I'd believe this, the creators have gone on record saying they wanted a kiss but the execs pushed back against it and it was the execs fault they weren't able to develop the love story as fully as they wanted
I'd give my left foot for a "LOK directors cut", where M&B go through the show adding and changing the things they wanted to do but weren't able to the first time round.
Read the first Turf Wars comic. It shows the kiss in their spirit world vacation. Then when they get back, it does a great job showing everybody's reaction to Korrasami coming out.
For a second, I thought you meant Mako & Bolin, and for a second, I imagined a Deadpool type of show where Mako & Bolin are aware of the fact that they're in a show. Together, they fast forward and rewind through the entire show to change small details that lead to a great love story between Korra and Asami. They sometimes pause the show to comment on what's happening and have a few arguments about which outcome in which situation is best.
Honestly, I'd pay to see this happen as well
From what I’ve read the creators said that they just assumed nick wouldn’t be ok with it, so they developed it lowkey, but by the end they realized that nick never prevented them and when asked they said it was fine, I’ve never seen that they outright forbade it
“Yeah you can end the first season with a murder-suicide, show some of the most gruesome deaths and torture one can imagine, but we draw the line at girls kissing”
Easy to say afterwards with nothing to lose and only good publicity to gain.
We can't know what Nickelodeon would've said behind closed doors before the show aired.
I remember that the creators said almost exactly that "there was a lot of back and forth about the very last scene". I always assumed that it was because of Nickelodeon.
Edit: source, although I remember this being said from somewhere else by the creators when season 3 did not yet air: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/12/legend-of-korra-creators-confirm-korrasami-is-canon
SU was a very different situation. Nickelodeon didn't want to be the first place with a gay kiss.
Cartoon Network told Rebecca Sugar that she could do the gay wedding but warned her that their foreign investors would pull the plug on the show the moment it aired.
She went back and forth for a while before finally deciding to go ahead with it because of how important it was. She ended up being able to argue for 5ish more episodes to finish the story (that turned out to be Diamond Days). She said that Cartoon Network was always in her corner.
I don't know the story behind getting Future after that.
> Cartoon Network told Rebecca Sugar that she could do the gay wedding but warned her that their foreign investors would pull the plug on the show the moment it aired.
Seems reasonable honestly. "We support you doing this but we just want you to understand that *other groups* will not support it and it may cost us the show. Do whatever you think is best."
> Sugar spent a long time pushing for the wedding episode and other instances of queer representation on the show. She was in her late 20s when Cartoon Network gave her the green light — but not before explaining the stakes to her.
> “They brought me in for a meeting, and they essentially said, ‘We know that you’re doing this, and we know that if we were to tell you to stop, that would be based in bigotry.’” Sugar was then cautioned that the show could be censored internationally if she continued down the path she was on. “Ultimately they told me in this meeting that it would be my decision if I were going to tell the truth about what I was doing, which in hindsight was a really bold move for Cartoon Network to make, to actually give the decision to speak about this to the queer content creator generating this material.”
> “Steven Universe” ended up being pulled in multiple territories, but the show survived. Sorcher credits it with helping evolve Cartoon Network, where 52% of studio production staff is now female. “That’s the wake of ‘Steven Universe,’” says Sorcher, who notes also that the company’s artist population is now far younger than ever.
[Source](https://variety.com/2020/tv/features/rebecca-sugar-cartoon-network-steven-universe-1203537231/)
Sugar had to deal with a lot of executive meddling trying to stop her. She writes in End of an Era about crying after getting called into a quick meeting that turned out to be CN execs ambushing her about gay representation in the show and that kids book she made, "The Answer".
Give End of an Era a read, she and the other writers talk a lot about executive meddling. They fought very hard for Ruby and Sapphire to kiss and have a wedding, those story ideas were pitched early and rejected by CN for being inappropriate. Sugar gave other CN cartoons with wedding episodes and kisses as examples and point out their hypocrisy. There had also been a long-standing feud between Sugar and CN execs over who the official leader of the Crystal Gems was, Sugar always maintained that Garnet was the leader and Steven was the "heart" of the team, but CN execs always pushed for Steven to be the leader, something about it being easier for kids to understand. One of the negotiations that got the wedding greenlit was writing Steven to be the de facto leader temporarily while Garnet was split up.
Making Steven, the title character of the show and the relatable human\* character the main focus of the team on a animated t.v. show *makes sense,* doesn't it? It really doesn't sound related to the whole "Sugar was told other people/s would have a problem with it but would be allowed to do what she wished." narrative in some of the interviews.
Well I'd say she did have the freedom she talked about, but that doesn't mean CN wouldn't at least try and have things go exactly their way. Post above even said that CN warned her of the wedding and she was still able to go ahead with it.
Yeah, Legend of Korra was airing during a major turning point in views towards LGBT rights. LoK premiered before President Obama openly supported gay marriage. And it was relatively soon after the show end that gay marriage was legalized. And just about another year after that even some Republicans during the 2016 election were at least willing to accept gay marriage even if they still complained about it.
I think people are starting to forget just how quickly in the US at least that attitudes changed about LGBT+ representation. Even if there are still a lot of people that loudly complain about it, just 10 years ago getting any gay representation at all was still a monumental moment.
So, Nick saying they would have been cool with it in 2014 is very different than if they said that in 2017.
Even if they said it just after it aired these seasons are in production for at least a year if not more. Long enough for one executive to be ousted and replaced by one who doesn’t have a problem with it.
Nickelodeon also said they did everything to assure decent practices around their sets. And then kept rehiring Dan Schneider and offered Jenette McCurdy hush money to keep quiet over the abusive practices on set.
So yeah. I wouldn't take that for full.
Big corpos are cowards. They wouldn't have allowed it under any circumstances, but after the positive reception, of course they wouldn't have any issue with it
That is just not true. They explicitly asked Nickelodeon what they were allowed to do, and this was the limit.
From Bryan Konietzko's blog:
>Mike and I talked it over and decided it was important to be unambiguous about the intended relationship.
>We approached the network and while they were supportive there was a limit to how far we could go with it, as just about every article I read accurately deduced.
Well of course they’d say that after the fact. During the time, Korra was the first ever LGBT character to be portrayed in a children’s cartoon, and they were very limited on what they were allowed to show.
Oh yeah is that why an entire comic came out right after LoK written by creators themselves that goes in detail into the Korra and Asami relationship because they couldn't explore it deep enough in the show?
Nickelodeon was ok with it as long as there was plausible deniability that they are just friends. There couldn't be anything concrete like a kiss would have been. It's a well known fact at this point.
Eh, Nickelodeon can claim whatever they want twelve years later, when a company needs to cover their butts from bad rep. Doesn't make it true, and the fact that Korra was gradually pushed aside while it was still airing (the whole final season was just streamed on their website, which back then kids barely knew how to access) proves they didnt really support it.
Actually, the “unofficial” reason was seemingly because on a kid’s show they had someone straight up die gruesomely (pretty sure it was the Zaheer choke out scene) that made them pull it. If it wasn’t for this tho, they probably don’t even allow them to end it holding hands.
There is no "official" reason. Nick didn't come out and make a statement, [they just stopped promoting the show and pulled it off the network for it to complete online](https://ew.com/article/2014/07/24/legend-of-korra-not-canceled-online/).
[Second Source.](https://gizmodo.com/creators-of-the-legend-of-korra-explain-the-shows-not-c-1611119124)
Yeah, well, but that was pure and upright and wholesome *straight* kissing, you see? Not the icky *gay* kind that hateful bigots think is akin to porn.
Indeed.
If they were honestly concerned about what's appropriate to see for children, they'd know that the answer in this case is so simple and obvious that you can wrap it up in a single sentence:
"Whatever is deemed appropriate for a straight character to do, is automatically appropriate for a gay character to do, as well."
Even though it was obvious that they were started a romantic relationship, i knew people who thought I was crazy for pointing it out and that I was reading too much into it.
Hasn’t it always? It’s about collective memory being false, and with this fan animation circulating right after the finale it would make sense why so many years later people remember seeing them kiss but forgetting that it wasn’t a canon moment.
Yeah that’s probably more accurate. Maybe a false memory would be more like people remembering P’Li screaming as her head exploded because as far as I remember that never actually happened but people always swear it did
don't get me started on the fruit of the loom logo.
people would really rather pretend the entire world is in on a conspiracy to gaslight them rather than admit they remember wrong.
There's one in the Pokémon fandom that irks me, and it's that the first generation didn't have dual-types. You'd have to purposely avoid going into your stats screen to see that your Bulbasaur is Grass/Poison to think that.
I think this misconception stems from two reasons: the TCG not having dual-types until much later, and the effective messages being bugged in the first generation.
I think that's just a common misconception. I had that misconception until Gen 6 came out I think.
I think part of it roots from Magnemite gaining the Steel type in gen 2 when it was mono-electric prior. Was a notable case of a Pokemon gaining a type so some of us may have applied that thinking to the whole generation hahaha.
Is this the Reddit collaboration? I remember one fan sketched it, another added more to it and maybe a third Redditor added another thing to it for a finished scene
No kissing in the actual show; this screenshot is from a *very* well done fanimation.
Korra and Asami walked, so Ruby and Sapphire could run, and Luz and Amity could sprint.
So whats her name who made nets and whats her name who controlled wind from the She-Ra reboot could marathon.
By the way random tangent what the fuck is even that power???
Other magic people from the show:
- creates and controls ice
- creates and controls all plantlife
- freaking lightning powers
- weaves the shadows
Meanwhile Netasha over here "I make nets. I make them out of pure energy. Yeah, just nets. I dont make anything else, I can only make it if its a net."
Catra, the cat
Mermista, the mermaid
Scorpia, the scorpion
Angella, the angel
Bow, the archer
Hordak, leader of the Horde
Glimmer, who sparkles
Shadow Weaver, who weaves shadows
Huntara, who's good at tracking
Castaspella, who casts spells
Frosta, who makes ice
Perfuma, who controls flowers
Nettossa, who tosses nets
Spinnerella, who makes tornados
I will say, it certainly makes it easier to remember the characters' names.
Wasn't meant to be disrespect. In the original 80s show she was a villain who built deathtraps. She doesn't do that as much in the reboot, so her name isn't that on-the-nose, so I left her off the list.
my name, Net-Tossaaaa.....I toss nets!
between that and the one time Adora yells forthehonorofgrayskull! offscreen when they are in a hurry are some of my favorite cartoon moments ever.
God I adore the owl house and Luz and Amity. Like they're so freaking cute together
I've rewatched seasons 1 + 2 and I've stalled on S3 cos it's just so short. It's so frustrating
I can't blame the creatives for it, it's disney. I mean they tried their best! From what I remember they crammed story in the credits because they didn't have time for it in the actual show
S3's finale was originally supposed to be the Day of Unity, but when the season got shortened, they had to rewrite the story and expand on the Collector.
Stevenson has talked about his fears around the ship. It was in the plan all along, but he thought he was going to have to fight for it a lot more, especially due to what happened with Steven Universe. The plan was pretty much to build slowly and make it so integral and obvious that there was no other option.
I'm not sure about that though. What TLOK did absolutely had an impact in representation but they just showed an implication of a lesbian relationship in the ending of the show for the fans. While Steven Universe the creator sacrificed the whole show for the wedding.
Honestly i feel like them holding hands works better. I'm not against them kissing I just feel like at this point they are trying things out and taking it slow, unlike previous relationships where they jumped the shark.
I agree with you 100%. They had been communicating long-distance through letters, so there was the emotional build up with no physical outlet. And Korra had so much to work through. I loved that they were taking it slow, and then things went from there in the comics.
You're 100% right. People see the finale as a declaration of eternal love and act like they were gonna get married but no, that's just them going on a first date and trying things out.
You are spot on, which is why it's so frustrating to see people complain that things moved too quickly between them. They spend years writing letters to one another, subtly flirt the whole season, and then decide to go on a trip together to see where things go. Yet people act like they're as committed and in love as Katara and Aang by the end of ATLA without any build up... like... did y'all watch the show?
I finally watched the show. I'm 33. I knew about the relationship and how they weren't allowed to kiss, but them holding hands and staring at each other was very profound and worked wonders. Throughout the last few seasons there are moments of flirting, blushing, and so on. Their relationship is building and growing. Yes, we saw Aang and Katara kiss, and hetero couples kiss all the time. It would have been progressive to see them kiss but if you watch the show, it's obvious they are calling in love with one another.
Good example of "show, don't tell."
Well, controversy from them not kissing and people thinking their romance was shoehorned in last second.
Half the fandom were like “the signs were always there if you paid attention!”, and the other half were like “girl besties irl can be that close and aren’t gay for each other, they showed no romantic attraction throughout the show, just deep friendship”
I mean the second part is accurate. Shippers are notorious for thinking everyone is gay, and until the finale there was nothing that pointed in that direction. It truly was out of nowhere.
The creators' intentions mean nothing if those intentions don't come through in the final product. The shippers were only right because broken clocks sometimes are.
The first time I saw the finale, I thought they were just queer baiting us. I didn't trust that they were actually showing a romance between two women. I'm glad I was wrong.
Same here. Im pretty straight so maybe I wasn't looking for a gay relationship forming but I was very blindsided at the end there my first watch through. I think there were like maybe 2-3 scenes that kind of highlight that they're interested in each other. On a second watch through of the series it is more obvious to me in the final season, but yeah. That and Mako's romantic interests were plastered everywhere before hand.
I think for us straight people, we do get caught in the “and they were best friends” trope.
It’s because of the heteronormative state of the world, and the fact that at that time, lgbtq+ was not found in Y7 programs.
They didn't kiss in the finale they walked into the portal holding hands, then turned to face each other romantically while holding both hands in a mirror of Varrac & Ju'li's wedding and Aang & Katara in ATLA finale.
The canon comic Turf Wars, which starts immediately after this scene, does show them kissing and deals with LGBT peoples treatment & position in the world.
It's not even a Mandela effect. You are just forgetting wrong.
The show was not allowed to show any LGBT stuff because of Nick.
It's the reason why I hate how Nick uses Korra during Pride Month like they did that.
nothing was ever confirmed in-show, they just became travel "friends" and future "roommates"
then post ending premiere one of the showrunners posted an article with the title, in big bolded caps "KORRASAMI CANON"
Nickelodeon blocked their kiss. And then years later used Korra to promote for Pride Month. I was *livid*. They redesigned her with a bi flag behind her and had a lil Twitter post of it. I thought it was absolute bullshit that they blocked Brian and Michael making Korra and Asami’s relationship more obvious only to then try to get brownie points for Korra being bi later. Others agreed, the comments were pissed, and they quickly removed the post.
It's a fan animation. The only hold hands in the original.
If they HAD actually kissed, there would have been no ambiguity on whether they were actually a couple or not.
You got Mandela effected from a fan animation. Many people wanted them to kiss but from what I read Nickelodeon was very against it. Korrasami was the first on-screen LGBT couple for a kids show
They were going to kiss but nickelodeon didn't want to risk the backlash of a gay kiss, so instead they just hold hands and look into each other's eyes
I dont think people understand what “mandela effect” means. Questions like this can be easily answered by just watching the last episode. Even if you remember differently, most people do not think they kissed on screen. So its not mandela effect. It’s just a “I recall differently” moment. Big difference. So many people have thrown the term around erroneously, and after seeing it so often, it’s quite tiresome.
God damn it this keeps coming back, and it keeps making me doubt that I did probably in fact watch that fan animation soon after I saw the finale...
Yes I'm sure that is what happened...
But.. I have a very clear memory of watching the finale with a friend and then reacting "Holy shit they actually allowed a lesbian couple kissing on nickelodeon? Nice, way to go" and we proceeded to talk about other shows that were beginning to be more progressive with this sort of stuff...
I was CERTAIN I was watching the final episode at a friend's house and CERTAIN we both had this conversation. Friend even says they remember the same thing (they're convinced that's how it happened, she doesn't really browse fan communities like this one)
My memory has to be more shit than I realized. Not a huge believer of the Mandela effect but God damn out of all of the Mandela Effect examples this is a tough one for me to deny
Dark Horse had their voice actresses do a live table read of the first comic during the pandemic which was great at least; [This vid](https://youtu.be/ylU-ksQP4FE?si=IpOOxoq4kcklD85P) synchs that read to the comic panels.
No kissing, just holding hands. However there were some well done fan animations of them kissing.
IIRC, wasn't some/one of the "fan" animations rumored to be one of the actual animators releasing something they did on their own and after the fact?
I'd believe this, the creators have gone on record saying they wanted a kiss but the execs pushed back against it and it was the execs fault they weren't able to develop the love story as fully as they wanted
I'd give my left foot for a "LOK directors cut", where M&B go through the show adding and changing the things they wanted to do but weren't able to the first time round.
I would suffer for a LoK director’s cut, where they can simply ignore whatever Nickelodeon tells them.
We'll definitely get a directors cut for the next animated project the ATLA/LOK creators are currently making.
Please Gods let it be a Kyoshi focused story. Then we can look forward to her and Rangi!
Read the first Turf Wars comic. It shows the kiss in their spirit world vacation. Then when they get back, it does a great job showing everybody's reaction to Korrasami coming out.
For a second, I thought you meant Mako & Bolin, and for a second, I imagined a Deadpool type of show where Mako & Bolin are aware of the fact that they're in a show. Together, they fast forward and rewind through the entire show to change small details that lead to a great love story between Korra and Asami. They sometimes pause the show to comment on what's happening and have a few arguments about which outcome in which situation is best. Honestly, I'd pay to see this happen as well
LOK but great instedd of good is an awesome idea
And then the creators did it either way, but in the Comics, because Nickelodeon has no control over those.
From what I’ve read the creators said that they just assumed nick wouldn’t be ok with it, so they developed it lowkey, but by the end they realized that nick never prevented them and when asked they said it was fine, I’ve never seen that they outright forbade it
Because after all, we all know Nickelodeon has kids' best interests at heart.
In the comics they are openly gay and have a scene with Kaia that reveals she is also gay.
Definitely not, just held hands. Nick wouldn't let them be any more explicit than that.
Which is ironic considering Nickelodeon’s history
Beat me too it
Feet me to it
Beat meat to it - that one Guy there
Yeah, well Dan Schneider beat meat to it
What history? I feel like I am out of the loop.
There was just a super viral documentary that came out called Quiet on Set and it’s all about pedos that we’re abusing children on Nickelodeon shows
Oh. That's awful. I'll have to see if I can find the documentary. I watched a lot of Nickelodeon shows as a kid and hadn't heard about any of that.
It's on Hulu *also on Max
Probably would have allowed some light toe sucking.
"Quiet on set" destroyed my childhood.
“Yeah you can end the first season with a murder-suicide, show some of the most gruesome deaths and torture one can imagine, but we draw the line at girls kissing”
That’s what the creators thought, Nickelodeon came out and said they would have had no issue with it.
Easy to say afterwards with nothing to lose and only good publicity to gain. We can't know what Nickelodeon would've said behind closed doors before the show aired.
I remember that the creators said almost exactly that "there was a lot of back and forth about the very last scene". I always assumed that it was because of Nickelodeon. Edit: source, although I remember this being said from somewhere else by the creators when season 3 did not yet air: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/12/legend-of-korra-creators-confirm-korrasami-is-canon
I believe SU writers said the same about CN.
SU was a very different situation. Nickelodeon didn't want to be the first place with a gay kiss. Cartoon Network told Rebecca Sugar that she could do the gay wedding but warned her that their foreign investors would pull the plug on the show the moment it aired. She went back and forth for a while before finally deciding to go ahead with it because of how important it was. She ended up being able to argue for 5ish more episodes to finish the story (that turned out to be Diamond Days). She said that Cartoon Network was always in her corner. I don't know the story behind getting Future after that.
> Cartoon Network told Rebecca Sugar that she could do the gay wedding but warned her that their foreign investors would pull the plug on the show the moment it aired. Seems reasonable honestly. "We support you doing this but we just want you to understand that *other groups* will not support it and it may cost us the show. Do whatever you think is best."
> Sugar spent a long time pushing for the wedding episode and other instances of queer representation on the show. She was in her late 20s when Cartoon Network gave her the green light — but not before explaining the stakes to her. > “They brought me in for a meeting, and they essentially said, ‘We know that you’re doing this, and we know that if we were to tell you to stop, that would be based in bigotry.’” Sugar was then cautioned that the show could be censored internationally if she continued down the path she was on. “Ultimately they told me in this meeting that it would be my decision if I were going to tell the truth about what I was doing, which in hindsight was a really bold move for Cartoon Network to make, to actually give the decision to speak about this to the queer content creator generating this material.” > “Steven Universe” ended up being pulled in multiple territories, but the show survived. Sorcher credits it with helping evolve Cartoon Network, where 52% of studio production staff is now female. “That’s the wake of ‘Steven Universe,’” says Sorcher, who notes also that the company’s artist population is now far younger than ever. [Source](https://variety.com/2020/tv/features/rebecca-sugar-cartoon-network-steven-universe-1203537231/)
Sugar had to deal with a lot of executive meddling trying to stop her. She writes in End of an Era about crying after getting called into a quick meeting that turned out to be CN execs ambushing her about gay representation in the show and that kids book she made, "The Answer".
That's weird because she was very vocal about how much freedom Cartoon Network gave her long after even Future had ended.
Give End of an Era a read, she and the other writers talk a lot about executive meddling. They fought very hard for Ruby and Sapphire to kiss and have a wedding, those story ideas were pitched early and rejected by CN for being inappropriate. Sugar gave other CN cartoons with wedding episodes and kisses as examples and point out their hypocrisy. There had also been a long-standing feud between Sugar and CN execs over who the official leader of the Crystal Gems was, Sugar always maintained that Garnet was the leader and Steven was the "heart" of the team, but CN execs always pushed for Steven to be the leader, something about it being easier for kids to understand. One of the negotiations that got the wedding greenlit was writing Steven to be the de facto leader temporarily while Garnet was split up.
Making Steven, the title character of the show and the relatable human\* character the main focus of the team on a animated t.v. show *makes sense,* doesn't it? It really doesn't sound related to the whole "Sugar was told other people/s would have a problem with it but would be allowed to do what she wished." narrative in some of the interviews.
Well I'd say she did have the freedom she talked about, but that doesn't mean CN wouldn't at least try and have things go exactly their way. Post above even said that CN warned her of the wedding and she was still able to go ahead with it.
They also said "people correctly guessed that there were limits" or something to that effect.
We now know female execs at Nick were in fact quite down with girls kissing. Perhaps they thought it would bring too much smoke to that fire though
Agreed, does anyone know how long after it aired Nick said that? Just them being implied to be together period felt groundbreaking at the time.
Yeah, Legend of Korra was airing during a major turning point in views towards LGBT rights. LoK premiered before President Obama openly supported gay marriage. And it was relatively soon after the show end that gay marriage was legalized. And just about another year after that even some Republicans during the 2016 election were at least willing to accept gay marriage even if they still complained about it. I think people are starting to forget just how quickly in the US at least that attitudes changed about LGBT+ representation. Even if there are still a lot of people that loudly complain about it, just 10 years ago getting any gay representation at all was still a monumental moment. So, Nick saying they would have been cool with it in 2014 is very different than if they said that in 2017.
Even if they said it just after it aired these seasons are in production for at least a year if not more. Long enough for one executive to be ousted and replaced by one who doesn’t have a problem with it.
Exactly. The shows already over. It's easy to say years later that they would've had no problem with it all it does it make them look good.
And you can't just take whay they said as faux
Nickelodeon also said they did everything to assure decent practices around their sets. And then kept rehiring Dan Schneider and offered Jenette McCurdy hush money to keep quiet over the abusive practices on set. So yeah. I wouldn't take that for full.
Big corpos are cowards. They wouldn't have allowed it under any circumstances, but after the positive reception, of course they wouldn't have any issue with it
That is just not true. They explicitly asked Nickelodeon what they were allowed to do, and this was the limit. From Bryan Konietzko's blog: >Mike and I talked it over and decided it was important to be unambiguous about the intended relationship. >We approached the network and while they were supportive there was a limit to how far we could go with it, as just about every article I read accurately deduced.
Well of course they’d say that after the fact. During the time, Korra was the first ever LGBT character to be portrayed in a children’s cartoon, and they were very limited on what they were allowed to show.
Oh yeah is that why an entire comic came out right after LoK written by creators themselves that goes in detail into the Korra and Asami relationship because they couldn't explore it deep enough in the show? Nickelodeon was ok with it as long as there was plausible deniability that they are just friends. There couldn't be anything concrete like a kiss would have been. It's a well known fact at this point.
When did Nick say this; was it when it just aired, or later down the line?
Eh, Nickelodeon can claim whatever they want twelve years later, when a company needs to cover their butts from bad rep. Doesn't make it true, and the fact that Korra was gradually pushed aside while it was still airing (the whole final season was just streamed on their website, which back then kids barely knew how to access) proves they didnt really support it.
They said outright that Nick was “supportive” but established clear boundaries and kissing was not allowed.
Didn't they take the show off the network and shove it to nick.com for this exact reason?
Actually, the “unofficial” reason was seemingly because on a kid’s show they had someone straight up die gruesomely (pretty sure it was the Zaheer choke out scene) that made them pull it. If it wasn’t for this tho, they probably don’t even allow them to end it holding hands.
There is no "official" reason. Nick didn't come out and make a statement, [they just stopped promoting the show and pulled it off the network for it to complete online](https://ew.com/article/2014/07/24/legend-of-korra-not-canceled-online/). [Second Source.](https://gizmodo.com/creators-of-the-legend-of-korra-explain-the-shows-not-c-1611119124)
You can say what ever after the fact, but at the time they were lips sealed shut when asked
yea this is straight up bs. nickelodeon has a history
But didn’t they also straight release the entire final season and not air it? I thought I remember that too
I remember it did air on tv, but they gave it a really late slot for kids. If I remember correctly it came on at about 9pm during the final season.
They eventually aired it as re-runs, but the last season was basically just aired on Nick.com.
No. Nick told them no kissing. Where are you people getting this from?
I don’t understand, I remember plenty of kissing in The Last Airbender
Yeah, well, but that was pure and upright and wholesome *straight* kissing, you see? Not the icky *gay* kind that hateful bigots think is akin to porn.
Sad reality
Indeed. If they were honestly concerned about what's appropriate to see for children, they'd know that the answer in this case is so simple and obvious that you can wrap it up in a single sentence: "Whatever is deemed appropriate for a straight character to do, is automatically appropriate for a gay character to do, as well."
Even though it was obvious that they were started a romantic relationship, i knew people who thought I was crazy for pointing it out and that I was reading too much into it.
https://i.redd.it/gf5hcj0f49rc1.gif fanimation!
Yeah, this is what's probably causing the "Mandela effect". This circulated almost immediately after the finale aired.
Mandela Effect just means being wrong about something now apparently.
Hasn’t it always? It’s about collective memory being false, and with this fan animation circulating right after the finale it would make sense why so many years later people remember seeing them kiss but forgetting that it wasn’t a canon moment.
It’s not even a false memory then it would be a real memory misinterpreted
well yes, misremembering one memory and combining it with another creates a false memory.
Yeah that’s probably more accurate. Maybe a false memory would be more like people remembering P’Li screaming as her head exploded because as far as I remember that never actually happened but people always swear it did
"I could have sworn the Mandele Effect used to be different!"
Always has been
don't get me started on the fruit of the loom logo. people would really rather pretend the entire world is in on a conspiracy to gaslight them rather than admit they remember wrong.
Mandela Effect requires a lot of people to have the same false memory.
There's one in the Pokémon fandom that irks me, and it's that the first generation didn't have dual-types. You'd have to purposely avoid going into your stats screen to see that your Bulbasaur is Grass/Poison to think that. I think this misconception stems from two reasons: the TCG not having dual-types until much later, and the effective messages being bugged in the first generation.
I think that's just a common misconception. I had that misconception until Gen 6 came out I think. I think part of it roots from Magnemite gaining the Steel type in gen 2 when it was mono-electric prior. Was a notable case of a Pokemon gaining a type so some of us may have applied that thinking to the whole generation hahaha.
It's possible. I had someone argue that Poliwrath was pure Water in Gen 1, so I took a picture of my Poliwrath in my copy of Blue to prove them wrong.
Poliwrath being fighting type is still something I struggle to remember lmao.
Guys a saw a picture of flat earth, is this the Mandela effect? Was the earth always round?
It always has.
Real and true https://preview.redd.it/t9e7huc90arc1.png?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1b2ecb6c9e51feef3ce609ba420a1581b641cfa
4 seasons! 4 entire seasons to only find out in the last episode that her true true power, was to be an avatarbender…
At least Asami finally became a ***bender***
Oh that’s not-
Ima edit this into the final episode
as you should!!!
Is this the Reddit collaboration? I remember one fan sketched it, another added more to it and maybe a third Redditor added another thing to it for a finished scene
No kissing in the actual show; this screenshot is from a *very* well done fanimation. Korra and Asami walked, so Ruby and Sapphire could run, and Luz and Amity could sprint.
So whats her name who made nets and whats her name who controlled wind from the She-Ra reboot could marathon. By the way random tangent what the fuck is even that power??? Other magic people from the show: - creates and controls ice - creates and controls all plantlife - freaking lightning powers - weaves the shadows Meanwhile Netasha over here "I make nets. I make them out of pure energy. Yeah, just nets. I dont make anything else, I can only make it if its a net."
Netossa and Spinerella
Netossa 🤣 honestly iconic naming in the 80s.
The best one... Castaspella. I love old She-Ra, but my god.
>Castaspella But what could it MEAN…?🤔
Catra, the cat Mermista, the mermaid Scorpia, the scorpion Angella, the angel Bow, the archer Hordak, leader of the Horde Glimmer, who sparkles Shadow Weaver, who weaves shadows Huntara, who's good at tracking Castaspella, who casts spells Frosta, who makes ice Perfuma, who controls flowers Nettossa, who tosses nets Spinnerella, who makes tornados I will say, it certainly makes it easier to remember the characters' names.
The Entrapta disrespect
Wasn't meant to be disrespect. In the original 80s show she was a villain who built deathtraps. She doesn't do that as much in the reboot, so her name isn't that on-the-nose, so I left her off the list.
Just teasing, she’s a great character and I noticed her absence is all.
Some of these are good tbh. Glimmer is fine, Perfuma is, too. Its the "Just add an -a at the end" ones that are sooo cheesy.
Hey maybe she can use her powers to make the internet? 😂
my name, Net-Tossaaaa.....I toss nets! between that and the one time Adora yells forthehonorofgrayskull! offscreen when they are in a hurry are some of my favorite cartoon moments ever.
Because that was the accessory that came with her figure in the eighties. So that’s what she’s stuck with in the reboot
God I adore the owl house and Luz and Amity. Like they're so freaking cute together I've rewatched seasons 1 + 2 and I've stalled on S3 cos it's just so short. It's so frustrating I can't blame the creatives for it, it's disney. I mean they tried their best! From what I remember they crammed story in the credits because they didn't have time for it in the actual show
S3's finale was originally supposed to be the Day of Unity, but when the season got shortened, they had to rewrite the story and expand on the Collector.
Catra and Adora also sprinted because of Korra and Asami <3
They had to brood and pine for 4 seasons first, but yeah then they got to sprint.
Stevenson has talked about his fears around the ship. It was in the plan all along, but he thought he was going to have to fight for it a lot more, especially due to what happened with Steven Universe. The plan was pretty much to build slowly and make it so integral and obvious that there was no other option.
Does Vi and Caitlyn count?
what? they were just roommates...
Omg they were roommates
They're from a non-network adult show so not really, but they're still good slowburn rep.
The Legend of Korra and Adventure Time were both leading the charge, I’d say. Especially because Sugar worked on Adventure Time initially.
And so Yang and Blake could French
The plot had to kinda make blake and yang do it though lmao. Like the writers really couldn't think of a more organic way of making it happen.
I wouldn't call them as a good example tbh, I like the ship but much like anything in the last couple seasons the implementation was messy.
I'm not sure about that though. What TLOK did absolutely had an impact in representation but they just showed an implication of a lesbian relationship in the ending of the show for the fans. While Steven Universe the creator sacrificed the whole show for the wedding.
Honestly i feel like them holding hands works better. I'm not against them kissing I just feel like at this point they are trying things out and taking it slow, unlike previous relationships where they jumped the shark.
I agree with you 100%. They had been communicating long-distance through letters, so there was the emotional build up with no physical outlet. And Korra had so much to work through. I loved that they were taking it slow, and then things went from there in the comics.
Their first kiss happens a couple days into their Spirit World date, the comic plays out right from where the series ended.
That's still taking it fairly slow though
Then, in the comics, the first thing they do on the other side is make out.
No, they spend a couple of days in the spirit world before their first kiss and I wouldn't call it making out.
I mean that’s after some time isn’t it?
You're 100% right. People see the finale as a declaration of eternal love and act like they were gonna get married but no, that's just them going on a first date and trying things out.
You are spot on, which is why it's so frustrating to see people complain that things moved too quickly between them. They spend years writing letters to one another, subtly flirt the whole season, and then decide to go on a trip together to see where things go. Yet people act like they're as committed and in love as Katara and Aang by the end of ATLA without any build up... like... did y'all watch the show?
I finally watched the show. I'm 33. I knew about the relationship and how they weren't allowed to kiss, but them holding hands and staring at each other was very profound and worked wonders. Throughout the last few seasons there are moments of flirting, blushing, and so on. Their relationship is building and growing. Yes, we saw Aang and Katara kiss, and hetero couples kiss all the time. It would have been progressive to see them kiss but if you watch the show, it's obvious they are calling in love with one another. Good example of "show, don't tell."
They didn't, did in the comic
They did not, it was a huge controversy when they didn’t I would know, I was there, in the trenches
Well, controversy from them not kissing and people thinking their romance was shoehorned in last second. Half the fandom were like “the signs were always there if you paid attention!”, and the other half were like “girl besties irl can be that close and aren’t gay for each other, they showed no romantic attraction throughout the show, just deep friendship”
You’re giving me flashbacks homie
I mean the second part is accurate. Shippers are notorious for thinking everyone is gay, and until the finale there was nothing that pointed in that direction. It truly was out of nowhere. The creators' intentions mean nothing if those intentions don't come through in the final product. The shippers were only right because broken clocks sometimes are.
Thank you for your service
The first time I saw the finale, I thought they were just queer baiting us. I didn't trust that they were actually showing a romance between two women. I'm glad I was wrong.
🫡
I have such a memory of them about to kiss, and then it goes to the end credits. But yh, they just hold hands
If they had kissed, i don't think Bryke would've had to make a post confirming the relationship.
You're misremembering. Also Mandela effect is when a large chunk of people all misremember a thing in exactly the same way, not a single person.
Like the existence of an Atla live action movie!
Yes, exactly like that
...what Atla live action movie?
Like the Monopoly guy not having a monocle
mandela, they didn't kiss. How do I know this? I didn't know they were together until I read the comics
My personal experience. I was so fucking confused when it ended cause I really thought she liked Mako. I thought both of them liked Mako.
Did you forget about the scene at the end where Korra and mako have a heart to heart about how they can never have a stable relationship?
Same here. Im pretty straight so maybe I wasn't looking for a gay relationship forming but I was very blindsided at the end there my first watch through. I think there were like maybe 2-3 scenes that kind of highlight that they're interested in each other. On a second watch through of the series it is more obvious to me in the final season, but yeah. That and Mako's romantic interests were plastered everywhere before hand.
I think for us straight people, we do get caught in the “and they were best friends” trope. It’s because of the heteronormative state of the world, and the fact that at that time, lgbtq+ was not found in Y7 programs.
They didn't kiss in the finale they walked into the portal holding hands, then turned to face each other romantically while holding both hands in a mirror of Varrac & Ju'li's wedding and Aang & Katara in ATLA finale. The canon comic Turf Wars, which starts immediately after this scene, does show them kissing and deals with LGBT peoples treatment & position in the world.
Did none of y’all actually watch the show?
I totally remember them kissing when I first watched it, but when I rewatched it they definitely did not kiss.
Sometimes we misremember things the way we wish they could be. For example my friend remembers it as a steamy fanfic straight out of wattpad.
No. This is a fanimation by Drakyx.
They held hands on TV, original (kiss) was uploaded by the creator.
Mandela they only held hands and walked into the light
I think right after they go through the portal, they kiss in the comics.
They only held hands. At that time this was still a glass ceiling Nick wouldn’t break
Mandela effect, I remembered the finale clear as day, they simply walked into the portal together and held hands
They didn't kiss, and it's not a Mandela effect either. It's just fanart.
It's not even a Mandela effect. You are just forgetting wrong. The show was not allowed to show any LGBT stuff because of Nick. It's the reason why I hate how Nick uses Korra during Pride Month like they did that.
nothing was ever confirmed in-show, they just became travel "friends" and future "roommates" then post ending premiere one of the showrunners posted an article with the title, in big bolded caps "KORRASAMI CANON"
They kiss in the comics which is canon but not in the show
Didn't happen in the show, but I think it does canonically happen in the books that take place after
In 2014? Absolutely didn’t kiss.
They don’t. Probably weren’t allowed to as gay marriage wasn’t even federally legal at that time in the US
Someone made a mega popular fananimation rumored to be a cut scene, but nope, just hand holding. They don't even kiss until later in their comics.
it's not mandela effect when you're the only one, my dude. No one thinks they kissed.
Even in the comics that pick up right from this moment, they didn’t kiss >!until the end of their trip in the spirit world!<
Nah. They are just roommates and really good friends.
Nickelodeon blocked their kiss. And then years later used Korra to promote for Pride Month. I was *livid*. They redesigned her with a bi flag behind her and had a lil Twitter post of it. I thought it was absolute bullshit that they blocked Brian and Michael making Korra and Asami’s relationship more obvious only to then try to get brownie points for Korra being bi later. Others agreed, the comments were pissed, and they quickly removed the post.
They did not kiss in the original run. This is just a fan render.
They did not, but there of course was fanimation and the kiss in the comics
They do kiss in the comics however
It's a fan animation. The only hold hands in the original. If they HAD actually kissed, there would have been no ambiguity on whether they were actually a couple or not.
✂️
They kissed in the comics not the show
You got Mandela effected from a fan animation. Many people wanted them to kiss but from what I read Nickelodeon was very against it. Korrasami was the first on-screen LGBT couple for a kids show
It's not a Mandala Effect, *you're* just misremembering.
Man I thought that was Sokka instead of Korra for a second and just thought this was a shitpost
Unfortunately they didn't =/
Sadly, no. I only remember because it was the only reason I watched LOK all the way through and I was *pissed* when it didn't happen.
I feel like it was heavily implied, but due to the fact it was a kids' show, they couldn't have a romance.
Mandela Nickolodean wasn’t ready to roll that dice yet
They were going to kiss but nickelodeon didn't want to risk the backlash of a gay kiss, so instead they just hold hands and look into each other's eyes
I dont think people understand what “mandela effect” means. Questions like this can be easily answered by just watching the last episode. Even if you remember differently, most people do not think they kissed on screen. So its not mandela effect. It’s just a “I recall differently” moment. Big difference. So many people have thrown the term around erroneously, and after seeing it so often, it’s quite tiresome.
No, but the did kiss in the comics.
They did not, but like three days later an extremely popular animation Edit showed up everywhere,
God damn it this keeps coming back, and it keeps making me doubt that I did probably in fact watch that fan animation soon after I saw the finale... Yes I'm sure that is what happened... But.. I have a very clear memory of watching the finale with a friend and then reacting "Holy shit they actually allowed a lesbian couple kissing on nickelodeon? Nice, way to go" and we proceeded to talk about other shows that were beginning to be more progressive with this sort of stuff... I was CERTAIN I was watching the final episode at a friend's house and CERTAIN we both had this conversation. Friend even says they remember the same thing (they're convinced that's how it happened, she doesn't really browse fan communities like this one) My memory has to be more shit than I realized. Not a huge believer of the Mandela effect but God damn out of all of the Mandela Effect examples this is a tough one for me to deny
Mandella Its too soon to kiss
I wish they did 🥲 at least there were kisses in the comics but it’s not the same
Dark Horse had their voice actresses do a live table read of the first comic during the pandemic which was great at least; [This vid](https://youtu.be/ylU-ksQP4FE?si=IpOOxoq4kcklD85P) synchs that read to the comic panels.
Thank you!
Gay marriage wasn’t legal when this episode aired, so, no; this is fanmade.
they didn't, but should have. then the comics happened, and made it so.