Watch out, Barbie: Mattel's edgy Monster High is in session

There’s Draculaura, daughter of Dracula, who is vegan and faints at the sight of blood. Her best friend Clawdeen Wolf, whose father is Werewolf, spends much of her time plucking and shaving her excessive, fast-growing hair. And classmate Frankie Stein, who sports stitches just like dad Frankenstein, loves to shop for “scary cute clothes that are absolutely to die for.”

"They’re fun characters to build a world around," said Tim Kilpin, general manager for Mattel Brands. "Who doesn’t feel like a freak in high school? It started with that universal truth."

Six of the dolls — five girls and one boy — began hitting the shelves at major retailers and toy stores in recent weeks, with a suggested retail price of $16.99 per individual doll. Now, El Segundo-based Mattel is ramping up the rollout of Monster High products and advertising with a number of events planned for, fittingly, Friday the 13th.

Monster High marks the first time that Mattel has introduced a new toy concept as a complete franchise, far from its typical approach of rolling out a toy first and evaluating its success before moving forward with related products.

At a time when many of the industry’s most successful toys, such as “Toy Story” and “Transformers” products, are linked to popular movies and television shows, toy industry experts are calling it a bold move for Mattel.

"It is innovative, but there’s a much bigger risk to doing something like this instead of a built-on extension of an existing brand," said Gerrick Johnson, a toy analyst at BMO Capital Markets. "It’s not like it’s a new Hot Wheels stunt part or something — it’s something that’s entirely new."

Already, shoppers can buy Monster High dolls, youthapparel and accessories in stores (prices range from $3.90 to $42.90); see animated webisodes and character bios at http://www.monsterhigh.com; and become fans of the franchise on Facebook.

On Friday, Mattel takes over the YouTube homepage to promote the brand and debut a music video set to the Monster High “Fright Song.” A young adult book series about the characters hits bookshelves Sept. 1, followed by Halloween costumes at Party City and, in a couple of years, possibly a feature-length movie.

With its lineup of creepy characters, Mattel is capitalizing on the vampire and werewolf obsession that has infiltrated books, movies, television shows and magazine covers in recent years and making it relevant for pre-teens, or “tweens.” Analysts have praised the creative, quirky storylines at Monster High, where students play “casketball” and try out for the “fearleading squad.”

But the biggest challenge facing the brand will be whether young, image-conscious girls can get on board with dolls that look more like kids from the Addams Family than pals of Barbie or the American Girls.