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Originally Posted by Kalyx triaD
I don't know where else to put this but the new She-Ra is alright. Doesn't really push any SJW malarkey other than certain aesthetics and character design. And everybody seems to be gay. Like, confirmed straight people seem to be rare. It's kinda funny how gay this world is. Probably why the population looks so sparse.
Adora's rival Catra is a standout villain. Adora herself hits all the tropes associated with being a chosen one, though still given a shocking amount of balancing traits. Not only is she not a Mary Sue, an episode pokes fun at her starting to think she is. Several episodes humble her, though that might be a case of 'Benching Superman' since given who her traditional brother is - she is still justifiably OP.
On the elephant in the room: A few references are made to Eternia, established as some other planet. And obviously Greyskull is in her morphing time chatch phrase. But no; specifics are not expanded upon on Eternia, Greyskull, or He-Man. In fact Adora is rebooted as an avatar for the She-Ra power, so she doesn't even need to be Adam's sister anymore.
The fabulous horse with the rainbow wings is back and I shit you not you will not believe in what way he will be used to satire, and who he satires. I legit laughed out loud. I'm not even sure he's actually satire, but I laughed.
As with a lot of content from female Progressive writers all the female characters kinda come off as socialite valley girls, but I'm not the target demo so eh. I'll live.
Decent show. |
I actually just watched this, and am aligned with most of what Kt's analysis is. Kinda funny about the needle burial on the gaydar given that people lost their shit about where Korra ended up or the supposed "homosexual agenda" of Steven Universe, and this seems like a "fuck you, we'll turn it up to 11!!!" response to all that. Hits every part of the spectrum from Project A-Ko undertones, to Kill La Kill intimation, to yeah totally Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune clear cut couples. That sailor dude is like the only serious 100% straight guy around, even with his over-the-top flaws... he feels like he was written to be the straight version of how gay guy characters were written to be in the 80s. Backing off, though, it seems kinda natural, given the fact that the ratio seems to be about 20 to 1. There are barely even guys IN THE BACKGROUND in the entirety of the show. And because of Bo's voice I immediately think of Wallow from Bravest Warriors, and as such, imagine he goes in every conceivable direction.
Outside of that, I did like the callbacks/easter eggs sprinkled around, like the Grizzlor cameo, or Razz making a comment about Loo-Kee "liking to hide". I was also one of those who was initally kind of down on the redesign; not because of the outcry of "where be the tits?" like many others, but she looked unimpressive from the promo pics. There was no scale. Seeing in scale the fact that she essentially She-Hulks and grows about a foot and a half taller, becomes meatier than Adora as opposed to just a palette swap, it looks a lot better in action than out of context. Also, here, EVERYONE knows she's She-Ra. It doesn't remain some "secret"; it is revealed to pretty much everyone at all times. Also, the transformation sequence seems to be a tad more Sailor Moon inspired than the OG source, and thankfully isn't done all the time.
To me, this feels almost on par with the '02 MotU reboot in that it makes the world and lore make a bit more sense. This She-Ra isn't a girls' "me too" for jumping on the He-Man cash cow like in the 80s. On that, as for the previous spoilery thing
it is possible in the future there may be that connection made, be it to Adora or one of the previous iterations of She-Ra, that there was some relation to He-Man. Hell, the Lighthope seems very much like Cortana as made by and in the image of The Sorceress.
If I had to make a guess this might be leaving the door open for possible crossover depending on how the next run of Masters of the Universe goes, what with the upcoming movie and all. Might be some wiggle room there to add a connection later, or leave it out 100% and continue doing its own thing, but it seems to be a deliberate hole left there either way.
Also, Hordak is kinda badass in a really understated way. He doesn't really do shit, but everyone is shook. They *show* the type of ability and fear Shadowweaver instills, and she "knows better" than to directly test him. He isn't flashy or speechy, but everyone is aware that he is in charge for a reason. I dig that.
I'm down for more of this, if they clean up some of the writing. Yes, I understand I'm clearly not the target demo, but the only problem I had with the show as a whole is how quickly some of the plot tone changes from "this show is for little kids, cut us some slack" to "kids are smart enough to understand and follow" and back again. On one hand, you have a 22 minute lesson learning bout of melodrama with something that should be easily solvable but, you know, for kids, so we can't make it complex... but then turn around with deep effects of manipulation and abuse that spans for the whole season and makes some of the relationships not as simple as hero vs villain. Seems like they should be able to manage that better, but it wasn't a total deal breaker for the watching... I mean it has some flaws, but it isn't like it was season 1 of Iron Fist.