The Last Airbender thread ***SPOILERS***

[Pixelmage]

Guys guys guys guys guys, idea.

Pro-Bending rules updated to include Airbenders. Opal joins the Fire Ferrets. How awesome would that be?

[Endless Sea]

Eh, I'd prefer Tenzin. :D

[Guyshane]

Well we now know the advanced secondary discipline for airbending.

Of course this raises another question: How did we not guess flight?!? How was that not our first thought?

[Pixelmage]

Well we now know the advanced secondary discipline for airbending.

Of course this raises another question: How did we not guess flight?!? How was that not our first thought?

Probably because they all had the flying staffs and already flied anyway. Though unaided flight does make a lot of sense.

And yay for earthbenders under pressure. XD

First Toph in a metal cage; break it or you're done. Metalbending is born.
Now Bolin under a lava shower; well, either you do it or we'll have crispy Bolin, Mako, Asami and Tenzin. Look, he can lavabend!

[Anura]

I would have thought that soundbending would be air's secondary.

[IslaKariese]

The interesting thing about Bolin's ability is that we now have reason to believe that metalbending ability is inversely correlated with lavabending ability. Which may have a lot to do with the state of the earth in either case. Metal is very refined earth, while lava is superheated, liquified earth. Because I suck at organic sciences, I don't know if that actually means anything, but it seems interesting, yes?

[Guyshane]

That's not a bad theory. I actually like it a lot. I'm going to adopt it as headcanon.

[IslaKariese]

That's not a bad theory. I actually like it a lot. I'm going to adopt it as headcanon.

Yays, I contributed something helpful! *squees*

In other news, wow, I feel really bad for Korra. She looks absolutely awful. And this season managed to top the number of deaths in an Airbenderverse finale, which is not necessarily a good thing considering this is still supposed to be a kids' show.

But hey, Jinora got her arrows. So that's something to celebrate, at least.

[Lordxana0]

Well I guess I should posts my thoughts on the finale. I didn't like it.

The Legend of Korra has a serious problem with the villain they make, this problem is that they keep making interesting villains and than killing them off after a single season. Their defeats usually feel rushed near the end. Like... I don't know we have these four super amazing benders shown to kick all sorts of ass and suddenly they go from unbeatable to dead in the span of two episodes. And not only that, but they gave us hints of bigger back stories, things we could have looked into to try and understand their views of the world. I was really interested, the same way I was interested in Azula and the Firelord from the first series.

And yeah sure the 'Red Lotus' still exists, but by that same nature so should the Equalists, and I don't see crap being done with them.

Good action, some good story telling bits, but overall Korra forgets to pace itself and falls flat on the finish line, which is disappointing because this season is better than the first, way better than the second, but doesn't really provide any real build up to what the fourth season is about. I can understand this in the case of the first and second season, because they didn't really know another season was possible, but they knew there would be a fourth one but still wrote something that feels like it could be an end to the season.

Bonus for no stupid romance stuff this season. And for Mako remembering that he can bend lightening.

[IslaKariese]

Yeah, fair enough. I got to episode thirteen and felt a bit surprised that it felt so finale-ish at first, only to look it up and find this season only had thirteen episodes. It feels like they could've done more, especially with a plot like this that could be expanded into multiple nooks and crannies if only they hadn't done XYZ and made the path forward that much more absolute.

Still, unlike with the Equalists, who were all nonbenders themselves and who were shown Amon's deception, and unlike Amon himself who was killed in the finale, Zaheer is still alive (though imprisoned again) and we don't know exactly how many Red Lotus there are out there. Ming-Hua, Ghazan, and P'Li were just the strongest of Zaheer's partners/followers. Hopefully they will do something akin to making the Pheonix rise from the ashes if the Red Lotus is still as much of a threat as Zaheer boasted.

And say what you will about how the other three died, it wasn't done in a half-assed fashion. With each battle they had against the others, the writers made it clear that it was a life-or-death situation. Had Ghazan and Ming-Hua been a little more ruthless at the beginning of the season, they could have easily killed Mako and Bolin or Bumi and Kaya later on. And P'Li's last attack would definitely have killed Lin if Suyin hadn't encased her head at that exact moment. It may have been cockiness - they knew they were more powerful than their opponents, so they didn't feel that they needed to try that hard. Or they felt that they didn't need to necessarily kill anybody to get to Korra, since their mission was to annihilate the Avatar and the World leaders and just try to make sure that everyone else gets a chance to taste the "freedom" they were trying to give them.

[Pixelmage]

I think the deaths were well executed, personally. And the fact that Korra herself ended up in a wheelchair with such a sick and weak semblance is more than enough buildup to the next season, if you ask me. It begs a really big question of what now, that the Avatar is basically out of the picture? Do any of you remember what happened last time the Avatar was gone? Oh, right, The Hundred Years War, air nation all but annihilated and hey, four whole seasons of The Last Airbender in order to sort of kind of get things on track again.

Tenzin understands what it means to have Korra incapacitated, the president knows, Lin knows. Even Varrik probably would catch on to the potential dangers for wholly illogical reasons. What happened was a really big opening and a really big question mark for season four: Anything can happen now.

Back on the deaths though; P'Li got overly comfortable with her special bending, it made her open to Suyin's attack. Contrast and compare how Lin and Su were fighting, mixing earth and metal forms both to attack and defend. P'Li apparently forgot that she was a fire bender and started relying on standing in place and blowing things up. She wasn't playing around, sure. She would have killed Lin if it wasn't for the impromptu helm, yes. But it only really happened because she never thought to be less flashy and consider she was outnumbered. And it is also a testament to Suyin's skill, landing that particular move was not something just anyone would be able to do.

Ming-Hua's case points to something about Mako that no one considers... He never once killed anyone, nor did he fight to murder people. The instance of his lightning bending was in a power plant, as a job, to charge batteries. He was a friggin' detective, not a raider. And lightning is dangerous and unforgiving. Not something he would ever use against another human; it's just not on his personality to do it, he's not going to kill someone out of his own free will unless he absolutely has not a single other choice left. The fact that he was driven far enough to pull it off shows, again, just how damn strong Ming-Hua was.

And Ghazan choose to go out on his own terms, fitting for a moving volcano. Look at all other times he fought and he's always been the most cheerful of the bunch, and one of the most tame. Despite wielding what's possibly the most gratuitously destructive form of bending shown so far, he never did more collateral damage than what was strictly necessary to get his point across. Hell, he was hesitant to melt the Northern Air Temple too, and even doing it, he didn't directly harm the four inside; left them for dead, sure. Directly kill them? Nope. Come him being cornered, he simply made his choice. Similar to how Mako ultimately decided to thunder away, he choose to let go of restraint and just blow everything up. Very fitting to his character, on my view.

On Zaheer, however... He finally went crazy. Which took a while, but it's the same as Amon and Asslock (no, I probably won't ever stop calling him that). They thought they had won, all of the hinges came off. Same as Zaheer. The fact that he's in prison now probably means he's gone for good; messages from a kid's show, after all. Morality 'n stuff. The rest of the Red Lotus? If they can learn anything from what happened, is that it doesn't matter too much how well off the avatar herself is, there are tons of people willing to protect her. And they're no slouches. The four strongest benders shown so far couldn't pull it off, a punk nobody who can carry a bowl of poison probably wouldn't get anywhere close.

Again, my question, and what I feel like the big opening for the fourth season is: What now?

As for my personal reading into it; Vaatu. Korra's avatar mode is a lot stronger and a whole level more ruthless than Aang's was. What's the difference between them? Aang was a pure light Avatar of Rava. Korra is a dual avatar with both Rava and Vaatu. And conflict strengthens Vaatu. Not to mention Korra is really really depressed which is likely to be nursing the dark side with great care. What, then, is to be done if the threat to balance turns out to be the avatar herself?

[Endless Sea]

So, I just watched the finale.

Holy shit, that final battle. Korra, you've been holding out on us. :O

[Endless Sea]

Double post- anyone think this sounds a bit familiar? D:

[Pixelmage]

Yes. Yes it does. In fact, the first thing I did after watching the ending was look up the symptoms of Mercury Poisoning. That poison does look a lot like liquid metal and Mercury immediately came to mind; even before Suyin metalbent it off. Although it doesn't seem to be pure mercury and more of a mercury-based compound. The onset of the reaction was extremely fast, after all.

Bit of a grim subject to chat about though. .-.

[Guyshane]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of mercury when I saw the poison. Although the onset of symptoms did seem to happen a bit quickly based on what little I know of mercury poisoning.

[JRPictures]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCEFMY4TWGw

It's the Book 4 trailer people. THE HYPE IS REAL.

[Endless Sea]

It's never been real-er.

[Pixelmage]

TOPH!

[IslaKariese]

Jesus Christ on a pogo stick in May why would they show this so early I will never get anything done I will be watching this instead of working on my thesis WHY IS EVERYTHING SO UNFAIR AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

[Endless Sea]

*hugs*

[IslaKariese]

This episode made me sad...

[Pixelmage]

And I just realized we got absolutely zero insight into the post-TLA Fire Nation... We got to see Zuko and Iroh Man, but still... High focus on Earth Kingdom now and this is the last season of LoK...

I think I can get Korra's mindset, but it's to early to tell... Also... That kid prince... He's been on screen for nearly no time at all and I'm already wishing for knives to stab him. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE BA SING SE ROYAL FAMILY!?! >_<

[IslaKariese]

It would be interesting to know what happened between Kuei's reign and that of the recently assassinated Earth Queen. Kuei was ignorant, but kind and would've made a far better king without Long Feng's influence. The queen, however, was legitimately cruel and irreversibly convinced that her own self-importance was worth more than her citizens. Her tyranny certainly didn't hurt the Black Lotus' motives for killing her. And now her nephew is a spoiled brat that likely knows more about what hair products work best than about running a kingdom as large as Ba Sing Se.

But onto other analyses. The air glider suits seem very efficient at first but I'm not sure I like them. Sure, they look cool, but the original gliders could double as weapons and could close so that the cloth was protected. Here, one blow with a sharp object put Kai in danger of falling uncontrollably. He may not have died, as he still had some control, but the risk was still there, especially if he was alone at the time.

As for Korra, it's true that it's a bit soon to tell, but that whole scene screamed of someone trying to prove to herself that she's still able to do her job. And finding herself lacking.

[eli_gone_crazy]

(the soon-to-be-crowned king will rule over the entire earth kingdom, not just Ba Sing Se.)

And as far as fighting, I don't think the Air Nation will ever be a fighting force. They're there as humanitarian aid and to combat on a small scale. Kuvira's forces, however, are more to the speed of an army.

[IslaKariese]

(the soon-to-be-crowned king will rule over the entire earth kingdom, not just Ba Sing Se.)

And as far as fighting, I don't think the Air Nation will ever be a fighting force. They're there as humanitarian aid and to combat on a small scale. Kuvira's forces, however, are more to the speed of an army.

Yeah, I'm not all that convinced about that. Remember, Omashu had its own king, whoever that is now. The ruling family of Ba Sing Se has more power, as it's the capital of the Earth Kingdom (I think), but they probably don't have power over the whole kingdom, not like that.

And I think you're right about Air. It's very hard to put up a decent fight when you're an airbender, in my opinion. Though maybe not, since Zaheer was a force to be reckoned with and he didn't even have any training. Still, air as an element is not intimidating, nor is it powerful, which is probably why they chose to be pacifistic monks and nuns in the past. What you can do with it when you have the right mindset can send shivers up your spine, but our characters don't have that mindset, and neither will their descendants, most likely. To put up the sort of defense that Kuvira's forces do, they need bigger numbers, which just isn't possible right now.