It is common when a follow up to a critically acclaimed story is released as a step down from the original. This has happened to the Star Wars prequels for instance. In my opinion, it has also happened to The Legend of Korra, as it is a step-down from Avatar: The Last Airbender. How? This blog will explain the top ten faults I have found with The Legend of Korra.
- NUMBER 10
- Fan Service
- One of the main problems of this series as compared to the original is the original itself. Only one episode was dedicated to the story of Roku in the original series, while this show continuously shows more and more flashbacks to Aang and his friends. I believe the main reason for this wasn't to expand upon this show's history and mythology but was for fans of the original show. I don't think we really needed to know more about Aang, we already had sixty episodes covering it. Other references to the original show include using Dante Basco's voice for one of Zuko's descendants and constant nods to the original show such as a sky bison that for some reason is alive.
- NUMBER 09
- Character Names
- You may consider me to be nitpicking here but why is it that half the character's have borrowed names? Bumi, Kya, Iroh. Not only can this be bothersome and confusing, but there is no ultimate point for this other than to make more nods to the original and superior series.
- UPDATE: When I say half, I am being sarcastic. I don't actually mean that 50% of the names are borrowed.
- UPDATE #2: I am aware that people name their children after people they know, but I find it a fault for the sake of the show that the creators borrow names from the original instead of making new ones.
- NUMBER 08
- The Little Korra who Could
- How I loathe Korra's ability to surpass at least two of the previous avatars in discovering her ability to bend three of the four elements. Aang and Roku didn't learn about being the Avatar until the ages of sixteen and twelve, and they had no clear signs before that. This probably was done to skip the last three elements the original series covered and go straight to air, even though I would find it interesting for fire bending to be taught in more depth.
- NUMBER 07
- Advancement in Bending
- Korra isn't the only flaw here. The original series revealed lightning generation was accessible to Iroh, Azula, Ozai, and in some form, possibly Combustion Man. It was definitely an uncommon skill, though it is not clear if it is suppose to be new or not. I find it highly unlikely that someone as strong as Zuko couldn't master lightning generation but seventy some years later, power plants and factories are powered by it. This also lessens the martial arts as they are turned into a hand labor tool. As for pro-bending, I think it is almost as dumb and overrated as Quidditch, but it's acceptable.
- NUMBER 06
- Technology
- Thousands of years went by without robots... tanks, drills and zeppelins were the most advanced this fictional world had seen. But seventy-some years go by and BOOM! Now we have robots, or mecha tanks if you will. We don't even have that kind of technology now, I find it highly unlikely that advanced robot tanks would be released before any form of shot guns. I don't see the big reason for there to be robots in the show, this is Avatar, not Avatar. Also, the cars or "Satomobiles" bother me, for one, car chases are used too often in almost every action movie in existence and two, would Hiroshi Sato really be the only company creator of automobiles. Today we have alot more companies of car manufacturers than just Ford.
- UPDATE: Now that I think of it, Aang was suppose to be 40 in the flashbacks, meaning that a large advancement of technology occurred within 28 years of the original series.
- UPDATE #2: In response to the advancement in technology - the fault is more of how it advanced. At the time of Sozin, there are Fire Nation ships and one hundred years later the ships are just slightly more larger and advanced, and not all of them, and in addition there are tanks and eventually zeppelins. Yet, 28 years later a whole city is built and populated with all sorts of new technology such as gas lamps and another 30 or so years later, there are robots, yet there are not guns. It's more of how it advanced rather than the fact it advanced.
- NUMBER 05
- Plot Twist
- In The Dark Knight Rises, Bane had his characterization built up through back stories but in the end, it was revealed that those back stories belonged to a different character, lessening the character of Bane. A very similar fault was made in Endgame, where Amon's back stories were proven to be false. The main flaw here, however is that Amon's loyal followers lost faith in their revolution when they discovered Amon was a hoax. They can still follow his ways afterwards, whether he was lying about himself or not. Stopping Amon shouldn't stop the whole revolution.
- NUMBER 04
- Characterization
- One of the most compelling things to me about the original series was the characters, Sokka for instance served as comic relief, yet he was the smartest of the original four in terms of strategic planning while Aang was goofy, but also wise; Katara, Zuko, and Toph also had their pros and cons. Korra however, takes all the high points of the main characters with the exception of comic relief (at least good comic relief), which makes her a whole less interesting than any member of the original Team Avatar. Mako and Bolin practically just serve as comic relief and the boyfriend character. Asami was a little better in terms of characterization with her father, but a lot of the time, she just serves as the love triangle girl which brings us to Fault #04.
- NUMBER 03
- Shipping
- The series has a crucial flaw in terms of shipping. It focuses too much on it with different characters and to be honest, it's not very good.
For example, Endgame wrapped up sort of like this:
- Mako: I love you.
- Korra: I don't
- Korra then gets her bending back
- Korra: I love you now.
- NUMBER 02
- It's a Wrap
- With the exception of Flaw #05, Endgame was practically good episode until Flaw #03 came. What do I mean by this? The pacing of this episode after Amon's execution went by so fast that it is rather shocking. They wrapped up everything so fast it is a wonder what will happen in Book 2. It ended a little too fast and it lacked suspense, I think it would of been better if either or both Lin and Korra do not get their bending back until Book 2. That would leave the audience wondering what would happen next.
- NUMBER 01
- Low-Quality Humor & Meelo
- If there would be a character that should get their face stolen by Koh, it would no longer be the barbaric girl (guy?) from The Great Divide, it would be Meelo. For starters, how many five year old kids have you ever met that acted like him every moment of the day? None, that's because nobody acts like him, remember Aang was a five year old in Appa's Lost Days. That's how Meelo should act more like, he should be cute, at times inappropriate, not the other way around unless he suppose to have some sort of brain damage. It was a mistake for the creators to include his potty humor. The potty humor didn't meet my tastes in terms of humor, and I really hope they don't continue such low quality of jokes. The original series didn't, why should this?
- UPDATE: To make it clear, it's more of what this character represents that bothers me. The potty humor is what I like least about this series, and Meelo is the source of it. I do have problems with Meelo outside of that, but I put that together with Potty Humor, if I made it Top 11, Meelo outside of the potty humor would take the place of #07.
- Additional Notes:
- Let's face it, if Avatar: The Last Airbender never existed, but The Legend of Korra was released the exact way as it was... you wouldn't like it as much. This happens. Fans like something a lot and overrate it because they liked the original, haters of the new who are lovers of the old also underrate the new.