Previously LOKTROLLSECRETS

Thisis more complicated than “it’s his show/art, he can draw whatever he wants.” That would be easy to say if Konietzko were a regular fanartist whose picture would garner a few thousand notes and then sink into the Tumblr slough and be forgotten. When a show’s creator makes a “fanart,” especially one meant to hang on the wall of a prestigious art show, it stands as a statement of what they believe the show (in this case, the entire franchise) is about. And apparently Konietzko sees The Legend of Korra as being all about a half-baked romance between two characters who literally hadn’t had a one-on-one conversation for five episodes prior to their overhyped final scene.

Konietzko isn’t just another fanartist; he is, in SJ parlance, extremely privileged. For instance, I would bet good money that he’s already reserved a spot for this particular piece in the “ancillary” section of the Book 4 art book, which means those of us who are determined to get our hands on model sheets for Kuvira and key animation from “Beyond the Wilds” are going to be shelling out cash for this picture, whether we want to or not.

Bryan knows the state of the fandom over the past three months. He knows how divided we are and the drama and hate that has plagued the fandom since the finale. And yet, when he, the co-creator of the show, gets to do an art show, what does he do? Instead of drawing a Krew piece, a Korra piece, or a ship that everyone can agree on (like Kainora), he drew a Korrasami piece and basically deliberately added fuel to the fire.

"I’m really getting sick of being treated like my investment in your show doesn’t matter."

yeah now you fucking know how queer people feel with 90 PERCENT OF ALL THE OTHER POPULAR MEDIA OUT THERE???? We get SHIT and half the time something happens, it’s either a joke or it’s pushed to the side or just queerbaiting in disguise.

this, as so many people have been saying for MONTHS now, that is just not getting through your thick fucking head, is not pandering to shippers. This is Bryan giving queer fans something they rarely get in  popular shows in general, but more importantly, it’s something we never get in a CHILDREN’S SHOW. He knows that people are flocking to this show for absolutely fantastic bisexual representation, and he’s doing his best to show that making this ship canon isn’t just some grab at ratings. He wanted this to happen, and he’s going to make sure the fans know that he’s with them on this. He’s making fans who rarely get to see themselves in media happy, and you have the gall to act all high and mighty by saying HE SHOULDN’T HAVE DONE THIS HE CAN’T PANDER TO CERTAIN FANS? How dare you.

I would bet good money that y’all would be dead fucking silent if this was Mako and Korra in the boat. So seriously, just. Shut up and let the queer fans have THIS ONE THING.

The end of an Era. 

I can’t believe they did this. This wasn’t necessary for Korra to forge her own path in the new world. Just because these past lives hasn’t lived in modern time doesn’t mean that they are useless or can’t give timeless advice to Korra. Not to mention learn from their mistakes. 

At first watch I didn’t realize the significant of this but now watching this scene, it made me cry. Is not just nostalgia. This was the draw for the Avatar and what that means to this franchise. We just learned about the first Avatar which added to the richness of The Avatar but all that seems wasted and undermined with this action just so Korra can have character growth she could easily have had without going down this route. 

The choice to let Korra lose her connection to her past lives is NOT a statement about her individuality. It’s a mature writing choice. This happened because the spirit of light and balance - the avatar spirit itself - got pulled out of Korra. We’re talking about a ten-thousand-year connection being completely severed. And on top of that, she was attacked and destroyed. The spirit of light and peace was destroyed by the spirit of darkness. So there have to be major consequences to that. Irreversible consequences. Anything less is an insult to the emotional investment we’ve already put into this plotline. If Korra hadn’t lost her connection to her past lives, the fact that she and Raava were separated and defeated would not have meant as much. Watching the past avatars’ memories be destroyed helps us to feel the pain of that separation and the devastation of that destruction. Every time Korra is lost and alone and could really use another voice of counsel, she’s going to feel that loss. She’s going to remember how awful it felt to watch the spirit of darkness take over. She’s going to remember what she’s lost and why that battle was fought. She’s seen that keeping man and spirits separate did not improve the relationship they had together and how the resentment spirits have for man nearly led to the destruction of everything. So she has that much more motivation to make and keep the peace between them and be the avatar she was meant to be.