‘She-Ra’ is back, with a better look and bigger purpose

In many ways, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a new Netflix series from DreamWorks Animation, will be familiar to fans of the campy original. Adora is here, discovering the magic sword that transforms her into She-Ra when she invokes “the honour of Grayskull”, and so is Catra, her feline friend and on-again, off-again foe.

In place of the often-static animation of the original, the rebooted She-Ra lives in a vibrant world with stylistic homages to French artist Jean Giraud (aka Moebius), Japanese movie director Hayao Miyazaki and mainstream anime.

In the original, nearly every heroine was the exact same size and shape, with matching faces and swimsuit-model bodies (which made it easier for the animators, not to mention the folks who made the toys, which were really what that original show was all about).

In the new series, which debuts on November 13, there are black warriors, Asian ice princesses and brown mermaids. Body types run from waif-slim to roundish; hairstyles include Rapunzel-long tresses, bobs and fades.

In response, hordes of fans went online to defend the new look and to question why seemingly grown men were so emotionally invested in an animated teen girl’s body.

Scores of women and girls created and modeled their own elaborate She-Ra cosplay costumes.

Still others — including professional artists from animation companies around town — created hundreds of pieces of fan art, many of which Stevenson posted on her Twitter account.

Don’t miss it!

She-Ra and the Princess of Power streams on Netflix from November 13.