#same counts for spop

[adorawasright]

i love how ppl will use the argument "why are you still hating on the show? it's been years, just get over it".

except i think many of us took a lot of time to realize the glaring problems within spop. it took me months to "wake up", and i'm sure others who follow my blog or the spop crit tag must have taken even more time to change their minds.

i mean, isn't that a natural process? at the time you watch a piece of media, you might love it. but then the hype dies down and when you revisit it, it sucks. take avengers: endgame for example. i remember a lot of ppl praising the film when it first released, but nowadays i rarely see any positivity online, i mainly see fans (or ex-fans) being disappointed and angry that the mcu's quality dropped significantly. besides endgame just being a trainwreck of plot holes that killed ppl's favorite characters.

like hell, sometimes you revisit your favorite childhood cartoon and you realize there are so many wrong things with it that you never realized before. you know what that's called? growth. i'm pretty sure we've all felt this way about any piece of media. and it's so funny that diehard fans will shame us for criticizing it, as if all of us have been hating on the media since it released.

(some spop crits have always known the show had issues, but not everyone has. including me. and that's more common than spop stans think.)

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Stans: Spop says Buff Women Rights!!!

Spop: The buff women in question.

Not buff. Not even athletic in any way. NO MUSCLE DEFINITION WHATSOEVER.

Very buff, but they’re built exactly the same. Also, there’s only two of them. I’m not counting the moth lady or the bar tender.

Not all buff women are built the same. (Yes, I know not all the girls pictured are buff, but they are all athletes and have noticeable muscles or are toned in one way or another. You get the idea)

all of this! adora at least has muscles SOMETIMES in her she-ra form, they’re just very inconsistent. but catra??? fans really saw that one frame where her arms were drawn a bit thicker and immediately decided that she had biceps. even though she was stick thin for the ENTIRETY of the series. pros at cherrypicking really.

and yeah, while i do appreciate that spop gave us SOME buff women, i do wish there was more variety, instead of giving them the exact same body type. scorpia and huntara even look like they’re around the same height. (also we don’t really see much of scorpia’s muscles because most of it is covered by her exoskeleton. we know she’s buff but we rarely get shots of her muscles.)

arcane, for example, does muscular bodies really well and gives us a variety of muscular women who all look different from one another.

same goes for tlok.

you can see how korra’s body is stockier and wider while lin is a bit skinnier with lean and athletic biceps. this makes sense considering their powersets and their jobs too since lin was a cop who often used metalbending to restrain people, whereas korra used brute force to fight people head-on. i also appreciate that they made korra a decently big-chested woman who is still masculine and muscular.

at the end of the day, progress is progress and i will praise spop for playing a role in that progress (even if it was very backwards in many areas). but there’s always room for criticism and it’s especially frustrating when fans act like spop is the most diverse show in existence when it doesn’t even come close.

[edsheerankinnie]

Ok im gonna piss of a whole fandom w this. but here we go lol

So ive been thinking abt She-ra lately (spop specifically) and ohmy god it fucking sucks. like i get so mad anytime i remember it, like and if anyone asks me abt it im gonna warn them do NOT watch this show FOR UR OWN GOOD. unless u dont mind an entire season of fanservice AND BY FANSERVICE I DONT MEAN NUDITY OR THE ANIME KIND, ILL GIVE YALL THAT, i mean specifically how they made catradora canon w virtually no other buildup than they were raised together and ooh they hate each other ouuh ;)) enemies to lovers oouogh🫦 like if ur gonna make a ship like theirs work its gotta have some sort of proper progression w their relationship right? But no, the ENTIRE time up until MIDWAY INTO THE LAST SEASON theyre constantly at each others throats like. its not even fun at that point, it just looks weirdly abusive and toxic. And hey, while were still here, catradora in execution is Such a bad ship bc like. They were raised together. by the Same Person. not even just under the Horde, theyre literally both raised by Shadow weaver. and before their rivalry and in several flashbacks their relationship moreso implicates sisterhood than anything. like idk i dont wanna get too bold here, but it just feels a little too close to !nc3st to just put them together like that?

Omg and lets talk about Fucking SHADOW WEAVER omg. like throughout the whole show were shown and told abt how much of an abusive parental figure she was to adora and especially catra right? But then at THE LITERAL VERY END, Shadow Weaver SELFLESSLY sacrifices herself to help catra and adora save the world. SHadow Weaver, whose entire essence was her desire for Power, who betrayed her own people to obtain it. Who's only semblance of a redemption was her working with the Princesses, just because she would be in a better position of power. no remorse whatsoever for how she treated the two as kids. Nevermind her fake-out to catra that one time, in fact that scene highlights just how easily she'll manipulate those close to her to get what she wants. and u expect me to just "oh wow shadow weaver is so noble for that! This is so sad! poor catra and adora, they lost their now-good mommy!" (again, *their* mommy, eugh). Like im having a hard time believing they were able to mourn her loss like that at all. We've seen them both have very complicated feelings about Shadow weaver. Ok well to be fair we didnt actually GET to see them mourn. which IS ALSO SOMETHING I HAVE ISSUE WITH

the SPEED AT WHICH THE 5TH SEASON RAN omg i HATED IT I HATE IT SO FUCKING MUCH. SO MUCH HAPPENING IN LIKE !) EPS OMG, and on top of that WE DONT EVEN GET A PROPER CONCLUSION???? U EXPECT ME TO BE SATISFIED W THEM ENDING THE LAST EPISODE 5 MINS AFTER SAVING THE WORLD????? And ohmygod DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HOW THEY SAVED THE WORLD AUGHJLFDRCRJ IT WAS SO BAD Like girl i need SOME kind of CONCLUSION, not just "yay the horde is gone! sunshine and rainbows! bye bye!" GIRL WHAT THE FUCK??! WHAT HAPPENS AFTER??? I WANNA SEE THEM REBUILD ???? I WANT A FLASH FORWARD (AND NO ADORA'S 5 SECOND VISION WHILE SEEKING THE HEART DOESNT COUNT), I WANNA SEE EVERYONE ADJUSTING TO THEIR NEW LIVES. I WANT SOME SWEET SWEET BANTER. I DONT WANT TO READ A FANFIC DEPICTING ALL THAT BC THE CREW GOT LAZY. I WANT A NICE BASE FOR ALL THAT. U GET WHAT I MEAN??!?!?

I think i should mention that i am in no way shape or form homophobic or anything, i am literally the president of the fruitcake club, ok? but the catradora kiss was probably the worst canonization of a relationship in an animated series ever, period. Like really? while Adora's half dead?? and otherwise the whole world ends if u dont?? And with only 5 minutes of runtime left ?????? I am being edged. I am being edged in the worst possible way. I hate it so much. "Dont leave me adora! I LOVE you! I ALWAYS have!!" HUHHH???? U EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT????? "i love u too🥰" HUHHHHH???? GIRL WHEN DID THIS DEVELOPMENT HAPPEN??? U hung out for literally 3 DAYS and u expect me to believe u guys went from enemies to working out their issues to googoo eyes???? when there was HARDLY ANY OF THAT THERE TO BEGIN WITH???? also just the overall trope of "oh no the world is ending, if i kiss this guy it'll be saved" is sososo bad, idc if its a straight or gay couple, it is probably the most annoying trope ever. like gyattdayum i didnt know i was watching an old Disney movie. i thought this was an epic scifi my bad. Yall need a moment? Do u wanna fuck too? Maximize ur "power of love" slay so the world is extra saved? jesus christ. its the "true loves kiss" trope all over again. Like thats such a rude way to treat a ship too. I want to see it in action, i want to see real progression, ESPECIALLY bc its the main ship, not "ooh they might be gay!!11! ooh they might kiss :) oouhh" and then last second theyre like "btw theyre in love now ;)"

Like id *maybe* get it if there were time constraints like with TOH, id get it if they were like "the idea and concept were there, mr CEO wanted us to shut down the party." but from my research, they didnt really have any constraints like that. And im saying *maybe* bc like with TOH for instance, even though they were forced to cut the show in half, they still delivered everything to progress and end the show properly! They had an *afterword*! they had Lumity and Huntlow and Raeda!! And oh my god the progression of Lumity is so sweet and beautiful! we get to see their "enemy" phase, we get to see them fall for each other, we get to see them date, we get their First Kiss!! We get to see how much they care for each other!! And sure, on the flipside we dont really get to see Huntlow. But thats bc the show got cut before it could *really* take off. There was supposed to be a whole season of Willow and Hunter's hijinks while the gang was in Connecticut. There was supposed to be a whole season of the gang adjusting to Connecticut! We were supposed to see the Archivists involvement and the ultimate showdown in the 4th season!! But they had to be economical bc of the cut, right? So they made a montage of Connecticut, they made three separate, HOUR LONG episodes depicting what couldve happened in the 3rd and 4th seasons. we get to see Willow reciprocate Hunters feelings in the 2nd ep! And most importantly, we get a real conclusion!! we get to see everyone rebuild, we get to see how theyve adjusted, how their lives and relationships have changed. We get a satisfying moment for it all to sink in. we get to properly say our farewells to the characters. All loose ends are properly tied! The Owl House may not be in my top list of cartoons, but u have to admit, it has a very good and satisfying conclusion. And all that with such intense time constraints too.

Now dont get me wrong, She-ra and its characters is written incredibly well (mostly) and its LGBT/POC rep is a game-changer. Heck, i loved Scorfuma, and that was only crumbs of a side ship. And the character designs/animation/colors are absolutely gorgeous, like that is honestly what probably pulled me to watch this show. Im just disappointed in what couldve been, yk? It had so much potential. especially in its last season, it just feels like the writers had too much setup and didnt know how to resolve it. 2/10 would not recommend.

[evelhak]

I felt implicitly tagged by @lilypheria. Here's the template too.

It may seem like I only write KnB these days but I don't consider myself to be done with my SPOP comics yet.

Tagging all my writer friends but I'm going to mention @active-mind-15 because you're kind of new to me. But I really want to hear about all my writer mutuals and followers. By the way if you've written one unfinished fic or tried to start to write your ideas but can't, or haven't written for years, or have any other struggle that makes you feel invalid, you count as a writer.

Going to elaborate under the cut because I felt like it.

My old account was FinFanFun, a Finnish site I used mostly for reading Facebook wall fics about that which should not be named.

AO3 is where I publish my KnB fics though I've considered branching out to see if there's still some fandom corners I haven't reached.

I'm slowly introducing myself to writing smut but the only story I've published has been called mild and soft smut or smut-ish, and I doubt the rest will be much different.

I frequently beta-read for friends, though fanfiction is the minority.

I used to have two beta-readers but they're unable to do it anymore so all my fics rely solely on me for now, which makes me really anxious sometimes. I am pretty desperate for a new beta-reader so if KagaKuro and a million words of "homework" doesn't frighten you, please jump into an adventure with me!

All my fics are self-indulgent in that they're what I want to see play out in the story. They are not personal fantasies, or necessarily what I want to see in real life, but it's what I envision for these characters.

I'm always reading old favourite fics again and I need to branch out actually.

If I'm in need of a short fic to read I will probably pick fluff.

Have written m/m and f/f (and m/? and m/f) but honestly it's weird to put them in the same category when m/m is so overrepresented.

I'm not actually sure if I consider fanfiction as a genre or rather a medium, because all genres exist inside fanfiction. Medium is probably more true but I seem to have checked it anyway because I feel like the point here is whether fanfiction is valid literature and that it is.

I don't know if two fandoms with one being dormant would be considered multifandom so maybe no.

I do anxiously wait for feedback since I'm very community oriented but I'm also very introverted and internally motivated so the lack of it doesn't discourage me. I have patience and I can wait for connection for years and years. Not that lack of connection doesn't affect me, of course it does, but giving up is just a very antithetical concept to my beliefs and life.

I have one on-going long KnB story and one unfinished She-Ra fic that is waiting for a better time. Which is an exception since I tend to finish what I start before moving on.

Editing fanfiction is actually not as bad as editing original fiction because I put much less pressure on myself, partially because you can always edit your fic again.

Always listening to hours long conversations in my head between characters when I'm trying to sleep. They're really bad at shutting up and I'm supposed to remember this stuff in the morning?

I was mildly drunk for ten days straight to write Anything Can Happen. Haven't done that since but it was really fun.

My main KnB storyline gets most of my attention. It's just my thing, I pour everything into it.

I didn't check 'wants to be a professional writer' because after three traditionally published books I consider myself to be that already. I actually went the other way around than seems to be the norm: I was an original fiction writer first and then branched out to fanfiction in my twenties. I can see it greatly affects how I write fic, and it's probably the main reason I feel like a bit of an outsider.

[blonde-and-cat-suc]

choose violence ask game: 3, 12 and 22?

p.s. love your blog, please keep spreading the truth!

And I love blogging <3!!! I do it for the girls and the gays.

>>>><<<<

Answers under the cut . . . This is gonna be a long one.

3) Screenshot or description of the worse take you've seen on tumblr?

Okay, so, the only problem with this one is that I've literally seen too many to count. But the one that I'd often seen and had the most visceral reaction to were definitely the longer, well articulated analysis posts from stans that did SO MUCH bending and twisting to claim Adora being equally toxic/(and or abusive) to Catra. Which, obviously, I also spent time analyzing. Trying my best to understand what was going on. And you know what? I get it. I don't agree. But I get it. Adora and Catra grew up under the same circumstances, so yeah, they wouldn't be entirely innocent of picking up bad habits from their childhood. Realistically. Fine.

But implying that Adora is worse? Worse than Catra?

...

Anyway, I've suffered from my own self-inflicted torture in the past. I wish I hadn't spent so much time reading stan analysis the way I did, but... Here we are.

And that's just on Tumblr. I don't believe that other social media/forum sites are better or worse about c//a and SPOP, but I have seen worse in The Wilds. (At least on Tumblr there's the filtering options. Everywhere else, good luck).

12) The unpopular character that you actually like, and why more people should like them?

Guys. I LOVE SWIFT WIND. I FUCKING LOVE SWIFT WIND I DON'T CARE THAT HE'S ANNOYING THEY'RE ALL FUCKING ANNOYING!!!

First of all, yes, yes, yes, Swift Wind is horrendous wasted potential (surprise, surprise), and yes, of course, I'm still pissed over it. Those scenes where he's so loyal and kind to Adora, and she, having no other point of reference for a friend, much less a resourceful friend... Like, awwhh. Plus, he makes it very clear that he has his own will and isn't just mindlessly following Adora around like a god-honest horse would. He has his own agenda. He doesn't have to go into battle with Adora, and doesn't gain too much from risking his life to help her and her friends in the short term, but Swift Wind does it anyway. He's interested and invested in Adora, personally, anyway. He wants to be there for her and support her growth as a person.

And Adora deserves all of those amazing, raw, sappy, fairytale friendships!

I DON'T CARE THAT HE'S LITERALLY A HORSE HE IS STILL FUNCTIONALLY A HUMAN BEING. THEY ARE BESTIES. THEY LITERALLY HAVE A MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC LINK GOING ON. THEY SHOULD HAVE CONSIDERED SWIFTIE TO BE APART OF THE BEST FRIENDS SQUAD, I ACTUALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY HE ISN'T.

MORE LOVE FOR SWIFT WIND!!!

22) Favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores?

In my experience, this is the type of fandom that cultivates, um, extreme niches, for lack of a better term. As in, literally what my blog is compared to a "stan's" blog. They're like. Different SPOP fans everywhere, so I don't truly believe that there's a portion of this show that is genuinely ignored... There's someone out there that liked even the tiniest, unimportant fraction of this show. Just got to go find them. (Hell, I know people that love, like, Tall Star specifically, out of all the other characters. Nothing has gone totally unnoticed, which is something I really love about the fanbase as a whole, despite everything).

Anyway, to keep it short, my favorite "underappreciated" parts are hm... Maybe the parts where Adora gets to explore the world around her? And not in a super plot related way. I know that the BFS goofing off so much isn't totally ignored. But I like to see that Adora especially was still learning new things everyday in canon, just like, randomly. Nothing to do with the Horde or the Rebellion. Just. She should be excited for the new world around her, dude. Those are pretty rare moments in the show, actually. Wish there were more.

[askweisswolf]

Fanfic Writer Questions

Thank you for the tag @foibles-fables!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

19!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

Currently at 89,257.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Oh man, uh. I think it would be better to say what fandoms I don’t write for at this stage, it’s still crazy to me to think it’ll be twenty years this year that I started writing fanfic. Currently I’d say Baldur’s Gate 3 has me by the throat, with a little bit of the DCAU (specifically, Justice League/Unlimited) and the occasional dash of Fallen Hero and Dragon Age that I post to Discord servers. I’ve also got a few Mass Effect short pieces floating around. I really need to post to my AO3 more.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I’m going to mess with this one a bit and go off of my top five finished fics by fandom and stick to the ones I wrote solo, that way it’s a bit of a mix. I apologize in advance since a lot of these are years old at this point, but it definitely goes back to what I said before about writing in multiple fandoms, ha.

Rest for the Weary (Frozen) Flare (SPOP) The Same Big Sky (Fire Emblem: Three Houses) Skin Deep (Dragon Age: Origins) At The Door (Baldur's Gate 3) 5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! I’m not always the best at it but I genuinely appreciate everyone who takes the time to comment on one of my fics, it means the world to me and I always love hearing everyone’s feedback and thoughts, it makes me so excited for my own writing.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

If we’re going purely by just what’s on AO3… hm. For stuff that’s a bit older, easily The Silence Is Your Answer (Fire Emblem: Three Houses). For something I wrote more recently, Few Finer Torments (Baldur’s Gate 3) because I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Shadowheart in Act 2 specifically.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

… Most of them. Oh my God I’m mainly a fluff writer, like I knew this about myself but to actually realize it so starkly is something else. Of my most recent stuff I’d probably say A Little Slice (Justice League Unlimited) has possibly the softest ending I’ve written in awhile.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully not.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not often but I do sometimes! All of it so far has been for f/f ships, mostly with a lot more focus on like… the thinking and the feeling aspect of it and not so much the physical aspect, if that makes sense? I just like using sex as a way to explore the characters, when I’m in the mood to write it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Oh, man, okay. I have written a few crossovers over the years, but my favorite is still one I co-wrote with a friend of mine for the Beast’s Lair fan forum back in the day that was just a complete off the walls one-shot crack crossover with Fate/Stay Night, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, and I think we had a dash of Highschool of the Dead right at the end. It was insane, we wrote it on a Skype call in a matter of hours.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know, thankfully.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not! When I was more active on FIMFiction.net though I did have a few people who did live readings of my fics, those were always neat.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! I’ve co-written with him a lot before, but Pen Pals (Frozen) was co-written with Moczo. Just a heads up that I think he has it set that you can only read it if you’re logged in, if you want to check it out.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

… I don’t think I can only pick one, man. I really don’t. If I have to, my brain always comes back to Shayera/John or Raven/Terra.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I feel like I owe everyone who started reading my The 100 fic or my Black Widow fic an apology at this point.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, emotional payoff, character study (I guess?). I have one friend who told me I write very good Catholic guilt.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sex and fight scenes are the absolute bane of my existence, for as much as I enjoy the character potential of the former in particular. I’m also slow as hell, I’ve been working on this one Shayera/John fic now for like a year trying to finish it before I post it and ugh.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

If it fit the context of the fic I would, yes! I’d double check it with someone else who knows the language first, though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Like, ever? Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers to my old Fanfiction.net account when I was 13. I had a bunch of old stuff saved to floppy discs that I never posted, though.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

This changes on a nigh daily basis, but currently I’m having an absolute blast with my The Beast Whisperer series focusing on my Tav who romances Shadowheart, so I’ll leave the link for it here.

Going to gently tag @optiwashere, @kittlesandbugs, @antigonick, @miabicicletta if you guys want to participate, no pressure! And of course anyone who sees this is free to respond as well.

[tooningin]

Catra getting chipped doesn’t count as “consequences”

One thing I see among the fandom when it comes to defenses of how Catra’s redemption was written is that she suffered a lot from getting chipped, and that she doesn’t need anymore punishment. The chip experience certainly does look like hell, so I’ll give them that. But I think this part of the fandom doesn’t realize that…

Suffering is not the same as consequences.

Consequences are the result of your bad actions. Suffering is when bad things happen to you.

Again, I’m not saying that the chipping doesn’t look painful. But it has nothing to do with Catra’s actions and/or how she’s hurt the BFS, Scorpia, Entrapta, and others, therefore it’s not consequences.

The chipping doesn’t address Catra’s abuse of Adora and Scorpia

The chipping doesn’t address Catra sending Entrapta to die on Beast Island

The chipping doesn’t address Catra activating the portal, causing Angela’s death

The chipping doesn’t address Glimmer’s grief and trauma from the loss of Angella

The chipping doesn’t address Catra assisting Hordak in the destruction of Salineas

It added nothing meaningful to an already crappy redemption arc and made it worse

(I finally got a new Ipad, so expect a video criticizing SPOP season 5 sometime in 2024 ;D)

[freedfromthegalactichivemind]

I just want to take a moment to wonder / baffle at how different fandoms can be. It seems like some things are constant between all fandoms - an abundance of smutfic and art, self-insert and OC character-creation fun, people inserting characters into popular memes, people making the wildest aus (Let's fanart them as werewolves!" and the like). However, there are just such interesting differences. In Spop fandom, I will never, NEVER get over how much visceral HATRED exists for Hordak on one "side" of the fandom and how much of the same kind of hatred exists for Catra on another "side" of the fandom. Additionally, discourse over Glimmer and etc. It seems like all the people in this fandom (who haven't just said hang it all to just make cute fanart and funny comics) talk about are WAR CRIMES and "who deserves redemption more?" in a show that is clearly about restoration and kindness. Horde Prime's destroying planets aside, I can count the canonical deaths in this series ON ONE HAND. And everyone's upset at all of the war crimes committed in a largely non-lethal local-to-the-main-setting-planet war on this... almost utopian planet where we'd all probably like to live. Meanwhile, over in Trigun fandom... The body count is in the literal millions and not in passing mentions of genocide Jell-O at dinner, but in triumphant arms to the sky as a burning fleet of spaceships incinerate in the sky in a deliberate attempt at a genocide (not as a side-effect of ruling). Many on-screen deaths of characters you get to KNOW. There is this huge complex moral dilemma centered around the survival-needs of a population that depends upon sentient beings that are both dependent upon them and overused and abused by them. There's another huge complex moral dilemma revolving around the justification of lethal force vs. the prices of a life of chosen, ardent pacifism. It's not a Y-7 series by any means and the manga / comics version of it gets really super dark (yet somehow Trigun Stampede made the Tesla-arc even darker, bravo, I'm gonna be sick). And yet the villains - from the mini-boss assassin characters to the ur-villain who LITERALLY WANTS TO DESTROY ALL OF HUMANITY and also wishes to manipulate his hero-brother to his side through severe traumatizing emotional torture... it's like... there are loads of people in this fandom who are "Oh, Millions Knives is my favorite character!" and it doesn't seem like anyone bats an eyelash. There are probably more fandom essays exploring Knives' side of things and why he feels the way he does and how his character-arc makes sense than even people in any way actively against him. Yes, most people in this fandom "side with Vash" (as do I), but it's like... we understand the villain here, or try to, and here's a fandom where people find sympathy for and "humanity" in the blatantly cruel person who on-screen slaughters swaths of people in some of the most gruesome ways possible. It's like, in this fandom, if someone's a Knives-fan, or a Legato-fan, or a Midvalley-fan, or even those of us who love the greatest villain of all, he who shines in the darkness, BRILLIANT DYNAMITES NEON!!! (oh, my two-episode wonder, missed you in Stampede oh so much, my sparkler-smoking baby...) it's like... no one cares? It's like "Yeah, they're great characters, aren't they?" It's just so... different. In the non-fatal sparkly princess show, everyone's scrutinizing everyone else for liking characters who do (largely non-lethal) WAR CRIMES! and then the mature-anime/manga fandom I am in where there's this whole extinction of humanity and the uses of their adjacent created-resource-species at stake everyone's like... chill. And enjoying the villains - and different ones, at that, is NORMAL.

[adorawasright]

tumblr keeps recommending me c//a and pro Catra posts, it's both entertaining and irritating. anyway, i'd like to know your thoughts on this post!

personally, i feel like c//a stans misunderstand our point. we keep saying that Catra does deserve a redemption but she doesn't deserve forgiveness, or at least, instantaneous forgiveness when she has put no effort into trying to change. but they take it as "CATRA IS AN IRREDEEMABLE MONSTER WHO DESERVES TO ROT IN HELL" (which, ironically, is what they say about characters like shadow weaver).

also Adora "wanted" Catra in the finale season because that's how the authors wrote her. it made no sense for her character to suddenly want Catra back after it took her so long to finally cut Catra out of her life.

Do not go after the person who wrote the original post. (this is mostly for my other followers)

Tumblr has been doing the same thing to me, too. It showed me a post that said that as similar as Catra was to Shadow Weaver, she improved to be better. Which is a lie, lmao.

I hate that people think redemption and forgiveness are the same thing. You are allowed to improve as an individual, but the people you hurt don't owe you forgiveness. Sadly, SPOP doesn't have a single character that chooses not to forgive Catra. Even though Frosta punched her in the face, she was more accepting of Catra than Entrapta. Same counts for Perfuma and the other princesses. Though I'm pretty sure anyone would be demonized for not believing that "Catra got better!!!". S5 already does this when Adora vents about Catra being a stubborn brat, she just looks pathetic and Glimmer doesn't take her seriously.

And indeed, most stans think characters like Shadow Weaver or Hordak are not allowed to be redeemed, that's really because they're older and physically disabled.

Finally, yeah, Adora in s4 completely gave up on Catra, she didn't hesitate to nearly kill her without any remorse. Adora's priority was her friends, but especially Glimmer. "I want to be the hero she deserves". But you never see C//A stans talking about that, lol. They only bring up Glimmer and Adora's conflict or Glimmadora at all so they can shit on Glimmer and prove that Catra is a better girlfriend. Which is also bullshit.

Adora is allowed to want things, yes, but s5 pretty much sums it up as her wanting Catra of all people. Not her friends, not a family, or knowing more about her origins, idk. Just Catra. It's literally always about her. Adora is not a character that exists outside of Catra anymore. S5 definitely reinforced this, and the fandom only repeats this. It's annoying.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

On the topic of SPOP's LGBT+ representation.

Seeing as adora was straight in the original, doe's it even count as proper representation making her a lesbian in the reboot, personally don't think so.

honestly, i personally didn't think that was a big deal. i think it's fine to change characters' sexualities, especially since characters are never outwardly confirmed as being straight. straight is usually the default so the authors just give the character a partner of the opposite sex and call it a day. i haven't watched the og she-ra but i'm willing to bet it was the same in that one too.

i think changing sexualities, races or gender just comes under creative license. as long as you're not going against the character's nature itself, it's fine (for example, mulan's ethnicity is an incredibly essential part of the story and thus cannot be changed). so yeah, personally i don't have a problem with adora being turned into a lesbian but i would love to hear all of your thoughts on it!

[disregardcanon]

i feel like there’s something VERY telling about the current culture where we seem to keep circling around the idea of the chosen one not as some actual work of destiny but as piece of manipulation by a malevolent actor who is trying to fuck people over. and that by saying “no” and breaking out of it the “chosen one” is actually saving not only themselves, but others as well

[cookiescr]

another castapella and the hot elf commander/general

[niuniente]

It’s nice we got Entrapdak confirmation, even when it was just “Well...They’re there”. In between the lines kind of feels like “Hmmm, whatever, here’s your ship, it wasn’t my idea in the first place, I wasn’t expecting much anything about it but wow it got so big like???? what???? why???? I don’t get it. Yeah yeah they’re happy, are you happy now?”

And Wrong Hordak goes with them to Beast Island? Why? Is he like, 3rd wheel there?

Makes me wonder if Entrapdak deleted scene was left out as “Meh, whatever, we don’t have time, let’s concentrate on my daughter character and her romance instead of everyone else” (like what happened between Sea Hawk and Mermista? They had broke up when we met Sea Hawke and suddenly they’re OK couple again without much further explanation?)

I feel a bit conflicted, like I should be happy but I can’t help getting that feeling like I’M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS TELL US MORE I LOVE IT!!! and the other person is “idc”

And I’m keeping my demi headcanon for Entrapta, too. Her suddenly having multiple robot boyfriends and girlfriends along with Hordak (who strikes me as super demi) rubs me the wrong way.

Well, these are opinions, canon is what goes on in the series. Everything behind the scenes is headcanoning and theories.

[thestargayzingetherian]

Idk, the reason why I don't count that guy in the show as Grizzlor is because... well, they don't say his name in the show, the name came from a tie-in-book... which is always gonna be a bit dubious. That and he's missing his buddies Leech, Mantenna, Modulok etc... I'd rather introduce those guys into SPOP as the group they're supposed to be, you know?

In my universe, Grizzlor is of the same species as the guy in the bakcground, but he's been mutated into a more monstrous form by Modulok( who used to serve Hordak, before he and a group of other high ranking Horde members. tried to betray him but were later exiled and thus, this is why Hordak's lone high-ranking officer in the show is Shadow Weaver with all the other force captains serving beneath her.)

Modulok's mutants are Leech, Mantenna, Grizzlor, Wrap Trap, Tarangela and Succubug. He also works with the guy who used to be Hordak's second in command, a guy named Prahvus.

I still need to flesh some of this out a bit more though.

Decided to redesign Grizzlor because his design was to simple for me, I decided to make him a Magicat like catra and give him lion like qualities.

[freedfromthegalactichivemind]

*Sees a post in my other, current main fandom that gives me pause and makes me realize something about my OCs in this fandom.* So, I make no secret oflong-term being into Trigun and of having been swept BACK into that fandom by the recent "Stampede" reboot. That set of fiction has influenced me greatly in life and my fiction writing (fanwork and regular writing) in a big way. I just sort of had a revelation today about my clone OCs. Everyone who ever did stuff with Horde clone stuff in this fandom, particularly when it was a fad, had their own takes on them and did "Instant OC, just add water" to them - because the canon just had them as random minions and wouldn't and couldn't spend a lot of time on them because that was not the story being told. They were essentially free for the fandom to use post-series and so, a lot of fun. We generally had fun with them being / coming from a hive mind, but still having had some independent thoughts the entire time (even though they had to suppress them, because, you know, cult) and discovering their independence. I remember even when I was full-bore into Spop and not into my old fandom as much thinking about Horde clone parallels to the Plants of Trigun. I'm especially thinking about it now, but even then... It's not entirely the same, as the Plants are not in a cult (more like what a human cult worships - see manga and Stampede, it's not detailed in the '90s anime), but they are a used and abused enslaved race. The number of "Independents" (including the protagonist and antagonist of the series) can be counted on one hand. Anyway, without digressing into chattering about my other fandom too much, I saw a thread about Vash the Stampede's and Millions Knives' brotherly relationship, particularly about Knives' twisted protectiveness of Vash and I just had this weird flashbang to my Spop Horde-clone OCs. So, Robin and Jerome, I'm talking about them again, even though I've pretty much decided never to write about them again for personal reasons (death in my family last year that I took pretty hard, making them a bit "too real" for me, given the themes of their stories). I'm glad they existed in my brain, I do believe that they prepared me for what I didn't know was coming. They helped me parse grief before I had it? Anyway, even though the two are literal clones, I gave them an adopted brotherly relationship that was an "older brother, younger brother" thing. One is of an older batch and the other is from a younger batch, but most of their relationship is more like the "gruffer, more stoic clone" and the "sensitive, emotive clone." (Granted, Robin isn't like Knives at all - he's not genocidal. I'd say he's probably more like Wolfwood if you wanted to find any parallels, sans having a giant gun and a bad smoking habit - Wolfwood's even an undertaker instead of a priest in the new series, which made me raise my eyebrows). And then Jerome has as one of his defining characteristics some rather prominent scars. (Vash-influence. Vash is just RIDDLED with scars, although there aren't any of them on his face like what I did with Jerome). So, I don't know... I think I am being confronted with how much of my love of good ol' Vash I actually put into one of my OCs here - a sensitive guy who is treated as the "younger" of a set of unnaturally-born brothers mainly based upon his sensitivity and who's got some gnarly scars (for trying to save a life). An older brother who has an urge to protect his more sensitive younger brother (albiet the fact that Robin is in no way twisted and abusive in his protection). Still, some of the same gist. I recall some of it being purposeful, but some of it was probably subconscious, too. Thank you for letting me talk about my OCs for once in a dog's age. (For all of maybe two of you who care)? (My blog, my rules, I'll talk about whatever I want, even if it's stupid).

[sayaratyriea]

really though, i’m feeling... a LOT of feelings about the she-ra finale. this is everything i’ve ever wanted?

i feel like a lot of representation, especially in other netflix shows, is going through the queer version of the “Strong Female Character” phase. kipo and season 2 of the hollow come to mind specifically... they have queer main characters! this is great! (neither one is white either, which is cool.) but there’s this Thing they both do to confirm it that leaves me feeling unsatisfied. like... there has to be A Scene. they want to say unambiguously, this character is gay, they want to say the word (and that’s great! good for them!), but they don’t want to bloat the cast with a love interest (or, the more cynical part of me says, make TWO gay male leads... looking at you, hollow, Let Adam And Reeve Be Gay). so in order to do that they squeeze in these really weird coming out scenes? and it’s never just the off handed mention, they both very specifically set it up by teasing romance with their main female character, and then pushing the gay guy into a corner where he has to awkwardly go “actually i’m gay” and there has to be a Moment(tm) and i don’t like those scenes that much. they feel ham-fisted and uncomfortable, like the characters are backed into a corner, it doesn’t feel like it’s happening on their terms. to me it’s the gay equivalent of that one female action hero who has to be like, “look at me i’m a GIRL and i’m TOUGH”.... or more accurately, those worlds in fiction where maybe we get nuanced ladies but their setting has to constantly remind us that it’s so SPECIAL because they’re WOMEN and LOOK HOW FEMALE THEY ARE while saving the day! the awkward “actually i’m gay” scenes have the same kind of vibe for me. and that’s an important phase of evolution for acceptance and representation, i think. it’s a breath of fresh air for a lot of people. but at the same time it feels like it’s... subtly still putting a line between these characters and “normal.”

but she-ra doesn’t do that. they just exist. nobody gives a shit and they just exist. it’s not “wait netossa and spinnerella are MARRIED??” they just go “aw look some cute background characters” and move on. it’s not “omg bow you have gay dads??” it’s “omg bow your dads don’t know you’re a rebel??” and nobody gives a shit that they’re gay. they introduce double trouble, a canonically non-binary character, and nobody gives a shit! there’s no “so you’re NOT a boy or a girl???” and no forcing DT to explain their entire gender, it’s just “double trouble is a problem, we hate them,” moving on. adora’s in love with catra. nobody gives a fuck that it’s queer, it’s just there.... it feels normal. the universe doesn’t question it, the universe doesn’t challenge it, they’re allowed to just be. and maybe that skips some of the requisite conversations back in reality (can’t 100% pin someone as NB without asking unless they’re wearing their pronouns on their body, and i’m sure moments like the awkward coming out scenes absolutely happen!) but in the realm of fiction it’s just... it feels so much better. she-ra is gay as fuck and nobody in-universe gives a shit. and it doesn’t feel so alienating, it doesn’t feel unexpected or shoehorned in, it doesn’t feel like it’s added for brownie points or tacked on after the fact. it doesn’t remind me that reality still won’t see me as normal... and that’s ultimately all i’ve ever wanted out of my queer fiction, and the ONLY other story i’ve consumed that did this was fucking homestuck. (and still not ENTIRELY, because like... it’s homestuck... and it actually went downhill with this in act 6. but nobody gave a shit that rose and kanaya were gay and that was nice.)

and there’s a place for The Coming Out Scene, always, but i personally find it so much more validating when things just... exist without having to be questioned.