Making Fiends (web cartoon)

Making Fiends

Genre	Comic science fiction/Animation/Comedy horror/Fantasy/Thriller/Black humor
Language	English Bulgarian (April Fool's Day)
Content license	Copyrighted
Created by	Amy Winfrey
Written by	Amy Winfrey
Animated by	Amy Winfrey Peter Merryman Martin Cendreda Eliza Chincarin Verrell Bowers Jennifer Branch Kevin Dooley David Fain Kristen McCormick Carlos Palazio Jennifer Sachs
Voiced by	Aglaia Mortcheva Amy Winfrey Peter Merryman
Launched	June 3, 2003-present
Alexa rank	2,677,611 (January 2013)[1]
Website	http://makingfiends.com

Making Fiends is a Flash cartoon series by Amy Winfrey. It follows the interactions between Vendetta, a villainous girl that regularly makes monsters called "fiends", and Charlotte, a cheerful and naive girl who thinks Vendetta is her best friend. Charlotte unintentionally irritates and embarrasses Vendetta. As a result, Vendetta attempts to assassinate her with fiends, but she always fails out of Charlotte's luck.

The site was first put up on June 3, 2003, and the series debuted with its first episode on July 14, 2003.^[2] In 2004, the series was licensed by Nickelodeon, and eventually the episodes were broadcast on TurboNick. A 30-minute cartoon series was greenlit in 2008,^[3] which aired 6 episodes on Nicktoons Network before being cancelled.

Characters

Vendetta: (Voiced by Aglaia Mortcheva) Vendetta is a sociopathic, narcissistic and histrionic young girl with the power to create "fiends" with a book of recipes. She is moss green and wears pigtails that tend to fly up when she yells. She constantly squints her eyes for emphasis. She spends her time reading magazines and tormenting the other children in her school with her monstrous creations. She uses her dangerous fiends to get what she wants, such as her constant assistant Grudge who helps her give out physical punishment.^[4] She develops a one-sided rivalry with Charlotte, and often attempts to kill her. Vendetta almost always uses fiends for her attempts, but she has also done methods like tricking Charlotte into wearing concrete shoes and walking off the edge of a pier.^[5] She despises music, to the point of being hurt by it. Her diet consists of almost entirely beef jerky, clams, and grape punch.^[6] She speaks in a thick Bulgarian accent and has somewhat broken English. Vendetta appeared in every episode except for episode 14.^[7]

Charlotte: (Voiced by Amy Winfrey) A baby blue, optimistic little girl from Vermont.^[4] She has curly hair and wears a hairbow. Charlotte believes that all creatures are cute and harmless, and everyone is a potential friend. She tries to find the best in any person or situation, and ignores anything she finds strange. She is convinced that Vendetta is her new best friend, perhaps even having a crush, much to Vendetta's chagrin. Charlotte's naivete and oblivious invulnerability results in many of Vendetta's plans for torment to backfire. Vendetta seeks to kill Charlotte, but is never successful. A running gag is that Charlotte sees projectiles thrown at her as gifts.^[8] Almost every episode includes her singing a song that she makes up on the spot. Charlotte has the uncanny ability to hold her breath for nine hours. She has a hamster named Buttons. Charlotte is the only character present in every web episode.

Grudge: (Voiced by Peter Merryman) Vendetta's giant hamster fiend, mistaken for a bear by Charlotte^[4] and a dog by Mrs. Minty.^[9] Grudge does not speak, but rather grunts and growls, and is Vendetta's constant sidekick. He assists Vendetta in making fiends and giving threats to those who defy her. Vendetta almost never refers to him by name, simply calling him "hamster". Unlike most other fiends, he seems to actually care for Vendetta and her safety, despite her harsh treatment of him. Like Rubella and the cat fiend, he is also capable of eating inedible objects. In episode 18, Grudge is replaced by Rubella.^[9]

Mr. Milk: (Voiced by Peter Merryman) The teacher of Charlotte's class. He is a beige, nearly bald man with a tie and glasses whose few remaining hairs stick up when he is scared or surprised. He speaks in a nervous, disjointed monotone due to Vendetta's domination, and is forced to do Vendetta's bidding out of fear of her. He is also afraid of the fanged red bird fiend that is constantly glaring at him. Mr. Milk is probably inspired by Caspar Milquetoast, a comic book character remarkably similar to him. He also physically resembles South Park's Herbert Garrison, notable because Amy Winfrey worked on the first few episodes of South Park.^[10] He has a tenor singing voice.^[7]

Marion: (Voiced by Amy Winfrey) A pale blue, overweight girl who sits next to Charlotte and speaks in a nasal whisper. She has a collection of glass animals, and has many allergies. A cowardly girl, she was the first student to talk to Charlotte and warn her about Vendetta.^[4] She appears to be friends with Malachi, and her DVD commentary implies that she has a crush on Marvin.

Malachi: (Voiced by Peter Merryman) A grey boy who follows Charlotte around school, giving her dire cautions about Vendetta and her fiends, which Charlotte does not understand and ignores. He is a Puritan; he speaks in complicated, archaic English and refuses to sing because it is blasphemous.^[7][11]

Marvin: (Voiced by Peter Merryman) A taller, dark green boy who almost always starts his sentences with "my", usually because his belongings are stolen from him, but also as a verbal tic. Once an episode, he will exclaim "My [possession]!". He is very unlucky, slow and weak. According to a DVD commentary, he brought a banana to show and tell because his dad works at the banana factory.

Maggie: (Voiced by Amy Winfrey) A grey girl who sits next to Marvin and doesn't speak until episode 14, when she cogently remarks, "Charlotte's dumb". In the background, she is seen writing.

Rubella: (Voiced by Elissa Calfin) Vendetta's replacement fiend sidekick. She is a giant doll who resembles Frankenstein's monster. She eats non-edible food (like wood, glass and plaster) and talks in one- and two-word sentences. She is named after a disease of the same name. She thinks of Vendetta as her friend rather than boss,^[12] and gave her a musical toy bear, which angered Vendetta and let her to abandonment.^[12]

Giant Kitty: (Voiced by Amy Winfrey) Also called "Hellcat". A giant red cat fiend, and the first fiend to appear in the web cartoon.^[4] He often attacks the students when they're outside, and has an immense appetite, able to eat anything that will fit in his stomach. He is temporarily tamed by Charlotte, where Charlotte brushes and cares for him, although he gets angry again when Charlotte says he needs a bath.^[13]

Buttons: Charlotte's pet hamster, her "favorite hamster in the whole world", first seen in episode 2. He is known for making a high-pitched noise at the sign of any danger.^[8]

Scissor fiend: A fiend Vendetta made for Charlotte that resembles a bird and can cut things with its scissorlike beak. Charlotte thinks it's a puppy, and it ends up being her friend instead of killing her. It has a talent for making Valentines. It tries to rescue Charlotte even in the most dangerous situations.^[5] In the TV series, Charlotte names it Buttons 2.

Mrs. Minty: (Voiced by Peter Merryman) A substitute teacher. She is an elderly woman who, true to her name, is mint green. She refers to the classmates as "buttercups", "ducklings", and other diminutive terms of endearment. She seems to be unaware of Vendetta's reputation and abilities. Her main debut is in episode 9, and she is also seen in episodes 20 and 21, but does not talk.

Mort: A blue boy with glasses that was seen in episode 19, being picked up by an ice cream fiend.^[12] He is added as another student in Mr. Milk's classroom in the TV series.^[14]

Other recurring characters include the Mrs. Millet the lunch lady, and the red frog-like fiend on the lunch counter that controls her.^[6] There are also other grey, unnamed students, a girl with clips in her hair that is often seen screaming and waving her arms, and a boy with a baseball cap, both of which are in the classroom next to Vendetta's.^[4]

Episodes

Season 1: 2003–2004

No. in season	No. in series	Title	Time	Original air date	YouTube air date
1	1	"Charlotte's First Day Part 1: New Student[15]"	3:39	April 13, 2003	TBA
It's Charlotte's first day at her new school. She comes across the giant fiend cat, and is fascinated rather than scared. She walks into her new classroom and meets Vendetta.
2	2	"Charlotte's First Day Part 2: Show and Tell"	4:03	April 20, 2003	TBA
For "Show and Tell", Vendetta brings the students outside and releases a monkey-like fiend that steals and eats the students' possessions. Vendetta tells the students to "enjoy" and she leaves with Grudge to get ice cream. Charlotte then proceeds to "introduce" her hamster, Buttons, to the giant fiend cat.
3	3	"Vegetables"	2:58	April 27, 2003	TBA
Charlotte notices that the lunch menu is the same everyday; clams, beef jerky, and grape punch. Malachi tells Charlotte not to question it, because they are Vendetta and Grudge's favorite foods. Charlotte complains that there are no vegetables on the lunch menu though. When Vendetta hears about this, she gets the idea to bring vegetable fiends to the cafeteria the next day.
4	4	"A Fiendish Friend (a.k.a. Scissor Fiend)"	3:40	May 4, 2003	TBA
Charlotte wants to play and pretend with Vendetta, still oblivious to Vendetta's disdain for her. Angered, Vendetta starts her first attempt to kill Charlotte. She decides to send Charlotte a hazardous fiend that can slice anything with its mouth, and easily dismember and kill her.
5	5	"Halloween"	3:49	May 11, 2003	TBA
It's Halloween, and Charlotte dresses up as Vendetta. Vendetta tells Charlotte if she wants to act like her, she should play in traffic and drink bleach, and later Vendetta creates a fiend intended to be addicted to blood.
6	6	"Kitty Kitty Kitty"	3:03	June 1, 2003	TBA
Charlotte befriends the giant kitty, brushing him and causing him to purr loudly. This annoys Vendetta, and she tries to make the cat fiend angry again with "super big fleas...with knives!"
7	7	"Shrinking Charlotte (a.k.a. Shrinking Slug)"	4:44	June 8, 2003	TBA
Vendetta creates a slug-like fiend designed to shrink the objects it touches and then consume them. It successfully works on Charlotte, but Vendetta accidentally touches the slug fiend, causing her to shrink as well, followed by Grudge who swats the fiend away to save Vendetta. Vendetta later comes back in super large size after making a growing fiend, but things go haywire when the Giant Red Kitty ends up eating the shrinking slug and the growing fiend.
8	8	"Birthday"	4:04	June 15, 2003	TBA
Charlotte keeps bugging Vendetta and the other students about her birthday. Vendetta decides to do a party for Charlotte that will contain many hazardous fiends disguised as typical party supplies.
9	9	"Substitute Teacher"	5:59	June 22, 2004	TBA
When Mr. Milk is sick, Mrs. Minty, the substitute teacher, is trying to teach the class in more traditional ways. Vendetta can't stand Mrs. Minty's attitude and ignorance, so Vendetta proceeds to leaves the classroom.
10	10	"Eaten Part 1: Pet Sitting"	3:28	June 29, 2004	TBA
Charlotte shows Vendetta a canary named Frederick that she's watching for her neighbors. Charlotte suggests that she could watch over Vendetta's "pets". This gives Vendetta an idea, so she lies to Charlotte that she is going to Florida during the weekend and needs somebody to feed her fiends. Charlotte happily agrees to watch after them, so Vendetta gives her a list of things to feed the fiends, each task putting Charlotte in great danger. This episode continues in episode 11.

Season 2: 2004–2005

No. in season	No. in series	Title	Time	Original air date	YouTube air date
11	1	"Eaten Part 2: No More Charlotte"	5:32	September 11, 2004	June 27, 2012
Charlotte was eaten by the Giant Kitty fiend much to the delight of Vendetta, but Vendetta is eaten as well and ends up trapped in the Giant Kitty's stomach with Charlotte.
12	2	"Election"	5:24	October 12, 2004	July 11, 2012
Charlotte celebrates Chester A. Arthur's birthday and says that the class should have a president. Vendetta is eager to run for class President, believing it will give her more power, but Charlotte nominates Marion instead of Vendetta, changing her plans. Vendetta nominates Marvin, and uses force to have him elected.
13	3	"Invisible"	3:55	November 28, 2004	July 19, 2012
Vendetta brings an invisible fiend to attack Charlotte, however, Charlotte accidentally kills it with a kebab. Out of curiosity, she then turns herself invisible by drinking Vendetta's invisible drink.
14	4	"Wonderful Wintry Day"	4:35	December 17, 2004	August 1, 2012
Mr. Milk is doing attendance, and sees that Vendetta isn't present. Suddenly, a large brown fiend breaks through the door and brings Mr. Milk a letter from Vendetta, saying that she will not come to school that day. Surprised, Mr. Milk seals the red bird fiend in a jar, and brings his students outside. Pleased with the absence of Vendetta, Mr. Milk begins to sing and gets the other students (sans Malachi) to sing with him.
15	5	"Valentine's Day"	4:35	February 3, 2005	August 8, 2012
During Valentine's Day, Charlotte sends a Valentine's Day card to Vendetta and, out of irritation, she creates a big heart fiend who literally wants everyone's hearts.
16	6	"Rainy Day Schedule"	4:04	March 17, 2005	August 15, 2012
Vendetta calls for a "Rainy Day schedule" because of the precipitation outside. She brings out a Rainy Day Activity Box because Charlotte pleads for it unknowing of what would happen. Vendetta opens the box and out come many red fiends which make very loud, screeching noises and cause malice.
17	7	"April Fool's"	3:24	April 3, 2005	August 22, 2012
During April Fool's Day, Vendetta plots to send Charlotte into space because of Charlotte's annoying April Fool's jokes. Vendetta, however, gets tied onto the rocket that was going to be launched into space because of her colorblind fiends. Charlotte wants to join her and they both get launched into space. Note: This whole episode is in Bulgarian dialogue and subtitled with tongue-in-cheek English subtitles.
18	8	"Rubella"	4:26	May 20, 2005	August 29, 2012
Charlotte gives Vendetta a music card which is very irritating to Vendetta. To stop the noise, Grudge ate it, but when he hiccups the song plays again. Later, Vendetta is trying to make a fiend, which fails because Grudge accidentally dropped an important ingredient. Vendetta drives Grudge away because she thinks he is very unhelpful and she brings a new fiend to assist her named Rubella. Note: This episode continues in episode 19.
19	9	"Concrete Shoes"	5:10	September 1, 2005	September 5, 2012
Vendetta and Rubella enjoy themselves, during a Charlotte-free day, by attacking the other children with her fiends. At Vendetta's house, she is happy because of the successes she had with her fiends and she considers Rubella a friend, but not for long. Note: This episode continues in episode 20.
20	10	"The End of All Things (Season Finale)"	6:14	October 26, 2005	September 13, 2012
Charlotte returns in this episode, being tossed in the classroom by a friendly squid named Janet. Vendetta is shocked, and she freaks out and rants at Charlotte. Charlotte responds by saying that she had a good time and wants to do something special for Vendetta. Vendetta, desperate to destroy Charlotte without help, goes home to mix up a potion that will turn anything into a fiend with one dip. Vendetta plans to turn Charlotte's hamster, Buttons, into a hideous fiend. The potion will take one hour to turn "fiendish", so Vendetta sets the timer and leaves to steal Buttons, only to come back and find her potion gone with a letter from Charlotte, saying that's using the dip for Vendettas present.

Extras and specials

No. in season	No. in series	Title	Time	Original air date	YouTube air date
6.5	6.5	"Christmas Bonus"	1:58*	December 23, 2003	December 5, 2012
The Christmas bonus consists of two different versions of a song, "Nice" sung by Charlotte, and "Naughty" sung by Vendetta. In the nice version, Charlotte sings about how she wishes she were a Christmas tree, and how she could be decorated. Vendetta's version, the naughty, has Vendetta also singing about how she wishes Charlotte were a Christmas Tree, and Vendetta elaborates on how she would abuse Charlotte in that state. * (Nice: 1:00, Naughty: 0:58).
21	11	"Thanksgiving Treat"	3:03	November 24, 2007	November 15, 2012
A Thanksgiving-oriented epilogue to episode 20. After sailing on a boat for 15 minutes, Vendetta complains that she is hungry. Charlotte stocked the boat with stuffing and mashed potatoes, but Vendetta only wants clams. After Charlotte begins to sing about, Vendetta starts to consider Walking the plank, but instead decides to put Charlotte on what seems like a deserted island.
22	12	"Making Friends"	2:38	April 1, 2012	April 1, 2012
An episode made for 2012's April Fool's Day. It is said to have been made by fiend named Foggington Dunkel III. The fiend was doing some housekeeping around the Making Fiends website, and didn't like Vendetta's personality, so he tried to "fix" it with a new episode.[16] In the episode, Vendetta and Charlotte have their roles reversed; Vendetta wants to be Charlotte's friend, while Charlotte makes fiends and tries to kill Vendetta.
23	13	"Baking Beans"	1:10	April 1, 2015	April 1, 2015
An episode made for 2015's April Fool's Day. Charbean is using the slide on the school playground as Beandetta and her pet hamster-bean Budge are watching, annoyed. Beandetta gives Charbean some vicious fiend-like beans that carry her off the playground. Charbean is happy and sings a tune about beans. Some time later, Beandetta and Budge is hanging out at Beandetta's house when Charbean shows up. Beandetta is chocked as she was supposed to be eaten by the beans. Charbean then happily explains that "through a series of fun and improbable events", the beans got canned, and shows a can of refried beans.

Games

• Halloween Treat

A flash game that is put on the website on Halloween. Unlike the Christmas Bonus and Thanksgiving Treat, its URL is not available on the official website year-round, although it can be played here (renamed Pumpkin Plunkin). At the beginning of the game, the rules are explained by both Charlotte and Vendetta. The overall objective is to throw pumpkins at Charlotte while she moves around the screen in various costumes.

Alternate DVD versions

On the DVDs of the web series, there are alternate versions of all the episodes.^[17]

1. Audio Commentary with Charlotte and Vendetta
2. Audio Commentary with Marion
3. All dialogue is spoken in French. Translation by Aglaia Mortcheva.
4. All dialogue is spoken in Mandarin.
5. All dialogue is spoken in Japanese (Except theme song). Translation by Junichi Ishimura.
6. All dialogue is spoken by a computerized speech simulator
7. Audio Commentary with Vendetta and Grudge
8. Pig Latin Subtitles
9. Audio Commentary with Mr. Milk
10. Narrated by Big Bunny
11. All characters have beards
12. Patriotic Version
13. Extra Invisible!
14. Fancy Dress Version.
15. Super Pretty Version!
16. Snowy Version!
17. You can watch it with or without subtitles
18. All characters are muffins
19. The setting in the background has pictures from around the world.
20. Alternate ending with Vendetta moving to Florida and never seeing Charlotte again.

In 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010, a message was posted on the front page saying that a fiend was to be temporarily placed in charge of the site. On April Fool's Day, the main menu had a bite taken out of it, and the fiend was there to explain that he got hungry and ate some episodes, but fixed them. As a result, the episodes 4, 6, 11, 18, 19, and 20 were replaced with their alternate DVD versions as an April Fool's joke.

Broadcast on TurboNick

Nickelodeon bought the series and did a successful test run of Making Fiends on its Web-based TurboNick. Few restrictions were made by the network execs when they made the deal, they told Amy Winfrey, "Just don't mention Hitler, and don't hit people on the head".

Winfrey conceded to a few small changes. For example, a classroom poster that read "A is for Alimony" had to be changed. She was stumped for a while on what A should be for. Aglaia would pop into Winfrey's office and suggest things, such as Alcoholism. They settled on "A is for Abomination".^[18]

See also

• Amy Winfrey
• TV series (Episodes)
• List of characters

References

1. "Makingfiends.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2013-01-25.
2. Internet Archive Wayback Machine
3. http://www.makingfiends.com/fiendlog/history.html
4. Making Fiends - Episode 1
5. Making Fiends - Episode 18
6. Making Fiends - Episode 3
7. Making Fiends - Episode 14
8. Making Fiends - Episode 2
9. Making Fiends - Episode 9
10. http://www.makingfiends.com/fiendlog/meetamy.html
11. http://nicktoons.nick.com/shows/making-fiends/characters/malachi.html
12. Making Fiends - Episode 19
13. Making Fiends - Episode 6
14. http://nicktoons.nick.com/shows/making-fiends/characters/mort-making-fiends.html
15. http://www.makingfiends.com/tvschedule.html
16. http://makingfiends.com/aprilfools/letter.html
17. http://web.archive.org/web/20070225083053/http://www.makingfiends.com/shop/shopdvd.htm
18. http://www.laweekly.com/2008-08-07/la-vida/amy-winfrey-39-s-fiendish-vendetta/

External links

• Making Fiends
• Muffin Films (another series by Amy Winfrey)
• Big Bunny (also by Amy Winfrey)