The first time I saw the trailer for Women Wearing Shoulder Pads, I exhaled through my nose—not quite a laugh, not quite a sigh. Just the sound of a man who's seen enough to know when something is either brilliantly unhinged or a disaster in the making. This? It's both. And that's precisely why it belongs on Adult Swim.
Stop-motion animation has always been a labor of love, a medium where every frame is a small act of defiance against the tyranny of efficiency. Women Wearing Shoulder Pads—created by Gonzalo Cordova, a writer from Tuca & Bertie—doubles down on that defiance. The series follows Marioneta, a wealthy Spanish woman in 1980s Quito, Ecuador, who decides to breed guinea pigs (or cuyes, as they're known locally) for profit. Naturally, things spiral into obsession, paranoia, and what appears to be a stalker subplot. Because of course they do.
The trailer is a fever dream of exaggerated shoulder pads (naturally), lurid colors, and the kind of deadpan absurdity that suggests either a deep satire or a creator who stopped questioning his instincts years ago. I'm inclined to think it's the former. Cordova's background—Ecuadorian, raised in the U.S., formerly writing for the delightfully off-kilter Tuca & Bertie—hints at a mind attuned to the weirdness of cultural dislocation. The fact that this is Williams Street's first Spanish-language original only adds to its intrigue.
What's refreshing is that the series doesn't seem to be straining for relevance. There's no ideological grandstanding, no clumsy metaphors—just a story about ambition, guinea pigs, and whatever the hell is going on with that stalker. The all-woman cast (voiced by Pepa Pallarès, Gabriela Cartol, and others) leans into the era's aesthetic without winking at the audience. It's committed. And in an age where so much animation feels focus-grouped into oblivion, commitment is a rare commodity.
Will it work? That depends on your tolerance for the surreal. But at the very least, it's different—a quality that's become dangerously scarce in animation. Women Wearing Shoulder Pads premieres August 17th at midnight on Adult Swim. I'll be watching. If only to see if the guinea pigs get the last laugh.
