Post by Jonathan on Jul 11, 2016 16:16:19 GMT -5
She-Ra she was born as Princes Adora on Eternia, Prince Adam/He-Man's twin sister and daughter of King Randor and Queen Marlena. Adora is kidnapped by Hordak and Skeletor as a baby and taken to the world of Etheria (the main setting of the She-Ra series), which is dominated by the Evil Horde. She is raised and brainwashed by Hordak and his powerful confidant Shadow Weaver, to eventually becomes Force Captain of the Horde. After encountering her brother He-Man (who is on a mission from the Sorceress on Etheria to find her), she eventually dons the Sword of Protection, becomes She-Ra and joins the Great Rebellion fighting to free her planet from its tyrannical ruler Hordak. Just as Prince Adam transforms into He-Man with the use of his Sword of Power, Adora transforms into She-Ra via her Sword of Protection, a replica of He-Man's sword featuring a smooth white gem in its hilt. Adora's transformation into She-Ra is similarly triggered by holding her sword over her head, and by uttering her own unique invocation; "For the honor of Grayskull... I AM SHE-RA!". Unlike He-Man's sword, however, She-Ra's possesses the ability to transform into different weapons and accessories, such as a lasso, a shield or a flaming blade, when commanded by She-Ra. Similar to He-Man and Cringer/Battle Cat, She-Ra also transforms her horse Spirit into the flying unicorn Swift Wind.
Hordak rules Etheria from his dreaded base known as the Fright Zone, enslaving the people through his legions of Horde Troopers and his Force Squad. The Force Squad lead originally by Adora, and now by Catra; consists of the goofy Mantenna (whom Hordak loves to torment), beastly Grizzlor, energy-draining Leech and scorpion-woman Scorpia. The Horde was later joined by others including Skeletor's former henchman Modulok, the robotic Multi-Bot, the future Snake Men Tung-Lashor and Rattlor and others. Several major villains from the She-Ra cartoon did not receive an original action figure release, such as the aforementioned evil sorceress Shadow Weaver, or brutish Scorpia; nor did other recurring evil characters such as the mischievous Imp, the octopus woman Octavia, the Horde zoo keeper Vultak, Hunga the Harpy and the robot Dylamug. The overarching inter-planetary supreme leader of the Horde, Horde Prime, who held leadership over both Hordak and Skeletor was also introduced during the She-Ra Filmation series.
The premise of the She-Ra TV series was the reverse of the He-Man cartoon, where the heroes are actually rebels countering an evil establishment (rather than Skeletor trying to conquer Eternia).[28] The Great Rebellion, hidden within the Whispering Woods, is led by Queen Angela and her daughter Glimmer, with the main cast of the Princess of Power cartoon also featuring Adora/She-Ra's steed Spirit/Swift Wind, the main male heroic character of the series, Bow, the timid owl-like Kowl, the inept magician Madame Razz and her wise-cracking sidekick, Broom. Also appearing in many episodes are the small imp-like forest-dwelling Twiggits (mainly Sprockett, Spritina, and Spragg) and the mystical character Light Hope, who served as a 'Sorceress of Grayskull-type' guide to She-Ra, residing high atop Mount Skydancer in the Crystal Castle. Throughout the series recurring characters and members/allies of the Rebellion included Adora's swashbuckling love interest Sea-Hawk, the flirtatious Frosta, magical Castaspella, butterfly-like Flutterina, the mermaid Mermista, peacock-like Peakablue, Perfuma, Netossa, Sweet Bee, Sorrowful the dragon, the elephant warrior Snout Spout, and the comet warriors Granita, Rokkon and Stonedar. Some of the other popular one-off heroes and villains were Spinnerella, Huntara, General Sunder, False-Face, Colonel Blast, the Red Knight, King Micah, the Meteorbs and the Star Sisters. She-Ra: Princess of Power would air its final episode 'Swifty's Baby' on December 5, 1986; with no real conclusion or finale for neither the She-Ra nor He-Man Filmation series.
She-Ra is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Filmation cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power, debuting in 1985. Also, a series of toys under her name were produced by Mattel.[2] She is the alter ego of Princess Adora and the twin sister of Prince Adam/He-Man.[3] She-Ra was intended to appeal to young girls in the same way that He-Man appealed to young boys.[4][5] Filmation writer Larry DiTillio created the backstory for the property.[6]
She-Ra is introduced in the animated movie The Secret of the Sword as Force Captain Adora, a member of the Evil Horde that rules the planet Etheria. Princess Adora discovers that she is the long lost twin sister of Prince Adam of Eternia, having been kidnapped as a baby by the Horde's leader Hordak. She is granted the Sword of Protection, which parallels He-Man's Sword of Power, gaining the power to transform into She-Ra, her secret identity.[7]
Contents
Fictional character biography Edit
King Randor and Queen Marlena from planet Eternia, had twins, a girl and a boy named Adora and Adam. Hordak, leader of the Evil Horde, kidnapped Adora and escaped to Etheria, where Adora was raised as a mind-controlled Force Captain of The Horde. Adora's uniform – which she continued to wear throughout the series, even after defecting to the Rebels – consisted of a red tunic over a white long sleeved shirt, matching red boots and gauntlets, and a pair of red shorts with a black belt.[8]
The Sorceress sent Adam and Cringer to the planet Etheria to give the sword the Sorceress gave him to Adora. The Sorceress reveals to Adora that she was kidnapped by The Horde when she was a baby and that she had a twin brother. By repeating "For the honor of Grayskull" she is transformed into the heroine; She-Ra. She releases He-Man and jumps from a window, crashing into the Horde stables, landing atop Spirit who is transformed into Swift Wind, a winged talking unicorn.[9] They fly ahead to warn The Rebellion. He-Man and She-Ra return to Eternia, but she decides she must return to Etheria so that she can help free the planet from the Horde oppression.[10]
Adora, having been trained by the Horde her entire life, assumes leadership of the Great Rebellion. The epic battle to free Etheria from the grip of the Evil Horde rages on, spreading across the corners of the planet. Through this war, She-Ra calls upon her allies across the globe, using their special talents to battle against Horde creations. Whether or not She-Ra and her forces were ever successful in defeating the Horde was never revealed. Unlike Adam, who often feigned laziness and a carefree attitude to deflect any suspicion that he may be He-Man, Adora never acted against her nature and was always seen as brave and selfless, willing to help others in need at a moment's notice.
When Adora transforms to She-Ra, two castles are shown in the background. The first is Castle Grayskull. The second is the Crystal Castle. The Crystal Castle is located at the top of Skydancer Mountain and is overseen by an entity called Light Hope, who advises She-Ra in times of crisis. In the Princess of Power toyline, the castle is also protected by two winged crystal horses, Moonbeam and Sun Dancer. It should be noted that the Crystal Castle's location is known only to Ahgo (King of the Trolls), She-Ra, and He-Man (she brought him there one time); She-Ra has sworn to secrecy its location, thus earning the title of "Defender of the Crystal Castle."
Powers and abilities Edit
She-Ra is known for her incredible strength. Many times she has been shown to be able to lift not only full-grown men and robots, but also mountain-like rocks and buildings. She is also depicted as being extremely fast and acrobatic. Her speed allows her to easily deflect multiple incoming energy blasts with her sword. She-Ra also demonstrated a series of other abilities which appear to be more nurturing in nature such as empathic understanding, mental communication with animals and healing. Whether there is a limit to the length of time she can remain in her heroic form before she reverts to her original form of Adora is unknown, however there have been occasions in which she has been forcibly transformed back into Adora, implying that her powers do have limits to them.
She-Ra's primary weapon is her Sword of Protection. Her sword is apparently almost indestructible and able to deflect bolts of energy, both magical and technological, as well as to project beams of energy from the stone in its center. The stone is also used to turn Spirit into Swift Wind, as the power beam needed to perform the transformation comes from it (as opposed to the Sword of Power, where the energy beam that is used to transform Cringer into Battle Cat is shot from the tip of the sword and requires He-Man to point it directly at Cringer in order for it to work).
However, in one episode, the stone in She-Ra's sword becomes damaged, causing her to be unable to transform into She-Ra. The sword also had transmutation abilities – upon command, it would instantly change shape into whatever She-Ra required at the time; examples include: a shield, parachute, helmet, rope with grappling hook, and a boomerang.
She-Ra is largely non-violent and usually only resorts to combat as a last resort. She uses cunning and her wits, often preferring to outsmart her adversaries; her most violent actions typically consist of body throws. As per broadcast standards of the period, in the Filmation cartoon, He-Man & She-Ra were not allowed to use their swords as offensive weapons, nor were they allowed to directly punch or kick anyone. She-Ra was only allowed to destroy robotic enemies, which were her primary foes.
Other media Edit
Masters of the Universe Classics (2008-2015) Edit
She-Ra appears in the Mattel Masters of the Universe toyline launched in 2008, which attempts to create a new canon by merging selected portions of existing media together with new story elements. The story is told via a combination of mini-comics packaged with the action figures and the biographies printed on the toy packaging.
In this version of events, Hordak arrived on Etheria after being trapped in the dimension of Despondos by King Grayskull. His apprentice Skeletor kidnaps Adora and sends her to Etheria. After being raised by the Horde and becoming She-Ra (as in the cartoon series), she eventually returns to Eternia with several of her friends and allies, to help He-Man defeat Hordak, who has overthrown King Randor and conquered the planet. She-Ra follows her brother into space on their New Adventures to the planet Primus, and together they battle the Horde Empire's ruler Horde Prime. At some point in the future, she would end up returning in the new, villainous persona of Despara.[11]
DC Comics (2012-present) Edit
In December 2012, She-Ra appeared in her own DC Comics series as a lead-in to her introduction into the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe comic series.[12] Adora's introduction is an updated retelling of her classic origin story.[13] Although she was still kidnapped as a baby and raised by the Horde, Adora's personality and life are made much more violent and tragic when compared to her animated counterpart.
Rather than being a kind woman who has been under the mind control of Shadow Weaver, Despara (Adora's Horde name) is a brutal force captain who is fully aware of the Horde's cruel and evil nature and, although she has some reservations, serves them willingly. Rather than having already taken over the planet of Etheria, instead, Despara leads the Horde in taking over Eternia and driving He-Man, King Randor and the Masters into hiding so as to rebel against the Horde. Due to a connection between herself and Teela, Adora begins to break free of the Horde's will, and begins her journey into becoming She-Ra.
He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe Edit
She appeared in He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe.[14]
Reception Edit
She-Ra is mostly considered a positive role model for girls.[15] Some critics have criticized her for being a poor female counterpart to He-Man.[16][17]
Hordak rules Etheria from his dreaded base known as the Fright Zone, enslaving the people through his legions of Horde Troopers and his Force Squad. The Force Squad lead originally by Adora, and now by Catra; consists of the goofy Mantenna (whom Hordak loves to torment), beastly Grizzlor, energy-draining Leech and scorpion-woman Scorpia. The Horde was later joined by others including Skeletor's former henchman Modulok, the robotic Multi-Bot, the future Snake Men Tung-Lashor and Rattlor and others. Several major villains from the She-Ra cartoon did not receive an original action figure release, such as the aforementioned evil sorceress Shadow Weaver, or brutish Scorpia; nor did other recurring evil characters such as the mischievous Imp, the octopus woman Octavia, the Horde zoo keeper Vultak, Hunga the Harpy and the robot Dylamug. The overarching inter-planetary supreme leader of the Horde, Horde Prime, who held leadership over both Hordak and Skeletor was also introduced during the She-Ra Filmation series.
The premise of the She-Ra TV series was the reverse of the He-Man cartoon, where the heroes are actually rebels countering an evil establishment (rather than Skeletor trying to conquer Eternia).[28] The Great Rebellion, hidden within the Whispering Woods, is led by Queen Angela and her daughter Glimmer, with the main cast of the Princess of Power cartoon also featuring Adora/She-Ra's steed Spirit/Swift Wind, the main male heroic character of the series, Bow, the timid owl-like Kowl, the inept magician Madame Razz and her wise-cracking sidekick, Broom. Also appearing in many episodes are the small imp-like forest-dwelling Twiggits (mainly Sprockett, Spritina, and Spragg) and the mystical character Light Hope, who served as a 'Sorceress of Grayskull-type' guide to She-Ra, residing high atop Mount Skydancer in the Crystal Castle. Throughout the series recurring characters and members/allies of the Rebellion included Adora's swashbuckling love interest Sea-Hawk, the flirtatious Frosta, magical Castaspella, butterfly-like Flutterina, the mermaid Mermista, peacock-like Peakablue, Perfuma, Netossa, Sweet Bee, Sorrowful the dragon, the elephant warrior Snout Spout, and the comet warriors Granita, Rokkon and Stonedar. Some of the other popular one-off heroes and villains were Spinnerella, Huntara, General Sunder, False-Face, Colonel Blast, the Red Knight, King Micah, the Meteorbs and the Star Sisters. She-Ra: Princess of Power would air its final episode 'Swifty's Baby' on December 5, 1986; with no real conclusion or finale for neither the She-Ra nor He-Man Filmation series.
She-Ra is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Filmation cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power, debuting in 1985. Also, a series of toys under her name were produced by Mattel.[2] She is the alter ego of Princess Adora and the twin sister of Prince Adam/He-Man.[3] She-Ra was intended to appeal to young girls in the same way that He-Man appealed to young boys.[4][5] Filmation writer Larry DiTillio created the backstory for the property.[6]
She-Ra is introduced in the animated movie The Secret of the Sword as Force Captain Adora, a member of the Evil Horde that rules the planet Etheria. Princess Adora discovers that she is the long lost twin sister of Prince Adam of Eternia, having been kidnapped as a baby by the Horde's leader Hordak. She is granted the Sword of Protection, which parallels He-Man's Sword of Power, gaining the power to transform into She-Ra, her secret identity.[7]
Contents
Fictional character biography Edit
King Randor and Queen Marlena from planet Eternia, had twins, a girl and a boy named Adora and Adam. Hordak, leader of the Evil Horde, kidnapped Adora and escaped to Etheria, where Adora was raised as a mind-controlled Force Captain of The Horde. Adora's uniform – which she continued to wear throughout the series, even after defecting to the Rebels – consisted of a red tunic over a white long sleeved shirt, matching red boots and gauntlets, and a pair of red shorts with a black belt.[8]
The Sorceress sent Adam and Cringer to the planet Etheria to give the sword the Sorceress gave him to Adora. The Sorceress reveals to Adora that she was kidnapped by The Horde when she was a baby and that she had a twin brother. By repeating "For the honor of Grayskull" she is transformed into the heroine; She-Ra. She releases He-Man and jumps from a window, crashing into the Horde stables, landing atop Spirit who is transformed into Swift Wind, a winged talking unicorn.[9] They fly ahead to warn The Rebellion. He-Man and She-Ra return to Eternia, but she decides she must return to Etheria so that she can help free the planet from the Horde oppression.[10]
Adora, having been trained by the Horde her entire life, assumes leadership of the Great Rebellion. The epic battle to free Etheria from the grip of the Evil Horde rages on, spreading across the corners of the planet. Through this war, She-Ra calls upon her allies across the globe, using their special talents to battle against Horde creations. Whether or not She-Ra and her forces were ever successful in defeating the Horde was never revealed. Unlike Adam, who often feigned laziness and a carefree attitude to deflect any suspicion that he may be He-Man, Adora never acted against her nature and was always seen as brave and selfless, willing to help others in need at a moment's notice.
When Adora transforms to She-Ra, two castles are shown in the background. The first is Castle Grayskull. The second is the Crystal Castle. The Crystal Castle is located at the top of Skydancer Mountain and is overseen by an entity called Light Hope, who advises She-Ra in times of crisis. In the Princess of Power toyline, the castle is also protected by two winged crystal horses, Moonbeam and Sun Dancer. It should be noted that the Crystal Castle's location is known only to Ahgo (King of the Trolls), She-Ra, and He-Man (she brought him there one time); She-Ra has sworn to secrecy its location, thus earning the title of "Defender of the Crystal Castle."
Powers and abilities Edit
She-Ra is known for her incredible strength. Many times she has been shown to be able to lift not only full-grown men and robots, but also mountain-like rocks and buildings. She is also depicted as being extremely fast and acrobatic. Her speed allows her to easily deflect multiple incoming energy blasts with her sword. She-Ra also demonstrated a series of other abilities which appear to be more nurturing in nature such as empathic understanding, mental communication with animals and healing. Whether there is a limit to the length of time she can remain in her heroic form before she reverts to her original form of Adora is unknown, however there have been occasions in which she has been forcibly transformed back into Adora, implying that her powers do have limits to them.
She-Ra's primary weapon is her Sword of Protection. Her sword is apparently almost indestructible and able to deflect bolts of energy, both magical and technological, as well as to project beams of energy from the stone in its center. The stone is also used to turn Spirit into Swift Wind, as the power beam needed to perform the transformation comes from it (as opposed to the Sword of Power, where the energy beam that is used to transform Cringer into Battle Cat is shot from the tip of the sword and requires He-Man to point it directly at Cringer in order for it to work).
However, in one episode, the stone in She-Ra's sword becomes damaged, causing her to be unable to transform into She-Ra. The sword also had transmutation abilities – upon command, it would instantly change shape into whatever She-Ra required at the time; examples include: a shield, parachute, helmet, rope with grappling hook, and a boomerang.
She-Ra is largely non-violent and usually only resorts to combat as a last resort. She uses cunning and her wits, often preferring to outsmart her adversaries; her most violent actions typically consist of body throws. As per broadcast standards of the period, in the Filmation cartoon, He-Man & She-Ra were not allowed to use their swords as offensive weapons, nor were they allowed to directly punch or kick anyone. She-Ra was only allowed to destroy robotic enemies, which were her primary foes.
Other media Edit
Masters of the Universe Classics (2008-2015) Edit
She-Ra appears in the Mattel Masters of the Universe toyline launched in 2008, which attempts to create a new canon by merging selected portions of existing media together with new story elements. The story is told via a combination of mini-comics packaged with the action figures and the biographies printed on the toy packaging.
In this version of events, Hordak arrived on Etheria after being trapped in the dimension of Despondos by King Grayskull. His apprentice Skeletor kidnaps Adora and sends her to Etheria. After being raised by the Horde and becoming She-Ra (as in the cartoon series), she eventually returns to Eternia with several of her friends and allies, to help He-Man defeat Hordak, who has overthrown King Randor and conquered the planet. She-Ra follows her brother into space on their New Adventures to the planet Primus, and together they battle the Horde Empire's ruler Horde Prime. At some point in the future, she would end up returning in the new, villainous persona of Despara.[11]
DC Comics (2012-present) Edit
In December 2012, She-Ra appeared in her own DC Comics series as a lead-in to her introduction into the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe comic series.[12] Adora's introduction is an updated retelling of her classic origin story.[13] Although she was still kidnapped as a baby and raised by the Horde, Adora's personality and life are made much more violent and tragic when compared to her animated counterpart.
Rather than being a kind woman who has been under the mind control of Shadow Weaver, Despara (Adora's Horde name) is a brutal force captain who is fully aware of the Horde's cruel and evil nature and, although she has some reservations, serves them willingly. Rather than having already taken over the planet of Etheria, instead, Despara leads the Horde in taking over Eternia and driving He-Man, King Randor and the Masters into hiding so as to rebel against the Horde. Due to a connection between herself and Teela, Adora begins to break free of the Horde's will, and begins her journey into becoming She-Ra.
He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe Edit
She appeared in He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe.[14]
Reception Edit
She-Ra is mostly considered a positive role model for girls.[15] Some critics have criticized her for being a poor female counterpart to He-Man.[16][17]