Charmcaster Analysis Blog




Background

Charmcaster
Real Name: Hope
Aliases: Caroline
Nicknames: Princess, Heather, Helen, Hilary, Heidi
Age: Teens (original series), Early 20s (Alien Force, Ultimate Alien, Omniverse)
Occupation: Magician, criminal (formerly), ruler of Legerdomain
Likes: Spellbinder, Hex (sort of), gaining power, proving her superiority, Darkstar (sort of)
Dislikes: Gwen Tennyson, Ben Tennyson, Kevin Levin, Addwaitya, ruling Legerdomain

Backstory

Born in Legerdomain, the realm of magic, the sorceress who would one day be known as Charmcaster was born during a time of war. An ancient sorcerer known as Addwaitya had invaded Legerdomain in pursuit of power, slaughtering all who opposed him using the very source of magic: the Alpha Rune. With no other choice, the sorcerer Spellbinder was forced to send his daughter Hope and his brother Hex to Earth in a last ditch effort to save them.

Believing it was suicide to return to Legerdomain in its current state, Hex did what he could to act as Hope’s surrogate father, helping training her in the art of magic. Taking the name Charmcaster, Hope would aid her uncle in his attempts to find legendary magic artifacts, though her own desire for power eventually led to her double-crossing him and striking out on her own in pursuit of power. But no matter what she tried, Charmcaster’s attempts were stopped by Ben Tennyson and his cousin Gwen, whose potential for magic exceeded Charmcaster’s own.

Seeing Gwen as unworthy of her abilities, and particularly incensed at her for stealing her spellbook, Charmcaster would end up butting heads with Gwen on several occasions, but it didn’t matter what she did. Whether she brainwashed Gwen’s boyfriend Kevin into fighting her, tried stealing her powers, or teamed up with Ben’s other enemies, Charmcaster would end up beaten again and again.

However, things would eventually change when the power-draining Osmosian Aggregor attacked. As part of his plan to obtain the Map of Infinity, Aggregor entered Legerdomain to claim one of its pieces, the Alpha Rune. Unable to follow on their own, Ben, Gwen, and Kevin were forced to turn to Charmcaster for help, but despite their efforts, Agreggor still managed to retrieve the Alpha Rune. As their surroundings turned unstable, Charmcaster used her spells to buy time and let the trio escape, willingly staying behind to defend her people from Addwaitya and hopefully free them from his reign.

And against all odds, she actually succeeded, though Addwaitya’s defeat resulted in a massive power vacuum that the few remaining rebels sought to claim for themselves. Left as the only one standing, Charmcaster became the ruler of Legerdomain and had Addwaitya imprisoned, turning him into her unwilling energy source. Now mad with power, Charmcaster began building a Sorcerer’s Engine to drain the souls of every being within the dimension, all in the hopes of reuniting with her father. Even when Ben, Gwen, and Kevin tried to stop her, Charmcaster emerged victorious, using their souls to fuel her machine.

With the combined 600,000 souls in her grasp, Charmcaster used their lives as a bargaining chip to the elder gods in exchange for her father’s resurrection. But when he was finally revived and learned what she had done, Spellbinder was horrified, believing she had disgraced his final wishes by not just returning to Legerdomain, but becoming a worse dictator than even Addwaitya! Blaming himself for not being there for her, Spellbinder assured Hope that despite everything she had done, he still loved her, but he refused to let his resurrection come at the cost of so many lives. After informing the gods their deal was off, Spellbinder faded away, allowing the lost souls to return to their bodies. With her father gone and her lifetime of training wasted, Charmcaster remained in her castle, feeling empty and confused over what she should do next.

She’d soon get her answer when Ben’s old enemy Darkstar traveled to Legerdomain after stealing one of the pages from Gwen’s spellbook. Impressed by his daring to travel there and in love with his looks, Charmcaster let Michael stay with her. Having grown bored of ruling Legerdomain, she quickly developed a crush on him and decided to have fun by sparring with the various monsters. She fell so deeply in love with him that she even told him her real name and gave him a path back to Earth so he could get revenge on his enemies. But after discovering he was still in love with Gwen and didn’t even remember her name, she became furious and exiled him back to Earth, completely drained of his energy.

After watching her father die in front of her and being manipulated by the only man she ever loved, Charmcaster descended into madness, tracking down Addwaitya and transforming him into a totem to use his power for herself. She then left Legerdomain to catch up with Michael, disguising herself as a police officer and using her magic to transform him as well. Hoping to regain her lost power, she tried to steal the Alpha Rune from its current owner, the Ectonurite lord Zs'Skayr, but when he teleported her away, she teamed up with Ben and Rook to finish the job. Upon reclaiming the rune, she stabbed Ben in the back, but was defeated when Rook used a spell from Gwen’s book to send her back to Legerdomain. Furious at this setback, she attempted to crush the totems, but changed her mind when she heard Michael’s new plan.

Learning her uncle Hex had taken up a job as a teacher at Friedkin University, Charmcaster snuck in to regain the Staff of Ages and turned him into a totem to gain access to his library unopposed. However, even with the staff and the unlimited power of her uncle’s base at her disposal, she was still defeated when Gwen stole the Staff of Ages and Hex’s totem (as well as ownership of the library) for herself and teleported Hope back to Legerdomain.

She’d soon get her revenge when Gwen and Kevin traveled to Legerdomain in search of his car. With one of her spells, Charmcaster managed to separate the two and successfully turned Gwen into a totem. With several of the greatest magic users now defeated and under her possession, Charmcaster traveled to Gwen’s library to find the ultimate sorcerer Bezel, and eventually he also became another of her totems. Now declaring herself the strongest sorceress, Charmcaster transformed into a massive dragon and prepared to smite Ben and his friends once and for all, but there was one problem she hadn’t considered: what happened in her bag.

While outside they were left as helpless totems, inside the bag her victims were returned to human form, and with Gwen’s knowledge of magic, she created a magic circle that would trap Charmcaster in her own bag the moment it was touched. This, combined with some magic tricks from Ben, tricked Charmcaster into sealing her own fate, as she found herself in the same helpless position as her newly freed prisoners. Now placed on one of the many shelves in Gwen’s library, Charmcaster was left to futilely swear revenge while Gwen hoped that under these new circumstances they’d finally become friends.

Somehow she managed to escape the bag off screen and participated in “The Most Delicious Game,” with the prize of marrying Ben, but got disqualified after failing a game of capture the flag. After that, she was apparently sent back to the bag.


Personality

Original Series

She’s extremely power hungry, even willing to betray her own uncle in exchange for ultimate power or taunting him about being in charge when he was briefly turned into a toddler.

She could also be somewhat cruel at times, like when she allowed some thieves to be attacked by a pod of lobsters as punishment for getting in the way of her plan to steal the Omnitrix. During the brief time she was in Gwen’s body she admitted she hated being nice and sweet because it made her sick.

Ultimate Alien

While she initially appears unchanged and still has a rivalry with Gwen, the episodes “Where the Magic Happens” and “Enemy of my Enemy” give her a bit more depth, revealing she wanted to go back to Legerdomain to fight against Addwaitya and free her people from his rule. But when she finally did, she went back to being her old, cruel self by actively torturing Addwaitya for his mana and slowly draining all of the souls in Legerdomain. However, in her eyes all of this was justified since she wanted to use it to bring her dad back to life. When she witnessed her father’s horror over her actions and his decision to return to the afterlife, Charmcaster was left in a depressed spiral and unsure what she should do.

When she met Darkstar, she became a bit livelier and more mischievous, at one point showing him the sights of Legerdomain by having him spar with several of its monsters. She was crushing on him so hard she even told him her real name, something she hadn’t done with anyone else. Unfortunately, she soon realized that Darkstar didn’t care about her beyond her fueling his absorption powers, and the aftermath of their breakup left her furious and heartbroken.

Omniverse

Like with the rest of this series, Charmcaster’s personality was altered to fit the more comedic tone, making her a lot more chipper and eccentric. She’s become more over the top when casting spells and willing to make jokes during battle. She’s also gone completely insane and reverted back to her characterization from the original series, willing to do whatever it takes to get more power and gladly stabbing her allies in the back first chance she gets.

When she’s not in battle, she regularly talks to and argues with the totems in her bag, referring to it (more specifically Darkstar) as her boyfriend. But since she’s the only one who can hear her totems, the rest of the cast assumes she’s crazy since (from their perspective) she’s having heated discussions with a small sack. She often gets so wrapped up in her arguments she doesn’t seem to notice the reactions she’s getting, or if she does she ignores them to continue arguing.

Despite previous series having her display enough of a level head to not engage Gwen directly, here she makes that mistake several times thanks to her anger at Gwen being a better sorceress.

Experience

Charmcaster has studied magic all her life (5:54) and dealt with Legerdomain’s rock monsters since she was a kid (8:22). Her experience with magic has regularly caused her to butt heads with Gwen Tennyson, often rivaling her power or being considered an even match. She’s even managed to kill her on two separate occasions (14:11, 17:42)!

Aside from Gwen, Charmcaster’s also defeated Addwaitya (10:24), a master sorcerer who killed other sorcerers and sorceresses, and has taken on Ben and Kevin on several occasions.


Strength




Durability



Scaling

Gwen Tennyson



As mentioned above, Charmcaster has regularly been depicted as Gwen’s rival, easily matching her magical abilities, forcing her to struggle during their battles, and even killing her twice. Thus it would make sense for her to scale.



Ben Tennyson



While not as often as with Gwen, Charmcaster has fought Ben on more than a few occasions, harming several of his aliens and at times forcing him back to normal.


Kevin Levin



Though they only fought once and landed no physical hits on each other, you can still make arguments for Charmcaster scaling to Kevin. She’s harmed him before (13:02) and even one-shot him at her peak (17:31). Her rock monsters- who are fodder compared to her- briefly overpowered Ultimate Kevin (20:09), and she’s fought on Gwen’s level long after Gwen pressured Ultimate Kevin while holding back (17:14).


Hex



Charmcaster’s uncle and mentor. While they haven’t fought often, she did manage to knock him out with one of her bombs in her debut episode (20:09), and her abilities would’ve surpassed his by Ultimate Alien since she defeated and killed Addwaitya, who Hex was forced to flee from and considered it suicide to fight him (2:37). Additionally, she would naturally have access to his abilities thanks to turning him into one of her totems.


Misc Magic Users



From Legerdomain’s ex-tyrant Addwaitya, Gwen’s grandmother Verdona, and the energy absorbing Darkstar, these are characters Charmcaster would naturally compare to thanks to overpowering them herself or her battles with Gwen.


Addwaitya

Darkstar

Verdona


Equipment

Spellbook




A pocket-sized spell book hidden in her right sleeve. While it originally belonged to her, she eventually lost it to Gwen, who kept it for all of the remaining series.

For the spells it contains, see “Misc. Spells” in the Powers section.


Bag of Tricks




A bag containing various magic artifacts that Charmcaster can summon by unzipping it. It’s storage capabilities are surprisingly wide, allowing her to contain objects as large as the Staff of Ages.

In addition, the bag is sentient (13:07) and can respond to her calls. Housed inside it are the following items:

Rock Birds



Eggs hidden in her right sleeve that quickly hatch and defend her from potential attackers (11:14-11:25)

Staff of Ages



Used primarily during Ultimate Alien and briefly in Omniverse. It’s the most powerful focusing talisman in all the 9 realms (2:02) and can only be used by a master magician (0:54-1:09, 20:40). It can fire electricity (16:50) and mana (17:03, 17:09), and Charmcaster can channel her magic through it (12:27)

Seeds



By using magic, they can grow into vines capable of strangling Gwen (8:31)

Razor Flowers



Razor sharp flowers capable of slicing through stone (9:27)

Gemstone



A pink gemstone that can gradually drain a target of their mana and transfer the power directly to Charmcaster. The process is deliberately slow to feel as painful as possible, and if the gem is disturbed in any way, she’ll know who’s responsible (9:22)

Rock Armor




By having her rock monsters and bats surround her they’ll merge around her and become armor (15:48). However, it isn’t all that durable, having been melted by acid, broken apart by having a fish thrown at it, and being completely dispersed by magic dust (18:58-19:28)

Alpha Rune



An artifact as old as time itself through which all magic flows (0:31), the Alpha Rune is considered the “absolute true name of magic“ that grants whoever wields it power over magic itself (5:02-5:22) and control over Legerdomain (9:52)

Charms of Bezel



During the episode “Third Time’s the Charm,” Charmcaster briefly possessed the Charms of Bezel (10:49), six mystical talismans that grant unique abilities or amplify the user’s magic.

The Charms are as follows:
  • Charm of Luck: Grants the user supernaturally good luck, ensuring that everything will go their way as long as it’s possible to happen. Anything they strive to accomplish will have a positive outcome, while their opponents will suffer increased misfortune
  • Charm of Reincarnation: Brings the user back to life, heals physical injuries, and will let them regain consciousness shortly after being knocked out
  • Charm of Fire: Lets its wielder magically generate, shoot, and telekinetically manipulate fire
  • Charm of Telekinesis/Charm of Levitation: Flight and telekinesis that can control multiple objects and people
  • Charm of Electricity: Lets its wielder create, generate, control, and and manipulate all forms of electricity
  • Keystone of Bezel: Increases all of the wielder’s natural powers, abilities, and skills, and amplifies the charms’ power tenfold

Support

Rock Monsters



Charmcaster has multiple ways to summon them whether she’s throwing out seeds, using magic (10:00, 16:49), or creating portals (16:35). They usually attack by smashing things with their fists, though some have been shown firing beams from their eyes.

Scrutins



Winged, one-eyed stone creatures native to Legerdomain. They typically travel in swarms and attack by firing mana (10:08). Charmcaster can create them from the broken remains of her rock monsters, though they’re easily destroyed (5:14)

Witches



Exclusive to the Cartoon Network Action Packs comics, these winged, faceless wretches can fly and fire energy blasts capable of shattering Gwen’s shields. However, their free will has caused them to try and go rogue before.

Powers

Mana Manipulation


In the Ben 10 universe, mana is the source of magic, and all sorcerers and sorceresses can manipulate it. While it’s normally used to cast spells, mana can also be used to attack and defend, as Charmcaster’s shown with the following:


Telekinesis



Certain spells like Declum Beccura and Seduka have been used in succession to telekinetically move, arm, and fire cannons (20:14). Meus Manus Manus has let her pull the Staff of Ages into her grip (3:20)

Levitation/Flight


Self-explanatory.

Pyrokinesis



Fallum Quarca Daminigan


The first spell Charmcaster’s shown using on screen while freeing Hex. It can blow a door off its hinges.


Transfera Identica


By chanting it three times and motioning with her arms, Charmcaster can surround herself in a bubble shield that fires a homing bubble at a target. Anyone caught in it will be dragged toward CC’s bubble to swap minds with her, creating an explosion that knocks both back. However, a third party can accidentally intervene and take the victim’s place (2:52-4:00, 16:16-16:52, 20:26-20:57)

While in another body, Charmcaster can still use her magic (4:13) as long as they have a magic aura (15:54)

Animation


Through different spells, Charmcaster can bring to life inanimate objects and dead beings. She’s used Palatnica Aorensay to bring a dead octopus to life (7:27) and revive lobsters to use for torture (9:27), Bellum Ocurro Mazzura to give sentience to a ladle and some silverware (11:34-11:52), Actum to turn Kevin’s car alive (17:38), Actum Eradico to make an evil Mr. Smoothie (17:50) 

Chain Summoning


While in Charmcaster’s body Gwen was able to spawn chains to try and restrain CC (16:01-16:06)

Inspira Dispara



Mercucius Verditis



Teleportation/Portal Summoning


Charmcaster has shown several methods of transporting herself and others. She can teleport on her own, speak the true name of a place (such as “Htrea” for Earth or “Yawatacsip” for Legerdomain) to summon a large stone door that leads there, or create portals.

She’s used that last one to recall her monsters from a far location (2:23), and they’re able to let her view events happening elsewhere (3:16, 11:41). Omniverse later upgraded her teleportation to let her freely teleport from Legerdomain to Earth (7:54)

Shapeshifting


Altered her appearance to resemble a tennis player (3:48) and disguised herself as Helena Xagliv, complete with perfectly changing her voice (13:04). She can also use this on inorganic matter or her dead rock monsters to create new minions like the scrutins (5:14)

Brainwashing



Power Absorption


Completely drained Gwen of her powers (14:16, 15:19, 17:20) and later tried again using the Staff of Ages, but failed thanks to Gwen getting better at magic (12:27)

Tempastus



Reptilicus



Eradico



Invisibility


By chanting “Velieris mihi. Occultus! Velieris meus amicitia. Occultus!” Charmcaster’s eyes glow white and she dashes around the desired area, creating a dome of mana around herself and others to render them invisible. However, it doesn’t work when she’s moving (10:49)

Amplus Mica



Transformatio Dayesye



Trihant Turba Cum Panis et Circensum



Exies


Creates a sigil that transforms into energy blasts which home in on targets and teleport them to other locations (9:37)

Hatrium Securitatum



Mana/Soul Absorption


Considered the darkest and forbidden form of magic (15:03), Charmcaster can use the power of the Alpha Rune to absorb the mana/souls of living beings. This can even affect Anodites (17:42), who are made of pure mana. With the spell “Exige animas omnibus,” she can instantly remove your soul from your body (18:51)

Totem Transmutation


By touching someone or conjuring a magic circle beneath them (20:56, 13:04, 2:41), Charmcaster can turn them into a helpless totem. The totems can still speak when outside her bag but can’t act on their own and can only be heard by Charmcaster or animals (16:03). Aside from serving as mementos of her past victories, the totems can grant her their powers while held (14:25) or be used as searchlights to locate items she wants (15:19)

Misc. Spells

The following spells are all from Charmcaster’s spellbook and were used when Gwen, Rook, or Darkstar had its pages.
  • Acerbus: Shuts off camera light
  • Amorous Infecta: Makes dogs chase a target and lick them
  • Appendage-A Regoria: Immobilizes a target until they touch something
  • Aquata Risa Spackwata: Jets of water blast out beneath a target and drag them into the air, preventing them from escaping
  • Autem Forcems: Telekinetically moves multiple objects simultaneously
  • Botigs Zaborito Carpis Nebegear Gais Liphan Intruders Utien: After creating a magic circle and chanting this spell, the user fires a beam into a target’s chest, causing their eyes to glow pink as they’re exorcized. This can affect multiple beings simultaneously
  • Camera Oblitera: Creates a bubble of mana around a camera to disable it
  • Camouphlat Vaporis: The user’s hand glows with mana and creates a smokescreen for camouflage
  • Cloudo Doris: Telekinetically moves an object
  • Corona: Summons a mana plate that falls on a target
  • Discombobulus Negatum: Temporarily negates a target’s powers
  • Emocha Objectia: Energy beam
  • Estote quasi integumentum. Imatari proximum: Teleports a target to Legerdomain
  • Facio Gravis: Makes a target too heavy to move
  • Gallius Disruptis: Conjures a strong wind that can send explosives into the air, or creates a mini tornado that can be controlled with hand movements
  • Illuminatus: Creates a ball of mana to illuminate the area
  • Imperium in Menta: Lets another person regain control of their consciousness
  • Incendia Absum: Extinguishes fire
  • Mechanae Discombobulus: Disrupts technology
  • Notgnihsaw Amikay: Enhances magic powder to remove a target’s armor
  • Pardicitus Metalliarka: Captures an enemy by manipulating chains to wrap them up
  • Portallus Projectum: Creates a ball of mana that turns into a portal when it makes contact with a surface
  • Reanima Dynamica: Creates small explosions by transmuting nearby matter
  • Reanima Verdanica: Sprouts flowers
  • Restituo navitas. Vis penetro intus. Vigoratus per vita: Encases a target in a bubble of mana and restores their body to its original state
  • Scribo in Incendia: Makes a pen write a letter on its own. If the user gets distracted, the pen will burst into flames
  • Silicis Miles Suscitatio: Summons rock monsters
  • Sinu Invisibis: Telekinetically pulls rocks from the ground and launches them
  • Spirius Expactorium/Zephyrius Expactorium Perpetua/Venetis Icatis Ixenis: All of these are tornado spells. They can slow people’s falls, suck in other beings, or repel attacks
  • Tabesco Caix: Melts a target and their projectiles
  • Tara Tremmo Eradico: Telekinetically dismantles and throws objects
  • Tardus Motus: Drastically slows a target’s movements
  • Twista Combititus: Depending on the episode, this either enhances the user’s strength by creating a yellow aura around them, or it creates a snake out of nearby metal to protect them
  • Vortress Nebulae: Slows down a nearby object
  • Via Est Porro. Via Est Prolixus. Illic Est Haudcaput Capitis Vel Solum. Planto Oriens Perspicuus. Lux Lucis Via. Ostendo Occultus Ianua: Summons the Door to Anywhere, letting the user travel anywhere they wish, though it's typically used to go between Earth and Legerdomain. As this spell is spoken, it creates a sharp gust of wind that knocks nearby people back


Resistances

Energy Absorption:
According to Gwen, Charmcaster is too powerful for Darkstar’s energy absorption to affect her (15:00)


Extreme Heat:
Could fly across lava (7:09) and get hit by a bubble of it without getting burned (7:19)



Forms

Dragon Form




By chanting the spell “Vaktusa Magnus Stupritrato,” Charmcaster transforms into a giant, talking pink dragon. While in this state, she has enhanced durability, fire breath (17:49), and can attack with her claws (18:16) or tail (19:10)


Feats

  • Is considered the most evil sorceress in two dimensions
  • Successfully double crossed Hex and would’ve taken the Artifacts of Bezel for herself if Ben, Gwen, and Max hadn’t stopped her
  • Unintentionally swapped bodies with Gwen to get closer to the Omnitrix
  • Defeated and later killed Addwaitya
  • Took control of Legerdomain
  • Was the first villain to kill Ben, Gwen, and Kevin
  • Sacrificed the 600,000 souls in Legerdomain to bring her father back to life (at least until he called off the deal)
  • Teamed up with Ben, Rook, and Hobble to retrieve the Alpha Rune
  • Turned Addwaitya, Darkstar, Hex, Gwen, and Bezel into totems
  • Briefly regained the Staff of Ages and seized control of Hex’s library



Weaknesses




Despite being one of the greatest magicians in the universe, Charmcaster has her fair number of weaknesses that even her spells can’t cover. While she’s certainly a powerhouse when it comes to magic, her physical showings are a lot less impressive, with her durability in particular being rather lackluster.

Most of her spells are also hampered by needing to be cast verbally, so if one were to interrupt her or prevent her from speaking altogether, she wouldn’t be able to cast them. Even when she does pull them off, it’s possible for a rival sorcerer to work around them with a counterspell (19:12). And the few spells that don’t require incantations can still be countered by a smart enough opponent, like when Gwen got turned into a totem but still managed to devise a plan to seal Charmcaster in her own bag (14:29, 19:29-20:03)

While she can enhance her power in Legerdomain or by wielding the Alpha Rune, both of these methods are double-edged swords. Being the source of all mana (15:51), Legerdomain naturally strengthens all magic users, meaning her opponent could potentially gain a similar boost (5:02 for the first link, 5:07 for the second). The Alpha Rune has shown similar effects, as it allowed a first time magic user like Rook to send her back to Legerdomain via a portal spell (21:23). She’s even been consistently defeated by getting teleported (19:44) off (20:09, 21:11) the battlefield (20:40), though this is no longer a problem by “Third Time’s the Charm,” where she’s shown teleporting from Legerdomain back to Earth with no problem (7:54)

Even without her magic-related weaknesses, Charmcaster is extremely arrogant, egotistical, and has a short fuse, wanting to prove her superiority and getting easily angered when others defy her. Her summons aren’t safe from this temper either, which has led to her rock monsters (20:01) and witches betraying her after they got sick of being insulted.


Conclusion

It’s been a long time since I watched Ben 10, so revisiting it was a bit of a nostalgia trip for me even though I barely remembered much outside of a few episodes. Charmcaster’s episodes weren’t in that list, but after watching her episodes, I’d say she’s easily one of my favorite villains.

The classic series episodes were better than I expected. I really liked the body swap episode, partially because of how funny it was seeing Ben and Max be completely oblivious to Charmcaster’s extremely poor acting and totally unsuspicious behavior.

”Time Heals” was one of the major highlights from Alien Force. I remembered this episode from when I was a kid, and I was just as invested this time as I was back then. Part of it was because I’ve always loved time travel plots where we get to see an apocalyptic future, and the other reason was that Gwen finally had a moment to shine. I was watching a lot of Alien Force and Ultimate Alien for the Atom Eve vs Gwen blog, and you have no idea how annoying it was going episode by episode for Gwen’s feats, only to find out her anti-feats happened more consistently. I mean, seriously. This episode was one of the few times where Gwen wasn't a jobber whose shields broke from the enemy breathing too hard.

“Hit 'Em Where They Live” was another episode that always stuck out to me, mainly because of the ending. I loved any time the Anodite form came out as a kid, and her threatening Zombozo by going giant just stuck with me for some reason. Revisiting the episode made me realize while it has the same “Gwen has a bunch of lame antifeats” problem, it was also the first instance of Charmcaster having an actually decent durability feat… even if it still knocked her out.

“Where the Magic Happens” was a surprising one. I liked the development it gave Charmcaster after her last appearances wrote her as a relatively flat villain, and the ending made for a great cliffhanger. “Enemy of my Frenemy” lived up to the potential as a sequel. While I was a bit disappointed Charmcaster went back to being evil, I figured it would likely happen eventually, and having her kill off the main trio actually threw me for a loop, especially how she demolished the Anodite form. That final exchange between her and her dad also made for some good character moments, and I was a bit curious where they’d take her from there.

“Couples Retreat” is an episode where I’m honestly struggling to come up with any thoughts. It was good, I liked seeing Darkstar (his debut episode always freaked me out as a kid), and it was fun how Charmcaster was further fleshed out. The way she broke up with Michael and drained him while he kept getting her name wrong made me chuckle, and the ending only got me more interested in seeing how she’d grow.

When I went into Omniverse, I had no idea what to expect. This was my first time watching the series at all, so when I went into “Mystery Incorporeal” and was greeted with a more comedic tone, it was a major curveball. Not that it was bad, this one was a pretty fun homage to Scooby Doo, it’s just that comparing it with Charmaster’s previous appearance was night and day. It didn’t help that she only showed up at the end.

Her first major appearance in “Charmed I'm Sure” was fun. I really liked her redesign and the rock armor, but I wasn’t a fan of her suddenly talking to her bag. That was a bit weird, even if the reveal at the end that it was Addwaitya and Darkstar inside made a bit more sense.

“Charm School” was entertaining. I liked seeing Hex come back as a good guy, even if his design kept giving me Thriller zombie vibes, and it was neat seeing Charmcaster’s totem powers in action. The fight between her and Lucky Girl was cool, though I was a bit thrown off by the Marvel reference with Shield of the Seraphim.

“Third Time’s the Charm” was easily the one I had the most fun watching. All the scenes with her using her magic looked stunning, her dragon form looked awesome, and Tom Kenny’s performance as Bezel was a major highlight. My only real gripe is the buildup to Charmcaster’s defeat felt kinda stupid. While it was a decent call back to Bezel’s card tricks from earlier in the episode, having the main villain get distracted by and focus all her attention on some basic sleight of hand in a serious battle felt contrived.

“The Most Dangerous Game Show” was a good episode with some funny moments, but for being Charmcaster’s final appearance there wasn’t much to talk about. Outside of being in the background in some shots, all she did here was end up one of the first contestants disqualified. She might as well have not even been there at all. It was a really disappointing way to end things off.


Credits


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Red Sonja (Dynamite Volume 1) Respect Thread

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In case you’re wondering The following analysis focuses on the feats and abilities of Red Sonja under her publication in Dynamite Entertainment. While her first solo and Unchained contain several references to her Marvel adventures , feats from those stories will be ignored since they’d take up too much space and there’s already a blog for that version. Also, since Red Sonja continually reincarnates in her first run, each iteration will be given her own section categorized by either an in-universe name/title or general description. Spin-offs, one-shots, and crossovers will be placed under whichever Sonja was published at the time unless there’s evidence pointing to a different incarnation (e.g, if an incarnation in the mainline comics is not from Hyrkania or worshiping Scathach but a crossover or one-shot from around that time shows otherwise) Background Red Sonja Aliases: The Red Sonja, She-Devil with a Sword, Sonja the Flame Hair, The Red Devil, The Red Storm, The Red Rain, The Chos...
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Red Sonja (Marvel): Ultimate Respect Thread

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Background Red Sonja Aliases: Sonja of Hyrkania, The Grim-Eyed Goddess from the East, The She-Devil of the Hyrkanian Steppes, The She-Devil With A Sword, The Goddess of War, The Pale Destroyer, Sonja of the Flaming Hair, Mary Jane Watson (while possessing her) Nicknames: Son-Ya, Red-Hair, Flame Hair, Scarlet-Locks, Red-Top, Bloodhair, Devil-Beauty, Bloody Bitch, Fire-Top, Firehair, Red, Fire-Mane, MJ Height: 5’11 Weight: 130 lbs Occupation: Warrior, mercenary, soldier, bounty hunter, captain of Ghaniff’s army (formerly), general of Suumaro’s army (briefly), bodyguard (for the right price), thief First appearance: Conan the Barbarian #23 (November, 1972) Likes: Ale, Conan, horses (especially unicorns), contests, dancing, sausages, gold, diamonds, being called “milady,” Spider-Man Dislikes: Rapists, prostitutes, robbers, beheadings, torture, human sacrifices, slavery, owing favors, being called “mother” or “harlot,” Valeria, Kulan Gath Backstory “Know also, O prince, that in those selfsa...
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