She-Ra and The Princesses Of Power

I just re-watched this cartoon & realized that i forgot to post my original review of this show. below it is my updated review.

Jul 6, 2021

I own the original She-Ra cartoon on DVD & all the She-Ra action figures (& fashions). I suffered through all the netflix episodes to see for myself how Dreamworks ruined She-Ra.

I'll start with the positive parts of the show that I liked:

Not keeping Adora's transformation into She-Ra, a secret

The action sequences were well-done

The powered rebellion members are all princesses of their kingdoms

Seeing so many princesses in so many episodes

Incorporating Mara from New Adventures.

Limiting Madame Razz to a few episodes

Hordak & Etheria were cut off from the Horde

The idea of Horde Prime being the original of a bunch of clones

Having Catra be an actual force captain

The Crimson Waste

Glimmer using one of her powers

Scorpia's personality

The theme song

And now for the negative parts of the show. Of course this list is longer, I didn't set out for it be longer, the show was just hell-bent on pushing it's SJW propaganda agenda in every single episode that it overshadows anything positive they did. Things I hated:

she-ra is gay

catra is gay

huntara is gay

the crimson waste waitress is gay

netossa is gay

spinerella is gay

Two gay dads for Bow

1 gay dad looks exactly like original bow

Bow was blackwashed

lonnie was blackwashed

mermista was blackwashed

she-ra's boy shorts costume

catra's thrift store scraps costume

double trouble was turned into an alien

double trouble's entire personality, speech pattern & mannerisms

jewelstar was turned into a boy

peekablue was turned into a boy

peekablue never really appeared.

flutterina was turned into a fairy

flutterina never really appeared

octavia only appears in flashbacks

straight white males were turned into annoying buffoons: seahawk, kyle, swiftwind

Tung Lashor appeared only to be mocked

scorpia was shooting electricity

glimmer mostly just teleported

glimmer had to recharge her power

glimmer was using magic

glimmer didn't use her light powers

castaspella was barely used

king micah was over-used

beast island was nonsensical

the prom episode

every single villain except horde prime was redeemed in the end:

entrapta was forgiven & turned into a hero

scorpia was forgiven & turned into a hero

catra was forgiven & turned into a hero

shadow weaver was forgiven & turned into a hero

hordak was forgiven & turned into a hero

"wrong hordak" was forgiven & turned into a hero

double trouble was forgiven & turned into a hero

the show just glosses over the fact that catra & the horde on etheria destroyed etherian lives & killed etherians, in order to make all the females into heroes at the end.

it intentionally confuses children, conflating friendship with sexual attraction. catra & adora were just friends, who were raised together as sisters, from a young age. it's almost incestous what the show did.

the shows sends the additional message that it's justified to be violent & selfish if someone else wants to pursue their own goal. they showed, catra punhching & scratching adora/she-ra in almost every episode, until the final 13 episodes, because adora was trying to be her own person.

catra was a violent, controlling, hurtful, selfish lesbian. she never should have been forgiven. the show portrayed an abusive relationship as loving.

i re-watched the series on my DVDs after it was pulled from streaming & a few of my opinions have changed:

1) I appreciate the redemption of characters. People don't have to remain Evil. Of course, people should be punished for their past deeds & pay penance. the show didn't really do that, which is why it bothered me so much the 1st time i watched it. 

2) i like how they slowly brought out the villains: shadow weaver, then hordak, then horde prime

3) the background music on the show was also good, i didn't notice it the 1st time i watched.

4) i noticed a couple of lore mistakes. (a) In the beginning they state that the Horde members are mostly crew members from Hordak's ship which landed on Etheria-L, but in later seasons they make it seem like Horde members were native Etherians. (b) When preparing for the All Princess Ball, Adora studied the Star Sisters, but then in the last season they are aliens from another world that everyone meets for the 1st time.

5) i hated the way She-Ra broke the sword of protection (with a stabbing motion instead of breaking it along the flat side) & i hated how she created a magic sword with a costume change.

6) it's telling how they made the two black characters attracted to the only two overweight characters.

7) instead of inventing rogelio & kyle, they could have used octavia & shakra

8)  i can't understand how viewers think Catra is cool, she's a selfish, whiny, loser who is abusive & anti-social. she pushed people away & doesn't understand helping others. even in the last episode she says "what are you doing?" when someone is coming to the rescue. she genuinely doesn't understand doing the right things or sacrificing yourself for others. or being heroic, even in the last episode after she's joined the good side.

people would have noticied that this show was actually well-written, (for example, at first i hated double trouble but he was written well.), if they had not focused so much on misandry, homosexuality, attacking old fans & lesbianism (spoiler alert: it's sapphic love that saves the day in the last episode, not heroism nor determination nor honor). 

i enjoyed it more the 2nd time, maybe i was able to have a more open mind re-watching it this time because this cartoon with it's heavy handed agenda has been forgotten by almost everyone & has had zero cultural impact.