The Legend of Korra/YMMV


 * Abandon Shipping: Often with a rapid turnaround time.
 * When a promotional poster distributed at ComicCon 2011 featured Korra with an Earthbender boy and a Firebender boy, Ho Yay Shipping began immediately. Later, during the panel for the show, it was revealed that the boys were siblings, and everyone not into Incest Yay Shipping jumped ship.
 * When all that was known about Meelo was that there was a character with his name, people thought he might be Korra's Love Interest. Needless to say, when he turned out to be a toddler, that thought died out completely.
 * Tenzin and Korra. They were the first two named characters and were paired up almost immediately in a Mentor Ship... until it was found out that Tenzin was a married man in his fifties with three kids.
 * Alternative Character Interpretation:
 * Mako is a stoic and a focused athlete determined to win the prize money and protect his little brother at any cost. On the other hand, Fandom!Mako is an emotional crybaby tormented by his own good looks, obsessed with his beloved scarf, plagued by his raging Tsundere crush on Korra, and permanently tortured by the very thought of his worst enemy, Hasook. It's good to note, however, that this interpretation isn't taken seriously.
 * Amon gets a lot of this, from being a Well-Intentioned Extremist Anti-Villain to a Knight Templar to a Complete Monster taking advantage of oppression. To be fair, very little is known about his actual character.
 * For a more specific example, his reaction to Korra's challenge. Was he just going there to just deliver a Breaking Speech about why he can't face Korra, or did he actually intended to mess up with her mind, not actually caring at all for the challenge?
 * Upon seeing how the government of Republic City actually operates, with a ruling council based on the five extant Bending tribes, the entire city is turning into this. Is the government of the city really so callously favoring benders? Does Republic City even have home rule? However, this seems to be the central conflict of the show.
 * Some Tahno fans wonder how much of his taunting was him being a Jerkass and how much was just, well, taunting opponents before a sports competition (though even his big fans agree the cheating was not okay). A lot of people also think he and his teammates weren't the ones who bribed the refs, and that maybe it was Amon (he sure had that speech right and ready...) or more likely, Hiroshi.
 * Yakone. Did he genuinely love his wife, or was he simply using her to keep his cover as a good man? Did he love his sons and abuse them due to a Snap Back to his old self, or were they his tools since their birth?
 * Angst? What Angst?: Averted. Korra tries to invoke this after seeing that Amon  But after she encounters him face-to-face, she admits to Tenzin that she has never been more afraid of anything in her life.
 * Awesome Art: The Art Evolution and animation budget are much appreciated.
 * Awesomeness Withdrawal: Part of the reason why fan interest is so high.
 * Badass Decay: The Order of the White Lotus. From a collection of Badass Grandpas to a bunch of generic bodyguards. (Incredibly inefficient ones, at that!) This actually gets lampshaded by Zaheer of the Red Lotus in Book 3.
 * Cargo Ship:
 * Mako/his scarf or Mako/money.
 * Sparkly Sparkly Bush Man/his beauteous bush.
 * Complete Monster: Arguably Yakone in Book One, and definitely Unalaq in Book Two.
 * Crack Pairing:
 * Korra/Yue the Moon Spirit with a separation of 70 years and a metaphysical plane proving no obstacle to the pairing's Memetic Mutation on deviantArt.
 * Hilariously, this foreshadowed the pairing of Korra with a character voiced by the actress who played Yue in The Last Airbender becoming the fandom's most popular ship.
 * There's also Howrra: Korra x Howl (Hot Order of the White Lotus Guard). Said guard gets about two seconds of screen time, but the ship still has a pretty devoted following.
 * A growing number of fans ship Jinora having a one-sided Precocious Crush on Mako or Bolin.
 * Dokorra (Korra x The Doorman from "The Revelation") is notable for having been started by Bill Rinaldi, the show's production/martial arts coordinator and the inspiration for the Doorman's design.
 * Creator's Pet: MAKO. By Book Two, he's practically the Avatarverse's Wesley Crusher!
 * Subverted in Book 3, when the downsides of his lifestyle and character start popping up frequently.
 * Creepy Awesome: Amon and Tarrlok.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: Pretty much anything from the Track Team release, but especially "The Rally."
 * Die for Our Ship:
 * Poor Asami has gotten hate for apparently getting in the way of Makorra. A good summary of the attacks against her is here
 * Pema's also gotten some heat because, apparently, one is a "homewrecking whore" for being married to and having children with a person who used to date another character in the past, in the backstory. Some fans have even accused her of performing some sort of massive moral wrong for confessing her feelings even though this, and changing relationships, happens in real life frequently. This actually started for a few people with blaming her for Korra forcing a kiss on Mako, even though this was Korra's own misinterpretation of her advice, badly worded or not, and still ultimately Korra's own responsibility.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: There have been some fans who consider this to be a key point against the Equalists--the only person in the last series who lost his bending was Firelord Ozai as an alternative to outright killing him, making it one step above the death penalty, essentially. While some of the gang members certainty oppressed non-benders, as seen by Korra herself, the White Falls Wolf-Bats simply cheated at a sporting event, and were never shown on screen discriminating against non-benders specifically (though they were jerks in general).
 * Others point out that Amon probably didn't care too much about how bad the Wolf-Bats were, and was just using them to make a point for everyone to see/hear.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: There are major parallels between the Equalists and the early 20th century Communists; Amon himself has much in common with Vladimir Lenin. The similarity becomes even striking when Tarrlok's views start to reflect the movement's biggest competition, Fascism.
 * Draco in Leather Pants: While Tahno eventually became sympathetic, the fandom already got him a pair of leather pants when he was at his Jerkass prime. And then there's Amon. When the fandom isn't Rooting for the Empire, they're swooning over him for... other reasons.
 * The Equalists in general get a lot of this kind of treatment, and Tarrlok as well.
 * While Eska isn't truly evil, some fans actually claim that she was not abusing Bolin and plotting to pull him into a borderline rape marriage in Book 2.
 * Epileptic Trees: Plenty, mainly concerning how Aang ultimately bit the dust and whether any other members of the old cast might still be alive.
 * Amon is an Epileptic Woodsman. No other character in the entire Avatar canon has incited so much theorizing. His entry on the series' WMG page has probably the most compelling AND outlandish theories on the series so far.
 * Asami's connection to the Equalists has been debated from the moment she showed. Because any rich girl who looks like Lust and gets in the way of Makorra can't possibly be a good person.
 * Ensemble Darkhorse:
 * Howl (Hot Order of the White Lotus guard) has had mere seconds of screen time and no lines, yet has gained quite the fan base. He's even been shipped with Korra.
 * Tahno, much like Azula, was well-recieved by the fanbase despite taking plenty of cheap shots.
 * Shiro Shinobi, the Pro-Bending announcer, for his hilariously hammy delivery.
 * General Iroh got this for a few reasons: one for being voiced by Dante Basco, who was Zuko in the previous series, another being his absolute badassery that he displayed when he battled the Equalists after they took over Republic City, and he's also well loved by fangirls for being a handsome, well-mannered man.
 * Despite appearing in Book 1 for several seconds, Bumi became ridiculously popular for his inferred wild-man persona. The love for him continued in Book 2 due to him being hilarious, surprisingly badass when needed, and for being an all-around fun character to watch.
 * Varrick. The guy is pretty much Crazy Awesome personified, and his eccentric behavior, hilarious moments, and got him tons of love from the fans, and even those who hated Book 2 admit that he's easily the best part of it.
 * Evil Is Cool: Amon. He's voiced by Steve Blum, makes dark threats, has a scary mask, and doesn't even bat an eye when a bunch of flames come flying into the zeppelin that he and his mooks are using to escape in "And The Winner Is...". He's also considered by many a fan to be a superior villain to Ozai, whom a great number of fans found a Generic Doomsday Villain rather than the epic Big Bad who supposedly trained Azula - the poster-girl for Evil Is Cool in the original series. He's also achieved true Magnificent Bastard status in a stunningly short time. Only six episodes, and he's only had a major part in three of them.
 * Evil Is Sexy: Amon, if you just go by his voice.
 * Fandom Rivalry: A small but enduring conflict with fans of James Cameron's Avatar, which is resented for monopolizing the word at the expense of The Legend of Korra's U.S. title.
 * "GAME OF THRONES IS SO MUCH BETTER!!!"
 * Fanon: Some Tahno fans like the idea that he's descended from the Swamp Tribes.
 * Genius Bonus: In The Revelation,
 * Girl Show Ghetto: Much attention was paid to averting this, with a creator interview noting that while Nickelodeon execs were gun shy at the prospect of Korra as a lead, a test-audience of boys "thought she was awesome."
 * God Never Said That: Despite the quote from Andrea Romano being that the original cast might as well be dead, for all of the impact they'll have on the plot, numerous people still insist she declared the entire cast to be dead and gone, accusing her of being mistaken or lying when it was proved otherwise.
 * Harsher in Hindsight:
 * Before the series aired, some fans called it Batman meets Avatar. Then in the third episode, Mako reveals that he witnessed his parents being murdered by a mugger, similar to Bruce Wayne's backstory. He was even eight, the average age most writers use for Bruce.
 * Hiroshi Sato saying to Mako: "So, I understand you're dirt poor." The Brutal Honesty is played for laughs at first, but "The Aftermath" reveals that
 * When Bolin at first thought that Tarrlok was a possible suitor for Korra, this moment was played for laughs when he at first offered to protect Korra but then went "oh, I like that better!" after realizing that Tarrlok was just an adult trying to get Korra on his task force.
 * Ikki's Death Glare at Tarrlok after noting his weirdness takes new light after Episode 8 when
 * There were (and are) fans who believe Asami is associated with the Equalists. Then in Episode 8,
 * Then there is Episode 1 where Lin basically wanted Korra out of Republic City for her destructive behavior.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight:
 * The idea of anti-bending revolutionaries with robots had been used before in a much-maligned tie-in video game for the original series.
 * When Mako and Bolin were first revealed as characters, fans thought Bolin would be a goofball clown and Mako would be a brooding lady's man. Turns out Bolin is The Charmer, not Mako, and the responsible Mako is too busy taking care of his brother and working to keep them off the streets to really focus on anything else.
 * How I Became Yours was ridiculed, among many things, for depicting bloodbending without the Full Moon.
 * At one point in Book 2, Varrick shoots a propaganda film that paints Well-Intentioned Extremist Unalaq as a card carrying villain with a plan to destroy the world.
 * Incest Yay Shipping: Predictably, the SDCC revelation that Mako and Bolin were siblings did not dissuade some fans from shipping them.
 * The same happened when it was revealed that
 * Internet Backdraft: Go to any forum or comment thread and make this observation: "Character A/Character B is the new Zutara!" It doesn't even matter which two characters you use, an argument will inevitably follow.
 * Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Korra has been shipped with Mako, Bolin, Amon, Lin Beifong, Asami, that one Order of the White Lotus guard at the beginning who only had ten seconds of screentime, and the Moon.
 * Magnificent Bastard: Amon. He lets Korra escape his meeting, knowing she's the perfect one to spread the message of his power.
 * from Book 2. The fact that he successfully
 * Memetic Badass:
 * Korra. And you've gotta deal with it.
 * Shiro Shinobi has garnered this title by standing his ground during an Equalist attack, continuing to report what's going on in the exact same tone. He also used to report on bending criminals.
 * Lin Beifong. Like mother, like daughter. She was a fan favorite from the start. What really sealed the deal was when Amon attacked the stadium and...well, just watch.
 * Amon. Way before the series began airing, he was already considered awesome, and the fact that he's shrugged off such major issues as lightning, explosions, and even just shows how much balls he has.
 * Memetic Molester: Amon. The events of "The Revelation" and "The Voice in the Night" have only emphasized the point.
 * Tarrlok is getting pretty popular too, what with the events at the end of "When Extremes Meet".
 * Memetic Sex God:
 * Korra, to an almost unbelievable level. Straight girls and gay guys galore have proclaimed themselves willing to cross the street for her, and many fans proudly identify as "Korrasexual". In fact, it's almost impossible to find a fan that doesn't consider Korra one of these. And it just gets more feverish and insane with every new piece of info. It helps that she's launched a ton of ships.
 * Tahno, too. Mostly because of his voice which is by some considered unbelievably sexy, even to those who just think he's a creepy jerk, and because of his offer to show Korra how a real pro bends/give her private lessons.
 * Mentor Ship: As the first named characters, Korra and Tenzin were paired sight unseen. Though piecemeal revelations about Tenzin's age and family life caused many to abandon the pairing, it still has it fans.
 * Minority Show Ghetto: Like its predecessor, easily averts this, proving extremely popular.
 * Moral Event Horizon:
 * Amon crossed this in the finale when he attempted to.
 * Tarrlok also crossed this when he began to remove the rights of Republic City's non-bending population, and attempted to round them up like cattle to be hauled off and arrested.
 * Even before his horrifying master plan is revealed, Unalaq soars over it when he And if you think he couldn't possibly get any worse than that, in the following episodes he
 * Narm: People's loved ones getting killed by firebenders in their backstories. The first time was tragedy, the second time was irony, and the third time was comedy. It's even led to a running joke that a guy named A. Firebender (who happens to be a Waterbender) is running around killing everyone's parents.
 * One inherited from the first series - the term "Bender" gets thrown around a lot in this franchise, and if you are familiar at all with British slang, then it becomes very narmful.
 * One True Threesome:
 * Korra/Mako/Bolin. No, the fact that the two boys are siblings didn't even slow them down.
 * After "The Aftermath" it seems Mako/Korra/Asami is building steam.
 * Lin/Tenzin/Pema
 * Tahno/Korra/Bolin is starting to rise in popularity for those who can't decide if they love Borra or Tahorra more.
 * Paranoia Fuel: Right before the terrorist attack in Episode 6, you see a bunch of random members of the arena's audience slowly and silently starting to reach into popcorn bags to pull out masks, bombs and/or electricity devices for the attack.
 * Periphery Demographic: Large and healthy. To put it in perspective, the 1-hour series premiere had a 1.01 adults 18-49 rating out of its 4.5 million viewers, and another episode had almost 4.1 million total and a 1.13 adults 18-49 rating.
 * Portmanteau Couple Name: It's Avatar. There are a million and one, and that's not even counting the crackships.
 * "Makorra" for Mako/Korra
 * "Borra" for Bolin/Korra.
 * "Makorralin" for the OT 3 Mako/Korra/Bolin.
 * "Makorrasamilin" for the OT4 of Mako/Korra/Bolin/Asami.
 * "Amorra" for Amon/Korra.
 * "Bosami" for Bolin/Asami.
 * "Masami" for Mako/Asami.
 * "Korrasami" for Korra/Asami.
 * "Makorrasami" for the OT 3 Mako/Korra/Asami
 * "Pemzin" for Pema/Tenzin.
 * "Bei Korra" for Chief Beifong/Korra.
 * "Yorra" for Yue/Korra
 * "Tah(n)orra" for Tahno/Korra
 * "Amolin" for Amon/Bolin
 * "Korlok" for Korra/Tarrlok
 * "Howrra" for Howl /Korra
 * "Jinoochy" for Jinora/Skoochy
 * "Skookki" for Ikki/Skoochy
 * "Brocest" for Mako/Bolin
 * "Linzin" or "Ten(z)lin" for Lin Beifong/Tenzin
 * The creators themselves trolled the fanbase via Tumblr by suggesting the couple names were wrong, and it should instead be Koko, Kolin, and Mami for the current core couples.
 * Promoted Fanboy: In a way. Mike and Bryan are huge fans of Cowboy Bebop and have cited the influence it had on their work numerous times, in addition to including multiple references to it in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Now they get to work with Steve Blum himself, playing the Big Bad Amon. It's not unreasonable to guess something like this happened.
 * Rescued From the Scrappy Heap: "The Aftermath" has done wonderful things for Asami's popularity among the fanbase. We finally got to see her being chums with Korra and kicking tail on the racetrack.
 * Believe it or not, Mako's getting here too come Book 3, in which he stays out of romantic relationships, has a stronger relationship with his family and friends (his brother Bolin in particular), and while still a competent cop, has more clearly defined Adorkable traits and You Suck humor thrown his way to contrast with the near perfection he displayed in Book 2.
 * Ron the Death Eater:
 * Or more appropriately, "Asami the Equalist". Some fans still keep this up even when episode 7 of the only 12-episode Equalists story arc proves the exact opposite.
 * Poor Pema just can't have a break, what with "stealing" Tenzin from Lin. According to the fandom, she's an Equalist spy solely for this; nevermind the fact that her own children are airbenders, and nothing suggests that she's such a Complete Monster. Some people have gone as far as saying she hates her children, just because she expressed desire of having a non-bender like her.
 * Korra gets this a lot after Book 2. Yes, she may have been angry at all the stress she was going through, and lashed out towards her loved ones. And yes, she behaved irrationally for a bit. But despite the fact that this was intentional and she did develop into a more level-headed Avatar, many fans make her out to be a raging cunt who throws around her power too much.
 * Mako has been made out to be outwardly abusive to his girlfriends in some fics, despite the fact that this is one thing he would not be, since many of his worst actions stem from him being too afraid to hurt either girl he likes.
 * Rooting for the Empire: Some fans support the Equalists stripping all benders of their abilities as the only way to put all people on a level playing field and end the oppression of non-benders, even if the benders themselves don't consent to the procedure. (Related material like nick.com's Are You A Bender or an Equalist? quiz actively exploits the phenomenon) Debates on whether or not bending is an intrinsic part of a person and the show's civilization/culture, and if what the Equalists are attempting is a fantastical form of mutilation or not, can get quite heated.
 * Ruined FOREVER: The fact that the technology goes so far as to include cars and motorcycles.
 * The Scrappy: As noted above in the Creator's Pet entry, Mako isn't exactly a popular character. The guy gets a ton of hatred from the fanbase for his less-than-smooth handling of his relationship with Asami and his feelings for Korra, his Jerkass behavior at times, and the fact that he never properly learns or regrets his mistakes. And it got worse in Book 2 when he became a police officer instead of Bolin (Who due to being an earthbender a lot of fans hoped he would get the job and potentially become a metalbender) then goes on to be written as the only competent cop on the force while Lin Beifong has been dumbed down and his main partners are two incredibly idiotic cops. Others feel that Bolin taking a level in Jerkass along with Korra doing the same are also meant to make him look good as well. Then fans were infuriated when The fact that he was named after a beloved voice actor rubs the salt in the wound for some, even though it was meant to be a tribute.
 * Korra herself became this for the first half of Book 2. While her being angry about her home being taken over by her uncle and her subsequent lashing out towards others as well as her anger towards her father keeping her fenced in as a kid are justified, many fans viewed her as obnoxious and bratty, with a lot hating her more for her more irrational behavior such as trying to get Republic City's armed forces involved in the war. While the second half redeemed her in the eyes of more than a few dissenters, it still doesn't stop her vocal hatedom from calling her the worst Avatar of all time.
 * Bolin also has his share of haters who just don't find him funny as the comic relief, nor useful or effective as a character.
 * Ship Mates: Some supporters of Korra/Mako also pair Bolin/Asami and vice versa. And those who ship Korra/Bolin are likely to ship Mako/Asami. If two of these four characters are being shipped together, then chances are the other two form a second pairing as well.
 * Fans who ship Korra/Tahno also usually keep Mako with Asami, and Bolin usually just keeps his status as The Charmer.
 * Ship Sinking:
 * Advance press revealed Korra's mentor Tenzin as Aang and Katara's son, canonically quashing persistant fan theories that Official Couple Katara and Aang's relationship dissolved in the timeframe between series.
 * The reveal that Tenzin and Lin used to date put a dent in Tokka shipping, and killed off the popular theory that Sokka was Lin's father. Even leaving aside the potential squick factor, first-cousins dating doesn't fly on American television.
 * Ship-to-Ship Combat:
 * Zutara shippers resumed where the previous series left off well in advance of airing, with new conflicts actually touched off by the Ship Sinking above. Now that Nick.com revealed that Zuko's still alive, you can bet old!Zutara shipping will be in full force.
 * Mako/Korra and Bolin/Korra factions rapidly developed and began tearing into each other despite the lack of character descriptions. All the fandom needs are names and faces to launch a thousand battleships.
 * Mako/Korra found a new rival in Tahno/Korra, despite the fact that at the time Tahno had only spoken three words: "Go for it." That was all it took for some shippers to go crazy.
 * A screenshot of Mako and Asami caused the Makorra shippers to have a panic attack. Ladies and gentlemen, it begins.
 * After Episode 6, Tenzin/Pema found a new rival in Tenzin/Lin
 * Ships That Pass in the Night: There's a surprising amount of Jinora/Skoochy fic. One is Tenzin's Cute Bookworm airbender daughter and the other's a street rat who trades information for money, and naturally they've never met; they just happen to be the only introduced characters in their age group.
 * They Changed It, Now It Sucks: When the series was initially announced, some were upset that it featured a Time Skip, and thus wasn't an immediate continuation of Avatar: The Last Airbender
 * Ugly Cute: Meelo. A direct quote from SDCC: "Strangely though, the more ugly he was the cuter he became." In fact, Meelo was originally going to be a good-looking cute kid, but the team fell in love with Ryu Ki-Hyun's uglier designs.
 * Viewer Gender Confusion: Many fans were surprised to learn that the Council page (the person that delivered all those gifts from Tarrlok and ) is actually a man.
 * Visual Effects of Awesome: Could be seen as the Transformers Prime of hand-drawn animation to some.
 * The Woobie:
 * Bolin. He lost his parents when he was six, and had to live on streets with Mako. In the series proper, he gets kidnapped and nearly loses bending powers while trying to help his brother with earning money, gets electrocuted during his rescue, and can't sleep well for a week afterwards. Then, in episode 5, he gets emotionally crushed by two of the people closest to him, after which, in the course of a single match, he gets hit in the stomach hard enough to make him vomit, gets (unintentionally) fire-blasted in the back by his brother before getting knocked out of the ring, and finally gets a pretty nasty injury to the shoulder before getting knocked out of the ring again. To top it off Nickelodeon's website reveals that he has an inferiority complex in regards to his brother Mako. Poor guy. And that's not even going into him getting into an abusive relationship in Book 2 with a woman he's legitimately afraid of!
 * Asami Sato, the longer the show progresses. And Book 2 just makes things worse for her. Her company is on the verge of collapse, it ends up in serious danger  You really start to wonder if the writers really have it out for the poor girl.
 * Jerkass Woobie: Tahno. He just looks so sad and hopeless in episode seven