#13 AUG 14, 2014 · 11 yr ago
I do agree that the writers weren't used to doing fantasy stories with a season long plot. Jelenic worked on Batman: the Brave and the Bold previously. It was a good show, but very different from what the NS tried to be.
I've seen both Last Airbender and Korra, and while I agree that objectively the NS Thundercats aren't as good as Atla and not quite as good as Korra, I do think the NS does some things better than either of those two, and I think it has mainly to do with how the themes are presented and the main hero character.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel as though the conflict between the Fire Nation and the other nations never felt as tense as between the Cats and Lizards, despite the show taking place during a war. I think it's because the lizards lost before, and seeing the lengths they go to for revenge helps drive the point.
There's also how Lion-O compares to the main characters. In a way he's like Zuko, being the prince of the "evil" empire who has to redeem his people and find peace. Granted, Lion-O doesn't go through as much character twists, but he has his own issues with living up to being a leader, which we don't see happen with Zuko until the sequel comics.
Another thing is that I think Lion-O's main character conflict is more interesting than Aang or Korra's (though not Zuko's), as well as his position as leader. While Aang and Korra are the heros and the Avatar, I feel as though Lion-O's role as king put more pressure on him, and the NS did a better job showing his weaknesses than Avatar did in showing Aang or Korra's. While the Avatar has a responsibility to the whole world, it lways seems like Korra had plenty of time to relax and not need to stress when things were relatively okay. They still get to act like kids, but to me it felt like Lion-O lost that luxury when Claudus died.
We do get episodes where Aang and Korra feel the pressure of being the Avatar and the fear of failing the people their meant to save. The series happened because Aang ran away from his responsibility, resulting in him freezing himself for 100 years. But it rarely seemed like they had to make many hard decisions, more like a general lack of confidence that people go through. Lion-O goes through that too, but I think in his case we get a better understanding of how he finds his own inner strength. With Aang and Korra, it usually feels like they find their inner strength mostly just through being pushed to the point where they have to, or a solution falls into their lap, but with Lion-O we get to see him find another way through his own means. He failed his trial at first, but he found another way to save his friends, and he passed his other trials by thinking outside the box. And Lion-O doesn't win in the end simply by unlocking a new power, but also through the allies he makes and the bonds of friendship he has with others. Those themes are there in Avatar and Korra, but they aren't used in this way very often.
What I think the NS does better is it shows the struggle of trying to create peace between people who have been in conflict for a long time. When the war with the Fire Nation ends, most of the conflict just ends there, and the same goes with the Equalist movement, but in the NS they drive home the point that there is a deep seated tension between the races that cannot be easily overcome simply by beating the bad guys, and that's the real conflict of the NS.
Thundercats makes it a big deal to show when Lion-O shows mercy to the lizard soldiers when he has the chance and goes out of his way to save them. While the NS's main villains aren't as interesting as those in Avatar, I feel as though it does a better job of showing the point of view of the soldiers they fight. The reasons the Fire Nation went to war in the first place are flimsy at best, and the Fire Nation soldiers don't seem to have a reason beyond following orders. The Equalists had a reason, but I think down the line the first season of Korra lost focus on that, and the Equalists became more generic, like the writers dropped the ball and wasted a good way to explore how helpless and angry non-benders feel. With the lizards, you know exactly how they feel, and how they feel about working under Mumm-Ra.
Long before, I compared Tygra and Lion-O's relationship to that of Zuko and Azula, as well as how greatly it contrasts. Both Lion-O and Tygra think of themselves as the "Zuko" of their family, the one who has to prove themselves against the other. Lion-O is the next in line, but Tygra is the favorite and older. That would seem to make Tygra more like Azula, but Azula rarely ever showed the same kind of jealous resentment. What makes Tygra like Zuko is we know that deep down he's just as self-conscious as Lion-O, but tries to look confident.
