There's no change of tune, and I wish you'd quit trying to score these cheap "gotchas." I enjoy the character in large part because she gets humbled from time to time. If Katara didn't take Toph down a peg a few times, if Toph's own stupid arrogance didn't get her captured repeatedly, if she didn't need correction from Uncle Iroh because she had no idea how to train Aang, etc. etc. Toph would be insufferable.
Who are these fans that cheered? How many of them, and why did they cheer? Vague fuzzy appeals to the bandwagon that can't be backed up are weak. Let's talk numbers.
She's also not as popular as you're trying to claim. F'rex on Fanfiction.net, you'll find only 5.1K stories with Toph as the main character vs. 9.8K for Aang, 16.7K for Katara, and an impressive 19.2K for Zuko. Toph is good for memes but lacks actual staying power. How about drawings? Toph has 57.3K Deviations, Aang has 72.5, Katara has 80.8, and Zuko has 91.4. Toph does not actually draw the attention a "Fan Favorite" that everybody cheers for would.
They're not "gotchas", you're not required to like Korra, or Toph. I just think at this point it's clear that what we enjoy and appreciate in stories and characters is fundamentally different.
I'm not going to debate about Toph's popularity. I'll just say that I've been part of the fandom from the start and I know that a sentiment like "It always put a smile on my face to see her humbled" is just starkly at odds with the general fan perception of the character. And you're not even accurately remembering the series; Iroh didn't "correct" Toph because she had "no idea how to train Aang" (Toph actually helped Iroh as much as he helped her).
As for FF.net and DeviantArt, @LindyAF is right that your sample there is really skewed by the demographic of those sites. They're heavily skewed towards female fans wanting to make fanfic/fanart of their favorite romantic pairing. That's why Katara and Zuko are way far out ahead, because Zuko/Katara has always been the most popular "ship" among female fans. It's not a meaningful indicator of popularity among the wider fanbase.
You realize this isn't an argument you can actually win?
If you want to pull out "different points in training" Korra's over the top because she was bending three elements at once as a five-year-old.
If you don't then she's over the top due to beating down three guys in her first five minutes of screentime compared to Aang taking multiple episodes to win his first fight.
Either way, you lose.
Oh sure. The scene where Korra is shown as a kid having already unlocked three elements is "over the top". That's part of why I like it. And I don't take it as some kind of knock against Aang.
The jump forward to the present is hardly over the top though, when you take into consideration all of the context that it's a test to show that she has mastered firebending, the three guys are unnamed nobodies, and Aang was doing much, much more badass things when he was 12. As a starting point for Korra's story, the White Lotus instructor is clear to point out that Korra still needs to unlock airbending and master the spiritual side of bending, setting those up as the shortcomings Korra has and the challenges she needs to overcome. I'm fine with that being the starting point for Korra's journey that we're shown.
Also, saying Aang "took multiple episodes to win his first fight" is just blatantly misrepresenting ATLA.
There's some other reasons for Korra's decline in viewship over time, especially the drop between the 1st Season and 2nd, as IIRC, the First Season was actually AIRED on TV, while the 2nd was moved to streaming only with very little fanfare or advertisement. I remember when it actually aired and it was a complete pain to watch the new episodes as the streaming at the time was... poor.
Season 2 aired on TV, but there was over a year gap between it and Season 1. Season 1 was relatively successful in a Saturday morning time slot, but Season 2 moved to a Friday night timeslot that wasn't as successful. They also floated around the actual air time, one night it could be 7 PM, the next week 8 PM, and next 7:30. If it aired at all, as there were weeks without new episodes. Nickelodeon did bugger all to promote Season 2, and at the end they did this thing where "if this Facebook post gets 10,000 likes we'll release the finale online before it even airs!" Then Season 3 aired its first half on television, two episodes a week. Halfway through they pulled it from the air and just started releasing episodes on Nick.com. It was all just an absolute mess.
I know. The wokeists were pissed.
Yes, thank you. Thematically Season 1 of Legend of Korra ends up with this kind of anti-woke progressivism message that I actually don't think the creators intended. Considering the series came out before the BLM movement started as that guy pointed out, it's surprisingly prescient.
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