Ghazan - Red Lotus Lavabender

Man, it's hard to say who is the coolest member of the Red Lotus group. Each one of them is a bad-ass in their own way.

However, only Ghazan has that sweet 'stache.

I like Ghazan because, compared to the rest of the Red Lotus, he's kind of upbeat. Sure, he's a crazy criminal guy, but he seems to be having fun. He even humored Bolin and let him ask questions when they had Bolin and Mako captive.

Plus, he single-handedly did something the Fire Nation wasn't able to do: take down the walls of Ba Sing Se.

The mini I picked for Ghazan was the Ares Heroclix and I didn't realize it when I ordered it, but the mini had a sword in place of a left hand, so I had to fashion a new left hand for Ghazan from green stuff.

I also added some details to his robes. Looking at it now, I think I should have continued the yellow stripes down past his belt, but at the time it looked right.

I don't think I did his mustache justice though...

Suyin Beifong - Leader of Zaofu

One might expect my first Beifong to be Toph or Lin, but I still haven't found minis that I like for them. Suyin on the other hand I knew immediately which one I was going to use.

Since Toph was my favorite character from the original series, and Lin was my favorite from Season 1, it's probably no surprise that I like Lin as well. The contrast between her and Lin is a good story point. Even in the middle of the Season 3's high stakes plot, I'm glad they took the time to give us their back story and let them fight out their differences.

For Su, I used a Dungeons and Dragons Combat Medic mini and removed the weapon and arm shield, which is why her left hand looks a little weird. I left some of the metal parts with the original paint because I liked the effect. Due to her longer sleeves, I skipped the arm braces since it would be hard to do them justice.

Iknik Blackstone Varrick - Eccentric Businessman

The introduction of Varrick is one of the reasons I liked Season 2 more than Season 1 of Legend of Korra the first time I watched it.

Varrick is a character that Korra needed, and not just for his humor. In a world like the Avatar series takes place in, it's easy to paint everyone as either black or white,  good or bad, on the heroes side or against them.

Varrick is grey for most of the series. His interests are his own and he'll gladly help if it furthers his plans and refuse if it hinders them. Have a morally grey character who can become entangled with the other characters plans is always fun.

Plus, he's hilarious.

I used the White King Heroclix for Varrick and used green stuff to adjust his hair. The coat isn't quite an exact match...the cut is different and the collar isn't fur.

But I bet Varrick has a dozen variations on that coat anyway.

Equalist - Anti-bending Revolutionary

In the original Avatar series, one of the most effective fighters was a non-bender: Ty Lee. With her chi blocking technique, she was able to easily take down benders. And she was pretty much the only one we saw chi blocking.

So, a whole army of terrorists trained in chi blocking? Yeah, The Legend of Korra really cranked up the difficulty.

The great thing about the Equalists is it gave Korra an enemy similar to the Stormtroopers from Star Wars: a mass of faceless minions to fight.

Unlike Stormtroopers though, the Equalists are actually very skilled opponents. (Well, for everyone but Asami who went through them like a Future Industries manufactured knife through butter.)

For the Equalist, I used a Star Wars Miniature Elite Sith Assassin and used green stuff to modify him.

The one unfortunate thing about this mini is that his pose kind of looks like he's ringing a doorbell. Not very action-oriented.

Korra - Fire Ferret Pro-bender

When I started watching Korra, I thought the Pro-bending subplot was a bit like the Quidditch matches in Harry Potter. While it adds color to the story, it kind of drags out too long.

On re-watching though, I started to like the Pro-bending a bit more. In fact, I kind of wish we had gotten some more Pro-bending in the latter seasons after the Harmonic Convergence led to more airbenders in the world.

Surely there had to be at least one Pro-bending fan who suddenly got airbending and wanted to join a team, leading to some crazy new situations where they didn't have rules for airbenders. Sounds like something Bumi would have enjoyed.

To make Korra's Pro-bending outfit, I started with the Skrull Rebel Heroclix and trimmed the shoulder pads. Then I used green stuff to add the tunic, belt, and other details. I tried to approximate the Future Industries gear logo as best I could. And I forgot to add the parts of the blue sash where it's tied. Maybe she tucked that in?

I probably won't do the who teams uniforms. I just saw that miniature and it looked like a Pro-bender to me...

Meelo - Airbender

I'll be honest: I didn't like Meelo at first. I didn't need fart jokes in my story.

But I'll admit, he does have some good moments.

I'm getting a lot of use out of these Powerpack Heroclix. I've used almost the whole team to make the Airbabies. This one is Mass Master. I removed most of his cloud stuff, but kept the ones in his hands.

Maybe Meelo is a cloudbender.

Ikki - Airbender

They must not have the word "icky" in the Avatarverse, because no one should name their child something like that.

Poor Ikki. As the middle child, she didn't really get as much character development as the other two airbabies. Her role was mostly to be annoying and say inappropriate things. At least in season 4 she got some spotlight time in the episode when she was captured by those two Earth Kingdom guys.

For Ikki, I used the Energizer Heroclix which kind of works and kind of doesn't. It had pigtails which I could easily mod to her hair..ball..things, and I used green stuff to make her robes. But the pose is kind of weird. Not sure what she's doing.

Singing?

Jinora - Airbender

Airbabies!

When I started watching The Legend of Korra, I wasn't totally on board with Tenzin's kids, but they started to grow on me over the seasons.

Jinora got the most character development of the three and was integral to the plot of Season 2, so  of course I had to make a mini of her.

Speaking of season 2, at the end when Jinora appears before Unavaatu to show where Raava is hidden, I was about 100% sure that Jinora was sacrificing herself to do so. I thought she died.

Spoiler Alert: she didn't. Which is good, because the she wouldn't have got her tattoos.

I used the Heroclix Lightspeed mini and used green stuff for her hair and clothes.

-c

Zaheer - Leader of the Red Lotus

I don't normally look ahead to see who is starring in a show, so when Season Three of Korra started, I had no idea who the voice of Zaheer was. All I knew was that they were intimidating as heck.

I don't remember exactly what it was, but at one point towards the end of the season, Zaheer said something that triggered a Henry Rollins flash in my head, and then I realized who it was. And he did a great job with Zaheer.

It's pretty easy to put Zaheer and the rest of the Red Lotus as the top villains of Korra. I don't think anyone would really argue with that.

For Zaheer, I used a Dungeons & Dragons miniature Githzerai Monk. As with the mini I used for Unalaq, this one didn't have a nose and had pointy ears, so I had to make some adjustments with green stuff.

For some reason, this mini came out looking a bit like Pete Postlethwaite, for what that's worth.

-c

Unalaq - Chief of the Water Tribes

Season Two of Korra gets kind of a bad rap and a lot of the blame usually falls on Unalaq. Compared to some of the other villains, Unalaq isn't as flashy and even the show creators themselves poke fun at him in the season four episode "Remembrances". But I think he fits the tone of the season.

And to me, he's not the least of the villains, but I'll save that complaint for another time.

What makes Unalaq stand out to me, besides the whole "Dark Avatar" thing, is that his plan, more than the other bad guys, is partially correct. He wanted the spirit portals opened, and that led to the integration of people and spirits and the rebirth of the Air Nation.

Not bad for the "worst" villain.

The mini I picked to create Unalaq was the Heroclix Ebony Maw and, I didn't realize it when I ordered it online, but Ebony Maw doesn't have a nose.

So, not only did I have to use green stuff to fashion his hair and cloak, but I had to make a nose.

Also, Ebony Maw is holding a skull for some reason. I thought about converting it to water or something, but decided that of all the Korra villains, Unalaq *is* the most likely to have skulls sitting around. After all, he did have an I'm-obviously-evil throne to chill out in.

-c

Amon - Equalist Leader

In The Last Airbender, Fire Lord Ozai kind of suffered from the classic "villain that doesn't do anything" trope. We were told how bad he was, but don't see him do much of anything until the end of the series.

Not so with Amon. From the beginning, he's there stirring up trouble.

Not that he's a perfect villain either. He makes some...questionable choices, like not taking Korra's bending the first time he had a chance, but he at least does stuff.

For Amon, I started with a Heroclix Kryptonian Scientist and added his hood and other details with green stuff. I tried to add more shading to his mask, but it just didn't look right. Simpler was better.

Now I'm wondering if I should make an unmasked version...

-c

Asami Sato - Future Industries CEO

It's kind of hard to put a label on Asami. She does so many things: CEO, Engineer, Industrialist, BAMF. As some people have pointed out, Asami is basically Republic City's Batman.

When I started watching Korra though, I was 100% sure she was a mole for the Equalists and that her crashing into Mako was all arranged. And I guess we were supposed to think that since the writers confirmed that was going to be the plan for her before they fell in love with her character.

And they weren't the only ones to fall for her...

The mini I picked for Asami turned out to be a little problematic. I thought the skirt thing on the Mantis Heroclix was just in the back, but it turned out to be a think skirt that her legs were poking out of. I had to decide between making a hybrid of Asami's combat gear and her street clothes, or cut the skirt and use green stuff to make her pants. I went for the second option, and it turned out OK, I think.

I tried to hit all the details: she has the equalist glove (a little hard to tell in these pictures sadly) and I made sure she had the blue hair clip she seemed to favor with this outfit.

One mistake I didn't realize until too late: her right glove (the non-shock glove) should be more brown. One of the reference images I used had it the same color as her pants, so I went with that.

Maybe she has more than one pair?

Shipping Department

I kind of covered this already under Korra's entry. I wasn't against Asami and Mako, I just found them a little dull as a couple. Well, until Mako started basically ignoring her for Korra, right in front of her. Then I started to feel sorry for her.

Once season 3 came around and they started teasing Korrasami, I was on board but figured it would never happen.

But then it did happen, and Korrasami was confirmed.

I guess this is what it feels like when your team wins the Superbowl?

-c

Bolin - Earthbender

Some of the characters on Legend of Korra can be divisive, but I think there's one thing we can all agree on: Bolin is great!

Bolin is definitely the heart of the new Team Avatar, and as the story goes, you can see how he makes so many decisions (good and bad) with his heart in the right place. Of course, he would join Kuvira...he wanted to help.

Actually, this link on lokgifsandmusings.tumblr.com sums up his character better than I can.

In short: Bolin, Hero of the World.

For Bolin, I wanted a pose that looked like he was doing some bending, and I happened to have a Heroclix Thunder laying around, so...I yanked that light beam thing of his chest, and used green stuff to make Bolin's hair and jacket.

Now he kind of looks like he doing some kind of stomp move. (Maybe...if you squint?)

Shipping Department

OK, I might take some flack for this but...while Opal is nice and all, my preferred partner for Bolin is...Eska.

Yeah, I know. She wasn't particularly nice to him, and she's creepy, but at the end of Season 2, my headcanon was that she mellowed out a little and learned to be a little more...human? And who better to learn from than Bolin.

I'm not anti-Bopal. That's how the story went, so I'm fine with that but, I can't help think, what could have been...

Korra - Avatar

My introduction to Korra was...not ideal.

I binge watched all of The Last Airbender, and then went straight into Legend of Korra (which was just finishing up Season 2 at the time.) Going from The Last Airbender to Korra was total mood whiplash, and it took me a while to really get into the new Team Avatar.

But the show, and Korra, really grew on me. So much so that I would say Korra is not only my favorite of the Avatar series, but might well be my new favorite show of all time. (Sorry, Dungeons and Dragons cartoon!)

So, it was only a matter of time before I started making mini-Avatars...

For my first attempt at Korra, I used a Terra Heroclix I happened to have laying around. I trimmed off Terra's ponytails and changed it to match Korra's and added her fur wrap with green stuff. I say this is my first attempt because I plan to try a couple of versions to see which works best. I know for this one, the pants aren't baggy enough and the color is a little off in places, but this was kind of a trial run.

I totally plan to do all of Team Avatar and then some...

Shipping Department

Before watching Avatar and Korra, I never really knew how strongly fans felt about the characters relationships. When I started watching Korra, I wasn't particularly into her relationship with Mako. I wasn't against it, I just found them both kind of annoying.

As the series progressed (particularly through Season 3), I started thinking, "They don't have to put Korra in a relationship...but if they do, the only person that makes sense is Asami. She seems to really care for Korra and they get along great."

And I figured that would be the end of that thought...

Until the finale...

When I watched the finale, and saw Korra talking to Mako at the party I was like, "Oh, here we go..." but then it moved on. And then she was talking with Tenzin and I was waiting for the credits to roll...and then Asami showed up.

And...the rest is history...