Hey youtubers it’s Charlie and hopefully you’ve had a chance to see the Book 3 finale.
Because it’s two episodes together I’m going to make this a top 10 video. I know
a lot of you still have big questions about Book 4 with all the changes and the show moving
to digital only. Don’t worry, they’re finishing book 4 and it will also be all digital.
No official release date yet. But plan for next summer until we hear otherwise.
I’ll explain what kind of Avatar and Korra videos I’m doing now that the season is
over. But the giveaway will still run for another week. All you have to do to enter
is be a subscriber and leave a comment.
Here we go, TOP 10 moments from the Korra finale, careful for spoilers in case you haven’t
seen it yet. I’ll wait just a sec….Here We go.
Number 10 - Korra decides to give herself up
There were a lot of Last Airbender parallels with the way the finale went down. Korra making
the hard choice to turn herself in really reminded me of Sozin’s Comet Part 2 where
Aang had run off to meditate and came to the conclusion he would have to kill Ozai which
was completely against all of his beliefs as an airbender.
Korra makes the choice with no assurance she’ll survive. I like that they made that clear.
She’s the gung-ho avatar, which is like the polar opposite of Aang who was the reluctant
Avatar. So she’s just going to leave it up to her friends to rescue her in an attempt
to bargain herself for the safety of the airbenders.
I feel like if any of you have friends who think Korra has been a selfish Avatar should
reference this as an example of Korra being very not selfish. If you’re trying to argue
with them about it.
Moving on to Number 9 - Tenzin is NOT Dead
This made me so happy. He’s such a guiding force not just for Korra herself, but for
the series in general. Losing him would be like losing your compass in the South Pole.
The only person I feel could help guide Korra and serve as a spiritual guide for the audience
would be Jinora or Zuko. Based on the way the finale presented her I would say Jinora
is definitely the future.
I’ll talk more about her as I work through the list.
Number 8 - The Doublecross
This was one of the most creative uses of Waterbending I’ve seen. Book 2 pushed it
futher than I’d ever see it go before with the water drills. But Ming Hua or Grey Delisle
if you want to think about her that way. Pushed the limits of waterbending the same way Zaheer
pushed airbending.
Aside from crazy healing powers, I don’t know what deep mythological abilities might
apply to water. We’ve already seen crazy powerful bloodbending from Amon and Avatar
Last Airbender spent a lot of time showcasing Katara’s special abilities.
I guess that’s kind of what Ming Hua has been for book 3. Like a super evil version
of Katara. We never really got to see Katara in her prime as an adult so it would be hard
to say who’s the more gifted waterbender.
And I don’t think Ming Hua would have had the spirituality necessary for unlocking secret
abilities that went beyond subbending.
But Number 7 - Team Beifong Takes Out P’Li
One of the coolest takedowns all season. Metalbending her armor around her head so the blast would
splatter her brains. Let me know if you think there has been a more violent kill so far.
The Earth Queen was like slow agony so I guess you could say she had a more gruesome death.
Which Zaheer confirmed when he pushed Korra’s father off the cliff. I was happy he said
it out loud. So we can confirm no Earth Queen in book 4.
The whole fight scene was amazing and the animation. There were a lot of specific animation
techniques I noticed that went way above and beyond so I’ll try to mention them when
I talk about each of these big moments.
Korra fighting while handcuffed as really badass too.
Number 6 - Zaheer Can Fly
This is where shit really got crazy. All of the Guru Laghima stuff made sense, it was
a literal thing. Meaning the void was more of a spiritual vacuum for emotion and earthly
attachment.
It’s a big callback to Last Airbender’s Guru Pathik who tried to get Aang to leave
earthly attachment behind. That was all about energy bending. But the chakras and Guru Laghima’s
teachings make me wonder if all bending has a certain spiritual energy connected to it.
The way the show presents bending is as being very separate. But when all the lessons start
to sound like the same lesson you start to wonder. Like everyone is tending the same
garden, some just focus on different areas of it based on their personality.
That doesn’t really take the Lion Turtles into account but let me know if you think
that Book 4 will build on all the new things we’ve learned about Bending Science.
Ooh, Bending Science, that actually sounds like a class they should teach at Republic
City University.
The Zaheer P’li moment was really bittersweet and despite him being looney tunes, I think
his emotions for her were completely genuine. He wasn’t manipulating her or anything.
Mike and Bryan just needed the scene to show that once she was dead, Zaheer no longer had
any earthly tethers. Thus, he achieved flight.
Did anyone else think he was walking on the clouds when the camera panned down and showed
him, just for a sec it seemed like he would walk away on the clouds.
His flight animation was also really amazing, I feel like they really capture the physics
of how an airbender would move through the air.
I think he was airbending himself. He wasn’t airbending the air molecules around him. That’s
just my interpretation though.
I know Jinora’s spirit projection is supposed to be the sub form of airbending but did anyone
else think that Zaheer’s weightlessness was actually what it was.
I kind of think it’s like Earthbending having two sub forms. Lava and Metal. So now Air
has two sub forms. Astral Projection and Flight.
Number 5 - Bolin Lavabends
I think we all collectively felt he would learn a subform this season. I actually thought
it would be metal bending. I would have liked it better if Ghazan had taught him how to
do it but I guess there just wasn’t enough time to give them that character arc.
There was that awesome part during Book 1 where Tenzin taught Korra about Airbending,
it was so detailed in his description of where you have to go emotionally in order to do
it. I feel like there’s still a lot about Lavabending I still don’t understand because
we haven’t gotten that ‘lesson’ episode.
It’s super rare, so I don’t see someone explaining it to him in Book 4, unless it’s
someone in the fire nation. And yes, I do think they’ll go back to the fire nation
in Book 4. Remember all the airbenders will be nomadic.
The only heartbreaking thing about Bolin’s big moment was the destruction of the Northern
Air temple. It’s like watching someone destroy a priceless piece of art. You just cringe
at the thought.
Even though the air nomads will be roaming, I still think the temple will be rebuilt eventually.
But Number 4 - Zaheer Tries To Kill Korra In the Avatar State
This was a huge callback to the Last Airbender Book 2 finale. Especially with all the green
crystals around. The outcome was essentially the same. Aang went into a coma, effectively
rendering him inert until Book 3 and Korra is severely disabled.
When they said poison I didn’t realize it was metal poison. But technically any kind
of metal in your body would poison you. So I don’t think it’s really important what
kind of poison it was.
The thing I really noticed aside from the cave which was both beautiful and terrifying
was the Dai Li agents. The Red Lotus has members inside the Dai Li. Making me wonder if The
Red Lotus guided a lot of the Earth Queen’s mistakes. Like counseled her to make decisions
that would set the Earth Kingdom on the path to destruction.
I’ll talk more about that in my book 4 predictions video.
I had thought before this all went down that part of this idea of Entering the Void might
be some sort of journey into death. Which is naturally me just overthinking things.
Who else flipped a little when they saw the animation on Korra, especially her face as
the poison started to take effect. I love the way Studio Mir pushed Korra in a more
Anime direction this year. It makes me feel like we’ll see more of the same in Book
4.
Mike and Bryan already said that another studio was helping finish book 4, but Studio Mir
is animating pretty much every episode. They’re just getting a little bump to get everything
out by next year.
Into top 3 now, Number 3 - Jinora and the Airbenders rescue Korra
One of the coolest uses of Bending all season. It reminds you that there are still a lot
of creative innovations in bending that we have not seen yet. I’m really interested
to see if we see some unusual firebending in the fire nation in book 4.
I felt like this was a big callback to Jinora rescuing Raava in the book 2 finale. Which
makes me feel like Mike and Bryan are positioning her for a spin off comic or at least presenting
her as the future of the Avatar Universe when they stop telling Korra driven stories.
Like the way Zuko became the central figure in the Search comic. I feel like there’s
potential for a Jinora story in the comics.
On to Number 2 - Korra vs Zaheer
This is Korra in auto Avatar State mode. She reminded me a lot of Aang back in Book 1 when
he first learned that the Air Nation had been massacred and he flipped out so hardcore that
he went into the avatar state and almost no one could talk him down.
Since then both Last Airbender and Korra have done a good job of explaining the postives
and negatives of being in the avatar state. It’s so powerful that your conscious mind
gets suppressed a little and you literally become a force of nature. So if you’re not
highly trained the potential for collateral damage is really high. And you become super
vulnerable. I don’t totally buy into the logic that
dying in the avatar state ends the cycle. I think it’s just a story device that keeps
the Avatar from becoming an unkillable hero. In order for there to be dramatic tension,
a writing perspective.
think about as they fought while flying after each other. I loved the twist that Korra was
using fire bending to fly like Ozai and Zaheer used airbending like Aang.
Just another twist on a classic. And then just to call it back to Aang again, when Beifong
earthbended Zaheer’s prison. It was just like the scene where Aang took Yakone’s
bending.
And my favorite moment - Jinora’s Ceremony
I will freely admit to crying a little. This was probably the best callback to Last Airbender
or at least my favorite. When Aang got his ceremony at the end of Book 1. He was accepting
his role as the Avatar and Jinora was accepting her role as the new spiritual leader of the
Air Nation.
Just to clarify, I think Tenzin was explaining that Jinora would be in charge and he would
just be counseling her. This is a huge payoff to the father daughter relationship story
they had this year. It’s him acknowledging her abilities and maturity.
I feel like this season would be a great story arc for any of you girls out there to watch
with your dad’s. Especially if you want to get your parents into Avatar.
I have a lot of thoughts about Book 4 which I’ll mostly save for my predictions video.
I’ll try and post that tonight while everything is fresh in our heads.
But let me know what your favorite moments were and let me know what your first reaction
was after finishing the episodes.
I think the first thing I did was post a picture of Aang crying. That was my immediate reaction,
lots of crying.
Overall, both finale episodes were a solid A plus, I loved the way they altered all the
characters, I thought the narrative was a lot more engaging and cohesive than previous
seasons and they continued to push the boundaries of animation on the series.
Just to talk about that a little more. Mike and Bryan did this podcast recently which
I’ll add a link in the description too. It was brilliant. But amongst many things,
they explained the way they like to run their shows. Letting animators be animators, based
on the style they want for Korra.
For example, on most Animated shows in the united states. The overseas animators are
very limited to what they can do. Like they’re not allowed to be real animators, they have
to adhere to such strict rules for drawing scenes.
But Mike and Bryan with Korra have tried to find a way to allow some creativity back into
the process. Mostly by finding animators that could pull off what they had in mind and allowing
new ideas in during the animation process.
I think that’s why the Beifong flashbacks looked so amazing, they were a totally different
animation style than normal korra episodes. And you wouldn’t see that on a typical animated
children’s show. It’s just a good example of the attention they give to the creative
process and I think it’s one of the best things about the Avatar series.
Most of the feelings I have about the series right now are optimistic. They were pretty
clear that after Book 4 they would not be animating another avatar series. They’d
be doing something, just not Avatar. It’s all in that podcast.
Speaking of which, they disseminated so much information that I’m going to do another
bonus video in the next couple of days that’s my Mike and Bryan Top 10 Moments. It’s all
cool behind the scenes stuff. They even explain what happened with the Avatar Movie from M
Night.
The most interesting thought that I’ll leave you guys with is that Mike and Bryan said
because the animation process takes so long, they’ve already wrapped up everything that
you have big questions about. Any hanging plotline or character you feel got dropped.
Like Azula for instance. They have all addressed in future Book 4 stories.
So leave book 3 knowing that all of your questions will be addressed in those episodes.
Like I said though, I’ll explain what I think is going on in my predictions video.
I’ll try to post that tonight.
I know there’s a bunch of Doctor Who stuff I’m working on too so I’ll try to get
it all out as fast as possible.
Right now click here for Book 4 predictions. I’ll add the annotation as soon as I post
it.
And click here for my next Korra Q&A. I might not be able to post that till Monday.
Thanks for watching, I’ll still be crying with you guys tonight. Let’s all go hug
our sky bison.