The DareDoll Dilemmas is a direct-to-video series produced by Dynahunk Productions which lasted from 2005 to 2009, and the spiritual sequel to the ElectroBabe & DynaChick movie series.
The series is about a group of spandex-clad female vigilantes known as the Daredolls who fight a group of creepy lunatics with googly eyes known as the Peeper Brothers that lurk in the abandoned magic factory where all the episodes takes place.
According to its creator: Don Courtier, the series is both a satire and a tribute of old superhero shows like Batman and Electrawoman And Dynagirl with the added bonus of Male Gaze, Bound and Gagged scenes and skin-tight leotards. The episodes are separated into three chapters referred as A, B and C, each starring a different Doll or Dolls with little to no continuity between episodes. The series had 33 episodes (99 chapters in total).
All the episodes can be bought on Amazon or through a pay-to-watch service on Vimeo.
This series provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: Some episodes end with brainwashings, betrayals and cliffhangers but they almost are never followed on due to the episodic format of the series.
- Action Girl: Most of the Dolls, especially Daredoll Minx, are shown to be competent combatants at times.
- Amazon Brigade: The Dolls are a group of spandex-wearing female vigilantes.
- Author Appeal: Shiny leotards? Check! Long chloroform scenes? Check! Cheesy deathtraps and dialogue? Double Check!.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Sometimes happens to one of the Dolls when they are paired with another in an episode.
- Cliffhanger: Most of the chapters (mostly parts A and B) end with the Doll(s) tied up and held in a slow deathtrap similar to old superhero shows.
- Covert Pervert: Some of the peeper brothers are portrayed as this, with them either leering or fondling the captured dolls.
- Deadpan Snarker: Some of the Dolls always have something witty or sarcastic to say to mission control when he says or explain the obvious.
- Excuse Plot: Nothing is ever explained about the Dolls, the peepers and why they are fighting each other.
- Expy: Technically, all the Dolls are based on Yvonne Craig's Batgirl, whom the series' creator had a huge crush on. Of all the Dolls, Minx looks the closest to their inspiration.
- Faux Action Girl: Due to the fanservice-y nature of the series, the dolls are always outsmarted and/or easily defeated by the peeper brothers and put in slow death traps or bound and gagged.
- Leotard of Power: Most of the Dolls use them.
- Hong Kong Dub: All the characters are dubbed over with several characters using the same three/four actors.
- MacGuffin: The Daredolls' "Activation Code" is something the Peppers are after and is the reason they just don't kill the Dolls when they capture them. It's never explained what it is or does.
- Male Gaze: A lot of the shots always like emphasize the Dolls' bosoms and butts.
- Mission Control: Only referred as "Crime Base", he briefs the starring Doll(s) at the beginning of each chapter.
- Ms. Fanservice: Most of Dolls are played by very attractive actresses and models (with Minx, Pinx and Pyro being played by former wrestling diva and playboy model Koa-Marie Turner) and their suits emphasize their curves.
- No Ending: The last episode ends like a typical episode with no overall closure.
- No Name Given: The dolls are always referred by their code names (Minx, Pinx, Aura, Lotus, etc).
- Pandering to the Base: The entirety of episode 32 is about Daredolls Dusk and Sweets (and later Domino) reading fan-mail with some of them asking for specific perils or situations and them doing them such as a sand trap or anti-matter gloves fondling.
- Part-Time Hero: The dolls apparently take turns to patrol the Abandoned Magic Factory, with one episode showing us Pinx finishing her turn and Minx starting hers. Which is funny since both are played by the same actress.
- Remember the New Guy?: Almost all episodes introduces a new Doll and mission control acts like if they were always there with some exceptions.
- Screw Your Ultimatum!: Everytime the Peppers give the Daredolls an Ultimatum, they will respond like this.
- Sensual Spandex: Most of the Dolls have skin-tight spandex leotards with some (Minx and Pinx) using shiny unitards.
- Uncertain Doom: Various chapters end with the starring Doll(s) captured or in a deathtrap only for the next chapter to feature another Doll(s) in their own separate story, sometimes their stories are continued but in different episodes.
