LoliRock is a French animated television series produced by Marathon Media and Zodiak Kids with the participation of France Télévisions and The Walt Disney Company France. It was created by Jean Louis-Vandestoc along with David Michel and written by Madellaine Paxson. It first aired in France on 18 October 2014 on France 3, and has expanded to television channels in Europe.
A unique take on magical girls, the series focuses on a group of teenagers who live double lives as both idol singers and princesses, the latter of whom uses magical powers to fight against an ever growing threat.
The series gained a cult following worldwide.
Plot Iris is a teenage girl who loves to sing and help others. However, when she sings, strange things happen. Encouraged by her best friend/crush Nathaniel, Iris auditions for a girl group, but ends up destroying the room and is later attacked by two strangers (magical twins Praxina and Mephisto). The judges at the audition, Princess Talia and Princess Auriana, come to help her and they explain to her that she is a princess herself with mighty magical powers who must save her home world and kingdom of Ephedia, from the evil clutches of Lord Gramorr, who has taken it over and turned it to a miserable place. The only way to save her kingdom is to master her new powers and to find the twelve Oracle Gems of the Crown of Ephedia, which have been scattered across the Earth. Throughout the series, the three girls try to live as both ordinary teenagers as well as stars of the all-female band called LoliRock while training Princess Iris to master her growing magical abilities and spells in secret, and gathering the thirteen mystical oracle gems. But when Gramorr sends Praxina and Mephisto to also find the Oracle Gems while making attempts to destroy the LoliRock with their monsters.
In season two, the group is joined by two other Ephedian princesses named Carissa and Lyna who were part of the planet's resistance, with Talia's elder sister Izira as the leader. They also transform into magical warrior princesses but are not part of the music group. The girls continue gathering Oracle Gems while helping those in need, but Lord Gramorr and the Twins continue to get much stronger and more dangerous as well.
When the last oracle gem is collected, Iris faces the reality of having to say goodbye to Earth, particularly Nathaniel, and returning to Ephedia to be reunited with her parents, the king and queen. But when Lord Gramorr claims the final gem and is released to unleash his destructive wrath on all of Ephedia, the girls work together to face him in one final battle. A highly evolved Princess Iris (who has called upon her stronger Shanila form) destroys Lord Gramorr, whose pet black panther Banes abandons him to his death. Banes later approaches Praxina, embittered over Mephisto sacrificing himself to protect her, and gives her what remained of Gramorr's mask so they enact revenge on LoliRock by attacking Earth, forcing LoliRock to return to Earth to undermine their criminal activities under the guidance of Iris' freed parents.
Episodes
Characters
(voiced by Kazumi Evans) – The lead singer of LoliRock, Iris is a 15-year-old girl living in Sunny Bay; she has wavy blonde hair, fair skin, light blue eyes, pink lips and freckles. She is kind-hearted, selfless and willing to help everyone. Her singing seems to enchant everything around her; this power is coveted by Gramorr. She has a crush on her childhood friend, Nathaniel. After she meets Talia and Auriana, she discovers that she is the crown princess of Ephedia, a magical kingdom, and her duty is to find all the Oracle Gems of the Royal Crown and to reclaim the throne of all of Ephedia. When she transforms using a pink heart-shaped pendant, her hair turns bright rose pink and her clothes turn pink, and she has a heart symbol and a four-pointed star symbol. On Tumblr, the series' producers have stated that she has two symbols because she is of the royal family which rules the entire planet and are of a higher royal status than the other five realms of Xeris, Volta, Calix, and Borealis. Character designer Bertrand Todesco initially considered Iris as having dark hair that would change to blonde in the transformation, but found that to be a cliché. Iris was based on actress Taylor Momsen from Gossip Girl, and her wardrobe was based on a picture of Blake Lively, also from Gossip Girl, in a green dress, as well as pop and girly colors like those of Katy Perry and Pixie Lott. (voiced by Ashleigh Ball) – She sings backup vocals and plays the keytar and sometimes guitar in LoliRock. She has long dark brown hair with straight bangs, dark skin, and amber eyes. She is serious, aloof, and intelligent. As the second princess of Xeris, she was imprisoned by Gramorr before going on the search for the princess of Ephedia with the help of Auriana. Her transformation item is a bracelet; her hair turns light blue and her clothes become blue. Her symbol is the diamond. Talia's character references were French fashion blogger Betty Autier and her wardrobe, Amber Stevens West's portrayal of Ashleigh Owens in the TV series Greek, and singers Keri Hilson and Alicia Keys. (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) – She sings backup vocals and plays tambourine in LoliRock. She has waist-length cherry red hair styled in a ponytail, tan skin, and green eyes. She is bubbly, optimistic, boy-crazy, and a bit air-headed, but a reliable friend. She is the princess of Volta. Her transformation item is a ring; her hair and clothes turn bright orange, and she sports a longer ponytail. Her symbol is a Crescent moon. Todesco wrote that during the show's development, Auriana was originally going to be named Aurora and that he had pictured her as a black girl with a huge volume of hair. He wrote that Auriana was "all the other cool things I like and I couldn't put on Iris and/or Talia." Auriana's character references were Blair Waldorf (played by Leighton Meester) from Gossip Girl and Cat Valentine (played by Ariana Grande) from the teen sitcom Victorious. He said that the name choice was a coincidence. (vocalisations by Tabitha St. Germain) – A purple and white furry creature with dark blue hair and a fluffy little tail. He has the ability to transform into a winged horse and to transport the princesses and their enemies to a special arena to allow the princesses to fight evil away from any civilians. Todesco created Amaru out of the magical girl concept of having pets such as with Sailor Moon having a cat, and that Amaru would be able to transform into a keyring plush on her bag. (voiced by Mackenzie Gray) – The Grand Wizard of Chaos who is the series' main antagonist. He has green-blond waist-length hair and purple eyes, wears a crown as well as a mask that covers his eyes, nose and mouth entirely. After betraying the king and queen, Gramorr has taken control of Ephedia. However, to gain total control of the kingdom, he must have the royal crown, which is protected by a spell. He is thus unable to leave the castle area and must rely on Praxina and Mephisto to do his work. He has a black panther minion named Banes, which is described by the production Tumblr as the anti-Amaru, and was created to give Gramorr more presence. In early promotions for the series, Gramorr was named Gromar and he was depicted as Iris's evil uncle who imprisoned the king and queen, and had sent his two evil twin nephews to Earth to thwart LoliRock and take the gems, but the idea was scrapped as it would have made him more of a stereotype. (voiced by Kelly Sheridan) – She has long burgundy-colored hair that typically covers one of her eyes. She loves to belittle people, especially her enemies and her fraternal twin brother Mephisto, the latter of whom she reminds that she was born earlier. She has a very affirmed personality and often bosses her brother around. Her theme colour is red. Her attacks tend to be demonstrations of raw power with explosions and large summoned monsters. In early concepts of the series, Praxina and Mephisto were considered the two evil twin nephews of Lord Gramorr. Todesco began designing the twins on Halloween 2011 and originally designed Praxina dressed in black-and-white with a X symbol in her eyes. His character designer partner Benedicte Claravino went with a night butterfly/moth concept, with a bun hairstyle that extended to long twin tails. Her eyes became butterflies instead of X's, of which the butterfly brooch stayed with around. Her design was originally approved, but then the producers thought she looked too scary, so Todesco and Benedicte redrew her and came out with a more suitable design. The production Tumblr describes Praxina as an "anti-Iris", so she was given two symbols: lightning for her magic, and butterflies for herself. (voiced by Vincent Tong) – He and his fraternal twin sister Praxina are sent to Earth by Gramorr to prevent the princesses from thwarting his master's plans at any price. He has short burgundy-coloured hair. He enjoys destroying things, but sometimes acts cheesy, incompetent, and has a short attention span. His theme colour is green. Of the two, Mephisto prefers elaborate spells and tricks and bragging about how he's a genius. He originally had a black-and-white motif along with + symbols in his eyes. Like Praxina, he had a butterfly motif, but it was rejected. Director Jean-Louis Vandestoc then suggested a snake symbol and a half-hidden face. Mephisto's design was eventually approved without the hidden face part. (voiced by Matt Ellis) – Iris's childhood best friend. He has short cocoa-brown spiky hair. He knows Iris at heart, and often encourages her with kindness and a little humor. He and Iris harbour crushes on each other. Nathaniel works at the smoothie shop the girls frequent. In early promotions for the series back in 2013, Senior VP Patricia de Wilde described Nathaniel with the later scrapped concept of him already being Iris's boyfriend as well as the only outsider that would know of the band's secret.
(voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) – Iris's adoptive guardian, who has taken care of her since she was a baby. She is a cheerful lady who likes to take care of her garden. In the start of the series, she takes in Talia and Auriana as exchange students. In the season 2 episode "Truth Be Told", it is revealed that her real name is Lady Ellira, an Ephedian warrior and bodyguard to Iris's parents, the king and queen, who is tasked with raising their infant daughter and protecting her on Earth from Lord Gramorr. (voiced by James Kirk) – He has blond hair and typically wears a brown fedora with a pink band. He debuts in episode 13, "Batty". He is LoliRock's number-one fan and writes a blog about them, gushing over different things and happenings about them. Doug can be gullible sometimes due to his innocence. (voiced by Ashleigh Ball) – Iris's childhood rival who debuts in episode 2 "Flower Power". She has greyish-black hair and yellow-green eyes. As the daughter of the mayor of Sunny Bay, she acts spoiled and vain. When asked whether Missy was based on the rival character Mandy from Totally Spies!, the production Tumblr wrote that Missy was not based on her, even though she looks like her. They wanted a character that would be a love rival and a pest, and went with a brunette hair colour to contrast Iris being a blonde, calling it a "classic trope".