Invincible is a show with very few creative slip-ups as is, but one of the show’s foremost pillars is the way it approaches worldbuilding and subsequently brings its source material to life on the small screen.
And the greatest catalyst for such a task is the wealth of characters that fascinate both with their grounded humanity, and with their flashier comic book nuances like backstories and powersets. The acclimation of several of these characters to the new Guardians of the Globe is one of the most fantastic examples of this.
Within this particular group of characters is Monster Girl, who, among all her curious traits, is a prime example of the fact that, when it comes to magic systems in any capacity whatsoever, weaknesses and limitations are always more interesting than the powers themselves.
Who is Monster Girl?
Monster Girl is the superhero alias of a girl known as Amanda, who had a curse placed on her as a young woman that caused her to transform into a powerful orc-like creature. She learned to control her transformations with time, but still bears the unfortunate burden of aging in reverse whenever she does transform, causing Amanda—who, chronologically speaking, is 24 years old—to have the appearance of a 12-year-old girl.
This, of course, has left her feeling incredibly isolated, but she eventually begins to find solace in the company of Robot, who’s spent most all of his life with a body trapped inside a pod while he remotely controls his drones; in other words, he knows a thing or two about isolation, as well.
Their relationship remains one of the sweetest aspects of Invincible (which isn’t exactly known for its levity), with Robot eventually adopting a new human body—specifically, a clone of their Guardians teammate Rex Splode as a young a boy—to further connect with Amanda, who in turn walks him through how to navigate the world in the face of intense human emotion and sensation rather than hard and fast datasets.
(featured image: Prime Video)
