Avatar LEGEND OF KORRA reaction episode 9: Out of the Past - LOK React 

Goodwin: **mentions sokka** Sweater lord: *Vietnam War flashbacks*

1:11 to quote Aang... "I know you can't really talk. Pretending you can just helps me think. * Momo noises* I'm going to pretend I didn't pretend to hear that."

This is truly a comment section for enlightened Intellectuals, I truly feel refined being present in this environment

It hurts because they didn’t personally ask to be benders. It’s something they were born with. They are being targeted for being themselves. It relates a lot in my opinion to race and sexuality. They are being targeted for something they can’t control and having that taken away is sad

I love this so much lol you give me an entire dose of dopamine when I see your notifications for new videos

I love your philosophical/psychological commentary ❤️

thanks for great korra reactions as always

To answer the question as to why does it seem painful to have it stripped away. (I originally wrote 2 super long answers but they went off on multiple tangents sonic deleted them both) To put it plainly. Imagine you take a bird. You take the bird and clip it's wings. You now tell the bird you did it for equality because other species can't fly up there with you. While a more gruesome analogy it applies directly to the scene. Their ability is literally their wings and have had them stripped.

What you're saying about "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" is right ethically and I agree with it, but sometimes ethics have to take a backseat to necessity; survival trumps practically all other considerations. Ideally you just avoid making enemies.

The fact that you always upload right when i'm about to go to sleep...

aang: someone call an ambulance also aang: but not for me

“What are you?” “I...am the solution” Hands down one of my favorite lines in TLOK. Sooooo badass.

Naga spelled backwards is Agan, but Naga also means snake in hindi, and snake spelled backwards is Ekans, which everyone knows is a pretty good Pokemon. That was Tarlok's plan.

I love the voice actors for toph and aang, it sounds like them but as adults if that makes any sense.

Aang: "I'm dying! I'm dying! I'm dy-" 😨😨😨 *(Enters The Avatar State)* 😡😡😡 Aang: *"LOL NOPE!!!"*

*Korra screaming in a great deal of pain from her organs being rearranged by Tarrlok Goodwin TV: Visible Respect

I think Tarrlok's plan wasn't really a plan on purpose. His actual plan was to accumulate power by focusing on the Equalists - highlight an enemy, then gain public support by being the one to challenge them. He may loose support of non-benders, but it draws to him benders that are terrified of the terrorist threat. However, things want awry when Korra went to see him. He originally intended to co-op the Avatar's support by holding her friends hostage, thus further promoting him as the symbol of the benders under attack. This didn't work out, but it wasn't Korra's refusal that threw him off (he could have just kept her friends as prisoners then). It was Korra comparing him to Amon. Being compared to the ultimate enemy of Republic City, the man that he has based his entire life around fighting and someone he probably legitimately believes is a great evil (despite also using him as a political tool), caused him to lash out. If you watch the scene closely, being called Amon triggered instant rage, and attacking the Avatar likely wasn't at all his plan. However once he went down that route, he couldn't go back, and was simply floundering to get out of it. The best cover he could come up with was an Equalist attack, which makes sense, while imprisoning Korra far from Republic City. It isn't a good plan, but it wasn't really a plan at all - it was the best he could come up with at the moment after his emotional outburst in a moment of weakness changed everything.

I can relate a lot to the idea of why taking someones bending away feels so.. sad. I lost the use of my legs just over 4 years ago and its like losing a part of yourself in a way, like there's a hole there that can no longer be filled once it's gone. It's kind of like you don't realise what you are missing until it's gone, and once it is your never really the same person again. God LoK plays with my emotions.

The way Amon says "I am the solution" is **chef's kiss**

"For some reason it hurts the most seeing Toph being bloodbended" makes so much sense becuase she has always been so confident in her abilities and the power she possessed. And when Yakone lifted her off the ground she was left completely blind and helpless 😭

Amon: *"I am the solution."* (Says that so effortlessly but also makes it sound absolutely terrifying)

I love how terrified Amon actually makes Korra. Even Tarrlok, with his unique and OP bloodbending, she's confrontational and angry and she wants to fight him even when she has absolutely no chance of winning or even surviving. She's still acting tough. Running wouldn't even cross her mind. But once Amon shows up, yea, she's done. All of that disappears in an instant. There's just pure terror in her eyes. Amazing villain imo and the best one of both series!

And for the question about “Why is losing bending is so harmful?”: it’s part of their persona, it is a great gift, for a lot of those people it is a basis for their life. It’s like you lose a most important part of yourself

"I am the solution" 😶 I was waiting for this one.

I used to despise Korra but watching these with you is opening my eyes to things in the show I never gave credit to. I assumed that EVERTHING is bad when that’s not the truth at all P.s I’m loving these reactions☺️

In the imbalance comics, there is a situation that happens that deals with a possible solution being to remove someone’s bending. Katara explains to aang how it’s basically like taking someone’s personality away from them as bending is apart of who that person is. So it’s a very serious thing that benders worry about seeing as they have their personality taken away from them that they’ve grown up and how hard it is to adapt to that kind of change.

Your question was answered: Through Sokka’s exposition, Katara outlawed blood bending, and didn’t teach it to anyone, which is why Korra is defenseless against Tarlock

Yakone is voiced by Clancy Brown, the same guy who voiced Lon Fieng in ATLA and he also voices Lex Luthor in multiple DC projects.

Watching someone lose their bending is like watching a person become a cripple. Like watching a great artist lose the use of their hands, or a beautiful person get horribly disfigured. It was something they could do or were, inherently, something they trained to improve and built part of their lives around, and suddenly, it's taken away. It's a bastardization of basic humanity, a trespass on the nature of ones being, that's why it can be felt so strongly.

As far as I can tell, Taarlok's plan was always essentially for him to stop the Equalists and be the hero. But then Korra came to Republic City and he had to do some political gymnastics to remain in the spotlight. He seems like the type who wants to be the hero but who thinks just being powerful affords him the right, and when someone else who is hypothetically more powerful than him, and who is theoretically predestined to be THE hero, threatens his position of power, everything sort of goes off the rails all at once. Amon accelerates his plans, meaning Taarlok has to work harder to stop him, and he thinks it will make things easier if he just exerts his power, possibly not realizing that his discrimination against non-benders just strengthens Amon's cause and makes his job harder. Then Korra shows up at his office, things get out of hand, and he thinks just getting rid of her is the best solution, blinded by his ambition and his desire to be the number one hero. It makes his loss to Amon simultaneously tragic and satisfying, because I like to think Taarlok started out with good intentions but got lost in his own ambition and power. Also, Amon's line "I am the solution" was really the first time watching the series that I was afraid of him. Because being able to take bending away is really scary, yeah, and it's clear that his skill and his cunning are formidable. He's easily able to dodge skilled attackers, and he understands how taking Korra's bending away would have hurt his cause. But that line is what made me realize: for all his posturing, he truly believes that bending is a problem, and that he is the only solution to that problem. His conviction is real, and it's terrifying. One last note, as far as anyone knows, bloodbending requires the same martial arts motions as waterbending, and Yakone's hands were bound. And yet, even cuffed, he was able to bloodbend without any noticeable movement. All in all I love watching you react and talk about this show, and the next few episodes are going to be fantastic.

Your own version of the soundtrack is 10/10

I love seeing the gaang as adults, I wish we could've seen more of them

Am i the only one who gets chills when Aang went into the Avatar State with full control over it.

The hate on SONY, clearly you're out for blood 😂 Also so nice seeing our Aged Gaang👁👄👁

I'd say losing bending is so tragic bc it's a part of them. It's like you losing your vision. People who were born without sight (nonbenders) don't really care too much bc that's just their normal life. Kinda like Toph. It's just how she is. Maybe she's a little envious of having sight but that's about it. Meanwhile, losing sight when you've had it all your life is a completely different thing. Having sight was your normal and losing that is crippling. Another way to look at it is bending is a skill. It's a talent. What are you most talented at? Art? Video making? Math? Imagine that ability being taken completely away from you. Having passion and skill in something is really important. It's a great thing to have and makes you who you are. Losing that is sort of like losing yourself. It's tragic on multiple levels. If I was suddenly bad at coding, I wouldn't know what to do with my life. I'd feel worthless. That's why seeing these talented people losing what they worked so hard for their whole lives is difficult to watch, I feel.

I believe that bending should be treated more than a gift or magic. For their universe, it’s a human trait. And some humans were born with that trait. Like how some humans are stronger, faster, smarter or spiritual. We relate to the benders who lost their bending because it makes us think what if I lose something that makes me unique as a person. You may find this theme in an anime called Mob Psycho 100, where psychic abilities are treated as a human trait and those who abuse their powers are people who never grew up and live out their lives thinking they are more important than others because of their innate powers, which is relatable because we all want to feel special in some ways by relying on the gifts we are born with.

It's a pattern that an Avatar solves previous Avatar's problem and create another problem for the future Avatar.

The continuity of the melon lord reactions is what brings me joy every single time you upload. Melon Lord shall live forever.

Seeing Amon walk through Bloodbending while everyone else suffered was the most terrifying scene of this season, especially out of all the Amon scenes they ever made. 😨😨😨😨😨

Aang dealt with the aftermath of Roku's mistake. *Now Korra has to deal with the aftermath of Aang's mistake.*

In the comics Katara was discussing energy bending with aang explaining to him that taking one's bending away is like taking a piece of one's identity away

that sokka-melon lord edit lmao sweater lord be sweatin

God damn Amon has one hell of a presence!

I just love how these reactions are uploaded exactly when I wake up ☺️ Thank you for all the Avatar content, greetings from Russia 🤍🤍

I think something else to note about the loss of bending is that it’s being violently removed. They are stripped of their agency, autonomy, and, in the end, of part of their humanity. It’s traumatic, and not dissimilar to rape. These benders are being kidnapped and violently stripped of a piece of their identity. It’s a loss of innocence in a way

I think the fact that it feels so wrong to see someone loose there bending ability is that it feels so part of their life that if they loose it, they loose a part of them, or what makes them who they are.

Aang: "Call an ambulance!! Call an ambulance!!!" *Avatar State* Aang: "But not for me!"

Bending is almost like a physical extension of themselves. I imagine it's like being amputated against your will.

My only gripe with this episode is Aang forgets to say, “Avatar State, yip yip!”

I feel like the reason it’s painful to lose bending is because it’s a part of them. It’s part of how they express themselves and it’s a innate gift that they were born with. In an instant that gift that they had to learn to cultivate and practice and that feeling that contributed to who they were is gone. I sort of think of it as like a painter who loses his/her hands and can no longer paint. The tools they had to express themselves and create is gone and at least for some time they feel empty because they have to figure out how to navigate that. I don’t know I may be wrong. Love the videos though

its like an athlete getting injured that they can never ever do the sport they love again.

*“It is time for you to be Equalised!!”* *“I Am the solution”* Two of the best lines in the show hands down!

I love how much darker The Legend of Korra is, while still maintaining the levity and humor of the last air bender.

Ahh yes I remember when this episode first came out. Amon being able to resist blood bending drives a lot of speculations. It was so fun reading them. Oh yeah plus about losing bending. Try to remember that becoming a bender one must be gifted and they also need to train it to be something useful. Losing it means they lost not only the inborn gift, but also hours, days even years of training.

Day 35 of commenting on Goodwin's videos to help him with the RU-vid algorithm Keep up the constant reactions man! Your reactions are entertaining as always and you've even increased the comedy haha

This is my all-time favorite episode from the entire series of TLOK

3:35 not technically a spoiler, but for some people, even Katara takes great pride in being a bender. When she explains to Toph that Ty Lee can temporarily take bending, she felt scared and helpless. And in the comics too in Imbalance, she's more biased to side with benders than nonbenders when it comes to privilege. She says that bending is part of her identity and without it, she don't feel whole (non-verbatim) which is a little discrediting to Sokka's accomplishments IMO.

*waterbending in ATLA seasons 1-2: MEH 🤷🏻‍♂️ *Season 3: OMG WATERBENDING 😨🌕🩸 *Waterbending in Legend of Korra seasons 1-3 Ahhhh AHHHH! WATERBENDING! RUUUUNNN 😱😱😱😵

I don’t normally do this cause I am a patient person but like if legit become a Patreon If you had one so I could watch the next episode rn

I think Tarrlok starts making more sense when we get into his backstory.

Love ur music impressions, keep it like that, and show Sonic who rules over here. Love ur videos always watched as soon as released

Actually thinking about it, there were a lot of situations in ATLA where characters lost their bending in some way. Ty Lee chi blocking (most notably Azula), Zuko and Iroh becoming fugitives in the Earth Kingdom (so hiding their firebending), team Avatar hiding their bending in the fire nation, Hama’s imprisonment to prevent her from waterbending, Katara/Toph in the desert...I’m sure there’s more. All of these have some sort of connection to a loss or concealing of identity... sometimes temporary and other times permanent.

losing bending is like losing an arm or losing a sense, its a part of you, and there are loads of people who live perfectly fine without them but having it be a part of your being and then losing it must be scary and emotionally traumatic

9:03 yeaaaaaah the seams of the show’s writing show in a lot of places, but the writing of villains’ plans are high on the list.

I think that they did try to protect themselves from Yakone by putting him in hand restraints. Bending takes gestures to implement. Now, Bumi could earthbend with just his face and it looks like Yakone can bloodbend in the same way. Why Aang at the very least didn’t take the possibility into consideration is a small hole in the plot; after all, he may be the Avatar but he’s still human.

I really wish they could have gotten the original VA of the ATLA characters to reprise their roles. They all would have been over eighteen and I’m sure would have been able to modify their voices to come off even older than in RL

You talking to the melon is sending me 😹😹😹 Edit: oop- and can't forget the perfect reenactment of the music 👌

Aang: Call an Ambulance!!!! (Triggers Avatar State) Aang: But not for me.

It's analogous of rape. They're violated and left powerless. Although how the show eventually resolves everything kind of [redacted due to not wanting to spoil].

Thanks for posting exactly when I need to go to school😑🇩🇪

I think it's so painful to watch them lose their bending because it's through and through an Extraordinary thing. It's borderline supernatural. And we live in a world of banal in a sense. That's why fantasy and sc fi genre is a great escapisim tools. You might heard alot of people saying "i borned too late for discovering the earth, and i borned too early to discover space", granted that's not true to some extended, you can still discover some bug or deep sea stuff. But alot of people (myself included) feels like we're truely living in banal... With each bender losing their bending, Avatar's World loses a smidgen of its extraordinary thing. And more importantly for that person, they lose what makes them extraordinary... They become banal. They become... well just like us... And to be honest, I would rather die then losing my bending in such a world honestly. I don't think energy bending or taking bending away in any capacity is a better solution then killing someone. That's my idea anyway.

It sad 😞 be Amon basically rapped them my force he invaded their bodies and violated them by taking something that was sacred and Innately there’s

Yes the episode 8 & 9 is my top 2 in this book as we can see the character development for Korra and the villain in this season. And I also love your version of the soundtrack. Melon Lord approves 😂

If anyone deserve to get their bending taken away it was definitely Yakone, even more than Ozai. Yakone was way more dangerous because he could do it anytime he wanted to- with or without the full moon- and he basically has an automatic win unless he's fighting the Avatar as we see in the courtroom while still bonded lol. He can still bend on everybody with his mind so he definitely needed to have his bending taken away or be executed since it's clear he never would've been reformed and stopped.

I was waiting for the new video :(. It's ok tho, take all the time you need :).

Sweater Lord seems so angry all the time :( I hope you feel better soon @SweaterLord

Someone made a point in a FB group I’m in that when Yakone bloodbent Toph, she was essentially completely blind in that moment since her feet were no longer in contact with earth. And at the same time she knew all her friends were being bloodbent as well and she’s powerless to stop it

3:44 it's sad because losing your bending is like losing a part of you

If you like watching fighting movies watch ip man

I think it’s so sad to see people’s bending taken because it must be such a confusing and awful experience. Bending was part of these people’s identities for basically their whole lives and a lot of them probably trained to make it even better and suddenly something that they’ve always had that they could never even imagine losing is gone.

“Tarlok and Amon are similar in key ways”...yep

God I love these reactions!

GOODWIN thank you for more Korra!

I was waiting for this episode, it's one of my favorites of book 1

The only thing I didn't miss from watching these rewatches is the korra x mako x asami ships.

LOL I WAS FALLING ASLEEP HAHAHAHA

Loving the frequency of the reactions ❤️ One of if not my favorite reactor

oh shit am i first? what do i say um

Mako real extra with it 😂

Never clicked so fast in my life

are you gonna get a new watermelon when that one goes bad??

Just here writing something because I have the urge to say something just to get your attention.

I LOVE IT! You're realy making my mornings better with these reactions😄😄😄

Реакция гавно полное , ваще никаких почти эмоций невозможно смотреть, дизлайк

Tarrlok is manipulative. Get it huh? Manipulative huh? Bloodbending = Tarrlok, get it huh? Okay i'm not good at jokes.

Was anyone else triggered when he said Harmonious??? 😳😳😅 if you know you know

"I'm with an adult" I think you'll enjoy the TFS Dragonball Z series

Yakone bloodbending Aang Aang: *dying* Also Aang: oh wait I’m the avatar

This sweaterlord business has peak 2020/lockdown vibes.

ngl, you are like another called Charmx. But you both are equally good