#like the catra portal scene

[fabulyeux]

Negative Blossom

[ericas-spop-blog]

All Your (My) Fault

===============

Man, it's almost like Corrupted!Catra isn't really Catra, and is instead a spectre giving voice to Adora's deepest fears!

[canibalistic-brownie]

I have to keep reminding myself that none of y'all know me in real life and even if you think what I'm writing is cringe, its not for you, its for me. But h-h-h-h-holy shit is it hard to get out of that mindset of anxiously wondering what other people will think of your writing the entire time.

[lightlavenders]

also i think spop does a great job at showing how people struggle to think rationally in the face of their trauma. like, i couldnt understand why catra would activate the portal despite everyone telling her otherwise, but she'd been *badly* hurt prior to that scene and all she knew was that the rebellion, her enemies, would "lose" if she pulled the switch, so, regardless of the cost, she pulled it

similarly, hordak tries to send catra to beast island when she lies about losing shadow weaver. as far as things that have happened in the horde this isn't so catastrophic, but he insists on it, even arguing with entrapta when she defends catra's place in the horde. i think the only reason he changes his mind is partially because he decides the crimson waste would be an equally fitting punishment. but despite the fact that catra is the only one keeping the horde running, his trauma at being cast out by prime has led him to value absolute loyalty, and he won't keep her around

you can see it in adora too!! she struggles greatly to remember her own inherent value as a person like, all the time, *especially* when shadow weaver is around

and glimmer, after losing angella and having to be responsible for her kingdom and the rebellion, hurting and not used to taking personal responsibility, lashes out and blames adora when things get heated

entrapta too, on beast island, where she's fully aware that her life is in danger as long as she stays there, has to practically be dragged out, because she can't face integrating back into society, having friends again when she thinks she totally failed at being a friend

i just think the show does a great job of explaining why its characters do the things they do. like even if it doesn't make logical sense, there's emotional reasoning for everything, and i think that's neat.

[n7punk]

She-ra Cast Q&A (July 23rd 2024 via Streamily)

Yeah we knew I was going to do this, sorry I'm late but I was driving when it started. Quick summary of the questions and answers, not exact quotes so if you have more questions about something, watch the VOD. Shouldn't be hard to find since these are listed in chronological order.

Guide:

Q: Not-so-average-fangirl (host)

ND: ND Stevenson (showrunner/writer)

A: Aimee Carrero (Adora VA)

AJ: AJ Michalka (Catra VA)

K: Karen Fukuhara (Glimmer VA)

ND was sick for the stream so take his answers with even more grains of salt than usual (I love you Nate but I also know when you're joking and it's often).

Right off the bat, no major announcements except ND teasing he has a passion project book coming out next year with other things in the works.

Q: What influenced your changes to the original SPOP characters (for ND)?

ND: Fell down a lot of rabbitholes on fansites and such, conclusion was it was the gayest show he had ever seen. "This is so gay, I have to make this gay, it wouldn't be true to the original if it wasn't gay." Wanted to bring in a new take and a new world.

Q: How did it feel playing Adora in the first few episodes versus the last few (for Aimee)?

A: In the first few episodes she always feels like she's seconds from being hired (own anxiety, recording environment was very comfortable). Fell in love with the character and the story, ending was really bittersweet to not have last forever.

Q: Since Catra is your first "villain" role, is there anything you learned that you would use in future villain roles (for AJ)?

AJ: Voice placement (villains talk lower, more raspy trying to seem more intimidating). Pulling anger or hurt into her body when going into a session otherwise relaxed. Would workout beforehand or clench her muscles to help introduce to stress to her voice.

Q: Was there something from your previous serious roles you pulled in for Glimmer (for Karen)?

K: Liked that Glimmer was a lighter/fun role, her voice sat well for her. Previous roles might have helped for when she was going through her identity crises.

Q: If you could hangout with your character for one day, what would you do?

ND (Spinnerella): Girls day, coffee, sailing (wind for the boat), she's the most normal person on the show so easy to talk (A/N: THIS IS HOW I FIND OUT ND VOICED SPINNERELLA??).

A (Adora): Thinks Adora wouldn't like her (she's cool even if Aimee didn't play her cool). Interests don't align, maybe finding something more atheltic and crafty. (Q suggestion: A could bake and Adora could eat - Aimee loves.) Could have Adora build her something.

K (Glimmer): Would love to explore the kingdom with her, hang out with her and Bow now/a few years down the line.

AJ (Catra): Take her to Disneyland. Would be intimidated by Catra but it would be a nice icebreaker. Rides, junkfood, meeting princesses (Catra would pretend she didn't like it but actually enjoy it).

Also, the first of many mentions of the cast wanting to do a She-ra movie, ND said "already working" on a script but in a joking way, clearly not an announcement and just something he wants to do.

Q: Which scene got you the most emotional while writing/recording?

ND: Finale. Culmination of all the characters' arcs but also the crew's arc. Knew it was the last time they would be doing many things. Co-worker asked if the characters had said that they love each other, ND searched scripts and realized they hadn't, so incorporated the pitch into the finale. It was the crew's way of saying it to each other as well.

A: Emotional often while recording. (First of many pitches for Aimee wanting to be in everything Nate writes because his writing is so amazing). No stars in the sky, Angella staying behind convo in the portal, the finale.

AJ: "I love you, I always have" (will come up again later). Also when Shadow Weaver dies, she was so hard on Catra but she's still the closest thing to a mother figure she has.

K: Angella's death and when Glimmer admitted her mistake to Bow and Adora later on. (Also Karen cried watching AJ's confession scene).

Q: What do you think Catradora's space roadtrip experience would be if they took a trip to Earthe (for ND)?

ND: (This answer is all jokes) Wearing a dad hat, Catra gets in fights. Also Disneyland.

A: Bermuda shorts and sandals situation for Adora, no SPF and sunburned. Intense dad energy on a roadtrip. Interrogating about Dorito shells at Taco Bell without knowing what a shell or Dorito is.

AJ: Catra deciding to crash a movie premeire in Hollywood without even really knowing what a movie premiere is.

K: Go to all the food spots in LA.

A: Adora going through the drive-thru over and over ordering different numbers on Swift Wind.

Q: Did you apply any techniques you learned from voice acting into singing (for AJ)?

AJ: Singing since a little kid, feels like she's solid there, but voice acting requires a lot of front voice and stamina.

Q: If you could write a spin-off series for a side character who would it be?

ND: Double Trouble (shapeshifter bias). So many parties to crash, nobles to impersonate. Spy drama. Every persona they've ever had gets their own little spin-off.

Q: If you were in Etheria for 24 hours what would you do?

Okay AJ accidentally said she'd ride Shadow Weaver and then everybody functionally died when she was asked if she meant Swift Wind. I just have to mention that.

AJ: Ride Swift Wind first because Catra has never been on a horse and AJ is a horse girl.

(ND and AJ both said Catra would love it).

A: Wants to explore Glimmer's room and play dress-up.

K: Get ready for the prom together in Glimmer's room.

ND: Explore the First Ones' ruins and press all the buttons. Act like an urban explorer and then get killed by spiders.

Q: If Adam had been in the show, how would you have approached his character (for ND)?

ND: Would have changed everything in the show because there's somebody she would have a sibling bond with and be looking for her family. Sees this version of Adora as an alternate reality, but if they were both together, would be chaos twins. Push all the buttons, etc.

Q: During White Out, what would Floppy Adora and Catra's interaction have looked like?

A: The world's worst drunk voicemail you've left for an ex, so cringey you can't even write it (A/N: she's so real for this). Profess her love but then barely speak real words.

AJ: The night would end in laughter, and then tears, and then laughter, etc. Glad it didn't happen because it would happen too early.

ND: Show would have been over at that point because of what she said.

Q: If Glimmer was only limited to three places on our Earth, what spots would she choose and why (for Karen)?

K: Japan (to visit grandma), NYC (Karen might move there, she's going to try to see Aimee there next week), Turkey (to go in a hot air balloon. (A/N my interpretation was the 'she' was supposed to be Glimmer but Karen interpreted it to mean her and the host seemed to agree).

Q: Would AJ and Aimee ever consider doing a duet together?

(AJ made this :D face immediately)

A: I would be so nervous to sing in front of AJ I couldn't even speak.

AJ: Aimee has a beautiful voice and would love to duet with her. They're friends, no need to be nervous.

A: Would still need a little liquid courage, was thrilled to be in the "Blue Dress" music video for Aly & AJ.

AJ: Wants to do a three-way duet with Catra, Adora, and Glimmer.

Q: Of all the scenes that got cut, what are the ones you most wish you'd gotten to include? (A/N: Tippen you made it!)

ND: Nothing made it to animation, maybe boards at most. Couldn't think of anything, but prank they pulled by replacing the final line in the finale after the camera pans up from the Best Friends Squad group hug with "Did we ever find out what Grayskull is?". Showed it to their exec as a prank and got super attached to it but couldn't keep it. (A/N: ND posted a video of this on Twitter awhile back, see it here. Thanks tempusername24!)

Q: What are character interactions you'd like to see that you didn't get to do?

Karen (AJ same): Catra getting to be friends with Bow and Glimmer, Catra and Glimmer explore the world together.

AJ: Catra would love to teleport once she's used to it, loves Glimmer grabbing her and going somewhere spontaneously.

ND: Bow and He-man.

Glimmer is based on Nate's first DND character who misused Misty Step a lot!

Q: What was your reaction to the glimbow confession (for Karen)?

K: Super surprised, none of them knew glimbow/catradora/etc were going to be a thing, suspected and shipped it, but was super excited.

N (adding): Karen asked him when reading the script if she should read it romantically or not.

Q: What was your reaction to the new She-ra transformation in S5 (for Aimee)?

A: Thought she was hot already, loved the redesign/glow-up, the jawline, still love it now.

Q: Has anything from the show affected/inspired your music (for AJ?)

AJ: (Never thought of it before) There are times she feels she's in the shadow of her sister but playing Catra gave her a newfound confidence in herself as a performer.

Karen had to leave at this point, but the girls want the next signing August 17th to be a pajama party if they can swing it. (Also if you had any doubts this stream was geared towards the adult fans, Karen promoted her show The Boys when prompted before leaving).

Q: What was the hardest part about writing Adora (for ND?)

ND: Keeping the balance of the friendship and tension for all the characters. People thinking Catra might be too far gone to be redeemed and executing her "apology tour".

Q: As creatives, how do you process the heavy feelings when a project comes to a close?

A: Every project has a depression period afterwards, the "post show blues" (A/N: girl I know what you mean). Keeping up with the other people on the show is all you can do.

AJ: Second, there's nothing you can do but maintain those friendships and hope for another installment/reboot down the road.

ND: Everything for 5 years for him was She-ra, even when sleeping. Jarring when it was over. Really hard, tried to make peace with moving forward to something new and passing on the baton.

Q: What is your favorite line from a character you've voiced (for Aimee)?

A: Hard for her to remember quotes, was reminded of the line "You're worth more than what you can give to other people" (A/N: not a line from Adora but a good line regardless).

AJ: "I love you, I always have" because it's Catra being honest and throwing it out hoping for Adora to catch it.

ND: Playing Netossa/Spinnerella fight with nephew at his request, ND was playing Netossa because he didn't know ND voiced her, ND did the possessed Horde Prime line from Spinnerella and he screamed and hid in a closet. Unlocked the concept of voice actors for him and not he loves quizzing ND on it.

Q: What do you envision for Catradora's post-canon space adventures (also did Adora change clothes).

(All the clothes answers were jokes but sleeveless tops and a perm for Adora and a fanny pack for Catra so she can carry sunscreen for Adora).

A: Like that they've aged, that they'll find joy in the more mundane aspects of life and they may not be worthy of a movie but she likes that little moments that make up a life for them.

AJ: Same. Enjoying life as friends and lovers.

ND: They deck out the ship (airbrush a wizard on the side, shag carpet and mood lighting, the joke answers aren't done lmao). Fun field trip, being touristy, extremely low stakes shenanigans and then going on missions. Would collect tons of souvenirs as they travel from planet-to-planet.

What are you working on / What did She-ra mean to you?

AJ: On sabbatical except for writing music. Grateful for Catra and the depth of writing on the show.

A: Filming Our Friends and Neighbors. Same as AJ, also going to pester ND to play more characters for him.

ND: (got teary) She-ra transformed entire life, so grateful for everything the viewers invested into it. Book coming out next year that is a long-time passion project but not announced yet, other various things he can't mention right now.

Aimee joked with Nate that he needs to get back to work to get them all into the Academy Awards when talking about Nimona's nomination.

Upcoming signings:

Karen, AJ, and Aimee are on August 17th via Instagram (A/N: originally they said a different date for Karen and reports have varied from fansites but these are the upcoming events listed on the She-ra Streamily collection as of 24/07). ND has a TBD date pending as well.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

for all of spop's bad writing and tonal inconsistencies, they actually did a really good job of writing a scarily realistic abuser. catra acted exactly like how a lot of real-life abusers act, from the victim blaming and physical attacks to the casual insults that just find its way into the victim's head and stay there.

i would even argue that catra was a more realistic depiction of an abuser than shadow weaver. that's not to say that shadow weaver wasn't abusive, she totally was, but if we put aside the manipulation, she mostly used magic to abuse people. which could take away from the realism factor a little bit.

meanwhile catra only used magic when she used that first one's tech to mind control adora. other than that, she mostly used her hands or tools when she was physically abusing adora. you know, like a lot of real abusers do.

catra also displayed that classic self-pitying “woe is me!” attitude that shadow weaver often times did not. it's one thing for your villain to be horrible and abusive, it's another for them to think that they're the victim while they hurt and kill others. a lot of real people are like that where they think their actions are justified because they've had a hard life.

we also get a lot more instances of catra being abusive on screen, compared to shadow weaver. i can't speak for everyone but there's a reason why catra reminded me of That One Shitty Person In My Life more that shadow weaver did, despite them both being abusive.

when you watch the previous seasons, it's hard not to wonder if the writers planned to redeem catra at all. there were a lot of scenes that were just taken straight out of a psychological horror movie (looking at you, the portal sequence from s3) and i just can't imagine the writers thinking that this was the perfect redeemable villain.

i do think that any villain could be redeemed, regardless of how horrible they were. but the more ruthless your villain is, the more effort you need to put in to effectively redeem a villain. characters like amity or pacifica do not need long and drawn out redemptions because they were just mean girls. bullying is definitely a harmful thing, but it pales in comparison to abuse, murder and genocide.

anyway, i digress. my point is this: it would not be as frustrating if catra wasn't such a realistic portrayal of an abuser. the writers could have just made her a cartoonish villain and called it a day, but they didn't.

for example, it would be a lot less traumatizing if someone like bill cipher was redeemed (though it would be awfully out of character for him) because despite all his crimes, he was such an over-the-top cartoonish villain, it's hard to take him seriously.

the other characters don't seem to have any trauma from dealing with him. they're scared of him or mad at him, sure, but that's the extent of it. it would still feel ridiculous to have them suddenly forgive him, don't get me wrong, but it wouldn't be sending the message of “forgive your abuser, they're just really sad 🥺”.

[spopsalt]

Hey, remember that badass scene in "The Portal" when Adora decided to stop taking responsibility and feeling guilty and at fault for Catra's actions and then in season 5 spop was just like "Haha got youuuu it was Adora's fault the whole time for leaving her toxic environment and not staying to protect her toxic catgirl sister!"

[bitterlynsposts]

Man... i really dont like this scene. Like i know its supposed to be this " beautiful" moment, oh adora loved catra even at her worst but like... why?

After everything she did adora is still like i love you.

Like they could have honestly just put portal catra here too, like why not, adora loved her there anyway. She loved her when catra left her to die, she loved her when she was beating her and berating her for everthing, when she tried to kill her friends, when she ruind her friends kingdoms, when she tried to DESTROY the world, when she sent a double agent to destroy her friendships. Like in her vision with s4 catra, everthing around her destroyed and with a smug look on her face. And adoras just like yup i love her.

lol i didn't expect this to be so long. I probably sound angrier/saltier than i really am, im pretty chill yk. But i mean why not, its just for fun.

If you like catradora that fine, i respect it so if this reaches the wrong crowd. Lets just be civil about this.

take a shot everytime i say "like"

[dearladynightmare]

18 for the Entrapdak ask meme please?

Your favourite Entrapdak CANON moment?

I think I have to go with the scene in Season 3 "Moment of truth" when Entrapta and Hordak talked about the portal and they just have to keep it open long enough to get a signal through to reach Prime.

Entrapta sadly: “And then you’ll have to go with them.”

Entrapta brightens up “But there’s still so much data we could collect. What’s the rush? We’ll just keep working on it until it’s perfect.”

This is definitely one of my favourite scenes since both of them choose each other over their normal convictions.

Entrapta who doesn't believe in perfection and rather run scientific experiments on trial and error ,even if everything keeps blowing up that way, suggests to work on the portal until it's "perfect"!

In other words she says "How about we set an unattainable scientific goal - the non existing and perfect theoretical way to make the portal work, but of course without focusing too much on achieving it practically while we just keep being together."

And let's talk about Hordak!!! He absolutely was aware of what she meant by using the phrase "until it's perfect" He started to genuinely smile at her because he agreed!! Over the last 30 years he only focused on returning to Prime but in this moment he realised that he doesn't want to return anymore and he was about to choose Entrapta over Prime. He was definitely about to say sth like: "How about we blow that thing up and rebuild it more considered (intends to use unisolated cables again)...

Ahh and then Catra rushed in! And a few minutes later Entrapta found herself unconsciously on the way to beast I island. I'll never get over this AHH

My second favourite scene is this one... I don't think I have to explain. This one just makes me scream!!!💜

Thank you so much for asking!!!!💜💜

[anti-catradora-collection]

I find it funny how there's plenty of images of glimmadora being healthy and nice but C//A fans use the same 4 images because there's almost no healthy scenes of catra with adora.

And even then the images are either

1. Adora being herself and stans making it about Catra

2. Not the real Catra (hologram, fake reality)

3. The portal reality

4. Season 5

5. Catra abusing Adora and making it "romantic"

exactly!! it's even funny how c//a stans try to say that glimmadora is "abusive" when their ship has like 1 or 2 healthy scenes (and the healthy scenes are practically always like the ones you said: fake catra, making everything about adora be about catra, etc.)

[tippenfunkaport]

A Deal

Reunited with the rest of the rebellion, the crew from Darla tries to figure out where they fit on this new changed Etheria. Bow and Catra bond.

(Missing scene set after An Ill Wind)

Read on AO3

“I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll be brave and talk to Glimmer if you talk to Adora. Maybe it will work out for the both of us and we can double date!” “I have no idea what that means.”  “It means like... we’d hang out. All four of us.” “Didn’t we just do that in space?” Catra looked so utterly bewildered by the concept he couldn’t help but laugh. “You princesses are so weird.” “But you love us!” Bow fluttered his lashes at her.  Catra elected to ignore that statement. “You know what? Fine. You’ve got a deal.” “Really?”

In which Perfuma thirsts over Scorpia's back muscles, we check back in with all the characters Tippen hasn't been able to use in a billion chapters, Catra and Bow talk about many things including the portal, Queen Angella, and Double Trouble and Bow attempts the futile task of trying to get Catra to promise to tell Adora how she feels before the end of the literal world.

(can be read as a standalone but it's also Chapter 33 of Going There)

[catras-breakup-song]

Soo hope your not bothered by this ask, if you are you can ignore it

Your take on catra "sexually harassing" adora in the dance between them scene by the antis?

Also your take on the antis saying catra used hurtful mind control on adora (in episode: white out) just like prime's own mind control abilities?

hang on for a bit while i process...

WHAT IN THE WORLD ???

i can at least understand the controversial argument that catra was abusive because... well, she was. she perpetuated the cycle (that only goes up to S2 but it gets the point across). as adora said, she hurt a lot of people before becoming a better person and improving her relationships.

but i cannot for the life of myself fucking get behind sexual assault accusations... are they serious?! that just comes across as lesbophobia at such a point. the only moment i can assume they're talking about is this one:

and that is adora's leg placement, her own doing. adora's body was supported from falling flat on the floor not because she lifted her leg up, but because catra's arms were held around her back. literally just search up on google "prom dip pose" and under the images section you'll find the partner kicking their leg up like that. alternatively, if adora hadn't done that and simply leaned back without lifting anything, the posture still would've been the same.

not to mention, adora later does practically the same thing anyway:

i hate how people pretend like there wasn't mutual desire between catradora as if their impulsive fights and angry tussles weren't homoerotic as hell, and not just on catra's end being the one to initiate them. the audience is hooked on the coding within their subtext for a damn good reason. for the record, someone wrote a super long essay about how their sexual desire for each other was written, including this exact scene from princess prom.

EDIT: this post is perfect specifically for adora’s role in their song-and-dance there!

as for the other part about the first ones' tech virus, i covered it briefly on another blog after an anti commented on my post, which i'd rather not link so i'll paraphrase and add on:

it's strange that this moment was focused on specifically when it was so brief and didn't seem to affect adora herself (seeing as the second the sword was detached from her hand she detransitioned) aside from passing out for a little while but otherwise being totally fine, let alone in the long run. even then though, i genuinely wonder if it was more from the freezing cold considering she didn't bring any winter wear due to planning on staying as she-ra the entire time, or even exhaustion from chasing after targets ─ then again though, i wouldn't be surprised if it was just the corruption since catra didn't have any trouble recovering from being half-erased and splitting reality apart herself. i would imagine regardless, she-ra is much more immune to physical weaknesses & obstacles, compared to the wielder. the point is, either way, it clearly wasn't traumatizing the way prime's chip was shown to affect catra even many episodes after STC. for example, she continued to rub the back of her neck in "an ill wind", which was five episodes after.

the disk, however, never needed to be brought up again, but if it had been, it'd be unfair to say long-lasting consequences were entirely to blame on catra when the exact same thing had happened in dryll where she hadn't been present. the only real difference was that catra, knowing what could happen (not would obviously, as she hadn't planned to be put in the spotlight like that), fully intended to destroy she-ra unless she could weaponize it (but notably not adora in her default state), which i can't defend her for. it was a malicious choice, but it's reasonable to say it wasn't out-of-order while they were active enemies. at least she ended up realizing she was paying the price by being nearly killed, as she had been so used to adora going easy on her before the events of the portal-opening took place.

[haemosexuality]

im rewatching she-ra and naturally im gonna want to write about it a lot. starting by breaking down the catradora conflict origin story scene from s01e02 the sword part 2

people have said this before but the most important thing to keep in mind here is how different their understanding of whats going on is. theyre both approaching this with completely different views and so they misunderstand what the other means.

Adora: There's no time. We have to put a stop this.

Catra: What? Why?

Adora: Because this is a civilian town. Look around! These aren't insurgents. They're innocent people.

Catra: Yeah, sure. Innocent people who kidnapped a Horde officer. Now come on, let's get you back to the Fright Zone. Shadow Weaver is freaking out. [laughing] It'd be funny if she weren't such a terrible person.

so immediately theres two things i wanna say about this part, about how catra reacts to stuff. first off, something we learn about catra throughout the whole show and especially in the portal-alternative-reality, is that shes big on Pretending Nothing Is Wrong. whenever shes feeling upset or angry about something, she will start joking around and acting like shes just totally super chill guys, dw ("Ugh, whatever. It's not like I even care. I just wanna get out of this dump at some point before I dieee of boredom). Shes acting like that in this scene. Adora was missing for hours, shadow weaver was breathing down her neck and threatening her, she was already worried adora might have left at this point. she cant let adora know how worried she was tho, so shes all jokes and fast paced conversation. To Adora, tho, it just looks like catra doesnt care, like she doesnt understand the gravity of the situation.

and the other thing is that honestly? I dont think catra does care. about the town, i mean. i think catra was ready for war in a way adora never was. theyre both seeing combat for the first time here, and adora hates it. training for war is completely different than being in the battlefield, and adora couldnt handle it. face to face with it she couldnt tolerate seeing people suffering and dying, houses being burned down, a whole village destroyed. when the horde brainwashed adora into thinking they were only doing the necessary to save etheria, she completely and fully believed it, and when faced with the reality of the horde she immediately realized how wrong that was. Catra, tho, could not care less. she never believed in what the horde said, she knew full well what the horde did, so this isnt a surprise for her. and i do think shes naturally a bit sadistic, or at least growing up among the violence of the horde made her so. either way, shes seeing battle here for the first time and shes completely fine with it. doesnt even spare it all a second glance. why would she care about these people she never met if the most important thing in the world is right here in front of her? (i think even if adora hadnt left that night and went into the battlefield as a force captain, she wouldve ended up deserting. she cant stand seeing people suffer and she cant stand not saving them. shes too good, too selfless for that. catra isnt.) (also she is so ready to kill at all times. she loves violence. i once saw someone say how shadow weaver thought adora was the "cutthroat, ruthless warrior" when that was actually catra and they were totally right)

adora is also trying something futile here, she doesnt need to explain to catra that the horde is bad and hurts innocent ppl because catra has known that all her life

Adora: Catra, no. I can't go back. Not until the Horde leaves this town alone. You have to help me.

Catra: What are you saying?

Adora: I’m saying, this is wrong. They've been lying to us, manipulating us. Hordak, Shadow Weaver, all of them.

Catra: Duh! Did ya just figure that out? Manipulation is Shadow Weaver's whole thing. She's been messing with our heads since we were kids.

(the captions in the pics are slightly wrong, nvm that.) everything i said before. adora just realized all of this, while catra has always known, probably because the abuse adora suffered was more manipulation-and-brainwashing, while shadow weaver always made clear to catra that she didnt give a shit about her, so she suffered physical abuse with little attempt to convince her this was fine.

the "what are you saying?" is one of the things that show how different their perspective is. adora is talking about going against the horde and helping the town, while catra immediately gets more personal. what do you mean? are you saying that you might leave the horde? leave me?

Adora: How could you possibly be okay with that?

adora means, how could you be ok with the horde lying about its actions, and killing innocent people? how could you be ok with the horde raising us to do the same? and catra hears, how could you be ok with shadow weaver and hordak abusing us?

Catra: Because, it doesn't matter what they do. The two of us look out for each other. And soon we'll be calling the shots. Now come on, can we go home already?

catra replies: because, i love you. because you have my back and i have yours. because nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other, remember? and soon enough, we'll be powerful enough that they cant hurt us anymore. Adora hears, because i dont care about these people dying, the only thing thats important is you and i. and anyways, soon its gonna be Us killing them, isnt that good? lets go back home to the evil murder place.

Adora: I'm not going home, Catra. I can't. Not after everything I've seen. Come with me. You don't have to go back there. We can fix this.

adora says: im starting to realize now how wrong i was about everything. we're not the good guys, and i cant stand for that. i cant stand around and watch people get hurt. i cant stand around and watch you get hurt. lets leave, together, and have a better life, please. lets do the right thing.

Catra: Are you kidding? You've known these people for, what, a couple of hours? And now you're just gonna throw everything away for them?

catra hears, shes willing to leave me. after everything i did for her, all that i took, all of these years of us being together, she would still leave me. she would break our promise. she would leave me behind.

and then she straight up electrocutes adora. ok

she says it was a reflex, but i dont know if i believe her. i dont think she likes hurting adora (not physically. not by this point, anyways), but i do think that shes the type to lash out when upset and immediately regret it, then feel guily about it. which just makes her more upset. :(

Catra: Oh, man. That was a lot stronger than I thought. Are you okay?

Adora: Why are you doing this?

Catra: Because you left me! And if I don't bring you back, Shadow Weaver’s gonna have my head. So, enough with your weird little identity crisis and let's go home already. Or do I need to zap you again?

thats the last time they talk. adora gets teleported away by glimmer, and when they see each other again, its clear that they both made their choice.

the moment adora showed catra she was willing to leave her, there was no coming back for them. because catra would never get over that. she'd spend all her life in that hellscape, putting up with abuse and bullying and probably so much more we dont get to see, because of the promise adora made her. and, in her eyes, adora was ready to leave her on the first opportunity that came up. that hurt. that broke her. and that released something really ugly inside of her.

cue in 2,5 years of homoerotic rivalry and trauma. ok post over if you read this i hope you liked it <3 bye

[shyrgyrryn]

One thing about Catra’s writing in season 5 that sticks out to me is that the writers genuinely don't seem to know how to write her personality now that she's a no longer a villain and that they don't view certain behavior as something she needs to unlearn but rather just how she is.

A lot of Catra’s personality relies on her being snarky, mocking others, being petty, and easily annoyed at times. She seems to be the SPOP writers' attempt a "little shit" type character. And it seems like the writers didn't want to change her personality too much, so they just had her continue certain behavior so that she's still a funky "little shit." Which led to her making comments about buying property in places the princesses aren't welcomed and commenting about how weak they are. These scenes are written as if they're supposed to be endearing, but these scenes completely contracts her redemption as well as make her no different from how she was before (same person, less war crimes). Bullying your enemy tracks when you're being a villain, but Catra isn't a villain anymore, she shouldn't be treating them that way. So, writing her make fun of the princesses when she has...

Actively worked with the dictator government that had attempted to destroy their homes countless times, fully aware of the government being evil.

Tried to kill one of their friends on multiple occasions

Is responsible for one of their friends' mom being trapped in a portal dimension for eternity (which is far worse than death in my opinion)

Helped lead an attack against their friend's kingdom, resulting in their kingdom being completely destroyed.

And countless other war crimes the show failed to mention.

...doesn't feel like the "little shit" behavior they're going for, it just feels like general shitty behavior. It's like the writers don't know how to make her "funny" without making her be an asshole. Somebody in that writing room either doesn't like Catra or everyone in that writing room shrugged and said, "eh, she's just like that," then put zero effort into her character because for some reason they can't seem to find any problem with the way she acts. (which is a major problem)

[now-that-i-saw-you]

Catra's Arc: a review

I've been rewatching SPOP and I'm currently on season 5 and I have some thoughts. While rewatching, I took mental notes on whether I liked Catra & her arc or not, and trying to understand the anti-Catra side.

Well, I liked Catra a lot and I enjoyed her arc, but I can see where her storyline falls short so this is a review of her arc the way I see and understand it.

The show starts with Catra and Adora together. We immediately know they're best friends and we also immediately know that Adora is the prodigy, more serious one whilst Catra's a troublemaker. Adora finds the sword, joins the rebellion, offers Catra to come with her and Catra says no. That part is so frustrating to watch because we don't know why Catra refuses, why would she care? she doesn't seem to care about the Horde's mission so her refusal is just stubbornness and being annoying.

As the series progresses we learn more about Catra's past and, most notably, her relationship with Shadow Weaver. Shadow Weaver is an abusive mother-figure, she manipulates Adora, she humiliates and hurts Catra. Shadow-Weaver clearly prefers Adora and sees Catra as a the black sheep & bad influence. What Catra's actually fighting Adora about is the love of a mother-figure, more than anything else. Now I think the problem with the show is that there weren't enough flashbacks to Catadora's childhood. I think we needed more scenes of Catra and Adora talking about having more power and no longer being under Shadow Weaver's rule. We needed more scenes showing how the Horde soldiers are taught that the princesses are evil. And we needed to see Catra being an outcast in the Horde and how Adora is the only one who's kind to her - that way there's ground for Catra being envious of Adora and also Catra feeling like Adora's the only family. All of this could explain why Catra's jealous of Adora's friends and along with their wish to escape Shadow Weaver, could explain Catra's need for power.

Still, the series shows that Catra doesn't actually enjoy her evil deeds. It's all just a facade. The more we see of Catra the more we see that all of her daring, sarcastic behavior comes right after almost having a breakdown. Season 3 gives us more information about Catra and Shadow Weaver. Catra is still desperate for Shadow Weaver's love, but the latter betrays her. At the end of the season Catra is crying when talking to Shadow Weaver about the fact she left her for Adora and then Shadow Weaver tries to kill Catra. I don't think I could respond normally to this situation so I don't find it surprising and horrifying that Catra's reaction is to open the portal that will destroy the world. She's self destructive! Trauma does that to you.

This is also the point where Catra commits her worst crime - sending Entrapta to Beast Island. This is a children show, so there's not gonna be much on-screen death but Catra is basically killing Entrapta. And I personally think that you can easily tell that Catra's doing it out of self-hatred, destructiveness and a bit of madness rather than a one-dimensional thirst for power. Especially because later on she has a nightmare about it, indicating that she regrets it and I think also indicating she regrets everything she's done.

Then season 4 is a very low point for the Rebellion, they are losing every battle, shit's bleak. So you'd expect to see Catra happy but she's not, she's completely losing it. She doesn't sleep, she lashes out on everyone because she doesn't actually enjoy any of this. She's lashing out because that's all she can do, because no one taught her anything else. And I think that this is her punishment and turning point, because after her plans (basically) succeeds and Horde Prime comes, she doesn't cooperate with him. Eventually she decides to do one good thing in her life and sacrifice herself to save Glimmer. She had the opportunity to let Horde Prime destroy Etheria like she tried to do with the portal, but she regrets what she did. Later on she even has the opportunity to stay brainwashed by Prime and not feel any pain, but she chooses to fight it and feel.

Now on season 5 it seems more and more like Catra's learning to undo her toxic mindsets, she tries not to lash out and respond out of fear and anger. She apologizes to Entrapta, the person she hurt the most, and I personally think that this is also supposed to symbolize her apologizing for all of her crimes. She even tells Adora that she's trying to work on controlling her emotions (with the alien-cat). I know it comes in this kind of unserious script, but this is a children show and I think that, despite that, Catra's genuinely trying to work on herself.

We can argue about whether this is a good message or not, but I think the point of the show is that people aren't black and white and anyone can be redeemed/forgiven. Shadow Weaver is power-hungry and has no loyalty, but she really did want to protect her planet and she really did love Micah. Hordak is an outcast, he is in pain and grasps onto power because it's the only thing he can control. Glimmer nearly destroys the world because she reacts out of anger and grief and fear. They're all forgiven by the plot, Catra parallels all of them.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

i do find it interesting how catra feels more guilty about the way she treated scorpia and entrapta, whom she knew for a few months or a year, at max, than she did about the way she treated adora, who was her best friend/sibling for as long as she could remember.

her face after she electrocutes entrapta says everything. while what she did was horrible, she did it out of impulse and was clearly horrified when she realized what she had done.

later on, she gets nightmares about what she did to entrapta, clearly hammering in the guilt.

she doesn't do anything about it, of course, but at least it's made obvious that catra knows that what she did was wrong. again, remember that catra never seemed to like entrapta all that much. even though entrapta considered catra her friend, catra always seemed to be impatient and annoyed with entrapta.

later, when scorpia tells catra that she's a bad friend, it hits harder than anything else anyone has ever told her.

scorpia leaving was the straw that breaks the camel's back. this leads to her breakdown at the end of the season. this is the first time we see catra being truly devastated.

which further hammers in the fact that scorpia was probably the only person catra truly cared about.

contrast this to her reaction when adora calls her out during the portal scene.

she's not shocked, she doesn't look guilty, she looks angry. she further tries to fight adora, springing her at every chance until adora decks her in the face.

and after the portal is closed, catra looks scared but still shows no remorse for what she did. in fact, in the last frame, she just looks determined. and it's clear by her next appearance that she does not give a single flying fuck about adora's feelings. she continues torturing adora with a smile on her face and prides herself on angella's death.

so yeah. if catra showed remorse for hurting entrapta and scorpia, it's not that she's completely apathetic or doesn't realize her flaws. it's that she doesn't respect adora as a person and does not feel bad for hurting and trying to kill her. again, reminder that they had been friends for their whole life. if the show writers really wanted to show us that catra always loved adora, they should have shown at least a hint of remorse in catra's behaviour regarding adora, prior to s5. but nah, who cares about good writing when your audience is gullible enough to believe whatever you tell them, right?