Legend of Korra: finale spoilers

[Darlos9D]

I think the thing I like most most about korra is how insanely strong she is.

I mean, I know she has muscles, but she is just throwing people around. And lifting up a dude with one arm is no easy feat, especially if he is struggling.

Probably meant to represent how she excels at the physical side of bending (even if she lacks finesse) but has completely neglected the spiritual side.

Still, I love it.


edit: Korra doesn't know metalbending, lightning, or bloodbending/healing right?

I wonder if the Avatar can never learn the highest echelons of of a specific form.

Or maybe they just never need to.



edit2: I also want to know why korra doesn't mix bending styles while she is fighting. During her (close-combat) fight with the chi-blockers maybe she could have upset their footing? Then again earthbending seems to be best mid-range.

Firebending is best any range.



edit3:

Reminds me of Batman TAS where you'd have that one cop chick just nonchalantly shoulder-throwing huge guys during a couple fight scenes.

Throwing was the primary method of fighting in that show, I swear.

[Triangle Man]

@ kA - Probably the latter in terms of 'Advanced Bending Techniques'. She may have decided to rely on her ability to use three of the elements and hasn't decided to focus on 'higher level techniques' for that reason. Plus it allows the secondary characters to have abilities that she doesn't, making them relevant to the story.

...Or something like that.

Also, I recall a character who could control plants by bending the water in them in the original series. I'm guessing that would be another 'high-level technique'.

Also, could you imagine if she did combine various types of bending together? You could get a mudslide technique, a firewheel, waterspout and/or sandstorm technique (once she learned Airbending), a glass shard technique...

[ArmsAreLoud]

RE: Advanced bending, remember that Aang could redirect lightning. I think they can do it it's just that they don't put enough training into it. Avatar is more of a "jack of all trades, master of none" sort of person.

On the other hand, if Korra could lightning bend we all know that she totally would.

Also, I recall a character who could control plants by bending the water in them in the original series. I'm guessing that would be another 'high-level technique'.

You're thinking of the swamp style benders.

[kaoticAntagonist]

Lightning needs to be set up though, doesn't it? Its more if a "finishing move" sort of thing.

By that I mean you cant fight close quarters with it, you have to do a little dance uninterrupted, and only masters? or those who have calm hearts can do it.

Also the Avatar is a "Master of all trades, fuck anyone who says different".


More thought:

I wonder if bending, as it evolves and gets further from its roots, is also getting weaker. For example, some of the probenders have been stated to run out of juice, and in the old series that never happened.

Also, I wonder what the status of regular martial arts are. Are they a thing, have they never been made due to bending, are they limited to only weapons, what?

I mean, I assume the Air Acolytes are learning some airbending, even if they cant do it.

[Quirk]

I wonder if bending, as it evolves and gets further from its roots, is also getting weaker. For example, some of the probenders have been stated to run out of juice, and in the old series that never happened.

Also, I wonder what the status of regular martial arts are. Are they a thing, have they never been made due to bending, are they limited to only weapons, what?

I mean, I assume the Air Acolytes are learning some airbending, even if they cant do it.

Wonder 1) I think it is possible that bending just gets weaker as you get more tired, but moderninity has come with the downside of losing some of the spirituality due to technological advancement and some of the older, more effective techniques for accessibility's sake. (ex: so many lightning and metal benders, but most wouldn't hold a candle to Toph or Azula). So it's not so much the bending that's getting weaker, but the practitioners.

I'd wager that the best benders in Korra's time come from the less-developed areas: the poles, remote areas of the Earth Kingdom, and things like monasteries and the like.

Wonder 2) I'd say normal martial arts would be reasonably common, just as a form of exercise for civilians. So the acolytes probably practice ba gua as we would know it, ie without aerokinesis.

[kaoticAntagonist]

I would disagree about modern metalbenders being worse than toph. They have had years to refine thier technique, as we have seen in the first episode.

Toph basically just grabbed metal and manually shaped it. She did learn magnetism though.

Modern toph would kick all their asses, bar none.

[Dmatix]

Hold a candle to Azula... I love these accidental puns.

I think interesting things could happen if technology and bending were combined-techno-benders, if you will. Give a metal bender a suit he can control, or give a fire bender some sort of flame thrower to increase his power.

[Quirk]

I would disagree about modern metalbenders being worse than toph. They have had years to refine thier technique, as we have seen in the first episode.

Toph basically just grabbed metal and manually shaped it.

I see it more that, while the technique was refined, they don't have that sort of brute power that Toph had (though I could easily be proven wrong and most likely will be). Like maybe the cops train with the cables specifically, and while they're fuckawesome at that, they aren't that good at tearing steel girders apart with their bare hands.

[Dmatix]

I'm not sure I agree with the "bending is weakening" angle. It's only been two generations since the first show. Some of the people from that period are still alive. It just seems like too short a time for something as ancient as bending to weaken, even with the technological advancement.

[kaoticAntagonist]

You do have a point. However, rapid advancement could justify a rapid decline.

[ArmsAreLoud]

Wonder 2) I'd say normal martial arts would be reasonably common, just as a form of exercise for civilians. So the acolytes probably practice ba gua as we would know it, ie without aerokinesis.

Normal martial arts is what non-benders teach themselves to defend themselves against benders. The Equalists are the tippity top of the top tier for martial artists.

[kaoticAntagonist]

Normal martial arts is what non-benders teach themselves to defend themselves against benders. The Equalists are the tippity top of the top tier for martial artists.

good point. I forgot about Ty Lee and the Kyoshi Warriors.

I wonder if we will see muskets eventually?

We have to see a crossbow though.

[Dmatix]

I do wonder if any real firearms exist now. We haven't seen any yet, but with stun batons, motorcycles and radios, there is no real reason they shouldn't exist. If anything is a game changer in the entire bending scene, it's guns. By now, they shouldn't even be old musket type guns- when we had motorcycles, we already had machine guns and mortars.

[ArmsAreLoud]

I think the current steel revolution was instigated by the introduction of metal bending, similar to how the fire nation used their bending for a coal-based industrial revolution while the tech used by other nations was still centuries behind. As such there wouldn't be much emphasis being put on creating weaponry, or at least not creating weaponry that isn't designed to be augmented by bending.

[Quirk]

I do wonder if any real firearms exist now. We haven't seen any yet, but with stun batons, motorcycles and radios, there is no real reason they shouldn't exist. If anything is a game changer in the entire bending scene, it's guns. By now, they shouldn't even be old musket type guns- when we had motorcycles, we already had machine guns and mortars.

Earthbenders don't need reloading.

[Dmatix]

Earthbenders don't need reloading.

Maybe not, but guns can be used by anyone. It's similar to our own military revolution- the biggest thing guns did was to enable vast armies that the old "Knights that need to train for years and buy and maintain costly armor and arms" couldn't compete with. We know there are more non-benders than benders. An army of riflemen could be very dangerous even to benders, and working with benders could be virtually unstoppable (instant cover and artillery support, effective healing by water benders etc.) Think how much damage a modern army with benders could do.

[Triangle Man]

Re: Bending getting weaker over time - Just because you have an awesome special ability doesn't mean you're automatically good at it. It's likely that bending is something that you train or practice at a lot, much like running or swimming. If any benders seem weaker in this series, it could be because they haven't focused on training or otherwise honing their abilities very much.

But that's just my theory on the matter.

Re: Earthbenders and Bullets - With the power of the earth at your fingertips you can make stone projectiles appear from EVERY ROCK SURFACE PERIOD!!!

CAN YOU FEEL THE PAIN?!?!

[Quirk]

Think how much damage a modern army with benders could be.

I already have one tabletop RPG project. STOP GIVING ME IDEAS.

Also what Triangle Man said on bending getting weaker. It's the practitioners, not the practice.

[PumpkinMan]

Re: Earthbenders and Bullets - With the power of the earth at your fingertips you can make stone projectiles appear from EVERY ROCK SURFACE PERIOD!!!

CAN YOU FEEL THE PAIN?!?!

Pretty sure the stone bullet thing actually happened. Aang did it in the Avatar state at the end, anyway, so it seems like something that could be figured out by a regular Earthbender. Although possibly more difficult than tossing boulders around, which has got to be pretty fun, limiting the desire to find a replacement.

[Quirk]

Pretty sure the stone bullet thing actually happened. Aang did it in the Avatar state at the end, anyway, so it seems like something that could be figured out by a regular Earthbender. Although possibly more difficult than tossing boulders around, which has got to be pretty fun, limiting the desire to find a replacement.

Oh yeah that was fucking awesome.

Also, not nearly enough praise has been given to the newsreel "previously on" thing. That was the best.

[Dmatix]

Just to illustrate my point:


Don't tell me this isn't awesome.

[kaoticAntagonist]

They look like Geisha commandos.

I hesitate to imagine what services you would be paying them for.

[Quirk]

Just to illustrate my point:


Don't tell me this isn't awesome.

INSPECTOR IROH! HOLY SHIT! I REMEMBER THAT!

Man...now I'm getting flashbacks to all the time I spent lurking around Avatarspirit.net. theArtrix and Dinglehopper were the best artists. The. Best.

Most of the rest of the site was shit, though. (You think Homestuck shipping is bad? Ever seen a thread over three thousand pages long? And more than one, no less. Any other veterans of the Kataang-Zutara shipping wars in here?)

Here's the comic that the Kyoshi SWAT are from. Unfortunately, it only went about twenty pages and hasn't been updated in years: http://inspectoriroh.deviantart.com/

[Dmatix]

They look like Geisha commandos.

I hesitate to imagine what services you would be paying them for.

Awesome name for a band #76: Geisha Commandos.

[Dmatix]

We never did get an advanced air bending technique. Maybe this season will give us one.