#that line would have made more sense if it was said by adora or bow

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

s5: glimmer's weakness is her self-doubt mixed with overwhelming hubris.

s5: oh, and catra's weakness is water. other than that, she's perfect.

[tippenfunkaport]

"Adora, I'm so sorry. I was awful! The stuff I said..."  "Yeah, well, we were all kind of the shittiest possible versions of ourselves last year. And if I'm honest, there was maybe a little ego thing going on when you became queen. I'd gotten real used to being The Mighty She-Ra and wasn't really into being bossed around. You were having a hard enough time mourning your mom and figuring out how to be queen without having to fight someone who was supposed to be your best friend for control of the room." Adora sighed, as if the memory of those days wasn't any less painful for her than it was for Glimmer. "Can I confess something? There were days during all of that when I wished She-Ra outranked everyone so I could just do everything myself. And, looking back now, I am so glad that's not the case. I would never have gotten this far if it wasn't for you and Bow." "If we're confessing things, I was so jealous that the sword chose you." Glimmer wiped away a tear, not wanting her people to see. "All this time I'd been fighting for Etheria and it chooses you. The enemy! It made no sense!"  "Honestly, if any of this made sense, it should have chosen Bow!" Adora said, making them both crack up laughing. "He's way more responsible than either of us. Nicer too!" "And a real stickler for sword safety!" Glimmer said, between giggles. 

Join me on AO3 where Adora and Glimmer finally end their Season 4 pissing contest in a chapter I have very creatively called Title Line!!! because, as you might expect, someone finally says the title line.

aka Chapter 32 of Going There is now up (side note: how TF have there been 32 chapters of this already??)

[tostadamika]

Daniel Watches She-Ra & The Princesses Of Power

-S1E1- 'The Sword Part 1'

Today's She-Ra Watch Art: This shitty Glimmer doodle.

Look I promise they won't all be garbage ;-; I promise

Okay I wanna preface: Not every post is gonna be this detailed, I didn't even intend to go on this long with just one episode but I lost track of time. Some posts I'll be short & sweet. Some I'll be long winded to a comical degree. Depends on my feeling.

I think I'll just keep it to one paragraph per episode, & only pull out the long rambles when I finish a season. I think that'll work. Yeah.

Okay so I have no idea who any of these people are because I literally just started but one of these guys is a lizard. I'm a huge sucker for lizard people in anything ever so I immediately like this fucker. He's a lizard, that is all I need. He's just instantly cool because lizards are fucking rad as hell dude.

So Cat-Ra speaks, that first fucking line of hers.

The fucking "Hey Adora"

The first fucking thing I said to myself, out loud, was the immediate reaction I had to that line: "Oh so they're gay."

I don't know if it's like canon or not but one of the things I know about this show is people ship them a lot. I have no idea if that's actually like a canon thing in the show or not but I've seen a lot of fanart of them so I know people at the very least WANT them to kiss or hold hands or get married & buy a house in the suburbs & raise like 5 kids & watch Shrek on VHS & talk about doing their taxes or whatever idk.

That being an actual thing in the show itself? Uh I guess I'll see what happens so who the fuck knows man. Maybe they just explode idk.

But like....dude. DUDE. The fucking way Cat-Ra said it was just....

SO fucking extra like that immediately felt fruity to me. I'm already getting that vibe from her. On top of that, the way her & Adora continue to interact in the episode also give off a very distinct vibe, a rather, ahem, 'fruity' vibe. I think I'm already getting the idea of why this ship is popular. I do believe I see the vision.

Also, quick tangent, I LOVE the way the animators animated Cat-Ra like an actual cat. Her hair getting puffed up when she's agitated, her ears moving to reflect her mood. Her eyes dilating like how cat eyes actually do. THEY EVEN ALSO MADE HER PURR LIKE AN ACTUAL CAT, LIKE SHE AUDIBLY CAN BE HEARD PURRING. THAT'S SUCH AN ADORABLE DETAIL & IT MAKES HER IMMEDIATLEY ENDEARING AS FUCK.

Also I guess it makes sense Cat-Ra would be into women, yeah?

Because it makes sense that CAT-Ra would be interested in PUSSY.

(Please Laugh) (I'm desperate please think I'm funny I need this)

Now moving on, let me talk about this BITCH.

One. Compared to the original Shadow Weaver, they sure did make her a way more intimidating villain.

Two. FUCK THIS BITCH??????

THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM YOU FUCKING BITCHY, INKBLOT LOOKING, WACKY WAVING TUBE MAN HAIR HAVING, WIZARD-WANNABE MOTHERFUCKER? LITERALLY SHUT UP

+ NO ONE CARES & ALSO YOU SMELL BAD

+ YOU LOOK LIKE A BOOTLEG ERMAC

+ YOU'RE MEAN TO CAT-RA, I MEAN HONESTLY, WHO THE FUCK JUST BULLIES A CAT?

IMAGINE BULLYING A FUCKING CAT. FUCK THIS BITCH.

I DO NOT CARE FOR THIS WOMAN.

HER SMUG AURA MOCKS ME.

Hi so I immediately love you?? Like instantly my favorite character just from the design alone. Glimmer is so real honestly.

I also like Bow, like, Bow is just so fucking cool & nice? He's such a real one, I wanna be best friends with him & hang out he's just so lovable like he's just awesome. I love this man immediately. He deserves all the good in the world actually.

Also holy shit the contrast between Bow in the original show vs this reboot design.

It's funny, the original design WAY more gay than the new one.

The new one that a lot of people (and by people I mean homophobic douchenozzles.) complained about, the design for Bow in this supposedly 'woke tumblr sjw cartoon' has a design that is far less homoerotic in it's design & feel.

The original Bow just outright looks like a fucking gay pornstar.

He's got the trademark 'Gay Porno Mustache™' & everything.

Okay so there's a magic sword or something, etc.

They mentioned Eternia.

Okay so, one of the reasons the original she-ra was lame as fuck compared to He-Man? No Skeletor.

Hordak & literally all the villains in the original show suck ass.

They fucking suck. Hordak is just Skeletor but boring & shitty.

Why the FUCK did they not take the oppurtunity to replace Hordak with Skeletor? You don't even need to add He-Man, I'm fine with that.

But You could have just taken She-Ra & added a better villain because Skeletor fucking rules. He calls people boobs. That's fucking awesome & cool. WHERE IS HE? WHERE THE FUCK IS SKELETOR? LOOK SHOW. HORDAK WAS FUCKING LAME AS FUCK.

SO IF THIS REBOOT IS GOING TO CONVINCE ME THAT HORDAK IS IN ANY WAY A LEGITIMATELY COOL VILLAIN, THEN THEY BETTER FUCKING PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS BECAUSE IT'S GONNA TAKE A LOT TO CONVINCE ME THAT THEY WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF JUST USING SKELETOR INSTEAD. LIKE, YOU BETTER FUCKING IMPRESS ME BECAUSE OTHERWISE, THE LACK OF SKELETOR IS GONNA BE A HUGE FLAW THAT YOU CANNOT OVERLOOK.

I mean, so far they managed to make me actually LIKE Cat-Ra, & the original Cat-Ra fucking sucks. Shadow Weaver sucked & so far at least this reboot Shadow Weaver is actually intimidating. But man, you better fuckin' impress me show, because the lack of Skeletor is felt deep within my soul.

OH wait hold on.

Okay I see why everyone said this show is gay now.

Anyways I didn't mean to ramble on this long about the show in just one episode, I promise this is gonna be a rare occurrence. I think from now on, I'll keep it shortened to just one paragraph per post. I'll only pull out these long posts when I finish a season or something.

Anyways uh:

-Glimmer is the best

-I'm sorry but I'm not over the skeletor thing WHY DID YOU NOT USE HIM HE WAS RIGHT THERE-

[aprillikesthings]

I lead part of EfM thing today (see earlier posts) and it went well ahhhhh thank God

and I've made my lunches for the next week!

and I'm munching on a salad

and all day I was looking forward to this, the moment I can (re)watch MORE SHE-RA

I've barely worked on my longer fic this weekend (other than copy/pasting a bunch of things Nate said after the show ended into the notes section of the doc) and tbh rewatching the ACTUAL SHOW is hella distracting bc with twenty eps left we're going to start getting into more of the really high-stakes stuff

Also, true story: I originally watched, like, the second half of season 4 and all of season 5 in two days of marathoning with Daci. So quite frankly? The last, like, third of the show is just kind of a blur to me now.

SO LET'S GO

s4 ep7 Mer-Mysteries

A mission in Dryl went badly, they've figured out someone's telling the Horde what they're doing, they're not tracking Adora because she wasn't even there--

YES

plz enjoy Sea Hawk's faces

Bow's sudden nervousness reminds me of when I was in line at the TSA in Dulles airport and was weirdly nervous. I had no reason to be nervous. AND YET. I'm usually totally fine at TSA? But the people at Dulles were scary!!!

(I was way less nervous coming back from Iceland, despite knowing I had Kinder Surprise Eggs in my suitcase. Which are actually illegal to bring into the USA. You can buy "Kinder Joy Eggs" in the USA, which do not have the toy, but the ones with the toys are against the law! Anyway I bought them for Daci. I was only nervous for a split second at customs in the USA bc they asked me what I'd brought home from Iceland and I was like...wool yarn. books. sweets (I'd also bought licorice and chocolate). But he just waved me through. WHEW.)

she's still big mad about this lolol

BUT she's right a spy IS the only thing that makes sense (but also the audience knows shit they don't)

Pearl?? A Pearl who knows too much?????

c'mon I had to

lolol they lampshaded the way lightning keeps striking when Mermista says something

to be fair she IS the most recent addition and the one they know the least

oh hey I also write everything in purple (or lavender) ink

lol

oh, shut up

well not this episode, specifically

LOLLLLL

honestly this is a lot like the DnD episode

so on the one hand, I know Flutterina is doing this to make them fight, but on the other hand Glimmer is right; on the other OTHER hand, I also would prefer a warning before being forced to see my abusive parent having free range of the castle I live in

BAHAHAHA I read Nate saying these two were interrupted on a date night, but also plz notice the colors of the flowers, it's literally most of the lesbian pride flag, they were SO unsubtle

The Ken from Plumeria is talking to the pastry chef from Dryl with the super cute outfit, and she looks bashful for a second after this screenshot; I am now shipping this and no one can stop me

speaking of ships (yes I know this isn't meant to be shippy lol)

a youtube video titled "it's raining on your window and you live in Bright Moon Castle ASMR for sleep 4 hours"

(....I'd listen to that)

(On a related note, mynoise dot net has a bunch of rain sounds on the website, and it also has an app--it's seriously the BEST website/app for ambient sounds because they're so adjustable and never repeat, and I just want everyone to know about them. The rain and ocean sounds are great on earbuds to cover up snoring so you can sleep!!! Worked better than my fancy earplugs while I was on the Camino and sleeping in all those hostels)

And back to the cartoon, where there's obviously suspicious shit happening because people seem to be in two places at once and their communications thing got shattered

oh so her name IS just The General

Flutterina (aka Double Trouble) has got to be like "oh my god wtf is up with this dude I cannot handle this bullshit"

Once again Glimmer proves that her and Catra are actually very, very alike

BUSTED

OOHHHHH they set up a trap I forgot, this is amazing

Adora: "we created a diversion :)" Glimmer: "You were a really good actress. For once."

pfft

Anyway Double Trouble is confessing the whole plan

:(

poor Mermista :(

there's a creepy-ass moment of seeing part of Horde Prime's face as he smiles, roll credits

[princessofgayskull]

Hi sunflower, what's your thoughts on T Swift's Betty being a catradora song???

Me, taking a break from spop to focus on my mental health and setting better boundaries:

Me, reading this ask:

This ask woke me up from like a deep, sleeping beauty type slumber, not joking. I don’t get asked to talk about Taylor Swift often, despite being a fan of hers since I was nine years old (I’m 22 now *wink*) and we are about to find out why. But I pride myself on taking any fiction piece of media I interact with and connecting it somehow to Taylor Swift. I can do so to varying degrees of success (usually depends on the ships and romance of the world) but there are so many songs of Taylor’s that have just fit Catradora so well for me, both in and out of canon. 

Some of my favorite examples: out of the woods (AND IT KEPT ME UP AT NIGHT WHEN NOELLE SAID THIS WAS HER TAYLOR SWIFT SONG FOR CATRADORA LIKE GAH CASUAL TS LISTENERS WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND) bad blood, lwymd, don’t blame, dancing with our hands tied, the archer, breathe, you’re not sorry, the way I loved you, forever & always, should’ve said no, safe & sound- I could go on.

But I won’t because I wanna stay on topic and talk about betty. Now I have a number of songs from the folklore/evermore series that are for me catradora songs (we’ll get to that in a minute) but this one is… challenging. Because I could be like “yes, because [insert casual reason here]” or “no, because [insert casual reason here]” but I can’t because Taylor feeds her children well and there’s several aspects of this song I feel like should be considered.

This biggest one to be considered, for me, is the love triangle aspect. Folklore features at length the betty/james/Augustine love triangle, each of them having one main song on the album from their POV. Betty's is cardigan, augustine’s is august, and james’ is betty. (also I’m going to throw out the gender component for a second; I know taylor says that Betty is about a guy’s apology and I totally vibe with her reasons why she wanted to write a song about a boy apologizing BECAUSE HOW GREAT WOULD THAT BE?) The love triangle makes the application of Catradora iffy at best. Because it’s like, who would be who? I am going to go out on a limb and assume that you’re seeing Catra as James? I think that personality wise, Adora as Betty and Catra as James is not a stone’s throw away from fitting actually really well. Adora’s canon journey is one of coming to realize “I know what I want and I know that it’s okay to want it” and a big part of Catra’s arc is her being like “Well shit… there goes my plans. Kind of feeling like a dumbass rn” especially in s4/s5. 

(That s4/s5 distinction is important; I’ll show why in a second) 

But for me, there’s no augustine. Or one that’s obvious anyway. I never imagined that either Catra or Adora dated or even had any inclinations with anyone else during the five season run- that’s just my personal opinion, people are completely welcome to feel free to disagree. I don’t think Catra acted even out of distraction with Scorpia or DT, and I think Adora was so focused on being She Ra that when she wasn’t thinking about failing/abandoning Catra when she alloted time to do so, she was thinking about the crushing weight of her responsibilities. So you know, not that much time to get back out there. So I rule out what causes James to apologize in the first place- cheating.

Side note about James cheating- I’m pretty sure Taylor confirmed this, in the long pond studio sessions doc, when she’s telling Jack Antonoff (MY BOY JACK) and Aaron Dessner ( GRAMMY AWARD WINNING KING) that James “was a fool!” And James did sleep with Augustine as confirmed in august, but cardigan makes it seem like he was definitely dating Betty before the summer. Maybe Taylor took inspiration from friends and they “were on break.” I also believe that the kiss in the Heart is the first kiss, that Catra and Adora were never ‘together’ together before Adora found the sword and defected (again, that’s just an opinion, but Adora just looks so wonderfully gobsmacked), so…

We can rule out cheating, and I think we can accomplish this and still reserve the essential meaning of the song of “I did something wrong, I see that now, I apologize for doing it, and I still love you” by widening the lens of what the “did something wrong” was (or “did something bad” you know *wink*). In that wider lens really you could fit either Catra or Adora into the song, but I’m still going to assume Catra is the James in this scenario based on how much of her redemption arc is formed around her refusal to say sorry and then eventually doing so. Of course there is no standing your porchlight but rather standing while wrestling a bunch of murderous clones…. Hmm….

But there are some stupid friends! I wholeheartedly believe Catra is James because of the dissing of Betty’s friends. That’s what Catra does to Bow, Glimmer and the rebellion et al., for most of the show and by the end of s4 she has no friends for Adora to even mock (terrible and cruel of me, I know, but it’s true). Also I know people are like “he called her friends stupid and then expected betty to take him back?” but I scream sing the line “WILL YOU KISS ME ON THE PORCH IN FRONT OF ALL YOUR STUPID FRIENDS?” every time. It brings me serotonin. 

Along those lines we can ask “Who’s Inez?” in this situation. When I think gossip no one from the show really comes to mind, well, expect for Double Trouble. But Double Trouble doesn’t ever speak to Adora about Catra. This happens vice-versa, and in Betty, James reveals that Inez told Betty he cheated on her. 

I want to say something controversial… Glimmer comes to mind when I think “who’s the Inez?” And this is based off of two things: 1) Inez’s closeness to Betty, and 2) Inez drags James out to dry, rightfully so. And when I think of that I think of Glimmer screaming “Do one good thing in your life!” directly in Catra’s face. James gives Inez a bad wrap in Betty. Not cool James. 

Of course there’s the pivotal, “would you tell me to go fuck myself?/ or lead me to the garden?” To me this a fun way of showing there’s vulnerability to what James is doing, so automatically I’m led to is the scene where Catra asks Adora to stay, or each time in s5 when Catra risks, basically an identity crisis to let Adora in how she really feels, but there’s always the potential that Adora could spurn her by not returning her feelings or rejecting her outright. 

I think the best argument that can be made for “is betty a catradora song” can really be encapsulated by the lyric(s): “the worst thing that I ever did is what I did to you” and “the only thing I wanna do is make it up to you.” That is what about the song SCREAMS Catra to me. And yeah, it could be argued that Adora hurt Catra pretty brutally (Shadow Weaver makes that point EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD NO RIGHT TO) that she messed up by abandoning Catra- but Adora feels guilt for... literally breathing. Adora is the quintessential embodiment of “pick your battles, no that’s too many battles, put some back,” but Catra picked one battle first and foremost (yes, she had a few others but this was the one) and that was Adora. Everything that motivated her was surrounded around a narrative of surpassing Adora for a multitude of reasons, and because of that she pretty much hurts Adora every chance she gets after Promise. Adora is really Catra’s first casualty, it makes sense that she has to be her first apology. And I think that after being vibed checked back to back by DT and Glimmer and realizing “oh hey fuck, I’m still in love with her” and then almost dying just to not die because Adora saves her, I think much of Catra’s motivation shifts to “how to do I get Adora to want to stay?” 

That’s my logic for how Betty could be a catradora song in canon. Now not all of my Taylor associations are with canon catradora, many of them do belong to uws catradora, because it’s a lot easier to apply the more modern details of Taylor’s songs to a modern au. The song Breathe is big that way. (it’s in Upper West Side, it’s the song Adora listens to and cries to after that first ride, I just never mentioned that it was taylor because my conditioned reaction to bringing up taylor is to have my head bit off with someone’s semi incorrect and slightly sexist opinion that I never, ever ask for) And this ask got me thinking about what it would look like if I applied not Catradora to Betty, but Betty to Catradora. What would it look like if Catra skateboarded and wore black lipstick, Adora wore a cardigan and they had homeroom together until Catra really messed up? What would it look like if they were seventeen when they admitted their feelings for each other instead of 21? What would it look like if they spent a summer fighting but dreaming of each other? What would their love story look like if Catra and Adora were in that town where Taylor envisioned this “same event that affected three people in different ways?”

I think it’d look something like this. 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31141973/chapters/76952048

what do you guys think?

quick but INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT thank you to @gimme-tea-bitch for helping me with this, being my beta, and listening to me talk about folklore/evermore.

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

The beauty in the choice that is Glimmadora

Season 1, episode 2, roughly 18 odd minutes into the runtime, with Theymore in ruins and Glimmer and Adora having a moment that defines them both as people. Aka, the /exact/ moment I fell head-first into Glimmadora hell. And keep falling

First of all, because of how Adora says 'Glimmer'- softly, disbelieving, just the tiny bit hopeful- and then for what they both say next.

Adora- "Glimmer..? What are you doing? Why did you save me?"

Glimmer- "We need you. We need She-Ra. *brings out the sword* I should have given this back to you in the ruin. *Adora stares* You could have saved us in there and I knew that... but I was stupid, *starts crying* and a jerk, and I almost got us killed and I'm sorry!"

Adora- "You're not any of those things. I'm the Horde soldier! How do you know you can trust me now?"

Glimmer- "... I don't. But I hope I can. I feel like, maybe, you're here to help us. *holds out the sword*"

Adora- *slowly reaches out* *sees a Horde bot closing in on her and a magically exhausted Glimmer, who just spent some of her last magic saving Adora* *reaches for the sword again, hesitates*

Adora- *grabs the sword and puts herself between the charging Horde bot and Glimmer*

This right here? This is beautiful.

And here is why i think so

I'm a sucker for moments when characters make their own choices. When things line up and they stand on a crossroads, all the power of which way the story swings resting in their hands...

I'm even more of a sucker for two characters, both given that power of choice, picking the path they feel is right for them, and that also leads them to each other.

After two episodes of build up, showing why they believe what they believe, how that pits them against each other, and how it also opens the door to them realizing they actually share a common goal- protecting people- there is a pause. A gap of open space. Glimmer and Adora are given room to make their decisions, and there is no outside push that forces them together. Actually, THEY are the ones who have to push towards each other, in SPITE of everything.

The sword doesn't glow or start magically tugging itself towards Adora, the new She-Ra, prompting Glimmer to give in and bring it to her. Bow doesn't nudge her into going after Adora. He's shocked when she suggests it! Even rebuts by pointing out that Adora had just (seemingly) sold them out to the Horde!

It's Glimmer's choice, and hers alone, to go find Adora.

Apologizing for being a jerk also wasn't required, she could have given her the sword without that. But she wanted to say sorry. She felt bad about what she'd done. She wanted to own up to her mistakes, and do it in front of someone who she was not long ago calling a 'monster'.

Leading up to this, it was Adora's choice to try stopping the Horde's attack on Theymore. Her choice to leave the Horde, even if it meant losing everything she had, everything she'd ever known- Her best friend (who she asked to come with her, and who's choice to stay she accepted. Who she apologized to, because it was hard to go, but she had to), her promotion, her home, her idea of who she was and how the world worked, all of the certainty in her life. In the face of seeing innocent unarmed people fleeing in front of the Horde's crushing tanks, Adora gave it all up, without know what, if anything she would find to replace it with.

She wasn't part of the Rebellion yet. She didn't have the sword.

The narrative could have made her a Rebel first. It could have had her accepted in Bright Moon and be given a place there. It could have had Glimmer give her the sword before confronting Catra. Adora could have been safely herded into her new life outside the Horde. A better life, with security and power and no fear of Shadow Weaver hurting her best and only friend and then putting the responsibility of that pain on her. Faced with that choice, would it even be much of a choice at all?

Adora doesn't get that though. She has no certainty, no sword, no acceptance. Even after doing her She-Ra thing and driving off the Horde, she panics, asking what she's going to do now she's gone against the Horde. She doesn't even know where she will go, afterwards. She doesn't know if she will have a place outside the one she just threw away. And she still left.

And when she talks to Glimmer, she didn't have to reassure Glimmer that she wasn't a jerk or stupid of "any of those things". That was just something she wanted to say, right then, to the girl who took her prisoner. To the girl who took a Horde soldier prisoner. To the girl who didn't leave her to die in the collapsing ruin, and came for her again, saved her from being dragged back to the Horde as a traitor.

She wanted Glimmer to know that she, Adora, didn't think any of those bad things about her. Didn't blame her for being furious at someone from an army that is destroying her home, or think she was stupid for not trusting a Horde soldier with a powerful weapon.

Adora didn't have to ask how Glimmer can trust her now. She wanted to know the answer, herself. She was a Horde soldier. She understood what that meant, now, and she didn't want to be that anymore. But what had she done so far, to earn Glimmer's trust?

Glimmer could have said platitudes to that, could have smoothed it over with The Power Of Friendship or maybe just Well You Haven't Killed Or Betrayed Us Yet When You Had The Chance, or even, I'm Out Of Options And The Magical Sword Likes You So Destiny Maybe.

She doesn't say any of that. It might be easier for Adora to hear, but it's not true. To the girl who is suddenly questioning her whole life and everything she was ever told, Glimmer says the truth instead.

It's not what Adora's done so far that's convinced Glimmer. It's what Glimmer thinks Adora wants to do from now on. That's what Glimmer is putting her trust in. Adora's own choices, not the ones that were made for her.

And what does Adora do? The very first thing she does, when Glimmer hands her an incredibly powerful magical sword?

She protects Glimmer. She uses the sword, to protect. To defend. That is her choice.

That's what Glimmer saw in her, the hope she found. That's what she put the Rebellion on the line for, risked ruin by handing the sword over to someone who still has the Horde symbol on their back. There was who Adora had been, up to this point. And then there was who she wanted to be.

A Horde soldier who didn't want to hurt people, argued with Glimmer not because she thought that hurting others was justified, but because she didn't want to believe the Horde HAD hurt people. A Horde soldier who didn't scoff at the people of Theymore for being weak or unguarded or try to take advantage of these trusting people- the opposite, in fact. Adora was enthralled. Awed. When she realized this was the place the Horde would be attacking, she couldn't believe it. She wanted it be a mistake. She listened, finally, when Glimmer showed her that it wasn't.

And faced with Glimmer and the sword, the terrifying leap from her old life into some new unknown, Adora looks at Glimmer's choices for guidance. "I'm the Horde soldier!" she says, "How do you know you can trust me now?"

How does Glimmer know she's doing the right thing? How can Glimmer be sure?

Glimmer isn't sure. She says as much. She's making the choice anyway.

How does Adora know she's also making the right choice? How can she be sure?

She can't be.

She can only see what Glimmer did, confronted with the same risk, and decide if that's an example she wants to follow. If this girl, angry and pained, brave and protective, imperfect and trying, strong enough to look at her own mistakes and apologize for them- is this someone Adora wants to see in herself? Is THIS who she wants to be like? At the cost of everything else? With no guarantees how it will end for her?

Yes. She decides it is.

She takes the jump with Glimmer. She follows this strange, rebel princess into the unknown.

And in that moment, they aren't strangers anymore.

It's so wonderful, even re-watching it for the millionth time- The dialogue, the voice acting, the emotional and narrative payoff from everything that had been shown before. Everything Glimmer has lost (her father, her relationship with her mother, her own sense of worth tied up in a war she keeps losing). Everything Adora stands to lose (her home, her self worth so tied up in the captains rank she's been trained for. Her childhood friend, her enemy now)

The pressure that was on both Glimmer and Adora to stay the way they were- (Through Angella, and even a little from Bow, through Shadow Weaver and Catra) (Even Light Hope and the sword only confuses things, the simple question of where Adora came from suddenly getting tied up in mystery and treason, the answer that was supposed to give her a sense of belonging threatening to isolate her instead)- that pressure to walk away is very real. Don't take that risk. Don't make that jump. It frightening and hard. You might be wrong.

Don't reach out to each other, don't change, don't meet each other there, in that terrifying middle ground.

And THEN, their decisions to both say 'fuck it' and do what they thought was right instead. Even if they weren't sure what would happen next.

If it might let them help others more than they have so far, save the rebellion, protect the people who really need protecting, well then, for Glimmer and Adora, that made it worth it, to do the right thing. To be the people they both really want to be.

Which, in the end, meant being a lot like each other, at their core.

I love that.

There is nothing in a story more powerful to me, than when a choice like this is made. When it feels earned, and meaningful. When it grows out of the story that had been unfolding up till then, and changes the way it will end.

When it's two women making that change, that choice, together? I'll never get enough of that.

And the intimacy. My god.

After being so open, honest, raw, it's not surprising when Glimmer and Adora come together in the aftermath. Enemies one episode ago, fire forged friends now, them holding onto each other feels right, by the episode's end. Physically reaching out, mirroring and confirming what they both had already done. Especially how gentle Glimmer is with Adora's moment of panic, how she reaches out to calm her, reassures her she DOES have a place, and friends. The moment when she offers her hand to help Adora stand again, and Adora looks up, smiles at her before taking it...

the CATHARSIS of seeing THESE TWO ENEMIES TURNED ????? TURNED FRIENDS HOLDING ONTO EACH OTHER, LETTING EACH OTHER BE SO CLOSE- AND THAT GLIMMER IS SUPPORTING ADORA IN THIS MOMENT EVEN THOUGH SHE HERSELF IS FRESH OUT OF MAGIC AND IS FEELING IT, BUT SHE KNOWS WHAT ADORA JUST WENT THROUGH BECAUSE THEY WENT THROUGH IT TOGETHER, IT- IT- IT'S-

Yeah. my little wlw heart didn't stand a chance. i will be smitten forever with these two, from the force of a couple of episodes and some vERY nicely handled writing

..

..... also, the way Adora helps a fainting Glimmer and props her up against a rock, but with her hands just resting on Glimmer for a moment like...

i've stared at this screencap for a long time, ngl

[incorrect-quotes-from-she-ra]

Morning! I hope you don't mind if i give you yet another She-Ra thought I'm too damn lazy to post on my own. Also, it's long again. I WILL find that character limit some day.

So, we know the way Shadow Weaver raised Adora resulted, among other issues, in her being selfless to the point of self-sacrifice, which came to a climax in the Heart's failsafe business.

And it's been suggested that this was basically intentional on Shadow Weaver's part. Basically, selflessness is a very beneficial quality for others to have. My theory is that <b>her plan for Adora had always been specifically for her to someday use the failsafe and release all magic</b>.

(i will admit i am also curious how formatting works in this app. thank you for your help with these experiments)

So, evidence. Let's start with her name. I know this is a remake and they were stuck with the existing names, but there's a scene where Scorpia complains about it ("yeah i GET it, everyone LOVES you"), which constitutes the writers acknowledging its meaning, which makes me think it's fair game to analyze.

First, I'm obviously assuming Shadow Weaver choose it, as part of her ongoing parenting plan. It's also possible it was her original First One-given name, we don't know. Neither quite works because either she or Light Hope should have had some issues knowing what the name was and they clearly knew automatically. Really the entire series is weird in that everyone communicates with everyone else way too easily, and i will definitely rant about that someday.

For now let it stand that Shadow Weaver is the parent figure, it makes the most sense for her to pick the name, both in-universe and narratively, so i shall assume so by default. I have two things to say about that choice.

First, as we all have noticed, most of the princesses have names ending in -a. All of them, if you count "Glimma". It's never said to be intentional, but it would make sense. And then IF such a tradition exists among Etheria's royalty, it's not unreasonable for Shadow Weaver, a notable and moderately respected member of the land of knowledge, to know about it.

And then if she knew, of course she would take it into consideration when looking for names. Admittedly it's a little weird with the anti-Princess propaganda that the Horde has, but she doesn't really need to explain or justify this. Hordak has a very [i]laissez-faire[/i] attitude, and everyone else she clearly doesn't care about.

And if she knew or suspected that the princesses' powers were related to the Heart of Etheria, which i will argue for later, then giving her a princessy name is also adequately ironic.

The second name bit is that Scorpia clearly knows some Latin, but not enough. True, <em>adorare</em> means to worship and/or to love, but Latin verbs are more complex than that. _Adora_ specifically is 3rd person singular present indicative active. The translation would be "she loves".

Names aside, i want to talk about how they (we) learned about the Heart of Etheria. Castaspella doesn't know what to do, Shadow Weaver suggests they take a road trip to research, which she's reticent about but concedes is probably the best use of her time, and they find success. We don't know how long it took them, but i had the distinct impression that it wasn't very long.

Naturally, I'm suggesting Shadow Weaver knew all along, and led Castaspella on the trip to have an excuse for the inevitable "how do you know?". Also tricked her into thinking it was /her/ discovery, and maybe even that she was succeeding where Shadow Weaver had failed before, if necessary.

That's why she's so excited to share their results with everybody, and Shadow Weaver cuts her off, apparently just to antagonize her for fun, but I'm suggesting it was also because for her this is the culmination of a decades-long plan, and she wants to Get On With It.

It's also interesting that there was a mural depicting the Spell of Obtainment in the hallway leading to the failsafe. It was a reminder of Shadow Weaver's past, and an opportunity for her to show she regrets her results but doesn't repent from her choices, which i quite like actually. But I'm also saying that, meta-textually, it was a signal that she'd been there before, literally.

And then there is the potential in-universe connection, since we don't know what exactly the spell was meant to be obtaining. Power, for sure, and from what happened we're probably meant to assume it's tapping into some sort of demonic entity or dimension.

Fair enough, except that it never comes up again. And it's kind of a big plot point that Etheria is isolated from the rest of the cosmos, which may or may not conflict with it having a contactable "hell". Meanwhile there's the Heart of Etheria Project collecting all that magic, which Mara's allies (and their descendants) would know something about, have access to at least one backdoor to, and may well have tried to tap into its power at some point.

And then what went wrong may well be one of the defense mechanisms of the Project, though I'm admittedly veering into unfounded speculation.

So, a rough timeline. Light Spinner was always motivated to excel and craved power. She was probably always envied the princesses, who command greater magic than most sorcerers with apparently none of the study and practice.

She took to researching everything she could that might lead to power, eventually discovering the chamber with the failsafe, and presumably other information left by Mara's Friends, either in other chambers or in documents she's since removed. She would have learned a lot of things from this.

As i suggested, i believe she knew there's some connection between the princesses at large and the Heart of Etheria. Incidentally, i don't know exactly what that connection is, and in particular whether princesses were created by the Project or an existing phenomenon that the First Ones co-opted. But it doesn't matter, exactly.

What's important is that there's clearly a connection, more specifically a control system for the princesses and their magic, which is presumably related to how Shadow Weaver was able to tap into the Black Garnet's power. With Hordak's help, obviously, since she clearly believed it when he claimed he could cut her off at will, but he's later shown to have basically no understanding of First Ones' tech, so the knowledge must have come from her.

For the record, i would guess she thinks princesses are artificial, empowered both magically and politically to keep the planet in check, and that they would be depowered once the failsafe was fired. I also think that may be true, actually, since it almost happened when Entrapta was messing with the system, and if i recall none of them were shown to use any magic after Adora did fire it, while she clearly used Perfuma's power. But anyways!

Back to what Shadow Weaver learned, she would know some of what the failsafe does, namely disrupt the system that's hoarding most of the planet's magic, thereby spreading magic to all (most notably her), and some of how to use it, and the fact that she couldn't do so and hope to live, and some of the criteria for who can. That part is important.

But first, she also learned the Spell of Obtainment, deemed it more likely but didn't think she could do it herself, despaired of getting help until she thought Hordak's rise to fame would give her #casus belli#, lost her patience when the Mystacor leadership disagreed, etc etc etc. Pretty uncontroversial in this part, i think.

After she'd joined the Horde, when Hordak showed up with baby Adora and wanted to lump her with the rest of the orphans they have, Shadow Weaver pleaded to have her get special treatment. She even said that she's special, and it couldn't have been her leadership skills or good heart, since she didn't have either yet. It's heavily implied she could recognize her as a First One, but it's not clear why she would care, since they were known for leaving behind advanced technology, which a baby also doesn't have. Unless, of course, she knew there are devices only a First One could use, and maybe has plans related to that.

So I'm pretty sure she learned the criteria that the failsafe requires, devised some spell or technique to check people for them that she pretty much used all the time, just in case, and was very surprised when a newborn tested positive. She was also surprised when Hordak made her personally responsible for the raising of the kid, but her reaction is pretty much "ok, that could work, i guess".

Also also, i suspect she can read First One script. Not perfectly like Adora, but better than Bow's parents probably. Mostly because when she puts Adora's hand on the crystal and says "i think you know the password", that seems like a very transparent attempt to pretend she knows it too when she doesn't. But that seems irresponsible at such a crucial moment, she and Castaspella should really have researched it earlier. Or at least her line there should have been "you can read this, right?" or somesuch.

So I'm thinking it's a double bluff, hoping everybody assumes she doesn't know so she doesn't have to reveal how and why she knows, again.

And that's all i have, i think? This is not nearly as well laid out as i would like. But then, nothing ever is, right?

Also it's not even close to morning anymore. Thank you if you even got this far, and have a good evening!

hi!!! this took me a while to answer, i'm so sorry about that <3

i'm very low on energy today so i cannot summon up the brain energy to respond properly to this, as much as i want to, i'm really sorry for that as well

i love this theory!! it actually fits in really well with canon and makes, like, a LOT of sense now that i think about it. i definitely wouldn't have thought of this on my own, so thank you for sharing this with me!! :D

[thalergetic]

A really soft Catradora slow-dance scene ? 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

you. you Get it.

When the queen announced that she was going to be married, Bright Moon went into a frenzy that lasted months.

Carpenters spent hours upon hours perfecting the designs for the tables and chairs, chefs began to plan out the courses weeks in advance, and every kingdom in Etheria sent delegates to help with the preparations and the ceremony.

For the queen, of course, that meant the equivalent of a family reunion.

Adora and Catra had remained in Bright Moon after the war’s end and in the years that had passed since. The Princess Alliance had, too.

Almost the entirety of the first year was spent in meeting rooms, planning trade routes and rebuilding timelines, and doing job after job to get the planet back into shape.

But at the end of the day, each of the other members in the Alliance had their own kingdoms to manage. They left one by one, and Adora swore the palace hadn’t felt the same since.

Luckily, a royal wedding meant that was about to change.

Adora couldn’t help but smile when she saw her old friends gathered together for the first time in nearly two years.

Frosta was taller than Glimmer now, which only served to delight her, and seemed to be nearing the end of adolescence. The realization made Adora’s heart twinge just a little.

Mermista arrived with Sea Hawk moments later, giving him a fond eye-roll and an even fonder kiss on the cheek. They were tailed by Perfuma and Scorpia, who had been inseparable ever since they met.

Netossa and Spinnerella were next, with new laugh lines and the same warmth to their smiles, and Adora couldn’t help but feel a sense of peace seeing them all together again.

A warm hand at her shoulder only added to it. By now, Adora didn’t have to look over to see Catra standing there, but she did anyway. “Hey,” She murmured, pressing a kiss to Catra’s cheek. “You gonna say hi?”

“Obviously,” Catra said. “Just... in a second. It’s Sparkles’ big day. I’m gonna let her and Bow have their moment.”

When she and Bow had decided to get married, Glimmer had told the two of them first. It wasn’t exactly a shock, of course. Still, Adora had pulled the two of them in for a hug so tight Bow looked dizzy after.

Even now, she felt misty-eyed thinking about what would happen at the end of the week.

Months of prep, planning, and sleepless nights debating color schemes and flower arrangements had brought them within a few days of the wedding itself.

Adora knew the ceremony would be nothing short of spectacular, and as Bow and Glimmer’s joint witness and officiant, she’d have an important role to play.

She wasn’t really worried about that part, but the nerves were hard to shake.

The rehearsal dinner two days later went off... less-than-perfectly.

Mermista and Perfuma had both forgotten how potent the royal carafes of wine were and had gone through four before remembering, Frosta had accidentally frozen the table out of excitement, and Swift Wind had eaten the decorative apples out of boredom and needed to have his stomach pumped.

So... it hadn’t been great.

Then again, they’d done worse. Things always seemed to sort themselves out.

Adora adjusted her jacket in the mirror. The outfit the tailors had made her was a beautiful thing— all white-gold and black with a ceremonial headpiece that shimmered in the light.

It would be nicer if it wasn’t so damn hard to put on, Adora thought, frowning as she fiddled with one of the buttons.

Luckily, Catra seemed to notice her struggling. “What is it with you and clothes?” She asked, giving her a small smile as she batted Adora’s hands away to do it herself. “Always a struggle for you.”

That was true for Adora, but never for Catra. Today, she looked radiant. Her shirt was a dark red with hints of gold that complemented the colors on Adora’s, and her pants hugged the curve of her legs so well it was borderline unfair.

Adora let out a sigh looking at her. “Fuck, you look good. Would you get mad at me if I, uh... made us late for this?”

“Made us late like—” Catra rolled her eyes when she realizes what Adora meant, stifling a laugh. “You’re such an idiot. I wouldn’t,” She said, winking, “but Sparkles would kill you.”

Adora couldn’t help but pull her in for a kiss, humming against her lips. “You’re right. We’ll have to save it for after, then.”

There was a faint blush that dusted Catra’s cheeks at the thought, but she rolled her eyes anyway. “Come on,” She said. “You have to go marry your best friends.”

Adora had spent months preparing for this, so it wasn’t a surprise that it went perfectly.

The kingdom had erupted into cheers and congratulations as soon as Adora pronounced Bow and Glimmer — dressed in matching outfits and wearing new, shiny matching earrings — husband and wife.

Her speech at dinner was perfect, too: she hit the nostalgia, the laughs, and the tears she had been looking for.

Bow and Glimmer had both come up to her and given her a teary, grateful hug after it, thanking her for her help in planning and officiating.

Adora didn’t think there was much more to say back than, “I love you guys. I’m so proud of you.”

When the dancing started, she looked immediately for Catra, and found her at a table hustling a few snobby-looking men at cards.

Catra had clearly just won some large amount of money — and a watch, if Adora’s eyes were right — and was in high spirits when she came over. “Hey, you,” She said, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “What’s up?”

Adora offered her a hand. “Dance with me.”

And, well, Catra had never been able to refuse her anything.

The first song, the one they walked back into the ballroom to, was upbeat. It was easy to dance to, with the drums of the band providing a hard, fast rhythm, and the two of them got into it immediately.

The next, though, was slow and sweet.

Adora pulled Catra into her, both of them breathing heavy from the dance before it, and pressed their foreheads together.

“Hi,” Adora murmured, letting her eyes fall closed as they swayed. “I missed you.”

“I’ve been here the whole time,” Catra said, trying and failing to hide a smile. “You think the kingdom will be this excited when we get married?”

Adora stopped for a moment at the words, eyes flying open, and Catra seemed to realize too late what she’d said. “I— I didn’t mean—”

She was interrupted by Adora pulling her in for a kiss. It was deep, half-desperate, and tasted faintly of salt. Catra realized why when Adora pulled away a little— there were tears in her eyes.

“I hope they do,” Adora said, giving her a huge smile. “If we give them enough time, they will.”

Catra felt a grin spreading on her face. The two of them fell back into step, swaying gently to the music. “Well, we can let the queen have her day. When should we tell them that we’re... doing this?”

“When they come back from their honeymoon,” Adora said. “But we can start planning it tonight.”

[kittyprincessofcats]

She-Ra S5 E07 - Perils of Peekablue

There might be spoilers for the rest of the season in this post!

I’ll start by saying upfront that I pretty much consider this to be the weakest episode of season 5 (or at least one of the weaker ones), even though it does move the plot along significantly. The main reason is that, as I said before, I don’t care about the group on Etheria as much as the group in space (with the exception of Scorpia and possibly Spinnetossa), so an episode like this - even though I get why it’s important - just won’t interest me as much as what the gang in space is up to.

That said, it’s not a *bad* episode or anything. Let’s get into it:

- The entire beginning scene where Adora tries to transform into She-Ra and the others keep interrupting her is absolute gold and I love everything about it. Especially Catra, OMG! The way she shows up and actually asks “Are we messing with Adora?” - She’s not even pretending to be helpful and I love that she’s bonding with Glimmer and Bow over “messing with Adora”. And how she then just flings herself onto Adora’s lap and brushes Adora’s face with her tail while cheekily saying “Yeah Adora, concentrate!” - brilliant, absolutely brilliant 🤣. And I also love how Adora doesn’t even try to push her off and actually holds her. These two are too cute.

- I also wonder if the “You can’t let distractions keep you from transforming” line was intentional foreshadowing for Shadow Weaver telling Adora that Catra’s a distraction.

- I like Catra’s new outfit! Well, it’s pretty much just her old outfit with a few adjustments. But still, nice! And she looks really cute with short hair.

- I feel like this beginning scene is pretty much here for two reasons: It sets up that Entrapta is trying to reach the rebellion on Etheria, which will be relevant at the very end of the episode, AND it shows Catra’s new outfit, so we can have a new opening now.

- Changes in the opening: Time for some really exciting mid-season opening changes! Catra’s missing from the villains’ card for the first time ever. Instead, Horde Prime’s hands are now closing around a glowing orb (I assume that’s meant to be the heart of Etheria). At the part where Catra and She-Ra fight, Catra now has short hair, She-Ra is in her new form, and instead of a snarl the fight ends with a soft smile between them (I’m not crying, you’re crying. Best opening glow-up ever! 😭). In the final heroes’ shot, Adora back to being She-Ra instead of Adora, but this time in her new form. And Catra is *finally* in the heroes’ shot as well. GOOD STUFF. (In general, I just LOVE that they actually kept updating the opening in the middle of the season. That is SO cool. But the change that really gets me is how they updated Catra and Adora’s fight, because that’s been the same since the beginning of the show and now it’s SO SWEET.)

- Okay, so my biggest problem with this episode is that the plan to find Prince Peekablue seems... kinda dumb? So they’re planning to sneak into an underwater soiree undercover and abandon everyone else at the camp to find a “hermit” no one has seen in ages because he might know where Adora and the others are? As a plan it just seems far-fetched. I get that they want to warn Adora and company that Prime is chipping people (they don’t know that Adora’s group already knows that), but how would finding Peekablue even help them achieve that? He could tell them where Adora and the others are, but... that’s it. It’s not like he can also magically communicate with Adora or anyone else. And didn’t Swift Wind tell the others last episode that Adora’s coming home and that he can feel her coming closer? So shouldn’t they already know that the group in space are on their way home? (Granted, Swift Wind told that to Micah, Frosta, Spinnerella and Netossa - but I’m assuming the rebels communicate with each other and Micah would have also told Mermista and the others?) I mean, idk how much time supposedly passed between these two episodes, so maybe it’s been a while since Elberon? Also, when did they even figure out that Horde Prime is chipping people? Last episode, Micah still said they had to “figure out what that was”. And if they know about the chips now, it might have been a good idea to check the necks of everyone at camp right away - though to be fair, they maybe didn’t realize how the chips work yet. And yeah, I am nitpicking here (and obviously the rebels have to mess up so things can go south this episode, so I guess they have to make some bad decisions.)

- That said, I love all of their outfits! And I like that Scorpia’s alias “Lynda D’Ream” is a reference to the 80s cartoon.

- Netossa’s lucky that she wears an outfit with such a high collar - makes it hard to put a chip on her neck. (Also, idk if I’ve said this before, but I love Spinnerella and Netossa’s character designs and outfits. They’re both fashion queens.)

- Just the fact that it really is Spinnetossa’s anniversary and Netossa thinks that’s why Spinnerella is acting strange - I mean, what are the odds?

- “They are my people! Which means that most of them have sworn revenge against me at some point.” Okay, that is pretty funny. And getting to meet all of Sea-Hawk’s exes was pretty funny, too. (Yeah, officially they’re not his exes but just people whose ships he set on fire... but come on, the subtext isn’t really subtle here.) And I love the whole running gag of him and Mermista fighting all of them behind the bar counter with Mermista doing most of the work and getting more and more annoyed with it - but when they’re finally done, it turns out there’s also someone there that *she* doesn’t want to see, because she set their ship on fire. Comedy gold.

- Scorpia is me at a party :( I also find it super hard to socialize and get into conversations with strangers. Very relatable there.

- I also love how the sweet flowergirl Perfuma has absolutely no problem blending in with a bunch of criminals.

- “You’re amazing. You have the biggest heart and you could do whatever you put your mind to.” Aww. I’m glad someone told Scorpia that!

- “You should do things not because you’re good at them, but because they make you happy.” That actually is some really good life advice. People should keep that mind in general.

- (I love how Sea-Hawk and Mermista are carrying Admiral Scurvy away in the background while Scorpia and Perfuma are having their heartfelt talk 🤣.)

- “Repeat after me: I can do this. I can do this.” “Perfuma can do this.” 🤦 I feel bad for laughing, but... gosh, Scorpia has some serious self-esteem issues.

- Okay, time for an unpopular opinion: I’m... not that into Scorfuma. There’s nothing wrong with it and I’m not against it or anything, but it just doesn’t particularly grab my interest. That excited feeling you get when you ship something just... isn’t there for me with them, sorry.

(I kinda felt like I had to explain/justify myself, so I started to write a small essay on my ships here that doesn’t really have anything to do with the episode. Feel free to just skip this part.)

I consider myself a multishipper and while my #1 OTP is definitely without a doubt Catradora, I also really have a soft spot for Scorptra (to the point where I’d say it’s probably my #2 after Catradora). And, to make it short, Scorptra vs. Scorfuma is one of those “fanon vs. canon” things for me, where what you want to see happen in canon isn’t necessarily what you find exciting or interesting to explore in fanworks. Obviously Scorptra was never going to be canon because Catradora is a thing, and I’m perfectly okay with that. And in canon, Scorpia getting out of a toxic friendship, moving on from her unrequited feelings, and finding love with someone else (who treats her right) is the right message to send, so I’m glad that’s where the show went. But when it comes to enjoying a ship in fanon (which is what I consider “shipping” to be), then I don’t pick my ships based on how healthy they are in canon, but on how much their dynamic fascinates me and just on whether that certain spark that makes me like a ship is there or not. And in that sense, Scorpia’s dynamic with Catra, which was explored over the course of 4 seasons, is just infinitely more fascinating and spark-inducing to me that her relationship with Perfuma.

And even beyond Scorptra - if I had to ship Scorpia with someone other than Catra, my first pick would be Entrapta. (Yes, I do ship Entrapdak, but like I said - multishipper here. Also, Entrapta has two hands!) And my first pick for who to ship Perfuma with would be Mermista because I like their bickering and I have a thing for opposites attracting.

Anyway, I’ve been rambling about ships for too long now. The bottom line is: I’m fine with Scorfuma being canon and it makes sense that they fit together since they’re very similar people. I don’t dislike it, I’m just not as hyped about it as many people seem to be. On with the episode now, please!

- “I guess I don’t know what a hermit is after all.” Yeah, Peekablue was giving off Double Trouble vibes from the beginning, tbh.

- I love how Netossa is competitive even at planning anniversary surprises.

- Perfuma loudly supporting Scorpia when she ends up on stage is a super nice moment, though. And Scorpia’s performance? Amazing!

- I wonder if Double Trouble made up that whole “She-Ra in space” vision because they were pretending to be Peekablue and just got it right by accident, or if they actually knew that much from their time pretending to be a clone. I wonder how much time they spent as a clone and what exactly they saw.

- Scorpia realizing it’s Double Trouble and then tricking and unmasking them was an amazing moment. So much for Scorpia not being smart!

- I was so excited to see Double Trouble again! Tough it makes me a bit said that they refered to Catra as their “cash kitten”. While they never made a secret out of being in it for the money, I kind of like the idea that they did care for Catra after all. (Do I just ship everyone with Catra? The answer is yes.)

DT: “I know where your friends are. And I’ll tell you - for a price, of course.”

Perfuma: *grows flower arm canon*

DT: “... Fine.”

😂😂😂 Love that.

- “It makes for a very dull audience when everyone’s mind-controlled.” Okay, but that really is a good reason for Double Trouble to help the heroes out without really changing their motivation. They’re still a Chaotic Neutral who doesn’t particularly care about morals - but it would make for a very dull audience if everyone was mind-controlled.

- “Prime is angry. She-Ra showed up and stole his little kitten away.” Like I said before, I LOVE that that’s the reason why Prime’s so pissed in the first place.

- The confrontation between Netossa and Spinnerella is so heartbreaking, but when she said “show me your neck” it again made me wonder why they didn’t check everyone’s neck at camp before.

- “What a shame we can’t be together... in Horde Prime’s light!” Ooohhh, it’s so creepy and angsty, I love it!

- And Mermista’s chipped as well because obviously things have to go south here.

- The parallel confrontations at camp and at the soiree are really cool scenes. I especially like the Spinnerella vs. Netossa fight. And Micah’s chipped as well, because things have to go wrong and Glimmer mentioned being “a day away from meeting her dad” - so obviously that has to be ruined now, too.

- “A little help? I need to lift my hand to the heavens.” Gosh, I love DT.

- Scorpia’s sacrifice made me tear up 😭. (When I first watched it, I was scared she was actually going to die and not just get chipped - I’d never have forgiven the show for that.)

- Can we talk about how strong Netossa actually is? She fought off both Spinnerella and Micah by herself, made a big enough net to cover all the chipped people, and got herself and Frosta out of there safely - I don’t want to hear anything about her powers not being strong again.

- “Happy anniversary.” Noooo, now I’m crying again... 😭😭😭 It’s so sad, but so romantic... (I really love that this season gave Spinnerella and Netossa more screentime. And I’m always here for some angst!)

- And finally, Perfuma is able to contact the group in space and warn them about the blockade. I really like that scene. I like that Perfuma specifically says “You need to stay away”, since we know what happened last time someone told Adora that. And the whole grim mood of Perfuma apologizing and saying the rebellion is compromised, the shaky pictures, the connection cutting off, and then the shot of the ship all alone in space and the silence - amazing. Basically, this episode was “things go very wrong on Etheria, and now the group in space has a serious problem”.

This was a good episode, overall. Like I said, the main reason I consider it weaker is because I care more about the group in space, and they were only here for one scene in the beginning and one in the end. But this was still pretty solid. It had some funny and sweet moments, and then some really cool and dramatic scenes in the end. And of course, it was a very important episode for the plot because things are now really not looking good on Etheria. My favourite moment was Catra sitting on Adora’s lap in the opening scene, though.

[Previous episode]   [Next episode]

[spacebatisluvd]

Summary: Adora learns a few things. 

Content warning: Slime torture reference, ableist language, ableism.

-

They landed smoothly in Salineas. Bow and Glimmer got off the ship first, happy to greet Mermista and Seahawk. Adora stayed with Catra onboard, both of them waiting for Hordak and Entrapta to reappear.

Adora smiled, lacing her fingers with Catra’s. “You want to check out the beaches before we leave?” she asked. “Glimmer and Mermista have political stuff to work out, and I know Bow and Seahawk will probably run off for a boy’s night—so we should have some time to ourselves.”

Catra glanced at her and gave a short nod. “Sure.”

Adora furrowed her brows, but before she could ask if Catra was okay, Hordak and Entrapta reappeared. It was odd to see her clinging to his arm, and odder still to see the soft expression on his face when he looked at her. Thought that softness disappeared as soon as he caught sight of them, once again buried by a scowl. If Entrapta noticed, she didn’t seem to care. She continued to babble about a portal system or something as both walked down the ramp. Catra and Adora followed a moment later.

On the ground, Hordak pulled free of Entrapta to cross his arms, regarding Mermista with a blank expression. “I would like to begin by surveying the area. Do you have a foreperson you’d like me to coordinate with? Builders?”

“Not so fast,” she said, hands on her hips. “Lose the armor.”

His spine went straight and stiff. “Excuse me?”

She groaned, as if appalled by his obliviousness. “Look, if you’re not here to, like, conquer anything, then you obviously don’t need it, do you?”

Entrapta stepped forward, smiling. “He does, though,” she said helpfully. “And he’s not going to do anything to break the treaty.”

Mermista blew a stray strand of hair out of her face, then said, “Listen, Geek Princess—“

Hordak stepped in front of Entrapta, as if shielding her. “What did you just say?”

Mermista gave him a bored look. “Wow, with ears like that, you’d think you‘d be able to, like, hear better.”

Adora was already transforming into She-Ra as she stepped between them. “Okay,” she said, smiling uneasily. She pressed one hand to Hordak’s chest. The other she held palm-out to stop Mermista from getting closer. “Why don’t we all just. Take a deep breath.” She demonstrated. “And settle down?”

Hordak continued to glare at Mermista, but Mermista just rolled her eyes. “This is, like, super simple. Armor. Off. Got it?” She raised her voice and enunciated each word, as if she truly thought Hordak was hard of hearing.

His ears pulled back, and if his body language was anything like Catra’s, that wasn’t a good sign. Trying to keep the peace, Adora looked between them. “Um...Hordak? Would you mind...not wearing the armor?”

“Yes,” he snapped, “I mind!”

“Okay.” Adora sighed. “Mermista—?”

“He doesn’t need it! Unless, he’s not actually here just to rebuild.” She eyed him suspiciously.

“Fine.” Hordak drew back. “Then we will return to Dryl.”

Adora blinked. “You. You’d break the treaty over this?”

His features were drawn into a scowl. “I did not come here to be humiliated.”

“It’s just armor!” Mermista said.

He sneered, but Entrapta popped up between them. “Can we talk in private?” she asked, looking at Hordak and Adora. “Just the three of us?”

Hordak huffed.  “Fine.” He marched back into the ship. Entrapta grinned at Adora before bounding after him. Bow, Glimmer, and Catra made as if to follow, but Adora motioned them back.

“I’ve got this,” she said. She eyed Mermista and dropped her voice. “Why don’t you guys try to settle things out here?” With one last reassuring wave, she too stepped back onboard.

Inside, Hordak paced, his ears drawn back and his hands clenched tight. Every bit of his body language screamed, ‘do not approach’, but Entrapta seemed completely unaware of the unspoken warning in his posture and expression. Adora squeaked and reached for her, too late. “Entrapta!” she hissed, but Entrapta had already stopped directly in Hordak’s path. He drew up short, and her hair coiled loosely around his limbs.

“I am not taking off my armor,” he snapped, towering over her.

“I know!” She, for whatever reason, drew even closer to him. The skin on the back of Adora’s neck prickled, but Entrapta seemed heedless to any danger. She just stood up on her hair and reached for him. He glared at her hand.

“No.” His voice was firm, undercut by a low growl. “Not. Now.”

Only then did she back off a little, giving him more space. “Okay, fair enough. You don’t want to break the treaty, though, right?”

“I am breaking nothing!” He threw his arms out, starting to pace again, but Entrapta only darted to the side and stepped in front of him again, still holding him loosely with her hair. “She is making up new rules!” he snarled, nearly nose to nasal ridge with her. “I did not agree to that!”

“I know! I know. It’s not fair. But, now this is important, you don’t want to break the treaty, do you?” she asked with careful emphasis. “Because we could just steal Darla and ride off into space right now. That is an option, if you’d rather do that.”

He blinked, and Adora’s eyes widened. She took a step back, wondering if she could get out of the ship and back to the others without being noticed. A rope of hair coiled around her wrist, squeezing. Was that a threat? Or reassurance? Adora watched them both closely, then swallowing, chose to trust Entrapta. She could only hope she knew what she was doing.

“Hordak?”

He exhaled slowly, and Adora’s eyes widened. Anger lingered in the growl that undercut his voice, but she could see him trying to force it back to give Entrapta a logical answer. “I do not want to break the treaty. I want to help rebuild what destruction Horde Prime and...” Another slow exhale. “And I have caused. But I will not subject myself to humiliation in order to salve her pride.”

“Great!” Entrapta darted away from him, now focusing on Adora. “Adora, if we show you why Hordak needs his armor, will you talk to Mermista?”

Adora, frozen, looked between them. Entrapta seemed earnest and eager. Hordak was harder to read. He was still scowling, and he’d crossed his arms, studying Adora as carefully as she studied him. That strange, subtle otherness within her—the thing that made her She-Ra—stirred. There was more here, something she couldn’t yet see, but she could sense it. “Yes,” she said slowly, nodding.

Entrapta turned back to him. “Hordak? Will you show her?”

His ears drew back. “You trust her?” His voice was oddly soft. It was an honest question, with no hint of accusation or his earlier rage. He sounded hesitant, unsure of himself.

Entrapta gave it a moment of thought. “I do.”

Hordak nodded—not in agreement. Not yet. He folded his hands behind his back and lowered his gaze, thinking. Just as Adora began to feel antsy about the extended quiet, he speared her with a look. “You will speak of this to no one. Agreed?”

“Agreed.” She nodded. The weight of the word settled heavily in her chest.

“Entrapta, will you assist me?”

“Of course!”

He brought his hand to his sternum, and for the first time, she truly took note of the crystal at his throat. It clashed with his color scheme, a better match to Entrapta’s colors than to his, but even more jarring was the subtle whisper of meaning she caught when she saw the lettering on its surface.

‘LUVD.’

She glanced at Entrapta, swallowing as she truly began to understand what she was seeing.

Hordak popped the chip out of his armor, and Entrapta’s hair went to work, pulling the metal exoskeleton free of his body and disconnecting it from several ports that Adora knew the other clones did not have. She didn’t miss the way a stray rope of hair caressed his cheek, though the touch lasted only a moment.

When she was finished, Entrapta remained at his side, one hand on his lower back to offer support. With the armor off, Adora could now see his withered arms, his discolored skin, and worst of all, the holes in his forearms. “You’re sick,” she said, stepping forward.

“Something like that,” Entrapta replied. “It’s more like a disability.”

“Defect,” he corrected. His voice was rough and angry, but under the anger, Adora could see the shame.

The part of her that was Shadow Weaver’s ward knew that this knowledge could be used against him, understood that this was a vulnerability that could be exploited. She carefully set that line of thinking aside, and instead reached for the part of herself that had healed Catra, that had cast out Prime and put him to rest. She pressed her hand to Hordak’s chest, and he jolted, but didn’t pull away. Her power washed through him...but nothing changed. Whatever kind of illness or disability this was, her powers had no effect. But she could feel the shadow it cast on his soul, and the places where that shadow had lifted and loosened, if only slightly. Slowly but surely, he was healing, in mind if not in body.

She drew away. Before she could speak, Entrapta was in front of her, hair tugging on her hands. “What was that? What did you do? Can you do it again? Will you show me!?”

Adora blinked. “Uh.” She looked at Hordak, and he cleared his throat, gently laying a hand on Entrapta’s shoulder.

“Oh. Whoops.” She smiled sheepishly. “You can show me later,” Entrapta said, lowering her voice conspiratorially.

“Have you seen enough, She-Ra?”

She gave a stiff nod. “Yes. I’ll...” She lifted her chin, straightening her spine. “I’ll speak to Mermista. You can put your armor back on.”

He nodded gruffly. It was likely the closest thing she’d get to a thank you.

-

Mermista huffed and complained, but in the end, she conceded the point. From there, they all went their separate ways. Seahawk, as predicted, dragged Bow off to whatever seedy tavern was his preferred hangout at the moment. Mermista and Glimmer left to meet with various advisors and nobles, discussing something that Adora honestly hadn’t found interesting enough to remember. Hordak left to speak to Salineas’ engineers, while Entrapta and Imp trailed behind, exploring the ruins of Salineas.

Which left Catra and Adora to themselves, with no assigned job, no responsibilities. They grinned at each other and raced to the beach, throwing stray elbows and flinging obstacles in each others’ path as they ran. Together, they collapsed on the beach, basking in the warmth of the sand beneath them and the sun overhead. Gulls called, and Adora inhaled deeply, savoring the scent of the sea. They stripped down to their underclothes to swim, and later, when they kissed, Adora could taste salt on Catra’s lips, her jaw, her neck.

After the sun dipped behind the horizon, they built a small fire and huddled together on the beach. Catra disappeared for a while, reappearing with a brown bottle she refused to admit was stolen, but she did admit that she wasn’t sure what kind of alcohol it contained. They traded it back and forth regardless.

“Your jus’ tryna get me drunk,” Adora said, pushing the bottle away when she’d attained a pleasant buzz.

“Hmph. Sure. ‘Trying’.”

“Pssshaw.” Adora waved her off. “I’m not drunk! That’s ridiculous. You’re—you’re ridiculous.” She giggled.

Catra shook her head, but she set the bottle aside and pulled Adora close, looping an arm over her shoulders. The fire crackled and the waves crashed, and Adora was sure she could never love someone as deeply as she loved Catra in that moment.

So, naturally, something had to spoil it.

Catra squinted, staring at a distant cliff. “Is that...Hordak and Entrapta?”

No longer feeling quite as pleasantly buzzed, Adora asked, “Oh, no—are they trying to steal the spaceship?”

“What? No. They’re just— Wait. Why was that your first guess?”

“Uh. It might’ve come up when I was talking to them earlier.”

Catra snorted. “I’m surprised they haven’t. I would’ve, in their shoes.”

“No you wouldn’t.”

“I would if you’d agreed to come with me.” They exchanged a look, smiling softly. Then Catra looked away, shaking her head. “I wonder why he’s bothering with all this, you know?” She gestured to Salineas. “He and Entrapta could just leave. They wouldn’t even have to steal our spaceship—those two could definitely build their own, if they wanted.”

“Huh. I guess I never thought about it. It just seemed natural to me. That he’d want to fix things.”

“Hmmph. You would think that.” No matter how she tried to make that sound like an insult, Adora could hear the fondness in her voice. She cuddled closer, and Catra pressed a kiss to the side of her head. For a while, they were quiet. The fire dimmed and Catra got up to add more wood, poking it with a stick. She looked back at the high cliff, where Hordak and Entrapta’s silhouettes were still visible. Her ears folded back and her brows drew down. Her mouth pressed into a thin line.

Adora leaned forward. “What’s on your mind?”

Catra huffed and looked away from them, ears still folded back. “Is it weird that I’m kind of...worried about him?”

“Who, Hordak?”

Catra nodded. “Yeah. It’s just....” She dropped to the sand with a huff, pulling her knees up to her chest. “On Prime’s ship....” Her features darkened, and she shook her head. “I told you about the slime pit, right?”

“Yeah.”

“He literally asked.... He knelt in front of Prime, and he asked to be ‘purified’.” She rested her chin on her knees. “Because I reminded him that he had a name. He asked Prime to torture him because I reminded him he was a person. There’s no way you can just be okay after something like that, right?” She exhaled shakily, and Adora moved close, sensing that this wasn’t just about Hordak. She threw her arm over Catra’s shoulders, pulling her in.

“I think he’s doing pretty okay,” she said, “He’s healing. Getting better day by day.” She rested her chin on Catra’s shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I think Entrapta’s keeping an eye on him. I mean—they’re out stargazing! That’s actually kind of sweet.”

Catra snorted. “Only because you can’t hear them. ‘Entrapta,’” she pitched her voice comically low. “‘Would you like to know the chemical makeup of that star cluster there?’ ‘Oh, Hordak, you don’t have to tell me—I already know everything!’”

Adora snorted, ruffling Catra’s hair. “Stop it! They are not saying that.”

“Wanna find out?”

“We are not spying on Hordak and Entrapta.”

“Ugh. When did you get so boring?”

“Boring, huh?”

Adora kissed her, and they both soon forgot about Hordak and Entrapta entirely.

-   

A/N: Oof. Not sure I have a handle on Adora and Catra. Apologies.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

says the show that completely pushed aside existing friendships and platonic relationships in favor of amatonormativity.

[aros001]

Going in blind: Watching season 4 for the first time. Random thoughts.

I never said anything about it before but I love Shadow Weaver's DCAU Batman eyes. They're so expressive.

Episode 1: Okay...I wasn't expecting Catra to do that. I mean, it makes sense. If she has leverage over Hordak then she's basically in charge of the Horde and that's what she's wanted (or at least believes she wants) since episode 1. It's an aspect that made her a good antagonist, that she's not blind to the evil of the Horde, she just doesn't care as long as she herself is secure. Which naturally begs the question, when the rebellion and the princesses are crushed, when the Horde is on top, when Adora is dead, when Catra finally has everything she's ever wanted...will she actually finally be happy? Somehow, I have my doubts.

I definitely feel for Glimmer in this. When you go through as big a loss as she did you need to be able to feel and vent if you're ever going to get through it. It doesn't have to be right away but everyone doing everything in their power to avoid the topic entirely can make you feel like you're going crazy. It'a especially bad for her since it unintentionally makes it feel like everyone is acting like it doesn't matter that Angela is gone when it clearly means everything to Glimmer.

Episode 2: I actually had a potted cactus plant once. Accidentally forgot about it and left it outside for an entire winter. Once the snow was gone the cactus looked like it had melted.

I kind of want to see what an interaction between Double Trouble and Clayface from the Harley Quinn animated series would look like. I'm guess Catra was just testing how good Double Trouble was as a doppelganger because it doesn't seem like she did anything while Adora was being distracted, though I suppose that could be a reveal in a later episode.

Not much to say except that I love how buff Huntara is while still clearly being a woman. Like, women can have a variety of different body types, as this series and Steven Universe show, and Huntara's build isn't just, like, Bow's body with lipstick and ponytail and the animators calling it a day. No, she looks like a freakin' jacked adult woman.

Episode 3: I didn't figure out the Flutterina = Double Trouble twist until a minute before it was revealed, so good job there. Before that I was wondering if Flutterina was some fan's original character where they won some contest where their OC got to be in the show for an episode. She was giving off some weird self-insert vibes. That twist made it all work though. It's honestly not a bad plan. Shapeshifters haven't really been a thing in the series before now so there's no reason to suspect it. Even if they did they'd probably be expecting it by way of magic or technology, while Double Trouble's seems to be a natural ability.

I like that even though Bow is definitely the goofier one of the trio he is still consistently shown as competent. That's never in question. He was very heroic and reassuring to the villagers this episode. I get why those kids idolize him so much.

Catra's having guilt over what she did with the portal and to Entrapta and her response is basically to just double-down. She doesn't know any other way to be. Not going to lie, I am kind of hoping we get another moment in the show where Adora just completely overwhelms Catra with the sheer power of She-Ra. I'm not saying like brutalize her or anything but just something where Catra is made to realize just how powerful Adora is and that she could just destroy Catra if she had a mind to do so.

Episode 4: Well, I was saying I wanted Adora to do it but I guess I don't mind Glimmer being the one to get some good shots in on Catra. Like I predicted, Shadow Weaver's moving in to become her teacher like she was with her father. Honestly I like that that was more Adora's problem than Glimmer using her as bait, which she seemed to get over pretty quick. Yeah, it was kind of a heartless thing to do but it was an understandable tactic and she clearly outright told Adora that she did it and why afterwards, which at least means she's still being honest.

It occurs to me that Glimmer and Catra may be the ones running parallel right now. Both are basically leading their respective sides of the war. They both have lost someone very important to them. And both are trusting someone they probably shouldn't. Both even have outfits that've been updated in the intro. The difference is Glimmer's just trying to deal with a bad situation while Catra's is entirely self-inflicted.

Minor thing but I like Glimmer's new outfit this season. I'm sure this is the intention but it makes her look older and more mature. A little more muscular in some shots too.

Episode 5: Heart of Etheria project. No idea what that is but assumedly whoever's a part of it doesn't like Light Hope and Mara being friends. Sounds like it's very much interested in She-Ra being just a warrior, and perhaps a tool, for the greater good. It does make me wonder though how much Light Hope remember from when she was rebooting. Even if she deleted the Mara memory she could potentially still have the memory of her and Adora watching the Mara memory, as well as Adora asking to be her friend.

Episode 6: Yep. Scorpia; definitely favorite supporting character. There is something kind of funny about her whole "Scorpions are loyal" line when you remember the story about the Frog and the Scorpion, where it stings the frog despite it meaning death for itself as well simply because that is its nature. But finally we're having someone go save Entrapta, and I can only assume at some point Scorpia's going to access the power of the Black Garnet.

The parallels between Catra and Hordak are definitely at their max here with that speech of hers to him. She's basically trying to convince herself that she doesn't need anyone, the timing of which is appropriate since she just drove away Scorpia and now truly doesn't have anyone. Not that I blame Scorpia, obviously. Like Adora before her, however good you believe someone can be and that you can help them, at some point you just have to cut the toxic people out of your life. You have the right to be happy too.

And man, Bow is just the best. He saw something was wrong between Adora and Glimmer and defused the situation like (snap) that, pushing them to talk like any sane person would.

Episode 7: I'm sure it is just because I've seen way too many TV shows and movies (both animated and live action) that don't do it but it is just such a relief to have a show where the characters just TALK and LISTEN to each other. It doesn't solve all their issues but they're at least not being stupid and freakin' petty. It helps the drama feel a lot less forced and contrived.

Episode 8: A little bit of amusement in Bow thinking at first that Glimmer and Adora didn't even notice he was gone despite them coming to his rescue very shortly afterwards, given Catra is only now realizing Scorpia has left and assumedly she did so a while ago. Bow and Sea Hawk hadn't been gone for that long so it's not unreasonable Glimmer and Adora wouldn't be worried about their absence (Bow was literally talking about "me time" when they last saw him), while Catra is only noticing Scorpia's absence now and it was because she wanted something. Like Scorpia said, she's a bad friend.

Kind of ironic given that a lot of Catra's issues are the direct result of Shadow Weaver giving her very little love growing up but it does seem this tough love is probably what'll get through to Catra the best. She might finally stop making bad decisions and lashing out if she's forced to live with the consequences of them, like Adora told her last season.

Glimmer gets a bit of slack from me since she suffered through a huge loss, that being her mother, and then was immediately thrown into being queen right after. It'd be hard for anyone to be 100% on their game and well-adjusted in a situation like that, and I buy that she was on some level resentful of Adora for coming back instead of her mother, even if unintentionally so. What definitely helps is that Glimmer very clearly and immediately regretted what she said to Adora. Like Catra she's lashing out but unlike Catra Glimmer recognizes some of the damage she's doing and knows, at least in this case, that she went too far.

Episode 9: Now that I can see the design in color I definitely prefer Mara's She-Ra with pants to Adora's She-Ra with shorts. Honestly, while the differences are pretty minor, I do think Mara's She-Ra design is overall a lot better than Adora's. Sharper shoulder guards. Bigger cape (especially the cape, I love capes). I don't know, there's just a lot that clicks with it and I wouldn't mind Adora getting a similar outfit later.

Madam Razz definitely had a Yoda feel this episode. I was very much expecting her to start wacking Mara with a stick over the sugar like Yoda did with R2. Though while that was Yoda acting crazy, for Razz it's because she experiences time out of order, and I don't think I've ever seen that concept taken to this extent, or at least done this way before. There are characters like River Song from Doctor Who, Professor Paradox from Ben 10, or even the Reverse-Flash who interact with other characters in time out of order but those characters are still on a linear path from their own perspective, even when travelling through time. Razz is just bouncing around her own timeline, seemingly not even any real reason or cause to it like Subaru from Re:Zero. Clearly she's not just remembering things oddly because her talk about things of the present are heard by people in the past and have an effect. I wonder if maybe the reason why is because Razz was at ground zero of Mara's actions and this is a side-effect of pulling Etheria away from the rest of the universe.

Bringing more Star Wars into this, it basically sounds like the Heart of Etheria project has turned Etheria into a magic Starkiller Base; storing power that'll be unleashed to destroy whole planets. And jeez, I think this was the first time I really felt creeped out by Light Hope when she was talking to Mara.

I'm looking forward to seeing what it means that the First Ones only made the sword and that Etheria made She-Ra. If that's the case, why is only the sword able to bring out the She-Ra form? Is it like MCU Thor's hammer and the weapon was just meant to help him control the power he already had? Or is what we think is She-Ra not actually She-Ra and that form that Adora and Mara take is just a stand-in for the real thing?

Episode 10: It didn't even occur to me until now but Double Trouble's capture is another blow to Catra's circle of "friends" too. They were at least able to make her laugh. One less person for her to talk to and just...really just distract her from her thoughts.

It's a good dilemma this episode presents about what to do with the Heart of Etheria. The safest and probably best option is to just dismantle it, like Adora and Bow want, since it could easily lead to the destruction of the entire planet if it goes off. Not the mention there's so little they know about it and what it was intended for and the one person who can potentially tell them, Light Hope, they were warned not to trust. But it's not hard to understand where Glimmer is coming from in wanting to use that power to fight the Horde. They're already losing the war and now she knows Hordak Prime and his FAR more powerful forces are on the way. Tapping into the Heart is a huge risk but she's not seeing any other paths for the rebels to win. It's a really good dilemma, with good arguments presented from both sides, and I buy this widening the schism between Adora and Glimmer.

Episode 11: I have mixed feelings on King Micah still being alive. On the one hand there's a lot of good potential interactions we can now have with him, primarily between Glimmer and Shadow Weaver, and he is a fun character. But on the other I can't help but wonder if this kind of lessens the impact of what Angela gave up to overcome the false reality. Part of what made it so emotional was that she had to accept the person she loved was dead and not coming back...except now we see that he wasn't dead and now he is coming back. Yeah, their family lost out on years together and that does still carry some emotional weight but I was already also half-expecting Angela to come back later in the series because she's stuck between dimensions, meaning there's a chance she could still be alive. If both Glimmer's parents come back then that really feels like it takes a lot of weight out of her story. But I guess we'll see what happens.

Also, why did the Horde exile him to Beast Island? Why not just kill him?!

Episode 12: So the Horde exiles Micah to Beast Island instead of killing him. The First Ones protect their secrets by sending their bad tech to Beast Island. Does no one know how to just destroy things in this world?

Ohhh, I am so looking forward to next episode. While it's debatable whether Glimmer should be going through with her plan she is at least being smart with how she's going about it. Double Trouble was being paid by Catra to work for the Horde, not out of any sense of loyalty. Glimmer has the resources of Bright Moon at her disposal so it's reasonable she could pay them more to switch sides. Double Trouble was very good at sabotaging even a group as tight-nit as the heroes, so Hordak and Catra are probably easy pickings with all their issues.

Episode 13: ....WELL THAT AIN'T GOOD!

I'll admit, I had a little bit of an unintended laugh. After all we've heard about Horde Prime, like this shadowy all-powerful monster, I wasn't expecting the fabulous flowing dreadlocks and smoothness. Credit where it's due, man has charisma and charm, which goes a long way in helping your big evil world conqueror not be a very flat character, because it's doubtful he's going to have the same kind of sympathetic motivation as Hordak or complexity as Catra to keep him elevated.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Double Trouble kicking at Catra while she's down. Adora and Scorpia were honest but they never wanted to hurt Catra. Not so much with Double Trouble and they just shove reality into her face. Everyone leaves Catra because of Catra. She's the common factor. It's her fault and no one else's. Again, I don't know for certain if Adora and Catra get together at the end (Catra would have a LOT to make amends for regardless) but Double Trouble was definitely implying Catra had feelings for her with the way they put Catra's hand on "Adora's" cheek while talking about how she left her.

I like that we see Glimmer's plan actually working at first. The princesses get a massive power boost and decimate the Horde forces. But the minute it starts going wrong she immediately admits Adora was right and she tries to stop the energy flow. I imagine having her there with Catra was intentional by the writers. Despite some parallels, Glimmer can actually accept her failures and work to try and fix things. Unlike Catra, she didn't blame Adora for things going wrong.

So the sword allows the First Ones to control She-Ra and the energy she'd be absorbing from the planet. Assumedly that means there are at least some parts to She-Ra that have nothing to do with the First Ones and thus maybe Adora can still use some of those powers without the sword.

Season 4 verdict: Yeah, the show keeps getting better, though I will admit last season's finale had me more emotional, but that's a bit of an unfair comparison given everything that happened in that finale vs. this one. This is definitely the series hitting its darkest hour, where it feels like EVERYONE lost. Not just the rebels but the Horde as well. The sword and Light Hope are gone and She-Ra (for now) along with them. Glimmer and Catra are basically prisoners. Hordak's probably going to have his personality stripped away. The Fright Zone is in ruins. The only one who's gained anything is Prime.

Really looking forward to what the final season has in store, especially since there seems to be the implication that Catra just saved Glimmer's life.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrincessesOfPower/comments/o1j5gk/going_in_blind_watching_season_4_for_the_first/

[wackextravaganza]

So I’m rewatching she ra and as mentioned in a previous post, I think there are some things about Catra’s redemption that could’ve been better (the limited number of episodes doesn’t do the writers any favours with character development so I don’t blame them). But yeah I just thought I’d discuss those cause what better way is there to spend my Saturday lmao.

Firstly, I definitely think that Catra and Glimmer should’ve spoken about the portal, and how Catra was indirectly responsible for Angella’s death. I mean that was probably one of her worst moments as a villain, and in season 4 it was clear that it haunted her. She seemed to regret it deeply, even while she was still a villain, so the fact that it wasn’t addressed during her redemption struck me as odd. Also, I think that conversation between her and Glimmer would’ve been quite interesting, especially seeing as Glimmer also had the potential to hurt a lot of people by setting off the Heart of Etheria (I fucking love the way their characters parallel each other). I think Glimmer having such a similar personality to Catra would’ve made it easy for her to forgive her, and perhaps she already had, but the actual conversation would’ve been nice to see, as well as it being a good showcase of Catra’s redemption. She blamed Adora for it at the time, but seeing her take responsibility for her actions and apologise would’ve been a really good demonstration of her development.

Secondly, Scorpia. Now obviously with this one it’s difficult, because Scorpia was chipped once Catra arrived on Etheria and she never had to opportunity to apologise. She definitely wanted and intended to, which is evident in the episode “Return to the Fright Zone”, but she just never had the chance. And with the limited number of episodes, their “reunion”, so to speak, in the finale had to end on a good note since there wasn’t really time to develop their friendship/relationship afterwards. However, I do think that there should’ve been a verbal apology; as much as I love the cyclicality of the whole “I’m a hugger” line, I think Scorpia embraced her as a friend a little too quickly. Of course, it’s not in Scorpia’s character to hold a grudge and give her silent treatment, but she left for a reason, which was that Catra wasn’t being a good friend. And to see Catra make that effort and actually apologise would’ve been enough for Scorpia to forgive her. I just think the actual apology needed to be said, but otherwise I was pretty satisfied with that as the ending for them.

Finally, I think that Catra was embraced by the Best Friend Squad a little too quickly as well. Now with this one, I feel pretty torn, because part of me thinks that Adora explained Catra’s problems to them and they trust Adora’s judgement where Catra is involved, seeing as she knows her a lot better than they do. Lmao I’m writing this and I’m suddenly disagreeing with myself but lemme just make my point. So at the end of season 5 episode 6, Catra eventually comes out of her room and joins them to eat, and they immediately give her a place among them, which I found so sweet (God I’m really gonna regret what I’m about to say next lmfao). However, I do think there should’ve been some sort of apology or maybe explanation for her actions just to see her growth. Like in ATLA, where Zuko tries to join the gaang and they don’t immediately accept him, but after he explains himself properly and saves them from combustion man, they realise that he’s changed and allow him to be part of the group. I think with Catra, there was a lot more action than explanation, and I think her explaining herself would’ve been nice. But, the scene where she sits with them is so heartwarming and the immediate acceptance seems a lot more in character for Bow and Glimmer, to be honest. There’s also has a slight allusion to when Adora said “I’m always gonna be your friend”; Adora wasn’t gonna put up with Catra’s toxicity anymore, which was clear at the end of S3 and earlier on in this same episode, but as soon as Catra was ready to change and be the person Adora knew she could be, she would be there for her. The scene where Catra finally leaves her room kinda proves that, because Catra was taking a step forward and facing people she hurt and upon realising that Catra was trying to change and be better, Adora was immediately supportive, as were Bow and Glimmer. So yeah, I think that particular scene was fine the way it was, but just in general, Catra maybe could’ve talked about her actions more just to give the others an insight to her behaviour. I was pretty happy with her being accepted into the Best Friend Squad tho, seeing as she had already apologised to Entrapta and a lot of her other development in that episode (S5 episode 6) was centred around her interactions with Adora. So yeah, I didn’t find this to be that big of a deal, but I just thought I’d mention it.

Lmao that was a slightly confusing note to end on seeing as I contradicted myself the entire time, but I hope that made sense. I just think there should’ve been more conversations between Catra and the people she hurt, rather than immediate forgiveness and acceptance. Of course, I don’t blame the writers for that, since they didn’t have much time, but I just thought it would’ve really improved her redemption and made it more compelling. Otherwise, they did a very good job with her character and I loved her arc throughout the series.

[ruffiorocks]

She Ra! This show was amazing! (Long post)

Omg! I stayed up until 4.00am to binge watch the last season of She Ra. I'm gutted that before I put it on I opened Twitter for a second and the Catradora kiss was ruined for me! 😞

But what a bloody season! What a show! I grew up watching the original She Ra and the original He Man. Mine and brothers favourite movie was "The Secret of the Sword" (the He Man and She Ra film where she is first introduced). That show was brilliant for its day, it depicted strong women who didn't need men to save them. Plus She Ra was so much better than He Man, she could heal people, talk to animals and turn her sword into anything she liked! She also had a flying unicorn that could talk! What else could a girl want in a show?

When I heard this was going to be revived I was a bit apprehensive, especially after the failed He Man reboot and the failed Thunder Cats one. (Dont even get me started on that monstrosity they call a reboot! At least the anime version was cool).

I decided to give the show a watch, convincing myself that is was for nostalgic purposes only, and wow! I could not stop watching it!

This version is great, because it wasn't trying to be the same as the original. The basic premise was the same but the story and the characters were fleshed out so much more. The relationships between the characters was just something else. I loved how they de-aged them, so it was teenagers and not adults this time.

Making Adora and Catra best friends? I loved it! The fact that this friendship/enemies story between the two became the heart of this show was something else. The original series had Catra being jealous of Adora and becoming a force Captain after Adora left but that was the extent of their relationship.

I love how Hordak wasn't even all the fussed about conquering Etheria. He had so much more depth to him than the original one did. OG Hordak was a bumbling idiot who laughed evilly and could turn himself into rockets and canons. The most interesting thing about him was he used to be Skeletors mentor. The very idea or Hordak caring for anything or anyone other than imp was unthinkable. This Hordak has a tragic back story, he's had it rough, he has a specific goal and conquering Etheria seems to become less and less important to him. He's even able to form a close friendship with Entrapta.

Shadow Weaver being a maternal figure for Adora was something the original had but wasn't mentioned much at all. The fact that she was the foster mother of both Catra and Adora and favoured Adora to the point of obsession in getting her back gave the back story so much more. The fact that Shadow weaver is more connected to the other characters and has her own back story and then a redemption, I love it.

I also love how the relationship between Shadow Weaver and Catra was really explored. It made Catra so much more than just a boring villain of the week when you see the neglect and abuse she went through. How her only solice was Adora, you can totally understand why she feels broken when Adora leaves everything they both know. But I also love how even though she was villian she kept her sense of humour and she just couldnt get over Adora no matter how hard she tried to.

Glimmer? So much more character than the original. Her relationship with her mother was brilliant. Angela was so funny and I was gutted when she died. In the original it was Angela that had been gone a long time and had to be rescued by He Man and She Ra to be reunited with Glimmer. Her father didn't show up, but it was rumoured that a mysterious red knight who Angela thought she knew could have been him.

Bow? This bow was amazing with all of his tech and his sass and his sensitivity. The original bow was OK but he wasn't the character you watched the show for. I'm also glad they didnt have him pining for She Ra like the OG did. The fact he has two gay dads was amazing! I do wish they had kept Kowl though.

Swift Wind is hands down by favourite side character! That horse is so sassy he just make me crack up no matter what he does. I'm glad they did him justice, because when I was younger I always wanted a white horse and to call it Spirit like the Original She Ra and so that meant a lot that they just improved on him.

I love how everyone knows who Adora is, there is no secret identity.

The fact that the princesses have so much more personality and backstory than their OG counter parts did is brilliant. My absolute favourite is Mermista!

Scorpia? I love how she wasn't just a bad guy like her OG counter part was. This character is so much more interesting. She goes on her own journey, she doesn't even seem to grasp what she's doing half the time because she is just desperate to have friends. She never gave up on her friendship with Catra, even when Catra didn't want her she was still there. I love that.

Sea Hawk? Omg! One of my favourites! A far cry from his OG character. I'm so glad they didnt have him and Adora as a couple like the OG did! "ADVENTURE!!"

This show had everything! So much more humour than the OG one. It allowed violence as well which is something the OG one didn't allow. If you ever watch it you'll notice She Ra doesn't hit any one who is alive (Robots don't count) she would beat them in ways they couldn't be harmed, like she ra throwing into mud or water. But this? This show has some ass kicking going on!

The shape of the characters is also brilliant. I love how Glimmer is slightly bigger than than the other characters. How we have them in all shapes and sizes. The OG characters were always drawn using the same template. The footage was also constantly reused in every episode.

Now for the change I love the most! The LGBTQ rep! This would have been unthinkable when the OG show was on! No one would have dared suggest it. (Although He Man always had gay under tones, especially after the live action movie happened). But when I was watching this show being gay wasn't something people discussed and certainly not with children. The most we saw was the occasional gay couple on a soap. For me it was Tony and Simon in Eastenders and Zoe Tate on Emmerdale. But a children's show? NEVER!

I wish I had had this show when I was a kid. It took me until i became an adult to admit that I liked women. If I had had this show and these characters in my life perhaps things would have been easier. It would have helped me understand myself better. Unfortunately for the time it still would have been frowned upon and even though my family are much more accepting after a lot of education I don't think I would have been allowed to watch this show this way when I was a kid.

But kids now are so lucky! They are exposed to the LGBT every day. It's everywhere! It isn't hiding anymore, it's so much more accepted. Even when I was a teen at school a lot of gay people were still in the "we know you exist but we don't want to know about it" phase.

This show handled it so well!! There was no coming out story line, no trying to figure out why they had these feelings. It was treated the exact same way any hetro storyline would be. The fact that there was a canon lesbian couple from the get go said it all. As the seasons went in they progressed and gave us Bows gay dad's. They had Adora crushing on women. They didn't even try to hide what they were doing with Catra and Adora. I love how this last season gave more screen time and story to Spinereella and Netalia rather than them just "being there". It was just handled so well. None of the characters battered an eye lid at the thought of Adora and Catra as a couple. I'm just gutted its over. They even gave us an epilogue!!

Last point, maybe it's an unpopular opinion but I feel like they didn't need to put Glimmer and Bow together. I always adored how they had this wonderful best friend relationship between a boy and girl that didn't need to end in them falling in love. I never saw them as a couple, just best friends. Plus I always saw Bow as asexual.

Catradora reminds me so much of Supercorp from Supergirl. It gives me hope that maybe the show will be brave and give us a canon Lena and Kara. But I won't hold my breath 😅

All the kudos to She Ra!

[stebeans]

She-ra Inspired Actor AU - II

Maya Sanchez as Catra

Taylor Cruz as Adora

Jessica Cho as Glimmer

Marcus Patterson as Bow

A She-ra Actor AU fic where She-ra and the Princesses of Power is a popular tv series and our lovable characters are played by actresses/actors. Inspired by the amazing fanart and concept by @sunzho and @hey_adora on instagram #cayaactorau, see link below and please follow them!

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/cayaactorau/

P.S. I also changed the “real-life” name for Adora’s actress that sunzho and hey_adora came up with from Claire Cruz to Taylor Cruz . Not that I hated the name but I have bad experiences with Claire’s in my life and it felt odd on my part to write about a character with the same name...please forgive me!

Callbacks and the Chemistry Test

Unlike the day of auditions, callbacks was less hectic yet all the more nerve-wracking. The waiting room held a handful of actresses and their mothers and/or managers, sometimes they were one and the same as Taylor, unfortunately, knew quite well. Taylor herself had come alone. There was no mother, no manager, no agent, no friends or even distant relatives. As her mother had so eloquently last told her: she had made her bed and laid in it. Mother of the year, she was not.

Taylor sat in a chair situated in the corner, isolated away from the others and their curious looks. She had showed up late (again) and as soon the other occupants had glanced up to see who had entered, their eyes had immediately darted away in uneasiness. Letting out a gruff sigh, Taylor understood the tension that radiated around her. She didn’t look like the typical cheerful, all fake smiles, blonde actresses that overflowed the waiting rooms for auditions. And it didn’t help that she had caused a scene her first day.

But seriously, that bitch had it coming. Who the hell did she think she was going around telling people to “go back home to whatever backwards country they came from” or some shit along those lines. And it wasn’t like the other girl was going to say anything back. She was practically shaking with fear. Pathetic. And Taylor was sure as hell wasn’t going to let anything like that slide.

Tilting her head back until it thumped against the wall, Taylor counted the tiles of the ceiling to calm her racing heart. Though Taylor radiated a “no-fucks-given” exterior appearance – very successfully she might add— inside, she was a bundle of nerves. Ever since she had been labelled “difficult to work with, irresponsible punk, worthless actress” from her last gig, she had been flailing ever since to land a role. Casting directors who have heard down the grapevine barely gave her a shot these days and scripts barely ever made it into her hands. Nineteen and peaked. Wonderful.

Taylor let out a hiss at the thought before giving her head a good shake. No. She was not out yet. She may be down but definitely not out. This lead for She-ra was going to change her career around, she just knew it. Taylor could feel it in her bones that this role was going to be life-changing.

With everyone in the room avoiding eye contact with her it allowed Taylor to observe them blatantly. None of the faces really stood out to her and she smirked smugly when she didn’t see the bitch who’s face she almost caved in hadn’t made it to callbacks. Well, serves her right. Although with a second browse around the room Taylor failed to notice the one person who would’ve stood out right away. She’s not here, Taylor thought.

A wave a disappointment washed through her. She was selfish and she knew it and there was no one but her good enough for the part of Adora/She-ra but she had hoped the other girl…Mana or was it Mara – that last one sounded familiar – would defy the odds and at least be called back. Taylor did appreciate a good underdog story.

The room emptied and soon it was just Taylor lingering. The other actresses left, some looking dejected but most wore expressions that were hard to read. Maybe they saved the best for last? That was the famous saying was it not? At last she was led down the hall and back into the same room with three familiar smiling faces. “Hi Taylor. Great to see you again.” The casting director greeted. “We were really impressed with your audition.”

Taylor couldn’t help the smile that grew on her face, ears slightly burning. “Thanks.”

“So the producer and I have something a little different planned –” The casting director was cut off by a soft knock on the door and immediately Taylor’s eyebrows shot up. Was someone crashing her callback? What the hell?

The door opened slowly until eventually a mop of brown hair, bright eyes and a sheepish smile peaked into the opening. “Uh hi? I was told to meet here?”

“Mara?” Taylor exclaimed, her guard up. What on earth was she doing here? And during her callback? None of the other girls had their callback rudely interrupted.

“Ma-ya.” The girl corrected, her furrowed brows conveyed that Taylor wasn’t the only one confused by the turn of events. She met Taylor’s eyes and it was clear that she recognized her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt I must’ve gotten the time mixed up.”

“No, no there hasn’t been a mistake. Please come in Maya! We are so glad you can make it today.” The casting director cheerfully beckoned the girl into the room. “You’re actually just in time. I was just explaining to Taylor here what you can expect today.”

Maya shuffled in gawkily until she stood a respectful distance apart from Taylor. They eyed each other warily until the producer cleared her throat. “We just wanted to say we were really impressed with both of your auditions and instead of reading from the script that was sent to you we want you two to read from this. We’ll let you two a quick moment to familiarize yourselves with the scene.”

Unable to fathom what was happening Taylor nodded absentmindedly and reached for the new script. She gave it a quick read-through, noting that it was a more detailed script of the first altercation between the leads Adora and Catra, the villain of the show, from what Taylor had grasped from the pitch and initial script that was given to her. The new scene was quite the pivot Taylor had been expecting.

                                                  ADORA: I’m not going home Catra.

(screams from the burning village echoes in the background).

ADORA: I can’t. Not after everything I’ve seen. (ADORA reaches for CATRA’S hand). 

ADORA: Come with me! You don’t have to go back there. We can fix this.

This scene was much more expressive and heartbreaking than the solo scene she had been preparing as she thumbed through the first few lines. Taylor had finished the read through first, allowing herself to study the girl next to her. Closer, she could note the sprinkling of freckles that spread from one cheek to the other. And Taylor wasn’t sure if Maya was even aware of the way her tongue stuck out slightly when she read. Cute.

It took a couple more minutes but when Maya looked up from the script in her hands, Taylor straightened and pulled her eyes away from the girl and back to the producer who grinned slightly. It was clear that she had noticed Taylor  blatantly staring. Good going, way to look like a creep in front of the big bosses.

“I know you two must be confused but we wanted the callback today be a chemistry test of sorts.” The casting director explained. “I know that the both of you were hoping for the role Adora but we wanted to try something out.  I know this is unexpected but we wanted to see if our gut feelings were right. If I can have you, Taylor, read the part of Adora. Maya if you could read the lines for Catra?”

At the request Taylor couldn’t help the sense of relief wash through her though from the corner of her eye she could see Maya’s shoulders drop in disappointment. It took a moment but Taylor realized the extent of the read. “Her?” Taylor raised a disbelieving brow at the girl beside her. “You want her to play opposite of me?”

Maya let out a little huff, crossing her arms in front of her. “What’s wrong with that?”

Taylor took a moment to eye her critically. Sure she had a pretty mean glare when she got going but at the same time “She’s like…five-foot tall and a hundred pounds when wet. My grandmother looks more intimidating than her. You got to admit she isn’t very…villainy. ”

Maya spluttered indignantly. “Excuse me! For your information I’m five-foot-two!—”

Taylor scoffed. “Oh, my mistake. Five-foot-two. My apologies –”

“— and I’m stronger than I look! Just because I don’t have like…a billion piercings and an obnoxious devil-may-care attitude doesn’t mean I can’t be badassed. You haven’t even seen me act. I bet I can act circles around you any day!”

“Evidently not.” Taylor shot back, cheeks heating up in anger. “Seeing as they just offered me the lead role. You’re like…my sidekick or whatever.”

Taylor smirked as Maya unfolded her arms, strolled right up into her personal space in a fit of rage and pointed an accusing finger in her face. “Have you even read the script? Catra isn’t a sidekick.” She said the last part in disgust. “If anything, she’s her equal! She’s just a little misguided and hurt but she isn’t a bad person! And I'm pretty sure they didn't offer you anything.”

Distantly Taylor could see the casting members whispering between one another. In the far part in her mind Taylor could register that she was blowing this but the anger that was seething just below the surface was taking precedence.

“Ladies!” a booming voice cut through their argument. It was the executive producer. Oh great. They sure showed off their stuff. As if remembering where they were, Maya took a couple steps back so she was no longer evading Taylor’s space, quickly lowering her accusing finger at the same time. “Thank you for that…performance but I think we’ve seen everything we needed to see.”

The faces of the three women were hard to read and besides the polite smile they all wore, they weren’t giving anything away. Honestly, Taylor thought they’d be thrown out by security by now after what had to be the worst chemistry performance in the history of acting. “Thank you once again for your time ladies and I hope you both have a good day.”

Ugh. If that didn’t sound like a brush off than Taylor didn’t know what was. Taylor and Maya packed up their things in silence though both were trying to control the annoyance and frustration that surfaced during the performance. “Thanks a lot.” Taylor sneered as soon as they cleared the building’s exit.

Maya whirled around with narrowed eyes. “No. Don’t you dare blame that all on me.”

“No? Than who should I blame?”

“If only you would have just done the read-through with me without getting all snippy we wouldn’t had to have resorted to bickering like a bunch of immature babies.”

“That reminds me don’t you have a babysitter to run back to? I’m sure you’re missing nap time.”

Taylor watched in amusement as Maya ran her hands through her long dark locks, seemingly looking like she was resisting to pull her own hair out. “Oh my God! How old do you think I am?”

“…Like twelve? or something?”

Taylor would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy making Maya lose her composure. It was quite fascinating actually. To watch someone as shy and introverted as Maya break out of her shell. “I am almost eighteen and I’m graduating from high school in a few weeks I’ll have you know!” Maya exclaimed hotly. “And not all of us are lucky to be born as freaking bean stalks!”

“I should thank you.” Taylor snickered as Maya’s nose bunched up in confusion. “Having you around is good for my ego. You make me sound waytaller than I actually am. If anything, I’m of average height. Just five-foot-six of pure American muscle.” She even raised her arms to flex, though it was hard to tell through her the thickness of her leather jacket.

“Ugh. I liked it better when all you did was glower.” Maya muttered with an eye roll. “Why do you have to be so difficult?”

Difficult?

It was almost instantaneous. Taylor could feel herself go numb and her features darken at the word. Lowering her arms to her side, Taylor shoved them into the pockets of her jacket in an attempt to hide the shakiness of her hands. “Difficult?” She echoed. “Fine whatever. Think what you want of me but I’d rather be difficult than some stupid, naïve little girl.” Taylor hissed.

As soon as those words left her lips Taylor wish she could reach out and pull them back in before they did any damage but it was clear on Maya’s hurtful expression that it was too late. Ignoring the pang of guilt hammering inside her chest at the wounded look on Maya’s face, Taylor steeled herself as she often done. “Well as fun as this has been, which it hasn’t and I’m lying, I have places to be.”

Tightly sealing the apology that sat on the tip her tongue, Taylor shouldered her way past Maya, knocking the girl a step back as she stepped onto the sidewalk and down the street, never once looking back where she left the stunned girl. It’s better this way, Taylor thought numbly. It wasn’t like there was a likely chance they would ever see each other again.

[dappercritter]

Random She-Ra Season 4 Thoughts:

After much thinking and suffering, here are some random thoughts I had about season 4 inbetween feel episodes.

Going into S4 be like.

Coming out of S4 be like.

Grief and failure to communicate. This season is off to a great start!

You know, I still like Swift Wind but I’m starting to see why most people, uh… don’t.

If you told me before I started the show that I would hate a sexy catgirl and feel sorry for a creepy-looking cyborg conqueror, I would have called you a liar, paused, then said, “No, wait. Yeah, that sounds like me.”

Queen Glimmer looks nice, but I’m definitely going miss her old Cutie Honey-esque hairstyle.

Shame that Huntara didn’t join the Rebellion full-time but it’s for the best. Not just so she can liberate the Crimson Wastes, but let’s face it, nobody in the Rebellion would be able to think straight with a butch Amazonian warrior goddess hanging around.

I really can’t give Double Trouble enough praise: they have so much personality, a fantastic design combining reptilian and theatre-kid traits (two of my favourite kind of characters!), are morally ambiguous but likeable, and help alleviate all the dramatic stress that this season is packed with.

Flutterina and her village has thoroughly convinced me we need more moth people in fantasy.

Why? Simple. THEY’RE SO FLUFFY

I have some minor issues with the Flutterina controversy: yes, Adora and the Rebellion recruited a young girl to fight in a war and took her from her home and all that, which is a valid concern to have and indeed just a little hypocritical given that was how she was forced to grow up, but I feel like the fact that Flutterina is actually Double Trouble, a young adult spy with what I assume is a fair amount of combat and espionage training, makes it ring hollow for me.

Also, do we know if there’s a real Flutterine that Double Trouble impersonated or is she just a persona they made up?

Either way, it’s funny to imagine the Elberon locals trying to make sense of this little girl that just showed up out of nowhere, went off to war, and then the real one shows up right after and everyone just has to go along with it otherwise people will think they can’t keep track of their own kids.

Okay, so I’m not happy about Shadow Weaver slowly being treated as just another member of the cast, but I’m also sort of glad that it’s being implied that we’re still not supposed to trust her either.

That said, leave it to Shadow Weaver to go and potentially destroy Glimmadora on us.

Rogelio confirmed for best boyfriend.

Watching Kyle’s near sacrifice gave me some Chaos Vortex PTSD. (Pit-Truama Stress Disorder)

(If you understood that reference, you have earned my respect for life.)

Light Hope, you’re scaring the adults now, too.

Emily has a holographic projector and was at one point wanted by a ruthless conqueror of worlds. So I guess she qualifies as an astromech droid now?

Speaking of holograms, seeing Catra, Scorpia, and Entrapta when they were all friends was the worst kind of bittersweet.

(After watching Scorpia leave her toxic friendship to embark with Emily on an adventure to save Entrapta) *on the verse of tears* Fricking superb you funky little lesbian! *sniff* Fricking superb…

That’s right, Catra. You reflect on the consequences of your actions like a good kitty-cat.

Sea Hawk surprisingly looks the part for a good noir protagonist.

In his own head, of course.

Is it just me, or is Frosta acting mature again? Hyperactive Little Sister Frosta is fun, but The Only Sane Person in the Room is a Literal Child Frosta would be a missed opportunity.

Oh no, Adora and Glimmer are fighting!

Yay, they were just pretending to catch Double Trouble!

Oh no…

“Boy’s Night Out” or, “How to Delight and Emotionally Destroy Your Audience At The Same Time”

Believe it or not, Sea Hawk possesses special abilities like the Princesses. Those being:

Great singing

Superhuman positivity

Nigh-invulnerability

I’m not sure if Madame Razz is a time-traveller, a Doctor, or just has some sort of Alzheimer’s, but regardless, I’m proud of how the crew handled it.

Swift Wind might be annoying at times but if showing concern for the elderly doesn’t make him a likeable character, I don’t what does.

Looks like I can add “Hero” to the list of She-Ra episodes that deserve an Emmy or Annie.

Words cannot describe how happy I was to see Scorpia pop-up in Bright Moon amid all the drama.

Glimmer is tip-toing the line between “pure-hearted character forced into morally grey responsibilities” and “grey-area wet wipe” and I am not loving it.

So between She-Ra, Huntara, and Scorpia, we all agree Perfuma has a type now, right?

I know it’s just Double Trouble making fun of her (and my love of Elvis Presley, Johnny Bravo, and Kishidan showing) but I think Adora looks pretty dang cool with a pompadour.

Beast Island: It’s Annihilation for Kids!

Yay, King Micha really is alive!

However, he still doesn’t have a wife to come back to and his daughter is making some poor life choices. Bummer.

Nice to see Bow’s still on the Hates Shadow Weaver bandwagon.

Entrapta’s got a Kamen Rider mask now and no one call me otherwise.

And she’s got a mecha that used Godzilla’s roar.

Well, even if my She-Ra-fan-heart is dying, my tokusatsu-geek-brain is happy.

How Entrapta adjusted to life on Beast Island is both nothing and everything I expected from her at the same time.

Well what do you know, Glimmadora saves lives!

BREAKING NEWS: Non-binary reptilian theatre-kid makes breakthrough with angry lesbian cat!

Light Hope, you’re breaking our hearts…

I’m glad that the show is hopping on the anti-power-up bandwagon as well. As someone who grew up with shows like Power Rangers where everything was immediately solved by new merchandise or powers, I get a sort of twisted satisfaction seeing that the shiny merchandisable new toy is more trouble than its worth.

Oh, and of course, it makes a for a good lesson on the danger of absolute power.

Before I started S4, I hated Horde Prime because he wasn’t a giant eldritch cyborg monster anymore, but I’ve actually gotten quite accustomed to his new design. Now I hate him for being a callous perfectionist world conqueror with no sense of personal space that may or may not be into selfcest.

(*praying intensely*) Please let Adora turn into She-ra through sheer-will power next season, please let Adora turn into She-ra through sheer-will power next season, please let

Yup, I was right! This season didn’t fix damn thing the last one broke!