MegaCrashtheHedgehog

Remember how I said last year that 2022 might be a great or even a good year, but a lot of problems where anxiety based, and that I was going to try and stop myself from expecting the worst all the time? Well...I was right.

A lot of my problems were anxiety induced and did a lot to try and fix that. I'm now on a medication, I've been making new plans with my therapist, and I've even been taking piano lessons, which has been helping me calm my nerves. With that said...this year kind sucked.

Yeah, I'm jumping the gun here. F*ck 2022! There was the Russia/Ukraine situation, and my condolences to everyone who was directly affected by that event. The weather was awful, at least here where I live. Where it's freezing cold, but no snow. We lost a lot of celebrities this year. Granted, that's expected of every year, but still, a lot of these really hurt. Gilbert Gottfried, David Warner, Angela Lansbury, Kevin Conroy, Robbie Coltrane, Jason David Frank, Pat Carroll, Ray Liotta, Bob Saget, I could go on. If that wasn't enough, we had pointless internet drama like the discourse over the race of a f*cking fictional fish girl, YouTube getting rid of the dislike bar (even though there is a way to get it back, it was still stupid to get rid of it in the first place), Monkeypox, inflation, and...whatever the hell is going on with Twitter. And even my personal life had its downsides. One of my relatives passed away, and another one got in accident, so my brother and grandmother had to go stay with them in Wisconsin for a week. We came frighteningly close to getting evicted, my grandfather got sick, and I barely lost any weight. There were multiple points where I had a panic attack and slipped into a deep depression where I questioned why I was even bothering continuing living. And let's not forget that I got sick with the flu for about a week back in November. The first time I had been that sick in 5 years. So yeah, just f*ck 2022!

But...I'd be a complete idiot and the embodiment of the kind of people that annoy me if I didn't acknowledge that legitimately good things that happened this year.

Nasa launched a satellite into an asteroid, smashing it into a new orbit. So, while at this day and age it's highly unlikely that we'll actually get hit by a massive planet destroying asteroid, at least we know we have a solution if it ever does happen. So, I'm pretty sure that means Don't Look Up was proven wrong. Progress was made in our quest to find a cure for H.I.V. and Parkinson’s Disease, there were actually quite a few endangered species that got better this year, the world of politics is actually making progress on gun violence and gay marriage, we've found new ways to clean up oil spills, we've come up with new inventive uses for electricity, and we've even seen some improvement in the fight against climate change. So again, pretty sure Don't Look Up has been proven wrong.

Yes, it's not the headline article making news that we see with the bad stuff, but we should still acknowledge that good things are happening to us, and that progress is being made. It's going pretty slow, like how progress so often is, but at least we can say it's happening.

In terms of my personal life, I went with on trip to the zoo with my brother and his girlfriend, and I haven't been there in years, so that was a lot of fun. I finally cleaned up a lot of the messier areas of my room. I got a new desk for my computer, one that isn't falling apart at the seams. It's the small victories that I like to take in. And in terms of my mental health, while there were some really shitty moments, I've actually been teaching myself some good coping mechanisms. For the first time in a while, I actually feel kind of proud of myself.

And in terms of the world of entertainment, and the things I'm a nerdy fanboy of, Sonic the Hedgehog did great this year. The second movie was great, the IDW comics reached 50 issues, Sonic Prime is doing well, and Sonic Frontiers managed to win a lot of people over. For Christmas, I got Cuphead for Nintendo Switch, and that's been just as much fun as everyone's heard. Speaking of which, The Cuphead Show is one of the best shows of the year, and you can't prove me wrong. We got The Legend of Vox Machina, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, The Owl House Season 2, Primal Season 2, Harley Quinn Season 3, Amphibia came to a close, and we got Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie. I also started watching some shows I'd been meaning to catch up on. Of course, I finally started watching MLP, but I also saw the 2021 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe reboot, and that was a huge surprise. I've started to rewatch Lego Ninjago on Netflix, and that's been a lot of fun. In terms of live-action shows, finally, finally, FINALLY Season 2 of Alice in Borderland got here. Marvel released three new Disney Plus series. Moon Knight is easily one of my favorite MCU projects in general, Ms. Marvel was campy and fun, and I liked She-Hulk: Attorney at Law even though most other people didn't. Also, I finally started watching The Boys, and yeah, it's not great, but it's left me curious to see more. And there were of course plenty of movies, but I'll save that for my "movies of the year list".

So yeah, as much as 2022 pissed me off, there are still things about it that I can look back on quite fondly. I have at least three New Year's Resolutions. If I can get at least two of them, then I'll be satisfied. Can't say I'll be happy, but I'll at least be able to say, "I am satisfied with my care". (Yes, I just quoted Big Hero 6. No, I have no shame.)

1. Get a driver's license.

2. Get a new job.

3. Fix my atrocious sleep schedule.

Again, if I can knock off two of them, I probably won't hate 2023 should everything else about it suck.

Look, full disclosure, just thinking about what lies ahead as continue moving forward makes me feel like my heart is going to explode. I don't know what 2023 will hold. I really want it to do well. I really do. I am going to try my damnest to go into the new year with a positive outlook. I hate to dump all of my personal baggage on you guys, but sometimes, venting out this kind of stuff just helps me cope. I am going to try and go into 2023 with hope. I think, at this point, we are due for a year in the 2020s that is memorable in a good way. If we put in the effort instead of just bitching about it, then yeah, maybe 2023 will at least be ok. The most I can do for you guys is wish you all luck with whatever it is you're dealing with. I can't predict the future, so I shouldn't try. I want to thank you all for sticking around, and I wish you all a Happy New Year. Have a great night, be safe, and take care!

Y'know....eventually this was going to happen.

Across my years as an afficionado of the medium of animation, I have seen many cartoons. I have seen bad cartoons, I have seen god awful cartoons, I have seen good cartoons, and I have seen phenomenal cartoons, but then there's that special category. There have been a number of cases where I go a long-time hearing about a certain cartoon, but never actually take the time to watch it myself. I've gotten through all of the Ben 10 shows, I've gotten through Legend of Korra, I've gotten through Amphibia, and now it's time to cross the last really big one off my checklist. You all know what it is.

Going into this, I knew a fair amount about this show beforehand. Ever since the world was graced with this cultural phenomenon of a show, all the way up until its end, you couldn't go anywhere in the 2010s, mainly on the internet, without hearing someone talk about it. I don't even know if "cultural phenomenon" is an accurate statement to just how huge Friendship is Magic was during its peak. It was literally everywhere! You'd could make a strong argument that it was the rise of SpongeBob all over again. Although, for a more accurate comparison, it was to the 2010s what Transformers was to the 80s which is fitting because they're both owned by Hasbro.

My point is it was impossible for me to go into this show without already knowing some stuff about it already. For starters, I knew who the "Mane Six" were and their basic personality traits. Twilight Sparkle is the leader and nerdy bookworm, Applejack is the tough but sweet cowgirl, Rainbow Dash is the thrill-seeking tomboy, Rarity is the rich girl with a love for all things fashion and fancy, Fluttershy is the timid animal lover with a heart of gold, and Pinkie Pie...haunts my nightmares after watching those fan animations all those years ago. Most of you probably know to what I am referring and are also cringing at the thought of it. I also knew about a couple of the supporting characters. Namely Spike and Princess Celestia, as well as a couple of villains like Nightmare Moon and Discord. And not just characters, I was well aware that the show got a theatrically released movie, that the show is very musically driven, that it features a Canadian voice cast, and that there's some kind of spin-off or whatever where the characters become humans. Not sure what that's about yet but I am definitely curious.

Which brings me to my next point. As of this journal, I have only seen the first three seasons. Because there are apparently 9 seasons of this show (that's only a season short of Adventure Time's length and a season ahead of Regular Show) the way this is going to work is that I'll be making a journal for every 3 seasons. As I go on this journey, I know this show's fandom can be, to put it lightly, kinda hectic in more ways than one, so I'm gonna ask for no major spoilers, obviously, but also that you all try to be friendly to someone finally giving this show a chance for the first time, since I'll probably say some things that go against the general consensus, and there might be a few things I don't understand as well as others do. So, with that said, does My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic live up to the hype? Well, let's begin with Season 1.

And yeah...it's pretty good. I don't know if it's the f*cking 2nd Coming of Christ that so many people have talked it up to be, but still pretty good.

From my understanding, Season 1 is considered to be one of the show's weaker seasons, and admittedly I do see why. Season 1 is made up almost entirely of standalone episodes, and some are certainly better than others. So far, I think one of the biggest strengths of the show is actually the comedy. This show can shockingly hilarious when it wants to be. Twilight and Rarity in particular get the most laughs out of me. The first 3 seasons are very light on story and most episodes focus on the same formula. Pony makes mistakes, pony learns lesson, pony saves the day, pony may or may not break out into song during all this, "Dear, Princess Celestia", roll credits, there's your episode. That's not a bad thing necessarily, it's just that so far, the biggest weakness of the show so far in my opinion is that, when an episode falls flat for me, the main reason is that it's just boring. This mainly stems from the message of the episode can be almost too predictable. This doesn't apply to every episode obviously, some episodes handle the simplicity better than others, but I'm just saying, there's not a whole lot always going on in the show.

There's not a lot of conflict going on. There isn't even really a main villain established. There are villains, specifically four major ones, but they have little presence in the show. Both Nightmare Moon and Discord show up for a two-parter, and make a great first impression, but then they disappear for an entire season, and the next time we see them, they get redeemed. King Sombra, I thought was kind of a letdown given how the characters talked him up, so my favorite villain so far is probably Queen Chrysalis. Even though she two has only been in one two-parter so far, she has a great design, she's voiced by the always awesome Kathleen Barr, and she gets a surprisingly great villain song.

Speaking of which, the songs are another highlight of this show. Some are definitely better than others, but I'd honestly put some of their best up there with the best songs from Steven Universe and Adventure Time. As of now, my top 3 favorites in no particular order are Winter Wrap Up, This Day Aria, and Raise This Barn. On a similar note, the voice acting is also pretty great. Both the comedy and the music are the show's biggest strengths, and I have to say, the voice acting compliments both. Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St Germain, and of course, the legendary Tara Strong, all do great as our Mane Six. Although, I will say, sometimes it can be distracting to hear the characters having different singing voices. It's not so much that I'm against that, but I'm just saying, it's pretty obvious that that's not Tara Strong whenever Twilight is singing. No offense to Rebecca Shoichet, who's a great VA in her own right, but it is just a little distracting considering she sounds so different, and also a little confusing considering I know for a fact that Tara Strong can sing. Maybe there was a reason for this that I'm just unaware of, and again, no disrespect to either Rebecca or Tara, and it is less noticeable for both Rarity and Pinkie Pie, whose singing voices are provided by Kazumi Evans and Shannon Chan Kent respectively.

So, Season 1 was pretty good. A bit too formulaic, but still pretty good with a lot of charm. With that said, Season 2 in my opinion was actually a step down from Season 1 in my opinion. It's not awful, it's just that most of the episodes either annoyed me or bored me. Episodes like Hearts and Hooves Day, Sweet and Elite, and The Mysterious Mare Do Well just didn't do it for me. That said, the season still had its gems like Lesson Zero, which was hilarious, Hearth’s Warming Eve, which was a fun holiday episode, and The Last Roundup, which was a great episode for my favorite character, and again, was hilarious. And it was worth getting through the weaker episodes to get to the season finale.

To my surprise, Season 3 is probably my favorite season so far. It's a shorter season, but they definitely went for quality over quantity. It was consistently made up of really good episodes. Even the episodes with pretty predictable morals like One Bad Apple, Sleepless in Ponyville, and Wonderbolts Academy were still entertaining enough to keep me engaged. I can't even think of any major complaints other than there weren't any Rarity episodes. At least not by herself. But yeah, I liked seeing Trixie again, Apple Family Reunion was really sweet (no pun intended), and even an episode like Spike at Your Service, which has one of the most generic and cliche episode premises in the history of children's television, was still really funny. Again, this show can be surprisingly hysterical when it wants to be.

Lastly, for those who are curious, my favorite and least favorite episodes from Seasons 1 through 3 are as followed:

S1 Favorite: Sonic Rainboom

S1 Least Favorite: Feeling Pinkie Keen

S2 Favorite: A Canterlot Wedding Parts 1 and 2

S2 Least Favorite: The Mysterious Mare Do Well

S3 Favorite: Magical Mystery Cure

S3 Least Favorite: Just For Sidekicks

So yeah, so far, not a bad first impression. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has my attention. As of now, the best way to describe the show is...likeable. This is just a really charming and likeable show. It's actually really easy to get into when you get past all the hype trying to oversell it. Each of the characters have something to like about them, the animation is honestly just really nice to look at, the voice acting is great, the songs are a bop, the Mane Six all play off each other really well, and as I keep saying, it's funnier than it has any right to be. Given that Season 3 ended with a very bold change in the status quo, I'm excited to see where things go from here given that I've heard that Season 4 is one of the show's best seasons. I'm also excited to continue this journey with all of you, so wish me luck!

Until next time, have a great night, be safe, and take care!

Check this out!

Last year in my final journal of 2020, I said this:

"So on some level, I'm thankful 2020 was as eventful as it was. Because sometimes you need to hit rock bottom to know that something just isn't working or change needs to happen."

I want to apologize if anyone took that as me saying I was glad that so much bad shit happened. Obviousbly I wish it none of it happened, but what I was trying to say was that I wanted us to go into this year with a better attitude to try and make things better. And for the most part we did. I don't really pay much attention to politics in general, but I will say that at, even if Biden is probably the most boring president we've had in a while, he's also not the worst in my opinion. At least I often forget he even exists. We did deal with a lot of legitimately bad stuff this year. Like more people still refusing to take COVID seriously, and those same people refusing to get a free vaccine. If you couldn't get vaccinated because of say age or medical reasons, or just the area and lifestyle you had just prevented you from doing it, then that's fine. But if you could get it, and just chose not to...I don't even know what to say.

Still, that's basically a leftover issue from 2020. In terms of new stuff, we did have climate change to deal with, although for me, the weather was pretty good aside from the occasional late-night thunderstorm. There was also the Astroworld mishap, the NFTS, and a lot of very tragic celebrity deaths, but on a positive note, internet drama seemed to be greatly reduced for the most part.

For me personally, one of my New Year's resolutions for 2021 that I didn't mention last year was to work on myself. Mentally speaking. I suffer from both depression and some form of Asperger's, and that doesn't exactly help when trying to prepare myself for college and my life as an adult. I know some of you are probably thinking "welcome to the club", but it was taking a toll me at times. Just my mind constantly shitting on myself even when my heart knew nothing super terrible was happening to me. I just didn't feel comfortable in my own skin because I couldn't stop thinking badly about myself. Not helping was, last year in May, the pandemic kinda stopped me from seeing my therapist for a long time before she eventually just quit her job. Also, my apartment caught on fire. Our kitchen stove burst into flames in the middle of the night after my mom got high and accidently turned in on. I'm not super pissed at her, since that oven was old as shit. You could bump your elbow on it, and that damn thing would turn on. Still, I think I suffer from PTSD now. A few weeks ago, my brother accidently turned on the smoke alarm while trying to fix its batteries and I had a bit of a panic attack. Before anyone starts worrying about me, know that I have been seeing a new therapist as of, I think, early November. She's been really helpful so far, and I can hope things continue to work out with her.

As for the other two New Year's resolutions, I didn't lose much weight, but I'm actually starting to feel more comfortable with at least that part of myself. I'm not often made fun of for my weight, at least not nowadays, but that goes back to me just constantly being my worst enemy throughout the year in terms of my negative thoughts. Still, that parts gotten easier. I have looked into some possible colleges for the near future, but y'know, that's a whole process in of itself.

In terms of the good stuff that happened to me this year, I spent my birthday with my family at a fancy hotel, and we went to a theme park together as well. I got to ride on a rollercoaster for the first time in my life. I had my eyes shut for about half of it, and I nearly fainted afterwards, but overall, I enjoyed it. I got to 300 watchers, so that was pretty cool. I celebrated 30 years of Sonic, which I had been planning since last year. TV and Movies were pretty consistently good. This was a great year for animation in particular. Invincible, Arcane, Kid Cosmic, What If, Inside Job, Maya and the Three, Helluva Boss, Infinity Train Season 4, Animaniacs Season 2, and in terms of movies, we got The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Raya and the Last Dragon, Wish Dragon, Vivo, Encanto, Luca, Sing 2, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans, just a great year for animation. And we got more coming next year. Across the Spider-Verse, Sonic Prime, Turning Red, Luck, The Bad Guys, We Baby Bears, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, it all sounds pretty good.

So overall, 2021, for me, was ok. Didn't hate it, but hey...I'm still alive. I don't know what 2022's gonna hold. I'm honestly kinda scared mostly for myself. Maybe my depression might get to me even more, maybe I'll get into some kind of accident, but I'm trying to stop asking myself "what if". 2022 might not be a great, or even a good year, but a lot of my problems personally, are anxiety induced so I'm going to try my best to stop myself from just expecting the worst outcomes because it's done me no favors. Who knows? I might make new friends, I might actually get into a half-decent college, I might actually lose weight. I don't know, but I'm going to try. Try to have more faith in myself that I can succeed. Wish me luck, and in turn, I wish all of you the best of luck as well. Safe travels and have yourselves a happy new year. I love you guys.

Well I finally finished watching Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and what did I think?

IT WAS F*CKING HORRIBLE!!!

.........Nah. I'm kiddin'. It was great. Although it does have its problems. Now this is one of those shows that's hard to talk about as a whole, and is better to cover season by season. Think of this as my (mini?) review of The Legend of Korra. I'm going to go over each season, give a summary of that seasons plot, then talk about the main characters and how they grew in the season, then the new characters who appeared, then the season finale, and then my favorite and least favorite episode of the season. Lets begin.

Book 1: Air

Book 1 manages to be a great start. We get properly introduced to this world, and while the first three episodes were just sorta ok, it was episode four where I got hooked. The world of of Avatar has gotten a lot more steampunk. Which I liked. We find that many years have passed since the end of the 100 year war. The Fire Nation isn't attacking, the world has entered a new era, and Avatar Aang has long passed and a new Avatar has been born. Avatar Korra. Voiced by Janet Varney. While Aang started off a master of airbending and spent the entirety of The Last Airbender learning the other elements, while Korra has easily gotten down all the elements except for airbending. This brings her to Republic City. The capital of the United Republic of Nations. A place that Aang and Zuko made as a place where people from each of the nations can come together and live harmony. While in Republic City, she plans to master airbending with one of Aang's three children, Tenzin. Voiced by the always great J.K. Simmons. Along with his family who live on Air Temple Island. Korra also meets the brothers Mako and Bolin. Voiced by David Faustino and PJ Byrne respectively. A pair of pro-bending players who make up the team called the Fire Ferrets. Korra quickly becomes good friends with the two, and even joins their pro-bending team and eventually helps them win the big tournament. But despite all the peace, and the 100 year war being over, bad guys still exist in this universe. Enter Amon, voiced by Steve Blum. Amon is the creepy and masked leader of the Equalists. A group of nonbenders who want to bring equality to the world by riding the world of all benders. Amon also has the power to take away people's bending. An ability previously thought to only belong to the Avatar. Which is what makes Amon such a feared but also respected figure in Republic City. It's up to Korra to foil his plans, but she's not alone. Along with Mako and Bolin, she has Asami. Daughter of a brilliant inventor who helped make Republic City the technologically advanced city that it is. There's also Chief Lin Beifong. Toph's daughter. Apparently Toph taught metalbending to others and now a police force consisting of nothing but metalbenders patrols Republic City. With the new Team Avatar and its allies established, the rest of the season sees Korra try everything she can to stop Amon, while also dealing with relationship drama, the pro-bending stuff, and Republic City's council.

Like I said, Book 1's biggest strength is getting you introduced to this world and getting to know the characters we'll be spending the rest of the series with. Korra is the polar opposite of Aang in more ways than one. Aang was calm, patient, and was a free spirit. Korra is brash, often hotheaded, and wants nothing more than to do Avatar stuff solely for the thrill of it all. It took me a while to warm up to Korra because for so long I couldn't stop comparing her to Aang. You can thank Book 2 for that. While Aang is still the better character, Korra did really grow on me as the show went on. It's interesting how she handles each situation since she never approaches a situation from the same angle. She'll use brute force to handle common street criminals, but prefers to be a bit more cautious when dealing with major threats like Amon. Although sometimes her hotheadedness gets the best of her. Then there's Mako and Bolin. One's an earth bender, and the other's a fire bender. It really took me a while to warm up to them as well. They serve as our Katara and Sokka for this series. One takes their priorities seriously, a bit too seriously at times, and finds themselves in a relationship with the Avatar, and the other is a goofball who serves more as the comic relief, and isn't very bright, but can still have his endearing moments. I initially found Mako to kind of an asshole as well as boring and Bolin to just be an annoying Sokka wannabe. Didn't really care for their triangle with Korra either (love square if you include Asami). Both of these characters I grew to love with the later seasons due to their bromance and their own character arcs, but Book 1 did not do them justice. You also have Tenzin who makes for a great father figure to Korra, and of course, J.K. Simmons is always a win. Any series can be improved by having J.K. Simmons in it. I even like his family. I mean his kids start off pretty annoying, but like the other characters, they grew on me as the show went along. Yes, even Meelo. Asami is ok, but once again, I didn't find her interesting until the later seasons. The same can be kinda be said for Lin. She's the stereotypical no nonsense character, but she did have her badass moments, and her found her relationship with Tenzin to be pretty funny. I don't have much to say on General Iroh (the new one at least). He's just sorta there. Yeah I was pretty surprised when we first meet him and learn his name, and hear that Dante Basco is voicing him, but Iroh manages to be the most boring character on the show. Every time he shows up, I'm waiting for him to get some kind of character arc but it never happens.

But for ever hero there's just about another villain. This brings me to Amon. Basically Amon and the Equalists are the Magneto and Brotherhood of Mutants of this universe. Amon is an excellent villain. He's my personal favorite villain of the series. Not the best (we'll get to him later), just my personal favorite. Not only does Steve Blum give a chilling performance as the character, but as you learn his backstory and the show fleshes out his personality, you totally understand this guy's motivations. Like other villains on the show, they're not entirely in the wrong. Amon's not wrong when he points out how unfairly nonbenders are treated as we have groups of bending thieves and criminals who use their powers to prey on the weak and defenseless. Amon felt like a real threat because whenever he showed up, you knew things were getting serious. And he was always one step ahead of the heroes. You also have a great secondary villain with Tarlock, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker. A very fascist like councilman who you're never really sure is truly evil. For a while, it seemed pretty obvious that we was Amon given how many times he proves to be a pain in Korra's ass, but then they throw one twist on top of another, and we begin to learn a lot more about him which makes him all the more interesting.

The season finale was actually pretty good. I don't think it's as bad as others have said, although I will agree that it does end with a serious deus ex machina, but in the show's defense, the crew didn't know they were going to get a 2nd season because Nickelodeon had no faith in the show, and the first season was treated like a 12 episode miniseries, and at the time, it made sense for the finale to end the way it did.

Favorite Episode: Skeletons in the Closet- Amon and Tarlock's backstory. Nuff said.

Least Favorite Episode: The Spirit of Competition- it's the relationship drama that ruins this one for me.

Book gets a 7/10.

Book 2: Spirits

Oh boy, Book 2. There's a lot to unpack this season which is one of biggest problems. First we had too little plot, and now we have too much plot. Lets establish that I don't hate this season, but it still managed to drop the ball hard for me, and it's mostly due to two characters. Our hero and our villain. So lets get the plot summary out of the way.

Because the show was originally just a 12 episode miniseries, this series had to be a soft reboot for the show. Causing for a lot of the characters to lose the development they got in the previous season. Six months after the events of the Anti-bending Revolution, Korra, having learned to bend all four elements and achieved status as a fully realized Avatar, must travel to both the North and South Pole to handle dark spirits who are running amuck. The villain this time is Unalaq, voiced by Adrian LaTourelle. Korra's uncle. Unalaq starts off as someone teaches Korra how to handle all these spirits, and better connect with her spiritual side like no other Avtar has since the first Avatar. Who we actually do learn about this season to my surprise. As Korra quickly finds out, Unalaq is only using her so he can release our secondary villain for this season, Vaatu, voiced by Jonathan Adams, an incredibly powerful and evil spirit who embodies all that is dark and chaotic. Unalaq's plan is to become...a Dark Avatar. It's not as cool as I'm making it sound. Well not entirely. Seeing the Dark Avatar fight Korra at her full strength was awesome, and I'll get back to that later, but the parts leading up to it were not so awesome. The rest of the season involves Bolin meeting an eccentric man called Varrick, who helps Bolin become a "mover star", Mako trying to uncover a conspiracy or whatever, Asami trying to redeem her company after her father turned out to be working for Amon, Tenzin trying to reconcile with his brother and sister, and Lin doing nothing other than treating Mako like shit. The pacing is a lot worse this season. They move the plot along too fast this time, and reveals Unalaq's to be an evil dick way too soon.

Like I said, it took me a while for me to like Korra. And Book 2 is a big reason why. In fact it wasn't until Book 3 where I really did started to like her, and it wasn't until Book 4 where I loved her and she became one of my favorite characters in the series. In Book 2, she lets her hotheadedness get the better of her way too often. Resulting in her making a lot of bad decisions. I swear she blows her top every time someone disagrees with her. At one point, Mako points out when she is clearly in the wrong, but she makes him out to be the bad guy and doesn't even take the time to listen to him despite all they've been through at this point. She blindly follows Unalaq instead of listening to her father and Tenzin who have taught her way more and she's know for much longer than her uncle who's she barely met. Also there's this weird shit about the Avatar having the remain neutral during conflicts which makes no f*cking sense. If that were the case, then Roku and Aang wouldn't have done shit to stop the Fire Nation from conquering the world. I really wanted to like Mako this season, and while he isn't an asshole this time, he's still pretty boring, and somehow has less of a personality this season. Bolin is one of the better things to come out of this season, and gets a really fun subplot with becoming an actor. Asami has an actual character arc, and aside from the love triangle bullshit, I actually liked her this season. But lets talk about the new characters now.

I wasn't sure how to feel about Bumi and Kya when I first saw them. Aside from one episode, I don't recall them getting to do a whole lot of interesting stuff, but I did enjoy their relationship with Tenzin, and how they felt neglected by their father who seemed to favor Tenzin over them since Tenzin was the only one of Aang's children who was born an airbender. Yeah it doesn't surprise me that Aang didn't turn out to be the greatest father. Kya is mostly coolheaded, and really does value family, while Bumi is the crazy retired war veteran cliché who often recounts tale of his time on the battlefield. He's not as funny as the original Bumi, but he has his moments, and I especially enjoy his interactions with Kya and Tenzin. And then you have Varrick, voiced by John Michael Higgins. I absolutely love this guy. Iknik Blackstone Varrick (coolest name ever by the way) is an eccentric businessman with a silver tongue who can talk anyone into doing anything. Including Bolin. He's often followed by his loyal assistant Zhu Li. Who follows him EVERYWHERE! Meetings, boats, planes, trains, mech suits, prison, inside of a stuffed platypus bear, wherever Varrick goes, Zhu Li follows. Often doing "the things" for him. Varrick initially comes off as really shady and possibly another secondary villain, but we learn that Varrick may make a lot of really stupid non business decisions, he's still on the side of our heroes. He's also hilarious. A lot of the show's funniest moments come from Varrick, and you can tell Higgins is having a ball with this role. Some other new characters are Unalaq's children and Korra's cousins, Eska and Desna. Didn't really care for them all that much. Although Eska does get some pretty funny scenes with Bolin. Also, yes this is the season where the original Uncle Iroh shows up and it was great to see. The Zhao cameo was fun too, I gotta admit. And the fact that they got Jason Isaacs back just for that scene makes it all the better. And then of course there's Avatar Wan, and seeing his journey as the first Avatar was great. I just wish he was built up more which goes back to the awful pacing of this season.

Unalaq, compared to Amon, is a really boring villain. He makes Firelord Ozai look like a complex character. I do get his motivations with him wanting a world where humans and sprits coexist, but he's the one in charge because he pretty much thinks all the Avatar's suck at their job, but in terms of his personality, there's just nothing to work with. He's a stale villain with nothing to offer. Vaatu isn't any better. I don't like his design, he's not threatening, and he's the ultimate example of how not to do the "demonic evil incarnate" villain archetype. Jonathan Adams does what he can with the role, but his dialogue is really bland as opposed to villains like Trigon from Teen Titans and the Lich from Adventure Time who are basically the same character but make for their one note personalities with their intimidation factor. Vaatu is just a giant magic kite.

I actually enjoyed the finale what it's worth. I mean Unalaq and Vaatu becoming one don't make them any less lame or any more cool in any way, shape, or form, but the battle between UnaVaatu and Korra was pretty damn awesome, I'm not gonna lie. My biggest issues with the finale are, like I said, Unalaq and Vaatu, and also having it be this end of the world plot seems a bit too big for a 2nd season and it feels out of place compare to the more grounded threats to come after it. The stake were just too high for the show's own good.

Favorite Episode: Beginnings- this was a great two-parter that I'm really glad we got. Only problem with it is that it just wasn't built and brings the pacing to an immediate halt.

Least Favorite Episode: Peacekeepers- do I even need to explain this one?

Overall Book 2 is a boring and poorly written mess. I enjoyed a lot of aspects of it, but the bad stuff is really bad, and it just doesn't live up to its full potential. 4.5/10.

Book 3: Change

Book 3 is where things are really turned around. After Korra kept the portals to the spirit world open during Harmonic Convergence in the Book 2 finale, spirits and humans are now learning to coexist with each other once again. One added side effect of this was that it somehow gave different nonbenders from across the world the ability to airbend. That...doesn't really make sense, but it does provide an interesting story for this season. So now Korra, along with Mako, Bolin, Asami, Tenzin, Bumi, and Jinora are headed on a 'round the world trip to try and rebuild the Ari Nomads and keep an entire culture from going extinct. There's a downside to this unfortunately. First off, not a lot of the new airbenders aren't up to except everything that comes with their new abilities. And second, one of the many people to gain airbending is a man called Zaheer. A dangerous anarchist and the leader of the Red Lotus. A broken off part of the White Lotus group from the first series. After escaping prison, Zaheer frees the rest of his Red Lotus buddies, each of which with badass bending skills of their own, and together they set out to rid the world of its governments. So it's up to Korra to stop them before they plunge the entire world into chaos.

The conflict is definitely a lot more interesting this season, and thank god the pacing is a lot better, especially during the 2nd half of the season where there's of intense and well paced action. And the characters are a lot better this season. Korra is finally a likeable protagonist, Mako isn't a boring jackass, Bolin officially became my favorite character this season (that bit with him wearing a false mustache while trying to convince airbenders to come to the Air Temples had me laughing my ass off), Asami, while she probably got the least development this season, had a number of fun scenes with Korra, seeing Tenzin try his hardest to restore the Air Nomads is interesting but it seems no one wants to fully commit to the cause, and you kinda feel bad for him. Lin finally gets some character development when we meet her sister, and we learn that Toph...kinda sucked at parenting. Since she was so restrained by her own parents, Toph gave her own children a bit too much freedom. This caused Lin and her sister, Suyin, to have to resolve out their problems on their own which...didn't go very well. Varrick is still great, along with Bumi and Kya. Jinora gets a lot of focus this season and instead of being a deus ex machina like in Book 2, she's actually given more character here, and even gets a love interest.

Speaking of which, one of the new characters we meet is Kai. Kai started off pretty unlikeable, but gets a lot more interesting as the season goes on to the point where I was kinda disappointed we barely saw him in Book 4. Su is really interesting. She a lot more free spirit compared to her sister, and she's a lot of fun to watch. Her children are all fun and memorable in their own way. Opal in particular is great and her relationship with Bolin is so adorable. We also meet older Zuko in this season. Which was really cool, although it's odd that they waited till now to even bring up the fact that he's even still alive and not even the Fire Lord at this point. While he doesn't serve much of a role in this season, seeing my favorite character from the first series was nice, and that bit where Korra tells him that she met his uncle was really touching.

But the real standouts of this season are Zaheer and his cronies. Zaheer, voiced by Henry Rollins, is anarchism personified. You can really get behind his ideals. Like Amon, he's not entirely in the wrong. He's right when he points out how the rulers and governments of the Avatar world have brought about a lot of bad things. Most notably when Firelord Sozin nearly drove the Air Nomads to extinction. It's also really cool to see an airbending villain in this universe which is something I'd never thought I'd see. His crew is scary as shit and are some of the most badass villains I've ever seen in a cartoon.

Book 3 is the first season to not have a finale that had a solid buildup, but an underwhelming conclusion. The finale was great. The final battle between Korr and Zhaeer was fan-f*cking-tastic, and easily one of the best fight scenes in the show. The finale kinda ends on a depressing note. The battle is one, the day is saved, and celebrations are had, but it is not without its consequences.

Favorite Episode: The Ultimatum and Enter the Void- two equally epic episodes with tons of epic action that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Least Favorite Episode: A Breath of Fresh Air- a pretty meh start to the season, but the rest of the episodes of Book 3 make up for it.

Overall this was a great season. Not much else to say about it other than it's worth getting through Book 2 to see. 8.5/10.

Book 4: Balance

3 years have passed since the events of Book 3. Thanks to Zaheer, the Earth Kingdom is in shambles, but there is someone trying to cleanup this one horse kingdom: Kuvira. A strict but seemingly well meaning metal bender who used to be part of the Metal Clan, but after the events of Book 3, she struck out on her own, and took many others with her. Bolin, Varrick, and his assistant Zhu Li are now working for her. As well as Suyin's son, Baatar Jr.. Who Kuvira happens to be now engaged with. To Su's disappointment. Opal isn't too happy about Bolin working for Kuvira either. Why? Well as it we figure out pretty quickly, Kuvira is forcing the Eath Kingdom to become united under her. Believing that she is the only one fit to command this great and chaotic land, and soon she will do the same to the rest of the world (more on that later). Anyway, the other world leaders notice how more drastic Kuvira is becoming, and her plans get even worse when she forces Varrick to use spirit vines to craft what is quite possibly the deadliest weapon in the Avatar universe. Both Varrick and Bolin realize that Kuvira is nuts and soon escape and warn the rest of Team Avatar. Speaking of which, one has to wonder where Korra is right? Well as it turns out, 6 months before the beginning of Book 4 during the 3 year time gap, Korra left the South Pole to wander the world. This is because, despite getting help from Katara, and finally getting out of a wheelchair, Korra is still having trouble with the physical and mental scars left over from when Zaheer poisoned her, and nearly killed her in the Avatar State. Which I remind you would wipe out the Avatar for good. Luckily, Korra has some much needed help in the form of none other than Toph Beifong. Who is now a hermit living in a swamp. Toph helps Korra get back on her feet, metaphorically speaking, and helps her find some inner peace so she can get what's left of the poison out of her. So Korra can finally take on Kuvira in one of the most epic battles in either series.

This is also where the show's somewhat infamous clipshow episode. Remembrances. Basically Nick decide to say "f*ck you" to the show's creators and cut their budget, and then tell them that they either do a clipshow episode or fire a bunch of their animators. Mike and Brian obviously went with the former, and while I actually did like the clipshow episode, it not only didn't hold a candle to Ember Island Players, but it led to the episode after being good, but also feeling rushed, because they weren't given that extra episode to flesh things out just a little more.

This is the season where Korra became one of my favorite characters on the show. Her arc is fascinating and interesting. In the episode Korra Alone, while not nearly as good as Zuko Alone, is still a great episode that shows a vulnerable young woman who feels like she has let everyone around her down. And Janet Varney's performance makes it all the better. Mako also becomes one of my favorite characters in this season. He actually gains more of a personality and his scenes with Prince Wu are hilarious. Bolin was great in Book 3 and he's great here as well. Still funny and still really endearing. He's at his best with the returning Varrick. Varrick is awesome in this season. He's not just hilarious, but he actually gets some character development. We learn in this season that, while Varrick is a sleezball who will charm you before he screws you over, he's not a total idiot. Like I said, he's got a silver tongue and is a genius inventor, and uses both of those traits to their full potential this season. And of course, you can bet I loved THAT scene with him and Zhu Li, who also getw some development. You know the one. Asami gets this amazing subplot with her father. It wasn't really necessary to bring him back, but it was still good to see him again. Tenzin and his family takes a bit more a backseat unfortunately which was the only thing about this season that I didn't like. Tenzin, Pema, and Bumi don't actually do a whole lot, and Kya doesn't show up at all besides a quick cameo. Their kids thankfully become a lot more likeable this season. Jinora is once again interesting, Ikki is actually given a character this season, and Meelo is actually funny. I especially enjoy the running gag with him secretly being a great artist.

As for the new characters, Toph is still awesome, Prince Wu goes from being more annoying than Ronaldo Fryman to an actually likeable character, and Baatar Jr. is actually given some development since I found him to be pretty forgettable in Book 2. Also, we get introduced to Zuko's daughter, Firelord Izumi. In the only scene where she actually has some dialogue, we learn that, ironically, Zuko appears to be the only member of the original Team Avatar who didn't kinda suck at parenting. From what we got, it seems like Aang, Katara, and Toph were all neglectful of their children. Sokka...that's a different story.

And then of course, there's Kuvira. We first met Kuvira in Book 3 where she was a pretty much a minor character, but you could tell we were going to see more of her. I mean you don't get someone like Zelda Williams to play a character on your show, and not have her play any significant roles. To put it lightly, Kuvira is f*cking terrifying. She's smart, crafty, manipulative, and is a master of intimidation. If you don't do what she says, then your ass is getting a serous beatdown. She is one of the most intimidating villains in the Avatar universe. She actually gives Azula a run for her money. She forces her rule on all others, and firmly believes that she is the only one one who is fit to correct the world of Avatar, and bring order and to the chaos. She's been compared to some real life dictators, but personally, the person she reminds me of the most is Firelord Sozin. Think about it. In a flash back scene we find out that Su was given the chance to become the new ruler of the Earth Kingdom, but turned it down because she didn't want to come off as a conqueror and force her ideals upon the rest of the kingdom. Kuvira disagrees with her. She sees how prosperous Zaofu has become and wants to share their progress with the rest of the earth Kingdom. Possibly even the world. Now I mean this in a good way, but that is literally the exact same conversation Avatar Roku had with Firelord Sozin in the first series! I was in shock when I realized this because we've seen what these kind of ideals can lead to, and that thought is horrifying.

The finale, for the most part, was great. I laughed, I almost cried, and the battle against Kuvira's giant mech was awesome! A giant platinum megazord feels like a good final threat for this series. Given that it went for a very steampunk feel, so I can buy a giant robot showing up. The only thing I didn't like about the finale is that, unlike several other cartoon finales of the 2010's, like the ones for Adventure Time, Phineas and Ferb, Regular Show, and Steven Universe, it feels like some of the characters weren't given a proper final scene. I'm particularly referring to the wedding scene which, while sweet no doubt, it felt kinda rushed. Although, given how much Nickelodeon screwed over the show's staff, I can understand why. As for Korrasami, I didn't have a problem with it. I kinda wish it was set up better this season, but for what it's worth, given how much the creator's had to go through to get that final scene in the episode, I thought it was cute, and I think they make a solid couple. And I respect the show a lot because of this given that we weren't really used to seeing that kind of representation in cartoons at that point. As opposed to now where you can find LGBTQ+ representation all over the place. Point is, I'll tale Asami over Korra awkwardly getting with Mako or Bolin any day.

So yeah, Book 4 was fantastic. And in my opinion, both it and Book 3 hold a place right alongside Book's 2 and 3 of Last Airbender. 9/10.

Final Thoughts:

So is The Legend of Korra better or as good as The Last Airbender? No. It's messy, it doesn't always makes sense, and the characters take a while to warm up to. Is it still a great show? Hell yeah! Legend of Korra had a lot to live up, and while not every aspect of it lived up to the hype, and it still tried its best to be a great follow-up to a legendary series. I love the characters, I love a lot of the mature themes the show brings up, the villains are interesting and complex (with a few exceptions), and like the first series, it handles its tone balance perfectly (most of time). The show just feels a lot more sophisticated and mature than a lot of other Nickelodeon shows from the 2010's. Then again, it's not like it had a lot of competition given how Nick's show compared to those on Cartoon Network and Disney during the 2010's. In terms of new shows, there was Korra, Ninja Turtles 2012, Rise of the TMNT, Harvey Beaks, and Loud Louse, and that was it in terms of shows from Nick that were actually good in the 2010's. At least in my opinion.

But anyway, The Legend of Korra was more like multiple miniseries rather than one long cohesive story like Last Airbender. From what I've learned about the show from fans who watched it when it aired on tv, this can basically be attributed to Nickelodeon. Yeah, apparently, Nick really screwed over this show on multiple occasions. This ultimately ended up hurting the show. Deadlines not being met, Nick and the show's creators not agreeing on stuff, the show taking forever to get greenlit, Nick not thinking shows with female leads can be successful (yes because lets pretend Zoey 101, ICarly, and My Life as a Teenage Robot never happened), Nick just eventually dumping the episodes online, it just sounds like working on this show was a pretty miserable experience at times. And you can tell Nick had no faith in this show because I saw the advertising for this show back when it was still airing and it failed pretty miserably to get me interested in watching it. This caused the show's pacing to kinda be all over the place. Sometimes things were going too slow, other times they were moving too fast, but in the end, you can't blame the people working on the show because Nickelodeon kept screwing them over.

I honestly feel bad for Mike and Brian. They've created such a unique world with two great shows, and despite how much passion they have for it, companies like Nickelodeon, and more recently, Netflix, never give them the creative freedom they deserve. Whether they end up creating a new and original show one day, or end up making a third Avatar series, I really do hope things get better for them. As for now, I am satisfied with both Last Airbender and Legend of Korra. Legend of Korra is far from perfect and I can see why a lot of people hated this show with passion, but even if you did, I think we can all agree it at least deserved better treatment from the network it aired on. The show managed to expand on the world of Avatar in ways I didn't even expect. There was clearly a lot of heart and passion put into it, and for the most part, it paid off. As a whole, I'll give it a solid 8/10. Do the thing and give it a watch.

With all of that said, have a great night, be safe, and take care.