#Catra has a sad

[cometblaster2070]

so hey yk how in literally the 4th episode of the show there's that bit where adora's like glimmer I don't think your mom likes me and glimmer's like what are you talking about my mom loves you! and then adora corrects her and says that she loves she-ra, not adora.

and do you ever think about how there's always been some sort of expectation on adora like expectation to be a good loyal horde soldier, expectation to be force captain and lead the horde to victory one day and it just segues into the expectation to become she-ra and become a paragon of goodness and strength and all.

and how adora's self-worth is actually genuinely fucking shit because she feels that she's under so much pressure from everyone around her to always be the best version of herself and how she's supposed to always be perfect and do everything perfectly and she's never allowed to make mistakes because then she could disappoint the people that rely on her. but she always feels like she's disappointing everyone and that she never does anything right and that her best will never suffice.

just like adora feeling that she herself is not good enough, will never be good enough, but maybe she-ra will; she-ra is supposed to be good enough and is supposed to be perfect, so that's what adora will be if it will make those around her happy.

(edit: might have a mini side-rant on adora vs. the expectations vs. catra who doesn't expect anything from adora and just wants her)

[candyskiez]

so, you've heard shows be recommended because they had gay characters. you don't really know what they're actually about though, and don't know if they'd be something you'd be into and are worried about spoilers. here's spoiler free plot summaries of em!

The Owl House

The Owl House starts out as a typical teenage girl goes into a fantasy realm story, but with a twist. Actions have consequences. The protagonist is a girl named Luz Noceda, who was being sent to a camp to make her behave normally by her mother after causing too much trouble at school. She ends up finding a place she's always dreamed of: a fantasy world. A world where everyone's so much weirder than she is. And she thinks, maybe if I don't belong out there, maybe people will like me here. Maybe I can be special here.

It's a story about found family, propaganda, erased history, living with disability, religious trauma, and neurodivergence. It's fundamentally a show about people who's brains work differently finding each other and making a family that treats them right. Definitely my favorite of the ones on this list. It's about people who've been oppressed being pissed about it and about finding yourself again after giving up on everyone around you for so long. It's basically a show about being a minority and trying to be understood and to understand yourself in the process. It's about growing up neurodivergent and how isolating it feels and figuring yourself out. It's about repairing broken relationships and parents who fuck up. And it's just. Such a love letter to anyone who was the weird kid in school. It's sad and heartbreaking and also so hopeful, and it's wonderful.

Content warnings: Abuse, Death, Grief, Animal Death, Suicidal thoughts, Vague suicide attempts, Depression, blink and you'll miss it s/h, body horror, religious trauma

She Ra and the Princesses Of Power

Adora was raised in the Horde since she was a baby, being fed propaganda about how cruel the princesses were. After learning how the horde actually was, though, she defects. But there's one problem. Her best friend, Catra, stays behind. Adora finds a sword that can transform her into She Ra, and might be the key to figuring out who she really is, while Catra takes her place as force captain.

It's a story about abuse, at the end of the day. Adora and Catra were stuck in a golden child and scapegoat dynamic, despite how much they care about each other. This leads to them knowing everything about each other but not understanding it. There's a fundamental disconnect between them, because both of their traumas are completely different. They have complete misconceptions about each other. Even in their initial split, they both have completely different perceptions of what's going on and why the other is upset. It's not a story about magic princesses, it's about the cycle of abuse and what makes it so complicated. Does it have flaws? Yeah. But ultimately I really really enjoy it, and when it does something right it does something RIGHT. Get through season one, it starts kids show-y but it gets very good during later s1.

Content warnings: Abuse (obviously), body horror, gaslighting (and I mean actual gaslighting, not what the Internet thinks gaslighting is), suicide, depression, flashing lights and eyestrain during the finale

Steven Universe

Steven Universe is a sins of the father story. Steven is the son of the leader of the rebel group The Crystal Gems, who's name was Rose Quartz. He navigates the confusion of being half gem and half human, as well as trying to figure out the mess of the rebellion and what his mother left behind. He's constantly in her shadow, for better or for worse.

It's a story about grief. How it impacts relationships, how it taints history, how it impacts family. It has some definite flaws, but ultimately it's about very flawed people who have lost so many people in their life trying to cope with it. Trying to handle what they lost and trying to adjust to life without them. It's about how expectations fuck a kid up and about agency and just a show about complicated relationships in general, at the end of the day. Also, it has some FANTASTIC music.

Content warnings: Grief, Abuse, body horror, very creepy people I don't know how to tag, heavy allegories for homophobia

Nimona

Nimona is a story about a guy who gets framed for murder. His name is Ballister Boldheart, a commoner who hoped to become a knight. It seemed everyone was waiting to watch him fail, so it was no surprise when he was the immediate target. Heavily injured and away from the man he loves, he's left alone trying to figure out a way to prove his innocence- until a strange kid comes into his life. This kids name is Nimona, and while he is intent on proving his innocence, she gave up on being anything but a villain a long time ago.

It's about deconstructing the model minority myth, trans rage, propaganda, and with a healthy dose of "FUCK the police".

Content warnings: Heavy injury, on screen suicide attempt, flashing lights

feel free to add more shows! just remember to keep the summaries as spoiler free as you can and add content warnings!

[bluedandylyon]

Rewatch Rambles (tm)

Season 1

Razz

It’s just so sad bc Adora and Catra are both missing each other, but ppl only talk about Catra's grief bc it’s explicit, like she goes to their shared bunk, cries and rips their sheets, her feelings are explicit.

Adora deals with the separation by completely not dealing with it. And it's not entirely her fault, she gets no time to do it. In one day her entire life is flipped around and she is immediately asked by Glimmer to figure out the She-Ra stuff so her mom lets her stay.

She doesn’t have a single second to really mourn and process the abandonment of her home and her best friend. She has to figure out how to mold herself into a useful person to prove her worth to the rebellion, something she is already prone to bc she has no inherent self-worth from her upbringing.

But also Catra is SURROUNDED by reminders of Adora. It's like staying in the same home u shared with an ex. Ppl bring her up, their bunkbed has their doodles on it, nothing changed for Catra except that the most important person in her life left the life they shared together.

Adora is having so many new experiences that she legit can't stop for a second and really think about all she's lost.

“I left my whole life behind looking for answers about who I’m supposed to be I need u to tell me what to do” bc Adora was raised to literally never think for herself. There is no space for her wants, she is so used to other ppl telling her what to think and do she’s freaking out.

Also "who I'm supposed to be" is such an important piece of dialogue. There is no "existing" for Adora, no living her life, just fulfilling other ppl's expectations for her life.

Her scared and defensive little face when Razz tells her she is afraid. She's so programmed to not show any signs of vulnerability :(

“Stop waiting for someone to tell you what the right thing to do it, you’re a smart girl, what do YOU think?” And Adora is in shock bc no one “superior” to her has ever asked her what she thinks.

God, let me freak out about this exchange for a second. The fact that the animators dedicated so many frames to this, shows how important this interaction is

Catra looks so wary at first, but in the second picture she almost looks... angry at herself? For not moving away? For craving that affection she's sure she won't get but maybe it will be different this time? And she's so vulnerable from just losing Adora, comfort is what she needs rn.

And then she's so surprised bc it looks like she will be getting that affection. SW is reaching for her hair, something we know she does when she gives Catra manipulative affection, like on Light Spinner.

Side note: I hate this show! 😀

SW knows Catra is reeling from Adora's absence and is just twisting the knife by taunting the possibility of affection and taking it away to get Catra to tell her where Adora is and what happened.

I feel like it's so easy for Adora to say this bc she already thought she was doing this with the Horde, defending Etheria I mean.

Look at her face though, the burden and responsibility she knows she's putting on her shoulders by saying this. It's almost like... resignation to her destiny, to her purpose.

Other side note: this and "who was that girl" are two of the funniest jokes in this show fr.

“You would vouch for her? Take responsibility for her?” IM SURE THIS PHRASE WONT ADD TO ADORA’S NEED TO ALWAYS BE PERFECT !!!! 

Her face is literally like "oh okay so I need to be perfect to not disappoint Glimmer and Angella and not get kicked out of my new home now"

Love how her real name is not even used for her oath!!! That's horrible!!!! She is She-Ra of the rebellion now, she can't afford to be Adora anymore.

It’s just nuts bc both Adora and Catra get kind of a distant mentor in this episode, in Razz and Hordak. They are both people who believe in their ability when others didn’t (bright moon ppl and Shadow Weaver). But it’s also like Catra doesn’t get a choice almost? Like Hordak makes the decision about being force captain FOR her vs Adora choosing to pledge herself to the rebellion when Razz encourages her to think for herself. 

Also re: Catra’s theme cuz it’s the first time we hear it. It’s cool bc the leading harmonies are like this cool, badass electric guitar and strings, but the underlying beat is like REALLY anxiety inducing and it makes you feel uneasy, it’s not confident, it’s desperate. It shows that Catra is putting on this front for being cunning and cruel and evil but there is a lot of anxiety and insecurity behind that.

I also realized that it’s the almost the same as she-ra’s theme but in a lower key and with some modifications which it nutzzzzzz SUNNA WEHRMEIJER

THE WOMAN THAT U ARE

[buildingmycottage]

I saw a post here on Tumblr once that went something like "in a world where god, Jesus, and the apostles are all men, that has to do something psychologically to women" and it made me think: The Netflix version of the show "She-Ra Princess of Power" is a show that is HEAVILY women centric. We know maybe three guys in power, King Micah (who, after his return from Beast Island, wasn't *really* in power), the head sorcerer in Mystacor, Hordak/Horde Prime. (please do correct me if I am wrong) The show, albeit about princesses, has the princesses have actual roles. Even the ones that are "weak" or perceived to be weaker than the others (read: Perfuma), are extremely powerful.

The two men whom we consistently meet in the show other than Hordak, Bow and Seahawk, are not the "macho man" in most shows. Seahawk sings an entire shanty as to how lonely he is and how he just wants to be friends with Mermista, and Bow cries and even hugs frequently all the other characters in the show. Both talk about their emotions and work through them in /relatively/ healthy ways (the Dragon's Daughters 1-3 will be sorely missed). My point being, is that the women in the show are shown as strong, beautiful, muscular, fierce, sad, frustrated, loving, traumatized, hurt, laughing, and more. They all have different body shapes/ types of bodies. There are three openly gay couples: Bow's dads, Spinerella and Netossa, and Catra and Adora. Incredible! In a kids show (and adults too lets be real) there are three openly gay couples. No one treats them any different. Bow is one of 13 kids of George and Lance. No one bats an eye. In fact, according to She-Ra Wiki page (https://she-raandtheprincessesofpower.fandom.com/wiki/LGBTQIAP%2B), so many characters are queer. Besides the ones listed above: - Scorpia and Perfuma are romantically involved - Bow is Bisexual - Glimmer is Bisexual - Mermista is Bisexual - Seahawk is Bisexual (dated Falcon) - Falcon is Gay - Lonnie is Poly and Bisexual (dating Rogelio and Kyle) - by extension Rogelio and Kyle are queer - Entrapta is bi - Jewelstar is trans - Peekablue is gender non-conforming - Double Trouble is nonbinary and there is MORE In the show, as there are a ton of non humans, almost any time we meet someone, she/her pronouns are used (see episodes when Best Friend Squad are in the crimson waste). Can't you see how amazing this is? A show where there are no one-dimensional characters, women are constantly having intelligent conversation with one another, women are leaders, women working together, openly queer characters, and a beautiful plot line where there's magic???? When the princesses work together, they turn into the colors of the rainbow and their powers are enhanced. Little girls are getting to see themselves as normal. Women aren't treated as secondary citizens. Hell, almost every Bright Moon guard we see is female. How would the world be different if shows like this were the norm? Where women are able to be magical, and they aren't dressed to show off their bodies? Where women's armor actually protects them? Where they grunt and are sweating after they fight? Where womens' love wins? Why can't this be normal? (Happy Pride!)

[booksandpaperss]

god catradora is so good it’s SO GOOD and I fall in love with it every time I rewatch spop. i will Never understand their haters it’s genuinely one of my favorite ships to ever ship, they have everything that makes a romance good idc. people will write aus of their faves with a fanon dynamic that catradora already has in the show (I’ve seen this. childhood best friends to enemies to lovers is where it’s at fr) bc it’s just that good. catradora haters I feel sad for you. cant enjoy an amazing sapphic ship bc catra is “too toxic” for u to handle (this is a magical princess show). it’s so good I almost can’t believe we have it. oh what a great day it is to be a lesbian 🙏

[manic-sapphic]

crimson waste catra ranting~

it's ironic, cause w the backdrop of a lifeless desert wasteland, every moment of the super pal duo out there gives me so much damn life. hp restored in full every time.

catra and scorpia, desert beauty queens in less than a mf'ing day, just casually ruling the place.

they party for the first time in their lives - catra is actually letting herself laugh about shit and has been all damn day - pretty sure she laughs more that one episode than prob like, the whole series at that point. after the sword 1/2 i feel like it doesn't get heard much.

they kick ass across the desert, and yeah, a grip of catra's laughter was done while leaving a trail of mf'ers in need of medical attention you know they def don't have in the crimson waste ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

aw but poor scorpia :/ (i maintain she and catra both ended up w who they shoulda)

but it's still sad to see her get the closest she's ever gotten to breaking down catra's walls only to have it last 2.5 seconds before they're reinforced to the max. cause scorpia def was down to hang out as a desert duo and yeet any lil moron catra points at so far into the horizon, even if they survived the impact, there's no way they coulda possibly had enough water on em to make the walk back.

--but before any of that, i think it's catra's initial reaction to finding out the crimson waste isn't uninhabited after all -- so much about catra's lil monologue in the desert shanty-tavern kinda floors me.

it seems like catra doesn't care anymore if she lives or dies - part of her speech in the tavern is just a cautionary: "i'm down to go full-tilt savage, claws out, with 0 regard for how it turns out. i'm up for the coin flip so if you're gonna come at me, you better be too"

and her behavior after that point seems to reflect that as well. but what i find to be pretty heartbreaking about it is probably that it takes being at her wit's end, feeling so worthless and existence so pointless- it's not until her life feels irrelevant to her that she can let go and kinda enjoy herself. but ultimately, she'd rather let go for good; catra would rather dissolve into the void than make any attempt to return to her real life.

and in the waste, as she warns everyone in the tavern not to fck w her, there are these brief sentiments she actually allows herself to express aloud - prob cause it's a room full of strangers she never expects to see again - of vulnerability interwoven throughout her threats of hostility (even if they're expressed in an aggressive tone)

she warns everyone against tryna mess w her, yeah. but it still kinda gets to me that, however vaguely, she even tells them why.

cause catra didn't do that. not anymore.

and ps i dunno if it's just me, but i'd imagine after how much time had passed since shadow weaver used catra to escape-

hearing "shadow weaver is in bright moon" probably hit different than if she heard "shadow weaver came to bright moon" or "was in bright moon" ... i'd figure knowing adora was fine with sw sticking around, prisoner or not, might get under catra's skin a lil extra at the time.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

another theme between spop and gravity falls that i want to point out is one of the characters being shelved for most of the series, and revealed to be alive towards the end. Micah and Ford.

only difference being:

1. Foreshadowing

from the first episode, we see that Stan has some sort of a secret and that he's working towards something.

and throughout the series, we get hints that indicate the existence of a twin brother, one episode even straight up SHOWS Ford (but viewers were led to believe it was Stan).

Micah, on the other hand? the only scene that could be proof of him being alive is during the fake reality in s3 finale.

Micah: Angie, Angella wait! I'm not-

people assume that Micah was trying to tell Angella that he's not dead, but we have no way of knowing for sure. it could have been anything.

so basically, there's no foreshadowing that Micah was alive and i'm pretty darn sure that the writers only wrote him in so that the viewers would forget about Catra killing Angella. Glimmer just needs one of her parents, it's not important which one.

but that's just before. what about after? do these characters have any importance after they are finally revealed to be alive?

2. Plot Relevance

even before the big reveal, Ford was a very important part of the plot. he was the mysterious author of the journals, he was the missing puzzle piece in Stan's life, his connection with Bill was clearly seen in the structure of Mystery Shack.

and after he emerges from the rift, he is even more relevant to the plot. especially because of his history with Bill and his knowledge about the supernatural. even though Stan is the one who defeats Bill in the end, it could not have been done without Ford.

not to mention, his relationship with Stan is essential to the plot. they are a direct parallel to Mabel and Dipper, and the entire series is about familial relationships.

the show just wouldn't be the same without Ford, because he was always one of the main characters, even before he was officially introduced as a character.

and how about Micah? he literally plays no role in the narrative after he is introduced.

one similarity between Ford and Micah is that they were both stranded in an unfamiliar place for years, with no connection to humanity.

but the difference is that while this is used for comedic purposes with Ford, it is also given enough emotional importance, especially when it came to his trust issues and his relationship with Stan.

whereas with Micah, it is solely used for comedic purposes and we never see how being forced to survive on a deserted deadly island has affected Micah's psyche or his relationship with people.

coming back to my point, Micah doesn't even seem all that bothered after learning that Angella is dead. he is shocked and sad for a moment, and then that is completely forgotten.

reconnecting with Glimmer? everything is settled with just one generic emotional speech and a hug.

reconnecting with his sister, Castaspella? barely touched upon.

like Ford, Micah had history with a master manipulator - Shadow Weaver. they could have expanded on this, shown us how Shadow Weaver's treatment of Micah had an impact on him.

but no, apart from him being all "you can't trust Shadow Weaver!" he provides no new insight. if anything, he just got in the way of Shadow Weaver trying to do something good for once.

other than that, he's just a silly goofy dad who wants to bond with his daughter. that's it. he has absolutely no relevance to the plot other than making a fool out of himself, and kind of forming a connection with Frosta.

we're supposed to believe that Micah was this powerful sorcerer and the king of Brightmoon, when even the writers don't give him the respect that he deserves.

newsflash: you can make a character funny and important to the plot. Ford had his fair share of comedic bits, but that didn't take away from his emotional moments and his role in the narrative.

[antispopausandstuff]

if the show utilized Adora's knowledge on the Horde, she could've had some of the coolest planning // action // combat scenes.

for example, i was imagining a scenario where the Horde has civilians captive and our heroes are on a time crunch before the innocents become husks, so fighting isn't an option. they have to be careful, invisible, unseen and unheard.

Adora knows there are exactly 10,001 soldiers making rotations every 10 minutes ( Bow makes a question of why that specific number and she simply says "precautions" before resuming ), and that every possible opening is covered by tight security, except one. the ventilation system.

"our only problem will be Catra and Shadow Weaver. i'm not sure of Catra's activity since we last saw each other, but i don't want to give her a chance to spring on us. with her senses, she can sniff us out, so we could use mog and water to throw off her sense of smell. as for hearing, we'll have to avoid common rooms she'd be in, to reduce as much risk as possible. luckily, there's not many. she's not the strongest or fastest, but she's unpredictable and stubborn. i can handle her, but it'd just be easier to avoid her."

and for Shadow Weaver:

"Shadow Weaver's our biggest problem. she can see through the dark, manipulate you with her mind games, and is a powerful sorceress. when she detects us, and she will, Glimmer, you need to turn us invisible. can you do that?"

Glimmer nods, a determined grin on her face. "absolutely."

"good. a weakness of hers is that her magic requires build-up. it's why it's so powerful. worst case scenario, we have a few seconds to completely disarm her and knock her down, but that is the absolute last resort, and not something we should sought after. Shadow Weaver's unforgiving and merciless. one wrong move, and you could be finished. i've seen it myself. so, no matter what, do everything you can to stay hidden."

some other things, location of the civilians, how to get there, etc., etc.

'Roll With It' was a terrible episode, and a lot of it was because no one but Adora was taking the war seriously, but she was treated like she was overreacting for doing so. they had barely survived the Battle of Brightmoon, yet it changes nothing.

Adora should've been offering suggestions in plans from the start to eventually being in charge, given all her knowledge, but it was used maybe only twice, and that was in the first two seasons.

like, Vi's streetsmarts and living in Zaun helped her navigate, blend in, and know how to get information. she's more than just muscles.

and so is Adora, but SPOP ( neither the show or fandom ) hardly ever cared about that. because she doesn't have knowledge of certain things, due to being sheltered, and sometimes mispronounces certain things ( which everyone does ), she's suddenly seen as dumb.

she doesn't have knowledge of parties, then she's a cute dummy.

Catra doesn't have knowledge of parties, then it's suddenly important that she was sheltered and that her excitement is both adorable and sad.

[ultfreakme]

I do not think Adora realized until the end of s1 or perhaps even the beginnings of S2, that Catra likely won't be in her life anymore. She assumed in S1 Catra will eventually come with her. She just has to convince her, she just has to argue her points and surely Catra will understand. Heck I'd say she didn't get around to the idea until after Catra pulled the switch on the portal. Catra. Wasn't. Staying.

She does not want to come with her so bad that she'd end reality about it.

And it's so sad because to Adora, Catra was just a guarantee in her life but it was shattered in such a short time. The girl she loved was so broken and she knows she wasn't the reason why but also I think she does blame herself a little about it. Like, it's irrational, Catra CHOSE to end reality but- but the promise. Wasn't she who left first, and then Catra asked the question "why do you expect me to follow?".

Because Adora cannot picture a world where she WOULDN'T.

Until Catra broke everything (including herself) to show it to her.

[cirusthecitrus]

Question 6 from the entrapdak question game? :))

Thank you for the ask! There are two terrible takes that to this day make me believe that some antis watched spop skipping every scene that had Hordak in it

Well, the first one is more of a crazy conspiracy theory, but I still wanna mention it - "Entrapdak is a pedo ship cause Entrapta was meant to be a teenager" and "her age was actually retconned so the writers could ship Entrapta with Hordak". I do wish that Entrapta's age was confirmed in the show itself, cause this aspect of her character did genuiely confused a lot of fans, but thinking that she was actually written as a minor but then was aged up just cause the writers wanted to make entrapdak less problematic?? Insane

The other take is "entrapdak bad because Hordak was manipulating Entrapta to work for him and was abusive towards her". And it used to be such a prevalent opinion in the main fandom too! I honestly think those people just hated Hordak sooo much (mainly for being a threat to Catra) that they were making shit up to make him even more evil and irredeemable so everyone would stop liking him or wishing him a happy ending. Many also loved Entrapta, but hated Hordak so much that they imagined he'd be a terrible partner to her and were insisting that she "deserved better" and was actually unhappy with him (some fake ass Entrapta fans imo) Like, lets dissect this take again. At first, as fellow Hordak fans always say, Hordak couldn't even manipulate himself out of a plastic bag. Plus there wasnt a single scene where Hordak manipulates Entrapta to do smth for him. It was Catra who made Entrapta side with the Horde and convinced her to work for them. Hordak didnt mind, but he also had no say in this. And when they became lab partners it was Entrapta who forced herself into Hordak's lab and in his life, she was the one always insisting on getting information and knowledge out of him, who insisted on working with him, bro just could not make her leave!

Many used to say Hordak was only using Entrapta for her skills (and also didnt care about her as a person, like hello?? have they seen s4 and 5?) when Hordak never made her do anything she wasnt intersted in - he didnt made Entrapta help him build the portal, she was already curious about portals! he didnt make her take care of him or build him a new set of armor, it was her gift! and he was never forcing Entrapta to stay by his side or be loyal to him or the Horde - she simply enjoyed working on this project and spending time with him. And when Hordak was told that she betrayed him he just... accepted it and never thought about revenge or punishment or anything like that. And he wasnt angry cause he lost a tool that could upgrade his tech or fix his problems, he was devastated because he lost his only friend. But you know who only saw Entrapta as a tool-

Then the abuse part - by that antis usually meant those two moments when he yelled at her/ cut her off while being in pain (and also brushed off Entrapta's hair). Like, yeah, Hordak has anger issues and he does scream a lot, and my boy should work on that, but such behaviour never made Entrapta feel distressed or afraid of him. She was either unbothered by Hordak's attempts at being scary and intimidating, or she was sad FOR him (and slightly dissapointed) - she never took his outbirsts as Hordak being genuinely mad at her, she knew smth was wrong with him, but it had nothing to do with her. He yells when he tries to imitate Prime and make ppl leave him alone, or when he's in so much pain he can't handle it and once again wants to be left alone (all because he himself doesnt feel safe around ppl T-T). Should he still apologize for snapping at Entrapta? Yeah. But is such behaviour abusive? I can be, but in case of Hordak? I dont think so

[tippenfunkaport]

the funniest she-ra haters are heads down the orignal stans because i kept seeing "they ruined a masterpiece!" "my childhood of the amazing adora and iconic catra is IN SHAMBLES" "this is a cheap imitation" and i went looking for og episodes expecting some mindblowing lore and complex writing and badass action what i got was rehearsed animation with pre school character depth with no continuity and catra talking like my cat before she got fixed

So I was a fan of She-Ra in ye olden days. It's certainly not a "good" show, it's very goofy, it's mostly a toy commercial, but it was important in context because we really didn't have anything girl power like that in the 80s so it will always be dear to me for that reason. Something can be kinda silly but also a big deal at the time for what it was and She-Ra is a great example of that. 

I also think it's really important to note that a lot of the people who were hating on She-Ra are not actual She-Ra fans. I am active in the vintage MOTU fandom under a different username and the majority of the vintage She-Ra fans are right here, in this fandom with us. Lots of us in this fandom were into the old show too. Even the people who checked out the new show and went, "Eh, happy the franchise is alive, but this isn't for me" aren't out there actively hating on it.

I mean, did you see the whole thing on Twitter a few years ago with Adora's birthday? People posing as "vintage She-Ra fans" starting dogpiling anyone posting about Netflix Adora's birthday, pretending to be outraged on behalf of the "real" 80s Adora. Except it was painfully obvious these were not real OG She-Ra fans because a) none of them knew that 80s Adora has a completely different canon birthday than reboot Adora thanks to the Christmas Special and b) they were using stolen fanart for their trolling which angered the actual fan creators they were stealing from and made the real vintage MOTU fans turn on what were ultimately revealed to be outrage chasers who weren't even in the fandom.

Which really sums it up. It's like everything from the Star Wars drama to people hating on She Hulk. Professional outrage warriors who hate to see anything progressive pretending to be "the true fans" drowning out the actual fans of the thing going, "Yo, they are NOT with us!"

I'm a fan of so many properties that have been rebooted over and over. And I am super sympathetic to the innate resistance to "thing I love is different now, sad face." But I also think it's important to note that a group of loud bad actors manufacturing outrage pretending to be part of a fandom shouldn't be allowed to be pretend to be "the real fans," especially when the actual real vintage fans are right here, active in this very fandom anyway.

[elizamgarts]

⚠️Rant incoming ⚠️

I know this isn't my usual posts but recently I believe it has to be said.

This mostly applies to tik Tok but still it needs to be said in the fandom as a whole.

I understand She ra is a female driven show, it's meant for the girls. I fully understand that and makes sense why most of the girls get the spotlight. But that doesn't excuse blatant dismissal to other characters.

Even in the show there's a very clear favoritism and it's heavily in your face it's honestly crazy.

If you haven't guessed I'm talking about Catra. The fandom and show babies and favors her over even the title character, in a way fine but the fans treat her like she is a baby who needs protection but at the same time is a badass lesbian bitch who can overtake anyone.

So which is it? A baby kitten? Or badass lesbian? You can't have both.

Catra stans really make me wanna pull my hair out from how delusional and annoying they can be. Especially when they despise one character for understandable reasons.

Like yes I get it, Hordak done a lot of terrible shit, he's my favorite character but I do not excuse his behavior for what he did to Etheria.

I'm fully onboard with him serving his time to make up what he did and rebuild what he destroyed.

But Catra? Where's her punishment? Where's her due justice for her crimes?

The show never mentions it. The fans gloss over it cause she's Adora "girlfriend" now she serves no punishment she's a sad kitten.

No.

Absolutely not, I'm sorry but the favoritism is absolutely insane, Catra has hurt far more people personally than Hordak, Catra should equally be held accountable for her actions.

But she isn't. She never is, and the bullshit redemption she had is so ass it's insane the show got away with it.

She never changed, she only says she's working on her anger but she never does. The show refuses to let her be accountable for her actions.

What's to enjoy with her character?

She abused everyone, she gets praised cans called a badass by being abelist to Hordak in the one scene she "takes over the horde"

Let's not forget her sending Entrapta to her death pretty much when she shipped her to beast Island fully knowing nobody comes back from that place.

She killed Glimmer's mother by being the one responsible for pulling the lever.

Let's not forget her years and years of abuse on Adora yet the show forced them together because 'hot lesbians"

All of this, all of the people Catra hurt and she never gets held accountable, what does she get? She gets to join the best friend squad and did absolutely nothing to earn it while Entrapta who's worked her ass off to change and be better never once is officially part?.

The favoritism is crazy.

Why is Catra Trauma taken absolutely seriously and demands to be respected yet everyone else's Truama doesn't't exist?

How is that fair?

And I only post this because recently I guess I hold deep rooted disdain for Characters character because she reminds me far too much of my mother.

My mother was physically and mentally and emotionally abusive, she use to hit me if I made a mistake yell and blame me for something I have no control over, gets upset if I don't do things her way. Or if she doesn't get her way she gets upset and makes me feel like shit for not wanting to do something or for how I feel.

Then manipulates me by showing love and affection only to act the absolute same, nothing changes, I have to work to make her happy when it shouldn't be that way.

All of this is very similar to Catra, she manipulates others into getting what she wants, she abused others physically and emotionally.

She acts victim when things don't go her way.

Her character hits far to close to home for me and it makes me resent and hate her character because I sympathize far more to those she hurt over her. Because she shouldn't be getting away with this. She should work to actually change not say she changed.

I love her design, she has a great design and I still love to draw her but her character?

Her "redemption"

It's so horrible and so terrible I cannot find any liking to the character.

I know this rant is all over the place but it's something I needed to address. And it's something the fans need to understand, I don't hate Catdora because I'm homophobic, I don't want Catra to die or any shit like that. I just want a fleshed out character that gets a better redemption and other characters to get equal attention as her. But all I can settle for is fics.

I do hope Catra stans understand this. But this is why I absolutely hate Catra.

Keep in mind I don't wanna do these rants a lot on my page, I'm a artist page not a rant page but I needed to get this off my chest.

[n7punk]

"Hotel Couches & Other Hail Marys" Fic Notes

These aren't the traditional format but I have enough Hidden Little Things I wanna do very loose an informal fics notes

The "Hotel Couch" was Catra's Hail Mary, but the shared bed was Catradora's, and Catradora's reunion was the fans' Hail Mary.

The way I do tweets was invented back in DITM and "perfected" in SaD, when I also invented how I do Instagram posts/stories/reels/DMs. I wasn’t reinventing shit for the changes Twitter has made, it’s ~historically accurate~ to when Dashcon happened. The one change I made was not using the block quote indent for all the digital posts I usually do, but that entire fic was digital, so I only ended up using it for indented reply chains on Twitter (which worked out better tbh) and on the Instagram chapter to distinguish the posts and the descriptions of the images/videos.

Fake tumblr posts/alternate reality dashboard simulators are already a popular format on Tumblr so there really was very little for me to do there. I made some tweaks by adding in the comment/share/like icons I use for Twitter, but overall that part was easy. The hardest part was getting the follow button blue. On Tumblr that's easy, colored text is a built-in option, but for AO3 I had to use a work skin to include some CSS for the color code. I ended up modifying the Reddit skin I had made using this tutorial because I was planning to capstone with a Reddit post anyway so I could just add on the blue on. Normally I don’t consider using colored text for many reasons (hard to read, might look great on my site skin and be invisible on others, etc), but in the case of the follow buttons they could just as easily not be there and contribute nothing but realism, so I wanted to have them in their standard blue.

Normally I don’t even consider using Tumblr when doing social media posts in a fic but considering this was inspired by Dashcon which was literally a Tumblr convention, I had to for this one. As such, the first chapter is mostly set-dressing for the disaster the convention is itself so when people complain in future chapters it makes sense. The rough outline was: Tumblr (convention background) Twitter (reconnect and beef background) Instagram (bond) DMs/texts (get together) Reddit (retrospective epilogue wrapping up the story)

Most of the usernames are just like. Random shit I could come up with. The ones on Tumblr are supposed to be random stuff on the site and the ones on Twitter lean more towards fandom-associated stuff for the She-ra fandom since it’s transitioning from the pool of All Con Attendees to the microcosm of their fans affected. Most of these can be found in previous fics such as DITM. That said, here are the name(s) with inspo behind them:

🍕nnlftbf: none pizza left beef. And no vowels. I have always desperately wanted to eat the none pizza

🦉pewpew4gloria: Star Siblings fan (reference to Starla’s bird)

🐍nagashed: this is a reference to both the plethora of (human animal hybrid)(bodypart) tumblr usernames (ex: dragongirlsnort) and a manga that my friend is reading.

🎃pumpkakitty: reference to a really cute hat in Pokemon Go 🥺 (okay it’s supposed to be a pikachu but it looks like a kitty tbh)

🌈edgeofgloria: another Star Siblings fan

He-Ro in the Freak Zone @frightzest: He-Ro is an actual MOTU character, frightzest is from DITM

Aside: the “looki loo” thing is a reference to Razz’s good ol pal Looki, hence the fandom in-joke

praying mantis wife @nineten02: nineten is a reference to my Stardew Valley chickens <3

Katastrophe @viviviolence: Vi’s shoulders you mean so much to me

Oh yeah Zeni is Zine just. Flipped. Also the original She-ra artist was one of the two sponsors who pulled out and the entire reason they were there. I mean what?

When Adora called Catra aggravating on camera she was doing it in a horny way but with Real Beef between them it didn’t come across that way. She also said they wouldn’t work together as a factual thing rather than spiteful. There was no way the studio OR Catra would let them.

When Catra said she’s “finally suing” she’s referring to the long-standing rumor that the previous showrunner “stepped back” because Catra was threatening to sue for the wage/credit theft, or the discrimination, or the abusive work environment, or the-

The dates Adora reached out to Catra via DMs were all significant ones for the real series — season 1 debut for when they were nominated, prompting the thank you story, season 2 debut for when they won the award (I didn’t look up and don’t care when the actual GLAADs are lol), and season 3 debut when ZeniCon is actually taking place. Almost three years have passed since Catra’s ousting from the show back between seasons 3 and 4, tho.

Given the NDA and general threat-level from the studio, Adora didn’t think she could mention Catra on her main page without getting a talking to even with Weaver officially departed, so she tried to do it on her story, but Catra did NOT want the heat that could bring.

The foam She-ra crown from the Instagram reel is the same one they gave out at cons in 2018 and 2019.

Adora calling it the “season 5” rather than “season 4” wrap part led to fan speculation that season 5 really was written by Catra except for the weakest parts — some stuff needing to be condensed, the insertion of a new storyline — which like. Well they are right. But she said season 5 rather 4 (which was wholly Catra’s) because it’s the part she’s most proud of even after they took it from her. It’s what she was building to the whole time.

Catra and Adora lasted like ten minutes lying next to each other in bed before they ended up kissing and when it started progressing they snuck into the bathroom. It was obvious Bow was asleep and they were just hoping Glimmer was too. Glimmer, too, wishes she was asleep.

Glimmer refers to Catra being “at her worst” because she got really aggressive and disparaging of her old cast out of bitterness after they wouldn’t back her up in the press (to keep their jobs). They all understand why, but it is still frustrating.

Melendy is from my fic lore, she’s a magicat character I use sometimes who is named after Catra’s VA in the 80s. She plays a recurring character on the show, though on the minor side.

I linked the Ohio con video because 1) that video is the ONLY time I’ve heard of it and I love the drama 2) to hammer home all the shit I say in this isn’t just from Dashcon, I am not here to libel people and 3) because I like my secret little links, BUT if you want to see a good video on Dashcon, watch this one and literally never watch Internet Historian he’s a POS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAqy-KDJAUM

The behind the scenes shitshow for She-Ra itself was inspired by the TV show Lost (though Catra keeping her storylines secret was inspired by Real She-ra and ND Stevenson)

Like I said, I had been wanting to do a fic that was “just digital” for a while. The massive problem with that is getting across the shit people don’t post online because there is not a single trace of Catra and Adora potentially being a couple until after ZeniCon. Catra and Adora were basically wildly attracted to each other from the moment they met on the show but wouldn’t cross that barrier because they worked together (especially because of where they worked together). They ended up hooking up during some high-stress times for the show just to deal with how much they wanted each other. Catra felt really betrayed when the cast wouldn’t stick their necks out for her when she was ousted. Privately they were all on her side and told the studio so, but to publicly side with her was to lose their jobs, and the show was their entire life. They ultimately picked their passion & livelihood over showing public support they didn’t think would make a difference anyway and she cut all ties with them. They did what they felt they could, which was mostly never denying her version of events and deflecting questions when they had no other choice, but they all felt bad about it and tried to reach out to her privately. She didn’t want to hear it, but fans were right that the real beef was with the studio. She fell back into their arms eventually because she could see they were doing what they could while keeping their jobs, and she knew just how much being unemployed sucked. Adora was also telling the truth when she said they were fighting for her version of the story by staying on the show and no matter how much Catra calls it theft, that is what she wants for her characters. Being forced into the same room let them all remember what it was like to be friends, and that’s what led them to eventually giving their apologies.

I have no idea why, when presented with “lol dashcon au” my brain goes “rampant wage theft, behind the scenes abuse, disgrace and scandal, show extension hell a la supernatural, brrrrrrrrrr” but there we go

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Tv Tropes Is Trying To Protect Stolas Like It Did With Catra

One thing that Tv tropes sometimes does is do everything in it's power to protect anything negative against some of their favored characters like with Catra if you go to the YMMV page for She-Ra and the Princesses Of Power you will notice there is no entry for Unintentionally Unsympathetic for Catra but ironically there is one for Lonnie and Adora (one of them being that she betrayed Catra by defecting). It is because in my opinion that website has become so biased that certain people who white knight for certain characters will coddle them at all cost due to being anal to certain stupid rules they have made up or they are biased.

And again this is the same thing happening with Stolas is that they is an overwhelming negative reaction is his rising creator pet but the site doesn't want to acknowledge it because it holds onto the belief of protecting certain characters above criticism. And it's again due to how popular these shows are on the site and how they are praised for superficial progressiveness. The difference here is more people are pushing back and pointing out how much of a pos Stolas is being depicted and are not going to lie down and make Stolas out to be a sad boy just to hide his horrible actions and pretend he had good development.

While the push back has acknowledged Stolas' shittiness, we still see people who run apologetics for him and try to again push blame on Blitzo while ignoring how much Stolas started this from the moment he tried to get Blitzo in the bedroom. And again these people try to use every type of logic to defend this pos bird and claim that Blitzo is stupid for not blindly going with him. It's the same thing with Catra where people say Adora is dumb for not thinking of her but never do the same thing with Catra who is a selfish pos like Stolas and is coddled by the fandom because of her sad backstory no matter how much she treats people like absolute crap.

If more antis push back against Stolas being treated with Catra hands we can actually get accurate reactions to his behavior rather than coddling him as people this poor misunderstood soul who really is nice.

[spopsalt]

It's honestly sad that Adora can't breath without people saying it's because of Catra. They say she loves stars because of Catra, she sleeps with her legs tucked because of Catra, she hesitated to hurt one of the chipped princesses because of Catra, the spot she reaches for when she has nightmares is because of Catra, I literally saw someone say she has a big forehead because of Catra (Albeit that was a joke post) just let Adora have a life outside of Catra, please. She doesn't do everything she does because of Catra.

[manic-sapphic]

~oh, just catra leaning full tilt into a mental breakdown of proportions on par w total planetary destruction. so, just another tuesday. don't worry about it~

corrupted catra is still such an interesting figure to me and fun af to theorize about. i mean, how tf did catra know adora came through a portal? no one told her that shit in their actual reality. i'm pretty sure it's not an uncommon theory that she's drawing some knowledge from the planet itself after being exposed to the portal magic.

but i almost view it kind of like, similar to how much of the first ones tech - such as light hope or the crystal castle itself - can almost be seen as possessing a sort of sentience able to both read thoughts and store knowledge, so could the portal itself. cause catra wasn't the only thing corrupted - the portal was from the moment of its creation. everyone knew it would be in some way or another; that's why they tried to stop catra from pulling the lever.

and based off the reality it creates, almost all of it reflects a reality we see catra actually enjoys - the polar opposite of the reality they'd all just left. and after every other character we see lost to the expanding entropy of the corrupted reality is gone for good - catra is the only one who crawls back out.

i view the corrupted portal almost like a sentient entity itself that catra created when she opened the portal, however unintentionally. it gives her the reality she wants - the one she misses - and when it all falls apart along with her, it's almost like maybe cause of her connection w this entity as it's accidental creator, it fused w her in such a way not only she - but this portal entity itself - could come back to finish what they started.

this time, armed with all the knowledge stored by the planet itself - which doesn't seem too far-fetched of a concept, given that (as we find out later) the magic of etheria has been essentially being mined and stored by first ones tech all this time. and the portal was created using a combo of etheria's magic and first ones tech - the sword.

just some thoughts i've had about it that i'm sure others probably have as well.

also though, i included the few seconds after adora punches out corrupted catra as a gif cause while her expression is angry right after she does it - it quickly falls to one i see as a sadness. she knows she had to do it, but she wishes she didn't. probably partly from seeing what had become of catra that made her have to do it.

which also kinda kills me when i think of the prior episode, Remember, when adora and catra are in the woods and adora says to her "this can't be what you wanted!" the saddest thing about that, to me, is that it's honestly not. but at that point, what catra wanted was something i dunno if she even fully understood; but either way, she just felt she knew that she could never have it.