The Original Princess Power

Similar to our book week, it’s conceivable I had to think for 30 seconds before picking out my favorite television show from childhood, but again, I doubt it. While I loved Thundercats, Rainbow Brite, Dumbo’s Circus and countless other shows, without a doubt, She-Ra was my truest love.

When I was 5 years old, if I could have been anyone else, I would have been She-Ra, Princess of Power. No, that may not be entirely accurate. I really liked She-Ra, but for some reason, I took an affinity to Frosta, one of She-Ra’s many super-powered friends. Maybe it was the blue hair. Frosta wasn’t usually a major character; rather, she popped in from time to time to help out her friend, She-Ra (though apparently she has her own backstory, as I learned here). In truth, I really like all the characters, with the possible exception of Bo. He was kind of weird. Maybe because he was the only male good-guy. In any case, all the characters had great superpowers and could hold their own in a fight. And they all had cool hair colors. For a child who tried to color with every crayon in the box and wore multiple bright colors regardless of whether or not they matched, cool hair color was supremely important.

I was a children’s show franchise’s dream. I had all the action figures (and still did until I finally got rid of them sometime in college) and I vividly remember receiving the She-Ra Crystal Castle for my 5^th birthday. For reasons unbeknownst to me, the castle came with a pair of She-Ra sunglasses. Any pictures taken after I opened that present feature me wearing my She-Ra glasses. I could…err…can…sing every line of the theme song and knew most of the episodes by heart. I even still have the She-Ra and He-Man Christmas special that my parents recorded off TV for me in 1985.

You’d have to be living under a rock to not know that Disney has taken their Princesses and marketed the crap out of them. Seems like everything for girls needs to be pink and sparkly now, and that the sole ambition for girls should be to be a pretty princess. I’m certainly not blaming Disney for all of this, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it I suppose, but to me, She-Ra will always be the original princess. She could hold her own, kicking Hordak’s ass by herself or with her super-cool gal pals. No prince needed, thank you very much. She-Ra was my early idol. Perhaps it was from her that I learned never to let a boy tell me I couldn’t do something. If so, thanks, She-Ra.