History YMMV / Goosebumps

* CompleteMonster: Many, but not all of the villains, including Slappy, Ahmed from ''The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb'', the Masked Mutant, Mr. Toggle from ''Piano Lessons Can Be Murder'', and the Lord High Executioner from ''A Night In Terror Tower'' have their moments (although Slappy is more a JerkAss until FridgeHorror kicks in), but Mr Toggle is the truest complete monster.
** None of those can complete with the BigBad of Goosebumps Horrorland, called the Menace. [[spoiler: When he was completely alive, kids ''died'' on his rides but he didn't care, due to his experiments in fear. that park so was scary it somehow ended up in an alternate universe. later, he found out horrorland was made on his park, so he got contact with a horror to invite guests there so he get them to panic park, and make them bring the fear meter up so he can PP back to the normal world. it's implied he's done this before...but the previous kids got so scared they ''died'' and he simply doesn't care. He even got several goosebumps villains to follow him, including other monsters like Slappy, and King Tutten-Ra from another GBH book.]]

* FridgeHorror: The ending of [[spoiler:''Egg Monsters from Mars'']] is much more disturbing to read as a seventeen-year-old than as a twelve-year-old, for instance. This example also counts as a LateToThePunchline moment. For those who haven't read it: [[spoiler:the protagonist, a ''boy'' mind you, lays one of the titular eggs, showing that he had more than a friendly bond with the creatures (ThatCameOutWrong) while kidnapped by a MadScientist. And the eggs are about the size of a football. It's thankfully not specified which um...point of exit was used.]]
** Also, there is fridge horror in ''The Curse of Camp Cold Lake'', at first you think the girl on the cover is supposed to be Della, the ghost girl that torments poor Sarah Maas all story long. Until you read and find Della looks perfectly normal but transparent. This girl is not transparent and looks like a [[DistaffCounterpart female version of the Skin Taker from]] CandleCove. The ending implies that [[spoiler: Sarah is killed by Brinna in the AssPull twist ending. Perhaps that living corpse we see on the cover is Sarah since it actually fits more of the description of what we know of Sarah than it does Della]].

** ''The Horror at Camp Jellyjam'' (Original Series #33): A brother and sister on a road trip crash their trailer into a sports camp where everyone is obsessed with competing and winning in sports.

*** yet another one is Lilly in "Attack of the mutant" who [[spoiler; turns out to be the titular mutant]]

** None of those can complete with the BigBad of Goosebumps Horrorland, called the Menace. [[spoiler: When he was completely alive, kids ''died'' on his rides but he didn't care, due to his experiments in fear. that park so was scary it somehow ended up in an alternate universe. later, he found out horrorland was made on his park, so he got contact with a horror to invite guests there so he get them to panic park, and make them bring the fear meter up so he can PP back to the normal world. it's implied he's done this before...but the previous kids got so scared they ''died'' and he simply doesn't care. He even got several goosebumps villains to follow him, including other monsters like Slappy, and King Tutten-Ra from another GBH book.

* CompleteMonster: Many, but not all of the villains, including Slappy, Ahmed from ''The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb'', the Masked Mutant, Mr. Toggle from ''Piano Lessons Can Be Murder'', and the Lord High Executioner from ''A Night In Terror Tower''.
** Slappy is more of a jerkass until FridgeHorror sets in. Best Candidate IMO is Mr Toggle

** And let's not forget ''The Curse of Camp Cold Lake'', at first you think the girl on the cover is supposed to be Della. Until you read and find Della looks perfectly normal but transparent. This girl is not transparent and looks like a [[DistaffCounterpart female version of the Skin Taker from]] CandleCove. The ending implies that [[spoiler: Sarah is killed by Brinna in the AssPull twist ending. Perhaps that living corpse we see on the cover is Sarah since it actually fits more of the description of what we know of Sarah than it does Della]].

* CompleteMonster: Many, but not all of the villains, including Slappy, Ahmed from ''The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb'', the Masked Mutant, Mr. Toggle from''Piano Lessons Can Be Murder'', and the Lord High Executioner from ''A Night In Terror Tower''.

** This also applies to the tv show. There was originally supposed to be an episode on the original "Night of th Living Dummy", but was cancelled [[spoiler: when it was deemed '''too''' scary by test audiences]]. ''Let that sink in...''

** Although, it's clear that she has these traits, but it's the main reason the characters hate her so much.
* EnsembleDarkhorse -- Slappy
* FridgeHorror:
** The ending of [[spoiler:''Egg Monsters from Mars'']] is much more disturbing to read as a seventeen-year-old than as a twelve-year-old, for instance. This example also counts as a LateToThePunchline moment. For those who haven't read it: [[spoiler:the protagonist, a ''boy'' mind you, lays one of the titular eggs, showing that he had more than a friendly bond with the creatures (ThatCameOutWrong) while kidnapped by a MadScientist. And the eggs are about the size of a football. It's thankfully not specified which um...point of exit was used.]]

* RecycledScript: Taken to ridiculous lengths with the number of summer camp stories.
*** ''Welcome to Camp Nightmare'' (Original Series #9): A boy goes to a summer camp said to be haunted by a monster in the woods and his bunkmates keep getting injured and disappearing ([[spoiler:Turns out the place is a SecretTestOfCharacter for the protagonist and that he and his family are human-looking aliens ready to go on a vacation to Earth]]).
*** ''The Horror at Camp Jellyjam'' (Original Series #33): A brother and sister on a road trip crash their trailer into a sports camp where everyone is obsessed with competing and winning in sports.
*** ''Ghost Camp'' (Original Series #45): Two brothers go to a summer camp where [[CaptainObvious everyone is a ghost]] and the only way they can escape is to possess the body of a living being.
*** ''The Curse of Camp Cold Lake'' (Original Series #56): A girl at a water sports camp finds herself haunted by a murderous {{Yandere}} ghost girl who can't go to the afterlife unless she has a buddy.
*** ''Fright Camp'' ([[{{Trope 2000}} Series 2000]] #8): A group of horror movie fans win a trip to a camp that is said to be home to a horror movie director's creations.
*** ''Return to Ghost Camp'' (Series 2000 #19): A boy switches places with another camper on his way to the ghost camp from the original series and enjoys living his life -- until [[spoiler:it's revealed that the boy the protagonist switched places with is prepped to be sacrificed to a monster in the woods]].
*** ''Escape From Camp Run-For-Your-Life'' ([[ChooseYourOwnAdventure Give Yourself Goosebumps]] #19): You (the reader) find yourself in a camp filled with zombie children.
*** ''Welcome to Camp Slither'' ([=HorrorLand=] #9): A brother and sister find themselves in a camp infested with snakes.
* SoBadItsGood: what the TV and book series is to pretty much anyone over puberty, full of cheesiness and lots of SpecialEffectsFailure for good measure.

* ToyShip: Since almost every book has at least one major character in each gender, it's to be expected that this would happen at least once. [[spoiler:Perhaps realizing that the target audience wasn't likely to be thinking in these terms, one of the few explicit examples of a LoveInterest, in "How I Got My Shrunken Head", turns out to be a ManipulativeBitch who never gets redeemed.]]

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome:
** Gabe, the protagonist, gets one in ''The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb'' when [[spoiler: he uses the mummy hand he's been [[ChekhovsGun carrying throughout the story]] to stop the bad guy]]. My memory's a little fuzzy so I don't remember ''how''. Anyone got more details?
** Getting the best endings in the ChooseYourOwnAdventure books. Admit it, you felt awesome.

*** ''Welcome to Camp Nightmare'' (Original Series #9): A boy goes to a summer camp said to be haunted by a monster in the woods and his bunkmates keep getting injured and disappearing ([[spoiler:Turns out the place is a SecretTestOfCharacter for the portagonist and that he and his family are human-looking aliens ready to go on a vacation to Earth]]).

** The series itself qualies as this, justifying the existence of BloggerBeware.

** Another overt love interest turns out to be manipulative and evil in [[spoiler: ''Werewolf Skin'']]. I guess the dames really are nothing but trouble in the world of Goosebumps.

*** ''Welcome to Camp Nightmare'' (Original Series #9)
*** ''The Horror at Camp Jellyjam'' (Original Series #33)
*** ''Ghost Camp'' (Original Series #45)
*** ''The Curse of Camp Cold Lake'' (Original Series #56)
*** ''Fright Camp'' ([[{{Trope 2000}} Series 2000]] #8)
*** ''Return to Ghost Camp'' (Series 2000 #19)
*** ''Escape From Camp Run-For-Your-Life'' ([[ChooseYourOwnAdventure Give Yourself Goosebumps]] #19)
*** ''Welcome to Camp Slither'' ([=HorrorLand=] #9)

** The series itself qualies as this
** Hence the entirety of BloggerBeware.

*** ''Escape From Camp Run-For-Your-Life'' ([[{{CYOA}} Give Yourself Goosebumps]] #19)

** ''The Legend of the Lost Legend'' is also ridiculous and bad enough to apply.
*** The ''GooseBumps Horrorland'' book ''Say Cheese-And Die Screaming'' is even better example then the above.

* PeripheryHatedom: Kind of funny how many people try to think too hard about the books or claim the twists are unoriginal despite they were made for ''grade-schoolers''. (okay, so they were also marketed towards young teens, as well.)

* {{Narm}} -- The live action version has some severe {{Narm}} with the SpecialEffectsFailure and some of the ridiculous plots and bad acting.
** Hell, plenty in the books too, including the famously Narmy titles: ''Say Cheese-And Die!'', ''Piano Lessons can be Murder'', ''Bad Hare Day''. For many this is all part of the NarmCharm. There's even some in-universe Narm, such as the goofy superheroes in the "Masked Mutant" comics.

* SoBadItsGood: what the TV and book series is to pretty much anyone over puberty, full of delicious {{Narm}} and SpecialEffectsFailure for good measure.

* AdaptationDecay
** The television series had to change certain events and shorten the story for budgetary and censorship reasons. The results definitely varied.
** TheBoardGame makes the Headless Ghost (from book #37) one of the major hazards. The book itself actually has him as somewhat of a tragic figure who, while a real {{Jerkass}} in life, was ''not'' a vengeful ghost, and furthermore his death by beheading was ''not'' a KarmicDeath, but rather DisproportionateRetribution for discovering another ghost's hiding spot. He only briefly appears in the book, thanks the protagonists for finding his long-lost head, and disappears.

* TearJerker -- The ending of ''The Ghost Next Door''.

* {{Narm}} -- The live action version has some severe {{Narm}} with the SpecialEffectsFailure and some of the ridiculous plots and bad acting.
** Hell, plenty in the books too, including the famously Narmy titles: ''Say Cheese-And Die!'', ''Piano Lessons can be Murder'', ''Bad Hare Day''. For many this is all part of the NarmCharm. There's even some in-universe Narm, such as the goofy superheroes in the "Masked Mutant" comics.

* FridgeHorror: As noted above, the ''Night of the Living Dummy'' series.
** The ending of [[spoiler:''Egg Monsters from Mars'']] is much more disturbing to read as a seventeen-year-old than as a twelve-year-old, for instance. This example also counts as a LateToThePunchline moment.
*** [[{{Cameoflage}} This troper]] found it quite disturbing when she read it (at the age of about eleven, if I remember rightly), but the interpretation from which this reaction sprung was totally different from the one implied here.
*** For those who haven't read it: [[spoiler:the protagonist, a ''boy'' mind you, lays one of the titular eggs, showing that he had more than a friendly bond with the creatures (ThatCameOutWrong) while kidnapped by a MadScientist. And the eggs are about the size of a football. It's thankfully not specified which um...point of exit was used.]]
**** No, it didn't come out wrong. It really didn't. [[spoiler: ItGetsWorse when you consider the male protagonist's girly name and wonder if he wasn't originally meant to ''be'' a girl, at which point you're essentially dealing with a preteen girl getting pregnant with an alien baby.]]
*** Well, since the protagonist was squatting on the lawn, I'd like to assume (gross as it is) that the egg [[spoiler: came out of his butt]].
*** Oh, but don't forget [[spoiler:all he did with the aliens, that he knew of, was to make them imitate shapes, and then when he was cold, they formed a living blanket and covered him up until he was lulled to sleep by the warmth and slight pulsing. Think about that a few moments...They very likely impregnated him ''in his sleep!'']]
**** However, they might mate the same way that [[{{Futurama}} Kif]] does, so it might have been unintentional.