My Whims and Obsessions

sometipsygnostalgic:

I disagree. There are some elements of this, but the meat of the finale is not about the power of love - rather, it is about identity and self-actualization. And the places where love interact, sometimes it is in more interesting ways. Such as…. where this love comes from, and where it is accepted.

Let me go through the key beats of the finale:

1. Would you say Shadow Weaver saved Catra and Adora with the “power of love”? Is that her “love” for them? If so, then that’s really interesting - a darker interpretation of love, which they also have for her, in a way. That is no happy go lucky love cliche. The scene with them crying over her, it’s powerful and painful and very provocative, IMO the strongest part of the finale. What do you do when you feel love for your abusive parental figure, and then just when you’re getting over the fact they never cared about you, they show love back in an act of self-destruction? What closure do you get?

2. Love in the context of Entrapta and Hordak, is hard earned, because these characters spend so much of the show thinking that they were innately unlovable, and because Hordak had spent the whole season being guided back to his own identity with the “LUVD” crystal, and even then, it still wasn’t enough - after Hordak had finally won the battle to be true to himself, to show and accept love, he had this pried out of hands immediately by Horde Prime. In the original animatic, Hordak panicked that he killed his brother (who in part he does still love), and Entrapta calmed him down… then Prime yelled at them, in Hordak’s body, that they were unworthy and unloved and would die with no comfort. It was chilling. The final scene was cut short but I’m glad the original was shared.

These two have a bit in common with Adora and Catra - Entrapta works her ass off this season to protect the people she cares about with her tech skills, and is scared of failing them or being rejected, while Hordak doesn’t think he is worthy of love because of the monstrous abomination that he is. In this scene, rather than shooting Entrapta, failing her again, and discarding his identity, Hordak shows her that he recieved her message of caring about him, reciprocates, and has her back. And in doing so, accepts he’s worth something.

3. Catra and Adora’s story of love isn’t about the fact that they were going to get into a romance, it is about how Adora has spent the entire show giving OTHER PEOPLE her love, INCLUDING Catra, and how she has always refused to accept reciprocation. She has gotten herself into the mindset that it’s her responsibility to care for and protect everyone else, and that to accept help, or to let other people do the job, would mean that she is too weak to be counted on, that she is unworthy of the power of She-Ra, or of the love her friends have for her.
Adora’s too strong for her own good and thinks that because she has a very slim possibility of surviving a suicide mission, that she should do it, rather than someone who has zero chance. But like how Angella didn’t think Adora should seal the portal, Catra doesn’t think Adora should use the Failsafe by herself, and decides that they will face their fate together.

In accepting Catra’s love, Adora accepts she is worthy of love, that she is worthy of happiness, and this basically heals a rift in her being which allows her to focus on BECOMING She-Ra and actually save the world.

4. While I’m not exactly fond of Mermista and Sea Hawk’s scene (IMO its inclusion was fun but made the finale seem too much like “power of love woohoo”), Glimmer and Bow had some interesting demonstrations of love.

Glimmer doesn’t break Micah’s control with kind words of friendship like everyone else does - she shows her love by MELTING HIS DAMN FACE OFF, knocking him out of the fight and stopping him from further damaging his own body.

Bow’s big love moment isn’t for himself or even someone he’s particularly close with - it’s for SCORPIA. Bow appeals to Scorpia’s inner good nature, to get her to pause for ONE SECOND, so that he can execute Entrapta’s nicely-prepared programme and actually free all the chipped people, because no amount of love will spare them from Prime’s hivemind.
It’s a big moment for Scorpia, who has spent the whole show being the villain who always had so much care for others, but never recieved much back. Bow may not be close to her, but he understands what it is to be that friend, and is able to connect to her and believe in her without having much of a rapport.

5. Prime’s actual death is straight up She-Ra murder, which is pretty cool. Bear in mind, this isn’t She-Ra’s power being boosted by love so much as it is the Heart of Etheria that the First Ones collected… but Adora, now at peace, is able to enjoy a moment of empathy for Hordak, a character who has a lot more in common with her than she would have ever believed.

Two soldiers born and bred to be used as weapons of war, finally meeting again at the end of their journeys.

Anyway, like I said, there are SHADES of “power of love”, and that comes through when the characters “break out” of their chip control, but complete pandering to this is subverted by how the chips actually had to be 1. broken to prevent complete control of the characters and 2. removed by Entrapta and Bow’s server hack, which is absolutely NOT “power of love”, we spent the whole past season watching them prepare for that task, learning about Prime’s computers and dismantling the chips.

The places that it appears most, as listed above, are hard earned, and more about the power of self respect than about loving someone else. Because the characters have all been capable of loving others the whole time, but the hard part is accepting they are worth being loved back, and that’s what the finale is about!

turtle-ly:

asdfghjkl yes? i was about to ask you why would you want them but then i remember other ppl are not cursed like me, since one: most rec’d ongoing fics i’ve seen are never completed, and two: i think im cursed. My subscriptions page is a place where fics went in and almost never make it out 😔 thus i’ve become a lil wary of them and also less likely to subscribe even when im following it. But bc i love y'all, im gonna put a * after fics i think have little chance of updating, read them at your own risk <3

1. (an example of) the perfect candidate(*) by brightbolt, imperfectlyctor, i’ve read about 3 or 4 magicatra fics and most of them are oneshot, but this one is just SO promising. the sword chose catra but when had life really chosen her? shera abilities dont come easily and catra has to struggle with that. meanwhile, horde!adora has her own set of traumas and problems.

2. A Blinding Embrace(*) by Mshpiece, Tl;dr Adora’s so emotionally gay she habitually turns into She-Ra when her canonical gf Catra kisses her, let’s ride the hype of post s5 fluff fics babes

3. a white blank page (to write our happy ending)(*) by scarletite, hnnng im a whore for these canon divergence, catra and adora ran away from the horde on their own and got adopted by george&lance and then all of etheria, tbh it hasnt got to the etheria bit but man if this isnt my greatest hc. #LetThemHaveAFoundFamily2k21, i think about this at least thrice a month

4. a white veil occasion by aswellingstorm, technically it only has one more chapter but bc i love it and i want y'all to have nice things, read it. catra and adora meet again after being separated in the orphanage, in this one catra is basically adopted by mara&light hope (damn have i told you how much i like this hc) and is so emotionally mature, i am so proud of her <3

5. all my glory days are yours(*) by rosebudryot, author!adora and actress!catra, adora’s novel got adapted to a movie and catra’s the main actor :) they dont have a we-know-eachother backstory in it but im thrilled to watch this relationship grows

6. and i bloom right into you by yangaf, yea y'all know this one, famous soccer player adora and sorority catra, they met by being thirsty for eachother at uni

7. be unbroken or be brave again by RestlessWanderings, beast island au my beloved, scorpia has reasons to believe hordak killed catra and starts a resistance (homegirl i love you), and oh the grief, the all consuming grief of her and adora and everyone catra thought would never care, and the rage, how adora vows to kill hordak with her bare hands not in the name of etheria nor the rebellion (familiar? and thats before s3 even came out) i reread the whole fic to hype for the new chapter back in august and now im insane for it again

8. crowded table by themoonsneverseenmebefore, how gay are you on a scale of 1 to fixing up a house with your ex gf who you’re still in love with :)c pwease author there’s only one more chapter left i believe in u, they both inherited Razz’s house and are having a grand time <3

9. fickle game by emollience, friends with benefits but there’s so much feelings bc how could they not? girls can you please have a clear and straightforward conversation, it’s been 9 chapter

10. Knocked Flat by Levellsof, catra loses her memory in battle, she wakes up in brightmoon and they have to navigate their relationship while catra goes on treatment, does she want to remember and should she?

11. laughing till our ribs get tough (that will never be enough) by the wanderer (a_sentimental_man), Catra and Adora are soulmates who can share their thoughts and feelings with each other. It goes as well as can be expected

12. Let Forever Mean Forever (Work) by fruitsandpeachies, the second part of a series!, i love the first part where they got stuck in razz’s house 1000 years in the past, and now they are back in brightmoon, a world where they can start again, no matter how rocky it might be (im not telling more bc spoilers but you should read the 1st part first!)

13. my immortal by lunchables, adora is the last chance of saving eternia, a closed off kingdom that’s on the brink of extinction, and catra seems to be a ghost tied to her to the confusion of both

14. peripheries by ethiobird, catradora through other character POV, very interesting and sort of a character study in each chapter

15. pure and high affection by tox09, hehe princess and knight au go brrrr, catra’s the princess and they are so gay, that’s it

16. Protecting Hope by stealyourfood, gods and goddesses! damn catra looks like the only one normal in here, or does she?

17. somebody to love by chasingcrowns, i am. waiting for it to complete before continue reading okay. but i was interested since chapter 1 and you should too

20. Sound of Silence by BrightYellowBumblebee, She-ra but featuring deaf!Adora (with a She-ra caveat) and supportive!Catra and also supportive!everyone except for SW >:(

21. sweet to tongue and sound to eye by advancingambition, barking and growling and hollering, this brand of ‘post s5 and adora is def not human’ is MY jam. The First Ones were fair folk, and Adora is no exception, catra’s still smitten tho

22. Take Me Into Your Wild Heart by V3NU5_R0S3, Catra had run away from the Horde, leaving Adora behind. The Whispering Woods guide her to the library, where she’s adopted into George & Lance’s family (g&l my beloveds). she and adora meet again after 5 years and im Waiting for it

23. the ghost of you by emollience, yes, another canon divergence. Adora stays with Light Hope after s1e11. years later, she goes out and is prepared , which means how could she not become someone entirely different? this is a rewrite of an old fic and i can smell from here how angstier it’s gonna be

24. till our lonely limbs collide by driluth, i think there’s something between me and cd fics, probably lust. A canon divergent AU where Adora chooses to stay in the portal and Angella lets her.

25. for Having Wept in the Darkness, a series by Lycaonpictus77, canon divergence, …i have no excuse for this. things could have gone as it had been post s2 but BAM, time travel catra says no and decides catradora should be gay much sooner, adora still hasnt got the hint :/ girl why

Anyway y'all should combine brainwave and send telepathic wave that makes authors update with me :) pwease dont let my bad karma got in the way of this