So the firebender dude on Korra's team is the crown prince of Fireland, traveling the world during his pilgrimage to learn and experience all that it has to offer like his grandfather Zuko did, amirite?

 

No, but he has to capture the Avatar to restore his honor. So far everything is going according to plan.

 

Whenever a ZukoxKatara shipper starts blowharding that Mike and Bryan actually listened to their bitching and plan on pairing Korra with Mako in order to create a 'reincarnation of Zutara', I like to pull those shippers aside and tell them that technically speaking, since Korra is the Avatar, it would be a reincarnation of Zukaang.

They get very upset.

 

So I'm watching The last airbender for the first time.

Holy shit I've been missing out. This show is awesome.

 

It really is. Because it's technically a kid's show, it gets a bad rap from people that haven't bothered to watch it.

 

The filler episodes and type of humor really mark it as a children's show, but it's an amazing series. When I was relaying to my family about korranation.com, I texted my dad and started with "Gather the family 'round" because my entire family watches it.

Aang being an advocate of nonviolence (or at least nonmurder) was one of my favorite parts of the series.

 

QFT. In so many stories these days killing is the most common way to solve the protagonists problems. The semi-pacifist way is also one of the reasons I like the Doctor I think. Although I wish Energy-bending had been foreshadowed a bit more and less of a Deus Ex Machina.

 

"The Library" had a scroll of a Lion-Turtle standing over a human, but Aang never read any further into it.

 

So, a new episode's up and Amon shows why he's such a threat.

I'm really starting to get a feel for Korra, and I love that it's such a challenge for her to think about subtle ways to attain her goal. I'm very much looking forward to the spiritual challenge for her. It was something that came so easily to Aang that I feel when Korra begins to speak to spirits it will really reveal more about the spirit world. Especially considering what we've got from this most recent episode.

 

Spoiler

Amon energy bends

 

Lol. Mako is Batman.

 

Spoiler

To defeat a Firebender, you must become a firebender

 

Not just me then? Good. :awesome

 

Where is it up?

 

I use Animeplus.tv

 

I bet the spirit Koh was the one who actually stole Amon's face. /epileptic trees :3

 

Spoilers to be safe:

Spoiler

I loved the animation during the fight scene with the Equalists, and the atmosphere as they searched the city was awesome.

I did think it was kind of odd that they'd explain the mask/face thing so early. I would totally expect that story to be a lie and have them reveal the real reason later.

Anyone else not like the opening that much? The original long version was fine, but the short one is too short, and the guy's voice isn't very engaging. Plus the show recap/preview thing with the film reel right after the opening was really annoying. It reminds me of something similar they do with the Star Wars CGI show on Cartoon Network, and I hate that.

It didn't seem like Amon used energy bending to me. When Aang used it on Ozai in the finale there was a huge light show to accompany it, and we didn't see anything like that here. And Amon's not even a bender (unless he's hiding it due to some kind of self-hatred thing, or he has another agenda), so I don't think he'd even be capable of it. But we don't know much about energy bending, so I could be wrong.

I think it's just a really specialized usage of the same chi-blocking thing that Ty Lee and now the Equalists use. Instead of just jamming chakra points for a little while, he finds a really big chakra point and irreparably damages it somehow.

Finally, I have to say that I don't really like Steve Blum's voice work for Amon. I mean, I like his voice for other characters -- Spike Spiegal, namely -- but not here. When I first saw Amon, I was drawing comparisons to Slade from Teen Titans, voiced by the godly Ron Perlman. Maybe I got my hopes up too much, but it still stings. I suppose he's good enough though.

(And speaking of voices, the guy with the electric rods was voiced by Lance Henriksen, who also did Admrial Hackett in Mass Effect.)

 

Spoiler

Mmmm... it would be cooler if Amon gave Koh his face in exchange for the ability to energybend. He does say in his revelation speech that the spirits granted him the power.

 

Spoiler

Seems a lot of people are guessing that Koh is somehow responsible for Amon's energy-bending. It certainly makes a fair amount of sense, given Amon's losing his face, spirits granting him abilities, and Koh himself saying he'll meet the Avatar again back in the first series. And knowing the minds behind A:tLA and LoK, I wouldn't put it past them to expand on one episode event from way back, especially when that event was with a fairly popular eldritch abomination.

It was a good episode and I enjoyed it quite a bit. But it feels kind of weird that Korra seems to default on fire-bending so much. So far, her native bending is the one that we've seen the least on. Here's hoping we see some more water strikes or whatever later on.

 

Really liked it but I am a bit miffed that generating lightning seems to be a standard skill now, that workers even can use.

I mean, after seeing regular chumps using metalbending, not that surprising but still a bit disappointing to see the epitomes of the respective bending arts being used so casually by people who are obviously more regular joe's than masters of their element.