Avatar: The Last Airbender & The Legend of Korra: Best Fight / Battle Scenes Tournament (Closed)

They knocked out the Earth Palace Invasion, which was then revived at the end of Stage 1, Roku's Temple, and Korra Vs. Tarrlok. I wouldn't call any of this lucky.

Palace invasion :)

@tektonic: They talked about it for two pages, just like with every other significant sequence... four or five if you want to include them just talking about the locations of the episode and some extra storyboards from all season at the end.

I include set piece pages directly related to the fight as in where they fought over, because they explain how it adds to the grandness and scale of the fight. But just to clarify.

Pg. 162, 163, 170(Set Piece Pages the fight takes place at)

Pg 164, 165, 167, 174, 175(Talk about and show the fight itself)

Pg 172, 173(Korra fighting the poison with the RL)

Pg 185(Ancillary Art referencing fight)

Also when you say other significant sequences, it actually is why I see how much they value this fight specifically Ant.

I won't bring up the ATLA artbooks because to be fair they were in general wayyy smaller, so even Aang vs Ozai gets little attention. But as far as LOK artbooks are concerned:

Korra vs Amon, Vaatu, Unalaq, Kuvira(R2) - 0 Pages(Bizarre I know)

Korra vs Unavaatu - Pg. 154, 164, 166, 168, 169(Talk about fight)

Pg. 155, 165, 167(Set piece and designs)

Korra vs Kuvira R1(74, 75, 80)

So the one that comes closest is the Kaiju fight, out of the four books, which really emphasizes the importance and value of these two final battles.

And they didn't say it was the greatest, they said it was their favorite.

Yes he said it was his favorite, but he briefly explained why as a professional in the industry. And quipped it was good enough to show to his grandkids.

Michael also as someone familiar with Joaquim's career in action sequences said it was very impressive even within his long resume, and also briefly explained why.

Let's chill for a moment. This ranking is not objective by any means.

That's fine, I just enjoy repping for Korra and am glad it came this close.

@azronger:

Cola, load your thread spam cannon. There is work to be done

Sadly, I'm finishing my Eslay competition story so no spam for a couple of days. Unless we get the extension. Then it's on.

Korra vs Kuvira

Korra vs Zaheer was, without doubt, the best fight in The Legend of Korra.

Starting off, these guys are a threat. I don't believe for one moment anyone ever thought the Siege of the North would end in anyone's favor but the good guys', since the show had a clear end goal: Aang vs Ozai (one of the two fights better than this one). But in this situation, not only is Korra facing an unprecedented threat in the form of a modern-day airbender, she's facing a modern-day airbender who wants to kill her and do so in the Avatar State specifically. On a personal level, Zaheer was more of a threat to Korra than anyone else was, and he showed the means to do it here by poisoning her and... waiting. We watch as Korra helplessly endures mental and physical torture, trying to keep from going into the Avatar State because the very thing that could help her, we are led to believe would doom her, and we already know that it will, inevitably, happen. But until then, we have to wait and watch as Korra experiences untold pain.

And we're scared. Because this might be truly be the end for Korra.

Then she goes into the Avatar State. She fights back, dominating her opponents, but that's ok for them. Because they don't have to fight, they just have to stall. And that's what Zaheer does, Korra falling for the ploy because she's no longer herself. In the single best animation we've ever seen, Korra chases Zaheer like a starving lion chasing a gazelle, the momentum endless and the power of the walking natural disaster that the Avatar State is on full display. Zaheer doesn't fight fairly, not really fighting at all. It's frustrating because, in the back of our minds, we know that Korra isn't in Aang's situation. Even though she may not have a problem killing Zaheer, she has to catch him. And where Aang was in control, Korra has none. Where Ozai was a helpless man fleeing for his life, Zaheer is biding his time until he can accomplish his goal. It's no longer a story; it's unmistakably real.

Korra getting Zaheer with water takes a burden off our shoulders. For one moment, Korra has taken control, and we know that's all the Avatar needs- one moment. And she goes to capitalize on it....

Then the poison takes over and ten burdens are shoved back on our shoulders. The god has bled. Zaheer's moving slower when he flies back up because he's no longer rushing. He knows what we know.

He's won.

There's the ace in the hole being knocked around like a piece of paper. In a matter of moments, the greatest hope of the series, the deus ex machina, the Superman that saves the day has been taken down. There's nothing logical that can happen to save Korra here, and with Zaheer's words, we truly believe he may accomplish what the Crown Princess Azula, Fire Lord Ozai, even the Dark Avatar himself could not and, with nothing more than the skill of a novice and some cheap tricks, end the Avatar Cycle. For good.

Zaheer's move he used on the Earth Queen, a terrifying scene in and of itself, only furthers our fears. It's only a moment away.

But then the airbenders step in and, with teamwork, not even Zaheer could overpower them. He struggles to get away, but with triumphant happiness, we realize what's happening.

Zaheer's losing.

In that moment of happiness, we forget the important issue. And it's brought back to our attention when Korra falls down and we realize that Zaheer's capture doesn't mean Zaheer's loss. Because Korra's about to die, and we can't imagine a way she'll escape it. Even when we're given the shimmer of light that Suyin might save her, we still aren't certain till the poison comes out and Korra's eyes aren't white. This still isn't the end, of course, since the fight drives the expertly written arc Korra has in book 4.

The only bad thing about the fight is the Bolin gag at the end. But even the big 2 had their notable flaws. This fight was a simple masterpiece and the Siege of the North isn't even close to it.

Alright, I'll give a detailed post now, itself even if this is one of the biggest mismatches.

Of the four parallel fights that happened during the Sozin's comet, this was the only fight that thematically represented Fire Nation vs Fire Nation. The last agni kai was the literal culmination of the two best character arcs in the show, Zuko and Azula.

The conversation at the start just showed how much the banished prince had come since his early days. A guy that is susceptible to manipulation and jumps into everything based on his instinctive emotions without thinking things out was able to see through Azula to know she was finally snapping into insanity and was authoritative to know this was the moment when he could win the battle, in extension, his part of the war without having casualties.

Coming to princess, her fall from grace was subtly shown right from her introduction, when the very first time she shot lightning, a strand of hair was out of place. I thought this was done really well in a thematic sense when the final battle had her hair all over the place, depicting how much she is obsessed on perfection and staying without weaknesses, due to all the lies fed to her from her father, the only person she feared. Coming to perfection, this battle did well to depict that she was not perfect, as Iroh mentioned, breath is the key for firebending and agni kais, Azula was visibly struggling to maintain it to perfection, while her brother wasn't having any problems. This was exactly the opposite scenario when they previously fought in Book-2 episode - 1.

Most important mention to Katara as well since she was equally important in winning the fight. Another character that had a brilliant arc in the series and was great to watch her heal Zuko after putting an end to the mad princess. Katara, has always been the only person in the show that Azula never managed to unnerve despite several fights. It was fitting she finally defeated Azula in the end and healed Zuko.

Coming objectively to the fight itself, the choreography and the bending quality is second only to Aang vs Ozai in my opinion. The colour combination and the background theme were simply breathtaking.

If I had to describe this sequence, I'd put it as a masterpiece.

I'd have this fight scene in the top 3 in the franchise, objectively.

@anthp2000: Is it the whole Zuko & Katara Vs Azula fight or just Zuko?

Even if it’s just Zuko my vote goes to the Agni Kai, I’m just wondering

@anthp2000: Is it the whole Zuko & Katara Vs Azula fight or just Zuko?

Even if it’s just Zuko my vote goes to the Agni Kai, I’m just wondering

Agni Kai, deserves to be runner up at least.

The fact people are actually voting the Crossroads.... Maybe I just hold it in far lower esteem than others, idk, but how people are voting for it is beyond me.

I am also voting for the Agni Kai. The masterpiece of western animation.

Maybe it's just pity votes?

I am also voting for the Agni Kai. The masterpiece of western animation.

Maybe it's just pity votes?

Normally they specify that. But then again people were voting for Katara talking to some one-off character over the beard grab so I guess anything's possible.