A Deep Dive Into Monster High

Monster High was so important that a girl who had tragically lost her leg who was in my class painted her fake leg to look like copper because of Rebecca Steam, and everyone (girl) called her Steam because of the character. Literally coolest moment, its one of those memories that you never forget and you just... attach it to your brain

As a fat girl, I can say that skinny dolls never bothered me as a kid. They just didn’t really register as human to me honestly.

Parents: “skelita is a girl who starved herself to death! Bravo Mattel!” All of Mexico: “fuck my culture right?”

Is it me or the idea of a buff mermaid guy on a wheelchair is like the coolest thing i ever seen Mattel do

I’ve literally never wanted my body to look like a dolls, what made me insecure was my parents.

Me, a 30 year old man with no interest in dolls: HOW DARE THEY CHANGE HER DESIGN, SHE WAS AN ICON

I never realized how whiny adults were growing up. My mom hated the body types, but she told me to not use my dolls as an expectation of what body type I wanted, and to just have fun. Since monster high had a lot of POC-coded characters such as Lagoona and Clawdeen, she was more than happy to give a little brown girl like me these dolls for Christmas. You can’t expect kids to instantly know self-confidence from birth, you have to teach them. Don’t be like the whiny adults in the monster high reviews.

I understand some points of the parents but when I was a kid I never realized their skinny proportions or sexy clothes, I just wanted to play with them. Nowadays I’m obsessed with these dolls because they’re a perfectly imperfect piece of art. I wish they’d sell more OG reproduction dolls for collectors.

Those parents that complained about the dolls are 100% those who actually gave self-esteem issues to their own daughters.

If monster high was a masculine toy targeted to young boys I promise you the parents would care less about the “sinister” monster themes

Spectra Vondergeist's transparent limbs always fascinated me as a kid, making her become my favorite doll (or should I say GRAVEorite)

When i was a child and played with the dolls, i literally never ever thought 'i wish i was skinny like her..' kids don't care about that stuff. They just wanna play with their dolls. Even at 10 i didnt think that.

obsessed with the girls in testing who said frankie stein had to be green. these queens did so much for us

There is a massive problem with the body image issue. I remember as a kid having transformers and I hated myself because I couldn’t morph into a corvette.

as a kid, dolls never gave me negative body issues. i knew that they weren't real, and was aware that their unrealistic proportions would be very weird on an actual human body. they just didn't come across as human. dolls look cool, and so i'd obsess over their clothes/hair more.

It’s so interesting to hear these parents clutch their pearls at Monster High because my own mother couldn’t have given less of a shit about little me playing with them. In fact, she thought some of the dolls were really cool. She especially liked how Skelita was molded to actually look like a skeleton. Honestly, a lot of her sentiment was probably because when she was younger, she was quite the tomboy and most toys made for girls back then were very stereotypically girly. So I think she was happy that I got the chance to enjoy something that she didn’t get to.

honestly monster high sent a way better message for kids than more “tame and classic” dolls like barbie, mh had a lot more diversity and was able to have that diversity becuase the ghouls literally weren’t human, they weren’t a particular race. also mh sent the message that you don’t need to fit in, your fashion and looks are fabulous how you are. plus some of the ghouls were definitely my gay awakening as a child

"the dolls set unrealistic standards and will give our kids body image issues" no mom thats your doing 😭

I think introducing diverse body molds in G3 is what monster high needed to further support the message of inclusivity. But still, I don't see how the dolls could cause self-esteem issues. As someone who struggled with this, I never made the connection with the dolls.

The controversies that happened with monster high regarding their clothing and the parents response, especially the one that said that girls who dress like that want attention, really makes you realize how illy girls are talked about especially with parents teaching their kids, and how the idea that girls are allowed to look nice for themselves or that they dress because it makes them feel comfortable, expressive, confident, etc, is never seemed to be an option