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A Netflix original production, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a Continuity Reboot of She-Ra: Princess of Power, notable for being the first new piece of media in the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe franchise for fifteen years.
The series focused on Adora, an orphaned soldier in the Horde who, soon after promoted to field captain, discovers that she's fighting for the bad guys. After discovering a magical sword and befriending rebel fighters Glimmer and Bow, Adora takes up the mantle of She-Ra to defend the planet Etheria against the Horde, particularly her ex-best friend Catra.
The show premiered on November 13th 2018 and ran for five seasons before coming to a close on May 15th 2020.
- Aborted Arc:
- The Princess Alliance seems to be built on at least a dozen Princesses, including one of Catra's people, but only seven (plus Adora/She-Ra) are shown.
- Adora's arc to find her family is either this, or taken to its logical True Companions endpoint in Season 5.
- Adaptation Name Change: All the adjectives are dropped from the major factions. The "Great Rebellion" is now "the Rebellion" and both the "Evil Horde" and the "Galactic Horde" are known only as "the Horde".
- Adaptation Species Change:
- Light Hope was originally a magical beam of light. Here she's an artificial intelligence.
- Catra was human in the original cartoon, but is now a Catgirl.
- This Double Trouble has a reptilian look, contrasting the original's human look.
- Maybe for Adora. She's a First One but it's not stated if First Ones and Eternians are synonymous terms.
- Adaptational Attractiveness:
- Scorpia is now an Amazonian Beauty with only a few scorpion features.
- Imp now resembles a toddler instead of a pig.
- Zig-zagged with Hordak. He's much more conventionally handsome than his '80 self but his '80s self was heavily muscular while this one is thin and sickly.
- Zig-zagged again with Horde Prime. For most of the series, he's shown as a handsome alien man but the ending shows that his true form is still an Eldritch Abomination.
- Adaptational Badass:
- This Sea Hawk is much more of a Bunny Ears Lawyer Cloudcuckoolander than his original '80s self, but pound for pound, he has a much better track record in battle than his Filmation counterpart. While he may be Overshadowed by Awesome, he still manages to be a competent Badass Normal. It's just that he would prefer to solve problems by setting a ship on fire and sending it on a collision course with the problem.
- Zig-zagged for Hordak. Physically he got the opposite treatment, but he's also much more competent as a leader and a conqueror, quite unlike the boorish moron of the original show.
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Entrapta was an aristocratic hunter in the original cartoon. This one is an Adorkable helpful geek. She was on the Rebellion's side at first but an underestimation of her survival skills on their part led to her joining the Horde out of feeling abandoned.
- The original Scorpia was quite cruel. This one is a Minion with an F In Evil who makes a Heel Face Turn.
- While she plunges to the depths of degradation in Seasons 3 and 4, Catra makes a Heel Face Turn in Season 5.
- Love Redeems was in full effect for Hordak. Even his adoption of Adora is much better intentioned. The original took her in to spite Eternia while this one found the baby Adora as a kindred spirit and took her in out of pity.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Zig-zagged with Sea Hawk. In the original show Sea Hawk was a Consummate Professional Space Pirate who pulled a Heel Face Turn became a Loveable Rogue. Here, Sea Hawk is much more of a Man Child and the total antonym to "professional", even after his Character Development, and is quite possibly a pyromaniac. The zig-zagging comes from the fact that this Sea Hawk is much more outgoing individual who quickly joined the Rebellion on a regular basis, working with any of its members and never dabbled with the Horde while the original was generally a loner who only really worked with Adora and had originally been a privateer for the Horde. This Sea Hawk may never have pulled a Heel Face Turn but that's only because he was never a heel in the first place.
- Horde Prime was always a villain but his '80s self was much more of a Card-Carrying Villain and The Comically Serious who would simply berate his underlings for failing. This Horde Prime is a Knight of Cerebus who outright Mind Rapes people and talks proudly about the planets and civilizations he's destroyed. And when he takes offence at how Etheria has "thoroughly corrupted" Hordak, he becomes an Omnicidal Maniac, ready to destroy the universe, purely out of petty spite. And the show leaves it ambiguous if he's doing it to spite Etheria or just Hordak.
- Adaptational Sexuality:
- Netossa and Spinnerella. Their sexuality wasn't a big focus in the eighties but they're a Happily Married lesbian Battle Couple here.
- Adora and Catra are both lesbians and become an Official Couple at the end.
- Adaptational Villainy: The First Ones. In the original cartoon, they were genuinely benevolent. Here, their conflict against the Horde was an Evil Versus Evil situation.
- Adapted Out: He-Man and all the other residents of Eternia, thanks to some legal issues. Though some lines, notably Mara's evacuation order, establish that, at the very least, Eternia exists.
- Mantenna, Leech, and Kowl never put in an appearance.
- Aesop Amnesia: Sea Hawk will never learn that burning a friend's property is a bad way to keep friends.
- Aliens Are Bastards: Bar the Star Siblings, all the sentient species that originated outside of Etheria have made attempts to both conquer the universe and destroy it.
- Ambiguous Situation: The First Ones still exist somewhere, in some form, in the universe given that Adora is one of them, or at least descended from them.
- Another Dimension: Despondos. All it really seems to have is breathable air.
- Big Beautiful Woman:
- Glimmer is more chubby than fat, but she's quite nice to look at.
- Spinerella is heavy but still quite pretty.
- Bigger Bad: Horde Prime is revealed to be such in Season 3. He takes on the mantle of Big Bad in Season 5.
- Blue and Orange Morality:
- Entrapta's mindset is entirely a For Science! one. She joined the Horde simply because they gave her the most resources to continue her experiments.
- Horde Prime. "Good" and "Evil" are beyond irrelevant to him and people are seen only as how useful they are to him. In Prime's mind, all this is necessary to bring about peace to the universe.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Season 5 is crawling with examples.
- But for Me It Was Tuesday: Horde Prime barely remembers Mara, suspecting that he since he's defeated so many would-be heroes across the universe, all their faces have merged into one blob.
- By the Power of Grayskull: Well, "For the Honor of Grayskull!"
- Cast Full of Gay: Cast Bursting with Gay is more like it.
- Cloning Blues: Hordak is not happy with the fact that he's failed clone of Horde Prime.
- Word of God is that Imp is a failed Hordak clone.
- Composite Character: Flutterina is but an alias that Double Trouble cooked up to infiltrate the Rebellion.
- Darth Vader Clone: Hordak. Wears Powered Armor to compensate for his physical weaknesses but is ultimately subordinate to The Emperor. And he cements his Heel Face Turn by throwing the Emperor down a bottomless pit to protect the one he loves. The Emperor even survives the throw by a Body Surf.
- Darker and Edgier: The art-style is Lighter and Softer but the show does not shy away from the fact that War Is Hell, full of psychological horrors, death, and Survivor Guilt.
- Decomposite Character: Given this Hordak's Adaptational Badass attitude, his Laughably Evil attitude goes to Wrong Hordak.
- Determinator: Horde Prime's Famous Last Words are saying that he'll recover and rebuild. Bonus points for the implication that he's fallen before but managed to rise up all those times.
- Early Installment Weirdness: Hordak's flashback to Horde Prime suggested that the Prime towered over his clones and was quite a bit bulkier but he's later shown to be the same size. Season 5 also dropped the idea that the Horde's species naturally existed in an atmosphere that was lethal to Etherians.
- Easily Forgiven: Mermista lampshades this about Hordak.
- The Empire: The Horde.
- Evil All Along: The First Ones were pretty much A Nazi by Any Other Name. Light Hope was the one who ripped Adora from her family so that she could become the new She-Ra.
- Evil Counterpart: Horde Prime to Entrapta. Both subscribe to a Blue and Orange Morality, both have Prehensile Hair and both built their entourage.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Catra discovers very quickly what a small fish she is compared to Horde Prime.
- Evil Is Petty:
- Yes, Catra would destroy a whole planet to deny Adora a victory.
- And Horde Prime would destroy the whole universe because Etheria and/or Hordak pissed him off enough.
- Faux Affably Evil: Horde Prime.
- The Fog of Ages: Horde Prime has been around so long that he doesn't remember his war with the First Ones in great detail.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Pretty much everyone tells Catra this. Her Dark and Troubled Past does grant her some sympathy, but her bad choices are her own.
- Why Horde Prime was never given one. Whatever happened to set him on his path, it happened so long ago, was likely done to him by people who aren't even alive anymore, and he was likely so different back then that it ultimately doesn't matter what it is, if such an excuse ever existed.
- The Friend Nobody Likes:
- Sea Hawk. It happens when you keep burning ships that aren't yours and endanger everyone through your overconfidence.
- Entrapta among the Princesses. Not only was she was once part of the Horde, her autism prevents her from emotionally connecting to the others properly, rubbing them the wrong way.
- Galactic Conqueror: Horde Prime has conquered several galaxies and is the undisputed ruler of most of the universe.
- Gender Flip: Double Trouble is changed from female to non-binary.
- God Is Evil: There really isn't an equivalent to God in the series, per se, but Horde Prime is the one character who the series has closest to being portrayed as God, and he is depicted as a narcissistic tyrant who is willing to use any means necessary to get what he wants, even sacrificing his own allies. He created Hordak, who was his clone who rebelled against him, similarly to how Christianity teaches that Satan rebelled against God, his creator. His cult also has Christian undertones.
- I Fight for the Strongest Side: Upon being informed of the power of the Heart of Etheria, Double Trouble wastes no time stabbing the Horde in the back.
- Identical Grandson: Horde Prime knows he's fought a First One who looked just like Adora before.
- Individuality Is Illegal: The only mind allowed in the Horde is that of Horde Prime.
- Irony: For a being dressed in white and obsessed with light, Horde Prime's true form is a mass of darkness.
- It's All About Me: Horde Prime's vision of an ideal universe is one that exists only to serve him.
- Just the First Citizen: Horde Prime. While the title of "Prime" suggests at first glance that he's crowned himself, "Prime" in the way he uses it is more akin to being the central node of a system. As far as he's concerned, the Galactic Horde is but an extension of himself. As he can freely Body Surf into the bodies of his clone followers as need be, his physical body is merely the "Prime" body, something for the other clones to base their psychology around and for him to speak to aliens in.
- Legacy Character: She-Ra herself.
- Light Is Not Good: Horde Prime's ship is decorated in almost pure white but he's the most evil being in the show.
- Lost Colony: A unique take on it in that Etheria is this, deliberately, to Eternia. The First Ones colonized the planet a long time ago but quickly left so that the superweapon at its core could enact its Final Solution only for Mara to drag the planet into Despondos where its power couldn't be abused.
- Meat Puppet: Horde Prime does this through his Control Chips.
- Magic Genetics: Before Adora even knew who the First Ones were, her genes allowed her to read their writing.
- Magic Versus Science: The Horde is technological while the Princess Alliance is magical.
- Horde Prime's one defeat was on a planet dripping in magic, whose power he couldn't comprehend or defend against. Instead, he just bombed the place. When dealing with the First Ones' Magitek, he just decides to hack his way through the "tech" part to gain full control.
- May the Farce Be with You: As the writers acknowledge, this is very much a Spiritual Successor to Star Wars.
- Mildly Military: Both the Rebellion and the Horde are run in a very blasé, extremely loose fashion. After Scorpia defected, it was days before anyone noticed. Their lack of formality really shows when compared to the Galactic Horde in Season 5.
- Mysterious Past: Horde Prime. He's an Eldritch Abomination from the time of the First Ones and one day decided to conquer the universe but nothing more is explained.
- Mythology Gag:
- "Roll With It" is overflowing with references to the '80s show.
- One of the possible historical translations for She-Ra's phrase is "For the power of Grayskull", merging her and He-Man's battle cries.
- Before he's properly introduced, all that's shown of Horde Prime is his right hand, the same way he expressed himself in the original series.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: The First Ones.
- Obviously Evil: While Adora has a Heel Realization, Catra knows that the Horde is evil thanks to this. What kind of good guys employ someone called Shadow Weaver?
- Orcus on His Throne: Hordak for most of the series, as he's too ill to leave his sanctum.
- Outside Context Villain: The Horde to Etheria. No one knows where Hordak came from or why he began conquering. He fell through a portal to Etheria from the larger universe.
- The Password Is Always Swordfish: "Eternia" seems to activate most First Ones tech.
- Prehensile Hair:
- Entraptra.
- Horde Prime, though his seems technological.
- Race Lift:
- The original Bow was Caucasian. This one is black.
- Mermista was a pale French woman in the original show. This one is South Indian (or at least the Etherian equivalent).
- Sea Hawk was Caucasian in the '80s. Here he's East Asian.
- Reality Ensues:
- First Ones tech is, at least, a few thousand years old. The ruins are crumbling apart and their data files are massively corrupted.
- Adora made a Heel Face Turn, but she was still a Horde soldier. It takes time for everyone to trust her.
- As Bow's dads learn, when you have no frame of reference, translating a dead language isn't going to be a particularly successful experience.
- Hordak stalled the Horde's advance because, while he could conquer everything, he didn't have the force to hold it. When Catra pushes the troops to conquer everything, they're spread so thin, and so damn exhausted from the effort, that it takes only a few hours for Glimmer to retake everything.
- As Catra accurately predicts, Horde Prime wants nothing to do with Hordak, despite his conquering Etheria. Hordak wasn't cast out because he failed, he was cast out because he was a genetic defect. Adding to that, by giving himself a name and makeover, he blatantly violated Prime's rule of Individuality Is Illegal. He's not welcomed back with open arms.
- Catra's character arc shows why it doesn't pay to be a Bad Boss or The Starscream. Her underlings eventually turn on her because of the abuse they keep getting and any potential allies, such as Horde Prime, don't trust her one bit.
- Horde Prime is the undisputed ruler of the universe, facing no meaningful resistance from any other planet. Unsurprisingly, he's victim to We Have Become Complacent which does him in in the end.
- Robot Buddy: Emily to Entrapta.
- Rogue Drone: Hordak. Later followed by Wrong Hordak.
- Sanity Slippage: Hordak turning on Horde Prime convinces him to just become an Omnicidal Maniac.
- Send in the Clones: Horde Prime cloned himself to build a universe conquering army.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Not quite a sacrifice but Hordak turning on Horde Prime and killing his body amounted to nothing. If you're going to throw someone into a bottomless pit, make sure that they can't Body Surf, especially into your body.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Despite Mara being a Posthumous Character, the series owes itself to her actions.
- Superweapon Surprise: The Heart of Etheria is a Final Solution. Etheria itself is not a planet, but a spaceship that transports the weapon.
- Suspiciously Small Army: Both the Rebellion and the Horde, which Catra and Adora have both lampshaded. Averted with Horde Prime's force which is large enough to believe he has conquered whole galaxies.
- Teens Are Short: Adora and her friends are in their late teens/early twenties but always a head shorter than the adult characters.
- There Are No Therapists: And it shows. Everyone's issues; abandonment, PTSD, Martyr Without a Cause tendencies, and being a Stepford Smiler; are ignored which causes nothing but headaches for everyone involved.
- True Final Boss: Adora's final fight in Season 4 isn't against Hordak or Catra. It's trying to stop Light Hope from detonating the Hearth of Etheria.
- Tsundere: Mermista towards Sea Hawk.
- Vestigial Empire: The First Ones were defeated but not destroyed.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Maybe not "Saccharine", but for a show that pushes the values of redemption with such a light colour palette, Horde Prime's cruelty, narcissism, and sociopathic depravity really stand out. As does his casual admission of having destroyed whole planets.
- We Used to Be Friends: Catra and Adora were as close as could be before the Sword of Protection chose Adora.
- Wrecked Weapon: In the Season 4 finale, Adora shatters the Sword of Protection as a way to make sure no one can abuse the Heart of Etheria.
- You Are a Credit to Your Race: While Hordak regards most of Etheria's natives are barely sentient cave dwellers, he's taken by Entrapta's intellect.
- You Don't Look Like You: Double Trouble bears little to no resemblance to their original G1 design.
- Yuri: Yep.