Everytime I hear these "The Krew were weak/ the Krew were bums" takes I lose a year of my lifespan.
Like this style of take that I've seen almost everywhere?
Im fucking tired, and I don't think it's a good way to defend Korra either. Like, ok, it's shifting the 'blame' from Korra's supposed weakness through the show onto other characters.
Like, I'm sorry but Asami's hand to hand combat skills, even without her glove, are at least on the level of a Kyoshi warrior. And she can do that shit in heels too.
Like she's hella flexible and smart about her combat, usually using her opponents momentum or weapons against them. She thinks well on the fly, and is highly adaptable, which is crucial for a nonbender going up against benders.
This is without even getting into how smart she is with engineering/tech and how she seems to be able to pilot literally any machine somehow.
Mako is also, just a ridiculously talented firebender, especially for someone raised on the streets. He can genrate lighting, something even Zuko was unable to. He's one of the precious few, and only non waterbender/bloodbendee or Avatar to break a bloodbendinh hold.
Like Amon himself spoke about how it was almost a shame to remove the bending of someone so talented. Mako has also been shown multuple times to be able to almost completely halt explosions in their track, even injured.
I'm sorry but if you think Bolin isn't a fucking killing machine held back from mass murder by onky his golden retriever personality, you watched the show with horse blinders on.
Like the lavabending itself is so op thay the writers will actively nerf him by making him only use his lava disk, when, realistically, he should be yeeting lava around.
But Bolin is also insanely agile for an earthbender, literally going up against earth's steady and grounded movements. But, I'd say Bolin's earthbending resembles firebending in how he moves, particularly the speed and power.
Like, controversial opinion? Bolin at the end of tlok, could probably beat Toph at the end of atla. Or at least be evenly matched enough for me to not see a clear winner. Maybe he can even hold his own and beat out old lady Toph too, if he locks in.
Like I'm sorry. He's Fucking goated.
And honestly, it took me a while to figure out why this idea that the Krew were weak is so persistent, and I think I have a theory.
See, in atla, whenever a character achieves a new skillset, its a momentous moment, or we linger on it. Katara had a whole storyline around becoming a master waterbender, and she is given the accolades she rightfully deserves for it. The Blue Spirit was, essentially the "oh, look, Zuko's a super cool ninja too" episode. Sokka gets a whole episode to add swordsmanship to his skill tree. Toph's moment of discovering metalbending is incredibly framed and focused on, with it being a huge gamechanger against the Fire Nation. And of course, Aang mastering the elements is a centerpiece of the show.
In contrast, due to its faster pacing and bigger focus on plot, tlok has to kinda gloss over the big moments the characters have. They have to learn their skills quickly and without fanfare, and so we don't get the feeling of achievement or awe when they do display some exciting feat.
For example, let's contrast the moment Toph developed metalbending, to the moment Bolin discovered he was a lavabender.
Toph's discovery of metalbending is well prefaced with her storyline that episode being entwined with Aang's and Guru Pathik's lessons, taunts from her aggressors, deep family drama, the resolution of a b plot that has been going on since basically her introduction, as well as atrong focus on her mastering and understanding the technique.
After she gains the ability, she is boisterous and triumphant, singing her own accolades. Its a very compelling an uplifting moment that we can empathise with, and we're often reminded of it with how other characters (specifically Sokka) will often be "so glad they added her to the group".
In comparison, Bolin had a few little moments diplaying his personal issues surrounding metalbending, and some nice forshadowing with Wei's "trial by fire" comment, but it's nothing you will linger on, or get attached to as you would with Toph's storyline. You don't have time to get acquainted with this particular issue of Bolin's, so you don't exactly feel vindincated when he does prove himself by learning lavabending.
There is also no weight to the actual discovery. Sure, there's the lingering shot on his face, the implication that he's throwing himself into the inferno for only a sliver of hope of dabing his brother and friends. But when he does successfully become the third non Avatar lavabender known to history, he only gets a little joke to mark his status. Then the group immediately jumps into action, as the plot has to keep going again.
It's... depressing? And once again reminds me of what tlok could've maybe been if the show weren't so fucked over runtime wise. Because the building blocks are there. We just have to skim over them, and if you're expecting your characters' 'powerlevel' to be quantified into easily tangible storylines, weighty moments and character dialogue, you're not really gonna find anything remarkable.
Though I really wish we didn't put down characters just to elevate a broadly hated character. There is, in my opinion, very little rhyme or reason to the overwhelming wave of hate Korra gets. Trying to disperse it by blaming her supposed 'failures' on other characters won't work, because they are here fo hate Korra. They're just looking for an excuse to do so.
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