spop-isnt-shit

[spop-isnt-shit]

I haven’t thought about this show in 10,000 years and I just reminded myself of it and… God I wish Entrapta and Bow were actually friends. For a lot of reasons- particularly none of the Rebellion actually treated her like a friend ever and it will never cease to infuriate me that they tried to be like ‘fRiEnDsHiP tAkEs wOrK’ while not having them put in any effort before the defection (Watching compilations really just reminds me that their relationship mostly involved them being mad at her. I love when the non-autistic heroes see the autistic one as at best: A useful tool because of her tech hyperfixation and at worse: A moron who needs to leashed to stop her from doing something dumb. /Deeply and painfully sarcastic.)

Okay, all that aside. All that aside for a moment. Bow and Entrapta are both tech people to different extents and it honestly would have been nice to see them build something together. Shit maybe use it as an early indicator that she’s willing to go way further with ideas than Bow is and have him be the one who kind of pulls her back. (Maybe have her being a little annoyed that she’s not allowed to go full force with the Rebellion because her arc being about restraint especially after the Portal incident almost destroys the world… It’d make sense?) Shoot, have it be a mutual thing, Entrapta may have a habit of going too far, but maybe Bow’s a bit stuck on his typical strategies and methods and she helps him open his mind or be more creative. Show them interacting and that he misses her because he liked being around her.

… I barely get why they had her start on the Alliance with how they deal with it tbh. They only had three episodes between the meeting and the betrayal and Entrapta wasn’t in Shadow’s Over Mystacore… So 2 episodes to develop any kind of dynamic and Princess Prom and No Princess Left Behind didn’t show us anything positive about their relationship. If they intended for it to be a legit betrayal because Entrapta’ lust for knowledge is stronger than her love of her friends, they should have had an actual friendship. If they wanted to have them never actually have been her friend, she should have been allowed to call them out on that. If they just wanted her to be in the Horde… Just do that? I’m rambling now sjdhdhduddjxjd. Anyway the Entrapta who exists in my head my beloved.

#Spop critical #Mod Rem #I’m such a mixed bag on Entrapta ask me what I’d do with her in the story and my answer would differ by day.

[spop-isnt-shit]

“But Adora smiled when she was dancing with Catra!”

Briefly, yes.

But if you think this is proof that she was secretly enjoying it or whatever then you have no idea how to read the room.

Adora is trying to play Catra's game here. She's trying to show that she's not afraid, that she's ready for whatever Catra might throw at her. Adora's smile is unnaturately wide because it's forced and she doesn't even manage to keep it up for the entirety of her sentence.

Looking at all of expressions that make it clear Adora is extremely uncomfortable with this situation and choosing to focus on three seconds of smiling-slash-smirking instead is cherry picking at its finest.

[spop-isnt-shit]

Okay but if you don’t mind, I’d like to explore this.

I do not think Entrapta is bad rep because of her interests. Is it a bit stereotypical, yes, but I can get past that, technology is an interest a lot of autistic people have.

The issues with Entrapta is how she is treated. She’s the oldest of the princesses by a good amount, however she is treated the most like a child, other than arguably Frosta, who is an actual child. They literally put her on a leash in order to keep her in control, not to keep her from betraying them again, no, the only reasons they mention is because they can’t trust her to stay focused on a task in a literal life and death scenario. Additionally, her interests in things like space are treated as bad often by the other characters, unless of use to the others, repeatedly, especially by the other princesses.

And let’s not get started on her joining the side of the colonizers despite knowing full well what they are doing to others and being old enough to know better.

Antis: Entrapta is bad autistic rep cause she likes technology and-

Me: *Blasts you to the other dimension*

#spop critical #spop criticism #mod lissa

[spop-isnt-shit]

Daily reminder that Catra didn’t deserve a happy ending and she should’ve been charged for w*r crimes. ❤️

#anti c//a #anti catra stans #anti catra #mod lissa

[spop-isnt-shit]

You know, if Rogelio wasn’t such a Nothing character the fact that he’s like- the only character with a Spanish name and his running gag bring him not knowing English would probably be reflected on more… Like, the fact that if they intended to have that gag exist just because he’s one of the only non humans in the cast, why give him a loaded name and if he’s intended to be Hispanic in some sense, why make him nonhuman and make THAT his gag?

#Mod Rem #Spop crit

[spop-isnt-shit]

Glimmer: Oh, what? Are you jealous because you aren't Shadow Weaver's favorite anymore? [mocks] Or are you just mad that I'm Queen and in charge and you're not?

I kinda wanna talk about Mer Mystery and the Glimmer-Adora-Shadow Weaver fightarc in general and the way it handled the Elephant in the room of that plot line.

Like- how did we get to the point where Glimmer is laughing alongside Adora’s abuser when she calls her paranoid (which… Hmm… Wonder if there’s a reason for that that isn’t her just being neurotic.) and basically throwing in the idea that Adora is just jealous of her for having her abusers favor.

I’m going to Tl;dr things by saying Glimmer and Shadow Weaver go from ‘you tortured me and my friends and I don’t trust you‘ to ‘laughing about the idea that Adora being paranoid‘ WAY too quickly AND by saying that the closest thing Season 4 comes to acknowledging the dynamic between Sw and Adora are scenes where Glimmer uses it as a weapon against her. In Princess Scorpia when Adora is talking about why she doesn’t like Sw being Glimmer’s mentor- she says ’what she did to us’. And I have feelings about that… Because Adora’s not allowed to be mad at Glimmer for being chummy with the women who spent years emotionally fucking her up. Only mad at her because of lthings she did to all of them… It’s framed as an argument about Dark Magic and Glimmer being treated as helpless. And there’s a really fucked tension in Princess Scorpio because of that elephant in the room that Adora isn’t allowed to acknowledge.

But Glimmer can.

When they want Glimmer to say and do cruel shit to Adora the fact that she’s hanging out with her abuser can be used as a weapon to mock Adora with. But even then… Adora yells back that Glimmer’s not letting her be involved in her plans. Because the idea of this story as just a fight, all friends have fights but friendship is worth fighting for… REALLY falls apart when you have the abuse survivor acknowledge someone she’s close with is hanging out with the person who fucked her over and they get to laugh together about how paranoid she is for being worried about this.

Glimmer: [angry] Yes, seriously! What has she done other than help us?

Adora: [annoyed disbelief] Do you really want me to answer that?

Yeah Adora… I kind of wish you were allowed to. Because Glimmer being besties with the women who ruined your childhood is deeply fucked up and you seem to be the only one the narrative won’t let fully process that. Because… Hanging out with someone’s abuser and siding with them while they’re gaslighting you isn’t the kind of friendship fight that can really be let go of like that.

#anti Glimmer #anti Shadow Weaver #Abuse mention #Mod Rem

[spop-isnt-shit]

Nah let’s talk more on the Catra thing.

I’ve mentioned this before but Noelle’s exact words are:

[Image ID: A tweet from Noelle Stevenson that reads “Catra is absolutely a WOC, but you're correct in why I've been hesitant to canonize her ethnicity. Fwiw, we considered her Latina, but I love the Persian headcanons! But it's not stated explicitly in the show so it doesn't feel right to take credit for it.” End ID]

Now this isn’t even an after the fact “yep she’s Latina” this is a “she’s totally a WOC!” All of them? How can you code a non human character to be every woman of color? And while this is not intended to detract in anyway from the criticism Latine people have made about the issue in particular of Catra being Latina, it’s also an issue of how all POC are written in the show, where their races are replaceable parts of them and have no impact on them as characters. The most we get to a piece of cultural inspiration in Mermista’s outfits.

And I can go further in white savior implications. It’s what the story is. It is about a descendent of colonizers who is raised by another group of colonizers who is tasked to protect a planet of natives from a group that while lead by a colonizers, is filled with other natives. And while the other princesses do help save the day, what truly stops the villain is the colonizer descendent and her colonizer GF stopping other colonizers. Instead of, you know, the natives on the planet saving themselves in the end.

This show is a true statement piece in why a show like She Ra needs sensitivity readers/writers and POC help write it.

C/A stans: "We don't care that the Black main character's arc was dropped unceremoniously in the final season, we spent most of the show passionately hating an Asian character, we cheerfully portray a Black secondary character as just a bully, but it's you lot who are racist for being critical of the writing surrounding our stalker catgirl waifu, who is Latina in about the same way that Dumbledore is gay"

Along with every valid issue you've brought up, don't forget that Mara got literally whitewashed.

(I'm actually surprised no one on the writing team pointed out the really obvious white savior implications here.)

But are we going to talk about these blatant examples of racism?

No, let's use it to uplift a toxic relationship instead! Brilliant, just brilliant.

And to be completely fair: at least Dumbledore could be gay, in theory, even if we never saw any evidence of it on-page.

Catra is a member of fictional species based on an animal in a universe with no Latin America, voiced by a white woman and serving as a self-insert for another white woman.

Didn't think this needs to be said, but people of color ≠ animals.

#mod lissa #she ra #she ra critical #spop critical #anti catradora #anti c//a #spop salt

[spop-isnt-shit]

I don’t care how many people are saying this; I’m going to say this too

THIS is when Kyle should’ve joined the Princess Alliance. THIS is when Kyle should‘ve made a connection to Bow and get out of the terribly abusive situation he was in. THIS is when he would’ve stopped being the punchingbag. THIS is when Kyle should’ve been able to make real friends and live a healthy life.

I seriously thought while this was happening that Kyle was going to go with Bow and the Best Friend Squad. BUT NO, wasted opportunity that was super obvious.

[spop-isnt-shit]

Here’s the thing.

Catra being an abuse survivor with ugly symptoms isn’t why I take issue with her. I’m an abuse survivor who will act out and do shitty things because of my trauma.

But I know that I do those things and I am working on it. People shouldn’t have to deal with their partner lashing out and being shitty to them. Yes that is a trauma response. Yes we shouldn’t demonize it. But we shouldn’t act like trauma is a justification, it’s a reasoning but not a justification.

And additionally, Catra’s behavior being a trauma response forgives none of it. Yes what happened was awful but her treatment of Adora, while clearly a response to trauma, doesn’t mean I think it’s okay for them to be together. Shitty mental health is no reason to treat your partner like shit and it doesn’t mean that you have to forgive someone who hurts you.

I want Catra to heal and get better, but I wish we actually saw this in the show, and part of getting better is acknowledging everything you’ve done, to everyone, not just those you personally care about, something we don’t see with Catra.

Abuse is awful and sometimes, the effects of it are ugly. And we shouldn’t demonize that. But I hate the notion that trauma is somehow a justification or even a reason to forgive someone for hurting you. If someone hurts you, you don’t owe them forgiveness if the thing was serious.

(Granted my bigger issue is like, Catra doesn’t apologize on screen for anything she helped do to other kingdoms and it feels very gross to me because she was a colonizer. And I, a POC, am allowed to be upset that she ends up with the main character without any apology to anyone who had their town and kingdom destroyed because of her help)

Yknow what no I have to talk about it.

Glimmer is Catra with privelege

Thats the source behind all the differences between them

Glimmer can be just as manipulative just as cold and calculating and even sometimes just as capable of cruelty as Catra.

But Glimmer was raised in a castle with warm fluffy pillows and glitter and balls and nice dresses and loving parents (even if Angella was overprotective sometimes) and so she knew what healthy relationships looked like and she knew how to be a good friend and she knew how to show love in a mostly healthy way.

Catra was raised with electrocutions and cold hard cots and constantly being pitted against the only person who gave a shit about her. Constantly told that she was both only surviving because of and being held back by this person. Never saw a healthy interaction in her life. Had nothing to go on. And told just like everyone in a cult/child soldier situation is told, that the outside world is far worse and would be far crueller than the mistreatment you faced inside. Better the Devil you know right?

But yall will demonize catra so fucking hard so hard and for what? To protect the very survivors you demonize? Oh only the good victims get your sympathy and your forgiveness? Fuck you

And while we are at it do we forget that Bow and Adora are also foils? That Glimbow and Catradora are direct foils of each other. How Childhood friends to lovers looks different even though the characters are similar simply because one started in relatively safe and loving community and the other started in an abusive life or death hell hole?

We get it yall see an abuse survivor with ugly symptoms and you lose your goddamn minds then maybe a show about learning to heal from abuse and reconcile with your fellow victims isn't for you. Get out.

#spop critical #anti catradora #anti catra

[spop-isnt-shit]

It bothers me that the Princess Alliance and their kingdoms seem to be made of mostly humans and "cute" humanoids but the Crimson Wastes and The Horde has the Scaly and the Beast folk. I know it's unintentional but the message that was given was that there seemed to be some sort of species discrimination in play. The only Princess family not liked by the other monarchs was Scorpia's. It really makes you wonder what they were thinking when they worldbuilt it like that.

I too constantly wonder that the creative crew was thinking while world building.

I hadn’t considered that but that is a bit weird. It would make more sense if they either established that there was a discrimination or if you saw creature types everywhere.

This doesn’t personally bother much, however I do get what your saying and what you mean.

#spop critical #spop criticism

[spop-isnt-shit]

I was thinking about Melong and his lack of development after seeing a meme then I looked at the series and realized… He was introduced 5 episodes before the series ended. Three if you count The Heart 1 and 3 as 1 episode. There’s not much they *could* have done with him at all in that time frame. We barely even get to explore him as a support pet for Catra/see them bond much less let him be his own character who’s trauma is explored fully.

You know where he would have made sense- if we go by the idea of him as a support animal who helps Catra realize her emotions and deal with them and not him as the last survivor of his kind and a 100 percent sentient being- in the Wastelands, maybe owned by that one guy Catra beat to become the leader of the Wastelands. We could see her have maybe a hint of compassion for him because she feels a sense of kinship with a creature raised in a terrible environment to fight that’s first reaction to freedom is to lash out. Idk, just some thoughts

#Mod Rem

[spop-isnt-shit]

How do you feel about the way the show handled the development of other princesses like Perfuma, Mermista, Entrpata etc.

This is a super vague question because... That’s like 5 characters you just asked me to make a comment on. As a general statement I guess you could say they have potential? Neat ideas with mixed execution.

Note: these are only Mod Rem’s views, mod Lissa probably has their own views

Mermista: I don’t think Mermista got much development. Maybe she‘s supposed to take the war more seriously over time? I mostly feel like she started the series as a sarcastic, laid-back person and ended it as a sarcastic laid-back person but who’s dating Seahawk.

Perfuma: I remember liking her two episodes, her relationship with Cacti and learning how to use them was neat.

Nettossa and Spinerella: The shows best gay couple, they were sweet for their limited screen time.

Scorpia: Every day I long for Scorpia’s relationship with her culture and history and the to be explored. And every day I cry knowing I’m probably the one who’ll have to write it. Because for some reason her reconnecting with the Black Garnet had nothing to with that.

I also wish she’d been written as more aggressive in standing up for Entrapta when she came back, she was literally a member of the Horde herself a few days ago, she knew Entrapta for ages and being a better friend to her was kind of one of the reasons she switched sides, why would she let them put her on a leash and be jerks to her?

Entrapta: Entrapta was written through an abelist lens. She supposedly has to learn that friendship takes effort but none of the Princesses ever actually were willing to put in the effort of being her friend. I don’t buy that they were ever her friends because everytime they interact it’s either because they need her tech expertise or they’re expressing annoyance at her. Yeah, Entrapta fucked up in that she did evil things and was aware that they’re evil and I genuinely hate how willing people are to erase her sense of agency, but she was NOT the one who needed to learn that lesson.

Despite my view on their friendship though, I wish she had stayed a good guy and their relationship was just written better. Mostly because autistic kids aren’t often given the chance to see themselves on tv, and it would have been great if they could see that they could be heroes too and deserved love, respect and companionship just like everyone else... But that’s not what happened and that saddens me.

[spop-isnt-shit]

Honestly, I think my problems with Bow can be summed up with, ‘They’re the best friend squad! The main trio of the series, the entire series is about Adora and her problems, a food amount of the series and especially season 4 are focused on Glimmer, and Bow... Bow has four episodes?’ (The episodes I’m thinking of are Boys Night Out, system failure, the sea gate and reunion.)

[spop-isnt-shit]

Stolen Youth

So I finally got past season 3’s finale! And season 4’s opening which means I can write this little peace. It’s a Glimmer and Frosta bonding fic!

Tw: Talk of parental death.

Keep reading

#Maybe I can boost a fic that I wrote ages ago... As a treat #Mod Rem

[spop-isnt-shit]

spop critical blogs acting as if su is the most progressive show out there kills me inside

It only happened once or twice, I think most people only remember it as ‘the first kids show with a gay wedding and in its epilogue series it had a non-binary character who wasn’t literally two people sharing a body so that was neat.’ Both of which are really good and progressive things for a show aimed at preteens. The same goes for those commercials they do, Steven Universe did some really good things and I don’t blame people for ignoring the bad parts of it for that.

It’s weird when it comes from crit blogs though, like the shows have more in common than different.

[spop-isnt-shit]

And it’s weird cause like, the goal is to show her as this manipulative, power hungry person right? (Well that and draw Catra parallels) And that’d be way better established if it didn’t instead genuinely read like she’s the only person who gives a shit. Wouldn’t it make more sense in this narrative for the sorcerers to have a plan that involves small, subtle uses of magic and she insists on using her own, more dangerous plan. Then she goes to Micah like, ‘They don’t have a real plan, why can’t they trust me. They don’t care about Magic!’ And Micah’s like, ‘or Etheria’ And she’s like, ‘but you do! Micah, I need your help.’

You know what’s a neat moment in Light Spinner? It’s kind of subtle, when Micah shows an insane level of power, she’s not happy that he’s learning quickly/improving or even just interested. She’s angry. She slams her hands on the table and demands to know who else has been teaching him. He says ’no one’ and she immediately calms down. Because the fact that what they’re doing is against the roles and he has no other teachers means she’s the only one who can influence him. Her goal is to mold him not just to help him reach his full potential as a sorcerer but to manipulate him.

She dangles the information about the Horde on a stick, saying, ‘maybe he’s not ready’ because it would only do more to make him want to see the destruction the Horde has wrought and to convince him her way was the only way to stop the Horde.

... Granted the show doesn’t do much to prove she was WRONG, the First Princess alignment disbanded leaving the Horde to slowly expand and wreck havoc for years so... Like shit mate the other people’s plan was literally to sit on their ass and ’let the Princesses handle things Etheria can take care of itself :).’ Like, gee I love pointing out evidence of Shadow Weavers manipulation but hell she‘s literally the only person in this bitch ass place who seems to want to get shit done tf???

[spop-isnt-shit]

You know what’s a neat moment in Light Spinner? It’s kind of subtle, when Micah shows an insane level of power, she’s not happy that he’s learning quickly/improving or even just interested. She’s angry. She slams her hands on the table and demands to know who else has been teaching him. He says ’no one’ and she immediately calms down. Because the fact that what they’re doing is against the roles and he has no other teachers means she’s the only one who can influence him. Her goal is to mold him not just to help him reach his full potential as a sorcerer but to manipulate him.

She dangles the information about the Horde on a stick, saying, ‘maybe he’s not ready’ because it would only do more to make him want to see the destruction the Horde has wrought and to convince him her way was the only way to stop the Horde.

... Granted the show doesn’t do much to prove she was WRONG, the First Princess alignment disbanded leaving the Horde to slowly expand and wreck havoc for years so... Like shit mate the other people’s plan was literally to sit on their ass and ’let the Princesses handle things Etheria can take care of itself :).’ Like, gee I love pointing out evidence of Shadow Weavers manipulation but hell she‘s literally the only person in this bitch ass place who seems to want to get shit done tf???

#Spop critical #idk if this is a pro or anti shadow Weaver post djdbfjf #Mod rem