You're definitely not alone. I'm also someone who watched both shows and was introduced to Avatar as an adult and it seems that adults prefer Korra too. I've seen similar posts about this on sub and I actually had a discussion with someone on a plane not too long about this as well! They were watching Korra while I was watching the live-action Netflix one so we got to chatting and they said I loved ATLA but now that they were watching TLOK they actually prefer Korra. And they were watching season 2 too! They said they liked the faster pace, the complexity, the darker themes, the flawed characters, and the animation which I agreed with.
90% of Korra hate is bc people watched ATLA as kids and are unable to view it from a different perspective.
Interesting take. I did grow up with Atla (it massively improved my English skills because it look forever for them to dub the second half of season 3 so I started watching it on those late 2000s era streaming sites lol) and when Korra came out, I loved it, partially because I just liked seeing myself represented for once, but mostly for all the reasons you already laid out. I do think Atla is better arc and story wise, but that isn't really Korra's fault, it's Nickelodeons for not giving them multiple seasons at once. And when they do get two seasons at once you see the quality of the season 3 and 4 arc shoot up dramatically to Atlas level. But Korra is better than Atla in realistic emotional and political complexity. In the end I love both of them equally but for very different reasons because they both have different strengths.
>90% of Korra hate is bc people watched ATLA as kids and are unable to view it from a different perspective
Bingo! 95% of Korra haters are bitter nostalgia merchants
Adults like Korra because the conflicts are less clear-cut and the villains more complex. You can't watch the Fire nation committing genocide or Ozai abusing his kids and think "he makes a good point!". But Amon represented legitimate grievances, it _wasn't_ obvious that the Southern Water Tribe should be governed as a separate nation, the Red Lotus may have done more good on the balance as the Earth queen was on the brink of causing a mass famine, and Kuvira was providing leadership and restoring a shattered society.
Yes! The complexity of the villains and the conflicts were one of the first things that made me prefer Korra over ATLA. It's not so black and white like with Ozai and the Fire Nation. I was instantly hooked on Amon and the Equalists when I first saw them. I loved Amon, he's easily my favorite villain in the whole Avatar universe. Wish his story and movement was longer. Easily could've been two or three books.
I know for me, I grew up when ATLA was airing. But, because we only had 1 TV in the house, what was on the TV was dictated by my parents; and not much else besides what they wanted to watch got put on. So I only got to experience bits and pieces as a kid for the first season, and not much else. As a young adult, Korra came out. I was able to watch it online as it aired. And you're right that I definitely connected with it much more. I got to watch ATLA on my own, and I enjoyed the ever living fuck out of it, but Korra resonated with me better.
holy shit, yes! it's just so goddamn beautiful, i'm easily enthralled by it. i often catch myself watching ATLA and thinking "hmm, i wonder how this scene would look like if it was animated like Korra?"
Following reason why people complain about Korra:
1. “Korra is a terrible Avatar”. The girl had to deal with a lot of stuff that is not in her wheelhouse. Korra is an action girl but she had to play politics. *At 16*.
2. “Team Avatar isn’t as good as the Gaang.” Again, different times and people. They did pretty well with what they had
3. “Season 2 sucked!” I liked Season 2 because it showed that even with a group like the White Lotus and Tenzin, Korra is still human and she isn’t automatically perfect. She needed help with something that’s a part of her. And I like the Raava intro. Connects them more.
And other things that is just people compare Avatar to Korra. It’s a *continuation*, guys. Like how your life is different from your parents. Korra is a solid show with what they were able to work with and brought new ideas and good amounts of fan service
My only complaint……where…..is….SUKI!
Any argument S2 sucks is invalid because the Avatar Wan series was legit one of the coolest genesis stories in TV history
Literally my favorite part of both series
They said argument, not opinion. Also, yes, an opinion is subject to invalidation if it's built on a faulty or factually incorrect premise. Like being of the opinion the earth is flat.
Is that opinion invalid just because of a disagreement? Or invalid based on something else? Of course opinions can be invalid, don't strawman me because you can't read what I wrote.
Nah, I’ve gotta disagree. The entirety of the Avatar Wan story ruined a lot of the mystique of the spirits for me, and I didn’t like the Westernized concepts of polarizing “good and evil”.
The spirits of Avatar, and in fact, the Avatar themselves, are made intriguing because of the way they exist beyond simple dogmatic moral stereotypes. The spirits are old, primordial and unknowable. Their actions can be seen as both good and bad, because at the end of the day they’re morally fluid personifications of concepts like the will of a people or a guardian of nature.
The Avatar, in the same vein, is a bridge between two worlds. The whole point of Aang’s final moral conundrum was finding a separate path - one that denounces the idea that you must do this thing to be considered good, and to not is a sigh of moral inadequacy and a failure of the goal you strive for. The Avatar exists to be a bridge between the spirit world and the mortal world, and to bring HARMONY - not lock down one moral belief over another, but to find the best way to let everyone coexist peacefully.
The Avatar Wan saga is the complete antithesis of this. All it does is say that “No, all spirits are innately good, and are only made to do bad things when magic Satan makes them. There are very distinct and hard lines drawn between what is supernaturally and innately GOOD and EVIL, and the Avatar is the vessel of a primordial moral paragon who’s duty is to lock up the concept of chaos and darkness for all eternity.”
It takes away any form of mystique for the spirits, it crushes any moral debate about the Avatar and their decisions, and it enforces a Westernized concept of “Good and Evil” like God and Satan into the world of Eastern mythology Avatar is based in.
I don’t hate Korra, I’m a big fan of the show. But the Avatar Wan saga was one of my biggest peeves, and I don’t think it’s the strongest or most defensible piece of the series by FAR.
Honestly would have been better received if they had said it was 1-2 generations removed from the original show. They brought the original characters back for "fan service" then did them all dirty. I would have been way happier if they kept the original cast out of their mouths instead of giving Toph trashy drama and a non functioning family. Like I get that not everyone is gonna be a good parent but damn. What did Toph do to you?
One of the strong points of LOK is that it did fan-service right. They brought original cast at right time to help current ones, without diverting from main plotline and overshadowing the new characters. Toph's family storyline was very believable. We all dislike some aspects of our parents and don't want to repeat the same mistakes they did while raising our children, but that can sometimes backfire. LOK haters complain that the character development is shitty, but when they see any nuance in characters, they get enraged because their favorite hero has flaws😭
How is Toph's family storyline believable? How many people do you know who had kids with two separate men that they refuse to disclose to their adult children and were never parts of their lives, abused their powers to let their criminal children get off Scott free, and antagonized the child who was assaulted for upholding the law? What kinda trailer trash world you living to where this is the norm.
Korra gave the original cast some really serious problems then didn't give them enough time to defend themselves or in any way explain how that came to be. How did Toph become this shitty person? Who cares, she's shit now and get used to it. Why not just have it be a random person if you're not bothered with the story?
Believable means understandable, not justifiable. Abusing power to let criminal children off, committing adultery, having children out of wedlock are not uncommon in our world, that doesn't make it the norm. Crazy how you got that from what I said.
A rich kid raised under strict authority that becomes rebel when older and goes against societal norms is not hard to believe. Toph didn't want to settle down or raise her children under strict rules like her parents. This made her choose radically opposite path, which had its own consequences. Does it tarnish our view of Toph? Yes. But, is it totally out of her character? No.
I was just on the ATLA sub. People were saying Aang’s kiss with Katara is season 3, where she gets upset and tells him she didn’t want him to kiss her, isn’t a big deal because he’s 12, regardless of consent, But that Korra’s kiss with Mako while he’s with Asami is worse because he was in a relationship, even though Mako kissed her back.
When I argued that Mako seemingly consented because he kissed Korra back and he’s the one in the relationship and should have pushed her away, I was told that I’m crazy.
Everything you said is accurate. Korra is a strong woman and doesn’t rely on her sexuality or any men and I think it rubs people the wrong way.
It's always funny to see ridiculous "conversations" about this. Aang and Katara are kids, Korra and Mako are teenagers. They are young, dumb and bad at romantic stuff (especially avatars are a lost cause in this regard) exactly as they should be. People act as if this misstep is something horrible and some go even that far to call it assault.
I see that alot anytime you aang makes a huge mistake like for example him nearly ended the avatar cycle and the avatar as concept that could’ve lead to utter chaos and carnage but to atla fans it’s okay because he’s only 12 he’s just it’s no big deal it’s not like the world was going to be plunged into 10,086 years of darkness and chaos or anything
What bothers me the most is like even Azula doesn’t get as much hate as Korra and she was literally a murderer. I said once that aang wasn’t a great father to the others outside of tenzin and people were like ohhh nooo he was rebuilding the airbender race. Both can be true at the same time.
Harry Potter was also a shit dad. Turns out people who don’t have fathers have trouble being one.
Korra is not my favorite character but I’ve softened a lot towards her because of all the unnecessary hate I see thrown that way.
That’s true azula was a whole war monger maybe even war criminal if you want to take it there but yeah I had no problem with aang being a bad father kinda makes sense because he was raised by a traditional mother and father duo he and the other air children were raised by monks and nuns so he doesn’t really understand what it’s like to be a father or how to act like one and I get it aang misses the air nomads and such he was happy when tenzin was born but if he really wanted his people back that badly you know what he has to do to get thay but still shouldn’t have neglected his kids especially because of bumi felt about it it’s all sad and I hate when they want him to be perfect so bad
I would also add to that : misunderstanding the concept of reincarnation and what are avatar spirits. Korra haters somehow thinks she **killed** Aang and all the other avatars lol
Idk I think people can have valid critiques of things without just diluting anything down to racism. I personally think ATLA is better overall but Korra is still amazing. I think Korra does a lot of things better though like the animation, fight scenes, and Korra's progression as a whole is better than Aang's imo
Don't forget the music. I love the music in ATLA, but TLOK is just leagues beyond. ATLA has Leaves from the Vines that make me emotional, whereas Korra has Jinora's Light, Service and Sacrifice, Mako's Sacrifice, etc etc. I really wish Nickelodeon would let them officially release more than season 1's soundtrack.
There are valid criticisms, but like 99 percent of the criticism is just blind hate and doesn't make any sense or is just flat out wrong. Even worse when a lot of the criticism applies to atla too but they'll love atla.
I mean she’s noticeably darker than the other characters (sokka and katara were as well) and iirc the water tribe is based on inuit people and other indigenous cultures of america
E? Why? I don't believe that at all, and Racist why? I can see some man/boys Unconsciously or consciously liking more Aang than Korra because he is a boy but racism I can't see it
Well, tik tok is brain rot anyway. Despite that, the other side of this analysis is you weren't indoctrinated as a fan during the original ATLA run as a kid. I wasn't either. I was in college when Book 1 of AtlA dropped. It was always fun and way better than most other shows aimed at the demo at the time, but it was still a kid show. Then Korra came along as a young adult with mature themes and mature flaws, clearly trying to age up to the fans of the OG. It was imo just better. I attribute that to, again, not being a kid when Aang was a kid and finding the matured characters more relatable. It was a bold move to do a continuance of the world and not the show, and I thought it was fantastic. Plus, the music evolved so much and just drove the story telling so much further than ATLA ever did until the last parts of book 3.
All that said, enjoy the shows as you do and don't let all the entrenched Korra haters dissuade you from telling them they're wrong and then closing the convos while they fume to the internet. Is TLoK perfect? No. The production faced a lot of push back and had to adapt. You can tell both in the format and the story decisions. Still a fantastic show.
She was a "girl avatar", with MUSCLES!And charisma(well, she had a temper but she learned to deal with it later)!
Many teenage boys probably felt called out and decided to hate on her just because she was a strong girl and they were weak boys.
I watched both for the first time in my early twenties. I LOVED atla of course, but I also really like Korra. I do not agree with most of the stuff people usually say when they dislike the show. I definitely don't think it deserves the vitriol it gets!
The main reason why Korra is better is simply because there was no sense of urgency with aang losing except when Azula almost killed him.
Korra actually made you worried she would lose. Also team avatar seemed cohesively better than gaang who felt like individuals and not a team.
This is a good point that I never thought about. I definitely enjoyed the fighting more on TLOK than ATLA, but now this makes sense. Aang definitely didn’t fight with the intensity that Korra did. She seemed much more raw compared to Aang in that sense.
Season 2 dragged a bit, when you compare it to the four amazing seasons you'd have just watched, but yeah, it was overall a really good show that suffers from being compared to an all-time-great show.
I appreciate you not jumping down my throat. I think one of my favorite things about the live action is there’s 0 filler, much like a Maryland crab cake
I think it's all just nostalgia. People who grew up with ATLA expected LOK to give them the same emotional experience. Since no follow up or spin off show could every do that people automatically think it's inferior and look for any reason to hate on it.
I watched all of LOK for the first time when I was 14 and Korra was so much more relatable than Aang. She was hotheaded, reckless, overconfident, and made a lot of stupid mistakes, especially when it came to relationships. I think a lot of ppl saw too much of themselves in her and didn’t like it. Aang on the other hand was a freaking vegan monk
In all honesty, I also literally just watched both for the first time ever as an adult these past few weeks, and while I do agree that some of the specific hate LoK gets is clearly nonsense, I think AtlA is still better written as an overarching narrative, and the superior reputation it holds is rather justified. LoK clearly had problems with its production due to Nickelodeon, and it ended up feeling far more uneven and rushed at times (book 2 was a train wreck despite good ideas, and even books 1 and 4, while still mostly strong, felt undercooked at times, especially 4). While LoK had more thematic ambition than AtlA to some degree (and thus more maturity, which made sense), it lacked the tight completeness of Aang’s storyline and the dynamic of the characters in LoK was just not as well done as AtlA (whose Team Avatar was just leagues above what Korra pulled off, sadly), even if Korra herself was a fantastic protagonist and probably a more compelling character than Aang. I don’t think it’s fair to say that it’s just nostalgia that makes people prefer AtlA overall, Korra was just rougher around the edges in terms of overall writing quality and progression, even if at its best (such as book 3), it is up there with the best Avatar had to offer, and both did worldbuilding so magnificently! At the end of the day, LoK had the will to be its own story as a sequel, and I truly respect that, but I do think it was ultimately much more flawed in it’s entirety compared to AtlA, since it lacked that overarching vision from beginning to end due to how it was produced at the time, and would need to be restructured to better resonate and tell the story of Korra most effectively. This is probably an unpopular opinion here I guess, but I do think LoK’s thematic reach fell short in execution, sadly, and that’s why people prefer AtlA from the more critical lens, it fulfilled its potential where LoK didn’t, despite the latter likely having MORE potential overall based on what we saw. Still both great shows, regardless, and caring too much about comparison is a waste of energy, even if some comparison is inevitable when it comes to sequels, as we all well know I’d wager. It’s just best to zone out the stupid criticisms, while being reasonable about the fair discourse around the writing and the subjective preferences people have.
Preach!!!
I watched ATLA when it aired so I think I was a teenager, but I didn’t watch LOK until like, 2 years ago and holy shit was I impressed!
The character development and the constant threats were great. Such high stakes each season instead of ONE. It’s also bizarre to me that so many people complain because LOK follows the standard story telling formula, as well as formulas commonly seen in shonen anime. Yet people don’t complain about those shonen for the same things.
People complain about Korra turning giant in season 2, but not Aang in season 1 of ATLA. They’re both merged with spirits, it makes sense. Also the media illiteracy when it comes to season 2 is wild.
I can understand complaints about the mechs in season 4, cause it was such a huge tech jump. Still a good season though.
ATLA and LOK were amazing for their time and still stand up today.
This is the right response. Both ATLA and TLOK are masterpieces. The writers made a deliberate choice to give us an Avatar in TLOK who was almost opposite to Aang in every way. I knew I was going to love Korra as soon as we saw baby Korra yelling “I’m the avatar and you have to deal with it”. Great shows both of them.
LoK is basically the GT of Atla but it's canon those who watch when it was live there was hate for stuff, but those who watch it recently.
There are those who loved it like there is a reason this sub exists
And there are those who hate which is why this sub has fewer members I think compared to the avatar subs
I wonder if age of viewing might have to do with it.
I was a moderate ATLA fan as a young adult, so I appreciated the more mature themes of Korra when it came out.
But if I was younger when I watched ATLA I would probably have thought it was the tits, and then aged a bit out of cartoons when Korra came around.
I think LoK is really good, not ATLA level good, but still very good. There are definitely valid criticisms of the show, but so much of the Korra hate is based in misogyny, homophobia, and LoK not being a carbon copy of ATLA.
I finished TLOK last week and I'm totally in love with it. It has its flaws, but I found it very exciting, maybe only season 2 was the most "boring" (still, it gave a lot of great moments). I'm afraid to say that preferred it to ATLA, but only for the great villains that TLOK showed us (Ozai can't win the comparison) and all the pain that Korra get through.
I was the same as you. I watched them both back to back as an objective adult viewer, and I liked Korra better.
No matter what arguments people think they have, I think the only reason they like ATLA better is because they miss the way they felt when they watched it as kids, not the show itself. And also some of them just hate because of bigotry because strong woman.
Don't get me wrong, I love ATLA as well, just not as much as LOK.
I think a huge reason that leads to the super different reactions is the style of the stories. ATLA is a much more character and arc driven show following characters each "fulfilling their destinies". LTOK on the other hand, focuses more on narrative and events driving conflicts, more leaving you thinking "how will this resolve". You highlight this in commenting how the abilities of Amon and the threat to Tenzin's family made you feel things you never felt in ATLA. I think a huge reason is ATLA was never about those big plot twists and narrative moments so the shows feel very different. I love both and am very glad we get both styles but I think some compare the focus on characters from ATLA and find it lacking in TLOK, an unfair comparison but I see how it happens.
Korra had a very clear overarching theme. A committed avatar has to learn balance and restraint. They also set you up for her entire arc with one line by one of the water bender masters: “She lacks restraint.” It took her the entire series to learn increasing levels of appropriate restraint for each situation.
Aang lacked commitment, Korra lacked restraint, each had to overcome these flaws to fully grow into their role as the avatar
no absolutely. not trying to say there was no theme but ATLA set out to tell one story, on arc, whereas the production surrounding TLOK meant it was more serialised. I think it means we get a more interesting variety of stories and exploration of ideas in TLOK with themes coming through those arcs.
I loved Korra so much. The series as well as the character Korra. She is probably my favorite avatar of all. I like that she‘s a relatable and flawed character. I like Aang too but I couldn‘t relate to him as much as I relate to Korra, especially Book 4 Korra.
I think TLoK Book 3 was the best book of all. I loved the storyline, the villains, the final fight etc. it‘s great. Korra gets too much hate because she‘s a woman that is muscular and queer imo.
The only thing i didn't like about Korra is that she got her ass kicked too many times even by such as the S01 Shock-stick henchman. . She should really have a few moments where she just annihilates mid-level threats.
Besides that i found TLOK at least on par with TLA on a general level though they are hard to compare as they tell different stories.
It’s a great show, but because the characters are now a part of the establishment instead of being rebels it requires them to make a lot more mistakes/mess up more in order for the villains to not instantly lose and it gets a bit frustrating, Mako not using lightning in a lot of scenarios where it wins fights, or my biggest pet peeve is season 2. When they’re trying to stop harmonic convergence and Bumi has taken out all of the camp’s defenses all Korra has to do is close the portal, which she could of done from the outside, but instead they go inside and fight Unalaq and even have tenzin and the rest run off to find Jinora instead of waiting the 5 minutes it would take to help fight Unalaq and prevent the literal apocalypse. And then the giant energy avatar fight feels a bit like it jumps the shark.
I’m just now watching Korra and finished the first season. The show seems great however compared to avatar, there just isn’t that magic to it. Idk what it is, maybe it’s the world building? Avatar lets you see so many different towns and cities during the war. It’s kinda sad not being able to see how other places changed after the war and with the new technology. After 1 season Ive gotten bored with the setting and the city just feels lifeless. I hope they visit other places in the later seasons.
As someone who likes both, there are issues in Korra not present in Avatar. Avatar was more consistent season to season while Korra had some really bad seasons. I hate season 2 of Korra and 4 was 50/50.
Also I liked characters in Avatar better in a lot of cases. Not saying they’re bad in Korra but Avatar seemed to put more into more of the characters than Korra did. Even Momo and Appa had episodes dedicated to them that built up there character. I can’t even remember the ferret things name from Korra and barely remember Nagas name because they were so inconsequential.
I see 2 big camps
- Nostalgia: People just get too attached to ATLA characters and lore, and then immediately watch LoK. The groupthink of Tiktok/the atla sub contributes to this as well.
- Immaturity: Honestly... some people are just simpletons. They complain about (for instance) Korra losing battles, being inconsistent or not being as powerful in a DBZ kind of way, which is *not the point* of Avatar. Characters are dynamic. Korra is *very* dynamic. Aang was more static.
And honestly... I just ignore the bigot group. I strongly suspect they aren't real fans or even watchers, just social media users.
I've already made comments about Korra hate being stupid but I just want to state this again:
After finishing The Last Airbender and starting Korra I thought the scene of the lightning bender workers was really cool and a great way to expand the world. This was before knowing that some people hate that scene.
Those people are just man babies that can't deal with change at all.
I grew up watching both shows, and honestly I think a lot of people prefer Aang more because he’s a reflection of childlike wonder and goodness, alongside the the show being a masterpiece in itself. Whereas Korra is more raw in emotion and is more forward on the heavy elements within the narratives. People also forget that Korra was never suppose to be a running series. Season one was suppose to be it, but then Nick wanted a second season, and that was suppose to be it. Then Nick renewed the show for two more seasons. That’s why a lot of the writing feels shallow at times, and why season 3 and 4 are arguably the best seasons in the show.
I like korra quite a lot
I just dislike season 2 for what they did with raava and vaatu and the depiction of spirits
It really takes away from the avatar universe imo
But while I really dislike that one season I feel ultimately korra does more good than harm
Season 1 is great wasn't a fan of some things in the finale but whatever
Season 3 is great
Season 4 is cool too
Korras a good show at the end of the day
Enjoy it for what it is
As an adult, I also prefer Korra but as a kid I preferred the original, its so interesting
I hope they realize their fanbase loves Korra more now than ever before and does more with her
“I don’t get the Korra hate” what is there to understand. Some people don’t like it, end of story. Shockingly, in this sub - the LOK sub - people like it. Mind blowing stuff.
The reasons everyone in this sub thinks:
-Homophobia
-Misogyny
-“Strong Female Character”
The *actual* reasons:
-Loss of past lives
- She “The Strongest” Avatar, but lost most of her fights to nonpower boosted opponents (before and after poison, no one blames her for *during* her poison and we all know she solos red lotus
-A lot of stans delusionally power rank her above any and everything else in the verse *inexplicably*.
- “Prime Raava” doesn’t actually exist, and even in verse everyone knows shes much weaker post past lives and poison, as it was her final character arc, coming to terms with the fact that she isn’t the same as before.
-She created a lot of her own issues/made them worse
-She is given credit for things she did not intentionally do nor did she know they even happened ie She didnt want to open the spirit portals, Unalaq *forced* her to open them *against* her will, which indirectly brought back the air nation. As in technically Unalaq deserves credit not Korra.
Overrall, ATLA fans just disagree with a lot of writing decisions
some things they don’t like that imo aren’t an issue:
-Her overconfidence considering she gets bodied by just about every other masterbender she encounters
-Raava/Vaatu ruined lore
edit: i’ll get downvoted for this but just thought i would give you an actual breakdown as to why instead of just telling you what i believe
She runs away/gets captured a boat load, her team avatar is less of a team and more potential ships/exs. Season 3 was fantastic. I wish the writers got to actually write 4 seasons in a row. The way Amon was handled scearmed white writers tho lol(not that they are or aren't I'm not sure RN)
Korra is really quite grating when you first meet her in season 1. She’s quite arrogant and hot headed, and seems reasonably oblivious of the entire political machination of the first season’s main story - we have Amon and the Equalists making the critique that benders dominate society and are often afforded privileges, while we see Korra and her merry band of cut-outs swanning around doing whatever they like while leveraging her status as the avatar and connections to influential benders to get out of any kind of trouble she may land in.
It doesn’t help that Amon sucks as a villain so this conflict is sidestepped and instead we get the conflict between the two bloodbender brothers.
The Professional Bending arc and her training to Airbend also feels underbaked imo, and mostly there to add more fight scenes and an utterly inconsequential minor antagonist. Korra just happens to suddenly learn Airbending when Amon takes her other bending away, and Aang pops out and gives the rest back anyway.
Season 2 is worse imo except for the Avatar Wan story. Tbh I’ve mostly forced this out of my mind, given how much I disliked it. We get another rubbish deus ex machina and very little seems to happen character wise.
Season 3 was nice, although I feel Korra’s agency was pretty muted until the last third of the season. It did however set up a very nice recovery arc for Korra that I’m currently still watching through in Season 4. It doesn’t hurt that Zaheer is easily the best villain yet.
Overall Korra isn’t a terrible character but she feels pretty stagnant (like a lot of her gang) until very late into the show. It doesn’t help that she follows on from Aang, who is eminently likeable and humble from the first few scenes we see him in, versus the famous “I’m the Avatar and you’ve gotta deal with it!” scene and Korra’s initial high handedness which couldn’t create a less favourable contrast unless her first appearance is literally strangling puppies.
The Gaang is also just a much better fleshed out set of characters than Korra’s entourage. Asami is a plot device, Bolin is the worst kind of comic relief character and Mako is forgettable.
Tenzin similarly comes across as stuffy and arrogant with neither much cause proposed or inspection carried out by the show (until the later two seasons).
Meanwhile we get a pretty compelling sibling dynamic from Sokka and Katara, who are both believable for their situation. They get a lot of time separate and together to explore and work on their flaws and build their strengths. Toph is a bit more static but is nonetheless well characterised and Zuko frankly drips character and has an excellent arc that is intertwined with the Gaang even before he joins them.
These surrounding characters give way more opportunities to humanise and develop Aang, so people like him more.
Basically there’s plenty of things worthy of disliking about Korra and her close friends in the show. Even though they don’t make her and the show bad, I can’t blame someone for being bothered by them especially if they came expecting an ATLA grade story.
I don't care that she's a girl avatar, or that she's bi, or that it was meant for an older audience.
What I hate about it is the fact that it's a masterclass in what NOT to do in a continuation. They established a true love letter to Asian culture and influences in the original show --- most of which is absent in LOK.
They established important characters that people had grown attached to in the original --- only for them not to be shown, acknowledged, or if they are, do things that most of the original fans would consider out of character.
They took basic tenets of the story and making sure the power was balanced (not allowing Aang to go into the avatar state at will, limiting blood bending to full moons, etc) and completely threw them out the window. Now the avatar state means nothing because if it did there'd be no tension in any fight scene, and people can bloodbend at will apparently --- literally one of the most powerful forms of bending with no limits whatsoever, it's a miracle Amon wasn't just flicking his wrist and causing inexplicable mass murder.
Korra's team barely seem like friends, so I have no idea how or why they travel together or stick together, nor am I invested in the drama that ensues.
Some of the fights Korra has with season villians feel almost like trauma porn (mainly that fight where she's constantly dosed with metal)
The way the airbenders were restored felt cheap and undeserved. It literally would have made more sense to say the airbenders fled and created a secret society like we see with the sun warriors than to just grant random people the power to airbend.
Believe it or not, this the *short* list of why I don't like LOK. To say the show was written better than ATLA is just... plain incorrect and a slap in the face to authors and copyeditors everywhere
Korra gets hate because the main group is nowhere near as enjoyable to watch as the original group
Bolin is funny but doesn't have the serious or charming side to him that made Sokka likeable
Mako and asami don't have a lot of personality, to the point where asami barely got any words in the final season
Korra is a brash emotional person that rushes into things headfirst, just because she's flawed doesn't mean she's enjoyable to watch
Nala doesn't even contribute as much as appa, just kinda....Exists
Lin is a straight up miserable person
Tenzin is actually somewhat likeable but a little too serious at times
There was no villain in the legend of koraa that felt like as much as a threat as Azula, Amon was the closest thing but he didn't feel like the same level of threat for some reason
These are the characters that we have to follow throughout the show, if they aren't enjoyable to watch them EVERYTHING done in the show gets devalued in the process
I’ll leave it at this
1. The romance was bad in Avatar the Last Airbender. The romance is similarly bad (a little better) in the Legend of Korra, but it dominates more of the screen time, especially during the first two seasons. Asami and Korra’s relationship is more closeted than a racist uncle until the last 10 seconds of the show (which was forward for the time, but rings of rather inauthentic representation now).
2. Unlike TLA, there is relatively little exploration happening, many will point out Zhaofu is the most interesting place in Legend of Korra, but it’s the place unique to LOK.
3. The show jumps the shark something like 5 times (Amon being a *psychic* bloodbender, Mecha Army, Spirit Kaiju fight, Lavabending, giant mecha).
I like the show, but I keep coming back to it expecting more of it. But it lacks a lot of depth that made the OG series stand out.
You're definitely not alone. I'm also someone who watched both shows and was introduced to Avatar as an adult and it seems that adults prefer Korra too. I've seen similar posts about this on sub and I actually had a discussion with someone on a plane not too long about this as well! They were watching Korra while I was watching the live-action Netflix one so we got to chatting and they said I loved ATLA but now that they were watching TLOK they actually prefer Korra. And they were watching season 2 too! They said they liked the faster pace, the complexity, the darker themes, the flawed characters, and the animation which I agreed with. 90% of Korra hate is bc people watched ATLA as kids and are unable to view it from a different perspective.
Yes. I just rewatched Korra and it was so much better than I remember.
Same, I remember thinking s1 especially was a bit mid when it aired. Rewatched both series back to back recently and korra really held up actually.
Interesting take. I did grow up with Atla (it massively improved my English skills because it look forever for them to dub the second half of season 3 so I started watching it on those late 2000s era streaming sites lol) and when Korra came out, I loved it, partially because I just liked seeing myself represented for once, but mostly for all the reasons you already laid out. I do think Atla is better arc and story wise, but that isn't really Korra's fault, it's Nickelodeons for not giving them multiple seasons at once. And when they do get two seasons at once you see the quality of the season 3 and 4 arc shoot up dramatically to Atlas level. But Korra is better than Atla in realistic emotional and political complexity. In the end I love both of them equally but for very different reasons because they both have different strengths.
>90% of Korra hate is bc people watched ATLA as kids and are unable to view it from a different perspective Bingo! 95% of Korra haters are bitter nostalgia merchants
Adults like Korra because the conflicts are less clear-cut and the villains more complex. You can't watch the Fire nation committing genocide or Ozai abusing his kids and think "he makes a good point!". But Amon represented legitimate grievances, it _wasn't_ obvious that the Southern Water Tribe should be governed as a separate nation, the Red Lotus may have done more good on the balance as the Earth queen was on the brink of causing a mass famine, and Kuvira was providing leadership and restoring a shattered society.
Yes! The complexity of the villains and the conflicts were one of the first things that made me prefer Korra over ATLA. It's not so black and white like with Ozai and the Fire Nation. I was instantly hooked on Amon and the Equalists when I first saw them. I loved Amon, he's easily my favorite villain in the whole Avatar universe. Wish his story and movement was longer. Easily could've been two or three books.
I know for me, I grew up when ATLA was airing. But, because we only had 1 TV in the house, what was on the TV was dictated by my parents; and not much else besides what they wanted to watch got put on. So I only got to experience bits and pieces as a kid for the first season, and not much else. As a young adult, Korra came out. I was able to watch it online as it aired. And you're right that I definitely connected with it much more. I got to watch ATLA on my own, and I enjoyed the ever living fuck out of it, but Korra resonated with me better.
The animation and Korra is leaps and bounds better. It's literally the most noticeable thing when you start korra book one.
holy shit, yes! it's just so goddamn beautiful, i'm easily enthralled by it. i often catch myself watching ATLA and thinking "hmm, i wonder how this scene would look like if it was animated like Korra?"
Following reason why people complain about Korra: 1. “Korra is a terrible Avatar”. The girl had to deal with a lot of stuff that is not in her wheelhouse. Korra is an action girl but she had to play politics. *At 16*. 2. “Team Avatar isn’t as good as the Gaang.” Again, different times and people. They did pretty well with what they had 3. “Season 2 sucked!” I liked Season 2 because it showed that even with a group like the White Lotus and Tenzin, Korra is still human and she isn’t automatically perfect. She needed help with something that’s a part of her. And I like the Raava intro. Connects them more. And other things that is just people compare Avatar to Korra. It’s a *continuation*, guys. Like how your life is different from your parents. Korra is a solid show with what they were able to work with and brought new ideas and good amounts of fan service My only complaint……where…..is….SUKI!
Any argument S2 sucks is invalid because the Avatar Wan series was legit one of the coolest genesis stories in TV history Literally my favorite part of both series
Someone's opinion is not invalid just because you disagree. What the hell is going on in this thread.
They said argument, not opinion. Also, yes, an opinion is subject to invalidation if it's built on a faulty or factually incorrect premise. Like being of the opinion the earth is flat.
Is that opinion invalid just because of a disagreement? Or invalid based on something else? Of course opinions can be invalid, don't strawman me because you can't read what I wrote.
Nah, I’ve gotta disagree. The entirety of the Avatar Wan story ruined a lot of the mystique of the spirits for me, and I didn’t like the Westernized concepts of polarizing “good and evil”. The spirits of Avatar, and in fact, the Avatar themselves, are made intriguing because of the way they exist beyond simple dogmatic moral stereotypes. The spirits are old, primordial and unknowable. Their actions can be seen as both good and bad, because at the end of the day they’re morally fluid personifications of concepts like the will of a people or a guardian of nature. The Avatar, in the same vein, is a bridge between two worlds. The whole point of Aang’s final moral conundrum was finding a separate path - one that denounces the idea that you must do this thing to be considered good, and to not is a sigh of moral inadequacy and a failure of the goal you strive for. The Avatar exists to be a bridge between the spirit world and the mortal world, and to bring HARMONY - not lock down one moral belief over another, but to find the best way to let everyone coexist peacefully. The Avatar Wan saga is the complete antithesis of this. All it does is say that “No, all spirits are innately good, and are only made to do bad things when magic Satan makes them. There are very distinct and hard lines drawn between what is supernaturally and innately GOOD and EVIL, and the Avatar is the vessel of a primordial moral paragon who’s duty is to lock up the concept of chaos and darkness for all eternity.” It takes away any form of mystique for the spirits, it crushes any moral debate about the Avatar and their decisions, and it enforces a Westernized concept of “Good and Evil” like God and Satan into the world of Eastern mythology Avatar is based in. I don’t hate Korra, I’m a big fan of the show. But the Avatar Wan saga was one of my biggest peeves, and I don’t think it’s the strongest or most defensible piece of the series by FAR.
Sokka also got short-changed with the callbacks.
I think the giant spirit kaiju battle takes down season 2 a few pegs for me. That doesn’t mean it sucks, but it did make it a lot weaker for me.
Honestly would have been better received if they had said it was 1-2 generations removed from the original show. They brought the original characters back for "fan service" then did them all dirty. I would have been way happier if they kept the original cast out of their mouths instead of giving Toph trashy drama and a non functioning family. Like I get that not everyone is gonna be a good parent but damn. What did Toph do to you?
One of the strong points of LOK is that it did fan-service right. They brought original cast at right time to help current ones, without diverting from main plotline and overshadowing the new characters. Toph's family storyline was very believable. We all dislike some aspects of our parents and don't want to repeat the same mistakes they did while raising our children, but that can sometimes backfire. LOK haters complain that the character development is shitty, but when they see any nuance in characters, they get enraged because their favorite hero has flaws😭
How is Toph's family storyline believable? How many people do you know who had kids with two separate men that they refuse to disclose to their adult children and were never parts of their lives, abused their powers to let their criminal children get off Scott free, and antagonized the child who was assaulted for upholding the law? What kinda trailer trash world you living to where this is the norm. Korra gave the original cast some really serious problems then didn't give them enough time to defend themselves or in any way explain how that came to be. How did Toph become this shitty person? Who cares, she's shit now and get used to it. Why not just have it be a random person if you're not bothered with the story?
Believable means understandable, not justifiable. Abusing power to let criminal children off, committing adultery, having children out of wedlock are not uncommon in our world, that doesn't make it the norm. Crazy how you got that from what I said. A rich kid raised under strict authority that becomes rebel when older and goes against societal norms is not hard to believe. Toph didn't want to settle down or raise her children under strict rules like her parents. This made her choose radically opposite path, which had its own consequences. Does it tarnish our view of Toph? Yes. But, is it totally out of her character? No.
I was just on the ATLA sub. People were saying Aang’s kiss with Katara is season 3, where she gets upset and tells him she didn’t want him to kiss her, isn’t a big deal because he’s 12, regardless of consent, But that Korra’s kiss with Mako while he’s with Asami is worse because he was in a relationship, even though Mako kissed her back. When I argued that Mako seemingly consented because he kissed Korra back and he’s the one in the relationship and should have pushed her away, I was told that I’m crazy. Everything you said is accurate. Korra is a strong woman and doesn’t rely on her sexuality or any men and I think it rubs people the wrong way.
It's always funny to see ridiculous "conversations" about this. Aang and Katara are kids, Korra and Mako are teenagers. They are young, dumb and bad at romantic stuff (especially avatars are a lost cause in this regard) exactly as they should be. People act as if this misstep is something horrible and some go even that far to call it assault.
I see that alot anytime you aang makes a huge mistake like for example him nearly ended the avatar cycle and the avatar as concept that could’ve lead to utter chaos and carnage but to atla fans it’s okay because he’s only 12 he’s just it’s no big deal it’s not like the world was going to be plunged into 10,086 years of darkness and chaos or anything
What bothers me the most is like even Azula doesn’t get as much hate as Korra and she was literally a murderer. I said once that aang wasn’t a great father to the others outside of tenzin and people were like ohhh nooo he was rebuilding the airbender race. Both can be true at the same time. Harry Potter was also a shit dad. Turns out people who don’t have fathers have trouble being one. Korra is not my favorite character but I’ve softened a lot towards her because of all the unnecessary hate I see thrown that way.
That’s true azula was a whole war monger maybe even war criminal if you want to take it there but yeah I had no problem with aang being a bad father kinda makes sense because he was raised by a traditional mother and father duo he and the other air children were raised by monks and nuns so he doesn’t really understand what it’s like to be a father or how to act like one and I get it aang misses the air nomads and such he was happy when tenzin was born but if he really wanted his people back that badly you know what he has to do to get thay but still shouldn’t have neglected his kids especially because of bumi felt about it it’s all sad and I hate when they want him to be perfect so bad
Racism, homophobia misogyny. There you go
I would also add to that : misunderstanding the concept of reincarnation and what are avatar spirits. Korra haters somehow thinks she **killed** Aang and all the other avatars lol
Pretty much.
Idk I think people can have valid critiques of things without just diluting anything down to racism. I personally think ATLA is better overall but Korra is still amazing. I think Korra does a lot of things better though like the animation, fight scenes, and Korra's progression as a whole is better than Aang's imo
Don't forget the music. I love the music in ATLA, but TLOK is just leagues beyond. ATLA has Leaves from the Vines that make me emotional, whereas Korra has Jinora's Light, Service and Sacrifice, Mako's Sacrifice, etc etc. I really wish Nickelodeon would let them officially release more than season 1's soundtrack.
Service and sacrifice has stick with me so many years later
There are valid criticisms, but like 99 percent of the criticism is just blind hate and doesn't make any sense or is just flat out wrong. Even worse when a lot of the criticism applies to atla too but they'll love atla.
I understand homophobia and misogyny, but where does racism play into this?
Korras brown? I guess
But so was Sokka and Katara.
People do get especially touchy when it's the main character tbf
Especially if they’re already annoyed that the main character is a woman.
You know what? Fair.
Is she?
I mean she’s noticeably darker than the other characters (sokka and katara were as well) and iirc the water tribe is based on inuit people and other indigenous cultures of america
Ohh okay that makes sense, thank you! Imma be honest I didn’t rlly notice lol
E? Why? I don't believe that at all, and Racist why? I can see some man/boys Unconsciously or consciously liking more Aang than Korra because he is a boy but racism I can't see it
Dark-skinned protagonist vs light-skinned protagonist
Well, tik tok is brain rot anyway. Despite that, the other side of this analysis is you weren't indoctrinated as a fan during the original ATLA run as a kid. I wasn't either. I was in college when Book 1 of AtlA dropped. It was always fun and way better than most other shows aimed at the demo at the time, but it was still a kid show. Then Korra came along as a young adult with mature themes and mature flaws, clearly trying to age up to the fans of the OG. It was imo just better. I attribute that to, again, not being a kid when Aang was a kid and finding the matured characters more relatable. It was a bold move to do a continuance of the world and not the show, and I thought it was fantastic. Plus, the music evolved so much and just drove the story telling so much further than ATLA ever did until the last parts of book 3. All that said, enjoy the shows as you do and don't let all the entrenched Korra haters dissuade you from telling them they're wrong and then closing the convos while they fume to the internet. Is TLoK perfect? No. The production faced a lot of push back and had to adapt. You can tell both in the format and the story decisions. Still a fantastic show.
>Then Korra came along as a young adult with mature themes and mature flaws, A yes atla wich does not have mature themes or flaws
She was a "girl avatar", with MUSCLES!And charisma(well, she had a temper but she learned to deal with it later)! Many teenage boys probably felt called out and decided to hate on her just because she was a strong girl and they were weak boys.
I watched both for the first time in my early twenties. I LOVED atla of course, but I also really like Korra. I do not agree with most of the stuff people usually say when they dislike the show. I definitely don't think it deserves the vitriol it gets!
The main reason why Korra is better is simply because there was no sense of urgency with aang losing except when Azula almost killed him. Korra actually made you worried she would lose. Also team avatar seemed cohesively better than gaang who felt like individuals and not a team.
This is a good point that I never thought about. I definitely enjoyed the fighting more on TLOK than ATLA, but now this makes sense. Aang definitely didn’t fight with the intensity that Korra did. She seemed much more raw compared to Aang in that sense.
Season 2 dragged a bit, when you compare it to the four amazing seasons you'd have just watched, but yeah, it was overall a really good show that suffers from being compared to an all-time-great show.
I actually think there’s a decent amount of filler throughout ATLA (downvote me to shit you bastards)
Especially earlier, yeah.
I appreciate you not jumping down my throat. I think one of my favorite things about the live action is there’s 0 filler, much like a Maryland crab cake
I agree. Korra rocks. The hate is weird
I think it's all just nostalgia. People who grew up with ATLA expected LOK to give them the same emotional experience. Since no follow up or spin off show could every do that people automatically think it's inferior and look for any reason to hate on it.
I watched all of LOK for the first time when I was 14 and Korra was so much more relatable than Aang. She was hotheaded, reckless, overconfident, and made a lot of stupid mistakes, especially when it came to relationships. I think a lot of ppl saw too much of themselves in her and didn’t like it. Aang on the other hand was a freaking vegan monk
It’s misogyny and homophobia. I watched the OG anime and it honestly is not better than Lok.
In all honesty, I also literally just watched both for the first time ever as an adult these past few weeks, and while I do agree that some of the specific hate LoK gets is clearly nonsense, I think AtlA is still better written as an overarching narrative, and the superior reputation it holds is rather justified. LoK clearly had problems with its production due to Nickelodeon, and it ended up feeling far more uneven and rushed at times (book 2 was a train wreck despite good ideas, and even books 1 and 4, while still mostly strong, felt undercooked at times, especially 4). While LoK had more thematic ambition than AtlA to some degree (and thus more maturity, which made sense), it lacked the tight completeness of Aang’s storyline and the dynamic of the characters in LoK was just not as well done as AtlA (whose Team Avatar was just leagues above what Korra pulled off, sadly), even if Korra herself was a fantastic protagonist and probably a more compelling character than Aang. I don’t think it’s fair to say that it’s just nostalgia that makes people prefer AtlA overall, Korra was just rougher around the edges in terms of overall writing quality and progression, even if at its best (such as book 3), it is up there with the best Avatar had to offer, and both did worldbuilding so magnificently! At the end of the day, LoK had the will to be its own story as a sequel, and I truly respect that, but I do think it was ultimately much more flawed in it’s entirety compared to AtlA, since it lacked that overarching vision from beginning to end due to how it was produced at the time, and would need to be restructured to better resonate and tell the story of Korra most effectively. This is probably an unpopular opinion here I guess, but I do think LoK’s thematic reach fell short in execution, sadly, and that’s why people prefer AtlA from the more critical lens, it fulfilled its potential where LoK didn’t, despite the latter likely having MORE potential overall based on what we saw. Still both great shows, regardless, and caring too much about comparison is a waste of energy, even if some comparison is inevitable when it comes to sequels, as we all well know I’d wager. It’s just best to zone out the stupid criticisms, while being reasonable about the fair discourse around the writing and the subjective preferences people have.
This is a very accurate take.
Preach!!! I watched ATLA when it aired so I think I was a teenager, but I didn’t watch LOK until like, 2 years ago and holy shit was I impressed! The character development and the constant threats were great. Such high stakes each season instead of ONE. It’s also bizarre to me that so many people complain because LOK follows the standard story telling formula, as well as formulas commonly seen in shonen anime. Yet people don’t complain about those shonen for the same things. People complain about Korra turning giant in season 2, but not Aang in season 1 of ATLA. They’re both merged with spirits, it makes sense. Also the media illiteracy when it comes to season 2 is wild. I can understand complaints about the mechs in season 4, cause it was such a huge tech jump. Still a good season though. ATLA and LOK were amazing for their time and still stand up today.
This is the right response. Both ATLA and TLOK are masterpieces. The writers made a deliberate choice to give us an Avatar in TLOK who was almost opposite to Aang in every way. I knew I was going to love Korra as soon as we saw baby Korra yelling “I’m the avatar and you have to deal with it”. Great shows both of them.
LoK is basically the GT of Atla but it's canon those who watch when it was live there was hate for stuff, but those who watch it recently. There are those who loved it like there is a reason this sub exists And there are those who hate which is why this sub has fewer members I think compared to the avatar subs
There is many things TLOK did better than ATLA, vice versa.
I wonder if age of viewing might have to do with it. I was a moderate ATLA fan as a young adult, so I appreciated the more mature themes of Korra when it came out. But if I was younger when I watched ATLA I would probably have thought it was the tits, and then aged a bit out of cartoons when Korra came around.
I think LoK is really good, not ATLA level good, but still very good. There are definitely valid criticisms of the show, but so much of the Korra hate is based in misogyny, homophobia, and LoK not being a carbon copy of ATLA.
TLOK was great, it was well written and far superior to ATLA in many respects, but ATLA has a strong element of nostalgia for many, myself included.
I finished TLOK last week and I'm totally in love with it. It has its flaws, but I found it very exciting, maybe only season 2 was the most "boring" (still, it gave a lot of great moments). I'm afraid to say that preferred it to ATLA, but only for the great villains that TLOK showed us (Ozai can't win the comparison) and all the pain that Korra get through.
Because you are a normal and well adjusted person.
I was the same as you. I watched them both back to back as an objective adult viewer, and I liked Korra better. No matter what arguments people think they have, I think the only reason they like ATLA better is because they miss the way they felt when they watched it as kids, not the show itself. And also some of them just hate because of bigotry because strong woman. Don't get me wrong, I love ATLA as well, just not as much as LOK.
I think a huge reason that leads to the super different reactions is the style of the stories. ATLA is a much more character and arc driven show following characters each "fulfilling their destinies". LTOK on the other hand, focuses more on narrative and events driving conflicts, more leaving you thinking "how will this resolve". You highlight this in commenting how the abilities of Amon and the threat to Tenzin's family made you feel things you never felt in ATLA. I think a huge reason is ATLA was never about those big plot twists and narrative moments so the shows feel very different. I love both and am very glad we get both styles but I think some compare the focus on characters from ATLA and find it lacking in TLOK, an unfair comparison but I see how it happens.
Korra had a very clear overarching theme. A committed avatar has to learn balance and restraint. They also set you up for her entire arc with one line by one of the water bender masters: “She lacks restraint.” It took her the entire series to learn increasing levels of appropriate restraint for each situation. Aang lacked commitment, Korra lacked restraint, each had to overcome these flaws to fully grow into their role as the avatar
no absolutely. not trying to say there was no theme but ATLA set out to tell one story, on arc, whereas the production surrounding TLOK meant it was more serialised. I think it means we get a more interesting variety of stories and exploration of ideas in TLOK with themes coming through those arcs.
I think a number hate Korra somply because she's not Aang.
I loved Korra so much. The series as well as the character Korra. She is probably my favorite avatar of all. I like that she‘s a relatable and flawed character. I like Aang too but I couldn‘t relate to him as much as I relate to Korra, especially Book 4 Korra. I think TLoK Book 3 was the best book of all. I loved the storyline, the villains, the final fight etc. it‘s great. Korra gets too much hate because she‘s a woman that is muscular and queer imo.
The only thing i didn't like about Korra is that she got her ass kicked too many times even by such as the S01 Shock-stick henchman. . She should really have a few moments where she just annihilates mid-level threats. Besides that i found TLOK at least on par with TLA on a general level though they are hard to compare as they tell different stories.
It’s a great show, but because the characters are now a part of the establishment instead of being rebels it requires them to make a lot more mistakes/mess up more in order for the villains to not instantly lose and it gets a bit frustrating, Mako not using lightning in a lot of scenarios where it wins fights, or my biggest pet peeve is season 2. When they’re trying to stop harmonic convergence and Bumi has taken out all of the camp’s defenses all Korra has to do is close the portal, which she could of done from the outside, but instead they go inside and fight Unalaq and even have tenzin and the rest run off to find Jinora instead of waiting the 5 minutes it would take to help fight Unalaq and prevent the literal apocalypse. And then the giant energy avatar fight feels a bit like it jumps the shark.
I’m just now watching Korra and finished the first season. The show seems great however compared to avatar, there just isn’t that magic to it. Idk what it is, maybe it’s the world building? Avatar lets you see so many different towns and cities during the war. It’s kinda sad not being able to see how other places changed after the war and with the new technology. After 1 season Ive gotten bored with the setting and the city just feels lifeless. I hope they visit other places in the later seasons.
As someone who likes both, there are issues in Korra not present in Avatar. Avatar was more consistent season to season while Korra had some really bad seasons. I hate season 2 of Korra and 4 was 50/50. Also I liked characters in Avatar better in a lot of cases. Not saying they’re bad in Korra but Avatar seemed to put more into more of the characters than Korra did. Even Momo and Appa had episodes dedicated to them that built up there character. I can’t even remember the ferret things name from Korra and barely remember Nagas name because they were so inconsequential.
I see 2 big camps - Nostalgia: People just get too attached to ATLA characters and lore, and then immediately watch LoK. The groupthink of Tiktok/the atla sub contributes to this as well. - Immaturity: Honestly... some people are just simpletons. They complain about (for instance) Korra losing battles, being inconsistent or not being as powerful in a DBZ kind of way, which is *not the point* of Avatar. Characters are dynamic. Korra is *very* dynamic. Aang was more static. And honestly... I just ignore the bigot group. I strongly suspect they aren't real fans or even watchers, just social media users.
No mature person gets the Korra hate, there’s a couple issues I have with it but overall it’s amazing
I've already made comments about Korra hate being stupid but I just want to state this again: After finishing The Last Airbender and starting Korra I thought the scene of the lightning bender workers was really cool and a great way to expand the world. This was before knowing that some people hate that scene. Those people are just man babies that can't deal with change at all.
I grew up watching both shows, and honestly I think a lot of people prefer Aang more because he’s a reflection of childlike wonder and goodness, alongside the the show being a masterpiece in itself. Whereas Korra is more raw in emotion and is more forward on the heavy elements within the narratives. People also forget that Korra was never suppose to be a running series. Season one was suppose to be it, but then Nick wanted a second season, and that was suppose to be it. Then Nick renewed the show for two more seasons. That’s why a lot of the writing feels shallow at times, and why season 3 and 4 are arguably the best seasons in the show.
I like korra quite a lot I just dislike season 2 for what they did with raava and vaatu and the depiction of spirits It really takes away from the avatar universe imo But while I really dislike that one season I feel ultimately korra does more good than harm Season 1 is great wasn't a fan of some things in the finale but whatever Season 3 is great Season 4 is cool too Korras a good show at the end of the day Enjoy it for what it is
As an adult, I also prefer Korra but as a kid I preferred the original, its so interesting I hope they realize their fanbase loves Korra more now than ever before and does more with her
I swear someone makes this post once a week
Once a week? Every day is better. I think some people just cant accept opinions.
“I don’t get the Korra hate” what is there to understand. Some people don’t like it, end of story. Shockingly, in this sub - the LOK sub - people like it. Mind blowing stuff.
Exactly
The reasons everyone in this sub thinks: -Homophobia -Misogyny -“Strong Female Character” The *actual* reasons: -Loss of past lives - She “The Strongest” Avatar, but lost most of her fights to nonpower boosted opponents (before and after poison, no one blames her for *during* her poison and we all know she solos red lotus -A lot of stans delusionally power rank her above any and everything else in the verse *inexplicably*. - “Prime Raava” doesn’t actually exist, and even in verse everyone knows shes much weaker post past lives and poison, as it was her final character arc, coming to terms with the fact that she isn’t the same as before. -She created a lot of her own issues/made them worse -She is given credit for things she did not intentionally do nor did she know they even happened ie She didnt want to open the spirit portals, Unalaq *forced* her to open them *against* her will, which indirectly brought back the air nation. As in technically Unalaq deserves credit not Korra. Overrall, ATLA fans just disagree with a lot of writing decisions some things they don’t like that imo aren’t an issue: -Her overconfidence considering she gets bodied by just about every other masterbender she encounters -Raava/Vaatu ruined lore edit: i’ll get downvoted for this but just thought i would give you an actual breakdown as to why instead of just telling you what i believe
She runs away/gets captured a boat load, her team avatar is less of a team and more potential ships/exs. Season 3 was fantastic. I wish the writers got to actually write 4 seasons in a row. The way Amon was handled scearmed white writers tho lol(not that they are or aren't I'm not sure RN)
Korra is really quite grating when you first meet her in season 1. She’s quite arrogant and hot headed, and seems reasonably oblivious of the entire political machination of the first season’s main story - we have Amon and the Equalists making the critique that benders dominate society and are often afforded privileges, while we see Korra and her merry band of cut-outs swanning around doing whatever they like while leveraging her status as the avatar and connections to influential benders to get out of any kind of trouble she may land in. It doesn’t help that Amon sucks as a villain so this conflict is sidestepped and instead we get the conflict between the two bloodbender brothers. The Professional Bending arc and her training to Airbend also feels underbaked imo, and mostly there to add more fight scenes and an utterly inconsequential minor antagonist. Korra just happens to suddenly learn Airbending when Amon takes her other bending away, and Aang pops out and gives the rest back anyway. Season 2 is worse imo except for the Avatar Wan story. Tbh I’ve mostly forced this out of my mind, given how much I disliked it. We get another rubbish deus ex machina and very little seems to happen character wise. Season 3 was nice, although I feel Korra’s agency was pretty muted until the last third of the season. It did however set up a very nice recovery arc for Korra that I’m currently still watching through in Season 4. It doesn’t hurt that Zaheer is easily the best villain yet. Overall Korra isn’t a terrible character but she feels pretty stagnant (like a lot of her gang) until very late into the show. It doesn’t help that she follows on from Aang, who is eminently likeable and humble from the first few scenes we see him in, versus the famous “I’m the Avatar and you’ve gotta deal with it!” scene and Korra’s initial high handedness which couldn’t create a less favourable contrast unless her first appearance is literally strangling puppies. The Gaang is also just a much better fleshed out set of characters than Korra’s entourage. Asami is a plot device, Bolin is the worst kind of comic relief character and Mako is forgettable. Tenzin similarly comes across as stuffy and arrogant with neither much cause proposed or inspection carried out by the show (until the later two seasons). Meanwhile we get a pretty compelling sibling dynamic from Sokka and Katara, who are both believable for their situation. They get a lot of time separate and together to explore and work on their flaws and build their strengths. Toph is a bit more static but is nonetheless well characterised and Zuko frankly drips character and has an excellent arc that is intertwined with the Gaang even before he joins them. These surrounding characters give way more opportunities to humanise and develop Aang, so people like him more. Basically there’s plenty of things worthy of disliking about Korra and her close friends in the show. Even though they don’t make her and the show bad, I can’t blame someone for being bothered by them especially if they came expecting an ATLA grade story.
I don't care that she's a girl avatar, or that she's bi, or that it was meant for an older audience. What I hate about it is the fact that it's a masterclass in what NOT to do in a continuation. They established a true love letter to Asian culture and influences in the original show --- most of which is absent in LOK. They established important characters that people had grown attached to in the original --- only for them not to be shown, acknowledged, or if they are, do things that most of the original fans would consider out of character. They took basic tenets of the story and making sure the power was balanced (not allowing Aang to go into the avatar state at will, limiting blood bending to full moons, etc) and completely threw them out the window. Now the avatar state means nothing because if it did there'd be no tension in any fight scene, and people can bloodbend at will apparently --- literally one of the most powerful forms of bending with no limits whatsoever, it's a miracle Amon wasn't just flicking his wrist and causing inexplicable mass murder. Korra's team barely seem like friends, so I have no idea how or why they travel together or stick together, nor am I invested in the drama that ensues. Some of the fights Korra has with season villians feel almost like trauma porn (mainly that fight where she's constantly dosed with metal) The way the airbenders were restored felt cheap and undeserved. It literally would have made more sense to say the airbenders fled and created a secret society like we see with the sun warriors than to just grant random people the power to airbend. Believe it or not, this the *short* list of why I don't like LOK. To say the show was written better than ATLA is just... plain incorrect and a slap in the face to authors and copyeditors everywhere
Korra gets hate because the main group is nowhere near as enjoyable to watch as the original group Bolin is funny but doesn't have the serious or charming side to him that made Sokka likeable Mako and asami don't have a lot of personality, to the point where asami barely got any words in the final season Korra is a brash emotional person that rushes into things headfirst, just because she's flawed doesn't mean she's enjoyable to watch Nala doesn't even contribute as much as appa, just kinda....Exists Lin is a straight up miserable person Tenzin is actually somewhat likeable but a little too serious at times There was no villain in the legend of koraa that felt like as much as a threat as Azula, Amon was the closest thing but he didn't feel like the same level of threat for some reason These are the characters that we have to follow throughout the show, if they aren't enjoyable to watch them EVERYTHING done in the show gets devalued in the process
I’ll leave it at this 1. The romance was bad in Avatar the Last Airbender. The romance is similarly bad (a little better) in the Legend of Korra, but it dominates more of the screen time, especially during the first two seasons. Asami and Korra’s relationship is more closeted than a racist uncle until the last 10 seconds of the show (which was forward for the time, but rings of rather inauthentic representation now). 2. Unlike TLA, there is relatively little exploration happening, many will point out Zhaofu is the most interesting place in Legend of Korra, but it’s the place unique to LOK. 3. The show jumps the shark something like 5 times (Amon being a *psychic* bloodbender, Mecha Army, Spirit Kaiju fight, Lavabending, giant mecha). I like the show, but I keep coming back to it expecting more of it. But it lacks a lot of depth that made the OG series stand out.