#mai meta | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

zuko-always-lies · 2 months

Text

What exactly were everyone's character arcs supposed to be?

This is an interesting question for ATLA, and one sometimes without a clear answer. Some characters have reasonably complete character arcs, and others simply don't, to a degree which is often not acknowledged today. A few are in-between. This not necessarily a function of screen time. Jet and Yue have reasonably complete character arcs despite only briefly appearing, while others with far more screen time do not.

Without further ado, I'll go through the characters one by one and try to give an answer:

Yue, as I said, has a story which feels complete with a beginning, middle, and end. She's a very duty bound person committed a political marriage to help her tribe, a person who was saved by the holy symbols of it in the first place. Then she falls in love with Sokka but refuses to break off her engagement out of duty. And finally she sacrifices her life out of duty to save everyone.

Jet also feels like he has an arc. You can take issue with how it was written and how it plays out, since he really got the short straw, but it's an arc. From being orphaned by the Iroh-aligned Rough Rhinos, to fighting the Fire Nation and going "too far," to trying to make a new start in Ba Sing Se, to correctly getting suspicious about Zuko and Iroh, to being brainwashed by the Dai Li, to dying fighting against Long Feng. It's not nearly as coherent as Yue's arc, but it's something.

Suki, by contrast, doesn't have much of an arc. I've heard before the concept of "character arc" being defined as "either the character changes or the audience's perception of them changes." Neither of those things ever happen with Suki. She remains unchanged, and we learn nothing really about her. The only meaningful character change which happens is that she and Sokka fall in love.

Aang quite obviously has an arc: grow into the position of Avatar, defeat the Firelord, befriend Zuko, and the end the war. And, of course, get together with Katara.

Zuko also has an arc, which the show probably spends more time on than with anyone else: change sides, become friends with the Gaang(although that bit was very poorly written), and reject his abusive father and instead start worshipping his uncle. And I suppose grow strong enough to beat the crap out of his sister, like he's always wanted to do.

Iroh, by contrast, couldn't have less of an arc. Any attempt to read an arc into the mess of extremely incoherent writing he was would require extreme charity. In the end, we're supposed to both accept he "changed" offscreen before the show(that his arc was already mostly complete?) but also that he was "always good" anyways.

Toph doesn't have an arc. 90% of her character development, such as it was, is confined to her first two appearances. After that, she's merely a hanger on to the Gaang. As much as people love her, there is so little to her story. Her character is better defined than Suki, but her story isn't.

Azula is supposed to have an arc. It's supposed to be about falling apart, going insane, and being lain low. But it was extremely rushed and shoved unconvincingly into the last few episodes, and the writers were uninterested in explaining what actually happened to make her fall apart, so I struggle to say she has anything resembling a coherent arc.

Ty Lee also doesn't have an arc. Her arc, such as it was imagined, was supposed to "betray Azula." Yet none of the character development she gets over the series leads in that direction, and we have every reason to believe she would have acted the same at the beginning of the series as she did at the end. And of course there was no "redemption" aside from switching sides for her.

Mai has slightly more of an arc than Ty Lee, but that's only because it involves her getting together with Zuko and eventually sacrificing herself to protect him. Otherwise, it's about as coherent as Ty Lee's arc.

Sokka's arc is an interesting one. I would say that there are four things they experiment with as the basis for his arc. First, there is his distrust for Aang, which is rapidly resolved. Second is his sexism, which is equally rapidly resolved. Third is unease over being a nonbender, but that's only rarely referenced over the course of the series, and is fully "resolved" in the truly awful episode "Sokka's Master" early in Book 3. Finally, there is the issue of his daddy issues and his desire to prove himself as a warrior. That is something his story keeps coming back to over and over again. However, it is almost entirely resolved in the Day of Black Sun episodes, where Sokka leads the SWT in battle, despite a couple weird later references in the Boiling Rock episodes. Thus, I would Sokka has an arc, but it's resolved well before the series ends.

Finally, we reach Katara. I don't think Katara really has much of a coherent arc in the series. In Book 1, it was all about her trying to become a master waterbender, but she achieves that by the end of the Book. After that, her character lacks clear direction. What's her story supposed to be about after that? Getting together with Aang? "Forgiving Zuko"? The daddy issues which show up for exactly one episode? The conflict with Toph which shows up for two? "Accepting that ordinary Fire Nation people are people too," even though she was always shown to be compassionate to ordinary Fire Nation people not actively engaged in genocide? The "mommy issues" which she often brings up but which are rarely taken seriously by the show, and are ultimately used to get her to forgive Zuko (two separate times!)? All of these seem completely unworthy of hanging her arc on, and I have to say, I don't think Katara has much of a coherent arc past Book 1.

If we had to order these characters in terms of coherence of arc from most to least, it would probably go something like: Aang, Zuko, Yue, Jet, Sokka, Katara, Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, Iroh, Toph, Suki.

53 notes · View notes

zvtara-was-never-canon · 2 months

Note

It just rubs me wrong every time whenever anyone says "Azula treated Mai as an equal". The whole point between Azula's relationship with her friends was that they were done with the power dynamics and Azula having the upper hand in it. Even if the show did a poor job showing it with Mai.

"I love Zuko more than I fear you." - Totally the words of someone who has been treated as an equal.

I FULLY disagree with the notion that the show did a poor job showing Azula didn't treat Mai as an equal. Sure, it didn't beat us over the head with the information, but it was not always that subtle.

The first thing Mai says to Azula is "please say you're here to kill me", and when talking to Ty Lee she's clearly confused as to what the hell the girl is even doing since she said the circus was her calling, getting only a "Azula called a little louder" as a response. To me, that is the show reminding us that, yes, Mai chose to join Azula willingly, but if she had said no like Ty Lee did, Azula would force her to join anyway.

There's also Mai and Azula exchanging a look after Azula says they shouldn't trade a king for a baby, and while it's never explained what was going through Mai's head at the moment, one could interpret it as Azula challenging or full on threatening Mai into putting the mission before her family.

More importantly, in The Drill, when Mai refuses to obey Azula, she says "she can shoot all the lightning she wants at me", and this time there is zero indication of it being a joke or exageration.

When Azula interrupts Mai's date with Zuko to talk to him by finding a dumb excuse to send her away, Mai is visibly pissed off and even side-eyes Azula because come on, couldn't talk to him later or politely ask Mai to give them a moment?

Finally, we have the beach, in which Mai full on screams at everyone, Azula very much included, to just leave her alone.

The show made it very clear fromt he begining that the bitter end of Azula's friendships was inevitable due to the huge power imbalance. Fans don't deny that because of issues in the writting, they do it because they fit in one of three category:

1 - Fan that likes the IDEA of Azula, but not the actual character, and is uncomfortable with the fact that she did bad things, so instead of trying to imagine a healing/redemption arc, they just pretend stuff like her using fear to keep Mai and Ty Lee under her thumb didn't happen in the first place.

2 - Fan (usually a zutara shipper) that HATES Mai and doesn't want to acknowledge things like her troubled family life and unhealthy dynamic with Azula because they cast a more sympathetic light on her and give her understandable motivations for doing bad things.

3 - The typical atla fan that cannot understand any kind of complex situation. They see Mai willingly joining Azula and ignore all the other issues in their relationship, as well as being CONVINCED, for no fucking reason, that this means Azula would not have coerced Mai into joining her had she said no like Ty Lee did. I've said it a million times, and I'll say it a million more: if Zuko didn't have the proof of his abuse at the hands of Ozai burned into his face, there'd absolutely be fans of the show claiming Zuko wasn't abused at all and that people who claim otherwise just want to justify liking an evil character.

#mai meta #mai deserved better

23 notes · View notes

balanceoflightanddark · 1 year

Text

This is quite Mai's most iconic line. Her standing up to Azula and inadvertently causing her breakdown.

...it's also the one where a lot of Mai's mischaracterization both from the fandom and the creators comes in.

See, people love to use this as proof that Mai hates Azula. That she was never a friend to her and that she was "forced" into that position. And that she was just itching to backstab Azula and was waiting for the opportune moment.

What's more, people love to paint Azula as "abusing" Mai. That she's responsible for a lot of Mai's problems.

Kind of ironic then that outside of this moment, Mai never shows any hostility towards Azula. Like at all. While I'm not gonna argue that Azula was never a bad friend to Mai, there aren't any signs in canon that she was "abusive". Nor was there any sign of lingering hatred towards Azula on Mai's part.

Quite the opposite in fact since we do see multiple times that Mai doesn't have much of a problem with Azula. Remember when Azula recruited her for the mission to go retrieve Zuko?

She was raring to go at a moment's notice to get out of Omashu and join Azula's party.

Keep this in mind since we'll come back to this in a bit.

Mai also never shows any hostility towards Azula during their time together. It's not like she kept quiet to stay out of trouble. She flat out disobeyed orders when she was stationed on the Drill. Clearly, she didn't really hate or fear Azula like so many people believe she did.

Yet it's the Boiling Rock Incident that colors so many people's perception of Mai, even though it was the one time and she had a decent reason since killing Zuko was one line she wouldn't cross. You know, because they were romantically involved and all.

But like with Azula's breakdown, most of Mai's interactions post canon and in fanfics has her hating Azula's guts. Blaming her for her traumas growing up to the point she's willing to let Azula rot in the asylum or advocate for worse treatment. While I can see Mai wrestle with her feelings towards Azula for a time, I can't see her call her a nutcase or blame everything on her.

Cause what people forget is...Azula is not the root of Mai's problems. Remember when Mai wanted to get out of Omashu so badly?

That's cause she wanted to get away from the root of her real problems.

Yeah. Those two.

I might make a post on Mai's family and how a lot of her problems stem from them, but the point is clear. Mai never hated Azula in the show, neither was Azula the root of Mai's problems. And trying to pin the blame on Azula basically does nothing but weaken Mai's character since it detracts from her real issues at the cost of making Mai look like a jerk.

#mai #mai atla #mai was not scared of azula #mai meta #azula #atla mai #atla comics critical

251 notes · View notes

hello-nichya-here · 2 months

Note

Did Azula ever treat Mai as an equal

No. She has more respect for Mai than she had for Ty Lee (though she seemed more confortable being affectionate with Ty Lee), but that still doesn't change the fact that, before Azula is her friend, she is her princess and that means Mai is risking being labelled a traitor each time she does something Azula doesn't like.

Mai pushed her luck a few times (the main one being refusing to obey Azula's orders in the Drill), and while Azula didn't punish her for it (because, she DOES respect her friend to some degree) it was always very clear that:

1 - There were lines Azula would never allow Mai to cross.

2 - Mai would inevitably cross said lines because no relationship (platonic, familial, romantic, etc) can survive when one person constantly uses intimidation to remain in control - and that's the only way Azula ever knew how to function thanks to her dad.

#asks #mai meta #azula meta

13 notes · View notes

maikingsenseofit · 2 years

Text

In Defense of Mai and Maiko, Let’s talk about seashells

Mai has been criticized and villainized relentlessly over her comment to Zuko when he gives her a seashell at the beach. Anti maikos consider her to be selfish, inconsiderate of Zuko’s feelings, and a toxic girlfriend out of this one action. But a key detail that most viewers forget is when Ty Lee snuggles up to the seashell bedspread in Lo and Li’s place, Mai explicitly verbalizes her disdain for seashells. And Zuko was there and heard her say this.

Ty Lee: Ooh, I love the seashell bedspread. [Rubs the pillow admiringly.]

Mai:[Frontal view.] Are you serious? It looks like the beach threw up all over it.

Zuko was clearly not in the right state of mind throughout the Beach episode. He was frustrated with himself, his surroundings, and caught in a moral disarray. There is no wonder as to why he would have remembered this small but important detail. But one thing remains clear. Mai does not like seashells, and she makes sure to show it, and Zuko hears it.

Later, Zuko gives Mai a seashell on the beach. It’s a sweet effort, but it shows Zuko was not paying attention to what Mai had said a moment earlier. He might have heard it, but he didn’t listen to her. Mai has every right to be upset with him. She isn’t privy to Zuko’s turmoil and moral dilemma yet. But in the actual interaction, she isn’t shown to be overbearingly upset or angry. She maintains a mellow demure and clearly states “Why would I want that?” And why would she? She makes it abundantly clear she hates most things, especially things that appeal to normal girls. She expresses her frustration rather simply to Zuko.

Zuko: Here. This is for you.

Mai: why would I want that?

Zuko: I saw it and I thought it was pretty. Don’t girls like stuff like this?

Mai: Maybe stupid girls.

She told Zuko, Azula, and Ty Lee that she hates seashells. Zuko offers her a seashell, making it clear he wasn’t paying attention or listening to her when she said this. She later expresses her well justified frustration in a mostly calm way. She doesn’t hold it over Zuko. She doesn’t break up with him on the spot. She’s shown to still be enjoying her time with him under the umbrella.

It’s so puzzling to me when I see anti-Maiko arguments - demonizing Mai for something that isn’t her fault. Take a look here (I also mentioned in my previous post that I will be quoting directly from other posters, if you are uncomfortable let me know and I will remove the tag)

Now, if you’re in a romantic relationship with someone and your S/O gives you a gift and you throw it aside like it meant nothing to you, and then you proceed to act like a petulant child when they were just trying to do something nice for you — that’s unhealthy. - @seapruncs

Mai was treating him like garbage the entire flipping time. Every time he tried to please her, she acted like he was the scum under her shoe. I mean so you don’t like seashells, we get that, Mai, but would it kill you to thank him for trying? It’s the thought that counts. I see people justifying her reaction on the basis that Zuko really ought to know what she likes. How? - @daughter-of-water

This comment is really funny because Mai disliking seashells isn’t some unspoken fact that Zuko should have been magically aware of. She literally says it.

Friendly reminder that even when Zuko tried to do little things for Mai like give her sweet gifts, she spat them back in his face in mockery - @steambend

I fail to see how Mai spat a gift back in his face and mocked him when all she does is express genuine discontent that he gave her a gift that she explicitly says she doesn’t like.

These comments are a small sample of dozens of takes on why mai is an evil, toxic, even abusive girlfriend for disliking the seashell on the beach. Do you see the misogyny here? Do you see how a female character is being mischaracterized based on an important part of an episode that is conveniently ignored?

In the next episode, we see how Mai and Zuko learn from their previous mistakes and grow as individuals and a couple, notably after the Beach revelations. Zuko cares so much about Mai that he asks her what she wants, listens to what she has to say, and gives her a gift that he knows she will enjoy. Mai graciously accepts the gift, acknowledges and appreciates Zuko’s effort.

Zuko: Tell me, if you can have anything you wanted right now, what would it be?

Mai: Hmm. A big fancy fruit tart, with rose petals on top.

Zuko: You know, being a prince and all, I might just be able to make that happen.

Mai: That would be impressive. I guess there are some nice perks with royalty.

Anyone can see two traumatized teenagers learning from their mistakes and becoming better individuals for it. It’s a dynamic, growing relationship. Whats not to love about that?

#mai #zuko #pro maiko #mai meta #anti zutara #avatar the last airbender #ATLA #indefenseofmaiandmaiko #seashells

165 notes · View notes

juniperhillpatient · 2 years

Text

I think that a lot of fandom discourse in general could be erased if we just took off the “over complicated every line must have 800 layers” goggles & revisited scenes for what they are. I see a LOT of debates about the line “I love Zuko more than I fear you” from Mai in the “Boiling Rock.” Admittedly, it’s a loaded line considering Azula’s trauma with feeling unloved by her mother & her later declaration post betrayal that “trust is for fools, fear is the only reliable way.”

I think both Mai & Ty Lee are given fanon motives & background surrounding their betrayal that isn’t there in canon. Unfortunately the comics ret conning to say “they were never really friends with Azula” doesn’t help, but as anyone who follows me knows, I don’t consider the comics canon. Looking at the SHOW, I think that both the betrayal itself & Mai’s line shows a pretty straight forward sequence of events & motive.

This post isn’t going to go in depth on why I think that Azula, Mai, & Ty Lee were real friends with a toxic power imbalance making things complicated because I’ve talked about that many times. Let’s talk specifically about that line from Mai. Here’s what happens:

Zuko is in danger, probably about to die. Mai cares about Zuko & acts in an adrenaline fueled moment to save him. Azula is furious. Mai recognizes that she’s committing treason, & says “I love Zuko more than I fear you.” Before establishing motive or meaning, we have to remember - things were happening very fast here. Mai’s line can be read by me as basically saying: “I love Zuko & he was about to die. That takes precedence of my fear of the consequences, which I know could be extreme.”

People debating Mai & Ty Lee’s motives & this line specifically seem to forget that the betrayal happened very fast in a moment of life or death. It doesn’t mean Mai was shivering in fear of Azula throughout the entire show, but she did know the gravity of what she’d just done. She just didn’t think she had a choice because otherwise she would have watched someone she loved die.

#atla meta #mai meta #maiko #Maiko meta #azula #dangerous ladies #my atla post

92 notes · View notes

dragomer · 6 months

Note

Do you think Mai doesn't love her brother or her feelings towards him are complicated?

Depend.

In the show? She's basically acting like any sister with a baby brother that their parents are hyperfocused on and seems to enjoy they're finally leaving her alone and while she's very much into exchanging the king for her brother, she back down when Azula says no, at least in part because she knows the avatar WON'T hurt her brother but Azula totally would mess with her family.

In the comics? In those, for some ungodly reason, Mai is basically Tom Tom's mom, always carrying around, taking care of him, mentioning him and basically making decisions based around him and his well being. All that despite her mom being right there and seemingly not being an asshole like her dad.

Thanks for the ask ^^

#atla #avatar the last airbender #mai #mai meta #thanks for the ask ^^

6 notes · View notes

justanotherthrowaway1950 · 2 years

Text

Why Comics!Mai Has a Point

(Note: I do not condone ableism, I and think it sucks that Avatar of all franchises decided to use such tired tropes surrounding mental illness when it has broken several other harmful stereotypes over the course its existence. That being said I am trying to explain comics!Mai’s viewpoint, and she engages in ableism, which sadly makes sense considering the era ATLA takes place in, and her fucked up relationship with Azula and Ozai.)

I don’t like comics!Mai, but a lot of her behavior can easily be explained if we take an overview of her life (from her POV) going up to her last comics appearance.

Stuck in an abusive friendship with a psycho royal just to further your father’s career.

Meet psycho’s royal’s nice and caring older bro and fall in love with him, but he is soon burned and banished due to failing to meet his even more psycho father’s standards.

Psycho royal eventually finds you after you have left home to further father’s political career, and basically forces you to join the hunt for your lover when your real best friend heavily implies she was forced at firepoint to join psycho royal's hunt, and so you have no choice but to join, or you and/or your loved ones will suffer the consequences.

Psycho royal forces you to not trade for your kidnapped brother, and only because the “terrorists” are benevolent prevents your brother from dying, or worse.

Eventually meet up with lover and rekindle relationship.

Lover is both mentally and physically scarred and dealing with his trauma, but you remain supportive of him, even when he acts like a jackass to you.

Lover eventually commits treason and only leaves you a vague note. And when you confront him in prison, all he really says is that he has to redeem his nation. However, you trust him nevertheless and save him and his party from certain death while all but ensuring yours. In fact, the only reason why you got a life sentence instead is because your real best friend attacked the psycho royal when she was going to hit you with lightning, and then the psycho sparred you both because ?????

Once lover disposes of his psycho relatives and takes the throne, you are only released (quickly) because of your uncle, but you still go back to your lover and ask that he essentially never leaves you (in the dark) again.

But lover not only starts to go back to psycho father, but also starts taking his advice, despite said father abusing lover most of his life and enabling your abuser.

Realizing your unconditional support has coddled your lover, you leave him so that he can realize what is truly important, and therefore change his behavior for the better.

However, lover releases psycho royal in a selfish-quest to find mommy, and then has the gall to lose her. This causes you and your best friend to live in constant paranoid, frightful that the psycho royal could pop out of anywhere to punish you both for your “betrayals".

Psycho royal creates a terrorist cell that kidnaps your brother as part of a larger kidnapping scheme to fuck with everyone who "betrayed" her as far as you know, and manipulates your father, who is leading a terrorist cell trying to put your (OG) lover's psycho father back on the throne. And your father almost succeeds by almost killing (OG) lover, despite the fact that your (OG) lover's psycho father would likely kill you and your best friend for the treason you committed against him.

Yet, despite all his fuck ups, you still love your (OG) lover, and so you help him find the kidnapped kids, despite psycho royal getting massively stronger, leading to her almost killing you several times as far as you know, and her taking away the one trump card (OG) lover had over her.

You manage to rescue the kids, but psycho royal and her terrorist cell still roam at large, and the psycho continues to get stronger by day to the point she could feasible kill a serious Avatar in Avatar State with lethal AOE instant lightning, or by using some other technique(s), getting rid of the one person who could truly protect you and everyone you care about.

So yeah comics!Mai is a bad person, and an even bigger hypocrite than Zuko. But thinking about it rationally, she has a lot to be upset with Zuko.

And if comics!Mai was a real character, and not just a drama device, even after breaking up with Kei Lo, she should have had an argument with Zuko over his fuck ups and relapses, and demand that he do better. Especially when lives are on the line, and still are.

#mai #ty lee #zuko #azula #ozai #ursa #ukano #tom tom #kiyi #new ozai society #kemurikage #fake kemurikage #fire warriors #the promise #the search #rebound #smoke and shadow #mai meta #justanotherthrowaway1950meta

14 notes · View notes

salemoleander · 6 months

Text

I am BARELY resisting going full red-strings-corkboard on this season. And by barely resisting I mean not resisting at all here is an extremely long list of the events those pins would be marking out.

BigB getting a Task that was a different color than everyone else's. It's not just a randomly assigned Hard Task, bc Scar rerolled for a Hard Task and his was also just a white envelope. It's fundamentally different.

That task taking BigB away from socialization, and seemingly being an incredibly time-consuming and dull request. Of profound disinterest to any watchers.

The phrasing of his Task!!

Dig a big hole. All the way down. At least 3x3. Make it your base if you want.

Everyone else's are direct and formal - the only one with more than one sentence was Skizz's, with the rule clarification of "One attempt only." Bigb's Task is four short abrupt sentences. It is also the only Task to contain extraneous information, 'Make it your base if you want.' The requirements (at least 3x3) feel like an afterthought to mimic the numerical/specific demands of the other tasks.

Evo symbol on the face of the Secret Keeper statue.

The fact that there's a statue at all; the fact that there is a physical representation of what is assigning tasks that everyone must complete, when previously everything was always handled via commands and unseen RNG.

Grian talking to the statue, and (bc of his Actual Role as game organizer) acting as a mediator for the impartial decisions handed down, speaking for it.

Grian making one last bad joke and saying he doesn't know if it counted or not- depends on whether we the audience laughed.

Grian asking for task recommendations from the audience. The watchers are making the tasks. The Watchers are making the tasks.

Again I could be off-base, and I'm not usually even that smitten with bringing in Evo lore. I don't want a Big Bad really...but. It feels like something very unusual and intentional and cool is happening in this series. And I'd guess we'll know if theres something going on once we have more than one data point.

My largely unfounded suspicion is that there is another being (maybe Listeners, maybe something else) trying to reach out to the Players via decoy Tasks, and BigB was the first recipient. Get them alone, make them of disinterest to the watchers, and tell them something we don't get to know.

Because that's the really, really fucking cool part (if my wacky theory is remotely right): We're the bad guys. We're the ones giving out tasks - hell, we're the ones actively brainstorming harder and crueller tasks in Grian's comments!

If they actually made a story where the Players have to keep secrets from us I will be delighted. Bc that is the same genius bullshit that made Evo Watcher lore so fun

#secret life #slsmp #life series #grian #secret life smp #bigb #i think im starting to get the shape of the conceit #this could all be nonsense of course. i may be completely off base and nothing will happen and it's just a normal life series #but it feels like there's something Larger happening here #anyways. will keep thinking and mulling this over and collecting scraps of evidence #secret life spoilers #slsmp spoilers #spoilers #salem meta #salem tag #im so enriched. i love being wrong about stories

6K notes · View notes

beescake · 6 months

Text

back in the day we had pantskat

now we have sagg sollux

#homestuck #hs2 #sollux captor #karkat vantas #solkat #sol's still blind but pls suspend disbelief for the sake of cursed pants meta #the contrasting parallels in fan reaction upon each reveal may have amused me more than it deserves #i wasnt there but. i think the general consensus is that pantskat = cute/funny and sagging sol = cool?? hot?? degen????🧍#lore extended: karkat briefs sollux boxers ?????#vioart #2023 #listen there are very clearly deeply rooted psychological reasonings behind their preferred choice of trouser orientation alright......#we all see it even if we cant explain it.......

2K notes · View notes

radiance1 · 9 months

Text

There was a new cafe open in Gotham.

Such thing would usually not be a problem whatsoever, except for the fact that the family that ran said bakery just appeared out of nowhere one day. No one knew who they were, not where they came from.

The two parents- Mr. and Mrs. Fenton seemed to be the usual case of brilliant scientists about to snap and go crazy, and yes, everyone who visited said store waited with baited breath for said thing to happen.

Except, it never did.

They were just being your normal (as you can get in Gotham) run of the mill parents taking care of their two kids while simultaneously running a bakery.

Almost made them feel silly for waiting for the other shoe to drop, but in Gotham you could never be too sure.

Their oldest child, Jasmine Fenton passed college with flying colors, and seemed to be your normal run of the mil teenage girl busy with taking care of school and stuff.

Their youngest and last child- Danny Fenton- was a bit of an enigma, to be honest. He didn't seem to be going to school, instead staying and helping run his parents' bakery alongside- or alone when they were busy with something else- his parents. The room noticeably got colder whenever he was around, his touch colder than the normal human should be, his breath a tad too cold whenever he was speaking over someone's shoulder, and his teeth literal fangs.

They assume him to be a meta, and if he didn't already have parents would have assumed him to be Mr. Freeze's long-lost child or something.

Everyone was determined to treat them like a normal family, maybe a tad weird but honestly, it wouldn't be inaccurate to say there was something weird about everyone who lived in Gotham.

They were just a normal family, maybe have a past they're running from, who are the Gothamites to judge. At least, until they were attacked by one of Gotham's rouges.

The daughter was at school, well out of the fire zone.

Ms. Fenton calmly rang out a bell on the counter, while Mr. Fenton didn't even stop from where he was carrying multiple people's orders (with the help from small green beings the Fenton's call blob ghosts) and then out from the ceiling appeared what looked like extremely high-tech weapons and without a second's delay were they fired, the villain was not killed, but were knocked out cold.

Then their son appeared from the kitchen, dusting his hands off on his apron, calmly walked to the villain and proceeded to throw them out of the establishment as easy as breathing and walk back into the kitchen as if nothing had happened.

They knew there was another shoe just waiting to drop, and drop it did. They're just glad it wasn't the result of another villain added to the rogue's ranks.

And hey, they'll be turning a blind eye for as long as they could when said family makes some of the best pastries and meanest cups of coffee in Gotham.

(Two days after that was it made known that their daughter pulled out one of those same high-tech guns on the Red Hood.)

#dc x dp #dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #maddie fenton #jack fenton #danny fenton #jazz fenton #gotham #red hood #Jazz pulled a gun on him with zero regrets #Everyone in Gotham thinks that Danny is a meta #And that Jack and Maddie may have been crazy scientists in their past #but ended up stopping for their kids or something #They also make very nice pastries

4K notes · View notes

zuko-always-lies · 18 days

Text

And please reblog for a larger sample size and put your reasons for voting the way you did in the tags.

#Mai #Mai meta #ATLA poll #ATLA polls #Avatar #ATLA #avatar the last airbender

23 notes · View notes

zvtara-was-never-canon · 9 months

Note

Your thoughts/response to this?

https://www.tumblr.com/andromeda3116/86439828788/what-would-you-have-done-differently-with-mai-if

*cracks knuckles*

"Mai only turned against Azula for Zuko"

Way to prove you don't know shit about the character. Like, even the line "I love Zuko more than I fear you" already shows Mai's problem with Azula isn't all about her boyfriend. It is not healthy or normal to be afraid of your friend.

And Mai HAD been rebelling against any authority figure she didn't like/respect LONG before she started dating Zuko. In "Return To Omashu" we see her being annoyed at the life her parents expect her to have, and then gladly, willingly joining Azula - but before it she said "Please say you're here to kill me." Sure, it's a joke that Azula appreciates, but still demonstrates Mai is aware that her friend is very dangerous and that while Azula is her friend, the princess is not. She also goes out of her way to ask what the hell Ty Lee is doing there since the circus was "her calling", and as a response she gets "Azula called a little louder", once again confirming to Mai that if she, for whatever reason, had decided to stay in Omashu, it would mean trouble with Azula.

We then have "The Drill" in which Mai openly refuses to obey Azula during a military mission that could mean early victory for their nation in a war that has lasted a whole century. She even said "She can shoot all the lightning she wants at me." THAT'S how little fucks Mai gives about putting herself in danger just to prove NOBODY can force her into anything she doesn't want to do.

We also have Mai side-eyeing Azula in "The Headband" when she interrupts her date with Zuko and basically orders her to leave, instead of waiting for their date to be over or just kindly say "Mai, I need to speak with Zuko in private. It's really important, can you give us a moment?" Just zero respect, which obviously bothers her. And let's not forget her yelling at all three of her friends to leave her the fuck alone in "The Beach" - the same episode in which she broke up with Zuko because he started crossing the line.

The Boiling Rock is just the inevitable pay-off to what had been set up since Mai's character was introduced to the audience. She has to pick between her dysfunctional friendship/subservient dynamic with Azula, or save the flawed but still loving boyfriend she loved and that actually corrected some of his bad behavior after their first break up. The choice is OBVIOUS. It's not "Friendship VS Romance" or "What I want VS What my boyfriend wants", it's not even "Selfish love VS Selfless love" because Mai turns on Azula BOTH for her sake and Zuko's.

On Mai not speaking out in defense of Ty Lee

You can't help someone that doesn't want to be helped. Ty Lee had tried to say no to Azula exactly once, and it led to threats of physical violence or even death. Naturally that scares her into keeping quiet - Ty Lee's seeimgly blind support and obedience to Azula was directly shown as a parallel to Mai's acts of rebellion. Once again, even in the first scene of the three of them together, when Mai demonstrates concern for Ty Lee, she basically gets a kind, cheery, bubbly "Sorry, forbidden topic! Talk about something else and pretend everything is fine!"

It's not unlike that Mai believed that, if she tried to defend her friend, all she'd accomplish is have both Azula and Ty Lee herself turn on her. It isn't until Ty Lee has to choose between the two of them in the Boiling Rock that Mai realizes there were still lines her friend would never allow Azula to cross.

"He didn't even consider taking her along when he left the Fire Nation! She could have helped a lot!"

In Zuko's own words as to Sokka as to why he left Mai behind "I couldn't drag her into this." Zuko and the Gaang were not friends, and he literally offered to be Aang's teacher and prisoner. He also knew he'd be hunted down both for his treason to the Fire Lord and because of the people he was no associating with.

He knew Mai could handle almost anything (hell, when she says to a guard that she doesn't need protection, he smiles proudly and AGREES). But that doesn't mean he'd be totally okay with asking her to throw her whole life away for him and potentially be imprisoned or killed if shit went wrong.

And once again, let's get back to the "You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped." Mai CLEARLY didn't have a problem with imperialism and war - again, she joined Azula willingly, and both her and Ty Lee had a lot of fun being the Gaang's worst nightmare during "The Chase." She even argues with Zuko that he is not saving his country, he's betraying it.

Mai changing sides just because she trusted Zuko, even against everything she had been taught to believe her whole life, was not at all something Zuko saw coming - hell, MAI didn't see it coming - of course he did not think that she'd agree to leave him.

On Mai and Ty Lee not escaping the Boiling Rock on their own

Can't believe I have to point out that since that was the main point of that place, but THE BOILING ROCK IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO ESCAPE. The Gaang were literally the first to accomplish that, barely. It's not that surreal that Mai and Ty Lee either couldn't do it, or felt they had to wait a little longer to even try since all eyes would be on them since they were the newest prisoners AND one of them was related to the Warden which could make him decide to facilitate their escape somehow.

"Zuko didn't even try to rescue her!"

He was teaching the Avatar firebending. His life-changing field trips with his new friends were not vacations, they were missions. They were VERY close to the day his father was gonna burn the Earth Kingdom down. Aang, their only hope. fucking disappeared during the big day due to spirit shenanigans beyond his control. Zuko then also had to fight his own sister in an Agni Kai and nearly died.

Needless to say, he was a little busy.

"Zuko doesn't even remember she exists when she's not around!"

Oh the irony of a ZUTARA shipper saying that. Literally the only time Zuko remembered Katara was because of water from the spiritual oasis that could have possibly brought Aang back to life - aka it had nothing to do with her as a person because, at that point, even after the Ba Sing Se thing, Zuko saw her as nothing more than another obstacle/enemy on his way to regain his honor.

Meanwhile, in "Zuko Alone", when he has not seen her for at least three whole years, he remembers the prank Azula and Ty Lee pulled on him and Mai as kids because of her crush on him. In Ember Island he is going nuts with jealousy (not healthy at all, but still, proof that he WANTS to be with her). On the day of the eclipse he leaves behind a letter explaining himself to her and even says "I'm sorry, Mai" even though there's no one around to hear him because he just never wanted to leave or hurt her. And on the first part of the Boiling Rock episode he is gushing about how much he loves her - we know they're about to be reunited, but he doesn't.

If that is indifference, I can't even imagine what love looks like.

About the letter and "Mai just taking him back after it"

Definitively not a nice way to be broken up with, but totally understanble given the context. And even with that, Mai still calls him out for it, says she's "saving the jerk who dumped me", and in the finale she brings it up AGAIN as they are reconciliating. Typical Mai stuff: forgiving and understanding, but never taking shit from anyone.

About them only seeing each other again in the finale

THAT was a plot convenience - but it does not apply solely to Maiko. Sokka goes to free his dad, but doesn't remember Suki has ALSO been taken prisoner, and then very next episode Hakoda left him and Katara for really convulted reasons and somehow they didn't go after him. Zuko also didn't think to tell Iroh he was gonna take him out of prison so they could go join the Avatar on the day of the eclipse, and didn't try to go looking for him until the last episode. There's also the random "Katara is confused about her feelings for Aang" plot that is introduced in "Ember Islands Players" and goes nowhere.

It's the typical "forced drama that can only be resolved when the writers feel it'd be epic enough" stuff. We have to take it with a grain of salt.

"Ty Lee joining the Kyoshi Warriors makes no sense, and Mai hated the Fire Nation nobility so she shouldn't have ended up with Zuko"

Ty Lee not wanting to be part of a matched set, then finding true happiness by joining a group and learning that she can still be an individual is the classic "ironic ending" Avatar likes - see Zuko and Aang becoming friends when they started out as mortal enemies. The only problem was the lack of development taking us from point A to point B, but the idea itself was fine.

As for Mai "hating" nobility... WHAT? She didn't like being told what to do, sure, but she never resented the perks that came with being in the "elite" - she and Zuko spend half of "Nightmares and Daydreams" bossing people around while making out on her couch, and she even suggested doing that again as a way to cheer him up when he was sad.

And even if she DID hate everything Fire Nation nobility USED to be about - the whole point of Zuko becoming Fire Lord is that he will change everything. How is Mai supporting him, regardless of their romantic relationship, in anyway a contradiction? It makes perfect thematic sense!

Conclusion

Zutarians, please stop talking about things you clearly don't understand to pretend your OTP is the only thing that would ever make any logical sense.

#anti zutara #pro mai #pro maiko #mai meta

57 notes · View notes

balanceoflightanddark · 1 year

Text

Okay. I've already talked about how the comics...pretty extensively screwed over Azula both in my own posts and in reblogs to other posts on the website. So I'm gonna take a break from that and talk about how...the comics screwed over another character I'm fond of.

...I really need to think of other topics.

So anyways, Mai.

Again, I already touched on how Mai was handled in the comics with my post about how the entirety of the Fire Nation was whitewashed and Azula was used as a scapegoat. But I kinda want to dive into Mai a bit more since it damages her character in particular along with some other questionable narrative choices.

Starting with, obviously, her relationship with Azula. Again, I already went over how they tried to retcon her friendship as being something she was "forced into" and actually holding a grudge against Azula, so I'm not gonna go treading the same grounds again.

What I am going to go into is how freaking pathetic they make Mai look in trying to make this grudge out to be.

See, one of the incidents that apparently Mai hates Azula for is...stealing mochi from her mother's kitchen. Seriously. That's a reason.

Yes. Apparently one of the reasons Azula was a bad egg was she stole mochi the one time. Yep. Something stupid they did as a kid together. But we can discuss how the comics tried to demonize Azula as a child another time to focus on something...well...take a look.

Yeah...for some reason, they had Mai hold it over Azula's head about the time they stole mochi together.

...forgive me for stating the obvious, but how does Mai look better for seriously holding it against Azula for something that happened when they were literal toddlers? If nothing else, it makes her like a complete womanchild.

And womanchild is not something that should be ever uttered in reference to Mai ever.

Cause Mai's grudge against Azula? It's practically out of control in Smoke and Shadows. I know it's popular to assume Mai hates Azula, but she never actually held much of a grudge against her in the series proper outside of the Boiling Rock incident. But stuff like this:

This is too much.

But why am I harping on Mai's sudden hatred of Azula all of a sudden?

See...one of the things Smoke and Shadow seemed to do was to try and paint Azula as Mai's nemesis. The source of her childhood trauma or whatever. That overcoming her fear of Azula will make her a stronger person or whatever.

Except...no...no it's not.

Azula wasn't the source of Mai's issues growing up. You want to know what is?

Mai: What do you want from me? You want a teary confession about how hard my childhood was? Well, it wasn't. I was a rich only child who got anything I wanted ... as long as I behaved, and sat still, and didn't speak unless spoken to. My mother said I had to keep out of trouble. We had my dad's political career to think about.

Yeah...that's what Mai's problems came from.

She was passed over her younger brother by both her mother and father and was constantly conditioned to reign her emotions in and basically be a piece of furniture. Mai literally joined Azula's group just to get away from her toxic family.

Hell, guess who's one of the biggest obstacles in Smoke and Shadows?

Yeah. Ukano. Her own father.

This could've been something big for Mai. Finally standing up to her father for all the bullcrap he put her through, the real source of all her problems. You know, something that was actually hinted at in Rebound, the Free Comic Book Day issue.

Instead, it all gets scrapped. Mai actually defends her father while showing more hatred for Azula. To me, that's the equivalent of Zuko's tantrum of blaming Azula for everything in The Search while Ozai doesn't even get a mention. Mai would rather throw her friend under the bus while sticking her neck out for her traitorous, neglectful father.

As someone who actually enjoys Mai, this damages her character so much. It doesn't make her stronger. It just makes her look like a coward not standing up against those that put her through hell while projecting her issues onto somebody else. In this case, Azula. And since Ukano's been arrested, now there's no way to properly resolve Mai's issues that way.

That's why I hate what these comics did to Mai. She honestly deserves better than what she got. For a character with as much potential as her, she got a raw deal. Big time.

#mai #mai was not scared of azula #mai atla #mai deserved better #azula #ukano #atla comics critical #anti atla comics #anti smoke and shadows #mai meta

203 notes · View notes