I don't know. It's just one of those convenient movie/fairytale things. Not everything has a specific explanation.

They were already with Gothel, just not showing themselves. After she said her plan came with revenge on Flynn Rider, they stuck together to see the plan through.

Happy 13th Anniversary, Tangled!

Favorite movie is still favorite.

Frankly, I would have liked to have seen them grown fond of Rapunzel, be it in jail or otherwise.

I know that them crying at the wedding was just for the gag, but as long as they were tying things into other things, I would like to see them reach a place where they'd be invited to the wedding at all, let alone be bawling their eyes out at it.

Y'all Tangled turns 13 in one week. (Friday, November 24th.)

Okay, so I think you're working yourself into a tizzy here. XD

Firstly, yes, you're correct about Rapunzel and Eugene's canonical heights. However, the movie's height comparisons are visually more accurate than the series'. Remember that the series art style is stylized to be Rapunzel's journal, and she exaggerates things to a large extent. And even then, as you mentioned, they're both animated, and proportions are exaggerated. Also, there's framing. Height differences are often fudged in order to make a shot look better.

That being said, in the movie, Eugene and Frederic are about the same height, and we only get to see that for a moment.

Frederic is still a little taller, because his head is bowed here while Eugene is standing tall. But that would put him at, what, 6'3" at the tallest?

That's a huge difference to their comparative heights in the series.

Rapunzel tends to paint people's height based on more than just their literal height. She also puts how they make her feel into it. I mean...

Eugene looks so short compared to the other men because he's her biggest comfort. He's cozy. Her dad's imposing. He's the king! He makes the rules! He keeps her inside the kingdom! Lance has a huge personality and is just full of life! The Stabbingtons, Wreck Marauder, and The Baron are all large and intimidating in the worst way.

However, when you look at the movie, the camera is constantly switching between a low angle to look up at the Stabbingtons, and a high angle to look down at Eugene when they're all standing together.

In most shots, it looks like the top of Eugene's head hits about the bottom of their lower lip. However, in that last shot, we can see that the top of Eugene's head doesn't even reach their shoulders. It's that whole fudging thing. I think it's safe to say that the Stabbingtons are meant to be about 7' tall, give or take. Lance is probably about the same height as Frederic, and The Baron is probably about the same height as the Stabbingtons.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

Oooh, I love Tom's work!

The flash that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that "Enchanted Girl" was Zhan Tiri.

The entire sequence in "Destinies Collide" where they fought the ghosts, beginning with Lance's shining moment of an idea on how to destroy them.

Baby Pascal meets little Rapunzel in "Pascal's Story".

STABBY STABBY! from "Peril On the High Seas".

Ruddiger gets possessed by the spirit of Wile E Coyote in "The Lost Treasure of Herz Der Sonne"

This conversation (that ended up not happening) between Lance and Cassandra, panning back to Eugene and Rapunzel in "The Return of Strongbow"

And I just realized I have a lot of boards saved on a different computer, cause I also adore Captain's dance sequence in "The Wrath of Ruthless Ruth" and the dance-off in "The Brothers Hook", among many others.

A'ight, measuring the tall bois.

Part of the problem with all these questions about comparative heights is that, in animation, characters' relative sizes change for better framing in a scene. For example, the previous screencap of Eugene next to The Baron:

Compared to later in that same scene:

Compared to season three:

There is technically an official answer to this question in the form of official character designs, because they're all put in a lineup next to each other for reference. Unfortunately, we don't have access to that lineup. All we really know is that The Baron is supposed to be massive, strong and intimidating. Because of all that, I feel confident putting him at "taller than either king". And I'll do my best for the rest!

Frederic is taller than Edmund:

It's hard to tell because there's a lot of bending going on in this screencap, but when watching this scene in action, you can tell that the Stabbingtons are also taller than Edmund:

Eugene next to Stabs:

Eugene next to Frederic:

So, so far, the lineup is: The Baron, Stabbignton Brothers, Frederic, Edmund...

The difficult one to compare, though, is Wreck. We never see him next to Eugene (who is our standard measuring stick for this.) And if we'd gotten the script the way Ricky wrote it, we probably would see Eugene next to Wreck at some point, but that's neither here nor there. We also don't ever see him next to Lance, either king, the Stabbingtons or The Baron. We do, however, see him next to Rapunzel and Cassandra. Wreck in a lineup with the ladies:

And like the Baron, we know that he's massive and strong. Cartoonishly so. We also know that Eugene is taller than Cassandra. Here's the official height comparison in their winter clothes (height lines added by me):

So that puts the top of Eugene's head approximately here on Wreck:

Comparing that to every picture of Eugene next to The Baron, I think our final height lineup is:

Wreck Marauder, The Baron, The Stabbington Brothers, King Frederic, King Edmund.

Please appreciate how much work and research goes into posts like these. Not just from me, but from all people who answer questions like this.

Yes, she was referring to Rapunzel. She was using Rapunzel as bait to get the Stabbingtons to get her what she wanted. I actually talked about it quite a bit about a month ago. And though that specific post doesn't touch on the specific question you asked, I'm sure she had a plan to deal with them as soon as she formulated the plan to use them to get Rapunzel back.