The Problem with Korra's Team Avatar

The Krew ain't it.

MY BOOK:

0:00 Intro
0:24 The Gaang
7:54 The Krew’s Motivations
17:09 Bending & Skill Sets
22:49 The Tenzin Problem

[elesfinter]

"They feel more like coworkers than friends"
Is the perfect way to describe a team without much of a chemistry

[yoshter]

I love how when Toph is explaining how she sees to Appa, he’s listening so intently. What a good boy :3

[bluberry]

Korra's team can be summed up as: the avatar, her ex, her ex's brother (who also has a crush on her), and her future girlfriend, and what's worse is that is EXACTLY how the dynamic feels through the show.

[juantorres-fkbk]

I think a big problem with them is that the previous team was a bunch of likable outcasts who people related to, but the new team is just the cool kids made into a superhero team, complete with the strong outgoing rebel girl, the cool, angsty star athlete jock guy, the talkative muscle bound and funny himbo, and the rich talented pretty girl. That’s all they are, and why they all barely have anything about them.

[thisishowitends]

The gaang are childhood friends, ride or dies, road dogs. The krew are college friends who got really close one semester and now stay in touch out of a sense of obligation.

[etheriousjackal]

My biggest problem was how fragmented the whole group felt. The Gaang felt like they were with Aang until the end but the members of the New Team Avatar would be on their own and not even interact with each other until midway within the season and the fact that each season was like a miniseries didn't help keep them together either.

[klausoshaunacey]

Honestly, comparing the original show’s reaction to the first displays of Bloodbending and Metalbending in comparison to Korra’s reaction to Lavabending, it’s pretty telling.
Bloodbending was considered a brutal, deadly addition to the element that includes healing, and Hama’s philosophy that created it was genuinely one of the best side character motivations in the original show. Metalbending is the purest form of the Earthbending philosophy: the thing wouldn’t move, so Toph stood her ground and *made* it move. A supposedly immovable object against a genuinely unstoppable force in the form of a preteen girl who was the greatest earthbender to ever live.

Lavabending, as you said, has no philosophy behind it. It’s not like Bolin formed a different outlook on life that allowed him to Lavabend. He just didn’t advance on the Metalbending skill tree and the writers wanted to give him *something* so, here, let him bend lava because otherwise he’d fall so far behind in the team power dynamics.

[jay.hartman]

I really want to point out how Appa and Momo were OFTEN shown to be on screen, fighting enemies, usually without anyone hovering over them "protecting" them.

Can't say the same for Korra's pets.

[elmeromogollon]

I found weird that the murder of mako and bolins parents didnt matter, that was not even important for the plot, its not like with katara that there is an episode where they confront the murderer of her mother.

[mrbigglezworth]

If Aang is the glue that holds the whole team together, Korra is the hammer that smashes a wall apart. Before that ending, Korra went basically caused a love triangle through a mixture of blatant stupidity and casual pettiness. It's more a wonder why Bolin, Mako, or Asami put up with her shit and not just leave her to do their own things.

[Silthurnix]

Aangs Team were his teachers, allys and friends.
Korras Team is basically just her personal sexual interests.

[Homururu]

Honestly Tenzin always felt like the real co-protagonist (outside of obvious protagonist Korra) which is probably why we all love him. Heck, Suyin feels more like a protagonist than friggin' BOLIN. Who bended the poison out of Korra? She did. Who came up with the idea? Jinora. What did team Avatar do? Stand there, looking worried, with Bolin doing a little funny quip at the end. Not exactly integral to the storyline.

[StargazerAeons]

Bolin as a lavabender could work SO WELL with the fact he literally GREW UP around fire and heat! It's said the home life of Mako and Bolin wasnt great. Bolin is used to LITERALLY being in the frying pan and he's used to experiencing and helping with his passionate hot headed brother's outbursts. IT WRITES ITSELF WHY HE WOULD BE THE ONE TO DISCOVER LAVABENDING BUT THEY JUST DIDNT. DO IT.

[carvedearth]

On the subject of Appa's importance, I remember watching Avatar waaay back when it first aired. Watching it air live once a week made Appa's capture HIT DIFFERENT! When the crew was stranded without him, lord you felt it too. I remember feeling so board and frustrated with the lack of forward progress in the story, especially as weeks turned into months. Ba-Sing-Se hit totally different too. Every time the team where roadblocked by red tape you felt it as the audience. I can only think that was intentional with the storytelling. When they finally found Appa and the story kicked back into gear afterwards, it was like a breath of fresh air, only for the season finally to rip it out from under you

[METerrell]

Jinora felt more useful at times than the Krew, at least after Book 1. In Book 2 she was the one who helped guide Korra into the Spirit World. In three, she helped Tenzin with training the new airbenders, but also had the goal of becoming a master airbender, found the airbenders that the Earth Queen was hiding & trying to make into an army. In four she & her siblings were the ones who went to find Korra instead of the Krew, Tenzin, or Lin. She also was the one who alerted Korra to the Spirit Wilds acting up.

[mason]

Gaang: Found family
Krew: Co-workers

[roshrol]

Honestly, I really like the characters as individuals for the most part, but when it comes to the group dynamics it really feels like it is lacking in a lot of ways. Near the end, they did have Bolin and Asami playing pai sho together which I thought was really cute but that was really the only thing we got from them.

[crona]

One of the biggest overarching motifs of TLOK was the loss of spiritual identity. The loss of culture, and pride in one’s ability to bend. Everything has become automated, bending has been relegated to nothing more than a means of self defense, and intimidation. I was hoping that the show would lean into the characters, and the world as a a whole rediscovering the importance of bending on a cultural, spiritual, and personal level. But we never got that, not in any significant way at least. All we really got was superficial icing on the narrative cake; giant omnipotent kites, and weird floating spirit creatures. The only time I felt the theme of hammering home cultural values was really pushed was in the case of Tenzin, and his quest to restore the air nation. TLOK could’ve been so interesting. What a shame.

[All-zecl]

Somehow azulas gang, who had much less screen time, is much more interesting and actually feels like a team compared to the Krew, who were together for all four seasons.

[StarRoseAngelic]

Aang's crew felt like they were all his guiding lights. Katara was the heart of the group and gave Aang the constant support, optimism and hope he needed to start and continue his journey. Sokka gave him a friend to indulge in his childlike energy, Toph showed him that he's capable of facing things head on, and Zuko taught him not to see people or the world in black and white. They all played pivotal roles in molding him into the avatar that the world needed. Korra's group felt more like add-ons, not necessities...