View source for Aaahh!!! Real Monsters

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'''''Aaahh!!! Real Monsters''''' was a show that aired on [[Nickelodeon]] from 1994 to 1999. It focused on three monsters who lived under a dump and were in a monster school, taking "scares" as lessons. The main cast included:

* '''Ickis''', a little red <s> [[Killer Rabbit]]</s> [[Ugly Cute]] monster who [[I Am Not Weasel|often got mistaken for a bunny]], [[Berserk Button|much to his dismay]]. [[Sizeshifter|Could grow to impressive sizes]], but wasn't very good at controlling this change at the start of the series, and frequently struggled with his scares. Tended to be both [[Pride|arrogant]] and very insecure, due in no small part to trying to live up to his [[The Ace|famous father's reputation]]. Despite his bumbling and trouble-prone nature, also [[Big Damn Heroes|saved the day]] more than once.
* '''Krumm''', a [[Cephalothorax|strange]], hairy pink monster with [[Eyes Do Not Belong There|free-rolling eyes]] that he normally carried around in his hands. Smelled ''horrible'', and reveled in it: "[[Catch Phrase|I love being smelly.]]" A [[The Fool|happy-go-lucky]] [[Big Eater]] who didn't stress about scaring as much as his friends.
* '''Oblina''', who resembled a black candy cane with big red lips and eye stalks. Could pull her insides out at will; naturally, this made her the best at scaring, and she was considered the Gromble's best student. Came from a rich family, and had a [[What the Hell Is That Accent?|strange accent]]. Often fought with Ickis over his bad habits, and had a tendency to lecture, which... never really helped her make her case.
* '''The Gromble''', the [[Sadist Teacher]] and Headmaster who constantly belittled and punished his students for poor scares. Was particularly hard on Ickis (who admittedly brought a lot of it onto himself), but also occasionally showed [[Pet the Dog|fondness for him and his other students]].
* '''The Snorch''', [[The Unintelligible]] monster in charge of punishing students who broke the rules. His punishments tended to be [[Cool and Unusual Punishment|oddly unthreatening]], such as listening to classical music or performing opera—though, of course, the students were ''terrified'' of such things. Was actually very intelligent, though the communication barrier generally prevented him from demonstrating this.

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{{tropelist}}
* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]]: Large enough they can hold surfing contests inside. Not to mention how they normally use toilets to get into different houses and such...
** With the using pipes to infiltrate buildings, that's less because the pipes are large and more because monsters can ''squeeze''... Ickis is shown moving effortlessly through a pipe maybe a centimeter wide in one episode.
* [[The Ace]]: Slickis, Ickis' talented and famous father. Oblina also qualifies, being the best scarer at the academy and the Gromble's prize pupil.
* [[Agony of the Feet]]: Those high-heels on the Gromble's feet? He got them stuck there the first time he went to the human world and he ''can't get them off''. This is part of why he's so vicious to his students.
** Actually he can take them off easily.
* [[Amusement Park]]: Appears in a few episodes; Oblina visits one while wearing the human suit in "The Monster Who Came In from the Cold", and Ickis starts haunting a ride in another.
* [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]: Monsters don't believe in ghosts.
** Similarly, the residents of Luluville readily believe Ickis, Oblina and Krumm to be aliens, but scoff at the idea of monsters.
* [[Badass Teacher]]: The Gromble; you ''do not'' threaten his charges. ([[Sadist Teacher|That's]] ''[[Sadist Teacher|his]]'' [[Sadist Teacher|job.]])
* [[Banging Pots and Pans]]: In "Attack of the Blobs", the three take shifts in taking care of an infant monster. Ickis is banging the trash can lids during his shift.
* [[Becoming the Mask]]: Happened to Oblina once; while disguised as a human to gather information on them, she had a bad reaction to cotton candy and ended up believing she was ''really'' human.
* [[Berserk Button]]: Whatever you do, do ''not'' mess with The Snorch's golden hair...
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Ickis got these a lot, whether he wanted to or not. The rest of the main cast got their times to shine, too.
* [[Biological Mashup]]: 'Krickiss'
* [[Black Comedy]]: This whole animated series.
* [[A Boy and His X]]: "Puppy Ciao" involved Ickis trying to keep a puppy, Fungus, and hiding it from the Gromble.
* [[Braces of Orthodontic Overkill]]: Oblina ended up with these once, because her teeth were ''straight'' (due to her youthful indiscretion of brushing her teeth once). This actually caught the attention of the [[Romantic False Lead]], who admired his reflection in the massive things.
* [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp]]: Monsters have their own names for certain 'human' things; for instance, dogs are called 'barknbites'.
* [[Camp Straight]]: The Gromble was expressive and melodramatic, and wore bright red high heels on all four of his feet.
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: Bradley first appeared in "Monsters, Get Real!". At the end of the first season, he reappeared in "Simon Strikes Back" as a key figure, and wound up becoming Ickis' [[Secret Keeper]] and a recurring character.
* [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]]: The Snorch punishes students through such horrors as square dancing.
* [[Couch Gag]]: The different phrases shouted by the Gromble during the opening credits.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: Ickis. At times appears to overlap with [[Brilliant but Lazy]]—he appeared to have the talent to pull off some amazing scares, just not the discipline, not to mention all his other issues...
* [[Curse]]: "Curse of the Krumm" reveals that Krumm's species ([[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|which are all called 'krumm']]) are cursed to  {{spoiler|eventually lose their stench}}. With his friends' help, he manages to break it.
** No, this was his family specifically. It usually skips a generation which was why his father never told him.
* [[Cute but Cacophonic]]: Ickis had a ''very'' shrill voice at times. And when he tried '''singing'''...
* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: While they take great delight in scaring humans half to death, none of the Monsters hurt anyone, and are quite nice if you get to know them on a first name basis.
** The monsters of this series are of the 'only exist if people are scared of them' variety. They have to scare humans to stay alive.
* [[Dean Bitterman]]: The Gromble and Blook.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: When Ickis comes down with a case of spontaneous combustibility, the other monsters shun and avoid him, afraid they'll catch it if they touch or come anywhere near him.<ref>For those who don't get it, when this episode aired, the outbreak of transfusion-contracted HIV cases was causing public concern, which resulted in many cases of prejudice against HIV positive children.</ref>
* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: Krumm's species is simply known as 'the Krumm'. Interestingly, his father had a name: Horvak.
* [[Everyone Meets Everyone]]: Used in "Rookie Monsters" to show [[Character Development|how different the cast acted when they first met]]—for instance, Oblina was a [[Lonely Rich Kid]] [[Shrinking Violet]], and Ickis was acting like a [[Jerk Jock]] and exploiting his father's reputation.
* [[Eyepatch of Power]]: Krumm's father, Horvak, lost one of his eyes and wore a black glove on that hand afterwards.
** He lost it because [[Eye Scream|it was used as the bullet in the Shot Heard 'Round The World]].
* [[Eyes Are Unbreakable]]: Played straight with Krumm and Horvak, save for the above incident. Which is good, considering how many times Krumm lost or misplaced one or ''both'' of his...
* [[Eyes Do Not Belong There]]: Eyes should not be free-rolling!
* [[For Halloween I Am Going as Myself]]: In "The Switching Hour", we learn monsters are actually ''forbidden'' from doing this, as it runs the risk of exposing the [[Masquerade]]. Naturally, the main trio does it anyway, and runs into trouble when Oblina and Krumm accidentally bring back a boy in a red rabbit costume instead of Ickis...
* [[Forbidden Fruit]]: Ickis's fascination with human culture partly stemmed from the Gromble forbidding everything to do with it.
* [[Freudian Trio]]: Ickis (Id), Krumm (Ego), and Oblina (Superego).
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: "Eeny meeny slimy guts, catch a monster by the..." Also the allusion in a reference to "scare-us interruptus."
* [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]]: Or rather Monsters Need Scares Badly. In "Where Have All The Monsters Gone?" it's shown that, if humans stop being afraid of monsters, then monsters will start disappearing, one body part at a time.
* [[G-Rated Sex]]: "Dancing."
* [[Gross Up Close-Up]]
* [[Gross-Out Show]]
* [[Halloween Episode]]: "The Switching Hour", which also served as the first episode.
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: In "Simon Strikes Back", Ickis convinces Bradley to abandon his monster hunter apprenticeship and help them escape.
* [[Hidden Depths]]: The Snorch honestly enjoyed classical pursuits like opera and was highly intelligent. However, since he was also [[The Unintelligible]], there was a communication barrier he couldn't breach. It didn't help that [[Jerkass|Zimbo]] served as his 'voice', leeching off of the Snorch's terrifying reputation.
* [[High-Class Glass]]: Chimera (the leader of the cement-imprisoned monsters in "Cement Heads") wears a monocle and so does Blook, the Gromble's overseer.
* [[Historical In-Joke]]: Quite a few, especially as monsters are quite long-lived. Monsters were involved in The Shot Heard 'Round the World, the Boston Tea Party, and the writing of FDR's "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" speech, among others.
* [[Hollywood Tone Deaf]]: Monsters generally don't like music that ''isn't'' tone deaf. The Snorch is an exception.
* [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]]: That episode where Zimbo exaggerated Ickis' sickness and everyone got afraid. The Gromble reminds that monsters aren't supposed to be afraid of what they don't understand, that's a human trait.
* [[The Hunter]]: Simon the Monster Hunter.
* [[I Warned You]]:
{{quote|'''Oblina:''' I hate to say I told you so, but... actually, I don't hate it at all! [laughs, singsongs] I told you so, I told you so, I told you so~!}}
* [[The Informant]]: The Gromble's spy Zimbo.
* [[Insufferable Genius]]: When it came to scaring, Oblina usually knew what she was talking about, and gave her roommates good advice (like doing their scaring homework on time instead of putting it off). Unfortunately, she came off as extremely overbearing and a smarmy know-it-all. Didn't help that she loved rubbing it in Ickis' face when she was proven right.
* [[Is That What He Told You?]]: When Krumm learns  {{spoiler|Horvak didn't willingly drop out of the Academy; he flunked out.}}
* [[It's Personal]]: The first time they met, Simon was just trying to prove monsters existed. After Ickis and the others thwarted and humiliated him, however, he developed a personal vendetta against Ickis and went out of his way to target ''him''.
* [[Jerkass]]: Zimbo. The Gromble was a [[Sadist Teacher]], but often showed that he ''did'' care about his students; The Snorch handled their [[Cool and Unusual Punishment|Cool And Unusual Punishments]], but was actually pretty nice overall. Zimbo, meanwhile, was just a flat-out ''creep'' who enjoyed making the students' lives miserable, and would go out of his way to get them in trouble and torment them. And all the while, he relied on The Snorch's reputation to keep him safe.
* [[Keet]]: Ickis again; he could get... very hyperactive at times.
* [[Killer Rabbit]]: Aww, lookit the little bunny-eared thing! Isn't it just the [[Ugly Cute|strangely]] '''[[Ugly Cute|cutest]]''' thing you've ever... [[Sizeshifter|Uh]]. [[One-Winged Angel|Why is it growing]]...?
* [[Klasky-Csupo]]
* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: Ickis managed to be cocky and insecure at the same time, along with being a cowardly slacker who only took his scaring seriously when he was in trouble. Yet when serious threats came along and he found himself forced into the hero role, he wasn't half bad at [[Indy Ploy]]s or going [[One-Winged Angel]] to help his friends.
* [[Lighter and Softer]]: In-universe example: an amusement park ran a "Monsters Aren't Scary" Tunnel for a while. Ickis took advantage of this to score some easy scares and undermine the intended message. This [[Gone Horribly Right|works TOO well]], as the ride operator figures out people ''prefer'' the scarier version and sets a trap, intending to make Ickis scare people for ''his'' fiscal gain.
* [[Loud of War]]: The Snorch punishes students by making them listen to opera and bagpipe music.
* [[The Masquerade]]: Humankind is unaware that monsters are real, and the monsters want to keep it that way, because [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|Humans Are Bastards]]. Several episodes revolved around the risk of exposure, such as getting 'flashed' by a photographer or caught by Simon.
* [[Mickey Mousing]]
* [[Mood Swinger]]: '''Ickis''', whose emotional state swept from cocky [[Jerkass]] to [[Wide-Eyed Idealist|wide-eyed eagerness to learn more about human culture]] to [[Deadpan Snarker|bitterly sarcastic]] to panicky and insecure [[The Woobie|woobie]].
* [[The Movie]]: It was in the works but went splat.
* [[Mr. Vice Guy]]: Ickis was both horribly insecure ''and'' [[Pride|incredibly arrogant]].
* [[Naive Everygirl]]: Gender aside, Ickis fits this. He's got all of the flaws, plus a tendency to ''say'' he's giving up... only to come back when it counts.
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Oblina's speech mannerisms, though widely considered to be just an unusual accent, are easily recognizable as an exaggerated Bette Davis impression.
* [[Not So Different]]: It's repeatedly implied the Gromble had a lot of the same problems when ''he'' was a young monster that Ickis has now.
* [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]]: Simon was crazy, sure... Unfortunately, he was also frighteningly devoted to getting his revenge and proving to the world he was right all along. A few times it came down to Ickis having to stop him solo because everyone else had been captured or was otherwise unable to help out.
* [[Opening Shout-Out]]: During the opening titles when Ickis frightens a baby, a pull toy styled after [[Duckman]] (another cartoon by Klasky Csupo) and a Potty Chair styled after Fluffy and Uranus (also from Duckman) can be seen.
* [[Our Monsters Are Weird]]
* [[Parental Issues]]: Ickis had a whole slew of emotional issues thanks to his famous father; Oblina's mother was an [[My Beloved Smother|overbearing control freak]]; The Gromble's mother still treated him like a child... Krumm got along okay with his father, though.  {{spoiler|Aside from learning that he'd flunked out of the Academy after losing his stench.}}
* [[Parodic Table of the Elements]]: Ickis has to go on some quest while the Gromble keeps the class busy by going over a chart of human phobias that's a direct parody of the periodic table.
* [[Peek a Bogey Man]]
* [[Pet the Dog]]: The Gromble got these now and then to show [[Hidden Heart of Gold|that he really does care about his students]].
* [[Pilot]]: "Monsters, Get Real!", the second episode, is actually a [[Remake]] of the pilot with updated animation and an extended plot.
* [[Ping-Pong Naivete]]: Ickis.
* [[Pride]]: All three of the monsters suffer from this. Oblina because she's a know-it-all, Krumm because he smells so awful, and Ickis because it's the only way he can step out of his father's shadow.
* [[Prison Episode]]: When Ickis gets put in jail because he was mistaken for a fugitive.
* [[Rashomon Style]]: In an episode titled, appropriately enough, "Rosh-O-Monster". The viewfinder the Gromble uses to view the students' assignments breaks down so the trio tells the class how their scare went. Ickis tells his story in a [[Film Noir]] style with him as the hero, while Oblina's account portrays her as a superheroine who has to rescue Krumm and Ickis from humans. The less-egotistical Krumm's retelling (which is [[Art Shift|animated in]] [[Stylistic Suck|a childish scrawl]]) only indicates that Oblina and Ickis spent most of the assignment arguing. Of course in the end the viewfinder is repaired and we see what ''really'' happened.  {{spoiler|Turned out that they kept screwing up and the scare was a total accident.}} Of course, the Gromble wasn't pleased and punishes them by having them shine his massive collection of shoes.
* [[Real After All]]: One episode had the [[Power Trio]] trapped in a severely haunted house, the rub being that while monsters exist, ghosts do not (this is repeatedly stated by <s>Hermione</s> Oblina). It turned out that the house was the bunker/battle ground for a soldier monster who caused all of the strange happenings - except one. All four monsters quickly leave, and the house resumes all of its disturbing behavior.
* [[Really 700 Years Old]]: The monsters evidently live very, very long lives.
* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: Happens to Ickis when using his [[Sizeshifter|size-augmenting ability]].
* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
* [[Sadist Teacher]]/[[Stern Teacher]]: The Gromble managed to be both. He genuinely enjoys tormenting his students but does also genuinely want to teach them.
** Taken [[Up to Eleven]] when the Gromble actually ''physically inhales Ickis'', leaves him in there for a few moments, and then [[Humiliation Conga|spits him back out]] in full view of the ''entire class''.
* [[Secret Keeper]]: Bradley, Ickis's human friend.
* [[Shaming the Mob|Shaming The Cowards]]: The Gromble berates the entire student body for spreading rumors about Ickis' spontaneous combustibility and their trepidation around him because of it. Basically they were acting like everything they hate: {{spoiler|[[Humans Are the Real Monsters|humans]]}}.
{{quote|'''The Gromble:''' IS THAT WHAT YOU WANNA ACT LIKE!? A BUNCH OF {{spoiler|HUMANS}}!?}}
* [[The Short Guy with Glasses]]: In the pilot, Ickis has a pair of glasses. They don't appear in the actual series, however.
* [[Shout-Out]]: Sublima, Oblina's mother, made her call her "[[Mommy Dearest|Mumsy dearest]]" and was a [[My Beloved Smother|complete control freak]].
* [[Sizeshifter]]: Ickis.
** It's more along the lines of [[One-Winged Angel]], at least for the humans he scares.
* [[Status Quo Is God]]
* [[Stock Scream]]: The Howie Scream is used in the opening.
* [[The Stool Pigeon]]: Zimbo.
* [[Strong Family Resemblance]]: Ickis and Krumm looked a ''lot'' like their fathers, Slickis and Horvak. The Gromble also strongly resembled his mother. Oblina, on the other hand, took traits from both of her parents, as revealed when they finally showed up. She was also one of the only characters who ''had'' both parents appear.
* [[Taken for Granite]]: A trio of monsters who were run through the cement mixer and turned into gargoyles for seventy-five years.  {{spoiler|Later, when they attempted to do the same thing to Ickis, The Gromble had one of his own [[Big Damn Heroes]] moments and [[Hoist by His Own Petard|returned them to their former imprisonment]].}}
* [[Teacher's Pet]]: Oblina
* [[They Called Me Mad]]: Simon, who took the typical [[Mad Scientist]]-style route.
* [[They Would Cut You Up]]: Monsters are taught that if humans ever learned of their existance, they'd be hunted down, experimented on, and slaughtered.
* [[Throw the Pin]]: Simon the Monster Hunter throws a pin at Bigfoot, has a brief [[Oh Crap]] moment, and then throws the gas grenade just in time.
* [[Toilet Humor]]
* [[Two-Teacher School]]: The Gromble as the Teacher/Headmaster of the Monster Academy, & the Snorch who is in charge of administering punishments to students who break the rules.
* [[The Unintelligible]]: The Snorch.
* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: Having the monsters gaze into a lava lamp is all that is needed to put them into a vulnerable trance.

{{reflist}}
[[Category:The Nineties]]
[[Category:The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
[[Category:Western Animation]]
[[Category:Aaahh!!! Real Monsters]]
[[Category:Nickelodeon]]
[[Category:Western Animation of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Excited Show Title!]]