I wonder what would have happened if Tonraq had not been banished. Since the Avatar is supposed to be all balance and peace and stuff, there would surely be a huge conflict of interest. I wonder if becoming an avatar automatically removes you from line of succession to the throne or somesuch

This contains spoilers from the trailers that have been released, and speculation about that.
Specifically this one mostly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B3ARCk0-pI

Spoiler

I think maybe Unalaq is a Well-intentioned Extremist. In the trailers, we see that during the time of the First Avatar Wan, spirits and humans coexisted in the same world. Whats more, in one trailer we see spirits and humans about to attack each other and Wan stops them.

Given that the spirits don't live in the material world anymore, it seems likely that Wan did something that created the spirit world and basically gave each species a home of its own (humans live in the world we see, Spirits live in that world).

Unalaq has confirmed that he has studied spirits all his life. I think he might be a sort of religious extremist who believes that the separation of the two worlds was a bad thing, and hopes to return things to the way they were in the old days, when humans and spirits lived in the same world together.

Ofcourse, given that the First Avatar lived countless years ago, there is no way any record could remain for Unalaq to find. So I would speculate that there is some greater villain (probably a spirit) behind the scenes, that has revealed this information to Unalaq, and painted the return to human&spirit coexistence as a good thing. Lots of people speculated that the facestealer Koh we saw in the original series might return in this series due to its popularity for example, though ultimately you could come up with any intelligent spirit who knows the truth as the ultimate villain who is manipulating Unalaq like a puppet.

Unalaq himself may truly believe that he is acting for the greater good, and that humans and spirits could coexist in harmony and everything would be better, even if in actual fact his success would lead to a catastrophic war.

Its interesting to note that Unalaq wanted Korra to open the portal in the south pole during the first two episodes so that the lights would return to the sky at the south. However in the newest episode he says he also wants Korra to open another portal in the north pole. And yet, the north has apparently always had those lights in the sky, which means the portal is actually not (directly) responsible for the lights. That means the portal does something else.

I think maybe those portals are somekind of support structures that keep the two worlds separate, and by having Korra open them, Unalaq is trying to bring the two worlds back together. This would explain why that statue Jinora was looking (which is nearly certainly that of the first avatar Wan) activated simultaneously with the portal opening. Because Wan created those portals to separate the worlds and now the peace he created by creating each species a world of their own is being endangered.

This would also explain why Unalaq cannot open the portals himself despite his greater knowledge and spirituality, and why he needs Korra so much. Since the First Avatar separated the worlds, only a reincarnation of that avatar (Korra) can undo that separation. It would also explain why the portal instantly and so easily opened when Korra touched it in the AS. Since Korra was in the Avatar State and channeling past lives, the portal simply recognized its creator.

EDIT: Hmm. Upon considering this more, creating a totally new world seems a bit too godlike for the Avatar. I think a better idea might be that the two worlds always existed, but spirits could easily and freely move between worlds. The closed portals might be a sort of lock then, that prevents armies of spirits from constantly running around in the material world. Hmm.

 

While the first season did have some problems, overall, I did enjoy it. This second season though, so far, has been rather terrible.

Everyone acts like a moron and/or a jerk.

Korra has been replaced by someone else, it seems. Now she is a naive retard who is easier manipulated than a fucking puppet. Uncle invades with a fucking army and she buys his explanation hook, line and sinker. "Oh, it is for peace, that's okay."

Where is the Korra from last season? She would have thrown those ships back faster than the obviously evil/well-intentioned extremist villain uncle could have pulled another contrived super-power from his ass. Yeah, invading the fucking hometown of the Avatar, that's a smart idea you have there, Napoleon.

But hey, it worked, Avatars only reaction was "you shouldn't, then again why not?"...>_>

Soldiers attacking children because they have been throwing snowballs is as stupid as it is so obviously manipulative.

Mako is still a douchebag and I just hope he dies at some point.

Tenzin seems to have changed as well, his bickering with his siblings was amusing at first but by now, it has become rather immature. But sending away the help while looking for his missing daughter seems to be a jerk move.

Bolin is fun though, as are Kaya and Bumi. Especially Bolin and his kuudere domina are rather entertaining.

I really didn't see it that way, She rather said, "you can't do the same as a bender, deal with it" and she is right. He can't jump down a cliff and use the elements to slow himself down, so him doing that is pointlessly risky and dangerous. What is an easy jump for her, can be potentially crippling for him. Not so much a bender looking down on someone but rather looking out for someone.

As to the whole civil war thing, so far, it has been contrived and stupid and I hope this gets a better twist on things that we can get behind. Really disappointed by this season so far.

 

Jesus, you all act like this isn't a kid's show or something. No, it isn't as good as the original, but if you were expecting it to be, then you are naive. Get over it.

If you're looking for superb plot, casting, and writing, stop watching Nickelodeon for Christ's sake.

 

This. It's a little strange seeing so much analysis and critique of a show intended for kids.

 

This depends on how you view the influence of media on children's development. I think it makes sense to insist on a higher standard of review and critique for programs intended for kids, as the underlying messages come through a little too easily.

Kya and Tenzin's attitude towards Bumi suggest a kind of elitism; as if they pity Bumi for his handicap of being a non-bender. The story has a serious tone- the kids will assume that something serious is being communicated, but the message here is garbled.

Anyway, target audience or not, we're in the audience and have fair reason to voice our displeasure with a drop in quality compared to the prior series. It's not like we're complaining that this doesn't stand up well against A Tale of Two Cities.

 

Eat shit. The target audience shouldn't have anything to do with the quality of the work. Also why the fuck shouldn't I expect it to be as good as TLA?

 

Lol. When the 'target audience' is 10, yes, you should expect a quality drop. To do otherwise is just denial of reality.

And you shouldn't expect it to be the same, because ATLA was exceptional for a children's show. It's unrealistic to expect that qualiy with any kid's show, even a continuation.

EDIT: Do you watch MTV and complain about reality television? Should the audience change quality? I don't give a shit. It does. And whining and telling me to eat shit for pointing it out isn't going to change that.

 

We get it, you have low standards and are very proud of that. Go away.

 

Oh, definitely. I've been complaining about this for years, how "realistic" has come to mean "everything sucks and nothing ever improves." Relating this to fiction, notice how it's only dark and grim things that are ever called "realistic"? Game of Thrones is "realistic" while Lord of the Rings isn't, even when they're both fantasy, because in Game of Thrones everyone's a piece of shit and anyone who isn't is probably dead or at the very least not in a position to do much.

 

You do realize that this show is geared for a far more mature audience then ATLA was? I mean come on... there's a fucking murder/suicide in the season 1 finale.

Konietzko has said, and he's said it like 50 flipping times I might add, that the tone of Korra was meant to mature with ATLA's aging audience. The vast majority of ATLA viewers, who were originally 10-14 in 2008, are now high school and college students.

This is a show geared for young adults. Not children. Tbh, I WAS expecting an uptake in quality, despite it being a sequel.

 

How dare we complain about a kids show on a HP Fanficition forum :facepalm

 

Episode was stupidly predictable, but these particular moments made it worthwhile.

Spoiler

If that's actually the end of Eska and Desna as recurring characters I just very well might quit this bitch.

 

A preview commercial thing they had has either Desna or Eska (or both) attacking Korra on the water, so that's probably not the end.

As for the episode, it's about time Korra actually did something. I liked Varrick again as well, and the scenes with Ikki and Tenzin and the derpy baby Sky Bison.

I didn't like Bolin though. Honestly I'm sick of him being constantly relegated to comic relief. I mean it's fine for him to be funny, like Sokka was, but at least Sokka was also useful. Bolin... isn't. He's just stupid. I don't think he's even used Earthbending this season. And his comedic value was overshadowed by Varrick anyway.

 

Okay, really disliked the first three episodes but this one actually saved a lot for me. Finally Korra is back and stopped being a doormat and started throwing her power around.

Yeah, it was obvious that the uncle was a villain but at least it is finally obvious to the main characters as well.

Bolin, well, I actually find him very entertaining still and he and his dominating girlfriend are rather hilarious and so is the rich dude, although, he is overdone quite a bit and probably offensive to some, rightfully so. Still, got laughs from me.

As to no earthbending, well they are at the South Pole, so, don't think there is much earth to bend.

So, yeah, this episode made things look better again, for me. I was ready to give up on this season but at least for now, am slightly optimistic again.

 

I don't really think it's unreasonable at all to expect a sequel to match up to the original, and the attitude that it is unreasonable is probably what makes it so uncommon.

Anyway, I'm really not feeling the civil-war storyline that's developing, it just seems way too shallow and considering how the equalist thing turned out, I'm not expecting much more depth. Instead, I'm really hoping something happens with the spirits, it seems like it has a lot more potential to be cool, and we already have an established antagonist in Koh.

 

It certainly was fun watching Korra play hard ball, though

 

Well that was a weird episode. What the hell was the point of those scenes with Tenzin and Meelo? What did they add to anything? It's like they were trying to set up some message or something, and completely forgot to actually add a message in there.

I actually liked Mako in this. Korra acts like a stupid raging cunt, as usual, and he does the smart thing and doesn't put up with her shit. I want to like her, and I know her family and home are being threatened, but Jesus, can she actually learn something at some point? Like, you know, basic interaction with people? I think making him a cop was a good decision if this is the result. Unfortunately Lin didn't get a lot of screentime.

And holy fuck, that ending. The Avatar State is severely nerfed if Korra can't even take down that one spirit. She should be able to wreck cities, to say nothing of one giant sea monster spirit thing. The whole final sequence was extremely abrupt too. How did the twins even get there that fast? It seems like they forgot how big the world is supposed to be.

On top of all that, has anyone else noticed that the quality of the animation seems to have nosedived? That scene with the lemurs really made me double-take, and I don't remember this show looking that ugly last season. It looks more like a cheaply made anime.

EDIT: By the way, was it disconcerting for anyone else that no one even batted an eye at the suggestion of war profiteering?