Episode 21: The Avatar State
Roku describes the avatar state as a defense mechanism that gives you a great power boost. The visuals show different avatars earthbending, waterbending, airbending, and firebending.
What's interesting is that the firebending avatar is actually lavabending, which is (now) known to be an earthbending skill.
My question, though, is this: Why could Korra activate the avatar state willy nilly, and why did it seem to not give her much of a power boost except when she fought Zaheer with the poison (when it actually seemed to be used as a defense mechanism)?
>>83463402
Because Byrke wanted Korra to be the opposite of Aang.
The Avatar State was an instant win button every time he used it (barring the Azula shot, which was complete bullshit). They didn't want Korra's Avatar State to be like that so they toned it down.
It should go without saying, but Byrke are hacks.
>>83463402
Aang couldn't activate his avatar spirit all willy nilly because he crippled himself on his road to enlightenment with his earthly attachments.
Korra can do it because Mike and Brian are hacks that forget their own canon.
Aang didn't want to be the Avatar. Korra was told she was and only knew that. Aang fought against that idea while Korra embraced it.
The chakra path doesn't mean you need to always be in that mindset. You just have to acknowledge it and then you can move on. Otherwise Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yanchen, and others wouldn't be able to use the Avatar State since they didn't isolate themselves from the world but at the same time they didn't grab the world and force it to do what they wanted, they helped to guide it towards different goals and bring it back to balance when someone tipped the balance.
Rather than write the fights well they just depowered Korra and made everyone else stronger than her when they shouldn't be then had her win with 5 seconds left on the clock in overtime and call it a day.
>>83463402
>Why could Korra activate the avatar state willy nilly
Poor writing
Korra, who is known to not take many things seriously, never to study, and lacks a suitable connection to her spiritual side was basically given free reign over her airbending and avatar state powers
She's definitely shown to misuse them, but never actually shown to struggle to use them period
>why did it seem to not give her much of a power boost
Because she's using it incorrectly, she doesn't know how to tap into the latent powers that she had
Also, at that point in time, I'm fairly certain she also lost her connection to the past avatars, so she lost all of their skills, abilities, and wisdom
>when she fought Zaheer with the poison
Because of the poison
>>83463698
>made everyone else stronger than her when they shouldn't be
Yea, that was annoying. Overall though, the fights in LoK are way better than the fights in ATLA--even though ATLA is still the better series.
Now I have another question: Where/How did it all go so wrong? Korra could have been a great series, but why was it so poorly done? Is it just a matter of poor writing, poor pacing, or just not knowing what to do with the avatar in a more modern world?And the rava/vaatu thing is just a massive mistake in general
There are two versions of the Avatar State: The emergency version and the version that they can switch on at will when they need to assert their authority (or, in Korra's case, when she wanted to smash something). The emergency version always lets them tap into 100% of their Past Lives Power, but the voluntary version lets them tap into a portion of it relative to their SPIRIT stat. Aang's SPIRIT was so ridiculously high that he could use a near-full power version. Starting out, it was too much power for him to control, which is why he'd go into full berserker mode whenever he accidentally triggered it. Korra's stats were all dumped into offense, so she get a shitty version of it that any idiot could control.
That's how I always understood it, anyway.
>>83464453
They tried to force things to happen because it happened in the original show and eventually led into "we had to give them something to do" territory.
Even in season 1, Mako and Bolin don't bring anything for Korra to learn that she couldn't have encountered in the city in a "village of the week" style segment or even streamlined into the Equalist plot. They don't even have a goal for the brothers aside from make money and survive. Which doesn't make sense considering how Air Temple Island is there and they could have just lived their faffing about with the air acolytes and getting free room and board; only they'd have to do air nomad things instead of triad gangster things.
Or they could have lived with the community of hobos that they encounter in the info dump episode. Those guys were okay with living on the streets and didn't have to resort to a life of crime.
Arguably the only one that could serve the narrative and even have a story of their own was the one person who never got a story of her own: Asami.
Bryke just wrote the first draft and got to Asami and liked her. So then they modified the first draft so she'd stay a good guy and stay with the group until the final curtain call. They never once thought about anything beyond the 12 episodes and instead tried to cram as much as they could. They also chose to showcase the worst traits of the characters without showing their good traits or explaining why they were that way. We're led to believe that Aang told everyone to keep the next Avatar safe, when it was everyone else who overreacted and somehow forgot that the Fire Nation royal family loves the Avatar so why the hell couldn't she live a normal life like rich Roku?
>>83464453
>Yea, that was annoying. Overall though, the fights in LoK are way better than the fights in ATLA--even though ATLA is still the better series.
Not even. The fights in LoK got pretty repetitious. TLA worked to give different characters varied fighting styles and, barring that, at least interesting environments and props to work with. Korra's fights bleed together into a blur of banal kickbox bending.
Korra had some really good fights, but TLA has it beat for quantity and overall quality.
Since Bumi could earthbend with just his head, how come we never really saw more earthbenders as skilled as him, even in Korra?
>>83465102
I imagine that Korra took some points out of her spirit and defense stats to add to offense, which is why she always gets her ass kicked
>>83465252
People who say this don't really give enough credit to LoK fight scenes.
Book 1 and 2 were pretty meh in terms of fight scenes, but Book 3 and 4 have every quality you gave to ATLA.
ATLA also has a ton of mediocre fights everyone forgets while everyone points of LoK's mediocre scenes more.
>>83465175
>Arguably the only one that could serve the narrative and even have a story of their own was the one person who never got a story of her own: Asami.
When I was marathoning LoK, I kept wondering when Asami would be more than just "the character that's there". She got to drive and build some cool stuff, but I feel like she never got as much characterization as the others.
Whenever she interacted with Korra, it felt sort of weird to me, like "why is Korra talking to this background extra?"
>>83465358
The fights in AtLA inform the audience of the state of the mind of the characters.
Take bloodbending, for example. Hama uses it to try to achieve what she sees as some kind of justice after all her suffering. Katara uses it in pursuit of a vengeance she ultimately gives up on thanks to her time with Aang.
Bloodbending is a means to an end, it's not the focus of the story. But in LoK it IS the story. Yakone's a bloodbender. Tarrlok is one. Even Amon is using it to remove bending. In fact, the issue of the removal of bending in LoK is not an issue at all. It’s purely about itself.
In AtLA a mediocre puppet move with little flair compared to other fights holds far more character significance than LoK that based its story around it. We get an info dump at the end and have to rely on Tarrlok's word for Amon's crusade, state of mind, and technique and despite Amon being a con man, the story praises him.
>>83465712
Sounds pretty pretentious desu. I think you're giving way more credit than it actually deserves.
>>83465428
Korra should have been talking to background extras; engaging with nameless people and discussing things with adults beyond her adoptive family. If they were given more episodes, the team should be people she meets in each season who are relevant to what is happening and she should visibly influence their lives for the better rather than just through what the other characters say she did for them or what the writers think they got across.
I thought that Lin gave her money away. I was thinking in Book 2 "Why does Asami need to go to the South Pole? Can't Lin just open up the Beifong wallet and give her money? Shouldn't this world out of balance want weapons? How come she can't sell them on her own? And why the fuck did Unalaq get some if he's against things that are not spiritual and tradition? So why did he allow both his kids to learn fighting? Etc..." so yeah I was thinking that Korra being friends with Lin would have Lin help Asami and probably bring up some kinship like Lin was on the scene when Asami's mother was killed and helped her in a Lin sorta way. But now being around Korra and making nice with Tenzin will help Lin develop a softer side for those she cares about while still putting up her Da Chief persona for work.
You know, interactions rather than character bloat.
>>83465932
I actually am. In a world where genocide can happen, where it did happen, and where the system can let children wander about after their parents are killed you mean to tell me that the worst thing in the whole wide world is having your special power taken away?
Even Tenzin is scared shitless of this. So what, are the air acoyltes chopped liver or something? Why wasn't their any looking into energybending and why wasn't Korra grilling the White Lotus for answers?
So yeah, I am giving Legend of Wasted Potential and Unnecessary Baggage way more credit than it actually deserves.
>>83463402
I wonder if Kaatara ever bended Aangs cum.
I bet waterbenders are the greatest prostitutes, the sheer amount of fetishes they could fullfil is astonishing.
Cumbending prostitutes.
I bet that's why the Southern Watertribe was raided all the time.
Remember that time when the gaang fought Swamp Thing?
>>83463402
>What's interesting is that the firebending avatar is actually lavabending, which is (now) known to be an earthbending skill.
How is that a surprise when the Avatar can bend all 4 elements?
>Why could Korra activate the avatar state willy nilly
Every Avatar could do it, even Aang consciously went into it during Season 2's finale.
>why did it seem to not give her much of a power boost except when she fought Zaheer with the poison (when it actually seemed to be used as a defense mechanism)
Because thanks to Aang's bullshit from beyond the grave she instantly mastered the form and used it for trivial things. When Zaheer poisoned her she actually lost control.
>>83466893
>How is that a surprise when the Avatar can bend all 4 elements?
I just brought that up specifically because the earthbender did earthbending, the waterbender did waterbending, the airbender did airbending, and the firebender did earthbending
Why is Avatar Day seemingly such a hated episode? I just watched it, and it seems fine
>>83467536
Partly because the villagers are annoying and stupid (though the episode recognizes that) and partly because for some reason the fans designated it as the season 2 entry for "The worst episode from each season" which was a completely arbitrary list and the meme just stuck.
Also, because when people hear the title "Avatar Day", they only remember the primary, Avatar Day storyline and not the Zuko/Iroh plot in the episode, which was top tier.
>>83466893
>Every Avatar could do it, even Aang consciously went into it during Season 2's finale.
Only after mastering it, a thing Korra never did, she got it randomly or possibly because Aangs spirit gave it to her. Which begs the question, if that was even possible why wouldn't he have done it earlier, and why didn't Roku or another past avatar do the same thing for Aang.
>When Zaheer poisoned her she actually lost control.
I'm actually pretty sure they're supposed to be more powerfull when they're in control of the Avatar state. I think the best explanation for Korras AS fluctuating in power is that Bryke had made her too strong from the beginning and had no idea how to balance a story around her, which led to her feeling too weak in book 2, and her AS being more on point in book 3 even though it should have been weaker.
>>83469880
>and her AS being more on point in book 3 even though it should have been weaker.
It was weaker. The Avatar State can crack a continent through sheer power and she knows how to do an air shield. She could have been chasing Zaheer with as much vigor as Aang was chasing Ozai, but then we wouldn't have gotten the season 4 we got.
As you said. they nerfed the Avatar State at every chance they could just so the story they wanted continued and the side characters and others could do something. Or they suddenly had Korra not use it.
>>83466143
Tenzin should be scared shitless of the goal he's been raised to achieve (return of airbending) and his entire life's work was snuffed out like a candle. Doubly so since it's happening to his children.
It's the closest thing to his people (when he's the sole remaining family of said ethnic group) being genocided a second time.
>>83471521
What i meant with on point was that she seemed stronger against Zaheer than against Unalaq, which should have been the opposite because of Past lifes existing against Unalaq but not against Zaheer.
>>83465256
Bhumi was considered a mad genius and the way his thoughts were composed is different than normal Earthbending mindset.
Strangely enough, Bolin is the closest to replicating Bhumi since his eccentricity was never diminished by the bluntness usually inherent to an earthbending mindset
>>83463402
>Why does something from Korra suck?
Seems like kind of a redundant question, OP
I'm annoyed at how while talking all the mental mumbo-jumbo, Avatar characters gain new powers completely disconnected from actual character development.
>>83463402
Fun times were had.
>>83464453
I think it was because they weren't given a big arc like TLA, and had to write each season so it wrapped up nicely by the end. There was no overarching bad guy like in TLA and a lot of the depth was missing.
Why did the United Republic army suck so fucking much? They got rekt every time they were called, and we never got to see any of Bumi's adventures
>>83463468
For all its flaws I'm glad that Korra didn't use the avatar state to win every fight. I thought that what she learned over the series actually mattered in the end.
Korra was the polar opposite of Aang. She had full control over her bending ability and thus could activate the Avatar State whenever she wanted. But because she wasn't as spiritually attuned, it wasn't as powerful as Aangs.
>>83478504
Thats just not how it is explained to work. The AS is about connecting with the spiritual energy of the cosmos, no the physical prowess of your bending, so Korra should not be able to control the AS since spirituality was her weakness. Power should also have been about the same, since once you'e mastered the AS you have full access to your past lifes experiences so she would be as powerfull as Aang was or stronger because she could also rely on Aangs power.
Avatar was awesome
Katara is great loli
>>83479623
>>83479587
Anytown Autist please
>>83479623
Why did you download this picture?
Why? Look at it. Look at it please.
Don't you think about what you post?
What was gained here? Have you no regrets?
>>83479587
>>83479623
Fuck off, Timbox.
