Dear Watchers: an omniversal comic book podcast

>> Rob: Sword to podcast. Welcome to Dear Watchers, an omniversal combook podcast where we do a deep dive into the multiverse.

>> Guido: We are you from Eternia to Etheria, and through the stories and worlds that make up an omniverse of, fictional realities we all love. And your watchers on this journey are me, Princess of power, Guido, and me, Robra. You sound more like a horrid villain, I'd say, than Sheir Ra.

>> Rob: Or like, a Kaiju Rab Ra.

>> Guido: Yeah, that's why I think I'm going with Horde villain for that one.

>> Rob: Well, before we enter our world of Saturday cartoons and comic books, Guo, what's happening in our little section of the multiverse?

>> Guido: Well, it's not that new because I'm repeating what we said last time, but I'm still reading the nacelle book, Superman for all Kryptons, an oral history of everything about Superman. And it's really fun. It's so in depth, as I mentioned last time, in S700 pages, so it's sure to take me a long time. I'm, now at the George Reeves television show, but going through the history of the creation and the creators and the lawsuits and the radio show and the serial, really fascinating. Yeah. So I highly recommend it. And then Daredevil Born Again did start. We haven't seen Batman yet, but maybe we will. There's still time. Robert Pattinson's gonna show up with Charlie Cox.

>> Rob: Well, he was just making press recently saying, well, if they don't shoot the new Batman movie soon, he'll be very old. So maybe that was all a ploy because he's actually going to be his.

>> Guido: In Daredevil Born Again. M. Yeah. Our Marvel DC crossover is taking a pause, though, for this week's episode.

>> Rob: Yes. And if you're joining us for the first time, we have three parts of our journey today. Origins of the story, exploring multiversity and pondering possibilities. So thanks for coming along.

>> Guido: And remember, leave a five star you, wherever you're listening. Find us on Blues sky and Instagram. Ah, eerwatchers.

>> Rob: And with that, welcome to episode 155. And let's see what's happening in the multiverse with today's alternate universe. And today we are calling on the honor of Greykull as we answer the question, what if she. She Ra, was originally a female Hordak named Despera.

>> Guido: So this is a very specific DC Comics Earth canon that has sort of bled and intermingled with Core Heman and Shira canon. We'll talk I think a lot about canonicity in Mou and Pop this episode. We have covered he man first with Superman in his first comic book appearance in DC Comics way back in episode 67. So if you didn't listen back then, or even if you did, you probably forgot because it was years ago. So go back and listen to episode 67 then with Mike from Multiverse of Badness, we covered he man and Thundercats, that crossover, that was an episode 93. But more recently, just last year, though it feels like 400 years ago, we interviewed Tim Sheridan who wrote not only Alan Scott, Green Lantern Alan Scott, but also the He Man, Revelation Revolution TV show and one of the follow up comics. So go listen to our interview with Tim, episode 127 from last year.

>> Rob: And yet in all of those things, she Ra really wasn't a.

>> Guido: We've been saving her. Well, we'll talk about why today. I think when we get into her publication history, there's probably a reason she hasn't shown up on our show so far. And this will not be the first conversation we have about her, but it is a little bit like bleeding a rock to get some stuff. So we'll talk about that.

>> Rob: Well, you are a big Motu fan in general Guido, but you're a really big Shir Ra fan. So what is your background with she Ra, Princess of Power?

>> Guido: Well, Motu and Pop, for those who don't know, who aren't in the know, are Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power. That's what the fan community for at least the 30 years since the advent of the Internet, which probably my earliest fandom, on the Internet was Mooo and Pop. I made a website for them. I started an episode guide. I did lots of tape trading online. So needless to say, I love he man and Sheirra But Sheir Ra in particular is probably in my top three fictional characters. If I had to guess, I think it's Buffy, Sheirra and then like X Men, Jean Grey, Rogue. So she's in top three to five characters, unquestionably. I love Sheir Ra. I fell in love with her on her debut in 1985. I had sheir Ra action figures. I'd often have to play with them across the street at my neighbor's house because my mother didn't want my father seeing me play with dolls.

>> Rob: Because for people who don't know, the Sheir Ra action figures were more like dolls, right? They had hair.

>> Guido: They weren't like they came with brushes. They came with brushes. They sold clothes. I mean, yes, they were perfect. But I love the show. I've always loved the show. I love the character. I think she's. I think the voice acting is perfect. I think the design is perfect. I love everything about she Ra and always have and always will and.

>> Rob: So what did you just buy yesterday, by the way?

>> Guido: Yes. A mint on card. Mint on card. Sweet Bee, my first mint on card. So as much as I've loved this series and owned it for a long time, I haven't gone back and bought the vintage figures mint on card. They're quite expensive, and I will slowly make my way through the line. Next up is the Crystal Castle in the Box. Ye.

>> Rob: You've been thring that for a while. Although there's, of course, nowhere that it'nn. It will just sit in the basement until there's a shrine to it.

>> Guido: Yes. But I had to grab Sweet Bee and there's so many others that I will eventually get. I loved Sheir Ra. I've always loved Sheir Ra. I've consumed every iteration of he man and Shir Ra, both on TV and in the books and comics. And we're going to talk about those. We're going to talk about the future. I'm a huge fan. But you're a bit younger, so what about you?

>> Rob: So much younger. Yeah, I was too young for the original Mot to and Pop series, but the one thing I knew she Ra from was the he man and she Ra, Christmas special, which I had on vhs. I'm sure I mentioned on the show before, and that I would watch every single year, usually multiple times every year. So I knew she were from that, but I didn't even know her backstory. I knew she was He Man's sister. I knew she lived in a different world from Eternia, but I didn't know the whole backstory until, I think, much, many years later, really, because it was so hard at that time to watch the original series. I wasn't doing tape training. No.

>> Guido: And, it, oddly, for the level of popularity, it did not repeat for very many years after that, at least in the New York market. It was not on tv. That's part of why I had to do so much tape trading in the 90s, because they were not repeating them anymore. Maybe in part because of the New Adventures reboot, which you were a fan of.

>> Rob: Yeah, there were new He Man'but there wasn't really new Sheir Ra like you didn't see.

>> Guido: We'll talk about that.

>> Rob: So yeah. It wasn't until more recently meeting you that I really started to watch the original Film Nation TV show. And now into her other appearances. And I was a big fan of the Netflix Sheir Ra show. That happened just a few years ago. That was really very good.

>> Guido: Yeah, she's a fantastic character.

>> Rob: Well, we're gonna go, flitter around the Fright Zone for our origins of the story. So here is a little background on she Ra before we get into our first world with her. It would be completely absurd to call her a spin off.

>> Guido: People do it all the time and it very annoying. Shes not a spin off.

>> Rob: She is really a partner, companion, and in some ways, according to Guido, Superior show and toyline to he man and masters ofater an objective fact known as Sheir Ra, Princess of Power. She debuts in a 198485 toy line, and then 1985 with a television show. Her show debuts two months before he man' ends. So many mo2 characters, including he man, continue to appear on her show for the next two years of Original Film Nation Canon. Film Nation being the production company that made bothl Sheirra and He Man.

>> Guido: Yes. So Shira's toy line From Mattel has two waves, lots of fashions, and lasts until 1987, when the whole franchise at this point is being canceled. He man again has already been canceled. The original show made by Filmation, there is no N. It's not Film Nation. Filmation has 93 episodes and also lasts until 1987. She does not make it onto the New Adventures of he man reboot that comes a few years later, nor Girls Allowed, nor does she make it onto the 2000x reboot of he man, the big cartoon return. She does ultimately, as you've mentioned, have her own DreamWorks produce Netflix animated series from 2018 to 2020 that runs 52 episodes across five seasons. And we'll get into our publication history a little more after our first discussion.

>> Rob: But we're going back to Filmation no N with she Ra, Princess of Power. This is season one, episodes one through five from September 1985. These are all part of a story called the Secret of the Sword, and the individual episodes are calledu Ether, Beast island, she Ra Unchained Reunions, and Battle for Bright Moon.

>> Guido: And of course, the Secret of the Sword is the movie. There was a theatrical release film that edited these five, episodes into a shorter version to debut in theaters. And of course, I saw it in movie theaters. And yeah, it's the origin. So the creative team, it's Written by Larry Dilio, who except for episode four that's written by Bob for Forward. Larry Dilio worked on he man and Masters the Universe writing more episodes than anyone else and created the she Ra concept and the show bible. A lot of the names though he would not be given an on screen credit as the show's creator, but he did have a great deal of oversight. He worked on the animated series, of course with J. Michael Strrazynski, Babylon 5 creator, and a bunch of other writers. And they she Ra had stronger canon continuity than he man did and in fact had multi part episodes returning characters a whole lot more going on than the he man world did on Masters of the Universe. The writer of that one episode, Bob Forward, was also a mot to writer and would develop Captain Planet and Legend of Zela sequences for Super Mario Bros. Super show and a bunch of other 90s animated television shows. So we watched these five episodes because they are the origin and debut of Sheir Ra on screen and in canon. Again, the figures were already out and we'll talk a little bit about the comics that come with the figures, but this is her big debut. What'd you think of her origin, which you'd probably only seen in bits and pieces?

>> Rob: I think I might have seen this.

>> Guido: Maybe four or maybe the theatrical version. I don't know that you satt down and watched all five episodes.

>> Rob: Well, to your point, I think it is actually a stronger starting point to Masters of the Universe and He Man. Maybe you should give everyone a little synopsis as to what is actually happening.

>> Guido: Oh my gosh. Are there people listening who don't know? That is terrible.

>> Rob: But like me, like people know she Ra but they don't know her origin.

>> Guido: Well, the other thing I'll point out is he man never has an origin.

>> Rob: No, not really.

>> Guido: Y so that is really important. But for in this story we are introduced to Ethereia, which is the world where the Horde are. The Horde, of course, led by Hordak working for Horde prime are these evil, evil characters that debut in the Masters universe storyline, through the action figures and the TV show. So we're familiar, but this is really where we stuck to get to know them.

>> Rob: Bat meets a pig meets a robot.

>> Guido: Yes, for sure. And so anyway, on Ethereia we discover that the Horde oppresses all the people who live on the world of Ethereia. It's a different world from Eternia, where He man is from. From as the story unfolds and we understand the suppression, we meet force Captain Adora one of Hordak's lead people who oversees his evil forces. However, she thinks she's doing good for Hordak and doesn't realize she's not. He man ends up Internia. the sorceress is aware of what's going on and sort of sees the future. And it turns out of course that she Ra is He Man's twin sister, taken at birth by Skeletor and Hordak who are working together onternia decades, ago. She Hordak takes her to Etheria and imagines he's going to receive the power of Gracekulll by having her there. And Shadow Weaver is keeping her under a spell, which is why she is evil. But of course, once she receives the sort of protection from he man, the twin sword to the sword of power that he has, she raises it in the sky and says for the honor of Grace Gll and become Sheir Ra. And he man and Sheirra fight back. They recapture Brightoon and the castle and get Queen Angela back on the throne. And then that begins the rest of the series which is them fighting against the Horde and trying to free the people of Etherea. And she's the leader of the Great Rebellion.

>> Rob: See, I think so much of what you say there too when I was reatching this, there's so much DNA also from Star Wars, I'm curious if they've ever really talked about that. But you've got the Rebellion, you've got twin brother and sister who have been separated at birth as well. So those two elements. And I think what makes Star wars and she Ra bit more dynamic than he man and Masters of the Universe is that they are the underdogs. They are the ones that are trying to fight to save the world from the Empire, from the Horde. And in he man you have Skeletor is the minority he's trying to take over. But Eternia otherwise is pretty safe. So I think it's actually much more dynamic having the Sh Ra version of that story. Do you think?

>> Guido: Yeah, I agree. And especially in the early episodes, there's a lot about the world. I mean he man there's a lot of world building for sure, but it's not being driven by one core story, which I think is what you're noticing that in Shirra there is this one core story which is the Horde versus the Rebels and the question of of course freeing un oppressed people. So it does have that bigger meta narrative going on that Star wars has making it more. It's almost More like a mythological story. Whereas he man is very episodic, which is how it was designed to be. So I think that's a big difference.

>> Rob: And I think Hordak too, as a villain. Skeletor. I know the Skeletor version on the filmation series is beloved, but he is such a doofus how he's portrayed there. And Hordec I think actually while he is always loses the day, there's actually something more menacing and frightening about.

>> Guido: Definitely threatening for sure. And so are his soldiers, I'd say. I think. I mean Evil Linn is one of my favorite characters, but Shadow Weaver is a lot scarier than Evil Lin. Yeah, in part that's what proably why I like Evil Lynn. She's a bit more of an anti hero, whereas shadoweaver is just an evil evil witch. And there are lots of characters like that on Hordak's side that are quite scary.

>> Rob: I think that also helps too in terms of the battle sequences and this certainly comes up in the comic that we're going to discuss today. But Hordag also oversees this giant robot army while ah plus and there's some mutants, but then the most of them are robots. So it really gives a lot of fodder for Sheir Ra because they always make a point in the cartoons to say they're robots so they can basically blow them up. And you're not like blowing up a person while in heat man. It really is just the evil mutants and there's not like this big other battle they can do with them.

>> Guido: There's even that moment in toward the end of this arc where Hordak murders one of the robots basically and they do it off screen. But it's really kind of surprising. Again, the Horde Troopers are robots, but they have a lot of personality. and. But he's disappointed in one and he like holds his gun arm up to it and then you cut away and you just hear the explosion.

>> Rob: Well, I was looking in the trivia actually in one of the many reference books that you have and originally Larry, Deilio was going to have them all be individual characters, the robots. And I don't wonder if it was because of animation or maybe because it freed them up to have these eect.

>> Guido: Sen was better to have them be robots. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Even in the, even in these episodes we see he man disguise himself as one. So it's not quite clear that there are robots at this point, but it becomes more clear as the series goes on I think so that they can beat them up because we know Sheir Ra is so fascinating too. I mean, I could talk endlessly and people do talk endlessly about her creation, but, like, they were not allowed to. She has a sword, but they were not allowed to let her use her sword as a weapon. So that's part of why you end up with sword to lasso, sword to shield, sword to helmet. Because. And really because she was a woman, obviously he man got to use his sword quite a bit. So because she was a female character, which was incredibly rare in, a children's action TV show, there was a lot of concern about violence. And so she couldn't actually use her sword as a weapon. So there's just so many interesting ways that they work around the. The moral and ethical and sometimes regulatory aspects of having a children's TV show in 1985 at the advent of this kind of TV show.

>> Rob: Although even he man, he's never stabbing anyone with that sword reflecting laser.

>> Guido: He's one fantastic episode where he thinks he killed someone and it plays out pretty dramatically. But yeah.

>> Rob: What do you think about what was is so interesting watching it, obviously from the hindsight of 2025 is how they were balancing. Everything's kind of pink and there's certainly girly elements that she rides up a horse that has rainbow wings. But then there's all this battle like. And obviously I'm thinking of like the gender stereotypes, especially of the 80s. But how do you think. How did that all balance out then? Because it actually seems kind of revolutionary that you have both of those elements in a story. Because I. Barby certainly wasn't doing anything.

>> Guido: No, nor I love Gem in the holograms. There was no battles in GE in the holograms. I mean, I think she is a unique character. I'm sure there's other examples, but a unique children's character until you get to like Lara Croft Tomb Raidereah a decade later.

>> Rob: Because also, as we've covered on this podcast, with Jim in the holograms or with Betty and Veronica, there's always a man involved there and there's really no love interest at all. The biggest relationship is between this brother and sister, really.

>> Guido: Well, there is a love interest. You just haven't met Seahawk.

>> Rob: Oh, yeah. I do know Seahawk comes in, but she does. It's secondary, certainly, if you think of Jim in the hologram, it's not the.

>> Guido: Driver for the show.

>> Rob: Veronica and Archie.

>> Guido: Yeah, even Beau being around her. And of course there's lots of questions about Bo'sexuality but even. Even if you were to imagine Beau is in love with her. Like, it's never a part of the narrative. It's never a driver of the narrative. So I do think it's pretty remarkable and it's true for he man too. He man and Tila never have a flirtation, which is also pretty remarkable and stands out. It's just that Tila is a little less developed as Sira as a character and certainly doesn't get as much screen time or action as she Ra does. So I think it's pretty bold in that way. But as a character, this is your most in depth with her. Like, but what did you notice? Did you like it? Is she there? Is she did grab you in these first five episodes? Is the fully formed she Ra there.

>> Rob: Not, I think, to the same way that it grabs you. But I think what's interesting is the arc in these five stories of her coming to realize that basically everything that she knows has been aliveied to her. And I think this is actually something that they explore in much more depth in the Netflix DreamWorks series. Because of course, after these five episodes, basically Chiura is cured and Adora wants to be a hero. And I think that is something that's interestingly explored in the remake series where, oh, there are these lingering things, there are these relationships that she still has with the characters, with these other villains that basically raised her and were her family. So I think that is of course not something they're really exploring on this series, but is explored in the comic we're going toa discuss today and definitely explored in the remake series.

>> Guido: Yeah, yeah, I agree.

>> Rob: Well, before we move on, let's talk she rep publication history. Guido.

>> Guido: Yeah, so we probably talked he man's comic book history briefly when we covered him though that was so many years ago, I frankly don't remember. But he essentially all the toys in these lines were packaged with mini comics. So if you're counting the mini comics, which are a version of canon, they're not always aligned to the filmation TV show canon, but they have great creators, great art, and really establish or debut most of the characters and the mythology. So then that is where she Ra, debuts in terms of comics. After that or beyond that, there's a He man DC debut miniseries that follows the issue we covered with Superman, but that predates she Ra, so she's not in that. He man has a 13 issue Marvel published series under the Star Comics banner in the 80s also has no Shir Ra in it. There are some very rare UK comics that ran they were every two weeks. They ran in 86 and 87 and there were both he man and Sheir Ra issues. She Ra had a little over a dozen issues, some specials and some annuals. They have never been collected. They are pretty unknown to most US collectors and are really hard to track down. There is one promo comic they did that adapted Secret of the Sword and it's just a literal adaptation in comic book panel that was given out for free. And then of course he man had a long running newspaper strip. She's not in there either. He had a 2000s MV creations, then image published run, no Sheir Ra in that. So then DC gets the license and after doing a few one shots they could do a little volume miniries and then launch their second volume which is the first comic book debut of Sheir Ra in terms of proper US comics and ongoing stories. It's what we read today. That is the first time that we saw her. And since this story that we read, she has not appeared anywhere else. And as we've talked about, there weren't even adaptations of the Netflix series and of her Netflix series. But in the He Man, Revolution Revolution Revelation Revolution Netflix cartoon, she's hinted at toward the very end Stinger. And as Tim Sheridan explained to us in our interview, there's some strange she Ra rights issues. So we haven't even seen her again on panel. But let's talk about those panels that she debuts in.

>> Rob: Yeah, let's call on Chira's best pal Glimmer to teleport us into exploring multiversity. And today we are asking the question, what if Sh Ra was originally a female Hordak named Desppara? And this comes from DC Comics. He man and the Masters of the Universe, volume two. This is issues one through 19. So lots of books. This was from June 2013 to January 2015.

>> Guido: And in terms of the creators, the story kicks off by Mike Costa writing with Drew Johnson on art. But by the second issue, Keith Giffin takes over and Pop man does the art with a ton of fill in. Artists changing.

>> Rob: It's very appropriate for PR of power, it's true.

>> Guido: And then toward the end of the arc that we read, Rob David and Lloyd Goldfin have story credits with Dan Abnett writing. So it's a lot. There is a lot of change on one title that is running over these two years, a bit on who these people are. Mike Costa, who maybe created the version of the character we meet today, he wrote authority books for Wildorm and then lots of GI Joe and Transformers for idw and a good mix of Marvel. Keith Giffin, who picked it up, of course, created Justice League International, wrote a handful of Marvel books over the decades, but mostly D.C. in the 80s and 90s, on literally dozens of titles. So famous, if you don't know, he is Dan Abnet, similarly so famous. He wrote the back end of this and is known for probably most for rebooting Guardians of the Galaxy with Andy Lanning, but has literally hundreds of credits from 1980s at every single comic company ever. I think through now and then. Just a quick note on the story creators Rob David and Lloyd Goldfin for this final arc. Really important here because Lloyd Goldfin was the showrunner on one of the later versions of TMNT and a bunch of animation projects over the last 20 years. But Rob is the vice president of Mattel Television. So he has really spearheaded the last 15 years of Motu in various ways, including the Heman Netflix Revelation Revolution series, and wrote the Dark Horse comics that come out of that universe. So lots of connections. So we read a lot and there's a lot happening in here that we won't even be able to summarize. Needless to say, this is a huge series. There's another 15 issues after this that wrap it up in something called the Eternity War. It's a huge series pulling on all sorts of lore that's been established as canon in he Man. And again, canon I mentioned this earlier, is a little complicated because you have the canon of the mini comics that came with the toys. You have the canon of the toy packages. You were a collector of cardacks.

>> Rob: Yes.

>> Guido: You know, those have little stories. You have the canon of the TV show. And then you have things like this that are telling a, story that is not set in the canon of the TV show or the mini comics, but is clearly referencing it, pulling from it, and then in this case, introducing something new to it.

>> Rob: And you have canon. The film company that made Live Act Action. He made I know film.

>> Guido: Maybe one day we'll cover that movie as an alternate universe. does not contain Sheir Ra. So it's not relevant today. But, it's definitely worth talking about. You're right. So again, we're not going to be able to summarize this whole thing. There's a lot going on in terms of the Sorceress as just died and Tila found out she's her mother. And so. And then you, by the end of this arc, get Tila stepping into the role of Sorceress. But as it relates To She Ra. The important thing is we meet her and she's a new character named Despaspara. So Despaspara is leading the Horde because Hordak has been defeated in the previous story arc and his he can't be corporeal in this dimension anymore. He's basically speaking and controlling the Horde from another place. basically as Horde prime does in the TV series. And so Despaspara is leading the Horde army and then we get a story that somewhat mirrors what we already knew. But let's pause there. What'd you think of Despa? You didn't know this going in and I didn't tell you. So what'd you think of this idea of having her be a different character than Force Captain Addora?

>> Rob: Well, I think it makes sense. So first off, I think I was struck by how similar the plot was to the five episodes of the Filmation series that we just covered. Covers a lot of the same beats. I think it makes more sense though to actually give her this whole other identity because I think if you are to steal a baby from its crib and raise it as your own, you're going to also want to give that baby a new name and a new identity. So I think actually not calling her Adora and having this whole Desppara identity that's put upon her that that's all she ever knows. I think it actually makes a lot more sense for the Hordards plan.

>> Guido: Yeah, it does work. Also in this case they reference her as looking like her mother, Queen Marlena. So you need her face hidden. So putting her in this character of Despaspera, having a mask not only makes her a fierce warrior who looks like Hordak, but also helps narratively with why they can fight her for so long before they start to wonder wait a second, who is this?

>> Rob: And this makes also sense because when you're watching the Filmation series and she is first introduced as the Force Captain and she's leading the villains, but she just looks like a pretty blonde woman. And then there's a. There's someone with scorpion hands that she's commanding. It's like I think the person with scorpion hand should be in charge. So this actually catch is a pretty.

>> Guido: Black haired woman though.

>> Rob: But Caatric can turn into a cat.

>> Guido: Yes.

>> Rob: So she's got powers and Ador powerless. A regular person. So it actually makes more sense here to give her this whole mask where she basically kind of becomes somebody else. Like it makes her more scary, it her more makes a lot more sense why she is wled overseeing this group of mutants with other powers.

>> Guido: Especially because Adora, doesn't have powers. It's only when she becomes she Ra that she does. So you're right to point that out. I think that helps a lot. The other twist that this gives, if you will, and there's lots of subtle ones, but is that in fact the recognition that she has this past life, same deal. Shadow Weaver manipulates her, does the spell, but it comes from Tila. So that was a big twist that you wouldn't have seen coming. Tila met Adora when they were children growing up because Shadow Weaver would let Adora sort of visit other dimensions and worlds because she was a restless little kid. And through that Tila and Adora developed quite a loving Frank K. Closeau friendship. And then Adora disappeared. And so Tila thought that maybe it was actually an imaginary friend that she had constructed for so many years. And then they see each other and that actually is what pulls Adora Despara out of the Horde army. So it's an interesting change to the mythology. You're not using the Sorceress in the same way the series was and you're not using he man or the sort of ``ection in the same way the series.

>> Rob: Yeah. And the sort of protection really is just Deus Machina. It's just a device then to get her to remember. So it actually makes a lot more sense if you put Teila into it, make it a person rather than just this thing that literally you it snap the fingers of the sword and she remembers. This is a lot more organic.

>> Guido: Yeah. Well. And in part two why we had to read so much of this series, which I'm happy to but is you. You have the introduction of her as Despera, the war she's doing the. She gets to Eternia, and is go. Going toa take that over. And then you have her leave the army and she realizes who she is. Shadow Weaver tells her the truth. But she then goes out on her own for some time and you actually. There's actually a few arcs in between that don't even relate to her. So it's only then, I don't know in the continuity of the story, maybe months, but months go by and then she returns and it's through this whole thing that has to do with King Grayskulll and the history of the power of Gryskulll. She ultimately kills Adam, by. She's possessed by Desppara. This like the evil side of her kills Adam and then she forges the sort of protection, or the soordt of protection was forged and taken by a witch a thousand years ago. And she gets it and becomes Shir Ra. So it's a long arc. You're spending a lot of time with Despara and then Adora before you even get to Sheirra M. Which is another big difference.

>> Rob: Yeah. And I think reading this too, I was even thinking even more going back to Star wars because the idea of having her be ##a taking on this whole other identity wearing a black mask, it really brings to mind Darth Vader and how they. How the Emperor makes Anakin Skywalker into a whole new person, really. And what's interesting is that this came out in 2013. Well, ending in 2015, which the new Star wars trilogy, starting with Force Awakens, doesn't happen until 2015. But I see so much of the Kylo Ren story here. and those movies are kind of a blur in my head. But like, the idea of this character kind of going back and forth and having the twin that he's also interacting with in that. I saw so much of that story here and also the Black Mask and all those other tropes.

>> Guido: Well, the other Star wars comparison you were making earlier, I think shows up in here, which is really interesting. And what's cool about the series is clearly all of these people. Maybe not Keith Giffin, but definitely once you get to Dan Abnett and we know Rob David are huge fans of this world and loved working in it and continue to work in it in this case. What was so interesting was you were talking about how you liked the Etherea story a little more because of its relationship to Star wars and the fact that there's a struggle for freedom and for good versus evil that Attorney doesn't have. And I don't know if you read. I know you skimmed some of this necessarily, but there's that whole part where Hordak is talking about how he man. I think it's Hordak is. Maybe it's Shadow Weaver'talking about how he man never really has to fight any battles onternia. everywhere he goes is just. He goes from crisis to crisis. He doesn't know the people of Eternia. he doesn't actually know Eternia. Ah, very well. Like, he just basically is deployed to fight like this one absurd crisis. It's almost a meta commentary on, like, the episodic nature of he man versus this serialized story of Sheir Ra. But I thought it was really interesting. And again, these are clearly fans of all of this world and they are trying to pull in all these pieces that we are familiar with and then add their own spin on it.

>> Rob: And there are so many elements like that that I think then you see pop up in the Netflix Revolution Revelations TV show as well. Giving he man more depth as a character and having him question and exploring the difference between Prince Adam, and he man. I think a lot of that comes up later on the series. So it makes a lot of sense that Rob David was also helping plot this when he was a big mastermind between behind that Netflix reimagining.

>> Guido: Yeah. And pulling in the thousand year ago history of King Grayskulll and what really is the power of Gracekulll A lot of the things that in the original series you just take for granted because they're kept really simple and straightforward. Here they get to tease out a little more. So it's a fun introduction to Shir Ra. Did it make you think differently about the character reading it?

>> Rob: No, because I think so much of it goes back to what they did establish on the Filmation TV show. I think the bones are all still there. I think this is certainly the much more adult version. And when we were talking before about robots and people not getting killed, there's lots of references here to like, oh, half our population has been wiped out. So this is she.

>> Guido: Even I don't know if you noticed, on the first page, she kills Sweepy.

>> Rob: Yes, I did.

>> Guido: Ironically, since I had just bought Sweetee the day before reading this.

>> Rob: Yeah. But, yeah, so, yeah, I think. I think it, didn't change what I, what I thought. I think it just further cemented my thoughts around it because it takes what we saw in this children's TV show and makes it a lot more adult and grounded.

>> Guido: Would you read the rest of this arc?

>> Rob: I don't know.

>> Guido: I mean, I mean, you don't read much. Much of you have a big pile of things to read.

>> Rob: Exactly.

>> Guido: But imagining that you could add things to that pile. Would you pursue this?

>> Rob: I like the world building, but it also feels kind of unruly. There was a lot going on in these 19 issues in terms of the lore, so I don't know. That would be my. That's a little. My hesitant.

>> Guido: I think my issue with this run is the inconsistency of the art. I think it really.

>> Rob: Sometimes the art is great, though.

>> Guido: Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's not great, and it often doesn't look the same. I mean, Pop man ends up being the most consistent artist within it. I don't actually even love his depictions of these characters. But it also changes. There's fill in people on books and I don't know why at this point. They're not rushing it for any reason that we know of or anything. So I have no idea why this happened. But the inconsistency of the art and maybe even the coloring is like that sort of digital 2000s 2, 2010's era coloring I don't love. It doesn't have a lot of like the rich colors I would want from this. So yeah, I think the art stops me from loving it the rest of the arc. I doubt we'll ever cover it. They basically bring Hordec back and then there's this big battle with Hordak and Skeletor. They resurrect Skeletor, he's been killed. And you get lots of big battles and then you conclude the story and that's it. DC stops publishing at this point. Well, DC publishes a few other miniries that are completely unrelated, but they stop publishing core canon.

>> Rob: The art around, around the Shir Ra character or as desperate is actually sometimes uncannily like Furiosa in Fury Road, which didn't come out until 2015. Again when this series was ending. I wouldn't think that George Miller was reading this.

>> Guido: Plus, you know, that was in production for so many years.

>> Rob: They even have like the black makeup around the eyes and the shaves blonde head. A, few times if you showed this to a random person and said what character this is, they would say, oh, that's Furiosa. Yeah, I think that's even again, the storyline of Furiosa being the right hand person to this tyrant and then realizing, oh no, this, she's been lied to her her whole life. It's again, it's the same storyline.

>> Guido: There are a lot of similarities.

>> Rob: I guess that's what people say. There's only like five stories in the whole world and we're just retelling them. One of them is certainly the Sheir Ra story.

>> Guido: Well, they're so infrequent times that they're being told about women. So why we see it so easily?

>> Rob: Well, one's Luke Skywalker though, so close enough. Well, let's wrap up by heading back to the world of Eternia and Etheria and wondering some possibilities. So Guido, what are we talking about for our pondering possibilities?

>> Guido: Well, we're going to talk about media in a moment, but let's start with comics. Why hasn't there been a Shira comic? Do you want to read a Shira comic? Let's talk about comics. Why is this the only arc of Sheir Ra again outside of those London comics which are just telling little three page story, little four page stories. Should there be a shir a comic? Why isn't there a shir a comic? Do you want a sh. A comic? Everyone knows my answer. I'm biased.

>> Rob: Yeah, I'm surprised there's not. I, certainly think there should be a Shira comic.

>> Guido: Do you think it's just control of the license or do you think there's a reason that it hasn't happened?

>> Rob: I don't know. I mean, I think there's of course just sexism and I mean, but there.

>> Guido: Haven'T been a ton of he man comics.

>> Rob: True.

>> Guido: There's only pretty much two he man series that don't have Sheir Ra. As I mentioned, there's the Marvel from the 80s and then there's the early 2000s MVREATIONS image 1. So there's not a ton of examples where they don't have Sheir Ra in them.

>> Rob: But aside from Wonder Woman, I mean, you'll know much better than I. I mean there's not nearly as many female fronted comic book ongoing series, right?

>> Guido: No, there are now more than ever. But yes, certainly historically there haven't been. So I think there should be Sheare comics. If there wasnna be additional comics, would you want them to be like the filmation cartoons or would you want them to be like this? D.C. retelling?

>> Rob: I think like this. I think Filmation is great to watch and it is nostalgic and fun. But I don't think. Well, you know what, there could be both. There could be one. But the filmation style ones would have to be for a young.

>> Guido: Yeah, cartoon style.

>> Rob: I think that could work if there's.

>> Guido: Then kind of like the Looney Tunes comics that DC publishes or the Scooby Doo or any of those.

>> Rob: So yeah, I think, I think you kind of, you could have both, but I think you definitely want an adult version in the style of this run.

>> Guido: So next year, 2026, we get finally masters Universe live action film, the first since 1987's Canon film, as you mentioned, which is not quite a he human film, but we'll talk about another time. So Amazon MGM Studios is producing the movie which is shooting and has a huge cast of characters and great actors. The other thing that you might not remember is that in 2021Amazon had announced that they were developing a live action Sheir Ra series, in partnership with DreamWorks. Because DreamWorks has the license, they sold off the Shira license. Annoyingly, though, Mattel still controls the character, so. Don't know. Updates in four years. Don't know if that'snna happen or not. Don't, know if it's gonna be teased in next year's movie or not. They did say it's gonna link to the movie, not to previous animated series or anything else. So what do you think about all this? Is Sheir ra in the movie? Is this TV show gonna happen? What do you think?

>> Rob: Well, and I always try to feel like I'm always pretty positive. My. My outlook for the movie is not super high. I mean, I look forward to being proven wrong, but based on some things I've seen, I'm not super optimistic about the movie. That being said, I also don't think, I think it's best for now to keep it as just a he man, Masters of the Universe, and keep she up. Because I do think in some part, as you said, it's been a long time since the movie, and it's been a long time since a lot of people even know this property. It's been, of course, had TV shows and comics 40 years this year for Shera. but introduce he man again first. Maybe in the Stinger start Shir Ra, But I don't know. I think for right now, it's best to, like, keep this be he Man Teila man at arms, and then maybe start to hint at Shir Ra. But I'm not even sure. Maybe this is still too early.

>> Guido: Well, I think I am hopeful, and I'm not unreasonably hopeful, but I am hopeful about this movie. So far, the one official production shot looks fantastic with he Man's chest and the sword looks perfect. The characters they've announced show that they're really leaning into what he man is. We were gonna have the Sorceress and Fisto and Randor and Marlena and Ram man, and so they're not shying away from it like the 87 movie did. So I'm hopeful, and I think that a Sha TV show that's kind of a companion. It's almost the thing that it's what the MCU would have been had streaming TV existed 15 years ago. M Like, I'm almost imagining it like a Wandavision. It's like, we're gonna have this movie, it's gonna be this whole world, and then we're gonna have this eight episode TV series that's gonna be a different part of the world and makes so much sense here because we could have either Despa or Force Captain Adora. She works for the Horde. We meet all the Hordardak Shadow Weaver characters in this TV series and then by the end of the TV series she realizes who she is and becomes Sheir Ra. And then the next he man movie is he man and Shirra.

>> Rob: Now I agree the one issue with that and spoile alert if anyone wants to go in completely blind. But the rumor, well, maybe confirmed plot for this new he man movie is that he man is living on Earth and he doesn't know who he is. He doesn't know that he's from this other world and then he's brought back to this other world. So that is the more benign version of the Sh Ra story already. So would it just feel repetitive if. Oh, by the way, there's this other character who also doesn't know who she is and she learns who she is and now she's fighting against.

>> Guido: Yeah, but in part if that, if that is the plot of he man of the Masters of the Universe movie, it's probably to give us the fish out of water and make him also be a proxy for the audience. The Shirah story doesn't require any of those things because the fact that she's from Attornia and taken to Etherea, even if they were to copy that same thing is irrelevant. Attorney and Etheria, know each other exists. Yeah, they're similar enough worlds. It's much more about the fact that she believes the Hordard is doing good. She's been brainwashed, all of those aspects. So I think you could tell the same story and not have it feel repetitive to this potential rumored he man being a kid living on Earth who discovers he's ah, an Attorneyian prince.

>> Rob: Yeah, I'm kind of, I'm wondering. We'll obviously see in 2026 when this comes out. I'm almost getting the ide the feeling I could be completely wrong that they're going to borrow a lot from she Ra and put it in this story. I'm almost thinking that instead of the Horde having taken over Etheria, we're going to see Skeletor having taken over Eternia here. I could be wrong, but I kind of think because that as we talked about at the beginning, that ups the stakes so much. I wonder if they're going to kind of do that because especially for a two hour movie you want those stakes to be as well.

>> Guido: Also, if there's no champion, I mean, there's the masters of the universe, which is all of the characters, but he man is of course, the strongest. The other thing you have that we've. I guess we haven't seen a lot of this on screen, but we've barely seen in the 2000X series, really, is the origin of Skeletor. He's Randor's brother, he's Keldor. So in theory, that could be happening on Eternia. we don't need Skeletor to be taking over the world. We could have the creation of Skeletor. True. And that's what brings he man into the play. So I think it could be good. it has really such a great cast, and I don't want to judge it because I don't know, even though it's gone through two different or three different studios, people have sold the license, given up, moved on, but hopefully this is it and we have the right people in charge and we'll see it. And with that comes Sheir Ra.

>> Rob: Yes, I definitely think no matter what it is just, Of course, if the movie is success, I think it's just a matter of time before you see Shea whether she.

>> Guido: Saly. If the movie implodes, matter implodes.

>> Rob: I don't think you're evernna see 40 years before we. I agree.

>> Guido: Get these properties developed again. But anyway, so for now, Princesses of Power. That is a wrap. Dear watchers, thank you for listening. I have been the princess of power.

>> Rob: Guido and I have been Rob Ru.

>> Guido: And our reading list, viewing list is in the show notes. Follow us online, Bluey Instagram, deeratchers and.

>> Rob: Leave us a five star review wherever you listen to podcast. We'll be back soon with another trip through the multiverse.

>> Guido: In the meantime, for the honor of Grykull, keep pondering the possibilities.