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Many of you may wonder why LoliRock probably will not have a Season 3 because of the low audience of the 2 Seasons that introduce the story that the creators want to tell us. In this article I'm going to collect all the errors that I've been able to detect made by the team behind LoliRock.
The biggest and most important flaw is the script structure. The way Madellaine Paxson, as the main writer, and the secondary writers have told the story is too childish, drab, boring, and not fluent, as well as lacking action.
To be honest, LoliRock has good episodes that can be improved a lot, but compared to the rest they are good. Unfortunately they are few.
An episode of a series of the Mahō Shōjo genre is usually divided into 4 parts: Basic course (It's the time when generally normal events take place. In the case of LoliRock it would be going to the Smoothie Bar, talking about their new concerts...). Romantic moment (Here all the love themes unfold), Mission development (When the LoliRock girls help the person who needs them because they have a problem), and Battle Time.
Many other series mix and match these requirements while LoliRock divides them in addition to not adding the all-important action.
What happens is that there are about 12 minutes of "Basic Course", 1 or 2 for the Romantic Moments, and at the end we have between 5 and 7 minutes of Battle. And all this is counted on with very little action and in a very sharp way.
If they combined it and added action, everything would go much better, because LoliRock is a series from which you can take a lot of advantage. For example, in the "Basic Course" I would introduce teenage themes, which is what the children want to see. Like a day of shopping at the City Mall. It may be boring, but what if we add that Lyna wants to buy the same jacket as another girl, and there is only one copy that is found in another store in the same mall? And if we add action causing a race against the clock between both groups and we add that both girls, while running, try to hinder the other group by knocking over tables, boxes of clothes, or even stop the escalator to prevent the other from reaching the store earlier to get the dress ... And if on top, we add scene changes mixing this action with the villain scene thinking about his next attack or even acting now. Then we would get an A+ episode!
Regarding the "Love Moment" part, they have been missing several things. For starters, LoliRock lacks a little more integrity from the LGTB+ collective and listen to the fandom shipps. For example, the fandom asked a lot for the ship "Talisto" (Talia and Mephisto) to become canon in the series. If the writers added in the battles moments in which Talia and Mephisto are fighting and he tells Talia a joke, that greatly increases the hype of the fans of the series that just as watched the episode, they run to social networks like Twitter and Facebook in which they bombard with posts about the ship (This is Miraculous Ladybug's case) and, consequently, they make the series known to other people who did not know it yet. It's not necessary to make canon if the creators don't want, but if they play with that ship it would be very favorable.
Then you have to include loving moments in ALL the episodes constantly playing with it. For example, what NEVER FAILS are love squares or triangles: Sailor Moon used the love square and Miraculous uses it too. This is what hooks kids up and they enjoy watching each episode, because the creators constantly play around with love squares and in battles there's action and seriousness with hints of comedy given by Chat Noir in Miraculous, and Usagi in Sailor Moon.
LoliRock can also turn to the love triangle by re-introducing Lev or another boy Iris falls for in Season 3. There must be 2 boys, one to play in the Basic Course (Nathaniel), and one to play in the Battle Moments (Lev, or other). Unless the creators decide to give Nathaniel magical powers, and play with the love square and the secret identities.
And if they introduce LGTB+ characters on top, even better. Because today's parents don't want their children to grow up watching a series that only encourages heterosexuality, we live in a world of diversity and fight for tolerance, and that is what LoliRock has to reflect. Many fans have asked for a love relationship between Lyna and Carissa, or that Lev liked some boy from the series (SPOILER: But this is very unlikely, because in 2x22 he sacrificed himself to save Iris.) And it must be said that the Deaths and the drama seen in LoliRock Season 2 make the series more entertaining and increase fan hype. So I would cause more deaths in Season 3, or at least introduce new characters to get attached to later, in Season 4, kill them. Causing a huge reaction in the fans, that would be immediately reflected on social networks.
And now we move on to the "battle" part. The fights that we have seen in Season 2 are very good: they last between 5 and 7 minutes, they have action, although it would be necessary to add more, and we see seriousness and aggressiveness with the odd part of humor that Mephisto and Auriana gave it.
Instead, Season 1 battles lack action, some are very short, and others are boring and bland. So I recommend that if the team manages to get a French TV channel to offer money for a 3rd Season, the battles let be done like in Season 2 where there's action and they are very entertaining.
One aspect of battles where they have failed in both seasons is where the fights unfold. LoliRock is a series with very elaborate and very visual backgrounds that add points in favor for the series, because being so beautiful and perfected they quickly attract the attention of children.
The problem is that the fighting takes place in the "Battle Arena", and children like more to see battles in the city of Sunny Bay or in other places like the forests of Volta in Ephedia...
A very epic place for a match in Sunny Bay would be the lake behind Aunt Ellen / Ellira's house as we saw in 2x04 when Lyna and Carissa were fighting the twins.
Now I will talk about another flaw that I've found and that is the way the chapters have been issued. The problem comes from the fact that they broadcast the 26 episodes with no hiatus and then there was a very long waiting time for Season 2 that caused many fans to think that LoliRock had ended and they forgot about the series.
From my point of view, I think it would have been better if they had aired the first 13 episodes, then paused for a few months as the team begins producing the first 13 episodes of Season 2, and aired the remaining 13 episodes from Season 1. So that, when the latter have been broadcast several times on TV, after a break of 1 year or 1 year and a half, broadcast the first 13 of Season 2. And so on.
I'm aware that this is also the responsibility of the TV channel, but just as Zag Heroez and RAINBOW intervene with their series, Miraculous and Winx, Marathon Media / Zodiak Kids can also do it. After all, your salary depends on your series, and having a series with so much potential like LoliRock, why not take advantage of it?
Merchandise. To be honest, I don't know how they've completely abandoned the marketing of the series. The sale of dolls, action figures, magazines with comics, toys like the magic amulets of the princesses, their magic weapons ... IT'S WHAT HELPS WITH THE PUBLICITY OF THE SERIES. There are many children who have known a series thanks to having bought their toys first. In addition, the merchandise commercials cover more time on TV than the series and helps to make itself known more. Well, the trailer made by the TV channel to promote the series is usually broadcast 3 or 4 times a day and the chances that any boy or girl will get to know it are minimal. On the contrary, if you add the tv promotion of the toys to the series trailer, the brand of the series appears much longer on the screen and it is easier to capture more audience.
A point in favor and that they must keep, in case Zodiak Family gets a TV channel that gives money for a 3rd Season. Are the episodic missions, this is that each adventure or/and mission in LoliRock begins and ends in the same episode. In Season 2, 20 of 26 episodes are episodic. And 6, are grouped in pairs forming a Special, which tells a mission in 2 entire episodes.
This is very good because thanks to that strategy, it's much easier to catch new audiences, since in most chapters there are no topics that have happened in another episode and that may cause confusion in a new viewer who has never seen the series before. And also, to give more tension and hype to those who have already managed to catch, tells 3 missions in 2 episodes each, together in a 40-minute Special.
The problems for which they didn't get a bigger audience for even using this tactic are all the ones I've come up with, basically. LoliRock can become into the new hit of Zodiak and Marathon Media. But it needs much more action, it requires that in battles there be more seriousness and aggressiveness although with the hints of comedy given by Auriana and Mephisto, it is very important that in the Basic Course there is entertaining action and to play with the love ships, and that there are several changes of scene to combine it with the moments when the villain prepares or starts his/her evil plan. Nor can we forget of what the fandom asks for ... (Basically everything I wrote above summarized)
The back story. This is a topic that, if you know how to deal with it correctly, can generate a huge audience for the series. This is how Miraculous does it and Winx Club did it in the first 3 seasons.
Miraculous gradually tells the story of the Agreste family's past, and the plans of Gabriel Agreste, Adrien's father and the series' masked villain. This story is told in such a way that it does not affect the episodic tactic of the series, it does not matter if you see 3x02 than 3x17 because if you are a new spectator you will perfectly understand what is happening and what the villain's mission is. In addition, whether you are a regular fan or new, when you see how the secret room where the body of Gabriel Agreste's wife is found that appears at the end of the episode, or when Hawk Moth refers or mentions a little about what happened, you stay with the intrigue and want to see what happens in the next chapter.
LoliRock can also benefit from this strategy, as there are many mysteries that draw our attention to fans such as the past of Mephisto and Praxina, the reason why they decided to work for Gramorr, the Temple of Andrak ...
One that I would highlight is Banes himself, because even though he is a character with few appearances and interactions, he stands out a lot that sometimes it seems that he's the true villain of the series. And there are many questions about it: How did Gramorr and Banes meet? Why did he betray him and give Praxina the half mask after the Final Battle in 2x26? Was it Banes who gave Gramorr powers in the past? Was the mask created by Banes? What's his objective? Why at first did he help Gramorr and now he helps Praxina? ...
If writers know how to tell those pasts well, it can give impressive results.
THE OPPORTUNITY IS IN ZODIAK KIDS AND MARATHON MEDIA'S HANDS!
The "mean girl" part of the series, in this case: Missy Robins. Nothing good has developed: Appears 3 times in Season 1 and 2 in Season 2. Besides that they have not known how to play with the character.
Much can be gleaned from Missy. If Zodiak and Marathon get money for a 3rd Season of LoliRock they have to do this with Missy Robins: First of all, it has to appear in EVERY EPISODE of the Season, EXCEPT cases where a Special is entered (2 Episodes that tell only one mission such as 2x21 and 2x22, or 2x07 and 2x08), which can be dispensed with in the second chapter. The 2nd is to take advantage of the fact that Missy and Iris want the same boy to ALWAYS cause confrontation between them. If they make fun of the outfits they wear, their hair ... much better. Although I would advise that in some episode, it's not necessary for Season 3, it may be in Season 4 (If there's one), that a 3rd girl appears who falls in love with Nathaniel, and Missy and Iris collaborate together leaving their Enmities aside and showing a character development in Missy Robins. BUT in the rest of the Season she must continue acting as usual. And 3rd, I would give her a hard past or some traumatic situation that somehow tells us why she acts like this. I would make she tells it to someone in an episode, IT'S NOT NECESSARY to be Iris. It can be Lyna, Carissa, Nathaniel, or even some secondary character.
Missy's cocky demeanor has to be funny at on several occasions like Mandy's in Totally Spies and Chloé Bourgeois' in Miraculous.
I recommend Zodiak and Marathon Media that when they negotiate for a 3rd Season, make clear that it will be a reboot season, since it usually works in most cases if you know how to argue it well.
Besides literally, if the team remedied all these mistakes, it would be a reboot season. Because it would continue a story started 52 episodes ago, but it wouldn't have a clear dependence on the previous 2 seasons. It would change the form of the script, the chapters' structure...
And finally, I want to take the opportunity to say that what they've done very well was doing the Season finale in cliffhanger, because it causes a lot of emotion and intrigue that make the fandom stay active and we look forward to the next season.
I also want to clarify that I wrote this article to help Zodiak and Marathon Media to not give up, to see the full potential that LoliRock has, and to negotiate to get a Season 3 that will leave everyone impressed.
You just have to give it a second chance and work it well from the beginning. From episode 1, you have to see very good results. You have to start strongly, because if a fan sees the series on social networks, if he goes to YouTube and chapter 1 is already lazy and boring, as is the case with 1x01 and 2x01, the only thing that will be achieved is to drive him away.
I trust that the creators will not give up, so as the LoliRock girls would say: "TOGETHER FIGHTING HARM WITH CRYSTAL CHARM".
