#Like she ras sword of protection | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

celaenaeiln · 9 months

Text

Something fanon gets wrong

Dick Grayson is genuinely one of the greatest fighters in all of DC.

I know people have trouble believing this for some reason but a man who has defeated every single one of his enemies, other people’s enemies, and has consistently come out on top should have his abilities talked about a bit more because they’re amazing.

Let's start small to big. Firstly Donna talks about Nightwing's abilities.

When I read this I was confused by what she meant. Prowess means skill or expertise and that makes sense but Dick has a lot of power behind him though...

And then I realized she meant metaphysical power.

Dick isn't a magician. He can't run at supersonic speeds, throw buildings, speak to animals, communicate with the dark, fly above the clouds, bounce bullets off his chest (Oh, wait. He can do it off his ass instead never mind), turn into animals, or other amazing abilities. But his skill is so high that he is easily able to keep up with people who can.

M'gann, the white martian with extraordinary capabilities, tells Dick, "You are just a human, with no superpowers, yet you have consistently excelled throughout your career, despite being surrounded by godlike beings."

This is incredible.

We see Dick leading teams of superheroes and metas all the time and we take it for granted but we never acknowledge the immense power and skill he must have for him to be able to do this.

Repeatedly. Time after time. He outsmarts both his human allies and outfights his meta ones.

One of Dick’s greatest OP moments is when he takes down the entire Titans team -Gar, Raven, Donna, and Jason too when he hung around with them- single handedly. And when Jason put a gun to the back of his head in supposed victory, Dick opened his hand to let the golden bullets fall, gleaming in the light with the coldest line, “with these bullets?”

We all know how amazing Bruce is, but Dick is on Bruce's level.

No?

Okay, here's the evidence.

Dick has fought Azael in a sword fight to a standstill when Azael has beaten Bruce separately and Tim and Jason combined.

He has defeated Ra's in a sword fight and Ra's is one of the greatest swordsmen.

Sometimes he doesn't even need a sword to defeat a skilled swordsman.

He's a League of Assassins member and we all know that anyone from the League of Assassins is never just good. They're excellent. The entire fight Dick is looking for Blockbuster and he's so capable and good at fighting the entire scene was like watching Thanos flick Captain America away vibes. He's not even looking at him when he smashes his foot into Shrike's face!

Most importantly, he has defeated Deathstroke

The greatest thing about Dick is he is able to defeat Slade at the peak of Slade's abilities. Slade doesn't need to be weakened for Dick to win.

Here's where people has some hesitance accepting Dick's abilities.

"Bruce has defeated Slade but Dick has never been able to!"

He literally has in Dark Crisis but I'll give you the lead up.

Dick can easily disarm Slade.

He can predict Slade's moves ahead of time and properly counteract them.

He can go toe to toe with him and in one comic, they dance down a hallway, fighting, neither able to get the upper hand. The mercenary meta, considered by the US Government to be 1 of 2 greatest assassins (the other being Katana) isn't able to pin down and defeat a 20 year old despite his enhancements.

I left out the scene where Dick twisting Deathstroke's arm and smashing his face into a bedroom mirror despite being complete weaponless and in his civilian identity. No protection and no support. But it's another example of how Dick's poweress is much greater than people expect of him.

Of course there are panels where Dick has been defeated by Slade but Dick isn't 17/18 anymore. He isn't learning to fight without Batman hovering over his side.

Also there is a panel everyone references to when talking about Nigthwing losing to Deathstroke. This one.

sure. okay. whatever. BUT WHY WON'T YOU SHOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT COWARDS?!?

THEY DANCE-FIGHT LIKE THEY'RE ENEMIES IN A BALLROOM ON OPPOSING SIDES BUT CAN'T AFFORD TO LET ANYONE FIND OUT.

THIS IS SOME HIGH LEVEL JAMES BOND-RED NOTICE-MISSION IMPOSSIBLE- TYPE SHIT.

"Close the hold, you morons! Close the--Guuk!"

That's Slade talking by the way. To his allies. Who do you think made him "GUUK!"?

And here they were evenly matched.

But Slade had to pull out bombs he had been saving for when other people came in order to defeat dICK AND HE STILL LOST BECAUSE DICK BESTED HIM.

Yup. Dick is just that good.

Nightwing defeated Bane

Before you go into saying something like "it was a holographic construction." What the fuck difference does that make? Does a holographic construction alter the strength used by the enemy, change their fighting style, phase through when fighting, act dumber than the real deal? No, right? The fact is Dick broke Bane's back the exact same manner that Bane broke Batman's. All those scenes of Bane punching Nightwing around? Let me remind you that the guy snuck up on Dick. The second time Dick underestimated Bane's powers before getting ready to put in real effort before Batman interfered to take Bane for himself.

All those amazing scenes of him defeating enemies that we've scoffed at recently? They're just a continuation of what already is written. It's not new or unbelievable, it's expected.

Here's my final point. Dick has defeated all of the Justice League's enemies in one go.

This is Batman/Superman comic where Kara gets infected so Dick as Batman sends her to the medbay while he tears down the Watchtower to save her. As in every single defense mechanism the Watchtower has, he demolishes it with his pure skill and abilities. Furthermore, the Watchtower defenses were enhanced by cyborg Superman to be lethal. To kill on sight.

Just. Phenomenal.

He did it! He defeated all of them and made it to the electronic controls he was aiming for.

Another thing I want to point is Dick's strength is greater than what people assume it to be.

He's the world's greatest acrobrat and has a build fitting of that but the strength he packs in his body is equal to that of a meta. Maybe it's because of how he only fights with metas and has teammates that are all metas but he has raised his striking power to equal that.

He shatters cyborg superman in one blow.

He can handle blows from meta humans in a way most others can't which suggests to me that he must've done some kind of training or have maybe increased pain tolerance or have the ability to backseat the pain so it won't affect his fighting. How many can take a hit and rise up the next second?

He's not metahuman. Batman must've done several tests because he also was amazed by robin Dick's poweress lol but really Dick is just extraordinary. Give him any enemy and he will garaunteed defeat them without using cheap tricks or surprise moves which is why he is one of the greatest. The only time people have gotten an upperhand on him is when he has been emotionally weakened. Emotionally. Imagine the absolute monster he would be if he controlled his emotions like Batman.

But I would never want him to though because his emotions are the reason why he's the light of DC.

#dick grayson #nightwing #donna troy #m'gann m'orzz #shrike #dc bane #slade wilson #deathstroke #batman #kara danvers

2K notes · View notes

ghostbsuter · 7 months

Text

Twins, minus the Demon (Part 1)

.・゜-: ✧ :-

When Damian and Danyal were created, it was not to become the League's successors, but to be the children for the trio to raise.

It didn't work, eveyrhting shattered when Ra's Al Ghul found out about the heirs.

Their Umi, Talia, went back to the League when the two were taken, Mother and Father none the wiser.

And so, they were trained carefully beneath the watchful eye of their grandfather.

Until they were 10.

Talia, Umi, revolved against the leader of the league and sent her boys to Gotham. She kickstarted a war with a battle cry, holding her sword up and chin never lowered.

Knowing Umi would be back, because she always did come back, they separated and planned.

Damian left with Father, Danyal with Mother.

Neither knew of the other, lest they ruin the suprise after all.

Like cats on a mission, truly.

—

Studying his self-proclaimed blood son, he noticed with sadness that he had Talias eyes, her tan, and walked just like her.

Yet he also reminded him of Selina, with the swiftness of a cat, eyes never straying and only satisfied when succeeded. He mildly notes he had her unruly curls with amusement.

He was a mix of demon and cat, but also with the spice of bat.

Stubborn like him, never backing down and always fighting.

He wonders why Talia left them, hiding a secret child along.

The spot for Robin was free, Tim having renamed himself with a new hero alias and finally flying from the nest.

Bruce should tell Selina, with his new Robin by his side.

—

While the man mourned, Selina had been enlightened when her eyes met his.

It was bittersweet in a way, to know the woman you loved had hidden a child from her and Bruce, but it also brought hope.

Because wherever talia was, this, this proves she didn't leave for nothing.

Selina sees the similarities between her and Danyal, he was quick-witted, let his emotions in the moment lead, and loves just as fierce as Talia does.

She also sees his hair curl just like her own, blue eyes that can only be from Bruce, lighter in shade than Talia is and with the matching paranoia of the bat included.

And she sent her son to her.

Their son.

Because she couldn't take care of him right now, something happened, and it forced her hand and focused on protecting the child first.

It meant one day, she would come back.

To her, to them.

She needs to introduce him to Bruce.

—

While Robin had his fair time as vigilante sidekick, Ragdoll robbed the rich and made sure to tease the other as much as possible.

It wasn't until they met, that the light was flipped and the truth revealed.

(For being such a old guy, Danyal really tips his head to Dick, the guy figured him out in a second, not far behind was Tim.)

(He really should have concealed his eyes, would have been more fun.)

They met on a rooftop, Catwoman leaning on a gargoyle as her little helper stood by her side.

(Catwoman wasn't fooled as easy, it took just a few longer glances that she'd figured out the switch.)

The bat's and birds on the other side, and soon enough, Batman gestures to his Robin, who steps forward.

Mirroring the bird, so did the cat.

"This is Robin." He introduces, and selina bites her laughter back, because–

That's her boy, or apparently, one of her boys.

"Ragdoll." She gives a fleeing smile, tilting her head to her apprentice.

"Okay, so, Nightwing, Red Robin and Black Bat immediately figured it out." Robin speaks up, two firm grips on his costume, and one tug has him dressed as his cat counterpart. He seems sheepish.

(Dick in particular is leaning forward with a wide grin, dragged behind him is Jason, interested but stubborn.)

"Tt," Ragdoll throws his own costume away, revealing Robin. "You need more practice. It took catwoman only 3 hours. I win."

The boy walks forward to his twins side, it seemed to amuse catwoman even more.

"Nuh uh! Technically speaking Batman didn't even know!"

Both pointedly look at the clad in black outfit wearing man, frozen stiff and looking between the two.

"Really, father?" Another 'tt' and Robin grumbles. "Fine, I'll take you to the stupid milkshake cafe."

Cheering, Ragdoll is throwing his arms around Robin's neck, dangling in front of his, the older twin having a secure grip on the black collar, lest Ragdoll fall.

"I get my milkshake!" Robin only seems more exasperated at his behaviour, shaking his head.

With delight and literally vibrating from his spot, Nightwing jumped at the two, staring between them with curiosity.

With his lead, so did the other birds and bats, teasing and playfully giving them head pats.

"Twins?" Batman's gruff voice breaks through the little gathering they have.

"Yes, father." The firstborn easily replies, the second only following behind. "Umi didn't want to overwhelm you and Catwoman when she sent us here. Don't be mad?"

"Now that we're talking about this, neither explained your circumstances nor why now?" She nears them with her cat like dance, slipping next to Batman and leaning into his side.

Both twins share a look.

"Umi was adamant that we'd meet and get along first before bringing in our situation." Robin explains, his voice is steady yet unsure in the way only a child with recent loss could sound.

"It's not that she didn't trust you," Ragdoll explains to Batman when the man looked like he wanted to interject. "Umi knew you'd help us regardless of our blood connection."

They share another look, one fiddles with his hands, the other having a steady grip on his hilt.

"This is no conversation for anyone to hear, we can't risk being found because we slacked off in security."

The twin wearing leather and cat ears snorts, mischief twinkling, and jumping forward to give Red Robin a pat on the chest.

A smile only a cat could wear takes over, and with joy he hollers. "Tag! Your it!"

Not even a second later, he was thrown over Robins shoulder and both skedaddled to the cave.

"Tt, truly experts, to freeze like that on a rooftop. Assassins could have easily killed all of you in that moment."

Robins tease echoes through the comm and causes them all to unfreeze.

With a huff of laughter, Red Hood pushed Nightwing to RR as sacrifice and bolted after the twins.

A yelp and Nightwing was swiftly tagged, RR disappearing with Spoiler in tow.

When he searches for a target, both Batman and Catwoman are already gone.

"Aw man."

—

In the end, Robin comfortably sits at the chair in front of the batcomputer, Ragdoll on the arm rest with his legs tossed out on the others lap.

"You guys are so slow!"

As the other mile around, Damian and Dnyal exchange hushed whispers, only drawn out when Batman urges them by clearing his throat.

"Okay, this won't be easy," Danny drawls the words, fumbling with Damians hair instead.

The other scowls but does nothing else. "First of all, Umi did not leave you willingly." He speaks loud and clear, mask off and staring at Bat and Cat.

"She never planned on leaving, but complications arose with our birth."

Smiling nervous, Danny takes over.

"You're familiar with our grandfather, yes?" At the nods, he grimaces. "When he heard he had potential heirs, he kidnapped us once born. Umi had to follow immediately, lest one of us dies because grandfather wasn't careful."

"She couldn't exactly flee either, with two toddlers, so what she could do, she did. It might not have been the best childhood, but umi did her best!"

While the children of the bat stay mostly silent, Bruce, without cowl, and Selina don't.

"Why now? Why did she send you two at 10?"

Damian drums his fingers on the others legs laid out on him, humming.

"On our 10th birthday, Grandfather gave us a rather... peculiar mission." He winces at the explanation, those words bring no truth of the situation to light.

"What akhi means, we're twins." Dnany holds up two fingers. "Two people, one destiny. Grandfather did not like that two remained, seeing as only one can become the next Demon head."

Someone took a sharp intake of air somewhere, he can't really focus, the memories are not pleasant ones he'd get reminded of.

"Umi didn't let it happen," Damian drawls, massaging Danyal's fingers with bored expression, the forced nonchalance doesn't fool anyone.

"She swung her sword and declared war on grandfather. It was the start of a civil war in the league, dangerous to us for we were still known as heirs."

Danny meets Selinas eyes. "Umi didn't just send us here because of the chance, it was also for protection. With groups joining the civil war for the throne, some might have the idea to kill off the heirs, us in this situation."

A wince and he starts blabbering. "Not that I'd like to die in the next few hours, or days, or weeks, or—"

"You're rambling, daynal."

"Sorry akhi."

With a wave of his hand, Batman nods at the rest of the bat's and birds, they leave to continue patrol.

Silence in the cave, only interrupted by drops of water and the clicks of the bat's above them.

"Thank you." Her voice is soft as she walks to them, heels clicking on the ground. Her gloved hands ruffle the ebony hair of the two and brings them into a hug.

"We will protect you, love you and wait for Umi to come back," Selina declares with careful words, nails running through thick curly hair.

Damian and Danyal can't argue otherwise, the other not as comfortable as his counterpart with the hug, but leaning in neverless.

This will be a journey, neither parents having had twins before and growing back closer with them.

(When talia left, Bruce and Selina grew apart. It brought tension they'd ignore in publics eye, vulnerable moments only for the other to see and so much mourning.)

(Talia is not back, but her children are. Their children. Wonderful twins that will stomp and smash the tension between them and bring back what Talia took.)

(They cannot wait for the day their third will rejoin them.)

#dcxdp #dpxdc #dp x dc crossover #my story!! im gayekeeping #part 1 #ra's expectations grew when he found out catwoman had her dna in the twins too #how dare common folk /j #but yes! this is #Bruce/Selina/Talia #powerthrouple #they love their twins #and all of their sibkings #Dick is the most excifed here probably #“one baby bat? TWO babybats!”

409 notes · View notes

midnightechoes · 6 months

Text

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?!

352 notes · View notes

mara-defense-squad · 6 months

Text

I think the thing that really appeals me to catradora is the fact that they weren't supposed to make it.

Think about it for a second. Their whole lives they were pitted against each other, because Shadow Weaver wanted Adora and Catra only ever interfered with that. But they still built up their friendship. They made The Promise. They had each other, throughout their time in the Horde, despite Shadow Weaver desperately trying to drive a wedge in between them. They were never supposed to last, but they did.

And then when Adora finds the sword, becomes She-Ra and joins the rebellion - well they definitely weren't supposed to make it then. They were enemies, on opposite sides of the war. Yet, in early season 1 (pre-Promise) Catra still defends Adora in her absence. She lies to Shadow Weaver, lies to everyone about Adora being She-Ra and when SW finds out, she says "She's just confused". Still protecting Adora, despite her leaving. And Adora doesn't stop trying to convince Catra to join the rebellion, even though the rebellion would likely prefer it if she did. They weren't supposed to be fighting for each other - but they did.

And then Promise happens. Like Shadow Weaver, Light Hope sees Adora's friendship to Catra as a threat. So, she takes that wedge SW jammed inbetween them and drives it all the way home. She convinces Catra to cut Adora off, and convinces Adora to let go of her. And Light Hope succeeds where Shadow Weaver failed - they are now enemies. And they stay that way. This is how it was always supposed to be.

Then Catra opens the Portal. They get each other back for a second, but it only serves to prove they were never meant to last. Catra completely turns on Adora, and when it's over, Adora completely gives up on Catra. Any hope of reconciliation is shredded.

Catra continues on her downward spiral. Adora moves on. The war rages on, and they keep walking their separate paths. This was how it was supposed to end.

But then - then, in the rubble after the Heart of Etheria, at the moment Adora expects it the least, Catra saves Glimmer, and she apologises. She does this with no hope of seeing Adora again, and Adora doesn't know how to deal with it at first. If she was following the path laid out for her her entire life, she would have left Catra to die on Horde Prime's ship, grateful for her sacrifice, and grieving what could have been. That was how it was supposed to go, and it was exactly what Catra expected from her. But she defies it. She puts aside the greater good, and she storms Horde Prime's ship, for no other reason than that she wanted to. This is not what's supposed to happen.

In Save the Cat, Catra was supposed to serve Horde Prime. She's completely stripped of her autonomy, forced to fight Adora. She's supposed to break her. When she manages to break through - just a little bit - she is supposed to die. She falls off that platform, into the abyss, no hope left for her. Adora is supposed to let her. Instead, she summons She-Ra, and brings Catra back to life. They were never supposed to make it this far.

And it doesn't get easier. For a while, in Taking Control, they still don't really know how to act around each other. They have to learn it again. But they keep trying, against all odds. Catra starts to heal. Adora watches. They get to rekindle what they lost.

But then Shadow Weaver comes back, and the Failsafe happens. All their old wounds are raw again. SW is pressing all of Adora's old buttons, desperately reinforcing that wedge between them, so that Adora will take the Failsafe. At first, Catra resists this - she eavesdrops on Adora and SW conversation, and she seas her manipulation for what it is - and she tries to convince Adora to do the same. Ultimately she fails when Adora accepts the Failsafe. Catra knows that Adora is going to die being the hero, and she can't face that so she leaves. They are separated once again, and it doesn't look like there's any way back. It could have ended here too.

But in Heart, Catra sets down her hurt and her fear and she goes back to warn Adora of the new danger as Horde Prime hacks the planet. She finds Adora fighting for her life, and losing. Catra saves her, and allows SW to take Adora on to the Heart. She tries to sacrifice herself again. They both should have died there.

Only Adora comes back for her, once again. She rejects her destiny to save Catra. SW dies instead.

They've reached the final hurdle, the Heart itself. Adora can't transform into She-Ra, so she's doomed to die saving the world. Catra is supposed to let her.

But against all odds, they confess their love and it works. They both get to live.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. At every turn the cards were stacked against them but they still won. They still made it. And I love that for them.

(sidenote but this is also why i love catra as a character and her whole arc. She was supposed to live a miserable life and die a miserable death but she got to live and change and grow as a person. Ugh I love this show)

#long post #catradora #spop #catra #adora #catradora meta #spop meta #spop meta in the year 2023? its more likely than you think

255 notes · View notes

comicaurora · 4 months

Note

Hey Red,

So I’ve been watching a lot of She-at recently, and I wanna know if you have any clue what kind of object the sword of protection is? Like yeah it’s a magic sword that turns Adora into She-ra, but is there a specific trope that the sword falls under classification?

Thanks,

It's a Transformation Trinket! Item that facilitates a transformation/magical powerup. The fact that it's also a slicey dicey sword is an unusual bonus.

#asks #not aurora

222 notes · View notes

anxiousnerdwritings · 1 year

Note

Damn... if we go back to au, where Demian's twin reader becomes Harley's child, how much will Talia be jealous.

She's like, yes, I didn't put my child in anything, he's an unworthy brat, but I hate even more that she found another mother and thinks I'm worse😡😡

And Ra, outraged at the conditions in which his grandson is being brought up (and angry that Talia allowed the child to escape with these people, and full of hatred because now his role as the main male role model has been replaced by some crazy clown)

Talia would be incredibly jealous and irate but it wouldn’t stem from her own maternal instincts, it’s all about principle. That child, even though she despises them and thinks their nothing but a defective spawn, is her child. It all comes down to possessiveness. And she especially wouldn’t take well to the situation if her child was absolutely thriving with Harley as their mother.

Ra’s would be incredibly enraged, mainly at Talia. Whether the twin!Reader left of their own accord (before Talia could do anything to them) or Talia got rid of them herself and sent them to their demise, Ra’s would blame Talia for the Reader ending up in the hands of Harley. In his eyes it was her fault, if only she had opened her eyes and saw what he saw in them then she would have tried so much harder with them. But seeing that his favorite grandchild was flourishing with Harley (and the fact that when he first visited them the Reader had a sword to his neck in protection of their new mother), Ra’s would be more inclined to allow the a reader to stay right where they were. The only thing he’d want in return would be for them to keep in contact with him. Even if they weren’t to do so he’d have his people watching over them and keeping him updated.

Meanwhile, Harley would have no problem kicking Talia’s ass and even going as far as killing her for how she treated Harley’s bby. When she learned of the Reader’s upbringing and how Talia Ned Damian treated them, Harley would be out for blood. She wouldn’t be able to wrap her head around how a mother can be so cruel to her own child. If Harley ever catches sight of Talia, it’s on sight and she’s aiming to maim. But I could see Harley and Ra’s coming to some kind of agreement regarding the Reader. The two aren’t exactly allies but when it comes to the Reader they’ll keep in contact with each other and if they need to they’ll work together for their precious darling.

In the case of the jokerized!twin!Reader then that would be a completely different situation. If Harley had taken the Reader in on her own, with no Joker in the picture, then things would be alright, but if Joker’s playing ‘daddy’ and especially if twin!Reader has already had a visit to the chemical vats then shit is hitting the fan (mainly in regards to Ra’s’ reaction).

Talia’s reaction to Jokerized!twin!Reader isn’t going to be anything positive. If anything she’ll only double down on her terrible treatment of the Reader, becoming even more disgusted by them and what they move become. She’ll accuse them of having finally sunk so low that there’s no coming back and that she was right to want to get rid of them. But once the Reader starts attacking her and is using their training from their upbringing among the League of Assassins and the unhinged, uncontrollable, unpredictable rawness they’re coming at her with has her shook. It’s probably Harley who goes at her first in retaliation for what Talia is saying about her bby and the Reader only jumps in to protect and fight for their new mother.

Fleeing, Talia would plan to come back or have some members of the League come and retrieve her faulty child so that she can train and forge them into what they should have been all this time ago, maybe even making them into something even better than that.

Ra’s would be outraged and plain disgusted with both the clowns and Talia. Again, if it weren’t for her his beloved grandchild wouldn’t have been desecrated and ruined by them. He would take matters into his own hands and save his grandchild from their ‘new family’. And he won’t let anyone stop him. He may even team up with Bruce but there’s no guarantee that Ra’s will allow anyone to have anything to do with the Reader when he gets them back. Not Talia, not Damian, not Bruce, no one would be allowed to come anywhere near them. They’ve been failed and ruined enough, he won’t let it happen again. It’s safe to say that Joker would surely meet his demise and there’s nothing Bruce could do to keep Ra’s from going through with his eradication of the Clown Prince.

And if getting the Reader back means having to kill them to do so then Ra’s will, but they won’t stay dead for long. He can promise that.

#anxious answers #yandere harley quinn #yandere talia al ghul #yandere ra’s al ghul #yandere joker #yandere dc concept #yandere concept #yandere dc

478 notes · View notes

baggebythesea · 24 days

Text

Favorite cartoons of the She-Ra cast

Adora and Swift Wind: The 1985 She-Ra cartoon. "Adora uses the Sword of Protection to shield her butt from the friction of atmospheric reentry" is peak TV for both of them.

Bow: Steven Universe.

Catra: Thunder Cats!

Glimmer: One of those action filled, heavily sexualized old anime with neon coloured heroines kicking ass (just let Glimmer handle it!)

Mermista: Daria. It's OK, she guess.

Perfuma: She really wants to like something like Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, slow, inteligent and spiritual. But after a long day she puts on the bitchiest soap opera she can find instead.

Frosta: Sailor Moon! She has a carefully currated set of Moon-soonas.

Scorpia: Miraculous Ladybug. She's crying rivers each and every episode.

Sea Hawk: NARUTO!

Spinerella and Netossa: They have a broad taste and binge shows together. If one watches ahead the other gets genuinly hurt.

Micah: DUNGEON MESHI!

Angella: Oh, please, she has much too refined taste for children's cartoo… oh, that man Miyazaki is a genius!

Entrapta: The horniest mecha anime you ever saw.

Hordak: Same, but less horny and more about military logistics

Double Trouble: All the classical Disney. They love them a good villain song

Castaspella: Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Micah only dares to catch the smallest peaks over her shoulder before he runs to hide.

Shadow Weaver: Little witch academia. She finds it cheerful

#spop

50 notes · View notes

n7punk · 15 days

Text

You have no idea how long this took, but I made some phone case designs! And you can get them as other stuff, but I started this project when I get a new phone. One of these is transparent and designed for stickers specifically. These are available on both Redbubble and Society6. See my post with details/disclaimers about the platform/quality differences here.

Designs: 1) “Promise?” S1 Sword of Protection (Base Version) Inspired by a season 5 promotional poster (near the bottom). Left to right, the First Ones script says “Promise?” and “I promise.” (Note: I chose to curve the final sound on “Promise?” to represent the upward tilt of a question) Colorways: sky blue (RB / S6), navy (RB / S6).

2) “Promise?” Broken S1 Sword of Protection (Variant) The addition at the bottom is an inversion of “She-ra”, a striking point for the sword. Colorways: sky blue (RB / S6), navy (RB / S6).

3) “Promise?” S5 Sword of Protection (Variant) Updated for season five, colorways are shifted to accommodate the new sword’s color palate, but otherwise it’s the same as the first version. Colorways: sky blue (RB / S6), pink (RB / S6), navy (RB / S6), maroon (RB / S6), lilac (RB only — I ran out of design slots on S6). Can you tell which design is my favorite child (which is funny because this is the last idea I had)?

4) Swords of Protection Decal Meant more for stickers and the like, this is a variant includes both the season 1 and season 5 sword design. (RB / S6)

#please ignore my cringe product summaries it forced me to write something #spop #she-ra #adora #catradora #im soooooooo normal about the word promise. prommy :3 #art tag #redbubble #society6 #srbi #also the images at the top are SUPER condensed each design is over 2000px each and i think that's 3000 with four of them on it #so what I uploaded was way higher quality

80 notes · View notes

fancyfade · 19 days

Note

Whoa, kid!Cass' outfit in your twofer piece was a sad reminder of how, uh, fiendishly utilitarian those days with her shitbag dad were. At least Talia cared enough to make sure ur boi Damian had some style (and other formative things, to be sure). Great expressions too.

TYSM for the comment!

Yeah, Cass's childhood design is really a good showcase of David's philosophy.

Batgirl #1

Batgirl #22

There's 1 panel where she has a T-shirt instead of the all black outfit, but in that's also pretty utilitarian :P

Batgirl #37

When she does wear something that is not relatively plain or the all-black outfit, it's when it serves a purpose as part of the mission david gives her - she has a pink dress and pig tails and stuff kind of emphasizing 'girl-ish-ness' right before she kills someone.

Then you compare, Damian gets a bunch of different oufits.

Like for Damian we have the tunic (with gold trim?)

Batman and Robin #2

We have this thing that was drawn differently in two different comics.

Batman and Robin #2/0

we have a gi and then a practical looking protective outfit

Batman and Robin #0

Teen Titans #3

And Ra's has like, unnecessarily fancy stuff, too. There's no need for the sword guard in the Batman and Robin #0 picture to be fancy. but it is.

They have a lot of points of contrast and it's very fun ^_^

#anon #ask #damian wayne #cassandra cain #batgirl 2000 #batman and robin 2011 #teen titans 2016

30 notes · View notes

spopsalt · 10 days

Note

I'm not even sure the writers knew they were writing Catra to be abusive. The writing of the whole show isn't just in bad taste, it's incompetent. They even failed at 'setup, reminder, payoff' multiple times, and that's the most basic screenplay writing tool.

The thing is, I actually think Catra and Adora being together would be really interesting because of the sheer complexity of such a relationship. But She-ra is a children's adventure show. The focus of any romantic couple is on how they are getting together for the happy ending. It's not the right place or time to depict this type of relationship. It would take a immense amount of screentime and nuanced writing on both characters to make it work.

The implications of their relationship. Adora's heroism stems in part from her childhood, where she always had to protect Catra. As Shadow Weaver doesn't give a shit about Catra's safety, Adora's only bargaining power lies in her own wellbing This dynamic fosters her detrimental tendency towards self-sacrifice.

Nevertheless, Adora's heroism also springs from her genuine compassion and love for the world. Catra's accusation of Adora prioritizing self-sacrifice over her, and Adora subsequently apologizing, should have been used to highlight the toxicity in their relationship— how their traumas makes them both worse. Adora is literally apologizing for putting ideal she believes in above Catra, who is 'supposed' to be the most important thing in her life.

Catra only reinforces such an idea, because Adora is the only one to ever value her in their developmental phase. Catra's safety depended on Adora prioritizing her. Combined with her self-loathing, she rejects new relationships of any kind, because in her mind 'only Adora can love her.' Adora learning to value herself from their love is so deeply unrealistic and insulting.

I can't find myself disliking or liking Catra because she's not even written with enough consistency for me to read her as a person. Just a flat character trope in attractive shell. The show as a whole is just botched piece of media and the interesting implications might even be accidental.

Thank you! People will say that Catra helped Adora's trauma but she just made it worse, she made Adora feel weak

"It won't be over until I see the look on your friend's faces when they find out that you failed, because you were too weak to save them"

Made her think that she's hurting her friends

"Haha! You're the one who left the villagers unprotected! You're good enough at hurting your friends without my help!"

Andddd made her think everything was here fault...ohhh there's so many to choose from let's run through some of my favorites!

"Let's be honest, all of this is your fault. If you hadn't gotten captured, your sword wouldn't have opened the portal."

"You broke the world and it is all. your. fault."

"You MADE me this! You took everything from me!"

There's more, but I don't want my answer to be too long

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

28 notes · View notes

darklight572 · 4 months

Text

"Catradora is Toxic"

Is a claim i've seen spread...heavily here, now, obviously this is disproportionate compared to the actual number of SPoP fans. This is, even if its Tumblr, social media.

Despite that, I think even folks who don't buy this interesting take could use a reminder- why exactly is Catradora not toxic?

Before we do that, we should look into: what makes a relationship toxic, how that can change, and how exactly abuse factors into all of this. Let's be clear, toxic and abusive aren't the same thing, they mean different things.

Usually "toxic" in regards to a relationships is talking about unhealthy and, sometimes, dangerous actions between folks in an relationship. For example, repeated mischaracterization. [1]

"Abuse" then speaks about when unhealthy behaviors occurs repeatedly, usually with an intent to harm the other person, and is much more actively dangerous. [1]

TOXICITY (EARLY) So then, do Catra and Adora have a toxic, or even abusive, relationship in She-Ra Princess of Power? Yes! Just not in all the instances people like to claim they do. They begin with a toxic relationship, and would delve into an abusive one toward the end of season 1 (Promise imo), then their relationship dissolves from Adora's perspective.

It starts as toxic for a number of reasons, but being brief, Adora does not fully see Catra as a person with her own autunomy but as something to protect and derive her value from. This is very much not intentional on Adora's end, but imo, Adora starts the series with a mindset with the belief that she must do acts of service to derive any value. A lot of this is expressed in her actions in the first couple of interactions she has with Catra and Shadow Weaver.

For example, choosing to leave Catra behind to find the sword even as Catra asks her to bring her. She is either: not taking Catra's abuse seriously enough, or being naive in regards to the chance of Shadow Weaver harming her for something not her fault.

Catra shows fewer troubling behaviors at this early in the case, but there are a couple- for example- when Adora asks her to come back Catra seems to disproportionately blame Adora for the violence inflicted on her. Adora is responsible for her own actions, not for Shadow Weaver's she is still a child. I want to be clear, Catra is not inherently in the wrong for being mad at Adora for not realizing Shadow Weaver was a piece of abusive shit, but shifting the blame of the abuse itself is.

If you wanna learn more about that early dynamic, I recomend Five by Five's [2] "Trilogy", "Why Adora Matters", and "Why Catra Matters". Some of my points and ideas are informed by those videos.

ABUSE (STILL EARLY) So, when and how does this become abusive? A lot of people might point out that Catra harms Adora physically pretty early in the series- I would like to point some mitigating factors in this. Catra is a CHILD, 18 at oldest, who is being repeatedly physically and mentally abused and probably violated (See: Shadow Weaver's ability to mind wipe people). It is impossible to say that Catra's seeming agreement in bringing Adora back is uncoerced.

Especially since she showed signs of leaving the Horde until she recieved seemingly safety from Shadow Weaver in some small part by becoming a Force Captain. So, in my mind, a lot of Early Catra is easily explained. We see this most clearly, imo, in No Princess Left Behind. Not only does Catra give Adora her sword back when she could: have attacked the weakened princess, pulled more alarms, etc- and it would have- at least in her mind- given her validation from Shadow Weaver.

Yet she doesn't, because while their relationship is toxic, it is not abusive at this point in time.

I think the tipping point of abuse (as mentioned previously) is Promise. This is where we see, again imo, undisputable evidence of Catra intentionally harming Adora with no seeming coercion. Letting go of her at the crevisse. Maybe she thought Adora would be fine with She-Ra, but that absolutely doesn't excuse her here. Then, the physical harm she continually perpetuates against Adora is at least- in part- uncoerced, as we see here.

MIDPOINT (ALL THE OTHER SHIT) We have to look further into Catra's abuse against Adora- and to what extent it is Catra. I think a point that too many people miss is that throughout the majority of the series Catra is in a system which repeatedly abuses her specifically, she is not just a child soldier who grew into a commander, she is one targeted uniquely by multiple of the higher ups. This does not excuse Catra's behavior, but it makes it A) more understandable, and B) less reprehensible.

So, what does she do? Mostly attacking Catra and mentally manipulating her while in battle- some of this is her trying to survive against She-Ra's enormous physical stature- but she seems to gain some amount of satisfaction from it all. Despite this, even though she has multiple opportunities to have killed Adora, she never does. This is, to be clear, a very low bar- but it does demonstrate that some claims of Catra "leaving Adora to die" are extremely overexaggerated. Adora doesn't fight particularly well in a lot of scenes, and Catra could have very easily chosen to slash her throat instead of kicking her. Catra does not want Adora to die.

One of her greatest harms is when she pulled the lever for the portal. Although, there are several mitigating factors which makes it not quite comparable to Glimmer's actions a season later. First of all, after Shadow Weaver's escape, Catra assumes Shadow Weaver's place- and Shadow Weaver is replaced by Hordak as an abuser. Second, Catra is not working on perfect knowledge, she is told it could destroy everything- by who exactly? Adora. Who she has seen consistently not recognize threats properly in the past, and has been able to outwit consistently. What she actually knows is that pulling this will hurt Adora because she didn't listen to her, to me, its unclear how much of the situation actually dawned on her.

This, again, does not excuse the situation- but it explains it. While Catra shows self-harming behavior, I don't think its at all consistent with her character to want to destroy everything- we see her contradict that with her literal every action. No, this action is much better explained as a judgement call of Adora. One of the worst actions she actually does is send Entrapta to Beast Island. While Entrapta percieves this as a "positive" later on, to Catra, Beast island is a death trap and that is her intent when she does this. This action is mitigated at least slightly by the fact that Entrapta was directly standing in her way of doing what Hordak wants. Catra knows how that ends, pain or death (through suffocation or beast island itself).

While its more than possible Entrapta could have convinced Hordak not to pull the lever (this is contentious), Catra is very clearly not thinking here. Some like to use Catra's manipulation of Hordak later on as proof she has some massive plan but uh- her plan was to nearly destroy the world then lose to Adora, and then manipulate Hordak? No- clearly she wasn't thinking, and was trying to justify herself to someone that could harm her, keeping her security. Does that make any of this right? No. But again, it provides context.

ANALYSIS (WHEN IS IT OKAY TO FORGIVE?) So, looking at ALL of this, how could there be any doubt? Catradora is toxic and abusive, the claim is correct, no? No.

Because while toxic, and further abusive, describes Catra throughout most of the series, it does not describe her throughout the ENTIRE series. And, her acts of abuse have consistently been muddled with manipulation. Earlier, I left out a small detail, even during Promise- Catra was being actively manipulated by Light Hope. Her memories were being changed, Catra is being violated. That changes a lot doesn't it? Throughout the series Catra's safety is conflated with an end-goal. Taking over the Horde with Adora, retrieving Adora for Shadow Weaver, being a Commander for Hordak.

This does not change the fact that she was abusive, but it puts Catra into a context as someone who is not necessarily doing so of her own will. Of course she grows more and more angry at Adora, in her mind, Adora is actively refusing Catra's safety. This is still a very toxic mindset, but it is a deeply understandable one considering Catra's childhood. This changes the entire dynamic Adora and Catra have. We see everything from Adora's perspective, we understand thats not her intent, and not even what she's doing. But Catra doesn't. The abuse, fundamentally, comes from a lack of perspective. [2]

So, Season 5, the biggie in the room. This is what most critics of Catradora seem to either ignore entirely or dismiss without thorough examination. Well, they also ignore all of the context of seasons 1 through 4 but i've already discussed that. Its notable that here, for the first time in a long time, Catra's power is something she knows not does not protect her. It allows her to consider her own perspective as unbiased as she has ever been able to. She is isolated from most anyone she could abuse, and the one chance she does have she chooses not to.

Here, she finally recognizes that her own perspective is rooted in a flawed understanding of their childhood. Not just from Shadow Weaver, or even from Light Hope- but from herself. This is extremely important, Catra- in realizing this- is not just taking accountability for her actions but the mindset that lead to it- and immediately takes action to correct herself. She rescues Glimmer, and in the process is violated again, this time even more severely- and is mind controlled by Prime. Adora saves her anyway. Because even abusive as Catra was, Adora understands the context that Catra was abusive in, and through her action to save Glimmer, see's the goodness in her return. As Catra couldn't kill Adora, Adora can't let Catra die.

So, Adora rescues her, Catra reacts negatively at first- but of course she does- her mind was just taken from her without her consent. But even then, Catra wants distance, asks Adora to drop her off- to isolate her. Adora refuses. This is important, too often people outside of a situation or even the perpetuator try to claim ownership of how to help the people they harmed- thats not up to them- its up to the person harmed. Adora doesn't want Catra gone, because she see's the context which shackled Catra has been- literally- eradicated. Catra proves to us that Adora isn't just being optimistic here.

As they move around, Catra ceases her violent actions against her, she barely even bickers- when she raises her voice she immediately apologizes and displays accountability for her anger. She helps save the world from Horde Prime. I think looking at Shadow Weaver's behavior creates a nice dichotomy between what someone actually changing looks like versus someone who wants to appear as changed. Shadow Weaver is still manipulative, still actively trying to get Adora to do everything she wants- and Catra- doesn't take her shit. She calls Shadow Weaver out, repeatedly sticks her own neck out against her former abuser in order to save Adora.

Catra does eventually get emotional with Adora, but there is not manipulation happening in "Heart Part 1", Catra is correct- Adora will die if she does this herself- Catra doesn't want Adora to die. Is this the most healthy way of doing this? Absolutely not, but again, they are fighting an evil space empreror. When she realizes Adora is going to die, she immediately course corrects and goes to find her, attempting to and successfully rescuing Adora from herself and Prime.

Does this make what happened before, okay? No. It doesn't. None of what I've explained here should make you dismiss what Catra did, Catra certainly doesn't, but I want you all to think about what creates the abuse and toxicity in the first place. Is Catra actually the origin? Or is she a tool for a system of perpetual power to inflict violence through. She isn't completely cleared of her part in her actions, she has choices, but in such a system your choices are limited and often coerced. Catra was actively coerced at literally every step, and had her options limited from day one. She was different, and Shadow Weaver didn't like the, even toxic, relationship she had with Adora.

Highlighting that a lot of the initial toxcitiy is from Adora helps illustrate my point more clearly, it is not Adora being a "bad person" it is the oppression of the Horde using Adora as a tool. Adora has the privilege (through the Sword and her lack of physical danger) to escape it, Catra- at least, in a safe way, didn't. Catra didn't have the power to fight off the Horde when they came looking for her, at least, she didn't think she did. What we see throughout the series is Catra trying in vein to reclaim some small amount of safety she had when she was with Adora and failing because she was playing the system's game.

Adora knows this, of course she does, thats why she's so quick to go back after Catra once she see's the glimmer of goodness in her (heh). What makes Catradora so good in my opinion, is that it doesn't just show how people who were abused can move on, but it shows how systemic oppression differs from individual abuse. Is their relationship going to be perfect at the end of the series? Absolutely not. Will it abusive? No. Not from the context we see in Season 5. Is it okay for Adora to forgive Catra? That depends on the person. Fundamentally, Catra's situation is extremely complicated, with no real analog to our real world in its entirity. We have to understand that metaphors can only go so far, I've tried to explain as much as I can, but there's absolutely nuance missing here because Etheria isn't Earth, and the Horde isn't like any massive corporation or even military on Earth.

I think, given all the context, and Catra's later repeated displays of growth and goodness- that Adora can forgive Catra. I feel, for a lot of reasons, a lot of relation to Adora. I can say, at least from my current understanding, that I would forgive Catra.

That doesnt mean my take is automatically correct, but, the continued insistence that Catradora is toxic has largely ignored a massive portion of context and development on Catra's side and seemingly completely missed the fact that some of the toxicity came from Adora before it came from Catra, and therefore missed the system ultimately responsible.

[1] "What is a Toxic Relationship." Elizabeth Scott, 2023 https://www.verywellmind.com/toxic-relationships-4174665

[2] "Five by Five Takes" Youtube Channel, Sar (Specifically Trilogy, Why Catra Mattesrs, and Why Adora Matters)

One Little last note: I have absolutely missed a LOT of things, Glimmer's actions in comparisons, some of the specifics, Catra's toxic (platonic) relationship with Scorpia- but - most of that isn't necessarily relevant to this anaylsis. What happens with Scorpia is much more complicated than Catra just abusing Scorpia, but I think the situation with Entrapta is much more poignant and relevant for what we're discussing here.

#catradora #spop catra #she ra spop #toxic catradora?

41 notes · View notes

birindale · 3 months

Text

As the third and final wave of toys launches, we must once again reckon with a 'new' She-Ra. The people of Etheria throw the 'Parade of Happiness' and march across the land, until Catra attacks with her sinister Shower Squirter, getting all the princesses soaking wet. Bubble Power She-Ra and Noble Swift Wind save the day with infinite bubbles, face-kissing, and rainbows.

You can't make this stuff up, folks.

Transcript/Image ID below the cut

[Image Description: 14 comic pages from the She-Ra mini-comic, “Don't Rain on My Parade!”.

Cover: Bubble Power She-Ra holds the Sword of Protection aloft, posing heroically in the Whispering Woods. Shower Power Catra lurks behind her in the trees with a sinister smile. At the top of the page is the "Princess of Power" logo, and at the bottom in tangerine is the title of the issue, "Don't Rain on My Parade!". Below that is the copyright information: "Illustrations (copyright symbol) Mattel, Inc. 1986. Hawthorne, CA 90250 U.S.A. PRINTED IN TAIWAN. All Rights Reserved (registered trademark symbol) and (trademark symbol) designate U.S. trademarks of Mattel, Inc."

Page 1: Adora stands atop a small rock, waving at a crowd of revelers in golds and oranges. Her own cape is a high-collared golden affair, matching her boots and bracers. Both she and the crowd are dwarfed by the enormous blue trees of the Filmation-styled Whispering Woods.

A pale blue caption box reads, "Princess Adora stood at the crest of Whispering Woods. Never had Etheria looked more beautiful and never had she felt so excited! The sweet sound of music filled the air and hundreds of people lined the path below her. "There are Frosta and Perfuma!" Adora cried, waving. "And Bow and Peekablue! Oh, I can hardly wait for the Parade of Happiness to begin!""

End Page 1.

Page 2: A pale blue caption box reads, "Bustling about, Glimmer and Flutterina groomed Enchanta for the day's festivities. The winged creature had never looked more beautiful! She was decorated with elegant ribbons and flowers. And the horses? Why… Spirit, Moonbeam and Sun Dancer had never looked more dashing!" Glimmer ties a bow in Enchanta's mane, while SweetBee does the same for Crystal Sun Dancer. In the foreground, we can see that Spirit is no longer crystal, instead a pink-tinged white with a hot pink mane. Enchanta, a maned swan vehicle from all the way back in wave 1, is a little off-model; she has her saddle and bridle, but her beak isn't pink and frankly doesn't look much like a beak.

"Adora will certainly be proud to lead this year's parade!" says Glimmer. Her hair has shifted a few shades lighter between panels.

"...if only Catra doesn't spoil it!" says Adora, with a fierce scowl.

End Page 2.

Page 3: A pale blue caption box reads, "Joining her friends, Adora leaped to Spirit's back. "Let the parade begin!" she cried. In an instant, she was off. A cavalcade of horses, floats and merrymakers fell in behind her."

Adora, cape how red, hops onto Spirit's back, waving at the crowd. Behind her, SweetBee, Glimmer, Bow, and Frosta look on with beaming smiles, and a few civilians with page cuts smile at her and play buisines. Several hanging banners bear an orange flower, outlined in yellow, against a pink background. Glimmer has a green basket full of flowers tied around her waist, and she appears to be grabbing handfuls and tossing them like a flower girl at a wedding.

End Page 3.

Page 4: A pale blue caption box reads, "Together, they marched happily for many miles. "Thank goodness! For once, Catra has left well alone," Adora smiled. But, as Spirit rounded a turn in the road, the fair Princess heard a terrible commotion behind her. She looked over her shoulder and was dismayed by what she saw."

Adora rides astride Spirit, leading a procession of flower-draped Etherians. Peekablue, her tail feathers reduced to a fan-shaped hair ornament, is riding Enchanta. Glimmer rides Crystal Sun Dancer, and Bow rides Crystal Moonbeam—although they were sold in gift sets with SweetBee and Peekablue respectively so that would be a strange choice even if Arrow didn't exist, but it's fine. It's whatever.

There's someone with a portable lap harp, just walking around like that's a thing people play in parades usually. Another fellow with a buisine, hanging off of a float.

"By Etheria… noooo!!!" says Adora, as she and Spirit look behind them.

End Page 4.

Page 5: A pale blue caption box reads, "Everywhere, people were running in every direction. Frightened horses threw their riders from their backs. And the reason for their fear was just indeed, for there stood Catra, scowling. "Rebels!" she cried. "You dare defy The Evil Horde with all your fun and merriment? Well, I shall put an end to that!" "

Shower Power Catra looms over Bow and SweetBee, arms raised but claws sheathed. Glimmer and Crystal Sun Dancer startle slightly in the background, but Glimmer remains un-bucked. Bow is pushing himself up on his elbows, glaring up at Catra. SweetBee appears to be swooning. There's a man with a stringed wishbone which may have been intended to represent a harp running away in long sleeves and no pants. Your typical parade, really.

"Now you wait just a minute…" says Glimmer, glowering at Catra. Crystal Sun Dancer scowls disapprovingly.

End Page 5.

Page 6: "Glimmer! No!" says Bow, horrified beyond reason.

A pale blue caption box reads, "But Bow's warning came too late. Catra paid no heed as Glimmer tried to reason with her. "Foolish child," she hissed. "A little Shower Power will put a damper on your rebel spirit!""

Catra sprays Glimmer and Crystal Sun Dancer, both of whom barely flinch, with the Shower Squirter—basically the fantasy equivalent of a Super Soaker.

End Page 6.

Page 7: A pale blue caption box reads, "In an instant, Catra had drenched everyone and everything in the parade with a blast of her Shower Power. Poor Perfuma's lovely locks crinkled! Enchanta's pretty bows wrinkled! And Moonbeam and Sun Dancer's shiny crystal coats beaded!"

Catra is laughing maniacally and everybody is soaking wet. Sad wet Bow. Sad wet crystal horses, who aren't beading because why the hell would they, sad wet bannerman in the background with a sad wet banner which is indistinguishable from a happy dry banner.

End Page 7.

Page 8: Oh it's a two-page spread. Yes, more sad wet parade-goers. Perfuma's got a bit of a coloring error on her skirt but perhaps the paint got sad and wet too. Sad wet Enchanta, sad wet SweetBee. Glimmer looks moments from tears. Loo-Kee is here and guess what? He's sad. And wet. There's a soggy float and a few more wet people in the background.

End Page 8.

Page 9: A pale blue caption box reads, ""Come on Spirit," Princess Adora cried. "You know what we have to do! " [sic] Quickly, the noble steed made its way into a grove of fruit trees. There, where no one could see them, Adora summoned all the powers of Etheria. She and her horse were swiftly transformed. "For the honor of Grayskull, I am She-Ra! Come on Swift Wind! There's not a moment to lose!"" So I guess she gets her powers from Etheria now? And not the sword? You'd think it would be because she's Bubble Power She-Ra now and has a different weapon but no, still lifting the sword.

Swifty is now Royal Swift Wind, with hot pink secondary coverts and a golden harness with some drapey bits that I'm not sure how to describe. Sorry. I took Ornithology but must have missed Horse Fashion 101. Bubble Power She-Ra is holding the Bubble Blower in her left hand.

End Page 9.

Page 10: A pale blue caption box reads, "Full speed, She-Ra and Swift Wind flew to the aid of their friends. The Princess of Power raised her Bubble Blower and let loose hundreds of perfect bubbles."

They do that.

Catra looks kind of indignant but not surprised or particularly angry to see them, and Bow is still dripping wet in the foreground.

"You can try to burst my bubbles, Catra," says She-Ra, "But don't rain on my parade!" Booooo. One at a time, girl, you gotta let them breathe!

End Page 10.

Page 11: A pale blue caption box reads, "Catra aimed a steady stream of Shower Power at She-Ra's lovely bubbles. Pop! Pop! Pop! The fearsome feline's aim was perfect. Several bubbles burst at once but, try as she might, Catra could not break them all."

Catra sprays She-Ra and her bubbles, clearly unhappy, while She-Ra continues to use the Bubble Blower against her. A few of the bubbles pop.

End Page 11.

Page 12: A pale blue caption box reads, "She-Ra's Bubble Blower worked its special magic. A crystal clear shield formed around her frightened friends. Even Catra's strongest blast of Shower Power could not penetrate it. Kissing their sad faces gently, the bubbles made Glimmer and the others smile."

Catra claws ineffectively at a series of bubbles around SweetBee, Crystal Sun Dancer, uh. Perfuma? With red hair? Maybe? Like they didn't line her well so they just colored everything red? But also there are lines on her shoulders as one might see in a jacket. Also Glimmer is there. Only SweetBee is smiling, and it looks kind of scared tbh.

"Why, Glimmer—would you take a look around us?" asks a startled Bow.

"Ooh, that tickles!" says Glimmer, smiling brightly. Bubbles are touching both of their faces.

End Page 12.

Page 13: A pale blue caption box reads, "No one had ever seen the likes of it! The light of their smiles had turned Catra's drenching drizzle into rainbows—hundreds of them! Etheria's good citizens were merrier than ever. The evil she-cat's dark plans had failed."

This might be the gayest minicomic. It's hard to move past 'Catra gets a bunch of women wet' but they're literally just holding a parade under a giant rainbow and blowing kisses, I mean bubbles which kiss you. Ahem.

Not some of Skip's stronger work though, he stuck too closely to the color palette he'd set with the 'yellow sky' thing and just added some alternating stripes of blue. But with all the characters on this page I imagine he had his work cut out for him… probably wanted to keep it from getting TOO chaotic.

Everybody's smiling at each other, including the bubbles, which is… I mean I guess they're reflecting the revelers' smiles? I don't THINK they're sentient. Bow, Peekablue, that guy with the wishbone instrument and the pageboy haircut, Royal Swift Wind, Bubble Power She-Ra, Frosta, SweetBee, Crystal Sun Dancer and a couple of incidentals are all officially cheered up.

"Bubbles! Bubbles! For all my trouble… I am undone!" says a scowling Catra. A bunch of smiling bubbles float past her face. Probably going in for a kiss, huh.

End Page 13.

Page 14: A pale blue caption box reads, "So it was that She-Ra led the grand parade. And though their spirits had been dampened for a time, no one was the worse for wear. "Long live the Rebellion!" Bow shouted, and the crowd joined in his cheer."

Honestly if there were any place for a two-page spread I'd say it was here, but whatever, not my circus not my monkeys. SweetBee is flying overhead, Peekablue is climbing the float in a new, orange top, Swift Wind is blond, Enchanta, Bow, She-Ra and Glimmer are all beaming. Frosta is there, except she's even blonder than She-Ra. I think the yellow wash may have gotten away from Skip here. The float is back, and the flowers appear to have dried off too. Crystal Moonbeam isn't smiling, but he looks fancy again so I'm sure he's fine.

Some guy is playing the flute in the foreground. He's wearing the same style hat as the wishbone guy, and his sleeves are… hm. You know, he kind of looks like Willawind. I don't think it IS him, but there's a resemblance.

"Loo-Kee here. Did you spot me on page 8?" asks Loo-Kee. Yes, you patronizing little beast, we did. "Now for the moral of this tale: A smile's a frown turned upside down. Wear one each day—you'll chase your troubles away."

End Page 14.

End ID]

23 notes · View notes