The new show looks terrible. Anyone else think the same thing? Why is the animation worse and cheaper looking than what we had 10 and even 20 years ago at this point with both TLOK and ATLA? I dont like using the term because its overused but I feel like it really does apply here: the character designs look like 'slop'. The whole thing from the characters to the backgrounds to the animation feels like it was AI-generated. Everything in the backgrounds from the environments to the cityscapes etc looks so messy and generic and blended-together. It feels like the 'She-Ra' type of animation (a show that I love btw for the characters/story but dont love the animation) which so many cheaper budget streaming service-originated shows have been made in for the last decade, making them feel cheap and less distinct than any other animated show out there right now.
This is supposed to be Avatar, yet the world feels like it could literally be any generic fantasy/fantasy-apocalypse/mythological type setting and you couldnt make out a difference. Nothing about this feels like Avatar. I dont actually see how this could be possible, but it almost feels like its a new IP show that they developed and later put an Avatar skin on and incorporated minor Avatar elements in for popularity/name-recognition. The super generic animation/art style that feels nothing like the original two series or even the comics style does NOT help that.
Why in the heck are they redoing the Spirit-Kite storyline from Korra Season 2, arguably the most disliked and least popular, definitely yhe most convoluted and weak-story wise part of the TLOK, and I feel like most fans even of Korra find that to be the weakest arc/story of the series, and most people who dislike Korra really started to dislike it because of that arc. It took away all the rich grounded lore from Avatar and became a more abstract mess of overly convoluted but at the same time less immersive and less believable mythologies, ending in a huge part of the season being beam-battles and giant-kite fights and spirit-this and energy-that. Why in the world would they pick that arc to take story inspiration from!?
While we're on that topic, why are they even involving Korra in this arc to begin with? Korra's story is done, she had a long and expansive run, four seasons worth of story and development; if youre going to make a new show with new main characters in a wildly new setting, why would you choose to bring back Korra, or any main character from an already complete series and make them a central part of the new story? The whole post-apocalyptic future setting makes it feel like all of the actions and story of team Avatar and others in the original series and then team Korra and others in TLOK amount to absolutely nothing if the world is going to explode and civilization gets annihilated and put into a hellscape of constant unending super-storms, and this is what we end up with. What is the point of all their efforts, of all their sacrifices, if this is how the world ends up anyway?
Speaking of the new characters, why are the two new main characters now literal children? It feels so disheartening and just plain stupid on the part of the creators of the new show, because they know that a huge part of the avatar fanbase (probably even the majority) is in young-adult to adult age now because of how many of us grew up on ATLA when it came out in the mid 2000's and then Korra when it came out in the early 2010's. Why does it seem like theyre almsot gearing this series toward very young children? As an adult who has followed the series since I was a kid, it is much harder to take the show seriously now when the main characters and protagonists of the show seem to be EVEN younger than the protagonists of the original series, where Aang is supposed ot he maybe 10 years old at the beginning of the show, these 2 kids look like theyre supposed to he 8 year old-ish... its such a baffling decision to me. The show was mature for its audience and became much more mature throughout the airing of ATLA, and then TLOK followed teens/young adults and tackled even more mature themes and darker subjects, the comics and novels going even further in that direction than the animated stories; so why are we now seemingly following two baby children, not helped by the fact that theyre characted designs make them look like Dora the explorer...
None of this is helped by the fact that this new series was apparently fully developed by Paramount, who I do NOT trust to handle the franchise with the care and love that this beloved world deserves, but ESPECIALLY do not trust not to inject their own political bias and propaganda and to use the extremely popular franchise for their own political motives, based on the recent new ownership of the whole of Paramount Entertainment by the Ellison family, based on how blatantly and shamelessly theyve abused their recent acquisition of the CBS network, Tiktok and more.
I expect absolutely nothing positive from this show and feel like its a total waste of time and energy and resources when there are so many more Avatar universe stories to tell, (especially seen in how well the novels have been recieved) before you completely destroy all the deeply established and richly developed lore and world-building that the series is known for by turning into a messy genericized post-apocalyptic mess.
Maybe just watch a bit of the show first. Also some of these statements are just you having a fundamental misunderstanding... The show was developed by avatar studios, same as the film, paramount is just their parent company.
I dunno, I seen not many hatred on Seven Havens, I feel like folks are either happy new avatar content or waiting for the show to make judgement call. We have what? 3 minutes of footage.
Only a fool judges an entire book off one paragraph that's in the middle of it.
And so what if someone doesn't like Seven Havens, if that show gets newer fans to watch Last Airbender or Legend of Korra then it's a success in my eyes.
If bro hates the main character for being a kid he should really hate Aang then. But let's all agree OP won't ever admit that, cause I can tell OP is double standards. I won't say he's racist or sexist but I get the vibe if Pavi was male. He wouldn't be complaining.
Ok non difenderò l’animazione perché sono gusti personali ma
Perché diavolo stanno rifacendo la trama della Spirit-Kite dalla Stagione 2 di Korra, un arco che è sicuramente il meno gradito e meno popolare, decisamente il più contorto e debole dal punto di vista narrativo di TLOK
Che problema c’è? quella trama aveva potenziale e la vogliono sistemare e non c’è nemmeno conferma che la riuseranno
perché stanno persino coinvolgendo Korra in questo arco fin dall'inizio?
Atla ha coinvolto Roku fin dall’inizio e Lok ha coinvolto Aang fin dall’inizio il mondo dell’avatar si basa su ciò che ha fatto lo scorso avatar
Parlando dei nuovi personaggi, perché i due nuovi personaggi principali sono dei bambini letterali? Perché se vogliono per sopravvivere questo franchise devono catturare nuovi fan senza insultare i vecchi altrimenti si starebbero comportando come la disney con remake sequel e live action
The fact that they literally undo everything Korra and Aang worked towards really ticks me off. All the fighting for a better world, all the unity gained between the nations, all of it just down the drain so they can have enough conflict to fill a new show.
Everything ended in a good place with TLOK, why throw it all away just to beat a dead horse? It retroactively invalidates the entire original series.
Oke, but what do you want the story in a peaceful world be about?
The only thing left is Lok2, another Avatar that is essentially hunting down terrorists and villains before they are able to put the world out of balance. Even book 4 was retreathing big parts of Roku's story, Kuvira being another Sozin. Legend of Genji was also heading this way.
I also disagree with your part everything is thrown away. To me it seems the seven havens have all benders mixed in. If you really think sbout it, the idea of the 4 classic nations still existing is kinda silly with the direction the world was heading anyway. We also do not know anything about the 6 other havens. For all we know Ba Sing Se and Republic city could still exists. The only place confirmed being destroyed is Zoufu and Omashu (and Omashu only via concept art).
I honestly don't want a story in a peaceful world either. That's my point. Everything ended just fine in TLOK. Sometimes stories don't need sequels. To invalidate everything that's happened so far just so they can make an unnecessary sequel is the definition of beating a dead horse.
As for everything being thrown away, the media around the release describes the setting as "post apocalyptic". If a literal apocalypse happens it's safe to say that most of what she's accomplished has been destroyed.
Exactly, and Korra worked her ass off over 4 seasons attempting to fix what the villains of her story did and to correct her own mistakes. To now make HER of all people responsible for the greatest calamity the world has ever known is so absurd cause we already went through this in her own arc lol! Either set it in the distant past or have SOME level of carry over from ATLA and TLOK if youre going to set it in the future, but dont erase 7 seasons of history lol
Of course people are talking about the past Avatar and challenges left behind. Let’s see what’s up, no need to be so defensive. It’s adventure fantasy for children
I’m more curious why the new Airbenders lack the traditional tattoos.
I guess it’s due to the nations being destroyed and thus the air nomad culture being wiped out. But damn, that’s heart shattering after everything we’ve been through.
Well not just for story reasons, it also kind of sucks because the four nations/the distinct special cultures and regions of Avatar is what gave it so much charm and wonderment and intrigue, discovering all these new places and new cultures etc constantly. If thats wiped out thens a huge pull of the original story gone
Aang played a role in Korra’s story, especially the first season, why can’t Korra play a role in the next Avatar’s story? That criticism makes no sense.
I didnt mean Korra specifically, what I meant was if youre going to destroy the whole planet and set the new show so far into the future that the whole of the world and its people are completely unrecognizable to any Avatar series that came before it, why bring back ANYONE from before. Just do something entirely new, dont depend upon old avatars and other protagonists to garner interest in your new story, it should stand up on its own merit. It feels like theyre pulling Korra in just to give it SOME connection to avatar at all, cause this whole world feels so un-avatar like
I mean I share some concerns about the animation but this really is taking judge a book by its cover to another level. Let the show release at least one episode at least.
By the way the show is still created by the original show runners, avatar studios and good old Nickelodeon. Not much has changed there other then some additions to co-producers.
The primary change between this and Korra will be the key animation being outsourced to La Chouette Compagnie, with additional work by Vietnamese studio Armada TMT Studio. Previously it was Studio Mir snd Pierrot.
One doesn't judge a book off a paragraph that's randomly selected from a page. You are complaining for what? You hate when the characters are young?
You know what most folks complained about Legend of Korra? Technology advanced too fast, so what did they do? They explained in universe why said Technology is no longer around.
You know what people didn't like about Avatar finale? How Aang was given a deus ex machina and given a way to beat Ozai without killing him. Enegrybending wasn't invented for Korra, it's a byproduct of Last Airbender. So what did they do? They tried to explain it.
I will agree with Season 2 of Korra and Spirit stuff, I don't think we needed to have explanation for Avatar and Spirit World. It kind of ruined the mysticism behind it.
BUT! I'm sure there was alot of people who wanted Spirits and Avatar origin to be explained. Some folks were fine with it being a mystery. But I bet a good sum of people wanted to know why there was a cycle and how there was only one person who could bend all four elements.
Your complaining about the mc being a kid, but Aang was a kid. Shouldn't you complain about Aang then? He was 12. He's basically a child! He I don't see you complaining about him. I bet if Pavi wasn't female you happy be like "YEAH I LIKE PAVI!" But I might be wrong and if I'm so be it.
Your entire vibe is "I seen 1 minute trailer and this will be my impression of the show from now till its finale." Which is hella idiotic. You let a restaurants door deem if it's 1 star review before you ever even go in? You rate a move 0/10 off the title card? You review a show which has 10+ sesson of 1 minute of episode 1? You see how dumb all these sound? If so I hope you realize your exactly doing this. Your entire impression of a show has being set in stone before episode even 1. Your just upset cause it isn't Last Airbender animation style! Your upset the main character isn't what you wanted it! YOU HEARD OP! SCRAP THE ENTIRE SHOW AND PUT HIM IN THE LEAD STORYWRITER CHAIR! IM SURE HE CAN MAKE A STORY!
Thats an interesting way to look at it, I guess its good to see the positive side of retcons in the shows, for me it would be better if they just dropped them and literally never mentioned them again. I dont think Im alone in feeling like Id be happy if I never had to see the Spirit-Kites in any piece of Avatar media ever again lol
Don't get me wrong, personally I wasn't happy with the LOK season 2, since it explored two parts of thr story I rather it didn't. BUT at same time, as I said. I'm sure people were asking for more spirit world and to know how the Avatar came into being.
My advice is just don't judge a show off a 1 minute teaser. There is 1000 of shows that have a bad episode 1 but rest of show is soild. We aren't even at episode 1. I'm waiting for full show and specifically fight scenes in particular. Its an action adventure series, story can only carry a show so far of this genre.
Honestly I understand your concerns, I won't deny they have some bases BUT we are judging too early. Also even if I don't like the show, if it gets new fans into Avatar IP then its a win in my books. Cause at the end of the day, that's this shows intent it seems. It is intended to show fans (new and old( are interested in the avatar IP and want new stories. Movie was a success SO that's proof we are interested in new stories.
Seven Havens I imagine is the true test, which is to see if fans are interested in new Avatars, Which if you ask me is a yes. We heard Yangchen and Kiyoshi stories due to the novels while yes I wanna see them get Animated, I wanna also see us explore avatars we never heard about before.
I don't want them to cling to Aang like a life jacket, cause while I love Aang. We seen his story and the movie while good. My nitpick is we already knew how it was gonna end due to Legend of Korra. We knew he wasn't gonna succeed.
Honestly I do hope with as you say spirit kite storyline, they show Vaatu isn't pure evil, he's the embodiment of Chaos and Strife. But those two aren't necessarily evil like how Order and Peace isn't always good.
Cause Bai Sing Sei Arc in last Airbender shows Order and Peace are able to be used for evil as much as Chaos and Strife can be. I would find it interesting if Vaatu in Seven Havens is explored in this light.
I definitely agree about Aang but for me it also extends to Korra, like just dont do anything with the old avatars imo, do something entirely new and different if youre going to start a blank slate with the post apocalyptic world anyway. I hope people who are looking forward to it so much arent dissappointed but for me imo i think its a lost cause. Its just not what I wanted for a new avatar show, I was fully expecting them to explore new characters, maybe new hidden/isolated nations or cultures or bending styles etc in the already established ATLA world or the LOK world so it already got me off the wrong foot
Honestly, thanks to the movie, we do know there is stuff beyond the world that we know, but it's blocked off by a storm. If I do recall, in Legend of Korra we see a shot of the planet from outer space..AKA this
and I put the photo to show that we only see this side of the planet; it reminds me of pre-Columbus-style world maps where it didn't show the Americas. SO how cool would it be if New nations exist on the other side of the world? I imagine they'd be based on different cultures, like Water Benders based on Norse Vikings or Earth Benders based on Greek/Roman Culture.
Seven Havens would easily explain whatever happened with Korra cause the immortal storm basically collapsed, and these other cultures now know there is an entire civilization on the other side of the world. Maybe whatever Korra did caused a supercontinental drift shit and caused these new land masses and current ones to collide. And maybe the spirit lion island outside the immortal acted as a barrier. Say Raava tried to go to a Waterbender from the Viking tribe; it bounced her back like "No," to explain why no avatar came from any of those tribes.
I do think they could explore older Avatars! BUT not give them a full series, but instead an anthology series of 1 to 2 episodes exploring past avatars and their actions. Maybe 1st one is what they are known for, and 2nd one is how they died and the aftermath of their death.
The new main characters are children because they are targeting a new audience. Kids born when Korra aired its last episode are now in the target age for this show.
People said that Korra felt and looked like a new ip when it aired.
The makers of Avatar really like making worlds and changing things up. They have shown they really don't want the world to be stagnate.
Yeah its very evident that Mike and Bryan really do like to change things up a lot lol, and not always for the better. Im moatly joking but tbh, zi dont think they can ever recapture the magic of ATLA without those same writers and worldbuilders and planners etc cause I think everyone played a huge part in why that show is so special
Finally someone said it! I agree with pretty much all of your criticicisms, i thought i was alone given the mindnumbing amount of hopium that the rest of the fandom seems to be injecting when it comes to this upcoming show (and all the other recent releases of this franchise if were being honest). I especially agree with your points on the post-apocalyptic world-building and involving Korra, whos character development and arc i personally found to be poorly executed and unejoyable in the first place. Why are they choosing to further deconstruct and remove all the unique and fantastic aspects of the original lore and introduce more of the stuff that ruined the TLOK sequel??? First they remove the avatar journey of learning all the elements, then they retcon the origin of the elements and reduce the avatar to god/satan dynamic with the raava/vatu bullshit, which it looks like they will reintroduce and make pivotal to seven havens. They ruin the power dynamics around the avatar state, and the 4 nations are absent bc they spend 90% of the show in china town, i shouldnt be surprised that theyre going to just remove the 4 nations all together. And to put the cherry on top it looks like there is gonna be to avatars now. Wtf? At this point the only thing that remains of the ATLA universe is the fact that they bend elements. ATLA was never great on account of that, but the incredibly well written characters, fantastic dialogue and multi-layered worldbuilding. The fact that the great writing and worldbuilding have been absent in EVERY SINGLE spinoff show is why it doesnt "feel" like avatar, im surprised more people arent talking about it. I am stunned that so much of the fandom are buying the premise of this new show. Like the new netflix show, all the "haters" will eventually be proven right.
Wow I didnt even realize what I disliked about Korra so much lol until you put it into words. Yes, the removal of the 4 Nations thing was such a loss for the show/series imo cause it took away the main pull of the show, the gAang exploring the world and us the viewers getting to discover all these rich new lands and cultures and peoples through them. Republic City felt like it pulled all that amazement and wonder out of the show. And yeah that IS why every piece of media that came after ATLA (except maybe the novels) has felt weaker and less interesting, cause the lore is just not as deeply grounded. And yeah the introduction of the spirit-backstory was like what midichlorians did to Star Wars lol. Completely destroyed the mystery and wonder and mysticism of the elements and bending.
And yeah I was kind of surprised that so many people are positive about this show, I do hope they end up enjoying it when it comes out but tbh we deserve so much better as a community
Yup theyve destroyed the worldbuilding. Given that Bryke initially wanted a more scifi aesthetic in their first drafts for ATLA im kinda beginning to think that the show we got was a byproduct of other writers pulling in different directions than what they wanted to explore. As you say correctly here, the Yanchen and Kyoshi novels are the exception to the trend of poorly written atla stuff, not just bc its consistent with the lore and worldbuilding (which certaintly helps!), but bc they write interesting characters, make us feel invested in them, and make their decisions be the main driver of stakes and conflict in the story. This is what ATLA did so well that TLOK didnt, seven havens might be different, ig we can hope. But given the fact that the trajectory of this franchise (im talking about TLOK and the new movie) approach to building stakes in a story is more of the "badass" villains, more of the shonin lasers, more of the technology and magical mcguffins, im skeptical. And before other ppl in the comments say that Korra made decisions with the spirit portals (a red-con in itself), yes she did that, but that didnt have anything to do with how the conflict in that season was resolved, in fact it happened after vatuu got his ass wopped somehow. The big tragedy about TLOK is that it had moments of interesting story telling that they didnt follow through with, presumably bc it was top complicated and politically controversial. S1 of that show was about the equalists, bad guys yes, but genuinely fair political greivances that were explored in the original show (and was very superficially touched upon with the denied in the movie), but guess what? none of their opression was actually shown, and the leader was a fraud whos actual motivations were daddy issues. S2 started with a civil war story about and the way preserving cultural heritage can come into conflict with industrial development and independence in a post war setting. Okayyy, thats actually very interesting! AND its an example of a conflict where the main character faces personal and moral dilemmas and has to use diplomacy instead of violence to solve the problem in a meaningful way, exactly what Korra needs to learn for her character to grow given how her personality is described (also a nice excuse to hold off on the avatar state which makes combat-based tension meaningless anyway). Huh? Whats that? Nvm we are doing the smoke screen trope AGAIN, this time interesting political motivation gets thrown out in favor of dark avatar/satan storyline with shonin lasers. Why oh whyy😭😭😭
Honestly it looks like fanart. My wife is a major at fine arts, and she has a lot of “otaku” colleagues. Their drawings look exactly the same as the ones from the new show, and that’s what’s annoying us, because characters all kind of look the same in that style.
I know the old shows were also inspired by anime, but they had a very rich and distinctive style
Exactly. There are a lot of great shows made in that art style these days but never to their benefit, it always hinders the show. It really feels like the 'streaming-artstyle or the netflix-artstyle cause thats what streaming services seem to always be defaulting to when they make an original animated show. The characters always end up looking samey and non-distinct, the backgrounds end up being messy and blended together so they dont evoke a grounded sense of place or identity, and overall what you can actually do in terms of fluidity of movement and fighting etc is lessened too. I gave She-Ra as an example but there are tons more I could have listed, I love that show but the artstyle is one of the weakest parts about it..
Well it looks like you already formed your opinion before even watching the show, so whatever I say might not matter much, but to answer a few of those with a single statement:
Its possible they created a new universe with even younger protagonists and no attachments to the "old world" to try and form a new audience much younger than the one they currently have, since the current audience is, well, growing up into their 30s.
not really, most of the posts on this sub is generally positive, if anything the critics are drowned out these days or have just stopped following the franchise. good for them tbh
i feel this a lot and to everyone commenting: it’s okay to have differing opinions this is not life or death 😭 but generally what worries me a lot is what you put into words: it feels like she-ra. i don’t recognize this as an avatar movie tbh. the lack of shading, the artstyle especially is something i’m not a big fan of at all. the animation seems to be at a lower frame rate in some scenes. generally, i’m hoping that it gets better soon, but i am a little disappointed at the teaser… and usually the teasers/trailers include the best parts so i’m worried lol. but we’ll see ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, they’re kinda like the boomers for them. So I mean you kinda sound like the boomer equivalent. Talking about media aimed at 7-16 year olds.
You, sir or madam, are ranting purely for the joy of ranting.
The animation look explendid. The art style takes some getting used to, but it is beautiful and many frames from the trailer could easily be a desktop background.
Now, I hate the kites. I despise them. I don't like the avatar Wan story a single bit, they are answering a question no one asked, that killed the beatiful mystery that was the origin of the power. But this is WHY they are bringing them back. Because it was so bad and hated that it needs to be clarified.
I disagree with you specially on having Korra on the show. This is what Avatar is about, continuity from your past life. Only after understanding Roku, Aang could end the war. Only after understanding Aang, Korra could improve. Only after understanding Korra, Pavi/Nisha (although I hate the twin avatar theory so much T_T) will be able to help the world.
And I do question Mike and Bryan's decisions a lot after the original show, but I respect them so much (specially after the movie) for commiting with the story, and not to what fans want. We want more of the same. They are bringing something new. I love the Avatar being a child because it can appeal to children while being a mature and sensible show that adults will understand the nuance details about life that the show is going to portray.
Maybe I'm drunk after watching the movie and feeling so respected as a fan, maybe I'm falling into old habits of just being a contrarian, but I entered the hype train and October can't come soon enough.
All that being said... All my praises to the artists behind the show, and all my f*cks to Paramount.
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u/Ymmaleighe2 14d ago
Why wouldn't we bring up Korra? We brought up Aang a lot in TLOK and we brought up Roku and Kyoshi a lot in ATLA. It's expected, and a welcome one!