A master waterbender/healer in worse physical condition than Zuko? In a setting where powerful benders age a bit slower than the rest of the population? Is Katara really the type to let a spat get in the way of getting shit done? Doesn't make sense.

 

Watched the newest episodes. It's just . . . amazing how much worse LoK is than TLA.

I mean, maybe I'm totally wrong here, but:

Spoiler

Korra protects them from a huge explosion . . . with air? Seems like a way to make the situation worse, not better. There are even several occasions in A:TLA where they show air and fire meeting to create larger explosions.

There were numerous other problems, but with that one my suspension of disbelief was just utterly shattered.

 

Well you could handwave that by saying that is the natural result of firebending colliding with airbending. While here Korra counters the pressure blast of an explosion by creating a bubble that is not affected by the pressure.

 

I'm sorry but what?

Spoiler

It was an air shield, you know, the thing Aang regularly used to block fire bending explosions with. The shell of air kept the explosion back and forced it around the ball.

 

There are a number of times where Aang and Zuko were fighting that air meeting fire caused explosions, and in a room full of explosive flame, wouldn't air just exacerbate the problem? Unless I'm wrong about air/gas feeding flames?

Like I said, I could be wrong. It just seemed off to me. Anytime Aang used air as a shield against fire, he wasn't completely surrounded by flame, and he used air to divert the fire (which was coming from one direction) away from him and it still did damage because there would be a consequent explosion. He didn't wrap himself in it, or presumably he would've just been burnt.

Like the time when Aang was being hunted by the Sheershu, so he fights Zuko at the Abbey. He tries to use air as a shield against Zuko's fireblast, and it just causes a huge explosion that blasts both of them across the courtyard.

EDIT: There's also no need to be such a dick about it, when I admitted I might be wrong.

 

I really think you're stretching. Here's an example of Aang blocking comet enhanced firebending with an air shield. He hits him straight on and he blocks it. What Korra did was less impressive. She created a hard knot which the explosion flowed around (see that fact that we can see the explosion from the outside). She didn't tank the full force of the explosion.

 

Aang was fighting Ozai in an open-air arena, not trapped in a room where he was surrounded by the explosion. If they're inconsistent about the consequences of air meeting fire, that's one thing, I'm just trying to get to the bottom of the issue.

EDIT: In the very same clip you posted, about ten seconds later, there's an example of this very thing. Air doesn't work so well as a defense against fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3dT8oK7y80&t=2m20s

 

That's an irrelevant distinction. The fire blast was targets and focused. All its power was heading in one direction anyway.

Here's one of him air shielding while being completely surrounded by fire if you like it better. Less effective but he'd on the ropes for this part of the fight.

 

How is it an irrelevant distinction? Because you say it is?

Having a limited amount of air (being in a room with an explosion) is quite different from being out in the open and having a basically unlimited amount.

I just posted an example in your video, and then you provided another one.

Beyond that, my primary criticism was that there could be other ways to defend against an explosion than using something that will only feed it. I don't understand this level of vitriol you're exhibiting when I admitted room for error and pointed out something that isn't that unreasonable of a criticism in the first place. Calm down.

 

There's two ways an explosion does damage. The explosive shockwave and the fireball.

Its entirely feasible that Korra simultaneously bent the air to neutralize the shockwave and then deflected the fire away afterwards.

Not to mention all the examples that both sides have brought up so far have been bender vs bender.

This was a chemical explosion, with no active intent, mind, or energy behind it. Its probably easier to defend and/or control.

 

Oh, I see you argument. I was misunderstanding why you thought enclosed was important. Still, I really don't think it is correct.

First it was an explosion, not a burning thing. An explosion happens very quickly. It burns all in a single moment. By the time the explosion hit her, there was no burning going on. Adding more air to the mix will have no negative effect.

What hit Korra was the product of the explosion - a wave of superheated air and gasses. These are the very things airbenders work with. She created a shell of hardened safe air and pushed everything else around her. It also proved a stable pocked of not super-hot, not sucked away air for people to breath.

Could she have raised a rock wall? Probably, but it would have to be a very good rock wall to block the pressure wave. Airbending does that without trying. Waterbending would probably have worked quite well but she didn't have much water right then. Defending with fire is hard but possible. Most defences we've seen work by throwing a wall of your own fire to meet your opponents. Within the elemental logic of the show she probably could have blocked the explosion that way.

Second, even if it had been a fire, taking control of the air in a tight controlled shell is a very good thing to do. It will stop the fire sucking it up and growing.

Third, as to your clip, I don't see why its particularly relevant. A strong firebender can overwhelm the defences of an airbender if they can gain the momentum. Notice how Aang doesn't have time to raise an air shell in that scene, like Korra did in the episode and Aang did at other times in the fight. That tells us nothing important other than the fact that no bending style can no-sell the others. Your right that air isn't a magical wonder shield able to block any fire attack but the same is true of any element or defence. Avatar doesn't work on a rock-paper-scissors elemental system. All elements can be used effectively against all others - on both the attack and defence.

During that fight Aang blocked the fire in many ways. He created air shields, he threw walls of water, he holed up in an earth ball and he met fire with fire of his own. Ozai also blasted apart his rock ball, overwhelmed his firebending and threw him back despite his airbending. (He never overwhelms Aang's waterbending that I can see but that's mostly because Aang only used it a few times).

Korra defended with air in the episode because that what she chose to do, just like Aang chose to defend with air numerous times in the fight with Ozai.

As to why I am debating this forcefully, something about your original post really rubbed me the wrong way. Sorry.

 

Actually water would have been a significantly worse medium to block an explosion with.

See here.

 

I suppose I was just remembering times in TLA that there was some correspondent explosion when air was used to defend against fire, so I was wondering why they weren't incinerated. I figured the air might have just fanned the flames they were trying to shield themselves from, when I thought of the times defending that way backfired on Aang, because the flames would have spread and consumed the air she was using. But this is a kids show and I'm not a physicist, hence my hesitation with the original remark. Didn't mean for it to derail this badly, and people were able to provide explanations.

That aside though, there were other things in the episode that grated on me, besides what has already been mentioned in the thread about the falling quality of the series itself.

 

Interesting but not entirely relevant. The dangerous part appears to be the pressure wave. A bender could potentially stop that dead by forcing the water to remain still. Also, the water doesn't need to be a full, filled sphere with Korra in the middle. It could be a wall, held in front of Korra and solid. The air gap would stop the deadly water pressure wave.

 

You can see all the crap behind her is damaged, so it's pretty obvious that the bubble diverted the flame around it, rather than blocking it outright.

So many other awful things in the last couple eps that I don't even notice irregularities in universe mechanics.

 

The show has enough problems in many areas without being that nitpicky about the bullshit magic physics of bending. I am just glad that the latest episode lacked any forced romance subplots like Bolin and whatsherface and the two airbending children.

What do you guys think about the new villains and the Red Lotus Order?

 

I'm still a little apprehensive about liking them too much, because in both the previous two seasons the show has built up the villains to be complex, layered antagonists, before quickly just making them as overtly evil and stupid as possible in the final couple episodes to remove any sense of moral ambiguity - but I think basically having them as anarchists, specifically anarchists pissed off about the White Lotus essentially degenerating into bodyguards for the Avatar, is a pretty cool angle to work at, and it's nice to see this plot being interwoven with the Earth Queen stuff from a little earlier in the season.

That said, I'm still mostly curious about how Zaheer managed to fall into this group of super badass benders, and be deemed dangerous enough to be kept in such a high security prison, before he was ever a bender himself.

Also, I know a lot of people seem really dissatisfied with the show compared to the original series, and I can understand that when the focus keeps shifting to the romantic subplots, but I definitely consider season 3 a major improvement over the first two seasons, and I hope the show keeps enough of a following to continue despite how badly Nick is handling it. I think it's actually been pulled from tv and is only being shown online now? I have no idea what they're doing.

 

I've had mixed feelings about Tenzin, but that fight with Zaheer was the stuff of legend. Mad respect for Tenzin. It was good to see that even though Zaheer is some sort of airbending prodigy, he can't touch a hair of Tenzin's bald head.

 

Agreed. They really showed the difference between a skilled airbender and an airbending master.

Also, until Sparky Sparky Boom girl blindsided him again, he was holding out against three to one odds. I think he would have been able to stall them for quite a while otherwise.