I do want to say that the deep throat giving Korra the location of Hiroshi's does make sense to me. Hiroshi and the lieutenant were clearly prepared for the raid, and no one else was shown to tell them. It being an ambush for the Avatar, Chief of Police, and head of the Republic City council is a pretty big win if they pull it off.
Honestly having Tano joining the team AFTER losing his bending to fill the Sokka/Suki nonbender roll as he learns to be a better and more capable person without his bending is a super cool idea
It would have been nice to see somebody on the team have a different way of thinking from the rest in terms of alignment. I guess Mako is usually the foil for most of the other characters in that regard but damn is he super boring
Not only is this episode recapped by Tarrlok to represent him doing a speech, it's also like that because the voice of the person who usually does the recap is the same voice as the pro bending commentator, who is still recovering after last episode's encounter with the equalists left him injured and unable to commentate.
After Hiroshi says he'd prefer to fight where his odds are more equal, Beifong actually says "That source was a setup, you lured us down here!" to which Hiroshi responds with "Guilty as charged." before starting the fight. That piece of paper and the source under the bridge wasn't coincidence at all, and he actually did lure them down there in an attempt to capture them.
I can't remember... why would he bother to set up this trap, though? Why is now the time as opposed to before when Amon could've taken korra's bending? Is there a reason to set this trap as opposed to keeping his secret identity up? is what I'm asking
@@peanutbutter7721 It is a bit odd. Only a couple episodes before, Amon let Korra go as to not make himself public enemy #1, and now Sato plans to send the police chief, a councilman, and the avatar to go be "cleansed?" Either it's inconsistent writing or Sato is just an idiot.
Thank you! Yes I was about to comment that it wasn't coincidence after all, but the channel seemed to miss that. That being said, it was still probably a bad idea to lure them there since there were nearly out of clues to even investigate....
@@Jasperr9999 he attacked the most renowned sport of the city(maybe even the world)in the finals of the tournament and blew shit up with a war balloon, he is already public enemy #1 at this point
Tahno on team avatar would legitimately be really interesting. His personality is unique and would play off the other characters well. We can have a second waterbender, Korra's the avatar so it doesn't count, right?
Tahno is a relatively grounded antagonist. On one hand he's willing to win by cheating a game and enjoys the attention he gets. But he's not a monster and losing his bending did peg him down a bit. Maybe some backstory that could explain his "victory by any means" probably similar to Mako and Bolin having to survive on the streets and a redemption learning to be anon bender for a while, stopping relying in cheap tricks and once he saves the Avatar and once Korra regains the skill to bend again he earns his bending again as a much more complete nicer person.
Would've honestly been pretty sweet for him to get his bending back at the end of season 1 and basically take Mako's place in season 2 while Mako becomes more of a side character in his detective arc, at least until they figured out a better way to write him back into team avatar for a 5 team with Asami. Korra's a waterbender, sure, but she'd be the only airbender on the team
@@danijeljovic4971 he could’ve invented carbon fiber, not immune to heat but can withstand a pretty good amount. The platinum solution is definitely the worst route the writers took for this one
Tbf Lie Detection seems to be seismic sense on asteroids. Like, you need feel someones absurdly miniscule vibrations in the earth and determine if they're nervous about the subject or not. I always thought it was something you could only get with an ridiculous time of training or by having earthbending substitute one of your senses like Toph
I always thought that Toph could only do the lie detection thingy due to her blindness making her other senses heightened and sensitive to change. But also the random guy in korra book 3 just throws that out the window
The finger thing is a common art thing. You want to mix patterns with variety. Having all fingers separate, on top of being a pain to draw, also runs the risk of the hand looking like a finger octopus or just repetitive and boring. Connecting fingers together makes them easier to draw in a neat pattern but also, looks very plain and boring. Thus a common practice became to group the fingers but split one to break up the pattern. Sometimes it's pinky, sometimes it's index finger, sometimes it's both.
@@excalibur2772 Nobody bends metal by waving their arms either. Human eyes are not nearly as big as this style would imply. How is this relevant to art, which is a mixture of simplification and exaggeration? Here eyes are bigger because they're a common focal point and it makes it easier to convey emotions and hands in certain moments are simplified as they're not in focus of the scene and so long they're vaguely hand shaped, they are good. The fun of art is breaking the constraints of what's real and bending the reality to your will... like the avatar.
This is like the art equivalent of an old writing adage for dialogue tags: "Said" is invisible. No one notices you when back-and-forth dialogue is "he said," then "she said," etc. If you start throwing in adverbs, like "he exclaimed, furiously" you are drawing attention to it, and that isn't always a good thing. Just having a fairly generic common hand position is saying: "There's nothing to see here. Don't pay attention to the hands. It doesn't matter at the moment." And your eyes are like "yeah."
It's one of the reasons why many Western cartoon characters. Tend to have only three fingers (not counting thum). It's just easier to animate. And only becomes more common the less realistic the style is. That said from what I've heard you will almost never find three fingers on a human anime character. No matter how simplified the style is. Because (this is just what I heard) cutting one of your fingers off was a trademark thing for the Yakuza to do. And because of that association. It very quickly became tradition for Japanese animators to always make sure that their characters had four figures.
I always took it that the guy who gave Korra the note was set up to trap the team as they try to raid the secret factory. Not that it makes the episode much better, but it’s something.
Yeah, I always looked at it this way too. I think someone says "you set us up," and Hiroshi says, "Guilty as charged." I couldn't find the scene on UA-cam, so I can't confirm.
I was just about to make this comment myself but y'all beat me to it! It means those "coincidences" weren't coincidences at all. I also remember that "guilty as charged" scene, I'm kinda surprised overanalyzing didn't mention it. But that also makes our heroes not the smartest for falling for the very obvious trap soooooooooo either way it's not the best.
I'm a bit confused, I thought the secret factory was a trap, and the guy giving Korra the answer was actually setting up the trap after Sato realized she was onto him. It would definitely explain why he was just waiting there for them.
i also think he nitpicked way too harshly on somethings that are pretty harmless, like how he trashed on them making Korra gigle on Bolin puppeting Pabu, come on it was just the goofy guy playing with his cute pet.
I'd like to point out that the amount of platinum that humanity has ever dug up irl throughout all of man's existance is far less platinum than was in that secret basement. Makes the whole platinum thing even more ridiculous because they treat this super metal as if it is as common as iron. Also it doesn't make sense because properly refined metal shouldn't have any earth in it anyways and would be just as pure as platinum. They just decided that a certain element on the periodic table doesn't count despite being just as metal as iron or copper.
on your second point. Based on what the guru said about it just being "purified and refined" implies that metal bending is bending the metal, not just the impurities in the metal. Especially giving how casually all the metal bending cops bend it without seismic sense to find the imperfections in each bit of metal they bend
@@jamesmoniz5263It's pretty clear that the lore of the show is that earth benders are just bending the earth inside the metal. Those were the parts that were glowing when Toph hit it. And when Suyin teaches Korra to metal bend, she tells her to "focus on the fine pieces of earth *within* the metal". They're not bending the metal itself, just the earth inside. Having metal so pure you can't bend it perfectly fits the lore. Saying that the metal specifically has to be platinum does not, though.
@@Howzieky I mean it fits the lore that Korra defined and explored. Though in the original show its left more ambiguous, though when Toph is teaching her students in the comics and drops the same line as the guru saying "metal is just a part of earth that is purified..." so on so forth, it really does more directly imply metal "is [just a part of] earth..." and hence can be bended (bended? bent?) She doesn't teach her students to look for impurities, she teaches her students that metal is just earth. She doesn't teach her students to look for weaknesses in the metal, but to strengthen themselves and their own willpower. The comics do seem to clarify that metal bending is just that, bending metal. As well it seems to illustrate that in the same way earth is a stubborn element(to quote Toph), so is metal, and to bend metal you need the fortitude to make it server you. (and the comics are canon for reference, so its just an inconsistency that was created when they decided to add platinum into the setting and make it immune to metal bending. It could have been immune just by... being immune, but by saying its just cause its "pure" does kinda create some inconsistencies with what metal bending even is)
Not at all. I've source-dived and crunched the numbers several times. You can absolutely get far more than you need with the amount of platinum mined per year. There are a lot of sources that just vastly underestimate how much platinum there actually is. It's a very small percentage of the Earth's crust, but the Earth's crust is absolutely gargantuan, so a small amount of it is still an incredible amount of stuff.
I think that part of the firebending murder problem is its lethality. You can freeze someone with water or trap someone with earth, but fire? It's pretty difficult to incapacitate someone by shooting fire at them. I'm just guessing that other elements have higher rates of non-fatal muggings.
@insertname9736 tbh I think earth benders could kill each other pretty brutally with little training... but they do have other options unlike fire benders
I call bullshit tbh, people underestimate the lethality of waterbending. you can bend an icicle and stab somebody through the heart with it, or drown them in a water bubble. with earthbending, you can crush them with a boulder or sink them into the earth. them always making it a firebender feels like validating the stereotypes surrounding the element.
the fingers sticking together isn’t just an animation thing, it’s an art thing in general, to give the form of hands to hands while not having to commit to drawing all the fingers, if that makes sense, at least that’s the way i learned it, different folks might stroke, er, use it differently
I was really sad to see how easily they bodied tenzin (especially compared to a fight in a later season) would have been really cool if they showcased his skills by having him be this untouchable master who is only defeated by forcing him to surrender by threatening korra. Would have been the same outcome while emphasizing his prowess and compassion. True he was knocked out due to helping korra but I feel a airbending master could have softened her fall and dodge that bola in one smooth move
2:18 From experience as an artist, a common struggle between most artists has famously been hands. I know that sounds weird to say, but hands are made up of so many specific, individual shapes that it's usually hard to condense their information (especially since they tend to be so key in conveying character). Having the middle fingers adjacent allows the artist to compound part of the hand into a single shape; and for shots where the hand isn't a huge focus, it's good to take advantage of such shortcuts when possible.
1:45 this line is really good. Possibly the most arrogant character in all of avatar, after being stripped of his bending (a major source of that arrogance) hopeless after seeing all the healers he could. He’s so defeated, but he’s got hope that someone will take the guy who did this to him down.
Having Tahno as a member of team avatar could be really fun, he has a unique personality that could bounce off the others well, an arc about him learning to live his life as a non-bender could be interesting, and he has a fun design that could be built upon in later seasons, also you could keep asami as a non-bender and part of the krew sense it would be a person getting used to not being a bender and one who’s always been that way, that could make for a very fun dynamic
I wouldn't be surprised if the Azami spy rumor is true, cuz it looked like an extremely obvious setup the instant she appears. When I watched it I immediately noticed that her bike and bike gear in the opening shot look just like the equalists on bikes in an earlier episode. Coupled with her instantly falling madly in love with Mako and getting super close to him for no reason, it makes her and her father the prime suspects from the start.
It's not a rumor or myth. I don't know why he said that. Granted, I'm just a guy saying "the creators totally said so," & people do that on the internet for things that aren't true very often. But UA-cam tends to delete comments that include links even if I felt like looking for the source. So, I guess it's up to you if you want to trust me or not, but this is known for a fact.
@@TheLithpnah i believe that cause i’ve seen multiple video essays on korra mention it too, that Azami was originally supposed to be an equaliser and betray her father in the end cause she learned that not all benders are heartless monsters because of her new friends. it would explain her accidental meeting with mako and give her character development and compassion. but sadly they sidelined her and now she’s just somehow there while also never being a complete member of the core group. makes me upset cause it’s so easy to just write it in cause it wouldn’t change too much of the plot anyways. it would just give us way more character building and relationship struggles within the group
IDK, I mean what's the play here if she's an equalist spy? Send her to stalk a member of the avatar's new sports team, wait for him to run into her motorcycle for no apparent reason so she can ask him out to dinner, and hope that somehow leads to her being invited or informed about raids on the equalists that haven't even started yet? Why was nobody sent to try and spy on the actual avatar if you're going that route? I find it easier to believe it's just a rich heiress who asked out a top professional athlete. It's a huge coincidence he met the daughter of Amon's biggest ally, but it's easier for me to justify a huge coincidence than someone making plans that rely on huge coincidences and actually having them succeed.
@@אביבעזר i mean wasn’t it pretty much confirmed that asami was supposed to be a spy? and spying on the avatar, the closest she could get is befriending her but that might get difficult if you don’t have a good lie, and you’d be constantly in the spotlight, under her gaze and if she’s smart enough she might notice. a boyfriend on the other hand could be tricked with rose tinted glasses. being the girlfriend of her closest ally seems like a good vantage point to getting information. everyone usually tells their partner everything, even if it’s supposed to be top secret, if they signed an nda, a partner is often known to be an exception. she’d get all the deeds without actually having to attend any meetings. And he even looks good. so another plus
It's even directly mentioned in the episode, but it's so easy to miss. I only noticed in my last rewatch. It's at about the 17 and a half minutes mark (in the actual episode), Beifong says to Sato "that source was a setup; you lurred us down here!" and Sato responds "guilty as charged". Somehow even Overanalizing Avatar missed it, I think it says a lot about how weirdly this little conversation goes unnoticed compared to how important it is for the plot of the episode
That air wheel thingy Tenzin uses during the underground fight scene agianst the equalists can be concidered to be Tenzin's special technique. Bc he is the only 1 who is seen using it, and later during season 3, when they try to get more airbenders to join them after Harmonic Convirgence, he uses that same technique.
It's a variant of the air scooter that he invented, like his father invented the original. I do not recall where this is explained. Probably the commentary or the art book.
8:58 “I like that seismic sense is kept within the family” I Agree! And also I like the idea that Aang can use it as well because he’s Toph’s family as well, even though he’s not related he’s still very close with her
The platinum thing infuriates me on a whole different level as well right; so we are told that the reason Toph can metal bend is because of the impurities in it (ish, its never specifically said about metal*bending* but its what Guru Pahtik was saying when Toph first did it), so while I'm not really into it and I'd probably prefer it wasn't even a thing, I don't *hate* the idea that for extremely purified metal it becomes harder for metalbenders to bend it. And I feel like that was kind of what they were going for, people seem to think that platinum is like "super-metal" or something, there is actually nothing about platinum that is inherently more pure or "more metal" than other metals. It's so stupid. Also platinum is incredibly rare and incredibly expensive, its also incredibly dense and so extremely heavy, which would mean it would be incredibly difficult to any of the mechas around, all of it is just a completely ridiculous thing for me I really hate the mecha suits and the platinum thing.
This was actually one of my biggest gripes with the show for whatever reason years ago when I first watched it. Like, either metalbending is possible due to impurities in metals or it's bending the metal itself. I mean metal makes up 88% of the earth's crust and I just sorta feel that it makes sense that earthbenders should be able to bend metal if they get the technique down. But then if for whatever reason earthbenders cannot bend pure metal, then WHY PLATINUM? Just say that Hiroshi invented a new way of purifying common metals that is expensive but makes them nearly unbendable, I don't like it but it would at least make some internal sense. Platinum has to be one of the worst metals you could choose for this too. It's rare as hell, heavy, and it's weak! Platinum is both ductile and malleable, meaning it would most likely deform under the stresses the mech's own weight puts on it. Or, if the mechs are not entirely platinum, then just bend the metal inside the mech, you can't cover every joint or else it wouldn't move. Also, how rich is Hiroshi??? He somehow has enough money to buy enough platinum to make a GIGANTIC fucking platinum door! A single kilo of Platinum costs ~30,000 dollars today, when we have more mines and faster mining techniques. One cubic meter of platinum weighs 21,450 kg. For a *very* conservative estimate let's just say that the door has a 1cm coating of platinum on every surface to ensure there's no way any metal will accidentally be revealed by scratching when it's raised. Eyeballing the measurements here, It seems to be about 2-ish feet thick if each section is about 6ft wide (60cm). There's a minimum of 8 sections to the door and so it's at least roughly 14.6 meters long, And I think it's ~4 sections tall so then it's also ~7.3 m tall. Assuming it's a perfect rectangular prism (Which it obviously isn't and therefore is significantly more expensive), it turns out that if you wanted to surround the door with platinum, you would need to acquire 1.195 cubic meters of the stuff. That is, of course *25632.75 Kilograms,* which has the low price tag of ~769 million dollars. For a door. However, I do believe that he says the door is "solid platinum". The total volume of platinum in a purely platinum door under the previous measurements is *64 meters cubed.* That is a fairly heavy door of 1.37 Million Kilos, half the weight of the Saturn Five. It's lucky that Hiroshi has a fairly large fortune and has decided to keep most of it liquid because that door cost him at least *41.184 BILLION* dollars (assuming the door is no larger than my very rough estimate). Hiroshi must also be funding a significant platinum mining operation because that door he built there would've used nearly 15% of the platinum we have mined over the course of the entirety of human history. _Platinum,_ a bad choice.
Does this mean that in retrospect steel would've been a better option? If I'm not mistaken it's also a metal which is purified of impurities, at least unless it's purposefully done for different properties.
@@mystic-malevolence Removing impurities is a big component in making any metal useful, there's a reason we don't just make knives out of hunks of ore.
Man, imagine how interesting it would have been if Tano DID join team avatar. They could explore his very specific situation and mindset. He felt on top of the world as a bender. I want to see him rediscover himself over the series.
AND we would get to see the contrast comparson between Korra and this other really cocky self absorbed bender like her, who lost his bending something she is deeply terrified of. Lots of possibilities for self reflection and growth and interesting interactions there. Oh well...
I also like the detail that Lin has to kinda kick the ground to use seismic sense effectively rather than having it be passive like Toph's. Shows that while she has the ability, it's not like a complete mastery of it because she's not blind.
but toph had to hit things too, and aang had passive seismic sense when he did it to the firelord, wait I'm sorry fatherlord. I don't think you need to be blind in order to use it like that
I think they all did the extra slam into the ground move, with hands or feet, to get a clearer picture. Like looking in all directions until you spot something suspicious. The you lean forward and squint, or get out binoculars to see more clearly once you found a target.
Linn was wearing metal retractable shoes which blocked her feet from directly touching the ground tho which prevented it passively. Toph doesn't wear shoes and Aang was barefoot in his fight against Ozai.
@@AnimeZone247 Toph didn't need to dig her hands or feet in to use it though, she just did that when she wanted to look really deep underground or whatever. Kinda like someone else squinting someone at something else far away.
The ring and middle finger is a four-finger animation cheat that still allows you to use the principles of 3 finger animation. However if you look at your hands, your middle and ring finger tend to follow each other when moving unless you consciously move them apart (and even then, not very much compared to your pinky or index finger).
Asami actually would have been an interesting and whole character, if they followed through with her being a spy, setting up a redemption arc for her through the season, keeping her as team avatar, zuko style. It could have worked within the one season, if the writers tried a bit more ... I agree with Tahno being a missed opportunity. great and fun episode! (your episode)
I agree, and then season 2 could have a little bit of Asami leading the cause or something so the non-bender discrimination isn't just ignored. It would also make her and Korra an enemies to lovers arc which would be really cool.
@@nyblller . . . Except, it's not? TLOK's story is pretty different than ATLA, and Korra went through a lot of different things than Aang did. So I don't know what you're trying to say here.
@@nyblllerwhat fuckin show did you watch? You’re just spouting meaningless criticism that doesn’t apply even a bit to the show. A very common criticism I see for Korra is that it’s too different from ATLA
I'm always conflicted when watching Korra cause there is stuff that I really like and I think is a great addition to the series, but then they just have some really bad choices too. I feel like one of its biggest struggles early on was making characters feel connected, like what you said for Mako and Bolin: despite them being brothers they rarely act like it. Compared to Sokka and Katara it always felt off. Even just having more small stuff like them goofing off in the pool would've been nice to see early on.
The series feels rushed and polished at the same time. I blame Nickelodeon. That being said Season 3+4 of TLoK taken all together (minus the giant mech) is some of the best Avatar gets. Modern philosophy and politics and mental health issues in a kids show with superpowers handled extremely well.
Fun fact, sneezing is technically coughing. You do expel air from nose and mouth, but since there is not much air leaving your nostrils... The point us, Makko did the same fire breathing technique as Iroh
idk why people find it such a biggie for people to bend through other parts of their body aside from just hands/arms and sometimes legs/feet. we saw bumi earthbending pretty competently with his face, and breathing fire or air benders blowing big gusts of air from their lungs is also no biggie, hell we saw earthbenders breaking rocks with their face and even teeth, its safe to assume your whole body can afgevt bending.
1:51 - OK, I know this is probably just a throw away line, but how cool would that have been? If one of the new Team Avatar members was originally a rival, who lost their bending, joined the gang in an attempt for some revenge, and then just kinda vibed with em and stayed with the group? Bonus point if, yeah they lost their bending FOREVER forever, they're the teams non-bender or unique style which could also give a new viewpoint we've never gotten - Someone who is both bender and non-bender. That honestly sounds amazing to me.
4:21 How the hell did Korra hear a word Hiroshi was saying from all the way down a corridor, behind closed doors, from the other side of a large room, speaking at a conversational volume?
Props to you man, I would love more series covered by you. You have the experience now that you’ve covered atla and started covering this show. You’ve got a good “stage” personality. Keep up the amazing work!
Fun Fact: The unbendable metal was originally supposed to be titanium, but it got miscommunicated in this episode and they had to roll with it. Personally I think it would have made much more sense, titanium is extremely rigid and therefore would be almost impossible to literally bend.
Darn it. While this still leads into "why only one metal" complaints, at least this metal makes sense. Titanium earned its reputation. Platinum is just the metal rarer than gold and Giratina's favorite metal.
"Why are you the chief of police? Why do you have tattoos? Aren't you the avatar?!" Mannnn that sums up alot of korra. And I actually like the show hahaha
I think this is more akin to Chuggaaconroy covering Sticker Star. He does not enjoy talking about it now because he enjoys Korra, he enjoys ripping into Korra. And even then, he is fair to Korra, so he is not obviously doing this purely out of obligation. Furthermore, a lot of stuff is good in Korra. Thus, this is not a pure dunking-on.
So the hand thing with the middle and ring fingers is because it is way easier to draw a hand with 4 fingers and then divide one of them instead of drawing 5 of them separately, so it happens a lot and everywhere
5:20 I think the whole Agni Kai thing would've been outlawed when Zuko rose to power, what with the whole permanent reminder of his father calling one between them for talking out of turn. The Agni Kais just picked up the name because it sounds intimidating, makes them seem like a bigger fish in their small pond.
Also potentially the Agni Kai triad could have once been an honourable or traditional organisation that devolved into crime. Happens heaps in the real world lol. Think the name fits pretty well. It’s intimidating, sounds cool, has links to fire nation tradition. Has a lot of implications without saying much.
Im just going to point out that the note that was handed to Korra was a set up. It was even called out by Lin in the episode she said "that source was a set up you lured us down here" and hiroshi said "guilty as charged". Just seems a bit unfair to say that the plot was fully just conveniences and call the note one when it wasn't. ( Korra over hearing the phone call is still deffinalty one though)
My biggest criticism with this episode is how it doesn’t give anything time to breathe. It sets up the idea that Hiroshi might be an Equalist, confirms it, and deals with the problem all in like 15 minutes.
I'm glad you're making this Korra series btw. I feel the same way as you about the show, but it feels almost necessary to give it a thorough analysis in light of the ATLA universe being so epic.
@@aaronreed2424overall Korra is pretty bad and a massive step down in quality from ATLA but there are some good moments that deserve mentioning I guess
@@aaronreed2424 dude repeatedly explains why he doesn't like many aspects of it and y'all do your classic special tactic of being in denial and pretending not to understand. Please its getting old.
Something that really bugs me about the platinum/metal bending thing is that it would have been really easy to write that in a much better way. The advanced refining techniques could have been explained as something that didn't exist 100 years prior and then have that play into the themes of the show. The Equalists could have used it as a symbol in universe of how they can overcome benders. It could also have been symbolic of how an industrialized world is leaving behind not just benders but the spiritualism and culture associated with them. Even if they didn't want to go that route, they could have, alternatively, said that most metal benders aren't actually that good at it so they can only bend metal with many impurities or alloys that specifically contain earth, namely steel (carbon). I think the "they just wanted robots" assessment is correct. They don't talk about any of the properties of platinum or difficulties of not using other metals. It's a super metal- not just for being immune to bending but it also seems to fill whatever role is needed in construction of various precision machines- it's just good at everything. We don't get a sense of how rare platinum is on Avatar World because they always have as much as they need to manufacture the next obstacle for Team Avatar. On top of that, because it doesn't look any different from other metals, they have to tell the audience through dialogue every time that something is made of platinum. This ends up making it feel like children playing, where one kid invented a rule that prevents them from being tagged in a game of tag.
Idk why they didn't choose aluminum, fairly certain Platinum is mined and thus would have had impurities assuming they were still stuck with the issues other metals had in this universe. Aluminum is easily man made due to electricity and wouldn't contain any rocks in it and be less expensive.
@@TheVisionaryLeo that would make so much more fucking sense, I seriously doubt earth benders could fuck with aluminum considering it's not earth at all it's mostly man made (fun fact it use to be one of the more expensive metals in the world until we found out how to just flat out make it)
@@jordancampbell8597 The mistranslation claim pops up from time to time, though it's usually titanium. Either way, there's no evidence for it, it's just something that gets repeated as fact. It seems pretty clear to me that platinum was chosen because of its non-reactivity. You can find large deposits of platinum in elemental form, & it's relatively easy to smelt out any existing impurities due to platinum's properties. I also have to slightly disagree that we don't get a sense of how rare platinum is. There are a couple cases in the show where metalbending works to indicate the villains can't just make everything out of platinum. One of the airships is metalbent later, & so are the innards of the Colossus. I guess the last thing I'll complain about is that I think "they just wanted robots" is really reductive. You can't make hardly anything work if there isn't some metal substitute. They couldn't fight even something like the drill or the airship fleet from Last Airbender unless there were always conspicuously never metalbenders around.
I actually don't mind Metalbending more common. As it's taught, as the art grows, they're also going to find out more about it, and therefore make it easier to teach others. same for lightning; nowhere has ever had this many different kinds of benders in this dense of a population before, it makes sense to me that progress would speed up massively
It's also elaborated on later--Metalbending is quite rare, with about 1 in 100 Earthbenders having the skill (Which is a reasonable limit on numbers), but that they tend to congregate in metal-heavy cities. Republic City and Zaofu had so many metal-benders, because they have so much metal to begin with. A Metalbender wouldn't be nearly as useful in a place like Omashu.
The criticism of metal bending being more common is really weird. Being able to bend metal would have huge benefits to earth bender society. Like it would have sped up their Industrial Revolution by tenfold. Hell, if toph had been able to teach metal bending to an earth bending army before the capture of Ba Sing Se they absolutely would have destroyed the fire nation. Bad take from Mr Over-analyzer.
I like how Tarloq is mentioned alot in this episode, and seems more like a Behind the scenes guy. This kinda makes sence for what the production crew wanted. Bc he seems more distant to the events of the equalists sympotizers, and concidering they made out Tarloq to secretly be Amon, this makes sence.
@@coiler_119 I know. Bc of this point in the story Amon's true identidy was a secret, and it was implied Tarloq was Amon. This knowledge was WITHOUT the foresight of knowing who Amon truly was
I mean, extremely pure metals(ie. Platinum) would be unbendable by metalbenders because they aren't bending the metal, they are bending the impurities in the metal
2:21 It has to do with anatomy. That is the most common "relaxed" hand position when drawing hands. "But my fingers all have separation when I relax my hand!" yes, and it always looks fucking weird when anyone tries to draw much less animate a hand with every finger spread out, it leads to extreme inconsistencies in the animation frames if something is hand-animated. The anatomy of the musculature of your hand and forearm informs artists that when the hand is relaxed but being held such that the fingers are still mostly in-line with the palm those two fingers tend to stay close together. Bone structure of hands also has a part to play. The middle finger is odd, it tends to bend slightly towards the ring finger. The index finger points straight, this causes a slight separation starting at the second knuckle. The pinky , while it does tend to slightly bend towards the ring finger is, of course, a smaller finger so there tends to be a natural gap between the ring and pinky finger when slightly relaxed (but still extended). So artists cheat and just exaggerate this "natural" separation because it is easier to draw repeatedly than a splayed hand. Mess around with your own hand tensing and relaxing it to varying degrees and see what positions it naturally falls into, this stupid position will show up and you will never stop thinking "fuck, is my hand in that dumb position artists use all the time?"
Wow, reading this and testing my hand simultaneously gave me so much insight into the intricacies regarding my hand. I never noticed my hand fell into that position so frequently. I tried to keep equal separation between my fingers while stretching them out, and man it is tough to maintain it.
1:29 i spent more time then i should have wondering if he can finnaly explain just what the deal is with this very strange line, which i feel like is supposed to be apart of a running joke or smth, with how the character says the line, but ive checked and theres no other mentions of anything like this in either this show or atla I guess overanalising has no clue either tho, so the mystery continues...
I feel like the usage of fire benders for Amons fake backstory makes sense. If you think about all the stuff the fire nation did in the last avatar and all the people harmed from it and scarred for life, there would still be fear/anger against the fire nation from the general populous. Kinda like Jet, but much more simmered down and on the populous as a whole. It’s important to remember that only around 70 years has passed since the fire nation attacked the world and even planned to literally burn it all down.
@@HimboVegan There is still very much a fear/anger for Japan from china and Korea. places that were directly invaded by Japan during ww2. Not to mention anything associated with the Nazi’s is a very sore subject in general.
i like the idea that firebenders have a bit of a violent past but that we as the audience know that they arent bound to it. it adds to the sense that the world of avatar is complicated enough to have developed specific prejudices which while not exactly great, do show a society with a tangible history which makes it more believable.
Tahno is 100% my favorite character from season 1 and he should’ve definitely joined team avatar. With his very few lines he was already much more interesting and fun to watch than Mako, Bolin, Asami etc. and this is mainly because his voice actor is amazing.
In the scene where Toph discovers metalbending, she uses Seismic Sense to locate the bits of earth present in her cage's metal. That's how she's able to bend it, by bending the earth inside the metal itself. From what I understand, the platinum is refined to such a purity that there aren't enough trace elements of earth left to bend.
kinda cool, but by the end of the show, she just metal bends casually without having to focus on finding the imperfections in the metal. Especially when you consider the new metal bending cops don't have seismic sense but still metal bend casually.
@@jamesmoniz5263 fair point. However, a lot of crazy bending abilities were unlocked by a change in perspective. For example, when Kotarra learned blood bending, she never needed to see the water in the blood in order to bend it, she just had to see how it was done (and that it could be done, etc.). Toph was a similar case, only she used a unique form (seismic sense) to figure out its possibility. So I think it could be argued that you don't need seismic sense to metalbend, it was only used to discover it. Any thoughts?
@@z-master4749I still think that goes against what the guru and later toph say about meta being "a part of earth that has been purified and refined". I don't love 2 characters just by happen stance quoting each other verbatim, but it does illustrate the idea that metal IS earth(according to the guru isn't a great sourse, but the bender who literally invented metal bending straight up saying "metal is just... earth..." seems like its the biggest part), and thats how she bends it. Toph describes rock as a stubborn element and that you just need to have the fortitude to make it obey you. So metal is just rock level 2 in a sense, as in its presumably even more stubborn and less willing to be bended, so you have to really be made of some tough stuff if you wanna make metal obey you.
@@brandonlyon730that always bugged me. Platinum is so soft you can’t use it in pure form for basically any mechanical application. It would make way more sense to say that Sato just discovered a way to make a steel so refined that it’s pretty much unbendable.
The hand thing is a result of less = more. To draw 4 separate fingers, bends and all increases the detail and draws more attention than a hand usually should. So the middle and ring fingers get fused, as they tend to be closer together than any other two fingers. It also makes it easier for animators, so it’s no surprise it’s become a standard practice.
I just realized Makos backstory would be so insanely interesting as a character if it was actually focused on, a boy after losing his parents turns to work for a gang learning to properly fire and lightning bend in order to support his slightly slow brother . Then after leaving that life behind he tries to become a pro sports athlete but then after working with police and the avatar he leaves and realizes he wants to become a police officer/ detective.
Your upload made me question time itself, I was freaking out going "It's Thursday?!" Edit: Also you're so normal about this show, it's honestly a breath of fresh air. A lot of hardcore atla fans hate this show, like HATE hate it, and refuse to look at the things it does right. But you've been so fair in pointing out the strengths of this show, and where it falls flat, like in this episode and the main love triangle episode. Good job, genuinely!
You are appreciated mate!! You make this journey more interesting for sure! Keep up the great work! (The tiny run with the music in the background killed me!)
As an artist who prides themselves on drawing hands, the middle and ring fingers being drawn together is just simply easier. Plus, if you spread your fingers out, they’re usually the closest together. But hands are a funny thing, it’s probably somebody’s natural hand position.
They used platinum purity as an explanation for it to be unbendable by earth benders, then, a couple of seasons later, they forget about it when using a metal-based poison (Freaking mercury) and proceed to bend it like water as if it isn't pure at all. One can think it was mixed with impurities so it can be bendable, but unlike other metals, mercury is liquid, so it would be hard to handle under that concept. Things like these are the reason TLoK was such a rollercoaster experience. One minute they do something great, and the next, they take you down with a contradiction. It just casts you out of the story.
I absolutely agree with what you said about the magic system. I feel like this is really when they changed it from an extension of yourself into a super power. I also heard that it was this episode or next episode where the writers were told "oh hey you're going to have 4 full seasons instead of a single 12 episode special," so I always wondered if that's why Asami felt very much like she switched characters.
the reason why the fire benders still have a bad rep is probably because alot of people from the firenation army that where on ozai's side went into the underground and criminality after zuko took over and so the stereotype of "firebender = evil" never really stopped because firebenders kept doing bad stuff
Something I couldn't help but notice about the first season is that it has very high highs and... very sluggish and low lows, season 2 is an even bigger offender; but I think season 3 finally hits the mark. I think a lot of the issues come from the writers both failing to capture the original Avatar flair, and Nickelodeon's corporate meddling.
Man, Tahno could have had a Zuko level arc. He loses his bending, his high and arrogant attitude suddenly crashing down, and he joins team Avatar as an opportunistic ally to "get back" at Amon for taking his bending(and his whole life) away from him. He works with Korra with a strictly professional alliance, but over time learns the value of teamwork and not being a huge jerk, and becomes more like friends with team Avatar. He goes through a sokka-esque realization of he's not useless and finds his own skills besides water bending, maybe we get to see how someone trained as a bender in water bending and maybe even air bending fights without being able to bend those elements. Then when he eventually gets the chance to get his bending back, it is used as symbolism for when he was a jerk and he's not sure if he wants to go back to that, especially since he's found his place and a new home being a non-bender. Then his friends encourage him to take his bending back because he changed on a personal level and not just at a physical one, and we get some badass who is some fusion of Piandao/Hakoda and a waterbender, and our reformed arrogant jerk turned friend is now a super powerful ally that can solve a big problem later.
The "Agni kai's" sounds like the kind of gang name they came up with because they knew an Agni Kai was some serious life-or-death thing but nobody in the gang was actually native to the fire nation so the specifics were entirely lost on them.
Just wanted to comment this series is seriously good, I’ve never seen such a well balanced take on the show where you’re not afraid to praise or criticize parts. Really interesting hearing your thoughts
I completely agree about platinum. I think the only possible way it could have been redeemed (and redeemed as in the writers understanding that they made a mistake not necessarily fixing it) is for Toph to be able to bend platinum and everyone is like "but that's impossible." And she'd be like "Why? It's just metal."
there are heat-resistant plastics, but they don't really hold up to open flames too well. still, they could have just hand-waved a super plastic that was
I dont know what i would love more, if you wrote a mini script for each patreon you then read or if you come up with those on the spot for each of them. This much appreceation for your supporters is truly unique!
I think 'Agni Kai Triad' works in the context of things aren't what they used to be. Of course a bunch of street punks would see a time-honored tradition of one-on-one combat between two Firebenders and go 'WHOAH THAT'S BADASS WE SHOULD DO THAT' and start a gang around that concept, completely missing the point of honor and integrity
Another thing about platinum, it should be one of the few metals that any Earthbender can bend. Metalbending is only hard to do because the metal has been refined and altered from its natural ore state, yet platinum and a few other metals (such as gold and silver) occur in nature in their (mostly) pure forms, therefore they should just be straight-up earth, as bendable as quartz. Also, platinum is soft, so it would be a bad idea to use it against someone who could hit it with a rock really fucking hard.
I think "Agni-Kai Triad" works great. In a city where triads use benders from all three available nations this would be the one that only consists of firebenders. If someone rejects fighters for no other reason than nationalism and tradition they would want a name that invokes feelings of national pride. Agni-Kai fits perfectly
2:16 it's a thing for drawing hands by routine. the pinkie and pointer are unique, whereas the middle and ring fingers generally stick together. usually it's "either the pointer or pinky are unique, while the others are identical or follow a set pattern". it comes from the sizing of the fingers, basically the pointer breaks the pattern the others set by being shorter then the next finger (the middle), while the pinky fits the pattern, but also has more horizontal mobility and stronger grip strength. it's just the animators using a common guide for dynamic finger posing.
9:44 I do love this little moment. Being street rats and all that I can definitely see this being a little scam they ran as children. Mako and bolin are on the same page here bolin knew exactly what was going down. That's a really good way to show these are brothers they grew up together and essentially know what the others going to do before they do it.
The entire tangent in 12:01 is why I have a HUGE problem with the legend of Korra as a whole! Korra was trained since she was a CHILD!! Why is she so goddamn weak ?????
9:23 that makes so much sense! When I was watching for the first time, Asami’s character design just screamed “twist villain” to me. I was baffled when Asami didn’t actually turn out to be evil.
13:03 maybe they never fought them specifically before, but those animals are natural parts of the Avatar world, Mecha tanks are completely new, they don't really have soft spots to hit, and you can't bleed them out with a regular ass spear. The Earthbenders attempted to take down the drill from outside, it was completely ineffective, it was only going inside that the gaang could take it down, not really an option with mecha tanks.
you think THE GANG, as in Aang the tween avatar and his two water tribe people who have lived in the south pole their entire life have both found as fought Sheela and or other creatures like her before? And with the drill, it was a similarly foreign and new threat and they beat it by being creative and devising plans or putting up a real fight. I think its a little unfair to say "well it isn't literally a 1 to 1 copy of the drill, so therefor they can't literally copy paste OG team avatar's strats". Even if they have to loose that fight for the plot to happen, you can show them taking out 1 mech with cool team work and maybe a new application of their bending (maybe some metal bending to restrain the mech, air bending to deflect its attacks, and Korra can burry it in the ground as a finisher move or something. Its not impossible to write that scene where our team feels powerful and creative), only for 3 others to show up. Think how Aang tries to solo the fire nation navy, takes out 1 ship by being crafty, then realizes "holy heck... there is an entire army out there" and ultimately looses round 1 of that conflict. You can have the protagonist loose without them feeling like pushovers.
@@JAYDOG1337A the drill was also larget threat~ I don't think you cna argue 1 mech is a bigger threat than the drill with Azula and her gang protecting it. It would be a much better scene if we saw then be creative think of their feet and take one down, only to get beaten by more. It'd feel more like a fight and less like our team just being pushovers and loosing every single fight they take (which just makes team avatar seem a lot less powerful than " the avatar and her 2 probending athlete goons")
I do hate that they made metal bending basically common, but I do like that they made platinum a weakness. It makes sense they would try to find something that is more secure since metal bars buildings could just be broken out of or into without something
They just pushed the power level forward without making any new meaningful changes or interactions. Metal beats earth, and now platinum beats metal. We're stuck on the same paradigm
honestly i think metalbending being common makes total sense. all of team avatar, including toph are basically folk heros by the time of korra. it seems like pretty much everyone knew most of what went down and toph would absolutely loooove telling people about how she developed metal bending, to the point where she founded a school for it.
I think every earth bender can do seismic sense to a degree (like how we can feel for things in the dark) but being blind, Toph NEEDED it to see. and then just bullied her daughters into doing it too lol
Like and comment or else the monster from the pinned comment from like 10 videos back will be close.
I'm not liking your comments cause you're telling me to. I'm doing it cause I want to. Let's get that detail straight 😠
Episode 7 let's gooooo
I do want to say that the deep throat giving Korra the location of Hiroshi's does make sense to me. Hiroshi and the lieutenant were clearly prepared for the raid, and no one else was shown to tell them. It being an ambush for the Avatar, Chief of Police, and head of the Republic City council is a pretty big win if they pull it off.
OH GOD
*dramatic gasp* Not the monster from like ten videos back!
Honestly having Tano joining the team AFTER losing his bending to fill the Sokka/Suki nonbender roll as he learns to be a better and more capable person without his bending is a super cool idea
It would have been nice to see somebody on the team have a different way of thinking from the rest in terms of alignment. I guess Mako is usually the foil for most of the other characters in that regard but damn is he super boring
Have not thought of that! It would have been really cool!😮
@@creed8712 PAINFULLY boring. I'm not even sure why he was there, just to have a firebender.
Asami being a secret equalist then turning to the good side after a bunch of drama or whatever could have been really cool too.
@ultimatedbz2 but he would only fill that role until the end of season 1, right? At the end Korra was able to restore the bending abilities.
Not only is this episode recapped by Tarrlok to represent him doing a speech, it's also like that because the voice of the person who usually does the recap is the same voice as the pro bending commentator, who is still recovering after last episode's encounter with the equalists left him injured and unable to commentate.
How did I never put that together? Wow
God, I hate the love triangle.
Such a waste.
It felt so empty too 😅
Same… it’s one of the main reasons I have yet to rewatch tlok
It happened to Mordecai too in Regular Show
@@luisvelez1952not a love triangle a love triangle would be like if korra liked mako but mako liked asami but asami like korra
After Hiroshi says he'd prefer to fight where his odds are more equal, Beifong actually says "That source was a setup, you lured us down here!" to which Hiroshi responds with "Guilty as charged." before starting the fight. That piece of paper and the source under the bridge wasn't coincidence at all, and he actually did lure them down there in an attempt to capture them.
I can't remember... why would he bother to set up this trap, though? Why is now the time as opposed to before when Amon could've taken korra's bending?
Is there a reason to set this trap as opposed to keeping his secret identity up? is what I'm asking
@@peanutbutter7721 maybe he set it up after Korra became suspicious of him.
@@peanutbutter7721 It is a bit odd. Only a couple episodes before, Amon let Korra go as to not make himself public enemy #1, and now Sato plans to send the police chief, a councilman, and the avatar to go be "cleansed?" Either it's inconsistent writing or Sato is just an idiot.
Thank you! Yes I was about to comment that it wasn't coincidence after all, but the channel seemed to miss that.
That being said, it was still probably a bad idea to lure them there since there were nearly out of clues to even investigate....
@@Jasperr9999 he attacked the most renowned sport of the city(maybe even the world)in the finals of the tournament and blew shit up with a war balloon, he is already public enemy #1 at this point
Tahno on team avatar would legitimately be really interesting. His personality is unique and would play off the other characters well. We can have a second waterbender, Korra's the avatar so it doesn't count, right?
It would have opened up so many interesting quarrels and interactions between the main chars
Yeah, replace Mako. Make him a secondary character
Tahno is a relatively grounded antagonist. On one hand he's willing to win by cheating a game and enjoys the attention he gets. But he's not a monster and losing his bending did peg him down a bit.
Maybe some backstory that could explain his "victory by any means" probably similar to Mako and Bolin having to survive on the streets and a redemption learning to be anon bender for a while, stopping relying in cheap tricks and once he saves the Avatar and once Korra regains the skill to bend again he earns his bending again as a much more complete nicer person.
Would've honestly been pretty sweet for him to get his bending back at the end of season 1 and basically take Mako's place in season 2 while Mako becomes more of a side character in his detective arc, at least until they figured out a better way to write him back into team avatar for a 5 team with Asami. Korra's a waterbender, sure, but she'd be the only airbender on the team
i mean OG avatar had Katara and Aang, though i guess Aang was natively a water bender
feels like the Avatar shouldn't count as an element slot though
I always thought a better solution instead of platinum was just to have Sato invent plastic. It was that easy.
It would be really easy for fire benders to deal with it tho
Which I would argue is a good thing, it shouldn't be a "one material fits all" kind of thing imo
@@danijeljovic4971 he could’ve invented carbon fiber, not immune to heat but can withstand a pretty good amount. The platinum solution is definitely the worst route the writers took for this one
Yeah, plastic was really starting to become staple in society by the 1920's. That would have worked perfectly.
@@danijeljovic4971 Fiberglass benders
This episode would've ended a lot sooner if Toph decided to keep Lie detection in the family as well as Seismic Sense.
I honestly can’t remember: did Toph teach lie detection to no one or everyone?
Lie detection isn’t perfect we saw Azula could fool it
Tbf Lie Detection seems to be seismic sense on asteroids. Like, you need feel someones absurdly miniscule vibrations in the earth and determine if they're nervous about the subject or not. I always thought it was something you could only get with an ridiculous time of training or by having earthbending substitute one of your senses like Toph
@@dw1419In the last Airbender no not really nor in the comics but one guy in book 3 of Korra can do it for some reason
I always thought that Toph could only do the lie detection thingy due to her blindness making her other senses heightened and sensitive to change. But also the random guy in korra book 3 just throws that out the window
The finger thing is a common art thing. You want to mix patterns with variety. Having all fingers separate, on top of being a pain to draw, also runs the risk of the hand looking like a finger octopus or just repetitive and boring. Connecting fingers together makes them easier to draw in a neat pattern but also, looks very plain and boring. Thus a common practice became to group the fingers but split one to break up the pattern. Sometimes it's pinky, sometimes it's index finger, sometimes it's both.
I knew it! Easier to draw ✍️/ animate
Doesn't change the fact no one does that shit irl
@@excalibur2772 Nobody bends metal by waving their arms either. Human eyes are not nearly as big as this style would imply. How is this relevant to art, which is a mixture of simplification and exaggeration? Here eyes are bigger because they're a common focal point and it makes it easier to convey emotions and hands in certain moments are simplified as they're not in focus of the scene and so long they're vaguely hand shaped, they are good. The fun of art is breaking the constraints of what's real and bending the reality to your will... like the avatar.
This is like the art equivalent of an old writing adage for dialogue tags: "Said" is invisible. No one notices you when back-and-forth dialogue is "he said," then "she said," etc. If you start throwing in adverbs, like "he exclaimed, furiously" you are drawing attention to it, and that isn't always a good thing.
Just having a fairly generic common hand position is saying: "There's nothing to see here. Don't pay attention to the hands. It doesn't matter at the moment." And your eyes are like "yeah."
It's one of the reasons why many Western cartoon characters. Tend to have only three fingers (not counting thum). It's just easier to animate. And only becomes more common the less realistic the style is.
That said from what I've heard you will almost never find three fingers on a human anime character. No matter how simplified the style is.
Because (this is just what I heard) cutting one of your fingers off was a trademark thing for the Yakuza to do.
And because of that association. It very quickly became tradition for Japanese animators to always make sure that their characters had four figures.
I always took it that the guy who gave Korra the note was set up to trap the team as they try to raid the secret factory. Not that it makes the episode much better, but it’s something.
It would at least explain why Hiroshi and his squad were down there apparently just waiting for them.
Yeah, I always looked at it this way too. I think someone says "you set us up," and Hiroshi says, "Guilty as charged." I couldn't find the scene on UA-cam, so I can't confirm.
I was just about to make this comment myself but y'all beat me to it! It means those "coincidences" weren't coincidences at all. I also remember that "guilty as charged" scene, I'm kinda surprised overanalyzing didn't mention it. But that also makes our heroes not the smartest for falling for the very obvious trap soooooooooo either way it's not the best.
wow, Hiroshi did not think that through at all. he had just gotten them off his ass!
I swear I remember Hiroshi confirming it was all a trap
I'm a bit confused, I thought the secret factory was a trap, and the guy giving Korra the answer was actually setting up the trap after Sato realized she was onto him. It would definitely explain why he was just waiting there for them.
it was and sato confirmed it was a trap. you are right
It's confirmed in the episode, you are right.
it was, the series is called 'overanalyzing avatar' not 'properly analyzing avatar'
It was a trap.
As a past theater kid, I can safely say NEVER underestimate "dramatic and cinematic flair"! 5:04
Once a theater kid...
@@MediumDSpeakslmao exactly what I’m thinking. I know OP’s “quirky”
"Past" you still are one...
i also think he nitpicked way too harshly on somethings that are pretty harmless, like how he trashed on them making Korra gigle on Bolin puppeting Pabu, come on it was just the goofy guy playing with his cute pet.
I'd like to point out that the amount of platinum that humanity has ever dug up irl throughout all of man's existance is far less platinum than was in that secret basement. Makes the whole platinum thing even more ridiculous because they treat this super metal as if it is as common as iron.
Also it doesn't make sense because properly refined metal shouldn't have any earth in it anyways and would be just as pure as platinum. They just decided that a certain element on the periodic table doesn't count despite being just as metal as iron or copper.
on your second point. Based on what the guru said about it just being "purified and refined" implies that metal bending is bending the metal, not just the impurities in the metal. Especially giving how casually all the metal bending cops bend it without seismic sense to find the imperfections in each bit of metal they bend
Better question is "What is Earth?" Calcium? Iron? Carbon? Does glass count?
@@jamesmoniz5263It's pretty clear that the lore of the show is that earth benders are just bending the earth inside the metal. Those were the parts that were glowing when Toph hit it. And when Suyin teaches Korra to metal bend, she tells her to "focus on the fine pieces of earth *within* the metal". They're not bending the metal itself, just the earth inside. Having metal so pure you can't bend it perfectly fits the lore. Saying that the metal specifically has to be platinum does not, though.
@@Howzieky I mean it fits the lore that Korra defined and explored. Though in the original show its left more ambiguous, though when Toph is teaching her students in the comics and drops the same line as the guru saying "metal is just a part of earth that is purified..." so on so forth, it really does more directly imply metal "is [just a part of] earth..." and hence can be bended (bended? bent?) She doesn't teach her students to look for impurities, she teaches her students that metal is just earth. She doesn't teach her students to look for weaknesses in the metal, but to strengthen themselves and their own willpower. The comics do seem to clarify that metal bending is just that, bending metal. As well it seems to illustrate that in the same way earth is a stubborn element(to quote Toph), so is metal, and to bend metal you need the fortitude to make it server you.
(and the comics are canon for reference, so its just an inconsistency that was created when they decided to add platinum into the setting and make it immune to metal bending. It could have been immune just by... being immune, but by saying its just cause its "pure" does kinda create some inconsistencies with what metal bending even is)
Not at all. I've source-dived and crunched the numbers several times. You can absolutely get far more than you need with the amount of platinum mined per year. There are a lot of sources that just vastly underestimate how much platinum there actually is. It's a very small percentage of the Earth's crust, but the Earth's crust is absolutely gargantuan, so a small amount of it is still an incredible amount of stuff.
Fun fact. The actor who plays Hiroshi Sato is also set to play Fire Lord Ozai in the live action Avatar series. Funny how that turns out isn't it?
Didn't Asamis voice actress also play Yue in the movie that doesn't exist?
@@commandere2475That she did! But her performance was actually good in Korra so I don't mind that at all.
@@claytonrios1Asami might not be the best character but that is one heck of a redemption for this non-existent movie
@@craigpeoples9883I think she could have been a lot cooler. Hopefully the next Avatar series learns from the mistakes of the past.
He became that which he wished to destroy. Ironic.
I think that part of the firebending murder problem is its lethality. You can freeze someone with water or trap someone with earth, but fire? It's pretty difficult to incapacitate someone by shooting fire at them. I'm just guessing that other elements have higher rates of non-fatal muggings.
Yeah, and fire is the easiest element for killing, with little to no training. All the other elements require a bit more training to be deadly.
@insertname9736 tbh I think earth benders could kill each other pretty brutally with little training... but they do have other options unlike fire benders
@@KD-ou2np indeed. A rock thrown either by hand or bending can be deadly.
I call bullshit tbh, people underestimate the lethality of waterbending. you can bend an icicle and stab somebody through the heart with it, or drown them in a water bubble. with earthbending, you can crush them with a boulder or sink them into the earth. them always making it a firebender feels like validating the stereotypes surrounding the element.
the fingers sticking together isn’t just an animation thing, it’s an art thing in general, to give the form of hands to hands while not having to commit to drawing all the fingers, if that makes sense, at least that’s the way i learned it, different folks might stroke, er, use it differently
It makes it so much easier to draw hands
Those two fingers tend to stick together a little more naturally as well.
It's a subconsious thing, but you're right. If I think about doing it, I will absolutely not be able to.@@Greenicegod
SAME I do that in my own art.
yeah but that specific hand shape is really unnatural. i cant stick my middle/ring fingers together without my pinky also sticking.
I was really sad to see how easily they bodied tenzin (especially compared to a fight in a later season)
would have been really cool if they showcased his skills by having him be this untouchable master who is only defeated by forcing him to surrender by threatening korra.
Would have been the same outcome while emphasizing his prowess and compassion. True he was knocked out due to helping korra but I feel a airbending master could have softened her fall and dodge that bola in one smooth move
2:18
From experience as an artist, a common struggle between most artists has famously been hands. I know that sounds weird to say, but hands are made up of so many specific, individual shapes that it's usually hard to condense their information (especially since they tend to be so key in conveying character).
Having the middle fingers adjacent allows the artist to compound part of the hand into a single shape; and for shots where the hand isn't a huge focus, it's good to take advantage of such shortcuts when possible.
I've heard similar things about feet, which is why a lot of artists deliberately have shots where the characters are only seen from the waists up.
Even AI has trouble drawing hands!
Is this why so many cartoons have characters drawn with only 4 fingers? Fascinating.
@@electromotivehorse6679 yes
@@electromotivehorse6679 It's definitely part of it.
1:45 this line is really good. Possibly the most arrogant character in all of avatar, after being stripped of his bending (a major source of that arrogance) hopeless after seeing all the healers he could. He’s so defeated, but he’s got hope that someone will take the guy who did this to him down.
Tahno would have been SUCH a great dynamic as a main character with the show. It fits the edgy teenage angst angle they were going with in Korra.
Having Tahno as a member of team avatar could be really fun, he has a unique personality that could bounce off the others well, an arc about him learning to live his life as a non-bender could be interesting, and he has a fun design that could be built upon in later seasons, also you could keep asami as a non-bender and part of the krew sense it would be a person getting used to not being a bender and one who’s always been that way, that could make for a very fun dynamic
Problem is that Korra gets energybending at the end of the season so Tahno would get like a half a season as a non-bender.
@@leowulf5280just don't give Korra energybending and we're fine
I wouldn't be surprised if the Azami spy rumor is true, cuz it looked like an extremely obvious setup the instant she appears. When I watched it I immediately noticed that her bike and bike gear in the opening shot look just like the equalists on bikes in an earlier episode. Coupled with her instantly falling madly in love with Mako and getting super close to him for no reason, it makes her and her father the prime suspects from the start.
It's not a rumor or myth. I don't know why he said that. Granted, I'm just a guy saying "the creators totally said so," & people do that on the internet for things that aren't true very often. But UA-cam tends to delete comments that include links even if I felt like looking for the source. So, I guess it's up to you if you want to trust me or not, but this is known for a fact.
@@TheLithpnah i believe that cause i’ve seen multiple video essays on korra mention it too, that Azami was originally supposed to be an equaliser and betray her father in the end cause she learned that not all benders are heartless monsters because of her new friends. it would explain her accidental meeting with mako and give her character development and compassion. but sadly they sidelined her and now she’s just somehow there while also never being a complete member of the core group. makes me upset cause it’s so easy to just write it in cause it wouldn’t change too much of the plot anyways. it would just give us way more character building and relationship struggles within the group
IDK, I mean what's the play here if she's an equalist spy? Send her to stalk a member of the avatar's new sports team, wait for him to run into her motorcycle for no apparent reason so she can ask him out to dinner, and hope that somehow leads to her being invited or informed about raids on the equalists that haven't even started yet? Why was nobody sent to try and spy on the actual avatar if you're going that route?
I find it easier to believe it's just a rich heiress who asked out a top professional athlete. It's a huge coincidence he met the daughter of Amon's biggest ally, but it's easier for me to justify a huge coincidence than someone making plans that rely on huge coincidences and actually having them succeed.
@@אביבעזר i mean wasn’t it pretty much confirmed that asami was supposed to be a spy? and spying on the avatar, the closest she could get is befriending her but that might get difficult if you don’t have a good lie, and you’d be constantly in the spotlight, under her gaze and if she’s smart enough she might notice. a boyfriend on the other hand could be tricked with rose tinted glasses. being the girlfriend of her closest ally seems like a good vantage point to getting information. everyone usually tells their partner everything, even if it’s supposed to be top secret, if they signed an nda, a partner is often known to be an exception. she’d get all the deeds without actually having to attend any meetings. And he even looks good. so another plus
The guy handing Korra that pice of paper is obviously a setup. Like the cleaner when the Gaang was searching for Appa.
It's even directly mentioned in the episode, but it's so easy to miss. I only noticed in my last rewatch. It's at about the 17 and a half minutes mark (in the actual episode), Beifong says to Sato "that source was a setup; you lurred us down here!" and Sato responds "guilty as charged". Somehow even Overanalizing Avatar missed it, I think it says a lot about how weirdly this little conversation goes unnoticed compared to how important it is for the plot of the episode
That air wheel thingy Tenzin uses during the underground fight scene agianst the equalists can be concidered to be Tenzin's special technique. Bc he is the only 1 who is seen using it, and later during season 3, when they try to get more airbenders to join them after Harmonic Convirgence, he uses that same technique.
It's a variant of the air scooter that he invented, like his father invented the original. I do not recall where this is explained. Probably the commentary or the art book.
8:58 “I like that seismic sense is kept within the family”
I Agree! And also I like the idea that Aang can use it as well because he’s Toph’s family as well, even though he’s not related he’s still very close with her
The platinum thing infuriates me on a whole different level as well right; so we are told that the reason Toph can metal bend is because of the impurities in it (ish, its never specifically said about metal*bending* but its what Guru Pahtik was saying when Toph first did it), so while I'm not really into it and I'd probably prefer it wasn't even a thing, I don't *hate* the idea that for extremely purified metal it becomes harder for metalbenders to bend it. And I feel like that was kind of what they were going for, people seem to think that platinum is like "super-metal" or something, there is actually nothing about platinum that is inherently more pure or "more metal" than other metals. It's so stupid. Also platinum is incredibly rare and incredibly expensive, its also incredibly dense and so extremely heavy, which would mean it would be incredibly difficult to any of the mechas around, all of it is just a completely ridiculous thing for me I really hate the mecha suits and the platinum thing.
This was actually one of my biggest gripes with the show for whatever reason years ago when I first watched it. Like, either metalbending is possible due to impurities in metals or it's bending the metal itself. I mean metal makes up 88% of the earth's crust and I just sorta feel that it makes sense that earthbenders should be able to bend metal if they get the technique down. But then if for whatever reason earthbenders cannot bend pure metal, then WHY PLATINUM? Just say that Hiroshi invented a new way of purifying common metals that is expensive but makes them nearly unbendable, I don't like it but it would at least make some internal sense.
Platinum has to be one of the worst metals you could choose for this too. It's rare as hell, heavy, and it's weak! Platinum is both ductile and malleable, meaning it would most likely deform under the stresses the mech's own weight puts on it. Or, if the mechs are not entirely platinum, then just bend the metal inside the mech, you can't cover every joint or else it wouldn't move.
Also, how rich is Hiroshi??? He somehow has enough money to buy enough platinum to make a GIGANTIC fucking platinum door! A single kilo of Platinum costs ~30,000 dollars today, when we have more mines and faster mining techniques. One cubic meter of platinum weighs 21,450 kg.
For a *very* conservative estimate let's just say that the door has a 1cm coating of platinum on every surface to ensure there's no way any metal will accidentally be revealed by scratching when it's raised.
Eyeballing the measurements here, It seems to be about 2-ish feet thick if each section is about 6ft wide (60cm). There's a minimum of 8 sections to the door and so it's at least roughly 14.6 meters long, And I think it's ~4 sections tall so then it's also ~7.3 m tall.
Assuming it's a perfect rectangular prism (Which it obviously isn't and therefore is significantly more expensive), it turns out that if you wanted to surround the door with platinum, you would need to acquire 1.195 cubic meters of the stuff. That is, of course *25632.75 Kilograms,* which has the low price tag of ~769 million dollars. For a door.
However, I do believe that he says the door is "solid platinum". The total volume of platinum in a purely platinum door under the previous measurements is *64 meters cubed.* That is a fairly heavy door of 1.37 Million Kilos, half the weight of the Saturn Five. It's lucky that Hiroshi has a fairly large fortune and has decided to keep most of it liquid because that door cost him at least *41.184 BILLION* dollars (assuming the door is no larger than my very rough estimate).
Hiroshi must also be funding a significant platinum mining operation because that door he built there would've used nearly 15% of the platinum we have mined over the course of the entirety of human history.
_Platinum,_ a bad choice.
Does this mean that in retrospect steel would've been a better option? If I'm not mistaken it's also a metal which is purified of impurities, at least unless it's purposefully done for different properties.
@@AnakinFury Yeah, removing impurities is a big component in making sure steel is strong enough for structural use.
@@randomaster138😅
@@mystic-malevolence Removing impurities is a big component in making any metal useful, there's a reason we don't just make knives out of hunks of ore.
Man, imagine how interesting it would have been if Tano DID join team avatar. They could explore his very specific situation and mindset. He felt on top of the world as a bender. I want to see him rediscover himself over the series.
Oh, he did! He learnt to play the trumpet and joined a band : )
AND we would get to see the contrast comparson between Korra and this other really cocky self absorbed bender like her, who lost his bending something she is deeply terrified of. Lots of possibilities for self reflection and growth and interesting interactions there.
Oh well...
I also like the detail that Lin has to kinda kick the ground to use seismic sense effectively rather than having it be passive like Toph's.
Shows that while she has the ability, it's not like a complete mastery of it because she's not blind.
but toph had to hit things too, and aang had passive seismic sense when he did it to the firelord, wait I'm sorry fatherlord. I don't think you need to be blind in order to use it like that
@@AnimeZone247 To be fair, Aang is the avatar, so we could expect a lot more impressive feats from him than from Lin
I think they all did the extra slam into the ground move, with hands or feet, to get a clearer picture.
Like looking in all directions until you spot something suspicious. The you lean forward and squint, or get out binoculars to see more clearly once you found a target.
Linn was wearing metal retractable shoes which blocked her feet from directly touching the ground tho which prevented it passively. Toph doesn't wear shoes and Aang was barefoot in his fight against Ozai.
@@AnimeZone247 Toph didn't need to dig her hands or feet in to use it though, she just did that when she wanted to look really deep underground or whatever. Kinda like someone else squinting someone at something else far away.
The ring and middle finger is a four-finger animation cheat that still allows you to use the principles of 3 finger animation. However if you look at your hands, your middle and ring finger tend to follow each other when moving unless you consciously move them apart (and even then, not very much compared to your pinky or index finger).
Asami actually would have been an interesting and whole character, if they followed through with her being a spy, setting up a redemption arc for her through the season, keeping her as team avatar, zuko style. It could have worked within the one season, if the writers tried a bit more ...
I agree with Tahno being a missed opportunity.
great and fun episode! (your episode)
If the writers did that, then it would just be a blatant repeat of Zuko (at the end of ATLA season 2).
@@HaydrogenBomb One could argue that TLOK in general is just a blatant repeat of TLA, so that point isnt very strong
I agree, and then season 2 could have a little bit of Asami leading the cause or something so the non-bender discrimination isn't just ignored. It would also make her and Korra an enemies to lovers arc which would be really cool.
@@nyblller . . . Except, it's not? TLOK's story is pretty different than ATLA, and Korra went through a lot of different things than Aang did. So I don't know what you're trying to say here.
@@nyblllerwhat fuckin show did you watch? You’re just spouting meaningless criticism that doesn’t apply even a bit to the show. A very common criticism I see for Korra is that it’s too different from ATLA
I like the critical eye that you've given this episode, it really digs in deep what Korra changed compared to ATLA.
Animator here! 2:25
Its easier to draw than all of them spread, thats it. Saves some time.
Thanks
I'm always conflicted when watching Korra cause there is stuff that I really like and I think is a great addition to the series, but then they just have some really bad choices too. I feel like one of its biggest struggles early on was making characters feel connected, like what you said for Mako and Bolin: despite them being brothers they rarely act like it. Compared to Sokka and Katara it always felt off. Even just having more small stuff like them goofing off in the pool would've been nice to see early on.
The series feels rushed and polished at the same time. I blame Nickelodeon.
That being said Season 3+4 of TLoK taken all together (minus the giant mech) is some of the best Avatar gets. Modern philosophy and politics and mental health issues in a kids show with superpowers handled extremely well.
Fun fact, sneezing is technically coughing. You do expel air from nose and mouth, but since there is not much air leaving your nostrils... The point us, Makko did the same fire breathing technique as Iroh
So what you're saying is that all sneezes are coughs, but not all coughs are sneezes? This is a game changer.
idk why people find it such a biggie for people to bend through other parts of their body aside from just hands/arms and sometimes legs/feet. we saw bumi earthbending pretty competently with his face, and breathing fire or air benders blowing big gusts of air from their lungs is also no biggie, hell we saw earthbenders breaking rocks with their face and even teeth, its safe to assume your whole body can afgevt bending.
1:51 - OK, I know this is probably just a throw away line, but how cool would that have been? If one of the new Team Avatar members was originally a rival, who lost their bending, joined the gang in an attempt for some revenge, and then just kinda vibed with em and stayed with the group? Bonus point if, yeah they lost their bending FOREVER forever, they're the teams non-bender or unique style which could also give a new viewpoint we've never gotten - Someone who is both bender and non-bender.
That honestly sounds amazing to me.
Thank god we finally have Asami's one singular purpose for the story and team, she seemed one dimensional without it.
And now she doesn't. Nice job team
So she became Appa?
@@SURok695appa is more interesting
I'm wondering why she doesn't give everyone in team Avatar an electric glove, having deathtouch would have won Korra so many fights
That and be shipping fodder.
4:21 How the hell did Korra hear a word Hiroshi was saying from all the way down a corridor, behind closed doors, from the other side of a large room, speaking at a conversational volume?
avatar plot powers, a technique passed down for generations
Props to you man, I would love more series covered by you. You have the experience now that you’ve covered atla and started covering this show. You’ve got a good “stage” personality. Keep up the amazing work!
Fun Fact: The unbendable metal was originally supposed to be titanium, but it got miscommunicated in this episode and they had to roll with it.
Personally I think it would have made much more sense, titanium is extremely rigid and therefore would be almost impossible to literally bend.
Darn it. While this still leads into "why only one metal" complaints, at least this metal makes sense. Titanium earned its reputation. Platinum is just the metal rarer than gold and Giratina's favorite metal.
The subtle Naruto theme at 10:19 made me chuckle, classic
"Why are you the chief of police? Why do you have tattoos? Aren't you the avatar?!" Mannnn that sums up alot of korra. And I actually like the show hahaha
I really hope that you’re still having fun reviewing these and it’s not just a chore to please the viewers.
Lol, man is literally making his money
At least season 1 is worth analyzing. Season 2 on the other hand...
I think this is more akin to Chuggaaconroy covering Sticker Star. He does not enjoy talking about it now because he enjoys Korra, he enjoys ripping into Korra. And even then, he is fair to Korra, so he is not obviously doing this purely out of obligation.
Furthermore, a lot of stuff is good in Korra. Thus, this is not a pure dunking-on.
@@bulbasaurlol every season is worth analyzing... especially season 3
So the hand thing with the middle and ring fingers is because it is way easier to draw a hand with 4 fingers and then divide one of them instead of drawing 5 of them separately, so it happens a lot and everywhere
5:20 I think the whole Agni Kai thing would've been outlawed when Zuko rose to power, what with the whole permanent reminder of his father calling one between them for talking out of turn. The Agni Kais just picked up the name because it sounds intimidating, makes them seem like a bigger fish in their small pond.
I mean just imagine a gang calling themselves the bloodletters.
Sure its not practiced anymore but we know about it
Also potentially the Agni Kai triad could have once been an honourable or traditional organisation that devolved into crime. Happens heaps in the real world lol.
Think the name fits pretty well. It’s intimidating, sounds cool, has links to fire nation tradition. Has a lot of implications without saying much.
Im just going to point out that the note that was handed to Korra was a set up. It was even called out by Lin in the episode she said "that source was a set up you lured us down here" and hiroshi said "guilty as charged". Just seems a bit unfair to say that the plot was fully just conveniences and call the note one when it wasn't. ( Korra over hearing the phone call is still deffinalty one though)
My biggest criticism with this episode is how it doesn’t give anything time to breathe. It sets up the idea that Hiroshi might be an Equalist, confirms it, and deals with the problem all in like 15 minutes.
I'm glad you're making this Korra series btw. I feel the same way as you about the show, but it feels almost necessary to give it a thorough analysis in light of the ATLA universe being so epic.
How does he feel about it? I wasn’t clear on that
I disagree. This show should get a thorough analysis just like ATLA.
@@aaronreed2424overall Korra is pretty bad and a massive step down in quality from ATLA but there are some good moments that deserve mentioning I guess
@@ieatmice751 pretty bad? Yea ion agree with that at all
@@aaronreed2424 dude repeatedly explains why he doesn't like many aspects of it and y'all do your classic special tactic of being in denial and pretending not to understand. Please its getting old.
Something that really bugs me about the platinum/metal bending thing is that it would have been really easy to write that in a much better way.
The advanced refining techniques could have been explained as something that didn't exist 100 years prior and then have that play into the themes of the show. The Equalists could have used it as a symbol in universe of how they can overcome benders. It could also have been symbolic of how an industrialized world is leaving behind not just benders but the spiritualism and culture associated with them.
Even if they didn't want to go that route, they could have, alternatively, said that most metal benders aren't actually that good at it so they can only bend metal with many impurities or alloys that specifically contain earth, namely steel (carbon).
I think the "they just wanted robots" assessment is correct. They don't talk about any of the properties of platinum or difficulties of not using other metals. It's a super metal- not just for being immune to bending but it also seems to fill whatever role is needed in construction of various precision machines- it's just good at everything. We don't get a sense of how rare platinum is on Avatar World because they always have as much as they need to manufacture the next obstacle for Team Avatar.
On top of that, because it doesn't look any different from other metals, they have to tell the audience through dialogue every time that something is made of platinum. This ends up making it feel like children playing, where one kid invented a rule that prevents them from being tagged in a game of tag.
Idk why they didn't choose aluminum, fairly certain Platinum is mined and thus would have had impurities assuming they were still stuck with the issues other metals had in this universe. Aluminum is easily man made due to electricity and wouldn't contain any rocks in it and be less expensive.
@@shyguy4617 i believe that was the original idea for aluminum, but there was a mistranslation when writing overseas.
@@TheVisionaryLeo that would make so much more fucking sense, I seriously doubt earth benders could fuck with aluminum considering it's not earth at all it's mostly man made (fun fact it use to be one of the more expensive metals in the world until we found out how to just flat out make it)
@@TheVisionaryLeo How could there have been a mistranslation though? Even if it was animated overseas, the show was written by Westerners.
@@jordancampbell8597 The mistranslation claim pops up from time to time, though it's usually titanium. Either way, there's no evidence for it, it's just something that gets repeated as fact. It seems pretty clear to me that platinum was chosen because of its non-reactivity. You can find large deposits of platinum in elemental form, & it's relatively easy to smelt out any existing impurities due to platinum's properties.
I also have to slightly disagree that we don't get a sense of how rare platinum is. There are a couple cases in the show where metalbending works to indicate the villains can't just make everything out of platinum. One of the airships is metalbent later, & so are the innards of the Colossus.
I guess the last thing I'll complain about is that I think "they just wanted robots" is really reductive. You can't make hardly anything work if there isn't some metal substitute. They couldn't fight even something like the drill or the airship fleet from Last Airbender unless there were always conspicuously never metalbenders around.
I actually don't mind Metalbending more common. As it's taught, as the art grows, they're also going to find out more about it, and therefore make it easier to teach others. same for lightning; nowhere has ever had this many different kinds of benders in this dense of a population before, it makes sense to me that progress would speed up massively
It's also elaborated on later--Metalbending is quite rare, with about 1 in 100 Earthbenders having the skill (Which is a reasonable limit on numbers), but that they tend to congregate in metal-heavy cities. Republic City and Zaofu had so many metal-benders, because they have so much metal to begin with. A Metalbender wouldn't be nearly as useful in a place like Omashu.
The criticism of metal bending being more common is really weird. Being able to bend metal would have huge benefits to earth bender society. Like it would have sped up their Industrial Revolution by tenfold. Hell, if toph had been able to teach metal bending to an earth bending army before the capture of Ba Sing Se they absolutely would have destroyed the fire nation.
Bad take from Mr Over-analyzer.
I like how Tarloq is mentioned alot in this episode, and seems more like a Behind the scenes guy. This kinda makes sence for what the production crew wanted. Bc he seems more distant to the events of the equalists sympotizers, and concidering they made out Tarloq to secretly be Amon, this makes sence.
Tarloq isn't Amon though, I think you mean that Amon is his brother
@@coiler_119 I know. Bc of this point in the story Amon's true identidy was a secret, and it was implied Tarloq was Amon. This knowledge was WITHOUT the foresight of knowing who Amon truly was
This show really, unironically asked "if metal's so great, why isn't there a metal 2?"
I mean, extremely pure metals(ie. Platinum) would be unbendable by metalbenders because they aren't bending the metal, they are bending the impurities in the metal
8:54 later seasons Aiwei also had seismic sense, you don’t see him do it but since he’s a Truth seer it implies he can
2:21 It has to do with anatomy. That is the most common "relaxed" hand position when drawing hands. "But my fingers all have separation when I relax my hand!" yes, and it always looks fucking weird when anyone tries to draw much less animate a hand with every finger spread out, it leads to extreme inconsistencies in the animation frames if something is hand-animated. The anatomy of the musculature of your hand and forearm informs artists that when the hand is relaxed but being held such that the fingers are still mostly in-line with the palm those two fingers tend to stay close together.
Bone structure of hands also has a part to play. The middle finger is odd, it tends to bend slightly towards the ring finger. The index finger points straight, this causes a slight separation starting at the second knuckle. The pinky , while it does tend to slightly bend towards the ring finger is, of course, a smaller finger so there tends to be a natural gap between the ring and pinky finger when slightly relaxed (but still extended).
So artists cheat and just exaggerate this "natural" separation because it is easier to draw repeatedly than a splayed hand.
Mess around with your own hand tensing and relaxing it to varying degrees and see what positions it naturally falls into, this stupid position will show up and you will never stop thinking "fuck, is my hand in that dumb position artists use all the time?"
I want you to know that you successfully made me contort my hand for an unreasonable amount of time. 💀
@@owencmyk as you should, biomechanics is a fascinating subject.
This is true@@ShiningDarknes
Wow, reading this and testing my hand simultaneously gave me so much insight into the intricacies regarding my hand. I never noticed my hand fell into that position so frequently. I tried to keep equal separation between my fingers while stretching them out, and man it is tough to maintain it.
1:29 i spent more time then i should have wondering if he can finnaly explain just what the deal is with this very strange line, which i feel like is supposed to be apart of a running joke or smth, with how the character says the line, but ive checked and theres no other mentions of anything like this in either this show or atla
I guess overanalising has no clue either tho, so the mystery continues...
This comment right here is a PERFECT example of an S-tier comment.
Maybe it was a scrapped gag that was cut or smt, idk
I feel like the usage of fire benders for Amons fake backstory makes sense. If you think about all the stuff the fire nation did in the last avatar and all the people harmed from it and scarred for life, there would still be fear/anger against the fire nation from the general populous. Kinda like Jet, but much more simmered down and on the populous as a whole. It’s important to remember that only around 70 years has passed since the fire nation attacked the world and even planned to literally burn it all down.
Its only been like 70 years since WW2 and no one is afraid of Japan / Germany any more tho
@@HimboVeganbut all hates nazi
@@HimboVegan There is still very much a fear/anger for Japan from china and Korea. places that were directly invaded by Japan during ww2. Not to mention anything associated with the Nazi’s is a very sore subject in general.
@@HimboVegan we still hate germany
i like the idea that firebenders have a bit of a violent past but that we as the audience know that they arent bound to it. it adds to the sense that the world of avatar is complicated enough to have developed specific prejudices which while not exactly great, do show a society with a tangible history which makes it more believable.
I love the Nanimo song playing whenever they are running like that. It’s such a great low-key joke that keeps on giving 😂
Tahno is 100% my favorite character from season 1 and he should’ve definitely joined team avatar. With his very few lines he was already much more interesting and fun to watch than Mako, Bolin, Asami etc. and this is mainly because his voice actor is amazing.
In the scene where Toph discovers metalbending, she uses Seismic Sense to locate the bits of earth present in her cage's metal. That's how she's able to bend it, by bending the earth inside the metal itself.
From what I understand, the platinum is refined to such a purity that there aren't enough trace elements of earth left to bend.
kinda cool, but by the end of the show, she just metal bends casually without having to focus on finding the imperfections in the metal. Especially when you consider the new metal bending cops don't have seismic sense but still metal bend casually.
Platinum is extremely soft though, you can't really make anything solid of it without mixing it with other metals like with gold.
@@jamesmoniz5263 fair point.
However, a lot of crazy bending abilities were unlocked by a change in perspective. For example, when Kotarra learned blood bending, she never needed to see the water in the blood in order to bend it, she just had to see how it was done (and that it could be done, etc.).
Toph was a similar case, only she used a unique form (seismic sense) to figure out its possibility.
So I think it could be argued that you don't need seismic sense to metalbend, it was only used to discover it.
Any thoughts?
@@z-master4749I still think that goes against what the guru and later toph say about meta being "a part of earth that has been purified and refined". I don't love 2 characters just by happen stance quoting each other verbatim, but it does illustrate the idea that metal IS earth(according to the guru isn't a great sourse, but the bender who literally invented metal bending straight up saying "metal is just... earth..." seems like its the biggest part), and thats how she bends it. Toph describes rock as a stubborn element and that you just need to have the fortitude to make it obey you. So metal is just rock level 2 in a sense, as in its presumably even more stubborn and less willing to be bended, so you have to really be made of some tough stuff if you wanna make metal obey you.
@@brandonlyon730that always bugged me. Platinum is so soft you can’t use it in pure form for basically any mechanical application. It would make way more sense to say that Sato just discovered a way to make a steel so refined that it’s pretty much unbendable.
The hand thing is a result of less = more. To draw 4 separate fingers, bends and all increases the detail and draws more attention than a hand usually should. So the middle and ring fingers get fused, as they tend to be closer together than any other two fingers. It also makes it easier for animators, so it’s no surprise it’s become a standard practice.
I just realized Makos backstory would be so insanely interesting as a character if it was actually focused on, a boy after losing his parents turns to work for a gang learning to properly fire and lightning bend in order to support his slightly slow brother . Then after leaving that life behind he tries to become a pro sports athlete but then after working with police and the avatar he leaves and realizes he wants to become a police officer/ detective.
Your upload made me question time itself, I was freaking out going "It's Thursday?!"
Edit: Also you're so normal about this show, it's honestly a breath of fresh air. A lot of hardcore atla fans hate this show, like HATE hate it, and refuse to look at the things it does right. But you've been so fair in pointing out the strengths of this show, and where it falls flat, like in this episode and the main love triangle episode. Good job, genuinely!
Just cause nobody said it, love the half a second "nanim-" that sounds at 10:19, it's quickly becoming one of my favorite gags of the channel XD
5:10 I remember back in the day there was a joke that a waterbender with the name of Mr A. Firebender was going around killing people XD
You are appreciated mate!! You make this journey more interesting for sure! Keep up the great work! (The tiny run with the music in the background killed me!)
As an artist who prides themselves on drawing hands, the middle and ring fingers being drawn together is just simply easier. Plus, if you spread your fingers out, they’re usually the closest together. But hands are a funny thing, it’s probably somebody’s natural hand position.
Asami being a spy would’ve made so much more sense and I would’ve loved that story line SO MUCH MORE UGH
They used platinum purity as an explanation for it to be unbendable by earth benders, then, a couple of seasons later, they forget about it when using a metal-based poison (Freaking mercury) and proceed to bend it like water as if it isn't pure at all. One can think it was mixed with impurities so it can be bendable, but unlike other metals, mercury is liquid, so it would be hard to handle under that concept.
Things like these are the reason TLoK was such a rollercoaster experience. One minute they do something great, and the next, they take you down with a contradiction. It just casts you out of the story.
Hg also loses its toxicity when amalgamated.
@@hilgigas09 it wouldn't need to be amalgamated just to be bendable, they could've just mixed it with nonreactive earthen elements.
2:30 Tano could even be the reincarnation of Sokka with him having no bending powers!
I absolutely agree with what you said about the magic system. I feel like this is really when they changed it from an extension of yourself into a super power.
I also heard that it was this episode or next episode where the writers were told "oh hey you're going to have 4 full seasons instead of a single 12 episode special," so I always wondered if that's why Asami felt very much like she switched characters.
the reason why the fire benders still have a bad rep is probably because alot of people from the firenation army that where on ozai's side went into the underground and criminality after zuko took over and so the stereotype of "firebender = evil" never really stopped because firebenders kept doing bad stuff
I thought up Bender from Futurama when Hiroshi Sato says, “I can’t stand to see Asami fighting alongside those………BENDERS!”
Something I couldn't help but notice about the first season is that it has very high highs and... very sluggish and low lows, season 2 is an even bigger offender; but I think season 3 finally hits the mark. I think a lot of the issues come from the writers both failing to capture the original Avatar flair, and Nickelodeon's corporate meddling.
1:32 One of the fucking FUNNIEST line reads ever. On par with Jack de Sena. Had me rolling fr
Man, Tahno could have had a Zuko level arc.
He loses his bending, his high and arrogant attitude suddenly crashing down, and he joins team Avatar as an opportunistic ally to "get back" at Amon for taking his bending(and his whole life) away from him. He works with Korra with a strictly professional alliance, but over time learns the value of teamwork and not being a huge jerk, and becomes more like friends with team Avatar. He goes through a sokka-esque realization of he's not useless and finds his own skills besides water bending, maybe we get to see how someone trained as a bender in water bending and maybe even air bending fights without being able to bend those elements.
Then when he eventually gets the chance to get his bending back, it is used as symbolism for when he was a jerk and he's not sure if he wants to go back to that, especially since he's found his place and a new home being a non-bender. Then his friends encourage him to take his bending back because he changed on a personal level and not just at a physical one, and we get some badass who is some fusion of Piandao/Hakoda and a waterbender, and our reformed arrogant jerk turned friend is now a super powerful ally that can solve a big problem later.
> goes from antagonizing team korra to joining them in like 3 episodes
> zuko level arc
The "Agni kai's" sounds like the kind of gang name they came up with because they knew an Agni Kai was some serious life-or-death thing but nobody in the gang was actually native to the fire nation so the specifics were entirely lost on them.
Just wanted to comment this series is seriously good, I’ve never seen such a well balanced take on the show where you’re not afraid to praise or criticize parts. Really interesting hearing your thoughts
2:20 THANK YOU
I've noticed that a lot in online artists work and always thought that it was an unnatural hand position
9:28
Me: Still salty about the horse?
Overanalyzing: Still salty about the horse
I completely agree about platinum. I think the only possible way it could have been redeemed (and redeemed as in the writers understanding that they made a mistake not necessarily fixing it) is for Toph to be able to bend platinum and everyone is like "but that's impossible." And she'd be like "Why? It's just metal."
If they introduced plastic in place of platinum it would have felt less cheap. They could have even used lacquered wood to make the robots out of
there are heat-resistant plastics, but they don't really hold up to open flames too well. still, they could have just hand-waved a super plastic that was
I dont know what i would love more, if you wrote a mini script for each patreon you then read or if you come up with those on the spot for each of them. This much appreceation for your supporters is truly unique!
10:42 Platinum comes from native platinum which is found as a pure metal underground. It doesn't have the impurities found in steel/iron.
2:53 "Yeah, Pabu, me too lately"
You too, man? :(
You too, man :(
You too, man? :(
"Oh, mom would be so disappointed in me right now."
That is exactly her face, oh my god ha
I think 'Agni Kai Triad' works in the context of things aren't what they used to be. Of course a bunch of street punks would see a time-honored tradition of one-on-one combat between two Firebenders and go 'WHOAH THAT'S BADASS WE SHOULD DO THAT' and start a gang around that concept, completely missing the point of honor and integrity
Patron shout out compilation when? The random stories you make up are hilarious
9:56 Couldent zuko also firebend from his nose? Like i swear there was a scene in the boiling rock where he did it in the freezer to keep warm.
Yea
And also during the siege of the north, he used the same technique
Deep cut but zuko also does it in the unaired pilot
Another thing about platinum, it should be one of the few metals that any Earthbender can bend. Metalbending is only hard to do because the metal has been refined and altered from its natural ore state, yet platinum and a few other metals (such as gold and silver) occur in nature in their (mostly) pure forms, therefore they should just be straight-up earth, as bendable as quartz. Also, platinum is soft, so it would be a bad idea to use it against someone who could hit it with a rock really fucking hard.
It would have been really cool for Tano to come back and help Korra in book 3 or something
I love the idea that Geminite isn't actually edible and Bumi is just more insane than he looks
I think "Agni-Kai Triad" works great. In a city where triads use benders from all three available nations this would be the one that only consists of firebenders. If someone rejects fighters for no other reason than nationalism and tradition they would want a name that invokes feelings of national pride. Agni-Kai fits perfectly
2:16 it's a thing for drawing hands by routine. the pinkie and pointer are unique, whereas the middle and ring fingers generally stick together. usually it's "either the pointer or pinky are unique, while the others are identical or follow a set pattern". it comes from the sizing of the fingers, basically the pointer breaks the pattern the others set by being shorter then the next finger (the middle), while the pinky fits the pattern, but also has more horizontal mobility and stronger grip strength. it's just the animators using a common guide for dynamic finger posing.
9:44 I do love this little moment. Being street rats and all that I can definitely see this being a little scam they ran as children. Mako and bolin are on the same page here bolin knew exactly what was going down. That's a really good way to show these are brothers they grew up together and essentially know what the others going to do before they do it.
The entire tangent in 12:01 is why I have a HUGE problem with the legend of Korra as a whole! Korra was trained since she was a CHILD!! Why is she so goddamn weak ?????
9:23 that makes so much sense! When I was watching for the first time, Asami’s character design just screamed “twist villain” to me. I was baffled when Asami didn’t actually turn out to be evil.
13:03 maybe they never fought them specifically before, but those animals are natural parts of the Avatar world, Mecha tanks are completely new, they don't really have soft spots to hit, and you can't bleed them out with a regular ass spear.
The Earthbenders attempted to take down the drill from outside, it was completely ineffective, it was only going inside that the gaang could take it down, not really an option with mecha tanks.
you think THE GANG, as in Aang the tween avatar and his two water tribe people who have lived in the south pole their entire life have both found as fought Sheela and or other creatures like her before? And with the drill, it was a similarly foreign and new threat and they beat it by being creative and devising plans or putting up a real fight. I think its a little unfair to say "well it isn't literally a 1 to 1 copy of the drill, so therefor they can't literally copy paste OG team avatar's strats". Even if they have to loose that fight for the plot to happen, you can show them taking out 1 mech with cool team work and maybe a new application of their bending (maybe some metal bending to restrain the mech, air bending to deflect its attacks, and Korra can burry it in the ground as a finisher move or something. Its not impossible to write that scene where our team feels powerful and creative), only for 3 others to show up. Think how Aang tries to solo the fire nation navy, takes out 1 ship by being crafty, then realizes "holy heck... there is an entire army out there" and ultimately looses round 1 of that conflict. You can have the protagonist loose without them feeling like pushovers.
@@jamesmoniz5263 Yeah, exactly, they had a moment to plan against the drill, this was immediate, they were under direct attack.
@@JAYDOG1337A the drill was also larget threat~ I don't think you cna argue 1 mech is a bigger threat than the drill with Azula and her gang protecting it. It would be a much better scene if we saw then be creative think of their feet and take one down, only to get beaten by more. It'd feel more like a fight and less like our team just being pushovers and loosing every single fight they take (which just makes team avatar seem a lot less powerful than " the avatar and her 2 probending athlete goons")
I hope you are enjoying making Overanalyzing Korra, because the series is pretty good
I do hate that they made metal bending basically common, but I do like that they made platinum a weakness. It makes sense they would try to find something that is more secure since metal bars buildings could just be broken out of or into without something
They just pushed the power level forward without making any new meaningful changes or interactions. Metal beats earth, and now platinum beats metal. We're stuck on the same paradigm
honestly i think metalbending being common makes total sense. all of team avatar, including toph are basically folk heros by the time of korra. it seems like pretty much everyone knew most of what went down and toph would absolutely loooove telling people about how she developed metal bending, to the point where she founded a school for it.
I think every earth bender can do seismic sense to a degree (like how we can feel for things in the dark) but being blind, Toph NEEDED it to see. and then just bullied her daughters into doing it too lol
I absolutely dare you to make an ATLA fruits and nuts tierlist. But this episode was pretty good!