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Monday, October 16, 2017

Chapter 2: Maddie's Hat-Tastic Party / Lizzie Hearts' First Fairytale Date

Surprisingly an episode pair where I like the Maddie one and hate the Lizzie one.



When Wonderland Grove needs a boost of wonder, Madeline Hatter decides to throws a tea-riffic tea party to recharge this magical spot.


Hat-Tastic Tea Party where only a few dolls got dresses - Apple, Briar, Cerise, and Cedar got standalone dolls, and Maddie got a playset.




It's a shame only one Wonderlander got an outfit; Kitty and Lizzie look really nice;


In this webisode, Wonderland Grove is sad :( It's the only link to Wonderland and is the source of all the madness to Wonderland. It's probably in the world of Ever After after the portals to WL got closed, and why a handful of the students, including the crown princess, evacuated.

And if the grove isn't restored, Ever After could lose it's magic too!


Maddie throws a goofy party to reinstate the Wonder, and outright says "New outfits for everyone!"

They dance silly, but it's still not enough to help, so Maddie asks for Cerise's help, as she's been sitting on the sidelines.



"I'm not so good at...letting loose," She says, in a very Isn't my being here enough? kind of way, which, same.

Raven convinces her to do one, fairly dangerous thing...


So.....Cerise shows her ears!


Her doll still has her normal, semi humanoid ears.

And everyone thinks that she simply went the hextra mile to help the Wonderland Grove. And, wouldn't you know, that's enough to restore it!



"Get the Hat-Tastic Doll and Party Display!" said no one ever.

It feels like the animation is more fluid here, especially when it comes to Maddie's dancing and movements. It's really nice.

This is one of the rare webisode sets that actually had dolls involved. You realized that quite a few of the dolls that came out for this line were completely independent of what was shown in the media?

We never saw Mirror Beach in the webisodes. We never saw SDCC Cerise or Cedar (Raven actually does show up in Dragon Games in that outfit).

We never saw Royally Ever After or Book Party or Carnival Date or Birthday Ball or Powerful Princess Club or Archery Club or Ballet or Tea Party. The stuff that involved school activities beyond their basic outfits, you hardly saw in the visual medium!



Lizzie Hearts' First Fairytale Date



Daring Charming is challenged to go a date with Lizzie Hearts...and ends up being unhexpectedly charmed by her!

Oh boy.

In the books, Daring ends up cheating on Lizzie with Duchess and keeps trying to get her back, but Lizzie tells him off each time. That's my girl.

Eventually he gets attached to - well, you'll see.

Sparrow, Daring, and Hopper are sitting in Hocus Lattes, daring (hur hur) each other to do things.


"I bet you can't get a date with the next girl to walk through the doors!" Sparrow says.

Well, #ChallengeAccepted, and the loser has to wash the Grimmnastics Uniforms! Also, Hopper's voice changed and it sounds amazingly awful. Good thing this is probably the last we see of him ever!

Who comes in except, well, the title of the webisode.



Daring tries to buy her - presumably a latte, regular coffee doesn't really get fancy sugary additions - but Lizzie, understandably, doesn't like people jumping in and making decisions for her, and walks away angrily.

Then Daring tries to offer her flowers;


And Lizzie cuts them off, much like she cut the flower Dexter had in True Hearts Day. Callbacks!



I want the penthouse I eventually live in to look like how Ever After High looks. Also; Bonus people who never hang out with each other hanging out with each other.

Lizzie is in the Castleteria, minding her business and eating spaghetti (What do you think they call it in this world?) when Daring shows up with a picture he probably drew in about two minutes, so the quality is remarkably good.



Expression however, is not.

And she walks away, her alone time thwarted yet again by an irritating blond.

Her expressions in this episode are great. 

Finally, on the grounds, he simply calls out her name instead of jumping in her face like a pest, and she just goes "....What?"

"I thought you might enjoy a tour of the castle....on dragonback! Whaaaaaat!"


 Let's ignore the fact that she didn't realize she stepped onto a dragon. They go on a pretty impressive flight for the one scene we see of it, and Lizzie is slightly impressed.

The dragon is basically Nevermore in appearance only.

"I would go out with you -" - What - "But I've never been on a date before."

"All those things that we did today? That...pretty much was a date."

You bothered her you idiot. 
You walked up to her and started talking at Lizzie, not with her, and making decisions for her and generally being a pest.

But she did enjoy the dragon ride! So that counts for something. She thanks him for that, at least, and kisses him.

So, in short, Daring keeps bothering a girl who isn't interested in him, all because of a dare, pulls her onto a dragon where she lets her guard down after being harassed all day.

 What a nice message for the kids.

She says she's never been on a date, and wishes to keep her reputation as loud, brash, and stay away from me intact, so she asks him to keep it a secret that she enjoyed their time together, and he does so, 'losing' the bet.

Interestingly, the older crowd of people in this fandom, I'm talking married women and people in their 30-40s - most of them found nothing wrong with this and thought it was charming.  While younger people saw it for what it was - being a nuisance and thinking you're entitled to a woman's attention or affections, and not even legitimately wanting to be part of her life or improve it in some way at that.

Guess older people are used to being treated like crap? That's why they say 'millennials' are too soft?

I kind of see the angle they were going for; If this was with any other character, it wouldn't have worked as well as it did, and it still didn't quite work. Many people are put off by Lizzie's harsh reputation and don't bother trying to get to know her or break down the barriers...and this was not really the best way to do that. Her diary is much better at it. She's a girl who misses her home and the way things worked over there is completely different.

Fun fact, she'll want to shed this harsher image in a few webisodes.

Better than you.

The fact that apparently the kids do their own laundry is kind of impressive too.



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