Pearl Power!
Mermaid Magic is a fantasy adventure show created by Iginio Straffi for Rainbow SpA with animation by subsidiary Bardel Entertainment, following the adventures of mermaid princess Merlinda and her friends Sasha and Nerissa as they discover the surface world, on an adventure-filled journey to save their magical underwater realm called Mertropia from the fearsome pirate Barbarossa and his Sea Monsters. A series full of magic, colors, action, humor, strong emotions and great values such as environmental protection, teaching us that the power of friendship knows no bounds.
Mermaid Magic exhibits these tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Tracy asserts she is Tyler's girlfriend, despite him always reminding her they are not in a relationship and he doesn't even like her. Tracy gets extra possessive once she assumes Merlinda is stealing her boyfriend.
- All-CGI Cartoon: The series is done with CGI animation.
- Badass Normal: Tyler and Celia are humans with no magic to their names, but can still hold their own against sea monsters.
- Brother–Sister Team: Tyler and Celia are a pair of ocean environmentalists who work together to clean up the nearby seawater and operate an ocean life rehabilitation facility.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: The main three summon their armor and tridents by calling “Pearl Power!”
- Defeat Means Friendship: Mistaking Hunter for a threat to Merlinda, Nerissa fights him off. He's impressed as she's the first person that could equal his martial arts skill.
- Magitek: The mermaids' communicator bracelets are powered by magic crystals, but their circuitry is easy enough to understand that a surface dweller computer tech can repair them.
- Missing Mom:
- Merlinda's mother sacrificed herself to hold back Barbarossa's mutant army to give the Royal Guard time to close the malfunctioning portal to Mertropia. Merlinda was a baby at the time of the battle, leaving her father to raise her alone.
- Tyler and Celia's mother died when they were young.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: Total immersion in water causes a merperson to transform into their natural form. But unlike other examples, simply getting wet while on land won't cause a transformation. The transformation is also instantaneous, with the merpeople going from swimming to walking as easily as taking a step.
- Prongs of Poseidon: Used widely among Mertropian warriors, and conveniently stored in magic rings.
- Protective Charm: The pirate ancestor of Tyler and Celia fought against Barbarossa, so laid a protection spell against his enemy on the cove where his house was placed and his descendants inherited the land as a homestead. Several centuries later, attempting to enter the cove to attack Merlinda, Barbarossa discovers the magical barrier keeping him out.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: During the siege of Mertropia, the King and Queen are actively participating in the battle. The sacrifice of the Queen caused the King to protect his daughter from becoming a defender of the city. Merlinda later states as a princess, it is her personal responsibility to do the work directly. General Orca is Merlinda's paternal uncle and former Captain of the Elite Guard.
- Secret-Keeper: Tyler, Celia and Fred know their new friends are mermaids and aren't letting anyone else discover the truth.
- Tragic Keepsake: Shortly before departing to battle the mutant army, Merlinda's mother gave her half of an interlocking necklace, which Merlinda still wears to this day.
- Transformation Sequence: Used when the mermaids activate their trident rings, and interestingly focused on props: Merlinda contact juggles with an Energy Ball, Nerissa twirls staves made of lightning, and Sasha performs with rings of light.
- Transformation Trinket: Trident rings can summon… well, tridents for combat, but also armor and more combat-ready hairstyles.
- Worthless Yellow Rocks: When their mortgage is unpaid, the bank orders the forfeiture of the Silver lands. While Sasha is exploring a shipwreck, she finds a substantial amount of shinies. At the end of the episode, she shakes a few of the treasures out of her hair and when asked what she thought they were, she believes they are just worthless cosmetic jewellery. Then Dave Silver takes the treasure to the bank and pays off the mortgage in full.