A new school year begins at Monster High, but Howleen still feels outsized and out of place. So, she tries a flashy stunt to get attention... which backfires so badly she and the original ghouls (sans Ghoulia) all get detention to clean the spooky school attic. There, Howleen finds a genie lamp, and the genie in it can grant 13 wishes! Which is awesome, except for the small detail of the genie's malevolent living shadow/maligned sister who convinces lamp finders to indulge their darker side and make terrible wishes until she becomes all-powerful so she can take over the world during the extremely rare eclipse that just so happens to be happening that day.
With the combination of that and a drifting, temperamental, easily manipulated teenager, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
This special introduces Twyla, Gigi Grant, Whisp, and Catty Noir.
We All Wish We Could've Wished Ourselves Out Of Puberty
- An Aesop: Crosses with Be Yourself: don't try to fundamentally change yourself just to be popular, because the people who matter care about the real you.
- Art Evolution: This is the first special to not be introduced with the title on a yearbook cover.
- Art Shift: We see the history of Gigi and Whisp (featuring Giles Grimm) in a 2D style resembling book illustrations.
- Batman Gambit: Ghoulia, Frankie, and Draculaura all use one on Howleen to get themselves banished to the lantern to rescue Clawdeen and stop Whisp.
- Break the Haughty: One of Howleen's wishes is to erase everyone's memory of Cleo's existence. It takes its toll on her throughout the movie.
- Bigger on the Inside: Gigi's lantern.
- Coordinated Clothes: Genie-themed gold-filled outfits for Frankie, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Cleo, Ghoulia and Abbey. The shadow ghoul versions of those characters (and Howleen) all wear punk versions of their normal looks and heavy goth makeup.
- Genie in a Bottle: Gigi Grant is found inside a magic lantern.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: Like most siblings, Clawdeen and Howleen rag on each other constantly. But as Whisp learns, do not mess with Clawdeen's little sister if you know what's good for you.
- Hypocritical Humor: Cleo mocks Howleen for wishing herself into popularity, in her special way.Cleo: In my day you couldn't just wish yourself to be more popular. You had to earn it, by being born into an incredibly rich royal family.
- Production Foreshadowing: In Monster High's attic, there were items from the then-upcoming Ever After High: Maddie's hat, an apple in a jar, and the wicked mirror.
- Race Against the Clock: See Total Eclipse of the Plot.
- The Shadow Knows: Rather than the extremely different (and extremely more goth) clothes that the shadow ghouls are sporting, what gives them away to Twyla is their conspicuous lack of shadows.
- Total Eclipse of the Plot: Whisp's powering up throughout the show is set to culminate with an eclipse, which'll make her unstoppable... if Howleen's manipulated into wishing it.
- Training from Hell: Abbey imposes this on the entire school when, after being wished to Student Disembodied President, she becomes acting principal when Headmistress Bloodgood has to go on a trip. Abbey takes her responsibilities very seriously and orders the whole school to operate the way that best suits her, cutting lunch hour to 25 minutes "for more study time" and having the cafeteria serve unidentifiable trays-ful of weird meat because she thinks it's healthier. Crosses over with Absurdly Powerful Student Council.
