Brooke

Raven spends a lot of time around mirrors. When getting ready in the mornings she lingers a little longer than normal before stepping away. She has a small round mirror on her bedside, she carries it with her at the bottom of her bag. Sometimes she can be found talking to it when she thinks she's alone. Sometimes you might catch her giving it a quick hug.

Most people assume this is vanity, a Daring-esque obsession with her looks. After all, she is destined to freak out over the idea of someone else being the fairest so much that she'd kill over it. She's supposed to be vain.

But those who know Raven know the real reason. Raven's mother is behind that glass.

Raven's relationship with her mother wasn't always so strained as it is now. There was a day when Raven was younger, too young to understand what their destiny was, too young to understand how truly evil her mom was, too young to understand what her mom had done. When her mom wasn't "the evil queen" to her, when her mom was just "mom". In these days she and her mother had been close. Raven had told her everything, and they'd done everything together. When her mom took her to go have tea every Tuesday, and they'd have salon days and smoothies on the weekends. Things may be more complicated now. Raven doesn't want to be like her mom, and says she hates her, wants nothing to do with her. But a part of her is still that little girl, wanting to run into her mother's arms for a hug. A part of her cries out to be close with her again. A part of her wishes her mother would support her in her rebellion against destiny, so they could be close again. She wishes her mother hated their destiny as much as she does. She wishes she could spend time with her mom, just the two of them, just one more time. She wishes that trying to do that wasn't an inevitable recipe for more pain, due to their different worldviews. It hurts.

Raven can't hear the other side of the mirror, but she knows her mom can see and hear through it. So when the little girl in side her is crying out, despite all her hatred and anger towards her mother...

Afterwards she started embracing it more, she already loves the outdoors and nature, it could also be a great power for her along with being a hobby she enjoys to do.

" i'm a level five witch Apple, i can't do that " (Raven-the unfairst of them all)

Raven and Faybelle shenanigas because Raven Is canonically attracted to misfits, and Faybelle would definitely tease her.

Dapple Doodle Page

This is my proposal that Hoodude Voodoo should be rebranded as a poppet instead of as a voodoo doll. Poppets are the real version of so-called "voodoo" dolls. They're not part of voodoo though, they're from witchcraft practices, so I decided to lean into the witch theme.

Obviously the name has to go, and I've dubbed him Poppy Kindergrubber. Mrs Kindergrubber was his foster mom in G1, so I like to think this version of him could be made by her instead of Frankie, since she's a witch.

His personality and powers are largely the same, though he's less hung up on heartbreak since he didn't have to deal with being abandoned.

It doesn't help that the two have no personalities—Holly is literally Barbie Rapunzel,she's a industry plan princess. Poppy pisses me off even more than her sister because she's essentially the fake rebel. Seriously, that episode get's on my nerve because Poppy is essentially sold as the one with the perfect solution when in reality, she can do it because she's privileged.

imo, Holly has interesting elements in her personality and character that have immense potential due to the nature of the Rapunzel story. i’ve talked about it before but basically: girl in tower. she’s naive and boxed off from the rest of the world, even if she’s a creative thinker (as she is said to be). i don’t think Holly’s destiny is the worst as princess stories go; due to her already being out and about i assume she won’t be stuck in the tower for very long after graduation anyway—lowkey she probably needs it if she wants to have time to work on her writing lolllll—you might even consider her upbringing as part of the tower sentence since she was homeschooled (no shade to homeschoolers thooo not the intention here). in any case, her being a Royal -> stuck in a tower.

how to get out of the tower? well Mattel sure didn’t say. slap her on as a cover girl for the soft reboot and feature her in all the “powerful princess” concepts sure, bc i guess Rapunzel is one of the stories literally about a prince coming to save a damsel (but later she saves him too) so they gotta subvert it somehow! without subverting it at all!

however, the aforementioned unique qualities that did stand out to me on my last rewatch (i was paying special attention to Holly for this exact reason lol): she’s not only smart/wise, but considered smart, as she’s always seen to be giving advice to people (giving “outsider’s perspective”). she’s a storyteller, and that part always drives me crazy bc obviously they never went anywhere meaningful with that when it could have been so powerful!! and then there’s the hair and being a twin thing:

Rapunzel is a character whose whole identity centers around her hair. even in retellings and adaptations, she’s the long-haired one. i believe the reason Holly is given a twin is because of this identity business: Holly doesn’t know who she is without that one distinct trait (which in a way symbolizes her destiny), and finding out it’s POPPY who’s supposed to have it, Poppy who shares everything else about her appearance, would presumably send her spiraling.

it technically did in the Selfors book, which centered around THIS as the main theme (instead of the twins’ place in the destiny conflict). i think to really elevate Holly’s character the show could have used both. bc if Sleeping Beauty is a fairytale about the unavoidability of fate, and Red Riding Hood is a fairytale about the dangers of walking off the path, then Rapunzel is a fairytale about escape. yes she’s trapped in a tower, both literally and metaphorically—but she will find freedom. that’s like *waves hands wildly* that’s like the POINT of the EAH story like—

and as a writer herself, Holly had really strong potential to represent that, because who champions the conflicting ideals of their age better than storytellers?