Various She-ra Thoughts
Aug. 13th, 2020 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrI've been rewatching Shera with Cam, which has been a lot of fun. We're currently up to the start of Season 5, which reignited various AU thoughts I had after my first watch.
Meanwhile Cam just wants good things for Scorpia. And really, who doesn't?
Cam picked up on the Perfuma/Scorpia subtext IMMEDIATELY, it totally went over my head until Season 5. I am looking forward to his reaction when it becomes a Thing.
A timeline which seems roughly right to me.
While finding that I stumbled across an original She-ra/He-man timeline, which I find interesting.
Anyway! AUs!
What if Glimmer was raised in the Horde?
She has Horde-ish tendencies as it is, but that was partly exacerbated by her mother being over protective. Would she stubbornly rebel early? Or would it take a while for her to admit she was on the wrong side? (She would eventually because everyone does in this universe)
Also Shadow Weaver would be So Wierd about raising Micah's talented sorcerer daughter (which she would insist on)
What if Catra wasn't raised in the Horde?
It's hard to imagine Catra without all that trauma.
I pondered combining these two AUs via something vaguely swapped-at-birth (not literally, since they look too different), except they're different ages.
What Would Etheria Look Like If The Horde Didn't Happen?
I'm guessing much like the start of canon, except:
-Micah is still King
-Bow's dads/Glimmer/Angella etc have less War Issues
-The Fright Zone stays free, Scorpia is a regular princess. Planet is balanced.
-Adora is raised by Light Hope?? This easily ends in an exploded planet D: Maybe Razz manages to rescue her. Though an Adora raised by Light Hope without the sword, only to get it at the same age as in canon would be interesting, if she could somehow not end up...exploding... Maybe something happens to a different runestone long enough for her to figure it out. Or Light Hope gets attached enough to put it off, with all that extra contact.
- The countries are still not super trusting of each other, that seemed to be a pre-existing thing
-where is Catra even from. The Fright Zone? Crimson Waste? So many options for her story here. OOH maybe she ends up Adora's friend somehow again (through Razz??) but now Light Hope is the one who disapproves.
What if Hordak landed somewhere different? Is there an AU where he doesn't start the Horde?
Hordak is a terrible liar, so I imagine how things went down in canon is he arrived in the Fright Zone, said "Ally with me and I will give you tech and together we will raise an empire", and did intend to actually do this, even if he saw them as backward savages and tools to be used. And then later he took offence at something the royal family did (like objecting to his methods) and had them killed. I've seen most people assume Scorpia's family was entirely innocent, but no matter how unbalanced and awful their deal with Hordak I think her grandad must have felt like Hordak kept up at least some of his end of the bargain, or he'd have not stayed loyal. Also the Fright Zone seems to have been unpopular and called the Fright Zone before Hordak arrived. Plus of course Hordak's pretty incompetent without a reliable and motivated second in command, and had already conquered a bunch of stuff before Shadow Weaver joined him. I can't see him raising an army as one man with only somewhat better weapons without offering something in return, and "let's take over those neighbours you hate" is a classic.
That said, I can think of ways for him to take power without the promise of empire: simply offering tech to improve their own country etc.
Anyway. Assuming Hordak would take an approach something like this, and isn't sneaky enough to significantly switch strategies if the locals didn't want to start an empire with him, he'd have some trouble in most other places, except maybe the Crimson Wastes. He could recruit a small band of thugs and grow from there, but it would take longer.
I can't see him letting go of his empire building goals without letting go of his attachment to Horde Prime, and that is not something I can see happening quickly or easily with Horde Prime off in another dimension. I guess you could have him show up earlier but that's a whole other AU again.
Going on from there I hit an unfortunate combo of facts:
1) One of the key things that helped Hordak was his friendship with Entrapta
2) I ship Entrapta/Hordak as adults
3) Hordak arrived in Etheria around 30 years ago, eg around the same time as Entrapta was born
I have a pretty big age gap squick that has trouble enough with them being like 30 and 50 in canon. (Well, emotionally 50, he may have only been popped out of his vat a few years before his arrival) If they meet when he's an adult and she's a child my shippy feels hit my squick and it is VERY JARRING.
So while tweaking the timeline so she charms him as a nerdy child and they form a platonic bond and make robots together could be a cute gen fic, and the "and then she grows up and they kiss" version could be shippy for other people, neither have much appeal for me.
Having someone else fill the same role makes my shipper heart sad, unless Entrapta gets to do so as well.
I could have him simply arrive 20-30 years later due to Spacetime Stuff (all wormholes are time machines! That's just physics!). This turns into "What Would Etheria Look Like If The Horde Didn't Happen?"
But if I don't mess with time that much, the question becomes: what can I have Hordak do for like 20 years until Entrapta's old enough for me to ship them?? I could tweak the timeline (noone has canon ages! She could be a young looking 40!), but it still has to be at least like a decade to be remotely canon consistent.
I came up with this:
Hordak crashes into the Whispering Woods and has to abandon his ship, since the forest immediately pings as a threat and like...covers it in vines or something. He tries to make a deal with Angella because that's what Horde Prime would do but it does not go well and he is imprisoned in a spare room.
Light Spinner might have joined him but she can still cast truth spells (I get the feeling she loses that ability as Shadow Weaver? She never casts one in canon, even when it would be useful, but teaches Glimmer to cast them for her), and learns enough about Horde Prime to be like "Ah ok not siding with you then, also never let this guy near enough tech to make a portal".
So Hordak spends [20] years in Bright Moon, being treated as a sort of...pet alien sociopath they're too nice to execute but too scared of to let free. He probably escapes and gets caught a few times.
Luckily Light Spinner cares about power, but not tech, so she wouldn't be there encouraging his worst tendencies as in canon.
So many years of being miserable is too depressing, so he finds some purpose within the bounds of what he's allowed to do. Gathering intel? Working on a cloning device if he's allowed to help with health science? I can see the relentless niceness of Bright Moon partially wearing him down, but noone would actually like him that much, even if some are kinda nice about it. He'd have lab partners he could work with ok, maybe, but they'd know his goals. Or maybe he does have kinda friends! Not sure who, of anyone old enough. Micah?? Ooh or a guard, the contrast of being sworn to a ruler could be interesting. If I actually wrote this as a fic, which I won't, I'd probably end up rambling about the flaws of monarchy haha.
Meanwhile Angella contacts researchers in Dryl since let's say there is an existing culture of tech there (Entrapta inventing everything entirely from scratch is a bit much for me) They do their best to understand Hordak's ship but can only unravel so much.
Entrapta is princess but I assume has a regent because someone is running that country and it's not her. She gets wind of the ship and maybe helps out as a kid/teen but doesn't find out about Hordak until she's an adult because.... BrightMoon is keeping him a secret? She's just not trusted enough?
And then they become shippy friends!
Ok! Other than all that there's the stuff from "What Does Etheria Look Like Without The Horde?" going on. Thinking about it...maybe Light Hope becomes a major antagonist?
Come to think of it, Hordak would agree with stopping a super weapon aimed at the Horde, if he knew that was what it was somehow.
I can see Micah wanting to share the tech found with all the other countries maybe? Since he made the princess alliance.
*gets distracted from Hordak/Entrapta AU thoughts by 'Adora is raised by Light Hope' Catra/Adora thoughts*
The only way Light Hope seems to be able to interact with the world physically is via her spiders so maybe they are like childhood pets to Adora. Since Light Hope gets to create her own narrative, maybe Adora is raised to see herself as a first one, separate to the Etherians who will never understand her. But still sworn to protect them. On day she is riding a spider out in the forest to get food when she meets Razz, and through her somehow, Catra.
And/or Glimmer and Bow! They're more local.
Some thoughts on wtf a princess is:
Since Perfuma is a trans woman (word of God, but I like it), not all Princesses are afab. The usage of the female-gendered term "princess", and everyone in this generation all being girls means it seems likely that most princesses are girls. I don't like the idea of it being gender locked because gender is not a binary etc. So let's say it's more likely to be afab people (who are generally but not always cis women) but not guaranteed. There have been princesses who are cis men, trans men, and non-binary, there just happen not to be any this time around.
EDIT: I forgot Prince Peekablue! So, definitely not all women.
They seem inclined to be both human, and part of the royal family.
I assume Princesses predate the First Ones, and like She-ra are supposed to be chosen by Etheria.
I dislike Ethria always choosing royals, so let's say the first ones set it up that way: they seeded first one DNA in human families (except in the fright zone for whatever reason) and manipulated/made the runestones to make sure the next princess chosen was a descendent, with a preference for afab because of mitochondrial DNA or something.
Idea I like: Originally princesses were chosen by Etheria based just on who was best suited. This is still how it works for the non-elemental princesses, which affects their political structure. Playing around with that:
Dryl: Constitutional monarchy/Shogunate type situation where the princess is theoretically in charge but the real political power lies in a parliament/line of regents etc.
Netossa's home: Pure democracy. Princesses are respected but have no direct political power.
Spinerella's home: Monarchy founded by a princess who thought they could make their descendents princesses by force of will, actual princesses treated with some suspicion.
Something like this would explain why Netossa and Spinerella never mention having responsibilities towards their homelands and are free to work for the alliance in Brightmoon full-time.
And that is all the thoughts I have for now.
Meanwhile Cam just wants good things for Scorpia. And really, who doesn't?
Cam picked up on the Perfuma/Scorpia subtext IMMEDIATELY, it totally went over my head until Season 5. I am looking forward to his reaction when it becomes a Thing.
A timeline which seems roughly right to me.
While finding that I stumbled across an original She-ra/He-man timeline, which I find interesting.
Anyway! AUs!
What if Glimmer was raised in the Horde?
She has Horde-ish tendencies as it is, but that was partly exacerbated by her mother being over protective. Would she stubbornly rebel early? Or would it take a while for her to admit she was on the wrong side? (She would eventually because everyone does in this universe)
Also Shadow Weaver would be So Wierd about raising Micah's talented sorcerer daughter (which she would insist on)
What if Catra wasn't raised in the Horde?
It's hard to imagine Catra without all that trauma.
I pondered combining these two AUs via something vaguely swapped-at-birth (not literally, since they look too different), except they're different ages.
What Would Etheria Look Like If The Horde Didn't Happen?
I'm guessing much like the start of canon, except:
-Micah is still King
-Bow's dads/Glimmer/Angella etc have less War Issues
-The Fright Zone stays free, Scorpia is a regular princess. Planet is balanced.
-Adora is raised by Light Hope?? This easily ends in an exploded planet D: Maybe Razz manages to rescue her. Though an Adora raised by Light Hope without the sword, only to get it at the same age as in canon would be interesting, if she could somehow not end up...exploding... Maybe something happens to a different runestone long enough for her to figure it out. Or Light Hope gets attached enough to put it off, with all that extra contact.
- The countries are still not super trusting of each other, that seemed to be a pre-existing thing
-where is Catra even from. The Fright Zone? Crimson Waste? So many options for her story here. OOH maybe she ends up Adora's friend somehow again (through Razz??) but now Light Hope is the one who disapproves.
What if Hordak landed somewhere different? Is there an AU where he doesn't start the Horde?
Hordak is a terrible liar, so I imagine how things went down in canon is he arrived in the Fright Zone, said "Ally with me and I will give you tech and together we will raise an empire", and did intend to actually do this, even if he saw them as backward savages and tools to be used. And then later he took offence at something the royal family did (like objecting to his methods) and had them killed. I've seen most people assume Scorpia's family was entirely innocent, but no matter how unbalanced and awful their deal with Hordak I think her grandad must have felt like Hordak kept up at least some of his end of the bargain, or he'd have not stayed loyal. Also the Fright Zone seems to have been unpopular and called the Fright Zone before Hordak arrived. Plus of course Hordak's pretty incompetent without a reliable and motivated second in command, and had already conquered a bunch of stuff before Shadow Weaver joined him. I can't see him raising an army as one man with only somewhat better weapons without offering something in return, and "let's take over those neighbours you hate" is a classic.
That said, I can think of ways for him to take power without the promise of empire: simply offering tech to improve their own country etc.
Anyway. Assuming Hordak would take an approach something like this, and isn't sneaky enough to significantly switch strategies if the locals didn't want to start an empire with him, he'd have some trouble in most other places, except maybe the Crimson Wastes. He could recruit a small band of thugs and grow from there, but it would take longer.
I can't see him letting go of his empire building goals without letting go of his attachment to Horde Prime, and that is not something I can see happening quickly or easily with Horde Prime off in another dimension. I guess you could have him show up earlier but that's a whole other AU again.
Going on from there I hit an unfortunate combo of facts:
1) One of the key things that helped Hordak was his friendship with Entrapta
2) I ship Entrapta/Hordak as adults
3) Hordak arrived in Etheria around 30 years ago, eg around the same time as Entrapta was born
I have a pretty big age gap squick that has trouble enough with them being like 30 and 50 in canon. (Well, emotionally 50, he may have only been popped out of his vat a few years before his arrival) If they meet when he's an adult and she's a child my shippy feels hit my squick and it is VERY JARRING.
So while tweaking the timeline so she charms him as a nerdy child and they form a platonic bond and make robots together could be a cute gen fic, and the "and then she grows up and they kiss" version could be shippy for other people, neither have much appeal for me.
Having someone else fill the same role makes my shipper heart sad, unless Entrapta gets to do so as well.
I could have him simply arrive 20-30 years later due to Spacetime Stuff (all wormholes are time machines! That's just physics!). This turns into "What Would Etheria Look Like If The Horde Didn't Happen?"
But if I don't mess with time that much, the question becomes: what can I have Hordak do for like 20 years until Entrapta's old enough for me to ship them?? I could tweak the timeline (noone has canon ages! She could be a young looking 40!), but it still has to be at least like a decade to be remotely canon consistent.
I came up with this:
Hordak crashes into the Whispering Woods and has to abandon his ship, since the forest immediately pings as a threat and like...covers it in vines or something. He tries to make a deal with Angella because that's what Horde Prime would do but it does not go well and he is imprisoned in a spare room.
Light Spinner might have joined him but she can still cast truth spells (I get the feeling she loses that ability as Shadow Weaver? She never casts one in canon, even when it would be useful, but teaches Glimmer to cast them for her), and learns enough about Horde Prime to be like "Ah ok not siding with you then, also never let this guy near enough tech to make a portal".
So Hordak spends [20] years in Bright Moon, being treated as a sort of...pet alien sociopath they're too nice to execute but too scared of to let free. He probably escapes and gets caught a few times.
Luckily Light Spinner cares about power, but not tech, so she wouldn't be there encouraging his worst tendencies as in canon.
So many years of being miserable is too depressing, so he finds some purpose within the bounds of what he's allowed to do. Gathering intel? Working on a cloning device if he's allowed to help with health science? I can see the relentless niceness of Bright Moon partially wearing him down, but noone would actually like him that much, even if some are kinda nice about it. He'd have lab partners he could work with ok, maybe, but they'd know his goals. Or maybe he does have kinda friends! Not sure who, of anyone old enough. Micah?? Ooh or a guard, the contrast of being sworn to a ruler could be interesting. If I actually wrote this as a fic, which I won't, I'd probably end up rambling about the flaws of monarchy haha.
Meanwhile Angella contacts researchers in Dryl since let's say there is an existing culture of tech there (Entrapta inventing everything entirely from scratch is a bit much for me) They do their best to understand Hordak's ship but can only unravel so much.
Entrapta is princess but I assume has a regent because someone is running that country and it's not her. She gets wind of the ship and maybe helps out as a kid/teen but doesn't find out about Hordak until she's an adult because.... BrightMoon is keeping him a secret? She's just not trusted enough?
And then they become shippy friends!
Ok! Other than all that there's the stuff from "What Does Etheria Look Like Without The Horde?" going on. Thinking about it...maybe Light Hope becomes a major antagonist?
Come to think of it, Hordak would agree with stopping a super weapon aimed at the Horde, if he knew that was what it was somehow.
I can see Micah wanting to share the tech found with all the other countries maybe? Since he made the princess alliance.
*gets distracted from Hordak/Entrapta AU thoughts by 'Adora is raised by Light Hope' Catra/Adora thoughts*
The only way Light Hope seems to be able to interact with the world physically is via her spiders so maybe they are like childhood pets to Adora. Since Light Hope gets to create her own narrative, maybe Adora is raised to see herself as a first one, separate to the Etherians who will never understand her. But still sworn to protect them. On day she is riding a spider out in the forest to get food when she meets Razz, and through her somehow, Catra.
And/or Glimmer and Bow! They're more local.
Some thoughts on wtf a princess is:
Since Perfuma is a trans woman (word of God, but I like it), not all Princesses are afab. The usage of the female-gendered term "princess", and everyone in this generation all being girls means it seems likely that most princesses are girls. I don't like the idea of it being gender locked because gender is not a binary etc. So let's say it's more likely to be afab people (who are generally but not always cis women) but not guaranteed. There have been princesses who are cis men, trans men, and non-binary, there just happen not to be any this time around.
EDIT: I forgot Prince Peekablue! So, definitely not all women.
They seem inclined to be both human, and part of the royal family.
I assume Princesses predate the First Ones, and like She-ra are supposed to be chosen by Etheria.
I dislike Ethria always choosing royals, so let's say the first ones set it up that way: they seeded first one DNA in human families (except in the fright zone for whatever reason) and manipulated/made the runestones to make sure the next princess chosen was a descendent, with a preference for afab because of mitochondrial DNA or something.
Idea I like: Originally princesses were chosen by Etheria based just on who was best suited. This is still how it works for the non-elemental princesses, which affects their political structure. Playing around with that:
Dryl: Constitutional monarchy/Shogunate type situation where the princess is theoretically in charge but the real political power lies in a parliament/line of regents etc.
Netossa's home: Pure democracy. Princesses are respected but have no direct political power.
Spinerella's home: Monarchy founded by a princess who thought they could make their descendents princesses by force of will, actual princesses treated with some suspicion.
Something like this would explain why Netossa and Spinerella never mention having responsibilities towards their homelands and are free to work for the alliance in Brightmoon full-time.
And that is all the thoughts I have for now.
