ok so in reference to my last post which is now deleted allow me to explain further because some people just might not get it. You can like Descendants all you want I'm just saying it's not really my cup of tea considering the fact that it's part of then reason EAH was cancelled and I'm still devastated even though it was years ago. Sorry if I'm rude btw.
They Copied!:
Ever After High is a franchise that ran from 2013-2016. Descendants is an ongoing franchise that started in 2015 with production on the first movie starting in 2014, just a year after Ever After High made it's debut. Now we have no idea what happened behind the scenes obviously, maybe the idea for Descendants was around for a while but just didn't get green-lit until then or something. We don't know, but what do you think is the reason it got green-lit? Yeah, it's definitely not cause Disney wanted a part of the success of Ever After High. Now it could definitely be a coincidence and all, but we don't know for sure, so I'm keeping my suspicions until they are either confirmed or disproved which will likely never happen so I'll stay neutral on the "they copied" thing.
The Inevitable Demise of Ever After High:
I know I say Ever After High was successful, and on surface level, yes it was, the... shit I forgot the word. The... uh... people said it was good basically. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive. But deeper in, even if everyone liked Ever After High the fandom wasn't exactly huge, quite a few people did watch it, yes, but not enough to compete with more successful dolls made by Mattel, like it's sister show Monster High. So Ever After High had enough fans to keep going but not enough to really be anything huge, but when Descendants came in and stepped on EAH even more, that was the breaking point that lost EAH plenty of fans, as the story quality started getting worse with EAH frantically trying to build it's fanbase and compete with Descendants, more and more people stopped watching and more and more people liked Descendants and EAH reviews got worse before eventually it was completely cancelled. At first EAH had at least some hope of survival and the chances that they would gradually get bigger weren't too low, but when Disney stepped in... EAH had no chance to compete, no matter how hard the fans tried, there was nothing that could save EAH other than a miracle. Descendants, while it wasn't the full reason, still had a part to play in the end of EAH, and I believe that gives me valid reason to be upset about it.
Mal and Raven:
Mal and Raven are like the main "villains" of both franchises. Mal has a color scheme of mainly purple with green accents similar to her mother in Sleeping Beauty since this is based off Disney fairytale movies not just any fairytales they want. Raven has a color scheme of black, dark magenta and shades of purple, as well as her mom, the Evil Queen. Now that doesn't matter, character color schemes can be whatever, one is just any fairytale ever and the other is specifically Disney so, yeah. Mal is a VK (Villain Kid) who lives on evil people island that I forgot the name of, she is "bad to the bone" and strives to be just as evil as her mom, Maleficent, I forgot what I was gonna write... ughhh I'll continue later.
Hello, yes, to you reading this time has not passed, but to me it has! Anyway I was saying that she wants to be like mommy so when Mal goes to Auradon she and the other VKs come up with a plan to steal the fairy godmother's wand to free everyone on evil people island, but that plan fails, and also Mal is doubting the teachings of her mother and being evil (just like that? OK.) so they come up with another plan and give Benny boy, son of Belle and the Beast, soon to be king of Auradon, a love potion so Mal will be his gf and she can have a clear path to steal the wand, Ben publicly breaks up with his gf and confesses his love to Mal so now they're dating and whatever stuff happens blah blah your mom, now Mal is good and not evil and I hate myself and though I rant a lot ranting can get boring and I kinda just wanna get to the point already because I hate talking abt stuff I don't like it makes me sick anyway.
Raven Queen. Raven doesn't want to be a rebel, from the beginning, she already doesn't want to be like her mother, but in a fairytale world where everyone follows their fairytale destiny and has to keep the stories going and be like their parents, it's not seen as an option for her, she is told that if she doesn't sign away her life and agree to follow her destiny and become like her mother, her story will go poof and she and everyone else will cease to exist. Legacy day is the day everyone signs the Storybook of Legends and agrees to end up just like their parents. So on Legacy Day, Raven causes a whole scene and says she's gonna write her own destiny ending with the words "my Happily Ever After starts now" as she closes the book without signing it in a dramatic manner as all the mirrors shatter and everything, all the rebels start cheering for Raven while the Royals boo. From this point on, everyone tries to convince Raven to conform to how this society works rather than to deviate from what people expect of her. I'm not really gonna get into it but the whole point is that in the end they decide that people don't have to be royal or rebel, everyone is just a person with their own life and choices and weather you choose to follow in your parent's footsteps or to be your own person is up to you, and you should follow your own destiny not the one others have written for you and Raven Queen is the one who starts the cracks in the conformist system of Ever After High and as more and more people join her in her defiance, the system slowly breaks until eventually it all falls down.
both Raven and Mal are the breaking point in a system that judges people based off their parents rather than the people themselves. Whichever one tackles that subject better is up to you, but personally I just believe EAH did it better. I don't know Descendants's way just isn't speaking to me. it feels way too easy and it happened just like that. A whole society changed it's thoughts just like that. I don't know, it didn't feel right, it felt icky. Also they both have mommy issues
EAH and Defiance vs Conformity:
ok some people get the wrong idea about defiance, obviously don't break the law, that's not the message here, please don't commit crimes. Defiance as in breaking out from society's standards, rather than everyone conforming to a society where everyone fits into a box, defiance promotes tearing the box open and saying "FUCK YOU BOX" basically conformity is where everyone conforms and defiance is where everyone defies, pretty self-explanatory. In EAH everyone conforms and is controlled by fear that if they don't they disappear. It's all about conformity and those who don't conform are seen as bad people. Rebels on the surface are defiant but deep down they're still conforming, they're conforming to what society wants and expects of them by signing the Storybook of Legends and being exactly like their parents. Raven is the first one to officially publicly defy the system, starting a chain reaction that ends up in the fall of the conformist system so instead of conformity there is variety. There's no longer good or bad or royal or rebel just people, and people are complicated. They do what they want, they choose their own destiny regardless of what people say about them. It promotes defiance and being yourself even if people call you weird or strange. EAH does this by adding small cracks of defiance over the course of the show and specials. Raven refusing to conform, Ashley dating Hunter (royals can't date rebels and royals should end up with whoever their story says they should rather than who they want) Poppy O' Hair choosing to be both royal and rebel, Poppy O' Hair discovering she's actually meant to be the next Rapunzel not her sister Holly but they decide to hide it and continue as if Holly is the next Rapunzel. People slowly stop conforming and start defying. Rather than everything changing in a second like Descendants, EAH had more freedom using a show rather than a movie to portray a complicated subject because they weren't fucking idiots like Disney, which meant they had the chance to make more sense than Descendants ever could and make a better more compelling story that portrays conformity vs defiance better. I just don't get what Descendants is doing, it's kinda dumb and stupid. Like what is this conformity vs defiance or just "don't be bad" like cmon make some sense please?
EAH is infinitely better at naming characters:
daughter of Maleficent? Now hear me out, and this is crazy but just hear me out... Mal. Perfect, so creative.
Evil Queen? Evie. EZ EZ BRO.
Jaffar? Jay- DUDE WE ARE ON A ROLL
CRUELLA- CARLOS, BOOM.
Belle? Ben.
Like cmon guys, really... is that really all the effort you have to put into this?
Evil Queen's daughter, Raven Queen
Snow White's daughter, Apple White
Cinderella's daughter, Ashlyn Ella
Prince Charming's two sons and one daughter, Dexter, Daring and Darling Charming
Maleficent? Faybelle Thorn
ok... Madeline Hatter is obvious and Hunter Huntsman too BUT YOU GET IT.
ANYWAY YEAH THAT IS MY THING I COULD GO ON LONGER BUT MY ARM HURTS AND I'M DIZZY AND I NEED WATER ALSO YOUR MOM YEAH ANYWAY COOL BYE