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myrdschaemI originally got stopped at the end of season two, which was a bit abrupt.
- Overall, it was fine? I did like the ending, but execution in writing was a bit simplistic. Still, it's stuffed to the brim with tropes and character designs I love. All in all, it's not something I would say is must-watch, but for femslash fans this is great food. It's nice to get to have media catering to queer people and sensibilities that is okay. Not everything can be the biggest artistic achievement, and that's okay.
- Thematically it was again fine. Ending villain was purifying, mind controlling death cult which I think is an axe to grind but didn't capture me as unique for how it was delivered. There is a bit of... idk, villain rot in which almost everyone is on the side of good at the end. Tbf, I eat that up in fanfiction, but can be a bit much if everyone has a similar tragic motivation no matter the crimes. The amendments to made weren't always specified, on the other hand, people do deserve love. I think Steven Universe handled this kind of redemption overall better, but the writing on that show was tighter.
- Specific character where I was sorta meh about changing sides: a) Shadowweaver. I'm glad that never got tried to be fully justified because she sure did hurt many people. It was still pretty weird how little push back she got. b) Hordak. Frankly, I am on the fence here, because I did adore what they did with his friendship to Entrapta. For that alone, I was fine closing my eyes and pretending not to see. Still, as the architect of almost all misery on Etheria after the planet left normal space, there wasn't much there. At what point does traumatised people hurting others go from accident to intentional? No idea, but still would have wanted more agency from him on this.
- What I didn't mind at all was the Catra one though. I admit I am very biased on that, I guess, but there was also a bit more emotional work poured into that. Season three and four Catra crossed a lot of lines, I admit. I think I am more forgiving because she is a younger character and hasn't wrecked shit for as long and as much as say Hordak, even while she was the bad one in comparison to him at times. This was also an arc that was long term coming - unless they wanted to go full tragedy - and it helped to have Catra with Horde Prime, where for once her bullshit didn't work at all. Payoff was good for that.
- I think one of the best character writing was given to Glimmer and growing into her station. For my mind, she fucked up proportionally to Catra at the end of season four. I do like that for her character, giving her stubbornness, motivation, anger and having her be clearly wrong. Using what is a weapon of mass destruction and it fired back on her. I felt like I could see how easily she could become a darker figure if she didn't admit to being wrong and fixing it later. In a way it contrasted nicely with Catra, as both of them fucked up about the same and Glimmer sort of showed a healthier way of dealing with making costly mistakes.
- It cannot be overstated how much I love Scorpia. Epic rivals to lovers arc with Catra and Adora, Glimmer getting great emotional topics, the nice Entrapta + Hordak relationship... Scorpia tops all of them. I love her, she is dorky, strong, loyal, bad at lying, insecure, a great singer and just so inherently good. Who is fandom shipping her with, I need to know. I would say both Catra and Entrapta were options, though in canon they are sort of paired off, so who does to get to go home to Scorpia? Perfuma? Idk. I need answer, stat.
- Another thing I hope fandom is exploring (which I don't know if they have because I didn't finish until now) is how eldritch She-Ra is. Magic in general in this verse is mind-bending, princesses on their own are magic horror terrors and She-Ra is a technologically made version of that. I truly hope people took some time to write body-horror from Adora's pov about suddenly being possessed by an ancient hero magic - and how she can basically be hacked for outside control of her body and abilities! - as well as Catra (or Horde soldier) horror of meeting She-Ra, which is basically a nice Cthulhu but on the other side of the battlefield. And then it turns out, your former friend is possessed by that! If no one did, that's thrown away story potential, I swear.
- Overall, it was fine? I did like the ending, but execution in writing was a bit simplistic. Still, it's stuffed to the brim with tropes and character designs I love. All in all, it's not something I would say is must-watch, but for femslash fans this is great food. It's nice to get to have media catering to queer people and sensibilities that is okay. Not everything can be the biggest artistic achievement, and that's okay.
- Thematically it was again fine. Ending villain was purifying, mind controlling death cult which I think is an axe to grind but didn't capture me as unique for how it was delivered. There is a bit of... idk, villain rot in which almost everyone is on the side of good at the end. Tbf, I eat that up in fanfiction, but can be a bit much if everyone has a similar tragic motivation no matter the crimes. The amendments to made weren't always specified, on the other hand, people do deserve love. I think Steven Universe handled this kind of redemption overall better, but the writing on that show was tighter.
- Specific character where I was sorta meh about changing sides: a) Shadowweaver. I'm glad that never got tried to be fully justified because she sure did hurt many people. It was still pretty weird how little push back she got. b) Hordak. Frankly, I am on the fence here, because I did adore what they did with his friendship to Entrapta. For that alone, I was fine closing my eyes and pretending not to see. Still, as the architect of almost all misery on Etheria after the planet left normal space, there wasn't much there. At what point does traumatised people hurting others go from accident to intentional? No idea, but still would have wanted more agency from him on this.
- What I didn't mind at all was the Catra one though. I admit I am very biased on that, I guess, but there was also a bit more emotional work poured into that. Season three and four Catra crossed a lot of lines, I admit. I think I am more forgiving because she is a younger character and hasn't wrecked shit for as long and as much as say Hordak, even while she was the bad one in comparison to him at times. This was also an arc that was long term coming - unless they wanted to go full tragedy - and it helped to have Catra with Horde Prime, where for once her bullshit didn't work at all. Payoff was good for that.
- I think one of the best character writing was given to Glimmer and growing into her station. For my mind, she fucked up proportionally to Catra at the end of season four. I do like that for her character, giving her stubbornness, motivation, anger and having her be clearly wrong. Using what is a weapon of mass destruction and it fired back on her. I felt like I could see how easily she could become a darker figure if she didn't admit to being wrong and fixing it later. In a way it contrasted nicely with Catra, as both of them fucked up about the same and Glimmer sort of showed a healthier way of dealing with making costly mistakes.
- It cannot be overstated how much I love Scorpia. Epic rivals to lovers arc with Catra and Adora, Glimmer getting great emotional topics, the nice Entrapta + Hordak relationship... Scorpia tops all of them. I love her, she is dorky, strong, loyal, bad at lying, insecure, a great singer and just so inherently good. Who is fandom shipping her with, I need to know. I would say both Catra and Entrapta were options, though in canon they are sort of paired off, so who does to get to go home to Scorpia? Perfuma? Idk. I need answer, stat.
- Another thing I hope fandom is exploring (which I don't know if they have because I didn't finish until now) is how eldritch She-Ra is. Magic in general in this verse is mind-bending, princesses on their own are magic horror terrors and She-Ra is a technologically made version of that. I truly hope people took some time to write body-horror from Adora's pov about suddenly being possessed by an ancient hero magic - and how she can basically be hacked for outside control of her body and abilities! - as well as Catra (or Horde soldier) horror of meeting She-Ra, which is basically a nice Cthulhu but on the other side of the battlefield. And then it turns out, your former friend is possessed by that! If no one did, that's thrown away story potential, I swear.
