#catra is very cute

[amethystjar]

pirate captain catra🫡🫡

#catradora #she ra spop #she ra catra #spop catra #catra fanart #she ra and the princesses of power #she ra fanart #catra i love you so much #catra applesauce meowmeow #catra is very cute #catra art #catra #digital aritst #digital illustration #my art #spop #spop art #shera

[syaamethyst213]

I’ve started drawing “lucky Catras” on my testing notes and I think this is the best way to study

#she ra and the princesses of power #catradora #art #spop #she ra #spop catra #cute #she is very lucky

[catras-witchy-girlfriend]

Nobody: Says something really cruel and mean about Y/n.

Y/n: *A N X I E T Y*

Also Y/n: Well...maybe...maybe they're righ-!

Catra: HEY!

Y/n: *turns* ?!?

Also Catra:

#catras witchy girlfriend #comfort character #spop catra #catra #spop #shera and the princesses of power #catra x you #catra x reader #this isnt self indulgence what are you talking about!? #spop imagine #catra imagine #spop x reader #catra x y/n #also where is this gif from the women in it is very cute! 😂

[midnightechoes]

Five years ago today, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power premiered on Netflix. I had seen a few preview articles about it, and liked what I saw. Those articles mostly focused on She-Ra’s, Adora’s, Glimmer’s, Bow’s, and Catra’s redesigns, and I thought they were fabulous. I loved Adora’s new red jacket and bouffant hair style. Glimmer’s entire redesign was inspired, and I loved that they made Bow black so we could have more diversity in the main cast.

It was She-Ra’s and Catra’s redesigns that caught my eyes the most, though. They made Catra an actual catgirl, and not just in the anime sense where she's just a cute girl with cat ears and maybe a cat tail. She was a full-on furry. It was a brilliant design choice. Honestly it’s no wonder that so many were instantly drawn to her.

And of course, She-Ra herself. I loved her new look, and her huge ass new Sword of Protection. In fact, I loved it so much that I drew this picture of her before the show even came out:

Then the show came out, and needless to say, I fell in love. And honestly, it changed my life.

I know, I know. That sounds very hyperbolic, and to an extent it is, but in a lot of ways, I’m absolutely serious.

Alright, I have to back up a little. Back when I was in college, and for a few years after, a couple of friends and I tried to make a webcomic called The Devil’s Gate. It was minorly successful but eventually floundered. Then I met some people and we tried to make a video game, which also failed. After those few years, I found myself on my own and trying to rework the concept of my webcomic. Making comics, creating stories, those have always been my dream, and I was desperately trying to figure out a story I could make work, something that I believed in. But it never truly got off the ground. By the end of 2015 I had given up on the comic, realizing that after working on it for years in different forms that I needed to step away from it.

I didn’t really know what to do after that. I was still doing my quick daily doodles, but I wasn’t writing, I wasn’t drawing anything of note. I felt emotionally and physically drained of my creativity. I was honestly getting to the point where I thought it might be time for me to give up on trying to be creative or making things all together.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power came out on November 13, 2018, but despite looking forward to it, I didn’t actually watch it when it came out. It wasn’t until that weekend that I decided to check it out.

I was instantly hooked. I binged through the entire season in two days, and did plenty of crying and cheering. And then rewatched it immediately. I was in love. I was obsessed. It had been a long time since anything grabbed me like SPOP did. I loved the characters. I loved the colorful, sci-fi-fairy tale world of Etheria. I loved how unapologetically feminine it was. And most of all, I loved how queer it was.

I hadn’t done a ton of shipping before SPOP. I’ve been down bad for harlivy for what feels like my whole life, and I was angry when Mika and HG didn’t get together in Warehouse 13, but more often than not I had just been conditioned not to look for queer things in mainstream culture, and even barely in subculture.

That is to say, when I was smashed in the face with Catradora I was surprised how much I glommed onto it immediately. I was absolutely taken with Adora and Catra and their relationship. Both characters were so relatable, and despite not quite being text (although the subtext was so loud and obvious it might as well have been text), it was impossible to not read their feelings for each other as romantic.

It wasn’t just Catradora, even if that was a lot of it. Spinnerella and Netossa being canon from the start was wonderful. How much Glimmer and Bow screamed “BISEXUAL DISASTERS” from the start was adorable. Scorpia’s crush on Catra was as cute as it was sad in its one-sidedness.

I had never really been in a fandom. That is, yeah I’ve liked things, loved things even, but I never found other people to talk about it at length, never found discords just for that thing, never read or wrote fanfic, barely ever drew fanart. 

But, I watched SPOP, and then I watched it again. And then I drew Catra. And then I drew Adora. And then I drew them again. And suddenly I was on AO3, a site I never frequented, reading Catradora fics. And then I had an AO3 account. That December I participated in Catradora Week 2018 (I’d never heard of this kind of thing) and drew two pictures for it and wrote my first fanfic.

By the end of February I had drawn more in the three months since the show had premiered than I had in the previous year. I was working furiously on a long, multi-chapter fanfic, and writing more words than I had in the previous couple of years combined.

I was inspired again.

In the 18 months that SPOP ran for, I drew more than I had in years, I wrote hundreds of thousands of words. I felt so rejuvenated and happy about my creativity and free for the first time in years.

It’s hard to put into words exactly how it felt. I was so close to giving up my art and writing, which honestly, would have been giving up a part of myself. An important part of myself. It’s not overstating that SPOP saved me, or at least my creative spirit.

I also learned about the wonders of being in a fandom and fandom things like fan weeks, big bangs, zines. And I made some wonderful friends that I cherish to this day.

Even as I inevitably moved onto other hyperfixations, my love for She-Ra hasn’t diminished. Plushie Catra and Adora sit next to me on my desk every day. Catradora art still hangs on my wall.

The inspiration that SPOP ignited in me hasn’t died either. It’s carried me through a tremendous level of creativity that I’ve been riding since the premiere. It let me create a ton of fan art for SPOP, and then RWBY and then the Witch From Mercury, and I’ve written a ton of fanfics for RWBY and Supergirl. And perhaps the best, that inspiration has helped me create more OC stuff in the last couple years than I had in a long time.

I owe She-Ra and The Princesses of Power so much. I am so happy that it exists and that it happened when it did. I’ll always cherish it.

And for real, Netflix, SPOP spin-off movies WHEN?!

#art #she ra #adora #catra #catradora #sk's art #shera #spop #she ra and the princesses of power #shera and the princesses of power #she-ra and the princesses of power #she-ra #fifth anniversary #netflix #netflix she-ra #wlw #lesbians #sapphic #lesbian love #lgbtq+ #lesbian

[implalazz]

Asked for some yokai fusions on reddit, this is the first batch

L-R: Frostysol, Nonoko, Venyan, Lord Lie-in, Slimatina, Whisbuzz

Some thoughts on these designs under the cut

Yayyyyyy thoughts on these because I like talking, esp about my creative process

Frostysol: I WILL SAY RIGHT NOW I KNOW I FUCKED UP THE KOSODE MASSIVELY, IT DOESN’T HAVE SLEEVES & IT’S TOO BIG….. I literally only had two ideas for this desgin, one was inspired by the yuki onna segment's backgrounds from Kwaidan & the other was inspired by the spirits from Kuro Neko. The eyes in the backgrounds of yuki onna were so striking & I had just watched the movie recently so it was still fresh in my mind. I knew I wanted her to be closer to a real yuki onna rather than just a cute snow girl spirit. And in that regard Kuro Neko helped with that. I guess subconsciously I wanted her to give off vibes of an unsuspecting girl who kills you & turns out to be a yokai. I thought a kosode would make more sense historically than a random cape, but also idk if young girls wore kosode like that or if it was just adult women. Had no ideas how to incorporate pallysol so I just used him for little details. He's more prevalent in the design intentionally than physically

Nonoko: Pretty simple what do I say. Uh I thought I could do a clover for the tail rather than a heart like Bloominoko. Wanted to make him even fatter than he is cuz he's Noko x2, also made his spots clover shaped cuz what's more lucky than a four leafed clover? An eight leafed clover! Or two four leafed clovers..... Also gave him double teeth & some little wing shaped clovers on his head kinda like Dudunsparce. This one didn't have a lot of thought go into it, I just kinda did what felt natural

Venyan: The first thing I thought about was what colour to make the fur & what colour to make the hair. I decided on red hair cuz it would pop more with dark blue fur. Also made his face pattern a part of his hair cuz he doesn’t have enough room on his face for it with Venocts bangs. I wanted him to be kind of a shitty little bastard, a real cat kinda cat. A good mix of their personalities y’know. Didn’t have much going on with this design either other than I didn’t want the scarf to be all bulky with the dragons cuz Jibanyan is very squart, so I moved them to the tails. Also just because that looks cooler. Had a hell of a time drawing them, I have experience drawing dragons but I’ve always been bad at drawing them roaring or snarling, they look okay but not great.

Lord Lie-in: Also had a bit of trouble combining these two, makes sense cuz I put this one off for more than a few weeks. Didn’t wanna give him big spiky saiyan hair so he got some stray hairs in the front. Took his face framing bangs & tied them up cuz I always like that look (They’re two different pieces tied individually then tied together, so there’s two mini ponytails instead of one. Also had to deliberate on the hair colours cuz I knew I wanted him to have white fur. One of my favourites was red hair with light blue ends but I didn’t go with that one cuz his outfit is mostly red. I also DID NOT feel like giving him a whole kimono (mostly for silhouette reasons) so I just gave him Miku-like sleeves. I originally wanted to give him split leg hakama but when looking at reference I remembered “Oh yeah these things have a lot of pleats & the crotch is pretty low so that’s not great for the silhouette I have in mind.” I gave him harem-esque pants & if you look closely at the upper thigh you can see a little slit in the side of them. Underneath his waist plate & top, the pants tie together like hakama do so I guess I got the hakama in a little bit. I didn’t have any room for his arm warmers so I made them into gloves & gave him the kind of socks that I don’t know what they’re called (Catra has them & I think they’re cool). Also gave him tengu cuz they look cooler than whatever Lie-in Heart has going on. Also cuz it makes him more like “Woah what a bold guy/character!!” And don’t ask how the sword fits in that sheath, idk magic or something he’s the king of the yokai he can do whatever he wants

Slimatina (or Frostymander): Again not much going on here it’s pretty simple. Gave the lower body muscles cuz I noticed the lower body of Slimamander kind of looked like a chest & also just cuz that makes it more creepy. I gave the main body/head some hair clips resembling the patterns on the bulbs of the other heads. Also made the openings in the head look more like a woman’s mouth cuz again, makes it creepy, but also I just thought it would fit more with the Frostina part. Also gave the main heads head eyelashes that look like the openings on the other heads. Decided to give her a cape this time cuz I’m not fuckin around with another kosode. I don’t know if it comes off in the piece but I wanted her cape to be flying up like she just summoned a harsh wind. Last thing is I gave her an eye ornament on her obi & a specially tied obijime cuz I saw one tied like that on google & I thought it looked cute

Whisbuzz: YET AGAIN SAY IT WITH ME! NOT! MUCH! GOING! ON!!!!!! Uhh gave him a frown cuz he’s depressed or whatever, made the top of his hood look like Whispers…… ahoge???? Made his wings wispy on the ends. That’s about it. Fun fact before I drew that one I had another one but I scrapped it because it looked too much like a sperm cell :]

#🔩.my art #I’m aware the kosode is deeply fucked forgot it was an actual garment & not just a cape #yokai watch #yokai oc #fusion #noko #jibanyan #venoct #frostina #pallysol #lord enma #lie-in heart #slimamander #whisper yokai watch #negatibuzz

[cirusthecitrus]

Horde Prime's body language and mannerisms part 1/3

T posing, head shaking and manspreading

I was always facinated with the way Prime moves and handles himself, but ever since I got officially obsessed with this character I began to notice more and more interesting quirks and signature Prime gestures - there are just so many. And now I'm going to (over)analyse them all!

1. Hands behind the back

Lets start with the classic "well mannered/disciplined character" pose

It really suits his whole character and even makes Prime look like he's always plotting something (which he does). And it shows that HP clearly watches his posture and I'm glad he does like damn my man has such a good posture

Also, I now have a theory that Prime keeps his arms behind his back so no one can see him fidgeting with his hands and fingers. Or he hides them in a way to restrain himself from touching everything he sees (I just cant help but to headcanon Horde Prime as a kinesthetic person who learns by touch and feeling)

2. Crossed legs

It's giving slut, its giving bad bitch, its giving if only I cared hon <3 and I love it

The way he sits shows just how comfortable he feels on his throne and in his role as an emperor - he's right where he thinks he belongs. In his case crossed legs also indicate that Prime feels confident and in control. Even when Adora sees him during this whole vessel maintenance process, even when Catra went against him, even when he was visiting the Fright Zone and sitting on Hordak's throne, even when a rebellion sparks on other occupied planets

And yeah, sometimes the emphasis on his legs is so obvious that it looks very fanservice-y, but not that I mind that >:}

Eventually u get so used to him sitting like this that when Prime doesnt cross his legs it feels so wrong and scandalous lol

But this only happened like 3 times. And I think he only changes his pose when he needs to concentrate (like when he searches through someone's memories) or when he feels like he's losing control (like when he felt enraged after She-Ra and co escaped the Velvet Glove)

Though I cant explain why he manspreads in the last screenshot, its from Save the Cat and I have no idea why'd he do that, it feels so wrong pls make him stop I'm scared

3. The iconic Prime pose

He's actual signature pose that really fits his character. It's dramatic, it has some similarities with irl holy/religious imagery, it makes Prime look like he's taking even more space, and it kinda reminds me of the way peacocks show off their tails :)

Gotta mention that when he doesnt do "the pose" Prime is still always doing something with his arms and posing almost thetrically, which is again, right on brand for him

3. The 👉👈

At first I didnt want to include this one cause I thought it was just an insignificant silly gesture he only does once, but then I actually caught Prime doing it again!

Then I've noticed that Prime often does this thing when he folds his hands in various ways, kinda forming a shape of a rhomb/diamond? The same as the one on the Horde emblem?

My main point though is that HP again seems to never know where to put his hands, which I find cute :з

4. The thinking pose

It's just funny how Prime always props his head on his left hand just so he won't accidentally poke his extra eyes out with his claws))

5. Smoothing the hair

I included this specifically because Prime only does this one time in the entire season. It's an uncharacteristic gesture for him. Especially since there's no hair to smooth, its all cabels with only little seen of his actual hair

Prime only did this after Scorpia disobeyed his order, letting Adora and Perfuma escape. For a moment he felt like he lost control over the situation AND one of his puppets, plus it was yet another time when She-Ra managed to survive and "win"

I will speculate that Prime used to do this gesture all the time somewhere in the past, when he didnt have his cable hair yet AND when he had less control over his "subjects"

So when on Etheria Prime's plans began to fail for the first time in forever and someone who supposed to be under his full control actually dared to disobey him he felt so frustrated and stressed that he might've mentally come back to those times when he wasnt yet "all powerful". When he often felt the need to calm himself down by fixing his hair and running his hand over it

What's interesting, Prime does something similar in this scene, only here he gives pets to one of his clones. I'm going to throw in another suggestion and say that it actually might've been someone else who used to help HP calm down in similar manner

6. Head shake

I could not stop thinking about this one simply because it annoyed me too much lol. I really don't get what is it with Prime always shaking his head and why it was only a thing in his debut episode. Anyway, he does this to emphasize the words "No" and "Never". And only when he is either really amused or angry. He also does this almost in a mocking condescending manner, probably because he saw Glimmer and Catra as some dumb children who won't get the message otherwise

Still don't get why he only does this in one episode and then this quirk of his is (mostly) completely forgotten

It was easier to make a video rather than a set of gifs, so enjoy me counting all the times when Prime shook his goddamn head

#spop #horde prime #shera #horde clones #spop meta #spacebats #the galactic horde #long post #ramblings #image heavy #this is fun #im so normal about this character as u can clearly see #ive been sitting on this idea for so long and now finally doing iiit #going to use this as a reference guide when i start working on a comic

[catboymoments]

hello!! out of curiousity, do u have any voice headcanons for the nextgen kids?

OKAY SO last time this question was asked I didn’t have answers but now I have a few!!! It’s been a bit of a struggle to find voices for some of my guys but I do have ideas on their voice profiles so I’m open to suggestions on who would be good…

Azura- I’ve really fallen in love with the concept of AJ Michalka (Stevonnie, Catra spop) being her voice- I think Azura would have a scrappy cute voice that’s still unique to her that fits in with her family, and it would be very cute to have a VA who’s iconic for voicing queer cartoon characters be the voice for the kid of two of the biggest history makers in Disney…. Shes so cute

Bronwyn- Bronwyn at her core is a musician and her struggles with anxiety and panic disorders are a huge part of her character- I feel like her voice would be that of someone who could connect with her and play a soft voiced “mature” girl with a passion for singing and songwriting, so I settled on her being voiced by Mitski, the singer we all know and love. I think she would be able to bring a lot of life to her.

Juno- Juno being a trans girl is very important to her character and I would want a transfem to voice her, but when there’s transfem characters in media they’re almost always portrayed with higher “passable” voices from what I’ve seen. I want her voice to be a little deeper to represent girls who have those voices, and I think her sense of style and humor would come through well with iamblizzymcguire/blizzabella, A transfem nyc based comedian and model who I love. She’s so unique and sillay and I adore her

Now!!! Voice profiles for the guys I don’t have specific ideas for!

Hyacinth- at first I thought of him being voiced by Alex Lawther who plays younger Philip in canon, but he’s 1) British and 2) his voice is a bit more mature than I would like. Part of Hyacinth and how he differs from Philip is that he’s a lot smaller, and while I wanna have a voice for him that’s still in that “tenor range head voice that’s very in the nose and has a soft cadence,” I don’t think Lawther could do that. I would want someone similar and who isn’t British so I could imagine it better…

Mittens- I think mittens would have a tiny voice that’s also more masc, not so much scratchy and raspy but like. Little guy. Y feel me

Calcifer- honestly I’m not sure how to describe what I hear for them- they give me a vibe of a very cute and polite little kid who’s able to get Sillay???? They’re excitable and they tend to infodump………

Bramble- at first I thought I had a voice for him- that voice being Andrew Kishino who voices the character his design is based off of (Kevin from Steven universe) but Kish’s voice is way too mature for an angsty 14 year old trans boy. I do want his voice to be on the deeper and softer side with a good amount of sass though.

Briar- I don’t really know what to do for her since she’s still kinda new ….

#toh nextgen

[anti-spop]

as i said before, i believe that spop got inspired by zuko's redemption arc when they developed catra's. one thing that makes me think that is the "hair arc" both characters go through. or at least that's smth fans love to compare and i wanted to dissect here.

i think with the exception of s5, catra's hair arc is less extreme in the first four seasons. catra took out her hair tufts in s4. i've seen ppl point out that it was bc shadow weaver would touch that specific part of her hair to mess with her, so catra removed it altogether. regardless, her hair is also visibly straightened (and longer?) in s4, unlike it's "wilder" appearance in s1-3.

but then s5 comes around... and catra's hair is forcibly cut. she doesn't have the choice to do that. even then, ppl still compare catra's hair arc to zuko's, likely how the hair looks itself. but let me tell you why they're different.

zuko is always the one who changes his hair.

in book 1, zuko and iroh are forced to hide from the fire nation. zuko is the one who cuts his own hair. it grows throughout book 2, which also indicates zuko's growth as a person. he's starting to realize things. at one point he even starts accepting living in the earth kingdom with his uncle. but then azula comes along and she convinces zuko to return home and restore his honor. while yes, azula manipulated him, zuko still made the choice to go back to the fire nation when he could very well not to. he betrayed uncle iroh and katara (and the gaang overall), and with that he returned home.

in book 3, zuko's hair was mainly tied up, probably indicating the control of the fire nation over him. i vaguely remember his hair being loose whenever he went out and visited his uncle in prison, or when he was with mai (though in some situations with her, his hair was still tied up). finally, zuko lets it free, he faces his father and decides to join the avatar. regardless of influences, because they were there, zuko always had the choice to do differently. that's why his hair arc is so meaningful. in fact, his hair is never the same in all three seasons of atla.

catra's hair arc is not the same. i think it's implied that she cut it even more after being chipped by horde prime, considering it looks even shorter than when she was brainwashed. still, catra didn't have the choice here. and if you headcanon her as a woman of color (which nate somewhat "confirmed"), then this is only more insensitive and not well thought out. they never touch on that specific part of her arc. catra is never shown to be upset about her hair. if anything, it only makes her look "cute" and a "soft uwu baby" (when she rlly isn't). i hate that fans who apparently love the fact catra is a woc never call this out. everyone seems happy with short-haired catra.

the only ppl i've seen that actually criticized this decision are spop crits/antis like myself. i could be wrong, but fans rarely criticize this show overall.

anyway, yeah, i'm tired of everyone trying to tell me catra and zuko are the same. their hair arcs are not at all alike.

#i post #spop critical #racism mention tw

[spopsalt]

More miscellaneous She-Ra pins I found while sorting through Pinterest that made me want to die and my commentary on them. Pt. 2

Don’t you have to at least like eachother to be family? Thaws guys aren’t even friends. The only ones that get along are Scorpia and Perfuma, which was forced as hell, and Frosta is on okay terms with most (not all) of the characters listed. Everyone else tolerates eachother at best, or seem to flat out hate eachother at worst.

For example… Just gonna drop a little fun fact here, Mermista is the only Rebellion member who can breathe underwater. So, pairing that knowledge, along with Mermista’s subtle-as-a-bat-to-the-face hatred for Entrapta, and her overall unpleasant personality that leads me to believe she would do this without batting an eye, I’m fully convinced this fanart is just Mermista trying to murder Entrapta via drowning, and they made Entrapta seem too stupid to realize it. Listen, I watched Steven Universe, and specifically remember one of the eventual protagonists did try to drown others the same way. But at least they called her out for it at some point. Lapis didn’t seem to regret it, but at least they call her out. Knowing that Perfuma yoinked Entrapta off a high-ass rock, and could’ve killed her by doing that and didn’t seem to care… Idk, I feel like Mermista casually trying to drown Entrapta and Entrapta being portrayed as obliviously smiling because she’s treated as too dumb to live could easily be something I could see happening in canon. No, it hasn’t happened in canon, but it’s just so in line with the writing that I could see it.

Double whammy here. Some fans must be gymnast level flexible with how much they’re reaching. This is literally just her sleeping. Lots of people sleep that way. I mean, if it was the canon reason she does this, I wouldn’t take it so much as a sign of shipping as much as it’s a sign of Catra being entitled. Girl has a bed and chooses to take up half of Adora’s. I get that real cats do it, but real cats are also not the size of a teen girl and taking up that much space. I definitely don’t think the way Adora sleeps has anything to do with Catra. I’m just saying if it did, it wouldn’t be great anyway.

Idk about same, but it’s definitely similar energy. But these fans gotta realize it’s not a good thing…

Also, I hate how Glimmer and Bow are just smiling and letting it happen. I don’t even like Glimmer or Bow that much, but I can confidently say that they’re better friends than this. I swear, their writing in S5 was utter trash.

Like how you said, most of these people just tolerate each other at best, and hate each other at worst

Yeahhh given the Mermista is VERY obvious in her distain for Entrapta, I doubt it's just some cute silly thing

Damn Catradora stans back must hurt from all the streching their doing. That's a common sleeping posistion? I sleep like that, does it mean I'm making space for my abusive sister to sleep at the edge of my bed like a dog?

Ah yes, two people disobeying their love interests boundaries while nobody does anything to stop them when the other person is clearly uncomfortable..how romantic

#spop salt #anti spop #spop criticism #spop crit #spop discourse #anti catra #anti c//a #anti catradora #spop critical #antic//a

[chaifootsteps]

Ok, I know She-ra reboot wasn't your fandom, but you allowed allows to rant about it in your ask box, which I thank you for.

So, we all come from different cultures and have different beliefs. We can't all collectively agree on what Adora and Catra are to each other. But we will take some facts. So, they were two orphans that grew up in a foster home environment and had the same foster mother, but we all know they saw Shadow Weaver was a literal mother, they just never explicitly called her mom. Now, one thing was is that Catra and Adora were very close as children and growing up, that Adora being the sweetheart she was always tried to include Catra even when Catra pushed her away. Catra is a cat girl so she slept by Adora's feet, they apparently even showered together? (Idk how true that is, I think someone who worked on the show said that, I don't remember it being in or mentioned in the show, if anyone wants to come enlighten me) ok, so we get it. They were very close growing up.

Ok, now here's my gripe with the trope. So ND Stevenson revealed early on that Catradora would be end game. A lot of people had their beef with that, especially since some felt the show didn't show any character growth for their romance. So they end up together at the end, they kiss and credits roll.

So, I looked it up. The trope doesn't exactly have a name? But it's "we were very close as children, got separated for a bit, but we reunited to date now", yeah a mouth full. I wouldn't call it childhood romance tbh. I've seen this trope used in other shows and media. I don't like that trope. More examples are star vs the forces of evil, but you know, we'd had to watch Star and Marco be with other people first. But it's different since they met at 14 and 15 and were roommates for a bit before Star returned to Mewni for a bit and they kissed before the finale.

There's a lot of animes with this trope too. Kizaiver, Your Lie in April, Blue Spring Ride, A Silent Voice. Sorry, just tried naming some popular animes from the top of my head.

Ok, I don't understand this trope. I'm sorry, I just don't find it realistic. When I've seen "real life" examples, turns out they just had history together in 8th grade and sat at different tables never speaking to each other, but met at 26 and got married later. Ok sorry, this is weirdly specific. Just I feel like this trope isn't real or applicable to real life. I feel like some people just want to emphasize and put importance to their relationship in a way that's not true or wasn't there.

So here's how it applies to HB. So Viv really saw some cute fanart and incorporated and changed the story up for it????

Ok???? But like....the ship is still so bad....

It just feels so forced and feels like she went this way cause she saw it a few times in other works.

Ok, sorry for the rant. I just truly feel like some creators pull stuff out of their ass to try making us ship bad ships.

Thanks for the insight into Catradora. I think regardless of how two characters meet, whether they knew each other as kids or not, it's not going to be a good ship if the writing isn't there.

Honestly I think Stolitz was never going to feel natural or sincere -- why none of her canon ships ever really do -- because Vivzie doesn't seem to get why one human being loves another. Her understanding of it stalled early on in her yaoi fic days and never went anywhere beyond that. They're gay, that's enough for Viv.

#Anonymous #actual blog post #viv stuff #stolitz critical

[invested-in-your-future]

Isn't it hypocritical to reblog catradora while complaining about RWBY fetishizing Blake being a catgirl

Here's the thing.

Furries, scorpion girls, catgirls, etc simply exist within She-ra setting.

As far as narrative itself goes, none of those elements are part of a centuries old oppressed minority group that serves as a weird fantasy stand-in for real life minorities and has literal organizations fighting for their rights.

Their animal traits aren't written as a source of world-wide oppression and discrimination. Because the show doesn't need to create "new fantasy oppression" - it acknowledges concepts like religious fanaticism, fascism, oppression and authoritarianism existing and being the same as you'd have in the real world.

As far as Catra is concerned, having animal traits is just a thing that exists in this setting. There's no hidden additional meaning behind Catra having cat-like traits or moments with Adora calling back to them. And also honestly the show is not even really littered with them beyond a few well timed ones.

If RWBY WANTS so desperately to write cute cat gf jokes, then maaaaaaaybe just maaaaaybe they shouldn't have made it be literally racist in-setting???? And not just that but according to miles and co, the only type of discrimination/oppression that exists on Remnant???

Also, let's be frank - There's thousands of ways to write Blake and Yang together that don't make the writers step on a rake they themselves placed on the ground. So why do they still do it? Because its a popular trope so they said "let's do the anime thing too!" (and after She-ra there's also the layer of Catradora still having a huge following which they hope to lure into watching their show).

A little bit from Korra, a little bit from She-ra and so on. MilesWBY is a mish-mash of barely veiled copy-paste of ideas or moments. Implemented without the thought on whether it actually works in the setting or whether it leads to very unfortunate situations filled with sexism, racism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia and etc.

"Oops we accidentally did one of the bad -isms again" should be show's slogan at this point.

#rwde #rwby

[best-fictional-cat]

People of tumblr may I present to you the

Fictional Cat Showdown

(it's orange because cats)

(inspired by oh so many other competitions like @bisexual-monarch-tournament, @aroaceswagcompetition, @weirdgirlshowdown, @transgenderswagcompetition, @the-best-fictional-turtle and so many more)

I have looked around and decided that tumblr has been having an abysmal lack of cats. So I come here to give you a chance to pin your favourite fictional cat blorbos against each other. Maybe they will fight to death. Maybe they will cuddle and fall asleep. Maybe they will adopt each other. The only way to find out is to make this an event of a lifetime!

The only cat I have granted automatic entry is Baron Humbert von Gikkingen from The Cat Returns specifically (although his first appearance in I don't remember what other movie is still valid) because I can and he's my crush. So, the rest of the bracket is up to you! Yes, you specifically! Get your fav cats out there!!

Read the guidelines below and submit your cats here!!!

[Edit: submissions closed, stay tuned for the brackets!!!]

Now, what constitutes a fictional cat?

Don't give me just regular hoomans with decorative cat ears! They need to have actual feline features to qualify! They can be furry/anthro, sure. Or just a regular cat! Or a robot! Or a canonical alternate universe cat version of a human character! Ideally they need to have more cat-like features than just ye olde cute cat ears given to them for the sake of a design choice. But if it's a human with functioning cat features... They do qualify (Catra is too obvious so let's take Leona from Twisted Wonderland as an example here). Also humans that can turn into cats or vice versa are eligible, BUT they should have spent a considerable amount of plot time in the narrative as a cat, not just this five minute episode once and never speak about it again (so, Cat!Sophie from Castle in the Air would qualify, because, you know, she spent most of the book as a cat AND gave birth to a kitten, and Howl doesn't count, because he only ever turned into a wet cat for three seconds to escape the Witch). And last but not least, it can be cat-shaped while not being a cat per se (e.g. Puppycat). Or something that is a very questionable yet still cat (like Khoshekh from WTNV who was called a cat despite having uh very few cat features judging by his description and a lot more creepy weird things)

Oh, and also it doesn't have to be a house cat. Any feline is good. You can give me lions if you want.

Anyway, just submit your cats and I'll figure it out from there!

The poll will be up for about a week, so till Saturday February 18. If this suddenly gets traction (which I hope it does!!! cats are great!!!) and gets plenty of suggestions I will be closing it earlier, so stay tuned and hurry up to submit ye cats! 😺

#competition #polls #fictionalcatshowdown #best fictional cat #cats #submissions are open #get your cat submissions while you still can #cat character #cats of tumblr

[comicaurora]

Are there any romance stories or romantic subplots that specifically worked really well for you? Maybe because they were "good friends being good friends" plots first and "romance" plots second?

it is very depressing to me that for a while I could only give a conditional "yes" to this one. There are romantic subplots I liked up to a point that the writers made decisions about them I thought were weird and dumb, or that I liked in hindsight but didn't really appreciate at the time. And despite having watched a not inconsiderable amount of live-action media, every single halfway good example I could conjure up was from a cartoon.

Catra and Adora have a fascinatingly tumultuous arc to me, but I spent the entire show genuinely believing we'd never get a payoff, and when we actually got the big kiss I was too busy being shocked to really process the ramifications. In my head I'd filed them right next to Charles Xavier/Magneto and Optimus Prime/Megatron, enemies so clearly soulmates with each other but in that special murdery way. I've been planning a full rewatch, so I might get to fully appreciate it this time!

When I watched through Ben 10: Alien Force I remember being genuinely surprised at how much I liked the romantic subplot between Kevin and Gwen. I think because they were both kinda assholes about it, but in very synergistic ways. He's the platonic ideal of an Edgy Emotionally Repressed Lancer but he's kind of too blunt and straightforward to remember to be emotionally repressed all the time, and she's a smart snarky ass-kicker who figures out that they're clearly into each other immediately and bluntly asks him when he's gonna ask her out in like episode three, which completely throws him off his game. It was very cute, and Kevin got in a few good "take the bullet for the love interest to save her" moments that I'm always a fan of, but after the first couple seasons something shifted in the writer's room and Kevin got shunted back down the "actually a dickhead" route and the characters stopped acting like they cared about each other so much. It was a bummer, and since the characters stopped acting consistently in-character I kind of disengaged. But I did like how they handled it early on!

I am, obviously, broadly a big fan of the romantic subplots in ReBoot, as I am with all other major parts of that show. The main one that got focused on was between protagonists Bob and Dot, which was kind of standard background will-they-won't-they fare for the first three seasons - some miscommunications and arguments and daring rescues - until they get in a big kiss in the finale. The problem, as ever, is in season four, when they start doing some really weird sitcom telenovela twists, including a second Bob popping out of a portal and claiming to be the real Bob, and everyone in the show spontaneously sheds 90% of their braincells to forget the fact that their Bob is the one who saved the day over and over again since getting fished out of the Web, so everyone ignores our best boy who actually did the heroics to play favorites with Other Bob. Obviously Other Bob turns out to be a bad guy in disguise, but this is revealed at his wedding to Dot, and it's just fuckin stupid that it would get to that point at all. This is a big part of why I mentally carve season 4 off the canon timeline and just let it end at the season 3 finale.

The other romantic subplot is between Matrix and AndrAIa, who meet as children in season 2 and have a cute kind of mutual crush thing going on before they get lost in the games in the season 3 timeskip and, offscreen, grow up together and enter a fully-established and completely solid relationship. Aside from a brief "matrix gets jealous" subplot in the back half of season 3 that really just serves to reflect his fascinating cocktail of trauma-induced self-loathing issues, they're remarkably stable and play off each other well. I think the fact that we skipped all the romantic will-they-won't-they drama and went straight to "they did, they have, and they're totally good" did it a lot of favors - and despite Matrix being, by any metric, an asshole, it never feels like AndrAIa is settling or putting up with him or tasked with fixing him. It's more like they're each the only person the other truly feels safe and whole around, so Matrix is truly an asshole to everyone but AndrAIa (and later Bob and Dot, his other loved ones) and AndrAIa is not guarded or defensive around Matrix.

Gargoyles also had two different romantic subplots I liked - one between heroes, one with villains. Goliath and Elisa have a great dynamic that's a little less will-they-won't-they and a little more of an unspoken agreement, "we're both really into each other but we also don't really think this can happen on account of being fully different species and we're too mature to get dramatic about it." Since they're basically on the same page about it, they don't have much in the way of drama or miscommunication, it's just all that good "rescuing each other from peril" content I like.

On the villain side, David Xanatos and Fox had a surprisingly wholesome relationship considering they're full-blown villains for the first couple seasons. It's a case where their romantic subplot made them both better people in the long run as they developed priorities that weren't selfish. They ALSO skipped all the will-they-won't-they and went straight into a wholesome, committed, mutually supportive relationship.

I do also recall being genuinely surprised how much I liked the romantic subplot between Trevor Belmont and Sypha. I think what made it work for me was the tendency for them to clearly and honestly communicate with each other - about more than just their romantic subplot. There's a great bit in season 4 where they just sit down and are like "everything's been happening a LOT lately, let's talk about how we feel about that", and I appreciated the moment I think is in season 3 where they're like "hey… maybe… leaving Alucard alone in his dead parents' castle ten minutes after helping him kill his dad… was bad for him?" It's a romantic subplot that doesn't feel like it eclipses the rest of their characterization and it doesn't mean they stop caring about anything other than each other. And it also skipped over the will-they-won't-they, so honestly no wonder I liked it.

I know there's more, but I genuinely had to google lists of shows to remind myself of the one-in-a-million examples I actually liked, so let's leave it here for now.

#asks #media recs

[miraculousagentsofkrypton]

Just a small frustrated stream of consciousness, don’t mind it’s rushed nature:

You know, there's a very specific kind of behavior and type of trauma response that people like in characters. Fandoms go out of their way to justify their lashing out, to make it cute. Many times, there are understandable reasons for how they turned out the way they did. To each their own, if someone wants to latch on to different characters, that's their prerogative and there is nothing wrong with that.

However, there are two aspects of the way some fans approach things that I am so frustrated by. I run into them time and time again. Obviously, part of it is just how it attacks my own favorite characters constantly, but it can also be a sign of unhealthy patterns in how people think about real people with trauma or in certain circumstances.

First part: Lack of recognition that there is more than one way that trauma presents itself. I find it is often the case that people give characters like Jinx, Catra, Lena Luthor, Adrien Agreste, Leo Fitz, and Steve Harrington a pass. And I get it, they are likable characters! They have complex reasons, and tragic pasts, and weren't ever actively trying to be bad people. Many of them are genuinely good people. Their mistakes are treated with compassion and understanding by their fandoms.

Their friends or significant-others’ traumas, however, are frequently not. Vi, Adora, Kara Danvers, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Daisy Johnson, and Nancy Wheeler are examples of group ones' counterparts. These are characters that respond to trauma in a different way from the first group. Theirs is less immediately obvious, as they don't lash out the same way.

They tend to repress and avoid. They react to hurt by trying to help. These are masks that many people overlook. The second group are the kind that like to take responsibility onto themselves unnecessarily. They all deal with survivors' guilt, or something of the sort. They are hard on themselves, rather than others. This does not mean that they are correct in that blame. They don't look as obviously in pain or in need of help, and so people take them at face value. This creates a different perspective when they do lash out, or when they do make mistakes. Suddenly, there isn't any of the compassionate understanding given to others. They should have been on top of things, should have understood what others were feeling, and how it hurt them. Because they had been shown to make an effort to understand before.

And THAT'S DUMB.

Believe me when I say that that is an extraordinarily harmful way to approach people like that! Just because they hold themselves up to an extremely high standard, doesn’t mean others should too! The second group needs just as much help as the first, and be given equal levels of leniency and compassion. Because of their outward appearances though, people don’t realize that. Fandom’s don’t find that as appealing, because they still take these characters at face value, even though they are shown more of what’s going on under the surface than anyone in the character’s world. 

And that leads to the second point, that people like to shift blame and responsibility off of the first group and onto the second. People project onto characters, it’s just a part of fandom. What ends up happening though, is that creates a desire to remove the responsibility/blame from their chosen character, and place it onto someone else. 

There’s a difference between understanding and feeling empathy for someone, and removing responsibility. Removing responsibility means the responsibility must be put on someone else, because it can’t be removed entirely from the equation. Someone needs to come down, to prop the first one up, in situations where character one either hurts the other, or shares the blame with them. Doing this does two things, which are harmful to both characters. It infantilizes character one, as suddenly they aren’t capable of truly making their own choices. Two, it warps the view of character two. It villianizes them for things outside of their control. It becomes more than just preferring one character over another. I don’t know how else to say it other than, That’s Bad. 

It also ruins fandom content for people who like character two. They don’t have to be the center of everything, but no one likes reading a fic only to realize that character two is being treated with hate by the author. 

It doesn’t have to be either or! People can have compassion and empathy for multiple characters in a conflict! Heck, there are plenty of examples where people on both sides are both right and wrong. I don’t know where I’m going with this, and I’m not hating on people who love those characters, but gosh darn it, is there anyone else who understands?? I am so sick and tired of having to avoid large swaths of fan content because they are so populated with dislike for the types of characters I relate to or love.

#I know I could have explained this better #but im too tired rn #i just hope it makes sense #kara danvers #marinette dupain cheng #nancy wheeler #vi arcane #adora #supergirl #arcane #miraculous ladybug #stranger things #just ran into another fic with thinly veiled Nancy hate #and I can't read supercorp fics anymore because of this #ml aren't as bad at this but its still present #theres some of this behaviour around the aos fandom too tbh #daisy johnson #spop #btvs #basically the entire show is the characters doing this to Buffy

[iminaworldofpureimagination]

sleeping at the foot of her bed thats cute Catra is Adoras personal pet no wonder she hates her new owners cats are very territorial hahaha.

#speaking as a cat owner #catra #adora #she ra and the princesses of power

[swearyshera]

This scene in canon legit made my blood boil cuz I was very much NOT aboard the "everyone welcomes Catra on the team" train yet, so this bit was... less than endearing. The writing team and target audience had obviously been in agreement with Catra being cute for a long time but... I had yet to be persuaded and wouldn't be for a good while.

I know its to show how out of her depth Catra is dealing with actual friendship and how much of a ball of sunshine Bow is, but 'specially with the lack of Angella resolution this cutesy shit felt like they were jangling keys in my face to distract me from the past. Bow here showing he hasn't forgotten what Catra did even in a minor way lifted the fug off this scene for me. Amazing how I can get SO angry yet be appeased by the smallest changes. This series is like emotional/narrative aikido. Or maybe I just take shit in media way too personally and need my little hand held thru every scene that isn't immediately solving my foremost issue. Regardless, great job.

I think this episode, and to some extent the two either side of it, creates a lot of tension in the audience because of how uncertain everything is with Catra and Adora. And I don't mean tension between people who think Catra's all fine and forgiven now and those who don't, it's a tension where we see the characters going on as if everything is normal when we, the audience, know it's not. I've been thinking about this from two points:

Firstly, it's from a story structure point of view. This part is where Catra, and Adora to a degree, have what they want (each other), but not what they need. The entire story so far, on a personal level to them, has been about wanting each other back with them - and now they've got it, so everything is fine, right? They want to believe it is, so they act like it is. But they haven't learnt what they needed to (now what that is is open to interpretation, but for this, I'll say they needed to open themselves to love), and so you have this really uncomfortably awkward situation where they're both forcing themselves to accept that this is it. This is all they needed. And it's not.

If I refer once again to John Yorke's excellent Into the Woods, this puts us firmly into Act 4 territory: Your character will have changed in some way, but not enough to achieve their goal and overcome their flaw. The weakness is revealed in a low moment of the story (for Catra and Adora, this moment is the end of Failsafe). These few episodes are, by design, supposed to evoke the same sort of response you've had. In regards to Catra getting angry about being called cute, that's a perfect example of her not having overcome a flaw.

The other way I've been looking at it is from another, more realistic, and how people with BPD (if you're playing Sweary bingo, cross that one off!) would react to being reunited with their Favourite Person(TM). It's an innate ability to many of us with Brain Please Don't to suddenly forget the shit that happened when that one person graces us with a tiny amount of love (or, at least, something that isn't outright hostility). And I think for Catra here, that's exactly what's going on. Adora saved her, welcomed her back, waited for Catra to stop being angry, and now everything is FINE. Catra doesn't want to think about the past, she doesn't want to think about her flaws (or Adora's) that led to them splitting apart and fighting each other for so long.

You can see throughout this episode, the stress of forcing herself to be fine just so it doesn't rock the boat with Adora, coming out in these moments where she gets intensely angry for just a moment. I think, ultimately, they've moved from the unstable 'we're apart' relationship to the unstable 'we're together' relationship, and both need to learn a little more about how they fix that.

So yeah, this scene and this episode aren't really about 'Catra's suddenly been forgiven by everyone', but more 'everyone thinks Catra's been forgiven but they haven't sorted out the real problems', and that drives the conflict for the latter half of the season.