CurseSealofEarth
Active member
So I know some of you may not be into the Avatar or Legend of Korra, so if you aren't you need to do that now because you're missing out. But I've seen Legend of Korra trying to capture the same essence of The Last Airbender almost too much and it makes me just wonder why. So this is my Comparison.
So let's start out with our main characters: Aang and Korra.
In the first series Aang was the young prodigy bender who was frozen in ice for a hundred years while the 4 nations were at war with the Fire Nation. Now Aang was very childish and fun-loving (being physically 12), but he was also very wise and spiritual. You were able to really feel in the series that he was really struggling to accept the responsibility of being the Avatar while wanting to be a kid.
Korra on the other hand is a hot-headed and very worldly. She just cannot grasp other people's feelings and is always ready for a fight, almost never looking for a peaceful solution. This results in her almost completely unable to airbend. She is obviously the antithesis to Aang, and you can see that they are trying to illustrate that, but they almost do too good of a job. She is never as fun-loving or as humorous as Aang was, and the irony is is that Korra would have been perfect for the problem that Aang was going through with the Fire Nation, and Aang would be perfect for Korra's problem with the spirits (I haven't watched the most recent episode, so please no spoilers.)
Lets move on to the companions: Sokka and Katara for Aang, and Bolin and Mako for Korra.
Sokka was the nonbender of the siblings, and was wary of spiritual stuff because of the lack of physical stuff, naturally making him a skeptic. Sokka was the comic relief in any situation, but was also the ingenious planner. His lack of bending almost making him have the compensate for it with strategy, they did that well.
Katara was the spiritual bender and the only waterbender in the whole South pole. She was easily the moral compass of the group when it came to emotional sides or when it was "girl-stuff" I guess, always willing to lend a hand to people in need. She was the clear romantic interest and ultimately the closest friend to Aang, being his confidant and his shoulder to cry on.
Mako only seems like the Romantic interest for Korra. Like that's his only purpose. Oh and a firebender. Yea he's like the father figure and the grown up between Bolin and himself, but you never really get the feel that he means anything to the whole of the group. He's willing to follow Korra wherever and is faithful and loving but he just seems like he wants what's best for everyone else. I don't feel like he's irreplacable.
Bolin is just Sokka but an Earthbender, so the whole strategic side to him is nonexistant. Yes he's the comic relief and you can feel that. He's genuinely funny but only because that also seems like his only purpose other than being Mako's brother. You don't get the feel from either of Korra's companions that they really mean anything to the story or are really helping them in her journey.
Maybe I'm jumping the gun on this and are being overly-critical of the series, it is genuinly a great sequel series to The Last Airbender, but it doesn't have the same charm. And maybe that's a good thing.
Part 2 to this comparison to follow after I'm off work lol.
Let's talk about the main conflicts of TLA and the first season of LoK since it's obviously not finished.
Aang has been gone for 100 years since being frozen in the ice, so due to his absence the Fire Nation destroyed his people leaving him the Last Airbender (duh) and plunging the world into a war of sorts. Aang now has to master the 4 elements and defeat the Fire Nation to restore balance to the world. This ends in him having to fight the Fire Lord in a mother****ing awesome fight that I would watch easily over and over. Really Aang has to fix the world after the Fire Nation ruined everything by throwing it out of balance. And the creators handled it exceptionally well, they paced it well, balancing the "filler" episodes (which hardly felt like filler) with the story centered ones seamlessly. The each season ended with a cliffhanger that affected Aang on a deep and spiritual level.
Korra has been learning her bending in the South Pole all her life by the Order of the White Lotus. She knows nothing of the outside world except what she's been told (which seems to be jack shit) and she's overly adventurous. When her Airbending master Tenzin (Aang's youngest son) comes to the South Pole to train her, he has to go back due to trouble in Republic City (the city Aang and Zuko created). She stows away on his ship and decides to be trained there. From there she learns about the Equalist Movement (non-benders who detest the dependance on benders) and this makes the first season. The main baddie is Amon, a masked, supposed-non-bender who can take away people's bending. Throughout the season Korra has to balance her airbending training and not killing everyone because she's ****ing hot headed. I know she's the Avatar, but she has difficulty separating her personal views from her Avatar duties. She wants to protect benders but she can't alienate the non-benders that essentially hate her.
It does show a great side of the political battle of being the Avatar but trying to be a person in a rapidly advancing world. She can't seem to grasp airbending or the spiritual side of being the Avatar either. I felt they actually did that well in this, and Amon was a great mystery almost to the scale of Tobi.
The only criticism I had of it was the almost forced romance triangle between Mako, Korra, and Asumi. That and the finale of the Fate of Amon (no spoilers here, just in case.)
Part 3 to follow: A summary of the worlds.
So let's start out with our main characters: Aang and Korra.
In the first series Aang was the young prodigy bender who was frozen in ice for a hundred years while the 4 nations were at war with the Fire Nation. Now Aang was very childish and fun-loving (being physically 12), but he was also very wise and spiritual. You were able to really feel in the series that he was really struggling to accept the responsibility of being the Avatar while wanting to be a kid.
Korra on the other hand is a hot-headed and very worldly. She just cannot grasp other people's feelings and is always ready for a fight, almost never looking for a peaceful solution. This results in her almost completely unable to airbend. She is obviously the antithesis to Aang, and you can see that they are trying to illustrate that, but they almost do too good of a job. She is never as fun-loving or as humorous as Aang was, and the irony is is that Korra would have been perfect for the problem that Aang was going through with the Fire Nation, and Aang would be perfect for Korra's problem with the spirits (I haven't watched the most recent episode, so please no spoilers.)
Lets move on to the companions: Sokka and Katara for Aang, and Bolin and Mako for Korra.
Sokka was the nonbender of the siblings, and was wary of spiritual stuff because of the lack of physical stuff, naturally making him a skeptic. Sokka was the comic relief in any situation, but was also the ingenious planner. His lack of bending almost making him have the compensate for it with strategy, they did that well.
Katara was the spiritual bender and the only waterbender in the whole South pole. She was easily the moral compass of the group when it came to emotional sides or when it was "girl-stuff" I guess, always willing to lend a hand to people in need. She was the clear romantic interest and ultimately the closest friend to Aang, being his confidant and his shoulder to cry on.
Mako only seems like the Romantic interest for Korra. Like that's his only purpose. Oh and a firebender. Yea he's like the father figure and the grown up between Bolin and himself, but you never really get the feel that he means anything to the whole of the group. He's willing to follow Korra wherever and is faithful and loving but he just seems like he wants what's best for everyone else. I don't feel like he's irreplacable.
Bolin is just Sokka but an Earthbender, so the whole strategic side to him is nonexistant. Yes he's the comic relief and you can feel that. He's genuinely funny but only because that also seems like his only purpose other than being Mako's brother. You don't get the feel from either of Korra's companions that they really mean anything to the story or are really helping them in her journey.
Maybe I'm jumping the gun on this and are being overly-critical of the series, it is genuinly a great sequel series to The Last Airbender, but it doesn't have the same charm. And maybe that's a good thing.
Part 2 to this comparison to follow after I'm off work lol.
Let's talk about the main conflicts of TLA and the first season of LoK since it's obviously not finished.
Aang has been gone for 100 years since being frozen in the ice, so due to his absence the Fire Nation destroyed his people leaving him the Last Airbender (duh) and plunging the world into a war of sorts. Aang now has to master the 4 elements and defeat the Fire Nation to restore balance to the world. This ends in him having to fight the Fire Lord in a mother****ing awesome fight that I would watch easily over and over. Really Aang has to fix the world after the Fire Nation ruined everything by throwing it out of balance. And the creators handled it exceptionally well, they paced it well, balancing the "filler" episodes (which hardly felt like filler) with the story centered ones seamlessly. The each season ended with a cliffhanger that affected Aang on a deep and spiritual level.
Korra has been learning her bending in the South Pole all her life by the Order of the White Lotus. She knows nothing of the outside world except what she's been told (which seems to be jack shit) and she's overly adventurous. When her Airbending master Tenzin (Aang's youngest son) comes to the South Pole to train her, he has to go back due to trouble in Republic City (the city Aang and Zuko created). She stows away on his ship and decides to be trained there. From there she learns about the Equalist Movement (non-benders who detest the dependance on benders) and this makes the first season. The main baddie is Amon, a masked, supposed-non-bender who can take away people's bending. Throughout the season Korra has to balance her airbending training and not killing everyone because she's ****ing hot headed. I know she's the Avatar, but she has difficulty separating her personal views from her Avatar duties. She wants to protect benders but she can't alienate the non-benders that essentially hate her.
It does show a great side of the political battle of being the Avatar but trying to be a person in a rapidly advancing world. She can't seem to grasp airbending or the spiritual side of being the Avatar either. I felt they actually did that well in this, and Amon was a great mystery almost to the scale of Tobi.
The only criticism I had of it was the almost forced romance triangle between Mako, Korra, and Asumi. That and the finale of the Fate of Amon (no spoilers here, just in case.)
Part 3 to follow: A summary of the worlds.
Last edited by a moderator:
