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What Happened to the Show?

I was a fan, but not anymore. =(

By stephanie borgesPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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The first time I saw Monster High, it was at a toy store. It was two dolls; Cleo De Nile, the daughter of the mummy, and her boyfriend, Deuce Gorgon, the son of Medusa. I found this item when I was looking for a gift for a child's birthday. I was intrigued by their outfits. It was like a mix of today’s modern clothing design with pieces of the clothing their parents would wear. After the party, I did some research about monster high. I read that Monster High started out as a book written by Lisi Harrison which tells the characters of the offspring of the famous Hollywood monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the zombie, and the werewolf (only to name a few). I fell in love with the show and films. I love the message they shared about being yourself, the slogan was catchy it was “Be yourself, be unique, be a monster.” I thought it was amazing how the show was teaching kids that it’s not cool to bully others. The web-episode talked about self-esteem like it’s okay to come out of your shell, don’t be shy. I loved the other monsters on the web-episode because it shows that not everyone is the same and had “Freaky Flaws.” (That means we have the issues that make us unique.) I joined their Facebook page and purchased some of the dolls because some of the characters were like me. Monster High was terrific until mid-2016 when I heard there was going to be a reboot. Everything I loved about Monster High wasn’t the same.

I am distraught about the new designs for the main characters, the clothes, and the style of animation. The films and web-episodes are just terrible. The characters look blocky and look much younger than teenagers they seem as first-year students starting junior high. Frankie, daughter of Frankenstein's Monster, the go-getter of the group, always tried to do the right thing and sometimes showed that taking a risk to help a friend is worth your time. Now she has lightning powers like a superhero. Her personality is the same, but her clothing style was a preppy school girl outfit in black and white. Now she looks like an indoor bookworm twelve-year-old girl and her outfit looks outdated with light colors. Draculara (daughter of Dracula), Cleo De Nile (the daughter of the mummy), Lagoona (daughter of the blue lagoon monster), and Clawdeen (daughter of the werewolf) all have superpowers. The girls still have the same personalities, but the outfits are just as terrible as the short stories. The costumes look big and clunky. Then again, it could be the style of the animation. There is little to no positive message in any of the episodes.

From what I read, the reason for the reboot happening was because of the sales of the dolls and other merchandise were not meeting their quota, and some of the films were not doing too great. The movie did produce positive messages, some characters were added to give some interest and to help deliver the story, but the one I thought was cheesy I would say was the musical version Monster High: Boo York Boo York. It was like they were trying to mimic Disney’s High School Musical. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. Then came the next film project called Monster High: Great Scarier Reef which was telling the story why the monster girl lagoon left her water world and came to the surface to attend Monster High. Along the way, we meet the antagonist named Cala Mari (yes, she is a squid and the daughter of the legendary sea monster, the Kraken). The film, in my opinion, did show a positive message, and that was “Don’t judge your flaws, they make you who you are." However, that wasn’t good enough for a high score. The reboot was in the features on the DVD. I was in shock seeing the trailer.

To prevent copyright issues, Monster High had to design the dolls differently by changing the outfits and the origins of the school, and let me say it is a significant disappointment. However, that is my opinion. What do you think? Is Monster High just fine as it is? Alternatively, do you think they should go back to the original designer?

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About the Creator

stephanie borges

I've been writing off and on for years; I write short stories, scripts, and blogs. I can't think of anything more relaxing than writing. I also do graphic design.

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