The Legend of Korra is an American animatedtelevision series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.^[1] A sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, the series first aired on Nickelodeon in 2012.^[2] Like its predecessor, the series is set in a fictional world inspired by Asian and Inuit cultures, and inhabited by people who can manipulate the elements of water, earth, fire or air through an ability called 'bending.' One person, the 'Avatar,' has the ability to bend all four elements. Reincarnating in turn among the world's four nations, the Avatar is responsible for maintaining peace, harmony, and balance in the world. Korra, the series' protagonist, is the next incarnation of the Avatar after Aang of Avatar: The Last Airbender.^[3] Four seasons with a total of 52 episodes have aired.

• 2Episodes
• 4DVD and Blu-ray releases

Series overview[edit]

Episodes[edit]

Book One: Air (2012)[edit]

Book Two: Spirits (2013)[edit]

Book Three: Change (2014)[edit]

Book Four: Balance (2014)[edit]

Ratings[edit]

DVD and Blu-ray releases[edit]

Region 1[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Liu, Ed (April 19, 2010). 'Nickelodeon Studios Staffing Up for New Avatar the Last Airbender Project'. Toon Zone LLC. Archived from the original on April 29, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
2. ^Farley, Christopher (March 8, 2011). ''The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra: The Creators Speak'. SpeakEasy. Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
3. ^John, Christopher (2010-07-19). 'Legend of Korra: The Avatar Creators on the New Spinoff – Speakeasy – WSJ'. Blogs.wsj.com. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
4. ^ ^abKondolojy, Amanda (April 17, 2012). 'Cable Top 25: 'Pawn Stars', 'Swamp People' and 'Legend of Korra' Top Cable Viewership For Week Ending April 15, 2012'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
5. ^Kondolojy, Amanda (April 24, 2012). 'Cable Top 25: 'Pawn Stars' Again Tops Cable Viewership For Week Ending April 22, 2012'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
6. ^Bibel, Sara (May 1, 2012). 'Cable Top 25: The NFL Draft Tops Cable Viewership For Week Ending April 29, 2012'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
7. ^Bibel, Sara (May 8, 2012). 'Cable Top 25: WWE Entertainment Tops Cable Viewership For Week Ending May 6, 2012'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
8. ^Bibel, Sara (May 15, 2012). 'Cable Top 25: NBA Playoffs Top Cable Viewership For Week Ending May 13, 2012'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
9. ^Kondolojy, Amanda (May 22, 2012). 'Cable Top 25: NBA Basketball Tops Cable Viewership For Week Ending May 20, 2012'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
10. ^Kondolojy, Amanda (June 5, 2012). 'Cable Top 25: NBA Playoffs + 'Game of Thrones' Finale, MTV Movie Awards, 'Sister Wives', 'The Glades', 'Longmire' + More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
11. ^Bibel, Sara (June 12, 2012). 'Sunday Cable Ratings: 'True Blood' Wins Night, 'Mad Men', 'Longmire', 'The Client Clist', 'The Glades', 'Drop Dead Diva' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
12. ^Kondolojy, Amanda (June 19, 2012). 'Sunday Cable Ratings: 'True Blood', 'Falling Skies', 'Real Housewives of NJ', 'Keeping up with the Kardashian' + NASCAR & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
13. ^ ^abBibel, Sara (June 26, 2012). 'Sunday Cable Ratings: 'True Blood' Wins Night, 'Falling Skies', 'Real Housewives of New Jersey', 'The Newsroom', 'Army Wives' ,'The Glades' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
14. ^ ^abBibel, Sara (September 16, 2013). 'Friday Cable Ratings: 'WWE Smackdown' Wins Night, 'Legend of Korra', 'Jessie', 'What Not to Wear', 'Fast N Loud' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
15. ^Kondolojy, Amanda (September 23, 2013). 'Friday Cable Ratings: 'Friday Night SmackDown' Wins Night + 'SportsCenter', College Football, 'The Legend of Korra' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
16. ^Bibel, Sara (October 1, 2013). 'Friday Cable Ratings:'WWE Smackdown' Wins Night, 'Legend of Korra', 'Haven', College Football, 'Deadly Women' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
17. ^Yanan, Travis (October 7, 2013). 'Friday's Cable Ratings & Broadcast Finals: CBS Tops Viewers, ABC Leads Demos'. The Futon Critic. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
18. ^Bibel, Sara (14 October 2013). 'Friday Cable Ratings: Baseball Playoffs Win Night, 'WWE Smackdown', 'Legend of Korra', 'Haven', 'Jessie' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
19. ^ ^abBibel, Sara (21 October 2013). 'Friday Cable Ratings: MLB Baseball Tops Night + College Football, 'Friday Night SmackDown', 'SportsCenter' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
20. ^Kondolojy, Amanda (November 4, 2013). 'Friday Cable Ratings: 'Gold Rush' & NBA Basketball Top Night + 'Friday Night SmackDown', 'Alaska: The Last Frontier' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
21. ^Bibel, Sara (November 11, 2013). 'Friday Cable Ratings: 'Gold Rush' Wins Night, 'WWE Smackdown', 'Bering Sea Gold', 'Legend of Korra', 'Haven' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
22. ^ ^abKondolojy, Amanda (November 18, 2013). 'Friday Cable Ratings: 'Gold Rush' Wins Night + 'WWE SmackDown', 'Bering Sea Gold', NBA Basketball, 'Tanked', 'The Legend of Korra' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
23. ^ ^abBibel, Sara (November 25, 2013). 'Friday Cable Ratings: 'Gold Rush' Wins Night, 'WWE Smackdown', 'Bering Sea Gold', 'Time Machine', 'Jessie' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
24. ^ ^abcKondolojy, Amanda (30 June 2014). 'Friday Cable Ratings: 'Girl Meets World' Tops Night + 'Zapped', 'Friday Night SmackDown', 'Jessie' & More'. TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
25. ^ ^abTFC Staff (July 14, 2014). 'Friday's Cable Ratings & Broadcast Finals: '20/20,' 'Dateline' Claim Top Spots'. The Futon Critic. Retrieved July 16, 2014.
26. ^ ^ab'Friday Cable Ratings: 'WWE Smackdown' Wins Night, 'Girl Meets World', 'Diners, Drive Ins & Dives', 'Marriage Boot Camp' & More — Ratings'. TVbytheNumbers.Zap2it.com. 2014-07-21. Archived from the original on 2014-07-23. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
27. ^'Korra Season 3 Moves to Digital After Being Pulled From TV; Co-Creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino Explain Why'. Venture Capital Post. August 16, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
28. ^ ^ab'The Legend of Korra — Season One DVD Information'. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
29. ^ ^ab'The Legend of Korra — Season Two DVD Information'. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
30. ^ ^ab'The Legend of Korra Season Three DVD Information'. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
31. ^ ^ab'The Legend of Korra Season Four DVD Information'. TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
32. ^https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Korra-Complete-J-K-Simmons/dp/B01MCQLFEZ/

External links[edit]

• The Legend of Korra at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• List of The Legend of Korra episodes on IMDb

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/TheLegendOfKorra

Go To

TV Series

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Has its own page.
• Badass Decay:
  • Katara was an Action Girl in Avatar who resented being sent to the healing huts. In Korra, she never gets involved in fights and is a highly regarded healer with her combat skills never being mentioned. Some fans, especially those who watched Korra first, could not believe that the Katara in Avatar was the same person in Korra due to how different she became.
  • Toph also refuses to fight in battles because she doesn't care for it and is 'too old'; this totally goes against her previously established love for fighting and the age excuse comes off as flimsy when there have been many elderly fighters in the franchise before, most older than she is now. Zuko is several years older and continues to fight as he travels the world, and the Order of the White Lotus from the original series all continued to kick butt at very old ages — Bumi was over 112 years old.
  • To many fans, this also applies to bending, particularly in terms of lightning generation. In the original series, one had to be a master bender with considerable power and mental/emotional clarity in order to create lightning—only three benders were known to have the ability. But in LoK, it's a widespread skill that your average firebender seems to be able to do. This received some heat from the fanbase, with the general complaint being 'everyone can do it, so it's not cool anymore'.
  • The White Lotus. In the original series, they were a group of badasses who have single-handedly liberated Ba Sing Se from the Fire Nation. Now? They are reduced to a Redshirt Army whose sole purpose is to get their asses handed to them, whether it be from the Equalists or the Red Lotus.
  • The Avatar State, when compared to 'The Last Airbender.' Previous Avatars, Aang included, were shown harnessing what is implied to be the power of every past Avatar combined, able to achieve feats such as moving tectonic plates or creating fleet-destroying tsunami. Once she finally achieves the Avatar State, Korra is still regularly defeated by the likes of Kuvira, Unalaq and Zaheer, each of whom is shown to be gifted benders but not generally implied to be prodigious talents such as Toph or Azula were in their teens.
• Base-Breaking Character: Mako, during the first two seasons. He had a good number of fans, but many were soured on him by his Love Triangle plotline, feeling it wasted time and made him into an insensitive jerk. The third season mostly managed to rescue him, by ending his romance plot and focusing on his other relationships and his status a Socially Awkward Hero.
  • Korra is one of the most divisive characters: some like her due to her take on the avatar role of making humans and spirits coexist, but others dislike her due to finding her a 'hero' that acts like a massive jerk towards everyone most of the time for no good reason, along with her rudeness feels like it's swept under the rug as if nothing happened afterwards. Another salty point was her hero's journey, some found it fine and others felt that she simply developed her powers as the plot demanded it.
• Contested Sequel: Ignoring the rushed production schedules that plagued the entire series, which caused technical issues that its parent show never had to deal with, the storytelling of The Legend of Korra is regularly a topic for debate among Avatar fans. The show had a good first season (depending on who you ask), but suffered from a second season that even many who love the show dislike. Korra is considered to finally have come into its own during the third season, with the second half of the series being unanimously considered better than the first half. But thanks to said first half, after the show ended, the fanbase was divided mostly in two: those who consider it a worthy-but-flawed successor equal to its predecessor, and an equally-sized group that believes any redeeming qualities the latter half of the show had doesn't make up for earlier failings such as the Romantic Plot Tumor (or that the writing was just inferior overall). And as always, there exists a substantial subset of fans who believe The Legend of Korra to be the superior cartoon, with even the divisive first two seasons seen as fantastic in their own right.
• Critical Dissonance:
  • Books 1 and 2 have been a critical darling among professional reviewers, but there's been no shortage of fan criticism, especially towards the latter. Season 1 was mainly criticized for pacing issues, whereas Season 2 caught flack for frustrating story/characterization choices being particular points of contention, as well as seemingly Retconning the Avatar's backstory.
  • That being said, Books 3 and 4 were almost universally well received by fans and critics.
• Crossover Ship: Korra being paired with Naruto is extremely popular thanks to the dislike of Mako or Bolin as Korra's Love Interest, and Naruto fans' dislike of the Love Triangle from its early chapters.
• Designated Hero: The spirits. Book 2 goes in-depth on the history of the world and reveals that humanity was once confined to living in cities on the backs of lion-turtles, and the spirits viciously hated them and would try to kill them if they left (and could possess their bodies and horribly mutate them). The spirits, including Raava, all talk about how Humans Are Bastards and are selfish and violent, and show no regard for their wellbeing even if humans haven't directly done anything to them. Then in Book 4, when Korra asks the spirits to help her defend Republic City from Kuvira, they flat out refuse and don't care what happens to the city or the people living there. Characters constantly talking about how humanity needs to learn to respect the spirits and live in harmony with them, but no one ever brings attention to the problem that the spirits are the ones practicing Fantastic Racism towards humans even without Vaatu influencing them.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception: Like its predecessor, you would do well to not call this show an anime.
• Fandom Rivalry: A small but enduring conflict with fans of James Cameron's Avatar, which is resented for monopolizing the word at the expense of The Legend of Korra's U.S. title.
• Fanon Discontinuity:
  • Announcing the series and the start of the series have had a very mixed reception. Many see it as a faithful follow-up to the original series but some others do not. Fans take issue with either certain elements (the Steampunk/Gangster Land setting rather than Medieval Stasis being most prevalent), the somewhat rapid establishment and changing of the Love Triangle between first Mako/Korra/Bolin then Korra/Mako/Asami, and the characters being less compelling overall (in Books 1 and 2).
  • Although 'Beginnings' is considered one of the series highlights, no small number of fans hate how it seemingly contradicts the lore established in ATLA and ignore it for that reason.
  • There are more than a few fans who disregard the reveal of Amon's true identity, and his true motivations, preferring the character as he was before said reveal.
  • Other fans dislike Aang's supposed neglect of Kya and Bumi to teach Tenzin more about the Air Nomads, feeling that it clashed with his established personality too much.
• Friendly Fandoms: With Naruto. The fact that both series ended the same year plays a big role as well.
• Girl-Show Ghetto: Much attention was paid to averting this, with a creator interview noting that while Nickelodeon execs were gun shy at the prospect of Korra as a lead, a test-audience of boys 'thought she was awesome.'
• Growing the Beard: The first two books are rather polarizing. Books 3 and 4 had a much clearer idea of what they wanted to do, which greatly helped out overall.
• Internet Backdraft:
  • Go to any forum or comment thread and make this observation: 'Character A/Character B is the new Zutara!' It doesn't even matter which two characters you use, an argument will inevitably follow. The ships that tended to get this treatment the most were Mako/Korra, Tahno/Korra, and Korra/Asami.
  • Who was the better Avatar, Aang or Korra?
• Memetic Mutation: See the subpage.
• Minority Show Ghetto: Like its predecessor, easily averts this, proving extremely popular.
• Narm: One inherited from the first series — the term 'Bender' gets thrown around a lot in this franchise, and if you are familiar at all with British slang, then it becomes very narmful. It's a derogatory British term for gay men. Which is also the reason why Avatar: The Last Airbender was renamed Avatar: The Legend of Aang in the UK. Becomes a bit funny given the season four ending. As an added plus, the Book 1 features a lot of Equalists decrying the Benders, often in a manner that looks like they're all homophobic.
• 'Seinfeld' Is Unfunny: While still a very celebrated pairing, Korrasami has tended to be looked down on a bit for not officially happening until the very final moments of the series and even then being subtle enough that Word of God was required to make it clear, especially in the wake of shows like Steven Universe that feature far more explicit homosexual content. Except that at the time it happened, the very idea of a western animated show at least nominally intended for children containing any kind of homosexual romance was completely unheard of, and even what little we got here was considered a game changer in what could be allowed in entertainment just as big as anything All in the Family or Maude did. The reason later cartoons have been able to do so much more with it is that Korra opened the door. However, Steven Universe is not one of them as Rebecca Sugar got the green light before the Korra finale and people have credited this to Cartoon Network being more lenient than Nickelodeon (Korra was also pulled off the air and put online for streaming due to low viewership).
• Self-Fanservice: While the show does emphasize the fact that Korra's very muscular a lot fans seem to be under the impression that she's has a bodybuilder physique. So much in fact that the artist on The Legend of Korra: Turf Warsfelt the need to make a post addressing complaints that she wasn't Korra muscular enough despite giving her the exact same physique she had in the show.
  • Ironically, for a canonically busty character, Korra is frequently drawn both flatter and shorter to play up the contrast with Asami as a Butch/Femme dynamic.
  • During the summer of 2015 when the first preview pic of the comic was announced, 'MuscleSami' was a random fad where the normally-willowy Asami was drawn as a giant female bodybuilder dressed in her swimsuit from 'The Aftermath' big enough to carry an also bodybuilder-style Korra in her arms like a baby.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • When the series was initially announced, some were upset that it featured a Time Skip, and thus wasn't an immediate continuation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
  • A number of people weren't happy that bending was taking influence from mixed MMA styles, complaining that it involved a lot of punches and kicks, although this complaint died down as the series progressed and the bending became less generic-looking.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • A lot of fans were upset that the White Lotus hasn't been fleshed out enough, especially since it has a very important role in promoting peace.
  • Aang and the other past Avatars. Given that a major aspect of being the Avatar is the ability to communicate with your past lives, a lot of people were hoping for Korra to speak with Aang's spirit to get more insight on the time period between the two shows and what happened to Aang and his friends. However, Aang and his past lives show up for one single scene at the end of Book One, and Book Two ends with Korra's connection to all of them being severed, making it impossible for any of them to ever show up again.
  • In a sense, Mako. The writers focused on shipping over character to the extent he has no consistent personality in Book 1 with the following seasons being more about the breakdown of said romances and rehab by playing Straight Man to Wise Guys like Bolin and Wu. Actual motivations outside of romance would've done wonders.
  • Asami Sato as it would've made more thematic sense to play off of Korra as a Deuteragonist instead of constantly being overshadowed by Mako, Bolin and Varrick. There's literally not one season where her personality, skills, and/or perspective wouldn't pair nicely with Korra's.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Mako remains one of the most divisive characters in the series because of this. He spends the first season in a Love Triangle between himself, Korra, and Asami, and while things often don't work out for him, fans often wonder if his rather stupid behavior toward one or the other is the reason for it. His problems being seen as his own fault and the way the Love Triangle was poorly received in general made him this. This is eventually lampshaded in Season 4.
  Mako: Well, me and Asami were never officially back together.
  Tu: Really? That again? Ya' know, it seems like you're so afraid to disappoint anyone, that you end up disappointing everyone.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: This is a very violent series: Murder-Suicide, ripping a spirit out of someone's eyes and throat, mercury poisoning, graphic suffocation, someone's head exploding, fatal electrocution, child abuse, allegorical rape, terrorism, social inequality, anarchy, revolution, political assassination, totalitarianism and depression! The show really stretches it's TV-Y7 rating.
• Win Back the Crowd: The Legend of Korra is this for Nickelodeon itself as the network drew criticism after The Last Airbender ended and there were barely any other cartoons that were as good. Then Korra came along, and brought back many of the fans that had lost faith in the channel.

• Abandon Shipping: Often with a rapid turnaround time.
  • When a promotional poster distributed at ComicCon 2011 featured Korra with an Earthbender boy and a Firebender boy, Ho Yay Shipping began immediately. Later, during the panel for the show, it was revealed that the boys were siblings, and everyone not into Incest Yay Shipping jumped ship.
  • When all that was known about Meelo was that there was a character with his name, people thought he might be Korra's Love Interest. When he turned out to be a toddler, that thought died out completely.
  • Tenzin and Korra. They were the first two named characters and were paired up almost immediately in a Mentor Ship, until it was found out that Tenzin was a married man in his fifties with three kids. Not to mention Korra is the reincarnation of his father, adding a Parental Incest vibe to the pairing.
  • This happened over the course to Mako and Asami. Though ironically it was because of the fandom's ever growing distaste for Mako.
  • And Amon/Tarrlok had a brief bit of Foe Yay popularity before the reveal that they're brothers meaning that anyone who didn't like shipping brother/brother incest jumped ship (again).
• Anticlimax Boss: Just as the conflict between Korra and Tarrlok breaks out into actual conflict to the point where Tarrlok crosses the Moral Event Horizon, proves to be a bloodbender with superior skill to Korra, then attacks and kidnaps her, he is captured and de-bended by Amon. This event turns out to be foreshadowing as Amon appears barely affected by Tarrlok's bloodbending. As it turns out, they've done this before.

• Arc Fatigue: General consensus among fans is that dedicating so much time to side-story narratives - more specifically, probending and the Korra/Mako/Asami Love Triangle - was not productive towards time management; in a 12-episode series, more time should have been spared for the main Story Arc, especially given how complex it really was, and the fact that the writers botched the Love Triangle in particular didn't help matters (the opinion being that trying to have a self-contained romance arc in such a short time, even if they weren't sure about future seasons, was not a good idea). The irony is the Bryke were claiming that the tighter pacing helped matters as opposed to a 20-episode season, something which a large contingent of the fanbasewould beg to differ about...
• Ass Pull:
  • In the first season finale, Korra learning energybending from Aang. While the series had been hinting at her making contact with Aang for some time, as well as showing Aang using the Avatar State to nullify the very blood-bending techniques seen by Amon, passing it onto her at the last minute with little explanation tends to ruffle a lot of feathers. Also something base breaking, as a significant portion of the audience didn't have an issue with it.
  • Korra finally picking up airbending can be viewed as one. Despite learning techniques for the entire season, and the philosophies of using the least confrontational route to a conclusion (which were very important to Aang's comprehension of each style - he couldn't even earthbend until he learned to stand his ground), Korra airbends during a Violently Protective Girlfriend moment using a technique that implied she was still trying to access her firebending rather than airbending, showing no real change in character barring panic. We knew she'd learn eventually, but the timing made it seem very forced on the writers' part. It didn't help that, in spite of Aang's speech, she showed little growth at the beginning of the next season.
• Badass Decay: The Lieutenant. In almost all of his appearances after his first episode, he has been the victim of many Epic Fails.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Mako, independent of the love triangle arc. Fans tend to either love him and his development as a character, or hate him and the plotlines surrounding him. There is no middle ground.
  • Bolin has also gotten some of this. People don't exactly dislike him, but are frustrated that he never gets to be anything but comic relief, even when the situation would naturally call for a dramatic tone (like his catching Mako and Korra kissing after going on a date with her). This was largely fixed in subsequent seasons.
• Broken Base:
  • The Book One finale split the fanbase in half, between those who loved it and can't wait for Book Two and those who were severely disappointed enough to not want to see Book Two. As the previous series had a series finale with much the same reaction, it would seem to be a series tradition.
  • The Love Triangle story arc. By extension, Asami turned into a Base-Breaking Character as she was the initial complication to a Mako and Korra hookup, though this calmed down as the series progressed and it became far more clear that Asami wasn't going to turn out to be a villain for no reason. This led to Mako getting the brunt of hate due to his feelings for Korra while still in a relationship with Asami. For some, the said relationship did not appear to be resolved by the end of the first season, though he and Korra still confessed to each other and kissed as the happy ending. Which only made the Mako/Korra flame wars even hotter.
  • Whether/how much the Equalists' terrorism was justifiable.
  • The return of Spirit Bending, taught to Korra in the last five minutes of the last episode. Some think it's a logical progression, others think it's an Ass Pull.
  • There's a pretty even split between people who liked the twist to Amon's identity, and people who think it would have been better if he'd just been exactly who he claimed to be.
• Cargo Ship:
  • Mako/his scarf or Mako/money. And now Mako/Fashion.
  • Sparkly Sparkly Bush Man (Gommu)/his beauteous bush.

• Crack Pairing:
  • Korra/Yue the Moon Spirit with a separation of 70 years and a metaphysical plane proving no obstacle to the pairing's Memetic Mutation on deviantArt.
  • There's Howrra: Korra x Howl (Hot Order of the White Lotus Guard). Said guard gets about two seconds of screen time, but the ship still has a pretty devoted following.
  • A growing number of fans ship Jinora having a one-sided Precocious Crush on Mako or Bolin.
  • Jinora and Skoochy are this as well as a Toy Ship.
  • Dokorra (Korra x The Doorman from 'The Revelation') is notable for having been started by Bill Rinaldi, the show's production/martial arts coordinator and the inspiration for the Doorman's design.
  • On LiveJournal and subsequently Dreamwidth, Yakone's wife and Bumi are a Crack Pairing due to some role players on the sites. It's partially sympathy for her awful canon relationship, partially fans wanting more Bumi in everything.
• Crazy Awesome: Bumi gets one line of dialogue and has already cemented himself as this.

• Creepy Awesome: Amon, Tarrlok, and Yakone.
• Critical Dissonance: Season 1 is praised by critics for its dark tone towards inequality between benders and non-benders, Korra being an assertive and fight-ready young woman to contrast Aang, and Amon in particular. Fan reception is more mixed, with fans arguing on whether or not the conflict was rushed due to the small timetable of only 12 episodes, Korra being a Jerk Jock or a naive Jerk with a Heart of Gold, The Reveal of Amon being a bloodbender as either a good twist that adds to his character or a Shocking Swerve that destroyed the mysticism he otherwise had, whether or not the universally-reviled Love Trianglesub-plot ended up taking too much time away from the main conflict, and most importantly whether or not the season managed to live up to the standards of the final season of The Last Airbender.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Right after Bolin loses his noodles in 'The Spirit of Competition', Shiro Shinobi announces an advertisement for noodles.
• Die for Our Ship:
  • Poor Asami initially got hate for getting in the way of Makorra, although as mentioned below it soon reversed itself to the point that the opposite is far more common nowadays.
  • Pema's gotten some heat because, apparently, one is a 'homewrecking whore' for being married to and having children with a person who used to date another character in the past, in the backstory. Some fans have even accused her of performing some sort of massive moral wrong for confessing her feelings even though this, and changing relationships, happens in real life frequently. This actually started for a few people with blaming her for Korra forcing a kiss on Mako, even though this was Korra's own misinterpretation of her advice, badly worded or not, and still ultimately Korra's own responsibility.
  • Perhaps the biggest recipient, though, is Mako for folks who ship Korra with, well, anyone else. Given the psychotic shipping wars surrounding the series, the main character's primary (and victorious) Love Interest was never going to have a fun time of it, but after his insensitivity regarding the horribly messy Love Triangle between him, Korra, and Asami, he became Shipfic Enemy No.1.
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • While Tahno eventually became sympathetic, the fandom already got him a pair of leather pants when he was at his Jerkass prime. And then there's Amon. When the fandom isn't Rooting for the Empire, they're swooning over him for otherreasons.
  • The fact that Amon/Noatak had a horrible childhood does not excuse how he and by extension, Tarrlok treated others. The fandom promptly forgot horrible stuff like the attack on the whole Republic City, his depowering of Lin (that looked like an execution), him being willing to de-bend children who had done nothing wrong, and Tarrlok imposing indefinite detention upon the city's non-benders, among others, to swoon and/or cry all over them. Because Amon being beautiful all along and having a (admittedly real bad) backstory excuses his actions. And Tarrlok's heroic sacrifice does help alleviate things, but it doesn't erase it all either.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Shiro Shinobi, the Pro-Bending announcer, for his hilariously hammy delivery and his short display of true reporting dedication in episode 6.
  • Jinora for being a straight up Badass Bookworm in the later episodes. She's even set to become a Breakout Character in Book Two.
  • Meelo and to a lesser extent Ikki are considered the funniest characters in the show by their fans.
  • Bumi got about two seconds of screen time in the Book One finale, which he spent screaming like a madman. He's already extremely popular.
  • Hey, General Iroh, here.
  • Tarrlok as well, especially after his Dark and Troubled Past is revealed in the Book One finale.
  • Tahno, much like Azula, was well-received by the fanbase despite taking plenty of cheap shots. The fact that he's a pretty boy with a surprisingly deep, sexy voice helped when it came to the fangirls (and probably more than a few fanboys).
  • The Lieutenant gets a lot of love, surprisingly.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • Plenty, mainly concerning how Aang ultimately bit the dust and whether any other members of the old cast might still be alive.
  • Another example: who the hell is Lin's father? This was later answered but it left a whole 'nother can of worms opened when it turned out she had a half-sister with a different father.
  • Amon is an Epileptic Woodsman. No other character in the entire Avatar canon has incited so much theorizing. His entry on the series' WMG page has probably the most compelling AND outlandish theories on the series so far.
  • Asami's connection to the Equalists has been debated from the moment she showed, due to being a Spoiled Sweet rich girl who looks like Lust and gets in the way of Makorra.
• Evil Is Cool: Amon. He's voiced by Steve Blum, makes dark threats, has a scary mask, and doesn't even bat an eye when a bunch of flames come flying into the zeppelin that he and his mooks are using to escape in 'And The Winner Is...'◊. He's also achieved true Magnificent Bastard status in a stunningly short time. Only six episodes, and he's only had a major part in three of them. On top of that, he de-bended Tarrlok, proving that only Amon could be the big bad around here, and Amon proved to be resistant to Tarrlok's Bloodbending. He certainly is the solution.
• Evil Is Sexy:
  • Amon, if you just go by his voice. Possibly even more so after he's unmasked as Noatak.
  • Tarrlok counts as well, as he also has a nice voice.
  • The Lieutenant, after seeing him unmasked. Tall, Dark, and Handsomeand on top of that,he also has a sexy voice, being voiced by Lance Henriksen.
• Fanon:
  • Tahno's descended from the Swamp Tribes.
  • The Lieutenant's name is actually Lieu/Liu Tenent/Lu Ten Nant/etc.
• Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • Mako/Korra was this in regards to Mako/Asami, but when Mako/Korra actually became canon, Bolin/Korra had a huge rise in Fan-Preferred Couple status, mainly due to Mako's Base Breaking actions.
  • Tahno/Korra became this after Tahno asked Korra if she wanted some 'private lessons'.
  • Iroh/Bolin quickly became a huge pairing, especially for those who felt that Bolin got snubbed in the romance department. The most popular Iroh/Bolin blog on Tumblr gained over 700 followers a mere three weeks after the Book One finale. It quickly became the series' most popular Ho Yay Pairing, perhaps next to Amon/Lieutenant.
  • Similarly, fans who are fond of Lady and Knight-like pairings tend to ship General Iroh/Asami.
  • Tenzin/Lin Bei Fong (who actually were a couple prior to the show's events) get some of this as well, just not as much as the others.
• Foe Yay:
  • For a man who supposedly hates the Avatar, Amon certainly has a lot of interesting interactions with her. During their first mutual meeting, he caresses Korra's face and leans in reaaaallll close, speaking to her in a low, seductive voice. He later performs a Villainous Rescue, saving her from Tarrlok, and as she runs there's a long slow-mo shot of their eyes meeting. He also seems to consider her a Worthy Opponent, warning his men not to underestimate her and setting out to capture her himself. Finally, in the Season Finale, after being unmasked, he throws one last look at Korra of debatable meaning before fleeing.
  • Tarrlok frequently pesters Korra to join his organization, even sending her very expensive gifts over and over 'until you give in', and compliments her appearance at a dance. Then he kidnaps her, and while there is a legitimate reason given, there are certainly manyotherimplications. In episode 9 he makes a comment about how Korra ruined his plans and how now he's going to start a new life with Korra as his hostage.
  • You could also make a case for Mako and Tahno having some of this because of that sexy wink Mako sends Tahno during their Pro-Bending match. And whether it was intentional or not, the only other person who had gotten the sexy wink from Mako before Tahno was Mako's girlfriend Asami.
• 'Funny Aneurysm' Moment:
  • Hiroshi Sato saying to Mako: 'So, I understand you're dirt poor.' The Brutal Honesty is played for laughs at first, but 'The Aftermath' reveals that Sato actually does hate Mako, and not for his social status. It's especially harsh considering that Mako is a Firebender, and Sato lost his wife to a Firebender.
  • When Bolin at first thought that Tarrlok was a possible suitor for Korra, this moment was played for laughs when he at first offered to protect Korra but then went 'oh, I like that better!' after realizing that Tarrlok was just an adult trying to get Korra on his task force. The rape-y overtones of Tarrlok bloodbending Korra, though, indicate that perhaps Bolin really did need to teach him a lesson.
  • One of the many puns with Amon's name made is 'Amon a boat'. Now look at his fate.
  • The 'Laughing Spongebob' meme isn't so funny anymore after Nickelodeon's treatment of the show in seasons 3 and 4 in favor of other shows that included Spongebob Squarepants.
• Genius Bonus:
  • In The Revelation, when Amon removes the bending of the members of the Triads, he does it differently than Aang did, first touching the back of the neck and then the forehead. What's one of the chakras on the back of the neck called? The amon.
  • Korra's odd-looking method of swimming underwater? It's the fastest and most energy-efficient method of underwater propulsion possible for a human.
  • Hiroshi Sato was based on Henry Ford, head of the Ford Automobile Manufacturing Company. Another fun fact about Ford was that he was rumored to have supported the Nazis. Take this into account with Hiroshi's character.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Ikki's Death Glare at Tarrlok after noting his weirdness takes new light after Episode 8 when Tarrlok goes into outright villainy.
  • There were (and are) fans who believe Asami is associated with the Equalists. Then in Episode 8, Tarrlok tragically exploits her Non-Bender status (and her father's Equalist status) to accuse and arrest her.
  • In Episode 1 Lin wanted Korra out of Republic City for her destructive behavior. Then it actually happens in Episode 8.
  • Due to Episodes 8 and 9, many saw Tarrlok as worse than Amon and cheered for Amon to Kick the Son of a Bitch and take Tarrlok's bending away. Then in Episode 11 we learn that the two are brothers, and that Amon/Noatok is probably the worse of the two.
  • 'And the Winner Is...' premiered in Canada on Saturday, July 21, the day after the Colorado Batman shootings. Watching a place of public entertainment for the masses getting assaulted, hearing people screaming in terror, becomes much more jarring than it simply happening on a Saturday morning cartoon in light of what just happened. It also feels uncomfortable to watch just after the April 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
  • Remember back in 'The Spirit of Competition', the love story that Jinora told Korra about ended with the main character committing suicide by jumping into a volcano. Now look at 'Endgame', Korra is looking out at the edge of a tundra, dangerously close to jumping and committing suicide. Granted, she doesn't go through with it, but still.
  • Amon's rhetoric contains some homophobe religious rhetoric analogues. In Turf Wars we get actual examples of in-universe homophobia, though it makes this a massive case of a missing opportunity since the Equalists are entirely gone by then.
• He's Just Hiding!: Despite being clearly shown to be in the middle of a large explosion, some fans are still convinced Amon and Tarrlok managed to survive. Word of God confirmed the death at a Comic-con panel held the same day as the finale.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The idea of anti-bending revolutionaries with robots had been used before in a much-maligned tie-in video game for the original series.
  • How I Became Yours was ridiculed, among many other things, for depicting bloodbending without the Full Moon. Fast-forward to this series, and the ability of certain people to bloodbend without a Full Moon is a major plot point. The Answer? Yakone and his sons, Tarrlok and Amon, can. Ironically, the fact that this is supposed to be impossible is critical to the story as well, since Yakone was getting away with his criminal enterprise using his powers because nobody believed in his ability. He was caught because Sokka pointed out that he'd met several people in his travels who could break bending rules.
  • Not to mention that, in the end, the Firebender ended up choosing the Waterbender over his Badass Normal love interest (who rebels against the villains near the end).
  • In 'Welcome to Republic City' Chief Beifong's 'Eye Am Watching You gesture' is already funny. But instead of using her index finger and middle finger as most people do, she makes the gesture with her index finger and pinkie finger extended, and her middle fingers pressed against her palm - they same hand position Spider-Man uses to activate his web-shooters. Guess whose line-swinging acrobatics Lin goes on to emulate in 'And The Winner Is...'?
  • The popular fan idea that the family-killing firebender is actually a waterbender named A. Firebender. Now think about the reveals in the Book One finale.
  • Another fan idea was that Bolin would learn metalbending and become a cop. Mako is a cop in Book 2, and Bolin joins him in Turf Wars. Bolin never did learn metalbending - he picked up lavabending instead in Book 3
  • All the 'Korra is Batman' jokes became a bit funnier when The Dark Knight Rises came out and the obvious similarities with the plot of Korra season 1 became apparent.
  • A really minor one. In 'And The Winner Is', the sponsor on the radio says that they were provided by Cabbage Corp and called them 'The most trusted technological company in Republic City'. Once the next episode rolls around on Sato's true alignment and the statement is true.
  • When Tarrlok demonstrates bloodbending to Amon in 'Out of the Past', he says he's 'never faced bending like mine'. Well, he has; in fact, he is one of those benders!
  • Back when nothing of this show was known outside of the single piece of promotion it was given, people on this very site speculated that the series was going to go back to the time of spirit-bending and feature the first Avatar. While not exactly correct on the spirit-bending part, it was revealed in San Diego Comic-con 2013 that Book 2: Spirits will feature a secondary story following a young man named Wan, the first Avatar, whose goal is to reconcile the world of the living and the world of the spirits.
  • Mako's various screw ups with Korra and Asami take on a whole new light when in Book 4, the two girls generated enough Les Yay to power Republic City, and the show's final couple minutes make it abundantly clear that the only reason they're not explicitly stated to be lovers is the network's content restrictions.
• 'Holy Shit!' Quotient: Practically every episode since Episode 6. Episode 6 ended with a terrorist attack, Episode 7 ended with the reveal of the platinum Mini-Mecha and the outing of Hiroshi Sato as an Equalist, Episode 8 ended with the reveal of bloodbending still in the series, and Tarrlok being able to bloodbend; Episode 9 ended with Tarrlok getting his bloodbending removed, but Episode 10 really takes the cake. It involved Equalists attacking the city, attacking Air Temple Island, Lin Beifong getting her bending removed after saving Tenzin's family and taking down an airship by herself, and just when you thought it couldn't get any better, General Iroh II shows up at the end of the episode. Just how much better could it get? The finale will probably be phenomenal. It was. Tarrlok's murder-suicide was the icing on the cake.
• Incest Yay Shipping:
  • The SDCC revelation that Mako and Bolin were siblings did not dissuade some fans from shipping them.
  • After the finale, Tarrlok and Noatak started getting shipped as well.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: The first season only lasted 12 episodes, with an 8 episode difference from the original series, the worst part is that said season had a one-hour Series Faux Nale.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Tahno. He just looks so sad and hopeless in episode seven after his bending was taken away in episode six and that there is nothing anyone can do about it. It almost makes up for his douchey behavior from before.
  • Tarrlok is now one too. Beneath his exterior of a manipulative jerk, he was broken as the result of an abusive childhood, forced to bloodbend even though he didn't like inflicting pain on the animals who were on the receiving end, and witnessed his brother's start of darkness. He used to be a sweet kid.
  • Amon, when you learn his start of darkness from his childhood when he went by his original name Noatak.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
  • Korra has been shipped with Mako, Bolin, Amon, Asami, Lin Beifong, Tarrlok, that one Order of the White Lotus guard at the beginning who only had ten seconds of screentime, and the Moon.
  • General Iroh II as well both literally and in the romantic sense.
  • Lin Beifong has been shipped with Tenzin, Saikhan, Pema, Tarrlok, Asami, Korra, Bolin, Mako, Bumi, and Kya. Even when we knew little about Bumi, and Kya hadn't even appeared yet.
  • Asami has been shipped with practically everyone.
• Like You Would Really Do It:
  • Lin Beifong is depowered by Amon. That's practically screaming for a reset button of some kind. Similarly, Amon doing the same to Korra in the Book One finale. Both are fixed by the end of Book One.
  • Amon catches and threatens to de-bend Tenzin and his kids. Because the airbenders are the last of their kind and because the airbending kids are, well, kids, it would have been more surprising if it actually happened.
• Love to Hate: Amon due to his mysteriousness, awesome voice, and him being a total badass and Magnificent Bastard.
• Magnificent Bastard: Amon, master of the equalists, is one of the most skilled Benders and fighters in history. Born a Water Bender named Noatak, he later comes to see Bending as the root of evil, and adopts a mask with the name Amon. Swaying countless followers to his 'Equalists', Amon defeats avatar Korra, but spares her to prevent her from being a martyr, while initiating a series of gambits to depower Benders in public for maximum efficiency while also orchestrating a take over of Republic City. When Korra confronts him with his falsified backstory, Amon reveals he has ever used makeup to make himself appear hideously scarred in preparation for such an event. Hellbent on eradicating Bending and able to inspire countless non-benders to his side by sheer force of will, Amon showed himself as one of Korra's most dangerous and brilliant enemies.
• Memetic Badass:
  • Korra. And you've gotta deal with it.
  • Shiro Shinobi has garnered this title by standing his ground during an Equalist attack, continuing to report what's going on in the exact same tone. He also used to report on bending criminals.
  • Lin Beifong. Like mother, like daughter. She was a fan favorite from the start. What really sealed the deal was when Amon attacked the stadium and, well, awesomeness ensued. Her heroic sacrifice has only further fueled this and ironically has also fueled her mother's memetic badassery.
  • Amon. Way before the series began airing, he was already considered awesome, and the fact that he's shrugged off such major issues as lightning, explosions, and even bloodbending powerful enough to cripple the Avatar just shows how much balls he has.
  • Naga has proven herself to be the most capable Team Pet ever, frequently coming to the hero's rescue even when initially shoo'd away.
  • Iroh II, who because of his ability to partially fly with firebending has been called 'Iroh Man' by the fanbase.
• Memetic Bystander:
  • Howl (Hot Order of the White Lotus guard) has had mere seconds of screen time and no lines, yet has gained quite the fan base. He's even been shipped with Korra.
  • 'Mako's Only Fan,' the man who tries to say hi to Mako in Episode 5 and gets ignored. 'Hey, Makooo....'
• Memetic Molester:
  • Amon. The events of 'The Revelation' and 'The Voice in the Night' have only emphasized the point.
  • Tarrlok is getting pretty popular too, what with the events at the end of 'When Extremes Meet'. Appropriate considering they're brothers.
• Mentor Ship: As the first named characters, Korra and Tenzin were paired sight unseen. Though piecemeal revelations about Tenzin's age and family life caused many to abandon the pairing, it still has it fans.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • The crime lord of the Republic City, Yakone crosses this when he bloodbends the entire courtroom. If it's not the act itself, it's the sadistic glee he takes in it. And if he hadn't crossed it then, well, he definitely skipped across it in the flashback that came with the finale showing how he turned his own sons into his personal bloodbending instruments of revenge and power, and even had them bloodbend each other as a part of that training.
  • Amon and the Equalists launch a full scale assault on Republic City, capturing the entire council save Tenzin, bombing the streets, gassing Police HQ, trying to wipe out the only airbenders left, and ending with Amon depowering Lin Beifong.
  • Amon definitely crossed it in the finale if he hadn't already done so. The last element of his humanity goes out the window when we find out he had no qualms about debending his own brother to further his plans. And then he attempts to debend Tenzin's children. And then he tosses the Lieutenant, his most loyal follower, aside with no remorse when the Lieutenant finds out Amon's a bender.
  • Hiroshi Sato goes flying over the MEH when he abandons the only family connection that still made him somewhat sympathetic and tries to kill his own daughter, reasoning that 'she can't be saved' because of her sympathy for benders. This, combined with joining the Equalists to eradicate bending after the death of his wife, and any atrocities he contributed to because of his weaponry, he nullifies the only Freudian Excuse he had going for him.
• Narm:
  • People's loved ones getting killed by firebenders in their backstories. The first time (Mako and Bolin's parents) was irony, the second time (allegedly Amon's family) was tragedy, and the third time (Sato's wife) was comedy. This gets a bit more tolerable when it turns out Amon's story is a lie.
  • Mako and Bolin's parents' death was Narm itself since it was done by a firebending mugger in the streets, right infront of eight-year old Mako. Now what does that remind you of?
  • Amon bloodbending the wolves in his backstory ended up looking rather silly. At least until you look at their eyes.
• Narm Charm: Bolin's reaction to Korra and Mako kissing is simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious.
• Never Live It Down: Mako will never live down the love triangle. A rare example where the guy in the triangle is taking all of the heat.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Bumi stands on the top of a ship and shouts: 'Whoo-hoo!' It lasts approximately two seconds, but on the basis of this, he's an instant Ensemble Dark Horse.
  • The Cabbage Merchant 2.0
    My Cabbage Corp.!
• One True Threesome:
  • Korra/Mako/Bolin. No, the fact that the two boys are siblings didn't even slow them down.
  • After 'The Aftermath' Mako/Korra/Asami started building steam. It even has it's own Portmanteau Couple Name: Makorrasami!
  • After the finale, Korra/Asami/Bolin is popular for those who want to leave Mako out.
  • Lin/Tenzin/Pema
  • Tahno/Korra/Bolin for those who can't decide if they love Borra or Tahnorra more.
  • Korra/Asami/Lin gained quite a bit of popularity on Tumblr.
  • Bolin/Asami/General Iroh, anyone? Specially after the Book One finale, where the three do get to interact.
  • Tahno/Korra/Asami for people who can't decide whether Tahno or Asami is more fabulous.
  • Amon/Korra/Tarrlok started popping up after the finale despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that Tarrlok and Amon are brothers.
• Pandering to the Base:
  • Cabbage Corporation, an automobile company that was founded by the fan-favorite Cabbage Merchant from the last series. As the owner is arrested and dragged away in one episode, he even yells 'No! Not my Cabbage Corp!' much like his predecessor's 'My cabbages!' whenever his cart was destroyed. They're even voiced by the same actor.
  • General Iroh skirts this due to having Zuko's voice actor, being Zuko's grandson, and bearing the name of his great-great uncle, an extremely popular character from the previous series. However, he's actually far more important to the finale's plot progression than just the fanservicey side of it.
• Paranoia Fuel: Right before the terrorist attack in Episode 6, you see a bunch of random members of the arena's audience slowly and silently starting to reach into popcorn bags to pull out masks, bombs and/or electricity devices for the attack.
• Periphery Demographic: Large and healthy. To put it in perspective, the 1-hour series premiere had a 1.01 million adults 18-49 rating out of its 4.5 million viewers, and another episode had almost 4.1 million total and a 1.13 adults 18-49 rating. One A18-49 ratings point is equal to about 1.28 million people, so 'young' adults comprise about a third of the viewing audience. One interview with IGN had the creators state that they receive tons of emails of parents gleefully admitting they enjoy not only being able to watch a show with their children, but that they enjoy it themselves.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: It's Avatar. There are a million and one, and that's not even counting the crackships.
  • 'Makorra' for Mako/Korra
  • 'Borra' for Bolin/Korra.
  • 'Makorralin' for the OT3 Mako/Korra/Bolin.
  • 'Linorrasami' for the OT3 Lin Beifong/Korra/Asami
  • 'Makorrasamilin' for the OT4 of Mako/Korra/Bolin/Asami.
  • 'Tahnorrasami' for the OT3 Tahno/Korra/Asami
  • 'Amorra' for Amon/Korra.
  • 'Bosami' for Bolin/Asami.
  • 'Masami' for Mako/Asami.
  • 'Korrasami' for Korra/Asami.
  • 'Makorrasami' for the OT3 Mako/Korra/Asami
  • 'Pemzin' for Pema/Tenzin.
  • 'Korralin' or 'Linorra' for Chief Beifong/Korra.
  • 'Yorra' for Yue/Korra
  • 'Tah(n)orra' for Tahno/Korra
  • 'Amolin' for Amon/Bolin
  • 'Korlok' for Korra/Tarrlok
  • 'Howrra' for Howl^note /Korra
  • 'Jinoochy' for Jinora/Skoochy
  • 'Skookki' for Ikki/Skoochy
  • 'Brocest' or 'Makolin' or 'Boko' for Mako/Bolin
  • 'Linzin' or 'Ten(z)lin' for Lin Beifong/Tenzin
  • 'Amonant' or 'Lieumon' for Amon/Lieutenant
  • 'Tahko' for Tahno/Mako
  • 'Bohno' for Tahno/Bolin
  • 'Tahnok' for Tahno/Tarrlok
  • 'Linlin' for Lin/Bolin. Or, alternatively, Bolin
  • 'Irorra' or 'Korroh' for Iroh/Korra
  • 'Irosami' for Asami/Iroh
  • 'Boroh', 'Irolin' or 'Broh' for Iroh/Bolin
  • 'Honumi' for Honora/Bumi^note
  • 'Tahmon' for Tahno/Amon
  • 'Mashion' for Mako/Fashion
  • 'Eskabo' for Eska/Bolin
  • 'Eskami' for Eska/Asami
  • 'Makoperator' for Mako/a switchboard operator in the Grand Finale^note
  • The creators themselves trolled the fanbase via Tumblr by suggesting the couple names were wrong, and it should instead be Koko, Kolin, and Mami for the first core couples.
• Relationship Writing Fumble: Though this has become a lot better since Book 2 smoothed out this wrinkle in the storyline, Mako's breakup with Asami was not easily picked up by a lot of fans due to the language being more subtle and subdued. This naturally led to a lot of people understandably hating him if they missed the cues because to them it appeared that Mako was still dating Asami when he confessed his feelings to Korra and they hooked up in the final scenes. This is even lampshaded in the book 4 episode 'Remembrances'
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • For those who hated on Asami for creating conflict in the Makorra triangle, Asami's character growth in 'The Aftermath' and in the finale skyrocketed her popularity.
  • The finale had a lot of fans pull a 180 on Tarrlok. He went from one of the most despised characters in the show to a Woobieonce we learned his back-story. Taking Amon out in a tragic and shockingly dark murder-suicide only helped.

• Ron the Death Eater:
  • Or, more appropriately, 'Asami the Equalist'. Some fans kept this up even when episode 7 of the only 12-episode Equalists story arc proves the exact opposite and the final episode of Book 1 only reaffirmed this as she openly defied the wishes of her father, who was an Equalist, to join him and attacked him instead. In the final episode, she beat the crap out of him and destroyed significant portions of his army.. She was even a popular suspect for Amon's identity for a while, though this was largely cleared up after events of 'Out of the Past' made it impossible by showing them in two separate places.
  • Poor Pema just can't catch a break, what with 'stealing' Tenzin from Lin. According to the fandom, she's an Equalist spy solely for this; nevermind the fact that her own children are airbenders, and nothing suggests that she's such a monster. Some people have gone as far as saying she hates her children, just because she expressed a desire of having a non-bender like her.
  • Mako, who according to some of the more extreme fan perceptions isn't just a cheating cheater who cheats with whatever girl crosses his field of vision, but is also a budding abusive boyfriend.
  • Even Korra is constantly demonized as a sickeningly arrogant, unreasonable, and unfaithful man-stealer.
• Rooting for the Empire: Some fans support the Equalists stripping all benders of their abilities as the only way to put all people on a level playing field and end the oppression of non-benders, even if the benders themselves don't consent to the procedure (related material like nick.com's Are You A Bender or an Equalist? quiz actively exploits the phenomenon). Debates on whether or not bending is an intrinsic part of a person and the show's civilization/culture, and if what the Equalists are attempting is a fantastical form of mutilation or not, can get quite heated.
• Ship Mates:
  • Some supporters of Korra/Mako also pair Bolin/Asami and vice versa. And those who ship Korra/Bolin are likely to ship Mako/Asami. If two of these four characters are being shipped together, then chances are the other two form a second pairing as well.
  • Bolin/Korra and Asami/Iroh II have become shipmates for people who want to keep Mako out of the pairings all together.
  • Fans who ship Korra/Tahno also usually keep Mako with Asami, and Bolin usually just keeps his status as The Charmer.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat:
  • Some rabid Zutara shippers resumed where the previous series left off well in advance of airing, with new conflicts actually touched off by the Ship Sinking above. Now that Nick.com revealed that Zuko's still alive, you can bet old!Zutara shipping will be in full force.
  • Mako/Korra and Bolin/Korra factions rapidly developed and began tearing into each other despite the lack of character descriptions. All the fandom needs are names and faces to launch a thousand battleships. And for worse, lots of shippers for both factions fall on creepy implications about either of the brothers 'deserving' Korra's affections for this or that reason.
  • Mako/Korra found a new rival in Tahno/Korra, despite the fact that at the time Tahno had only spoken three words: 'Go for it.' That was all it took for some shippers to go crazy.
  • And of course, canon had to start in on it by introducing Asami and allowing Mako to have a relationship with her that got complicated. The level of combat is best illustrated by a fan of Bill Rinaldi's tumblr.
  • After Episode 6, Tenzin/Pema found a new rival in Tenzin/Lin
• Ships That Pass in the Night:
  • There's a surprising amount of Jinora/Skoochy fic. One is Tenzin's Cute Bookworm airbender daughter and the other's a street rat who trades information for money, and naturally they've never met; they just happen to be the only introduced characters in their age group.
  • Two lines into his character, before he even met any of the other major characters, General Iroh II/'insert character here' ships started picking up steam, and quickly.
• Signature Scene: Several. Korra's introductory scene in 'A Leaf In The Wind', Amon's terrorist attack on the pro-bending arena in 'And The Winner Is...', the first appearance of the BioShock-esque mechas in 'The Aftermath', Amon's various de-bending scenes throughout the series, but none more so in 'The Revelation' and his de-bending attempt on Tenzin and his family as well as Lin's de-bending in 'Out Of The Past, and Amon and Tarrlok's suicide bombing in 'The Endgame'.
• Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: Murder of a loved one can lead to a host of unhealthy and maladaptive behaviors, but being damaged does not magically make your own abusive behavior towards your children acceptable. Going through a loss of such a nature is quite messy and complicated, but you are still ultimately responsible for the harm that you bring to others.
• Special Effects Failure:
  • In 'Turning the Tides' the Mech suits move slowly and awkwardly. A stark contrast from their other appearances.
  • 'The Aftermath' has a scene during the race where if you look closely, the CG models for the characters look atrociously Off-Model (Asami especially) and the opposing driver isn't even touching the steering wheel. The fact the sequence is otherwise well-done makes it all the more jarring.
• Strangled by the Red String: Mako and Korra's promotion to Official Couple in the Book 1 finale. Rabid shipping aside, the Love Triangles between Mako, Korra, Bolin, and Asami felt rushed and underdeveloped to some, with complications resulting from and reasons for their attraction glossed over, told instead of shown, or quickly buried. The ambiguity of whether Mako and Asami broke up during Book One and whether or not Bolin was over Korra didn't help matters. With three more Books to set things right, however, whether this applies in the long run or not is still up in the air.
• Take That, Scrappy!: Mike, Bryan, and even David Faustino himself spend a lot of time in the DVD commentary mentioning how they're aware that people hate Mako.
  David F: And I play the universally loved Mako.
  *Everyone bursts out laughing*
  Mike: Loved by ALL ages, genders, races...
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Regardless of her alignment, Asami's perspective as a non-bender during such a conflict was minimized due to the Romantic Plot Tumor. As a heroine, she's fighting her only living family and would be reasonably paranoid that everything from his behavior, employees and even her fighting style might be disturbingly tied more/longer to the Equalists for years yet only the police scanners in the cars is only talked about. As an Equalist spy, the views of hers and the Power Trio concerning the bender/non-bender conflict could be argued.
• Tough Act to Follow: Book One was a massive ratings success, mostly well-received by fans and received critical acclaim. It's largely agreed that Book Two failed to live up to it's predecessor in a lot of ways, but Book Three actually managed to surpass it.
• Ugly Cute:
  • Meelo. A direct quote from SDCC: 'Strangely though, the more ugly he was the cuter he became.' In fact, Meelo was originally going to be a good-looking cute kid, but the team fell in love with Ryu Ki-Hyun's uglier designs.
  • Toddler Korra with her sagging beer belly hanging out over her pants may count for some.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: The protestor at the start of the series. A number of fans seemed to not understand that Korra's failed retort of 'You're oppressing yourself!' was a joke at her expense, and later felt bad for him when Korra actually did attack him during Episode 3 - ignoring that he was also shilling for someone that we learn is a violent and cruel person that was also holding people hostage. And this impression stays with them even when the guy is later shown to be okay with his.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: The title character was seen by some fans as more of a Jerk Jock than the well meaning but naive Cute Bruiser the show's writers intended, due to her boisterous and sometimes belligerent nature. Thankfully, Character Development kicks in and she gets better.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Many fans were surprised to learn that the Council page (the person that delivered all those gifts from Tarrlok and outed Tarrlok as a bloodbender) is actually a man.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: Amon's political agenda (There are people with special abilities who control society, using their powers to abuse and oppress those who don't have them, so this ability should be removed from the world) lends itself well to a whole host of issues, and class warfare in particular. Maybe it's about Capitalism, or Ethnic Minorities, or Apartheid, or Civil Rights, or Disarmament ('Gun Control'). Or maybe it's just a Space Whale Aesop.

• What Measure Is a Non-Badass?:
  • Korra has gotten heat, bashing and shaming for daring to angst and cry when she feels she can't live up toAang's awesome legacy, and especially for crying and maybe even considering suicide (for some) when Katara couldn't restore her bending in the Grand Finale.
  • The fandom only started to lighten up in the Asami hate when she showed herself as an Action GirlBadass Normal. And yet the moment she shows human reactions to the Love Triangle business, some people are quick to accuse her of being 'nothing but Mako's Clingy Jealous Girl' (despite how she mostly defies the CJG trope.)
• The Woobie:
  • Bolin. He lost his parents when he was six, and had to live on streets with Mako. In the series proper, he gets kidnapped and nearly loses his bending powers while trying to help his brother with earning money, gets electrocuted during his rescue, and can't sleep well for a week afterwards. Then, in episode 5, he gets emotionally crushed by two of the people closest to him, after which, in the course of a single match, he gets hit in the stomach hard enough to make him vomit, gets (unintentionally) fire-blasted in the back by his brother before getting knocked out of the ring, and finally gets a pretty nasty injury to the shoulder before getting knocked out of the ring again. To top it off Nickelodeon's website reveals that he has an inferiority complex in regards to his brother Mako — and it's justified in-series with Mako getting so much more serious screentime and attention with the ladies.
  • Asami Sato:
    • Seriously, it has to suck to find out that your dad was working with Amon this whole time. Made even worse by Asami's adamant defense of her father throughout the episode. Plus, Hiroshi is the only family she has left. The poor lady collapses into Mako's arms in the final scene. Then, she finds out her boyfriend may have a crush on Korra, whom she does care for a lot and considers a great girl. Then she finds out about the kiss. Then when she confronts him about it, he's so not good with people that he can't even be honest with her without blaming his brother for telling her, and later his 'tunnel vision' is in action as well as his (somewhat understandable) care for Korra means that he's neglecting her emotionally. In the series finale, she even has to confront her father again as he is so blinded with rage that he tries to kill her. Oh, and Mako confesses his true feelings for Korra while Asami is off-screen, so who knows how she'll be by next series. On the upside, if the Book One finale is anything to go by, Asami tends to respond to emotional stress with lightning fists, so she's not really in danger of the emotional collapse most Woobies experience.
    • Iron Woobie: Her mother was killed by a Firebender when she was young, she discovered her father was an Equalist after spending a whole day defending him, has to turn on her father because she wanted to do the right thing and has to leave the comfortable life she has always known, she finds out that Korra has a crush on her boyfriend and he might reciprocate, she gets arrested because of her father, then has to see her well-intentioned-but-utterly-bad-with-people boyfriend go crazy trying to find Korra and neglect her; and when she confronts Mako about him responding to Korra's forceful kiss while Asami and him were dating, he doesn't really face her. Then, after having to fight her own father and help save the day, she and Mako are through. And despite all of this, she never lashes out or blames anyone except Mako (and when she does, she does NOT go the Clingy Jealous Girl route and makes genuinely good points), and still remains friends with everyone.
    • Adding onto this, according to the creator's comments from The Making of LOK, Asami was slowly realizing that she and Mako just wouldn't work out, even if she never said anything about it. They made her realistically react to a relationship falling apart, right down to the internal thoughts humans have when this happens to us... and she gets flak for it, in addition to everything else.
  • The policemen that were debended by Amon.
  • Really, anyone who gets debended by Amon: Tarrlok, Tahno and Lin in particular, but every bender shown who comes out powerless appears absolutely devastated at the loss. These people grew up with these natural abilities that have been part of them their entire lives...Amon isn't just taking away their powers, he's taking away part of their identity.
  • Korra herself slides into major Woobie territory on several occasions, notably at the end of episode 4, near all of episodes 8 and 9, and the finale when she temporarily loses all her bending save for airbending. It's really hard to watch her break down.

• Abandon Shipping:
  • While people were able to brush off Eska's treatment of Bolin in the premiere as an Ice Queen meeting an adorkable guy, by the third episode a lot of people started seeing major abusive undertones in the ship and started jumping overboard. It helps that Bolin is canonically looking for a way to break up with her without getting frozen solid.
  • Makorra was sunk by this season's plotlines. The fact that they broke up TWICE and Mako and Asami started getting close again didn't help. And that's before we get into the normal Base-Breaking Character that Mako still is.
• Accidental Innuendo: Wan says to Raava: 'When you pass through me, I feel an incredible rush of power!'
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Raava repeatedly claims that neither she nor Vaatu can truly destroy the other, and that even if one dies they will eventually reincarnate to begin the cycle anew. Yet Vaatu just as often claims he will destroy her 'forever' and that their battle will be the final one. Is it just Vaatu'sarrogance talking, or is there a way for one to permanently kill the other? Their previous battles where one was presumably destroyed are only ever mentioned and not actually shown, nor is it ever made clear if Vaatu has won a previous cycle and killed Raava discounting the finale where she's almost immediately revived after being killed by Vaatu thanks to Korra channeling 'the energy of the universe.'
• Ass Pull:
  • Jinora showing up to save Korra with never before seen (or since mentioned) abilities right when Unavaatu was about to corrupt Korra, came entirely out of left field. Even Bryan Konietzko admitted that it was an Ass Pull.
  • The final Ass Pull is actually preceded by two earlier Ass Pulls in the same episode. First, the tree that held Vaatu captive is revealed to be the Tree of Time, a magical plant which connects the Spirit World and the physical world, and inside which Korra can connect with the energy of the universe. Prior to that, there was no implication that tree had any special significance beyond being Vaatu's prison. Then, immediately after that, it's revealed that even though Raava was killed by Vaatu, and Korra is now a normal human, meditating inside the tree allows Korra to use her inner power and connect with the energy of the universe to become a giant spirit capable of challenging Vaatu.
• Author's Saving Throw:
  • After the complaints seen above about how Korra became an airbender, this season wastes no time in establishing that unlocking the ability is a far cry from truly understanding it, and she has to put a lot more work in to become a master.
  • Book 1 also got some complaints that the Equalists had some valid grievances that wouldn't go away just because Amon was revealed as a fraud, most notably how Republic City was ruled by a council made up entirely of benders. Book 2's opening sequence shows that the council was replaced by a democratically elected non-bender president.
  • And of course, we get to see that Korra and Mako's relationship is far rockier than the last season implied it would be, and they end up deciding they don't work together.
• Award Snub: The two episodes of 'Beginnings' are generally seen as the best episodes of the franchise except for the Book 3 Finale of Korra, but it didn't win any awards at all, which was met with quite a negative reaction.
• Base-Breaking Character: Avatar Wan. One group of the fanbase like him as the two episodes he's featured in are considered to be among the best the series has to offer, and find his characterisation as a Guile Hero likeable. The other group consider him to be a Designated Hero whose actions caused the suffering of others, both intentionally and unintentionally. Furthermore, detractors also saw that his existence and origins contradict the lore established in the original series.
• Better on DVD: The season is easier to enjoy when you can watch multiple episodes at once and don't have to deal with months of more Triangle shenanigans and character development.
• Broken Base:
  • Whether or not Eska and Bolin's relationship is being played for laughs, shouldn't be played for laughs, should be played for laughs, is abusive on Eska's side, is bad, is good, etc.
  • Studio Pierrot's animation. When fans noticed that the switch to Studio Pierrot meant a drastic change in the nature of the animation, fans were split over their opinions of the new animators: some welcomed the change, citing the Scenery Porn, lack of Conspicuous CGI (Pierrot were a lot better at blending hand-drawn animation and CGI) and the noticeably better flow in many of the fight scenes - but many more noted that the characters looked stiff and unnatural, moved very little but their mouths during conversation, and were frequently Off-Model. However, it must be noted that all of the arguments about better animation essentially stopped after Mir returned for the later episodes.
  • Beginnings. Either considered to be the series' best episodes that expands on the lore of the Avatar world that is combined with beautiful animation, or the start of Book Two's Seasonal Rot that contradicts the lore, particularly the origin of bending and the Avatar, that had already been established in the original series and essentially retcons it entirely.

• Complete Monster: Unalaq is Korra's Evil Uncle, the leader of the Northern Water Tribe, and one of the primary villains of Book 2. Years ago, Unalaq, jealous of his older brother, Tonraq, had him exiled from his home tribe after framing him as responsible for the destruction the Dark Spirits inflicted on their tribe. Later trying to have Avatar Korra, a child at the time, kidnapped, Unalaq abandoned his partners to their fates when the plan failed. When the Dark Spirits return, Unalaq takes control of the Southern Water Tribe from Tonraq and has anyone who may oppose him disposed of, triggering a war between the water tribes. Later attempting to open a spirit portal, Unalaq tries to leave his son to die when he is injured, and, realizing only the Avatar can open the portals, threatens to destroy the soul of Jinora, a little girl, to force Korra to assist him, then tries to condemn Jinora to the Fog of Lost Souls and to murder Korra even after she opened the portal. Revealing his true colors, Unalaq assaults the Southern Water Tribe; beats down Tonraq, sparing his life solely so he can see Unalaq win; then frees Vaatu, the spirit of darkness and chaos, with whom he has been partnered with the entire season, fuses with him into a Dark Avatar, and tears the spirit of light and order, Raava, out of Korra and attempts to obliterate her. Unalaq then attacks Republic City and announces his plans to rule over humanity after destroying all world order. A sociopath with a god complex, Unalaq stands out as the most monstrous villain in this sequel series to Avatar.

• Crack Pairing:
  • A human and a spirit getting rather too friendly seems to spawn this an awful lot.
  • Waava (Wan/Raava) - the fact that their story plays an awful lot like a romance facilitates this, what with their initial Belligerent Sexual Tension, Raava coming across as Tsundere at times, and the final pronouncement that Wan and Raava will be together forever. Also, they fuse a lot.
  • Unalaq/Wan Shi Tong. Following 'A New Spiritual Age', fans joked that the slightly bird-like appearance of Eska and Desna, plus Wan Shi Tong's insistence that Unalaq is a friend to the spirits, made the identity of the twins' mother self-evident.
  • Unavaatu: Actually the name of the two once they fused with one another, but the obvious joke (that it sounds like aPortmanteau Couple Name) was too good an opportunity to miss. Also, the way Unalaq looks at Vaatu...◊
• Crazy Awesome: Varrick, the loud-mouthed Eccentric Millionaire, cemented this when he escaped past the Northern Water Tribe's blockade by disguising himself as a platypus-bear that pooped money, and maintaining this disguise (with the addition of a Nice Hat) while piloting his yacht. His outing as a villain did nothing to dampen this.

• Designated Villain:
  • While they aren’t exactly nice, the Chous are presented as oppressors when they punish Wan for trying to steal their food.
  • Humanity in general. Spirits moved in on their turf (essentially an alien invasion), forcibly separated all of mankind and then killed and mutated them with capricious spite. How are they not justified in their anger?
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Despite being the love interest of the very popular Bolin, Eska's fanart quickly exploded. It helps that she's a Deadpan Snarker voiced by Aubrey Plaza.
  • The Carrot Spirit received a lot of love for his unique character design. Bryan Konietzko has even posted pictures of himself on his Tumblr dressed as the spirit for Hallowe'en!
  • A dark spirit that Bumi pacifies with flute music has become rather popular with fans due to being utterly adorable.
  • Despite being a misanthropic Jerkass, Aye Aye Spirit is popular with fans for being a very funny character. Him naming Wan 'Stinky' is considered one of the funniest moments in the series.
  • Varrick's assistant Zhu-Li is also rather popular with the fandom mainly for the fact she takes all of Varrick's craziness without even batting an eye.
• Evil Is Cool: Varrick, surprisingly. The reveal that he was a villain ended up adding to the appeal of his character because of how diabolically intelligent it made him.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Bosami (Bolin and Asami) got a massive boom this season with them showing chemistry in the opening episodes, and Eska's relationship with Bolin playing abuse for gags. The fans got so vocal with wanting it to happen the writers actually had to step in to shoot it down.
• Growing the Beard: The Beginnings episodes are this for Book 2. Providing some brilliant Expanded Universe material, a brilliant new character in Avatar Wan, and setting up the Harmonic Convergence story arc (to say nothing of the return to Studio Mir and the especially stylised animation) meant that these episodes became by far the most warmly received episode of the entire franchise. The subsequent raising of the story's stakes, combined with some Character Development for Korra, also silenced many of the complaints.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Bolin's comment in episode 3 that Korra had better watch out for 'heart-breaker' Mako seems harsh when they break up in episode 5.
  • Bolin giving Ginger an unscripted kiss during the Nuktuk scenes - against her will, mind you - became a lot harder to watch in late 2017, when the entertainment industry was rocked by a wave of sexual abuse and assault allegations.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The festival shown in the first episode of season two used to be a day for fasting and meditation. This episode premiered on the eve of Yom Kippur.
  • A convergence involving portals and alignment of worlds was also the plot of Thor: The Dark World, which premiered during the middle of the book.
  • Possibly overlapping with 'Funny Aneurysm' Moment. A good deal of Bolin's storyline has him trying to stop a plot by Varrick, the Corrupt Corporate Executive of the season. Not long after, The Wolf of Wall Street comes out, with P.J. Byrne (Bolin) featuring as Rugrat, who works for the sleazy protagonist.
  • J. K. Simmons would later voice The Author, who also directly opposes the true antagonist of his series and helps play a pivotal role in his defeat. He would later also voice Kai, who is the antithesis of Tenzin: an evil master whose initial primary goal is to enter the mortal, not spirit realm after years of trying.
  • The episode Rebel Spirit sounds an awful lot like Rebel Genius, a novel that Michael Dante DiMartino would write after Legend of Korra.
• 'Holy Shit!' Quotient: The last four episodes. Such highlights include...
  • Bolin stopping a plot against President Raiko by Varrick, putting his arc to a close and putting Bolin through some needed Character Development.
  • Team Avatar being reunited and taking on Unalaq all by themselves.
  • More visits to the Spirit World and cameo appearances by past characters, including Iroh, Zhao, and Aang, while Tenzin goes through some Character Development as well.
  • Unalaq successfully releasing Vaatu from his prison and fusing with him to become a Dark Avatar, and then managing to rip apart Raava and destroy the spirit of every past Avatar. Vaatu is the greatest out of every enemy in both series, and his release heralded the end of the world!
  • Unavaatu then growing to giant size then began laying waste to Republic City, until an equally sized Korra powered by the energy of the universe puts a stop to him with the help of Jinora's spirit to power her up.
  • In a more meta example, this hit the fandom all the harder since all four final episodes aired in the same night, with first two parter airing as normal on November 15th, 2013, while enough attention and demand allowed Nickelodeon to put up the last two episodes up on its website by the end of the night.
• Idiot Plot: Large parts of this season rely on the heroes taking Unalaq and Varrick at their word and either completely missing or pointedly ignoring the negative effects of their actions until they are presented with ironclad proof of their villainy.
• Informed Wrongness: The narrative tries to present Humans Are the Real Monsters when after leaving the lion turtles they began systematically attacking any spirit they came across. The problem is that it disregards the fact that they were only confined to the lion turtles when the spirits took over the world and isolated them there. Plus, as Jaya, stated the spirits do the exact same thing to the humans so they can’t exactly claim the moral high ground.
  • Despite the Fantastic Racism repeatedly displayed by the spirits whenever balance needs to be maintained is talked about, it is always the humans that need to respect the spirits. The spirits are never shown to respect the humans.
  • There is also the fact that Wan was stopping humans from hunting for food and when the hunters were angry with this and chased him, Wan lead the party to their deaths or mutilations in the process. If he hadn't left to explore the world, the people of Wan's former lion turtle city might have eventually starved.
• Internet Backdraft: After a series of mistakes and tough battles Korra's connection to her past lives is destroyed. Seemingly forever. To say that elements of the fandom felt she'd 'let the side down' as it were, would be a massive understatement. It gets so bad that she is bashed more than Unalaq, the one who actually did it, with a grin on his face.
• Love to Hate: Many fans noted that as much of a scumbag as he turned out to be, Varrick was just too damned likeable and fun to really hate.
• Magnificent Bastard: Varrick is a member of the Southern Water Tribe who built a multinational shipping corporation from a local delivery service in a single canoe. He becomes a business partner to Asami Sato and Future Industries, then hires criminal gangs to sabotage their operations and drive Future Industries into bankruptcy so he can buy a controlling share of the company at a bargain price. He also heighten tensions in the brewing Water Tribe Civil War and tries to get the United Republic involved, intending to use his control of the technology market to become a war profiteer. When his efforts to convince Republic President Raiko to enter the war fail, he begins making propaganda films to sway public opinion and arranges to have crooks posing as Water Tribe members abduct Raiko. Through it all he evades detection by seemingly being too silly and friendly to be an evil schemer, and is only caught by sheer bad luck — but he even planned for this eventuality by having a prison he built include a luxury cell especially for him. Charismatic, kooky, sly, manipulative, and running multiple schemes for power at once, Varrick became a enemy of Team Avatar while they each considered him to be a helpful friend.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Vaatu was shown from his first scene to be very unpleasant, but he crosses the line when he corrupts all of Wan's spirit friends, forcing them into conflict with Wan's human friends, which results in the deaths of all the humans.
  • We all knew that Unalaq was a bad guy. However, he crosses the line when he threatens to snuff out Jinora's soul to get Korra to open the Northern Portal; when Korra does so, Unalaq then attempts to erase her soul anyway!
  • Varrick deliberately bankrupting Asami in order to absorb Future Industries. It's the moment he went from 'lovable crazy guy' to 'hideously evil scumbag that happens to be entertaining'.
• Narm:
  • Korra's face at the end of 'Harmonic Convergence'. Meant to be utter horror at Vaatu's escape, but the gaping mouth and eyes that point in just slightly different directions are a bit difficult to take seriously.
  • In the same episode, Vaatu laughing. While Jonathan Adams otherwise provided an excellent performance, that laughter couldn't possibly be any more forced, almost to the level of that other laughter. The fact that it happens imediately before Korra's face makes one wonder if the universe conspired to make that scene silly.
  • To finish it off, Vaatu bursting out of the tree and hammily proclaiming his freedom 'at last after 10,000 years!' is...rather reminiscent of Rita Repulsa after emerging from her Dumpster prison.
  • Unalaq's constant flip-flopping over whether he needs Korra to open the northern spirit portal. It's almost like we're watching a war in the writers' room over which way the story should go.
• No Yay: At the beginning of the season, Bolin and Asami started spending more time together, which made a lot of the audience worry that it would turn into a Pair the Spares relationship. Thankfully, the writers agreed that they should just remain friends, and Bolin even snapped at Varrick during season 4's recap episode for trying to sexualize their relationship.
  Bolin: I wasn't singing, you weren't levitating, and Asami is just a friend, thank you very much.
• One-Scene Wonder: Zhao and the friendly 'Innocent Spirit' that dances to Bumi's flute music.
• One True Threesome: Eska/Bolin/Desna; it helps that Bolin already has a sizable amount of Yaoi fan-fics and that Desna is almost indistinguishable from Eska.
• Rooting for the Empire:
  • The Northern Water Tribes got less of this than many other villains, perhaps mainly because of Unalaq's rushed development into a Card-CarryingOmnicidal Maniac. There are some who like them, however, either for Unalaq the way he was in the first few episodes or just because their army had some of the coolest uniforms in Korra. And some people also thought Desna and Eska were cool (or just funny) and wanted them to win.
  • There's also the self-serving industrialist, Varrick, who many people liked better than the main evils Unalaq and Vaatu. Fans found him to be a far more interesting villain because of how he executes a complex Evil Plan with such skill and craft, that he became such a Chessmaster who didn't need to be a god or have power to accomplish his goals, just his own intellect and cunning.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Korra herself after 'Beginnings', where she loses her Hair-Trigger Temper and Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy tendencies.
• The Scrappy: Unalaq has the misfortune of being a straightforward villain in a show with complex or compelling characters, including all of the other villains, and he's heavily derided for it. His design is considered generic as he looks too much like Tarrlok. He doesn't have the virtues and coolness of the other villains in Korra that make them intriguing to watch while lacking what made Fire Lord Ozai and Princess Azula intimidating, and anything complicated in his personality is undermined by his actions or is too poorly written to be interesting. Mike and Bryan themselves took notice of this, and mock him mercilessly in Book 4's 'Remembrances.'
  • Lu and Gang because while they're intentionally Hate Sinks, they both unintentionally exist to make Mako look good and Lin look bad for having them employed for as long as they did.
• Seasonal Rot/Sophomore Slump:
  • Due to Executive Meddling, Season 2 is easily the least regarded season, with common complaints being the dull villain, unfocused plotting, the continuation of the Korra/Mako/AsamiLove Triangle, and even subpar animation thanks to largely being done by a different studio than the other seasons. Even Toph eventually calls it 'nonsense.' Though it should be said that of any season this one alone has produced the most fan favorite characters, and Beginnings part 1 and 2 is often considered to be the best episodes of the entire franchise.
  • However, others consider Beginnings part 1 and 2 to be the turning point for season 2. Many fans disliked how Beginnings essentially retconned the mythos of the original series, and that the conflict between Raava and Vaatu quickly sidelined the potentially more interesting Civil War storyline with fan favourites like Varrick being taken out of the plot.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: Asami/Bolin vs. Eska/Bolin.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Since he was introduced at the Book Two preview at SDCC, Varrick has already started to be paired with Bolin, solely on the grounds that it was revealed that they had some sort of relationship. We didn't even know what his personality is yet, beyond that he's kind of a playboy. This all changes in the later seasons, where Varrick is still shipped with Bolin but has become a fan favorite.
• Strawman Has a Point: When they met up again Jaya told Wan that he and his fellow villagers attack any spirit they see just as the spirits attack any human yet he is presented as in the wrong.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Katara is nowhere to be found as her home devolves into civil war, and she doesn't even get to say anything about the parenting issues that Tenzin and his siblings argue about. Some fans even suspect Mike and Bryan forgot she was still alive, hence Book 4 going a bit out of its way to explain at least the first issue.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • There is very little to no exploration of any consequences the Equalist Rebellion might had on Republic City. This lack of examination is especially noteworthy because, while Amon himself might have been a sham, the movement as a whole didhave some vaild points about benders unfairly stacking society in their favor through their powers.
  • Unalaq mentoring Korra in the spiritual ways and spiritbending. It has been pointed out since Book 1 on how Korra lacks spirituality, and Unalaq's mentorship could contribute to Korra's Character Development. Unfortunately, most of it was never shown and Korra learns spiritbending offscreen and Unalaq is revealed to be evil all along.
  • The Civil War plot, initially the center of the plot for the season's first half, becomes sidelined in favour of the conflict between Raava and Vaatu which many fans found to be a less compelling storyline. To make matters worse, once Unavaatu was defeated, the civil war becomes resolved 'offscreen with North and South becoming allies again as if nothing happened.
  • The very concept of a Dark Avatar sounds awesome, who wouldn't want to see a fight like that? Unfortunately it doesn't work out the way you think: Unalaq doesn't gain the other three elements upon fusing with Vaatu, so instead of a showdown between two benders of all four elements, we just get Korra facing a superpowered waterbender.
  • Instead of a Love Triangle completely eclipsing her sub-plot, this time Asami clearly has one in saving her company. Yet it's instead hijacked by Mako while she's Chickified into taking a backseat in agency, only drives/pilots vehicles, becomes Mako's rebound girl while he's broken up with Korra and even spectates Bolin's fight instead of, y'know, joining in. There's even a wasted sub-plot that she could've bonded with Korra over their shared daddy issues, but no, let's focus on Mako again.
  • Mako's detective sub-plot could've done wonders for practically everyone involved. First, it would've fleshed out his character beyond a disagreeable love interest to have his own motivations and goals than simply following Korra, especially if it's tied related to his past as a triad. Secondly, Lin, Lu and Gang could've had valid reasons to be skeptical of a rookie, especially a former triad, aspiring to be a detective instead of the former holding the Idiot Ball and the latter being trolls.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Oh, yes. Prior to his appearance, there were zero hints that the now over-a-hundred years old Iroh would show up. Both times after that, he just arbitrarily shows up to offer helpful advice, even lampshading it the third time.
  • The appearance of long-dead Zhao comes completely out of nowhere in the season 2 finale and lasts only a few seconds.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: The hunters in Beginnings, two of whom were implied to have been killed and the third suffering mutilation at the hands of the Aye-Aye spirit. While they attacked Wan for stopping them from capturing the catdeer, it did not warrant the gruesome fates they had suffered since they were merely trying to find food to feed their city.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Korra in the first half of season 2. Faced with her father being falsely imprisoned on charges of conspiring to kill Unalaq, you'd expect to feel sympathetic for Korra's believing her father's denial of guilt. At least you would if she didn't decide the judge was corrupt based solely on that one denial and then chase down the judge and threaten to murder him if he doesn't tell her exactly what she wants to hear. Luckily she gets better in the second half of the season.
  • Kya. While Aang was wrong to exhibit Parental Favouritism towards Tenzin at her expense, and the extent to which she was a Big Sister Bully is never clearly shown, hearing her joke about beating Tenzin up when they were children, and him being afraid of her in the present day, does not win her sympathy points.
  • While this time Mako looks conflicted, his behavior from the first break-up onwards still makes him look like a tool so the final break-up with Korra feels less Tear Jerker and more an exasperating Mercy Kill to finally just end it already and hopefully not dredge it up for the next season.
• The Un-Twist: Many fans called Unalaq being a villain directly after the season premiere, though they were also relieved that it at least only took a couple more episodes to get to the reveal, rather than the whole season (though there were also plenty of folks who think the show still wasted too much time on it and doing so made Korra look like an idiot).
• What an Idiot!:
  • The hunters who chased after Wan when all he did was throw fire at them and run away. If they hadn’t chased after him, they could have just taken the catdeer and left.
  • Instead of just killing Vaatu, waiting for him to reform and then killing him, Raava opted to continuously battle him for 10000 years.
  • Probably the biggest one is Wan not knowing that Vaatu needs both of the portals to be open in order to bust out of his prison and giving Korra the message that both of the portals need to be closed, meaning that Team Avatar could have just left Unalaq alone until after Harmonic Convergence instead of trying to close the southern portal from the spirit world effectively leaving Vaatu trapped in the Tree of Time for another 10000 years, resulting in the events of the rest of the season or even the show itself.
  • Mako decides to lie again when an amnesiac Korra asks him if they had a bad fight. Yes, it was on the spot, but the pause is long enough to think/look around the room and he still does it anyway and Korra, herself is naïve enough to believe it.
• The Woobie:
  • This was not a good season for our heroine. Korra found out her Uncle was an evil little bugger that only wanted her dad gone, had to leave her hometown behind during an occupation by a far more powerful force, been refused help at every turn, broken up with her boyfriend over him informing his superiors of an attempt to undermine them, and had to find a way to stop the Dark Spirits from flooding into the physical world and causing a total imbalance. On top of that, due to both outside manipulation and growing frustration with her circumstances, she was also irritable and more likely to snap at people that could have helped her through it.
  • Asami Sato once again suffers very much, having her company bankrupt, having her supposed business partner screw her over, trying to rekindle her relationship with Mako only for him to end up in jail and for Korra being amensiac about their break up...
  • Wan himself, who started off in mistreated poverty, tried to do right for everyone, only to get kicked off into the Spirit Wilds, where he suffers from hunger and lack of sleep (albeit hilariously). After he manages to win the spirits over and travels the world, he once again tries to treat everyone equally and fairly, only to free an abomination of darkness into the world and get verbally abused by Raava. He then gets to see and feel the entire world collapse because of his mistake, and even after he locks away Vaatu, he never finds rest, being compelled to act as the force of harmony and peace for the rest of his days. He dies in the middle of a battle, weary, torn down and losing his faith in humanity. Overall, he only managed to enjoy a good and peaceful life for two years.
  • Raava herself, too. Imagine having to be worried across your entire life that an abomination will emerge from your chest and kill everyone. Her two appearances weren't also very kind to her: first being burned by Wan's firebending, then diminishing in size and power because her counterpart got more powerful - all the while developing bromantic feelings and appreciation for the very man that caused that - then fusing with that man and saving the world, only to see him lose hope in humanity and eventually die, then being a silent voice to all of his reincarnations for the next 10,000 years, none of which are aware of their past life's bond with her, and then being violently ripped off from Korra and beaten into oblivion by a deranged psychopath, resulting in Wan's absolute death. Probably the one lovecraftian horror that truly deserves a hug.

• Author's Saving Throw:
  • The residual messy emotions of the Love Triangle from the previous two Books are cleared up in just a few lines between Korra and Asami, after which we can finally just move on from the whole mess.
  • One of the biggest criticisms of Book 1 was its Deus ex Machina ending where the disability Korra was left with got magically solved in the last minute. That's very much not the case this time.
  • One of the criticisms about Bolin's character is that, as purely an Earthbender (contrasting Asami's engineering/piloting skills and Mako's pragmatism and lightningbending), he was Overshadowed by Awesome and did not contribute much to Team Avatar beyond comedic value (a role he shared with Bumi most of this season). This was Lampshaded several times throughout Book 3, as Bolin struggled to learn metalbending while Korra excelled at it. Bolin then becomes the second non-Avatar in the world to learn lavabending, and the only practitioner by the end of the season.
• Award Snub: Though Book 3 was the most acclaimed season by fans and critics, and though it did win many awards, this is the general reaction to the fact that not a single episode from the book won an Emmy.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Suyin Beifong:
    • A complex character, who's successfully made amends for the mistakes of her past, or a Smug SnakeKarma Houdini criminal who was far too Easily Forgiven? On top of that - was the whole sibling rivalry between her and Lin and their eventual reconciliation in Old Wounds actually good for Lin's character development, or just pointless filler vilifying and degrading Lin in order to build up Suyin and drive home an obnoxious moral? Adding to this is her contribution to the now recurring theme of the Gaang making mistakes in their parenting. Then the fact that Lin couldn't even hit Suyin during their fight just pissed some fans off even more - granted Lin was weakened but some felt that she should have managed at least one hit. And also that, apparently, the only 'noteworthy' thing she does in their fight is to get up over and over again, despite how often Suyin hits her. Either way Lin doing so poorly did not endear Suyin to fans.
    • Plot revelations in Book 3's second half have split the fanbase on Suyin even further. Much like Asami in Book 1, there's big debate about whether she's secretly a villain, or at least tied to the Red Lotus. And also like Asami, she's completely with the good guys.
  • Kai. While he was unlikable from the get-go, some feel that he's redeemed himself, others think that he's just favored by the writers. Similarly, some think his influence on Jinora is helpful, beckoning her to take charge and be proud of her accomplishments, while others think that he's pushing her into being a Bratty Teenage Daughter to the overworked Tenzin.
• Broken Base:
  • Much like how it did after the reveal that Aang played favorites with his kids, even if accidentally, the fandom has exploded in argument after it was said that Toph had two daughters from two different men, both unknown even to Su and Lin. Some have become angry calling Toph a horrible role model for kids, a slut and even accuse the writers of trying to ruin everything good about the old series. Others don't really care and are quick to point out that the details of Toph's relationships are unknown. Others still are happy with the revelation, since it's not often that half-siblings appear in western animation, and some even calling it empowering. And let's not even get started on whether she was a good mother or not.
  • Do Zaheer's actual motivations makes him the complex, morally grey antagonist that Bryke has been meaning to use for the series, or does he follow in Unalaq's and Amon's footsteps, as being a childishly simplistic bad guy? ^Note However, as of 'The Ultimatum', he and his group have definitely become divisive. After enjoying almost an entire season of praise for being complex villains, parts of the fanbase plunged the Red Lotus into the Hate Sink corner after threatening genocide on the Northern Air Temple and beating the crap out of Tenzin unfairly. The finale seems to leave it at a midway point: they're definitely bad guys in how they go about their goal, but their goal is still reasonable from a certain point of view, they have some lines they don't cross (though they go back on the trade and try to kill Tenzin with the rest of Team Avatar, they keep the remaining airbenders alive even though it serves no further purpose, which ends up being Zaheer's downfall), and they retain humanizing qualities to the very end. And Zaheer in particular was not seeking any real power for himself- changing the world for everyone really WAS his desire.
• Creepy Awesome: The Red Lotus quartet.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Zaheer's gang, but Ghazan especially. The White Lotus actually got demonized by portions of the fandom for having the gall to keep the violent and dangerous — but damn sexy — criminals locked up.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Ghazan and Ming-Hua, two of the Red Lotus members. The former is popular for his likeable and funny personality despite being a bad guy, and having what is considered by many to be one of the coolest forms of bending in the franchise. The latter is also popular for being a Handicapped BadassDark Action Girl.
  • Opal is very popular. Her pleasant design, kind attitude, and her surprisingly powerful Be Your Self conversations to Bolin made her very well liked by fans.
• Epileptic Trees: Kuvira (the Metalbender that saved Tonraq and introduced herself afterword) is theorized to be a Chekhov's Gunman (with the common theory being that she's The Mole for the Red Lotus). This is based upon her random introduction late in the season, and the fact that it would seem odd that they called Zelda Williams in for only a few lines. Turns out the Chekhov's Gunman theory is right, as she succeeds Zaheer as Big Bad come Book 4, but she's not a mole.
• Evil Is Cool: Zaheer, Ghazan, Ming-Hua, and P'Li instantly got popularity surpassing Amon's thanks to their being introduced making Tai Lung-esque prison breaks. Zaheer in particular gets attention for being an evil airbender, a first for the series. It's even lampshaded in-universe during their first encounter with the Krew:
  Bolin: That guy's lava-bending! That's awesome... (notices everyone looking at him)... ly bad for us.
• Fandom Rivalry: Korra 'lost' to Every Witch Way when it got yanked from the schedule and banished to online while Every Witch, which is more representative of the typical Nick demographic, is still airing on TV. For similar reasons, a number of fans are now upset with Spongebob Square Pants for being Adored by the Network years after its heyday whereas Korra is getting Screwed by the Network. Not helped at all by the last televised Korra episode being immediately followed by a Spongebob rerun. Still more fans are liable to bite your head off if you ask them their opinion about any other animated show on Nick (special mention going to Sanjay and Craig and Breadwinners who they will say isn't 'real' animated entertainment, and even TMNT isn't exempt from this) while fans of said animated shows just think they're butthurt crybabies.
• Fan Fic Fuel:
  • The surge of new airbenders in the world means that people can make Original Character airbenders during a time when there are only 1-4 airbenders in canon.
  • The revelation of an evil secret society with an undisclosed number of unrevealed members.
  • The Red Lotus's original plans, as stated by Zaheer in 'The Stakeout', raises the possibility of creating an alternate universe where they were successful in kidnapping Korra and training her as their own.
  • How Ming-Hua lost her arms.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Korra/Asami was a borderline Crack Pairing in Books 1 and 2, but after their interactions in Book 3 the ship suddenly exploded in popularity to the point that many fans a consider them viable candidate for a Relationship Upgrade by the end of the season. Turns out that's exactly what happens, as the finale shows Korra and Asami becoming the official couple.
• 'Funny Aneurysm' Moment:
  • Meelo's comments in the first two episodes about wanting the new airbenders to be his army and bow to him becomes less funny after the end of the third episode, where the Dai Li are kidnapping the new airbenders in order to force them to serve as the Earth Queen's new airbender army.
  • When Mako originally doesn't plan to join Team Avatar in rebuilding the Air Nation, Bolin attempts to convince him to come along by suggesting the possibility they may meet their long-lost grandmother, who would be so heartbroken by Mako's absence that she would weep big grandma tears and then die. In episode three, they do meet their long-lost family, including their grandmother, who is heartbroken when she discovers Mako and Bolin's parents are dead.
• Growing the Beard: General opinion amongst fans is that Book 3 is a massive improvement over the previous two Books, which were highly divisive. Not just that, but several fans consider Book 3 to be the best book/season among both series.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The riots and the descent into chaos in Ba Sing Se became more jarring to watch after almost two weeks of violent clashes between heavily armed local police and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, when Michael Brown was killed by police in August 2014.
  • The presence of both Henry Rollins and Zelda Williams (daughter of Robin) in the season was quite uncomfortable when the week of the finale saw Rollins write an editorial where he viciously attacks suicide, calling anyone who does it worthless in his eyes.
  • Frequent comparisons between Book 3 and The Dark Knight Rises, after the finale revealed that Korra, much like Batman in said film, is heavily traumatised, depressed, and disabled after her last battle. Incidentally, LOK also shares this similarity with Iron Man 3.
• He's Just Hiding!:
  • Unlike P'Li, who is explicitly killed and stated to be dead, Ghazan and Ming-Hua's demise was vague enough to ask questions. However, Word of God confirms that both of them are in fact dead.
  • Also Toph, who the fans believe is still out wandering the earth for enlightenment, since there is nobody to say otherwise in-universe. She is indeed still out there, as Book 4 reveals.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • It was commonly predicted that Book Three would air in June. Come early June, four episodes from Nick's Mexican affiliate were leaked, and in what may or may not be a coincidence, Nick quickly threw out a preview trailer then announced a June 27 airdate a little more than a week after that.
  • Season one had a Street Urchin by the name of Skoochy who was often shipped with Jinora, though the two nevermet. Come season three and now Jinora is getting actual Ship Tease with a new Street Urchin.
  • In the original show, Toph once suggested doing acupuncture on Aang to relieve his stress about facing the Firelord. Her own daughter ends up getting it done on her due to her own stress.
  • In their TV spots for Book 3, Nick went out of their way to emphasize that the episodes were only available on their channel and that you could not watch them online^Note (no doubt a nod to the four leaked episodes). Then they abruptly pulled the show from the air and moved it to a weekly release on their website.
  • In the original series, Azula complained in a fit of paranoia that an assassin could have easily taken her out before her Dai Li agents could come to her aid. Looks like she had legitimate concerns, after all, seeing what happened to the Earth Queen.
  • This season does not buck the trend of being compared to superhero movies, as Book 3, like Book 1, has drawn comparisons to The Dark Knight Rises. Come Episode 10, and you have parallels between Zaheer and Bane after Zaheer announces to the entire city of Ba Sing Se for people to take it back, like how Bane did the same for Gotham. They also both happen to be Bald of Evil anarchist revolutionaries.
  • The latter half of Book 3 could be compared to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, featuring a splinter faction of a group originally dedicated to peace and order trying to throw the world into chaos (the 'natural order'). The ends of both also point out that aside from the prior immediate threat, there are still operatives and cells around the world to continue posing a threat.
  • Thistrollfic written way back in the Book 3 spoiler period shows P'li's head exploding. Flash forward to 'Enter The Void' and, well... Also features Zaheer asphyxiating to death, something that he does to other characters in the final episodes.
  • Turns out Toph wasn't being out of turn comparing Aang to a girl: his granddaughter Jinora ends up with a striking resemblance to Aang after she shaves her head and gets her Airbending Master tattoos. And, no, not as a gender-bent version of Aang—she actually does look exactly like Aang. It's even funnier when you realize how much Aang complained about being played by a girl by the Ember Island Players. The universe just wouldn't let him live it down.
  • In the original series, a four-person group led by an airbender enters the Earth King's palace and offers its assistance. The Evil Chancellor states that they're part of an anarchist cell that aims to destroy the Earth Kingdom government. 70 years later, another four-person group led by an airbender enters the Earth Queen's palace and offers its assistance. This time, they really are part of an anarchist cell.
  • The way people started to realize how the defining moments of the season 2 and 3 finales are paralleling the defining scenes from the original series finales. In The Last Airbender, Book 1 has Aang become a large water creature that forces the Fire Nation to retreat. In the next Book, Ba Sing Se is taken over by Azula and Aang is badly wounded in the Avatar State when Azula shoots him in the back with lightning. In The Legend of Korra, Book 2 ends with Korra pulling a similar trick to beat Unalaq. In Book 3, the Red Lotus kills the Earth Queen late in the season, throwing Ba Sing Se into chaos, then nearly kill Korra in the Avatar State by poisoning her. At least if Book 4 plays out in the same pattern, Korra will finally get a happy ending. She does - and in line with this, it directly parallels Aang and Katara's.
• 'Holy Shit!' Quotient:
  • 'Long Live The Queen' has Queen Hou-Ting's death, notably a pretty graphic death that happened on screen. And this was done by an airbender, who are usually thought to be peaceful and pacifist. Needless to say, it was pretty breathtaking. It is followed up by Ghazan managing to tear down the inner wall of Ba Sing Se just on his own, sending all of Ba Sing Se into chaos. Finally, you have Korra and Asami getting chased by a monstrous sand shark.
  • 'The Ultimatum' amps it up big time. First, the entirety of Ba Sing Se is in flames. The whole city has descended into absolute chaos. Second, it turns out that Zaheer and his gang are now at the Northern Air Temple, threatening to wipe out the new Air Nation just to get to Korra, and when Tenzin rightfully defies them and fights them off, he suffers a great beatdown and is on the verge of death, ending on a chilling cliffhanger.
  • 'Enter the Void' continues the intensity. You have the death of P'Li, Bolin learning how to lavabend in a true Die or Fly moment, and Zaheer unlocking the secret of weightlessness and learning how to fly.
  • 'Venom of the Red Lotus' finishes this Book off with the deaths of Ghazan and Ming Hua, Zaheer nearly killing Korra in the Avatar State after poisoning her, Jinora thinks of a plan to save Korra: by getting the other airbenders to form a tornado to get Korra and Zaheer out of the sky, and by the end of the episode she earns her Airbending Tattoos, becoming the spitting image of a young Aang, her grandfather, and it ends with a devastated and incapacitated Korra, and the threat of the Red Lotus being very real, with agents all over the world still out there somewhere, and the Earth Kingdom having fallen.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Lin Beifong could be seen as being this. She always had some Jerkass tendencies, but when one learns about how her younger sister Suyin got away with breaking the law and scarring her face and then add that to the already known fact that Tenzin broke her heart years earlier when he chose the much younger Pema over her simply because she didn't want a family (and you really can't blame her after seeing what kind of home she grew up in, though honestly considering the responsibility Tenzin had, you can't really blame him either), and now Lin has to watch them enjoy their happy endings while she's gotten nothing in return for all her hard work as a Metalbending Police Officer, it's hard not to feel a little bad for her.
  • To some extent, the Red Lotus gang. There is no denying that these are ruthless people, but they have spent 13 years in inhumane conditions. Particularly poignant for Ghazan, who kills himself as so to avoid being imprisoned again.
  • P'Li after we learn her life story. She is one of the more ruthless members of the Red Lotus, but her whole life has been about being controlled and never even being given a chance to live a normal life. She was raised to be a warlord's killing machine until she was rescued by Zaheer who despite genuinely loving her, turned her into an anarchist. Unalaq then talked her into an act that got her locked up for 13 years in a prison cell that basically acted like a meat locker. Finally, she got the most graphic death of the Red Lotus.
  • Zaheer gives himself a spot at the end of the season. Even though he spent a whole season as the main villain and almost kills Korra, he ends up failing, losing his friends and lover, and is probably going to be locked up in prison for the rest of his days, a Fate Worse than Death for someone like him (no matter how richly deserved).
  • If you still have trouble feeling sympathy for the Red Lotus, seeing them in their younger years will help.
• Like You Would Really Do It:
  • Who honestly expected Kai would really fall to his death?
  • 'The Ultimatum' ends with Tenzin getting a prison-style beat down from the Red Lotus. A Gory Discretion Shot seems to hint at his death - but Tenzin is the narrator of the intro. Dramatically appropriate as it would be, are they going to really kill someone so integral to the series, whose voice we have to hear at least two episodes more, without even A Day in the Limelight?
• Magnificent Bastard: Zaheer is the leader of the Red Lotus, a secret society dedicated to bringing about chaos as the world's natural order. Imprisoned years ago for attempting kidnap Avatar Korra, Zaheer attains airbending after the events of Harmonic Convergence. With his newfound powers, he breaks himself and his fellow members out from prison, before resuming their goal to capture the Avatar. Undeterred by any setback he comes across, Zaheer comes up with plans on the fly that allows him to stay one step ahead of the heroes. Once a deal with the Earth Queen Hou-Ting goes south, he murders her out of contempt for her tyranny, publicly declaring the liberation of the Earth Kingdom and throwing the land into his desired anarchy. After losing his lover P'Li in battle, Zaheer awakens the power of Flight and manages to escape with his remaining comrades with a captured Korra. Zaheer plans to kill Korra in the Avatar state by poisoning her body with mercury and end the Avatar cycle for good, but was narrowly thwarted and imprisoned once again. Briefly returning in Book 4, an imprisoned Zaheer helps Korra recover from her trauma so that she could help fix the mess he created and take down Kuvira. Always polite to ally and enemy alike, Zaheer has both guile and conviction on his side, through which he attains the power of flight, a feat no other airbender has achieved in 4000 years.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • The Earth Queen crossed this a while ago in her treatment of her citizens, but with the revelation that she hires poachers to capture Air Bison for steaks, and that she possibly killed and ate her father's bear, there probably isn't any redemption for her. As if extorting her own citizens wasn't enough.
  • Same goes for her poachers—they are willing to cage and treat nosy children like animals and have no qualms turning them over to the Earth Queen.
  • Zaheer crossed it in 'The Ultimatum', where he takes the newly reborn Air Nation hostage, which includes a mother and children, just to force Korra to surrender to him, even indicating that he's willing to kill them if that's what it takes. It's hard to tell if he's bluffing or not, since while he goes back on his word and tries to kill Tenzin as part of a trap, he keeps the airbenders alive even though he doesn't need to. This leads into him poisoning Korra so he can force her into the Avatar State then murder her so the Avatar can never be reborn in the world, then having the gall to laugh about his apparent success in front of her father.
• Never Live It Down:
  • Suyin has a sizable hatedom for scarring Lin's face. Making this a bit weird is that it's far from the only misdeed in her past, and is the only one of them she's explicitly shown to regret.
  • On a meta level, Nickelodeon will have a very hard time getting people to overlook their treatment of the season, which has reached near-Firefly levels of fan hatred.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Amon, Unalaq, and Vaatu in the season finale, even if they were just hallucinations.
  • Uncle Iroh's brief appearance in the Spirit World.
  • Varrick and the water twins have very brief, but memorable, scenes that were borderline Filler; almost as if they were shoehorned in at the last minute due to their Ensemble Dark Horse status from the second season.
• Paranoia Fuel: The Red Lotus have introduced a new level of paranoia to ridiculous levels. The fact that they've got agents in Zaofu, that the Northern Water Tribe Chieftain was one of them, and that there's still more of them out there carries the implication that for the 70 years they've existed, every government and institution is infested with agents. With that, they may as well have been influencing world events and plotting said institutions' downfalls under the justification of achieving true freedom. Even after those three years have passed, who's to say they weren't hiding and waiting until Kuvira was removed from the picture so that they can rise again?
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Kai's Character Development in 'In Harm's Way' goes a long way toward redeeming his outright Jerkass behavior from the previous two episodes, showing him trying his best to help the other captive airbenders, even at his own expense. It's rounded off in 'Original Airbenders', where despite some less serious mischief, he demonstrates that he's a good person. While he still is reviled by some, upgraded him to Base-Breaking Character rather than widely hated.
  • After Lin suffered from being in a plot that many fans felt required her to hold the Idiot Ball and being Out of Focus during Book 2, she now gets more focus than ever before, bouncing back to being just as engaging as when we first met her, if not more so.
  • Though still not a fan favorite, it is worth mentioning that Mako did not anger the fans in this season, with some coming around to actually like him. The fact that the much-maligned Love Triangle that plagued the first two seasons was quickly resolved helped matters.
• Rooting for the Empire: The villains are particularly well-received, so much that the community in Image Boards who hated Korra for her Book 2 flaws even called them 'the Zaheeroes'.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat: Bolin/Opal versus Bolin/Eska.
• Strawman Has a Point: Lin is presented as completely in the wrong for how abrasively she treats Su but she does have a valid point regarding Varrick. Su is harboring a fugitive whose rap sheet consists of, at the least, grand larceny, destruction of property, terrorism, kidnapping and framing an innocent man for crimes he didn't commit. The only reason that Lin doesn't try to arrest him on sight is the fact that Varrick wasn't formally charged for his crimes and thus can't be extradited. Su was very lucky in avoiding an international incident but Lin is treated as being unreasonable for wanting to take a guilty man in for the crimes he has committed.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Zuko makes his long awaited return, but he stays Out of Focus for most the season and we do not learn much about him.
  • Zaheer's three prison cahoots; who many have felt were immensely underdeveloped in the characterization department, despite their incredible abilities and character designs.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Lin getting to know her extended family never really gets explored despite both the potential humor and drama of watching her interact with relatives who are so very different from herself.
  • The Spirits getting sidelined for the season in favor of a plethora of other story arcs such as the new Airbenders, the Metalbending Clan, and the Red Lotus.
  • The Red Lotus itself as organization. Zuko at the end of the season clearly maintains that the remaining Red Lotus leaders and sentries had returned to hiding and still remain at large with no way of knowing how many are out there and they are still a threat to the world. None of these are even mentioned in the next season.
• Tough Act to Follow: Book 3 serves as this for Book 4, and while Book 4 does a really good job at concluding the series, it is (almost) universally agreed upon that it doesn't quite reach the same highs as Book 3.
• Toy Ship: Jinora and Kai.
• Unexpected Character: In the third season finale, three dead villains appear to Korra in a nightmarish hallucination with each of their voice actors getting a line in just to jolt the audience who had become accustomed with their absence.
  • Iroh, again. While he doesn't serve as big a role as the previous season, neither he or Korra expected to run into each other and he logically can't provide advice on current events though is still useful in pointing her to someone who can.
• Wheelchair Woobie: Korra ends up in a wheelchair at the end of the season finale. She just has not been having a good time at all in these past two episodes. Everyone keeps saying that she will get better, and just needs time to recuperate, but she does not seem to believe it. This finale also establishes a pattern of season finales having her face trauma of some kind, as well as an overall theme of the Avatar itself no longer being needed. No wonder she is kind of broken at this point.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Suyin for the first two episodes she appears in. For all her talk about being a changed person and wanting to fix things between herself and Lin, she shows no remorse over what she did in the past, effectively pretends that none of it ever happened, and makes no attempt to apologize or talk things over with Lin for a long time. And then she feels insulted that Lin would harbor ill feelings towards her.
• The Woobie: Kai. Even if he started out as a bit of a Jerkass Woobie, he easily made the transition to this over the course of Book 3. First, he was kidnapped by the Dai Li and forced to endure Training from Hell to be part of her army, gets kidnapped again along with Jinora by the bison poachers, nearly dies trying to give the rest of the airbenders an opening to escape the Red Lotus, and all of this while is experienced by a kid no older than Jinora.
• Win Back the Crowd: After the lackluster reception to Book 2 (except for 'Beginnings', which was almost universally acclaimed, see above), many people either dropped the series or did not expect the series to be able to pull itself back up again. But Book 3 managed to do away with the problems that cluttered the previous season, created a tighter, focused storyline, and made most of the characters develop wonderfully. Because of this, many people who were no longer on board with the series started watching it again.

• Accidental Innuendo:
  Varrick: Zhu Li! Do the thing!
  Zhu Li: I'm afraid there are no more things to do.
  • And then there's his marriage proposal:
  Varrick: Zhu Li Moon... will you do the thing with me for the rest of our lives?
  • Taken to its logical conclusion at the wedding:
• Arc Fatigue: Kuvira is a considerably less powerful antagonist than her predecessors who is a threat only because of her army and diplomatic reasons, and it's made very clear in 'Battle of Zaofu' that she would be on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle in a straight fight with Korra if not for the latter's Drama-Preserving Handicap. Because of this, it can become very frustrating to watch this season for some fans, who just keep wondering themselves when the protagonists will finally put themselves together and actively do something to stop her. The fact that she only got into position to become the chief antagonist because the protagonists' inaction in a crisis forced her to act in the first place, well…doesn't help.
• Author's Saving Throw: After two seasons, Toph explains that Katara didn't get involved in the Water Tribe civil war because she had grown far too old to fight for long, just like Toph herself.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Prince Wu. Some see him as a flat Royal Brat, some feel he's got more depth than that, some think he's not a good foil for Kuvira because he's too much of an idiot, and some just object to how much screen time his subplot got in 'The Coronation' while others feel it was necessary for Character Development. And indeed his Character Development in later episodes has alleviated this to a degree.
  • Toph's treatment of Korra in 'The Coronation' has proven rather divisive. Some see it as wrong that Toph is essentially having fun at Korra's expense and ragging on her when she's both physically and mentally been through hell the past three years. Others have pointed out that, however mean-spirited it may seem, Korra actually seems to respond fairly well to it, and she helps Korra get closer to the root of her problem than any of her other mentors have managed. Toph is much better in the next episode, actually giving clear advice and telling Korra how to get over her problem. It certainly doesn't help that the events of the two-parter come up in following episodes just to show how they didn't work. Removing the poison doesn't help Korra fight any better against Kuvira in 'The Battle of Zaofu', Tenzin has to reiterate her advice about learning from her enemies without the cynicism in 'Remembrances', and the nightmares still plague Korra in 'Beyond the Wilds' even though she supposedly got over it.
  • Varrick. There are fans who are split between finding him an incredibly entertaining character who makes for the best humor of this season with his dynamic with Bolin and his Character Development as an added plus; and then there are those who find him to be a Spotlight-Stealing Squad due to him having a very large amount of screen-time this season, to the point where he appears more than main characters such as Tenzin, Asami or Mako. Others dislike him and find him annoying and unfunny.
  • Meelo. While he still has his fans, he's hated by others who find his antics this season to be more obnoxious than funny.
  • Kuvira. As the final Big Bad for the show she had a lot of big shoes to fill especially coming off from Zaheer. Many fans found her to be an excellent example of Evil Is Cool that proved to be a great Contrasting Sequel Antagonist who still managed to be sympathetic in spite of her actions. Other fans found her to be one of the weakest villains with the show struggling to reconcile her actions and her goals. Similarly there's her skill level with one side seeing her as a Magnificent Bastard and competent fighter and the other feeling that her strength level was only what the plot needed it to be.
• Broken Base:
  • Fans were quickly divided as to whether the next season being released barely a month after the last is a good thing or not.
  • Korra's new bob cut. On one hand, you have people who like it due to it fitting in with Korra's newfound maturity and seriousness. On the other hand, there are people who dislike it because they liked Korra's previous hair style much better, as it is more iconic.
  • The current Fire Lord, Izumi, got a lot of initial flak from some for looking very 'plain', 'bookish', and generally unimposing when we finally saw her, although this reaction was quickly beaten down by others pointing out how there is no good reason for a woman probably well over sixty (General Iroh, her son, is confirmed to be 40) to be a bombshell, and that we should all wait to see more than a half-second snap-shot of her attending Prince Wu's coronation before anyone can rightfully call her 'boring'. Her supporters are further divided, in which some wish to see Izumi as a ruthless tactician to face off against Kuvira, and others want to see her as someone who is intelligent and politically savvy, as the series's previous female leaders have all been physically strong benders rather then owing to any diplomatic skill, and think the contrast would be appealing. The former complaints seems to have subsided as we got a closer look at her in 'Beyond the Wilds'.
  • 'The Battle of Zaofu' got this in spades for Korra and Kuvira's battle, which is painfully one-sided in the latter's favor. On one hand, some think it's a good thing Korra didn't go from poor fighter to normal just from removing a little poison, and her reluctance to fight is further evidence that she wasn't ready for it. On the other hand, some expected that she would at least put up a decent fight, the end result being that removing the poison has done functionally nothing for her fighting ability, and she's just as terrible now as she was before it was removed. The fact that her attempt to use the Avatar State was foiled by Dark Avatar Korra is salt in the wound, as it's seen as a decent setback in itself which renders Korra's embarrassing beatdown unnecessary.
  • Toph's explanation for why she and Katara are staying out of the fight. Was it a realistic explanation or a weak excuse in light of Avatar: The Last Airbender, where Bumi liberated Omashu by himself and later Ba Sing Se with the rest of the White Lotus while over 100 years-old?
  • The Colossus. Some fans think it's 'Holy Shit!' Quotient incarnate due to being an impressive progression of technology, while others think it's Narm since it's so outlandish and impractical seeming.
  • Korra's speech at the end of 'The Last Stand' stating that her trauma from her fight with Zaheer and the long, painful recovery from it was 'necessary' in order for her to grow and improve as a person has also proved to be divisive; though it's worth noting that coming to know compassion through suffering is one of the core tenets of Buddhism, and the series has always been centered around Eastern philosophy, to its detractors claiming that it expresses an implication that female characters can only grow from physical and emotional suffering (specifically that the female characters in Korra suffered much more than their male counterparts, or at least that their suffering was focused on much more).
  • Korra and Asami being an official couple is either seen as one of the most progressive moments in the history of children's television, or seen as a weak attempt at being progressive.
• Crazy Awesome: Prince Wu definitely earns this status in 'Day of the Colossus'. Put simply, when you can save a bunch of evacuees by convincing a pair of badgermoles to dig a tunnel out of the city with just your terrible singing alone, you are this trope.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Kuvira. Even after the reveal of the labor camps and re-education camps that she'll throw people into just for having non-Earth Kingdom blood, she still has defenders insisting she's the good guy just trying to fix the Earth Kingdom. The fact that the series finale portrays her as a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds and gives her a Freudian Excuse only reinforced this sentiment. It also doesn't help that even the protagonists begrudgingly admits that the Villain Has a Point.
• Ear Worm: Prince Wu's badgermole songs. Not so much in universe though...
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • The frog-squirrel from 'The Coronation' is a perfect mix of weird and cute that fans really enjoyed.
  • Fire Lord Izumi is shockingly popular given that she only had one scene with dialogue. Part of this is a result of the fact that we waited three and a half seasons to hear her speak, and the rest is because she used her two minutes of screen time to establish that she has learned from the Fire Nation's mistakes.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: Baatar Jr being Easily Forgiven would not be a good thing in universe not only was he fully complicit in Kuvira's actions, but there was a lot of Contrived Coincidences in his survival when Kuvira tried to kill him along with most of the main cast. Not only was he the only one injured but his injuries were relatively minor. It’s highly unlikely that the masses would accept him going free.
• Evil Is Cool: Kuvira; last season, she was just a Mauve Shirt with an odd moment of focus. This season, she's built up to be Big Bad and fans are really appreciating her new demeanor.
• Evil Is Sexy: Again, Kuvira. As wicked as she is, a lot of people find her domineering attitude sexy.
• Fanfic Fuel: The final scene of 'The Last Stand' has led to a lot of fanart and fanfiction of Korra and Asami enjoying their vacation in the Spirit World, coming out to all their friends and loved ones, or just being a happy couple.
• Foe Yay Shipping:
  • After the trailer was released, some fans started shipping Korra and Kuvira together. This is made even better by the fact that the creators describe them as being similar.
  • Bolin and Kuvira are also getting shipped, on account of Bolin being in her army.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: With the finale making Korra and Asami the Official Couple, rewatching the show now makes their slow-burn relationship and its development quite heartwarming to watch. It is even more heartwarming that six months after Korra and Asami became canon that the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that same-sex marriage was legal nationwide.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The three year Time Skip is made even more jarring by having just two months between seasons.
  • At the height of Mako's hatedom during the gap between Books 1 and 2, some jokingly wished that there would be a 'Mako Alone' episode in order to get him as far away from Team Avatar as possible. Come episode 2, and there was such an episode, just with a different member of the Krew!
  • Many fans predicted that Aang would still be proudly doing his marble trick as an adult. Then in 'Korra Alone', a proud seafood-seller shows off his photo of Aang performing this trick with two sushi rolls, with the same manic smile that he had when he was 12, looking even goofier doing it with an adult face.
  • In the previous season there were many fan theories on Suyin being secretly evil and either in league with the Red Lotus or secretly plotting to seize power herself, many of said theories usually with the intent to paint her as Ron the Death Eater and claiming that there were many hints making it 'obvious.' This season has Kuvira claiming that one of the reasons that spurred her takeover was Suyin's refusal to take control of the fractured Earth Kingdom after the Earth Queen's fall, making the claimed 'obvious' hints of Suyin being a dictator in waiting amusing in hindsight.
  • In Season 1, Steve Blum played a guy who lied about having his family killed by a firebender. In this season, he is a firebender.
  • Kuvira and Bataar Jr. planning to harvest a vital energy source clean off from the big tree of an all-natural territory, which will no doubt piss off its badass population. Soundfamiliar?
  • Back in Books 1 and 2, Korrasami was a Slash Pairing, if not a borderline Crack Pairing, with many a fan deriding it as 'never gonna happen'. By the time Book 4 rolled around the majority of fans were practically DEMANDING that it be official.
    • Before the series was aired Korra was often shipped with Yue from the last series. What makes this Hilarious in Hindsight is that Asami is voiced by Seychelle Gabriel who played Yue in M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender. So in a meta way Korra is still being shipped with Yue.
    • Speaking about the Shyamalan movie, Seychelle Gabriel originally auditioned for the role of the movie's Katara, who is Korra's previous reincarnation love interest.
    • And now as of the Grand FinaleKorrasami is canon, what with the very unambiguous amounts of Les Yay flying around from the final scene, and Bryke explicitly confirmed Korrasami is true on their social media accounts.Bryke sure threw the shippers a bone with this one.
    • Rewatching first season episodes can be quite hilarious once you find out Korrasami is canon, since Korra is at first cold but then ultimately falls for 'the prissy rich girl' Asami.
    • In many ways the recap in 'Spirit of Competition' is hilarious in hindsight. Korra has only eyes for one fellow? Still technically true. Out of context it might sound as though Korra has a crush on the girl Mako brought in.
    • Similarly, the scene in 'Turning the Tides' back in season one when Asami says 'I like Korra' which is why she wasn't mad at Korra for liking Mako. She must have really liked Korra.
    • When Korra told Asami at the start of Book 3 that she had 'never had a girlfriend' to just talk with before (besides Naga), the term's platonic context was obvious but it felt like characteristic Bryke shipper trolling. It turned out to be the first step on the Ship Tease trail ending well beyond platonic territory.
    • Back in the first series, Roku's line that being the Avatar 'doesn't hurt your chances with the ladies' is funnier when at the end of Legend of KorraKorrasami ends up being canon. The problems the term 'bender' caused in the UK become unintentionally funny for the same reason.
    • Korra's actress Janet Varney had previously played a lesbian who ends up rejecting a man and hooking up with a woman in the web series Burning Love. Not only that, but in an interview/commentary for Book 1, Varney made several suggestive comments about how pretty Asami is. Fanvids havetaken advantage of this.
    • Similarly, Seychelle Gabriel played a lesbian Stalker with a Crush on Revenge.
    • A memetic Tumblr post declared 'We popping the biggest bottles when Makorra happens tomorrow' on the day before the series finale.
  • Asami's desire to see the spirit world becomes pretty funny when one realizes she is one of the few main characters, and the only member of Team Avatar to not have entered the spirit world at some point.
  • After Mako and Asami's extremely subtle breakup in Book 1, several fans mocked it using an exchange from The Ember Island Players: 'Did Mako and Asami just break up?' 'You know, it really wasn't clear.' The show's own self-parody recap gives it exactly this treatment.
  • Prince Wu's suggestion that they take down Kuvira with a team of highly-trained badgermoles seems less stupid come 'Day of the Colossus'. It may not be feasible due to a lack of available highly-trained badgermoles on such short notice, but definitely not stupid.
  • It's revealed in the Grand Finale that Zhu Li's last name is Moon. Zhu Li is voiced by Stephanie Sheh, who also voices a character with a moon themed name, at least in the VIZ Media dub.
• 'Holy Shit!' Quotient:
  • The trailer has already reduced a majority of the fandom to a nervous wreck due to the three year time skip, the airbender wingsuits, Korra and the Krew aged up, Kuvira being a badass, and Toph being teased at the end.
  • 'Enemy at the Gates'. Kuvira prepares to invade Zaofu, Varrick develops a conscience, both he and Bolin try to leave, only to be caught again, with Varrick now forced to work on the spirit weapons while Bolin is sent to a re-education camp and Zhu-Li apparently betrays Varrick to Kuvira. And after Bolin's failed attempt at a peaceful resolution, Kuvira declares she'll take the city by force. Suyin doesn't even wait for Korra to try to convince Kuvira to stand down and goes with Wei and Wing to just end the situation by dealing with Kuvira personally.
  • 'Operation Beifong'. Zhu Li is discovered to be a traitor towards Kuvira, Kuvira tries to kill Zhu Li by test-firing a Wave Motion Gun at a target town down-range that Zhu-Li is tied up in, Lin's father is revealed to be a man named Kanto, Baatar Jr. tries to stop a nuke cannon from hitting his sister after he turned on his entire family, Su and Kuvira finally have a proper metalbending throw-down, Toph singlehandedly blindsides Kuvira's army, Zhu Li reveals Kuvira will attack RC in two weeks, and Wu comes up with a smart idea.
  • 'Kuvira's Gambit'. Kuvira's army has arrived at Republic City one week early, and that nuke cannon from the last episode is mounted on the wrist of a mile-high mecha suit. Kuvira then decided to turn it on the factory where Korra was, knowing full well Baatar Jr, her finacee, was inside it as well. The scene where she blows up the outpost as well since she used to let them attack first, now nothing holds her back.
  • The Grand Finale, 'Day of the Colossus' and 'The Last Stand': Our heroes stall for time trying to take down the Colossus while Asami, Varrick, and Zhu Li prepare the backup hummingbird mecha suits. Hiroshi returns to help them break into the Colossus by using a plasma cutter to cut through the unbendable platinum, and dies in a Heroic Sacrifice after helping them break through — saving his daughter's life. Bolin puts his lavabending to good use, first in an attempting to melt the ground beneath the Colossus to slow it down, then again when he brings a disc made of earth on board and uses lavabending to have it cut through things, not unlike Ghazan's magma shuriken. To say nothing of his, as well as the Beifongs, great feats in earthbending an entire building right on top of the Colossus to slow it down! Mako then bravely takes on the spirit vine core of the machine himself, nearly getting killed in the process, by using his lightning to cause it to overload. Suyin and Lin take down the cannon itself and deplete its ammunition. Since it can no longer fire, Kuvira rips the arm off and throws it away, taking Lin and Su with it. Korra and Kuvira have a heated fight, no holds barred, in the cockpit of the mech, Korra fully in shape this time. After the mech explodes, Korra chases Kuvira into the Spirit Wilds, where the cannon fell into, and she fires one last shot. But it overloads due to being surrounded by more spirit vines, leading to Korra having to bend the spirit vine blast itself to save her and Kuvira, while the gigantic explosion had enough energy to create another spirit portal. Kuvira ultimately surrenders and is defeated. Meanwhile, in the middle of all this, Prince Wu proves he is not so incompetent and gets a pair of badgermoles to help evacuate the remaining citizens, even outsmarting some Earth Empire mooks. And, Varrick and Zhu Li finally get to do the thing as he proposes to her, leaving them Happily Married! To finally end it all, Korra and Asami walk into the Spirit World through the newly created portal, hand in hand, looking longingly at each other while the camera pans up to reveal 'The End', creating a pretty unambiguous Bi the Way ending for the two of them.
• It Was His Sled: The coverage by some major news sites, plus fans talking about it nonstop, means that the final shot of Korra and Asami as a couple was pretty well known within about three days of the episode dropping online. It may be a record for how quickly something reached this status.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Prince Wu becomes one toward the end of 'The Coronation'. First, after planning and preparing for his coronation, he finds that all the palace riches were stolen from the fall of Ba Sing Se. Then, Kuvira usurps the throne from him at his own coronation. Later, he has a massive Freak Out at an amusement park where Mako chews him out and tells him that while Kuvira is no saint, he's just as unfit for the throne. Wu finally breaks down and admits he isn't.
  • Varrick's a Jerkass for all his sleazy, crooked behavior, but he shifts straight into Woobie territory when he tries to stop production on the spirit vines. Later when he, Bolin, and Zhu Li try to escape and are caught by Baatar, Zhu Li betrays him when they are brought towards Kuvira. He's pretty much a jackass to his assistant which is what she says when she turns on him, and his shock and heartbreak at the betrayal is genuine.
    Zhu Li:Guards! Do the thing!
  • Zaheer continues to be one. Not only is he once again imprisoned (with the added irony of being able to fly, and being chained for it), but he has to live up with the fact that his Well-Intentioned Extremist shenanigans only caused the exact opposite of what he wanted and that his best friends and his lover all perished for nothing.
  • As of 'Kuvira's Gambit', we can now add Bataar Jr to the list. Like Bolin, he joined up with Kuvira because he wanted to make the Earth Kingdom a better place and sincerely believed that she was doing the right thing. He even fell in love with her and they planned to marry soon. In the episode itself, he is kidnapped by Korra and the gang and coerced into convincing her to leave Republic City under the threat of never being able to see her again. But valuing the Earth Empire over her love, Kuvira's response is to open fire on the factory where he was in an attempt to kill the Avatar, much to his disbelief.
  • And finally, Kuvira herself, who's been struggling with abandonment issues all this time. Making matters worse, not only will she most likely be imprisoned for her crimes, but she now has to live with the fact that she all but destroyed her relationship with both her surrogate mother Suyin, and her former fiance Bataar Jr.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Unsurprisingly, Kuvira. The Great Uniter has been shipped, to greater or lesser degrees, with Bataar Jr., Suyin, Korra, Asami, Opal, Bolin, Lin and Zhu Li.
• Like You Would Really Do It:
  • The ending of 'Kuvira's Gambit' has the entire main cast and most of the secondary cast trapped in an exploding warehouse, totaling over a dozen characters. With so much Plot Armor in one place right before the two-part finale, the fandom accurately predicted that Baatar Jr. would likely be the only person to even get injured. Nick's first-minute preview the next day gave away that twist.
  • Similarly, Mako's big Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu scene in 'The Last Stand' is set up suspiciously like it would become a Heroic Sacrifice. He survives.
  • Surprisingly subverted with Korra and Asami. Despite two seasons of Les YayShip Tease between the two, it was generally assumed that Korra would either end up with Mako again or stay single. When Korrasami was all but made explicitly canon, it's safe to say pretty much no one saw that one coming. Likewise, the fact that the creators confirmed that was the intent a few days later was unexpected.
• Magnificent Bastard: Kuvira, the final Big Bad of the series, decides to reunify the fractured Earth Kingdom with herself as its ruler. Kuvira begins to win over the loyalty or obedience of the provinces and towns by offering protection against bandits and distributing food with the caveat that they must pledge loyalty to her and her alone. Kuvira then proceeds to launch a bloodless coup by dissolving the position of Earth King and proclaiming the birth of the Earth Empire before attempting to conquer her former home of Zaofu. Setting up a duel and allowing Airbenders to interfere to 'break the agreement' against her, Kuvira proceeds to take it as justification to conquer Zaofu, before moving on to Republic City itself where her strategic prowess nearly secures the city's fall with the full intention of forging order out of chaos in what Kuvira truly feels is best for her homelands.
• Memetic Badass: In-universe example, Prince Wu was absolutely convinced that Mako is awesome because he was brought up by a pack of cops in the woods.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Kuvira attempting to murder a helpless Korra after defeating her, despite the fight being non-fatal, then ordering her army to invade when Opal and Jinora intervened.
  • If there was any doubt then, then she truly crosses it when she ties Zhu Li to a support column in the equivalent of a nuclear test town minutes before a weapons test when its revealed she tried to sabotage the cannon.
  • If you were willing to forgive her past actions, Kuvira definitely crosses this in 'Kuvira's Gambit' where she destroys the building where her beloved, Baatar Jr. was imprisoned, in order to destroy Avatar and her allies.
  • The discovery by Bolin that she is taking people (Earthbender and not) to 're-education camps' don't win her any favors, either.
• Narm:
  • 'Can't you see she's brainwashed you?' The line comes a bit out of nowhere already, and Anne Heche's utter lack of emotion doesn't help.
  • Kuvira's title of 'The Great Uniter', rather than being imposing, can sound rather silly when said out loud. 'Uniter' just isn't a noun that sounds cool or impressive.
  • When she rescues the heroes from Kuvira, Toph points at her and declares 'you give metalbenders a bad name!' Though it's probably intended to sound badass, it might come off as a petty insult... though this is Toph we're talking about here.
  • The Colossus. Not only is it impractically huge, there is next to no foreshadowing of its existence (Kuvira stripped down Zaofu's domes for metal) and the Fridge Logic behind how the thing must run is overwhelming. It also seems like it should be Awesome, but Impractical, and yet its ludicrous precision manages to break the Willing Suspension of Disbelief for many.
• Narm Charm:
  • 'Guards! Do the thing!' In any other context it would sound ridiculous. In context it's a Tear Jerker.
  • Similarly is 'Will you do the thing for the rest of our lives?' Should be stupid, but most saw it as incredibly romantic.
  • Again with 'Do the Thing!'
    Bolin: You may now... Do The Thing.
    [Varrick and Zhu Li kiss, and thus are married]
• No Yay: Wu/Mako shippers might (or might not) be deterred since it's made pretty clear in 'The Coronation' that Wu is essentially Mako's Replacement Goldfish for his brother, Bolin.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Aang's appearance in a hilarious photo in 'Korra Alone' is very memorable.
  • Cute young flower seller Tuyen in 'The Calling', on whom Meelo develops a practically instant crush.
  • The phone call between Amon, Mover!Unalaq, Vaatu, and Zaheer in 'Remembrances'.
  • Zaheer in 'Beyond the Wilds'.
  • Fire Lord Izumi only ever got one scene with dialogue and a few crowd-fillers, but that scene itself cemented her as theReasonable Authority Figure of the Avatar 'verse.
  • The Wolf Bat team in 'Kuvira's Gambit'.
• One True Pairing:
  • Out of all of the Ship-to-Ship Combat scenarios we've seen in the show since its very inception, there is one pairing that all the fans are unanimously behind, and really want to see happen. To quote?
  'Damn it, Varrick, Zhu Li wants you to DO THE THING!'
  • And as of the finale, everyone who shipped these two has won.
  • Korrasami skyrocketed to be the most popular pairing (after Varrick/Zhu Li), and by the end of Book 3 became many fans' OTP. They also won in the finale.
• OT3: In 'The Reunion' Korra meets Asami and Mako for the first time in years, bringing back the Makorrasami ship as Korra's interactions with both have some romantic undertones.
• Pandering to the Base:
  • 'Rememberances' has this trope in spades: In the first part, Prince Wu, Cousin Tu, and Grandma Yin bring up every single complaint the fans had about Mako in the first two Books, until he gives up defending himself and admits he was kind of a jerk back then. Later, Unalaq is mocked relentlessly by Varrick in a similar fashion. However, despite being blatant pandering, they're both agreed to be some of the best bits from an otherwise unremarkable Clip Show.
  • Defied by Bryan and Mike in regards to Korrasami becoming canon. As explained by Bryan at his Tumblr account it would have been considered just as much pandering to one side of the fandom if Mako had ended up with Korra in the end and that they didn't make Korrasami canon because it was the most popular ship but because it was the one that they felt was the right decision.
  • Although he does admit that Tahno playing the trombone at Varrick and Zhu Li's wedding was definitely pandering to the fans.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Hiroshi Sato is completely broken after years in prison, and genuinely repentant in a stark contrast to the last time we saw him. It also helps that Asami doesn't explicitly forgive him for anything until the finale, so it doesn't feel like the audience is being asked to. In the first part of the finale, he even sacrifices his life to ensure Korra's team can enter the Colossus to destroy it, but not before saying how much he loves Asami and ejecting her to safety.
  • Even Prince Wu gets some redemption, going from a plain Jerkass to a Jerkass Woobie, and it's clear he does genuinely appreciate Mako for his service. The biggest turning point came in 'Reunion'. After his kidnapping, he wasn't upset at Mako for letting him get kidnapped (which would actually not be unreasonable to some extent, since that was Mako's job), but rather thankful for Mako and Korra for rescuing him. His Take That, Scrappy! moment with Mako in the next episode and his Character Development in subsequent ones definitely helped win over fans, as did his Crazy Awesome evacuation of the train station and decision to abolish the Earth Kingdom monarchy.
  • Mako made even greater strides in his Character Development than in Book 3. While still ultimately remaining a heroic example of a character that fans Love to Hate, he at least regained a good deal of respect for admitting how he was a jerk for pulling an Archie on both Asami and Korra, as well as coming just seconds shy of making what would have been the biggest Heroic Sacrifice in the entire franchise. To top it off, his last scene with Korra affirms that he is happy to follow her as a friend, and is heavily coded to suggest that he acknowledges and is supportive of her developing relationship with Asami.
• Replacement Scrappy: Prince Wu started off as this as many fans saw him as a less funny replacement for Bolin who was off on his own adventure. Though Bolin reuniting with the gang as well as Prince Wu's Character Development in later episodes has helped some fans warm up to him. See above.
• Ron the Death Eater: As a corollary to Kuvira's DILP status, Suyin is essentially blamed for the whole mess because she refused to take charge of the Earth Kingdom despite all her rhetoric in the third season of how the Earth Kingdom should be like Zaofu, with some going so far as to say she deserved Zaofu being conquered by Kuvira for her inaction. It certainly doesn't help matters that betrayal is not something Suyin handles well, so she comes across as uncharacteristically abrasive. Her treatment of an emotionally broken and genuinely repentant Kuvira as opposed to her instantly forgiving Bataar Jr. only gave her hatedom more fuel.
• Rooting for the Empire: Because Kuvira has such a vastly different approach to her design compared to the previous antagonist. For awhile many viewers were hoping the writers were preparing a Bait-and-Switch.
• Ship Mates: Some Korrasami shippers ship Mako with Prince Wu because Wu acts rather chummy towards Mako, and some Makorra shippers also ship Wu with Asami due to the prince's interest in her. Bolin/Opal fits well with all of these ships too.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat:
  • Korrasami and Makorra seem to be the two biggest contenders right now. Bolin/Opal also has a new competitor in the form of Bolin/Varrick. Some have even starting shipping Wei/Bolin after the face pat in 'Operation: Beifong'.
  • With the series now wrapped up, the shipping wars will still continue on in the fandom, but certain ships are going to fair better than others. As Korrasami is now confirmed to be canon - while Mako is more of a very close friend to both of them. Bopal is also confirmed in canon and Varrick married Zhu Li in a ceremony on Air Temple Island.
• Signature Scene: The very last scene in the series where Korra and Asami hold hands and share a Held Gaze as they disappear into the new spirit portal became iconic almost immediately after airing.
• Squick:
  • Poki the lemur lapping up his own vomit in 'The Calling'. Bonus points for residual vomit on Meelo's teeth after he lets fly. At least he doesn't eat it again, and gets a Vomit Discretion Shot (unlike Poki).
  • Opal's sky bison Juicy suffers from a constant runny nose, and likes to lick people just as much as the rest of his kind.
• Strangled by the Red String: Sort of. While Korra and Asami were a Fan-Preferred Couple and many people were happy that they became a couple, nevertheless many felt the actual manner in which it happened felt sudden and unearned (see They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot).
• Take That, Scrappy!:
  • In the show's equivalent of 'The Ember Island Players', Wu and even Mako's own family constantly chastise him for the mess he made of his Love Triangle. Quoth cousin Tu, 'It seems like you're so afraid of disappointing anyone that you end up disappointing everyone.' As for the antagonists, the other Big Bads don't want Unalaq in their Legion of Doom, with Varrick calling him 'incredibly boring and unpopular.'
  • Toph refers to Book 2's civil war as 'nonsense.'
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Much like her father in the previous season, many fans feel that Fire Lord Izumi was largely wasted as character with great potential. Moreover, the fact that there's not so much of a glimpse of the Fire Nation itself is seen as a lost opportunity to show how it progressed.
  • Zuko himself only appears in one non-speaking cameo in this season.
  • The fact that General Iroh (Izumi's son and Zuko's grandson) doesn't get any scenes with his mother and grandfather doesn't help either (and after some suspected that Zuko had been given a different actor so the inevitable scene between him and Iroh wouldn't sound weird with them both having the same voice).
  • Bataar Jr.'s defection fails to elevate him from being a mostly Flat Character even though his choices could have been used to critique and even deconstruct the image of his family that Suyin liked to project.
  • Kai and the other characters in Season 3 were Demoted to Extra.
  • Kuvira. While she was certainly better developed than Unalaq, much of the season was spent seeing how many puppies she could kick rather than developing her as a person. Her motives were somewhat explained in the end, but it was largely in a single last minute conversation. Unlike Amon and Zaheer, there were no other major antagonists such as Tarrlok, the Triads, or the Earth Queen to highlight the better points of her ideology and actions, and the minor ones that did (the bandits) were quickly tossed aside to showcase Kuvira's personal cruelty. Additionally, some major aspects about her character were barely touched upon or never explained at all; for example, why did she see the need for ethnic cleansing? What was the point of enslaving the people of the Earth Kingdom when her ultimate goal was to make them feel safe? What exactly caused a heroic, idealistic young woman to turn into such a monstrous, bloodthirsty tyrant?
  • In a sense, Asami, again. She's spent the Time Skip rebuilding Republic City, dealing with her father and comes up with the hummingbirds against Kuvira in addition to her dynamic with Korrayet the season still spent more time focusing on Mako in a less important sub-plot of babysitting Prince Wu just because it was more comedic, which brings back bad memories of how Asami was wasted in the first couple seasons.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • When one of the first previews for Book 4 was shown, it would look like Team Avatar would still stay together after Book 3, but come the premiere of Book 4, it's revealed they disbanded, almost as an afterthought.
  • Among many of those who support the idea behind the controversial ending, but don't like how it was executed. Kind of... Although they're glad it happened, they wished they didn't have to downplay it, since as it stands, perhaps it's a bit too ambiguous for its own good (Mike and Bryan did have to go out of their way to confirm that, yes, it was what it looked like, and promised to build onto it on future comics), and the whole relationship was not as developed as it could be (the Ship Tease starts a bit out of nowhere in Season 3 after two seasons of them being stuck in a Love Triangle with Mako, which is kind of a big leap, all things considered, and it still doesn't deliver anything that could be considered a definitive declaration of love up until the very last scene of the whole series).
  • Some fans felt Book 4 would've been a lot more interesting if Katara, Toph and Zuko had a heartwarming reunion, let alone the possibility of them teaming up with their successors, which could've allowed the former two to move away from their Badass Decay status and fighting against Kuvira's forces in the finale, which would've bookended both series.

• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Baatar Jr., after Kuvira tries to kill him along with most of the main cast. Baatar is devastated that Kuvira would try to kill him, and he realizes he has alienated his whole family who might never forgive him, though Suyin assures him they will in time. This being his last scene, it's hard to accept that he would be so Easily Forgiven when up until now he was fully complicit in Kuvira's actions. That the audience didn't really have a chance to get to know Baatar Jr. in season three certainly doesn't help.
  • Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that Toph Bei Fong also has some of this going for her. We're supposed to feel bad for her when she and Lin are finally together again for the first time in thirty years and things don't exactly go smoothly. Although Toph does admit she was a bad mother and says she's proud of Lin, it does not change the fact that Toph still acts like a nasty, arrogant old woman who is generally disrespectful towards people because she thinks it's funny. And it is still her fault that the estrangement happened in the first place due to her insensitive hypocrisy.
  • And then there's Varrick. We're supposed to feel sorry for him as he suffers all manner of angst over Kuvira taking his inventions and uses them for military purposes and he is led to believe that Zhu Li has betrayed him in favor of Kuvira, but even with Character Development Varrick remains incredibly vain and narcissistic, and he never did pay for his crimes in season two, and then he marries Zhu Li, a woman he mistreated for years and this is treated as a happy ending that the other characters cheer for. Seriously, how much sympathy does Varrick really deserve?
• The Un-Twist:
  • Kuvira being the antagonist of Book 4 was obvious from her short appearance in 'Enter the Void' that pretty much everyone saw it coming. She didn't do anything villainous — to the contrary, she saved Tonraq's life — but her ominous music and odd introduction were quite unsubtle.
  • Subverted with her hostile take over of the Earth Kingdom. Few were surprised that she usurped Prince Wu, but not many expected her to literally walk on stage of his coronation and declare herself ruler of the Earth Empire without using any subterfuge or violence of any kind.
  • Zhu Li being a Fake Defector. It split the viewers into those that said I Knew It! and those were tricked because it was too obvious a twist.
  • With all the teasing going on over this (and the previous) season, the endgame ship borders on this as well. Above all else, the reason it was a surprise is that no one thought they would actually go there.
• The Woobie:
  • Korra starts the season as one. She still hasn't completely recovered, is haunted by nightmares and hallucinations, and every attempt she makes to get back to normal always seems to leave her just out of reach of it.
  • Bolin becomes one in 'Enemy at the Gates'. He joined with Kuvira's army because he wanted to help the Earth Kingdom and genuinely believed Kuvira was doing the right thing. This puts him at odds with Mako and Opal, particularly the latter as she sees his decision as a betrayal to her and her family. In the episode, Bolin tries, and fails, to negotiate a peace deal between Suyin and Kuvira. During which, he finds out Kuvira has been placing people in labor camps and sending dissenters into re-education camps. When he confronts Kuvira about it and questions her actions, she threatens to send him to a re-education camp as well. This ultimately leads him to defect from her army with Varrick.
  • While the season was mostly kind to Asami, it nevertheless delivered one final blow to her. Her father performs a Heroic Sacrifice not long after he reconnected with his daughter and they were on their way to rebuilding their relationship. Not to mention her factories and offices and products and whatnot have been destroyed for the umpteenth time.

Video games

• Critical Dissonance: The video game's dissonance is the opposite of Book One. Some reviewers despise it, consumers love it.
• Demonic Spiders: The red chi blockers have short-range, wide area electric attacks that are hard to dodge without running, and they can turn on a dime to track you if you're close enough. It's not so bad in wider spaces, but in closed spaces they're a nightmare. At longer ranges, they shoot unblockable balls of lightning that you need to keep an eye out for, and the game occasionally places them on high objects and sets them to use nothing but this attack.
• Game-Breaker:
  • The Chi Crystal talisman makes your chi full constantly, boosting all your attacks. Pair this with the attack boost talisman and you'll slaughter enemies so effortlessly that it can actually negatively impact your score, simply because they die too fast. Even then, you can balance the crystal with attack reducers to get the damage output you want while retaining the boost, letting you get the medals with not too much difficulty. The game recommends you use it for Extreme mode.
  • The Healing Talisman recovers health so quickly that it renders health pickups unnecessary. You can fully recover by running around and avoiding attacks for a bit.
  • With the exception of waterbending, which is stifled by being a ranged attack, bending becomes incredibly dangerous at higher levels. Earthbending breaks guards, which will take out other benders with ease, firebending tears through mecha tanks like a hot knife through butter, and airbending lets out tornadoes which will smack entire crowds of enemies around while also knocking them over so they can't retaliate. Most of these require your chi to be charged up, but that's what the Chi Crystal is for.
• Goddamn Bats:
  • Blue chi blockers love to pitch restraining bolas at you constantly, and unlike red chi blockers and their highly visible electric bolts, the bolas are nearly impossible to see if there's mooks in the way. If they hit you, you have to struggle free while any other attack the enemies were going to use is now guaranteed to hit. The only saving grace is that most enemies won't attack once you're restrained.
  • The bat-like spirits float above the ground and spit attacks at you, knocking your combo out, and they're easy to lose in the melee.
• It's Hard, So It Sucks!: The harshest reviews lamented the difficulty, along with the fact that you don't keep items you used upon death, making it even harder. You do keep collected spirit points, though, balancing the 'losing items' thing out.
• No Problem with Licensed Games: The video game wasmadebyPlatinumGames. Despite the mixed reactions regarding other various aspects of the game, the combat system in particular has received a great deal of praise even from critical reviewers.
• Porting Disaster: The PC version. The game is optimized for a controller and says as much when it loads, but it's still a fairly barebones console port. You have to cycle through each screen resolution to get what you want rather than selecting from a list, there's no control mapping (the 'Controller' option only allows you to toggle vibration for controllers), and a grand total of two graphics options (Normal and Smooth).
• Scrappy Mechanic: The running sequences with Naga are not well liked, to say the least. Special mention goes to chapter five, which has two such sequences in a row, the latter being a hybrid fight/run sequence.
• So Okay, It's Average: While it's not considered to be as good as Platinum's action games, it's still viewed as a solid but highly flawed game. Many consumers agree with that it averts The Problem with Licensed Games, even if just barely. Critics... tend to disagree.
• That One Achievement: The 'Good Girl!' achievement requires you to go through a Naga running sequence without taking any damage. Even on the very first one, this is a lot more difficult than it sounds. Naga's speed increases the longer you avoid taking damage, and the obstacles get thicker the further you go. It requires split second timing even if you softball it by deliberately choosing the path of least resistance and not bothering to earn a medal.
• That One Level:
  • If you're going for all Platinum medals, the giant spirit Korra battle in Chapter 7 is the definite choke point of the game. Giant spirit Korra moves like a snail and is a massive target. With the tiny Equalists running around the field that can still cause damage and the mecha-tanks constantly spamming their electric cord attack, getting a high enough combo and beating them fast enough is far and away more difficult than every other battle in the game.
  • The Extreme Avatar achievement (beat the game on Extreme) is hard enough, since your health is severely reduced, but the Naga fight sequence with the three tanks in chapter five is just awful. You can withstand only one hit, the tanks have a lot of HP (individually, not as a group), they attack much faster, and they throw out obstacles in random patterns so you can't just memorize the sequence like in a Naga running level. The water shield won't even help you, because the tanks will immediately swing again if the shield blocks an attack, assuming it's not one that the shield can't block.

• Game-Breaker:
  • Tenzin can easily defeat his opponents faster than everyone else due to his attacks allowing a farther range and damage increase. Pair Kya by his side and Hundun can be quickly defeated within a few minutes.
  • Korra herself may also count, once she has gotten her bending abilities back and can purify spirits, which can turn a long level into a two-minute one.
• Goddamn Bats: The spirits in the can become this. Without Korra's ability to purify spirits all the way until the near end of the game, they are only knocked out for three turns. They eventually come back, and some missions require you beat all of them knocked out together, which can take longer than expected due to this process.

Comics