Quotes from Bryan Konietzko

While we were in the middle of 'Avatar' we got a lot of volatile reaction from fans. They were very upset with the direction we were taking Zuko.

Any political or philosophical agenda can and will be perverted by power and/or fear.

As humans our hangups seem to shape our interaction with the world around us. They are often the source of our intolerance and friction with people who think differently than us, and even the reason we build walls between us and the people close to us.

When you have a fully-realized Avatar, it's like Superman, and how do you make that interesting?

It's hard to surprise people with everything leaking on the Internet.

Book 4 is the end of the 'Korra' series. So we've got 52 episodes planned. When all is said and done it will have taken I think about five years to make.

It is a long story how we finally ended up with the title simply being 'The Legend of Korra,' but in a poetic way, I think Korra's big Type A personality willed it to happen!

Animation is incredibly difficult - much like doing a giant sweeping fantasy novel.

Though we did have a few main characters in 'Avatar' who represented the non-benders of the world, most of the people we focused on were benders. However, benders are the minority in their world population.

With 'Korra' we've really taken a lot of time to craft it. We're aiming pretty high, and in order to keep up the quality it just takes a lot of time and a lot or work.

It seems to me virtually any ideology, no matter how intrinsically benign, can be used to oppress. And any group with power, no matter how well-meaning, ultimately corrupts and ends up exploiting its advantage to some extent.

We really liked the magic of 'Harry Potter' and 'The Lord of the Rings,' but we could never figure out where the powers came from.

Since the first announcement of 'Korra' a few years ago, our fan presence online has just been huge and it's really active online. And as TV distribution evolves, even between 'Book 1' and 'Book 2,' it's evolved even more, our audience is increasingly online.

Aang was an airbending prodigy, but didn't even discover he could bend the other three elements on his own; whereas Korra was bending three of the elements at age four.

Fans are more interested in imagining relationships between a myriad of pairings. But they're profoundly disinterested in seeing any of those things manifest themselves on the show.

Korra and Aang ultimately stand for freedom, equality, and basic human rights, and I think Mike and I are fine with pushing that agenda.

The social and political climate came from discussions about how we could find conflict in the wake of a 100-year-long war ending. But as we know in the real world, just because a war ends it doesn't mean that everything turns happy and peaceful. That provided us with some new kinds of conflict for us to explore in 'Korra.'

That's been the case for decades. 'The Simpsons,' 'King of the Hill' - they do the preproduction in America, and the production is in Korea or in some cases China, or occasionally Japan or India.

It wouldn't be the Avatarverse without some hairstyle changes, now would it?

In a lot of ways, their journeys are opposite of each other's: Aang was a peace-loving monk, through and through, whereas Korra is a dyed in the wool fighter.

You've got to earn it; you're not just handed anything in life. That's why no one starts out as a perfect master.

I like nothing more than a character sacrificing himself or herself for the sake of others. That's drama at its finest for me.

We're definitely still interested in the Avatar/Korra universe and fantastical world building in general, but I think many of the core themes and tones found in our two kids' series would be present as well in any sort of adult dramas we might be lucky enough to make in the future.

Mike and I like a balance of tones. We never set out to make an overtly silly show or an overly serious dramatic show.