[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/my_pet_monster.jpg]]

In 1986, the American Greetings Corporation released a line of plush dolls of a horned, blue-furred monster with orange plastic handcuffs that had a breakaway link on them. Known as ''My Pet Monster'', this was one of the very few male-oriented plush toys of the day and proved quite the hit. So much so that American Greetings began working with the famous Canadian studio Creator/{{Nelvana}} to produce media featuring the character. And the first result of this endeavor was simply titled ''My Pet Monster''.

''My Pet Monster'' is a 1986 direct-to-video movie distributed by Hi-Tops Video (a subsidiary of the now-defunct Media Home Entertainment) and standing out as one of Nelvana's few non-animated productions. This MerchandiseDriven film follows Max, a young boy who gains the ability to transform into the titular monster whenever he's hungry after visiting a museum and being exposed to the mysterious powers of an ancient statue depicting the creature. With the help of his sister Melanie, Max must escape the clutches of the scientist who discovered the statue, Dr. Snyder, who seeks to capture Max for publicity purposes.

The ''My Pet Monster'' movie was created with the intention of being the PilotMovie for a full TV series, but this ultimately never came to be. Instead, a year later Nelvana would produce an AnimatedAdaptation of the same name, which ran on Creator/{{ABC}} for 1 season. Unlike the film, which had very little to do with the toyline it was based on beyond the monster's appearance, the cartoon stuck much more closely to the idea behind the plush (namely having the monster as Max's friend instead of being something he turns into). It also featured several actors from the movie, such as Creator/AlysonCourt and Creator/ColinFox, although some of them took on slightly different roles. Tropes for the cartoon can be found [[WesternAnimation/MyPetMonster here]].

''My Pet Monster'' also received a series of children's storybooks published by Golden Books (the children's book imprint of Western Publishing). They featured a similar setup to the cartoon, except the monster lived in a cave that let out into the basement of Max's house.
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!! Tropes found in this movie
* AdaptationDyeJob: In the movie, Max and his sister both have brown hair. In the animated series, they’re blonde.
* AdaptationalNameChange: In the movie, Max’s sister’s name is Melanie. In the animated series, her name is Jill.
* AffectionateNickname: In the animated series, Jill calls Monster “Monzie”.
* BaldOfEvil: Snyder has male pattern baldness.
* BigBadEnsemble: Snyder and the dognappers are separate threats.
* TheCameo: Two other characters appear in the 8-bit opening but aren't seen in the movie itself - Beastur, Monster's ArchEnemy, and My Football Monster, a spin-off of the toy.
* ChildHater: Dr. Snyder hates being a tour guide to "brats".
* CoversAlwaysLie: The monster looks ''nothing'' like the creature on the cover of the box. That's because the costume used in the movie was so cheap and awful that they decided to use the actual doll instead.
* CursedWithAwesome: Max hates the fact that he periodically turns into a monster with SuperStrength. His sister, however, is convinced that it is the coolest thing ever.
* ExtremeOmnivore: Max in monster form.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The statue that transforms Max and transforms Snyder at the end.
* HulkSpeak: This is how the monster talks in the animated series.
* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: "I am a man of science, not a tour guide!"
* InNameOnly: The movie does a TitleDrop, at one point, but shouldn't the ''point'' of the movie be the fact that the ''Monster'' is '''supposed to be the pet'''? The title makes no sense when you take those facts into consideration.
** There was a Saturday morning cartoon version where the monster actually is Max's pet, rather than Max turning into the monster.
* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: In the movie, Max changes into his monster form whenever he gets hungry.
* MerchandiseDriven: It's a movie based on a stuffed animal.
* [[ADogNamedDog A Monster Named Monster]]: In the series, the monster is only ever called "Monster", although Max's sister Jill insists on calling him "Monzie".
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Dr. Snyder.
* PaperThinDisguise: At the end of the movie they take Max to a dog show pretending he's their dog. A blue-furred gorilla/troll thing. And nobody questions it.
* PinballProtagonist: When left to his own devices, Max does little more than mope. He has to be pushed along by Melanie to get anything done.
* SequelHook: The film ends with the BigBad implied to gain monster powers of his own. Though, with how the statue looks, it's also implied that he will become Beastur.
* SuddenVideoGameMoment: Interestingly, the film ''opens'' like this, showing a fictitious arcade game of My Pet Monster.
* SuperEmpowering: The monster idol that zaps people so they periodically change into monsters and back again.
* SuperSenses: One of the powers of Max's monster form.
* SuperSpeed: Another of Max's powers in his monster form.
* SuperStrength: Yet another one of monster! Max's powers.
* ThemeTuneRap: The animated series does this in the bridge, but the theme song is sung otherwise.
* TitleDrop: When a girl sees Max in monster form and asks what he is, a boy replies "That's my pet monster".
* VillainousUnderdog: Dr. Snyder wants to catch Max to use as a specimen to boost his career, but really has nothing that makes him a match for a [[SuperStrength super-strong]], [[SuperSpeed super-fast]] monster that can [[ExtremeOmnivore eat anything]]. Had there been a sequel he would've been on more even footing with a monster form of his own.
* VocalDissonance: Max still keeps the same voice after turning into a monster.
* WorstNewsJudgementEver: Apparently, in the world of My Pet Monster, a dog being the favorite to win a dog show is worthy of the front page.
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