She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018, Netflix)

He gets a couple of quasi cameos, at least, via Razz, but yeah, that would have been fun to sneak in.

I’d say it’s pretty evergreen, and that would be an awesome experience to share together. I’d still rec trying to push through, but getting over the initial hump is definitely tough. I willed myself through the first five or ten episodes of Steven Universe to get to the more interesting bits, and those are only 11 minutes long!

Genuinely, I was an absolute mess after the last episode wrapped. It’s a beautiful ending.

I mean I’ve also been on tenuous ground, mentally, for awhile with the lockdown and everything else, but SPOP really hits on just about every thing I want in fiction, hah.

I stopped watching the Netflix Voltron after 4 or so episodes because it just couldn’t hold my interest. Is She-Ra genuinely good or just nostalgia good? I understand it’s leagues better than the 80s version, but is this something two adults can sit down together and enjoy, writing and performance-wise?

SU has huge shifts in storytelling style between the early wacky episodes and the later serialized storytelling. I’m kind of scoping my daughter’s maturity for appropriateness for Steven Universe as well, because I think she’d really enjoy it eventually, but probably not quite yet.

She’s deep into a My Little Pony obsession at the moment, watching all the episodes and consuming all the supplemental materials she can. That’s part of the reason that I watched the first couple episodes of She-Ra. I’m interested to watch see what “the other 80s cartoon revival” looks like, since I feel Friendship is Magic probably cast a pretty long shadow over the writer’s room for She-Ra.

(While we’re here, I’ll also mention that Hilda (also on Netflix) is great, if you haven’t seen it.)

I started watching this last night and wasn’t put off. My wife couldn’t have cared less and it hard to stomach the whole Grayskull transformation. If it just continues to get better and reaches The Last Avatar level then I will be watching it through to the end.

Party kale, sea shanties, and war chimes - lots of little things to chuckle over. Right down to boasts about completing a race in the shortest distance rather than speed.

I only made it about 4-5 episodes into Steven Universe in comparison.

Wow. Thanks for this post Armando, and for the history lesson. I didn’t know about any of it.

I saw She-Ra being recommended on Netflix, and I thought it was a new show. I’m much more interested now that I know I completely missed the first four seasons and that the show is already over and complete.

I love animation and having previously dismissed this one I gave it a try based on @ArmandoPenblade’s recommendation. I’m not exactly the target audience here - some old guy. Still, I’m on the 2nd season and quite enjoying it. It’s not yet hit the heights of Avatar TLAB. Indeed it’s obviously targeting an even younger, female audience. Still, the animation is very nice, the world building is fun, the voice acting pretty top notch. There is some neat creativity here too. I like the nerd girl who uses her hair for hands. I confess to even warming to the theme tune (sugary pop music is another guilty pleasure). So far it’s holding my interest. Not bad considering it’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. laughs

We (me and wife) actually just started this the other day (assuming this means “Avatar: The Last Airbender”) and I’m on the fence about it. I’ve heard it’s pretty good but it feels somewhat juvenile so far (we’re only 3 or 4 episodes in)–like I keep being reminded that it was on Nickelodeon. But thanks to @ArmandoPenblade’s panegyric I really want to try She-Ra now. Can I get an expert to give me a compare/contrast?

Yup yup, that’s what I meant - apologies if it wasn’t clear. Avatar is a strange beast in that it starts off juvenile and then deepens. The show itself matures as its characters mature. Even the art style changes somewhat by the end. The last few episodes are an epic explosion of color. Definitely stick with it if you can, at least for a few more episodes. There is good reason why its so highly rated but it does take a bit of work to get there.

As mentioned I’ve only just started season 2 of She-Ra but so far it’s been decent. However, you should expect lots of pink, rainbows, horses and the like. Personally, I don’t really mind that. It’s bright and cheerful and quite endearing but I can understand that many will be put off by its exterior. As with all the best animation it is multi-layered. There are some fairly complex character motivations and relationships occurring. The world building is good and season 2 looks like it will further improve the formula. It’s also quite a lot of fun :)

As for a comparison/contrast. It’s difficult to say right now…

Avatar + its sequel The Legend of Korra leans heavily into Eastern culture. It’s magic is mixed with martial arts. Honor and face are strong character motivations. Despite its juvenile, playful first episodes it goes on to visit some pretty dark places.

She-Ra has so far maintained a more lighter tone yet it is intelligently written. It occasionally makes me laugh out loud. the horse (Swiftwind) in particular has some great one liners. I’ll report back once I’ve watched a few more episodes.

Started watching it yesterday. Big fan so far. Thanks Armando for being the straw that broke the recommendation-camel’s back.

I’d put it squarely in the genuinely good camp. I have almost no nostalgia for the older properties, given that I was still a little kid even by the time they wound up ending their heavy rotations in syndication. Had some He-Man toys, but preferred my Ninja Turtles, essentially, heh.

The show absolutely acknowledges the goofy bad 80s cartoon origins, but basically grabs the character/place names and initial setup, then swiftly leaves the rest of it behind. There’s some cute nods to the older cartoon (one dream sequence in particular, oh lord), but it’s very much its own thing, and truly good storytelling and characterization. Great action, too.

Again, it’s not, you know, Ulysses or Citizen Cane. There’s a flying rainbow unicorn named Swiftwind. But goddamn if that goofy Communist horse doesn’t make you cry at least once by the end.

It feels like She-Ra picked up the pace and opened up the Lore floodgates a little faster. My buddy Justin Netflix Party’d us through the first four eps in lieu of our regular RPG game night last month and I was hooked from that point forward. The first season gets a little “Princess of the Week” midway through during a particular plotline, but the payoff during the S1 finale is hella excellent.

If you ever end up going back, my buddy Justin who also dragged me into SPOP wrote up this episode guide to temporarily skip a lot of the bland childish beginnings of SU.

FWIW, I just powered through them because I’m stubborn, but the eps he picked do a really great job of establishing stakes and hooking you into the larger plotlines. You can go back and backfill the remainder to gain more character insights when you’re already feeling committed.

That was a big part of it for me. Knowing it was so serialized and plot-heavy, I was really worried it’d get canceled or end poorly (see: Voltron). The huge response to the series finale last month was one of the factors that pushed me over the edge into starting it. I really hope you give it a shot!

Entrapta is amazing. Her character gets some fantastic moments as the series progresses. I still love Mermista a little more, but Entrapta’s one of my absolute faves.

I kind of love the theme song, to the point that I didn’t really use the Netflix “skip intro” feature since hey, it’s 30 seconds of uplifting power pop. Turns out that as the seasons progress and the cast expands and allegiances shift, the opening credits change to match. In S5, it feels like a clever wink or nod is mixed in every couple of episodes.

I’ve just learned a great new vocabulary word. And will selfishly insist you Do The Thing!

I’m haflway through ATLA Season 1. I can see glimmerings of the greatness I know to expect, but I’ll be honest – it starts a lot slower and grates my nerves a lot more. The kinda crummy video quality (there’s no true HD remaster, AFAIK) doesn’t help. I’m sticking with it for now, and may well even like it more by the end, but I’ll say that SPOP gets moving and interesting faster than either ATLA or SU.

I’ll add to the great comparison that @draxen wrote up that SPOP leans more heavily on scifi mixed in with its fantastical magic. While both definitely have some utterly insane stuff go down in them (and ATLA is totally steampunk, even if it’ll never admit it to you), if you’re looking a little more A New Hope than The Hidden Fortress for your two-sides-of-the-same-coin fix, She-Ra is great for that.

It does eventually explore some pretty dark stuff as well, and has some pretty scary moments, if you’ve got really young kids along for the ride. A certain S5 baddie woulda scared the crap outta me, at least, hah.

Really glad you’ve enjoyed it so far. The S2/S3 split season starts to reflect some genuinely enormous stakes and ends with some heavy gut-punches, but is also where I went from “this is really good” to “I am completely addicted and might forget to eat sometimes.”

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!

Yeah, with Armando’s glowing recommendation, I just have to watch this. ;)

I book marked your post so I can find it again. When I discovered the whole concept of filler certain series like Naruto became actually watchable. Not that Stephen Universe suffers from the same level of filler as a Manga->Anime conversion of course.

I will say I watched like 4-5 episodes of She-Ra last night, and I am looking forward to putting in more time tonight if I can. Stephen Universe did not keep me interested at that same point.

Yeah, Steven Universe definitely took way longer to get to “the good part.” My friend noting that “Mirror Gem Pt 1” being the start of the really good stuff isn’t far off at all. I think it’s also a show with a consciously varied pacing that wants you to stop and take breathers with minor side characters to grow appreciation and connection that pays off way later. But. . . it doesn’t do quite enough to earn the trust that’s gonna be worthwhile until pretty far in. I’d have easily bounced off of it without several friends encouraging me onward.

Glad that you’re digging on She-Ra so far, though! I think there’s a ton of solid hooks right up front. Eps 10-13 are a hell of a thing though; you’re in for a treat over the next few nights!

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts! IIRC, you appreciate JRPGs as much as I do, so I think you’ll dig the sensibilities in it a lot.

This thread is a strong early contender for “Most Unexpected Recommendation of the Year.” :)

I mean all i know about it i’ve seen from Youtube clips ;). I’m not anywhere close to the target demographic and don’t necessarily want to watch it nor other YA / all ages cartoons that are super popular today. I did like the Steven Universe extended intro song though! But i appreciate from a distance what these new generation of cartoons are doing, especially something like this one, which is very conscious about representation and different body shapes and types, where the original She-Ra is like drawn a bunch of guys who’ve only seen Barbies and have no idea what girls would possibly want and so every single female character is a Barbie with different eyeshadow.

I just finished this and it was great. Thanks @ArmandoPenblade for the recommendation. I still don’t think it manages to reach the heights of Avatar but it came pretty close in a few places and overall I enjoyed it very much. 8/10.

Regarding the queer representation/inclusiveness of the show. I’m happy that it has these elements but more importantly they never felt forced. They always flowed as a natural part of the characters, their story and their world.

I did find the show somewhat uneven. Season 4 dragged somewhat and the action scenes throughout were occasionally limp. I also felt that there were a few too many characters and that it might have worked better if they had pruned some of the lesser ones and given more screen time to the main cast. Net girl and wind girl being prime candidates.

Some of the characters were really enjoyable and very well written. Catra, Entrapta and Scorpia being the stand out ones for me. She-Ra also made an excellent protagonist. I never really warmed to Glimmer. I found her character arc pretty dull and she teetered just on the edge of being annoying.

The final season was a real triumph. They really stuck the landing and She-Ra’s story had me watching until to 2am as I was so engrossed - a feat not easily achieved. The entirety of season 5 was excellent and it really elevated the show.

Season 5s shift to Star Trek - Princesses in Spaaaaace was great and I could have happily watched another season of their adventures.

Or a movie? https://twitter.com/hashtag/SheRaMovie

https://twitter.com/Jessica28491181/status/1272362716443717633/photo/1

Watched 4 episodes and I’m in. The writing got me surprised, too. It’s more subtly clever than I expected. Comic timing is on point, too. Good stuff.

Hah! The real trick here would be convincing @tomchick to watch She-Ra so we can get a front-page review post about it. Or he can just put mine on there. I feel like I drop an appropriate number of f-bombs for front page content.

Genuinely love to read that, @draxen!

I agree strongly about the representation elements. Actually, MovieBob had a great bit on that. Going to hide the link behind spoilers below. He notices something I hadn’t consciously picked up on while watching, but which was really, well, just. . . nice!

Spoilers through series finale/longer thoughts on representation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmV-wSPTkUk

In short, the show just treats the queer relationships as completely and totally normal/natural. Which, like, yes, obviously, but also. . . super uncommon, right? So many LGBT love stories in mainstream fiction spend a lot of time dealing with forbidden love/do I actually feel this way/coming out in the face of adversity/fearing rejection/etc. storylines, too. Which, of course hey, given the state of the world, I get that’s a major part of the lived experience, and deserves to be explored and dealt with.

But this show taking its fantastical setting and just letting us know that here, this stuff is fully a part of the everyday and not worth literally anyone batting an eye over, so let’s just let these love stories be love stories without darker subtext. . . is really kind of beautiful and refreshing. Watching the response from younger LGBT folks I know and see online, I get the impression they strongly agree.

I will also agree with you that the entire show doesn’t power at quite the same level. The S2/3 split season and S5 were my favorites pretty cleanly. 1 and 4 both had a feeling of setup seasons, in different ways, and I liked what they both did a lot, and enjoyed them greatly as fun YA action fare, but the others, esp. S5, really elevated well beyond that. Super with you that I would love to see a continuation of the direction from the end of S5. Apparently the creator is also very interested in that. . .

Yessssss, mooooore!

I really agree on the comic timing. Some of the facial expressions are also just excellent mid-gag. This is actually somewhere where She-Ra is consistently outshining Avatar for me, which is consistently cheesy in a slightly more obsequious way. Mind, I’m just now finishing S1 of ATLA, so it has opportunities to rise in my estimation (and it’s doing a lot of other stuff super well.

Awesome :)

I wonder if it’s one of those things where whichever show you watch first becomes your favorite because then you’re comparing it to those that come after. She-Ra is definitely up there in the ranks of great animated shows. I’ve been thinking about it today, it’s stayed with me in that way that all great content does and there were so many little details and characters that I enjoyed.

I forgot to mention Wrong Hordak who was hilarious and I grinned whenever he was on screen. I loved his existential crisis.