#SPOP critical

[antispopausandstuff]

one thing i really hate about the stan community is that they spread this idea that "pretty victims" are invalid or not serious enough to be considered true victims.

if you don't know what "pretty victims" are, they're essentially akin to damsels ( any gender ) in distress or Disney princesses ( for example, Cinderella ), or something along those lines.

all victims are valid. all victims are real. all victims deserve to have support for their mental, physical, and emotional health.

people call Adora a "pretty victim" to justify diminishing her suffering, and they're just pushing the idea that this 'category' of victims either doesn't exist, are an impossible standard, or don't matter.

stop doing that. you're doing more harm than good. and if you don't stop, i hope you feel shame for the rest of your life.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

here's the thing: if the writers wanted to show catra being defensive or avoidant about the portal reality, they could have done so without making her gaslight adora.

i mean, it's bad enough that catra doesn't want to take responsibility for her actions but they just made it worse by making her gaslight adora. there was no reason for catra to try and convince adora that she was imagining things or going crazy. that's just a whole another level of abusive.

if catra just pretended to not be aware that the portal reality was fake, sure it would still be shitty, but i would have been able to sympathize with her a bit more. i would have at least half-accepted the idea that she just wanted to believe that things were going well even when they weren't.

but by gaslighting adora, catra crosses a huge boundary and suddenly, it all seems more intentional than ever. and we're supposed to believe that this was when catra was emotionally unstable. i don't buy it. she was so calm and intentional in her actions, i refuse to believe that this was all some "lashing out in a moment of hurt".

[80rosequartz08]

Writing Villains/Antagonists: Do's and Don'ts

DO: Actually show your villains/antagonists doing evil/morally bad things!

DON'T: Make them "evil" out of nowhere with no explanation!

DO: Show your villains/antagonists as being explicitly in the wrong!

DON'T: Downplay/justify their actions as good or "not that bad".

DO: Hold your villains/antagonists accountable for their actions and make them correct their mistakes!

DON'T: Give them a slap on the wrist/some trauma to justify their actions!

DO: Notice that even if your villains/antagonists have trauma/pain, it doesn't erase their misdeeds.

DON'T: Use their trauma as a wat to say that their actions don't matter/are completely forgivable.

BONUS TIP: It's ok to make a pure evil villain with not much moral complexity, just don't make them boring!

[sophieabigail2021]

[carto0ncritter]

I'm sorry but I genuinely can't understand how people can look at Stolitz and Catradora and think these ships are healthy in any way, shape or form.

Stolas r*ped Blitzø. No, consent given in a life-or-death situation doesn't count

Stolas is racist towards imps, and this didn't change even when he "fell in love" with Blitzø

Stolas doesn't appreciate or respect Moxxie and Millie in the slightest (and was disappointed that his "Prince Charming" wasn't the one to rescue him)

He looks down on Blitzø and calls him things like "impish little plaything" and "his big dicked Blitzy" and doesn't stop treating him like shit even when Blitzø says loud and clear that he hates being talked down on like this (DUH)

The only thing Stolas knows about Blitzø is that he hates books and the only thing Blitzø knows about Stolas is that he's a boring bookworm. Keep in mind, the two figured this out about each other while they were kids, 25 YEARS AGO, after Blitzø was bought so that he could be Stolas' "friend" for ONE DAY

Stolas doesn't love Blitzø for Blitzø. Stolas loves the *idea* of Blitzø. The bird man wants to live a romance that is just like the romances in his cheesy novels. He wants to ride into the sunset with his one true love. He wants grand romantic gestures. He wants his "Prince Charming". Except, Blitzø isn't the type of guy for such sappy displays of affection, he never was. Especially combined with his trauma. And as soon as that other imp guy asked him to dance, Stolas not only accepted the offer, but Blitzø was no longer on his mind. And no, I don't think being drunk is proof that Stolas didn't mean what he had told Blitzø. Drunk people find it easier to say what's really on their mind after all

Blitzø fell in love with his abuser. This makes sense, actually. The guy always pushed everyone away and never got to experience true love, and now that he has the chance to be "wanted," even if the "relationship" is toxic, he finds it hard to let it go

As for Catradora, the things I wanna say about this ship have already been said throughout the years, but it all boils down to these things:

Catra mentally, emotionally and physically abused Adora

Catra had no problem ending the whole entire universe if it meant she'd finally be better than Adora

Catra was a war criminal and a fascist

Catra was responsible for what happened to Glimmer's mom and never apologized, let alone faced consequences

Their relationship was toxic even when they were kids

They were both raised by Shadow Weaver and were the only ones in the Horde who saw her as a mother figure, thus making the ship straight up incest, with even the official source material calling them sisters (adoptive siblings ARE REAL SIBLINGS!!!)

Catra got exactly what she wanted in the end (the girl she's always been obsessed with and dependent on) and, once again, faced 0 consequences for her actions

The show (and C//A stans) fetishizes abuse. As a SA survivor, I felt physically sick during the final episode, where the abuser ends up with her victim/sister and they kiss

In short, these ships are disgusting and the lgbt community deserves better representation

[toaverse]

Couples I wish were written better.

[spopsalt]

What show's title is vs how it actually is

What the show's title is: She-Ra and The Princesses of Power

What the show actually is: Watch Adora get abused by Cata for 5 seasons straight then date her abuser, also FEEL BAD FOR CATRA

What the show's title is: Helluva Boss

What the show actually is: Watch a gay soap opera while the abuser gets victimized and while the victim gets demonized. Watch the victim form a trauma bond with his abuser. ALSO DON'T YOU FEEL SO BAD FOR STOLAS DONT YOU WANT HIM AND BLITZO TO DATE!?

What the show's title is: Hazbin Hotel

What the show actually is: Watch who is supposed to be the female main character get pushed to the side because men. Get introduced to a whole Lotta plotholes and rushed story telling as we stuff the plot into the last 2 episodes! Enjoy the boring/rushed/toxic romances as well!

[v0id-clawz]

Some shippers really make you question if you both watched the same show...

Like hurting the other is not a love language!

[mr-damian-s-power]

Mini-tangent incoming, but this thing always got under my skin a little bit. Crazy fantasy/sci-fi worlds where the entire main cast is almost exclusively Humans or species that looks almost entirely Human but with a very minute difference. I know it's the ultimate first world problem and really just a nitpick at the end of the day, but I'm gonna pick!

Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with having a main cast that is just all Humans or 'Humans but with pointy ears', but when the world they're in contains a bunch of fantastical and interesting looking species, that's where it gets a bit boring.

Star Wars is the main culprit of this! Hundreds of thousands of unique Alien species, but 90% of main casts are Human or 'Human but green', with maybe a single Droid or Alien to break it up if you're lucky. How about a story where the entire cast is a bunch of crazy Alien designs. Or a ragtag group of runaway Droids from different jobs.

Then, you've got the Owl House! The Demon Realm is a world of all kinds of crazy Demon people, but most of the characters of significance are Witches, which are just Humans with pointy ears. Look at Luz's friendgroup, the Hexsquad. You've got Witch, Witch, Witch and magic Human/Witch hybrid clone who looks exactly like a Witch.

Wouldn't it have been cool if one of the Hexsquad were a quirky looking Demon person? Make Willow or Gus a Demon! Luz's first friend could've been a Demon! Fits her characterisation as a weirdo! Hell, make Amity a Demon! Luz falls in love with a non-Human because she can look past physical differences. It doesn't matter that Amity has 6 arms or 12 eyes or is some weird giant Mantis creature, she's still her Batata!

Any other franchises you feel this applies to? Tell me!

-

Okay, tangent over! You may all go back to your tedious lives!

[justmenoworries]

(Pic not mine, credit goes to itsnotthesam, DO NOT SEND HATE)

It really annoys me that the show never actually addresses Scorpia's Pick Me-girl behavior. Here we have her parrotting C*tra's constant guilt trips to Adora, Catr*'s victim.

Adora was always a good friend to C*tra.

C*tra was never a real friend to Adora.

Yes, Scorpia is an outsider and all she has to go on is C*tra's very biased stance on the matter, but five minutes around C*tra and Adora should tell anyone anything they need to know about how that relationship really turned sour.

Adora calling C*tra the new Shadow Weaver is entirely accurate: C*tra frequently imitates Shadow Weaver's behavior to feel powerful, from the psychological manipulation, to the transactional nature of all her relationships to using physical abuse to keep her victims in line.

But because Stevenson couldn't possibly actually admit that C*tra is a raging asshole and abuser just like SW, he has Scorpia fire back this absolute bullshit line where she basically accuses Adora of abandoning C*tra.

I don't blame Adora for being thrown off-kilter here, C*tra has been drilling it into her head that C*tra's current misery is her (Adora's) fault and it can be real hard to finally let go of the stranglehold an abuser can have on your psyche.

[antispopausandstuff]

a specific thing that bothers me about Adora's origins is that...

we hardly ever see her grieve her loss.

she has no idea what her culture is. she has no idea what her people are like. what her family was like. if they tried to look for her. if they even wanted her.

we see her efforts, her frustration, her feeling out of control, but then...

Horde Prime tells her that her entire planet is destroyed. that it's been crushed under his heel. that everything she wanted to see, everything she wanted to hear, to know, it's all gone.

but we never see her grieve this.

we see her grieve Catra instead.

Catra, who she moved on from.

Catra, who tried to kill her, hurt her, abuse her so many times.

Catra, who never wanted Adora.

it hurt me when i realized that i've never been taught more than racism and injustice about my cultures and had to teach myself about it.

i can't imagine how it'd feel to be the only one of your kind. and this goes for every character who's experienced this, not just Adora. but it sucks with SPOP the most since Adora's origins are hardly ever given a chance, because the writers just don't care.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

“catra is a complex poc” fuck that. here are some ACTUAL poc animated characters who are just as, if not more complex than catra.

grace monroe (infinity train) • black american

connie maheshwaran (steven universe) • indian-american

katara (avatar the last airbender) • inuk

wolf (kipo and the age of wonderbeasts) • black american

suhara/shadowsan (carmen sandiego) • japanese

korra (the legend of korra) • inuk

jesse cosay (infinity train) • indigenous (apache)

lars barriga (steven universe) • filipino

azula (avatar the last airbender) • japanese

ryan akagi (infinity train) • japanese-canadian

luz noceda (the owl house) • afro-dominican american

(there are a lot more, so i'll be making a part 2!)

[slothyykittee]

The biggest thing I learned when being a critic of other writers, is that pride will lead to your downfall.

Whether you are religious or not, you may have heard the story of Lucifer and how he fell from grace due to pride. That story can be applied to this situation.

Writers proclaiming in their heads that their skills are pure perfection, to the point of doubling down on any criticism they see. This issue is due to these people seeing their writings as an extension of themselves, which then see this as a personal attack.

We all know that criticism, no matter how constructive, hurts. You worked so hard and did your best on a project, only for someone to point out the flaws of it.

You end up feeling broken and sad. Despite your efforts, your project is not perfect.

But here's the thing: You are human. You are bound to make mistakes. No person that lived on this Earth never made a mistake. You need to consider that person's point of view. Sure, you feel hurt hearing their critical words, but that's short term. You need to focus on the long term: the benefits that this critical view will give you.

Constructive criticism is like a medical needle: it will hurt you the first time, but in the long term, it will help you get better.

Listen what others tell you. They want you to reach your full potential. Don't dismiss it, or that will lead to your fall from grace.

[80rosequartz08]

Adora if she still had scars (By: @/bravestshera)

Broke my heart :(

This one especially gave me chills

[adorawasright]

i think adora deserved to hear more often that she was right.

glimmer at the very least told her that when they reunited in s5. but i wish i heard scorpia directly say to adora she was right. and i ESPECIALLY wish CATRA fucking told adora she was right instead of just holding onto her pride.

adora was often gaslighted (especially by catra) in the series and i feel like she was never rlly apologized to as much as she should've been.

[pinkspacevampire]

""We need more flawed female characters" Y'all couldn' even handle Catra" Is something I've seen commented a few times to people who are critical of Catradora when the thing is that I do like Catra even If she is a flawed character. Catra as a character is not what I have problen with.

What I do have a problem with is that Shera is a show for children, possibly the first Lgbtq+ representation they see and Catradora has an abusive dynamic that is normalized. Children, especially Lgbtq+ youth might see it, relate to it and think that the way Catra treats Adora is okay when it's not.

If Shera was a show for adults, exploring toxic dynamics in Sapphic relationships would be okay. If you like Catradora because they have a toxic relationship and like exploring non healthy dynamics, that's okay. I just don't think Catradora is a ship that should be treated like it is considering that the show is for kids.