#i've talked AD NAUSEAM about atla's weak points and where i think it could have (and should have) improved

[firelxdykatara]

every time i see a post by someone saying they just finished watching atla for the first time, i have this moment of jealousy–being able to experience atla for the first time all over again would be amazing, honestly–but then it’s replaced by this all-consuming sense of dread (and no small amount of pity) when i see the rest of the post (or in the tags) that they’re looking forward to watching lok.

like, especially if they’re gonna be coming fresh off of just barely finishing atla, expecting some amazing follow up to the series, and instead getting… that…………

like, it’d be bad enough if korra was just kind of a crappy show on its own. and don’t get me wrong, it absolutely is! the relationships are sloppy and inconsistent, the character development (where it exists at all) is all over the place, the plots make no sense and have ‘resolutions’ based on nonsensical fight sequences and dei ex machina because the showrunners couldn’t be assed to actually keep things consistent or bother with, like, narrative coherence or satisfying conclusions to plot arcs, probably because they figured Rule of Cool was good enough to keep the viewers distracted. on it’s own, korra would never have made waves. it probably would’ve been canceled after the second season at best, and hardly anyone would remember it. it managed to eke out four seasons by riding atla’s coattails and maintaining a meager fanbase who kept hoping things would Get Better (hint: they don’t)

but no, lok had to crap all over everything that was amazing about atla. the worldbuilding, which had been beautiful in its simplicity–there were complexities in the individual nations, but part of what made atla so amazing was that it didn’t miss the forest for the trees; there was a big picture that was gradually filled in as the story progressed, but still left plenty to the imagination rather than getting bogged down by so many details that the story got derailed–was actively destroyed come season 2 of lok, with near surgical precision. and the characters we spent sixty-one episodes getting to know and love in the original series?

well, let me do a headcount here:

katara: got to stick to the healing huts for the rest of her life, stuck at home with her two older children because they weren’t airbenders, and she was apparently perfectly content to let their father abandon them and her because apparently the only kid who was important to him was the airbender. katara, miss ‘i will never, ever turn my back on people who need me’, was nowhere to be found when her youngest son and his entire family were in grave danger. she also didn’t bother to attend her eldest granddaughter’s air master ceremony. i guess the journey was just too much for her old bones. (nevermind that in atla, the white lotus was made up of old men, one of whom [bumi] was over a century old, who still got to kick ass and take names. but whatever.)

aang: the afore-mentioned father who didn’t bother taking his oldest kids literally anywhere (not even ember island!!!) because he spent all of his time with his airbending kid and didn’t care if the other two had the slightest interest in their air nomad heritage. before you come @ me with ‘that’s just their interpretation!!! kya and bumi were exaggerating!!!!’, the air acolytes with whom aang and tenzin spent so much time while the latter was growing up and learning to airbend? they had no idea the avatar–THE AVATAR, the most famous person on the PLANET–even had other children!!! (and then, when bumi finally got to be an airbender two decades after his father died, he said ‘i hope i made you proud’ to his father’s statue–over something he was never able to control. as if he couldn’t imagine that his own father had ever been proud of him when he couldn’t bend anything. yes i’m still very mad about this.)

toph: had two kids with two different fathers, neither of whom her daughters ever met or knew the identity of, became police chief and then ‘retired’ (after getting her youngest off the hook for something, i forget, i think it had something to do with the incident where she permanently scarred her sister’s face [and then suyin had the gall to act like lin didn’t have perfectly valid reasons not to want to see her years later lmfao]), and fucked off to the swamp, completely abandoning her family and friends. (if the gaang could even be called friends by that point tbfh)

suki: disappeared

sokka: had a couple mentions, but he was dead, and nothing substantial was ever revealed about his life

zuko: the only one of the gaang who hadn’t either mysteriously vanished or been destroyed by the story. however, he was treated badly enough by the writers of the comics that i suppose it was only fair that he’s the only one who was a semi-decent parent, and who still cared about his family and his responsibilities. and he got a dragon so, i guess that’s one point in lok’s favor.

i just……… i’m so sad for anyone who’s about to go into lok thinking they’re getting something even approaching a spiritual successor to atla, and instead winding up with a crappy knock-off so poorly made the stitching is already coming out.

save yourselves the pain. i know i wish i had.

#atla #anti lok #anti bryke #and like!!! atla wasn't perfect!!! #i've talked AD NAUSEAM about atla's weak points and where i think it could have (and should have) improved #(even irrespective of ships cause contrary to popular belief there are more issues with atla than just who became canon) #but!!! #there's so much about lok that makes me SO mad #especially in regards to what it COULD have been given what atla WAS #i didn't even mention the crappy love triangle drama that dragged on unnecessarily for two seasons #or the same sex relationship bryke threw together in LITERALLY the last second of the show #with no prior build up because who needs to actually put the work into a relationship when you can just have them hold hands #and write a post on your blog for buttpats later #this essay was already long enough and i didn't even mean to wordvomit this badly #anyway just #if yall DO continue to lok #proceed with Caution #all's im sayin