#she ra season 1 but bad

[mdantics]

SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER SEASON 1 (BUT BAD)

make sure to also check out the youtube upload!

[crownspeaksblog]

Stop she's just a baby!!

[tropicalcryptid]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's not nice.

It's really not nice.

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

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

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

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

Very cool, ND.

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

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

But maybe Hordak can.

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

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

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

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

[marylily-my-beloved]

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Black Sisters Dialouge

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Bellatrix & Sirius Comparison

Microfics

»»-----------► Fandoms: ♡

・❥・ Harry Potter/Marauders fandom. Gryffindor. Lily, Mary & Remus kinnie. In love with James Potter & Pandora Lovegood ♡ (fuck jk rowling I do not support her) (jkr should go die)

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[tippenfunkaport]

"She-Ra is bad bisexual rep because all the bi/pan characters end up in m/f relationships!"

Not true! Perfuma is bi/pan and she ends up with Scorpia!

"Oh, well I like to headcanon Perfuma as a lesbian."

...so then you understand that's not the show's fault, right? That that's just a problem you made up in your head?

-

Excuse me a second, I need to scream about this...

Because this has come up over and over (esp on Twitter and TikTok) with people who want to claim that every bi/pan SPOP character ends up in a m/f relationship... by conveniently pretending Perfuma is not canonically bi/pan herself. And every time they are asked to elaborate why they are ignoring her canon status, they give the same answer: that they consider Perfuma a lesbian because now that she's with a woman, she's "not bi anymore"

And... yeah... you know that's not how it works, right? That being bi/pan is not just a phase you get over? That a bi/pan woman dating another woman doesn't suddenly make her a lesbian any more than it makes a bi/pan person dating someone of the opposite gender magically straight?

The person you are currently dating does not change your bi/pan status. Ever. And insisting it does, especially just so you can score some points by making up an issue about a show to be mad about, is super GD harm harmful to the real bi/pan people in your life.

(This is the exact same thing The Owl House fandom does with Lumity and why Dana had to make Luz present a whole slideshow in the cartoon reminding everyone she is still very much bi even though Amity is a lesbian. TOH fans kept insisting because Luz is dating Amity now, she's a lesbian. Nope. Her and Amity can be married for a billion years and that wouldn't change Luz's orientation.)

"But I heard that someone's roommate's cousin who worked with someone on the show once liked a fanart that showed Scorfuma with the lesbian flag so it's basically canon!"

First of all, the legend of this grows daily and I think it's really telling that this archival obsessed fandom only talks about this mythical like and yet has never been able to produce a single screenshot of it.

But for the sake of argument, let's say that this really happened and actually exists, that someone related to the show, however distantly, liked fanart once that implied Perfuma was a lesbian somehow. That still doesn't make it canon. People related to the show and even ND himself have liked and reblogged all sorts of stuff that isn't canon, including g/a, and have been very clear that the only canon is what happens within the show itself.

And, in the show, Perfuma is canonically bi/pan. We see her crushing on Bow, She-Ra, Huntara and Scorpia. The fact that people want to pretend the Bow thing never happened when he's the only character we see her actually date over the run of the show AND it's a major Season 1 plot point is wild to me and just shows the lengths people will go for bi/pan erasure.

And I get that some people enjoy using Perfuma to tell a story about comphet or coming out as a lesbian later in life and I am fully in favor of doing your thing with your headcanons in fanworks. But when it reaches the point it has now where fans are attacking other fans for saying Perfuma is bi/pan or attacking the show for not having any bi/pan character in same sex relationships when Perfuma is CANONICALLY bi/pan is ridiculous. 

Keep in mind that your headcanon is literally just something you made up in your head. It's pretend. Fun, yes, but NOT something you can use as justification to attack people over!

Especially when it's something like this that causes real world harm by perpetuating harmful stereotypes about bi/pan people being "just a phase" or a temporary state that changes based on who you date.

[jalluzas-ferney]

I just thought about how Lloyd and Jordana could actually relate to each other.

When Lloyd was a kid he wanted to to be evil and do bad things all because he wanted to be loved and valued by his father. In the end he ended up getting manipulated and used- and the things he did ended up being much more catastrophic than he intended, and he realize he didn’t really want any of it, and felt incredibly guilty for it.

Jordana has a very similar story right now. She’s clearly incredibly insecure. Doesn’t seem to have any love in her life. No friends, no family, nothing. She just wants to be seen, and validated. Ras manipulates her into joining and doing all these evil things that ended up turning into even more catastrophic events than she wanted. At last that’s what we see during season 2 part 1. We can see her being scared of Ras plans which leads us to believe that she’s probably having a change of heart or willl have a change of heart. So while she’s still not redeemed, she’s basically going through what Lloyd went through kinda.

[baileybeez]

My Top 10 Catradora Moments (My Opinion Obviously)

10. Adora Has Always Loved Catra

This is the moment I believe Adora firmly knows she's in love with Catra. I know she's in love with Catra beforehand but I believe this is the first time she realizes 'I'm in love with Catra'. Adora is getting ready to face an uncertain outcome with Horde Prime and she's trying to remain strong. But we can see glimpses of her looking for Catra wanting to her come back. We then see as she's heading to the Heart of Etheria, memories are being projected. The first one that comes up that really hits Adora is Catra. Catra saying her last and classic 'Hey Adora' and Adora is at first thrilled she's back. But then it changes to Catra when she was younger training in the fright zone, Catra from when she was chipped, Catra from Season 4, Catra from season's 1-3 and then current Catra. This to me screams 'Adora has always loved Catra despite all the hardships they've endured'. Even though she realizes deep down, this isn't the real Catra, she wanted to reciprocate her touch. But then the fake Catra disappears as Adora is almost off the edge.

Also this scene brought that iconic 'Somewhere Only We Know' tiktok.

9. God She's Cute When She Laughs

Everyone knows I'm a sucker for fluff so this little moment always stuck out to me. We've seen Catra blush before and she looked at Adora's New She Ra Form and was like 'Damn...she kinda bad.' But this one was so sweet and wholesome. Catra at first is annoyed cause they're teasing her about how cute her helmet is and at first you think she's gonna be defensive about it. At first she is but then she see's Adora laugh and freezes. Adora is so happy Catra is getting along with her friends and is back to the Catra she grew up with. And Catra just smiles at Adora, any frustration she had melted away.

8. Princess Prom

Ya'll this episode was the reason I gave She-Ra a shot. I saw this scene floating around online and I just had to find out what was going on. At the time, I had only recently accepted myself as sapphic and this was one of the first scenes that caught my attention during that time. There were already strong hints of Catradora later becoming a thing but this scene hit differently. We get to see the dynamic these two would have for a few more seasons. The shift between them as they become enemies while still seeing they still care for one another.

7. It's Over, He's Gone

The end moment with these two in She-Ra was fantastic. Hearing Catra's soft 'Adora' as the two smile at each other was adorable. Adora reaches out her hand to Catra and reassures her that it's over and that Horde Prime is gone. These two had gone through so much because of the Horde. And now, their foreheads touch as they're just happy they made it to their happy beginning for each other. With Catra still being snarky and saying 'Good riddance'. It's a good final moment where the two can be happy. And now this just makes me wish we got a She-Ra movie.

6. Please Just Stay

First of all, if you haven't already please read Don't Go by Nate Stevenson. It's a fanfiction he created that takes place after Save the Cat and really helps highlight this and other scenes I'm about to get into later. It's also just really good. But Catra beforehand is struggling to figure out why Adora saved her and dealing with the aftermath of what Horde Prime did to her. She and Adora just had a big fight with Adora telling Catra she never hated her. We find out later, the chip on Catra is tracking the ship they're on and they need to get it off. With Catra needing to confront Entrapta (who she also didn't end things on good terms with) and Adora. Adora tells Catra once they're done, they can drop her off and she won't have to see any of them again. We see this crumbles Catra's usual strong self as she lets herself be vulnerable for a moment. Grabbing Adora's wrist and then her hand requesting that she stays, Adora also blushes. Catra also comes up with an idea to read what Hordak's planning since their minds are connected. Catra knows Adora will continue to fight Horde Prime and knows she'll be reckless. She just asks Adora to stay with her with two two holding each other. I love this moment as we see the two work together and slowly build their bond again.

5. You Coming?

As Adora is succumbing to the virus and Catra calls out to her, we get this moment of Adora's wish. She's back home with Catra, Glimmer and Bow as they're all getting ready for Scorpia's Princess Prom. Adora wants desperately to have this future with her friends and home happy. She's slowly learning to be selfish after she's been stuck trying to give and give as She-Ra. And she wants a life with Catra, the person she's come to love and married to in this vision. Stevenson confirmed couples in Etheria have something to show they have ties to each other. Catra is wearing Adora’s wing buckle on her shirt and Adora is wearing Catra's head piece on her dress. At first, Adora is sad because part of her wants to embrace this future but doesn't think she deserves this. But seeing Catra, the person she's married to in this version ask her if she's coming with them. She can't help but want to follow her. Even when Adora was dying, all she wanted was a peaceful life with her friends and the person she loved.

4. We're Going Home

Save The Cat in general is a great episode and my personal favorite of She-Ra's. Adora manages to save Catra with the help of her friends as Catra is still unconscious from the fall and whatever Horde Prime did to her. Adora gently holds Catra and telling her she's not done yet and that they're going home. Adora's healing powers manage to work on Catra as she wakes up. She also says her classic 'Hey Adora' in a very weak voice. And Adora is so relieved that she just embraces Catra and and Catra is shocked. We see how hesitant Catra is accept Adora's embrace but eventually she does while letting out a deep breath of relief. With her purring being the last thing we hear before the episode ends. Catra purrs mostly when she's around Adora, she's always happy to be accepted by Adora. This description from Nate Stevenson also really helps sells the moment too.

'They stay that way for a long time, Catra’s face tucked into Adora’s shoulder, Adora gently cradling Catra’s head. Adora is careful not to hug Catra too hard or make her feel restrained, anticipating the moment that Catra will start to pull away — but Catra doesn’t. She hangs on so tightly it hurts, her claws digging through Adora’s jacket and into her back, latching into her like she did when she was a kitten and didn’t know how much her claws could hurt. Adora tries not to wince, tries not to move a single muscle, worried that if she does the spell will break and Catra will struggle away, appalled at having shown weakness. But Catra doesn’t let go. And so neither does Adora.'

3. I'm Not Leaving

Save the Cat and The Heart Part 2 have my favorite Catradora moments and this one is one of them. We saw how Catra came back to Adora when she needed her and almost died trying to save her. Shadow Weaver comes in though and sacrifices herself with Adora and Catra reuniting. This time it's Catra rescuing Adora and coming to her aid instead of the other way around. Adora is struggling to use the failsafe and realizes it might not work. She tells Catra to get far away from where she is and that there's no more time. Saying how she can save everyone and touches her forehead with her own. While also stating how it's okay and she's ready. It's heavily implied Adora is going to die trying to use the Failsafe and Catra stands firm on staying with Adora. Saying whatever happens she'll stay here with her. And we see that as Horde Prime's virus is trying to take control of the Heart, Catra is facing it with Adora.

2. You Matter To Me

I love the scene of Adora trying to save Catra from the chip she's being controlled under. Adora is trying desperately to bring Catra back out and trying not to hurt her despite Catra attacking Adora. Then Catra does break free from control and tells Adora she should have stayed away and asks why she came back when she doesn't matter. With Adora gently holding her face telling Catra she matters to her. This is also asked later again by Catra in Don't Go.

“Why did you come back for me?” she demands.

“I —“ Adora’s voice trails off in the silence. Catra doesn’t let go. The only sound is the soft, muffled humming of the ship’s engines as it moves through space, away from Horde Prime. “Because…” She trails off again.

What is she supposed to say?

“Because…you’re Catra,” she finishes weakly.

Because at the end of the day, Adora will always care for Catra. Then Catra get's possessed again as she walks towards the edge fighting to not be controlled by Horde Prime. Adora reminds Catra she's never listened to anyone in her life and asks if she's going to start now. Catra looks amused as she just says Adora's an idiot with Adora agreeing, tears in her eyes. Adora then says she's going to take Catra home as Catra breaks free from Horde Prime saying 'Promise?'. Adora holds out her hand saying 'I promise!'. This is obviously a parallel to when they were kids and they promised to look out for each other. It's such a heartfelt and touching scene

I Love You

'Catra she distracts you, confuses you.' - Shadow Weaver

'You Etherians are all alike. Such strong connections to one another, it's what makes you weak.' - Horde Prime

And yet their 'weakness' and 'distraction' saved the universe. The Catradora confession scene is number one as it is a finale to Catra and Adora's character arcs. Adora is dying and seemingly getting ready to accept her fate. That there won't be a happy future for her. But then she hears Catra still reaching out and calling for her to wake up. Catra hasn't given up on Adora and Adora never gave up on Catra, so she shouldn't start now.

Adora does try to reach for Catra but doesn't quite make it with her saying it's too late and that she failed. Catra reassures her that she's got Adora and won't let go. In desperation and perhaps wanting to finally tell Adora, Catra says.

'Don't you get it? I love you! I always have! So please just this once, stay!'

We hear Catra and Adora's theme Promise in the background playing this whole time which we haven't heard since the episode Promise. Last time it was Catra leaving Adora to follow her own path and Adora learning to let go of Catra. Now, it's Catra reaching out for Adora as Adora takes her hand. Adora is blushing as Catra has tears in her eyes begging for Adora to stay. Adora does wake up in awe asking if Catra loves her. Catra is blushing while smiling calling Adora an idiot. Then she looks surprised as Adora just smiles at Catra saying she loves her too. They then kiss as Adora is finally able to activate the Failsafe but the two are too busy kissing.

I also want to add in the storyboard version of this scene where Catra says 'We always said it would be you and me, together at the end. But not now, okay?'.

Honorable Mentions Down Below:

[inthretis]

Glimmer from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) is a shounen anime protagonist. Here is my proof:

She solves all her problems with brute force and force of will and sheer determination. How she breaks out of the anti-teleport field that is incredibly painful? Just teleport harder. (Season 1 episode 9 “No Princess Left Behind”)

Simple but incredibly useful power (seasons 1-5, it’s shooting magical blasts and teleportation)

Missing dad (Season 1, episode 4)

Dead mom (Season 3, episode 6)

Has to fight her evil parent (Season 5 episodes 11-13)

She gets a character redesign and outfit upgrade and a power up after a loved one dies (Season 4 episode 1)

She has weird eyes, a little sparkle in each of them. That’s anime as heck. (Seasons 1-5)

Her season 1-3 hairstyle is reminiscent of characters from Studio Trigger anime. Notably, the short-haired tomboy type ala Ryuko from Kill la Kill.

Her fantasy in the season 2 episode “Roll With It” is inspired by Cowboy Bebop.

She has a super special heritage, being half angelic being and half “the most powerful sorcerer alive”.

Despite this, she still considers herself an underdog by being “the weak princess, needing to recharge” and had a lonely childhood, with one childhood friend. (Seasons 1-2, notably “The Sea Gate” and “The Frozen Forest”.)

Her tactical strategy in fights is to punch first, ask questions later. (Seasons 1-3, seasons 4-5 to a lesser degree but still present)z

She has a temper, an age old trait in anime protagonists. She was notably upset when she thought Entrapta was being tortured so she attacked Catra. (Season 2 episode 2 “Ties That Bind”)

Like a lot of anime protagonists, she undergoes a dark and edgy phase. (Season 4, episodes 4-13)

For her, violence is the answer, and great for bonding. (Literally the entire show. Speaking of…)

In season 1, Glimmer is the first person to trust Adora, earlier than Bow, trusting her with the sword to turn into She-Ra to protect Thaymor. In “The Sea Gate” she bonds with Sea Hawk more than any other main character, giving him a pep talk that leads to them fighting together to defeat the Horde.

This does lead to problems, trusting in Shadow Weaver to Adora’s own warnings, but she also makes up for that by buying out Double Trouble with cash, and then of course later on despite much bad blood and Adora disavowing Catra in season 3 “The Portal”, Glimmer still bonds with Catra. It was her words to her that convinced Catra to turn on Horde Prime. She did what Adora couldn’t, the freaking main character.

She works via the power of friendship, more so than any other character. She made the Princess Alliance, an ensemble cast of quirky characters. She convinces former enemies to her side using talk no jutsu, in the same vein as Goku and Naruto.

The funniest thing about Glimmer is that she is a shounen anime protagonist in a show that is neither a shounen anime nor is she the protagonist.

[theturncoattournament]

Who is the best turncoat character? (Round 1)

A tournament for characters who change allegiances or had a redemption/corruption arc during their stories

PROPAGANDA:

Scorpia- None submitted

Zuko- Zuko's redemption arc is the peak redemption arc that all redemption arcs are compared to

-*slaps prince of the fire nation* this guy can fit so much trauma in him -one of the best redemption arcs of all time -this dude spent the better part of 3 seasons flip-flopping between good and evil -can be so funny in the driest way possible lol -had to fight his own sister, who is insane

he literally has the best redemption arc ever written

Zuko spends like the entirety of season 2 slowly realizing that the Fire Nation were the Bad Guys™, had a whole moral crisis towards the end of the season, ended up choosing to side with his sister so he could go back home even though he knew it was the wrong moral choice, spent the first half of season 3 angsting over having made the wrong choice, then finally joins the good guys for good halfway through the season

[dreamwreaver]

When the pilot first dropped, I was a teen who shipped Chaggie only because it was canon and it was cute. But now that I'm older and watched the series, I realize how... simple and dare I say it, flavorless this ship is. They don't have that much in common, I can't really think of at least 3 things they have the same interest in. Their viewpoints are different and sometimes it can really broaden the perspectives of the couple for the better, but for Charlie and Vaggie, it only serves to clash in a way that doesn't amount to a lot in the long run, considering how Charlie often disregards Vaggie's caution and Vaggie shuts down most of Charlie's ideas. Not to mention that the whole "exorcist reveal" was poorly handled and did no service to their characters, only butchering these two further.

For me, I cannot see Vaggie providing any essential and substantial development to Charlie's growth in the series because of how bad the show makes her out to be only the love interest. Also, what is Vaggie's purpose to the hotel and for redemption as a whole? Simply being the manager and supporting Charlie doesn't really help much especially when she seems not to care all that much aside from her girlfriend. She cannot relate with all these sinners she was originally tasked to kill because she is most likely a heavenborn angel so what can she offer?

While I don't ship Chaggie anymore, I wish the show would take this ship seriously. They are doing their fans a disservice by failing to make their main pairing mean something more than scoring sapphic points.

My sweet nonny, you took the words right out of my mouth. Like, I feel that most charlastor shippers don't have an actual issue with chaggie being canon in and of itself, they have a problem with it being canon and yet it not meaning anything. Which isn't to say shows can't have main characters with stable queer relationships going on in the background. I think Kipo and the wonderbeasts did it? The new She-ra DEFINITELY did that, Steven Universe walked, and I'm guessing had it not been canceled after like 2 seasons Ok Ko let's be heroes would have developed lord box man and processor venemous' relationship in the background with major plot points being their on and off again dynamics (side note please watch it it's made by Rebecca sugar's spouse and it's so good!)

The problem with chaggie, is that they're BOTH main characters. Charlie is essentially the titular protagonist. Vaggie is one of the core six. Them being together in a relationship can be casual while not being missable. Let's look at a straight example of this being done right; Kim Possible. Nothing about Kim and Ron's dynamic as friends/heroes changes once they're in a relationship. Sure, fears and concerns that drive plots change, but the fundamental characters and dynamics do not. Moreover, we see the casual displays of affection between them that definitely indicate they're not just friends. (Then again KP did an awesome job of establishing that Kim and Ron both have this weird attachment to each other long before they got together. They had an official Kim/Ron night on Fridays).

Chaggie at least as far as season 1 is concerned, is not the focus. And yes, I know, "it's only 8 episodes!" Okay, but tell me if every episode counted why did we have one focused on introducing the Vees? Why did we have an entire episode focused on Huskerdust? These are not complaints in and of themselves but it makes you wonder when the big season 1 plot twist is that Vaggie's been an Angel the whole time.

You're also right about Vaggie not... really having a place there? She's just kind of there, and it's very glaringly noticeable. She's manager in name but Alastor handles all the facilities work and is by his own admission (believable or not) that he's there to watch people fail for his own entertainment, Charlie's the one involved with lesson planning and activity development and she certainly doesn't lack for cash to fund the place, Husk and Nifty both have positions within the hotel but are very obviously only there because of Alastor. Angel and Pen are guests. So what does Vaggie actually do besides wrangle sinners and tell Charlie no?

And part of why I'm so annoyed by this is that I think everything we do know about Vaggie's character could make her super compelling if it wasn't so heavily dependent on Charlie. A fallen angel and former exorcist who was cast out because she did the right thing rather than follow orders? Awesome! Injured in the process losing both her wings and eye? Badass! Believes that people can better themselves long after the lives they've lived? Cool! Is constantly fighting against her own self hatred and projects that out onto other people without meaning to? Feels she's utterly useless if she's not being of service to someone or something? Like this is barely scratching the surface but it's all there and it's all super interesting!

Except for the fact that tying it to Charlie negates all of it. Vaggie doesn't seem to have a character outside of Charlie, which is why they aren't really separated. Think about it, even when Vaggie's confronting Carmilla is on Charlie's orders. And while I'm sure vaggie always means well, her way of helping Charlie involves Charlie changing herself to be more acceptable to others. Alastor's way of helping Charlie involved him bringing her to a place where he knew her natural inclinations would actually be welcomed with open arms.

Alastor and Charlie just make too much narrative sense to not be together. They're foils, dark reflections, and they have so much chemistry it's honestly insane. People said that shippers got shafted when dad beat dad came out but all I saw was the greatest "your daughter calls me daddy too" joke of the last like 20 years. Alastor, who is canonically only in people's spaces to piss them off, who makes even his closest female friends wait for permission to touch him, both climbs over Charlie like ivy on a brick wall and lets her touch him on prompted without recoiling. Alastor always offers something useful to Charlie, even if he delivers it in an insult, and more importantly; not once has he ever laughed at her. He wants to guide her and watch her reach her full potential; malicious intent or not he's in it for the long haul. Again I say this not to bash on Chaggie but to emphasize how WEIRD it is that there's this dynamic isn't present in the canon ship.

I'm with you on your last point nonny, I can not actively ship chaggie and want better for it. I cannot tell you the rage that filled my body when I watched the last episode and saw that out of 8 episodes Chaggie got 1 30-second song and not only was it a REPRISE it was a reprise of the FATHER-DAUGHTER SONG!!! If that creative decision doesn't tell me everything I need to know about the ship's treatment going forward, I don't know what would.

[mdantics]

Thought I'd go ahead and just drop all the Spop but bad characters

make sure to check out spop season 1 but bad

[icyrambles]

hi friendly reminder that everything said in this post is my personal opinion. i actually really enjoyed earthspark season 1 and i was really really excited for season 2. i do not expect a piece of children’s media to be a perfectly written masterpiece but good lord was the bar low. anyways extreme spoilers below the cut. proceed with caution :3

i do not think it an untrue statement to say that the writing quality went down significantly between seasons. the plot, while not perfect in season 1, was far more fleshed out and actually took a whole season's worth to complete. meanwhile we had a plotline with much higher stakes get finished within the span of about a third of what the first season got. additionally while many of the episodes had some sort of connection to the wider goal of this batch of episodes, that being reclaiming the emberstone shards, many of the episodes did not focus specifically on the emberstone itself, instead sidelining it to a background plot or merely having characters randomly finding bits and pieces of it just lying about.

i would not think this a bad thing had the episodes not felt so rushed. starscream's plotline of obtaining all the emberstone shards should've taken the whole season, not just 9 episodes. the rushed writing reeks of corporate interference and slashed budgets and i have nothing but praise for the writers who scrambled to try and salvage a story that should've gotten 1, if not 2 seasons for a well rounded plot. however this does not stop me from wishing that they had tried to focus on creating a plotline that felt at least marginally more connected and tonally sound

it's an issue that i noticed throughout the first season where the dialogue and general morals of the show seem to be marketed towards a much younger audience and then the actual content of the show is not at all suited for children. obviously rampant child endangerment is a common theme in a lot of children's media (steven universe, she-ra, literally every tf show to ever feature a child character, etc...) but it's very strange to me that so few of the adult characters seem to care or understand how much danger mo and robby are in whenever they are part of an active combat scene.

neither dot nor alex seem all that concerned that their literal children are fighting alien robots who are more than twice their size and could easily maim or kill them without much trouble. obviously they have plot armour because they are the main characters but even then that's not a very good excuse when it's been established within the show that the characters are in highly dangerous situations that could get them killed and yet mo and robby's parents simply stand by and let their very young, elementary/middle school aged kids throw themselves into the line of danger.

and it's specifically the tone issue when it comes to the violence. if the combat in earthspark was treated as though no one could get hurt seriously and everyone would be okay, like it is in many prior transformers shows (like G1, TFA, and cyberverse) then i wouldn't have any issues with this. but it's not. fighting the decepticons is treated like it's a majour risk and that mo and robby could die every single time they leave the house to go on patrol. but their parents, beyond a few verbal warnings, do not do anything to keep their kids out of the way. they do not question why their children must be the ones to fight the decepticons, instead of leaving it up to the much more capable autobots.

it was bad in the last season but at the very least most of the fights then were simply due to the maltos being caught up in combat they weren't actively seeking out. but now, they are actively hunting down and searching for pieces of the emberstone that frequently lead them into situations that could risk their lives.

another issue i have with the tones of the show is how it treats injuries. hashtag seemingly gets very badly injured in the first episode because of aftermath and we, as the audience, are supposed to be very worried for her. however this lasts for all of about 10 minutes before she's back on her pedes and rolling around just fine, which once again leads to the confusing question of whether we're supposed to care if characters get injured. 

in transformers animated as an example, i was never particularly worried when characters got injured because of the allspark key. it was functionally a fix all tool used to repair any cybertronian character who got injured. therefore, whenever there was a majour battle, i never was in disbelief when a character would get seriously injured because it was previously established that the characters have a tool that can fix them should they require such drastic medical care. and it even tied into ratchet’s character arc and him learning to trust newer forms of technology.

wheeljack is another example of tonal dissonance when it comes to injuries. he gets stabbed in the face by a weapon called the cyberslayer. he then passes out and his optics turn completely black. we see dot grabbing him and looking very worried and then we don't get to see him again until the very last episode (which takes place two episodes after when he first gets injured) where he only appears for a split second fighting nova storm. no one mentions the fact that he got grievously injured, not even characters who saw him get hurt, like twitch, who has a strong emotional attachment to him and should likely care about him getting injured. 

mind you beyond a cybertronian’s frame going completely grey, their optics are how their physical and emotional state are often portrayed to most animated audiences. it’s not like in the comics where they can be covered in gore and lose limbs without consequence of scaring a young child. so seeing wheeljack’s optics go completely black and having people be worried about him and then never mentioning him again for two fucking episodes is really poor writing. 

and speaking of characters getting grievously injured. let me talk about spitfire and aftermath.

i do not enjoy the fact that they were killed. in fact i am appalled that they took two characters who were maybe less than a month old and then had them killed in what is to be implied to be an extremely painful manner. i’m unsure as to why the terrans are treated as though they are fully grown cybertronians when they are clearly not. they may have fully developed frames but they have the minds and personalities of children. additionally the way the chaos terrans are treated makes me deeply uncomfortable considering their age and the way they were brought into the world.

it is implied that the emberstone brings terrans into existence depending on the situation and in both cases of a chaos terran being created, that situation is combat. aftermath was created when breakdown fumbled an emberstone shard and it landed in a puddle of water. he was then immediately hit by a truck and began attacking the rest of the terrans. spitfire is much the same, being created when a shard of the emberstone was tossed into a thunderstorm while twitch was being chased by laserbeak. 

the way that the maltos talk about the chaos terrans, addressing them as evil and corrupted versions of the other terrans is deeply unsettling to me considering season 1’s themes of acceptance and understanding for those around you. it’s very weird to have jawbreaker go from being buddy-buddy with aftermath in one episode and then upon meeting spitfire in the next episode, distrusting her. obviously aftermath did betray jawbreaker’s trust by stealing the supply of cave water, but it feels incredibly out of character to see jawbreaker, who is friendly, kind, and unrelentingly positive, suddenly stick his nose up at spitfire, an individual he has never met before in his life. 

i’m aware that the terrans are proven right about aftermath and spitfire but it’s so gross to see characters who are less than a year old get thrown under the same bus as the decepticons who have committed literal war crimes. 

and then there’s the fact that they were killed by starscream. now to be clear, i did not expect starscream to be a good person in this season. i was tentatively hopeful that he would get a redemption arc of some kind considering megatron’s whole deal, but i was fully expecting him to be the main antagonist of season 2. however… it feels bizarrely out of place to see starscream quite literally murder two newborn babies and then not have said babies get revived at the end of the season. 

aftermath and spitfire are dead. just straight up gone. and it’s a waste of potential in my opinion. 

these are two characters who could have gone from side antagonists to genuine fan favourites given enough time and proper development. that’s what i though their plotline would be to be honest; i assumed that we were going to see them grow and develop over the course of the season (not just the first nine episodes) with the two of them eventually leaving the decepticons to join the autobot side. 

instead they are murdered in front of four main characters and banished the realm of never having had existed once again. there is the possibility of them being revived but i am highly unsure of that being the case considering how their existence sort of depends on the emberstone being shattered into several pieces. 

additionally, going back to starscream, i honestly do not want him to get a redemption arc now. there is no way in my mind that the writers can make him a good guy after he murdered two children. like, zero chance. unless they just bumped it under the rug, it’s fucking impossible to go “yeah starscream, the guy who killed two babies and then tried to destroy an entire town full of people, yeah he’s a good guy now!” 

that just would be tone deaf.

okay i’m moving on to the various plotholes and open ended questions that have been left on the floor now because if i keep thinking about how the chaos terrans were treated it’ll make me sadder

so first big question. why are the cons bad now? no genuinely, i would like to know why exactly the decepticons suddenly turned evil. the excuse of “oh that’s just how cons are” is not an excuse, it’s a fucking shame explanation that goes entirely against the themes of the first season. like even a fucking line of just “oh we tried peace but like many of our past ceasefires our ideologies just clashed too much” or something along those lines. 

and it’s been a whole year since season 1. something must have happened for the decepticons to have suddenly flipped sides on a dime. it’s so weird to me seeing a character like breakdown finally have the opportunity for something tangentially related to peace and then become a con once again despite having zero reason to actually stay with them. 

like ghost is gone (which is another thing i’ll bring up later) so why wouldn’t he chill with the autobots where he’s not in active combat and being starved for resources. like i can understand soundwave, shockwave, and starscream leaving considering their ties to megatron, and novastorm and skywarp leaving because of starscream seems about right. 

but swindle? hardtop? the insecticons? why the fuck do they care about the decepticons? surely those individuals don’t have the same loyalty to the cons as the others? and it doesn’t help that the insecticons get no lines this season and swindle and hardtop get like 6 collectively. we don’t learn anything about them or their motives. we can’t deduce anything because the narrative doesn’t care enough about them to actually explain or show why they’d choose to stick with the decepticons over the autobots. 

and starscream’s motives are another really weird thing. we’re told it’s because he wants to build a new cybertron but that feels so wildly out of character when he’s shown to generally just dislike megatron and his rule. why would he want anything to do with earth? 

“oh well shockwave hasn’t found anything that says cybertron is still around” 

well he hasn’t found anything that says cybertron is gone either. like one blown up spacebridge would not fucking explode an entire planet. and it would make far more sense for starscream to be building a new spacebridge powered by the emberstone instead. and the decepticons being the antagonists instead because of them wanting to go home quicker and not wanting to be patient and resorting to violence. 

like you’re telling me that shockwave couldn’t build a fucking space bridge when agent croft and mandroid could. pathetic. he would probably do it faster and with better materials because he knows what he’s doing. 

additionally if we got a space bridge up and working that would mean getting to see cybertron which would provide a lot of really good character building for the terrans! like it would be very fun to see them getting to explore and grapple with their cybertronian side!

ignoring the whole mess that is decepticons are the bad guys again because of “reasons”, i wanna talk about the carnival episode

now overall i actually enjoyed this episode. like beyond the whole crush plot not really being my thing (which is more a result of me not enjoying romantic subplots within kids media to begin with which is in it of itself just a result of me being aroace and disliking unnecessary romance in media) i actually really liked this episode! i enjoyed seeing the terrans interacting in an environment that isn’t a fight scene. and the use of their bond in regards to robby’s crush is actually a really cute concept that i felt was well executed. 

absolutely zero thoughts on robby’s crush. other than they both deserve jail for that food crime abomination of a funnel cake. but to each their own i suppose. 

but now comes the questions… what the fuck was up with cosmos man?!

from his dialogue about not knowing that megatron was an autobot we can assume that he’s been trapped there for minimum of like… 40 years give or take. and that’s a fucking horrifying thing to think about. he’s trapped in his altmode for decades without any way to communicate with his allies all while this random human uses him as a method of making money. 

i don’t particularly know how those altmode devices work, but surely his spark signature would still be recognisable correct? did the other autobots just assume that he was dead? did they not care? were ghost preventing the autobots from rescuing him? 

so many questions that will probably not get answered because having weird al voice him probably increased his budget several times over. 

oh and also are we going to learn where fairemestro got his tech from? did he just get it all from swindle over the years, that would seem the most logical, but also maybe he was working with ghost, that could be an interesting plot threat if the writers decide to bring him back. 

the quintessons are another group that leaves me with a lot of questions. like clearly they’re being set up as the main villains of the rest of the season but it’s so weird to me that they’re not set up earlier than that. 

why on earth make starscream the villain if you’re going to just get rid of him nine episodes in. surely it would’ve been easier to simply dedicate the time and energy into building up the quintessons in the first batch of episodes, with the decepticons as minour supporting characters along with the autobots and then have the rest of the season be about fighting the quints. 

it feels so oddly structured and rushed. 

i understand that time constraints and budget cuts most likely caused them to cram everything into season 2 because season 3 might not be a guarantee but considering how big of a threat the quintessons are likely going to be, having them get their own season to fully realise their goals and/or plans is a better writing decision than a singular episode of setup that immediately got forgotten for the rest of the episode batch. 

and okay, personal bias here. the quintesson executioner model was ugly. it was weird and it was gross and it’s fucking limbs made of jelly energon was just not it man. like give that thing some tentacles with blades on the end. not whatever the fuck that creature was. 

and also small tangent, i don’t like quintus prime. i do not like the fact that he enlisted two literal children to do his bidding and then having the writing team puppet said children around saying “yes quintus prime is our friend :)” while he has done nothing to earn their respect or trust. he’s a fucking dick who is leaving his mess for two kids to clean up. 

mo saying to the executioner “but quintus is my friend” pisses me off so much because he’s really not. he appeared in one vision for about 3 minutes and in that time he got angry at mo for being scared about her brother being in mortal danger. that’s not friend behaviour. 

additionally alex’s nonchalance about the quintesson executioner is so strange to me. he literally saw his probably 9-10 year old daughter getting hunted down and just doesn’t do anything afterwards to ensure that it won’t happen again. no sitting down with dot and saying “honey maybe we shouldn’t let our children do this anymore. it’s clearly dangerous.” nothing of that sort??? really??? do neither of these parents care about their children now???

season one dorothy malto would never do this. she would be furious that her children are regularly throwing themselves into life or death situations. 

not to mention the fact that these kids are still in school, actively!!! mo finding the quintus temple is literally only because she has to do a history project on witwicky, meaning she’s actively in school during the season. so that means that not only are these kids in school during the day, but they’re also training, going on patrol, and fighting beings roughly 2-3x their size on the daily????

how are they not exhausted physically and mentally? how have their teachers not noticed something is off? do they just not have any connections with their classmates? do they merely just go to school, go home, work, and then repeat?

this problem could be easily fixed by just saying they’re homeschooled or that it’s the summer. but nope, they’re in public school. 

okay end tangent. moving onto characters. 

i’ve already talked about the assassination of characters like dot, who is suddenly a background mom who seemingly doesn’t give a shit about her seven kids throwing themselves into life and death situations and the same goes for alex, but there was a noticeable lack of character time from pretty much every majour character from season 1. 

like bumblebee, someone who lives with the malto family and was their teacher and mentor in season 1. he’s just fucking gone for 90% of the season. he has like three total scenes and most of those are dedicated to him being comic relief. it baffles me that he’s just missing. everything from season one, his silly moments with alex, his awkward dynamic with optimus and megatron, his love and dedication with the kids is just gone. 

it breaks my heart because bumblebee was one of the highlights of season 1. he was silly, kind, caring, strong, and the perfect mix between the bumblebee’s of tfa, g1, and cyberverse. 

megatron, arcee, and grimlock also got almost no screentime. arcee and grimlock i can sort of understand because even in season 1 they were relatively minour background characters who featured in only one or two episodes… but megatron, fucking megatron, mr. i’m an autobot now. mr. i’ve changed for the better???? why is he not more prominently featured as a potential mentor for the chaos terrans. 

he of all bots would understand what they’re going through? why does he just brush off spitfire? why is he not more concerned when the chaos terrans are merely left to the side and dehumanised like the rest of the decepticons?

it’s so strange to see him become this random guy who says almost nothing and is mostly in the background when he played such a prominent role in season 1. and it’s especially weird that he’s also just okay with the terrans and malto kids collecting the emberstones by themselves. like he was very clearly protective and caring towards them in season 1 so why the sudden shift in character in season 2?

starscream is also such 180 from season 1. like did i expect him to be a perfect little angel who can do no wrong? fuck no. i was fully expecting him to be mean, ornery, and snippish when he interacted with megatron and the autobots. but to have him go from “look out for yourself” to hashtag and then straight up murder two children for a plot point that barely makes any sense is just so fucking out of line. 

i’m a firm hater of most starscream’s that are just evil guy for the sake of evil. i fucking hate what skybound did to him good lord. so to see him suddenly flip from being relatively sympathetic (i say relatively because he’s not like a good person. i fully understand that he was actively part of the group that invaded earth and probably killed a lot of humans) but having him just straight up kill two children… no man. i will not accept a redemption arc after that. 

he had so much potential to be a good character, who actively struggled with becoming a good person and dealing with his trauma in a healthy way and to see that potential get tossing into the trash just makes my blood boil. 

zero thoughts on soundwave and his team. he got like three lines and was mostly just a cardboard cutout of his season 1 self. weird that we never got to see frenzy considering laserbeak and ravage got scenes. is she just dead now? 

shockwave betraying (or at least not listening to starscream’s orders) was pretty interesting. i’m ready to see what he’s going to do in the rest of the season. then again there’s a good chance that he’ll just be cardboard cutout later on. 

skywarp and novastorm. nothing much. they’re fine. i like the few interactions they got. i enjoy the fact that skywarp is allowed to be a little stupid like her g1 counterpart and her fight scene with elita-1 was pretty nice. i’ve seen people complain that they didn’t change enough about her to justify the pronouns change but i subscribe to the notion that cybertronians do not use pronouns in the same way that humans do, so like, i don’t really give a fuck about the she/her usage. it’s a silly thing to get hung up over in my opinion. 

insecticons are nothing burger characters. swindle and hardtop are boring as hell. also someone get hardtop a new arm for fucks sake. it’s been a year. surely they could manage that. 

another dropped plot was the combining concept. like it gets put into an episode and then it gets dropped only one episode later. i honestly did not like how jawbreaker was portrayed in the episode that he features more prominently in. he’s upbeat and happy sure, but even he isn’t that emotionally dense. you’re telling me that while combined with aftermath he really couldn’t figure out why aftermath was so pissy. or that he was going to end up stealing all the cave water? really man?

additionally i’m not a massive fan of combination as a concept in tf to begin with. it feels very much like a toy marketing scheme and after idw1 i just cannot bring myself to give enough of a fuck about such things considering how massive combination was in the comics. it especially feels out of place in earthspark. i did like the scene where mo and robby devour like three plates of food after combining, that was really cute!

quite literally zero thoughts on hashtag picking out a new altmode. it was cute but it felt highly unnecessary to be perfectly honest. also i genuinely hope that her ai doesn’t turn evil like i’ve seen some people saying that it will. i prefer the interpretation that hashtag is now plural and the ai is simply her headmate. hashtag’s new model is just fine. i don’t like her helm though, it feels too naked for me. but the colours and everything else. fine. no notes. 

in terms of animation i honestly don’t have too much to say. most of the models felt oddly stiff. like the people in charge of animation didn’t get paid enough to properly emote them during scenes beyond moving their mouths and maybe stretching their eyes. (this is a gross exaggeration. there is a lot of time and effort that goes into rigging and creating 3d models and i understand that on a tight budget it’s probably very hard to try and make every character as expressive as possible.)

the fight scenes felt so weirdly rushed and/or oddly choreographed. like it might just be a me thing but most of the scenes felt either too slow or too fast with the rare exception (i like spitfire and twitch’s scenes. they were good)

aftermath’s model is overall pretty good. besides his helm. it feels a bit too small. 

already stated my opinions on the quintesson executioner model above. it’s shit. i don’t like it. 

terratronus is honestly pretty good. the detailing is nice. don’t like her glorification of quintus prime though. like it’s in character but that doesn’t mean i have to like it. she wasn’t around long enough to make a big enough impression on me. she feels like a lore exposition dump and that’s about it. 

alright this thing is getting too long. like 4k words long. before i go, let me say something. 

i did actually enjoy watching season 2. despite my paragraphs and paragraphs of criticism and questions and annoyances with so much of the season, i think it’s perfectly fine by itself. but in comparison to season 1, it’s a poor fucking sequel. it fails on almost every level and i think more people should be more comfortable with admitting that it’s just very bad. that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it, that doesn’t mean you can’t like what it did. i just think that people shouldn’t sweep the massive issues these episodes have with pacing, dialogue, and animation simply because some parts of it were decent. 

i’m probably going to watch the rest of the season when the episodes drop (purely because prowl is there tbh. if he’s there at all.)

[agenericplaceholdername]

Dragons Rising E6-10 Thoughts

Here’s some thoughts on each episode in the latter half of Dragons Rising, Season 1 Part 1:

Return to Imperium:

The color grading of this opening seems off – almost as if it’s a flashback (it’s not, ofc)

JORDANA SPOTTED

The conveyor belts directing people where to go is so on the nose for an authoritarian society

“It's the perfect companion for anyone that might... be lonely” :(

“Unconventional? Perhaps you can forgive her” man this is seriously dystopian but also pretty funny

Sora in her S1 outfit without headphones is kinda cursed

“Ever since the Merge it’s been you and me” I AGREE ARIN. LET’S KEEP IT THAT WAY

Kai’s Wu impression is great

The Advanced Science Lab? Isn’t it the Advanced Systems Lab?

I HATE SORA’S PARENTS I HATE SORA’S PARENTS

The sewer smash cut is perfect. Beyond the Phantasm Cave implies that Sora actually traveled through the sewers before so at least she had a reason to assume there was no security

The public shaming platform? At least it’s not a two hour YouTube video essay documenting your every misdeed (which I will then watch)

This episode sold me on Sora’s character and is essential for her arc this season

Mindless Beasts:

Like the Rapton ad

The Arin chase scene is fun

I certainly hope nothing bad happens to the new shoulder pad store

The Imperium Teenage Protection Force all have shorter legs, meaning they’re probably slightly younger than Arin (or just short)

Every Wyldfyre line is gold: “If I was your enemy, why would I let you out of your cell?” “If you don’t know, how should I?”

Sora says her family was poisoned against her by LaRow— meaning she believes that her parents would have accepted her if not for LaRow. Ofc, we know later that once they see the truth, they don’t change their mind, so her rejection of them means even more

For a scientist, LaRow isn’t very smart (or lab skills =/= street skills)

“I’ve got a master teaching me all the things I’m doing wrong” Arin no he’s trying to help you

Percival talking about him is the first time Lord Ras is identified in front of Arin — before, he was just the “tiger guy”

Rapton has the perfect combination of incredible arrogance and thin skin

Dorama just wants to show off

Ras has such a deeper voice than in S2

The Hunted soundtrack!

LaRow just can’t stop gloating lol. Not sure how a Photac can capture a source dragon 

This episode is pretty important for Arin and Sora, and introduces Wyldfyre… but also isn’t super interesting

I Will Be the Danger:

Wyldfyre opening! Not what I was expecting when I originally watched but super cool. Not sure where she came from tho

The caregiver-bot helping Wyldfyre train is sweet. I wish she came back later (I know she does in a canon(?) novel and there was a deleted scene, but I wish it had been in the show)

Wyldfyre not knowing certain words is a clever detail that isn’t used often

Percival is so not convincing as an antagonist

JORDANA NAMED??

Considering the other empty holes in the portal gate room—are they supposed to link to other monasteries? Since the one Kai goes through links to the Imperium Monastary?

You probably are famous among ghosts Kai, considering the whole Morro thing

Poor Riyu

Thank you Sora, she really is weird— oh shoot Dorama! forgot about him

“I DON’T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORDS ‘SHUT UP’!” and then the one take after are pure Wyldfyre gold

The “ninja think Sora betrayed them” plot line could have gone somewhere but didn’t, and honestly I hate bad miscommunication plots so all good

Weird way to end

This episode peaks with the opening scene, and is generally fine outside

The Calm Inside:

Green eyes child Lloyd voiced by Sam Vincent is off putting. I get why they do this but whatever. The lighting/texturing in this scene (maybe bc of the rain) also makes Lloyd and Wu look super plasticy

Good lesson tho, and I’m glad it keeps coming up

Arin and Sora are a great duo

Melvin, remember, always do the bare minimum that gets you paid

And so the Empress joins the main plot

Super cool protective Lloyd is great, leaping down to pull Wyldfyre back from the Photac

What’s his “big plan” Beatrix? Why does Ras want Riyu? “You can’t [drain him] yet. My plan for—” no wait he was about to say it!

Ras is so mad at Beatrix omg

Kai and Nya have interacted more now than in any season post Hands of Time right?

So how did Arin trip? Tbf he punched himself in the face so makes sense

Ok the show just made the same joke after I wrote it, I guess I forgot

This sweat thing reminds me of the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie (the blood scene)

Lloyd being surrounded by chaos is overshadowed by the very strange design of imaginary Wu, but the scene leading up to Wu is so great. The music, the action, the direction— really stellar. Someone needs to let this guy take a break

Not Rapton’s unicorn figurines!

Excellent rhetorical comeback Lloyd

Ras is so cool -- singlehandedly fighting multiple dragons

Zane! But how did he end up in that pod?

Jordana! Sora is just totally lost lol

Do you think Kai, Nya, and Zane were planning on jumping out or was it spontaneous?

Lot of questions in this episode, and it would probably be better if they saved Lloyd hitting the targets for a flashback later in the episode (that is, end the first flashback before Wu gives Lloyd the lesson)

That being said it’s the best one since E6 and a good setup for the finale

The Battle of the Second Monastery:

Jordana getting insulted by LaRow (albeit indirectly) :(

This is probably very overwhelming for Zane

Everything seems particularly saturated in this scene 

The Jordana reveal is very good. Funny, but also kinda heartbreaking since Sora was just using her technology to give herself a friend

Lord Ras is not very nice (although he’s right how do you lose to two mostly-untrained teenagers who are in handcuffs)

Arin and Sora use Jordana swinging her sword to free themselves, just like Lloyd did in E2. Shows how far they’ve come (much better than when they fight Ras, which just diminishes him as an antagonist)

Ouch Lloyd, always look before you leap

“As opposed to those really strong gnats” I’d spend some more time workshopping those comebacks Arin

The Source Dragon scene is SO cool!

Sora beats Ras mostly though luck but the real question is why was he running so slowly

And so we finish the S1P1 aspect of Sora’s arc, although her conclusion of “having a responsibility to use her powers” is very similar to the end of E5

Sad Arin :( already made a post relating this scene to what happens in S2 but it takes on a whole new meaning knowing what happens after

Beatrix imprisoning Ras actually makes a ton of sense and I might make a whole post talking about why (and her character generally)

The Ras fight isn’t great - I get why it happens and Arin and Sora don’t really beat him physically, but it does undermine him as a threat. The rest of the episode is really good tho, especially the vision

Next up, the first half of S1P2!

[cirusthecitrus]

Horde Prime's body language and mannerisms part 1/3

T posing, head shaking and manspreading

I was always facinated with the way Prime moves and handles himself, but ever since I got officially obsessed with this character I began to notice more and more interesting quirks and signature Prime gestures - there are just so many. And now I'm going to (over)analyse them all!

1. Hands behind the back

Lets start with the classic "well mannered/disciplined character" pose

It really suits his whole character and even makes Prime look like he's always plotting something (which he does). And it shows that HP clearly watches his posture and I'm glad he does like damn my man has such a good posture

Also, I now have a theory that Prime keeps his arms behind his back so no one can see him fidgeting with his hands and fingers. Or he hides them in a way to restrain himself from touching everything he sees (I just cant help but to headcanon Horde Prime as a kinesthetic person who learns through touch and feeling)

2. Crossed legs

It's giving slut, its giving bad bitch, its giving if only I cared hon uwu and I love it

The way he sits shows just how comfortable he feels on his throne and in his role as an emperor - he's right where he thinks he belongs. In his case crossed legs also indicate that Prime feels confident and in control. Even when Adora sees him during this whole vessel maintenance process, even when Catra turned against him, even when he was visiting the Fright Zone and sitting on Hordak's throne, even when a rebellion sparks on other occupied planets

And yeah, sometimes the emphasis on his legs is so obvious that it looks very fanservice-y, but not that I mind that >:}

Eventually u get so used to him sitting like this that when Prime doesnt cross his legs it feels wrong and scandalous lol

But this only happened like 3 times. And I think he only changes his pose when he needs to concentrate (like when he searches through someone's memories) or when he feels like he's losing control (like when he felt enraged after She-Ra and co escaped the Velvet Glove)

Though I cant explain why he manspreads in the last screenshot, its from Save the Cat and I have no idea why'd he do that, it feels so wrong pls make him stop I'm scared

3. The iconic Prime pose

He's actual signature pose that really fits his character. It's dramatic, it has some similarities with irl holy/religious imagery, it makes Prime look like he's taking even more space, and it kinda reminds me of the way peacocks show off their tails :)

Gotta mention that when he doesnt do "the pose" Prime is still doing something with his arms and posing almost thetrically, which is again, right on brand for him

3. The 👉👈

At first I didnt want to include this one cause I thought it was just an insignificant silly gesture he only does once, but then I actually caught Prime doing it again!

Then I've noticed that Prime often does this thing when he folds his hands in various ways, kinda forming a shape of a rhomb/diamond? The same as the one on the Horde emblem?

My main point is that HP again seems to never know where to put his hands, which I find cute :з

4. The thinking pose

It's just funny how Prime always props his head on his left hand just so he won't accidentally poke his extra eyes out with his claws))

5. Smoothing the hair

I included this specifically because Prime only does this one time in the entire season. It's an uncharacteristic gesture for him. Especially since there's no hair to smooth, its all cabels with only little seen of his actual hair

Prime only did this after Scorpia disobeyed his order, letting Adora and Perfuma escape. For a moment he felt like he lost control over the situation AND one of his puppets, plus it was yet another time when She-Ra managed to survive and "win"

I will speculate that Prime used to do this gesture all the time somewhere in the past, when he didnt have his cable hair yet AND when he had less control over his "subjects"

So when on Etheria Prime's plans began to fail for the first time in forever and someone who supposed to be under his full control actually dared to disobey him he felt so frustrated and stressed that he might've mentally come back to those times when he wasnt yet "all powerful". When he often felt the need to calm himself down by fixing his hair and running his hand over it

What's interesting, Prime does something similar in this scene, only here he gives pets to one of his clones. I'm going to throw in another suggestion and say that it actually might've been someone else who used to help HP calm down in similar manner

6. Head shake

I could not stop thinking about this one simply because it annoyed me too much lol. I really don't get what is it with Prime always shaking his head and why it was only a thing in his debut episode. Anyway, he does this to emphasize the words "No" and "Never". And only when he is either really amused or angry. He also does this almost in a mocking condescending manner, probably because he saw Glimmer and Catra as some dumb children who won't get the message otherwise

Still don't get why he only does this in one episode and then this quirk of his is (mostly) completely forgotten

It was easier to make a video rather than a set of gifs, so enjoy me counting all the times when Prime shook his goddamn head

[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

[tippenfunkaport]

Bow's Character Arc

There was a discussion on Twitter from people who were confused about Bow’s character arc and whether he had one (he very much does, and it’s actually one of the clearest / most spelled out in the entire show!). To help anyone experiencing that confusion and because it’s never a bad idea to understand how character arcs work if you want to be a writer/storyteller, I might as well break Bow’s character arc down for anyone who might find it helpful.

Buckle in, it's nerd time!

At the most basic, a character arc is a change (usually growth) a character goes through over the course of a story. Usually good (positive change arc) but sometimes bad (negative change arc). It’s very often a reversal aka the character is often in the exact opposite state by the end of the story than how they start it out. It can be trickier to follow in an ensemble story like SPOP because there are a lot of characters with parallel story lines going on and multiple arcs colliding in different ways, but She-Ra does a really good job of giving each of the four leads arcs (with Catradora as the main leads, Glimbow as the secondary) near equal time.

Yes, including Bow.

What I think throws people about Bow’s arc is it’s based on hypocrisy.

Meaning…

He encourages his friends to talk it out and share their feelings… while hiding his own feelings from his dads and repressing his frustrations with having to be the middle man between Adora and Glimmer (Season 4)

He declares that average people (such as the kitchen staff at Dryl) don’t need the princesses and are just as capable of fighting the Horde themselves… while he believes himself and his abilities inferior to Princess Entrapta’s

He reminds the others (esp Adora) about the need to accept help… while refusing any help for himself (think about “Don't worry about me. I'm the one who worries about you. Can we go back to that? Please?” in Pulse through to that moment when he agrees to let Glimmer take him to check on his dads in Return to the Fright Zone and literally leans on her)

I think a funny way to sum up his character issue is: Not me, though.

This arc progresses across all five season as he gradually changes. He starts the series out repressing his feelings from both his family and friends while doubting his abilities and refusing to ask for help (he IS Adora’s mirror, after all!). Over the course of the series he learns to express his feelings instead of bottling them up (The Beacon > Reunion > really all of Season 4 but it comes to head starting with Boys Night Out through Beast Island > Stranded), gains more confidence in his tech skills (The Frozen Forest > Signals > Flutterina > Mer-Mysteries > Corridors), and starts to learn to ask for help (The Beacon > Pulse > Return to the Fright Zone).

Which of course all culminates in The Heart Parts 1 and 2 where he finally wraps up all threads at once by

a) asking Scorpia to trust him (putting faith in someone else to help)

b) completing Entrapta’s program to unchip everyone (proving he IS as good a scientist as she is)

c) giving the speech to everyone on Etheria rousing the common people to fight Prime (average people can make a difference… which he now fully believes that includes him).

And while you can make the argument that confessing to Glimmer is part of his arc to share his feelings, the fact is that he completes a full character arc without ever behind reduced to just someone’s love interest because none of his character growth is tied to his romantic relationship at all (which was what the original tweet claimed). It's all his inner journey to have faith in himself and his abilities and how they relate to his friends and loved ones.

And thus the guy who starts the series as “only one around here who’s not a princess” with doubt in his tech abilities ends the series as confident Tech Master and future King of the regular people he sought to inspire, which is about as textbook a reversal as you can get.

Does it come out of nowhere?

His character arc progresses and takes significant focus in the following episodes….

S1:E6 System Failure

S1:E10 The Beacon

S2:E1 The Frozen Forest

S2:E3 Signals

S2:E7 Reunion

S4:E3 Flutterina

S4:E4 Pulse

S4:E7 Mer-Mysteries

S4:E8 Boys Night Out

S4:E10 Fractures

S4:E11 Beast Island

S5:E3 Corridors

S5:E4 Stranded

S5:E9 An Ill Wind

S5:E10 Return to the Fright Zone

S5:E12 Heart Part 1

S5:E13 Heart Part 2

That’s 17 episodes out of 52 which means his character development gets approximately 32% of the focus of the entire show… which for an ensemble cast like this where he’s one of four leads is just about dead on as it's over a quarter of the episodes.

That's a significant chunk of screentime with multiple episodes devoted specifically to his character journey.

Is his journey as flashy and action sequence-y as what Adora, Catra and Glimmer get? No, but it's a) a show marketed to girls so it makes sense they get the more cinematic scenes and b) his arc is more emotional and thus didn't need to hinge on big action like theirs did. Though considering the culmination of his arc is him as a 100 foot tall hologram speaking to the entire planet, I personally feel like that was pretty hard to miss.

If you look at all of this and still want to say that Bow did nothing or had no character arc, I think the thing to ask yourself is: why is it so important to you to discount the accomplishments and character growth of this character specifically?

In conclusion, this is the face Bow makes when he spent five season growing, changing and kicking butt as Tech Master and Voice of Reason and you say he did "literally nothing"...