Bryke avoiding Zutara

[chromeknickers]

Dec 5, 2012 21:18:57 GMT -6 mrspettyfer said:

Quite frankly, I think a lot of people just don't attempt to understand his perspective.

Well, why should the common girl bother to identify with a teenage boy? Obviously the boy is in the wrong all the time, and having another girl kiss him (not him kiss her) and liking two girls at the same time is worse than taking away someone's bending, being a skezzy playboy, or trying to kill someone. Obviously Mako is the worst character ever created, and he should be condemned for how he raised his brother alone after witnessing his parents' brutal death. /sarcasm

Mako has to have a scar, severe Daddy issues, and attempt to kill the Avatar et al in order to catch a break in this fandom.

Honestly, I agree that one of the problems was the failure to present Mako's perspective in S1, but I kinda think that wouldn't have mattered. There's no reason to hate an evil or skeezy character unless he does something that relates to the viewer (not a lot of people are going to relate to genocide). But Mako dumping his girlfriend for another girl - a lot of girls can't relate to the dumped girl, so it's all just a big bag of projection identification, and Mako's character gets smeared without any regards to his character.

Oh, and aside from the love square, I too liked the romance in LoK. Seemed far more believable to me than Kataang and Maiko, which had way more episodes to develop and just didn't.

[saru]

Im sorry to say that I don't like Mako to much, but it has more to do with the way his character was written than anything else. and I do think I would like him a lot more if we had just been given his side of everything that was going on. and maybe give him some kind of crisis of self when he he realized he was doing exactly what the Equalists were saying benders did, ei; asserting his power as a bender to get information on Korra's whereabouts.Have him sympathize with nonbenders due to his loss of his parents at a young age due to a benders greed. But no, instead they just glossed over the whole thing.

[mrspettyfer]

Mako has to have a scar, severe Daddy issues, and attempt to kill the Avatar et al in order to catch a break in this fandom.

LMAO so true. I think people are projecting their own life through the characters. Like if someone got dumped for another girl, they project that onto Mako, so naturally they hate him too because that happened to them. I actually had someone message me on Tumblr and they admitted to doing that, hating him because he reminded them of a past boyfriend. Bit of a shame, really.

I do think I would like him a lot more if we had just been given his side of everything that was going on

I think this how a lot of people probably feel. We see Mako's actions, but then the show focuses on the REACTIONS of Bolin, Asami and Korra. Episode 9, for example, focused heavily on Asami's reactions to Mako's behavior. We don't get a lot of understanding Mako's side of things. Because an important factor to remember that with a love triangle, there is 3 sides to it.

I hope we see more of Mako's perspective in book 2. I mean Amon and Tarrlok do horrid things and with one flashback, all is forgiven. Clearly Mako just needs some flashbacks of an abusive father lmao. In this fandom, pity plays a heavy hand on how people feel about certain characters.

[honeybee]

I admit to hating on Mako (I did the same thing to Zuko at the end of season two and at the beginning of season three. I hated him. I'm very good at targeting my frustration at characters. They need to work on gaining my forgiveness just as much as anyone else who does something stupid and hurtful. XD). I just don't like how they wrote him. I liked him at first, and thought his relationship with Asami was so hilarious it was actually very cute. But there's that one episode, that horrible episode where he went over-the-top INSANE when Korra went missing. This really made me hate him for some reason. I don't know why, but it irritated me so freakin' badly. I guess it's because he did all of this in front of Asami, and I felt angry on her behalf. I've never had a boyfriend, or been in love with someone who dated another girl, but I still felt so very bad for her.

Also, I hated how he seemed to be the only one that cared at all about Korra during that episode. It was like every other character took a back seat so Makorra could slam full force into your face. I'm sorry, but all of the characters were there looking for Korra. I expected more concern from Bolin especially since he's the most open about his feelings. I'm not a Borra shipper, by the way. I do love their friendship, though, so the fact that he showed little concern for her welfare bothered me quite a bit.

Maybe I'll like Mako better in season two... I don't know. I got to like Zuko, so maybe I can get to like Mako again...

[emletish]

The romance in LOK just wasn't my cup of tea, because I felt it took up too much 'story-telling time' and it was just too invasive, esp in a 12 ep series (IMO, in only 12 eps there shouldn't be any shenanigans with love triangles - unless love is the explicit focus of the story, because there just isn't time. fans will read love into things anyway without it being front and centre). The couples didn't feel quite as 'organic' to me and actually even the krew's bonds of friendship in general felt a little more...what's the word. Forced isn't the right one, but I'll have to use it. I would have prefered more time fleshing out the intergenerational relationships with Korra's mentors and friendships.

Though they didn't leave Asami as a flat character, so at least there's that.

However I do agree that I was much less bothered by all the romance in LOK than I was by the Kataang Kiss at the end.

Lawd that is just nasty. Tongue-kissing 12 year olds?

Nobody wants to see that!!!

....aside from perverts and Kataangers and bryke.

[honeybee]

Dec 5, 2012 23:00:07 GMT -6 emletish said:

Lawd that is just nasty. Tongue-kissing 12 year olds?

Nobody wants to see that!!!

Weren't they 14 (Aang) and 16 (Katara) years old at that moment? I could have sworn there was a fast forward 2 years at some point, But yeah, they looked like two 10 year olds swapping spit. No one wants to see that EVER. Not even other children, I imagine. Ick.

[honeybee]

Maybe my mind made that up because the thought of a 12 and 14 year old kissing was just too... icky to think about. XD I only watched the end of Avatar once, so I can't remember things too clearly. I just know that I don't ever want to watch those last few minutes ever again.

[mrspettyfer]

Oh no, they were still 12 and 14. *cringes*

[saru]

It really looked tacked on at the end too. Like, the hug was plenty, and seems to end there, then all of a sudden it zooms in to Katara, (who is 15 by the end mind) tonguing a 12 year old boy.

If she had gone to my high school, everyone would have made fun of her, called her a pedo, said she could only get kids to date her. My school was full of a*holes, but I dont doubt some thing similar could happen in a modern setting to her.It really makes me feel bad for Katara knowing that could happen. Teenagers can be cruel.

Also it will always seem to me that she only dated him because he's The Avatar and a powerful bender, which isn't fair to either of them.

and Roku, telling a 12 year old he can have any girl he wants because he's The Avatar.No. Just NO. Not something you tell a kid who's let that power go to his head before (Kyoshi Island anyone?) He'll start to think he can get away with anything, because he's powerful, because he's The Avatar, because The Avatar can do what he wants. Thats fricken scary guys.

[Vindictev]

I cannot remember how many times I've stressed to not go off topic. (I've lost count, really.)

I especially expect my moderators to do the same. Lord Jesus.