History WesternAnimation / SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower

* AnAesop:
** True friends care about your well-being and support you during difficult times. False friends merely use you to get what they want.
** People who denigrate others are often overcompensating for their own feelings of inadequacy.
** [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse No matter how many misfortunes you have experienced in life, you are still responsible for your own choices]].
** Other people (parents, leaders, etc.) may try to decide your path in life, but you are ultimately responsible for choosing your own path, even if it comes with hard sacrifices.
** The only way to stop yourself from being abused is to get away from the abusers. Trying to endear yourself to people who hurt you or make you feel bad about yourself won't make them nicer, and will often just make the situation worse.
** Actions have consequences (often, unintended consequences), no matter how well-intentioned those actions might be.
** People can change if you give them the chance, and it's never too late to do the right thing.
** There is power in love and friendship, even though it isn't easy to open your heart and be vulnerable. Perfuma embodies this.
** You can either [[AmbitionIsEvil indulge in power]] or have the love of your family/friends. You can't have both. Catra finds this out the hard way. [[spoiler:She attempted to risk destroying reality just so Adora could lose, which cost her Adora's love and faith in her, and in her obsession with winning the war, she drove away anyone else who cared about her. It isn't until she tries to make a HeroicSacrifice to save Glimmer from Horde Prime that they start to repair their relationship]].
** As Mara tells Adora, you're worth more than what you can give to others.

** This dominates Season 4, with both Adora and Glimmer thinking they're the Rebellion's leader and that the other doesn't truly understand what's at stake. [[spoiler:With Angella gone, Glimmer becomes queen. First she's unable to voice how she wants to rule the kingdom, and Adora is too focused on making sure everything is "perfect" to actually listen to Glimmer. This is resolved, but creates cracks, wherein Adora thinks she's the leader since she is She-Ra, and Glimmer thinks she's the leader because she's queen. When Glimmer starts taking Shadow Weaver's tutelage, Adora is worried that she is learning dark magic and Shadow Weaver is tricking her, while Glimmer is trying to reach her full potential so she can lead her people better. When there is a FriendOrIdol decision about Entrapta versus a powerful weapon, Adora wants to rescue Entrapta so she can investigate the weapon first, while Glimmer wants to use the weapon and then rescue Entrapta. Throughout these arguments, both have valid points and concerns, but while both sides are willing to listen, neither side explains themselves very well, and every time they walk away thinking that they are in the right and the other is being unreasonable.]]

* [[Haiku/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower Haiku]]

* {{Animesque}}: The art style clearly borrows from 90's MagicalGirl anime. This is particularly true in the way the character's eyes are drawn, which resembles that decade's anime much more than the original ''She-Ra''.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The closest approximation as to what a Princess actually is (since it isn't explained in the show). They are human, but they are also natural expressions of Etheria's magic, divided into purviews ranging from the obvious (water, plant life) to the [[BizarroElements abstract]] (nets, teleportation). These purviews strongly influence their mindset (Entrapta having difficulty socializing with organic beings, Adora feeling insecure in her "weaker" form), and make them vulnerable to even the slightest implication that they aren't the best at what they embody. For example, Perfuma is driven to despair when someone else is chosen as flower arranger for [[spoiler:Glimmer's coronation]], and Netossa is irritated when Bow doesn't realize she is the Princess of nets.

** TheReveal that [[spoiler: Horde Prime]] cloned his army from himself is taken directly from the origin story of [[Series/DoctorWho of the Sontarans]]. They also share a similarly-placed weak spot on the back of the neck. That his clones are cyborg drones under his absolute mind-control, with no individuality or free will is likely a shout-out to the Borg from the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise.

* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:The reason for Hordak's attempted takeover of Etheria. He is a clone of Horde Prime, and was once Prime's top general until Hordak's physical degeneration started setting in. Since Horde Prime despises weakness, Hordak was cast down from his position and sent to the front lines to die; except some sort of portal accident occurred, sending him to Etheria. He began his crusade to conquer the planet to show his "brother" that he is not a defect, and that he is worth something.]]
** Hordak further tried to [[spoiler:remedy his condition by cloning himself a new body, but it seems all of his attempts turned out defective themselves, and none are seen past a malformed embryonic stage. It was explained by the creators that Imp is one of these failed attempts, being a blend of Hordak’s DNA and some Etherian species.]]
** [[spoiler:All other members of Horde Prime's army are also clones like Hordak, just without the genetic defects and thus healthier.]]
** [[spoiler:Horde Prime only vaguely resembles Hordak, suggesting that Hordak is a genetic derivative of Prime rather than an identical clone, though the fact that Prime [[HumanResources uses the body parts of clones, namely their eyes, to enhance his aesthetics]] and can BodySurf into a new clone body "vessel" if his current ones fails or is killed muddies things a bit further.]]

** Hordak’s double mind-wiping resembles the cruel routine suffered by the [[ArtificialIntelligence hosts]] from ''Series/{{Westworld}}''. [[spoiler:BBoth Hordak and the hosts eventually recover their memories - [[TheDogBitesBack and they're not happy]].]]

* ThreeAmigos: Adora, Bow, and Glimmer form the Best Friend Squad for most of the series, [[spoiler:until Catra joins them at the end.]]

* TheIrredeemableException: In the final season, nearly every significant villain achieves redemption in some manner. [[spoiler:Catra breaks out of her self-destructive cruelty to save the people she loves, Entrapta comes around to prioritizing other people over herself, Shadow Weaver [[DeathEqualsRedemption chooses to die in the act of]] saving the children she abused, and even the BigBad of the prior 4 seasons Hordak finds true love and prevents conquest. The one exception is Horde Prime, the Big Bad of the last season, who's so steeped in his centuries of xenocide and brainwashing that he has no desire to change. As such, She-Ra exorcises him from his last clone body without a hint of regret.]]

* EvilVsEvil: Season 5 reveals [[spoiler:that Horde Prime and the First Ones fought each other a lot in the past, both trying to rule the galaxy, and both had a bad habit of stripping planets of resources to fuel their war machines. Prime eventually won, apparently because Mara sending Etheria to Despondos kept there from being a new She-Ra for a thousand years.]]

* TeensAreShort: Adora and her friends are stated by the showrunner to be around 17-18, but are all several times shorter than any adult character.

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[ByThePowerOfGrayskull For the honor of Grayskull!]]" [[note]](Clockwise from the center) [[TheHeroine She-Ra]], [[GentleGiant Scorpia]], [[DragonInChief Catra]], [[EvilSorcerer Shadow Weaver]], [[BigBad Hordak]], [[NatureHero Perfuma]], [[WingedUnicorn Swift Wind]], [[{{Acrofatic}} Spinnerella]], [[CaptainFishman Mermista]], [[MasterArcher Bow]], [[RebelliousPrincess Glimmer]], [[BarrierWarrior Netossa]], [[GadgeteerGenius Entrapta]], and [[AnIcePerson Frosta]]. (In the background) [[{{Mooks}} Horde Soldiers]]. [[/note]]]]

* OffModel:
** Catra's claws constantly switch between their standard black and flesh-colored from shot to shot.
** In Seasons 1 and 2, Hordak's face looks wildly different from scene to scene, and even within the same scene. However, the animators mastered his facial model by Season 3, after which his face looks more consistent.
** In "Huntara", the vitiligo on Hordak's shoulders looks different from scene to scene. Initially, the dark blue vitiligo looks like veins, but in a subsequent shot, it looks thicker and more wavy.
** The edge between the red and white sections of Rogelio's uniform seems to move up or down his torso from one shot to the next, and in some cases even between frames in the same shot. His gloves suffer a similar fate; sometimes they end at the knuckle, sometimes they extend further down his fingers, and sometimes they're not even gloves, just wristbands.

** Catra's redesign and rivalry with Adora brings to mind [[ComicBook/{{Cheetah}} another humanoid cat female]] with a grudge against [[ComicBook/WonderWoman a female warrior with red and gold colors]]. Additionally, her debut hairstyle may bring the [[Anime/DominionTankPolice the Puma sisters]] to mind.

* WhamShot:
** At the end of "Taking Control" when [[spoiler:Spinnerella's hair moves from her neck and the audience is shown a familiar chip on the back of her neck.]]

[[folder:Tropes A-C]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[ByThePowerOfGrayskull For the honor of Grayskull!]]" [[note]](Clockwise from the center) [[TheHeroine She-Ra]], [[GentleGiant Scorpia]], [[DragonInChief Catra]], [[EvilSorcerer Shadow Weaver]], [[BigBad Hordak]], [[CaringGardener Perfuma]], [[WingedUnicorn Swift Wind]], [[{{Acrofatic}} Spinnerella]], [[CaptainFishman Mermista]], [[MasterArcher Bow]], [[RebelliousPrincess Glimmer]], [[BarrierWarrior Netossa]], [[GadgeteerGenius Entrapta]], and [[DefrostingIceQueen Frosta]]. (In the background) [[{{Mooks}} Horde Soldiers]]. [[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[ByThePowerOfGrayskull For the honor of Grayskull!]]"]]

** The Horde regularly takes in orphans and raises them as ChildSoldiers, who seem to make up most of the FacelessGoons we see on-screen. Adora and Catra were raised by their commanding officer Shadow Weaver, and [[AbusiveParents her way-less-than-stellar parenting]] left lasting scars on both of them. [[spoiler:Hordak has a similar background, even though he was never a child himself.]] Scorpia at least [[HasTwoMommies has two moms]] that she remembers fondly, but [[MissingMom they're nowhere to be seen in the present and it's strongly implied something bad happened to them]].

->''"I know the legend of the warrior the First Ones called She-Ra. They said she would return to us in the hour of our greatest need to bring balance to Etheria. I never thought she was anything more than a myth. And yet you're here now. And in the uniform of a Horde soldier, no less. You would pledge to stand with us against the ones you once served?[...] Then rise. The Rebellion accepts your allegiance, She-Ra, Princess of Power."''

* SingleLanguagePlanet: Everybody in the Firght Zone, the Resistance, and assorted freeholds all speak the same languages. This also transcends time since Mara died a thousand years ago, but in her appearances in flashbacks or holograms she recorded while alive she speaks the same language as Adora and Glimmer. And Horde Prime can communicate fine with Glimmer and Catra even though Etheria has spent a thousand years in a different dimension to the one Horde Prime came from. The First Ones had a different written language, admittedly, but the spoken language seems to be the same.

* DistressedDamsel:
** Glimmer is kidnapped by the Horde and tortured by Shadow Weaver in Season 1, just to subvert the trope later. See DamselOutOfDistress.
** [[spoiler:Adora gets captured by Catra in Season 3, launching another rescue effort by the Rebellion.]]
** Horde Prime keeps Glimmer hostage aboard his ship in Season 5. Catra is a debatable case, as she insists she's not a prisoner...[[spoiler: until she sacrifices herself to save Glimmer, so Adora won't come for the rescue.She has to go through a TraumaConga before being almost killed. ]]