#He's also got a voice role in Nimona | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

riririkinzi · 2 months

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NIMONA DEMON SLAYER AU HEADCANON TIME

Fic by our amazing @long-distance-muse

The hc are based on our convo with her and @mvjerbs

I'm just putting whatever HC I can think of,

For those who doesn't watch Demon slayer, this might contain spoilers from canon

- Nimona may have the role of Tanjiro but she's also got the personality Inosuke,

- When they were young, Bal founded Nimona when she was just a little girl that's been all alone, so he and Valerin took her in

- She used to have long dull red hair as a kid, but as a teen her hair got reddish pink from eating almost half of the sakura mochi, and that she doesn't want her hair to be a bothersome

- Since Nimona and Bal are one of the eldest children in the orphanage, they take turns on who's selling charcole and who's helping Valerin with the children

- Even as a Demon, Bal can still talk from the Bamboo muzzle but it's almost clear to understand like how people speak with their mouths covered from a hand, only Nimona , Meredith, Ambro and few others can understand him.

- For Ambrosius, he's willing to follow the family footsteps in becoming the next demon slayer in a long line of Hashiras

- Ambrosius being so unwilling to continue his great great Grandma’s legacy, but seeing Bal and finding something worth protecting

- Since in this au, Gloreth is his great great grandma and the strongest demon slayer/lightning hashira ever to existed

- Ambro is such a big simp on Bal, the moment he first look at him, that he stared drafting his wedding vows, poetry, Haikus, and songs about how beautiful and sweet Bal is

- Nimona wasn't so please to know that he's simping on her dad, especialy if he makes Bal nervous and runs from him that she'll chase Ambro down with her bare hands

- Ambrosius offering nimona that he would carry the box that Ballister sleeps in that Nimona gets pissed THEN chases him around with her katana

- One night, Nimona tries to sleep then suddenly she hears the box open, followed by ambrosius "annoying" voice going "Bal!" Then she wakes up and tries to choke him

- A silly scenario from @mvjerbs Ambrosius's crow tells him about his mission and unfortunately it's in the opposite direction to where nimona was assigned. He tries talking to his crow and at some point begging the crow to assign him with nimona. His crow did not relent and he walks away from nimona sulking.

- If you're wondering on what Bal's Ability would be is that he can turn apart of himself like stone or maybe metal just strengthening his body

- Since Bal lost his arm the moment before he got turned he had to kickbox and headbutt

- Ballister had to hold her in her sleep to stop her from jumping ambrosius, because her hatred for ambrosius was so bad it made her do sleep walking. And it always ends up with ambrosius getting choked in his sleep, one of them has to wake nimona up before she could successfully kill ambrosius

- Eversince the night that Bal got turned, Nimona became super protective and clingy. Like whenever Bal's out of the box, she'd always holds on to him, big or small

- Like any Parent or Elder sibling, Bal often worries for Nimona, but he fully supported her in becoming a demon slayer just to restore his humanity

- During night time, when Bal's awake, he makes sure Nimona's fed, bathe, takes her medication, and well rested. He still wants to look out for her moee than ever now that she's a demon slayer

- Bal would often scold Nimona by pulling their ear if she does anything rude, reckless or stupid

- Ambro adores Bal being smol and tiny that he always cuddled him as much as he could, even if he has to deal with Nimona's wrath. Infact everyone else adores Smol Bal

- You may think Bal's hair would smell awful through the growth but actually, he washes his hair everynight. Ambro just desperatly wanting to smell his wavy locks

- Anyone who dares to hurt or insult Bal, Nimona would either beat the shit out of them, like the scene when Bal got insulted for being ugly, She'd beat the shit out of them like there's no tomorrow

- Throught the arcs Bal's hair had grown longer, so Bal's shoulder length from the District arc, elbow length at the Swordsmith arc.

- Nimona always ties his hair not because he's one armed but she enjoys to do so, braiding, halfbun, and or ponytail, she'd even put flowers and pins on it, this will make Ambrosius crazy for Bal.

- If anyone's nice to him or anyone Bal cares about he'll pat your head as affection, if it's Nimona, she'll chop anyone's head off for you.

- Based on the Manga, the perverted tailor gave Bal a uniform that shows his tiddies, and ass, that it made Ambro nosebleed and Nimona burst into flames just to give Bal a decent one

- Since the death of Val and the orphans, she became so overprotective and quite clingy to Bal that if she can't find him in 10 minutes she bawls like a lost girl who can't fond her daddy, until she spots Bal and rans into him.

- From @long-distance-muse The night Ambro met Bal, he secretly starting writing love poems, haikus, songs and drafted wedding vows to

- At night when Ambro sleeps, he always dreams of him and Bal getting married and frolic through the flowers just like Zenitzu and Nezuko in the Train arc.

- For those who wants to know how Ambro got his a hair colored, the ideas from @mvjerbs during the becoming, Ambro must attend the ritual in order to began his demon slayer career, then he stands on the rock, he thought he'll get his hair dyed but his mom explained that it's not dyed just changed. Cause the lightning will change his hair color, once the lightning strucks him. Once his hair was blonde the family cheered and tend to carry Ambro to continue the celebration.

- I had this super cute senario, when Ambro was cuddling Bal in his smol body, he had to look around to check if Nimona's around and once the coast is clear, he gently kisses Bal's forehead and continues to do so until Nimona burst into the room pulling out her Katanna and chases Ambro down.

- Nimona had to make sure Ambro isn't in the same hot spring with Bal.

- Ambrosous would chase Bal, calling him "BALLISTER CHAAAAAAANN!!" Over and over with glee😙😚🤤🥰☺☺😙😚🥰🤤.

#nimona #ballister boldheart #ambrosius goldenloin #ballister x ambrosius #ambrosius x ballister #goldenheart #au #nimona x demon slayer #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #headcanon

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floxu · 7 months

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Nimona ramblings

If Nimona were to join or make a band, she would be perfect for any of the roles: She could rock the guitar if she really wanted to, she would be moving and flying around in that case and be free while paying. By being the drummer, she would be hammering down on the drums and could do it as fast or slow she wants. By being the bass player, she would be playing that so hard and make the bass pop in the music As the main singer she could alter her voice in literally any way and sing any tone or pitch, and just be so sick. Metal shrieks? you got it. Soft chorus? You bet she'd sing SO soft. High pitch? No problem she gets it no prob.

For Ballister, he would probably be the bass or jazz player, possibly even guitar, seeing how he's so good at swinging his sword he would definitely be good at swinging his arms on a guitar or bass.

Ambrosius I think would prefer the guitar as well, as he has a lot of energy he could get out through the guitar playing, his training would also have prepared him a bit for the guitar. lol

Diego would be either bass or drums.

However I would love to hear what people think about each, who would most likely pick what in a band! Please do tell, and also about other characters if you have thoughts :]

#nimona #nimona headcanon #nd stevenson #nimona movie #nimona novel #ambrosious goldenloin #ballister blackheart #ballister boldheart #diego the squire

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symeraid-s · 3 months

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2023 Retrospective: TV Shows, Movies and other Music

This is not being ranked. I’m just gonna talk about TV Shows and Movies I watched this year, as well as one artist that released a banger album, which I could not fit in anywhere else. So, let’s start out with:

Other Music

Måneskin

Yeah, the RUSH! Album is really fantastic. I don’t really know what to tell you. GOSSIP was randomly recommended to me, and I couldn’t stop listening to the entire album afterwards. My favourite song of it right now is probably either OWN MY MIND of GASOLINE, but it is a great all round package. If you like rock music, I really recommend you check this out.

TV Shows and Movies

Kamen Rider Geats

Technically this show started in 2022, but it finished in 2023, so I’ll count it regardless. This was the first Kamen Rider Season I watched while airing and honestly? I don’t regret it. It’s probably not my favourite Kamen Rider Season, that title will most likely remain with Build for a while, but God damn, is Ace just a fun main rider to watch. Because I can’t deny it: I love it when a character is an asshole with a heart of gold. He also gives me gender envy. I also really like the design of the rider forms (particularly Geats Mach 2 and Nago Fantasy) and the fact that there are multiple female riders that get a lot of screen time throughout the entire season. The fandom got really weird for a while though, which was not enjoyable. But hey, I guess that’s just normal with Toku shows.

Oppenheimer

Yeah, this might be one of the best directed movies I have ever seen. It’s 3 Hours of talking, but it never drags, and it never feels like anything should have been left on the cutting room floor. Cillian Murphy is also really fantastic as Oppenheimer, and I really hope he finally wins an Oscar for this movie. He would absolutely deserve it.

Barbie

It only feels right to put this one after Oppenheimer. I didn’t like it as much, but it certainly was one of the most movies to ever movie. I wish it had been a bit campier and actually stuck with the commentary they were doing, because it does backpedal at the end, when it gets to Mattel. It’s still their product after all, so you can’t portray them as irredeemable villains, but they really got of way too easy. Just saying. The set and costume design is off the charts though and Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are fantastic in their respective roles.

Nimona

This movie is just a delight to watch. It’ll make you laugh, but it’ll also emotionally destroy you and leave you weeping in a puddle by the end. According to fans of the graphic novel, it deviates a lot from the actual ending, but I really loved the conclusion, so I can’t complain too much about that. All of the voice actors did a fantastic job and the chemistry between the characters is perfect.

Bokura no Shokutaku/Our Dining Table

The Toku to BL pipeline is going strong with two main riders starring in this show. Both Iijima Hiroki and Inukai Atsuhiro are absolutely fantastic in this show and at this point I don’t know why I’m still surprised with Inukai’s performances. He always gives 200%. This show is really wholesome, but also sad. It explores how trauma can stem from the seemingly smallest thing, which is something that really needs to be explored more in media. It’s probably one of my favourite shows this year.

Heartstopper Season 2

The second season diverges a lot from the Webtoon, but in a good way. It expands the universe, so to say. It also starts to deal with more serious themes yet keeps you in this bubble of queer warmth which is beautiful. There is also a canon asexual character, so that’s also a win. My favourite character this season was Tao. Mostly because every time he opens his mouth I think: “He’s just like me for real.” William Gao really does a great job.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Amongst Thieves

This is just a really good fantasy movie, regardless of if you play DnD. I watched this one together with my DnD party though, which was really hilarious, because our DM constantly went: “You are just as stupid as them”. Aside from that, the technical aspects of this movie are also really great. The practical effects are really stunning and the VFX look just as good. Chris Pine is also the best Hollywood Chris.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

I watched this movie together with my colleagues because the company I work for contributed the COVID tests for the filming done in Germany. So, whenever we recognised a set, we would immediately point it out. Some shots from District 12 and the Capitol were filmed in Duisburg and Berlin respectively, in case anyone is interested. But yeah, I wouldn’t have watched this movie, if it wasn’t for that. To be fair, the performances were really good, and I liked the songs, but it does kind off feel… weird. Like, some of the plot advancements seem contrived.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

My father is a big fan of the franchise and Harrison Ford, so he dragged me and my mother to see this movie. It was not the worst, but god, was it a drag at times. The entire opening scene, where they de-aged Harrison Ford was so badly lit, that I almost couldn’t see any of the action. The main villain’s plan doesn’t make any sense. The ending seems purposefully left open, even though we don’t want or need a new movie. I can’t believe I’d say this, but just let Indy die.

#disclaimer: just my opinion #2023 retrospective #maneskin #kamen rider geats #oppenheimer #barbie #barbenheimer #nimona #bokura no shokutaku #our dining table #heartstopper #dungeons and dragons honor amongst thieves #the hunger games #indiana jones #final part

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a34trgv2 · 2 years

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I posted 47 times in 2021

42 posts created (89%)

5 posts reblogged (11%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.1 posts.

I added 257 tags in 2021

#share - 43 posts

#like - 43 posts

#follow - 43 posts

#reblog - 43 posts

#animation - 28 posts

#comedy - 20 posts

#review - 12 posts

#imdb.com - 10 posts

#cartoon network - 9 posts

#disney - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 29 characters

#the mitchells vs the machines

My Top Posts in 2021

Why It Worked: The Princess and The Frog

Introduction: The Princess and The Frog is an animated musical fantasy romantic comedy film. Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, the film stars Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jim Cummings, Jennifer Lewis, Jennifer Cody, John Goodman, Oprah Winfrey and Terrence Howard. The film was released on December 11, 2009 and recieved very positive reviews from critics and audiences (85% of 200 reviews agregated by Rotten Tomatoes gave an average rating of 7.4/10). The film grossed $269 million on a budget of $105 million. For the past decade, I've grown to love this movie more and more with each passing year. Having rewatched it recently, I now firmly believe this is one of Disney's best films. In this post, I'd like to go into detail as to why.

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37 notes • Posted 2021-04-20 16:31:40 GMT

Blue Sky Studios's adaptation of Noelle Stevenson's Nimona would've been completed this month and be released on January 14, 2022 had they not closed their doors earlier this year. If I was an executive at Disney and if it were financially feasible, I would've kept Blue Sky open for at least 1 more year just so they could finish this film. Sad it got shelved :(

43 notes • Posted 2021-10-04 20:49:17 GMT

The Problem With Grown Men Voicing Boys In Cartoons

When watching a cartoon, suspension of disbelief is often required to be invested in the conflict. However, everyone has their pet peeve that breaks that suspension and sours the experience overall. For me it's whenever a little boy opens his mouth and he sounds like a man in his 30s. In this post, I'm going to go into a deep dive into why I don't like this creative decision in general as well as discuss the exceptions to the rule.

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53 notes • Posted 2021-05-08 05:30:54 GMT

In Defense of Onward

"It was good, but it wasn't as good as Pixar's other films."

This is the common assessment when it comes to some of Pixar's recent output. While I don't have a problem with people prefering one film over another, it does irk me a bit when a film is seen as lesser than it's contemporaries. Onward is the most recent example of this and I don't think it's deserving of the reputation it has gotten. While generally people liked it, for the most part they thought it was weak compared to the likes of Wall-E, or Inside Out, or The Incredibles. I never agreed with that assessment and in this post I'd like to explain why.

The story appears straight forward but takes unique turns that ultimately ends in a great conclusion. Ian and Barley are given the chance to see their late father again when their Dad leaves behind a wizard staff, a phoenix gem and a spell that could bring him back for one day. Ian casts a spell, but didn't complete it due to a lack of balance and now only their Dad's legs are back. Thus Ian and Barley set out on a quest to find another phoenix gem to bring their Dad back completely before time runs out. Throughout the journey Ian learns how to better control his use of magic and along the way learns how to be more confident in his everyday life, such as learning to drive and not being afriad to have some fun. This comes to a head towards the end when Ian realizes that while he never had a Dad, he had Barley to fill in that role. In addition to strong emotional moments, there's also moments of genuine humor such as Ian and Barley's Dad unashamedly dancing terribly to Corey paralyzing a stingy pawn shop owner. I also really like rhe score composed by Mychael and Jeff Danna as it has a medieval yet also modern feel and the inclusion of a choir was a nice touch.

It's worth noting that the film more than utilizes its setting to tell this story. Set in a modern fantasy world, Onward sets itself apart from movies and TV shows in the same genre by having no humans in sight. Instead this world is populated by elves, centaurs, pixies, mermaids, cyclopses and many more. Many elements from our modern reality are reshaped to accommodate theit reality such as the residents of New Mushroomton living in mushroom houses, a group of pixie operating a motorcycle, a custome made police car for centaurs and many more. This world feels very much liver in and gives the characters a nice place to reside.

Speaking of characters, I think the characters were all well rounded and likable, lovable even. Starting with Ian, he's very much a typical teenager who's socially awkward, gets nervous behind the wheel and very much wants things to be normal. And yet he's also funny, has a willingness to learn and becomes more brave and confident as the film progresses. This is all thanks to his older brother, Barley who is very much Ian's opposite. Barley is very confident, very knowledgeable in quest lore and has Ian's back through thick and thin. Their Mom, Laurel, is also a great character as she's brave and strong like Barley, yet smart and compassionate much like Ian. I especially like how she's willing to risk her life to save her boys during the climax like a true mother. The manticore, Corey, was such a fun character because she started off just nervous and busy but once she realizes her true calling, she becomes Laurel's smart and funny partner in finding Ian and Barley. I also gotta give a shout out to Officer Colt Bronco for being a considerate yet firm step-father to Ian and Barley and a good boyfriend to Laurel.

What truly brings the characters to life though is the excellent voice acting. Tom Holland once again adopts an American accent for this part, yet Ian never felt like another Peter Parker or Walter Beckett (from Spies in Disguise). Holland made Ian sound like a believable socially awkward teen who grows to become brave and confident as the film progresses. Chris Pratt nails the personality of Barley, making him sound very boisterous and confident. Pratt and Holland's chemistry is also very believable and every scene Ian and Barley are in, you buy that they're brothers who care for one another. Julia Louis-Dreyfus (who previously played Princess Atta in A Bug's Life) perfect brought out the personality of Laurel as she sounded lively and like a real mother who cares about her boys. I also thought Octavia Spencer did a terrific job voicing Corey as she made her transition from nervous to fearless feel very natural. Mel Rodriguez also did a great job voicing Colt Bronco, as he sounds like an earnest man who takes his job seriously and likes cracking jokes with his step-sons.

It's no secret that Pixar movies have excellent animation and this film is no different. The textures and environments feel so believeable and life like and the character designs are all very unique and creative. The character animation is fluid and flows naturally and is believeable rendered. This is especially true during the climax where our heroes fight a dragon made of debris kept together by red smoke. One element about the animation that really impressed me was how they brought the legs of Ian and Barley's Dad to life. Given that there's no top half to him, the animators at Pixar had to figure out how a pair of legs would move. What they did was they put an actor in half a green suit and have him move around in front of a green screen as reference. This resulted in some of the funniest moments in the film, particularly when Ian and Barley are dancing with him.

One important element about this film that not many people know about is that this story is very personal to the film's director. Dan Scanlon made this film as a semi-biographical piece based on his childhood and how he never got the chance to meet his late father. The scene in which Ian is listening to an audio tape of his Dad is ripped straight out of the real life moment when Dan discovered an audio tape of his Dad. This is the heart and soul if the story as Ian and Barley go on a quest to bring their late father back for just one more day. Personally, while I can't fully relate of Dan as I'm blessed to have been raised by my Dad since birth, I definitely empathizing with him and feel the passion he had for telling this story.

Overall, I think Onward is great in its own right and doesn't need to be held to the standard of Pixar's other films. It tells a personal story very well with likable characters, unique world building, great voice acting, spectacular animation and a beautiful score. I think more people should give it a watch as many passed on it because many reviews said it was "good, but not great." Also it came out when theaters were closing due to the pandemic and had to be put on Disney+ less than a month after it's initial release. So if you have Disney+, feel free to check it out. You might be pleasantly surprised.

75 notes • Posted 2021-03-07 02:21:03 GMT

Blue Sky Studios Was A Treasure

When it was announced that Blue Sky Studios would be closing its doors, not gonna lie, I was actually sad. I thought Spies In Disguise was great and was looking forward to their next film. While it is unfortunate that Blue Sky Studios is no longer in business, I think we should take the time to remember how they left their mark on the animation industry. Having rewatched all their films, I'm actually surprised how good, great even, they all are and even more surprised that they aren't talked about enough. So, let's fix that by going through them all in this post.

Starting off with a film I initially thought was good albeit a bit formulaic, Rio holds up much better than I originally gave it credit for. Blu and Jewel have great chemistry with one another and throughout the film I was rooting for them to actually be together. Nigel is also a great villain who just relishes in how dastardly he is and provides a genuine threat to our heroes. I also thought the songs were upbeat and catchy, particularly Hot Wings and Pretty Bird. Like I occasionally hum these songs to myself often and gladly sing along whenever they play onscreen. I also thought it was really funny, particularly Tulio who’s just so eccentric and over the top. What really sells this film is the way Rio de Janeiro is brought to life through Blue Sky’s amazing animation. Like dude! I actually want to take a trip to Rio because to this film alone.

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366 notes • Posted 2021-06-01 07:13:31 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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jennaschererwrites · 4 years

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Inside the Groundbreaking Queer Reboot of ‘She-Ra’ | Rolling Stone

We’re all shaped by the myths we grow up with, whether it’s the stories we learn from holy books or Saturday morning cartoons. Kids who see themselves as the hero learn to center themselves in their own life stories. Kids who see their experiences relegated to the sidelines, or not represented at all, come away with a very different lesson — one that can take years to unlearn.

Which is exactly what makes a show like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power so vital. Since its premiere in 2018, Noelle Stevenson’s reboot of the cult Eighties cartoon has joined a revolution in the world of children’s animation, combining classic genre storytelling with diverse representation and a progressive worldview (see also: Nickelodeon’s The Legend of Korra, Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time and Steven Universe). In its fifth and final season, which dropped on Netflix last month, She-Ra rounded out its 52-episode run by centering a queer romance — specifically, between its hero, Adora, and her best frenemy Catra — and positing that such a love can, quite literally, save the world.

“I knew from the start that it wasn’t going to be easy,” says Stevenson, speaking via phone from Los Angeles. “Because this is She-Ra. To have the culmination of her arc be this lesbian love plot is a big deal! And I understood that. But I also felt that it was really important.”

The original She-Ra: Princess of Power was a 1985 Filmation spin-off of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which itself was based on a line of Mattel action figures. Set on the planet of Etheria, She-Ra follows a band of magical princesses in their rebellion against the Evil Horde, a totalitarian sci-fi regime bent on global domination. Adora is an ex-Horde soldier who joins the rebellion after she gains the ability to transform into She-Ra, a superpowered Chosen One with glowing blue eyes, a mystical sword, and a very cool outfit.

In 2015, when Stevenson, then 23, found out that DreamWorks Animation was looking for someone to pitch a new take on She-Ra, she jumped at the chance. She was already an Eisner Award-winning cartoonist and writer who had made a name for herself with works like her web comic-turned-graphic novel Nimona and the Boom! Studios series Lumberjanes.

“The world [of She-Ra] is so incredibly vibrant, and has so many powerful female characters. It’s this world that has all my interests rolled into one: It’s got the flying ponies and superpowers and all of these things that, immediately, I was like, ‘I want to do this. I want to be the one to do this,’” she says.

While Stevenson’s reimagination of the world of Etheria pays tribute to its predecessor, it includes some key differences. The reboot transforms the musclebound, scantily-clad grownups of the original series into awkward teens in much more practical (but still very sparkly) clothing. In addition to embracing a diversity of races, genders, and body types, the She-Ra reboot fleshes out the characters and their backstories, giving them fully-fledged arcs and complicating the good/evil binary of the original. The princesses of the rebellion aren’t simply heroic, and the soldiers of the Horde aren’t simply villains; everyone’s just a human being (or scorpion person or alien clone or flying horse, as the case may be) trying to make their way in a world that doesn’t offer easy solutions. It’s also, incidentally, really funny.

For Stevenson, it was crucial that the characters felt three-dimensional, and that it was their choices that guided the direction of the storytelling. “The characters all began with a deep personal flaw, and the process of making the show was kind of giving them the room to process those flaws. But we wanted it to feel organic. We wanted the characters to feel like real people that we knew,” she explains.

From the start, She-Ra’s most compelling tension was always between Adora (Aimee Carrero) and Catra (AJ Michalka), Adora’s childhood best friend who becomes her bitterest rival after Adora leaves the Horde to join the rebellion. In the show’s first four seasons, the two continually fight and reconcile and break apart again, their obsession with each other marking them as something more than frenemies.

“It’s a dynamic that I find really interesting: the attraction and the tension between the villain and the hero, especially when they know each other better than anyone. They love each other, but there’s something between them that cannot be overcome,” Stevenson says.

Stevenson always knew that she wanted the relationship between Catra and Adora to be a romantic one; but she had to walk a fine line, because she didn’t know if the studio would give her the go-ahead to put an explicitly lesbian love story front and center. At first, as in Steven Universe, Rebecca Sugar’s radically progressive series that aired its final episodes earlier this year, she steeped the world of the She-Ra reboot in queerness. The show features multiple side characters in same-sex relationships, characters who flout traditional gender roles, and even a nonbinary character (Double Trouble, voiced by transgender writer and activist Jacob Tobia).

Still, Stevenson, herself a gay woman, wanted young viewers to be able to see a queer relationship that wasn’t just incidental, but central to the plot of the entire series. “I’ve loved these stories my entire life, you know? I was a huge Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fan as a kid. But there weren’t a lot of characters that I felt personally represented by,” she says. “We love what makes these stories classic, but we’ve seen them all culminate in the same kind of romance so many times: The hero gets the girl, he gets the kiss, and then he saves the world. And it’s not just [swapping] the man and the woman for two women. You have to actually approach it from a standpoint of: How do you make these stories, at their roots, queer?

“So that’s what I was trying to do — for little queer kids to see that this is normal, that these are stories that can happen and that exist, and that can center them and make them feel seen and understood.”

Whether or not Adora and Catra’s romance would become canonical was in the hands of the studio, and it was a risk Stevenson couldn’t be sure it would be willing to take. So the show played a long game — hinting at a romantic dynamic between the two without making it explicit, for fear of disappointing fans in the end if they weren’t able to deliver. Fortunately, a groundswell of viewer support for a potential relationship between the characters — a phenomenon known in the fan community as “shipping” — allowed Stevenson to make a case to the studio for supporting the story she wanted to tell with She-Ra.

“Just as I had hoped, people started picking up on this tension and getting really passionate about it,” she says. “It was immediately one of the strongest fandom ships right out of the gate. And that was when I finally showed my hand and was like, ‘Look. We’ve got a bunch of people who, just off Season One, are really, really excited about the gay representation in this show. I have been planning for this. And here’s how it needs to end, and not just because I want a moment that everyone’s gonna talk about. It’s the logical conclusion of both their character arcs. They need each other.’”

Finally, after years of hedging their bets, Stevenson and her collaborators got the go-ahead from DreamWorks. “I really wanted it to be so central to the plot that if at any point they were like, ‘Oh, we changed our minds, we want to take it out again,’ they wouldn’t be able to, because it would be so baked in,” she explains. “The temperature is not always right, and depending on what’s happening in the world, not everyone wants to be the studio that sticks their neck out and makes a statement like this. You will get a flat ‘no’ sometimes. But if you bide your time, or you come at it from another angle, that can change. You just have to keep pushing.”

Feedback for the conclusion of She-Ra has been overwhelmingly positive both from critics and fans. Viewer support has been pouring out in the form of social media posts, YouTube reaction videos, and fan art and fan fiction. Stevenson, who first made a name for herself online with Lord of the Rings and Avengers fan art, has been blown away by the support from She-Ra lovers. “That’s how you know that you’re successful at what you set out to do — if people are getting inspired by the stories that you’re telling. I think that that’s the beauty of fan work, is that it’s an evolution of the genre. We take that inspiration and create something new all the time.”

Unfettered by restrictions, the final season of She-Ra is a tightly plotted, character-driven masterwork, featuring a slow-burn redemption arc, a harrowing villain, and a timely message about the power of love and unity against the forces of repression and tyranny. It’s a show about becoming kinder and more open in the face of unrelenting darkness, about banding together to prepare for the worst, but always hoping for the best in spite of overwhelming odds.

Stevenson says that she and her team began work on She-Ra in the aftermath of the 2016 election. “The veil was ripped off, and we had to reckon with a world that we hadn’t expected. And that theme of relying on each other and being stronger together became so much more relevant,” she recalls. “I remember writing one script after a particularly bad news day where it just felt like nothing was ever going to be OK again. It’s an episode where Adora realizes that there are supposed to be stars in the sky, and there aren’t any more stars. And as Aimee [Carrero] was recording the lines, she was crying, and we were crying, because we were all experiencing this together — the idea that things were changing in maybe irreparable ways.”

The refrain of She-Ra’s catchy-as-hell power-pop theme song is “We must be strong, and we must be brave.” According to Stevenson, that’s easier said than done; but the whole point of the series is that you have to try anyway. It’s a message that rings especially true at this moment in our world when it seems like everything is spinning out of control, and it’s all too easy to feel helpless.

“It always comes back to this — when you realize that there’s a great evil or a great darkness that won’t just go away from one fight,” Stevenson says. “It boils up, and it can be pushed back down, but it’s something that we’ll probably have to be fighting for the rest of our lives. That’s really hard to do, and it makes you really tired sometimes, and it can be really scary. But when you are surrounded by the people that you love, and when you have that love for the people around you, then that strength is possible.”

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