#not sure who the catra of the relationship is

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

Catra is a Mary Sue.

i can already hear the aggressive clicking of keyboards as fans write an essay on how catra is flawed and therefore not a mary sue. but just stay with me here. here's what TV tropes has to say about this archetype:

“The prototypical Mary Sue is a female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author mainly for the purpose of Wish-Fulfillment. She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing.”

so.. let's run through the list, shall we? the exotically beautiful thing isn't really mentioned much in canon, but it's clear that catra was designed to be seductive and romantically appealing.

she certainly has her fair share of “unique” features with the heterochromia, the freckles, the fangs, the claws, and her other feline features. this isn't inherently a bad thing. it's okay to want your characters to look cool. besides, some of the other characters also have really defining features (except for adora who, despite being the protagonist, has the blandest character design ever. she doesn't even get a wardrobe change, outside of her new she-ra form. and don't even get me started on bow.)

“she's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas” — this definitely matches up with catra. she is supposedly the "lazy" cadet, the one who only shows up at the end of each training session and doesn't put enough effort into training. now i understand that she may still have had the potential to be a strong fighter, but you really mean to say that a teenager — who is rarely ever shown training or polishing her skills — easily beats up the evil dictator who conquered several regions and likely killed thousands of people?

i get that catra was just exploiting hordak's disability but if it was this easy to defeat hordak, wouldn't someone have done this sooner? even if he is disabled, he had to be intelligent and calculating enough to do what he did so far. but no, that's not the point here. catra didn't defeat hordak because she was somehow stronger or because hordak was weak. she defeated him because the writers wanted her to. she's a girlboss and she doesn't lose to anybody, not even a centuries old tyrant who has presumably conquered half of etheria.

“she also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing.”

yeah, you get the point. she's not flawless but most of her flaws are either swept under the rug or shown to be this cute and endearing thing. oh catra is possessive over adora and attacked her for making new friends? she's just so in love with adora. catra tried to commit mass genocide because of spite? she's just heartbroken because adora dumped her. catra constantly touches people without their consent and borderline harrasses them? she's just a cute disaster lesbian.

so there it is. catra is certainly a heavily flawed character but she's a mary sue (or a "jerk sue" as some people call these type of characters) because no matter what she does or who she hurts, she is forgiven and coddled. no one mentions angella's death in s5, not even glimmer who lashed out at adora earlier for the same reason.

all of catra's actions are just vaguely put as "she made some mistakes" or "she hurt people". making mistakes and hurting people can range anywhere from accidentally calling a person stupid to murdering someone's entire family, and spop doesn't mention where catra lies on that scale. because at the end of the day, all that matters is that catra gets a happy ending at the cost of the other characters' development and happiness. basically, a mary sue is like a blackhole. they are the “best” character, according to the author, and all the characters around them have to act horribly out of character so that this character gets all the spotlight.

[starlight-bread-blog]

Ememy Vs. Abuser: Catradora

Disclaimer: Netflix doesn't allow me to take screenshots. I tried to find clips on Youtube but a lot of these are stolen. And an obvious tw for abuse.

When Catradora antis bring up how Catra abused Adora in seasons 1-4, a lot of people seem to be confused. The go-to defense is the following:

"Catra and Adora were enemies, they were put against each other in many battles. The 'abuse' is just what you'd normally expect from enemies to lovers".

A complelling argument, for sure. How can you expect of Catra to not be violent with someone who was put against her? The answer to this question can be answered through a different question: Why is Catra the abuser? Why not Adora?

What's the difference between an enemy, and an abuser?

1# The aggressor is particularly cruel to their future partner.

Catra doesn't use her claws on real people very often. She mostly uses them on objects or robots (or Shadow Weather's mask).

At times, it's clear tnat she would gain a lot from using her claws, but she doesn't.

One might suggest that it's because she understands the full weight of using them. Whatever the case may be, there is a person she doesn't seem to have these reservations about: Adora.

2# Their intreractions contain emotional abuse.

Catra often blames Adora for things that aren't her fault. She's cruel to Adora, deliberately and viciously hurts her.

She makes mean spirited remarks and belittles her.

Additionally, Catra gaslit her.

And wouldn't you know it, she takes pride in having control over Adora.

3# There is no balance.

As we previously established, Catra has no problem being needlessly cruel to Adora. But is Catra in the same danger? It it at least mutually toxic?

It's not. Adora can fight and defend herself, but won't do more than she needs. Meanwhile, Catra seem to relish in brutalizing her.

Further more, moments that could be considered romantic build up in their own, "spicy" way, are positioned with Catra on top, where Adora has no choice but to comply, where she's stuck there.

4# The aggressor got in the victim's head.

Adora has a guilt complex. That's not a controversial take. She takes too much responsibility and thinks everything is her fault. A lot of this stems from Shadow Weaver, but there's another source.

And Adora is very quick to internalize her cruel remarks.

In Conclusion:

Catra and Adora's relationship can and was abusive during the war. They share specific patterns of abusive relationships even at war zone. Catra hurting Adora isn't all war stuff, it's personal, it's abusive.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

hypocritical because im a homestuck but i dont like simply extracting my favourite parts of media and leaving the rest behind.

shera fandom. i have things to say.

as a huge entrapta fan and an entrapdak fan i see a lot of other entrapdak fans try to extract the pairing from the show and label every other character as an asshole. you'll see a lot of "the princesses" or "the alliance" as this faceless whole of bullies. which drives me absolutely insane. because if you look at the show, "the alliance" is filled with a WHOLE BUNCH OF PEOPLE, each of which has a completely DIFFERENT relationship to Entrapta, and it's only Entrapta herself who ever sees them as this unified big group that she's tried to befriend. I think there's a failure here to understand how entrapta's perception of events isn't entirely accurate. Bow and Adora, for example, were always trying to get her on their side - even though she hurt them the most directly - and they let her do what she needed to do even when it resulted in untold chaos. i also think there's a failure to try to understand what ableism is present in shera and what is not, and where the writing errors lie and how they can be rectified. there's this idea of "it can NEVER be rectified and the characters CANNOT be friends", despite... yknow... the show demonstrating otherwise, and the reason this is especially egregious is I'm sure people ONLY write it that way so they can push entrapta even closer to hordak by alienating her from all her other relationships. to do otherwise would require acknowledging that hordak has done bad things to the other characters and he needs to WORK on himself if he wants to be around them.

as a huge catra fan there was a post on reddit yesterday where someone put a tier list where catra was at the bottom. there was a LOT of people saying it was terrible and the person didn't understand the show, and i feel that perception, but there was also someone saying that anyone has the RIGHT to find a character really annoying and mean, and that they see catra this way. I thought about this, and realised that SO MANY people who will diehard stan Catra and argue that the post was insane will ALSO rank GLIMMER as a bottom character, simply because they find her annoying and mean. it made me think, why is it okay for people to find glimmer annoying and hate her, but suddenly toxic and ableist (the words a certain user had) for people to find catra mean and annoying? why is one thing suddenly a problem when both characters are fundamentally the same? there is a lack of self reflection in how people regard some of the characters. you can't just take Catra out of shera, project yourself onto her, and forget about all the other characters, what she's done to them, what kind of people might connect with them. you can't decide that catra good and glimmer bad because you like catra more.

[17-million-years-of-pining-poll]

BEST LONG-TIME PINING SHIPS: ROUND 1 MATCH 14

Why you should vote for each ship under the cut!

Merthur: they meet and it’s IMMEDIATE aggressive flirting. two episodes in they’re already trying to die for each other. rampant jealousy, codependency, devotion, queer metaphors, being beside each other through everything, all the good stuff. merlin sabotages every relationship arthur attempts to be in except gwen, who he knows that arthur loves. arthur kills merlin’s singular non-arthur romantic prospect (not on purpose but it’s still funny). there’s like. a good 10+ years of arguably reciprocated pining there. and then arthur goes and dies in merlin’s arms and NEARLY says he loves him but says thank you instead. and then there’s another 1500+ years of one sided pining while arthur is dead and merlin is waiting for him to rise again. Catradora: These two ladies are one of the most iconic examples of friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers in fiction. They’ve known each other and cared about each other since childhood. They weren’t sure what their feelings for each other were, but both knew the other CARED. Then Adora realized that they were both working for the Bad Guys and defected, and Catra did NOT take that well. What follows are 4 straight seasons of flirtation, hostilities, and heated combat before Catra finally understands where and how badly she messed up, and joins Adora’s team. At which point they become even MORE flirty, before they finally seal the deal with a kiss in the finale, becoming the couple that they always had the potential to be, but couldn’t for so long because of things unspoken and undone.

[clfixationstation]

ships that make me go absolutely insane

Ranked from most insane to least

EREMIN (AoT: Eren x Armin)

the entire time I'm watching them my brain is "they're just like me fr" they make me feel as if I'm tearing apart. Oh the shared dream, the ruin, the raw honesty cutting through layers of deception, the way they end - it's too much. I saw myself so much in their dynamic something about queer childhood friends to lovers. something about living in that in-between...also aspec Eren real. You have NO IDEA how much analysis I've written about them. The slow corruption of their shared dream, the way Armin knew Eren best, the way Eren looks at Armin :( "And in the corner of your eye / I saw a dream that never died" - Aurora

Catradora (SPoP: Catra x Adora)

First canon queer ship I watched <3 both healing and painful at the same time, it tapped into something deep I had forgotten long ago. The sort of relationship where you're really close but there's a gap you both feel and won't address for fear of your own feelings and about losing each other (both eremin & catradora) but then they're able to actually close it!! To see each other as they are! Do you understand how much hope that offers?! To be seen and be told your fate is not tragic? I have also written so much analysis about them. "You're the only friend I need / Sharing beds like little kids / And laughing 'til our ribs get tough / But that will never be enough" - Lorde

Cassunzel (TTS: Cass x Rapunzel)

*gasp* a ship that isn't queer childhood besties to lovers? But bro the YEARNING. Oh it hurts so bad. Also the aesthetic is simply divine. I'm ranking it here because it was very impactful for me some years ago, though I'm not into it enough right now to deliver a thorough explanation. Also I'm pretty sure Cass is a canon lesbian? Massive W. idk, something about shipping noncanon queer ships that gets me. "I'm sick of the sun / Can't trust anyone" - Poppy

Nuts n Dolts (RWBY: Penny x Ruby)

Idk they just cared for each other so tenderly and then Penny died twice and Ruby couldn't save her either time. Ow ow ow. THE doomed yuri. I love to hc both of them as aspec, & both are very neurodivergent-coded (because that is what I am). I'm drawn to the comfort, security, warmth, and the angst. There's also just something very bright in their relationship that draws me in, similarly to eremin. seeing each other in such a golden light while resenting themselves perhaps? the way they look at each other & hold each other so dear? "A chance to share the world / To be a girl who finally felt alive" - Friend, RWBY

Bumbleby (RWBY: Blake x Yang)

Holy shit the yearning! Blake abandoning Yang AND THEN COMING BACK AND STAYING. Protecting each other :') Healing together. It's just so sweet and powerful I can't help but adore it. I remember watching the first 2 seasons when I was little before I knew gay people existed, and shipping them even then. ngl I really want to go rewatch earlier seasons through a sapphic angst/yearning lens. "I made a vow, I'm not alone / Not dying now, we're protecting our own" - Nevermore, RWBY

[anti-spop]

while i love glimmadora, i honestly like the idea of adora not ending up in any romantic relationship. i'm sure the internet would accuse spop of "queerbaiting" if that were the case lmao. but the lgbtq+ community isn't just about romance or sex (and you don't have to be aspec to recognize that imo!). it kinda sucks that spop ignored that completely, since nearly all the characters were pushed in romantic relationships without proper build-up. like, why do characters NEED romance in order to be happy?

i mean, you often see c//a as the only way both catra and adora could be happy, which is bullshit, because, obviously, not only were these two raised as sisters, but catra still abuses adora AND she's still dependent on adora. this relationship only ruined BOTH of their characters. a romantic relationship should NOT equal therapy. especially one with as much abuse and baggage as c//a has.

romantic relationships shouldn't be obligatory or the MAIN goal of a character's arc, because it's just going to resume this character to a ship, not who they rlly are.

[uniasus]

I have faced in, a life wasted by Catrasredemption

fic rec! Shera Modern AU. 41K Catradora

Summary: Catra ran away from home, from her best friend and from her mistakes after a drunken car accident nearly killed her and Adora.

It takes three more years and a mental breakdown for Catra to finally get her life together and to a place that's good and healthy. She's happy, and accepted that Adora will never be part of her life again. She's made peace with the past.

At least until the past comes back to bite her.

Comments: This is an amazing fic. The set up is that suddenly all her old high school friends start following Catra's dog, and when they figure out who owns the account things happen.

What I loved about this fic was Catra having to relearn people. It's been a long time since her messed up high school life - since she drunkingly drove a car into a pole and hurt Adora and Lonnie. But she's made a ton of improvement and it's nice to see her defending her character growth. She knows she's messed up, but she's different. Get used to it or get out.

And her relationship with Adora is on pin and needles for awhile - they both had damage from the accident. But it turns out what really killed their relationship was Glimmar, and that was a messy situation done really well in this fic.

There's light hurt comfort here, and a bit of angst, but there's also a ton of support and I'm gonna go read the other 40+ fic this author has now because I'm sure they're all fabulous.

[n7punk]

knowing you’re arospec & poly solidifies that you’re a Godtier writer because you never managed to accidentally project those onto catradora knowing it wouldn’t really fit their character

Lol thank you. I'm one of those people who, theoretically, likes the idea of romance like in fiction but then you put me in a relationship and I'm just 🧍 there. Valentines day absolutely confounds me. I don't know where on the aro spectrum I actually am but I've dated some amazing people and it's solidified there's just a limit to how I can feel. And even though I don't get jealousy very well either I sure as hell know Catra and Adora do and polyamoury just does not fit them at all lmao

[spopsalt]

I'm not even sure the writers knew they were writing Catra to be abusive. The writing of the whole show isn't just in bad taste, it's incompetent. They even failed at 'setup, reminder, payoff' multiple times, and that's the most basic screenplay writing tool.

The thing is, I actually think Catra and Adora being together would be really interesting because of the sheer complexity of such a relationship. But She-ra is a children's adventure show. The focus of any romantic couple is on how they are getting together for the happy ending. It's not the right place or time to depict this type of relationship. It would take a immense amount of screentime and nuanced writing on both characters to make it work.

The implications of their relationship. Adora's heroism stems in part from her childhood, where she always had to protect Catra. As Shadow Weaver doesn't give a shit about Catra's safety, Adora's only bargaining power lies in her own wellbing This dynamic fosters her detrimental tendency towards self-sacrifice.

Nevertheless, Adora's heroism also springs from her genuine compassion and love for the world. Catra's accusation of Adora prioritizing self-sacrifice over her, and Adora subsequently apologizing, should have been used to highlight the toxicity in their relationship— how their traumas makes them both worse. Adora is literally apologizing for putting ideal she believes in above Catra, who is 'supposed' to be the most important thing in her life.

Catra only reinforces such an idea, because Adora is the only one to ever value her in their developmental phase. Catra's safety depended on Adora prioritizing her. Combined with her self-loathing, she rejects new relationships of any kind, because in her mind 'only Adora can love her.' Adora learning to value herself from their love is so deeply unrealistic and insulting.

I can't find myself disliking or liking Catra because she's not even written with enough consistency for me to read her as a person. Just a flat character trope in attractive shell. The show as a whole is just botched piece of media and the interesting implications might even be accidental.

Thank you! People will say that Catra helped Adora's trauma but she just made it worse, she made Adora feel weak

"It won't be over until I see the look on your friend's faces when they find out that you failed, because you were too weak to save them"

Made her think that she's hurting her friends

"Haha! You're the one who left the villagers unprotected! You're good enough at hurting your friends without my help!"

Andddd made her think everything was here fault...ohhh there's so many to choose from let's run through some of my favorites!

"Let's be honest, all of this is your fault. If you hadn't gotten captured, your sword wouldn't have opened the portal."

"You broke the world and it is all. your. fault."

"You MADE me this! You took everything from me!"

There's more, but I don't want my answer to be too long

[thestargayzingheroine]

My Adventures With Superman - A Rambling Set Of Thoughts

Okay, I know I don't USUALLY make posts like this and I especially hate getting cynical and nitpicky about these sorts of things because I just don't wanna contribute to all the negativity on the internet... But this is something I just couldn't shake.

So last night I watched the first season of My Adventures With Superman and... I have a lot of mixed feelings about to be brutally honest which is a shame because I know SO many people really loved this show.

Spoilers for season 1 obviously

For the most this show is great and it has a good foundation for Superman and gets him and his relationship with Lois so right. I love how Clark is this big, soft himbo twink dork who really reminds me of Adora from She-Ra and Lois is this fun tomboy who falls head over heels for him. And to be honest, all of their moments were genuinely the highlight of the show for me. SERIOUSLY ITS LIKE CLARK AND LOIS BUT MADE FOR SAPPHICS LIKE ME AND I ADORE THEM

I love the art style and animation too and really does put a very fresh new aesthetic on DC stuff. Sure, it's a bit too much like She-Ra and Voltron in places, but for DC, it's a really good breath of fresh air. Seriously, look at the designs of Deathstroke and Livewire!

But sadly, that's not all the show is and this is where I have to sadly talk about my negatives with it.

Sooooo… this show was written a lot of the same people who wrote She-Ra and it seems to be a big fan of various anime things too, especially Dragon Ball Z and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

To that end, the show has basically... turned Superman into a mixture of Adora and Goku, not just in terms of personality traits and in Adora's case, her relationship with Catra (Seriously, if Clark was a woman and blonde, I would swear she and Lois would just be Catradora)

This sadly does apply to how this show portrays the Kryptonians, who are implied to MOSTLY be a race of evil conquerors who tried to attack Earth only for Krypton to be destroyed. This is VERY similar to how the First One's were depicted in She-Ra, as well as how the Saiyans were in Dragon Ball Z. One could also argue that their attack on Earth is a weird mashup of the movie Arrival and the Second Impact from Evangelion but that's me getting very nitpicky.

So naturally, we have Adora and Goku's traits being applied to Superman. And…. those traits don't really work for Superman, at all. Now I should be clear, it seems to be that Jor-El and Lara were actually like rebels fighting the evil Kryptonians (which is ironically Mara's whole deal... you seeing the She-Ra pattern here yet?) but like... I don't like this idea at all. Poor Clark even has a fucking breakdown later on and thinks he's actually some evil weapon meant to conquer Earth AGAIN just like Adora from She-Ra being used as a weapon by the First One's. And I just feel bad for him because he's trying to be the good decent Superman we all love... but he's getting dragged into this plot that pretty much breaks him... and I don't really like it.

And then there's a whole subplot about Lois meeting alternate versions of herself and discovering alternate versions of Superman who are evil (which is bizarrely how Kryptonite is introduced in this show) which.... yeah I don't like that plot either. Nor am I the fan of Task Force X pulling the whole "the Government is treating clark as hostile because they think he's an evil alien" plot which I have gotten kinda tired of seeing in a lot of modern Superhero media. It's either Superheroes being hated or hunted by the government or being made to work for them.

And you know where this all probably came from for this show in particular? Fucking Zack Synder and Man of Steel. It's kind of ironic because a lot of this show feels like its in response to the Synderverse, like it feels obligated to comment on how people see Superman now because of those crappy movies, something that I know James Gunn is probably gonna do as well with his superman movie basically a live action version of Superman vs the Elite.

And just…. no, none of this shit is really necessary nor is it a good idea. Because it kinda takes away some bits of Superman that I like. I know the show isn't done yet but… I can already make a good guess of where it's going to go. And where it's going… idk if I'm gonna like a whole lot.

It is clearly a show wanting to be different from all that has been done before with Superman…. but by being different for the sake of it, it's doing a lot of stuff I just don't like.

I just want there to be a day when we get a Superman thing that doesn't have to justify the man's own existence and role in a story because some objectivist edgelord made a bad movie with him in it eleven years ago.

So yeah, by turning Superman into more or less mostly Adora from She-Ra... I think they might have messed him a bit in my eyes. I hope season 2, whenever that comes out hopefully pushes things in a more hopeful direction and I could genuinely call this a good adaption of Superman. Because there is so much potential with just from the relationship of Clark and Lois alone that tells me that these creators just GET how Superman's character is.

So yeah, I hope that long rambling thought made sense.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

spop antis: explains in detail why c//a is incestuous, CANON proof and receipts included, written by the creators themselves

c//a stans: haha you’re DUMB if you think catra and adora are sisters, you’re probably an only child who has no experience with romance or siblings, they kissed in the finale so they couldn’t POSSIBLY be sisters

[ericas-spop-blog]

The Horde and Toxic Strength - Lonnie

(Post where I go on way too long about the Horde's ideals of Strength HERE.)

LONNIE

Status: STRONG

Lonnie is, first and foremost, someone who knows what side her bread is buttered on. She's unambiguously 'Strong', and - as somone who values that status - engages with the role far more deliberately and consciously than, say, Adora does.

Lonnie is acutely aware of the biases in the system; she knows that Adora is the Designated Winner in their creche, and that being better than her is just going to earn you a drubbing. So she doesn't try. If Adora is destined to win, then it's Lonnie's job to make that happen.

Lonnie never challenges Adora; instead, she spends her time removing roadblocks and lining up shots, then fading into the background while Adora score the winning goal. She works to reinforce the system, and she is rewarded for it. She gets to be the second-in-command, and be included in the camaraderie. She gets to make Kyle do all her shit work. Not being the Designated Winner even means she gets to be buffered against directly dealing with Shadow Weaver.

The also underlies her interactions with Catra, because Catra is one of those roadblocks Lonnie is responsible for removing. Catra's tactics don't actually matter - the fact that she is endangering Adora's status as The Winner is, in an of itself, "fighting dirty". It's breaking the system, and putting them all at risk.

That's where this bit of hostility comes from, too; with Adora gone, there's a hole in their group's power structure. Lonnie isn't saying this because she has a personal vendetta against Catra, she's doing it to try and stabilize the situation - to prevent Catra from rocking the boat when they're already in middle of a metaphorical storm.

She adjust (relatively) smoothly to Catra's unexpected promotion largely because she doesn't actually hate Catra. Sure, she's shocked, but after that initial outburst she more-or-less realigns herself like the good little soldier she is.

Which isn't to say she likes Catra. Their relationship remains prickly for several reasons - Lonnie has her own feelings of betrayal and abandonment to work though, Catra doesn't do camaraderie - but Lonnie actually tries really hard to make it work, because Catra is now the Designated Winner, and supporting the system is what she's always done.

The thing that ultimately fractures Lonnie's loyalty to the system (and thus to Catra) isn't so much that Adora left (though she did) or that S4 Catra is a bad boss (although she is); it's Lonnie processing that (a) The system never cared about loyalty, only it's use as a tool of control/self-perpetuation and (b) This doesn't means she has to not care about it.

Bonus head-canons/errata:

Lonnie would have backed off immediately and tried a different tack if Adora had ever gotten even slightly snarly about bullying Catra. Lonnie read the lack of confrontation as an implicit endorsement(and was not wrong to do so), even if Adora didn't parse it that way.

Post-series, Lonnie is probably still really angry with Adora, even if she's mostly processed her feelings about Catra. Think in terms of bad bosses: The one who mandated daily overtime and denied sick days is the one who made you quit. They sucked, but they never promised to be other than what they were, and at least you got to end the relationship on your own terms. But the boss who went on and on about being a family, and promised raises just as soon as you were over this hump, and then fucked off a week before Christmas with everyone's paychecks (and who never came back for you)? That's the one you resent.

[ariadnaltos]

ND Stevenson interview about She-Ra and animation in Celsius 232 (2022)

This post is a transcribe of second interview/talk made to ND Stevenson during the Celsius 232, a multimedia festival about fantasy, scifi and horror genres celebrated in Avilés, a city in the North of Spain. The interview was about She-Ra and The Princesses Of Power. There was another interview about his comics that I attended, but I couldn't find recordings of that one. In this interview ND talked about topics such as Catra's choices, toxic relationships, Nimona's film adaptation and Lumberjanes' TV adaptation. He also answered questions from the public.

Click on Keep reading to read the whole interview!

Thanks to Comic Astur for recording the interview. They have another interviews during Celsius 232 in their channel, both to Spanish and non-Spanish authors. So check it out!

First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! This post is being released on Christmas day in Spain, so I think it's a good moment to make a gift to the SPOP fandom. 🎁🎄

I don't do professional trancribes, I just want to share this interview. I love Celsius 232 and hearing ND Stevenson in person was a great experience. I want to share this with international fans. The interview is in a mix of Spanish and English, so I'll translate the Spanish parts (and also use some of Diego's translations that you can hear in the video) and I'll transcribe everything in English. I'll also add some notes here and there about the interview.

The auditorium opened some minutes before the beggining of the talk. It was almost full. There were some cosplayers of She-Ra, Adora, Catra and even one cosplayed as Finn, Adora and Catra's post-canon child. There was also a baby cosplayed as She-Ra (baby She-Ra!!). Some people brought with them pride flags because of the series nature. 🏳‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ When ND Stevenson entered the auditorium everyone started clapping.

In the scenario, as you can see in the video, there were three people. ND Stevenson (center), Jorge Iván Argiz (left, interviewer) and Diego García (right, interpreter). Jorge Iván did the questions while Diego translated everything to ND and then to the public.

The interviewer started the talk remembering that ND Stevenson will come back to Celsius next year, for Celsius 2023, and he also claimed the importance of animation. Then, he asked his first question:

Interviewer: When you make a comic you have full control. You have a blank paper or a screen. You have your pen and you can do wathever you want. However, when doing an animation film, even if it has a main creative, it's a hugely collective work. How it was your first experience? How it was entering the animation industry and realizing that it's a huge teamwork effort?

ND Stevenson: Getting into animation was actually kind of an accident for me. I didn't plan to go in that direction. When I started out writing comics I thought of myself as an artist first before I was a writer. And so getting hired as a writer in animation was kind of a surprise for me. And I wasn't sure if it was something I was going to stay with. But my first job was amazing. It was working for Craig McCracken who did Powerpuff Girls and a lot of other stuff that defined my childhood and other people's childhoods. It was a very cool job to work with him.

Thinking of myself as a writer... it took me a while to accept that. But also, the collaboration of animation was what made me fall in love with animation. I also had always loved animation as a kid. Sneaking into my parents room where the TV was, when they were out of the house, to watch Teen Titans, which was my favorite show. To be behind the scenes, to be able to share this world that we were building together with the rest of the crew, that was... I immediately became addicted to that.

To write a comic it is all you. And unexpected things still happen but it all comes from your own brain, you own hands. With animation, everybody has a little piece of that world. And so, I would look over people's shoulders and ask to be in meetings that I wasn't technically a part of, just because I wanted to know everything and see everything. And so that is what made me fall in love with animation and that's what eventually lead me to make She-Ra.

Interviewer: Now we're going to talk about She-Ra. She-Ra as a character already existed, created as a base for a series of toys. I think that it started in 1985 and it was a show with near a hundred episodes. She-Ras was a twin sister to He-Man and she had a similar story to him, it was kind of complementary. But you made something completely new with this character and this universe. This seems wonderful to me. The first example already appears in the tittle [of the show]. The original series was called She-Ra Princess of Power. But here we're talking about She-Ra and The Princesses of Power. This collaborative spirit that you liked a lot when making animation shows was translated to the animation series. I imagine that this was the first decision [that you made], to bring a more complete arc for characters and to create not just one, but multiple princesses of power.

ND Stevenson: Yeah, the show ended up being- it was about teamwork. It's not just what the show was about, it's also the way in which we made it. It was a show that was made under a lot of pressure, not just because of She-Ra, but because we didn't have the biggest budget and we didn't have the longest timeline for making it. And so it was really something that if we were going to pull it off, we had to rely on each other to do it. And so that was something that really brought us together.

But that show, taking it from being- I hadn't watched the show myself [before], the original show from the 80s [when I was] growing up. But I loved it when I watched it [as an adult]. I had a lot of love in my heart for that show. Trying to pay that off and take that so it could appeal to new fans as well and still make old fans happy was always the line to find and walk. Taking it from one princess of power to an entire team of princesses who are very powerful and making it more about that, about the group instead about the one individual. That was something that was very important for us to do. Because it was so personal for us, with how the show was being made, because we were so close to each other. It was important to show that aspect of friendship and teamwork, and relationships in general. And love in every form. That was our inspiration behind that aspect of the show.

Interviewer: I would like to know if from the beggining it was always clear that the series was going to have that format and that number of seasons. The first season was a presentation of the princesses, almost one per episode. For me the series starts having more pace when each episode develops these stories that connect with each other. I would like to know if the series was already thought like that or if after season one you still had freedom to make changes.

ND Stevenson: The production of the show was actually pretty unsual in animation. The show had already been greenlit for 26 episodes before I was even hired for the show. They just bought the rights to She-Ra and they knew that Netflix had already ordered the first season. They also knew that they wanted to do 52 episodes total. So when I was hired it was my job to pitch that second season. And so, when I pitched the show, I'm kind of a wordy person, so my pitch was supposed to be like 20 minutes and it was like over an hour [in the end]. And I was lucky that the people I was pitching to were receptive and interested, but I pitched all 52 episodes. That is part of why it was so long, because I wanted to have this conception of it.

Some things stayed the same and some things changed over time, but we had certain ideas that stayed the whole time. For example, an early idea was that Catra was going to get a promotion at the end of every season and move further up the ranks. And also she was going to betray somebody in each season. That really ended up in the show. She just keeps kind of working her way up the ranks and eventually decides that she's out of there, going back to Adora. That was something that stayed true over time, but there were some things that we found along the way. A lot of things were really unexpected. At the very least, it was very helpful to have those broad strokes figured out from the beggining. I'm glad they didn't just cut me off after 20 minutes of talking cause that would be embarrasing *laughs*.

Interviewer: One of the best things that has happened to YA narrative is the shift from just entertainment and fun spirit to topics that were forbidden before. This change probably happened because of the new young people creating new stuff for young audiences. Some of this topics are abuse, bullying, mental health... She-Ra is about some of these topics, toxic relationships are very present in the show. There are multiple cases. It has been talked a lot about the relationship between Adora and Catra, but the relationship between Catra and Scorpia is also another perfect example of a toxic relationship. Something that someone denies, although everybody is warning them. I would like to know more about these messages that can make the audience think about their own relationships. Tell us about it.

ND Stevenson: I'm of the believe that it's important just not to see representation of good behaviour and role models that we can model ourselves on. But is also, I think, a good thing to see representation of characters making the wrong choices and doing the wrong thing. And Catra is defined by that. This was [something that] the crew [asked about as well]. People would come and they'd be like: "so, you told me that she's gonna join the good guys again, right? She'll be OK? When is that going to happen?" And people started to stop believing me that it was going to happen.

AJ, who voices the character, I would [tell her] "We have a big run for you today, Catra is going to do something new, but I promise that she's going to be OK in the end". And she'll be like: "yeah, sure, you say that every time". But I think that's why [Catra] was very beloved among the crew and by me. She's a character who kind of consistently always makes the wrong choices. And it can be so frustrating. Because you'll yell at her at just be like: "OMG, you know you don't want that, why can't you just do the right thing?". And that, I think, in it's own way can be something that also tells us how to make decisions ourselves. So when you see somebody who we sometimes want to scream [at], sometimes we're compelled to do things that make us a bad friend or bad people. And it's important, I think, to know the consequences of those wrong decisions.

Catra is someone who expresses those things and my hope is that it is cathartic in it's own way, but it's also a little bit of a cautionary tell. She ends up alone at the end, without any friends. And that's the consequences of her actions. But then it's also something that it's- you know, there's nothing you can't come back from. There are things that if you work, if you make yourself vulnerable and open yourself up and try to make amends for your mistakes, it is possible to come back. That was something that was very important for us to show. It's my believe that it's important to see characters, specially female characters, making those bad decisions. We found it cathartic, and I hope that it was cathartic for others as well.

Interviewer: Now two short questions about the animation. First, it is traditional animation, or at least it looks like it, with some touches of CG here and there. I wanted to know if it was a conscious decision so the show would look like it was intended, or if it was because of the low budget and short production time which you said you had.

The second question is about the aesthetic of the ancient buildings. It makes me think about an illustrator called Roger Dean. I don't know if it's by chance or if it was an inspiration for this aesthetic.

*a fly 🪰 flies near the interviewer and he tries to hit it*

ND Stevenson: We had an option on pursuing 3D animation as well. It was something that was done at this studio I was at, at DreamWorks, pretty often. But it was also for an epic... There's a fly!! 🪰

*the interviewer and translator agree and everybody laughs* There's a fly in my... flying over and over... 🪰

Yeah, for epic action scifi fantasy it is harder, it's more expensive to do CG animation. And you have fewer resources. One thing that happens is that the characters can't go to many places because every room and setting has to be build in three dimensions. My friends who are writers working on shows in 3D have limitations of what they can use. They have a set number of characters and a set number of locations, which is true in hand-drawn as well, but less so. You don't have to design the whole thing if you'll only going to see it from one angle.

So that was a lot of the reason of just what was posible with the show. But also, I thought it was important because She-Ra was one of the last shows in the 80s animated in the US, before everything moved overseas to be animated in South Korea and Canada, France and Ireland. It felt important to stay true to the original and the hand-drawn look of the original.

As for Roger Dean, that was definitely one of my inspirations. You have very sharp eye! That very epic... The science fiction illustrations of the 70s and 80s that you would see on the cover of a paperback... That is how I wanted the world to feel. But populated by characters who felt a bit newer. As a kid, I always loved this covers because you would see these floating rocks or the sky with dozens of planets and moons. I wanted to capture that feeling. It always sparked my imagination to see those illsutrations and I wanted to capture that in the show.

Interviewer: Before starting with the questions of the public I have to ask about the adaptation of Nimona into a film, as well as Lumberjanes' TV adaptation. Tell us a little bit about both projects.

ND Stevenson: You're gonna see the Nimona movie early next year, I think february or march. *big applause from the public* So get excited because I just saw the newest cut and it has a lot of the animation. I've seen the board drawings for a while, but I started to get the animation and it is completely surreal to see really dumb drawings that I made as a teenager like, suddenly being executed in three dimensions and it's gorgeous and the style is amazing. So I'm very excited for everyone to see it.

And Lumberjanes is still in the development period. This is a little more standard. I said that She-Ra was unsual in the animation industry and part of that is that the development happened very very quickly. Less than a year. For most animated projects it takes longer than that. So on Lumberjanes we are still on the development phase. We haven't launched into the actual production of the show yet. It's still on the writing and creating the look of the show, finding a studio and everything like that. I think that I'll hopefully have more news about it soon for you. And I think that it's going to be also really cool. So... yeah. *applause*

Interviewer: Great. (To the public) Any questions?

#1 audience question: 1) I heard some rumors that you had trouble with Netflix because the series did not have as much advertisement as they wanted, the low-budget... That was the case? 2) Would you be interested to start working for other platforms like Amazon?

ND Stevenson: Something that not many people know it's that I actually haven't worked for Netflix. I created She-Ra as the show that you saw on Netflix, but I made it at DreamWorks. DreamWorks is it's own animation studio and they had a deal with Netflix that Netflix would stream the shows that DreamWorks was producing. So that was the deal. That's different now. They still do co-productions with DreamWorks, but they [Netflix] created their own animation studio after a year or so after I started working on She-Ra. So actually I didn't have much interaction with Netflix at all. I didn't get notes from them. I didn't know my executives there personally... Actually, I did, but... One of my executives was actually a good friend of mine. But I didn't actually have meetings with Netflix in any way.

If there's rumors about being trouble with Netflix it's certainly not in any kind of working relationship way. They are pretty mysteryous, they guard their algorithm pretty closely. But yeah, that was my experience with Netflix. For me it was very positive. I can't speak any more to what their reaction towards the show was because we were in different places. Hope that answers that.

I'm not currently working with Amazon, but that's something that is definitely... it's pretty common in animation to kind of move around from studio to studio. So it's definitely posible.

#2 audience question: I'm almost 30 so I'm a bit old for the She-Ra target audience, but me and my friend loved it because there is a lot of queer representation. For me and my friend that is very important. I was wondering how it felt because we're more of less of the same age, so we've grown up with similar cartoons and there was nothing that showed you what queer means. We didn't really see ourselves in mainstream shows. I was wondering how it felt to put for the queer community out there this clear representation.

ND Stevenson: It was obviously pretty important for me in a personal level. But another thing that I don't know if that many people know it's that when I got the job I wasn't out yet as gay. So it was certainly not something... Honestly, the show is probably responsible for making me way gayer, just working on it. *everybody laughs*

But it was something very important to me, just in the world of the show, you know? For me, it's always queer characters, they're always on the front of what I make, even before I was out. But also it's something that is defined by the show itself, what makes the world feel more alive. So I felt that having very fluid gender expression was an important par of the show. Because honestly, the original show has fairly fluid gender. He-Man wears pink and purple in his clothes and then wears a furry diaper when he transforms as He-Man. All the characters are wearing tights and belly shirts and men and women, there're not non-binary people in the original show, but it makes sense for us that there would be. So there's something for me that made the world feel more alive. And again, rainbows and drag queen princesses were such a big part of the original that it just makes sense to [have them] and it made our world feel bigger and more expansive. So that was a lot of my thinking behind it, and sometimes it was an easy sell I think. We were pleasantly surprised that the studio would be very receptive for Bow to have two dads. And Double Trouble, we were very excited about that and very supportive of hiring a non-binary voice actor.

And then there were other things that were a harder sell. I got on the phone with a lot of different people for the Adora and Catra relatioship and had to pitch it a bunch of different times to different people. Got a few notes at first. And then, you know, appealed it, and then the noes turned into yeses. And I still didn't believed it until I was actually watching the final season on Netflix. I didn't believed it'd really happen. But it did so, yeah, that was really cool.

*when the interpreter was translating this answer by ND he tried to hit the fly 🪰 and everybody laughed and applaud, it was really funny*

Interviewer: (To the public) One last question with a short answer?

#3 audience question: In the series there's a lot of characters. I wanted to ask who do you relate to the most?

ND Stevenson: I think all the characters have little bits of me and the rest of the crew. I think almost every character is sort of- there's someone on the crew who identified with them really strongly and that person became more expert on the character. So we have someone who strongly identified with Entrapta, or Tecnia as you said... (Tecnia is the name of Entrapta in the Spanish dub <3) I forget they have different names sometimes. Which is a great name, Tecnia is a great name! *public laughs* But yeah. Almost all of the characters had some counterpart among the crew.

For me, I think that I sort of related the most to a tie between Adora, Catra and Glimmer. One of the things I struggled with on the show was that I was very young when I was hired and I'd never been a manager before. And I mostly just worked on my own stuff and so, having to suddenly become a leader was a thing that I found very difficult and very scary. Like, I really really wanted to do a good job. I wanted everyone on the crew to be taken care of. And it was very difficult and terrifying. That's something that I think all three of those characters deal with in different ways.

Glimmer unexpectedly becomes the new queen. Adora changes sides and suddenly has to deal with all the guilt of having been on the bad guys side before. And Catra has this drive and this ambition, but she also starts to fall apart the higher up the ladder she moves.

I put a lot of those feelings into the characters. With Glimmer there's an episode where she can't go on missions anymore with Bow and Adora because she needs to stay and go to meetings, which was like my everyday. Everyone's going to do something fun and I have to be in a meeting, I can't hang out with [other crew members]. Like Adora in the episode where they play D&D and she keeps just being like: "no no NO, we're all gonna die and everything is gonna go wrong" and she's trying to anticipate every possible way it could go wrong. That was a lot of like, you know, having to conceptualize and keep consistent a story that was going to be told in such a long period of time, with such a large crew of people. That was how my brain felt a lot of the time. A lot of these feelings were poured into she show through the characters. Those are the characters that I think I have the strongest connection to.

(ND is, in fact, wordy, so it wasn't a short answer LOL)

Interviewer: There are big threats and the world needs to be saved a lot of times, and at the same time what you're woried the most is if the characters will recover their friendship... What's going to happen next? Someone will pay attention to Scorpia? *everybody laughs* This shows us something that happens in our lifes as well, that a big event can change you as much as an event that may seem small. This series also shows us that being different is cool, being the same as everyone else can be pretty boring. Being different can be even desirable. ND said that at the beggining he started working with someone who changed his life and who gave him a show such as The Powerpuff Girls, and I anticipate to him that right now, very very soon, there will be people that will say "I'm working for ND Stevenson, who changed my life thanks to She-Ra and his other works". To make easier our wait for the next year [Celsius 2023], when he comes back to Avilés, we're gonna say goodbye to him with a very very strong applause.

*all the public applauses, ND does a heart shape with his hands 🫶 He also thanked the Celsius 232 organizers and the public for coming*

This interview was done on Friday 22nd, july 2022. ND Stevenson made another talk/interview the day before. After that one talk I went to the signing and got my copy of Nimona signed. He was really nice and we could talk with him a little bit. He seemed really happy to visit this event in Spain and I'm really excited to see him next year. At that time the Nimona movie will be out, so I'm sure that we'll be able to know more about it and his future projects!

Photo with ND Stevenson during the book signing on Thursday. My boyfriend and I went together. We both love Stevenson's stories. <3

Thanks to ND Stevenson for coming to Spain and to Celsius 232!! I've been going every year to this event since 2018 and they always have great authors and the festival is really nice. I've learned a lot of stuff thanks to this festival and with talks like this one that ND made. The event is mostly about books and literature, but as you can see other forms of media are in Celsius 232 as well.

That's all! Thank you so much for reading this whole thing. I hope that it was interesting. <3

[nonbinarychaoticstupid]

YOU WILL SURELY BE THE DEATH OF ME

“no offence, but you seem like more of a military kid than anything. what made you want to be a huntress?” adora laughs. “none taken. i get that a lot.” “yeah, i bet,” catra says, prodding her shoulder. “why do you stand like that, loser? you’ll destroy your back before you’re twenty if you keep doing that.” “believe me, i’m counting on it,” adora says, sidestepping her hand. “to answer your question, i mean — i just really wanted to be like my aunt.” it prompts a short, sharp laugh from her. “that’s kind of sweet, actually. way nicer than what i was expecting. who’s your aunt?” “what were you expecting?” adora counters. “‘i wanted to serve my kingdom’”, catra parrots, “‘and hit things with my sword, too. mostly the second part.’” “hey!” adora says defensively, because it’s a damn good impression. “that’s — mostly wrong.”

or, the rwby she-ra au absolutely no one asked for. written for the @spopbang, featuring art by @mahou-shoujo-in-training!!

rating: T relationships: adora/catra read it here!!

[blonde-and-cat-suc]

saw a post about spop where the person said that “spop haters became the catra they swore to destroy”

… i’m sorry? so i guess disliking or criticizing a show is the same as being a war criminal and an abuser. good to know that the internet brainrot is not going away anytime soon.

Hmmm,

This is... going to be a different kind of response to this kind of ask. Um. To be honest with you? After all this time of running this anti C//A blog. Well. I just don't care about the stans anymore.

I will admit that I did at some points of this hobby/journey (not to be dramatic or anything, you know what I mean). I was young. I still am young. Have I ever told you guys I'm 20 years old? I've figured out I'm asexual (greyace). I've lost a lot of friends. I made a lot more. I used to be vegetarian until I started eating fish again, and then I started to eat chicken. I don't miss red meats. I got my wisdom tooth removed in March.

I have a life. I don't care what the stans are saying about us anymore. I care about you guys and making sure we all get through what we're getting through, talking, creating, sharing art and ideas. I care that when a new SPOP fan (or an older one) figures out that there's a community of people who treat C//A the way that we do, they feel welcomed here. I care that someone discovers things about themselves (sometimes their relationship, sometimes romantically and sometimes with friends, sometimes it was something they dealt with years ago and are only now processing). I care that I'm here to talk with everyone and everyone is here to talk to me. I care about my writing (even though it takes LONG hahahah). I care about being here to represent.

I don't care about what the stans are saying. I'm completely unbothered. And I think you deserve to be, too, Anon. Peaceful and unbothered. You know you're not a "Catra", you don't need me to affirm this to you. None of us are.

. . .

So. With all the love. And this is a Public Service Announcement for everyone who has read this far... These types of rants concerning the standom. Well. This is the kind of response I'll give, nine times out of ten. I’m not saying don’t send them. Do whatever feels right.

/ / /

P.S.

If we DID become "the Catra's we swore to destroy", we still wouldn't be half as begrudging as Catra herself, I'd bet LMAOOO

[hymn-of-muse]

A Haunted Mind

A spop angst for catra, placed after the series ends.

tw for implications of mind control, manipulation and overall toxic relationships.

It had been months since she-ra had finally rid Prime from Hordak's mind and their lives for good, months since the best friend quartet had promised each other things would be better from now on, months since they'd set out into space again to fight back any remains of what Prime left behind on other worlds.

They'd re-entered space much more prepared for the travel this time, leaving etheria in the hands of Glimmer's father and the rest of the princesses. Hordak and Entrapta insisted on joining for a bunch of reasons catra honestly couldn't care any less about. 

Adora had assured her things would take time to feel..normal...to feel okay again. She understood it took time to heal and get passed things, but there was so much to work through..

Horde Prime may be gone but it sure as hell didn't feel like it to her. The scar from the chip on the back of her neck still hadn't fully healed over, often times she still felt like it was there..the thought of still being connected to that hive mind made her fur stand on end and sent an incredibly discomforting shiver down her spine.

Catra tried to push the thoughts away and get some sleep, curled up on her side next to a snoring adora who was currently sprawled out comfortably taking up more than just her side of the bed.

just sleep, just sleep... she'd repeat to herself, unable to focus on the sound of adora sleeping which in the old days would have helped put her to sleep in no time...

A second voice echoed in the back of her mind, no matter how small it was it was there and no matter how hard she tried to drown it out it still persisted. The inkling of possibility that Prime was still there, in her mind, waiting for his moment, waiting to use her again...

Her sharp nails kneaded her pillow, almost ripping the fabric as her stressed out habits took hold of her actions. A deep breath to steady her lively nerves and she sat up without waking adora, shuffling out of the bedroom and exploring the rest of the ship while everyone slept. Maybe her mind just needed some peace and quiet...

Catra found a windowsill to sit on, staring at the endless void of stars, a sea lacking gravity which they traversed without a sun over the surface of the horizon line to guide their direction. It was chilling but at the same time..almost soothing.

They were just going forward. That's what they wanted to do...what she needed to do. But the ship did it with much more ease than her.

She caught a glimpse of her reflection on the reinforced glass against the black nothingness outside. Her hair had started to grow out quite a bit by now...it almost frightened her to see her own reflection, she never liked looking at it..but seeing how longer hair had gotten felt like a sigh of progress, so she relaxed again.

Grey Tufts of fur, small but still visible, had started growing out. She almost forgot she cut them off after... Shadow Weaver... the image of the last time she saw her former mentor and only mother figure, the first and last time she actually got a good looka at her face, flashed in her mind as she recalled how the woman sacrificed herself.

She could never get it out of her head, could never piece it together...why Shadow Weaver suddenly had such a change of heart and did that for them...after everything she did in the past...though she did have her small moments where she really did seem to care as cruel as she had been ...maybe she really did care about them in the end.

Catra debated with herself over several things, she struggled more than anyone should to believe that people really cared, because in the end they ended up hurting or leaving her. Adora was helping her see she was wrong, helping her passed this, because adora came back for her..

Double trouble betrayed her, left her after what felt like mockery. Scorpia left, switched sides..though that was her fault, and Scorpia had since forgiven her.

She felt like the list of hurt she had done and recieved was almost endless. All those events still replaying vividly in her mind like they were so recent, fresh wounds, but it was just phantom pain.

All it was now was phantom pain, ghosts...hauntings...

The ship was quiet, she sat curled into herself watching the stars as they drifted on. Watching with a haunted mind.

reblogs are appreciated!

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