Chapter 1: Here Comes Cupid / The Shoe Must Go On

For those not in the know; Charlico Agathorne (Yes, that was her given name but they never used it in either canon) Cupid was supposed to be bridging gap between Monster High and Ever After High.

Problem was, she wasn't quite an established character in the MH-verse. She debuted in Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love, got one doll that would go on to be ridiculously expensive, was maybe in two Monster High webisodes (I clearly remember one with her, Frankie, and Abbey and a school project about the weather, seriously, is this high school or not), and pushed to a brand that most parents thought was a knock-off of MH anyway.

I know there was build up to a legitimate crossover movie - you can find storyboards on youtube - but there really should have been some establishing special, with clear, established characters visiting EAH and then leaving Cupid over there. The teaser website (I distinctly remember 'Village of Book End' being one domain that lead to the site; They seem to have been taken down in every capacity) was beautiful and atmospheric, and involved Frankie, Clawdeen, and Draculaura expressing good wishes to Cupid in her new adventure.

Cupid was never a character I cared too deeply about, though I did like both outfits she wore.

She walks through the portal and immediately starts helping people with their relationship issues, like helping a young man give flowers to a girl, because he rolled up with nothing and expected her to be impressed somehow.

Ashlynn is sitting coquettishly by Hunter while he plays a video game and frowns when he doesn't pay her any attention, until Cupid hits him with a spell.

A sad troll sitting under a bridge looks up and smiles when Cupid introduces him to a troll with tertiary sexual characteristics of eyelashes and full lips.

Cupid finds a frog in a drinking fountain (Ew.) and kisses him, thinking that's what he wants. Which it kind of his, but not from her. Still, he turns back into his human form.

Personally, I thought "I think they should call you cute-pid." was a good pun.

This is Hopper Croakington the II, son of the Frog Prince, which is actually a fairly interesting idea. You'll soon see that the boys in this franchise are less than up to snuff, and out of the five that get characterization, speaking lines, and a bit of attention, Hopper gets the short end of the stick by a long shot. His idea and concept was my favorite of them, so it's kind of a bummer.

He gets nervous when he talks to his crush, Briar.

Cupid takes out a Mirrorpad and hits record, telling the boy to just talk about his feelings.

Later, Hopper is on a balcony, and Briar is surprised that he was her secret admirer.


In what is probably a great lesson to children everywhere - I mean that - Briar lists all the ways that he messed up on impressing her, and truth is, she doesn't like him that way.

But Cupid is hiding below the balcony with the recording Hopper made in his frog-state...with a different voice. So how Briar even thought any part of this was legitimate is beyond me.

Cupid gets distracted by Dexter - get ready kids, a love triangle is coming up! - and falls. Once again, Briar doesn't seem to react to any of this, just expressing more exasperation as Hopper panics and turns into a frog again.

This is a children's show, so Cupid walks away with no injuries after Dexter catches her.

The Enchantimals are Watching

Besides introducing an element no one wanted, there's not much to say here. It introduces Cupid and Hopper, establishes some people's feelings, and we all walk away a little worse off than when we got here.

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The Shoe Must Go On

You may have missed it as it wasn't advertised so much until now, but Ashlynn and Hunter are in a secret relationship. 

Guess what his nickname for her is. Go on. Guess.

Because the delivery geese in the introduction webisode are apparently on strike, Hunter delivers the shoes to Ashlynn's job.

Yes, the princess has a job. Even though she knows she will rule some happy nature kingdom one day, her mother wanted her to know about hard work. On the plus side, it is at a shoe store. This is not the first princess who will have a non-royal job in this series, but the next one is more unorthodox.

Ashlynn quickly pushes Hunter out of the store as she thanks him - no one can know about them, as he is not her intended prince, and Blondie and Briar are coming to help her set up displays for the oncoming sale in an hours' time. 

Ashlynn just...runs this entire store? By herself? That's impressive. Hunter says they can get some coffee together later, which is odd if they can't be seen. Whatever.

Blondie comes in and starts micromanaging and Briar is asleep. You'll see quite quickly that most writers had no idea what to do with Briar for the longest time, and thought pushing her to sleep was the best option.

Hunter is just waiting outside when a nut hits him, thrown by yet another character we will never see again Pesky the Squirrel. 

It's just some rodent antagonist. 

Meanwhile, Blondie is still talking and Briar is still sleeping (Did they try using music to wake her up again?) and shoes aren't on the shelves because even Ashlynn hasn't been doing anything, I guess. There's a crowd forming outside of the store...

jaws_theme.mp4

Pesky antagonizes Hunter some more and pushes the plot forward by running into the shoe store, where Hunter follows him and all the shoes end up on the shelves because the writers were just as tired of writing this as I am of watching it.

The store opens to no ill effects, and Ashlynn tries to thank Hunter with a kiss except ...

"PESKY!"

Ashlynn and Hunter seem like the most genuine characters in the show so far, but this was quite a convoluted episode to officially announce them in. I like the fact that Apple wasn't involved - even though the webisodes wouldn't have you believe it yet, this coupling passes over the royal/rebel divide.