Line #14 Trivia/Goosebumps


1	!!Trivia for the original book series
2	* ApprovalOfGod: While he [[https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/42t3l9/im_rl_stine_author_of_the_goosebumps_books_the/czedzzp/ confessed]] to have not actually read the ''Gooflumps'' parody books, Stine once said that he thought the covers were "[[ActuallyPrettyFunny pretty funny]]".
3	* CashCowFranchise: It has over two-hundred books, spawned a popular TV series, and is the ''only'' children's book series that has sold more units than ''Literature/HarryPotter''.
4	* ContestWinnerCameo:
5	** In the late 90's, a few contests were held where the winner got their name to appear in a ''Series 2000'' book and the winners ended up being [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/goosebumps/images/3/32/Terrorific_Giveaway_Contest_winner_Jack_Archer_from_Fox_Kids_Mag_Winter_1996.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200126214007 Jack Archer]] in ''Invasion of the Body Squeezers'' and [[https://web.archive.org/web/19980117133933fw_/http://www.foxhome.com/goosebumps/wrap.html Audra Rusinas]] in ''Attack of the Graveyard Ghouls''.
6	** In 2018, Stine held an auction in which the highest bidder would get to name a character in an upcoming book. The winner ended up being Gates Warwas in ''It's Alive! It's Alive!''.
7	* CreatorBacklash: Stine has admitted that he doesn't care for ''Literature/TheBarkingGhost'', as well as [[https://web.archive.org/web/19980205081421/http://thebumps.simplenet.com:80/askrl3.htm not being happy with the writing]] in ''Literature/GoEatWorms''. He also does not have fond memories of writing ''Literature/CryOfTheCat'', the first ''Series 2000'' book, because Scholastic kept rejecting Stine's drafts and [[ExecutiveMeddling forcing him to rewrite it]] to make the story "scarier."
8	** In 2023, Stine [[https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/r-l-stine-goosebumps-inteview-books-censorship-horror-1234849389/amp/ expressed regret]] for that fat jokes in his earlier works, saying he understands Scholastic's desire to change them in reprints, stating they were "not appropriate".
9	* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: More "creator's favorite installment"; Stine states "Attack of the Mutant" to be his favorite installment in the series, and "The Haunted Mask" to be his best.
10	* CreatorsOddball: While primarily a horror series, several stories deviate from traditional horror conventions. Some are more sci-fi adventure (''Literature/WelcomeToCampNightmare'', ''Literature/AttackOfTheMutant'', ''Literature/BrainJuice'') others are fantasy morality tales (''Literature/WhyImAfraidOfBees'', ''Literature/DeepTrouble'', ''Literature/HowILearnedToFly'') and some are even SliceOfLife comedies with no real fantastic elements (''Literature/AreYouTerrifiedYet'', ''Literature/ScreamSchool'', ''The Thumbprint Of Doom'').
11	* {{Defictionalization}}: They make real Slappy dummies, and there used to be actual Haunted Masks.
12	* FranchiseZombie: The success of the original series led publisher Scholastic to bet everything they had on it and tell author R.L. Stine to keep going. He did, and the quality suffered. The books ended up StrictlyFormula and became shorter. Their popularity dropped as a result. It's been rumored that Stine became so fed up with this that many of the later books were ghostwritten.[[note]]Stine denies this, but realistically at least ''some'' proportion of the original books must have been ghostwritten -- they came out monthly between 1992 and 2000, and once you include spin-off series such as ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' and ''Tales to Give You Goosebumps'' up to three books could be released in the same month, which is an unfeasibly high level of output for a single author[[/note]]
13	* NoExportForYou:
14	** The two Triple Header books and the last four ''Tales to Give You Goosebumps'' were the only books never to be published in the UK.
15	** The French ''Goosebumps'' adaptions, ''Chair De Poule'', released six illustrated novella adaptions of the short stories from ''Tales to Give You Goosebumps''. There was also a game book titled "House of the Vampire" which was never translated into English and was written by Jean-Luc Bizen instead of R.L. Stine.
16	** There were three foreign language magazines including six short stories written by Stine and various comic strips by other creators. The three issues were printed in French, Italian, and Spanish. Only two of the stories were distributed in English, "Joe Is Not A Monster" in the short story collection ''Beware!'', and "A Really Exciting Night" in a special U.K. exclusive magazine printed by Panini.
17	** There exists a Norwegian ''Goosebumps'' book consisting of short stories submitted by fans and illustrations by cartoonist Lise Myhre. Again this was virtually unknown to the English speaking fandom until recently.
18	** Some of the books from the original series were translated into Swedish, but no other ''Goosebumps'' book has ever been released in Sweden.
19	** Only ten of the books were translated into Japanese, and were completely OutOfOrder from the series' original run.
20	** There've been at least three known comic book adaptations produced in Britain in the late 90s that were never globally distributed.
21	*** [=FBX=] (For Boys Exclusively) Magazine featured over 30 two-page comic adaptions of full-length books and short stories.
22	*** The Funday Times ran serialized comic strips adapting ''A Night In Terror Tower'' and ''Night Of The Living Dummy II''.
23	*** Panini released a special edition Halloween magazine featuring two exclusive stories, "Stranglehold" and "Monster Under The Bed," along with the text story "A Really Exciting Night" which was one of the stories published in the ''Pesadillas'' magazines.
24	* OfficialFanSubmittedContent:
25	** In 1994, an official "Name a Goosebumps Book" contest sponsored by Scholastic was held, allowing for grade-schoolers to suggest the title for an upcoming book to be released around summer 1995. Over 1,600 titles were submitted, and there ended up being a winner announced on Halloween of that year -- ''Slime Doesn't Pay'', suggested by 11-year old Jimmy S. of Glencoe, Illinois. [[DevelopmentHell After nearly 30 years]] Stine is finally writing ''Slime Doesn't Pay'' [[https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/slime-doesn-t-pay-h2zq.html#541=2605264 but it's being released as a standalone book]].
26	** In 1998, a similar "name an upcoming ''Goosebumps'' story" contest was sponsored by Parachute Press and General Mills. To ensure the story would actually happen this time, R.L. Stine would be visiting the school of the contest's winner and writing the story in person, though the catch would be that it'd end up being a short story rather than a full-fledged novel. Still, this once again provoked thousands of submissions, and the winner came from 10-year old Braden G. of Lacona, Iowa: ''[[Literature/GoosebumpsDeadDogsStillFetch Dead Dogs Still Fetch]]'', which was not officially printed, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-mrLBef59c&t=0s managed to be successfully archived in video form]].
27	* RecycledScript:
28	** ''Full Moon Fever'' borrows most of its plot from ''Chicken Chicken'' -- the protagonists, one boy and one girl, tick off an old lady and subsequently find themselves [[ForcedTransformation transformed into animals.]] It also resembles a short story, "Pumpkin Juice" (from ''Still More Tales to Give You Goosebumps''), where the protagonists turn into hungry werewolves after ingesting a strange food. It also resembles the short story "Marshmellow Surprise" (from ''More & More & More Tales to Give You Goosebumps''), where some kids are cursed by a treat given to a mean neighbor pretending to be nice.
29	** ''Cry of the Cat'' is an expanded version of the short story "The Cat's Tale" from ''More Tales to Give You Goosebumps''. The same premise was again reused with the ''Hall of Horrors'' book ''Claws!''. The concept was also used in a ''Literature/FearStreet'' book called ''Cat''.
30	** Taken to ridiculous lengths with the number of summer camp stories:
31	*** ''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]]).
32	*** ''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 [[spoiler: so they can be slaves to a giant purple blob whose cronies are the BrainwashedAndCrazy StepfordSmiler counselors.]]
33	*** ''Ghost Camp'' (Original Series #45): Two brothers go to a summer camp where everyone is a ghost and the only way they can escape is to possess the body of a living being.
34	*** ''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.
35	*** ''Fright Camp'' (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.
36	*** ''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]].
37	*** ''Escape From Camp Run-For-Your-Life'' (''Literature/GiveYourselfGoosebumps'' #19): You (the reader) find yourself in a camp filled with zombie children.
38	*** ''Welcome to Camp Slither'' ([=HorrorLand=] #9): A brother and sister find themselves in a camp infested with snakes.
39	*** ''Creature Teacher: The Final Exam'' (Most Wanted #6): A sequel to Creature Teacher from Series 2000, where Mrs. Maargh now runs a summer camp that borrows its plot elements from The Horror at Camp Jellyjam as well as Creature Teacher.
40	** ''Let's Get Invisible!'', ''Mirror Mirror On The Wall'', and ''The Ghost In The Mirror'' all involve beings that try to switch places with people by using mirrors. ''Mirror Mirror On The Wall'' is basically just ''Let's Get Invisible!'' without the invisibility angle added in.
41	** ''Horrors Of The Black Ring'' is more or less ''The Haunted Mask'' without the symbol of love angle, since both are about cursed objects that cause the wearer to gradually turn twisted and evil. The same can be said for the short story ''Monster on the Ice''.
42	** ''Goosebumps Wanted: The Haunted Mask'' reuses The Haunted Mask's plot though with a few different details here and there.
43	** As mentioned below, Stine reused the outline for the planned ''The Incredible Shrinking 5th Grader'' for his standalone kids book ''The Adventures of Shrinkman''.
44	** ''Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes'' is essentially a ''Night of the Living Dummy'' story, just with gnomes in places of dummies.
45	* ReferencedBy: The {{tagline}} for ''Check It Out-And Die!'', one of the books in the ''Literature/{{Spinetinglers}}'' series, says that "you'll get more than goosebumps when you read this book!"
46	** On a similar token, the back tagline for the first ''Literature/{{Bonechillers}}'' book declares it's so scary it'll give you goosebumps.
47	* SequelGap: There have been some notable gaps between the release of the sequels in the series:
48	** ''Return to Horrorland'': 5 years. Then there was the nine year gap between that and the Horrorland series.
49	** ''Creature Teacher: The Final Exam'': 16 years.
50	** ''Monster Blood'' has two big ones. First was the 11 year gap between ''Monster Blood IV'' and ''Monster Blood for Breakfast'', than there is the 13 year gap between that and ''Monster Blood is Back''.
51	* TroubledProduction: The Goosebumps Wiki [[https://goosebumps.fandom.com/wiki/R.L._Stine%27s_fallout_with_Scholastic details]] some of the legal disputes Stine and his wife Jane's company, Parachute Press, had with Scholastic over the course of the original series.
52	** To summarize, Scholastic set ''very'' specific guidelines in their contracts with Stine about which aspects of marketing and promotion were handled by Scholastic, and which by Parachute. When Parachute began holding promotional and marketing events without consulting Scholastic, the parent company sued the Stines, who in turn counter-sued Scholastic, claiming they violating their end of the contract by withholding revenue from the Stines. The first suits were filed in 1996, at the height of ''Goosebumps''' popularity, and dragged through the courts until 2003.
53	** The longstanding accusations that Stine used ghostwriters for ''Goosebumps'' originate from one of these lawsuits. Scholastic accused Stine of hiring freelance writers to send him manuscripts, which he then submitted to Scholastic as his own work with only minor revisions, in breach of contract. Scholastic would also blame this for the series' declining sales through the late '90s. Stine denied it at the time, and still does today (the matter was never resolved in court or elsewhere), though he's admitted that books for ''Literature/GhostsOfFearStreet'' were ghostwritten. A few of the ''Tales to Give You Goosebumps'' stories have also revealed to have been ghostwritten, although it's unknown if all of them were or only a few.
54	** These difficulties came to a head with ''Series 2000''. Scholastic's demands to make the books DarkerAndEdgier than Stine felt comfortable with increased the acrimony between them, and resulted in increased ExecutiveMeddling.[[note]]Stine claims that Scholastic started rejecting his manuscripts and demanded extensive rewrites, which they rarely had up to that point[[/note]]. Meanwhile, lower sales of ''Goosebumps'' and Scholastic's declining stock generally convinced them that the legal issues with Stine and Parachute were now more trouble than they were worth. In 2000 Scholastic ended their contract with Stine; ''Series 2000'', originally planned to be 40 books long, abruptly ended at 25, while the planned ''Goosebumps Gold'' series and other spinoffs (including a third ''Triple Header'' story collection) were canceled. [[note]]However, Gold was supposed to be published under a different publisher, the same one that was publishing his Nightmare Room series.[[/note]]Eventually a deal was reached giving Scholastic sole publishing rights to the series, allowing them to reprint the original books starting in 2003. Stine, however, refused their offers to renew Goosebumps until the ''Horrorland'' books began in 2008.
55	* UncreditedRole: The name of the artist (or artists; it isn't clear if the same person did all of them) who provided the cover art for the UK editions of the first 32 books (after that they just used the American cover art, cropped to fit the established template) is unknown, since they weren't given credit anywhere in the book.
56	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
57	** ''Goosebumps Gold'' was a twelve-book series planned after ''2000'', with three titles, ''The Haunted Mask Lives!'', ''Happy Holidays From Dead House'', and ''Slappy New Year'', announced. Cover artwork for the first two can be found on Tim Jacobus's website, and certain websites stock some of the books for sale. The plot for ''The Haunted Mask Lives!'' would've been about Carly Beth being targeted by the novelty shop owner who initially made the masks. Stine later used the title ''Slappy New Year!'' for the second arc of the ''Goosebumps Horrorland'' series, but it had a brand new plot.
58	** ''Goosebumps 2000'' was supposed to have a book called "The Incredible Shrinking Fifth Grader", but the series ended before it could be published. R.L. Stine later revealed the plot had been repurposed for his horror novel ''The Adventures of Shrinkman'', and Tim Jacobus shared the [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/goosebumps/images/7/7a/Goosebumps_Series_2000_-26.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20170722202930 unused but completed cover art]] for the Goosebumps wiki. A similar plot was also used in the third arc of the ''Goosebumps Horrorland'' series under the title ''Night of the Giant Everything''.
59	** ''The Art of Goosebumps'' collection later revealed that Stine had at least thought up a name for a 27th book, ''When The Snake Bites,'' but no other info or any concept sketches were ever made.
60	** There was going to be one more ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' book, but it got scrapped when the line ended. Artist Craig White shared the cover artwork with the Goosebumps wiki and, while the plot's still unknown, the cover featured some malevolent looking penguins in an arctic setting.
61	** While ''Shop Till You Drop...Dead!'' from the ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' series was the first to be illustrated by Craig White, there exists sketches by original series cover artist Mark Nagata, which were never used. These [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/goosebumps/images/4/4f/Shop_Till_You_Drop...Dead_%28The_Bizarre_Bazaar%29_-_Concept_A.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/477?cb=20171016012725 can]] [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/goosebumps/images/5/5d/Shop_Till_You_Drop...Dead_%28The_Bizarre_Bazaar%29_-_Concept_B.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/486?cb=20171016012726 be]] [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/goosebumps/images/b/b7/Shop_Till_You_Drop...Dead_%28The_Bizarre_Bazaar%29_-_Concept_C.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/486?cb=20171016012726 seen]] [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/goosebumps/images/e/e5/Shop_Till_You_Drop...Dead_%28The_Bizarre_Bazaar%29_-_Concept_D.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/486?cb=20171016012727 here]]. His notes also seem to imply that the book's original title was ''The Bizarre Bazar''.
62	** The Triple Header monster was originally designed to look like a teen monster with three separate heads instead of the extra two growing out of the monster's shoulders. Extra artwork from Tim Jacobus implies a third novella collection was planned as well. Stine also once stated he was working on a third entry.
63	** A couple of early plot summaries from the "Goosebumps Horrorland" books are different from what was ultimately released, such as Robby Schwartz's brother Sam being older and the creator of the Dr. Maniac webcomic instead of Robby himself, and a few of the Very Special Guests having younger siblings along on their trip to Horrorland.
64	** An early summary for ''The Lizard of Oz'' stated that the book would be about the protagonist ordering a lizard egg off the internet, while in the final book, she gets it from Australia, and it's her parents' idea.
65	** An early summary for ''It's Alive! It's Alive!'' described Livvy and her brother Jayden building a robot using dangerous AI equipment that their mother, a scientist, warned them not to use. In the final book, Jayden is replaced with Livvy's friend Gates and they build the robot themselves, unable to understand why it's malfunctioning (although Livvy's mother is still a scientist and this is significant to the plot.)
66	** An early summary for ''The Dummy Meets the Mummy!'' implied would be the focus ala ''Slappy's Nightmare'' and that he would be brought back to life by a girl on a class trip. In the final book, he is already alive when he is sent there and the girl is the focus instead of the a minor aspect like the summary implied.
67	** ''The Art Of Goosebumps'' reveals many early ConceptArt sketches for the covers of both the original series an Series 2000. Some have drastically different ideas than the final design.
68	*** ''One Day at Horrorland'' originally showed three kids(presumably Lizzy, Luke and Clay) riding a beast-shaped rollercoaster car. It was scrapped likely because the kids don't get on a rollercoaster in the final book.
69	*** One sketch for ''My Hairiest Adventure'' has Larry's right hand morphing into a paw, with his ears large furry and pointed. Either this was changed to avoid giving away the twist ending, or the book was originally going for a more straightforward {{Animorphism}} premise.
70	*** ''Ghost Beach'' was originally going to feature Harrison Sadler on the cover, a few sketches showing his face forming from a tidal wave crashing on the shore. He's a RedHerring in the actual story, so they went with an anonymous cloaked spirit to presumably stop it from being misleading.
71	*** Instead of human eyes, ''The Haunted School'' was going to have the eyes of a huge shadowy monster staring from the locker or behind a cracked chalkboard, possibly indicating there was originally going to be [[EldritchAbomination something much more monstrous and inhuman than the Class of 1947 inhabiting GreyWorld.]] Another sketch depicts the front of the forboding school itself ala ''Dead House'', but called "Shady Rise" instead of Bell Valley.
72	*** The original cover concept for ''Fright Camp'' was a terrified camper [[ElectricTorture strapped into an electric chair hooked up to Farraday's "Fear Meter."]] This was changed because [[{{Bowdlerize}} the editors feared it would be too intense for the cover of a pre-teen book.]]
73	* WordOfDante: Before 2015, "You and I are one now" as the English translation of "Karru Marri Odonna Loma Molonu Karrano" -- given how widely this was accepted as fact, it's hard to believe this was purely a popular fan interpretation of a line from the TV series that didn't reach canonical status until 19 years later.
74	* WorkingTitle:
75	** ''The Horror At Camp Jellyjam'': ''Smelly Summer''
76	** ''The Curse of Camp Cold Lake'': ''The Ghost of Camp Cold Lake''
77	** ''Werewolf Skin'': ''I Want To Be A Werewolf for Halloween''
78	** ''Earth Geeks Must Go!'': ''Earth Geeks Must Die!''
79	** ''Shop Til You Drop...Dead!'': ''The Bizarre Bizzar''
80	** ''Ship of Ghouls'': ''Deadly Cruise''
81	** ''Escape From Horror House'': ''They're After You''
82	** ''Attack of the Jack'': ''Jack Attack''
83	* WriteWhatYouKnow: Stine says in his autobiography that he grew up poor but lived in a rich neighborhood and felt out of place with everyone else. The protagonists of ''Diary of a Dummy'' are in a very similar situation.
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85	!!Trivia for the comic book series
86	* {{Tuckerization}}: The protagonists of ''Horrors of the Witch House'' attend Robert Lawrence Middle School.
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Context Trivia / Goosebumps