Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra is a continuation of the pan-Asian inspired Avatar: The Last Airbender, featuring a whole new cast of (older) characters and a turn-of-the-century steampunk style to compliment the franchise’s fantasy elements. The show features all sorts of stunning new locations, from the New York City-inspired Republic City to a new air temple to new vistas of the Spirit World and the all-metal city of Zaofu.
But characters and settings like these don’t come out of nowhere. A legion of artists, graphic designers, sketchers, and more work together to fully realize a rich fantasy world like this one, and their real-world inspirations are many. And some of the early concept art can act as a great core sample of The Legend of Korra’s many storytelling layers.
Bolin’s mover fans
All sorts of minor, one-off characters can help make a scene or setting come to life, and there’s plenty of people out there besides the main crew. Characters like Bolin’s mover fans can add spice and worldbuilding opportunities, even if they’re just for a 20-second gag scene.
Bolin’s fans look like scary thugs at first… until they want Bolin’s autograph! Bolin’s even got plushie toys of his character Nuktuk out there.
Early Mako concepts
Here are some early sketches of Mako from the neck up, and here, he looks a bit older than his on-screen iteration, with a long and angular face and pretty wild hair.
It’s safe to say that this fire-bending lad visited the barber before making his on-screen debut. His trademark red scarf seems to be missing, too. Perhaps it was a last-minute addition?
Wan Shi Tong’s library
Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender got to see this owl spirit’s library firsthand when Aang’s team visited to explore that legendary library.
The great owl spirit has since buried the library to keep out nosy, war-mongering humans, but Jinora ends up paying a visit anyway in season 3. And this time, the great library is overgrown and messy, showing that Wan Shi Tong might not be the most diligent caretaker out there. Or maybe the vines are his idea of interior decor.
Asami and Korra
It’s no secret that Korra and Asami Sato have gone from friends to Team Avatar partners to lovers, and they have one other thing in common: a love for adventure.
This early art shows both girls looking to explore the wilderness on a motorcycle, though the bike looks a bit different than the models seen in The Legend of Korra’s first season. Ths same is true of Korra’s helmet, with this one having a pale blue color.
Car Chase
Many an action flick has a proper car chase, and The Legend of Korra, with its semi-modern urban setting, has some too. Season 1 had plenty of car and motorcyle chases with benders squaring off against Equalists, and here, we get a sample of such a battle.
This scene is roughly similar to when Korra knocked out those three bender gangsters in the first episode, but in this concept art, she’s using fire, rather than flipping over their car with earth bending.
Korra vs Equalists
Here again, Korra’s concept art shows her fighting on the streets, and this time, she’s facing an entire squad of Equalists. The scene shown here is pretty similar to a number of sequences from the show’s first season, but in this case, an Equalist is seen gliding onto the scene on a triangular hang glider.
Soon enough in season 1, though, the Equalists will swap hang gliders for biplanes that can terrorize the skies.
Mako and Bolin train hard
These bender brothers are a major part of the new Team Avatar, and they are first introduced not as heroes, but as athletes. They make up two-thirds of their Fire Fettet pro-bending team, but they didn’t reach the finals by slacking off.
In the show, the brothers are seen training Korra, but in this concept art piece, they are the trainees, and their tough coach is not cutting them any slack. Clearly, Mako is having a better time than Bolin.
Korra vs metal bender police
The Legend of Korra is even more action-packed than the original series, and it shows in all this concept art. Once again, Korra is doing battle, but this time, against Republic City’s finest. In the show, Korra doesn’t really fight the metal bending police; she just tries to evade arrest until they snag her with an airship.
In this early concept, Korra isn’t afraid to tangle with anyone, and she’s clearly having the time of her life punting metal bender cops right off that airship. Let’s be glad the Korra we know now isn’t quite so much an antihero.
Republic City at night
No story is complete without a fully realized setting. In fact, a good lesson of creative fiction is to treat the setting itself like a character, which can open up all sorts of dimensions in the narrative. Here, we get season 1’s main setting from afar in some concept art set at night.
This makes for not only some gorgeous lighting, but shows how modern and industrial this world is compared to Aang’s time. An overhead city view from Avatar: The Last Airbender would only show torches and paper lamps outside the buildings, not this. Korra truly lives in a modern world.
A rustic street
Quieter, more pleasant scenes like this one are important fillers between the major set pieces, to help a world feel more realized as a real, breathing place. A real city isn’t just a series of action movie sets, after all, and this concept art’s view shows what Republic City looks like if you’re not the Avatar chasing Equalists.
The colors are rich and pleasant, showing that even the obscure corners of Republic City are capable of a homely beauty not seen in its industrial zones.
