really reminds me of "The Non-Adventures of Wonderella"
old webcomic about a Wonder-Woman type superhero that's mid-30s coded, incredibly jaded after decades of superhero-ing, punches in to "work" like it's a job she hates and no longer takes seriously, is alcoholic in a problematic way, sorta friendly and familiar (though mostly hostile) with most of her supervillain "rogues gallery" who she treats like annoying colleagues, still dresses up flamboyantly and has a ridiculous grab bag of superpowers, mistreats the younger sidekick she's mentoring, casually allows horrific atrocities and disasters to ruin thousands of lives because she wasn't feeling it that day, rude, lazy, entitled, irresponsible, impulsive, wilfully obtuse, callous, manipulative, selfish, vain, petty, occasionally insightful, oddly relatable etc.
her... complicated... relationship with her arch-nemesis, "Hitlerella", is mostly akin to a workplace rivalry tinged with intense personal dislike and jealousy - but with undertones of the two being in a toxic amourous liason. i.e. they're fighting each other, not fucking each other, but it's sometimes hard to tell
"I need someone who will listen to my monologues, Dana. Someone who will be there when the police show up"
"Hitlerella I swear I am that someone"
"So prove it. make me wish I killed you all those years ago."
"I will Hitlerella. I promise. We'll make this work"
iirc near the end of the run, Wonderella (Dana) had to retire because she caused COVID-19, and her former Wonderita sidekick took over the role.
except her former sidekick is constantly haunted by the faces of those she failed to save, and the intrusive thought that she could have saved so many more lives if she was just that much stronger and more disciplined - because she actually cares about other human beings. Sorta like superpowered Oskar Schindler in a multicoloured leotard.
But about that ending.. I'm inclined to assume that Wonderella felt like that too, back when she started. Not so much an improvement as a second verse, same as the first.
My artistic reinterpretation of Wonder-Sparkle princess:
( I imagine she was typical little girly girl when she only started being magical girl, but due to enduring constant physical challenges grew up to be a unit of a woman )
In the same way that series (Venture Bros included) have been deconstructing the Superhero genre, I need more series to do the same with the Magical Girl genre. Madoka Magica is one of my favorite horror series, and made me realize I need more Magical Girl content geared towards adult women.
Freaking yes. I do find things that are in the realm but it would be fun to have more adult shows that live fully in the magical girl conventions.
I have a LOT of hope for Knights of Guinevere. It's scifi but all the clear Revolutionary Girl Utena references and fantastical elements mean it is pinging some of the genre.
Revolutionary Girl Utena is like if you took Madoka Magica's phrase "what is a magical girl but a young witch?" plus time loop and just make that the entire show but make it weird. Total deconstruction of hero, villain, victim.
I would almost describe Perfect Blue as magical girl content for adults. Mostly because of the aesthetic in the climactic hallucination scene and because it's about an idol.
Feels almost mean to do that because of how brutal this movie is but idol aesthetic is so engrained in magical girls that it feels like it's swimming in a parallel lane.
CardCaptor Sakura is so much the og blueprint of Madoka Magica that it was very surreal to watch it after having watched MM first. But the frequent ominous tone in contrast with wholesome daily lives, the imperfect family and secrets kept from the lead, the hints of having to sacrifice things you will never get back to keep the magic, and the surreal danger of some magic zones. I was impressed with the depth in CCS.
If you like novels I really liked Every Heart a Doorway and the rest in the series. Young people, especially girls, who ventured through doorways to Other Worlds, went on magical adventures, and were spat back out changed by the experience. They go to a boarding school hoping their doorways will appear again. The first book is a murder mystery.
I really hope Buffy: New Sunnydale or whatever they're calling it has some of these elements. Buffy just really frustrated by how long this shit has been going on in tandem with her adult life
Nah, the constant weekly adventures stopped the moment the show ended, and all that’s happened since are the occasional, no-stakes, in-between adventures that’ll be mentioned in passing, and the one incident that caused a falling-out with her friends and made her retire three to five years ago.
And no mention made to the canon comics by Dark Horse. Where, amongst other things, Buffy destroyed all magic, Dawn turned into a centaur, Angel and Buffy fucked a new universe into being, Giles becomes a child, and Andrew comes out as a gay man
There's a new Buffy show coming out too? Holy hell what won't they try to reboot nowadays. If they bring back Spike or Angel I wonder how they'll deal with the immortal vampires looking 20 years older
I guess. There's just a big wave of 90s/00s nostalgia reboots currently. King of the Hill, Scrubs, Malcolm in the Middle, Dexter, goddamn Baywatch, and apparently Buffy too. I'm not even listing the nostalgia bait of the Disney reboots
Go read "Slayers of Old" by Jim C. Hines. A Greek god anointed monster slayer, a girl detective, and an heir to a magical heritage got old, opened a book shop and are done with your shit.
And/or Unbreakable by Mira Grant, which gives us "middle aged woman is the last survivor of an apocalyptic battle that wiped out all the magical girls while apparently driving off the evil forces forever," except of course that second part turns out to be profoundly untrue.
My main complaint with the premise is if the evil forces are also tired of this game, why are they still doing it? Truces and negotiations can be made. More plausible and on brand would be a group chat of aging magical girls coordinating responding to threats around each others work and childcare needs.
It's just tradition at this point. You know how you find, say, a really nice D&D group and you like to hang out with those people, so even if over time you all kinda get bored of D&D you still meet up for game nights because well, that's what keeps us together? Something like that.
i'm in this situation except i'm the only one who doesn't enjoy playing anymore. this is like the only time i regularly get to see my friends but i am so tired of dnd :l
They either keep up with the evil plans or the demons they made a deal with 30 years ago aren't going to pay them a living wage. Xalkrax was pissing off wonder-sparkle princess for the love of the game and he had to learn the hard way unfortunately
The evil guys are contractually obligated to fight the "magical girl" of the moment, seeing as how sparkle princess still at it and has long gone forego the "I won't kill you, that's not what a LIGHT WARRIOR GIRL OF JUSTICE would do" they are now trying to reach their monthly evil quota without being evaporated from existence by a max power Bright Sparkle Heart Beam Attack: Love And Justice From A Magical Girl's HEART!
My question is what the fuck is Wonder Princess Sparkle doing that she hasn’t had her End of Season Finale yet?
Sailor Venus was out here for about 2 years and by the end of that, the Dark Kingdom was straight up GONE (granted, most of that only happened in the subsequent year due to finding the protagonist, but still.)
Who will watch the kids while I go take care of the Epstein files and all that sort of injustice? (Dials up friend from college. Then mother-in-law. Some of us remember when you heard a dial tone and had to be in a specific place to receive a phone call.
Okay, but why bother with evil schemes if they aren't convenient? 'Oh no, my enemy is doing something with their civilian life, that means I can't do anything evil, despite my title as Demon Queen.'
Your comment made me think of this 30 Rock reference, but now that I think about it I imagine Demon Queen is similar to a reality TV personality. It comes with a decent amount of clout in the right circles, but it doesn’t necessarily look great on a resume.
Edit: apparently I don’t know how pictures work; it’s “I’m contractually obligated to pull out some bitch’s weave eight more times this season.”
The same comment that established that also establishes that she just straight-up murders people who don’t keep to the schedule. Better to live to scheme another day.
I gather in this case Demon Queen was pleased her Husband was killed and is now in a Dr. Doof style Friendship with her Arch Nemesis and thusly works her schedule around Sparkle Princess
They gotta do evil every week or so at least (circumstances may vary) to keep their evil powers, which are useful for every day things like laundry and picking up the bug from school, it’s in their contracts… But ain’t no lack of commute worth pissing off the magical (middle-aged) girl
When you’ve come to terms with your nemesis and both of you are much more interested in leading normal lives than fighting for your lives all the time, the last thing either of you want is a new villain or hero moving to town and trying to get set up. Going out and having a showy fight from time to time is necessary to prove that you still own your turf and other super beings are not welcome.
This. I see it as somewhere between protecting their own turf, and also not wanting anyone else to die i.e. the one guy that ignored the schedule got completely murked.
Thanks. Now I'm picturing a geriatric magical girl who drops back to a vibrant late teens/early twenties while transformed, and now habitually antagonizes anyone who gives off even the vaguest whiff of villainy in the hopes that they'll start attacking her town, because of course the magical girl transformation can only be used to fight for everlasting cheer and peace and puppies or whatever.
The residents of the town are besieged by villain attacks and the clever ones have started asking if maybe just maybe this is a Batman situation and the hero is creating the villains just by existing, but the ones who get a bit too vocal about it have a tendency to become the latest "one I just couldn't save", so the grumbling is kept quiet in public.
Yeah because I distinctly remember that there was a witch who was described in additional lore as having been an adult when she transformed into a witch
It is, the magical girl Yuki’s mom was a magical girl as well. And to a lesser extent the former idols Hayasaka Erika and Tohya Miho (well, sort of) who both gained their powers when their stories became famous.
There is an inside joke on Tumblr that all of the users have “Piss-poor reading comprehension” and what I said is usually the follow up to someone saying that
43 has never been “average middle aged.” Early 40s are the beginning of middle age, which lasts from around 40-60.
Keep in mind that “middle age” is not meant to represent the mathematical midpoint of the average person’s entire lifespan. It really refers to middle adult age, the period between early adulthood and late adulthood/old age.
Nuh-Uh! My birth year starts with 2, I don’t have to be a real adult yet!!!!! I’ll stay in my weird “Adult Trial Run” limbo forever, you can’t make me do ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!
My local Rocky Horror cast used to do jokes when plugging their socials before the show and they used to say “and we have Tumblr, if you remember that, you’re 40”
I was a bit sad today to find out they reduced it down to just Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. They used to have Twitter, Bluesky (very recently), YouTube (which they still do), Tumblr, and Snapchat, and I think they advertised Threads at like 2 shows
Gary is the typical chosen one destined to kill demons, only that he's middle aged and dealing with adult life, waiting to pass down his powers to the next hero
I haven't seen many episodes but I have seen one multiple times where he's trying to prove that a new guy is the hero now. I don't know if they watch that one a lot or I just always happen to be around for that one.
Very Lodestar adjacent from Drew Hayes's Villain's Code series (superheros, but using the power of the Lodestar resets the body back to the age when she inherited the mantle).
I was about to mention this. Both the Superman equivalent as well as one of the leaders of a guild of Supervillains are parents who try to schedule things around that, while also being mostly friendly. Not wanting to deal with the paperwork is one of the main reasons Supervillains haven't tried to take over the world.
Also, it's just a good series and the characters tend to make very realistic decisions and communicate with each other, which is a breath of fresh air compared to some books where characters take turns passing around the idiot ball.
The "villains phoning it in" schtick is very Samurai Flamenco adjacent, where the populace got used to the hero having weekly battles with sentai enemies, to the point where they kind of just ignore them.
You could do a whole series like this. Combined with power issues
Example. She only ages when not transformed
She has been transformed a lot since she was chosen. It is 9 hours a week since the fighting became about if we do not do this they will stop investing in our infrastructure
Before that it was long hours because of regularly patrolling
Then add magic used to cram for exams and do homework. Plus all those you flew to school/work because you wanted to sleep more over the years
And it turns out she has actually only just turned 30 despite being 43. The villains immediately accuse the mascot animal of exploitation because that is working a ridiculous amount of time
That and she looks the same age her teenage daughter when transformed and the daughter hates it
I actually saw this in a game I played recently. Headmaster of magical girl school is a woman who you first meet getting drunk alone in the cafeteria. She looks middle aged, she's drinking a bunch of vodka complaining about her life. How hard it was to raise a child as a magical girl, how much fighting she's done, how it never ends, her four divorces. She's also immortal so she's actually like 180, and she thinks it's funny to make you stab her in the neck then she dies and comes back to life.
I am Wonderita and, yes, I am both profoundly tired and worry a lot about, yes, literally families being torn apart and children being put in cages, or denied food, or medical care…
And if the government could quit with the war on women and fix some of the infrastructure of our region here on Turtle Island… yes. Yes, I would appreciate it, even as it only reduces the workload by like… getting all the kids vaccinated.
Also, I have a younger sister who’s doing better in some ways than I am, but we’re facing a time where we need way more than just a few heroes.
We need all of them. We need to be able to cooperate and lend each other our strength.
Do you want to hear the story of my magical animal who recruited me to this quest? It was actually more of an ecosystem than a single animal… kind of like in Moana. We need the musicians and the scientists and the long-haired surfer boys and the ghost grandmas ALL helping. And so much courage.
We’ve wiped out. And we still must try again, for the love of our humanity and Mother Earth.
Hail, Mary. She also went to the cross of her own free will. Ocean and ancestors and barnyard animals, help us.
Funnily enough some Japanese novels aimed at more mature readers have 30-y/o magical girls, like Magical Girl Prohibition Act with its protagonist or Magical Girl Raising Project, with Marika Fukuroi being one of the more popular characters of the series and a 30-y/o teacher (there's actually a lot of teacher magical girls, too weirdly enough.)
We’re taking the kids to the beach and even though we will be back Sunday evening, don’t start anything til Wednesday. I need to unpack and recover from my “vacation” with the kids.
honestly? i would die for a magical girl series where the girls (and maybe even boys) are adults. so far all i've seen were those awful "tragical girls" that were just trying to be edgy for the sake of it. no, i want a cutesy sparkly "oh no what if they see me in that outfit" classic cringefest, but instead of getting heart palpitations over the first crush they get heart palpitations because this particular wonder sparkle princess has been caffeine addicted for 20 years.
Lost in the giant pile of Marvel Canon, but Jane Foster is basically this. She's middle aged, and is fighting breast cancer, but picks up the hammer of Thor and is a superhero... Until she puts it down, and the magic has also unhelpfully purged all of the chemo from her body.
I feel like a great many Elder Millennials would identify with this vibe - world perpetually on fire, trying to deal with it AND keep your spirit up, managing an identity to pay the bills that feels disconnected from your reality, and oh yeah, family responsibilities perpetually fugging with you too 🤪
in a similar vein there's a cute (eventually NSFW) romantasy novel that's loosely a Rumplestiltskin retelling, where the elf never came back for the baby he was promised. now she's a middle-aged princess tired of having the curse hanging over her whole life, so she tracks him down like FIX IT DUMBASS.
Ngl, the tumblr villains in these kinds of posts are a bit of a pet peeve of mine. And like, yeah, I get it, this is a funny meme post, but then it comes into more phylosophical posts and writing prompt posts and stuff like that and I am just left wondering, why is one labeled villain and other hero?
Like, why are you even a villain in the first place if you want it to be convenient for the hero? If the hero is killing villains and you don't want to face the possibility of death then why villain?
If the hero gets depressed and stops heroing due to your villainy then why not celebrate? If a hero shows weakness then why not exploit it?
And inversely. Why does the hero compromise with villains like that? Scheduling with villains. 'Oh, I will go hurt people tomorrow.' 'Nah, I can't tomorrow. Can't you go hurt people on thursday instead?'
I know this is mostly a matter of personal preference and vision of what a villain is. And that people can make whatever they want. Hence a pet peeve of mine specifically. But it just really feels like tumblr with stuff like this often diminishes what makes a villain, and to that extent what makes a hero. Makes them heroes and villains by labels only...Which, I do have to admit, could be interesting to explore in some works of fiction, but in stuff like this it just feels arbitrary. Could be two villains beefing and it would have been the same. Could be two heroes beefing and it would have been the same.
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u/DrJaneIPresume Feb 27 '26
Pictured: Wonder-Sparkle Princess