Accidental Innuendo: The episode "Book Burning" begins with Bow and Adora sneaking into a schoolhouse incognito. Their choice of masks bear an awkward resemblance to Ku Klux Klan hoods.
Author's Saving Throw: Possibly unintentional, but Madame Razz introducing the Rebellion as the "right side" has often been criticized for being self-righteous and over-simplistic, considering real-life conflicts can often be nuanced. In the series proper, Adora is usually understanding when characters are unsure about supporting the Rebellion, which occasionally endears people to her side.
Awesome Music: The epic opening theme music — "I am Sheee-raaaaa!"
Ensemble Dark Horse: Shadow Weaver and Sea Hawk. The later becoming the fan preferred boyfriend for She-Ra.
Fandom Rivalry: Many fans of original She-Ra and current She-Ra do not get along at all. This is likely due to controversial remarks made by NDStevenson with further rivalry fueled by Melendy Britt's vocal criticisms of the new series.
Harsher in Hindsight: In retrospect the Horde occupation of Etheria and the rebellion fighting them seem unfortunately similar to the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, only with less bloodshed and terrorist acts. Made even eerier by the lead female characters of each plot having names that rhyme.
In "A Talent for Trouble", after Hordak is defeated (again), he shouts "I hate that woman!". This was long before a certain "doctor" would frequently say something similar about a certain hedgehog...
Even more so when one considers that Robby London, who worked on this as well as He-Man, would later serve as producer on Sonic SatAM- which explains the numerous plot similarities between both shows.
To be fair, Yosemite Sam had been saying 'I hate that rabbit!' decades prior.
In the Brazilian dub, Júlio Chaves voices Bow, an archer who is fond of trick arrows. Much later, Chaves worked in the dubbing of the Unlimited portion of the Justice League cartoon. Guess which character he voiced...
Ho Yay: Bow and Adam, every time they're together, but especially in the Five-Episode Pilot. Of course, all things considered, this should come as a surprise to no-one...
This scene was a great example.
Bow: (very enthusiastically) May good fortune speed you on your mission! Adam: (suddenly looking very timid and uncomfortable) Well... thanks...
There's also the way they ride a horse together... with their hips a little too close for comfort. Then again, Adam also rides a horse this way with his sister, so it might not mean anything.
Fans like to think there's something beyond friendship between Netossa and Spinnerella, or that Glimmer's admiration of Adora/She-Ra has elements of Even the Girls Want Her. The former actually became canon in the Netflix reboot.
LGBT Fanbase: For much the same reasons as its Spear Counterpart, She-Ra has a lot of queer fans due to its Ho Yay. Adora is also popular amongst women
Never Live It Down: Glimmer for years couldn't live down getting quickly subdued in the first battle, to the degree that she was touted as a Faux Action Girl (forgetting that she relied on magic rather than battle prowess).
Nightmare Fuel: Horde Prime. Shown as not much more than a voice and a giant robotic hand, but that's enough.
Out of the Ghetto: The Girl-Show Ghetto was interestingly avoided; most of the male audience who watched He-Man also watched She-Ra. But on the other hand girls didn't suddenly start liking She-Ra just because the main character was a girl. The toy line, however, didn't fare as well (see above).
Periphery Demographic: While made with girls in mind, the show was careful to keep in plenty of action and plot to appeal to the boys who watched He-Man.
Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading: The movie's opening theme I Have The Power sounds like a romantic duet, and includes lines like "I'd walk the universe to find her, For better or for worse beside her" and "Forever more we'll be together, Our hearts will soar one to the other". However, the singers are supposed to be singing from the perspectives of Adam and Adora, who are (long-lost) siblings. The song has even been played at weddings.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Bow; his new action figure, which is in scale with the rest of the Masters of the Universe line and show accurate head (complete with mustache) has helped soothed a lot of complaints about him and his original figure.
Smurfette Breakout: The series was actually introduced with this in mind. While She-Ra may not have been more popular than He-Man, she did end up getting a rebooted Netflix series and a live-action Amazon Prime series to herself.
The Star Sisters only appeared in one episode and they're weren't even involved in the episode's conflict. Also, Tallstar was the only one who got to demonstrate her powers.
Entrapta was in four episodes and spoke in only two of them.
The transformation sequence is grand, especially for the time and budget Filmation had to work withnote Of course, they almost certainly put an above-average amount of budget and work into the transformation sequence, as it would be seen at least Once an Episode, if not more.
The backgrounds were lavishly painted as well, even if the animation going on wasn't too complex. This was a fairly common Filmation trope used to save money while at least providing some form of eye-catching scenery.
Values Resonance: This was one of, if not the, the first action/adventure cartoons to have a primarily female cast, and to this day it's considered a milestone in the history of such shows.
◊
