THE WHIRLWIND PRINCESS
Spinnerella
Spinnerella turns fast enough to become a whirlwind, and in her one Filmation episode the Horde wants that wind aimed at the Whispering Woods.
Spinnerella is a She-Ra character who can spin herself into a powerful whirlwind. In the Filmation episode "When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed" (1986), Hordak turns her whirlwind on the Whispering Woods with a lie, and she joins the Great Rebellion once the truth comes out.
The record
The facts
WHO SHE IS
A dancer who can flatten a forest
Spinning is an odd power to build a princess around, and Mattel built the toy around it first: the 1986 Princess of Power Spinnerella came with a spinning platform, cape-skirts and a crown that her cartoon model never wore.[1]
The Filmation series gave the spin some real weight. When Spinnerella turns fast enough she becomes a purple and blue whirlwind, strong enough to bend trees flat, and the episode shows it early, in front of a thatched hut in Thamor Village, where she and Netossa have come on holiday. Word of it reaches the Fright Zone.
[1] ^ Action Figure Barbecue's review of the 2014 Classics figure notes that the vintage toy wore a crown while the Filmation model did not, and that the vintage figure came with a spinning platform.
THE SIGNATURE EPISODE
When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed
Frank Becker wrote "When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed," and he tells it as a memory: Spinnerella and Netossa, a year into their time with the Great Rebellion, recall how they came to join it. Catra, Mantenna and Grizzlor have just lost another fight to She-Ra and Bow, and Hordak wants a way past the magic trees that keep his army out of the Whispering Woods. Shadow Weaver has one. "There is a young girl named Spinnerella in Thamor Village," she tells him.[2]
Netossa is caught in a force field and locked in a Fright Zone dungeon, and Shadow Weaver, disguised as a villager, leads Spinnerella to Hordak, who tells her the rebels took her friend. He offers to get Netossa back if Spinnerella will spin the trees aside, and she does, while Madame Razz rides the gale on her broom to warn Adora and Bow.
The best scene is the standoff at the edge of the woods. Spinnerella stands in front of her own whirlwind and calls, "Release Netossa, or my whirlwind will blow down the woods," and the rebels answer, truthfully, that they hold no prisoners, but she has no reason to believe them; everything she knows came from the Horde. She-Ra settles it: told by Light Hope who Netossa is, she frees her and flies her to the woods, and once Netossa tells her friend she was tricked, Spinnerella turns the wind on Hordak's troops and then spins the opposite way to stand the trees back up.
[2] ^ "When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed" is the thirteenth episode of the second season and first aired on December 6, 1986.
Spinnerella in the pink forest, with She-Ra and Netossa riding in.
Clipped from our own copy of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed (She-Ra: Princess of Power, 1986), 19:10 to 21:06, 1 minute 56 seconds. Nothing is added and nothing is sped up. Copyright Mattel.
LATER SERIES
Spinnerella in the Netflix reboot
The Netflix reboot is extra material on this site. It gave Spinnerella more to do. DreamWorks' She-Ra and the Princesses of Power brought her back in 2018, and from its first season she and Netossa are a couple, as Den of Geek noted in its piece on the show. Bustle's 2018 cast report, citing the New York Times, says the series' creator, ND Stevenson, then credited as Noelle Stevenson, voiced her.
She arrived too late for The Secret of the Sword, the 1985 film that introduced She-Ra. The Dolph Lundgren movie leaves her out, and she is not in the 2026 film.
IN PLASTIC
The figures
Mattel's 1986 original sold in the Princess of Power line. Masters of the Universe Classics returned to her in 2014 with a deluxe figure carrying a removable ponytail, a crown hairpiece, a spear and a shield. Both are retired, and neither is sold new at BigBadToyStore today.
IN BRIEF
Spinnerella, from 1986 to Netflix
Mattel's Princess of Power Spinnerella
Her first figure, in the Princess of Power line. Long retired.
"When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed" airs
Her whirlwind flattens the Whispering Woods, until the truth comes out.
Masters of the Universe Classics Spinnerella
A deluxe figure that closed Mattel's 2014 Princess of Power run. Long retired.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Netflix's reboot brings her back in its first season as Netossa's partner.
Questions
Spinnerella questions, answered
Who is Spinnerella?
A dancer from the Filmation She-Ra series whose spin turns into a whirlwind, and a member of the Great Rebellion by the end of her episode.
What is Spinnerella's power?
Spinning. When she turns fast enough she becomes a whirlwind strong enough to bend trees flat.
Which Filmation episode is Spinnerella in?
"When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed," first aired on December 6, 1986.
How does Hordak trick Spinnerella?
He has Netossa locked in a Fright Zone dungeon, tells Spinnerella the rebels took her, then offers to bring Netossa back if she blows the trees aside.
Who is Netossa to Spinnerella?
Her friend and traveling companion in the Filmation series. Netflix's 2018 reboot makes them a couple from its first season.
Who voices Spinnerella?
The Filmation episode credits do not name her voice. In She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Bustle reported in 2018, citing the New York Times, that the series' creator, ND Stevenson, then credited as Noelle Stevenson, voiced her.
Is Spinnerella in The Secret of the Sword?
No. The 1985 film came out before her episode, and she is not in it.
Who wrote When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed?
Frank Becker, who wrote her only Filmation episode.
Is there a Spinnerella figure to buy right now?
No. The 1986 Princess of Power figure and the 2014 Masters of the Universe Classics figure are both retired, and neither is on sale new at BigBadToyStore.
Does Spinnerella join the Great Rebellion?
Yes. The episode is told as a memory at a celebration of her and Netossa's first year with the rebels.
Compiled by the heman.org desk from the She-Ra: Princess of Power episode "When Whispering Woods Last Bloomed" and its episode guide, Wikipedia's She-Ra episode list for the air date and writer, Action Figure Barbecue's review of the Classics figure, Bustle's 2018 report on the Netflix cast, and Den of Geek on the reboot's Spinnerella and Netossa.
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