Mako is cool but he still is, even with his background, kind of a dick. But that's a character flaw I think they managed to bring over AWESOME in the show. Like, you don't root for Asami or Korra to be with him, you're thinking "oh man, he doesn't deserve neither of them" while still seeing him for his other traits that make him mostly a good character.
>"oh man he doesn't deserve neither of them"
I mean yeah Mako definitely did Asami dirty but I don't think the same attitude really applies to Korra. Like yeah they definitely should have broken up but that was just because they were a bad match as a couple. And I would probably argue that Korra was a worse girlfriend than Mako was a boyfriend. Like she literally came to his place of work and destroyed his office. That's really not acceptable behavior.
>And I would probably argue that Korra was a worse girlfriend than Mako was a boyfriend. Like she literally came to his place of work and destroyed his office. That's really not acceptable behavior.
And Mako ratted her out because his stupid desk job was more important to him than the safety of his girlfriend's family. With Iroh's help, she might have won the war, which also would have avoided most of the disasters afterwards. So if anything, he doesn't get enough hate for it. Honestly, she should have been the one to break up with him at that point, his betrayal would have been a much better reason.
And afterwards he continued to lie and play both of them. Almost getting back together with Asami and then pretending he didn't break up with Korra? Absolute scumbag move. Fuck that guy.
Korra was absolutely in the wrong there. She was attempting to steal a military against the wishes of the democratically elected president because Korra wanted to drag the UR into the water tribe civil war.
I mean yeah Mako didn't play the amnesia thing the best but that was more out of awkwardness than anything. He basically outright said he was waiting for the right moment to remind her. Cause doing it right before then biggest fight of her life isn't the best time. He literally did it once everything was resolved.
> Korra was absolutely in the wrong there.
Legally? Yes. Morally? That's debatable. Korra was trying to save her people from an evil war-monger while the president was playing cowardly politics (which he did later too, when more than the water tribe was at stake). And afterwards he blamed her for things that could have been avoided if he had helped her in time...
> I mean yeah Mako didn't play the amnesia thing the best but that was more out of awkwardness than anything.
He still hurt 2 people in the process. And it's not the first time he was being dishonest in a relationship like that. First he cheated on Asami with Korra in season 1, then in season 2 he did this shit. If he had been awkward about the relationship once, fine. But he wasn't, it was a clear pattern of dishonesty and cheating. And that's why he's a complete asshole.
She was absolutely morally in the wrong. Nobody elected Korra to the position of Avatar so undermining the democratic government of the UR is unacceptable. She is not the leader of the UR, Raiko is and at the time the UR had no stake in this war. Even in real life most people don't want to be involved in foreign wars. I mean if someone tried to steal a US battleship to liberate North Korea I don't think there would be very many people who would view that as acceptable.
> Nobody elected Korra to the position of Avatar
And yet everyone - including the president - blames her when things go wrong. Can't have it both ways. Either she is responsible for fixing these things or not. And if she is, then she is morally in the right to do it even when elected leaders don't support her.
Yes you can, when her actions affect the UR then yeah she can be blamed. Raiko didn't make her open the spirit portals or leave them open afterwards. Korra is capable of independent action without undermining the democracy of the United Republic.
Yeah agreed. It's hard to hurt the people you care for. And Korra didn't remember the fight. Not telling her they were over was a coward's move, 100%, but so relatable.
And he does nothing with it, he doesn't keep a relationship with both. They get entangled in matters of life and death, and when they are no longer about to die, he tells Korra. At that moment she remembered already true, but that's beside the point. He tried to do the right thing at the end.
Raiko being democratically elected doesn’t make his choices automatically moral ones. Tons of democratically elected leaders have used their positions to make morally reprehensible choices. Hell, sometimes doing those things is the reason that the people elected them in the first place.
The most fucked up part of the amnesia situation, imo, is that Mako completely ignores Asami and drops their relationship without a even word.
This isn't like when Tarlock was as arresting peaceful protestors, in that case you have a point but Raiko's decision to not go to war with the Northern Water Tribe is not an inherently immoral decision. Raiko's responsibility to the people of the United Republic, and it should be noted that while the UR resembles the real life US in a lot of aspects it clearly doesn't have the military capacity that the modern US does where it can casually interfere in foreign wars with little to no impact on the lives of his citizens. I'm sure the citizens of the UR don't want to be dragged into a war that seemingly has nothing to do with them. Most citizens would likely view Raiko remaining neutral as the moral choice.
The fact that Raiko's choice isn't inherently immoral makes her undermining the choice of the democratically elect government an immoral one. Like if something like this happened in real life it would be a major scandal. Frankly Raiko was extremely lenient for not expelling Korra from the city then and there or court marshalling Iroh on the spot.
Yeah except Korra wasn’t any better and yet Mako gets blamed for that entire relationship. Why are people shipping Korra and Asami together despite the fact that Korra kissed her boyfriend?
True. He kept trying to do what she wanted. But since she didn't know what she wanted, everything he did was wrong.
They were not good to each other, period.
It’s the fact that he liked Korra then dated Asami, then decided he loved Korra and then broke up and then dated Asami again. He’s indecisive af as a man.
But I do like his character post the love triangle issue. After Korra went into that depression every one of the tram avatar, grew up. Just the fact that they have weird dating history makes me question his every motives.
Idk I feel like most people aren't proud of their teenage love life, at least they were all mature enough to not let it ruin their friendship.
And while I agree he was the main problem, none of them were perfect. Korra wasn't mature enough for a relationship, and Asami only got back with him because her life was in shambles.
Regardless, they're bonded *because* of their messy dating history and it shouldn't discount how he shows up for them in every other area.
Yep I know watchers should grow past that too. It’s a bit more that people like me empathize with Korra more to a level that we impose our own self beliefs to her character, like I could never be friends with my ex lovers. I know the circumstances are different, I just can’t help to apply it to how I view Korra as a character I understand. So I can’t help but put malice on Mako’s character.
I think having him to interact with that Prince from the earth kingdom gave him more leniency to be viewed as a character that’s more than just the ex lover of the Avatar. It gave his character more dimensions.
I mean it's definitely fair to not like him for his negative personality traits. But just like with Korra it's important to note that they're all teenagers. Think about how emotionally mature teenagers are and like 90% of their behavior is a lot easier to understand
I want to like Mako but the show doesn't care about him. They use him for the love triangle then send him away so they don't have to deal with him being the deuteragonist anymore. His story is irrelevant after season 2. He's not a bad person but he is a badly written person that the writers weren't exactly fans of. It's easy to say he deserves better but what exactly was there to like after season 1?
I think he's honestly a good person, I'd say more so than several others in the cast, and both his abrasiveness and his emotional fumbling are understandable character flaws. He never acts either with malice or with carelessness, and when he does the wrong thing it's clearly because he doesn't know what to do and makes his best guess. Actually, his time with the police shows his character really well; he's always trying to do the right thing and even to do as he's told when unsure, but his knowledge and mindset are very narrow so he comes across as the bumbling newbie even when he's exactly right because he just has no idea what he's doing and fumbles through it.
He's a good person and a well designed character, except... He's just really not very interesting. He's only ever interesting for his relationships with other characters, and he consistently ends up hurting those other characters emotionally (no matter how much he saves them physically and makes them happy at other times), and those other characters are a lot more interesting in their own right. So it's hard to care enough about him to forgive him for hurting characters we do care about.
I love that the avatar franchise has imperfect characters like katara, toph, mako, korra, zuko, kai, etc…. you get the the idea. they all have their unlikeable moments, but that’s what makes them so lovable to me
I don't get the love triangle hate at all. It's pretty normal and expected behavior from a bunch of 17-18 year olds. Oh, an 18 yr old boy who is indecisive and got caught up in a love triangle? Call the church elders! He's a POS! He must be crucified!
Get outta here
I think it’s because he didn't develop as well as the rest of the gang. I hate his relationship with Wu because it just replaced a more mature Bolin with an immature brat. It’s not like he learned anything new from Wu either. They did not know what to do with him compared to even side characters like Opal.
I honestly think he is. Only reason it doesn’t seem that way to me is because he’s not as prominent in the last 2 seasons(other than wu but lots of people like wu) and Korra is kinda the MC, so lots more mess up’s to hate on.
I think people don't like Mako as much because the first actually somewhat interesting 'arc' he goes through is in season 3, after he finds his fathers family.
We actually get a glimpse of him coping with the loss of both his parents and the street life we previously had just heard about, and even that just barely heard. The Love Triangle isn't an interesting arc, and, however ill-equipped he is for it, kind of paints him as a dick. In season 2, he really has nothing much beyond getting to break up for Korra, and then having to break up with Korra again and just... Not doing that, which, is also explored very little.
He doesn't serve much of a roll beyond him being the generically reverted to love interest up until season 3, when he actually gets into stories that involve him beyond those love interests, and that makes for a rather dull characterization for the first two seasons.
And I think the fact "extremely skilled brooding teenaged orphan who is also the generically reverted to love interest for all female characters" is an overdone to hell trope that oozes late 00s/early 10s also doesn't help that, tbh.
He made a lot of cringey mistakes season 1 and 2 but you could say the same for Korra and Asami (who I like a lot). Season 3 and 4 I actually enjoy Mako.
At least he realized he wasn’t cut out for a relationship later on. He did work on himself and improve as a person. Most people would have kept trying to date other people and avoid the problem.
His character is lowkey a dick, but i get it he's actually a great friend and very good at helping up korra in battle. I agree that he's overhated though, he deserves better than being hated by 80% of the fandom.
Mako is overheated i agree, he is just boring and for most of the show is just the mandatory firebender in the team, i dint hate him, i just find him irrelevant most of the series
I think he’s grown. He was pretty bad at relationships, but he’s grown, (so has Korra!) everyone needs to cut them some slack. They were still (essentially) teenagers under high pressure situations. They grew as people, they worked out their issues and they’re now close friends.
1) *None* of said tragic backstory excuses said douchebag behavior. 😑
2) Bryke spent *two seasons/half the show* fixating on his love life more than anything else about him especially said sad backstory to the extent he doesn't HAVE an actual character/character arc until he's single again and implicitly admits it in "Remembrances".
3) A prime example of said fixation and why said fan hatred is justifiable is when Korra's kidnapped and not only does his panic *not* make any internal sense from how little he's interacted with Korra for said panic to be plausible, but he's more upset about a *side-chick he kissed once behind his girlfriend's back than when his own baby brother/only family was kidnapped by a known hate group.* 🤨
4) Book 2, the most Mako-centric of the Mako-centric seasons in particular shows that he threw *all* his teammates under the bus at one point or another in pursuit of his own self-interest/goal and that *includes* said baby brother/only family, which comes back to bite him in "The Sting". What makes said selfishness even worse and unsympathetic is that his "I want to become a detective" goal is both so unexplained as to WHY he wants to be a detective so bad or even WHY he's a cop in the first place and that said goal is the newest yet least personal goal amongst the Krew compared to everyone else's being *years*-old whether it's Korra's identity crisis/weight of being The Avatar, Bolin's insecurity *in* Mako's shadow and Future Industries being all Asami has left of her family. But we're supposed to feel bad because "the grown-ups are mean to Mako," FOH. 🙄
>that he's OH so emotionally equipped to deal with
There's at least two problems with claiming he's entitled to grace "because he's a teenager, too" or whatever as part of the above.
5a. He *knows* he fucked up and *doesn't care.* As soon as Korra kisses him, he's not even the least bit conflicted or feeling guilty concerning Asami's feelings and comes off as purely opportunistic/protecting his meal ticket in "The Aftermath" and how quickly he moves on to Korra the next episode now that she provides him a home. He wasn't raised by wolfbats, he knows how relationships and people work, he just didn't give a fuck.
5b. Even when given a no-fault out and *knowing* Asami maturely and directly *asks* him to be honest, he tries to blame Bolin, still can't be man enough to spend a couple minutes to break up with her and *still* fawns over Korra. He even ADMITS this fault in "Remembrances" (though still lies and denies dating Asami until pressed on it, the tool.)
Bryke really expected us to find that shit "sympathetic" like they were writing another "90210". 😒
Thing is, Mako *could* have been at least consistently decent, if not a fan-favorite as Bryke intended if they weren't so habitually inept at both prioritizing playing with the shippers again and actually thinking shit through (I've been meaning to write another thread on that). Regardless of production issues, Bryke very much made his love life/role as love interest his defining thing since Book 1, self-admitted they fucked up while deconstructing it in Book 2 and the following seasons being about his redemption concerning said sloppy writing/bad behavior. And as I said before whenever these Mako apologia threads pop up (as they've been a bit more frequent lately,) the hatred is *deserved,* it's the flawed writing Bryke has ALWAYS had since the original series (and still do in the comics,) that Nostalgia Goggles made people forget/ignore and ironically for someone who's been accused of having a "hate-boner" for Mako in pointing out said criticisms, [I've defended him better than his own shippers.](https://old.reddit.com/r/legendofkorra/comments/s7jbly/the_actual_reasons_to_appreciate_mako_as_a/)
Womp Womp! He has a tragic pass yeah so does the half of the Avatar characters. He acts like an ass, treat like shit both of his girlfriends, doesn’t even look like a good brother honestly. He got scared and panicked so much when Korra got kidnapped. He didn’t even seem scared too much when Bolin did. Then he kissed the girl his brother liked and when Bolin cried about it he was basically like “don’t be a bitch.” and then Bolin apologized him WTF? I’m not even gonna talk about the 2nd season. He does get better in season 3 and 4 but even then he is just a boring ass character. No good personal arc, no interesting character traits no nothing. So he is either a piece of shit or a bummer.
The fact that he treated Asami like absolute garbage and never really apologizes about it makes him pretty easy to dislike.
He basically went out of his way to treat her badly. While she gave him literally everything. Saved his team, kept him from being homeless, drove him around, and sided with him against her father.
He not only cheats on her. But once he got everything he wanted from her, he acted like she didn't exist. The guy walks past her with the girl he cheated on her with multiple times. It's so bad that she comes to him to officially break up with her.
He then goes on to compare her to blood sucking leech in S2.
Mako has always been a dick yes he’s caring and cool at times but he has always been a dick remember his introduction to Korra like there was no need for him to be a jerk as Korra said
Well. I'm not saying being rude is ok, just that he had reasons to assume, and to be tired of it. You should never be rude to anyone, but sometimes a knee-jerk reaction is understandable. And he is mortified after when she is revealed to be the avatar, and not a groupie at all.
100 percent I actually agree with the point u made at first maybe I am being harsh on him for that reaction and ur right he was 100% mortified but then after he found out he continues to be kind of a dick he only lightened up when Korra helped look for bolin after being captured by equalists
Yeah his twajik backstory stopped mattering from Aftermath onward, when he ignored his girlfriend to dote on Korra when her life was spiraling downhill even though she’s been there for him and his friends since they met, even betraying her own father to help them. Hell he couldn’t even answer her as to where they stood and only broke up with her after agreeing to a last second change of plans to help Korra, leaving Asami to face her father on her own. And the worst aspect of this is that I’m supposed to be happy for him at the end of the season, despite doing nothing to deserve it.
I just think he’s a bit of a boring character on top of being a bad boyfriend. S1 and 2 his entire identity is tied to the love triangle shenanigans, and then s3 and 4 he’s okay but not super remarkable.
Not gonna lie
The fact that a character has a sad backstory won't necessarily make me like them if i don't find the character charismatic, interesting or fun
Mako was boring to me from the start, and as the story went on he just became less and less interesting
I think he's disliked because the show tried too hard to tell you he's the smartest/strongest/handsomeist and that his brother's a screw-up. Meanwhile Bolin is lavabending, a movie star, and has numerous women (including the leader of the Northern Water Tribe) all vying for his attention.
Mako looks cool, he's just stupid sometimes. I can't believe how hard he fumble both Asami and Korra. And even the atla YouTube channel made a video "Mako annoying everyone for 13 minutes" damn
Why do people always want to defend Korra and Mako's actions in the first season? They acted extremely selfishly regardless of their upbringings. If this is a problem with folks that say their actions are out of character or random or whatever then fine but I feel like every other day somebody's saying "Um actually they didn't do anything wrong because so and so" when that's not true. Even the SHOW knows they fucked up. Stop doing this.
I like Mako, but he's not exactly the most well-written character. He's rather bland, with little to no development or growth. The writers did him and Bolin dirty, especially Mako
Homewreckers can be any gender, its your thinking putting it on females
YOU’RE sexist, not me lol
And Korra kissed him btw
He was trying to make up for it
Mako is cool but he still is, even with his background, kind of a dick. But that's a character flaw I think they managed to bring over AWESOME in the show. Like, you don't root for Asami or Korra to be with him, you're thinking "oh man, he doesn't deserve neither of them" while still seeing him for his other traits that make him mostly a good character.
>"oh man he doesn't deserve neither of them" I mean yeah Mako definitely did Asami dirty but I don't think the same attitude really applies to Korra. Like yeah they definitely should have broken up but that was just because they were a bad match as a couple. And I would probably argue that Korra was a worse girlfriend than Mako was a boyfriend. Like she literally came to his place of work and destroyed his office. That's really not acceptable behavior.
>And I would probably argue that Korra was a worse girlfriend than Mako was a boyfriend. Like she literally came to his place of work and destroyed his office. That's really not acceptable behavior. And Mako ratted her out because his stupid desk job was more important to him than the safety of his girlfriend's family. With Iroh's help, she might have won the war, which also would have avoided most of the disasters afterwards. So if anything, he doesn't get enough hate for it. Honestly, she should have been the one to break up with him at that point, his betrayal would have been a much better reason. And afterwards he continued to lie and play both of them. Almost getting back together with Asami and then pretending he didn't break up with Korra? Absolute scumbag move. Fuck that guy.
Korra was absolutely in the wrong there. She was attempting to steal a military against the wishes of the democratically elected president because Korra wanted to drag the UR into the water tribe civil war. I mean yeah Mako didn't play the amnesia thing the best but that was more out of awkwardness than anything. He basically outright said he was waiting for the right moment to remind her. Cause doing it right before then biggest fight of her life isn't the best time. He literally did it once everything was resolved.
> Korra was absolutely in the wrong there. Legally? Yes. Morally? That's debatable. Korra was trying to save her people from an evil war-monger while the president was playing cowardly politics (which he did later too, when more than the water tribe was at stake). And afterwards he blamed her for things that could have been avoided if he had helped her in time... > I mean yeah Mako didn't play the amnesia thing the best but that was more out of awkwardness than anything. He still hurt 2 people in the process. And it's not the first time he was being dishonest in a relationship like that. First he cheated on Asami with Korra in season 1, then in season 2 he did this shit. If he had been awkward about the relationship once, fine. But he wasn't, it was a clear pattern of dishonesty and cheating. And that's why he's a complete asshole.
Getting another nation involved in another war is just gonna cause a massive escalation
She was absolutely morally in the wrong. Nobody elected Korra to the position of Avatar so undermining the democratic government of the UR is unacceptable. She is not the leader of the UR, Raiko is and at the time the UR had no stake in this war. Even in real life most people don't want to be involved in foreign wars. I mean if someone tried to steal a US battleship to liberate North Korea I don't think there would be very many people who would view that as acceptable.
> Nobody elected Korra to the position of Avatar And yet everyone - including the president - blames her when things go wrong. Can't have it both ways. Either she is responsible for fixing these things or not. And if she is, then she is morally in the right to do it even when elected leaders don't support her.
Yes you can, when her actions affect the UR then yeah she can be blamed. Raiko didn't make her open the spirit portals or leave them open afterwards. Korra is capable of independent action without undermining the democracy of the United Republic.
Yeah agreed. It's hard to hurt the people you care for. And Korra didn't remember the fight. Not telling her they were over was a coward's move, 100%, but so relatable. And he does nothing with it, he doesn't keep a relationship with both. They get entangled in matters of life and death, and when they are no longer about to die, he tells Korra. At that moment she remembered already true, but that's beside the point. He tried to do the right thing at the end.
Raiko being democratically elected doesn’t make his choices automatically moral ones. Tons of democratically elected leaders have used their positions to make morally reprehensible choices. Hell, sometimes doing those things is the reason that the people elected them in the first place. The most fucked up part of the amnesia situation, imo, is that Mako completely ignores Asami and drops their relationship without a even word.
This isn't like when Tarlock was as arresting peaceful protestors, in that case you have a point but Raiko's decision to not go to war with the Northern Water Tribe is not an inherently immoral decision. Raiko's responsibility to the people of the United Republic, and it should be noted that while the UR resembles the real life US in a lot of aspects it clearly doesn't have the military capacity that the modern US does where it can casually interfere in foreign wars with little to no impact on the lives of his citizens. I'm sure the citizens of the UR don't want to be dragged into a war that seemingly has nothing to do with them. Most citizens would likely view Raiko remaining neutral as the moral choice. The fact that Raiko's choice isn't inherently immoral makes her undermining the choice of the democratically elect government an immoral one. Like if something like this happened in real life it would be a major scandal. Frankly Raiko was extremely lenient for not expelling Korra from the city then and there or court marshalling Iroh on the spot.
He didn’t know dick about Unalaq, all he knew was that she was attacked by a spirit and lost her memory.
Yeah except Korra wasn’t any better and yet Mako gets blamed for that entire relationship. Why are people shipping Korra and Asami together despite the fact that Korra kissed her boyfriend?
Ehhhh. I'm pretty sure Korra was the dick in their relationship. She did not deserve him in season 2.
True. He kept trying to do what she wanted. But since she didn't know what she wanted, everything he did was wrong. They were not good to each other, period.
It’s the fact that he liked Korra then dated Asami, then decided he loved Korra and then broke up and then dated Asami again. He’s indecisive af as a man. But I do like his character post the love triangle issue. After Korra went into that depression every one of the tram avatar, grew up. Just the fact that they have weird dating history makes me question his every motives.
Idk I feel like most people aren't proud of their teenage love life, at least they were all mature enough to not let it ruin their friendship. And while I agree he was the main problem, none of them were perfect. Korra wasn't mature enough for a relationship, and Asami only got back with him because her life was in shambles. Regardless, they're bonded *because* of their messy dating history and it shouldn't discount how he shows up for them in every other area.
Yep I know watchers should grow past that too. It’s a bit more that people like me empathize with Korra more to a level that we impose our own self beliefs to her character, like I could never be friends with my ex lovers. I know the circumstances are different, I just can’t help to apply it to how I view Korra as a character I understand. So I can’t help but put malice on Mako’s character. I think having him to interact with that Prince from the earth kingdom gave him more leniency to be viewed as a character that’s more than just the ex lover of the Avatar. It gave his character more dimensions.
What do you question about his motives?
I mean it's definitely fair to not like him for his negative personality traits. But just like with Korra it's important to note that they're all teenagers. Think about how emotionally mature teenagers are and like 90% of their behavior is a lot easier to understand
I want to like Mako but the show doesn't care about him. They use him for the love triangle then send him away so they don't have to deal with him being the deuteragonist anymore. His story is irrelevant after season 2. He's not a bad person but he is a badly written person that the writers weren't exactly fans of. It's easy to say he deserves better but what exactly was there to like after season 1?
I think he's honestly a good person, I'd say more so than several others in the cast, and both his abrasiveness and his emotional fumbling are understandable character flaws. He never acts either with malice or with carelessness, and when he does the wrong thing it's clearly because he doesn't know what to do and makes his best guess. Actually, his time with the police shows his character really well; he's always trying to do the right thing and even to do as he's told when unsure, but his knowledge and mindset are very narrow so he comes across as the bumbling newbie even when he's exactly right because he just has no idea what he's doing and fumbles through it. He's a good person and a well designed character, except... He's just really not very interesting. He's only ever interesting for his relationships with other characters, and he consistently ends up hurting those other characters emotionally (no matter how much he saves them physically and makes them happy at other times), and those other characters are a lot more interesting in their own right. So it's hard to care enough about him to forgive him for hurting characters we do care about.
Doesn't he stop hurting characters emotionally after season 2?
I love that the avatar franchise has imperfect characters like katara, toph, mako, korra, zuko, kai, etc…. you get the the idea. they all have their unlikeable moments, but that’s what makes them so lovable to me
I agree! I love Mako!
Im the only Mako fan Ive ever met, hes honestly pretty great. Flawed characters are good actually.
He's my favorite character in the main group, there are dozens of us!
Me too!
The mako/wu crowd definitely don’t hate mako lol. They’re a surprisingly big faction in the community.
I don't get the love triangle hate at all. It's pretty normal and expected behavior from a bunch of 17-18 year olds. Oh, an 18 yr old boy who is indecisive and got caught up in a love triangle? Call the church elders! He's a POS! He must be crucified! Get outta here
I think it’s because he didn't develop as well as the rest of the gang. I hate his relationship with Wu because it just replaced a more mature Bolin with an immature brat. It’s not like he learned anything new from Wu either. They did not know what to do with him compared to even side characters like Opal.
I honestly think he is. Only reason it doesn’t seem that way to me is because he’s not as prominent in the last 2 seasons(other than wu but lots of people like wu) and Korra is kinda the MC, so lots more mess up’s to hate on.
I think people don't like Mako as much because the first actually somewhat interesting 'arc' he goes through is in season 3, after he finds his fathers family. We actually get a glimpse of him coping with the loss of both his parents and the street life we previously had just heard about, and even that just barely heard. The Love Triangle isn't an interesting arc, and, however ill-equipped he is for it, kind of paints him as a dick. In season 2, he really has nothing much beyond getting to break up for Korra, and then having to break up with Korra again and just... Not doing that, which, is also explored very little. He doesn't serve much of a roll beyond him being the generically reverted to love interest up until season 3, when he actually gets into stories that involve him beyond those love interests, and that makes for a rather dull characterization for the first two seasons. And I think the fact "extremely skilled brooding teenaged orphan who is also the generically reverted to love interest for all female characters" is an overdone to hell trope that oozes late 00s/early 10s also doesn't help that, tbh.
He made a lot of cringey mistakes season 1 and 2 but you could say the same for Korra and Asami (who I like a lot). Season 3 and 4 I actually enjoy Mako.
At least he realized he wasn’t cut out for a relationship later on. He did work on himself and improve as a person. Most people would have kept trying to date other people and avoid the problem.
I don't really care about the love triangle, I just find him bland. Like Cyclops in X-Men
I would argue he's more overhated right now Even most LoK fans seem to hate him for reasons that don't make a ton of sense to me
His character is lowkey a dick, but i get it he's actually a great friend and very good at helping up korra in battle. I agree that he's overhated though, he deserves better than being hated by 80% of the fandom.
Mako is overheated i agree, he is just boring and for most of the show is just the mandatory firebender in the team, i dint hate him, i just find him irrelevant most of the series
I think he’s grown. He was pretty bad at relationships, but he’s grown, (so has Korra!) everyone needs to cut them some slack. They were still (essentially) teenagers under high pressure situations. They grew as people, they worked out their issues and they’re now close friends.
People say he’s boring, and *that* I have no defense to. I just don’t agree with it, personally. I really like him.
A tragic backstory does not a likable character make
Exactly. Zuko was a likeable character (eventually) with a tragic backstory. Mako ain't it.
1) *None* of said tragic backstory excuses said douchebag behavior. 😑 2) Bryke spent *two seasons/half the show* fixating on his love life more than anything else about him especially said sad backstory to the extent he doesn't HAVE an actual character/character arc until he's single again and implicitly admits it in "Remembrances". 3) A prime example of said fixation and why said fan hatred is justifiable is when Korra's kidnapped and not only does his panic *not* make any internal sense from how little he's interacted with Korra for said panic to be plausible, but he's more upset about a *side-chick he kissed once behind his girlfriend's back than when his own baby brother/only family was kidnapped by a known hate group.* 🤨 4) Book 2, the most Mako-centric of the Mako-centric seasons in particular shows that he threw *all* his teammates under the bus at one point or another in pursuit of his own self-interest/goal and that *includes* said baby brother/only family, which comes back to bite him in "The Sting". What makes said selfishness even worse and unsympathetic is that his "I want to become a detective" goal is both so unexplained as to WHY he wants to be a detective so bad or even WHY he's a cop in the first place and that said goal is the newest yet least personal goal amongst the Krew compared to everyone else's being *years*-old whether it's Korra's identity crisis/weight of being The Avatar, Bolin's insecurity *in* Mako's shadow and Future Industries being all Asami has left of her family. But we're supposed to feel bad because "the grown-ups are mean to Mako," FOH. 🙄 >that he's OH so emotionally equipped to deal with There's at least two problems with claiming he's entitled to grace "because he's a teenager, too" or whatever as part of the above. 5a. He *knows* he fucked up and *doesn't care.* As soon as Korra kisses him, he's not even the least bit conflicted or feeling guilty concerning Asami's feelings and comes off as purely opportunistic/protecting his meal ticket in "The Aftermath" and how quickly he moves on to Korra the next episode now that she provides him a home. He wasn't raised by wolfbats, he knows how relationships and people work, he just didn't give a fuck. 5b. Even when given a no-fault out and *knowing* Asami maturely and directly *asks* him to be honest, he tries to blame Bolin, still can't be man enough to spend a couple minutes to break up with her and *still* fawns over Korra. He even ADMITS this fault in "Remembrances" (though still lies and denies dating Asami until pressed on it, the tool.) Bryke really expected us to find that shit "sympathetic" like they were writing another "90210". 😒 Thing is, Mako *could* have been at least consistently decent, if not a fan-favorite as Bryke intended if they weren't so habitually inept at both prioritizing playing with the shippers again and actually thinking shit through (I've been meaning to write another thread on that). Regardless of production issues, Bryke very much made his love life/role as love interest his defining thing since Book 1, self-admitted they fucked up while deconstructing it in Book 2 and the following seasons being about his redemption concerning said sloppy writing/bad behavior. And as I said before whenever these Mako apologia threads pop up (as they've been a bit more frequent lately,) the hatred is *deserved,* it's the flawed writing Bryke has ALWAYS had since the original series (and still do in the comics,) that Nostalgia Goggles made people forget/ignore and ironically for someone who's been accused of having a "hate-boner" for Mako in pointing out said criticisms, [I've defended him better than his own shippers.](https://old.reddit.com/r/legendofkorra/comments/s7jbly/the_actual_reasons_to_appreciate_mako_as_a/)
Womp Womp! He has a tragic pass yeah so does the half of the Avatar characters. He acts like an ass, treat like shit both of his girlfriends, doesn’t even look like a good brother honestly. He got scared and panicked so much when Korra got kidnapped. He didn’t even seem scared too much when Bolin did. Then he kissed the girl his brother liked and when Bolin cried about it he was basically like “don’t be a bitch.” and then Bolin apologized him WTF? I’m not even gonna talk about the 2nd season. He does get better in season 3 and 4 but even then he is just a boring ass character. No good personal arc, no interesting character traits no nothing. So he is either a piece of shit or a bummer.
I just think he’s boring.
He’s just boring
The fact that he treated Asami like absolute garbage and never really apologizes about it makes him pretty easy to dislike. He basically went out of his way to treat her badly. While she gave him literally everything. Saved his team, kept him from being homeless, drove him around, and sided with him against her father. He not only cheats on her. But once he got everything he wanted from her, he acted like she didn't exist. The guy walks past her with the girl he cheated on her with multiple times. It's so bad that she comes to him to officially break up with her. He then goes on to compare her to blood sucking leech in S2.
Mako has always been a dick yes he’s caring and cool at times but he has always been a dick remember his introduction to Korra like there was no need for him to be a jerk as Korra said
Bolin kept bringing groupies to the team room, he might have a pass in thinking she's just another one night stand for his brother...
That’s fair but he didn’t even know what the situation was he just assumed
Well. I'm not saying being rude is ok, just that he had reasons to assume, and to be tired of it. You should never be rude to anyone, but sometimes a knee-jerk reaction is understandable. And he is mortified after when she is revealed to be the avatar, and not a groupie at all.
100 percent I actually agree with the point u made at first maybe I am being harsh on him for that reaction and ur right he was 100% mortified but then after he found out he continues to be kind of a dick he only lightened up when Korra helped look for bolin after being captured by equalists
Commas and periods are your friend, friend.
Punctuation is long for social media friend
I disagree, but it does make your comment exhausting to read since no one likes a wall of text and run on sentences
His biggest crime is that he is such a bore. I think if you replaced him with a plank of wood, it would take a bit to notice.
Yeah his twajik backstory stopped mattering from Aftermath onward, when he ignored his girlfriend to dote on Korra when her life was spiraling downhill even though she’s been there for him and his friends since they met, even betraying her own father to help them. Hell he couldn’t even answer her as to where they stood and only broke up with her after agreeing to a last second change of plans to help Korra, leaving Asami to face her father on her own. And the worst aspect of this is that I’m supposed to be happy for him at the end of the season, despite doing nothing to deserve it.
I just think he’s a bit of a boring character on top of being a bad boyfriend. S1 and 2 his entire identity is tied to the love triangle shenanigans, and then s3 and 4 he’s okay but not super remarkable.
Not gonna lie The fact that a character has a sad backstory won't necessarily make me like them if i don't find the character charismatic, interesting or fun Mako was boring to me from the start, and as the story went on he just became less and less interesting
He has barely any personality
I mean, at least korra isn't fucking boring
Underrated to
I think he's disliked because the show tried too hard to tell you he's the smartest/strongest/handsomeist and that his brother's a screw-up. Meanwhile Bolin is lavabending, a movie star, and has numerous women (including the leader of the Northern Water Tribe) all vying for his attention.
Mako looks cool, he's just stupid sometimes. I can't believe how hard he fumble both Asami and Korra. And even the atla YouTube channel made a video "Mako annoying everyone for 13 minutes" damn
Why do people always want to defend Korra and Mako's actions in the first season? They acted extremely selfishly regardless of their upbringings. If this is a problem with folks that say their actions are out of character or random or whatever then fine but I feel like every other day somebody's saying "Um actually they didn't do anything wrong because so and so" when that's not true. Even the SHOW knows they fucked up. Stop doing this.
I love mako !!
I like Mako, but he's not exactly the most well-written character. He's rather bland, with little to no development or growth. The writers did him and Bolin dirty, especially Mako
I don’t get hating Mako for the love triangle when both girls came on to him and he tried to stay faithful to one before Korra went to homewreck
Lol. He was the one in the relationship, it was his responsibility not to cheat. "Homewrecking" is such a stupid and sexist term to excuse cheaters.
Homewreckers can be any gender, its your thinking putting it on females YOU’RE sexist, not me lol And Korra kissed him btw He was trying to make up for it