough to not overshadow anything else that's going on, which is IMO how every romance should be handled. Makorra in Book 2 was a complete fucking disaster!

Also part of what made the finale so powerful is that the straight lens is now gone for millions of Avatar fans. In particular I think those who doubted the pairing and then had it confirmed post-viewing will go in to other bits of media with their eyes slightly more open from now on, and that's an incredibly encouraging thought.
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
I wasn't surprised by Korra and Asami, like everyone said, it was pretty obvious through season 4. It's just that I couldn't care that much because Legend of Korra had gone to great lengths to annoy with every possible character. I'm not generally a shipper anyway, but I wasn't looking for anyone to wind up together in LoK because I kinda thought they were all terrible, lol. Asami usually seemed like the only good, rational person being constantly subjected to everyone else. That's not to say it isn't momentous or anything...it's just always an effort for me to temper my general disappointment with LoK, haha.

As for Azula, I'm just with Shad in that it's not so much that I found it inconceivable that she liked Ty Lee, but rather that her craziness dominated my perception of her character. She didn't strike me as a sexual being. It's the same phenomenon that is why I'm always confused when people try so hard to ship Sephiroth. Nothing about him ever struck me as ever thinking about something like love or sex.
 

Clement Rage

Pro Adventurer
Korrasami's canon, no question, but for Azula I'm not sure it stretches beyond the 'shipping hints' level. She probably had as many intimate moments with Zuko. But then, I've spent so long among shippers that my inclination is to resist the idea that any given characters are in love unless it is very explicit.
 

Cloud_S

Pro Adventurer
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So it is upscaled, but potentially better than any fan-group could do. I just hope they put some love into it (this is Nickelodeon after all...still waiting on that ATLA OST....) and the issues that plagued the first ATLA DVD are no longer present. Also please god be progressive and not interlaced.


I presume you all would like these so:


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Cloud_S

Pro Adventurer
http://www.framecompare.com/screenshotcomparison/JC0CNNNU

DVD
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Blu-ray
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Damn... the first couple of episodes still have that haloing/sharpening effect like the DVDs. I refuse to believe the original video master was like that. Bryke wouldn't do that. I have to assume they just used the same master and upscaled via some method. I really wish Nick had more care for shows that had strong storytelling and not the usual episodic crap they generally air. At the very least no interlacing though?

Will keep you all posted when I find screens of the other seasons (and more of season 1 once they go beyond episodes with this issue).
 
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Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
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Carlie

CltrAltDelicious
AKA
Chloe Frazer
Nickelodeon has partnered with Abrams Children’s Books for a new series of YA novels set in the universe of The Last Airbender, and centered on Avatar Kyoshi.

It will two books long, the first will release on July 2019. Written by F.C Yee with supervision of co-creator Michael Dante Dimartino.

It seens it will be a substantial book as according to Abrams' website the first novel will be 336 pages long.

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A reimagined, live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series is coming to Netflix

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Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
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http://www.penguinrandomhouseretail.com/book/?isbn=9781506708942

Korra must decide who to trust as the fate of the Earth Kingdom hangs in the balance! On the eve of its first elections, the Earth Kingdom finds its future endangered by its past. Even as Kuvira stands trial for her crimes, vestiges of her imperial ambitions threaten to undermine the nation’s democratic hopes. But when Korra, Asami, Mako, and Bolin don’t all see eye-to-eye as to the solution, drastic measures will be taken to halt a new march to war!

Written by creators Michael Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Release date: May 21, 2019
 
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