Best TLOK character, or bestest TLOK character?
Varrick was a good concept and the way he was drawn (his "acting," expressions etc.) were top notch, besides his voice actor being great, but he was poorly written and shoehorning him into the last season as a genius inventor when he was previously only a savvy businessman only served to magnify the flaws of the Kuvira storyline.
>>78280980
Varrick was by far the best part of Book 2 but I agree he wasn't well written in Book 4. I hate that he was turned into a good guy - one of the things I loved about him was he was a genuinely charming goofy guy who was also an amoral greedy dick. It's rare to see villains like that.
It'll always bug me that Varrick, who did a lot of terrible things, got off completely free while characters who were as bad or not as bad than him were severely punished. I guess being a war profiteer is lower on the totem pole of evil than trying to kidnap the Avatar or taking people's bending.
>>78281456
Right, I mean on the surface there were no casualties in the civil war Varrick orchestrates because Kid's Show, but realistically people would've died in the skirmishes and riots, not to mention the fact that he bombed a building trying to drag Republic City into the war. his reveal as a villain was actually a little chilling to me, and then he shows up in seasons 3 and 4 just as hilarious comic relief again and we're left to say, "Wait, this guy did some pretty horrendous things, why's he have free reign of Zaofu and a job?"
But then again Suyin runs Zaofu so
>>78281963
LoK has a pattern of squandering great potential. I liked for the most part how Varrick was handled in Book 2; he was a fun, effective villain. I was holding out hope he would show up as a villain later. Then he returned as pure wacky comic relief.
It's especially bizarre because Varrick did terrible things directly to the protagonists. He stole Asami's company and framed Mako for his serious crimes, and showed absolutely zero remorse for either. Yet when Asami was justifiably angry at Varrick when he showed up again, it was immediately brushed off. It's just a really weird discrepancy in how the show treated him vs how it treated every other villain.
Still, despite all that, Varrick is one of my favorite LoK characters. He was always entertaining, can't say that about a lot of the others.
>>78281456
>It'll always bug me that Varrick, who did a lot of terrible things, got off completely free while characters who were as bad or not as bad than him were severely punished.
Iroh probably did more terrible things than Varrick and he got off completely free too.
>>78283142
Iroh's son died in the siege of Ba Sing Se and it breaks his heart. He withdraws from the battle he's fought for two years, the battle he's very nearly won, and has his birthright as the next Fire Lord unceremoniously taken away.
Compare that to Varrick, who commits an act of terrorism and attempts to have the president assassinated so he can start a war that he will profit off of, who consequently escapes from prison and becomes Kuvira's wacky mad scientist.
Im partial to the titular character from the show
>pic related
but Mako's pretty good in the later seasons, his dry humor really clicked with me. Varrick's a good choice as well. I just feel like the only character with any real development was Korra.
Not that I'm complaining. I'd rather creators focus entirely on beefing up the main character's expansion really well then half-assing 5 or 6, which is how I feel with the original show.
>>78282462
It's not that bizarre. Fans really liked him so Bryke, in their great stupidity, thought they should make him a good guy and he shouldn't be treated badly.
>>78283831
>Iroh's son died in the siege of Ba Sing Se and it breaks his heart. He withdraws from the battle he's fought for two years, the battle he's very nearly won, and has his birthright as the next Fire Lord unceremoniously taken away.
So?
>>78283831
How many Men, women, and children would Iroh have slaughtered to get to Ba Sing Se? He learns empathy after his son dies after he's killed how many sons of his enemies?
He doesn't have the courage to stand up to his brother, ever. He can play it off as not wanting it to look like in-fighting or so the Avatar can fix everything but he still stood by and assisted the Fire Nation for years. His White Lotus was pretty damn ineffective, too. So much for even being a rebel when his society didn't have a contingency plan for stopping genocide.
>>78287643
Iroh paid for his "crimes". He's also implied to have been working on bettering himself and helping others since that time. In a way he got a second chance and worked hard to pay for his wrongdoings.
With Varrick he gets off for practicly nothing. He's never seen to regret what he did. He does help defeat Kuvira, but he's the reason shes even a problem, and it doesn't seem to be because he's come around, it's just in his best interest.
Definitely one of the better characters of TLOK. Flaws and all.
>>78280283
During the finale, I was way more invested in his relationship with Zhu Li than anything to do with the retarded giant robot. That one scene where Zhu Li explains that she lied about what she said earlier to Varrick, only for him to still not see what she's getting at is my favourite scene in the entirety of TLOK.
