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nosfelixculpa · 7 months

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im right

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autumnmobile12 · 4 months

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Storm Hawks: A Pretty Fun Take on Feminism

I don't know how many people actually remember this show, or even watched it , but this is an episode that's stuck with me all these years so I want to talk about it.

For context, the plot of Storm Hawks itself is pretty basic: Evil empire taking over the world, the good guys try to stop them, shenanigans ensue because kids' show. The main cast members fall into pretty generic archetypes. too. We have:

Aerrow (the 'true blue' leader)

Piper (the smart one/the girl)

Finn (the funny one)

Junko (the buddy)

Stork (the neurotic one)

Radarr (the animal sidekick)

And we're off:

This is Storm Hawks Season 1, Episode Ten: Fire and Ice

There was a lot going on in this episode, including a climate change allegory, but for the purposes of attempting to remain somewhat concise, I'm only going to cover the feminism theme for this post. Episode ten revolves mostly around Piper, opening with the team attending a festival put on by the Blizarrians, a race of snow-dwelling, humanoid, rabbit-dog creatures with Canadian accents and stereotypes in their world. (Which might be offensive, but the show was produced by a Canadian studio, so they can make fun of themselves if they want.)

The Blizzarian team (aptly named the Absolute Zeroes) invite the Storm Hawks to come snowmobiling with them in the backcountry. Piper is enthusiastic about the invitation, being a skilled cartographer, so she wants to map out the terrain...only to be told, "Ladies don't do the backcountry training. You just stay back with the girls."

Aerrow, being a true friend, tells Piper not to listen and she can ride with him, but since she's apparently not welcome by their hosts, Piper doesn't feel inclined to go anymore.

However, when Piper goes to meet up with 'the girls' and hang out, Suzy Lu (pictured above) unexpectedly introduces herself as the Absolute Zeroes' Sky Knight (essentially their captain.) So she's the one in charge, not the men, leaving Piper with the impression, Okay maybe being left out won't be so bad after all.

Later on in the episode, Aerrow does call out the male Zeroes, telling them she is part of their team and she has every right to be there with them. However, the Zeroes meet his words with genuine confusion, with the original member who told Piper to stay behind saying, "But Sky Knights don't do the backcountry training. That's just for us squaddies."

He thought Piper was the leader and therefore didn't need to be there. Similarly, because he was the male, Aerrow thought he was the Zeroes' leader, not Suzy Lu. It's still a sexist assumption to think Piper was in charge because she was a woman, but it's definitely a fresher take than the typical, "No, woman stay home because woman weak."

Going further into the comedy of the situation, though, is the fact the 'training' the Zeroes do in the backcountry pretty much amounts to them messing around on the snowmobiles and pulling off crazy stunts. They're just 'boys being boys.' If somebody wipes out on their ride, everyone else will be concerned up until the moment the fallen team member stands back up and starts cheering to show he's okay. It gives off a vibe that's similar to parents sending their kids outside to play when they're too hyper.

Further proving the point they are a bunch of well-intentioned dorks, it's also shown that Blizzarians don't assume all women are in charge. When Aerrow suggests a solution to the aforementioned climate issue that was also going on in the episode, Suzy Lu declares, "I like your thinking." And then, as an aside to Piper, whispers, "I was wondering why this one was in charge." So upon meeting the group, she definitely had a moment of, Okay, this Aerrow guy is the leader, not Piper. Kinda odd, but humans are wierd. Whattya gonna do?

...

Overall, the storytelling of Storm Hawks was a bit shallow, which doesn't often appeal to most adults, and that likely was a contributor as to why it didn't receive much attention outside its target audience. The world itself, Atmos, was an interesting concept; a world interspersed with mountain nations (terras) that rose up out of a hostile wasteland, so travel is achieved primarily by flight. This theme is seen throughout the series in the very culture as many of the characters are named after birds. (Junko (junco,) Stork, Piper (sandpiper,) Starling, Dove, Snipe, Wren, Finn (finch.) In addition to the flight, their machines were powered by these crystals that varied in type, purpose, categorization of how common or rare they were, so there was a scientific/magic element to it.

The writing was episodic in format, though, so the characters don't really have longterm goals and never really had development arcs that spanned much longer than a single episode. The conflict itself was effectively a world war, but unlike a series such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, Storm Hawks never achieved the level of seriousness or emotion that a war story demands to be compelling or really respectful of that particular theme in fiction. The characters of Storm Hawks and ATLA are fun and light-hearted, but the Storm Hawks episodes were really more goofy and child-like adventures. I mean, there is an episode where it is heavily implied the reptilian humanoids are carnivorous and eat people. Okay, fuck, that's hardcore disturbing, but the show doesn't really expand on that because it's a kids' show. Nonetheless, since it's there, you're kinda left with, Okay, either follow through with your darker themes or don't mention them at all. It's a cartoon, find a better balance than that.

There also wasn't much depth to the villains either and their motivations were really just chalked up to the standard, "We're evil." One of them was even former 'good guy' turned traitor ten years prior to the main plot, but his reasons for turning traitor were never explored or even revealed. Come on, people, what happened? Ambition? Greed? He saw the political structure of the side he fought for was fundamentally flawed and decided it was best to tear it all down?

...

However, the detail that I appreciate with this nostalgia series is the fact that there were female characters in positions of power in Storm Hawks. Most of the fighting battalions were mostly made up of men, sure, and I would have liked to see a more balanced male-female cast, but some of the teams were straight up led by a woman and there was at least one group that was exclusively women.

The main antagonist, the reigning monarch of the aggressive nation in the war, was also a woman. (Well, teenage girl, but you get the point.) What's more; she was 100% in charge. She was not influenced in any way by a male advisor, she wasn't spurred on by the memory of a male predecessor, she was never intimidated by her male generals. And she was intelligent. Throughout the series, she was a scientist, an engineer, and a fighter. (Unfortunately, in the last season, her mind started to go a bit, so she pretty much devolved into a knockoff Azula.) We even have the brief insight of her background where it's shown she inherited her throne from her grandmother, not another male ruler. Which either implies primogeniture inheritance regardless of gender or it's a matrilineal monarchy, which is interesting to speculate, but that would be headcanon territory.

...

It was a fun watch when I was a kid, but as an adult...yeah, lots of flaws, a great deal of loss in potential with world-building and storylines, and even as a kid, I knew the plots and humor of later episodes fell into a category that was more stupid than funny.

But if Storm Hawks had one strength, they had the groundwork of the feminism angle down pat and that is always appreciated.

#storm hawks #piper #feminism #episode analysis #episode synopsis #nostalgia series #series analysis #absolute zeroes #cyclonis #female protagonist #female antagonist #sky knight #suzy lu

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yusylvainia · 1 year

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#spiky hair and eyeliner #storm hawks #storm hawks fanart #Cyclonis

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yami268 · 1 month

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It is women’s history month! post some of your fav female characters if you see this post ♡

#Yami Yalps #Storm Hawks #Slayers #Warcraft #She Ra and the Princess of Power #The Dragon Prince #Disney #Sleeping Beauty #Puella Magi Madoka Magica #Avatar #Legend of Korra #Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun #Cyclonis #Chromie #Scorpia #Rayla #Maleficient #Madoka Kaname #Korra

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wary-taru · 4 months

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these two are on my mind again 💕💞

gave piper some goggles for a change

#wary taru #my art #traditional art #master cyclonis #storm hawks piper #storm hawks #piclonis #piper x cyclonis #soft gay #doodles #cyclonis #storm hawks cyclonis

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plumsaffron · 3 months

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Piper is sour

#Master Cyclonis #Cyclonis #Storm Hawks Sour Aftertaste #Piper #Aerrow

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far-side-skies · 12 days

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Cyclonis and the Cyclonian Royal Family

Aka I gave this girl a family and then had to figure out why so many of them are absent from the show. This was the second most popular option in that poll I posted, so here we go.

I headcanon Cyclonia to be a matriarchy. Every ruler of the Empire since its founding has been a woman, with rare exceptions when the men take the position of regents for one reason or another. Even if the firstborn of a generation is a boy, they will never have a claim to the throne.

Queen Alyka Prosperis was the second ruler of Cyclonia after its founding as a kingdom. She was gifted the throne by First Queen Marinia, as they were close friends prior to Marinia's death. Since then Alyka's descendants have ruled Cyclonia and its expanding empire in one of the longest-running bloodlines in recorded history. No one is entirely sure who her partner was, who helped father the bloodline.

Master Polaris is a black mark on the royal family's history. Many say she cursed all the men in her family to take the form of monsters, in a fit of jealousy towards her brother Hemlock. Ever since then, the men of Cyclonia's royal family have been sickly and weak.

Cyclonis's great-grandmother is Master Roburis. Originally the youngest of four sisters, Roburis was not expected to rise to power. Then a plague hit Cyclonia, devastating the royal family and leaving her as the last survivor of her sisters. She wasn't a particularly attentive mother to her daughter, Morrigan, and some sources say she's the one to blame for instigating war with the Free Atmos, only to palm off the fallout onto the next generation.

Empress Morrigan Anarchis started her reign with the goal of doing better than her mother. Instead, she lead Cyclonia into a 50 year war that didn't end with her death, and repeated history by handing it off to Cyclonis. There are rumours that she orchestrated the assassination of her own husband and let the Sky Knights take blame for it in an incident that almost killed her only child, Cyclamen. She wasn't particularly popular as a ruler when she died, in fact it was no secret that the public greatly favoured Dark Ace over her.

Delphinium Cyclonis was seen as a symbol of hope for Cyclonia. A chance to finally end the war one way or another, but unfortunately she proved to be just as bullheaded as her grandmother. More concerned with learning new magical secrets and accessing the far side than actually ruling her Empire, it all ended in disaster after Cyclonia Rising. Now her brothers Larkspur and Cardin (Cardin largely belongs to @ashe-alter, thank you for helping me figure out these brothers :3) are struggling to pick up the pieces.

#storm hawks #storm hawks headcanons #storm hawks lore #sunny's headcanons #sunnyverse headcanons #sunnyverse lore #sunny's storm hawks headcanons #storm hawks headcanon #cyclonis #master cyclonis #storm hawks cyclonis #cyclonia #anarchis #master anarchis

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foundfamilyadoptionagency · 13 days

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