Ariel (2024)

Ariel is a 2024 CGI series produced by Wild Canary Animation for Disney Jr. and Disney+ that, like The Little Mermaid (1992), follows the famous Disney mermaid Ariel and her collection of undersea friends and family on new adventures.

Unlike the 1992 series, Ariel is confirmed from the start to take place within a separate continuity from the movies. The series features Ariel as an 8-year-old and Atlantica being placed within the Caribbean as opposed to the Mediterranean, which is more in line with the 2023 live-action film. Ursula, the Big Bad of the films, was changed into a heroic character for the series as Ariel's aunt.

As with many Disney Jr. shows, Ariel is educational yet adventurous and themed around its key character as she learns about the world around her with support from friends and family, using the lessons learned to overcome problems. Fitting in with Ariel's consistent character trait of fascination with humans, she and her friends are also often seeking out and collecting various human objects that help inspire ideas.

The series debuted on June 27, 2024 and is planned to last until 2027 with a total of 120 episodes.

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Ariel provides examples of:

• 65-Episode Cartoon: Subverted. This series is set up for a 120 episode run through a three year period.
• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: Ariel can be considered this compared to other media. Since Triton is much nicer and less strict compared to other media, she's more cheerful and has a less strained relationship with him.
• Adaptational Heroism: One of the main aspects separating the series from prior Disney Little Mermaid media is Ursula being a caring and benevolent auntie as opposed to an evil trickster. She retains her magic, however, even teaching Ariel and her friends. This change reaches Flotsam and Jetsam (renamed Ebb and Flow), too, with the pair even being the face of the theme song's chorus in the intro. The sea witch not being evil can be considered as Truer to the Text to the original book.
• Adaptational Modesty: Ariel’s traditional Seashell Bra has been replaced by a sleeveless tankini-like top and, like the live-action film, Triton wears a full chest plate.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • Combined with a slight case of Adapted Out. Instead of being the youngest of seven, Ariel only has two older (and now twin) sisters, here named Alanna and Ayanna.
  • Flotsam and Jetsam are now named Ebb and Flow.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: While having some strict moments, Triton and Sebastian in the show are friendlier and more laid back compared to their original animated counterparts.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: Ariel is given the ability to change her tail colors based on her emotions. She seems to be the only one that can do this given how no one else's tail colors changes even when they experience similar emotions. It's shown during the ending of "Substitute Sebastian", where Ariel's tail glows as she flips in excitement, but Lucia and Fernie's tails don't glow despite also flipping in excitement.
• Adults Are Useless:
  • It's averted with Triton, who's actually pretty good at being a father to Ariel and helping her when need be. The times he doesn't help out are usually because he's busy with something else (like in "The Clean Team", where he's wearing headphones while doing chores) or wants to teach the kids a lesson in an unconventional way (like in "Substitute Sebastian", where he has Sebastian pretend to be someone else so that the kids can appreciate him more).
  • This is also averted with Ursula, who does what she can to help out, but won't always directly interfere so as to help the kids solve problems on their own.
• Advice Backfire: "The Spooky Mirror Trick" shows this quite a bit. When Ariel sees that Flounder is sad from not scaring anyone, she tells him to go to the scariest person that he knows. It's perfectly sound advice, but he goes to ask Ursula. Since she's gone through Adaptational Heroism and is a Reasonable Authority Figure, she tells him no, which he doesn't like.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Ursula often sweetly calls Ariel and her friends "little merlings".
  • Flounder often calls Ursula by "Miss Ursula Ma'am" and King Triton by "Mr. King Triton Sir".
  • Lucia often calls Ariel "prima". Similarly, she also calls Ursula "Senorita Ursula".
  • Ariel often calls her friends "best fins".
• Age Lift:
  • With this being a preschool show, Ariel in the show is a young girl closer in age to the target audience as opposed to being a teenager.
  • Triton and Ursula are shown to be somewhat younger than usual to the point Triton has full raven hair and a similarly-colored beard.
• All-CGI Cartoon: Given how this is a Disney Junior show where Icon Creative Studios is involved, it's to be expected for the show to be in CGI. With that said, it shows techniques more commonly seen in 2D animation.
• Alliterative Name:
  • Cristina Cuttles from "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" is a more downplayed example since she's often called Ms. Cuttles, but is sometimes addressed by her full name.
  • The episode "Flounder's Christmas Letter" introduces twin sisters Gaby Guppy and Gigi Guppy, whose names both start with the letter G.
• Alliterative Title:
  • Every word in "Daddy Daughter Dinner" starts with the letter D.
  • Every word in both "Crystal Cavern Caper" and "Copy Catfish " starts with the letter C.
  • Every word in "Smoothie Shakeup", "Substitute Sebastian", and "Swim Scouts" starts with the letter S.
  • Every word in "Fernie's Float" starts with the letter F.
• All-Loving Hero: Ariel is very sweet, and has Ra great deal of compassion for everyone.
• All Work vs. All Play: "Kid Triton" explores this idea. Ariel wants to play tag with her dad Triton, but he says how he has to work on his speech, and says that there's a time for work and time for fun. After the events of the episode, Ariel shows how she's learned this lesson by giving the speech for him, and saying how her dad is great because of how he knows when to work and when to have fun. After the speech, Triton then plays tag with Ariel because of how much she made everyone happy.
• Alternate Continuity: This series is shown to be set within its own universe, with a mix of elements from both the 2023 film (Ariel and her family reflect the live-action film's Race Lift and Triton is Ursula's brother), and the 1989 film (Flounder and Sebastian use their classic designs), as well as new elements (such as Ursula's Adaptational Heroism and Ariel's friends Lucia and Fernie).
• Always Late: In "Atlantica Day", Flounder reminds Ariel about Sebastian's class. The fact she's late is a recurring issue when she says how they'll all be late again.
• Ambiguous Gender: "Clamming Up" is an interesting case of this. The audience knows that Clamilla is a girl. However, since Ariel and her friends don't know that Clamilla is a girl since she doesn't come out of her shell, they refer to her exclusively with they/them pronouns. This is the dropped when they find out she's a girl.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Lucia and Fernie's parents aren't seen or mentioned. The only known family member from either of them is Lucia's abuela, who's only been mentioned by her so far.
• And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Morals in the show are often pretty obvious given its target audience, but it's obvious in episodes like "Daddy Daughter Dinner" and "Rainbow Sea Caves", where Ariel is rather upfront in telling Triton and the audience the lesson that she learned.
• And Your Reward is Edible: "Chef Flounder" ends with everyone Flounder helped giving him the doubles he always wanted.
• Angry Cheek Puff: In "Copy Catfish", Ariel's cheeks briefly inflate as she expresses her annoyance at Jewels continually copying her.
• Animal Lover: Fernie definitely falls into this given how much he loves talking about and coming across sea creatures.
• Annoyingly Repetitive Child: The Lucia clones from "Lucia Lucia Lucia" are this. Because of how they just keep repeating the same catchphrases, and because no one knows at first that Lucia cloned herself, they're understandably annoyed with them both.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: In "Copy Catfish", when Ariel accidentally yells at Jewels for copying her because of her annoyance, and feels bad about it, she goes to Alanna and Ayanna for help. They then tell her how she uses to be like this when she was younger before growing out of it.
• Apologises a Lot: In "Fernie's Dra Konfo", as Fernie keeps accidentally waking everyone up since he can't fall asleep without his blanket but won't admit it, he apologizes quite a bit.
• Arbitrary Skepticism:
  • "La Sirenusca" has Flounder immediately think that La Sirenusca is real while the others aren't so sure, though Lucia, Fernie, and later Ariel start to believe.
  • "The Kite Monster" has Ariel, Lucia, and Flounder fully believe in the Kite Monster legend while Fernie is more skeptical of the idea.
• Are We There Yet?: Unsurprisingly, the episode called "Are We There Yet" follows this trope. Ariel keeps asking Triton if they're closer to Crystal Falls, to which he keeps saying that they aren't.
• As You Know: In "Atlantica Day", when Ariel asks Sebastian why he's so stressed out, he talks about the upcoming Atlantica Day festivities by starting with "As you know".
• Athletically Challenged: Flounder brings up to Ariel in "A Winner's Spirit" how he's not as fast as other racers, yet is fine with that because of how he wants to work his way into being the best in his own way regardless of any challenges.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Ariel shows a bit of this in "Rainbow Sea Caves", where every time she thinks she sees a sparkly rainbow, she becomes very easily distracted from following the rules.
• Babysitting Episode: "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" has Ariel volunteer to watch Cristina Cuttles' cuttlefish babies while she talks with King Triton. With Ariel trying to be like her sisters, she tries to do it all by herself.
• Badass Driver: In "Flounder's Christmas Letter", Ariel is shown driving the sleigh pretty well even though she's never handled one before.
• Bad Hair Day: The episode "Family Picture Day" has Ariel try to style Ayanna's hair for family picture day, but a spring gets into her hair. She, Flounder, Lucia, and Fernie try to help her out, but it just ends up longer and covered in polka dots due to all kinds of disasters.
• Badly Battered Babysitter: Ariel goes through quite a bit of misfortune in "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" in her attempts to keep all the babies under control.
• Bait-and-Switch: "A Magical Achoo" makes it look like Ursula plans to test her shrinking spell on Ebb and Flow. She's actually testing it out on a pearl that they were sitting on.
• Band Episode: While Ariel and her friends being in a band is a recurring plot idea, "The Singing Dolphin" puts more of a specific focus on it as they try to help Delfino fit in with the band before a big show later.
• Baseball Episode: "Flounder The Leader" follows this somewhat as the characters actually play cricket, though Fernie does bring up the similarity to baseball early on.
• Bear Hug: The end of "Holiday Toy Box Trouble" has Ariel and King Triton accidentally hug Flounder too tight like a bear.
• Beautiful Singing Voice: In "Clamming Up", Lucia outright tells Ariel how she has the most beautiful voice in all of Atlantica, and encourages her to sing to "Reuben". She then goes ahead with the idea.
• Beware the Nice Ones: As nice as Ariel is, she can get quite angry when pushed far enough. It's shown in "Remy The Houseguest", where Remy throws a party without her permission, and everyone immediately leaves when she gets angry over her biggle scootle breaking and her angry tail shimmer shows.
• Be Yourself: Ariel has been on both ends of this. She often encourages others to be themselves, though she's also told to also be herself. It's best shown in "The Singing Dolphin/The Happy Patty Clap". In the former, she tells Delfino to embrace the natural sounds he makes as a dolphin since they make him unique. In the latter, she's told by Alanna how she doesn't have to do everything like them, and could do her own routine if she wanted to.
• Big Beautiful Man:
  • King Triton has quite the developed build, and looks quite handsome.
  • Ronaldo is shown to be a chubby boy, yet he also looks cute.
• Big Beautiful Woman:
  • Ursula is a full figured character, yet still looks pretty good.
  • Lucia is a chubby girl, yet she still looks rather adorable.
  • "Abuelita's Shawl" introduces Lucia's Abuelita Alma, who's a big woman that also looks pretty good.
• Big Eater: To say that Flounder loves eating is an understatement. To give an example, a good chunk of "Chef Flounder" centers around his love of eating and how he wants to eat doubles. He's also shown to love eating kelp noodles, as seen in "Daddy Daughter Dinner" and "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale".
• Big Finale Crowd Song: "Atlantica Day" ends with Ariel, her friends, and her sisters singing about how great Atlantica is, with the audience members occasionally chiming in.
• The Big Race: "A Winner's Spirit" definitely follows this as Ariel helps prepare Flounder for the All Atlantica Swimmer's Race.
• Big Sister Worship: Ariel looks up to her sisters quite a bit. It's best shown in "The Cuttlebaby Sitter", an episode that they don't appear in, where she tries being like them when babysitting Cristina Cuttles' babies.
• Birthday Episode: "Ravi And Navi" takes place on Ravi's birthday.
• Black and Nerdy: Fernie is a young black boy who isn't afraid to show off his intelligence.
• Blatant Lies: In "The Lost Dogfish", everyone can easily see that Ariel is lying, and she actually wants to keep Tica rather than find her owner. The first sign of this comes from when she says how she wants to get a snack for her at the palace, with Lucia and Fernie expressing annoyed sighs in response since they know she wants to keep her. The second comes from when Ariel tells King Triton that she put up fliers all over Atlantica to find her owner, and he can obviously see that she didn't do that given how quick he is to ask her where she put it.
• Blow That Horn: In "The Singing Dolphin", Ariel triumphantly blows a trumpet (what she calls a tibble tubber) that she found.
• Blue Is Calm: The Crystal Cavern has primarily blue, rock walls, and Ariel describes it as a relaxing place to unwind. Her bedroom also has plenty of blue coloring in it to help her feel calm.
• Bookworm: Fernie is often this given how he's really into his fish facts notebook.
• Borrowed Without Permission: In "The Spooky Mirror Trick", Flounder borrows Ursula's mirror so that he can legitimately scare Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie by booing them from inside the mirror. She says how this is something that only a shark level magic user can pull off well, and he's only at guppy level. He then takes it anyway when she leaves.
• Bottle Episode: Various episodes such as "Clamming Up", "Substitute Sebastian", and "Lucia Lucia Lucia" will primarily take place in one location.
• Box-and-Stick Trap: In "Crystal Cavern Caper", Fernie uses this kind of trap to try to catch a hermit crab. The crab cuts the rope Fernie tried to pull the stick with.
• Braids of Action: Lucia is a more downplayed example since she has a braided ponytail yet is just as into the same kind of feminine things as Ariel. However, she sometimes shows this given her fondness for talking on any challenge without hesitation.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • Songs in the series are usually sung by the characters, whether onscreen or playing in the background. This makes "Up, Up, And Away" from "Flounder's Christmas Letter" stand out since it's the first song in the series not sung by any of the characters. It instead plays in the background, sung by someone else, as Ariel and her friends ride a sleigh to Candy Cane Current.
  • Episodes will generally have all of the show's 4 main kid characters (Ariel, Lucia, Fernie, and Flounder) together. "Razzle Dazzle" marks the first time in which any of them are absent, those being Fernie and Flounder.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The short "Ariel's Palace Tour" is the only instance of this happening in the show. Ariel talks to the audience as she shows us around the palace.
• Break the Cutie:
  • Ariel has moments of this in episodes like "Remy The Houseguest", where she can feel really down on herself when she accidentally makes things worse.
  • This happens to Jewels in "Copy Catfish", where she runs off crying when Ariel yells at her to stop copying her.
• Bribe Backfire: In "Daddy Daughter Dinner", Triton is sad over Ariel being late for the dinner that he worked hard to make. She attempts to make some small talk and show off a land treasure she found as a way to ease him into it. When that doesn't work, she instead gives a more sincere apology.
• Bright Castle: In "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day", Ariel, Flounder, and King Triton make sandcastles at Soca Sands that are a mix of bright white and purple.
• Broken Treasure: In "Remy The Houseguest", what ultimately gets Ariel to take more issue with Remy's insensitive behavior is when he accidentally breaks her biggle scootle (the name she gave to the pot that she found).
• Bubble Blowing of Whimsy: In "Swim Scouts", Ronaldo blows some bubbles at one point while showing off fish facts. While it's not a surprise that Ariel, Lucia, and Flounder would do this given their youthful innocence, even Tanti Chantale takes part in it.
• Bucket Helmet: In "Family Picture Day", when Ayanna's hair gets polka dots, Flounder attempts to "help" by putting the scoopie whippie (sand pail) on her head.
• Callback: "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day/Rainbow Sea Caves" has this happen in both segments. In the former segment, Ariel is shown humming the chore song, which she hummed at the end of "The Clean Team". In the latter segment, Ariel references the events of the former episode by mentioning Flounder's love of seaberry pancakes.
• Calvinball: Ariel and her friends often talk about playing finball, which is basically the equivalent of volleyball, but their excited tones means something more intense and out there compared to a typical game.
• Canine Companion: "The Lost Dogfish" reveals that Tica is Delfino's dogfish.
• Cannot Spit It Out: This happens often, usually from the characters not wanting to tell the truth due to potentially letting others down. It's best shown in "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale", where Ariel doesn't tell the truth about making things up since she wants to connect with Tanti Chantale.
• Canon Foreigner: Lucia and Fernie are characters created for the show.
• Caretaker Reversal: In "The Sea Sniffles", Flounder is sick with the sea sniffles (until he starts faking it anyway), and Ariel takes care of him. At the end of the episode, after he tells the truth, she becomes sick as well.
• Caretaking is Feminine: The show zigzags this trope. On the one hand, Triton doesn't have a problem doing things that are traditionally considered feminine, such as cooking and cleaning. Given how he's a single father raising a family, this makes sense. On the other hand, it's also very commonplace for female characters to show a more overly caring side when caring for others. Ariel shows this in episodes like "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" and "The Sea Sniffles", where she's very determined in taking care of Cristina Cuttles' babies in the former and Flounder in the latter. The former episode also mentions how Alanna and Ayanna care for Cristina's babies often.
• Caring Gardener: "The Great Big Garden Show" shows that Ursula is good with gardening. She attributes this to good caretaking in addition to her special plant food.
• Casting Gag:
  • This isn't the only time in which Ariel's voice actress, Mykal Michelle Harris, has played royalty. She also played Duchess Clementine.
  • Dana Heath voicing Ayanna brings to mind two roles she's known for, Bree James (an older sister character in a Disney Junior show) and Kira Kiwi (who's also a princess).
  • Fernie shows similarities to Sparks, mainly in how both are characters from Disney Junior shows voiced by Cruz Flateau who act as the resident smart character on their respective shows.
  • Taye Diggs voicing Triton is no surprise since also voiced another cartoon dad, Ada's dad.
  • There are three to Puppy Dog Pals:
    • Gracen Newton voicing Founder, a lovable comic relief character, fits with how he was also the second voice of Rolly, who has a similar personality.
    • Jewels from this series and Nougat from that series are cute characters voiced by Amari McCoy that look up to the heroes.
    • Clamilla is an introverted character voiced by Somali Rose. She also voiced the similarly introverted Roxy.
  • Remy's friend Sanka is a friendly, laid back, almost big brother like character voiced by Carlos Alazraqui. He's also known for voicing Skylar , who acts very similarly.
  • There are two to T.O.T.S. :
    • Lucia, a character who loves using magic, is voiced by Elizabeth Phoenix Caro. She also voiced Leila, who also loves magic.
    • Ravi, a big brother like figure to the main kid characters, is voiced by Parvesh Cheena. He also voiced Bodhi, who also acted like a big brother like figure to the main kid characters.
  • Kevin Michael Richardson returning to voice Sebastian, a character associated who's a stickler for rules, brings to mind another similar character he voiced, Governor Groundhog.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: In "The Brave Little Goby", Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie try rescuing Bembe, who's stuck on a whale that is covered in seaweed. Despite this, Fernie still tries giving fish facts on the creature. Ariel doesn't exactly see this as an opportune time, but she does still take the time to compliment him.
• Character Catchphrase: Ariel says "Jumping Jellyfish!" whenever she's happy and excited about something.
• Character Development: Episodes like "Abuelita's Shawl" and "A Magical Achoo" show Lucia being less inclined to see magic as the first or only solution to a problem, and generally acts less impulsive.
• Character Tics: Ariel sometimes touches her elbows when she's nervous.
• Chariot Pulled by Cats: Seahorses sometimes help transport the royal family around. A good example comes from the beginning of "Copy Catfish", when Ariel and Flounder come across King Triton and Jewels coming in on a seahorse drawn chariot.
• Cheer Them Up with Laughter: Flounder attempts this in "Ravi And Navi". He tells a knock knock joke to everyone in hopes of helping Ravi and Navi become friends again. While they all laugh, they still don't talk to each other.
• Chores Without Powers: "The Clean Team" relies on this trope. Ariel doesn't want to do Chore Day since she wants to play finball with Flounder, Lucia, and Fernie, and not clean her room. She decides to use Lucia's magic to clean it up until King Triton says that magic doesn't fix everything. She then decides to use magic anyway when Lucia insists on doing so. This eventually results in sentient sea sponges causing a huge mess, making Ariel see that she should've just cleaned her room without trying to take a magical shortcut in the first place.
• Christmas Episode: "Flounder's Christmas Letter/Holiday Toy Box Trouble" definitely follows this trope. The former segment is about Flounder trying to get his Christmas letter to Santa Mer-Claus before he and his Christmas narwhals leave while the latter segment is about Ariel trying to get back her box of toys that Sebastian accidentally grabbed for a holiday donation drive.
• Class Clown: Flounder shows a bit of this in "Substitute Sebastian". Like his friends, he tries taking a break by doing what he likes the most, which is telling jokes in this case. He's determined to tell one to Ariel before being told by Sebastian to not do that.
• Class Princess: Ariel is a girl who's got it all, and is loved by everyone. She's also very humble and caring, doing whatever she can to help those in need, especially her friends and family.
• Class Trip: "Swim Scouts" has elements of this given how Tanti Chantale shows around Ariel and her friends as she educates them on sea creatures.
• Clownification : In "A Banner Moment", Lucia attempts to entertain the Duke Of Clownfish with her magic. She then accidentally makes him a literal clownfish by giving him clown clothes.
• Collective Death Glare: While it's rather downplayed, some episodes like "Rainbow Sea Caves" and "Substitute Sebastian" show Lucia and Fernie looking at Ariel in a rather annoyed way when she really messes up or says something really out of turn.
• Collector of the Strange: Ariel collects land treasures, which are items that are common to humans, but strange and alluring to mermaids due to not knowing what they are.
• Color-Coded Eyes: Ariel has brown eyes, which fits her down to earth nature.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Lucia's clones look near exactly like her, with the only difference being their headbands. The real Lucia wears a purple headband while her clones wear red and green headbands.
• Companion Cube: Given the show's target demographic, it's not a surprise that the main characters would have stuffed toys or other prized possessions that they hold quite dearly.
  • Ariel has a doll named Naima that she sleeps with, though she's usually shown at the Crystal Cavern.
  • "La Sirenusca" shows that Flounder has a toy walrus named Wally on his bed that he hid under his bed when he was scared.
  • "Fernie's Dra Konfo" shows that Fernie has a rolled up blanket called a Dra Konfo. Likewise, Lucia has a doll named Yadira.
• Company Cross-References:
  • "Atlantica Day" has a twofold example in one scene. When Lucia accidentally turns Flounder purple, his color scheme looks like that of the Cheshire Cat. It makes sense given how this show shares the same animation studio as the TV show based on the movie.
  • In "Holiday Toy Box Trouble", the doll that Ariel doesn't want to give away looks similar to Bree James, albeit with a different hairstyle.
• Competition Freak:
  • Ariel can sometimes focus too much on winning to the point of taking things too far. In "A Winner's Spirit", she keeps pushing Flounder to win the race even though he just wants to have fun. In "The Happy Patty Clap", she pushes herself too far in order to be like Alanna and Ayanna and win the clapping contest.
  • "Jewels The Winner" shows Jewels in this light. She keeps treating everything like a competition, even something as simple as drinking juice, all so she could say that she won.
• Concert Climax:
  • The ending to "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day" has Triton take part in a concert with Ariel and her friends at Gilly Gardens.
  • The second half of "Holiday Toy Box Trouble" has a scene of Ariel and her sisters and her friends giving a Christmas concert for all of Atlantica.
• Concert Episode: There are various episodes where preparing for a concert is the main focus, such as "Atlantica Day" and "The Singing Dolphin".
• The Confidant: Lucia fills this role in the episode "A Winner's Spirit", with Ariel mainly talking to her about how she feels about Flounder's potential to win the race.
• The Conscience:
  • In some ways, Lucia can act like this towards Ariel in helping her do the right thing. It's shown in "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" (where she shows a bit more determination in telling Ariel that she doesn't have to do things alone) and "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale" (where she keeps telling Ariel to tell the truth to Fernie and Tanti Chantale, and becomes visibly annoyed when she keeps lying).
  • While Ariel acting like this towards Lucia is less common, it still shows up from time to time. A good example comes from "Clamming Up", where Lucia actually holds back on making fireworks when Ariel says how the clam wouldn't be happy.
• Constantly Curious:
  • Ariel is someone who's often curious of the world around her, and likes finding answers.
  • Lucia is someone that's willing to study magic and learn more, but she doesn't always show the discipline needed to restrain herself when letting her curiosity get to her.
  • This trope is exaggerated with Curious Lucia from the episode "Lucia Lucia Lucia". She always says "Ooh what's this?" to everything around her, but isn't curious about learning more
• Control Freak: Flounder shows this in "Flounder The Leader", where he shows quite a bit of ego as the cricket leader. Notably, he tells Lucia how to use her cricket bat even though she's an expert at using it, and tries positioning Fernie to stand a certain way.
• Cool Aunt: Both Ursula and Chantale are pretty friendly and supportive towards Ariel and her friends, albeit in their own ways. Ursula more openly encourages them to have fun within reason while Tanti Chantale encourages them to be more active in seeking knowledge while staying true to themselves.
• Cool Big Sis:
  • Both Alanna and Ayanna show this to Ariel with how supportive they are of her. It's very pronounced in episodes like "Family Picture Day" (with Ayanna being giddy to talk with Ariel about how she's looking forward to this) and "The Happy Patty Clap" (with Alanna being rather encouraging towards Ariel not doing the special clapping routine, and having a heart to heart talk with her when she's feeling down).
  • Ariel shows this to Flounder with how she acts rather close to him. It's best shown in "Chef Flounder", where she gives him a fin bump and shows more concern towards Flounder overworking himself.
• Cool Shades:
  • Ravi the octopus wears sunglasses to show off his cool, laid-back nature.
  • Sebastian's cousin Henrick wears sunglasses.
  • "Dress Up Mess Up" has Lucia try on some sunglasses while putting on the pretend fashion show.
• Cool Teacher: Ursula is shown to be pretty good at teaching Ariel and her friends by making magic lessons fun. She's also stern, but also caring when someone makes a believable mistake.
• Corpsing: An in universe example happens in the episode"A Banner Moment". When Lucia accidentally turns the Duke Of Clownfish into a literal clownfish with her magic, Triton actually finds this funny, but he tries holding back his reaction so that he doesn't come across as insensitive.
• Covered in Gunge: Two examples happen:
  • In "Smoothie Shakeup", everyone scrambles to help make 20 drink orders for Sebastian to bring to the palace. As Lucia and Fernie attempt to make them, they don't hear Ariel saying to put the lid on the blender. As such, Sebastian accidentally gets covered in smoothie when he goes to pick up the order.
  • In "The Clean Team", Flounder gets covered in soup when helping Ariel get the sponges.
• Cowardly Yellow: Flounder shows this in "La Sirenusca" with how scared he is of the titular character.
• Crash in Through the Ceiling: In "Remy The Houseguest", Lucia wonders how Remy's friends got into the Crystal Cavern even though she was guarding the entrance. As it turns out, they came in through a hole in the ceiling.
• Creator Cameo:
  • A caricature of supervising director Kuni Tomita is shown in the audience of "Atlantica Day".
  • One of the incidentals shown in "The Happy Patty Clap" is based on storyboard artist Clint Taylor.
• Creepy Cave: "The Kite Monster" shows a creepy cave that's supposedly home to the titular Kite Monster. According to Ariel and Flounder, if you don't hold your breath when going past the cave, he'll take your kite.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Lucia shows quite a bit of this in "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale", where she acts more sarcastic and disapproving of Ariel's lying as a way to get her to see that she should tell the truth.
• Crystal Landscape: The Crystal Cavern is a serene, peaceful cavern that can be described as Ariel's home away from home.
• The Cutie: All the kid characters definitely embrace this, but it's especially prominent in those like Flounder and Jewels, who are naive yet also lovable and sweet.
• Daddy's Girl: Ariel is shown to have a very good relationship with her father, King Triton, and will do anything to please him. The same goes for Alanna and Ayanna, though it's not shown as often.
• Darker and Edgier: "The Kite Monster" is this for the show given the heavy emphasis on spooky monsters, and an intense scene where the main characters get separated in the dark cave due to a strong wind.
• Dark Is Not Evil: With Ursula going through Adaptational Heroism, she's now a genuinely nice person while still having a dark motif.
• Dawn of an Era: This was the first Disney Junior series to premiere following its rebrand to the simple "Disney Jr.", similar to Nick Jr.'s branding beforehand.
• Deal with the Devil: It's subverted in "The Spooky Mirror Trick". Flounder attempts to ask Ursula if he can use the mirror trick to scare Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie. Since Ursula has gone through Adaptational Heroism in the show and is a Reasonable Authority Figure , she turns down the offer, and tries suggesting different tricks.
• Delicious Daydream: While they're never actually seen, Flounder often talks about eating all kinds of delicious food. It's most notable in "Chef Flounder", when he talks to Ariel about the food at the food festival as if he's in paradise.
• Denied Food as Punishment: A rather lighthearted example occurs at the beginning of "Fernie's Dra Konfo". Flounder tells Ariel that he really wants to stay up all night to keep the sleepover fun going. King Triton says that it's possible, but then he would be too tired to make seaweed pancakes in the morning. Flounder, being the Big Eater that he is, then immediately goes to bed.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Ariel is often prone to doing things before thinking them through. A good example comes from "The Clean Team" with how she doesn't think about the repercussions of using magic she doesn't know how to use.
  • Lucia shows this in "Lucia Lucia Lucia", where she tells her clones that they need to hang out with her friends, but she doesn't tell them how to interact with them outside of what they were made for.
• Disapproving Look: In "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale", as Ariel keeps letting her lie fester, and Tanti Chantale says to tell everyone in Atlantica, Lucia just rolls her eyes and sighs in annoying disapproval.
• The Ditz: Lucia's clones are definitely this given how simple minded they are and see everything as a game.
• Does Not Like Spam: "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day" has Triton tell Ariel and Flounder how he doesn't like seaberries due to not liking them as a kid.
• Dogs Are Dumb: While not dumb per se, the dogfish from "A Banner Moment" is shown to be very easily distracted whenever fetch is involved. Ariel ultimately gets the banner back from him by playing fetch with him.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The theme song is sung by Ariel herself.
• Don't Split Us Up: In "The Lost Dogfish", Ariel wants to keep Tica, a dogfish she found, and has a hard time letting her go. She ultimately does let her go when seeing that she'll miss her family.
• Don't Wake the Sleeper: The ending of "Fernie's Dra Konfo" has Ariel, Lucia, and Flounder gently tell King Triton to be quiet since Fernie is still sleeping happily.
• Dramatic Irony: In "Substitute Sebastian", Ariel and her friends sing a song about how much Sebastian means to them, and how they miss him. Unbeknownst to them though, Sebastian was there, disguised as Henrick.
• The Dreaded Pretend Tea-Party: It's subverted in the short "Palace Puzzle". The ending reveals that Flounder borrowed Ariel's stuffed bear and Triton's crown in order to have a tea party. While surprised by this, they do have some fun with him.
• Dress-Up Episode: The short "Dress Up Mess Up" has Ariel and her friends try on Alanna and Ayanna's clothes when they're not in the room. When they come back home, it initially looks like they're mad, but they just want to join them.
• Dude, Not Funny!:
  • The beginning of "The Clean Team" has Fernie attempt to tell a sea creature joke as a way to relate to the cleanup situation, but it doesn't land when Ariel looks annoyed at him.
  • In "Ravi And Navi", Lucia attempts to make a joke about choosing seeing Ursula doing magic over helping friends. Ariel's response is to give her an annoyed expression that tells her to think straight.
• Dwindling Party: A non-lethal version happens in "The Endless Sleepover". Ariel and her friends stay up late thanks to Ursula's time freeze spell. They initially enjoy it, but later becomes too tired. It starts with Fernie going to bed, then Flounder, then Lucia, and finally Ariel.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • In "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale", despite Ariel dragging everyone out into the middle of nowhere to find a creature she made up, everyone forgives her when she genuinely apologizes. It's especially notable with Lucia given how she openly disapproved of Ariel lying, and yet also instantly forgives her.
  • In "Substitute Sebastian", nobody takes it hardly that Sebastian as Henrick gave the kids a very hard time during music class. They still appreciate him because of how much he cares for them.
  • In "Fernie's Dra Konfo", Fernie keeps continually annoying everyone with how he keeps waking then up due to not wanting to admit that he's afraid to sleep without a lovey. However, when he explains that he feels like he isn't seen as brave, everyone immediately comforts him, and reassures him that he is brave.
  • In "Lucia, Lucia, Lucia", Ariel, Flounder, and Fernie don't really take it too hard that the Lucia clones made quite the mess of things and annoyed them. This is a more understandable example since she showed that this was a result of a magical mishap, she explained that she wanted to play with everyone and didn't want to disappoint them, apologized for it, and made plans to fix her mistakes and prioritize what she wants to do.
  • In "The Sea Sniffles", Ariel doesn't really mind how Flounder was faking being sick, and making her do a lot of work. She just tells him not to lie about anything like that again.
• Edutainment Show: Various episodes, notably "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale" and the Disney Animals Under The Sea shorts, help educate viewers about sea creatures. Episodes where Fernie gives fish facts about sea creatures also follow this no matter how minor.
• Egg Sitting: The first half of "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" has Ariel attempt to look after Cristina Cuttles' babies, who are still eggs at the time. They then hatch and cause problems.
• Endearingly Dorky:
  • Flounder, Lucia, and Fernie see Ariel's love for land treasures as something endearing given how they also speak fondly of them with her.
  • As seen in episodes like "Fernie's Notebook" and "Clamming Up", Ariel, Lucia, and Flounder like whenever Fernie drops fish facts because of how he can really be himself.
• Electric Jellyfish: It's subverted here given how they're shown to be pretty friendly, and don't sting anyone.
  • At one point in "Fernie's Notebook", the characters come across a coral reef where the notebook is. Flounder is scared until Fernie says how moon jellyfish live there, and are generally harmless. Ariel and Lucia jump in head first, and find it fun.
  • In "Swim Scouts", Ronaldo manages to befriend some of the jellyfish, and even gets them to dance.
• Elegant Classical Musician: Ariel is a more downplayed example since she has a conventionally cute appearance, but usually prefers playing more modern music. However, she's not afraid to go for more classical sounding music at times, such as in "Happy Crabby Day".
• Emerging from the Shadows: "La Sirenusca" has everyone freaking out and being mistified by the shadow of La Sirenusca. It just turns out to be Ursula wearing her cloak, and she was just coming home to eat.
• Emotional Powers: Ariel’s tail changes colors based on her emotions. At her happiest, it shimmers and glows.
• Ending Theme: Every episode ends with "Making Waves" being played over the end credits.
• Establishing Character Moment: "Atlantica Day" opens up with Ariel finding a dinglehopper, proudly showing what she found to Lucia and Fernie, wondering what it does, and Flounder coming in to remind her about music class. These few minutes help show how Ariel is a curious, adventurous, and sweet girl who doesn't always think straight.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Whenever Ariel finds the solution to a problem, she often says "jumping jellyfish" while spinning around as her tail glows bright.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending: It's not uncommon for episodes to end with the characters laughing about how silly some situations can become:
  • "Hiccup Gone Amuck" ends with Ariel getting hiccups instead of Flounder. Both call out Lucia for this before they all end up laughing about it.
  • "La Sirenusca" ends with everyone seeing that La Sirenusca isn't real and then laughing about it as they eat some plantains with Ursula.
  • "The Kite Monster" ends with the four friends leaving the creepy cave with their kites as they talk about the adventure and laugh. The Kite Monster also giggles before he returns the other kites.
  • "Lucia Lucia Lucia" ends with everyone laughing about how silly the Lucia clones were, and being glad that it's over.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • While Lucia, Flounder, and Fernie are Ariel's friends who support her, we see how they have their limits. It's noticeable in "Daddy Daughter Dinner" and "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale", where Flounder (both episodes) and Lucia (the latter) can be annoyed by Ariel letting her impulsive desires get to her.
  • In "Lucia Lucia Lucia", as Ariel, Fernie, and Flounder hang out with the Lucia clones at different times, thinking that they're hanging with the real Lucia, we see their reactions when they think she's actually doing this. They act quite annoyed with Curious Lucia and Silly Lucia not taking their feelings seriously.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: Flounder certainly thinks this. A good example comes from the episode "Flounder's Christmas Letter", where he tells Ariel how he put lots of glitter on his Christmas letter.
• Exact Words: In "Substitute Sebastian", King Triton asks the kids how they liked having Henrick as a teacher. They obviously didn't like it, but since they're trying to be considerate, Ariel and Fernie say how "It was finteresting". They're technically not wrong there since it was a finteresting class.
• Expendable Clone: In "Lucia Lucia Lucia", no one minds that Lucia uses her magic to get rid of the clones given how annoying they all found them.
• Expy :
  • Lucia and Fernie share similar looks and personalities to Eureka's friends Pepper and Barry. Much like with Pepper, Lucia is an excitable, chubby girl who has quite the thrill for some kind of adventure. Much like with Barry, Fernie is a more cautious, intelligent character who is friendly, yet can also be stuck in his ways.
    • Fernie also shares similarities with Kira Kiwi since he's someone who's very knowledgeable on animals, and isn't afraid to show it.
  • Ursula's personality in the show, being a nice, well meaning trickster, makes her very similar to The Silver Queen.
• Eye Take:
  • In the short "Hiccup Gone Amuck", when Lucia's magic accidentally turns Flounder into a giant, both she and Ariel are shocked by this when their eyes widen.
  • In "The Spooky Mirror Trick", when everyone sees that Flounder doesn't know how to reverse the spell, Ariel's eyes widen as she tries to process what happened.
  • "A Magical Achoo" has Ursula's eyes widen a few times as she tries holding back her sneezes.
• Failed Attempt at Scaring: "The Spooky Mirror Trick", has Flounder repeatedly trying to scare others, but it doesn't go as planned:
  • Flounder attempts to scare Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie by jumping from behind his bed and yelling "Boo". Unfortunately, they aren't scared since they think that he's too cute.
  • Flounder attempts to scare Sebastian as he's walking through the hall, but he doesn't act scared at all, barely saying anything. This is in stark contrast to Ariel right afterwards, where he's scared of her even when she's not trying to be scary.
  • When Flounder attempts to scare Ursula by innocently saying "Boo", she also says that he's too cute to be spooky.
• Fangirl :
  • Lucia is definitely a fangirl of Ursula. She fawns over her quite a bit, as seen in episodes like "Ursula's Magic Camp" and "The Smoothie Shakeup". She even mentions wanting to dress up like her in "The Kite Monster".
  • Both Jewels and Bembe show respect towards Ariel in "Copy Catfish" and "The Brave Little Goby" respectively, and want to be like her.
• Fantastically Indifferent: Given how Ursula is a magic expert, she's generally unphased by weird things happening around her, or at least shakes it off quickly. A good example is from "Smoothie Shakeup", where she drinks the smoothie that has too much hot sauce, which at first surprises her, but she then comes to find it good.
• Fantastic Fireworks: In "Clamming Up", Lucia tries getting Reuben (actually named Clamilla) out of their clam shell with some fancy fireworks. Ariel says how it wouldn't be a good idea since they're too loud. Lucia then casts a spell to make a blanket, though she later does the fireworks anyway when that doesn't work out as planned.
• Fashion Magazine: The beginning of "Family Picture Day" has Ayanna show Ariel a fashion magazine that she and Alanna are fans of.
• Fat and Skinny: Lucia is the chubby character, and the skinny character is either Ariel or Fernie depending on who she frequently interacts with.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Lucia's Abuelita Alma is into things like sewing, and is great at cooking, as shown by how everyone happily eats her empanadas.
• Filching Food for Fun: While not malicious about it, Flounder attempts to do this in "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale". When Ariel says how there's an extra plate of noodles, Flounder slyly attempts to get it for himself until King Triton says how it's for Tanti Chantale.
• Filthy Fun: In "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day", Ariel and Flounder have fun making sandcastles at Soca Sands and getting their hands messy. Triton is initially reluctant about this since he usually uses tools for tasks like this, but comes to like it once he touches it.
• Fine, You Can Just Wait Here Alone: In "La Sirenusca", Ariel tells Flounder to wait at Ravi's juice stand while she, Lucia, and Fernie check to see if La Sirenusca is real given how he's scared. He initially likes the idea, but when he thinks that his friends will be in danger, he goes after them in order to make sure that they don't get hurt.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Flounder attempts this in "The Happy Patty Clap" with Ariel, but she doesn't finish the sentence that he started about them being in sync.
• Five-Token Band: The mermaid trio of Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie is this in a sense. Ariel is a black girl of Caribbean background. Lucia is a Latina Mexican girl. Fernie is a black boy with a Creole French background.
• Flanderization: "Lucia Lucia Lucia" shows a deconstruction of this trope through her clones. While the real Lucia can make some big mistakes due to her impulsive nature and not thinking things through all the way, she's also someone who genuinely tries to impress others and make them happy. She will also feel regret when seeing how her mistakes can hurt others. That's not the case with her clones given how one note they are. They keep unintentionally causing problems due to not thinking at all, and can't process how their mistakes affect others due to how they're very naive.
• Floating in a Bubble:
  • In "Remy The Houseguest", Lucia tries practicing her bubble kabubble spell, but she accidentally traps herself for a bit.
  • In "La Sirenusca", Lucia uses a bubble spell to trap La Sirenusca in a giant bubble. It works for a bit until she pops it.
  • In "Fernie's Dra Konfo", Fernie accidentally traps himself in a bubble when asking Lucia how to do the spell.
• Food End:
  • "Daddy Daughter Dinner" ends with Ariel, Triton, and Flounder eating kelp noodles for dinner.
  • "La Sirenusca" ends with Ariel and friends eating plantains with Ursula.
• Foreshadowing : The reveal of the La Sirenusca shadow actually being Ursula is set up at the beginning by seeing how she has tentacles much longer than what other characters have as well as having a more defined physique.
• Fountain of Youth: In "Kid Triton", King Triton turns into a kid when he accidentally drinks Lucia's special potion. He becomes much more hyperactive and only focused on fun.
• Free-Range Children: Thought she sometimes tells her dad where she's going, Ariel often goes off on adventures by herself with her friends.
• Friendly, Playful Dolphin: Delfino the dolphin is pretty friendly and energetic. At worst, he's just a little bit clumsy.
• Friendship Trinket: In "Copy Catfish", Ariel gives Jewels a copy of her necklace as a way to show that she doesn't mind her copying her.
• Funny Background Event: In "Razzle Dazzle", as Ariel and Lucia try getting Ursula out of her shark level bubble, she's shown bouncing around in the background and having a good time. She even says "Whee!"
• Funny Octopus: Ravi is an octopus who's a bit on the weird side, but he's also pretty friendly and laid-back.
• Fun Personified: In "Kid Triton", Tri Tri, the kid version of Triton, is always excitable when it comes to the idea of having fun, which Ariel initially views as a good thing.
• Fun T-Shirt: Fernie has a turtle picture on his shirt.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: Ariel and Lucia are girls while Fernie and Flounder are boys.
• Genki Girl:
  • Both Ariel and Lucia tend to show quite a bit of energy when they get excited about something, whether land treasures for the former or magic for the latter.
  • Jewels is quite the bundle of energy, especially when she gets to hang with Ariel.
• The Ghost: Lucia's abuela doesn't appear, but is brought up quite often by her. She finally appears in "Abuelita's Shawl".
• Ghost Story:
  • In "La Sirenusca", Lucia tells the story of La Sirenusca, a sea monster that has a mermaid tail, octopus tentacles, two shark fins, and likes eating blue and yellow morsels.
  • In "The Kite Monster", Ariel and Flounder tell Lucia and Fernie about The Kite Monster, a ghostly creature that takes your kite if you pass by his cave without holding your breath.
• Giant Food: "Are We There Yet" has Flounder show Ariel some dessert as big as him.
• Girlish Pigtails: Alanna wears her hair in pigtails.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Both Ariel and Lucia love their respective loveys, Naima and Yadira.
• The Glomp: In "Copy Catfish", Jewels' first scene is her immediately trying to tackle Ariel with a hug, showing how she's lovable, but a bit too excitable to show her affection
• Gone Horribly Right: In "Kid Triton", Lucia accidentally turning Triton into a kid means that he can play with Ariel just as she intended. Unfortunately, he becomes so focused on having fun that he ends up neglecting any and all grownup duties, including the speech that he has to give later that evening.
• The Good King: Triton is a fair and reasonable king that's loved by everyone.
• Good-Times Montage:
  • "Daddy Daughter Dinner" has "The Treasure I Treasure The Most", a song about how Ariel appreciates the good times she has with her dad.
  • "The Lost Dogfish" has a song called "Puppy Dog". It's sung by Ariel as she and her friends have fun with Tica.
• Got Me Doing It: In "The Clean Team", Ariel isn't exactly happy to do chores, with one reason why being that she doesn't like singing the chores song. At the end of the episode, when she shows more motivation to do her chores, she hums the chores song.
• Go-to-Sleep Ending:
  • "The Endless Sleepover" ends with Ariel sleeping with her friends when she learns that it's okay to rest and not always do something fun.
  • "Fernie's Dra Konfo" ends with Fernie sleeping soundly since he has his Dra Konfo.
• Grandma's Recipe: In "The Sea Sniffles", Lucia gives Flounder some of her abuela's empanadas since she, much like Ariel and Fernie, thinks that he's sick.
• Grapes of Luxury: "The Sea Sniffles" has Ariel feed Flounder some grapes in order to help him feel better.
• Gratuitous French: Fernie has sometimes said "bonjour" when greeting others.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Lucia sometimes peppers Spanish phrases into her sentences, usually "amiga". It's noticeable in "The Kite Monster" when she occasionally calls Fernie "Fernando".
• Great Big Book of Everything:
  • Fernie has his notebook, which has all sorts of fish facts.
  • In "Swim Scouts", Ronaldo shows off his notebook full of fish facts, which is much bigger than Fernie's notebook.
  • In "Copy Catfish", Jewels shows off a book she made that says everything about Ariel. It's quite thorough.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale" has Ariel showing quite a bit of jealousy when she can't bond with Tanti Chantale as well as she does with Fernie.
  • In "Swim Scouts", Fernie gets jealous when a kid named Ronaldo joins the Swim Scouts troop since he knows more fish facts than him. With his friends being impressed with his knowledge, he thinks he'll lose them.
• Grossout Show: It's extremely downplayed considering the show's target demographic, though a little bit is shown in "The Cuttlebaby Sitter". Lucia says how she finds the newly hatched cuttlebabies adorable until one of them squirts her with their ink, which she doesn't like.
• Group Hug: "The Spooky Mirror Trick" ends with Flounder pulling off a guppy level trick before getting a hug from everyone.
• Group Picture Ending: "Family Picture Day" ends with Sebastian taking a picture of the royal family.
• Halloween Episode: "The Kite Monster/The Spooky Mirror Trick" both follow an interesting take on this. Both episodes actually call Halloween "Spooky Season", although Fernie says how Clamilla told them all about Halloween.
• Handshake Substitute: Episodes like "The Brave Little Goby" and "Fernie's Dra Konfo" show how Ariel and her friends do fin bumps with each other, albeit in different ways. In the former, she and Flounder do a standard fist bump. In the latter, all four of them bump their tails against each other while playing.
• Happy Dance:
  • While not seen, the idea is mentioned in "Substitute Sebastian". Flounder tells Ariel and Triton how he likes Sebastian's crabby dance.
  • Jewels does this in "Jewels The Winner", where she dances during everything that she perceives as a competition and "wins" at.
• Hard Truth Aesop: "Happy Patty Clap" Alanna tell Ariel how it's okay to not be good at everything right away.
• The Heart: Ariel often acts as a mature, voice of reason for her friends when she sees that something is wrong, and tries helping out.
• Heartfelt Apology: Ariel is prone to apologizing a lot in episodes where she really messes up, such as dragging everyone into her lie in "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale".
• Heart Symbol: Alanna has silver heart accessories in her hair.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: During "The Brave Little Goby", Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie attempt to help her Bembe unstuck from a giant whale covered in seaweed. They then end up stuck inside a giant ball of seaweed.
• Here We Go Again!: This happens to Ariel twice:
  • The ending of "Hiccup Gone Amuck" has Flounder getting rid of his hiccups, but then Ariel gets them when she celebrates it.
  • The ending to "The Sea Sniffles" has Ariel getting sick after she takes care of Flounder.
• The Hero's Idol:
  • Lucia looks up to Ursula because of how she confidently and expertly uses advanced magic.
  • Fernie looks up to Ariel's Tanti Chantale because of how smart she is about fish facts like he is.
• Hiccup Hijinks: The short "Hiccup Gone Amuck" has Flounder get hiccups when he laughs too hard at Ariel's joke. She and Lucia then try to use magic to cure him, but with no luck. He's eventually cured, but just as Ariel celebrates this, she gets hiccups.
• Hide the Evidence: In "Kid Triton", when Sebastian checks Ariel's room to see where King Triton is, she hides Tri Tri (the kid version of Triton) in her pile of stuffed animals so that he doesn't see what happened.
• The Hilarity of Hats: While this involves different headgear, that being a crown and not a hat, this does still apply to Alanna in "Family Picture Day". She wears a silly crown made out of dinglehoppers (also known as forks) as a way to cheer Ayanna up.
• Hippie Teacher: The episode "Substitute Sebastian" introduces Sebastian's cousin Henrick to teach Ariel's music class. In contrast to Sebastian, who's rather uptight, he's more laid back given his generally calmer personality, more energetic demeanor, sunglasses, and causal hat. It's also played with in how, while he acts more laid back and energetic, he also demands more from the kids then Sebastian does. It's then subverted at the end when it's revealed that it's actually Sebastian in disguise, and he only did so because King Triton wanted everyone to appreciate Sebastian more.
• Home Base: Ariel and her friends often hang out at the Crystal Cavern when they're not at the palace or Ravi's juice stand.
• Honorary Uncle: Flounder shows this in "The Cuttlebaby Sitter", where he dotes on the cuttlebaby eggs as if he's their uncle. He even tells Ariel how he named them.
• Honesty Aesop: "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale" has Ariel make up a lie about how there's a hybrid creature that Tantie Chantelle and Fernie don't know about. She says this as a way to connect with Tantie Chantelle. The lie eventually gets out of hand, and she confesses to it.
• How They Treat the Help: With Ariel and Triton both being benevolent towards other people, they tend to treat Sebastian pretty well. A good example comes from "Happy Crabby Day", where they want him to take a day off from setting up a big party so that he's not overly stressed out.
• Hypocritical Humor: The ending of "Rainbow Sea Caves" has Flounder call Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie "those kids" even though he's a kid that's saying this to them.
• "I Can't Look!" Gesture: "A Magical Achoo" has Ariel and Lucia cover their eyes since they aren't sure if they managed to turn Ursula back to normal, and don't want to see the results.
• Ignored Epiphany:
  • In "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale", Ariel seemingly learns her lesson halfway through the episode about how it's wrong to lie. However, she then goes back to lying when feeling the pressure to impress Tanti Chantale, and doesn't fully learn her lesson until the end.
  • In "Lucia Lucia Lucia", Lucia initially decides to follow Ravi's suggestion on choosing who to spend time with until she decides to go for a magical solution and make clones. She only follows his advice at the end.
• I Got Bigger: In "Copy Catfish", Flounder talks to Ariel about her younger cousin Jewels as if she's still a baby. When she comes to visit, he's then surprised to see how big she's gotten. She says how she's 5 years old, and is more of a big kid now.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: In "Crystal Cavern Caper", Hermes tell Ariel that the reason he took her stuff, such as her doll Naima, from the Crystal Cavern was so that he could have some friends to hang out with.
• Ill-Timed Sneeze:
  • In "Family Picture Day", Ayanna asks Lucia to use a magic spell to fix her hair in time for Family Picture Day. She attempts to do so, but she accidentally sneezes during the spell, causing Ayanna's hair to get polka dots.
  • "A Magical Achoo" is practically built on this trope. Ursula keeps trying to teach Lucia some magic even though she's sick. She keeps sneezing repeatedly, which interrupts her spells.
• Impossible Shadow Puppets: During the "Spooky Season" song from "The Kite Monster", Ariel and Lucia's shadows actually combine to form a shadow of The Kite Monster, which is quite spooky.
• Improbable Hairstyle: Tanti Chantale's hair is definitely something that looks hard to maintain. It's like an afro, but with a bit more of a spiky frizziness.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: "A Magical Achoo" has Ursula attempt to teach Lucia and Ariel a shrinking spell, but she keeps sneezing. This results in her accidentally shrinking herself during the second half of the episode.
• Inescapable Net: It's subverted in "The Clean Team". Fernie suggests that he and Ariel use the net she had on the wall to capture the sentient sponges. It seems to work at first, but then they get out.
• Incredibly Long Note: In "Substitute Sebastian", Henrick asks Ariel and her friends to practice their singing while cleaning the bandstand. They then hold a note for a good 5 seconds.
• Inexplicable Language Fluency: With Santa known for being someone who travels around the world, it's not a surprise that he can speak more than one language pretty well. In "Flounder's Christmas Letter", he says "Merry Christmas" to Ariel and Flounder in English, and Lucia and Fernie in Spanish and French respectively.
• Infodump: Fernie is often prone to this when he gives fish facts to his friends.
• Injured Limb Episode: The plot of "The Happy Patty Clap" is kicked off when Ayanna accidentally injures her thumb when her clamshell mirror snaps on it, making her unable to take part in the clapping competition with Alanna.
• Ink-Suit Actor:
  • Tanti Chantale looks a lot like Danni Washington does in real life, just with a different hair color.
  • Other than the hair, Ursula looks very similar to Amber Riley due to sharing a similar physique.
• Innocently Insensitive: In "The Spooky Mirror Trick", when Flounder says how he wanted to be seen as spooky instead of cute during Spooky Season, Lucia and Fernie make comments about he's really cute. They are trying to be nice, but just didn't think through their words, hence Flounder still being sad.
• Interspecies Friendship: Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie, who are mermaids, are all friends with Flounder, who's an angelfish.
• Intertwined Fingers: In "A Fashion Emergency", Ariel locks her hands with Alanna and Ayanna's hands when she thanks them for cleaning her up.
• In the Hood: In "La Sirenusca", the titular character is shown to be a mysterious, hooded figure who's shown to be tall and intimidating. It's subverted at the end when it's revealed that it was just Ursula minding her own business.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: Flounder shows this in some occasions. In the shorts "Palace Puzzle" and "Dress Up Mess Up", he has a tea party and gladly wears one of Ariel's wig. Nobody bats an eye at any of this.
• Invisibility : Both "Ursula's Magic Camp" and "The Spooky Mirror Trick" have this. The former has Ursula teaching everyone how to do an invisibility spell while the latter has Flounder work with everyone to scare Sebastian by being invisible and moving things around.
• I Resemble That Remark!: In "Rainbow Sea Caves", Ariel says she's not moving quickly through the geysers, and then unintentionally does so immediately afterwards.
• Iris Out: "The Spooky Mirror Trick" has Flounder say "Boo" just before the iris comes out to end the episode.
• Ironic Name: "A Banner Moment" introduces The Duke Of Clownfish, who's ironically quite the sourpuss. It's then averted at the end, where he becomes much friendlier.
• It Amused Me: Ursula is a more friendly example of this trope given how the tricks she pulls are surprising, but harmless. A good example comes from "The Endless Sleepover", where she randomly gives Triton a silly hat just for her and Ariel's amusement.
• It's All My Fault: It's not uncommon for Ariel to blame herself for something bad that happened, especially if she somehow had a hand in it. Three notable examples come from "The Clean Team " (where Lucia blames herself for causing the mess before Ariel says that it was her fault), "The Happy Patty Clap" (where she keeps blaming herself for not learning the special clap fast enough), and "Remy The Houseguest" (where she blames herself for not setting boundaries for Remy, even saying how she feels bad for ruining a place that's everyone's home).
• Jabba Table Manners: Jewels is a downplayed example given how she's a Nice Girl, but doesn't have a good sense of boundaries. In "Jewels The Winner", when Jewels keeps treating everything like a competition, one of the things she does is blow bubbles out of her smoothie, getting juice all over the table despite everyone else also being present.
• Jump Scare: In a more lighthearted example, the beginning of "The Kite Monster" has Ariel scare Lucia and Fernie by jumping from behind her bed and yelling boo.
• Just in Time: In "The Brave Little Goby", Ariel, Lucia, Fernie, and Bembe all get tangled up in a giant ball of seaweed. Fortunately, since Flounder was too slow to catch up with them earlier, he manages to meet up with them at just the right time, and get them out.
• Keet: Flounder is definitely this given how he's rather cheerful and full of life.
• Kids Are Cruel: Jewels from "Copy Catfish" averts this given how she's really nice even if she's a bit too nosy when copying Ariel.
• Kids Hate Chores: "The Clean Team" follows this as Ariel wants to play finball with her friends instead of cleaning her room. She suggests using magic to speed things up until King Triton tells her how magic doesn't solve everything.
• The Klutz:
  • Ariel has moments of this in "The Happy Patty Clap" with how she keeps messing up. Notably, she accidentally spins herself so hard that she claps Fernie's hands instead of Alanna's hands.
  • "The Singing Dolphin" shows how Delfino is quite the klutz with how he accidentally keeps breaking things.
• Knew It All Along: The above mentioned "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale" has Tantie Chantelle reveal that she knew that Ariel made everything up. As she said, she's a marine biologist, and would know about every creature that actually exists.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: "The Happy Patty Clap" shows an interesting take on this idea. Ariel keeps trying to learn Alanna and Ayanna's clap routine in time for the dance competition despite repeatedly messing up. Even though Alanna keeps insisting that they can do a different routine, she still wants to try it. Alanna then tells Ariel upfront at the end that she doesn't have to do the clap right away if she needs more time to learn it.
• Lack of Empathy: While it is unintentional, Lucia's clones from "Lucia, Lucia, Lucia" do show this. While the real Lucia can be stubborn and impulsive sometimes, she's also capable of feeling empathy for others, and tries doing the right thing when seeing that she's made a mistake. That's not the case with her clones. Silly Lucia makes a mess in the kitchen while baking with Flounder, and Curious Lucia keeps annoying Fernie by continuously asking questions, and neither of them are aware of how their actions affect others. They just keep acting like fools.
• Large-Ham Announcer: Alanna and Ayanna definitely show quite the enthusiasm at announcing the race in "A Winner's Spirit".
• Laser-Guided Karma: A more lighthearted example happens in "Rainbow Sea Caves". Ariel has trouble following the rules of what to do at the rainbow sea caves. Eventually, she, Lucia, and Fernie play with the rainbow bubbles just as Flounder finds a sign saying not to do it. The result is the trio getting covered in rainbow goop and being chased by parrotfish that won't stop tickling them. They then admit at the palace that they should've paid more attention to the rules so that this wouldn't happen.
• The Last Straw: In "The Clean Team", the sponges that Lucia accidentally brought to life via magic keep making messes despite wanting to clean everything up. They stuff a bunch of things into Ariel's toy chest, which eventually explodes.
• Latino Is Brown: Lucia is a Latina girl that has slightly brown skin.
• Leaving Food for Santa: In a quick moment, one of the tables in "Flounder's Christmas Letter" has a plate of sweet treats, which is obviously for Santa Mer-Claus.
• Leeroy Jenkins:
  • Ariel is well-meaning, but can often be impulsive by doing things before thinking of the consequences.
  • Lucia can also be this, but more in how she often sees magic as the first solution to a problem without thinking of the consequences.
  • Tri Tri, the kid version of King Triton in "Kid Triton", is definitely this. Much like with Ariel, he likes having fun. Unlike Ariel, he has no self control and impulsively does whatever pleases him.
• "Lesson of the Day" Speech: Episodes will have some moment near the end where the characters recap the lesson that they learned. It's best shown in "Kid Triton", somewhat literally, where Ariel gives a speech to some special visitors talking about how King Triton is great. She says how she learned to be more considerate of him given all the hard work he does to make everyone happy.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: In "Kid Triton", everyone splits up to catch Tri-Tri (the kid version of King Triton). Ariel and Lucia check one half of the palace while Fernie and Flounder check the other half. It then goes poorly because he keeps evading them.
• Like a Son to Me: King Triton treats Lucia and Fernie as much as part of his family as Ariel. A good example comes from "Fernie's Dra Konfo", where he goes back to Fernie's house in the middle of the night to get him his Dra Konfo. Another example comes from "A Banner Moment", where he has them help out in distracting the Duke Of Clownfish.
• Like Brother and Sister: Ariel and Flounder often have this dynamic given how she acts like a supportive big sister when he's in trouble while he acts like a little brother when she needs help.
• Like Father, Like Son: Ariel has definitely taken on more of Triton's slightly silly behavior when she hums the chores song at the end of "The Clean Team" and does so again at the beginning of "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day".
• Limited Social Circle: While Bembe and Clamilla sometimes appear, the only friends in her age range that Ariel is seen regularly hanging out with are Flounder, Lucia, and Fernie.
• Literal Split Personality: "Lucia Lucia Lucia!" has Lucia make two clones of herself so that she can take part in three playdates at once . The first clone is overly silly while the second clone is overly curious.
• Loads and Loads of Rules: In "Substitute Sebastian", Ariel thinks that Sebastian does this when he tells everyone to do not do certain things during music class even though he really only has three rules. It's played straight with his cousin Henrick, who has a list of rules that are as tall as the podium.
• Local Hangout: Ariel and her friends often hang out at Ravi's juice stand when they're not at the palace, Ursula's apothecary, or the Crystal Cavern.
• Long List: In "Substitute Sebastian", Ariel says how Henrick is a better music teacher than Sebastian since at least he doesn't have so many rules. He then proceeds to show a list of rules as tall as the podium.
• Loud Gulp: In "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale", Tanti Chantale clearly knows that Ariel is lying about the jellystar chomptafish being real. As such, when she says to spread this revelation all over town, Ariel gets quite visibly nervous as sound comes out of her mouth since she knows she's lying.
• Lovable Coward: Flounder shows this in "La Sirenusca", where he follows Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie so that they don't get hurt by La Sirenusca even though he's scared of her.
• Loved by All: The royal family is loved by everyone in Atlantica.
• Luminescent Blush: Ariel's cheeks have pink on them, which occasionally shimmer.
• Magic Misfire: Lucia is a good magician, but she can often mess up her magic unintentionally. A good example comes from "Hiccup Gone Amuck", where she successfully cures Flounder's hiccups the third time around, but she ends up accidentally transferring them to Ariel when she gets caught in the magic cloud.
• Magic Wand: In "Ursula's Magic Camp", everyone uses magic wands when casting spells.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Lucia is Spanish for light. It's definitely fitting for the show's Lucia given how she likes to use her magic to light up other people's lives.
  • Ravi means "sun" in Hindi. It's fitting for Ravi in this sight given how he has a laid-back, but optimistic personality.
• Medium Blending: The Disney Animals Under The Sea shorts keep Ariel and Fernie In CGI while putting them against live action footage of sea creatures.
• Messy Hair: In the short "Fashion Emergency", Alanna and Ayanna help clean up Ariel's messy appearance, which includes taking seaweed out of her hair.
• Minimalist Cast:
  • Many episodes, such as "Clamming Up" and "The Legend Of The Kite Monster", will usually just feature the main quartet of Ariel, Flounder, Lucia, and Fernie, and usually only have 1-2 extra characters.
  • It's particularly noticeable in "Razzle Dazzle", where Fernie and Flounder are absent. The only named characters are Lucia, Ariel, and Ursula.
• Mirror Routine: In "Copy Catfish", Jewels copies everything Ariel says and does, sometimes right besides a mirror.
• Mirror Scare: A rare, non-antagonistic example happens twice in "The Spooky Mirror Trick":
  • When Flounder attempts to ask Ursula for help when he meets with her, she scares him by surprising him from inside her mirror.
  • Later in the episode, when Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie see the mirror inside the Crystal Cavern, and wonder where it came from, they're genuinely surprised when Flounder manages to scare them from inside it.
• Mix-and-Match Critters:
  • It's subverted in "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale". Ariel lies to Tanti Chantale about a creature called the jellystar chomptafish. She describes the creature as being "part jellyfish, part starfish, part electric eel, and part some other fish".
  • "The Kite Monster" offers an interesting take on this trope in how the titular character isn't seen, but it still fits. Ariel describes the Kite Monster as being part jellyfish and part eel. It's played straight at the end when he appears, and he's exactly as she described.
• Musicalis Interruptus: In "The Kite Monster", Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie sing the "Spooky Season Is Here" song to Fernie as they try to convince him that the Kite Monster is real. As they sing the final lyric, they get interrupted by a gust of wind, and their kites disappearing.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Ariel has this reaction whenever she sees that she messed up. It's noticeable in "The Daddy Daughter Dinner", where her impulsive desire to see her land treasures in a shipwreck has her trapped inside it, and she regrets missing dinner because of it.
  • Lucia has this reaction in "Lucia Lucia Lucia". Unlike her clones, she feels bad for all the bad things that happen when they make things worse for her friends.
• My Hair Came Out Green: In "Copy Catfish", Jewels intentionally uses Lucia's color changing spell to make her hair red like Ariel. She's not pleased with this.
• Mystery Episode: The short "Palace Puzzle" has Ariel and Triton try to find out who took their things.
• Name and Name: "Ravi and Navi" of course focuses on Ravi and his friend Navi.
• Nature Lover: Fernie shows this in episodes like "Clamming Up" and "Lucia Lucia Lucia", where he goes on nature swims and educates his friends on sea creatures and underwater plant life.
• Neat Freak:
  • Sebastian often tries to keep things tidy as a way to maintain order. It's best shown in "Happy Crabby Day", with how he tries finding work to do, which includes cleaning up.
  • Flounder shows this in two episodes:
    • In "Remy The Houseguest", he doesn't like Remy leaving crumbs everywhere as he messily eats sandwiches.
    • In "Lucia Lucia Lucia", he's not happy with how Silly Lucia gives him a bottle of sugar that she shook too hard, thus causing it to spill everywhere.
• Nervous Wreck: Sebastian is shown to be rather easily stressed out and scared. "The Kite Monster" shows this as he gets scared by Ariel coming into the hallway unexpectedly even when she's not trying to be scary.
• Nice Girl:
  • Ariel definitely shows this with how she's very sweet and just wants to help people out.
  • Lucia is a friendly and sweet girl who likes using her magic to help others.
• Nightmare Fetishist: This can actually describe Lucia interestingly enough. A big reason for this is with how she's a big fan of Ursula, who's into some scary things herself even with Adaptational Heroism. Beyond that, she shows this prominently in two episodes:
  • In "La Sirenusca", she's really enthusiastic about telling the story of La Sirenusca, and is the first to be excited about her possibly being real when Flounder says that he saw her.
  • In "The Kite Monster", she immediately believes Ariel and Flounder when they tell her the story of the titular character.
• No Antagonist: The show doesn't have a major antagonist. The more obvious reason is because of Ursula going through Adaptational Heroism to become Ariel's beloved aunt. Even outside of that, the worst that can happen is sea creatures sometimes accidentally causing problems that are tamed at the end, such as the dogfish taking Ariel's banner in "A Banner Moment" and Hermes the crab taking Ariel's land treasures in its partner episode "The Crystal Cavern Caper".
• No Name Given: In "Holiday Toy Box Trouble", neither the mother that gets Ariel's toy box nor her daughter who she gives it too are named in the episode or the end credits.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Flounder serves as this to Ariel given how she's a mermaid while he's an angelfish.
• No Sense of Personal Space:
  • "Copy Catfish" shows Jewels being a bit on the intrusive side (albeit unintentionally of course) with how she keeps copying Ariel wherever she is.
  • "Clamming Up" has Ariel and her friends attempt to befriend a clam named Clamilla that won't come out of her shell. While well intentioned, they do come in too hard in trying to be her friend since they don't give her enough time to process things.
• Not So Above It All: While Urusla generally acts all knowing and wise, she also messes up sometimes. It's best shown in "A Magical Achoo", where she keeps insisting on teaching Lucia and Ariel even though she's sick.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Ariel does this in "Chef Flounder", where she pretends to not see how excited Flounder is for the food festival, and drags it out for a bit before joining him in the excitement.
• Oblivious Janitor Cut: While it doesn't involve a janitor, it happens to Triton on two occasions:
  • "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" has Triton and Cristina Cuttles talking to each quite a bit, being unaware of the mess the babies are causing as Ariel is chasing them around.
  • "The Clean Team" has Ariel chasing around the sentient sponges. Triton can't see what's going on since he's trimming the garden and wearing headphones seemingly made from seashells.
• Obliviously Beautiful: It's subverted with the short "Fashion Emergency". Alanna tells Ayanna how there's some kind of fashion emergency. Ayanna thinks that Alanna is referring to herself, and says she looks fine. Alanna says she knows, and brings in Ariel, who has a much messier appearance.
• Obviously Not Fine: In "Lucia Lucia Lucia", as Lucia plays checkers with Ariel, she sees one of her clones causing trouble, and gets worried. When Ariel asks if she's okay, she says yes, but her twitchy left eye clearly shows that she's not.
• Odd Name Out: Much like the franchise as a whole, Ariel is the only one in her family whose name isn't six letters.
• Ode to Food: "Chef Flounder" has Flounder sing "So Many Flavors", a song about all the foods available at the fair.
• Oh, Crap!: Everyone has a look of fear in "La Sirenusca" when the titular character escapes Lucia's bubble.
• Older and Wiser: The adult characters often given Ariel and her friends advice based on similar adventures they went on when they were younger.
• Older Than They Look: Alanna and Ayanna look, at most, only 1-2 years older than Ariel. Despite this, they're into things that are more suited for young teenagers, such as fashion magazines.
• One of the Kids: Triton generally tries to maintain a firm, but fair demeanor, though he's also not afraid to act immature or goofy with kids. A good example comes from "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day", where he takes great pride in making sandcastles with Ariel and Flounder. He even briefly goes back to fix his castle before moving to the final activity at Gilly Gardens.
• One-Word Title: The show is simply called Ariel, though some advertisements call it "Disney Junior's Ariel".
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Ariel is known for being a sweet girl who cares for others, and also loves music. As such, times when she goes against this are pretty surprising:
    • When Ariel drops her usual sweet demeanor, it means that something is definitely wrong. It's most noticeable in "Remy The Houseguest". When Remy invites a bunch of kids to the Crystal Cavern without asking permission, Ariel is understandably frustrated. When her biggle scootle breaks, she's so furious that, without even saying anything, everyone immediately leaves when seeing her angry tail shimmer.
    • "Holiday Toy Box Trouble" has Ariel being very focused on trying to get her toy box back to the point of not thinking straight. Most notably, she actually turns down an offer to do a Christmas concert with Alanna and Ayanna, which surprises them. She then sees that she has to do this since she's not usually one to turn down a concert.
  • Lucia is generally rather gentle when dealing with Ariel's mistakes. As such, her behavior during the second half of "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale" , where she becomes more sarcastic and more visibly annoyed with Ariel prolonging the lie, stands out.
  • Ursula is usually known for maintaining a cool, calm demeanor when other people make mistakes. As such, her behavior in "The Spooky Mirror Trick" stands out. When she sees that Flounder accidentally trapped Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie inside her magic mirror, she shows a surprised facial expression that's a mix between worry and genuine confusion.
• Open-Minded Parent: With Triton being an Adaptational Nice Guy, he has moments of being more open minded about other things. A good example comes from "Daddy Daughter Dinner", where he supports Ariel collecting land treasures as long as she knows when to make time for her family.
• Original Generation: Alongside the usual main undersea cast, we also have Ariel's friends Fernie and Lucia.
• Orphaned Setup: "Lucia Lucia Lucia" does this with one of Lucia's clones, specifically Silly Lucia. All she says is "Knock Knock", even as characters ask who's there due to expecting a punchline. When she doesn't say what the punchline is, everyone is understandably confused.
• Other Me Annoys Me: "Lucia Lucia Lucia" has Lucia make two clones of herself so that she can hang out with her friends during three separate playdates. They grow annoyed with her clones, and even she can't stand them.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: Most of the merfolk cast follow a CGI version of the live-action film style, though Lucia's tail has a slight Osteoglossiform-like design to it as shown in released images.
• Out of Focus:
  • Since Alanna and Ayanna are a bit older than Ariel and her friends, they don't have as much involvement with their adventures due to their own priorities. A good number episodes can have them be absent from both segments. They don't even show up in the theme song despite other established franchise characters showing up. It's best shown in how, after "The Happy Patty Clap", which is the second segment of episode nine, they don't show up again until "Holiday Toy Box Trouble", the second segment of the show's eighteenth episode.
  • Some episodes that focus more on Ariel's relationship with her family give smaller roles to Lucia and Fernie. A few examples include "Copy Catfish" and "Family Picture Day " (where they mainly show up during the middle for a few minutes), "Happy Crabby Day" (where they show up at the beginning and end due to helping out at the palace), "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day" (where they don't appear onscreen until the second half of the episode), and "The Sea Sniffles" (where they also don't show up until the second half).
  • "Razzle Dazzle" stands out as being the first time in which either Fernie or Flounder is absent from an episode.
  • "A Magical Achoo/Are We There Yet" both follow this trope. The former segment has Fernie and Flounder only make a few cameos, where they have quiet time. The latter segment has Fernie being absent, in addition to this being the first time that Lucia is absent in an episode.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: In "Substitute Sebastian", it's pretty easy to tell that Henrick is just Sebastian in disguise given how he just wears a mustache, sunglasses, and hat that don't cover up much.
• Penny-Pinching Crab: The episode "The Crystal Cavern Caper" introduces Hermes the crab, who definitely fits the bill since he kept stealing Ariel's land treasures.
• Pep-Talk Song: "All You Have To Do Is Ask" from "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" is this, with Lucia, Fernie, and Flounder cheering up Ariel by saying that she's not weak in asking for help. They bring up times she helped them in order to get the point across more.
• Perfection Is Impossible: "Fernie's Float" puts a good deal of focus on this due to how Fernie, unlike Ariel, thinks that the float will only be perfect if it's exactly like the one in his drawing. He then learns that this is not a good idea to strive for.
• Performance Anxiety: Interestingly enough, Triton shows this in "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day". He's hesitant to perform with Ariel, Flounder, Lucia, and Fernie at Gilly Gardens since he's more used to singing in private at the palace, not in front of a crowd. He then changes his mind when Ariel says how he wasn't afraid to try out other new things today.
• Pet Dress-Up: Flounder is a friend to the main characters, not a pet, but he still fits this given how he's a fish. He tells Ariel in "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" how Alanna and Ayanna would often practice babysitting on him by dressing him up.
• Picky Eater: Interestingly enough, Triton shows this this behavior in "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day". He's reluctant to try Ariel and Flounder's seaberry pancakes since he didn't like seaberries as a kid, and is more used to eating seaweed pancakes. They encourage him to try it again since tastes can change over time, and he likes it.
• Picture Day: "Family Picture Day" has Ariel trying to help Ayanna get ready for the titular event.
• Platonic Kissing: In "The Clean Team", when Flounder inadvertently gives Ariel an idea on how to get the sentient sponges back, she's so overjoyed that she gives him a kiss on the cheek. He's a bit confused, but also flattered.
• Playing Sick: The second half of "The Sea Sniffles" has Flounder pretend to be sick so that he can keep getting special treatment from Ariel.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Flounder tends to be the source of many humorous moments in the show due to him often doing or saying silly things.
• Plucky Girl: Ariel is definitely this given how she's very energetic, and won't back down from an adventure.
• Pokémon Speak: "Lucia Lucia Lucia" has Lucia make two copies of herself so that she can go on three playdates with her friends at the same time. However, the clones only say one sentence each, and nothing else. Silly Lucia only says "Knock Knock" while Curious Lucia only says "Ooh, what's this?".
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • In "A Banner Moment", Ariel doesn't think that her job carrying a banner is important. When a dogfish takes it, she doesn't try to stop it since she thinks that she can get another one from Sebastian. However, he doesn't have another one. We later see why the banner is important since the person holding it is the parade line leader. Had Sebastian not been called away to help King Triton earlier, he would've cleared it up.
  • In "Ravi And Navi", Ravi thinks that Navi forgot his birthday while Navi thinks that Ravi forgot to invite her. They're both so sad by this that they don't talk to each other about their feelings.
  • In "The Brave Little Goby", Ariel tells Bembe about all the land treasures she's collected on her adventures. This inspires Bembe to go on her own adventure. Unfortunately, since Ariel didn't specify that she went on these adventures with her friends, Bembe goes off on her own to dangerous parts of the ocean.
  • In "Remy The Houseguest", Ariel doesn't establish any boundaries with Remy on what he can and can't do at the Crystal Cavern since she doesn't want him to feel bad for being lost. As such, he accidentally makes a mess of everything since he didn't know what could and couldn't be done.
  • In "Holiday Toy Box Trouble", King Triton tells Ariel and Flounder that the things that they want to keep go in a red box while the things that they want to give away go in the green box, and that Sebastian will pick everything up later. Apparently, he didn't tell him that clearly enough since he gets both of Ariel's boxes without asking why, thinking that she was being extra generous.
• Prank Gone Too Far: In "The Spooky Mirror Trick", Flounder uses Ursula's mirror trick to scare Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie from inside it. While the trick works, he gets the reversal spell wrong, and accidentally lets himself out while trapping them inside it.
• Precious Puppy: "The Lost Dogfish" definitely goes for this given how much Ariel fawns over Tica the dogfish.
• Prized Possession Giveaway: In "Holiday Toy Box Trouble", Ariel tries getting back a box of her toys that Sebastian accidentally took to Ravi's toy drive. At the end of the episode, when she sees a mother giving the box to her daughter, she decides to let them keep it anyway since they're so happy.
• Produce Pelting: "Razzle Dazzle" offers an interesting variation of this. Lucia uses a magic spell to pick fruit fast. Unfortunately, she makes a mistake, and both she and Ariel get hit by fruit falling from above.
• Product Delivery Ordeal: In "Flounder's Christmas Letter", Flounder tries getting his Christmas letter to Marla The Mailfish. However, Ravi points out how difficult that is given how they would have to pass the Soca Sands and Candy Cane Current. It's something that only Marla and Santa and his narwhals can accomplish.
• Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Various episodes have Ariel and Lucia be more openly comfortable and emotional with each other in ways that can be seen as romantic coded. Some examples include "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" and "Lucia Lucia Lucia".
• Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat: Lucia shows an interesting variation of this on two separate occasions:
  • In the beginning of "Fernie's Notebook", she attempts to pull a fish out of a hat. She accidentally pulls out a squid, which then steals Fernie's notebook.
  • During the "Bring On The Magic" song from "Razzle Dazzle", she pulls a bunch of sea bunnies out of a hat as she shows Ariel some magic tricks.
• Pun : The short "Hiccup Gone Amuck" has Ariel deliver one of these to Flounder. She asks him "How do you make an octopus laugh?", and when he asks how, she says "Give it ten tickles.".
• The Punishment Is the Crime: In "Rainbow Sea Caves", Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie touch the rainbow bubbles in the rainbow sea caves, and get tortured by tickle fish constantly kissing them due to being covered in rainbows. When they all return to the palace, Triton sees this, and discovers that they didn't follow the rules. However, while he jokes about it a bit, he doesn't punish them since he thinks this is enough, and just tells them to wash it off.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: In "Daddy Daughter Dinner", Ariel uses these eyes as she desperately asks Flounder if she can check the shipwreck for land treasures. Even though he knows that she should head home already, he reluctantly lets her check it out.
• The Quiet Game: The short "The Quiet Game" has Sebastian telling Ariel and her friends to be quiet during music class while he tries coming up with some ideas. They eventually make noise due to boredom, but it does give him some much needed inspiration.
• Race Against the Clock: In "A Banner Moment", Sebastian tells Ariel and Flounder that they have to get the banner back before the clock rings 3 times. Otherwise, the Duke Of Clownfish will be unhappy.
• Race Lift:
  • Like the live-action remake, Ariel is depicted as Caribbean instead of Caucasian. Interestingly, this also applies to her family two-fold as said remake had them multi-ethnic ^note .
  • Santa's brief appearance at the end of "Flounder's Christmas Letter" shows him as a black man, complete with a black voice actor. ^note 
• Rage Breaking Point: In "Copy Catfish", when Jewels repeatedly keeps annoying (albeit unintentionally) Ariel by copying her and wonders why she has to find her own thing, Ariel flat out yells at her about how it's so she can stop copying her. She then immediately regrets it when she sees Jewels run off sad.
• Raised by Grandparents: Lucia is implied to be this given how her abuela is the only family member she brings up, and she's the only family member we see in "Abuelita's Shawl".
• Real After All: "The Kite Monster" reveals to the audience that the titular character to be real all along.
• Real Men Cook: Triton does the cooking in the palace. As seen by Ariel and Flounder's positive reactions, he's great at it.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The adults in the show, notably Triton and Ursula, allow Ariel and her friends to do what they want as long as they follow the rules and don't go too far with things.
• Rebellious Princess: To some extent, Ariel is this given how she can sometimes act out when doing what she thinks is right, such as trying to use magic to do chores in "The Clean Team".
• Recent Event Nostalgia: In "Rainbow Sea Caves", Flounder reminisces on the seaberry pancakes he has as if he hasn't had them in a long time. Ariel then reminds him of how he had them a few days ago, referencing the events of the partner episode "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day".
• Red Is Heroic: Much like in the franchise as a whole, Ariel is a redhead who's also very sweet and caring.
• Related in the Adaptation: As in the stage play and 2023 film, but not the 1989 film or the original fairy tale, Ursula is Triton's sister and Ariel's aunt.
• Remembered Too Late: In "Rainbow Sea Caves", King Triton tells Ariel and Flounder that he knows about a sign at the end of the sea caves, but doesn't remember what it said. By the end of the episode, he then remembers what it said, that you shouldn't touch the rainbow bubbles or you'll get bothered by parrotfish. Unfortunately, he only remembers this after seeing Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie covered in rainbow bubbles substance.
• Repression Never Ends Well: In "Swim Scouts", Fernie is jealous of Ronaldo knowing more fish facts than him because he thinks he'll lose his friends to him. He tries remaining calm about it, but then bluntly tells him how he doesn't want his help removing the starfish on his body because he couldn't control his emotions.
• Resized Vocals:
  • In "Hiccup Gone Amuck", when Lucia's magic causes Flounder to change sizes instead of getting rid of his hiccups, the pitch of his voice changes too. He gets a higher, much squeakier voice when he's a guppy, and a lower, much deeper voice when he's a giant.
  • In "A Magical Achoo", when Ursula accidentally shrinks herself, she gets a higher pitched voice.
• Restaurant-Owning Episode: "Smoothie Shakeup" follows this somewhat as Ariel and her friends are in charge of Ravi's juice stand while he's helping out his brother.
• Reused Character Design: Alanna and Ayanna look similar to Elena and Marisa in their sirena forms albeit shorter.
• Royal Brat: In "Flounder The Leader", Triton tells Flounder how, when he was younger, he was once an egotistical king who thought he could boss people around and get whatever he wanted. He then grew out of it by being more open to listening to others.
• Runaway Hideaway: In "Copy Catfish", Jewels runs off when Ariel yells at her to stop copying her, which she obviously feels regret for. After asking Alanna and Ayanna where she is, she sees that she's alone on the palace swing set.
• Safe Under Blankets: In "La Sirenusca", Flounder hides under Ariel's blanket when he thinks that the titular character is real.
• Santa Clausmas: "Flounder's Christmas Letter" shows how Santa Mer-Claus is seen by everyone in Atlantica as the big symbol of the holiday. Ariel is shown leaving out cookies for him, and Ravi says how everyone does what they can to make sure he delivers presents on time.
• Scenery Porn: The backgrounds have plenty of colors and details that makes the show look great.
• Scout-Out: "Swim Scouts" reveals that Ariel and her friends are part of a scouting troop called Swim Scouts. Her troop is led by Tanti Chantale.
• Sculptures : Some of the items that are in the Crystal Cavern are sculptures that Ariel found.
• Security Blanket: "Fernie's Dra Konfo" reveals that he has a blanket that he sleeps with at night to feel comfortable.
• Setting Update: While mainly timeless, some modern elements show up. "Family Picture Day" has Sebastian take a picture of the royal family with the underwater equivalent of a smartphone.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: "Fashion Emergency" has Alanna and Ayanna give Ariel a makeover to clean up her messy appearance, and she looks pretty good.
• Shifted to CGI: This is the first fully CGI animated project in the franchise as opposed to the usual 2D animation.
• Shipshape Shipwreck: In "The Daddy Daughter Dinner" Lucia and Fernie tell Ariel and Flounder about a shipwreck they found that has land treasures in it. When it's shown later, it's on its side.
• Shock-and-Switch Ending: "The Happy Patty Clap" at first makes it look like Ariel and Alanna can't do the competition. However, they manage to get there in time, and win first place.
• Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Ariel and her friends aren't shown attending any kind of formal schooling. The closest thing is going to Ursula's magic camp and Sebastian's music class, but that's it.
• Show-and-Tell Antics: "Fernie's Notebook" has Fernie wanting to show his notebook to everyone in the town square for show and tell. It then gets taken from a squid that Lucia accidentally conjured up.
• Shown Their Work: Much of the information relating to sea creatures in the show is very accurate to real life. The song "Did You Know" from "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale" is a good example of this, as Fernie and Tanti Chantale correctly point out how whales are the largest sea animals, and how plankton don't swim on their own.
• Shrinking Violet: "Clamming Up" introduces a young clam named Clamilla. She's very shy, and tends to not make her presence known unless she's given the choice.
• Sick Episode: "A Magical Achoo" has Urusla come down with the sea sniffles. She keeps trying to teach Lucia and Ariel magic even though they advise her not to. At the end of the episode, when she goes to get some rest, Ebb and Flow get sick too.
• Sickly Green Glow: While it doesn't involve anything evil, the "Spooky Season" song from "The Kite Monster" fits this. As Ariel, Lucia, and Flounder sing to Fernie about how The Kite Monster is real, the atmosphere becomes more green and ominous.
• Signature Headgear:
  • Ariel wears a seashell brooch in her hair.
  • Lucia wears a headband with a daisy on it.
• Signature Instrument: Ariel has a seashell guitar. Flounder has maracas. Lucia has a xylophone shell. Fernie has a drum.
• Significant White Hair, Dark Skin: Ursula has dark skin and white hair, perfectly showing how she's a powerful magic user.
• Silver Fox: Lucia's Abuelita Alma has gray hair, and she still maintains her appearance quite nicely.
• Single-Minded Twins:
  • Alanna and Ayanna tend to be pretty similar in how they often act in sync with each other, finish each other's sentences, love fashion, and both act like a Cool Big Sis to Ariel.
  • "Flounder's Christmas Letter" introduces the sisters Gabby Guppy and Gigi Guppy, who are basically one character split into two given how they're mainly there to be turned into narwhals through Lucia's magic.
• Slice of Life: Many episodes center around problems with small stakes, such as picture day or friends going through disagreements.
• Sliding Scale Ofdealism Versus Cynicism: The show definitely embraces the idealistic side of life with a strong emphasis on characters, especially Ariel, caring for each other, and helping those in need.
• Slow and Steady Wins the Race: "A Winner's Spirit" subverts this. Ariel thinks that Flounder going fast is the only way to win the race. He says that while he wants to win someday, he just wants to focus on being able to race at his own pace. Sure enough, he doesn't win the race, but still considers it a personal victory since he went at his own pace, and crossed the finish line.
• Slumber Party:
  • "The Endless Sleepover" is about Ariel and her friends having a sleepover at Ursula's apothecary. As per the title, she has so much fun that she doesn't want it to end.
  • "Fernie's Dra Konfo" takes place at Ariel's house, where everyone is having a sleepover, but Fernie doesn't have his lovey to help him sleep.
• Small Role, Big Impact:
  • Sebastian has gone through this twice:
    • In "Family Picture Day", he only appears twice, but he kicks off the conflict (of Ayanna needing her hair fixed) by telling Ariel and Ayanna that Alanna and King Triton won't be home for awhile to help her out.
    • In "Holiday Toy Box Trouble", he only appears at the beginning, but he kicks off the plot by accidentally talking Ariel's box of toys that she wanted to keep.
  • In "The Brave Little Goby", Clamilla only appears in one scene. However, in said scene, she tells Ariel and her friends how Bembe went off on her own to the edge of the ocean for an adventure, which is the focus of the episode's second half.
  • In "Lucia, Lucia, Lucia", Ravi only appears at the beginning of the episode. However, he also kicks the episode's plot into motion by telling Lucia that she can't be in three places, thus inspiring her to use magic so that she can be in three places at once.
• The Smart Guy: Fernie definitely embraces this with how often he talks about fish facts. The same goes for Tanti Chantale with how often she relays information.
• Sneeze Interruption: In "The Sea Sniffles Sniffles", when Flounder sneezes, Ariel tells him to get to bed since he's sick. He attempts to keep making his snacks, but gets interrupted with more sneezing.
• Snowy Sleigh Bells: In "Flounder's Christmas Letter", both Santa's sleigh as well as the sleigh that Lucia conjures up from a seashell both having ringing bells play out.
• Song Style Shift:
  • The song "Relax" from "Happy Crabby Day" is about Ariel trying to get Sebastian to relax. The first half, sung by Ariel, is calm and relaxing, which fits with what she's trying to do. The second half, mainly sung by Sebastian, is more frantic and fast paced, fitting with how Sebastian is desperate in trying to find something work related to do.
  • The song "Let Your Music Play" from "The Singing Dolphin" is already pretty energetic, but it's more emphasized when Ariel briefly raps.
• So Proud of You:
  • In "Kid Triton", when Triton turns back to being an adult. When he sees Ariel giving his speech, he's initially worried, but then lets out a small smile when she gets everyone to clap happily.
  • In "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale", after Ariel says how she shouldn't have lied and dragged everyone into this, Lucia lets out a small smile as she says to her "All good amiga.".
• Soup Is Medicine: In "The Sea Sniffles", as Flounder attempts to tell Ariel that he's feeling better, she gives him kelp corn soup since it usually helps out those who are sick.
• Spell Levels: "Ursula's Magic Camp" establishes the various magic levels that mergicians can achieve. The first level is shark level, where you learn simple spells like "bubble kabubble". This is then followed up by goldfish, octopus, dolphin, and the highest level, shark. Unsurprisingly, Ursula is a shark level magician given how she's an expert on all things magic. The idea of spell levels is brought up again in "The Spooky Mirror Trick", where Flounder attempts to do the spooky mirror trick even though it's a shark level trick, and Lucia says she can't reverse it since she's at guppy level.
• Spinoff Babies: The show centers on a version of Ariel who's a young girl.
• Sportsmanship Aesop: "A Winner's Spirit" definitely follows this. Ariel keeps pushing Flounder to win the race even though he doesn't want to focus on winning the race. He wants to focus on having a good time talking part in the race before winning big races in the future, which Ariel isn't really supporting. Fortunately, he helps her see that she should focus more on trying to encourage him to do his best rather than the best.
• Squee :
  • In "La Sirenusca", Lucia squeals in excitement when she thinks that she saw La Sirenusca.
  • Ariel shows quite a bit of this in "Rainbow Sea Caves" with how she's basically bouncing for joy in checking out the titular caves.
• Stay on the Path: "Rainbow Sea Caves" definitely adheres to this idea quite a bit. It's best shown when everyone first goes inside the caves. As everyone checks out the rainbow sea caves, Flounder says to follow the sign going one way. However, Ariel thinks about following the rainbow light in the opposite direction since she thinks that the end of the rainbow caves are there. She's then proven wrong when they all end up back at the cave entrance.
• Stern Teacher: "Substitute Sebastian" shows how Sebastian is this given how he's willing to compliment the kids for doing a good job in music class, yet also isn't afraid to push them hard in order to help them get better.
• Sticky Situation: In "Swim Scouts", Fernie tries to show that he knows more fish facts than Ronaldo by trying to find some special starfish for Ariel, Lucia, and Flounder. He does find some, but they end up sticking to his body.
• Stock Ness Monster: The idea is briefly mentioned in the episode "Fernie's Dra Konfo". As Fernie keeps waking everyone up, Flounder thinks that one possible reason is because of the fish ness monster.
• Stop Copying Me: The plot of "Copy Catfish" is about Ariel trying to get her younger cousin Jewels to stop copying her.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: In the short "Hiccup Gone Amuck", Ariel attempts to cure Flounder's hiccups by telling him to hold his breath while she counts to five. It doesn't work out. When Lucia comes by, and asks what's up, Ariel explains the situation. The first thing she asks is if he tried holding his breath, and counting to five.
• Sugar Bowl: The series is pretty happy and optimistic, with small scale problems being the main source of conflict. Animals sometimes cause problems, but it's still more innocent and misguided.
• Surfer Dude: Sanka from "Remy The Houseguest" is this given his laid-back attitude and somewhat radical sounding voice.
• Swapped Roles: It's commonplace for episodes to have Triton or Ursula give good advice to Ariel. Episodes where she gives them advice flip this around:
  • "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day" has Ariel give advice to Triton about trying new things.
  • "A Magical Achoo" has both Ariel and Lucia advise Urusla to rest when she keeps sneezing.
• Sweet Baker:
  • Ravi's friend Navi is not only very nice, she's also great at baking treats, mainly souffles.
  • Flounder himself is pretty friendly, with "Lucia Lucia Lucia" showing that he likes baking.
  • King Triton is a good ruler and dad, and often does the cooking around the palace.
• Sweet Tooth: Given how Flounder is a Big Eater, it's not a surprise that he would also really be into sweets. A few examples include "Lucia Lucia Lucia" (where he excitedly bakes cupcakes with Silly Lucia) and "Flounder's Christmas Letter" (where he tells Ariel how he really knows his candy canes).
• Take My Hand!: In "Daddy Daughter Dinner", Fernie tells Ariel to grab his hand so that she can get out of the capsized shipwreck.
• Taking Advantage of Generosity: In "Remy The Houseguest", Ariel, being the Nice Girl that she is , looks after a fish named Remy in the Crystal Cavern while he waits for Sanka to come pick him up. However, due to not showing any boundaries, not knowing what a houseguest is, and being Innocently Insensitive , he ends up doing whatever he wants, unaware of the mess that he's making.
• Talking in Your Sleep: The beginning of "Daddy Daughter Adventure Day" has Ariel and Flounder try to wake up King Triton for the titular day. He's shown talking about bubbles while he's sleeping.
• Tall Tale: "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale" definitely fits this trope given how it's about Ariel making up a weird sea creature called the jellystar chomptafish just so she doesn't lose Tanti Chantale's attention.
• Team Spirit: "Smoothie Shakeup" definitely runs on this given how it's about the friend group coming together and being more open to listening to each other when making smoothies.
• Tears of Joy: The ending to "Holiday Toy Box Trouble" has Ariel shed some tears because of how happy she is at making the mermaid mother and her daughter happy.
• Temporary Bulk Change: In "Hiccup Gone Amuck", when Flounder gets hiccups, Ariel has Lucia use her magic to turn him back to normal. It doesn't work. First he becomes small as a guppy before later becoming big as a whale before later turning back to normal.
• Terrible Artist: Ariel invokes this in "The Lost Dogfish. Since she doesn't want to let Tica the dogfish go, she purposefully draws a scribbly wanted poster in order to slow down the search.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: Both Lucia and Abuelita Alma enjoy knitting.
• Theme Naming: Ariel and her sister's names all start with A.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: "Rainbow Sea Caves" opens up with Ariel and Flounder talking over pancakes at breakfast. However, they aren't shown eating them given how they talk to Triton, and then immediately leave afterwards.
• Tickle Torture: A non-antagonistic example happens in "Rainbow Sea Caves". Ariel, Lucia, and Fernie get covered in rainbow substance due to touching rainbow bubbles even though they weren't supposed to do that. They then get kissed by a bunch of parrotfish that feels ticklish, causing them to laugh. While it is fun at first, it then becomes too much, and they try to leave.
• Time Stands Still: In "The Endless Sleepover", Ariel asks Ursula to freeze time so that she and her friends can have a neverending sleepover. When Ursula freezes time, everyone outside her apothecary stops moving.
• Too Unhappy to Be Hungry: Ariel is more impatient rather than unhappy, but she shows this behavior in "Are We There Yet?", where she's so determined to get to Crystal Falls right away, that she doesn't think about eating properly.
• Title, Please!: As is the case with every Disney Junior original from 2018 onwards, the episode titles aren't seen, but spoken aloud by the characters.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Flounder has quite the fondness for kelp noodles given how often he brings it up or tries getting some for himself.
  • Ursula seems to like plantains given how she poofed herself up some in "Atlantica Day" and offers everyone some in "La Sirenusca".
• The Trickster:
  • Ursula shows quite a bit of this, though it's always in good fun. In "Ursula's Magic Camp", when Lucia accidentally makes Fernie invisible, she then undoes her mistake, but not right away. She leaves Fernie invisible from the waist down before fully turning him back to normal, mainly for her own amusement.
  • Triton shows this in "Happy Crabby Day", where he has quite a bit of fun making Sebastian relax since he made it an official decree, and thus knows that he has to do it.
  • Ariel shows this at the beginning of "The Spooky Mirror Trick", where she takes quite a bit of joy in scaring Lucia and Fernie.
  • In "The Kite Monster", the titular character comes out the cave with the other kites, and giggles because of how he pulled it off. He definitely had fun tricking the characters.
• Trickster Mentor: This can describe Ursula in the show given how she genuinely cares for others, but can sometimes pull off tricks while doing so. A good example comes in "The Endless Sleepover", where she knows that it's right for Ariel and her friends to go to sleep right away, but lets them tire themselves out in order to help teach them the lesson the hard way.
• True Beauty Is on the Inside: Ariel brings this up to Ayanna in "Family Picture Day". She says how Ayanna might look silky, but it doesn't matter since she's still a great person on the inside. To hammer in the point further, Ariel makes her hair silly so that she wouldn't be alone.
• True Companions: Ariel and her friends are always there to help each other out.
• Two Girls and a Guy: Not including Flounder, who's an angelfish, Ariel and her friends are like this, where she and Lucia are girls while Fernie is a boy.
• Two Shorts: Each episode has 2 11 minute segments.
• Two-Timer Date: A non-romantic example happened in "Lucia Lucia Lucia!". Lucia agrees to three playdates with her friends at the same time. As such, she makes two copies of herself so that they can hang out with Fernie and Flounder while she hangs out with Ariel.
• Umbrella Drink: The smoothies that Ariel orders from Ravi often have little umbrellas in them.
• Unconventional Food Usage: In "Family Picture Day", Fernie attempts to use algae jelly to fix Ayanna's hair.
• Unconventional Smoothie: "The Smoothie Shakeup" shows what Ursula's favorite smoothie is. While it mostly contains typical ingredients such as bananas, kelp milk, and coral cocoa powder, it also has hot sauce.
• Under the Sea: As expected of a series focusing on a child version of Disney's famous mermaid, this series takes place in the undersea kingdom of Atlantica.
• Undying Loyalty: Ariel's friends will help her out whenever she's in trouble.
• Unmanly Secret: In "Fernie's Dra Konfo", even though everyone sleeps with their loveys, Fernie tries to hide the fact that he can't sleep without his Dra Konfo since he wants to be seen as brave. Everyone then tells him how it's pretty natural for people to have loveys, and he's still brave for admitting it.
• Unscrewed Salt Shaker: A variation with sugar happens in "Lucia Lucia Lucia". When Silly Lucia gives Flounder a bottle of a sugar that she unintentionally shook, it accidentally spills on the baking ingredients. He's not pleased with this.
• Unsuccessful Pet Adoption: In "The Lost Dogfish", Ariel attempts to keep Tica for herself despite her friends and family saying otherwise. She then comes to see that she should return Tica when seeing that she misses her family.
• Unusual Euphemism: In "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale", when Lucia shows more annoyance at Ariel continually lying about the jellystar chomptafish, she says "Oh Good Guppy!", the underwater equivalent to "Oh Good God!" Fernie also says this in "The Kite Monster" with how annoyed he is at everyone else believing in the titular character.
• Vacation Episode: "Happy Crabby Day" is about Ariel helping Sebastian relax when he's ordered to. He has a hard time doing so though given a party that he was planning at the palace.
• Vibrant Orange: Lucia's outfit is primarily orange, and she's pretty energetic.
• Wasn't That Fun?:
  • In "Ursula's Magic Camp", Lucia accidentally creates a giant whirlpool that traps her friends. After the situation is resolved, Flounder asks Ursula to make another whirlpool, albeit smaller, since he had a good time.
  • In "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale", Ariel asks Flounder to dress up like the jellystar chomptafish so that she can maintain her lie, which he's not exactly comfortable doing. However, he then finds it fun, and takes some time to take it off even after Lucia says he doesn't have to do this anymore.
• Water Is Womanly: Ursula can be considered this given how she's good with all kinds of spells, especially water spells. She's also a pretty reasonable person who everyone respects, especially Ariel and Lucia.
• We Need a Distraction: In "A Banner Moment", Sebastian has Lucia and Fernie entertain the Duke Of Clownfish in order to give Ariel and Flounder some extra time in order to get the parade banner back.
• We Sell Everything: The town square sells not only food and drinks, as seen with Ravi's juice stand, but also clothing. It's shown in "The Brave Little Goby", where Ariel comes across Lucia, Flounder, and Fernie trying on some hats there.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: In "Substitute Sebastian", Ariel and her friends come to see that while Sebastian is often strict in music class, he also genuinely cares for them since, unlike his cousin Henrick, he doesn't push them too hard. It's then shown that Sebastian was only pretending to be Henrick under the king'a orders. Though surprised at first, no one takes it too hard.
• What's Up, King Dude?: The royal family doesn't seem to mind when non-royal people regularly come to them at the palace. While it's not a surprise for Lucia and Fernie since they're Ariel's friends, we also see how Cristina Cuttles (a seemingly regular citizen) is on good terms with King Triton, as seen by their interactions in "The Cuttlebaby Sitter".
• When Trees Attack: "The Great Big Garden Show" follows this trope. Ariel uses Ursula's growth potion to make her plant Leafy grow big in time for the garden contest. However, she ends up using more than one drop despite being told not to. The result is Leafy growing into a giant plant creature that grows vines everywhere, and grabs everything in sight.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Fernie tries invoking this in "Fernie's Dra Konfo" since he's too scared to go to bed without his dra konfo. He asks Ariel what happened after the end of the story she told. Because she's too tired, she just makes up something involving breakfast.
• White Magician Girl: Lucia fits this trope given how she often uses spells that have magic light that's a mix between light yellow and white.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Ariel is idealistic in how she tends to give everyone the benefit of the doubt when they've made a mistake. Even when she's obviously frustrated, like not being okay with Hermes the crab stealing everything in "Crystal Cavern Caper", she still gives him the benefit of the doubt when explaining his perspective.
• Wild Teen Party:
  • The short "Dress Up Mess Up" has shades of this given how Ariel tells her friends to have a fashion show in Alanna and Ayanna's room even though they're not here yet. Things get quite a bit messy after this.
  • In "Remy The Houseguest", Remy invites a bunch of kids to the Crystal Cavern without telling Ariel, Lucia, and Flounder. They are not pleased with this.
• Winds Of Change:
  • "The Kite Monster" goes for a bit of a darker turn when a wind current separates the friend group in a cave. Fernie goes into one tunnel on his own while Ariel, Lucia, and Flounder go into another one.
  • In "Rainbow Sea Caves", Flounder tells Ariel to swim slowly through the geysers. When she accidentally goes fast, the geysers let out a stream of air and bubbles that bumps her into Lucia and Fernie, and bounces everyone around.
• Wingding Eyes: While it doesn't involve a specific character, "Rainbow Sea Caves" shows this. Flounder cleans off a sign, and tells Ariel what it says. It's a sign saying to not touch the rainbow bubbles, or else you'll have to deal with rambunctious parrotfish. This is conveyed through the parrotfish having hearts in their eyes as they're shown to be really attracted to a woman that's covered in rainbows.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Lucia sometimes shows this in episodes like "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" and "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale" with how she's usually the one to offer others advice.
• Witch Classic: While no actual witches appear in the show, Lucia's kite in "The Kite Monster" looks like a typical witch with the long robes, pointy hat, and broom. The only notable change to the witch design is being bright pink.
• Worth It: In "The Happy Patty Clap", Ariel tries really hard to master the Happy Patty Clap even though she can't get anything right. Despite everyone else saying she can do a different routine, she still tries to do the routine in hopes of helping Alanna and Ayanna win the competition.
• Written-In Absence: In "The Cuttlebaby Sitter", Ariel tells Cristina Cuttles how Alanna and Ayanna, who are absent in the episode, can't babysit her eggs like usual since they're visiting Ursula. This is notably the only time in the series when their absence in an episode was explained.
• Yellow Is Cheerful:
  • Flounder is primarily yellow, and has quite the fun energy.
  • Jewels wears a yellow tank top, and she's quite optimistic.
• You Are Better than You Think You Are: In "Fernie's Dra Konfo", everyone tells Fernie how he can sleep with a lovey, and still be seen as brave since it's okay for people to still be into something like this.
• You Are Not Alone: "The Cuttlebaby Sitter" basically has this as the message. Ariel thinks that she has to do everything on her own in order to be like her big sisters. Flounder, Lucia, and Fernie then point out that it's okay to ask for help, especially since they ask each other for help when they need it.
• You Are Not Ready: Ursula shows this to Lucia and Flounder respectively in "Ursula's Magic Camp" and "The Spooky Mirror Trick", where she says how they're not ready for shark level spells yet.
• You Can Always Tell a Liar: In "Ariel's Tall Mer-Tale", Tanti Chantale can tell that Ariel is lying about the jellystar chomptafish given the slight hesitance she has in describing the creature. She then plays along with the charade until she tells the truth.
• You Have to Believe Me!: In "The Kite Monster", Fernie says this word for word at the end. He tries telling Ariel, Lucia, and Flounder about how the ghostfish he saw took the kites, not The Kite Monster. When he tries showing them, they all mysteriously disappeared. In an interesting take on this trope, even if they still believe in The Kite Monster, they still believe him when saying that he's telling the truth.
• You Just Had to Say It: While not actually said out loud, a scene in "Substitute Sebastian" definitely follows this trope. As Ariel says that Henrick is a better music teacher than Sebastian since he has less rules, he then lets out a long list of rules as tall as the podium. Lucia and Fernie then look at her in a slightly annoyed way that basically says "You just had to say it, didn't you?"
• Younger Than They Look: Ariel is mentioned to be 8 years old in articles for the show, but she looks 10-12 years old.

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