The Seven Monsters
In general
- Adaptational Modesty: One, Three, Four and Five are depicted wearing clothes, when they went naked in the original book.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: The seven monsters in the original book were remorseless troublemakers who enjoy terrorizing humans, while the animated series makes them nicer and more interested in befriending and playing with humans than they are in scaring them. Even when they do end up doing something wrong, it is rarely deliberate and they tend to apologize and make restitution for their actions at the first opportunity.
- Gentle Giant: All of them are significantly bigger than humans in addition to being very friendly.
- Related in the Adaptation: The cartoon establishes that they're siblings, when the original book gave no indication at all that the seven monsters were related.
- Vague Age: It's nigh-impossible to determine the monsters' ages. While they're giants who look and sound like adults, they are frequently shown to lack basic knowledge that their mother or another person has to educate them about, which is often a subject adults are unlikely to be ignorant of, plus "The Whole Tooth" revolves around Six losing a baby tooth when it is impossible for adults to have any baby teeth left. On the other hand, flashbacks to when they were younger clearly show them to be significantly smaller as young children, Three's personas frequently have his character demonstrate knowledge and skills that he'd realistically obtain through years of higher education and the alternate timeline shown in "It's a Wonder-Four Life" shows most of the monsters in lines of work where they'd have to at least graduate high school to be eligible for hiring (such as Six's counterpart being a dance instructor while Two and Seven's counterparts run their own stores). While their Mama does say in "Seven Monsters and a Baby" that it has been 40 years since she last had a chance to rest, she says nothing about where in that timeframe her children were born. The best guestimate is that they're "kids in monster years".
One
One
- Voiced by: Joanne Vannicola
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: For some reason, the show's tie-in books by Volo depict her as not wearing any clothes besides her hat.
- All Flyers Are Birds: Sort of; she not only has wings but also birdlike talons for feet.
- Fiery Redhead: One has red hair and can get easily tempered whenever her siblings get rude and do something bad.
- Flight: She's the only monster who can fly, considering she's the only one with wings.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: "You didn't just say [number higher than 7]", which leads into a song-and-dance routine by the monsters.
- Neat Freak: She brings up in "Nightmare on Chestnut Street" that her worst nightmare is dusting a long hallway only to turn around and see that it's instantly become filthy again.
- Pink Means Feminine: Subverted. Her cap, long shirt, and shorts are all shades of pink, but she's a tomboyish sports girl.
- The Stool Pigeon: Sometimes squeals on her siblings when they misbehave; most notably in the episode "I'm Telling".
- Team Mom: She tries to act like one when their mother isn't around, but she can't keep her rambunctious siblings under control at all, nor can she keep her patience with them.
- Tomboy: She loves playing all kinds of sports.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The athletic tomboy to Six's girly girl.
- Two Girls to a Team: She and Six are the only two females among the seven monsters.
- Winged Humanoid: Has a pair of short wings on her back.
Two
Two
- Voiced by: Colin Mochrie
- Adaptation Dye-Job: He has dark brown hair, when he was blond in Maurice Sendak's original book.
- Butt-Monkey: Often meets with misfortune either from his siblings or through humorous circumstances.
- Cursed with Awesome: He goes through "The Nose Knows" believing that his big nose is more of a curse than a blessing until his nose leads him to find their missing pet Belinda.
- Gag Nose: Two often gets into really sticky situations involving his nose, like, for instance, he accidentally poked Five in the episode "Good Morning!", his nose got crooked and said a really bad word in "The Bad Word", and he sneezed a whole lot of times, like in the episode "It's a Wonder-Four Life".
- Nice Guy: He is one of the nicest, if not, most nicest characters on the show.
- The Nose Knows: The episode "The Nose Knows" is the trope namer. His nose can come in handy a lot of different ways, like for example, getting a cat off a tree, and later, getting Belinda out of a tree.
- Sitcom Character Archetypes: The Square. In contrast to his wackier siblings, he's usually the most down-to-earth.
- Straight Man: Shares this role with One as a more sensible character reacting to the antics of his zanier siblings.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Their mother often says that he reminds her a lot of his father.
Three
Three
- Voiced by: Dwayne Hill
- Alas, Poor Yorick: His persona in "April Fools" and "A Pony Tale" is a William Shakespeare pastiche named William Three, both episodes appropriately featuring an homage to Hamlet where Three holds Seven's head in a manner similar to Hamlet holding Yorick's skull.
- Attention Whore: He loves being in the spotlight. He even takes on the role of baby in one episode to compete with the affection of a neighbor's newborn.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: He sometimes directly speaks to the audience, with some of these instances even having him serve as the episode's narrator.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Most of the personas are rather quirky and eccentric individuals, but nonetheless prove themselves to be rather intelligent.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Just about every episode has him adopting a different persona for no reason.
- Cosplay: In most episodes, he wears a costume appropriate for the persona he's used for the episode.
- Drama Queen: Quite literally. He takes on a different character role almost every episode.
- Genius Ditz: In spite of his loopiness, he can be very insightful and observant at times and often gives informative lectures to his siblings about everyday topics.
- Large Ham: His disguises can be quite hammy sometimes.
- Man of a Thousand Voices: His actor gives him a distinct voice for every persona.
- Mock Cousteau: "My Favorite Crustacean" has him adopt the persona of Jacques Threesteau, who speaks in a French accent and tells his siblings facts about marine life.
- Mr. Exposition: He's usually the one to explain a new concept to the others.
- Non-Action Guy: Whenever the other monsters are on a team sport, he usually doesn’t participate, instead opting to be their referee, a sports announcer, or just off doing his own thing.
- Tuxedo and Martini: In the episodes "The Big Store" and "No Place Like Home", his persona is a secret agent with a Scottish brogue named Double-O-Three, a clear homage to Sean Connery's portrayal of James Bond.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He is really afraid of mice, according to the episode "The Adventures of Super Three".
Four
Four
- Voiced by: Seán Cullen
- Agent Scully: He is by far the most skeptical of the monsters.
- Catchphrase: "Who are you supposed to be today, Three?"
- Deadpan Snarker: He fits this role both audibly and visually.
- Green and Mean: He has green fur and, while not a completely rotten person, is shown to be the meanest of the seven monsters.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: He doesn't wear pants.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his nasty temper, he is shown to love his siblings a lot. As is, a mild example is this episode "It's a Wonder-Four Life", where he gets annoyed by his siblings' antics to the degree that he wishes he were an only child, but regrets having his wish come true and is grateful to have them be his family again after he undoes his wish.
- Middle Child Syndrome: As the middle child, he doesn't feel like he has things as good as his older and younger siblings.
- The Napoleon: He is the shortest of his siblings, although he's still a giant.
- No-Respect Guy: His Jerkass tendencies don't earn him any respect from his siblings.
- Sibling Rivalry:
- With Three, with whom he gets into a fair amount of arguments. He also frequently challenges Three's knowledge.
- With One, because he wants to be in charge and resents having not been born first.
- Token Evil Teammate: He's not entirely a bad guy, but is noticeably the most self-centered, rude and grouchy of the monsters.
- Troll: In "Good Night", he disregards One's insistence that he not say "Don't let the bedbugs bite", knowing full well that the mention of bedbugs will upset Seven.
- Vocal Evolution: His voice was originally deeper and gruffer in the first two episodes, "Good Morning" and "Good Night".
Five
Five
- Voiced by: Seán Cullen
- Animal Lover: He is especially fond of animals.
- Acro Fatic: The biggest monster but no less rambunctious than the others.
- Big Eater: Throughout the whole series, he is shown to be eating large amounts of food.
- Big Fun: He is one of the most fun monsters in the whole series.
- Cheerful Child: He is quite energetic a whole lot.
- Childish Older Sibling: He acts the most immature of the monsters, even his younger siblings Six and Seven.
- Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: When he does talk.
- Extreme Omnivore: He sometimes eats stuff that isn't usually edible. "Seven Monsters and a Baby", for example, has him eat a treasure map and a bar of soap.
- Gag Nose: His nose makes a honking sound a whole lot. As is, a rich example would be in "The Mystery of the Missing Five", when Six accidentally steps on his nose, sounding more like a "Arrrrrrnk!".
- Kiddie Kid: He acts the most immature out of all his siblings, even Six and Seven who are younger than him.
- Morality Pet: He brings out Four's good side.
- Multipurpose Tongue: His tongue is often used as an extra appendage when he has to reach for something his hands aren't close enough to get to.
- Overly-Long Tongue: His tongue comes in handy, either to lick people or to pick up food.
- The Unintelligible: Though it's a little more comprehensible, even in later episodes. Four translates for him.
Six
Six
- Voiced by: Michele Scarabelli
- Ballet: She goes to ballet class, and is always seen wearing her tutu and carrying her ballet wand.
- The Ditz: She isn't really stupid at all, but she occasionally has airhead moments, mostly by being oblivious to her surroundings.
- Drama Queen: She can be very melodramatic at times.
- The Fashionista: She's a bit obsessed when it comes to wardrobe.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: She has to be crazy about stuffed animals, considering her bed is full of them.
- Girly Girl: She is considerably more traditionally feminine than her older sister One.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: She wears a purple tutu and is very in tune with her femininity.
- The Klutz: Ironically, for the most graceful monster, she is.
- Pride: She's very vain.
- Running Gag: For someone so graceful, she's tripping over her own feet every other episode.
- Sleepy Head: She needs her beauty sleep, after all, so it's common for her to be asleep at inappropriate times.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The ballet-loving girly girl to One's tomboy.
Seven
Seven
- Voiced by: Seán Cullen
- Borrowed Catchphrase: "Doctor, Doctor" has him say "You didn't just say [number higher than 7]" instead of One, as One is the one who said a number higher than 7 (i.e., 10) that time.
- Cranium Chase: He occasionally tries to chase after his detachable head after losing it, and is always Played for Laughs.
- Karloff Kopy: His voice is very similar to Boris Karloff, which is rather appropriate given that his physical appearance is somewhat reminiscent of Frankenstein's Monster.
- The Klutz: He can be very clumsy.
- Losing Your Head: He can remove his own head and live.
- Lovable Coward: He's the most easily scared of the monsters, but is just as friendly and nice as the other six.
- Nervous Wreck: He is a frequent worrywart.
- Perky Goth: He's got the voice and look of a classic movie monster, but is in reality very sweet.
- Required Secondary Powers: His head screws on and rolls around a lot when detached but he appears immune to motion sickness.
- The Storyteller: He is sometimes shown to have a knack for spinning yarns, with "Losing Sam" having him try to make Five feel better about the disappearance of his pet turtle Sam by conceiving an elaborate story about Sam winding up in a different land and "A Five-y Tale" having him make up a story about a hedgehog named Donovan who goes on a quest with a pair of lizards to rescue a princess. The latter episode also has it mentioned that he's almost as good at telling stories as the monsters' mother is.
- Trademark Favorite Food: He really likes to eat cheese.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He is very scared of bugs, to the extent that in "Good Night", telling him not to let the bedbugs bite backfires due to making him too frightened to go to sleep.
Other Characters
Mama
Mom
- Voiced by: Debra McGrath
- Canon Foreigner: She had no indication of existing in the original book and was created for the animated series.
- Funny Foreigner: She speaks broken English in a Slavic accent for no apparent reason other than her dialogue being funnier that way.
- Good Parent: Let it not be said that she doesn't love all seven of her children.
- Hammerspace: She sometimes pulls stuff from her apron pockets that realistically would be way too big to fit.
- Jerkass Ball: She's usually a caring parent, but when she gets annoyed by her children making too much noise while Two is trying to come up with a song in "All's Quiet on the Monster Front", she kicks them out of the house while it's raining.
- Team Mom: Of course, she's the monsters' mother and the main voice of guidance.
- Unnamed Parent: She is only called "Mama".
Belinda
In her first appearance.
The monsters' pet cow, who they bring home from the grocery store in "Good Morning".- All Animals Are Dogs: In spite of being a cow, she sometimes behaves like a canine.
- Canon Foreigner: She did not exist in the original book and was created for the animated series.
- Team Pet: She's the group's token domesticated animal.
Mary
In the ep "A Pony Tale"
- Voiced by: Unknown
- Audience Surrogate: She is an average girl who adjusts to living next to a house full of monsters.
- Canon Foreigner: Like with just about every character in the animated series besides the seven monsters themselves, she was created exclusively for the cartoon and didn't exist in the original book.
- Nice Girl: She's a pleasant girl who quickly befriends the seven monsters.
- Totally Radical: She uses slang from the '60s such as "groovy" and "far out", though she isn't a New-Age Retro Hippie.
