She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Watched some of the show, but honestly I wasn't wowed. All the characters besides Catra and Entrapta seem like bland cardboard cutouts with equally bland character designs. I did like the backgrounds a lot but nice background art can't save a show for me. I don't think I'll be continuing to watch.

@Shirow: There is actually one final thing that I found contrived about the scene:

What exactly is reason you would have closing doors that purge things with flames inside them automatically in intervals without checking if anybody is inside or such in your military base. I mean, I guess it would make sense as trap, but way Alora describes it sounds like its not the main purpose of them just side effect. Those doors literally only exist for that scene to be possible <_<

(unless I am misremembering something)

Edited by SpookyMask on Nov 20th 2018 at 7:03:54 PM

I don't find that to be especially contrived, it could be waste or garbage disposal.

Logically, there would be things that the Horde would want to be disposed of via incineration. So it's existence hardly comes anywhere close to breaking my suspension of disbelief.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Nov 21st 2018 at 10:07:02 AM

I just saw it as a variation of the Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom. Although they should have had Adora say "I mean, there's no useful purpose for there to be a bunch of chompy, crushy things in the middle of a hallway!"

Really enjoyed the first season. Well put together and entertaining.

I love Razz’s redesign. Everything about her is an improvement over the old Razz, who was one of the more insufferable characters in the original show.

Actually, I also love the new Scorpia. If you had told me a week ago that one of my favourite characters in the reboot was going to be Scorpia of all people, I wouldn’t have believed you. I love that one of the bad guys just also happens to be super nice. It’s a good change of pace.

I watched a lot of episodes of the old She-Ra, but I can’t recall any characters outside the main group. Like, these princesses that the show makes a big deal out of? They were in the old show, but they weren’t regulars, and they all looked alike. These new designs make them visually distinctive and that helps a lot. Like, in the old show I think the only character trait Catra and Scorpia had was- actually I can’t even think of one. They had different verbal ticks, but that was about it. Here though, every princess is completely different from each other in both appearance and personality and I love that.

When I saw the first trailer I thought we might see things from Adora’s point of view and find out the Horde was evil at the same time she did. We kind of get that, but we meet Bow and Glimmer before Adora meets them and finds out the truth, even if it is brief.

Swift Wind was gone for so long after he was introduced I was beginning to wonder if we’d ever see him again.

Hey, you notice how most characters have this colouration under their eyes and going across the top of their nose forming this kind of splotch? Is that supposed to be something?

We know the good guys are gonna win and the bad guys are gonna lose, but I’m really invested in Catra and her story arc. When we started I thought she might have been convinced the Horde are good despite all the evidence, but it turns out she knows the Horde is evil and she’s willing to stay with them because she wants power. I like that I can’t tell what her ultimate fate is going to be. Will Hordak eventually make her do something she can’t stomach, leading to her reforming and joining the good guys? Will she stay a bad guy till the end? Will she suffer from Redemption Equals Death? I honestly couldn’t tell you.

When Entrapta “died’ I was absolutely certain that Shadow Weaver was going to wipe her memory like she tried with Adora and have her serve the bad guys. See, Entrapta was a bad guy in the original series, so there was the possibility that she’d switch sides. I didn’t think she’d go willingly though. But that sequence where the group has to go through a bunch of doors that keep closing behind them then burning everything inside is far and away the dumbest thing in the show so far. Like, it's one hallway going from nowhere in particular to the garage.

The way Shadow Weaver is obsessed with Adora I figure she must have a specific reason for doing so. Like, Adora’s Eternian royalty, Shadow Weaver must need her for something, and I don’t think Hordak even knows what that is.

They mentioned Eternia a few times, and based on her brief flashbacks it seems they aren’t going to shy away from the fact that Adora was kidnapped from Eternia as an infant, which kind of seems odd if they can't have He-Man show up. I'm not even sure if Hordak is supposed to be a She-Ra or He-Man character, because he was part of the original Masters of the Universe toy line and appeared in the 2002 He-Man series.

I think, overall, I’m enjoying this even more than Voltron, which is made by the same studio. One thing that’s been an issue for Voltron since day one is that the writers don’t seem to actually know much about space. Huge distances are spanned in no time, entire galaxies are treated like small entities, one time the crew said they were entering the Solar System, while they were staring at the Milky Way. But this is a show about magic, you don’t need to know anything about science.

The animation studio for She-ra isn't Studio Mir, it's NE 4 U.

Hey, spoilers!

I was referring to Dreamworks Studios, not any particular studio that resides within that studio.

Yeah, I see the reason for the confusion: The overuse of the word studio.

Clearly we need to start referring to Studio Mir and NE4U as "Artist Clans" or perhaps "Animation Squads".

I really loved this shows version of Entrapa. The voice was excellent too.

I remember that happening with Transformers too, where a character on the show would be different from the toyline counterpart.

Edited by Cortez on Nov 24th 2018 at 6:24:39 AM

Managed to see the first episode the other night. Looking good.

Calling it now, once the Masters of the Universe red tape stuff is cleared away, the part of Adora's vision with something falling out of the sky, that could easily be Adora's mom crash-landing on Eternia since she's supposed to be an astronaut from Earth, right?

I think Adam's mom being from Earth was only a thing in the original 80's series. It wasn't a thing in 2002 He-Man, and I don't think it appeared in any of the comics. Maybe some of the old old stuff, but not the newer stuff. Fun Fact: In one comic book Skeletor and Shadow Weaver were apparently an item.

I want more screentime of Catra and Adoras squadmates to flesh them out next season.

What were their names? I remember Kyle, there was the bossy girl whose name I forget, and then there was a lizard guy, I think?

The lizards guy is apprently named Rogelo form what I heard. Not mentioned in the show itself of course. And like half his background scenes depicts him with Kyle. Beyond that him and the one girl might as well be faceless grunts.

The female name is mentioned in the show if I recall, but we know even less about her and she actually talks at one point I recall.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Nov 24th 2018 at 2:49:10 AM

Didn't she mock Catra at several points? Like, just after they got beaten by She-Ra she was telling Catra off, then Catra was all like "I know something you don't."

Also, any guesses as to what Shadow Weaver's deal is? Like why the mask? I mean, I know she's not pretty, but WHY?

A mask is pretty intimidating is my guess

No, I mean, she's disfigured. Any one want to guess why?

Actually, I remember her recalling how she spent time in Miami in Injustice vs. Masters of the Universe issue #1.

Definitely because of her dark magic. The only question is whether it was a one-off accident or case of corruption-over-time.

I think Catra and Adora being rivals is less a reference to the original toyline and more a case of Noelle Stevenson having a thing for catgirls.

Okay, the whole Adam's mom is from Earth thing began all the way back in what may be the first He-Man comic ever: From Eternia with Death! DC was called upon to make He-Man comics, so they decided the best way to do this is to have the first issue cross over with Superman, in a plan I'm assuming was called Operation "Come for Superman, stay for He-Man." Anyway, in it Superman winds up on Eternia and He-Man knows who he is because his mom told him, and his mom is from Earth. That's where this all got started. The plot point was brought up a few times in the He-Man cartoon and also the He-man She-Ra Christmas special, wherein all the good guys celebrate Christmas because Adam's mom is from Earth. Because having beings from another planet NOT know everything about Christmas would be sacrilegious.

I know all this because I used to frequent a site called Encyclopedia Obscura, who wrote an article about From Eternia with Death! The site is defunct now, but thanks to the Wayback Machine you cane read the article here: https://web.archive.org/web/20160522074058if_/http://www.encyclopedia-obscura.com:80/comicshemansuperman.html

Edited by WillKeaton on Nov 24th 2018 at 9:06:41 AM

x4

Well I've seen the theory that she was the previous She-Ra and that could explain it if said theory turns out to be true.

Really why would anyone think that Madame Razz would be Mara? ;)

Edited by BigMadDraco on Nov 24th 2018 at 9:44:40 AM

That's crazy talk.

Imma wanna write fanfiction. First idea: Shadoweaver goes through with the Adora mindwipe. Catra gets everything she wants as she ascends the ranks with Adora by her side again. But she realizes that's not who Adora truly is, that she can't love a lie like that, and sets things right. Catra redemption arc.

Second idea: Adora confesses to Catra as she pleads for her to come with her to brightmoon the first time. Catra refuses at first but is wracked with guilt. Catra redemption arc.

Third idea: Catra adopts a puppy. Catra redemption arc.

YOU BETTER NOT BE TOYING WITH OUR FEELINGS NOELLE.

Fourth scenario: Catra raises through the ranks under Hordak until she amasses enough power to overthrow even him and when she finally goes head to head with Adora... negotiates peace with Brightmoon?

... does this also count as a redemption arc?