Monster High Cannibalizes Barbie · 6:55am Jul 20th, 2013
My research regarding the bitter rivalry between Hasbro and Mattel has become especially relevant in recent days.
I first talked about the contention between the two toy titans and Hasbro's attempts to break Mattel's monopoly on fashion dolls.
In retrospect, it was probably a mistake to include it with my June Rule34 update, since the inclusion of porn statistics deterred some people from reading it.
My remarks on the subject proved so popular, that an edited version which omitted all discussions of Rule34 was posted on Equestria Daily. I took some flack from people who thought I was just a "Hasbro shill" attempting to spin the highly-contentious Equestria Girls into something positive. I explained and defended my position why "we needed Equestria Girls" to be successful.
Hasbro has essentially drafted My Little Pony into fighting a war with Mattel. 
Twilight Sparkle and her friends have donned human skins to battle Mattel on their home turf: fashion dolls in high school. It's Equestria Girls vs Monster High.
After that, I examined Hasbro's previous attempts at a doll line to rival Mattel, as well as compare the Monster High dolls with Equestria Girls. No matter how good or bad a children's show is, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is if it increases toy sales.
I then went in-depth and examined the history of the Bratz dolls. We learned of the heated legal battle between MGA and Mattel. Bratz walked away the victors, which resulted in a rare defeat for Mattel.
I followed that up by discussing how MGA and Mattel have tried to best each other in recent years. One of the more glaring examples can be seen in MGA's Monster High imitation called Bratzillaz.
We mustn't judge the Bratz creators too harshly, though. This is just payback for Mattel coming out with the My Scene Barbie to rival the Bratz dolls.
I also discussed how Hasbro and Mattel go about designing clothes for their dolls. For a while, I was wondering why Rainbow Dash had such baggy arm sleeves. I recently figured out the reason.
In addition to being more poseable than Equestria Girls, Monster High dolls also have detachable hands.
The Monster High fashions have tight sleeves which wouldn't be able to fit over their open hands. In contrast, Equestria Girls dolls seem to be following the Barbie method of doll design. Rainbow Dash has to keep her fingers close together so her hands won't stretch out her already baggy sleeves.
As a result of having removable hands, Monster High dolls have more options for fashions.
In fact, Equestria Girls seem to have more in common with the Bratz dolls, in terms of body design.
That gets everyone caught up on all my previous blog posts about dolls.
On July 18, the Associated Press exploded with stories about Monster High, which the press has dubbed Mattel's line of "Goth Barbie" dolls. NPR broke the story of how in just three short years, Monster High has become one of the best-selling doll lines in the world; second only to Barbie. 
Since debuting in 1959 as the world's first fashion doll, Barbie has long been a lightning rod for controversy and competition.
To be sure, Barbie is still number one in the doll market, and the Barbie brand has an estimated $1.3 billion in annual sales. But Barbie's sales have slipped for four straight quarters, even while the overall doll category is up 6 percent year-to-date, according to the researcher NPD Group.
Meanwhile, Monster High, which is also made by Mattel, has become the No. 2 doll brand in just three years, with more than $500 million in annual sales, said BMO Capital Markets Gerrick Johnson.
The Huffington Post, Headline News and Forbes are just a few of the news outlets who reported on Mattel's success.
However, not all of the reviews for Monster High have been glowing. Callie Beusman wrote an article for Jezebel.com which was critical of Mattel's creepy cash cow. Her article pointed out that Monster High is the product of a perfect storm.
Pop culture icons like Lady Gaga and Glee are encouraging children to accept and celebrate their own unique perceived abnormalities or flaws. Being awkward, weird, nerdy or different is more acceptable now than ever before.
In addition to that, the success of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series and recent zombie movies have instilled in younger girls an interest for darker subject matter involving monsters.
Beusman says that while Monster High advocates embracing your flaws, this commitment is only skin deep. A look at the bios of the characters reveals Monster High's real message. "It's okay to be freaky and different, provided that you're a rail-thin, fashion-loving, boy-chasing teenager."
If Monster High was sincere about their message to embrace freaky flaws, then they wouldn't put so much emphasis on body image. For example, here's what the bios of Monster High girls have to say:
Draculaura, daughter of Dracula:
"Since I can't see myself in the mirror, I have to leave the house not knowing if my clothes and makeup are just right."
Clawdeen Wolf, daughter of The Werewolf:
"My hair is worthy of a shampoo commercial and that's just what grows on my legs. Plucking and shaving is definitely a full time job but that's a small price to pay for being scarily fabulous."
Lagoona Blue, daughter of The Sea Monster:
"My skin tends to dry out if I spend too much time out of the water so I go through a fright of moisturizer. Chlorine from the Monster High pool also has the tendency to turn my blonde hair blue."
These character bios serve to reinforce the feminine imperative to have a hairless and moisturized body, while coating your face in ample amounts of make up.
Remember in Monsters Inc, where Mike Wazowski asked for a can of "odorant?" That scene was funny, because it played on our expectations.
Compare that to Monster High, which has a webisode dealing with one of the girls getting a zit and panicking over it.
They go to a school with rotting corpses and myriads of other different monsters, so not everyone there should have the same interpretation of beauty. Frankie has staples in her face and bolts in her neck, yet she's worried others will notice her zit? I wouldn't think that anyone at Monster High would notice a pimple, much less make a big deal out of it. Rather than embracing the flaw, the girls are in full-fledged panic mode until the unsightly blemish is gone.
I'm not saying that Monster High should advocate for girls to have no standards of hygiene for the express purpose of being different. I just wish the brand could use its horror setting to lampoon certain hygiene tropes instead of reenforcing them. You have these unique creatures in a fantastic setting, yet the writers treat the scenario like it was any normal high school... only with a lot more horror-themed puns.
Here's one way to approach this story: Since Frankie Stein is new, maybe she would feel self-conscience about a zit. She could run around the school and try to hide her blemish in various comedic ways. Once her friends see Frankie's zit, she thinks her social life is over. They reassure Frankie that having a zit is no big deal and go on with their day. Frankie learns a lesson that it isn't good to obsess over small physical imperfections.
Instead, there's no voice of reason. All of Frankie's friends help her to hide, even going so far as putting a bag over her head. Is that really the message we want to send to young girls?
Then again, what do I know? Monster High must be doing something right. They didn't get to be second-best by accident.
This marks a cultural shift in girls toys. It's somewhat appropriate that Mattel's monster-themed line of girls dolls would cannibalize Barbie's sales.
You can expect to see goth styles becoming mainstream as people try to jump on the Monster High bandwagon. Bratzillaz are just the tip of the imitation iceberg. How long before we see creepy goth versions of the Equestria Girls?
Hasbro has already released a goth Pinkie Pie.
Did you ever think you'd see black skulls on a My Little Pony toy?
Some versions show Pinkie Pie with black and white streaks in her mane.
Her cutie mark is slightly different and glittery. This raises speculation as to the nature of cutie marks within the show. I think we can assume that Pinkie Pie just painted over her normal pink balloons.
You'll notice the Monster High dolls surrounding the My Little Pony toy. Pinkie Pie is undercover; deep within enemy territory.
It'll be interesting to see what else Hasbro comes up with. Maybe a creepier version of My Little Pony fashion dolls set in a spooky forest? Everfree Dolls, anyone?
I know some people are anxious for my next story update. Please bear with me, as I have a lot on my plate right now. I haven't forgotten about my stories.
These blog post take a fair amount of research to put together, but I love every minute of it. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I do writing them.
I always enjoy your blogs, Bronystories, even if it results in omitted story updates. Keep them up!
My Little Necronomicon: Cthulhu is Magic.
fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/164/0/c/cthulhu_is_magic_by_tofutiles-d3iv7ee.jpg
I'd pay to see that.
$23 for the MLP toy... OUTRRAGED!
Congratulations Mattel, you produced your own greatest competitor...
1222076
I don't think Mattel's too worried. Between Barbie and Monster High, Mattel's raking in nearly $2 billion annually.
Thanks for the feedback!
1222083
I was the editor of my high school and college papers. I minored in journalism. My major in collage was flunking math.
I would love to write for a living. Unfortunately, talk is cheap. Words are just one step above talking. Newspapers are a dying industry and no one seems to know how to make words profitable anymore.
In a world of text messages and Facebook status updates, charging people for words is as likely as finding someone willing to pay for air. We live in a society that’s come to embrace the illusion of discussion as opposed to genuine discourse. Our society values snark and brevity more than thoughtfully-constructed ideas.
More than ever, news networks are focused on entertainment news and top 10 lists as they grow ever more indistinguishable from Buzzfeed. People who write substantively about complex things are often pushed to the wayside. (I've used this rant before in a private message, but it felt appropriate to reiterate it here.)
(EDIT: Paraphrased quote comes from here.)
In spite of this depressing outlook, I have no plans to quit writing. It's what I love.
Thanks for the feedback!
1222082 Granted, I suppose that if Mattel hadn't made Monster High, that niche would have been taken by Bratz. Although Gothic Pinkie makes me... I don't even think the English language has a word for it, intrigued might be the best.
1222087
Hello, I'd like to tell you about Fiat money.
Sorry for coming off as snarky and brief, but people paying for air is quite common in this day and age.
I would buy the fuck out of gothic pie
1222089
1222093 And of course when things went sour the reaction was the same:
[youtube=SMTDQZzQMKk]
Good to see a fellow Spaceballs fan. Watched "Young Frankenstein" recently myself.
Oh my green gravy goddess, there is such a fic to be written there. Just imagine it: the six of them spearhead an honest-to-god military action against a bunch of humanoid invaders --
Um, uh, I . . . I'll be quiet.
But I would read that really really hard.
(Pinkie and Fluttershy are my top two candidates for secret SI practitioners.)
1222125
FWIW, I keep trying to write a fic about Pinkie SI'ing and one of the others (or a few of them) trying to help her stop. (One's called The Red Game, because that's what Pinkie started calling her little "activity".)
I haven't gotten far with it yet, but I am nothing if not persistent.
1222119
1222125
Pinkie Pie...
Pinkie Cry...
Pinkie Die...
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1222135
Damn it, now I'm feeling feels
Well for one, I'm happy with a Pinkamena pony, what I'm NOT happy about, is that Monster High is second only to Barbie...
1222087
That rant looks very familiar...
I'm sure I saw it on a blog not too long ago. Yes, about video game critics.
Are you quoting them, or vice versa? Or... was that you?
Edit: Oh, after extensive searching, I realized it was on Fimfiction's twitter feed.
Article Here
(Question still applies though.)
Another fascinating turn in the Doll Wars. Especially Gothie Pie. I get the feeling that Pinkie researches subcultures in order to better befriend everypony. That, or she just has a subpersonality devoted to each one.
1222071
Cthulhu eats 1d6 guardsponies each turn.
1222203
When I said I've used this rant, I should've been more clear on whose quote I was paraphrasing. Christopher Franklin's words mirror my own thoughts, with a few additions and tweaks here and there. I stumbled across his words while gathering research for this blog post.
For those so inclined, feel free to check out his other articles here.
(To answer your other question, no. I'm not Mr. Franklin.)
It's....fitting that Pinkie Pie is the pony that comes in those little black purse-things.
Another great blog, Bronystories, never been so interested in dolls in my life.
1222451
Ah, gotcha...
Too bad, I thought I'd found your secret identity. (Which, in hindsight, would probably have been a very bad thing.)
1222700
I felt really bad for initially omitting my source for the quote. Plagiarism is one of the cardinal sins of journalism.
Plagiarize!
Plagiarize!
Plagiarize!
Only be sure always to call it, please, research.
1222057 Great analysis... hehehe, Seriously tho. I like that Gothic Humanized Pinkie, I look forward to stories of her adventures if you know what I mean.
1223107
You have a video for almost everything, don't you?
In seriousness, don't feel bad - it wasn't out of malice. Mistakes happen, and you corrected yourself as soon as it was pointed out.
dude whats wrong with you? you always bash monster high . on what base can you say its lame. the webisdoes are just 2 min long. your not gonna get a moral story out of that. mlp has a show . monster high do have strong charcters too. you have to read their dairy and only then will you understand about them.. monster high is not just another girly gothic dolls its more than that. monster high teaches you that its ok to have flaws and that its ok to be different.like many say if monster high had a show no one would know about mlp. just because you don't like monsters does not mean no else does either. how would you like it is someone bashed mlp every time?
1319583
I actually spend a lot of time in these blog posts bashing MLP and the poor execution of the Equestria Girls dolls. In fact, in the next doll-related blog post, I point out how much better Monster High is than Equestria Girls.
Here are some quotes.
Read the full post here.
sorry if i came off to strong but what can you get from a wbisode that is two min long? i like mlp but to be honest eqg girls is a stereotypical show . the movie was terrible ok i get that hasbro wants girls to buy in to this . but which sane girl is going to fall for this storyline. and there is a lack of diversity giving the ppl pony colors does not make a diffrence.
1319609
Lack of diversity? There's diversity!
At least one of the background dancers is a minority!
(Seriously though, based on that video, this is the whitest high school ever.)
once again i am really sorry for being rude. you are a a great writer. the music video is a copy of monster high fright song .
1319630
Someone's ahead of the game.