i’ve talked a lot about catra being the scapegoat, but now i want to talk about adora being the golden child. it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, that’s for sure.

when adora was a child, shadow weaver told her that she was responsible for catra’s behavior, and by extension, her punishments. no, adora wouldn’t be punished for it, but catra would, and that was probably worse. this likely instilled the idea that, if catra got hurt because she “misbehaved” (read: did normal kid things), then it was actually adora’s fault–not catra’s (which it isn’t) nor shadow weaver’s (which it is). if catra suffered, then it was because adora wasn’t trying hard enough–to distract shadow weaver with her own accomplishments or convince catra to stay in line or whatever.

catra completely misinterpreted this, assuming that adora enjoyed this favoritism. is this the reaction of someone who enjoys being the golden child, or is this the reaction of someone who’s terrified?

a lot of people have assumed that adora’s behavior is arrogant, but i think it’s actually just…what she’s been told and taught–

–that she’s important, but not necessarily useful unless she’s doing everything the “right” way. sometimes, being important isn’t actually very comforting; it just gives you more power to make mistakes and let people down.

shadow weaver gave adora the illusion of control over more than her own behavior, and when that illusion crumbled, adora was left with…herself, and a sword. it’s no wonder that she clung to the sword as a source of validation and importance, a way for her to actually help people.

this also explains why she feels such strong guilt for anything bad that happens around her, which light hope recognizes and exploits. all adora wants to do is protect her friends (and, y’know, etheria–no pressure though), but what if she only hurts them? she’s convinced that she does have the power to save everyone, that she is important enough to do everything, and yet, she fails, again and again. even when she has the physical power to throw things around, she can’t heal plumeria’s tree or glimmer’s abilities, because she’s just not good enough.

being the golden child, being told that you’re special and amazing and perfect…a lot of people buckle under that pressure and end up paralyzed by fear that they can’t truly accomplish anything.

luckily, adora has found friends who truly do not blame her for not being able to save everyone, and she finds the strength to get up again and try.

cwaudinya:

~~It won’t be over until I see the looks on your friends’ faces when they find out that you failed, that you were too weak to save them.~~

shaniartist:

She-Ra and her girlfriend.

just really wanted to draw more catradora.

beautifullbow:

I’m not going to lie, I think this may be one of my favourite Bow moments of the entire season. Even though many see him as a soft, comedic relief character, he really is the emotional support of his friends. He shows this when him and Glimmer are talking about their kidnapping, and he shows it here.

He knows Adora is trying her best. He know that she hurts because everyone is counting on her, and she feels like she failed. That’s why she apologized to him after he asked if they can still ‘fix it’. They both know they won’t be able to win, and Adora feels like it’s her fault. Knowing all of this, Bow realizes that Adora needs comfort, and gives it to her.

Basically, what I’m trying to say, is that Bow is probably the best friend in this entire series and I could never understand how someone could hate him.

juniperarts:

The best thing about She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: big, tall, buff women 👍

perfuma, crying loudly: omg ur alive!!!
entrapta, staring at the little garden memorial: you thought i was dead??
perfuma: you were sealed into a room that was immediately engulfed in flames, so, yes
entrapta:
entrapta: you know what that’s fair

entrapta didn’t get mad at scorpia for repeating herself or fixating on one topic (in her case, catra). she simply verified that scorpia had told her this before and then let her continue talking about it. i think this is particularly interesting because entrapta has probably been told to shut up countless times because she wouldn’t stop talking about her special interest: technology.

case in point:

so, this amazing post already went over all of the autistic traits that entrapta has, but i wanted to delve into something that i haven’t really seen discussed yet–something that isn’t necessarily a trait but rather a byproduct of the experiences that autistic people often have.

i want to talk about entrapta’s connection to animals and robots.

in entrapta’s intro episode, we see a lot of animals. her kitchen staff knows to make the cupcakes shaped like a little piggy. when adora and glimmer are falling through her castle, we see a little robot with a guinea pig/hamster design. while entrapta is guiding them through her castle, we see two framed portraits–one of a little kitten, and another of a little dog.

autistics tend to be drawn towards animals because, frankly, they make more sense than allistics do, and are thus much easier to interact with. there are no complicated social rules to follow (see: entrapta’s confused response to being imprisoned, trying to return to her restraints in order to fit the role of “prisoner”), they won’t judge you for being “weird”, and they won’t tell you to shut up as you yammer on about your special interests.

interestingly, allistics just love to compare autistics, particularly autistic children, to animals, in order to dehumanize them and justify abusing them, advocating for eugenics, or trying to “cure” them. instead of taking a moment to understand them, just as autistics do when approaching animals (or, y’know, allistics who insist on eye contact for some reason), people just write them off as a burden.

i highly recommend reading this poem for another perspective on this topic.

entrapta herself has major issues empathizing with other people. we’ve seen her defend her friends, and wait 45 hours for them to come back for her, and cry in front of the enemy when realizing they weren’t coming back for her, and brighten when catra told her about finding a place in the horde not just for tech but for belonging. yet, she wanted to take she-ra apart as if she-ra was another robot and didn’t ask before touching scorpia’s tail. that’s something she struggles with, and something that i think she’ll learn to understand as she interacts more with other people.

now, as for entrapta’s robots…

she’s very fond of her robots, isn’t she?

it’s even implied that she built robot parents for herself.

this is most obvious when we see her interacting with emily. a reprogrammed robot that didn’t need a name, but got one anyway. a reprogrammed robot that she referred to as her new friend. a reprogrammed robot that she refused to leave behind, just as she expected her friends to refuse to leave her behind. a reprogrammed robot who not only had enhanced weaponry, but also enhanced ability to give and receive affection–a completely “useless” upgrade to someone who doesn’t care about making connections.

when scorpia is talking about her connection with catra, entrapta relates to it on the basis of her own connection to emily. to her, emily is a friend and someone she’d never leave behind. someone she’d protect, just like she’d protect any of her other friends.

entrapta clearly craves emotional connections and values friendship, but it seems that she finds that much easier with animals and robots than with other people. she knows that she’s different and annoying and burdensome, but realizing (from her perspective) that it meant that her “friends” wouldn’t even come back for her after saying they’d “leave no princess behind”–when she went back for emily–was devastating to her. catra knew exactly what to say to her, and it wasn’t just, “we have cool tech!” she validated entrapta’s robot and entrapta herself before even approaching that particular perk.

despite her emotional connections to both, entrapta is not a robot or an animal. she’s a person. she’s a person who’s different, and, in the wise words of princess bubblegum:

Also can we talk about how adorable Scorpia is? Because she’s a sweetie and deserves the universe

scorpia is amazing. she is so genuine and compassionate and friendly and protective and lovely. you couldn’t ask for a better friend, honestly. ~~also when will she respond to my marriage proposal?? where is my luka/scorpia fanfiction???~~

it makes me sad to think of her life before she met catra if she’s so excited to be hanging out in someone’s room. we know that the other princesses alienated her because she wasn’t their idea of a Proper Princess, but did members of the horde also avoid her because she’s still a princess? was catra the first person to truly accept her?

regardless, i’m glad that she’s found happiness with her super pal trio. it’s what she deserves. she has so much love to give!

even though catra can be abrasive, and is resistant to being referred to as scorpia’s best friend, she does truly trust scorpia. that is huge for catra, given that she’s just suffered (in her eyes) a major betrayal. even after scorpia revealed that she was a princess, which catra instinctively distrusts, catra continued to trust her absolutely. it’s hard to doubt scorpia’s good intentions when she’s…herself.

What about when Catra touched Adora’s face in 1×13?

catra is trying to continue the cycle of abuse, but she isn’t quite doing it right. she’s mixing up the approaches because she still loves adora on an instinctive level.

when shadow weaver abused catra, to make her feel weak, she did so primarily through overt violence and intimidation in situations where catra had absolutely no chance to fight back.

when shadow weaver abused adora, to make her feel like she was only ever powerful by her side, she did so primarily through gentle touches and false affection.

although catra is being violent towards adora at this point, going so far as to horribly scratch her back, it’s in the context of a fight between enemies. it’s very different from what shadow weaver did to catra.

catra is trying to make adora feel weak, the same way that she’s felt all these years, the same way that she thinks adora wanted her to feel all along. it’s a sick form of revenge for something that adora never actually did.

however, catra is trying to make adora feel weak by emulating shadow weaver’s approach towards adora, which doesn’t quite make sense. is adora the scapegoat or the golden child, or neither? is catra’s heart really in this? does she know what she really wants? would she let adora fall again, outside of that flashback hellscape?

catra is deeply convinced that true power is associated with creating fear, because she felt powerless and afraid all her life, and she wants that power for herself now. she literally wants what shadow weaver had, and has said so multiple times now (”i need to impress hordak so he’ll make me the new shadow weaver!”).

what she needs to realize is that this won’t make her happy, that this isn’t right, and that she’ll be no better than shadow weaver if she continues down this path.

i’m confident that she’ll realize the error of her ways soon enough, but in the meantime, her path is not a bright one.