The Charmkins is a 1983 musical animated TV special based on Hasbro's collectible toys of the same name. It's notable for its All-Star Cast, including Ben Vereen as Dragonweed and Sally Struthers as Poison Ivy.
In the idyllic Charmworld, all the Charmkin children live and play happily as they celebrate a flower festival, but trouble arises when the evil Dragonweed sees Lady Slipper dancing and wants to have her dance for himself.
Floating her along the river to his own kingdom of Thistledown, Dragonweed plans to threaten her into singing for him, or else.
The Charmkins, led by Brown-Eyed Susan, make the journey to Thistledown to save their friend with the help of the tricky witch Poison Ivy.
This special contains examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism: The toyline had Poison Ivy be a villain who tried to make everyone itch, while in the cartoon she's a mischievous Trickster Mentor who helps the heroes.
- Heel–Face Turn: Subverted. It looks like Dragonweed and his cronies will turn good when the Charmkins bring color and light to Thistledown, with Dragonweed even shedding a tear... but as soon as the song ends he and his goons try to recapture the kids.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Whatever Dragonweed's "or else" threat is, he doesn't outright state what he'll do, instead getting a whole villain song about things he could do.
- RevengeSVP: Dragonweed's plan kicks off when he and his cronies are miserable over not being invited to the festival, and they decide to kidnap Lady Slipper as a result.
- Story-Breaker Power: Poison Ivy's magic could solve the plot quickly, but she won't help the heroes directly because it'd be too easy.
- Swamps Are Evil: The kingdom of Thistledown is in a gloomy swamp where sun used to shine, but Dragonweed prefers it the way it is now.
- Trickster Mentor: Poison Ivy poses as a dragon to scare the heroes and uses her shapeshifting magic to turn each of them into things they're not, which eventually clues them in that they need a disguise.
- Villain Has a Point: Briarpatch, Thorny, the Bramble Brothers, and Skunkweed point out repeatedly how rotten it is for the Charmkins to not invite them to the flower festival, as weeds are flowers too.
- Villain Song: Dragonweed gets two, one about how nice life in Thistledown is and another about his threats to Lady Slipper if she won't dance for him.
- Villainous Badland, Heroic Arcadia: The quiet, charming and scenic Charmworld is home to the innocent and childlike Charmkins. They're menaced by the dastardly Dragonweed and his cronies who live in the nearby Thistledown, a murky and muddy swamp teeming with filth and weeds.
