Why is Mako Such a Bad Person?

[X sansmerci]

His character was written poorly. Step one is to grock that people criticising that aren't saying they personally dislike Mako.

Admittedly, how he acts in canon is flat out shitty! But we've had characters before who were full-throttle jerkasses, grabbing at being a shmuck out of the jaws of decency. (Zuko is an obvious example, since he got the redemption arc, but everyone had their moments, from Sokka to Toph to Azula.)

The problem with Mako is that he is not written consistant with his shown actions or implied role. Remember Bolin telling Korra that Mako had to grow up at a young age to take care of both of them as street orphans? Or Mako's concern over Bolin in the first part of the series?
Where is that later in the show? Even ignoring the whole "my brother took you out, now is a good time to mention I kinda like you back despite how brusque I was earlier", because that is an example of a moment of hormonal teenage idiocy, he just doesn't show his mature-beyond-his-years protective side towards Bolin later in the series.

Nor is jerking around two girls consistent with a character whose core is serious maturity and responsibility forged from painful loss; especially not when that extends to blowing up and blaming anyone but himself when Asami (inevitably) found out and confronted him about Korra. It would still be thoughtless coming from Bolin or even, say, Tahno, but either of those characters, it *could make sense* that they would act like Mako did (the former because he really is innocent and capable of tripping over his own feet when it comes to emotions, since, again, Mako mothered him; the later because he was shown in canon to have an entitlement streak and wasn't show/given backstory to contradict that extending to his interpersonal relationships.)

The way Mako was written in terms of how he treats Asami, Korra, and Bolin, is not consistent with what we are *told* and *shown* about him in the first few episodes. Not to mention that the writers utterly failed to show *why* Korra and Mako like each other, just the switch where he's the only character allowed to be concerned over her kidnapping, which dammaged the characterization of not just Mako but the whole "good guy" supporting cast.

It's not a case of "Oh, he's gonna be a jerk in the show and then he'll be redeemed". It's a case of the writers belly-flopping so hard that instead of a charming-but-human romantic hero they painted a picture of a jackass who is never called out on his actions. It's like how in the dub of Sailor Moon changing Neptune & Uranus to "cousins" without editing their body language just made them appear to be *incestuous* lesbians.

I don't hate Bryke for writing Mako (and the whole mess that was character relationships in this show) as they did– disappointed, sure, but hate's a straw word to throw out for those of us who went into the show expecting the writing to be in the same realm as ATLA.

[Derpinna]

Comedian Amon

Random Fan Girl 408

Comedian Amon

Hey! You were going to take Korra, the girl he love, bending away from her. That is not cool! >_<

She got it back didn't she? He didn't need to be so mean about it. sad

i thought Amon died gonk ...

[Love Psycle]

X sansmerci

His character was written poorly. Step one is to grock that people criticising that aren't saying they personally dislike Mako.

Admittedly, how he acts in canon is flat out shitty! But we've had characters before who were full-throttle jerkasses, grabbing at being a shmuck out of the jaws of decency. (Zuko is an obvious example, since he got the redemption arc, but everyone had their moments, from Sokka to Toph to Azula.)

The problem with Mako is that he is not written consistant with his shown actions or implied role. Remember Bolin telling Korra that Mako had to grow up at a young age to take care of both of them as street orphans? Or Mako's concern over Bolin in the first part of the series?
Where is that later in the show? Even ignoring the whole "my brother took you out, now is a good time to mention I kinda like you back despite how brusque I was earlier", because that is an example of a moment of hormonal teenage idiocy, he just doesn't show his mature-beyond-his-years protective side towards Bolin later in the series.

Nor is jerking around two girls consistent with a character whose core is serious maturity and responsibility forged from painful loss; especially not when that extends to blowing up and blaming anyone but himself when Asami (inevitably) found out and confronted him about Korra. It would still be thoughtless coming from Bolin or even, say, Tahno, but either of those characters, it *could make sense* that they would act like Mako did (the former because he really is innocent and capable of tripping over his own feet when it comes to emotions, since, again, Mako mothered him; the later because he was shown in canon to have an entitlement streak and wasn't show/given backstory to contradict that extending to his interpersonal relationships.)

The way Mako was written in terms of how he treats Asami, Korra, and Bolin, is not consistent with what we are *told* and *shown* about him in the first few episodes. Not to mention that the writers utterly failed to show *why* Korra and Mako like each other, just the switch where he's the only character allowed to be concerned over her kidnapping, which dammaged the characterization of not just Mako but the whole "good guy" supporting cast.

It's not a case of "Oh, he's gonna be a jerk in the show and then he'll be redeemed". It's a case of the writers belly-flopping so hard that instead of a charming-but-human romantic hero they painted a picture of a jackass who is never called out on his actions. It's like how in the dub of Sailor Moon changing Neptune & Uranus to "cousins" without editing their body language just made them appear to be *incestuous* lesbians.

I don't hate Bryke for writing Mako (and the whole mess that was character relationships in this show) as they did– disappointed, sure, but hate's a straw word to throw out for those of us who went into the show expecting the writing to be in the same realm as ATLA.

You are one of the few that actually have valid points. Which I will counter in matching-paragraph form.

I fail to see how Mako is a flat-out jackass. I mean, of course he has his moments; as you said, everyone did. But there is a difference between moments, and being that type of person entirely. Keep in mind that this was supposed to be a miniseries, so that might justify your reasoning behind the writing of his character being shitty.

And actually, he does show his protective side towards Bolin, in more ways than one. Being beyond worried in the third episode when he got captured, confronting Korra when she went on a 'date' with Bolin, etc. Yes, he was told to be a MAJORLY protective guy when their parents died, but that was when they were eight. Both Mako AND Bolin have matured since then, and I doubt that Bolin needs as much taking-care-of as he used to, so the protective side of Mako isn't shown as much in the series as we were told he was/is.

Next, Mako was not 'jerking around' with really either of them. Yes, he had feelings for Korra, and yes, he had feelings for Asami, but he wasn't acting on his feelings for Korra when he was with Asami. (I'm not even going to bring in the first kiss subject here really. Korra kissed him first, and yes he did kiss back, yet as you said, teenage hormones, right?) That is definite maturity. He did not get with Korra, or say anything even remotely close to romantic to her after the fact, because he took time to sort his feelings out. Quite frankly, what Asami said when she confronted Mako was stupid, simply put. Why? Because how else was Mako supposed to act when a dear friend of his is missing by Equalists or Tarrlok or what have you? The fact that she didn't stick around to hear him explain himself shows that she didn't give him a chance, and he is not the one at fault in this situation. It was not his plan at all to kiss Korra or 'cheat' on Asami for that matter.

We saw the relationship develop throughout the series between Mako and Korra. Just because there weren't definite moments of "oh, they definitely like each other," like when Korra was kidnapped, does not mean that they weren't there.

Mako wasn't called out on his actions because there weren't really any actions to be called. Asami did when she confronted him, and I say again, she left without giving him a chance to explain.

Again, it was supposed to be a miniseries. From what Bryke and the rest of the team achieved, I'd say they did a spectacular job of it. Mako was and is definitely a dynamic character and his development was good, and will only get better as the new seasons approach.

[cursedgnomes]

NumNumMunchies

cursedgnomes

Mako was dating Asami to fund his sports career, and he was keeping Korra as his bench girl.

Oh! But Mako lost both his parents and is taking care of his little brother. He doesn't know how to get in touch with his feelings =3=... nope. That's not gonna wash. The very fact that he has been through such emotional trauma should make him a person more in touch with his feelings. Having lost someone, his immediate reaction should be either to emotionally detach himself from other people, or to hold close the people he learns to care about.

The latter seemed to happen with Mako when he was worried about Korra, but he treated Asami like dirt. Which makes his character contradictory in itself.

You can't help but hate a character who seems to lack the basics in relationship ethics.

He's like 16. 16 yr old guys usually like more than one girl at a time. It happens all the time and it's nothing new. He's not a bad person just because he isn't madly in love with either one of them and has mixed emotions. He dated Asami before he knew who her father was and Asami was the one who picked him up.
Mako originally stayed away from Korra because he knew Bolin liked her and he didn't want to take her away from his brother. Bros before hoes.
After all that happen, Mako slowly realized that his feelings for Korra were stronger than his feelings for Asami and at that point Bolin was over his heart break.

Mako isn't a bad person just because it took him a while to figure out his feelings.

Though you could say that he was looking out for his brother, Mako was not aware of Bolin's feelings for Korra until he realized he had his own conflicting emotions for her.. then he was confused.. and then he blamed Korra... and then they acted like nothing had happened.

This makes Mako a jerk.

And age really is a worthless argument. This is avatar. Characters decide they are meant for a life-lasting romantic relationship by the time they're twelve in the avatar-verse. So Mako's teen age is not an excuse for bad boy-friend habits.

Thus we hates him XD lol

[NumNumMunchies]

cursedgnomes

NumNumMunchies

cursedgnomes

Mako was dating Asami to fund his sports career, and he was keeping Korra as his bench girl.

Oh! But Mako lost both his parents and is taking care of his little brother. He doesn't know how to get in touch with his feelings =3=... nope. That's not gonna wash. The very fact that he has been through such emotional trauma should make him a person more in touch with his feelings. Having lost someone, his immediate reaction should be either to emotionally detach himself from other people, or to hold close the people he learns to care about.

The latter seemed to happen with Mako when he was worried about Korra, but he treated Asami like dirt. Which makes his character contradictory in itself.

You can't help but hate a character who seems to lack the basics in relationship ethics.

He's like 16. 16 yr old guys usually like more than one girl at a time. It happens all the time and it's nothing new. He's not a bad person just because he isn't madly in love with either one of them and has mixed emotions. He dated Asami before he knew who her father was and Asami was the one who picked him up.
Mako originally stayed away from Korra because he knew Bolin liked her and he didn't want to take her away from his brother. Bros before hoes.
After all that happen, Mako slowly realized that his feelings for Korra were stronger than his feelings for Asami and at that point Bolin was over his heart break.

Mako isn't a bad person just because it took him a while to figure out his feelings.

Though you could say that he was looking out for his brother, Mako was not aware of Bolin's feelings for Korra until he realized he had his own conflicting emotions for her.. then he was confused.. and then he blamed Korra... and then they acted like nothing had happened.

This makes Mako a jerk.

And age really is a worthless argument. This is avatar. Characters decide they are meant for a life-lasting romantic relationship by the time they're twelve in the avatar-verse. So Mako's teen age is not an excuse for bad boy-friend habits.

Thus we hates him XD lol

Ok. XD
If you really wanna spend your energy hating a fictional character, be my guest.

[X sansmerci]

Over the course of the series his characterization slipped such that by the end his actions formed a clear pattern of callousness to those around him. If you can't see that, I can't force your eyes and mind, and honestly don't have interest in doing so even if I could.

The emphasis here is on the word later. There are plenty of times when people other than Korra, including Bolin, are in peril during the course of the season, but the second half is pretty much devoid of Mako showing the sort of concern that the triad incident we both alluded to showed the audience to expect from him.

He was not honest with Asami about his uncertainty, never mind his infidelity (the action itself may be justifiable from a writing standpoint, but that doesn't make it kosher). Based on the fact that they went swimming and were in snow before things began to come to light, that is at bare minimum a month and change (let's say an "indian summer" fall heat wave, about Novemberish for northern hemisphere, so snow within driving distance but not in the city makes sense) where Mako was dating Asami and keeping her in the dark. Not considering the feelings of someone dear to you who has rapidly had their world shaken, lost a parent and their home? Not a nice thing, and *also* not a thing that makes sense for Mako.
If the exact phrase "jerking around" has too many connotations of deliberate action, that's fair enough, but there is no question that Mako did not take the time to figure out his feelings in a fair and mature way. That would have been Mako being truthful with Asami about being conflicted (if not about the exact moment that crystalized the conflict for him) and tamping things down to platonic until he got himself sorted.

It doesn't matter if you plan to treat someone poorly– whether it's cheating on them, lying to them, blaming them for your mistakes or whatever all else we humans think up– what matters is what you do. That Mako didn't ~mean~ to hurt Asami by favoring Korra right in front of her when she already had a clue that there was mutal affection between them doesn't change that he did and was in no position to actually claim ignorance (either of Asami's knowledge or his own actions.)

Writing so that Mako was the ONLY person crazy concerned about Korra, to the point of using his bending to threaten a non-bender (a big character break for him, given his feelings on the gangs and usual demeanor), did disservice to the whole cast. Tenzin, Korra's mentor and caretaker, showed no more concern for her well-being than Korra's sponsor/acquaintance in comparison to Mako. Making it so that nobody else's actions show the fear they are going through so that Mako's shines brightest is poor writing.

And while we were given increasingly obvious "Mako LIKES Korra" from his actions, we were not shown why. (Another emphasis clarification here.) Why does Mako like Korra? In the finale he gave her that little speech, but we aren't *shown* and a minnow of a character expositioning doesn't make up for not showing. And why does Korra like Mako? I honestly can't tell you one reason that's absolutely canon for why she likes him, because we're never shown why. We knew why Sokka was impressed by Suki the first episode we met her, and as far as we knew, that was all the Suki we'd get!

Heck, to really go into left-field and compare to something usually derided as poorly written through and through (not just the character interactions), I haven't read Twilight but I can tell you that Edward likes Bella because, aside from not filling his head up with thought chatter, she inspires him to rise above his vampire nature an Bella likes Edward because he's handsome and she likes that he's not like other people her age, since she doesn't feel like she is either.

I loved Avatar and I like Korra a lot (I wouldn't critique it as in-depth as I do if I didn't think it was capable of living up to Avatar; I came to the show expecting it to surpass it) and I can sa as a fan: no. Mako's development was not great, and the series as a whole suffered from the writing in areas that it's predecessor excelled. When you're writing a sequel to a firmly established and popular franchise, it is not unreasonable to have it meet that level. It's not like this was a BFA thesis project.

I think everyone is hoping for the next three seasons to really shine, so we can certainly agree on that.

[ll Tess]

Love Psycle

I honestly don't understand why everyone rags on Mako so much. I have read and read and read everyone's opinion on the character, and I still have not found any substantial reason why Mako is such a bad person, character, whatever you'd like to call him. Go ahead, shoot me.

No, I'm being serious though. Let's take into account that Mako lost both of his parents at a young age.

How many people do you meet in real life that have lost, let's say, a dad in some way shape or form? And how do they act?

Now imagine someone who lost both parents. Thank you.

Not only that, but he also had to take care of Bolin for basically his whole life. What does this entail? Mako had to place his brothers wants, needs, and feelings before his own in every aspect. So obviously he doesn't know what's right and wrong on the topic of Asami vs. Korra. He's never had to really focus on his feelings.

NEXT. He and Asami DID break up. Just because they didn't cry and scream and throw a fit, does NOT mean that they didn't break up. It means that they are mature adults, handling an adult matter in an adult way. What's so wrong with that?

Please give me your thoughts. I want to know what makes you hate Mako so much.

It makes me mad that people get mad at Mako. Asami had been his first relationship, and he didnt want it to end. He liked Korra and Asami, and I understand how that feels. If I were to like 2 guys and had been going out with one of them, I'd be confused and not know what to do. Asami kinda over reacted about the kiss. Korra went in for it, Mako didnt know until she kissed him, that she was going to actually.. well kiss him. Mako kissing Korra back was probably his impulse love for her

Bleep bloop /end rant

[cursedgnomes]

Love Psycle

cursedgnomes

Mako was dating Asami to fund his sports career, and he was keeping Korra as his bench girl.

Oh! But Mako lost both his parents and is taking care of his little brother. He doesn't know how to get in touch with his feelings =3=... nope. That's not gonna wash. The very fact that he has been through such emotional trauma should make him a person more in touch with his feelings. Having lost someone, his immediate reaction should be either to emotionally detach himself from other people, or to hold close the people he learns to care about.

The latter seemed to happen with Mako when he was worried about Korra, but he treated Asami like dirt. Which makes his character contradictory in itself.

You can't help but hate a character who seems to lack the basics in relationship ethics.

Actually, Mako was clearly NOT just dating Asami for her money, because you could tell that he liked her even when they first met, and then they went to Hiroshi the day after their date, where it was THEN brought up that the Fire Ferrets would be funded.

I like how you suggest in your rebuttal that Mako was dating Asami for her money. XD

Love Psycle

Two: How can you decide what someone's reaction should or should not be in the event of losing a loved one? People deal with things differently. He did not treat Asami like dirt at all, because if he had, she most likely wouldn't have stuck around. That's why she didn't suspect that Mako had mixed feelings until Korra got captured.

It's actually pretty easy. It's called human nature. People just are that way.

My personal standards are pretty high when it comes to boyfriends, but I won't refute an average standard. Mako on the other hand, falls below normal standards. Any girl whose BF was flirting with a friend in the back of THEIR car while driving, would boot his a** on the road right there. Because, heck, that's pretty low-grade dirt treatment! Say what you will! Mako was treating Asami like dirt.
And that is hate worthy behavior.

Love Psycle

And again, about the relationship thing? I WILL SAY AGAIN that he is a normal teenage boy. They do this all the time. The whole mixed feelings thing. I don't blame him for not knowing what he felt at the moment. I mean, how was he supposed to? Korra only JUST confessed her feelings toward him that night. It all sprung on him, which in turn, made his feelings for Korra surface themselves, all in one night, when he already had a good thing going with Asami. Of course he was confused. No one in their right mind would blame him for that.

Confusion. Age. Immaturity. Two Girlfriends.

These are excuses. Excuses are just another way of saying bad boyfriend material. A.K.A. A jerk.

And! I've said this to someone else first, but I'll say it here too. Age is not a factor in avatar. Especially not a behavioral factor of any kind. Sure, we've been told that someone will act irrationally because of their youth, but the fact of the matter is that AGE DOES NOT MATTER IN AVATAR.

How do I know? Aang and Katara were madly in love when they were, respectively, 12 and 14. Twelve and fourteen! They chose how they were going to spend the rest of their lives when they were barely teenagers. We can argue as much as we want about how poor and sad a teenager Mako is, but the fact doesn't change that he's still a jerk. An 18 year old jerk. He is the very equivalent of adulthood.

Anyway, that's why he's hated. whee

Perhaps if he had a better character development he'd be non-hated. The fact that he's hated at all is pretty sad, and shouldn't be happening.

I want a new boyfriend option for Korra in the next season. *crossing fingers* hell, I know it won't happen XD!

[cursedgnomes]

X sansmerci

His character was written poorly. Step one is to grock that people criticising that aren't saying they personally dislike Mako.

Admittedly, how he acts in canon is flat out shitty! But we've had characters before who were full-throttle jerkasses, grabbing at being a shmuck out of the jaws of decency. (Zuko is an obvious example, since he got the redemption arc, but everyone had their moments, from Sokka to Toph to Azula.)

The problem with Mako is that he is not written consistant with his shown actions or implied role. Remember Bolin telling Korra that Mako had to grow up at a young age to take care of both of them as street orphans? Or Mako's concern over Bolin in the first part of the series?
Where is that later in the show? Even ignoring the whole "my brother took you out, now is a good time to mention I kinda like you back despite how brusque I was earlier", because that is an example of a moment of hormonal teenage idiocy, he just doesn't show his mature-beyond-his-years protective side towards Bolin later in the series.

Nor is jerking around two girls consistent with a character whose core is serious maturity and responsibility forged from painful loss; especially not when that extends to blowing up and blaming anyone but himself when Asami (inevitably) found out and confronted him about Korra. It would still be thoughtless coming from Bolin or even, say, Tahno, but either of those characters, it *could make sense* that they would act like Mako did (the former because he really is innocent and capable of tripping over his own feet when it comes to emotions, since, again, Mako mothered him; the later because he was shown in canon to have an entitlement streak and wasn't show/given backstory to contradict that extending to his interpersonal relationships.)

The way Mako was written in terms of how he treats Asami, Korra, and Bolin, is not consistent with what we are *told* and *shown* about him in the first few episodes. Not to mention that the writers utterly failed to show *why* Korra and Mako like each other, just the switch where he's the only character allowed to be concerned over her kidnapping, which dammaged the characterization of not just Mako but the whole "good guy" supporting cast.

It's not a case of "Oh, he's gonna be a jerk in the show and then he'll be redeemed". It's a case of the writers belly-flopping so hard that instead of a charming-but-human romantic hero they painted a picture of a jackass who is never called out on his actions. It's like how in the dub of Sailor Moon changing Neptune & Uranus to "cousins" without editing their body language just made them appear to be *incestuous* lesbians.

I don't hate Bryke for writing Mako (and the whole mess that was character relationships in this show) as they did– disappointed, sure, but hate's a straw word to throw out for those of us who went into the show expecting the writing to be in the same realm as ATLA.

Everything you have said here, is exactly how I feel about it. biggrin so well put!

[cursedgnomes]

NumNumMunchies

cursedgnomes

NumNumMunchies

cursedgnomes

Mako was dating Asami to fund his sports career, and he was keeping Korra as his bench girl.

Oh! But Mako lost both his parents and is taking care of his little brother. He doesn't know how to get in touch with his feelings =3=... nope. That's not gonna wash. The very fact that he has been through such emotional trauma should make him a person more in touch with his feelings. Having lost someone, his immediate reaction should be either to emotionally detach himself from other people, or to hold close the people he learns to care about.

The latter seemed to happen with Mako when he was worried about Korra, but he treated Asami like dirt. Which makes his character contradictory in itself.

You can't help but hate a character who seems to lack the basics in relationship ethics.

He's like 16. 16 yr old guys usually like more than one girl at a time. It happens all the time and it's nothing new. He's not a bad person just because he isn't madly in love with either one of them and has mixed emotions. He dated Asami before he knew who her father was and Asami was the one who picked him up.
Mako originally stayed away from Korra because he knew Bolin liked her and he didn't want to take her away from his brother. Bros before hoes.
After all that happen, Mako slowly realized that his feelings for Korra were stronger than his feelings for Asami and at that point Bolin was over his heart break.

Mako isn't a bad person just because it took him a while to figure out his feelings.

Though you could say that he was looking out for his brother, Mako was not aware of Bolin's feelings for Korra until he realized he had his own conflicting emotions for her.. then he was confused.. and then he blamed Korra... and then they acted like nothing had happened.

This makes Mako a jerk.

And age really is a worthless argument. This is avatar. Characters decide they are meant for a life-lasting romantic relationship by the time they're twelve in the avatar-verse. So Mako's teen age is not an excuse for bad boy-friend habits.

Thus we hates him XD lol

Ok. XD
If you really wanna spend your energy hating a fictional character, be my guest.

XD I know right? but its how we rule the internets XD

[lppurplegirl11]

M a h z a l a

I love Mako! biggrin Just as much as his brother. Both are cool characters. whee

Overall, he's a great guy. He's a little moody and was quite a jerk in the beginning to Korra, but that's because he thought she was an annoying fan girl. LOL It's mainly the way he handled two different girls that make people dislike him. Though I feel that people are basically judging him and hating him overall just for this mistake that he did.

As if everyone else in the world hasn't made mistakes while being in a relationship.

......I hated Hermione in the first movie xD

[lppurplegirl11]

[lppurplegirl11]

I dont hate Mako, I just think it's shitty how he could be all over Korra while Asami is in the corner obviously hurt and he doesnt even notice. And then he lies about having feelings for Korra. And I don't see him ever feeling bad for it. Unless I missed that part. Redemption for Mako please? It's not cool to have fans dislike one of our protagonists! :O

Even Zuko was honest in telling the Gaang that he sent Combustion Man and that's even worse xD

Yea but Mako is an okay guy. He just does stupid things sometimes

[AznBoy41]

biggrin

[Chai Foxie]

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I think it's because he's a poorly written and underdeveloped character biggrin

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