The Krew ain't it.
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0:00 Intro
0:24 The Gaang
7:54 The Krew’s Motivations
17:09 Bending & Skill Sets
22:49 The Tenzin Problem
"They feel more like coworkers than friends" Is the perfect way to describe a team without much of a chemistry
LMAO 😂! That's Exactly what there chemistry was like! (Your reply was so f-ing funny!)
They felt like Korras harem to me 😂
Honestly to this day I cannot for the life of me see why the new team avatar (LoK) are friends and stayed friends throughout the show (especially Asami). Their team bond NEVER formed, even by season 4 I was like WHY ARE THEY FRIENDS?
It’s just Korra and her Harem
Facts, that or just a bunch of swingers
Korra's team can be summed up as: the avatar, her ex, her ex's brother (who also has a crush on her), and her future girlfriend, and what's worse is that is EXACTLY how the dynamic feels through the show.
Without context that kinda sounds gross...
@@lynxfresh5214it’s kinda gross with the context too. It’s a dynamic that doesn’t really work at all imo 🤷🏾♀️
And her future gf also dated her ex
it's really messy
I always hated Asami/Korra being together. Like why would Asami date the girl who purposely kissed your boyfriend, knowing he was in a relationship? But noooo, the kiss was all Mako’s fault. 😒 Granted, yeah he should’ve told Asami, but I hated how Korra just got off scot free, when she initiated the kiss to begin with.
Aangs Team were his teachers, allys and friends. Korras Team is basically just her personal sexual interests.
That along with other things basically shows why the show is terrible
Don’t forget that none of Korra’s Team really has any reason to hang around her beyond romance and random hijinks. The issue gets so obvious that they have to force romance drama through Season 3 just to keep Mako where the action is, and they string Bolin along because he isn’t allowed to be independent whatsoever in the show. Asami is usually just showing up by convenience or to provide drama. If the Equalists had killed Mako and Bolin’s parents, naturally they’d have had more of a reason to be involved with Korra’s mission in Season 1, as Korra recklessly went behind Tenzin and Lin’s backs to take the fight to Amon. It could’ve been an opportunity for Korra’s Team to naturally grow together. Instead, they meet on a sports team and only become friends due to a love triangle. Mako and Bolin then stay around purely for this reason, never making any big contributions of their own and often just watching as other characters accomplish things. By Season 4, Bolin is entirely separated from Korra and Mako is only around her to make awkward remarks and to guard Prince Wu (and we never get any reason as to why such a big matter is handled by Mako, a rookie cop, rather than the White Lotus or Lin Beifong herself). Asami, as usual, is hanging around Korra for no explained reason, and the writers force cheesy scenes between them even though they haven’t had any real chemistry since they met. Legend of Korra legit blows.
@@Doomzdeh Did you not pay attention? The "romance drama" was dropped completely by Book 3. The most it amounts to is Mako being awkward around Korra and Asami in episode 1, then it's gone. More importantly, Asami was hanging around Korra because she has feelings for her. In the comics she says she realized this while Korra was recuperating in the South Pole. Also, she and Korra had AMAZING chemistry together. Legend of Korra legit rocks.
Legend of korra’s title should be changed to legend of the love triangles
Korra and her concubines
I love how when Toph is explaining how she sees to Appa, he’s listening so intently. What a good boy :3
I’m 100% convinced appa understands what people are saying. He reacts to speech in complex ways all the time that even a very empathetic animal couldn’t understand. In the jungle episode it’s even pointed out that he understands speech, when the swamp bender talks about eating him and he takes of.
@@karlfranzemperorofmandefil5547given how close airbenders and skybisons are, to a spiritual level, I don't doubt that skybisons learned to understand human language to such a high extent
Appa and Momo are the best writing of an inteligent creature that doesn't talk, that I've seen in any piece of media.
@@MegaMGstudiosIt also explains why Momo can't understand human speech. He is from the Southern Air Temple post genocide. There were no airbenders around to listen to.
@@Theroha Yea, momo's like a kid that just doesn't speak any english to me
Gaang: Found family Krew: Co-workers
Yes
Gaang: found family Krew: Korra's harem (including korra's ex, korra's exs brother who has a crush on her and the future girlfriend who she cucked by forcing herself on her first ex)
Ko-workers who date despite it being frowned upon by the company
@@KEEPTALKIN8215lmao
Yes
I really want to point out how Appa and Momo were OFTEN shown to be on screen, fighting enemies, usually without anyone hovering over them "protecting" them. Can't say the same for Korra's pets.
I think Naga was at least proactive. But uh yeah Pabu not as much
Ehh pabu had his moments, like when he woke Bolin up when Korra was getting kidnapped, and chewing through the ropes when Amon had crashed the Probending Fight
Ngl, I occasionally even FORGOT Naga existed, and Pabu was just the mandatory team mascot.
Momo was probably one of the worst parts of the first avatar show, every scene with that animal was boring af
naga did have quite a few strong moments the difference between naga and appa is obvious tho appa is like the literal transportion device for the whole gang, naga is not. and pabu is just a softy who likes to eat i guess.
I think a big problem with them is that the previous team was a bunch of likable outcasts who people related to, but the new team is just the cool kids made into a superhero team, complete with the strong outgoing rebel girl, the cool, angsty star athlete jock guy, the talkative muscle bound and funny himbo, and the rich talented pretty girl. That’s all they are, and why they all barely have anything about them.
Okay, I’m not gonna lie. The Red Lotus members seemed more of a better dynamic than them, and I genuinely wanted to see more of them interacting.
Korra wasnt a rebel. She resisted the white lotus at some points, but only really just did what they wanted in a different way. To actually change and be critical of the world she inhabits is not something korra does. She gets wrapped up in her own feels most of the time and saving people often seems like a side quest to her. Now when i watch the show, i always wish the red lotus succeeded in killing her
@@nash6568the red lotus were so much better than korras group lol
I cheered for the red lotus. In a couple épisodes they felt like a team of friends with history. The lack of flaws in the krew hurts them. They have no issues and no growth. Mako and asami are the same in season 1 and 4... Bolin has a bit of an arc, finally settling with opal. But thats very little charactérisation.
One of the biggest overarching motifs of TLOK was the loss of spiritual identity. The loss of culture, and pride in one’s ability to bend. Everything has become automated, bending has been relegated to nothing more than a means of self defense, and intimidation. I was hoping that the show would lean into the characters, and the world as a a whole rediscovering the importance of bending on a cultural, spiritual, and personal level. But we never got that, not in any significant way at least. All we really got was superficial icing on the narrative cake; giant omnipotent kites, and weird floating spirit creatures. The only time I felt the theme of hammering home cultural values was really pushed was in the case of Tenzin, and his quest to restore the air nation. TLOK could’ve been so interesting. What a shame.
I agree with all of what you said! As someone who has struggled with my own spirituality, I think Korra would've been a great show if it stuck to focusing on those themes you mentioned. It could've been such a great story with great messages. But unfortunately, it seems that Korra was doomed to become just another typical good vs evil plot.
You said what was in my heart and I couldn't put it into words
They could’ve additionally brought in a political element with the potential restoration of the Earth Sages to power. They apparently directed the Earth Kingdom’s policies both internally and diplomatically in the age of Kyoshi.
Omg They could’ve done SO MUCH with the premise that benders are so intimidating to nonbenders! There’s the physical danger, the financial/career limitations (benders have access to bending specific jobs), and the social/political limitations (benders tend to be higher up politically and I can see them just generally grouping together). It didn’t help that as soon as the avatar rocked up to Republic City she immediately beat up a non bending protester who was talking about exactly this thing!
@@badboyluvrWell same thing can be said about culture. Nothing more than another plot cliche. The only thing that matters if it’s something you like it or not.
My biggest problem was how fragmented the whole group felt. The Gaang felt like they were with Aang until the end but the members of the New Team Avatar would be on their own and not even interact with each other until midway within the season and the fact that each season was like a miniseries didn't help keep them together either.
Didn't help that they kept on telling the audience 'We're team avatar!', when they just pale in comparison
It kind of bothered me that their interactions just weren't cohesive, at least to me.
@@WildWolfGod they were acting their age. Team Gaang was way more mature and understanding whils team Korra was a teen drama where half of them didnt act like teens but younger...
@@youtubestudiosucks978I’m not sure how you expect some teens that went through so much to be able to keep it all together and act as if nothing happened. Both Mako and Bolin lost their parents, made it more than apparent that they lived on the streets for years. Asami’s mother died and she even had to witness her own father become corrupted thanks to Amon. Even in our own world, it is known that drama is no stranger to the life of a teenager, so even after everything that these kids went through, why would you expect for there to be no drama? I am so tired of seeing Gaang d-riders act like everything was okay with the Gaang. Katara and Toph were always fighting in the early stages where they were getting to know each other, and even Aang didn’t want to face most of the greater problems that he had to deal with. So stop making it seem like Korra and her team were just some dumb teenagers making mistakes, because they were just trying to make the best of what they had.
@@youtubestudiosucks978Well the only reason the writers make Aangs team OP because they are up against the whole world and they are kids. And this is a kid show. Thats why they can beat everyone all the time LOL
Honestly Tenzin always felt like the real co-protagonist (outside of obvious protagonist Korra) which is probably why we all love him. Heck, Suyin feels more like a protagonist than friggin' BOLIN. Who bended the poison out of Korra? She did. Who came up with the idea? Jinora. What did team Avatar do? Stand there, looking worried, with Bolin doing a little funny quip at the end. Not exactly integral to the storyline.
I liked Tenzin, he was one of the Characters with the most development, and I always read him as an Old Man Aang.
Tenzin and Lin felt like the real team avatar in korra lowkey
It kinda makes sense because in ATLA the focus was mainly put on kids surrounded by adults who usually seemed to be less capable than them. In TLOK it's kinda the opposite.
It's like a bad DM who ran a great first campaign, then got the players all excited about the new one taking place years later in the same world... only to find out that he got obsessed and wrote so much backstory and plot connections for the NPCs that they went from "exciting callbacks for the players' benefit" to "the Actual PC's of the new campaign." It's exactly like this in Korra; the Krew feels like NPCs that the DM is tired and annoyed at having to rope into the plot of his fanfic based on the old campaign, so he does a crappy job of it and gives all the cool character moments to his own pet characters, oblivious to that fact because he imagines that the players are more excited about it than they actually are. The loved their old characters, sure, but they want to _move on and play the game_ with their new characters, not spend 3/4ths of every session watching the DM talk to himself. It's the only reason they're here, and the DM has lost sight of that. Source: I was a bad DM who did this to my players once. 😞
@@achimdemus-holzhaeuser1233But Tenzin had a whole episode where he realizes that he is not Aang.😭
If Aang is the glue that holds the whole team together, Korra is the hammer that smashes a wall apart. Before that ending, Korra went basically caused a love triangle through a mixture of blatant stupidity and casual pettiness. It's more a wonder why Bolin, Mako, or Asami put up with her shit and not just leave her to do their own things.
Socially stunted teenager that spent her entire life in isolation does something stupid that ruins a social dynamic between herself and others. Holy shit, the world is falling apart. That *NEVER* happens.
@@pickcollins9910 Yeah, total isolation that involves her being around other people to learn basic social skills while training and still visiting her family often. Total social pariah that one.
@@pickcollins9910 Is that supposed to make us like her more? Or are you just admitting that Korra is unlikeable?
@@shorewallC'mon she gets better in S3.
@@ninab.4540 That requires that you put up with Korra for two seasons, which if her social ineptitude really grinds your gears, there's no reason to get to S3. For almost all intents and purposes, Korra is the main, if not only, reason you watch the show and if she's unlikable then the show is useless.
The problem is Mako is so bland and uninteresting, Bolin felt forced and corny and Asami was pushed under the rug and very under utilized
Blah, blah blah. More opinions that are vague and uninformed.
@@ShaftCommander Would you like to share your own opinion rather then just calling others trash?
Actually, they could have brought a good storyline if they added maybe mako and bolin backstory from they were younger, showing more of mako and bolin. To me..... They could have given us a backstory about their struggle. Basically given us more insight about them. Hence, they could have gone more with the character
@@aab1254 would you share an opinion that isn’t the same regurgitated garbage?
@@ShaftCommander Hey bud, I asked you first. Also you don't know my opinion, so calling it "the same regurgitated garbage" is a pretty bold choice.
Bolin as a lavabender could work SO WELL with the fact he literally GREW UP around fire and heat! It's said the home life of Mako and Bolin wasnt great. Bolin is used to LITERALLY being in the frying pan and he's used to experiencing and helping with his passionate hot headed brother's outbursts. IT WRITES ITSELF WHY HE WOULD BE THE ONE TO DISCOVER LAVABENDING BUT THEY JUST DIDNT. DO IT.
Bolin is a lavabender?
@@katherineofarrogant6370yes he is, watch s3
@@katherineofarrogant6370 Book 3. Mentions it in the video. It's literally at the very very end of the series but yes much like Toph discovered metalbending Bolin discovers lavabending. But UNLIKE the og show where the character's state of mind and personality and experiences make learning that skill make sense with their character (Toph senses earth more than any other bender because she literally uses it to see and experience the world around her and she is so stubborn it's like her nerves are made of STEEL.) the show just kinda makes a neat little trick Bolin does when I say in my comment how IT WRITES ITSELF HOW THEY COULF HAVE MADE THAT WORK WITH HIS CHARACTER AND DRAWN FROM HIM TO MAKE IT WORTH IT LIKE TOPH AND METAL BENDING.
@PixieTira01 and it could also be brought up the the other lave bender had a similar home life and it kinda cause Bolin to have more complicated emotions towards this thing he just learned, sorta like Katara w blood bending just not as extreme. It could also effect his brother as he looks out for Bolin and would have to figure out his own emotions to help. But no lava bending cool story over
I would say it has more to do with him being mixed race.
I also thought that the cheating was disgusting. Korra didnt deserve to get with the girl who was the girlfriend of the man she forced herself on. Korra teased him about how he thought of her when she was with Asami, she forced herself on him, and somehow got with her in the end. I'd never date the pwrson who gave me that trauma.
It’s Catadora levels of toxic retroactively
It’s almost like the show doesn’t really acknowledge that korra is mostly the aggressor in the whole love subplot. It would sit better with people if she actually acknowledged her bad actions and tried to work towards making things right with her friends. It’s almost like they try to pretend that none of it happened at all, and it doesn’t sit right with me tbh.
@@xcyan_lilyx5788 ikr?
@@Dave102693catradora isn’t even half as toxic, it’s still cute/valuable at points for genuinely working to get over their family trauma, everything makorra is radioactive to the point it makes korrasami a radiation hazard from exposure 😬
@thesquishedelf1301 I don't know... there is physical and verbal abuse in catradora, so... they both suck.
I found weird that the murder of mako and bolins parents didnt matter, that was not even important for the plot, its not like with katara that there is an episode where they confront the murderer of her mother.
They're adults and moved on knowing the world is unfair and cruel
@@AyamesChroniclesand???? called making a interesting story give mako more depth than “gotta stop focusing on girls and focus on myself” 😂
@@calebokoro. They've had most of their life to move on and Katara is still an emotional child who never got past her trauma. Hell, mako is the same type of bender that killed his parents yet he has enough internal balance to bend lighting. He's healed more than Zuko
@@AyamesChronicles I just felt like the main problem with korra is that the characters barely got development besides asami and korra in aang everyone got grest developments hell APPA GOT A WHOLE EP ABT HIM, her dog just became a movie star 😂
@@calebokoro. To be fair, Atla had 26 episodes per book and has the luxury of world building. Legend of Korra was restricted to 13 episodes a book and wasn't even written all at once. You get what you pay for
I like that in the picture of the GAang has everybody looking one direction EXCEPT Toph, but if you notice, her ear is pointed in the same direction as the others, because she's blind, and is instead listening rather than looking.
The Gaang definitely had better synergy and development.
Personally I felt both teams avatar are opposites. Aang was a rather flat character carried by the far more developed and likeable characters around him while in LoK Korra is the one fleshed out and developped and the rest of the characters are found kinda lacking.
Stupidest thing i've heard all day.@@SimplymeSVEN18
@@SimplymeSVEN18Aang as a flat character? Lol usually I’m one to respect other’s opinions but you are just blatantly wrong and I disagree wholeheartedly. Aang might have been simple as in his struggles where relatively straightforward and uncomplicated and I could grant you that, but in no shape or form was he flat. Aang was an extremely well rounded and developed character with flaws and all he was consistently written throughout the series and he made for a far more compelling Avatar than Korra ever did. Aang’s story is simply more interesting with the fate of the world in jeopardy and everything not to mention that he is far more likable with his funny child like wonder and light-hearted innocence that was slowly stripped away as the story progressed, you could always count on Aang to do the right thing… Korra? Not so much. I don’t think flat is the right word.
@@mr.equity1120 Agree to disagree. I'd go as far as calling Aang not an actual character; in the same way Aragorn was. They're more an ideal or closer to a vague mythological figure that you can't quite relate to in the slightest. Personally I'd prefer Korra as avatar since Aang liked to gamble with the fate of the world too much in order to satisfy his selfish/pesonal desires while Korra did what needed to be done by whatever means necessary.
@@SimplymeSVEN18 Agree to disagree my dear fellow! I hope you have a flameo good night or day to you Mr or Ms hotman! Hahahaha. See? we’re just two humans heavily invested in a masterpiece of a franchise. No need to be hostile, and I apologize if I came across that way. I’m sure we can both agree that the world of Avatar is awesome and we would like more content.
Honestly, comparing the original show’s reaction to the first displays of Bloodbending and Metalbending in comparison to Korra’s reaction to Lavabending, it’s pretty telling. Bloodbending was considered a brutal, deadly addition to the element that includes healing, and Hama’s philosophy that created it was genuinely one of the best side character motivations in the original show. Metalbending is the purest form of the Earthbending philosophy: the thing wouldn’t move, so Toph stood her ground and *made* it move. A supposedly immovable object against a genuinely unstoppable force in the form of a preteen girl who was the greatest earthbender to ever live. Lavabending, as you said, has no philosophy behind it. It’s not like Bolin formed a different outlook on life that allowed him to Lavabend. He just didn’t advance on the Metalbending skill tree and the writers wanted to give him *something* so, here, let him bend lava because otherwise he’d fall so far behind in the team power dynamics.
Would have been cool if Lavabending was done similarly to lightning redirection where you earthbend with the technique of firebending
@@PengyDrawsit’s something they even half wrote in, like Gazan and Bolin have clearly different (moodier; _passionate_ ) dispositions to your average earthbender. But like a lot of Korra they just… refused to flesh it out. And also wanting to keep their whole copaganda metalbender hereditary state without letting spirituality get in its way.
I posted this in another convo but I read it like this: Well, throughout the entire series he struggles with metal-bending (since season 1). It's easy to see why though. His personality is literally the opposite of Toph's. He's a big softie that doesn't doesn't make his own decisions & it feels like the proper temperament to be a metal bender is to be steadfast in your decisions & even headstrong about the things you want. All the metal benders in the franchise are like this, including Korra. But if you think about lava like shifting rock that exude heat, vibrating slowly, it works with Bolin who seems to give in to a lot of people manipulating his life. First his brother, then his film career & finally Kuvira. He learns lava bending once he starts to gain control over his life & all those shifting elements. He's also a passionate guy so that heat is nicely felt. I think it suits him. Also, lava bending is often misconstrued as adding fire to rock but it's not. It's vibrating the rock so much that it produces heat & partially melts. It's an intense shifting of rock. I think, this can only be done by a person who's feelings are intensely shifting. Often, an opposite personality to hard-headded (hehe) Earth benders. If you look at Ghazan, he was quite chill. He was, kinda like Bolin, also ok with being lead by a person who, prior to Harmonic Convergence, had literally no bending. This means, that he respected Zaheer's vision & was swayed by his words more than anything else. It might be a generalization, but I feel earth benders respect strong leaders but Zaheer exuded that might in his philosophies than physical strength which makes him also a bit different. All our earth benders have been quite tough but I do feel like Bolin & Ghazan had different vibes. Maybe it's just me.
@@thesquishedelf1301 This.
@@thesquishedelf1301 They ditched traditional East Asian inspirations for modern western inspirations. Including ideologies much more reminiscent of fascism than say, Japanese imperialism. Cool direction but still kind of a loss.
You lost me at Korra being a better protag than Aang and the biggest issue with her being the ones around her. She starts out with 3/4 bending styles and is surrounded by inventive benders, and despite her into being "Look at me, I can do all the things." she never improved really since that age. She can barely use one element at a time, nevermind weaving them together at all. In meantime nobody benders are learning metal and electricty and inventing new ways to use them.
That’s kinda the point of her story . She’s pretty much fully realized avatar in a world that doesn’t need her and benders in general
I agree with this
ITS NOT ALL ABOUT BENDING
@@nimko2452THAT WOULD BE FINE if it wasn't for the fact that korra as a character is kinda lackluster...
I mean, you didn’t let her clarify, the problem with the others has nothing to do with their abilities, it has to do with their motivations.
Sokka and his desire to prove himself also was a great need, as he is the only non-bender in the gang. He's told to protect everyone but, he "has the least ability to do so" but, he can't stand the idea of failing his father's instructions before going to war.
It always felt forced that they tried to recreate the team Avatar set up in Korra. Really, Korra had more of a large network of allies rather than a small band of misfits. There's Bolin and Mako, Asami, Tenzin and his family, later the new Airbenders, the Republic City police, Su and her family. All of these people who were ready to back her up. It's just a different vibe and that's fine. I was hoping that later Avatar projects would learn and not feel inclined to force a team avatar in New stories, but Legend of Kyoshi proceeded to have a Team Avatar anyway. So instead, I'm hoping that future projects do a better job emphasizing their Team Avatars.
I hope they will make Team Avatar full of Earthbenders in the next series. It doesn't make sense to me that Korra never had friends in South Pole who will be her Team Korra full of waterbenders. Mako and Bolin feels so forced to me, because, you know, they had fire and earth that Korra needs in her team. 🤦 Asami is just included for I don't know reasons.
@@connordrake5713whaat?🤨
Projecting much?
@@ShaftCommanderyou just learned that word huh?
@@daymm8330 aww. That’s cute. Just learned to respond like a big boy, eh?
Honestly, I really like the characters as individuals for the most part, but when it comes to the group dynamics it really feels like it is lacking in a lot of ways. Near the end, they did have Bolin and Asami playing pai sho together which I thought was really cute but that was really the only thing we got from them.
I hope the creators will stop making Team Avatar which each element. An Earth Bender Avatar in the next series should have full of Earthbender Team in his roster since it's the region where the Avatar was born and he should have childhood friends in there.
I don’t mind the disparity in synergy. Maybe some team avatars weren’t particularly cohesive. They just wanted to help the avatar for their own reasons. The gaang were still kids. They’re purer beings due to the demands of the world. Korra was messy, thus she picked messy people. She went through so much. The krew was simply party to all the crazy shit she dealt with. Mako decided to fuck off and become a cop but he loves Korra. Bolin decided to fuck off and become a movie star. Asami was ALWAYS in this for her own game (that just happens to be Korra at the end of the day). They’re not as inspired as the gaang because they’re Korra’ team avatar. None of them deal with what’s ailing them. They’re adults. They act like jaded, stressed adults. Makes enough sense.
@@timothyowens3033Mako needs to get over it
I think one of the things that get's overlooked is ATLA had episodes around their friendship & characterization whilst the LOK doesn't - there's nothing fun about them, is just endless suffering & depression. I enjoy Book 1 of LOK - the preludes; the coming of age; politics post-war & dealt with why benders think they are self-important.
@@connordrake5713technically the next earth Avatar can be born in Republic city which is a diverse place. Makes sense to have team members of every nation
Jinora felt more useful at times than the Krew, at least after Book 1. In Book 2 she was the one who helped guide Korra into the Spirit World. In three, she helped Tenzin with training the new airbenders, but also had the goal of becoming a master airbender, found the airbenders that the Earth Queen was hiding & trying to make into an army. In four she & her siblings were the ones who went to find Korra instead of the Krew, Tenzin, or Lin. She also was the one who alerted Korra to the Spirit Wilds acting up.
Even Kai in Book 3 had a better character arc than the crew, going from a street urchin thief who used his airbending strictly for his survival to helping stop poachers from taking baby bison for slaughter, sacrificing himself in the hopes that the rest of the airbenders could escape from Zaheer's people, to being the one to lead Tenzin, Lin, Suyin, Tonraq, and the Krew to the airbenders and Korra.
I really liked the pro-bending arc when Mako Bolin and Korra all were training together - that was one of the only times that genuinely just felt like fun bonding between friends with no drama. The team needed more of that without all the relationship drama!
I'd include Appa and Momo before Suki any day. Like not even joking, these two were so much more than animal companions. Not only were they incredibly helpful, had their moments to shine but even had entire episodes dedicated to them and moving their own stories forward. Especially Appa who's disappearance was a key storytelling piece for Season 2.
They also had distinct personalities and even episodes dedicated to only them, which is very rare.
APPA AND MOME AS REAL CHARACTERS INSTEAD OF SIMPLE 2DIMENSIONAL ANIMAL SIDEKICKS SUPREMACY
Exactly like love suki but Appa and Momo come first
I think the main reason Suki isn't considered part of Team Avatar is that she didn't really travel with them. A big part of the show was the travel. Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Zuko left everything behind to travel with Aang and I feel like spending that time on the road with each other is part of what brought them so close together,
@@ieatteeth5605Suki doesn't feel like a member of team avatar, but more like a Npc that is traveling with the party in a dnd campaign. She's important, but she was more there since story wise there's no reason she wouldn't travel with the party compared to the other options
Honestly Asami and Bolin are the ONLY two that actually have a friendship and connection outside Asami and Korra, which says a lot, given they only have two key moments together. But those moments are killer. It might be background, but it's so good.
EXACTLY
Good point! In ATLA each member has a specific relationship with every other member, vs Korra where they all exist for her.
Them playing Pai Sho together or them consoling eachother was so cute!
And I swear they’re the only two who didn’t date each other in this team 💀
@@user-jr4zq7xm5q what about Mako and Bolin?
Exactly. The problem with the “New team avatar” was that they weren’t friends. They were glorified acquaintances. Bolin and Asami barely interacted and the only relationships that Mako builds are romantically inclined. The only time they are ever in a team is in book 1 because they actually solve stuff by themselves. The Krew never actually solve anything on their own without the intervention of other secondary characters such as Tenzin and Chief Beifong besides in book 1. They never hang out together besides when they are on missions. Avatar took episodes solidifying relationships between characters (eg: Zukos field trips) making them feel like friends. Also the romance sucked. Zhu Lee and Varrick actually had development but besides that, nothing. Ik it is controversial but Bolin and Eska were more interesting then Bolin and Opal.
The show always lacked a common goal between the Krew. That's why Tenzin, Lin and even Jinora, are so important because they are main characters in Korra's story whilst also having their own plotline. They always divide the Krew with their own plotlines, but because Korra is the lead character she is followed most. It's annoying to see them only get together for romances or to tell how sad they are that they haven't seen each other in a while. I kinda wish that the Red Lotus were the main antagonist of the whole show, I think sone common goals would've helped.
The Gaang was more of a family. Suki isn’t apart of Team Avatar from the looks of it. In a piece of media where all the members wrote letters to young Tenzin, Sokka mentioned Toph reminded him that Suki saved the day.
Damn Sokka still sexist bruh
@@whatthefisfilipinxthats not sexism thats just Sokka being proud and unwilling to admit he had help that or time has messed with his memory.
@@Markus2E5I6I think it's a mix of both
@@randomcontent853 doesn't make sense for him to stop being sexist at 15 then years later become sexist again despite spending years with Katara (master waterbender), Toph (master earthbender) and Suki (kyoshi warrior) as well as facing Azula, Mai and Ty Lee.
@@Markus2E5I6 I meant sokka being yk sokka and also time warping his memories but ye I agree with u
I rewatched AtLA not too long ago and realized both why the Gaang works so well and why Suki is often excluded. For the first, literally no member of the group could be excluded without dooming them all. Every single one of them, including Appa and Momo, had times of helping/saving the others in a way that only they could do. But Suki was only in three episodes of the first two and a half books (After Appa's Lost Days, she doesn't appear again until The Boiling Rock). And then there's that when she was present, she rarely did anything that no one else could. Maybe something no one else DID (such as rescuing Toph from drowning) but rarely was it something no one else COULD. She had four moments in the series where she did what none of the others could, two of them when she wasn't in the Gaang. 1) Stall Zuko while the others escape in "The Kyoshi Warriors". 2) Help Appa recover in "Appa's Lost Days". 3) Capturing the warden in "The Boiling Rock Part 2". and 4) Rescuing Sokka and Toph in the finale. So half of her moments are when she wasn't really in the Gaang and the third occurred because they were in prison trying to rescue her. Between that and only being in about 1/6th of the series (most of it the final third of the final season) results in a lot of people just kinda excluding Suki when talking about the Gaang.
I don't understand why Suki is part of the Gaang, she is great as a side chactacter alredy.
@@javxion6576 she's in the gaang because she's Sokka's gf or whatever
@@PizzaMadeMeFat that doesn't make sense. The only time she's on the Team was on Book 4 and she's just chillin there.
Suki was useful during boiling rock 😂 she could be Gaang extended
@@connordrake5713 she's Sokka's gf what more do you need for it to make sense? it's like for example if you had a gf and introduced her to your friend group she might then be considered part of that friend group because she's your gf
On the subject of Appa's importance, I remember watching Avatar waaay back when it first aired. Watching it air live once a week made Appa's capture HIT DIFFERENT! When the crew was stranded without him, lord you felt it too. I remember feeling so board and frustrated with the lack of forward progress in the story, especially as weeks turned into months. Ba-Sing-Se hit totally different too. Every time the team where roadblocked by red tape you felt it as the audience. I can only think that was intentional with the storytelling. When they finally found Appa and the story kicked back into gear afterwards, it was like a breath of fresh air, only for the season finally to rip it out from under you
Mako's brooding and struggles to be emotionally open could have been explained by the fact he had to act as both a brother and a parent from a young age while also living on the streets. Maybe he had to develop a tough exterior to keep people off of his and Bolin's backs, which combined with the stress of survival to create a sweetheart who just wants to protect his brother having to regularly bottle himself up before releasing it all explosively. Now that both him and Bolin are adults, he doesn't have to do it as much, but the habits are still there and could have formed an arc where he broke them down. That could have also formed a complimentary arc for Bolin, where he learns to be more independent from Mako after spending most of his life as someone who needed protecting. That arc could even culminate in him discovering lava bending, which allows him to use his earth bending to make fire without Mako.
Okay but the line "I thought you wanted me to be supportive! Now you want me to tell you what I THINK?! Make up your mind!" will always be hilarious and iconic
to me the group dynamic didnt work because anytime the group was together it felt like the interpersonal conflicts of the group was given a way bigger focus than the group actually functioning as a, yknow, group. i reckon its one of the things that come with LoK having way less filler than ATLA, because they have to be focusing on the plot all the time, theres no space to explore the characters outside of whatever conflict needs to happen to get from point A to point B
True! I wish they could've mixed those more
I'd argue dedicating time and episodes to developing the character dynamics among your protagonists shouldn't count as filler, regardless if the plot's progressing or not. The characters are the people we go on the journey with, if they're weak the whole story will suffer for it.
Filler is a term that describes a non canon episode that maintains the status quo. I don't think there's a single episode that fits that description.
It’s not filler, but Atla did have a lot more episodes dedicated solely to enhancing the gaangs group dynamic while Lok had to firmly stick to plot@@talaofthevalley
There’s one episode of filler in ALTA? Please, for gods sake, learn media literacy 😭
Once you mentioned Appa and Momo being essential, I started to realize how they tried doing the same thing with Naga and Pabu, and the best they could muster was turning them into movie stars. Edit: I honestly think Bending developing the way that it did was a commentary on how Martial Arts(what it's based on) has developed in our world the past couple centuries. Going from this cultural means of expressing selfhood and discipline, to simply a means to an end(that end being defeating opponents, spectacle, or even fame and fortune via MMA and things like that).
Yeah and that was a silly idea + shows that they didn't even bother to try to understand the actual developmentof martial arts in the real world, cause the whole point of Avatar's bending was: what if all those mystical martial arts would actually have mystical powers, while in reality only practical martial arts like Muay Thai survived the rise of MMA and Co. cause mystical martial arts simply don't have actual mystical powers and due to that don't work very well(if you really could turn your aura into elemental magic almost nobody capable of that would have ever bothered to develop in something like Muay Thai more than to it's very basics, cause the mystical Martial Arts would be simply far more effective).
As someone who dabbles in martial arts it’s definitely not as spiritual like more older martial arts like tai chi but it still trains discipline and helps mentally even if it don’t look as pretty
The MMA stuff doesn't work for the reason you stated. Bending was never just about the styles, it was about the philosophy which we see multiple times in ATLA. Korra ignored that entirely, and now EVERY bender bends effectively the same as one another and no importance is placed on the elemental philosophies of each nation. This is also shown by the whole lion turtle taught bending thing. In ATLA, the people of each element learned their philosophy and style from their patron animal/spirit, even toph became one of the greatest earth benders from her learning directly from the badger moles and the same happened with zuko/iroh and the dragons. Stuff like this happened constantly in Korra
@@anduong8796which is why it doesn't work with bending, the spirituality and philosophy is instrumental to it
To add to this comment, bending was heavily implied to also be tied to that spirituality with air nomads all being capable of bending due to their total spirituality and after the war any survivors lost their bending/their children couldn't air bend. A good example outside of the air nomads are Sokka and Katara, Sokka is very obviously worldly, skeptical and logical and he can't bend. Even if Katara isn't the most spiritual, she respects and understands the spirits to some degree. I think that's what they originally intended, and if I'm right that would mean there should be far fewer benders in Korra, at least in republic city. I think that would've been a more interesting conflict/bit of worldbuilding had they gone with it and made republic city sparsely populated by benders and had Korra fear for the balance of the world as a result
I always loved Mako out of everyone else. He cares about his brother, has worked and is continually working his way out of poverty, and clearly works hard to deal with a difficult childhood.
Mako could easily have a personal conflict like racism. Similar to the American Civil War and its ramifications lasting for decades, Avatar's 100 year war would have lingering effects not easily fixed. This series being a literal follow-up to the 100 year war, I'm dumbfounded as to why that aftermath was glossed over. Edit: I corrected my grammar to better express my point toward the show's lack of cohesion with its previous series.
this could actuallyt works so well if the series actually trying to explore it, considering that we already have that Asami's dad hate bender because of his wife's death
They literally have SLURS in the comics why did they not go with that???
Ah yes, the greatest personal conflict, racism. Not cancer or any other deathly sickness. Not a memory losing ailment. Not the loss of a child or loved one, or the conflict of having to fight loved ones. Not the conflict of literally being the sole person to inheriting the power of previous legends, and not knowing how to live up to such high expectations by almost everyone, leading into depression, self-deprecation, and ptsd. Joking aside, it could have been a good character development arc. But instead we got his conflict over which of the girls to love.
@@ruud9761I think they had a typo and meant interpersonal conflict But still I wouldn't say the greatest, but tied for some other ones
@@notapplicable6985 To be fair, you can't really say "greatest". Because there is no such thing as "the greatest conflicts". Sure Mako might feel it is his greatest conflict, but that doesn't make it the greatest conflict, no matter if it was supposed to be personal or interpersonal. There is just no way to measure what "the greatest conflict" is. Not to mention it is a fictional world, even if we could measure it to our own standards, these standards might not apply or apply differently in the world of Avatar. But I don't mean to belittle the OP, I'm just an asshole who likes to make fun of others. Thats why I specified that I'm joking and know what the OP is trying to get across.
Aang's team had a family-like bond based on mutual trust and respect. On the other hand, Korra's Team Avatar had a different dynamic of two brothers dating the same girl. One brother introduced his girlfriend to the team, they broke up, and she started dating his ex-girlfriend. Perhaps they could have learned from Avatar, where none of the members dated each other until the end. This approach helped with character development in relationships. I never sensed any build up between Amasi and Korra in Team Avatar.
Then you clearly weren't paying attention. I guarantee if Asami was replaced with a dude, you would not be claiming that.
@@Wright805 Even if the character were male, my opinion would remain the same: I mainly discussed the writing in Legend of Korra. I have seen better shows that handle relationships better, like The Owl House. At the show's start, Luz and Amity are kind of enemies, but as the series progresses, you can see them start to care and love for each other.When I watched Legend of Korra, I felt that each relationship lacked something important.
I think there's an interesting dynamic that could be visited with the idea of the team dating each other during the show though. There's so much STAKES that could be introduced! However, they fumbled the bag on this as we all know and can see.
the writers themselves said that they didn't even come up with the idea of them dating until the back-half of the show. THAT, in my opinion, is a shining example of why this show isn't as good as it should be. avatar's showrunners had the broad strokes of the whole show's plot and character development in mind the entire time they were writing. in all the ways that mattered, they knew the ending before the beginning even happened. that allowed them to hint, foreshadow, etc., from the first moment of the first episode. but korra was written as it went along. all the dropped plot threads, bad exposition, lack of intricate character development, and the bad buildup between korra and asami stem from the fact that they had no idea where their destination was. there was no way for them to hint at korrasami in season one because they didn't even know it would happen yet.
@@sabrinafletcher7884 To be fair you don't need to hint at a relationship in season 1. Relationships only need hints when they start to happen. Some just happen. Though obviously I don't disagree with the lack of forethought. They always felt a little short on time. Even the comics weren't what they should have been because they had to rush to do something instead of enjoying quiet moments. If they remade the show I think it could come out a lot better due to them knowing exactly where it was going. The hints and blending of stuff before it happens always helps make things feel more cohesive and generally stops bad writing because you can flesh things out without taking more time.
Mako felt so wasted when they had him cheat. Such a cool character that could have brought some really useful investigative skills to the Avatar's team. Instead, they had to find an easy way to break up the love triangle, and he was all but written out of the show.
The team consist of romantic ties together. With asami being tied to mako and mako and bolin being tied to korra, i think that because romantic ties are so much more present, the dynamic worsens
When you watch Korra, it feels more like the Krew is Korra, Tenzin, and Lin
And eventually Suyin, which makes sense as the one also continuing Toph’s legacy of furthering metalbending and therefore is also like a Toph. She also joins late, like Toph did as the Season 2 addition.
and it's so funny because in extension, it's literally katara, sokka, and toph all over again
Imagine a fight between Asami and Zaheer? Before he unlocks flight or something. Asami has always been notably acrobatic and flexible compared to even Korra, who moves more like a boxer and traditional martial artist in a fight. Having a non-bender with movements on par with an airbender has been a matchup I’ve been dying to see since Aang and Ty Lee were around. Plus, it’d be kind of a mirror for Zaheer and a good way to show that non-benders are still relevant. They assumedly had similar martial prowess before Zaheer got his airbending, so seeing Asami go toe to toe with him using gadgets and sheer ingenuity would be cool af. Hell, have her start winning, even. Have it be interrupted like with Tenzin or something, or just have Zaheer dip when he realizes she’s got him pinned. I WANT MORE ASAMI FIGHTS THAT AREN’T NAMELESS SCHMUCKS SHE DESERVES TO SLAY EVEN MORE THAN SHE DOES ALREADY
Is it safe to assume that after the events of Korra, that Asami Sato is the world's strongest non-bender (LoK lore only)
@@whatthefisfilipinx ig you could just assume that because we never really saw any other non-benders (at least from what i'm remembering, there was no non-bender who really stood out). though ig that zaheer used to be the strongest one before he gained his airbending skills.
@@whatthefisfilipinx Well that depends on if we count Tokuga from the comics.
I'm sorry, but Zaheer BODIES Asami. Remember that he was put in his own special Alcatraz before he was ever an airbender, not to mention he's a fully grown man who's been in a fight or two.
@@JalapenoFlower Not comparing Asami and Zaheer since he became an airbender
TBH you're also giving Korra far too much credit as a protagonist. She was a massive jerk to everybody all the time, extremely selfish, arrogant, and often acted pants-on-head stupid. When the gaang made mistakes, it always felt either believable that they would think they were correct as a general concept, or they were being stubborn as a part of their established characters. When Korra destroyed air nomad artifacts, harassed civilians, yelled at people who were only good to her, etc it always felt like she was just being rebellious and hot-headed for the sake of the writers manufacturing conflict. It was painfully obvious and lazy. How is she meant to form bonds with a team when every second thing that comes out of her mouth is unlikeable garbage? How about the forced love triangle, even? Also it's just super weird that fire benders had no problem being assimilated into mixed culture after what had happened. I don't expect super racism or anything, but nobody seemed to care at all. It watered the entire trauma of the war down.
I actually don't have much of a problem with season 1 Korra's attitude. At least in theory. She was super isolated from the rest of the world and people her age for most of her life due to almost being killed as a kid. So I think it makes sense that her social skills are kinda crap. (I also think the writers wanted to make her very different from aang.) I think the idea of having an avatar that's physically very skillful but socially and spiritually weak is an interesting idea. Pretty much the opposite of aang. They just didn't lean into it enough. But I don't think they do the best job addressing this idea or solving it in a meaningful way. Over time she does seem to get better but it's not really due to introspection or other characters calling her out. At least from what I remember. I think keeping her crass nature, but having the other character be much less tolerant of it. Leaving her isolated, which would lead to introspection and gradual change. I think this also could have easily tied into the whole plot of Korra learning airbending as well. Given how she had to change her mindset.
@@ItachiUchiha-sh6of Extremely well-said. I have no issue with somebody starting out a piece of garbage, but improving themselves with exposure to healthy influences or the consequences of their actions. As you stated, the problem is that she never really became a better person in spite of all this, and the world just kind of shaped around her. I think that's a part of why people saw her as a Mary Sue. A trademark of a Mary Sue is that they're always right / everybody who doesn't love them is bad/wrong, even if they're being toxic. I can actually pin the exact moment that I knew the writers had completely ruined her character: When she spontaneously gained airbending as deus ex machina having learned nothing. They spent all that time setting up potential introspection and character growth to develop spirituality, just to justify her arrogance by letting her airbend without doing any of it.
@@fuzzwobble @fuzzwobble yeah, I remember that her discovering airbending seemed unearned. Like she did it completely by accident if I remember correctly. It wasn't some spiritual realization or anything deep. It also felt like her learning airbending was largely separate from the plot of the first season. Like it technically saved the day but only because it was the only element she didn't know. But airbending and airbending philosophy had little to do with Amon or his (albeit muddy) ideology. Everything just seemed so disjointed. I think even something like, Amon isn't a liar, keeping his original origin. he takes Korra's bending. But, since she hadn't learned airbending she has to get in touch with her spiritual side to unlock it and later defeat Amon. The most annoying part of the show form me was it had so much potential but just wasted it. Even just dropping the "love triangle" would have done wonders lol.
@@ItachiUchiha-sh6of It felt like they set up so many good potential plot points and payoffs, then just forgot about them. Amon was actually a good arc because the villain was such a cool concept, but then they revealed he was a bender, his scar was fake, and he jumps in some water and is gone (?) Meanwhile I'm thinking "So you just didn't know what to do with him next? Got it" because it was such a tragic misuse of the character. It was like a significantly better writer wrote the first half of every character arc, and then a complete buffoon tried to finish each one.
@@fuzzwobble Yes!! I'll never forgive them for how they did Amon. His design was perfect, the voice actor was great, he felt like a threat, and linked to the past. Having a non bender with a possible link to spirits and spirituality be the main villain. In a new world where spirituality had lost much of its meaning. And an avatar that struggles with spirituality. That's a good premise. But the plot twist almost completely undermined the ideas presented. Even tho the idea that nonbenders were oppressed was barely even given room to grow. And then giving everyone their bending right back made it seem even more pointless imo.
Zuko was only with the Gaang for less than HALF of season 3. He was with the group officially for all of 9 episodes. But the moment he joined them, it felt like he was always a part of them. Meanwhile whenever someone new joined the Krew (I didn't even know they had a name like the Gaang did cause in the show they never really even discuss it like Sokka loved to do, they just go "TEAM AVATAR! YAY!") it just feels like...they're there. Asami was like Mai from Yu-Gi-Oh kind of. She's there, but not really PART of the group. Which sucks. Cause her character was so interesting and they could've done a lot with her.
Fr! Even though Zuko wasnt for a long time in the team, his story developed alongside Gaang´s story, so when zuko joined them it didnt feel forced, It felt like everything had come to be naturally
I second that! I used to watch the show on TV when I was a kid and rewatched it years later as an adult. I was genuinely surprised how late Zuko joined the team and for how few episodes he was part of the gang. He so quickly and effectively became part of the team, that I keep forgetting, that wasn't the case for the majority of the show.
Once saw the Korra gang described as them being Mako is Not Zuko, Bolin is Not Sokka and Asami as Not Suki...which is kinda true. They're all watered down versions of the Gaang with different paint...
I do feel Bolin had an actual different character direction from Sokka in that he basically learns to just be even more emotionally vulnerable whereas Sokka earns respect… but otherwise yeah they all feel like that. Bolin just narrowly dodged it by them actually writing something for him as one of the comic reliefs.
Bolin, funnily enough, was going to be Toph, luckily they changed that, cause Toph is Toph~
Eh I disagree. While they are definitely made with ALTA in mind they are just different kinds of characters. I think if they were given more time to be characters outside of the plots main actions they would have been able to become more beloved by people. I think they are all fine, they just didn't spend any time relaxing. Unlike ATLA's team which was always doing stuff that helped them get places but was basically just them fooling around and being fun characters.
They are nothing like the og gang just similar uses. Bolin and sokka are comedic relief. That’s the most they have in common. After that they are their own characters and well bolin feels neglected as a character. Sokka feels like he is own autonomy and own problems, “being a protector but the gang not needing him or him being incapable to”. Bolin being used as a joke.
I have always been more interested in Tenzin and the other older adults than the krew was mostly because it was more fun seeing the older characters do cool stuff than the younger ones since we are kinda used to seeing younger people saving the world or be the center of attention in media. I just want more old/er people being badass content 😅 also i just really like tenzin haha
Well, we like him until he..."trains" Mark. 😈
me when shows aimed at young people have young protagonists 😱😱😱
honestly I could see Tenzin, Lin, Suyin, Tonraq, and maybe even Izumi being a more interesting dynamic
Probably helps that many of them are the actual successors of the previous show's cast so we automatically have more attachment than some rando teens met on the street with shitty love lives
@@howai4204 dude, i was a bit younger than korra's actual age when i first watched the show, right in that target audience, and i was also fed up the endless love triangle garbage and way more into the adults' storylines. people are fine with younger characters when they're well written. but having everyone act like immature high schoolers for two seasons straight isn't fun to watch.
One issue that Korra's team has is that there is no overarching plot that gives them a reason to stick together. Most ensemble stories have some sort of overarching narrative for that reason. In TLA it was obvious, everyone joins the team to fight in the war, for their own reasons. The only one that didn't need to join was Toph but she joined because she wished for freedom, which she found as part of the team. Other classic reasons are things like 'shared goal for money, wealth and glory' as seen in many tabletop games or 'the world is going to end and that is where all our hourses are' or how Jouney to the West did it, where the MC was the one on a misson and the others were bodyguarding him as part of a supernatural work release program. We don't have such a thing in Korra. This makes it that the gourps core dynamics have to be reintroduced and established with every season since they have no reason to be there afterall. This wastes valuble time for the narrative since we have to reinvent a reason for all to be there. For which the reasons got vaguer and less clear all the time. Honestly it was kinda suprising that it worked so well in season 3, which was the first time everyone had a reason to be there and a use in the team. Korra was the heart that wanted to help the new airbenders, Mako was the stern and observant detective/bodyguard that helped protect her since people were after her, Bolin was there because he was friends with Korra and to help with the world building aspects of the metalbender city and Asami was still pointless.
The overly complicated love web didn't help either. Bolin liked Korra. Korra liked Mako. Mako liked Asami. Mako liked Korra. Korra liked Asami. Asami liked Korra etc. It's crazy how the only two character who didn't have a thing for each other was Bolin and Asami which is funny because they actually had a pretty great chemistry in Season 2 (as friend btw. Not suggesting even that needed to be explored too).
If you want charachter depth from Korra, they used it all up on the antagonists. Like they were compensating for Ozai.
And Zuko and Azula even obviously did already compensate for Ozai.
Like why didn't they get rid of Mako and added Verrick instead?
To be fair Korra herself is a great character, she's just bogged down by the show shes in
@@marwansobhy7050 I think almost everything in Legend of Korra fits this description.
@@namkia205Kids these days love characters that are "lol so random". The fact he went from semi-competent villain to a string of jokes was just that process.
18:32 Aang has used ice bending but he only ever uses water bending when there is a source of water near by instead of carrying a water pouch like Katara and even then he only uses as defensively and supportive such as platforms for running across water
Has he? Only times I've seen him use ice was through airbending, not actually waterbending.
@@SimplymeSVEN18o
Ice bending is not a sub bending element
@@SimplymeSVEN18 He freezes some water when running away from the archers in the Blue Spirit episode
He icebent when they were at that waterfall after the desert. Made himself an ice cube. Also during the Yuyan archer chase. Speaking of ice, the iceberg he trapped himself in for 100 years
"When Toph joins she is incredibly abrasive and blunt, often calling things as she SEES them" 🤣🤣🤣
Something thats come to my attention recently is how the show never really acknowledges the dynamic of how Mako and Bolin have a mixed family which wasn't really seen in ATLA. So it could've been something neat to address in LOK particularly with Mako. His parents were killed by a firebender and because his younger brother whom he looks out for, maybe it could've been something where he feels self conscious about being a firebender. And this gets expanded on when they meet their extended family in Ba Sing Se who are of Earth Kingdom ethnicity. So I think a sub plot with Mako could've involved him coming to terms with his own identity which helps him open up more to the rest of team Avatar
As someome who only saw season 1, it's sad to hear that the Krew never reached full potential and characterization, considering I liked Mako, Asami, and Bolin a lot.
I feel a fair amount of the blame (though far from all) lies in the fact that each of the four seasons was greenlit one at a time. AtLA had three seasons from the start so character arcs and dynamics had 61 episodes to be established and develop and finally resolve. People love using Zuko (tbf, he's amazing) but almost any main character, you compare them between adjacent episodes and notice almost no difference. But compare them between seasons, or their first episode and the finale, and you barely recognize them.
@@MurasakiTsukimaru Makes sense. It's more difficult to flesh out characterization if you don't know of you're getting another season. Side note: I personally wish they had a central villain for the main series. I like Amon being the main villain due to being anti-bending, and the civil war with the Water Tribe could've gave some insight into it. The Red Lotus (from what I've heard about them) could've helped Amon by trying to kill the Avatar and descend the world into chaos. Kuvira would essentially be the Azula of the series.
@@MurasakiTsukimarutoh did it well, so did many other series’, who were greenlit one season at a time, dont use that as an excuse
They actually did, the Krew reached a peak in Book 3. There was no drama except for the initial awkwardness between Mako and the girls, but that was resolved soon and we just saw them having good vibes.
I stopped watching the show after midway of season 2
Tenzin has the motivation and the biggest arc in the whole series....Maybe thats why he is a good character.
The Krew is also less visually distinct. With the Gaang, you associate different colours with different characters. Katara has calm, feminine blues Sokka has darker,more masculine blues Toph has pale-ish greens Suki has dark greens and also black Zuko has has reds,golds,and maroons And Aang stands out the most, with pastel yellows and orange. Meanwhile, with the Krew, Korra's blue is the only colour that stands out. Everyone else has blacks, grays, and browns, with the occasional red. Their eyes and facial expressions are also less expressive.
the colour theory doesnt really make sense for the krew i feel, they all got their own respective bending colours / colour scheme linked to them. Bolin has bright green, mako is just red, korra is like blue and white and asami has that more maroon and black colour scheme. Besides sokka and katara share colour schemes don't they?
The problem was the shipping. They were a decent group initially, but then the writers decided they had to form love triangles on like episode 6 of 50. After that, they were never a team again. ATLA was smart enough to keep most of the shipping between protagonists not canon, and only allow Aang/Katara to get together in the literal final scene of the whole show. So the love affects Aang's arc, but doesn't mess with the team dynamics. I always had the feeling the writers of Korra (or perhaps the Nick execs) decided to cater to a toxic part of the fandom for views, and torpedo's the entire show to achieve that.
I think what made the Gaang so memorable was the face that there were entire episodes dedicated to people that weren't Aang in the way that TLOK and the Krew don't get. While they aren't "bad" characters per se, they do feel more like sidekicks to Korra. Should they make more TLOK content, it would benefit TLOK big time if Korra took a backseat in her own story. IMO, one of the most wasted relationships was the potential between Mako and Lin. Lin has massive familial issues, particularly with her mother, and doesn't have any children. Mako watched as his parents were killed as a child. As an adult, he joins the police force, a job where Lin is QUITE LITERALLY his boss and mentor. For some reason the writers never think to develop this? The closest we get is Lin admitting that Mako is her best detective in S2, but that's it. They gifted themselves the perfect mother-son dynamic on a silver platter and never expanded upon it. Still love TLOK tho.
Yeah this is what I think the show lacks most even all the way to the comics. Its not just the friends either. Korra herself could have used more focus. Like where she's not just trying to beat some bad guys. We needed some downtime eps where everyone did stuff, together or with others it didn't matter we just needed those moments. What comes to mind to me for Atla was that episode where Toph does scams for money and then they all do scams and its fun. It helps them of course but not in a way that matters that much. Its more about them doing stuff together. I don't think TLOK had anything like that while ATLA had many such episodes. That was practically all ALTA was even during the main plot.
That would've been soooo good, I hate when shows are worse than anything a group of fans could make on their own. Really pisses me off when franchises fuck things up like this
As much as I love The Legend of Korra, I admit that the writing isn’t its strong suit. However, to love a series is to acknowledge its flaws. Something I heard in one of many video essays😊.
I love The legend of Korra so much.
I massively disagree. I think it is a well written show, with flaws for sure, but it’s still considerably better than most kids shows and anime’s I have watched. ATLA is great, but much more flawed than biased nostalgia pandering fans would care to admit.
@@silvereyes242This exactly.
@@silvereyes242 That last paragraph is soooo true. According to them, ATLA is directly written by God himself and LoK is blasphemy of the highest order. Let's not even dare mention how there are some poorly written episodes where characters were massively out of character for no reason other than drama, or how Toph doesn't actually have a character arc, or how Aang didn't actually develop in the end. Or how the finale was a copout on several major fronts. Or.... You get the gist.
@@marktwayne9796Well toph is perfect so she doesn't need a character arc
I just realized that both Sokka and Katara's arcs initially revolved around sexism and how patriarchal the water tribe was, it seems like a missed opportunity to not show Korra's relationship with that. I can absolutely understand why they wouldn't as the series faced real-world sexism from the second Korra was even mentioned but I feel like they could have done something interesting with it, considering the most powerful person in the world was a woman from the water tribe.
Yeah, by the time Korra takes over, they probably would have gotten rid of the big barriers like women being barred from learning offensive waterbending (obviously, since Korra as the Avatar has to learn it), but the sexist mindset obviously wouldn't vanish over night. Maybe women could technically choose to learn offensive water bending, but it comes with a stigma of being "that kind of woman" or they're still being pushed out of these courses due to some kind of bro culture that's developed around offensive water bending or maybe women feel pressured to learn both or else they're not seen as truly emancipated. Heck, you could have male water benders being made fun of for wanting to learn healing because the Northern Water Tribe turned it into a "feminine and therefore lesser" thing even though it literally saves lives, much like what male nurses have to deal with irl. Sure, you wouldn't have to make the whole show about it, but it would have been an interesting follow-up topic to address.
So The Last Air bender gave Aang a spirit animal, a life long companion to travel with him. Like the avatar before him had a dragon. When Aang lost Appa, he was devastated. He went into avatar mode. He went into a deep depression. But more than that, everyone in the gang noticed. Everyone felt the absence of Appa dearly. He was important. Very important. But Korra - where is her sprit animal in all this? Nowhere. Taken out. Forgotten.
20:29 I think the war also played a role in how close the Gaang got within less than a year. When everything you hold dear could be gone the next day based on the choices you make or the luck you have, you cling to whoever will be there for you & each member of Team Avatar felt alone in some way - Aang being the titular last Airbender, Katara wanting to have a sense of family within the group in place of the members she lost, Sokka feeling insecure about being a protector for others as well as being a non bender, Toph having her actual blood family not understand her, Zuko feeling unloved in general by his immediate family & Suki in feeling like no one was coming for her after being imprisoned in the Boiling Rock. Korra’s Krew did go through SOME hardships like Mako & Bolin losing their parents as kids & it did affect them growing up but they had been used to that life by the time they met Korra as burgeoning adults. Asami lost her mother as a child but still had her father until the revelation of his Equalist involvement but again, she’s an adult when dealing with this rather than a child. Korra also chooses to deal with her hardships like losing her connection with the past Avatars & getting physical & emotional PTSD largely alone despite her group constantly offering support. Korra’s Team Avatar were all on the cusp of adulthood when they met (& I’m not saying you can’t make close connections as adults but you do have a greater sense of independence) & had no war the size of the one from the OG series to deal with but rather several smaller ones & they often split up to deal with the conflicts when they did arise rather than fight as one group.
While adults are more independent, adults irl still bond like the Gaang in times of strife. In real life, soldiers are a great example of this. You bond closely with those you serve with because you constantly go into battle together and depend on each other to cover your back. You go through survival situations all the time together, and when you come out of these dangerous scenarios with your head still on your shoulders, you have solid evidence that these people who helped you through that moment have your back. you cant help but begin to trust them. and as even more time goes by, you begin to feel comfortable opening up to them. Id argue that the gaang bonding as well as they did is irrelevant to their age but more so has to do with what they go through together in the day to day. even if they were all adults, they would still bond just as well if the exact same events of the series played out. thats why the krew should be just as well bonded. you can have them try to deal with their stuff independently at first, but over time, when you go through intense life threatening battle one after another (even if its not a full on war), you cant help but begin to trust the very people who help you through those scenarios. It makes no sense that korra and her krew would go through apocalyptic episode time after time and still feel like aloof acquaintances by the end of the series. Its only natural to begin trusting people you go through dangerous scenarios with over and over as time goes on. i find the way the krew acted around each other by the end of the series to be incredibly unnatural for a group of people who call themselves friends who had gone through what they went through, regardless of being adults. and i say this as an IRL veteran.
@@fireemberess I agree that the Krew should’ve been a little more closely bonded by the end but there’s a difference to bonding in times of strife as children than as young adults. As a child you feel the need for security more strongly & take whatever form of comfort you need, so even if Korra’s Krew had been written with more camaraderie, I’d still say it makes sense for the Aang Gaang to be the closer group out of the 2.
Reading this comment really recontextualized ATLA for me. I was same age as Aang when I initially watched the series, so while I understood the conflict and traumas the characters were going through as a result of the war, I didn’t see the full extent of it until I became older. When going through traumatic events, especially as kids and young people, having a support system, “your people,” is so important. I’m glad ATLA was able to demonstrate this in a subtle but effective way for kids to learn and apply in their own lives.
Well also from a basic storytelling point too the Gaang had many moments where they would be traveling and it would be just them. Or small isolated episodes with one-off side characters that still had some purpose (travel, character specific growth, etc) while imo TLOK was drowned by the overwhelming number of characters they wanted to keep in the rotation. Simply compare the number of regular characters in ATLA and TLOK, and think of how much screen time they’d get too.
Korra basically made out with every member of her team...
Got with Mako, In couple Asami, Dated with Bolin, yea.
So did Appa smh
@@slendveny7191 I hate how you're right
@@slendveny7191Korra haters always make fun of the kissing and smooching, but what about appa? So true
I mean when the team is literally comprised of Korra, her boyfriend turned ex, her ex’s brother (who had a crush on her), and the girl who Korra’s ex cheated on WITH Korra, who THEN became Korra’s girlfriend. What kind of synergy do you expect?
I love how you've roasted the writing direction of this Avatar team. Korra can go solo and simply pick up other party members along the way as needed. She's actually better served with Tenzin, Lin, and Jinora as more permanent companions given how they offer more to the table, particularly when Bolin and Mako are concerned. It's also sad for me that they never explored the potential in Asami. While she could not fight to the extent that Suki or Ty Lee has shown, she has tech that could compensate. Mai feels more of a threat eventhough she had a simpler skillset of fighting with knives. She could have also been the team tactician, like Sokka, given that Team Korra is composed of three other people who are basically overeager for action. What we see instead is our girl reduced to providing convenient transportation as her most important contribution after her arc with her dad was over. While I would not go as far as calling Team Korra dysfunctional, they just don't mesh well enough to be called a true team. The excuse of being there because of friendship falls flat for me because half the team spent about half as much time in romantic relationships with each other which had little to no importance with the main plot.
I find it interesting that you bring up the philosophical/spiritual aspect of bending that is so rooted in introspection and self-improvement, the gaang had entire arcs about these things but it seems so lost in Korra's story. It gets brought up once in season 1 when Tenzin tries to teach Korra airbending, but it gets played for laughs when Korra doesn't get it and Tenzin's kids continue to frustrate her by explaining it poorly, which is funny but also sad when you later realize Korra doesn't eventually master it through some sort of revelation or realization, she just "does it" at one point. Come to think of it, only one character seems to go through an arc or personal growth and that is Zaheer in his great moment of grief.
Korra team avatar needed more time to develop. Half the time their separated doing their own subplot till the third act most of the time in the show or getting into petty arguments with each other and that's not good team building if you ask me. 0:56 Suki is amazing she should've joined team avatar around season 2 but hey the kyoshi warriors are allies with Aang and the gang so by default she's already team avatar. Same goes for everyone else during the eclipse
they had 4 seasons 😭
@@palemeadows yeah I hate the excuse that they “didn’t have enough time”. There were many issues, one of which is the fact they tried to keep in way too many characters.
Others have probably mentioned it but it's gotta be said that the awkward love triangle (briefly love square in season 1) of the team has caused nigh irreparable damage to the group's synergy. It never truly felt comfortable having everyone around together when, for most of the show, one person would be dating another while a third character is unhappy about it. Even after all of the relationship drama was mostly over, it still didn't feel comfortable when half the team was exes with each other. Bolin was the only one who avoided most of the relationship drama but, as a result, felt like a third wheel to the story with them
I honestly forgot that Marko could use lighting and I think the writers also forgot because once Asami got the electric gloves they pretty much became her skill set.
This is why I’m a defender of pro-bending. It was the only time Team Avatar (minus Asami) actually felt like a team with banter and conflicts that they had to overcome to be a better team. And they actually had to learn to fight together instead of separately in different locations.
And the random mooks mattered. Helped the world feel larger. She's having trouble playing a game and there are all those Chi blocker fighters out there! made it seem like the ladder to climb would be tall indeed....oh no just wills in new powers. nevermind.
As far as I can tell Mako hasn't really done anything for the design and comparing this to aang's team they felt more like a family and as a team that could cover each other's backs, team Korra doesn't have that synergy and they mostly feel like a group of teenagers that are acquaintances
After comment about Mako and Bolin's disconnect with the spiritual side of their bending, Legend of Korra as a whole would've been much more interesting if they tackled the effect modern technology and the modern era had on bending, having the Krew take an adventure to rediscover what bendng actually means could've been an amazing season
It really feels like so much wasted potential. The premise of an avatar who has learned 3 of the 4 elements not by going out to explore the world but instead by people coming to teach her in an isolated training camp has so much potential. The villains are so close to being great if they could just keep themselves from throwing it away. A non-bender revolution led by a man who lost everything and then learned how to energy bend and uses that on his own crusade so he can force everyone to be equal. That would have been so much better than a blood bender with daddy issues. A spiritual leader of the northern water tribe who tries to help restore the spiritual balance that still has yet to recover from the fire nation's concurring. But in attempting to solve this problem gets tricked by Vaatu into starting a civil war to unite the water tribes and to release both spirit portals and thus unintentionally releasing Vaatu and his evil. That would be better than so guy wanting to be the evil anti-Avatar. That is just the first 2 villains that could completely change where the series goes and how Korra develops.
I watched ATLA years ago and I still remember it well, meanwhile Korra didn’t have much of an impact
The main problem is more production reasons, it’s hard to build up character dynamics when studio execs keeps on pulling the rug underneath you everytime you write a season, get told it’s the last one, then SIKE you have to make more seasons And it shows because season 3 and 4 were made with continuation in mind and it shows the writing strengths much better!
Fun Fact: Brian Konietzko said publically and on an official LoK podcast that even before Book 1 aired, the show has been payed for 4 seasons in advance. Nick couldn't cut funding or mess with their budget. the only thing Nick COULD do was move it to online streaming only. kzhead.infoUgkxZw29IbPsBiEx3XW4ZMd5BdECdnFwqp1T
Even then when you don’t adapt to seasons and just cram things in one season is awful idea. I understand writing is hard and working under execs who do sudden changes but I mean rarely will productions will go your way as a writer and knowing your limits for consistent quality is less headaches.
You know what? This video made me realize that Aang being only passable in all the elements aside from Air might’ve gotten him killed if he didn’t try so hard to find a peaceful solution.
Team Aang was blessed with Uncle Iroh, so much so, that he had to come back to help out Team Korra, That should have been Tenzin but sadly he was saddled with so much of his own issues that he could not be the Mountain from which wisdom flowed like water. I wrote it and he appeared in the video .. damn, that old man is incredible
Ngl, when Bolin decided to fake an injury to try and win back Opal, I cringed so hard. Yes I know the man is socially awkward, but that really did not need to be written.
By the way, aang never used ice bending in a fight, but he did use it to try to save bumi. He used ice bending to break the chain
That was airbending I think. He also used airbending to turn water into ice when they stormed the earth kingdom palace in Ba Sing Se.
@SimplymeSVEN18 I'm pretty sure it was ice bending because we have never seen another Airbender do that before, and it's shown that waterbenders can freeze with their breath
@@dailycatsandgaming3178You're right because when katara was whooping Jet, she finishes it by blowing air to freeze the water.
Technically he does use it to defend from arrows from the Yuyan Archers
It took me a while to realize that everyone in Korra's team avatar has dated the avatar
This is why I find it odd that Asami and Korra are in a relationship when they barely came off as fucking friends to me!
I haven't seen the show myself, but The Krew isn't catching my eye in appearance. With The Gaang, you have Katara and Sokka with their signature Water Tribe blue, and while they have the same core features due to being siblings, they both still have their own styles. And, of course, the juxtaposition of masculine and feminine. Aang has the bright yellow and orange of the Air Nomads and the bald head with a blue arrow. Toph has a nice green for the Earth Kingdom, but her blind eyes also give her distinction. Suki has the Kiyoshi Warrior uniform and makeup, Zuko in the black and red, his scar, and his evolving style as he becomes a protagonist. With The Krew, Kora is kinda like Katara, but she does have more strength presenting than Katara's femininity. The other three look like they could all be siblings, but only two are. And overall, all their colors look bland, and the dreary settings make them look more like background characters, and just blend in. I can't tell which is a bender or not, nor what element. I can't tell which nation their families came from. There's just so much missed potential, here! I don't know if I'll ever watch the series, the plot structure seems to be a mess. I'll happily return to ATLA, though.
Well... the eye colours always told us what tribe they were from. Mako and Bolin are siblings and I think their outfits do show which element they had.
@@lorettabes4553looking at their outfits, as someone who only watched the first few eps many, many, _many_ years ago... yeah no, i got nothing. Without context, I'd think Asami was a firebender and the other two nonbenders. I guess they kinda hinted at it with their body types? Fire lankier than Earth? But that just came to me as i was writing this comment. I now realize that they are a bit color coded, but the colors are pretty dull and don't stand out as much, meaning it's harder to tell.
I have to respectfully disagree with you in the case of Asami. She had a consistent black and red colour scheme that I thought was very striking. I also thought that it was great to have a colour scheme often stereotyped in fiction as "evil" be worn by one of the kindest, most likeable characters in the show. And this bit here: "I can't tell which nation their families came from." That's the point. They're from the United Republic of Nations. Their attire shows harmony, that the nations are no longer enemies. Seriously, you should watch the series. It has its flaws but overall it's great.
What an awful argument. "There's so much missed potential, even though I admitted I never watched the show. I just hate it because I can't tell who's a bender!" Be so for real rn.
this was likely intentional, because mako and bolin are siblings from fire nation and earth kingdom parents, who raised themselves on the streets of republic city- so none of them besides korra are actually from or raised in any of the bending cultures from ATLA. the cultural mishmash of republic city is actually something that's brought up a lot. but the show also dropped the ball on this, hard. after ATLA drove home the importance of being in touch with your culture, and honoring it but not being afraid to stand against the parts that should be defied, and showed how benders literally improve by being in touch spiritually with their culture and element? kind of would have expected that to get brought up as a *downside* to how bending is treated in korra, and how none of the krew know anything about where they came from. but this never happens. in fact the more traditional ways of bending that korra was taught are thrown aside almost immediately because the new 'kickboxing' style where you just throw elemental punches was 'better', which after ATLA is just such a disappointing way to take things.
I feel like the writers were forced or felt like they had to have a team avatar all in the same age group, while actually far more being written like they wanted a more mentor student team for me, like season 1 kinda felt like they wanted Korra to kinda be like a found family memeber of Tenzin family and the story being them both growing in their roles as avatar and tenzin in his mentor/parental role for Korra, season 2 gave them the plot of Tenzin feeling not spirually enough to teach Korra, her feeling like she could learn more from someone else and also ignoring his warning. Also her being more integraded in tenzin family i feel like would have made the whole Jinora sub plot far more interesting, because if Korra had more time in season 1 being more part of this family we would have had more interaction between them already. Season 3 gave also again Korra and Tenzin a binding story/goal with airbender returning and while season 4 did have them far more seperated i feel like you totally could have written tenzin as the one searching for Korra and helping her if they had set the show up from the beginning like a mentor studeng story. Lin also feels far more connected to those two making her having such a prominent role more sense with her past with Tenzin and the Bei fong family connection to the avatar giving her a constant reason why she would be around. I like Mako, Bolin or Asami, but with the weird way this team was always written it just kinda feels like they were a little bit more added with the intent of having people in the same age group be Korras team and nit like they were from the beginning thought of as essential part of the plot. To me they kinda feel like good character ideas that lay around that they reused as a second thought to give us team avatar after realising they only really had mentor and student till now
Honestly, one reviewer put it best; relationship musical chairs. So much of their dynamics were about who was getting with who to the point that it bled out into episodes. Eg Asami confronting Mako about being so passionate about trying to find Korra. In theory it was supposed to be him falling for Korra. In practice, it was because Korra is the avatar and was missing. And the relationship drama was also poorly written in moments where this love square should’ve really acted out. Like when Korra loses her memories after breaking up with Mako and starting to date Bolin. So Mako pretends he’s still her boyfriend and both Bolin and Asami are disturbingly quiet. It was all about getting together, not staying together.
I think I know part of the problem. Korra has an arc because "being the avatar" will always be relevant, so even after Book 1 ends it's self contained arc it's easier to look at what you have and expand on that for book 2-4. By this point, mako and bolin have nothing, and asami just has "my dad was bad". They started with no goal so now you have to make up stuff for them each book or try to create an arc for the next 3 volumes. That's not to say they couldn't have built on their flaws like Korra and woven everything together, just that I imagine it would be much harder for those 3. Tenzin and Lin have the bias of being Gaang children. If you don't touch on the children of the last crew people are going to be disappointed. Especially sense even in book 1 Lin and Tenzin are more interesting than half the cast. It was fine for one book, but after seeing how interesting they are It's hard to just walk them back to let the Krew shine.
Korra is actually the main problem here. Too much of the show is about her but she's just not a well written character and many of her flaws are not considered as flaws in the narrative.
I feel like Mako and Bolin bending could be stronger, but we have to remember that they were living in a modern era and with the pro bending had to be more modern with their bending which can come off as weaker while Korra was trained by masters and never had to deal with the modern style of bending put her as the stronger one.
Yeah the issue the writers tried to make to make like the OG team avatar but didn't understand what made The OG so memorable and unfortunately it spread throughout the series, which is sad because it had the potential to be a true successor to ATLA but certain decisions and execution held it back, aside from good moments.
Feels like they were just being lazy. That, as long as you put forced will they won’t they stuff, people would eat it up.
If you think they were trying to rehash the OG team avatar, then you’re the same as all the brainless idiots in this comment section. The common man is a fool.
This is my biggest problem with the legend of Korra. The found family of ATLA and the bond between the characters is what made the show so great. It being so blatantly absent in Korra felt like they were missing the core of what made the first show so good. That being said, Korra could have been a good show in its own right if they had been bold enough to actually step away from the team avatar found family and put her alone in the world. It was when they did that the show was at its best (though it certainly did not capture the spirit of ATLA)
The Legend of Korra team Avatar can easily be fixed with a simple rewrite: Korra first goes to the fire nation to learn fire banding. While there's an attack by the Equilix and she meets Mako who's a member of the White lotus. The white lotus is the legend of korra version of the FBI. Mako becomes Korra's fire bending teacher and joins her to take down the Equilix. They go to the Earth kingdom where they meet Mako's brother Bolin a pro bender that becomes Korra's earth bending teacher. Bolin joins team avatar mainly for the fame and attention but soon becomes a real hero. The last member of the team is Asami Sato the head of Sato technologies. She joins the team to bring down her Equlix father that's using her tech for evil. Mako is the leader who uses his street connections to Help solve mysteries.Bolin is the brawler and Asami is the brains providing them with gadgets and financial resources.
Stopped reading two sentences in because your script doctor goes against one of the pivotal points which makes TLOK interesting in the first place: that she’s already a master of three of the elements at the start (showing how gifted she is, despite what a lot of people might say), so we can focus on other issues. Script doctors are weak if you replace the foundation of the original show with something weaker. And that’s the case with yours. A good script doctor of TLOK is the one made by KZheadr Hello Future Me - where she actually needs to relearn the elements because, in that version of the story, Aang didn’t Deus Ex-Machina then back.
Oh wow, had no idea they were separated for most of the story. What a weird writing decision.
A small thing I noticed was that this team Avatar barely every hug each other do big group hugs :( The OG team Avatar always hugged each other and showed affection to each other so it was really easy for me to believe that they were a big (somewhat dysfunctional) family. The team Avatar in Korra barely hug and in a lot of instances they barely ever talk to each other which is why for me, they just don't hit the same.
The Krew feels like a teacher put some random kids together for a Group project and thats the extent of their "bond"
I think the main problem is that Bryke didn’t bother to establish a natural chemistry between the main four, probably stemming from Korra’s lack of the same episode length as Airbender. It’s impossible to establish any sort of connection or camaraderie between these four because Bryke don’t have the time to do so and because they don’t, they immediately make the biggest mistake of the series and bring in the love triangles and sexual tension when you haven’t even established friendship yet. And it makes Korra and Asami’s eventual pairing feel hollow, Mako treated like the world’s biggest jackass, and Bolín being treated like he can’t have value as a character unless he has a girlfriend.
To putt it in MCU terms: Team Korra are the Avengers while The Gang are the Guardians of the Galaxy
I didn't watch Korra(i'm here cause I enjoy your analyzing videos) but the feeling I'm getting is that team avatar in TLOK is more akin to a box getting checked off for the sequel to one of the most popular and iconic animated tv shows ever made. We have a team avatar in Korra because ATLA had one, and no further thought on how to make it work went into it.
You should watch it. The Legend of Korra has its flaws but overall its a great show.
Okay but you can't go and say Naga isn't useful That thing can swim, run real fast, and helps the krew find people via scent Plus iirc Naga has saved Korra when her bending failed once (I think due to equalists?)
I always thought Mako should have been de powered permanently. It could have led to so much charachter growth and much more but instead they undo the de powering quicker than Iroh makes tea while resting.
Personally, I like Team Korra a little better than Team Yangchen (yes, I just finished the books). At least Korra's avatar team has a bender of each element and a badass non-bender. Spoiler alert, I love that Team Yangchen has a gay married couple, but her current team consisted of them (both waterbenders), another waterbender in Kavik, and a Yu Yan archer. I don't remember an earth or a firebender. Even Team Kyoshi has all four and more! Overall, each avatar's team chemistry has a different vibe. My personal ranking would be: 1.) Aang (duh) 2.) Kyoshi 3.) Korra 4.) Yangchen
What about Kuruk? His team is so morally gray.
@PrincessLioness his team's story was told in flashback, so I didn't glimpse enough of their synergy. But if I do have to include Team Kuruk, I think I'll rank them...before Yangchen. Of course, this is just my personal ranking. 🙃
We need to reboot the Krew from the start. Korra can stay but her backstory needs changing. I’d make her best friend Jinira, who is age up to be 16. Jinira as the academic and rule-following airbender to Korea’s rebellious everything but air-bending is a nice core duo. Mako and Bolin need to be rebooted from scratch. The season1 arc is that Korra is raised in an almost North Korea like White Lotus camp that is controlling and disciplined, headed by Tenzin. Korra befriends Jinira and encourages her to misbehave. She gets into trouble with Tenzin. Eventually Korra realizes that she cannot airbend because she is so unfree, even intellectually, she has never been allowed to travel. She decides to runaway with Jinira , and only then unlocks her airbending. They go to republic city, where the girls explore while being pursued by Tenzin and the White Lotus, and the police . There she meets Mako and Bolin, who are currently street fighters . Bolin is already trying to master lava. Korra realizes that although she has a ‘certificate of mastery’ in the bending styles , she’s not actually very good as she only has classroom learning. She admires the street fighters because their bending is raw and powerful and hard earned and not like the mystical process she heard about in books. The plot centers around the fact that in Republic city, bending is fading away for an unknown reason. Thai causes nonbenders to rise and argue that bending is archaic and Chaotic, and the Equalists are on the rise politically. Korra investigates this rising conflict . It turns out that the fading bending isn’t caused by a villian group, but rather it’s because authentic culture and connection to nature has faded as people enter modernity, and live in urban environments. It’s innately part of the city. Korra relaises that many people have been on her journey: stifled by traditional rigid culture, so they escape to the modern city but end up spiritually dulled. She realizes that she must venture out of the city, and experience nature and culture for herself, and find her own balance between tradition and progression. Mako and Bolin also realize their bending is rough and uncultured and they have been cut off from their cultural heritage. They decide to travel together, the Krew, with only each other - on the run from the White Lotus.
Asami isn't just the best partner for Korra. She came out of nowhere really.
Too bad they never gave Korra’s gang actual skill sets. Asami could have been their tech character, with inventing gadgets that help them in places where their bending cant get them. Bolin could have been in touch with nature and animals, where animals love him and he helps them with animals for various plot points, and when he finds his drive (his fire), he discovers lava bending. Korra could have just been the muscle of the group, where she cant really think outside the box, of finding nonviolent solutions, which gets her into trouble more often. (This is kind of her character, i wish they would have had that be a very large character flaw, and needing her friends to help her more) Mako could have been the smart detective guy from the very start, or at least proficient in finding solutions to their problems, and being the main groups strategist. (Instead of just being cringe) This may not be a lot to actually give them intertwining stories, but I imagine you could at least make it work with some effort