I’ll throw some love in for LoK. It was a great drama, handling difficult subjects that a lot of late teens and young adults struggle with. Characters weren’t magically perfect, always making the right choice, or knowing the right words. But also, sometimes a character did everything right, and still ended up with a terrible result.
The original show had a little bit of that in it, but LoK took it to realism levels, and made it main plot points not just in episodes, but whole seasons.
I mean, I adore LoK. The animation and sound design are gorgeous, a huge step over ATLA. I’d argue that Korra and Zuko are the two best characters in the franchise, and it gave us some other fantastic ones, like Tenzin, and interesting (albeit tragically underdeveloped) villians. And it felt like Avatar. I could go on and on, but I basically view it as season 4-7 of ATLA.
The plot’s also so dense, with so much subtly implied, that it’s basically impossible to catch all the connective tissue in one viewing. Like (for instance) Aang’s mannerisms reflected in Korra, visual parallels, the reveal Unalaq was a co-conspirator with Zaheer, and the direct connection between Korra basically being imprisoned in her childhood, the Red Lotus, all the way to Kuvira’s rise.
…Also, the quality of the premiere streaming is like a potato. It’s a crime, compared to all the high-res hand painting of the HD releases.
It doesn’t mean I don’t love the other entries though, or that they didn’t do specific things incredibly well. Ozai pales in comparison to the Kyoshi novel villains, for instance. Zuko and Iroh stole the show in NATLA, getting developed in scenes we never saw in the animation. There’s tons of lore buried in the tabletop games, and the comics, even the whackier ones, nicely expand Avatar’s wild spirituality.
And it makes me said that so much of the fandom loves ATLA enough to rewatch it 20 times, yet harbors hate or apathy for the rest, like they’re stuck in a feedback loop.
I’ll throw some love in for LoK. It was a great drama, handling difficult subjects that a lot of late teens and young adults struggle with. Characters weren’t magically perfect, always making the right choice, or knowing the right words. But also, sometimes a character did everything right, and still ended up with a terrible result.
The original show had a little bit of that in it, but LoK took it to realism levels, and made it main plot points not just in episodes, but whole seasons.
I mean, I adore LoK. The animation and sound design are gorgeous, a huge step over ATLA. I’d argue that Korra and Zuko are the two best characters in the franchise, and it gave us some other fantastic ones, like Tenzin, and interesting (albeit tragically underdeveloped) villians. And it felt like Avatar. I could go on and on, but I basically view it as season 4-7 of ATLA.
The plot’s also so dense, with so much subtly implied, that it’s basically impossible to catch all the connective tissue in one viewing. Like (for instance) Aang’s mannerisms reflected in Korra, visual parallels, the reveal Unalaq was a co-conspirator with Zaheer, and the direct connection between Korra basically being imprisoned in her childhood, the Red Lotus, all the way to Kuvira’s rise.
…Also, the quality of the premiere streaming is like a potato. It’s a crime, compared to all the high-res hand painting of the HD releases.
It doesn’t mean I don’t love the other entries though, or that they didn’t do specific things incredibly well. Ozai pales in comparison to the Kyoshi novel villains, for instance. Zuko and Iroh stole the show in NATLA, getting developed in scenes we never saw in the animation. There’s tons of lore buried in the tabletop games, and the comics, even the whackier ones, nicely expand Avatar’s wild spirituality.
And it makes me said that so much of the fandom loves ATLA enough to rewatch it 20 times, yet harbors hate or apathy for the rest, like they’re stuck in a feedback loop.