Hmm...was She-Ra 'girly'...
I was very much a tomboy growing up. I didn't care for dresses and dolls and all that girly stuff.
But I was totally into She-Ra, because while I wasn't a girly-girl, I still liked to have a girl who could be the hero and really kick butt doing it. She-Ra wasn't a shrinking violet. She and tough and feminine without being 'butch' (sorry if that phrase offends anyone) and 'girly'.
The Rebellion had regular male support in the character of Bow, and Adam/He-man would make the odd appearance. Also, there was another character named Sea Hawk who made a couple showings.
As for Madame Razz, she's a little like Orko... She's a very (very) old enchantress whose spells are more likely to go wrong than right; so she's more like Orko in that respect. She is usually the comic relief in the episode.
Hordak, leader of the Horde presence on Etheria was a much more cruel, evil, menacing villain than Skeletor.
I never thought about it much as a child, but She-Ra's battle was much more serious than the little tiffs He-Man would have against Skeletor and his minions. He-Man's world was relatively peaceful. The 'good guys' ruled. It was a different story for She-Ra's Etheria. They were at war against an oppressive, occupying force. While censors made it impossible to be truly 'graphic' in its depictions of war, the reality of it is that both the Horde and the Rebellion could have suffered major loses in their weekly match-ups. Violence, especially on a cartoon more geared towards girls, of course, wouldn't have been acceptable in the 80s.
So while we were not shown the casualties of war, I do think She-Ra is worth a look!
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