@@egon2499 people are animals too yknow Yeah that sounds like some weird zoo-ey shit but my point is that in a world filled almost primarily with nonhumans, social norms like that aren't gonna be a thing.
@@egon2499 hold the fucking phone- *well technically yes but no because catra is half human and has the same capabilities as Adora so she can consent and she did kiss Adora first so no? But on the other hand she is a cat… I don’t know but AHHH GODDAMN IT IM OVERTHINKING A FICTIONAL SHOW AGAIN*
@@Nelmel2007 it's only bestiality if the creature is not sentient to the point of providing consent. Catra is sentient. light hope's spiders are not. that's the difference.
24:23 Another good example of this is when Adora told Glimmer that whenever she herself got sick, she would rather hide herself away than seek help. It was played comedically, but it really emphasizes how abnormal Adora is as a person to an (in more ways than one) unhealthy degree. It's moments like these that make me scratch my head whenever people say that Adora should've been more open with her feelings towards Catra over the course of the show when suppressing her desires and never showing signs of vulnerability were her (and in some ways Catra's) most obviously glaring character flaws due to their upbringing.
Yeah, that’s a great example, completely forgot about that one. It’s natural to shrug off a lot of comedy as being just there for laughs but She-Ra’s a great example of how much you can understand about a character just from the jokes. For Adora in particular, that’s a really good point. Even though her and Catra had fairly different experiences growing up, they were still raised in the same society and with the same morals. Plus, Adora wore her massive Hero Complex on her sleeve so it should have been obvious to anyone that she wasn’t completely there mentally or emotionally, but I suppose that gets lost when compared directly to Catra’s issues.
@@VogJam Honestly, Adora's so on edge that she fights in her sleep and was able to sense Shadow Weaver in season 3 before she even touched her. Girl just needs some R&R.
He's, mentally speaking, probably one of the youngest people in the show. He only became sapient when Adora blasted him with magic so he's had, maybe, five or fewer years of sapience by the end of the show.
The video should've been called: "All charaters of She Ra are great EXCEPT SWIFTWIND" Btw I really loved they you discribe Entrapta, Catra and Adora.Some people say it doesnt have a good action or plot but unlike any shows I've seen so far She Ra had such interesting charaters! To me charaters were the plot of the show.their behavior and their action was so meaningful and deep esp Catra.
Haha, maybe I was a bit mean to Swiftwind. I agree with what you’re saying about the characters. Meaningful is a really good word to describe them. The show does such a good job at making them feel real that it gives meaning to the action because you care about the characters so much.
Oh and one other thing - Entrapta isn't one of the elemental princesses, and explains this in the Black Garnet ep. She doesn't get a powerup from She Ra. Otherwise she'd be glowing whenever something cool happens too.
Yeah, Entrapta, as well as Netossa and Spinerella weren't elemental. There's also the few other mentioned royalty without a runestone, like the... Star Sisters and Prince Peekablue. Wasn't there also a "Queen Bee" named? Lol. I find it interesting, how were non-elemental kingdoms made and how / why did they get their powers? One could make a fanfiction about it. I love when people analyse complex shows such as She-Ra.
@@iclynnx i was listening to nd stevenson discuss it on a podcast! Yeah entrapta is magic too and stevenson thinks the three of them are naturally born with magic, as part of the planet's chaos, rather than passing it on. It means they also cannot be controlled once the Heart is activated - none of them were affected the same way as the others were. They are free from First Ones tampering, outside of perhaps all natural magic being weakened by the Heart.
@@VogJam I immediately searched the comment section for confirmation of the rumored "Buff Lizard Twink" when I saw its creation in the video archives of RU-vid.
I thought its world building and history was kinda awkward and hard to follow, but once I listened to a video essay that brought more into focus the twist of the trope “this is your destiny” was only an intergalactic imperialist’s invocation to its super soldier/weapon of mass destruction, I appreciated it a lot more. Also the idea of “hiding” a whole planet from the evil Empire was pretty badass, ngl.
Yeah, I feel like a lot of the worldbuilding issues are a result of trying to fit the original lore into the stories they want to tell. It doesn't always work but there's usually good intentions behind why they're trying to do it.
@@VogJam Yeah. Such as mentioning Eternia & Grayskull, but never being able to go to Eternia & gaze upon the medieval castle with the skull face entryway, nor come into contact with Adora's big brother He-Man, because Dreamorks only procured the distributions rights to _She-Ra_ whereas _He-Man_ is tied up with Sony Pictures, yet both Eternian siblings still exist under the shared MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE branding, since Mattel still holds ownership over both character's toy lines (this includes the originals, the upgrades, the remakes, and even the scant few toys made for the various reboots of both _He-Man_ [the Dolph Lundgren live-action movie, the _New Adventures_ '90s series, the "darker & edgier" 2002 cartoon, the fairly recent Teela-focused _He-Man: Revelation_ series, and the rumors of another _He-Man_ adaptation on the way] & _She-Ra_ [ND Stevenson's LGBTQ+ reboot of the "Princess of Power"]).
@@TherealRNOwwfpoohThey actually explain greyskull but then it becomes a hole with "what about before the first ones were there". Because apprently Greyskull is the unit that Mara, and before, were assigned to
Also apparently the crew advocated for bringing back Angella for the finale, but Noelle made the final decision not to because the whole season was already too crammed and they already had to cut 10+ minutes of footage from the finale for time
Interesting. I definitely wish we’d got more of Angella, even just to see her with Micah but yeah, the final season was already busy enough. I guess they can save that for the movie when it happens.
"Catra, who devoted herself to Adora despite spending a lifetime in her shadow, only to be betrayed and abandoned at the drop of a hat." I'm glad that you mentioned how Adora abandoned and betrayed Catra. Too many so-called "analysis" videos on RU-vid overlook this fact or try to paper it over (presumably because they prefer to think of their heroes as flawless, immaculate saints). Catra's actions cannot be understood if Adora's betrayal is overlooked. That betrayal was the inciting incident for Catra's entire character arc in the series.
I can’t say I’ve watched too many analysis videos on Catra but the one of the best things She-Ra does is give us a clear understanding of Catra’s perspective. Adora isn’t in the wrong for leaving the Horde after seeing the outside world but from Catra’s point of view, it’s a betrayal of everything she held close. It explains her actions perfectly and it’s a great motivation for driving her arc.
@@VogJam We must carefully distinguish between 1) leaving the Horde and 2) leaving Catra. Adora could easily have left the Horde while at the same time making Catra feel treasured and safe, and even excited about their new adventure. But Adora chose not to. What broke Catra's heart was not the fact that Adora left the Horde, but the realization that their relationship was not important to Adora. The "outside world" that you mention is very relevant: Adora never bothered to tell Catra anything about She-Ra, the First Ones, the rebellion, Bow, Glimmer, parties, horsies, or anything else that she experienced outside the Fright Zone and that convinced her that there is something worth fighting for on the side of the rebellion. In addition, Adora traveled far and wide and made "grand gestures" to recruit and befriend other Princesses, but she never tried to do anything special for Catra, never even tried to meet up with Catra to talk to her. Adora callously left Catra to "take the fall" − perhaps even be executed − by Shadow Weaver and Hordak, after Catra returned empty-handed from Thaymor. Catra was lucky to survive! What some viewers also overlook, is the fact that Adora actually decided to "stick with" Bow and Glimmer (a rebel! and a princess!) even before she stumbled across Thaymor. As Adora told Glimmer in episode 2: "I just-- I wanna figure out what's happening to me, and if I go back to the Fright Zone, then I'll never know. I never knew where I came from or who my family was." In other words, Adora intended to leave the Horde without Catra, without telling her, and without even saying goodbye! What I mentioned above are just a few interesting tidbits. Adora's betrayal can be discussed in great length and horrifying detail. It would actually be nifty if you could make a RU-vid video focusing on this particular part of the story.
@@strawbziemillyBecause Adora was at the rebellion and Catra was heartbroken and angry and disappointed at Adora. Try to put yourself in Catra's shoes: Imagine, for example, if you were engaged and your fiancée betrayed you, dumped you "like you were nothing" and "took everything" from you. Would you enjoy working in the same office as your ex-fiancée? Catra herself explicitly mentioned her reasons for not leaving the Horde: * For the first few episodes after Thaymor, Catra assumed (or hoped) that Adora was just "going through a phase" and having an "identity crisis", and Catra tried to figure out how to deal with this unexpected twist. * Catra was hurt that Adora treated her like a sidekick, expecting her to just follow the hero around everywhere. As I mentioned above, Adora never tried to reach out to Catra, never tried to do any “grand gesture” to recruit Catra (while traveling all around the world to recruit and befriend other princesses), and never bothered to explain anything to Catra about what she experienced outside the Fright Zone and that convinced her that there is something worth fighting for on the side of the rebellion. When speaking to Catra, Adora just went "Horde evil, goes brrr" and expected Catra to follow. * Catra was hurt that Adora dismissed her abilities and regarded her as second-best. Staying at the Horde gave Catra the opportunity to prove that she isn't just a second-best sidekick, and to fight back against the people that hurt her most: Adora and the Princesses. Catra wanted to be the better Force Captain than Adora would ever have been, and Catra wanted to *beat* Adora in the war. * "I'm so much stronger than anyone ever thought." Adora was not the only person that was dismissive of Catra. By staying at the Horde and rising the ranks instead of running away, Catra could prove everyone wrong. * Things were going well for Catra at the Horde. When Catra said that Adora held her back, she wasn’t wrong. With Adora gone, not only did Catra receive the promotion and immediately became a force to be reckoned with, but Catra even overthrew the demonic Shadow Weaver, who had abused Catra since childhood. I doubt Catra would have been able to overthrow Shadow Weaver while Adora, who were disgustingly loyal to Shadow Weaver, was still around. * Lastly, but probably the most important reason, was that Catra was heartbroken and jealous that Adora dumped her and replaced her Bow and Glimmer. Catra could have joined the rebellion at any time, but she would have desperately unhappy at Bright Moon, playing second fiddle to Adora's new Best Friend Squad and the other Princesses, all of whom clearly meant far more to Adora than Catra did. Catra was in love and wanted to be Adora's BFF like they were back at the Horde. Anything else would have made Catra miserable. Catra was caught between two fires: on the one side was the Horde, where she was abused all her life, but on the other side was Adora and the princesses, who hurt Catra even more than the Horde ever did. Where could Catra go? That was the tragedy of Catra's story. Despite her traumatic history at the Horde, Catra decided to stay because she was heartbroken and angry and disappointed at Adora. Staying at the Horde gave Catra the opportunity to prove that she isn't just a second-best sidekick, and to fight back against the people that hurt her most: Adora and the Princesses. If Catra joined the rebellion, what would her role have been? Glimmer's chambermaid? Some nameless soldier that watches Adora and the princesses from afar? Catra didn't want to be Adora's sidekick or Glimmer's chambermaid. Catra wanted to be Adora's *best* friend (and lover, eventually). Catra wanted to be important in Adora's life (important enough that Adora would take her into consideration when making life-changing decisions). This is a pretty normal desire in human relationships. And this is what Adora never offered -- until the very climax of the series.
Adora goes back for the sword and gets caught up in the plot, I wouldn't call it a betrayal from Adora's point of view as 1) it's not about Catra. she can't stay in the horde because their being mistreated, manipulated and in Adora's opinion more importantly, the horde is wrong 2) Adora clearly wants Catra to have come with her from the beginning, Catra is still her best friend and Adora believes she's a good person while Catra's pride says Adora left her and Catra's trauma says she has to prove herself they're operating on completely different wavelengths and to emotional to realize it
So many kids' cartoons of old had baddies who were arbitrarily "evil" with no reason for being so. With this series, we actually get to see Catra and Hordak's back stories and how they ended up doing what they do. It's refreshing to see a cartoon with so much depth to its characters.
The classic versions of Catra and Hordak were less actual villains and more absurdly inept comedic relief characters. Well, most major cartoon villains were back then.
(all of this is fannon) I think that Adora always knew more than she let on about Shadow Weaver physically abusing Catra, but due to her own abuse and conditioning at Shadow Weavers hands she developed a sort of mental block around it. It was a way of protecting herself from the stress and guilt of her situation, an impossible situation where confronting Shadow Weaver would have just resulted in her guardian "getting rid of" Catra. It was safer to just not think about things too hard, accept/parrot Shadow Weaver's words uncritically, and ignore all of the red flags to maintain the precarious status quo. This is why Adora had such a hard time understanding Catra's motivations, why she never made much of an effort to get Catra to defect, why she said all the wrong things at Thamor. Adora was too busy desperately trying to live up to a destiny she was conditioned to accept than to try to dismantle the mental block she was conditioned to form and face all the implications that would result. Seeing Shadow Weaver groom Glimmer who started parroting her words to Adora, the destruction of the sword and all the lies about her density, the arrival of Prime, and disappearance of Catra, all these things started to crumble the mental block. Adora really had nothing else to do but work herself into exhaustion and self reflect on when everything went wrong, the answer to which could go as far back as to when Adora and Catra made their promise to each other. So when Save the Cat rolled by, Adora has started to have a new perspective on things which played into her willingness to make things work between her and Catra.
That’s a solid reading. Adora definitely blocked things out while she was with the Horde. I hadn’t really thought too much about how her seeing SW manipulate Glimmer in the same way set her on the path to confront how she and Catra had been abused, but I can see it.
@@VogJam I actually didn't think too much about how significant seeing Glimmer be manipulated by SW may have been for Adora, it was more of a passing thought. But yeah it may have been really significant, causing a sort of "Is this close to how Catra felt for all those years? If SW could do that to Glimmer in such a short amount of time, what did she do to me?" realization in Adora.
Catra is one of my favorite characters in this show. She just feels so realistic. The abuse she has experienced shapes the way she thinks about every interaction and everything in her life, im pretty traumatized and mentally ill, but if I had literally no therapy or emotional support, I don't think I would end up much better then Catra. It's really hard to watch her mentally deteriorate, but it makes sense, it's a very believable emotional reaction to the abuse and betrayal she has experienced. I think its a little dark for a kids show though, especially since multiple times she wants to die. My favorite thing about this show is that the characters are so grounded in reality. Catra does terrible things, but I still care about her because like real life, all of the bad decisions she makes are motivated by her pain. Even though she ra has the whole good vs evil stereotypical narrative, the characters make it so much more deep then that.
this is a great video, i really liked your analysis of entrapta being a pivotal character with no allegiance except to science. and i appreciate how thoughtful your approach to catra was. my only criticism would be that you used the puzzle piece imagery to symbolise entrapta being autistic. that symbol is widely regarded as harmful to the autistic community because it is used by autism speaks (an organisation that pushes for curing / eliminating autism despite claiming to support us) and implies that we're incomplete.
First of all, sorry for my ignorance over the jigsaw piece symbolism. I wrongly assumed it was a catch-all symbol for autism, rather than being associated with a specific organisation. I won’t make that connection again. But otherwise, thanks, I’m really glad that you enjoyed the points about Entrapta’s role in the story and Catra’s narrative, that’s absolutely what I made the video for and I’m grateful that people appreciate it.
@@VogJam no worries! it's not super common knowledge outside the community, but there's a lot of stuff online about autism speaks / the puzzle piece logo and why it's harmful representation for autistic people if you're interested in learning more. as an alternative, there's the red, gold or rainbow infinity symbols which can also be used for neurodiversity in general. thank you for your thoughtful reply 😁 definitely gonna check out the rest of your channel soon!
Thanks, that’s genuinely helpful, because after I read your comment, I thought about how I could have illustrated that point without the puzzle piece. An infinity symbol would have been more appropriate and, frankly, a lot less hassle to edit. Thanks again, I hope you enjoy my other stuff as much.
I like how it's so ironic and basically hypocritical that Horde Prime himself was so imperfect that his own body constantly needed medical attention. XD He even needed to build a new body for himself and even that was still full of imperfections.
That's the fascist mentality for you. Full of hypocrisy, but unwilling to change, because it indicates a glaring flaw in their tightly-controlled system & of course, to people of that mindset, weakness/imperfections are a detriment to such an ideology's very survival.
Ugh, such a wonderful video. I finished the series with my friends yesterday. We started streaming it 8 weeks ago, with me knowing very little about the show other than 1. catra went from being seemingly irredeemable to sucking faces with adora and 2. something something glimmer war crimes. I'm so glad you put Entrapta and Catra as the focus of this video, because they absolutely exceeded my expectations and are probably the most interesting characters to me, with Glimmer and Adora in there too. Catra's the rare villain where - as you said - you can always see exactly why she makes each decision she makes, what her feelings are, she's such a strong antagonist, and yet, an underdog protagonist. I found myself often rooting for her, and yet, begging for her to see reason, to understand the futility of her goals. It was clear she had no investment in being evil, she just wanted to prove to herself that she was worth something, and everything that happened to her in the show reinforced that she was worthless, until finally she finds a reason to fight. In losing all her buddies and briefly bonding with Glimmer, Catra realises that the reason she has nobody is because she's never done good by her friends. Her desire to protect Adora from a villain worse than herself is what pushes her towards redemption. Entrapta meanwhile being put with the villains made her a great foil to them, and added some depth to her character that I was very worried would just be "haha shes the funny mad science lady". Jesus, 90% OF THE PLOT happens because of Entrapta's force of personality. Whether it's the princesses all splitting up, the planet being hacked, Glimmer's first time losing her shit, Catra going full villain in the s3 finale and destroying the universe, Angela sacrificing herself for the universe based on Entrapta's calculations, Catra fighting with guilt and losing all of her allies in season 4 thus leading to her redemption arc, Hordak's entire character arc, Adora and Bow finally ditching Glimmer who promptly decided to activate the weapon, the discovery of Micah on Beast Island, and literally being MVP every episode for the good guys in season 5 as she was the only one who knew how to combat Prime's tech... ....all of this while not changing much as a person, still being an aloof weirdo, but having nicely explored insecurities that like you said would never have shown up had she stayed in one place for too long - Entrapta's character fundamentally ties to how she's unable to keep her relationships with the same people for long, and feels like it's because she's bad at people, so she gives up on the idea of keeping friends. This is very compelling for obvious reasons. Like, my autistic social awkwardness isn't nearly as bad as hers, yet, I have the trouble of jumping between friends because I just don't remember to touch base with people and they feel like I don't care about them. And I find it hard to interact with people outside of the context of my greatest interests. And finally Scorpia, the most purehearted character in the entire show barring maybe Adora.... the bad side really were far more compelling than the good guys for the first few seasons, and even when that was no longer the case, it wasn't because they were less interesting - it was because the good side had actual conflict instead of being sunshine and rainbows as you said. By season 4, EVERYBODY was really interesting. There was less focus on the villains, because Catra had gained the power she had been chasing for so long, only to find that her heart wasn't in it, and now the heroes were the underdogs with their own internal battles! I don't think I've had a show make me root for EVERY CHARACTER AT ONCE before. Even the ones actively trying to kill each other. When Catra and Hordak fight at the end of season 4, I understand exactly where they're both coming from, even with how two dimensionally cruel Hordak had been in earlier seasons. Whenever Glimmer interacted with Catra in seasons 4 and 5 I got so excited because they were each other's reflections. And, somehow, in looking in a mirror, they both realised where they had gone wrong, accidentallly becoming friends. Seasons 4 and 5 gets extra points for making me like Spinerella, Netossa, and - amazingly - Perfuma. It took background characters who previously had no place in the show and used that knowledge to its advantage, removing the main players to give a fresh conflict.
Thanks for the comment. It sounds like you're where I was about 18 months ago when the show finished. Like I said, I had no expectations going in and by the end of it I couldn't stop thinking about how good the characters and story worked together... and then I started recording a video... so let me know when you drop yours. But honestly, I'm really happy that people are agreeing with how much of the story I said seems to happen through Entrapta, because one of the most genius things about She-Ra and I totally agree with what you put about her not changing so much. By the end of the story, she's more sure of herself around other people and is in a better place socially but Entrapta didn't have to fundamentally change herself. She's more of a catalyst for other characters and the story to change and for the writer's to take that approach while also making Entrapta one of the most satisfying characters to follow is genuinely impressive writing. And with Catra, it's amazing how well they managed to illustrate all the complexities of what she was going through so clearly. The Horde are such a simple, straight forward evil bad-guy force but I ended up caring about their loses simply because I knew how that was going impact Catra's fragile mental state and her position with Hordak. And yeah, again, I barely even touched on Scorpia, or Glimmer or any of the other characters who are so easy to root for. Like you said, they're all great, and I appreciate you not listing Swiftwind among them.
@@VogJam HAHAHAHA We were grilling the horse through our watch. So many jokes about horse lasagna. The only mercy is the writers caught on how annoying he was and kept his appearances to a wholesome minimum in the second half of the show. Obviously I agree with all your points on Entrapta and Catra. The writers avoided falling in some pretty large traps and instead kept them interesting through the whole show, without Entrapta having to change much, and keeping a strong balance between the Horde side acting sympathetically and intimidatingly (they were like a more competent Team Rocket perhaps - truly evil team but somehow full of not-so-evil people). With Glimmer and Scorpia and Bow, I was surprised they managed to make the "best friend" characters so.... charming and engaging in their own right??? I'm not sure how many other shows you watch, but usually the "goodie two shoes" characters are far less interesting than the protagonist or the bad guys. Willow and Gus in The Owl House, for example, are notoriously bland and underdeveloped. However, these three? Yeah, Bow doesn't get a grand character arc, but he's got a strong and decently complex character behind him, while Glimmer and Scorpia are so strongly developed that they could be protagonists in their own right.
I indeed thought that comedy was a strange pick for the third "C". But shit, the way you tied it all together with comedy showing the happiness our characters can attain by rising above circumstance... I can say that THAT'S when I truly learned something from this video. Well done mate.
Awesome to hear I got that point across. The comedy of S:PoP is super important to how it sets that overall tone. Yeah, it could just be funny by having over the top gag humour, pop culture references or 4th wall breaks (not that those are always bad), but instead, it finds comedy in the reality of its characters. It reinforces what we learn of them through their struggles and shows that they’re capable of happiness, giving us another reason to root for them.
OMG this is beyond perfect. Direct, precise and not overly filled with plain compliments. I desperately need a part two, because you made me understand the show in a way I haven't seen in other analysis. Damn good job, thank you
@@VogJam I feel you, this story got me too but I couldn't find the words to explain it, you did it and it was like "That's it, that's the thing" and it felt awesome
Yet another amazing video analysis that I’ve stumbled upon! I love seeing people taking the time to actually 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 the show and it’s incredible characters. ❤️
Thanks! The show itself does a lot of the heavy lifting in getting us to understand the characters. How it presents all Catra, Adora, Entrapta and everyone else’s problems and complexities is really deserving of praise and people appreciating that is super reassuring.
Thanks, it’s been a while and you’ve been pretty productive since then. Congrats! I went into this show pretty blind but it really impressed me with how well it used its characters, so I thought it was definitely worth talking about. My video has a ton of spoilers though, so if you want to watch it blind like I did, maybe skip this one for now. Either way, thanks!
Great writing analysis, particularly about the "Entrapta pivot." Have you considered tackling any more of these 2010s YA cartoons? They're made by the first generation that grew up watching anime (specifically shounen or magical girl anime as seen on mainstream TV, not on obscure video tapes). This could be an interesting food for thought.
Thanks, glad you liked the video. I am definitely considering more videos about YA cartoons, but probably not as in depth as this one for now. She-Ra is absolutely my favourite of the recent bunch of cartoons I’ve seen, so I probably had more to say about it than some others, but (when I’ve got the time!) I’ve got some ideas for videos about a few other recent cartoons.
@@VogJam Sounds interesting. I'd be particularly curious about your thoughts on Gravity Falls (hailed as the "next Avatar") and its multiple imitators throughout the past decade, particularly on the Disney Channel. Yet other, more episodic shows such as Wander over Yonder, Harvey Beaks, and Fish Hooks flew under the radar despite having veteran cartoon creators as writers.
@@VogJam I'm a big fan of Adventure Time, I think it's a very rich cartoon. What's funny is it's almost SheRa's opposite - whereas SheRa pulls you into the characters and makes you feel everything they feel, Adventure Time is detached and ambiguous. This is a double edged sword, because while it can sometimes leave the viewer feeling detached from the characters, it also gives you more room to develop your own interpretation on them and their motivations, and on the events of the show itself.
For Gravity Falls, I watched it outside of the fandom, so I know there’s a ton of lore and easter egg stuff I’m not aware of, but once the show hit its stride after the first few episodes it was putting out some great episodes consistently and it hit that sweet spot where it was fun to watch either casually for the gags or as a fan for the deeper stuff, plus the theme song was amazing. As for WoY and Fish Hooks, yeah they flew under my radar pretty much but Harvey Beaks was fantastic and more people should know about it.
Adventure Time is the show that got me back into watching animation so I’ve got a lot of love for it. What you’re saying about it leaving things more open to interpretation is definitely true because I was doing that pretty obsessively for its first few seasons and then I feel like I drifted more towards shows that were delivering on solid storylines a bit more than AT was. I think that’s just personal taste more than anything, but regardless AT still had some incredible episodes that blow me away when they aired.
She-Ra was created by Noelle Stevenson, and before I had even heard of it one of my favourite comics was Stevenson's earlier work Nimona; the character dynamics that they've managed to create between Blackheart, Goldenloin, and Nimona area also really great and the three are still probably my favourite set of protagonists in any comic.
4:28 Just want to point out that Entrapta, Netossa, and Spinnerella aren't Elemental Princessses, since they aren't connected to a Runestone like Glimmer, Perfuma, Mermista, Frosta, and Scorpia are.
@@onelonelypotato7204 Oh yeah, that totally describes the scenario. You don’t raise a kid like SW raised Catra and not expect her to try and open a portal to destroy the planet.
@@VogJam Oh my gawd! I just found out that Athena kills Ares, just like how Adora betrays her and joins the rebellion! Andandand Ares betrays Zeus, just like how Catra betrays SW!
@@onelonelypotato7204 It’s cool to see patterns reoccurring in stories like that. Some things just work, whether you’re a Netflix remake of an 80s cartoon or a 3000 year-old greek myth.
Shadow Weaver is a complicated person, but there is still logic in why she took Catea in. Catra was important for her sense of self, she projected her flaws and insecurities onto her because she never worked through her own emotions of insecurity. Shadow Weaver would have projected that hatred onto whatever child matched that description, especially if that child clung onto the child she liked. The golden child Adora who Shadow Weaver was able to project her desire for success on, who she could get success through.
@@VogJam You know, I think you’ve earned a sub. And I will promote your video in a She Ra Analysis I have been planning. Small sub count high effort channels need to stick up for each other.
@@VogJam Okay, it took a loooooooooooooonnnnnnggggg time, and I wasn’t even able to get it out by pride month, but here it is: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--J5sZi414FA.html
Just rewatching this analysis a whole year-and-a-bit after seeing it for the first time, and came across this comment - can't help but hear it in Entrapta voice. Do you have tiny snacks, too?
A defense of Swiftwind; Swiftwind exists to show how to do everything about putting a message in a show wrong and draws a counterpoint to the subtlety the rest of the show uses, hence why even the rest of the cast gets fed up with him. This has been a commenter who doesn't really do longform analysis.
Shadow Weaver uses Catra as another measure of control for Adora, by punishing Catra, she could give a warning to Adora. I hadn't thought about comparing to She-Ra handling Catra's breakdown to Game of Thrones ruining Danny, it was fun seeing that awful finale mocked again. My first thought watching She-Ra was how this was what the Star Wars sequels should have been, and this is coming from someone who liked TFA & TLJ but hates IX so much I call it Rise of Palpatine. She-Ra has a ton of nods to Star Wars. Hordak is obviously inspired by Darth Vader, Adora being told to "let go" is similar to Luke being told to "let go" and her fight with Shadow Weaver in Mystacor had vibes of Luke's fight with Vader in ESB. But She-Ra is written with a much better understanding of what makes Star Wars work because it is not written by JJ Abrams, among other things.
Taking into consideration what the meaning behind this setting we see is in the field of filmmaking and scripting is also somewhat important. Thanks for enlightening me. Ps: Imagine my phosphorescent neurons shimmering +*.
I wonder if the point of Swiftwind was to show you think you want a rainbow unicorn who can fly but you don’t know that. I doubt his 80s doppelgänger was much different so maybe it was to show how much they developed all the other characters in comparison.
Tbh watching Catra fuck up constantly was so fucking frustrating I absolutely hated watching not only scenes with her doing it but generally scenes with her just interacting (until late S4/entire S5)
The BLT sandwich lmfao!!! But a testament to what you have said is shown in how MOTU Revelation has fantastic animation and a huge budget, but the character writing being poor and shallow (despite it being aimed to adults) overshadows everything else.
Thanks. I’ve still not actually gotten around to the new He-Man series yet (either of them) so I can’t say, but yeah, I’ve heard the backlash. I only really know MotU through She-Ra but from where I am, I get the impression the franchise doesn’t really know what it wants to be, and that’s not a problem She-Ra had.
@@tipsy634 Sure yet the title claim how she ra makes the most of its characters, surely with that, we get more case studies on more characters instead of 3.
@@Lemoncakelover678 this is a language misunderstanding. The statement means "How She-Ra Uses its Characters as Effectively as Possible (making *the* most of them)", but you have interpreted it as "how she-ra created most of its characters".
Actually, the only princesses with runestones are She-Ra, Angella/Glimmer, Perfuma, Frosta, Mermista, and Scorpia. Netossa, Spinnerella, and Entrapta do NOT have runestones.
This is why I clicked with the _Ben 10_ reboot over the OG series, because the characters were better written and more fun and likable. For the first time I was invested in the Tennyson family and thus invested in what is happening around them.
Ah yes my favourite sandwich *B* uff *L* izard *T* wink Fantastic video though, I was watching this and litteraly agreeing with everything said. Especially the except swiftwind parts
you probs don't know but don't mention puzzle pieces when talking about the autistic spectrum, you probably didn't know but it's at best impolite, the only thing that does it as far as i know is the organisation autism speaks and you don't want to know what war crime they commit if you like your sanity
after looking up some more i realised more organisation use the puzzle piece, but from what i know, the infinity symbol has far more positive associations, puzzle pieces as far as i know often can have weird meanings assigned to them, tldr: people with autism are discriminated against a lot and get blamed for anything that goes wrong in a social situation because people assume that if anything goes wrong it's their fault and they're also "weird". you have to be very careful with how you talk about it
You’re right, I didn’t know that the puzzle piece symbol could be considered improper when I made this video, but I’ve had some comments since which have made this clear and told me about more acceptable symbols. It was ignorance on the topic on my part, sorry if there was any offence and thanks for doing your part to spread awareness.
Why all the Swiftwind hate? The only character I dislike in this show is Catra and it's not because I didn't empathise with her. On the contrary, I was sobbing when she saved Glimmer in Corridors. The problem is that Season 5 bent over backwards for her, handwaving away her terrible crimes and having everybody pretend things were hunky dory in order to force a happy ending with her former abuse victim. The most resistance we get to Catra's change of heart is from Perfuma and even that only lasted one episode. The people she'd hurt the most, Entrapta, Adora and Scorpia all acted like it was no big deal. Compare this to Zuko who had to actually work for his redemption.
My guy, Catra died for her redemption. (Catra was either already dead or dying when Adora jumped after her in Save the Cat). One of the elements of the show I think you miss is that there's no... Penalization, or anything like that, that can fix what Catra did or who Catra is. Catra has suffered more than any punishment could, and any suspicion is rendered moot when Catra saved Glimmer for Adora's sake. Plus, Catra's reunion with Entrapta was extremely tense from her end, and Entrapta not displaying that *is* how Entrapta works. Heck, Entrapta has as much reason to resent the other Princesses as she does Catra, considering how they treat her. I'll agree that Catra and Scorpia's reunion was cut short, but that's more a factor of them running out of time. Also, while the show kinda fails to address it- Scorpia was a bad friend too, by putting her expectations on a person who couldn't and never wanted to fulfill them. She had to routinely violate Catra's boundaries in order to be close to her. Catra isn't Zuko. Zuko was always an enemy, an heir to the throne of his genocidal father. For the same reason Zuko didn't need to prove himself to Iroh while he did have to to the people who have only had an adversarial relationship to him, Catra's relationships with all the people she hurt and got hurt by began in friendship first. She isn't a stranger to them in that regard.
@@InnsannaStories Glimmer never even brought up the fact that Catra killed her mother. And before you say "she's not dead, she's just trapped" the show itself acted like Angella was dead. Glimmer spends the whole of Season 4 with the mindset of somebody who's grieving for a dead loved one because her mother is never coming back. The ONLY reason they don't outright admit that is because it's a children's show. Angella's death is completely Catra's fault - Entrapta and Hordak wouldn't have opened the portal at all after Entrapta realised how dangerous it was and Hordak realised he'd be much happier if he spent the rest of his life with her - and the show utterly ignores that. That's just one example of how lazy Catra's redemption was. Season 5 treated her with kids gloves and did everything it could to make her change of heart as quick and easy as possible, such as having Entrapta casually forgive her and chipping Mermista and Scorpia to avoid a confrontation where they would tell Catra what a shitty person she was. The only truly difficult thing Catra had to do was fight off Horde Prime's chip. Even saving Glimmer, despite being selfless, wasn't nearly as hard because Catra had nothing to lose at that point and had already been showing suicidal tendencies since Season 3.
@@tomnorton4277 Angella's death was Catra's fault, yes, but Catra didn't kill Angella; not directly, nor intentionally. Glimmer also is directly responsible for the presence of Horde Prime in season 5. Glimmer fucked up on a similar scale to Catra. She knows this. That's why they connect. That's the whole point of their parallel arcs. It's not lazy just because it doesn't look like Avatar. I reccomend the Melina Pendulum video "Why Are We So Obsessed With Characters Being Redeemed?".
@@InnsannaStories There's a crucial difference. Catra wanted to destroy Etheria to spite Adora. Her entire motivation for opening the portal and putting the entire planet in danger was petty spite and nothing more. She literally said "I won’t let you win. I’d rather see the whole world end than let that happen.". Catra was completely aware that the world was ending and not only did she not care, but she tried to pin the blame on Adora, resulting in that badass "You made your choice. Now live with it!" moment, which the writers completely backtracked on when Adora went crawling back in Season 5. Catra was outright evil when she opened that portal. The fact that Angella was the only casualty doesn't alter that because Catra intended for the casualties to consist of everybody on the planet. Glimmer only ever wanted to protect her kingdom and her loved ones. Yes, she went to extreme measures and yes, Horde Prime's arrival was absolutely her fault - frankly, I don't think Prime cared enough to search for Hordak after receiving the distress signal but when a planet pops out of nowhere, it's worth investigating - but unlike Catra, Glimmer would never sink to the level of trying to destroy an entire planet out of spite.
@@tomnorton4277 if you don't think Glimmer was trying to spite Adora (right after she pulled rank) we didn't watch the same episodes And both are... Traumatized young adults, borderline children. They can fuck up.
If bad guys didn't have character then they would be just boring law-abiding citizens. And nobody is just evil. No good villain has ever been "just evil for the sake of being evil without character".
