Monster High Gen 3 Is Very Queer And Disabled

Yes this is going up on a non-Thursday. I wanted to get it out before season 2 pemiers, but my computer has been fighting me tooth and nail to try and make that impossible.

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[DVEGUM]

one thing i personally think is great rep is an explicitly autistic character being written to have a love interest! autistic people are often infantilized and seen as children who can’t handle romance so seeing twyla so open to the concept was such a breath of fresh air :)

[ithinkflutterawesome]

Hilariously for the witchcraft allegory it seems queerness is universally accepted in the Monster world, (no one, not even the antagonists, misgender Frankie or say anything homophobic) so it could literally be like:

Draculaura: Dad, I’m gay.
Dracula: Cool! I love you no matter what.
Draculaura: I’m also practicing witchcraft
Dracula: yOU’re wHat

[aidanthehumanmiller]

I have a theory that Finnegan can’t use manual wheelchairs because his arm fins could get caught in the wheels as they spin.

[dawnshade]

Cleo's bag of jarred organs reminds me somewhat of bags I've seen for diabetes equipment & medication which says "this is my pancreas" on it

[revanius]

Twyla and Frankie felt like two sides that I could relate to, liking my quiet time and having some trouble being social, while at the same time having trouble with volume control and enjoying social interactions. And getting actual in show confirmation of Twyla being Autistic was so surprising, which is unfortunate really that something like that is surprising, and I was bouncing in place when she said it.

[ЮлияПопова-чюх]

As a person who has stutter since I learned how to speak, I would really love some representation of characters with speech issues or smth. Wasted potential with Gholia, honestly

[KyleRayner]

Something else cool about Twyla: most of the time when characters are autistic, even when it's explicit, they're not the ones to say that. It's always a caregiver or a relative or something outing them - see "When Carl Met George" (Arthur), Julia's introductory episode in Sesame Street, etc. The conversation is always "handled" by someone else, especially in children's media, aligning with the assumptions that we can't understand/articulate our own needs, navigate a conversation about boundaries, or control who does and doesn't know personal information about us.

Her taking a deep breath and starting the conversation herself, because she needs to do so to make her needs clear but knows that this could get awkward/difficult/ableist quickly, reminds me of a dozen similar conversations I've had over the years.

[Read-alert]

Deuce gives me major aro vibes this gen with that "I can't wait to spend the most romantic night of the year with someone I'm completely platonic with" line

[koffies]

5:00 : Latino here. Granted, i am not from Honduras per se, but in the context of Latino culture as more or less a whole? Anger issues are a super prevalent thing, specially in both the context of ''Latino father only is allowed to feel Anger as it is the only MAnLY emotion and represses everything else'', or the ''Latina mother has anger issues - was only taught to shut up about her complaints, grow up and take care of the household - won't tell what you did wrong and brushes her anger off in a passive aggressive manner until she explodes and starts yelling about nothing and everything at the same time'' which eventually poisons the whole family bit by bit as the children get dragged down into the generational anger spiral (that and the bonkers stupid gender expectations placed onto the kids tends to fester a very hostile family environment, with the expectation to just suck it up until it becomes too much to bear, which generates the anger issues - which are taught by our caretakers, we are not born with them - as we are literally not taught to process any negative emotion in any healthy manner). Of course, these are not the only types of Latino anger issues or toxic family dynamics, but just what i have witnessed myself or by my friends.

It would be a bad thing if the show only showed Laguna as a ''HahA LOOk!! LAtINA iS CRAzY and ANGrY!!!'' which they don't. Laguna is learning to deal with it, and it is addressed with actual respect instead of being the butt of the joke (albeit, yes, some humor is drawn from it, it is in a more light hearted way as this is a kid's show, and i do not mind that). In fact, i do think that we do need more shows addressing anger issues and how your family situation - in the context of anger or poorly addressing of emotions - doesn't define you, that you are *allowed* to be angry and process those emotions in a healthy way. I needed that as a kid, and hell, i need it now as well. I really like it.

[Silly_Sulky_Seli]

they really should have an episode on Frankie discovering they're autistic

they could all adress so much with it, "uh but Twyla is autistic and you're nothing like her?" would be the best of it

if they want to do me a favour and make them both have both autism and adhd would be awesome (yes like me)

[kenthuang]

I find it hilarious that a Mattel property now has a character voiced by someone who uses Mattel as a last name.

[ЮлияПопова-чюх]

It would be so cool if Frankie was actually diagnosed as autistic later in the series! And they could bond with Twyla more

[ambiguoussarcasm]

As a latina (mexican), i got so annoyed at people calling Lagoona a spicy latina, because she isnt s3xualized in any way and her issues are treated with respect and seriousness, and on behalf of the fandom it felt kinda xenophobic ngl, let latin women, femmes and girls have big emotions ffs! Don't police our feelings and don't treat us like tropes when we have them, i saw that coming from a lot of gringos and non latines. Most of the LatAm community really loves her, even her launch song that got panned by English speakers was super appreciated by latin fans, its a catchy bop!
I went from not caring about Lagoona in G1 to her being in the top 3 of my favorite characters in G3!
I really resonate with her and I truly feel represented by her.

[tinkrtailr]

As an autistic kid who had a lot of anger issues as a child, I can honestly say Laguna would have been a huge help to me. I wish there had been more respresentation when I was a child.

[liesebeam]

Something I really appreciate about Twyla is even though her autism is a large part of her character they dont bring it up every time she appears onscreen. I have friends that once I told them I was autistic they felt the need to bring it up 24/7. Very nice to see twyla is a person outside of her neurodivergence.

[jacobcox]

21:02 I love how Lyra is more bird-like. A lot of modern depictions of Sirens are mermaid-like when Sirens were actually half bird half human in Greek Mythology.

[scaroe]

i think the reason Finnegan would rather use a motorized wheelchair is because of his hands. or more specifically keeping his hands safe. he is a guitar player. if he used a manual wheelchair it would increase the chances of him hurting his hands or getting them dirty and making harder to play guitar.

[OrcaBerry]

Posted one minute ago. Will update this after done watching :) love your vids

Update time: I was kinda shocked to see how plainly they said terminology like "queer" and "nonbinary" and "Autistic." It seems most shows (especially if they involve fantasy of any kind) like to imply rather than state it outright. I really appreciate that about this show, that it doesn't treat those words as taboo. Also, as a fellow Autistic, I relate strongly to how you described Twyla. Good Autistic rep is so few and far between. I haven't watched Monster High, but I'm quite interest now...

[TheMushroomStudio]

While I am technically Latino I don’t live in the average Latino household. Despite that, issues with anger and outbursts are incredibly common in my family. That’s why meeting up with family is always annoying because at least 1 argument always happens. The only person who doesn’t have issues with anger is my mom, and she actually had those issues when she was younger. She just took the steps to improve.

[AlmondNougat]

I saw this cartoon in my father's house, while my brother was watching it. My GOD, Frankie is great. Seeing them after I was started seeing myself as an agender, love it.