Monster High

Monster High is an American fashion doll franchise created by Mattel and launched in July 2010. The characters are inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, thriller fiction, and various creatures thus distinguishing them from most other fashion dolls on the market. Monster High was created by Garrett Sander, with illustrations by Kellee Riley and illustrator [1] Glen Hanson.[2] The Monster High franchise includes many consumer products such as stationery, bags, key chains, various toys, play sets, video games, TV specials, a web series and direct to DVD movies. Lisi Harrison is the author of the Monster High books. The characters are depicted as being either related to or as offspring of famous monsters such as Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, Medusa, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Phantom of the Opera, Zombies and more. The franchise is distinctive due to its extensive use of humorous horror puns such as referring to junvial female characters as ghouls, rather than girls. But in the original Spain dub version of the cartoon franchise, they are called "monstruoitas" rather than "chicas" like the Latina version.

A live action, around-the-world adventure, ten chapter Monster High musical film adaptation now titled Monster High is scheduled to be released on October 7, 2016 by Universal Pictures Monster High was released by in/since 2014.[3] [4]

Contents
[hide] *1 Dolls
 * 2 Plot
 * 3 Characters
 * 4 Online Media
 * 5 Films and TV Specials
 * 6 Video games
 * 7 Books
 * 8 Spin-off
 * 9 See also
 * 10 References
 * 11 External links

Dolls[edit]
Monster High dolls made from 2010.The dolls are approximately 27 cm tall. Their bodies are made from ABS plastic, and their heads are made from soft PVC. The dolls have many skin tones, including abnormal ones such as blue, green, and pink. Each character has a unique head mold, except for C. A. Cupid (Daughter of Eros)/Ghoulia (Daughter of the Zombies) and Meowlody/Purrsephone (Werecat twins). All female dolls have rooted saran hair, however male dolls have flocked or hard, colored plastic hair. Each doll has their own unique fashion style and personality and each have various attributes of the monsters they are related to (i.e. fangs, stitches, wolf ears, fins, bandages,snakes, etc.). Each doll comes packaged with accessories such as a pet, a purse, diary, doll stand and hair brush and sometimes an extra outfit. The pets, diaries and purses are unique to each character. However accessories vary from one line to another and some lines do not come with any accessories included. In response to the creation of these dolls, rival Hasbro announced the creation of the Equestria Girls toyline (which is based on Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise) in early 2013. Likewise, rival toy company MGA Entertainment released a witch themed line of dolls known as Bratzillaz which were launched in 2012 and are a spin off from MGA's Bratz toy line. Many other horror themed fashion dolls have been released as a result of Monster High's success and to cash in on the trend such as Playhut's Mystixx vampire dolls all with varying degrees of success.

Plot[edit]
In the fictional USA town of New Salem (which is the home of humans and monsters), teenage monsters attend a school for monsters called Monster High.

Characters[edit]
Further information: List of Monster High characters*Frankie Stein (voiced by Kate Higgins and by Azucena Duran in the Spanish version) - Frankie is the daughter of Frankenstein's monster and the Bride of Frankenstein. When first introduced she was 15 days old (her age is assumed to have gone up as days passed). Clumsy, polite, kind, and a good friend to have and be around, Frankie has black and white hair in the show, but in the novel it is black (except when she is at the monster-themed dance), and her body is held together by stitches and has neck bolts. She is considered the new ghoul in school and eager to make friends although this is no longer the case. She used to have a crush on Deuce Gorgon, which made Cleo de Nile upset. This character has heterochromia, two different colored eyes and hair.
 * Clawdeen Wolf (voiced by Salli Saffioti, voiced by Celeste Henderson in Scaris: City of Frights and 13 Wishes) - Clawdeen is the daughter of a werewolf and has an older brother named Clawd Wolf, a younger sister named Howleen Wolf and an older sister named Clawdia Wolf.
 * Draculaura (voiced by Debi Derryberry in most appearances, Dee Dee Green in "Ghouls Rule" and "Scaris: City of Frights", voiced by Sue Swan in Frights, Camera, Action, and voiced by Azucena Duran in "Ghoul Spirit") - Draculaura is a vampire who is the adopted daughter of Count Dracula. She was 1599 years old and is now 1600 years old as of Valentine's Day. She has a pet bat named Count Fabulous. She is in a relationship with Clawd Wolf, who is the brother of her best friend, Clawdeen. Although a vampire, she is a vegetarian and does not drink blood, and is scared to say the word "blood" as she faints when she hears it. Her fangs are visibly seen protruding from her mouth, even when not talking. Her skin is a pale pink and has a pink heart shaped tattoo on her cheek.
 * Cleo de Nile (voiced by Salli Saffioti, voiced by Celeste Henderson in "Scaris: City of Frights" and "13 Wishes") - Cleo is the 5,842 year old daughter of the Mummy Ramses de Nile and has an older sister named Nefera who is 5,845; three years older. Cleo has a pet snake named Hissette who is venomous. She is the fearleading squad captain, the queen of the social scene and Deuce Gorgon's girlfriend. She is a self-centered diva but also a good friend. In "Ghouls Rule", she has befriended the niece of "monster hunter" Van Hellscream, Lilith van Hellscream.
 * Deuce Gorgon (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal in Volume 1 and 2, Cam Clarke in earlier parts of Volume 3, Evan Smith in later appearances) - Deuce is the 16-year-old son of Medusa. As gorgons, he and his mother have the ability to turn people in to stone (especially himself, as a running gag). He has a passion for cooking, but he keeps it a secret from most other students. He is the captain of the casketball team and loves skateboarding. Deuce is shown to be friendly, outgoing, confident, and with many friends. He is dating Cleo de Nile. He wears sunglasses to prevent him from turning other people to stone temporarily and has green snakes on his head.
 * Lagoona Blue (voiced by Laura Bailey) - Lagoona is the 15 year old daughter of the Gill-man. Lagoona is from "Down Under", which refers to her Australian accent. She is able to talk to water animals. She is also a lovable and sporty ghoul who is shown to have many friends around Monster High. Her skin dries out very easily and she has to use lots of moisturizer. Her pet is Neptuna, a Piranha. She is the girlfriend of Gillington "Gil" Webber, whose parents initially did not approve of their relationship.
 * Ghoulia Yelps (voiced by Audu Paden) - Ghoulia is the daughter of the zombies. At age 16 (in monster years), she is said to be the 'smartest ghoul in school', and can only speak the "Zombie" language (consisting of moans and groans). She acted like a servant for Cleo de Nile for a time, but she is now treated more like a friend. She is dating "Slow-Moe" Deadovitch.
 * Abbey Bominable (voiced by Erin Fitzgerald) - She is the daughter of the Yeti, and her original language is Yetish. She speaks with a Russian accent, though her home, the Himalayas are more popularly found in areas of China. She has light blue skin, fangs, and white hair with blue and pink highlights.
 * Spectra Vondergeist (voiced by Erin Fitzgerald) - Spectra Vondergeist is the daughter of a Ghost. She has violet-colored hair, bright, medium-blue sclera with violet-colored irises and dark-blue pupils. She can go through walls, and practice 'ghost-limitations', such as having things not go through her (Hence Slo Mo smashing on her when he smashed on Frankie in "Scream Spirit").

Online Media[edit]
Further information: List of Monster High webisodesThe Monster High website went live on May 5, 2010.[5] Visitors can access games, character bios, several downloads and several more activities.[6] The site also makes available online webisodes for Monster High.[7] Two songs titled "Fright Song" and "We are Monster High" have also been released digitally.

Films and TV Specials[edit]
Monster High has also had several TV specials on Nickelodeon, including "New Ghoul @ School", "Fright On!", "Ghouls Rule", "Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love", "Scaris: City of Frights", and "Escape from Skull Shores". Also "13 Wishes", "Frights, Camera, Action!" and "Friday Night Frights" were released. An animated movie Monster High: 13 Wishes was released in cinemas on the 21 and 22 September before being released on DVD and Blu-ray. The movie is taglined "be scare-ful what you wish for...". The movie is about Howleen wanting to be popular but after a stunt gone wrong she and the other ghouls are forced to clean up the mess leading to her finding a genie. However after a few too many wishes Howleen becomes paranoid and forgets just who her real friends are. It's up to Frankie, Clawdeen and Draculaura to help her. A live-action, around-the-world adventure, ten chapter Monster High musical movie is listed as in development with Universal Pictures and scheduled to be released on October 7, 2016.[8] [9]

Video games[edit]
Monster High has several video games based on the franchise. The first video game released was Monster High: Ghoul Spirit which was released on October 25, 2011. It is available for the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii with special "Ghoulify" feature for Nintendo DSi. When you first start the game, a demon jump out the screen like a Ouija Board. The game revolves around the player being the new 'ghoul' in school and must work their way through activities and social situations to finally be crowned 'Scream Queen'. Another video game for Nintendo DS and Wii titled Skultimate Roller Maze was released in November 2012. The third video game for Wii, Wii U, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS titled Monster High: 13 Wishes was released in October 2013. In this game players take on the role of Frankie Stein who must free her friends from a magical lantern by collecting thirteen shards of a magic mirror. A couple of apps titled Ghoul Box and Sweet 1600 are available on iTunes for the iPad and iPhone devices. The Monster High website has also released a series of catacombs themed web games: "trick or trance", "phantom roller" and "scary sweet memories".

Books[edit]
The Monster High young adult novels are written by Lisi Harrison, who previously wrote the book series The Clique and The Alphas. The books take place in a different fictional universe than the webisodes and deal with the Regular Attribute Dodgers (RADs) and their struggles with love, social life, school and not be outed as monsters to humans. Mattel released the first Monster High novel on September 26, 2010. The book revolves around Frankie Stein and Melody Carver. The second book in the series, The Ghoul Next Door, was released at the end of March 2011 [10] and features chapters on Cleo de Nile. The third book featuring Clawdeen Wolf is titled Where There's a Wolf, There's a Way and was released on September 29, 2011. The fourth novel titled Back And Deader Than Ever was released in early May 1, 2012 [11] and features Draculaura. A Monster High book called Drop Dead Diary was released on January 19, 2011; true to its title, it is in diary format. It is written by the alias Abaghoul Harris.[12] A book by Gitty Daneshvari, titled Monster High: Ghoulfriends Forever, was released on September 5, 2012. The book is about Venus Mcflytrap, Robecca Steam, and Rochelle Goyle and their friendship at Monster High and a continuation/sequel titled Monster High: Ghoulfriends Just Want To Have Fun was released April 2, 2013. Additionally, the fourth book "Ghoulfriends 'Til The End" was released in spring of 2014. The fifth book is expected to be released in the fall of 2014. [13] The next book in the Ghoulfriends series is Who's that Ghoulfriend? and was released on September 10, 2013.[14]

Spin-off[edit]
In July 2013, a new spin-off line launched as a companion line to Monster High, called Ever After High.[15] Ever After High is based on the children of Fairytale characters. Monster High's C. A. Cupid is a main character in the Ever After High webisodes where she is an exchange student there.

See also[edit]

 * Ever After High
 * Audu Paden
 * Universal Monsters
 * Bratzillaz
 * Equestria Girls - competing toy line made by Hasbro

References[edit]

 * 1) Jump up ^ http://www.glenhanson.com/kids.php
 * 2) Jump up ^ By Andie Tse. (2010-06-04). " ' Monster High': Mattel's Big, Bold Move". TheStreet. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
 * 3) Jump up ^ DreadCentral.com - "Mattel Launches Monster High"
 * 4) Jump up ^ Monster High live-action film IMDB page
 * 5) Jump up ^ "Monster Games | Monster Videos | Monster Activities". Monster High. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
 * 6) Jump up ^ "Monster Games | Kids' Online Games | Online Activities". Monster High. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
 * 7) Jump up ^ "Monster High - Fright Song Behind The Scene". YouTube. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
 * 8) Jump up ^ DreadCentral.com - "Mattel Launches Monster High"
 * 9) Jump up ^ Monster High live-action film IMDB page
 * 10) Jump up ^ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/lisi-harrison/
 * 11) Jump up ^ http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/back-and-deader-than-ever-lisi-harrison/1106980980?ean=9780316099172
 * 12) Jump up ^ http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/monster-high-drop-dead-diary-abaghoul-harris/1102057087?ean=9780316186612
 * 13) Jump up ^ http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/monster-high-gitty-daneshvari/1112411951?ean=9780316222532
 * 14) Jump up ^ http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/monster-high-gitty-daneshvari/1114505275?ean=9780316222549
 * 15) Jump up ^ http://www.everafterhigh.com Ever After High website

External links[edit]

 * Official website
 * http://monsterhighdraculaura.wordpress.com/