AFS: The Mai/Zuko Portal
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This page was last updated: October 10th, 2007
Behind the cuts:
Development in the Magazine and Season Three
The Significance of Mai/Zuko in the Broader Narrative
Contrary to what the fandom says, Mai/Zuko had a well-laid foundation.
Rawles writes after "The Painted Lady:" Mai/Zuko was easily anticipated from Mai's very first appearance almost an entire season before their relationship actually commenced. (I'd say that the show's only genuine misstep here was not making it explicit that Zuko reciprocated Mai's feelings until later, though it was implied in Zuko Alone and, one could even argue, in Tales of Ba Sing Se.) Something for which the seeds are planted 17 episodes before it happens is neither without foundation or coming out of nowhere. This fandom had its collective head too far up its collective ass to acknowledge what was obvious, so when they're dead wrong they try to blame the show instead of just admitting that they were wrong.
Contrary to what the fandom says, Mai/Zuko was not created to derail Zutara.
Rawles writes after "The Painted Lady:" Returning to how Mai/Zuko was easily anticipated from episode 23 despite not showing up until episode 41 and completely ignoring the ridiculousness of the idea that Katara was ever even in contention as a love interest for Zuko, aforementioned episode 23 would have already been in production (and as such, Mai would have already been undeniably planned as Zuko's love) before the fandom had even started becoming the clusterfuck of ridiculous canon!Zutarianism that it is now. A movement which I place the "official" start of at Comicon 2005 which is the first reported time someone mentioned Zutara to the creators. Their reaction to which can be succintly summed up as, "Wtf?" Yes. They so totally created a love interest for Zuko to derail a relationship that they never imagined people would ship in the first place. OF COURSE.
Contrary to what the fandom says, Mai/Zuko is not shallow.
Rawles writes after "The Painted Lady:" In about a minute and thirty seconds of screentime for the relationship, thusfar we've seen that Mai and Zuko are comfortable enough that he can share his thoughts with her, she can tease him, and she can also comfort him. She makes Zuko happy in a way that we've never seen anyone else make him, eliciting what might be his first genuine laugh ever and making him act like the ridiculous dweeb we all know he is. He thinks she's beautiful and funny and endearing and, basically, they're utterly enamored of each other. No relationship where that much can reasonably be ascertained and is clearly intended in less than two minutes of screentime is lacking depth.
Contrary to what the fandom says, Mai/Zuko is very relevant to the plot.
Rawles writes after "The Painted Lady:" The building tension in Mai and Azula's relationship, augmented by Azula's interfering in Mai's relationship with Zuko will clearly be massively important to the plot and Zuko's arc. There is not even an argument to be made about this. In many ways, the assertion that Mai/Zuko is not relevant to the plot is the MOST ridiculous of the ridiculous claims.
Editor's Note
I had been compiling many, many Avafandom quotes on Mai/Zuko months and months before Season 3 started. However, most of these quotes were dedicated to building an argument for why the show (and show staff!) made it clear that Mai/Zuko was very much in the works. Why? Because fandom as a whole disbelieved that Zuko would ever reciprocate Mai's affections; they thought it was ridiculous (even though it was actually pretty obvious from the show that it was going to happen!).
But then I changed my mind. I decided not to put up the Mai/Zuko portal as originally planned, because...
...Well, why waste all this space arguing for its eventual existence when it was going to appear on-screen in Season 3? It was just obvious that when Season 3 appeared, the debate over Mai/Zuko was going to shift completely.
(See: the Azula Portal. The Azula portal is focused on demonstrating that Azula was genuine in her offer to Zuko in the season 2 finale. Now that discussion is basically... moot, since everyone who's seen season 3 so far now knows that she was).
So, I scrapped the original Mai/Zuko portal (that wasn't online yet... it was sitting on my computer desktop!) and, so, here's what you get instead: an exploration of Mai/Zuko as it is present in the text in the magazine and Season 3 (much like the Aang/Katara portal!).
Also, unlike previous pages in the AFS, it focuses less on culling quotes and more on linking to essays on Mai/Zuko, since essays are ultimately more useful in debates than messy collections of sometimes-out-of-context quotes.
This page was last updated: October 10th, 2007
Behind the cuts:
- Table of contents to discussions of Mai/Zuko in specific episodes
- The significance of Mai/Zuko in the broader narrative: refuting the fandom idea that Maiko is lacking in foundation and depth and plot relevance and the fandom idea that it was created to take care of the "loose thread" of Zuko in the furtherance of Aang/Katara.
Development in the Magazine and Season Three
- Maiko in the Magazine, "The Awakening," and "The Headband." Memlu wrote the best article on Maiko out there covering early season 3. Please read this one FOR SURE!
- Rundown of the Mai/Zuko Date Comic. This was my long post of flail about the magazine, but if you scroll down you can see my rundown of the date comic. It's disorganized, but, hey, it works!
- Some Things about the Magazine. Rawles discusses Maiko in the Mai/Zuko date comic that explains how Mai and Zuko got together for season 3.
- Giancarlo Volpe's Storyboards for the 3.1 Maiko Scene. The director of 3.1 shows us his storyboards for the Mai/Zuko scene in "The Awakening."
- Silly Avafandom Beliefs Refuted by "The Headband." My essay begins mostly with explorations of Maiko in 3.2 "The Headband."
The Significance of Mai/Zuko in the Broader Narrative
Contrary to what the fandom says, Mai/Zuko had a well-laid foundation.
Rawles writes after "The Painted Lady:" Mai/Zuko was easily anticipated from Mai's very first appearance almost an entire season before their relationship actually commenced. (I'd say that the show's only genuine misstep here was not making it explicit that Zuko reciprocated Mai's feelings until later, though it was implied in Zuko Alone and, one could even argue, in Tales of Ba Sing Se.) Something for which the seeds are planted 17 episodes before it happens is neither without foundation or coming out of nowhere. This fandom had its collective head too far up its collective ass to acknowledge what was obvious, so when they're dead wrong they try to blame the show instead of just admitting that they were wrong.
Contrary to what the fandom says, Mai/Zuko was not created to derail Zutara.
Rawles writes after "The Painted Lady:" Returning to how Mai/Zuko was easily anticipated from episode 23 despite not showing up until episode 41 and completely ignoring the ridiculousness of the idea that Katara was ever even in contention as a love interest for Zuko, aforementioned episode 23 would have already been in production (and as such, Mai would have already been undeniably planned as Zuko's love) before the fandom had even started becoming the clusterfuck of ridiculous canon!Zutarianism that it is now. A movement which I place the "official" start of at Comicon 2005 which is the first reported time someone mentioned Zutara to the creators. Their reaction to which can be succintly summed up as, "Wtf?" Yes. They so totally created a love interest for Zuko to derail a relationship that they never imagined people would ship in the first place. OF COURSE.
Contrary to what the fandom says, Mai/Zuko is not shallow.
Rawles writes after "The Painted Lady:" In about a minute and thirty seconds of screentime for the relationship, thusfar we've seen that Mai and Zuko are comfortable enough that he can share his thoughts with her, she can tease him, and she can also comfort him. She makes Zuko happy in a way that we've never seen anyone else make him, eliciting what might be his first genuine laugh ever and making him act like the ridiculous dweeb we all know he is. He thinks she's beautiful and funny and endearing and, basically, they're utterly enamored of each other. No relationship where that much can reasonably be ascertained and is clearly intended in less than two minutes of screentime is lacking depth.
Contrary to what the fandom says, Mai/Zuko is very relevant to the plot.
Rawles writes after "The Painted Lady:" The building tension in Mai and Azula's relationship, augmented by Azula's interfering in Mai's relationship with Zuko will clearly be massively important to the plot and Zuko's arc. There is not even an argument to be made about this. In many ways, the assertion that Mai/Zuko is not relevant to the plot is the MOST ridiculous of the ridiculous claims.
Editor's Note
I had been compiling many, many Avafandom quotes on Mai/Zuko months and months before Season 3 started. However, most of these quotes were dedicated to building an argument for why the show (and show staff!) made it clear that Mai/Zuko was very much in the works. Why? Because fandom as a whole disbelieved that Zuko would ever reciprocate Mai's affections; they thought it was ridiculous (even though it was actually pretty obvious from the show that it was going to happen!).
But then I changed my mind. I decided not to put up the Mai/Zuko portal as originally planned, because...
...Well, why waste all this space arguing for its eventual existence when it was going to appear on-screen in Season 3? It was just obvious that when Season 3 appeared, the debate over Mai/Zuko was going to shift completely.
(See: the Azula Portal. The Azula portal is focused on demonstrating that Azula was genuine in her offer to Zuko in the season 2 finale. Now that discussion is basically... moot, since everyone who's seen season 3 so far now knows that she was).
So, I scrapped the original Mai/Zuko portal (that wasn't online yet... it was sitting on my computer desktop!) and, so, here's what you get instead: an exploration of Mai/Zuko as it is present in the text in the magazine and Season 3 (much like the Aang/Katara portal!).
Also, unlike previous pages in the AFS, it focuses less on culling quotes and more on linking to essays on Mai/Zuko, since essays are ultimately more useful in debates than messy collections of sometimes-out-of-context quotes.