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Avatar (animated TV show) ~potential spoilers~
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Post by
Haxzor
Are you kidding me? What about the scene where Wan dies, saying that he failed, and the last thing he hears is Raava saying "we will never give up." Or the part where we all think Raava gets killed? I found them both much more emotional than Lin losing her bending.
You have a point on the part about Wan dying, but not when Raava was seemingly killed. I knew she was still alive. She flat out told us that it was impossible for light to kill darkness, or darkness to kill light. That ruined for me what could had otherwise be a very emotional moment.
You didnt feel an inkling of sadness when you saw the spirits of the past Avatars being destroyed?
Post by
Skreeran
There's nothing wrong with liking Season 1 more than Season 2, but don't tell people who like Season 2 more that they're wrong for liking it more than Season 1.
Post by
Rankkor
There's nothing wrong with liking Season 1 more than Season 2,
but don't tell people who like Season 2 more that they're wrong for liking it more than Season 1
.
o_O I did that? where?
Are you kidding me? What about the scene where Wan dies, saying that he failed, and the last thing he hears is Raava saying "we will never give up." Or the part where we all think Raava gets killed? I found them both much more emotional than Lin losing her bending.
You have a point on the part about Wan dying, but not when Raava was seemingly killed. I knew she was still alive. She flat out told us that it was impossible for light to kill darkness, or darkness to kill light. That ruined for me what could had otherwise be a very emotional moment.
You didnt feel an inkling of sadness when you saw the spirits of the past Avatars being destroyed?
To be fair, since Raava had said that light can't kill darkness and darkness can't kill light, I just assumed at the moment that not only she was still alive, but also that we'd get a repeat of Season 1 ending and Korra would not only get her back, but also her connection to her past lives, much the same way she magically got all her elements back in full force in the last minute of the last episode.
Her remaining stranded from her past lives definitely came out of nowhere
Post by
Gone
There's nothing wrong with liking Season 1 more than Season 2, but don't tell people who like Season 2 more that they're wrong for liking it more than Season 1.
While Rank was certainly being a zealous advocate for season 1, I didn't think he was telling anybody they were wrong for preferring the second season.
Like I said, I certainly liked season 1, but there was also a lot I disliked about it, and in the end, season 2 just felt more like Avatar to me than season 1 did.
Post by
Gone
For the record, I have yet to see any villain do anything more badass than when Azula KOed Aang in the Avatar State.
Post by
Rankkor
For the record, I have yet to see any villain do anything more badass than when Azula KOed Aang in the Avatar State.
from my side, Amon causing a mental breakdown on korra somehow topped that. Not to downplay Azula's impressive pragmatism (why is it that all villains stop their attacks when the heroes go through a transformation sequence?) but Amon pretty much neutralized the avatar without even landing a single hit, and it took a while for korra to recover.
I'm of the opinion that mental and psychological wounds are far more dangerous than physical ones. The thing about azula that impressed me the most is not how gifted she was with firebending, or that she could shoot lightning (You know, back when not everyone could do it) the thing I admired the most about her is her ability to mess with people's head, to play them like a violin and then cut away the strings. Her complete takeover of the Dai Li, and the way she distracted the team during the black sun invasion are IMO her crowning moments of awesome, rather than when she physically kicked ass (Which was also impressive I must add). Amon is basically that but cranked up to eleven.
:P Sorry, I'm really gushing up a lot about amon xD but I really love that villain, kinda sad he was removed so quickly.
Post by
Gone
I found Azula's feat to be more impressive, because at the time that Amon did this, Korra hadn't really established any kind of cred with the audience. For all we knew at the time, she could have just been a mentally fragile Avatar, and Amon was her first real villain.
What Azula did to Aang on the other hand, blew my mind when it first happened, and it wasn't just because it was a feat of raw power. Aang is starting to glow, and the audience is thinking "ok here we go Avatar state, Aang is going to pwn all the baddies." Then BAM, she swats him down like it's nothing and you just see Azula standing there grinning like "lol lightning." It completely backfired against what everybody expected.
Post by
Rankkor
you know, now that you touched on that topic, one thing that annoys me of season 1 and 2 together is how they trivialized what previously were amazing feats.
Shooting lightning used to be THE ultimate feat of firebending, like, only ultra prodigious mega masters of it could pull it off. In the previous show, only Iroh (Who was a master with decades of experience) Ozai (Who was Iroh's brother and also a supreme enough bender) and Azula (who despite her young age was specifically acknowledge and shown to be a prodigy) could do it.
Neither zuko, nor Aang, nor Zhao, or Jon Jon, or any of the many firebenders that show up could ever come even close to producing lightning. Those that could, had it as a badge of their sheer badass status.
Now here we are in korra and any schmuck can do it. Its not due to mako being a prodigy like azula, he's a regular bender, and shooting lightning is so common now, that menial workers do it at a plant as a way of producing electricity. It would be akin to....... gee I dunno, Goku going Super Sayan on DBZ, and then cue 80 years later, EVERYONE can go Super Sayan mode at ease. When something special is given to everyone, it ceases to be special.
Notice how the same didn't happened with bloodbending, arguably the most powerful form of bending. It takes a supreme master of waterbending to do it, in the previous show only two characters ever used it, and in korra, that was kept, almost nobody could do it, Unalaq despite showing himself to be a really powerful waterbender (he defeated korra's dad without cheating, or using extra mooks to aid him) can't bloodbend, neither could "Thing 1 and Thing 2".
I kinda wish lightning could had remained the same.
Earthbending is different, because its not that its particularly hard, its just something that needs training to be accomplished. Once you attune yourself to feel the impurities of metal, it comes easily, and this is shown on "The Promise". But lightning isn't like that. Just knowing how the technique works doesn't automatically guarantees you'll be able to do it, Iroh showed zuko how lightning is produced, but it still took a supreme mastery of firebending to pull it off, and zuko, despite being quite talented himself, wasn't able to.
Post by
Skreeran
I was always under the impression that lightning was just something new and difficult to master, since it had been invented so recently (by Iroh).
I mean, Zuko wasn't the most powerful firebender in the world. Jeong Jeong never demonstrated lightning bending, nor did the Sun Warriors. I figured it was more of a matter of knowledge and training than raw power.
Besides, Mako is like the most powerful firebender we see in Korra. He was good enough to compete on the champion pro bending team, at any rate.
Post by
Adamsm
It would be akin to....... gee I dunno, Goku going Super Sayan on DBZ, and then cue 80 years later, EVERYONE can go Super Sayan mode at ease. When something special is given to everyone, it ceases to be special.That was actually done in DBO though Rank.
As for Lightning Bending; it probably started being more well known after Zuko took over. One of the most powerful moves for them, why wouldn't they share it around to everyone so that all could benefit from it.
Post by
Gone
I agree with Rank on the trivialization of lightning, although did Iroh invent lightning bending? I know he invented the ability to redirect it, but I don't ever remember him saying he invented the ability to conjure it.
Bloodbending was a little different. Only three characters in LOK ever used it, but they were also special, being able to use it at any time of the month. Also the fact that bloodbending had to be made illegal suggests that there was some form of widespread use of the ability.
Post by
Rankkor
I was always under the impression that lightning was just something new and difficult to master, since it had been invented so recently (by Iroh).
Wait what? where did they said Iroh invented it? He invented the technique to redirect lighting, but at no point was it hinted he was the creator of lighting-bending. In fact, when he was teaching Zuko his redirect technique he reassured him that the firelord would not be able to counter it because he (iroh) invented it himself. I thought that implied that both Iroh and Ozai learned lightning from someone else, and that it was an ancient technique rather than something new.
I mean, Zuko wasn't the most powerful firebender in the world. Jeong Jeong never demonstrated lightning bending, nor did the Sun Warriors. I figured it was more of a matter of knowledge and training than raw power.
that's the thing, Zuko was talented but far from the best (in fact he only defeated his sister because she had the mother of all the Villainous Mental Breakdowns) but Jeong Jeong was a master firebender, and even he was unable to bend lightning, showing that only the best of the best among the best could use that ability, as it required intense concentration and tremendous amount of skill. Just knowing how it works isn't enough to do it.
As for the sun warriors, they only showed up once, and they weren't seen in battle, which is the only time where a demonstration of lightning would had been required.
Besides, Mako is like the most powerful firebender we see in Korra. He was good enough to compete on the champion pro bending team, at any rate.
He was good enough to compete in a champion sports event, but then again he is not the only one we see using lightning, again, he was working at a powerplant were menial workers were seen lightning-bending. Showing that any schmuck could do it. That was kind of a letdown for me.
It would be akin to....... gee I dunno, Goku going Super Sayan on DBZ, and then cue 80 years later, EVERYONE can go Super Sayan mode at ease. When something special is given to everyone, it ceases to be special.That was actually done in DBO though Rank.
ugh, I know man :S that was probably the one thing I didn't liked about that game. Though it did allowed me to see how a female super sayan would look like. Too bad the game went belly up =( I wanted to play it in proper english one day.
As for Lightning Bending; it probably started being more well known after Zuko took over. One of the most powerful moves for them, why wouldn't they share it around to everyone so that all could benefit from it.
Hmm, that's the thing though, I always saw lightning-bending as something really hard to pull off, even if you DID knew how to do it. Iroh showed Zuko how it was done, and Zuko still was unable to pull it off. It used to be a mark of prestige, something that identified you as a supreme master of firebending. I'm glad nobody has been able to imitate Azula's blue fire (yet)
Bloodbending was a little different. Only three characters in LOK ever used it, but they were also special, being able to use it at any time of the month. Also the fact that bloodbending had to be made illegal suggests that there was some form of widespread use of the ability.
Well Katara sure as hell never taught it to anyone, so either Hana ran across other waterbenders during her life and taught them the skill, or other people eventually developed it as well, and that led to its ban.
Post by
Haxzor
There has been like 70 years inbetween the ending of TLA and the beginning of LOK and it's obvious they went through an industrial revolution. I'd find it kind of weird if there weren't more people who could bend lightning.
Those guys at the plant weren't menial either. Mako got a job OFF THE STREET because he could bend lightning, which means that lightning benders are in serious demand. In the most populous city on their planet.
Post by
Gone
that's the thing, Zuko was talented but far from the best (in fact he only defeated his sister because she had the mother of all the Villainous Mental Breakdowns) but Jeong Jeong was a master firebender, and even he was unable to bend lightning, showing that only the best of the best among the best could use that ability, as it required intense concentration and tremendous amount of skill. Just knowing how it works isn't enough to do it.
Zuko was one of the best firebenders in the series. Him not being able to conjure lightning was more of a personality defect than a lack of skill or not being at an advanced enough level.
Well Katara sure as hell never taught it to anyone, so either Hana ran across other waterbenders during her life and taught them the skill, or other people eventually developed it as well, and that led to its ban.
Remember the swamp people, and the woman from The Search were both able to waterbend plants. It's not a huge strech to go from that to bloodbending. It's possible that Hana wasn't the only person to know it before she taught Katara. It's also possible that Katara taught it to other people before realizing how dangerous it was.
Post by
Nathanyal
I don't know about Katara not knowing how dangerous it was and teaching it to others. She did have to fight Hama as well as use it on her and a few others. At the end of the episode you can see that Katara is upset at the fact that she is now a bloodbender.
Post by
Gone
I don't know about Katara not knowing how dangerous it was and teaching it to others. She did have to fight Hama as well as use it on her and a few others. At the end of the episode you can see that Katara is upset at the fact that she is now a bloodbender.
Didn't stop her from using after that when she was pissed. Maybe she taught it to somebody she trusted and then they went out and taught it to other people.
Post by
Haxzor
I don't know about Katara not knowing how dangerous it was and teaching it to others. She did have to fight Hama as well as use it on her and a few others. At the end of the episode you can see that Katara is upset at the fact that she is now a bloodbender.
Didn't stop her from using after that when she was pissed. Maybe she taught it to somebody she trusted and then they went out and taught it to other people.
Only other Waterbenders Katara would trust? (That we'd know of) Aang and Kya?
Post by
Gone
I don't know about Katara not knowing how dangerous it was and teaching it to others. She did have to fight Hama as well as use it on her and a few others. At the end of the episode you can see that Katara is upset at the fact that she is now a bloodbender.
Didn't stop her from using after that when she was pissed. Maybe she taught it to somebody she trusted and then they went out and taught it to other people.
Only other Waterbenders Katara would trust? (That we'd know of) Aang and Kya?
I'm assuming that over the course of her long life she will eventually come to trust people that she met after she was 14...
Post by
Haxzor
Trust enough to teach them a forbidden art though?
Post by
Adamsm
Probably the art of Blood Bending could be found on a scroll; I'm not sure that Hama was the first person to realize that it could be done...it's kind of like what Swamp Benders do.
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