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Remember how there was originally going to be an early episode/arc of She-ra where Bow and Glimmer found out about Adora's healing powers and took advantage of them. They were going to start letting themselves get hurt on purpose because they knew she'd be there to save them and she was going to crack under the pressure. ND even made a little funny doodle around the concept

I think it was for the best that the idea was scrapped when the crew realized the horrifying implications of a storyline with the potential to get as dark as it had. Bow and Glimmer would definitely have had to be much different characters as well for something like this to play out.

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early Glimmer concepts

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Princess prom early concept sketches by Mickey Quinn ♡

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Some of the earlier design concepts for the bfs. I thought you guys might enjoy seeing them posted here!

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Thinking about how Adora absolutely cannot stand puns (these are two of my favorite of her reactions to other characters making them). It's a funny little detail to her character that I think deserves its own post!

(first screencap is her reaction to George's "I guess he's not feeling very chat-tea" pun and the second is her reaction to...a lot of cat puns rapid fire all at once)

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I've seen a lot of analysis about Glimmer and Catra's parallels, but not enough about Adora and Bow. Their character arcs mirrored each other so well.

They both spent so much of their lives living the life/role that was expected of them that they never really learned to think of their own feelings. They both started the series as people driven by their need to protect others so much that they neglect to consider themselves. Adora throws herself into dangerous situations without any concern about her own safety because she feels it's her duty as She-ra to always take the burden of most things on her own, but with Bow it's a little subtler; he ignores his own feelings to keep the peace, and prefers to ignore interpersonal conflict because he feels it's his duty to keep others happy. Adora consistently tries to take down ridiculous amounts of enemies all on her own, and Bow goes so far as to hide the truth from his family and ignore the conflict brewing within the best friends squad in season 4 because he doesn't know how to fix it, so he is uncomfortable with the growing tension between Adora and Glimmer.

They were both having a renaissance in season 5, Adora with learning that it's okay to be "selfish" and taking what she wants for herself and Bow with learning it's okay not to immediately forgive someone when they've hurt you because his own feelings are important too.

Their journeys of learning to understand and honor their own feelings were wholly necessary for them to find their way to their respective happy endings.

We see in the earlier seasons both of them blaming themselves for things (for example both of them trying to take responsibility for losing Entrapta). Adora is much worse about this than Bow, but his tendency to shoulder the blame in situations is detrimental to his growth.

Adora has a huge turning point at the end of season 3, where she stops blaming herself for the way things end up during her "I didn't break the world" speech, and after this point she sticks to it. We don't see her volunteering an "it's my fault" to things, at least not nearly as often. Bow takes a little longer, with making excuses for Glimmer's actions in season 4 and feeling guilt over doing what is necessary to protect Etheria from the Heart when it means going against her orders and wishes. But on Beast Island he begins to let himself hold Glimmer accountable, and he lets himself stay angry instead of letting it go before he's ready to to keep the peace.

It takes a real show of willingness to change (Catra's "stay" and Glimmer's "you get to be mad for as long as you need to") for either of them to be willing to let things go, showing both Bow and Adora's growth into people who can hold others accountable rather than try to place the burden of fixing things onto their own shoulders.

Catradora and Glimbow also has a ton of parallels, but that's a post for another day!

I love Adora and Bow, I love their friendship and their interactions and the parallels in their arcs. I want to make a more detailed essay comparing their arcs and the growth they experience and the way it mirrors each other because I really feel like it's something I'd like to see explored more.

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Did you know SPOP's version of Glimmer is based on Nate Stevenson's first D&D character?

Jericho the tiefling, third from the left! She became a warlock to make her mom mad. Nate's tendency to use Jericho's teleporting ability to get into places others couldn't without properly checking to see what might happen first so chaos ensued from the lack of preparation is where Glimmer's poor impulse control when it comes to her powers comes from.

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For the first post, I want to talk about marriage on Etheria. As stated by Ray Geiger, the creators were unsure whether they would be able to show gay relationships openly and so the idea to have characters exchange tokens of commitment to each other instead of wedding rings to show the relationship was official was first shown with Spinnerella and Netossa exchanging chokers.

This is depicted as well in future Catra wearing Adora's wing pin. (Though we don't know know what of Catra's Adora has, if any)

Bow and Glimmer also have matching earrings in their older versions

I know this is a detail most people already know about but I thought it was something fun to post in case anyone didn't already know! It's one of my favorite pieces of lore from the She-ra universe and it makes me so happy. This simple and unique way to show commitment is such a cool detail about Etherian culture.

Also a final note, people like to argue that their future appearances aren't canon because they were in Adora's vision, but let's not forget Nate Stevenson's art of the characters at the next princess prom, sporting these same designs