History Headscratchers / Goosebumps

* This is a small thing but it always bothered me: How come even though Mindy clearly [[AmbiguousDisorder some mental issues]], her parents don't seem to notice or give her any treatment for it (that we know)? Said parents aren't portrayed as abusive or neglectful in any way, so I don't get it.

** I would think SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome can excuse this, at least. What would the mom or neighbors think if they saw some teenage boy randomly stalking the house with two young girls?

* The shopkeeper tells Carly Beth that the Haunted Mask [[spoiler: can only be removed once]]. Early in the story, Carly Beth puts on the mask and has to pry it off of her face. Doesn't that mean that the mask [[spoiler: shouldn't come off at the end of the book]]?

* How the hell did the fact that every single character [[spoiler: bar the invisible one]] is naked, gelatinous, multi-limbed, multi-eyed (More than two, I mean), and tentacled not come up in the story before the reveal? They explicitly have a footrace, and that didn't become noticeably different one time!

* When Jimmy O'James puts the curse on him and tells Slappy that the only way out is he has to do three good deeds in a week or go to sleep forever (which, for Slappy, is equivalent to a death sentence), the exact phrasing is, "You have to do three good deeds - and ''no'' evil. If you don't do three good deeds in a week, you will fall asleep and never come to life again." It was made VERY clear that he can't do any evil deeds. No evil. None. So later in the book, Slappy [[spoiler: attempts to murder a girl, because he thinks she's standing between him and his life.]] What was the repercussion for it? Sure, he never got to actually ''do it'', but the fact that he thought about it, planned it, and would have done it if some contrived thing didn't stop him doesn't trigger the curse? Or would that have only been the result if he succeeded?

* The Purple Rage decides to help Robby [[spoiler: find his brother, Sam, who was kidnapped by Dr. Maniac]]. The Purple Rage's plan is the following:
** Step #1 - Feed [[spoiler: Robby]] to scorpions.
** Step #2 - If [[spoiler: Sam]] sees [[spoiler: Robby]] in danger, he will choose to escape so that he can rescue [[spoiler: Robby]]... Somehow...

*** That leaves Robby as the odd man out. His story was all just [[spoiler: a webcomic and the only weird thing that happened was Dr. Maniac randomly appearing on his computer at the tail end]]

Oh, where do I begin with this book?

* The scene with Slappy and the hedge clippers. There was a garbage man nearby who didn't notice [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight the kids screaming and running from the possessed dummy wielding a dangerous weapon]]. [[spoiler: Or the fact that the kids threw said dummy into his garbage truck to try to get rid of him]].
* The New Year's Eve party. [[spoiler: Slappy crashes the party (in a basement, with a lot of paint cans against one wall, which contributes to the mess...) and a lot of kids step in to stop him. And NO ONE thinks to get the parents and show that they aren't responsible for this mess while Slappy's still up and walking? Or even to get a video of a living dummy up and about, since this book takes place in modern-day when a lot of kids have cell phones?]]
* The ending. [[spoiler: Ray reads the words that brought Slappy to life again to put him back to sleep]]. In the third book, this didn't work, and Slappy actually ''laughed in his owners' faces'' when they tried it. Aside from "new series, new continuity", why does this work now? This is especially frustrating when the ''Night of the Living Dummy'' books in both the original series and the 2000 books shared some semblance of continuity, despite being different series.
** Also on this note, in the show, [[spoiler: the words mean, "You and I are one now."]] Which makes even ''less'' sense that this works.

The whole book runs on everyone but Slappy holding the IdiotBall!

** Michael ''himself'' triggered the reversal of time, so chances are the cuckoo clock's effects allow the one responsible to be aware while no one else is. And of course, being the only one who notices a problem they ([[JustForPun until the 11th hour]]) seemingly cannot fix adds tension and horror.

* How exactly was Martin Manse able to steal Audra's body? I mean, wouldn't Spenser have seen this happen? And how did Audra end up beneath the willow tree from the double tombstone?

** In the same vein: Why doesn't her SuperOCD or whatever ever become relevant to the plot at all? You'd think it could work as a ChekovsSkill type thing (such as the gnomes moving random items around in the house to mess with the characters, and only Mindy noticing, and this whole thing being how they are found out to be alive.) Instead, it's just a pointless detail.

* This is already mentioned under it IdiotPlot on YMMV but: why don't the kids tell their parents about Vanessa, considering they are ''growing feathers'' and have other visible deformities? Even if the parents don't believe them that it's a curse cast by a witch, the vast majority of people's response to finding out their kids are growing feathers and other bird parts are going to be to go "what the hell is this?" and seek help right away, not just brush it off like it's nothing.