Monster High

Monster High
Type	Fashion doll, Web series, Book series, Dvd movie
Company	Mattel
Country	The United States
Availability	2010–present
Slogan	"Freaky Just Got Fabulous!" (2010-2011), "Be yourself, be unique, be a monster!" (2011-2013), "Where Screams Come True!" (2013-present),
Official website

Monster High is a fashion doll franchise released by Mattel in July 2010. The characters are inspired by monster movies, Sci-fi horror, and Thriller fiction therefore distinguishing them from most fashion dolls. They were created by Garrett Sander, with illustrations by Kellee Riley. Barbie and Monster High are both made by Mattel, but despite this they are said to be competing in the marketplace.

The Monster High franchise also includes other consumer products such as stationery, bags, key chains,various toys and video games. There are also Monster High TV specials, a web series, a direct to DVD movie, and software. Lisi Harrison is the author of the Monster High young adult novel series, the first of which was released in late 2010.

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, and zombies.

Dolls

Monster High dolls from 2010

The dolls are 24 cm (11 inches for the male dolls) tall.Their bodies are made from plastic, while their heads are made from soft PVC. They have various skin tones (blue, green, pink, etc.) and each character has a unique head mold. Their hair is made of saran or kanekalon fibers, though the male dolls occasionally have molded plastic hair. The doll bodies are fully articulated, with removable forearms and hands.

Aside from physical attributes, the dolls are quite different in the characterization of their clothes. All of them have various attributes of the monsters they are related to (i.e. fangs, stitches, wolf ears, fins, bandages, etc.)

Characters

Further information: Characters of Monster High

• Frankie Stein - Frankie is the daughter of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. When first introduced she was 16 days old (her age is assumed to have gone up as days past). 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 two neck bolts. She is the new ghoul at Monster High and eager to make friends. She is voiced by Kate Higgins.

• Clawdeen Wolf - Clawdeen is the daughter of the werewolf and has at least an older brother named Clawd Wolf and a younger sister named Howleen Wolf. Clawdeen and Clawd have stated that there are more than one litter in their family. She is 15 years old and is covered with fur, with two piercings in each of her pointed wolf ears. She is voiced by Salli Saffioti.

• Draculaura - Draculaura is the 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 beast friend, Clawdeen. Although a vampire, she is a vegan 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. She is voiced by Debi Derryberry.

• Cleo de Nile - Cleo is the 5,842 year old daughter of The Mummy and has an older sister named Nefera and a father named Ramses de Nile. She has a pet snake named Hissette that 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. Like Clawdeen, Cleo is also voiced by Salli Saffioti.

• Deuce Gorgon - Deuce is the 16-year-old son of Medusa. His whole family can turn anything to stone. 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 loved all throughout Monster High 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. He was voiced by Yuri Lowenthal in Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the webisodes. Cam Clarke filled in for part of Volume 3 until Evan Smith was cast to be the new voice for Deuce for the rest of Volume 3 and all CGI animations.

• Lagoona Blue - Lagoona is the 15 year old daughter of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and a Sea Nereid. Lagoona is a transfer student from "Down Under" (the sea), which refers to her Australian accent (people from Australia are often described as being from "down under" because they reside in the Southern Hemisphere). She is able to talk to water animals. She is also a lovable and sporty ghoul who is shown and said to have many friends around Monster High. She is the "gill-friend" of Gillington "Gil" Webber. She is voiced by Laura Bailey.

• Ghoulia Yelps - Ghoulia is the daughter of the zombies. At age 16 (in monster years), she is said to be the 'smartest ghoul in school', but she can only speak in moans and groans (or 'Zombie' language). She is voiced by Audu Paden. 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.

Website and media

Further information: List of Monster High webisodes

The Monster High website went live on May 5, 2010. Visitors can access games, character bios, several downloads and several more activities. The site also makes available online webisodes for Monster High. song, simply titled "Fright Song," is available for viewing on YouTube and can be purchased on iTunes. The behind-the-screams video was also made available for viewing.

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.

A video game titled Monster High: Ghoul Spirit was released on October 25, 2011. It is available for the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii. A couple of apps titled Ghoul Box and Sweet 1600 are available on iTunes for the iPad and iPhone. Another video game for Nintendo DS and Wii titled Skultimate Roller Maze released in November 2012.

A live-action, around-the-world adventure, ten chapter Monster High musical movie is listed as in development with Universal Pictures.

A Monster High movie special called "13 wishes" is to be released soon in 2013.

Books

The Monster High young adult novels are written by Lisi Harrison, who is known for writing the popular 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 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 2012 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.

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" is planned to be released on Spring 2013

External links

• The Official Monster High Website