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Post by dynamojacks on Nov 26, 2012 16:59:31 GMT -6
I love this comic of Mai and how Maiko wouldn't work in the long-run: I honestly believe a relationship between the two isn't good for either one of them. As the Fire Lady Mai would just become a bird in a gilded cage again while Zuko would be left to his own devices with no one to really confide in, share his doubts and weaknesses with, and no real outward support (as Mai's idea of cheering Zuko up is having him order the help around and not actually, you know, discuss things). ERMAGERD THIS. THIS JUST This is a startling analysis of Mai's character that we never ever got to see in the show. I got some serious feelings just looking at this. Amazing feelings. This is perfect omfg Looking at it, I really do feel bad for Mai. She's basically tied to anything that seems comfortable for her, though the comfort and luxury her parents afforded basically kept her emotionally in the dark. She's never had any incentive to free herself and test her emotional reserves.. and.. well, grow. Like she badly needs to. Mai's clinging to the past when she clings to Zuko, and it IS like clinging to her home, or some semblance of it. She follows him blindly which is essentially her having a lack of autonomy or to put it bluntly- a complete lack of self confidence. As long as she has comfort, she's 'happy', but she doesn't even realise that she isn't. She's just 'contented' which is not the same thing at all. She's never shown to ADDRESS the fact that she's shut down and afraid to truly care about anything, and the show seems to tell us that making her care about Zuko is the only way for her to overcome her oppressive past. Which is bollocks. Because merely caring about Zuko isn't going to help her care about herself at all, especially when Zuko himself has serious issues. They both end up just putting themselves to the side rather than address their own issues, AND shut each other down, which is heinously damaging for both of them. Mai herself will eventually burn out altogether and become severely depressed.. or implode even worse than Zuko did. Jeez, these two could end up KILLING each other. Just, wow. How on earth are we supposed to get the idea that Maiko is in any way healthy?! Also YES on her joining the Kyoshi Warriors. Or at least, SOMETHING to use her fighting skills rather than be cooped up in the bloody Fire Nation palace. Knife throwing was like her life when she was bored out of her mind. So it must be something really very close to her as a character. DAMNIT WHY WERE THESE THINGS JUST SWEPT UNDER THE RUG I MEAN WHAT THE HELL
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Post by manzanasverdes on Nov 27, 2012 8:06:48 GMT -6
Idk, for the sake of neat, little bows?
And yes, I agree with the position of Fire Lady becoming just another way for her to be trapped. Like, the most basic thing, she HATES court life and all it entails, what is she going to get when married to Zuko? I get it that she's not likely to let anyone step on her toes, but still, she'd be just as trapped because it would be more of the same, she doesn't have Katara's 'wildness' to shake things up sufficiently so as not to be caged in, she'd just go along because, as has been said, it would be comfortable and would not demand much form her, but that is the road to dying inside!
I really can't see how the appeal of 'childhood sweethearts/he's the only thing she cares about enough to let it show' can override all the little ways in which Mai and Zuko can damage each other.
There's this fic where, like in Drisela's comic, Mai realizes that this ain't her jam, so she decides to become the chief of Zuko's personal guard (which she formed and trained herself), because apparently there's no way to kill him that she hasn't thought of. She remains a noble living in comfort, remains around Zuko to be his friend and confidante (and his fucking master spy of awesomeness) AND gets to be as free as a bird while throwing knives for the sakes of national security. So far that's been my favorite 'Mai leaves Zuko to become a professional badass' story. It's of course also a story about how Zuko and Katara are totally crazy for each other, but that's not where I'm getting at.
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Post by mrspettyfer on Nov 27, 2012 13:06:21 GMT -6
I agree. And really, it's more one sided on the childhood sweetheart thing. Zuko showed no interest in her and why should he? He was like 10! lol He's a child, and one who probably spends every waking second trying to please his father and train to be a better bender. I don't think girls was ever on his mind.
If they wanted us to believe they were an item EVER before season 3, they should have included some mutal flashbacks. Zuko was banished at 13, I think, and not once does he indicate he left a girl back at home. And again, he would have been only 13 and knowing his personality..I just don't think girls is something he was going to be worrying about.
Now I like the security thing much better than Fire Lady. I still think she would be better off getting out of the Fire Nation completely, but the role of FL is just not one I can see Mai being happy with. I feel like she and Zuko would be that miserable couple that has a wall between them and just goes through the motions. It's sad, really, that Bryke couldn't come up with something that would make both of them more happy. [The breakup in the Promise I don't count as canon, btw. I've read enough to know just about how in character it is..lmao.]
They spent time making it clear to us that Mai has felt trapped her life, and then they want us to believe she'd be happy in a role that would keep her trapped simply because we should accept "her love for Zuko overrules everything else." Not appealing to me. Her happiness should not be all about Zuko. Her character, morals, goals--shouldn't be all about Zuko. And sadly, it all is, with the way they wrote her. It's disappointing.
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Post by azuremoon on Nov 27, 2012 18:09:35 GMT -6
ALL of this. So many feels. I actually like the idea of what Mai could be. What we do not get to see. That comic Lia posted? Pure Gold for character development. I'm now inspired and stuff to make things better and stuff for her and have her go on her own thing and AH! @_@_@ SO many ideas, so little time. XD
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Post by kisho101 on Dec 2, 2012 17:32:39 GMT -6
Personally, I think Mai had a lot of potential. But in the way Maiko was written, she wasn't really able to find herself or get to know who she really was. On The Beach episode, she gave a confession of being expected to sit quietly and be a good little lady(so she was living for her parents), yet in Maiko she basically just lives for Zuko. She never got a chance to discover herself. I honestly don't think that Mai would make a great Fire Lady. Whereas Katara is very interested in the well-being of the world and everyone, Mai gives off an "eh.." vibe. They don't really portray her as someone who would stand by Zuko's side at important meetings and what not. She would just become someone living in the shadows, bossing around the servants because she's bored which is very sad. Also, I feel like she's kind of a third wheel. On the last episode, everyone fit in well. They were all united, they were the GAang, heck even Uncle Iroh fit in playing the tsungi horn. She's just there however, and it didn't really feel right to me, like she was out of place and that's also really sad. While I'm sure Suki and Katara would talk to her and at least try to be her friend, I think that maybe there would still be some kind of barrier there. I thought at one time that Mai did fit Zuko ( she was calm while he was angsty), but the fact that they are both so depressed and gloomy at the beginning is what they bonded over. Once Zuko started to change though, they no longer really fit (not that they truly did, you shouldn't really try to stick two gloomy people together). Mai stayed the same while Zuko was starting to discover who he was and what he was trying to be. Also going to throw this in there, it feels like they would be the 'on and off' type of couple. On The Beach episode, they broke up and then they make up. It just felt...rushed and out of place. They also don't really talk to each other. Communication is very important and they will have a walll in between them if all they do is order servants around when they're feeling down. Zuko and Katara ,however, I think would have a good communication. They're not afraid to push one another, they're not afraid to get the other one angry. While Katara probably would prod him a little to find out what's happening, I think Zuko would eventually tell her and talk it out with her because he knows that she will listen and do her best to help him, whereas Mai would just tell him "I asked if you were cold, not for your whole life story". Another thing, just because they were supposed "childhood sweethearts" doesn't mean that they should continue that relationship in the future. Zuko was more than likely thinking about ways to become a better bender and prove himself to Ozai. They were apart for, considering, a while, like 3 years or so ( I could, and probably am wrong). They would be really awkward with each other and sort of distanced. I saw this comic on how they got together. Azula set them up on a date, they see Jin, Zuko falls in a fountain, Mai's like "payback from last time" and then a bing, bang, and a boom later they're boarding a boat to the FN as a happy couple. WTH?! And even then, Mai was living for Azula! Azula had set her up so that she could keep an eye on Zuko. While Mai did probably still hold a flame for Zuko over the years, Zuko probably would be like "ohk.....sure, why not...". This just was not written well for me. Overall, I, obviously love Zutara, but I'm open to the many different views and opinons others have. Mai would have been a really great badass character, she had a lot of potential, but she was never allowed the chance to have her moment and find herself. I would have loved to see them make her into something, like a guard (Kyoshi warrior) or something that allowed her to find her path and break away from the shadows and lives she lived for. I wish they would have allowed her to live for herself. So this was a rambly rant....yeah... On one last note, Zutara would have been great. All of the potential and possibilities they could have explored, all of the doors they could have opened if they had ended in Zutara would have been amazing. I think that they both really bring out the 'true inner self' of each other. But hey!, there's so many great fanarts and fanfics out there, I can't complain too too much.
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Post by dynamojacks on Dec 2, 2012 19:39:00 GMT -6
I think The Lost Adventures comic on Maiko was a cop-out to be perfectly honest. They just wanted to shove in some context for how Mai and Zuko 'got together' over one lousy 'date that went wrong'. But Zuko actually seems more receptive to Mai than he does on the ship and the entire time they're at the FN. Which makes no fucking sense. Zuko in the comic doesn't appear to be troubled by anything at all other than when he flipped out at the guards at the beginning. They just made something that appeared to flow nicely in comic form. Because Zuko was really fucking troubled and out of it when he was on the ship to the Fire Nation. Honestly, I think he would be spending the time in Ba Sing Se mostly by himself, considering the way he is when he leaves. He's obviously not really spoken to Mai about the things that have been troubling him until randomly when she asks if he's cold. So I took that to mean that that was the first time they had spoken for.. well, a while. Or maybe I'm just biased. I don't know, it just doesn't sit well with me at all. Zuko just struck me as 'off' a number of times in that whole comic.
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Post by emletish on Dec 2, 2012 21:39:05 GMT -6
Oh my god - is that the comic where she gets jin to throw the knives at him to puch him into the fountain. the whole "now we're even thing."
I just cannot even with that comic. it is awful.
now they're even? what the actual hell?
this is deep into the realms of psychological mind-fuckery on Mai's part.
Zuko pushed Mai into a fountain when they were kids to save her from becoming a friggin human torch because there was a friggin apple on fire on her head and your hair is actually pretty flamable. she could have become a human torch in seconds. So him pushing her into a fountain actually saves her from - you know catching on fire.
this should be a good deed. and yes it made mai wet and a bit embarrassed and I know it sucks to be wet and embarrassed in front of the boy you like - but Mai, sweetums, it is much better than the alternative.
When Mai forces him into a fountain in Ba Sing Se - it is because she genuinely wants to freak him out. he is actually scared. and then she gets this friggin sadistic grin and says "now we're even" and tries to laugh it off like a joke.
It is just so wrong that I cannot even...
I choose to ignore it
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Post by kathrynlacey on Dec 2, 2012 23:51:58 GMT -6
I don't consider the Lost Adventures canon because the writers couldn't even get the detail that Zuko is the OLDER sibling right, so while I definitely see Azula being the one to push Mai and Zuko into a relationship (probably as another means of control over Zuzu), I don't see it happening that ridiculously.
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Post by dynamojacks on Dec 3, 2012 6:11:48 GMT -6
Oh that Jin thing was just.. wat. The fact that Mai, an experienced knife-thrower, is getting someone who's never thrown knives before to throw them at her boyfriend[/b] just to get him into the fountain. Uh okay. This chick could have KILLED HIM and Mai just laughs that off. I figure the fountain was actually a cute memory for her and the 'payback' probably not all that serious, but the knife thing... just, no. That was terrifying Zuko and could have reeeaaallly hurt him. I don't think we'd be seeing a sequence like this in Atla, so it doesn't have any place being in canon :V As for Zuko, they made him really arrogant and petulant later on, which really didn't fit the Zuko I knew in the WAT at all.
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Post by kisho101 on Dec 3, 2012 7:36:29 GMT -6
Yeah! Jin probably couldn't throw a knife to save her behind and here Mai just lets her possibly kill Zuko and she's just like "oh look we're even" I didn't like that comic in the least and I agree with dyanamojacks that it does not belong in canon. I will also agree with emletish and choose to just ignore it because if there ever was a crack comic that would be one.
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