#Mai critical | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

Visit Blog

Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.

Fun Fact

12.7% of mobile users access Tumblr.

geegers22 · 3 months

Text

I’ve seen lots of conversation on here about Zutara shippers opinions on aang and mai and i thought I’d give my point of view.

I want to start by saying that I think there should be more of a distinction between disliking a character because they are a bad person and disliking a character because they are written badly. With that being said, I can confidently say that, with the material of the main ATLA show, I dislike Aang and Mai because they are badly written characters. Meaning, if their arcs were properly finished, I would have no problems with them. This brings me to another topic of how I don’t really ‘hate’ characters who are bad people if they’re well written but that’s a conversation for another post.

I need to point out that I didn’t start disliking Aang and Mai until they had their arcs undermined when Kataang and Maiko became canon. With the arcs they were going on, they had so much potential to be really interesting and I enjoyed their personalities.

When it comes to Aang, I had no problem with him as a character until season 3 part 2 when I started to realize that his world view (which is flawed based solely on the fact that he is young and there is no way he’s going to have a nuanced pov) was not going to be challenged. Aang should have had to give up katara. Aang should not have just had everything handed to him with the lion turtle and the pointy rock.

Then there’s the southern raiders which I would argue, if Aang’s arc had been completed, would not illicit as many conversations and arguments about it as it currently has. Because his actions in that episode make sense (Sokkas don’t really but again-that’s another story) because he’s a kid. This episode should have been a big decider of his change in worldview. The problem is that the creators decided his flaws didn’t exist and that he was perfect. (At 12 years old?!?!?)

Then there’s Mai. She’s a much smaller character but that doesn’t mean she deserves less of an arc. Mai is a character whose personality I love! (I’m all for gloomy depressed women!) There’s two ways Mai’s character could have developed, and I think both options are great, the problem is that Bryke decided to go in neither direction.

On the one hand, Mai could have been a representation of unlearning the propaganda she was taught in the fire nation throughout her whole life. I think this direction would make Maiko more believable, although I still don’t think they are a good couple because their personalities create a toxic dynamic and Mai’s story with Zuko is meant to represent that toxicity.

The second option would be to have her views not change, like we see in the show, and have her not get back together with Zuko. This is the more interesting path in my opinion because it’s more realistic. I don’t think the problem with Mai’s arc lies with her personal views of the fire nation, more so with her relationship with Zuko. As we have it in the show, Mai’s views don’t change. Therefor, it doesn’t make sense for her character or for Zuko’s for them to get back together like nothing ever happened.

When it comes down to it. Both Aang and Mai had their arcs sabotaged because the creators rejected Zutara. Even without Zuko and Katara getting together these were the wrong decisions. Both characters had potential to be well written, but in the end, the creators chose the path didn’t allow that to happen because they just couldn’t kill their darling. (Kataang)

Sorry for rambling, this is kind of just my take on the whole “Zutara shippers hate Aang and Mai” take.

#is this a meta?#atla #avatar the last airbender #anti aang #anti Mai #anti kataang #anti maiko #anti bryke #zutara #ayo fuck bryke all my homies hate bryke #atla critical #aang critical #Mai critical

183 notes · View notes

yourhighness6 · 3 months

Text

One thing that will never cease to confuse me about Mai's nonexistent arc is the fact that Bryke knows how to write great minor characters/ love interests. Princess Yue only had three episodes but she is so universally beloved in the fandom and she's honestly my favorite character. I think this is just another one of those disparities that shows the difference in the quality of ATLA writing from book 1 to book 3.

#its like atla got progressively worse #i will die on this hill #I mean right after the end of book 3 is the comics era #need I say more?#anti bryke #princess yue #yue #yukka #yuekka #mai #mai critical #anti maiko #just to be safe

165 notes · View notes

rosafloera · 5 months

Text

Mai was the abuser in Maiko

'Yeah, I agree. The worst Zuko did with Mai during their relationship was get jealous and start a fight during the beach party. I always thought that was OOC, anyways. He is not an abusive person and I can hardly see him as possessive or controlling with a girlfriend, even with his insecurity. He is more of the avoidant type with his insecurity, not the controlling type. Jin had to make all of the moves on him because he was so shy and he had such low self-esteem. He acted like a little kid because the waiter called her his girlfriend. That is how little experience with girls he has. He left their date because he was afraid of getting close to people. I hated how he acted with Mai, it was so weird and OOC.'

'She just beaks up with him when he isn’t able to be completely well-adjusted (Hmm, I wonder why?), and she’s the victim. Maybe Mai shouldn’t expect him to act completely normal and pressure him into a relationship so fast after what he’s been through? Well, she never cares to ask about what he’s been through. She never wants to talk about it. All she cares about is whether he’s being a good boyfriend to her. Mai’s entire relationship with Zuko is about belittling him, and we’re supposed to find it cute because he’s male and she’s female. I cannot imagine a female character being scarred and banished and sent off to war at 13-years-old, and their love interest yawning at them; not even the slightest bit interested in any of the things they’ve been through. Nobody would find this acceptable or defend it. But with Mai, she is actually portrayed as the victim because they have such a toxic relationship.'

-peacockarehot

#peacockarehot #atla #avatar #anti maiko #maiko critical #mai critical #she was the abuser #not zuko #zuko is a victim of mai #swap their genders and reevaluate

20 notes · View notes

late-draft · 14 days

Text

I'm browsing the fandom now from time to time and I see that sometimes there's discourse about what the narrative was actually telling us.

The narrative in ATLA isn't consistent though! It has at least 2 parallel intentions in many areas and its messages are contradictory. Accidentally picking arguments from 2 opposing parts cannot be used to justify a single point! Possibly because there were 2 groups in the writing team, if what I've read is true. It was a tug of war.

Most clear examples are in shipping. Mai was introduced as a plot device, a negative image of an aspect of the Fire Nation. Then in the end she ends in a positively depicted canon relationship, without going through any character growth to become a better person. There's nothing in the previous writing that can be pulled to explain her finish-line, because the previous writing isn't leading up to the finish she received!

Then we look at the Guru: what was his point? He was included and then it looked like he was leading towards something, showing the problem of not letting go of earthly attachments means chakras can't be opened. Yet the writing ends with a random rock unlocking the chakras anyway.

It's not easy, but it's important to be perceptive enough to notice where the 2 writings split!

#the discourse #atla salt #analysis #mai critical

7 notes · View notes

the-badger-mole · 2 years

Text

Down With the Status Quo

There is something about the defense of Mai that confuses me. She is held as a counter cultural icon and a rebel within some fandom spaces, but I just don't see it. This isn't me being salty (completely). We see a pretty good sampling of the Fire Nation nobles and upper class citizens in the show, and Mai fits in with them very well. I genuienly don't understand why Mai is seen as counter cultural when actually, when you take a step back, she is absolutely down with the Fire Nation status quo. Her looks, her attitude, even the fact that she's a good fighter isn't out of step with anything that we've seen from the Fire Nation characters, both main and background. In fact, the whole purpose of pairing her with Zuko in the first place was to get him to fall in line with the status quo.

If ATLA took place in a world with Western aesthetics, she would be the intimidating rich mean girl. A friend of mine said she fits the "rich, snobby, outwardly perfect K-drama romantic rival" trope, and yeah, I could absolutely see that. Mai would be Gucci down to her socks. She would be the embodiment of Prada or nada. Mai might be bored or dissatisfied with some aspects of her life, but that doesn't make her counter-cultural, she just wants stimulation. Interestingly, she gets that stimulation from being back in the company of Azula and later from being back in the Fire Nation capital, surrounded by the trappings of the Fire Nation's nobility culture.

#atla #anti mai #anti maiko #mai critical #mai is NOT a counter cultural maven #she embodies the fire nation culture as much as azula does #ty lee was more counter cultual than mai

75 notes · View notes

justanotherthrowaway1950 · 2 years

Text

The Argument Against Maiko

Maiko is one of ATLA’s most controversial ships, for there has been much ink spilled on why Zuko and Mai are not compatible with each other.

For those who think Mai is bad for Zuko point out that Mai was perfectly fine with hunting Zuko during S2, convinced Jin, an untrained civilian, to try and hit an fish on top of Zuko’s head, would have remained perfectly fine with the war if not for Zuko’s defection, was only mad at Zuko’s defection because of the way he broke up with her, and told him to never break up with her ever again during the first time they saw each other after the war ended.

Meanwhile, those who think Zuko is bad for Mai point out his possessive, toxic behavior towards her during “The Beach”, him keeping his conflicting loyalties from her to the point that he left the Fire Nation, as well as broke-up with her, without telling her in person, and never spared a thought on screen as to what happened to her after he saw her betray Azula to keep him and his allies alive.

In fact, despite his coronation taking place at least a couple of days after the Final Agni Kai, he never thinks about whether or not Mai is alive, or to take her and her best friend out of prison if they are still alive.

And there are those who think they are both bad for each other because they are both introverts who tend to bottle up their emotions until they burst, on top of having possessive and jealous tendencies, and so they bring out the worst out in each other.

However, I think all of these complaints are easily rebutted by the fact that Zuko and Mai are abused, isolated teenagers who have no real good examples of healthy relationships and know what happens to those who don’t toe the line.

Moreover, Mai was sheltered from the harsh realities of the war for most of her life until she got thrown in prison after committing treason considering she was a noblewoman who only left her bubble of privilege to join Azula’s hunting party.

Meanwhile, Zuko, for good reason, couldn’t tell Mai about his conflicting loyalties since she was Azula’s friend at first, and so he runs the very real risk that she tells Azula and/or Ozai about his conflicting loyalties and ends up dead or worse as a result.

Additionally, just because we never saw Zuko on screen angst about what happened to Mai after the Boiling Rock doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. And trying to assert his authority after Ozai and Azula were disposed of must have been a nightmare that required his 24/7 attention when he wasn’t getting treatment for his still painful lightning wound, so it makes sense why Mai slipped his mind.

Also, just because they are very similar people with similar bad habits doesn’t not mean they are incompatible. In fact, most successful relationships occur when the partners are similar to each other.

Not to mention, if they managed to learn that following orders is no excuse, why can't they learn to grow out their bad habits, especially when they have the rest of their lives ahead of them, love each other dearly, and are stubborn enough to not give up on their relationship?

Like to be quite honest, most of the hate Maiko gets is because the ship prevented one or more of people’s self-inserts from getting together.

Especially those who self-insert as Zuko, and thus ship him with other characters like Jin, Ty Lee, or even Azula, since they can’t see themselves in a long-term relationship with Mai because she is too abrasive for their liking, too willing to stand up for herself for their liking, and/or not hot enough for them.

However, I think there are some legitimate arguments against Maiko on both sides of the ship.

For on Zuko’s end, I think a thing that is often swept under the rug is the fact that he selfishly let Azula out to find Mommy without asking Mai or Ty Lee, Mai’s best friend and the person who saved her from certain death at the Boiling Rock, how they felt about it, or granting them and/or their families adequate protection like a 24/7 protection detail as long as Azula was free and unbound.

Especially after he loses Azula, causing the two of them to constantly live in fear of Azula's retaliation, a fear that was justified considering Azula manipulated Ukano, kidnapped Tom Tom, and only didn't go further because she became a non-sexual yandere for Zuko.

Like people get on Mai for not thinking about Zuko's needs, but Zuko clearly disregarded her needs, and therefore needs to be called out for it.

Moreover, he needs to take active steps rectify his mistakes, like asking the White Lotus to hunt down Azula and her associates, as well as take action to make sure he doesn’t do something that could negatively impact Mai and/or her loved one’s lives again without at least asking Mai about it.

Meanwhile, Mai broke up with Zuko for going to Ozai for advice after his support group ghosted him, something that I support since if Zuko wants to trust Ozai over her after everything, then he needs to learn to not take her (nigh) unconditional support for granted.

However, she then hides the fact that Ukano was leading the New Ozai Society, a secret that would have not only killed Zuko if not for him ass-pulling dragon fire redirection, but also directly contributed to the Fire Warriors kidnapping Kiyi among others like her own brother.

And when called out for her treason, Mai has the gall to respond that Zuko should understand how hard it is to turn on your father, like there is any comparison between Ukano and Ozai.

“But is there a comparison? If anything, with Ozai being more imperialistic and evil, it should've been easier for Zuko to understand, not harder.”

Personally, I don’t think so since the consequences of betraying Ozai were much more severe than the consequences of betraying Ukano. For Ozai was essentially the god-emperor of the Fire Nation with legions of assassins and armies at his command making it so his reach basically spanned the entire world save for the Northern Water Tribe.

Moreover, he was so strong that even without the Comet, a three-element Aang, a metalbending Toph, and Sokka post-sword training refused to fight him after the eclipse was over, despite Azula telling them where he was.

In addition, Ozai already tried killing him twice before his defection to the Avatar, and would have succeeded in his attempt to kill Zuko after Zuko announced his defection if not for Zuko knowing how to redirect lightning, a technique that Ozai had no awareness of at the time.

Meanwhile, Ukano is a physically and mentally weak sycophant who may have emotionally abused Mai as she was growing up, but also did nothing to her after she trashed his New Ozai Society hideout and left knowing where said hideout was, as well as the fact that he was leading a pro-Ozai terrorist cell.

Moreover, she already betrayed Ukano when she decided to save Zuko and his allies in the Boiling Rock, for she didn’t just betray Azula there, but also betrayed the Fire Nation as well by helping a traitor and several high-value POWs escape.

In addition, unlike Zuko when he decided to “betray” Ozai, Mai already had friends and allies in the other nations when she found out about Ukano’s leadership of the New Ozai Society. In fact, she is friends with Aang and is on such good terms with the Kyoshi Warriors that she called them to protect Zuko when his original guards were failing to do so.

So, why would she essentially not only betray Zuko, but also her new friends and allies as well? Doesn’t she understand how badly they could get hurt if the Fire Nation devolves into civil war, or god forbid, if Ozai somehow manages to take the throne again?

Not to mention, Zuko is obviously not going to put people’s heads on a pike like his forefathers would have for treason. So it is not like Ukano was facing life or death consequences, or worse, if Mai decided to snitch on him earlier like Zuko faced when he decided to defect and told Ozai in his face.

So no, there is no comparison, and to make one is to severely downplay the threat that was Ozai.

“Ok, ok, maybe you have a point, but I still have a question for you: are they still able to redeem themselves after this (assuming they have Izumi together)? For Zutarians, and other shippers in general, often use arguments like yours to say Maiko is beyond reconciliation, even though a lot of their issues are not unique to them, and I just hate it!”

For the record, I am not a Zutarian, but instead a Maiko shipper (all of my works that have shipping in them have Maiko in them in some shape or form), but I wanted in good faith to acknowledge the best argument against Maiko.

But to address the above argument, just because Maiko has problems doesn’t mean they aren’t fixable, for the comics have a lot of issues, but one of the few things I liked about it was the fact that they had Maiko break up.

This is because while its execution was terrible to say the least, the comics recognized the need for Zuko and Mai to spend some time apart, as well as some soul searching and growing, before deciding to spend the rest of their lives together.

For in Zuko’s case, considering he barely spent two years as Crown Prince, he is severely lacking in knowledge when it comes to being Fire Lord, especially since he has to be everything that Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai, his most recent predecessors, were not, and especially since Iroh, the one person who could help, has decided to abandon his surrogate son to the wolves is retired in Ba Sing Se.

So Zuko needs to devote his undivided attention to figuring out what type of Fire Lord he wants to be, as well learn the finer details associated with being the ruler of the most powerful nation-state in the world, one that you are trying to reform after a hundred years of war and propaganda.

Also, on a more personal level, Zuko needs to figure out what type of relationships he wants to have with not only Iroh, Ursa, Noren, and Kiyi, but also with Ozai and Azula, if he wants to have any relationship with them at all. Not to mention, work on his other, non-romantic, non-familiar relationships, like his friendships with the Gaang and Ty Lee, on top of maybe finding some new friends in the Fire Nation as well.

For how can Zuko be a good romantic partner if he doesn’t have his professional life (mostly) sorted out and his personal life is in shambles? For it is unfair to himself and Mai to rely on her being the sole, or at least main, source of stability in his life.

Meanwhile, in Mai’s case, she needs to figure out who is she and what she wants outside the confines of nobility or the Royal Family, something that she is already doing considering she is working in her Aunt Mura’s flower shop and has attempted (key word attempted) to date someone outside of nobility.

For Mai has spent her entire life being the politician's perfect daughter, the princess’ loyal friend, and/or the Prince/Fire Lord’s dutiful girlfriend.

Thus she deserves and needs to spend some significant time where she is not playing a role, so that if she decides to marry Zuko, and therefore become Fire Lady, it is because she is fully aware of the burden it entails, and yet she still stole choose to marry him because that is what she wanted to do in life, not what someone else wanted or expected her to do.

So to conclude, while most of the arguments against Maiko, in my opinion, are not serious since they are driven by shipping concerns, and not out of concern for Zuko, Mai, or both of them, there are serious problems with Maiko, namely how they treat each other in the comics.

Thankfully, however, most of their transgressions against each other in the comics haven’t led to serious consequences (so far). Moreover, most of their problems are easily fixable provided that they spend time apart and do some growing up, especially since they are teenagers with their whole lives ahead of them.

And considering they are already spending time apart, all that is left is for them to do some soul-searching that is hopefully on-screen and/or on-panel before becoming the couple they would have been if not for the war, the toxic Fire Nation Court, and their abusive upbringings.

#zuko #mai #maiko #atla #atla comics #zuko critical #mai critical #maiko critical #maiko meta #atla meta #atla comics meta #zuko is the partner mai both needs and deserves #mai is the partner zuko both needs and deserves #the atla comics aren't all bad #justanotherthrowaway1950meta

12 notes · View notes

bidisasterforzutara · 2 years

Text

Atla Twitter stop reducing Katara to a baby maker and calling everyone who critiques m@i a misogynist challenge

#zutara #sort of #katara #anti mai #mai critical #anti atla fandom #like sorry we don’t stan your verbally abusive paper bland fav #not our fault bryke couldn’t write her #we’re allowed to express our frustrations with that

24 notes · View notes

northgazaupdates · 4 months

Text

The UN has made the claim that they distribute food in Gaza twice a week. They have made similar claims several times, explaining that hunger is still an issue because they are only able to distribute food two times a week.

However, some on the ground in north Gaza say this statement is dishonest. When the UN makes these statements, it implies that it is servicing the entire Gaza Strip. They are not. Due to Israeli blockade, absolutely no aid of any kind has reached northern Gaza in about two months.

People in northern Gaza are starving to death because there is no food, none. Some report having to make bread out of animal feed, eat cardboard, and drink seawater and dirty puddles. What little food can be scrounged up is not enough to support anyone’s nutritional needs, let alone those of 800,000 people.

If people in the central and southern regions are still starving, even with the UN and partners brining in food twice a week, imagine the state of people in the north. If even adults in the north are reporting severe hunger pains, imagine what children are experiencing.

The point of this post is not *necessarily* to lambast the UN, although there is plenty of reason to do so. Rather, it is to address one source of misunderstanding which is impeding some people’s ability to grasp the full breadth of the catastrophe in the north.

#sources may be provided on request but I am hesitant to put people’s names out there when they are criticizing the UN #gaza genocide #north gaza #gaza #gaza strip #gaza under attack #free gaza #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #text #explainer #palestinian genocide

6K notes · View notes

ghelgheli · 2 months

Text

Often when trans women ask me when I'm performing next, and I tell them that it's a queer/trans event, they will tell me that they'd rather not go because they do not feel comfortable or safe in those spaces, that they have been dismissed or belittled at such events before. Even trans women who are dyke- or bisexual- identified often don't feel welcome or relevant in queer/trans spaces. And whenever a trans woman or ally points out aspects about the queer/ trans community that contribute to these feelings of irrelevancy and disrespect—such as the way our community coddles those who support trans-woman-exclusionist events or who make trans-misogynistic comments—we are described as being "divisive." This use of the word "divisive" is particularly telling, as it implies that "queer/trans" represents a uniform movement or community—a "oneness"—rather than an alliance where all voices are respected.

Julia Serano, Whipping Girl. Published 2007.

#reading #just finished it and this from the final chapter was my fav moment and one of the few times i was nodding along #the book is solid in certain places #even incisive at times #but it is so theoretically confused and downright wrong in some of its foundatioms #that i CANNOT recommend it as an introduction to transmisogyny and i can only SUGGEST it as a v critical read #may say more later #whipping girl #transmisogyny

4K notes · View notes

xandrikart · 2 months

Text

Happy Thursday!

Wanted to post this sketch of Fearne's redesign! I'm planning to do it with every BH member and then post the finished illustrations, but so far I'm still at the designing stage and I reeeally loved this Fearne's final sketch. Plus I wanted to share my vision before we see the official art of their titan forms (I really hope we'll get them!)

#I also did Ashton but I'm still not 100 percent satisfied with the result and I may change it later #Let's hope I finish this before they change their outfits again! Or else I will cry! And there will be no one else to blame but me!#Happy Thursday everybody...#bells hells #cr3 #critical role #critical role sketches #sketches #fearne calloway

1K notes · View notes

caitmayart · 1 year

Photo

Listen - sometimes I’m a professional.

Other times…. I‘m self indulgent.

I was feeling VERY self indulgent tonight.

#dorym #critical role #cr3 #bells hells #dorian storm #orym of the air ashari #comic #headcanon #cait may #these two will be the death of me #i adore them #i want dorian back #robbie come back my sweet bean

9K notes · View notes

quiddie · 4 months

Text

I find idioms derived from scripture to be particularly fascinating. They seem to have this extra weight to them. One of my favorites is “out of the mouths of babes” which speaks to the surprise of wisdom coming from unexpected sources.

The phrase’s origin is a particularly funky translation of Psalm 8:2: “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.”

Such evocative phrasing. It *almost* paints a picture.

Anyway, it’s Thursday.

See you soon.

#candela obscura #the circle of tide and bone #critical role #‘misfortune may meet any Mother’s child’ - the writings of the Ascendancy

1K notes · View notes

Last Seen Blogs