#She's not as extreme as Catra | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

catrasredemption-moved · 2 years

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I've gotten quite a few comments on my current fic (and a past fic) about the way I write Glimmer, and I feel like my full intentions don't come through with her, but there's a lot behind the way I write her.

Let's start with the first one, I have faced it, a life wasted, and her choice to tell Catra that Adora didn't want to see her, and vice-versa. There are a couple of very important things to remember here-

She's 17-18. No one makes the best choices at that age

She's terrified her best friend almost died, and furious at Catra

She didn't think Catra would actually leave

Does that justify her lying? No, of course not. She lashed out at Catra in the heat of the moment (after years of mutual animosity between them), and assumed Catra would just keep coming back until someone let her see Adora. But she left, and at that point Glimmer had two choices: keep up the lie, or swallow her pride and reach out to Catra. She's young, she's stupid, and she's stubborn. She keeps up the lie. She only tells Adora that Catra doesn’t want to see her after Catra leaves the hospital.

(There’s also a mention somewhere in the story about Catra unfriending Adora and Facebook, and I never clarified, but that was something Catra did. Glimmer didn’t go onto Adora’s Facebook and unfriend her. Catra did it because she wanted a clean break.)

And she knows she was wrong. She says as much to Adora and to Catra-

“She never apologized for anything she did,” Glimmer continued quietly. “I know that’s not the same as not regretting it, but it was so frustrating at the time. Like she just couldn’t admit she was wrong. After the accident I thought maybe she’d feel something. But she was the same, miserable person she always was, and I got so mad… I just wanted her to apologize. I didn’t expect her to run away.”

Adora blinked a few times, putting the pieces together. “You told her I didn’t want to see her to make her apologize?”

“At least to you! She’d hurt you, and I… I knew you would just forgive her no matter what she said, because that’s how you always were with her. I wanted her to be sorry. I wanted her to be scared, just for a minute. But she left, and I… I couldn’t tell you the truth. And then I thought maybe it was just better. If she wanted to be selfish like this, then maybe she didn’t deserve to have you. And I know it wasn’t my choice to make. And I should have told you. I just… thought it would be better.

and

“I am. Sorry, I mean. I…” Glimmer rubbed the back of her head, taking a deep breath. “I made a decision when I was angry. And you’re right. I wanted you to hurt. And I was scared for Adora, and I did something terrible. And I thought maybe… I don’t know. Maybe if you never came back, it would just be better. I kind of convinced myself that it was just better. That you hadn’t changed at all. That you were still the same, selfish person. But…”

She sighed, shoulders falling. “But you’re not. Part of me is still angry about the car accident, but it’s between you and Adora. And I’m… I’m sorry I took that away from you.”

Actions have consequences is a lesson Glimmer always needs to learn. She’s a good, caring person, she just doesn’t always think things through, and tends to barrel ahead and do what she believes is best. Whether she’s right or not is always questionable.

And now the very recent confrontation in It’s dangerous to go alone (so spoilers if you haven’t already read that!) between Glimmer and Catra at the convention. Actually, there are a few things I want to address here, one of the biggest being the idea that the Best Friend Squad didn’t do enough to help Catra when people were harassing her - they did absolutely everything within their power (working with Reddit mods, screening YouTube comments before they posted, multiple “this isn’t okay, stop it” posts on every platform, Glimmer literally told people to fuck off), but it went out of their control way too fast. Y’all know how the Internet is, the tiniest thing can get blown up, and people are, frankly, fucking insane.

The confrontation at the con was, again, a matter of barreling ahead without thinking. It didn’t start as yelling, but Glimmer has a temper, and Catra knows how to match her. She was angry not only for Adora, but for herself, and for Bow. She knows the whole thing was a mess, and people are talking about accountability in the reviews - there’s still two more chapters and five more con days, y’all!

I love Glimmer. She is an amazing, brilliant, fascinating character. She and Catra are too alike (like they’re foils!). They’re either best friends, or they’ll kill each other. Glimmer making questionable choices, especially about Catra, doesn’t necessarily feel out of character to me, and I don’t think it makes her a bad person. It just makes her human. But she knows when to admit she’s wrong, and she’s more than capable of it. Sometimes she just needs a little push.

#fic meta #idk I feel like people get the wrong idea about the way I write Glimmer #she's not evil or a villain or a bad person #but she's not perfect either #lowkey I'm pretty sure she also has some kind of emotional disorder #She's not as extreme as Catra #But the signs are all there

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 3 months

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c//a shippers remind me of atla fans who ship azula and ty lee. like azula threatened to drop ty lee into fire and ty lee only agreed to join her posse because she was terrified of azula but sure, they're such hot lesbians.

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mimdecisive · 5 months

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does anyone else find it kinda weird that SPOP just casually dropped in the fact that there’s a Prince who can see ANYWHERE in the world magically, aka the perfect spy, and Glimmer just… didn’t think of recruiting him?

Why wasn’t Peekablue already part of the Rebellion??? What is he using his powers for that’s soooo important? He could literally see all of the Horde’s plans and warn the Rebellion and give them a HUGE leg up on them, and he wasn’t even mentioned until S5.

I know he was a hermit almost never seen but are you telling me Glimmer wouldn’t even TRY to find him and convince him to join?That’s a mystery in itself; where IS Peekablue, and why does no one care? Is he literally missing? Because if he’s literally missing, maybe someone should help him.

#Spop #she ra #spop critical #peekablue was a plot device and nothing more— but a poorly conceived one #a glaringly obvious last-minute addition/excuse for them to add filler #and I’m //assuming// peekablue probably came up in the writers room sometime before S5 so they had time to work that in #I think they didn’t want to give the Rebellion such a big advantage but they were extremely lazy in their justification #For why they didn’t have Peekablue— ‘he’s a hermit he’s missing’ so fucking find him??#shouldn’t you be at least a little concerned if a magical prince vanishes?#at best he’s MIA at worst the Horde has him and is using him to spy on you. Which if that was a possibility— why not bring that up in S4?#that’s me giving them the benefit of the doubt. peekablue might not have come up in the writers room at all before the 5th season. 🤷🏻‍♀️#I mean Magicats didn’t and Catra was the main antagonist/love interest.#I think the SPOP writers— or maybe just ND— are just not very good at their jobs

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ericas-spop-blog · 8 months

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I might fully expand this with screenshots etc, but -

One of Adora's core emotional struggles is this:

Adora believes that Shadow Weaver/The Horde saving her as a child indebted her to them. That she owes them service and compliance in return for the care she received as a child.

She deals with this, initially, by devaluing and rejecting the nature of the care she received - that Shadow Weaver had kept things from her, that Hordak had stolen her from her true family; she does not owe them, because the care she had received was not good enough to incur a debt.

Which means she is still implicitly accepting the idea that if they had treated her better - if Shadow Weaver had used a softer touch, if Hordak had been her "legitimate" guardian - then she would owe them. She still accepts - still relies upon - that underlying framework of debt and obligation.

Which is why, in season 4, it's so crushing for her when Shadow Weaver starts playing cards on the table; because if Shadow Weaver is being honest, if she is not the villain of this piece, then Adora once again owes her something for the aid she is giving. Likewise, if Hordak didn't steal her - if that crime lies on Light Hope's head - then she has to contend with the knowledge that he did save her; that she was, in fact, given care and succour that she was not owed.

And this is why her last confrontation with Shadow Weaver in Failsafe is so important (even if, imo, the delivery is flawed) - because it's Adora finally being done with bullshit little accounting games; it is the (too late) realization that love incurs no debt. That if Shadow Weaver's parenting had been flawless, Adora still would not owe her.

That this belief was the greatest, deepest harm done to her - that it is the thing that has ruined her relationships, that has left her feeling like she can never be happy.

#spop #adora #scraps #but yes also #the show's framing is extremely clear #that Catra is *entirely correct*#to say that *she does not owe Adora her presence*#because that is the required counterpart to this #that if we do not owe the harmful people in our lives our love or presence or compliance #then we cannot owe that debt to the “good” ones either #because otherwise all you're saying #is that you want to pick and chose #who is owed *everything*#and who is owed *nothing*

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weedle-testaburger · 2 years

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modern cartoon creators be like

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swan2swan · 4 months

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I do hope this show keeps Gay Adora. She and Catra have earned that.

#I mean...obviously it doesn't HAVE to be Catra bc I don't think they had that extreme a relationship in the OG #but...you know #swan watches motu #I mean...she-ra's coming

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haemosexuality · 1 year

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i can pinpoint a specific undertale fanfic i read when i was 12 as one of the main domino pieces why im like this today

#in 2017 i read a fic where chara and their mom (not toriel) lived isolated and at some point charas mom killed herself and catra didnt #realize so they just lived w the rotting corpse of their mom for like weeks cause they thought she was sleeping.#when someone found them it described the corpse in extreme detail. and after i read that i got obsessed w it. and then i started looking up #pictures of decomposing bodies on google images dot con. and also reading ab corpses that were found/pics of the stains etc. yeah #i was already interested in like horror games and dark stories (i was already obsessed w fnaf before etc) but like. that sure helped #The Horror Of Our Love (female version) started playing as i was typing this. yeah ❤ exactly #love love love the lyrics ''but ill grind against your bones until our marrows mix''#is this post too edgycore

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yourhighness6 · 4 months

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Unpopular opinion but I think in SPOP S2E3 Catra was genuinely trying to protect Entrapta from Hordak after almost being suffocated in the same episode by him

I think the main obstacle to Catra's perspective redemption arc at this point isn't her tendency towards violence or her constant anger, as those are classic character flaws before redemption arcs, but her manipulation tactics and her capacity to treat other people like shit. This is kind of an uncommon way of presenting these sorts of characters, who are often shown as being kind of "dumb" while having a repressed natural kindness. Catra certainly isn't "dumb", she's incredibly intelligent, an excellent strategist, and extremely careful with her words. In this scene I saw not the first glimpse but one of the first of a girl who genuinely cares about those close to her (besides Adora) and may be worthy of redemption. Catra clearly does have a heart, but I'm interested to see exactly how this plays out, as Noelle Stevenson took a huge risk by giving her these traits.

#shes the most interesting character to me so far #but entrapta bow and glimmer are my favorites #I pretty much like all of them except for Hordak and Shadow Weaver so far #Shadow Weaver can go die in a hole #but I was surprised by hordaks cruelty in this episode we don't see a lot of him directly harming ppl #I've heard he gets a redemption arc too so again excited to see how that pans out #catra #entrapta #spop #she ra #she ra and the princesses of power #catradora

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everythingcatradora · 2 months

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i think it’s interesting how adora and catra’s different forms of abuse affect their outlook on humanity; catra doesn’t really believe that there’s good in the world as a whole and is in constant state of self-preservation so she doesn’t care to fight for what’s seen as morally right most of the show, adora has complete faith in world but none in herself when it’s not tied to other people & values pretty much any good civilian/person’s life over her own. she’s always willing to die for a good cause and puts what other people want above her own wants. they’re both very extreme but only grow from that as they come back together. catra remembers the positives in her relationship with adora and realizes that she always cared about her, then begins to do the right thing because while there’s bad in the world, there’s also good. she doesn’t have to shut herself off from everyone and align herself with an oppressive regime to be safe as there’s safety in connection and humanity. her relationship with adora isn’t perfect and bad things still happen but she continues to do the right thing and protect her + other rebellion members out of love and knowing that despite her own extensive pain, good still exists in people and etheria can and Deserves to be salvaged. after adora allows herself to fight for catra again and express her love she breaks fully the confines of her controlled destiny as she-ra. for the first time in the show she allows herself to consistently want things that aren’t related to her duty. and once she hears that catra loves her there’s a push to believing in herself once again as she doesn’t need to martyr herself to matter to other people, she can just exist as herself in order to be loved and that can co-exist with her love for the world and it’s inhabitants neither one coming before the other.

#catradora #she ra #spop #catra #adora

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docgold13 · 6 months

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Profiles in Villainy

Hordak

There have been multiple versions of the malevolent menace known as Hordak. In the original continuity established in She Ra: Princess of Power (and by extension He-Man and The Masters of Universe), Hordak is an extremely powerful tyrant of mysterious origins who will stop at nothing until he conquers all of both Etheria and the neighboring dimension of Eternia. Heralding from the shadowy ‘Horde World,’ Hordak’s powers were derived from a strange combination of sorcery and science.

Hordak was originally headquartered in Snake Mountain where he had taken on the villainous Skeletor as an apprentice. When the forces of King Randor were closing in on Hordak, he fled to Ethernia, leaving Skeletor in charge of Snake Mountain (and thus leading to the longstanding conflict between Skeletor and Randor’s son, He-Man). Reestablishing himself on Etheria, Hordak took over the Fright Zone; and from here he and his Evil Horde began its war against She-Ra The Princes of Power.

In the 2018 reboot of the narrative, Hordak was shown to be a semi-defective clone of the entity known as Hordak Prime. This Hordak Prime sent versions of himself to countless worlds to conquer in his stead, all part of an effort to claim absolute dominion over the entirety of the cosmos.

Hordak’s ‘deficiency’ was his unexpected capacity for independent thought. This led to feelings of ambivalence that would manifest in malfunctions in his powers and the mechanical aspects of his physical form.

Although a cruel master who sent the forces of his Evil Horde to conquer Etheria and crush the Princess Rebellion, Hordak also struggled with doubt and was confused by his falling in love with his lieutenant, Entrapta. His other lieutenant, Catra, surmised these weaknesses in Hordak and used them to her advantage, ultimately unseating Hordak as the new master of the Evil Horde.

This ultimately facilitated the mighty Hordak Prime coming to Etheria. The villain was defeated by She-Ra and her various allies. In the wake of this, Hordak was free from his former master and he and Entrapta were reunited to forge a life together.

Actor George DiCenzo provided the voice for Hordak in his original appearances in the 1985 series, She-Ra: Princes of Power; the great Kevin Conroy voiced the villain in the 2002 series Masters of the Universe vs. The Snake Men; and actor Keston John voiced Hordak in the 2018 series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

#Profiles in Villainy #Hordak #She-Ra #He-Man #she ra and the princesses of power #cut-out #paper art #Villains!

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spop-romanticizes-abuse · 5 months

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“y'all want toxic ships in media but you couldn't even handle c//a!!”

hate to break it to you but you're not thinking of the same people.

c//a antis aren't the ones who want toxic relationships in media. most of us want to see healthy relationships that are built on mutual trust and understanding.

and let's just say, even if we do want to see toxic ships in media, we want to see them as they are. not romanticized, not sexualized, not framed as anything but a toxic relationship.

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sometipsygnostalgic · 2 months

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i'm losing my mind how are there STILL ACTIVE CATRA HATE BLOGS it's been FOUR YEARS how are you still this mad about a female abuse victim!!!!!! how do you STILL not get it!!!!!!!!!!

I have been in enough fandoms to understand that some of the people who stick around the longest are those who act the most scarred after watching the media. It's like stockholme syndrome. Or it's like hating the thing is what gives them drive in the world.

I have also been on the other side of this. I remained a Homestuck blog for a whole four years after the ending made me depressed about Terezi Pyrope, even lasting an additional year and a half after the dogshit epilogues released, through to the demise of Hiveswap and Homestuck^2, before I realised enough was enough and let Adventure Time give me sanctuary again.

But Homestuck had its Gamzee fans who hated the comic and fandom, Adventure Time had its Lemongrab fans who hated the show and fandom, and it seems She-ra has its fair share of antis.

The She-ra antis consist of the following groups, from my observation:

Former fans who got obsessed with some other show and have to bash She-ra because it ain't cool anymore. Usually Owl House fans but can be from anywhere. Their hate is universally connected to propping something else up, and is never done in isolation.

Hordak fans who hate Catra and maybe every other character and crew member and the show. There are a lot of the reverse, Catra fans who hate Hordak, which is part of why this group is so persistent, as a "counter" to this Hordak hate. However, the Catra fans who are Hordak antis MOSTLY do not hate the show (they are just... out of touch with it and generally have bad takes). I've seen one or two extreme cases of Catra apologists accusing Adora, Scorpia, and even Entrapta of abuse, but they were completely alone in their feelings. The Hordak fans who hate Catra tend to also hate Glimmer, Mermista, Adora, Bow, and say that the show is ableist or whatever, but they do not actually harbor much love for Entrapta. Her victimisation is an excuse for their behaviour and they have no understanding of her chaotic character. Do not interact.

Glimmadora fans (the ones who purely seem to exist to make 'Spop Is Abusive' posts). Why the fuck Glimmadora fans hate the show so much, I do not understand. But these are probably the most In-Your-Face of these three groups. While the Hordak fans mentioned above have a lot of similarity to Homestuck Gamzee fans or Adventure Time Lemongrab fans in the weird way they'll hate on the show for doing their blorbo wrong, Glimmadora fans don't have that evidence because they don't really care about Glimmer or Adora. They have absolutely nothing to say about the show, other than that it is Bad. My theory on these Glimmadora fans is that they really liked the Glimmer and Adora ship on a superficial level, and then the show decided to have its Deeper Themes and give Catra and Adora a messy, complicated relationship. There was a lot happening after season 3 where people went "CATRADORA IS REALLY ABUSIVE AND CATRA IS HORRIBLE AND YOU SHOULDNT SHIP HER WITH ANYONE". This period was SO fucking harmful to the fandom that it never recovered, so much work was lost and deleted from AO3. People would say "Glimmadora is a much better ship anyway". But then when season 4 rolled around and, uhh, Glimmer was acting like a little shit all season (for good reason but she really fucked things up with Adora), and Glimmadora crumbled into ash? Well the Glimmadora truthists felt like the show was working against them and that Season 5 was a grand conspiracy to make the Abusive ship Catradora canon!!! The funniest part of this is I sympathise a lot with these feelings. I used to be a Glimmadora truther myself when I watched the show in fall 2021. I was like, "wow, look how nice this ship is. And they go with catradora in the end?? Fucking HOW???". But then seasons 4 and 5 happened and.... yeah, I was disappointed with how Glimmer and Adora's friendship ended up, but I was ENAMORED by the messiness of Catra's character and how raw her and Adora felt about each other even in spite of all the bullshit. I never made excuses about the show being abuse apologising. I analysed it purely in how believable the relationships were and what the intentions of the characters are.

Of these groups, the ones responsible for the most actual SPOP Anti blogs are undoubtedly the Glimmadoras. The only time I've seen something similar, so many antis appearing, was because of Steven Universe ship wars. You have NO IDEA how petty people feel about Lapidot, Amedot, all the dots, all the amethysts. A crew member was chased off the internet over it, or left the internet over the show's own decisions, depending on whether you believe the """screenshots""" that were taken of Zuke's ""private blog""".

#she ra #spop #catradora

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anti-catradora-collection · 4 months

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SPOP focused entirely on catra's trauma and forgot about adora.

let's take this as a basic example: when catra got brainwashed by horde prime, put into a state of extreme pain and suffering, forced to fight her "friend" and kidnapped, she was clearly traumatized from this experience. she even had nightmares about it.

(sorry for the quality of the pic below.)

but when adora got brainwashed by catra, put into a state of extreme pain and suffering, being forced to fight her friends and kidnapped, this was never brought up again.

#idk it just feels weird to see how SPOP forgets about adora and focuses on her abuser #anti spop #anti c/a #anti catradora #anti c//a #spop criticism #spop salt #spop discourse #spop critical #spop #she ra #she ra and the princesses of power

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testudoaubrei-blog · 1 year

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So being in both the she Ra and tLT fandoms I definitely see a lot of posts about religious trauma. Which, fair. But Tasmin (Edit: Tasmyn whoa I am dumb) Muir is a practicing Catholic and Nate Stevenson is an atheist who was raised Calvinist. And in addition to tLT being arguably more in the tradition of Very Gay, very subversive Catholic art rather than a more straightforward account of trauma written by someone now 'on the outside' there is also the theological specificity to think about.

She Ra isn't just about the psychological harms of Christianity or Evangelicalism but -Calvinism specifically-. This is true of a lot of Nate's work. The rejection of total depravity in Catra's redemption of herself, of a 'good' elect and 'bad' damned in the shows consistent ambiguities/humanization of everyone, and the shows rejection of (pre)destiny in Adora and Catra's arcs are extremely anti Calvinist. And of course Horde Prime claims to be a Calvinist God (but he isn't, this acting as a proxy for the -people- who claim their abuses and oppressions are the will of God - there is no actual deity on Nate's universe, only people).

But I have no idea what is going on, religiously, in the Locked Tomb. However I suspect that while Nate, raised Calvinist, is interested in the terror of damnation, Tasmin (EDIT: Tasmyn) Muir might be exploring much more ambivalent Catholic ideas of Purgation and of course, the Harrowing of Hell. TBH while I adore Nate's cartoon theological critique I am hoping Muir gives us some Man Who Was Thursday theological what the fuckery.

Note: if you want to read more about Catra and Calvinism here is one of the most batshit posts I have written on this website. (Note this was written before Nate transitioned to Nate so it uses his former name and both genders of pronouns since that was his preference at time of writing). I treat my old posts like articles so I don't keep them continuously up to date but linking to anything that doesn't say Nate still feels odd.

#the locked tomb #harrow the ninth spoilers #nona the ninth spoilers #john gaius #she ra spop #spop #nate stevenson #tasmin Muir

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that-ari-blogger · 15 days

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Something... new? (Moment of Truth)

Here is a question. In a story about repetition, where the central threat is the cycle happening again, where the very concept of the narrative is that trauma and abuse echo in on themselves… how do you tell an interesting story?

Like, on a general level, stories are about change, so something that is, by its nature, formulaic, would probably be inconducive to storytelling. Right?

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power disagrees with this premise in a weird way. The third season of the series has been questioning the formula in increasingly outlandish way. The first episode gave the same story but with a twist at the end, the second dissected the formula itself by examining the foundation it is built on, and the third flipped the direction of the spiral for a time.

Moment Of Truth features, overwhelmingly, some of the most skill on display that the series will have at all. This isn’t a fan favourite episode, but it is genuinely incredible craft.

However, it is important to understand that this episode doesn’t do anything new. Every moment in this episode, bar the last two minutes, has happened before in the series.

All Moment Of Truth does to iterate on the formula, is take events of consequence, and place them immediately after one another. This episode messes with internal context, and it causes the tipping point of the series.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

One thing that I thought was interesting, upon rewatching this episode, is how few and far between the jokes are.

The series has a very distinct sense of humour and uses it in an extremely specific way. This is essentially a story about abuse, trauma, and war, which are objectively pretty heavy things. But it is also aimed at younger audiences, so it cushions each of its heavy blows with a joke.

This is why the character of Madam Razz is the most important character in the series. Her kookiness combined with her wisdom allows her to discuss some truly confronting and uncomfortable topics with grace and good nature. The humour is what makes this show approachable.

This is also why Aabria Iyengar’s style of game mastering for TTRPGs is so fascinating to watch. And, though I can’t verify that she is fun to play with since I have never played at her table (@quiddie please), her fellow cast members in Dimension 20 and Critical Role seem like they are having a good time. Essentially, she balances out heaviness with entertainment, effectively artificially shifting up the Garfunkel threshold of the players she is GMing for.

For context to the absolute mess that was that last paragraph. The phrase “Garfunkel threshold” is used by an English teacher that I had a few years ago and literally nobody else. It refers to the area of emotion where a person is out of their comfort zone, but not truly uncomfortable. Fun scary, essentially.

Back to She-Ra. Moment of Truth doesn’t waste time with jokes unless it really needs it. This episode runs at a breakneck pace, and only stops to give you breath at the last moment.

As a result, the jokes that this episode tells are really funny. Although, if they were told in a vacuum, they probably wouldn’t be. For example:

“You won't try to escape if I just pop out for a quick sec, will you?” “Uh... No?” “Okay, great, really appreciate it.”

This is iconic in the fandom, and for good reason. This is one of my two favourite jokes in the series. The other is also in this episode, weirdly enough.

But… it’s not that funny of a moment.

If you heard this conversation in any other episode of this show, maybe if Adora had been captured for a one-off episode like Catra was halfway through season two, this joke would maybe get a smirk, but not much more.

So why does it work?

One word: Context. This episode stresses you out like few other episodes of television can do, and a few seconds before this joke, it successfully makes you think that Entrapta will try to hurt Adora.

Instead, you get a moment to hold in the tension, then a piece of humour that is utterly incongruous with the tone of the episode so far, and you have to laugh.

This is the same premise behind the humour in Alien, directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O’Bannon. That film has some incredible one liners that allow the audience to breathe and excise some catharsis in what a pretty gritty plot would otherwise be.

The perfect example of what I’m talking about here isn’t actually that much of a joke. It’s literally half a second that abrasively interposes itself into the break in and forces it to stumble. But the build up gives it so much levity.

The scene is off the back of Glimmer’s teleportation and the tension of Angella trying to stop it, followed by the constant stress of how easily Shadow Weaver is playing Glimmer like a chess piece. Mermista makes a quiet comment on the décor, a moment of levity that Shadow Weaver deliberately undercuts. Then we loose Perfuma to a fight we can’t see, the uncertainty of which is more stressful than knowing definitively that she has been killed.

Then the gang runs into Lonnie and Rogelio, two formidable foes, but two foes they have outnumbered. Stress rises, then the music cuts out for barely a moment as Lonnie flicks the alarm lever that is right next to her

It’s not a joke, it’s a character making an eminently sensible decision in contrast to the entirety of the rest of the cast. But the musical cue pauses the tension of the scene for just enough time for you to give a brief laugh, then the scene resumes in earnest, and continues at its previous pace. It isn’t a lot, but it’s enough to keep the story fun.

Basically, the show is made up of seriousness and humour, and those are held together by a single piece of Velcro, and that is working overtime to a truly extraordinary degree.

Except, that isn’t true. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power doesn’t treat humour and earnestness as separate at all, they run together and punctuate each other.

The other main thing that this episode does is a perspective twist. Moment Of Truth is all about context, and so the events play through the views of unusual characters.

Case and point, Glimmer and co. have gone rogue to do their own thing countless times in this series, and every time they get back, Angella chastises them.

However, this is the first time we have witnessed Angella’s reaction to Glimmer’s disappearance, and we get a sense of desperation from her.

Angella doesn’t have to speak her thoughts out loud to let the audience know what is happening. She sees Glimmer has gone and immediately realises that she has gone rogue again, so she checks Shadow Weaver’s quarters, because she knows what her daughter will do in this situation.

Meanwhile, the shots of Glimmer are from Shadow Weaver’s perspective. Almost as if Shadow Weaver is positioning herself as a replacement mother figure for Angella.

I could comment on the animation of this scene, but my analysis there is very much limited to “oooh pretty”. Which is fine, but nothing anybody hasn’t said before.

So, instead, spoilers for the season three finale (skip to the next paragraph if you’re avoiding those), this is the last time Angella sees Glimmer, and she is powerless to stop her. Angella is a character riddled with guilt, and this will come up later when I discuss the finale.

Back to the episode at hand, a significant chunk of this episode is as told by Shadow Weaver, so we get the full breakdown of how terrifyingly competent she is at her designated skillset. Shadow Weaver is a manipulative character, and so she is playing chess with the plot of the entire series in a way that only one other character comes close to matching, and I’m going to start my discussion of that by discussing her powers.

Magic is a facet of narrative literalism, where a metaphor within a story becomes tangible. For example, Glimmer is impulsive, so she teleports around, jumping to conclusions without taking the time to walk. She is also stubborn, so her powers make her uncontainable.

Shadow Weaver, meanwhile, is a parasite. She has magical talent of her own, but in this episode, all she does is leach off Glimmer’s power to further her own ends.

In a series about freedom of autonomy, Shadow Weaver exists in contrast to Hordack. Where these characters focus on the freedom aspect to contain and confine their enemies, Shadow Weaver twists her victim’s autonomy and takes control of them in a way that is insidious and very realistic. She is like Light Hope, which is interesting.

That parasitic nature actually reflects into Shadow Weaver’s manipulative technique, as she never targets someone who is, for lack of a better term, strong. This is difficult to explain: Glimmer needs something, and Shadow Weaver positions herself as the answer. She finds someone who is at their lowest point, and makes them dependant on herself.

This is, fun fact, why Perfuma, Mermista, and Frosta are seemingly immune to her influence. I’m grasping at straws here for Frosta’s characterisation because she gets about two lines in the entire episode, but I’m onto something with Perfuma and Mermista.

Perfuma is a paragon hero who does not compromise in her beliefs. This causes trouble in the series, as is the nature of this story, but it means that in the several instances Shadow Weaver tries to get under her skin, Perfuma brushes it off. Perfuma considers what Shadow Weaver has to say, but keeps in mind at all times that she is an abuser and therefore not to be trusted.

Mermista, meanwhile, is the best character in the series and you cannot change my mind. In seriousness, Mermista is detached and cold, a strength which, like Perfuma’s ethics, causes conflict at other points in the series. However here, it means that we have a character who does not take Shadow Weaver seriously at all, meaning that her grandiose pontificating is meaningless. Mermista sees Shadow Weaver for what she is, a prisoner scabbling for scraps of power from someone else, and she sees an easy rout to stopping that.

Anyway, the interrogation scene.

There is a spotlight on Glimmer and Bow here. They are on a stage, and Shadow Weaver sits on a couch, watching them. They are performing for her. She is in control.

“You are smart, you want to stop the Horde, and you know I'm the only one who can help you do that. I must admit, I thought it would take you longer to speak with me.”

Shadow Weaver is easing Glimmer into thinking she has control. She compliments her, casually offering her own services as help to the princess. But she also positions herself as lower than Glimmer. The last line implies that she is surprised and that Glimmer has the upper hand, letting her into a false sense of security.

“His machine is complete? And they have Adora? We must hurry. If Hordak has the opportunity to open a portal, he will do so immediately. The Alliance will never get there in time – but perhaps...”

She is surprised again, apparently. Shadow Weaver has taken care to position herself as omnipotent, that’s why the compliment to Glimmer being unexpected is there.

Effectively, if the smart guy is outsmarted, they are on the back foot. If the smart guy is surprised, they are in danger.

So, Shadow Weaver emphasises the danger of the situation, stressing that the alliance’s inability to help. But wait… it just happened to occur to her, just now, that Glimmer might be able to fix this. She wasn’t planning this at all, it was spontaneous, and a piece of knowledge she doesn’t think would work.

Needless to say, I think Shadow Weaver is talking utter bollocks about this. For my evidence, I propose the following questions: If Shadow Weaver didn’t know about Adora’s capture, how does she know about the rebellion’s plans? Is it possible she is pulling facts out of her backside to further her own ends?

“I can make you stronger. I'm still the only sorceress who has ever been able to tap into a runestone. If you allow me to access your connection to the Moonstone, I can enhance your powers. You could teleport us all the way there.”

Here is Shadow Weaver’s gambit. She can solve the problem for Glimmer, she can give Glimmer the assistance she needs. It’s a Faustian bargain, and she doesn’t mention at all what she gains from this deal, that’s just something that slips her mind.

Of course, she could be doing this out of the goodness of her heart, kindness isn’t transactional, but this is Shadow Weaver we are talking about. Shadow Weaver exists on conditional affection and saw fit to make demands as a prisoner of war. I don’t think Shadow Weaver is the type of person to offer aid for nothing.

“I want to destroy Hordak.”

This is Shadow Weaver’s stated motivation, she says it again later on in the episode, and it is mainly used to distract Glimmer and give her a “an enemy of my enemy is my friend” type of bargain. But I’d like to examine this motivation a little bit, because I think she is lying about this as well.

In the end fight of the episode, Shadow Weaver casts two spells, both of which could have been aimed at Hordack, but neither are. Instead, she destroys the room, and she targets Catra. Shadow Weaver is a parasite, and a liar.

Which leads into Catra’s descent into madness, something that is told entirely from everyone else’s perspective. Until the end, but we will get there.

Shadow Weaver physically abuses a child in this scene. That is objectively what this is. The fact that this is magical is the only thing that let the writers get this through censorship. But I want to be clear here, this is not simply punishing misbehaviour, this is not tough love, this is not building strength. Shadow Weaver physically abuses a child in this scene.

This is a mirror of the scene in Promise, to the point where the spell is the same, and it is notable that it would have been easier to just zap Catra and leave her there, but Shadow Weaver decides to torture her.

And this scene is viewed from Glimmer’s perspective, showing her the true monster that she is aligned with, but also the power that Shadow Weaver exhibits. This is the deal Glimmer made, summed up, agency for complacency. Glimmer has to make herself ok, at least partially, with this side of Shadow Weaver, which makes her complicit in what is, again, the physical abuse of a child.

We have seen this scene before, but here it is through a different lens, and that changes how we read it, and keeps it interesting.

It is also notable that Bow is the one who stops Shadow Weaver and pulls Glimmer back. Which is interesting.

Bow is Shadow Weaver’s antithesis. Angella is too, but Bow is her main equal opposite. Bow is kind, uncomplicatedly so, and he is the final character who remains immune to Shadow Weaver’s tricks.

Although Bow stays above Shadow Weaver by playing the same game as her, just more fairly. Bow is a tactician, and a damn good one at that. He isn’t as good as Shadow Weaver, nobody is, but he is easily the second best in the series by a long shot.

But Bow plays fair, at all times. He lets people know what their roles are, he communicates, and he relies on other people as much as they rely on him. His relationships are mutual, where Shadow Weavers are parasitic.

Bow exists on trust.

Speaking of which, when Catra betrays Entrapta, the scene is shot from Scorpia’s point of view, and we again see her utter powerlessness to stop the situation. This is the cycle of abuse in full effect. Catra was denied her own agency, and so the way she tries to reclaim it is by removing others of theirs. Scorpia can’t do anything as her friend is carried away to a death sentence.

The final scene, however, is from Adora’s perspective. We see Catra’s world fall apart around her, quite literally, and we see Adora watch her oldest friend descend into madness. Once again, the watcher is powerless, as Catra continues the cycle of abuse.

You understand that Catra has nothing left to lose, and while you don’t agree with her decision, you can see why she did it, which is important. Reason and justification are not the same, but they do both make analysis easier, which I am grateful for.

This sets up the next episodes and Catra’s characterisation there. Catra doesn’t care about her own safety or the continued existence of the world itself, she just wants to feel better by exhibiting some kind of control over the people she perceives to have hurt her.

Which also sets up my diagnoses of Catra, and I’m not sure how the fandom will react to this, but I think Catra is the villain here.

Catra, in this episode, and in the next few episodes, is abusive, manipulative, and controlling. Essentially, she fits all three of the parameters for evil that the series has established.

Yes, she has a reason for her actions, but she isn’t morally grey anymore, she is choosing to burn the world down out of spite. Cool motive, still murder. Catra is the villain.

But is she irredeemable? I would argue “no”.

Spoilers for the rest of the series, but I can’t really explain why Catra’s redemption is possible to me other than the fact that she was redeemed, and it worked for me.

I don’t believe in good and bad people; I believe in actions. Sure, there are people who do unconditionally horrible things, a lot, but I would argue that the best way to redeem oneself is to stop doing those things and get better.

It’s as if morality is a quality you have to work at, with enough practice, you can improve.

And I think Catra’s redemption is so well executed, specifically because of the fact she is villainous here. If she hadn’t hit rock bottom and then sunk even further, her climb wouldn’t be nearly as compelling, at least to me.

Micah's memory casts a shadow over Angella as she makes her decisions, colouring her argument with her daughter. I wonder if there is some symbolism there.

Final Thoughts

The reason that Moment of Truth isn’t as popular as Promise or Save The Cat, is that it isn’t spectacular, it’s just impressive. By which I mean, the shot composition of this episode is stellar, but I can’t exactly point out every Dutch angle or perspective warp, or how many emotions Entrapta goes through in a single close up.

Also, the pacing of this episode actually slows down, rather than gaining momentum. It increases in tension, but the scenes get longer and more drawn out. We are reaching the event horizon, essentially, and time is getting wibbly wobbly. But that isn’t exactly something that wows an audience.

So if I was to recommend this episode, I would point to the teleportation scene, or the fight between Catra and Shadow Weaver. Both of which look cool, but don’t hold up by themselves when contrasted with other episodes in this series.

Basically, Moment Of Truth is competent, but in a way, its playing things safe on a majour scale, which is unfortunate. This episode deserves more love.

Anyway, next week, I will be looking at Remember, and taking narrative literalism to its extreme. So stick around if that interests you.

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#rants #literary analysis #literature analysis #what's so special about...?#character analysis #she ra and the princesses of power #spop #she ra #spop glimmer #shadow weaver #catra #adora #spop catra #spop mermista #mermista can do no wrong #she ra princess of power #she ra and the princess of power fanart #she ra spop #she ra catra

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courtofterrasen · 1 month

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I’m just about done with finals, so I decided to gather up a quick list of over 50+ different POC women characters with actual good stories and character development as well as what they’re in, since you guys seem to be complacent in accepting mediocrity🥰

I know there are A LOT more REALLY GOOD characters out there, like Firebird from Marvel for example, but these are all characters from media that I either have personally consumed or know a lot about that I can think about off the top of my head. So if anyone wants to keep the list going in the comments, please feel free to add on

Charlotte- Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

Shuri- Black Panther (MY LOVE😭❤️)

Okoye- Black Panther

Nakia- Black Panther

Queen Ramonda- Black Panther

Katara- ATLA

Korra- LoK

Toph- ATLA

Azula- ATLA

Beauregard- Critical Role: Campaign 2

Fy’ra Rai- Critical Role: Exandria Unlimited

Opal- Critical Role: Exandria Unlimited

Deni$e- Critical Role: Campaign 3

Deanna- Critical Role: Campaign 3

Lady Kima: Critical Role: Campaign 1/ Legends of Vox Machina

Laerryn: Critical Role: Exandria Unlimited: Calamity

Veth Brenatto- Critical Role: Campaign 2

Mirko- My Hero Academia

Ahsoka (people refer to her as a POC character even though she’s a Togruta)

Moana

Mulan

Tiana- Princess and the Frog

Esmeralda- The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Nani- Lilo and Stitch

Raya- Raya and the Last Dragon

Mel- Arcane

Ambessa Medara- Arcane

Sevika- Arcane

(Special shout out to Ekko from Arcane because he’s SUCH A GOOD CHARACTER)

Storm- Marvel comics

Wonder Woman- DC comics (she is Mediterranean, which is located in the North Africa/ Europe/ West Asia region, for the incels who are going to try to fight me on that. Just because your skin has less melanin than people “think you should have” does not invalidate you being a POC)

Nubia- DC comics

Special shoutout to General Nanisca in The Woman King. I have not watched it yet, but I’ve heard a lot of great things

Valkyrie- Thor Ragnarok

Gamora: Guardians of the Galaxy (though, she’s not human, she’s a Zen-Whoberis, but her actress is Dominican and Puerto Rican)

Ava Silva- Warrior Nun

Sister Beatrice- Warrior Nun

Sister Lilith- Warrior Nun

Deyha- Genshin Impact

Candace- Genshin Impact

Xinyan- Genshin Impact

Janai- The Dragon Prince

Ursula- Once Upon A Time

Mulan- Once Upon a Time

Lucyna “Lucy” Kushinada- Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Mermista- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Catra- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Lonnie- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Netossa- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Entrapta- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Perfuma- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Mara- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Frosta- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

(All of whom are Etherian’s, not Terran’s, which would equivalate people from earth)

Mazikeen- Lucifer

Wednesday Addams- The Addam’s Family/ Wednesday

Calliope “Cal” Burns- First Kill

Talia Burns- First Kill

Yennefer- The Witcher (actress is of Indian descent.)

Triss- The Witcher (some debate can be had about this due to her character in the games being white and her actress in the show having South African heritage. I enjoy them both equally)

I would add Pocahontas to this list, but the Disney recreation of her story is an extremely incorrect and awful retelling, so I implore you to go and look up the story of Amonute/ Matoaka, which is the true name of Pocahontas. It’s not an easy story to hear, but I feel as though people need to know her true story instead of Disney’s romanticized one.

Also, if you guys REALLY want a good female POC pirate story, check out the story of the most successful pirate in the world named Ching Shih, aka Cheng I Sao. She was a woman born in Guangdong, China in the late 18th century and worked as a prostitute until she caught the eye of Cheng I, the notorious Commander of the Red Flag Fleet. After buying and marrying her, he noticed her intelligence, leadership skills, and determination, so he began to teach her about life in the high seas. She quickly adapted and helped him lead his fleet, and when he died she assumed full control over his fleet and amassed 1,800 ships and 80,000 pirates under her control and became the most feared pirate leader of her time. It’s a VERY cool story

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