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fantasystar14 · 12 days ago

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what do you think are the spop characters' love languages? physical touch, gift giving, affirmation, quality time, acts of service?

What a cute ask!

Let's roll through all the characters!

Adora: Works hard as nails to protect the people she loves with literal service, since being a soldier is what she's good at. When she's comfortable, is very playful and mischievous with them. Her and Catra playfight for affection. Adora doesn't mind physical touch, but is apprehensive to hug people for obvious reasons. She likes passively watching her friends, seeing them be happy interacting with one another, but is cautious about participating because she thinks she'll be rejected. Adora is most comfortable engaging with Catra, is more teasing of her, more physically affectionate - Adora and Catra sleep together, have physical contact, basically they're very intimate and comfortable in a way Adora never was with other people.

Catra: Like Adora, playfights for affection. Catra shows her fondness for others most clearly through physical body language, like the tail and ears, which is why Melog is here to amp this up to 11. Catra also shows people she cares about them by protecting them with violent control - she will intimidate her friends away from a possible dangerous path, or in Adora's case, be really possessive. It's how she tries protecting Entrapta and then Scorpia in the Horde from Hordak's wrath. She's mean to the Horde Trio as well because she's not sure how to healthily engage with them without making herself vulnerable. Scorpia correctly identifies this as Catra's broken love language, and accepts the mistreatment, which is fucked up. But when Catra starts enacting violence that is in no way protecting others, Scorpia is forced to acknowledge how bad things have gotten.

Late series healthier Catra uses acts of service and protection to show that she cares about people, when her general behaviour fails her. She spots things that other people don't, tries to protect Adora from her self sacrificing destiny where others fail. Her ultimate character development is being able to tell people with words that she cares about them.

Glimmer: She is an assertive koala bear. Glimmer uses the standard routes of physical affection, taking her friends fun places to hang out, and working hard to protect them, even if she has a go at them later for putting themselves in danger (not that she is alien to this). Glimmer will tell her friends as it is - she'll keep telling Adora that Shadow Weaver mistreated her, she'll tell her that Catra needs to be left alone. Glimmer's sass is also part of her love language as she will tease those she's fond of. She is upfront with her love, with a thin layer of sass and edge coated on top. Though admittedly she's not gentle with her friends - she's always a bit aggro, and some could take it the wrong way, like with Catra.

Bow: He's the protective smart friend, but unlike most Straight Man archetypes, he's also really loving. Bow shows his love by hugging his friends, protecting them, talking to them, socialising with them, creating gifts for them, being stern with them, and thanking them. He works hard to save Glimmer and tries to protect her even when he's too upset to actually be her friend. Of all the characters in the show his routes for showing people he cares are the most complete. Bow's ability to be friendly with people he barely knows saves his skin on multiple occasions - The pussy Dryl Bakers, Horde grunt Kyle, crazy dad Micah, signalled Entrapta, chipped Scorpia, and Wrong Hordak all change their minds because of him. Then of course there's his final speech! Most compelling to me is how he looks out for Adora in the episode "Launch" when she's overworked herself. He is able to sympathise with her desire to work hard and save Glimmer, but knows when it becomes too much, and calls her out, where other characters wouldn't understand at all.

Other princesses and villains under the cut!

Scorpia: Hugs. SO many hugs. Literal acts of service like Adora and Bow. Scorpia tries to connect with Catra in a huge number of ways - dates, food, games, art of them as friends, making up group names, words of how cool she thinks Catra is... all of the photos in her bedroom.... Scorpia is the most aggressively loving character in She-Ra, and tries to support Catra in every way possible, including being the strict friend when necessary (and possible), which is why she's so dejected that every one of her affections is pushed away. Like Adora, Scorpia learns to accept love later down the line. Her interactions with Emily show her that Catra's become cruel and that she needs to do better for herself, and that she's let Catra hurt their other friends. Then with the help of the Princesses, namely Glimmer and Perfuma, Scorpia ends the show able to face Catra again.

Entrapta: A great case study since season 5 draws attention to this - I am not sure if Entrapta's bad at expressing feelings because it's hard and she's uncomfortable with them (like Catra, Hordak, and Mermista), or because it just doesn't occur to her to tell people she cares (...relatable). She is hyper aggressive in other love languages to compensate, in particular acts of service/"gift giving" - making space suits for all of Best Friend Squad, creating the exosuit and "LUVD crystal" with Hordak, and helping whatever side she's on with her full abilities, no questions asked. Very attentive to other people's interests, wants to share her own (eager to nerd out with Bow from day 1), can be physically affectionate (Emily) and pulls friends closer when she wants to talk to them (unfortunately lacking boundaries), later on she tries to be emotionally supportive/expressive where it most counts even when it's hard (Wrong Hordak, Catra in "Don't Go"), she's very soft with Hordak and is far more gentle and comfortable with him than with others. Takes lots of photos of herself with her friends. Hyper flirty with AI... and has high value in what others think of her - taken aback by any amount of affection or praise. All in all, has a lot of love to give, as Stevenson said. Eager to share it! Just speaks it in a different language.

Mermista: I mentioned her just now as having a hard time expressing her feelings. Mermista spends the entire show dismissing Sea Hawk while he continues to serenade to her, she doesn't want people to know that she's got feelings for him. However I don't think that means she never expresses her love - she's just a bit tsundere.

Mermista expresses her affection through teasing and bullying, and occasional goofiness. In "Roll With It", she trolls Adora hardcore with the "Sea-Ra" story, and says Bow is going to make her a new trident. While this comes across as mean, she indicates her respect for Adora's power and Bow's tech skills and her desire to be their friend. She likes trolling Perfuma, too, who doesn't take it as well. Mermista low-key pays attention to all of her friends, as seen in the Mermysteries ep, and shares her goofy interest with them all there.

She calls Entrapta "geek princess", as simultaneously an insult and an affectionate name - like how Catra calls Glimmer "Sparkles". They hi-five in season 1. Calls her weird but conveys she has her back - Mermista trying her best to show friendship, lol.

She tells Sea Hawk she kind of lit a ship on fire out of curiosity.... and when he admits her love for her in front of everyone, it takes her so off guard! And then she just has to hug him openly, the cat's out of the bag.

I like Mermista a lot and I think her love language needed more explanation because she's misunderstood by the fans.

Perfuma: I wrote a good post on what Perfuma's deal is recently, I think you should defer to that, but when it comes specifically to love language, she's got a few methods.

She can be physically affectionate and hug people, she can support them and stand up for them like she does for Scorpia.

Most unique to her is the use of flowers, which Scorpia is able to recognise even when mind controlled. She does a lot of floral gift-giving.

Perfuma enjoys fighting alongside her friends. She will go all out to protect them! When she's comfortable with people she's bolder around them and her more adventurous side comes out.

I wish I could say more but Perfuma's got a lack of positive character relationships for me to work from.... and I probably haven't been paying enough attention to her.

I'll point out that she tries to support Catra in "Return to the Fright Zone" by offering a hug and all sorts of advice!

Frosta: Aaaargh! I never think about Frosta. She likes to play with people and imitate them when she really likes them. Think about her relationship to Glimmer! Frosta's a bit like Mermista - uncomfortable doing the whole affectionate friendship thing but WILL obsess over the people she wants to bond with and pull them into her games, less ironically than Mermista.

She is insecure about being seen as a kid, and is very competitive, but it means a lot to her for people to tell her she's a valued member of the team.

Frosta creates ice sculptures for the people she cares about! She's sooooo enthusiastic about it. God bless. She has awkward interactions with dumb older characters like Micah from time to time but eventually tells him she appreciates his attempts to bond with her.

Frosta can be surprisingly good with words as seen in "Fractures" when she's able to relate to and understand Scorpia.

Spinnerella and Netossa: These two are adorable to watch together. They are highly competitive, especially Spinerella, who--- oh for fuck sake, I finished writing this one and the browser glitched out. What I wrote is that they are very competitive with each other, which has similarities to Adora and Catra’s playfighting.

They have a complete love language in all the other ways too; physical affection, working alongside the rebellion even when the others gave up on it, helping Frosta feel better by letting her win...

Netossa’s Batman-style breakdown of her friends’ weaknesses is a sign to me that she’s paying attention to them and their struggles, even if she isn’t that close to any of them.

Emily: She is a good girl! She rolls around and plays with the characters she loves. She LOVES hugs, just like Scorpia. I love how Entrapta specifically programmed a desire for affection into Emily, as if this is an important part of what makes something alive, more than a machine.

She’s very mischievous around Scorpia, rolling in Brightmoon’s flower beds and following her around the Fright Zone. She even offers emotional support to her, helping her process Catra’s betrayal.

Emily tries to help Catra after a nightmare, but gets some claws to the face instead, and becomes scared of her.

She’s protective of Entrapta, trying to keep her out of trouble, but also willing to get into trouble and beat up Shadow Weaver in her name, lol. Emily is her own robot, and is able to disagree with/even turn against Entrapta, as seen in Launch, but theres something really sweet about their reunion after the space mission.

Sea Hawk and Swift Wind: Self explanatory.

Wrong Hordak: He is generally loving and sweet to everyone, but he also likes to imitate those around him. The whole winking thing is a good example! He copies Bow, and cooks with Glimmer, and in Heart he sticks out his tongue like Entrapta, which makes her laugh. He’s a good boy. He’s also a communist revolutionary and should hook up with Swift Wind to take down Etheria’s princess hierarchy.

Shadow Weaver: It may seem curious for me to include Shadow Weaver on this list, but even though her “love language” is abuse and manipulation, I think it needs to be included.

Shadow Weaver gives soothing tones and strokes to the young minds she’s trying to worm into. She tells them that only she can understand them, or that she’s doing what was best for them, or in Catra’s case, that she reminds her of herself.

This affectionate touching has such an effect on affection-starved Catra that she decides to cut off the hair floofs at the start of Season 4.

Hordak: Hordak doesn’t get many opportunities to display affection around the show, but you can tell he definitely cares about some people, and the biggest early example is Imp - this little gremlin failed to serve his purpose, but gets to roam around Hordak’s lab and even irritate him, while still getting some affection.

When Hordak begins to respect Entrapta, he puts aside his controlling nature, and starts letting her do whatever she wants - enter his lair, work on his portal, unknowingly letting her in behind his walls. You expect him to get annoyed, but he never snaps at her like he does with Catra or Shadow Weaver. Then the first major act of love is when he protects her from the exploding portal, even when it breaks his own armor.

Hordak opening up about Prime, and accepting Entrapta’s demonstration of love with the suit and crystal, it’s all baby steps for him. And you see him making progress - the best example of his love language is when he does his silly villain appreciation speech. “You are not a failure. Any who look down on you are utter fools!”

In season 5, he remembers this act of love, and finds a way to return the favour. I don’t think much screams “I care about you” more than going full Vader and turning against your God to protect someone.

I must also note his attempts to bond with Catra - he tries to show her some respect, the same way he did to Entrapta, with toned down villain praise and accepting her into his sanctum. Hordak is genuinely grateful for Catra working to take over Etheria, at least for a little while, even though she was kicking his ass to the ground.... but that’s the love language Hordak understands, after all.

I’d imagine that after the show Hordak holds on to his villain style affection and tries to get more comfortable with it and use it positively! I’d imagine he grows gradually happier with contact too. He rejected Entrapta’s public display of affection in “Moment of Truth”, but embraced it in “Heart”, no longer trying to look strong and evil.

Horde Prime: To finish off my list, let’s have the most messed up version of “love language” we can get. Horde Prime physically strokes his clones and any other “brothers” or “sisters”. They’re even seen blushing him at one scene, which has messed up implications of them seeing his violation of their minds as his way of caring about them. He shows Hordak and the others “mercy” by brainwashing them, “purifying” them of all the pain and colour of their lives, and telling them they should be grateful. Prime shows “mercy” to Hordak and to the Etherians who have something to offer him.

Prime makes his subjects believe that when he infects their minds, this is what they want, and this is what makes them worthy. What’s worse is I think he believes in his own hype - he genuinely thinks he is helping them.

Good thing She-Ra erased him from this earth.

And that is everyone worht mentioning! I could probably go into other characters, like the Horde Trio, or Angella and Micah, or Huntara, but.... evidence is a bit circumstancial, or I’m not interested.

Thank you for giving me an excuse to make this post!

#she ra #spop #reblog

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