#spop s3 spoilers

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Meaningless Suffering ≠ Consequences: An SPOP Rant Analysis

so one huge argument i've seen from SPOP fans, when it comes to Catra's redemption is that “she got tortured and mind controlled by Horde Prime. she almost died at his hands. therefore, she faced the consequences of her actions.”

now.. could this be considered a consequence of her actions? the important question here is: why did Catra get punished by Prime? for going against his rules and freeing Glimmer. she got punished for doing one good thing. this was the consequence of her doing something right. if anything, she would be more discouraged to do good in the future, because the first time she does something good, she almost gets murdered for it.

but i digress. i've seen this trope be used with quite a few characters in media. the other example of this i want to talk about is Marcy from Amphibia. (spoilers for Amphibia below)

in the s2 finale, Marcy is revealed to have stranded her friends Anne and Sasha on Amphibia on purpose, because she didn't want to be alone. while this wasn't as bad as any of the shit that Catra pulled, it was still a fucked up thing to do. Marcy deliberately took Anne and Sasha away from their home and their parents, for her own selfish reasons.

like Catra, Marcy also has abandonment issues. her parents had informed her that they had to move and Marcy was terrified at the idea of having to leave Anne and Sasha behind. but that was still not an excuse for what she did.

not long after her secret was exposed, Marcy gets stabbed by King Andrias while trying to escape Amphibia. she doesn't die, of course, it's still a kid's show.

but to make things worse, she gets possessed by the Core later on, which is shown to be an extremely painful and traumatizing process (which they barely touch upon later). and then they show in a flashback that Anne and Sasha used to ignore Marcy and make her feel lonely, when this was not touched upon earlier in the series. in fact, Anne was shown to be very caring and attentive to Marcy up until this episode.

at this point, it's clear that the writers are trying to make the viewers feel sorry for Marcy. if they keep adding reasons why she's so miserable and traumatized, maybe the viewers would forget what she did to Anne and Sasha. right?

there is a small scene in s3 where Sasha questions why she should forgive Marcy, but it is quickly fixed by Anne telling Sasha that she should forgive Marcy. there's also a moment of realization for Marcy but even that is done in such a cliché and lighthearted manner, where the severity of her actions aren't addressed. and that's it. Marcy is rescued, she apologizes, and is immediately forgiven.

but then again, like SPOP, the last season of Amphibia was trashfire. i refuse to believe that people genuinely liked that season, it was so badly written and ruined everything that was set up prior to it.

anyway, let's come back to SPOP. it's clear that the writers of SPOP were also trying to do the same thing. put poor catgirl through the wringer, have her almost die and come back to life and voila! she is absolved of all her crimes.

for those of you who are still not convinced, let me try to make a real world comparison. let's just say i'm someone who bullies or abuses people. one day while getting home from school/work, i get hit by a car. i get grievously injured and go through a lot of pain. heck, maybe it even leaves some kind of permanent disability or injury.

is that a punishment for my actions? you can call it karma, but let's be real, karma doesn't exist. it's just a coincidence. and you bet i'm not going to wake up in the hospital thinking “this must be my punishment for abusing people”. if i really am an abuser who has no remorse for my actions, a random accident isn't going to change my mind.

and that's what happened with Catra too. she didn't consider Horde Prime's torture as a consequence of her actions. if anything, she used that as an excuse to mistreat Adora and the others even more. it's clear that she pitied herself for what happened. and everyone else pitied her, including the audience.

imagine if the good redemption arcs were written this way. imagine if, instead of working through his issues and facing actual consequences of his actions, Zuko was just tortured and traumatized even more by Ozai, and the Gaang just forgave him because they felt bad for him. yeah, people wouldn't be praising his arc anymore. or they would, who knows. i know i wouldn't be praising his arc.

because this is not the way to redeem a villain. the only way to redeem a villain is to have them face consequences of their actions and work for forgiveness. to show them consistently trying to make up for what they did and trying to be a better person, not because they want to be forgiven or accepted by the heroes, but because it's the right thing to do.

[aprillikesthings]

OKay gotta distract myself from constantly refreshing my fic and staring at numbers, by continuing my spop rewatch

If you're new here: I'm rewatching all of She-Ra for fic writing purposes, and live-blogging it, with too many screenshots. None of this is spoiler-free. I make a lot of jokes and talk about my life and make references to other shit.

Also, I find Catra's villainy to be kinda hot (okay more than just kinda hot)

s4 ep1 the coronation

"April did you rewatch the Portal scene again"

Yes, because that's where I left it paused, mind your own business

OKAY so I remember this from the first time I watched it, like, four years ago--that of all the emotional stuff this show gets 100% correct, I'm not sure Glimmer's grief over her mother is all that accurately portrayed. She just seems to "get over it" too fast?

By which I mean: yes, it's the focus of this episode, but that's basically it.

When my dad died--and keep in mind I'd been no contact for six months, I'd already done most of my grieving for him!--I was so out of it I couldn't even read anything longer than a few paragraphs for multiple months. All my writing basically screeched to a halt. And Glimmer likes her mom!

BUT tbh I keep remembering someone pointing out that each season covers WAY more time than I originally assumed. Because the first time I watched this I assumed we were like, literally a week or two after the events at the end of s3. It's probably closer to several months. And that makes way more sense.

Also who else is confused as to what "princess" and "queen" even mean in this universe, like there are several princesses who are clearly in charge of their kingdoms? is just when their parents DIE that they become queens? if so wtf is wrong with Frosta's parents "lol you're eight now, time for you to be in charge of literally everything, and you'll never see us again"??

okay but literally did they only ask Mermista to do the flowers as a joke bc I am literally sad for her now :(

There she is!!! 😍

Also I read some (old) commentary from Nate about why her hair is flatter this season and nooooooo

oh hey remember that you tied up Adora

okay do you remember this specific time you tied up Adora lolol

"Don't talk about my ex-girlfriend!!! it's a very sensitive topic *sobs*"

Glimmer's coronation robe is so great. I wonder if, like IRL ones, it's made out some insanely hard-to-get fur and weighs approximately five tons.

The line delivery of "BOW! CALM DOWN!" made me laugh so hard I had to play it for other people and then watch it again.

"Power changes people"

Not everyone is like you!!! >:(

(if anything, responsibility is more likely to change Glimmer)

poor bb

it's Entrapta's little naked mole rat robot!! which is also somehow also a squeaky toy??

Scorpia wants SO BAD to find a way to see Catra as not a terrible person

the robot didn't deserve that

"Don't talk about my ex-girlfriend!!! it's a very sensitive topic *sobs*" (pt 2)

Scorpia is such a cinnamon roll

Adora literally only owns like three outfits. And this is her "nice dress."

Bow's dad's!!

Also this is framed so much like a wedding, even the music is wedding-ish

I'M NOT SAYING A DAMN THING ABOUT THIS

A FRIEND

okay maybe not

I'm sticking with my theory that this is several months after the end of s3 which means she's been like this (unable to teleport) for a while

Yeah, people have discussed this a great deal, re: grief: most people want to talk about the people they've lost, if you give them a safe time/place to do it. You don't have to avoid the subject.

;_;

I once again ask myself: where were you keeping the sword this whole time lolol

NICE (Glimmer put the fancy lantern into the little niche for it)

Aziraphale? Is that you?

IT'S SO CUTE

I wonder when Angella recorded this

YEAH!

where did you get the new outfit 2. isn't your other arm cold 3. she's fucking purring

She says this the exact same way she says "Hey, Adora" and I went "EUGGGH" out loud

Some people were like, "oh, her redemption arc in s5 was so rushed" and meanwhile I'm like, "I wish they'd made her deranged and mean a little longer, actually. For Reasons."

Anyway I've run out of images unless I reblog the post, SO: she yanks the little crystal thing Entrapta made out of Hordak's suit so he collapses and then taunts him with the knowledge that Horde Prime is not gonna be happy to find out he can't even subdue the Rebellion, basically puts herself in charge, end of episode

WOOOOO

[haemosexuality]

spop fandom moments:

-this

-when only s1 was out and we thought mara was razz's ex from when razz was younger

-after s2 when we were all CONVINCED catra was going to go to beast island in s3 like it wasnt even a theory it was an unquestionable truth. she was also going to meet micah there

-"catra is a princess'' theories

-the magicats are totally gonna play an important part in the story guys dw

-when ppl (COWARDS) started dropping catra/catradora after s3

-when after every season wed be like ok THIS is catras rock bottom she has to start her redemption arc next season! and then she didnt

-when nd posted a picture of the back of a paper script and ppl somehow managed to decode what was written. i remember wstching s5 and hearing "ill catch up ok get to the heart" and screaming THATS FROM THE SCRIPT

-the she-ra mobile game? the mattel dolls??

-when a picture of catra w short hair was leaked and the fandom was divided between people saying "she looks so fucking ugly 😭" and people saying "SHE LOOKS GREAT I LOVE HER"

-

-trying to decipher nd's emoji spoilers

remember when nd stevenson said in a stream that he had written and posted catradora fanfic it on ao3 under a fake name and literally minutes after that the fandom broke ao3 bc of the sheer amount of people trying to figure out which fic was nd's. good times

[spopz]

im obsessed w everything about this image. catra’s smugness. her flicking tail. bow’s grin. adora looking all irritated but her hand went to support catra’s legs anyway. the subtitles

[seriouslykyle]

my two takeaways from the season: 

1. mara hot

2. mara really hot

[oh2bloved]

Catra: *repeatedly tries to kill Adora, opens a portal, which can destroy space and time*

Adora: >:(

Catra:

[5hio]

I redrawed That Part,, um,, y’know,, when Adora gives Catra the Bitch-fuck-off-i’m-so-done-with-u-istg-im-gonna-kill-u-next-time-i-see-ur-fucking-face Look? Yeah,,

Idk how are they planning to fix this

also bonus:

[tbiatc]

MICAH WAS GONNA RELL HER HE'S NOT DEAD OH MY FUCKING DKVIRRNCJWKVKSJZndh¥=$°•= su,b+3-

[sherpawhale]

why did catra try to destroy the world, including herself, just to spite adora? well, let me tell you why

[voices-not-echoes]

Hordak in s3 be like

[byghostface]

Corrupt Catra is beautiful

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

(spoilers for infinity train s3, read at your own risk!)

thinking about how infinity train treats tuba's death in comparison to how spop treats angella's death. in both these shows, the main antagonist (catra and simon) kill a main character's mother.

infinity train treats tuba's death with the seriousness that it deserves. grace and hazel are horrified when simon admits to murdering tuba, grace gets mad at him and lashes out, hazel is so overcome with shock and grief that she starts morphing into her actual self.

later, hazel and grace hold a funeral for tuba, we see grace finally start to question the way she treated the train's denizens. tuba's death wasn't all in vain, it wasn't forgotten, instead it was given the narrative importance that it deserved and simon was held accountable for it till the very end.

keep in mind, simon was also a sympathetic villain and the show manages to keep that sympathetic part of him, while also reminding us that he is still a villain and that his actions have consequences.

meanwhile in spop, angella's death is kinda relevant in s4 but not really because yes, glimmer's grief is a huge part of that season but also catra isn't held accountable for it at all?

even in double trouble's big speech towards the end, they never once mention angella or glimmer, but they mention shadow weaver.. for some reason? and hordak?? i mean sure, catra betrayed hordak and whatnot but are they really telling us that catra lying to hordak about entrapta was worse than her directly causing angella's death? what even is this show's priorities??

the first episode of s4 honors angella and treats her death with narrative importance but for the rest of it, her death only matters to glimmer. yes, adora and bow are sad about it but it isn't treated with that much respect. it's just there to give glimmer a mini corruption arc and to drive a wedge between her and adora.

and y'all know i don't even need to mention s5. it's crazy because catra and simon are basically the same character (except catra has more backstory because she was apparently the protagonist of spop /s) but infinity train actually knows how to tell a good story in just 10 episodes, while spop struggles with 5 whole ENTIRE seasons.

[cloudwithoutsilverlining]

I couldn’t resist drawing something with corrupted!Catra

[susie-dreemurr]

Everyday I think about this. (Unfortunately I don’t have Netflix on my phone so I couldn’t clip the next frame of the second clip, which was a sad-looking Adora)

[swordlesbean]

this is very... wow

[seriouslykyle]

c: