#draculaura barely looks any different

[pponk]

silly guys

[magnificent-monsters]

My updated Monster High: The Movie thoughts and opinions! (Spoilers ahead!)

With the movie releasing just a few days ago, I have some new things I wanna talk about after watching it and also throw out some things that I liked and disliked. 

We’ll start off with the things I thought were good about the movie!

First and foremost, The overall look and aesthetics of the sets and scenery was spot on! It truly felt like a monster world should. From the monster world portal and school itself to the Coffin Bean, everything was so perfectly eerie without screaming over the top halloween-esque.

The costumes for the lead characters were really good! I appreciate that there were multiple costumes for most of the characters and that despite initial impressions from promo material, the first costumes the leads wear are super cute!

The relationship Between Clawdeen and her dad, Apollo, was very sweet even though we only got to see a tiny bit of it thru the whole movie.

Frankie was so funny and loveable while still having some great heartfelt moments, they were my favorite character in the movie. I like that the movie made them feel new while still keeping the original charms of OG Frankie!

The music was catchy! I was a little wary about the movie being a musical, but I do think the songs were great for what the movie actually turned out to be!

The plot twist of Mr. Komos actually being Jekyll/Hyde’s son was actually unexpected for me and I thought it was a clever idea and was even hinted at in one of his costumes.

I’m actually kind of excited for the sequel that was teased at the end because I am like 90% sure that the person looking at the crystal ball is Clawdeen’s mother, Selena.

The nails are very reminiscent of Clawdeen’s monster form claw-nails, plus it would make sense for a werewolf who doesn’t know about the changes at Monster High to want something to do with a vampire who knows magic.

And now that we’ve covered some of the good stuff, it’s time for my complaints about the bad stuff...

To start, they should have had all of the Ghoulfriends be part of the main group! It really made me sad to see them hype up Lagoona, Abbey and Ghoulia in the promo material just for them to barely be part of the movie. They destroyed any character potential they could have had by making them meaningless side characters. 

The original appeal of the series was that they were a big group of best friends despite their many differences in personality and appearance. In the movie, none of them have anything that makes them special and unique, they all just feel like the same character with different clothes. 

A few examples of butchered characters:

THEY MASSACRED MY GIRL GHOULIA! They made her into some random prankster tiktok girl and took away all the smarts and sweetness that made her special. She seems like an after thought that the producers had when they realized they needed to pad out some time with comedic relief and pointless side commentary. Like during the first graveyard scene, how did Ghoulia not realize that Draculaura was already there and why did she not report Drac, Clawdeen and Frankie to Bloodgood for breaking the curfew?

And as for Abbey, she had one line in the entire movie. She was basically non-existent compared to how important and how much she was in the original series.

I’m also super sad to see Lagoona reduced to Cleo’s lackey and essentially replacing Ghoulia herself as Cleo’s best friend. They could have done some really interesting things with her, but they decided to give her little to no attention at all. I was really hoping they would do something with all the watery effects we saw with her promotion images.

As for a couple of the lead characters, I don’t like the changes they made to Draculaura’s personality. Wile they could have kept some of the new aspects, like the pressure she feels from her family to be the perfect vampire, they should have kept her as the kind and sensitive character she was in previous iterations of MH.

And Cleo was never a mean girl! While she could be vain and over dramatic in past series, she was still very friendly and generous to her friends and others.

While I liked the Jekyll/Hyde twist, Komos was an awful villain and his “betrayal” would have been more impactful if we had actually gotten a chance to know and connect to him, but instead, he was just kinda there when the plot needed a villain that wasn’t Cleo. While it’s to be expected from a movie like this, the entire conflict and rapidly following resolution was extremely disappointing.

It sucks that Jackson Jekyll and Holt Hyde can’t be part of the series anymore since they were totally scrapped and replaced by Komos.

A lot of the background characters were so ugly, they could have made them look so much better and more monster-like without taking attention away from the main cast.

and the worst thing about this movie.... NO FRIGHT SONG! NOT A SINGLE NOTE OF IT! 

My final thoughts on Monster High: The Movie are while it definitely was not a perfect movie, it was still enjoyable to watch even with some of it’s flaws, which is a sentiment that can be related back to every past generation of monster high movies, and when/if they do make a sequel, I really hope that the entire Ghoulfriends group is able to have a moment to shine instead of there being just the three that already had their time.

[limesunset]

thoughts on mh movie character posters

draculaura- i love this design for her! i think they captured her very well while also making her modern with the split dye hair. and ofc the addition of witchcraft to her character! i think this could be a really fun and exciting change. we'll have to see what they do with it. i think it's good to give draculaura more of a hobby as she never really had one of her own before. we could be seeing a more serious incarnation of draculaura than we have seen before.

frankie- my favorite character and i think they did her justice! this outfit captures her preppy school girl style while adding some edge! i love this for frankie and i love her actor seems to be having fun in this role! curious to see how frankie's powers are going to work in g3.

cleo- for me, this outfit is very reminiscent of her boo york look! i love this color scheme for cleo. we haven't seen much on cleo yet. i am wondering if she is going to be an antagonist or not? i would love to see her start as an antagonist and become friends with the ghouls over time!

deuce- i think they are definitely going for the misunderstood loner type of character with deuce in this incarnation. i find that really interesting! there's not much to say about his outfit. he's got a beanie now and snakes barely peaking out from under the beanie! probably more of a live-action limitation than anything. interestingly, he is also wearing regular reading glasses instead of sunglasses now! i wonder how that's gonna work with his powers...

heath- for me, he looks the worst out of the bunch. the makeup looks too much like makeup instead of just the character. the outfit is very reminiscent of the original though! notably, his tagline is "the hothead." some have been speculating he may be more of an antagonist- i wonder if there's any merit to that?

komos- a brand new character! there's not much to say on him as he looks just like a human with horns lol. i am speculating he may be the villain.

bloodgood- perfect! there's really not much more to say!

lagoona- the biggest change to any character by far! i can personally see why they went this route to modernize lagoona. i still see her sporty style here. it's just a different and more modern take on it. it's a big change but i think i like it! her tagline is "the bestie with bite." what does that mean?? wondering what her character is gonna be like!

and last but not least..

clawdeen- i think she looks perfect! her look is so cohesive and so clawdeen! it's very stylish and they hit all the marks, crescent moons, fur coat, and cheetah print! i personally love the addition of glasses to clawdeen. i think it's super cute!

[goobydolls]

Monster High G3 - Draculaura - Signature Doll

Draculaura is the most popular G3 character by far. The pink-coded character in any franchise is always meant to sell well, and Draculaura is definitely no exception.

Among all the characters in this generation, Draculaura has the most cohesive look. My personal ranking has her tied with Frankie as the ones with the most cohesive design. The amount of detail the doll has really cements her at the top over most, if not all of the girls in the core series.

The posh, gothic look seems to have been retained in G3 Draculaura's aesthetic, and plays a lot on how vampires (or witches) would look in modern times. Even though she has several shades of pink in her outfits, her overall color scheme is limited to two pinks and black, with a little bit of white accents here and there.

Most of her accessories are also helpful in her character-building. She's a vampire, so of course her extra clothing piece is a little vampire cape. Of course she has shades, and of course she'll come with sunscreen so she can go out with her friends.

Her little bat pretzel is a fun piece to add to her doll, and the red cherry slushie cup is a cool addition that definitely stands out from all her other accessories. Her pet, Count Fabulous, looks adorable in their silly little sitting pose.

I think her bag is really cute! I love that it makes her look like she has bat wings when put on her back. The little quilted mold at the center makes it look like it could double as a pillow, but unfortunately, the straps are also made of plastic, so it's gonna be a bit difficult to use it as such.

She really didn't miss out on her outfit accessories. Her earrings match her split-dyed hair. She wears a white cameo charm necklace behind her lovely bowtie (you can barely see it, but it's there!), and she even has a chunky ring. A lot of the accessories are considerably subtler compared to other ghouls, but it's nice that they bothered to include them at all.

If there's one nitpick I have on her look, it's the shoes. I just feel like it's the least detailed pair, and doesn't quite live up to MH shoe standards. I feel like if it had some black painted into it, it would've made a bit of difference, but still not enough to save the shoe mold from being uninteresting.

Here's Core Drac next to her budget version! This outfit has to be the closest one to its core version, but the really fun part is that her shoes are more interesting than the latter! The details on the heels is exactly what the core doll needed.

All of her outfit pieces are substituted into simpler versions of the core doll's, from the bowtie to the stockings. I like that she came with a skirt instead of shorts this time, and even without the ring, she still has a necklace and earrings, which are all unique pieces that weren't used on the code doll. Even the bustier has a different pattern!

Even her bag, I think, is more interesting than the core doll's. I remember when Emo was a huge thing, and everyone got into having these coffin-shaped backpacks. It really took me back!

The screening's also a bit different, but I feel like my core Drac's just a very early version of the doll with the smaller eyes. I know she's meant to have bigger eyes, but the small eyes are just more charming and bat-like to me.

Overall, I'm totally in love with Core Draculaura. I even got a second one for restyling! I think they knocked it out of the park from the outfit, to the accessories, to the screening, and to the hair. The budget version is also a solid alternative if you don't care that much about the extra accessories.

Bonus: Here's the extra Drac whom I restyle every now and then. The weather where I am is currently peak summer, so here she is in maybe summer clothes!

[mhdiaries]

Wave 2 Lagoona Blue Diary

9/15

I finally got the big wave board that a friend of mine down under custom made for me. I can’t wait to try it out at Cyclops, Dungeon Beach or maybe Ghost Trees. Of course now that school’s in I can’t just take off whenever I want. Hopefully there’ll be some monster swells over one of our holidays - fins crossed till then. 

9/25

Conditions for the surf meet were perfect today and I was able to score my first 10 of the season off this killer wave that I totally could feel breathing down the back of my neck. I thought it was going to eat me alive but it only nipped me a bit and then let me escape. Draculaura, Frankie, Clawdeen and Clawd all came out to watch which was totally awesome only... Gil was supposed to be there too but he wasn’t. He texted me after it was all over to tell me that Frankie sent him a video of the wave and that I was totally bonzer... I didn’t have the heart to tell him no monster uses that word anymore but he’s so cute when he tries to use slang from down under. He also said he was totally sorry he couldn’t make it but he had some kind of family thing come up and he couldn’t get out of it. I told him no worries but I really was bummed that he wasn’t there to see me ride. 

9/28

Today I hung out with Abbey Bominable. She’s new this year and I think she’s been having a hard go of it. Her family lives way up the mountain and so Abbey stays with Headless Headmistress Bloodgood during the week so she doesn’t have to make the up and down trek every day. She can’t even count on calling home every day cause they don’t have cell phones on the mountain, which I can totally relate to since my dad doesn’t have one either. Of course he does live in a place that’s not exactly friendly to electronics. Anyway, I told her that I understood how hard it is to be in a strange place away from your friends and family where no monster speaks your language or really understands your culture. Even at Monster High where there are all kinds of monsters from all kinds of different places it can still take a while to get your sea legs. So when she asked me if I was some kind of fish girl - =) - I did start laughing but I let her know that I wasn’t laughing at her and even though she wanted to walk away I made her come back and we talked for a long time. Abbey is very... direct. She is also very tall and quite strong so I think some monsters get intimidated by her. But you know what? She’s also scary sweet and funny. When I told her that her language skills were fine she said, “No they are abominable.” I didn’t know if she understood what she had just said but she cracked a little smile and said, “It is joke.” I think Abbey is going to be just fine at MH.

10/7

A rumor cyclone hit school today and nearly turned the whole place into a disaster area. Mum once told me that there are three things every monster should know about a storm:

1. You can’t stop a storm by being in the middle of it.

2. A storm brings out the best and worst in every monster that goes through one. 

3. Storms take far longer to clean up after than they actually last.

Being raised on the ocean, I’ve seen and been through some monster cyclones but I never figured mum’s rules for a storm would apply to this kind of situation.

10/12

HH Bloodgood wants us to write about our monster heritage for this book she wants to put together and give out to all of us at the end of the year. All right then - this should be easy or possibly not. Problem is my dad is a very private monster and not even the mates on my surf team know him very well and that’s after he has been a volunteer at all our competitions. Until  he met me mum he barely had any contact with dry land monsters at all. ‘Course mum’s not exactly a dry land monster either - she’s an ocean nymph. She still lives in the same scary sweet little grotto as she did when dad met and married her. Being a nymph means that mum can leave the water and hang out on land as long as she doesn’t travel too far from her grotto otherwise she gets really weak. Dad will only leave the water for very short periods of time and that’s only if there’s a real emergency - like one time when I was just a small fry I was playing on the top of this rock and didn’t notice the tide going out. When I finally did pay attention I found that at low tide it was a long way from the top of that rock where I was to the bottom of that rock that was now sticking out of the sand. Mum couldn’t come and help me cause I was too far from the grotto and I was too little to climb down on my own. I remember the sun being very hot and my skin was starting to not just dry out but to burn. I was really scared and I thought I was never going to get down when I heard my dad calling my name, “Lagoona it’s okay - be brave and jump to me so we can get you back in the water.” I had to jump down a little but not too far cause dad climbed almost to the top of the rock to get me. It was still a long way from that rock back to the water though and it couldn’t have been easy on my dad to cross that distance twice. He told me later that being on land for him was like swimming against the strongest current in the ocean and never being able to rest. I reckon to have the best of both me mum and dad though since I’m at home when I’m in the water but I don’t feel like a stranger when I’m on land.  

10/16

Mad Science class had to be cancelled today after poor Heath Burns let his impulsive nature get the best of him. A bunch of us walked into class just as Mr. Hackington finished unpacking a large piece of lab equipment. He said it was a gift to the school from a former student who was now a famous mad scientist. It looked like a monster sized shoe box standing on its end and was painted completely black except for one shiny metallic button about half way up on one of its sides. Mr. H. was just about to tell us what it was when he got called to the office for some reason. The last thing he said before he left was “All right, me little Pandoras - nobody touch the box while I’m gone.” Of course Heath was out of his chair and standing at the box as soon as Mr. Hackington stepped out of the room. Sometimes Deuce will stone Heath before he can get into trouble but this time Deuce just shook his head and said, “He’s got to learn sometime.” Heath just laughed and said, “What? Nothing’s going to happen - watch.” Heath pushed the button and there was a noise like a tea kettle makes just before it starts to whistle. Heath jumped back and then the noise stopped. I guess we’d all been holding our breath... cause we all let them out at once which Heath thought was funny and he walked back over to the box and leaned against its side. “See I told you nothing was going to hap...” was all he got out as a panel in the box opened up and two tentacles shot out and pulled Heath in. The panel immediately closed and we could hear Heath yelling for help and lots of banging and what sounded like splashing. Mr. Hackington came back at that moment and he must have figured out what happened pretty quick cause he ran to his desk, grabbed something that looked like a remote control and pointed it at the box. All of a sudden a panel at the bottom of the box opened and a Heath shaped package wrapped in what looked like spider silk dipped in tar shot out and bounced across the floor. Mr. Hackington made us all leave before we could find out if Heath was okay but later on in the day Headmistress Bloodgood told us that he was going to be fine only he was going to need a few days off from school. Poor bloke.

10/24

Gil and I got into a fight today. =(  I’m not even sure how it started although he did seem to be a bit preoccupied and crabby today. Anyway, one minute we were swimming laps in the MH pool and the next we were shouting at each other. All I said was that we should mix up our training with some laps in the ocean. The next thing I know he’s accusing me of being a snob who doesn’t like fresh water. I was totally gob smacked. I shouted, “Gillington Webber!” “Why would you say such a thing?” I don’t think I’ve ever used his full name before and it seemed to snap him out of whatever funk he was in. He apologized and left the pool but later on in the day he put a scary sweet card in my locker. I wish he would tell me what’s going on but he totally clams up if I push him so I guess I’ll find out sooner or later... I’m hoping sooner.

[psychnerd47]

Monster College Part 3

Rating PG, warnings mentions of underage drinking (not portrayed positively), and prescription medications (used as prescribed). 

Characters: Deuce Gorgon, Jackson Jekyll, Operetta, Cleo de Nile, Invisi-Billy, Frankie Stein, Robecca Steam, and Toralei Stripes

   After convincing Jackson to come out from hiding, Deuce decided to go back to his dorm room to meet his overly clingy girlfriend, Cleo de Nile. She insisted on spending every free moment with him.

The mummy princess laid sprawled on her back on Deuce’s bed. “We are totally going to Operetta’s party tonight, and then we need to have to throw one of our own,” Cleo told her boyfriend.

Deuce sighed, “Things are different now. I am going to have a lot of homework for my culinary arts degree. I also am going to have bi-weekly labs I need to be prepared for, and I still want to play basketball with Clawd and Heath sometimes, so I won’t always be able to be at your beck and call,” the gorgon boy explained.

“But Deuce,” the mummy princess cried, “we always do everything together.”

“Not everything,” Deuce countered.

“You know what I mean,” Cleo looked like she was about to throw one of her famous royal hissy fits.    

        Before Cleo could escalate, Jackson burst in through the door. Catching both Cleo and Deuce by surprise. Deuce turned towards Jackson and whispered, “Thanks, I owe you bro,”

The nerdy human boy shrugged his shoulders and sat down at his desk, he began to pull out the note books where he had written down all his homework.

“You’re just going to let him sit there, while we are in here?” Cleo asked Deuce with disgust.

“Well it’s his room too,” Deuce explained, “I’ve been thinking Cleo, it might be best if we have some space from each other.”

Cleo got a dumbfounded expression on her face. “I give you space,” Cleo was horrified that her boyfriend would make such a statement.  “I always give you space,”

 Deuce clicked his tongue, “No you don’t, when we were in high school you would barely let me leave to go to the men’s bathroom.” Deuce knew he wasn’t going to win this, but he could make it sound less bad. “I’m not breaking up with you, I’ll even go to Operetta’s party with you. I just can’t spend all my time with you,” the gorgon boy explained.  The look Cleo got on her face suggested that she might have actually understood him.    

                  *                                                 *                                          *

 “I didn’t realize you were throwing a party,” Invisi-Billy admitted.

 “Well, Johnny and I thought it would a clawsome way to start the school year before we hit the grind. You can invite Scarah, she’s still your huckleberry, ain’t she,” Operetta shot Billy a sassy glance.  

 “Um, yes. I just don’t know if this kind of party is really her thing.” The disappearing boy admitted.    

“You don’t have to worry. It’s not some crazy party, just some cool music played by Johnny and me and some pizza and soda pop. There absolutely will not be any booze, everyone but Johnny and Valentine are underage. I may not like rules, but I don’t want to spend the rest of my days doing the jail house rock.”  The Phantom’s daughter gave Billy a great big smile as she started to walk away she called out one more thing with a laugh, “Be there or be square,”

Back at the dorm Deuce and Cleo were helping Jackson decide what to wear to Operetta’s party in hopes of impressing Frankie. “Jackson, why are all your clothes almost the same,” the mummy princess said with disgust in her voice. Jackson awkwardly shrugged his shoulders. Cleo pulled a pair of blue plaid shorts and a yellow polo shirt from Jackson’s dresser, “These will be prefect.  Put them on a see how they look,” Cleo ordered the human boy.

“Just don’t look while I change,” Jackson snapped.

Jackson felt awkward in the clothes, “I look stupid,” he lamented.

“You look amazing,” Cleo gushed, “now we just need to slick back all your out of control hair.”  The mummy princess sprayed some sort of gel like substance in Jacksons black hair with yellow tips that were caused by a lab accident. She pulled hard with a comb until his hair finally slicked down. “Do you have any contacts?” she asked him,

Jackson sighed, “No, my eyes are to sensitive for that. But I do have prescription sunglasses,” the nerdy human boy offered.

“It’s at night and you don’t have Deuce’s petrifying ability, stick with the regular glasses. I’ll just put some of this magical acne cream invented by Great Uncle Tut. Then you will perfect. Frankie will be so impressed.”  

 Meanwhile, Invisi-Billy sat in his room. Heath was playing Graveyard Dash 5 on his x-box. Robecca Steam sat next to Billy on his bed. Robecca was a steampunk robot who had been built in Victorian England, though she was technically really old she was young at heart and  an amazing listener.

“I don’t know how to tell Scarah that I want to change my major?” the invisible boy asked his robotic friend, “She was so excited about me wanting to become a doctor. I don’t know how my parents will feel about it either.” A small tear rolled down Billy’s pale face.

 “If they truly love you, they will support you in whatever you choose to do educationally.” Robecca said in her in her charming British accent.  

“Thank you,” Billy said with a smile, “you are a great listener.”

                               *                                   *                                                   *

        Operetta’s party at the student union was up to an awesome start.  She was playing a gentle Rockabilly tune on her bass guitar, and Johnny Spirit accompanied her on his fiddle. The Rockabilly phantom and the ghostly greaser were taking care to not play there music too loud for Jackson’s sake. Cleo and Deuce, Lagoona and Gil were dancing in pairs to the music. Billy and Scarah were talking to each other by the food table, and Heath was trying to flirt awkwardly with Abbey Bominable.

  While all this was going on, Jackson sat by himself away from the stage. Frankie, the daughter of Frankenstein’s monster, spied him right away. She was wearing a blue plaid print party dress with a yellow sweater. Frankie’s black and white hair was styled in away that Jackson found beautiful. “What are you wearing?” she asked with a laugh.  

 Jackson gave a small chuckle, “Cleo chose this outfit.”

    “It shows. It looks a bit flashy for you,” the stitched together girl explained.

    “You don’t like it?” Jackson asked with a tone of concern in his voice.

     “I do like it, I love anything you wear, because I love you,” Frankie explained.

    “Have you been taking your anxiety medication? You’ve seen a bit more high-strung than normal.” The Frankenstein girl explained.  

 “I’ve been taking it as prescribed” Jackson explained, “I’m just having a difficult time adjusting to the changes of going away for college for the first time.”

      Frankie looked at Jackson sympathetically, she reached out and gently touched his hand, “We’ll get through this together”.

A young male vampire walked up to the stage. His was dressed in black dress coat, crimson waist coat, paired with a white ruffle shirt accented with gold jewelry, all trademarks of Valentine, a once suiter of Draculaura who had once liked to collect broken hearts. “I would like to request a song,” he called out in his Southern accent.

“Ok, sugar plum, but me and Johnny here have one more in our line up first,” Operetta called out.

The Rockabilly phantom and the ghostly greaser started to play an upbeat toon. “Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans, way back in the woods among the evergreens, There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood, And lived a country boy named Johnny B Goode,” Operetta and Johnny Spirit sang together, “ he never learned to read or write to well but he could play a guitar like ringing a bell, Go Johnny Go, Go Joh—” a loud noise interrupted the song.

It sounded almost like gunshots at first but then became it was terrible hip-hop music being blasted through a boombox. “You didn’t think you could have a party and not invite me,” Toralei the catty and conceited orange were-cat meowed.  

 Operetta grew mad, “I didn’t invite you because you remind me of a word that begins a “B” and rhymes with “hitch”, you are selfish and think it’s fun to ruin things that are important to other people.” The Rockabilly phantom was getting steamed, her light lilac color face started to turn red.

“But Operetta,” Toralei said coyishly, “ I don’t think only of myself. That’s why I had Manny bring the booze.”

A look of horror came over the faces of many of the monsters at the party. Before anyone could say anything, the large Minotaur burst in with a keg over each shoulder, followed by some fraternity goons carrying other cases of alcoholic beverages.

“Please take your booze and leave,” Robecca demanded. But unfortunately, her voice was drowned out by the goons yelling, and the booming hip-hop music.

“Please stop!!!” Jackson yelled out in panic as he tried to cover his ears, but it was no use. He had already started to transform. 

tags @queenofworry

[mhdiaries]

13 Wishes Howleen Wolf Diary

On the 18th of July

Mom barked me out of bed this morning saying that I needed to get out of her fur for a few hours. It was that or help her with housework, and since yesterday I spent all day sweeping the attic.... sooo much dust!... I was out of the doggie-door before she could say boo. It’s hard not to feel screeching jealous of Clawd and Clawdeen, cause they always seem to be busy during the summer while I’m stuck at home playing cobweb cleanup. It’s tough being the little sister of two of the most popular monsters on campus - Clawdeen has her pack of friends, and Clawd has his bluddies and Draculaura, too. Meanwhile I texted my beast friend, Twyla, to see if she wanted to come lurk in the park with me today, but she can be pretty nocturnal. Not that I mind moonlighting with her, but sometimes a ghoul wants to get out in the sun, yanno? I took my soccer ball and got some solo practice in, but it’s just not as clawsome by yourself... it made me feel kind of lame, actually. I did see Venus sitting by the trees at on end of the park, but it seemed like she was having a really intense conversation with the oaks and I didn’t want to interrupt. I like Venus, but you have to watch out for her when she’s on the environmental warpath, or she’ll totally talk your ear off. Anyway, after a little while I got distracted listening... okay, eavesdropping... on her (who knew trees had so much drama?) and kicked the ball onto the casketball court where some older monsters were playing. They got fangry, and I wound up packing up and going home with my tail between my legs. Now I wish I’d ignored them and kept playing, cause now I’m bored again. Sooo. Boooored. I’d even listen to Venus lecture me about the dangers of styrofoam... at least it would be something to do!

On the 23rd of July

It’s hard not to feel funky when everyone besides me has things figured out for themselves. Clawdeen has fashion and Clawd has sports, and they both seem to just know what they want. Mom and Dad say I shouldn’t compare myself to them, or anyone else, but that’s such parent advice that I don’t feel like it should count. Besides, it’s not like I don’t know what I want to do... well, okay, it IS that, but it’s also that I want to do everything?? Like, once I spent two weeks trying to make a viral video for FrightTube. Then the week after that I decided that it was totally my destiny to be a superstar singer. Then three weeks later I was totally focused on my future as a Howlympian athlete! And I haven’t stopped wanting to do any of that stuff, but it’s too hard to do it all, and impossible to pick only one, especially cause I don’t know what I’m really good at yet. I feel like I’m getting to a point where I choose or I lose. I mean, what if I discover my hidden talents too late to do anything with them? It’d be so, so tragic. That’s why I’ve been trying so much different stuff this year - music lessons, dance class, everything I can get my claws on. Something will click sooner or later, right?

On the 29th of July

Today I heard... okay maybe eavesdropped on... Draculaura telling Clawd about a big open mic poetry scream going on at the Coffin Bean at the end of the summer. I went on their web site page to check it out, and now I think I might want to try it out, too? I mean I’ve written some poetry, and I’m always accidentally rhyming all the time. And my hip-hop dance classes have totally infused me with the muse... see what I mean? Yeah... I think I want to do this! But I gotta text Twyla and see if she’ll come out for moral support. It’s at night, and the Coffin Bean is usually pretty dark, so she’ll have no excuse not to come - besides, she loves their cupquakes.

On the 30th of July

I finally talked Twyla into going to the Maul with me. If you let her she’d probably stay in the shadows all summer, but lucky for her I won’t let lurking boogiemen lie! We went to the fur salon, and I picked out some new colors for my ‘do - I’ve been letting it go natural lately, but that doesn’t stop me from switching up my style all the time. I wound up buying like five different colors because I couldn’t decide on just one. After that we split a big booberry smoothie at the food corpse and we talked for a long while. Well... mostly I talked, Twy listened, because she’s a clawsome listener. She let me howl about how was I supposed to pick what I wanted to do with the rest of my life if I couldn’t even pick a hair color? I asked her what she thought I should do, and she got this really freaky intense look, like she was thinking hard, and then she flicked my ear and said, “I think what you really want to do is plan out your whole life before you live it, and you can’t do that, so stop stressing out.” Which is both good advice and totally useless because you can’t stop stressing out just because you want to, like, when has that ever worked in all monster history? But I do feel better, somehow. I think it helped to just talk about it to someone who gets me and doesn’t laugh when I say dumb stuff. She also agreed to come cheer me on at the poetry scream. There’s a reason Twyla is my beastie. =)

On the 10th of August

Clawd and Clawdeen actually weren’t busy today for once. Even though they’re a pain in the fang, hanging with them can still be scary-fun. Sometimes. Clawd talked us into playing a pick-up soccer game in the backyard, and Clawdeen didn’t even get growly when she fell into one of the holes Clawd made along the fence... he likes to bury things in the dirt and dig them up later. I think it’s a boy thing. We’ve all got game, and later we did get into an argument about who had the most points - we’d said we weren’t keeping score, but no duh, of course we all were! But no one got their fur in a frizz about it for a change. After a while we were making up the biggest number we could think of and howling with laughter. Dad said later he almost didn’t want to call us inside for dinner because he loves seeing us act like one big happy pack. I think he misses when all my even bigger brothers and sisters were still at home... Mom teases that he’s got empty den syndrome. I miss my older brothers and sisters sometimes, too, but they aren’t that far away. (Plus, not that they’ve moved out, the wait for the bathroom is a LOT shorter.)

On the 13th of August

I think I’m getting cold paws. The poetry scream is in just a few days, and my brain has been going all over the place since I said I’d go. What if I get stage fright? What if I totally blank and forget the whole poem? What if I’m not even that good? ...Ugh, okay, I texted Twyla, and she convinced me not to give up the ghost. Plus she pointed out that since it’s open mic, I can always just show up and decided if I want to go ahead with it when I get there. Sometimes I wish I could borrow Clawdeen’s confidence, not just her clothes... she never seems scared of anything.

On the 18th of August

Whoa, I’m still shaking. The Coffin Bean was WAY more packed than I thought it would be. There had to be dozens of monsters there, and I was a total casket case even with my beastie at my side until I ran into Clawd and Draculaura. I sort of hadn’t told them I’d be there, so they were scary surprised to see me. And then they found out I was sort of thinking about maybe performing, they wouldn’t let me get away with not doing it. So I signed up and waited for my turn, even though I was so howling nervous I could barely hear the poets on before me, and then it was my turn. I was so wound up that my eyes were practically crossing with fright, but I saw my bro and Draculaura waving from the audience, and Twy giving me the claws-up, I sucked it up and read my poem. I had it memorized and gave it everything I had, and the monsters in the crowd really seemed to dig it. I didn’t like completely bring the house down, but when even the zombies slow-clapped at the end and Clawd whooped for me it felt just little bit epic. Then Draculaura when on with this mega-romantic and sweet poem and she had the whole audience wailing like banshees. Even I got a little teary-eyed, and Clawd was whimpering into his coffinchino... he made me promise not to tell anyone lol. Of course she won first place for the night - not that I’m moaning. She totally deserved it, and I came i third, which made me feel pretty clawsome about the whole thing. Even Clawd was patting me on the back and bragging that I was his little sis to anyone who’d listen... which was embarrassing, but whatever, kind of nice too. =) I gave Twyla the biggest hug for staying with me, too, especially since crowds are one of her fangups. I have to say, I really liked tackling my fears... it makes me think maybe I’m ready for a whole new me next year! Watch out, Monster High!

[mhdiaries]

Diary of Howleen Wolf

Read my diary and I’ll make you howl!

On the 18th of July

Mom barked me out of bed this morning saying that I needed to get out of her fur for a few hours. It was that or help her with housework, and since yesterday I spent all day sweeping the attic.... sooo much dust!... I was out of the doggie-door before she could say boo. It’s hard not to feel screeching jealous of Clawd and Clawdeen, cause they always seem to be busy during the summer while I’m stuck at home playing cobweb cleanup. It’s tough being the little sister of two of the most popular monsters on campus - Clawdeen has her pack of friends, and Clawd has his bluddies and Draculaura, too. Meanwhile I texted my beast friend, Twyla, to see if she wanted to come lurk in the park with me today, but she can be pretty nocturnal. Not that I mind moonlighting with her, but sometimes a ghoul wants to get out in the sun, yanno? I took my soccer ball and got some solo practice in, but it’s just not as clawsome by yourself... it made me feel kind of lame, actually. I did see Venus sitting by the trees at on end of the park, but it seemed like she was having a really intense conversation with the oaks and I didn’t want to interrupt. I like Venus, but you have to watch out for her when she’s on the environmental warpath, or she’ll totally talk your ear off. Anyway, after a little while I got distracted listening... okay, eavesdropping... on her (who knew trees had so much drama?) and kicked the ball onto the casketball court where some older monsters were playing. They got fangry, and I wound up packing up and going home with my tail between my legs. Now I wish I’d ignored them and kept playing, cause now I’m bored again. Sooo. Boooored. I’d even listen to Venus lecture me about the dangers of styrofoam... at least it would be something to do!

On the 23rd of July

It’s hard not to feel funky when everyone besides me has things figured out for themselves. Clawdeen has fashion and Clawd has sports, and they both seem to just know what they want. Mom and Dad say I shouldn’t compare myself to them, or anyone else, but that’s such parent advice that I don’t feel like it should count. Besides, it’s not like I don’t know what I want to do... well, okay, it IS that, but it’s also that I want to do everything?? Like, once I spent two weeks trying to make a viral video for FrightTube. Then the week after that I decided that it was totally my destiny to be a superstar singer. Then three weeks later I was totally focused on my future as a Howlympian athlete! And I haven’t stopped wanting to do any of that stuff, but it’s too hard to do it all, and impossible to pick only one, especially cause I don’t know what I’m really good at yet. I feel like I’m getting to a point where I choose or I lose. I mean, what if I discover my hidden talents too late to do anything with them? It’d be so, so tragic. That’s why I’ve been trying so much different stuff this year - music lessons, dance class, everything I can get my claws on. Something will click sooner or later, right?

On the 29th of July

Today I heard... okay maybe eavesdropped on... Draculaura telling Clawd about a big open mic poetry scream going on at the Coffin Bean at the end of the summer. I went on their web site page to check it out, and now I think I might want to try it out, too? I mean I’ve written some poetry, and I’m always accidentally rhyming all the time. And my hip-hop dance classes have totally infused me with the muse... see what I mean? Yeah... I think I want to do this! But I gotta text Twyla and see if she’ll come out for moral support. It’s at night, and the Coffin Bean is usually pretty dark, so she’ll have no excuse not to come - besides, she loves their cupquakes.

On the 30th of July

I finally talked Twyla into going to the Maul with me. If you let her she’d probably stay in the shadows all summer, but lucky for her I won’t let lurking boogiemen lie! We went to the fur salon, and I picked out some new colors for my ‘do - I’ve been letting it go natural lately, but that doesn’t stop me from switching up my style all the time. I wound up buying like five different colors because I couldn’t decide on just one. After that we split a big booberry smoothie at the food corpse and we talked for a long while. Well... mostly I talked, Twy listened, because she’s a clawsome listener. She let me howl about how was I supposed to pick what I wanted to do with the rest of my life if I couldn’t even pick a hair color? I asked her what she thought I should do, and she got this really freaky intense look, like she was thinking hard, and then she flicked my ear and said, “I think what you really want to do is plan out your whole life before you live it, and you can’t do that, so stop stressing out.” Which is both good advice and totally useless because you can’t stop stressing out just because you want to, like, when has that ever worked in all monster history? But I do feel better, somehow. I think it helped to just talk about it to someone who gets me and doesn’t laugh when I say dumb stuff. She also agreed to come cheer me on at the poetry scream. There’s a reason Twyla is my beastie. =)

On the 10th of August

Clawd and Clawdeen actually weren’t busy today for once. Even though they’re a pain in the fang, hanging with them can still be scary-fun. Sometimes. Clawd talked us into playing a pick-up soccer game in the backyard, and Clawdeen didn’t even get growly when she fell into one of the holes Clawd made along the fence... he likes to bury things in the dirt and dig them up later. I think it’s a boy thing. We’ve all got game, and later we did get into an argument about who had the most points - we’d said we weren’t keeping score, but no duh, of course we all were! But no one got their fur in a frizz about it for a change. After a while we were making up the biggest number we could think of and howling with laughter. Dad said later he almost didn’t want to call us inside for dinner because he loves seeing us act like one big happy pack. I think he misses when all my even bigger brothers and sisters were still at home... Mom teases that he’s got empty den syndrome. I miss my older brothers and sisters sometimes, too, but they aren’t that far away. (Plus, not that they’ve moved out, the wait for the bathroom is a LOT shorter.)

On the 13th of August

I think I’m getting cold paws. The poetry scream is in just a few days, and my brain has been going all over the place since I said I’d go. What if I get stage fright? What if I totally blank and forget the whole poem? What if I’m not even that good? ...Ugh, okay, I texted Twyla, and she convinced me not to give up the ghost. Plus she pointed out that since it’s open mic, I can always just show up and decided if I want to go ahead with it when I get there. Sometimes I wish I could borrow Clawdeen’s confidence, not just her clothes... she never seems scared of anything.

On the 18th of August

Whoa, I’m still shaking. The Coffin Bean was WAY more packed than I thought it would be. There had to be dozens of monsters there, and I was a total casket case even with my beastie at my side until I ran into Clawd and Draculaura. I sort of hadn’t told them I’d be there, so they were scary surprised to see me. And then they found out I was sort of thinking about maybe performing, they wouldn’t let me get away with not doing it. So I signed up and waited for my turn, even though I was so howling nervous I could barely hear the poets on before me, and then it was my turn. I was so wound up that my eyes were practically crossing with fright, but I saw my bro and Draculaura waving from the audience, and Twy giving me the claws-up, I sucked it up and read my poem. I had it memorized and gave it everything I had, and the monsters in the crowd really seemed to dig it. I didn’t like completely bring the house down, but when even the zombies slow-clapped at the end and Clawd whooped for me it felt just little bit epic. Then Draculaura when on with this mega-romantic and sweet poem and she had the whole audience wailing like banshees. Even I got a little teary-eyed, and Clawd was whimpering into his coffinchino... he made me promise not to tell anyone lol. Of course she won first place for the night - not that I’m moaning. She totally deserved it, and I came i third, which made me feel pretty clawsome about the whole thing. Even Clawd was patting me on the back and bragging that I was his little sis to anyone who’d listen... which was embarrassing, but whatever, kind of nice too. =) I gave Twyla the biggest hug for staying with me, too, especially since crowds are one of her fangups. I have to say, I really liked tackling my fears... it makes me think maybe I’m ready for a whole new me next year! Watch out, Monster High!

[mhdiaries]

Diary of Lagoona Blue

If you’re going to dive into my diary make sure you know how to swim.

9/15

I finally got the big wave board that a friend of mine down under custom made for me. I can’t wait to try it out at Cyclops, Dungeon Beach or maybe Ghost Trees. Of course now that school’s in I can’t just take off whenever I want. Hopefully there’ll be some monster swells over one of our holidays - fins crossed till then.

9/25

Conditions for the surf meet were perfect today and I was able to score my first 10 of the season off this killer wave that I totally could feel breathing down the back of my neck. I thought it was going to eat me alive but it only nipped me a bit and then let me escape. Draculaura, Frankie, Clawdeen and Clawd all came out to watch which was totally awesome only... Gil was supposed to be there too but he wasn’t. He texted me after it was all over to tell me that Frankie sent him a video of the wave and that I was totally bonzer... I didn’t have the heart to tell him no monster uses that word anymore but he’s so cute when he tries to use slang from down under. He also said he was totally sorry he couldn’t make it but he had some kind of family thing come up and he couldn’t get out of it. I told him no worries but I really was bummed that he wasn’t there to see me ride.

9/28

Today I hung out with Abbey Bominable. She’s new this year and I think she’s been having a hard go of it. Her family lives way up the mountain and so Abbey stays with Headless Headmistress Bloodgood during the week so she doesn’t have to make the up and down trek every day. She can’t even count on calling home every day cause they don’t have cell phones on the mountain, which I can totally relate to since my dad doesn’t have one either. Of course he does live in a place that’s not exactly friendly to electronics. Anyway, I told her that I understood how hard it is to be in a strange place away from your friends and family where no monster speaks your language or really understands your culture. Even at Monster High where there are all kinds of monsters from all kinds of different places it can still take a while to get your sea legs. So when she asked me if I was some kind of fish girl - =) - I did start laughing but I let her know that I wasn’t laughing at her and even though she wanted to walk away I made her come back and we talked for a long time. Abbey is very... direct. She is also very tall and quite strong so I think some monsters get intimidated by her. But you know what? She’s also scary sweet and funny. When I told her that her language skills were fine she said, “No they are abominable.” I didn’t know if she understood what she had just said but she cracked a little smile and said, “It is joke.” I think Abbey is going to be just fine at MH.

10/7

A rumor cyclone hit school today and nearly turned the whole place into a disaster area. Mum once told me that there are three things every monster should know about a storm:

1. You can’t stop a storm by being in the middle of it.

2. A storm brings out the best and worst in every monster that goes through one.

3. Storms take far longer to clean up after than they actually last.

Being raised on the ocean, I’ve seen and been through some monster cyclones but I never figured mum’s rules for a storm would apply to this kind of situation.

10/12

HH Bloodgood wants us to write about our monster heritage for this book she wants to put together and give out to all of us at the end of the year. All right then - this should be easy or possibly not. Problem is my dad is a very private monster and not even the mates on my surf team know him very well and that’s after he has been a volunteer at all our competitions. Until  he met me mum he barely had any contact with dry land monsters at all. ‘Course mum’s not exactly a dry land monster either - she’s an ocean nymph. She still lives in the same scary sweet little grotto as she did when dad met and married her. Being a nymph means that mum can leave the water and hang out on land as long as she doesn’t travel too far from her grotto otherwise she gets really weak. Dad will only leave the water for very short periods of time and that’s only if there’s a real emergency - like one time when I was just a small fry I was playing on the top of this rock and didn’t notice the tide going out. When I finally did pay attention I found that at low tide it was a long way from the top of that rock where I was to the bottom of that rock that was now sticking out of the sand. Mum couldn’t come and help me cause I was too far from the grotto and I was too little to climb down on my own. I remember the sun being very hot and my skin was starting to not just dry out but to burn. I was really scared and I thought I was never going to get down when I heard my dad calling my name, “Lagoona it’s okay - be brave and jump to me so we can get you back in the water.” I had to jump down a little but not too far cause dad climbed almost to the top of the rock to get me. It was still a long way from that rock back to the water though and it couldn’t have been easy on my dad to cross that distance twice. He told me later that being on land for him was like swimming against the strongest current in the ocean and never being able to rest. I reckon to have the best of both me mum and dad though since I’m at home when I’m in the water but I don’t feel like a stranger when I’m on land.  

10/16

Mad Science class had to be cancelled today after poor Heath Burns let his impulsive nature get the best of him. A bunch of us walked into class just as Mr. Hackington finished unpacking a large piece of lab equipment. He said it was a gift to the school from a former student who was now a famous mad scientist. It looked like a monster sized shoe box standing on its end and was painted completely black except for one shiny metallic button about half way up on one of its sides. Mr. H. was just about to tell us what it was when he got called to the office for some reason. The last thing he said before he left was “All right, me little Pandoras - nobody touch the box while I’m gone.” Of course Heath was out of his chair and standing at the box as soon as Mr. Hackington stepped out of the room. Sometimes Deuce will stone Heath before he can get into trouble but this time Deuce just shook his head and said, “He’s got to learn sometime.” Heath just laughed and said, “What? Nothing’s going to happen - watch.” Heath pushed the button and there was a noise like a tea kettle makes just before it starts to whistle. Heath jumped back and then the noise stopped. I guess we’d all been holding our breath... cause we all let them out at once which Heath thought was funny and he walked back over to the box and leaned against its side. “See I told you nothing was going to hap...” was all he got out as a panel in the box opened up and two tentacles shot out and pulled Heath in. The panel immediately closed and we could hear Heath yelling for help and lots of banging and what sounded like splashing. Mr. Hackington came back at that moment and he must have figured out what happened pretty quick cause he ran to his desk, grabbed something that looked like a remote control and pointed it at the box. All of a sudden a panel at the bottom of the box opened and a Heath shaped package wrapped in what looked like spider silk dipped in tar shot out and bounced across the floor. Mr. Hackington made us all leave before we could find out if Heath was okay but later on in the day Headmistress Bloodgood told us that he was going to be fine only he was going to need a few days off from school. Poor bloke.

10/24

Gil and I got into a fight today. =(  I’m not even sure how it started although he did seem to be a bit preoccupied and crabby today. Anyway, one minute we were swimming laps in the MH pool and the next we were shouting at each other. All I said was that we should mix up our training with some laps in the ocean. The next thing I know he’s accusing me of being a snob who doesn’t like fresh water. I was totally gob smacked. I shouted, “Gillington Webber!” “Why would you say such a thing?” I don’t think I’ve ever used his full name before and it seemed to snap him out of whatever funk he was in. He apologized and left the pool but later on in the day he put a scary sweet card in my locker. I wish he would tell me what’s going on but he totally clams up if I push him so I guess I’ll find out sooner or later... I’m hoping sooner.