The Legend of Korra, Saturdays @ 11am

[Arnnaria]

Originally Posted by Elvish Crack Piper

I think its a little more complicated than we might believe.

Spoiler:

We still don't really know if Amon is a villain,

What has he really done thats actually, you know, bad? He took some criminals bending away. Alright. Aang did that. He's fought the "designated hero"

So far, aside from being played all scary, he seems like "MLK in a Mask"

He's quite popular with the downtrodden and he is teaching them chi blocking which is... the only skill they can reasonably learn to stop people with superpowers from... well completely overpowering them. The underground chi dojo seemed less like a terrorist camp that the FBI was raiding, and more like Shaolin Monks learning to defend themselves from the qing dynasty.

He, personally, has been spending most of his time as a speaker, rallying people to his ideas, not forcing people to do anything to help him.

The snake that got Eve to bite the apple was charismatic too. Amon is not Ozai. Ozai was a tyrant. Amon is a cult leader.

Edit: remember, in classical categorization the antagonist is someone who seeks to halt the action. Amon has continuously halted Aang's, the council's, and Korra's vision/action of Republic City. Evil or not evil, he's still the clear cut antagonist in our story and will need to be dealt with head on with our protagonist/protagonists.

[Elvish Crack Piper]

Amon is not a cult leader, Amon is a revolutionary. The way he is portrayed is a mixture of MLK and Che.

[mabberman]

Originally Posted by Arnnaria

The snake that got Eve to bite the apple was charismatic too. Amon is not Ozai. Ozai was a tyrant. Amon is a cult leader.

Edit: remember, in classical categorization the antagonist is someone who seeks to halt the action. Amon has continuously halted Aang's, the council's, and Korra's vision/action of Republic City. Evil or not evil, he's still the clear cut antagonist in our story and will need to be dealt with head on with our protagonist/protagonists.

Yeah I would agree...Amon is not a "villain" in the conventional sense, more like a revolutionary who is using ruthless tactics to achieve his means.

[Arnnaria]

Originally Posted by Elvish Crack Piper

Amon is not a cult leader, Amon is a revolutionary. The way he is portrayed is a mixture of MLK and Che.

Which is an interested way to phrase it because Che's "nobility" is constantly called into question. Just because the person who is doing the action thinks it's right does not make it right. In some cases, it makes them delusional and more dangerous.

Compare Amon to Malcolm X.

[PsyTrigger]

Personally I think Koh, the Face Stealer is connected to Amon. I understand their are problems with this but the mask and the whole "Took my face from me" plus the ability to take away a person's bending (which is only known it seems by Avatar's and knowledgeable spirits/creatures), and that Spirits spoke to him.

I think its a "Deal with The Devil"-ish situation. Koh stole Amon's face and told him that he could only have it back if he removed the power of the Avatar (since he has hated the Avatar's due to a particual one of the preivous ones).

Might be a bit off but you never know. Very interesting show so far.

[Arnnaria]

I just wanted to forewarn anyone: there is an image circulating around with Amon with his mask off. So, if you're not into spoilers, don't snoop around the net for new info.

(if you must know, PM me and I'll tell you.)

Edit: the counter-rumor is that this image is photoshopped.

[Two-Face]

Originally Posted by Veldrien

I think its a "Deal with The Devil"-ish situation. Koh stole Amon's face and told him that he could only have it back if he removed the power of the Avatar (since he has hated the Avatar's due to a particual one of the preivous ones).

Must admit, the possibility of Koh being involved is intriguing. Having just watched the latest episode, it seems unlikely Koh stole Amon's face. Since when we saw the faceless monkey in the episode with Koh, it had no details. But Amon clearly has eyes under his mask, so no face stolen.

So think it is more than likely wearing it as a disguise. I'm thinking it is not anyone we have met yet, but possibly someone Avatar Korra (read: in her life as Aang) knows from something in their past. Since it looked like there were some very sinister looking eyes mixed in with those flashes of older Sokka, Toph and Aang/Tenzin, when Korra passed out at the end of the latest episode.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

[Konstant1n]

Here's hoping the Spirit world, and Spirits in general play a bigger part in the show. I'm also hoping Korra will go 'Avatar State' soon, and meet up with the inner avatars.

[mabberman]

Originally Posted by Konstant1n

Here's hoping the Spirit world, and Spirits in general play a bigger part in the show. I'm also hoping Korra will go 'Avatar State' soon, and meet up with the inner avatars.

if the last season is any indication, she'll be learning from aang.

[Quirkiness101]

Just saw episode 5, mostly just more character development here. Still don't like Asami, but Bo Lin got some love, and I'm actually really starting to like his character. Additionally, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm gonna be really bummed to see pro-bending conclude. That stuff is actually rather exciting.

[Arnnaria]

Lin Be Fong >> Spiderman


And I hate to beat a dead horse, but where was Tarlock while all this was going down??

[Quirkiness101]

Originally Posted by Arnnaria

And I hate to beat a dead horse, but where was Tarlock while all this was going down??

Most suspicious line in the movie: "So you'll take personal responsibility for the security?" Even if he's not Amon himself, Tarlock is most certainly in contact with him.

What I'm more interested in is how the equalists knew to arm those in the stands with those shock gloves (it was pretty obvious that they were prepared to deal with the metalbenders, which leads me to believe there may be an informant in the council).

Additionally, how the hell did they blow up the entire police armada and airforce without anybody knowing? And arm the field with explosives after it was pretty obvious that the metalbenders had checked everywhere pretty thoroughly. That struck me as rather strange.

It was nice to see Chief Bei Fang (sp?) be a badass in battle. As an aside I also get to privately congratulate myself on guessing Tenzin's former lover
Score! I love Tenzin

BTW, what are all you thinking of these flashbacks? I'm swearing I'm seeing Tarlock in this one, and he's not being showed flatteringly.

[Two-Face]

Loved this last episode, shame that the Fire Ferrets couldn't win the tournament though. But seems Amon didn't want them to win obviously (he payed off the refs, I bet).
Since he had that whole thing planned, of stripping the winning team of their bending, as a public statement and war declaration, etc.
So couldn't have the Avatar on the winning team. Either due to his previous reason of her becoming a martyr.... or what I think is more likely his 'ability' just not working on her.

Also nice team up between Bei Fong and Korra... nice team work. Some great action.

Originally Posted by Quirkiness101

BTW, what are all you thinking of these flashbacks? I'm swearing I'm seeing Tarlock in this one, and he's not being showed flatteringly.

Just had another look at Korra's flashbacks of older Aang, etc. And there certainly is a guy who does resemble Tarlock, but he looks much too old to be Tarlock himself. I'm currently thinking it is Yakone, the only other threat to Republic City, we have heard of.

But it is possible that Yakone is connected to Tarlock, maybe family or something.
Of course that is just a possibility. Tarlock could just be what he appears... a very conniving and power hungry politician. Only time will tell.

[Quirkiness101]

Originally Posted by Two-Face

Loved this last episode, shame that the Fire Ferrets couldn't win the tournament though. But seems Amon didn't want them to win obviously (he payed off the refs, I bet).
Since he had that whole thing planned, of stripping the winning team of their bending, as a public statement and war declaration, etc.

I loved the twist of them not winning because it was the outcome I least expected after last week's episode. After seeing the wolf-bats win in round one last episode, I thought it was going to be the generic "underdogs find way to somehow win and defy the odds" episode. Really, I would argue that it while possible that Amon was behind the blind refs, the immediate dirty play by the wolf-bats seemed to indicate that they knew they could get away with dirty tricks. As it was, I think that Amon may have simply known about their modus operand and planned to use it to further his point (celebration of the worst of benders), no interference needed.

Still loved the twist with the match (Korra's round two performance was pretty stellar too. I loled hard)

Originally Posted by Two-Face

Just had another look at Korra's flashbacks of older Aang, etc. And there certainly is a guy who does resemble Tarlock, but he looks much too old to be Tarlock himself. I'm currently thinking it is Yakone, the only other threat to Republic City, we have heard of.

Good call, hadn't actually remembered hearing Yakone mentioned (though my guess is that Tarlock mentioned him in his first appearance and I just missed it).

As an aside, wonder if Yakone has any connection to Amon. Pure bs crafting here, but if Aang took his bending away then that might explain a desire to strip bending from all benders (and Aang would certainly count as a firebender). It's more than likely getting a little too creative, but...

[Ulfsaar]

It was openly stated that the wolf bats were paying off the refs...