History Literature / Goosebumps

%% ''Literature/FriiightNight''

Later incarnations of the series included the more obscure ''Goosebumps Series 2000'' (a DarkerAndEdgier ''Goosebumps'' series that ran for 25 books), and {{Gamebook}} series ''Literature/GiveYourselfGoosebumps''. Both ended in early 2000, but the series was eventually revived in 2006 with the ''Goosebumps Graphix'' series (adapting classic books into comics), and further spinoffs were released in 2008-2012 (the twelve-book ''Literature/GoosebumpsHorrorLand'' series, a crossover between new and existing characters -- it also got a video game adaptation and was continued with a second, seven-book story arc and then the six-book ''Hall of Horrors'' mini-series), 2012-2016 (''Goosebumps Most Wanted'', featuring a mix of classic and new villains in standalone stories) and 2017-ongoing (''Goosebumps [=SlappyWorld=]'', with each book introduced by Slappy the Dummy). There were also spinoff titles compiling various short stories, such as ''Tales to Give You Goosebumps'' and ''Goosebumps Triple Header''.

%% ''Literature/FriiightNight'' (announced for July 2023)

* AssholeVictim: Quite a few jerks end up on the receiving end of the villains' actions, starting with the Beymer twins in ''Literature/MonsterBlood''.

* GenreAdultery: While primarily a horror series, several stories deviate from traditional horror conventions. Some are more sci-fi adventure (''Welcome To Camp Nightmare'', ''Attack Of The Mutant'', ''Brain Juice'') others are fantasy morality tales (''Why I'm Afraid Of Bees'', ''Deep Trouble'', ''How I Learned To Fly'') and some are even SliceOfLife comedies with no real fantastic elements(''Are You Terrified Yet'', ''Scream School'', ''The Thumbprint Of Doom'').

* KickTheSonOfABitch: This is what happens when the villains get their well-deserved comeuppance.

* NiceGuy: Although there's a Jerkass in almost every book, the protagonists are surprisingly reallt nice and friendly for their ages. Special mentions go out to [[Literature/{{TheHauntedMask}} Carly Beth Caldwell]], [[Literature/{{WelcomeToCampNightmare}} Billy Harlan]], [[Literature/{{ANightInTerrorTower}} Eddie Morgan]] and ([[JerkWithAHeartOfGold debatably]])[[Literature/{{TheCuckooClockOfDoom}} Michael Webster]] and [[Literature/{{SayCheeseAndDie}} Greg Banks]].

* SlidingScaleofIdealismVsCynicism: Very much on the cynical side. Most of, if not all of the books end with [[CruelTwistEnding]]s. Every book has at least one [[{{Jerkass}}]] character with almost no redeeming qualities at all. The protagonists themselves can be [[ButtMonkey miserable]] [[{{StrawLoser}}]]s on their best days and [[{{DesignatedHero}}]]es on their worst. Whenever a protagonist has an [[BigBrotherBully older]] or [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling younger]] sibling, said sibling is often an obnoxious jerk or brat towards them. [[AdultsAreUseless The adults are idiots]] who often favor the older or younger siblings over [[TheUnfavorite the protagonist]]. If they aren't a villain, almost anyone who does something bad is always a KarmaHoudini.

* TheUnfavorite: A number of the protagonists suffered from this when compared to their sibling or siblings, most of whom were pretty rotten. Notable examples include Wade from ''Literature/RevengeRUs'', Matt from ''Literature/DontGotoSleep!'', Dana from ''Literature/EggsMonstersfromMars'', Amy from ''Literature/NightoftheLivingDummyII'' and most infamously, Michael Webster from ''Literature/TheCuckooClockofDoom''.

* WorldOfJerkass: Every book has at least one jerk. But the one that fits this trope the best out of all of them is easily ''Literature/CallingAllCreeps'', in which everyone, except Ricky and Iris, is all assholes.

It became somewhat infamous for the "[[CoversAlwaysLie You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover]]" idiom. ''Deep Trouble'', for instance, had a picture of a giant shark going after a boy swimming in the ocean, which is only a minor point -- the story was really about a boy finding a mermaid who was being targeted by scientists who wanted to experiment on rare sea life. ''Egg Monsters from Mars'' featured the monsters as horrible threats on the cover, but the egg monsters are a ([[BlueAndOrangeMorality relatively]]) benevolent force captured by (you guessed it) a MadScientist.

It was ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone'' for pre-adolescents, with a twist at the end of every book (sometimes {{cruel|TwistEnding}}, sometimes not, sometimes non-existent, [[MetaTwist which is a twist in and of itself given the series]]). Stine cites ''ComicBook/TalesFromTheCrypt'' published by Creator/ECComics as a source of inspiration even though the series isn't nearly as gory and violent as the comics.

In 2016, Danny Abosch and John Maclay wrote the music and the book respectively to [[TheMusical a musical based on the 24th book of the series]], Literature/PhantomOfTheAuditorium. In 2021, an official cast recording was released, with the talents of Creator/KrystinaAlabado, Creator/NoahGalvin, Creator/WillRoland, Creator/AlexBrightman, Creator/SherylLeeRalph, Creator/StephanieStyles, and even cameos from the man himself, R.L. Stine. Info about the show, as well as the album, can be found [[https://goosebumpsthemusical.com/ here.]]

There is also a bot that generates new Goosebumps covers daily; its creations can be found [[https://twitter.com/goosebots here]].

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: So many, that it has it's own [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling/Goosebumps page]]. Really, it would be easier to list the siblings who ''don't'' fall under this trope, but notable examples include Letty in ''Literature/LetsGetInvisible'', Luke in ''Literature/OneDayAtHorrorLand'', Ginny in ''Literature/BadHareDay'' and Ernie in ''Literature/DrManiacWillSeeYouNow'', with the most infamous example being [[TheSociopath Tara]] in ''Literature/TheCuckooClockOfDoom''.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: It would be easier to list the siblings who ''don't'' fall under this trope, but notable examples include Letty in ''Literature/LetsGetInvisible'', Luke in ''Literature/OneDayAtHorrorLand'', Ginny in ''Literature/BadHareDay'' and Ernie in ''Literature/DrManiacWillSeeYouNow'', with the most infamous example being [[TheSociopath Tara]] in ''Literature/TheCuckooClockOfDoom''.

* SlidingScaleofIdealismVsCynicism: Very much on the cynical side. Most of, if not all of the books end with [[CruelTwistEnding]]s. Every book has at least one [[{{Jerkass}}]] character with almost no redeeming qualities at all. The protagonists themselves can be [[{{ButtMonkey miserable}}]] [[{{StrawLoser}}]]s on their best days and [[{{DesignatedHero}}]]es on their worst. Whenever a protagonist has an [[BigBrotherBully older]] or [[AnnoyingYoungerSibling younger]] sibling, said sibling is often an obnoxious jerk or brat towards them. [[AdultsAreUseless The adults are idiots]] who often favor the older or younger siblings over [[TheUnfavorite the protagonist]]. If they aren't a villain, almost anyone who does something bad is always a KarmaHoudini.

* TheUnfavorite: A number of the protagonists suffered from this when compared to their sibling or siblings, most of whom were pretty rotten.

* ArtShift: The Goosebumps Graphix books (adaptations of several original series books into Comic Book form) all have varying art styles thanks to the different artists, including Literature/TheWerewolfOfFeverSwamp having a style similar to Creator/DCComics, Literature/TheScarecrowWalksAtMidnight having a far more detailed and realistic looking art style, Literature/TheAbominableSnowmanOfPasadena and Literature/TheHorrorOfCampJellyjam being far more cartoonish in style, etc.

* {{Jerkass}}: A good number of these types of characters can be found in pretty much all these books. Special mention goes to [[SadistTeacher Mr. Saur]] from ''Literature/SayCheeseAndDieAgain'', [[LackOfEmpathy Larry]] from ''Literature/WelcomeToCampNightmare'', [[AlphaBitch Judith]] from ''Literature/BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor'', [[JerkJock Conan]] and [[MadScientist Kermit]] from the ''Literature/MonsterBlood'' series, [[AssholeVictim Todd]] from ''Literature/GoEatWorms'', [[BigBrotherBully Mickey]] from ''Literature/TheBarkingGhost'', [[ThoseTwoGuys Chuck and Steve]] from the ''Literature/TheHauntedMask'' series, and practically ''[[WorldOfJerkass everyone]]'' who isn't Ricky or Iris in ''Literature/CallingAllCreeps'', most notoriously [[GangOfBullies Wart, Jared, David, and Brenda]].

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: It would be easier to list the siblings who ''don't'' fall under the this trope, but notable examples include Letty in ''Literature/LetsGetInvisible'', Luke in ''Literature/OneDayAtHorrorLand'', Ginny in ''Literature/BadHareDay'' and Ernie in ''Literature/DrManiacWillSeeYouNow'', with the most infamous example being [[TheSociopath Tara]] in ''Literature/TheCuckooClockOfDoom''.

* UncannyValley: Tim Jacobus' surreal covers definitely border on this, especially the ones depicting human faces. The kids have such frozen, glassy eyed expressions of horror that the monsters are ''less'' unsettling to look at.

* AmbiguousDisorder: While not stated outright, some of the characters show signs of having some sort of disorder. Examples include Dana from ''Literature/EggMonstersFromMars'', Mindy from ''Literature/RevengeOfTheLawnGnomes'' and Nicole from ''Literature/TheAbominableSnowmanOfPasadena''. A notable one is Peter in ''[[Literature/GoosebumpsHorrorLand The Five Masks of Doctor Screem]]'', as Monica states that "some kids take pills to slow down to normal speed" but their parents simply think he has "energy".

* SpiritualSuccessor: The series has had direct sequels, sequels that share only the same villain, and sequels that have merely the same ''kind'' of villain. The latter is arguably this trope, and includes ''Literature/ReturnToGhostCamp'' (which has nothing in common with ''Literature/GhostCamp'', except for the fact that the campers and counselors are ghosts and forever trapped in the summer camp), and ''[[Literature/GoosebumpsHorrorLand Who's Your Mummy?]]''

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Some of the reprints of the original series have removed elements that [[UnfortunateImplications have not aged well]], such as Slappy's more abusive moments.

It became somewhat infamous for the "[[CoversAlwaysLie You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover]]" idiom. ''Deep Trouble'', for instance, had a picture of a giant shark going after a boy swimming in the ocean, which is only a minor point -- the story was really about a boy finding a mermaid who was being targeted by scientists who wanted to experiment on rare sea life. ''Egg Monsters from Mars'' featured the monsters as horrible threats on the cover, but the egg monsters are a benevolent force captured by (you guessed it) a MadScientist.

In 2016, Danny Abosch and John Maclay wrote the music and the book respectively to a [[TheMusical a musical based on the 24th book of the series, Literature/PhantomOfTheAuditorium. In 2021, an official cast recording was released, with the talents of Creator/KrystinaAlabado, Creator/NoahGalvin, Creator/WillRoland, Creator/AlexBrightman, Creator/SherylLeeRalph, Creator/StephanieStyles, and even cameos from the man himself, R.L. Stine. Info about the show, as well as the album, can be found [[https://goosebumpsthemusical.com/ here.]]

Creator/ColumbiaPictures released [[Film/{{Goosebumps}} a film based on the series]] on October 16, 2015, starring Creator/JackBlack as R.L. Stine. View the trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMJ-zaoq8y8 here.]] A [[Film/Goosebumps2HauntedHalloween sequel]] followed in 2018.

It was through this simple idea that one of the most successful and controversial pre-''Literature/HarryPotter''-era book series began.

The original ''Goosebumps'' series lasted for all of 62 books, including such famous titles as ''The Haunted Mask'' (which was also the first episode of the TV adaptation, shown as an hour-long special episode), ''Welcome to Camp Nightmare'', the ''Night of the Living Dummy'' series (there were three in the original series, but the other {{spin off}}s and successor series have had at least one story with Slappy as the antagonist), and the ''Monster Blood'' series (the fourth and last of which being the final book in the original series).

It was ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone'' for pre-adolescents, with a twist at the end of every book (sometimes {{cruel|TwistEnding}}, sometimes not, sometimes non-existent, [[MetaTwist which is a twist in and of itself given the series]]). Stine cites ''ComicBook/TalesFromTheCrypt'' published by Creator/ECComics as a source of inspiration though the series isn't nearly as gory and violent as the comics.

It became somewhat infamous for the "[[CoversAlwaysLie You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover]]" idiom. ''Deep Trouble'', for instance, had a picture of a giant shark going after a boy swimming in the ocean, which is only a minor point -- the story was really about a boy finding a mermaid who was being targeted by scientists who wanted to experiment on rare sea life. ''Egg Monsters from Mars'' featured the monsters as horrible threats on the cover, but the egg monsters are actually a benevolent force captured by (you guessed it) a MadScientist.

Later incarnations of the series included the more obscure ''Goosebumps Series 2000'' (a DarkerAndEdgier ''Goosebumps'' series that ran for 25 books), and {{Gamebook}} series ''Literature/GiveYourselfGoosebumps''. Both ended in early 2000, but the series was eventually revived in 2006 with the ''Goosebumps Graphix'' series (adapting classic books into comics), and further spinoffs were released in 2008-2012 (the twelve-book ''Literature/GoosebumpsHorrorLand'' series, a crossover between new and existing characters -- it also got a video game adaptation, and was continued with a second, seven-book story arc and then the six-book ''Hall of Horrors'' mini-series), 2012-2016 (''Goosebumps Most Wanted'', featuring a mix of classic and new villains in standalone stories) and 2017-ongoing (''Goosebumps [=SlappyWorld=]'', with each book introduced by Slappy the Dummy). There were also spinoff titles compiling various short stories, such as ''Tales to Give You Goosebumps'' and ''Goosebumps Triple Header''.

There is also a bot which generates new Goosebumps covers on a daily basis; its creations can be found [[https://twitter.com/goosebots here]].

* AndIMustScream: Often the nasty implications of the {{Cruel Twist Ending}}s, but the biggest examples would have to be [[Literature/TalesToGiveYouGoosebumps Mike getting frozen in place and put in a museum]], [[Literature/LetsGetInvisible people getting phased into another demension forever after using the invisibility mirror too much while their counterparts take over their life]] and [[Literature/TheHauntedSchool The Class of 1947 getting trapped in Greyworld, a place where you don't age and lose all your color]].

* BlessedWithSuck: A lot of the books start off with the protagonist finding some kind of supremely powerful magical object that is awesome for about five minutes before terrible things start to happen, such as ''Literature/MonsterBlood'' and the invisibility mirror in ''Literature/LetsGetInvisible''.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Most of the monsters and creatures legitimately don't see anything wrong with their bizarre, horrifying antics. This makes the protagonists' situation even worse, since it's nigh impossible to reason with them.

* TheBully: There's quite a few of them, starting with the Beymer twins in ''Literature/MonsterBlood''; Conan Barber, who appears in the three sequels, is even worse.

* CatsAreMean: Many books and stories, like "[[Literature/MoreTalesToGiveYouGoosebumps The Cat's Tale]]", ''Literature/CryOfTheCat'', ''[[Literature/GoosebumpsHorrorLand Claws]]'' and ''[[Literature/GiveYourselfGoosebumps Night of a Thousand Claws]]'' have supernatural, evil cats as the villains. Normal cats are usually depicted as lazy and mean towards the protagonists (Bonkers from ''Literature/PianoLessonsCanBeMurder'' being especially nasty). Stine himself said in an interview: "I've always been a dog person. You can tell I don't like cats -- because I've written so many books with evil cats. It's much harder to imagine an evil dog."
* ChekhovsGun: Used in some books, but oddly subverted in some others, with some seemingly important thing being given a lot of detail, such as Lucy's friend in ''Literature/TheGirlWhoCriedMonster'' having some fictional Frisbee-like toy which is given several pages of description, leading the reader to believe it will be somehow important to fighting the monster, only for it to never be brought up again. Whether this is deliberate or just bad writing is anyone's guess.

* CompetitionFreak: A recurring character trait, and the people with it tend to be rivals of or annoyances to the main character. Sari from ''Literature/TheCurseOfTheMummysTomb'' is one of the earliest examples.

* CrapsackWorld: The series as a whole qualifies if you believe it's set in one universe. Apathetic adults, over the top bullies, murderous madmen, dangerous monsters... one wonders how these kids are going to grow up, ''if they survive their childhood''.

* ExtrudedBookProduct: After a while, the series turned into this; it is possible that, to keep up with the demand for more and more new ''Goosebumps'' books, R.L. Stine started working with ghostwriters to keep the new releases coming. Considering that a new title was published ''monthly'' and that Stine pumped out several other book series as well, this was almost inevitable.

* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: A number of sibling pairs fit this, going all the way back to Josh and Amanda in ''Literature/WelcomeToDeadHouse''.

* GhostlyGoals: Every ghost in the series has their own mission, be it to find someone who can be their friend in death, or to carry out some unfinished business.

* HandWaved: ''Frequent'', usually because having preadolescent heroes means often ignoring basic common sense provisions so that they can get into the required dangerous situations. Great example being ''Literature/WhyImAfraidOfBees''; you'd think an 11 year old kid would need parental consent to be the subject of a strange medical experiment like that. Also why there's apparently no money involved.
* HateSink: More often than not, the human side-characters prove to be ''far'' more despicable than any of the monsters or supernatural entities. You can't exactly hate lonely ghosts and inhuman creatures. Greedy and stupid adults or sadistic children, on the other hand...

* HorrorComedy: The books are often a combination of a scary and goofy at the same time. Although in some cases this is more due to {{Narm}} than a deliberate stylistic choice. However, Stine has mentioned he his intention with the series for it to be usually both funny and scary at the same time.

* MadScientist: Almost too many to count. Often the mad scientist (or some sort of researcher who, if not specifically "Mad", is at least a jerk who does his job due to promises of money and prestige) will prove to the ''real'' villain of the story instead of the comparably harmless "monster".

* {{Nephewism}}: It's very common for the books to feature a visit to aunts / uncles with little or no mention of parents (with Evan Ross of ''Literature/MonsterBlood'' being the first), or an orphaned protagonist that lives with an aunt / uncle (such as Jaclyn from ''Literature/BewareTheSnowman'').

* PlatonicBoyGirlHeroes: Even when the boy and girl heroes aren't best friends, a boy and girl are often grouped together to enforce this trope. Sometimes the boy and girl don't get along that well.

* ProsceniumReveal: It happens sometimes for an opening fake out, such as in Series 2000's ''Literature/ScreamSchool''.

* RandomEventsPlot: Quite a few of the stories, such as ''Literature/LegendOfTheLostLegend'' and ''Literature/TheBeastFromTheEast'' largely consist of a bunch of weird setpieces loosely tied together.

* ShamSupernatural: In several books such as ''Literature/AttackOfTheJackOLanterns'', and ''Literature/ScreamSchool'', and ''Literature/YouCantScareMe'' the supernatural creatures end up being fakes, or at least not the type of supernatural creatures that the protagonists ''thought'' they were.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The series has had direct sequels, sequels that share only the same villain, and sequels that have merely the same ''kind'' of villain. The latter are arguably this trope, and include ''Literature/ReturnToGhostCamp'' (has nothing in common with ''Literature/GhostCamp'', except for the fact that the campers and counselors are ghosts and forever trapped in the summer camp), and ''[[Literature/GoosebumpsHorrorLand Who's Your Mummy?]]''

* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: This occasionally happens, with some twists actually rendering the entire story happier (or, in the case of ''Literature/TheGhostNextDoor'', [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]]) in hindsight. There's also times where the ending is the result of a TomatoSurprise, resulting in an EsotericHappyEnding with intentional ProtagonistCenteredMorality in play.
* TakeOverTheWorld: Some of the series' villains, going all the way back to the titular villain in ''Literature/AttackOfTheMutant'', have this as their goal.
* TeensAreMonsters: With a few exceptions, teenagers are usually portrayed as completely condescending or just downright nasty KickTheDog bullies to the main characters and their friends (who are almost always 11-12 in the novels), which could make sense since their most often the older siblings of the protagonist and being portrayed through the younger kid's most likely somewhat biased point-of-view.

* TwistEnding: Usually on the last page, maybe even last paragraph, of almost every book. Many variations, including TomatoInTheMirror, HereWeGoAgain, DeadAllAlong, TheBadGuyWins, FromBadToWorse, and the occasional KarmicTwistEnding. Many of them were also {{Cruel Twist Ending}}s.

* WorldOfJerkass: Every book has at least one jerk. But the one that fits this trope the best out of all of them is easily ''Literature/CallingAllCreeps'', in which everyone, except Ricky and Iris, are all assholes.
* WouldHurtAChild: By virtue of the protagonists always being kids or preteens, nearly all the villains are perfectly willing to harm children -- some even make them their primary targets.

* NonindicativeName: You'd expect ''Series 2000'' to start at the turn of the millennium, right? Well, it actually debuted at the start of 1998 and ironically ended at the start of 2000.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The ''Most Wanted'' series falls victim to this a lot. It's hard to believe their claim of the series containing the "most wanted" monsters when they are often not the ones depicted on the cover.