#I like S1-S4 Catra as a character

[misssakurapetal28]

C@tra Stans: OMG why people are criticizing C@tra so much!? She’s a literal teenager! Poor baby! 🥺

Also C@tra Stans: OMG C@tra and C//A is SO sexy and spicy! I love it! 😍😍😍

[popeyeotaku]

Lately, I've been seeing a bunch of posts on spop twitter joking about how Adora could've just taken Catra to Bright Moon or easily gotten or to join the princesses or whatever. And, like...

No???

A lot of this talk comes off like Catra is just a big lovable brat who is too whiny to switch sides and needs to stop being a dumbass, unlike Adora. But the whole show is about how this isn't the case???

No, actually, Adora does not have her shit together either. Adora is a complete mess, and her character arc is about realizing it's incredibly unhealthy for her to put everyone else's needs before hers and play the big hero. It's simply not a case of Catra needing to become a "good person" like Adora. Adora shouldn't have been in the Horde, but she really shouldn't have been fighting for the rebellion either.

I imagine Catra switching sides early on would be her taking charge of the whole rebellion immediately, like why do you think Light Hope drove Catra away from Adora??? Because LH knew Catra would not blindly trust the ancient occasionally-murderous AI.

I dunno, I think the show was pretty clear about why Catra didn't switch sides in s1 or s2 and then her big spiral in s3/s4? All of which actually happened pretty quickly, and then led to her recovery in s5? But the way folks talk about it you'd think she was just being an asshole for no reason.

I forget where, but ND once talked about how unhealthily codependent Catra and Adora's relationship was in the Horde, and how they both needed time away to figure things out and get better before they could come back to each other.

Sorry this has been so rambly, it was just getting to me this AM. These jokes are really weird and tasteless.

[justmenoworries]

"You just hate that Catra got a redemption arc!"

Wrong.

I hate that Catra got a bad redemption arc. Where everyone is just suddenly cool with her because she gave a very unconvincing and very unspecific apololgy. Once.

S1-4 actually did a good job of setting it up. It's made clear multiple times that, yes, while Catra did have a shitty childhood and most of her issues can be chalked up to Shadow Weaver being a horrible mother, it still doesn't mean she's automatically in the right. Both the narrative and the characters contiuously call Catra out on her actions and on her insistence that everything bad she does is actually someone else's fault. Adora literally gets a whole-ass speech in the s3 finale where she tells Catra that, no, the bad things Catra has done and does aren't on Adora, or Hordak, or even Shadow Weaver - it's on Catra. It's always been on Catra. She doesn't get to pretend to be a victim. She made her choice. And she has to live with that. S4 has Double Trouble repeat those exact same points word for word.

S5 is where Stevenson completely fumbled it. Because starting with s5, Catra is suddenly absolved of the most important thing in a redemption arc: Taking accountability.

"But Celty," I hear you say, "Catra does take accountability! She apologizes to the people she's hurt! She says she's working on her anger issues!"

Yeah, one measly "uwu I'm sowwy" isn't enough to make up for, let's see: kidnapping, torture, attemtped murder, actual murder, attemtpted genocide, actual genocide and years upon years of physical and emotional abuse.

Two characters in the cast react to Catra suddenly showing up in Camp Good Guy like they should: Frosta and Netossa. And both are immediately convinced that Catra is actually nice now, because Adora said so and so all is forgiven. No need for Catra to actually work to earn these people's trust. No reason to elaborate on how complicated Catra's sheer presence must make everything, because how are the Princesses supposed to feel about suddenly having to work with the ex-leader of the Horde? The woman who took an active part in attacking and destroying their kingdoms?

Other SPOP crits have pointed this out, but it's very convenient that both Scorpia and Mermista, two people Catra has hurt in a far more personal manner, (the destruction of Salineas and the continued abuse toward Scorpia) are chipped and therefor absent from the Good Guy team once Catra and the Best Friend Squad return to Etheria. Once again, Catra is absolved of having to put any work into redeeming herself. Even when everyone unites in the finale, Catra doesn't get to apologize to Scorpia because Scorpia forgets all her character development from s4 and just hugs Catra like nothing bad ever happened between them. Mermista meanwhile is stuck making a joke about Hordak just being let off the hook for war crimes, which is doubly ironic because Catra is right fucking there being portrayed as an uwu poor kitty-cat. We don't get to see how Mermista feels about the woman who destroyed her homeland suddenly being acquitted because she's She-Ra's girlfriend now. Let's not even start with the non-reaction Entrapta has to seeing Catra again. Catra, who Entrapta genuinely believed was her friend, and who not only had her shipped off to Beast Island and, in her mind, certain death, but also let Hordak, who Entrapta had a bond with, believe that Entrapta betrayed and abandoned him. Gentle reminder that Entrapta was so heartbroken about the fact that she really was abandoned on Beast Island by everyone that she started to succumb to the signal in an instant and would have actually died if Bow hadn't snapped her out of it with her hyperfixation. Gentle reminder that Entrapta is capable of holding a grudge, as in s3 she calls Adora out for seemingly having left her behind in the Fright Zone. But because it's Catra, suddenly Entrapta magically doesn't mind having to tend to the woman who shocked her unconscious and had her shipped off to a violent death.

Oh and let's not forget the elephant in the room: Not once, in the entirety of s5 does Catra ever take responsibility for killing Angella. Glimmer suddenly forgets all about Catra being the one who indirectly murdered Angella. She doesn't bring it up once and instead is slowly browbeaten into making nice with Catra through solitary confinement. The Glimmer/Catra friendship in s5 is so forced and so out of nowhere. Bow also forgets that Catra kidnapped him and his best friend/love interest to the Fright Zone and that because of her, Glimmer was suffering from her powers going haywire for quite a while, which, may I remind you, left her with spasms painful enough to have her writhing on the floor unable to move. What is Bow's reaction to Catra when she joins the team? To gush about how cute her sneeze is. I hate it here.

As for the whole "she's working on herself" - no she isn't.

S5 Catra is the exact same person as s1-3 Catra. Only now she gets away with her bs because the writers decided she's a good guy now.

S5 Catra is still a violent, self-serving, abusive asshole. She still blames others for her fuck-ups, still resorts to verbal and physical abuse to deal with her emotions, still would rather have the entire world destroyed than have Adora's world not revolve solely around her. Honestly, Catra saying that she always loved Adora is laughable, because like an episode earlier she left Adora in the woods, crying her eyes out and begging for Catra to stay, during possibly the hardest time of Adora's life. "But she came back!1!!" She came back after, once again, making Adora feel like absolute shit for trying to save people. Not to mention one of the reasons Adora was so deadset on stopping Horde Prime, even at the cost of her own life, was that Catra literally begged her to. Catra told Adora that if Horde Prime wasn't stopped, they'd all be looking toward a fate worse than death. Then suddenly towards the finale, Catra changes her tune and whines that Adora has decided to take the Heart, making it out like Adora just loves playing hero, when the show literally spells it out that Adora is the only one who can do this. Everyone else would literally die if they took the Heart. Adora/She-Ra is the last hope Etheria, no, the universe has at this point. Again, that's not just in Adora's head, that's something the plot itself confirms over and over again. But we're still supposed to side with Catra when she pushes Adora into the dirt and victim-blames her.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

i just have to say this. she-ra was a weak hero.

don't get me wrong, adora was a very compelling protagonist. she was flawed, relatable and had good character growth (until s5, at least). but she-ra, as her superhero form? i feel like she was just lost potential. i mean, sure, she lifted tanks and stuff. but she never did anything truly mind-blowing as she-ra.

in her fights with catra, i guess you could say catra had the upper hand because she was adora's abuser. but in general, there were very few satisfying fight scenes involving she-ra. most of the “fight scenes” were just catra repeatedly and remorselessly torturing adora, all while berating her.

i mean, come on, i get that adora didn't want to hurt catra. but she couldn't even dodge or block catra's attacks? she couldn't figure out a way to restrain catra without hurting her? even a simple punch from catra seemed to really hurt she-ra, so what was the point of the she-ra form? if just seems to me that she-ra was a regular person who was taller and slightly stronger.

even in s4, where adora finally got tired of catra's shit, there were very few instances of her fighting catra as an equal or defeating catra. i guess some of it had to do with the fact that catra didn't want to face adora and sent double trouble in her place instead.

she-ra didnt really do much for the plot, she certainly didn't make adora's job any easier, since adora got her ass beat whether she was in the she-ra form or not. she was taller and stronger but the strength didn't really matter.

if she-ra was really created as a weapon, you'd think that the first ones would make it more durable and strong. but the outfit was flimsy and easily torn through, the sword didn't seem too different from a regular sword and there wasn't much improvement to her agility. it seems like all that's needed to defeat the legendary invincible warrior is a teenage catgirl who slacked off during her training and had only her claws for weapons. doesn't seem like a very powerful weapon to me.

and honestly, i feel like adora herself was mostly reduced to the dumb blonde jock stereotype after a while. i've mentioned this before how in s1, adora was shown to be very diligent, strategic and a capable fighter. but all of that is thrown away in the later seasons and her only strength seems to be her physical strength, which she doesn't use much of.

what's even more disappointing is that adora never faces off with hordak. hordak is literally the leader of the horde, adora is trying to bring down the horde. you would think that she would have some sort of animosity with hordak. you would expect to see fight scenes or at least a confrontation.

especially after the revelation that hordak was the one who adopted adora and took her into the horde, you would think that this would bring up a new dilemma. in any other story, i wouldn't be complaining. but this is literally a story about a war, where the chosen one is fighting the army led by an evil dictator. you would think that she would have a direct relationship with said dictator.

but no, the only person adora really seems to be opposing is catra. we're supposed to believe that there's a war going on, when the only rivalry that matters is adora vs catra (which is reduced to “oh they were just exes who couldn't get over each other haha silly lesbians” in s5).

(this isn't hate on adora btw it's a criticism on the crew-ra who had to go and make a regular catgirl stronger than the literal warrior goddess being.)

[antispopausandstuff]

my SPOP universe pt. 1 - character bios ( very long, i'm sorry )

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disclaimer // note - it'll be SPOP-focused, but i do take a 'few' things from the original show and implement them here.

preferred style(s) - ATLA // LOK, ROTTMNT, LMK ( s1-s4 ), Spiderverse, or Kill la Kill

( part of the reason for these styles is the VFX, battle coordination, and creature // environmental design, esp with vibrant media like Spiderverse, ROTTMNT, and LMK )

.

theme song - something akin to "The Call" by League of Legends or "The World That Ends in Three Days" by Koji Kondo, ROZEN, & Celica Soldream.

rating - PG-15 ( i'm not a writer for young children and don't handle things in a very kid-friendly way )

note - here's some gender // sexuality hcs of the characters, though it isn't all of them.

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established changes:

the runestones don't exist

the cast is 18+ unless stated otherwise

roles will be changed for plot relevance or sense ( for ex, neither perfuma, entrapta, scorpia, spinerella, or netossa are royals )

the first ones are not evil

mara and adora are the only she-ras

most ships will remain noncanon

there's no white people here, sorry

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cast ( pt. 1 ) . . .

Adora - Long Lost Princess of Eternia, Force Captain ( former ), Daughter of Hordak and Shadow Weaver, and She-Ra. 20 yrs old, 5'0, was abducted as an infant, from her home planet, and taught to be a solider for the Horde. raised by Shadow Weaver and Hordak ( it's separate care, not romantically coded ). unofficial caretaker of Catra.

she was raised to be very serious and no-nonsense like, always remaining calm and strategic in drastic situations to prevent the worst case scenario. due to this built-in stoicism, along with other factors, Adora struggles with interpersonal relationships and knowing her own sense of self, including what she is or isn't comfortable with ( such as unnecessary conflict ).

before She-Ra is even a possibility, the weight of the world was already bestowed upon her shoulders, and she sets on carrying out her duty to protect the world from those who wish to harm it.

beneath it all, however, Adora is a young woman who desires connection and peace. she secretly hopes for that to be her reward.

design would be inspired by Cal, Zav 1, Zav 2, Zav 3, and Fern ( blue guy ) by animatorroseoak, Midas by sleeepybacon, and with these details by me! outfit color palette would go from black and red to white, gold, and blue. just to clarify, though she is mythical, she'd still be afro-latino coded.

theme song - Song of Healing by The Marcus Hedges Trend Orchestra

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Glimmer - Princess of Brightmoon, Daughter of Queen Angella and King Micah, and Leader of the Rebellion. 19 yrs old, 5'6, was raised by her widowed mother ever since she was an infant. due to her lineage, she is a demigod and will likely live longer than the average Etherian.

ever since she was born, Glimmer's powers were too great for her body to handle, causing her to lose control very quickly, especially when her emotions were heightened. Angella brought her to Castaspella, her aunt and the greatest sorceress on Etheria, to teach her control and balance.

Glimmer has always been a bright mind with an even brighter personality, striving for excellence and success, and has never let her misfortunes, whether it be her powers going haywire or a plan not going through, weigh on her. at least, that's what she shows to her people and mother.

but, on the inside, she is actually very insecure over her lack of understanding of her own powers, what her mother thinks of her, and how she can handle being future Queen. afraid of change and what fate could hold for her, Glimmer is avoidant of talking about her upcoming role to Brightmoon, seeing Castaspella again ( they haven't talked in years ), or taking a break from her leadership in the Rebellion.

design would be inspired by Ube by kleahvii, Mika by kienan_lafferty, Marlowe & Buwa by sleeepybacon. high focus on the astral theming, with minor details of the angelic theme. i imagine her with either pinkish blonde hair or black hair with pink and blue ombre streaks. her species would be a hybrid of elf ( Micah ) and chimera ( Angella ).

theme song - Termina Field by Koji Kondo & ROZEN

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Bow - Guardian of Whispering Woods, Friend of Madame Razz, Best Friend of Princess Glimmer's, Son of George and Lance, and Co-Leader of the Rebellion. 20 yrs, 6'0, is a runaway from home after a particularly bad argument ensued between himself and his family. he is a pacifist and uses his archery to assist, not to cause harm ( or, at least, irreversible harm ).

his reasons for running away aren't exactly known, even to Glimmer herself, and he always gives half-truths or not-necessarily-lies to anyone who asks about his family and history. but he is very open about his beliefs, his current living situation ( currently resides in the Whispering Woods ), and how he feels.

as the Rebellion's mechanic and stealth strategist, Bow uses his technological intelligence and creativity to aid his allies. he's proven time and time again to be reliable, intuitive, and thinking of just about everything. whether or not that's a good thing.

in contrast to his secrecy, Bow is open-minded, well-meaning, and has a very strong belief in kindness. after living in the Whispering Woods on his own for a few years, and experiencing hardships unbeknownst to anyone else, he aims to be the example for others that people weren't for him.

design would be inspired by Jequ and Agnes by dewfroq, and Earth-42 Miles Morales in Across The Spiderverse. i think i want to make him a cyborg-type of character.

theme song - Goron Lullaby by The Marcus Hedges Trend Orchestra

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Angella - Queen of Brightmoon, Mother of Princess Glimmer, Widowed Wife of King Micah, and Angel of Etheria. 47(?) yrs old, 7'5, her exact origins are unknown, even to her daughter. some speculate that she was born from a star or moon, others guess she is from a different dimension entirely. the only one who even had an idea was the late King Micah.

benevolent, calm, and wise, Angella has been Queen for longer than she has been anything else. in some ways, she considers that a blessing. in others, she considers it a curse. accepting her fate decades ago, the pain has dulled enough to be barely noticeable.

though most don't know it, she has lived way longer than almost any of the Etherians, having experienced more than the Horde's genocide and eventual war. maybe even the universe beyond Despondos.

her abilities align, though not rely on, with the moons and stars, especially with specific constellations. but, as Despondos has a lack of those constellations ( and there are much less stars in the sky ), Angella has not reached her full power in decades.

it's only to Glimmer that she shows her true self, the self that is curious, easily endeared, and overall heartful and passionate, which is a stark contrast to the all-knowing, mysterious, powerful being that is the Queen of Brightmoon. because of this, her daughter has a hard time explaining to others that her mother isn't as stonewalled as she appears.

design would be inspired by Lucifer by fourleafisland, Sera by idolomantises, and Lifegiver and Sold Adopt Design by sleeepybacon. she is a flight-based chimera that has a lot of astral and angel theming, with her facial features obscured by a secondary, smaller set of wings.

theme song - Song of Time by The St. Louis Ocarina Trio

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Hordak - Emperor of the Fright Zone, Father of Adora, The 'Big Boss'. 55 ( appearance wise ), 6'7, his origins are about as unknown as Angella's. it's unknown if he even likes or dislikes to discuss it, as no one has dared to ask him about his life before the Horde.

having brought Etheria to its knees decades ago, Hordak is easily bored or disinterested in his surroundings, often indulging himself in sadism for entertainment. however, he does have a soft spot for his children, Imp and Adora, and finds enjoyment in their company.

when She-Ra comes around, he isn't all that irritated. in the beginning, at least. in fact, he's rather riveted by the new challenge. discovering her identity, however, made all the difference. now, he constantly has to pick between being a father and being an Emperor.

design would be inspired by Fei by cronchy_baguette, Jacks by par0llel, Unnamed OC by crazycomet107, and Miguel O'Hara Illustration by sairasays. his design would definitely be a mix of cyborg and beast, lots of predator and prey metaphors.

theme song - Elegy of Emptiness by The Marcus Hedges Trend Orchestra

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Shadow Weaver - Sorceress of the Fright Zone, Second In Command, Mother of Adora and Catra. 50(?), 5'11, was raised in the Crimson Waste, but ran away and became a student in Mystacor at a young age. after obtaining the dark arts, however, she was banished and considered a freak of nature. soon after, she was found by Hordak.

the 'freak of nature' title didn't leave, however. rather, Shadow Weaver had to embrace it in order to become immune, using her dark magic to protect and provide for herself and whatever or whoever she needs to succeed or gain power.

she keeps most, if not all of her relationships at arms length, paranoia and trust issues running deep. though this doesn't exclude her daughters, Adora and Catra, it's less so with them. even if it's for separate reasons.

after Adora turned on the Horde, this instilled Shadow Weaver's already unstable mindset and kicked it into overdrive. obsessive, aggressive, and erratic in behavior, she eventually becomes a danger to herself and others.

design would be inspired by Peter Pan & Captain Hook Illustrations by sairasays, The Heads and The Witch by kelpible, and Arek ( 3rd form ) by sleeepybacon. her design would be parallel to her life as Light Spinner.

theme song - Midna's Theme by Monsalve

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Catra - Cadet of the Horde ( former ), Force Captain, Daughter of Shadow Weaver. 19 yrs, 5'7, was abducted as a toddler and taught to be a solider, though succession rates are varying. she was originally born in a Kingdom, but her memories are limited and she's rather uninterested ( or unmotivated, it's not clear ) in finding out where she's from.

as she was raised by Shadow Weaver, Catra became an odd mix of codependent, lazy, defiant and aggressive, borderline sadistic, obsessive, and jealous, driving away most people, which only solidified her unhealthy relationships.

once Adora left the Horde, she was no better than her mother, in terms of mental decline, and it was part of the reason why she became Force Captain. unofficially speaking.

design would be inspired by Eralisto by animatorroseoak, Bacon 1 and Bacon 2 by sleeepybacon, Cairo by cronchy_baguette, and Elliot by spam0_llel. i like to think her design becoming more and more feral // unhinged as she develops.

theme song - Majora's Mask by Koji Kondo & ROZEN

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Scorpia ( Lynda ) - Force Captain, Ex-Warrior of the Crimson Waste, Sister of Octavia, Harbinger of Poison. 21 yrs, 6'3, a fighter with a tough exterior, but a gentle soul. once she gets to know you, anyway. in her time in the Horde, she has formed a bond with Octavia and knew of Catra and Adora, but hadn't met them personally until Catra becam Force Captain.

after running away from the Crimson Waste after killing the leader, Scorpia was recruited by Hordak for her strength and poison // paralytic touch. though, it wasn't exactly like she had a choice.

when meeting Catra, the two were at arms-length for a while, with Scorpia being a little off-put by the other's intensity in bringing Adora back. but, somehow, they eventually become friends. as much as they could be, anyway, considering the circumstances.

design would be inspired by Gora ( tall, dark-haired goliath ) by pen.lilixeesketche and Tora and Gabu by par0llel. i read up the original character's details and decided to have kind of a 'mish-mash' of the original and reboot ( not quite, though ).

theme song - Bolero of Fire by Giulio Capone

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Entrapta ( Es'Tra ) - The Fae of Entanglement, Lady of Dryll, Heart of Technology. Late 40s ( forgot specific age ), 4'10, works for the Horde as their technician, isolated and muted, but finds comfort in the Emperor's company. when he has time for that.

no one really knows why or how she got there, but it's evident that she's chronically exhausted and has a habit of becoming hostile with those who don't respect her space ( it's how she met Catra one on one ). when she's in a better mood, however, she's more likely to talk, but not guaranteed, and shows to always have more knowledge than anyone would expect.

in the rare instances she's completely happy, Entrapta is very friendly, engaging, and there's an increased percentage she'll share technology // technological-know-how with you.

design would be inspired by Bitten Lady and Faubron by animatorroseoak, Eris by boots.oc, and Remi by par0llel. lots of plant cycle symbolism in her environments and hair.

theme song - Song of Storms by ROZEN

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Double Trouble ( Rebekk ) - Diamond of Mischief, Multi-Mask, Fae of Deceit. Early 20s ( exact age is unknown ), 5'11, a busybody that absolutely hates the Horde, which helps them not give a damn about anything more than bare minimum privacy, and who also happens to be Glimmer's cousin, adopted by Castaspella.

when they're not busying spying on the Horde, Double Trouble spends time working on their own plays and shows or trying to play around with their peers, being a generally needy person that craves attention and validation. it's not hard to make them happy, though. usually, a simple compliment makes their entire day.

none of their family knows of their work, though. and they'd like to keep it that way.

design would be inspired by Rue by lizard_b.rain, Thraniavas by spidertams, Cantaluse by animatorroseoaks, and Original Character Animation by kelapabiru. a random design tidbit that doesn't really matter, i like to think their hair is dyed blonde, but they have brown // black roots.

theme song - Minuet of Forest by Giulio Capone

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not all of the character biographies, not even close, but i'm currently working on pt. 2 as we speak, so that'll be out soon! probably will have a pt. 3 and pt. 4, though, there's a lot to go through.

thank you for reading! this and pt. 2 took forever.

[spopsalt]

So… I was on the wiki. And I found this.

Here’s the video link btw.

https://youtu.be/U1627KxmKM4?feature=shared

So… In the video, they try to celebrate Adora’s 16th birthday, and say that it takes place not anywhere near here actual birthday, hence it being a surprise.

So if it’s true that every season is a year (even though S2 and S3 feel more like one season rather than two…) We can also assume Catra and Adora are around the same age, though Catra is confirmed to be younger. We’re not sure how much you her though. Could be a few months, could be a couple years. But for simplicity, let’s say they’re about the same age. We do the math, and… Here are Adora’s canonical ages.

S1-15 years old

S2-16 years old

S3-17 years old

S4-18 years old

S5-19 years old

Yikes. I always thought maybe she was about 17 in S1. But… Yeah, it’s bad. And depending how old Catra is compared to Adora, Catra could possibly be only 17 by the end, meaning she could have been a minor throughout. After all, two years isn’t that noticeable at times. Just look at ATLA and Owl House. Aang and Toph are about two (biological, I know Aang is technically 112) years younger than other characters who are about 14-15, but it’s not that noticeable. And Owl House has Hunter at 16, Willow at 14-15, Luz and Amity at 14, and Gus at 12-13. Apart from Gus, they all look to be the same age. So like I said, Catra could be a few years younger. And that’s not even getting into the fact we don’t have a frame of reference for any of the other characters besides Frosta. (Just think, Frosta is the same age at the end of the show that Adora was at the beginning!) And again, I personally would like to think S2 and S3 are the same year since they feel like the same season and we’re released in relatively close proximity iirc, so I’d personally like to adjust the age timeline by about a year, ending it at 18. But that’s me, so it’s whatever. My point is, after all this time we finally have a canonical age for Adora. And buddy, it’s not looking pretty for all the creepy fans. But it never really was pretty with those creeps.

That makes it worse- Here I was thinking them being 17 in season one was bad, but nope! Turns out they were teenagers for the majority of the show! What is with Catradora fans and sexualizing minors? I don't get it, why can't they just like a ship without sexualizing it for 2 seconds especially when it turns out the people in said ship are teenagers for the majority of the show?

[adorawasright]

as i said before, i believe that spop got inspired by zuko's redemption arc when they developed catra's. one thing that makes me think that is the "hair arc" both characters go through. or at least that's smth fans love to compare and i wanted to dissect here.

i think with the exception of s5, catra's hair arc is less extreme in the first four seasons. catra took out her hair tufts in s4. i've seen ppl point out that it was bc shadow weaver would touch that specific part of her hair to mess with her, so catra removed it altogether. regardless, her hair is also visibly straightened (and longer?) in s4, unlike it's "wilder" appearance in s1-3.

but then s5 comes around... and catra's hair is forcibly cut. she doesn't have the choice to do that. even then, ppl still compare catra's hair arc to zuko's, likely how the hair looks itself. but let me tell you why they're different.

zuko is always the one who changes his hair.

in book 1, zuko and iroh are forced to hide from the fire nation. zuko is the one who cuts his own hair. it grows throughout book 2, which also indicates zuko's growth as a person. he's starting to realize things. at one point he even starts accepting living in the earth kingdom with his uncle. but then azula comes along and she convinces zuko to return home and restore his honor. while yes, azula manipulated him, zuko still made the choice to go back to the fire nation when he could very well not to. he betrayed uncle iroh and katara (and the gaang overall), and with that he returned home.

in book 3, zuko's hair was mainly tied up, probably indicating the control of the fire nation over him. i vaguely remember his hair being loose whenever he went out and visited his uncle in prison, or when he was with mai (though in some situations with her, his hair was still tied up). finally, zuko lets it free, he faces his father and decides to join the avatar. regardless of influences, because they were there, zuko always had the choice to do differently. that's why his hair arc is so meaningful. in fact, his hair is never the same in all three seasons of atla.

catra's hair arc is not the same. i think it's implied that she cut it even more after being chipped by horde prime, considering it looks even shorter than when she was brainwashed. still, catra didn't have the choice here. and if you headcanon her as a woman of color (which nate somewhat "confirmed"), then this is only more insensitive and not well thought out. they never touch on that specific part of her arc. catra is never shown to be upset about her hair. if anything, it only makes her look "cute" and a "soft uwu baby" (when she rlly isn't). i hate that fans who apparently love the fact catra is a woc never call this out. everyone seems happy with short-haired catra.

the only ppl i've seen that actually criticized this decision are spop crits/antis like myself. i could be wrong, but fans rarely criticize this show overall.

anyway, yeah, i'm tired of everyone trying to tell me catra and zuko are the same. their hair arcs are not at all alike.

[raayllum]

In regards to your last post, they did do that with Soren (ik ik you weren't talking about him) but his character has depth and a more satisfying arc (relating back to the vulnerability is strength theme) so I'm cool with him

Here's the thing about Soren though, honestly. He's just jerky and loyal enough to his father (and the fact that Viren asks him to kill the princes rather than Claudia in the first place) that in S1 it's more of a tossup, even if I do remember being more worried about Claudia / her skewed worldview in S1 than I was about Soren.

TDP also has more complex explorations of morality (if not in some ways just exploring actual morality) than most shows aimed at kids/young teens do.

In She-Ra, the war is mostly a backdrop conflict used to explore relationship conflict, so when characters do defect from like, a conquering empire, it's because they've realized they aren't 1) treated well there by their 'friends' or 2) would rather be someone's friend than enemy. That's fine as a show focus, but it is more shallow in the morality department; thus, even though I have issues with how Catra's redemption arc was executed, I still always absolutely knew it was coming. To be clear, there's nothing with a predictable character arc (I love good setup and subsequent payoff and would take that over a 'subversives surprise' any day) but it did make her less interesting / harder to watch her be continually terrible to the people around her, even when they just risked everything to save her from death.

In The Owl House, every antagonist besides the main villain is either just misunderstood, misguided, redeemed, or all three (hi Hunter, Amity, The Collector, Lilith). There are a few others - Boscha, Kikimora, Odalia - but they're all regulated to small episode conflicts (each get like maybe 2 eps as an antagonist at most) and it's just... they all want power. Okay, cool.

What I'm trying to say through these examples is that's not a lot of moral depth in their character arcs, and to me, that makes a redemption arc less interesting to watch. However, Soren is a very morally driven character and he struggles with the morality of his choices and of his father's. His redemption arc ties in many other important relationships in his life and develops them (Claudia, Viren, Callum, Ezran) all in different ways. Ezran is his king and becomes his new purpose; Callum is a second chance and also kind of a little brother and also kind of an emotionally unavailable best friend who doesn't entirely trust you; Claudia is his sister turned enemy; Viren is, well... We're gonna get into how complicated that is even more, I'm sure.

I guess that's also what it comes down to me, the sacrifice / inconvenience element of the character doing the redeeming. Soren had, and has, something to lose by staying on the side of the good guys. He defects for his safety, yes, but he leaves behind his little sister and his previous idealization of his father on his own terms through a series of events and his own realizations. He shows up on the good guys' doorstep with "We're doomed." Even in S4, he's still losing things and at least somewhat on the losing side, with his entire family on the other side of the line. (Compare and contrast to Amity, whose entire family - all four of them - unanimously ditch her crappy mother or Catra, who defects after realizing she's effectively worthless to the new #1 villain replacing her, etc. They lose nothing, really, in the end.)

And again, I think Soren's arc works because well... it's the only one that TDP has had in this way. Rayla defects immediately, so her redemption arc works a bit differently. Claudia is still in the middle of her "what if I got worse haha jk... unless?" arc. So they all work as his primary arc foils in a very nice way. Now Viren is going through a bit of Soren's S2 arc, which we'll have to see how that goes, but full fledged died and resurrected and dragged through the mud by his daughter's determination to keep him alive sad old sack of an evil man isn't an arc you see often, now is it?

Soren realizes he's wrong without 1) a mentor figure or 2) heroes pointing it out to him and offering him second chances (save Ez sparing both him and Claudia in 3x02, which had an impact for sure but like - think of how much more reaching out, comparatively, even someone like Zuko got from protag team). Part of this is also because Soren starts off in an interesting place for a 'redeemed character' which is that he starts off on the 'right side' (protecting the king) so he has more of a restoration/maturation arc than an outright redemption arc, in some ways.

So Soren's arc is unique within his story, it's very well paced, there's a depth of morality, and it's tethered to theme so so well. It's *chef's kiss* and refreshing for someone who honestly doesn't truthfully love redemption arcs most of the time (at least not the classical kind) so it's just. Nice, y'know? It's really nice

[acephysicskarkat]

Most people who do not like the execution of sp0p:

usually don't treat Catra like completely unforgivable, at least up to a certain point

the certain point usually want Catra to have some semblance of a happy ending

could believe in the first season that Cat***ora could be an satisfying end game

The problem is the execution as you mentioned. Narrative treats relationship between the main two like a center of the universe. Adora has many more friends and allies and her very toxic relationship is treated like The Important One. I feel like if there was a canon divergence around S3 and their relationship took a slightly different turn - Catra's ark could be more satisfying and if someone wanted to make Cat***ora the endgame it could have been pulled of in a way that doesn't come off as amatonormative and insulting to the characters. Narrative treats Adora like prize for Catra - this what rubs me the wrong way the most.

Pretty much this, yeah. A friend of mine said, ages ago, that if you only watched S1 and S5, it would all flow together relatively cohesively, and it's the presence of S2-4 that ends up fucking it.

(and while S2-S4 have, in theory, some of the strongest episodes and hint at some really compelling ideas...everything that fucking happens in them is memory-holed by S5, so all of it just ends up as depthbaiting in the end anyway)

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Ive been thinking about what type of persona each character would have in a persona au, but if im honest, persona powers are not that interesting.

* Bow would obviously be the first early game navigator and then he becomes a physical fighter character, and Entrapta becomes the second highly overpowered navigator who cant fight but buffs up the party sometimes. I think Bow would have a lot of multi-target physical attacks and some status attacks like poison or cupids arrow to represent his diverse range of tools. If he has an element, it's Light (works with how the games play out since Adora's persona wont be around long).

* Adora is the holder of the wild card...? Question mark? I guess Adora does change her character to be what people need her to be, but not drastically. Maybe she only has a few personas. The wild card holder is always a boring ass character and not someone with nearly as much personality as Adora. Anyway her She-ra initial persona is based on s1 to s4 shera, and her ultimate persona is based on s5/heart of etheria shera. She can use Light-based attacks too and of course starts off as a healer.

* Glimmer is a character who starts off with some physical attacks before converting into a full magic user, like Mitsuru. Her element should be Wind, i feel in my soul. She's definitely a Magician arcana best friend character and most of them are Wind. But we can always go with Psychic since i think the technical aspect of psychic matches her powers. I think glimmer should have access to party evasion buffs and light healing, and physical/magic shields, since Bow is getting what would be her status moves then she can have what would be his shields!

* Catra would be a villain who uses a Curse type persona and severe damage single target moves. Goro Akechi in persona 5 also had the ability to drive shadows and personas berserk. Adachi could manipulate the tv world but i dont know about giving Catra that power.

* Scorpia is our Thunder-using full physical attacker with Power Charge and Attack buffs and lots of single target attacks.

That's about it.

[committingwarcrimes]

s4 glimmer is overhated

i feel like glimmer and adora never really solved their issues from s4 with shadow weaver in the show, bc ofc glimmer got kidnapped and then realized the adora was right in the end and adora realized that glimmer was more important than the disagreement they were having and the problems they were having were bigger than just the two of them. but adora and glimmer's conflict in s4 is so important to their characters.

for 3 seasons, adora has been she-ra who's supposed to be the most powerful princess on etheria, wields a giant sword, and has a huge savior complex feeling the need to always "rescue" glimmer, who shared the power of the moonstone with her mom. and now she's finally powerful since she has both the full power of the moonstone as well as magic that she's learning from shadow weaver, so she doesn't need to rely on adora anymore. even more than that, adora was the last person to see her mother alive. she doesn't really know what happened, and adora doesn't really explain it to her past "she stayed behind. she saved us." clearly her mother has done something very noble, but she doesn't know exactly what it is and if it was truly necessary or if adora could've saved angella.

as for learning from shadow weaver, shadow weaver is really one of the only people to see glimmer as someone truly powerful. adora and bow, whilst acknowledging glimmer's courage and strength of will, still view her as someone they need to protect, because that's the only part of her that they've ever known. shadow weaver's knowledge of glimmer is watching her escape from the black garnet's restraints back in s1, and knowing that micah is her father.

by taking on shadow weaver as a mentor, glimmer gets to learn more about her father, who she never really knew, and also gets to learn how to become more powerful, beyond just the symbolic power of being queen of bright moon, until she is no longer seen as someone who needs to be protected and guarded at all times. shadow weaver also takes on the role of being sort of another mother for glimmer, replacing the one that she just lost, except shadow weaver never wants to hold her back like angella did. angella was always worried about pushing glimmer too far, but shadow weaver never is.

adora has a very real fear that shadow weaver is manipulating glimmer, but glimmer sees shadow weaver as more of a maternal figure, and believes that adora is simply angry that she's no longer the "favourite child." despite knowing how dangerous shadow weaver was in the past, glimmer (slightly arrogantly) believes herself powerful enough to subdue her, and smart enough to know when she's being manipulated.

back in s1, when glimmer first learned about shadow weaver, it was very clear that her and adora had very different upbringings. she at first, misunderstands shadow weaver's role in adora's life:

for glimmer, her mother was quite literally her commanding officer. shadow weaver teaching adora how to subvert the enemy, be victorious in battle, was something angella did for glimmer (but in a likely far more loving manner). angella didn't try to hurt or manipulate glimmer in the way shadow weaver did to adora. shadow weaver showing her how to become stronger almost seems normal for glimmer.

not to mention, both angella and castaspella constantly talk about how similar glimmer is to her father. let's not forget how easily light spinner manipulated micah in the past.

at the end of the day, glimmer was wrong, and the way she treated adora might have been cruel, but she only did it because she thought she was doing the right thing. i honestly think she's one of the more complex characters of spop, and her character arc, especially in s4, is so delightfully intricate. i think most of the things she did were justified, and definitely took the show on a darker turn than i ever expected, but it was more enjoyable because of it. honestly, catra has done a lot worse than glimmer ever has, but i guess they never expected glimmer to be that kind of anti-hero.

[cartoonfandombloge]

#i also added a couple lines to emphasize how well - as i say - i really feel like fanon has a lot more nuance about the relationship and#characters of catra and adora than the show does. especially in the transition from s4 to s5#like catra has all these issues of agency in s1-s4 that are basically written out to make her a selfless adora stan#and adora has these complicated feelings for catra that are both positive and negative and she knows she's manipulative on some level but#she also knows they both have sincere feelings for one another and thats all but gone in place of Yearning and brief apologies#i might write a separate post about how s4 sets up adora questioning her role and giving up she-ra which s5 then totally fails to#deliver on in any meaningful way and instead dumbs down into reminding her she can have a life after doing her duty dlkfjkjl

ok so. i have a confession of sorts. as much as she-ra/spop was a mixed bag for me... i do kinda stan and find myself emotionally affected by the fanon version that’s endured past it.

the fandom has a very cool interpretation where, for instance, adora has a well-written existential crisis and fear of living without purpose in a way every teenager can relate to yet connects well to her history of abuse, instead of the little puddle of nothing we got in canon. i see these gifsets outside the show itself followed by these stan affect-essays and i'm like. yup. that Hits. enough so that i almost forget canon itself, because the must more complex and nuanced fanon just straight up makes it better. in the show, there's a lot of things that really don't hit - but are actively better in a 30 second stan twitter clip with commentary.

like spop stans are intense in their very particular read where the utena parallels are totally justified in this grand, complicated story where love sets you free from abuse and destiny and you just love each other despite your flaws and like. damn. wish canon was half as good at expressing those ideas, or had half the nuance. to be clear, i think some of that is the intent in canon, i just don't think its expressed half as well as fanon does, nor is the relationship of adora and catra really handled with the nuance it deserves. i hope some of y’all get hired as staff writers if there’s ever a movie.

so yeah, fanon > canon in this very rare case, and i almost never think that. i tend to be frustrated over fanon misinterpreting canon, but here, while that's kinda true, its... in a good way? so its kinda cool, because fandom tends to endure longer than shows.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Actually hang on, that AU would have so much potential.

Adora seeing Imp as her chaotic little sibling who helps out with pranks etc but might also snitch on her and Catra. Also, more internal conflict because he and Hordak are, at least on some level, family to her.

The other cadets not interacting with C and A because A is Hordak's protegee and C is SW's. Both of them are scary, so C and A really only have each other, which makes their separation in s1 only hurt more and make Catra all the more obsessed with getting Adora back bc she literally doesn't have anyone else (until Scorpia) (she could bond with Imp?)

Catra struggling to bond with Scorpia and accepting her friendship because she never had any friends outside Adora so, oops, social skills whomst? But eventually learning how to be a decent friend and growing as a person, as well as letting the sting of Adora's departure fade a little. She gets to grow as a person AWAY from Adora so that once she does join the Alliance, she is a bit more functional.

Catra worrying about Scorpia during s5.

Catra, spying at Angela interacting with Glimmer: oh ew what is this? Affection? What a cheap attempt at manipulation. -> Wait a minute, this looks... nice, actually. -> If she's the evil one, why is she such a good mom? -> Why isn't SW being this good to me? -> FUCK OFF SHADOW WEAVER YOU'RE A HORRIBLE MOM I'M OUTTA HERE.

Adora getting dragged back to the Horde in s3 and Hordak potentially acting like a disappointed father whose teenage daughter came home late from a party.

"Did you get everything out of your system? Y'know, Horde Prime would've killed me if I did what you did. You should be grateful."

[some character development later] "Hey, wait a minute... You shouldn't kill/brainwash people for doing that. HORDE PRIME IS AN ASSHOLE."

The comedy of Adora looking at Entrapta and Hordak interacting like "??????????????? HORDAK??? HAVING POSITIVE EMOTIONS??? DO I HAVE TO CALL ENTRAPTA MOM FROM NOW ON?????????"

Entrapta: I fucked your dad shitlips

Catra feeling genuinely horrible for Angela getting trapped between dimensions bc of the portal not only because she learned that Angela was good all along, but because she glimpsed what it's like to have a good mother figure and she took that away from Glimmer.

Maybe even Catra knocking some sense into Bow because he's mad that Glimmer did the stuff she did in s4. "Dude, cut her some slack. I know what it's like to be in position of authority (force captain) and it's stressful as hell. We were winning back then so you guys were losing badly and she was/is grieving. You do stupid shit when you're stressed and desperate (I would know, I made the portal happen.) So just... I'm still not 100% sure how to be a good friend so take what I say with a grain of salt but... Y'know, go easy on her."

^ character growth, shows willingness to forgive and thus bridge the gap between her and Adora. Results of being friends with Scorpia, feeling like shit when Scorpia left her, and the self reflection done throughout s4 following the "oh God I fucked up" at the end of s3.

No Melog. I'm sorry I just don't see the point. Instead, I'd really want to see Swiftwind be featured more heavily. Possibly Catra initially thinking he's weird bc she's never seen a horse before and later going "hey, you're close with Adora. Can we, uh, compare notes? I spent the last 3 seasons being her enemy and I'd like to go back to being her friend now. Help?"

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. this AU would have worked so much better than the trainwreck that we got. (also the idea of entrapta technically becoming adora's mom crossed my mind too, it would have been HILARIOUS)

[adorawasright]

I'm gonna be real honest rn...who TF looks at season 1 Catra's design and think that she's the hottest character?

In later seasons, I'd probably see it, but like...outside of her being 17, her design is ugly as sin

I'd excuse her hair looking almost like a lion's mane, but everything else doesn't make any sense

Why isn't she wearing a Horde uniform like most of the other soldiers? Like, I get that she's supposed to be a "unique" villain and that's her whole thing, but you can make a Horde uniform work for a character who happens to be a villain like her

It kinda works for Adora as the hero who's uncomfortable in most clothes outside of her uniform, but I say that loosely because she's never seen in anything else other than her uniform (the hologram future vision doesn't count btw) and, also, Nate isn't that great at keeping track of his own characters, so...yeah

Just another example of this show just being Catra: The Series

Yeah, Catra clearly acts like a teenager in s1, bullying teasing Adora, lashing out, bearing a "wild" appearance (obviously also because she's a cat)... the Horde kind of feels like a school before we get to the more gruesome details (though they're not taken seriously, honestly). I always say that it reminds me of P.E. class, lmao. And that's not a compliment.

It's kinda weird that Catra doesn't have an outfit change when she becomes Force Captain. She only has the badge. You'd think she would start wearing a Horde uniform to prove she's worth the position... but yeah, Catra only has an outfit change in s4 (I will say that her s4 design is probably my favorite one, minus the sexualization). And unfortunately fan redesigns tend to sexualize Catra most of the time.

As for Adora, I guess you could count the Princess Prom dress, too. I really like the color, red fits Adora imo. But I feel bad for her since she gets very few design changes, as the PROTAGONIST of the show. Once again, I wish Nate didn't use She-Ra to make it about Catra. Maybe SPOP could have been a spin-off? Idk if it would be good. Probably wouldn't be successful and maybe that's why Adora remains the face of the reboot. But still.

[antispopausandstuff]

yeah, the logic especially makes absolutely 0 sense.

like, army and everything aside, where does she even get those outfits from?

from the very first episode, Catra stands out cuz she isn't wearing anything like the uniform that everyone else is, with the exception of Adora, though her uniform still looks kinda like the cadet one but modified. we could reason that SW gave her that outfit.

but with Catra? there's no in-world reason for it.

you could argue that Nate wanted you to pay attention to Catra in comparison to the other cadets, to show she's more important, writing wise, but her early teens outfit still did that just fine. she was wearing the uniform, but it had a slightly more scrappy look to it.

and, as someone who has a lot of trial and error in character design, there are plenty good designers that know how to still make a character look different, even if they're in similar get-up as everyone else. there's no actual reason for Catra to have a different outfit from the one she had as a younger teen. there just isn't.

as for the other outfits:

where on etheria could either her or Scorpia get fancy outfits? Scorpia, i could justify with her having a lot of money and more leeway, but the show never displays that.

the winter one makes sense, i guess, but even so, the Kingdom of Snows and the Horde didn't seem to have, like, any animosity with each other whatsoever, so why would the Horde be interested in seasonal clothes? Catra obviously isn't above stealing.

Crimson Waste is literally just their normal outfits with a jacket, not sure if you can even consider that a different outfit. this is just for her to look 'cool' and 'badass'.

yeah, i'm gonna think she's so cool in that jacket when she talks like an edgy 12 yr old obsessed with gachatube, early 2010s tumblr, and r/im14andthisisdeep.

s4 outfit, i don't hate it, but it just feels like more fanservice and i don't understand why it looks the way it does. why does she have one sleeve? people made up that it was because of the corruption from s3, but that never happened. it literally never happened.

i know you don't have to be 100% practical when designing a character, i'm honestly just nitpicking because the stans piss me off and i never understand why Catra doesn't wear armor. i mean, we know she has plot armor, but-

the... is it sleepwear? i dunno, but i'm p sure that she wore a similar outfit in the beginning of s4. writing wise, doesn't make sense, but whatever, it's fine, it's just sleepwear.

now her s5 outfit just makes me mad, cuz where the hell did she get it? if you think about it too much, it gives a creepy implication that one of the others somehow found her s4 outfit and kept it ( and knowing stans, they'd likely make it so that Adora found it ). but then you'd have to remember that this is SPOP and Nate is the main writer of it and remember that this is just yet another continuity error ( i think i'm using that term right- ).

i actually hate the space outfits, they're so fucking ugly, get them out of my fucking fa-

people call this the future, but like...

this is Adora's dream. not her seeing the future. and even then, it's a really strange one, cuz it implies a few details that just don't match with what we know?

Glimbow, for one thing. i don't think Adora was rooting for them. i mean, she'd be happy for them, i think, but that woulda come outta left field for her, like it did for the rest of us.

the other thing is Scorpia's party and how she'll 'kill them' if they're late. i feel like this does kinda make sense, but only if Adora still held the image of Scorpia from s1-s4 to the one now. which i think would be giving the writers too much credit.

i don't know why they wrote in that comment, but it doesn't really fit Scorpia. we all know she's not necessarily the most violent person, though she's not the most docile, either, so Bow saying that just never made sense to me.

final thing is people assuming that these 'dream' outfits were ones they'd wear all the time in the future. and, Nate seems to agree, considering that one illustration, that's just kinda silly? i feel like Catra definitely wouldn't look as put together, especially since she's apparently still a child and refuses to get her hair brushed.

at least Adora still acknowledges that she's a brat.

and i'm gonna be so fr, i hate dream Bow's look, why the fuck-

so, yeah, to the surprise of no one, most, if not all, of these outfits don't make in-world sense, yet they exist anyway because Nate decided that a war criminal that runs on ration bars deserves to 'look hot // badass' more than the main fucking protagonist.

this make me a little upset

and the problem is that not only adora never changes her base outfit, every other princess used only 2 other clothes

but they want me to belive the catgirl had a full wardrobe while living in the fucking fright zone where the soldiers only had ration bars to eat

Yeah, that makes no sense what so ever. It also felt weird that throughout the series Adora was still wearing her OG outfit from when she was in the Horde. Like, did she ever think, "Hey, maybe I should change out of the outfit I was wearing when I was in a fascist army? Nah."

Just goes to show who's the creator's favorite, I guess...

[mimdecisive]

How do you feel about Glimmer? There are some who hate her but some who love her. What do you think?

My feelings about Glimmer are complicated, and my problems with her lie solely with the writers. I do think a lot of other SPOP critics cut her a lot of slack, and I have a post I haven't finished yet about the double standards of Catra VS Glimmer. But in short, S4-S5 Glimmer is the worst kind of Glimmer. S1 Glimmer is the best kind of Glimmer. This got long.

In particular, how she treated Adora, because nothing Adora did was to intentionally hurt Glimmer, but Glimmer intentionally hurt her. Glimmer treated her the way Shadow Weaver treated Adora, using her as a tool that has to be perfect, because if she's not, everything is her fault.

She used her the way Adora's insecurities use her. I actually wrote down that exchange, and that isn't even including the "Shadow Weaver's favourite' line.

You think you can just transform into She-Ra and hit things with your sword, and it will fix everything. Well, guess what? It's not working / Why are you blaming this all on me? It is not my fault that Salineas fell, the Horde manipulated all of us.

She-Ra was supposed to save us. But the rebellion's in a worse place than ever since YOU showed up! / I'm trying my best. Why can't you see that?

Well, maybe your best isn't good enough! If it was, my mother would still be here!

Glimmer regrets what she said, only after Adora starts crying. This isn't even including how in the episode before this, Glimmer laughed at Adora's trauma (She's always been paranoid like this) and it was revealed Glimmer let Adora's abuser walk free without even telling her, and used her as bait despite the fact it reinforced the idea that Adora was only worth what she could give and it was fine to throw her into danger.

And she didn't listen to Adora about the Heart of Etheria, something that Mara died for.

Bright Moon was supposed to be Adora's home, she was supposed to feel safe there. Glimmer took that away from her, and refused to accept that they were a team and had to trust each other, rather than everyone blindly trusting Glimmer.

And that's a flaw of Glimmer's! That's something built up in S1 with her 'Trust me' lines. But it's only a flaw if it's actually acknowledged and she grows from it, but she did the opposite of growth.

And then in S5 she gives Adora a little 'I'm sorry for everything' and a couple of tears, and I'm supposed to believe the trust she broke is restored? She actually chose Shadow Weaver over Adora.

And it wasn't for a lack of options! The only reason she talked to SW about her problems is because SW was actively approaching her in an attempt to manipulate her. She could have written a letter to Castaspella, or tried to talk to Adora and Bow. She didn't, because she's stubborn.

And her speech to Micah in S5? "My mother raised me to be brave" is a blatant lie and the fact that's what the writers came up with for her BIG moment? We were robbed.

Glimmer was not raised to be brave, Glimmer was raised to be safe. That's all Angella wanted, was to keep Glimmer safe, to mold her into someone who could be more reasonable and who wouldn't throw herself into danger at every moment.

She's stubborn, and brave, and she gets both of those qualities from Micah and Angella actively tried to mold those qualities out of Glimmer, which she admits to in S1.

Combined with her forced romance in S5 which I really don't like, because their platonic relationship was really important to me and I felt betrayed, S4-S5 Glimmer really didn't do her justice.

The conclusion: I think Glimmer is a good character and I like her, I really do, I just think the writers didn't give her what she deserved in S4-S5. I had to write a fix-it after the show ended about her and Adora's fractured friendship.