C@tra Stans: OMG why people are criticizing C@tra so much!? She’s a literal teenager! Poor baby! 🥺

Also C@tra Stans: OMG C@tra and C//A is SO sexy and spicy! I love it! 😍😍😍

Lately, I've been seeing a bunch of posts on spop twitter joking about how Adora could've just taken Catra to Bright Moon or easily gotten or to join the princesses or whatever. And, like...

No???

A lot of this talk comes off like Catra is just a big lovable brat who is too whiny to switch sides and needs to stop being a dumbass, unlike Adora. But the whole show is about how this isn't the case???

No, actually, Adora does not have her shit together either. Adora is a complete mess, and her character arc is about realizing it's incredibly unhealthy for her to put everyone else's needs before hers and play the big hero. It's simply not a case of Catra needing to become a "good person" like Adora. Adora shouldn't have been in the Horde, but she really shouldn't have been fighting for the rebellion either.

I imagine Catra switching sides early on would be her taking charge of the whole rebellion immediately, like why do you think Light Hope drove Catra away from Adora??? Because LH knew Catra would not blindly trust the ancient occasionally-murderous AI.

I dunno, I think the show was pretty clear about why Catra didn't switch sides in s1 or s2 and then her big spiral in s3/s4? All of which actually happened pretty quickly, and then led to her recovery in s5? But the way folks talk about it you'd think she was just being an asshole for no reason.

I forget where, but ND once talked about how unhealthily codependent Catra and Adora's relationship was in the Horde, and how they both needed time away to figure things out and get better before they could come back to each other.

Sorry this has been so rambly, it was just getting to me this AM. These jokes are really weird and tasteless.

i just have to say this. she-ra was a weak hero.

don't get me wrong, adora was a very compelling protagonist. she was flawed, relatable and had good character growth (until s5, at least). but she-ra, as her superhero form? i feel like she was just lost potential. i mean, sure, she lifted tanks and stuff. but she never did anything truly mind-blowing as she-ra.

in her fights with catra, i guess you could say catra had the upper hand because she was adora's abuser. but in general, there were very few satisfying fight scenes involving she-ra. most of the “fight scenes” were just catra repeatedly and remorselessly torturing adora, all while berating her.

i mean, come on, i get that adora didn't want to hurt catra. but she couldn't even dodge or block catra's attacks? she couldn't figure out a way to restrain catra without hurting her? even a simple punch from catra seemed to really hurt she-ra, so what was the point of the she-ra form? if just seems to me that she-ra was a regular person who was taller and slightly stronger.

even in s4, where adora finally got tired of catra's shit, there were very few instances of her fighting catra as an equal or defeating catra. i guess some of it had to do with the fact that catra didn't want to face adora and sent double trouble in her place instead.

she-ra didnt really do much for the plot, she certainly didn't make adora's job any easier, since adora got her ass beat whether she was in the she-ra form or not. she was taller and stronger but the strength didn't really matter.

if she-ra was really created as a weapon, you'd think that the first ones would make it more durable and strong. but the outfit was flimsy and easily torn through, the sword didn't seem too different from a regular sword and there wasn't much improvement to her agility. it seems like all that's needed to defeat the legendary invincible warrior is a teenage catgirl who slacked off during her training and had only her claws for weapons. doesn't seem like a very powerful weapon to me.

and honestly, i feel like adora herself was mostly reduced to the dumb blonde jock stereotype after a while. i've mentioned this before how in s1, adora was shown to be very diligent, strategic and a capable fighter. but all of that is thrown away in the later seasons and her only strength seems to be her physical strength, which she doesn't use much of.

what's even more disappointing is that adora never faces off with hordak. hordak is literally the leader of the horde, adora is trying to bring down the horde. you would think that she would have some sort of animosity with hordak. you would expect to see fight scenes or at least a confrontation.

especially after the revelation that hordak was the one who adopted adora and took her into the horde, you would think that this would bring up a new dilemma. in any other story, i wouldn't be complaining. but this is literally a story about a war, where the chosen one is fighting the army led by an evil dictator. you would think that she would have a direct relationship with said dictator.

but no, the only person adora really seems to be opposing is catra. we're supposed to believe that there's a war going on, when the only rivalry that matters is adora vs catra (which is reduced to “oh they were just exes who couldn't get over each other haha silly lesbians” in s5).

(this isn't hate on adora btw it's a criticism on the crew-ra who had to go and make a regular catgirl stronger than the literal warrior goddess being.)

So… I was on the wiki. And I found this.

Here’s the video link btw.

https://youtu.be/U1627KxmKM4?feature=shared

So… In the video, they try to celebrate Adora’s 16th birthday, and say that it takes place not anywhere near here actual birthday, hence it being a surprise.

So if it’s true that every season is a year (even though S2 and S3 feel more like one season rather than two…) We can also assume Catra and Adora are around the same age, though Catra is confirmed to be younger. We’re not sure how much you her though. Could be a few months, could be a couple years. But for simplicity, let’s say they’re about the same age. We do the math, and… Here are Adora’s canonical ages.

S1-15 years old

S2-16 years old

S3-17 years old

S4-18 years old

S5-19 years old

Yikes. I always thought maybe she was about 17 in S1. But… Yeah, it’s bad. And depending how old Catra is compared to Adora, Catra could possibly be only 17 by the end, meaning she could have been a minor throughout. After all, two years isn’t that noticeable at times. Just look at ATLA and Owl House. Aang and Toph are about two (biological, I know Aang is technically 112) years younger than other characters who are about 14-15, but it’s not that noticeable. And Owl House has Hunter at 16, Willow at 14-15, Luz and Amity at 14, and Gus at 12-13. Apart from Gus, they all look to be the same age. So like I said, Catra could be a few years younger. And that’s not even getting into the fact we don’t have a frame of reference for any of the other characters besides Frosta. (Just think, Frosta is the same age at the end of the show that Adora was at the beginning!) And again, I personally would like to think S2 and S3 are the same year since they feel like the same season and we’re released in relatively close proximity iirc, so I’d personally like to adjust the age timeline by about a year, ending it at 18. But that’s me, so it’s whatever. My point is, after all this time we finally have a canonical age for Adora. And buddy, it’s not looking pretty for all the creepy fans. But it never really was pretty with those creeps.

That makes it worse- Here I was thinking them being 17 in season one was bad, but nope! Turns out they were teenagers for the majority of the show! What is with Catradora fans and sexualizing minors? I don't get it, why can't they just like a ship without sexualizing it for 2 seconds especially when it turns out the people in said ship are teenagers for the majority of the show?

as i said before, i believe that spop got inspired by zuko's redemption arc when they developed catra's. one thing that makes me think that is the "hair arc" both characters go through. or at least that's smth fans love to compare and i wanted to dissect here.

i think with the exception of s5, catra's hair arc is less extreme in the first four seasons. catra took out her hair tufts in s4. i've seen ppl point out that it was bc shadow weaver would touch that specific part of her hair to mess with her, so catra removed it altogether. regardless, her hair is also visibly straightened (and longer?) in s4, unlike it's "wilder" appearance in s1-3.

but then s5 comes around... and catra's hair is forcibly cut. she doesn't have the choice to do that. even then, ppl still compare catra's hair arc to zuko's, likely how the hair looks itself. but let me tell you why they're different.

zuko is always the one who changes his hair.

in book 1, zuko and iroh are forced to hide from the fire nation. zuko is the one who cuts his own hair. it grows throughout book 2, which also indicates zuko's growth as a person. he's starting to realize things. at one point he even starts accepting living in the earth kingdom with his uncle. but then azula comes along and she convinces zuko to return home and restore his honor. while yes, azula manipulated him, zuko still made the choice to go back to the fire nation when he could very well not to. he betrayed uncle iroh and katara (and the gaang overall), and with that he returned home.

in book 3, zuko's hair was mainly tied up, probably indicating the control of the fire nation over him. i vaguely remember his hair being loose whenever he went out and visited his uncle in prison, or when he was with mai (though in some situations with her, his hair was still tied up). finally, zuko lets it free, he faces his father and decides to join the avatar. regardless of influences, because they were there, zuko always had the choice to do differently. that's why his hair arc is so meaningful. in fact, his hair is never the same in all three seasons of atla.

catra's hair arc is not the same. i think it's implied that she cut it even more after being chipped by horde prime, considering it looks even shorter than when she was brainwashed. still, catra didn't have the choice here. and if you headcanon her as a woman of color (which nate somewhat "confirmed"), then this is only more insensitive and not well thought out. they never touch on that specific part of her arc. catra is never shown to be upset about her hair. if anything, it only makes her look "cute" and a "soft uwu baby" (when she rlly isn't). i hate that fans who apparently love the fact catra is a woc never call this out. everyone seems happy with short-haired catra.

the only ppl i've seen that actually criticized this decision are spop crits/antis like myself. i could be wrong, but fans rarely criticize this show overall.

anyway, yeah, i'm tired of everyone trying to tell me catra and zuko are the same. their hair arcs are not at all alike.

In regards to your last post, they did do that with Soren (ik ik you weren't talking about him) but his character has depth and a more satisfying arc (relating back to the vulnerability is strength theme) so I'm cool with him

Here's the thing about Soren though, honestly. He's just jerky and loyal enough to his father (and the fact that Viren asks him to kill the princes rather than Claudia in the first place) that in S1 it's more of a tossup, even if I do remember being more worried about Claudia / her skewed worldview in S1 than I was about Soren.

TDP also has more complex explorations of morality (if not in some ways just exploring actual morality) than most shows aimed at kids/young teens do.

In She-Ra, the war is mostly a backdrop conflict used to explore relationship conflict, so when characters do defect from like, a conquering empire, it's because they've realized they aren't 1) treated well there by their 'friends' or 2) would rather be someone's friend than enemy. That's fine as a show focus, but it is more shallow in the morality department; thus, even though I have issues with how Catra's redemption arc was executed, I still always absolutely knew it was coming. To be clear, there's nothing with a predictable character arc (I love good setup and subsequent payoff and would take that over a 'subversives surprise' any day) but it did make her less interesting / harder to watch her be continually terrible to the people around her, even when they just risked everything to save her from death.

In The Owl House, every antagonist besides the main villain is either just misunderstood, misguided, redeemed, or all three (hi Hunter, Amity, The Collector, Lilith). There are a few others - Boscha, Kikimora, Odalia - but they're all regulated to small episode conflicts (each get like maybe 2 eps as an antagonist at most) and it's just... they all want power. Okay, cool.

What I'm trying to say through these examples is that's not a lot of moral depth in their character arcs, and to me, that makes a redemption arc less interesting to watch. However, Soren is a very morally driven character and he struggles with the morality of his choices and of his father's. His redemption arc ties in many other important relationships in his life and develops them (Claudia, Viren, Callum, Ezran) all in different ways. Ezran is his king and becomes his new purpose; Callum is a second chance and also kind of a little brother and also kind of an emotionally unavailable best friend who doesn't entirely trust you; Claudia is his sister turned enemy; Viren is, well... We're gonna get into how complicated that is even more, I'm sure.

I guess that's also what it comes down to me, the sacrifice / inconvenience element of the character doing the redeeming. Soren had, and has, something to lose by staying on the side of the good guys. He defects for his safety, yes, but he leaves behind his little sister and his previous idealization of his father on his own terms through a series of events and his own realizations. He shows up on the good guys' doorstep with "We're doomed." Even in S4, he's still losing things and at least somewhat on the losing side, with his entire family on the other side of the line. (Compare and contrast to Amity, whose entire family - all four of them - unanimously ditch her crappy mother or Catra, who defects after realizing she's effectively worthless to the new #1 villain replacing her, etc. They lose nothing, really, in the end.)

And again, I think Soren's arc works because well... it's the only one that TDP has had in this way. Rayla defects immediately, so her redemption arc works a bit differently. Claudia is still in the middle of her "what if I got worse haha jk... unless?" arc. So they all work as his primary arc foils in a very nice way. Now Viren is going through a bit of Soren's S2 arc, which we'll have to see how that goes, but full fledged died and resurrected and dragged through the mud by his daughter's determination to keep him alive sad old sack of an evil man isn't an arc you see often, now is it?

Soren realizes he's wrong without 1) a mentor figure or 2) heroes pointing it out to him and offering him second chances (save Ez sparing both him and Claudia in 3x02, which had an impact for sure but like - think of how much more reaching out, comparatively, even someone like Zuko got from protag team). Part of this is also because Soren starts off in an interesting place for a 'redeemed character' which is that he starts off on the 'right side' (protecting the king) so he has more of a restoration/maturation arc than an outright redemption arc, in some ways.

So Soren's arc is unique within his story, it's very well paced, there's a depth of morality, and it's tethered to theme so so well. It's *chef's kiss* and refreshing for someone who honestly doesn't truthfully love redemption arcs most of the time (at least not the classical kind) so it's just. Nice, y'know? It's really nice

Most people who do not like the execution of sp0p:

usually don't treat Catra like completely unforgivable, at least up to a certain point

the certain point usually want Catra to have some semblance of a happy ending

could believe in the first season that Cat***ora could be an satisfying end game

The problem is the execution as you mentioned. Narrative treats relationship between the main two like a center of the universe. Adora has many more friends and allies and her very toxic relationship is treated like The Important One. I feel like if there was a canon divergence around S3 and their relationship took a slightly different turn - Catra's ark could be more satisfying and if someone wanted to make Cat***ora the endgame it could have been pulled of in a way that doesn't come off as amatonormative and insulting to the characters. Narrative treats Adora like prize for Catra - this what rubs me the wrong way the most.

Pretty much this, yeah. A friend of mine said, ages ago, that if you only watched S1 and S5, it would all flow together relatively cohesively, and it's the presence of S2-4 that ends up fucking it.

(and while S2-S4 have, in theory, some of the strongest episodes and hint at some really compelling ideas...everything that fucking happens in them is memory-holed by S5, so all of it just ends up as depthbaiting in the end anyway)

What I like about Bow is that in s1 he motivates Entraptas staff because "I'm one of you" (a normal person with no powers) by showing them how to fight back, in s4 he does the same thing with an entire trapped village by teaching them how to save themselves, and finally in s5 he does it with the ENTIRE planet by giving the population a last stand speech.

He's the common folks' leader. It fits that he'll be the future king.

Bow was very at risk in falling into a somewhat misogynistic trope of "the underdog boy who overshadows all the way stronger/smarter girls" since that's what his character template usually entails and that's what any other show would have done

Like for example if he was better than Glimmer or Adora at combat because he "tried harder" or if he was better at tech than Entrapta because he's an "underdog"

It's a trope I fucking despise and it's always the boys who surpass girls, some classic examples are Wanted and Kung Fu Panda wherein you have a girl who has trained for a role forever be surpassed by a really stupid ameteur boy because that's how the system sees women i guess

Instead, Bow ISNT as good at combat as the princesses even though he tries so hard because they're just so overwhelmingly powerful, and Bow ISN'T as good at tech as Entrapta because she has put in way more time and resources and experience than him, he would have to make science his entire life to keep up and that's not his priority (though he was able to go toe to toe with Hordak who thought his work was Entrapta's so he definitely spends a lot of time trying to work out her tech once he's made techmaster, and he was even able to fix a thousand years old the ship by himself and teach her how it works, but that's nothing like the trope im describing)

What they did instead is make Bow the master of a domain that most other characters especially in the Rebellion don't think about at all - Heart!! Bow is the proverbial glue keeping everyone together, he encourages powerless people like himself to fight, he picks his friends up when they fall down, and of the rebellion I'd say Bow was the only one after Adora to truly believe that people in the Horde could change. Bow's examples include how he recruited Adora herself (!!!) even when Glimmer saw her as trouble, how he tried to befriend Catra even when she nearly got brightmoon destroyed and Adora was starting to see her as an enemy, how he was utterly determined to convince Entrapta to rejoin the rebellion even after learning she valued science over their friendship, and how he was able to crack through to Scorpia and tell her that she wasn't a killer, even though he barely knew Scorpia at all. Bow's unwavering belief in the good of his friends and the people around him does get him in trouble from time to time as people take advantage of it, but there are no other characters who hold to this as strongly. His beliefs go through some sad challenges when his friendships fall apart, but he is able to overcome those challenges and reassess his boundaries.

Other characters play the Heart from time to time but they don't BELIEVE as hard as Bow. Scorpia believes in friendship but it's hard to say if she actually sees the good in everyone, or if she just wants to please everyone regardless of who they are. Adora does see the good in everyone but this can often be shrouded by her determination to do The Right Thing, especially in season 4. Entrapta tries to encourage people that they are wonderfulas they are like Bow does, but her faith in friendship was perhaps the most fragile of our cast as she writes all her relationships off as failures faster than Catra can open a portal. Glimmer tries to lead everyone but also competes with them and doesn't understand them as well.

With THIS in mind, it's wonderful that even though he can't contribute as well as the princesses in battle, Bow sees value in himself as the arrow guy, the level headed guy, and most importantly a friend.

It's pretty interesting how little faith he had in his fathers by contrast, how that clashes with his attitude to everyone else. While he's so open with his friends, he hides everything from his dads. They don't know who he is, really. I think this is surprisingly relatable for many people.

s4 glimmer is overhated

i feel like glimmer and adora never really solved their issues from s4 with shadow weaver in the show, bc ofc glimmer got kidnapped and then realized the adora was right in the end and adora realized that glimmer was more important than the disagreement they were having and the problems they were having were bigger than just the two of them. but adora and glimmer's conflict in s4 is so important to their characters.

for 3 seasons, adora has been she-ra who's supposed to be the most powerful princess on etheria, wields a giant sword, and has a huge savior complex feeling the need to always "rescue" glimmer, who shared the power of the moonstone with her mom. and now she's finally powerful since she has both the full power of the moonstone as well as magic that she's learning from shadow weaver, so she doesn't need to rely on adora anymore. even more than that, adora was the last person to see her mother alive. she doesn't really know what happened, and adora doesn't really explain it to her past "she stayed behind. she saved us." clearly her mother has done something very noble, but she doesn't know exactly what it is and if it was truly necessary or if adora could've saved angella.

as for learning from shadow weaver, shadow weaver is really one of the only people to see glimmer as someone truly powerful. adora and bow, whilst acknowledging glimmer's courage and strength of will, still view her as someone they need to protect, because that's the only part of her that they've ever known. shadow weaver's knowledge of glimmer is watching her escape from the black garnet's restraints back in s1, and knowing that micah is her father.

by taking on shadow weaver as a mentor, glimmer gets to learn more about her father, who she never really knew, and also gets to learn how to become more powerful, beyond just the symbolic power of being queen of bright moon, until she is no longer seen as someone who needs to be protected and guarded at all times. shadow weaver also takes on the role of being sort of another mother for glimmer, replacing the one that she just lost, except shadow weaver never wants to hold her back like angella did. angella was always worried about pushing glimmer too far, but shadow weaver never is.

adora has a very real fear that shadow weaver is manipulating glimmer, but glimmer sees shadow weaver as more of a maternal figure, and believes that adora is simply angry that she's no longer the "favourite child." despite knowing how dangerous shadow weaver was in the past, glimmer (slightly arrogantly) believes herself powerful enough to subdue her, and smart enough to know when she's being manipulated.

back in s1, when glimmer first learned about shadow weaver, it was very clear that her and adora had very different upbringings. she at first, misunderstands shadow weaver's role in adora's life:

for glimmer, her mother was quite literally her commanding officer. shadow weaver teaching adora how to subvert the enemy, be victorious in battle, was something angella did for glimmer (but in a likely far more loving manner). angella didn't try to hurt or manipulate glimmer in the way shadow weaver did to adora. shadow weaver showing her how to become stronger almost seems normal for glimmer.

not to mention, both angella and castaspella constantly talk about how similar glimmer is to her father. let's not forget how easily light spinner manipulated micah in the past.

at the end of the day, glimmer was wrong, and the way she treated adora might have been cruel, but she only did it because she thought she was doing the right thing. i honestly think she's one of the more complex characters of spop, and her character arc, especially in s4, is so delightfully intricate. i think most of the things she did were justified, and definitely took the show on a darker turn than i ever expected, but it was more enjoyable because of it. honestly, catra has done a lot worse than glimmer ever has, but i guess they never expected glimmer to be that kind of anti-hero.

adora gives up in s1 (and that moment I remember threw ppl off because in the climax of the 3rd act the hero is supposed to rise up and save the day on their own, not be saved and that's "basic storytelling") after catra tells her she failed and her friends are all let down by her failure, bc catra knows adora's weak spots so she said what she knew what'd break her psychologically

Omg u know... i never thought about it much like that but now that you've said it? S5 wasnt the first time adora got saved by someone else is it???? Omg

The s1 // s5 finale parallels are actually so clear now? Catra and horde prime tearing down adora knowing her weak points, adora giving up and one of her friends reaching out to tell her it okay, and then finally her getting saved by the princess alliance/ catra.

So like technically speaking, its only logical?? That it'd end this way?? omfg. i remember someone on here once pointed out that spop's title was changed from 'she ra: princess of power' to 'she ra and the princesses of power' to reflect how it isnt just on adora's shoulders, and now since i see that adora getting saved by other people is a recurring thing.... it just feels even more appropriate

How do you feel about Glimmer? There are some who hate her but some who love her. What do you think?

My feelings about Glimmer are complicated, and my problems with her lie solely with the writers. I do think a lot of other SPOP critics cut her a lot of slack, and I have a post I haven't finished yet about the double standards of Catra VS Glimmer. But in short, S4-S5 Glimmer is the worst kind of Glimmer. S1 Glimmer is the best kind of Glimmer. This got long.

In particular, how she treated Adora, because nothing Adora did was to intentionally hurt Glimmer, but Glimmer intentionally hurt her. Glimmer treated her the way Shadow Weaver treated Adora, using her as a tool that has to be perfect, because if she's not, everything is her fault.

She used her the way Adora's insecurities use her. I actually wrote down that exchange, and that isn't even including the "Shadow Weaver's favourite' line.

You think you can just transform into She-Ra and hit things with your sword, and it will fix everything. Well, guess what? It's not working / Why are you blaming this all on me? It is not my fault that Salineas fell, the Horde manipulated all of us.

She-Ra was supposed to save us. But the rebellion's in a worse place than ever since YOU showed up! / I'm trying my best. Why can't you see that?

Well, maybe your best isn't good enough! If it was, my mother would still be here!

Glimmer regrets what she said, only after Adora starts crying. This isn't even including how in the episode before this, Glimmer laughed at Adora's trauma (She's always been paranoid like this) and it was revealed Glimmer let Adora's abuser walk free without even telling her, and used her as bait despite the fact it reinforced the idea that Adora was only worth what she could give and it was fine to throw her into danger.

And she didn't listen to Adora about the Heart of Etheria, something that Mara died for.

Bright Moon was supposed to be Adora's home, she was supposed to feel safe there. Glimmer took that away from her, and refused to accept that they were a team and had to trust each other, rather than everyone blindly trusting Glimmer.

And that's a flaw of Glimmer's! That's something built up in S1 with her 'Trust me' lines. But it's only a flaw if it's actually acknowledged and she grows from it, but she did the opposite of growth.

And then in S5 she gives Adora a little 'I'm sorry for everything' and a couple of tears, and I'm supposed to believe the trust she broke is restored? She actually chose Shadow Weaver over Adora.

And it wasn't for a lack of options! The only reason she talked to SW about her problems is because SW was actively approaching her in an attempt to manipulate her. She could have written a letter to Castaspella, or tried to talk to Adora and Bow. She didn't, because she's stubborn.

And her speech to Micah in S5? "My mother raised me to be brave" is a blatant lie and the fact that's what the writers came up with for her BIG moment? We were robbed.

Glimmer was not raised to be brave, Glimmer was raised to be safe. That's all Angella wanted, was to keep Glimmer safe, to mold her into someone who could be more reasonable and who wouldn't throw herself into danger at every moment.

She's stubborn, and brave, and she gets both of those qualities from Micah and Angella actively tried to mold those qualities out of Glimmer, which she admits to in S1.

Combined with her forced romance in S5 which I really don't like, because their platonic relationship was really important to me and I felt betrayed, S4-S5 Glimmer really didn't do her justice.

The conclusion: I think Glimmer is a good character and I like her, I really do, I just think the writers didn't give her what she deserved in S4-S5. I had to write a fix-it after the show ended about her and Adora's fractured friendship.

Actually hang on, that AU would have so much potential.

Adora seeing Imp as her chaotic little sibling who helps out with pranks etc but might also snitch on her and Catra. Also, more internal conflict because he and Hordak are, at least on some level, family to her.

The other cadets not interacting with C and A because A is Hordak's protegee and C is SW's. Both of them are scary, so C and A really only have each other, which makes their separation in s1 only hurt more and make Catra all the more obsessed with getting Adora back bc she literally doesn't have anyone else (until Scorpia) (she could bond with Imp?)

Catra struggling to bond with Scorpia and accepting her friendship because she never had any friends outside Adora so, oops, social skills whomst? But eventually learning how to be a decent friend and growing as a person, as well as letting the sting of Adora's departure fade a little. She gets to grow as a person AWAY from Adora so that once she does join the Alliance, she is a bit more functional.

Catra worrying about Scorpia during s5.

Catra, spying at Angela interacting with Glimmer: oh ew what is this? Affection? What a cheap attempt at manipulation. -> Wait a minute, this looks... nice, actually. -> If she's the evil one, why is she such a good mom? -> Why isn't SW being this good to me? -> FUCK OFF SHADOW WEAVER YOU'RE A HORRIBLE MOM I'M OUTTA HERE.

Adora getting dragged back to the Horde in s3 and Hordak potentially acting like a disappointed father whose teenage daughter came home late from a party.

"Did you get everything out of your system? Y'know, Horde Prime would've killed me if I did what you did. You should be grateful."

[some character development later] "Hey, wait a minute... You shouldn't kill/brainwash people for doing that. HORDE PRIME IS AN ASSHOLE."

The comedy of Adora looking at Entrapta and Hordak interacting like "??????????????? HORDAK??? HAVING POSITIVE EMOTIONS??? DO I HAVE TO CALL ENTRAPTA MOM FROM NOW ON?????????"

Entrapta: I fucked your dad shitlips

Catra feeling genuinely horrible for Angela getting trapped between dimensions bc of the portal not only because she learned that Angela was good all along, but because she glimpsed what it's like to have a good mother figure and she took that away from Glimmer.

Maybe even Catra knocking some sense into Bow because he's mad that Glimmer did the stuff she did in s4. "Dude, cut her some slack. I know what it's like to be in position of authority (force captain) and it's stressful as hell. We were winning back then so you guys were losing badly and she was/is grieving. You do stupid shit when you're stressed and desperate (I would know, I made the portal happen.) So just... I'm still not 100% sure how to be a good friend so take what I say with a grain of salt but... Y'know, go easy on her."

^ character growth, shows willingness to forgive and thus bridge the gap between her and Adora. Results of being friends with Scorpia, feeling like shit when Scorpia left her, and the self reflection done throughout s4 following the "oh God I fucked up" at the end of s3.

No Melog. I'm sorry I just don't see the point. Instead, I'd really want to see Swiftwind be featured more heavily. Possibly Catra initially thinking he's weird bc she's never seen a horse before and later going "hey, you're close with Adora. Can we, uh, compare notes? I spent the last 3 seasons being her enemy and I'd like to go back to being her friend now. Help?"

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. this AU would have worked so much better than the trainwreck that we got. (also the idea of entrapta technically becoming adora's mom crossed my mind too, it would have been HILARIOUS)

i think about catra and her attitude to saviourism a lot like. throughout the series she completely rejects others attempting to save her: to adora in 1x11, ‘for the last time, i don’t need you to save me,’ the scene with scorpia in 3x01 where she says ‘i can save you’ and instead catra chooses to push her away, 5x06’s ‘i told you not to come for me’.

i think that this is one aspect of catra’s character that really, really resonates with me, and it’s something i don’t see people talk about that much. catra is so brilliantly competent, she effectively gets herself out of being kidnapped in 2x02, the takes over the entirety of the crimson waste in a day, increases the horde’s productivity by 400% by only the end of s2. there are only two instances in which catra has to be saved before save the cat (which, oh boy) and those are 2x05 and 4x04.

2x05 is much much MUCH more scorpia’s moment but there is still a commentary to be had about catra in that moment. she definitely falls victim to hubris, this sense of overconfidence that, yeah, okay, i’m currently trapped in between the jaws of this evil robot thingy and the only way to stop it is by destroying a disc that i refuse to destroy because i’m a Lesbian but i’m competent, i don’t need to be saved, i’ll either get my way or i’ll fucking die. what is interesting about 2x05 is that catra does actually thank scorpia for saving her, however begrudgingly, and that’s probably down to the fact she’s beginning to have more security in their relationship. in 1x11, she’s more apprehensive to adora’s attempts to save her since all the security in their relationship has gone for catra since adora left.

this takes me onto 4x04 and the idea of security in relationships. at the end of 4x04, dt has to save catra from the collapsing hideout and afterwards, catra says to them ‘thank you, for... saving me.’ she’s hesitant, but it’s a lot more forthright than her ‘thanks for getting us out of there,’ to scorpia; the latter plays down the severity of the situation, makes out catra could’ve probably saved herself somehow, but with dt catra is upfront about how they’re the only reason she’s alive right now. that’s significant. catra is, for some reason, totally assured in the security of her and dt’s relationship despite the fact they hardly know one another. this is for a variety of reasons, most importantly the fact that catra thinks dt likes her more than her money (not that they don’t like catra, but, they’re quick to betray her for a bit of victory) and also, catra’s other relationships are collapsing before her. she thinks adora has given up on her, she can see how scorpia is beginning to question her.

catra won’t accept being saved by someone she can’t trust, and trust is incredibly important to her, hard to earn. in s1, adora loses that trust when she breaks the promise, and consequently catra can’t uphold her end of it or accept adora’s attempts to make up for it. she now knows she isn’t adora’s top priority, and can’t place trust in her to save her over everyone else. that’s terrifying for someone like catra, who relied on her promise with adora as a means of survival since she was a child. this is why save the cat is so fucking important, because it’s the reparation of that promise to look out for one another.

in 5x03, catra chooses to save glimmer as a means to save adora (‘are you saving me?’ ‘not you. adora.’). this is the first step in making the promise all over again, this is catra finally being the one to try and fix it first instead of adora. she resigns herself to death and makes it so adora never has to come to the velvet glove, never has to face horde prime on this awful ship, so she can just go back to etheria with glimmer and fight him off of their home. but, that’s not what happens. adora comes back for catra, she recognises that catra was looking out for her and in turn decides to look out for her: ‘i can’t just leave her there.’ she can’t. that would be breaking the promise all over again, after catra finally made the decision to uphold her end of it once more.

and 5x05? could write essays on this episode alone, obviously, of course, but anyways. this episode is so painful. the way that catra is stripped of all the things she prides herself on, her individuality, her competency, her agency, leaves her utterly unable to save herself. she claims to glimmer in 5x03 that ‘i always find a way out,’ but she can’t. she can’t. sometimes, catra has to accept that she cannot save herself. she needs others to help her. this comes back to her complete breakdown in s4, the way she repeatedly claims she doesn’t need anyone. she does. she needed scorpia in 2x05, she needed dt in 4x04, she needs adora now in 5x05. over the course of these instances, we have seen how catra comes to accept that fact, and her acceptance of adora saving her in 5x05 is so fucking brilliant.

at first, she rejects it. she told adora not to come for her, she resigned herself to death, and yet she’s still here. she has to put in the effort to be a better person now. but, as adora continues to confront her in 5x06, says that if catra wants, she can be all alone again and take care of herself, something changes. catra changes. she allows herself to accept adora’s help, accept entrapta’s, and most significantly asks adora to stay. she acknowledges that she wants adora, feels more safe and secure with her, and for once can actually admit that. this is the moment that the promise comes back together, where catra and adora have both upheld their ends of it, where they’re both finally willing to continue to do so.

and then they do. whilst catra still feels uncomfortable with the idea of being saved (the way she tries to downplay the events of 5x05 in 5x10 with ‘the only reason adora, you know, saved me or whatever’) she allows adora to look out for her and in turn catra will look out for her. they’re healing. adora defends catra from being too battered by the princesses, catra jumps into fire for adora. catra tackles melog head on to protect adora, adora strives to reassure and protect catra around shadow bitch. adora saves catra on horde prime’s ship, catra saves adora at the heart of etheria.

catra finally, truly learns that saving someone is a measure of love. yes, whilst catra and adora made that promise that compelled them to save each other, it was broken. in the end, they saved one another without even repairing it. it’s only in 5x12 that catra says ‘it’s time i made good on [my end of the promise],’ and whilst the promise was always a measure of love in itself, neither catra nor adora fully realised that until it was broken and they both attempted to fix it anyway. their love existed outside of that promise and it always did.

catra doesn’t always need to be saved, definitely not, but if she has people there who are willing to do it, she is loved. she is loved, and she deserves to have that. she deserves to be able to accept it. the fact that she does? poetic fuckin cinema luvs

I'm gonna be real honest rn...who TF looks at season 1 Catra's design and think that she's the hottest character?

In later seasons, I'd probably see it, but like...outside of her being 17, her design is ugly as sin

I'd excuse her hair looking almost like a lion's mane, but everything else doesn't make any sense

Why isn't she wearing a Horde uniform like most of the other soldiers? Like, I get that she's supposed to be a "unique" villain and that's her whole thing, but you can make a Horde uniform work for a character who happens to be a villain like her

It kinda works for Adora as the hero who's uncomfortable in most clothes outside of her uniform, but I say that loosely because she's never seen in anything else other than her uniform (the hologram future vision doesn't count btw) and, also, Nate isn't that great at keeping track of his own characters, so...yeah

Just another example of this show just being Catra: The Series

Yeah, Catra clearly acts like a teenager in s1, bullying teasing Adora, lashing out, bearing a "wild" appearance (obviously also because she's a cat)... the Horde kind of feels like a school before we get to the more gruesome details (though they're not taken seriously, honestly). I always say that it reminds me of P.E. class, lmao. And that's not a compliment.

It's kinda weird that Catra doesn't have an outfit change when she becomes Force Captain. She only has the badge. You'd think she would start wearing a Horde uniform to prove she's worth the position... but yeah, Catra only has an outfit change in s4 (I will say that her s4 design is probably my favorite one, minus the sexualization). And unfortunately fan redesigns tend to sexualize Catra most of the time.

As for Adora, I guess you could count the Princess Prom dress, too. I really like the color, red fits Adora imo. But I feel bad for her since she gets very few design changes, as the PROTAGONIST of the show. Once again, I wish Nate didn't use She-Ra to make it about Catra. Maybe SPOP could have been a spin-off? Idk if it would be good. Probably wouldn't be successful and maybe that's why Adora remains the face of the reboot. But still.

i really feel like all the poc characters in spop def didn't get enough time. like, bow's a part of the main three, and he doesn't even really get any major arcs outside of the squad's adventures. mermista is really only a recuring charater, so is perfuma (although i'm not sure if she's poc or not) aswell as many, MANY other poc/moc/woc that def should've gotten more time. spop's arcs are DEF not balanced tbh

spop: what do you mean our main characters aren’t catra, cat- i mean adora, and glimmer?? bow?? oh yeah he’s just there 99% of the time to be supportive, that doesn’t fall into the “black best friend” trope at all, yes all these characters of colour are led by One Important White Person who’s also descended from the first people to colonize - i mean settle etheria, of course she’s their saviour, uwu

like of the darker skinned characters in shera, we have: bow (addressed above), mermista (like you said), lonnie (a minor character who stops existing in s5), bow’s dads (2 episodes in a 52 episode run when they could’ve been relevant at any time; they could’ve just worked at the bright moon library), netossa (who is barely a character until s5 so it just feels random tbh)

and having “one of each” for each character racially (with the exception of glimmer and frosta, but not really, because they’re purposefully made very similar) in terms of the main cast feels token-y. like they were like one black male character, one black female character (lonnie s1-s4, then netossa in s5)? done. one asian guy (seahawke)? done. etc. i don’t remember any of the kids being mixed race either

not to mention, she-ra changing adora’s canonical romance with bow in the 80s and removing it while also deciding to make him black will never sit right with me tbh

I don't know if it seems like it, but I actually do really like Catra (or I did before s5 fucked up her character arc). She had so much potential, which is why I'm riding so hard on this.

Noelle knew from the very first episode that she wanted Catradora to be canon, she knew that she wanted to portray an abusive cycle, and add elements of trauma and toxicity.

But she could have done precisely that without throwing away Catra's arc, her development or making there nothing redeemable about her relationship with Adora.

There is so much toxicity shown from s1-s4, so much toxicity, so much gaslighting, they are bad for each other. Catra associates Adora with the feeling of not being good enough, with the memory of Shadow Weaver's abuse; Adora is routinely hurt by Catra.

But despite it all, I still shipped it. I still held out for Catra's redemption arc, still held out for the Catradora glimpses I saw in their memories.

But Season 5 ruined that hope for me. It completely destroyed it.

Firstly, all the Catradora fluffy development we're given is seen in flashbacks of them as children, and suddenly two episodes later she and Adora and Blow and Glimmer are the best of friends and she's allowed to make jokes about still hating princesses later? what??

s1-s4 was the most toxic shit but also a build-up for what I hoped was an epic redemption arc but they didn't even spend 5 episodes on Catra's redemption.

We all deserved better.

Also I understand they wanted more fluff for Catradora, but the whiplash from s1-4 Catra and s5e7 Catra was way too much.

Yes they needed more episodes (an entire season worth if we're being honest) but what was the point if the redemption arc Catra deserved was nothing?

I would have had Catra venture off on her own (way earlier in the series. Perhaps after she sends Glimmer off, she tries to send herself off as well but goes to Etheria instead of Space. Or maybe she hides behind a clone and gets sent off with him), maybe meet up with Lonnie, Rogelio, Kyle and Imp where she apologizes, we see her change, we see Lonnie be suspicious then soften towards her as they battle the Horde, time AWAY from Shadow Weaver.

Maybe a talk between Lonnie and Catra were Lonnie is like, "Shadow Weaver was a crazy ass bitch" and Catra is like yeah and then she Tells Lonnie all the shit SW put her through and acknowledges it as abuse.

All this while, we see clips of Adora yearning. Of her hearing news about taking down Prime and at first she's suspicious (because Catra hasn't apologized yet) but after a while, she's just looking for Catra and wondering why they aren't fighting together.

And Catra is also yearning.

After this time apart where Catra is doing her own redemption arc (she meets Scorpia, Mermista and Entrapta and apologizes as well, and Adora gets more frustrated cause everyone has met Catra apart from her), she eventually learns that SW is going to use Adora and she goes off to save her.

It makes the scenes where Adora runs after illusions of Catra much more jarring bc we know she has been looking for her. And when finally they reconnect, Catra feels she's too late and she's hugging Adora and is like, "I'm sorry. I meant to tell you (sorry I don't do fluff, fill in the blanks here" and A hand comes up to wipe her tears and Adora's like, "I forgave you a long time ago." and Catra's like, "How?" blah blah blah "I love You" Eyes wide with shock, they kiss, Adora does her whole shining thing. They save the World.

Look, idk you can rewrite that last part I don't really think anything could actually beat the kiss scene we got despite the absolute fucking horrible redemption arc leading up to it.

I just Wanted Catra's growth.

(bc I'm also Hordak trash, maybe the clone she escapes with is Hordak and it isn't an accident she does but more like Hordak helps her to excape. Like, Hordak visits her cell for idk??? and Catra tells him that Entrapta is alive and at first he doesn't believe her and there's a real threat he's about to just leave her there but she tells him to idk tap into horde mind and he'll see she's right and he does and he had that mini break down he does whenever Entrapta is involved and helps her.

And maybe he joins her on her redemption arc or he strikes off on his own, idk my brain hurts. He has a lot to apologize for but she also used his chronic illness against him so so does she -and really, Catra is horribly ableist now I think about it, invading Entrapta's space, using Hordak's Chronic illness against him, etc.- and I think they might actually make a slightly healthier friendship as their trauma is kinda similiar, and they are more or less on equal levels)