Ooh, excellent question! It’s honestly really tough for me to say, because we knew about “Hairdon’t” for a long, long time before it came out, so it was not only highly anticipated, it’s also New Dream-centric which you know I’m all in for.
But the humor in “Unicorn-y” and “Hiccup Fever” are top notch (plus more Lance!), and the meditation scene in “Hare Peace” is such a frickin’ trip with so many top-tier Disney references.
“Check Mate,” “Night Bite,” and “Prison Bake” are severely underrated.
Which leaves “Make Me Smile” and “Snowball,” both of which I love. XD
I think it’s a draw between the first three mentioned.
However I do remember Kay saying that they wanted to show Varian in the cut to Corona in Happiness Is or even show him breaking out. There's also a scrapped storyboard in Rapunzeltopia of Rapunzel reacting to either a vision of Varian or seeing him (no idea the context of the scene or how long it is).
But I think what happened is that since Varian was still an ongoing storyline even if he wasn't going to be in season 2 crew members like Kay and Anna for example wanted to have more small instances to acknowledge that Varian wasn't entirely forgotten in a narrative sense.
So the "scrapping" of Varian in S2 wasn't in the sense of any storylines but rather instances of acknowledging him that Chris shot down to only keep the 10 second scene and nothing more to shut fans up.
Because Varian honestly should've been in Rapunzeltopia briefly. The rocks were the biggest catalyst to what started Varians downfall so in an alternate universe where they didn't happen, Rapunzel would probably at least what to know what happened to him, wondering if this means he and his dad are alright or heck even going the direction of just acknowledging that it would mean that they never met. Though it was her perfect world so I'd think Rapunzel would've wanted it so nothing bad happened and he's alright to get that weight off her shoulders. Chris even said he chose the gothel scene over the varian scene but I'd think in an episode about accepting responsibility it would be important to acknowledge her previous bad experiences that keep rapunzel from wanting the responsibility until she chooses to accept it instead of the show just ignoring his existence.
I think I recall Tom talking about boarding Varian in “Rapunzeltopia”. Hell, he might have talked about it on my podcast, but like I’ve said in the past, I don’t remember a lot of things about what was said on the podcast, since it wasn’t scripted and was just a long conversation with friends. “Rejected” is likely a more accurate term than “removed”. Like, crew suggested using him, and Chris opted not to go with it.
HOWEVER, it’s important to note that neither you nor I have receipts on this. Or, rather, you’ve sent me no links. “Chris said,” and “Kay said,” are all well and good, but that’s not proof, it’s hearsay. The point of my apology is that I’m talking without source material, and that’s a slippery slope into the rumor mill.
And with this post, I am officially done with this topic for now.
In this post, I stated outright that Chris Sonnenburg deliberately reduced Varian’s role in season two as revenge on the fans who liked Varian more than Cassandra.
I really shouldn’t have.
The truth is that he openly did not like Varian fans, and had called them fake fans of the show because their attention was not where he wanted it to be. There is apparently a thread on Reddit where he vented about it, but I don’t have a link to it. Other people on Tumblr do. Behind the scenes information has come out that he was a terrible producer, abusive of the crew, and I was told in private conversations about some of the horrible things he did to people.
There is no proof (that I know of) that he deliberately reduced Varian’s role in S2 to spite the fans, and I shouldn’t have said that their was. In my opinion, the plot really didn’t need to be bouncing back and forth between the open road and Corona, and I’m frankly glad it didn’t. If it was ever considered to have Varian feature in more of S2, him not being in it is a change of plan, because their plot didn’t work. He was the main villain of S1, and that story arc was mostly concluded, only needing the final bow to wrap up that the S3 premier provided.
Someone asked you earlier if the Moonstone could use the healing or hope incantations and you said no so I was just wondering if you had any ideas or headcannons on what would happen if they tried?
Nothing. lol
I mean, if the Sundrop was somewhere near them, it would activate* like how Gothel could sing the Healing Incantation to the flower and to Rapunzel when she was a baby, but that’s it. Otherwise, they’d get no reaction at all.
*with the caveat that I remind you that the Sundrop wasn’t active in Rapunzel, which is why she couldn’t heal. I don’t think someone who held the Moonstone would be able to activate an inactive Sundrop in Rapunzel.
I’m so sorry for asking so many questions and you may have answered this before, but this blog is so active that ten minutes of scrolling only took be back to the beginning of February so I have to ask-
What happened to ‘getting Varian the help he needs’ in season 2? Was Varian’s re-introduction in season three decided later on after Secret of the Sundrop was released? Additionally, how was Andrew as a cellmate and was Varian OKAY during the year he was with him?
So, from what I understand, originally Varian was supposed to be in S2 more. Not as in “he went with them on the journey,” but as in “looking in on Corona to see what was up with him.” The fact of the matter is, his role was lessened because the fans loved him so much, but that’s not the character the executive producer wanted people to love. He wanted everyone to love Cassandra (his personal favorite). So, out of literal spite, he removed Varian’s parts from S2, minus his ten second cameo in “Happiness Is…” that wasn’t actually him.
As for what happened to getting him the help he needs? IDK, it’s 100% in Frederic’s personality to just shut problems away and ignore them and hope they go away. We don’t know why he didn’t actually make any attempt to help Varian. Or, if he did, why Varian refused it until Frederic gave up.
As for Andrew, I never personally headcanon that he was literal cellmats with Varian. We’ve seen before that they have tons of empty cells. So, I think they either had adjacent cells or cells right next to each other. Some way they could communicate with each other easily, makes plans, etc. But that’s just my headcanon. The text of the series is that they shared a cell.
As for whether or not Varian was okay? Not really? lol Like, I don’t think Andrew threatened or harmed him in any way, but he definitely manipulated him, convinced him to give into his revenge fantasies, convinced him that using Saporian magic/alchemy on the king and queen and all of Corona was a good idea. The fact is, their relationship was a lot more topical than was likely intended. Varian was basically indoctrinated into an Alt Right type mindset, and Andrew used flattery, understanding, and compassion to get to him. In other words, all the things that Varian felt his life was lacking.
*Eye twitch* Varian… was supposed to be in season two… and he was CUT!
I AM A BEING OF PURE ELDRITCH RAGE WHO DO I NEED TO MURDER?
No one. When they make changes to the plot well before it’s written, those are just changes that are made to the plot. Think of it as “something they thought about doing then opted not to”. Just because he’s (clearly) your fave doesn’t mean he needed to be in more of the series than he was in. He’s actually not the focal character, and is in only six episodes in season one, and for one of those episodes, he only appears at the very very end.
Lance was in far more episodes than he was and gets far less attention and got significantly less character development.
I’m so sorry for asking so many questions and you may have answered this before, but this blog is so active that ten minutes of scrolling only took be back to the beginning of February so I have to ask-
What happened to ‘getting Varian the help he needs’ in season 2? Was Varian’s re-introduction in season three decided later on after Secret of the Sundrop was released? Additionally, how was Andrew as a cellmate and was Varian OKAY during the year he was with him?
So, from what I understand, originally Varian was supposed to be in S2 more. Not as in “he went with them on the journey,” but as in “looking in on Corona to see what was up with him.” The fact of the matter is, his role was lessened because the fans loved him so much, but that’s not the character the executive producer wanted people to love. He wanted everyone to love Cassandra (his personal favorite). So, out of literal spite, he removed Varian’s parts from S2, minus his ten second cameo in “Happiness Is…” that wasn’t actually him.
As for what happened to getting him the help he needs? IDK, it’s 100% in Frederic’s personality to just shut problems away and ignore them and hope they go away. We don’t know why he didn’t actually make any attempt to help Varian. Or, if he did, why Varian refused it until Frederic gave up.
As for Andrew, I never personally headcanon that he was literal cellmats with Varian. We’ve seen before that they have tons of empty cells. So, I think they either had adjacent cells or cells right next to each other. Some way they could communicate with each other easily, makes plans, etc. But that’s just my headcanon. The text of the series is that they shared a cell.
As for whether or not Varian was okay? Not really? lol Like, I don’t think Andrew threatened or harmed him in any way, but he definitely manipulated him, convinced him to give into his revenge fantasies, convinced him that using Saporian magic/alchemy on the king and queen and all of Corona was a good idea. The fact is, their relationship was a lot more topical than was likely intended. Varian was basically indoctrinated into an Alt Right type mindset, and Andrew used flattery, understanding, and compassion to get to him. In other words, all the things that Varian felt his life was lacking.
If the Sundrop can perform Moon-related incantations like the Decay spell, does that mean the Moonstone can perform the Healing spell?
What a lot of people don’t seem to understand about Rapunzel doing the Reverse Incantation is that when she touched the rocks in Tangled: Before Ever After, they granted her some of their power in order to help her safely get from Corona to the Dark Kingdom (so she could take the Moonstone and reunite it with the Sundrop). That’s why her hair was unbreakable, and why she could control the rocks, and why, despite her hair being back, she couldn’t heal. It wasn’t the Sundrop doing all that, it was the Moonstone.
Does Rapunzel’s (Disney’s) healing powers work on herself?? I don’t believe it comes up in the movie, nor in the animated series (though I haven’t watched it) but I feel like it’s important. If they don’t work on her then what was Gothel going to do when Rapunzel herself dies of old age? And if it does work, what then would she be supporting herself and her friends in forever agelessness???
There is no canonical answer to whether her healing works in herself, she never does it in either the movie or the series, but a lack of evidence is not evidence of it lacking. I personally believe that she does.
However, to answer the questions you posed in the tags: She can’t heal in the series until the finale, but she also cuts her own hair and gets rid of the power. It’s much more complicated than that, but that answers your question. The series puts her back to the status quo that she has at the end of the movie/at the wedding.
Hi ^^, i have a question, for you what was the worst moment and best moment of the series? ( for me the worst is making Cassandra an Eugene 2 with all parallels i feel it was really disrespectfull to the new dream fans and Eugene himself and my favorite moment of the series were new dream and the stalyan episodes ) also besides of new dream, do you like anothe ship ? Also idk if you ask this before but may i ask who is or are your favorite characters ?
The worst moment for me was the reveal that Cassandra is Gothel’s daughter. I hated (and still do hate) the idea that Casasndra is Gothel’s daughter so much that when the reveal happened, people sent me messages to be sure I was okay.
The best moment for me was the proposal at the end, though there are so many fantastic moments.
I don’t ship anyone else in the series (not even with an OC).
My favorite characters are Eugene, Rapunzel and Lance, in that order.
Do you think there should been a book on season 3? Like the lost lagoon or the vanishing village?
Nah. All things considered, I wasn’t impressed enough with those books to want an S3 one by the time S3 came out. Also, those books both took place before the events of their season – Lost Lagoon took place before Rapunzel’s coronation, and Vanishing Village took place before “Next Stop Anywhere” – but S3 begins immediately after S2 ends. There’s not really anywhere to squeeze in another adventure that’s somehow irrelevant to the events of the season.
