[Early Access] The Legend of Korra - Beginnings Part 1 - Reaction!

Don’t know if you guys have noticed or been told but, that “Oasis with healing properties” that healed Wan has been speculated to be the same one at the North Pole in ATLA.

Keep It Zen

nah its just a rewriting

Evan Rhys Westerfield-Andrews

I'm surprised no one noticed that Steven Yeun voiced Wan

Grace Thompson

Well, it wasn't an amnesia story. In fact, I think most of us completely forgot (irony) about Korra while watching these two episodes, let alone remembered that she had amnesia.

You guys make my day happier!!!! PS: Loved the discussion 'bout the cup!!! :D

Igor Alfa

These 2 episodes along with the following basically saved this season for me, it's so good.

Drew

By the way, this is studio Mir, the original animation studio animating these episodes. Not studio Pierrot.

slvr572

Fun fact: Glenn from The Walking Dead voices Avatar Wan

MF SWOON

Sorry, I think I missed something. Did they ever figure out what the animal on the mug was?

Alex

I think what the lion turtles do is open the chakras so the energy to bend elements can flow

Paul

"Ugh, I hate these amnesia stories." 10 seconds later "This is my favourite episode so far!"

Rufus May

It was basically energybending imo :)

Lalisa Truong

The lion turtles gave them the ability to bend the elements and the animals from ATLA lore thought benders how to master bending the elements.

KillApollo

15:23 I like this carrot spirit. Looking forward to seeing it again :3

Christosius

The capacity to bend was given by the lion turtles, but in order to use it any meaningful way, humans learned from the dragons, sky bison, badgermoles, and the moon and ocean.

Jackson Ranger

Animals were already benders though. I believe the inherent ability of having an element was passed down through genetics. Animals were just there to teach you how to better use the element as an extension of yourself (aka martial art).

Lalisa Truong

Everything was pretty vague in ATLA, so I honestly don't understand this whole "ruining" and "messing up" thing. It's like people don't like the answer that was given because it doesn't fit with what they want. Everything that happened in LOK in regards to those things makes sense. You may not like it, can't really do anything about that I guess.

Lalisa Truong

I wish Nahid was right that our future is there past I would love to be a water bender

Ahmed Ibrahim

im pretty sure that was a statue of Wan, no so much Raava

Griff

Also, Rana, you've already seen Raava before, I think that's why it seemed familiar to you. Remember what Jinora saw in the Southern Air Temple?

As a massive ATLA fan, I really dislike this origin story. I could talk about it all day. They messed up Avatar reincarnation. They messed up chakras and the Avatar State. They messed up the origin of bending. They messed up the Spirit World. They basically ruined everything in my opinion. Don't get me started :(

Koala Banana

The wiki page lists which studio does which episode in terms of animation if u guys wanna keep track

KuzonFire121

SO IT BEGINS! I just knew Rana is gonna mistake Kuruk for Tonraq :D But props to her for her deduction about avatar spirit! Now, may I propose a skit about how one of you became the first Normie?

Possessing the power of an element and knowing the art of BENDING the element are separate. It’s essentially the difference between being able to throw a kick or a punch and knowing a martial art. That’s where the dragons, sky bison, badger moles, and the moon come into to play. Oma and Shu both had the power of earth inside them, but they learned to bend from the badger moles.

Winterson94

Right?! I was like yes Rana spot on, I felt bad when the guys where like no he’s just gonna travel to the other lion turtles. They’re both right

Andrea C.

@Rana what lipstick are you wearing? Because it is popping!

Eddie Gamboa

They find out during their post-episode discussion

SilverLumos

Waiting for the second part I finally figured out the time difference between you guys and me...12 hours. Gonna be a loong night for me fam

Dan Snow

I love how in the beginning it was all whining about another amnesia story and then you are completely blown away when it’s not what you expected. Was awesome! The whole time I was like oh man they don’t even know what they are about to see.

Rich Cassou

Spirit mushroom

Anthony

Wow! I'm so impressed with Rana's prediction of Rava giving Wan the avatar spirit! And I can only say that because I know you've already watched the next one... Haha

Edwin Wickey

Do you know what a reaction is?

Jordan

They have subtitles right? because i'm watching this going "SHUT THE FUCK UP!'' every 10 seconds

jayjay2961

there is a difference between being ABLE to bend and KNOWING how to bend remember how toph learns to bend the badgermole way? if she was never born with the ability there's no way she would have been able to learn, i mean if that was the case then both the twins from the "fortuneteller" episode would be able to bend or someone from another nation could spend time with the moles and learn. this can be applied to katara, she knew bending without being taught by the moon(since her mom knew she was a bender, its clear she had the ability from a very very young age, and i doubt she would be capable of learning from the moon at that age.) or a teacher there's clearly an aspect of being born with the ability that was set up in the first show, non benders cant just learn from the badgermoles. Oma and Shu probably had the ability and learnt to control it from the moles.

Burooj Ahanger

nope air nation was the first

Phonic Reassignment

Which old lady?

Such a WANderful episode. :)

So happy to wake up and see that this has been posted. I just want to say one thing, am I the only one who thinks the old lady is Azula? The way she speaks and by the things she says. I always have believe she is Azula. Haha. Still do.

Jesus Perdomo

Not to mention the connection with the myth of Prometheus

I just want to say an INTERESTING fact. You know how Wan got granted firebending from the lion turtle? That symbolizes how Wan ignited this new Avatar Era. By producing this spark, he became a symbolic figure that will be the only person to restore peace and balance to the world.

Jose

Studio Mir is the orginal animation team for Korra. They animated all of season 1 and every other episode of Korra except the first 6 epsiodes of season 2 and I believe episode 9. Studio Mir is made up mostly from the animation crew that worked on Avatar. There also wasn't a budget cut this season they just needed help from another studio because of time restraints. Studio Mir is just REALLY good so a lot of season 2 looks like it had a budget cut because the other studio.

Nick Lykins

If you read the description they say it will be released sometime this afternoon.

I love how Nahid less than a minute in was doubting the episode and then fell in love with it by the end. And I find it hilarious that about half the discussion was just arguing whether you guys could pull off watching another episode.

BearInTheGarage

So are we getting Part-2 early or what? ^^

Abg

anybody mention that Stephen Yeun voices Wan? sorry if misspelled

I think you have to distinguish control of fire from fire bending. As you saw in the episode, Wan was so much better than the other fire users because he learned to bend fire to his will from the dragon. The lion turtles gave the ability to control the elements to humans but the spirit animals (badger mole, dragon, sky bison, moon and ocean fishes) taught humans how to bend those elements. Think about it. If you could just learn an element from an animal then their would be people who can bend more than one element anywhere. However, in reality humans can only bend the element that their ancestors received from the lion turtles.

Lira

But in ATLA the dragons etc were described as the "original source". "source" meaning "the thing from which something is obtained". It's a clear retcon.

Ben Wenger

I can't believe you guys take 2-3 week breaks between recording sessions. I couldn't stand it.

Anthony

LOL Suraj was that a Griffy joke you did on "i'm going home?" 😂 anyway, great reaction! loved to see your excited faces

BeeIsBetter

False. Everyone keeps saying this, and sure, this may apply to firebending. However, how about, idk, airbending? There were lots of people who could perfectly airbend in part 2, including Wan, yet airbisons didn't exist/weren't discovered yet (that's why the Air Nomads didn't even have arrows on the, verified fact). So I don't see this logic working for all the elements.

stzz33

Lol...

About the bending question, think of it this way: Remember the episode about Sokka's swordmaster? He was originally going to buy a sword from a shop, which is basically the same as the Lionturtle giving bending to the humans. They have the power (sword/bending) but they don't know how to use it. Then the masters come into the picture: the swordmaster-guy (forgot his name), the dragons, etc. They taught how to use their respective powers, so in essence they are the true teachers.

Márk Mikula

Just some background information, the Lion Turtles gave them the power and ability to use their bending, but as you can see they’re just throwing it around, no technique or skill. The dragons, bison, badger moles, and moon taught them how to actually BEND and use it as an extension of their body, like Wan learned.

Andre Ransom

Appreciate you posting both episodes!

Anthony

That's not true at all lmao. The reason Bryke had to get another studio was because the MIR team was exhausted due to Book 1 being so animation-intensive and decided to work on Season 4 of The Boondocks instead since it was easier to animate. In the mean time, they had been okay'ed for Book 2 and needed another studio so they looked to Japan and was able to strike a deal with Perriot, the same studio that handled Naruto Shippuden. Contrary to popular belief, the first 7 episodes cost MORE than the other 7 because Japanese animation studios charge more, that's why Korean studios have been becoming increasingly popular. It's gotten to the point where even Japanese studios are outsourcing work to Korean ones

The art style wasn’t rudimentary and it wasn’t to work around budget constraints. It’s to mimick old Chinese art styles. It was entirely intentional to evoke the ancient times and was a great choice that shows off what animation can do.

Legion

It gets lost in the rest of the episode which is fantastic and could be gushed over at length, but I love the opening with the use of fire to sense the darkness. We've generally seen fire used for power, corrupted or otherwise, such as with Sozin, Ozai and even the power generators Mako worked at. It's nice to see fire used in harmony with the spiritual energy, it reminds me a lot of Jeong Jeong in the first series.

Brandon

Oh what, more in the afternoon?? Awesome! So glad you guys decided to upload the 2-parter at once! They're one (two?) of the best episodes in both ATLA and LOK.

Oops. Literally just posted the exact same info. 😳

Tan B

YAY!! So glad you guys finally saw Beginnings! These episodes is the first of a few reasons why I can’t shit on season 2. Ok. So you guys were wondering about the origins of bending. Doubtless there will be tons of explanations; but, I still want to share this with you because it made my day over a month ago. Serena Williams asked a similar question and got really good responses. I scanned for spoilers and saw none. But, honestly, you only need to read the first reply. Link below: <a href="https://twitter.com/serenawilliams/status/975934803974475776?s=21" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/serenawilliams/status/975934803974475776?s=21</a>

Tan B

I can't wait for part 2 ... soooo hyped^^

CatBRO

Wan (万) means ten thousands in Chinese!

Jackie

Can't wait for the second part, I'm fucking excited 😂

Lester

I love you guys....you give the best reaction and this episode change the game in Korra to make it become great from here on out in this series. This is the moments that make Season 3 epic and Season 4 great!

Remember, Toph said that the Badgermoles bending was their way of interacting with the world

Polina Romanova

Haha, your hype is contagious

Also, this episode isnt one of the ones that saved them money on animation, this one was done by studio Mir, and cost MORE. They saved their budget early on to pay for this uniquely animated 2-parter. Animating it like a watercolor painting isnt easy

Feyd-akin Skywalker

Serena Williams recently asked on Twitter how the origin of bending works, given the different explanations in Avatar and Korra, and the answer is that Lion Turtles have humans the ability to bend, but humans learned better bending techniques from the "first benders", the dragons, badger moles, sky bison, and...moon. Whether those animals were inherently benders or were given the power by lion turtles before the beginning of time, who knows? Maybe the Lion Turtles are gods, and created all the animals, or maybe those animals always had bending. We do know that the lion turtles bend energy, so they can give and take away bending, like Aang and Korra can.

Feyd-akin Skywalker

This episode is beautiful, reminds me of original series

Yes exactly! The lionturtles gave humans the physical ability of bending while the animals taught them the techniques or 'martial art' of bending. That has always been how I've seen it, glad I'm not alone :)

Jules Eris

Thank you for both parts!!!

Angel

I’m excited for part 2 to see the epic conclusion of “skip dinner and fuck your schedule Saraj”

Andrea C.

They did come first. As you'll find out next episode they are even older than the spirits of Rava and Vatu

Nicholas Copsy

Thank you guys for releasing part 2 later today

IMO the lion turtles and the bending animals coexisted at the same time. The animals (dragons, badger moles, air bison) could naturally bend, but humans used to have to artificially get it from lion turtles, and were only able to permanently keep it when they left the lion turtles, thus passing their abilities down to their children and getting the bending population of today. After leaving the lion turtles, they could only 'use' their elemental abilities and not truly bend. When they started to build societies they learnt the proper way of using elements as an extension of their body from observing the natural bending of the three types of animals and the moon.

Shirley

The lion turtles were the first benders in the next episode when they decided to no longer gave humans bending abilities, instead they passed them on to the animals who would teach them to humans

oh shit, this is early acces o:

Jjj.

I think The Lion turtles came first, and gave the bending to humans. The humans were able to learn and perfect their bending styles from the animals that also shared the element. There’s a scene where Wan in doing the dragon dance and he’s learning from a dragon.

Andrea C.

React to You reacting to your first episode of Avatar. It be cool to see you guys see how you acted toward the show

Trav

Oh shit both parts in one week! I had hoped this would happen but definitely thought y’all would hold off on it. Thank you very much! Great morning.

Brandon Hughes

Thanks for releasing the second part as well today!

Omg yes been waiting for this for to fuckubg long can't wait see the reaction now

Jarryd Thompson

First

Jarryd Thompson