3 Reasons She-Ra and Her Princesses is not Just a Reskinned He-Man

I remember the original He-Man & The Masters of the Universe, and then the spin-off She-Ra: Princess of Power cartoon shows. They were the pinnacle of a certain kind of toy-tie-in programming in the era that perfected toy-tie-in programming. (Watch The Toys That Made Us, also on Netflix for a fascinating dive into this world.) I say this with all honesty, from an adult perspective, they were not very good shows. As a kid, things like perspective and story cohesion didn’t matter a whole lot to me. But what I did know then, and didn’t care for very much, was that She-Ra was such a rip off of He-Man! Sword. Catch phrase. Transformation sequence. All the same! Half the time, He-Man had to come over from Eternia to save She-Ra anyway. Mind you, this was 10 years before Japan blew the doors off girl-power cartoons coming to the U.S. with Sailor Moon. The early 80s was still struggling to develop a proper girl-powered cartoon in which the girls were actual people, and not anthropomorphic animals (or gummi bears). (Jem was the exception. Truly outrageous.)

Hitting play on this new She-Ra and the Princesses of Power from Netflix, I was curious how this incredibly derivative character would break free of her old relationship with He-Man. How would she stand on her own? Would she miss him? Let me tell you, She-Ra has broken it off entirely. Watch this transformation!

Here are 3 ways that She-Ra and her princesses is absolutely new, and absolutely worth watching for you and your ki…