why did we decide the 50s' mermaids had the same powers as their counterparts again?
i was thinking about this the other day and i feel like it's way more interesting if they had different powers than the girls for like narrative reasons
with their powers being representative of why the 50s' mermaids didn't work, but the h2os' did
(ignoring what they said in mm. in my world rikki and emma are married, live together in an apartment and have a cocker spaniel named triton and a cat affectionately named by rikki as 'little shit')
let's start; rikki and julia
snow is an element associated with isolation and loneliness, with harsh and cold personalities
both of them have isolated themselves before. rikki grew up being harsh to others, scaring everyone away - because she was afraid of getting hurt. julia, we know she isolated herself from the others after the karl incident. we don't know much about her other than that, except she probably died alone if her locket ended up in an estate sale
rikki could've ended up like julia. but she didn't - fire is associated with the hearth and community. rikki warmed up to her friends, and she learned to be more open with them (again ignoring mm)
next. cleo and gracie
i find it interesting, how different they sound to be? gracie was a free-spirited model, she only ever wore unique things and everyone that knew her talked admiringly of her from what i remember. cleo, on the other hand, she'd been shown to be unconfident, preferring to stay out of the limelight, and resistant to change
but in the end, it was gracie that “burnt out” and took everything down with her, while cleo overcame her fear, learned to adapt, and to love being in the water
there’s also the added perspective where gracie intentionally brought her friends to the moon pool and was the “spark” that started it all, while cleo happened on it by accident due to zane and rikki, having to go along with it
(also def not thinking about when louise said rikki's power was the most destructive/dangerous, and gracie was the catalyst to the ‘50s mermaids giving up their powers. anyways)
finally, emma 'n louise
louise saw herself in emma for a reason, she gave her locket to her. and i take that to mean she was like emma, when she was younger - although she's def a lot more carefree now (and cryptic)
emma's very grounded, she's stubborn. and set in her ways, which makes her the perfect candidate for earth. but one of her biggest problems is that she puts too much responsibility on her shoulders, and is too strict with herself
i mentioned snow was an element associated with isolation, but it's also an element associated with childish fun, like snowball fights - and building snowmen, it’s soft and sensitive
so tldr; i hc that julia had emma's power of ice, gracie had rikki's power of fire, and louise had bella's power of earth
also. what it means for louise and bella, that they have the same powers. i think it's more interesting if there were more parallels in play than just the direct counterparts. so. louise and bella (note: i don’t think bella can just turn things into jelly - relates to my pressure manipulation idea)
both were solitary mermaids at some point in their lives, with different endings to how they started out
bella was alone when she transformed - louise had her friends and people that understood. then louise lost her friends, and bella gained hers
feels like there could be potential other parallels that could be drawn, not just between the shared powers but idk
