Avatar: The Last Airbender & Korra (SPOILERS)

Theozilla · Jul 26, 2012

Ryushikaze said:
There are the comics.

And 'Book 4.'

Specifically, The Lost Adventures (a collection of short stories written by the show writers set throughout all three Books), an animated comic called Escape From The Spirit World, The Promise, and the upcoming The Search.

Theozilla · Jul 28, 2012

Finally found a video that had all three parts of the "Making Of The Legend" commentary for episode 12 (note, it is combined with episode 11):

Plus a new interview that David Faustino, Seychelle Gabriel, P.J. Byrne, Max Nicholson, Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino and Janet Varney did with IGN about Book 2:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/27/the-legend-of-korra-cast-and-creators-talk-book-two

Max Nicholson of IGN said:
At Comic-Con, I had the pleasure of speaking with the cast and crew of The Legend of Korra: DiMartino, Konietzko, and stars Janet Varney (Korra), P.J. Byrne (Bolin), David Faustino (Mako) and Seychelle Gabriel (Asami). To start, we discussed the upcoming season and talked about what the characters have been up to since the end of Season 1.

As we learned at the Korra panel, the story picks up six months later. Mako has joined the Republic City Police Force as a cop. "He's making a big name for himself busting triads," said DiMartino. We also learned that Asami has taken over Future Industries from her father, who is now in prison. Following her breakup with Mako, Asami will be focusing on getting Hiroshi’s company back up and running. As Gabriel described it, her character is kind of like another misunderstood hero we might remember: “I saw this one cool meme about Asami that had these bullet points: she’s wealthy, she lost both of her parents, she was turned away by her love, and then it just said, ‘Asami is Batman.’”

Meanwhile, Bolin just wants to find his way in the world. "He’s trying to get back into pro-bending," said DiMartino. "There’s a lot of fun stuff in there, Bolin getting into shenanigans." But as the creator noted, Season 2 is all about Korra. "We’ll get more into the spiritual side of things; we’ll learn more about the Avatar State and the Spirit World."

Both creators knew that if they extended the original 12-episode order into multiple seasons, they would want to explore beyond Korra's years in training. "We wanted to jump farther ahead into Korra’s life," said Konietzko. "We didn’t want to just start with a kid who needed to learn all four elements. That was Aang’s story. We wanted this to provide opportunities and dynamics that were different for us. In that way, having Korra be older and starting out having mastered three of the elements gave us a different story to tell... Korra is now kind of the Avatar, so how does she deal with it? Even though she has all this power... she’s kind of the bull in the china shop. She rushes in and fights with emotion and gets a little hotheaded. So that still gives us a lot of opportunity in the writing room."

Adding to that, Varney recalled one instance in which she totally related with her iron-willed character. "I would not say that I am like Korra in all the ways that she’s amazing, but I am certainly like her in the ways that she’s headstrong and impatient. I was playing tennis not very long ago -- I love to play tennis, but I was not playing well -- and I actually thought to myself, 'Be the leaf!' [Laughs] I was so frustrated! I get so frustrated in situations like that, and I could hear that in my head. I literally thought, 'Korra had to learn, I have to learn,' and I played better!"

As the title of the season suggests, Korra will also be visiting the Spirit World in future episodes. While the creators mentioned that additional appearances from Avatar Aang are still possible, they also revealed that they have something special planned for Book Two. "We have one of the most flashback-y of flashbacks coming up," said DiMartino. "We have something in store. We don’t want to give it away quite yet. It seems like we always do some kind of flashback episode or sequence, something like that."

"We do have a history of doing that throughout Avatar," added Konietzko, "and I think that gives it a sense of history and mythology; it’s wider than just the story that you’re watching. And [in Book Two], we’re doing it in a bigger way than we’ve ever done it before. It definitely deals with the legacy of the Avatar."

In addition to its sprawling anthology, Book Two will delve deeper into its romantic story arcs as well. Some fans have expressed frustration with the pairing of Mako and Korra, but Faustino notes that he's well aware of the controversy. "I’m just trying to hide from the fangirls that are a little upset with Mako at this point," he joked. "He’s not really clearly deciding between Korra and Asami. There are some pissed off fangirls out there, so I’m in hiding." Added Konietzko, "We had to tell the fans online before the panel that David is not actually Mako."

DiMartino clarified the love interest situation: "Korra and Mako are now together," he said. "They both have these really important jobs. He’s a cop, she’s the Avatar -- and things can get a little complicated. They’re in these respectable positions, and they're trying to maintain this relationship. Then we have one of the most bizarre love stories for Bolin, which I don’t want to give away. In Avatar, we have plenty of relationship stuff going on -- love triangles and stuff like that -- but I think the ones we deal with in Book Two, we’ve never done before. They’re different dynamics."

Of course, one of the most popular (albeit platonic) relationships of Season 1 was found with Lin Beifong and Tenzin. Varney in particular expressed that Lin's sacrifice in "Turning the Tides" was a season staple. "I feel like it’s one of the biggest things that happens in Book One," she said. "I am so not over what happened to Lin Beifong. I am so not over it. That was one of my favorite things, getting all the tweets from people after that episode aired. So many people tweeted me saying, 'I cannot stop crying!' I love the Tenzin/Lin/Pema storyline."

"I think we’ve learned that it doesn’t matter what we do, we’ll always upset most people," said Konietzko of the romances. However, it's experimenting with these different dynamics that often pays off in some form or another. "Most movies and stuff, it’s all about leading up to the relationship happening. But very few things deal with 'Now we’re together,' [like with Korra and Mako] or 'It didn’t work out,' like with Tenzin and Beifong -- yeah, you still love these people, but it didn’t work out. I think those are kind of interesting things for us to deal with."

In any case, there's no denying that the fans have been in constant support of the show as a whole. Coming in on the heels of their enthusiastic panel, the cast and creators said the crowd reaction at Comic-Con was more than they ever could have hoped for. "We’re a little overwhelmed right now, but it’s awesome," remarked DiMartino. "We’ve seen some really great costumes. It’s pretty amazing."

"I think it kind of puts it into perspective for us," added Faustino. "We’ve been hearing that it was going to be like this, but hearing about it and experiencing it are two different things. This is the reality of what we’ve been hearing."

"To see the fans -- some of them dressed up like [our characters] -- we’re so blown away," said Byrne. "It’s a great opportunity for us to get that visceral feeling of the love that the fans have for the show... I think we actually need more TV like this. The lessons that Mike and Bryan put out there allow you to actually have conversations with your kids, and kids can question their parents about certain things; there's also a lovely mythology to it all. Hopefully the kids that are watching it now will ultimately watch it again with their own children."

Pretty interesting stuff. Although it seems the interview upset some people on tumblr because according to them "Bryke disregarded fan complaints and made sexist remarks"

Zealkin · Jul 29, 2012

? how was what they said sexist?

Theozilla · Jul 29, 2012

Zealkin said:
? how was what they said sexist?

Hypersensitive people on tumblr claiming because David Faustino used fangirl in this sentence

"I’m just trying to hide from the fangirls that are a little upset with Mako at this point," he joked. "He’s not really clearly deciding between Korra and Asami. There are some pissed off fangirls out there, so I’m in hiding."

instead of fans, he is somehow marginalizing female fans (and Bryke by extension are as well somehow?), (even though he is obviously not being serious and is making a joking sentence, and likely is simply speaking from the experience of the type of people who have sent Hate/Fan Dumb to him).

Tennyo · Jul 30, 2012

As a girl I don't find that offensive.

In fact I kind of agree.

Zealkin · Jul 30, 2012

Same, a large majority of fans that are like that are female, it's just the truth. Especially when it comes to the avatar fandom.

Don't even get me started with beliebers and one directioners...

Carlie · Jul 30, 2012

That isn't in offensive at all, it's the truth. It is however embarrassing that a lot of girls behave in this matter and that some people online assume that this is how every girl behaves online.

ForceStealer · Aug 5, 2012

Just powered through Korra. At first I wasn't too high on it, as the feeling is just so different from the first. But when the shit got real I was thoroughly engrossed. I love what a badass Tenzin can be when he turns it on. I do like they way all of the original heroes turned out, as I love epilogues like that and stuff.

Part of me felt technology advanced a LITTLE fast, but I suppose with all ~~four~~ three nations working together and not worried about killing one another you could make some pretty big strides in 70 years. 1930 to 2000 saw a pretty large technological leap, but TLA's world wasn't so much 1930 as it was medieval. Regardless, I was more or less sold on it, that was just my first impression.

It's interesting that bending is...genetic, more or less. I mean I wondered in the original show what was stopping anyone from learning another element but since everyone was so separated it seemed like less of an issue. (And Iroh learned to redirect lightning from waterbending, so that kind suggested that mixed styles could lead to other things). But apparently you don't even need ALL THAT MUCH training to have a little bit of aptitude in whatever you god-given element is. I guess the secularization of bending, which makes some sense, says the old martial-arts sources of the power were more traditional than fundamental.

And speaking of, that's really my only big complaint with the show, the bending itself just seemed less inventive. A commenter somewhere described it as "just long range punching," and he/she has something of a point. There were exceptions, usually always centered around Lin, but most of the time, especially with probending's boxing-style bending, every element just looked like long-range punching. Whereas in the original show people often came up with inventive uses of their element. Also, true to the staple of bad-guys-turning-good-makes-them-suck, fire bending seemed a lot more useful before good guys could use it.

Also I hate relationship bullshit. Maybe I'm just a typical boy that wants explosions and no mushy stuff, the relationships in the avatar series are what exposes it as a kid's show. Korra is at least of relationship age as opposed to Aang, but it was still poorly done and I simply don't give a crap. One thing I love about FF7 is that that dreaded "LTD" is almost entirely fan created. The game hardly wastes time with it except to plant a few seeds and move on to the stuff we give a shit about.

Anyway, I don't really like being the negative one, but all the good stuff I agreed with and while there was plenty of talk about Mako I didn't see any mention of the bending questions I had. But really, it was good. I enjoyed it a lot and I look forward to more.

I have a question that's probably been answered though, why did Korra never go into the Avatar State in Limit Break fashion? I get that she wasn't spiritual and all that so she would never be able to willfully utilize it while she remained that way. However, the way it manifests itself was described as a mechanism for protecting the Avatar from extreme peril, I don't see how your personal level of spirituality would prevent that failsafe. The two times I thought it was going to manifest was both times Amon was about to de-bend her.

Zealkin · Aug 6, 2012

ForceStealer said:
I have a question that's probably been answered though, why did Korra never go into the Avatar State in Limit Break fashion? I get that she wasn't spiritual and all that so she would never be able to willfully utilize it while she remained that way. However, the way it manifests itself was described as a mechanism for protecting the Avatar from extreme peril, I don't see how your personal level of spirituality would prevent that failsafe. The two times I thought it was going to manifest was both times Amon was about to de-bend her.

I kept asking myself that whenever she was in danger of being equalized. I thought it was because the past avatars all knew she wasn't in real danger, combined with that you might have to be in danger of dying for the avatar state to manifest. All of that combined with her lack of spirituality makes Avatar State a no-go. That's just my theory anyway

Ite · Aug 6, 2012

On the subject of technology, I had the same funny feeling until my roommates started watching A:tlA and I saw all the high tech tanks and drills and ships and stuff that the fire nation uses, with the Fire Nation on board I don't doubt that Republic City would have been a technological hub -- maybe places like Ba Sing Se would have been slower to catch up.

ForceStealer · Aug 6, 2012

Yeah...it's just that the Fire Nation in TLA used technology that was decidedly steampunk. Korra certainly had plenty of steampunk stuff, but it also seemed to have things that were rather..."normal." Internal combustion vehicles, steel and glass skyscrapers, etc. But like I said after a few episodes it stopped bothering me.

Pixel · Aug 6, 2012

I tried watching an episode of Korra, but there was one thing that really bugged me. The voice of one of the adult male characters.... think a fire bender, has a childs voice. It just really took me out of it. Ill probably start watching TLA from the beginning this week

ForceStealer · Aug 6, 2012

I assume you mean the general? The one episode must have been near the end of the show in that case, also he turned out to be younger than everyone assumed from how he looked given that he's of the same generation as the main characters.

That said, you should probably watch TLA first anyway.

Tetsujin · Aug 6, 2012

I started watching Avatar last weekend.

Now I'm already halfway though the series. :wacky:

Ryushikaze · Aug 6, 2012

Theozilla · Aug 6, 2012

ForceStealer said:
Yeah...it's just that the Fire Nation in TLA used technology that was decidedly steampunk. Korra certainly had plenty of steampunk stuff, but it also seemed to have things that were rather..."normal." Internal combustion vehicles, steel and glass skyscrapers, etc. But like I said after a few episodes it stopped bothering me.

It is more a case of Reality Is Unrealistic, the creators of show have said that they designed the period of time that ATLA took place to be technologically equivalent to the 1850s which is why 70 years later in TLOK the era is approximately technologically equivalent to the 1920s.

ForceStealer said:
I assume you mean the general? The one episode must have been near the end of the show in that case, also he turned out to be younger than everyone assumed from how he looked given that he's of the same generation as the main characters.

That said, you should probably watch TLA first anyway.

Yeah, General Iroh's voice actor (who also voiced Zuko from ATLA), Dante Basco, just has a really young sounding voice in real life, even though man is actually 36 (soon to be 37).

ForceStealer · Aug 6, 2012

circa 1850 was still a lot later than I would have pegged TLA, Fire Nation steampunk notwithstanding. It seemed a lot less advanced than that and all the world's steampunk technologies were all coming from one dude. After all, swords were no longer the combat weapon of choice in 1850 (though they were still used).
But that's interesting, thanks.

Tetsujin · Aug 11, 2012

So I just finished watching Avatar and dude, it was awesome. Why did I wait so long to watch this? :lol:

Moving on to Korra, I guess. :p

ForceStealer · Aug 11, 2012

haha, why indeed? Yeah it's pretty amazing. As I said, I was originally put off by how different Korra feels off the bat, but it definitely sucked me in after a couple episodes so keep with it :monster:

Tetsujin · Aug 11, 2012

I just watched the first episode of Korra, and omg, technological advances in a fantasy setting? :awesome:

I'm kind of used to seeing fantasy worlds always stay the same no matter how much time has passed. :lol:

I also like how the download I got somehow takes less space per episode than TLA despite the fact those were typical internet quality downloads with compression artifacts etc and this one is crystal clear HD. :wacky:

And it looks awesome in HD. :monster:

Theozilla · Aug 17, 2012

Big news, Avatar fans!
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/17/the-legend-of-korra-the-movie

IGN said:
The Legend of Korra: The Movie?
Paramount pushes for new animated feature films.
Big news, Avatar fans! Thanks to Paramount Animation, we may soon be getting a Legend of Korra movie.

Paramount has remained pretty quiet since the studio's animation division was launched last summer, announcing little else than a sequel to The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. However, now that DreamWorks is in talks to move to another studio, Paramount has recently ramped up its animation plans by hiring seven writers to tackle projects, some of which Mary Parent and J.J. Abrams will oversee. What's more, Paramount chief Brad Grey has been tasked with hitting up its sister division Nickelodeon for animated properties including The Legend of Korra, Dora the Explorer and Monkey Quest.

According to Variety, Paramount has stated that they want to keep budgets around $100 million or less, similar to features like Despicable Me and the latest installment of Ice Age.

Of course, the most exciting prospect here for many of us is a Korra movie, which would mark Nick's second attempt at bringing its Avatar franchise to the big screen. M. Night Shyamalan's live-action film The Last Airbender was widely disdained by critics and fans alike, so a shift towards animated features that continue the TV series makes sense.

But what say you? Do you think the Avatar series is up for another go in theaters? Let us hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Ite · Aug 17, 2012

If its animated and not fucking shitty I would love it. Assumedly.

If its live action it's gonna have a big job ahead of it trying to make me not hate it.

Theozilla · Aug 17, 2012

Mr. Ite said:
If its animated and not fucking shitty I would love it. Assumedly.

If its live action it's gonna have a big job ahead of it trying to make me not hate it.

Well the article said that Paramount Animation was hitting up Nickelodeon for its IPs, so presumably, yes, it would be an animated film.

Carlie · Aug 17, 2012

Wouldn't it make more sense to make an animated ATLA movie first? The Last Airbender cannot be the only adaptation made for the series, that's just insulting. As for a Korra movie I'm completely skeptical about it.

Theozilla · Aug 17, 2012

Aeryn Sun said:
Wouldn't it make more sense to make an animated ATLA movie first? The Last Airbender cannot be the only adaptation made for the series, that's just insulting. As for a Korra movie I'm completely skeptical about it.

Perhaps, if the film was indeed an adaptation of previous material, but since it seems to be an animated film I think it is more likely that it would be an original story. Like how most anime films are as well.

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