Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Extra Shadows

These goth gals are just secondary characters in cartoons. Most of them are classmates or family members. But these goths are portrayed like they were the stereotypes, to add to the sitcom humor of the show.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.... ♫

The Hex Girls is a fictitious gothic rock band in the  latest Scooby Doo movies like Scooby Doo and the Witch’s Curse and Scooby Doo and the Legend of the Vampire. They appeared again in a series episode, The Vampire Strikes Back. The one with the pigtails is Dusk. She’s the drummer and the rebel of the band. In the middle is Thorn, their leader. She’s the guitarist and she’s part Wiccan. Then, there’s Luna, the keyboardist. Her father is a dentist so they have those genuine fangs. Their songs are pretty original and cool, I think. It’s about time there’s someone goth in a cartoon full of ghosts and mysteries.

M.O.M. from Martin Mystery. Her name stands for Mystery Organization Manager. She’s the director of The Center, a secret organization that protects the world from the paranormal and extraterrestrial. She looks goth with her Zelda hairdo and purple make-up, but for her, white is the new black. She has a dry sense of humor (totally serious but she usually bottles up her anger), but one time she was described as a “real party animal.” She kicks serious alien butt, does experiments on monsters and engages on the secrets of the other world – much like the profession some paranormal enthusiasts would want, but can’t.

Nebula from 6teen. Her real name was Starr, who became Jude’s girlfriend. Before she became a hard-core goth, Starr loves skateboarding, being a vegan, yoga, poetry, and New Age. Come to think of it, these things are also loved by some goths. Anyway, in the episode Light’s Out, Jude was totally shocked to find Starr turned into Nebula, “dark and fathomless”. She had gone goth because her eyes were opened and saw the world, “It’s not pretty.” This is the first episode I watched and it’s really sweet because Jude also turned into a goth to please his girlfriend. Nebula belonged to a group of four other goths. One guy works in a soft ice-cream shop. They’re always putting irony on goth stereotypes.

Vanessa Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb. She’s the daughter of the mad scientist, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, who is one of the funniest villains I’ve encountered, ever. He assumes that his daughter is also evil because she’s a goth. Actually, Vanessa’s first evil deed was to steal a Mary McGuffin doll. Her attitude is typically goth, cynical. But, like Candace, she wants to prove to her mom (divorced) that her dad is an evil scientist, but she also fails. She has a crush on a boy named Johnny, typical psycho name. At first, I didn’t expect that Vanessa’s goth, just some biker chic with her leather get-up and her face isn’t really that goth. But they called her goth in the show, so there. There’s an episode where Dr. Doofenshmirtz created a ray to turn anything ugly. It pointed to a concert. Everyone in the audience, plus the band, turned into metalheads.

Raven McFadden from Growing Up Creepie. She first appeared in the episode Goth to Have Better Friends, along with two goth guys, Misery and Morpheus (can’t they come up with other goth names?!) She first noticed Creepie because of her gothic fashion and invited her to their gang. Of course, Creepie enjoyed their gloomy montage. Raven and the others are avid fans of the fictitious band “The Hissing Roaches” who are real cockroaches living in Creepie’s basement. The goth gang appeared again in Going to Brogue. They actually have a rock band named “Plaid Vapors” that has a bagpiper. Raven’s the guitarist but the haunted bagpipes belonged to her great great great great great grandfather, Angus. I just love her catch phrase: gruesomely awesome.

Creepy Susie from The Oblongs. She first appeared in a book entitled Creepy Susie and 13 Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children. Her complete name is Susane Marcheline Rachelle Garnier. She’s one of Milo Oblong’s friends, the Clubhouse Kids. She speaks about the worst ways to die and her murderous deeds, in a French accent. She floats around, instead of walking, plus, her feet were never seen. She’s also a pyromaniac. I haven’t watched any episode of The Oblongs, but when I watched clips about Creepy Susie in Youtube, I…like…her. She’s a true goth. Totally, especially with that French accent. And so, I watched all The Oblongs episodes. Too bad they were short-lived.
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Kara from American Dragon: Jake Long. She and her twin sister, Sara, are oracles. So, you might think Kara, the goth one, would predict the bad future. But actually it's the other way around. Sara predicts the bad future, but she's still the optimist because she  constantly tries to see the bright side of everything. As for Kara, she predicts the good future but she's the pessimist because her power spoils life's good moments for her. And besides if everything is bright and good, you might get sick of it. In season 1, they look alike with different outfits and shade of red hair. But this picture of Kara is from season 2 where Sara is blonde. I like the character designs better in season 1.

Mirta from Winx. She stood out quite prominently from the other witches of Cloud Tower. She can produce pictures from emotions. Her sweet and shy nature made her a target of ridicule and scorn there, except for her roommate and childhood friend, Lucy. Mirta doesn't think the fairies are bad and even attempts to help Bloom on one occasion. At the end of Season One, she transfers to Alfea College, where it is unclear whether she is truly fairy or witch, as she grows wings, but tends to revert to dark magic. It's so good to see a true fairy goth.

Bleak Molly from Fish Hooks. This show is really great in parodying the stereotypical high school life. There's a goth fish group of course. They're usually in the background, as in always in the back and shadows of the class. There's Razor V. Doom, their leader (has an awesome morbid voice), Stabbo (who's always seen and mistaken for an emo), the third goth guy (looks like an octo-punk) and Bleak Molly (the second goth to have a speaking role). The goths made a major role in The Dark Side of the Fish. Because Oscar's poetry was morbid and hates bunnies, Razor invited him in their group but Oscar's geeky and lovable side still shows even he had gone goth. As for Bleak Molly, her poem was about rainbows. "Dear rainbows, please hang up and try your call again for I am busy."
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Chloe Crashman from Carl². She’s the sister of the main character, Carl. Like other teenaged goth, she ignores her family and goes out to party in the cemetery. But she has a love-hate relationship with her brother. She’s called the “Damsel of Darkness” but ironically, her boyfriend Damien is afraid of the dark, but he’s still goth. I haven’t watched this cartoon yet. It’s about a teen named Carl having a clone do his stupid errands at school and home. I don’t know if Chloe knows about Carl’s clone. Just let me know, ‘kay? Oh yeah, Chloe changed her looks season to season. That’s cool because it’s really rare to see most cartoon characters change their looks.

Ophelia Ramirez from The Life and Times of Juniper Lee. With a world of monsters, a goth is there. She’s one of June’s best friends. Ophelia is the total opposite of Jody, the peppy other best friend. If Creepy Susie is French, well Ophelia is Mexican and speaks fluent Spanish, but not in most episodes. But Ophelia is more of a punk or an ill-tempered goth. One friend, the dorky Roger, has a crush on her. She acts like a bully to her friends, but she still cherishes them, “Keep your stupid friends closer.” She’s like Mandy, except Ophelia smiles sometimes.

Serena from Downtown. She's the love interest of the shy and geeky Alex. According to Jen, it's another of his hopeless goth girl fixations. Serena's exotic goth style is off-putting at first, but she's actually a very likable, positive person. She works at Starbase 12, a comic book store, with Matt. Creatively unfocused, she writes poetry, designs clothes, makes jewelry, and plays the zither. Serena has dated a string of junkies, posers, and manic-depressives. She claims she's ready to meet a "nice guy", but she rarely notices them when they are around.

Poppy from Lola and Virginia. She’s one of Lola’s best friends and the brawn who could foil Virginia’s nasty plans. She’s an extreme skater girl and a bit of a tomboy. She’s punk, but I regard her as goth, too, compared to the other characters. Besides, haven’t you noticed? Poppy wears a skull shirt and a spiked collar. The goth gals above have skull shirts and spiked collars. They always do in cartoons.

Debbie Hyman from American Dad!. She’s Steve Smith’s girlfriend. She’s the first goth I’ve seen who’s fat. “Life is a banquet…Death is dessert.” She first appeared in the episode The American Dad After School Special. They first met in the  dark air vents when Steve was hiding from gym class. Debbie was there because she wanted to look down on everybody like ants.  Then, they dated in a cemetery. She wasn’t much accepted by Steve’s parents, but she won his father’s liking because she was a gun enthusiast. She even gave Stan a stuffed squirrel with a pencil sharpener on its eye socket. There are episodes that Debbie broke up with Steve, but later came back again. She even ran for student council president coz the mean girls cut off the budget for dissecting baby pigs.
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2 Goth Girls from A Goofy Movie. Never expect goths in this Disney movie? Wrong. The movie is about Goofy and his teenage son, Max. It was made during the 90's, so there are a lot of stereotypical kids and music in his school, from grunge to hip-hop. While going to school, Max sang "After Today" showcasing different kinds of 90's kids. There's a scene in the school bus with cheerleaders, followed by two goth girls in the front seat, singing "No more prep rallies to cut!". They made a puking sign and shouted "blech!". In the sequel "An Extremely Goofy Movie", there's a beatnik girl who befriended Max and company. You know beatniks, black fashion and dark poetry. But still different from goth.
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Henrietta from South Park. She’s one of the Goth Kids at school, but the episode where they starred is The Ungroundables. Henrietta is the only goth gal, and the only goth whose name is known. She’s always seen smoking. She’s also overweight like Debbie. Her gloomy room is a hangout for the Goth Kids. Her mom says nice things about her, though Henrietta’s a conformist, especially towards her.
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Andrea from Daria. I love the show and the title character. Daria and her bestfriend Jane are so much like me and my bestfriend in high school. They're the social outcasts but actually the others are just out of place in their world. They share the same dark and misanthropic views and attitudes as what goths would typically show. But their style isn't goth, more of alternative rock. But there is a goth in the show and she's Andrea. She's a recurring background character but had some speaking roles. She has a darkly nihilistic personality, as evidenced by her poetry, and works a parent-enforced part-time job as a stock clerk in a local warehouse store. She finds Daria and Jane as an intimidating pair but she's surprised that they're the only ones who understand her situation
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Triana Orpheus from The Venture Bros. I’ve heard of this show but I couldn’t stay up that late to catch it in Adult Swim. Just some interesting facts I picked from Wikipedia: Triana is the daughter of Dr. Byron Orpheus (like the Doofenshmirtzes). He’s a necromancer. Yeah, a necromancer (talk about death and darkness), but he and his daughter are friends with the Venture twins. Triana is the stereotypical goth who goes to parties, drinks and smokes.

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