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Android Blues
Nov 22, 2008

On the whole I actually thought this run of seven was a bit dull. Lots of nothing-y plots (Adora and Swiftwind rebuilding the spire, the ghost village where the entire B plot is just ten minutes of them getting scared of ghosts until they realise they're holograms), and now that Catra's uncomplicatedly villainous she's a bit less interesting. It feels like a lot of the drama drivers from the first season (Catra's conflicted loyalties, Adora's culture shock, Glimmer's domestic problems, the fractious princess alliance) are gone and there isn't much to replace them.

The Shadow Weaver flashback episode is definitely the best of the season on that front, I feel like, in that it gives Catra something to react to emotionally and lets her play more than one note. I actually hated the "Scorpia has a crush on Catra" thing, just because Catra is such a giant rear end in a top hat I can't imagine that relationship being particularly good or healthy for Scorpia.

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Alien Sex Manual
Dec 14, 2010

is not a sandwich

Most of the hero plots were skippable but man oh man I would watch a soap opera about the Fright Zone.

Catra hopped from abusive approval-seeking relationship with Shadow Weaver to abusive approval-seeking relationship with Hordak so I imagine the Scorpia thing is going to help her understand “huh this is what it’s like being in a relationship with somebody who likes me for who I am instead of what I can do for them.”

100% agree that Light Spinner was the best episode because it was about my favorite character’s journey from being a frumpy green elf to a frumpy gray elf.

side_burned
Nov 3, 2004

My mother is a fish.
https://twitter.com/HeManOrg/status/1123266365555707904

I would have been very excited about this 20 years ago.

Android Blues
Nov 22, 2008

side_burned posted:

https://twitter.com/HeManOrg/status/1123266365555707904

I would have been very excited about this 20 years ago.

drat, you've been a Noah Cent fan for a long time!

Android Blues
Nov 22, 2008

Labes for days posted:

Most of the hero plots were skippable but man oh man I would watch a soap opera about the Fright Zone.

Catra hopped from abusive approval-seeking relationship with Shadow Weaver to abusive approval-seeking relationship with Hordak so I imagine the Scorpia thing is going to help her understand “huh this is what it’s like being in a relationship with somebody who likes me for who I am instead of what I can do for them.”

100% agree that Light Spinner was the best episode because it was about my favorite character’s journey from being a frumpy green elf to a frumpy gray elf.

Yeah, plus Shadow Weaver's voice actor can bring it, and as a character she's still compelling.

I really wish the hero plots had been better, though. The one with Bow's parents was good, I thought, but a lot of the rest are just one beat stretched out for ten minutes, capped with one character apologising to the others for being slightly snippy with them. The ghost one and the rebuilding the tower one are the worst culprits, but the one with Frosta and Glimmer having a spat also comes off as really shallow. I feel like the first season had a lot more texture for the heroic characters, particularly Adora who got a lot to chew through, and whose most notable character beat this season is that it's funny when her sword transforms into useless stuff.

Also the, "we can't take prisoners! We'll be just like them!" thing is bizarre. I don't think it's come up before because the Rebellion mostly fights robots, but is their standard practise when they defeat Horde soldiers literally to just let them go? I guess that is what She-Ra used to do on the old show, but that was very transparently so that Hordak and the gang could return to their status quo next week. This one is a touch more grounded and actually has an ongoing plot, so it's really weird that the characters have the same 80s cartoon approach.

Gaz-L
Jan 28, 2009
It reads like a problem that occurs when you both don't want to have death be a major factor in your show episode-to-episode but also don't want to dwell on what the difference between POWs in Bright Moon vs the Fright Zone would be.

So instead of 'we can't kill them, we'd be just like them', you get 'we can't take prisoners' without really explaining why that would be bad, because if you did that, the whole thing collapses.

Arc Light
Sep 26, 2013



Android Blues posted:


is their standard practise when they defeat Horde soldiers literally to just let them go?

Obviously they execute anyone who surrenders. That's why no soldier ever made it back from the forest prior to the first episode.

Rand Brittain
Mar 25, 2013

"Go on until you're stopped."
In fairness, Queen Angella does seem to have a policy built around avoiding engagements at all costs, so it's possible they just never won any battles before.

Madurai
Jun 26, 2012

Arc Light posted:

Obviously they execute anyone who surrenders. That's why no soldier ever made it back from the forest prior to the first episode.

All those "Horde went in, never came out" stories were all barracks bullshit, and no one's ever actually gone in to test it until now.

Android Blues
Nov 22, 2008

The Horde actually vanishes their own soldiers who go into the Whispering Woods, solely to maintain the credibility of their "evil monster princesses" propaganda. This is the sole reason they haven't already won the war, Shadow Weaver murdered like seven hundred trained troops to build up that legend, and now they have to send in teenage cadets.

Rand Brittain
Mar 25, 2013

"Go on until you're stopped."

Android Blues posted:

The Horde actually vanishes their own soldiers who go into the Whispering Woods, solely to maintain the credibility of their "evil monster princesses" propaganda. This is the sole reason they haven't already won the war, Shadow Weaver murdered like seven hundred trained troops to build up that legend, and now they have to send in teenage cadets.

Close, but what actually happened is that they all got befriended by Bow.

Otherkinsey Scale
Jul 17, 2012

Just a little bit of sunshine!
They didn't have a problem taking Adora prisoner in the very first episode, so it's probably just one of those weird artificial attempts to manufacture conflicts that kids shows have sometimes. Especially since like five minutes later Bow says "the rebellion treats its prisoners with compassion".

Rewatching that: lmao, when Glimmer threatens Catra in front of Scorpia, Catra tells her not to worry because "They're rebels, they play by the rules!"

Otherkinsey Scale fucked around with this message at 01:14 on May 8, 2019

sexpig by night
Sep 8, 2011

by Azathoth
Finally fully finished up. Great season. Still has the problem where despite how adorable the best friends trio is the villains are 100% more interesting and I kiiiinda just want a Fright Zone show that happens to involve Princesses of Power fuckin their stuff up, but now that we're past season 1's 'we have to introduce everyone and have Adora's journey and all that jazz' stuff the story is really able to stretch its legs.

Scorpia's still best princess, she's powerful and good.

Chokes McGee
Aug 7, 2008

This is Urotsuki.

sexpig by night posted:

Finally fully finished up. Great season. Still has the problem where despite how adorable the best friends trio is the villains are 100% more interesting and I kiiiinda just want a Fright Zone show that happens to involve Princesses of Power fuckin their stuff up, but now that we're past season 1's 'we have to introduce everyone and have Adora's journey and all that jazz' stuff the story is really able to stretch its legs.

Scorpia's still best princess, she's powerful and good.

I will never get tired of her pet nickname for Catra :3:

Mr.Pibbleton
Feb 3, 2006

Aleuts rock, chummer.

Waffleopolis posted:

I wouldn't mind if She-Ra doesn't mention He-Man, but we do get a He-Man show that will eventually have connections to She-Ra and vice versa, with a mini-series involving both called "Masters of the Universe"

And all I ask is if Orko is voiced by Griffin McElroy

He's already set to do He-Man, but maybe he'd be willing to do two roles.

Queen Combat
Dec 29, 2017

Lipstick Apathy

Mr.Pibbleton posted:

He's already set to do He-Man, but maybe he'd be willing to do two roles.

???

Mr.Pibbleton
Feb 3, 2006

Aleuts rock, chummer.

Oh neat, season 3 is out on August 2nd.

https://dreamworksshera.tumblr.com/post/184790418384/season-3-of-she-ra-and-the-princesses-of-power-is

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

It would probably more proper to call it Season 2B.

Mr.Pibbleton
Feb 3, 2006

Aleuts rock, chummer.


If you believe you can name someone better qualified than this gentleman, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1QVp55ehvs by all means, go ahead.

:smug:

evilmiera
Dec 14, 2009

Status: Ravenously Rambunctious

sexpig by night posted:

Finally fully finished up. Great season. Still has the problem where despite how adorable the best friends trio is the villains are 100% more interesting and I kiiiinda just want a Fright Zone show that happens to involve Princesses of Power fuckin their stuff up, but now that we're past season 1's 'we have to introduce everyone and have Adora's journey and all that jazz' stuff the story is really able to stretch its legs.

Scorpia's still best princess, she's powerful and good.

She reminds me of Yona the Yak from another kid's show. Big, somewhat clumsy and all about pride in her nation, but with a heart of gold and a lot of empathy for others.

At least Scorpia isn't constantly under threat of dying, unlike her.

Queen Combat
Dec 29, 2017

Lipstick Apathy

I prefer the one without the sex pest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhlaYeZv3vo

Bokunenjin
Nov 30, 2012

Let's just hope it's an actual full season and not just the remaining 6 episodes they presumably cut from season 2.

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

Bokunenjin posted:

Let's just hope it's an actual full season and not just the remaining 6 episodes they presumably cut from season 2.

Pretty sure it's this.

Son of Thunderbeast
Sep 21, 2002
Yeah I'm pretty sure they're doing the Voltron thing where they release shorter seasons more often

Open Source Idiom
Jan 4, 2013
It's a toy sales thing, right?

I bet there's a spike every time they release a new batch of episodes.

CuwiKhons
Sep 24, 2009

Seven idiots and a bear walk into a dragon's lair.

Open Source Idiom posted:

It's a toy sales thing, right?

I bet there's a spike every time they release a new batch of episodes.

It's a Netflix thing. Some people only subscribe for long enough to watch a particular thing they care about. If I have to pay Netflix for a month of subscription time to watch S2, they'd rather I had to pay them twice - once in April and once in August.

(or better, they'd rather new things I care about were coming out frequently enough that I just don't bother to unsubscribe)

CuwiKhons fucked around with this message at 03:57 on May 11, 2019

Open Source Idiom
Jan 4, 2013

CuwiKhons posted:

It's a Netflix thing. Some people only subscribe for long enough to watch a particular thing they care about. If I have to pay Netflix for a month of subscription time to watch S2, they'd rather I had to pay them twice - once in April and once in August.

(or better, they'd rather new things I care about were coming out frequently enough that I just don't bother to unsubscribe)

Nah, that doesn't track. Why only the Dreamworks shows?

The other shows that do this -- and there's only one or two, like Kimmy Schmidt and Arrested Development -- were forced to by production issues.

Bokunenjin
Nov 30, 2012

CuwiKhons posted:

It's a Netflix thing. Some people only subscribe for long enough to watch a particular thing they care about. If I have to pay Netflix for a month of subscription time to watch S2, they'd rather I had to pay them twice - once in April and once in August.

(or better, they'd rather new things I care about were coming out frequently enough that I just don't bother to unsubscribe)
Can't wait till they take this to its logical conclusion and release an episode a week, like TV shows do.

Transmogrifier
Dec 10, 2004


Systems at max!

Lipstick Apathy

Bokunenjin posted:

Can't wait till they take this to its logical conclusion and release an episode a week, like TV shows do.

I mean they were doing that with Michelle Wolf's show if I remember right.

CuwiKhons
Sep 24, 2009

Seven idiots and a bear walk into a dragon's lair.

Open Source Idiom posted:

Nah, that doesn't track. Why only the Dreamworks shows?

The other shows that do this -- and there's only one or two, like Kimmy Schmidt and Arrested Development -- were forced to by production issues.

I presume it's easier with animated shows than live action ones. But Netflix has proven they'll do stuff like this. That's why they keep abruptly canceling popular live action shows like Santa Clarita Diet or Sense8.

Using small numbers for ease of use here but if Santa Clarita Diet comes out and 100 people who weren't subbed to Netflix subscribe to watch it, that's great. But then season 2 comes out and those 100 subs? Probably 50 of them just stayed subscribed because there was other interesting enough stuff to watch. The other 50 come back, but Netflix sees that as a smaller bump in revenue when they just had to shell out the same amount of money to produce season 2 as they did for the original season. Season 3 sees an even smaller bump, so show canceled. Doesn't matter how many people are actually watching it and loving it, the old show doesn't get new viewers, so they cancel it. Easier to spend the production money on a new show that might see 100 new subs, and those 100 from Santa Clarita Diet have probably found something else on Netflix to watch, even if they're mad their favorite show got canceled and maybe 30 of them unsubbed.

If anything, the animated shows are lucky they can't get canceled midway through because they've already paid for it to be animated.

Watermelon Daiquiri
Jul 10, 2010
I TRIED TO BAIT THE TXPOL THREAD WITH THE WORLD'S WORST POSSIBLE TAKE AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS STUPID AVATAR.
They did it with arrest development s5, voltron, Hasan Minhaj's show, this, disenchantment (I think?), and a few others

Queen Combat
Dec 29, 2017

Lipstick Apathy
The difference is this show is good.

Watermelon Daiquiri
Jul 10, 2010
I TRIED TO BAIT THE TXPOL THREAD WITH THE WORLD'S WORST POSSIBLE TAKE AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS STUPID AVATAR.

Queen Combat posted:

The difference is this show is good.

:hmmyes:



for real tho, Patriot Act is great

Son of Thunderbeast
Sep 21, 2002
poo poo so is disenchantment, though that at least had 10 episodes

Robodog
Oct 22, 2004

...how does that work?
Just got around to this new half a season. Besides the rapid rise of Entrapta and the odds of her accidentally blowing the planet up increasing a billion times, nothing really happened. That was a bummer. Also still needs to be gayer, though Bow's dads were rad as hell.

also also scorpia deserves better and catra will never get over adora

Motherfucker
Jul 16, 2011

I certainly dont have deep-seated issues involving birthdays.
My only problem with the show is isn't hordak the boss of all the horde so why does a trainee rookie get promoted to force captain which is like... directly answerable to him and also apparently a select cadre, was that one guy who was a drill instructor in the first episode a force commander? Like does Catra run the entire horde for a while?? I thought scorpia was a force captain of the same rank?? Is there a LOT of force captains?? That would make sense but we never see any others and the entire horde seems to be like four people and a thousand mooks I don't know what the gently caress is going on with this evil hierarchy!!

Motherfucker fucked around with this message at 10:57 on May 11, 2019

Alien Sex Manual
Dec 14, 2010

is not a sandwich

It also bothers me that you never see him giving orders to other Force Captains. Like there’s gotta be more than two but you don’t even see him giving orders to a bunch of nameless ones along with Catra and Scorpia.

I think it’s been mentioned before but this show is good at personal interactions but not so good at making it seem like the Horde is enormous and an actual threat.

Motherfucker
Jul 16, 2011

I certainly dont have deep-seated issues involving birthdays.
word. theres a whole invasion / rebellion full of mooks and people who get zero screen time and characterisation. I thought the DnD episode was gonna end with them leaving the tent to 'just wing it' only to find the rebellion had taken the fort without them and thanks to scorpia's paranoia and poor planning it worked but only at a high cost and there would be a chastening and sobering all around.

Android Blues
Nov 22, 2008

Motherfucker posted:

My only problem with the show is isn't hordak the boss of all the horde so why does a trainee rookie get promoted to force captain which is like... directly answerable to him and also apparently a select cadre, was that one guy who was a drill instructor in the first episode a force commander? Like does Catra run the entire horde for a while?? I thought scorpia was a force captain of the same rank?? Is there a LOT of force captains?? That would make sense but we never see any others and the entire horde seems to be like four people and a thousand mooks I don't know what the gently caress is going on with this evil hierarchy!!

In the old show, Hordak was actually just a backwater colonial governor, and the Horde was a massive intergalactic empire lead by an evil ghost called Horde Prime. Hordak was literally just some schmuck who was failing at keeping a conquered planet under control.

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thatbastardken
Apr 23, 2010

A contract signed by a minor is not binding!
can't wait for adora to pull the horde apart now they no longer have catra to distract her.

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