She-Ra and the Princesses of Power |OT| Sword to Reboot!

[I KILL PXLS]

The characters are fun and the basic plot is sort of engaging but for an action show it's not so good in that regard. Even basic animation looks extremely low budget.

Why does Netflix insist that all these animated shows have the budget of like one episode of Avatar?

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I think this is an issue specific to this show. Voltron which is a good parallel for example looks fine and has some awesome scenes. Castlevania has some pretty amazing moments of animation too and looks fine the rest of the time. She-Ra on the other hand kind of looks amateur throughout and never really has any high points.

 

[ObbyDent]

I think this is an issue specific to this show. Voltron which is a good parallel for example looks fine and has some awesome scenes. Castlevania has some pretty amazing moments of animation too and looks fine the rest of the time. She-Ra on the other hand kind of looks amateur throughout and never really has any high points.

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I think the only animated show that doesn't look like garbage is Voltron and that's because it's Studio Mir. Dragon Prince and all the animes looks so bad.

 

[I KILL PXLS]

I think the only animated show that doesn't look like garbage is Voltron and that's because it's Studio Mir. Dragon Prince and all the animes looks so bad.

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Yeah, I just disagree. I can kind of agree on Dragon Prince, though it's specific issue is framerate, but Castlevania looks fine most of the time and has some amazing action scenes. Like in what world is this garbage?

Spoiler: Castlevania Season 2 spoilers

I can't put She-Ra in the same league as that and even Voltron's action scenes never reach this level (though I'll admit it spreads it's quality a little more evenly throughout).

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

I tried. I really tried to come at it with an open mind. There were some bits of animation I liked. But a whole lot of it just feels flat and forced. I realize it isn't meant for me and if some kids get into, that's great... but at times it just felt like they wished they were making a different show.

Also the shipping illustrations of 12 year olds can stop.

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It's still creepy and wrong but the characters minus Frosta are all older than that, Glimmer is like 14/15, Adora and Catra 16/17 and Bow somewhere in between... Sea Hawk though had gotta be at least in his early 20s so those shippers with Bow really need to step the fuck back. It's still gross and embarrassing considering they're underage teenagers in a show primarily targeting 8 year olds, especially after that mess of manufactured outrage of the new She-Ra not bring "sexy" for certain dudes.

I know they won't though because there's a huge lack of self awareness.

As for the animation, the show clearly had a low budget even for modern animation standards. I was more annoyed with the scene consistency issues. Most notably She-Ra's size and the sword being on Adora's back.

 

[Lump]

Sea Hawk though had gotta be at least in his early 20s so those shippers with Bow really need to step the fuck back. It's still gross and embarrassing considering they're underage teenagers in a show primarily targeting 8 year olds, especially after that mess of manufactured outrage of the new She-Ra not bring "sexy" for certain dudes.

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At least they didn't go with the original show on shipping Adora / Sea Hawk.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

At least they didn't go with the original show on shipping Adora / Sea Hawk.

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I've actually seen some complaints about Adora/Sea Hawk not being a thing in this version but like naaah, really don't need that buuuut while I'm not sure how old Sea Hawk was in the original at least Adora was an adult. Bow in this version having a potential "mancrush" or crush crush on Sea Hawk is kind of fitting when you consider that the original Bow and Sea Hawk were both inspired/influenced by Errol Flynn, hell the name is directly taken from an Errol Flynn movie.

 

[umbrella corp.]

Oh nice, I didnt know. Ill get this for my daughter, I was a huge he-man fan when I was young. Hopefully they'll do a he-man reboot as well.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Forgot to mention, but one thing I'm definitely not a fan of is how everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) among the rebels knows that Adora is She-Ra, yet for some reason it's supposed to be a secret for the Horde. It definitely doesn't work, because there's way too much compromise and high chance of the secret getting leaked. So far until where I am in the series (Episode 6), the only one who knows form the bad guys is Catra, and it makes sense she won't spill it since she likely doesn't want to throw Adora under the bus, but then we get a scene with Shadow Weaver watching fighting footage of Adora and She-Ra and not making the connection they're the same person... it just looks stupid.

I liked how in the original series, only a few selected people knew the secret, like the animal companion (Battlecat/Swift Wind), someone with a high power (Sorceress/Light Hope), someone close to the hero/heroine (Mat-At-Arms/Madame Razz), and the comedy relief character (Orko/Kowl), plus Loo-kee in the episode where he broke his gimmick. It made the secret identity thing more special and allowed the writers to challenge themselves on certain scenarios. Now Adora just goes around transforming in front of everyone, and as I said, it just doesn't work.

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I don't think it's a really meant to be a secret to anybody, Shadow Weaver doesn't need to make a connection because she almost certainly knows which would explain why she deems Adora so important since in this version it's looking like she kidnapped Adora instead of Hordak and probably for the purpose of training her to overthrow him. The others not knowing is kind of irrelevant and really it was only a secret in the original because of He-Man, it was kind of dumb that at least Bow and Glimmer didn't know. While I think He-Man had a greater reason to have it be a secret due to his being more directly in Skeletor's way in the original it didn't work very well because of the budget limitations forcing them to just make Prince Adam a pallet swap of He-Man. Then you have the fact that their swords are exactly the same, that's like Clark Kent with his cape out.

Besides it hasn't been a secret in the comics for a while from what I understand... I really need to get around to checking those out.

Oh nice, I didnt know. Ill get this for my daughter, I was a huge he-man fan when I was young. Hopefully they'll do a he-man reboot as well.

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Unfortunately Dreamworks doesn't apparently have the rights to MOTU though if this is successful hopefully something will get worked out and I guess some of the restrictions did get relaxed some since originally they could only use Hordak and He-Man but then the show has other Horde characters show up. It's fitting that Catra so far is the central antagonist considering that was meant to be her role in the original show until they moved Hordak and the Horde over to She-Ra. I do wonder if the He-Man movie that's been stuck in development hell for like nearly 20 years is an issue now. At least we got the 2002 reboot even if it ended way too soon.

 

[Deleted member 9479]

It's still creepy and wrong but the characters minus Frosta are all older than that, Glimmer is like 14/15, Adora and Catra 16/17 and Bow somewhere in between... Sea Hawk though had gotta be at least in his early 20s so those shippers with Bow really need to step the fuck back. It's still gross and embarrassing considering they're underage teenagers in a show primarily targeting 8 year olds, especially after that mess of manufactured outrage of the new She-Ra not bring "sexy" for certain dudes.

I know they won't though because there's a huge lack of self awareness.

As for the animation, the show clearly had a low budget even for modern animation standards. I was more annoyed with the scene consistency issues. Most notably She-Ra's size and the sword being on Adora's back.

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I'm not buying Adora and Catra as anything over 14 tbqh.

 

[SolicitorPirate]

This is the fucking best

 

[Norwegian Rudo]

I'm not buying Adora and Catra as anything over 14 tbqh.

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According to the showrunner they're 17-18.

 

[PanzerKraken]

I think this is an issue specific to this show. Voltron which is a good parallel for example looks fine and has some awesome scenes. Castlevania has some pretty amazing moments of animation too and looks fine the rest of the time. She-Ra on the other hand kind of looks amateur throughout and never really has any high points.

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I think that its more about the target audience. She-Ra feels like it's target is a younger audience, where really they can skimp on animation budget. Voltron really has a higher demo fan base and also was made to target old school fans as well, so there is a big more effort.

Really old school She-Ra was not the best, most shows for kids had awful animation, kids aren't as critical .

 

[spookyduzt]

This is the fucking best

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[Deleted member 9135]

Build up and reveal of She-Ra could have been better executed. Was hoping not to see the character re emerge after 30 something years by having her fight a giant bug or whatever it was

 

[I KILL PXLS]

I think that its more about the target audience. She-Ra feels like it's target is a younger audience, where really they can skimp on animation budget. Voltron really has a higher demo fan base and also was made to target old school fans as well, so there is a big more effort.

Really old school She-Ra was not the best, most shows for kids had awful animation, kids aren't as critical .

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Though you're not wrong, I think the show also compares pretty badly to other similar shows aimed at kids. Steven Universe and Teen Titans Go for example animate well and have well animated action. I really don't think this show is skimping on that just because they can get away with it otherwise there wouldn't be so much obvious and well done effort in the other aspects.

 

[Klyka]

I think it's pretty obvious the series doesn't have the biggest budget.

 

[Deleted member 9479]

According to the showrunner they're 17-18.

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He could say they are thousand year old dragons too.

 

[Finaj]

He could say they are thousand year old dragons too.

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*She

Also, does anyone know the ages of She-ra/Catra in the original series? Both of them look like their in their late 20s/early 30s.

 

[Deleted member 9479]

*She

Also, does anyone know the ages of She-ra/Catra in the original series? Both of them look like their in their late 20s/early 30s.

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She: my mistake.

Catra I don't know but recent discussions, to many people's surprise at the time, indicated Adam and Adora were meant to be 16. Similarly ridiculous, just in the other way. To me those characters were in their 20s at least just because of how they looked and statements from show runners to the contrary have little effect on that perception.

 

[Lump]

These thumbnails. They know what they're doing.

 

[Finaj]

It'd have more buildup/sexual tension than Korrasami (that being said, Korrasami is still being developed in the comics and it's nice to see the creators didn't just leave it at the end of book 4).

 

[Deleted member 8860]

These thumbnails. They know what they're doing.

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More specifically, they know exactly what you're doing.

 

[Joeytj]

Really fun so far, and I'm liking it more than Dragon Prince or even the first seasons of Voltron. BUT, that animation really brings it down.

Hope it improves in season 2 (if they get one).

I get embarrassed sometimes with some scenes with them talking about princesses and all, but then it makes me laugh with some great humor and all if forgiven (or I forgive myself, lol).

But yeah, hope the animation improves.

 

[ObbyDent]

Really fun so far, and I'm liking it more than Dragon Prince or even the first seasons of Voltron. BUT, that animation really brings it down.

Hope it improves in season 2 (if they get one).

I get embarrassed sometimes with some scenes with them talking about princesses and all, but then it makes me laugh with some great humor and all if forgiven (or I forgive myself, lol).

But yeah, hope the animation improves.

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How oldare you?

 

[PSqueak]

Finished this, i think i can only say the one thing i didn't like was Mermista's personality, it's kinda a mood killer and very dissonant with what happened to her kingdom, i didn't find this problem with the other princesses even tho all of them (save for Frosta) were supposed to have kooky personalities.

I guess it also peeved me a little that the princesses unceremoniously declared Entrapta dead with little to no evidence, i mean there is "the audience knows they won't kill her off so soon", but this was stretched beyond disbilief, i understand that they sort of needed a reason for them to not come back for her so she could join Catra's team, but i mean, come on.

Overall the show is crazy good, and i love how the lore brings tons of implications if you watched the original He-man and She-Ra runs.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

*She

Also, does anyone know the ages of She-ra/Catra in the original series? Both of them look like their in their late 20s/early 30s.

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She: my mistake.

Catra I don't know but recent discussions, to many people's surprise at the time, indicated Adam and Adora were meant to be 16. Similarly ridiculous, just in the other way. To me those characters were in their 20s at least just because of how they looked and statements from show runners to the contrary have little effect on that perception.

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Adora was 19 at the start because Adam got his sword on his 18th birthday and there was an episode where he had his 19th birthday and then in the Christmas special a few months after She-Ra premiered they had their first birthday together. Catra is most likely close to Adora's age since she was meant to be Adora/She-Ra's primary rival. IIRC there was some early plan of making Adam 16 but it was dropped, that was probably dropped in part when they decided to just make him a recoloring of He-Man instead of younger/smaller looking. The 2002 reboot picked it up and had him get the sword on his 16th birthday along with properly making the transformation more Shazam like as it was intended.



Speaking of Prince Adam I was thinking that if they ever do get to explore that story it'd probably be a good idea to not use the memory wipe gimmick and have Randor and Marlena be super protective of him because of Adora's kidnapping.

 

[PSqueak]

Speaking of Prince Adam I was thinking that if they ever do get to explore that story it'd probably be a good idea to not use the memory wipe gimmick and have Randor and Marlena be super protective of him because of Adora's kidnapping.

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Since now we have She-Ra's story happening first, my theory of what they will do is something like this, Eternia will turn out to be a planet so distant and advanced that it hasn't seen war for eons, Skeletor is part of an advance Horde scout force that will be the first time (since Adora's kidnapping) that they face the Horde, not sure of what threat they pose. Adam will be a prince that has never faced conflict before so upon meeting, Adora (who by then would have been She-Ra for some time) will have to mentor him into his new role a He-Man, since the main Horde forces are in Etheria it will make total sense for Adora to go back there and let Adam protect Eternia from Skeletor's much smaller forces.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Finished this, i think i can only say the one thing i didn't like was Mermista's personality, it's kinda a mood killer and very dissonant with what happened to her kingdom, i didn't find this problem with the other princesses even tho all of them (save for Frosta) were supposed to have kooky personalities.

I guess it also peeved me a little that the princesses unceremoniously declared Entrapta dead with little to no evidence, i mean there is "the audience knows they won't kill her off so soon", but this was stretched beyond disbilief, i understand that they sort of needed a reason for them to not come back for her so she could join Catra's team, but i mean, come on.

Overall the show is crazy good, and i love how the lore brings tons of implications if you watched the original He-man and She-Ra runs.

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I mean, there was an explosion right after the door closed behind her, it's a fairly standard fake out. On Mermista, Vella was pretty much playing a more annoyed, less chill version of her character from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Someone has to be the annoyed one in the group.

Yeah, there's a good deal of the original series, the 2002 reboot and everything else sprinkled in that's come since She-Ra ended and it's so damn laughable when certain people complain about this show being She-Ra in name only, granted it's mostly dopes who either never cared about the property to begin or haven't in 30 years and are just trying to manufacture outrage. FFS and there's even a big Easter Egg/call out to the failed New Adventures of He-Man from 1990!

EDIT:

Since now we have She-Ra's story happening first, my theory of what they will do is something like this, Eternia will turn out to be a planet so distant and advanced that it hasn't seen war for eons, Skeletor is part of an advance Horde scout force that will be the first time (since Adora's kidnapping) that they face the Horde, not sure of what threat they pose. Adam will be a prince that has never faced conflict before so upon meeting, Adora (who by then would have been She-Ra for some time) will have to mentor him into his new role a He-Man, since the main Horde forces are in Etheria it will make total sense for Adora to go back there and let Adam protect Eternia from Skeletor's much smaller forces.

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Even ignoring the current limitations with the rights I assume if/when they get to it there won't be a goal of launching a new MOTU series so they probably won't go too deep into Eternia stuff, Adam should already be He-Man and shouldn't need mentoring because unlike Adora he has free access to Castle Grayskull and the Sorceress to teach/train him plus He-Man's abilities are much, much more straightforward than She-Ra's.

One of the show runner's favorite facts is that Skeletor is Adam and Adora's uncle as done in the 2002 series and hinted at before IIRC, that's pretty locked into the "lore" at this point so that'd definitely remain. If they do an episode or mini arc for the story I'd take maybe more from the original series for He-Man in terms of tone while still of course having chunks of stuff that came about in the reboot but I'd have a contrast between the worlds and characters, where what's happening on Etheria is potentially pretty dark and serious while the characters lighten it up, with Eternia the characters should be more serious while the situation is more "light" with it mainly being Skeletor's routine, failed attempts at gaining access to Castle Grayskull. I don't see them going to deep into things since it shouldn't be the core story. You could still have Skelator/Keldor involved with Adora's kidnapping but working with Shadow Weaver instead and maybe retaining Skelator's relationship with Hordak in some way.

Of course there could also be a case that Hordak's ultimate goal isn't actually just ruling Etheria (which would explain why he's been there for so long but it doesn't seem like he's actually conquered anything) but gaining the means to get back to Eternia which some of that could play out.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

LMAO, I started watching ATLA and looking at the credits I see Gran Gran is voiced by Melendy Britt, the voice of the original Adora/She-Ra. Oh and I thought I recognized Zuko's voice, freakin' Rufio.

 

[Particle Physicist]

My daughter wants to watch this. Is it appropriate for a 5 year old?

 

[Sensei]

My daughter wants to watch this. Is it appropriate for a 5 year old?

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yea

 

[Joeytj]

How oldare you?

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31-year-old guy!

Not that I think it's wrong to like anything at a certain age, but it stretches the limit of my enjoyments a bit, personally. I was simply curious at first, about the series, but ended up surprisingly entertained and captivated by the plot and story.

But sometimes the animation does make the series look like an old princess toy line commercial or even something from the SNL TV Funhouse animations haha.

 

[umbrella corp.]

Unfortunately Dreamworks doesn't apparently have the rights to MOTU though if this is successful hopefully something will get worked out and I guess some of the restrictions did get relaxed some since originally they could only use Hordak and He-Man but then the show has other Horde characters show up. It's fitting that Catra so far is the central antagonist considering that was meant to be her role in the original show until they moved Hordak and the Horde over to She-Ra. I do wonder if the He-Man movie that's been stuck in development hell for like nearly 20 years is an issue now. At least we got the 2002 reboot even if it ended way too soon.

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Last thing I heard about the he-man movie was that it got a new director. Hopefully it gets done.

 

[Crossing Eden]

Ayyyyy

 

[SolicitorPirate]

Ayyyyy

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Rayla and Catra would hang out

 

[Crossing Eden]

Rayla and Catra would hang out

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[AniHawk]

funny to see the dragon prince/she-ra stuff. she-ra was a lot closer to what i was expecting out of the dragon prince, and it really surprised me in a few places:

-i love the humor. the acting and the direction gives a lot of little moments to shine. it helps flesh out the characters.
-the characters are super likable. all the weirdos have different quirks that makes them interacting with others fun. entrapta, sea hawk, swift wind, and scorpia round out the list of eccentric characters who really work well against the main cast.
-the main cast is fucking solid.
-there's a lot of small details in the animation that helps the show despite the seemingly tiny budget and simpler style.

as for stuff i didn't like - it's not much. it's a minor issue, but the action isn't that good. it's most notable in the final episode. characters seemingly teleport from one spot to another (and not just glimmer). it can be hard to understand where things are in relation to each other. the action scenes generally work because of the character motivations though.

the bigger issue was that it felt like the show didn't have time to breathe. the impression i get was that the showrunner felt like they might not get season 2, so all the work they would have had was crammed into a 13 episode run. i do like that they skip over adora's internal strife about leaving the horde rather quickly. she (and catra) realize that it's evil and has no inner-conflict about that. it's other things that feel rushed, particularly at the end. there's a point where she-ra's defeated and it seems like all hope is lost. five minutes later the episode is over. i think there should have been a bit longer of a build up and maybe show she-ra and the bright moon crew on the offensive, seemingly going to win, until there's a massive counterattack that results in the near-defeat on a cliffhanger episode. then have the next episode have the princesses return and have the power of friendship save the day.

as someone who grew up watching 80s cartoons, including thundercats, he-man, and she-ra, i was surprised at how much i enjoyed it. it reminded me of avatar: the last airbender in a lot of ways.

 

[SolicitorPirate]

Like I get why they didn't make Catra a walking cat pun, but in moments of weakness, I kinda wish she was

 

[spookyduzt]

Like I get why they didn't make Catra a walking cat pun, but in moments of weakness, I kinda wish she was

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I mean one of the most endearing things I noticed about Catra in the first episode was a cat thing. She doesn't sleep in her own bed, she sleeps at the foot of Adora's bed.

 

[Nali]

Burned through this over the course of the last couple evenings. Not the prettiest series around by any means, but the writing is more than sharp enough to carry it. I had virtually no prior familiarity with the IP, but consider me a fan now.

 

[Geist]

Like I get why they didn't make Catra a walking cat pun, but in moments of weakness, I kinda wish she was

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[Deleted member 2802]

Just finished it.
I didn't like it.

I thought the best episodes were going on quests and meeting all the characters.
The First Ones story is a mess.

 

[TalonJH]

Episode 9 made me like Glimmer even more than I already did.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Just finished it.
I didn't like it.

I thought the best episodes were going on quests and meeting all the characters.
The First Ones story is a mess.

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How can it already be a mess when they barely explored it?

 

[Deleted member 35156]

I finished the series and I liked it more than I ever thought I would (and I tend not to like A LOT of movies/TV shows) so hopefully does well on Netflix. The only thing I would've liked is to have more screentime for the Horde, there really should've been a episode 0 where it's more about Adora and her dynamic with the Horde team so when she defects to the Rebellion it would feel more like she betrayed the whole group and not just Catra.

 

[Ushay]

I watched this with son and daughter, they liked it especially the girl. I only watched it for He-man nostalgia, shame there isn't even an easter egg in there for him.

So how does the Horde fit in with Skeletor, or is all that lore completely separate in this?

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

I finished the series and I liked it more than I ever thought I would (and I tend not to like A LOT of movies/TV shows) so hopefully does well on Netflix. The only thing I would've liked is to have more screentime for the Horde, there really should've been a episode 0 where it's more about Adora and her dynamic with the Horde team so when she defects to the Rebellion it would feel more like she betrayed the whole group and not just Catra.

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That's an issue I have along with rushing Adora's defection at least we got Catra kind of addressing it in a more personal manner, I get there were limitations but it would've been nice if there was more weight to everything and the Horde was sold as a threat because they don't seem to have taken over much and Hordak seems kind of apathetic over the whole thing which makes me think he doesn't really care all that much and has other motives. The Horde should've overrun the planet after the first alliance fell apart with only a few safe holds, the kingdoms should've blockaded and isolated/cut off by the Horde. I have to imagine that season two is going to end with the Horde getting a major win because they kind of need it.

On Adora I can brush it somewhat off on her being an inherently good person (which was why in the original show she was kept magically brainwashed) but on the other, there's no real struggle to reconcile a lifetime of indoctrination and the truth, I'm pretty sure it was intentional avoid Adora getting her hands dirty to keep the show "light" and didn't want to dwell on it but I wish there was more weight to it.

I watched this with son and daughter, they liked it especially the girl. I only watched it for He-man nostalgia, shame there isn't even an easter egg in there for him.

So how does the Horde fit in with Skeletor, or is all that lore completely separate in this?

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We don't know yet but they don't have the rights to use Skeletor so he'll probably never been seen unless this show is successful enough to pique interest of Mattel to do more with Dreamworks and if Sony doesn't also have the TV rights. We barely know anything about the Horde and Hordak at this point, I would imagine there would be a fair deal of inspiration taken from the current and bits of past versions of the MOTU canon as the show has done so far.

 

[I KILL PXLS]

So how does the Horde fit in with Skeletor, or is all that lore completely separate in this?

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Usually in the mythos Hordak is Skeletor's boss.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

So, the alt-right, comicgater fucks are having another go with She-Ra on Twitter and continuing to be trolling scum, with a guy running a "contest" with the character putting up the "Okay" hand gesture and it's pretty fucking obvious what they're doing.

 

[Shard Shinjuku]

The real question is if we get Horde Prime as the final boss.