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thecartoonuniverse · 6 years

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She-Ra and the Princesses of Power SPOILER-FREE Review

Check out the video version of the review HERE, or click the Read More to read the script for this video!

The 80s was a decade known for its immensely popular and very commercial action cartoons that dominated children's entertainment. Thundercats, TMNT, Transformers, Voltron and He-man are just a few examples that have stayed present in our minds even 30 years later and are still instantly recognizable to children and adults alike. All of these shows were created with the intent of marketing toys to young boys, and all of these shows have had at least one reboot since the 80s.

EVERYONE knows those names... but another name you might only barely recognize, if you remember it at all, is SHE-RA. She-ra was an action cartoon for girls made to build off the success of the very male dominated show He-man. Whereas there are a long list of boy-oriented cartoons and many of them have been remade or rebooted in the last few decades, there are very few actions cartoons for girls from this period and very few cartoons for girls at all that have been rebooted. There's my little pony and powerpuff girls and... uhm... my little pony, my little pony, aaaaaand my little pony. yeah....jk

But now it is time for She-ra to join the mighty ranks of 80s action cartoons getting a reboot and /I/ just so happen to have been given full access to the first season of the show so I could provide a review for all of you lovely people.

I’m Hailey and this is my spoiler-free review of the first season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power!

I will admit I don't have too much experience with the original She-Ra cartoon, but from the few episodes I watched for research on this video, it seemed pretty standard for its time. Like He-man, transformers, and Voltron, it was a long series of episodes with very limited motion, very little plot progression, and a formulaic approach to its story telling. Aside from the first few episodes, the final few episodes, and perhaps one or two in the middle, nothing serious ever really happened on these shows. If I got anything wrong with that summary please forgive me, as I didn't have time to really watch all 95 episodes of the original series.

Like many of the reboots of these 80s cartoons, the story telling in 'princesess of power' focuses a lot more on overarching plots and character arcs that make things change from episode to episode and season to season.

Like the original series, the show is about Adora, an orphan girl who was being raised to be a member of 'the horde'. Alongside a few friends, she trains to become a captain and eventually defeat the evil princesses! Does this sound a little backwards? Weellllll that's because it is. You see Adora one day stumbles upon a magical sword that turns her into the magical warrior She-Ra, one of the princesses of power. Through this transformation and the experiences following it she quickly realizes that shes been fighting on the wrong side all this time and begins to aid the princesses in their rebellion against the horde.

As far as I can tell, this is where the similarities between the two shows end, besides all the returning characters of course. What's great about a reboot like this is that it takes a very simple premise and turns it into an important character defining trait to push the plot forward instead of holding it in place like the original. In the original She-Ra never seemed too conflicted about fighting the horde as they were very explicitly evil, while in this reboot she is very much aware that she is fighting her family, her roots, her old identity and where she comes from. This really parallels the journey a lot of us go through in realizing that our parents aren't always the great heroes we thought of them as kids. She now realizes that she was on the wrong side when she was training to fight for the horde, but that doesn't make fighting them exactly easy for her.

Adora's transformation into she-ra is amazing. Unlike shows such as Sailor Moon its more than just a costume change. The power makes her bigger and stronger and is a bit similar to the 2002 reboot of the series which saw a more typical looking teenage boy transforming in to the hulking figure of He-man. As She-Ra, she is a lot more confident and a lot more powerful, but this doesn't make her invincible. As She-Ra she is still very fallible, both as a fighter and as a character.

Almost every episode we find ourselves meeting a new princess. And even then, there are times where a whole bunch have to be dumped on us at once since there are just so many. The original show had a lot of princesses as well... like a LOT A LOT, so I suppose this makes sense.

Don’t kill me for saying this guys, but there's a lot of diversity in these princesses, and they come in all shapes and sizes and colors. This was less common for human based characters back in the day because toy companies wanted to use the same mold over and over again but with different hair styles and colors to make mass production easier.

But in this reboot, there's a princess for everyone... whether you are black or white or... purple..?

I definitely need to mention Glimmer, as she becomes one of She-Ra’s closest friends. I mostly found her interesting due to her powers and her family. I did however find her relationship with her mother a bit weird. Yes, fighting a lot is something mothers and daughters can do, but for some reason it came off more as an older sister fighting with her younger sister than the mother-daughter relationship it is supposed to be portraying.

Then there is Glimmer’s best friend Bow, who as you might be able to tell is not a Princess. His interactions with Glimmer were some of the best in the show, and I definitely look forward to learning more about him.

The princesses introductions and plots are sometimes interesting, however, I am happy to say that some of my favorite characters are actually a few of the villains. When Adora left the horde to fight against them her place was taken by Catra. She and Adora have a very interesting rivalry that stems from the fact that their boss, Shadow Weaver, always preferred Adora over Catra. Things turn into a game of cat and mouse, where Catra is constantly trying to prove her worth and bring Adora back to the Horde. We learn a lot about the relationship between these two, and I was surprised to see just how fleshed out it got since this is only the first season.

This show is very good at taking your expectations of a character and completely turning them around. A large part of that comes from each of the characters being complex and not entirely evil, or in some cases not completely good. Morally grey areas are explored in the show, and sometimes the place a person ends up is solely because the character found it the more convenient place to be.

Overall, this show is clearly trying to be much like other cartoons of today where it touches on very mature topics like colonization and genocide. It gives the show a sincerer and more mature feel to it that both old fans and new ones can appreciate I think, but despite these positive changes the show is still very far from perfect.

To be honest, I was not always completely engaged with the show. Yes, the concepts and characters presented in each episode were interesting, but it was a show that took me a few days to finish. Whereas with a new season of Voltron I can finish in one watch. I’m sure a lot of this has to do with the fact that this is season 1 and I am just getting to know the characters, but this is definitely a show you might only want to watch a little at a time.

The show did open with a two-parter which was great and full of action. But after that I felt the story slowed a bit as we were required to meet each main princess, most of which got a whole episode dedicated to their introduction.

I enjoyed most of these episodes, especially Entrapta’s who is one of my favorites, but it only made me wish that we could follow them MORE instead of having to see a new princess every half hour.

Like a lot of animated reboots, these characters are a lot younger than their original counterparts. I’m sure this is to make the characters more relatable, allowing to them to focus on stories about growing up, which works really well with Adora realizing she was on the wrong side for much of her young life, but what is the problem with having adults as the main characters? Superhero shows do it all the time!

Adults definitely have relationship issues, and they can still go from nobodies to something much greater. This was showcased in the original She-Ra show, and I just wish more shows would focus on this.

I suppose the desire to have that teenage angst in the show was just too much to resist. I’m looking at you Glimmer. I love you and your family’s history but get it together girl!

The style of the show is something that has been heavily criticized by both new and returning viewers, but I find it quite charming, or at the very least a much better version of Marvel: Uprising. The backgrounds especially were very beautiful and the details they add to it really make you believe that the land of Etheria is a magical place.

The style did however clash with the tone at times. As I mentioned before, the show does delve into deep topics, not to mention there are some very intense battle scenes, and the art style sometimes just hindered that by making it seem too soft during gritty moments.

For those who are wondering where He-Man might be in all of this, I had the same question. The stories of those two were very intertwined in the 80s show, in fact heman and shera are TWINS, so for him to be completely absent is puzzling. As far as I know the rights to He-man do not belong to dreamworks, so this show has been developed independently.

While the show is not my absolute favorite I can clearly see that a lot of heart was placed into this reboot. It seems a lot less like a remake of the original story and more of a second draft of an idea that never really got the attention it deserved, which is something that can be said for a lot of reboots from the 80s, as opposed to the teen titans and ben 10 and power puff girls reboots that really just took already relatively serious ideas with highly praised storytelling and... destroyed them. utterly and entirely.

However if you truly are a fan of the original She-Ra in every single aspect of the series and are not comfortable with seeing it be different in this incarnation, then this show may not be for you.

But if you have enjoyed many of the cartoons that have been released in the past decade, particularly the retellings of things like transformers or voltron, you will most likely enjoy this show, and will be looking forward to the second season, just as I am.

This show is definitely not playing around, and there is no doubt it is an action show, and it is not afraid to show violence even if it is marketed towards girls. Despite being a netflix show it is intended to make most of its money through action figure and merch sales. I am very curious to see how well it can market itself through a streaming service. Thankfully the action figures are pretty good, even better than voltrons so far, and other merch such as the shirts are looking pretty great too.

Only time will tell. She-Ra will be on Netflix on November 13th!

#she ra #she-ra #she ra review #adora #catra

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themisterioso2000 · 6 years

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This mah TF2xAT ff idea partner

So, i'm a big fan of both Team Fortress 2 (or War Hat Simulator 2) and Adventure Time. And in my twisted twisted mind, i have a little idea of how, well more like who'd be on the team if it took place in the AT universe. Now, maybe one distant day, i'll do a Tf2-At crossover ff. But as for now, imma just list the characters.

Flame Princess as Scout: I know that many people were thinking "FP surely needs to be pyro" but not on my book. I mean, she is young at the time she has been cocky and well she had daddy issues. Also her elemental power can be use like some of Scout's abilities. Like double(or more) jumping, via creating an explosion at her feet while she's jumping, or the Bonk! ability, by eating a piece of coal (instead of drinking the Bonk!) and using the fuel rush to become pure flames.

Jungle Princess as Soldier: Well, many people barely even know of here but, when her design was first presented i totally fell in love with it. And since she doesn't have a personality, she can be whatever fans want in they AUs. I like to think that, she has a wacky silly personality like Soldier and well, since i think she lives in the Jungle, she'd probably have at least some militarylike survival abilities.

Dead princess as Pyro: I mean, duh. Back during the first seasons of the show, she was kinda creepy. When she got saved by Finn and Jake, she barely said a word. Also the fact that she has no skin, makes her sorta immune to afterburn.

Marceline the vampire Queen as the Demoman: Well this one is my favorite, she has been alive for a LOOOONG time so who's the one saying that she hasn't learn a thing or two about bombs. Also, come on, say the truth. If the game was like this, her Bass would totaly be the most wanted demoknight weapon and the Hambo the most wanted cosmetic.

Muscle princess as Heavyweapons guy: Well they're both big, muscly and like to workout. Sorry but i really like her just for this.

Princess Bubblegum as Engineer: One, she TOTALY would rock the texan outfit, two they are both smart and have a knack to build things. Also the medical spot was already taken.

Doctor Princess as Medic: I know tecnicaly it's PB the german between the two (no really she is german), but since she is a way better engie, the role falls to everyone favorite fake princess. Also i ship her with MP and i ship Med with Heavy so. Yeah.

Lumpy Space princess as Sniper: "*plop* Noice!" I've aged her a bit, now she's a reclusive moody teenager. She likes the team but prefers to stay alone. Also her relationship with her family is way different from the one of Sniper. Her parents do not approve her presence in to the team.

Ghost princess as Spy: She is a revived-ghost, so in my book she can turn invisible, fake her own death and become whoever she wants. Also she knows (in my AU) FP mother. So the Scout-Spy relationship is kinda "preserved".

Huntress Wizard as Ms. Pauling: She actualy snaced the place from Finn when she got re-introduced. No worries it's not a attempt to make a HWxFP ship. But i see here so fit to do the role of Ms. Pauling.

Finn the human as The Administrator: No he hasn't gone rougue, but it's actualy to make HW actions more real. Also he's temporanely out of the hero business, so he became the director of the team that the princesess formed.

Ice King as Merasmus: He doesn't chase after princesess anymore, he just wants a peacefull life in the Ice Kingdom. But when, due to an accident, JP moved in with him as his roommate, he got frustated by her silly and annoying behavor. So he attacked the team.

Well that is all folks, i hope you liked this little idea of mine. Let me know with a repost or a question your AU composition. Stay cool guys.

-with love Tm2 ❤

#teamfortress2 #tf2 #AU #adventure time #AT #tf2 scout #tf2 soldier #tf2 pyro #tf2 demoman #tf2 heavy #tf2 engineer #tf2 medic #tf2 sniper #tf2 spy #at finn #at pb #at marceline #at hw #at lsp

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