An unorganized rant about monster high, generation three,
This is mostly about character powers.
Monster high G1 has never had any solid or concrete lore. The main premise has always been, the fashionable teenage children of the universal monsters. It also includes a lot of superstition type characters, and characters from Greek mythology. From what I remember the parents didn't play a big role in generation ones main content. Maybe Dracula and Cleo's father the mummy. Monster high also established that there's pretty much an alternative universe where things are monster pun variants of the real world. Most characters are presumed to be immortal-ish, or they live very long lives. They don't get into how age works and they expect viewers to suspend their disbelief for alot of things. they use your base knowledge of these famous monsters, but they don't really expand on them that much. The stories are more dramatic and don't involve much much lore building. Since they established the monster world as a parody of the real world, it gives the ghouls more places to go, and they don't have to be tied to actual prominent locations present in the media they reference. (For instance deuce won't need to go to Hesperides or Greece and Frankie doesn't have to the Bavarian alps or something idk, does that make sense?đ Draculaura doesn't need to visit Transylvania). The movies also showcase alot of different characters and locations. It makes the monster world feel more alive. What also helps is the illusion of other schools. I often see monster high as a public school, and things like the werewolf school, and vampire schools feel like private schools. I think it helps convey monster highs messaging of being unique. Good allegories for anti racism, anti homophobia, anti ablism. Since you see how the outside world looks compared MH.
Monster high Generation 3 is striving to have more lore and world/character building. Characters now have abilities that tie into their origins. Frankie stein has electric powers, and they can exchange their body parts for helpful tools. Clawdeen has super speed, strength, smell, and hearing. Draculaura has hypnosis (it's a vampire trait I believe), transformation into a bat, and she has literal magic spells. Almost every character has a new ability that links to their monster origins. I think this is a cool concept, I'm always down for a more monstrous approach, but for some characters it feels very gimmicky and not realistic for the setting. -lets take cleo- she is a mummy monster, and mummies often get some organs removed when they are getting mummified. Cleo has nearly all of her internal organs removed. And not only that, she keeps them on her 24/7. Typically mummies only have their stomach,lung, and liver taken out. And maybe their intestines. And they're put in jars and held within the tomb. Cleo keeps her organs on her 24/7 because she literally cannot live without them, which in my opinion defeats the purpose of her being an undead mummy. The organs are used as plot devices to cause conflict in some episodes. Oh no Cleos inner ear, conveniently rolls away so she loses balance and trips and falls and almost gets caught by humans!! Oh no Cleos heart needs to be given up for this special necklace! But she will be rendered emotionless đ«đ«!! There's never really any advantage to her having all of her organs removed, even though she is proud of it. It's not something that I think adds to her character and I think she would be the same without it. (Maybe if it was a fun fact in the BG they could be cute, but for plot purposes it seems weak). Characters like heath, Abby and Lagoona now have elemental powers. Abby and Heath had them In G1, but it was more of a byproduct of their monster types. Not necessarily something they used super actively. Abby was a yeti first, before she was an ice element. Now I'm G3 I'm willing to argue that she's more of a snow man than she is a yeti. While she lives in the Himalayan mountains, she wears no fur or yeti looking attire. Her outfit consists of snow patterned pants and a snow T-shirt, matching her ice earrings and ice...sandals???? I would understand, shes an ice monster, so she doesn't get that affected by the cold temperatures. Therefore she doesn't need to wear big fur coats... But they don't explain it like that at all. Her mother still sports a white fur look while abby is more purplish. It's a tad nitpicky, but she just doesn't come across as a yeti to me. She's an ice element. Lagoona is the same way. Her looks have already convinced me that she's a sea creature, I don't think she needs to have water bending powers. Deuce also irks me with his powers. If you see his eyeballs, you will turn to stone. So he is supposed to be wearing sunglasses to cover up his eyes, except in this generation, his sunglasses are literally just tinted glasses. If that. You can see his eyes clearly. But they still treat his powers the same. So it's just silly to me but when characters are like "oh no his eyes are showing!!! Put his sunglasses on!!! And he puts them on, and you still see his eyes đ. I have not the slightest clue as to why they designed them this way.
Since the characters now have fancy special powers, the writers often have to include them into every episode. So the episodes often feel bloated with unnecessary conflicts and shenanigans that don't further the plot in most cases. I feel like it takes away from the actual overarching story they are trying to tell. High stake events like clawdeen figuring out things about her mother, are often drowned out and fall flat because compared to every other episode it's nothing crazy. They just got done surviving an attack from a giant plant monster and the whole school almost being destroyed or something, clawdeen learning information about her mother is often pushed to the side. This made it hard to believe how serious her mothers disappearance was. This phenomenon happens with every character. One episode draculaura is freely using magic the next it's super high stakes about her being expelled, just to have the episode after that feature magic again with no remorse đ. With the constant shenanigans, magic is the least of the schools worries at this point. They also have midterms, which is something to hone in on certain characters powers and abilities, but thereâs no build up to midterms. It just happens one episode. I wish we got to see the characters struggle throughout the season, maybe clawdeen especially. If they have to have her human form, let her transformation be unstable for a few episodes, maybe the moon tailsmen doesnât really enhance her powers unless used correctly, so she has to actually learn and adapt to these new werewolf powers. Instead sheâs just the BEST werewolf and thereâs no doubt she will win any battle. Her human form isnât something that puts her at a disadvantage at all.
I believe Frankie is probably the most conveniently used character during the whole season. Frankie is pretty much cogsworth from fallout. They have just the right tool for the right time. I used to think Frankie having different people in their head was cool, but the more itâs used the more Iâm like âdoesnât Frankie get tired of this?â Every episode Frankie is going to electric shock themselves or their friends, theyâre going to need to tear themselves apart to save someone, theyâre going to literally break apart at other points. It looks like it would get exhausting. If I remember correctly, G1 Frankie only really lost her hands and maybe a leg on specific occasions, but it wasnât something she did willingly often. Sometimes she would remove her hands to help others. Also I donât remember her having many electric shock moments, not ones that she wanted to happen anyways. You could make a shallow argument that in G1 her hands falling off and electricity issues were more of a (disability), where in G3 itâs an asset to Frankieâs character, one that I just canât suspend my disbelief to be like âyeah they totally arenât bothered by this 24/7â. In my opinion it would make more sense if Frankie was just a robot in this generation. They hardly feel like a franken monster anymore.
Draculaura and her infamous witch powersâŠit just feels like a strange writing decision in my opinion. I think they couldnât think of some vampire powers, so she matches with everyone else, so they made her a witch so she can do spells. And Iâll assume they made it forbidden for maybe a sense of taboo, but it just doesnât make sense at all. She practically does witchcraft out in the open multiple times, and no one ever cares. And her spells are never anything that I think are too spectacular, casual levitating spell when needed, convenient teleporting spell. It doesnât add to her character at all. Maybe I have G1 brain rot, but I liked her forbidden romance in G1. It was simple and cute. And her character was such a sweetheart and a cutie pie. She doesnât need enhanced vampire powers because her actual personality speaks for itself. In G3 draculaura is defined by everything around her, but whatâs her actual personality without those things?
Overall I kind of miss the casual approach to the characters abilities in G1. I like the idea of them in G3, but the execution just doesnât land in my opinion. The constant fight scenes drag the episodes, paired with the rushed heavy handed messaging and you have very little character development.
gummygunk
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