She-Ra

While your kid brother was running around in his pants shouting "By the power of Grayskull", for the girls there was She-Ra. Sporting the kind of outfit (a red leotard with long white sleeves, matching boots and a black belt) no one could have gotten away with wearing in real life (except Lady Gaga, of course), She-Ra was the hot twin sister of He-Man and appeared in her own TV show, She-Ra: Princess Of Power. The show was produced in America by Filmation in 1985 as a spin-off of the huge hit, He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe and accompanied by a range of Mattel She-Ra toys.

We first clapped eyes on She-Ra in the 1985 feature film The Secret Of The Sword, when she starred as Force Captain Adora. She'd been born Princess Adora (we adored her!) to her parents King Randor and Queen Merlena and had been kidnapped from her home planet of Eternia when she was just a baby, by Hordak, the evil ruler of Etheria. She was brought up by a servant called Shakra, who imparted some goodness on her in the early years, until the princess was old enough to begin serving Hordak.

Hordak cast spells over the princess and made her follow his evil ways, until her bro, Prince Adam (He-Man) broke the spell and rescued her from the dark side. As the story goes, He-Man reveals Princess Adora's true heritage and tells her she is actually She-Ra, Princess of Power. Only when she holds up her special Sword of Protection (He-Man has a Sword of Power and says: "For the honour of Grayskull, I am She-Raaaaaaaa!" does she turn into her alter-ego She-Ra amid a swirl of amazing lights. As well as a sword, she also owns a horse called Spirit, who can also transform like She-Ra, into Swift Wind, a winged unicorn. Not only a fashion idol, She-Ra was also often referred to as "the most powerful woman in the universe". What a girl!

With her newfound powers, She-Ra gathers her Great Rebellion troops to take on Hordak and free any others under his evil spells. She's helped by: Bow, the archer; Princess Glimmer of Brightmoon, manipulator of light; Kowl, a wise owl-like bird; Castaspella, a sorceress queen; Mermista, who can control water; Frosta, ruler of snow and ice; Double Trouble, a double agent who spies on Hordak for She-Ra. Unfortunately, due to the programme being quite short-lived (it ended in 1987), we never actually found out if She-Ra and her rebel gang managed to defeat Hordak. Other characters in the show included: Madame Razz, a clumsy magician; Light Hope, the guardian of Crystal Castle; Queen Angella, queen of bright moonn. The baddies consisted of: Hordak; Shadow Weaver, a powerful sorceress and Grizzler, an unintelligent beast.

She-Ra mainly had her own friends and missions, but occasionally her and He-Man would appear on each other's TV shows and then, for one afternoon only real-life brothers and sisters would call a truce and play together "for the honour of" and "by the power of Grayskull".