I love that in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power the most blatantly objectified character by the show is Horde Prime.
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.
This analysis went from gooning material to self-actualization; funny how life works like that.
