So I prefer Legend of Korra over Last Airbender

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I think I prefer Korra, as well. I find the characters more relatable. And actually one of the things that stands out to me is that I felt Korra did more justice to the issue of the Airbender Genocide than AtLA did, even if it was from a different perspective.

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I just don't understand some of the hate I see for this series, it's like those people didn't even pay attention.

That's a pretty ironic statement, considering that most of the flaws in this show are crystal clear, for example...

How is Korra unlikeable?

Glad you asked. The very first time I saw Korra, the first thing I thought is that, instead of creating a complex, interesting protagonist, the creators of the show simply said "nahhh, let's just make her the exact same opposite of Aang", thus Korra was created.

Most of her motivations in the show are fueled by ego and self gratification, unlike Aang. Did she go to Republic City to end the civil war? Hell no, her only motivation was to learn how to Airbend because... reasons? It's never even explained why she was so desperate to learn that new bending ability, other than "I'm the Avatar".

And that's another problem I have with Korra, she feels that she deserves a special treatment because she's the Avatar. She gets arrested for destroying half of Republic City, but hey, I'm the Avatar, I get to do whatever I want, amirite? Constantly disrespects her elders despite the fact that they're trying to help her out, I mean, remember when Bryan and Mike practically bragged that they wrote "all 12 episodes of Season 1 to get the show 'right'"?

I just find it hard to think that people should feel sympathy for this brat. Tries to hook up with Mako despite the fact that he has a girlfriend, decides to challenge Amon to a fight, demanding to be left on the island alone, knowing full well that she's not match for him and the consequences of losing her bending abilities, threatens to hurt Tarrlok (who is a representative of the Northern Water Tribe no less) for arresting her friends, and we're just talking about Season 1.

Things don't get any better in Season 2, where she basically tells both Tenzin and her own father to *beep* off because they're not as experienced as Unalaq, takes political matters into her own hands, and decides to open the Spirit Portal so that spirits roam free even though the world is in perfect balance, but again, she's the Avatar, so she gets to do whatever she wants.

I guess at one point someone realized how horribly developed Korra was, and they chose to tone her character down on Season 3 (even though she still made terrible decisions, like allowing Kai to join them, berate Lin for being mean to Opal despite not knowing their family history, and look for Zaheer after he and his friends invaded Zaofu), but at this point the damage was already done. They didn't even bother with Season 4, where she's barely relevant until the very end.

tl;dr she's a brat who is motivated by ego and self gratification. They realized this was a horrible mistake way too late, and decided to wash their hands by Season 4.

Or how are any of the characters unlikable for that matter?

Because most of them lack personality. Not all of them, but the only interesting characters are background characters, much to my dismay. Tenzin, Lin, Varrick, they should be the main characters in the show. Hell, if it wasn't for Tenzin, I wouldn't even bother ending the series.

Even the villains are incredibly sympathetic with some sad as hell backstories.

Except the show breaks the golden rule of storytelling with the villains, choosing to tell, not show, here, let's compare some of them:

Zhao.
Fascinating villain with clear motivation: be the man who kills the Moon. Inspired by a scroll he found on the ancient library, his main goal is to defeat the Northern Water Tribe.

A great militar leader, blinded by his arrogance, which eventually lead to his demise.

Amon.
This guy apparently has a thing against benders. According to Tarrlok, Amon believes the world would be a better place if there were no benders. Again, this is only because Tarrlok was kind enough to tell us, otherwise, I'd be clueless as *beep*.

I mean, what's his real goal? World domination, be the last bender in the world? Humanitarian goals? I don't know, and the fact that Bryan and Mike were so cheap they chose to kill their own characters because they didn't have any additional use for them doesn't help.

Azula.
My favorite character in the show. So much to discuss about her, but I'll keep it short. Cunning, aiming for perfection, uses people for her own personal gain, highly volatile and a serious threat for Team Avatar.

Deep personal conflicts that are only fueled by her perceived betrayal of Mai and Ty Lee. That's how you end a character's arc, unlike Amon and Tarrlok, that's just cheap and poor writing. Oh... yeah... forgot those *beep* comics. Don't read the comics, they're garbage and ruined Azula forever.

Zaheer.
Cheapest villains of them all. All he has to say is some fortune cookie message and people immediately think he's a deep character. I never understood his motivation, considering it's never clear what he wants.

I mean, I understand he wants to free his friends, but then the whole thing turns into a cluster *beep*. First they wanted to capture the Avatar to turn her into a Red Lotus member, then they think it's a better idea to kill her and destroy the Avatar cycle because anarchy and chaos? Why not just kill her and then find another Avatar to turn him/her into a Red Lotus member?

Then he's imprisoned and chooses to help Korra because... I don't know, he has nothing to gain from this.

Ironically, I found the volcano dude and the chick with no arms far more interesting than Zaheer. He was just a boring, overpowered villain with no real motivation.

tl;dr keep the villains simple. Azula and Zhao were jerks who wanted to gain power for themselves and it showed. In TLOK, the villains have to state their personal motivations because otherwise, the audience would be clueless as *beep*.

I liked it when Kuvira decided to destroy the whole city, even if it would kill her husband, because it showed that she was a merciless leader who wouldn't stop at nothing. None of that is ever done with Amon, Tarrlok, Unalaq or Zaheer, which shows how poorly portrayed those morons were.

I'm tired of talkin, Fuchs. I just wanna get up to my shack and get drunk.

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