#spacebat

Bc in my journey of making little tiktoks of this show I have found that no other character gets the same concentration of like indulgent full body pans, exhibit A:

And this ain’t even all of them, there are more. Do not the forget, this is all contained within one season.

There could also be a compilation of the many frames where it’s just his almost excessively large chest visible and not his face. That being said he is very tall but there are other tall characters that don’t get that lens.

Besides maybe Hordak? There is one Hordak walking scene (some of my favorite scenes) that toes the line of an up the skirt shot. Exhibit A number 2:

Like, cmon. It’s shot from underneath and he wears the slut slit outfit.

Which is a habit he picked up Horde Prime. Exhibit B from the first exhibit A:

So you have each of these Spacebats in revealing outfits showing areas of the body that are typically ogled at on women. A shame that Wrong Hordak did not follow in their footsteps and wear like, ass-less chaps or something. Shame.

However what is on every Horde Prime and Horde Prime accessory is that funky belt that points essentially to their crotch. Iconic.

One last thing to point out is an implication in Horde Prime’s outfit. Exhibit Third:

Y’all, that is big phallus imagery right there. You can trust my expert opinion bc I saw one on the internet before. His outfit also frames his pecs to the shadows and back and goes into a deep V to further frame this man’s crotch.

And the default setting Horde Clones? They get the best of both dimensions: the phallus panel pointed tabard and the leggy thigh slits. The wings of the Horde emblem even fling the eye upwards onto the pecs as the tabard cuts inward just below the chest. Exhibit non-denominational:

So yeah the princesses have boob windows and their male companions have skintight leggings and Bow’s dads, but the Spacebats just feel so objectified with intention. In Horde Prime’s case; outright determination.

S in spacebats is for slut. H in horde is for ho. P in Prime is for-

And to be clear, this is NOT an SPOP critical tumblr essay. For both personal and business reasons, I am glad that crew made these choices.

I am glad that Horde Prime was made to be so overly sexual because so many real life fascist leaders aim to have that appeal. Let’s be aware of it and not fall pray to it. Horde Prime is not upset that he’s gettin bark bark woof woofed over, he wants that and made intentional choices to get that from you. I feel like Hordak would just be happy to be desired since I’m sure his inner monologue regarding his own body is uhhh unhealthy at best and he deserves to be cheered on.

I am also glad anytime I see men display sensuality with aesthetic choices. Cis-men deserve to have that option because it can be freeing and joyful. Also holy shit does menswear lack options. Look at one of Hordak’s few free choices to show off his legs and he fucking owns it (even if he might not know what sensuality is yet).

And as a trans-man, I don’t resonate with the “lumber jack” goals for transition. Seeing Hordak and Horde Prime’s versions of masculinity makes me feel like yes I’m still a he, I’m still a him.

One of my favorite things about 2018 She-Ra is Hordak's story and development (and Entrapdak cough but that's not the point of this particular post), and the cleverest thing is that so much of it is actually being set up and told to us in seasons 1 and 2 before we even realize that that's what's happening.

When we first see Hordak in the show, he's giving "generic evil overlord" vibes. Garden-variety baddie. Maybe a little more reasonable than some and clearly capable of long-term thinking, but that just serves to make him intimidating. Everything about him--the way he runs his empire, his armor, his color scheme, his minion, his Villainous Eye Makeup(TM), even his name--are all projecting to the audience "yup, Acme Bad Guy here. Move right along."

But then, backstory. And everything snaps into focus. Not only is it one of the first big oh SHIT moments of the show, where we suddenly zoom out and realize that there is SO much more going on than we realized--it's also the start of the audience seeing Hordak as a character rather than an archetype. Suddenly we realize that he's not conquering Etheria because he wants power, or hates happiness and sparkles, or whatever--he's doing it out of a desperate attempt to prove his worth to his brother/creator/god. This moment where Hordak lets Entrapta in is also the moment the show lets us in on what makes our favorite spacebat tick.

On top of that, we've also seen him bonding with Entrapta and opening up to this person that he respects and trusts...probably the only person he's ever respected or trusted apart from Prime. And she's Etherian--someone of a lower species, someone he's supposed to subjugate, someone who he has been raised and trained and programmed and mind-controlled into believing is below him in every way.

But instead she's brilliant and creative and mesmerizing. She's not afraid of him, and she's fascinated with his work. For the first time since being abandoned by Prime, Hordak finally has someone that he can talk to, who is on his level and both understands and cares about the science! (because he is a giant nerd). She's kind to him, a mere defect. And it just sends his whole worldview into a spin, and that's all before--

Bam, mans is a goner. Entrapta's "Imperfections are beautiful" comment punches right through all the toxic bs that Hordak has been steeped in his entire life. You can see on his face here--I think it's the moment Hordak fell in love with Entrapta, but this is also the face of a spacebat reevaluating his entire worldview. If Entrapta, who is amazing, believes something different from Prime...what does that mean? If Entrapta, who is brilliant, believes that he is worth something, and that she herself is a failure...

Well. We know what happens after that, and how Hordak begins to doubt, and eventually fights back against Prime (and remembers his love for Entrapta after TWO mind wipes help my heart ack). But we also get to see what life in the Galactic Horde looks like: the only life Hordak ever knew before coming to Etheria.

It's not nice.

It's really not nice.

Prime operates in a very specific way, and we learn a lot about it in season 5. Prime expects complete obedience, devotion and worship from his clones. He allows no individuality from his subjects, not even a name. Failure or deviations are punished, mind-wiped, or destroyed. We even learn from Wrong Hordak that facial expressions are considered a privilege reserved for Prime (apart from, presumably, expressions of rapture caused by being around Prime).

And once we learn all of this, suddenly thinking about season 1 Hordak becomes very interesting indeed. The time we spend with the Galactic Horde and Prime throws absolutely everything that we know about Hordak into a whole new context. Now all those traits that made him a generic villain are actually hugely effective characterization! And what that characterization is telling us is that Hordak had already moved much farther away from Prime than we (or, probably, he) had realized, even long before he met Entrapta.

Horde Prime does not allow his underlings to have names, personalities, or any differences of appearance. Not only does Hordak allow this among his own troops, he chose a name for himself as well! Season 5 tells us that his very name is an act of blasphemy against his god. And yet Hordak took one for himself, and that name is part of the core identity he is able to hold on to when rebelling against Prime.

Horde Prime cast Hordak out when he showed signs of physical imperfections. Hordak not only keeps Imp (who is by all appearances a failed clone or similar experiment) around, he treats Imp more gently than we see him treat anybody or anything before Entrapta. Imp is not simply "generic evil guy's minion," he is proof of Hordak's capacity for compassion, and evidence that Hordak cannot bring himself to cast aside "defects" as easily as Prime. Considering where Hordak came from, Imp's existence is a huge, flashing neon sign telling the audience this guy here is better than the hell that molded him, and we don't even realize it until 4 seasons after it's been shown to us!

Very cool, ND.

There's more, though. Hordak's red and black color scheme? His dark eye makeup and lipstick? Very Evil Overlord chic. But nope! Actually these are actually expressions of individuality on a level that Hordak knows would be abhorrent to Prime!

Reading between the lines, I see this as Hordak desperately trying to reconcile two diametrically opposed beliefs in his head: (1) devotion to Prime, whose approval he desperately craves, and (2) maintaining some degree of unique personhood, of Hordak, from which to draw strength. Because a failed, defective clone cannot survive on a hostile world, cut off from the hivemind and from Prime's light. A failed clone cannot create an empire to offer Prime as tribute, nor build a spacetime portal from scraps and memory to call Prime back. A failed clone cannot create cybernetic armor to keep his hurting, weakened body alive; to force himself to keep going no matter what, to fight through the pain and the doubt by sheer force of will.

But maybe Hordak can.

And so there it is. Hordak had plenty of time to gain and explore his individuality while separated from Prime, but I think the reason he did it so effectively (while still deluding himself that Prime would forgive him for these little sins, if only Hordak could prove his value) is because he had to.

Wrong Hordak gained his individuality surrounded by kind, quirky people who took care of him; Hordak was ripped from the hivemind by Prime himself and had to fight for his survival against all odds. And that produced a dangerous and damaging foe for Etheria. But it also produced the one clone with the strength of will to defy Prime himself.

This is long and rambling, but ultimately my point is that 1) I love Hordak, and 2) I love love love love that the show was so clever about his characterization. We learn so much about him and how much progress he's already made in breaking from his psycho abusive cult upbringing, and we don't even recognize it until the show wants us to. Hordak had come so far, all on his own, before he met Entrapta. She just helped push him over the edge and finally realize (at least consciously) that Prime's worldview might not be the correct one.

Idk, I just don't know if I've ever seen all the trappings of Basic 80's Villain(TM) so successfully subverted, where looking back 4 seasons later is actually a smack in the face with the "effective character building" stick. Amazing.