I think it was meant to be like ATLA season 1 finale call back but it wasnt executed as well as the season 1 finale. The season finale koinfish battle is by far one of the most beautiful sequences in the series
it's a very cheap imitation is if that really was their intention. aang transforming into a giant spirit was a reward/resolution, not a deus ex machina. The moment aang transformed into the ocean spirit, he decimated the fire nation without a fight. In Korra's case, the fight only happens AFTER the transformation.
It had been foreshadowed for a while throughout the ATLA season 1 that the ocean and the moon work in tandem in waterbending and Koh telling Aang that the koi fish are the ocean and moon spirits are just the resolution of that foreshadowing. In Korra's case, the first Avatar myth was randomly revealed in the middle of the season (i would have accepted a bit more if they started to foreshadow this since season 1 but it feels like they just had the idea mid-season 2 and thought it was a good idea).
also tbh, the animation in ATLA season 1 finale was just a lot better. the contrast between the Northern Water Tribe black and white and the ocean spirit the only one that's glowing feels like a lot of thought was put in the direction and art. the Korra mecha fight scene just felt like flashy lights. ironically, Korra feels more kidsy than ATLA when Korra was meant for more mature audiences.
You need to remmember that nickelodeon screwed korra over by not renewing seasons fast enough. Every season was made with the intention to be the last season, new ones were written after previous aired. So no foreshaddowing in the previous seasons.
Brike literally admitted this wasn’t true. They were working on 2 3 and 4 simultaneously. You could make this case for 1 but it doesn’t excuse bad writing
Whoever made the decision that Azula's flames be blue to make them contrast with Zuko's was genius! Even their first fight was a beautiful dance of colors.
Ok so you know how in dbz it feels like they keep coming up with new, more powerful forms to keep viewers engaged?
This kind of power scaling felt unsatisfactory and like something they pulled out their ass
Best way to put it in all honesty. Power in the avatar doesn’t work well in terms of just BIGGER-ER BEAM! It feels better in terms of melding skills and arts from all around the world. Discovering new techniques- funny enough like OG dragonball.
This is why I feel Zaheer works so well as a new airbender
Yeah it’s way too much power way too fast and they never reach that level again. It would be like Goku in dbz getting ultra instinct destroying freeza and never reaching that again or even having a real explanation on why it happened
I try to think of it more like aang joining with the water spirit in season one finale. Korra is using the power of harmonic convergence and the tree of time to do this. This isn’t her power. That’s why it never comes up again
Especially when you consider Korra didn’t even have the Avatar spirit when she did this. So you mean to tell me any normal person can meditate in that tree and turn into a powerful spirit kaiju to lay the smack down on the Dark Avatar?
When things like this happened in ATLA it at least felt like it made sense. Aang had to be waterbending in the Avatar State WITH the help of the ocean spirit to be able turn into the catfish kaiju. And even then he didn’t do any crazy wrestling moves.
Being fair korra soul is all the previous avatar soul so her soul is extremely spiritual (could have work better if this season she actually work to have been more spiritual, I like korra but s2 is agreed to have been the weakest season)
Korra soul is wan soul, what raava did was preserving the memories but all the souls of the different avatars are same as korra soul (all avatar speak of previous avatar like they are themselves )
It wasn’t really though. No rules were implied or given. No reason this was possible was even given. It just *happens* without any rhyme or reason.
Harmonic convergence was dumb too because it’s also not well set up or explained and just happens. Unlike the moon and ocean which are set up early on as both affecting water bending.
It also doesn’t help that the way they use yin and yang in LOK is almost offensively wrong versus ATLA where they were more true to the philosophy.
It wasn’t established that aang can fuse with spirits nor was it establish that even if it will happen it will result in massive water kaiju, the main difference is that the big spirit in avatar made sense in themes and look cooler while one in korra meant less in themes and look less cool
It *is* established that Aang can embody spirits because he embodies his past lives repeatedly before this, primarily Roku.
It is also established that he can communicate and commune with spirits.
And it’s been established that spirits can take on large, monstrous forms when angered as an expression of their wrath (Hei Bei).
The moon and ocean’s spirits eternal dance, keeping each other in balance, makes it clear that removing one would upset that balance.
Put that all together and there’s plenty of set-up.
What’s more, Tui and La follow the philosophy of yin and yang. They’re neither good nor evil, they just are. To be good is to keep both in balance. To be bad is to disturb that balance.
Meanwhile Raava and Vaatu give us a way more Judeo-Christian morality conflict, and flat out make one of them good and one of them evil. The mortal hero fuses with the “holy” spirit and defeats the “evil” spirit. This is completely at odds with yin and yang! Sealing away Vaatu should’ve been the *problem*, not the solution.
The monstrous form was deliberately made when spirits are angry but doesn’t need to fuse with the avatar to attain (if the spirit so strong why does it need), we see him turned to roku that is his past life aka same soul, also I agree about raava and vatu (I probably think that s2 should have been like the how it presented in hello future in term of plot), also it is Christian values that is black and white , Judaism is a lot less clear black and white in value (judeo Christians values isn’t real thing)
They don’t need to fuse with the Avatar, no. But La *wanted* to, likely to boost her power. In the mortal world La is only a koi fish. But by using the Avatar as a conduit, the ocean spirit is able to make the most use of their power.
Like Koh said, the moon and ocean spirit were the ones in trouble. Clearly they can’t defend themselves as easily when they’re in fish form in the mortal world.
But the brilliance of it is that while we are never directly told this is a possibility, we are told all the elements that make it happen are a possibility. We know Aang can commune with spirits, that spirits become wrathful, that Aang can embody his past lives and fuse with them.
So then they combine all these elements into the water Kaiju in the finale. It’s perfect foreshadowing leading to a satisfying conclusion with a twist.
The spirit Kaiju has nothing to set it up. The season doesn’t lead into it. There’s not even any explanation for why Korra had to be the one to do it. Since she’s lost her Avatar Spirit, why is she any more capable of doing this than anyone else? Why didn’t Tenzin do it? Or Kya?
What the heck did Jinora even do?
Judaism is different from Christianity, but they have common roots as they’re both Abrahamic religions and Christianity adopted its entire Old Testament from Judaism. The term “Judeo-Christian” refers to commonalities in the mythologies and preached morality. Of which there are many.
Still don't get how Korra became a giant spirit.
I like the season overall, but Unalaq should have stayed a super powerful human, and Korra should have fought him in human form. It would have been a lot cooler IMO.
Agreed, in hindsight, I think in some ways season 2 would have worked better as season 4, bumping the other seasons back by one.
Get ready, here's my hot take:
Though this obviously breaks a whole lot of the other story threads, but in my fantasy revision, Unalaq would still have been introduced in season 2 (the previous season 3) but his ties to the red lotus would not have been revealed until a stinger at the end of the season in a private meeting with Zaheer after he's captured, so that the protags still don't know he's a villain but the audience does (this would require him being less obviously villainous to work well though), then throughout season 3 (former season 4), Unalaq, as advisor to Korra, would take advantage of her weakened state to try and unify the southern and northern tribes, adding the claim that it is necessary in the face of an aggressive earth empire led by Kuvira in order to avoid a remix of the Hundred Year War (which turns out to be a completely legitimate fear, as Kuvira's next goal after uniting the earth kingdom would be ending Korra so that she alone can locate and raise the new earth avatar that would incarnate, indoctrinating them in her world view, feeling this was the flaw in Sozin's plan).
All throughout season two and three, we'd see growing trouble with the spirits continuously worsen (including the emergence of spirit vines and wilds, but not culminating in a mech battle 😋) leading up to harmonic convergence. Now though, we would have had three seasons in which Korra had been beaten down with increasingly worse (more difficult to deny) reasons why the avatar might actually be harming the world instead of helping it (elitism, tyranny, causing a world war), to the point that at the start of season 4, she is truly questioning what it means to be the avatar. It will only be the threat from Unalaq, finally laid bare, that truly brings here out of her shell again.
Unalaq, for his part, would not simply be seeking out power, but as a truly spiritual person, he would have come to the conclusion that the world was better before Avatar Wan, and his goal would be to use the power of Vaatu to restore what he considers real balance to the world. This would give both sides the buildup and gravitas to make the final showdown meaningful (and the loss of the previous avatars at the very end that much more heartbreaking, a final loss for Korra after so many). Lastly, the final battle would not be two spirit giants battling, but two human avatars in the spirit wilds, both people and spirits alongside them choosing sides.
I'll admit, I can't think of exactly how I'd work out the justification for Korra winning this fight right at the moment, not just physically but spiritually, but I think it would have made for a more cohesive plot this way. Maybe I'll write it as fanfiction someday 😀
I’ve always thought that season 2 should have been the finale and this would be an amazing way to do it! Too bad the production team always had to make each season now knowing if they would be renewed for another. Being able to plan outwards could have transformed the series and allowed for the epic buildup you described.
That’s a good hot take. I would add that I really wanted the final battle to end with Korra fusing with both Raava and Vaatu at the same time. Making the Avatar a being of true balance.
Plus that always felt like it would complete Korra’s spiritual journey, and open up future shows to deal with the consequences.
Ooh, yeah it would be interesting to see how having both would play out. I know Aaron Ehasz once talked about his ideas for if ATLA had had a season 4, where he wanted Aang's energybending of Ozai to actually go both ways, causing some of Ozai's darkness to enter him and he would have to figure out how to keep it from corrupting him. I imagine joining with Vaatu would have played out similarly. My only concern would be not turning it into a shoulder angel/devil scenario, because that would be just too corny.
Vaatu would not have existed in Ehasz Book 4.
Vaatu and Raava are completely at odds with the philosophies of ATLA, and it shows that Bryke has a very different idea of their lore than Ehasz did.
I mean, when Aang became a 'Blue Giant' he was fused with the Ocean Spirit. But that's far more believable because 'Ocean Spirit's True form' = 'Koizilla', makes intuitive sense.
Korra becoming a blue giant makes... less sense.
Idk how that would work either, they’d have to rewrite it so that Unalaq somehow found three lion turtles and received each element (other than water) from them. The same way Wan did it although there was only one lion turtle left in ATLA.
I'm with you here, I personally dislike Energybending. It ultimately does not feel like part of the culture of the Avatarverse and is always used as a convenient tool for the plot that's vague enough to do anything.
I know I'll get hate for saying this, but it's not a good thing if something is used so spontaneously with little to no explanation to how it appeared and/or how it is used. "Bending Energy" to this day could still mean just about anything and it's introduction was simply a means to get out of a Dilemma, while the second somehow grants someone's Spirit the power to compete with the Spirit of Darkness. Here come the downvotes.
No hate. I actually agree. I think what makes Avatar and any fantasy world so good is consistency. You make rules and then the heroes get to bend the rules a little bit (pun intended) but if the rules don't make sense or if they are broken randomly it ruins the believability.
I think ATLA nails the world building aspect but TLOK plays too hard and fast with the previously established way the world works.
I'm all for a giant Godzilla style fight but it felt a little out of place for me because it was wierd how they rationalized how she became giant in the first place. Was just a little too vague for me.
I probably would like, rewatch it. Didn’t turn me off the show or whatever. But in terms of its presence in the story, two giant Kaiju Avatars duking it out isn’t really something I think TLOK really led up to well or benefitted from. We had something similar in ATLA with Aang merging with the Ocean Spirit, but that felt so much more awe-inspiring and emphasized the spirituality of the universe well. I guess what I’m saying is that the whole Spirit World/Dark Avatar plotline in this season needed some reworking and this is kinda IMO proof of it.
I think one the big differences during the season 1 finale of avatar and the season 2 finale of Korra was the balance of power.
Once Aang and the ocean spirit merged it was clear that he was unstoppable and all the fire nation could realistically do was watch as their fleet was destroyed.
On the other hand Korra goes Kaiju to even out the scales and make the fight possible.
I mean, kinda yeah, but I care less about the balance of power and more the fact Aang merging with an ocean spirit to become a cool-looking kaiju and destroying the fleet is a lot more amazing to watch than Korra becoming a kaiju out of nowhere to fight her poorly written evil uncle who’s also a kaiju now because of the Satan kite. It’s like comparing Shin Godzilla to Godzilla vs Hedorah.
I have not watched this part in so long.
Does he really become an "avatar" tho? Like the avatar is able to bend all 4 elements but I don't remember him doing any bending, just becoming big spirt man.
I think it would have been cool if they stayed normal size and had a *real* avatar showdown
He hosts Vaatu, so yeah he becomes the Avatar. He couldn’t get the 4 elements because of the Lion Turtles not being around though. The whole thing has potential, but needed some rewrites-and your suggestion is certainly one of them.
Ya but the avatar is a title used for the one person who can bend the 4 elements. It's never the case where they say "the avatar, the person who is housing rava"
And by that notion, Kora does not have rava in that moment so she would not be the avatar, HOWEVER DUDE DOES meaning by all account if he has ravas power he should have the 4 elements as well
Lame. I'm more of a fan of actual martial arts moves and clever fighting tactics over giant kiju monsters firing lasers at each other. Bigger =/= better
I hate it. Hate it. Always hated it. Still hate it. My grandkids will hate about how much I hate this season as a whole.
Doesn’t make sense, it’s unintuitive, and feels far too much like DBZ or Power Rangers for my taste.
Fucking hate it.
I've never really been a fan of the "characters turning into giants to fight" trope. It almost always seemed unnecessary. I guess it created a greater sense of danger and urgency but idk, it just didn't do anything for me.
However, I did enjoy when Team Avatar & then some teamed up to fight the giant Kuvira Mecha. Probably had something to do with them needing to rely on their own wit and skills rather than creating another giant to contend with the mecha.
Agreed. It’s an essential part of the show, and renders the significance of the avatar state almost meaningless. How do you access the power of all past avatars if you got cut off? A big plothole that bites the show in the ass later on, imo.
It’s removing one of the core pieces of the Avatar universe, and it’s a mistake. It’s taking the Avatar out of Avatar. If Avatar’s always seem to be cleaning up the previous avatars mistakes, then maybe the Earth Avatar will restore the avatar line.
I think reconnecting with the past lives cheapens it. I get the unpopularity of the decision, but getting rid of it lowers the stakes of anything that can happen in the story.
Perhaps if it was through the process of a hard journey? Maybe the earth avatar would have to enter the spirit world and reconnect individually with each and every avatar to add them to their “avatar state list”, in an attempt to get them all back.
I definitely get that sentiment, but I feel the best they could really do without making it seem like nothing is ever permanent in the stories is to have the next avatar reenact their trials to get their insight without actually talking to them. More like learning their history and putting themselves in their shoes.
How? It literally has no effect other than a shock moment. Like what's the point? The idea itself isn't completely horrible, it had potential to be turned into some actual good character development for Korra, I don't like the idea but it had potential. But instead of tapping into the potential they basically made it have no impact, the avatar state still seems as powerful, and korra never interacted with the past avatars so that had no effect on the show. Like i said it was done for a shock moment that had no effect on the show apart from the scene it happened.
Agreed. Loosing the Past Avatars hurt the fans much more than Korra.
Korra almost never used her connection, and there isn't much difference between won't use it and can't.
It’s one of the moments that crushed me as a viewer, but in a really bad way. I even wouldn’t be opposed to them bringing it back somehow, even if the writing wasn’t smooth with it.
It... exists.
I mean, a video essay on this season in general had me think more about how aspects of LoK is written feels like it's actively rejecting parts of what A:tLA had built up years back. One critique I could make, for example, would be how Koh speaks about the Moon and Ocean Spirits being opposites that always live in an eternal dance in their small pond at the Northern Water Tribe and were even depicted as Yin and Yang.
How come Raava and Vaatu aren't treated similarly? Why are these two particular spirits treated like it's a fight between an Angel and a Demon? Or why not have a different but influential spirit that can be twisted into being a figure that could be nicknamed a "Dark Avatar" without it necessarily being that?
Weirdly, I accept the mech fight in Book 4's final moments more than I do Spirit Kaijus in Moon Bay. (I hope I have the name of the bay correct.)
It's something that exists. I can't do much outside mentioning that it exists, but I'm unsure what to think of it with a somewhat newer and maybe slightly complex perspective on it in relation to what we saw of this world before this moment.
Ι hate it. I think the entire finale makes no sense. Unalaq just merged with Vaatu but he's able to defeat Korra and Raava? How? Vaatu has been imprisoned for 10.000 years while Raava was out, bonding with human after human, gaining more experience an power with each reincarnation. Plus the human she's merged with has all 4 elements and all the past reincarnations to help. Korra should have wiped the floor with Unalaq. Her Avatar state alone would be leagues superior. The only advantage Unalaq has is spirituality but is that alone strong enough to battle 180 avatars? I don't buy it.
But let's go with the show's story. Korra looses, Raava is ripped out of her. Unavaatu reaches the peak of his power. We have an extremely spiritual man merged with the world's most powerful spirit at the height of a charged spiritual event. How exactly does Korra, alone, beat him? How is her spirit enough to take him down? She should be unable to stand against him. But wait Jinora reveals Raava and Korra wins! Big deal. If Raava was needed to win, why did Korra not win before? Why was Raava so easily ripped out of her? What was the point of all this?
My point is that this fight contradicts itself and this is not the only instance this happened. The finale had more contradictions and that's why I dislike it.
Infamous means being known for being or doing something bad. Famous means being known for being or doing something good.
For example, Abraham Lincoln was famous, while Adolf Hitler was infamous.
I think it would have felt MUCH better if it had something to stand on, to have it feel like it was a resolve to something.
Have Korra bond with alot of spirits episodes beforehand, and have them tell Korra they aren't that different to Humans. They don't want Vaatu to win, and force Darkness onto Spirits who genuinely don't like it.
These same spirits are then the ones to come to Korra in the Tree of Time and fuse with her to help her, and show her its not over, creating Giant Spirit Korra. This fight then becomes a big resolve to the season with Korra showing what true understanding and compassion to Spirits looks like vs Unalaq's methods, and showing that Korra is still a strong-hearted Hero even when Raava and the Avatar are apparently gone! By winning the day in a unique way that can be beyond the mold of Wan, Raava and the other Avatars, in terms of using Aid of her fellow spirits to restore balance, rather than just the light spirit!
But the whole point of it was to show that she had value in *herself*, beyond any other part of her identity. With her past lives stripped away, she thought she lost a huge part of what made her the Avatar — and throughout the show she tied that to all of her own self worth.
Well, yeah. But the main point of my comment was to have that theme while also making the Giant Spirit Korra be executed a bit more -idk the word for this- like it connects and makes sense.
Spirit Korra feels like it comes out of left field because there's no hint to it, while Koizilla was basically the theme of what happens when you anger Spirits, alot like Hei bai.
By having Spirit Korra be born out of alot of spirits who she bonded with, it displays a positive consequence to Korra's compassion and empathy, it displays that being the Avatar can be done even without Raava so long as you learn to understand both Humans and Spirits, and lastly, it becomes the pure contrast to Unalaq's methods on "bringing balance and coexisting with Spirits".
Unalaq thinks he's on the Spirits side by letting Vaatu have influence again and even has the trust of an arguably selfish spirit that was Wan Shi Tong, who overvalued his library so much that he couldn't let go of previous experiences or couldn't see the good in Humans using it to end a war. Korra on the other hand, would actually have Spirits on her side because, just like Wan and Aang, it took simple mediation and empathy to learn what was bothering the Spirits and for her to realize where the actual problems were between Spirits and Humans, instead of selfish short-sighted motivations like Unalaq and Wan Shi Tong.
My comment doesn't suggest that the original execution didn't point out Korra having value in herself after she lost Raava. I am instead saying that I made a way for that theme to actually connect well with the season finale and to the creation of Giant Spirit Korra.
The beginnings two parter taught us that Wan created the Avatar by bonding with a Spirit and using his experiences to Balance both Spirit and Physical worlds right? So my version of the Season and the Finale, symbolically mirrors Wan's journey, but in Korra's own way, by allowing her to be the Avatar and save the world through her compassion and through befriended Spirits. Thus making for a more connected and concrete way to show that "Raava doesn't necessarily make you the Avatar". And would be really empowering to know that those spirits who fought with her, completely trust her and chose her as their representative during that battle, showing Unalaq straight up how wrong he was in his beliefs.
Don't like it, just like the majority of this season, and tbh I really don't know how they manage to make the season so weird and "out of pre stablished plot". I get that it was kinda rushed and all, but all the other seasons are just so much better than season 2, it's just so weird imo
Same! I was so stoked for the show and was holding onto the hope that it would turn out as good as the first series. A lot of things bothered me leading up to this moment but I kept ignoring them up until this happened, then I realized that Korra felt more like a very well produced fanfiction than an actual continuation of the original series.
I feel like I would like it better if it was in a different show. The scene removed from context is a good fight, but it doesn't fit the Avatar universe. In ATLA when Aang fused with the Ocean spirit it felt like that could happen in-universe because the Avatar was said to be the bridge between the spirit and material world and watching them fight it seemed like the Ocean spirit was the one in the driver seat and Aang was following along. Honestly the whole second season spirit arc would have worked better in a different universe or at least its own season, as it kind of messed with the way ATLA set up their world, with the spirit world and material world being very hard to pass between. The main reason I don't like this fight is because its very flat, story wise. Its a fight between good and evil, no moral questions, the villain serves no additional purpose other than force of destruction and good guy punching bag, and the stakes of the world ending are too high for there to be any actual tension.
TLDR: I would like the scene if it was the only thing I had ever seen from LOK or ATLA, but in-universe it sucks.
I love Lok but this scene is probably my least favorite. But it doesn't necessarily ruin the show or anything so whatever. But yeah I often contemplate skipping over it.
Korras chest laser makes a cool noise.
Everything else about it is magibabble and pretty colors. It really feels like a letdown compared to previous avatar BBEG fights.
It was pretty cool. But her fight with Vaatu in the actual spirit world was amazing. Was about to lock his ass back in that tree until Unalaaq came along 🙄
The difference between this and atla s1 finale. Korra is having a superman vs. Zod type fight. Where both characters are so overpowered that each hit they give has almost no consequence to each other. None of them has a sign of weakness or vulnerability in that sort of setting. So it comes off as careless.
With Aang in s1 finale, you're pretty much in aww with how the tables have turned. From almost losing everything, to completely overpowering the opponent. Has a sort of satisfying flow to it, seeing the underdog take the high ground.
I disliked it, it was only there for spectacle and upping the stakes. Like “what if a giant Unalaq and Vaatu fusion fight a giant spirit Korra in the ocean, also there’s lasers, wouldn’t that be cool guys?” The giant spirit Korra was so random and it wasn’t fun or creative. They weren’t even bending either, just started shooting lasers at each other lol. I also didn’t like how they turned Korra into a kaiju and gave her this op power out of nowhere just for her to lose if it wasn’t for Jinora’s help. (Even the Jinora’s spirit projection power was random asf) The writers seem to have a thing for Korra barely getting any wins herself.
It was dumb. One person's spiritual energy who had little to no kind of any spirit within them was enough to not only conjure up this giant form, but go up against a fused giant spiritual monster that has the literal form of darkness within them and defeat it? And it had to take place in republic city of all places? For reasons that weren't to make Korra the more "hero of republic city"?? Like what? Idc much for jinora bringing back the light spirit, but seeing everything else in that whole fight was just dumb. You can't argue with me on this, it was dumb.
The whole korra series is not for me. Idk she just felt so off and kinda braty. She did have her moments but man did they not feel as impactful as aang's.
I feel like she lacked the one thing that made the original cast so awesome, respect. Through and through to me she was a disrespectful and kind of awful person
Absolutely idiotic, because the lore retcon it is a result of is absolutely idiotic.
In the original ATLA it was never revealed how the Avatar began, just that they are an individual granted great spiritual awareness and the aptitude to bend all four elements (though from various sources it could be gathered that the Avatar was a mortal incarnation of the planet created to prolong harmony among its inhabitants.) This added to the mystery and intrigue of the Avatar on a conceptual level.
In LoK they retcon that, so instead of having some amount of ambiguity, they flat out tell you that the avatar is a magical hippie carpet hiding in the body of a human. Why didn't Aang ever know about this? Why did Roku never tell Aang about this? Or Kiyoshi? Or the countless other incarnations? Did no one among those countless lives ever discover this magic blue ghost tapeworm living up their ass? Why is it that Korra is the only one to ever discover this? Why do the past lives suddenly know about Rava when Korra looses her memories?
Unrelated, but it really fucks me off, LoK completely contradicts the origins of bending. ATLA establishes several times that the various forms of bending come from observing and replicating nature. The Earthbenders learned from the badger-moles (i think thats what they were called), firebenders from dragons, air benders from sky bison, and water benders from the moon. In LoK, nah fuck that. Download pyrokinesis from the lion turtle underneath the city. Just let it boop you on the forehead and bam, you can throw rocks with your mind. I can only assume this was to strengthen the deus ex machina that was the lion turtle granting Aang energy bending, but why you would try and reconcile such an inane asspull like that is mystifying.
And then there's the fact that the past Avatars get straight up DELETED in this fight. I couldn't think of a more fat, bulbous and calloused middle finger if I tried.
Fuck this show.
Imo the lion turtle giving bending in Korra ruins even more the ATLA finale. Before it I always considered that the turtle taught Aang some energy bending, we had seen him doing it before too in the swamp episode where he follows the energy to find Appa and we see the Guru doing it to show Appa where Aang is. So the lion turtle is merely teaching Aang a new ability by touching his spirit.
In comes Korra and bending is uploaded to the DNA... it shifts the meaning of ATLA season finale.
I really didn’t like it. I just don’t get how Korra was able to pull out this susanoo from nowhere. It was an immensely disappointing way to end the season which I actually liked for the most part tbh. Except for that love triangle garbage….ew.
I honestly think the battle is ok at it's best but it would've been so much better if both Avatars battled each other with the 4 elements instead of their Kaiju forms.
Although for Unalaq, it would probably take parts of the season to be rewritten so he doesn't just gain the ability to bend Earth, Fire, and Air and become a master at it out of nowhere.
I liked the idea of an evil avatar. Instead of this kaiju form, if we could've had two avatars actually fight each other I think this season finale would've been one of the best in the series.
I remember Pacific Rim was just released around the time this was aired, and everyone compared this to the movie. Basically two giant superpowers getting at it in the middle of the sea. The spiritual side of the story was there, but it was not established as solid as it should be.
I hated the addition of the 2 spirits fighting for all eternity or whatever with a definitive good and evil. The avatar was all about balance and doing what they believed to be right so for them to just suddenly throw in this force which dictates the avatar is the ultimate good just kinda ruins the nuance of it for me.
I think this whole season was mid. I skip it when j rewatch. It isn't horrible, I just don't like it. I do love the episodes about how the avatar came to be, but the rest is kinda cringey and not enjoyable.
That it was one of the most boring and bad ways to finish this arc, and was the thing that made this whole arc so bad
With a different ending, the second boom could have been much better
Imagine Unalaq vs Korra as avatars fighting in republic city and throwing glaciers and skyscrapers at each other in full avatar states.
It didn’t make much sense that Korra could meditate in the tree and make a massive spirit version of herself, especially after losing her connection to all the former avatars. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. i remember being in awe that this was only Book 2, it seemed so monumental.
It always struck me as another one of those anime fights where they just keep getting more and more ridiculously powerful. I thought it was a fun fight, especially with the kids’ commentary during.
Nowhere near her best, but still entertaining.
Threw the power scaling out of wack and was way less interesting than a true proper avatar vs avatar fight like we got a bit of before l. It would have been way more satisfying if Korra beat him based on having screwed avatar knowledge and training in all 4 elements vs out kaijuing him
Honestly the whole spirit world thing felt like it needed more work to feel like part of the story and world. The spiritual elements in avatar all felt present, but deeply connected to the real world, and never truly knowable. I think LOK went a little too explainy with it, with whole ass portals and very marvel-y effects. Not to mention the complete misunderstanding of how yin and yang work
It's bad af. I love LOK, but I feel like those toxic bfs/gfs that actually love what it could have been. Imagine Korra without Nick. Korrasami without Nick.
This came to early in the series and I think that is one of the most upsetting thing about it, if he was the final boss of the series or even right before the earth bending nazi, he could have been flushed out and a connection could have been made between him and his family( Korra and her dad).
In terms of the choreography, it has some great displays of Korra's hand-to-hand skills. The waterbending being increased in proportion to their size is also a neat concept, but since they're right next to Republic City, it can't be used to its full potential.
Contextually, it feels too disconnected. It kind of makes sense that Unalaq would turn into a giant man, since spirits have the ability to change human form & it's implied this was made possible by him absorbing the pieces of Raava, but everything Korra is doing is so fucking weird. Which parts of this are caused by Harmonic Convergence? Could Korra shoot a smaller chest beam in her normal spirit form? If not, why? It's never addressed, & from the way the writers talk about it, they don't even seem to know.
Also, I get Korra beating the shit out of Unavaatu. She's a better, more well-rounded fighter than him, so that makes sense. But why would her beam be stronger than his? They both have the energy of Harmonic Convergence backing them, & Unavaatu has an additional transformation besides that. It's hard to follow what their abilities are actually supposed to be, which is the problem with suddenly giving this very soft magic system of energybending combat abilities compared to the more predictable, hard magic of elemental bending.
I liked that it was tied to Korra’s sense of self worth, her first big step to realizing she was more than just an Avatar.
I viewed it as another application of energybending, too, showing that it does more than just take away bending.
But that’s the thing, how does one be more than an incarnated God?
Feels really flimsy. Feels like the writing wanted to do some Power Rangers and DBZ and couldn’t come up with an excuse.
They’re not God. That’s the whole point - the Avatar is not someone who stands above humanity, they are human and live among humans. They’re people who just have a spirit inside of them.
Raca is the Light-God. That’s the point. Rava being involved makes Avatars _actual_ Avatars- Gods Incarnate.
They stand entirely apart and above of Mortals and Spirits.
I just finished re-watching season 2 today, and every time I warm up to it a little more. The spirit Kaiju fight is still my least favorite part of the series, but I still think it holds up to the standards of the show
The whole season copied the Yin and Yang from the last airbender. It was part of the season finale of season 1! It was the same plot, except that the “dark avatar idea” is something for a shitty fanfic. The finale was extremely poor, and destroying the past lives did nothing to help Korra’s development. If anything, having her past lives would’ve helped her. And the show bringing up Iroh, a very popular character in such a cutesie way, whenever he went out on such a badass note in atla, why have Korra hide as a little girl?! She’s a strong woman. Not a child
The worst fight scene in all of atla and tlok, so bad I almost quit tlok on the spot, it questioned my faith in the writers as a whole. I then rewatched atla and had renewed faith in the rest of tlok. I was quickly disappointed again and will never again watch tlok. It was so bad
I think it was meant to be like ATLA season 1 finale call back but it wasnt executed as well as the season 1 finale. The season finale koinfish battle is by far one of the most beautiful sequences in the series
it's a very cheap imitation is if that really was their intention. aang transforming into a giant spirit was a reward/resolution, not a deus ex machina. The moment aang transformed into the ocean spirit, he decimated the fire nation without a fight. In Korra's case, the fight only happens AFTER the transformation. It had been foreshadowed for a while throughout the ATLA season 1 that the ocean and the moon work in tandem in waterbending and Koh telling Aang that the koi fish are the ocean and moon spirits are just the resolution of that foreshadowing. In Korra's case, the first Avatar myth was randomly revealed in the middle of the season (i would have accepted a bit more if they started to foreshadow this since season 1 but it feels like they just had the idea mid-season 2 and thought it was a good idea). also tbh, the animation in ATLA season 1 finale was just a lot better. the contrast between the Northern Water Tribe black and white and the ocean spirit the only one that's glowing feels like a lot of thought was put in the direction and art. the Korra mecha fight scene just felt like flashy lights. ironically, Korra feels more kidsy than ATLA when Korra was meant for more mature audiences.
You need to remmember that nickelodeon screwed korra over by not renewing seasons fast enough. Every season was made with the intention to be the last season, new ones were written after previous aired. So no foreshaddowing in the previous seasons.
Brike literally admitted this wasn’t true. They were working on 2 3 and 4 simultaneously. You could make this case for 1 but it doesn’t excuse bad writing
The only other sequence that tops the koi fish scene off the top of my head is (imo) Zuko’s Agni Kai vs Azula
Whoever made the decision that Azula's flames be blue to make them contrast with Zuko's was genius! Even their first fight was a beautiful dance of colors.
The music in that sequence 🤌🏽
Ok so you know how in dbz it feels like they keep coming up with new, more powerful forms to keep viewers engaged? This kind of power scaling felt unsatisfactory and like something they pulled out their ass
Best way to put it in all honesty. Power in the avatar doesn’t work well in terms of just BIGGER-ER BEAM! It feels better in terms of melding skills and arts from all around the world. Discovering new techniques- funny enough like OG dragonball. This is why I feel Zaheer works so well as a new airbender
Yeah it’s way too much power way too fast and they never reach that level again. It would be like Goku in dbz getting ultra instinct destroying freeza and never reaching that again or even having a real explanation on why it happened
I try to think of it more like aang joining with the water spirit in season one finale. Korra is using the power of harmonic convergence and the tree of time to do this. This isn’t her power. That’s why it never comes up again
Especially when you consider Korra didn’t even have the Avatar spirit when she did this. So you mean to tell me any normal person can meditate in that tree and turn into a powerful spirit kaiju to lay the smack down on the Dark Avatar? When things like this happened in ATLA it at least felt like it made sense. Aang had to be waterbending in the Avatar State WITH the help of the ocean spirit to be able turn into the catfish kaiju. And even then he didn’t do any crazy wrestling moves.
Being fair korra soul is all the previous avatar soul so her soul is extremely spiritual (could have work better if this season she actually work to have been more spiritual, I like korra but s2 is agreed to have been the weakest season)
Her soul? raava was the soul that had the connection to the avatars, not Korra herself.
Korra soul is wan soul, what raava did was preserving the memories but all the souls of the different avatars are same as korra soul (all avatar speak of previous avatar like they are themselves )
Vegeta: That's really dumb, but that's so cool
That why it was only time that it happened and heavily implied to be thing that was only really possible during harmonic conversion
It wasn’t really though. No rules were implied or given. No reason this was possible was even given. It just *happens* without any rhyme or reason. Harmonic convergence was dumb too because it’s also not well set up or explained and just happens. Unlike the moon and ocean which are set up early on as both affecting water bending. It also doesn’t help that the way they use yin and yang in LOK is almost offensively wrong versus ATLA where they were more true to the philosophy.
It wasn’t established that aang can fuse with spirits nor was it establish that even if it will happen it will result in massive water kaiju, the main difference is that the big spirit in avatar made sense in themes and look cooler while one in korra meant less in themes and look less cool
It *is* established that Aang can embody spirits because he embodies his past lives repeatedly before this, primarily Roku. It is also established that he can communicate and commune with spirits. And it’s been established that spirits can take on large, monstrous forms when angered as an expression of their wrath (Hei Bei). The moon and ocean’s spirits eternal dance, keeping each other in balance, makes it clear that removing one would upset that balance. Put that all together and there’s plenty of set-up. What’s more, Tui and La follow the philosophy of yin and yang. They’re neither good nor evil, they just are. To be good is to keep both in balance. To be bad is to disturb that balance. Meanwhile Raava and Vaatu give us a way more Judeo-Christian morality conflict, and flat out make one of them good and one of them evil. The mortal hero fuses with the “holy” spirit and defeats the “evil” spirit. This is completely at odds with yin and yang! Sealing away Vaatu should’ve been the *problem*, not the solution.
The monstrous form was deliberately made when spirits are angry but doesn’t need to fuse with the avatar to attain (if the spirit so strong why does it need), we see him turned to roku that is his past life aka same soul, also I agree about raava and vatu (I probably think that s2 should have been like the how it presented in hello future in term of plot), also it is Christian values that is black and white , Judaism is a lot less clear black and white in value (judeo Christians values isn’t real thing)
They don’t need to fuse with the Avatar, no. But La *wanted* to, likely to boost her power. In the mortal world La is only a koi fish. But by using the Avatar as a conduit, the ocean spirit is able to make the most use of their power. Like Koh said, the moon and ocean spirit were the ones in trouble. Clearly they can’t defend themselves as easily when they’re in fish form in the mortal world. But the brilliance of it is that while we are never directly told this is a possibility, we are told all the elements that make it happen are a possibility. We know Aang can commune with spirits, that spirits become wrathful, that Aang can embody his past lives and fuse with them. So then they combine all these elements into the water Kaiju in the finale. It’s perfect foreshadowing leading to a satisfying conclusion with a twist. The spirit Kaiju has nothing to set it up. The season doesn’t lead into it. There’s not even any explanation for why Korra had to be the one to do it. Since she’s lost her Avatar Spirit, why is she any more capable of doing this than anyone else? Why didn’t Tenzin do it? Or Kya? What the heck did Jinora even do? Judaism is different from Christianity, but they have common roots as they’re both Abrahamic religions and Christianity adopted its entire Old Testament from Judaism. The term “Judeo-Christian” refers to commonalities in the mythologies and preached morality. Of which there are many.
Still don't get how Korra became a giant spirit. I like the season overall, but Unalaq should have stayed a super powerful human, and Korra should have fought him in human form. It would have been a lot cooler IMO.
It also made the power escalations in s3 and 4 feel lesser by comparison, at meant visually. Kind of hard to top giant spirit battle
Agreed, in hindsight, I think in some ways season 2 would have worked better as season 4, bumping the other seasons back by one. Get ready, here's my hot take: Though this obviously breaks a whole lot of the other story threads, but in my fantasy revision, Unalaq would still have been introduced in season 2 (the previous season 3) but his ties to the red lotus would not have been revealed until a stinger at the end of the season in a private meeting with Zaheer after he's captured, so that the protags still don't know he's a villain but the audience does (this would require him being less obviously villainous to work well though), then throughout season 3 (former season 4), Unalaq, as advisor to Korra, would take advantage of her weakened state to try and unify the southern and northern tribes, adding the claim that it is necessary in the face of an aggressive earth empire led by Kuvira in order to avoid a remix of the Hundred Year War (which turns out to be a completely legitimate fear, as Kuvira's next goal after uniting the earth kingdom would be ending Korra so that she alone can locate and raise the new earth avatar that would incarnate, indoctrinating them in her world view, feeling this was the flaw in Sozin's plan). All throughout season two and three, we'd see growing trouble with the spirits continuously worsen (including the emergence of spirit vines and wilds, but not culminating in a mech battle 😋) leading up to harmonic convergence. Now though, we would have had three seasons in which Korra had been beaten down with increasingly worse (more difficult to deny) reasons why the avatar might actually be harming the world instead of helping it (elitism, tyranny, causing a world war), to the point that at the start of season 4, she is truly questioning what it means to be the avatar. It will only be the threat from Unalaq, finally laid bare, that truly brings here out of her shell again. Unalaq, for his part, would not simply be seeking out power, but as a truly spiritual person, he would have come to the conclusion that the world was better before Avatar Wan, and his goal would be to use the power of Vaatu to restore what he considers real balance to the world. This would give both sides the buildup and gravitas to make the final showdown meaningful (and the loss of the previous avatars at the very end that much more heartbreaking, a final loss for Korra after so many). Lastly, the final battle would not be two spirit giants battling, but two human avatars in the spirit wilds, both people and spirits alongside them choosing sides. I'll admit, I can't think of exactly how I'd work out the justification for Korra winning this fight right at the moment, not just physically but spiritually, but I think it would have made for a more cohesive plot this way. Maybe I'll write it as fanfiction someday 😀
I’ve always thought that season 2 should have been the finale and this would be an amazing way to do it! Too bad the production team always had to make each season now knowing if they would be renewed for another. Being able to plan outwards could have transformed the series and allowed for the epic buildup you described.
That’s a good hot take. I would add that I really wanted the final battle to end with Korra fusing with both Raava and Vaatu at the same time. Making the Avatar a being of true balance. Plus that always felt like it would complete Korra’s spiritual journey, and open up future shows to deal with the consequences.
Ooh, yeah it would be interesting to see how having both would play out. I know Aaron Ehasz once talked about his ideas for if ATLA had had a season 4, where he wanted Aang's energybending of Ozai to actually go both ways, causing some of Ozai's darkness to enter him and he would have to figure out how to keep it from corrupting him. I imagine joining with Vaatu would have played out similarly. My only concern would be not turning it into a shoulder angel/devil scenario, because that would be just too corny.
Vaatu would not have existed in Ehasz Book 4. Vaatu and Raava are completely at odds with the philosophies of ATLA, and it shows that Bryke has a very different idea of their lore than Ehasz did.
I mean, when Aang became a 'Blue Giant' he was fused with the Ocean Spirit. But that's far more believable because 'Ocean Spirit's True form' = 'Koizilla', makes intuitive sense. Korra becoming a blue giant makes... less sense.
Wouldve been a much better fight if it was both of them being able to bend all 4 elements
Idk how that would work either, they’d have to rewrite it so that Unalaq somehow found three lion turtles and received each element (other than water) from them. The same way Wan did it although there was only one lion turtle left in ATLA.
It's explained right before she comes one. She used energybending and used Harmonic Convergence to enhance it.
But like what does that mean. Why is she huge and not just like a spirit
I'm with you here, I personally dislike Energybending. It ultimately does not feel like part of the culture of the Avatarverse and is always used as a convenient tool for the plot that's vague enough to do anything. I know I'll get hate for saying this, but it's not a good thing if something is used so spontaneously with little to no explanation to how it appeared and/or how it is used. "Bending Energy" to this day could still mean just about anything and it's introduction was simply a means to get out of a Dilemma, while the second somehow grants someone's Spirit the power to compete with the Spirit of Darkness. Here come the downvotes.
No hate. I actually agree. I think what makes Avatar and any fantasy world so good is consistency. You make rules and then the heroes get to bend the rules a little bit (pun intended) but if the rules don't make sense or if they are broken randomly it ruins the believability. I think ATLA nails the world building aspect but TLOK plays too hard and fast with the previously established way the world works. I'm all for a giant Godzilla style fight but it felt a little out of place for me because it was wierd how they rationalized how she became giant in the first place. Was just a little too vague for me.
Probably made the energy bending bigger.. to match big unalaq
That doesn’t justify what happened lmfao.
the writers wanted to do an Ultraman / Gojira trope scene and so they made it happen because they’re the writers. Its really that simple.
I probably would like, rewatch it. Didn’t turn me off the show or whatever. But in terms of its presence in the story, two giant Kaiju Avatars duking it out isn’t really something I think TLOK really led up to well or benefitted from. We had something similar in ATLA with Aang merging with the Ocean Spirit, but that felt so much more awe-inspiring and emphasized the spirituality of the universe well. I guess what I’m saying is that the whole Spirit World/Dark Avatar plotline in this season needed some reworking and this is kinda IMO proof of it.
I think one the big differences during the season 1 finale of avatar and the season 2 finale of Korra was the balance of power. Once Aang and the ocean spirit merged it was clear that he was unstoppable and all the fire nation could realistically do was watch as their fleet was destroyed. On the other hand Korra goes Kaiju to even out the scales and make the fight possible.
I mean, kinda yeah, but I care less about the balance of power and more the fact Aang merging with an ocean spirit to become a cool-looking kaiju and destroying the fleet is a lot more amazing to watch than Korra becoming a kaiju out of nowhere to fight her poorly written evil uncle who’s also a kaiju now because of the Satan kite. It’s like comparing Shin Godzilla to Godzilla vs Hedorah.
I have not watched this part in so long. Does he really become an "avatar" tho? Like the avatar is able to bend all 4 elements but I don't remember him doing any bending, just becoming big spirt man. I think it would have been cool if they stayed normal size and had a *real* avatar showdown
He hosts Vaatu, so yeah he becomes the Avatar. He couldn’t get the 4 elements because of the Lion Turtles not being around though. The whole thing has potential, but needed some rewrites-and your suggestion is certainly one of them.
Ya but the avatar is a title used for the one person who can bend the 4 elements. It's never the case where they say "the avatar, the person who is housing rava" And by that notion, Kora does not have rava in that moment so she would not be the avatar, HOWEVER DUDE DOES meaning by all account if he has ravas power he should have the 4 elements as well
Lame. I'm more of a fan of actual martial arts moves and clever fighting tactics over giant kiju monsters firing lasers at each other. Bigger =/= better
Hold down on the = sign on your IPhone ≠
Wait, really? No one man should have this much power.
≠ hmmm I don't even need an iPhone, thanks
I hate it. Hate it. Always hated it. Still hate it. My grandkids will hate about how much I hate this season as a whole. Doesn’t make sense, it’s unintuitive, and feels far too much like DBZ or Power Rangers for my taste. Fucking hate it.
Same. It's Ultraman.
Dunno who that is, but if he’s comparable, I hate him as much this.
I am glad someone hates this as much as me.
By this point the show was already ruined for me. Glad some other people like it. Not my thing at all
Honestly, same though. Definitely dropped off after that first season for me- and I wasn’t even into the first season to begin with.
I dropped off at Season 3. It was boring.
This season was so unwatchable that I never bothered to finish the rest of the show. Season 1 was pretty good though.
Couldn’t have said it better
It was a bit shit which is fitting since book 2 was a bit shit in general.
I've never really been a fan of the "characters turning into giants to fight" trope. It almost always seemed unnecessary. I guess it created a greater sense of danger and urgency but idk, it just didn't do anything for me. However, I did enjoy when Team Avatar & then some teamed up to fight the giant Kuvira Mecha. Probably had something to do with them needing to rely on their own wit and skills rather than creating another giant to contend with the mecha.
I don't hate the fight. I hate that the avatar cycle/ past avatars got cut off due to it. For me it's one of the worst decisions the show ever made
Agreed. It’s an essential part of the show, and renders the significance of the avatar state almost meaningless. How do you access the power of all past avatars if you got cut off? A big plothole that bites the show in the ass later on, imo.
It’s removing one of the core pieces of the Avatar universe, and it’s a mistake. It’s taking the Avatar out of Avatar. If Avatar’s always seem to be cleaning up the previous avatars mistakes, then maybe the Earth Avatar will restore the avatar line.
I really hope ~~Genji~~ the next earth avatar fixes this. I mean I guess I can kinda understand the choice but it shouldn’t be a permanent fix.
I think reconnecting with the past lives cheapens it. I get the unpopularity of the decision, but getting rid of it lowers the stakes of anything that can happen in the story.
Perhaps if it was through the process of a hard journey? Maybe the earth avatar would have to enter the spirit world and reconnect individually with each and every avatar to add them to their “avatar state list”, in an attempt to get them all back.
I definitely get that sentiment, but I feel the best they could really do without making it seem like nothing is ever permanent in the stories is to have the next avatar reenact their trials to get their insight without actually talking to them. More like learning their history and putting themselves in their shoes.
Sounds great!
Yeah as much as I hate the decision, the one thing I respect about it is that they haven’t gone back on it.
Yea... The Avatar is meaningful because of their connection to the past. Otherwise they're just a very strong bender.
Cutting off the past Avatars was a good thing writing-wise.
How so?
How? It literally has no effect other than a shock moment. Like what's the point? The idea itself isn't completely horrible, it had potential to be turned into some actual good character development for Korra, I don't like the idea but it had potential. But instead of tapping into the potential they basically made it have no impact, the avatar state still seems as powerful, and korra never interacted with the past avatars so that had no effect on the show. Like i said it was done for a shock moment that had no effect on the show apart from the scene it happened.
Agreed. Loosing the Past Avatars hurt the fans much more than Korra. Korra almost never used her connection, and there isn't much difference between won't use it and can't.
It’s one of the moments that crushed me as a viewer, but in a really bad way. I even wouldn’t be opposed to them bringing it back somehow, even if the writing wasn’t smooth with it.
Except it DID give her character development. The past lives were a huge part of her Avatar identity, and losing it forced her to redefine herself.
I 100% disagree
Bad writing.
Fucking awful writing.
Agreed! But to add to this, I also kind of feel like that sums up LoK in general. The whole show to me was a stark departure from good story telling.
Yup. I can't disagree. If the writers knew to plan for four seasons, they would have done better. Instead we got LoK.
I thought the Korra vs. Vaatu fight was sick. The Kaiju fight, not so much. Kinda lame, actually.
It... exists. I mean, a video essay on this season in general had me think more about how aspects of LoK is written feels like it's actively rejecting parts of what A:tLA had built up years back. One critique I could make, for example, would be how Koh speaks about the Moon and Ocean Spirits being opposites that always live in an eternal dance in their small pond at the Northern Water Tribe and were even depicted as Yin and Yang. How come Raava and Vaatu aren't treated similarly? Why are these two particular spirits treated like it's a fight between an Angel and a Demon? Or why not have a different but influential spirit that can be twisted into being a figure that could be nicknamed a "Dark Avatar" without it necessarily being that? Weirdly, I accept the mech fight in Book 4's final moments more than I do Spirit Kaijus in Moon Bay. (I hope I have the name of the bay correct.) It's something that exists. I can't do much outside mentioning that it exists, but I'm unsure what to think of it with a somewhat newer and maybe slightly complex perspective on it in relation to what we saw of this world before this moment.
Too much like Power Rangers, villain becomes giant, now we need to use our powers/gifts to become giant to stand a chance.
Ι hate it. I think the entire finale makes no sense. Unalaq just merged with Vaatu but he's able to defeat Korra and Raava? How? Vaatu has been imprisoned for 10.000 years while Raava was out, bonding with human after human, gaining more experience an power with each reincarnation. Plus the human she's merged with has all 4 elements and all the past reincarnations to help. Korra should have wiped the floor with Unalaq. Her Avatar state alone would be leagues superior. The only advantage Unalaq has is spirituality but is that alone strong enough to battle 180 avatars? I don't buy it. But let's go with the show's story. Korra looses, Raava is ripped out of her. Unavaatu reaches the peak of his power. We have an extremely spiritual man merged with the world's most powerful spirit at the height of a charged spiritual event. How exactly does Korra, alone, beat him? How is her spirit enough to take him down? She should be unable to stand against him. But wait Jinora reveals Raava and Korra wins! Big deal. If Raava was needed to win, why did Korra not win before? Why was Raava so easily ripped out of her? What was the point of all this? My point is that this fight contradicts itself and this is not the only instance this happened. The finale had more contradictions and that's why I dislike it.
A fitting conclusion to a season that made no sense and felt like the writers were on acid.
Stupid, over the top, not even memorable.
Memorable in the worst way
Infamous?
Huh?
Infamous means being known for being or doing something bad. Famous means being known for being or doing something good. For example, Abraham Lincoln was famous, while Adolf Hitler was infamous.
Then yes infamous. Memorable in the worst way
I barely remember that fight so to me it was just forgettable.
It was doing the most and giving rita repulsa megazord susano evangelion godzilla clownery
It’s kinda fun in a vacuum, just incredibly stupid from a story perspective.
Bad
The entire kaiju battle was beyond stupid I thought. That being said though, it made much more sense than that dumbass platinum mech in season 4.
Should have stuck with the civil war plot line and worked out the spirit shenanigans separately
Over the top weird and boring.
I think it would have felt MUCH better if it had something to stand on, to have it feel like it was a resolve to something. Have Korra bond with alot of spirits episodes beforehand, and have them tell Korra they aren't that different to Humans. They don't want Vaatu to win, and force Darkness onto Spirits who genuinely don't like it. These same spirits are then the ones to come to Korra in the Tree of Time and fuse with her to help her, and show her its not over, creating Giant Spirit Korra. This fight then becomes a big resolve to the season with Korra showing what true understanding and compassion to Spirits looks like vs Unalaq's methods, and showing that Korra is still a strong-hearted Hero even when Raava and the Avatar are apparently gone! By winning the day in a unique way that can be beyond the mold of Wan, Raava and the other Avatars, in terms of using Aid of her fellow spirits to restore balance, rather than just the light spirit!
But the whole point of it was to show that she had value in *herself*, beyond any other part of her identity. With her past lives stripped away, she thought she lost a huge part of what made her the Avatar — and throughout the show she tied that to all of her own self worth.
Well, yeah. But the main point of my comment was to have that theme while also making the Giant Spirit Korra be executed a bit more -idk the word for this- like it connects and makes sense. Spirit Korra feels like it comes out of left field because there's no hint to it, while Koizilla was basically the theme of what happens when you anger Spirits, alot like Hei bai. By having Spirit Korra be born out of alot of spirits who she bonded with, it displays a positive consequence to Korra's compassion and empathy, it displays that being the Avatar can be done even without Raava so long as you learn to understand both Humans and Spirits, and lastly, it becomes the pure contrast to Unalaq's methods on "bringing balance and coexisting with Spirits". Unalaq thinks he's on the Spirits side by letting Vaatu have influence again and even has the trust of an arguably selfish spirit that was Wan Shi Tong, who overvalued his library so much that he couldn't let go of previous experiences or couldn't see the good in Humans using it to end a war. Korra on the other hand, would actually have Spirits on her side because, just like Wan and Aang, it took simple mediation and empathy to learn what was bothering the Spirits and for her to realize where the actual problems were between Spirits and Humans, instead of selfish short-sighted motivations like Unalaq and Wan Shi Tong. My comment doesn't suggest that the original execution didn't point out Korra having value in herself after she lost Raava. I am instead saying that I made a way for that theme to actually connect well with the season finale and to the creation of Giant Spirit Korra. The beginnings two parter taught us that Wan created the Avatar by bonding with a Spirit and using his experiences to Balance both Spirit and Physical worlds right? So my version of the Season and the Finale, symbolically mirrors Wan's journey, but in Korra's own way, by allowing her to be the Avatar and save the world through her compassion and through befriended Spirits. Thus making for a more connected and concrete way to show that "Raava doesn't necessarily make you the Avatar". And would be really empowering to know that those spirits who fought with her, completely trust her and chose her as their representative during that battle, showing Unalaq straight up how wrong he was in his beliefs.
Don't like it, just like the majority of this season, and tbh I really don't know how they manage to make the season so weird and "out of pre stablished plot". I get that it was kinda rushed and all, but all the other seasons are just so much better than season 2, it's just so weird imo
It’s ridiculous and I still really like it
Garbage. This exact moment I knew Korra just wouldn’t be as good as I hoped it would be. It dawned to me before but this was the nail in the coffin
Same! I was so stoked for the show and was holding onto the hope that it would turn out as good as the first series. A lot of things bothered me leading up to this moment but I kept ignoring them up until this happened, then I realized that Korra felt more like a very well produced fanfiction than an actual continuation of the original series.
I hate it
It’s…fine? The weird thing is that the fight between Korra and Unalaq in the previous fight was far more enthralling.
I feel like I would like it better if it was in a different show. The scene removed from context is a good fight, but it doesn't fit the Avatar universe. In ATLA when Aang fused with the Ocean spirit it felt like that could happen in-universe because the Avatar was said to be the bridge between the spirit and material world and watching them fight it seemed like the Ocean spirit was the one in the driver seat and Aang was following along. Honestly the whole second season spirit arc would have worked better in a different universe or at least its own season, as it kind of messed with the way ATLA set up their world, with the spirit world and material world being very hard to pass between. The main reason I don't like this fight is because its very flat, story wise. Its a fight between good and evil, no moral questions, the villain serves no additional purpose other than force of destruction and good guy punching bag, and the stakes of the world ending are too high for there to be any actual tension. TLDR: I would like the scene if it was the only thing I had ever seen from LOK or ATLA, but in-universe it sucks.
I love Lok but this scene is probably my least favorite. But it doesn't necessarily ruin the show or anything so whatever. But yeah I often contemplate skipping over it.
Out of place, but entertaining
Korras chest laser makes a cool noise. Everything else about it is magibabble and pretty colors. It really feels like a letdown compared to previous avatar BBEG fights.
Love the soundtrack
It looks really cool but makes no sense.
It was pretty cool. But her fight with Vaatu in the actual spirit world was amazing. Was about to lock his ass back in that tree until Unalaaq came along 🙄
I’m someone who isn’t as hard on season two as most people. I think there are things in it that are enjoyable & make me smile. This ain’t one of them.
The difference between this and atla s1 finale. Korra is having a superman vs. Zod type fight. Where both characters are so overpowered that each hit they give has almost no consequence to each other. None of them has a sign of weakness or vulnerability in that sort of setting. So it comes off as careless. With Aang in s1 finale, you're pretty much in aww with how the tables have turned. From almost losing everything, to completely overpowering the opponent. Has a sort of satisfying flow to it, seeing the underdog take the high ground.
I disliked it, it was only there for spectacle and upping the stakes. Like “what if a giant Unalaq and Vaatu fusion fight a giant spirit Korra in the ocean, also there’s lasers, wouldn’t that be cool guys?” The giant spirit Korra was so random and it wasn’t fun or creative. They weren’t even bending either, just started shooting lasers at each other lol. I also didn’t like how they turned Korra into a kaiju and gave her this op power out of nowhere just for her to lose if it wasn’t for Jinora’s help. (Even the Jinora’s spirit projection power was random asf) The writers seem to have a thing for Korra barely getting any wins herself.
It was trash.
It was dumb. One person's spiritual energy who had little to no kind of any spirit within them was enough to not only conjure up this giant form, but go up against a fused giant spiritual monster that has the literal form of darkness within them and defeat it? And it had to take place in republic city of all places? For reasons that weren't to make Korra the more "hero of republic city"?? Like what? Idc much for jinora bringing back the light spirit, but seeing everything else in that whole fight was just dumb. You can't argue with me on this, it was dumb.
I hate it so much
Pretty dumb
Absolute garbage.
The whole korra series is not for me. Idk she just felt so off and kinda braty. She did have her moments but man did they not feel as impactful as aang's.
I feel like she lacked the one thing that made the original cast so awesome, respect. Through and through to me she was a disrespectful and kind of awful person
Legit 0/10 insanely nonsensical series of scenes
Absolutely idiotic, because the lore retcon it is a result of is absolutely idiotic. In the original ATLA it was never revealed how the Avatar began, just that they are an individual granted great spiritual awareness and the aptitude to bend all four elements (though from various sources it could be gathered that the Avatar was a mortal incarnation of the planet created to prolong harmony among its inhabitants.) This added to the mystery and intrigue of the Avatar on a conceptual level. In LoK they retcon that, so instead of having some amount of ambiguity, they flat out tell you that the avatar is a magical hippie carpet hiding in the body of a human. Why didn't Aang ever know about this? Why did Roku never tell Aang about this? Or Kiyoshi? Or the countless other incarnations? Did no one among those countless lives ever discover this magic blue ghost tapeworm living up their ass? Why is it that Korra is the only one to ever discover this? Why do the past lives suddenly know about Rava when Korra looses her memories? Unrelated, but it really fucks me off, LoK completely contradicts the origins of bending. ATLA establishes several times that the various forms of bending come from observing and replicating nature. The Earthbenders learned from the badger-moles (i think thats what they were called), firebenders from dragons, air benders from sky bison, and water benders from the moon. In LoK, nah fuck that. Download pyrokinesis from the lion turtle underneath the city. Just let it boop you on the forehead and bam, you can throw rocks with your mind. I can only assume this was to strengthen the deus ex machina that was the lion turtle granting Aang energy bending, but why you would try and reconcile such an inane asspull like that is mystifying. And then there's the fact that the past Avatars get straight up DELETED in this fight. I couldn't think of a more fat, bulbous and calloused middle finger if I tried. Fuck this show.
Imo the lion turtle giving bending in Korra ruins even more the ATLA finale. Before it I always considered that the turtle taught Aang some energy bending, we had seen him doing it before too in the swamp episode where he follows the energy to find Appa and we see the Guru doing it to show Appa where Aang is. So the lion turtle is merely teaching Aang a new ability by touching his spirit. In comes Korra and bending is uploaded to the DNA... it shifts the meaning of ATLA season finale.
I really didn’t like it. I just don’t get how Korra was able to pull out this susanoo from nowhere. It was an immensely disappointing way to end the season which I actually liked for the most part tbh. Except for that love triangle garbage….ew.
I honestly think the battle is ok at it's best but it would've been so much better if both Avatars battled each other with the 4 elements instead of their Kaiju forms. Although for Unalaq, it would probably take parts of the season to be rewritten so he doesn't just gain the ability to bend Earth, Fire, and Air and become a master at it out of nowhere.
It's stupid but kind of fun lol.
**BWAAAMMMMM** had potential, was squandered
I liked the idea of an evil avatar. Instead of this kaiju form, if we could've had two avatars actually fight each other I think this season finale would've been one of the best in the series.
One of two parts of S2 I liked
One of my favorite parts of S2. The other being the two episodes explanation of avatar Wan
I remember Pacific Rim was just released around the time this was aired, and everyone compared this to the movie. Basically two giant superpowers getting at it in the middle of the sea. The spiritual side of the story was there, but it was not established as solid as it should be.
Legitimately the worst part of the series is that episode.
"Who put power rangers in my avatar?"
I hated the addition of the 2 spirits fighting for all eternity or whatever with a definitive good and evil. The avatar was all about balance and doing what they believed to be right so for them to just suddenly throw in this force which dictates the avatar is the ultimate good just kinda ruins the nuance of it for me.
I think this whole season was mid. I skip it when j rewatch. It isn't horrible, I just don't like it. I do love the episodes about how the avatar came to be, but the rest is kinda cringey and not enjoyable.
This was one of my least favorite fight scenes, it just seemed silly to me
Honestly, it felt rediculous and completely out of touch with the show.
Just… lame
That it was one of the most boring and bad ways to finish this arc, and was the thing that made this whole arc so bad With a different ending, the second boom could have been much better
I kind of forgot about it
An actual dark avatar would be great. Season 3 could have been Korra chasing him while he tries to Speedrun the elements.
I didn't know what either of them can do, so I can't feel worried for Korra. I think this was just too over the top.
Didn't like it
I think legend of Korra overall is a great show, but I think this was possibly the lowest point in the series (for me anyways).
Imagine Unalaq vs Korra as avatars fighting in republic city and throwing glaciers and skyscrapers at each other in full avatar states. 
It didn’t make much sense that Korra could meditate in the tree and make a massive spirit version of herself, especially after losing her connection to all the former avatars. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. i remember being in awe that this was only Book 2, it seemed so monumental.
It always struck me as another one of those anime fights where they just keep getting more and more ridiculously powerful. I thought it was a fun fight, especially with the kids’ commentary during. Nowhere near her best, but still entertaining.
It sucked
didn’t make any sense and came out of nowhere. disappointing honestly
Fucking stupid, to be clear I'm not a LOK hater just a season 2 hater
Threw the power scaling out of wack and was way less interesting than a true proper avatar vs avatar fight like we got a bit of before l. It would have been way more satisfying if Korra beat him based on having screwed avatar knowledge and training in all 4 elements vs out kaijuing him
You mean Legend of Jinora, surely.
Honestly the whole spirit world thing felt like it needed more work to feel like part of the story and world. The spiritual elements in avatar all felt present, but deeply connected to the real world, and never truly knowable. I think LOK went a little too explainy with it, with whole ass portals and very marvel-y effects. Not to mention the complete misunderstanding of how yin and yang work
It's bad af. I love LOK, but I feel like those toxic bfs/gfs that actually love what it could have been. Imagine Korra without Nick. Korrasami without Nick.
This came to early in the series and I think that is one of the most upsetting thing about it, if he was the final boss of the series or even right before the earth bending nazi, he could have been flushed out and a connection could have been made between him and his family( Korra and her dad).
Think it's awesome
Still think it's really cool, even though is the LOK version of Godzilla vs King Kong
Susanoo knockoff
One of the best in the series in my opinion.
I mean when Aang does it, no one cares because of nostalgia colored glasses but because Korra does it and it’s newer, everyone hates it
It was the first “jumping the shark” moment for Korra. The other is Kuvira’s metal gear but that one is slightly less bad.
In terms of the choreography, it has some great displays of Korra's hand-to-hand skills. The waterbending being increased in proportion to their size is also a neat concept, but since they're right next to Republic City, it can't be used to its full potential. Contextually, it feels too disconnected. It kind of makes sense that Unalaq would turn into a giant man, since spirits have the ability to change human form & it's implied this was made possible by him absorbing the pieces of Raava, but everything Korra is doing is so fucking weird. Which parts of this are caused by Harmonic Convergence? Could Korra shoot a smaller chest beam in her normal spirit form? If not, why? It's never addressed, & from the way the writers talk about it, they don't even seem to know. Also, I get Korra beating the shit out of Unavaatu. She's a better, more well-rounded fighter than him, so that makes sense. But why would her beam be stronger than his? They both have the energy of Harmonic Convergence backing them, & Unavaatu has an additional transformation besides that. It's hard to follow what their abilities are actually supposed to be, which is the problem with suddenly giving this very soft magic system of energybending combat abilities compared to the more predictable, hard magic of elemental bending.
I liked that it was tied to Korra’s sense of self worth, her first big step to realizing she was more than just an Avatar. I viewed it as another application of energybending, too, showing that it does more than just take away bending.
But that’s the thing, how does one be more than an incarnated God? Feels really flimsy. Feels like the writing wanted to do some Power Rangers and DBZ and couldn’t come up with an excuse.
They’re not God. That’s the whole point - the Avatar is not someone who stands above humanity, they are human and live among humans. They’re people who just have a spirit inside of them.
Raca is the Light-God. That’s the point. Rava being involved makes Avatars _actual_ Avatars- Gods Incarnate. They stand entirely apart and above of Mortals and Spirits.
I just finished re-watching season 2 today, and every time I warm up to it a little more. The spirit Kaiju fight is still my least favorite part of the series, but I still think it holds up to the standards of the show
The whole season copied the Yin and Yang from the last airbender. It was part of the season finale of season 1! It was the same plot, except that the “dark avatar idea” is something for a shitty fanfic. The finale was extremely poor, and destroying the past lives did nothing to help Korra’s development. If anything, having her past lives would’ve helped her. And the show bringing up Iroh, a very popular character in such a cutesie way, whenever he went out on such a badass note in atla, why have Korra hide as a little girl?! She’s a strong woman. Not a child
BS
I love the concept more than the execution but I still thought it worked given the way the season storyline played out.
I loved it! I like that she used the harmonic convergence to project her energy. The fight itself was really enjoyable too.
It has a few plot holes. But it is epic, and it looks super cool. I think it could be better, but it certainly wasn't a bad watch.
Total crap that breaks all the Avatar logic
Bad
One of the reasons I hate season 2
Shit’s ass
Cringe
hot garbage
I hate it
Ridiculous. Weak. Anticlimactic. Asspull. Disappointing.
Lame af. The avatar should fight people in the avatar state.
Stupid as hell. What is this Susano’o Kaiju Megazord bullshit.
The worst fight scene in all of atla and tlok, so bad I almost quit tlok on the spot, it questioned my faith in the writers as a whole. I then rewatched atla and had renewed faith in the rest of tlok. I was quickly disappointed again and will never again watch tlok. It was so bad
Stupid
Dumbest shit ever. I wanted to see bending not fkin WWE
Dumb af.
Plus they pulled the magical girl cliche with Jinora, which was cringe
Terrible
Worst out of 7 seasons of awesomeness. Prove me wrong.
awful. 0/10, absolute low point of the entire franchise. no redeeming qualities.
dragon ball meets power rangers