Monster High
Monster High (sometimes abbreviated as MH) is an American fashion doll franchise created by Garrett Sander for Mattel, with illustrations by Kellee Riley and Glen Hanson, and was launched in 2010. Initially consisting only of dolls and a web series, it soon expanded to also include other various consumer products mainly marketed towards children, such as other types of toys, clothing and accessories, books and comics, stationery, and more. It features characters inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, thriller fiction, folklore, mythology and popular culture. An animated web series was developed and released on YouTube on May  5, 2010. Following this was the production and release of direct-to-video television specials and films which were distributed on home video formats by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and broadcast in the United States on cable TV channel Nickelodeon. The audiovisual ventures was touted as the modern-day motive to launch new doll characters in the digital era. In 2016, Mattel released a reboot and origin story film special called "Welcome to Monster High", using revamped face molds, upgraded animation technologies and techniques, a slogan ("How Do You Boo?") and the song "This Is How We Boo", performed by  Jordin Sparks. The franchise was cancelled on February 9, 2018 due to the failure of the 2016 reboot until 2021. On February 23, 2021, Mattel announced the return of the Monster High brand, promising new content and products for the following year. Its television division announced a new animated series and based on the franchise. Both projects will air on Nickelodeon and Paramount+ in the United States in 2022. Premise. In the fictional American town of New Salem, the teenage children of famous monsters (and other mythical creatures) attend a high school called Monster High. The school is renowned for  allowing all species of monsters to enroll in it: this is in contrast with other schools that exist in the franchise's fantasy world, which are reserved for one type of monster only (for example, a vampire-exclusive school, where all students are vampires). The characters' stories were told through the TV series, web series, films, the official website, as well as through diaries (booklets) included with the dolls. Since the franchise's beginnings in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Monster High has valued diversity among its characters and their visual appearance, personalities, abilities, and cultural backgrounds. Characters. Monster  High features a variety of fictional characters, many of them being students at the titular high school. The female characters are called "ghouls", and the male characters are called "mansters". When the franchise was first introduced, the characters were generally the sons and daughters of monsters that have been popularized in fiction; in later years, it expanded to also feature characters inspired by other various types of mythical creatures, such as figures from folklore, mythology, and pop culture. The franchise's official website lists characters in four categories: "original" – the main characters who were introduced the earliest, "ghouls" – the female  characters, "mansters" – the male characters, and "Frightmares" – characters who are half-centaur and half-monster. The original characters are: Conception and development. The conception and development of "Monster High" began in May, 2007 when Garrett Sander, a Mattel employee at the time, was noticing the taste of little girls with respect to toys and dolls drifting off the Mattel staple "Barbie" doll line and wondered what was the reason behind this. To get his answer, he and his twin brother Darren went shopping with girls one day and noted/noticed that they were buying Goth fashion items such as skulls , chains, and black apparels. They remarked that because the characters are monsters, they had more freedom to do things that ordinary kids could not do. Other inspirations include children's interests in Tim Burton and Lady Gaga. Kiyomi Haverly, Mattel's design vice president at the time, said "Honestly, it was very surprising to us. We just noticed girls were into darker Goth fashion." With the inspirations obtained, he got to work on the original prototypes and final works with the help of illustrations by Kellee Riley and Glen Hanson. Merchandise. Dolls. Fashion dolls were the first Monster High product  to be released, with the media (such as books) and other merchandise (such as clothing and Halloween costumes) following soon after. The first line, which included the original six characters, was released on its launch year of 2010. Mattel was experimenting with a new business strategy which consisted of launching a new franchise by releasing the toy first—without a "traditional entertainment property first"—and then following up with the media and entertainment. The original packaging boxes were designed by Garrett Sander. According to a social media post made by Sander in 2020, the very first 2007 prototypes of the dolls  were made using head molds from another Mattel doll line that was never officially released, bodies from Barbie collector dolls, and with some accessories from My Scene dolls. A good amount of the initial design remained unchanged, but the actual dolls ended up looking drastically different. Over 750 different dolls have been released since its launch in 2010. They vary in size, features, materials used, type of packaging, types of accessories they come with, country of manufacture, etc. Most of them are about tall. Some dolls, particularly the ones which were released a long time ago or in limited quantity , are rare, collectible, and therefore expensive. Most Monster High dolls were marketed to children as toys to play with, but some "collector's edition" dolls, priced higher and aimed at an older audience, were also made. In 2016, Monster High underwent a reboot, which was likely an attempt to make the brand appeal to a younger age category. The sales were low that year, and the line was eventually quietly discontinued in 2018. In 2020, however, the franchise made its comeback when two new premium-priced collector dolls—dubbed "Skullector" and inspired by characters from the horror movies "It" and  The Shining—were made available for purchase just in time for that year's Halloween. In 2021, a new set of two Skullector dolls inspired by characters from the movie "Beetlejuice" was launched exclusively through the "Mattel Creations" website; another doll, inspired by the movie "", was released, also exclusively through the website. In 2022, Mattel presented a new Monster High line called "Haunt Couture" (wordplay on "haute couture") which consisted of three new collector dolls: the three main characters of Frankie Stein, Clawdeen Wolf, and Draculaura. They featured details such as rooted eyelashes and were priced at $75, and similarly  were only available through the website. More collector dolls are scheduled to be released later in 2022. Other merchandise. Other Monster High merchandise includes vinyl figurines, plushies, costumes and Mega Brands toys. Media. Animation. There have been several Monster High-branded animated shorts, television specials and films just months after launch, beginning with the release of "" on October 30, 2010, and continues with "", "", "", "", """" and "". These specials and films were broadcast on Nickelodeon in the United States. Starting with "Fright On!" in 2011, the specials films were released in direct-to-video home video formats by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The  films ranked Monster High as the second in the list of children's direct-to-video franchises that year, according to online magazines and publications. The films and specials have also appeared on streaming services/platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Japanese. In 2014, a series of Japanese animated shorts, produced by Shougakukan Music & Digital Entertainment and animated by Picona Creative Studio, was broadcast as a part of the "Oha Suta" morning television block in Japan. Video games. Monster High has several video games based on the franchise; the first of which was "" for the Nintendo DS and the  Wii consoles on October 25, 2011, which includes a special "Ghoulify" feature for the Nintendo DSi. 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 "Monster High: 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 catacomb-themed web games: "trick or trance", "phantom roller" and "scary sweet memories". In November 2015, "Monster High: New Ghoul in School" was released for the Xbox 360, PC, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and Wii. The PC version was delisted on Steam in 2017. Books. Monster High book series. 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 to be outed as monsters to humans. Mattel released Harrison's 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 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 on May 1, 2012 and features Draculaura. Another Monster High book called "Drop Dead Diary" was released on January 19, 2011; it was written by a pseudonymous author Abaghoul Harris. Section::::"Ghoulfriends" book series. Author Gitty Daneshvari has written a "Ghoulfriends" series focusing on Monster High characters Venus McFlytrap, Robecca Steam, and Rochelle Goyle. The four books include: "Ghoulfriends Forever", "Ghoulfriends Just Want To Have Fun", "Who's  That Ghoulfriend?" and "Ghoulfriends 'Til the End" . Section::::"Monster High Diaries" book series. A book series by Nessi Monstrata was released covering five of the main characters. Discography. Two songs titled "Fright Song" and "We Are Monster High" have been released digitally along with live-action music videos on YouTube. Spin-offs. In July 2013, a new spin-off line launched as a companion line to Monster High titled "Ever After High" (abbreviated "EAH") is based on the children of characters of well-known. The show stars "Apple White", daughter of Snow White and "Raven Queen", daughter of the Evil Queen  from the Snow White tale. The two are representative of the main conflict in the show, Royals (students like Apple White who want to follow their predetermined fairytale story) versus Rebels (students like Raven Queen who wish to “rewrite” their tale). Monster High's C. A. Cupid character is featured in the Ever After High webisodes where she is an exchange student there. In the 2015 film "Boo York, Boo York", a character known as "Astranova" makes contact with Apple White and Raven Queen suggesting a crossover in the future. However, the 2016 reboot resulted in the cancellation of those  plans; brief storyboard animatics were released during summer 2016 on the official Monster High YouTube channel under the title "The Lost Movie", and early designs for the "EAH" characters intended for the crossover have been released online. In 2017, Mattel released another spin-off, named Enchantimals. Reception. The franchise was a massive financial success for Mattel, becoming a billion-dollar brand in just three years and surpassing executives' expectations. During the first few years, the dolls' quickly rising popularity caused the sales of Mattel's own Barbie dolls to decline; in 2013, while Barbie remained the best-selling doll brand , Monster High became the second best-selling doll brand, with more than $500 million in annual sales. In 2010, shortly after the dolls launched for the first time, they were so popular it was sometimes hard to find them in stores due to scarcity, and they were selling out quickly. The line's success was partially thanks to its appeal to younger children who were choosing to play with toys which were "a little bit edgier" than traditional fashion dolls like Barbie, its "anti-bullying message" which encouraged children to be themselves and embrace their own flaws and differences , and the "deep engagement" of fans with the franchise which was maintained through media and merchandise. It was built on a "trans-media storytelling [business] model, since it did not start with a traditional entertainment property first," which also contributed to its success. Even though the franchise experienced a lot of growth in its first few years, especially during 2012 and 2013, sales started declining in 2014. In 2016, the sales were weak. Ultimately, the line was discontinued in 2018, then brought back in 2020. Controversy. Monster High was also the subject of some controversy and criticism. Some claimed that  the dolls' unrealistic bodies, often revealing outfits, and characters' focus on romantic relationships were a bad influence on young girls. They were criticized for being "hyper-sexualized" and reinforcing gender stereotypes about women; it was even implied that children could develop low self-esteem and eating disorders due to the presentation of unattainable body types. References. Book references