Extra Shadows

Television writers have been fascinated with the Goth archetype, and considered them as side characters and dark comic reliefs in their shows. However, Goths are portrayed as stereotypes, and sometimes, the borderline between Goth, emo, metal and punkrock becomes thin.

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The Hex Girls is a fictitious Gothic rock band in recent Scooby Doo movies such as The Witch’s Curse and The Legend of the Vampire. They become instant fan favorites, and appear again in the series. The one with the pigtails is Dusk, the drummer and rebel of the band. In the middle is Thorn, their leader and guitarist, and she’s part Wiccan. Then, there’s Luna, the keyboardist. Her father is a dentist, hence their genuine fangs. Their songs are reminiscent of modern Goth rock, and fitting for a cartoon full of ghosts and mysteries.
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Creepy Susie from The Oblongs. She first appeared in a book entitled Creepy Susie and 13 Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children. Her complete name is Susane Marcheline Rachelle Garnier. She’s one of Milo Oblong’s friends, the Clubhouse Kids who are deformed due to the pollution in Hill Valley. She speaks about the worst ways to die and her murderous deeds, in a French accent. Her feet is never seen under her long dress, and she seems to float instead of walk. She’s also a pyromaniac, and has burned down the clubhouse before. I watched all the episodes of The Oblongs because of her. Too bad the show was short-lived.

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Debbie Hyman from American Dad!. She’s Steve Smith’s girlfriend who qouted “Life is a banquet…Death is dessert.” She first appeared in the episode The American Dad After School Special. They first meet in the  dark air vents when Steve is hiding from gym class. Debbie goes there because she wants to look down on everybody like ants.  They then share an on-again off-again relationship throughout the series. Debbie isn't much accepted by Steve’s parents, but she eventually wins his father’s liking because she's a gun enthusiast. She once runs for student council president, because the mean girls cut off the budget for dissecting baby pigs.
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Vanessa Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb. She's the sarcastic daughter of the mad scientist and hilarious central villain, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. He expects her to be his assistant, and assumes she's also evil because of her Goth appearance or as he describes it, "vampire pilgrim scuba diver." But Vanessa is not that enthusiastic towards her estranged father, his villainous schemes, and his attempts to reconnect with her. At first, I didn't expect her character as Goth, until she hangs out with other Goths and punks in dark parties and junkyard concerts. There would be episodes where she is entangled in Phineas and Ferb's adventures or Candace's misfortunes.
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Triana Orpheus from The Venture Bros. She is the daughter of the melodramatic necromancer, Dr. Byron Orpheus, who turned her closet into a secret gateway to the Necropolis. He sometimes overprotects her, calls her pumpkin, and still sees her as a child, though she's more mature than what he believes, going out in parties, drinking, and smelling of cloves. Triana is friends with Hank and Dean Venture, who has a crush on her. Yet she remains aloof, along with her cybergoth best friend, Kim, who was mistaken as a supervillain. Triana later moves to her mother, Tatyana, to train as a sorceress.

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Henrietta from South Park. The Goth Kids of South Park Elementary are spot-on parodies. They rarely go to school, and prefer to sit around all day drinking coffee and smoking, and mocking the conformists. They are enemies to the Vamp Kids, since everyone else does not know the difference between the two subcultures. They have also joined a cult of Cthulhu, and burned down Hot Topic. Henrietta is the only one whose name is known, and shares her room as sanctuary. She usually talks about how horrible her parents are, but actually, they are generous and supportive of their Goth daughter, until they send her to Troubled Acres where she is turned into an emo.

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Ingrid from Star Vs. The Forces of Evil. Ingrid is a German-speaking Goth girl who seems to be hostile towards a teddy bear, and has an interest in battle weaponry. It's no wonder she gets into detention. And it's no wonder she instantly becomes a favorite of mine. Though she appears briefly, like in the episode "Blood Moon Ball", when the suave demonboy, Tom, appears at their school, and Ingrid is hoisted off her seat by his magic. Even Star Butterfly herself has gone Goth when she rebels against her dull destiny as the next queen.
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Andrea from Daria. This show is a true 90's classic. Daria and Jane share the same dark and misanthropic views and attitudes as Goths, but their style is more of 90's alternative rock. But there is a Goth in their school, and she's Andrea. She's a recurring background character with occasional speaking lines. She has a dark and nihilistic personality, as evidenced by her poetry: "...I'm here. But where are you? Sure, I see your body. Anybody home in that rotting bag of flesh?" Yet her parents make her work part-time in a warehouse store – her embarrassing secret. She is intimidated by Daria and Jane at first, but she is surprised that they are the only ones who understand her dilemma. The showrunners also like dressing up their characters, so here's Daria and Jane in Goth apparel.

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Raven McFadden from Growing Up Creepie. She first appears in the episode "Goth to Have Better Friends", along with two Goth guys, Misery and Morpheus. She notices Creepie because of her Gothic aura, and invites her to their group. Of course, Creepie enjoys their "grusomely awesome" montage. The Goths are avid fans of the band “The Hissing Roaches”, who are real cockroaches living in Creepie’s basement, sending the Goths screaming out of the house. The Goth gang appears again in "Going to Brogue", where they form a band named “Plaid Vapors” that has a bagpiper. Raven’s the lead guitarist, but the haunted bagpipes belonged to her ancestor, Angus.
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Serena from Downtown. She's the love interest of the shy and geeky Alex. According to Jen, it's another of his hopeless Goth girl fixations. Serena's exotic Goth style is off-putting at first, but she's actually a very likable, positive person. She works at Starbase 12, a comic book store, with Matt. Creatively unfocused, she writes poetry, designs clothes, makes jewelry, and plays the zither. Serena has dated a string of junkies, posers, and manic-depressives. She claims she's ready to meet a "nice guy", but she rarely notices them when they are around.
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2 Goth Girls from A Goofy Movie. While going to school, Max sings "After Today" showcasing different kinds of 90's kids, from skaters to Trekkies. There's a scene in the school bus with mostly cheer leaders "And after today, I'm gonna be cruisin", followed by two Goth girls on the front seat, singing "No more prep rallies to cut", then going blech!. What a refreshing sight to see those two.
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Butter Goth from Summer Camp Island. Where witches make the rules, anything can become sentient, like a picnic basket turned high school. There Hedgehog meets a goth butter named Butter Goth. Like any angsty teenager, she loves gossip and drama, yet herself suffers from low self-esteem. Being unsalted, she worries if she's the boring version of butter. Though in the "Meeting of the Minds", we see Butter Goth as the Food Delegate of the magical council, which is such an honor. My favorite line from her is: "Oh Butter Goth, you're going to melt some hearts."

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Kaisa from Hilda. This Netflix series is along the lines of Magical Realism as we follow the adventures of Hilda in Trollberg, a city teeming with creatures from Scandinavian folklore. She would visit the city library, which has a secret chamber for tomes on monsters and spells. The cloaked Librarian has the uncanny ability to always know exactly what book people are looking for, even before they could ask her about it. It is revealed later on that her name is Kaisa, and she is a practicing witch.
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Haiku from The Loud House. She is a young poet who just turned Goth last year, and a close friend of Lucy. She is a member of the school's Morticians Club, and fan of the TV show, The Vampires of Melancholia. Haiku first appeared at the Sadie Hawkins dance as one of Lincoln's arranged dates. She would just seat on the bleachers and read a book, or create a grim reaper shadow with her hands. Later in the episode, Lincoln's nerdy friend, Clyde, pairs up with Haiku. Both bond over their unrequited love for someone older. Hers looks like Bram Stoker's Dracula portrayed by Gary Oldman in the 1992 film.

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Ophelia Ramirez from The Life and Times of Juniper Lee. In a world of monsters, a Goth is bound to be there. Ophelia is one of June’s best friends, opposite to happy-go-lucky Jody. To top the trope, the dorky Roger has a crush on her. But Ophelia is more of a punk or an ill-tempered Goth. She acts like a bully to her friends, but she still cherishes them. “Keep your stupid friends closer," she would say. One time, her mom tries to enroll her into ballet camp, but Ophelia manipulates her to choose drama camp instead.

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Annette Freeze-Dright from Fred's Head. Mysterious and enigmatic, Anette is Fred's dream girl and Fabienne's female best friend. Anette's Dad is an ambassador and her mom an ex-Bollywood star. They live in the upper-class part of the city, and she is seen going to school in a limo. Her wardrobe has a definite Goth and hippie twist. She is passionate about her art, and is often seen painting or exposing her abstract pieces. Since she is not very expressive in general, it's hard to know if she notices Fred's attraction for her. She might like him, since he shares the same blase outlook as Goths.

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Bleak Molly from Fish Hooks. In Freshwater High, the Goth fishes are usually in the background and shadows of the class. There's Razor V. Doom, their leader (has an admirable morbid voice), Stabbo (who's mistaken for an emo), an octo-punk, and Bleak Molly. They take a major role in "The Dark Side of the Fish". Because Oscar's poetry is as morose and hates bunnies, Razor invites him in their group. As for Bleak Molly, her poem is about rainbows. "Dear rainbows, please hang up and try your call again for I am busy."
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Kara from American Dragon: Jake Long. She and her twin sister, Sara, are oracles. You might think Kara, the Goth one, would predict the bad future. But actually it's the other way around. Sara predicts the bad future, but she's still the optimist, because she constantly tries to see the bright side of things. As for Kara, she predicts the good future, but she's the pessimist, because her power spoils life's good moments for her. And besides, if everything is bright and good, you might get sick of it. In season 1, they look alike with different outfits and shade of red hair. But this picture of Kara is from season 2, where Sara is blonde, making their polarity more obvious.
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Kristin from Sym-bionic Titan. The stoic Lance meets this timid Goth girl during a Scary Mary Party, an annual school event in the woods to honor a dead girl. Dragged along, Lance doesn't feel the party vibe, and just hangs out beside their van. Kristin approaches her crush, and declares themselves as soulmates. However, at the end of the episode, Lance walks past her in school, yet simply greets her "hey". This gives the smitten Goth hope to be closer to him, as evident in another episode, where she spars with Lance in martial arts.
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Chloe Crashman from Carl². She’s the sister of the eponymous Carl, who has a clone to do his errands and shenanigans at school and home. Like any other teenaged Goth, Chloe likes to think of negative things and goes to dark parties in the cemetery. She hates anything sweet, and pretty much ignores her family. In some instances, it is shown that Chloe has a love–hate relationship with her doofus brother. She’s called the “damsel of darkness”, but ironically, her Goth boyfriend, Damien, is afraid of the dark. In season 2, she wears darker Goth clothes, hair and make-up.
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Mirta from Winx. She stands out quite prominently from the other witches of Cloud Tower. She can produce pictures from emotions. Her sweet and shy nature makes her a target of ridicule and scorn from other witches, except for her roommate and childhood friend, Lucy. Mirta doesn't think the fairies as enemies, and even attempts to help Bloom on one occasion. At the end of the first season, she transfers to Alfea College, where it is unclear whether she is truly a fairy or witch. She grows wings, yet tends to revert to dark magic. It's a delight to see a Goth fairy here.
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Grimmanda and Grimmarsha from Teenage Fairytale Dropouts. One more series about fairytale beings in highschool. There are the two infamous goth girls on Fairytale Estates High, the Grimm sisters. While most students are children of fictional characters, like Merlin and the Tooth Fairy, they are possibly related to the real-life folklorists, the Brothers Grimm. The Grimm sisters can conjure spells like Trafalgar, and they  weave tales, aka gossip, to stir up some trouble.

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Angel Jones from Zevo-3. It's a superhero kid show based on Sketchers sneakers. One of the protagonists is the sporty Ellie Martin, aka Elastika. Her two best friends is the gossip girl Cotilla and the Goth girl Angel. Not much is known about the latter because she rarely appears; though she reveals in Paradise Bay that her worst fear is wearing something colorful. To think, her best friend has pink hair. Angel's everyday outfit is clearly inspired by Gothic Lolita. Plus, I love her impractical skeletal parasol. She is voiced by Pamela Adlon who also voiced Recess' punk girl, Spinelli.
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Gigi from Grojband. This is an awesome music-centric cartoon that pays homage to indie rock bands, and our dreams of starting our own when we were kids. With all the concerts that are happening in each episode, there would be a lot of background characters. A recurring one is this Goth girl; though pale and cynic, she can go on full fangirl mode. One time, she is arguing with her mother over the phone, but upon the sight of Nick Mallory's painting, Gigi suddenly apologizes "for everything, forever."

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