maishairbuns

[maishairbuns]

Let there be damage ensued and tabloid news in that kind of love.

[maishairbuns]

One of the things I love about the Ember Island Players is that by trying to make fun of the possibility of romance between Zuko and Katara in the play-within-a-play, the show actually introduces Zutara as text into the world of the show, particularly in Fire Nation pop culture.

Like, there's this widely-advertised production that shows the Fire Prince and the Southern waterbending master falling in love. Then, probably the next thing the gen pop hears about their future Fire Lord is that he's jumped in front of his sister's lightning to save this same girl's life, doing absolutely nothing to beat those allegations.

There's just no way the gossip mill isn't churning. It's too juicy.

[maishairbuns]

ATLA Textposts

[maishairbuns]

We got more reinforcement haha! Trick or treat!🎃 (Although I know I'm like a couple of days late but still...)

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[Azula redraw]

I’m burnt out so I thought I’d share my previous artworks here!

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[maishairbuns]

I feel like there should be more Bridgerton/Regency era AU Zutara fanfiction that takes inspiration from the cultural elements of time periods like the Republic era of China and the Taisho period of Japan. Especially for portraying Katara's struggle with feminism and her societal role as a woman, 20th century China was all over that. There was a lot of mixing with Western fashion and culture during these periods. Just imagine: Zuko walks into the party wearing a sleek tuxedo, and sees Katara wearing cheongsam... or a floor length evening dress!

[maishairbuns]

I think he gets a love interest in the comics? Not sure.

[maishairbuns]

[maishairbuns]

i lost a friend, i lost a friend, i lost my mind

[maishairbuns]

Jasmine dragon 🌱

[maishairbuns]

Pov you've been judged and found wanting

Anyways, just felt like drawing older Zuko and Azula

+

[maishairbuns]

"Um, I could use a little help paddling here!"

Yeah, it's hard to be the canoe thirdwheel, isn't it, Sokka? 🤷‍♀️

(First zutara fanart of the year! Hoorah!)

[maishairbuns]

【Zutara Modern AU】

At the end Katara could not resist Zuko’s puppy eyes and decided to stay for one more movie

but they both fell asleep and slept till the next morning.

At the same time Azula got so many text msgs from Sokka asking where his sister was.

[maishairbuns]

Thank you for responding to my post, but I'm actually going to have to disagree with you on several of your points. First of all, I agree that Mai can be interpreted in different ways... but I've never gotten the impression that she could be interpreted as someone who is so villainous as to do all the things you've listed she does here.

Firstly, she asked him about the weather. That was it. I do think that a better person could have picked up on Zuko's distress here and responded to it a lot better, but it is an exaggeration to call what she did "vile"... I think her response was a result of her own anxiety around being emotionally vulnerable with people. Mai is far from a trained therapist, if anything she's the opposite, so I think her reaction here is, at worst, callously dismissive of Zuko's turmoil, but far from a supervillain move. Also... you're going to have to point me to the episode where its indicated that Mai only got together with Zuko as a manipulation tactic on behalf of Azula... as far as I'm aware, she had a longtime childhood crush on him and was acting on that.

If you go back and rewatch that scene, you'll remember that it is not Mai who enjoys ordering servants around, but Zuko. Or at least, that is the impression she has of him, as she suggests doing it as something to cheer him up. It is based off of an earlier scene in that episode, where Mai mentions that she likes fruit tarts, and Zuko asks a servant to fetch some. So she's inferred that enjoying the benefits of his prince status is something that makes him happy, and is hoping to make him feel better by bringing it up. However, there are actual scenes that shows this sadistic side of Mai that you claim exists, such as after Azula intimidates the Dai Li into working for her, Mai comments in amusement "that guy almost peed his pants"- which is pretty tame as far as 'treating people terribly on purpose' goes.

Mai acknowledges herself in the same spiel that she talks about her upbringing that she was a "spoiled, rich only child who got everything she wanted...". So I don't think being taught to fight or having expensive knives contradicts what she says about her parents. I do think that the beach episode monologue was probably written after the Return to Omashu episode, but it's not a complete retcon. I think, rather than looking at how Mai interacts with her parents, look at how Mai acts in general. She's incredibly passive, she very rarely says anything that could come off as strongly opinionated (this circles back to point #1, where she's reluctant to share her inner thoughts or connect with people on a deeper level), and there's multiple instances where she chooses to do nothing instead of act (she refuses to pursue the Gaang through the Drill sludge, and she doesn't hold Bosco the Bear). Mai wasn't prevented from doing anything and everything like Toph was; Toph's parents were ableist as heck, Mai's parents were concerned with their political career, so they encouraged Mai not to express herself or rock the boat in any way.

I don't believe she fears Azula that much either, we can agree on that. When she choose to save Zuko at the Boiling Rock, it was to show how Azula's method of controlling people through fear was flawed... admittedly, this face heel turn could have been foreshadowed and built up to much better (again, Mai would be a much better character if they actually wrote her in the story more).

Honestly... if you'd rather see Mai as a villain, that's up to you, but several of the points you've made here don't actually add up, as it seems that you're remembering lines from the series out of context.

i actually can't process why people don't like mai. is it because of the "i just asked if you were cold" scene. is that it. okay LISTEN i will go to bat for her. she says it herself in the beach episode, she's been raised to not share her opinion or like. care about anything. she probably deflects in that moment because it's obviously an emotionally heavy conversation and she's been told her entire life not to share her feelings. or share other people's feelings, tbh.

she's ngl pretty incompatible as a match for zuko, who is constantly full of feelings, and needs someone who can help him work through them in his life, like iroh or katara. but that does not make mai the stone cold bitch y'all haters want her to be. i promise she's fluffy on the inside, the stone cold bitch is but a thin outer shell that protects all the love and care she contains within herself

[maishairbuns]

Thank you for responding to this.

Honestly I wasn't really expecting an answer with my original post, but I can see what you're saying. In all seriousness, I'm going to contradict what I said before, and say I think it's completely reasonable for people to dislike Mai for any reason. Honestly, like, she's a fictional character, it can be as shallow as "oh I don't like how her hair looks" and I'd be like "have to disagree with you there, but whatever".

Frankly, what irks me personally is that I get the impression that some people believe that Mai is mean to Zuko on purpose. Of course, intent does not absolve the impact, but none of Mai's actions towards Zuko seemed deliberately cruel. Many of them, however, completely miss the point of what he needs in that moment- such as that scene where she's trying to make him feel better about not being invited to the war meeting... by suggesting he order servants around or go on palanquin rides around town. I don't think she did this in bad faith, as earlier in the episode he appears to be cheery when he asks a servant for fruit tarts, so she seems to be going off of that, but it's obvious there that she simply does not understand Zuko's emotional needs.

I still don't think it's fair to hate her for not being the equivalent of a paid therapist for Zuko. Especially since Mai is rarely emotionally open with Zuko in turn; it would be unbalanced for that to only go one way. Again, I think Mai was an incredibly bad match for Zuko for all of these reasons.

i actually can't process why people don't like mai. is it because of the "i just asked if you were cold" scene. is that it. okay LISTEN i will go to bat for her. she says it herself in the beach episode, she's been raised to not share her opinion or like. care about anything. she probably deflects in that moment because it's obviously an emotionally heavy conversation and she's been told her entire life not to share her feelings. or share other people's feelings, tbh.

she's ngl pretty incompatible as a match for zuko, who is constantly full of feelings, and needs someone who can help him work through them in his life, like iroh or katara. but that does not make mai the stone cold bitch y'all haters want her to be. i promise she's fluffy on the inside, the stone cold bitch is but a thin outer shell that protects all the love and care she contains within herself

[maishairbuns]

yeah i actually do agree with you about that. i remember one of my first thoughts after i finished watching ATLA was "mai would be my favorite character if they wrote her in the story more".

i think my least favorite thing about her is actually maiko because it was essentially pointless in the long run. lots of female characters throughout media suffer from "being the love interest of a male character is her entire personality" disease, but mai isn't even good at being zuko's plot device because none of the decisions he makes or actions he takes are actually influenced by her.

i think she has a lot of potential to be more interesting, and honestly i liked her sarcastic quips the best.

i honestly made the original post in a half joking kind of way, but i got a lot of honest responses in good faith. i'm interested by what people genuinely think about mai. but yeah, bottom line, i agree she spent most of the show's runtime being an incredibly passive side character, which sucks.

i actually can't process why people don't like mai. is it because of the "i just asked if you were cold" scene. is that it. okay LISTEN i will go to bat for her. she says it herself in the beach episode, she's been raised to not share her opinion or like. care about anything. she probably deflects in that moment because it's obviously an emotionally heavy conversation and she's been told her entire life not to share her feelings. or share other people's feelings, tbh.

she's ngl pretty incompatible as a match for zuko, who is constantly full of feelings, and needs someone who can help him work through them in his life, like iroh or katara. but that does not make mai the stone cold bitch y'all haters want her to be. i promise she's fluffy on the inside, the stone cold bitch is but a thin outer shell that protects all the love and care she contains within herself