The Dragon Prince |OT| The Last Frameratebender (Update: Renewed through season 7)

[Lunar Wolf]

I can't believe this show pulled a "gay character is only in a flashback and is dead in the present" moment not once, but twice. Within three seasons, it patted itself on the back for burying gay characters multiple times. I wanted to like this show at first but I really don't think I care about it anymore. (It doesn't help that the writing is so spotty even beyond the handling of gay rep, lol)

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Ended up watching it, despite my extreme reservations about Ehasz being a fucking shitbag, but I have friends who work on the animation end.

It feels like nearly every adult is written with the same brush of "cutesy glibness." Even the elf ghost dude, they cut to him and he's laying on his front, being playful with Viren in a way that feels so out-of-character. It's either that, or they repeat the same joke of "jokey awkward character makes overenthusiastic or silly statement to other character who just goes 'uhhhh what?'" Like... that's the joke. And they do it again and again. It often feels like the only joke they have sometimes. It comes off extremely lame and trying way too fucking hard. It's one thing when it's Callum and Rayla because, hey, they're kids. But there are conversations here that just made me think of incidental dialogue in a video game once where Nolan North is just talking to another Nolan North.

End of the season just kinda ended up feeling rushed, and it's obviously not the end, and yet it still felt like it just kinda 'happened' without much build.

I laughed real hard at Rayla talking to her brother's boyfriend, and then the flashback to their moment saying goodbye. Like "oh yeah, that other character we put into the grave? He's gay too. But he is, again, dead." Great fucking job on that one. A real win for representation. I know "bury your gays" is a shitty trope, but man, this show seems to have a habit of revealing their sexuality after they've already done the burying.

Also, man, Nyx is like the most DeviantArt OC cosplayer-looking motherfucker, and it just clashes so awkwardly with the world.


And oh yeah... fuck Ehasz

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It seems Runaan isn't dead. He's in the coin.

Also it looks like Aunt Amaya and the other elf are a thing now.

 

[Omegamon]

Not sure if this is the thread to talk about Ehasz drama but anyone thinks it's weird he never mentioned his wife or how she never worked in TDP? She wrote some of the best ATLA episodes.

 

[ShortNasty]

Most of this season was a waste plot wise. After four or five episodes the status quo is reset to exactly where it was prior to the finale of season 2. Felt like a huge amount of wheel spinning. Useless really. I know the characters grew, and they definitely all got fleshed out. Overall this season was a bit of a letdown. I'll wait for the reviews on the next two seasons before I jump back in. Oh well.

 

[ckareset]

Most of this season was a waste plot wise. After four or five episodes the status quo is reset to exactly where it was prior to the finale of season 2. Felt like a huge amount of wheel spinning. Useless really. I know the characters grew, and they definitely all got fleshed out. Overall this season was a bit of a letdown. I'll wait for the reviews on the next two seasons before I jump back in. Oh well.

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Um what. The goal was to return the Dragon Prince and unite the humans and elves. How is that the status quo

 

[ckareset]

Considering what Danika wrote about that moment on Twitter today, Aaron was informed about how fucked up this was and he didn't care.

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because the character isn't dead.

He's trapped in the coin and they even showed his death flower only partially submerged

 

[Gotchaye]

Um what. The goal was to return the Dragon Prince and unite the humans and elves. How is that the status quo

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The whole thing with Ezran leaving and then coming back is a huge waste of time, it raises a "why didn't the eagles just fly them to Mount Doom" problem, and then ends up being really weird when nobody remembers how everything that happens is basically his fault.

 

[ckareset]

The whole thing with Ezran leaving and then coming back is a huge waste of time, it raises a "why didn't the eagles just fly them to Mount Doom" problem, and then ends up being really weird when nobody remembers how everything that happens is basically his fault.

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I have no idea what you are talking about. How is it his fault that Viren is evil?

 

[Gotchaye]

I have no idea what you are talking about. How is it his fault that Viren is evil?

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I mean, at the end of season 2 Viren was in jail because people were credibly able to call him illegitimate and treasonous.

 

[Deleted member 2802]

The whole thing with Ezran leaving and then coming back is a huge waste of time, it raises a "why didn't the eagles just fly them to Mount Doom" problem, and then ends up being really weird when nobody remembers how everything that happens is basically his fault.

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Meh, I liked it when they all visited the stacking blobs.

Kinda depends what happens with the feather. If that goes nowhere then meh.
If it's a good plot tool mb forgiven.

 

[Cheerilee]

because the character isn't dead.

He's trapped in the coin and they even showed his death flower only partially submerged

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Yep. Viren was interrogating Runaan, and since Runaan didn't fear death, Viren needed to threaten him with something "worse than death".

Viren showed Runaan some coins, what sounded like two of them, and the sight of the coins horrified Runaan. But Runaan still wouldn't break, so Viren trapped Runaan, alive, inside of a coin.

Runaan's flower "sank", so he was presumed dead, but his flower stopped inches from the bottom of the pool, and is still displaying a hearbeat. Runaan is alive, but just barely. He's not dead, he's trapped.

Reyla's parents are the other two coins. Some sort of effort is obviously going to be made to rescue all three of them.

 

[ShortNasty]

Um what. The goal was to return the Dragon Prince and unite the humans and elves. How is that the status quo

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I'm not talking about the end of the season. After the 4 or 5th episode of season 3, the plot is evil dude in charge of the kingdom attempting to murder the core group as they get closer to reuniting the Prince and mother. It's why the last few episodes have things happen at a breakneck pace. I figure they had two other choices: have the little dude be king for an entire season, or have the bad dude win at the end of season 2. Either way, we would have had more time to learn more about the Magic kingdom place, and get to know more of the characters, and their individual backstories. Also, more time for the Older brother to learn some magic, and a better look at Claudia. As it stands, they introduced a few new characters at the expense of taking a closer look at some of the ones we already had. And so most of everyone is still a bit one-note.

 

[pargonta]

Were the first two seasons as juvenile as this and I'm just not remembering? like fart jokes and kid show level plot beats and scenarios (throw the scarf to distract the dragon before he recharges!). seems different to me. ill try and finish season 3 though

 

[icyflamez96]

Were the first two seasons as juvenile as this and I'm just not remembering? like fart jokes and kid show level plot beats and scenarios (throw the scarf to distract the dragon before he recharges!). seems different to me. ill try and finish season 3 though

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This season definitley seemed worse with the humor than I remember the previous 2 seasons being.

 

[pargonta]

This season definitley seemed worse with the humor than I remember the previous 2 seasons being.

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yeah. I think its just the writing, which has been noted in some posts. I still want to see what happens though haha

 

[jdstorm]

Is it possible for a season to be both the worst season and best season of a show so far? Cause that's how I feel about season 3

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Best and Worst. No

Best but most flawed. Yes

 

[Trejo]

I started the third season despite my better judgment after finding out that Aaron Ehasz is an asshole and umm, what the fuck is going on in episode 5? How does Ezran's plan make any sort of sense? What kind of incoherent asspull is this? Does this get explained somehow later on? Who the hell wrote this shit?

I'm legitimately baffled rn.

 

[never]

I started the third season despite my better judgment after finding out that Aaron Ehasz is an asshole and umm, what the fuck is going on in episode 5? How does Ezran's plan make any sort of sense? What kind of incoherent asspull is this? Does this get explained somehow later on? Who the hell wrote this shit?

I'm legitimately baffled rn.

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I'm guessing the idea is that's he's a 10 year old who is way over his head, but the plotting of this show is pretty contrived and weak in general.

 

[Lunar Wolf]

I'm guessing the idea is that's he's a 10 year old who is way over his head, but the plotting of this show is pretty contrived and weak in general.

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Ezran was never meant to be there in their initial story but they realized that Ezran wouldn't turn his back on his kingdom and his responsibilities. Even though they were still headed toward the same endgame, they just showed that while King Ezran would've been a virtuous king, he was still 10 and way over his head. And that lead to him getting out-plotted by everyone and then he escapes to get right back to where he was supposed to be before.

 

[Sign My Guestbook!]

Ezran was never meant to be there in their initial story but they realized that Ezran wouldn't turn his back on his kingdom and his responsibilities. Even though they were still headed toward the same endgame, they just showed that while King Ezran would've been a virtuous king, he was still 10 and way over his head. And that lead to him getting out-plotted by everyone and then he escapes to get right back to where he was supposed to be before.

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Feels like they last-second guessed themselves and it didn't turn out too well.

 

[ErrorJustin]

I guess I'm on the minority on this board -- I really likes S3. As much more more and S1 and S2.

The "Ezran returns home... lol jk the traitor Viran is king" sub-plot felt poorly thought out though. Out of character for Ez. Too quickly to reunite him with his companions, etc.

But I really liked the rest of it.

 

[Trejo]

I'm guessing the idea is that's he's a 10 year old who is way over his head, but the plotting of this show is pretty contrived and weak in general.

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I feel like there is a pretty gigantic leap in logic here that I'm supposed to simply accept at face value. I mean, to go from "I know for a fact that elves aren't evil and getting Zym back to his mom is the best course of action, also war is bad and I want to save my people" to "I know! I'll just have the obviously evil bad guy who was scheming and warmongering behind everyone's back released from jail and take my place on the throne to run things while I abdicate and sit in jail myself! Surely nothing bad will come of that!". Like, how does that train of thought come across as making even a modicum of sense to anyone with half a brain, kid or otherwise?

 

[Cheerilee]

I started the third season despite my better judgment after finding out that Aaron Ehasz is an asshole and umm, what the fuck is going on in episode 5? How does Ezran's plan make any sort of sense? What kind of incoherent asspull is this? Does this get explained somehow later on? Who the hell wrote this shit?

I'm legitimately baffled rn.

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There are kind of two answers to this question.

1: Ezran's story in season 3 was a last minute change that wasn't as well planned out as it could have been. Ezran was initially just supposed to journey with Callum and Reyla, and then the writers realized that Ezran would not have continued the journey once he found out that his father was dead and he was the new King. He would have returned home to fulfill his obligations as King. So the writers had to find a way to make him King, and then kick him out and let Viren take over again.

2: Viren forged documents in order to call together a gathering of the five Kingdoms so they could go to war with Xadia, using the asassination of the King as their excuse. Three of the Kings were willing to go with the flow (war, peace, whatever), while one refused, which swayed the others and shot down Viren's whole plan. Then Viren was arrested for impersonating a King. And Ezran arrived as King. Then there were a series of royal assassinations (ordered by Xadia, or false flags from Viren?) and at least one young new King wanted to resume Viren's war plan. Ezran refused because he knew that a peace envoy was en-route to Xadia, but hawks in Ezran's own circle arranged secret talks with Viren, and arranged to have a force of three Kingdoms march on Ezran's Kingdom with an ultimatum: Declare war on Xadia or have war declared upon you by the rest of Humanity.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Ezran stepped down in exchange for reducing the army from a conscripted one to a volunteer army. And the hawks made their move to release and reinstate Viren, and expelled all of Ezran's loyalists.

But yeah, if it was me, I wouldn't step down, I'd say "bring it". Don't allow the other three Kingdoms to push your Kingdom into a misguided war, even if that means "war for the sake of preventing war". Also, don't allow you and your neighbors shit to spill over onto your other neighbor's lawn, especially not when your other neighbor is already pissed off and your peace offering to them is in the mail. The blood of [episode 7 spoiler] is on Ezran's hands. But he's a stupid kid. His focus was on preventing/minimizing immediate casualties.

 

[never]

I guess I'm on the minority on this board -- I really likes S3. As much more more and S1 and S2.

The "Ezran returns home... lol jk the traitor Viran is king" sub-plot felt poorly thought out though. Out of character for Ez. Too quickly to reunite him with his companions, etc.

But I really liked the rest of it.

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I think I'm with you. It was my favorite season of the bunch. I see this show as a fun thing that I'm enjoying despite its pretty major flaws.

 

[Kalentan]

Ended up watching it, despite my extreme reservations about Ehasz being a fucking shitbag, but I have friends who work on the animation end.

It feels like nearly every adult is written with the same brush of "cutesy glibness." Even the elf ghost dude, they cut to him and he's laying on his front, being playful with Viren in a way that feels so out-of-character. It's either that, or they repeat the same joke of "jokey awkward character makes overenthusiastic or silly statement to other character who just goes 'uhhhh what?'" Like... that's the joke. And they do it again and again. It often feels like the only joke they have sometimes. It comes off extremely lame and trying way too fucking hard. It's one thing when it's Callum and Rayla because, hey, they're kids. But there are conversations here that just made me think of incidental dialogue in a video game once where Nolan North is just talking to another Nolan North.

End of the season just kinda ended up feeling rushed, and it's obviously not the end, and yet it still felt like it just kinda 'happened' without much build.

I laughed real hard at Rayla talking to her brother's boyfriend, and then the flashback to their moment saying goodbye. Like "oh yeah, that other character we put into the grave? He's gay too. But he is, again, dead." Great fucking job on that one. A real win for representation. I know "bury your gays" is a shitty trope, but man, this show seems to have a habit of revealing their sexuality after they've already done the burying.

Also, man, Nyx is like the most DeviantArt OC cosplayer-looking motherfucker, and it just clashes so awkwardly with the world.


And oh yeah... fuck Ehasz

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But the boyfriend isn't dead though. The entire point of showing the flower in the water still glowing was that. He's trapped by Viren but wasn't killed.

 

[NetMapel]

There are kind of two answers to this question.

1: Ezran's story in season 3 was a last minute change that wasn't as well planned out as it could have been. Ezran was initially just supposed to journey with Callum and Reyla, and then the writers realized that Ezran would not have continued the journey once he found out that his father was dead and he was the new King. He would have returned home to fulfill his obligations as King. So the writers had to find a way to make him King, and then kick him out and let Viren take over again.

2: Viren forged documents in order to call together a gathering of the five Kingdoms so they could go to war with Xadia, using the asassination of the King as their excuse. Three of the Kings were willing to go with the flow (war, peace, whatever), while one refused, which swayed the others and shot down Viren's whole plan. Then Viren was arrested for impersonating a King. And Ezran arrived as King. Then there were a series of royal assassinations (ordered by Xadia, or false flags from Viren?) and at least one young new King wanted to resume Viren's war plan. Ezran refused because he knew that a peace envoy was en-route to Xadia, but hawks in Ezran's own circle arranged secret talks with Viren, and arranged to have a force of three Kingdoms march on Ezran's Kingdom with an ultimatum: Declare war on Xadia or have war declared upon you by the rest of Humanity.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Ezran stepped down in exchange for reducing the army from a conscripted one to a volunteer army. And the hawks made their move to release and reinstate Viren, and expelled all of Ezran's loyalists.

But yeah, if it was me, I wouldn't step down, I'd say "bring it". Don't allow the other three Kingdoms to push your Kingdom into a misguided war, even if that means "war for the sake of preventing war". Also, don't allow you and your neighbors shit to spill over onto your other neighbor's lawn, especially not when your other neighbor is already pissed off and your peace offering to them is in the mail. The blood of [episode 7 spoiler] is on Ezran's hands. But he's a stupid kid. His focus was on preventing/minimizing immediate casualties.

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Ezran went from self sacrifice so people don't have to fight one another to dragon fire on the human armies a few episodes later too lmao!

 

[effingvic]

Binged this last night. I liked it though I did feel things seemed quite rushed. At the same time, I'm happy that they made it to their goal as I assumed they would blue ball us this season and just meander around Xadia until the last episode or something.

I thought Ezran's story was going well until he basically teleported to Callum and then I wasnt sure what his role was supposed to be in the story. It felt like a jarring twist and I think it would have been better if he stayed in Katolis and helped solve things from there.

The jokes were atrocious in the first few episodes but thankfully they cut out most of the corniness in the later episodes. I did roll my eyes at the pastry chef during the final episode however. Despite the sequel hooks, I feel like this was a satisfying place to stop the story should it end here.

 

[Deleted member 58368]

But the boyfriend isn't dead though. The entire point of showing the flower in the water still glowing was that. He's trapped by Viren but wasn't killed.

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It's pretty much the same principle, though. Two seasons in a row, there has been a flashback to a gay couple that has some sort of ~tragic ending~ in the present. It reeks of tokenism when both of the times this kid show features a gay kiss, it's being told in some sort of flashback before cutting back to the present where the gay couple is either dead, split up, or as good as dead for the time being. (Meanwhile, Callum and Rayla's extremely boring relationship is one of the main focuses of the season.) I know Amara and the elf lady are implied to be together this season, but I'll see about them actually following up on that in a satisfying way, especially with how underutilized Amaya is in general.

 

[Lunar Wolf]

I feel like there is a pretty gigantic leap in logic here that I'm supposed to simply accept at face value. I mean, to go from "I know for a fact that elves aren't evil and getting Zym back to his mom is the best course of action, also war is bad and I want to save my people" to "I know! I'll just have the obviously evil bad guy who was scheming and warmongering behind everyone's back released from jail and take my place on the throne to run things while I abdicate and sit in jail myself! Surely nothing bad will come of that!". Like, how does that train of thought come across as making even a modicum of sense to anyone with half a brain, kid or otherwise?

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You can handwave every nonsensical thing with Ezran being 10.

 

[Lunar Wolf]

Ezran went from self sacrifice so people don't have to fight one another to dragon fire on the human armies a few episodes later too lmao!

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Those people aren't human anymore. They seem more akin to zombies at that point.

 

[Perfect Chaos]

I like a lot of what this show is doing, but feel that it undercuts itself a lot by being constantly jokey, even during dramatic events.

I enjoyed this season a lot more than 1 and 2, though.

 

[Manbig]

This season felt like GoT Lite in the worst way. I also didn't know about the stuff with the co creator until I just came into this thread, so that just gives me more reason to drop this show and move on.

She-Ra seems to be doing everything that I wanted this show to do. Hope there's no skeletons in the closet with that show.

 

[ItRhymesWithDoom]

I felt that the sudden romance thing came from nowhere, and there are a lot of things that give me all the wrong vibes here. They used the She-Ra transformation as a joke twice, for instance, which feels like missing the show missing its own tone, if you know what I mean.

And yeah, the real world thing...

 

[Javier]

Well, after season 2 ended a month passed by when they announced the third one, I hope they announce more of them soon to see more development for the rest of the characters. I really want to see more of Amaya , Janai, Nyx, Lujanne, and more about the history of the world.

 

[Cheerilee]

I felt that the sudden romance thing came from nowhere, and there are a lot of things that give me all the wrong vibes here. They used the She-Ra transformation as a joke twice, for instance, which feels like missing the show missing its own tone, if you know what I mean.

And yeah, the real world thing...

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It was more specifically a Sailor Moon transformation (the posing, the effects, the camerawork). Callum wished to become a Magical Girl, and his dream came true.

I don't even know if the joke was out of place or if it undermined the story, I'm just glad they went for it. As a Sailor Moon fan, I laughed my ass off.

 

[icyflamez96]

I felt that the sudden romance thing came from nowhere, and there are a lot of things that give me all the wrong vibes here. They used the She-Ra transformation as a joke twice, for instance, which feels like missing the show missing its own tone, if you know what I mean.

And yeah, the real world thing...

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What real world thing? Also I'm pretty sure they've been teasing their romance since season 1? Certainly s2

Edit: Oh the harassment stuff. I was thinking of some Pokemon: I Choose You movie shit

 

[ObbyDent]

This season felt like GoT Lite in the worst way. I also didn't know about the stuff with the co creator until I just came into this thread, so that just gives me more reason to drop this show and move on.

She-Ra seems to be doing everything that I wanted this show to do. Hope there's no skeletons in the closet with that show.

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She-Ra is basically what I wanted this show to be. Both have their narrative and world building issues but She-Ra is scratching the Avatar itch far more than this show.

Biggest thing hampering Dragon Prince is the random shipping, very very few episodes per season, and utter lack of worldbuilding that isn't forced exposition due to said lack of episodes.

Dragon Prince essentially has what impacted Legend of Korra pretty heavily (lack of episodes per season compared to the story they wanted to tell) except they knew they were getting this format from the beginning and should have written accordingly.

I bet the video game they are apparently still making will never happen.

 

[PKthndr]

Just finished episode 6. While I like the characters of this show, save Callum and Viren, the world feels really lifeless. Outside of that cool Sun city everything just seems like generic fantasy land with nothing really unique or interesting. Most of the locations Callum and Rayla have been to in Xadia so far have been nothing too special. Aside from Nyx they've been met with no resistance, and they've only come across one town with people who they couldn't even talk to.

Xadia was built up as this awesome magic country with all these cool elves, and even though we're finally there, it still feels like the show is only teasing us with the cool stuff.

The plot is also generally a mess at this point with little direction. Everything with Ezran back home was completely botched, and he gets back to the others with little consequence. What was even the point of him going back in the first place? He didn't accomplish anything besides sparing Soren and Claudia.

Despite this it is enjoyable to watch. Though depending on how the end of this season shakes out I may drop it.

 

[ObbyDent]

Daily reminder that Aaron is a shitty person

 

[CortexVortex]

Despite some flaws I really enjoyed season 3. The last battle was surprisingly epic.
Now I just hope we get to see more cool magical stuff and towns in the next season.

 

[Shining Star]

The whole thing with Ezran leaving and then coming back is a huge waste of time, it raises a "why didn't the eagles just fly them to Mount Doom" problem, and then ends up being really weird when nobody remembers how everything that happens is basically his fault.

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That was all pretty awkward. The show kind of wrote itself into a corner at the end of Season 2 and really had to bend over backwards to get Viren back in power and the Ezran back to the group.

 

[Kalentan]

That was all pretty awkward. The show kind of wrote itself into a corner at the end of Season 2 and really had to bend over backwards to get Viren back in power and the Ezran back to the group.

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I don't really feel this way. Viren created those assassin's who then went to the other human kingdoms and either were successful or not. The other kingdoms, believing the assassin's to be Elves wanted revenge. However with Duren being the closest to the border they wouldn't march onto Xadia without their support. Ezran obviously wouldn't support the war. And since (AFAIK) no one knew that Viren created the assassins, only the other bad stuff he did, the one King's advisor was willing to sulk back to him because he knew that Viren would support the war as he had proclaimed before.

Ezran is still a kid after all, a kid who has had the crown thrust upon him, and so he's easily manipulated by those around him.

It's not elegant and probably could have been plotted better but I think it mostly works.

 

[King Kingo]

I absolutely love this show. Just when I think I am satisfied, they introduce new elements to entice me even more!

 

[Deleted member 24052]

I think I'm with you. It was my favorite season of the bunch. I see this show as a fun thing that I'm enjoying despite its pretty major flaws.

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Yep, also with you guys on this. I really loved Season 3, but then I also loved seasons 1-2 as well and just generally enjoy the world that is being crafted here. I'm looking forward to what's next.

 

[King Kingo]

The Dragons in this show are so dislikeable. I love it!

 

[Finaj]

The Dragons in this show are so dislikeable. I love it!

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It really reminds of certain spirits in Avatar.

 

[The Cowpuncher]

Daily reminder that Aaron is a shitty person

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Yeah I popped into the subreddit when the AMA was announced. Looked like the community there sided pretty strongly with Aaron. Not too surprising that the AMA caused some blowback on Danika

 

[TheMango55]

So what's the deal with Xadia assassinating multiple leaders of human kingdoms who had nothing to do with the death of the Dragon King?

It seems like we just brush off all the war crimes that the magical elf people are constantly committing in this show.

 

[H.Cornerstone]

So what's the deal with Xadia assassinating multiple leaders of human kingdoms who had nothing to do with the death of the Dragon King?

It seems like we just brush off all the war crimes that the magical elf people are constantly committing in this show.

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Huh? They only go after Harrow. The other kings are killed by Viren and Aaravos.

 

[TheMango55]

Huh? They only go after Harrow. The other kings are killed by Viren and Aaravos.

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I must have missed something (or forgot if it was a previous season). When did that happen and why would they think it was Xadia?

 

[Kalentan]

I must have missed something (or forgot if it was a previous season). When did that happen and why would they think it was Xadia?

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Viren, with Aaravos help, summoned like phantom assassins that looked like the Elves that attacked their Kingdom and sent them out to assassinate the Kings.