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If nothing else, the major antagonists should actually be effective.


Saladus
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I would say it was hilarious how we ended up talking about Legend of Korra, but we ended up talking about Nazi Germany in another thread so

Well it's not that far off, if you think about it. The Legend of Korra had efficient, but mind-numbingly boring, villains. There are so many things from that series that could serve as a guide for how to not squander potential. Korra isn't bad per se, it's just that it could've been so much more.

But as I like to say, at least it's not Naruto.

Edited by Thane
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The Legend of Korra had efficient, but mind-numbingly boring, villains.

For the most part! I think Tarlaak (sp?) was a pretty cool villain. It's not like it was a big surprise he turned out to be bad, but I thought he was reasonably interesting. I would have liked a bit more understanding of why he went from apparently being a pretty nice guy to being an arse like his pa. I guess "power corrupts" is what we were supposed to get out of that.

Also, I don't have strong memories of season 2 for the most part besides enjoying the addition of Verrick (sp?), but I really loved the origin story for the Avatar.

Edited by Severlan
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For the most part! I think Tarlaak (sp?) was a pretty cool villain. It's not like it was a big surprise he turned out to be bad, but I thought he was reasonably interesting. I would have liked a bit more understanding of why he went from apparently being a pretty nice guy to being an arse like his pa. I guess "power corrupts" is what we were supposed to get out of that.

Also, I don't have strong memories of season 2 for the most part besides enjoying the addition of Verrick (sp?), but I really loved the origin story for the Avatar.

Maybe I forgot to make it clear, but when I talk negatively about The Legend of Korra, I mostly exclude the first season because it's obvious they had a clear idea of what they wanted to do and how they would go about doing it. Aside from the love triangles, pro bending (shudder) and a rushed ending, it really is pretty damn good. Tarrlok and Amon are actually intimidating villains in very different ways, and they portray that well.

No one has any strong memories of season two aside from the episodes about the first Avatar, although I personally didn't enjoy that as well. I know I sound grumpy, but at least it's almost universally accepted that the second season of The Legend of Korra is the worst Avatar season by FAR - and for good reasons. Varrick never becomes a true villain, it merely shows us he was more of a businessman than we gave him credit for; he's back later and joins up with Team Avatar (why are they a team again? They're a band of acquaintances!) in a genuinely hilarious scene.

As for the other villains: Unalaq is a more boring version of Tarrlok who has no motive or personality, Zaheer and his ridiculously powerful merry bunch of misfits are hyped up only to come crashing down hard, not to mention the only one of importance in the team there is Zaheer - here's a fun one, try remembering the other three team members' names. Most people can't, because they're completely irrelevant to the plot and they're supposed to be main villains.

And we've already talked about Kuvira...sigh. And everything was set up so perfectly, as well...

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Varrick never becomes a true villain, it merely shows us he was more of a businessman than we gave him credit for; he's back later and joins up with Team Avatar (why are they a team again? They're a band of acquaintances!) in a genuinely hilarious scene.

Ya, I didn't mean to imply that Varrick was a particularly important villain, just that I liked his addition to the series.

Amon was definitely intimidating but I didn't think his ideas were very enthralling. I liked Zaheer's personality or way of conducting himself, but I thought his motivations were pretty awful. You are right about his accomplices being throwaways. Also, it's not a big thing, but I can't really figure out why they had Zuko show up. I mean, I guess he was still pretty cool, he did have a dragon and all, but unlike with Toph they didn't really try and do anything with him as a character, and Katara at least did useful healing over the course of the series.

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Ya, I didn't mean to imply that Varrick was a particularly important villain, just that I liked his addition to the series.

Amon was definitely intimidating but I didn't think his ideas were very enthralling. I liked Zaheer's personality or way of conducting himself, but I thought his motivations were pretty awful. You are right about his accomplices being throwaways. Also, it's not a big thing, but I can't really figure out why they had Zuko show up. I mean, I guess he was still pretty cool, he did have a dragon and all, but unlike with Toph they didn't really try and do anything with him as a character, and Katara at least did useful healing over the course of the series.

Oh definitely, which made me wonder why they even bothered to keep having Bolin in the series; I've never experienced a more forced comic relief, and he made me laugh once.

I did actually find Amon genuinely interesting because his ideas were so different from what we had seen in The Last Airbender. You've got these people who can control the elements and then...the rest. That would logically lead to all sorts of trouble. Now, I don't think they showed it properly since they were too busy focusing on having Korra trying to get into Mako's pants and win a sports tournament (are we watching a high school anime?), but it's definitely an interesting approach.

I hated Zaheer as a character thoroughly. As cynical as this makes me sound, I realized exactly what kind of villain he'd be and that he'd appeal to people who think they're politically savvy because they "oppose the system" when they really don't. Obviously, this doesn't apply to everyone who liked him, but I've seen so, SO many people trying to explain why Zaheer was right, when he himself realized he fucked up beyond repair later.

Zaheer holds speeches about chaos being the natural order of things - which is a mother of all clichés - and then he mercilessly threatens to commit genocide, and people still try to defend him. His supposed masterplan which the Avatar could "never see coming" was...to kill her. They also tried kidnapping her when she was a kid but hey, it's okay if you forgot all about that, because the writers did as well. When it comes down to it all the mystery about who they were and why they were doing it, leads nowhere and they're shown to be nothing more than powerful anarchists. Nothing more, and nothing less, and his companions are just there to use cool techniques.

As for Zuko, there are more ways of catering to the fans than showing hot people in sexy poses. Zuko is popular, and he was thrown in there because he'd attract viewers whether or not he would actually accomplish anything. He made nice reference and that was about it. I'd honestly say Toph is in the same position, since she didn't manage to solve Korra's problem anyway, but at least she actually got to do SOMETHING other than just spewing exposition; of course, it was pretty horrible to see that one of my favorite characters hadn't grown at all in 70 years.

Katara remains the only one from The Last Airbender whose role feels natural, most likely because it was planned from the very beginning.

I swear this used to be a Fire Emblem forum...

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I'd like Garon to NOT say any of the following phrases:

"You can't defeat me, I'M INVINCIBLE."

"NO, IMPOSSIBLE." (proceeds to immediately die)

I know humility is asking for a lot, but it'd probably help them with their chances of success if they acknowledge something may go wrong with their grand evil scheme and they're ready to adapt to it.

I agree, a better death quote would be: "Haha, You won, but only because I raised you... I MADE you what you are... And you have become the so-called 'evil' you claim to be fighting... (Maniacal laughter ensues as he starts to fade from consciousness.)"

Edited by Josephthebroseph
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They also tried kidnapping her when she was a kid but hey, it's okay if you forgot all about that, because the writers did as well.

You know, it just occurred to me how odd and twisted it would be if they had plans to kill her in avatar mode when they tried to kidnap her as a kid. "OK, we're going to train her to reach Avatar mode and then kill her as soon as she accesses it."

I hated Zaheer as a character thoroughly. As cynical as this makes me sound, I realized exactly what kind of villain he'd be and that he'd appeal to people who think they're politically savvy because they "oppose the system" when they really don't. Obviously, this doesn't apply to everyone who liked him, but I've seen so, SO many people trying to explain why Zaheer was right, when he himself realized he fucked up beyond repair later.

Probably my favorite thing about Zaheer is that he was completely obsessed with Airbending prior to being an Airbender, and then, randomly for all we know, received the ability to airbend and LIVE THE DREAM. He was totally gonna get his ass kicked by Tenzin prior to getting assistance from his sidekicks, though.

I swear this used to be a Fire Emblem forum...

Shush.

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