Mysticons Concludes in the Age of Dragons

It's barely been over a year since I reviewed "Sisters in Arms," the series premiere of Mysticons, and we've already arrived at the show's short-lived finale. They've been dropping like flies lately, haven't they? Sofia the First just ended last week, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is on its final run next month along with several other popular shows. Many of my favorite television series in the past have only lasted for two seasons, but they usually take some time in between for the writers to figure out where the story will go next. That, unfortunately, was not the case for Mysticons. It jumped through two seasons containing a total of forty episodes with virtually no downtime in between, leading up to this weekend's series finale "The Age of Dragons." Before I start, I feel obliged to apologize that this review is coming out a bit later than I had hoped as Nickelodeon has always been very inconsistent when it comes to updating shows on their app, and I ended up finding the episode on Amazon instead.

Even though Mysticons started out with a strong pilot, it has had somewhat uneven pacing from the second episode onward. There are certain important emotional moments that get skipped right over, such as Malvaron asking Arkayna on a date, Emerald and Kasey's relationship switching from Em pursuing Casey to Casey pursing Em, Gawayne learning that Zarya is his new stepsister, Drake City's reaction to learning the identities of the Mysticons, and, most importantly of all, Queen Goodfey confronting Zarya for the first time upon learning that she was her long-lost forgotten daughter. All of these scenarios would appeal primarily to a female audience because they are purely emotional moments unlike the show's many action sequences, which have a wider appeal due to boys liking action and girls still relating to the all-female main cast. The reason for this focal shift, of course, hearkens back the show's origins, in which it was originally created about a group of male action heroes and was targeted toward boys. The shift in the series' direction when the cast was gender-swapped created the struggle of balance between action and emotion. They wanted it to be an action show, but one that was female-oriented, hence the inclusion of princesses. Yet, if they made it too feminine, it would lose sight of its roots. I do admit that the weaponized style fihgint is at least a refreshing shift from some of the confusing sparkly "attacks" that you normally see in Magical Girl shows that have no intention of attracting an action-seeking male audience.

Of the last set of episodes that have aired, my personal favorite was "Eternal Starshine of the Mage's Mind" because that was the only one that did not seem to shy away from or skip over the more emotional moments. It also provided some terrific closure for Proxima, who was almost a princess but wound up getting screwed over by some trick writing and then turning evil for a while as a direct result. In my opinion, Proxima had the best character arc on the show because it was so easy to relate to her loneliness and feelings of being unappreciated by her peers. I also loved that Arkayna admitted for the first time in that episode that she had a tendency be selfish and inconsiderate of others without always being aware of it. Even though she had a good excuse to act that way due to her tragic loss, she doesn't always set the best example for a modern princess. It was nice to see her finally put her differences aside and make up with Proxima, who was more than deserving of it. I was also glad to see Proxima fight off the mask of the Spectral Hand, as evil was never a good color on her. Mallory of the Vexicons was far more suited for the mask than Proxima ever was.

The series finale, "Age of Dragons," saw some sibling rivalry for the first time between Arkayna and her newly discovered twin sister but long-time friend, Zarya. It was great that the king and queen got their bodies restored before the series was canceled because no one wanted to see it end in a world where Gawayne would stay king! Arkayna was understandably jealous of the attention that her mother gave Zarya, but I still missed seeing Queen Goodfey's reaction the moment when she first learned that she had another daughter who she forgot about because of a spell. Moments that got glossed over such as this one are what prevented Mysticons from being a great show instead of just a good one. I was still pleased overall with the conclusion of the royal Goodfey women's story, as they will now have the rest of their lives to form a healthy family dynamic. However, I feel that Arkayna and Gawayne displayed very little growth over the course of the show as Drake City's future rulers. Zarya's character arc was marginally better, thanks to her morality struggle as a former sky pirate.

When I tweeted series creator Sean Jara about ending the show, he felt that it was a shame because they were "just getting started." It's true that there were several characters' backstories that remained unexplored, such as Malvaron's history with his evil sister Tasma, and the details of Piper's past and future. When the series began, she was my favorite Mysticon, but she became more of a comic relief than a main character as we spent more time learning about Arkayna, Zarya, and Emerald's families. At this point, I would have to say that Proxima was probably my favorite character in the show because her story felt the most complete. Even though the pacing was uneven at times, it was still a fun ride, and I'm glad I got to go on it. The final episode of Mysticons wrapped up cleanly enough to be satisfying while at the same time remaining open to future adventures, many of which are being continued in novel form. Long live the Mysticons!