Korra book 2- Spirits- trailer and discuss

[Ahriman238]

Well, I wouldn't say she has. She seemed to come closer this time, but still ended with an impression of Jonah.

I don't understand.

Korra didn't calm down the spirit with her display, she got eaten by it. So it would seem she's still missing some essential element.

[krakonfour]

I really liked the plot twist of the latest episode.

[Titan Uranus]

I just thought about this, but shouldn't the Fire Nation have a "Stabbed in the back" ... I want to say legend, but it isn't really a legend in their case.

I mean they were on the verge of conquering the whole world only to have it yanked out from under them by a bunch of lucky rebels and traitors.

That might be a decent storyline- they use the War of Northern Agression/Southern Treason as an excuse to send peacekeepers to both of the tribes. Perhaps they could even start out honestly as peacekeepers with the first blows being struck by the locals. They then set up puppets and expand the occupation to restore order.

Either that or the whole earth kingdom has gone to a full blown police state in the absence of any countervailing forces.

[Grumman]

I just thought about this, but shouldn't the Fire Nation have a "Stabbed in the back" ... I want to say legend, but it isn't really a legend in their case.

I mean they were on the verge of conquering the whole world only to have it yanked out from under them by a bunch of lucky rebels and traitors.

Those "lucky rebels and traitors" include the rightful heir to the throne and the current Fire Lord's father. The man they "betrayed" was only on the throne because he murdered his own father to steal Iroh's birthright.

[Guardsman Bass]

They've had 70+ years to get over the end of the 100-year-war, and in any case the main area of tension seems to have been in the period right after the end (when people were trying to figure out the status of the Fire Nation Colonies).

[Ahriman238]

If anything, they'd likely be wary of intervening in another nation's internal affairs with their large battle fleet. Lest the rest of the world "view with alarm." On the other hand, I'm sure Zuko's family has a strong interest in doing the right thing first and worrying about politics and appearances later.

I really, really doubt we're going to see Fire Nation peacekeepers used as a backdoor for invasion and a return to global conquest. It's true what they say about the victors writing the history, and the GAang had decades to prove they meant everything they said about acting in the best interests of the world.

[Titan Uranus]

I just thought about this, but shouldn't the Fire Nation have a "Stabbed in the back" ... I want to say legend, but it isn't really a legend in their case.

I mean they were on the verge of conquering the whole world only to have it yanked out from under them by a bunch of lucky rebels and traitors.

Those "lucky rebels and traitors" include the rightful heir to the throne and the current Fire Lord's father. The man they "betrayed" was only on the throne because he murdered his own father to steal Iroh's birthright.

So? They were betrayed and the first thing a nationalist propagandist would do is recreate Ozai as a martyr who tried to give his people their rightful place in the world only to be betrayed and deposed by his traitorous son, a mideval throwback, and a gang of senile old men.

What I'm saying is that they were never militarily defeated except temporarily at Ba Sing Se (As I recall the White Lotus was just a distraction). As far as we know they were never occupied, they've got far better grounds than the Germans did for a stabbed in the back legend.

I will concede that it's unlikely that these people still hold any kind of power after 70+ years. But remember, we have only seen Republic City, where the gaang would have had the most influence and even there their system was falling apart.
I'm kinda assuming that the Fire Nation is as well, and I'm trying to think of an interesting way that it could break down without it also doing so across...bending/non-bending lines is the shortest way to say it I guess. I'll probably need to go through a few iterations to make it actually interesting.

That kind of nationalism could be popular amongst the masses. Ultra-nationalists could be installed by a rebellion against the blue bloods or a popular election (initially supported by our heroes of course, democracy is far and away preferble to monarchy after all, especially since all the sympathetic characters who aren't airbenders or the avatar(I'm including the POTUR in this) have known is what seems to be roughly a representative republic. Either that or they'be just had an object lesson in how bad an unrepresentative system can be.)

I wonder if their plan is to show how the system in each nation is broken over the course of each season. First the republic, then water, then fire, then earth.
Though they only have two seasons authorized, right?

[bilateralrope]

Remember that Iroh made a big deal about how Aang had to be the one to take down Ozai. Not because Aang was the only one who could do it, but because The Avatar taking Ozai down would The Avatar taking Ozai down would be a message to everyone to bring change. The position of The Avatar comes with a lot of religious influence. Especially when Aang does it, not by killing Ozai, but by taking away his bending.

To make matters worse for them, after removing Ozai from power the position of Firelord went to the person who was traditionally next in line. Who would they try to put in charge ?

[Titan Uranus]

They could put an ultranationalist from the aforementioned rebellion/peaceful democratic transition. Given that it seems that Republic City is the cultural center of the world I would expect the FN to gravitate towards republic especially given how successfully republican ideals have been spread in the modern age.

It could be an interesting juxtaposition of a (seemingly) liberal democratic URN and an early French Revolution style democracy being suppressed by a monarchy for some good reasons (the people being led colonial jingoists) and some bad ones (the monarchy/nobility want to retain their power over the lower orders).

I feel like the Avatar is gradually becoming less and less relevant given growing materialism and the failure of Aang's model city and political system. This assumes that Aang had the most power over the URN's development.

[JME2]

I'm guessing that Varrik is going to end up innocent and this episode is just making him look really bad. We've already had the storyline of "someone close to Avatar turns out to be a bad guy" in this season. I don't think we need another one, but I won't necessarily complain if he is.

At the very least, Varrick's using the Reunification Crisis for profit and to open the Northern markets. Taking control of Hiroshi Sato's old company and its advanced technology is a bonus.

I'm also very keen on knowing what the hell Unalaq was doing in the Portal. Clearly he knows something about the Dark Spirits that he hasn't let slip yet.

[Ahriman238]

I do have two minor niggling questions.

First, why doesn't Mako get any respect? Sure, he's new to the force, but he's acquainted with the chief and was rather intimately involved in saving the entire city-state from a coup just a couple of months ago, during which time these smug detectives were where exactly? It's great that he isn't riding personal connections to the top and all, but you'd think he's at least earned the right to be heard out.

Second, and this really is the height of nitpicking, how is it Varrick was willing to spring for a waterbender (with trained penguin-things, even) for the Glacier Spirits Festival but not for his Nuktuk serials? They pretty clearly splashed or dumped water on the bad guys while Bolin did a few moves that look nothing like waterbending. I sort of got the impression from the first season that all forms of bending (save air, for obvious reasons) are common enough in Republic city that it should be really easy to find a waterbender willing to work cheap, and the man on the street probably has a decent idea what bending looks like. One waterbender off-camera to move the water and show Bolin a couple of the basics would do a world of good. And yes, I know it's supposed to emulate campy early films (though the best of those were the ones that could be serious) like I said, nitpicking.

EDIT:

Though they only have two seasons authorized, right?

Four, actually.

[Crazedwraith]

Those detectives are obviously bought and paid for by Varrick.

Second he's pretty much just throwing Bolin a bone because he likes him. Good thing its not colour though otherwise it'd be obvious he had earth kingdom green eyes.

What gets me is Mako making deals with the criminal underword and thinking that would go well for him. And also the tech level. We've gone from steampunkish. Straight to movers with sound as well as one looks like plastique and radio detonators.

[Mr Bean]

What gets me is Mako making deals with the criminal underword and thinking that would go well for him. And also the tech level. We've gone from steampunkish. Straight to movers with sound as well as one looks like plastique and radio detonators.

They have radios already, not a far step from a radio to a remote detonator. Likewise if you have radios getting audio to play is not tricky with your movies.

Also let me echo the comments by the Walker brothers. Why the fuck does the Chief trust her two obviously corrupt cops? You think Ms Nuke the site from orbit would stand less for two obvious incompetents than those two.

[JME2]

Lin could potentially be under political pressure from Raiko and therefore distracted.

I'm not happy with the mis-characterization either, but it's the best I can come up with for now.

[Steve]

I'm not sure it's her trusting them so much as it's Mako picking the absolute worst times to come to her, which does nothing to help his credibility and forces Lin to put him in his place. If he picked a good moment she'd likely be more receptive.

[JME2]

Good point.

[Koolaidkirby]

Wow, the legend of Wan just blew me away. It could have been its own full length feature film.

[Lord Relvenous]

That was an amazing two-parter. Wow, gorgeous work. While I felt there was a bit of a slow start to this season, it has really grown into its own.

[Ahriman238]

For some reason, only the second part made it online. Still, I have to agree that this explains so much about the Avatar, and the world.

While setting up the big, season end villain. One wonders, if Korra will be the first Avatar since Wan to face Vatu, that would make a 10,000 year history of the Avatar cycle.

Also, I was right that it was Wan's statue that started glowing when Korra opened the spirit portal, presumably as some form of alarm.

[Steve]

You can watch part 1 on the nick website by manually entering the URL.

http://www.nick.com/videos/clip/legend- ... isode.html

[Mr Bean]

Gotta say I am disappointed because this killed a head cannon of mine since Season 4 of Aang. That people bent the elements within themselves meant we were going to see Energy Bending. Since apparently the Lion turtles can just poke your Chakaras and grant you superpowers is a little bit of a letdown.

[Ahriman238]

And sort of contradicts the idea that people learned to bend the elements from studying the dragons. sky bison, badger-moles and the moon/tides. Then again, ten thousand years is a very long time, so it's not impossible that knowledge of bending was lost and rediscovered, maybe more than once.

[Grumman]

I didn't like it (part 1). Like Mr Bean, I thought it was a bad match for Avatar. Even taken on its own strengths, it felt like an Aladdin knockoff, followed by a Prometheus knockoff, followed by hippie crap. I did smile at the lemur creature naming Wan, but that's not much.

[Koolaidkirby]

Gotta say I am disappointed because this killed a head cannon of mine since Season 4 of Aang. That people bent the elements within themselves meant we were going to see Energy Bending. Since apparently the Lion turtles can just poke your Chakaras and grant you superpowers is a little bit of a letdown.

I sort of picked up that the time line is this

people live together and energy bend
spirits cross over into the human world
people retreat to the lion turtles for safety
*length of time*
Wan's story goes here
People start to live everywhere again
Learn how to control the elements from watching animals/the moon
*length of time*
Aang

[Lord Revan]

we know that bending is suppose to be a sort of a supernatural martial art (with several styles to it, using different elements), the way I see it is that what we saw, was the bending equilevant of throwing an untrained punch or kick and what happend that people learned to use the elements much effectivly by watcing the sources mentioned in ATLA basically the difference between someone untrained fighting hand to hand and a trained martial artist.