Tiny Bow, you will be avenged!

This is just a fun little filler episode featuring at least two of the main inspirations behind the show: Tabletop RPGs and (of course) the original She-ra cartoon.

They’re attempting to recapture a fortress the Horde took in the offensive surrounding the Battle of Bright Moon, but that’s really just an excuse for this episode; they never even mention where it is.

And the heroes clearly have an inflated idea of the importance of this particular fortress, as they assume the Horde has stationed its finest there…

But Catra shunted this one off on Scorpia.

Scorpia: “Scorpia, you’re in charge of the fortress,” she said. “Even you can’t mess this up,” she said! Even me! She’s thinking about me! Should I get her a thank-you gift? What’s her favorite color? Kyle! What are you doing?

Kyle: Uh, you said-

Scorpia: Go find out Catra’s favorite color! Hey, hey hey! You guys know Catra. What would she like? I need it to be something that says, “Thank you,” but also, “we are soulmates tied together by the beautiful threads of fate.”

Poor Scorpia’s got it bad for Catra…whatever “it” is. Even if it’s just friendship she wants, Catra’s obviously too hung up on Adora to seriously consider any new relationships.

Anyhow, back with the heroes’ RPG planning session, Glimmer lays out a strategy in…Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure aesthetic? I can’t tell if this property was a legitimate influence, or the art staff just wanted a distinct anime aesthetic from the eighties (mainly because I’m not that familiar with it myself).

Glimmer: I teleport onto the wall, and take out a line of soldiers with one critical strike! […] And I’m past the wall! I’m unstoppable! I’m-

Bow: You ran out of teleports, like, twelve teleports ago.

Glimmer: Then I land on you!

Bow: Tiny Bow! No!

Adora: Glimmer, we need to come up with a plan based on reality.

Glimmer: Yes, and in that moment, I really would land on Bow.

Then Mermista walks in (because evidently the whole princess squad is here).

Mermista: Uh…why are you playing with dolls?

Adora: We’re not playing with dolls!

Bow: Yeah! They’re War Table Battle Figures, and I don’t know if I have one for you.

But when Mermista tries to steal the She-ra figure, Glimmer teleports her out of the tent…which triggers the Horde’s (magic?) sensors, alerting them to some funny business in the rebel camp.

Glimmer: I admit I got a little carried away, but the rest of my plan could work!

Adora: Except you’re not taking the biggest variable into account: Catra. She’s been behind every Horde plan, she led the attack on Bright Moon, she’s devious-

Glimmer: And I’ve already thought of that!

She casts Catra as more of a Bond villain (hence why the Jojo reference is a bit muddled).

Catra: You fell into my trap. I’ve armed the tower with a bomb, capable of taking out my greatest enemy – you!

Glimmer: Do you expect us to just sit here?

Catra: No, Princess. I expect you to d-

Perfuma: I cast Giant Flytrap on Catra! Oops! Sorry Bow.

I told you, the whole princess crew is here!

Frosta: Mermista said you were playing a battle game! We wanna join.

Adora: We are in the middle of a very serious planning session.

Perfuma: We have lots of ideas for plans!

Anyhow, now that they’ve been alerted of activity in the rebel camp, they send out a spybot.

Scorpia: Spybot, the mission is simple. I need you to spy on the princesses, so I can stop them, and impress Catra so much, she’ll finally admit we’re best friends, or at the very least, we have a bond that can never be broken. You got that?

still not sure if this is cute or just sad

It’s Bow’s turn now, and he gets the throwback designs! (because of course he’s the one who looked best in the old series).

Bow: I am Bow, She-ra’s best friend, and defender of Etheria! When the evil Horde strikes, I strike back!

Perfuma: Ooh, we all get hats!

Mermista: Ugh.

they even got the retro soundtrack and it’s amazing

Catra: Fools! I won’t let you destroy my purr-fect plan.

She-ra: What.

Glimmer: This is kind of amazing.

Bow: It looks like I’ve got you meow, evildoer!

Catra: I’d pause to reflect on your upcoming death if I were mew!

She-ra: Stop. You’ve gotta stop.

Mermista: Mm, now we’re all hoping this plan kills us.

And then Catra turns into a panther.

Frosta: Wait, she can do that?

Bow: No, but I ran out of figures, and I only have this left, so she can now. Also, the Horde has dragons, as I did not make enough robots.

This is, of course, an allusion to Catra’s powers in the original, as she actually COULD transform (and communicate with cats). Funny enough, she wasn’t actually a cat-person in that show, she just had the mask (stolen from the Magicats) which made her look like she had cat ears.

And it just deteriorates from there.

Perfuma: I use my magic to grow a plant golem to take down the tower!

Bow: If it’s made out of plants, how does it roar?

Perfuma: It’s plant magic!

Then Mermista comes in with her brilliant idea…

Mermista: Uh, I step forward, and I say, “I am Mermista! Fabulous secrets were revealed to me the day I held aloft my trident and said, ‘For the honor of gray whales!'”

This is, of course, a reference to the opening narration of the original series.

Adora: You can’t transform into She-ra!

Mermista: Uh, duh! I’m Sea-ra, Princess of the Oceans, obviously.

But Frosta’s feeling left out, so she contributes what I assume is a Gundam reference (it’s clearly a reference to a mecha anime of some sort, and Gundam also got its start in the eighties).

And this is when the Horde’s spybot shows up.

Scorpia: I can’t believe it.

Lonnie: Me either.

Scorpia: They’re gonna give us frostbite, then attack us with a plant golem, and a woman named Sea-ra? And Bow’s got a Trident of Power? Who knows what that does! Oh, we’re doomed!

Lonnie: They’re obviously just coming up with ideas! Terrible ideas!

And then the spybot is taken out when someone accidentally spills some soda on it.

Scorpia: No! Kyle, go grab one of the other spybots you packed!

Kyle: Mm-hm…was that my job?

Scorpia: Really, Kyle? I don’t know how you haven’t been fired.

Perfuma: My plant golem tears down the wall!

Adora: The Horde will set it on fire.

Frosta: Frostbite smashes the wall!

Adora: The ice armor cracks as soon as you hit stone.

Mermista: Sea-ra destroys the Horde bots!

Adora: There is no Sea-ra, and you guys aren’t taking Catra into account!

Perfuma: Oh, sure we are! See?

Perfuma’s Catra: I have a lot of negative things to say, and I hate flowers.

Frosta’s Catra: I love ruining parties!

Glimmer’s Catra: Oh ho ho ho! I’m a monster!

Bow’s Catra: What a purrfectly evil group!

Adora: No! None of this is right!

i have to assume AJ had a ball with this episode

Glimmer: We’ve been here for hours! It’s time we attack.

Adora: The Horde will counter whatever we throw at them! We’re gonna go again, and we’re not gonna leave until we have a perfect plan.

Bow: Adora, isn’t this all going a little overboard? I mean, we’ve faced the Horde before. What’s the worst that could happen?

Adora: You wanna know the worst that can happen? Fine. I’m the heaviest hitter, so Catra will separate me right away. Trap me, take my sword, do something so I’m helpless when she turns on you. She knows everything about me, exactly what I’ll do, exactly how to take me out. They’ll overwhelm Frosta and Mermista with bots. They’ll fire on Perfuma, and use her to draw Bow out into the open, pinning him down between the bots and the Horde soldiers. Glimmer will teleport in to save him, but she won’t have enough magic left to get out, trapping them both. Catra will make me watch all of it, before she finishes me off, and everyone is gone, and the Horde wins the war, and Etheria crumbles, and it’s all my fault! The Horde nearly destroyed Etheria. We were barely able to stop it. If this plan isn’t perfect- if I’m not perfect- everyone will-

Because Adora’s feeling pressure from both sides – Catra on one hand, predicting her every move, and Light Hope on the other, telling her that she needs to be better than Mara, when Adora doesn’t even know where she went wrong. It all takes the form of the expectation to be a “perfect hero”, with no vulnerabilities.

Glimmer: Adora, I was captured by Shadow Weaver, taken to the Fright Zone, and lost my powers. […] But you know what? We escaped. I fought without my powers, and we won! Bad things are going to happen, that’s life. You can let it paralyze you, or you can roll with it. Figure out the things you can, and trust that your friends have your back for the rest.

Because what’s the point of having a team if you can’t rely on them?

Bow: So, what do we do now?

Adora: We do what we do best. We improvise!

And since the Horde soldiers heard about what they were planning (even if the princesses didn’t deliver exactly what they imagined), they’re still pretty terrified!

And of course, Adora’s relieved when she discovers that Catra isn’t around.

She-ra: Catra’s really not here? And she left you in charge?

Scorpia: Yes! Why do people keep acting surprised about that?

Of course She-ra fights Scorpia anyway, and even if she’s not able to push Adora’s buttons like Catra, she’s still a formidable opponent, and manages to disarm her…but then Glimmer joins the fight. And is disarmed as well.

Scorpia: You stay where you are! Or we’ll find out if Sparkles here has enough magic to land on her feet. 

Scorpia: Like I was saying, Catra trusts- hey! You don’t hit the person dangling you over the edge! Stop!

But she conveniently throws Glimmer over to She-ra as opposed to dropping her, because Scorpia’s just too nice, I guess.

She-ra: Glimmer? Are you okay?

Glimmer: How’s that for improvising? Also, it’s your turn now, because I am completely out of magic.

And that’s a few too many for Scorpia to deal with on her own, so they take the fort.

Scorpia: All in favor of blaming this on Kyle?

And THAT is why Kyle hasn’t been fired: Because the Horde needs a scapegoat every once in a while.

Until next time…