Does Catra do better fighting She-Ra then she does fighting Adora?

[Witty Username]

What it says on the tin.
Catra fights She-ra, their about even
Catra fights Adora, Adora outclasses Catra.

At least that's how it feels to me. Is my impression correct and if it is, why?

My best guess on why would be that Adora is better fighting people when she isn't She-Ra because she is less concerned about actually hurting them.

[LibraryOgre]

What it says on the tin.
Catra fights She-ra, their about even
Catra fights Adora, Adora outclasses Catra.

At least that's how it feels to me. Is my impression correct and if it is, why?

My best guess on why would be that Adora is better fighting people when she isn't She-Ra because she is less concerned about actually hurting them.

Another possibility: Catra loves Adora. Catra does not have the same feelings for She-Ra. Ergo, she fights better against She-Ra, because SHE'S not as worried about hurting She-Ra.

[pendell]

What it says on the tin.
Catra fights She-ra, their about even
Catra fights Adora, Adora outclasses Catra.

At least that's how it feels to me. Is my impression correct and if it is, why?

My best guess on why would be that Adora is better fighting people when she isn't She-Ra because she is less concerned about actually hurting them.

I'm afraid I only saw the original She-ra in the 80s. I do remember that Adora is the normal human form of the woman who is She-Ra, who is considerably OP compared to her normal form.

Since She-Ra is a lot more powerful than Adora, it can't be because of power levels.
Ergo, it must be something different about either the way they are fighting or why they are fighting.

Some questions, if you don't mind.

1) Why doesn't She-Ra use her full strength? In the 80s show she could throw a mountain if she chose. Presumably she could throw Catra into orbit if she wanted to, but she doesn't. Why?

2) What does "winning" mean? What is She-ra trying to achieve by fighting Catra that she wasn't earlier? If I recall the barest glimmerings of lore, she and Catra were originally both in the Horde, weren't they? The stakes would be different in a sparring match between friends than they would be between enemies who are fighting over a world that needs saving.

3) Has anything changed about the way Catra fights She-ra, to limit her ability to win? I know that if I were fighting someone who could crush me in one hand, the absolute last thing I would ever do is get within melee range. That would limit my own options to "win" the fight close-up, because I need to guard against being OHKOd in melee by someone who is much, much stronger than I am.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Lethologica]

With respect to the reboot, I don't think the premise is true.

• Princess Prom (Catra vs. Adora): about even, Catra arguably has the upper hand until she fools around too much and goes over the edge.
• Promise (kid Catra vs. kid Adora): Adora's a bit better, but Catra has trickery on her side.
• Battle of Bright Moon (Catra vs. She-Ra): Catra scores hits with agility, but once She-Ra gets ahold of her it's over. Except, there's a bigger fight happening.
• White Out (Catra vs. She-Ra): Catra lets She-Ra catch her to infect the sword; berserk She-Ra mops the floor with her until Scorpia intervenes.
• Portal (Portal Catra vs. Adora): Catra hurts Adora until Adora decides to stand up for herself - not really a contest of power.
• Valley of the Lost - doesn't count, Double Trouble
• Save the Cat (Possessed Catra vs. Adora): evenly matched, with Catra exploiting the fact that Adora cares about her to score hits.

I think the reboot shows fairly consistently that She-Ra overpowers Catra while Adora is at best slightly ahead of her. I also don't think the show is particularly interested in this aspect of the fights.

[Ramza00]

What it says on the tin.
Catra fights She-ra, their about even
Catra fights Adora, Adora outclasses Catra.

At least that's how it feels to me. Is my impression correct and if it is, why?

My best guess on why would be that Adora is better fighting people when she isn't She-Ra because she is less concerned about actually hurting them.

My head cannon is two things.

1) Catra loves Adora. When she is normal height the love makes Catra sloppy, it makes her hesitate.
2) When Catra is fighting giant gal She-Ra, Catra’s natural instincts to climb things kick in. Likewise there is less of #1 causing any slowdown, less need to flinch, easier to get the Super-Ego wage out by ignoring the repressing habits one learned to live in the Jail that is Shadow-Weaver’s domain.

[Witty Username]

[*]White Out (Catra vs. She-Ra): Catra lets She-Ra catch her to infect the sword; berserk She-Ra mops the floor with her until Scorpia intervenes.

Right, that. That one slipped my mind. I think that one defeats my impression.

I guess it is just a lizard brain thing, it seems like She-Ra gets more beat up in fights but that may just be that She-Ra can take more of a beating so thing like incapacitating an opponent aren't as pressing. Meanwhile Adora seems to take control of the fight more: Save the Cat what I am thinking of, but she would have to to avoid being hurt much worse than if she could just be transformed.

[False God]

I also don't think the show is particularly interested in this aspect of the fights.

I think this is really what it comes down to. Their respective power levels aren't really important as it's a story, not a game. To that end the fights serve a story-telling purpose: How far is Catra willing to go? How much will Adora/She-Ra take? What does trying to not hurt Catra cause Adora/She-Ra to sacrifice? What does hurting Catra actually accomplish?