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Part of my art trade with my frien @dserpentes . Her beautiful apprentice, Ílkay.

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Comrade Swift Wind

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practice doodles!! i’m trying out the style of the show and i LOVE IT

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I’m. Mad.

Apparently y’all are physically incapable of thinking about a character’s motivations for more than 3 seconds, so I AM gonna write that essay about why Adora left and Catra stayed and why Catra is a Good Character, Actually. Do I even need to tell y’all that this will include spoilers.

To talk about Catra and Adora we need to talk about their past, so that’s where this essay starts. Adora and Catra grew up under Shadoweaver’s thumb, and she undoubtedly abused them. But this abuse took different forms for both Adora and Catra, and it’s important to understand these differences to understand why Adora left and Catra stayed.

Adora was manipulated and lied to, but she wasn’t ever physically hurt. Look at the scene where Adora and Catra are caught in the runestone room. Shadoweaver hurts Catra, and Adora runs back and tells Shadoweaver that it was her idea, hoping that she’ll stop hurting Catra. But instead of stopping, she tells Adora “you should’ve kept her in line better”. Shadoweaver blames Adora, and tells her that Catra being hurt is Adora’s fault. If only she had been better, than this never would’ve happened. And, as far as I can tell, Adora believed it. She became the best not because she wanted it, but because she was afraid that Shadoweaver would hurt Catra if she didn’t. This is why she isn’t excited about being promoted to force captain. She never really wanted it. Shadoweaver’s abuse made Adora desperate to protect the people around her, and made her think that becoming force captain was the way to do it.

Shadoweaver only reinforced this by telling Adora that the horde was protecting Eternia from the princesses. She’s built her entire existence on protecting others, on keeping them safe.

Adora knows the horde is evil the minute she sees that burnt out village. It doesn’t take her an entire episode to leave because she still wants to believe the horde is good. She takes an entire episode to leave because she doesn’t want to believe that A) Catra knew and B) she doesn’t want to leave Catra behind. It’s only after Adora has new friends and people she needs to protect , as well as a way to protect them, that she finds the strength to leave. And even then, she still doesn’t want to leave Catra behind.

Adora embraces being She-ra so fast because she finally has a concrete way to protect people. She can turn into an 8-foot-tall-ripped-as-hell goddess. She can finally take the hits so her friends don’t have to. Adora doesn’t just leave because the horde is evil, she leaves because she’s given a way out. She’s able to leave because she finally has a way to protect the people she cares about. As an 8 foot tall ripped as hell goddess with a big magic sword and terrifying glowy eyes.

Adora left because she has a deep-seated need to protect those around her, one that doesn’t stem from some sort of inherent goodness, but rather from the circumstances she was raised in. Of course she left. She’s a protecter, not a conqueror. Her allegiance doesn’t lie with concepts or commanders, it lies with people. This is why Adora has a breakdown after Entrapta “dies”. This is why Adora is left in tears, not because her friends have been kidnapped by the horde, but because she “couldn’t protect them”. This is why Adora won’t sleep when she thinks there’s something in the woods, why she thinks her friends got kidnapped because she didn’t train hard enough, why she goes to find Lighthope. This is why Adora left.

Catra is different. Catra wasn’t watching someone else get hurt, she was the one being hurt, and nobody cared, except Adora. Where Adora learned that she had to be perfect to protect the people around her, Catra learned that people in power will ALWAYS hurt you, often for no reason, and the only way to protect yourself was to become more powerful than the person hurting you. Catra is excited when Adora gets promoted because it means she’s that much closer to having enough power to make Shadoweaver leave her alone. To make sure nobody will ever hurt her again.

Catra didn’t need to protect Adora, she needed to protect herself, and that was nearly impossible. She isn’t like Adora, who’s primary concern has always been keeping the people around her safe. She doesn’t have that luxury. Catra’s main goal is to keep HERSELF safe. But she believed in Adora, believed that Adora could protect her, or at least TRY.

Which is why she reacted the way she did when Adora left. Catra has been hurt by everyone around her, for her entire life. Except Adora. Adora protected her, promised to keep her safe. So when Adora goes back on her promise, it hurts, because she was being abused before, but at least she wasn’t alone. Adora was the one person who cared about her, but now Catra is betrayed and hurt, abandoned and alone.

When Adora sees the memory of herself promising Catra to always look out for her, it’s a painful reminder of the friendship they once shared and the promise she could never hope to keep. But for Catra, it’s a reminder of the promise Adora broke, a reminder that everyone will eventually hurt you, even the people you love most.

This is why Catra cuts the spiderwebs, why she tosses the sword down the weird chasm thingy. Catra believes that the only way to keep yourself safe is to have the most power, and to never let anyone close, because that closeness is a weapon, and when it eventually turns against you, it’s the thing that hurts the most. She tries to kill Adora in the last few episodes because she’s angry. How could Adora leave her there? With the horde, all alone? How DARE she? Catra has decided that Adora is nothing more than an obstacle to her own safety, and she is going to remove it, whatever the cost may be.

Catra stays because she isn’t given a way out. There isn’t a magic sword waiting for her, there isn’t any power outside the horde for her to grasp. Catra sees the world very simply. The powerful crush the weak. And she’s been told her entire life that the princesses are weak, that the horde will destroy them, and honestly? They’re not entirely off base. Without She-ra, three whole kingdoms would’ve fallen to the horde. Catra doesn’t stay because she’s evil. She stays because she believes that the horde is the only place she can be safe.

In conclusion, Catra isn’t an evil asshole, she’s a scared, angry, abused person who is willing to do ANYTHING just to stay safe. And ironically, it’s her desperate desire to stay safe that keeps her in such a dangerous position. If she would leave the horde, she would eventually find a place where no one wants to hurt her, where they DO want to help her and keep her safe, but she won’t find that so long as she believes tha safety is in power alone. And THAT is why Catra is a good fucking character. Because she’s not evil. She’s DESPERATE.

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Hordak: I have your son

Adora: I don’t have a son

Hordak: Then who just asked for warm chocolate milk and made us cut off the crusts of his sandwich?

Adora: Oh my god, you have Bow!

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Mermista: I’m morosexual, which means I’m attracted exclusively to morons

Seahawk: hey I set that boat you gave me on fire

Mermista, already gifting him a new, better boat: god you’re so fucking stupid

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MY BEAUTIFUL CHILD 💖💖💖💖

Art Trade 💙

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a simple interpretation of my wife’s… er Nadia’s tarot card <3

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Hey guys! Vsauce Micheal here. What happens if I steal your organs and sell them?

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The beautiful Nadia (my wife) from @thearcanagame

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I tried to draw some artists (randomized in an online generator) in randomized anime/manga styles!

*PS: Though Leo’s believed self-portrait is disputed on, I still chose it nonetheless hehe

Full sizes of the drawings on patreon! Link

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Hee…

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i’m so sick of arguing with canadians. their delusional brand of “at least we’re not american” patriotism is probably one of the reasons why social change is so fucking slow to pass in this country

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Gift for my friend Hana of their cat, Tabi

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when i finally get home and can draw but have no inspiration at all

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Not to be gay™ but throughout she-ra there were so many like ??? lgbt+ colors?? I can’t even list them all but the entirety of she-ra had such wild lgbt+ energy like,, my crops have been watered and the yeast has been obtained.