anghraine | Entries tagged with ch: shadow weaver

I finished She-Ra! The finale was great and very sweet. It was also kind of interesting, because in some ways, it tied everything up in sparkly meadows and hugs, but there are also other things that could go in any number of directions.

There’s Catradora, of course, and also them dealing with Shadow Weaver’s … everything (including her death), there’s Glimmer and unchipped!Micah’s relationship (I genuinely hadn’t realized that they barely interact), there’s wtf they’re going to do with Hordak, etc. Some of it is an artifact of it being the happily ever after in a cartoon for children, but it did seem like there’s a lot of room open for character development (esp Adora’s, I would say) and further exploration and just … seeing what happens next.

IDK, I’m not sure if it was designed to hook into other series or to set up a sequel or movie or (/sigh) expanded universe or if they just wanted to leave some things open as an artistic choice. (Any or all of these seem probable enough to me.) But there’s definitely a lot of room for expansion, official or fannish.

Tagged: #i don't want to wish a terrible sequel/unending franchise upon us #but i did see some people talking about how they didn't want more bc the series wrapped everything up so thoroughly #so i was surprised by the extent to which things were /not/ wrapped up beyond the most pressing #it felt like it stopped more than ended #so—very tentatively—i would actually be okay with some kind of continuation or integration into the broader universe #depending on how it's done of course #it seemed to kind of invite that anyway #though at the same time i'd be happy if this is it since it was so good

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Fight From The Inside (Queen)

I’m still thinking about the Catra-ditches-the-Horde-early Catradora AU. (I haven’t quite finished the show, but … ANYWAY.) I’m particularly fond of the variant that came up in my tag ramble where Catra not only ditches the Horde before she does in canon, but (with Adora) before the canon timeline begins at all.

My idea was that for some reason, they run away and escape into the Whispering Woods. Catra thinks it’s awful, they’ll never rule the world now. Then at some point, Adora finds the sword and turns into She-Ra, and Catra’s like “…actually, I have some ideas.”

I wasn’t sure exactly when in relation to the canon timeline this happens, though definitely earlier, and there’s some period where they’re mostly just trying to survive the woods together (I am 100% sure they encounter Razz, partly because I think it makes sense, and partly because Razz and Catra dealing with each other is hilarious to me). Maybe Adora manages to get the Crystal Castle to accept Catra and they hole up there while they’re figuring out what to do. However it works out, they ultimately get drawn into the Rebellion as a duo.

The end result is that the Rebellion has someone as ferocious and resourceful as Catra on their side (for a certain value of “side”; she’s really just on her and Adora’s side and sees the Rebellion as the only available vehicle for them) alongside Adora/She-Ra. But that means dealing with early Catra as one of their own (also hilarious!).

It could go all sorts of places from there, but the main problem is figuring out what kind of inciting incident could drive Catra from the Horde and convince her that their only chance for power lies with the Rebellion. That’s a big swerve from canon. I was thinking vaguely that things are worse for her in some way that drives her to turn away for fairly self-interested reasons (hard to see her doing anything else), but things are canonically bad enough for her that it was still difficult to see, until I suddenly remembered—

Shadow Weaver was going to wipe Adora’s mind.

Suppose that in the AU, Shadow Weaver decides that Catra is such a liability that she’ll just wipe her mind and start all over again. Before she actually does it, though, Catra and Adora somehow find out and can’t think of any way around it except just not being there. They manage a narrow escape from the Fright Zone and keep going until they’re faced with Horde pursuers on one hand and the woods on the other. They choose the woods, and the AU spins out from there.

Tagged: #i'm thinking that catra is actually the first to think of joining the rebellion #because if she can't climb to power via the horde ... the rebellion it is #especially given that adora just morphed into a princess #she'll just have to reshape it to their purposes! #(this can only end well) #meanwhile adora is resistant because princesses are EVIL #but she gets a reality check and is onboard soon enough #leaving us with horde defector rebel duo catra and adora #<3

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Tubthumping (Chumbawamba)

I’m watching “The Failsafe” now (the finale is in sight!!) and Shadow Weaver is just … aghhhh!

At least we’re finally dealing with how screwed-up it is that Adora and now Catra are just expected to deal with their abuser strolling around.

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Who's Crying Now (Journey)

Just finished Mer-Mysteries!

It was, by and large, a fun and tense episode in a lot of ways.

The Adora-Glimmer tension over Shadow Weaver is interesting … on the one hand, I really like the Glimmer-Shadow Weaver dynamic, and on the other, I think Adora’s reservations are extremely well grounded in who Shadow Weaver is as a person and in her personal experiences of her.

I mean, Adora conceded that Shadow Weaver did “mom stuff” way back in the not!ghost episode, and Shadow Weaver’s manipulation and general approach to Catra and Adora from early childhood was obviously abusive (in different ways, but abusive). And nobody around Adora really seems to care about this? They care about her, sure, but not about her having her abuser living under the same roof with increasing freedom of movement and influence. She has every reason to be upset tbh.

Tagged: #i'm really entertained by sw honestly but i love adora and want her to have all the hugs #this is the opposite of hugs!

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Double Vision (Foreigner)

I knew there was some kind of Glimmer-Shadow Weaver collaboration, but omg, it’s fabulous.

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: I'm Going Slightly Mad (Queen)

“Light Spinner” was amazing! I’m weirdly compelled by Light Spinner/Shadow Weaver despite her terribleness.

I was also just thinking about Adora talking about how Shadow Weaver taught her to read and tie her boots and told her ghost stories … like, that honestly just makes her awfulness (re: both, though of course especially Catra) even worse. The whole dynamic actually reminds me a lot of Ozai-Zuko-Azula, with Zuko and Azula’s roles swapped, but she’s a lot more interesting than Ozai tbh.

Tagged: #shadow weaver #i usually tag villains by their names and not pseudonyms but uhhhh. let's just go shadow weaver

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Wheel in the Sky (Journey)

I'm going back to my SPOP re-watch and I'd gotten to S4, but I honestly forgot how hard Glimmer is to take in S4. The thing is that I do like her overall arc and I think where S4 takes her is organic and compelling. But her dismissal of Adora's abuse by Shadow Weaver, up to and including accusing Adora of just being jealous that she's no longer Shadow Weaver's focus while Shadow Weaver goes on about how paranoid Adora is (?!), is just ... rough.

(Her blaming Adora for Angella's death is also a low point, but a more understandable one, at least.)

I am looking forward to Bow's "because you're wrong!" though.

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Seeds of Promise (Audiomachine)

Someone at ffa (I know, I know) was saying that Shadow Weaver's final moments count as redemption if Vader's do, and I'm still ... processing the entire concept. ~~And the total indifference to narrative framing it requires.~~

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Lost Empire (Audiomachine)

"Please keep your bot out of my flowerbeds" —not words that I ever expected to hear from Shadow Weaver tbh, though I appreciate the menace with which they were uttered.