HOME | DD
swan-swan — 'She's going to be fine.'
Published: 2008-04-28 07:13:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 4329; Favourites: 80; Downloads: 44
Redirect to original
Description
I'm so ashamed of myself.For all of my love of Mai, I've completely neglected her family...one of those things that makes her so awesome by giving her an air of normalcy, and also just...they've got their own little plotline to think about. I'm guessing that they've changed dramatically ever since they lost both of their kids in one night...one returned, but the other is still out in the war.
The emotion is so deliciously satisfying....I might not be hungry for another few days. I realized just how much of a softie I am when I looked at screencaps for reference and came across a pic of them turning right after Aang returns Tom-Tom (that's why Aang's the hero of this story) and found my eyes misting over. There's so much emotion with these people. I'm not going to pretend that they were good parents, really, spoiling a child is one of the worst forms of child abuse (fortunately, Mai broke out of that, but it cost her a lot), but they have hearts. And I'm betting that their views will have changed now; I like to think of Mai's parents (who never actually got names, to my knowledge) as feeling a little guilty now...hopefully, things will patch up and their daughter will make it home, whether in New Ozai or the old homestead by the palace. And when she does, it will probably be a free society where she doesn't have to worry about attachments being used to manipulate her and control her. Where when someone tells her to put her baby brother in danger, she can say "no" without having to worry about being executed or punished in any way.
The idea of this picture has been in my head for a long, long time now, but it wasn't until I tapped into my recent Mai spazzage that I was able to bring it to life. And I think it turned out rather well. I'd like to dedicate this to those hopefully-few people who wish death on Mai. Think about her baby brother and her mother and her father and be ashamed of yourselves. Nyah.
Still haven't seen The Boiling Rock. Still looking forward to it. Still not reading comments until May 6th.
All of them were reffed, but I made sure to be a little original with each....different poses, little tweaks, all that stuff. I need to practice with them more so that I can draw them freehand.
Mai's family belongs to Nickelodeon. Mike and Bryan. Avatar: the Last Airbender.
The pic is mine.
Related content
Comments: 51
"Does that look like the face of a killer to you?" Yes it does. A lemur killer 
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Does that look like the face of a killer to you? Yes it does actually. A lemur killer. Just kidding, Tom-Tom is awesome. One of my favorite one time characters. I like his innocent expression.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Hey, do you want to see my short video of Mai's childhood?
Here's the link: [link]
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Hmm, come to think of it, now, it's strange to actually believe that Mai ran away from her "tedious" home to join Princess Azula and Ty Lee. Please, she didn't even seem to care when her little baby brother was gone. I mean, Mai just immediately agreed to be part of her friends' mission, because she just wanted to leave.
It's like Mai was trying to say "I will never promise you." I just know they must have felt the same way when it was their son gone, only this time, their daughter had vanished for the rest of their lives.
They must have been like this, too, for the next passing days: [link] [link]
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Aww this is so cute! But I feel liked I missed an episode or something becuase I have basically no memorey of Tom Tom or Mai's parents! X_X
Could you tell me what episode they were seen in please?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
203...the first episode Mai entered in, where Azula chased Aang down the mail chute in Omashu.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
YAY! Thank you!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
You know...I don't think I ever put much thought into how Mai's parents must feel. Yes they weren't exactly parents of the year material...but she is still their daughter and left with presumably no goodbye...wow much in the way of sadness all around...
Beautiful picture. I like stuff that makes me think!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Mai's goodbye would probably have come in the form of "So, yeah, Azula kind of made me break the negotiations, and I failed in getting Tom-Tom back, and now I have to go with Azula, so....sorry...."
Poor family.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah, probably not all that fulfilling to a set of parents...even if they weren't too great at being parents and were mostly interested in the political good fortune a daughter might bring...especially one in that close to the royal family-the Prince especially...
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I think you are really improving with your style. Tom-Tom is so cute!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Aww, little Tom-Tom's face is so cute! And I love the emotion in the mother's eyes.
Very nice job, Swan. I can see you're improving.
Heh. I'm not watching Boiling Rock until I get finish re-watching the whole series. Won't take long.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks!
You enjoy that episode.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I did. It was awesome. Totally epically awesome.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
With your take on this and Ming you've made me realize how little attention support characters get, I'll see to that in the future. Very beautiful theme and you ddi well with the colors and expression, they do look concerned and compensationg for their worry for Mai by protecting their remaining child.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
They do need love! Everyone needs it!
Except the new guy in TBR. I don't like him that much....
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Something that I didn't think much about....
Mai just ditched her parents...they probably worry about her as much as Toph's parents worry about Toph...well...maybe not quite that much...Toph's parents are a bit posessive. Yikes.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Mai was actually kind of dragged away from her parents. It just wasn't that visible. But....yeah.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Wow... I dunno why, but the title's the one thing that stood out to me most. It works... perfectly.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I hit on that title, and it stuck...you have no idea how delighted I was when I saw that it fit.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I started going off on a tangent about Mai's parents to my Avatard friend. She just stared at me and went, "Wait, you know what Mai's parents look like...?"
I blame you for my Mai-insanity, I really do.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
awww that's so sweet! =^^= Love how you did their expression
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
[link] thats have the links to the ep if you want to see it
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Just watched legally.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I chose to wait because it's better that way.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
HEH... Totally didn't know you weren't reading comments so OOPS. But still Mai has more to her then the sighing gloom!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
since mai doesn't really seem to care about her family, that neglect is perfectly understandable. that is probably why she felt so betrayed by zuko - he WAS the only person she really cared about!
i do like to think that her family is concerned (and that they will try to rescue her... not that she needs it)
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Mai's not allowed to care about her family...you don't have that luxury in the Fire Nation. It was an example that was cruelly proven on a personal level when Ozai burned his own son and banished him. Mai's life has been torn apart by the Fire Nation....she's imprisoned within it.
Until "The Boiling Rock," when she became free. In a sense. Maybe her uncle will let her off....actually, she'll probably be moved back to the capital. I don't think she'd be trusted under her uncle's care.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
To say you don't have the "luxury" of caring about your family just because you're in the fire nation is to say that the fire nation controls free will, which is a lie. Loving, hating - it's choice. if you're going to argue for mai's choice in helping zuko get free, you will have to say she had the strength to choose to love or not love her family as well.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Okay, let me rephrase that...she doesn't have the luxury of being able to SHOW that she cares for them/loves them. Not safely, anyway. It leads to manipulation.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Indeed...
Imagine what would have happened to her family if Zuko took Mai along with her.
They would all be branded traitors, the child would probably be seperated from it's family, the parents sent to a heavy prison and the child sent to some orphanage, growing up to be constantly told that it's parents were traitors, and that therefor, he's a traitor too...
Taking that into account, I think it was a smart move of Zuko to leave Mai behind
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah. Mai staying behind at least left her free to take whatever happened....it doesn't have to be pinned on her family.
But she distanced herself from them, too. So...they might not have been targets.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Aw great job
yeah I haven't really thought about them either ... actually, not many of the parents. Not even Tophs. oh well.
It annoys me how some people want Mai to get killed off just so Zutara is free to happen. I've even read some people wanting Aang to die so it can happen. Seems a little harsh just for a ship.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yeah, it is harsh. Way too harsh. But...fans....you know.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Oh, wow! It's gorgeous.
You seem to have really improved.
I think you captured her parents emotions perfectly.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1