December 2017 - January 2018

Since we're almost done with recapping Ever After High, let me tell you what I plan to do in the future;

• December 11th is Golden Globes Nomination Day. I'll talk about that.
• I have a very long "2017 in Film" review post in progress.
• I am taking a very important test at the end of January, so expect maybe scattered updates for a while.
• I am...considering doing the same kind of watchthrough for Monster High. Thing is, it will probably be a lot more condensed into storylines, as the episodes are much shorter and easier to parse. 
• The available movies can also be included in this. 

Chapter 4: Moonlight Mystery / Wish List

This "season" only has nine episodes. The new characters get two token traits at most and are tossed aside.

Tired of having to tap her toes on the sideline of her favorite class, Justine Dancer and her friends 'til THE END set out to solve the mystery of her disappearing dancing shoes!

This is Justine Dancer, Daughter of the Twelfth Princess, and shock of shocks, I think this is the only time we even see this girl in the visual media. She has a prominent role in Fairy's Got Talent, though She doesn't know what her destiny is to be, says the narrators. Wouldn't it be...to be part of the new set of The Twelve Dancing Princesses? 

& yes, the return of introductory title cards. The only people who didn't get them were Holly, Poppy, Blondie, Alistair, Bunny, and Faybelle. Consistency? What the hell is that?

Chapter 3: Tri-Castle-On and Ch. 3 Review

If you're asking "Well, where's Way Too Wonderland? And Courtley Jester?" Well, good question.

I skipped them.

WTW has zero lasting impact on the series.

Apple tells Raven that being evil "Isn't in her destiny", but because Apple considers her wants and needs above everyone else, that quickly changes back to the status quo too.

So why bother? I'll give you an image of Webisode Courtley and be done with it, because I do think she has a super cool design;

I had forgotten about her until I started this again. This design is all sorts of kickass. Courtley comes to Ever After High and isn't even delegated to backgrounder status. You just never see her again.

Doll wise, she was the beginning of a very odd trend, where Mattel would stick a large, golden sticker that said SPECIAL EDITION DOLL on dolls that were inaccurate and underwhelming just because they were special one-shots.

Last episode of Season 3, Onward.

Chapter 3: Croquet - Tastrophe / Save Me, Darling! / Rosabella's Animal Rescue

I skipped the Bunny and Alistair episode because I don't care, you don't care, and if you do you can always go watch it yourself.

With Raven and Apple at a total standstill, it’s up to Lizzie to help determine who will be the next yearbook editor… Wonderland style!

You may have noticed Hunter's new outfit in the previous (well, our previous) episode - he, Lizzie, and Cerise were in a three pack that nearly no one got, exclusive to Target - Tri-Castle-on. And that about sums it up, moving on to the episode!

The Incredibles 2 Teaser Trailer

I mean, we've waited for how many years at this point? What else is there to say besides YEAH!

Star So Far; Star Vs. The Forces of Evil Season 3A

Two weeks in November, started the first Monday and ended ... the Thursday before Justice League. I'm not good with dates.

This honestly kills me every fucking time.

Star vs. The Forces of Evil is my favorite currently airing cartoon. I was born too late to be in the hey day of the magical girl genre - seriously, Sailor Moon began airing 9 months before I was born - but it's always something I thought was neat.

I wrote most of this before the season concluded, so there's going to be some edits.

Chapter 3: Fairest on Ice / Heart Struck

Poppy and Duchess find themselves in the most hexciting skating event to forever after grace the pages of an Ever After High yearbook. 

They're really digging the timeskip here - last episode, it was fall, and now welcome to winter. I'm going to resist the urge to point out every time my backgrounders show up. No promises.

They're at a snow lodge conveniently located like ten miles away from the school.

Ashlynn is spinning and dancing on the ice - this was actually a line of dolls. Ashlynn - who was pretty beautiful, Poppy - who was okay, and Duchess - who was outstanding.

They were unofficially Walmart exclusives, and had very poor distribution at that.

Chapter 3: The Legacy Orchard / Sugar Coated

The Ever After High students uncover a magical orchard destined to help them share their stories with future fairytales.

The story starts out with Cerise being better than the boys yet again.

git gud

It's the beginning of the school year, according to the narrators. So I guess everyone's in their third year now, as the books call the first year the Freedom Year, when you can take whatever classes you like, and the second one the Legacy Year. So maybe this is Destiny Year or something.

The titular orchard is cleverly shaped like a book;

And this is where....the yearbooks are kept. I'm glad it's not as old-school as dusty books in the library, but I'd be more impressed if I could see how my parent lived out their story instead of old photos.

There's a graphic novel that kind of harkens back to this; The Class of Classics. The designs of the characters were pretty cool, but the art didn't fit.

The books float down from the trees - each tree is the yearbook of a different class.

So there should be around 250 trees, as it's actually stated somewhere that the Brothers Grimm established the school back then. So how did the fairytale families happen before then? Were there perhaps stories that died out because the descendant didn't keep safe and got dysentery or something?

The yearbooks look more like a newspaper than anything.

So Spring Unsprung happens sometime between Thronecoming and right now, because that's where you're introduced to these two; Alistair .... Alistair .... um, I think Wonderland - and Bunny Blanc.

Bunny looks like she has a seriously bad case of sunburn, and they're boring. Oddly, there's another character who is way too damn pink that shows up.

I didn't realize that we saw, well, more of Tiny in this one. Cool.

Soon, the field trip is over, and Giles asks if everyone had fun; which they did.

Bonus preview of Rosabella Beauty. She's not introduced in a special, but she does get a greater bit in the limelight with Epic Winter.

Oh, Corrine is back! Where is Ophelia? Or Roland and Avalon? 

Why am I more concerned about the backgrounders than named characters?

Milton says that at the end of the year, this class will plant an E-Corn to grow into their own yearbook. First, that is a madly clever play on words.  He asks for volunteers to get pictures of the student's activities, and Raven and Apple volunteer.

I forgot about this particular collection of webisodes. It's less a storyline and more less subtle ways of advertising various lines, including Sugar Coated, Fairest on Ice, and School Spirit. They're not awful though.

It doesn't set up or establish anything besides that - kids read books that we see the inside of once, and it's not even anything interesting. A line could have been dropped like  "Whoa, The Class of 1834 was nearly wiped out by the Plague!" or something.

Briar's like "It's not like i'm your best friend or anything, bitch."

And once again.....Faybelle is left out.

Sugar Coated

Raven sends Maddie’s cooking class into total chaos after her spell to save the bake sale goes awry.

Slightly unrelated; One of the comments says "Perfectly Imperfect? A MONSTER HIGH REFERENCE!"

That refers to MH's second theme song, Madison Beer's We Are Monster High. Which wasn't bad. Whenever I remember it exists, it becomes an earworm. But sorry, sis, it has nothing on the Fright Song.

It's time for the bake sale!

I'm going to imagine that Avalon was talking to her friend, Mr. Spectacles here, and let him cut in line. Also, Corrine is here to see if Ginger made Goose-shaped gingerbread cookies.

 I've always liked that pale grey dress girl too. She looks like something moon related...hey, the Malagasy word for moon is volana. How about Vol Lunita? With Vol being a title from her native lands.

The treats are very popular, and a crowd rushes Maddie.

Ophelia is here too! The gang's all here!

They're running out of gingerbread houses at an alarming rate. Frankly, I'd buy one and share it with my friends. Bonus; I really like the darker coloring on Maddie.

Also .... They have mostly modern day technology but toss coins around like it's the fantasy 1500s. Do they have like, Mirrorpay? Cryptocurrency? Paypal? 

Ginger is baking with Cedar and Holly, both people with the capability to be highly flammable.

Oh, there's Apple and Raven, arguing between perfect shots for the yearbook and imperfect but real shots.

These are some of the better later outfits in the series.

There's only one gingerbread house left - but Raven offers to do a duplication spell - which rightfully terrifies Apple.

For once, she's right.

But Raven does so anyway, with everyone else hiding behind an oven except Ginger. The curse goes awry and the gingerbread people come to life and go rogue.

No tertiary sexual characteristics....mostly.

Ginger steps in with "We cannot have disorder in the kitchen! If you are here, you are here to help!" and everyone straightens out and helps. To be fair, they were there to be made and eaten. Are they still going to be eaten? 

Everything goes well....except Raven and Apple are still going to quibble about pictures.

Chapter 3: Bog Bash / Faybelle's Choice

This pair is the last of the Through the Woods storyline. What a bummer, I've had fun!

A grumpy forest troll threatens the girls’ ever after, but Poppy’s makeover skills just may save them. 

I think this is the first time in the series "A makeover!!!!!!" solves the problem. 

Blondie trips over an Imp disguised as a stump, who promises to take them to a party....but she's in leagues with Faybelle.

I felt like you needed to see that.

Chapter 3: Date Night / Driving Me Cuckoo

Raven and Dexter overcome their wicked nerves to enjoy an enchanting first date at multi-hex theater.

Date night....in the forest.

Not really, but the Woods Girls have set up camp in Purgatory Woods, and Ashlynn encourages everyone to think of something more pleasant. "Boys!" says Blondie, which is what Cupid was trying to avoid.

Ashlynn tries to be nice, and say that maybe the date won't go well....

Chapter 3: Just Sweet / Through the Woods / Baking and Entering

Before heading to the multi-hex for their first date, Raven seeks advice from Blondie on how to calm her pre-first-date jitters.

I never understood why people who are friends would be nervous to hang out with each other as a date. Isn't that how romance starts, as friends?

Then again, humans are stupid and not logical.

Why are you booing me? I'm right!

The Lion King (2019) Finalized Cast

#TheLionKing. 2019. 🦁👑

A post shared by Disney (@disney) on Nov 1, 2017 at 3:32pm PDT

So...alright!

Chapter 3: An Hexclusive Invitation / Chosen With Care

Finally, the best segment of webisodes in the series. I wrote about Faybelle a while back, so I'll skip the introduction.

When Ashlynn receives a spellbinding invitation to the Blue Moon Forest Fest, Ever After High’s newest villain, Faybelle Thorn, starts to brew up trouble.

I was going to complain about "newest villain", because it's a little odd with the time line, but with more thought to it, they might be right.

Faybelle is the daughter of the Dark Fairy in Sleeping Beauty - for all you Disney kids, that's Maleficent. 

She's clearly not intended to be a magically immortal being here, although fairies are said to live long lives. In all honesty, both girls should not be at school at the same time - Sleeping Beauty goes to sleep for a hundred years at around sixteen. Briar is maybe fourteen in this show, as are most of the girls, but Beauty gets cursed as an infant. Unless they put both kids in a cage like some illegal wrestling until a wee Faybelle cursed a baby Briar, Faybelle is supposed to be an adult when she curses an infant Briar.

If Briar wakes up later and goes back to school to continue her education, she might still be at school with a Dark Fairy, but it wouldn't be the one who cursed her. Obviously this could be modified in the world of Ever After - after all, the Thorn family has a hard time getting invitations delivered, who says Faybelle can't interrupt Briar's sweet sixteen and curse her then.

To be absolutely fair, nothing says that Faybelle was the one to curse Briar. Her mother very well could have done so, and Faybelle will just have to wait another hundred years and nine months to curse Briar's child.

Whatever, onto the webisode!