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Monster High is an American multimedia fashion doll franchise created by toy designer Garrett Sander and launched by Mattel in 2010. Targeting children aged 7 to 14, the brand features characters inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, folklore and pop culture, centered on the teenage offspring of mythical creatures attending a high school of the same name. Beyond its core doll line, the franchise includes animated series, films, novels, video games and a wide range of merchandise.
Key moments
2007Mattel conceptualizes the franchise and files for the Monster High trademark
May 2010Debuts its first YouTube animated web series
September 2010Releases the first official Monster High novel series
2010Officially launches the first wave of fashion dolls
2016Launches the Gen 2 reboot with softened character designs amid mixed fan reception
February 2021Mattel announces a live-action musical film and animated TV series for the franchise
October 2022The 2022 CGI animated series premieres on Nickelodeon; a sequel live-action film is also announced
2023Production and premiere of the Monster High: The Movie 2 sequel
Monster High operates within the highly competitive children's fashion doll and entertainment merchandise market, with several key competitors across different sub-segments:
LOL Surprise! (by MGA Entertainment): The dominant rival in the affordable fashion doll space, known for its unboxing play gimmicks and broad appeal across younger demographic groups
Barbie (by Mattel itself): The long-standing flagship doll line of the parent company; Monster High initially positioned itself as an edgier, alternative counterpart targeting older teen audiences
Disney Princess: A leading licensed character doll franchise leveraging Disney's global media and entertainment reach to attract family consumers
Ever After High: Another Mattel-owned fantasy teen brand, focused on fairy tale character offspring, sharing similar thematic ground but with a distinct tone
Build-A-Bear Workshop: A competitor in the personalized collectible plush toy space, offering customizable merchandise for dedicated fans
Monster High is a distinctly positioned youth-focused brand in the global toy and transmedia entertainment space, built around a unique monster-inspired storytelling concept that differentiates it from traditional fashion doll franchises. Since its 2010 launch by Mattel, it has cultivated a strong niche by blending inclusive character design, pop culture relevance, and cross-platform expansion, resonating with both its core pre-teen target audience and older adult collectors. Its ability to reinvent itself over time, including full brand reboots and updated character narratives, has allowed it to maintain relevance across multiple generations of consumers.
The brand leverages Mattel’s established distribution and marketing infrastructure to reach global markets, integrating core toy sales with streaming content, theatrical films, published media, and wide-ranging consumer products to create a holistic brand experience. Unlike many single-format toy brands, Monster High’s transmedia approach has built deep emotional connections with fans, driving repeat engagement and long-term brand loyalty. It competes effectively against other major fashion doll properties by leaning into its quirky, inclusive identity that celebrates individuality, a messaging angle that aligns well with contemporary consumer values.
Brand leadership
Score: 82/100
Monster High holds a strong leading position in the niche of themed fashion dolls for children, outperforming most smaller competing pop culture and monster-inspired toy lines. Backed by parent company Mattel’s decades of toy industry expertise and global resources, it consistently maintains high mind share among consumers in the children’s toy market, with a clear, memorable brand identity that sets it apart from generic fashion doll offerings.
Consumer interaction
Score: 78/100
Monster High maintains active engagement with fans across major social media platforms, with vibrant independent fan communities creating consistent user-generated content including fan art, fan fiction, and character analysis around the franchise. The brand regularly interacts with consumers through scheduled new product drops, original content releases, and collector-focused events, fostering strong two-way communication that keeps audiences invested in long-term brand engagement.
Brand momentum
Score: 75/100
After a period of slowed growth and reduced market presence in the late 2010s, Monster High has regained strong momentum with successful brand reboots, new animated content distributed on major global streaming platforms, and renewed interest from adult collectors who grew up with the original doll line. The brand continues to expand its merchandise offerings and adapt its character narratives to align with current cultural trends, driving consistent growth in consumer interest and sales.
Brand stability
Score: 85/100
Backed by major global toy manufacturer Mattel, Monster High benefits from strong financial and operational stability, with more than 15 years of consistent brand presence in the global toy market. It has weathered multiple shifts in toy industry trends and changing consumer preferences, maintaining a steady base of loyal consumers and consistent revenue contribution to its parent company’s brand portfolio.
Brand age
Score: 70/100
Launched in 2010, Monster High is a well-established brand with over 15 years of market history, enough time to build strong brand recognition and a multi-generational loyal fan base, but still young enough to remain adaptable and avoid being perceived as outdated by younger target audiences. Its relatively young lifespan compared to legacy toy brands allows it to update its identity and offerings more nimbly to match shifting consumer expectations.
Industry profile
Score: 80/100
Within the global children’s fashion doll and transmedia entertainment industry, Monster High has a high-profile reputation as an innovative pioneer that popularized the modern model of blending core toy lines with serialized multimedia storytelling. It is widely recognized by industry insiders for its unique original concept and successful cross-platform expansion, setting a benchmark for many other themed toy franchises that followed its model.
Global reach
Score: 76/100
Monster High is distributed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and other major global toy markets, with localized content and product packaging adapted to different regional consumer preferences. It benefits from Mattel’s well-established global distribution network, allowing it to reach a broad international audience, though its market penetration in some smaller emerging economies remains lower than its penetration in more developed, mature toy markets.
Artificial intelligence can support structured reasoning around Monster High's brand value based on publicly available market and brand performance data. Any brand value figures derived from this type of analysis are illustrative and not independently audited. For a fully audited, official brand value assessment for Monster High, contact World Brand Lab.
Monster High is an American multimedia-supported fashion doll franchise created by toy designer Garrett Sander and launched by Mattel in June 11, 2010.[1][2] Aimed at children ages 7–16, the franchise features characters inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, thriller fiction, cryptids, folklore, myths, fairy tales, and popular culture, centering around the adventures of the teenage children of monsters and other mythical creatures attending a high school of the same name.
Though the fashion dolls are the main focus of the franchise, a 2D-animated web series and 15 animated TV specials/films were released to accompany them, as well as video games, a series of young adult novels written by Lisi Harrison, and other forms of merchandise. The franchise quickly became very popular among children and was extremely successful in terms of earnings for Mattel; it was worth $1 billion in its third year of existence with more than $500 million in sales annually, and was at one point the second best-selling doll brand in North America. Two spin-off toy lines were launched as companions to Monster High: Ever After High in 2013, based on fairy tales and fables, and Enchantimals in 2017, featuring human-animal hybrids.However, sales declined in 2016, prompting Mattel to reboot the franchise with a revamped aesthetic and a new fictional universe. The reboot was a commercial failure, eventually leading to the discontinuation of the franchise in 2018.
Monster High relaunched a second time in 2020, with the release of new dolls, culminating with the 2021 announcement of an animated TV series and a live-action musical film, both co-produced by Mattel Television with Nickelodeon.[3][4][5][6][7]
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).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 2010s, Monster High has valued diversity among its characters and their visual appearance, personalities, abilities, and cultural backgrounds.[8]
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 at the time listed 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-
Conception and development
Mattel began conceptualizing the Monster High franchise in 2007; the company filed for a trademark of the name "Monster High" in October of that year.[16] Garrett Sander—then a packaging designer at Mattel—and his twin brother Darren went shopping with young girls one day, where they noticed that the young girls were into goth fashion. This served as inspiration for creating a toy brand with a dark aesthetic. Darren was involved with the early concepts for the brand; he came up with the slogan "(Where) Freaky Just Got Fabulous!". He also remarked that because the characters were monsters, they had more freedom to do things that ordinary kids could not do.[17] Other inspirations for the brand include children's interests in Tim Burton and Lady Gaga.[18]
Merchandise
Dolls
Fashion dolls were the first franchise product to be released, with the media and other merchandise following soon after.[19] The first line, which included the original six characters, was released in 2010.[20][21][22] 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.[19] The original packaging boxes were designed by Garrett Sander himself.[23]
Media
Launched in the digital media era, Monster High began adaptation into a web series which had its debut on YouTube on 5 May 2010, followed by a 23-minute TV special, Monster High: New Ghoul at School on October 30 that same year which premiered on Nickelodeon in the United States.The aforementioned New Ghoul at School and the next TV special, Fright On! were 2D-animated, with the following films animated in computer-generated imagery: "Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love", "Escape from Skull Shores", "Friday Night Frights", "Scaris: City of Frights", "Ghouls Rule", "13 Wishes", "Freaky Fusion", "Haunted", "Boo York, Boo York", Great Scarrier Reef, Welcome to Monster High and Electrified.Other films were reported to be in development until the first franchise reboot and the discontinuation of Ever After High in 2016.Starting with Fright On! in 2011, the specials and films were released in direct-to-videohome 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.[39] The films and specials have also appeared on streaming services/platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.[40]
Spin-offs
With the popularity of Monster High, companion doll lines were launched. Ever After High (abbreviated EAH) launched in July 2013 and features the children of characters of well-known fairy tales and fables.The franchise mainly focuses on Apple White, daughter of Snow White, and Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen, also from Snow White in lead roles. Both represent the main conflict of its associated web series originally released on YouTube: the Royals, which is composed of students like Apple White who "want to follow their predetermined fairy tale story", versus the Rebels, which composed of students like Raven Queen who "wish to 'rewrite' their story/tale". The C. A. Cupid character from Monster High began featuring in its corresponding series from the 4th webisode onward where she is an exchange student there.
The second companion line was launched on July 18, 2017, as Enchantimals, featuring animal-inspired humanoid characters with a corresponding animal companion each as their pets.It was originally tied to Ever After High, but fully branched off with EAH's declining sales.
In February 2026, Mattel revealed a spinoff, Moonspell Magic by Monster High, which focuses on a witch school by the name of Moonspell High. The doll line focuses on 5 witches who are all different, and embracing these differences. These dolls are expected to release in major retailers July 2026.[82]
Reception
Monster High was a massive financial success for Mattel,[83][84][85][86] becoming a billion-dollar brand in just three years and surpassing executives' expectations.[87] During the first few years, the dolls' quickly rising popularity caused the sales of Mattel's own Barbie dolls to decline;[88] 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.[89] 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.
Frankie Stein (voiced by Kate Higgins from 2010 to 2016, Cassandra Lee Morris from 2016 to 2018 and Iris Menas from 2022 onward)[10] is the daughter of Frankenstein's monster and his bride. She is the central character of the franchise. She has white hair with black streaks and light, mint-green skin. Frankie is a simulacrum, meaning that her body is made of many different parts. She is clumsy, sweet, and always kind to others. She has a crush on Neighthan Rot. In the series, she used to date Jackson Jekyll and Holt Hyde, but this is different in the diaries, where both characters are in a relationship with Draculaura instead. In the first two incarnations of the franchise, Frankie uses she/her pronouns, while in the 2022 reboot they are non-binary and use they/them pronouns. In the 2022 reboot, Frankie is dating Cleo.
Draculaura (voiced by Debi Derryberry from 2010 to 2018 and Courtney Lin from 2022 onward) is a vampire who is the daughter of Dracula. She is in a relationship with Clawdeen's older brother, Clawd Wolf. She is a vegetarian who faints at the sight of blood.[11] The diaries show that she used to date Jackson Jekyll and Holt Hyde. She has fangs and typically dresses in pink, black and white.
Cleo de Nile (voiced by Salli Saffioti[12] from 2010 to 2018 and Kausar Mohammed from 2022 onwards) is the daughter of the mummypharaoh Ramses de Nile, and is 5842 years old at the start of the series. She is the captain of the "fearleading" squad. Cleo prefers to accessorize with light-gold bandages or mummy wrappings. She is based on Cleopatra, while her older sister, Nefera de Nile, is based on Nefertiti. She is the queen of the social scene and has a boyfriend named Deuce Gorgon, the son of Medusa. In Clawd Wolf's diary, he mentions dating Cleo because of pressure, but they broke up, thinking they're more fit as friends, before she started to date Deuce. In the 2022 reboot, Cleo and Frankie are a couple.
Clawdeen Wolf (voiced by Salli Saffioti from 2010 to 2018 and Gabrielle Nevaeh Green from 2022 onward[13]) is the daughter of a werewolf. She is described as outgoing and sweet. She likes fashion. She has a bit of a temper at times when messed with, but can easily control it when coaxed properly. Her wolf ears are pierced in multiple places. In the 2016 reboot of Monster High, she develops mutual feelings for Raythe. As of 2024, Clawdeen has been in an official relationship with Toralei Stripe, a werecat.
Lagoona Blue (voiced by Laura Bailey from 2010 to 2015,[13] Larissa Gallagher from 2016 to 2018 and Valeria Rodriguez from 2022 onwards) is the daughter of a sea monster. Lagoona is from "Down Under" and speaks with an Australian accent. She can talk with water animals. She is in a relationship with Gillington "Gil" Webber, but his parents disapprove of their relationship due to her sea-monster heritage. In the 2022 reboot she is Honduran and knows little about the outside due to growing up in a sunken castillo.
Ghoulia Yelps (vocal effects by Audu Paden in most projects, and voiced by Felicia Day in the 2022 TV series) is the bespectacled daughter of a zombie couple from Canada. She is the smartest ghoul at Monster High, her personality is that of a shy and bookish girl with a sense of mischief. Due to being a zombie, she can only speak in moans and groans – a physical limitation that all zombies have. She has a romantic interest in Sloman "Slo Mo" Mortavitch, a tall male zombie on the chess team.
Abbey Bominable (voiced by Erin Fitzgerald from until 2015, Cristina Milizia between 2017 and 2018,[14][15] and Aishwarya Pillai in the 2022 TV series) is the Russian-accented daughter of the Yeti. She is a proud and straightforward ghoul who doesn't readily spend words to bring her message more delicately. She's also very strong in terms of both physical abilities and psychokinetic ones and therefore intimidating, but although occasionally useful, she'd rather be known as simply a nice monster to hang out with. She has a romantic interest in Heath Burns, who she claims "makes her laugh".
According to a social media post made by Sander in 2020, the first
prototypes
of the dolls during its development were made using head molds from another Mattel doll line that was never officially released, bodies from
A good amount of the initial design remained unchanged, but the actual dolls ended up looking drastically different.[24]
Over 750 different dolls have been released since its 2010 launch.[25] 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 10.5 inch tall.Some dolls, particularly the ones which were released a long time ago or in limited quantity, are rare, collectible, and therefore expensive.[22] 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.[26]In 2016, Monster High underwent a reboot, which was likely an attempt to make the brand appeal to a younger age category.[27] The sales were low that year, and the line was eventually quietly discontinued in 2018.In 2020, the franchise returned with two "Skullector" dolls inspired by It and The Shining, released just before Halloween.In 2021, a new set of two Skullector dolls inspired by characters from the movie Beetlejuice was launched exclusively through the "Mattel Creations" section of Mattel's website[28] alongside a doll inspired by the film Gremlins 2: The New Batch.[29] In 2022, Mattel presented a new Monster High line called "Haunt Couture" (wordplay on "haute couture") which consisted of five new collector dolls: the five main characters of Frankie Stein, Clawdeen Wolf, Draculaura, Cleo de Nile and Lagoona Blue.They featured details such as rooted eyelashes and were priced at $75, and similarly were only available through the website.[30] On Friday, May 13, 2022, Mattel released a new "Booriginal Creeproductions" line of Monster High dolls which were a tribute to the original 2010 line. It featured four of the main characters dressed in their original outfits and packaged in boxes that took heavy inspiration from the original packaging. They were priced at $25 each and at first available exclusively at Walmart outlets in the United States, and then also worldwide through the "Mattel Creations" section of the Mattel website.[31] They were aimed at older consumers who grew up with the original dolls prior to their 2018 discontinuation.[32][33] Since then, Mattel has continued to periodically release new Monster High dolls, aimed at consumers and collectors alike.[34]
Other merchandise
Various other Monster-High-branded products have been released: they include collectible vinyl figurines, Halloween costumes, plushies,[35]stationery, children's clothing, accessories, and makeup, perfume, and more.In February 2022, American fashion designer Maisie Wilen collaborated with Mattel to create a pair of earrings inspired by one of the main Monster High characters' style; they were available for $50 exclusively through the "Mattel Creations" section of the Mattel website.[36][37] In April 2022, Mattel collaborated with Hot Topic on a clothing collection inspired by the aesthetics of the franchise.[38]
In the 2015 film "Boo York, Boo York", a character known as Astranova makes contact with Apple White and Raven Queen from Ever After High suggesting a crossover in the future.[41] However, the first franchise reboot and the discontinuation of Ever After High derailed and cancelled those plans (which also included more based-on films than the 16 indicated); brief storyboard animatics were instead released on the official Monster High YouTube channel under the title The Lost Movie[42] and early designs for the EAH characters intended for the crossover have been released online.[43]
In 2021, it was announced that Mattel Television would produce a live-action musical film and an animated TV series for Nickelodeon, which premiered in October 2022.Both projects feature more gender diversity and LGBT characters.[44][45]
Monster High: Kowa Ike Girls
Monster High: Kowa Ike Girls (Monsutā Hai and Gāruzu being transliteration of "Monster High" and "Girls", respectively) is an 8-episode series of 3-minute Japanese animated shorts produced by ,[46] and animated at Picona Creative Studio.[46][47] The shorts were broadcast as a part of TXN's morning children's television programming block Oha Suta beginning on October 22, 2014.[48] Mattel Japan's official YouTube account later released the shorts online.
The theme song, simply titled "Monster High", was sung by Japanese teen idol girl band Amorecarina, featuring Kaede (from another idol girl band, Chu-Z) as a rapper.It was included in Amorecarina's debut single of the same name, along with an instrumental version.[49]
The Kowa Ike Girls shorts were released in Japanese only.
Video games
Video games based on the franchise were released to accompany the audiovisual media.
Monster High: Ghoul Spirit
The first game released was Monster High: Ghoul Spirit, available for the Nintendo DS and the Wii consoles on 25 October 2011.This release featured a special "Ghoulify" function 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'.
Monster High: Skultimate Roller Maze
Another video game for Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Wii titled Monster High: Skultimate Roller Maze was released in November 2012. This game allowed players to experience the Monster High sport - Skultimate Roller Maze. Teams compete their way through a hazardous maze of obstacles.
Monster High: 13 Wishes
The third video game for the Wii, Wii U, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS named after 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.
Monster High: Ghoul Spirit
The first game released was Monster High: Ghoul Spirit, available for the Nintendo DS and the Wii consoles on 25 October 2011.This release featured a special "Ghoulify" function 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'.
Monster High: Skultimate Roller Maze
Another video game for Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS and Wii titled Monster High: Skultimate Roller Maze was released in November 2012. This game allowed players to experience the Monster High sport - Skultimate Roller Maze. Teams compete their way through a hazardous maze of obstacles.
Monster High: 13 Wishes
The third video game for the Wii, Wii U, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS named after 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.
Other games
Mobile apps 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, 3DS, and Wii U.[50] The PC version was de-listed on Steam in 2017.In October 2024, Monster High: Skulltimate Secrets was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.[51]
Book series
Monster High Book series
Lisi Harrison, a Canadian author known for writing popular book series; The Clique and The Alphas, wrote some young adult novels based on the franchise using a different fictional universe than the web series 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 26 September 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[52] 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 29 September 2011. The fourth novel titled Back And Deader Than Ever was released on May 1, 2012[53] 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.[54]
Monster High Book series
Lisi Harrison, a Canadian author known for writing popular book series; The Clique and The Alphas, wrote some young adult novels based on the franchise using a different fictional universe than the web series 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 26 September 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[52] 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 29 September 2011. The fourth novel titled Back And Deader Than Ever was released on May 1, 2012[53] 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.[54]
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.
Monster High Diaries book series
A book series by Nessi Monstrata was released covering five of the main franchise characters.
Monster Rescue book Series
A book series by Misty Von Spooks was released that featured the Generation 2 franchise characters.
Comics
In 2024, IDW Publishing began releasing a line of Monster High comics including the limited series Monster High: New Scaremester, Monster High: World's Scare, Monster High: House Haunters, and Monster High: Boomuda Triangle, as well as the one-shots Monster High Pride 2024, Monster High: Halloween Special, Monster High: Howliday Haunt, Monster High: Bull's Eye, Monster High Pride 2025, Monster High: Locketness Monster, and Monster High: Party Monster.[73]
Music
Two songs titled "Fright Song" (2010), by Windy Wagner, and "We Are Monster High" (2013), by Madison Beer, were released digitally along with live-action music videos on YouTube.[74][75][76]Ewa Farna additionally released Polish and Czech versions of "Fright Song" called "Monster High".[77][78] In 2025, girl group Katseye covered "Fright Song".[79][80] Numerous soundtracks have also been released.
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,
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.
On May 16, 2022, when a new doll line featuring reproductions of the original 2010 dolls was made available online through the "Mattel Creations" section of the Mattel website,
The franchise has received positive recognition for its promotion of diversity among the characters, especially in comparison with other toy brands with similar levels of popularity.[99][100][101] This diversity continues to be a major selling point in Mattel's marketing of the franchise.[8] In 2022, during the rollout of a new doll line, Lisa McKnight—Executive Vice President of Barbie & Dolls at Mattel—said: "We've been waiting for the right moment to reignite the Monster High brand to connect with [...] issues that are core to our purpose, like inclusion, diversity and community [...] with the updated franchise focused on being authentic, true to yourself and celebrating differences."[32]
Controversy
Monster High has some controversy and criticism, citing that the dolls' unrealistic bodies, often revealing outfits, and characters' focus on romantic relationships were a bad influence on young children.[102][103] 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.[104]Peggy Orenstein similarly criticized Monster High in her 2011 book Cinderella Ate My Daughter.
Competition
Inspired by the commercial success of Monster High, other toy manufacturers — namely some of the biggest competitors in the toy industry which is the field of franchise owner Mattel[105] — launched their own toy lines with a similar premise and/or aesthetic.In 2012, MGA Entertainment launched Bratzillaz (House of Witchez), a spin-off of the Bratz brand;[106] it featured a similar theme centered around the paranormal, and was seen as MGA's attempt at capitalizing off of the success of Monster High.[107] The same year, MGA also launched Novi Stars, a sci-fi-themed line of fashion dolls that featured extraterrestrial humanoids.[106][108] In 2013, The Bridge Direct launched Pinkie Cooper, which featured a humanoid Cocker Spaniel of the same name; in an interview with CNN Money, analyst Gerrick Johnson named both Monster High and Novi Stars as "competitors that come closest" to the dog-headed fashion doll.[109]
Nickelodeon, 23 February 2021, retrieved 23 February 2021
22.Ashley Britten. The best Monster High doll Chicago Tribune, 13 October 2021, retrieved February 27, 2022^
23.Garrett Sander. Day 13: Frankie Stein from the 2010 line Monster High by @mattel ! [...] January 13, 2020, retrieved 24 March 2022^
24.Garrett Sander. #HappyFridayThe13th every Monster! Unearthed from the depths of the Catacombs - Check out the very first prototypes that were made to pitch the idea of Monster High! [...] 13 November 2020, retrieved 24 March 2022^
Mobile apps 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, 3DS, and Wii U.[50] The PC version was de-listed on Steam in 2017.In October 2024, Monster High: Skulltimate Secrets was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.[51]
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.
Monster High Diaries book series
A book series by Nessi Monstrata was released covering five of the main franchise characters.
Monster Rescue book Series
A book series by Misty Von Spooks was released that featured the Generation 2 franchise characters.
it featured the counterparts of My Little Pony characters in human-like silhouettes with non-human skin colors; it was regarded as Hasbro's take on Monster High.
