#hordak meta

[andhereisthetea]

Let me explain why I like Hordak as a character

For me, there is always gonna by a Big Bag worse than him, doesn't excuse his actions but makes him struggle, only exception was 200x Hordak, but because the show was cancelled and they didn't go beyond the initial idea of him, his backsatory was brushed and he was mostly a two dimentional villain, and not even mentioning the DC comics which bastardized him deeply.

He ins't a redeemable character the moment he helps or joins the protagonists (be He-Man, She-Ra, the Masters, whatever who is helping in the plot), I knew that about him from the very beginning and that is the type of complexity I like about him; he is actually The Atoner and in several comics and even classic eps he has shown qualities of such. Meanwhile, Horde Prime or Anillis Kur, his older brother, is always behind his back, and he fears him and respect him, but every time he fails, Prime mocks him and threats him.

As well, in one of the most emblematic classic comics "Masters of the Universe Star Comics issue No. 11" from 1987, the idea of Hordak losing his memory (and with it his Horde conditioning) and slowly becoming an Atoner was alredy there:

But then he is manipulated magically by Shadow Weaver (insteresting concept, just how she did with Adora for years) and he returns to his way due to both the conditioning and his memories returning too, but he still has a choice of his own in the end.

The final point is Adora/She-Ra.

She is always involved in his plan in some way, be stoping him or him wanting her back because even in the classics, he raised her. Maybe not in the 2018 show, but even briefly there were several parallels between both. She is important for him be good or bad. I have no idea how to explain this further, but they understand each other, Adora as She-Ra mocks him in Flowers for Hordak and he immediately agrees to helps the rebels if they take Perfuma away, he abandons a battle he was winning after She-Ra helps him in Into the Dark Dimention. And involving Adora, he praised her from the very beginning even when he hasn't to because she was magically manipulated by Shadow Weaver, and until the very end his tunnel vision is the idea to get her back.

"But he kidnaped her as a baby!" a terrible thing indeed, but the Universe of MOTU isn't a peaceful one, because when this happened, the Sorceress erased the memories of Adora from the Eterians, even as a show explanation, there was apparently no further investigation about her, and years later Orko and Duncan kept the secret of He-Man's identity being Randor's son when he had been in more near death experiences that we can count, that is also horrible. And I can tell you isn't the worst thing a villain has ever done before, just ask Skeletor, or even Zodac.

But the basis is, the idea of joining or even help reluctantly the heroes, be for or against his own ideals is there, it exist as a concept for him, meanwhile when we are faced with Prime's ideologies and way of ruling, it isn't. In some way Hordak as a character adapts to the situation but also understand the other side of the coin, he express reluctancy, he has deep flaws due to his arrogance and he fails because of this, and he also express a choice of his own idependently of Prime, could you imagine what would happen if Prime finds out about him allowing the Rebellion to go unscratched because he felt he owed one to She-Ra?

And every time he is in some type of trouble, She-Ra helps him somehow because is very likely she understand this about him.

[edge-lorde]

more spop world building notes

i was talking with an irl friend about my brightmoon head canons and mentioned to them how odd it was that the boats in spop don't seem to sit in the water, as can be seen from this screenshot of sea worthy:

they also float in the air sometimes i guess.

example of them in the water:

my friend noted that the fins look like hydrofoils , something i hadn't known about. theyre basically fins that go on the bottom of a boat and, qutoe from the wiki--

"As a hydrofoil craft gains speed, the hydrofoils lift the boat's hull out of the water, decreasing drag and allowing greater speeds."

real hydrofoils look like this:

the resemblance is even better with hydrofoil boards.

real hydrofoils have structures that go under the water in order to give the boat/board the lift to be able to rise up like this

but what if the same effect could be achieved a different way?

we know that there's a stark difference in technology between the horde and the rest of etheria, but Horde navel vessels also appear to float just over the surface of the water despite looking much heavier than the other etherian ships we see.

we also know they have other floating land vehicles like the skiffs.

much of their other vehicle technology has a scorpion aesthetic, as it was adopted or stolen from scorpias former kingdom. examples:

we also know that first one's technology combined magic with regular technology, and entrapta seems to be the first person to have been able to reinvent this kind of tech during the events of the show.

We also know that the galactic horde doesn't use magic in its technology at all, as its a major plot point in season 5.

other people have made theories that i agree with, (but don't feel like trying to dig up their posts) that when hordak arrived on etheria, he did so at a time when anti-princess sentiment was already high and was adopted into an existing conflict because he brought with him stronger technology that could even the playing field with people with magical powers. he then would joined with the scorpion nation in this effort in some way-- whether it was mutually beneficial or not.

this is the image of the scorpion nation being taken over by the horde that light spinner showed micah as a child to convince him to help her grow her own magical abilities

it should be noted that light spinner/shadow weaver was at this time a powerful sorceress in illusory magics and is a villian well known for manipulating children in her care (adora, catra, micah). The scorpion kingdom take over could have happened like this or been more of a mutual endeavor and this is just what she chose to show micah because she knew it would compel him to action. Evidence could point either way. Scorpia is the only living scorpion person we ever see in the show, but she's also been treated well (has her own room with a picture of her parents with her on display and a closet full of dresses) and been given status beyond her abilities in the horde. she's supposed to be a force captain in season one, before even catra is made one, and yet when she is left in charge of a crew of soldiers its played for laughs, as if she's never had to do that before in a meaningful way. at least to me, speaks to there having been an alliance between the growing Horde and the scorpion kingdom at least at some point, and maybe a promise to take care of a young princess that was honored.

the textual evidence in support of hordak bringing advanced tech to an old conflict is scorpia mentioning before the prom that the other princesses didn't like her kingdom even before the war, the face that the horde cadets grew up being fed anti-princess propaganda despite the horde harboring a known princess in a position of authority, and the tech that the horde has. As i said before some of it has a scorpion motif like it came from the scorpion kingdom, but some of it does look like what we see of galactic horde tech, notably hordaks lasers and the green forcefield prison cells present in both hordes.

we also know that hordak himself is an engineer, having made many technologies presumably by himself-- such armor to hide and manage his medical condition, something he did not want other people to know about. So its my opinion that all of the tech we seen in the etherian horde is an amalgamation of scorpion tech, galactic horde tech adapted by hordak as well as new designs he invented. none of which use magic before entrapta joins the horde.

so what is my point? well, the other etherian kingdoms other than dryl dont seem to use any modern tech at all, at least at the structural level. like bow and his parents have a data pads they can call each other with, but much of the way people are living in etheria looks almost medieval. the princesses dont seem to have any ground vehicles at all for example.

and yet both sides have floating boats.

one could say the princesses boats are magical while the horde boats use some kind of magnets or some other floating technology we don't have.

OR

you know what they do both have?

FLOATING ROCKS

so all of this to say...

what if they put rocks in the boat and it make it go up instead of down????

[jovialbasementmusic]

What do you do with a brainwashed army of cult survivors?

At the end of Heart Part 2, Etheria still has a population of thousands of Horde Prime’s clones. This is going to be, putting it mildly, a Problem for the Etherians. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen what happens to a cult follower when they are faced with conclusive evidence that their entire worldview was false, but you probably have some intuitive idea. Imagine if you said to a young-Earth creationist “Hey, here are multiple overlapping lines of evidence proving beyond reasonable doubt that life on Earth evolved over hundreds of millions of years,” or to a Scientologist, “Check out this evidence that L. Ron Hubbard was a fraudster who started a cult as a money-making racket!” You can probably guess that in each of those cases, the response is unlikely to be, “Goodness, I have been mistaken all my life! Thank you, kind friend, for relieving me of my false beliefs.”

As someone who’s left a cult, let me tell you, the clones are not all gonna react like Hordak or Wrong Hordak.

You might have heard of cognitive dissonance theory, but most people misuse the term, so I’ll quickly explain it. When humans encounter information which contradicts or disproves their deeply held beliefs, they experience psychological discomfort. This feeling sucks, and people will go to great lengths not to experience it. But when those beliefs are central to your identity and your place in the world, letting go of those beliefs also sucks, and people will go to even greater lengths not to do it. So they resolve the cognitive dissonance however they can. They might decide the person who gave them this information is an evil liar and lash out at them. They might find a way to convince themselves the information is in fact compatible with their beliefs after all, and then try not to think too hard about whatever mangled assemblage of the facts they have settled on, in case it falls apart under closer examination. They might modify their beliefs slightly to fit the facts ("Prime always said he would go away for a while before returning in triumph!"), and then maintain that this is what they thought all along.

As an aside, one of the landmark texts on cognitive dissonance theory is When Prophecy Fails, which tracks the actions of a doomsday cult after the world failed to end on their predicted date. Sure enough, the acolytes of this cult did not abandon their beliefs despite this pretty concrete evidence that they had been wrong. Instead, they started recruiting new followers as hard as possible. They tried to get social reinforcement for their beliefs (“This must be true—look how many people believe it!”) to help them cope with the empirical disconfirmation they’d just lived through. So yeah, this theory is highly applicable to cult behaviour. And Prime’s clones are quite definitely a cult.

So it’s fair to say that just because the Hive Mind is down and She-Ra has just kicked Prime’s ass into oblivion, the clones are not all gonna just accept that Prime is gone and his mission is over. Some of them are going to continue fighting, convinced that Prime is not really gone. Some will insist that their connection to the Hive Mind is still intact, and deliver messages as the word of Prime. At least one clone is going to claim to be the reincarnation of Prime himself, and begin recruiting followers. More likely, several clones will attempt this gambit, creating factions with names like The True Followers of Prime and The Glorious Servants of Prime. These factions will go to war with each other in service of their Prime (honourable, redeeming) against the enemy’s Prime (evil, destructive). As time goes on, these factions’ ideas about Prime’s teachings will diverge, providing new opportunities for conflict. If they’re allowed to go on long enough, probably some benign and progressive versions of Prime’s cult will emerge, teaching that Prime in fact existed to bring peace and freedom to the Universe, and that those warlike factions have strayed from the true path of Prime.

All of this gives the people in charge of Etheria a headache. Etheria doesn’t believe in retributive justice, and as brainwashed cult members, the clones have diminished responsibility for war crimes they committed while Prime was alive. So it’s fair to say they can’t kill them. But they also can’t just ship them all off to live unsupervised in a colony somewhere in case they radicalise each other and start another war. Sure, some of them will follow Wrong Hordak into accepting that Prime lied to them, and they will find meaning by travelling the universe, attempting to restore planets Prime destroyed. Some, like Hordak, will give themselves names and begin the agonising process of creating an identity for themselves outside of everything they ever thought was true. But what of the rest of them? They’re essentially adult children, ignorant of everything Prime did not want them to know. They also trigger PTSD flashbacks in a great many citizens of Etheria, who cannot look at them without remembering what they suffered under the Horde.

What do you do with that many brainwashed survivors? What does compassion and restorative justice demand? I don’t know if I’ll get around to writing this as a fic or not, so here’s the setup and you can let your imaginations take it where you like. I’m new to tumblr and to the spop fandom, so if you read this far I’d really appreciate a reblog. And if anyone else has already had similar ideas, I’d really like to read them.

[no-cinnamon-for-synonym]

This might not make any sense because I've only had 1.5 hours of sleep, but there's a pipeline between Hordak's imp functioning as the hivemind in the sense of "Horde Prime Knows All." The imp spies on the Horde in Etheria for Hordak the same way Horde Prime spies on the Horde using the himemind. Hordak drew from Horde Prime's example and Horde Prime saw him as a threat for doing so.

[tippenfunkaport]

Imp lore while I'm collecting things

[andhereisthetea]

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVOLUTION comic Issue No. 1 by Dark Horse Comics (available here)

Summary:

"Journey to the earliest days of one of the universe’s most consequential, and fraught, team ups in this first issue of the official four-part prequel to the Netflix streaming event. Hordak is an ambitious general, eager to make his mark; Skeletor is an aspiring mage, hungry for power. Joining forces, melding ancient Eternian magic with advanced Horde technology, could bring them all their evil hearts’ desire…but they’ll have to survive each other first."

I'm going to proudly admit that I've sacrificed hours of sleep writing this, sorry for the bad spelling.

Okay, Masters of the Universe Revolution prequel comics was released early past month (May 15th) and as a MOTU/She-Ra fan I just had to check on it after watching the last season. And oh boy, there is a lot to unpack here….

The story of this prequel arc is centered around Keldor's origin and life as Hordak's apprentice, very much like "The Secret Origin of Skeletor" from the Minicomics era (which you can find here in @emperorsfoot blog), which took a lot from the He-Man 200x show and comics. I would say this is a rightful continuity to what the 200x never did, but with a pitch of new plot material and new perspectives to add.

For once, the writers also took a focus in Hordak's mysterious backtory and point of view through the issue, now is not only Keldor who shows his perspective of the story but also Hordak has something to say; both are the protagonists, not only one of them, which also shows us a glimpse of their future relationship as apprentice-master.

Lets start.

The story begins with a tale told by an unknown figure, (whose identity is addressed in the next pages) about a big battle (the first balled in the Universe) between the forces of Zoar (our beloved Preternian God from which the Goddess' powers belong) and Ka, God who would be the representation of Serpos in this continuity (the deity of the Snakemen). As the tale says, both turned against each other... until Ha'vok arrived.

According to this unknown person, Ha'vok is a deity and power who brings balance between Zoar and Ka, but entered a type of... stagnacy over time. Now, who is the champion?

Now, the first scene of the issue, oh boy. I love when the Horde has a good intro.

The Horde has always been a favorite of mine, and the introduction of two new female characters (you know, because the writers can't use any of the female characters belonging to the She-Ra continuity due to copyright reasons) has put a smile on my face for real. These two characters were designed by Alex Gimenez, but he couldn't continue with the comic project unfortunately:

They are a cool new addition to the Horde team, and I am very happy to see the original Horde members around too.

We are in Anwat Gar... the Island which was already mentioned by the 200x show as a site with great technology, as well as in the Revelation prequel comics, showing us is the site where the Gar lived in this continuity.

The Horde is attacking the place for an unknown reason, and at some point is mentioned that magic is actually forbidden in that place, contrary to what is seem during Randor's rule in the present.

Meanwhile, where is Hordak?

You see it right??! for old MOTU fans, this is the Fright Zone playset!

Apparently, Hordak has used the attack as a type of distraction to get to this place, he is looking for answers, and only magical entities can give it to him:

I want to take a moment to appreciate the call back to She-Ra's classic comics because these Fortune Sisters are a tribute to the 'Enchanted Sisters' who canonically ended up tricking Hordak in the classic comics:

Also, some dialogue of the scene:

Who the hell is Gaull?!

Soooo I had to go back to the He-Man character encyclopedia, remembering that Hordak's father was caller "Seferus-kur" also known as Horde Supreme, killed by Horde Prime (Anillis Kur) and Hordak (Hec-tor Kur), this info is ONLY in the MOTU 2008 bios and also to the 200x continuity (that is the story they wanted to use for the comics), so I guess they have choosen to retcon Hordak's origin story and also add a name for his father, because contrary to DC's interpretation, Prime is Hordak's older brother here:

Note to add, Revolution's continuity choose to go by a technological background for Hordak rather than magic, making the Horde a highly technological empire which despises magic.

More dialogue, Hordak's prompting to Eternia's ChatGPT

Man... the future will kick you in the ass.

Also, FINALLY the introduction to our second important protagonist in this issue...

Keldor's backstory is very similar to his 200x one, the only difference is that in this continuity he knows who his mother is, as if he had been raised by her rather than with Miro's. In fact, he was pushed to go and live with her by his father in the end. And surprise, she is a magic user, which was already pointed out as something forbidden in Anwat Gar, but Keldor doesn't care and uses his magic to attack the Horde invaders.

Saryn (Keldor's mother in 200x, here we don't have a name yet but I guess they will go with her original one) is the first magic teacher of Keldor, and she taught him for most of his young life, together with the magic history of Eternia, so we can already imagine who was narrating the story of Eternia's deities in the begining:

She taught him two things 1) we are made to defy and surpass our teachers 2) Keldor is destined to exceed Miro (Randor's and Keldor's father) at all cost and become a champion.

As well, she maintains a kind of telepathic connection with Keldor, where she constantly tells him he is destined to be a champion. But if she communicates with Keldor this way, where is she? apparently in some type of expedition:

Meanwhile Hordak has become frustrated by the Fortune Sister, who are trying to follow his indications, but going around the destiny of... someone else, who will accompany him through a parallel path:

"Grayskull's heir, yet unborn, will ground the ascendat bat, and in the fierce and final battle, Des-"

Screams internally... Hordak shut up and let the magic women speak.

Interesting thing, there seems to be a disagreement between some of the Fortune Sisters here, I wonder why?

*snorts* I really love this panel so much, Hordak is just so arrogant he thinks he would get it right away... man what if this was charged by some type of magic that would have killed you in an instant?!

Now we get to Anwat Gar again, where Keldor is trying to reach his mother while battling the Horde, meanwhile the citizens are more concerned about a magic user saving them than the whole Horde army around destroying the city, so we can say they have their priorities.

Finally Hordak arrives, helping a wounded Keldor and telling him it was all a distraction, as well Hordak tells him some interesting things:

"My name is Hordak, Supreme commander of the Horde fleet, Next in line to the Emperor's throne" hmmm...

Is important to highlight, is not Hordak who convinced Keldor to join the Horde, but his mother:

Finally, Keldor is recruited by Hordak to join the Horde, telling him they had uncovered a great power, and manipulating him (quite easily) to search for his rightful destiny.

Some things I liked about this issue:

The illustrations and art are ways better than most MOTU comics I've seem, even DC comics gets short in quality.

I liked the subtle call backs to the classic comics, the use of new characters, especially with the copyright issue, I believe the Fortune Sisters are going to reemplace Shadow Weaver, and the new Hordewomen are here to stay. We can see they cared for this story, especially with how much Lore they are trying to inplement here, blending most of the past continuities to create a new logic.

I liked that the Horde is a technological empire, just like the classic Filmation shows, and Hordak clrearly is the same arrogant and proud commander, still I can see he is more cunning and intelligent here, not the buffoon he was in the 80s, he is a good blend between his past continuities, including 2018. There is ambition in what he says, but his arrogance takes the worst of him.

If I have to point out what disappointed me the most... I do believe Keldor's introduction. He seems to be too young maybe, still focused in his mother's teaching and being seem as a rightful heir by Miro, his father. He is easily manipulated both by his mother (we don't know if she is good or bad yet) and by Hordak. he is desesperate to have his destiny and legacy.

I don't trust the Fortune sisters, or the only one of them who presented Hordak's with the Ha'vok staff, is evident she is going to be an antagonist in the future, and maybe she is Keldor's mother trying to led his son into a path for power using Hordak, which could be Keldor's undoing.

Thanks to @pennamesmith @lemaistrechat and @kuurankaiho for talking with me about this issue, is always good when there are more MOTU material to explore XD

[edge-lorde]

Entrapta and Hordak are in a b4b (barbie 4 barbie) relationship, sold separately as the Lab Partners Horde Sanctum Playset™. Each of them come with half of the portal as well as a workbench with a few tools and a special plastic companion creature (Entrapta comes with Emily and Hordak with Imp).

when both sets are together they can be fitted to form the whole portal but it cant light up without the Sword™ (sold separately either by itself or with a special bonus Catra line.)

Entrapta's hair is brushable and you can clip her tools to it like barrettes. She doesnt have multiple outfits but part of her overalls can be flipped up, and separate figures of her are sold with different removable masks. The whole set is marketed as inspiring future women in STEM despite the only actual sciency thing about it being the general aesthetic and maybe some numbers and fake blueprints on a sticker computer screen. its never explained why hordak is a part of this. (David S. Pumpkins voice: "He's Part of it!")

Entrapta also gets her own Crypto Castle Playset™ that is more polly pocket sized and has lots of trap doors and hiding places and comes with a few robot figures. her hair is hard and you can clip tools to both her pigtails and hands.

Hordak never gets his own set, he's always either a part of an Entrapta or Catra line, but he is sometimes sold separately with different armor. maybe a polly pocket sized figure has removable armor, but the barbie versions are just sold separately with only either a removable cape or arm cannon.

@hasbro @mattel @staff @god

[song-writer-melo-wrath]

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.

entrapdak my beloved

Entrapta truly is in my opinion just…PEAK when it comes to character-writing. She's great autism representation, and I also just love how morally grey she is when you think about it for a bit. Her moment of going “I don't know people, I know tech, so I thought I could help people by knowing tech” is very moving.

And Hordak makes for an interesting spin on a story of discovering your identity. I'll always be down for characters I can look at as a trans metaphor. “I am Hordak, and I defy your will” goes hard as hell.

Combined? Well, I love myself a pastel x goth ship. Hordak doesn't really know how to connect with people, and Entrapta, funnily enough cancels that out. She sees through a lot of his behaviour. Very steadily, they become two people wishing the absolute best for each other, two people who want to see each other rise above all that they have been through.

…

also obligatory Meta Knight and the Meta Knights mention, that guy and his crew BUILT A WARSHIP. Presumably a lot of the things that came with it too! When you think about it, that's insane!

[lukedanger]

My headcanon is that this is the origin of the term 'Force Captain'. Prime theoretically could manage the entire Galactic Horde, but let's be frank there'd be too much micromanaging going on for him to truly manage it, especially if he's not bluffing about the scale of his empire.

So when there's a situation large enough where it needs attention but not something that Prime wants to personally focus on, he needs to assign a semi-independent commander to a job and have them handle it on his behalf. Prime can still pop in, but at least now he only has to worry about one clone to get a full picture, and when Prime isn't busy with it that front said Force Captain has Prime's authority in matters. They're given their troops and can ask for more if the situation escalates, but otherwise they're left to their own devices to get the job done. When their task is complete and Prime doesn't need that micromanaging support, the title is revoked and they're back to normal.

Hordak was one such Force Captain and maybe even a successful one (if nothing else, he's capable of recognizing when his tactics are wasteful or failing and was able to change), but he didn't quite understand the nature of being a Force Captain or his perception of it had warped during his time on Etheria. It's likely that during the ceremony or moment that the title is revoked, that's when Prime noticed his defect and sent him to the vanguard to die and no longer be an 'imperfection', turning it into a moment of humiliation.

On Etheria, he repurposed the rank in his knockoff Horde to a similar goal and treated them the way he saw it - they're officers who can be trusted to lead a command, but do not necessarily lead a regiment day-to-day. Hence why Scorpia and Catra seem to have no command despite their rank: as Force Captains, they don't have a regiment that answers to them. They take command of whatever troops are necessary or delegated to the task, and are trusted to carry out Hordak's will independently, then the troops return to their normal commands or the reserves after the job is done. Unlike in the Galactic Horde, though, they keep the rank and are held in reserve for when they are needed again rather than it being stripped from them.

After all, Hordak acts the way he wishes Prime was... and is a far better person than Prime is.

right so we all know how, during his flashback scene, Hordak tells Entrapta he was Prime's "top general"

but then when we actually see the clones and how they operate they all seem to be equal, with no generals or any specific positions or jobs

im just wondering what we all think of this:

*as in, to help him feel as if Prime did care for him and would accept him back if he proved himself - it was solely the fault of his defect that he was cast aside and if he could prove that him being defective did not affect his capabilities then Prime would allow him back

[darklight572]

"Are we just gonna ignore that?"

Mermista is, of course, referring to Hordak and Entrapta together at the end of the Finale. I think its an interesting question, and represents far more than a meta look at the ship of Entrapta and Hordak.

Fundamentally, She-Ra Princess of Powers (2018) has a drastically different view of what it means to be "moral" and what "punishing villains" mean. It does not necessarily hold every individual who does something evil responsible for their actions, instead, investigating the system that prompts this evil. I want to explore that concept primarily through the characters of Entrapta and Hordak.

Hordak (The Derivative of Pure Evil) Starting with Hordak because he's frankly a bit less nuanced than Entrapta, not unnunaced, just less. He's introduced as the leader of the Horde, passive himself, but frustrated with Shadow Weaver's lack of progress. As the leader of the Horde, all-commanding, responsible for the (at least) decades of devastation and death.

However, despite that, he is- at least later on -given sympathy by proxy of standing next to Prime. Sure, Hordak has tried to dominate a world for decades, Prime has ruled the Universe for hundreds of years-maybe even a milenia. Further, while Hordak rules from afar, delegating his violence to Shadow Weaver and Catra, Prime manipulates directly- robbing will and mocking any form of attempted dignity in his presence.

Note that when Hordak does attempt to be charismatic he mimics Prime, most likely intentionally. It is clear that the evil Hordak has shown is fundamentally deritive, and that creates some amount of distance between Hordak and his actions. Further, there is the-slight as it is- possibility that Hordak had-fundamentally- no choice but to do as Prime programmed him. I find this interpretation doubtful due to the existence of Wrong Hordak, but, in fairness- he was severely physically damaged immediately.

Regardless of your take on that, Hordak is shown sympathy by Entrapta. This is interesting, not because Entrapta "doesn't care about her friends" as some people try to argue, but because it clearly displays how Entrapta cares about her friends. Sidelining that for a moment, Hordak is a great example of systemic oppression at work- not just as a leader, but as a victim of it. He was created "flawed" and was cast out, having only known one thing- Prime and his conquest- he attempts to emulate it but can't, not totally.

In his mission he recruits people like Shadow Weaver, and encourages her when she creates people like Catra and Adora- no doubt- even ordering the creation of the program which creates child soldiers. Stripping them of their indviduality through uniform and loyalty, twisting collectivism to benefit one individual through the gathering and hording of resources. When we see Hordak interact with his empire its strictly toward his end or delegated to another party. He expects his soldiers to be an extension of himself in totality, obviously, as a result of him being a clone of Prime.

The fact that most of the antagonism for at least the earlier seasons is a result of Shadow Weaver should not be ignored. Despite explicitly ordering Shadow Weaver to stop focusing on Adora she continues to do so, she has the capability to summon Force Captains and order them against his wishes- even one he promoted himself! By his own creation, Shadow Weaver is able to push a system where she wants to go, thats because at this point SW is who controls it, not Hordak. Once Catra defeats and imprisons Shadow Weaver, she attempts to take her place- and then the focus switches from SW to Catra as the primary antagonist.

Hordak is, never really the "true" narrative antagonist of She-Ra, not really, instead he represents the impersonal ambitious and destructive system of oppression.

So why the hell does he let a short, genius, probably neurodivergent woman invade his sanctum and aid him with something he hasn't confided in his closest generals with?

Entrapta (Schrodinger's Scientist) Lets talk about Entrapta.

Entrapta begins fairly simply, as the typical "mad genius" archetype, even introduced in a stereotypically villainous way cinnematically- a silhouette on a canvas of forboding colors. Then, revealed to be, fairly short, and asymetrical design wise- with top heavy hair that supports her. Immediately cutting most of the threat from the introduction. Entrapta seems to embody that contradiction as we move forward. Simultanously focused on doing whatever she can to learn and experiment and still being so anchored to others.

Over and over, we see Entrapta convinced not necessarily by helping friends or stopping enemies, but by studying more and more technology. Ot at least, thats what seems to happen, I want to posit another explanation. Mostly, I want to focus on her decision to stay in the Horde, and I do think its a decision. While Catra does indeed manipulate Entrapta at least to an extent, is isn't using false information or to lure her to some forboding place. Catra feels- imo -empathetic toward Entrapta. Her friends who had claimed to care for her had left her, used her as a tool to accomplish their goals, thats something Catra can relate to.

While this perception isn't true, Entrapta seems to believe it, and is visibly disturbed by the relation. Quickly, Scorpia befriends Entrapta, and even Catra seems somewhat fond of Entrapta's company. Entrapta explores all sorts of situations, helps the Horde quite a bit, and even begins to befriend(?) Hordak? Why? Is it because she feels betrayed and whats vengeance? Is it because she doesn't care about whats right and whats wrong? I don't think so- I think Entrapta fails to see the system behind an individual, or maybe doesn't care for it. She's almost a mirror to Catra in that way.

However, where Catra thinks herself immune to the propaganda of the system just by knowing it, Entrapta seems unaware or unconcerned by the logical ends of her actions. In a way that seems to both contradict her focus on scientific rigidity and completely fit with how she was introduced: in the throws of experiment, and completely unprepared when the logical end of it backfired. It is both a strength and a weakness of the character- something I have to agree with user Gythyanki (https://www.tumblr.com/gythyanki) that She-Ra 2018 does quite well.

Humanizing Hordak (And Destroying the System) It is precisely due to Entrapta's unique perception of systems that she is able to befriend Hordak. Keep in mind, for his entire life, Hordak has only known conquest and using people as a means to their ends. Thats how Prime sees him, thats how Shadow Weaver sees him, thats even how Catra sees him. So- when this woman- who should be an enemy, who should be a prisoner- not provides aid to him when he thought no one else could, but doesn't just use him it makes perfect sense that he becomes fond of her.

And while Entrapta's decision to help a tyrannical dictator build a portal that could have ended the world was.... not good, in the end, if Hordak hadn't been turned at least to Entrapta's side, there's a chance Prime could have won. And really, thats sorta the point right? Its not that Hordak didn't do horrible things. Its not that Entrapta was right to build robots for Catra or help Hordak build a portal, but that, it was not wrong for Entrapta to extend compassion toward him. That the evil being done is not ultimately caused by the individual, not really, but by the larger system at play.

Once you elminate Hordak from his context as ruler of the Horde, what do you have? You have a "defective" clone who'll do anything to return to his "brother's" good graces, but has fundamentally failed him by becoming an individual. Hordak learns to have his own values and chooses the one that showed him kindness over the one that used him. So "Are we just gonna ignore that?" has an answer, no, we aren't. Because we've already dealt with the problem. Hordak's means of doing harm has been taken from him, and his motivation to do it similarly.

Fundamentally, what would killing Hordak accomplish here? I might even ask, what would punishig him accomplish? She-Ra Princess of Powers seems to refuse the traditional concept of punitive punishment, and instead focus on how people are actually effected. How was Catra and Adora affected by Shadow Weaver? How was Shadow Weaver affected by Hordak? How was Hordak affected by Prime? What sort of system perpetuated the harm these individuals did? And how do we stop it?

I can't claim to know what the objectively best moral framework is, but I do know, that I can agree with the idea that maybe people matter a bit more than vague notions of "justice" which harm more people than they actually help.

End Note I: I am NOT saying Entrapta and Hordak are justified in their actions, and I am also not saying that Hordak shouldn't probably have to do a lot of rebuilding. One more note: individualism isn't inherently a "bad" thing, but it can be weaponized to attack geniune collectivism used to aid people in securing resources, be wary of that sort of thinking.

End Note II: Just in case you were busy reading and didn't wanna open a new tab GO READ GYTHYANKI'S STUFF, I WILL FIND AND RANT ABOUT HOW GOOD IT IS IF YOU DON'T

[iztarshi]

Space Bats?

I've mostly left out stuff that was meta rather than fic, but this one got left in. It's me considering how Hordak's species descending from bats would work, what kind of bats they descended from for instance. Considering I don't know that much about bats it's probably not that helpful, but it was interesting for me to put together and gave me an excuse to wiki walk.

An excerpt:

Hordak’s failed clones notably have wings, making me think this is an ancestral trait like a human tail that should disappear in embryo. This leads me to suspect that Hordak’s ancestral species was six-limbed and batlike, possibly resembling Imp more closely than Hordak.

Hordak’s facial features are also distinctively batlike. Interestingly, the reason those traits, the large, leaf-shaped ears and flat nose, are so distinctive to bats is because they are needed for echolocation. Fruit bats have longer snouts and smaller ears, looking more similar to other mammals.

Most echolocating bats are small insectivores, however the False Vampire Bats (megadermatidae) are larger and some prey on small animals, birds and other bats. Some species are ambush predators, locating prey from roost with echolocation and then dropping to take them in a short flight. The ancestral species being ambush predators would fit with Horde Prime’s eyes, if you assume they are closer to the original eyes of the species and the pupilless, glowing eyes of the clones are artificial or modified. Other species are gleaning species, making short flights over the ground and snatching up what they find, or they combine both methods. The gleaning behaviour is one where it is perhaps more likely the wings would become vestigial in the absence of larger predators.

[swearyshera]

Part 2 of tonight's asks...

@superbdragoncollection-stuff It's probably not a romantic thing, but I reckon Bow and Wrong Hordak would get on pretty well socially. You know, when they're not trying to fight off an alien army.

@vampire-meta-knight Agreed, I think it's meant in that sort of way rather than anything sexual (because that way lies some pretty horrible realisations).

@etheriankid Nooo, now you've spoilt my grand finale where Adora's jacket jumps off her and beats Prime to a bloody pulp!

Just wait for the follow-up, "Devastating but I can't stop laughing"

[el-ffej]

I have never even thought why Hordak was waiting at the portal when baby Adora arrived.

AHHHHH!!!! Mind blown.

Thanks OP -- much of this is going straight into my headcanon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Portals, man...

[aprillikesthings]

moar rewatch

s1! ep2 and 3!

Bow's voice actor's work here is so good lolol

Nice work establishing that only Adora can do the transformation thing with the magic sword

Man someone on youtube has to have done one of those therapist deep-dives on their relationship. So much of their interactions are just painfully accurate for the way a kid reacts to an abusive parent--that combination of fear and resentment and still wishing you could make them happy, just once.

My family didn't have a golden child vs. scapegoat thing going on, though. I wonder if this is based on the writers' own experiences or if one of them read about that dynamic or had a therapist consulted or what

oof too real 😬

anyway Free Palestine

even cartoons know that murdering civilians and/or destroying their homes makes you the bad guy

There's some parallels here with kids who grew up in conservative/evangelical families realizing their family's politics and faith weren't based around Jesus at all but were based around bigotry and small-minded cruelty and knowing they have to leave, and knowing ND Stevenson's background I assume it's intentional

"You've known these people for, what, a couple of hours? and you're going to throw everything away for them?"

:( and to Catra, this just feels like a betrayal. There's a meta post somewhere way back in my tags that was like, from Catra's POV, Adora knew how shitty Shadow Weaver treated Catra and that wasn't enough to rebel and leave, but knowing Glimmer and Bow for a handful of hours was, and how much that had to hurt like hell, considering Catra put up with Shadow Weaver's abuse for so long in part to protect Adora and in part because it meant her and Adora were still together

Ugh this is why I love this show, Catra's actions are sometimes just awful but they make sense given what we know about her life, and right now she's just panicking and trying to hide it

And meanwhile Bow and Glimmer are like "actually we've decided we trust you :) can you be fancy sword lady again thanks!"

Like of course Adora is going to pick Bow and Glimmer and not Catra in that moment!!

"Is that....Adora?" "It's She-ra!"

Yeah that's not gonna be the source of weird "who the fuck even AM I" feelings later ha ha ha amiright

Also along with all the other weirdness of suddenly being bigger/different outfit etc, like, She-Ra is not only WAY stronger, but also knows how to fight in that body and with that sword. Like having muscle memory you didn't know you had. That's gotta be WEIRD. (I mean, there's also memories that clearly aren't hers, too)

Poor bb is scared, mad, and kinda turned on (shhhh I can headcanon whatever I want)

I called Yellow Diamond a clod, right to her face!!

("You made that joke the first time you saw this ep April" It's just a good joke okay!!)

OKAY EPISODE OVER

EP 3

Glimmer: everyone hates Horde soldiers but I think people will love you as She-Ra YOU JUST HAVE TO BE SHE-RA HA HA IT'LL BE FINE

Adora, internally: I'm only valuable/acceptable/lovable as long as I can be She-Ra, a person who isn't entirely me and that I don't know how to control and feel extremely weird about, got it

LOL I FORGOT HOW THEY GOT SWIFT WIND

whether the sword's edges are sharp or not is entirely dependent on whether someone needs it to be or not pffft

ouch

lol this would be such a wild cosplay to do

(a quick image google says the original is far more popular for cosplay; only a couple of people have done this version)

"Adora's gone, she's defected. And I'm starting to think she had the right idea!"

...okay how tempted do we think Catra actually was to just fucking leave.

Once again: intentional parallels to high-control religious groups

But the reference to Lord Hordak specifically also has shades of "Just wait until your father finds out what you did!" which is, uh, a little uncomfortably close to home ngl

DEEP SIGH

boy do I hate how familiar this is

I used to get so scared it would make my stomach hurt, and I'd shake the same way Catra does here, which sometimes made him angrier

jesus christ

okay how much of my love of Catra as a character is bc I can empathize with her in moments like this one (I was never as openly rebellious or back-talking as she is though; any disagreement got me screamed at)

I mean on the other hand Hordak is like "bitch, I know you've been doing this whole Golden Child/Scapegoat bullshit, so if your Golden Child fucked off and the Scapegoat is all you've got left then congrats that's on you, dumbass."

Catra thought she was gonna be murdered and instead she got a promotion

OKAY BUT ahahah oh god

IF Hordak had actually punished Catra or even threatened her in any way, I feel like Catra would, in fact, have left. There would be nothing left for her in the Horde, right? So why not leave?

But Hordak didn't promote Catra because he personally believes in her abilities, he did it to piss off Shadow Weaver. Then again maybe he knows that promoting Catra means she'll stay loyal.

Because it works, doesn't it. Oof. Catra wants to prove herself, dammit; and she's been given a shot at doing it, so she's staying.

Aaaugh.

OKAY that's 3 episodes out of 52. I think I'm done for today. No guarantees, though. Also there's no way I can do this for every single episode. >_<

[mediums-georg]

Dear Podficcer letter 2024 (for @summerpodficswap)

Dear Podficcer:

Thanks for considering recording something for me! I am so excited.

Some general notes: I prefer podfics with simple soundscaping and quiet music, so it’s easy to hear the person speaking. My hearing is not known for being good, unfortunately.

I am okay with any rating and category. If the fic is NSFW, I would prefer it to be F/F, M/M, or Other. However, if it’s M/F and really funny, I’ll allow it. (Hopefully this goes without saying, but please don’t record an NSFW fic for me if you’re younger than 18).

When it comes to writing/recording fics, my preferences are generally the same as listed here, except I am not comfortable creating NSFW works.

Without further ado, here are my current fandoms! Currently The Stanley Parable is the main fandom that lives in my head rent free, but I have several others as well.

Main Fandoms:

Welcome to Night Vale

the Magnus Archives/Protocol

Hello from the Hallowoods

The Stanley Parable

Secondary Fandoms:

Starkid

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality

She-ra

Meow Wolf

Favorite genres:

Comedy

Sci-Fi

Fantasy

Horror

Tags and Tropes I enjoy:

Crack/crack treated seriously

Crossovers

Social media AU

Post-Canon

angst with a happy ending

identity shenanigans

Genderbending

F/F ships

Filk

Autistic characters/disabled characters in general

Unreality

multiverses

4th wall breaking/meta

Fics formatted like an episode of the podcast they’re from

Outsider POV

fics that will make you cry but are also comforting

fics where the main characters slowly realizes they’re living in a dream/simulation

Do Not Want:

Non-con or Underage archive warnings

Incest or pedophilia

RPF

Character X Reader (unless it’s funny and/or it gets meta)

And now, time for my fandom-related preferences!

Welcome to Night Vale:

Cecil/Carlos

Michelle/Maureen

The Magnus Archives:

Fix-it fics

Post-canon, especially if it’s a crossover

Jon/Martin

Melanie/Georgie

Hello from the Hallowoods:

Angst

Nikignik 

Riot/Olivier

Hector/Jonah

Percy/Diggory

Violet/Bern

Yaretzi/The Countess

Polly & Yaretzi & Mort

The Stanley Parable:

Stanley/Narrator

Timekeeper | The Settings Person 

4th wall breaking fics

Hatchetfield:

Paul/Emma

Steph/Pete

Grace Chastity

The Lords in Black

I still haven’t watched Nightmare Time 2 and the last episode of Nightmare Time 1, so please don’t spoil them!

Post-canon - specifically if you have a fic set right after Nerdy Prudes Must Die, I so want to hear it.

She-Ra:

Catra/Adora

Entrapta/Hordak

Entrapta/Darla

Post-canon

I’m not too fond of the headcanon that Entrapta is asexual and not interested in sex (although I could see her as a sex favorable ace)

Thanks for reading! Feel free to check out my bookmarks to get some examples of fics that I like: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crackfics_georg/pseuds/crackfics_georg/bookmarks 

If you podfic one that’s tagged “inspiration” I would be very happy, but I’d also love the opportunity to hear a completely new fic. Podfics of my own fics are absolutely welcome as well!

[freedfromthegalactichivemind]

Various Horde Clone names I've done for my fanwork.

So, seeing something about clone-oc names, and how it is likely that they'll name themselves for random things. I've named a sizeable flock of my own. While a lot of my clones are one-off for a particular story and I have relatively few recurrents, I have come up with interesting names. Recurrent: Robin - named himself for the bird, also a common human name. Jerome - a common human name, he liked the way it sounded. (In meta: inspired by an old ghost-town / mining town in Arizona). Robin and Jerome took the additional, surname of "Reaper" and later became known as the Reaper Brothers due to their profession of naming and claiming the clone war-dead / general undertaker work. Wander - an adventerous type. (In meta, inspired by a video game character-name). Vigilance - a strong clone who is protective of his friends. Phoenix - a clone that Vig saved. Rather slight-bodied as he suffered a lot of injuries in the war and his body never corrected out. Hordak Origin-story clones: Hordak (special note on the canon-character). - In my story, I decided that "Horda-aku" meant "Horde-sinner." Basically a derivative of "Sinner" became his name. Valor - an especially brave Brother with good military prowess. Stern - a rival to Hordak, an asshole. Named by Scorpion-people, not himself. Silence - a clone with damage to his throat, courtesy of being too willful around Prime. Cannot speak until he gets a copy-voice-box installed, in foreshadow to Imp. Scout - a good scout. Lin, Zel, Gan - Scorpions named them for a legend. Stupid video game reference. Bereft - a clone that grieves his fallen brothers a lot / has an "overage of emotion." Deep-feeling, to his detriment. There are others, but those are some of the more interesting names. One-off story clones: 1999, or "Niner." - Appeared in one of my short off-canon Entrapdak stories. He's a space-trucker. His proper name is is serial number, HK-1999, which he never exchanged for a name. People nickname him "Niner" sometimes, but he dislikes it. Not a law-abider, though, an utter rogue. Honey - A very young and childlike clone adopted by a loving family. They didn't know what to call him, so they called him "honey" a lot. He also developed a passion for the food of honey. - Sadly a victim of murder. Nova - the first clone that Robin and Jerome named posthumously as part of their funeral services. He loved the stars and got excited over seeing novas and supernovas. There are others, these are just some of the more interesting names I've come up with for these "mooks in canon / let's have fun with them in fanwork" beautiful beings.