#i got hordak sometimes it b like that

[cirusthecitrus]

I had to go back to s4 finale (i was looking for some art references) and rewatch Hordak's "reunion" with Prime for the 100th time

And now I once again can't stop thinking about this one little thing HP does in this scene, and then does it again but to Glimmer in s5

He got down on one knee beside them, looking into their eyes and touching them in some way. It's such a minor insignificant detail, but I still want to talk about it

Horde Prime always tries to appear bigger, above everyone else. He’s above in the sky, he’s above on his throne, he’s towering and looming over people when he wants to intimidate his opponents and yada yada.

But here he instead gets “on their level”  to appear more welcoming and unthreatening, to make them let their guard down. But it is also a power move, a humiliating and mocking gesture even. HP talks down to them, as if he was talking to a child

And speaking of children - you see, this move he does is a legit parenting technique and it makes me SICK

This trick can be used in many situations, but it is particularly useful when a child is not listening to what you're saying (and not because they're being naughty or smth, they just can't focus) and therefore doesn’t understand what you want from them. So instead of repeating and shouting the same thing over and over again and only making everyone stressed a parent/caretaker sits down before them (so their eyes are leveled with the eyes of the child) and sometimes touches their shoulder or holds their hand. This way the child fully focuses on you and it helps them to actually listen, since now they only see, hear and feel you

And here Prime is trying to do the same thing - to make people focus on him, listen to him and do as he says. It’s more obvious with Glimmer - he wants to persuade her to help him find She-Ra and activate the Heart without outright threatening or forcing her (cause it's not in his style). Plus he literally sees her as a dumb lost child, and she kinda is (a lost child, not dumb!) especially compared to this ancient mummy

But with Hordak it’s more... subtle. HP tries to take up as much space as possible, so for Hordak there’s nothing else in the room - no pain, no distracting thoughts, no Glimmer, no Etheria, no Hordak - just Prime, his voice and touch. HP’s goal here is to make Hordak listen and focus solely on his brother, to make it easier to get into his head and read his thoughts

And in Hordak's case this move is also so SO cruel. Because it's so personal. Because to Hordak Horde Prime is a brother, his creator/god AND the closest thing Hordak had to a father figure. He’s basically Prime’s child, even though he popped up from the tank, already in an adult body with a fully developed brain*

And it was so unnecessary for HP to even get out of his chair, he could order other clones to bring Hordak to him and then order Hordak to stand up despite his pain and get closer (basically yell until "the child" does what he wants). And yet he does this. He gets closer, he kneels down, he cups Hordak's face very so gently, he looks him in the eyes as if he's actually looking at him and not through him. And the fact that in this moment HP literally does what parents do is just-

Look at this face. Right before and after Prime reads his mind. Look at this baby

Yeah he's very confused and scared but he never breaks the eye contact, he's fully focused on Prime, he listens to him so so carefully. He looks at his brother like nothing else exists, like Horde Prime is the center of his universe. And in that moment, he was. HP made sure of that. He wanted for Hordak to not only remember his place, but also remember where Prime's place should always be in his mind and heart

It's so sick and twisted it's been over 2 years and I still can't get over it and i wanna throw up aaaAAAaaaAAA

*yes i'm too very tired of Hordak antis dismissing his trauma and downplaying it to "daddy issues", but like... daddy issues are in fact still there, they just go as a bonus to everything else lol

[floxalopex]

So... it's about spacebats.

There was a post on twitter. I asked if it was canonically confirmed that Hordak and the clones are really "spacebats", since I've once read a post in which a fan said the showrunners denied it. Look, I'm crazy. Maybe I'm wrong.

Anyways. Me and the account I talked with (if you are here, hi dear💜) agreed that they have too many similarities with bats. So even if it's not confirmed it's canon in my heart.

Spacebats have, according to my answers:

-large hands: bats are in the order of chiroptera (kheiros=hand; pteiros=wing). Plus the claws. I had originally headcanon their hands to be bigger than their feet, but honestely they need a good lever to apply their body weight. Feet are very complicated organs (yes, organs) and they need to satisfy certain physics requests in order to allow erect position. So, claws on both hands and feet. Same size.

-looking at the design of the spacebats (especially Horde Prime) I've noticed some kind of disproportion. They have shorter femur. Or at least, shorter than us. Bats have shorter inferior limbs. We had too longer arms to climb, then they became shorter and shorter. But we never had "hand wings". So that's the only reason I can find for the disproportion to exist in the first place. It's very little after all and sometimes animation inconsistency deletes it too.

-I'm neutral towards the headcanon of them having devil tails (in fanfics). Who cares, I mean you can have more caudal vertebrae and that's okay, even humans have it sometimes. Our bats don't have long tails, but who knows the other bats "in the universe". Etherian bats/Imp's brothers have long tails. About the wings headcanon mmm not so much. They are extra limbs for them. But as I said, same goes with Angella. It's creepy to me, but I know people love the Angel/Devil dichotomy.

-large shoulders and so⤵️

-"fat tiddies": as I said, those may actually be just larger pectoral muscles. You know, to fly you need those. As I said on twitter if I were to imagine a humanoid form evolved from bats I would think about the spacebats.

Now, compared anathomy, biological anologies and homologies apart.

Let's talk about physiology.

Premise: I'm not a vet. I'm not a doctor yet. So, more expert tumblr users, correct me if I say something wrong.

So, as I said. To fly you need big muscles on the thorax, shoulders and chest area. And not any muscles.

You infact need a lot of red muscle, so a lot of mytocondria, so a lot of energy.

As my beloved Barbascura said (an Italian youtuber, he is an organic chemist, I love him) bats...are complicated.

They live a lot considering their stature. Because in general there's this rule *the smaller you are the shorter you live* in biology. They are a very valid exception to this rule. So are we, but we worked on it a lot. Healtier life style. Hygene. More food. Science. Medicine. You know.

Now, the longer you live the higher chances to develope cancer you get. The more your cells (and so mytocondria) work the higher chances to develope cancer you get.

So, why are bats one of the most efficient specie in being able to avoid cancer? Why don't they fall ill that easily? Why a mammal, who techincally has not the physiology to fly, has this ability? They need energy, their bodies are, in theory, super stressed. So why aren't they constantly set on fire? How the heck do they live this much?

So, when a body goes through inflammation it produces ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species). So, radicals. Highly reactive molecules who have the tendency to basically trigger any chemical reaction possible. They can be useful to defeat a pathogen, but only in a very low quantity. If you produce too many ROS you can end up having them attack your proteins, the membrane of your cells, or...even DNA.

Yes. I guess you now understood what I'm going to talk about.

So. Hordak's sickness has been long analyzed by fans. People who know way more than me and are able to write better. So go check on them, not me.

So far, the most recurring ideas have been that he suffers from some kind of auto-immune disease (vitiligo), in a way similar to psoriasis and he has a rare muscular atrophy. I still lack a lot of knowledge and experience in the field (in my country medicine is a 6 years long nightmare, I'm just a second year and we start at best at 19) but the aetiopathogenesis of these condition is pretty much unknown. Best hypothesis: a) auto-immune b) genetic malfunction and/or predisposition c) both. And other hypothesis have been made of course.

So, what has that to do with ROS?

Simple: as I said an extra level of these molecules can even cause damage to DNA, even to the immune system. Am I trying to find out the cause of the unknown and alien disease of a cyborg fictional spacebat? "Adora: no! ...Maybe!"

I'm just giving ideas.

Anyways, we were saying that bats need a lot of energy. Energy=ROS. ROS=problems.

Plot twist: those thingies are filled with ROS. No, they rarely have cancer, they rarely have problems in general. No fever, no flu. Or at least is very rare (vet colluegues I call upon thy).

So? Well, they found out a very complicated reparation self mechanism in bats, way more complicated that the one you can find in ordinary mammals. Basically it's not like their DNA doesn't get damaged; it does but it gets fixed immediately.

This of course in functional individuals, which Hordak sadly is not.

Humanoid bats/spacebats don't fly anymore, but maybe their methabolism didn't change much. Another specie with a great tollerance to ROS is the furless mole, who by the way (again) doesn't develope cancer, lives a loooot given its size, and plus can live without oxigen for hours.

Now, the point of all this mess is: could it be that, in general, spacebats don't go through oxidative stress despite the high production of ROS. Maybe despite evolving and not needing to fly anymore they have however still used this high radical tollerance to live more and without cancer. And so on.

But maybe Hordak lacks this mechanism and that is why his DNA got damaged, you know, the defect in his cloning. And that's why my baby is suffering.

This mechanism also allows bats to be more immune to viruses (yes, covid, no baby bats it's not your fault we stupid humans eat you). So maybe Hordak is truly more susceptible to viruses in general.

Idk, let me know.

[johannas-motivational-insults]

Adora might be autistic too

Alright, most people in the SPOP fandom agree that Entrapta is autistic, as her coding is extremely obvious. However, some of us also believe that our beloved protagonist Adora is on the spectrum as well. She comes off as quite the aspie, and while Asperger’s is no longer a diagnosis in the DSM-V (but is in other manuals), it falls under the blanket diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and its diagnostic criteria is still useful in analyzing people for signs of the disorder. In analyzing Adora’s character I will refer somewhat to both disorders, with the understanding that Asperger’s is a specific manifestation of ASD.

I would like to preface this by saying this is a headcanon and people are free to disagree with me. Some of these characteristics I’m going to bring up could also manifest because of her very sheltered upbringing in a cult-like atmosphere or mental illnesses such as anxiety and complex PTSD (both of which she arguably has). I am autistic myself, so obviously I am inclined to interpret these symptoms this way, but to each their own. It’s also worth noting that Adora has a lot of symptoms that cross over with AD(H)D, a cousin disorder to ASD, and it’s totally possible she has both.

In any case, there is now enough evidence hinting at Adora’s neurodivergence (especially now that the Rebel Princess Guide has been released) that I feel the need to explain this theory in detail instead of just occasionally mentioning it. So here goes...

She’s naive/easily manipulated

This one doesn’t really need explaining, we’ve all seen it. Adora assumes people are telling the truth because why would anyone lie to her? That is such a relatable spectrum feel. She was handily brainwashed by Shadow Weaver in the Horde, while some of the others didn’t seem to swallow the propaganda so easily. This is of course partly because of the special attention and affection Adora got from Shadow Weaver, but she had to be vulnerable to manipulation in the first place for it to work.

Later, she trusts Huntara easily in the Crimson Waste despite Bow and Glimmer’s warnings about her questionable character. Adora happily follows her into a trap even once Bow and Glimmer tell her they're going the wrong way, reasoning it’s probably a shortcut rather than reevaluating her misplaced trust. This can be partly explained by how she‘s gay af for Huntara, but still.

(Interestingly, the episode cuts straight from this moment to the obviously autistic Entrapta going against her own friend's advice and refusing to give up on the portal machine despite the obvious warning sign of Hordak’s violent dismissal. Parallels, much?)

Her difficulty understanding other points of view

A lot of Adora’s conflict with Catra is predicated on misunderstandings, and she has a hard time understanding the effects her actions have on other people, Catra in particular. For instance, she misunderstands Catra talking about ruling the Horde together as being purely about power, while Catra’s actual goals are safety and Adora’s companionship. That miscommunication is not just Adora’s fault, but it illustrates that she has difficulty understanding other people’s needs and motives without being explicitly told.

This isn’t just a problem with Catra, either. In general Adora has a difficult time understanding other’s motives and feelings. For instance, she doesn’t understand Glimmer’s insecurity over Bow’s friendship with Perfuma at Princess Prom, and she can’t fathom why Entrapta would choose to work for an evil faction, going so far as to assume she must have been brainwashed into it. This is because, just like with Catra, she doesn’t understand that some people’s priorities are not the same as hers.

Autistic kids tend to reach developmental milestones at different times than neurotypicals, sometimes being way ahead and other times falling behind. One such marker that is usually slower to develop and often stays impaired is theory of mind, our ability to a) understand that other people have different perspectives and b) understand those perspectives. Adora’s difficulties being able to put herself in someone else’s shoes definitely lines up with this symptom.

She’s clumsy

For someone so athletic, Adora sure lacks coordination. This is a commonly cited symptom of people with Asperger’s, though it shows up in people with other forms of ASD too. In general, autistic people often have difficulty with fine and/or gross motor skills, and this can lead to being accident and injury prone. According to Catra in 3x05, Adora bumps her head a lot. That may have just been a callback to 1x01, but either way clumsiness has been part of her characterization since the beginning, one of her many loveable, adorkable qualities.

Her lack of social and self awareness

Adora can be painfully oblivious to her own inappropriate behavior. There’s several examples of this throughout the series, one of the more costly ones coming at Princess Prom. Shocked by Frosta’s youth, Adora fails to register how maybe this (in front of Frosta, with all eyes on her) is not the time to remark on it. She immediately realizes this was the wrong thing to say (or at least not something she should shout), but that small delay causes both her and Glimmer a lot of embarrassment.

Part of the issue here is that she loses control of her volume, which in itself is a common problem for those of us on the spectrum. This isn’t the only time we see her have this problem, either, and it’s amplified (tee hee) when she’s drunk/infected.

More generally, one of the funniest examples of Adora’s poor social awareness comes when she barges into Huntara’s flirtation with the bartender in the Crimson Waste. She’s so focused on her task of recruiting Huntara that it doesn’t even occur to her that this is an intimate moment and intruding would be rude.

In the Rebel Princess Guide Adora also says she wishes Queen Angella would let her make some adjustments to the uniforms of the Bright Moon guards, which implies she tried to make these suggestions already. Maybe she figured She-Ra could suggest anything, but as both a newcomer and a royal subject that’s a bit of a faux pas. Chances are, that went right over Adora’s head.

She can’t read a room to save her life (literally)

This is another, more specific aspect of social awareness. Adora has difficulty picking up on the implicit rules (social norms) when she enters unfamiliar situations, and has a tendency to step on toes because of it. She also doesn’t understand when her friends try to nonverbally communicate what she’s doing wrong, and nonverbal communication deficits and problems with social awareness and insight are two major symptoms of ASD. One specifically listed example is “difficulties adjusting behavior to suit social contexts”, including:

Lack of response to contextual cues (e.g. social cues from others indicating a change in behavior is implicitly requested)

Unaware of social conventions/appropriate social behavior; asks socially inappropriate questions or makes socially inappropriate statements

Here’s a couple specific example of times where Adora misses or misunderstands nonverbal cues to change her behavior:

At her first Rebellion meeting she doesn’t realize that maybe she shouldn’t sit in the special-looking chair, and doesn’t clue in that that’s why everyone is freaking out.

In the Crimson Waste, Glimmer responds to the growling bar patrons surrounding them by suggesting that maybe these aren’t the kind of people they should be asking for help, but Adora persists. She jumps up on the bar and makes a speech trying to get directions (which is socially inappropriate for the context as well as dangerous), somehow missing all the scowls from the patrons as well as Bow and Glimmer’s wild gesturing.

Panic over unfamiliar social situations

Adora’s anxiety about going to Princess Prom could be attributed to many things, not just a spectrum disorder. Her obvious anxiety, for one, though to be fair there’s a high comorbidity between the two disorders. In any case, it seems the unfamiliarity of the situation is a sticking point for Adora in particular, while Bow and Glimmer are nothing but excited for their first ball.

Adora’s anxiety seems to stem mostly from being overwhelmed by the prospect of entering a new social situation with a whole bunch of unfamiliar rules to remember. She’s still learning behavioral norms outside of the Horde, and this is a huge jump up in terms of difficulty for her fledgling social skills.

To cope with her stress she goes overboard trying to prepare by making a conspiracy board of sorts, flash cards, and an obstacle course. And at the ball itself, it seems like she’s even rehearsed how to behave.

This probably isn’t only relatable to autistics, but it’s very relatable to us. Creating and rehearsing behavioral scripts is a common strategy to avoid embarrassing ourselves in public. Unfortunately, as we saw above, this works for about five seconds before Adora botches the whole thing by commenting on Frosta’s age.

Extreme stress over details

In general, Adora is a very anxious, perfectionistic person who hyperfixates on details, a very autistic trait. As mentioned above, this is wonderfully illustrated by her overpreparation for Princess Prom. She’s broken down the overwhelming list of rules in the invite into categories to make it more manageable, gone into detail categorizing people’s relationships to each other, and learned trivia about the guests in order to feel more prepared. Yet, somehow she missed the important fact that the hostess is only eleven years old.

Unfortunately this hangup doen’t only affect her, but also her friends and allies. The overarching theme in “Roll With It” is how debilitating Adora’s anxiety and perfectionism can be. Her eye for detail and ability to see flaws in plans is actually very valuable, but she gets so hung up on every possible thing that could go wrong that she can’t accept imperfect solutions with calculated risks.

Her propensity to be overwhelmed by too much information (like with the Princess Prom invite) shows up here too. Adora grows more and more frustrated and overwhelmed as more princesses join the planning session, adding more variables to deal with and more people to manage. She begins lashing out and shooting down every possible solution that doesn’t satisfy her need for perfection immediately. Her behavior looks like it may be headed for a meltdown until it culminates in an epic rant revealing all her anxiety and how it ties into her insecurities about her own imperfection.

Thankfully her friends are able to reassure her that she has support and doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s an ongoing battle, one we already saw her struggle with in “Flowers for She-Ra” and “The Battle of Bright Moon”. It’s a strong tenet of Adora’s personality that is proving difficult to shake.

What she misses about the Horde

The recently published Rebel Princess Guide contains a list by Adora of things she misses about the Horde, and this list screams neurodivergent. I’ll go through it point by point, since there’s a lot to unpack here.

THINGS I MISS ABOUT THE HORDE

1. I miss the rigid schedule. It never changed, and I always knew what to expect.

Ritualistic behavior and an insistence on sameness are often seen in individuals with ASD. In fact, it’s a major symptom. Many of us have diifficulty adjusting to changing schedules, changes in diet, or even minor changes in our environment (such as placement of objects, boy do I have stories there). We need warning when things are going to change, and even if we know it’s coming it’s still a struggle to adjust.

2. I miss the constant sound of machines and whirring. In Bright Moon, there’s always music playing, or people laughing, and birds singing. It’s nice but it makes it hard to focus!

Autistic brains process sensory information differently from neurotypicals, that’s basically our disorder at its core. Over or under reactions to sensory input are common and in fact considered a major symptom, and this entry of Adora’s specifically refers to difficulties with sensory filtering. We have a hard time filtering out information that’s irrelevant to our current task, which makes us easily distractable.

3. Believe it or not, I miss my hard cot in the barracks. My bed in the castle is way too soft!

This ties into both the insistence on sameness and sensory issues.

4. Catra… sometimes.

This isn’t autistic, it’s just gay.

Speaking of which...

She’s gay

Adora's relationship with Catra has always been queer-coded, but any doubts about her sexuality were dispelled in season 3 by the way she fawns over Huntara like a baby gay over her gym teacher. Her obvious queerness might seem unrelated to the topic of autism, but those of us within the community can attest there’s probably just as many queer people among us as there are cishets. It’s so notable that there has been quite a bit of scientific research confirming people with ASD are more likely to be LGBT and gender atypical and exploring the cause of this link.

(This needs no proving at this point, but enjoy these gifs anyway...)

In conclusion

Overall, there’s a lot of hints and circumstantial evidence suggesting Adora could have ASD. Was this the creators’ intent? Hard to say. Adora is the protagonist and one of the most developed characters, so she’s definitely not a cardboard cutout or checklist for ASD symptoms (compare that to Entrapta, a secondary character whose behaviors can often easily be attributed to autism). It’s totally possible the creators just characterized her as naive and awkward and obsessive without realizing the implications of that cluster of traits together.

Regardless of authorial intent, it’s perfectly valid to look at Adora and see representation of the ASD community. The groundwork is there. And if someone else looks and doesn’t see it, or sees something else causing this behavior, that is also fair. No one is forcing anyone to accept this headcanon (or at least they shouldn’t be), but in return please don’t disparage it. Even if she is not autistic Adora is definitely autistic-coded, and we could use some more heros with the disorder, given how we’re mostly relegated to being villains and anti-heroes (not that there’s anything wrong with us filling those roles sometimes, but a little variety would be nice).

Adora is often referred to as a dumbass, but she’s actually quite intelligent, just sometimes slow to understand how she should act and how people feel. Still, she tries her hardest, just as she does with everything else. Adora is heroic and compassionate, even if she sometimes struggles to understand others. When autistic-coded characters are so commonly portrayed as cold and unforgiving, Adora is a sorely needed exception.

[prince-toffee]

Season 1

Welcome to ‘Seasons’ dipshits. This might have four more follow ups, or this is the only one I’ll make, I don’t know, I get bored a lot. Anyway, the concept of this imprint is - ‘back during this season of Spop I had this outlandish crazy theory, and so now I write it’. Cause I thought it might be interesting. Plus canon sucks. This is set after the events of season one, so it’s kind of like episode 14. Forget everything we now know, pretend like all we knew was what season one showed us.

Also, special thank you to @tallysgreatestfan who was the one who gave me this idea for this canon divergence ball-pit. Enjoy, or don’t, I’m not your mom do whatever you want, I don’t care.

This took way too long.

------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------

Beatrix scoffed and threw the brown ration bar and the rest of her food tray across the prison cell, she far preferred the grey ones. She gave a defeated sigh lowering her head down. She rubbed her fingers over the scratched part of her mask, in the spot where a chip of the Black Garnet used to reside. Her shoulders slouched down, all tension in her muscles left her as she gave up. She felt so powerless. So weak. Just a few days ago she was still one of the most powerful witches on the planet, every magic user feared her name.

Shadow Weaver.

Now, she sat in a prison cell, rank-less. She didn’t know if she should’ve felt honoured, or disgusted by the fact that the cell was specially attuned and adjusted for her specifically. Which meant it was probably designed and constructed, in secret, long before her treason. This place was full of secrets and surprises, usually unpleasant ones. Hec-Tor would’ve probably said it was an honour, he was an architect that truly thought of everything. And The Fright Zone was one of his most haunted creations.

Beatrix wasn’t disgusted, per say. She knew she didn’t have many fans, and plenty of enemies at every corner. This outcome was inevitable, she knew deep down she was getting too greedy for her own good. But the power felt too good to give up. What a fool she was. She saw it all clearly now. Where her addiction led her. Her very unsubtle disregard for orders, her greed peering through her emotionless, cold stature. She knew she was on thin ice with Hec-Tor, the control freak he was. He desired order and expected sub-ordinance. He always disliked her - everybody back home knew she was a wildcard, deceptive, insidious. Looking out for only herself - she never really cared about the cause.

Perhaps she should’ve been more surprised that he didn’t do it earlier. She knew he wasn’t fond of her, and vice versa of course - she couldn’t stand his patriotic and prideful attitude. Acting as if being apart of The Horde was a gift from god. He was an old blind fool. Beatrix wouldn't have thought twice before leaving this place and selling her loyalty and inside information to the most welcoming bidder - The Alliance, or even maybe try her luck with The Empire of Talon Mountain. So any choices to choose from, now if only she could manage to escape her imprisonment.

Unfortunately, if she knew Hec-Tor, and she did, the Hordak had probably thought of every possibility of escape she would think of, and countered it. He was paranoid like that. The spherical pure white containment cell she was unceremoniously thrown into was made out of Glowmoon-Dwarfstone, the surface layer anyway. A magical element only found on one of the moons of Etheria, able to absorb darkness itself - a favoured building material of BrightMoon, apparently. Bad news for the Weaver of Shadows, she was powerless here. She despised feeling weak, vulnerable. She was meant to be the predator, not the prey.

She had no shadow. The stone absorbed it. She felt two dimensional. She didn’t know if that made sense, but she heard the stone had negative effects on the mind if in close proximity for too long. Speaking of which, she had no idea how long she had been locked up, she lost the track of time. No windows. So no sky. No clock. No space. The spherical cell was the size of a small closet. At least they were still feeding her, but the food in there was never anything to gloat about.

She placed her face into her hands, she was loosing it. She couldn’t break! But she was close. She didn’t want anyone to have the satisfaction of seeing her beg, and pled. She was strong, stronger than them. She was going to win in the end, she just had to wait it out, play the long ga-

“Inmate-667. Place your forehead on the wall behind you and position your hands behind your back. The containment unit door will open, and a commanding official will commence your questioning. And Weaver, you’re gonna like this one, hehe.”

Beatrix narrowed her eyes and growled at the announcement. She recognised the voice, Force-Commander Grizzlor. She never liked him. The feeling was seemingly mutual. She did as she was ordered. A groan reverberated through her throat, she knew exactly what is was, she could tell from Grizzlor’s smug voice. Catra. She was back to berate her. It seemed like her former ward’s ego had grown three times the size, rather than her heart. Beatrix dreaded these visits. Catra came over from time to time, to insult and demean the dark sorceress, rub her victory into Beatrix’s face. Insolent little brat! She got lucky! Beatrix was weak when she caught her off guard, too drained by the toll the Black Garnet’s power took on her. If only- if only she could take hold of the Garnet’s power! S- She didn’t need much, just a little, it would’ve cleared her mind, beat her heart faster. If she had just a little more she could’ve had taken out Catra, and her two stooges. Everything would have been all better if only she had a little more. Damn that girl! And her mother!

The cell opened up. A side panel gave out a hiss as it dislodged, pulled out and off to the side. Weaver felt the colder air pour in. The closest shadow cast onto her was to weak for her to do anything with, the upper layer of the walls draining it’s ethereal cosmic weight. Or perhaps she was the one who was too weak. Catra loomed over her. The teen thought she could intimidate her, not a chance.

“Well? Come on then, you spoiled brat! Got anything to say? Came here to gloat and mock me, you think you have won, but one wrong move with Hordak and he’ll throw you to the dogs, he’s-”

“Weaver.”

The sorceress silenced herself. The voice that called to her was cold and smooth, in other words not Catra’s. The single word was followed by a pair of footsteps, metal boots clanking against the stone’s surface. The sound of cybernetics hissing as his joins moved. He was close now. The cell entrance slide back into place closing the cell. They were alone now. Beatrix had to admit, even though she knew Hec-Tor for most of her life, seen him at his most vulnerable, even shared some intimate moments with him, but still even after all that - he was terrifying.

She turned her head around, and there he was. He looked different in the light, stranger. She almost never saw him outside of his ThroneHall. Always cloaked in darkness and smoke. She sometimes wondered if he bought smoke machines on purpose to scare any kids that would accidently wonder into the room. Hec-Tor certainly had a taste for the dramatic. Beatrix turned around and seated herself comfortably looking up at the Overlord, well, as comfortably as possible. There he was, in all his glory, out of shadows - a glorified toaster. The same Hec-Tor that used to write poetry for girls that would never go out with him. The same Hec-Tor that dyed his hair blue, because kids from the neighbourhood made fun of him being ginger. The same Hec-Tor that beat his own father within an inch of his life, and conquered half of the galaxy...

Same old, same old.

She swallowed down quietly, she couldn’t show him she was weak. The mask helped hide most emotions, most weaknesses, she had to control the rest of her body language. Beatrix lifted one leg over the other and intertwined her fingers together, giving off a relaxed posture.

“Lord Hordak. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

She looked over him - blood red eyes, and teeth, grey skin, military regulation hair cut, his two prostatic arms, which could crush boulders, his imperial purple cape, and the neon lit armour implants. She was actually curious as to what he was actually going to say. His eyes narrowed, anger was apparent, but an air of irritation was present too. He gave out a long tiresome sigh, as he moved his fingers to rub the bridge of his nasal cavity, even venturing as far as his eyes, she was in for it.

“Why? Why can’t you just follow orders? Beatrix Hallows, always struggling with adhering to reason and common sense.”

Shadow Weaver’s eyes widened she couldn’t believe what she was hearing, he actually had the audacity to school her, to talk down to her. This was almost worse than Catra, hearing her full name spoken out in a mocking tone, like lecturing a child, slapping them on the hand, this was humiliating. And from Hec-Tor too. When angered by her he’d usually give her the cold shoulder, take her off a mission, reassign command to someone else, like Catra. She thought he had given up on talking to her, and her, ages ago. But she wasn’t going to have it.

“Having fun? Look you’re not covering any new ground here. Catra already had multiple pitstops here to make me her new donkey. If you think you get to insult me like that, just remember your punk rear wouldn’t have made it back home if it weren’t there for me. You owe me. Several.”

It was true. Back on HordeWorld, back in Catrax, back on the streets. They had nothing. Had to rummage through trash, and steal for food. Stomach empty all day. Times were tough. They had to rely on each other. One distracted the passer-by and the other pickpocketed, on a lucky day, thanks to Hec-Tor’s puppy eyes the stranger would hand them some pennies on top of that.

But man, on days like these she wished she had never stood up to those bullies shoving little young Hec-Tor around, should have never allowed him to follow her. But how couldn’t she, he was so adorable.

“I am not here to appoint you my personal laughing stock. And I thought I told Catra talking to prisoners was forbidden. I’ll have a chat with her about the regulations... I am here to understand. Finally. I have been putting this off for far too long.”

This was curious, and unexpected. She would’ve lied if she said she wasn’t interested in what was about to exit that mouth. He had avoided her for years. Often said she was ‘not worth wasting words on’. The feeling was mutual. She heard that mouth declare rousing speeches, bone-chilling monologues, and the softest of kisses. Versatility was everything. He continued.

“We never saw eye to eye, never liked each other, you always went your own way. Chose to differ from others, always take the other path. You talk back to me, you waste resources on personal escapades, and often break protocol... But back there, at such a crucial point, disobeying my orders, for what? Just because of a child that did follow orders?”

Putting faith in that girl was going to be his undoing. Unless she was going to get to him first. Catra was always a nuisance, untrustworthy, going off on her own, not listening to what she was told. She had a rebellious spirit, that drove her away from Weaver’s lessons, she often managed to drag others away with her. She was too smart for her own good.

She’ll be biting down on Hec-Tor’s ankles soon enough. She supposed that an upside of being stuck in the cell was that he had to deal with Catra’s antics now. That was his mess to clean.

“How did she even get a drop on you? Was it the Garnet? I told you to tell me if the artefact displayed any negative effects-”

“Are you done? I know you didn’t come here to talk about my feelings. If you care to know your magic weapon is fine. And Catra. She’s nothing but a brat that you’re letting walk over you.”

She wasn’t having any of this, she had to speak up for herself. Call it a warning, that girl is not to be dismissed, she’s trouble - like her mother.

But deep down she felt a hint of embarassement herself, she was one of the most powerful sorceresses, years ago when she first drained the power of the Garnet she did it effortlessly. Even though Hec-Tor didn’t trust her, he handed her the responsibility, because he knew she was the only one who could hold its power. He knew she was mighty. But now, the Garnet rejects her, resists her, no longer bows down to her might. It hurt sometimes. But she could never show weakness.

The infamous Hordak stared down at her, judgementally, much like how he looked down at everybody. He looked off to the side at the thrown away tray, mashed potato and peas smeared on the floor, tray flipped over, and the brown rations crumbled on the floor.

“You’re not eating.”

What was that? She wondered to herself. Was that genuine worry? She noticed he stayed on the ration bars for a second too long, noting her preference perhaps. He seemingly had no idea where to go from there, so she helped him out, she asked.

“Why are you here Hec-Tor?”

This time using his real name rather than his title. More personal, it cut to the point. Plus he was always going to be Hec-Tor to her. That puppy eyed scaredy-bat, the one always picked on, by bullies twice his weight, the nerd allergic to flowers, and used to write poems for her. She dismissed them of course, just a bunce of nonsense if you’d ask her. The change never really quite settled in, even when the Council made the public announcement of picking the new Hordak. Even when Hec-Tor’s face came on every screen on the planet. Even when the death of He-Ro shocked the nation. Nothing changed.

Well, maybe not until that day at Vix’s Diner. It was the strangest circumstance. He was the one who called her over. She guessed it was just a nostalgic meet up, like in the old days. The Hordak was present, so they ate for free. Their conversation would be constantly interrupted by randos bowing and giving respects to the walking totem. He dismissed them.

But there was something different about the man that sat infront of her, he was colder, more stiff. Beatrix treated herself to the unlimited free breakfast meals, best she’d eaten in years. She half listened to his ramblings, something about the war with the Light and the Ones Who Won’t Be Named escalating, the Council was abolishing anti-terraforming laws, and Horde warships were launching on the offensive against the enemy. The wannabe poet gone, all that was left of the boy was a patriot, and a soldier. Well what do you do? That’s what the government spoon feeds people.

But the strangest thing was. He asked her to be his Weaver - his second in command. An honour placed apon who seen as worthy, or chosen by the Council. But this wasn’t an ask of desperation or of fear. This was an order. Firm, and powerful. That day in the diner, if Beatrix would’ve refused him, she didn’t know if she would’ve walked out of there with her head on.

The Hordak is no mere man you can refuse after all.

He is the Beast of HordeWorld.

And so, they set off. Boarded the warship: Annihilation, and rocketed into the stars. And the newly appointed Shadow Weaver pondered, that it was quite curious that HordeWorld was completely decimated only few days after they left. Curious indeed.

Blah. Blah. Blah. Couple of thousand years, some food shortages and dead bodies later: Etheria. Crash landing in the back fields of King Niro’s kingdom of Scorpion Hill. And it was through Weaver’s highly skilled dark magic on display, that the kingdoms bowed down to them, Mysticore even building a statue in her honour. They looked up to her, marvelled at her magical abilities. Her Horde magic was far more advanced than what the wizards held in their possession. She taught, and trained them. But good things never last. They turned on her.

“Like I said, Beatrix. I am here to understand.”

Now it was his time to use her name. She was still curious yet cautious. Whatever side-tracks Hec-Tor from the main mission, can’t be good. All this was strangely personal. Was the Beast infact capable of concern and closeness? She let him continue.

“We’ve known each other longer than most beings live. But in my quest into the unknown, I never even dared to explore what was nearest me. Tell me, why break, why snap at me at a point of victory? And why, why the girl? It’s that Magicat that sets you off at every moment. Why? Why do you hate the girl?”

“Well, you free me?”

“...No. We both know I won’t, I can’t. It is against the protocols, and I gave you too many passes, vouched for you too many times, I overlooked your actions for too long. And that’s why I am here.”

Well, that wasn’t going to work. No freedom, no deal, no talking. She was surprised by the fact that this entire situation was simply a genuine attempt at a heart to heart. But he knew nothing. And that’s how Beatrix liked to keep things. Much like Hec-Tor, she wished to be a bogeyman, imagination was always the greatest deterrent.

And what was there to explain? Catra was a pain, undisciplined, and unwilling to learn. Beatrix wasn’t about to just let that brat walk over her, of course she snapped! Everything Catra got, every punishment, was because she deserved it. Though... no. No, he couldn’t know. Could he? Did he? Hec-Tor was a master tactician and strategist, he always researched and analysed everything before the attack - what if the Beast already knew the answer to his own question?

Did he know about Melendy?

Beatrix never spoke to anyone about her personal life, especially not her love life. And she had sure she was back for check-ins, erased her tracks, she was sneaky. She didn’t slip up often. How would he know? Could it be? Was the grand Lord Hordak jealous? A curious stalker.

But perhaps it wasn’t that outside of the realm of possibly. The Queen of Magicats. The Lord of the Horde. Hec-Tor set up many negotiations in the time before the war, people talk.

And what now, he expected her to sit here listen to him give her therapy? As if. If that bastard knew about Melendy’s choice... about her leaving, and didn’t say anything, just holding it over her head as bait - then damn him to the Light! But did he truly know? He couldn’t possibly understand. She was in love. Nothing ever came close to making her feel like that. Not even him. Beatrix loved her, and she chose to leave, just because of tradition, culture. To Light with it!

But what prompted him to care? Perhaps he looked back fondly on the past, reminiscing? Hordak and her didn’t sleep together often, but when the duty became too much, too stressful - they aided each other to settle the nerve. Heh, it took practice to get used to each other, their first time, wasn’t pretty.

She still remembered that night, or well, it was day actually. She always misremembered, since the skies over Catrax were always grey from the city’s pollution. Kids used to come over to their windows and watch the rare instances when sunshine would penetrate the dark clouds above. Very little hope shone down on the people of the lower levels. But the kids of the higher levels, the ones on the first floor, above the clouds, they had all the sunshine they wanted, and took it all for granted.

So when Beatrix and Hec-Tor pickpocketed and stole a little, just to keep living, just to have. It wasn’t that selfish. When the two crash landed on Etheria for the first time they ventured throughout the land, claiming everything they could, stealing and conquering, taking - just to have. Just because they couldn’t, in previous lives.

On that day, after Beatrix stole old Mister Scurvy’s wallet as Hec-Tor distracted him, they both ran off away from the yelling man. Ran faster than they ever ran before, too afraid that the man’s screaming would attract the attention of any local law enforcement, if they got them, it was Confinement for sure, no matter that they were teens.

She huffed and panted so hard she almost fell off her own feet. She had to lean herself on the side of a brick wall in the alleyway she ran into. Just as Hec-Tor joined her, the rain began to pour. He bowed down, arms holding his knees trying to support his upper body. His ears tilted down. His exhausted cough turning into a cackling laugh, which clearly infected Beatrix since she burst into laughter with him. She didn’t really know how it happened, but he got closer to her, with her pinned against the wall, looking straight into each other’s eyes. As their chuckles settled, her hand ventured down to his hip as her lips made their way to his own. And then, well, they were teenagers, you know what else.

Good memories.

Perhaps memories were just the advantage she needed, perhaps Hordak didn’t despise her as much as she had previously thought. Could it be? The All-Mighty Lord of The Horde feeling, lonely?

“Do you remember the alleyway?”

“Eh, there were... many alleyways.”

True that, after it felt so good, the first time, it sort of became a daily routine for them. Partners with benefits. They used each other to feel better, to feel something. There was nothing between the two, or so Beatrix thought. But perhaps she was wrong yet again. She wished to test that.

She took off her mask. The Weaver mask was a totemic symbol back on HordeWorld - representing strength and authority. And underneath that mask, was a woman. A broken woman, with scars and stiches, missing flesh. Something many would call a monster. But Hec-Tor Kur of House Kur saw nothing but beauty. A magnificent beast that saved him many a times. The girl he fell for so long ago. And Beatrix knew that, knew it the moment she locked her toxic waste green eyes with his blood red, which shimmered in the light of the cell. She knew straight away, his weakness.

“Look at me, Hec-Tor. So frail. I wasted away. So little of me left... The Council was right. No matter what power I aim to tame, I fail, I never amounted to anything, like they predicted. I know you’re disappointed to have me as a partner on this venture... But… I miss the alleyways. When we had nothing. Back when so little felt like so much.”

It worked. The seemingly cold and calculated persona cracked. His facial expression changed, from irritation, and anger to a certain softness, maybe pity. He breathed in heavy, and out through the nose. He took a step closer to her. The cell was a snug fit so he was leg was already brushing hers.

“We do have nothing, Beatrix. We are last of our kind. We have little, but we can have it all. You are not a failure. We are not failures. There is a reason why I haven’t just simply executed you like a common thug... I miss those days too. But we still have time.”

The Hordak kneeled down, lowered himself to be closer to her. This was it - the moment of truth. He clearly had no idea what to do with his hands, so one rubbed its thumb and pointing finger together in anticipation, while the other hovered in the air half open awaiting her permission to proceed. The Weaver of Shadows accepted it, took hold of the old vampire’s hand into her own, intertwining their talons. Old scared skin taking comfort in one another, in something familiar, in an unfamiliar world.

“We will have our people back. We will terraform this miserable planet! And we will be the new gods of a new utopia... And... though we never seem to see eye to eye... even if all it was, was physical, there is no one I would rather stand with and watch this world transform into hope, because you are my partner. This is our mission.”

Beatrix was the first to move forward. And Hec-Tor quickly followed suit, he closed his eyes and opened his fanged mouth. And the blissful moment was brief, but glorious, the space bat even let a pleasing hum escape him. And perhaps Beatrix would’ve let it go on longer, it wasn’t often that she had pleasures like these. But this situation was dire, and also, she was really tired of looking at the same white walls all day. She decided she earned herself a little walk to stretch her legs.

Hordak knew there was something wrong - his mouth became colder, and something wriggled inside that made him choke on his own breaths. Shadow Weaver rose up, straightening her legs completely, while Hordak bent down, onto his knees. The Dwarf Stone absorbed all darkness present on all surfaces, rendering her powerless, but the magic stone’s reach was limited. Cause Hordak’s entire inside of his body was nothing but darkness - so many shadows coating all of his vulnerable entrails. She wasn’t going to paralyse him permanently, she wasn’t that cruel - just because of their history, she could show mercy.

Hec-Tor’s face pale and sick, his body limp, blood pooling around his organs, he fell on the floor. Shadow Weaver took a good long heavy breath, perfect. She placed the mask back over her face, and approached the wall of the cell through which Hec-Tor entered. Firmly placed her palms on the stone and harshly blew onto the wall. The ethereal shadows twisted and morphed and drilled into the wall, she didn’t have much time. Every second the walls drained away the shadows, Hec-Tor had very little left in him, and the bright magic of the material weakened her, so little strength was left in her.

But there it was, the sound of the stone cracking. She wormed her fingers into the crack, enlarging it, chipping on it. The rock crumbled down, exposing the metallic layer underneath it. That was it, her window of opportunity. She commanded the shadows to bore into the mechanisms, and the dimensionless beast tore the panel wide open. The steel bending and ripping was extremely satisfying.

Weaver loved the look on Grizzlor’s face as he took in what just happened. The witch made quick work of him, throwing him off to the side with the dark mass. She sighed in relief, she wasn’t free yet, but she had plenty of material to work with. The shadows from smallest corner to the largest corridor converged around her, swirling like a vortex.

“Now this is something I can work with.”

[maychup]

Part 1

“So, what’s this again?”

Glimmer eyed whatever Catra was holding; a fruit. The ex-horde soldier sniffed it, her tail twitching at the tip as she did so. It’s a wholesome sight. Like a child finding out the wonders of Etheria for the first time.

She picked the fruit from Catra’s hand and peeled off the skin. “We call them Oreng,” Glimmer finished and handed it back to Catra who gave it one more sniff. She cautiously glanced up at Glimmer, narrowing her eyes. Glimmer rolled hers. “Quit being a baby and try it.”

Catra snorted but obeyed. As soon as her fangs pierced the inner skin, Catra pulled back and frowned. “That tastes horrible,” she said.

Glimmer chuckled, taking the fruit away and eating it herself. She digs into the fruit basket and hands another one — a donana — to Catra.

“You have to peel the skin off,” Glimmer points out.

Catra stabs her nail right through it. “Like this?”

“No.”

“That’s how you peeled the oreng.”

“An oreng isn’t a donana.”

“This is annoying,” Catra handed her the donana with a growl.

Glimmer laughs and peels it for her. Catra tries it, and it seems like they found the right one. Catra‘s ears perk after the first bite.

Looks like donana’s the winner.

Glimmer watches her finish the whole fruit in seconds. She’s already digging for a new fruit by the time Catra started licking her nails clean.

It’s been a week since they returned from Horde Prime’s ship. They’ve been busy planning left and right; and Glimmer is in the middle of it all, figuring out what their next move should and shouldn’t be. They’re severly outnumbered. Severely outgunned. Severely out of their element.

Adora’s trying to figure out how to fix the problem on her own, and Glimmer had told her it’s better to work as a team rather than running off into the unknown.

Catra is still a ghost to most of everyone.

Scorpia started talking to her again, though she kept her distance more. Most likely to keep her heart safe. Entrapta, Frosta, and Mermista are still very wary. Hordak can’t even look at her. Perfuma seemed to like her, and Catra looked like she might dive into gardening. Bow is quite possibly the only one one starting to really warm up to her. And Adora—

Well, they talk on their own. Train on their own. Adora says they’re fine, and they’re trying to patch things up slowly but keep away from each other as well.

Catra doesn’t talk much about Adora.

How Catra is with Glimmer, though...

Glimmer wouldn’t call them ‘best’ friends. There was definitely something there, but friends didn’t fit it.

Glimmer found Catra’s favorite spot in the castle, and Glimmer would visit her from time to time to chat. On their free time, Glimmer would introduce Catra to Rebellion things. She can’t quite grasp the concept of ‘food’ just yet, but she’s getting the hang of it.

So far, though? Catra’s favorite is fish.

“Can you tell me more about the Horde?” Glimmer asked casually.

Catra paused, coiling her tail. “What, do you want my whole life story, sparkles?”

That’s another thing.

Catra’s usual spitfire is back.

“You wouldn’t tell me if I tried to torture it out of you,” Glimmer scoffed.

“You’re learning, your majesty,” A smile ghosted Catra’s lips. “Well, when I was a kid, Adora and I wouldn’t follow sleep curfew. I snuck her around the vents and we would stay out and watch the night guards do their thing. We’d prank them sometimes, but we were never caught.”

Glimmer hands her the next fruit. An Ebble. “You don’t have to peel this one.”

“Until one night,” Catra took a chomp out of the fruit, “Adora get stuck in the vent. I had to get Shadow Weaver for help and when we got her out, I got punished, but what else is new. She always hated me for some reason.”

Catra’s coice went low by the end there.

“Catra,” Glimmer said softly.

Catra waved her. “Adora told her that it wasn’t my fault, but she punished me anyway. So, there’s that.”

Glimmer sighs.

Catra’s trying to get into the habit of reminding herself on the little moments where Adora would help her. No matter how little Adora got involved, Catra tried to entwine her positively into her bad experiences.

It’s something her father — King Micah — encouraged Catra to start practicing. Apparently, he used to hold bad grudges on people who shouldn’t be blamed in the first place.

And he learned that from her mom...

Glimmer’s still upset about it. To this day, she’d find an image of her mom and feel a sense of denial, anger, sorrow, bargaining, before accepting that she can’t do anything about it.

She’s gone, and the woman responsible for it stood before Glimmer, living a decent life.

“What was growing up in a castle like for you?” Catra suddenly asked.

Glimmer laughed her thoughts away. “Absolutely boring. Mom was very protective of me so umm —“ her voice shook, and she could tell Catra picked up on it “���B-bow was the only friend I got so —“

“Look, if you want to talk about it —“

“No!” Glimmer said too forcefully. She gathers herself, and she tries again. “No. I’ve already yelled at you about it and punched you multiple times for it. I almost destroyed Etheria because of it, too. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

“...You sound like you want to.”

“I don’t. I’d... there’s no point staying angry over it when all that’s ever done is bad.”

A silence passed them before Catra broke it.

“We should start a club,” Catra casually said. “Almost-Destroy-Etheria-Because-Emotions-Suck Club.”

“Yeah,” Glimmer shrugged, “I guess we both went a little crazy.”

“A little? You wound me.”

“Yeah, no, you went insane. Off the rails.. I mean, you sent Entrapta — Entrapta — to Beast Island?”

“We can invite Horde Prime to if we somehow switch him around —“

“If Shadow Weaver can’t join, then he can’t join.”

Catra chuckled. She shook her head, a full smile on her face but not quite a laugh. “We’ll get better,” she said more to herself than she did to Glimmer.

Glimmer watched as Catra’s eyes fall to her. She found comfort it in, as well as fear of uncertainty. Her eyes held a wordless promise, and she... could trust it.

With a bit more time, she could see herself trusting Catra.

Glimmer could only nod, handing her another fruit. Pumgranites. “We’ll get better.”

[nomadicism]

Now that She Ra is over, what are your thoughts on it? What about that Catradora kiss?

Hi Anon! Thank you for the Ask!

ヽ(*⌒∇⌒*)ﾉ Where to start?

I have so many thoughts on the show, and I’ve had so many thoughts since season 1. I’ve not written much of anything about She-Ra because I keep coming back to this problem of ‘where to start,’ or how to structure my thoughts beyond a +1000 item list. I can’t even pick one or two thoughts to dive into, because they all end up connecting to everything else —> honestly, that’s the mark of a tight narrative, even the big pieces that can fully stand on their own are still leading through to another piece. I fail at every attempt to write something brief.

Section I: Short answer first.

I have a very short and subjective list of media where I not only love (for different reasons) nearly every character (main, secondary, background), but where I also feel that their individual places or moments or arcs concluded in a way that felt right from start to finish. It’s a short list of media where connections and conflict between characters never felt forced, out-of-place, out-of-context, or done for shock value. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power makes that very short and subjective list.

It’s not often that a story hits all the right notes with me, and it’s much more often that a story starts off strong like that, and then turns me off ½-⅔ of the way through. I’ve quit video games during the final boss fight because the story lost me in the lead-up and I wasn’t going to waste 10-20 minutes of my time for something that turned out to be ‘meh’. It ain’t got to be deep, or anything either.

I really loved the voice acting. Everyone is great. A post for another time.

I love the aesthetics, which I wasn’t sure of at first teasers, but won me over in less than 3 minutes of the first episode (season 1) because I love bright pastels, the character designs are fun (can I still gush over variety of body types? YES), so many opportunities to explore stylish takes on the characters, and those Moebius-inspired scenery/background designs are a special interest delight. Season 5 delivered a visual ‘end game’ for the aesthetics in many ways, Section III further down will get into that a bit.

Section II: “What about that Catradora kiss?”

I gotta preface this with, shipping is not my go-to for how I enjoy creative works. It’s not a hobby for me. Sure there’s a few I dig more than others, but I’m otherwise agnostic about ships, unless there is a really bad story-fit (and that’s usually a subjective thing), or involves tropes that are a deal-breaker for me (and those typically relate a lot to the story fit).

With that said, I’m really happy to see Catradora be pulled off so brilliantly, and I think the kiss is a bold and beautiful big deal in a way that might not be obvious when considered in a vacuum. I see it as passionate and heart-felt, but also, it’s achieving(?) a relatable outcome (for me at least) that’s hard to describe. It’s an outcome yielded by a story in which two women—a hero and a villain—are divided and fight bitterly and then reconcile through love, while fighting a purity cult whose founder-prophet-god-king forces subservience through a conversion designed to strip someone of their identity (e.g. names they’ve chosen for themselves), memories-and-motivations, and love for others.

Despite these conversions, love still remains, it can’t just be baptized or therapy-ed away. Controlling puritans and authoritarians wielding religion or peace-panaceas as a weapon have been the villains in the lives of countless women and LGBTQIA people for a very long time. So yeah, I’ve got some feels about that. The last time I felt anything similarly relatable, or as strongly, was the Utena and Anthy relationship in Revolutionary Girl Utena (and really, their kiss during the surreal sequence at the end of the film adaptation).

Section III: Thoughts on Cult Aesthetics and Clones (the rough cut)

(1) In the future scenes at the end, Adora’s white dress with gold tiara and accents have this kind of goddess-like or Pallas Athena feel to it, which is a great mirror of the design choices for the god-like Horde Prime, his Purity Space Cult, mechanics/ship, and flagship interior scenery. Not saying that was the intention, but that’s how it came across to me.

Of course, those colors would be used because She-Ra already wears white and gold with a bit of red accent, which complement how the princesses are bright and colorful (pastels and jewel tones). The bold and bright colors helps signify that Etheria is full of life. Etheria is verdant and magical, and that sets up a contrast to the Fright Zone and the darker colors found in Horde characters (Hordak, Shadow Weaver, Scorpia, Catra, Entrapta, etc).

So the first kind of contrast was with the Fright Zone standing out as a poisoned/toxic against the bright, lively colors of Etheria and the princesses. Season 5 introduces another take on that contrast as Horde Prime is the opposite, or antithesis of Etheria’s colorful life. He’s like anti-life with his shades of light-and-dark grays on white, and only glow-green as an accent. In some cultures and religious traditions, white is associated with purity, and in others it is associated with death.

When Horde Prime ‘purifies’ Hordak for the sins of individuality and emotion (emotion for others, for his own sake), Hordak is drained of the colors he chose for himself during exile. In addition to being a contrast to Horde Prime (and informed by the 80s cartoon design), Hordak’s dark blue (or blue-black) and red color palette reflects the traditional use of red as a color for evil (especially vampirism) from back when diabolism was a stand-in for ‘the Devil’ in many forms of visual media (comics, live-action, animation, etc). In place of diabolic red, Horde Prime has toxic glow-green.

I absolutely love the use of the glow-green accents. Color trends for villains and significations of evil come and go, and I’m glad to see the color green be used again, and used so well. The last time I saw that shade of glow-green used so well was in Sleeping Beauty (re: Maleficent’s magic and the orb on her staff) and as the Loc-Nar in Heavy Metal. In both films, there are connotations of evil as a poisonous and corrupting influence. Green, in the context of evil, almost always signifies poison (and sometimes envy). I also like that the glow-green color is used in ways that aren’t immediately saying ‘this is evil’, such as the green baptismal waters and flames from the purification scene, or the green amniotic protein fluid. The language of piety and trappings of the sacred can cloak a sinister purpose.

I don’t know if any of that was intentional, but Horde Prime feels like the perfect synergy of purity and death (which has additional connotations, but that’s a very personal interpretation).

(2) Horde Prime immediately gave me subtle cult vibes in his first cameo (Season 3), and the follow-through on that was perfect and exactly what I was hoping to see. The background music throughout the scenes aboard the flagship fits well (love the soundtrack), and has the quality of Ecstatic Experience without pulling directly from any specific religion. Horde Prime’s dialogue is a delightful bit of narcissism veiled with the language of piety.

A purity cult comprised of clone-brother-worshippers of the cult’s founder-prophet-god-king reinforces that narcissism and has all the fun-dark feels of shiny-techno-future-dystopias. It is also an interesting use of clones, especially in a story format that usually never has the time to really dive into the complexities of cloning. This is the sort of thing that you’d be more likely to see in a one-off episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, rather than the basis for a greater scope villain, or multi-season nemesis. (and yes, Star Trek: TNG had an interesting clone episode)

Clones in science-fiction tend to fall into just a few tropes, and I generally dislike seeing clones show up in a story because the execution nearly always feels sloppy (in small ways or big ways). I did not get that feeling from She-Ra, where, the clones occupy the “cog in the machine” trope, but it is not their existence as clones that make them that way, it is the Will of Horde Prime that does. They are simultaneously expendable and sacred in their unity. It’s a nice flip on “stronger by working together” that Adora and the others have to learn (and struggle) to do.

It seems like, despite their religious programming, the clones have a little bit of their own personalities until Horde Prime ‘inhabits’ them to exert his Will. I’m trying not to read too much into it, b/c what comes across as ‘inhabits’ to me (especially with the religious/cult context), was probably meant more literal like described in the dialogue as a hive-mind control kind of thing. The first time it happens—to post-wipe/death Hordak—felt to me like a possession scene from The Exorcist, but without the kind of horror visuals that would scare both adults and children. The quick-and-subtle amount of body contortion and sound is still gross and creepy (because it should be), but it also reminds me of Ecstatic Experience in the form of speaking in tongues, or snake handling, or being a medium for a spirit. Again, I’m not saying any of that is intentional, but that’s how I see it.

(3) Finally, there is Entrapta, Hordak, and Wrong Hordak. Clones rarely get to be ‘humanized’ through friendship or romance arcs. I can think of a dozen or more robots that get to be humanized in that way, but can’t recall any clones that have (excluding doomed clones whose friendship/romance only existed for the sake of selling the tragedy of their death). Hordak gets death, renewal, and romance in a way that worked really well, and the totality of it is unique. I was a bit surprised that they could work in another clone—and I love Wrong Hordak—who pulls triple-duty as (1) comedy; (2) relevant to moving various pieces of the story along; and (3) more humanizing of the clones, which, again rarely happens as most stories take the easy low road when it comes to clones.

For Entrapta’s part, she’s never put in the position of giving up who she is (‘weird’ by many standards) for a romance. Her passion for technology is both an amusing double entendre at times, and integral to who she is. A romance for Entrapta does not replace her passion for technology, she can have both. Dating myself but, I came up in a time where most media (for children or adults) would rob a woman of her agency or passions during the resolution of a romance arc. Maybe times have changed, but it’s still nice to see none of that nonsense happening here.

[secreterces-charlie]

Yo yo yo! It’s Valentine’s Day and I’m tired, sad and single, but I cope by baking cupcakes and drawing my ships smooching ❤️

The original template is by @a-moop, and thanks @charliecharlo for calling my attention to this because it inspired me to draw some of these characters for the first time in years! Some of them I never even colored in any other drawings before!

Here’s the ship list👇

First row:

Marcus & Secret, a weird angel-demon thing and a very confused human, two characters from a story I have yet two write

LizardHat – Demencia & Black Hat, from the show Villainous by Alan Ituriel, and I know Hattie’s scowling, but we all know he loves his pretty little psycho dearly~

Lumpygrab – LSP & Lemongrab, a ship I dedicated a blog to because even though they’re canon, they’re still a rarepair and a crackship – what other craziness would you expect from Adventure Time?

Second row:

Francoeur & Vlaštovka (Swallow bird in English) – a robot dictator and his harpy companion, villains of another story I have yet to write. And yes, Vlaštovka does indeed have four arms. I drew those, but was too lazy to draw her actual wings.

Zora & Akta – the first gay characters I ever made, I think. Zora was a creepypasta/demon OC who I gave overpowered abilities to, but then redesigned her because she was killing me with cringe. Akta is... not exactly a demon? Her story is in progress, but I keep rethinking what she should be, exactly. As you could probably guess, she was inspired by Chara from Undertale :)

Trirax – Trixie & Thorax, from My Little Pony, the rarepair ship I will go down with. They’d be adorable together and you can’t tell me otherwise!

Third row:

Darx & Vitalia – would you believe if I told you these were Minecraft OCs? Yeah. I read a few books written in the Minecraft universe a while ago and was inspired, but I wanted to make it different. So, I wrote a story where Vitalia (the white-haired one) manages to topple over a bunch of potions that mix together and do something to her and the Enderman chasing her (Darx!). They discover that they’re slowly turning into each other’s race, she’s becoming a monster and he’s becoming human, hence the weird skin colours.

Goddess Secret & Rwakk – I made A LOT of alternate versions of Secret. She was originally a pony OC, and most of her AU versions are also ponies. In one story I was co-writing with a friend of mine, we started joking about him always writing bad endings and me always writing good and happy endings. This resulted in the creation of two gods of story-telling, influencing worlds, battling each other and playing with each other, and keeping the story-writing universe in balance. It’s not exactly a ship, but Rwakk is a dear friend of mine and he deserves a kiss 😘 Also we use these characters to cope sometimes, so 🤷‍♀️

Jabu and (the OG) Secret – two dorks from an RP filled with pirates, slavery and underage drinking, what fun! Basically Jabu (the zebra) has been serving a rich guy his whole life and never knew anything else, until Secret came with a pirate crew she joined on accident and, too empathetic for her own good, decided to show him friendship, and kindness, and a world where he didn’t have to always return favors, where he didn’t always have to listen to orders. While playing this RP and trying to get Jabu to understand as simple concepts as “this isn’t a deal, I’m just being nice, you don’t have to immediately pledge your service to me bro, chill” really challenged my writing (and also sometimes my morals, as Jabu had none).

Fourth row:

Entrapdak – Hordak & Entrapta from She-Ra: The Princesses of Power! One of my more controversial ships because Hordak is the villain, and he’s pretty evil, and then Entrapta is the greatest example of a morally grey character and his first real friend. I really hope they end up being okay, but with the way the series is going right now, I’m slightly worried about them. Also just a note, if you ever get into the fandom and ship them, know that there are ppl arguing against this ship everywhere. It’s not worth it to join the fights. Let the ship wars be.

Papara – Chara & Papyrus from Undertale, my two faves from the game. Over time I sorta gave Chara my own headcanon of abilities and backstory and stuff, and decided that someone like them could really use someone with endless forgiveness in his heart in their life. I wrote tons of “second chance for Chara” fanfics I never finished, and I hope there’ll be more content of them.

Prie & Lavinne – OCs from a comic I’m determined to make! Everything about them keeps changing except for their designs but rest assured that their stories are magnificient! Also you don’t get to see it from this angle but Prie has three eyes, two on this side and one on the side we can’t see.

Fifth row:

Penny and Marion – the OG ship. I got into MLP and FNAF fandoms around the same time and since I’ve never before been in one, I was absolutely in love with all of it, especially the Brony community. So, I wrote a crossover fan fiction about a robot pony fighting Purple Guy! I wrote two and a half story about her, with twenty parts total, and to this day I am immensely proud of this. The fact that she somehow falls in love with the puppet of all animatronics should not be important 😅

Lemon Pancakes – Lemongrab 2 & Breakfast Princess, a magnificient ship @charliecharlo came up with (bless you for this treasure) I realized I absolutely love BP’s design (especially in normal clothes tho) and I live for the angst that has to come eventually when LG2 becomes a part of LG3.

Charlastor – Charlie Magne & Alastor form @vivziepop’s Hazbin Hotel cartoon! If anyone dares tell me a) that Al is asexual and cannot therefore have romantic relationships or b) that Charlie is canonically with Vaggie, I won’t do anything but I’ll be silently judging you from over here. Once more I call to all of you. Let the ship wars be, they’re especially aggressive in this fandom, and it hasn’t even existed for that long. That being said, I love that they’re both musical souls and I really really hope Alastor becomes genuine friends with her in canon, at least.

So yeah, that’s a wrap!

Happy Valentine’s to all of you!

[fyrapartnersearch]

Fandoms / Originals

About me: ✦ Feel free to call me MC. ✦ I'm over 21 and asking only those 21+ to contact me. ✦ Open to writing more smut based stories/smut with plot. ✦ Only looking to roleplay through email or Google Docs. ✦ I'm fairly open to playing with/against any sexuality or gender (trans/nonbinary/genderfluid+ inclusive). ✦ My preference is typically m/f for my "main" pairing. ✦ Canon x OC // OC x OC (could be convinced for canon x canon) ✦ I have no problem doubling to suit my partner's own cravings. ✦ Hit me up with those AUs and cliches~! ♡ ♡ ♡ ✦ Able to write anywhere from 1-10+ paragraphs.

Extra: I expect my partner to put in effort in detail, grammar and punctuation, ideally providing at least 2 paragraphs for me to work with. Please, no text talk -- unless you're writing out actual text conversations. This includes messages inquiring about requests, otherwise I'll likely be turned away from even responding, sorry.

I must add that I need a flexible partner, meaning someone who doesn't demand a response every single day. I'm sorry, if that's what you're looking for then it's unlikely we're a good match. I have my own daily responsibilities, I try my best. Sometimes I can post multiple times a day, sometimes it's only once a week. I try to let any and all partners know if I'm unable to reply after a week if you see nothing new from me. Just putting that out there so there's no surprises. If you read my expectations of sorts, please let me know by a casual mention of the last song you listened to.

Fandoms: ✧ Mob Psycho 101 (ideally wanting older Shigeo and/or Ritsu x OC) ♡ ✧ Star vs the forces of evil (Tom x OC) ♡ ♡ ✧ Miraculous Ladybug (Luka x OC ; Chat Noir x OC) ♡ ♡ ♡ ✧ Aggretsuko (Tadano x OC ; Haida x OC) ♡ ♡ ✧ She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Double Trouble x OC ; Scorpia x OC ; Hordak x OC) ♡ ♡ ♡ ✧ OK K.O! Let's Be Heroes (Professor Venomous x OC ; Raymond x OC) ♡ ♡ ♡ ✧ Fruits Basket (Male Akito x OC ; Kyo x OC ; Hatsuharu x OC) ♡ ✧ Noragami (Canon or original) ♡ ✧ Boku no Hero Academia // My Hero Academia (caught up on manga - male Toga x OC ; Dabi x OC ; Tomura x OC ; Aizawa x OC ; Chisaki x OC ; male Asui x OC have rough ideas for these pairings and other Canon x OC ; craving AUs - ABO, soulmates, werewolf, merfolk, demon ect.) ♡ ♡ ♡ ✧ Attack on Titan (Levi x OC) ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ✧ Inuyasha (Koga x OC ; Inuyasha x OC ; Bakotsu x OC) ♡ ♡ ♡ ✧ Yu Yu Hakusho (Hiei x OC ; Yoko x OC ; Touya x OC ; Yusuke x OC) ♡ ♡ ✧ Black Butler // Kuroshitsuji (Adult Ciel x OC) ♡ ♡ ✧ Demon Slayer (caught up on manga - interested in older demon Tanjiro x OC ; older demon Rui x OC ; Obanai x OC ; Akaza x OC ; older Genya x OC) ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ✧ Mystic Messenger (Jumin x OC) ♡ ♡ ✧ Disney // DreamWorks (Craving Hiccup and/or Jack Frost x OC (have a basic plot in mind) -- would also be interested in having a "Jack Frost" OC x OC story ; Anthro / Humanoid Toothless x OC ; Tadashi or older Hiro x OC) ♡ ✧ Studio Ghibli // Mamoru Hosoda films (Craving a "Wolf Children" style story ; would love something "A Cat Returns" related Baron x OC) ♡

Themes // prompts: ♡ = craving Bold = preferred role ✦ A/B/O ; Omegaverse setting ♡ ♡ ♡ ✦ Soulmates ♡ ♡ ✦ Hybrid AU ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ✦ Darker themes (ex: stalking / "yandere" / possessive character, drugs, kidnap, murder, serial killer etc.) ♡ ♡ ✦ Mafia / Gang (ex: He's Dedicated to Roses) ♡ ♡ ✦ Hades OC x Persephone OC ♡ ♡ ✦ Magical themes (ex: witch x familiar -- rough plots in mind) ♡ ♡ ✦ Split the movie (canon or totally original) ♡ ✦ Maleficent (Diaval x OC) ♡ ♡ ✦ Single parent themes (ex: single dad cop x teacher ; ceo x single mom) ♡ ♡ ✦ Korean Drama // KPOP inspired (Idol x Fan ; Idol x Manager ; Idol x Staff // ex: "Can't Take My Eyes Off You!" ; BTS with AU(s) -- supernatural, soulmate, Disney, ABO, mafia/gang, ghoul, android, college etc.) ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ✦ Pokemon // Animal Crossing Gijinka x human ♡ ✦ Ghouls (ex: Tokyo Ghoul ; for fandom AU or original) ♡ ♡ ✦ Robotics // Androids (ex: animated movie Hal; Absolute Boyfriend; Chobits; Detroit: Become Human) ♡ ♡ ♡ ✦ YouTube related (real or fictional) ♡ ♡ ♡ ✦ Werewolf // shapeshifter x human (ex: Shiver ; I've got the basics of a plot for this / could also be fandom AU based.) ♡  ✦ Vampires (rough idea for modern take, co-existing with humans ; would also be interested in something Servamp based) ♡ ♡ ✦ Self aware // Fiction meets reality (ex: Dramaworld) ♡ ✦ Slice of life ♡ ✦ "Pretty boy" / gang leader / rebel x archery club member ♡ ✦ "Pretty boy" / gang leader / rebel x gamer (ex: couple from "Out of Control" ) ♡ ✦ Gang leader x florist / "innocent target" / lover ♡ ✦ Gang leader / Rebel x Deaf / Mute / Blind character (ex: A Silent Voice ; thinking of possible Hybrid plot) ♡ ✦ "Pretty boy" / Rebel x Chubby character (ex; Pochamani manga ; Sierra Burgess is a loser movie) ♡ ✦ Demon / Dragon / Spirit x Human / Demon / Spirit (ex: Noragami ; Miss Kobayashi's Dragon maid ; Inuyasha ; Demon Slayer) ♡ ♡ 

If interested you can reach me by email: wellsotheysay@gmail.com