1. Vaatu will be reincarnated in accordance with the Avatar cycle as an earth-bender. We haven't ever really seen any particularly menacing earth benders, so this may be interesting. Alternatively, since it's the "Dark Avatar" perhaps it will follow the reverse Avatar cycle, reincarnating as an Airbender.
...now that we've seen "The Beginning", I really wish people would stop assuming that this is just some natural cycle of reincarnation. Did nobody notice the order that Wan acquired the elements in? Fire, air, water, earth. His acquisition set the precedent. Assuming that the Dark Avatar could be reincarnated (dunno if the form he was in when destroyed counts as a standard Avatar State, ergo this particular Avatar fusion is kaput), he'd always reappear in the Water Tribe, as Unalaq/Vaatu didn't toss in any other element. Barring later acquisition, of course. But you likely need a lion-turtle for that, and good luck finding one of those to hand out an elemental power.
Overall, It would be nice if Nick allowed Avatar to truly explore the darker aspects of its story. The story is great because it has the opportunity to be a lot more complex and engaging than it is right now. Though, being a child's cartoon, it seems that it can never be this. That's unfortunate. I thought Amon and Tarrlok's death in book 1 meant that they were willing to walk into deeper waters though.
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
Some countries outside the US are ahead on episodes. I won't spoil anything for the rest of you, but I must say I love the story, characters, and pacing way more than the first two seasons so far.
I'm enjoying Korra a lot. I like her much more than Aang. Aang felt too much like a goody two shoes (look at Tenzin; he's a stereotypical airbender too but he has a genuine personality and flaws). Korra, in comparison, feels like a normal teenager given an awesome responsibility.
And it's good to see Mako and Bolin relegated a bit more to the side-lines.
The show has really matured (and it was pretty mature to begin with!) and come into it's own.
I feel like in Season 1 they were to focused on making it like The Last Airbender, and Season 2 they were trying to make it MORE INTENSE than TLA, but now, it's Korra's story.
Don't get me wrong: Amon is an INCREDIBLE villain. Wish we got more of him, tbh.
A huge amount of the flaws with the show are to do, for lack of a better word, Nicks ****ups.
Season 1 was a completed miniseries when they decided to order more episodes. What, no confidence in their best show since spongebob to have a sequel?
Then Season 2 can't use any of the momentum because season 1 had a bow, had its scheduale thrown around, little promotion.
Now season 3 the show is leaked, rushed out with no promotion, and then made online only and Korra Season 3 is easily the best series of episodes in the universes run outside of, maybe, the storyline from "THe Promise"
I had a bunch of fan theories about Zahere and co, but most of those were laid to rest when I was trying to figure out why there was only one episode last night so I went to the wiki to check the release dates and saw the title of the season finale and was like "oh, so thats what they are, ****"
You didn't need to go to the wiki to check yourself
Plus the twist is still possible to be maintained, modified fan theory within but still has direct mention of the spoiler from the episode title
SPOILER WARNING FOR REALS
Wrath of the Red Lotus
My theory, for awhile, was that these four didn't want to hurt or kill Korra, but to convert her to a different way of thinking. This is why they wanted to kidnap her. Part of what the backround to this is the exile from Republic City as well as the Earth Kingdom. I wanted to see Zahere as being maybe a good guy who was fighting against what he saw as an unjust world and that MIGHT still be the case. This isn't the black lotus, that would be evil, but red, so they are merely a different way of looking at the world. In many ways bad4 have been very ambiguous and I think that the constant attempt to kidnap the avatar is because they want to show her some sort of secret, some sort of abuse, some sort of BAD BAD thing that they are fighting against and that bad thing is something the rest of the world, through the white lotus, is complicit in.
In other words, I want them to be right, up to a point, and to have Korra be furious for having her guardians be not so good as we thought. The white lotus is, AFAIK, the only absolutely good group we've seen so far and its time that the Red Lotus, who I assume to be a schism, comes to light.
So, sorry man, I did tell you I wasn't happy to have spoiled it myself but I DID make it pretty clear that I didn't like finding out early so thats on you pal
I'm pretty sure that we are getting a Red Lotus reveal next episode though since its pretty clear that Aiwei is a member and, so far, every member has been highly skilled not just in their own discipline but in specialty forms of bending (lava, combustion, the water arms, and Zaheres mastery of air bendings spiritual half (remember he just kind of meditated and was able to locate korra, and now we have a metalbender who can also detect truth and, presumably, have mastery over sonic landscapes and other super finesse stuff + more)
It's very analagous to the extremely skilled benders that made up all the old grandpas that retook basingse.
Downside is that Aiwei's ominous threat clearly puts them a little farther along the villain spectrum and, more wild mass guessing, I'm pretty sure Su is a member. She was a bad kid, wandered the world, could easily have met up with them and Zaofe is an expensive city to run and they dont seem to have any way they make money PLUS she neatly got Korra out of her metal city and away from a bunch of insanely powerful benders
The best villains are the heroes of their own story.
My pet theory is that when Aang told the White Lotus to guide the new Avatar not everyone agreed on how to guide the Avatar. The Red Lotus is a split from the White Lotus with a different set of priorities and I hope its a change from "Balancing the world" to making it more about Justice. The constant attempts to kidnap korra mean that they want to show her something. Some corruption, some problem, something that the Avatar can help fix.
The earth queen is not involved and, most likely, is an example they would give of why the Avatar enforcing "balance" prevents the world from moving to a better, more just place.
In recent memory there is the 100 years war, followed by continued corruption in both the earth kingdom and water tribe. The world of Avatar is a world where the leadership has rarely, if ever, been in the peoples best interests. Part of this goes back to the series themes and I think they wanted to get back to some of the social issues raised in S1 in a new way.
Some of my random ideas are,
Since the White lotus is helping the avatar maintain balance "ie, status quo" the red lotus probably wants to upset the status quo in some way and this probably is rooted very deep and very passionately. Zuko said they'd been interrogated for over a decade, each, and none of them broke. That kind of dedication only comes from a true believer. I think the Red Lotus wants to upset the existing power structures of the world because they believe them to be unjust. Aiwei worked for the Beifong family, the de facto head of the "Metal Nation" and a family whose wealth and prosperity is tied to what they inherited, as did all the leaders.
Much like with the tech evolution we see, we also saw the evolution of social setup. I think the Red Lotus wants to upset the monarchy systems, or possibly the aristocracy 1%, and make the world a more just place. It'd be kind of amusing if this ended up being a kind of "we are all equal" thing like the equalistics talked about because red is associated with communism and "The Red Menance" is pretty close to "The Red Lotus"
They did explicitly say that the four of them tried to kidnap Korra, not kill her. This does imply more of a "I'm going to show you something" vibe. My only issue with it is the name of the final episode. That implies less than altruistic motivations, in my opinion.
although, that WOULD be awesome to see, and the moral dilemma it creates for Korra, ESPECIALLY now that she doesn't have the "wisdom of the past avatars" to guide her... Because if she did, she would be conflicted by the actions of some of them (i.e. Kyoshi, who was willing to kill a king much like the Earth Queen, and Rooku, who could have prevented the 100 years war by being more firm with Sozen.) But, the example of Zuko (while he was Fire Lord) and Avatar Aang would urge her to trust people.
Good stuff. I hope it goes that way, but not exactly, and I honestly hope that the past Avatars aren't gone for good. We need more chinstrap Aang. I also kinda want to see Toph in action again.
On a subject that we DON'T have to spoiler for, what do you think happened to Toph?
I believe the narrative, I just think that there is more to it.
I mean, where did she go? We got to see Zuko and Katara, and (most unfortunately) Sokka and (most likely) Suki are dead, So we know what happened to the Gaang except for Toph.
I would like to think that she is seeking enlightenment (maybe she is in the Spirit World, looking for Iroh or something.) I just can't see Toph "enjoying retirement" and NOT being up to something awesome.
yeah, sorry, magic... maybe ECP and I should have taken to the PM. lol.
yeah, they mentioned that she's searching for enlightenment or something to that effect.
I get that her kids didn't exactly... measure up... in her opinion, but that doesn't mean that she had a bad adulthood. Probably it's more along the lines of the pressure of motherhood and a career catching up to her. (probably started when Lin arrested Sue, and culminated in her retirement.) From what it sounds like, she had a fairly busy adulthood, what with being police chief and such.
If its in a spoiler tag its a spoiler! Especially if the spoiler is "on this other website, there is a spoiler, which isn't actually mentioned in ECP's first post!"
Caveat Clickbait? heh
For example, now the episode title has been changed from Wrath of the Red Lotus to Venom of the Red Lotus.
Walker, have you read the comics yet? They are all fantastic
From what the AV Club recapper said, to the effect of that she had already seen the next episode because it was released to review sites, that the story of Zahere and co is too big to be contained in a mere 5 more episodes and that, my idea, is that since 3 and 4 were produced concurrently, I'm pretty sure that Book 3 is Korra's "Empire Strikes Back" and we're going to see the Red Lotus either win, in some spectacular way, or convert korra and that season 4 will be predicated upon this new world order
which comic? the promise? the quest for Zuko's mom? some other comic I haven't heard of?
The "empire strikes back" ending would be pretty good... but might be too reminiscent of the end of Book 2 in TLA.
the whole "new world order " premise sounds interesting... OOH! maybe they want to make more people who can bend more than one element! (not sure if that would work, but its interesting.) sort of an army of mini-avatars.
New social order. A aof the aristocracy that currently runs everywhere but Republic City. There is a 3rd comic now thats out after those 2. They are all pretty good though
There are only so many ways to do a "The villains are currently winning" and there will be comparisons to book 2 of TLA if they do it badly, for sure, but there is a lot of room for finesse.
Just caught up on those. Fun stuff. I think we are seeing the start of the Cabbage Corporation, if I am not mistaken.
Aang severing his connection to Roku seems... weird. After all that Roku helped Aang with, it doesn't seem right that he would just... do that. It also seems kinda out of character.
yeah, you did. lol. sad part is, if we didn't know the titles of the episodes, we probably would be all like "sayeth WHAT?!? that's so evil!" and call it a good plot twist.
On that note, mental conditioning of Bolin and Mako to convince them to join up?
...now that we've seen "The Beginning", I really wish people would stop assuming that this is just some natural cycle of reincarnation. Did nobody notice the order that Wan acquired the elements in? Fire, air, water, earth. His acquisition set the precedent. Assuming that the Dark Avatar could be reincarnated (dunno if the form he was in when destroyed counts as a standard Avatar State, ergo this particular Avatar fusion is kaput), he'd always reappear in the Water Tribe, as Unalaq/Vaatu didn't toss in any other element. Barring later acquisition, of course. But you likely need a lion-turtle for that, and good luck finding one of those to hand out an elemental power.
Pun not intended?
About any "subpar" mechanics or cards: Context is king.
If I make a templating or grammar error, let me know.
The franchise MtG most resembles is Battlestar Galactica. Why? Its players exist in, at most, a dozen different models at any given point in time, with perhaps up to 3% variation, 5% if you're lucky.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0UBbzeFc74&feature=youtu.be
It looks awesome.
Control is the ultimate expression of power.
WTF?
Its like nickelodeon wants this show to have no viewers
I haven't seen the new episodes yet, but given what I've heard of them I may be losing this bet.
However, dude, go watch! Two more episodes release tomorrow!
These episodes are consistently fantastic
I'm enjoying Korra a lot. I like her much more than Aang. Aang felt too much like a goody two shoes (look at Tenzin; he's a stereotypical airbender too but he has a genuine personality and flaws). Korra, in comparison, feels like a normal teenager given an awesome responsibility.
And it's good to see Mako and Bolin relegated a bit more to the side-lines.
I feel like in Season 1 they were to focused on making it like The Last Airbender, and Season 2 they were trying to make it MORE INTENSE than TLA, but now, it's Korra's story.
Don't get me wrong: Amon is an INCREDIBLE villain. Wish we got more of him, tbh.
"normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow there."
-Vincent Van Gogh
things I hate:
1. lists.
b. inconsistencies.
V. incorrect math.
2. quotes in signatures
III: irony.
there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can make reasonable conclusions based on conjecture.
Season 1 was a completed miniseries when they decided to order more episodes. What, no confidence in their best show since spongebob to have a sequel?
Then Season 2 can't use any of the momentum because season 1 had a bow, had its scheduale thrown around, little promotion.
Now season 3 the show is leaked, rushed out with no promotion, and then made online only and Korra Season 3 is easily the best series of episodes in the universes run outside of, maybe, the storyline from "THe Promise"
Thank you, ECP, for pointing that out... Great... one of the best (potentially) twists ruined... wow...
ah, well, it should be a good run anyway.
"normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow there."
-Vincent Van Gogh
things I hate:
1. lists.
b. inconsistencies.
V. incorrect math.
2. quotes in signatures
III: irony.
there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can make reasonable conclusions based on conjecture.
Plus the twist is still possible to be maintained, modified fan theory within but still has direct mention of the spoiler from the episode title
SPOILER WARNING FOR REALS
My theory, for awhile, was that these four didn't want to hurt or kill Korra, but to convert her to a different way of thinking. This is why they wanted to kidnap her. Part of what the backround to this is the exile from Republic City as well as the Earth Kingdom. I wanted to see Zahere as being maybe a good guy who was fighting against what he saw as an unjust world and that MIGHT still be the case. This isn't the black lotus, that would be evil, but red, so they are merely a different way of looking at the world. In many ways bad4 have been very ambiguous and I think that the constant attempt to kidnap the avatar is because they want to show her some sort of secret, some sort of abuse, some sort of BAD BAD thing that they are fighting against and that bad thing is something the rest of the world, through the white lotus, is complicit in.
In other words, I want them to be right, up to a point, and to have Korra be furious for having her guardians be not so good as we thought. The white lotus is, AFAIK, the only absolutely good group we've seen so far and its time that the Red Lotus, who I assume to be a schism, comes to light.
So, sorry man, I did tell you I wasn't happy to have spoiled it myself but I DID make it pretty clear that I didn't like finding out early so thats on you pal
I'm pretty sure that we are getting a Red Lotus reveal next episode though since its pretty clear that Aiwei is a member and, so far, every member has been highly skilled not just in their own discipline but in specialty forms of bending (lava, combustion, the water arms, and Zaheres mastery of air bendings spiritual half (remember he just kind of meditated and was able to locate korra, and now we have a metalbender who can also detect truth and, presumably, have mastery over sonic landscapes and other super finesse stuff + more)
It's very analagous to the extremely skilled benders that made up all the old grandpas that retook basingse.
Downside is that Aiwei's ominous threat clearly puts them a little farther along the villain spectrum and, more wild mass guessing, I'm pretty sure Su is a member. She was a bad kid, wandered the world, could easily have met up with them and Zaofe is an expensive city to run and they dont seem to have any way they make money PLUS she neatly got Korra out of her metal city and away from a bunch of insanely powerful benders
Guess I'm a cat in this case.
"normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow there."
-Vincent Van Gogh
things I hate:
1. lists.
b. inconsistencies.
V. incorrect math.
2. quotes in signatures
III: irony.
there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can make reasonable conclusions based on conjecture.
My pet theory is that when Aang told the White Lotus to guide the new Avatar not everyone agreed on how to guide the Avatar. The Red Lotus is a split from the White Lotus with a different set of priorities and I hope its a change from "Balancing the world" to making it more about Justice. The constant attempts to kidnap korra mean that they want to show her something. Some corruption, some problem, something that the Avatar can help fix.
The earth queen is not involved and, most likely, is an example they would give of why the Avatar enforcing "balance" prevents the world from moving to a better, more just place.
In recent memory there is the 100 years war, followed by continued corruption in both the earth kingdom and water tribe. The world of Avatar is a world where the leadership has rarely, if ever, been in the peoples best interests. Part of this goes back to the series themes and I think they wanted to get back to some of the social issues raised in S1 in a new way.
Some of my random ideas are,
Since the White lotus is helping the avatar maintain balance "ie, status quo" the red lotus probably wants to upset the status quo in some way and this probably is rooted very deep and very passionately. Zuko said they'd been interrogated for over a decade, each, and none of them broke. That kind of dedication only comes from a true believer. I think the Red Lotus wants to upset the existing power structures of the world because they believe them to be unjust. Aiwei worked for the Beifong family, the de facto head of the "Metal Nation" and a family whose wealth and prosperity is tied to what they inherited, as did all the leaders.
Much like with the tech evolution we see, we also saw the evolution of social setup. I think the Red Lotus wants to upset the monarchy systems, or possibly the aristocracy 1%, and make the world a more just place. It'd be kind of amusing if this ended up being a kind of "we are all equal" thing like the equalistics talked about because red is associated with communism and "The Red Menance" is pretty close to "The Red Lotus"
Thoughts?
although, that WOULD be awesome to see, and the moral dilemma it creates for Korra, ESPECIALLY now that she doesn't have the "wisdom of the past avatars" to guide her... Because if she did, she would be conflicted by the actions of some of them (i.e. Kyoshi, who was willing to kill a king much like the Earth Queen, and Rooku, who could have prevented the 100 years war by being more firm with Sozen.) But, the example of Zuko (while he was Fire Lord) and Avatar Aang would urge her to trust people.
Good stuff. I hope it goes that way, but not exactly, and I honestly hope that the past Avatars aren't gone for good. We need more chinstrap Aang. I also kinda want to see Toph in action again.
On a subject that we DON'T have to spoiler for, what do you think happened to Toph?
"normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow there."
-Vincent Van Gogh
things I hate:
1. lists.
b. inconsistencies.
V. incorrect math.
2. quotes in signatures
III: irony.
there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can make reasonable conclusions based on conjecture.
I mean, where did she go? We got to see Zuko and Katara, and (most unfortunately) Sokka and (most likely) Suki are dead, So we know what happened to the Gaang except for Toph.
I would like to think that she is seeking enlightenment (maybe she is in the Spirit World, looking for Iroh or something.) I just can't see Toph "enjoying retirement" and NOT being up to something awesome.
"normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow there."
-Vincent Van Gogh
things I hate:
1. lists.
b. inconsistencies.
V. incorrect math.
2. quotes in signatures
III: irony.
there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can make reasonable conclusions based on conjecture.
Bleh. I shouldn't have seen the wiki page.
It's blatantly obvious that Zaheer and folks are who are being referenced in that title, and it seems pretty clear that something BIG happens.
I expect something similar to what you wrote ECP.
Oh Toph-
Didn't they mention that she's out looking for enlightment, or some sort of spiritual journey?
And given what we're told in season 3 thus far, she hasn't exactly had a great adulthood. Maybe she's out looking for inner peace or something.
I certainly like the path they took with her and her children though.
yeah, they mentioned that she's searching for enlightenment or something to that effect.
I get that her kids didn't exactly... measure up... in her opinion, but that doesn't mean that she had a bad adulthood. Probably it's more along the lines of the pressure of motherhood and a career catching up to her. (probably started when Lin arrested Sue, and culminated in her retirement.) From what it sounds like, she had a fairly busy adulthood, what with being police chief and such.
"normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow there."
-Vincent Van Gogh
things I hate:
1. lists.
b. inconsistencies.
V. incorrect math.
2. quotes in signatures
III: irony.
there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can make reasonable conclusions based on conjecture.
Caveat Clickbait? heh
Walker, have you read the comics yet? They are all fantastic
From what the AV Club recapper said, to the effect of that she had already seen the next episode because it was released to review sites, that the story of Zahere and co is too big to be contained in a mere 5 more episodes and that, my idea, is that since 3 and 4 were produced concurrently, I'm pretty sure that Book 3 is Korra's "Empire Strikes Back" and we're going to see the Red Lotus either win, in some spectacular way, or convert korra and that season 4 will be predicated upon this new world order
The "empire strikes back" ending would be pretty good... but might be too reminiscent of the end of Book 2 in TLA.
the whole "new world order " premise sounds interesting... OOH! maybe they want to make more people who can bend more than one element! (not sure if that would work, but its interesting.) sort of an army of mini-avatars.
"normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow there."
-Vincent Van Gogh
things I hate:
1. lists.
b. inconsistencies.
V. incorrect math.
2. quotes in signatures
III: irony.
there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can make reasonable conclusions based on conjecture.
There are only so many ways to do a "The villains are currently winning" and there will be comparisons to book 2 of TLA if they do it badly, for sure, but there is a lot of room for finesse.
Aang severing his connection to Roku seems... weird. After all that Roku helped Aang with, it doesn't seem right that he would just... do that. It also seems kinda out of character.
"normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow there."
-Vincent Van Gogh
things I hate:
1. lists.
b. inconsistencies.
V. incorrect math.
2. quotes in signatures
III: irony.
there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can make reasonable conclusions based on conjecture.
On that note, mental conditioning of Bolin and Mako to convince them to join up?
"normality is a paved road: it is comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow there."
-Vincent Van Gogh
things I hate:
1. lists.
b. inconsistencies.
V. incorrect math.
2. quotes in signatures
III: irony.
there are two kinds of people in the world: those who can make reasonable conclusions based on conjecture.