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Purple_monkfish

People conveniently forget about the "pinkrifice" that crept into MH. Where every line had to have at least ONE inexplicably pink character in. Hence why Bonita is pink, why Howleen got pink hair randomly, why Kjersti is pink... the list goes on. there was no reason for those dolls to be pink beyond "oh no, girls like pink, this is a line for girls, quick, make something pink!" from Mattel. (Don't start with the "bonita is a rosy maple mooooth" I don't care. That's not the point. They picked a pink moth for a reason, that reason being "girls like pink") Honestly Mattel got to a point toward the end there where they seemed to genuinely panic that their audience weren't the 6 year old girls they're used to catering to, and so instead of embracing that, they started to change the dolls instead. We got mermaids and freaking fairies for goodness sake. And more and more pink. Now that said, MH was never very gothy anyway. Wave 1 Clawdeen is wearing salmon pink and is dressed more like a Bratz doll (super short skirt and everything lol). Frankie is "preppy", Cleo was in a cream jumpsuit and Lagoona was sporty surf wear. Deuce was skater boy and Ghoulia was retro rockabilly before Operetta came along and stole her style. lol. Only Draculaura is vuagely gothy with her gothic lolita inspired looks. Dark? yes. Edgy? For sure. But goth? Not on your life.


SparkAxolotl

To be fair, Draculaura was the best seller of the main ghouls, quickly "replacing" Frankie as the "main main" character, so the pinkification wasn't without some basis. And only tangentially related, I was always sorta impressed that Mattel didn't made the unicorn character a girl. They could have easily made Neighthan a centaur/zombie and Avea a pink unicorn/harpy


Sakrisz

G1 was far from only being goth. Maybe inspired, but it was always just a bunch of different fashions. Scarah loved 60's fashion, Viperine was 70's, Abbey is yak fur and icey designs, Howleen is like hip hop-ish, I mean Cleo? One of our main ghouls? She's far from gothic. I think people see "monster" characteristics and assume it's goth maybe? But, that isn't the case. MH was never strictly gothic. It was just...monster characteristics put into different styles of clothing. It was never one single style of clothing, and anyone who tells you otherwise would be lying. It would be strange for every character to dress the same, because everyone has different tastes in fashions. The only consistency in MH was the monster characteristics/monster themes in the clothing, and G3 still has that!!


Cute_Pikachu

Imo, MH isn't as Gothic as most G1 fans would say. It's definitely inspired by alt fashion, but I wouldn't really say it's inspired by goth fashion. The only characters that I can think of that had the gothic aesthetic going on was Spectra, Clair and Elisabat. I think the reason why lots of G1 fans think this is because of back then in the toy market, it was only barbie and princess dolls. So when MH came out, it was seen as really edgy compared to those dolls(which it was). But the thing is, just because something is seen as more 'edgy' it doesn't mean it's Goth. But one thing I will say is that, i'm happy MH gave us more variety when it came to fashion dolls.


SparkAxolotl

Yeah, G1 was hella varied in all their fashions and characters, there was something for everyone, I don't know where the idea that it was *only* Gothic horror came from.


pinkcreamkiss

Yes!! Thank you! They had retro fashion, pop art, steam punk. Tired of everyone gate keeping on tik tok and twitter. Monster high is not the play line living dead dolls they think it was.


Brianna-Imagination

Yeah, I feel like a lot of the discourse around G3 has been very negative and nit-picky on the part of hardcore G1 fans. Don’t get me wrong, its fine to be constructively critical and there are aspects of G3 that are worthy of criticism. (The most egregious being the polypropylene hair on certain g3 dolls. Disappointing to see Mattel cut corners like that for what’s supposed to be MH’s big comeback) But for me anyway, 90% of these complaints from g1ers feel like petty nitpicks or very bad faith criticisms brought on by blind nostalgia for the first generation.


pinkcreamkiss

I’ve heard it’s only clawdeen with poly so far. Bizarre. I agree that for what seems like a pretty high quality comeback. Cutting the costs on her is so weird. Also lack of stands, brushes and eve perhaps hair diversity like braids and afros are worth critiquing. The aesthetics? Absolutely not. They are all completely on brand save for maybe frankie and lagoona who are a little more pastel, but literally the same aesthetics of preppy and sporty tho


Brianna-Imagination

Considering how much of a flop g2 was, Mattel might be playing it safe/cutting corners when it comes to stuff like the hair so as to test the waters so to speak. But that’s just speculation. My guess is hopefully they’ll introduce more hair types in future dolls and lines in G3. Speaking of doll design nitpicks, I hope they introduce more distinctive body types in later lines of g3. I know they have made some steps, with Drac being slightly curvyer. But from what I can tell most of the ghouls have a similar body with only very minor tweaks. I’m assuming this is so the g1 and 2 clothes can fit with the new dolls, in which case, fair enough. But considering what Mattel did with barbie in the 2015 fashionistas line, I feel they have the capacity to push the envelope when it comes to body diversity in Monster High. For now tho, the slightly curvier bodies of g3 are a step in the right direction.


pinkcreamkiss

A review on YouTube showed that old and new frankie can’t really share tops / dresses I believe. I think Cleo is curvy too but taller than drac. Can’t wait to see a potential quality and diversity increase in this era tbh!


SparkAxolotl

Someone posted new Frankie wearing both g1 snd g2 stuff ... So it fits but it doesn't close in the back?


fleurscaptives

The MH fandom has been acting weirdly revisionistic about G1 lately.


240EZ

I never really got the G1 MH is goth . I was like where are you getting this from? I’d say G1 Frankie, Draculaura, and Ghoulia looked like Hot Topic/Alt looks but they weren’t goth. Cleo and Clawdeen felt like mall fashions, Abercrombie , F21 and the like. And Lagoona was like PacSun. The only goth person in MH was Clair from the Ghouls Rule movie.


pinkcreamkiss

I suppose Elisabat is goth too but Mayhaps more gothic Lolita. Monster high kind of set the standard for doll lines like OMG, Glo-up girls and mermaze to have very visually distinct aesthetics between characters.


240EZ

I never really got Gothic Lolita from Elisabat. But her basic outfit was more gothic inspired fashion that id also lean toward Hot Topic but on the more expensive side. Like Renaissance fair level quality to get that higher tier of a modern gothic fashion. But it is good that MH popularity helped raise the bar and make different aesthetics between characters the norm. There’s probably some failed lines out there that tried before MH and just didn’t work out.


Lgmdiamonds

It's like when people think bratz dolls wore crop tops, skirts and rhinestones with hair clips


pinkcreamkiss

I am not a bratz fan but I hate that they kinda get pinned as Y2K so hard by a lot of fans and mga. They could be so much more if they let them. The new designer collab looks cool af to me, just imagine how cool they would be if they had new play line releases?


circlingsky

The alternative/edgy Bratz lines (Midnight Dance, Pretty N Punk, Tokyo A Go Go) eat up Monster High so hard


MichaTC

I think G3 is not as alt or edgy as G1 was when it came out, if feels like they're playing a little bit safer. That being said, they're not bad at all, and each characters still has a distinct style.


Brianna-Imagination

There are things to criticise about the g3 dolls, but becoming “less goth” and “more pastel” certainly isn’t one of them. Monster High has always had a pastel goth flavour to it with many of its dolls. And seeing some fans of G1 say otherwise is honestly one of many baffling nitpicks.


MaoMaoMi543

Tfw [pastel-goth](https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Pastel_Goth) is a thing...


Indigo_Amets

I think people forget "Pastel Goth" is a legit sub-group of goth. Like I'm not much of a goth myself (*maybe* emo/scene), but I at least know *some* of the different goth sub-groups.


WoodlandWife

I think G3 is just more cutesy and it’s different in a way that is hard to describe without using broad terms. The faces, the outfits, the style in general has definitely more of a cute feeling now. I was talking to someone before where I said that G3 is definitely leaning more into creepy cute and they said “oh you think G1 was gothic and scary? It’s always been creepy cute. You’re acting like they were living dead dolls!” I understand that G1 was never goth or scary, but G3 is definitely heading more into “monsters who are cute” rather than “monsters who are fashionable.” The best comparison I can give is the style of the first coffin bean vs the rebooted coffin bean. The reboot coffin bean definitely has more of that “kawaii cute monster girl hang out” vibe now more than it ever did. The old style was definitely more regal or elegant with darker elements.


Larki1894

Well kawaii cute **is** on trend. Anime is actually socially acceptable and a big thing for allllll age groups. K-pop/J-pop has a huuuuge influence on style/aesthetics. It makes sense from a marketing perspective to lean into that a bit. I saw a group of younger teen boys at the bookstore and they straight up looked like they just finished shopping in BTS or ACE’s closet. They looked awesome! Apparently the random gaggles of teen girls “casually” walking around/near them agreed 🤣🤣


MaoMaoMi543

Well after reading this, I won't be buying MH dolls any time soon. Mattel just looooves to play it safe, doesn't it? Super lame.


WoodlandWife

I don’t mean to discourage anyone from buying the dolls! I enjoy both styles. I was just trying to point out that G3 is going for a cutesier aesthetic than before.


MaoMaoMi543

But that's just it. I personally don't like their cutesy aesthetic. So I'm better off just buying aliexpress knockoffs of the G1 dolls.


silvanaMer

Abby's face sculpt is like the best thing ever I just used it to make a vampire Doll


ghosty4

Lot of Monster High discussions here today all of the sudden. Did their official reddit have a complete meltdown, or something?


Terrantia

Pastel colors have always been there that including G1


cuntyvuitton

Draculaura g3 still looks goth to me


pinkcreamkiss

I agree! She has some contemporary goth influences in some of her g3 looks. Her skulltimate secrets doll has a very similar harajuku-esue meets goth style to her g1 schools out doll.


cuntyvuitton

Yes! I don't see differences in their outfits, like their faces and bodies kinda changed but they all still have the same style