"Hey look that Firefly .gif I was looking for!"
:)
So the Vocab Term you'll need for this post is "Ship" which as defined by Urban Dictionary:
Seriously Urban Dictionary, where would we be without you?
Also, understand when one "Ships" you have to refer to the pairing with the pre-approved "Ship Name" as decided by some mysterious force on the internet.
"Naah Dog, you're vowels are all over the place"
"Well I think it's a cute name"
"You're a donkey kissing idiotic moron brickheaded talentless hack"
"Simon, don't be so mean"
"Naah Dog, it's the internet"
So in this case the pairing is called "Korrasami" and combination of the names of "Korra" and "Asami" , needless to say they're never really that clever.
Anyway, recently we all had to say goodbye to two of the best TV shows created in the last ten years, on the same night, at the same time...since they aired at the same time.
Yes as Steven Colbert rode off on Santa's sleigh with Unicorn Abraham Lincoln and Alex Trebek, while wielding Captain America's shield, he learned that he'll always be there when America needs him the most.
Annnnnd now I'm crying again.
On the same night we also said goodbye to the highly acclaimed sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender, Avatar: The Legend of Korra. And man was it a dousy.
The series had always been the most adult themed show on Nickelodeon since it first airing, since it stars older teenagers, and not middle school students placed in teenage situations.
Wait no that's Disney.
Err, a show that isn't about pre-teens with superpowers, but instead a show about older-teenagers with superpowers.
Don't fix what isn't broken Nick.
The main difference being that the first season of Legend of Korra ends with a murder-suicide.
"This is a kids show!"
Needless to say after having a guy kill himself and his brother as the closing shot to an opening season that ranked in the highest numbers Nick had seen in a long time, the heads of the Orange Blob got kinda worried about the can of worms they just opened by contractual ordering two more seasons. I like to imagine they didn't find out about the scene until several months later, since lack of executive oversight explains what happens next.
"Are we going to get to the part about the ship-to-ship battles on the internet?" you ask in that whiney voice you always ask in.
"Yes we're getting there, that's Act 3, I'm about to get into Act 2 here, it's the heroes journey and we've only left the Shire" I answer as incontinent as ever.
"But!" you retort like an ungrateful little orphan.
"I will change that metaphor to 'You're aunt and uncle were just burned to death by space Nazis"
You'd think for being moisture farmers they'd have some water on hand.
Anyway, in my conspiracy filled mind this was the reason why Nick decided to move the show from the ever so popular Saturday mornings to the ever so Death Valley-esc Friday evenings.
The timeslot change wasn't advertised very well, and Season 2 was already kinda unpopular for how it was a little bit more on the "lame" side of things until the last half.
"Yeah we're just going to follow the subplot about the guy who betrayed you in the last season to pretty much the exact same beat until the last fourth of the season where we're going to pull out literally as much fan-service as we possibly can"
So Season 2 was the weaker of the first two seasons of the show, and compounded with a bad timeslot, and the fact that no one knew it was on, it wasn't looking good for the show. But Nick already had Season 3 almost done, and the finale of the 2 had won back a lot of the viewership, so they were forced to go ahead with the rest of the series.
Also they were contractually obligated and they really didn't want to be, as it seems to become clear later on.
Season 3 opened in the same slot of Season 2, this time everyone knew when it was suppose to be on air, but the trailer dropped for it the week prior and didn't contain a date on it. So everyone knew when to watch, but didn't know what day to watch. Which of course dropped the ratings down.
So to "remedy" this, the totally-not-butthurt executives at Nick decided to boast ratings by airing two back-to-back episodes three times in a row, which meant that essentially the season was a third of the way over in a quarter of the time. Almost as if they wanted it to go away as fast as possible.
The Sponge doesn't like to share the attention.
"But what does this have to do with anything!" I hear you yell.
"IT'S ALL ABOUT CONTEXT YOU TWAT!" I retort politely.
Understand that this was a show that pushed the envelope so hard it mailed itself, and that scared the absolute living shit out of the decision makers, who were forced to let it play out, and then tried to hide it as much as possible.
Because the ending pushes that goddamn envelope so far it mailed itself back with a return postage stamp from Curiosity the Mars Rover.
Anyway, the show was gone, but it still had what little of season 3 left, which was a pretty goddamn good season too (too not two, two was lame).
It was left to the creators of the show, who had become demigods on Tumblr to tell the world what was up.
In the cutest way possible.
Korra went completely online, and almost comparable to the way that young college students set up voting drives in the South during the Civil Rights movement, word of mouth spread like crazy to make sure everyone was watching Korra online.
Look, Generation Y is fighting the same battles, just in smaller wars, it's not our fault racism isn't legal anymore.
Ok, ok, thin ice, backing it up.
The digital launch of Korra was huge, it essentially became the Orange is the New Black of cartoons.
"Was that foreshadowing?" you ask thinking you're so smart.
"OOOOOH I DON'T KNOW" I say aloud in a sarcastic voice in an attempt to imitate the sound of your disappointed father.
The launch hit hard, and Nick was forced to go a head with the finale season. This being after the show dropped this on us.
A lady blowing her own head off.
Our hero getting mercury poisoning.
Our hero then going into an animalistic rage in attempt to kill a guy before the poison kills her.
Our hero then crying because she is now permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
Also totes besties.
Season Four saw a rushed production and major budget cuts that ether meant, firing everyone, or, gutting an episode, but since in the contract they had to deliver the amount of episodes ordered, almost as if Nick had planned this, hmmm, they went ahead and essentially did an Abridged Series version of their own show.
And they didn't even have LittleKuriboh do a cameo.
Point being, nothing was stopping the Korra Train from getting to the station.
Note: A train was a very large plot point in Season 4.
So imagine this, you and your partner had previously created one of the most beloved and profound children's TV shows of the past decade, and you're in the last season of your new show which is cranking it all to eleven and your so called creator-first bosses are trying to screw you at every turn. So what do you two decide to do? You keep cranking it to eleven, you had implied Nazis in your previous series? Well time to put some real Nazis in this.
The comparisons...
...are just so...
...subtle...
...like really subtle.
So yeah, it's a paralyzed Korra fighting a metal bending army of Nazis.
It's when you start explaining to kids how fascism looks good on paper, and how appeasement seems like a good idea at the time, but then showing them that it won't work out because there will always be power hungry dictators out there who promise peace, but instead abuse their power when they start to lie to themselves about what they are really trying to accomplish, that you may have entered a new area of children's programing.
"Well shit if they had that show when I was kid"
Wait, wait, hold the goddamn phone. Didn't even think about that until I just posted that picture. A person in a wheelchair fighting Nazis?
Well shit.
Granted Korra learns to walk again during the three year time jump between Seasons 3 and and 4, which FDR never managed.
Excluding Michael Bay movies.
Any-who, the finale was an emotional roller coaster.
We got self-sacrifice for redemption.
And now I'm crying again.
We got pure concentrated awesomesauce.
And overall this.
Anyway, it all hit the fan in the very last shot of the series.
They're a little more than friends.
Yes, as hinted at since the finale of Season 3, Korra and her ex-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend grew closer together as a friends and then decided to run away together at the end of the series.
Some would argue since the first episode of Season 3.
The reason why this struck such a chord with the online community (minus the homophobia) was there was a few holdouts hoping for Korra to get back together with Mako, the previously mentioned mutual ex-boyfriend. (Who they happen to be making fun of the in the .gif above.)
There's no winners in Ship-to-Ship combat in fandoms. That's why Ash will never get laid in Pokemon since the creators are too scared to see what would happen when he choses one of his various female companions to hook up with.
Call me old fashion...
Yes I can understand Korra and Mako getting back together in the end, but it just wouldn't feel natural, which coincidentally is what the opposite argument argues against my argument. This in the not-homophobic way.
Korra and Mako had more on screen time together as a couple then Mako and Asami did as a pairing, so if you were to revive a relationship it would of been the one the writers seemed to prefer. And I'm not going to be the one to argue that Mako was an asshole in Season 2 after the whole Korra losing her memory and forgetting she broke up with Mako before Mako got back together with Asami and didn't tell ether of the two that. You know, it's not like Korra just sort of showed up out of nowhere in his office while he was talking to Asami and he was more concerned to see that Korra was a alive above everything else, because god-forbid someone cares about the wellbeing of their ex.
And honestly, we know who should of really gotten back together.
And it just wouldn't have been as important. And I hate to say that. But Legend of Korra eventually became an all out war between its creators and the network airing it. And it just wouldn't have carried the same weight as a finale if it didn't happen. Yes "Nickelodeon airs last episode of critically acclaimed TV show" doesn't carry the same weight as "Nickelodeon becomes bastion of the LGBTQ community showing first on screen same-sex couple in a kids cartoon". And I know that sounds like pandering, but understand, the creators of the show wanted this to make a lasting impact on the culture of Kids' TV, but also a lasting impact on the Nickelodeon network, because this is something they will never be able to forget. They try to retcon it, they come off as homophobic, which is getting to the point of being as bad as being homosexual in the 80's.
Nickelodeon is forced now to continue this trend of showing real same-sex couple in their shows now, because that is the expectation. Yes Disney had Charlie have a playdate with a girl with two moms on Good Luck Charlie, but that was one show, and the it wasn't even about those parents, they're more or less background characters. Yes Cartoon Network tried the same thing by revealing that two female characters in Adventure Time had been in a relationship together in the past, but that's the past, it was only mentioned and you never actually see it.
This is a show that showed two people growing to like each other, and then finally admitting feelings for each other in the end. And for those still fighting for Makkorra as they call it, that's exactly what happened in Season 1. Hell, Mako did that twice with both Korra and Asami in half the time it took both the girls to fall in love.
Look I know it hurts. I know pain. Series finales hurt a lot.
You remember this from the opening of the post?
:')
Well this how the most beloved character on a TV show about beloved characters ends up in the finale.
One final awesome ride.
You know what, watch the damn thing.
Annnnnd now I'm crying again.
Yep, he saves everyone's lives, and he turns to his wife who he recently found out was pregnant with their child, and says "I'm a leaf on the wind watch how I" and he gets cut off by a giant spike though his body.
That is pain kiddos.
I know how much you love Makkorra and all that, but all I can say is, at least Mako didn't get a giant ass spike though his chest.
Not like they had any closure or whatever.
Or you know, they do.
And not belabor a point but...
Just sayin'.
Point being:
We can all agree that Baby Korra is the best Korra.
