#virtues catra

[antispopausandstuff]

more virtues shitpost

villain: the only reason you're still alive is that i find your stupidity... mildly amusing. catra: well, thank you. but i find your evilness extremely annoying. villain: who do you think you are, magicat? catra: who do YOU think i am, bitch? villain: catra: hehe... villain: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! catra, stressed: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! catra's mind: ADORA, HURRY UP!!!

[n1-adora-fan]

I love the messy messy women of she ra so much

Adora, you self-sacrificing to a fault, poor communicator, valiant, full of a horrible inner critic, noble, victim of abuse who is not immune from repeating the cycle but despite it still tries her best to make things better, refusing to give up on anyone, determined, imperfect person, I love you.

Catra, you self-isolating, short-tempered, playful, scared, prone to lashing out, self-destructive, guarded, sweet, volatile, able to quickly do the right thing in a crisis, acknowledging of your previous mistakes and making an effort to fix all of the things you messed up, soft, imperfect person, I love you.

Glimmer, you hotheaded, overly confident, struggling to appreciate all you love until you lose it, wrapped up in your own beliefs, funny, quicker to act than to think, despite not realizing the error of her ways before the breaking point still trying to fix the results, learning to see nuance, imperfect person, I love you.

[manic-sapphic]

this part of Promise doesn't hurt my heart at all. i do not think way too much about how the last projection the castle shows catra as she's running is her current self.

it indicates to me that, although it may take her till season 5 to apologize, deep down she was already blaming herself for adora leaving and the way her life was going.

and honestly, with how she was conditioned to think about herself, might have felt was not only her fault but was an inevitability just by virtue of being her; cause at times it kinda seems like she was trying to convince herself she'd been foolish to imagine her life could be any other way.

</3

[livingdoll13]

understanding catra in taking control s5: ep 6

(lots of awesome people have already said some amazing things about this, but it’s been on my mind a lot especially since i’ve been seeing some anti catra bullshit lately)

first off, i want to say that i don’t think that catra is necessarily handling the situation well, but i often see people saying some crazy shit about how she’s so “ungrateful” to adora for rescuing her or whatever and just generally being incredibly insensitive to her.

you have to remember everything that catra has gone through up until the point. horde prime had just completely violated her body and mind, electrocuting her in the baptismal pool, cutting off her hair, and infiltrating her memories. catra, who is already deeply afraid of the losing control (namely to shadow weaver, who taught her that power and control were necessary to be safe from her abuse), just lost all of her autonomy in the most fucking disturbing, pseudo-religious way possible.

before this, catra fully expected to die. i’ve seen a lot of different takes and i’m relatively open-minded to about what it is that catra thinks specifically when she remembers that scene with her and adora’s younger selves in corridors, but i think that it’s something along these lines:

“all i’ve ever done is hurt adora, and all she ever tried to do was love me instead. i’ve loved her and wanted her more than anyone else, and still all i did was hurt her. adora finally gave up on me, like i deserved all along anyway. but maybe, just maybe, the last thing i do could be for her. maybe that last little piece of goodness in me could live on in her.”

hence the:

“all i do is hurt people. there’s no one left in the entire universe who cares about me.”

anyway, my point is that catra has been through fucking hell :(

adora rescues her, and in the moment, catra is (obviously) relieved, shocked, surprised, confused, even. (“why did you come back? we both know i don’t matter.”)

the confusion is the main thing i want to focus on. catra really truly believes that adora hates her (shadow weaver has conditioned her to believe that she has always been inherently worthless and unlovable), so catra can’t understand why adora would ever come back for her.

catra eventually comes to the conclusion that adora just wanted to feel like a hero. she just came back to rescue catra to prove her virtue or her moral superiority to catra.

so she lashes out. she feels so completely out of control, and bitter with adora for her actions, convinced that there is no way that adora came back for her out of love.

adora handles this like shit. the literal first thing she does is throw the mattress onto the floor, and later slams catra into the wall. adora lashes back at catra, hurt that catra doesn’t “appreciate” adora’s love for her. adora doesn’t even try for two fucking seconds to understand where catra is coming from.

(adora does have a consistent issue with only seeming to be able to empathize with catra’s emotions when catra is weak, vulnerable, and powerless throughout much of series honestly)

ugh and calling her a stubborn brat? like i love you adora, but that makes my blood fucking boil. it is SUCH condescending, shadow weaver-coded language to use toward catra. i understand, catra is being “difficult” or whatever, but god it’s so easy to see why catra is acting the way she is.

and ofc catra is scared of entrapta! obviously, catra wronged entrapta deeply, and catra has never lived in a world with grace and forgiveness. shadow weaver physically abused her all her life, and hordak suffocated her for losing shadow weaver and lying to him about it. catra knows that she hurt entrapta, so naturally she immediately assumes that entrapta is going to fucking kill her the minute she has a chance.

then adora’s reaction is to fucking shove her into the wall and tell her to “grow up”. catra just looks fucking terrified, backed into the corner in her little horde pjs :(

adora backs off for a moment and tells catra that she would respect her wish to drop her off somewhere, catra realizes that adora really could leave her, and immediately rushes to beg adora to stay, kneeling on the ground, reaching up for her hand. something about that whole scene just absolutely fucking breaks my heart.

it kills something in me when i hear people say that catra didn’t do enough for redemption. it’s never what her redemption was ever about. catra is genuinely so, so much more complicated than that. and so is adora! i’m still sad that adora never really made up to catra for some of her shitty behavior.

i don’t believe that their arcs are meant to be done at the end of the show. there’s still so much room for them to grow. and that is what the post canon fics are for lol

oops this ended up being wayyy more of a rant than i intended; i think about catradora all the time :)

[thedeerdevil]

//closed starter @forcecaptaiin

It was a silly little game they played whenever boredom plagued their minds. Gaston, true to his character, had a penchant for talking about himself. Regardless of the topic's length, he always found a way to redirect the conversation back to how great he was, emphasizing the thrills of his life as a renowned hunter. While he did have the medals to prove it, some, including Ronno and Catra, grew tired of his self-praise. In response, the two friends devised a game. Every time Gaston extolled his own virtues (without LaFou's assistance), they would drink a shot. By the end of each meeting, they were usually wasted, unable to recall anything said. Yet, it was better than enduring the braggadocio-laden crusade.

As Gaston once again delved into self-praise, Ronno exchanged a glance with Catra. Both reddened in the face, they simultaneously downed their shots. As the meeting concluded, Ronno found himself unable to stand, and Catra strolled over with a laugh. "Shut the fuck up," he exclaimed, laughing and holding onto his seat for dear life.

[grxmincvdescxnce]

( sabrina carpenter, she/her, cursed blood ) To DAENERYN of VARAEL, the whole world looks like an open page. With a leap of faith, their ability of BLOOD MANIPULATION grows a little stronger.  They are a BENGAL CAT shade aligned to HOUSE of VANITAS. For TWENTY-FOUR years, they have survived a world of magic with both their TENACITY and SADISM. They work as a HEAD of VANITAS, but if they could change their fate, they’d want to RAISE HELL WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE. + head of vanitas skeleton

inspo includes the likes of the following: robin hood of english folklore, rebecca of cyberpunk: edgerunners, catra of she-ra and the princesses of power, tinkerbell of peter pan, ryomen sukuna of jujutsu kaisen, goldilocks of puss in boots: the last wish. 

&. ⸻ BASICS

name — daeneryn of varael 

aliases — daena, the blood witch, the demoness, the desert thorn, princess daeneryn, the devil queen

birthdate — august 13

zodiac — leo

birthplace — the country of varael

sexuality — biromantic homosexual

alignment — chaotic neutral

temperament — choleric

element — fire

primary vice — sloth

primary virtue — temperance

house — vanitas

occupation — head of house vanitas and thief

markings — all these tattoos in various locations

&. ⸻ HEADCANONS

daeneryn recalls nothing of her life before being found by her adoptive family, and though she’ll never admit it aloud unless pressed to the point of irritation perhaps, they mean the absolute world to her

she refers to her dreamshade family as her ‘council of merry men’ now that she’s head of vanitas. her slight obsession with robin hood stops just short of her wearing green tights, though honestly, she knows she’d look amazing in them

she often dons a leather jacket with this insignia present, a gift from her family to commemorate her becoming head of house vanitas 

daena’s feat of victory was accomplished not by lineage, but by brutality. a bloody, all-out brawl would range exactly twenty-four hours to determine their new leader, a long-kept secret of the faction meant to keep things ‘fair’ following the loss of their namesake, ruyun vanitas. participants are granted access by invitation only, and there would be no permitted challenge to the victor’s rule for at least three years’ time, per the guidelines 

daeneryn would earn the title ‘the devil queen’ as a result of her manner of victory, her body drenched in blood and her feline, dagger-like smile viciously menacing  

nobles and similarly well-off individuals have never been in daena’s favor

she doesn’t believe in modesty, and so most of her ‘clothing’ tends to reflect this. like this for example.

she’s never had a first kiss, and she’ll kill anyone who finds out. that said, she knows she favors women over men, most often, in just manner alone

the vanitas stronghold is located deep within the crystal caverns, full of monsters and needless danger and perfectly isolated for the destructive nature of the abilities within. it’s full of medieval flare, several rows of cells that are well used for those who disobey or otherwise annoy the house head, and the audience room resembles something of a graveyard with its scattered remains and throne of skulls. they even have a viking-styled table for meal times and a war table for council meetings. any version of ‘rules’ within the headquarters tends to resemble more of an outlaw brigade mentality these days, which tends to result in the most welcoming of  environments, of course

&. ⸻ ABILITY

hemokinesis, or the ability to manipulate blood. daena is quite proficient in this skill, often using it to puppeteer or skewer her enemies. her love of pain allows her to push through the consequences of this gift to only a particular point, with the house head tending to overdo it on most occasions to her detriment. anemia, organ shutdown, coughing up blood, and so on are often the consequences of her pushing beyond her limits so consistently. 

&. ⸻ HISTORY

neighboring countries geles and goren, her home country of varael was a corrupted matriarchy full of dragons, thieves, and amazonian-like warriors

just prior to the 100 year disappearance of selphia’s princess, when the boundary ran rampant, varaelians found themselves struggling to keep the upper hand. this was in spite of their phenomenal force and natural abilities, which included the likes of blood manipulators, contract killers, and an army built of undead. as they were primarily an isolationist entity, their request of aid was unusual and in time, wholly denied. their image was monstrous in the eyes of neighboring lands, the sea of blood at their borders troubling to even those of fiercer reputation. a lack of trust, wild accusations from those coveting the resources they hoarded, and gross misinformation stoked fears of eventual betrayal, should anyone come to their defense. 

this refusal would set the tone for the kingdom’s behavior going forward, living up to the image the world painted of them despite their efforts to appease and state otherwise. slaying those that crossed their borders — be they human or boundary-oriented — became commonplace. they earned a reputation for themselves as a kingdom of unwarranted destruction and distrust. this would carry on well into the years, even after peace and freedom from the boundary was temporarily achieved. daeneryn’s mother would be crowned in this time, however, and her plans to dispel the fears towards her land and gain allies they could rely on, for the sake of her people and country should the worst occur — as surely their efforts could not be sustained long term — were set in motion. a temporary treaty with selphian royals, specifically, would be established on the grounds that terms were honored and resources were shared. just as the coronation arose, and a young daeneryn and her family set on their way to selphia to showcase their newfound loyalties in a public manner, tragedy would strike through perceived betrayal. 

most residents of varael were dissatisfied with even the idea of reliance on anyone other than themselves, and this opinion was actually shared by the queen mother, daeneryn’s step-grandmother and mother to the queen consort. she was permitted the title of ‘queen mother’ as a courtesy, as daena’s own grandmother was no longer present in this world.

nevertheless, a coup was planned to ‘restore the old ways’, shepherded in secret by the queen mother. the intention was to restore the status quo and permit the step-grandmother her time in the light as she believed her daughter-in-law unfit for the task. the death of daena’s mother and most of her larger family was blamed entirely on selphian assassins by royal decree. with daena and her next eldest sister serve as unintended survivors alongside their step-grandmother, with both girls getting separated in the skirmish.   

daeneryn knows nothing of her sister’s survival or even the fact that she has one. in fact, her memory starts with her discovery in holograd desert, with nothing of her prior life present in her mind. her dreamshade family, a group comprised of those of actual relation and not, would raise her as their own. traveling the lands committing grand schemes against the needlessly wealthy and acting as outlaws should, they consider selphia a last-ditch effort to restore her memories and remove her humanity. the vial of cursed blood was discovered, and the rest, as they say, is history. 

[the-entire-cast-needs-therapy]

ASDFGHJKL; I NEVER NOTICED THE SHOT WHERE LONNIE IS JUST LYING THERE AS ADORA GOES IN FOR HER BIG MOMENT THAT’S HILARIOUS

I didn’t catch on to the “setting Adora up to win” aspect of Lonnie’s character, but it kind of ties in to a headcanon I’ve had for a while now. That being that while the rest of the squad likes Adora as a person, there’s a certain amount of... distance.

Almost a full two years ago, I made this post about the “Adora’s not here to protect you anymore” scene- although it was less about that line and more about the implications some of the other lines have for how the Horde cadets see princesses, and what that means for Adora. It underscores how she’s socially isolated by virtue of her ignorance- and more broadly, her proximity to Shadow Weaver.

We don’t see Shadow Weaver from the average cadet’s perspective, but we can... extrapolate. The fact that evidently, no one fully believes the princess-related propaganda she spews, plus that one comment Catra makes about how Shadow Weaver is bitter and power-hungry “and everyone knows it”... Catra is biased here because of her (justified) hatred of Shadow Weaver, but that doesn’t mean she’s wrong. People know Shadow Weaver is, to some extent, full of shit.

But Adora doesn’t.

The game is stacked in Adora’s favor- her fellow cadets are helping stack it- but Adora doesn’t know that. Adora’s success isn’t because of any inherent qualities, it comes from how heavily Shadow Weaver (and by extension anybody Shadow Weaver reports to, which is seemingly everyone except Hordak) favors her. And everyone knows that, except Adora.

Part of Adora’s grooming as Shadow Weaver’s pet project involves convincing her that she’s The Only One Who Can Do This, that she’s inherently special (that everything is her responsibility/fault and she has to be willing to die for the cause). But pre-She-ra? She really isn’t. She’s good, yeah, but not really better than Catra. And nobody else even tries to beat her, because unlike Catra, they know they have something, however small, to lose by disrupting the pecking order.

There’s a lot of things the other cadets just can’t do with Adora. A lot of conversations they can’t have. Because they’re in on a few very important secrets that Adora just isn’t.

And it’s not like they’re going to tell her! That would be a terrible idea! Catra’s certainly trying, but it’s not exactly going well for her. Adora won’t listen. She’s too invested in the image of herself that Shadow Weaver created, and she’s not keen on it being challenged. And they have absolutely nothing to gain by either making Adora mad at them or giving her an existential crisis.

The Horde and Toxic Strength - Lonnie

(Post where I go on way too long about the Horde's ideals of Strength HERE.)

LONNIE

Status: STRONG

Lonnie is, first and foremost, someone who knows what side her bread is buttered on. She's unambiguously 'Strong', and - as somone who values that status - engages with the role far more deliberately and consciously than, say, Adora does.

Lonnie is acutely aware of the biases in the system; she knows that Adora is the Designated Winner in their creche, and that being better than her is just going to earn you a drubbing. So she doesn't try. If Adora is destined to win, then it's Lonnie's job to make that happen.

Lonnie never challenges Adora; instead, she spends her time removing roadblocks and lining up shots, then fading into the background while Adora score the winning goal. She works to reinforce the system, and she is rewarded for it. She gets to be the second-in-command, and be included in the camaraderie. She gets to make Kyle do all her shit work. Not being the Designated Winner even means she gets to be buffered against directly dealing with Shadow Weaver.

The also underlies her interactions with Catra, because Catra is one of those roadblocks Lonnie is responsible for removing. Catra's tactics don't actually matter - the fact that she is endangering Adora's status as The Winner is, in an of itself, "fighting dirty". It's breaking the system, and putting them all at risk.

That's where this bit of hostility comes from, too; with Adora gone, there's a hole in their group's power structure. Lonnie isn't saying this because she has a personal vendetta against Catra, she's doing it to try and stabilize the situation - to prevent Catra from rocking the boat when they're already in middle of a metaphorical storm.

She adjust (relatively) smoothly to Catra's unexpected promotion largely because she doesn't actually hate Catra. Sure, she's shocked, but after that initial outburst she more-or-less realigns herself like the good little soldier she is.

Which isn't to say she likes Catra. Their relationship remains prickly for several reasons - Lonnie has her own feelings of betrayal and abandonment to work though, Catra doesn't do camaraderie - but Lonnie actually tries really hard to make it work, because Catra is now the Designated Winner, and supporting the system is what she's always done.

The thing that ultimately fractures Lonnie's loyalty to the system (and thus to Catra) isn't so much that Adora left (though she did) or that S4 Catra is a bad boss (although she is); it's Lonnie processing that (a) The system never cared about loyalty, only it's use as a tool of control/self-perpetuation and (b) This doesn't means she has to not care about it.

Bonus head-canons/errata:

Lonnie would have backed off immediately and tried a different tack if Adora had ever gotten even slightly snarly about bullying Catra. Lonnie read the lack of confrontation as an implicit endorsement(and was not wrong to do so), even if Adora didn't parse it that way.

Post-series, Lonnie is probably still really angry with Adora, even if she's mostly processed her feelings about Catra. Think in terms of bad bosses: The one who mandated daily overtime and denied sick days is the one who made you quit. They sucked, but they never promised to be other than what they were, and at least you got to end the relationship on your own terms. But the boss who went on and on about being a family, and promised raises just as soon as you were over this hump, and then fucked off a week before Christmas with everyone's paychecks (and who never came back for you)? That's the one you resent.

[antispopausandstuff]

virtues c//a dynamic shitpost

catra, awkward: i asked for a fair day's after a fair day's work. catra: then she kindagotalittleangry. adora: catra: so, i admit... i kindagotalittleangry. adora: did you kill her? catra, offended: what kinda fucking animal do you take me for? no, i didn't kill her! adora, relieved: oh, lords... catra: *holding hostage* BUT I DID KIDNAP HER WIFE! adora: OH, NO-

[llamagirl28]

10 Characters, 10 fandoms, 10 tags

Thank you @kalorphic @adoriels-tears-if and @the-kingshound for tagging me! 💕

In no particular order:

Jude Duarte (The Folk of the Air)

Hunter (The Owl House)

Henry "Monty" Montague (The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue)

Jinx (Arcane)

Catra (Shera and the Princesses of Power 2018)

Nina Zenik (Six of Crows)

Aaravos (The Dragon Prince)

Howl (Howl's moving castle - the book)

Tabitha Scarlet (Scarlet Hollow)

Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Tagging: @defiledheartsblog @moonless-if @beeanca-writing @laraswritingshed @doriana-gray-games @barbwritesstuff @intimidatingpuffinstudios @anathemafiction (it's not 10 i know twt)

[mercymorn-was-right]

I think it’s great when crews talk about behind the scenes stuff and discuss their thoughts about what they’ve created and all that

but I loathe this culture of taking authorial intent as 100% canon

like not to mention that there are very few times there is actually one single ”true” author of a piece of media

but it also ignores the point that what is canon is what’s in the text

authorial intention can certainly inform our reading and interpretation of a text

but it isn’t law, it isn’t “canon”

and this culture I’ve noticed of attacking other fans because they interpret something in the text differently than what the/an author has stated was their intent (or even their own thought of what might’ve happened that they haven’t even decided on!) — it’s harmful to media analysis, but on a smaller level it’s harmful to fans and fandom spaces

like, one example of this would be in one of my own fandoms — She-Ra (2018)

none of the characters have outright stated sexualities in the show — something the crew has even commented on that there wouldn’t be labels on Etheria as everyone is just taken as they are

like yes, you can certainly see hints in the text to some characters attractions: Bow pretty explicitly has a crush on Sea Hawk and later gets into a relationship with Glimmer, so it’s not fa-fetched to say he is canonically bi or pan — it exists in the text of the show! Similarly, Adora shows explicit attraction towards women at numerous times while being portrayed to be pretty indifferent towards men, meaning there is good evidence she is canonically a lesbian. Scorpia is portrayed this way too, being completely unimpressed when Sea Hawks tries to charm her in season 1

but for others, it’s not as clear

Catra, Perfuma, Netossa, Spinnerella etc

they are certainly sapphic — that much is clear, but we know nothing (in the text of the show) about what their attractions look like apart form this

for Catra, it’s by virtue of her obsession with Adora — unlike Scorpia and Adora herself, Catra never shows interest in anyone but Adora, and so we really can’t speak on what other attraction or capacity for attraction she has. It’s just Adora.

for the others, it‘s by the virtue of being side characters. Spinnerella and Netossa was a couple since day 1 so really, it’s irrelevant and the text doesn’t give us any indication of attractions outside their very happy marriage. Perfuma goes to prom with Bow, but it’s unclear if it’s in a friendly way or if she’s into him, and later she has a flirt with Huntara, and eventually gets with Scorpia. Because she‘s a side character her attractions aren’t pondered on any closer

and yet I see some fans hound other fans because they headcanon Catra as bi, or any other “infraction” on what the crew has said in panels or on Twitter

and like I get the urge

because the common argument is that you are “harming/erasing X sexuality”

and like, in some contexts that’s certainly true

for example, it would be helluva lesbophobic leap to call Adora a straight woman

but while bi Adora isn’t my cup of tea, and it goes against canon (which I agree with in this instance bc I like it), as a lesbian myself I don’t really see an issue with it

because it’s not erasing queerness or Adora’s queer attractions — it just shows a different flavor of queer that that particular fan vibed with more, maybe cause they are bi themselves and see themselves in Adora. Hell, I headcanon Adora as a demiromantic lesbian because that’s what I am and I recognize myself in her character

and so it really astounds me when some fans vigorously hound others for “erasing canon lesbians” because they headcanoned Netossa as bi when she isn’t even explicitly anything but sapphic in the text, and furthermore it doesn’t even harm queer people as a group

it only furthers separation between queer groups when we are all truly better of together

and not only does this have implications on queer issues of solidarity which is a big important topic

but on the interpersonal level, it works to make fandom a less welcoming, more hostile place for (queer)people wanting to be creative and play with characters they love

and it’s a damn shame

[veliseraptor]

For the fanfiction trope ask meme- friends to enemies to lovers?

I feel like by virtue of the dynamics I'm most interested in I don't run into this one that often but when I do get it I'm very down, so I'm going to go with A-. more often I'm more about enemies to lovers (obviously) or friends to enemies than one where the "enemy" part is an intermediate stage, but there are...actually I can only really think of one exception and it's Catra/Adora.

mostly it really is enemies to lovers, friends to enemies, or lovers to enemies. so I changed my mind, this is probably more of a D. feels harsh but more accurate to the experience.

send me a fanfiction trope and I’ll rate it

[qintennie]

ship tropes, let's go!

(saw this on the internet, so let's see if I can name one ship for each trope)

what are the chances none of them are gonna be straight

1; merwaine (this really isn't new) {merlin and gwaine, bbc merlin}

2; seblos {seb and carlos, high school musical: the musical: the series)

3; muffy {marty and buffy, andi mack}

4; jasico {jason and nico, percy jackson/heroes of olympus}

5; glimbow {glimmer and bow, she ra and the princesses of power}

6; scorptra don't kill me it's not that bad a ship {scorpia and catra, she ra and the princesses of power}

1; morgwen (think about it) {morgana and guinevere, bbc merlin}

2; cartero {bobby and liam, diary of a future president}

3; patrick and david (idk their ship name man) {schitt's creek}

4; tyrus!!!!!!!!!! {t.j. and cyrus, andi mack}

5; ineffable husbands {crowley and aziraphale, good omens}

6; rayllum {callum and rayla, the dragon prince}

1; wolfstar all the way {sirius and remus, harry potter} oh either that or willex {willie and alex, julie and the phantoms}

2; teleanor {eleanor and tahani, the good place}

3; makoharu {makoto and haruka, free!} and solangelo {will and nico, percy jackson/heroes of olympus}

4; felix and ezra {felix ever after, the book} oh and percy and monty {a gentleman's guide to vice and virtue, the book}

5; bujeet {buford and baljeet, phineas and ferb

6; reigisa {nagisa and rei, free!}

[swearyshera]

Alrighty! I have a whole bunch of asks from the last couple of days to get through, so let's go! First up, Prime....

It's almost as though if you only surround yourself with people who worship the ground you walk on, it rather blinds you to your own flaws.

@fallinforaguyfelldownfromthesky That would be pretty funny, but also impossible for anyone to read!

@maze-zen Funnily enough, one of the ideas we were discussing about Prime was to take the 'evangelical preacher' subtext and just make that plain, with him as some kind of Southern preacher - just extolling his own values.

That would indeed be rather terrifying, gotta love the British villain. Especially if he makes all the chipped people British as well! The other idea bouncing around in my head is that Prime's mission is to eradicate homosexuality from the universe (this one will require some careful handling, I know!) and all the chipped people gush about the virtues of being straight. The down side is that it implies some fucking awful stuff so I'm not sure I can quite do that, but imagine the uncomfortable dissonance of seeing 'straight' Catra. Horrifying. Also near impossible to get the tone right.

[sokkastyles]

queerplatonic-msr asked:

Also some clarifications I thought of:

I used the term "abuse" for Catra's behavior, but if you consider abuse something that happens when someone abuses their power over you, aka them having control of your money, or living place, etc, then Catra might not be able to be considered abusive. However, Catra can still be considered toxic, and people can and do experience trauma from "just" toxicity, and it's demonstrated that Adora does have trauma from the way Catra treated her throughout the series (it's just wiped away like magic at the end somehow).

Again, can’t say one way or the other because I haven’t seen the show, sorry. I do hesitate to use the word abuse about something I haven’t seen, but there are also lots of different ways that someone can have power over someone else. What I said about people fighting in a war, for example, doesn’t mean that abusive actions can never occur during war. There is a reason we have the concept of war crimes. Things like abusing POWs, for example, because there’s an unequal power dynamic there. Emotional abuse is even trickier because someone can have psychological power over someone by virtue of their relationship to that person, even if that person has power over them in other ways.

Hi! I've been enjoying your ATLA metas, and saw that you mentioned Catra's redemption in one of them. I realize this isn't a She-Ra blog, so feel free to decline answering or send me to a different blog (your main blog didn't have a mention of Catra according to search at least so I figured this one was closer?).

I was wondering what you thought of Catra's redemption? I love love love She-Ra, but I do have one main problem with it and that was that any trauma Adora would have received from Catra was pretty much ignored at the end. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the wish fulfillment ending, but in a show that was very focused on realistic portrayals of trauma in a life lessony sorta way, I don't think it sends the right message.

The main arguments I see against this view are:

- They are on opposite sides of the war, which doesn't cause the same sort of trauma that personal abuse does. I disagree, since Catra regularly uses what she personally knows about Adora against her, which is pointed out as a fear of Adora's. Also, because Catra's motivations for going after Adora are motivated largely by personal reasons, rather than because she believes she's on the right side of the war.

- A lot of time passed between when Catra saved Glimmer and when Adora was previously abused by Catra, so Adora has had time to heal. I mean, maybe, but that's pretty weak.

I can't actually say anything about this because I haven't watched SPOP. I only used Catra as an example of a character whose redemption arc got pushback. I also mentioned Kylo Ren as an example, and I confess I haven't watched the last Star Wars movie because I found the second one of the new trilogy so poorly written, but from what I've heard there was similar pushback there because of sloppy writing. I actually was a Kylo Ren redemption supporter in the first film even though I shipped Rey and Finn, but from what I've heard about how that ended it was also a disappointment.

From what you're saying, I would agree with you. People fighting on opposite sides of a war isn't abuse, but it's the personal relationship the characters have that matters. I can't speak to the SPOP example but I immediately thought of Zuko and Azula. Them fighting each other from opposite sides of the war isn't abuse, it's the dynamic they have as brother and sister in a family where Azula was encouraged to participate in Zuko's abuse that makes her actions abusive, and she is abusive to him even when they are on the same side of the war. That's why "but they got along in book three" is bunk. Azula was sitting pretty while Zuko was terrified and miserable and she constantly belittled and manipulated him to keep him that way.

[alectology-archive]

Not sure if tumblr ate my ask or not but the jisy of it was that I’ve seen some Glimmerdora/anti Catra ppl say that Catradora doesn’t work because Catra and Adora are sisters, and how I’ve often seen this argument used to oppose wlw ships in general, Iike in the ambiguous ended movie Wolfwalkers. Viewing the movie through a queer lenses enhances the themes, but many people don’t want to, just like with catradora. The “they’re sisters” excuse is exhausting and it simplifies the tales too much IMO

EDIT: please read the reblog in the notes since I don’t really agree with robyn and mebh being shipped in wolfwalkers.

Sorry nope tumblr didn't eat up your asks! I wanted to take your asks as an excuse to finally watch wolfwalkers so that I could have the full context and also because it's been on my watchlist for a very long time but I unfortunately had a busy-ish weekend.

But what you said here essentially!!! fandoms generally have a really big problem with peacefully shipping wlw couples without tearing them apart and pointing out Why They Don't Work and Why They're Actually Just Friends and Why They're Toxic. I've seen this happen with the haunting of bly manor (with people saying it buried its gays 🙄) and the owl house (people ignoring how amity has an abusive mother and a complicated relationship with her desire to be an excellent student) and a memory called empire (just because they didn't kiss god help me) and the seven husbands of evelyn hugo (because evelyn and celia are complex human beings who make mistakes and have to fix them and unlearn prejudices and apparently that's not okay and they're only allowed to be paragons of virtue which also generally happens to be a problem with all wlw couples 😶) to pick a couple examples.

It's also really funny how nobody thinks of lonnie and kyle as catra and adora's siblings so that really says a lot tbh sjdjdjdj. Shadow weaver was never their parent and more so just a mentor - plus she was specifically interested in adora because knew something was going on there and the reason she abused catra was because adora and catra were inseparable and she couldn't tolerate that since she hated catra!! That's it!!

And yeah, the childhood best friends to lovers trope apparently exists for all pairings except for wlw couples lmao.

[cruelfeline]

One of the aspects of Hordak that strikes me so significantly when compared to other characters is the unexpected, terrifying escalation of his situation. 

We don’t really see this happen with anyone else: generally speaking, our other characters are very much a case of “what you see is what you get.” Adora is perhaps a bit of an exception, seeing as her status as “First Ones gun trigger” is used as a plot twist in season four, but her general background and the overall nature of her situation remain fairly consistent throughout the show. 

Same with Catra. Same with Glimmer and Bow. Mermista, Perfuma, Scorpia, Frosta... everyone else receives a backstory and, barring minute elaborations, stays true to our first impressions of them. Our understanding of who they are and what they are about doesn’t really change.

Hordak is not this way.

Hordak starts off as a pretty standard, one-dimensional evil warlord character. Season one finds him very much delegated to the background, supposedly pulling the strings behind the scenes as other characters have their dramas play out center stage. He is well-designed and frightening, an imposing individual with a stoic personality and a sense of reason and logic that marks him as an effective commander. 

We get no backstory at this point, and the initial impression of the character (at least for me) is “capable evil leader, little to no depth beyond what is absolutely necessary.” And that’s fine. At this point in the story, there’s no suggestion that Hordak will have any sort of role save for serving as an ultimate antagonist for our heroes, so a backstory is largely unnecessary. He appears properly built to provide powerful opposition, and that’s all we need.

This is Hordak’s starting point. It is a serviceable starting point. It is also stunningly different from his end point, and at this stage in the series, there is zero indication that there is going to be any alteration, let alone such a dramatic one.

Seasons two and three see Hordak gaining actual development. Significant development. Development that provides him with a painful, sympathetic reason for waging his war. Suddenly, Hordak is not an all-powerful, untouchable warlord. Suddenly, he is a vulnerable individual with significant physical ailments and resulting emotional trauma. 

His situation has escalated. 

We see now that his body is falling apart, that he is sickly and weak and dependent upon armor and bravado to maintain control over his subordinates. We see that he is not the stoic, omnipotent man presented to us in season one. 

Instead, we learn that he is a manufactured clone with deep emotional wounds linked to past rejection and trauma, that he comes from a society where his illness is scorned enough to earn him rejection and what amounts to a death sentence. We come to understand that he views himself very poorly, and that a significant number of his negative character traits are rooted in shame and fear and a desperate need for validation.

we also learn that he has cute lil ears that can wiggle and droop when he’s sad

To these significant developments we add his budding friendship with Entrapta, and we find that Hordak is very much capable of desiring, forming, and maintaining a positive, affectionate relationship with someone. His character thus becomes even more complex.

Now, something to keep in mind at this point: thanks to revelations provided by his backstory, we can view Hordak as a more vulnerable individual with legitimate feelings and insecurities. That said, there is still a certain dangerous edge to him. At this point in the series, we have been told, by Hordak himself, that he was a top general in a much larger version of the Horde. 

This supposed fact somewhat tempers his vulnerability. We get the sense that, while he is suffering from the shame and subsequent rejection brought on by his disability, his ultimate goal of rejoining his brother still involves a certain level of power. There is this idea that, though he wants validation and acceptance, he is also seeking to regain a position that, theoretically, grants him greater power and authority than the one he holds now. Hence why he doesn’t just settle for conquering and ruling Etheria: being lord of Etheria does not hold a candle to the power granted him by regaining his rank as Horde Prime’s top general.

One can look back at the fandom during late 2019 to fully appreciate this: fanfiction from this time period often features headcanons of particularly accomplished clones holding respected positions in Prime’s empire. High ranking clones have names and titles. They have ships. They have their own planets and their own armies. Even though they serve Prime and are, sadly, purpose-bred clones, they have power and status that provide them with a certain level of agency. 

Essentially, there was the idea that a traditional Horde military structure exists, and Hordak held privilege within it.

So, while Hordak’s situation has escalated in emotional poignancy from “evil warlord wanting to rule the world” to “defective clone seeking validation,” there remains an unsympathetic aspect to it. There is still some degree of potential power-hunger that one can attribute to him. 

This changes, very suddenly and traumatically, in seasons four and five. And this, friends and neighbors, is where I begin to become very emotional.

Our first indication that things are about to wildly change comes during the season four finale. We meet Horde Prime. We see how submissive and terrified Hordak is in his presence. We witness Prime’s distaste not only for the state of him and his failed conquest, but for Hordak daring to take a name.

It is Hordak’s name being a problem that plants the seeds for an upheaval of our preconceived notions regarding a clone’s function in the Galactic Horde. Those seeds germinate abruptly and violently in the next few moments as Prime lifts Hordak by the throat, declares him an abomination, and viciously violates and erases his mind.

And oh, friends and neighbors, now we know that something is wrong. 

We don’t quite know the specifics yet, but we know that there is some sort of discrepancy between what Hordak told us and the truth he has lived. At no point in the narrative did Hordak say anything about names being inappropriate. At no point did he say anything that might have prepared us for the suspiciously religiously-coded language Prime is using. At no point did he say anything to suggest that there was anything wrong with what he was doing beyond trying to compensate for a physical disability.

And then, alongside all of these dark little surprises, there are the hauntingly blank stares of the clones standing besides Prime’s throne.

All of these factors instill a sense of dread that culminates in the chilling reveal of the Galactic Horde’s true nature come season five.

It is a cult. An honest-to-the-gods, played-absolutely-straight religious cult.

The Galactic Horde isn’t a traditional army, or an aggressive nation, or even a standard imperialist empire. It is a cult, with Horde Prime as its god and countless clone acolytes acting as its horrifically willing members.

We never see a top general, or any generals at all. We never see any sort of military hierarchy. We never see clones leading armies, or owning ships, or holding ranks, or commanding anyone or anything.

What we see instead is clones blindly worshiping their Brother. We see them doting on him, sacrificing their own life force to maintain his form. We see them forfeiting control of their bodies to him whenever he feels like using another’s form. We see them chanting the virtue of suffering to achieve purity. We see them blank and emotionless save for religious zealotry, a purpose-bred cohort of completely brainwashed followers. We see that there is no apparent escape from this life, for Prime sees their minds and controls every aspect of their existence, and we see that there is no desire for escape among them, so utterly indoctrinated are they.

We see Hordak reduced to one of these cowl-wearing acolytes: nameless, powerless, ready and willing to endure physical agony in order to forget his shame and relinquish his self to his Brother in the hopes of... well, certainly not of regaining some exalted military rank, or of reclaiming some previously-held status. These things do not exist. Not in this actual religious cult.

Hordak’s true situation is now fully apparent, and it is so far removed from our views of him back in previous seasons: rather than being a calculating warlord, or even a defective clone seeking to regain military glory, Hordak is a manufactured soldier-slave who was born into a religious cult, so indoctrinated and bound to his Brother that he risks his own life in order to win Prime’s love and approval.

Because that’s what this final realization confirms: Hordak was never after any sort of power or prestigious military status. They never existed. Hordak was, in the end, an abused slave trying desperately to win love from his loveless master. He truly was just after validation and affection and a feeling of secure belonging. All things that he was deprived of because he was born a slave-acolyte in a godsforsaken cult. 

And that’s... that’s such a vastly different state of affairs than the one we accepted in season one. It completely rewrites our understanding of Hordak’s power, of his vulnerability, of his true wants and needs and desires. Said understanding shifts from a purely villainous one to one steeped in self-loathing and control and lifelong victimization. It is absolutely shocking to see a character’s circumstances completely transform the way Hordak’s do between the show’s beginning and its finale. It is utterly bewildering to witness this intensity of change.

As I stated at the start: this doesn’t happen to anyone else. Oh, other characters develop and grow and undergo their arcs, sure, but by and large, Catra remains a scrappy catgirl. Adora remains an orphaned heroine. Swift Wind remains a revolutionary winged steed.

Only Hordak undergoes a transformation as dramatic as shifting from “all-powerful conquering warlord” to “defective clone seeking validation... but maybe also galactic power” before finally settling, tearfully and painfully, on “shamed, love-starved cult victim.” Only his situation, his true identity and our understanding of it, escalate so shockingly and to such terrifying levels. 

I’m still not over it. I still cry about it. I still feel light-headed sometimes, knowing that Hordak's circumstances revolve around being born into and abused and thrown away by an actual cult. Even though we're over two months out from SPoP's finale, it's still that emotionally powerful to me, and the shock of the difference between seasons one and five only make it more so.