#who saw one of my friends cosplay a CANON OUTFIT of a female character and complained about my friend sexualizing minors like

[achamocha]

forever baffled at people who willingly consume media that portrays problematic content in a positive light as an integral part of their plot and then get mad when people in the fandom include said problematic content in their fanworks. 'why is everyone shipping incest' YOU ARE A FAN OF THE INCEST GAME

[3w-writer-with-wings]

Character post: Aoi Zaizen

Why I like them/why I don’t:

Out of all Yu-Gi-Oh girls so far, Aoi feels the most relatable of them all. She is a lot like a grown-up version of Luna/Ruka from 5Ds with a similar mannerism and personality. Aoi has a really timid nature and the fact that she is so sheltered by Akira that she feels he doesn’t even trust her hits home hard. But what I really love about her is her development. She learns from her mistakes and tries to become the best version of herself. The actions she takes in order to change herself don’t always play in her favour and even then she keeps on trying. Aoi represents exactly what you should do if you face failure in life – make changes and learn from your mistakes. Unlike Go, she never succumbed to her own insecurities and rather used them in order to change for the better. While she may appear pretty naïve and stubborn at first, you can really see how she slowly transforms into a person she always wished to be.

She is also a good representation of a celebrity with depression. The episode that showed her life outside VRAINS nearly broke my heart. From the way she talked with Yusaku and members of duel club, to how she just ran away after Yusaku asked her about Akira and how she was lying on bed looking like she was about to cry… it was just hard to watch considering there are people who are actually suffering the same way. But then she logged in VRAINS and instantly became a bubbly Charisma Duelist to entertain people. While a lot of people compare Go to Yuya, I actually see Aoi to be more like Yuya. Her Blue Angel persona is just like Yuya’s goggles, a mask she hides behind to cover up her tears and she presents herself as someone who is always smiling.

When her wings broke after her loss to Yusaku… it just perfectly represented how she finally broke down a lot like how Yuya lost to Reiji and Jack. At that point, I was really afraid she would follow the same road that Go did in season 2 – her insecurities and depression getting the best of her, but she didn’t. No, instead she put some thought about it before she did anything. When her fans were bashing her name, it seemed like she was going to break again. Thank God Emma came to her rescue! What I love about her relationship with Emma the most is the fact that she is the kind of a person that Aoi always needed. Once Miyu was revealed it also made me realize why Aoi had a hard time finding friends – she was afraid of being separated from a friend and didn’t want to be hurt by it again. Emma let her know that she’ll be always on her side and this was the encouragement that she needed to make a step further.

Her style of duelling is also one of my favourites – the burndown strategy. When she was duelling that AI who had the same technique and they were burning each other’s LP down like crazy was really entertaining to watch. I was a bit disappointed once she no longer used that technique, though I liked that she acknowledged it as something that needs to be improved. In overall her character is just as complex as Yusaku’s and I’m glad that it was explored a lot.

The only downside to her character is how her character is treated. Unfortunately, female characters are something that Shin Yoshida doesn’t know how to handle and this plays a big part in her representation. She had many losses that downgraded her lot. While she made a very big comeback in season 2 as Blue Maiden she also had a big downfall as well. In other words, Aoi’s character deserved so much more but was unfortunately pushed aside many times.

What I like about their appearance

The fact that she has so many avatars! I actually cosplayed Blue Angel and this was one of the most difficult cosplays I’ve ever made, but I in no way regret it since it is a very cute outfit and I’ve learned so many cosplay-making techniques while making it. I also really like how each avatar in a way presents one part of her. Blue Angel is her childhood dream, a hero she wanted to become. Blue Girl represents her desire to be like Ghost Girl and make a change. And Blue Maiden is her embracing all of herself and honourably joining Team Playmaker. Her avatars give this Magical Girl feel that combine her kind nature with power in order to save the world. While magical girl anime portrays that more ribbons, sparkle and skirts equals more power, Aoi’s avatar changes are the exact opposite, showing that sometimes less can be more.

And the part I love the most and was the most difficult to make? Her wings! I think I spent nearly three whole days just figuring out how to make those wings stand! In the end, I used some very thick wires, extra strong duct tape and a handmade posture supporter to keep it still. And it was so worth it! I was a bit sad that Blue Girl didn’t have wings, so when Blue Maiden’s wings were shown I was excited as hell! I also really like her twintail hairstyle since I tend to wear my hair in this style too. When I cosplayed Blue Angel not that many people recognized the character, but those few who did really liked it and one of them even showed me all of the Trickstars he had in his deck! I had a really wonderful experience as Blue Angel and I even won the third place in cosplay contest! To conclude – I love absolutely everything about her appearance and I wouldn’t mind cosplaying her or her other avatars again!

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

While I really like the name Skye, it kinda sounds off for Aoi. I’ve grown really used to her original name so when her dub name was revealed… it just didn’t sound like her. I guess it could work as her user name since Skye goes well with her avatar’s wings, puffy skirt and blue colours like a short nickname for Blue Angel. Aoi is also the name of a hollyhock flower that represents the cycle of life which nicely symbolizes the changes that Aoi went through when changing her avatars and overall personality.

OTP

Definitely Miyu or Takeru, hard to decide. Miyu was introduced really late in the series and didn’t get that much screen time or backstory and yet it was enough to give away all necessary information about her. I made many theories why I thought Aoi was Aqua’s origin and in a way, she is - all because of Miyu. While all cheerful and caring, Miyu could’ve been lonely and even if she wasn’t, she choose to befriend someone who was. It is not clear how long the two of them were friends, though it most likely not long and yet out of all people, Miyu choose Aoi to be her anchor. Aqua basically represents Miyu’s love for Aoi and I’m sure that once Aoi gets to meet Miyu it will be a very emotional reunion. 

Then there’s Takeru and let’s face it, he is the kind of a character that can be shipped with anyone and it would still work. Still, I genuinely believe he has a secret crush on Aoi. When he passed Aoi in school, he didn’t appear to have much interest towards her though that could be because that was the first time he saw her as Aoi and not as Blue Angel. The duel they had as Soulburner and Blue Girl was pretty entertaining to watch and the encouragement he gives her in the end was very well-meaning and kind. The second time he meets her in real life is completely different as he approaches her right away and introduces himself. Considering how shy Takeru can be it is very unlikely he would do that with just anyone, so the fact that he did that with Aoi shows that he is interested in becoming her friend. Kiku said that he is not much of a friendly person, so the fact that he approached someone else besides Yusaku really says a lot. Their relationship would really work as they both love duelling and testing themselves. I hope that they get to have a tag duel one time together as they could really fit each other well despite representing opposite elements (water and fire) since this could be the first time for such combination in a tag duel. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a tag duel in the third season since I really enjoyed Aki and Crow tag duel in 5Ds and this could give some nostalgia.

NOTP

At first I didn’t know this even existed, but Aoi and Akira ship just feels wrong on so many levels. I know they aren’t blood-related but they are still siblings. While I really like their sibling relationship, romantic one would completely ruin it, especially how canon it actually felt during the first season. Like Aoi would use –sama for her brother which is reserved for masters and bosses, like she is super inferior to him and the whole reason why she went to duel Yusaku was so she could impress him, which resulted in her falling in coma. Even if they weren’t siblings, Aoi is still a minor and Akira is ten years older than her. At times Akira also acts a lot like her father which would make their romantic relationship that much worse.

I dislike romantic Aoi and Emma ship for the same reason. While I absolutely love their sisterly bond, the thought of them having something more just doesn’t feel okay. Maybe if Aoi was older like over 18 or in early 20s then it could work better. Even if Aoi would have feelings for Emma and she would want to start a relationship with her, I imagine Emma would tell her to wait. Emma is the kind of a person, who has no problem breaking a law, but getting in a relationship with a minor is something she wouldn’t do. I have no doubt that she loves Aoi like her little sister or a young partner in crime so a romantic relationship would pretty much ruin this nicely developed relationship.

OT3

Aoi, Miyu and Aqua! I don’t know why, but this trio just warms my heart. There’s no doubt that all three of them care about each other a lot and would form a really nice relationship with each other. In my perfect reality, both Aqua and Aoi come visit Miyu after everything is over, and together they create new VRAINS avatars in order to spend time with Aqua who is pretty much their lovechild. I see this trio to work in both platonic and romantic way since the three of them show nothing but kindness and care towards each other.

Favourite card they use

Marincess Crystal Heart. I already liked the concept of Crystal Heart, the fact that it symbolized Aqua’s and Earth’s love and that they did everything to keep it from being destroyed in the field. What truly made me love it even more was when Aoi used it in a duel against Bowman and empowered it. I believe that the heart still represents Aqua’s and Earth’s love and the water spirit protecting it is Aoi, protecting them both. From the start of their meeting, Aoi has been keeping Aqua safe and Marincess Crystal Heart perfectly represents that.

Favourite moment they were in

Her duel with Haru. After so many losses, the duel with Haru was the best comeback for Aoi. The character she has been building finally came into action and I absolutely enjoyed watching that duel. From the new archetype Marincess to how she stood her ground against Haru’s hurtful words - Aoi made it clear: she is back and ready to kick some ass! The new strategy, her partnership with Aqua and that badass skill when her wings showed up! And how she outright obliterated Haru’s LP! It was just amazing and it showed how far she has come. At that point, it really seemed like Aoi was set to win more duels...

Least favourite moment

... which is why her loss to Bowman was so sad. While it was no way as humiliating as her loss to Playmaker, Specter and Soulburner, it was still terrible. Bowman is disgustingly overpowered character and the fact that he used so many moves that were outright cheating really downgraded Aoi’s and Aqua’s character. I would be fine if Bowman defeated her with a good strategy, but no he used a literal asspull effect like he did the whole duel. He even tried to scare her and for a moment I thought Aoi would give in. Luckily she didn’t and I was so proud of her. Even the act of “mercy” was a very cheap move since Bowman is a freaking hypocrite and he probably used it just so he could feel better about losing Haru. 

Back then when I was still hopeful about Aoi’s further character development I wrote a theory why she was capable of defeating Bowman with very good arguments and how it could play out well in the final conclusion of season 2. (it is here if you wish to check it out  https://3w-writer-with-wings.tumblr.com/post/182925730720/lightnings-plans-and-why-i-believe-aoi-will  ). I was really disappointed when Bowman won using the cheap moves since it looked like writing staff pushed away Aoi’s promising future for the sake of having Bowman win at all cost.  

Would I fuck, marry or kill them

Can I just be her friend? Cuz really if I were to meet Aoi in real life, I would just hug her and take her out for ice cream or coffee and talk with her, letting her know that she is an amazing person and that she should never doubt herself cuz she is doing a great job at improving herself. I would likely be one of those Blue Angel fans in the crowd during her duels, holding banners with encouraging words or I would be writing a blog dedicated to her in order to support her, pretty much the same thing that I’m doing now. ;) If someone would bash her name and accuse her of things she didn’t do or weren’t her fault, you bet I would write a freaking essay similar to the one I made in order to defend Yusaku when someone made a youtube video ranting how boring he is. 

Aoi Zaizen deserves more recognition and hopefully, she gets to shine more in the third season. 

[angel-of-death-2015]

A,F, H and U

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

My ships that I really like right now are:

Connorline: Aveline de Grandpré x Ratonhnhaké:ton from Assassin’s Creed

Rojorave: Miguel Caballero Rojo x Master Raven from Tekken

Blackjac: Erron Black x Jacqui Briggs from Mortal Kombat

Talisto: Talia x Mephisto from LoliRock

Lukanette: Marinette Dupain-Cheng x Luka Coffaine (I forgot how to spell his last name) from Miraculous Ladybug (even though I left the show and most of the fandom)

Favorite BOTP:

Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion and Kuai Liang/Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat

Juleka Coffaine and Marinette Dupain-Cheng from Miraculous Ladybug

Kagami Tsurugi and Marinette Dupain-Cheng from Miraculous Ladybug

Kabal and Erron Black from Mortal Kombat

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

This is actually a tough question.  I’d say the longest I’ve been in a fandom has been since 2013 in Tekken and a little longer in the Sonic the Hedgehog fandoms.

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

It’s gotta be from tv shows, books, and movies to a certain extent.  TV shows are pretty much right there and aren’t really sourced anywhere else like they’re gonna be put into a book you know?  But if it’s under a circumstance like books getting adapted into movies, then you gotta stick with the text most of the time because a lot of movies usually stray away from the source from the book and turn into something completely different.

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

WHY WOULD YOU MAKE ME ANSWER SUCH A HARD QUESTION ROOTY?  WHY???

Jacqui Briggs from Mortal Kombat: Listen, I FELL IN LOVE WITH HER WHEN I SAW HER OKAY??? SUE ME.  She’s such a BEAUTIFUL character!  She’s literally the daughter of an OG character and she just wants to join the military to keep Earthrealm safe and keep her dad safe.  Not only is she a fun, witty character, she looks like me.  I love her because she looks like me.  And on top of that, she actually has a great best friend and has a canon non-white love interest!  HE LITERALLY CALLED HER BEAUTIFUL IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE WHEN SHE THOUGHT HE WAS GONNA GO BLIND AFTER ACID WAS SPAT IN HIS FACE!  I’m super protective over her because of the blatant racism and misogynoir she faces from the fandom.  I’ve seen people make her super OOC in fanfics just so that they can ship Takeda with Cassie, Jin, or somebody else and just state that she’s asexual just because.  Now, Jacqui being asexual isn’t a problem.  The problem was that people straight up labeled her as that all because she’s black and isn’t supposed to have a love interest because “she don’t need no man”.  And even though I have my crack ship with her and Erron, people are gonna have to pry my Jakeda from my cold, dead hands.

Aveline de Grandpré from Assassin’s Creed: Again I FELL IN LOVE WITH HER.  She’s such an underrated assassin despite being the first black female assassin ever!  I love how her story actually fits with who she is as a character.  I just wish that her game was longer because even though her entire plot is good, you can still feel some holes there and it would’ve been much more powerful if more things were added into her story.  Plus, have you seen a lady beat the shit outta muggers and colonizers and slave owners in an 18th century dress???  And looking good in it???  Like Jacqui, she’s been treated poorly by the fans and the developers and people keep dis-crediting her because her game wasn’t on a huge main console.  Plus she makes more sense as an assassin because of her disguises.  What’s the use of being secretive if donning your assassin robes every time you go to out to kill somebody?  Part of being secretive is blending in with the crowd and that’s the one thing that Aveline does with her outfits.  I just love her and want more to be done with her.  I’m trying to do more with my fanfics and fanarts despite my progress but I gotta start somewhere!  And you should hear her OST.  IT’S FUCKING FIRE.

Aqua from Kingdom Hearts: I looooove this girl!  She’s super cute and actually fun to play with!  She, along with Terra and Ven truly deserve better.  After she lost Terra and Ven in their own ways, homegirl was left in the darkness for about eleven years.  I’ll never forgive Mickey’s bitch ass for leaving her there and forgetting about her.  Aqua bent over backwards to try to save her friends and her home from Master Xehanort and had to fight off illusions of happiness in the realm of darkness.  I still haven’t finished KH3 yet, but I know that she reunites with Terra and they all have a happy ending.  It’s what Aqua deserves after being manipulated by Master Xehanort and having to lose Master Eraqus, Terra, and Ven.  These three were one of the three trios that technically didn’t get a happy ending and the villain won.  So I’m all for Aqua getting the happiness she deserves.  I really wanna cosplay her but I need to find blue hair that I’ll actually wear on a daily basis and not just for cosplaying for one day.  I’d wear a wig but my scalp doesn’t agree with any wigs that I wear.

[undeadqveen]

✕ — isn’t that shiklah wandering the streets of new york? civilians know them as queen of the undead and see them as an anti-hero (or villain depending the day,,, yike). as far as i know, the one thousand+ year old stands with the legion of monsters & howling commandos and are rumoured to be pretty authoritative & cavalier. ( priyanka chopra /demi-girl / she/they )

{ trigger warnings : coma mention, war, sort-of-not-really-cannibalism (since u kno, demon, but still human eating), torture, medical/experiments  }

everyone say hello to my monster!baby, shiklah! she is the literal light of my life and i can only hope i do her justice. sooo here we go.

I. : INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION: //

shiklah hasn’t been around in the comics for too long. and all her appearances in marvel are entirely comic based

so this rendition of her is going to be based on that, with my own head canons filling in the gaps along the way to make her a fully fleshed out character

II. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: //

age: old. really fucking old. she was alive before the first humans.

gender: demigirl. her war demon form is gender neutral. she wears female human skin, however.

height: 10’3” in true form, 5’8” in humanoid form

species: succubus, sorceress

occupation: succubus queen, queen of the undead, queen of the underworld, queen of monstropolis

place of birth: the arabian peninsula

citizenship: arabian

marital status: married (two polyamorous marriages)

orientation: pansexual, panromantic, and polyamorous

pre-coma family: mother and father, names unknown (deceased); amjad, brother (deceased); baqir, brother (deceased); jenny, cousin (alive and a fucking badass)

children: cathan, adopted son (species: demon who prefers a werewolf form, sorcerer)

pets: bug, her pet dragon, who flies and breathes fire. he’s a good boy.

affiliation: leader of the legion of monsters

base of operations: monster metropolis (otherwise known as monstropolis), morlock tunnels, manhattan, NY

moral alignment: lawful evil

III. HISTORICAL INFORMATION: //

before humans were even around, shiklah and her family ruled the monster world. but the vampires wanted to overthrow their family. cue a war that lasted centuries and saw the coming of man. aka a long ass fucking war. my poor baby.

during the war against the vampires, shiklah’s kingdom had fallen, and her and her father witnessed the deaths of shiklah’s two brothers.

her father, in a,,,,, stroke of,,,, genius? well. a stroke of something. decided to lock shiklah up in a sarcophagus for. however long it’d take until the war ended or until she was going to be wed. surprise surprise.

well. dracula decides to hire deadpool to go wake up shiklah. so they could be married and end this long ass war and finally have peace. things were going fine until deadpool gets into a fight with a minotaur and shiklah’s sarcophagus shatters, awakening her and bug.

IV. MODERN INFORMATION: //

in her short period of time being awake in the modern world, shiklah was nearly assassinated by blade, was captured by hydra, and captured by aim, both of which wanted to exploit her powers and experiment on her.

she also fell in love with wade who taught her how to acclimate to the modern world, about technology, and about popular culture

when humans brutally murdered a centuries-old monster who resided in monstropolis, an elder monster who was completely senile and not a threat to anyone, shiklah sort of. snapped. she tried to handle things with civility at first, going in front of the courts and asking for retribution for the cold blooded murder of her loyal friend.

when the courts laughed in her face and told shiklah that monsters aren’t protected under the criminal code, she realized humans really are horribly discriminatory, and declared war against them.

to stop shiklah from killing. everyone. wade went to get dracula, who came to find shiklah and proposed. the two were also married and shiklah took a temporary leave of her duties to pursue their relationship and learn how to rule as a fair ruler, not a forceful one. she realized she didnt like using her powers to rule her own citizens by force. proud of you, baby girl.  

V. ABILITIES INFORMATION: //

succubus physiology

enhanced strength, speed, dexterity

supernatural beauty

royal-level mystical abilities

pheromones (my personal head canon, it hasn’t been written in the comics yet but her cousin jenny has succubus pheromones and it’d make sense shiklah does, too, as part of her supernatural beauty)

shapeshifting

hellfire/soulfire manipulation

enslavement beams,,, yike

life-force absorption

necromancy 

VI. ADDTIONAL INFORMATION: //

i wont bore you with all of my myriad historical head canons about shiklah’s life before her millennia long sleep, they’ll probably come up as flashbacks in her threads anyhow, plus theres so  much time there to fill in that i’m sure shiklah will also tell me things as time goes on

what’s important to know about this though is that shiklah is, in many ways, very traditional. she loves donning a maid outfit and cleaning her entire palace. shes a forceful female ruler who’s still subjected at times to her thousands of years old preconceived notions of gender roles

she loves to party. she’s admitted to wade before that she throws parties with her monster friends all the time — one’s that are orgy ceremonies actually

she eats humans, particularly in her war form. it’s cool  

she’s pretty naive to the ways of the modern world. wade fills her in on stuff, but it’s also wade, lmao. her perception of things in the modern era is very biased towards deadpools own views on things

she’s adorable sometimes? like. super scary evil murder demon baby who cracks jokes about the kardashians.

shes evil towards humans but she is a fair and just ruler to monsters. she doesn’t like asgardians because apparently her people were enslaved by them during a conflict thousands of years ago. this issue though was sort of resolved when her cousin jenny was tricked into starting a fight with jane foster, and the two ended up reconciling and becoming close

but she respects the inhumans and she respects mutants, especially ones whose powers altered their physical appearance

tbh she wants to mom every monster looking kid

she reads comics in the bath like a cutie

she also goes to conventions, especially comic conventions, where people think shes dressed in cosplay. their reaction to her answer, “no, this is just the human skin i’m wearing for the day,” is her favourite thing

she loves bug more than anything else

consequently she loves sex almost as much as bug

blood k!nk~~~

she will kiss you and drain some of your life force. she will. it’ll give you a rush of adrenaline like nothing else and it really gets her off.

personally i HC that she was actually taken by hydra for a while and she was actually taken by aim for a while. she was weaponized by the former and experimented upon by the latter.

actually i have a lot of angst head canons for shiklah that’ll probably come out more in her threads and flashbacks too

she knows the x-men and some of the avengers and the fantastic 4 because they were at her wedding with wade????????

similarly, i imagine she knows most of the people he was on teams with or worked with, tbh. she probably loves the kinneys actually

she has a son she adopted, a five year old little demon sorcerer who she named cathan (in honour of the elder god, c’thon). he’s a little monster baby who uses his shapeshifting demon powers to stay in a werewolf humanoid demon form — because he was raised by wolves before shiklah rescued him

as a ruler of one of the dimensions of the underworld i imagine she also knows the other hell leaders such as dormammu, the hellstroms, mephisto, etc. but also other hellfire users like ghost rider.

shes evil but she has a big heart for the people she cares about. she has a bad tendency of prioritizing her needs and wants over what the people she loves needs or wants but she’s actively working on that, too

shes full of juxtapositions? which is why i love her. shes cunning in some ways but naive in others. shes evil to some but a darling to others. shes a war demon but also a housemaid. shes so complicated and diverse and i can’t wait to write her with you all!!!

— i think that’s about it for now?! shiklah is my BABE honestly. so hmu for all the plots because im sO EXCITED for her ok thanks fam ily <3

[ryuspike]

Thoughts on She-ra

Just finished watching She-ra and the Princesses of Power today.  My overall feelings are positive.  I might consider doing a full blown review one day, but I have too much on my plate to do that.  So a list of pros, cons, and thoughts will have to do.  A clarification does need to be made before I write down the list:

I am pro-lgbt and believe in equality between men and women of all races.   That said, I will have opinions that may challenge your viewpoints and that is okay.  Great even.  Having different opinions does not make anybody enemies.  It is the refusal that there are opinions besides your own that animosity is born.  Now, onto the list.

Pro

The main cast of characters are likable and each have their character arcs (will get into those later). Design-wise, their outfits look great and I can imagine plenty of great cosplay to come from it.

Writing is not perfect, but is not awful overall.  There are no giant gaps of logic that make you go, “That doesn’t make sense.”

Main heroine, Adora, is a great character as she displays both weakness and strength that make sense of her character. There is still plenty to learn about her past as future seasons will likely dive into.

Bow is just a great support male lead.  He is written to be somebody who is in touch of his emotional side, and also show competency when the need rises.

Glimmer was somebody I thought I would find annoying because she was sort of a brat.  As the show went on, she slowly became one of my favorites as she eventually learns to be more mature.

The villains are great.  Not only are they as evil as I would hope the villains should be, but they also have a lot of depth to them.  Shadow Weaver is a great antagonist as she demonstrates an emotional obsession that is both dangerous to the heroes and the Horde.  Hordak is also really great despite his lack of screen time. But the best villain has to be...

Catra.  Catra is the best character hands down.  She goes through a character arc that absolutely steals the show for me.  Her design is great, her personality is perfect, and her relationship with Adora is filled with so much nuisance and depth that short summery isn’t enough to describe it.  If there is one character to love, it has to be Catra.

Con

The animation, I feel, could use with some improving, Certain action scenes have less impact to them as several characters and objects don’t have as fluid a flow to them as they are meant to.  I suspect budget or time restraints to be the cause of this, and any improvement will have to wait until the second season.

While the main characters are written well, the side characters (the princesses for example) are mostly bland or one note.  They aren’t bad, but they mostly depend on personality quirks rather than something more complicated. Entrapta and Scorpia started off seemingly to follow this path, but later episodes actually gave them more depth.  The Dragon Prince also suffered from having too many quirky characters being quirky during serious scenes.  The balance of levity is hard to master as most creators try to please a large range of viewers without alienating any of them.  Success is mixed, but later seasons always help that balance.

Glimmer’s mother, Queen Angella, is not a bad character, but she falls into an archetype that is sadly very predictable. The overprotective mother that wants to keep her daughter out of danger. While I sympathized with her more than Glimmer at first, her shtick kinda got old as she acted more motherly than queenly.  Makes me glad that she and Glimmer upgraded their relationship as I hope a season 2 will allow her to “spread her wings” as far as characterization goes.

Princess Frosta’s eleventh hour moment felt... unearned.  I feel like there should have been a scene of her talking with somebody that convinces her to aid the heroes and rejoin the alliance.  Last time we saw her, she was telling off Adora for being a rude guest and cementing her neutrality within the war.  After all that, why does she join them?  It is a plot hole that needs to be addressed.

This is something I imagine would tick off some people as it is about the canon lesbian couple, Netossa and Spinnerella.  Not because they are a same-sex couple.  No, that is great.  What isn’t great is that they are given the worst screen time out of all the princesses.  They don’t even get any lines or characterization other than “And then there is those two.” until the final episode of the season with powers that would have great to have around during the Best Friend Squad’s previous adventures.  Even their relationship wasn’t made clear until their proper introduction.  I think they might’ve been mentioned during the Prom episode, but by that point, they were mostly forgotten already.  Season 2 will need to do better to include them more often so it doesn’t feel like they are just background characters.

Related Thoughts

It is a pain but it would be ignorant to not point out the controversy that bloated to the point where it’ll make an inflation fetishist blush. So, yes, most of the female characters in this cartoon are super flat.  For the many teen characters, this isn’t a big deal, but it becomes odd when all the adult women are depicted in the same way.  Especially the motherly Queen Angella who people would expect to have breasts after childbirth and rearing. The fact that everybody is flat is not a problem for me.  If it was, this would be in the Con section.  No, the reason I am even mentioning this potential ball of toxic drama is because there are a few female characters in the show that do have breasts and they are not depicted in a sexual light.  If the fear of sexualization was behind the decision to make every female character flat, then why are these characters exempt from the rule?  Was it something that was looked over during character modelling process, or is it something that the show runners intentionally done?  That is something to think about if you are trying to form an argument for either side.

There are people that feel like breasts are a sexual taboo and that giving breasts to girls under the age of 18 is an act of sexualizing minors.  Others say that the removal of breasts is a form of body shaming towards those who were naturally endowed.  Everybody has their reasons and chooses a side.  Both seeking to set up a victim they swear to protect, but is more like an excuse to get their teeth and nails soaked in blood.  It is just sad to think that it should happen over a cartoon that is suppose to introduce a younger generation to a show that my generation loved.

There were a lot of references towards She-ra’s connection to He-man in this show.  It is actually an overarching plot point really.  Eternia and Grayskull are name dropped, and I am getting a good feeling that the “First Ones” are them.  Now what this could mean about this show’s version of He-man and the Masters of the Universe is hard to tell.  They could have Eternia be from a different dimension or from another planet.  Maybe Eternia is destroyed by this point?  It is all a mystery.  All I can imagine is that Adora’s family (Prince Adam and his parents) will become important within season 2 or 3.  The circumstances behind why Shadow Weaver is so obsessed with keeping Adora so close to her should also be revealed then as well.

There is a Kowl plushie and it is pretty cute.  They should introduce Kowl next season and make him as cute and lovable as 2011 Thundercats’ Snarf.  Even that new Thundercats reboot, which people hate with a burning passion, based their Snarf off that one.  Cute sells.  It sells more than sex.  This is the absolute truth.

Phew!  This was more than I intended but I feel like I got my points across.  Despite those cons you see, I feel like Netflix’s She-ra did a good job for its first season.  As somebody not blinded by hate or rainbow-tinted lens, I feel like this is good enough to introduce my niece to. I can only hope that Catra will be her favorite.  It will fill me with pride if she can recognize who the best character is.