Mermista is only in around five episodes but man does she know how to make an impact.
Why Entrapta Is Autistic (An Infodump By An Autistic Person)
1. Special interests/infodumping
This is easily the most obvious of all autistic traits to pin down in Entrapta. She adores technology, often changing the subject to her work and getting excited when talking about it.
She also infodumps! A lot. Even when people are visibly confused or even bored, she will continue to talk about technology, being very, very happy and enthusiastic; even while in extremely dangerous situations.
Example: Rather than actually helping Adora while she is infected by a virus, Entrapta wants to dissect her to learn about the virus (which may also show the lack of empathy also commonly found in autistic folk.)
2. Misunderstanding social cues
Obviously, that last example was a big showing of exactly how oblivious Entrapta is to social situations. She’s often portrayed as unrelentingly loud and cheerful, even in awkward or dangerous situations.
Another example of this can be her being captured by Catra, where she kept on going back to her confines, even after she can escape; because that’s what she believes to be the “correct” action to take in this social situation.
She can also come across as creepy but, clearly, is very sweet, which is something I see a lot in autistic folks. (Girls, in particular!)
Also; maybe she wears those goggles so often because she has trouble with eye contact? Just saying.
3. Black and white views (and more on special interests)
Autistic people tend to have a very black and white view on the world, and can be rather stubborn. And while Entrapta shows her stubborn, blind loyalty while being interrogated by Catra, as soon as she realizes her friends aren’t coming back…
Her black and white view changes, and she shows almost no remorse for helping people who she previously thought were horrible.
Also; notice how Entrapta acts when Catra asks about technology. Saying things like, “Nobody EVER asks about my theories!” with great enthusiasm; the first time she is happy about joining their side. Not only is Entrapta joining because she thinks the princesses don’t care, but she’s joining because the horde can give her what the princesses couldn’t; support towards and resources for her special interests.
4. Possible sensory issues
This doesn’t happen all the time, admittedly; however, I did notice how often Entrapta uses her hair rather than her actual body for things involving physical contact.
Also; her obsession with tiny foods sure seems like a sensory issue. Lots of autistic folks only eat a specific type of food, or refuse to eat a certain type. For me, I refuse to eat things that are lumpy (like oatmeal and applesauce). Maybe, for Entrapta, it’s that she won’t eat anything too big.
5. Stimming
Honestly? This might be even easier to convince you of than special interests. The scene that sealed in my mind that Entrapta is 100%, without a doubt autistic:
I do that spinny chair thing all the time when I’m talking to my friends about my special interests. And, though it doesn’t say, she’s talking into that recorder about technology. Just look at that GIF and tell me that it’s not an autistic person happy-stimming as she’s infodumping about her special interest.
Slightly less obvious is her hand and hair motions while talking. She does a LOT of stuff with her arms and hair; obvious stimming, if you ask me!
When Adora first left the Horde she told Catra she was leaving because the Horde was evil, did monstrous things to innocent people, and had been lying to them the whole time. And Catra responded, “what, you didn’t know?”.
And there’s so much to unpack there, but what really killed me was when I thought about why that was. Why was Catra so cynical when Adora bought the propaganda?
It’s because of how they were raised. Shadowweaver raised both of them abusively, but they got different flavors of abuse. Adora was the Golden Child and Catra was the Scapegoat. They were both abused, but Catra caught the brunt of the most violent abuse. She knew the Horde hurt innocent people because she was one of them.
And that puts a whole new twist on how angry Catra was when Adora wanted to leave. When Adora said “what the Horde is doing is wrong and we should leave because of it”, Catra’s response wasn’t really “you’re just learning the Horde hurts innocent people now?” it was, “it wasn’t enough to make you leave when they hurt me?”.
That’s why she’s so angry. From her perspective, Adora was willing to leave the Horde because of what they did to these random people they’d never met before. But she’d never offered to do the same for her.
Catra refused to go with Adora because, just by asking, she broke her heart.
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