Middlington Middle School. An ordinary school filled with ordinary kids without the ordinary problems of growing up. But in my case, life is anything but ordinary. You see, I was raised by bugs. Get the picture?
Growing Up Creepie, also known simply as Creepie, is an animated Horror Comedy edutainment series produced by Discovery Kids that aired from September 2006 to June 2008.
The show follows a young Goth girl named Creepella "Creepie" Creecher who was orphaned as an infant and raised by the thousands of insects that reside in an old, decrepit mansion. Upon hitting adolescence, she's finally given license to attend middle school with other human children, only to discover that much of her species is surprisingly entemophobic. As such, as she attends Middlington Middle School and makes new friends, she must keep the true nature of her home life secret in order to protect both herself and her family.
The entire series can be viewed for free on Kabillion's YouTube page here
, and despite how the episodes are labeled there, this is a Two Shorts cartoon.
Tropes represented on this show:
- 555: The phone number to Creepie's home is 555-0150.
- Afraid of Clowns: Creepie may be a Creepy Child and a Nightmare Fetishist, but clowns are what creep her out the most. According to "Creepie Crawling", Creepie's been afraid of clowns since she was a baby, if her wailing at the sight of a painting of a clown is anything to go by.
- Alliterative Name: Creepie Creecher, Budge Bentley, Melanie Melisma, Carla Cabrera, Harry Helby, etc.
- Alpha Bitch: Downplayed with Melanie and Carla. Despite acting in typical Alpha Bitch fashion, and seeming to be two of the show's antagonists, they are (sort of) Creepie's friends.
- Played much straighter with Regina.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: In contrast with the usual rock song for its intro, the French version uses a slower song that incorporates Music Box Intervals for the melody, reminiscent of a children's nursery rhyme. It even has a music video that promotes the cartoon.
- Amplified Animal Aptitude: Most insects in this show behave like humans, and even live well over a decade at the least. This gets kind of weird when mistreatment of bugs (and their reaction) becomes an issue, ranging from offhand comments to becoming the basis of a plot. Raised by bugs or not, you'd think someone other than Creepie would notice.
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Creepie presents bug-related factoids between the animated segments.
- ...And 99¢: In "Attack of the Wasp Zombies", Chris-Alice charges $2.99 for a hat.
- Big Eater: Caroleena, an insect, eats an entire frog whole. How's that for a Karmic Death?
- Carry the One: In "I was a Teenage Wolf Bug", when an antidote Budge made doesn't work, he comments that he always forgets to carry the two.
- Catchphrase:
- Creepie: "Wicked!"
- Chris-Alice: "Soggy Muffins" and "Super Mega Duper".
- Raven: "Gruesome" and "Gruesomely Awesome".
- Charlie and the Chocolate Parody: "Creepie and the Candy Factory" revolves around Creepie and her class on a field trip at Sweetie McSwiss' candy factory where Creepie encounters a horde of mitch flies which are used to power the machines.
- The Clan: Being formed by insects, Creepie's family is really big.
- Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: In "Frogenstein", Caroleena tries to stick to her diet but keeps finding bugs she loves to eat wherever she goes.
- Creepy Doll: In "Creepie's Living Doll", Creepie receives... well, a doll that follows her everywhere. And by everywhere, we mean it can teleport in Creepie's desk or out of a chest she just locked two seconds ago.
- Disguised in Drag: In "Nightmare on Locust Lane", Budge disguises himself as a fortune teller to keep Chris-Alice busy so Creepie can get the insects that are haunting her house to leave.
- Doorstop Baby: Creepie's "origin", as explained in both the theme song and the episode "Creepy Crawling".
- Explosive Breeder: Vincent and Caroleena have lots of...um, children. Most, if not all of them are a very diverse array of insects, so they're adopted at best. Plus, he's a mosquito and she's a Praying Mantis...
- Extreme Omnivore: Caroleena devours a previously dead frog that had been reanimated as a cyborg. She either didn't notice or didn't care and ate the mechanical parts too, as is evident when she burps and light shines out of her eyes.
- Every Episode Ending: All of the episodes end with a sketch featuring Creepie sharing facts of the insect featured in the episode.
- Fake Band: In "Going For Brogue", The 3 Goth Kids formed their own rockband calling themselves "Plaid Vapors", with Raven the guitarist, Misery the pianist, & Morpheus the drummer. Their chance to play at the school dance may have got canceled due to it's bagpipers gone batty, but believe it or not their 1st gig was a huge success. This was in large part in their friend Creepie Creecher & her mastery of the bagpipes, Raven Mcfadden herself was so proud of her that night. What she also told Creepie that the bagpipes itself contain the ghost of her great great great great great grandfather Angus Mcfadden, born in Scotland no doubt.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Ghosts, aliens, living dolls, haunted bagpipes, mythological creatures.
- Farce: In "Headless Roach Man", Creepie mistakes a giant headless roach creature for Butch.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Creepie's arm wear is striped on the right arm, but not on the left, while it's the other way around for her leg wear.
- Fly Crazy: Gnat.
- For Inconvenience, Press "1": When Ms. Monseratte phones Creepie's home, she listens to a recorded message instructing her to press 1 for maggots; 2 for larvae; and 3 for others.
- Friend to Bugs: Creepie usually goes out of her way to rescue or otherwise help the local insect populations whenever they're threatened by bug repellent, ultraviolet lights, pesticide, or other perils. Justified since she was raised by them.
- Genki Girl: Chris-Alice is always loud, excitable, and endlessly optimistic. Though she means well, she tends to involve Creepie and the other kids in whatever her next big project or event is, regardless of their level of interest. She and Creepie are almost polar opposites in terms of their personalities and aesthetics, but for some reason, they're friends anyway.
- Gentle Giant: Budge is physically the biggest of the middle-school students, but wouldn't hurt a fly - literally, since he's one of the few who knows Creepie's secret.
- Giant Spider: Marge, Skipper's adopted mother, happens to be this.
- Got Volunteered: In "Legend of the Locker", Josh volunteers Creepie and Chris-Alice into taking sports equipment back into the storage room as part of a plan to prank them. Creepie later volunteers Josh into a similar task as part of a retaliation prank.
- Goth: Creepie also has a cadre of goth friends/acquaintances. None are really portrayed negatively.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Subverted with Tarantula Boy/Skipper, who seems to be half spider, half human, but he's just a normal boy with a costume.
- Happily Adopted: Creepie was adopted by bugs, and she and her family deeply cherish each other.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl:
- Creepie and Budge, the latter being a huge schoolboy.
- Creepie and Tarantula Boy/Skipper, although it's less him being huge than Creepie being really small.
- Hypnotic Eyes: The eponymous wasp in "Attack of the Wasp Zombies" has these, which he uses on unsuspecting victims before stinging them and turning them into his mindless slaves.
- In One Ear, Out The Other: In "Night of Fright" Gnat is buzzing around Creepie trying to aggravate her. He finally succeeds when he flies into her right ear and emerges out her left ear seconds later cackling "Anybody home?".
- Instant Fan Club: In "The Return of Tarantula Boy", when Melanie, Carla, and several other kids know of Creepie's date with Tarantula Boy.
- Interspecies Romance: Creepie's dad Vincent is a mosquito, while her mom Caroleena is a praying mantis.
- Kiddie Kid: Chris Alice can be this at times: she is easily overexcited by snow or thinking Creepie's Creepy Doll is pretty.
- Mirror Character: Skipper, aka Tarantula Boy, is this to Creepie. He's a sweet boy who has an extensive knowledge of insects, and a love for things considered scary or gross. Oh, and he was raised by a Giant Spider.
- Mistaken Identity: In "Headless Roach Man", Budge dresses as a headless roach as Creepie's date for the Masquerade Ball; when he becomes late and an actual headless roach appears, Creepie mistakes the roach for Budge.
- Neat Freak: Ms. Monseratte.
- New Transfer Student: "Wanna Bee".
- Nice Guy:
- Harry. In "Wax Attacks", he hangs out with Creepie at the wax museum after being fed up with Melanie and Carla picking on her.
- Creepie, herself, is incredibly kind and friendly, and, if you pardon the expression, wouldn't hurt a fly.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Creepie, Raven, Misery & Morpheus, & Tarantula Boy/Skipper. "How Wicked is that?"
- No Social Skills: Chris-Alice was shocked after Creepie admitted the truth behind her talking to inanimate objects excuse, unfortunately Ms. Monseratte didn't believe her story and she had to visit the principal's office for therapy.
- This was never brought up again. Chris-Alice must have been convinced it was all due to the stress over the school dance.
- Odd Friendship: It's unknown why Creepie and Chris-Alice are friends, having clashing personalities and hardly anything in common. Not to mention the fact that Chris-Alice's father happens to be a very competitive exterminator.
- Official Couple: Creepie and two-episode Skipper (aka Tarantula Boy)note
- Origins Episode: "Creepie Crawling" shows how Creepie was adopted by the bugs and learned to adjust to the human world for the first time.
- The Patriarch: Vincent.
- Perky Goth: Creepie. She's not that perky, but not so mopey either.
- Punny Name:
- Creepie Creechernote .
- Chris-Alice sounds like "chrysalis". Doubles as Ironic Name.
- Raised by Wolves: Creepie was raised by bugs.
- Real After All: The Twist Ending of nearly every episode. Most of the episode's antics are attributed to Creepie's various creepy-crawly relatives, but something actually supernatural is usually revealed at the last minute.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Budge wanted to be a cheerleader. However, he should conform with being the team pet (No, not that Team Pet)
- Riddle for the Ages: Who are Creepie's biological parents and why did they abandon her? In front of an abandoned house?
- Satellite Love Interest: Skipper for Creepie. At first she was only interested in him because she thought he was a half-spider hybrid and she lost all interest in him once she found out he wasn't. Then later she became interested in him again only because his adoptive mother is a spider.
- They have something in common after all, since they're both raised by bugs. Even before she found out, she had fun on their second date.
- Scary Black Man: When Budge is introduced in the first episode, he appears to be this, but is quickly subverted. Though he sort of acted like this when Carla and Melanie made fun of Creepie because of her stalking doll found in her locker in the episode "Creepie's Living Doll".
- Secret Identity: Creepie has to keep her insect family a secret from all humans, especially her schoolmates.
- Secret-Keeper: Budge. Eventually, Creepie also tried to confide in Chris-Alice, but...well, see No Social Skills.
- Shout-Out:
- The Tarantula Boy movie trailer is somewhat similar to Spider-Man.
- Episode titles reference various horror media like Children of the Corn, The Blair Witch Project, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
- Silly Walk: Creepie's Marvin the Martian-like walk.
- Slaying Mantis: Creepie's adoptive mother is a praying mantis named Caroleena. For the most part, she's very friendly, though she has threatened to eat her kids if they disobey her. And, in relation to Big Eater above, she is shown to have occasional gluttonous fantasies, similar to how real female mantises are indeed big eaters. Amazingly enough, the show actually averts the Black Widow stereotype that female mantises are usually given in fiction.
- Stealth Pun: Chris-Alice - say it fast, and it sounds like "chrysalis."
- Stern Teacher: Ms. Monseratte, She's always spying on Creepie and the other students at Middlington Middle School and is a stickler for rules. She's obsessed with cleanliness. She will usually hand out a detention slip if a student even so much as accidentally bump into her. Creepie's homeroom teacher, Dr. Pappas, like Ms. Monseratte, is stern too.
- The Stinger: Episodes are followed by a bonus segment where Creepie shares facts about the episode's featured insect.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Creepie is rather cynical and snarky, but she's also kind and caring of her insect family and friends.
- Terrified of Germs: Ms. Monseratte always carries an antibacterial spray with her.
- Two Girls and a Guy: Chris-Alice and Creepie are the girls, and Budge is the guy.
- Two-Teacher School: Dr. Pappas and Ms. Monseratte are the only teachers we see.
- Vegetarian Vampire: Vincent is a male mosquito with a vampire aesthetic. Only female mosquitoes drink blood, so he fits the trope.
- Why Did It Have To Be Clowns?: Creepie is afraid of clowns, complete with the same line.
- The Worm That Walks: In one episode, the principal Ms. Monseratte had to visit Creepie's home. In an attempt to appear "normal", Creepie's bug family crammed into a bathrobe, with a speaker attatched, and called themselves her "mom".
