#spop heart pt 2

[manic-sapphic]

one of the scenes at the heart

between adora and catra that absolutely makes me feel like the earth is giving way underfoot - every damn time i've watched it.

initially, it seems to me like adora reads catra's "no" as the beginning of catra trying to talk her out of it again, but catra quickly clarifies. she's not going anywhere, no matter what happens. cause if it doesn't work and everything ends, there's no where else catra would rather be. and if it does work but is going to destroy adora, catra's honestly probably more than willing to have it - and likely is even hoping it will - destroy her too, if she's by adora's side.

cause sure, maybe catra tried to leave in the middle of the night after adora took the failsafe, feeling like, once again, adora was choosing to leave her behind- only in a far more heartbreaking and permanent way. and even after melog reads that bitch and bucks her off to give her a good lil shock to her system and tries to push her to go back, she refuses. but then melog tackles her to the ground and gets her to let some real feelings out - says them, even if just to melog - still something she'd never have done before. give her true feelings a voice and let them exist. let them be real & fully accepted that they are.

which we all know is immediately followed by a clone appearing, melog cloaking them both just in time. but once they follow and catra realizes prime's found a way to go after the heart sooner than expected and is undertaking that endeavor at that very moment - all the uncertainty, her insecurities, her reflex to suppress her feelings for adora due to the emotions triggered by her abandonment issues & sw meddling - all go out the fucking window. she hops on melog and they rush back to warn adora. but of course she's already headed to the heart - somewhere i'm sure, given the circumstances with prime infecting the planet - catra knows is bound to be dangerous for adora to be.

so catra sees her only way to get there in time, and takes the hand of the last person she'd ever want to, and goes to find adora.

and after everything that happened between going to look for adora and reaching the heart together, only to find she couldn't transform and had no hope of surviving it - catra refuses to leave when adora tells her to get as far away as she can, hoping it would keep catra safe. but if i was catra, i'd be thinking "don't you fuckin tell me to go away - if you get to choose to stay down here, so do i." which is kinda how i read her refusal to leave.

and i think maybe it's part of why adora doesn't protest. but also, i think she realizes it would be a waste of breath in her fragile state - catra's not going anywhere no matter what she says. and honestly, watching the tears that stream down adora's face when catra says she's staying with her no matter what - i think that's what adora really wanted anyway. it wasn't about having someone with her so she wouldn't be alone - she wanted catra with her. but likely felt it would be too selfish to say.

luckily, catra saved her the trouble of having to. cause catra finally realized that whether adora wants to leave or stay, no matter the situation, she can always choose to stay with adora, so long as she wants catra there. no pride in the way, nothing petty left to prove, no more interest in winning. where adora goes, even if it's into the abyss, catra wants to choose to stay by her side from now on, where ever that might lead. cause that's where she's always wanted to be.

just as catra says to glimmer and bow when she runs into them after appearing w shadow weaver, she'll stay and find her cause she "can't lose her again." which, to me, means - if it comes down to it, and adora does go - catra wants to go with her.

[aprillikesthings]

don’t mind me I just needed these side by side

[dreadraws28]

You coming?

I'm back from my unintentional break.

Burnout sucks and I got busy, but I'm back now and am gonna try to keep up with the posts.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

We already know your feelings on C//A, but are there any other ships that you actually like? Or also dislike?

are you talking about ships in spop or in general? in spop, i like glimmadora (as i'm sure it's already quite obvious) and entrapdak. i also liked huntfuma, i think they had more chemistry than scorfuma. and scorptra had a lot of potential too, until they ruined it in s4.

all the other ships were just meh for me. rogelio and kyle was an interesting choice but there's not much in canon to suggest that these two would make a good couple.

outside of spop, here are the ships that i like from animated shows:

ryan x min-gi (infinity train; not a canon couple but they're canon in my heart <3)

steven x connie (steven universe; such a cute ship, i have no idea why it got so much hate at one point)

sokka x suki x zuko (atla; again only sokka x suki is canon but i like the idea of them being a polycule)

eda x raine (the owl house; we need more queer ships between middle aged or older characters!! <3)

pearl x rose/pink diamond (steven universe; an example of a well-written unhealthy relationship)

vi x caitlyn (arcane; actually GOOD enemies to lovers ship)

amaya x janai (the dragon prince; actually GOOD enemies to lovers ship pt.2)

lapis x jasper (steven universe; another example of a well-written abusive relationship honestly i just like their fusion more than the ship itself)

and here are the ships that i dislike (i might make a detailed post about this sometime):

mako x korra (the legend of korra; the whole love triangle was a huge mess but makorra in particular was pretty toxic imo)

lapis x peridot (steven universe; not canon and i'm so glad they didn't make it canon)

taku x rikako (ocean waves; the only ghibli movie i HATE, there was such a good setup for a mlm relationship and they ruined it)

hunter x willow (the owl house; poorly written, no development and completely takes a shit on hunter's character arc)

varrick x zhu li (the legend of korra; i regret to say i once shipped them but looking back it's so obvious how unhealthy their relationship was, zhu li deserves so much better)

there may be more but these are the ones i can think of at the moment! hope that answers your question!!

[madimoo31]

Heart pt 2 9/9

This time: my middle school search history

Girls kissing

[aspinningtakoyaki]

i’m not letting go

[ruidust]

[unknownmorsel]

Catra, internally, before her confession: You want something, you gotta fight for it. Time to break out the L Word.

Catra: Lesbians.

[potsticker1234]

@shinami-nigashi mentioned the parallels between Save the Cat and The Heart Pt. 2 and I wasn’t able to sleep until I took pics

[meg-noel-art]

Heart of Courage Easter Eggs:

Chapter 1 -

Percy and Nerida are both references to Greek mythology with Nerida meaning 'sea nymph' and Percy being a reference to the PJO series...cuz water dieties...

Chapter 2 -

The 3-tier ice cream cake for Luna’s 9th birthday is a reference to the one shown in season 4 for Glimmer's coronation.

Chapter 3 -

Named after the corresponding episode in S4 for the relationship altering fight between Adora and Glimmer.

The game of 'Capture the Flag' in Entrapta’s Princess Arena is a blatant reference to the events (once again) of PJO, specifically the musical 😎

Marlena, the lead healer of Bright Moon, is named after Adora's mother from the original series.

Chapter 4 -

"Right here, Adora" <-After Adora wakes up from the sleeping spell is directly reminiscent of Mystacor in season 1.

Finding Eternia destroyed is also a bit of a reference to Alderaan's destruction in A New Hope.

The drawing Luna shows Adora can be seen in my animatic set to 'Waiting in the Wings (Reprise)'

The dagger Luna uses to attempt to remove her wings is the same one Adora kept under her pillow in the show.

The shirt Luna wears after the incident with wing holes in the back is in reference to @athetos oneshot about Glimmer's wings growing in.

Chapter 5 -

Ash telling Luna to stick her hand into the pedestal is an Indiana Jones/Uncharted joke

The spell that Casta describes to Luna is pulled from a fic by @definetlynotatimetraveler i.e. becca_the_quiet_one on ao3, and was actually the inspiration for most of HoC's plot!

'She-Runt' was a nickname created by @therodrigator6

Chapter 6 -

Adora's nightmare is meant to be reminiscent of the scene where Glimmer is trapped by the Black Garnet bonds while Shadow Weaver stands over her.

The scene where Ash and Willow find Luna stealing the sword is meant to be a callback to episode 1 of season 1 where Glimmer and Bow find Adora doing the same thing.

Chapter 7 -

Aster is meant to be a rival in the same way Catra and Adora were as kids, although Luna fills the role of Catra, feeling more slighted and owed her dues, etc. etc.

As they travel through the Whispering Woods, the kids spot a boulder with an 'X' marked into it, which is the same one Adora cut in season 1.

All pegasi are related to Swift Wind

Chapter 8 -

The title is a pun regarding bounty hunters but also a reference to FF7: Crisis Core

The monster that attacks Adora and Catra is the same spider thing from episode 1

The first trap Luna falls into in the Crimson Waste is quicksand, just like Glimmer.

The scene where the bounty hunters chase the kids through the Valley of the Lost was inspired by the Oasis scenes in Legend of Korra.

Chapter 9 -

The skiff chase is every Star Wars desert space race ever.

"I love you to the moon and back" was taken from @softpastel-lesbian bc it's the greatest thing I've ever read ever ;;-;;

Chapter 10 -

Artemis, along with Ember, Rhod and Frigg are all OCs taken from my Discord's rpg game and plopped into the story for fun.

Ruz and Zur is the same name reversed bc I hate coming up with OC names.

Chapter 11 -

Deathstalkers are references to Deathclaws from fallout 4 (sorry Kipo fans :((()

Violets in the Bright Moon gardens are in reference to @etherianfrigatebird AVEC

Not really an easter egg, but I listened to so m u c h POTC music for this chapter.

Seahawk praising Luna as they fight is in reference to his battle with Scorpia in 'White Out'

[ecrooked24]

The Lighthouse Music Meta - Chapter 12

Looking Out - Brandi Carlile

I know the darkness falls on you.

And it's just a point of view

When you're outside looking in, you belong to someone

and when you feel like giving in and the coming of the end,

Like your heart can break in two, someone loves you.

I am afraid of crossing lines.

I am afraid of flying blind.

Afraid of inquiring minds.

Afraid of being left behind.

I got a new interpretation and it's a better point of view…

I was looking out for you, someone's looking out for you

This is it. The chapter that everyone was waiting for, so I wanted to have a song that was fitting for such an important chapter. I had planned this song for this chapter since early in my planning process and didn’t really have any other competitors. Darkness has fallen on both Catra and Adora, they both are afraid of so many things and they think they have lost the other. But they are looking out for each other still. Being with each other and (almost) losing the other has helped them change their perspectives. Catra choses to not run away and to instead face her fear of the ocean and of losing Adora if she shared her feelings. Adora steps away from the edge, from what she thinks is best for everyone else, because she wants Catra and wants to protect her. This whole scene was definitely was inspired by the scene at the heart with the first ones monster.

Fic Playlist

[manic-sapphic]

i'd just like to comment on the last frame of these spop stills~

ahhh i posted this as part of a series of stills but looking closer at the expression on catra's face in the last one and considering the next line is just her asking "what are you going to do with me?"

she's not clueless to this kinda vague talk where there's truly unsettling malicious intent being left in the shadows, if you will.

so yeah, the look on her face after prime calls her out for being just as emotional and "weak" as all the princess etherians she was just attempting some smooth shit talking on for their own feelings (and literally tho imo, she only tried that cause glimmer just blew up her spot in the most devastating way possible during their weird dinner w prime, telling him everything he needed to know bout using the heart and cancelling out the one advantage catra had been able to pose to him for why he needed her alive too when she saved glimmer's own neck by poppin out from behind the rubble in "destiny pt 2")

not tryna hate on glimmer tho, and i don't think catra woulda either. i definitely think she understood why glimmer caved so quick, even tho it screwed catra over.

but effectively, my point is, looking at her face in that last still when he basically confirms to her that he sees her of little more value than any other non-weaponized 'emotional' etherian but "still has big plans for her" like... it's kinda no wonder why she did what she does in corridors.

cause tbh, i think she knew she was already fucked dude. like, no two ways about it, she was trapped on the flagship of a megalomaniac creep who-knows-where in space w no way to leave. and she'd soon learn prime also had an affinity for "purification" through torture (reflected in the same idea he tells glimmer about wanting the heart cause "the weeds must be burned away so new life can flourish" it's what he attempts doing to the minds of his individual subjects basically ugh that guy just makes me feel so ill) and if adora came there, all it would mean was that catra would have to watch her suffer, too. and yeah. she just wasn't down w that ugh i just love her so much good grief.. like thank you nate & all the other writers/creators - but also damnit why tho? what did i do?? but also thank you? it's confusing lmao~

<3

[aprillikesthings]

LAST EPISODE

s5 ep13 heart pt 2

LET'S GOOOOOOO

it's 1:21pm and I have laundry to do AND Easter Vigil service starts at 8pm, can I get this all watched before 7pm?

Or am I gonna sit there in church vibrating in place for two hours knowing I have three minutes left on the episode or some bullshit lol

(That's longer than usual, yes. Easter Vigil is actually one of my fave services of the year--we start outside lighting candles (the ones inside have been out since Thursday night, even the one we otherwise never put out), then walk into the dark church, then sorta speedrun bits of the old testament (with a hymn after every reading) and then we decide OKAY IT'S EASTER NOW :D and turn on the lights and make a lot of noise and sing a few more hymns--we don't sing or say alleluia during Lent so all the hymns have that in it. There's often MASSIVE amounts of church incense, too. Anyway by the end it's a bit of a party. Apparently some churches have an actual party after the service.)(side note if you're new-ish to these posts that I'm Episcopalian, like, the priests at my church are a gay man and a woman, we're cool people mostly I promise)

See this is why these posts take forever. Why do I keep infodumping shit. This is what it's like to watch things with me in person, though.

If I get through this episode before Easter Vigil my reward is gonna be coming home and taking an edible and rewatching the last two episodes without screenshots so I can just cry over them.

oKAY

eh? that's new. like putting that on screen like that in dead silence. No intro sequence.

oh right Adora is injured. :( And it's some kind of magical monster thing that did it--a security thing put into the Crystal Castle by the First Ones

when she touches her wound the Failsafe glows, and it's making static-y noises and looking glitchy, that can't be good

the nasty tentacle monster thing is still there buT SO IS CATRA YAYYYY she shatters at least one of its eyeballs? I think?

my brain: this is like Caitlyn helping Vi after she got stabbed by Sevika, the wound is even in the same place :D me: wrong person has the red jacket on also Catra isn't going to buy some illegal potion thing to dose Adora with

(you should watch Arcane)

DOES SHE EVER SAY IT LIKE THAT BEFORE THIS?? oh god she sounds so breathless and relieved

Adora: "You can't be here! It's too dangerous"

And she stands up and starts to fall over and fucking Shadow Weaver helps her stand up, uGH

LOOK AT MY BB KICKING ASS

oh god so Shadow Weaver basically drags off Adora, Catra's like "I'll catch up, okay?" and Adora's like "no no Catraaaaa" her voice is cracking and everything, she doesn't want to do this without her and also worries about Catra and that tentacle monster thing

I'm not gonna screenshot it but poor Glimmer is fighting her dad, who is still chipped and Evil.

Bow is fighting Scorpia, also chipped and Evil. Oh hey Melog shows up and makes Bow invisible.

Micah is MEAN when chipped. He calls Glimmer a failure.

Glimmer: "My mother raised me to be brave. My friends taught me to be kind. And I'm stubborn. I get that from you. I will never stop fighting! And I won't lose another parent! I love you, dad."

She blasts him with enough magic that he collapses.

Bow, invisible, types away on Entrapta's computer she set up in the Horde thing, but when he gets it to start to do its thing he gets excited and says "I've got it!!" and Scorpia hears it and blasts him and is standing over him about to get him.

Bow: "Prime may have made you do a lot of things, but he can't turn you into something you're not. So, right now, all I need you to do is trust me."

Her eyes get normal for a second and she yells, and Bow slams a button on Entrapta's computer. There's a bright light.

Where Sea Hawk is holding Mermista, her chip goes dead and falls off. We get a lovely montage of other characters from all over Etheria, like Huntara and the folks at Elberon, who'd been chipped having their eyes go back to normal!

Scorpia: "oh my gosh I am so sorry!!"

yeah she's definitely back to normal lol

up on Horde Prime's ship:

lol

"My device worked! I knew it would!"

Bow: "Hey, everyone. I'm Bow."

(lol there's so much story in just this frame alone)

But yeah they show people from all over Etheria stopping to watch him speak, including his dads.

"Right now, we're the only thing standing in the way of him controlling it forever. You might be feeling hopeless. You might be thinking "We don't stand a chance." And maybe we don't. Prime's too strong. His army is too powerful. But that's not gonna stop us. We need to show Prime we're not afraid of him, because we have each other. And we have love. We can't give up. And if we go down, we go down together. We need you. All of you."

"It's time to fight. For She-Ra, for our homes, for each other!"

Broadcast over, back to Horde Prime. "Put an end to this mockery."

Catra injures the tentacle monster thing, but now that green is spreading into the room, and as Catra runs down the hall towards the Heart, she stops as Horde Prime shows up in hologram form

"I had such high hopes for you." like what, dude. keeping her around and chipped like a fucking puppet as an example? eugh. (something something about how her speeches to Adora while chipped were an obvious reference to people proselytizing high-control faiths)

the moment of distraction is enough for the tentacle monster to grab one of Catra's legs and she screams in pain D:

also there's still a bunch of earthquakes happening as these two limp towards the Heart

Poor Adora is just weakly going "No...no...wait" Shadow Weaver: "Don't lose your focus. We're so close."

What's this WE shit.

But also damn one thing Shadow Weaver and Horde Prime (and Light Hope!) have in common is they both believe love and affection and "attachments" are weaknesses. Shadow Weaver just cannot seem to get it through her head that Adora's love for Catra (and vice versa) is helpful here. Not a detriment. Love isn't a distraction!!! It gives us a stable ground of security and safety from which to do hard things!!

Meanwhile poor Angella told Adora "take care of each other."

This is pulsating, and so is the Failsafe on Adora's chest

OH NO oh god Okay being near that much hardcore magic is making Shadow Weaver powerful--her hair does the floaty thing for the first time since, what, s2? And she starts reaching for it, but THEN--

Adora yells Catra's name and starts walking back towards her, and Shadow Weaver's hair falls down again and she says the most weirdly desperate-sounding "Adora, wait!"

Prime's hologram is still torturing Catra along with the actual tentacle monster

(someone has drawn rule 34 of that thing but I'm not looking for it. I am content to know it exists.)

AND THEN THE MONSTER GETS BLASTED BY SHADOW WEAVER AHAHA NICE

about time she was useful amiright

okay so is this Shadow Weaver actually realizing she's been wrong about The Power of Love, or is this just her begrudgingly accepting that these two are Sold as A Set, Do Not Separate, and unless Catra's there Adora won't be able to use the Failsafe because she'll be looking for Catra the whole time???

Like is this an emotional epiphany or just pragmatism?

oh god so she magically shoves Catra away (towards Adora), but Catra runs back to Shadow Weaver

And y'all I know I talked about this a LOT way back in earlier seasons but I cannot tell you how accurate this keeps being in regards to dealing with an abusive parent. Like if you'd asked me, even after I cut off contact, if I wanted my dad to die, I would've said No! Of course not! At that point I didn't know whether the no-contact thing was temporary or not. I just knew I needed time and space to not be constantly stressed and anxious, for a notification on my phone to not immediately fill me with so much adrenaline my hands shook.

Anyway Shadow Weaver puts up a magical shield to keep Catra back

Shadow Weaver's response is amazingly calm and quiet. "Please, Catra. You need to make sure Adora reaches the Heart. The magic must be set free."

Her fight with Tentacle Monster isn't going well.

Catra's voice is heartbreaking here. "Stop it! It's going to kill you!"

"But you, this is only the beginning for you."

;_;

STICK THAT KNIFE IN AND TWIST IT! YEAH!

Catra's crying "no...no..." and a hand reaches out and grabs hers

LOL FINALLY HIT THE IMAGE LIMIT okay going to reblog

what a moment for it pfft

[milfcoven]

Sometimes I just listen to Heart Pt. 1 while staring at the ceiling to feel something

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

i just want to talk about the two times in spop where adora was ready to sacrifice herself to save the world. the first one was during The Portal, where adora needs to pull out the sword and angella is the one who talks her out of it.

notice how angella speaks to adora. she understands that adora is not in a very good state mentally and thinks that her destiny is to serve the world. adora is trying to be brave but she has clearly accepted her fate at this point.

so what angella does is she assures adora that her life is worth living. she tells adora how much she has inspired people and that her destiny is not to face certain death for the greater good. she motivates adora to continue living and reassures her that her existence has had a positive impact on people.

now let's come to the second scenario, in The Heart pt. 2. where adora is once again forced to sacrifice herself in order to save the world. this time, catra is the one who is trying to save adora. and what does she say to make adora stay and realize her worth?

“i love you and that's why you shouldn't die.” this is catra's speech summarized.

she doesn't try to comfort adora or give her a valid reason to stay. she doesn't remind adora of all the good that she's done or all the people who care for her.

no. to catra, the situation is simple. the only reason she wants adora back is because she loves her. which sounds sweet enough on paper but since we've seen how self-centered catra can be, it's clear that she's only thinking of herself at this moment.

if she really wanted adora to recognize her own self-worth, she would thank adora for saving her from prime or remind adora of all the good she has done. but the closest catra got to saying this was “you've never given up on anything, not even me” which is. E for effort but it's inaccurate. adora did give up on catra after the portal incident.

adora says that she failed and the only reply catra can think of is “no”. just that. it's not even frustrating at this point, it's funny. she's not even trying to convince adora otherwise, she's just like “no”.

but yeah, even if we omit the victim blaming and guilt tripping, catra's speech just sounds selfish. instead of focusing on adora, she talks about herself. and sure, she didn't have time to say as much as angella did, considering that adora was already dying at that point. but she could have said anything, and the only thing that occurred to her was “i love you even though i still hold you accountable for something you didn't do”.

(also “i got you, i'm not letting go” girl, she's not falling off a cliff, she's dying because of the failsafe. you holding onto her body isn't gonna do much.)

[madimoo31]

Heart Pt 2 storyboards 1/9

Click for better quality

Commentary might be sparse for some of these because I was mainly kicking and screaming

Ahhh shit here we go again

IM IN SO MUCH PAIN WHY DID THEY CUT THIS

PRINCESS PROM??????

FUCKING THAYMOOREEEE????

Ugh, parallels to episode 2

IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PINK?????