#and then both Catra AND Adora figured their shit out

[1very1fancy1doilies1]

oh brother, remind me to never look at the "latest" on the catradora tag ever again, because how are there still so many anti catradora (really just anti catra) accounts actively posting in the year of TWENTY TWENTY-FOUR 💀 I swear I've blocked so many

[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

[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.

[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.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

you know. the term “gaslighting” is being misused so much that it's difficult to figure out if a person is referring to actual gaslighting, or if they're talking about any kind of manipulation or even just a white lie. with the rise of awareness for mental health, the unfortunate downside is that people label everything with psychological terms and spread misinformation. the term “gaslighting” has lost its original meaning and has turned into a sort of buzzword.

it's obvious that this happens in media analyses too, where people are quick to label any kind of undesirable behaviour as “gaslighting”. however, the only exception to this that i've seen so far is catra.

to refresh your memory (or lend you some new information), here's the definition of gaslighting, according to the APA:

To gaslight someone means to manipulate another person into doubting their own perceptions, experiences or understanding of events.

“I think of gaslighting as trying to associate someone with the label 'crazy',” says Paige Sweet, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan who studies gaslighting in relationships and in the workplace. “It’s making someone seem or feel unstable, irrational and not credible, making them feel like what they’re seeing or experiencing isn’t real, that they’re making it up, that no one else will believe them.”

when we say catra gaslit adora in the show, we mean it. we don't mean that catra just lied to adora or manipulated her (both of which she has done, to her credit).

some common phrases that gaslighters use are along the lines of:

“you're crazy”

“you're just imagining it”

“it's all in your head”

“you're just being dramatic”

“you're making things up”

this ensures that the victim believes that they are the problem and starts questioning their own sanity. if it continues for too long, the victim might actually be driven to a mentally unstable state.

let's see some of these examples with catra, shall we?

she says all of this word for word. they don't even try to disguise it. and we already know that catra remembered everything or almost everything, at this point. she was not only playing dumb when adora questioned her about it, but further went on to make adora believe that she was going crazy and that she was making everything up.

she also attempts to gaslight scorpia later on, and make her admit that entrapta betrayed them when that is not what happened, and scorpia was there to witness what actually happened.

(i am a bit hesitant to call this “gaslighting” because catra doesn't call scorpia crazy or anything like that, however, she does imply that scorpia was making things up about entrapta trying to save them from the portal.)

and people still have the gall to say that catra never gaslit adora or worse„ that she only did it because she wanted adora to stay. there's no excuse to abuse, manipulation and gaslighting. you can't just woobify an abuser by saying “oh but she just wanted her crush to stay with her 🥺” that's just gross. catra fans say that they empathize with abuse victims but their empathy starts and ends with catra. adora's trauma doesn't matter to them in the slightest, which is why they keep romanticizing this shit.

[antispopausandstuff]

when you get into a series and then stupid shit happens.

.

so, i got into a podcast from 2019 called 'The Two Princes', and i love it. it's very charming, basically like a show in audio form, and full of queer. listen to it frequently, got into the tags on my socials, found some fanart and fics and a bit of inspiration.

but during my searches of fanart, i came across two things.

people calling the main relationship ( rupert x amir ) an EtL

some people comparing it to c//a

both of these severely bothered me, and i'm gonna explain why.

for the first one, it's very simple. rupert and amir were not really enemies, in terms of their actual dynamic. according to this red herring of a prophecy, though, they are 'meant' to be enemies.

however, rupert lies about not being the prince of the west ( amir is prince of the east ), saying he's a thief, that his name is fitz, and that he wants nothing to do with his kingdom. this isn't because he holds any ill-will to his own kingdom, but because the east and the west are hostile and he didn't wanna get killed by amir leaving him behind in the forest.

so, their actual dynamic was more of 'unfriendly strangers to friends to lovers'. because amir was a bit uppity and micromanaged, while rupert was more soft(?) and tended to overreact // overly panic. that, and the span of the first season is 3 days. you can't really go from being enemies to lovers in 3 days. in most cases, i guess.

anyway, moving onto the even more frustrating point.

the princes are nothing like catra and adora. absolutely nothing alike. not even a little.

i'm guessing part of the reason is because amir asks rupert to stay. but the context of that situation vs catra repeatedly demanding asking adora to stay is entirely different.

amir asks rupert to stay because, despite being prickly, rupert saved his life and continued being kind to him. he doesn't ask him to stay because of any self-importance, or because he wants rupert to do dirty work, or for any other reason but because amir likes him and wants them to be friends.

that is entirely different from why catra kept demanding asking adora to stay. she kept asking because she couldn't take no for an answer. because adora's ideals didn't align with hers. because she wanted adora for herself, and took any other options as a personal attack.

and another reason this comparison exists, i'm guessing, is because of the whole "they saved the world // universe // kingdom // wtv by kissing and being gay", which. that's still. no. but okay.

the prophecy in 'The Two Princes' is a red herring because it's misleading. it's not intending to be, but it is. everyone thought it meant that the two princes would fight to the death and one kingdom would rule over, when it actually meant for one kingdom to unite the east and west.

and amir and rupert figured that out by kissing and later on deciding to get married ( that's a general way of saying it, but it's cute, aight? they're very cute ).

in the final episode of spop, there was no actual reason or explanation for why any of that happened. it just happened because the show wanted it to.

why did a viral infection go away the moment catra kissed adora? THE FUCK IF WE KNOW!

why did that activate she-ra? 'CAUSE- LOVE! EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE SISTERS, BUT WHATEVER!

why did the heart get destroyed by that? WHO CARES? WE DON'T!

final assumed reason is, again, because of the whole EtL thing.

like i said, 'The Two Princes' is not an EtL story.

and spop was never supposed to be an EtL story. but it is one, so there's that.

anyway, the writing isn't perfect, but if you like podcasts and wanna hear a cheesy-ass queer show with a disaster gay prince, disaster bi prince, a badass lesbian knight, a bi diva, a feral gay twink, a pathetic flirty gay twink, and a dragon and a dog, then give it a listen.

and there's a goat unicorn.

[aprillikesthings]

can I make myself write the kind of awkward-but-earnest (and extremely horny for each other) fumbling sex two 18-year-olds with zero experience and who know almost nothing about lesbian sex, would be having

(I am giving them an advantage I didn't have at that age, which is that they both know how to get themselves off)

anyway possible spoilers for my fic:

I was originally going to have Adora blurting out her feelings about Catra and/or "I think I'm gay?" at Bow and Glimmer while they were at Monterey Pop, but I think I'm actually going to have Adora figure shit out there and ...not tell them.

They'll suspect. Because of how Adora is clearly crushing on Janis Joplin. (And/or Grace Slick lol.) But they won't say anything to her.

(Me? Projecting on Adora for once? It's more likely than you think!)

And I think once Catra and Adora start kissing and/or having sex, they do in fact both attempt to hide it, because they just don't know how Glimmer and Bow (and Glimmer's aunt for that matter) feel about gay people.

But I don't they'll hide it very well lol. This may or may not be based on how I know damn well that when I have sex while high I am incapable of being quiet, like. At all. And I can see one or both of them being louder than expected.

But also, c'mon. It's them lol. Just the way they look at each other is gonna clue in anyone paying attention aaahaha

....Also, I feel like I almost have to write a scene of some dude hitting on Adora only for Catra to give him a look so terrifying he just startles and walks off ahahahah

[sometipsygnostalgic]

“Love Day”, a catradora fanfic

I was apprehensive about posting this, because it is a personal gift for @phosphoricbomb​! 

But here is Love Day which is a fic that I wrote in her dms from the very random brain thoughts in my head on February 14th. 

It’s the first fic I’ve posted in many months and my silliest yet. Enjoy! 

Adora was drinking a coca cola, her favourite drink, in the Bright Moon kitchen area. She was banned from the kitchen area, after her first and final attempts at cooking dinner for everyone. But nobody was around right now, so she could drink as much coke as she needed and feel only mildly guilty about it!

Suddenly, with a loud SPARK, a wild Glimmer appeared.

"ADORA!!"

Adora yelped and dropped her coca cola glass on the floor, spraying both her and Glimmer, who would've probably been pissed off if she wasn't already so stressed.

Glimmer grabbed her arms. "Adora... I NEED your help!!! I haven't figured out what I'm going to do for Bow on Love Day!!"

"Love Day?" said Adora. "What the hell is Love Day?"

Glimmer narrowed her eyes at Adora. "The annual Etherian holiday where you show the person most special to you that you appreciate them, through exchange of cards and gifts?"

"Aaaa???" Adora was suddenly panicking too. "Oh no, what? Is that today?"

"YES!!"

"But I haven't got anything for Catra! She's going to think I'm a terrible girlfriend and leave me forever!"

Glimmer shook Adora. "You can't be having a crisis about not getting anything, I'm having a crisis about not getting anything! Just get her... like... a squeaky toy, or your old hoodie!  I need ideas for Bow!!!"

"Um. Get him, uhh.." Adora scratched her chin. "Get him a guitar pick or something."

"Musical instruments? Eh, maybe. Okay well you're shit out of luck, BYE ADORA!!!"

"WAIT NO GLIMMER YOU HAVE TO HELP ME TOO---"

And Glimmer teleported out of the room, leaving Adora alone, to figure out what to do for Catra!!! Adora rushed through her own things to see if there was anything she could give to Catra. Ahah - A SWORD!! Wait no. Was Catra interested in swords? Or was that just something Adora was interested in. But having a sword is the COOLEST thing ever. Or was it only cool to Adora? Would Catra think Adora got a gift for herself? Well it was literally one of her own swords, so was it just a handaway? AaaaaaH!!! Why is this so hard!!!

Adora also looked through her old hoodies. Sure, Catra nuzzled up against them every time she got the opportunity. But was it really fair to give it as a Love Day gift? How all out were you supposed to go for this? In the Horde, sure, being given someone's old clothes was a dream come true!!! Catra wore Adora's old uniforms ALL the time. But these hoodies were ALREADY covered in Catra's fur, and Adora suspected that Catra preferred to steal her hoodies rather than actually own them.

Adora made her way back to the kitchen area, wondering if Catra would instead want to make food, when she bumped into Frosta and Sea Hawk! Adora processed the scene in front of her. Sea Hawk was throwing coal into the oven, like he was trying to power a steam engine.

"More... MORE!!!" Frosta yelled. The oven was burning up a storm, the fire inside probably heating up way past its normal limits.

On top of it, Adora could see several chunks of large metal.  They were being heated up by the gas burner.

"Uhhh.... what... is happening here?" she asked. "Are you, are you supposed to use it like that?"

Frosta laughed maniacally. "We are making GUNS!!!!"

"That's right", Sea Hawk replied cheerfully. "Frosta is helping me make a sniper rifle for sweet Mermista! She always wanted to be a secret assassin, and what better gift than to make her dreams come true!!"

"So is that why you're filling the oven with coal?" Adora asked.

"It's so that the fire on the stove burns HOT ENOUGH to MELT the METAL," said Sea Hawk, "so we can make the gun!"

"You do realise that the temperature of the bottom part doesn't... power the stove, right?"

"Hmm? That's nonsense", said Sea Hawk. "This is CLEARLY where the fuel goes--- Oh dear---"

The oven was starting to MELT from the inside, droplets of metal and paint pouring onto the floor, while the metal chunks at the top had barely heated up at all!

"YESSSSS" cried Frosta. "MORE FIRE!!!"

Adora, not wanting to get Super Banned from the kitchen, ran away before the fire alarm went off. There was no way any advice from Sea Hawk was going to help her make a gift from Catra, especially if they weren't actually able to make any guns for her.

Adora, starting to feel hopeless, wandered into the basement area. How was she going to explain things to Catra? "Sorry Catra, I found out Love Day existed like 5 minutes ago so I got you nothing, here's a hug!"?? She couldn't even make Catra some certified Fake Ration Biscuits now! She was CERTAIN that Catra was going to open another portal as soon as she realised Adora hadn't even thought to gift her anything.

She stepped on something--- and it YELPED, and scratched her leg! Actually no, it didn't scratch her leg, it deliberately drew a taser and gave her a quick zippity zap.

"Ouch!!"

She realised that what she had stepped on was a small robot kitten, which wandered away into the newly built Bright Moon Lab of Robots and Awesome Science, aka, BRIMOLRAS, which was a stupid name, but she wasn't going to argue with  Entrapta.

Adora entered the lab, and saw Scorpia talking to Entrapta animatedly, while she focused intensely on something.

".....so she told me that I looked really pretty in the earrings, and I said 'Thanks, they belonged to my aunt!', and she said 'I hope I can meet your aunt one day', and I said 'That's too bad, because she was murdered by the Horde 30 years ago!!', and I don't know why but that really killed the mood, but anyway, that's why I wanted to give her some earrings too. They're awesome right?"

Scorpia held up the earrings, which were warped copper rings that had incredibly ameteur attempts at what appeared to be wooden scorpions attached to them. One of the scorpions appeared to have a blob on its head and was smiling happily in the way you'd see in a small child's drawing. The other had a spiky head, and was a bit larger, but unfortunately its tail appeared to have snapped off.

Entrapta raised an eyebrow, before smiling. "I think Perfuma will wear them every day :D"

Hmm. Maybe Entrapta and Scorpia could help Adora sort something out for Catra?

The robot cat meowed loudly, and the pair looked up at Adora. "Hey," Adora started, "could I have help with--" The cat meowed loudly again. "Making a gift---" MEOW!!!

"SHUSH, CHEESOID" said Entrapta. "Sorry Adora, she gets like this when she doesnt have Electrical Robo Snacks. Scorpia could you feed some to her?"

"Oh - Got it!!!" Scorpia replied, upright and happily grabbing a thing. It dispensed glowing smaller thingies which the robot cat preyed upon like it was starving to death. Scorpia cooed over it and patted its head, and the cat hissed at her. This didn't stop her gooey eyes at "Cheesoid".

Adora coughed. "Anyway---"

"Are you here because you need help making a gift for Catra for Love Day because you didn't know it existed until just now?" said Entrapta, hair hand pointing up and a smirk on her face.

Adora was stunned but only for a moment because she was used to this bullshit from Entrapta. "Okay, yes."

"That's okay," said Entrapta. "At least four other people have approached me today with the same issue! Thirteen minutes ago, I was helping Glimmer repaint her gift for Bow. Then she warned me not to help Sea Hawk make any guns! I haven't spoken to Sea Hawk yet but I'm 50/50 on whether I will help him make guns."

"I don't know what I can give her :(" said Adora. "I've known Catra for so long, but... we only got together, a couple of months ago." She sat down on a nearby table, shoving aside a couple of grenades to make room.  "I want to make Catra feel important, like she is special to me. How can I do that if I won't even do anything on LOVE day of all things? And, maybe she'll be okay with it, but.... I won't be. I'm not fine with knowing I let her down." Adora sighed, and stared at the floor.

...A tendril of hair patted her on the head gently. "There there!"

Then Adora dared to look up, teary eyed, and saw Scorpia staring straight into her soul with the most sappy, almost tearful expression! "Ahh!!" Adora yelped. "Eye contact!!!"

She fell backwards off the chair, knocking over the grenades. Fortunately Entrapta caught them all, and had room to also catch Adora, pushing her back onto the table, where Scorpia gripped her arms determinedly.

"You care so much about Catra!!" Scorpia yelled.  "I'm so... You're so sweet!!" She started bawling and hugged Adora very hard. "I'm so... I'm sorry, I just have so many feelings right now! I used to feel the same way, but you know her so much better than I do. You're made for each other Q_Q" Scorpia continued crying, and Adora tried to resume breathing. Entrapta stopped what she was doing for a moment, rotating her chair and looking at them both.

"Maybe you can't think of anything to give Catra, because neither of you know what she likes yet?" she said. "I know that Scorpia and Hordak thought they hated kim chi stew, but the first time they tried it, they asked for it every night. Even with me cooking!"

Adora huffed, insofar as it was possible while being hug crushed. "We just... we've barely been able to do anything, I don't even know who I am anymore... I guess I'm still learning who Catra has become, what she likes."

"It's going to take a while", said Entrapta. "Fortunately, I ALREADY KNOW what Catra likes!!!"

Entrapta spinned on her chair and took out a couple of charts. Entrapta was able to maintain so many charts and make so many things in a short time that Adora was wondering if she was living in a parallel plane where time was slowed down.

"See, it says right here.... Catra likes the colours black and red, dangerous new weapons, and cuddling Adora. Underlined in three black lines. She REALLY LIKES cuddling Adora."

Adora blushed. "Wait does this mean a hug is a viable gift then?"

"After doing much research, I've concluded Love day is less about materials... and more about spending time with the people you care about!!! But a hug tends to be a free offering."  Entrapta was rotating slowly on the chair and Adora tried to turn with her so she could see the chart, and was getting dizzy. "Catra likes some material things, and some immaterial things. She loves Melog, who as a cat companion, is both cuddly AND a friend. But maybe she would like something that represents Adora directly, when Adora is not there? Or at least something to remind her of you." This talk was starting to break Adora's brain. Cuddly, a friend, and would remind her of Adora..? She watched the robot cat purring on the floor, Entrapta patting it on the head once again. Its grumpy deeanour reminded her of Catra and Melog. The difference is, the cat wasn't very fluffy, and wasn't that down for cuddles--

"AHAH!!!" A flash of inspiration went through Adora. "I got it!!!" She pried her way out of Scorpia's arms using She ra strength. Scorpia sniffed and wiped her nose. "Alright Entrapta", Adora continued, "Can I borrow... uhh.... some material, some sewing needles, and any amount of fluff you might have?"

"Oh the sewing needles are over there next to the chainsaw", said Entrapta. "But I'm all out of fluff and material, you can steal it from Glimmer's secret pillow armory."

"Great, THANKS." Adora ran out of the room, and then back in again. "By the way is that thing you're working on for Hordak?"

Entrapta looked up from where she had started welding again. "For Hordak? Oh, no. This is my own power suit. I haven't got anything for---" She snapped the mask up. "WAIT!!! I forgot to finish Hordak's gift!!! I only have two hours!" She grabbed Scorpia. "Please help. If I don't get Hordak a gift for Love Day, he'll be so sad---" Adora couldn't stay and hear Entrapta resolve her crisis, for she had work to do. She found Glimmer's secret Pillow Armory, which everyone stole pillows from regularly because they were the softest fluffiest pillows, and got to work!!!

Two hours later, everyone came together at dinner... which was a takeaway for Sea Hawk reasons... and began sharing their Love Day gifts.

Micah went first. He placed a bouquet of flowers in the middle of the table, Angella's favourite. Castaspella and Glimmer hugged him.

It was silent for a while. Then Netossa launched something at Spinerella with her net!!! Spinerella looked up and narrowed her eyes. "A code for Sea of Thieves? Really?" "Hell yes, said Netossa. "We haven't played together since your Xbox Gold expired. Season 7 is SOOO much better Spinny, we're going to sink so many people!"

Bow coughed nervously, bringing out his gift for Glimmer. "I got you... a new cloak?" 

It had a sparkly under layer like Glimmer's current cloak, but it was much warmer, with a fuzzy white collar sewed onto it. It was magnificient, the colours of the galaxy. Glimmer looked so... happy, almost tearfully, and teleported to Bow, hugging him instantly. "Oh-- I got you something too!" she said bashfully. Then Glimmer pulled out.... a SHIELD!!! It was wrapped in a bow. And it had Bow's face printed on it with a wink, in his own art. That was probably the secret work Entrapta helped with but while Adora was autistic she still knew it was a bad idea to tell the world how last minute Glimmer's gift idea was. "It's your SUPER HERO shield", said Glimmer. So... you're safe, while you're protecting people  🥺 ” And then he kissed her on the top of the head, and she hugged him. Hey Tippen, I DO write Glimbow sometimes! The gift giving continued. Swift Wind got a pair of sunglasses for Castaspella, which fit her well somehow. Adora didn't think they were dating but it wouldn't entirely surprise her.

Inexplicably, Sea Hawk gave Mermista a gun. It was a sniper rifle as promised. Mermista blushed, and looked away, muttering something before gifting Sea Hawk a small box, which he stared at with such wonder as he opened it. He didn't share what it was it with the group.

Scorpia gifted Perfuma the little earrings. Perfuma looked SO happy, but she didn't put them on. Then she gave Scorpia a medium sized box, which Scorpia opened. "Wow..." she said, "This is so..." She took something out. "This is Scorpion Sensitive Soap... I thought it didn't exist anymore! And here are a pair of fuzzy gloves and one for my tail--" She took out the gloves and put them on immediately, even though it was really warm. Scorpia looked fuzzier than ever.  "I.. You're the BEST, Perfuma!!" And then the pair cried very loudly and everyone smiled, and talked a bit more loudly as things continued. Hordak looked a bit downtrodden as Entrapta wasn't here yet, but she showed up suddenly, running around the corner. "I'M SORRY I'M LATE" she said, "I WAS STILL WORKING ON IT!!!" And then she dropped a fucking engine onto the table. Hordak's eyes went wide.

"This..." he said, "This is the engine from my designs to upgrade the starship..." "Yep!!" she grinned. "But.. we thought we couldn't stabilize the plutonium crystals necessary for the catalyst..." "All sorted!!!" He stared at her, in disbelief, then pulled something out of his pocket. Entrapta gasped. "Is that a data crystal?" "I heard it's Etherian tradition to give your partners a part of yourself. This necklace... is a response to the one that you gave me long ago." (A/N: It was less than a year ago.) Entrapta had an unreadable expression as she tried to plant the blue crystal in her chest, then remembered she didn't have a power suit on, and placed it around her neck. "Wanted..."

They hugged, it was nice. Tipsy Adora thought it was very cute that Entrapta and Hordak seemed to have found someone who understands them. Catra had been watching events unfold while seated next to Adora, and grabbed her hand, stroking softly. Adora was flustered, and nervous as hell, but now she realised it was time.

She turned around and faced Catra.  And was stunned. She stared at Catra's beautiful face for about sixteen seconds before Catra stammered. "Uh. Hi Adora!" she said, tail flicking and a smirk on her face, amused and intimidated by Adora's behaviour.

Adora blinked. "H... Hi Catra."

Glimmer rolled her eyes. "Disaster lesbians." Spinny and netossa nodded in agreement. Entrapta was counting the seconds, verbally, that it took for Adora to continue. Scorpia was holding her breath, which couldn't be healthy. Bow was just gazing with his Bow face like he was going to start crying and hugging everyone again, which is happening a lot in this fic, but that's what you get when you're gay and sappy and writing a valentines day crack fic for your girlfriend.

"Mm-hmm!" Adora coughed. "So. Catra. I... I've known you for a very long time... and we've changed a lot over the course of that time... and I guess..." Adora sighed. "I guess, I'm starting to realise, I'm still learning about you. And now we've escaped the Horde, now we have ROOM to enjoy life... I have such a hard time figuring out what it is you like, or what even I like! Which is scary... but at the sametime.... kind of exciting. "

Catra's eyes were dilated and her tail had moved around her legs. Adora continued.

"I think, I know enough about you.... to say that for whatever reason, you like me. And I like you. So I thought maybe you'd appreciate it if you had something, that made you think of me."

She blushed and revealed, from behind.... a golden retriever toy! Or at least, that is what it was supposed to be. Some parts of its fur were less fluffy than others and its eyes were mismatched, but they were blue buttons, with black and white dots pained on them. It was so very cuddly and kind of fat. "I know it's not really useful like some other people's gifts... and you haven't asked for a cuddly toy... but I thought, you should know it's made with a lot of love."

Catra took the toy, and Adora waited for her reaction. She wondered if Catra was going to divorce her for such a shoddy gift, especially compared to Mermista's gun and Hordak's radioactive engine that he and Entrapta were now taking out of the room after much begging from Bow.

Catra laughed. She fucking laughed! But after a few seconds of wishing she was dead, Adora realised that Catra was crying. It was a happy laugh. Catra gave adora a hug, kissed her on the cheek, and talked in her ear. "You dummy. Of course you don't know what I want. I never tell you!!!"

Catra drew away, while Adora was enchanted. Catra was smiling peacefully, but then realised she was surrouned by people, and was blushing and looking away a lot like Mermista, as she took out Adora's gift. It was wrapped in several pieces of newspaper and tape.

"Here", she said. "Take it before I change my mind."

Adora unwrapped the gift... it was...... A cuddly cat. No, not just any cat - A Catra! It was a small cuddly Catra, on all fours with cartoonish proportions, like a very chibi Cat. Some parts of the fur were off colour - it seemed Glimmer's Pillow Armory had seen a lot of theft as of late - and it was slightly smaller than Adora's Adoretriever. But it was so funny. Adora giggled, she couldn't help herself, and Catra smiled.

"I thought the exact same thing", said Catra. "Now I'm with you forever whether you like it or not."

She picked Adora up, then realised Adora was too heavy to pick up, so Adora picked her up instead, and they kissed and hugged.

Why did Catra always have to be so cute?

The end!

And this is the fanart I drew to accompany it :)

[transsweets]

Got an idea for a halo/spop crossover very vaguely inspired by Unto the Breach (I looked at the title and started cooking). The prompt is simple: master chief shows up in Etheria around the end of Halo 3/start of SPOP s2. He's got cortana and a bunch of equipment from whatever ship he was stuck on at the end of halo 3. I imagine the hunk of wreckage chief and Cortana were on got yeeted by the destruction of the ark. which is how it ended up in etheria.

Ok now for the good stuff: The UNSC in halo is very similar to the Etherian Horde (the one controlled by hordak) in SPOP. Chief was raised as a child soldier, not to fight aliens, but to kill human rebels. I think chief would still end up in the rebellion bc the Horde would likely try to capture him on sight.

So basically, chief and Cortana who both were part of an evil regime (that only seems moral in the games because the covenant is worse) are now in the role of rebels. Theres so much potential for guilt and drama here.

Chief and Catra are both characters who were raised as child soldiers who fought for an evil empire who showed loyalty towards that empire until they were forced to stop by circumstances.

Chief was also almost tricked by a weird AI into activating a planet sized super weapon.

Cortana also would be a massive game changer for the rebellion. I think she would without a doubt be a match for Catra in terms of tactics. And she would probably figure out that like 99% of the reason the Horde didn't instantly crumble to She-Ra is because of a messy break up. Very funny lots of drama potential

Adora would meet two aliens one of whom is a super soldier and the other is a super intelligent AI and one of the very first things she would do is get distracted by Cortana's ai hologram being naked and ask her to put clothes on. She'd be too distracted to ask anything else.

The rebels don't kill their enemies. They're super nice. hell the Horde under Catra seems to avoid killing too. Again just so many opportunities for drama and self reflection. Also 100% chief tries to straight up murder a bunch of horde soldiers without realizing the no-kill rule is a thing. only fails to do so because the average Etherian is absurdly durable.

Over the course of the fic, the two aliens would progressively realize Etheria could kick the ass of the entire UNSC. They also realize their political system is super easy to coup. and they are sci-fi versions of the U.S. military after all. So I think there would be internal debates of whether they should try to ensure that Etheria "isn't a threat" to the UNSC (euphemism for conquering Etheria). I don't think they would actually attempt this, more so get into their own heads about it.

All that stuff above would force a lot of self-reflection on the both of them. The fact that the Evil Horde, whose leader admits to being evil, is actually nicer than the military they were created to serve? good shit.

especially true for chief because although he didn't fight many battles against fellow humans, he still fought some. which is more than cortana.

[haemosexuality]

how did anyone watch that scene and got to the conclusion that "lolll catra tried to end reality to spite her ex lmao 🤪" like holy shit did we watch the same show. the only thing close to a mother figure catra has ever had who abused her all of her life who tortured and insulted and tried to kill her manipulated catra by showing her affection for the first time in her life and led catra to believe she could love her, only for catra to realize she was just using her to escape prison, and after she did so catra got blamed for it, choked, thrown to prison, sentenced to death and then denied a quick death and sent to die slowly in a desert. everything she has worked for her job her position her life thrown away in the blink of an eye. and then on top of all of that she finds out shadow weaver did all that and ruined her life so she could go to adora. the girl who shes been compared to and forced to live in the shadow of all her life. the girl who was praised while she was tortured. the girl who abandoned her. and now both of them are working together to try and take catra down. and you think this is only about spite for adora????? be fucking for real oh my god. and then after this but before she opens the portal shadow weaver goes back to the fright zone with the "good guys" and uses their powers to try to fucking kill catra again are you kidding me!!!!!

[vivaciouscynner]

Angella

I've seen a lot of arguments against this idea of mine, but I would actually like Angella to be canonically immortal - as mentioned by Glimmer in Season 1. I think it would be a great continuation of the show to have Entrapta "pick up a signal" after being taken out of Despondos; after being returned to the "wider universe". Do you not understand how much I need this? No..., that's not right. Do you not understand how much YOU need this?

Consider this:

Entrapta, in all her glory, now has safe access to all of Prime's tech which apparently has portal technology. Combined with her knowledge of First One's portal tech, her research while activating the portal with Hordak, and the said new found access to even more advanced tech and basically an army of assistance (thanks clones), it would be logical to realize there's probably a weird anomaly floating between multiverses. And that anomaly? Yeah, it's Angella.

Before you go all, "SHE'S DEAD, LET HER BE DEAD IN PEACE!"

My answer: NO! Don't be a jerk face. It's really moving and BETTER if she's alive. And consider it's possible because even Razz got to twitch between TIME! That was never really explained and the Angella experience makes more sense, so let's continue on why.

First of all, think about how this could be the first big mission after the war. People start seeing weird glitchy behavior but just subtle enough that they thought it was in their heads. But Entrapta finds something and assembles everyone [important] to discuss it. After they argue about how dangerous and insane it is, Entrapta let's out a big and cheerful, "Oh well, if you don't find out what it is, realities will continue to become less stable in order correct itself by either destroying this world or something worse. The anomaly needs to be in SOME universe. At least that's the theory anyway. <Pause Pause Pause> ISN'T SCIENCE FUN!" Catra will have to stand in and wrap it up with, "So if we do nothing, we all die, if we do something maybe only some of us die?" Then Entrapta shrieks "YUP!"

The team assembles in micro teams, BFS, Princess Squad, Rehabilitated Clones (you have no idea how funny this would be). Everyone's assigned like a quadrant to investigate, but the longer they stay there, the faster the corruption and instability becomes.

When they get in some quadrant to investigate, things change like the crystal castle manipulating memories, except it's that we get a glimpse of the portal reality that Catra opened in S4. Catra is watching herself - her corrupted self - and she starts breaking down. Tail goes bushy, her heart races. Adora sees something else. Adora sees Catra just before she opens the portal. The moment where Shadow Weaver binds her with Glimmer's siphoned power. Moments where they hadn't talked about with each other. Everyone starts seeing different realities or past selves as these are all colliding. They're all linked to themselves and they can't get themselves out of it.

UNTIL

Razz - good ol' lady Razz - being her bat shit crazy self, she guides them along the way out of these realities. When they try to have a moment to look at each other filled with regret or guilt or both, Razz just interrupts, "THERE'S NO TIME! WE MUST MOVE QUICKLY!"

And Razz is now bouncing over weird magical cliffs and foliage and what not that randomly keep popping in and out. Everyone is having the hardest time trying to catch up all the while Razz is just, "maybe do some squats when you get home! I'm 1090 years old, move your ass!" Anyway, they all eventually get to some magical safe zone (why not) and Razz is like, the thing you need to fix is over there. She points in a direction and everyone looks, and then Razz just... disappears.

And everyone goes towards this figure and as they get closer they recognize her. Angella. And Glimmer is just like, WHAT THE FUCK! She's ready to bolt.

There's a bunch of different ways I could have this reunion, but lets skip that.

Angella's back but she's kinda maybe not in the best of minds. She's spaced out. A little underwhelmed. Probably thinking the team is not even real. Very calm demeanor, 1000 yard stare, the whole shebang.

To add to the drama, they're lost. Not just a little lost. There was no way to track where the hell they were going with Razz moving over random areas that kept popping in and out. They can either stay in the magical safe zone and wait for starvation or hope a miracle happens before that time.

Glimmer tries to take the opportunity to talk to her. To explain that, "Dad's not dead." And Angella just gives this dismissive, "Hm. What I wouldn't give to see my Glimmah and husband again." Adora's trying to make some connection with Swift Wind. Bow's hitting his tracker pad to no avail. It goes back to Gimmer just talking to her through tears because it's like talking to a wall. Catra's watching from a distance with tears of her own.

This is why it would be important to have Angella alive. Catra is forced to confront an action she wasn't even aware she was the direct cause of. It was never Catra's intent to specifically trap Angella because the only thing on her mind at the time was just "destroy everything, nothing matters." But here we are, she realizes it more than she ever had before. Catra confronts her. Tells Angella it was her. That she is the reason Angella was here, but she promises to make it up to her. To take her home. Angella just looks right back at her. Emotionless. She finally says, "A child of the horde. A face I recognize, but haven't seen in ages. That's strange." She huffs a laugh. "Maybe these illusions are becoming sentient."

Adora has to interrupt, she found swifty, but it's too dangerous for him to come to them for fear of getting lost. So she has to follow her strong bond with him to get back home. The path back is trecherous and Angella is barely humoring them by tagging along and stopping to quite literally smell the flowers of random environments as they walk back. Strange creatures aim to attack them. Members of the Princess squad start coming in one or two at a time to help as they get closer back. And finally they reach the exit.

We could add some more tension like, Angella still resisting but that's boring. So throw in the whole, well she pulled the sword, she really is trapped, but we can resolve that with She-Ra wooo. We can have Glimmer force teleport her through the exit. Whatever. Let's say they eventually make it through.

Then we gotta have a small main section where Angella is taking her time believing she's really home. This is hurting Glimmer because even though she has her mom back, she doesn't have her mom back. This is hurting Micah for the same reason. The fact he's even there is so hard to explain to Angella. It's hard on Catra because it's just a reminder of the huge fuck up that she was trying grow and move on from. Adora and Bow are both in disarray over their wives.

Anyway, lots of angsty stuff, but it CAN end happily. Angella gets better. Slowly believes that she's home. Maybe not her home but believing it's an alternate version of it at first. Things don't glitch into something else every short distance away.

Angella doesn't believe the war with the Horde is over. She's often found in the war room waiting for her General to give her updates but none come, none to give. Micah tries to explain what happened at Beast Island and how he was rescued.

Catra's been avoiding Glimmer whenever she comes into view until Glimmer teleports herself right in front of Catra and confronts her.

"Hey!" Glimmer shouts. "What?" Catra says looking away. "Why are you avoiding me?" "I-I'm not, I just- I'm busy" she tries to walk away but Glimmer teleports again. "Tell me what's going on with you!" "Nothing. Everything's fine!" tries to walk away. Teleports again. "STOP DOING THAT!" "Talk!" "I can't stand looking at your mother! Okay?! I can't stand I did that to her. To you! I can't stand who I was. I can't stand what's happened to me! What I became to do that! I- I- I hate that I was making progress and- and- all of that guilt and PAIN is BACK! AND YOU'RE MY FRIEND!? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!? JUST STAY AWAY!"

Glimmer just hugs her as Catra's struggling to get away and then breaks down sobbing.

Anyway, Catra's trying explain she's not trying to make this all about herself. She was avoiding glimmer to literally avoid making her own guilt a topic. She didn't want to add to Glimmer's troubles. She didn't want to be an added burden even though she is really just hanging on by a thread.

We resolve it all and this thread is getting huge but I could write a whole fic on this premise but I'd rather see it as a film from ND Stevenson

[shame-kink]

absolutely fucking hilarious to me (aka i'm actually no joke mad whenever i think about it) that a "maligned" yuri bracket that as the creator admits started about lesser known or disliked femslash just about IMMEDIATELY derailed as soon as the creator allowed leniency for "oh well a lot of people seem under the impression that something is 'maligned' (synonyms: vilified, slandered, infamous) if its UNIVERSALLY FUCKING BELOVED by the fandom but the story itself gets in the way of it for reasons ranging from "author is a dipshit" (perhaps a valid reason to consider it maligned) to "its a fucking tragedy and the fact they can't just live happily is MEANT TO BE SEEN AS FUCKING SAD *YOU ARE THE DIPSHIT HERE*" so like, all these polls are just popularity anyway so who can say if "most popular out of a succession of lesser-known, shitty, not-shitty-but-people-act-like-it-is, etc" is any more meaningful than "literally just the most popular ship we put on the bracket. like you could've answered this without even doing the polls just go over the initial bracket and choose the most dedicated fanbase and extrapolate"" and now its just a succession of Farcille sweeping every single matchup despite the fact that i've never met a single fucking person worth caring about who actually dislikes it. like i assume the pervs who just write the usual isekai monster x innocent girl "fanart" (...did they even read it...?????? i kinda feel like they got maybe 2 volumes in lmao. fake fans) don't really care for it but who gives a shit about them they should die. its not unpopular in the slightest aside from *probably* i assume overexposure or the one sad little laios x marcille shipper sitting in the corner who doesn't simultaneously also ship farcille in that kinda wierd freudian-isn't-the-right-word way that makes my stomach churn. FUCK THESE SENTENCES BRO WHY DO I WRITE LIKETHIS ok i wrote ahead but didn't address a point bc i my skull turned off but- Farcille doesn't even get like, morality discoursed much??? Like theres always those ships out there which are popular but get picked apart for potential patterns of abuse or unhealthy behavior or if you *think* about it Adora and Catra were both raised by the same (nonconsentually adoptive) parental figure which can make it incest Which Is An Argument That I Struggle With Completely Disregarding Because Of The Subset Of Incest Shippers That Do In Fact Take It That Way (But As A Positive), y'know. that kinda shit. Not even getting into the cases where a ship is more unambiguously fucking bad on a morality standpoint fandom popular or not. I could use this opportunity to soapbox but I won't.

hell even some of the contestants that actually have some leg to stand on are still an ill fit - kyosaya is from Madoka, which means that while fans can feel whatever way they please there Is a certain malicious element to their existence which isn't just excusable as "part of the tragedy/conflict", but its STILL one of the two "heavy hitter" ships outta the original series's fanbase (i don't know dick all about magia record). HELL madohomu at least gets the "is there discourse about it being dysfunctional/abusive/one-or-the-other-involved-painted-as-a-predator" treatment, despite being like... THE relationship the series itself fucking circles around. idk maybe madohomu was in there and i didn't notice. still wouldn't really fit though (maybe back in 2014....)

anyways delia x jessie would belong on there more than like 90% of the bracket just for the "they're basically canon" sweep-kerfuffle (if they WERE in this bracket. lol lmao that'd be hilarious actually wonder who they lost to)

[tropicalcryptid]

Oh gosh this is an amazing analysis, especially the insight into how and why Hordak was there to save Adora as a baby, and why he felt such a connection to her whether he wanted to admit it or not.

And damn, all the parallels between Entrapta and Hordak and the artifical portal and what it represents... Entrapta and Hordak initially met and bonded over building the portal, which they understood would eventually separate them from each other--but eventually they hit a tipping point where their desire to stay together overruled each of their former primary motivations! Before this point, we see that working with new tech (Entrapta) and finishing the portal (Hordak) were their absolute driving interests, to the point that they eclipsed everything else in their lives and isolated them from those around them. Nothing mattered except those pursuits. So for them to choose each other over those goals is a huge, HUGE deal.

But that's what happened! They met and fell in love over something toxic, something that they didn't realize was bad for them and their growth--but then they began to turn away from it, and towards each other! Metaphorically, Hordak was moving away from the toxic, manipulative "love" of Prime and toward a real connection with Entrapta. And Entrapta is realizing that a portal that takes Hordak away from her might not be a good thing, although she still wants to help him achieve his goals, not understanding yet how self-destructive those goals are.

Then everything goes to shit, and Entrapta does figure out that the artificial portal that represents Hordak's connection to Prime is bad, it's dangerous, and it has the power to rip the planet apart. And she desperately runs to tell Hordak, because she has such faith in their bond that she knows he'll understand. And the entire framing of the narrative tells us that he will! He needs her, he won't proceed without her. If Entrapta had made it to Hordak, he would have stopped the experiment. He woukd have turned away from Prime. He would have chosen her.

But that's not what happens, and Hordak doesn't realize that the portal was a bad thing (both metaphorically and literally) until a whole season later when Horde Prime arrives and offers a shocking contrast to the kind of love and connection that Hordak had with Entrapta (whose fate he has only just learned, and boy is he FEELING THINGS).

But after this revelation (and once poor Hordak starts getting his memories back (featuring Entrapta, naturally)), both of them are finally able to face the truth and fight back against Prime. The artificial portal brought them together when they were both in low and unhealthy mental places, pursuing a dangerous goal without looking at the bigger picture--but in the midst of all that, something real and precious grew. And that love gave them the strength to fight back and choose each other *again.* And their love saved the world just as surely as Catra and Adora's did. And I love that! And I love them! And dammit OP you got me started on the Entrapdak brainrot again thaaaaanks

Portals, man!

Thinking about the portal incident again How it was never explained what caused the portal to appear, was Light Hope involved, was it someone else or was it wild magic. Was it planned or was it a pure random and luck How it saved Hordak from certain death. How it saved him from Prime How it appeared at the right place at the very right time. And had this happened a day late or anywhere else on the front lines, he most likely wouldn't have survived

How in that moment on the battlegrounds Hordak probably no longer believed he could be saved and just accepted his fate

How he might've as well been mere weeks/days old and his life could've ended before it even began. And he was ready to accept it

How in his mind he might have thought he was dying. And how confused and defeated he must have felt once he realized that he was still alive. That this portal did not kill him, but rather took away his chance at doing something "right", the last chance at pleasing his god. How he might've saw himself as an even bigger failure, because he couldn't even die right

How this sudden brutal separation from Prime and the Hive Mind was necessary and, in retrospect, was the best thing to ever happen to Hordak. How by physically cutting all the ties he had to the Horde and the known universe, some random portal did more to protect Hordak than most people in his life ever did

How Hordak himself viewed his situation not as a miracle but as fate worse than death. How at first he only felt immense pain, fear and grief, like a very young child whom was forcebly taken away from their abusive family. How he did not understand that it was good for him and only wished to return home and see his brother again. How Hordak wasted years of his life trying to find him. How his indoctrination, loyalty and love were stronger even than such powerful magic/technology

How Hordak had no idea what to do with himself at first, for he never thought he would've lasted this long. For he was not meant to live that long. And yet, he no longer welcomed death and once again found will to live. He did not let himself give up this time

How he's been looking for a portal home, hoping that one day it's going to appear again. How eventually, tired of waiting, he decided to create a portal of his own. How it became his life's work

How it was a portal that sent Adora to Etheria, someone who will one day free Hordak and the entire universe from Prime. How, if he wasn't waiting for another portal this entire time, no one would've come for her and Adora could've died on that field. But Hordak was there, and (as best as he could) he took care of someone who ended up in the same situation he was in

How it was a portal that brought Hordak to Etheria, and into Entrapta's lonely life. How they would've never met each other if it wasnt for that incident

How it was a portal that invited Entrapta into his life and helped him connect with a person who will forever change his life. How it was a portal that became a catalist for their friendship (and love)

How the "natural" portal that sent Hordak to Etheria can represent real connections and the painful process of growth and change (seeing new places, meeting new people, trying new things, distancing from harmful enviroment, learning independence, being responsible for oneself and others)

How the "artificial" portal Hordak created himself can represent desire to return to this false safety of the past, where everything was simple and familiar, as well as his desperate wish to rebuild his connection with Prime. A connection that was never there. How it was falling apart from the start, how at first Entrapta was so eager to help her friend succeed, but eventually realized that the portal was dangerous. How in the end it only hurt Hordak and everyone around him

How the portal that appeared "naturally" gave him not what he wanted, but what he needed. A safe place, people who understand him, a chance at better life, his personhood. How, after the "artificial" portal gave him something he thought he wanted, Hordak went back to square one. How, in reality, it only took everything from him

Portals, man...

[testudoaubrei-blog]

Well, it’s not quite a master’s thesis, but this is (the first of) a series of posts on why Catra and Adora are the best love story in the history of kids TV animation and maybe the greatest love story in the history of TV. This may in some ways be faint praise - romance on TV is generally not very good compared with books or movies. Often it’s just some will they/won’t they sexual tension that is defused by getting characters together and re-heightened by breaking them up. TV is full of nearly shark jumping pointless dramas like Sam and Diane (Cheers, holy fuck am I dating myself, though that was technically before my time), Ross and Rachel (Friends, which was no Cheers) etc, but also some less annoying couples like Ben and Leslie (Parks and Rec) or Amy and Jake (Bk99) who are mostly just kind of cute and fun. Other shows, like the X-Files, teased viewers for years with unresolved sexual tension. In kids shows most romances are, appropriate for their target viewers, mild, sweet relationships based more on self-conscious flirting and blushing than on complex and conflicted feelings or deep passions - which is pretty realistic when the characters are young teens or even mid-teens. Some of these relationships are really well done - Finn and Flame Princess, Dipper and Pacifica (yeah I ship them), the early stages of Katara and Aang (before the showrunners imbued this childhood crush with cosmic significance), Steven and Connie, etc. Catra and Adora, though, are different. Their love story is not a side plot or a sub plot, it’s the heart of the show. It isn’t a childhood crush, it’s a very messy and passionate relationship between two young adults. She-Ra is an emotionally complex lesbian romance just as much as it is a thrilling action/adventure show. Everything about their relationship is baked into the show’s plot, its themes, hell even its musical score. The dramatic tension between Catra and Adora is not the result of stretching out a flirtation for ratings, but a coherent dramatic arc that runs through the entire show. As Noelle said, he made Catradora so central that execs couldn’t take it out without ruining the show. And the show is better for it. In this series of posts I’m going to try to show why, as well as showing why She-Ra is such a fantastic love story.

First off, let’s talk about how Catra and Adora’s character arcs are foils for each other, and how they come together and apart through the series. This is actually a post that I’ve been working on for a while but I keep summarizing the show rather than cutting to the chase, so I’m not going to recite many plot points so much as sketch out what’s going on with the dramatic structure at the time. But also, let’s talk about what each character’s arc is saying, and how they are commenting on each other. Spoiler alert: Catra’s arc is a subversion and critique of stories of empowerment through ruthless self-assertion and revenge, while Adora’s arc is a subversion and critique of chosen one narratives and stories of self-denial and self-transcendence.

When the show starts, Adora and Catra are shown as rivals and friends - their first scene starts the recurring motif of them reaching out for each other as one of them dangles above an abyss, as well as establishing their flirtatious banter and easy camaraderie. We quickly learn that these two young women plan to conquer the world together. These scenes and later flashbacks show Catra and Adora as deeply enmeshed in each others lives, to the point where neither of them (but especially Catra) have clear identities outside of one another. There is so much genuine love on both sides before Adora leaves, but also resentment, envy and fear, especially on Catra’s side, as well as a protectiveness on Adora’s side that deprives Catra of her autonomy. They are both being abused by Shadow Weaver - Catra physically  and emotionally, Adora emotionally. It wouldn’t be too much to say that Shadow Weaver holds Catra hostage to control Adora (this is why critiques that Adora abandoned Catra to be abused are actually kind of messed up, since they accept Shadow Weaver’s premise that Adora is responsible for what Shadow Weaver does to Catra). In addition, Catra and Adora actually see the world incredibly differently. Adora already sees the world in terms of right, wrong and her destiny to right wrongs - this is why it’s important for her  to accept the Horde’s obvious lies - she couldn’t keep living if she didn’t. Catra, on the other hand, sees the world solely in terms of survival and personal loyalty - everything for her is about preserving herself and the person she cares about - Adora.

Then, when Adora finds the sword, she leaves because it’s the right thing to do. Catra doesn’t even have a concept of ‘the right thing to do’ being something she should care about, or perhaps, something she can care about as an irredeemably evil, awful fuck-up. So at Thaymor neither one understands where the other is coming from, and Catra and Adora begin to part. This is the first turning point in their relationship. Adora chooses duty over what she desires, Catra chooses to protect herself (such as she sees it) and nurse her sense of betrayal and abandonment.

Their relationship until Promise is a kind of weird Frenemy thing that is fascinating to watch and sold me on the show. Neither one wants to fully admit to themselves that the other is now their enemy, neither one has given up on changing the other’s mind. Each is furious at the other, and desperate to see her again at the same time. There’s a lot of heartache and just as much sexual tension, especially at Princess Prom. Both of them come alive when they fight each other (more about that in a later post). But they’re already growing apart - Adora embracing her destiny as She-Ra, Catra rising in the ranks for the Horde. Adora now has the purpose she always wanted, plus other friends and a sense of being chosen to do something great, while Catra now has power - the means to protect herself from people like Shadow Weaver as well as the vindication she had always been denied, and even the opportunity to beat Shadow Weaver at her own game.

The next turning point is Promise. Holy fuck, this episode. It’s an episode that is even more heartbreaking after you’ve watched the show because you know just how much worse things are going to get, and yet, it’s a necessary part of both of their character arcs. Even through season 1 Catra and Adora had remained very much enmeshed in each others lives in an increasingly fucked up way as they grew apart but refused to turn away from each other. Even though they aren’t -exactly- a romantic couple (Adora doesn’t recognize and acknowledge her feelings until the last episode of Season 5), Season 1 of She-Ra is one of the worst breakups I have seen on TV. As I said in a couple of previous posts, this is the kind of shit that the Mountain Goats write songs about. Everything that was poisoning their love for each other even before episode 1 bubbles to the surface and combines with them fighting on opposite sides of the war to make a truly fucked up situation. In the end, it’s Catra that makes the choice to turn away from Adora. This isn’t a -good- decision. It’s spiteful, and destructive, and based on an outright deluded understanding of their relationship (inspired by Light Hope’s manipulations and her own issues), but it’s in some ways a necessary decision. Catra has been so wrapped up in Adora for so long that she isn’t going to be able to figure out who -she- is without cutting Adora out of her life. And the same is true of Adora.

But each of them do this in about the worst way possible. Catra embraces destruction, ambition, manipulation and outright cruelty, turning the tactics of her abusers against them and against everyone around her. She first triumphs over Shadow Weaver and manipulates Entrapta into trying to corrupt Etheria itself. Meanwhile Adora ‘lets go’ and commits herself to the self-denying mantle of She-Ra. Over the next several seasons, their respective paths will nearly lead both Catra and Adora to their deaths (in the Season 4 finale).

For the next season (counting season 2 and 3 as one) Catra and Adora are still closely linked, but as enemies. Still, there’s more than enough flirtation between them (that ‘Hey Catra’ in the first episode of Season 2 is something else), and especially on Adora’s side we see her hold back with Catra, and often take responsibility for the harm Catra inflicts, just like she had when they were kids. Yet they still drift apart - after facing off every other episode in Season 1, they spend less and less time on screen together through season 2 and 3. Catra continues her ascent to power and descent into villainy while Adora becomes more of a stressed out mess as she takes the fate of the world and the wellbeing of everyone she cares about on her admittedly broad shoulders. Catra’s one moment of vulnerability is rewarded by Shadow Weaver’s betrayal and her exile, then Catra triumphs in ruthless badass fashion through sheer desperation and aggression. In the Crimson Wastes, we see Catra at her most independent, and she almost seems happy. But once Adora shows up and Catra hears about Shadow Weaver, she’s sucked back into the worst of her resentments, and she makes very clear that being happy is less important to her than making sure Adora is miserable.

This changes everything. Catra completely breaks with reality and tries to kill Adora, herself and the world rather than lose to Adora and Shadow Weaver (I do think it’s important to remember that she does that after Shadow Weaver nearly kills her). Catra betrays everyone around her when she exiles Entrapta, threatens Scopria and lies to Hordak. Then she flips the switch. When Adora tries to fix things, Catra fights to her own death to make sure that the world disintegrates with her. For her part, Adora fights first to understand what is wrong with the world and then to fix it. Finally she tells Catra that destroying the world is her choice and she has to live with it, decks her, and then sees her off with a death glare once the portal is closed. With this, Adora writes Catra off even if, as she says later, she never never hated her. By doing that, Adora casts off the guilt that had dogged her and takes responsibility for her own life rather than someone else’s - this is actually a huge step for her, and one that will become more important in Season 4.

Season 4 is in many ways the nadir of their relationship. They only see each other once during the entire season, in Fluterrina, when Adora tries to blast Catra, much to the latter’s shock. There’s a sense in that scene that Catra is trying to have the same flirtatious enmity she used to have with Adora, and Adora is having none of it. Catra almost seems hurt by this, which is an early hint at how isolated Catra is beginning to feel. Catra spends the rest of the season at her highest and lowest. On the one hand she spends most of 12 episodes winning by every standard she has ever claimed to care about, besting Hordak himself in single combat and making herself co-ruler of the Horde and coming within a day’s march of ending the Rebellion. In many ways it is the ultimate empowerment fantasy - the abused young woman has defeated her abusers, showed up everyone who doubted her and forced everyone to respect her. But I think it’s striking that the show starts with her and Adora dreaming of conquering the world together and in Season 4 Catra nearly succeeds in conquering it alone, almost like she was trying to live out her old shared fantasy while proving she didn’t need her former best friend. 

At the same time, Catra is clearly miserable. She’s always been unhappy, but in Season 4 we see her completely isolated and lying to herself and everyone who will listen in a desperate attempt to justify her actions. Turning the tactics of Hordak and Shadow Weaver against them to gain power and then against Scorpia and Entrapta to maintain it haven’t vindicated Catra, they’ve made her more and more alone as Entrapta is exiled and Scorpia drifts away. Meanwhile Catra reaches out to Double Trouble, and her interactions with them reek of a kind of desperate desire to have someone in her life (the feeling of their interaction is of an unhealthy casual relationship where one partner becomes emotionally invested and the other takes advantage of that while denying the other the closeness they desire). As people leave her, one after the other, it becomes clearer and clearer that Catra doesn’t want power at all - she wants connection, friendship, love, and power is a very poor replacement. As I said in my long Catra rant, Season 4 is both her ‘Walter White as a Catgirl’ season and the beginning of her redemption. Everything comes to head when Sparkles destroys everything Catra has tried to achieve, Double Trouble delivers those harsh truths and Horde Prime shows up and makes it all irrelevant, just highlighting how futile all her struggles and sacrifices and crimes have been.

Meanwhile Adora spends Season 4 becoming her own her and her own woman. After telling off Catra, she grows more and more disillusioned with Light Hope and critical of Glimmer (though the latter has more than a shade of her old habit of taking responsibility for others - Adora’s development is not linear). She’s gained the courage and confidence to strike out her own path, not just follow a destiny. At the season’s end she once again breaks with her best friend to do what is right, and discards the destiny that she was being prepared for. But in this case she isn’t chasing one packaged destiny for another, instead she’s making her own choice and literally shattering the thing that she thought gave her life purpose. It’s badass, and heartbreaking, and along with decking Catra and jumping after Catra into the abyss (see below) it’s the perfect Adora moment.

In many ways Season 5 starts with Catra and Adora farther apart than they have ever been. They aren’t even enemies anymore, they’re completely out of each other’s lives. And both Catra and Adora are lost at the beginning of Season 5 - Catra is useless and alone on Prime’s ship, completely defeated despite ostensibly being on the winning side, and she goes through the motions of her normal plotting without any particular conviction and none of her normal flair. Meanwhile Adora is even more miserable and self-destructive than usual, throwing herself at Horde Bots and working herself until she drops of exhaustion. In a very real way they both stay lost until they have a chance to help the other. Catra takes responsibility for what she’s done and what she can do, saves Glimmer (at least partly for Adora’s sake), apologizes to Adora, and sacrifices herself. Adora only seems to come alive when she decides to turn around, face Prime, and save the cat. And when she does, Catra and Adora’s arcs, which had separated so completely in season 4, come crashing back together to end the series.

Adora during Save the Cat is such a contrast with the uncertain, hesitant and self-destructive wreck we’ve seen so far in Season 5. This is possibly her craziest plan in 3 years of mostly cazy plans, but she never wavers or questions herself. Even when Chipped Catra appears and we see Adora’s heart break while we watch, Adora doesn’t back down or relent. She keeps at it even as the tears stream down her face. She fights better trying to save Catra without She-Ra’s powers than she fought at the Battle of Bright Moon with them. Catra’s just about as desperate - we see her cry and plead, and now is probably as good a time to any to point out how amazing a job both VAs did throughout the show, but especially in this episode, and how good a job the board artists did. 

Seeing each other for the first time in a year, and only the second time since Catra blew everything up, Catra and Adora are probably the rawest and least restrained we’ve ever seen them. There’s barely any banter, no bravado, and no pretense that they are anything other than two women who desperately need each other (Prime doesn’t help with ‘You broke my heart’.) Then Catra is flung to her death, Adora jumps after her, breaks both her legs in the fall (we see her crawl to Catra, as though she couldn’t walk) and becomes the real She-Ra. It’s such a triumphant and deeply queer moment seeing a woman transformed into a warrior goddess to protect the woman she loves, and it’s the reason that, as dark as it is, Save the Cat is my Comfort Food episode.

Let’s not sleep on Taking Control, though. This episode is like a microcosm of what this show does best, especially the A plot with Catra and Adora. Catra’s reversion to lashing out at everyone and her refusal to be open to Adora shows just how much of a struggle this whole ‘being good and trying to connect to people’ thing is. Catra’s outburst gives Adora a chance to stand up for herself and refuse to be Catra’s punching bag, while also not trying to control her. Adora’s ultimatum gives Catra a chance to reach out to Adora (quite literally), and allow herself to be vulnerable. In this episode, we see just how far Catra and Adora have come since the messed up stew of their relationship in Season 1. Adora lets Catra be responsible for her own actions; Catra lets herself be vulnerable to Adora and takes responsibility for her actions. They’re both better people and better friends and better partners than they were, and the show has shown this in a strikingly nuanced and realistic way. 

The important thing to note in the next few episodes of Season 5 isn’t just how much closer Catra and Adora get to each other and how much they flirt (So much. So much, y’all) but just how -happy- they are. We see both of them transformed in the other’s presence. Basically, since they’ve parted, both Catra and Adora have been defined in no small part by how miserable they often are. They have both had their triumphs and their lighter moments, but there’s been a sense of melancholy dogging both Catra and Adora since episode 1. And now that they’re together again, that lifts, somewhat. Catra’s verbal barbs have lost their venom, and she can openly show how much she cares for Adora and even Bow and Glimmer. She’s still herself - snarky, cynical, somewhat devious - but she’s not engaged in a self-destructive zero-sum struggle with everyone around her. Meanwhile Adora has spent 4 seasons being a neurotic and sometimes nearly joyless mess who takes responsibility for everything and often doesn’t let herself enjoy anything other than the odd BFS group hug (exceptions include trying to uh...impress Huntara and reveling with the butterfly ladies of Elberron in Flutterina).  Around Catra, though, she’s a cocky, swaggering jock who gives as good as she gets. It’s a side of Adora we’ve only seen hints of before, and one that’s so much more confident and joyful even as the world is ending around her. Apart, Catra had tried to protect and vindicate herself with power and conquest, while Adora had tried to forget herself in duty and sacrifice. Together, they can be themselves again. This dynamic is crucial to the show’s portrayal of Catra and Adora’s romance because it doesn’t just show how much they love each other, but how they’re -good- for each other now that they’ve grown as people, and that they are so much better than they were when they were apart.

Until Shadow Weaver shows up. Their old abuser reintroduces tensions but even then things are different than they were. Now Catra isn’t just resentful of how Shadow Weaver prefers Adora - she’s  protective of Adora, which is clearest in Failsafe when she calls Shadow Weaver out for being willing to sacrifice Adora. And while Adora takes the Failsafe, it isn’t to follow her destiny or because she has a death wish - it’s because she loves her friends, and she is the only one who has any hope of doing this and living (though Catra’s suggestion that Shadow Weaver take it is a good one). And finally, when Catra leaves Adora, it isn’t because she hates Adora, nor, despite what she says, is it because she really thinks that Adora chose Shadow Weaver. At least, not exactly. It’s because Catra loves Adora, and can admit that to herself, and can’t stay around and watch the woman she loves sacrifice herself rather than choosing Catra. Before Catra leaves, she asks Adora ‘What do you want?” It’s a question that echoes Shadow Weaver’s speech in Episode 1: ‘isn’t this what you always wanted since you could want anything?’ As much as Adora has grown as a person, and defined herself and stood up for what she thinks is right, she still has never answered that question - it’s never been ‘what do I want’ but ‘what do I have to do?’ and that’s how Adora answers Catra’s question. This is Adora’s last gasp as a self-transcending hero, letting go of what she wants (not that she ever dared articulate what that was) in order to do what must be done. And it nearly kills her and dooms the universe, because Adora can’t be the hero that she needs to be by being anyone less than herself.

But it’s losing Catra that inspires Adora to tell off Shadow Weaver for good (not that she’d ever really warmed to her after season 1). And it’s love for Adora that inspires Catra to stand up to Shadow Weaver and demand that she do the right thing. In both cases, Catra and Adora aren’t just standing up to their abuser, but holding her to account for the harm she’s caused, and it’s the love that they have for each other that inspires them to do this. In Catra’s case in particular her refusal to let Shadow Weaver weasel out of finding Adora is a much greater triumph over Shadow Weaver than beating her up and breaking her mask in Season 1 - it’s proof not so much to Shadow Weaver but to Catra herself that Catra really is better than this and that she deserves better than this. It’s not turning her abuser’s tactics against her, but truly holding her to a moral standard and demanding that she do the right thing.

And then there’s Catra and Adora together at the heart. Catra has already come back for Adora and stayed to the end, choosing to die with her even if she can’t share a life together (not out of some death wish, but because Adora needs her). And Adora, who’s been avoiding answering the question for three fucking years, finally let’s herself want Catra when Catra finally confesses her love (breaking the last of her self-protective shields) and asks Adora to stay -for her-. And by admitting what she wants, Adora can truly be at peace with herself and be the hero she needs to be, lesbianism saves the universe, The End.

So anyway, that’s how Catra and Adora’s stories are woven together and how they compliment and comment on each other. Narrativiely, Adora and Catra start together, come apart, find something of themselves, and truly find themselves and each other when they are reunited. Thematically, they are critiquing seemingly opposing narrative tropes - empowerment narratives and narratives of self sacrifice. But by showing the flaws in both types of story and showing how neither self-seeking empowerment nor self-negating self sacrifice can actually make us happy, She-Ra asks and answers more profound questions than most prestige dramas for adults do. I’ll get into how the show sells the idea that the power of love can bring us happiness (and save the world) in a future post. But next up, I’m going to celebrate just how much Catra and Adora’s relationship revels in ambiguity, complexity and contradiction and so tells a grown up love story in a kid’s show.

[manic-sapphic]

prob my top 2 fav entrapta lines

and technically both are said in space, and as seems to be w my brain, totally skew from opposite ends of the silly-to-serious spectrum. gimme a moment to feign surprise at this realization... mkay here we go

bow gotta promise he won't be mad - entrapta's not tryna end up back on spaceship time-out.

(i added a lil extra ^^ to this here cause tbh, glimmer's face when bow makes that deal just cracks me tf up)

alright but in all seriousness, i love tf out of this ⬇️ line so much, it's just cjdjslcmfjdkagarblegarblexnxkskcnxn -- it so cohesively, one-shot expresses so much about the message i hear prime getting from other etherians he's faced with. whether it's catra's "what did you expect?" or adora/she-ra with "you miscalculated" the underlying message is this exact, in-ur-face-dummy line right here, except entrapta gets down to the core of it and draws the dumb bitch a lil diagram tryna make it easy for him to understand cause she's a smarty running sims in her head constantly--

and the fact they give the line to entrapta? so fucking perfect, cause she may not be the best with emotions but it's because of that difficulty that she truly understands their weight, their power, and how much they're capable of - it's the whole reason gurl's down to risk her neck tryna figure out where his flagship is so they can go get glimmer in early s5. she may not be the best at expressing or handling emotions, so like others in the show w similar issues (even if for diff reasons), it's easy for her to lose her way tryna follow em, but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel them and wants to do whatever she's capable of doing to act on them. which is another big reason they're all able to bring prime's dumbass to ruin.

cause like any etherian who's literally faced prime, all she can do is basically laugh at that moron. cause her esp, runnin those sims, she knows his shit's untenable and dude's spiraling towards his own destruction. she's just hoping like hell it won't end up taking everybody else w him. but for the moment, she prob just stoked af she out-programmed a centuries old tech-advanced megalomaniac with the cutest lil "fck you" peace sign emblem i've ever seen in my life. mock that bitch more? not possible.

i luh u entrapta <333 geek princess for the fcking win

[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)