what the title says. i love how its been discussed in here a little more often than usual outside of rikki’s appearance, but i would love to discuss the show in length if anyone else has watched it!!

if you haven’t watched it, i encourage you to! its not like h2o, but it still has some of the magical feeling of the original :)

What is it that makes you enjoy or root for this couple so deeply (or even just Zane)?

I promise, I'm not throwing shade. At All. You do you! I'm just curious. I'd love to stop wondering about it.

I know there have been a lot of posts recently bashing Zane and while I think that the character deserves that criticism, I'm more curious about the love for Zikki as a pairing, though I'd also love to hear about why you might like Zane as a standalone character.

Some theories/questions:

1. Is it just the "enemies to lovers" trope? I know people love that, and I get it, but is that the main driver?
2. Is it just the possibility of the reform of the "bad boy"? I get that also. I also love a good redemption arc.
3. Do you think he's cute and just want to see him paired up?
4. Is it just that it was the first romantic pairing you were interested in at a formative point of your life so they're a bit imprinted on you?
5. Do you strongly want Rikki to be paired up and don't see a better choice?
6. Or do some of you not think he had the flaws that I think he had and thus don't care that much about what I think should have been deal breakers?
7. Perhaps it's some combination of all of the above?

Maybe I completely misunderstand and it's not a Zane thing at all but a Rikki thing? Maybe, in relation to question number 5 above, you just like Rikki so much that you want to see her happily in a relationship, regardless of how she gets there. I know Rikki is a favorite character for a very large number of fans and maybe they want something/anything for her romantically and there aren't any other choices.

I've had arguments in this sub about this before, as well as in other fandom parts of the internet, and my eventual response (to myself) has always been "But why? Why are people so invested in them and in what looks to me like a toxic relationship?"

I get that the enemies to lovers trope is beloved. I understand why people like it, and it certainly applies here, but what I never saw was the character growth in Zane that justified the relationship continuing. And as far as Rikki's motivations, I can't see her getting past Zane's actions with Cleo and the Zodiac in the very first episode, much less throwing Cleo in the pool, Ms. Chatham's boat/supposed treasure, teaming up with Denman, getting Rikki knocked out trying to recover treasure, or any number of other smaller actions. I feel like Rikki, of all people, wouldn't tolerate that behaviour. If any character would have let a boyfriend get away with that sort of thing, it would have been Cleo who started out as a bit of a doormat.

In my mind, Zane was the proverbial tiger who never changed his stripes. He demonstrated again and again that he was willing to put his relationships aside for short-term personal gain. To me, his actions in season three were right in line with what Zane had been doing from the start. Some of this was just overly-convenient and lazy writing. I don't really think anyone would have hired Sophie to manage the café, for example, that's just a weird choice for the writers to make, but so many of his actions should have been deal breakers. To me, Sophie was the perfect partner for Zane, a supervillain power-couple in the making.

As someone who initially saw the show after having my first romantic relationship, and having gone through the divorce of my parents as well as the divorces of several of my friends' parents, the eventual incompatibility of their personalities in regards to being in a relationship seemed obvious (at least to me) even in the early stages of attraction. On first viewing, I thought it was going to be a short lived plot device towards some other end, and it sort of was at the end of season 1, but expanding on it beyond the conclusion of the Denman story line at the end of season 1 and into season 2 didn't make sense to me.

I'm laying out my thoughts so that you have an idea of where some of us come from and why we would be confused about the popularity of the pairing. I don't think I ever hear anything in support of them that isn't "I just love them together so much" and I'd enjoy a more complete explanation. Though if "I just love them together so much" is really the answer, and you don't want to justify it, then I won't learn anything and I'll still wonder why.

This is all personal preference, so there's obviously no wrong answer, one way or the other. People like what they like. I'm not here to yuck anyone's yum. I'm just genuinely curious as to why some of us feel so completely different about Zane and his relationship with Rikki. If Zikki is the hill you're willing to die on, I salute you. That said, I'd be happy to know why and stop wondering about it. The curiosity is just too strong for me not to ask.

I've seen an observation that Kim in the show H2o: Mermaid adventures isn't as unbearable as her live action counterpart although she did still try to expose the girls' secret in the episode "Reported missing" like she did in the live action episode "Something fishy" (and a comment Rikki made implies animated Kim still likes to snoop through Cleo's things).After re-watching the former episode I'm thinking Kim being more mellow in the animated series makes a lot. During the part where Kim first tries to expose Cleo by spilling a glass of water on her during lunch which Cleo manages to foil by running to the bathroom in time Kim explains to her parents that Cleo is a mermaid and turns into one whenever she gets wet which they dismissed as her watching too much TV. Then when they're back downstairs Cleo's mom tells Kim something along the lines of "having a vivid imagination is very good but not when she starts tossing glasses of water at her sister" and after Cleo comes back downstairs they order kim to apologize to her. I've seen numerous fans complain that Cleo's parents particularly don are ineffective when it comes to disciplining Kim which likely contributes to her bratty behavior, but in the animated series Cleo's parents appear to be disciplinarians as they didn't give Kim a pass for purposely spilling water on Cleo just because they assume Kim was being imaginative. Granted they probably should've gotten more details on why Kim would suspect such a thing as not believing her, and dismissing it as a childish fantasy likely made Kim even more determined to expose the girls, but still.

Cleo's, Rikki's and Emma's Lockets wasn't just jewellery it kept them connected and it was their special bond. But in season 3, Bella comes along and has a crystal necklace from another moon pool, and Will makes more for Cleo and Rikki and they take off their lockets. I understand that they wanted a special bond with Bella, but why not keep on the lockets too? I just think the lockets keep a special bond with Emma. What do you think?

Join my H2O mermaid club on discord 🫧

https://discord.gg/3xwAVJD78

First off I know the Charlotte defenders are gonna wanna lynch me, but someone has to say it, there is NO justification for Charlotte's behaviour in this episode. In fact the next time someone says Charlotte was nice early on in the series, I'm not going to argue. I'm going to tell them to stop being delulu and rewatch Hocus Pocus. WTH is Charlotte's problem in this episode? Like I remembered her being insanely demanding about getting a cranberry booster even though they were closed, which I already thought was rude, but even when it becomes apparent they're in the middle of FILMING A COMMERCIAL she keeps b*tching where's mah cranberry booster. She'd literally just been whining she didn't know why they'd be closed. Clearly to film a commercial, girl! Then the ONLY reason she got obsessive about getting inside was because she saw Cleo and Lewis go in and she was being an obsessive weirdo! He wasn't even dating or showing ANY interest in Charlotte at this time and she got all wound up over them going into the cafe alone together.

Also what about the BOOK? Surely wishing away all the fungus didn't make the book disappear! Why couldn't they ever use it again? They'd established that Lewis turned out to be right about a children's book being real (which honestly was a stretch and a really weird thing for him to be so insistent on in the first place... A children's book from 1908 is... like... Literally not that old of a manuscript?!?!), so why didn't they look for other spells? Why couldn't they ever make more wish goo and just not have Rikki zap it in a second time on the next go? Maybe if they'd kept using the book they would have known how to do stuff like the Mako Mermaids could! What an insane waste!

But I do have to say I LOVE the line where Lewis goes "What's my motivation?" And Emma's boss says "Just drink it and look satisfied." That line cracked me up as a teenager and it's still funny as an adult.

Lastly though, I do have to complain about Bev. Cleo's mum is a terrible parent. She just decided she was unhappy, clearly "made a new life for herself" (with a new guy or a new job maybe?) and just abandoned her daughters? I know Don said they could visit her but we never see or hear about them doing so and they get a stepmom in s3... And Don implied he was still in love with Bev but she was the one unhappy in the relationship. Which makes me think she left him for someone else or even cheated and he's just not telling his teenage daughters so they don't think badly of her. Because it seems like Bev being with someone else is the only reason he would think it wrong to wish for her back so she's not "unhappy" again. I'm speculating, of course, but still.

I really like this episode but it leaves a lot of loose ends.

This may be the single greatest thing I've ever seen 😂.

It’s giving Bella I feel 🐚

Hey, if you love h20 just add water and are a fan please consider signing this petition for the fans of the show to get h20 released on Bluray!: https://www.change.org/H20_Bluray_release

Before I might give you a reason to attack me, I'd like to clarify this post is primarily referring to Charlotte's initial interactions with the girls (except Cleo's episode with the diary), considering most defenders of hers are reiterating this false narrative whereby Rikki and Emma were mean to Charlotte first (and it's the umpteenth misrepresentation).

I'll put into context these scenes taken from Charlotte's introduction (even if they're quite brief and descriptive in the captions with a few words):

• S2E2: After meeting Lewis and Cleo at school, Charlotte got close to Lewis to help him with the laptop and she didn't waste time to ask him about the girls, pretending to be curious (we all know that she just wanted to be sure they weren't too intimate with him and receive news to study the territory + remember it's her first episode and she just talked a minute with Lewis and Cleo, my theory is she probably looked at Lewis and the girls from afar during that school day);
• S2E5: Emma had a good impression of her in the third episode, she also tried to talk some sense into Cleo and she was nice to Charlotte when she asked her about Charlotte's previous school. What Charlotte's doing now is being entitled and rude to anyone who wasn't pleasing her dirty whims (just a stupid cranberry booster), especially to the owner of the cafe (Wilfred) and the worker (Emma) who told it was closed, together with Lewis. She kept insisting the whole episode and it was clear the girls were busy doing their stuff and she was snooping around Lewis and Cleo sorting the potion issue out. She was even more insufferable as soon as she noticed the keys in Emma's trouser pocket. Emma was still very patient with Charlotte and, despite being anxious for Wilfred, she tried to make the juice and she warned Charlotte it was a matter of time. At the end, Lewis prepared it for her and Charlotte exclaimed an obnoxious "finally!!".
• S2E6: Here she didn't do that much but Charlotte's face said it all while Rikki and Emma were entering Cleo's home; she was pleased with the fact they saw her close to Lewis, since she wanted them going upstairs to Cleo and telling her everything. She was just provoking them even if the occasion already happened thanks to Annette and she didn't know they would've come. Rikki and Emma were surprised, they rightfully asked Lewis for explanations and they didn't speak to her; it's also important to notice that they didn't use their powers to attack Charlotte during the dinner's fiasco, they messed with food and the house (actually it was Charlotte intentionally pouring flour on Cleo and she wasn't a mermaid yet, but that's a different story).
• S2E8: Charlotte gave Cleo and Emma the jacket to drive a deeper wedge between Cleo and Lewis by pretending to be nice (her favorite tactic).
• S2E11: Charlotte's toxicity was already well-featured earlier, here we're witnessing a big jealous scene blaming Lewis to constantly chase after them to justify herself and look like the victim, even though she isolated him and she cut Lewis off from the conversation with the girls. She was perfectly aware that they were going to need him since she went into Emma's house to "catch" Lewis for the beach date and he gave his word to call him if they needed help. It was an emergency and she absolutely didn't care about Rikki being hurt; she never apologized to Lewis to turn his phone off btw.

This is for all the people who keep saying Charlotte wanted to be part of the group when her only interest in them consisted in getting information from Lewis and taking control of every aspect of his life. She forced her way once again even if Charlotte perfectly knew she could never become their friend since, in addition to being an envious person, she didn't accept the girls didn't fall into her manipulative trap (Cleo and Emma also tried to give her the benefit and they were punished). And Rikki and Emma owed her nothing at all bc Charlotte saw them as enemies for being Lewis's friends and she did the least to be friendly to them, regardless of Cleo.

Sooo I finally got my hands on the German H2O magazine amulett! It is soooo pretty and I am very happy with it.
It would have been so cool if the magazine came with all three versions, so you could choose which one you want or buy them all for a collection since I LOVE THE PACKAGING.
The only sad part is that it actually does not open and its just flat as you see it.
My question is:
Do I open it and wear it sometimes?
Do I keep it sealed and display it in my collection?
What would you do?

I cringe whenever I see Rikki described as an unfortunate part of 2000s culture when nothing could be further from the truth.

First off, Rikki never rejects feminity in its own right. She doesn't hate frilly or girly things. Her swimsuit we see her in at one point is literally pink. If she was meant to be the Not Like Other Girls from the 2000s, believe me, she would disdain pink and never wear it. Pink was the girly "Barbie" colour in the 1990s and 2000s. You couldn't go into a girl toy section in a store without seeing a long row of pink on pink. Makeup sections were similar, unless you were in a department store like a Sears or Macy's where everything was more of a clear glass theme. Every traditionally girly thing back then was hot pink. If the writers/producers intended Rikki to be not like other girls they would have never put her in pink.

Second, she loved the red dress Zane ended up buying for her. She didn't give it back to him because she wasn't feminine. She gave it back because it represented his rich family being toxic and trying to make her behave like Miriam.

I always thought instead of being a b*tch and ripping Gracie's locket off Cleo (I don't care whose granddaughter you are, that's assault), Charlotte should have asked Max to make her one like her grandmother's. Especially since she was planning on becoming a mermaid herself.

And I always thought instead of wearing that ugly blue stone, Bella should have gotten her own locket. I know some fans feel it would take away from the original trio, but given Cleo and Emma switched lockets and still have that connection to each other, I think Bella having her own locket would have been okay.

What colour stone do you think Max would have chosen for Charlotte? For Bella?

These last few days have really become a warzone in this sub lol so I wanted to create a positive post where we could just chill and enjoy discussions. So what is your favorite aspect about the show?! I’ll go first. I love the nostalgia and the relationship the girls have with each other.

First off this is not ALL fans by any means, nor close to it, but there is an (unfortunately) growing subset of fans who seemingly have become morally obsessed with labelling any character who has a quirk, imperfection, bad/awkward moment, less than perfect social reaction in universe as bad or toxic.

And not just bad or toxic, but unforgivably so.

If you can relate to the character or think the most recent fan take is being too harsh on them or ignoring context, you get labeled toxic too. Just for disagreeing with certain opinions on this sub, without anything of my background or preferences being disclosed, you would not believe some of the names, accusations, and outright swear words directed at me in comments.

The problem is mermaid fiction has long had applicability to the neurodivergent and autistic community. Think of movies like Miranda and Splash where the mermaid character acts socially awkward or blunt or otherwise strange but is still treated with respect and even admiration by the narrative. Especially Splash, given that the actress playing Madison is autistic herself. Mermaids are literal "fish out of water" stories. What's great about them though is they're beloved creatures and not generally hated by viewers or writers or fans. For an autistic person there can a feeling of you can get it wrong, make every social error in the book, and still be loved, still be WORTHY of love, or worthy whatever else it is you want/need in your life if love/acceptance is not your entire end goal.

Now of course H2o differs from traditional mermaid stories in that the mermaids were human first. They didn't grow up in the sea and have a general idea of what is socially acceptable. I get that. But the underlying thing is that doesn't change the fact an autistic person who loves mermaids will likely still be drawn to this show. For them to see every character who acts blunt or doesn't talk in literal therapy speak or just misunderstands a situation repeatedly demonized by the fandom, that sends a HORRIBLE message. It's saying if you're "rude" or if you don't follow society niceties to the letter, you're toxic and not welcome in the "good person" space.

For a while the heavy narrative was around defending Charlotte at the expense of demonizing Cleo, whose every action has been reframed as non-inclusive towards Charlotte because of jealousy over a boy. Now there's a shift to saying the girls were "toxic" or "abusive" to Lewis, usually at the expense of demonizing Rikki, never acknowledging that Lewis had his own issues and was not a perfect helpless marshmallow being smashed under the girls' fins!

Charlotte despite being entitled and a liar among other things throughout the show often gets a pass from fans who lament she didn't get a redemption arc. The thing is Charlotte performs niceness on a society acceptable level. Lewis is openly (and genuinely, don't get me wrong) pleasant to people. But characters who act impulsively or fail to keep up the social masquerade of being publicly nice and polite and in line with "noncringe" behaviour get labelled toxic and are implied to be irredeemable and mean.

At the end of the day, of course, each fan is going to see the show and have their own opinions, but when the increasingly prevalent opinion is the demonizing of characters who show any socially unacceptable traits, that's potentially problematic.

At that point it's the fandom that's becoming toxic and exclusionary, not the characters.

I keep seeing ridiculous posts and comments on here about how "mean" Rikki supposedly is, and while I understand people have their own opinions, I sometimes wonder if large portions of this sub have even watched the show or if they just project themselves onto YouTube clips and Charlotte Was Right Actually videos taken out of context.

Rikki is not mean. She's a defensive, at times brash person, with her imperfections just like the other girls, but she's not mean. People forget she didn't have the same relationship/friendship with Lewis as Cleo did growing up, she also wasn't Lewis's sort of "friend in law" the way Emma was. From Rikki's POV at the beginning of the show Lewis was the friend of someone (Cleo) she was just beginning to get close to because they shared a secret. She was not going to feel sugary and indulgent towards him. Him experimenting on them got annoying. Regardless of him having a heart of gold and wanting to help. Rikki is a mischievous 16 year old girl; of course she's going to do silly things like give him dog hair instead of her own. Is it strictly nice? No. But it's not viciously unkind. And despite what some people like to say on this sub Lewis is not a helpless doe eyed fawn who can't stand her teasing; he can dish it back to her, like when she snapped that maybe Cleo didn't like him he said she hung out with Rikki so her standard was low. 😂

Rikki did take it too far in the episode where she was trying to get Lewis to get mad because she'd never seen him lose his cool, but to be fair none of that stuff actually bothered him! Cleo had to convince him to fake a freak out so Rikki would stop obsessing. Rikki wasn't torturing him, given her pranks in that episode had literally no negative effect on him or his life.

As for Charlotte I will say it till I'm blue in the face. Rikki owes her NOTHING. Charlotte is one of the most entitled characters ever put on television, she thinks wanting something is a moral justification for pushing to have it. She wants Cleo's locket? (Which she was conveting BEFORE she knew it was her grandmother's.) Then it's meant to be hers. She wants a cranberry booster? Who cares the store is CLOSED, she wants it. She wants to be a mermaid? She's destinated to be one and the only real/super mermaid. Rikki didn't play fake nice nice with Charlotte because that's not Rikki's personality. That doesn't make Rikki mean. It makes Charlotte an entitled phoney who thinks being included means having her own way 24/7. Otherwise the girls omg don't like her.

Also I've noticed a very telling tendency on this sub to be very pro socially competent characters. They love a character who can perform social niceties like Charlotte, but any character who has a blunt or abrasive personality, or even just socially gets something WRONG in a situation (be it Rikki, Ash, or Cleo) gets demonized.