History YMMV / Goosebumps

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Some of the books could have a rather dark, menacing, almost adult tone to them despite their still somewhat cheesy YA-friendly style, the earliest books especially could be at times outright violent and gory with ''Literature/WelcomeToDeadHouse'', ''Literature/StayOutOfTheBasement'', ''Literature/WelcomeToCampNightmare'' and ''Literature/PianoLessonsCanBeMurder'' among the chief offenders.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF0n6xIsL_U theme song]] is all kinds of CreepyAwesome.
* FanficFuel: Because certain books weren't adapted into the television series (see TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot below), some fans have started writing stories on what they think would've happened if books that weren't adapted into the TV series actually were adapted into the series. It helps that it's getting a reboot.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: It's a Canadian show that is decently popular in the United States. Hell, even got to the point where some people thought that the show was American until they were told otherwise.
* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Kathryn Long's performance as Carly Beth Caldwell in ''The Haunted Mask'' features a truly emotional breakdown as Carly Beth moves past the DespairEventHorizon. When she starts destroying the duck costume her mother made for her, you can tell Carly Beth's channeling years of frustration over being humiliated and mocked by almost everyone around her.
* {{Narm}}: A strong occurrence in the TV adaptation, mostly due to the mediocre child actors.
* NightmareRetardant: Despite being known as the series' most famous villain, Slappy is still a tiny wooden man, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome meaning the kid protagonists can usually shove him over without much effort]], even if it only stops him for a moment.
* PopCultureUrbanLegends: In the 2000s, it became CommonKnowledge in fan spaces that the original ''Night of the Living Dummy'' was at least partially filmed,[[note]]The wilder variations of this rumor claim that the episode ''actually aired'' and was later buried by Fox, which is demonstrably untrue[[/note]] but that Fox decided to shelve the episode because it was "too scary," leading to speculation whether this LostEpisode might still exist. According to writer Rick Drew, the producers decided not to adapt the original ''Dummy'' because the SlowPacedBeginning didn't fit well into the show's format, and it was easier to tackle ''Part II'' which took much less time before Slappy came to life. This was [[https://conventionalrelations.net/2020/08/20/an-oral-history-of-goosebumps-the-television-series/ confirmed]] by producer Steve Levitan, who adds that any scrapped episode ideas never made it past the script outline stage.
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** Before playing [[Franchise/StarWars Anakin Skywalker]], Creator/HaydenChristensen played Zane in the episode "Night of the Living Dummy III".
** Creator/RyanGosling plays the protagonist Greg in the first ''Say Cheese And Die'' episode.
* SpecialEffectFailure: Happens quite a bit, to the point where some episodes can (unintentionally) resemble a cheesy B-movie. For instance, in ''Literature/CallingAllCreeps'' and ''Literature/OneDayAtHorrorLand'', you can clearly see human eyes behind the monsters' masks.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: There were many books for the TV series to adapt and many fans were disappointed that certain books (i.e., ''Curse of the Mummy's Tomb'', The first ''Night of the Living Dummy'' book, ''Why I'm Afraid of Bees'', ''The Haunted School'', etc.) weren't adapted into episodes of the show. A reboot of the TV series is coming up though.

* HeReallyCanAct: Kathryn Long's performance as Carly Beth Caldwell in ''The Haunted Mask'' features a truly emotional breakdown as Carly Beth moves past the DespairEventHorizon. When she starts destroying the duck costume her mother made for her, you can tell Carly Beth's channeling years of frustration over being humiliated and mocked by almost everyone around her.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The book series was adapted as a screenplay titled Screams in the Night; mere months after its premiere it was put on indefinite hiatus and never re-aired. In addition to rather poor writing, the fact that Goosebumps appealed to young fans of horror and not adults who appreciate theatre didn't help it gain an audience.

* RealismInducedHorror: There are multiple books where the protagonist has a sibling who bullies or otherwise abuses them, oftentimes causing them more suffering than the scary/supernatural thing in the book, with ''Literature/TheCuckooClockOfDoom'' being the most extreme example. Disturbingly, it often seems like the parents are aware of this but don't do anything to stop it.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Before playing [[Franchise/StarWars Anakin Skywalker]], Creator/HaydenChristensen played Zane in the episode "Night of the Living Dummy III".

** With WesternAnimation/GravityFalls fans, unsurprisingly, considering that both ''Goosebumps'' and ''Gravity Falls'' are about a bunch of preteens finding themselves in tons of horrifying situations. Not to mention some fans find Slappy to be similar to Bill Cipher.
** They've also recently become this with WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse due to ''The Owl House'' having the same horror theme as ''Goosebumps'' and the main premise of the series sounding like something out of a ''Goosebumps'' book.
** [[OddFriendship Oddly enough]], with ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' due to some of the actors from the TV series later going on to voice several characters on ''Total Drama''.

* Narm: The way the books get edited to make them suitable for kids are so ridiculous, that it comes off as laughable most of the time. For example, the Tagline for ''Literature/DeepTrouble'' is "Just when you thought it was safe..." What is the 2003 reprint's tagline?