* Following the news that Nickelodeon USA will be debuting the remaining episodes of "Book Three: Change" digitally and will roll each all-new episode out weekly on Nick.com and the Nick app beginning Friday 1st August 2014, as well as on platforms such as Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Xbox Video and Hulu, Bryan Konietzko and Mike DiMartino, the creators of "The Legend of Korra", reassured fans by setting the record straight about the shift to digital platforms during their San Diego Comic-Con 2014 panel.
"It's part of this huge sea change in the industry," Konietzko says. "Things have changed just for us between when we did "Avatar: [The Last Airbender]"... and when we came back on the air in 2012 [with "Legend of Korra"]. When 'Book One: Air' of 'Korra' came out, it did pretty good numbers on TV but its online numbers were just insane."
"Legend of Korra's" numbers have been down on Nickelodeon for "Book 3," but Konietzko says that they've only grown on Nick.com, the official Nickelodeon app (the Nick App) and on streaming services. The "Book 2" finale, for example, was the biggest digital hit on the channel's official website of the year, which could be what convinced Nickelodeon to have the show live online.
Konietzko says it's no secret that the channel has "had kind of a hard time fitting it into their programming." The shift "definitely caught us by surprise. It wasn't necessarily done in the smoothest way," he adds. But the show is definitively not canceled, which is good news for fans. DiMartino says the rest of the season won't change when the final episodes air every Friday from 1st to Friday 22nd August 2014, when Nick USA will premiere the one-hour two-part "Book 3: Change" finale online.
"It really has no effect on what the show is or what the stories we're telling [are]," DiMartino says. "Other than it not being on the Nickelodeon main channel, nothing has changed."
Following their conversation about the shift to digital, the cast and creators of "The Legend of Korra" treated attendees of their SDCC 2014 panel by playing a never-before-seen "Book 3" episode, episode 8, titled "The Terror Within", which has been written by Josh Hamilton, ahead of its premiere on Nick USA TONIGHT at 8:00pm (ET/PT).
* The panel talked about how "Korra has come to understand that she may be the Avatar but that doesn't mean she can do her job alone";
* Janet Varney, the voice of Korra, also mentioned that she knows some fans are frustrated with Korra but she's growing on her journey. "I'm proud of her";
* Seychelle Gabriel, the voice of Asami, talked about how she loves the Korra/Asami friendship (and how awkward it is for Mako). "Any time two girls can not let a guy get between them is a good thing." The panel also joked about how David Faustino (Mako) sat between Janet and Seychelle;
* The panel also noted that "Korra has come to understand that she may be the Avatar but that doesn't mean she can do her job alone", and that Varrick is the bridge between the modern world and the magical Avatar world;
* According to John Michael Higgins, the voice of Varrick, Rupert Murdoch + Thomas Edison + Bozo the clown = Varrick;
* Fans will learn a bit about Varrick's childhood in an upcoming episode;
* The panel mentioned that "our characters are somewhat similar to ourselves";
* Dee Bradley Baker, the voices of Tarrlok, Naga and Pabu in "The Legend of Korra", joined the panel as a special guest and sung "Secret Tunnel" from "Avatar: The Last Airbender" with the voice cast of "Korra", who sung in their character voices (video);
* The panel answered questions posed by DiMartino from fans, such as "How would you rate Korra's job as the Avatar?", "What’s the voice acting process?", "How have you seen Korra and Asami's relationship develop?", and "What's your favorite part about voicing Lin?"
* The panel then showed some images from "Book 3", starting with character art. Boomju was featured with one of Bumi's sweater on him. The first concept piece of Zaheer was shown as well, which Bryan mentioned that he wanted something that doesn't look like Tarrlok, cause Unalaq did, along with another concept art of the same character, then expression sheets with and without his hair. The panel also revealed that Zaheer was will be bald for the rest of the season, and that Zaheer's ears have damage from the fighting he's been doing over the years. Next up was Ghazan's concept art and expression sheets, Bryan mentions that he likes designing characters with tattoos. Ming-Hua was up next along with her expression sheets. Last up was P’Li , who looks a bit more punk in her concept designs. The panel revealed that P'li's design was inspired by Lisbeth Salander;
* More art was shown with some characters in funny situations: Winter costume designs for the Red Lotus. Christmas sweaters, including a reindeer sweater, and garb and Team Zaheer as a metal band (the picture was by Ki Hyun Ryu). Next up was the concept art from Suyin and her family. Also shown was Baatar and Opal turn sheets and expressions, Wei and Wing with flip hair parts (Wing has the part on the left, WEi on the right), and a picture of Su-yen in the circus;
* Next up was some pencil test footage from Studio Mir. Shown was Zaheer's escape scene, shown next to the final animations. Upnext was Eska and Desna's fight against the rogue Waterbender–again, very interesting to see how it changed from pencils to final animation. Next up was Zuko fighting. The final scene shown was Kya versus Zaheer at Air Temple Island in Republic City. The last and final test showed a fight yet to be seen, where Team Avatar faLin showcased some Earthbending against Zaheer, who appears to effortlessly airbend the earth away. The President of Studio Mir was in the audience, and line tests were also shown. Additionally, the panel also showcased "Korra" fan art from a previous Korra Nation contest.
* To close out the panel, they gave one last sneak peek and lamented that "this will probably be the last big [San Diego Comic-Con] Korra panel", according to Konietzko, but they could be at the New York Comic-Con, which could hint at Book 4 is coming early-mid 2015.
UPDATE (7/27) - IGN Live's Greg Miller and Marty Sliva sat down with Platinum Games' producer Atshushi Kurooka, game director Eiro Shirahama and Activision producer Robert Conkey for a special panel discussion at this year's San Diego Comic-Con to talk about their upcoming "The Legend of Korra" Video Game, a downloadable third-person combat game due to be released during Fall/Autumn 2014 on PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 3, which you can watch in the online streaming video clip below.
In the video, which also includes demo gameplay footage, the panel reveals information about Nickelodeon's TLoK game, including:
* As showcased in the video, players can attack, block, dodge, counter-attack and string together combos in fast-paced, anime-style action sequences;
* The game will feature mini-games to break up the fighting sequences, such as Pro-Bend, based on the official sport of "Book 1", Pro-Bending, and will feature Korra, Mako and Bolin;
* The single-player game will have three modes (difficulties); normal mode for fans of Platinum Games' games, causal mode for fans of "Korra", and extreme mode;
* The game is about four hours long but is designed to be replayed at least three times over in order to unlock new gear, new skills and master the techniques necessary to beat the game on its hardest difficulty setting;
* The game's story takes place between Book 2 and 3;
* There’s a battle arena mode based on a sub-plot from the TV show that will keep players coming back for more;
* the game controls;
* Platinum Games and Activision worked closely with the production staff of "Legend of Korra" to ensure that the game will be as authentic as possible;
* If there's a sequel, Platinum Games and Activision would like to see it sold in shops instead of it being a downloadable title;
* "The Legend of Korra" game will feature a mysterious villain!:
A Platinum "Real Ghostbusters" video game would be great, by the way!
(Additional sources: Entertainment Monthly, One Angry Gamer)
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon at Comic-Con International: San Diego 2014 and The Legend of Korra News!
