The Gang of Five

The Land Before Time => General Land Before Time => Character Discussion => Topic started by: Amaranthine on November 11, 2009, 09:47:20 PM

Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: Amaranthine on November 11, 2009, 09:47:20 PM
I've been hearing some stuff about Ms. Maia and in the rp which I don't really get. What's with all the hate towards her?

I remember that Ducky was in that nest, WHICH WAS hers, and Ms. Maia threw Ducky out.

I think Ms. Maia was just an overprotective mother. I don't think she was a b or anything. :p And I think all she was added to was to put in some humor with the kids that like slapstick or something like that...I guess. :p

So...what do most of you think about this minor character?
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: Jasper on November 11, 2009, 09:58:27 PM
She's alright from my view. This fan-fic I'm writing she makes an appearance.
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: Caustizer on November 11, 2009, 10:03:07 PM
Ms. Maia makes another appearence in the LBT Tv Series too in The Lonely Journey, when she tells her kids "It's not safe to play with a Sharptooth."

I think she is villianized because apart from Topsy and Kosh (whom are loveable) there really isn't any other adult in the valley who has ever done a member of the gang wrong.

Caustizer.
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: Amaranthine on November 11, 2009, 10:08:41 PM
^ Now I have NO idea who Kosh is. :p I guess he was in the tv series too?

Anyhow I don't find Mr. Three Horn lovable at all. :p He's one of those characters where you LEARN to love. He's hard to love, but you learn to love that character. That's my opinion anyway.

Anyway, I'm still not convinced that Ms. Maia is any less an overprotetive mom.
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: Jasper on November 11, 2009, 10:26:02 PM
Quote from: Caustizer,Nov 11 2009 on  09:03 PM
Ms. Maia makes another appearence in the LBT Tv Series too in The Lonely Journey, when she tells her kids "It's not safe to play with a Sharptooth."

I think she is villianized because apart from Topsy and Kosh (whom are loveable) there really isn't any other adult in the valley who has ever done a member of the gang wrong.

Caustizer.
Just to point this out that was actually a female iguanodon that said that.
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: Serris on November 11, 2009, 10:43:33 PM
The main reason Ms. Maia is demonized is because she reacts with disproportionate force (literally picking up and throwing Ducky several feet vs. shooing her).
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: Pangaea on November 12, 2009, 12:20:43 AM
Kosh is a clubtail (Ankylosaurus) who appears in the TV episode "The Star Day Celebration". He lives in the Sheltering Grass and hoards sweet bubbles. Personally, I'm not convinced that he’s the same individual as Mr. Clubtail, who is only explicitly identified in LBT V and XII (though a clubtail with the same voice as his XII incarnation appears in LBT XI, so it's safe to say he's in that movie as well).

Pardon me; I'm discussing the wrong character here. :p
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: DarkHououmon on November 12, 2009, 12:50:40 AM
Quote from: Serris,Nov 11 2009 on  10:43 PM
The main reason Ms. Maia is demonized is because she reacts with disproportionate force (literally picking up and throwing Ducky several feet vs. shooing her).
Personally I don't think throwing Ducky from her nest is enough to say that she's evil or demonic in anyway. This is part of the reason why Ms. Maia is not a villain in my latest fanfic. I agree with RatLady, that Ms. Maia is simply a protective mother (Maiasaura translates as good mother lizard). Now if Ms. Maia truly was evil, she wouldn't have just thrown Ducky, she would have tried to pummel her, or even kill her.
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: Kor on November 12, 2009, 12:52:59 AM
Maybe her personality is not unlike Threehorn's in certain ways.
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: Cancerian Tiger on November 12, 2009, 12:55:49 AM
Quote from: Serris,Nov 11 2009 on  09:43 PM
The main reason Ms. Maia is demonized is because she reacts with disproportionate force (literally picking up and throwing Ducky several feet vs. shooing her).
She may have had her reasons for throwing Ducky, but that was such an extreme action to take against a CHILD who meant NO HARM to the nest of eggs.  I can't stand folks who hurt kids, especially intentionally, and that's why I despise Ms. Maia.  What she did was so intentional on her part :anger.
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: DarkHououmon on November 12, 2009, 01:06:49 AM
Ms. Maia only reacted when she was "provoked", if you can call it that. Ducky was the one who had initiated the reaction from Ms. Maia by invading her nest by not only crawling underneath her belly, but standing and walking on top of her brood of eggs. Ms. Maia's reaction seems to make sense to me. If I were taking care of eggs, I wouldn't want someone walking around on top of them, potentially breaking them. Not to mention there is no evidence to show that Ms. Maia even knew Ducky all that well. Just because Ducky called her Ms. Maia doesn't mean they knew each other very well. They might know each other by name but that's it. Given that Ms. Maia most likely didn't know Ducky well enough, how was she to know that Ducky wasn't going to do anything? As stated before, Ms. Maia may simply be an overprotective mother. She may have panicked when she saw Ducky standing on her eggs and, out of instinct, tossed her away. If Ms. Maia had truly intended to cause Ducky any harm, she likely would have done worse than simply throw her.
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) on November 12, 2009, 03:17:46 AM
Wow, I've never had any opinion on the character whatsoever. Mrs. Twoped was always more interesting to me as a background character, mainly due to the mystery. Maia has no mystery.
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: Pangaea on November 12, 2009, 03:35:08 AM
Given that Mrs. Maia’s role in the movie is limited to the incident with Ducky, expressing disappointment about the inexplicable drying up of the waterhole, and concurring with Mr. Threehorn (and an anonymous Lambeosaurus) that Doc appears to have brought bad luck to the Great Valley, we don’t know that much about her personality. (Heck, she’s such a minor character, she doesn’t even get a voice credit! :blink:) However, since she comes off as grouchy and disagreeable (though I thought she appeared relatively calm at the waterhole scene) in the little screen time she does get, it’s not difficult for fanfiction writers in need of a leafeater villain to take the extra step and turn her into one.

While I agree that Mrs. Maia’s treatment of Ducky was overly harsh, I’m personally not convinced she’s much worse than Mr. Threehorn. I wouldn’t be surprised if, like him, she’s one of the more speciesist Great Valley residents. Maybe I’m imagining things, but I thought the expression on her face as she was picking up Ducky looked a little...disgusted, like she was handling something unpleasant. (I could be wrong, though; looking at Mrs. Maia’s appearances in the movie, she almost always seems to have that scowl on her face.)

It also occurs to me that Mrs. Maia was sleeping at the time Ducky intruded on her nest, and being woken up probably aggravated her irritation at what she regarded as a potential threat to her eggs. (In Ducky’s defense, I’m certain she wouldn’t have caused the eggs any harm, being both very light and extremely considerate about egg safety, but Mrs. Maia probably didn’t know that.)
Title: Ms. Maia
Post by: DarkHououmon on November 12, 2009, 02:03:37 PM
Ah yes I forgot she was sleeping. That could be a factor in her tossing Ducky along with her thinking Ducky might be threatening her eggs. Some people can be pretty grouchy when they first wake up, such as my youngest sister. Perhaps if Ducky had went into the nest while Ms. Maia was awake, not sleeping, Ms. Maia would have been less inclined to toss her.

To be honest, the scene of her throwing Ducky never bothered me. I didn't see it as Ms. Maia being cruel, just being a bit grouchy. I doubt she actually intended on causing any real harm to Ducky.
Title: Re: Ms. Maia
Post by: Little Bro on May 16, 2020, 03:32:58 PM
What's so bad about Ms. Maia? She was protecting her eggs. I think that the scene was there to be funny, which I thought it was. She was in the movie for about 10 seconds. She didn't hurt Ducky, so, no harm done, right?
Title: Re: Ms. Maia
Post by: RainbowFaceProtege on May 16, 2020, 03:57:03 PM
Yeah, Bro and I never grew up thinking ill of Ms. Maia. She was never a character I devoted much thought to at all, actually, so I find it almost funny that multiple people have expressed complete hatred of her. I agree with everything DarkHououmon has said about this character, she was just keeping her eggs safe. What kind of mother would let some other random dinosaur walk across her babies? Besides, if we're going to vilify anyone who harms Ducky, why don't characters who have done much worse to her get this kind of hate? That random carnivorous flyer from LBT V was going to feed Ducky to her children, but she's been totally overlooked, while Ms. Maia has been bringing cuss words out of people. :p
Title: Re: Ms. Maia
Post by: Gentle Sharptooth on May 23, 2020, 02:16:34 AM
I wonder if Ms. Maia was named by a Tolkien fan. Maia or Maiar are an angelic race. The most famous Maia is Gandalf.

 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maia_(Middle-earth)
Title: Re: Ms. Maia
Post by: RainbowFaceProtege on May 23, 2020, 05:45:22 PM
I wonder if Ms. Maia was named by a Tolkien fan. Maia or Maiar are an angelic race. The most famous Maia is Gandalf.

 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maia_(Middle-earth)

I'm pretty sure she was named after Maiasaura, a dinosaur species whose name means "good mother lizard" (supporting my theory that she's not the monster that the GoF crowd of 11 years ago thought but just a protective mother).
Title: Re: Ms. Maia
Post by: Gentle Sharptooth on May 23, 2020, 06:09:10 PM
I wonder if Ms. Maia was named by a Tolkien fan. Maia or Maiar are an angelic race. The most famous Maia is Gandalf.

 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maia_(Middle-earth)

I'm pretty sure she was named after Maiasaura, a dinosaur species whose name means "good mother lizard" (supporting my theory that she's not the monster that the GoF crowd of 11 years ago thought but just a protective mother).

Good point, but it is intriguing the same word is in Tolkien’s Legenderium.
Title: Re: Ms. Maia
Post by: aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) on February 02, 2021, 05:00:07 PM
My headcanon has always been that Mrs. Maia is the same character as the mom from Dazzle the Dinosaur (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERqaSMGAd-A). She has the same color scheme, species, and even names her kid Maia.
Title: Re: Ms. Maia
Post by: LittleDas75 on February 02, 2021, 06:53:58 PM
She is a Maiasaura (sorry if I butchered the spelling) which does translate to good mother lizard so I think it would make sense that she threw Ducky out because she's just very protective.
Title: Re: Ms. Maia
Post by: Nanotyrannus on February 02, 2021, 07:07:12 PM
I don't see much issue with Mrs. Maia either, for the same reasons others have brought up here; if I were in her shoes in her introductory scene in VI, I probably wouldn't have responded to Ducky's little stunt any more kindly.
Title: Re: Ms. Maia
Post by: Dr. Rex on February 17, 2021, 12:24:40 AM
I too am not sure what the hate was all about. Any reasonable mother would kick out any child not allowed in their home (all while making sure it was safe, which Ms. Maia didn't exactly have to do since they were in the Great frigging Valley).