#autistic wrong hordak

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

so i was rereading the transcript to Launch (the episode where the princesses are trying to locate glimmer) and i want to talk about two things i hated about this episode (apart from.. the obvious):

1. i don’t like that the crew’s idea of an autistic person is “has a special interest” and “doesn’t value human life”.

now i get it. neurodivergent people can have trouble reading the room or responding in a way that people expect us to. but we can still recognize a serious situation (especially one where someone is hurt or in need of help) when we see it.

entrapta has always been kind of absentminded, but i feel like in this episode, they made her act like too much of an airhead. she seems to be on the high-functioning end of the spectrum, so i don’t understand the point of making it seem like she can never take anything seriously. she’s rambling about science and space, she’s climbing over tents, knocking shit over, it’s just strange to add in “comedic” bits like this in an episode that’s supposed to be serious. in general, this episode was far too lighthearted than it had any right to be, but entrapta was the worst part of it.

i just feel like she’s portrayed as more of a silly caricature of an autistic person, rather than an actual autistic person. a lot of this is played for laughs as well like “haha look at entrapta, she’s such an idiot, she only cares about science!” and it just feels insulting. we’ve seen entrapta show concern and compassion before, albeit in her own way, like when hordak wasn’t feeling well. so why would she act like this in a situation where someone’s life is at stake?

my problem lies with the writers and not entrapta herself, because it seems like they pick and choose when to make entrapta more empathetic and relatable, and when to make her act like a robot who doesn’t value human life. it’s just weird.

(this is all based on my general knowledge about neurodivergent people and my own personal experience with autism, so if i said something wrong here, feel free to correct me!)

2. the princesses aren’t mad at entrapta because she joined the horde and built weapons that were used to hurt thousands of innocent people, no no no, they were mad that she betrayed them specifically.

it’s all about “us”. not “our people” or “innocent civilians”, just.. “us”. because they’re the only ones affected by the ongoing war, right? everyone else on etheria is completely safe and sound, the princesses suffered the most because their ego was a bit damaged by what entrapta did. sure.

and let’s not forget this:

fucking rich of perfuma to say that they’re supposed to be entrapta’s friends, when SHE’S the one who leashed entrapta and dehumanized her.

and this is the first and only time they mention the kingdoms. which, btw, i may be nitpicking but “destroyed kingdoms” is a very light way to put it. it makes it seem like the horde was just destroying lands and buildings and not, you know, killing or grievously harming very real people. and again, this is all about THEM in the end, they’re acting like the kingdoms were their property, and not a civilisation of real people with real lives.

it’s a subtle way to avoid addressing the real impact of war, because how would we redeem our beloved catra if we acknowledge that she probably slaughtered hundreds of innocent civilians who were just trying to live their lives?

(also i find it funny that the 12 year old is the only one who even attempts to acknowledge the civilians, while the “adults” of the group whine about themselves.)

i’ve said this a million times before but i just don’t understand the idea of writing about war, and then acting like it only affects the people who are fighting it. this was a show written by adults, right? i’m seriously beginning to question it.

and like i said in a previous post, they did not have to make a she-ra reboot. they did not have to write about war. no one forced them to. if you’re choosing to write about a specific topic in a show that is marketed to the general public, especially children, it is your duty to do your research on it and address it accordingly. you don’t even have to do research to understand that war impacts everyone, not just the oppressors and the royalty. that’s just common knowledge. or did these people skip their history classes?

[adorawasright]

I especially hate that Catra was always invading Entrapta’s space. Like… It’s a teenager being weird and touchy and creepy towards an adult. Just imagine, reverse the ages, and tell me that doesn’t scream ‘predator’. Idk what the writers were thinking, but the fact that Catra is doing this a lot with an autistic adult really irks me. Are they implying something there? Because idk WHAT THE FUCK it’s implying, but I don’t like it and I feel like it’s intentional.

Anyway… Something something Catra is a teen being creepy to an adult. Something something predatory. Something something character ages. Something something treating autistic people like they’re oblivious, dumb, or younger children. You probably know what I’m trying to say here…

I agree, though I firmly believe that Entrapta was not initially planned to be an adult. I always thought she was the same age as the other characters due to her young appearance (like they didn't even try to make her look a little older?). I think the crew only decided to make Entrapta an adult later on so that shipping her with Hordak wouldn't be creepy.

But yeah, it doesn't help that an autistic adult woman is infantilized and bullied by literal teenagers. And rewatching Catra being inappropriate with her is also a HUGE red flag that is rarely called out.

Really, the problem with SPOP is that a lot of its issues seem to be poorly thought out. Catra and Adora being raised as sisters but ending up in a romantic relationship, when apparently they were always "the heart of the show". Catra being a WOC despite having no canon basis, and yet still being a stereotype that WOC (or latina women more specifically) are abusive and "savages". S/pinnetossa also being an "angry black woman x calm white woman" ship. Double Trouble, a canon trans/non-binary character, being a lizard that disguises as a little girl only to get money. Bow being the black best friend that gets little to no character development. So on and so forth.

I'm sure most of these issues weren't intentional, but that is not an excuse, because in the end it teaches wrong things to its young audience.

(Please do not harass the crew members.)

[spopsalt]

Why were the princesses suddenly so mean to Entrapta in the first part of season 5? I mean, Entrapta wasn't always the most beloved by her fellow princesses, but it was unlike them to lash out at her. I get that things are tense and Horde Prime was gonna kill them all. But it is weird that Entrapta, the only autistic character in the show is the only one that gets blown up on like that. Especially when other princesses have their own bouts of unhelpfulness also.

Thank you! Don't get me wrong, she shouldn't of helped out the horde, but leashing her??? Scropia, Hordak, Shadow Weaver and Catra did much MUCH worse, but they got away with a slap on the wrist, (Nobody really trusts Shadow Weaver and Hordak had community service, but that's a pretty small price to pay for literal war crimes) meanwhile Entrapta got dehumanized!? What about Catra who literally killed Angella and attempted to end the whole world to spite Adora???

[fandomshatepeoplewdisabilities]

Trigger warning for ideation…

Hi there! I just found your Tumblr while googling “Yellowjackets” and “ableism”, and I’m so glad I did. I’m a podcaster/Youtuber who covered Yellowjackets. My podcast was one of the most popular, always falling between the first and fourth spots in the charts. Unfortunately, I’ve experienced such severe ableism from the Yellowjackets fandom, that I

A) was diagnosed with PTSD from my experience

B) started getting regular panic attacks for the first time in my life.

C) tried to self-delete

D) had to step down from my podcast, while the pod that started the ableist harassment continues to gain from what they copied and stole from me.

Every day is a struggle for me to survive through this, so finding other spoonies who have been hurt by their fandom experiences is a huge deal to me. I’m glad I found you and I look forward to exploring your Tumblr further!

Kelly 💜💙💚🧡

Mod Tallys:

First of all, so glad this blog helps you. It helped for me too.

I am not in the Yellowjackets fandom, and only very vaguely know what is it about, but oh boy do I relate to the experience of being in an extremely ableist fandom to the point of harming my mental health.

Sadly don't really have any tips other than documenting all of the ableist harassment so that, as soon as the ableists try to gaslight you into thinking it wasn't that bad and it was not actually ableist, you have recites. And finding other disabled people in the fandom.

But I sadly still have not found a way to bring justice to the fandom, or even just make the majority understand just how harmful and bigoted this behavior is. I hate how always the most bigoted and abusive people get the biggest. If anyone has, please comment.

If it makes you feel lesser alone, I was and still am in the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power fandom, which always brags about being so progressive, so spoilers, they aren't. At all. Quite a lot of them are also ragingly biphobic, and quite a lot inhaled TERF ideology without any reflection, but that is another issue. (Now talking a lot about my own experience is not meant to take the focus off you, but rather as showing you that you are not alone with your experience).

This show has three canonically disabled characters, all villains (spoilers: Quite many of the crew are ableists too and refused to protect the disabled people in the fanbase, or even indirectly encouraged the harassment, even if they, too, also brag so often about how progressive they are).

One is, as much as I love that manipulative bastard, just about everything you can do wrong with face difference rep; a elf woman who had a dark magic spell she tried to do for the greater good backfire and caused her scars all over her body, she now wears a mask because she is intensely insecure about her scars, and she became first officer of the villains. But the other two are some of the best representation I ever saw - still big flaws, but compared to the garbage one usually sees - and they actually have a romance with each other. This was the first disabled4disabled romance I ever saw in any media I know, not just genre media.

They are Entrapta, an autistic woman with a knack for engineering and chaos, who defected to the villains because the good guys thought she was dead, but also really because how badly they treat her. And Hordak, a former clone slave with an unspecified but fairly explicit muscular atrophy and cardio-vascular issue, and also intense religious trauma. Yeah, he wears sci-fi armor to deal with that, which is not the best of tropes because of how far removed from reality for people with these disabilities this is, but also his self-hate and insecurities and how desperately he tries to hide his disability and how his slave master/cult leader but also even people in his own army abuse him for that... I can see myself in him so much.

And they not just bond about being the evil scientists of the evil army, but also about the ableism they faced, encouraging each other to get more confident about themselves, helping with things their disabilities make hard for them, and reassuring each other that they are worthy the way they are, flaws and disability and all. It is so touching.

Most of the fandom was, and to an extend, but most of the bullies got bored and moved on, furious about this. They tried to wrap it into social justice language, as they always do. This is pedophilia, Entrapta is a child/has the mind of a child/can't understand what she is doing. Hordak is a gross old man (because we all know all people with physical disabilities are all old people...), he is manipulating and abusing her. Ewww this is so cishet (Entrapta is canonically bi and Hordak literally wears a dress and makeup and was thrown out his cult, beside his disability, for choosing his own name, and their dynamic is very gender role subverting), Entrapta is actually aroace, shipping villains means you support colonialism... It was absolutely obvious this was about ableism, but if you called them out on this, they tried to gaslight you into "you are just to sensitive".

They constantly harassed the shippers, who almost exclusively are disabled and/or queer, also quite a few POC, to the point where seeing some ableist shit take happend daily, if I was lucky even several times a day. Faked callout posts for being a racist (liking Hordak, and fighting back against a bully who happens to be not white), a pedophile (shipping an adult autistic woman with an adult man), lesbiphobic (not focusing solely on the fan favorite lesbian ship), a colonizer (liking Hordak)... But they didn't even stop there, there are the ever present hate anons, but also deliberately triggering people, suicide baiting and death threats.

I hate admitting just how much this harmed me, because at least one of these bullies regularly stalked my blog - hope she has given up by now but honestly with that level of creep-ness I would not be surprised if she still does it - despite me blocking her, but this was just... so awful. Seeing how for most of the fandom, I should not have rights, I should not be able to choose for myself, I am not an actual human person, my sexuality is not valid but gross, I should not be in this fandom.

I feel bad that this gets to me this much, it is just online and it is just fandom - but it still hurts. Some days I only didn't left the fandom out of spite and because it is very unlikely I would find such good disabled for disabled rep again in the next time.

I definitely have trauma from this, and also from another ableist fandom that wasn't quite as obviously ableist, but it did swung by in the background, even if for me it luckily isn't quite PTSD.

Trauma from online harassment and fandom is valid. These experiences are real, no matter what the abusers and mainstream say about this.

I am so glad this blog exists to fight back and inform, or at least show disabled people in fandom that they are not alone. This is actually why I joined, despite being a bit worried about not having the spoons for this.

I am sure many of the other Mods have experiences like this too, feel free to chime in. Maybe you even have better strategies to deal with it.

Ah, I also made two (by now rather old) videos about this issue on my Youtube channel, because I was so enraged and desperate. They are just about the She-Ra fandom, but maybe they still help? Idk, feel free to ignore them if not interested or too triggering or something...

(Second part has a bit of a bad intonation quality, but maybe the content still helps)

[sometipsygnostalgic]

@quirrelli​ this requires no daring as it was the intention from the OUTSET, ive not yet seen a more fitting poll 

So Catrapta is the funniest ship because i have a bunch of ideas for it and most of them have Catra being absolutely infuriated that she’s fallen in love with Entrapta, and even my works where they’re not a thing have them being so aggressively like a pair of cats together that people tag it #catrapta, they are... girlfriends-adjacent... 

Also it’s my two favourite characters so I smush them together like plushies...

However if we take things a bit more seriously then we can go in a couple of directions.

1. The super fluffy take that you usually see me drawing of two autistic catgirls in their final form, sensitivity understanding and solidarity between two former villains/weirdos/depends what au you are going for, OR  

2. An incredibly difficult and fucked up relationship more similar to the one we saw grow across the show. Imagine if they DID have a thing going on in season 1, and then they STILL had the onesided rivalry after Hordak was pulling his favouritism bullshit, and Catra STILL sent Entrapta to beast island. Imagine how much more heartbreaking that would be. The canon iteration is already shattering, with Catra being Entrapta’s first friend, and then we see the psychological impact that has on them both afterwards. 

I’ve toyed with AU ideas where we can use something similar in a more explicitly romantic (and less age ambiguous) context wherein Adora breaks up with Catra, who rebounds hard onto her new roommate/colleague who is like “wow this is fun” and then Entrapta’s more successful at work than Catra, who is falling apart, ends what they have and eventually kicks her out, and they both take it really badly.  

I don’t know, there’s something really inviting about the psychology behind that dynamic, Catra’s mentality in general when it comes to Entrapta and how broken she is by betraying her but how she KEEPS ON DOING SO, CONTINUOUSLY, because she can’t go back now or she’ll have to face that she was wrong about EVERYTHING....  and of course the dependence Entrapta would have on Catra as one of the only people she thought cared about her, only to get rejected in the most brutal way possible. 

Then afterwards how do you heal that? How do you fix that and, well, rebuild a new relationship? 

That’s kind of what Catra and Adora are about but I also love exploring that through Catra and Entrapta in their canon friendship, and I suppose in AUs. The only AU I’ve seen where they had a demiromantic relationship but the whole Beast Island thing still happened is “Prime Really Should’ve Known Better” by @nny11writes​ which is an alternate version of “Save the Cat”. 

[amalgamcorps]

just saw something that said they wanted entrapta to be their wife (platonically) like girl im sorry my polyam wife is busy sucking and fucking lord hordak and me at the same time. can we stop reducing canonically autistic characters as being ooo sfw never has sex cant do anything wrong uwu it makes me want to CHOKE. LET AUTISTIC PEOPLE BE SLUTS!!! ENTRAPTA HAS CRAZY SWEATY FETISH SEX THAT LEAVES HER ABOUT TO PASS OUT ON TOP OF ME AND THATS A FACT!!!

[spacebatisluvd]

I feel like one of Entrapta's skills, aside from being good with technology, is the ability to speedrun un-gaslighting someone. Basically, she takes someone who is a victim of gaslighting, convinces them that their memories were true all along, and gives them the courage to overcome their doubts and take action within less than a few hours. Her behavior (partly?) rebuilds the information and confidence that the gaslighting destroyed.

On a small scale, she does this with Scorpia. Catra said that Entrapta was a traitor who got what she deserved, but Emily had footage of what really happened that day, and of Entrapta being a good friend. On a larger, more disturbing scale, she does this with Wrong Hordak by showing him the ruins of Krytis and comforting him ("there, there...") when he starts to panic and cry.

In the first example, she is not physically present, and in the second example, you're supposed to laugh at the gaslighting victim and find him annoying (which is kinda yikes) so it is understandable that people do not notice this trait of hers, or find it to be heartwarming. But I noticed, and I wanted to share.

(Without Entrapta's help, Adora overcomes Shadow Weaver gaslighting her. But it takes a lot of interaction with the outside world, and a tremendous amount of courage, and a long, long time, so I think my point still stands).

I politely and respectfully disagree--not because I don't think Entrapta is an incredibly supportive friend! She is. It's a highlight for me that she is so strongly supportive of folks in crisis. Especially since scientific characters--or autistic characters, let's be real--are often reduced to the formula of "logic =\= empathy". Personally, I think empathy is (or can be) very logical. Even if you can't intuit what a person is feeling, you can use past experience to logically determine their most probable emotional responses to a situation. Low empathy does not mean "cruel" or "incapable of compassion".

So, I do fully agree that Entrapta does a marvelous job of supporting the people she cares about when they are confronted with horrible realities. But I don't want to rob those characters--Scorpia, Wrongie, Hordak--of their agency in those realizations.

They come to those conclusions themselves--often with outside assistance--and Entrapta supports them through those realizations. The support of someone they love/care about absolutely eases the process, and I love that Entrapta--a character who is often regarded as not being very empathetic--is the one to offer that support. But I cannot rob them of the work they do themselves to overcome that abuse.

I hope that makes sense, and I hope you don't take it personally. (...though I also suspect I may have taken you too literally here. Maybe you don't mean it's an actual "magic" ability, just praising that she's a supportive friend. Apologies if I misunderstood.)

[cloverjester]

Ableism in the She-Ra reboot

Okay, so, I am not sure how many people talked about this, but not enough apparently. The new She-Ra, even with it’s good LGBTQ+ represantation, characters with different body types and skin tones, and generally just an aura of acceptance is ableist and it’s bugging me very much.

First of, Entrapta, she’s a character I saw myself in from the beginning. I don’t think there was that much wrong with her portrayal, but with how the show and characters treated her. She was constantly leashed by Perfuma like an unruly toddler, even tho she was the oldest, she was never liked, just tolerated for her skill, and every character was constantly annoyed by her. I saw myself in her so much, because that’s how people treated me all the time. This didn’t let me actually like any of the princesses because how could I, knowing that that’s how they would treat me? The only moment when Entrapta actually could do what she wanted without getting shunned is when she joined the villains. They might be funny, they might be nice, they might all get redemption arcs, but it doesn’t change the fact that the only characters in the show that accepted her autistic traits are the bad guys.

The show also treats her like she doesn’t understand the difference between good and evil, basically just making her a child that can’t distinguish roght from wrong, while autistic people struggle with empathy I am pretty sure that I wouldn’t join a side of criminals who burn down villages and kill innocent people, there is no way Entrapta wasn’t aware of that, EVERYBODY was talking about that conflict, and she just decided to help them make their killer robots. She should be just as held responsible for her actions as other characters, but she isn’t because she is autistic and let me tell you, double standards are harmful even for the people they benefit.

I am not physically disabled, so I am not really qualified to talk sbout Hordak but he’s the main villain 80% of the series, while he gets redeemed it happens after he is magically cured of his disability, so do with that what you will.

Oh god, Kyle. This guy just makes me sad. He’s treated like a joke because his traits that are traits of autism and trauma, like motor difficulty, not reading social cues and problems with memory. He is constantly abused by his ,,friends,, and is implied to have a romantic relationship with one of them. That’s just so wrong on so many levels.

[historyhermann]

"We wrote her that way": Entrapta and autistic representation in She-Ra

Entrapta forgives Catra for exiling her to Beast Island at the end of Season 3, and being a jerk to her in the past, in the episode, "Taking Control"

In November of last year, I wrote about Entrapta, one of my favorite characters in the animated series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, because she is morally gray character, a hacker, and a "smart and quirky chaotic neutral icon." In that post, I examined her character in the first four seasons of the show, noting that she is an autistic character who makes her own decisions, acting as "a princess with prehensile hair who is [also] a scientist and inventor always trying to tinker with ancient technology. " I also criticized some who claimed she is a "hurtful" representation of autistic people, noting that she is sweet and underappreciated, pointing out that Bow is the only one who sees her sympathetically, and that she stays in the Fright Zone by choice. I further noted that she is dedicated to science and research, sticks up for Catra when Hordak wants to send her to Beast Island, and stated that when she is rescued from Beast Island in Season 4 she "goes with them back to Bright Moon because of data and scientific discovery, not because of friendship or anything else." I additionally made a comparison between her and Peridot in Steven Universe, with storyboarder Maya Peterson (the same one who said Peri is asexual and aromatic), said she doesn't interpret Peridot as autistic. I intend this post will be an update from my previous post, talking about her in the show's final (and fifth) season, which started streaming on May 15th.  If you haven't see the new season, please do so because this post is filled with spoilers! It is important to write about this because series creator ND Stevenson confirmed that Entrapta was autistic, basing Entrapta on an autistic person on the SPOP crew, a full-time storyboard artist named Sam Szymanski. [1]

Reprinted from my History Hermann WordPress blog and also Wayback Machine. It was originally published on May 27, 2020.

Most of the commentary about the new season has focused on the mutual confession of romantic feelings by Catra and Adora, shipped as Catradora, who kiss in the show's final episode, with their love literally saving the world (and universe) from destruction. This is the right focus, while some have noted the other LGBTQ characters confirmed like Seahawk (whose ex is named Falcon), Kyle and Rogelio, the relationship between Perfuma and Scorpia, or the romance between Bow and Glimmer, among many other topics. [2] After all, as Lindsey Mantoan, wrote in a CNN opinion, She-Ra is the "best queer representation on television." In the process, however, little has been said about Entrapta. In fact, of many reviews I looked at, only a few even mentioned her in their analyses, despite her pivotal role in at least part of the season. [3] While one reviewer for A.V. Club (Shannon Miller) claimed that the show trades an in-depth look at Entrapta's treatment for "heroics," and saying there could have been "more reflection from those who have outwardly had more difficulty understanding Entrapta’s mindset, " another, for Forbes, Linda Maleh, says the opposite. Maleh argues that Entrapta gets a lot "a lot of screen time as she learns to balance her love of machines with her desire to connect with people," calling her entirely "adorkable," and that her character gives viewers some of the most touching and funny moments of the show. I tend to agree with Maleh more than Miller. Similarly, I think that Heather Hogan of Autostraddle makes a valid point in saying that Wrong Hordak brought out the charming parts of Entrapta, stating that it was nice to see her understanding how to work alongside friends, express herself better, and her feelings, while the princesses "start to understand her for who she really is." Although it is positive these reviewers noted her role in the season, there is clearly a lot more going on about Entrapta than what Miller, Maleh, or Hogan talk about.

Entrapta, who is between the ages 28 and 30, appears in every single episode of the fifth season, apart from episode 10, can be said to be the "smartest" character in the series. In the previous season,  she was rescued from Beast Island by Bow, Adora, and Swift Wind, reminded about her true friends while ancient technology continued to pull her in. In contrast, in this season, she struggles to find a place among the other princesses, as highlighted in the episode "Launch." Since Entrapta has been a morally grey character in the past, it makes sense that the princesses are a bit distrustful. Even Emily, with her name as an obscure reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, turns away from Enttapta when it appears that she cares more about tech "than saving their friend." After that episode, the princesses begin to understand her better. She later helps out Adora and Bow save Glimmer from Horde Prime's flagship. Glimmer is transported through space by Catra, in her first likely selfless act. She then helps Adora, Bow, and Glimmer successfully rescue Catra from Prime's flagship, called the Velvet Glove. She even does surgery on Catra, removing the chip in her neck. She, additionally, forgives Catra after she apologizes for treating her terribly. As a reminder, at the end of Season 3, Catra panicked when Entrapta tried to warn Hordak to not start the portal. She then orders her to be sent to Beast Island. She is shocked with what she is done (as is Scorpia by this cruel act against her), beginning her descent down a "dark, dangerous path." Basically, Catra blamed Entrapta for her own mistakes.

In the rest of the season, Entrapta continues to help the princesses and tries to disable all the chips before being transported to Prime's flagship. She apologizes to everyone when captured by Prime, literally the head of a cult of mindless drone soldiers. Whether Entrapta has platonic or romantic feelings for Hordak, the latter shipped as Entrapdak by one of of the show's story editors (and some other fans), it is up the viewer. [4] As some fans noted back in March, a few months before the recent season premiered, it is clear that there is "some chemistry between her and Hordak" and some even call their relationship "sweet," although I'm not sure I would go that far. In any case, it does mean that Hordak is more than a one-dimensional villain like in the original She-Ra: Princess of Power series in the 1980s which was used to sell action figures for Mattel. Through some searching, I did find an interview with Stevenson (complete with unfortunate spelling errors by the person who wrote the transcript of her interview responses) where he specifically talks about how Entrapta grows in this season:

I think with a character like Entrapata [sic], we sort of live in a little bit of her own version of the world that the other characters don’t always understand...It's not only Entrapta learning how to empathize and connect with others, but also for others to learn how to empathize and connect with her. And so I think with both sides of that, we see [Entrapta] growing this season. What I think has always been [Entrapta's] strength is that, even if she might struggle with communicating her feelings or understanding other characters when they’re communicating their feelings to her, I think her strength as a character -- kind of her superpower -- is that she sees humanity in everything. Not just in humanoid or organic creatures, but she sees humanity in robots. She sees humanity in the AI that drives ships. She sees humanity in one clone in a million identical clones and knows their personality and knows who they are and knows how to connect with them... I think we see her make a lot of progress on that front, but then we also see her. I think she does more than almost any other character in humanizing characters who have never been humanized before by anyone....It's so much of what is the heart of this show. It seems like that’s what makes Etherea [sic] special in general is that everyone who comes to Etherea [sic] isn’t getting broken by it a little bit. They end up making connections and falling in love in ways they never thought were possible. And I think Entrapta really embodies that."

Furthermore, as a morally grey character, who played a "big hand in some of the Horde-led destruction on Etheria," she still cares about her friends. While some may question her renewal of the individuality or "humanity" of Hordak, becoming his first genuine friend, later leading him to turn against Horde Prime, she clearly had a "unique perspective on the world that not everyone understands." Earlier in the season, when she encounters Hordak before he is freed from Prime's control, in an attempt to access the computer control center of Horde Prime so she can disable the mind-control chips, helped by Swift Wind, she tells Hordak “remember, your imperfections are beautiful!” When the essence of Prime is destroyed by She-Ra, he is freed, and is soon reunited with Entrapta, who says that she is "so glad" to see him back.

By this point, it is clear that Entrapta is not the "worst kind of villain" as some described her and is more than a person who "only cares about the pursuit of knowledge," no matter the consequences, as Brett Elderkin described her, also calling her a "mad scientist," but rather just a morally grey character, or perhaps "chaotic neutral" to use a Dungeons and Dragons term. That brings me to a recent article by Megan Crouse in Den of Geek appropriately titled "She-Ra: In Defense of Entrapta." She states that while Entrapta occasionally embraces the trope of not caring about "people who might be hurt when dangerous experiments go wrong," she is much more than that, and dramatically changes in Season 5. Crouse added that Entrapta in Season 4 was not truly happy as a hermit on Beast Island, although she maintained her fascination with science, missing people, and afraid that "her friends will inevitably abandon her." She then talks about the episode "Launch" where Entrapta's conflict with the fellow princesses reaches a boiling point, putting others in danger, with her actions "extremely, comically risk," wanting to win at no matter the cost. After Mermista accuses Entrapta of not caring about any of them, and not being trustworthy as a result, she responds by saying she didn't realize they were angry at her. She then retreats to apologizing, one of her many defensive mechanisms, stating

I’m not good at people, but I am good at tech. I thought maybe if I could use tech to help you, you’d like me. But I messed that up, too.

As she barrels ahead, Mermista pulls her back by her hair (just as Horde Prime does later), and is finally convinced of her good nature when Entrapta declares “Glimmer needs us!,” indicating she is willing to put herself in harms away as much as anyone else. As Crouse further outlines, while Entrapta's action is similar to what she has done in the past, as she begins to explain how and why she acts and feels the way she does, gaining more friends along the way. Even so, she still clearly has trouble reading people, which is not "magically cured throughout this season." While Crouse says that it would "have been nice to see Entrapta really feel the consequences of her dangerous actions," I would counter and say she did grow a lot in this season. On the other hand, I agree with Crouse that it is "sweeter to see her pursue science and friendship" than just tinkering with technology on Beast Island. While I can see why she argues that Entrapta is annoying, she makes a good point that Entrapta is not letting her "loner tendencies turn into complete isolation, but nor does she have to completely change who she is." As a side note, Entrapta cuts her own bangs, as Stevenson said once, although this is terrifying considering her power tools! Yikes!

Now, lets get to the elephant in the room: Entrapta flirting with technology. The first time this happens is in the episode "Launch," declaring flirtatiously: "Hello. You are very technologically advanced" before almost being blown to smithereens by the Horde robot. Then, in the episode "Stranded" she says: "Darla and I are going to spend some quality time together," again in a flirtatious manner, leading to confused looks from Adora, Bow, and Glimmer. Now, robosexuality, a term seemingly coined and/or popularized by Futurama, means the "love and/or sexuality between a humanoid and a robot." From these two interactions you could say that she is robosexual. Let us consider what Stevenson said about Entrapta: that she is learning to connect and empathize with others, and sees humanity in everything, knowing their personality and how to connect with them. One fan put Entrapta very well, remarking that she is a functional adult who can make full decisions, arguing that she is "chaotic good with a bad moral compass who likes to fuck space nazis," saying she makes bad decisions. I can agree with that to an extent, except to say that it makes sense why she ended up working for the Horde, since the princesses had not really liked/understood her before that point. Another fan noted, correctly, that Entrapta (and Scorpia) but had to earn the trust of the princesses in their own ways.

That's all! Comments are welcome.

© 2020-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] In her first tweet, she responded to a fan who asked if entrapta is autistic, saying that "many of us relate to her and love her so much and it would mean a lot if we could get confirmation of her being autistic." She responded by saying: "yes, we wrote her that way. One of our crewmembers was on the spectrum and related to her specifically, and had a huge part in shaping her story and character!" She further explained that "the crew member was board artist @Sizzlemanski. His first episode was Entrapta’s introductory episode in season 1 [System Failure] and he had a HUGE hand not only in defining her physical acting, but also pitched me several ideas for her arc early on! He basically became our go-to for Entrapta."

[2] As Stevenson stated on Twitter, he hopes that in the future we stop thinking about LGBT representation as a "race or a contest" and as more of a "community effort to uplift voices that have not yet had their stories told," with each individual piece of media as a "broadening of horizons."

[3] When ND Stevenson was interviewed by comicbook.com, Nerdist, Gizmodo, A.V. Club, L.A. Times, Polygon, Digital Spy, GLAAD, EW, and CBR, the interviewers understandably focused on the Catra/Adora slow-burn relationship, but never asked a question about Entrapta. One interviewer for Collider asked "...So we’ve got Bow and Glimmer, we’ve got Sea Hawk and Mermista, we’ve even got kind of an interesting relationship with Entrapta and Hordak, and then obviously CatrAdora. But did you know from the beginning how everybody was going to pair off or is that something that kind of developed over time?" but he never specifically replied about the "relationship with Entrapta and Hordak." Reviews of the show in The Mary Sue, PinkNews, LA Times, tor.com, and ScreenRant do not even mention Entrapta at all!

[4] On Instagram, ND Stevenson said that Entrapta would follow Hordak to Beast Island as his community services for his crimes and as a result, the "two would develop a romantic relationship and reunite with the bot she left behind in Season 4, keeping her promise to return," so it sounds like it is leaning toward romance, as noted in a summary on her fandom page. Also see Emily Hu who noted they did board a scene with Entrapta and Hordak but it never ended up being included. There is clearly a connection between Entrapta and Hordak, but I'm still not sure if it is romantic or friendly. It could really go either way.

[newwwwusername]

Fanfic requests OPEN for SPOP

I am currently taking fanfic requests for the Netflix show "She Ra and the Princesses of Power" (not the 80's show)

I will write : - Hurt/comfort - Fluff - AUs - Canon divergence - Songfics - Sickfics - Any other trope (so long as it follows my rules) - Any headcanon (so long as it follows my rules) - Whatever ship you want (so long as it follows my rules)

I won’t write : - Smut or fetish fics - Pedophilia/incest (including adopted family, and including step-siblings)/beastiality ships (or anything like that) - OCs - Crossovers (including with the 80s show, He-Man, etc.) - Y/N - Explicit depictions of self-harm or suicide - Drowning (personal trigger of mine) - Werewolf AUs (werewolves are also a trigger of mine, although if your request is compelling enough, I might endure)

Other things to note : - I do not guarantee I will write every request I get. Sometimes requests will just not click with me, and sometimes I don’t feel qualified to fulfill it. I will try to write as many as I can, though - You can also submit any requests to this prompt meme on AO3 if that’s more your style : https://archiveofourown.org/collections/newwwwusernamerequests or to this Google form : https://forms.gle/3K7STap3v715Hidu5

The following is a list of ships and headcanons I particularly like. I’ll write anything, but I’m much more likely to write it if it has one or more of the following

Pairings (/ for romantic, & for platonic) : Catra/Adora, Hordak/Entrapta, Double Trouble/Sea Hawk, Sea Hawk/Mermista, Bow/Glimmer, Perfuma/Huntara, Glimmer/Catra, Kyle/Rogelio, Double Trouble/Peekablue, Catra & pretty much anyone, Double Trouble & Finn, Adora & Glimmer, Adora & Bow, Entrapta & Scorpia, Hordak & Adora, Hordak & Wrong Hordak, most gen pairings honestly, Jewelstar & Tallstar & Starla

Headcanons : Autistic!Catra, Sea Hawk has ADHD, Autistic!Hordak, Autistic!Wrong Hordak, Chronically Ill!Hordak (is that even a headcanon or is it just canon? either way, I like to write about it), everyone who was in the war got PTSD from it, Chronically Ill!Catra, FTM!Peekablue, Therapy Animal!Melog

[beezoobledoodles]

So the she ra finale of season 5 emotionally broke me.

I wasn't expecting to actually cru over shadow weaver. Yet. I did.

I never thought I'd cheer for hordaks return but I did. I love his friendship with entrapta so much.

Also wrong hordaks blep toward the middle of part 1 was very adorable. Hordak is much of the guy ever. Very 10/10

Shadow weavers face reveal!!! AGHHH!!! and her "catra. I'm proud of you" broke me into SOBS!! UGH!

Scorpia.

Catra is just every comedians wife ever and I love her so much. Her arc in the story puts a very special place in my heart I love her.

Double trouble is one of my favorite anti-villians. I LOVE their sass! I love everything about them!

Glimmers arc was pure and fun and I love her I love her relationship with frostia very much big sis vibes.

Speaking of frostia- I LOVE the sassy child (kinda reminds me of sody pop ifykyk) I love her taste for violence after the ball, I love her just so much, just the most child ever.

Mermista is amazing I love her attitude and the fact it's just: "yep. This is what we're doing today" her sass is unhinged.

Scorpia is amazing. I love her, I want more of her. She's so nice....I bet she Does Give great hugs.

Netossa and spinnerella were great side characters I love the fact they're canonically married!

Perfuma is adorable I love her peaceful energy and just. She's a mom friend for sure. Perfuma is the friend you go to when you need help deciding what to wear and that's amazing. I love her.

Bo. Bo is best boy. I love him. I will do anything for bo. Bo deserved absolutely every right to be the way he is. Good for him.

Adora...I wasn't expecting to really like adora but I do. I really REALLY do. I don't know why but I do.

I think out of qll the characters...I really feel the most with entrapta. Maybe it's because she's canonically autistic and the tism brain waves connected easier for me but I really do like entraptas character. I understood her the most.

The big fight between her, mermista, perfuma and frostia when they were first trying to get into primes ship....oof...I felt that...like...IN my soul...like I get it... feelings and emotions aren't easy for me and when I DO feel them...their big and loud and I can't help it. Seeing her interact with hordak...especially AFTER he gets..."reborn" kinda hurt cause that was technically her best friend... she was in the hoard for the promise of first ones tech and she made a friend along the way.

Although I do wish she and scorpia interacted more.

Anyway. I love this series and I wish there was more of it.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

I’m a weird mix here. On one hand I HATE seeing how Entrapta is treated in canon. On the other, I kinda like that it shows that sometimes, when you’re autistic, not everyone will understand you and treat you right. That’s it’s not unheard of to be hurt by others for the simple reason on being different. It’s one of those ‘hard truth Aesops’. I say this, feeling like I was an outcast during the time when I was watching the show, as an autistic person who has felt left behind or was bullied for being on the outside. The issue for me though is this, the show didn’t poetry this behavior as unacceptable. If this were the old show, or any show with better writing, it would portray how others treated her for how it actually was. Bad. If they knew how to write, it would show Entrapta either cutting off ties with them for good and finding better friends, or the princesses actually learning from their mistakes and trying to be better. None of this ‘You’re still fucking weird, but at least you proved yourself useful this one time’ half assed apology. This is a show for children. This sort of ableism displayed by THE GOOD GUYS is not okay. God forbid, a kid sees this and thinks THAT’s how you’re supposed to treat others, and that Hordak being nice and understanding is the WRONG way since he’s THE VILLAIN. This could easily confuse an impressionable child.

yes, exactly! it is realistic in the sense that people actually mistreat autistic people irl but as a "children's cartoon" shouldn't it be sending a good message to children? "bully that weird nerd in your class because they probably deserve it" is not something you want to teach children.

the same goes for abuse. spop is eerily realistic in the representation of abuse but by having catra and adora get together by the end, without catra having to better herself at all, they're telling us that it's okay to abuse a person that you've seemingly "loved" for years.

[adorawasright]

It's very strange to me as an actual autistic adult that c//a and SPOP stans will justify Catra's actions for being disabled (BPD or autistic mostly), despite her not actually being confirmed as such, but they'll find jokes related to an actual autistic adult being put on a leash

Like??? This is telling me that they're ableist without realizing it tbh

Yeah, like, I totally respect people who headcanon her as autistic and/or having BPD, especially if they personally relate to her... but it's also so hypocritical the way stans treat not only Entrapta but any other neurodivergent coded character. I've seen people headcanon Adora having ADHD (which I support!) but she's always seen as stupid and oblivious. Kyle is clearly not neurotypical IMO but he's never taken seriously either. Wrong Hordak then is a walking joke even though he's a victim of a cult.

Not to mention I've seen stans being ableist towards psychosis, even though that is a BPD symptom (and it's present in many other diagnoses!). Like sometimes I genuinely think some people who preach BPD Catra out there don't even have BPD. And something tells me they wouldn't even like real people with BPD lmao.

[mogai-headcanons]

Hordak from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a disabled biromantic demisexual transfeminine trans nonbinary multigenderfluid person who uses a cane and uses she/her, they/them, 🌒/🌒s, and star/stars pronouns, and she’s getting along with Horde Prime, a disabled intersex trans nonbinary questioning lesbian with schizophrenia who uses he/him, she/her, fae/faer, and sun/suns pronouns! Wrong Hordak is a transfeminine catgender nonbinary person who goes by Stella and she/her, they/them, and purr/purrs pronouns, and Entrapta is an autistic abromantic bisexual masc trans woman who uses he/him and ro/robot pronouns!

[notlittleclare]

Day 3 of #PrideWithSheraShips

Clearly, organization is not my thing. School is kinda killing me and reality is kicking me on the floor. I quite liked the drawing actually

I found out recently that #entrapdak is one of people's favorite ships. Not gonna lie, when I was watching, and a romance was first implied, my reaction was the same as Mermista’s. “Are we all just okay with this?”. But after some more scenes, a few more episodes, some posts and it grew on me. They are really cute together and you can tell they really care about each other. Besides, it's a couple between an autistic character and a disabled character, with a common love for science. It's thanks to his love for Entrapta that Hordak can snap out of the prime's control, it's pretty lovely.

Also, I just wanted to highlight how amazing Hordak’s VA work was. He voiced Hordak, Horde Prime, Wrong Hordak, and all the clones, with each one being different, unique, and very distinct, and it's so well done that you can hardly tell it's the same person doing it.

“Your imperfections are beautiful!”

You can see our art here ( @aifosstuff & @not.little.clare ) and on Instagram ( @magenta.aifos & @not.little.clare ) If you want to participate, don't forget to tag us in so we can see your art as well.

[sunshine-tattoo]

entrapta teaching a fellow autistic coded person about facial expressions and friendship is my life <3