
The Barbie Fairytopia series is a trilogy of animated Barbie movies, released annually from 2005 to 2007.
Barbie Fairytopia features Elina, a fairy who gets picked on by other fairies because she is the only fairy who doesn't have wings. When an evil fairy called Laverna starts capturing the seven guardian fairies in Fairytopia, and releases a disease that affects creatures with wings, Elina decides to go find Azura, one of the guardian fairies who has not yet been captured. Along with her pet fluffball Bibble she goes on a journey to save Fairytopia.
The first sequel, Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia, takes place shortly after the events of the first movie, where Elina, who now has wings discovers that Nalu, the merman prince she met in the first movie has been captured by Laverna's henchmen because he knows the location of a berry that grants whoever eats it immunity to all magic. Teaming up with Nori, a mermaid who has a crush on Nalu, she goes on another journey to save her friend and once again save Fairytopia from Laverna.
In the second sequel, Barbie Fairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow, the guardian fairies have been told to find apprentices, and the guardian fairy Azura asks Elina to be her apprentice. Elina goes to the Crystal Palace where she, and six other fairies will be taught the flight of spring. However, Laverna is still seeking revenge...
The trilogy has a side-story in the form of Barbie: Mariposa. released in 2008. A second Mariposa movie, Barbie: Mariposa and the Fairy Princess, was released in 2013.
Tropes present in this work include:
- All Myths Are True: Elina and her friends think Laverna is a myth, but she's real.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Pixies tease Elina about being wingless.
- All There in the Manual: Tie-in books reveal that Faban is a Merrow, Shimmer is a Pigtail Pixie, and Glee is a Wood Nymph.
- All Your Powers Combined: Sunburst and all the apprentices combine their powers and use them on Elina, who is being weakened by Laverna's magic, so she can revive and defeat her with their combined magic.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The "union point" is the blue crystal Laverna uses to suck the magic from the Guardians; Elina throws Azura's necklace at it to destroy it and release all the powers, banishing her.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: In Mermaidia, the Fungi threaten to poison all of Mermaidia if Nalu doesn't help them find the immunity berry.
- Anti-Magic: In Magic of the Rainbow, Laverna creates a chamber where magic won't work and orders the Enchantress inside.
- Art Evolution: The animation quality improved between the movies, particularly in the third.
- Ascended Extra:
- Prince Nalu has a small part in the first movie, but he has a much bigger role in the sequel.
- All the guardians also get this in Magic of the Rainbow.
- Badass Adorable: Hugh the butterfly is one of the toughest characters in the series.
- Bewitched Amphibians: Laverna is turned into a toad by the True Self Berry in the ending of Mermaidia. She ends up becoming a real toad in Magic of the Rainbow upon leaving the bogs, and tricks Elina into undoing the transformation and releasing her.
- Big "NO!":
- Laverna delivers a really good one in the first film when she is about to be banished by all the released guardian magic.
- Laverna gives a shocked one in Mermadia when she realizes she was turned into a toad by the True Self Berry.
- Laverna delivers a third and final one when she is finally destroyed in Magic of the Rainbow.
- Big "YES!": Delivered by Laverna in the first movie when the guardians' magic begins to transfer to her.
- Bookends: The first movie starts with the fairies flying around the Magic Meadow and the pixies are bullying Elina. It ends with the fairies are flying around the Magic Meadow and the pixies waving to Elina with a smile and she smiles back. And then she gets her own wings.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Elina becomes this in the first film thanks to the wings Laverna gives her. She manages to snap out just in time.
- Breaking Old Trends:
- The first film is the first to have an original plot and not adapted from previous literary sources. It is also the first Barbie film to be released in the spring, breaking the annual fall release cycle of the previous films.
- Elina is the first Barbie protagonist to not have a love interest.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- When Elina and Nori get to an underwater cave full of different berries while looking for the immunity berry, one of the berries there is a berry that reveals a person's true self, which also happens to look somewhat similar to the immunity berry. Elina later tricks Laverna's henchmen by hiding the immunity berry somewhere while giving them one of the "true self" berries. Also, the "true self" berry helps Elina turn back into a fairy after she gets stuck in mermaid form.
- During magic class, Sunburst warns Elina she can't touch water because water is a weakness to Sparkle Fairies like her, which could drain all her magic if coming into contact with such. Later on, Elina looks at the water realizing Laverna put the real Sunburst in water when taking her place, and successfully saves her from underwater.
- Chekhov's Skill:
- Elina's pretty good at pitching, isn't she? She later throws Azura's necklace at the gem in Laverna's power-stripping device, breaking it.
- Also during the first Luminescence lesson in Magic of the Rainbow, Elina uses the undo spell used by Azura to undo Laverna's toad transformation and release her.
- The Chosen One: Referenced by Azura in the first movie:You know, you have the rainbow in your eyes. That's a sign you're destined for great things.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Elina has this. It gets deconstructed in the third movie, where her willingness to do everything alone has her making several mistakes that nearly doom Fairytopia.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Dahlia and Hue never reappear or are even mentioned after the first movie. The mermaids also disappear after Mermaidia, but that's more understandable.
- Color-Coded Wizardry: In Magic of the Rainbow, the apprentices' magic is colored to represent a different color in the rainbow and which guardian they're the apprentice of. Elina's magic is blue for Azura, Sunburst's is orange for Tourmaline, Linden's is yellow for Topaz, and so forth.
- Constructed World: Having three movies to tell its stories, the series has a decent amount of worldbuilding.
- Covers Always Lie: The front covers and merchandise depict Elina with flowing long hair, when in animation, she has her hair in a Prim and Proper Bun.
- Defector from Decadence: Dahlia, who used to work for Laverna and quit once she learned she was evil.
- Disability Superpower: Being wingless turns out to Elina's advantage as Laverna's poison affects flight. Since she can't fly, she is unaffected. And since she's had to walk everywhere anyway she can still travel long distances, unlike the other fairies who have relied on their wings and aren't used to walking.
- Distressed Dude: Nalu the merprince is held hostage by the Fungi in Mermaidia, to get them close to the Immunity Berry.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Max in the second movie, as Laverna can't leave the Bogs of the Hinterlands following her banishment.
- Dramatic Necklace Removal: Elina decides to reject Laverna's offer of giving her wings by throwing the necklace away, restoring power the the guardians of Fairytopia and getting rid of Laverna.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Elina gets this from Nori in the second movie and most of the Guardian apprentices in the third movie.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Elina selflessly steps up to save Fairytopia from Laverna's evil schemes and is rewarded with wings.
- Ending by Ascending: The first movie ends with Elina receiving her wings and flying on her own for the first time, and she, Bibble, Dandilion, and Hue all fly off together.
- Establishing Character Moment: In Magic of the Rainbow, each of the apprentices get one according to their personality:
- Linden is first seen helping a Tumby out.
- Lumina reads Elina's future with "doom and terror".
- Shimmer scoffs off Elina and scolds her for ruining her reading with Lumina.
- Fabian admires himself in a mirror and does not care helping Elina.
- Sunburst shows off in her dorm and shoos Elina out in disgust.
- Glee is kinder and welcoming of Elina, getting giddy and gleeful when she sees Bibble and introduces him to Dizzle, and helping them find their dorm.
- "Eureka!" Moment:
- In the first film, Elina has this when Azura snaps her out of Laverna's corruption and she realizes the crystal Laverna used to transfer the Guardians' powers to her are the "union point" and proceeds to throw Azura's necklace at it, destroying it and saving Fairytopia.
- In Mermaidia, Elina has one when she realizes the Merfairy's riddle and that Shelly is the real Delphin the Oracle who will help them save Nalu.
- In Magic of the Rainbow, Elina looks at a river and realizes water is Sunburst's weakness since she's a Sparkle Fairy, and Laverna might have trapped the real Sunburst in water.
- Everyone Can See It: Played with. Bibble teases Elina about Nalu in the first movie, and in the second movie Nori thinks Elina and Nalu are together...but Elina and Nalu really don't have romantic feelings for each other and Nalu actually likes Nori.
- Evil Plan: Laverna has one in all three movies; her ultimate goal is ruling Fairytopia.
- Fairy Tale Motifs: Hmm, a girl born out of a flower, goes on an adventure with a bunch of animals, and is rewarded with fairy wings at the end of the story. The first movie is Thumbelina without the prince. Also, notice the heroine's name is Elina.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: One of the firebirds chasing Elina and Hugh crashes into a cliff wall and explodes, scattering feathers and magic dust everywhere.
- Forced Transformation: After eating a "true self" berry (thinking it was the immunity berry) at the end of the second movie, Laverna is turned into a toad, much to her dismay. She gets turned into a real toad in the third movie after leaving the bogs, and Elina accidentally releases her with the undo spell she learned from Luminescence.
- Foreshadowing:
- While exploring the berry realm in the second film, one of the berries has the power to reveal the true self of whoever eats it. In fact, the berry was the source of getting Elina back to her fairy mode, and also defeating Laverna in the process.
- Early in the third movie, Elina meets Lumina, one of the other apprentices. Lumina has the ability to see into the future, and warns Elina that she will make a big mistake that could potentially put all of Fairytopia in danger. Later in the movie, Elina accidentally restores Laverna to her true form.
- Also in the third movie, its opening credits actually showed the 3 rituals in performing the first Blush of Spring. Magic, Luminescence, and Flance.
- Garden of Evil: In the second movie, Mermaidia, Nori and Elina travel to the Depths of Despair which is filled with hostile sea plants that try to capture nearby mermaids.
- Get Out!: Shimmer shoos Elina and Bibble out of Lumina's dorm for ruining her future reading.
- Giant Flyer: Hugh the butterfly, and the firebirds.
- Going in Circles: The Carousel of Confusion in Mermaidia, which confuses its visitors into forgetting what they're doing and going around in circles over and over; Nalu uses this to trick the Fungai into looping around the Carousel nonstop until Max catches on.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: The wings Laverna offers Elina are jagged and have a Sickly Green Glow; at the end, the wings she earns from the Enchantress are her signature baby pink, and are butterfly shaped.
- Hair Reboot: In the first film, while Elina is talking to herself about Laverna, she has undone her Prim and Proper Bun to give it a good brush. However, it only takes her a few seconds of rearranging it back to the way it was offscreen upon seeing Bibble fall asleep behind her.
- Holding Hands: In Mermaidia, Nalu reveals his feelings for Nori by grabbing for her hand, which catches her by surprise since she thought he liked Elina.
- Hostage for MacGuffin: Happens in the second movie, where Fungus threatens to poison Mermaidia if they don't hand over the berry.
- Hypnotize the Captive: Happens to Elina when Laverna gives her wings and tells her We Can Rule Together, prompting her to give Azura her necklace and carry out the plan. She finally snaps out when Azura reminds her of what she's facing.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Done by Azura when Elina is Brainwashed and Crazy and reminds her of "the friends she hadn't met". This snaps her out.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Laverna's deception in the third movie is unraveled when she says the toad limped, something Sunburst wouldn't know.
- Interrogation by Vandalism: A variation in Mermaidia; Max forces Nalu into guiding the Fungi to the Immunity Berry by infecting the pools in Crystal Cove with poison, threatening it to overflow Mermaidia if he does not agree.
- Kill and Replace: In the third movie, Laverna captures Sunburst and takes her place.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The second and third movies reveal that Elina gets her wings.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: In the first movie, Elina tells Bibble to stay behind with Hue while she finds Dahlia alone. Surprisingly, nothing bad happens... until she does it again by going to face Laverna alone.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: Elina does almost everything by herself in the first two movies; this is lampshaded by Dandelion in the third and ultimately subverted, as the fairies must work together to defeat Laverna.
- Meaningful Name:
- Bibble the puffball is always babbling nonsense.
- Dandelion has a yellow dress and wings like a dandelion, while Azura's are mostly azure blue.
- The Guardians are named after the stone they represent; Ruby, Amethyst, Topaz, and so forth.
- Hue comes from a shading or variation of a specific color.
- Sunburst is mostly orange and yellow and has sun based powers.
- Lumina is a future-reading moon fairy.
- Glee is always gleeful and caring.
- Mermanity Ensues: Elina undergoes this in Mermaidia, using a magic pearl necklace to trade her wings for a mermaid tail to save Nalu.
- Mirror Reveal: In Mermaidia after Laverna is transformed into a toad by eating the true self berry instead of the intended immunity berry, she is unaware of her transformation until she gets a look at her reflection in the water.
- The Mirror Shows Your True Self: In Magic of the Rainbow when "Sunburst" is shown lounging in her dorm midway through the movie, she sits up and her mirror reflection shows Laverna, revealing she's disguised as her.
- Missed Him by That Much: In Mermadia, Elina almost swims into the Carousel of Confusion and backtracks...and that just happened to be where Nalu and the Fungi are currently.
- Mistaken for Name: In Magic of the Rainbow, Elina is looking for her room in the Fairy School. She asks Fabian, who assumes she wants his autograph. When she says that she's just looking for her room, he writes her an autograph addressed to "Just Looki Formiroom".
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: In the third movie, Laverna shows up in her toad form, claiming that she was injured by an evil fairy. Not realizing that it is actually Laverna, Elina tries using a spell that Azura used earlier in the movie to heal the toad, and ends up restoring Laverna to her true form.
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between: The apprentices Elina meets in Magic of the Rainbow, Glee and Linden (nice), Sunburst and Shimmer (mean), and Lumina and Fabian (in-between).
- "Not So Different" Remark: Laverna claims she and Elina are alike in the first movie, using this to try and win her over.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: In the third movie, Laverna turns Max into a duplicate of her toad self. This actually comes in handy for him, as he uses toad venom to poison the Guardian Fairies.
- Odd Name Out: All the named guardians except for Azura are named after gemstones. (Ruby, Tourmaline, Topaz, and Amethyst.)
- Oh, Crap!:
- Max in "Mermaidia" becomes shocked to see that the berry he brought to Laverna turned her into a toad and realizing his mistake, quietly tried to sneak away. Not that Laverna lets him.
- Elina's reaction in Magic of the Rainbow when she realizes "Sunburst" is Laverna in disguise.
- OOC Is Serious Business: Elina realizes Sunburst isn't herself because she was acting nice to her.
- Orbital Shot: In the second film, Elina has this as she is transforming into a mermaid.
- Out-of-Character Alert: In Magic of the Rainbow, Elina is puzzled when Sunburst is suddenly being nice to her when the real Sunburst bullied her, but immediately assumes that Sunburst became nicer due to the current situation. Turns out, this "Sunburst" is Laverna in disguise.
- Pimped-Out Dress: The fairies wear flower themed dresses.
- Plot Hole: In the second film, Nori and Elina have to choose between two paths, up or down, to find Prince Nalu. Elina wants to go up because Nalu appeared to be out of the water. Nori says that she recognized the location - it's simply an extremely brightly-lit area under the water. So they go Nori's route, which turns out to be correct... however, it's above-water, just like Elina said.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: In the first movie, after Azura manages to break Elina out of Laverna's control and she realizes the blue crystal is the union point, she gives one heck of a liner before throwing Azura's necklace at it to release the magic and banish Laverna.Elina: I don't need your wings, Laverna!
- Race Against the Clock: In the second film, Elina has until all the pearls on her necklace turn white to be out of the water by then so she'll be a fairy again, or she'll be a mermaid forever.
- Rainbow Motif: The seven guardians are the seven rainbow colors, Elina has the rainbow in her eyes, and in the third movie she gains beautiful rainbow wings.
- Reactive Continuous Scream: Bibble and a sea butterfly have one in the beginning of Mermaidia after Elina accidentally startles her, with Dandelion briefly joining in.
- Red Herring: The Merfairy's riddle to find an oracle named Delphin leads Elina and Nori to a snail guide named Shelly, whose shell opens up to reveal a Merfairy they assumed to be Delphin at first but doesn't seem as serious as the other Merfairies. Then Elina realizes the meaning behind the riddle and concludes that Shelly is Delphin.
- Rhymes on a Dime: The Happy Trolls speak in rhyme.
- Rock Theme Naming: The seven Fairy Guardians are all named after gemstones: Topaz, Azura, Ruby, Tourmaline, Sapphire, Amythest and Emerald. In addition to these gems corresponding to the seven traditional colours of the rainbow (with each Guardian representing a colour), they also have matching gemstone necklaces that are linked to their powers.
- Sadistic Choice: In the second film, when Elina makes it to the surface with the "immunity berry" before the necklace that turned her into a mermaid becomes completely white, Max gives her the choice of either giving him the berry, or he'll poison Mermaidia. Ultimately, she gives him the berry, but that doesn't stop him from not doing the second.
- Self-Deprecation: Elina does this in the first movie due to not having wings.
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: In the second movie, Elina is told that she needs to trade her wings for a mermaid tail if she wants to be strong enough to swim through some currents, but Elina doesn't want to give up her wings as she hasn't had them for long. She is given a necklace that can allow her to become a mermaid, but if she doesn't make it out of the water by the time the magic in the necklace runs out, she will be stuck in mermaid form forever.
- Shifting Sand Land: Laverna's lair is in a desert.
- Ship Tease:
- The first movie teases Elina/Nalu, other second movie has Elina insisting that she and Nalu are just friends.
- In Magic of the Rainbow, Elina and fellow apprentice Linden get some mild teasing.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Bibble is captured before the most serious scene of the first movie.
- Sickly Green Glow: Laverna's magic is this color, as are the wings she creates for Elina.
- Spanner in the Works: Laverna's plan in the first film would've gone well had it not been for Elina not having wings and walking everywhere, which led to Elina being the one to defeat Laverna again and again.
- Speaking Simlish: Bibble and other puffballs speak in a strange language.
- Training Montage: Magic of the Rainbow has one where the Enchantress trains the apprentices personally in the guardians' absence, to prepare them in time for the Flight of Spring.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Ads for every film completely spoil what happens near the end, such as Elina getting her wings, her turning back into her fairy form, and her new rainbow appearance.
- Transformation Discretion Shot: In "Mermaidia", when Laverna eats the true self berry (believing it to be a immunity berry), she immediately transforms into a toad, with only her shadow being visible at the moment of the transformation.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue: In the second film, this occurs when Elina learns the legend of Delphin:Yellow Merfairy: You want to find Delphin, it's not hard to do.Talk to the fairy guide, and listen well, too.[Cuts to Elina underwater.]Elina: Delphin has a secret, which from you shall hide.The shell matters not, best heed what's inside.
- Uncertain Doom: Laverna's third defeat in Magic of the Rainbow, it's unknown if she was destroyed by the combined magic of the apprentices or re-banished and is still alive. The "Rainbow Adventure" DVD game implies the latter, as the game kicks off with Elina saying Laverna stole the rainbow gems from the Crystal Crown.
- Vocal Dissonance: Hue the butterfly has a deep voice.
- Voice Changeling: Laverna can perfectly imitate Sunburst's voice when she disguises herself as her.
- Water Is Air: Mermaidia takes place primarily underwater and zig-zags this. On one hand, the problem of land creatures spending extended time under the surface is resolved via a magical seaweed that lets you breathe underwater, people don't just swim along the sea floor unless they need to, and there's a plot point where Elina must magically trade her wings for a mermaid tail because her fairy body isn't strong enough to swim for long periods, in particular struggling to keep up with Nori. On the other hand, it's too bright in the deeper parts of the sea (although that could be excused via Rule of Perception). No one's hair or loose clothing floats either, though that's likely due to the limitations of the animation (both technological and budgetary).
- We Can Rule Together: Near the end of the first movie, Laverna tries to get Elina on her side by hypnotizing her and offering to give her wings if Elina puts Azura's necklace back around Azura's neck so she can obtain the powers of all the guardian fairies. Luckily, Azura manages to help Elina snap out of it and shortly afterward, Elina realizes the location of the weak point on the magical crystal Laverna is using to drain the guardian fairies of their powers.
- What You Are in the Dark: When Linden notices Sunburst (actually Laverna in disguise) being nice to Elina after she accidentally released Laverna, he assumes that she has a nice side after all.Linden: (about "Sunburst") Woah. I guess disaster brings out the best in her.
Trust your true self.
Together we're strong.
