My Pet Monster


My Pet Monster is a character that began as a plush doll first produced by American Greetings in 1986. It has horns, blue fur, and a fanged smile, wearing breakaway orange plastic handcuffs.
In 2018, Hasbro acquired the My Pet Monster brand from Saban Brands.

Plush

The My Pet Monster character began as a plush doll first produced by American Greetings in 1986. As one of the few plush dolls marketed to boys at the time, My Pet Monster was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The doll has blue fur, horns and a fanged smile, and is recognizable by its orange plastic handcuffs. The handcuffs could also be worn by children and came with a link so that the child could simulate breaking the chain. Several versions of the doll have been released in various sizes and other attributes. Other characters were also created with brightly colored fur and unorthodox names like Gwonk, Wogster and Rark. Their popularity allowed a wealth of merchandise including coloring books, Golden Look-Look books, frame-tray puzzles and various other items.
Capitalizing on the nostalgia in many children of the '80s, Toymax released a 22-inch tall talking My Pet Monster doll in 2001.

Media

The character's popularity spawned a live-action direct-to-video film in 1986 about a boy who becomes the Pet Monster after being exposed to a statue, changing when hungry. Dr Snyder, the scientist who originally discovered the statues and the legend behind them, wants to kidnap him for publicity purposes, while his sister helps her brother out of the crisis.
My Pet Monster also spawned a children's cartoon series that ran for one season on ABC, produced by Ellipse, Nelvana, and Hi-Tops Video in association with Golden Books. The show follows Monster, who lives with a boy named Max. When Monster wears his handcuffs, they turn him into a stuffed animal. Max often does to keep Monster's existence secret from others. Max's sister, Jill, and his friend Chuckie, are the only ones that know this secret.
The two main adversaries in the show are Mr. Hinkle, a neighbor who always thinks Max is up to something, but is not quite sure what; and Beastur, a large monster who hates light and tries to bring Monster back to MonsterLand. Beastur, though immense and fierce, is incompetent. He can be stopped by the magic cuffs -— which reduce him to a smaller, though still "alive" monster -— or by his own bungling, and sent back through the warp portal to his own world. He wears dark glasses to protect his sensitive eyes, which he can use to see in the dark.
Beastur appears in nearly every episode as either a primary or secondary foe. On one notable occasion, he was scared back through the portal to Monsterland not by light or the cuffs, but by the affections of a smitten female gorilla. In the final episode, it is also shown that Beastur hates to be hugged, even more so than being exposed to light.
Much of the voice cast of My Pet Monster returned 2 years later in 1989 for Beetlejuice, another cartoon show with a surreal theme and a supernatural world populated by fantastic monsters.
Reruns of all 13 half-hour episodes aired on Teletoon Retro in Canada from September 5, 2011.

Characters

Direct-to-video special (1986)

Series (1987)

DVD releases