Cross stitch pattern of the Avatar The Legend of Korra logo. You can stitch it in any color. Check out my Last Airbender logo pattern too since they go well together. Download the PDF here: Korra Logo Pattern

Grid Size: 142W x 50H
Design Area: 10.00″ x 3.43″ (140 x 48 stitches)
Colors: 1

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I know you’re going to hate me for saying this, but I’m going to say it anyway. I didn’t like Legend of Korra. Yes, yes, I know, and I will admit that the show has it’s merits, but I just couldn’t finish it. I watched up until the big reveal about Tarrlok’s relationship with Amon and their childhood. It was a pretty cool twist, but one I think ultimately weakens the message that the story could tell. Let me explain.

When Amon first showed up I thought he was a fantastic villain. He was an extremest for a good cause and I was excited to see where this would go. When Korra went to a meeting I thought it would be amazing if she had some sort of dilemma about joining. There were so many possibilities with this set up. Amon could have converted one of her friends and she would have had to justify why bending is good. There could have been some kind of new technology that would have made bending obsolete. They could have introduced a bender vigilante who blurs the lines between good and evil and makes it hard to defend bending. There could be a strong movement of benders giving up their bending to be closer to their natural selves making bending seem unhealthy like the anti-vax movement and Veganism. Of course none of this happens, and unfortunately, the tension of Amon possibly being right is broken pretty quickly when he blows up a stadium.

Then there’s Asami’s dad. I was pleasantly surprised when I first saw him, since most of the time factories and wealthy businessmen are seen as villains. I thought that since he was Asami’s father, he would be an ally and turn the trope around, but no. He’s evil. Industry is evil and there’s no interesting questions about working conditions, providing jobs, or what the loss of benders would do to the economy. He’s just evil.

Sadly, most of the characters are pretty disappointing. I like to think that the best characters are the ones who have the most vivid off screen lives. Any character who is easy to write fanfiction for is a pretty good character. Take Tenzin for example. When Korra is away, you can imagine him spending time with his wife, going to council meetings, reminiscing with Lin about their shared childhood, or teaching his children new air bending techniques. He has a lot he could be doing when the story isn’t focused on him and he seems more alive and real because of it. Then look at Bolin and Mako, two characters who are so similar in their narrative purpose that I can’t remember which one is which. Their characters revolve almost completely around Korra. If she’s not around they might be… practicing pro-bending, but wait, the stadium blew up, so nothing then. You don’t see them trying to reconnect with fans, teaching amateur benders, or setting up unofficial bending tournaments in their free time. Once the stadium burns down, that whole aspect of their lives just disappears. They don’t group up with other teams to show that an act of terrorism won’t stop pro-bending. They don’t use their position as sports stars to gain support in opposition of anti-bending groups. They just do whatever Korra thinks is the best way to fight the Equalists instead of using their unique status to undercut Amon.

I stopped because, spoiler alert: Amon is revealed to be a water bender, and not just any water bender, a blood bender. I feel like his actions are even less justified now than they were before. He didn’t need to be a blood bender to be intimidating. And I know this is just a cartoon and it’s meant for kids, but everything about Legend of Korra makes it out to be the grittier more adult version of The Last Airbender, but Amon is arguably less complex and sympathetic than Azula.

And I know this is nitpicking by now, but how did the Equalist movement even get off the ground. Extremist groups like this thrive on the us vs them mentality, but when “them” is your landlord or your neighbor, it’s harder to adhere to the cause. It’s even shown that children of the same parents may or may not be benders. Heck, even Tenzin’s brother is a non-bender. It takes a pretty strong and longstanding ideology to separate family members. It can be done, but they never address this.

I feel like The Legend of Korra was a lot of wasted potential. Maybe I’ll go back and watch the rest, but I’d rather just watch The Last Airbender again.