Legend of Korra Episode 1

In 2005, the team of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko brought us an amazing three season story of “Avatar the Last Airbender”. This April, they return with a new installment for the Avatar series, “Avatar the Legend of Korra”. With the television debut having been this weekend, I feel it’s safe to do an episode summary/review. If you haven’t seen the episodes or don’t want to hear about them, this post is not for you.

Please remember, you’ve been spoiler warned!


Our story begins with a blizzard laden evening in the Southern Water Tribe home at the South Pole. The Order of the White Lotus has taken over for the temple sages in searching for, and guiding, the new Avatar. Three members of the White Lotus arrive at a humble abode to be greeted by a proud couple. Why are they proud? Well, when the lady calls for Korra (pronounced core-ra) to come into the room, the wall is blasted away and we see Toph jr! Well, actually, we meet their young daughter, Korra.

With a snarl of “I’m the Avatar. Deal with it!” she quickly shows that she has indeed discovered Earth bending, Fire bending and Water bending. One fire sprayed scene change later we meet teenage Korra taking her Fire bending test. As a White Lotus member notes Korra has the power but lacks restraint. The discussion after the test reveals that Korra has the power and elemental mastery. But she lacks the spiritual side that an Avatar needs. It’s elderly Master Katara who persuades the White Lotus members that Korra should begin Air bending training with the only Air bender, Katara’s son, Tenzin (pronounced ten-z-in). Perhaps he can help her achieve the spiritual side of the Avatar as well as teaching her to Air bend.

Korra and Aang are about as different as any two people could be. Aang dreaded being the Avatar because he had been all over the world and had seen the pressures that the Avatar title brought. In order to “keep her safe”, the Order of the White Lotus has built a compound at the South Pole. Korra has grown up only knowing that she has to master the four elements and use them to help people. Her sheltered life leaves her with no real understanding of what responsibilities being the Avatar will bring.

Apparently, Korra’s only grudgingly allowed out of the compound to let her polar bear dog, Naga, exercise.

Tenzin and his family soon arrive on a sky bison. (Guess Appa wasn’t the last sky bison after all.) We meet the stoic Tenzin, his exasperated, and pregnant, wife, Pema (pronounced p-emma) and their three lunatics – I mean kids. I’m not kidding. The youngest child and only son, Meelo (pronounced me-low), is literally chewing on Tenzin’s head. The daughters, eldest child, Jinora (pronounced gin-or-a) and, middle child, Ikki (pronounced eek-ee) are beyond excited to see Grandma Katara.

Unfortunately, Tenzin can only stay one night as he is needed in Republic City. The city that Aang and Firelord Zuko founded in order to promote peace and harmony among the elemental nations is not so harmonious. So, Tenzin can’t move to the compound. Likewise, the city is just too dangerous for the new Avatar Korra to move there. (In other words the Order of the White Lotus has gone from a secret club of old farts to a cagey militia of Avatar overly-protectors.)

The stage is pretty much set for Korra to do (what else?) run away and follow Tenzin to Republic City anyway. Before she leaves, Korra stops to say good-bye to her parents. This is an excellent “human moment” to show Korra’s parents as still being an important part of Korra’s life as well as supportive of her choices. If only Toph’s parents could have been that way.

Without spoiling too much more, Korra gets her first taste of Republic City’s ups and downs. In other words the fire hits the victrola once Korra gets off the boat. One of the most interesting aspects of Korra’s personality is that she’s highly confident in her skills rather than being arrogant about her title. She doesn’t walk around the city trying to use the Avatar title to get her way. Nor does she outwardly announce that she’s the Avatar. It’s up to those around her to figure out who she is based on her actions.

Another highlight of the episode is Korra’s encounter with the no nonsense daughter of Toph Bai Fong, Lin. As the Republic City Police Chief, Lin is not impressed nor swayed by any of Korra’s words. When Tenzin arrives to retrieve Korra, Lin is just as nonplussed with him. In another nice “human moment”, Lin thumbs her nose at Korra as the girl leaves with Tenzin. Korra returns the favor to Lin.

Previous series fans will see quite a bit of continuity nods to the original Last Airbender series. The old war blimps have evolved into patrol blimps. Katara is still the understanding soul that she was as a teenager. The elemental nations still dress according to their elemental colors. Even some small things come back like seeing more of a beast mentioned in Book Two of the original Avatar series – a platypus bear!

Let’s not forget all the new items to entice us. We see how much larger the Southern tribe homes have become since Katara’s days. There’s a ton of new technology like cars, victrolas and radios going around. Plus we get to see what a cityscape is like in the Avatar universe.

Just in the first episode, this already looks to be an interesting series. Episode 2 is for the next post.

Thanks to Tumblr.com for the pics.

Avatar the Legend of Korra Obligatory First Impressions

Thanks to the efforts of Korra-Nation, we are honored to receive the first 2 episodes of the new addition to the Avatar the Last Airbender series; “The Legend of Korra”. It is with illustrious gratitude that I….. Aw, heck with it – Nickelodeon allowed an early premiere to be launched on the web and I got to see it! Woohoo!

After seeing these first two episodes, I must admit that I’m highly looking forward to this series. It’s very rare for a production to recapture the best elements of a first series within a sequel. Somehow, the creators have introduced an almost entirely new cast and still managed to give it the same quality, lifelike characters and excellent story that the original Last Airbender series had.

I’m stunned by the continued beauty of the background artists. They obviously spent a great deal of time and care to bring the world of Avatar to life during the first series. The tradition continues with “The Legend of Korra”. From the blizzard ridden South Pole right into the streets of Republic City, viewers’ eyes will gorge on the immense visuals provided. There’s barely one frame of the background images that doesn’t deserve its own place in an art gallery.

I’m enchanted by the life that the animators have brought to the characters. The facial expressions are very clear without going over the top. Just as would happen with people, a character’s eyes show the real emotion while that character’s lips say something different. Little actions heighten the humanity of the characters even more. When Korra first begins air bending training, she is not wearing the shawl for the air nomad costume correctly. Tenzin merely helps her adjust the shawl correctly. All the while, the duo is discussing the fact that air bending has been Korra’s elusive element. There’s no verbal acknowledgement of the shawl faux-pas at all. The show is chock full of little *human* things like this.

I’m impressed by the depth of the characters just in these two episodes. Korra is a go-getter type of character. She relishes her avatar skills and isn’t afraid of them. While she’s highly confident in her skills, Korra isn’t arrogant about her title. She is perfectly content to let her actions do her talking and let those around her figure out who she is. Above all else, Korra is excited about life and her avatar training. Elemental bending, martial arts and especially the “Pro Bender Matches” have her full attention.

Don’t think that they only went all out for Korra. Tenzin does his best to remain stoic at all times. However, he can show emotions as well. Tenzin’s eyebrows serve as subtle insight to his character. Surprise, shock, anger, frustration, contentment and sadness are all very nicely conveyed through his eyebrows. At one point, Korra insults him personally. The music of the moment and the lighting effects enhance the emotional atmosphere. It’s in Tenzin’s face – especially his eyebrows- where you see the hurt showing. Both the audience and Tenzin’s daughters can see how much the comment has wounded him. Speaking of which, Tenzin’s kids are already developing personalities just in 2 episodes. In the first episode, they’re pretty much hyper insanity in a flesh suit. The exasperation on their mother, Pema’s, face is priceless. During episode 2, Jinora steps forward as a responsible, bookish type starting to take after her father. Ikki is happy and hyper yet is beginning to understand that sometimes, it’s ok to be serious. Meelo…. is still pretty much asylum material. (Given his young age, you can’t blame him too much.)

Even Korra’s new friends, Mako and Bolin, are showing character depth. It’s obvious that Bolin will bear much of the comic relief of the series while Make will try to remain a straightforward person. But the episode is quick to show that Bolin is both an adept fighter as well as an encouraging teacher. Mako appears to already be showing signs of warming up to Korra.

For those who were worried about how the story could be continued and remain engaging, you will be relieved and excited to know that the creative team of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have easily matched their previous high-quality standards set by their original work, “Avatar the Last Airbender”.

Espisode reviews coming next post!

Thanks to tumblr.com for the image.

That Crazy Thing Called Stalker Love

My YouTube “recommendations” today involved some “This pairing 4ever” shipping video for Sonic the Hedgehog and someone called Amy Rose. Having grown up as a Nintendo girl, I know very little about Sonic.

The few cartoons that I’ve seen don’t involve this pink hedgehog character. Sonic has mostly been running around on his own with Tails or been helping a group of Freedom Fighters. The Freedom Fighters version tends to have him interested in a squirrel(1) lady named Sally Acorn. Their budding relationship is believable. They both have similar goals and become friends while working towards those goals. It’s perfectly plausible that they could become closer and have a romantic relationship as time goes on.

My curiosity forced me to look up this Amy Rose character. According to Sonic News Network, Amy has been in many of the Sonic games, comics and an anime series unrelated to the Freedom Fighters’ universe. She’s decided that she is Sonic’s girlfriend. She follows him everywhere in order to prove it. Sonic doesn’t share her feelings. In other words, Amy is a crazy stalker chick determined to live the lies of a one-sided relationship.

This brings a serious question to mind. Why are characters like Amy Rose so readily embraced by a fandom? Why would anyone think that a stalker and a victim should be a “one true pairing”?

What really gets me is that the stalker character type is a common theme in TV shows. One character pursues another character with the insistent belief that they are meant to be together The pursuer shows no respect or consideration for the victim’s feelings, privacy or freedom. The victim is constantly harassed or forcibly coerced into accepting the stalker’s love.

One of the most famous examples of “stalker love” is the Looney Tunes character “Pepe Le Pew”. He lustfully pursues Penelope Pussycat with no regard to her attempts to derail him. Penelope has done everything from trying to run away from Pepe to causing him physical harm to flat out telling him that she’s not interested. Simply because *he* wants her, Pepe doesn’t care what Penelope says or does. Somehow, this is supposed to be “funny”.

Don’t think that “stalker love” is a men’s only issue either. Reverse the genders and you get a character and cartoon of the same name, “Pucca”. She has no consideration for her “love”, Garu, whatsoever. He may be trying to train, meditate, relax, eat, sleep or work around his home. Pucca willfully interrupts him because *she* wants him to love her. He has clearly shown that he doesn’t like her advances and flees from her. Yet, somehow it’s great comedy to allow Pucca to chase Garu down and force her hugs and kisses all over him.

Another example of this “humor” is the 1989 TV show, Family Matters. From the show’s beginning episode in 1989 to its finale in 1998(2), the nerdy Steve Urkel forces himself upon his neighbor and schoolmate, Laura Winslow’s, home, her life and her heart. Nothing that Laura can say or do will detract Steve’s obsessive belief that she is his one and only true love. Even during the later seasons in which they each find romance separately, Steve still tries to pursue Laura. Apparently this was funny enough to carry nine seasons.

Now Amy Rose joins the stalker character list. I honestly do not understand or find “stalker love” humorous in the least.

Romance should be about two people SHARING feelings for each other. Romance should never be about one character forcing themselves upon another whether that other likes it or not. Why do people continue to consider stalking someone relentlessly as “love”? That is hardly love. It’s harassment and possibly rape. When someone disrespects another character’s feelings, denies them their freedom or to be who they are there’s no “love” there. It’s a case of wanting to be a control freak, a dominator or a self-centered narcissist. Because people who love each other don’t treat each other like glorified personal prizes.

In short, a stalker/victim “one true pairing” just isn’t love. Why is such a relationship embraced by others? I have to wonder what kind of chemical imbalance allows a person to think stalker love is anything but a grotesque farce. I fail to understand why so many people approve of it.


Footnotes:

(1) I have NO clue what Sally is supposed to be. Is she a deer or a chipmunk maybe? Nope, apparently she’s a squirrel according to Sonic News Network http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Sally_Acorn

(2) Family Matters entry on the Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096579/

Happy Jason Day!

Once upon a camp forsaken
Many teenage lives were taken
Their crimes were being far too loose
While a child suffered great abuse

The mantle began with a heartsick mom
Then it was seized by crazies to don
Finally, with aid of lightning’s spell
The suffered child arose from Hell

With a goalie’s face
And a machete’s fear
Friday the 13th is the sound
That brings Jason Voorhees above the ground

Koosh of Glory!

Arising from the dust of the 80s, it is an odd little combo of rubber bands, a pom-pom and a soft ball. I speak of a favorite from my childhood, the Koosh ball. Introduced in 1988, it was one of those semi-trendy fads that enjoyed a few years of popularity then receded into the oddities of the toy department.

During the ancient spandex days of 1986, a father, Scott Stillinger, wanted a safe and soft toy for his children to play with. His efforts resulted in a toy ball made of rubber filaments. The toy earned its name from the "koosh" sound heard when it was moved about. Along with his brother-in-law, Mark Button, Stillinger started OddzOn Products Inc in 1987 to market the koosh ball. Their efforts were well rewarded as the koosh ball made 1988’s ‘hottest Christmas toys’ list.

In their maiden incarnation, koosh were simply rubber bandy balls. As often happens with successful items, they were soon expanded into other toyetic merchandise. Koosh yoyos, key chains and even jewelry became commonplace. One of the more memorable renditions of the koosh had to be the "koosh kins". Cartoony faces and arms were added to the balls to create ‘characters’. The concept proved popular enough for mainstream companies like Warner Brothers and Disney to "koosh" their characters. Even today, you can find Phineas, Ferb and Barry among the collectiballs.

Koosh balls have thwarted the toy graveyard because they’ve found practical niches to fill. Adults have embraced them as occupational enhancement accessories in the workplace. A koosh’s soft, squeezable form makes it an ideal stress ball. It has also been rumored to provide a quiet distraction during meetings.

Because of its visual and touch sensory stimulation, the koosh ball has become popular for educational therapy. Koosh balls are often used for hand-eye coordination as well as touch exercises. The Davis Learning Strategies Program includes them in teaching kits for dyslexic children. Some teacher advice columns recommend using koosh balls as a means of keeping students’ attention.

Even today, your friendly neighborhood koosh ball has personal uses. It makes a unique paperweight. It appears to be a cat-swiping magnet (though ill-advised due to possibility of rubber strands coming out and being a choking hazard). It doubles as a pet Tribble for Sci-fi fanatics. For those of us with a creative mind, koosh balls could be quite a nice army of evil spike monsters which terrorize the world around them.

References:
Starr, Linda. “Education World; Behavior Management Tips: Quiet Classrooms and More”.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/behaviortips/behaviortips034.shtml (2005)

Davis Learning Strategies. http://www.dyslexia.com (2011)

Wikipedia. “Koosh Ball”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koosh ((2011)

“Office Playground: Koosh Ball”.
http://www.officeplayground.com/Koosh-Ball-P161.aspx Retrieved December 30th, 2011.

Total Culture Shock!

To help my drawing skills, I picked up a couple of books about clothing styles throughout the 20th century. Total culture shock! I’ve learned two lessons from this.

Styles change but run in about 20-30 year cycles. Don’t believe me? 1900-20 meet the ‘sack trousers’ wide leg pants sometimes with cuffs sometimes without; 1930s ‘Wide leg denim’ pants come in; 1960s-70s Say hello to ‘bell bottoms’; 1990s-present you know them as ‘wide leg’ carpenter jeans.

Shoulder pads were seen in the 1920s, 1940s & 1980s. Remember the non-flattering ‘babydoll dress’? Go back a few more years. You’ll know them as ‘smocks’ and ‘sack dresses’ during previous portions of history.

Fabrics and some details may change. But the feature remains the same.

Lessons 2 is that the clothing that we consider ‘old folks clothes’ today was what young people wore back then. High waists were popular as was many other things that we consider ‘old’.

I think this is the real reason why a resurgence in 80s style is happening. We, the 80s kids, are getting older and we want our old stuff back.

Wow, the thought of our wrinkly butts running around in faded out, rolled up stonewashed denims as ‘old folks clothes’ is kinda creepy.

Video Game Life lessons Part 1

A few years ago, a friend got me addicted to watching video game playthroughs and Let’s Plays of them. (A Let’s Play is a player commenting during gameplay.) I’ve gotten to see quite a few games that I’ll never get to play. I get to see some that thwarted my childhood efforts. Plus, there are quite a few games from consoles that I never knew existed.

One thing that I hear quite often is “How was I supposed to know that?” or “That’s STUPID! How’d they expect people to figure THAT out?”

Gee, I dunno. How about these little life lessons called ‘trial and error’, ‘patience and determination’ and ‘developing problem solving skills’.

Ever since video gaming exploded in the 80s, people have complained about all of the bad things that video games are; too violent; too sedentary; waste of time; non-productive; too difficult; ect; ect; ect & totally BS.

Actually, video games are full of life lessons. Sometimes they’re more useful than the supposed ‘life preparation lessons’ taught in school.

These days, we’re familiar with such lessons as

“Beware the plumber.”
“In medieval times, women regularly fought in wars, wearing armor that afforded them equal protection to suits of plate mail worn by men, despite only covering about 3 inches of skin.”(1)
“Property destruction, theft and mass murder are not only acceptable, they’re encouraged through rewards and required to get to the next level.”
“Everyone is a stupid NPC (non player character) except for you.”

Mainstream as they are, I have a few other ‘real-world applicable’ lessons in mind.

There’s a long 40 year+ history behind video games. Obviously, all of the life lessons can’t be covered in one post. So, let’s just start with the early years.

During the 70s and early 80s, video games didn’t end. Literally, there was no real end to these games. Except for the occasional bug corruptions around level 255, games were just the same 4-9 repeating levels. With each cycle the AI (artificial intelligence) moved faster to create more of a challenge for the player.

What life lessons did those repetitive cycles teach?

Pattern recognition and memorization – Many games had patterns to each of the enemy AIs. With a little patience, those patterns could be memorized. Knowing the pattern makes defeating an enemy easier.
Patterns are everywhere; from numbers to words to human behaviors. Dictionaries use an alphabetical pattern. Knowing the pattern allows you to skip around the book to find what you need more quickly. Even the simple act of counting is a pattern of 0-9 cycles. As you grow up, you memorize the pattern of things like a 9-digit phone number, 16-digit cards and various other things. Even a street address is a pattern.
Identifiable disease patterns allow doctors to develop working treatments. Behavioral patterns help therapists figure out how they can best motivate a recovering patient. You always thought teachers had eyes in the back of their heads? Nope, they just memorize their students’ patterns. After a few years, they just know when to expect things and from whom. Like it or not while student faces change each year the behaviors remain the same. Even leaders stay in control by recognizing patterns and taking advantage of them.

Crowd Navigation – Most of the early games featured masses of enemies against one player. No matter how many times the player cleared the screen, foes always returned with about 60 of their buddies. Still, the player hitched up their pixels and cleared the screen again.
Life is full of crowds. From traffic to stores to school and work hallways, you’ve got to get through the crowd to reach your destination. Granted, you can’t just destroy them or hit them. If Frogger was your teacher, you’ve learned to observe the crowds and dodge your way through.

Repetitive cycles – Get used to it, kid. Each weekday, kids go to school, sit in classes, do assignments and leave. Each year, it’s the same thing only with higher grades of information. (And there’s the whole ‘growing up’ thing. I suppose you could call that a difficulty setting increase.)
After school, you’ll be in the adult world of ‘a job’. 10 to 1 you’ll be going to some office, store, or other location, to do the same thing on a daily basis…for the rest of your life.

Working for Points - In the 70s/80s, games were played for fun and high score bragging rights rather than a good ending. Games were replayed to get a better score and higher bragging rights. It’s really as simple as that.
Welcome to the reason for which you work; a paycheck. If you work hard or smart enough, your paycheck gets bigger. A bigger paycheck means better stuff.

These are a mere few of the ‘life lessons’ from video games. Don’t worry, there’s more – a whole lot more. But that is for another post. Seeya next time!

Footnotes:
1. (2008) 101 things we've learned from videogames The wisdom of our favorite pastime, applied to real life http://www.gamesradar.com/101-things-weve-learned-from-videogames/