GreenLand🌟.

So, I am not really the right person (I look like a walking, talking Elmer’s glue bottle) to completely break down the white washing issue that this comic series has, but I thought it should be brought up since it didn’t feel right to just ignore it. If I’m totally off base on something, please let me know so I can edit this and learn from it. :)

But first, some history (cause I can’t help but go down rabbit holes with Monster High). Not excusing this rendition of Spelldon, but Mattel has had issues with how they’ve portrayed black characters before, including in Monster High.

I’m going to try and narrow this topic to just where Mattel white washed black characters (so Clawd’s VERY dog like behavior in the CGI specials, Clawdeen’s previously happy family being messed with in G2 and the IDW comics -her mom being a single mother in the G2 movies and her parents being unhappy and divorced in the IDW MH comics, the use of Jane Boolittle’s “witch doctor” themes, and Hoodude Voodoo’s incorrect “voodoo” stereotypes won’t be covered here. Just know that they have varying levels of side eye).

This also isn’t a dismissal of what Monster High has done right (such as Honey’s afro, Kala Mar’ri curvier body, and the great addition of the Wolf siblings having different shades of skin color to represent black families where siblings also have differing shades). I feel Monster High has helped to further diversity in the doll world. This is just to show that white washing is still a problem that Mattel STILL struggles with.

Okay, now with those disclaimers out of the way. Several character’s doll’s stock photos being lit so that they look like they have lighter skin. Cleo’s G1 stock photos are what comes to mind the most here.

Nefera’s Boo York and G2’s release has lighter skin than her original doll’s (her newest release has darker skin though)

Image from RD_Erde on Reddit

(this one is a bit more complicated due to her Signature/Core doll’s plastic mix being too brittle to keep using it on later dolls and her Boo York’s plastic had glitter mixed in that made it look lighter.

Catty’s doll in this line also had lighter skin for the same reason).

G1’s original run had Clawdeen be the only doll in TWO lines whose skin color changed, while the rest of the ghouls’ stayed the same: grey in her Freak du Chic release and dark purple in the Great Scarrier Reef release. I think both are lovely dolls (I mean, Clawdeen’s dolls rarely ever miss), but it is VERY strange that she was the only one whose skin color changed in both lines.

but all the dolls from this wave were canceled and were made into fashion packs instead (she still has an afro in her character art on the fashion pack).

She was also never released with any natural hair styles in G1 (just wavy and straight). Ghoul’s Rule and her stock photos of her Music Festival were the closest we ever got to Clawdeen have naturally curly hair.

Howleen’s had tightly curled hair in her Core/Campus Stroll doll and a looser curl in her Dance Class release but her next five dolls all have either straight or wavy hair (her Ghoul Fair doll had less curly hair in person).

(image by karryrut)

Clawd only had curly hair in his first release (and much later on in his Howliday Love 2-Pack during the G1 revival), but had straight hair in his next three releases, and his last original G1 release (Scarnival) having fully flocked hair. His canceled Scream Uniform doll also had a full afro of larger curls and waves.

G1 Catty (I believe her G1 character is considered black) also never received textured hair.

Casta Fierce is based off of Beyonce’s Sasha Fierce stage persona, and I believe (again, I could be incorrect) is confirmed to be half Greek. She has fairly ambiguous facial features (her nose is a bit larger and more bulbous than the average G1 doll, and even has a nose bridge bump, but her lips are a thin – my own Casta doll has under filled lips). If it wasn’t for her Beyonce allusion, she’d be very white passing.

She received four new G2-only siblings in G2, and only one had curly hair, the rest had straight hair. I would be remiss to not mention how her new siblings were a lot more animalistic looking too (the younger they were, the more wolf features they had). I am not necessarily against some new Monster High werewolf lore, but this would have looked less “yikes,’ if other were-characters (like G2’s Silvi) were shown to also have siblings with more animalistic features.

It could be argued that all the “younger siblings” in this line looked less “human,” but it’s arguable. Lagoona is amphibious and her new G2 sibling, Ebbie, has a tail (like how tadpoles do before becoming frogs), Cleo’s new “siblings” do have more mummy wraps, and Draculaura’s new “sibling” Fangelica also had larger bat ears and wings (but, I assumed that she was a different kind of vampire, like Batsy).

G2 Howleen also did not get natural hair (but G2 Clawd did).

Kelpie Blue had very curly hair in her stock photos, but it was much less curly on her dolls on store shelves (there is a popular fanon theory that Lagoona’s family is either partially or fully aboriginal Australians -she did get a fully tight coiled haired version in the Minster Exchange line, that is more than what Clawdeen received, thus her inclusion here).

G3 is the newest generation and has been trying to work against some of the stereotypes of previous generations.

However, no play line dolls (besides Venus who has had twists, partial braids, curly hair and sculpted cornrows) have had FULLY textured hair (although, both Venus and Clawdeen’s dolls do include some hair styling/care and both dolls and Catty have styled baby hairs) as of writing this.

Only Catty’s more expensive Fang Vote doll received a full head of braids.

Clawdeen’s Core Refresh Wave 2 prototype was going to have some braids as was her House of Wolf doll’s prototype (IF I remember correctly, as I can’t seem to find her leaked protype pictures anymore). Clawdeen’s Skulltimate Secrets Wave 4 had some braids, her Skulltimate Secrets Wave 1 had crimped hair, her Skulltimate Secrets Wave 6 has tightly curled hair, her Buried Secrets Wave 1 and Wave 4 also have curlier hair and all of these examples I just listed have POLY hair.

Lightly related, Clawdeen was supposed to be more focused on (at least in the Nickelodeon show) in this generation, but has yet to really receive the most amount of focus.

Out of the main ghouls, she is the character who has the most amount poly haired dolls. Her and Cleo’s first releases were also the only dolls in the G3 launch to have poly hair (the polypropylene hair fiber disintegrates after a decade or so and isn’t as high quality as other doll hair fibers). 

I will point out the Mattel has access to not only pre-braided hair, pre-twisted hair, and has used an extremely kinky hair texture on their Barbies, but has also used pre-curled hair (tighter coils like Honey Swamp or looser curls like Howleen – doll hair sellers seem to sell a lot of the latter) in the past too, and yet they rarely use them.

Okay, now onto how Mattel has handled their comics (I swear I am almost to the end of this):

White washing in the Monster High comics is nothing new (again not excusing the newest comic – I’m just saying this isn’t new), and here is a small history of what I’ve found in previous comics.

Slight aside, I want to state: PLEASE DO NOT SEND HATE TO THESE ARTISTS. We don’t know the whole story on their art “choices” and dog pilling an artist who probably, well, hopefully didn’t have any malicious intent (hopefully, just lack of talent and practice in drawing nonwhite features) is not going to help anything. Some of these examples are also years old and hopefully the artist has only improved. Contact Mattel directly with your issues. They have been the final say on such matters, they hired these artists and let these examples skid on by.  

We are actually going to rewind back to 2014’s “Gory Gazette” comic. Josh Howard’s artwork in this comic has most of the ghouls all having nearly identical facial features (however, there are some panels where Clawdeen has more of a rounded small nose vs a pointed small nose like the rest of the ghouls here). Clawd does have a larger nose than the other mansters (yay).

The next instance is in the 2024 “Pride Comic’s Summer Fangout” story. I’ve already done a full review on this comic and how this artist’s art didn’t always work for me personally. Siobhan Keenan has done LOVELY work on her Instagram, but it just didn’t transfer well to IDW’s Monster High (maybe she had a really bad time crunch or comic work isn’t where she thrives). They don’t capture any of the character’s noses correctly (not even Toralei’s cat nose) and both Clawdeen and Clawd are both drawn with highly pointed, small noses at many points in this issue (Clawd’s is the worst). However, in some panels, Clawdeen does seem to have her broader nose (although it changes in every panel…every character really changes from panel to panel…).   

Clawd is also lacking his thicker lips (his lower lip is hinted at in two panels though).

Keenan comes back in Issue 5 of Monster High’s New Scaremester and once again seems to forget all of Clawd’s facial features (thinner eyebrows, no lips, thin nose). Clawdeen’s nose is drawn better here except in profile drawings (then it turns VERY pointed).

In Issue 6, Keenen continues to draw Clawdeen’s features alright (there are a few panels it is not), but no one else in her family is drawn with black features. NO ONE.

Keenen once again returns to draw Clawdeen with a very pointy side profile nose in the 2025 Pride Comic “Math Camp” story.

2024’s Monster High “Halloween Special” (I’ve also already done a full in-depth breakdown of this comic) also white washes Clawd’s features (he doesn’t have any black features and the colorist: Desolina Griego, colored Clawd a bit lighter than his sister). Again, I actually really like the more sketchy artwork of this Puerto Rican artist: Naomi Franq, in this comic (and going through it for my review really made me like this special issue), but she did not give Clawdeen her broader nose consistently in this comic (it changes from panel to panel). But, Clawdeen was given more black features on the cover she drew.

Celia Lowenthal drew Cover A for the same special Halloween issue and Clawdeen has a very small upturned nose here.

2025’s Monster High New Scaremester Issue 2’s Cover A, illustrated by Vietnamese-American artist Cathy Le. She is another talented artist, but Clawd and Spelldon are both drawn with very European facial features (he does have some nicely tightly curled hair though). Spelldon might have lightly broader nose arch, but not by much.

2025’s Monster High House Haunter’s series has a series of B Covers drawn by Indonesian artist, Eileen Widjaja, including drawing Clawdeen for Issue 1. She is drawn with a thinner nose here.

Welp, Widjaja returns to draw Boomuda Triangle Issue 1 (and I believe all five of the planned issues) and this is where the white washing Spelldon comes in (finally getting to it three thousand words later). I liked Widjaja’s artwork in this comic a lot, but Spelldon’s features are not the same black features he’s had in several other comics.