Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context WesternAnimation / LadyLovelyLocks

Go To

1%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1505503842020333400
2%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
3%%
4[[quoteright:331:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ladylovelylocksart_7.PNG]]
5
6''Lady Lovely Locks'' is a MerchandiseDriven animated series from TheEighties, based on the Lady Lovely Locks toys and greeting cards made by Creator/{{Mattel}} and Those Characters From Cleveland. The show debuted in 1987 and was produced by Creator/DiCEntertainment.
7
8The show told the tale of the pretty blonde-haired princess Lady Lovely Locks, her friends Maiden Fairhair and Maiden Curlycrown, and her {{Fairy Companion}}s the Pixietails. Lady rules the Kingdom of Lovelylocks, and everyone in the land loves her. But the evil [[BigBad Duchess Ravenwaves]], with her assistants Hairball and the Comb Gnomes, wants to take over the kingdom by cutting Lady's magic hair and gaining the power of her Looking Room. Other characters include the blind wizard Shining Glory, Prince Strongheart, who was cursed into the form of a dog, and Longcurl the dragon and her babies.
9
10Besides the cartoon and toys, tie-in books were made, as were a series of German audio dramas set in a different continuity than the cartoon. There was also a comic book series by Marvel's UK division.
11
12----
13!!Tropes featured include:
14
15* AllThereInTheManual:
16** ''An Enchanting Fairy Tale Adventure'', the first tie-in book, reveals that Lady's status as an orphan was caused by Ravenwaves' mother, Grand Duchess Ravenhair. When Lady was born, Ravenhair sent a powerful tornado that sent everyone far away, including herself and Lady's parents. Lady only escaped because her crib was in another room.
17** In episode 2 Lady mentions seeing a handsome stranger, implied to be Strongheart, at Mirror Lake, but the details were only given in the tie-in book ''For the Love of Lovely Locks''.
18** According to the tie-in board game, the village Lady oversees is called Prettydale.
19* AllTrollsAreDifferent: Hairball is a troll who can change sizes depending on his moods, looks like a living ball of hair in the show, and casts powerful magic spells.
20* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The final episode has Ravenwaves take over Glory Manor, with plans to exchange it for the Looking Room.
21* AlliterativeName: Lady Lovely Locks' name and title start with L.
22* AlliterativeTitle: As it's a ProtagonistTitle of a protagonist with an AlliterativeName.
23* AlternateContinuity:
24** The German audio dramas are set in a different continuity than the cartoon, with Ravenwaves and Strongheart having a secret past together, the witch that cursed Strongheart being in debt with Ravenwaves' father, and Lady and Strongheart marrying and having a child named Leilani. They're also DarkerAndEdgier than the show, with Lady and Strongheart nearly dying at some points.
25** The tie-in books are generally compatible with the cartoon, though details of Strongheart's curse, Silkymane, Hairball, and Strongheart's appearances, and Lady's powers are different.
26* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: At the end of each story on VHS, a live-action version of Lady Lovely Locks talk about what she and/or other characters had learned, and how the viewers could also learn from their experiences. Unlike a number of shows that did this, where they would last 1 minute at most, the segments on this show ran for about 2 minutes or so. The end of the first story would even have her talk a little bit about the next one just before the commercial break.
27* AndroclesLion: In "Menace of Mirror Lake" Lady helps get a fishhook out of a lake monster, and in return it saves her from Ravenwaves.
28* {{Animesque}}: Production duties were shared by Japan and France, while animation was done in Japan exclusively, like many American cartoons of this time.
29* AristocratsAreEvil: The main villain is Duchess Ravenwaves.
30* BaitAndSwitchCredits: The Italian [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgXMl7oZiok opening]] makes the show seem like a SliceOfLife romance, when romance only comes up a few times in the show and most of the runtime is spent on Lady dealing with Duchess Ravenwaves' schemes to take over.
31* BigBad: Duchess Ravenwaves is the ruler of Tangleland who aims to conquer the Kingdom of Lovelylocks, and most of the problems the land faces are her fault or something she can manipulate in her favor.
32* BigBadDuumvirate: The audio dramas had an alliance between Ravenwaves and the witch who cursed Strongheart, Lazulia. There was also a third villain, a snake named Snake Lee, who switched sides often.
33* BlindSeer: Shining Glory is blind but knows many things about the land, and has very powerful magic.
34* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Lady Lovely Locks is the blonde, Maiden Fairhair the brunette, and Maiden Curlycrown the redhead.
35* BondVillainStupidity: There are times when Ravenwaves and Hairball create good opportunities to cut Lady's hair, but most of the time they're too busy gloating to cut it.
36* BroughtDownToBadass: Episode 7 has Lady's powers weakened, and she does a lot of the work herself, especially in the final segment where she rides a sled and evades Hairball's magic.
37* CanonForeigner: Marvel's comic books included characters who weren't from the toyline or the show, such as Prince Peppermint and Princess Sweetherb.
38* {{Crossover}}: [[Series/SiskelAndEbert Gene Siskel]] sent in for one of the promotional VHS tapes to receive a "personalized" video where you would "help" the character on their adventure, and featured it on Siskel and Ebert's annual ''Holiday Gift Guide'' episode. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_u5d7xWZ-Q&t=39m30s It must be seen to be believed]], with the contrast between live-action Gene Siskel and the kid's voice they used being the funniest part.
39* CuteKitten: The Curlykittens were a toyline-only set of adorable kittens with curly hair and color-coded fur.
40* DamselInDistress: Nine times out of ten, the Pixietails save Lady Lovely Locks from whatever trouble she is in this week.
41* DamselOutOfDistress: Sometimes Lady Lovely Locks is able to rescue herself, though usually in the middle of an episode rather than the end.
42* DarkerAndEdgier: The audio dramas were aimed at older audiences than the show, and featured darker plots, with Lady and Strongheart marrying and having a child named Leilani, several characters dying or nearly dying, and Ravenwaves' plans to take over going beyond cutting Lady's hair.
43* DiabolusExNihilo: In "Fire in the Sky" a circling fireball appears out of nowhere in the sky one day, threatening the entire land.
44* DragonInChief: In "The Rallye" Hairball orders the Comb Gnomes around and tries to win the rallye race himself.
45* ErmineCapeEffect: Lady Lovely Locks usually wears her fanciest dress no matter the occasion, by way of LimitedWardrobe.
46* EvilCannotComprehendGood: One of the tie-in books states that Lady's true power source is the love and goodness in her heart, not her hair or a magical comb, which Duchess Ravenwaves doesn't understand.
47* EvilCounterpart: Duchess Ravenwaves has the Comb Gnomes to Lady's Pixietails, Titan to Lady's horse Silkymane, and Messmutt to Lady's dog Silkypup. Hairball is also an evil wizard, while Shining Glory is a good wizard.
48* EvilFormerFriend: Hairball used to work under Shining Glory and knows some of his spells, as well as how to get into his manor.
49* EvilSorcerer: Hairball worked under, then betrayed, Shining Glory and does most of the magic Ravenwaves requires.
50* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: In the cartoon, Prince Strongheart is never able to tell Lady the truth of his situation. The audio dramas resolve the issue by freeing him from the curse.
51* FairestOfThemAll: Ravenwaves plans to be the fairest ruler in the land by stealing Lady's hair.
52* FemmeFatale: Duchess Ravenwaves uses her beauty to get what she wants at times.
53* FisherKing: The Land of Lovelylocks is kept safe and happy as long as Lady is there to watch the Looking Room. In the first episode, Ravenwaves schemes to make Lady stay away for an extended period of time, plunging the kingdom into ruin.
54* ForcedTransformation: Prince Strongheart was cursed into the form of a dog, and can only occasionally become human for brief moments. He spends much of the series lamenting his situation.
55* FreudianTrio: Lady Lovely Locks is the down-to-earth ego, coolheaded and intelligent Maiden Fair Hair is the superego, and comical and impulsive Maiden Curly Crown is the id.
56* GenericCuteness: In the books the Comb Gnomes are said to be ugly creatures, but in illustrations and the show they're AdorableEvilMinions.
57* GreenEyedMonster: Duchess Ravenwaves is very jealous of Lady Lovelylocks and the land she rules, and is always attempting to seize it.
58* HeelFaceTurn: The final episode ends with a hint at this for Ravenwaves, as she's miserable over always losing and being alone. Lady tells her that being kinder to others can help, and she storms off to think things over.
59* HiddenObjectGame: Illustrations of merchandise from books, puzzles, cards, etc. have hidden Pixietails to find.
60* HypercompetentSidekick: This goes for the heroes and the villains.
61** The Pixietails have very strong magic and end up doing most of the work themselves, while Lady's only contribution is to summon them by shaking her hair.
62** Shining Glory's magic ends up resolving the plot a lot. In instances where he's out of the picture the solution is usually to save him so he can save the day.
63** Hairball has a wide knowledge of magic and is usually out in the field, while Ravenwaves is content to sit and watch from afar.
64* IHaveYourWife: "The Wishing Bone" has Ravenwaves kidnap Shining Glory and hold him hostage for Lady's hair.
65* IncredibleShrinkingMan: Hairball changes sizes depending on his moods, and can also shrink at will.
66* InescapableNet: Dragon-hair nets are almost completely unbreakable and are resistant to most magic. Ravenwaves uses one to capture Shining Glory, while Maiden Fairhair uses one to stabilize the castle after a tunnel was dug underneath it.
67* LeftHanging: The audio dramas end with the Pixietails saving Leilani and returning her to Lady, and wondering what will happen next when she wakes up in the morning.
68* {{Lunacy}}: Prince Strongheart can only regain his human form under the light of a full moon, with a rare blue moon enhancing the effect.
69* MacGuffin: Lady Lovely Locks' hair, which is her power source. Duchess Ravenwaves' goal is to cut it and obtain power over the land.
70* MagicHair: Lady's multicolored hair is the mark of royalty, and can summon the Pixietails and power the Looking Room, which helps her see and heal troubles in the land. Duchess Ravenwaves plans to cut it to obtain her power.
71* TheMaze: A labyrinth protects the Looking Room and can only be traversed with the power of Lady's hair.
72* {{Motif}}: Hair. Besides the characters' names, several trees and plants look like hair, Lady's abilities revolve around her hair, Ravenwaves plans to get her hair, and hair raises and lowers Castle Lovelylocks and grows underneath it as support.
73* NearVillainVictory: Duchess Ravenwaves came ''very'' close to cutting Lady's hair at times, especially in "Vanished," where she held Pixiesparkle hostage, then ordered that all the Pixietails leave them alone, including the one she was holding. She was only foiled when Pixiecurl, who was too far away to hear the order, snatched away her scissors.
74* NeverTrustATrailer: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53IJAu13KBI promo]] for the series shows Baron von Tress as the handsome prince instead of Strongheart, who is shown transforming in unfinished animation and [[LosingYourHead lacks a body]].
75* NonActionBigBad: Ravenwaves rarely takes part in schemes personally, letting Hairball and the Comb Gnomes handle the dirty work.
76* NonIndicativeName: Maiden [=FairHair=] is not fair-haired, having dark brown hair instead.
77* OCStandIn: Maiden Goldenwaves and Maiden Mistycurls were never featured in the cartoon. Their only known backstory is that Goldenwaves lives on the Enchanted Island while Mistycurls visited it looking for the Sea Pixietails, the Sea Pixietails can turn them both into mermaids, and Lady and the other maidens discovered the island with the help of the Hide 'n' Peeks. Much of this backstory is only related in the toyline's press kit, and their personalities remain a mystery.
78* OcularGushers: Longcurl the dragon's tears make mini-waterfalls that wash the Pixietails away.
79* OpeningNarration: The opening has Shining Glory describing the show's premise, and individual episodes begin with him relating a lesson related to the episode. "Prince's Broken Heart" has Prince Strongheart narrating instead, detailing a time when he tried to leave the kingdom.
80* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Baby dragons grow from a dragon tree planted by their mother.
81* OutOfFocus: With so many characters and only 10 minutes of runtime per episode, Maidens Fairhair and Curlycrown rarely get to do anything important.
82* PimpedOutDress: Lady, the Maidens, and Ravenwaves all wear beautiful dresses.
83* PintSizedPowerhouse: The baby dragons' fire breath makes them very dangerous as well as cute.
84* PollutedWasteland: Tangleland is a swampy, thorny area full of danger, in contrast to the beautiful land of Lovelylocks.
85* PrettyInMink: Fur-trimmed coats are worn when the characters go to the Frosted Mountains.
86* PrincessClassic: Lady Lovely Locks is sweet, polite, and caring even in the face of danger.
87* PrincessesPreferPink: Lady tends to wear pink, and her hair has a pink streak in it.
88* PrincessesRule: Lady rules her kingdom despite being a princess, not a queen. Justified as her parents are gone.
89* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: This describes Hairball exactly, who was a former pupil of Shining Glory before he turned evil.
90* PurpleIsPowerful: Duchess Ravenwaves wears dark purple and Shining Glory wears purple wizard robes.
91* ReformedButRejected: This trope is discussed, but ends up averted in "The Bundle," with Hairball taking advantage of Lady's kindness to betray her. Lady feels awful that Hairball was lying, but says that if they did think he was causing trouble and he wasn't, they'd feel even worse.
92* SceneryPorn: The show is lavishly animated, especially in dungeon scenes. The hand-painted backgrounds are especially pretty, and the illustrations in merchandise and books are equally beautiful.
93* {{Shapeshifter}}: In the second episode, Hairball disguises himself as the handsome Baron von Tress to win Lady's trust.
94* ShockAndAwe: The Comb Gnomes can cast lightning magic.
95* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The characters' last names tend to be spelled either as two words (Lovely Locks), one word (Lovelylocks), or one word with the second portion capitalized ([=LovelyLocks=]).
96* StoryArc: The show is mostly self-contained, but episodes 14 through 18 form a cohesive storyline about Longcurl the dragon and her babies.
97* SubvertedSuspicionAesop: Played with in the episode where Hairball is kicked out of Ravenwaves' castle. He asks to work at Lady's castle, but only so he can gather her hair and get back in Ravenwaves' good books. Maiden Fairhair is rightly suspicious of him, but when the truth is revealed Lady says that if he ''was'' serious about reforming and they didn't believe him they'd feel even worse than when he betrayed them.
98* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands:
99** Ravenwaves' spyglass let her spy on Lady no matter where she was.
100** There's also a heroic version with Lady Lovely Locks' Looking Room, which let her see what was going on in the kingdom and acted as a conduit for her FisherKing powers, letting her repair damage done to it.
101* SwissArmyTears: In episode 7, when she's unable to free everyone's trapped reflections in a frozen lake, Lady cries. The love in her tears melts the ice and saves everyone, including herself.
102* TalkingAnimal: In the audio dramas Strongheart could speak in dog form. Averted in the cartoon, where he couldn't talk at all in dog form.
103* ToylessToylineCharacter: Shining Glory, the villagers, and Hairball didn't get toys. Longcurl the mother dragon is an interesting example as while her babies got toys, she didn't.
104* TwoShorts: Each episode is about 10 minutes long, separated by commercials.
105* VagueAge: Lady, the Maidens and Duchess Ravenwaves all look like children, especially in the illustrations, but their voices and stations of authority suggest that they are young adults. The audio dramas add to the confusion by having Lady and Strongheart get married and have a child while the illustrations stay the same.
106* VerbalTic: The Pixietails add "ix" to the end of every word they say, making most of their speech nigh incomprehensible.
107* VileVillainLaughableLackey: Hairball is the Laughable Lackey to Duchess Ravenwaves. While not incompetent, his voice, cough-like laugh, and appearance make him less of a threat than she is.
108* VillainBall: Ravenwaves and Hairball often have Lady captive, but spend too much time menacing her rather than getting her hair.
109* WasOnceAMan: Prince Strongheart used to be human, but was cursed into the form of a dog some time before the series began.
110* WithLyrics: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHX_Jgh8o5k full opening]] and ending themes are the main theme with lyrics.
111* WorldBuilding: The series had several details given about the fantasy world, including how Lady's Looking Room worked, how dragons were born, where Lady and Ravenwaves lived, areas outside their kingdoms like the Lake of Reflections, the Frosted Mountains, the Parched Desert, Mirror Lake, and cryptic references to the Sea of Far Beyond and lands beyond it. [[https://i.imgur.com/LOqYsbr.png A tie-in board game]] showed even more locations, some of which were used in books and year 2 of the toyline. An [[https://i.imgur.com/77oFuKu.png alternate map]] was also seen in the Enchanted Island press kit.
112* YankTheDogsChain: In "The Wishing Bone" Strongheart has a chance to use a wish to save himself from his curse, but has to save Lady and Shining Glory instead.
113* YouDontLookLikeYou:
114** Hairball in the books and illustrations is a white-haired gnome, while in the show he's a living ball of brown hair. The only thing they have in common is the name and bushy mustache.
115** Silkypup's toy looks ''nothing'' like her illustrations or show looks, being completely pink with a matching-pink hairy back and catlike features instead of a pink body, hot pink pigtails, and a puppy's face.
116** In the toyline Silkymane is purple with a purple-pink mane and tail, while in the show she's light grey with a hot pink mane and tail.

Top