Spop Critical - Blog Posts

I know u have like 100000+ asks but I'm curious, what's your opinion on catra x adora? I know I haven't finished the show (which I will at some point) but I just want to hear ur opinion

I keep avoiding my asks but I have so many 😭

I used to like it a lot, but as I've looked into it I've realized it's kind of toxic.

I commend ND for what he tried to do. Enemies to Lovers could have worked so well for Catra and Adora, but Catra didn't start her redemption fast enough. Now I've heard it was because the show was cut short bc of the gay, but I'm not sure. But it feels like Catra did a 180. Like, she was bad, then she was good. There wasn't enough time focused on her struggled with being good and apologizing for her past actions. I mean, she single handedly invaded and burned down much of Mermista's kingdom and we never see her apologize for that. Everyone kinda just forgives her.

I'd like to compare her redemption to Zuko's (I've been reading Zukka fanfics and have Zuko on the brain ig). Not only did he have a backstory sympathetic enough to excuse his behavior, but he did his best to make up for what he did. Yes, he committed war crimes, but he ended up saving more lives than he cost. Catra just told Adora she loved her and that saved the day

As it is currently, I think Catradora's pretty toxic. However, I think there'd be hope for them if there'd been more episodes to focus on Catra's emotional arc

Anybody else ever think about how convenient it was that Micah, Scorpia, and Mermista were chipped in S5? You know, before the Best Friend Squad, Best Girl Entrapta, and Catra landed back on Etheria?

No seriously, how CONVENIENT that it was those three specifically that couldn’t interact freely one-on-one with Catra once she, the Best Friend Squad, and Best Girl Entrapta touched back down on Etheria. Catra caused Angella to be trapped between two dimensions, treated Scorpia like sh*t, and conquered Mermista’s kingdom. And yet Micah and Mermista never got to interact with her, and Scorpia just seemed to insta-forgive at the end of S5. Well, that’s not TOTALLY true, after being de-chipped Mermista looks around and sees Hordak and Catra and is like “So we’re just ok with this?”. The most reasonable question EVER.

So much was lost because Catra was not able to properly interact with these three (not to mention Glimmer only got to really interact with the father she lost at a young age RIGHT at the end). We see Catra apologizing to both Adora and Entrapta (not GOOD apologies where she acknowledges all she’s done against them and sincere remorse for her actions, but apologies nonetheless), but she never really does this with anybody else. She kind of tries with a chipped Scorpia, but the latter is chipped so that doesn’t go anywhere, and by the end she never even finished he apology before Scorpia hugged her.

No complicated feelings, no confrontations, no visible grudges being held (except for Perfuma in that one episode). But why, you ask, am I insisting upon this? Catra still apologized, or at least tried to, in Adora, Entrapta, and Scorpia’s cases. She doesn’t even really know Micah and Mermista anyway!

That’s kind of the point.

Catra only tries to apologize to those who she personally knew, she doesn’t actually acknowledge to harm she’s done to people outside of them. She never apologized for Angella, never apologized to Bow for all the things she did to him, heck she didn’t even try to apologize to Frosta for “ruining Princess Prom”. She just let Adora tell the others that she jumped sides and that she was cool now. And nobody really batted an eye (except for Perfuma in that one episode). Part of why Catra’s so-called redemption arcs sucks is because she’s barely made to really be confronted with all the bad she’s done, and try to atone for it.

Because she hurt EVERYBODY in the Princess Alliance in some way, and she doesn’t even offer a small apology? I know why Mermista and Micah especially were chipped, it’s because those two could hold a GRUDGE. We saw it with Mermista and Entrapta, and we saw it when Micah just glared at Shadow Weaver when he was saved by her. But of course, Catra’s “redemption arc” mostly revolves around ADORA, as does everything with her, especially because Catradora was shoved into S5 and they were sprinting to make that goal. You know, despite how that goal made no narrative sense, especially because before S5 Adora didn’t seem to have any romantic feelings for Catra, but that’s something for another time.

Anyway, Catra was barely made to acknowledge any wrong she had done to the supposed love of her life and the only two allies she had in the Horde. So it really doesn’t surprise me that she wasn’t made to acknowledge the wrong she did to everybody else (except Shadow Weaver, Catra didn’t have anything to apologize about there) by the writers. Catra was handled with kid gloves, and meanwhile Entrapta did NOT get that luxury.

I’m not saying Entrapta didn’t do anything wrong, but geez did the princesses hold more of a grudge for her than Catra. With some ableism splashed in there too, yikes. And yet, Entrapta actually worked on herself and did her best to atone. She risked her safety trying to get the location of Horde Prime’s ship, she tried to be more sensitive to other’s feelings. She fixed Mara’s ship so they could travel to space, she found a way to de-program the chips, she even visibly reined in her love and fascination for tech in order to get those chips off. Meanwhile, what did Catra do that showed that she was making a change to the Rebelion? To prove she was trying to atone?

The most she does is let them slip by without detection from HP’s forces, and that’s not even her doing, it’s MELOG’S!

Tl;Dr: Catra’s redemption was hastily done and poorly written. Nowhere can that be more found than the fact Micah, Scorpia, and Mermista were not able to confront her with their grievances and make her realize the affects she had on other people BESIDES those in her personal life

Also may i add, Catra didn't even cared about Horde Prime crazy plan until she found out she woudn't get anything out of it, she still wanted power

I remember seeing a C//A fan comic a while back. Catra was being super defensive and possessive of Adora after the war ended. And everyone (civilians) got mad at Catra. So Adora stands up for her saying “Why are you all hanging up on Catra?!” And they all answer ‘Because she did a bunch of shitty things.’ Only for Adora to throw it back in their faces with “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a bunch of Horde clones around here who were just as bad as she was. And you’re not mad at them!”

And here’s where the comic REALLY lost me. Yeah, the clones fucked up. And yes, they have to work hard to have people trust and respect them and help Etheria as well. But Jfc, at least the clones didn’t KNOW ANY BETTER. I mean they were kinda, I dunno, BRAINWASHED AND IN A CULT. Catra, on the other hand literally committed atrocity after atrocity, KNOWING FULL WELL she was doing something evil.

that's so fucked up?? see, this is exactly what kind of mindset this show fosters. "the show says catra didn't do anything wrong, so she didn't do anything wrong!" not to mention, real-life abuse victims do tend to be defensive over their partner and it's not a good thing. adora had actually realized how toxic catra was, so to have her not only forgive catra but also protect her from the consequences of her own actions is.. depressing, to say the least.

One of the things that made me completly depise She-Ra and the Catradora ship is the absurd gaslight the writers do to make us care about Catra.

Catradora was a pretty wild shio to say the least, i could never predict where exactly the writers were going for with them but everything was leading to Catra becoming an awful person. She abuses, manipulates, gaslight and hurts Adora multiple times without feeling a bit of remorse about it, and many people try to justify like Catra was only doing it because Adora left or she was doing it because they're enemies, but i don't think "they're enemies and she's in emotional distress" is a good enough reason to beat up a childhood friend/crush, especially if you're doing that for a ideology that yourself assumed to be evil. Another thing that people say to justify Catra is the fact that she was emotionally abused and the one person that loved her leaving was the final straw but that alone doesn't justify, first we need to remember that Adora was also abused as a child by SW and second being abused doesn't justify abusing other people, especially if is the only person that actually seems to care about you. Another thing i get a lot is how Catra viewd the Rebellion as any better than the Horde which is why she didn't left like Adora, but even if she didn't liked the Rebellion why would she stay with the Horde? She herself admit they're bad people and one of the things she says to Adora on the first episode is how she wants to conquer the world with her.

The truth is, Catra was always like that. She was a problematic child that grew up to be an evil person, she's a toxic friend, an abuser and an awful person. There's no justification on her being like that, NOTHING justifys her treatment of Adora and doesn't matter how you try to internelized, there's no salvation for Catra and the fact that the writers try to make us care about her and cheer for her is disgusting.

If you ever come across someone like Catra, cut contact with that person imediatly for your own sake

Edit: oh boy, that sure escalated quickly huh? So much hate and yet none of you tried actually defending the show or countering my argument, ya'll just went to personally attack me as if that would do anything? If you don't like the post just ignore it, is not that hard there's plenty of positive She Ra content you could see instead. Is just my opinion after all, and please stop coming at me saying that i stan groomers or something, cause that's not truth and is something very serious for you to be playing around like that