#but I love love love she-ra - entrapta is my FAVORITE character….. like in the show but honestly she’s been one of my fav characters in

[rosicheeks]

as a fellow she-ra fan it makes me REALLY happy that you watch it too! it’s such a good show ugh and it’s so cute 🥺 10/10 i would love to cuddle and watch it with you and nerd out about it 🥺🤭💖

-🌸

[tropicalcryptid]

Ok so She-Ra pulled such a great hat trick with Hordak's characterization, and I LOVE it

One of my favorite things about 2018 She-Ra is Hordak's story and development (and Entrapdak cough but that's not the point of this particular post), and the cleverest thing is that so much of it is actually being set up and told to us in seasons 1 and 2 before we even realize that that's what's happening.

When we first see Hordak in the show, he's giving "generic evil overlord" vibes. Garden-variety baddie. Maybe a little more reasonable than some and clearly capable of long-term thinking, but that just serves to make him intimidating. Everything about him--the way he runs his empire, his armor, his color scheme, his minion, his Villainous Eye Makeup(TM), even his name--are all projecting to the audience "yup, Acme Bad Guy here. Move right along."

But then, backstory. And everything snaps into focus. Not only is it one of the first big oh SHIT moments of the show, where we suddenly zoom out and realize that there is SO much more going on than we realized--it's also the start of the audience seeing Hordak as a character rather than an archetype. Suddenly we realize that he's not conquering Etheria because he wants power, or hates happiness and sparkles, or whatever--he's doing it out of a desperate attempt to prove his worth to his brother/creator/god. This moment where Hordak lets Entrapta in is also the moment the show lets us in on what makes our favorite spacebat tick.

On top of that, we've also seen him bonding with Entrapta and opening up to this person that he respects and trusts...probably the only person he's ever respected or trusted apart from Prime. And she's Etherian--someone of a lower species, someone he's supposed to subjugate, someone who he has been raised and trained and programmed and mind-controlled into believing is below him in every way.

But instead she's brilliant and creative and mesmerizing. She's not afraid of him, and she's fascinated with his work. For the first time since being abandoned by Prime, Hordak finally has someone that he can talk to, who is on his level and both understands and cares about the science! (because he is a giant nerd). She's kind to him, a mere defect. And it just sends his whole worldview into a spin, and that's all before--

Bam, mans is a goner. Entrapta's "Imperfections are beautiful" comment punches right through all the toxic bs that Hordak has been steeped in his entire life. You can see on his face here--I think it's the moment Hordak fell in love with Entrapta, but this is also the face of a spacebat reevaluating his entire worldview. If Entrapta, who is amazing, believes something different from Prime...what does that mean? If Entrapta, who is brilliant, believes that he is worth something, and that she herself is a failure...

Well. We know what happens after that, and how Hordak begins to doubt, and eventually fights back against Prime (and remembers his love for Entrapta after TWO mind wipes help my heart ack). But we also get to see what life in the Galactic Horde looks like: the only life Hordak ever knew before coming to Etheria.

It's not nice.

It's really not nice.

Prime operates in a very specific way, and we learn a lot about it in season 5. Prime expects complete obedience, devotion and worship from his clones. He allows no individuality from his subjects, not even a name. Failure or deviations are punished, mind-wiped, or destroyed. We even learn from Wrong Hordak that facial expressions are considered a privilege reserved for Prime (apart from, presumably, expressions of rapture caused by being around Prime).

And once we learn all of this, suddenly thinking about season 1 Hordak becomes very interesting indeed. The time we spend with the Galactic Horde and Prime throws absolutely everything that we know about Hordak into a whole new context. Now all those traits that made him a generic villain are actually hugely effective characterization! And what that characterization is telling us is that Hordak had already moved much farther away from Prime than we (or, probably, he) had realized, even long before he met Entrapta.

Horde Prime does not allow his underlings to have names, personalities, or any differences of appearance. Not only does Hordak allow this among his own troops, he chose a name for himself as well! Season 5 tells us that his very name is an act of blasphemy against his god. And yet Hordak took one for himself, and that name is part of the core identity he is able to hold on to when rebelling against Prime.

Horde Prime cast Hordak out when he showed signs of physical imperfections. Hordak not only keeps Imp (who is by all appearances a failed clone or similar experiment) around, he treats Imp more gently than we see him treat anybody or anything before Entrapta. Imp is not simply "generic evil guy's minion," he is proof of Hordak's capacity for compassion, and evidence that Hordak cannot bring himself to cast aside "defects" as easily as Prime. Considering where Hordak came from, Imp's existence is a huge, flashing neon sign telling the audience this guy here is better than the hell that molded him, and we don't even realize it until 4 seasons after it's been shown to us!

Very cool, ND.

There's more, though. Hordak's red and black color scheme? His dark eye makeup and lipstick? Very Evil Overlord chic. But nope! Actually these are actually expressions of individuality on a level that Hordak knows would be abhorrent to Prime!

Reading between the lines, I see this as Hordak desperately trying to reconcile two diametrically opposed beliefs in his head: (1) devotion to Prime, whose approval he desperately craves, and (2) maintaining some degree of unique personhood, of Hordak, from which to draw strength. Because a failed, defective clone cannot survive on a hostile world, cut off from the hivemind and from Prime's light. A failed clone cannot create an empire to offer Prime as tribute, nor build a spacetime portal from scraps and memory to call Prime back. A failed clone cannot create cybernetic armor to keep his hurting, weakened body alive; to force himself to keep going no matter what, to fight through the pain and the doubt by sheer force of will.

But maybe Hordak can.

And so there it is. Hordak had plenty of time to gain and explore his individuality while separated from Prime, but I think the reason he did it so effectively (while still deluding himself that Prime would forgive him for these little sins, if only Hordak could prove his value) is because he had to.

Wrong Hordak gained his individuality surrounded by kind, quirky people who took care of him; Hordak was ripped from the hivemind by Prime himself and had to fight for his survival against all odds. And that produced a dangerous and damaging foe for Etheria. But it also produced the one clone with the strength of will to defy Prime himself.

This is long and rambling, but ultimately my point is that 1) I love Hordak, and 2) I love love love love that the show was so clever about his characterization. We learn so much about him and how much progress he's already made in breaking from his psycho abusive cult upbringing, and we don't even recognize it until the show wants us to. Hordak had come so far, all on his own, before he met Entrapta. She just helped push him over the edge and finally realize (at least consciously) that Prime's worldview might not be the correct one.

Idk, I just don't know if I've ever seen all the trappings of Basic 80's Villain(TM) so successfully subverted, where looking back 4 seasons later is actually a smack in the face with the "effective character building" stick. Amazing.

[snakeautistic]

I love finding characters I can relate (/project onto) within media. There’s something so comforting about seeing yourself on screen. I end up headcanoning most of them to be in-line with my identities (lesbian, wasian, autistic) because they are literally me in my head!!

Anyway here’s a long ass list of my favorite characters and why I head canon them as autistic for fun!! If you have any others you’d like to add I’d love to hear them. (And please note this is just my interpretation, and highly based on my experience with autism. I’m not saying they’re definitely autistic or that all the traits I listed are the dsm-5 criteria or something.)

Princess Bubblgeum from adventure time:

This girl is peak evil scientist autistic. Her intense need for control, the way she carefully observes the citizens she created, an outsider to them, not quite like them… god it’s so perfect. I read her as being somewhat low empathy as well, it’s hard for her to change her perspective to that of others. Plus the fact her brother neddy is a pretty obvious metaphor for higher supports needs autism. I think they of represent how autism runs in the family and appears in all sorts of different ways in different people. They’re sort of two different representations of the spectrum.

Marcy wu from amphibia

I mean this one is just obvious. The biggest nerd of all time. So obsessed with her RPG special interest that she literally sucks her and her friends into a fantasy world. She’s clumsy (just like me fr), very smart but super socially awkward, a little oblivious and naive. She’s terrified of change, especially if it means abandoning the few social bonds she’s been able to make. I honestly find it hard to believe this wasn’t intentional.

Entrapta from she-ra

Another pretty overt example. I do have some issues with how she was portrayed in the show- (keeping her on a leash was weird.) but overall I really love her. She understands her tech, not people, and it can cause her to come into conflict with other characters. Their treatment of her makes me sad at times, but it’s realistic. I also love some of her other quirks, her love of tiny food, her exitable demeanor, ect.

Pearl from Steven Universe

Peridot is the more obvious example of an autistic character in SU, and while I agree she’s coded that way, I personally resonate more with Pearl. She is not very socially aware, and bothered by disruptions to her routine/ broader life changes. She doesn’t like to break rules (despite being a literal rebel lol.) I find it interesting how she seems to have the poorest understanding of life on earth out of the gems, despite having lived here for thousands of years. She is graceful, but has an almost sort of awkward gangly-ness to her that I relate to. Her neuroticism is also very similar to how my anxiety disorder presents.

Pearl has a tendency to infodump, without realizing those around her are uninterested. Even her relationship with Rose struck a chord with me. The hopeless devotion to her, the way she followed along at her side. It’s how many of my friendships have been. Obvious it’s not exactly the same considering Pearl having originally been her servant, but while not being an explicitly autistic trait, that sort of clingy, starstruck relationship is something autistic people are prone to developing. She does little hand stims at times too that I love to see.

Poison Ivy (specifically the version in the Harley Quinn animated show)

I’m surprised I haven’t seen more people mention poison Ivy. Fiercely intelligent and deeply introverted, she isolates herself from all people, and only connects with and understands her plants. (Which her deep affinity for can definitely be read as a special interest.) She very overtly has trouble forming relationships with others.

She’s blunt, socially awkward and a loner, has something of a flat effect and a monotone voice. Those around her initially read her as cold and impersonable.Her struggle with social anxiety as well as intense fear of failure/ low self esteem is also very relatable to me. She also often struggles to express/understand her feelings and emotions. Her radical political ideas and the fact that she’s literally an ecoterrorist paints her as having a very strong sense of justice and a somewhat black and white worldview. (Me)

Finally, her relationship with Harley just SCREAMS neurodivergent solidarity. Harley Quinn is (I think canonically) adhd, and they’re both outsiders in the world that found each other and just… get each other. She’s Ivy’s closest and only friend and amazing girlfriend and god it’s all so perfect.

They remind me a lot of the relationship I have with my best friend with adhd except theirs is gayer.

[that-ari-blogger]

Would love to hear more about your thoughts on Mermista being your favorite character from She Ra 👀 if you ever felt like sharing

I’m totally not biased at all but I too think she’s the best character

I think this is really interesting, because a character can be someone’s favourite for a ton of reasons. Sometimes it is aesthetics, or mood, or empathy, but I like Mermista because of how she operates as a vessel for storytelling.

And before I start on this tangent, please be aware that this is, by nature, subjective. If you don’t like Mermista, state your case in the replies. Please don’t take my word as gospel.

SPOILERS AHEAD (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

So, I am a fan of wordless storytelling. It’s why I love the traditional mystery films and old western flicks. I like the pacing that comes from characters wandering around and not saying anything, but working things out in a way that the audience can see.

This is partially because writing dialogue is easy, but writing good dialogue is infinitely more difficult than anything, and I am still getting the hang of it, so a lot of what I write is slow and methodical. But I also think that visual storytelling is a lot more interesting and easier for me personally to keep track of.

It's Show Don’t Tell taken to its logical extreme, and while its situational, it really works for me.

Which brings me to Mermista, who I think has less than half the number of the lines as Frosta, despite being on screen for a ton more. That is because no dialogue with Mermista is ever wasted, and instead she takes in situations and thinks.

The only times Mermista ever really speaks are when she needs to communicate information quickly, and when she is annoying one of the other princesses for the fun of it. Even with Shadow Weaver, she finds the quickest possible solution, she interrupts her by calling her a name. She throws her off balance, then gets back to being quiet.

Case and point, at the end of No Princess Left Behind, Mermista doesn’t give a speech, or tell anyone that she is feeling sad. She just turns away from the camera and acts out her emotions subtly.

But the show doesn’t write this as just a strength for Mermista, it’s core to what I keep saying about how the series writes tragedy. Each character’s greatest strength is their greatest weakness. Mermista is detached and methodical, but that’s a façade, and it means she is totally unequipped to handle big emotions. She doesn’t know how to respond to Entrapta’s death, and she is totally unprepared emotionally to cope with the fall of Salineas later on.

In that way she acts as a counter to Perfuma, who is all about those big emotions and big connections. But there are other things that show them as opposites.

For example, Mermista is dynamic as hell. Part of her water theming is that she is able adapt to almost any situation and work through a problem. She can fit any shape, and fill any role in the team. She’s a bruiser, or a scout, or a tank, or a saboteur. But she’s also dynamic ethically.

You may notice that Mermista has the single most flexible moral compas in the team. Not in the sense that she is morally grey, (or morally pink like Glimmer), but in the sense that she applies a different framework to each problem she is faced with. She doesn’t have a thing against deceiving, trickery, or even killing if the situation calls for it, but she never strays into that dubious territory because she knows when to implement it and when that fails, she tries something else. Mermista perseveres and adapts.

Perfuma, however, is the She-Ra equivalent of Batman. I’m not joking about this, and I will talk about it in a later post. In short, however, Perfuma’s greatest strength is her uncompromising moral code. That’s how she gets through to Scorpia at the end. But it also means she is utterly inflexible, hence why she can’t work with cacti or Entrapta.

The reason I bring both of them up together is because their balancing out of each other leads to character development over the course of the story. Perfuma learns to widen her understanding of the world, and that she doesn’t realy have to subvert her morals to do so, and Mermista gains a healthy framework with which she can interact with people and form meaningful relationships.

For example, she can’t really react to Sea Hawk at the start of the series because she doesn’t know how to. She thinks in problems to be solved, but people aren’t that. At the end of the series, they become a couple because of the development seen above.

Essentially, I like Mermista because I like the story that is being told about her, and the way in which it is told. She's also just a big ol' nerd, which is just a joy to watch.

Just stop giving her one liners. I’m talking to the show and a few fanfics I have read. They’re jarring. Please, let my girl brood.

[morally-grey-girlbosses]

The top two characters will be eligible to proceed into the bracket!

Propaganda under the cut.

Catra:

poor little meowmeow who tried to destroy reality bc she has mommy issues. deserves to win bc she is a lesbian and she is so so hot

Did not give a SHIT that the evil invading force she worked for was evil even though she 100% knew. Instead of escaping she thought 'How do I make this worse for literally everybody including myself?' and then she did that.

She qualifies because she is the most morally ambiguous but she did it all out of love for the woman she loves. She's the best there is.

shes a girlboss plain and simple. shes an abused child who lost her closest friend and decided if she couldnt be the hero shed be the villain. she beat up her abuser and became the top commander of the evil army, just under its leader. she tried to kill her ex best friend sooooooo many times. she briefly found solace in the desert but everything came undone and she ended up activating a portal that would destroy the world. she lived briefly in paradise but things went wrong and she tried to kill her ex best friend again. these two are SO homoerotic just to be clear like its genuinely insane. she became consumed by her work and lost her few real connections in the horde. she sent her friend to beast island to die. she hired a hot shapeshifter who betrayed her and her abandonment issues only escalated. shes deeply compelling and sympathetic. she got abducted and joined the evil space empire. she betrayed them. she got mind controlled. her ex best friend saved her. she saved the universe with the power of kissing her gf who was dying of poison. she did a lot of atrocities while she was being the teenage commander of an army trying to take over the world. shes super girlboss. shes snarky as fuck. i love her deeply. vote catra

Entrapta:

A girl. A boss. She's good... generally. But more than morality, she cares about ROBOTS and SCIENCE. She provided a lot of help to the bad guys because of SCIENCE. But she's not fundamentally bad. She cares about good, but this is accessory.

Glimmer:

that time her mom died and she was forced to become queen and leader of a war that had been going on for longer than she had been alive and all her relationships became strained and ultimately she lost her connection with her two best friends as the rifts between them grew bigger and bigger and they betrayed her and she went on with doing the bidding of an ancient entity who had evil goals because ultimately she had been fighting a war her entire life and it didnt matter what the cost was. safe equaled the horde being destroyed. and she was willing to do anything to achieve that. and then she got abducted by a space emperor and had a really homoerotic relationship with the other problematic girlboss from this show i need to submit and then she was saved and then she reconciled with her friends and beat her mind controlled dad but also yeah she did a bunch of bad shit and i love her. go glimmer. my favorite character fr fr

[demonicintegrity]

Was thinking about Entrapta again because it came up in my dream and I'm still so fucking pissed at how her character was treated in later seasons. It was so good. What the fuck happened. She's still one of my favorite characters of all time and I really should rewatch the show. I should draw her if I have time. I literally love her so much she meant everything to me in high school. And how her and Hordak developed together really resonated with me because it was being unapologetically yourself but hurt but growing and it was so so good.

Anyways being on the topic of she-ra reminded me about there was discourse about Catra and Adora being a toxic couple??? Or like a bad ship in general??? Which is already laughable when Tumblr of all places loooovveeess a good enemies to lovers. But also, that's just how children are when they're hurt and in an abusive environment. They do the worst shit but forgive each other because you can't hold it against a hurting kid for what they did back then. Also Catra is like, very much riddled with guilt, she doesn't like that she did that either. And as I grow older I 100% get the stress of trying so hard to be cool and unbothered and untouchable and unhurtable breaks you down as a person. I also understand why you forgive people for such a thing. And how you move on from it because you love them in any capacity and want to be with them post-getting out of a shit environment.

[coderedblood]

So I love She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. It is beautiful, and I adore both how it handles relationships and redemption. No relationship is a perfect fairytale, but a plate of spaghetti; messy but wonderful. And redemption can come to anyone, as long as you’re willing to work for it. And sometimes it takes a lifetime and sometimes you aren’t forgiven, and all of that is okay. (Once Upon A Time also does it in an exemplary fashion with Regina Mills, who may’ve been the blueprint for complicated redemption in modern television.)

Anyway, I love the show, and its relationships, and today I’m doing…

ANGEL’S TOP 5 SHE-RA SHIPS!!

5. Scorfuma (Scorpia x Perfuma)

This ship is so wholesome. It is a huge refresher in SPOP; yes, like I said, the relationships here are worthwhile, but also difficult. Scorfuma is not that ship. It’s a beautiful femme lesbian falling in love at first sight with a magnificent butch lesbian. Another reason I love SPOP is because it subverts character stereotypes; Scorpia is butch as all hell and I wish she were real, because she is soft, sensitive, kind and sweet. Perfuma is assertive, self-confident, speaks her mind and does whatever she thinks is right regardless of what others think. (Although, she’s far from perfect and I don’t like how she treats Entrapta for a lot of the series.) Perfuma sees Scorpia for the wonderfully good person she is, and she falls in love with Scorpia for it. They are similar people, in which they’re both kind and sweet, but they are also noticeably different people. My mom says that a couple cannot be too similar or too different otherwise they won’t work, and Scorfuma is a perfect example of her wisdom.

4. Spinnetossa (Spinnerella x Netossa)

Spinnetossa should be every married couple’s endgame. I am sad that they didn’t get more screentime or lines, because they have the ideal marriage (next to the Addamses from The Addams Family and the Belchers from Bob’s Burgers and every marriage counselor should have these three couples in their waiting rooms as the couples to be like). This is a couple who loves and respects each other, and who are (rightfully, hehe) obsessed with each other. My favorite thing about them is their devotion to each other - as much as they wanna save the universe and magic, they are each other’s primary goal. They want to be together and want to keep each other safe and happy above all else. My favorite moment is where Spinnerella wins their bot-slaying contest and instead of getting annoyed, Netossa happily kisses her wife and calls her “my girl”. MELT LIKE 🧊 BABY!

3. Seamista (Mermista x Sea Hawk)

Oh my. If Spinnetossa are obsessed with each other, then Seamista is the definition of insanity. Sea Hawk is not immune to the flaws of Mermista, he loves her for all she is and celebrates her, singing her praises and building her up even if it just seems like silly simping (need me a person like that). Mermista is not immune to the positives of Sea Hawk even if she doesn’t act like it. She knows him to be a moral, kind, devoted, loving, caring and affectionate man, and shows it accordingly even if it seems to annoy her. (If it really did, you think they’d be a couple? 😉 ) She loves him, and I hate how people say she’s abusive to him. If their genders were flipped, it would be the definition of the gentle girl, brooding boy trope. Mermista has a whole kingdom (a crumbling one as she adds) on her shoulders, it would get to anyone! She appreciates Sea Hawk for sticking by and loving her, and they obviously care about each other very much.

2. Glimbow (Glimmer x Bow)

Glimbow is childhood friends turned romantic partners done RIGHT! Originally, I didn’t see it, but the hints were always there and they weren’t hints. They are legitimately friends but imo every good romantic relationship begins with and maintains friendship as the base. They go through hell together, with the loss of their parents (which Bow finds his and Glimmer finds hers, but for awhile, they’re alone together), an invasion and attack caused by Glimmer, and regaining magic in the universe. This ship shows that apologizing and working towards forgiveness is important part of any relationship. Glimmer will do anything to fix her mistake, and Bow forgives her because he loves her for every part of her, and deep down knows her guilt will always be the price she pays for that mistake. I love this ship for these reasons.

1. Entrapdak (Entrapta x Hordak)

My favorite ship in SPOP and it is above and beyond an ideal relationship for me. Like Glimbow, they were friends before they were lovers, but they wholeheartedly accept each other from the get-go. It isn’t about accepting flaws and positives - Entrapta sees Hordak as beautiful and wonderful because of his imperfections and she adores all of that in him, while Hordak worships Entrapta (oh you know he does) because she is the first person to accept him so readily for who he is. Not as a clone or a tool, as a person. He accepts her autism and immediately knows how brilliant and creative she is. They are constantly on each other’s minds as each other’s best friends, and they fall in love because of their imperfections. Just how they like it.

[dzthenerd490]

Hey I know this seems random and weird but I remember reading your response to someone describing your personality similar to Catra from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and your response was that it was an insult. So I’m just wondering what did you think of She-Ra cartoon? For me it was alright, my favorite characters and they were Entrapta and Hordak. I loved their dynamic.

Oh, actually it's the same for me, honestly Entrapta x Hordak for life. For a pair of villains that one only care about technology and the other only cares for power their love dynamic was surprisingly fun to watch.

Overall, the show could have been better, but it had a lot of moment that I look back on even to this day with a smile or a laugh.

But yeah, Catra sucked through and through. She had HUNDREDS of chances to join Adora and be with her again if she loved her so much. But instead, she just stuck with what's familiar and tried to punish Adora for ruining the dynamic. It was only in the final season after being brainwashed and tortured by Prime did, she FINAL decided to join the winning side but only after insulting Adora AGAIN!

All, in all, this show had its flaws but I still liked it, but no fuck Catra, she was an annoyance to watch and it seemed like she only got a redemption arc (if you can call it that) because the writers ran out of ways to make her unbearable after Prime showed up as the worst of them all (nothing beats galactic spanning genocide).

And yes, me being compared to her was an absolute insult.

[friday-im-in-love-with-crowley]

Silly Game Time: Who are some of your favorite magician characters? And what do you like about them?

They can be of any class or variety of magic-user (wizard, witch, sorcerer, warlock, healer, druid, etc.), of any race or species, so long as using magic is *primarily* their thing in the story. Not just something they do occasionally, but something that is a major element of their role and their identity.

Sorry im responding so late lmao yesterday was a busy day for me!

All of these are childrens cartoon show characters what does that say about me (spoilers for the owl house she-ra(2018) and amphibia)

Lilith from The Owl House. I just love her okay? 🥺🥺🥺 Her and Eda’s relationship was one of my favorite parts of the show. I like tragic sibling relationships a lot. Maybe too much.

Scorpia from She-Ra….. she’s just like me fr. She just wants everyone to hugI really love the episode where she leaves the horde- she’s too kind to actually participate in the conquest anymore… and Catra betrayed Entrapta, so Scorpia couldn’t even trust her anymore… and she leaves, because that’s the right thing to do for herself… and she goes tk the princesses and MAKES FRIENDS for the first time in her life!!!! And she is happy with friends and actual fucking food! (Fricking ration bars)

Marcy from Amphibia. She just wanted to stay with her friends 🥺🥺🥺🥺 COMMUNICATION, PEOPLE!! TALK TO UR FRIENDS MARCY!! She felt like ignored in her friend group, like Anne and Sasha were friends with each other more than her, and…. Wait, that’s me with my friends. Huh. IM SURE THAT’S A COINCIDENCE. 😅

[sometipsygnostalgic]

i have yet to actually watch she ra but entrapta is so far the character I'm the most interested in and i'm a bit fascinated by how the Entrapta and Hordak dynamic is similar to a lot of my favorite Homestuck ships (John and Vriska, Karkat and Terezi, Dave and Jade) where a key part is that one character in the ship has a lot of defensive or personas they put up as a shield or deflection and the other characters punches right through it without really realizing it and first character is drawn to the other because this makes them feel surprisingly vulnerable and genuine. You might call it the 'doesnt put up with the Shit' dynamic since its somewhat similar to other dynamics where a character (like say, AtLA's Zuko) is temperamental but works well with someone that refuses to indulge the nonsense or directly addresses it, causing the other character to act appropriately)

i think you ought to check out the show first, because while thats true for entrapdak, they dont get a whole lot of screentime minutes compared to something like those homestuck ships. it blows them away as a romantic pairing though because hussie just made things worse every time he made ships romantic, while spop never actively sabotaged entrapta and hordak. i think comparing entrapdak to johnvris is really funny because i imagine john and entrapta talking the same way half the time. "Hi Karkat!" "Hiiiii Catra!!!" -wait does that mean catrapta is johnkat? Hmm...

i think based on your description you should also like scorpia and catra's interactions, because it better fits the "punches through emotional shield" part. though scorpia puts up with a lot more shit in a way that entrapta wouldn't, she does frequently bypass catra's walls in a way no other character is ever seen doing for the rest of the show, including adora. i mean. i also love glimmer and catra because they are able to talk peer-to-peer but that's after scorpia's already cracked catra's shell right open.

[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.

[twigstarpikachutroll22]

Silly Game Time: Who are some of your favorite tech-oriented characters? And what do you like about them?

The technology they're good with can be very real-world based or complete fiction; it can be digital or mechanical (a hacker or a machinist), electric or nuclear or solar or petroleum or clockwork or steampunk or magic or use futuristic power sources.

They can be of any race/species from any genre of any media (books, movies, shows, games, etc.), too. What matters is that one of their primary skills, roles in the story, and traits as a character is being good with the story's available level of technology.

Buddy, the THINGS that c!Tubbo from the DSMP has been through, OH my freaking god. I could watch or read about what being a spy in Manberg or being president of a country at 17 was like for him all dang day and don’t even get me STARTED on anything else. The way he represses his emotions like heck to cope is interesting as heck to me. And the whole thing of him being underestimated like heck but being SO freaking smart and SO freaking strong and HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGG. Also he can be extremely funny.

I had a great time watching q!Tubbo from the QSMP as well. Him interrogating Cucurucho like that? His father-daughter relationship with Sunny? The gay pen-pal storyline with Fred the federation worker? Amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Ballister Blackheart from Nimona is also great. I say Blackheart as in the comic version, Ballister Boldheart from the movie is a great character with a great arc as well but if I’m being fully honest I do kinda prefer comic Ballister who’s been playing the “villain” willingly trying to take down the system for years and years, I do lowkey find that more interesting and enjoyable.

Also: Entrapta from She-ra, chaotic autistic icon. We stan.

Forever love Franny K. Stein little girl mad scientist as well.

Also! Guy Am-I from the Green Eggs and Ham cartoon! His arc and his dynamic with Sam are so GOOD I—

OH! Heinz Doofenshmirtz! How can one NOT love Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, I think we all can agree he’s one of the characters of all time.

May edit this and add more later.

[crest-codeagm]

FIRST POST!

First post and I'm here for the violence. This post will be short and about my gripes with She-ra.

So... Basically back in like 2019-2020 I was hanging out with my cousins who kept clowning on me for not having seen the show. I decided to binge the whole thing and that took maybe 2 days of consistent watching and much attempted phone throwing to finish it. There were so many shitty characters, bad jokes, and stupid plot points that I wanted to just give up. Of course because I had already suffered through it once I went home and made my mother watch it with me again.

ROLL CALL!

Catra is an irredeemable ass who I guess tried to do the Zuko redemption ark thing and fell flat on her face. Still by far one of my favorite characters though. Adora has one of the worst haircuts I have seen in a while and her being a dumbass who still falls in love with Catra despite Catra actually being the cause of one of her friend's parents deaths is insane. Glimmer. Never liked her and I never will. Bow deserved better than GLimmer he really did. Entrapta is big relatable. Scorpia deserved better friends. Hordak is just daddy issues. Shadow Weaver needed her weave snatched. And the rest of them are not important enough for me to remember! In short fuck em. Fuck most of these low iq assholes.

The relationships roll call!

Catradora is a toxic disaster that was not well written in the slightest.

Glimbow or whatever you wanna call it just shouldn’t have happened. They didn’t have nearly enough chemistry and Glimmer spent the large majority of the series being an immature ass. Bow should’ve just stayed single.

Spin lady and Net toss lady I don’t give two shits about, they barely got enough screen time for me to even remember they existed with the exception of season five(?).

Entrapdak idk Hordak got them severe anger issues, I don’t see them lasting long.

Mermista and Seahawk I prefer them separate just because Seahawk was just too pushy.

And all the other weird little relationships that were probably better that were hinted at or teased get an honorable mention as it is what it is.

That’s just the people related things that bothered me but I’ll probably never make another post about this godforsaken show.

[tippenfunkaport]

Quickstart Guide to getting into the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power fandom on Tumblr

(Maybe someone has made one of these already but i am behind because of NaNoWriMo so I am making my own because I do what I want.)

Welcome to Tumblr, new or returning user! It's lovely here and the SPOP fandom is still quite active. Here's a quickie guide on how to become a part of it!

Finding content

Confusingly, this fandom uses three main tags: SPOP, She Ra, SheRa (Tumblr ignores case as well as the - in She-Ra so using She-Ra is effectively exactly the same as using just She Ra or she ra). Then there are tags for individual ships (some of the most popular ones are Catradora, Entrapdak, Glimbow, Seamista, Scorfuma etc).

To find content, search for either one of the main fandom tags (spop, shera, she ra) or the tag for your favorite character or ship. They'll be a big blue follow button under the tag you can press so that Tumblr will automatically pepper new posts from your followed tags into your dash.

Then, while you're looking at the search results, take note of who's posting stuff you like and start to follow the people whose posts you dig so they'll appear on your dash. (Understand that some blogs are side blogs so the blog that you followed and the one that follows you back or likes your stuff may have completely different names because one is the side blog and one is the main.)

Looking for something niche? Try a combo of terms! (Tumblr recently changed things so you can search within post content AND tags. So if you're getting, say, Hunger Games and My Little Pony results while trying to search for Glimmer, try searching for Glimmer SPOP instead to narrow the results down.)

Just remember that search results and tag results are different things! Search results show all posts with those terms anywhere in the post while tag results are literally only posts tagged with that exact phrase.

Sharing your content

When posting, make sure you tag your content in the tag field at the bottom of the posting form, each tag separately. As you start to type, the site will helpfully suggest popular tags to get your started. Unlike on other sites, you CAN have spaces in your tags (so it's Best Friend Squad not BestFriendSquad). No need to add the hashtag, Tumblr will do that for you after you hit submit.

At the least, you'll want to include the base fandom tags (spop, shera, she ra) and then any ships or characters in your post (Catra, Adora, Entrapta, etc). Other tags it might be helpful to add are any triggers, descriptors like fanart, fanfic, meta, incorrect quotes, etc or something for your own blog organization (like "my art" or "fics by me"). In yee olden days of Tumblr, you had to do things like make "Catradora fanart" or "shera catra" a tag (and some people still do this out of habit) but the way Tumblr has changed search, if you just make Catradora and fanart separate tags, it will show for anyone who searches for both.

Making Friends and Followers: Reblog and interact!

Tumblr lets you be as social (or not!) as you want. The reason the site is called Tumblr is posts get tossed around and around with other users adding tags and notes that (in theory anyway) make it better and get you more engagement: like a rock tumbler making dirty rocks all shiny. There are a million posts already on here that say this but I'm going to say it again: Likes do nothing. They are basically bookmarks. The way to connect with people on here and to keep the fandom alive is to reblog content and, if you want, add comments or tags.

See a cool headcanon? Reblog and add your thoughts! Someone posts a fanfic idea? Reblog and let them know how excited you'd be to read that! Every post on Tumblr is a collaboration and reblogs are how you pass posts around and support the content creators.

If people don't want you to interact with their posts, they will turn reblogging off so you never have to worry that your commentary isn't welcome. Reblogging your own stuff with commentary is a great way to get more engagement on it (say reblogging your fanart a few days after you posted it with some behind the scenes trivia about what gave you the idea for it or what brushes you used or reblogging to add some of your favorite reader comments from your fanfic).

Reblog the stuff you like and if you really like it? Reblog it now and queue it up to post again later. Reblog your own stuff multiple times. Don't worry about being annoying, that is 100% the culture on here so you'll fit right in. There's no algorithm so your blog is less like a book people will read in order and more like a TV channel: not everyone is watching at the same time so reruns let people catch the stuff they missed.

The more often you post about something, the more likely you are to find others who are into the same thing you are and that will help you find your happy little corner of Tumblr where you can thrive.

Discourse and drama

There is, blissfully, far less discourse and drama on here than other platforms but blocking on Tumblr is secret so feel free to block with wild abandon and no one will ever know. Want to be a little hater yourself? Know that it's a major faux pas to put ship or character hate in the tags. So if you really hate Melog, and you tag your anti-space kitty screed "anti Melog"... just know that everyone who searches for Melog will see that post unless they have specifically blocked the tag "anti melog" because Tumblr search includes tags. If you want to drink your haterade in peace, don't use the main fandom tags on anti posts and tag it as "discourse" or "drama," two commonly blocked tags. If you are a messy bitch who loves drama and WANT the people who love the character or ship to see your Big Angry Fandom Feels... just don't be surprised when the people who do love the characters or ship you are hating on interact with your posts or block you. And, on the other side, blocking the haters is as easy as blocking the users themselves or the hater tags (examples: "anti spinnerella" or "anti swift wind").

Which is all to say, be a little hater if you want but Tumblr is very much an f around and find out kind of platform so choose your experience wisely. And don't be surprised if people choose to block.

Which brings up a very important thing we're already seeing play out with new users: if you are used to a site with an algorithm such as TikTok or Twitter, you probably didn't realize how much it was coddling your fandom experience by specifically showing you posts it knows you'll agree with. Now that you're on a site with no algorithm, you're free from the insular feedback loop that you were in before and many of you are realizing that what you took to be popular takes are actually fringe opinions. It's jarring to realize you've been duped but you should be directing your anger at the platform that manipulated you, not your fellow fans who haven't been brainwashed into believing whatever you swallowed.

Other cool stuff

Download the xkit desktop browser extension for some extra features that make Tumblr even easier to use

Your blog has a queue which lets you stock up posts that Tumblr will release for you on a schedule of your choosing. VERY useful for when you go on a spree and want to reblog a billion things in a row but don't want to completely take over your followers dash. Throw all those posts in your queue and your blog will look active for days to months without you having to do anything. (This is actually the only way I blog, almost everything you see on my blog was queue up in advance)

Open up asks for art or fic prompts, questions or other conversation starters (You can block any annoying askers, even if they are anonymous!)

Schedule posts in advance such as for your favorite character's birthday or holiday / date specific stuff

tags are for visibility... but they are also for chatting and commentary? it's weird but you'll get used to it

there's no visible follower count so we're all pretty much on equal footing no matter how many followers you have

dates are hard to find on posts by design! posts never expire and old post make the rounds again all the time. It's NEVER "creepy" to go through someone's blog and like or reblog a billion old posts but every much encouraged. In fact, going through old posts to fill your queue is a great way to not only give yourself content but also give a blog you love new life!

Welcome to the SPOP fandom on Tumblr, we're happy to have you!

And that's all I can think of at the moment! Questions? Feel free to ask em and I'll do my best!

[carriesthewind]

Entrapta, Autism, and Empathy

As you can probably tell from my icon, I love She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. And one of my favorite characters is Entrapta - I love her as a character, I love her storyline, I love her design, and I really really love and connect to her as an autistic character.

In particular, I want to talk about how the show depicts her relationship with empathy, because it’s so unique in my experience of media depictions of autistic and autistic-coded characters.

The topic of empathy and autism is…a whole thing. I have a lot of feelings about how empathy is talked about and framed in general scholarship about, and media depictions of, autism (and the whole way theory of mind is treated in those contexts as well. Flames, flames on the side of my face).

One big problem, in my opinion, is that the way a lot of scholarship and media depicts autistic people is not necessarily based on our actual experience of empathy, but how neurotypicals perceive our empathy. (And in my experience, to go back to theory of mind - much like people who think they are “empaths” often just project their own feelings onto others, non-autistic people seem to frequently believe that having a well-developed theory of mind means they can *actually* know what is in someone else’s mind, and not recognize that they are just simulating and projecting). And while some autistic people can and do absolutely struggle with empathy, I really hate how it is often written about and portrayed (especially since very particular depictions are universalized).

So. Entrapta!

A major subplot of Season 5, Episode 2, “Launch,” is Entrapta and the other princesses emotionally reconciling after Entrapta has returned to the Rebellion. The central conflict of that resolution is the other princesses’ perception of Entrapta as lacking empathy and compassion, as summed up by Mermista midway through the episode: “I should have known better than to trust you. You don’t care about Glimmer or any of us, you only care about tech!”

Entrapta’s response is to ask, “Are you all…mad at me?”

This is the turning point of the episode, which recontextualizes everything we have seen of Entrapta’s behavior so far. Up until this point, the princesses and the audience have seen Entrapta as lacking in empathy, as having hurt the Rebellion and not caring, of being inconsiderate of their feelings of hopelessness and fear for their friend.

For example, there is a moment early on in “Launch” when Mermista asks, “Are you gonna help us or not?” Entrapta doesn’t respond until Mermista says, “If you help us find Glimmer, you can go to space.” The other princesses (and presumably the audience) interpret this as Entrapta not caring about Glimmer, only about going to space. But that interpretation requires assuming that Entrapta understood what Mermista was referring to when she asked her first question - that she understood that Mermista meant, "help us find Glimmer."

Likewise, the princesses assume that Entrapta doesn’t care about having hurt them while she was working with the Horde. But from her perspective, she has no reason to believe she did anything wrong. Remember, she believed that the princesses abandoned her, they left her behind, that Catra and the Horde rescued her and were her real friends. It wasn’t until Adora explicitly told her what really happened in Season 3 that she ever questioned otherwise. She still didn’t entirely believe Adora at first, but after Catra betrayed her and revealed that Adora was right, she went back to working with the other princesses.

When Frosta tells her that they are mad because her robots were hurting them, because she helped almost destroy their kingdoms - she flinches back. She’s hearing this for the first time, and it’s the first time she has seen what it felt like from their perspective.

Importantly, once she recognizes the feelings of the other princesses, she has no trouble understanding and sharing them. And she responds in a way that they don’t understand at first, running back toward the spire. But she is finally able to explain in a way they can understand - she is trying to fix what is broken, trying to use her tech to help them and Glimmer, because she feels their loss and pain, and she feels empathy for Glimmer, all alone in the Horde, needing the other princesses to rescue her.

(I also love that in the scene where she tries to explain that she knows she’s bad with people, and is trying to make up for it by being useful, the shot deliberately cuts off below her eyes – where most non-autistic people look for emotion and connection – and instead focuses on her hands – where many autistic people express our emotions.)

This depiction of empathy matches my experience as an autistic person. Speaking personally, I often struggle to recognize what other people are feeling, especially in the moment, and especially if I have to do so based on body language. It’s easier for me if I have time to think about and process what someone has said and done. Like any skill, I’ve gotten better at it as I’ve gotten older, but I still sometimes miss things unless people explicitly lay out how they feel. It’s also frequently hard for me to respond in a way that the other person will recognize as empathetic, especially if they are a new person or I’m in a place where the social norms are different from what I’m used to. It was especially bad when I was young - when I was upset, I wanted to be left alone, so I would really struggle to respond in any sort of affirmative way to other people being upset, because I worried about making it worse.

But once I do recognize what other people are feeling, I have never had any problem feeling empathy for them. I’ve gotten pretty good at expressing that too, but it’s hard when people act like I didn’t/don’t feel empathy, because I didn’t respond the way they wanted or expected me to.

And it really really sucks to see that stereotype consistently depicted without nuance in media depictions of autistic people. Which is part of why Entrapta’s depiction feels so fresh and meaningful.

Because Entrapta is incredibly empathetic! I’ve seen her described as immoral and cold, especially prior to Season 5; but she is probably the most empathetic person in the show! She can be self-centered and she’s focused on pursuing her interests to sometimes dangerous ends and methods, but she still overflows with empathy; like an inverse of her First One’s disk, she makes other people more empathetic just by connecting to them. While Catra was able to bury her feelings about Adora and hide from consciously recognizing her mistreatment of Scorpia, it was her betrayal of Entrapta that gave her nightmares and started to really break her down. Her connection to Hordak was deep and - look, I have a lot of emotions about Entrapta and Hordak.

But the point is, she was able to form an emotional connection with him when no one else had. And after he formed that connection to her, he started forming real emotional connections to others as well (not necessary positive connections - see, e.g., Catra - but emotional connections nonetheless!). She is the one who insisted on taking Wrong Hordak back to Etheria, and is the one who helped him through his existential crisis. And, for the most literal example, we can look at Emily. Emily is literally a robot that had no personality or feelings - until Entrapta made Emily her friend.

And then there’s Episode 9 of Season 5, “An Ill Wind,” which has a single moment that encapsulates part of why I love this characterization for Entrapta so much. While the protagonists are sneaking into the town of Erelandia, Entrapta winks at Wrong Hordak while congratulating him for blending in. Wrong Hordak tells her she appears to have a facial tick. She almost immediately understands what he means and why he misunderstood, succinctly explains what winking is and how to use it, and encourages him to try winking himself to assert his newfound independence from Horde Prime.

It’s a really great character moment (and the beginning of an adorable running joke of Wrong Hordak winking) - and one that I don’t think could be done nearly so smoothly without a character that is both autistic/autistic-coded and highly empathetic. It requires a character who could understand why Wrong Hordak is confused by winking and who is both willing and able to easily explain what winking is, and who can empathize with his emerging feelings about his independence. A relevant comparison is Adora’s early Season 1 struggles to understand social conventions outside of the Horde, and Gimmer and Bow’s struggle both to understand her difficulties and to figure out how to help her adjust. In my experience, many non-autistic people have difficultly recognizing when and why people are confused by different body language and social conventions, and have even more difficulty explaining these things, since they come so intuitively to them (much like someone who is naturally gifted at math may find it difficult to write down their thought process step by step).

Wrong Hordak and his character arc are, in my opinion, so important to the themes of Season 5 and the show as a whole - and like so many similar arcs on the show, Entrapta’s empathy is critical to the shape of his arc. She may not have an elemental stone to connect her to the planet and the other princesses, but she doesn't need one - she is complete in herself. Her autism may make other people struggle to understand her, but she never has difficultly connecting to them.

[tenaciousdecapitator]

Entrapta, like Catra, has all the foundations for a corruption arc. Pre-existing deviance, a solid motivation for revenge, climbing up the enemy ranks until she is the head boss's left hand, and then gaining powet over Hordak himself. Like many villain scientists she assists and joins with the good guys from time to time.

What makes Entrapta different is that, through all of this, she ISNT a mastermind, morally grey ends justifies the means scientist. She is in fact a complete cinnamon roll who's hurt by what happened but doesn't hold a grudge at all and has joined the villains because they gave her sense of belonging, and a place to foster her love of science. So you have the top dog villain at the start of season 3 when shes finally got power over Hordak, and she's using it to tell him to love himself, to show him that our flaws are what make us beautiful and they shouldn't be masked, especially if we need help. And in season 5 she's not the sneaky ex villain getting a questionable redemption, she's literally leading the front lines in terms of converting people to the Rebellion, pulling one clone of a million clones out from under Prime and immediately being able to connect with him, being the one to tell Prime to his face he will never understand love, wrecking his brainwashing network, her connection with Hordak leading to Prime's death.

It's... so OPPOSITE to Shadow Weaver, who joined the rebellion about the same time Entrapta overtook Catra in the horde and then disappeared. Weaver has the standard "redemption" arc but doesn't learn a damn thing in her life, has no humility, and is constantly fucking with people's heads underneath her silver tongued words, all stuff Entrapta literally cannot do.

So you have this very compassionate pure of heart character influencing the iron cold leader of the villains, and this incredibly manipulative abusive character influencing the leaders of the heroes.

I think it's interested how shera plays so hard with tropes.

Yes! Exactly! One of my favorite parts about Entrapta’s character is that, in seemingly direct contrast to Shadow Weaver who looks, talks, and acts like a fairy tale Disney villain evil witch 24/7, with even her attempted ‘redemption martyr moment’ just piling more mental scars onto her surrogate daughters,  everything that we’re presented with in the first few minutes System Failure gives us the idea that Entrapta is this typical (albeit sweet-toothed) Mad Scientist soon-to-be-if-not-already-villain. She lives in a classically evil scary castle on a mountain, it’s full of traps, secret passageways, and (conveniently timed) robot zombies, and there’s mutants in the sewers apparently?!? Especially since some fans know her old incarnation was a shallow villain, once she finally crawls out of a vent like a goddamn Xenomorph with welding mask eyes glowing with menace the audience thinks they have her character figured out, and then she subverts these expectations by greeting our heroes with a genuine, cheery, hospitable welcome that still acknowledges the immediate danger they’re facing and her direct involvement in it. And ever since then, all she’s wanted to do is help people and do science (and hopefully make friends with people by doing those two things). Even when she learns She Ra’s most direct and effective weakness, even when she’s given the chance to use that weakness *again* after she thinks the BFS and Princess Alliance left her for dead, she still doesn’t take the opportunity to go full "They laughed at my experiments, but now I’ll show them all! Brand New Day! Muahahahaha!” etc etc. Shadow Weaver WISHES she could’ve climbed the evil corporate ladder as fast as Entrapta did, and ironically she accomplished it by doing the exact opposite approach to SW: Being 100% genuine and honest about her opinions, knowledge, and feelings. And Hordak establishes time and time again that he hates dishonesty in his ranks (mostly because he’s not great at subterfuge and trickery himself) and gains valuable knowledge and self-worth from Entrapta’s genuine honesty. I may be forgetting something, but I’m pretty sure the one and only time Entrapta intentionally, consciously lies about something is that bit in System Failure where she find the lab and says “We’re here! Uh, I mean, of course we’re here, we were never lost.” Of course, just because she never even considers taking steps towards actual, conscious Villainy and Vengeance doesn’t mean we can’t think up AUs where she does go down that path a bit.  One concept that I’ve yet to make into a proper fic is an alternate ending to Season 5 in which she has a more active role in usurping Prime, fully disconnecting him from the other Clones before Hordak does the Darth Vader/Emperor reference, then taking over the Velvet Glove’s army of clones, droids, and drones in order to collect data on the flora, fauna, and magic of Etheria before expanding her DC Brainiac style "data collection” to the rest of the newly entered galaxy. 

anyway thanks for prompting and then coming to my Ted Talk