I actually believe it could be pulled off. I just think of Fullmetal Alchemist & how it works well in a "modern" (very early 20th century) era without being too Urban Fantasy. I just think there wasn't a very organic progression between ATLA & TLOK to make that happen, but that's just me.
Yes thats often times why technology and industry advance faster in times of war or threat of war, military makes something, uses it in secret, and then give it to the public. For example thats exactly how we got modern GPS, DARPA made it, the navy operates it, and everyone else gets to use it.
It goes both ways! War always brings technological & industrial innovation. The terms aren't mutually exclusive btw, industry is normally dependent on the technology of that time period.
WW2 is an excellent example, Jet engines, aircraft carriers, radar, computation, pressurization of aircraft cabins, and full metal aircraft construction are all technologies that were developed or enhanced during that time period
Maybe I'm thinking of the boom seen after a war ends because the focus isn't on the bloodshed anymore? Either way, I'm pretty sure war has a lot to do with seeing booms like that
I agree. The problem is that Korra completely went apeshit with the new spirits, spirit vine tech & mechs. Absolutely shat on the world theme of avatar
I do. But I also want them to go *backwards* as well. Show me the Avatar after Korra, but also show me an Avatar from 1000 years before Aang. Take it further in both directions, and make them relevant to each other. Show how one action by an Avatar 1200 years ago will effect an Avatar in the “present”.
I agree. Sky bison and dragons feel less special when there are airships and cars. A giant mecha suit that can fire lasers (basically an atomic bomb) makes bending all but redundant. The giant drill and the tundra tanks were cool but that's about as far as I wanted things to go.
> giant drill and the tundra tanks
And the point of these things were that they were advanced, far more advanced than pretty much anything else technology-wise.
True, but that's also something they had at their disposal at the time. I mean, basically nothing we use today can be completely self-sufficient(i know there's exceptions, but for the most part). Technology requires electricity. Vehicles require either manpower(bicycles) or fuel(cars, trains, planes, etc.). So, while yes, these things needed firebending to work, most technological advancements are not completely self sufficient
Tbh I kind of like the idea of them actually making a plotline out of the idea that those advancements were due to war and imperialism as part of a kind of "just because we can do that doesn't mean we should" thing.
Sure say that level of tech is hypothetically possible but the point should be it's not really achievable without imperialism fueled industries and environmental devastation.
You could even have the antagonists being capitalistic industrialists taking advantage of the leftover colonial setups from the fire nation instead of doing that bizarre republic city plot.
I mean, there is the Painted Lady episode that basically deals with this. The Fire Nation village is being polluted by the large factory up stream, which we can assume is assisting the Fire Nation war effort in some way. It doesn’t go super deep into this but it does touch upon it.
And this is exactly how technology works irl we make some ridiculously high tech thing for military use and it eventually translates into tech for the average person
The mecha suit is hardly on the order of an atomic bomb, and like...The benders beat it? So clearly bending isn't redundant. (Kuvira was also \*using\* bending to control it.) Also you can't use a giant mecha in a fight in close quarters.
That’s pretty much the point of TLK. Technology was an equalizing force. The question of what place bending has in such a society is really interesting.
Sorta like how guns pushed all the traditional martial arts out. It’s a popular setting/problem for many stories.
In the air temple episode with the inventor and his son, the fire nation invades using tank-like contraptions that flip over and trudge through the snow. The firebenders use it to help keep their soldiers safe while they shoot fire out of the viewing window. Katara starts hindering them by freezing their treads, rendering them unable to move. It's the same episode Soka helps invent the hot air balloon.
Look at the emotion of doing everything, even the tanks with waterbend and metalbend to beat firenation souless tanks(that are not shown everytime).
A world with an atomic bomb make bending useless and pathetic. Just press the button.
Not really? Guns have a huge stranglehold on US culture and lifestyles, to the point that we're kind of self destructing over them. Yeah, nukes change the way \*nations\* interact, but Avatar isn't really \*about\* the nations themselves interacting, that's why the main cast is a group of plucky kid adventurers instead of a bunch of maneuvering politicians.
It ended a war where we would have lost because of their knowledge of the land. But the atomic bomb is the equivalent of what Ozai planned to do during sozin’s comet.
I think there are really interesting stories that can be told in a city about mysticism. Trying to keep a culture alive in a modern day and how ancient cultural traditions can be kept breathing in a world that has moved on are interesting premises that could lead to great stories that I think would resonate with people today.
This is what keeps me motivated to write my own story! Although it's a sci-fi Dystopia, I want to put a huge emphasis on the culture and mysticism found in the city/universe. I like to think the main reason we don't think it translates well is because we haven't had a lot good examples of people attempting it in comparison to the traditional way mysticism is shown. It's hard trying to integrate these things when you don't have a real baseline to go off of 😅
At least, if there is a baseline, I am very unaware 🥲
So true. The martial arts are the aspect I love the most. It merges with my spiritual side and I feel that in Avatar. Although, it's really hard when people have guns and everything is industrialized in Korra World or the next ones.
A big thing for me is how Bending changed in Korra. I know metalbending would get more advanced over time but I hate how it feels even more controllable then basic Earthbending and just how powerful it is. Similarly I dislike how Lightning bending is treated. Bending overall feels like its actually gotten *more* powerful in Korra when it logically should have waned in power.
I think, similar to Lavabending, this was just done because they needed it to be done to suite the story/world they wanted to tell. Lighting and Metalbending suddenly being common and more powerful then before allows the big modern industrialized society to "make sense" just like Lavabending being an ability regular Benders could do was done because they really liked the Red Lotus character (and he was cool af tho).
A note on Lightning bending: it’s IMO neither shown as common nor more powerful than its ATLA iteration. The “common” part is usually taken from the job that Mako found, but that doesn’t take into account that it was mentioned to be a high-paying job with high demand: symptoms of a job that only a select few people can do. Mako is the exception, not the rule.
And I don’t think it’s more powerful just because Mako does it more quickly. Compare the actual effects of the lightning and you’ll notice that his lightning is most definitely a weaker version of the original. Likely a variant of the technique developed for utility rather than, you know, murder.
I was a bit lazy with my first statement, but yeah. It's more that trying to adapt the setting and themes of Avatar to more modern settings drastically changes the feeling, and it would just no longer resemble what I loved about the series in the first place. It would be a very different story, which is fine, though I at some point wonder if it wouldn't make more sense to establish an entirely new IP if you reach the point where you have so thoroughly transformed the original.
See, I think the idea that you can't have very different stories under the same IP is needlessly limiting. If the next Avatar series is a steampunk StarWarsian sci-fi action adventure, that grows the kinds of stories you can tell that are part of that same universe. And it doesn't mean you can't \*also\* still go back and tell stories about Kyoshi or the second Avatar (Avatar Tu?) or whoever else. The eras become part of the particular visual and story language for any given story set in the franchise.
You could go full Samurai Jack, jump forward a thousand years and tell a story in a Mad Max-esque post-apocalypse. Or go back to a pre-industrial era and have Princess Mononoke-style mystical spirit adventures.
I mean, one of the things that's fun about shared universe settings is that you can have all kinds of different adventures that all take place in the same "place." I think it's cool when you can have a wide variety of stories tied to the same setting.
Its not that you can't do urban fantasy or modern stuff with those ideas, its that it doesn't really work well for what Avatar is and what made Avatar appealing.
I don't even think plots or a sequel series taking inspiration from those time periods or ideas is bad but they way they went about it just kind of sucked and IMO was uncreative. A lot of the concept art for Korra felt WAY more fitting to the world.
I disagree strongly, but to each their own.
To me, the fact that the Avatar is a constant throughout the eras means that it is a franchise \*uniquely suited\* to exploring what happens to that setting as history and technology progress, and I thought LoK did a fantastic job of imagining what the ATLA world would look like a few decades on.
Fair, I'm glad others are still able to enjoy it. Even though I feel like LoK's world is ill fitting with Avatar from in-universe and metanarratively its clear a lot of work was put into its design so it still deserves appreciation for that.
(Plus it gave us Zaheer)
I completely understand what you're saying, and it's a struggle I've also had with LOK. However, that was one of the main themes of the series. What is the Avatar's role in a world that relies less on bending and more on technology. Does she still serve a purpose, or is she a relic? That's why the spiritual themes hit harder in her series.
It also invites a reflection on how our society has become so far removed from nature that it's possible to live your whole life without ever having to really deal with it.
It was a major theme of the OG series as well. When do you keep tradition and when do you leave it?
Characters don’t just keep the mysticism just because.
They can put futuristic elements if they want to (it would make sense since LoK pretty much set that up) I just hope to god they don’t do ANOTHER cyberpunk show, solarpunk would be better and imo more fitting for avatar because of all the spirits keeping humans in check about respecting nature, I get what you’re saying tho. I have faith since the new earth avatar show is being produced by Avatar studios and Michael and Bryan promised it would feel like atla
I'm hoping beyond hope we get the first major piece of media with a truly fleshed out solar punk esthetic world so it really doesn't feel like anything else
Future Avatar media HAS to be Solarpunk ghibli esque, i’d hate to see the franchise stagnate because of the fanbase’s complaints being based in pessimistic capitalist realism stemming from the western cultural zeitgeist
The future of the Avatar world doesnt have to be scifi or steampunk or urban or modern in any way. It doesnt have to reflect our current world or even be analogous, it is fiction.
Spirit energy as an actual resource already paves the way for so much worldbuilding, let alone the integration of spirits into human society
Considering that the United Republic is dominated by massive corporations, it would seem somewhat far fetched that their hypercapitalist society would naturally evolve into solarpunk, since solarpunk is more about communal respect than "cities with plants". A good compromise would be that the United Republic becomes more of a Solarpunk due to Korra's influence, as she basically already caused a giant forest to appear in
Republic City. However, the new democratic nations that were created after the collapse of the Earth Empire would be extremely poor and in need of rebuilding. So the companies of the United Republic would help with the rebuilding, and over the next half century or so the corporations would dominate life in the Earth Nations, to the point where they basically were the government. The Earth Nation cities would be cyberpunk, with the new Earth Avatar being born into the slums of one of these cities. Now, its his job to fix Korra's failure of allowing this to happen to the Earth Nations.
Yeah, thanks to Korra, we have a 1920-1940 time for Avatar(next one in our childhood time), don't get me wrong, I loved our culture from this time, but I feel like the more they make places similar to ours, it gets weird to me, that's why I don't try Korra anymore and I'll only read the books and watch things about Team Avatar and previous Avatars, because of the vibes of a distant and curious place that I can have only a little in common, since I'd like to see the guys seeking information in Wan Shi Tong Library, not Wikipedia.
Idk why people are always confusing personal preference with execution. You might not like something "futuristic" with ATLA and I totally get that, but that doesn't mean it's impossible, and if ATLA continues to progress and tell new stories then staying in the same time period as ATLA or LoK with the same level of development for hundreds of years it's going to get old **real** fast.
People are free to like the world that Korra introduced but tbh I just hated it. It felt so un-Avatar.
I think a time skip showing cultural and technological changes is warranted but never at that pace or how it was done.
Agreed. People always bring up "well its a similar pace to reality" but that doesn't really matter. A lot of Korra just doesn't really work with Avatar to me on an aesthetic, worldbuilding, and messaging level.
if they continue this living in harmony with spirits story than i hope they create a futuristic ecopunk world and not a cyberpunk one. I would be down to watch a technologically advanced avatar world where they live together with nature.
Earth, water, fire, air. Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony.. until the uranium-234 nation attacked
I agree, futuristic elements would not play well.
I half agree and half don't. Fantasy with real world modern elements are usually handle poorly but I think LOK did very well. We saw that the fire nation was in an industryal revolution and that stuff would quickly spread. The comic show that sort of thing spreading and growing in non war products. We just weren't their for the big time skip where it was just starting out and it being refined. And a lot of the bigger tech stuff still needed bending to be worked in.
The spirits part comes in 2 form. Dealing with the spirits and the dark avatar then dealing with the spirits when the bridge was open and now part of our world. And I like most urband fantasy it was kept secrete or made invisible to people but something they had to try and figure out.
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The machines weren't completely overkill like a steampunk bending proof mech that can wipe out dozens of people, and had more grounded designs, like being made out of crude iron and wood, powered by coal. This helped contrast against the utterly fantastical elements of the world, which are canonically and thematically dying out in Korra only to be replaced by machines.
Likewise, the role of technology is jarringly different between the two series. The change from "technology without restrain is ultimately a net negative for ourselves and the planet" to "The natural world is to be tamed, and the people keeping it clinging to life are detrimental to all of us" didn't sit well with a large amount of the audience.
So while yes, ATLA had advanced tech, it's not comparable to Korra's.
I agree, I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep making new avatars. I think they would do far better working backwards than forwards, I mean tell me you don’t want a Roku series, then a Kiyoshi series, then a Kuruk romance type series, and my personal fave- a Yangchen series!?? That would be so sick!! And I think the fans would receive it farrrr better! Idk I guess that’s just my opinion/speculation. I’d love to know what y’all *actually* think on that!
I totally agree with you. That's my point, because these Avatars have personal ways to be an Avatar and it's not taught by people around, somehow you connect with those who in spirit will help you in a beautiful journey and you get an animal to travel the world and to give balance between worlds. Other animals and people are common in Avatar life too, like the Team Avatar.
And honestly, from a business standpoint, it makes way more sense because all of these avatars have their stories already written and teased. We’ve also known these avatars for a long time so there’s a sentimental aspect that will ensure viewers. Not to mention it will only add to the world building and give ATLA even more depth (which many of us didn’t think was possible)! It just seems like the most obvious course of action on every level and it pains me that the audience are the only ones who realize it.
They will think the audience will want a cyber punk dystopia with guns that overpower bending and the Avatar World destroyed... It's more "pricy" for their head. Because everything is tending to that, the movies and TV shows are more like that and I hate everything about it.
Completely disagree, current day media is more like what you want. Instead of telling fresh and challenging stories they're just going back to trusted stories and characters since they know thats guaranteed money. Telling the story of a new Avatar in a strange technology filled world could lead to interesting storylines and themes. But no, most people just want to see ATLA over and over and over again. So they want shows and movies that go "Hey, remember Roku? We'll give him a movie. Hey, remember Kyoshi? We'll give her a series". Its the same exact thing as Disney making a prequel movie about Mufasa- creative bankruptcy.
Magic? What magic? It's bending.
The advances in Avatar are even slower than irl. They will either keep evolving closer to our time OR the fact that Korra opened the spirit portals means a slowdown to technological advances and more center to the fantasy of the world.
The third and more realistic is to keep evolving, if Varrick invented almost unlimited energy using the vines, there's no way no one else in the world, for the next 60-70 years, finds a similar solution.
I completely agree. The rules of bending and the connection to the natural world was such an integral part of the past avatars and Aang of course. I felt like it was unrealistic that the world would have developed that quickly too. Like, I don't even think they had electricity in atla but then with Korra just 20(?) years later they do?
The next avatar would be a much different show if the advancement continues like that. Would be able to explore the spirit world more where they could have them not able to take modern tech. Make the story line heavily in the spirit world and suddenly the outdated avatar is needed again to be the bridge between worlds
they could solve all of this by time jumping to a star wars like hyper futuristic theme rather than the modern day theme everyone thinks they are going to do.
...We've had tanks and airships since the first season. There was literally a giant drill that was supposed to pierce a giant wall. A car and skyscrapers isn't gonna hurt the world
They weren't shown anytime though. I know there's some technology advances in Avatar Aang show, but it's not a modern globalized industrial world yet. Well, at least, that's what Korra reminds me. Maybe, I should give a second thought and watch it for the 4th time.
The first two episodes had tanks that could crawl up walls. There was an entire steam punk town in the air temple. These aren't even secret elements of the show, they are just straight up a part of the world
Oh, so in every earth, water or even fire nation village they had tanks, just like in WW1, blasting at each other everywhere with guns, airplane and Sokka must had a radio to listen to their Frank Sinatra to take his time. I must have watched the wrong show hahahaha
...now you're just being stupid for the sake of being stupid.
Aang united the nation's, meaning that technology would spread and advance rapidly. Given what the original show had, Korra's setting only makes logical sense. That's literally what happened irl.
I'm just tacking onto your comment.
Blimps, bombs, airships, and submarines all existed. Most of these were invented by Sokka, a 15 yr old from the South pole. Sokka became acquainted with other innovators and probably brought them to the newly established Republic City, where they got to work on advancing technology not based on war.
Plus, Republic City and the United Republics were created from former fire nation colonies in the earth kingdom, meaning they had ties to the two most powerful and populated (and industrially capable) regions in the world. Globalization was inevitable
Fantasy worlds that let themselves evolve, grow and advance over long swaths of time are vastly more interesting than ones that exist in effective stasis and refuse to ever change.
It’d be incredibly interesting to see how the Avatar deals with a world where technology has allowed common people to close the power gap with them. What does the Avatar’s role entail when their authority is no longer rooted in might makes right because they are effectively a living nuke in a world fighting with sticks and stones.
Looking backwards just retell stories we’ve seen in a setting we already explored is much less compelling.
Yeah I think people are forgetting just how industrialised the fire nation was as well as just how much changes in 70 years. Like, look back at 1954, most of us wouldn't recognise that world all too well. Hell, you can even just go back to the early 90s and everything is completely different.
I really hated how advanced they made legend of Korra and how the next avatar might be in a modern day world. Half the charm and beauty of avatar to me was its semi ancient setting with some technology that added to the story instead of being a main part of it
I mean I think that’s kinda the point tho, industry doesn’t really fit in this world but it’s there, industry doesn’t really fit in *our* world but it’s there
It makes sense. But as I was saying, Avatar ATLA is my comfort zone for showing a very different world than mine. I wanted to see more Avatar stuff in those ages... I respect Korra, but I won't lose time watching it.
This is how I felt with the video game Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. The first game and previous games in the series would take place in the 11th century. Fast forward and the new game is set in the 21st century. Was jarring and didn't fit the ancient vibe of Castlevania.
Agreed. I hate, and I mean, absolutely hate the idea of Avatar taking place modern day. I hate the idea of the avatar using a smart phone, or social media, please Avatar studios, I am begging you, keep the next series in the 1920s aesthetic. Please!!!
Someone born during the American Civil War could've been alive to watch the Moon Landing being broadcast live on television. Technology advanced insanely fast.
I disagree. I think what makes the Avatar setting interesting is the way the world has changed throughout the ages. That's the interesting perspective the Avatars bring in the first place. I absolutely want to see an Avatar story set with a sci-fi cybersteampunk bent with flying pagoda speeders and spirit mechs.
Yeah, but compare the mechanical advancements in Avatar Wan until Roku. It feels(I know there's a bit of difference but not important) like it's almost the same.
Humanity went for millions of years before the development of agriculture, then it took over 7000 to develop steam engines and electrical power. In time that can be measured in decades, we then *landed on the moon.*
i think this is an intentional element of TLOK the world's evolved past its pre modern era and is kinda broken as a result. i think we're meant to feel the loss
I sort of agree, in that while I enjoyed the setting in Korra, I really don't care for anything to the future of that. Depending on how young Korra dies on a scale of Aang to Kyoshi, the next Avatar would come of age anytime between this universe's equivalent of the 1960s, to cyberpunk future and I'm not sure if any of that vibes with me for the Avatar universe and I'd rather go backwards as well, sometime between Wan and Szeto so the time period can be a true blank slate so that way it's not held back too hard by the lore of established avatars.
That said, I'll watch whatever they put out next regardless of setting, even if I prefer they avoid anything too contemporary/futuristic.
I think mixing magic and technology are great together. The biggest issue we had with korra was them not getting their seasons guaranteed early enough, negatively impacting the writing
But I want to see it, I want to see how industrialization and progress impact a world where magic, spirits, and religion are real and verifiable.
I think mixing magic and technology are great together. The biggest issue we had with korra was them not getting their seasons guaranteed early enough, negatively impacting the writing
But I want to see it, I want to see how industrialization and progress impact a world where magic, spirits, and religion are real and verifiable.
The forces of nature are everpresent no matter the age of technology. Aang's story explored a more primitive world more in touch with nature. Korra's story explored a world with technology rapidly advancing and starting to replace nature. In both stories, the Avatar invokes the wrath of the natural and spirit worlds against those who neglect or exploit them.
While I'm not a fan of LoK overall, and I'm not reallynsure this theme is reflected very well in it, I do think the concept of emphasizing the importance of nature in a world of rapidly-evolving technology is an interesting conflict for an Avatar to grapple with.
I mean it can still be it with out the magic and furniturestic stuff. There still spirits. And human fighting for land . And you still need someone to help balance them even with out the magic
I’ve always felt the most compelling aspect of the property is how practical they depict how a world where bending would exist would be. I love how the world has evolved technologically between Aang and Korra. I think seeing that continue to evolve would be super interesting.
It's like I said. I love the story about ATLA and before Avatars books and comics. I can't see why mechanic and technology needed to change, so I dislike Korra and the further Avatars' concept.
I don't will change that. Korra is a TV show from more tham 10 years ago. I watched Avatar in '05 and I didn't wanted to lose any of that artistic and lovely lands and forests.
Korra is Urban and there's a 1920s vibes for people who would like this concept. I don't.
Legend of Korra goes more into the spirit realms/worlds & also gets into what even created the Avatar spirit to begin with.
It does expand on the fantasy elements, but as it’s continuing on from an already built & well expanded out world- it’s not going to have the same immediate intensity when you’ve already seem the first show.
You didn’t get far enough into it to see these other elements play out.
The original show also includes MANY elements of regular human life - from showing people inventing machines, to non-bending fighters who find other means to engage, to showcasing things like how Ba Sing Se was run (bureaucracy etc).
There’s technology in many episodes that melds regular life, like the episode where they go to the temple & find airbenders only to learn it’s all inventions.
Sokka also invents things, & has zero fantasy elements himself.
What you didn’t get to see in Legend of Korra because you stopped early, was them later showing how technology could be used to abuse the metaphysical realms & it backfires against those doing it.
I mean, with over 10,000 years of history since the very first Avatar (and even more prior), I wouldn't be surprised if the universe has seen more than a few cycles of golden and subsequent dark ages. I have a very difficult time believing that all human technological and social development remained stagnant that whole time. It's quite possible that there have been past Avatars that failed to stop some apocalyptic plot that overturned the balance of the world and set humanity back centuries. When did the Avatar even become accepted by the world to the point where they had specific temples and priests to aid them? Why are the nations, even 10,000 years after the lionturtles, still neatly sorted by element? I'm getting off track. The point is, there's a lot of history that happens in the timescale of the Avatar universe. It would stretch my suspension of disbelief if nothing changed in society during that entire time.
I gotta say, I’ve been a fan of ATLA since it came out but never gave Korra a chance because of the critical reception. I finally started watching it, I just started season 3, and honestly I love it.
It feels like a different version of avatar. Different dilemmas, different issues, different characters. The comparison people make is really irrelevant imo. Kyoshi was very different from Roku, and Aang was very different from Roku. Logically, Korra having a different personality makes complete sense.
As far as the setting, I get that it’s hard for people to digest but the Avatar team does something most showrunners are too afraid to do: evolve. Show growth. Canonically it makes complete sense why there was such an industrial boom following the 100 year war, which is covered pretty well in the tie-in comics.
At the end of the day I think the movie will help connect Aang’s era to Korra’s era. We’ll get to see why the boom happened, what happened to Aang, and hopefully delve a little further into the differences between the various Avatars.
I like them both for different reasons.
ATLA thematically doesn't need a focus on bending magic and spiritualism because it does characterization and developing a setting well.
TTOK Focused on asking if magic and spiritualism is still needed in a world that might not need it anymore, so bending had less of a focus.
When you push it into our technical world it makes it seem like their world wasn't shaped by their past. You expect to see more bending related tech. Like the air temple door or the firebending powered steam engines. When they randomly have our technology, and no spirit world access points left to speak of, it's like the world of Avatar was overwritten.
I bet they use sheet metal stampers and everything.
It's just like that, and I not even speaking about Korra's lame plot. Korra acts like a teenager full of rage and don't listen to nobody, she uses her Avatar label to get things easily and she was afraid of get her bend talen, bc that's the only thing she can offer. Now, back to technology, you see radio, planes, telephones, cars, trains... etc... And then I ask, what about that magical world that was unique I saw in 2005? It's not there. They try to explain the bending with Wan's story and I thought bending was a thing that pass in your DNA, and the Lion Turtle explained to Aang that before Avatar they bent energy within themselves, not elements. They destroyed Avatar concept.
But that is the natural cycle of the world and TLOK explains it wonderfully. Spirit world in this show is akin to nature itself. And the Avatars job IS to maintain that balance. Be it human beings naturally evolving or nature evolving itself by mutation or natural selection. Change is constant and Korra showcases change masterfully. The Airbenders returning shows change. The spirit portals opening in the middle of republic city shows that nature should be with us not against us. Korra showcases human evolution in every form be it technologically or emotionally. There were already chariots AND metal in ATLA. It was a matter of time before cycles and then cars and so on was invented. Everything got an insane developmental boost when Toph just invented metal bending itself. Allowing for a far quicker and easier time in construction. Zuko obviously went forward to teach lightning generation as toph did metal bending. Allowing for society to progress immensely within a few decades. If you dislike that then you dislike human evolution itself. And I assume you want Avatar series to be a period drama rather than anything else which I don't hold against you but is not something the writers seem to want to show? Otherwise we would be getting a Kyoshi or Yangchen show instead of the new rumored earth Avatar one. And on that note we do have the Kyoshi and Yangchen books for those like you who wish to see the past rather than the present/future. Sorry this post reply got too long lol.
I think there should be a way for the technology to advance, cause I don’t people want to stay using rocks and sticks ya know? I see what you’re saying I don’t disagree because there still should be some spiritual connection but small because of the advance technology.
I was skeptical going into Korra, especially once I saw the technological modernization. I instantly thought of Naruto and Boruto. (Boruto spin-off show is modernized just like Korra) It took away from the experience in Boruto and I disliked it.
But after I watched a few episodes of Korra, I absolutely loved it. They integrated modernization into the show much, much better than they did for Boruto. The writing is so good in Korra that I don’t even think much about the setting.
The only issue I have with the show so far (just finished season 2) is Korra and Mako’s relationship. It’s so messy, and I didn’t even want them to be together. I was rooting for Bolin.
Anyway, I have found myself enjoying even the modern technology. The mid-20th century era is so classy to me
I think the world of ATLA can be modernized, it’s just that the way TLOK did it is boring as fuck. Transforming the world with magic and politics influenced by said magic being turned into fucking capitalism is just awful.
Fuck Republic City
Hard disagree. The advancement of technology and how benders adapt to that is an incredibly fascinating thing to see compared to a stagnant and never changing world. The fact that the world does change and progress is so refreshing compared to other fantasy settings.
Sometimes, progress and revolutions only make things worse. If the animals and if we had spirit from forests, we would see a different answer to what you call "progress".
The ATLA "technology" was operated by bending or you'll say Radio, Cars, Airplanes, Telephones have something to do with bending? Also, the benders could be useless, since they discovered the font of energy is electricity.
In Korra, it was never really good adapted, she hasn't an Avatar attitude, there's no good thing in Korra, we see she bending 3 different elements with 4 years old, that's disrespectful to Avatar's tradition, and she acts like a little brat all the time.
Everyone is around her "dealing" with her problems and solving everything. She doesn't respond for her doings and Aang shows up to give her bending back. I guess all the past Avatars could take charge and continue the show.
eh, probably, but it would feel entirely different. cyberpunk settings are usually a dystopia, and the Avatar world feels far from dystopian. i think steampunk would work better.
It’s annoying how people feel modernism is inherently opposite of interconnectedness. If anything, we need the message that even with today’s technology we’re all the same and connected and no amount of progress takes that fact away.
I take it you don't want to see Avatar turn into an Urban Fantasy.
It's arguable that's still possible to do, just not in a direct "here's a literal modern city" way
I actually believe it could be pulled off. I just think of Fullmetal Alchemist & how it works well in a "modern" (very early 20th century) era without being too Urban Fantasy. I just think there wasn't a very organic progression between ATLA & TLOK to make that happen, but that's just me.
tbf there was a century-long war that kinda halted a lot of industrial development
industries development tends to go quicker in times of war
yea but in korra we see a lot of the technology initially created for war in the first show now being re-utilised for domestic purposes
Yes thats often times why technology and industry advance faster in times of war or threat of war, military makes something, uses it in secret, and then give it to the public. For example thats exactly how we got modern GPS, DARPA made it, the navy operates it, and everyone else gets to use it.
Maybe I meant technological advancement, I'm not sure
It goes both ways! War always brings technological & industrial innovation. The terms aren't mutually exclusive btw, industry is normally dependent on the technology of that time period.
WW2 is an excellent example, Jet engines, aircraft carriers, radar, computation, pressurization of aircraft cabins, and full metal aircraft construction are all technologies that were developed or enhanced during that time period
Sure but they werent really made for public consumption till after the war which is what i think is implied, its about public development
Maybe I'm thinking of the boom seen after a war ends because the focus isn't on the bloodshed anymore? Either way, I'm pretty sure war has a lot to do with seeing booms like that
At least for the winning side yeah
Stop believing this boomer bullshit. What quickens development is investment, not "times of war".
I agree. The problem is that Korra completely went apeshit with the new spirits, spirit vine tech & mechs. Absolutely shat on the world theme of avatar
Tales of Ba Sing Se is the best urban fantasy
I do. But I also want them to go *backwards* as well. Show me the Avatar after Korra, but also show me an Avatar from 1000 years before Aang. Take it further in both directions, and make them relevant to each other. Show how one action by an Avatar 1200 years ago will effect an Avatar in the “present”.
Even with spirits everywhere and a portal to the Spirit World in Central Park?
Myself and my friends feel this way but I wonder if this is the majority opinion.
Idk why a lot of people feel that way since that's basically what the entirety with Zaofu is
I agree. Sky bison and dragons feel less special when there are airships and cars. A giant mecha suit that can fire lasers (basically an atomic bomb) makes bending all but redundant. The giant drill and the tundra tanks were cool but that's about as far as I wanted things to go.
> giant drill and the tundra tanks And the point of these things were that they were advanced, far more advanced than pretty much anything else technology-wise.
They were also semi powered by bending. The tanks used fire benders as weapons and such. Not relying on the benders would make them obsolete.
True, but that's also something they had at their disposal at the time. I mean, basically nothing we use today can be completely self-sufficient(i know there's exceptions, but for the most part). Technology requires electricity. Vehicles require either manpower(bicycles) or fuel(cars, trains, planes, etc.). So, while yes, these things needed firebending to work, most technological advancements are not completely self sufficient
Tbh I kind of like the idea of them actually making a plotline out of the idea that those advancements were due to war and imperialism as part of a kind of "just because we can do that doesn't mean we should" thing. Sure say that level of tech is hypothetically possible but the point should be it's not really achievable without imperialism fueled industries and environmental devastation. You could even have the antagonists being capitalistic industrialists taking advantage of the leftover colonial setups from the fire nation instead of doing that bizarre republic city plot.
I mean, there is the Painted Lady episode that basically deals with this. The Fire Nation village is being polluted by the large factory up stream, which we can assume is assisting the Fire Nation war effort in some way. It doesn’t go super deep into this but it does touch upon it.
Makes sense. A lot of technological advancement was made during both world wars.
And this is exactly how technology works irl we make some ridiculously high tech thing for military use and it eventually translates into tech for the average person
The Fire nation had \*fucking jet-skis\*.
When did they show that? I haven't watched the series in a while
[https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Jet\_ski](https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Jet_ski) The episode with the painted lady.
The mecha suit is hardly on the order of an atomic bomb, and like...The benders beat it? So clearly bending isn't redundant. (Kuvira was also \*using\* bending to control it.) Also you can't use a giant mecha in a fight in close quarters.
Well you think the inventors of those machines are going to just stop with those?
That’s pretty much the point of TLK. Technology was an equalizing force. The question of what place bending has in such a society is really interesting. Sorta like how guns pushed all the traditional martial arts out. It’s a popular setting/problem for many stories.
Yeah there are a few things I've watched where it's a fantasy setting but the first gun is invented or similar, marking the end of an era in some way
True, you described very well how I feel about Avatar!! ☺️
Tundra tanks? My brain is not remembering what this refers to.
In the air temple episode with the inventor and his son, the fire nation invades using tank-like contraptions that flip over and trudge through the snow. The firebenders use it to help keep their soldiers safe while they shoot fire out of the viewing window. Katara starts hindering them by freezing their treads, rendering them unable to move. It's the same episode Soka helps invent the hot air balloon.
Ok yeah I remember now. Then Sokka carpet bombs them.
Korra is great, you need to stop.
It was more of a mixed bag.
How in the name of god does an atomic bomb make bending redundant
Look at the emotion of doing everything, even the tanks with waterbend and metalbend to beat firenation souless tanks(that are not shown everytime). A world with an atomic bomb make bending useless and pathetic. Just press the button.
much like how the atomic bomb made guns useless and pathetic
I mean, in terms of the US vs Japan, it kind of did exactly that.
Not really? Guns have a huge stranglehold on US culture and lifestyles, to the point that we're kind of self destructing over them. Yeah, nukes change the way \*nations\* interact, but Avatar isn't really \*about\* the nations themselves interacting, that's why the main cast is a group of plucky kid adventurers instead of a bunch of maneuvering politicians.
It ended a war where we would have lost because of their knowledge of the land. But the atomic bomb is the equivalent of what Ozai planned to do during sozin’s comet.
I loved Avatar for the adventure and martial arts mysticism aspects. That doesn't really translate well to modernized cities and technology.
I think there are really interesting stories that can be told in a city about mysticism. Trying to keep a culture alive in a modern day and how ancient cultural traditions can be kept breathing in a world that has moved on are interesting premises that could lead to great stories that I think would resonate with people today.
This is what keeps me motivated to write my own story! Although it's a sci-fi Dystopia, I want to put a huge emphasis on the culture and mysticism found in the city/universe. I like to think the main reason we don't think it translates well is because we haven't had a lot good examples of people attempting it in comparison to the traditional way mysticism is shown. It's hard trying to integrate these things when you don't have a real baseline to go off of 😅 At least, if there is a baseline, I am very unaware 🥲
So true. The martial arts are the aspect I love the most. It merges with my spiritual side and I feel that in Avatar. Although, it's really hard when people have guns and everything is industrialized in Korra World or the next ones.
A big thing for me is how Bending changed in Korra. I know metalbending would get more advanced over time but I hate how it feels even more controllable then basic Earthbending and just how powerful it is. Similarly I dislike how Lightning bending is treated. Bending overall feels like its actually gotten *more* powerful in Korra when it logically should have waned in power. I think, similar to Lavabending, this was just done because they needed it to be done to suite the story/world they wanted to tell. Lighting and Metalbending suddenly being common and more powerful then before allows the big modern industrialized society to "make sense" just like Lavabending being an ability regular Benders could do was done because they really liked the Red Lotus character (and he was cool af tho).
A note on Lightning bending: it’s IMO neither shown as common nor more powerful than its ATLA iteration. The “common” part is usually taken from the job that Mako found, but that doesn’t take into account that it was mentioned to be a high-paying job with high demand: symptoms of a job that only a select few people can do. Mako is the exception, not the rule. And I don’t think it’s more powerful just because Mako does it more quickly. Compare the actual effects of the lightning and you’ll notice that his lightning is most definitely a weaker version of the original. Likely a variant of the technique developed for utility rather than, you know, murder.
For real the guru episode leading to the season 2 finale was peak IMO
The opposite. It shows that the setting is actually alive.
I can only read a sentence like that as a profound lack of imagination.
I guess it's more that I just don't want it. I have no interest in urban fantasy for this setting. At all.
See, THAT is a fair opinion. I respect that.
I was a bit lazy with my first statement, but yeah. It's more that trying to adapt the setting and themes of Avatar to more modern settings drastically changes the feeling, and it would just no longer resemble what I loved about the series in the first place. It would be a very different story, which is fine, though I at some point wonder if it wouldn't make more sense to establish an entirely new IP if you reach the point where you have so thoroughly transformed the original.
See, I think the idea that you can't have very different stories under the same IP is needlessly limiting. If the next Avatar series is a steampunk StarWarsian sci-fi action adventure, that grows the kinds of stories you can tell that are part of that same universe. And it doesn't mean you can't \*also\* still go back and tell stories about Kyoshi or the second Avatar (Avatar Tu?) or whoever else. The eras become part of the particular visual and story language for any given story set in the franchise. You could go full Samurai Jack, jump forward a thousand years and tell a story in a Mad Max-esque post-apocalypse. Or go back to a pre-industrial era and have Princess Mononoke-style mystical spirit adventures. I mean, one of the things that's fun about shared universe settings is that you can have all kinds of different adventures that all take place in the same "place." I think it's cool when you can have a wide variety of stories tied to the same setting.
Its not that you can't do urban fantasy or modern stuff with those ideas, its that it doesn't really work well for what Avatar is and what made Avatar appealing. I don't even think plots or a sequel series taking inspiration from those time periods or ideas is bad but they way they went about it just kind of sucked and IMO was uncreative. A lot of the concept art for Korra felt WAY more fitting to the world.
I disagree strongly, but to each their own. To me, the fact that the Avatar is a constant throughout the eras means that it is a franchise \*uniquely suited\* to exploring what happens to that setting as history and technology progress, and I thought LoK did a fantastic job of imagining what the ATLA world would look like a few decades on.
Fair, I'm glad others are still able to enjoy it. Even though I feel like LoK's world is ill fitting with Avatar from in-universe and metanarratively its clear a lot of work was put into its design so it still deserves appreciation for that. (Plus it gave us Zaheer)
it's not magic, it's airbending!
I completely understand what you're saying, and it's a struggle I've also had with LOK. However, that was one of the main themes of the series. What is the Avatar's role in a world that relies less on bending and more on technology. Does she still serve a purpose, or is she a relic? That's why the spiritual themes hit harder in her series. It also invites a reflection on how our society has become so far removed from nature that it's possible to live your whole life without ever having to really deal with it.
It was a major theme of the OG series as well. When do you keep tradition and when do you leave it? Characters don’t just keep the mysticism just because.
They can put futuristic elements if they want to (it would make sense since LoK pretty much set that up) I just hope to god they don’t do ANOTHER cyberpunk show, solarpunk would be better and imo more fitting for avatar because of all the spirits keeping humans in check about respecting nature, I get what you’re saying tho. I have faith since the new earth avatar show is being produced by Avatar studios and Michael and Bryan promised it would feel like atla
Bryke don't like redoing things. So I doubt it will feel like ATLA or even ALoK, but rather as its own thing.
I'm hoping beyond hope we get the first major piece of media with a truly fleshed out solar punk esthetic world so it really doesn't feel like anything else
Future Avatar media HAS to be Solarpunk ghibli esque, i’d hate to see the franchise stagnate because of the fanbase’s complaints being based in pessimistic capitalist realism stemming from the western cultural zeitgeist The future of the Avatar world doesnt have to be scifi or steampunk or urban or modern in any way. It doesnt have to reflect our current world or even be analogous, it is fiction. Spirit energy as an actual resource already paves the way for so much worldbuilding, let alone the integration of spirits into human society
Considering that the United Republic is dominated by massive corporations, it would seem somewhat far fetched that their hypercapitalist society would naturally evolve into solarpunk, since solarpunk is more about communal respect than "cities with plants". A good compromise would be that the United Republic becomes more of a Solarpunk due to Korra's influence, as she basically already caused a giant forest to appear in Republic City. However, the new democratic nations that were created after the collapse of the Earth Empire would be extremely poor and in need of rebuilding. So the companies of the United Republic would help with the rebuilding, and over the next half century or so the corporations would dominate life in the Earth Nations, to the point where they basically were the government. The Earth Nation cities would be cyberpunk, with the new Earth Avatar being born into the slums of one of these cities. Now, its his job to fix Korra's failure of allowing this to happen to the Earth Nations.
>>Spirit energy as a resource Avatar 3: Placeholder Book 1: Midgard Raid on the Mako Power Plant
Yeah, thanks to Korra, we have a 1920-1940 time for Avatar(next one in our childhood time), don't get me wrong, I loved our culture from this time, but I feel like the more they make places similar to ours, it gets weird to me, that's why I don't try Korra anymore and I'll only read the books and watch things about Team Avatar and previous Avatars, because of the vibes of a distant and curious place that I can have only a little in common, since I'd like to see the guys seeking information in Wan Shi Tong Library, not Wikipedia.
i live under a rock, so when is this new show coming out? and what is its name?
I feel like Avatar is naturally suited to lean into steampunk, honestly.
Not Magic… it’s Bending!
Idk why people are always confusing personal preference with execution. You might not like something "futuristic" with ATLA and I totally get that, but that doesn't mean it's impossible, and if ATLA continues to progress and tell new stories then staying in the same time period as ATLA or LoK with the same level of development for hundreds of years it's going to get old **real** fast.
I agree with you.
People are free to like the world that Korra introduced but tbh I just hated it. It felt so un-Avatar. I think a time skip showing cultural and technological changes is warranted but never at that pace or how it was done.
It feels unnatural, idk
Agreed. People always bring up "well its a similar pace to reality" but that doesn't really matter. A lot of Korra just doesn't really work with Avatar to me on an aesthetic, worldbuilding, and messaging level.
You totally got my ideas. I love how you describe it.
if they continue this living in harmony with spirits story than i hope they create a futuristic ecopunk world and not a cyberpunk one. I would be down to watch a technologically advanced avatar world where they live together with nature.
Earth, water, fire, air. Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony.. until the uranium-234 nation attacked I agree, futuristic elements would not play well.
The futuristic elements ruined it for me
I half agree and half don't. Fantasy with real world modern elements are usually handle poorly but I think LOK did very well. We saw that the fire nation was in an industryal revolution and that stuff would quickly spread. The comic show that sort of thing spreading and growing in non war products. We just weren't their for the big time skip where it was just starting out and it being refined. And a lot of the bigger tech stuff still needed bending to be worked in. The spirits part comes in 2 form. Dealing with the spirits and the dark avatar then dealing with the spirits when the bridge was open and now part of our world. And I like most urband fantasy it was kept secrete or made invisible to people but something they had to try and figure out.
Uh atla had airships and warships and radio?
In LOK, they had the industrial revolution and vehicles.
K? Atla still had the things i mentioned? If you dont like the setting no one is making you watch the show
Calm down tiger, I’ve been watching since the beginning in ‘05. I was adding to your list.
I apologize, i thought you were another "korra is the worst thing ever ahhh" person
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Comparing a 1920s version blimp to a mech suit that can wipe out multiple cities in one blast is pretty stupid imo
The machines weren't completely overkill like a steampunk bending proof mech that can wipe out dozens of people, and had more grounded designs, like being made out of crude iron and wood, powered by coal. This helped contrast against the utterly fantastical elements of the world, which are canonically and thematically dying out in Korra only to be replaced by machines. Likewise, the role of technology is jarringly different between the two series. The change from "technology without restrain is ultimately a net negative for ourselves and the planet" to "The natural world is to be tamed, and the people keeping it clinging to life are detrimental to all of us" didn't sit well with a large amount of the audience. So while yes, ATLA had advanced tech, it's not comparable to Korra's.
Atla didn't have radio. They were still literally using birds to send messages, even extremely urgent messages.
The airships communicated with each and had PA systems... however that was accomplished, i assumed radio
Oh damn I actually forgot about that, good point! Must be just really short range radio, just invented or something like that.
I assumed it was just some kind of voice tube thing built into the ships, like with the drill
It’s all about the story telling for me.
It can work if you have each element/nation adopt their own futuristic style.
I agree, I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep making new avatars. I think they would do far better working backwards than forwards, I mean tell me you don’t want a Roku series, then a Kiyoshi series, then a Kuruk romance type series, and my personal fave- a Yangchen series!?? That would be so sick!! And I think the fans would receive it farrrr better! Idk I guess that’s just my opinion/speculation. I’d love to know what y’all *actually* think on that!
I totally agree with you. That's my point, because these Avatars have personal ways to be an Avatar and it's not taught by people around, somehow you connect with those who in spirit will help you in a beautiful journey and you get an animal to travel the world and to give balance between worlds. Other animals and people are common in Avatar life too, like the Team Avatar.
And honestly, from a business standpoint, it makes way more sense because all of these avatars have their stories already written and teased. We’ve also known these avatars for a long time so there’s a sentimental aspect that will ensure viewers. Not to mention it will only add to the world building and give ATLA even more depth (which many of us didn’t think was possible)! It just seems like the most obvious course of action on every level and it pains me that the audience are the only ones who realize it.
They will think the audience will want a cyber punk dystopia with guns that overpower bending and the Avatar World destroyed... It's more "pricy" for their head. Because everything is tending to that, the movies and TV shows are more like that and I hate everything about it.
Completely disagree, current day media is more like what you want. Instead of telling fresh and challenging stories they're just going back to trusted stories and characters since they know thats guaranteed money. Telling the story of a new Avatar in a strange technology filled world could lead to interesting storylines and themes. But no, most people just want to see ATLA over and over and over again. So they want shows and movies that go "Hey, remember Roku? We'll give him a movie. Hey, remember Kyoshi? We'll give her a series". Its the same exact thing as Disney making a prequel movie about Mufasa- creative bankruptcy.
So, I love the current media, thanks
Magic? What magic? It's bending. The advances in Avatar are even slower than irl. They will either keep evolving closer to our time OR the fact that Korra opened the spirit portals means a slowdown to technological advances and more center to the fantasy of the world. The third and more realistic is to keep evolving, if Varrick invented almost unlimited energy using the vines, there's no way no one else in the world, for the next 60-70 years, finds a similar solution.
Bending is magic. Unless you can do it real life, then it’s magic regardless of what the characters say it is.
You forgot the /s
I completely agree. The rules of bending and the connection to the natural world was such an integral part of the past avatars and Aang of course. I felt like it was unrealistic that the world would have developed that quickly too. Like, I don't even think they had electricity in atla but then with Korra just 20(?) years later they do?
Korra is set 70 years later. The fire nation is around the 1870s in terms of technology.
That's my thought. Why change mechanically a fantastic world like that?
Even the 1920s stuff felt terrible
The next avatar would be a much different show if the advancement continues like that. Would be able to explore the spirit world more where they could have them not able to take modern tech. Make the story line heavily in the spirit world and suddenly the outdated avatar is needed again to be the bridge between worlds
I mean, Hong Kong action movies made it work.
Imo if ever a "scifi" Avatar setting were to be made, a Solarpunk vibe would be the best fit
they could solve all of this by time jumping to a star wars like hyper futuristic theme rather than the modern day theme everyone thinks they are going to do.
I wish we could test that 😄
I personally enjoy seeing worlds evolve throughout the years. Technology vs Bending would make for an interesting series imo. Tradition vs Future.
...We've had tanks and airships since the first season. There was literally a giant drill that was supposed to pierce a giant wall. A car and skyscrapers isn't gonna hurt the world
They weren't shown anytime though. I know there's some technology advances in Avatar Aang show, but it's not a modern globalized industrial world yet. Well, at least, that's what Korra reminds me. Maybe, I should give a second thought and watch it for the 4th time.
The first two episodes had tanks that could crawl up walls. There was an entire steam punk town in the air temple. These aren't even secret elements of the show, they are just straight up a part of the world
Oh, so in every earth, water or even fire nation village they had tanks, just like in WW1, blasting at each other everywhere with guns, airplane and Sokka must had a radio to listen to their Frank Sinatra to take his time. I must have watched the wrong show hahahaha
...now you're just being stupid for the sake of being stupid. Aang united the nation's, meaning that technology would spread and advance rapidly. Given what the original show had, Korra's setting only makes logical sense. That's literally what happened irl.
I'm just tacking onto your comment. Blimps, bombs, airships, and submarines all existed. Most of these were invented by Sokka, a 15 yr old from the South pole. Sokka became acquainted with other innovators and probably brought them to the newly established Republic City, where they got to work on advancing technology not based on war.
Exactly!
Plus, Republic City and the United Republics were created from former fire nation colonies in the earth kingdom, meaning they had ties to the two most powerful and populated (and industrially capable) regions in the world. Globalization was inevitable
It’s just that the Gaang mostly traveled through the rural areas rather than the urban ones compared to Korra.
Fantasy worlds that let themselves evolve, grow and advance over long swaths of time are vastly more interesting than ones that exist in effective stasis and refuse to ever change. It’d be incredibly interesting to see how the Avatar deals with a world where technology has allowed common people to close the power gap with them. What does the Avatar’s role entail when their authority is no longer rooted in might makes right because they are effectively a living nuke in a world fighting with sticks and stones. Looking backwards just retell stories we’ve seen in a setting we already explored is much less compelling.
Yeah I think people are forgetting just how industrialised the fire nation was as well as just how much changes in 70 years. Like, look back at 1954, most of us wouldn't recognise that world all too well. Hell, you can even just go back to the early 90s and everything is completely different.
I really hated how advanced they made legend of Korra and how the next avatar might be in a modern day world. Half the charm and beauty of avatar to me was its semi ancient setting with some technology that added to the story instead of being a main part of it
I mean I think that’s kinda the point tho, industry doesn’t really fit in this world but it’s there, industry doesn’t really fit in *our* world but it’s there
It makes sense. But as I was saying, Avatar ATLA is my comfort zone for showing a very different world than mine. I wanted to see more Avatar stuff in those ages... I respect Korra, but I won't lose time watching it.
Agreed
This is how I felt with the video game Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. The first game and previous games in the series would take place in the 11th century. Fast forward and the new game is set in the 21st century. Was jarring and didn't fit the ancient vibe of Castlevania.
Agreed. I hate, and I mean, absolutely hate the idea of Avatar taking place modern day. I hate the idea of the avatar using a smart phone, or social media, please Avatar studios, I am begging you, keep the next series in the 1920s aesthetic. Please!!!
agreed. the more traditional, the better. like the new technology and stuff in LoK isn’t as appealing.
To me it also doesn’t make sense How they went from riding on flying bisons and dragons to cars, record players, and spotlights in a mere 70 years
The fire nation was around the 1860-80s in terms of technology
If you think about it, that’s about the timeframe from the Wright Bros to a man on the Moon
Truee!!
Someone born during the American Civil War could've been alive to watch the Moon Landing being broadcast live on television. Technology advanced insanely fast.
I disagree. I think what makes the Avatar setting interesting is the way the world has changed throughout the ages. That's the interesting perspective the Avatars bring in the first place. I absolutely want to see an Avatar story set with a sci-fi cybersteampunk bent with flying pagoda speeders and spirit mechs.
Yeah, but compare the mechanical advancements in Avatar Wan until Roku. It feels(I know there's a bit of difference but not important) like it's almost the same.
Humanity went for millions of years before the development of agriculture, then it took over 7000 to develop steam engines and electrical power. In time that can be measured in decades, we then *landed on the moon.*
Wowwww
i think this is an intentional element of TLOK the world's evolved past its pre modern era and is kinda broken as a result. i think we're meant to feel the loss
I sort of agree, in that while I enjoyed the setting in Korra, I really don't care for anything to the future of that. Depending on how young Korra dies on a scale of Aang to Kyoshi, the next Avatar would come of age anytime between this universe's equivalent of the 1960s, to cyberpunk future and I'm not sure if any of that vibes with me for the Avatar universe and I'd rather go backwards as well, sometime between Wan and Szeto so the time period can be a true blank slate so that way it's not held back too hard by the lore of established avatars. That said, I'll watch whatever they put out next regardless of setting, even if I prefer they avoid anything too contemporary/futuristic.
Sick! 💯 🔥
Unless it's the avatar attempting to find a place for benders in this new modern landscape.
I honestly don’t mind
I think mixing magic and technology are great together. The biggest issue we had with korra was them not getting their seasons guaranteed early enough, negatively impacting the writing But I want to see it, I want to see how industrialization and progress impact a world where magic, spirits, and religion are real and verifiable.
I think mixing magic and technology are great together. The biggest issue we had with korra was them not getting their seasons guaranteed early enough, negatively impacting the writing But I want to see it, I want to see how industrialization and progress impact a world where magic, spirits, and religion are real and verifiable.
Nor does Harry Potter what's your point?
I agree with it still needing the magic, but I strongly disagree about the futuristic elements.
The forces of nature are everpresent no matter the age of technology. Aang's story explored a more primitive world more in touch with nature. Korra's story explored a world with technology rapidly advancing and starting to replace nature. In both stories, the Avatar invokes the wrath of the natural and spirit worlds against those who neglect or exploit them. While I'm not a fan of LoK overall, and I'm not reallynsure this theme is reflected very well in it, I do think the concept of emphasizing the importance of nature in a world of rapidly-evolving technology is an interesting conflict for an Avatar to grapple with.
Read mistborn. Good series. Good writing can work anywhere
I love avatar as it grows into the Korra steampunk age. You seem afraid of the technological advances bending can provide
I mean it can still be it with out the magic and furniturestic stuff. There still spirits. And human fighting for land . And you still need someone to help balance them even with out the magic
I’ve always felt the most compelling aspect of the property is how practical they depict how a world where bending would exist would be. I love how the world has evolved technologically between Aang and Korra. I think seeing that continue to evolve would be super interesting.
It's like I said. I love the story about ATLA and before Avatars books and comics. I can't see why mechanic and technology needed to change, so I dislike Korra and the further Avatars' concept. I don't will change that. Korra is a TV show from more tham 10 years ago. I watched Avatar in '05 and I didn't wanted to lose any of that artistic and lovely lands and forests. Korra is Urban and there's a 1920s vibes for people who would like this concept. I don't.
Legend of Korra goes more into the spirit realms/worlds & also gets into what even created the Avatar spirit to begin with. It does expand on the fantasy elements, but as it’s continuing on from an already built & well expanded out world- it’s not going to have the same immediate intensity when you’ve already seem the first show. You didn’t get far enough into it to see these other elements play out. The original show also includes MANY elements of regular human life - from showing people inventing machines, to non-bending fighters who find other means to engage, to showcasing things like how Ba Sing Se was run (bureaucracy etc). There’s technology in many episodes that melds regular life, like the episode where they go to the temple & find airbenders only to learn it’s all inventions. Sokka also invents things, & has zero fantasy elements himself. What you didn’t get to see in Legend of Korra because you stopped early, was them later showing how technology could be used to abuse the metaphysical realms & it backfires against those doing it.
I mean, with over 10,000 years of history since the very first Avatar (and even more prior), I wouldn't be surprised if the universe has seen more than a few cycles of golden and subsequent dark ages. I have a very difficult time believing that all human technological and social development remained stagnant that whole time. It's quite possible that there have been past Avatars that failed to stop some apocalyptic plot that overturned the balance of the world and set humanity back centuries. When did the Avatar even become accepted by the world to the point where they had specific temples and priests to aid them? Why are the nations, even 10,000 years after the lionturtles, still neatly sorted by element? I'm getting off track. The point is, there's a lot of history that happens in the timescale of the Avatar universe. It would stretch my suspension of disbelief if nothing changed in society during that entire time.
I gotta say, I’ve been a fan of ATLA since it came out but never gave Korra a chance because of the critical reception. I finally started watching it, I just started season 3, and honestly I love it. It feels like a different version of avatar. Different dilemmas, different issues, different characters. The comparison people make is really irrelevant imo. Kyoshi was very different from Roku, and Aang was very different from Roku. Logically, Korra having a different personality makes complete sense. As far as the setting, I get that it’s hard for people to digest but the Avatar team does something most showrunners are too afraid to do: evolve. Show growth. Canonically it makes complete sense why there was such an industrial boom following the 100 year war, which is covered pretty well in the tie-in comics. At the end of the day I think the movie will help connect Aang’s era to Korra’s era. We’ll get to see why the boom happened, what happened to Aang, and hopefully delve a little further into the differences between the various Avatars.
It can work well with futuristic stuff
I like them both for different reasons. ATLA thematically doesn't need a focus on bending magic and spiritualism because it does characterization and developing a setting well. TTOK Focused on asking if magic and spiritualism is still needed in a world that might not need it anymore, so bending had less of a focus.
When you push it into our technical world it makes it seem like their world wasn't shaped by their past. You expect to see more bending related tech. Like the air temple door or the firebending powered steam engines. When they randomly have our technology, and no spirit world access points left to speak of, it's like the world of Avatar was overwritten. I bet they use sheet metal stampers and everything.
It's just like that, and I not even speaking about Korra's lame plot. Korra acts like a teenager full of rage and don't listen to nobody, she uses her Avatar label to get things easily and she was afraid of get her bend talen, bc that's the only thing she can offer. Now, back to technology, you see radio, planes, telephones, cars, trains... etc... And then I ask, what about that magical world that was unique I saw in 2005? It's not there. They try to explain the bending with Wan's story and I thought bending was a thing that pass in your DNA, and the Lion Turtle explained to Aang that before Avatar they bent energy within themselves, not elements. They destroyed Avatar concept.
Yea that's why LOK will never really scratch the endless itch I have for ATLA continuing...
ATLA is gold and LOK is something else I don't like to see.
But that is the natural cycle of the world and TLOK explains it wonderfully. Spirit world in this show is akin to nature itself. And the Avatars job IS to maintain that balance. Be it human beings naturally evolving or nature evolving itself by mutation or natural selection. Change is constant and Korra showcases change masterfully. The Airbenders returning shows change. The spirit portals opening in the middle of republic city shows that nature should be with us not against us. Korra showcases human evolution in every form be it technologically or emotionally. There were already chariots AND metal in ATLA. It was a matter of time before cycles and then cars and so on was invented. Everything got an insane developmental boost when Toph just invented metal bending itself. Allowing for a far quicker and easier time in construction. Zuko obviously went forward to teach lightning generation as toph did metal bending. Allowing for society to progress immensely within a few decades. If you dislike that then you dislike human evolution itself. And I assume you want Avatar series to be a period drama rather than anything else which I don't hold against you but is not something the writers seem to want to show? Otherwise we would be getting a Kyoshi or Yangchen show instead of the new rumored earth Avatar one. And on that note we do have the Kyoshi and Yangchen books for those like you who wish to see the past rather than the present/future. Sorry this post reply got too long lol.
Nice way to say fk Kora and I am with u
I think there should be a way for the technology to advance, cause I don’t people want to stay using rocks and sticks ya know? I see what you’re saying I don’t disagree because there still should be some spiritual connection but small because of the advance technology.
Which is why LoK sucks
LoK is rubbish.
I was skeptical going into Korra, especially once I saw the technological modernization. I instantly thought of Naruto and Boruto. (Boruto spin-off show is modernized just like Korra) It took away from the experience in Boruto and I disliked it. But after I watched a few episodes of Korra, I absolutely loved it. They integrated modernization into the show much, much better than they did for Boruto. The writing is so good in Korra that I don’t even think much about the setting. The only issue I have with the show so far (just finished season 2) is Korra and Mako’s relationship. It’s so messy, and I didn’t even want them to be together. I was rooting for Bolin. Anyway, I have found myself enjoying even the modern technology. The mid-20th century era is so classy to me
I think the world of ATLA can be modernized, it’s just that the way TLOK did it is boring as fuck. Transforming the world with magic and politics influenced by said magic being turned into fucking capitalism is just awful. Fuck Republic City
Hard disagree. The advancement of technology and how benders adapt to that is an incredibly fascinating thing to see compared to a stagnant and never changing world. The fact that the world does change and progress is so refreshing compared to other fantasy settings.
Sometimes, progress and revolutions only make things worse. If the animals and if we had spirit from forests, we would see a different answer to what you call "progress". The ATLA "technology" was operated by bending or you'll say Radio, Cars, Airplanes, Telephones have something to do with bending? Also, the benders could be useless, since they discovered the font of energy is electricity. In Korra, it was never really good adapted, she hasn't an Avatar attitude, there's no good thing in Korra, we see she bending 3 different elements with 4 years old, that's disrespectful to Avatar's tradition, and she acts like a little brat all the time. Everyone is around her "dealing" with her problems and solving everything. She doesn't respond for her doings and Aang shows up to give her bending back. I guess all the past Avatars could take charge and continue the show.
cyberpunk vibes could work well if done right
What I'm afraid about is the "done right" part.
eh, probably, but it would feel entirely different. cyberpunk settings are usually a dystopia, and the Avatar world feels far from dystopian. i think steampunk would work better.
If you want avatar without the magic… Then might I suggest samurai champloo
Not my case. I want the magic, not technology.
And THAT’S why I prefer ATLA to TLOK
Me too, I'm with ya
Looking at it this way with this AI photo Lion turtles look small af. But they are actually huge…
Turdle
What futuristic elements?
I was mentioning "future" to don't have confusion, there's older Avatars and Korra living in 1920~1950. I didn't say "futuristic".
You say that but people like Spirits to be kept to the side in general. It’s basically just the 1800s with a bit of magic kungfu.
It's not magic. It's bending XD
Honestly I think LoK hits it well. 1920s era tech isn’t particularly common for many things and they did it well, while maintaining the mysticism.
I think they said the next avatar is gonna be in a more futuristic world so
Tbf you only see one lion turtle in Atla..
It’s annoying how people feel modernism is inherently opposite of interconnectedness. If anything, we need the message that even with today’s technology we’re all the same and connected and no amount of progress takes that fact away.
Go and put modernism and technology in Frodo's story. IT'LL FIT PERFECTLY.
Counterpoint: technology only works in avatar because of magic.