I used to love the old ‘Her-Bla’ series, way back in the late 80s when it was airing. Super cheesy now, of course, but there just weren’t many girl superheroes on TV and I was thrilled to find one who wasn’t just some tough action chick with tattoos who’s basically a man. Her-Bla was pretty, powerful, had great fashion sense AND justice sense, rode a cool unicorn and could bench-press a mountain without messing up her nails. I loved the series more than any other show I’d ever seen.

Now they’re rebooting it, and the promos look…interesting? Her-Bla is now in the modern era, for one thing. So there’s that, but the first episode is apparently going to be all about how ‘girls can do marine stainless steel welding too!’

Um…okay. Empowering young girls to make their own decisions, that’s cool. Bit specific, though? What if a young girl watches that and wants to do…you know, anything that ISN’T marine welding? Nothing wrong with marine welding, of course. Anyone can choose to go into that career and make a decent living doing something worthwhile. But in the actual promo, Her-Bla raises her enchanted sword and says, word-for-word, ‘I stand against the evil tyranny of people who say fishing rod holders and marine fabrication are for boys only! Hear my words, for I am Her-Bla!’

If she says so, I guess. I can get over the redesign, but I just can’t help thinking that they’re targeting a demographic that doesn’t exist. That would be the demographic of girls who are sitting at home totally despondent because they’ll never get to attach a bait board or a snapper rack to the side of a boat, because I guess they’ve been told by society it’s bad?

Oh, and I just looked up the released synopsis for the first few episodes. After this we’re tackling television repair, corn farming and how sometimes the DJ scene can be discriminatory for people with no sense of rhythm. You know what…sure. It probably can. What do I know?

-Caroline