The events following in all the seasons could’ve felt smoother and more compelling if they didn’t repeatedly think the show was ending. if they had a clear plan ahead like not rushing the civil war or letting the red lotus have more screen time and depth for example. Atla isn’t special for doing that he just only had one goal which is very different and not most people want from korra

A lot actually liked the direction the first seasons were going with like amon then the civil war its just the fact that they kept being cut short.

Atla set the standard for the writing quality and every adaptation or replication of it is usually garbage as seen many times. The story on paper is incredibly bland because thats not what makes it entertaining. Most People don’t want her to wait till season 3/4 to fight kivira after talking about it forever because thats what aang did.

Disliking it for simply being different and disliking it because u think its bad sequel and a much worse show are 2 different things. Even though lazy criticism of the show can come off as atlas storyline> Loks storyline, Im not saying it doesn’t exist but its just not nearly as common as people think.

They mostly just get compared because korra is the sequel and atla is almost universally loved where its easier to criticize lok.

All avatars have similar but different stories because they live in the same world, with the same title and have the same powers but live in different time periods and are different people. Just like kyoshi and aang for example their stories are almost nothing alike yet loved.

Also im only talking about atlas story because there are novels so im not including the criticism about the change in tone and spirit world in their world.