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Started watching this because of the Let's Watch thread here, and I'm glad I did because I enjoyed it immensely. Not sure what the spoiler tags policy is here now that it's been a year since it ended but I'll copy my big block of spoiler from the other thread anyway because it was requested and because this thread is more appropriate for it. --- Thoughts on the whole series... first I'll just say I'm glad I didn't do any kind of internet search before watching it because right up until the last few episodes I did not see that coming! I thought the show was angling for platonic love, but in hindsight it makes perfect sense and having glanced at the other thread here it seems like there are a few hints in the first season which I completely missed, so I'm looking forward to a re-watch but not for a while because I'm still processing it. That was honestly one of the best emotional payoffs I've ever experienced and I felt every bit of that moment - I'm a sucker for sincerity and this show has it in spades. The Adora/Catra relationship is a masterful work of characterization and storytelling and I'd put it right up there with Into the Spiderverse in terms of how powerfully it affected me. So yeah, Catra is still my favourite character. "I always have" was as much an admission to herself as to Adora, and it recalled that moment in an earlier episode where she was wandering the corridors of Prime's ship and tried to make sense of that memory of them as children when she struck Lonnie. I liked how it also mirrored her wandering the corridors of the Horde base and recalling other memories of Adora, and I'd have to go back and check but I think those moments usually happened after she'd lashed out at Scorpia or her former squadmates; when she felt most alone in the world her thoughts inevitably returned to Adora and her feelings of friendship, love and abandonment. Both of them were raised in an abusive environment, but Catra was treated more harshly and was constantly diminished by Shadow Weaver, and she was less emotionally resilient than Adora to begin with; her sensitivity shines through in those rare moments where she lets her guard down : pleading with Shadow Weaver to know why she was always second best, or her heartfelt outburst, revealing the depths of her pain, right before activating the portal. Her rise through the ranks to replace Shadow Weaver as Hordak's second in command was as much due to pure survival instinct as it was to calculation, as revealed in those private moments where she is clearly still cowed and/or fearful of him. Her bravado was often employed as another self-defense measure; she internalized all the lessons she learned growing up in the Horde so well that she was deathly afraid of showing any kind of vulnerability or weakness. So much so that even Bow's affectionate teasing of her for being cute incurred an outsized reaction and forceful denial. I think Perfuma's simple observation is one of the best lines in the show and could perhaps be considered its central thesis : "Having friends makes you vulnerable, but it doesn't make you weak." I really appreciated the moment right before the end when Shadow Weaver finally spoke the words she wanted to hear, and how her imminent sacrifice caused them both so much distress because despite her treatment of them, Shadow Weaver was the closest thing either of them had to a parent. And speaking of words she desperately wanted to hear, "What do you want, Adora?" For her part, Adora's side of the relationship only made sense to me in that final moment when I realized she had been denying her inner feelings the whole time in a grand act of selflessness; that burden of responsibility (not to mention her struggle with the idea of destiny) wouldn't allow her to put herself before everyone else, but when she dreamed Mara asking the same question it was like she was finally giving herself permission to answer it. But as Prime so gleefully explained, it was only a wish. Only a wish, that is, until Catra's admission, at the last possible moment, made it real. The build-up to that moment, with Shadow Weaver's sacrifice, Adora's realization that she would die and Catra's refusal to leave, choosing to share her fate... it was intense, I was fully invested, and that moment of release was breathtaking. Since it's kind of lame to end a post with a giant spoiler block I will instead end by saying that what I appreciated most about this show is its sincerity. I think it was around half-way through the first season (the Prom episode) where it really hit its stride and I felt the same way I did five minutes into the Spiderverse movie when I couldn't wipe the grin off my face : there's something special here, and I'm in for a treat.
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Jun 8, 2021 05:14
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 17:54 |
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Yeah, not sure what to expect from the Kevin Smith one. I can't see it going for the same humour/pathos blend as in SPoP or Spiderverse, but I hope it's at least a little campy. It should have some good visuals; I binged Castlevania recently too and it had some pretty great end-of-season fights, although it seemed like they saved most of their budget for that so the non-fight stuff was a bit sparse (also Sypha has the best mage-fighting style I've ever seen, animated or otherwise). I'm surprised to hear there was a negative reaction to SPoP from the She-Ra fanbase (also kind of surprised there even existed a fanbase for the original show from what little I remember of it). But I'm also not really surprised because it seems like every fandom based on nostalgia is powered by hatred.
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Jun 8, 2021 07:32
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I skimmed a fansite while looking for something else and saw that apparently the creator did a livestream where she sketched a non-binary child for them, so that could be one possibility (along with a time jump) but the notes said it was non-canon so it's probably just one idea they had floating around. I will be thinking about this show for a long time to come. The Power of Friendship is so strong it even worked on an AI (Light Hope retaining a single memory of Mara in the S4 finale) and Hordak, though in his case it seemed more like he grew to respect Entrapta professionally. But, hey, it counts!
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Jun 9, 2021 12:48
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Then later the cat pounces on Adora and licks her face after Catra had shied away from her, betraying her true feelings.
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Jun 10, 2021 00:40
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