A Defense of the She Ra Reboot

Light spoilers for She Ra and the Princesses of Power and Princess of Power (yes, that name difference matters).

So this is a bit of an unscripted endeavor, but honestly, I get this off my chest since I feel like this is something that annoys me somewhat as it reminds me of an unsavory period of my life. Over the past decade, more and more reboots and sequels have invaded the entertainment industry to the point where many people viewing them with disgust.

The biggest sinners are Hollywood's focus on live-action reboots, but this has also trickled down into the animation industry. Which wasn't the most unwarranted feeling as shows like Teen Titans Go and PowerPuff Girls 2016 ran rampant across the mid to early 2010s. Which whether you liked them or not can deny that the shows did garner a lot of hate and negativity towards them and shows connected to them in the years to come.

And unfortunately, this stigma seems to be sticking as despite all of the massive progress we've made in children's media over the past ten years alone, I think that we've also grown this widespread stigma with not only modern animation but reboots well. Look no further than She Ra and the Princesses of Power, the short-lived reboot of the popular 80's show of a similar name.

Despite its relatively well received and well earned praise from masses, it's also gotten a lot of flack from the get-go for its "awful" character design, a fact I want to defend against here since, despite its flaws, I consider that to be one of the biggest strengths of the show. So sit back and relax as I explain my defense of this supposedly controversial topic while also tackling the negative stigma of reboots.

Note

Okay, before we tackle this topic, I want to make myself very clear. I am not dealing in absolutes here since what I'm saying is my own opinion, and this got meant to insult or demean anyone since this whole argument really shouldn't be taken that seriously in the first place. All I'm doing is tackling how both incarnations of the same property have handled character design and appearance with not much else, and arguing why the former is better than the latter is a little ridiculous. Some people have hated how the reboot has "diversified" the cast through different skin tones and the inclusion of LGBT characters for "woke" points (even though the point of a reboot is to make changes to the characters, whether cosmetic or personality-wise). As a straight black man, I don't particularly have the best headspace on this but let me say here that I overall heavily disagree with this statement.

The world is changing, and the representation of different cultures in the media is essential. Still, I do think that the best way to show off said representation is to acknowledge it is a fact of life through normalization (though I could be wrong). She ra throughout its run, never tries to make that big of a deal out of someone's race or sexuality. It is usually just a background element in service to the stories they are telling. There is a clear difference between inclusion and pandering, with the reboot never really relying on the latter within the show for me. Finally, this is not supposed to be an iron gate for the reboot and all those like it. You can still offer genuine critique on both the plot and character design of this show and other reboots like it as long as you're somewhat reasonable and fair when you do it as I will here.

The Original She Ra

On the surface, both cartoons are relatively the same plot from my knowledge. I've never seen the og she ra myself, but I do have some basic knowledge of the series, and I don't think I need much to get my point across. I have two rules when it comes to good character design. It has to pass the traditional silhouette test, and it has to tell me what the character is like without even saying anything. While She ra does the former rather well, the latter has much to be desired. Characters like She ra herself and Hordak are beautifully designed as their influences, and the genuine aesthetic is easy to see. As I will explain in my next section, everyone else is a different story. And this isn't supposed to be a hit on the '80s show.

The decade despite being a laughingstock now was probably one of the more creative decades in animation that gave opportunities to many people from different backgrounds. Without it, we wouldn't get some of America's most beloved franchises (even with most of them being toy commercials). This was still a decade that was more about merchandise than actual character design, and from it, almost every character had the same face. It got built with limited poses and somewhat nonsensical designs. I'm not saying that these aren't necessarily bad designs for the time, but you're about to see why the reboot excels in this regard through 3 characters.

Horde Prime

I honestly do think that the reboot's best aspect is in its characters, from the design, personalities, and developments. Best thing they did was probably trim the cast down from the original show to streamline it more. Another aspect that you can tell from the designs is that they tried to make the designs a lot sleeker yet versatile to make sure everyone was unique and showed personality. The best direct comparison I can make is probably Horde Prime. From what I can see in the original series he had no real consistent design, literally being a menacing piece of smoke in the original. But his reboot design is amazing.

Out of context we get introduced to a tall sleek alien with a white and green color scheme. His white yet sleek look makes him feel alien and holy compared to the other characters. However, through body language and his dreads, he radiates a confident and calmer look mechanically. Yet this is juxtaposed by his multiple eyes, a sense that he is always watching and always in control. Without saying a word Horde, Prime radiates himself as an intimidating holy figure who feels like he has everything under control. This works even better in the show as the Horde often used red and black colors for their empire (even using that color scheme for Hordak's view of prime) while keeping their insignias very small. Prime, however, has the same symbol radiate across his chest, making him a more significant threat than his predecessors.

Double Trouble

Another character that I feel has one of the better designs is Double Trouble. In the original DT was a female with a long ponytail helmet, gray collar, bracer, boots, and green cape. This design is a bit of a departure from the other designs of the original, implying a subtle cue that she is different from both sides of the conflict, but it still tells me very little about her. This is ironic, given that the shapeshifter in the reboot tells me everything about them.

The two most important things about the reboot DT are that they sport a much more androgynous and reptilian design. Representation aside, this makes logical sense since what would gender mean to a shapeshifter in the long run? What also works is that the reptilian design invokes various imagery like a Chameleon or snake to represent the shape-shifting and treachery. This, along with the earlier design, help paint DT as a wildly independent agent that invokes duality and adaptability. Once again, what you see is what you get.

Adora

Now we finally got to our titular character herself. I've seen many people mostly hate the design due to the lack of sensual figure and her softer look. These critics say why this design sucks but never how this fits with the show's overall aesthetic. Of course, Adora looks less "womanly" (whatever that even means) because in the show she was raised in a highly militarized environment and is a teenager instead of a young adult. She sports a tight white turtleneck with long sleeves, a red jacket, and gray leggings with boots, all relatively practical and form-fitting clothes for her background. This version is very straight-laced compared to her counterpart, shown through the ponytail.

In the reboot, she ra also sports many differences. The biggest are a shorter skirt, short shorts, an amazonian frame, and long flowing hair. This shows that Adora is far more confident and in control in this form. The reboot makes these changes far more notable, which is ironic because the differences between He man and prince Adam in his show were more apparent than his sister. She matches the overall soft aesthetic and has a lot of personality with her design.

Epilogue

So now that I explained my first point, I might as well explain my second purpose of this endeavor. Mainly my frustration when it comes to the mistreatment of modern animation. And look, I get it. Nostalgia is a comforting feeling that makes you feel good. But I think we've held our oh-so-precious childhood in these modern times to such a high bar that our love has become toxic. Every era of animation has had its trends and failures, with hidden or underrated gems coming through. The onset of streaming and representation in media, I'd argue, this past decade has honestly given us probably the single most diverse animation period ever.

Reboots, in general, shouldn't be this thing that divides generations since it often gives people to introduce a franchise to a new generation while at the same time modernizing and adding to it to become something special and divergent. Almost all reboots that lack originality or quality would ignore Carmen Sandiego, Voltron Legendary Defender, Ducktales 2017, ThunderCats 2011, TMNT 2012, My little pony FIP, Mystery Incorporated, and Transformers Prime. These reboots within the 2010s have all been considered the greatest interpretations of their respective franchises ever.

Modern animation has also gotten better. In the past five years alone, from various channels and networks, we've gotten hits like the Loud House, Amphibia, Dragon Prince, Infinity Train, Kipo and the age of the wonder beasts, Star vs the Forces of Evil, Harvey Beaks, Trollhunters, Mao Mao Heroes of Pure Heart, Glitch Techs (keep in mind that the last 3 are actual action shows). And for you still think that kids' shows are still playing it safe and our only immature (even with the more serialized and serious stories nowadays like Steven Universe), how about the leaps and bounds we've made in today's adult animation? Primal, Close Enough, Castlevania, Bojack Horseman, F is for family, Harley Quinn, Rick and Morty, and the MidNight Gospel are all animations geared for adults with adult subjects that are still fun.

Can you imagine how amazing a world we live in right now to have independent creators and smaller studios create profitable franchises like Epithet Erased, Rwby, and Hazbin Hotel is only a few short years? Rewind that clock from the early 2000s, and you'll see the difficulty rise exceptionally.

Overall, I have to say that western animation hasn't gotten any worse, nor are all of these shows bad. You need to clear up your eyes, calm down and find those shows for yourself.