A PoP Rant.

Been thinking about Princess of Power, thanks to me trying to organize my fan continuity. Timeline, important artifacts and places, figuring out the Swords, etc. I noticed that in the Classics Timeline, The Etheria part of the Saga seems like a footnote on the Bio Writing team. We barely know anything about the events on Etheria, or the world. The Eternia side has pretty much a somewhat solid Timeline. This is wrong. I mean, how in the HELL can Mattel sell She-Ra as an Equal to He-Man (Twin Sister, Twins of Power, blah, blah, blah) if they can't even establish her contribution to the story.
Toywise, thanks to Classics, He-Man has an array of villains that goes beyond Skeletor's Evil Warriors, Horde and Snakemen. He-Man has independent villains, like Marzo or Shokoti; minor nuisances like Nepthu and Geldor; and weird villains like Plundor.

What does She-Ra have? Hordak, Hordak, Hordak and more Evil Horde. She has NOTHING. I mean, Catra is Horde, Entrapta is Horde. Methinks She-Ra needs more Villains in order to expand the story of Etheria in the Universe of well, MOTU.

How to do that? There's a couple of ways:

Independent Filmation PoP Villains.Sadly, only Hunga the Harpy comes to mind. (I'm not a fan of her) Vultak was Horde, so he won't work here. Though I'd love to have a MOTUC Vultak.
Independent Book villains: Allepsatsac Comes to mind. It also explains why Castaspella is seen with Catra in some media.
NEW Independent Villains: Sometimes, it's important to create new characters to expand the story.

Mattel should do all three to expand the Etheria Chapter on the MOTU Lore.

On the new Independent villains, I've a few ideas. Some of them are actually used in my fan continuity.

I'll start with a set of "fakers" not like the Blue He-Man, but a group of Con-Artists that do Mercenary Jobs for Hordak under the guise of the "Great Rebellion". The idea was originally conceived as a loophole to justify releases of certain POP Characters in their Toy Looks. (Then the collectors could use whoever they preferred as the True Rebellion and the alternative look as the impostors) The idea of a group of villains non-affiliated to the Horde being a thorn to the Rebellion's side seems like a cool idea. I'd combine a few already established characters from Filmation and books like Red Eye (who is basically a Kowl repaint with new head,) and Allepsatsac, who thanks to Entrapta's thighs can be made easily. in combination to new characters.
I'd use:

A character based on the Vintage Bow. (Same Skin Tone as the Official MOTUC BOW) Surprisingly we'd only need a new armor, cape and heads.(Mayhaps having the new Archer with a goatee a la Erroll Flynn or Oliver Queen) Plundor, Goatman, Hordak and Strong-Or have the base parts needed to complete a more Vintage Accurate Bow. I would give him a crossbow to keep the arrow theme, but to give a hint that he is evil, because Crossbow = Horde.

A character based on Toy Glimmer, with Curly hair, Toy Skirt and top. Related to the False Angella

A Character based on Angella, again purely based on the toy Design. Possibly related to the Real Angella.


So, that's a new faction with 5 characters, that would help tell the story of the Horde's invasion of Etheria and the struggle of the Rebellion to retake their world from the Evil Horde.

The idea of Doppelgängers is not far-fetched in MOTU lore... case in point, Faker. Now we enter the Dark She-Ra Territory.
I think that making the Dark She-Ra, Despara was a bad move by Neitlich. (This does not happen in my fan continuity). Filmation had the seeds for a Dark She-Ra with the Melog, but in being an 80s cartoon and having the need to have morals and nice endings, the Clayface styled Dark She-Ra was eliminated and turned into a random female aligned to the side of good.

The Dark She-Ra concept is not foreign to fans. So, making one wouldn't be that difficult to Mattel. If they take the Faker approach and combine She-Ra pieces with Catra Pieces and maybe Scorpia's feet to make the evil She-Ra. The story part would be a bit tougher to pull off. Unlike the Faker for He-Man, the Evil Doppelgänger of She-Ra should be Magic based. Some sort of Homunculus made to resemble She-Ra and powered by Arcane Horde Magic. Not that this Homunculus would not be a clone of She-Ra. It's simply a powerful evil creature created by the Horde. The Amoral Clone of Adora is what I'd save for Despara II. (Something Similar to the Mileena/Kitana thing from Mortal Kombat.) Now returning to the Dark She-Ra. I'm visualizing her skin to be Vampire Pale. (Since Faker has Blue Skin in honor of Skeletor, then The Dark She-Ra should share some Vampiric Attributes from Hordak) BTW, Her bio should say that her magics make her look like Normal She-Ra to most Etherians.

Then there is the idea of some Etherian beings who are Pro-Horde, but they are not affiliated with it. Basically, more Original Villains. Obvious solution would be an offshoot branch of Snakepeople... Thinking Vipkiries or Aspmazons, since Etheria's society is Matriarchal.

To this I say NAY! While, yes, Snakepeople would be ab easy and obvious solution, it would make PoP seem like a blatant rip-off of MOTU. that's anothr reason, why I chose the Fake Rebellion.

For some reason, I'm thinking a Female Pirate. Yes, the Rebellion kinda has Sea Hawk in the Pirate Role, but he can't be the ONLY Pirate in all of Etheria. Perhaps I should say her role would be a Horde Privateer. The reason behind her being in a sort of warrior class, is to be an opposite towards the Rebellion, who seem to be mostly magic users. Then there's the whole rivalry with Sea Hawk, possibly an old flame of the pirate, who hates Adora for "stealing her treasure"... (Of course I'm talking about the Bow Wannabe.)

Then again, Mattel could try a new concept called fleshing out the characters they already have!