Literature / Little Monsters

All they wanna do is have some fun...

Little Monsters is a series of books written by Tony Garth and released in the United Kingdom in 1997. The books are similar to the Mr. Men series of books, being individual accounts of a group of characters based around personality traits, but they instead involve a certain mischievous kid (sometimes averted) and their parents. The kid has a problem related to their behavior before something manages to make them change their ways.

The books are more well known for a cartoon aired on BBC in 1998. A CGI revival was set to air in Spring 2016, but it was scrapped for undisclosed reasons.

The books and the cartoon contain examples of:

• 65-Episode Cartoon: The 2016 revival was supposed to be one.
• Accidental Tickle Torture: Ticklish Timmy has these all the time, even from something as simple as drinking lemonade. Everybody else finds it funny as well.
• Aesop Amnesia: The kids sometimes get this mere seconds after learning their lesson. For example, Bossy Bethany learns she shouldn't be bossy after a Drill Sergeant Nasty gives her a taste of her own medicine and apologizes to the others, but immediately starts being bossy again.
• Alliterative Name: The kids. Double Subverted with I-Want William, though.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: While the British cover for TV Trevor shows him happily posing as The Galactic Kid, two of the Greek covers show him with a more heroic look.^note This was taken from an illustration from the book.
• Amusement Park: Adventure World, which is featured in Mahogany Gorilla Pelmets as well as the book the episode was based from.
• Animated Adaptation: Some of the episodes of the cartoon are based off the books; for example, Cognito and Tickled Pink.
• Annoying Laugh: Ticklish Timmy's parents hate his uncontrollable laughing fits, as seen in Attack of the Giggles.
• Baby-Doll Baby: In Little Monsters Christmas Carole, a baby doll is used as a representation of Jesus, with Miss Harper making the kids pretend as if he is real. This is then lampshaded by Irving:
  Irving: But it's just a doll, Miss.
  Miss Harper: I know it's a doll. We're pretending, remember?
• Bedsheet Ghost: Comical Colin dresses up as one in order to scare his parents.
• Berserk Button: Practically anything for Tantrum Tabitha. No points for guessing what happens then.
  • Don't try to make Nude Nigel wear clothes.
• Blind Without 'Em: At one point in the episode Nancy and the Dinosaurs, Know-All Nancy loses her glasses and frantically tries to get them back, only for her to run away from them and into a fire extinguisher.
• Blowing a Raspberry: Rude Roger plays with this trope to the point where he uses it to show excitement.
• Bookends: Some books use this trope. One example is when Silly Sydney decides to stop being so silly while leaving Adventure World, but then pulls off a face at the lady driving behind the family car.
  • Zig-Zagged in one book. Tantrum Tabitha asks her mum to take her to bed, or else she'll scream. It isn't revealed if that happened or not when the book ends.
• Bowdlerise: The Canadian cover to Too-Late Toby's book replaces the original artwork of him peeing his pants with that of Toby noticing he's wearing winter clothes in spring. This is double subverted by the fact that all mentions of Potty Failure are kept intact within the book itself.
• Chekhov's Gun: Ticklish Timmy's uncontrollable laughter is used to help increase Corky the Clown's popularity performing for children.
• Class Clown: Some of the kids are this trope at school.
• The Comically Serious: Serious Sadie becomes this at the end of her book.
• Contagious Laughter: See Accidental Tickle Torture above.
• Cosplay: TV Trevor loves this trope as part of his TV obsession.
• Disappeared Dad: Know-All Nancy's dad, Contrary Constance's dad, and Sickly Simon's dad were never shown.
• Electric Joybuzzer: This is among the many pranks Comical Colin pulls off on someone, this one being his dad.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The adjectives in the names of the kids show what their behavior is like.
• Expository Theme Tune: "We are little monsters/All we wanna do is have some fun..."
• Eye Scream: Silly Sydney often bugs his eyes out and lets them flash different colors.
• Flash In The Pan Fad: This is what drives the conflict for Stylish Stephanie; the students in her class wear goofy outfits, changing them by the next day. She eventually gets so fed up with it in about a few days.
• The Freelance Shame Squad: Subverted in one book. After Naughty Norman rips apart a pillow at a store, a huge crowd appears to see him laughing while his mother is embarrassed at the whole thing.
• Get Out!: While not actually said, in Prime Time, a security guard says "And stay out!" as he kicks TV Trevor out of a television studio.
• Hated by All: When Cute Candy wants to play the role of the Big Bad Wolf in a school play, she behaves badly in order to earn it. However, this leads to her losing friends in the process.
• Heel–Face Turn: Some of the kids have this at the end of their books.
• The Hyena: The smallest thing will make Ticklish Timmy laugh due to how sensitive his skin is.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: After Comical Colin's parents get tired of him always pulling off practical jokes on them, they decide to get him back by giving him a parcel with a spring-loaded monster head inside, scaring him.
• Inane Blabbering: Silly Sydney plays with this trope in the cartoon, especially in Mahogany Gorilla Pelmets.
• The Kiddie Ride: Jolly Roger made one of the school bus shown in the cartoon's intro.
• Laborious Laziness: Healthy Heather's dad is on an unhealthy diet and gets tired easily when jogging with her. Heather herself helps to correct this issue.
• Late for School: Too Late Toby is the biggest offender. However, he gets fed up with this and decides to wake up early, only to find out he woke up on Saturday.
• Lazy Bum: Sulky Sue and Lazy Larry from day to night. Sue also has a dog that is this trope.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: One of the episodes of the cartoon is named Start This Cartoon Now!
• Loud of War: Tantrum Tabitha screams so loud it can get annoying. Heck, an episode of the cartoon is named Scream the Impossible Scream.
• Loved by All:
  • Cute Candy initially starts out like this due to her cuteness, as everybody always takes kindly to her.
  • Friendly Franco is beloved as well due to his friendliness.
• Naked People Are Funny: Nude Nigel is this to the other students in his class.
• Nice Guy: Friendly Franco, Perfect Prudence, and Cute Candy are this to most of the characters.
  • Speaking of Cute Candy, she initially plays this trope straight, until she is inspired by an opportunity to play the role of the Big Bad Wolf in a school play to behave badly and lose all of her friends due to this.
• Please Put Some Clothes On: Nude Nigel hates being told something like this.
• Potty Failure: Too Late Toby is, again, the biggest offender. He normally ends up peeing his pants right when he gets to the door.
• The Prankster: Comical Colin.
• Recycled In Space: The Mr. Men and Little Miss AS GRADE SCHOOLERS!
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Friendly Franco is the red to Antonio's blue.
  • The Terrible Twins often switch onis with one another, given how one usually causes the problem and the other tries to be good.
• School Play: One about the birth of Jesus is the focus of Little Monsters Christmas Carole.
• The Song Remains the Same: The Greek and Japanese dubs of the cartoon give the theme song this treatment.
  • In the Japanese dub, this also extends to songs in the episodes themselves. Oddly enough, this leads to an editing mistake during No Publicity, where the final word in the song Shy Sophie sings during the school talent show is omitted.
• Spin-Off: Word of God says a very obscure one supposedly exists called The TV Trevor Show, which focused mainly on TV Trevor rather than the other kids.
• Springtime for Hitler: At a school assembly, Tell-Tale Tallulah attempts to lie about Forgetful Fiona doing a picture she did, so that the latter would get in trouble. She instead wins an award for it.
• Villain Protagonist: Most of the kids are this.
• Whoopee Cushion: This is among the many pranks Comical Colin pulls off on someone, this one being a vicar.